#my coding is incredibly rusty

[houseofwolvess]

i found a little code template base thing for creating a wiki-style webpage and like. ough. i kinda wanna make a neocities site where i can make wiki pages for my ocs. that would scratch an itch in my brain that i didn't know existed

[daisyvisions]

Change Your Mind - (l.jy)

➺ Pairing: fboy best friend!Juyeon x afab!reader

➺ Summary: You befriend your college’s resident fuckboy who’s been eager to get with you since day one. But after a rollercoaster of emotions between your friendship, he wants you more than you could ever imagine.

➺ Word Count: 4k (wow who is she?!)

➺ Warnings: Smut (18+, minors DNI), friends to lovers, mentions of partying, drinking alcohol, fuckboy tendencies (flirting, hookups, ghosting), lying to reader (at first), lots of kissing and making out, dry humping, oral (f! receiving), slight handjob and masturbation, unprotected sex (but he pulls out), aftercare, pet names (sweetheart, baby), a lovesick Juyeon

➺ A/N: I’m officially back from my break! Really wanted to take some time off and focus on things irl, can’t really say if the break helped bcos I was still stressed haha but anyway!This took me a while to finish up, felt incredibly rusty writing again but glad I was still able to do it 😭 Considering this as my late birthday greeting for Juyeon. Hope you enjoy this piece! Proofread once. Let me know if I missed anything!

➺ Network & Tag: @deoboyznet, and my girlies @aimeecarreros @snowflakewhispers @winterchimez

If anyone told you that you’d end up becoming best friends with one of the most sought out guys in your campus (and not to mention resident fuck boy), you would’ve laughed at their face. All your life you’ve tried to avoid befriending guys like Juyeon. A guy like him just generally gave you the ick.

You never understood how or why people would want to be friends with someone whose only objective is to get into girl’s pants and be praised for it. Not only that, but also playing with someone’s feelings and just dropping them at an instant was wrong on so many levels.

But here you are, lending him a helping hand while you two clean out his living room after throwing yet another one of his bi-weekly parties, which was usually code for “Please let me at least make out with someone tonight.”

It’s crazy how you consider him one of your bestest friends. In another world you both knew this friendship would never work out. You were both opposite of each other in so many ways!

So how did you even end up becoming friends with Juyeon?

Transferring to a different university in the middle of the semester was one of the worst things that could've happened to you. Not only did you have to adjust to a new set of lesson plans and navigate your way around campus, but you also had to sit alone during lunch since practically everyone already knew each other from freshman year and had their own set of cliques.

During your first week, you thought you could at least find a table you could sit with just by going up to the group you vibed with the most and ask politely. But you decided to just sit by yourself instead and avoid any embarrassing introductions. You refused to be known as the weird new girl (which you already felt like one to begin with.)

You tried to fight off the tears emerging from the corners of your eyes as you sat quietly in the corner of the cafeteria, slowly poking the food on your tray as you try to drown out the noise around you.

You wish you didn’t have to transfer and leave everything and everyone you knew behind. Yes, you can still call or text your friends, but you knew it was different than actually being with them on campus.

You were convinced you’d be alone for the rest of your years in college. No friends to hang out, laugh, or cry with. No one to go through the same struggles as you. No one to tell you that everything was going to be okay. You were definitely on your own until-

“Hey.” The voice suddenly snapping you out of your self-loathing as you look up and see probably one of the most handsome men you have ever seen in your life.

The way his eyes held so much love, how his smile could light up anyone’s day, and how his aura was something you never felt with anyone before. He was practically radiating sunshine to your already gloomy day. It almost felt too good to be true… Because what the hell was he doing here in front of you?

“…Hi?” You sit up straight as you try to subtly dab off the tears in your eyes.

“I couldn't help but notice you sitting here all alone.” The man gently says.

Great, the first thing he notices about you is how much of a loser you are. But before you could even say anything back he continues on.

“Would you like to come sit with us? We have some space for you at our table.” He slowly smiles at you. You hesitated at first, confused by the whole situation but quickly made up your mind.

“Uh… yeah, sure! If it’s not any trouble.” You shyly respond.

“Of course not! Can’t let a pretty thing like you be all alone on her first week here right?” He holds out his hand to you.

“How did you-”

“I’m Juyeon.” He interrupts you again. You tell him your name, your cheeks slowly warming up as your hand intertwines with his as he looks deeply into your eyes.

“Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” He smirks. You felt the butterflies raging within your stomach.

“So, let’s go?” He waits for your response, but you shyly nod your head instead as proper words get caught up in your throat. Grabbing his hand as you stand up and follow his lead.

You try not to make a fool out of yourself as you feel Juyeon’s hand rest on your lower back as you guides you through the sea of people. As you two are walking towards his table he leans close to your ear and whispers,

“We’re gonna be best friends, I promise.”

And ever since that day Juyeon really did keep his promise. He helped you catch up with some of the lesson plans you had, guided you around school, and always made sure to leave a space for you beside him during lunch.

You tried to wrap your brain around the idea of how someone like Juyeon just randomly entered your life and swept you off your feet. At first you felt like you were on cloud nine getting the most attention and almost boyfriend-like treatment from him. But as the weeks went by you soon discover that his reputation actually preceded him more than you thought.

You see, it was no secret that Juyeon was somewhat of a playboy. Well, somewhat was an understatement. During the first few weeks since you became friends he would walk you to class almost every time. In those moments you couldn’t understand why people would give you such weird looks or whisper to each other whenever you two would pass by.

Maybe it was because you stuck out like a sore thumb as the new girl? You decided not to mind it for a while, pushing down the thought that you were just overthinking all of this… that is until you accidentally learned about his reputation and the real reason why he approached you that day.

It was an accident. You were never meant to find out anything about Juyeon. But during a party that he brought you to, a certain loosed-lip drunk friend (Eric) decided to spill everything to you, down to every letter and detail imaginable.

To be honest, it didn’t bother you when you found out that Juyeon was indeed a fuck boy. You saw the signs as the weeks passed by.

The way he would flirt with someone while waiting for you to finish class, how the notifications on his phone would show a name of a different girl every week, and even the subtle touches he would leave on you which were definitely not considered friendly but not perverted either. What bothered you the most was finding out the reason why he even wanted to be friends with you.

“He’s been really working up to have his way with you, you know? And I mean who could blame him? Have you seen yourself? You’re so fucking hot-” Eric rambles on to you as he tries to lean his body against the wall to keep himself upright, slowly inching his way closer to you. You felt your blood boil in that moment, completely ignoring Eric’s advances.

How could Juyeon do this to you? Even after everything you shared with him about your life, your struggles, your secrets too? And to think you were starting to feel like he could be a really great friend to you. But this? Hell no. You were not about to let some handsome sleazy guy use you like that. Not in this or any lifetime.

You nearly crush the plastic red cup in your hand before storming out of the house, intentionally pushing past Juyeon’s shoulder in the way as he tries to approach you with the most concerned look you had ever seen on his face.

He ran after you that night. He even dropped on his knees begging for forgiveness in front of a crowd of drunk college people too. Over the top sure, but somehow you knew his apology wasn’t just a one and done thing.

And after the humiliating lecture you gave him as well as the list of promises he had said he will be doing in order to make up for his mistakes, you decided to give him another chance.

In return of accepting his apology, you offered to help him get out of his fuck boy tendencies and be his “guardian angel”. Juyeon was reluctant of the idea at first because it would mean he couldn’t be free to do as he pleased but he eventually gave in. He had to because well… He did owe you a lot for lying to you in the first place.

Somewhere in your mind you knew this could turn out to be a bad idea. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me, or however the saying goes. But Juyeon was different.

You knew somewhere in that deep conceited mind of his there was a version of him that was actually a good guy. A guy that can actually learn how to not fool around and maybe one day, find someone worth changing for.

You can tell it was a struggle for him at the beginning. But eventually he started to lessen the flirting, the hookups, the ghosting, and more.

Gone were the days where Juyeon had a line of women wrapped around his fingers (because they were too many of them to count). Dating was still a thing for him, but he had said and even showed you that he would take them seriously and not just move onto the next one as easily as he did before.

Eventually you realized over time that Juyeon turning over a new leaf was also becoming a struggle for you especially at parties when he would come up to you nearly drunk out of his mind, his subconscious would revert back to his old habits and he would act them all out on you.

His hands subtly snaking around your hips, your waist, how he would brush the hair off your neck and leave a warm kiss on shoulder. The way he would smile at you like a lovesick fool, never leaving your side as he attempts to drop his corny pickup lines.

Or the way he would jokingly confess how badly he wanted to kiss you. You knew he wasn’t in the right state of mind, that he was just being his old self. But it really did confuse you because sometimes it felt all too real.

Now you understood why someone could fall so easily for Juyeon. It was second nature to him.

You tried so hard not to give into his appetite especially in those moments. But it was becoming difficult each time since you the crush you had on him from the first day you met was screaming to be set free, desperate to overtake your heart and soul and just allow him to do as he pleased, no matter the consequences.

The many “what-if’s” that crossed your mind when you were alone in your room at night had plagued you constantly. Your walls were starting to crack and it was making you lose your self control around him.

“Maybe one little kiss wouldn’t hu-” No. You shouldn’t. The whole point of staying friends with Juyeon was to guide him to being a better person. It wasn’t about you or how you felt at all!

But… how bad could it be to become selfish just one moment in your life?

“Wow, I’m so tired.” Juyeon plops down on the sofa as you finish up collecting all the empty bottles and cups around the room. After the last bottle was thrown inside the trash bag you washed your hands and plopped right next to him.

You instantly close your eyes and let out a huge sigh of relief, showing the same exhaustion as he felt. As you stay silent and enjoy this quiet moment, Juyeon can’t help but just stare at you. He watches how your chest slowly moves up and down and tries to commit to memory the little details of your face.

You look so beautiful right now, he thinks to himself. As you always have since the first time he saw you. But he pushes down the feeling deep within his gut, having given up pursuing you a while back. But it doesn't hurt to look every once in a while right?

As soon as you open your eyes again, you catch him staring at you with a look in his eyes you can’t quite read. You chuckle at how silly he’s being and turn your body slightly to face him.

“What?” You ask.

“I-It’s nothing.” He shakes his head.

“C’mon, what is it? You can tell me.” You semi pout, and how can Juyeon say no to you?

“I was thinking-”

“Oh no he’s thinking.” You fake gasp and giggle as he playfully nudges your shoulder in return.

“It’s just- I still can’t believe how we ended up as friends despite everything, you know?” He smiles gently.

“Me too.” You respond, “To be honest, if I had known about your reputation before we met I would’ve rejected you that day.”

“Yeah?” Juyeon’s eyes grow wider as he scoots closer to you. He places his hand on your knee, making you become nervous all of a sudden. “And why is that?”

“W-well…” you feel a lump forming in your throat, the way his cologne invades your thoughts and has your head slowly spinning. Is it getting hot in here or is that just you?

“Because, guys like you just aren’t my type that’s all. And well-”

“Can I tell you a secret?” Juyeon interrupts you as he looks into your eyes. You nod in response.

“I haven't been with anyone else ever since that night you confronted me about my behavior.” He pauses for a moment. Dead silence filled the air as he waited for your response while you tried to grasp what he was trying to say.

“Huh? What about that girl you were with last week? Or the one you were texting?” You softly ask.

“I... I lied about them.” Juyeon looks away from you, afraid to look at your reaction. He looks up at the ceiling, pushing down any regret he’s feeling at the moment admitting the truth to you.

“But, why?” Your voice laced with concern.

“It felt wrong to be with those girls. To even think about kissing or touching them the way I would've back then, because…” He looks back at you, his hand on your knee now traveling up to your lap.

“…All I ever thought about in those moments was you.”

You felt your heart running a mile a minute. Eyes widening at his sudden confession.

“God you’re so beautiful it kills me inside.” he raises his hand and cups your jaw, thumb slowly stroking your cheek as his gaze turns into something more than just lust.

You subtly catch him quickly looking at your lips, your eyes nearly fluttering shut as he leans in closer. And with your lips just millimeters apart, he suddenly stops.

“But who am I kidding? I know you don’t see me that way-” Juyeon retracts his head, his face expressing a certain kind of sadness you can’t seem to properly label. You can feel your heart pounding in your ears as you watch him slowly slip away from you.

“Juyeon I-”

“It’s alright, I’m probably drunk. Just- forget what I said.” He shakes his head, but before he can attempt to get up from the couch, you grab his wrist. “No.” You sternly say.

Juyeon slowly sits back down on the couch and scoots really close to you, thighs pressing against one another. His eyes don’t leave yours, waiting for what you have to say or do.

“S-show me. Show me you mean it. Every word you just said.”

“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for you to tell me that.” Juyeon lunges forward and wastes no time as he leans in to kiss you. His pillowy lips feeling like heaven as he guides your lips with his, both melting into one another like it was always meant to be.

As your arms start to wrap around his neck Juyeon pulls you in closer, his body slowly falls backwards onto the couch. His hands desperately grabbing your hips to make you straddle his lap.

Juyeon whimpers into your mouth as soon as his straining bulge rubs against your core. His member throbs harder as you begin to roll your hips subconsciously.

He’s fucked way too many times to count but for some reason, grinding yourself onto his crotch makes him feel like an untouched virgin all over again.

He swears he can burst inside his boxers any second now if you keep doing this to him, especially with the soft little moans coming out of your mouth that sound so sweet.

Juyeon pulls away from your lips and starts to kiss your neck, mapping out his kisses until he finds the spot that makes you melt into a puddle. He knows he’s found that spot as your moans become louder and drag on longer.

He starts to wrap his arms around your torso and without warning, he flips you both over, making you squeal as he giggles at your reaction. His eager hands waste no time to unbutton your jeans as he continues to leave marks on your neck. You slightly push him away as you feel him slowly sneaking one hand into your pants.

“Wait-” You grab his wrist before he goes any further.

“Do you want to stop?” He waits for your answer.

“No it’s not that.” Your eyes close for a moment as you catch your breath.

“It’s- well- It’s been a while I've since done this. I- I might not be good for you.” Juyeon senses the worry in your eyes. He leans down to kiss the space between your eyebrows, his free hand caressing your cheek.

“Oh sweetheart… you’ll always be too good for me.” He smiles down at you. “You sure you still want this?” You nod your head instantly.

“Use your words baby, need to hear you say it. Tell me what you want.” His hand travels to your neck and gives it a soft squeeze. The act alone is enough to get you dizzy again.

“Want you- want you to touch me, please.” You look up at him so innocently.

Juyeon leans in to kiss you passionately once more, his tongue immediately intertwining with yours. He helps you out of your pants in the process not wanting to pull his lips away from yours until he tugs the hem of your shift and lifts it off, leaving you wearing nothing but your underwear on.

His kisses start to travel oh so slowly from your lips all the way to your inner thighs. Juyeon can feel himself pre cumming at the deep inhale of your panty covered core. The wet patch luring him in to kiss it and practically mouth your covered folds.

You let out yet another ethereal moan as your fingers weave through his hair. His hands slowly pull the garter of your underwear down, throwing the damp material behind him as he continues on with his ministrations.

Juyeon wastes no time and grabs the back of your thighs and placing them over his shoulder, making sure that his face is locked onto your throbbing core. He kisses your folds before suddenly darting his warm wet tongue between them, reveling in the taste of you before flicking your sensitive bud. He looks up to watch your reactions, which motivate him to keep on going.

“P-please…” You whine as he hums and sucks on your clit. Juyeon doesn’t even need you to tell him what you want, by the sound of your moans and the way your thighs slowly squeeze his head he knows you’re getting closer to the edge.

He nearly lets go himself when you reach your high without warning, the sudden burst of your essence onto his lips as you moan out his name was something he never thought would feel so divine.

He pulls himself up and goes back to kissing you, tasting yourself on his tongue has your core throbbing for him once again. Your hands hastily helping him unbutton his own pants along with his boxers as he pulls them down and kicks them to the side.

Your mouth waters at the sight of his impressive length, your hand instantly wrapping around his member as you stroke him slowly. “Oh s-shit.” He growls into your ear.

“Want you inside me Juyeon, want you to fuck me.” You whisper in his ear. He grabs your wrist to stop, holding his own member as he aligns it with your entrance.

“Don’t want to fuck you-” He mumbles. You pull away from him, confused by his words. His other hand grabs the back of your neck as he pulls your face closer to his.

“-Want to make love to you.” He whispers into your mouth. And before you know it he’s pushing his entire cock inside you, bottoming out instantly. You both moan into each other’s mouths at the stretch. Juyeon moves his hips slowly as he starts to fuck you deeply, making sure you feel all of him going in and out of your pussy.

Juyeon wishes this moment could last forever, but the way your walls grip onto his member like a vice brings him closer to the edge faster than he had hoped. Especially with how you’re moaning into his mouth and wrapping your arms around his neck so tight? He was a goner.

He’s never fucked anyone like this before, and now he can’t imagine doing this with anyone else except you.

With every deep thrust, you feel yourself on the verge of cumming for the second time. Each stroke hitting that sweet spot in you has you reaching for the stars.

“Fuck Juyeon, you’re gonna make me cum again.” You whine as the wet sounds you're both making has you feeling dizzy.

“C’mon sweetheart, cum on my cock. God you can keep cumming on my cock as much as you want I don’t care.” His thrusts start to pick up the pace. “I’m yours forever.”

Those three words were enough to snap the coil within, breathing heavily as your walls flutter around his length. You’re so caught up in your own head you don’t realize Juyeon uttering a string of whimpers until you feel him quickly pull out his cock and blow his load all over your stomach.

The both of you take a moment to calm down from your highs before Juyeon gets up to each for the box of tissue on the coffee table. You watch him gently clean you up before he pulls his boxers back on to find your discarded underwear and also helps you put it back on.

He hovers above you before leaning down to leave small kisses around your face and on your lips. You caress his cheek slowly as he leans into your touch.

“Did you mean it? Everything you said?” You softly ask him.

“Down to every letter.” He responds. “But… I think you broke me.”

“Broke you? How?” You playfully scrunch your eyebrows at him.

“Don’t want to see myself with anyone else now.”

“Oh really?” You raise an eyebrow. “And how should I fix it then?” He smirks and kisses you again,

“Let me take you out on a date and we’ll call it even.”

[tsukimefuku]

I have a Higuruma sfw crack head canon and I’m about to turn it into everybody’s problem

This has been written by an actual criminal defense attorney specialized in continental law (which is the system in place in Japan) with free time on her hands.

So, from what we’ve learned, Higuruma has dedicated his career exclusively to being a criminal defense attorney. Given he’s 35 during the events in JJK, it’s safe to say he has been working with it for at least a decade.

So, as it is to be expected, since he has been called a genius numerous times, his knowledge of criminal law and criminal procedure law is probably off the charts. That has also been demonstrated when he’s debating the possible outcomes to put Sukuna under trial during chapter 244 (also, chef’s kiss 🤌 for mentioning the statute of limitations and code amendments that came in 2010. Whoever consulted for Gege did a WONDERFUL job).

From what Higuruma has told us previously, Judgeman uses the six Japanese codes to give the sentencing: the Constitution, the Civil Code, the Criminal Code, the Commercial Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Code of Civil Procedure. I believe this might be a mistranslation, though, because the pachinko parlor prohibition seems to come from what we would call an ordinary bill, not one of the codes, but I digress.

Also, according to him, considering Judgeman is his shikigami, what he believes is feasible under interpreting a law becomes a possible verdict.

With all that, I need to settle some things of being a specialized attorney for a long time.

What happens, more often than not, is that you become incredibly rusty (and kinda bad) at comprehending and interpreting other areas of law. That happens simply because the rationale of each area works very differently. For instance, I don’t understand or remember most of what I studied regarding labor law during law school, and I’ve been working exclusively with criminal law (as an intern and then a lawyer) ever since 2015.

So here’s my question: if judgeman, for whatever reason, had to judge civil, labor or commercial matters, considering it is bound by Higuruma’s own comprehension of the Japanese laws, would it give bizarre verdicts that wouldn’t make ANY sense in an actual Japanese Court of law?

My head canon is that YES, THAT WOULD DEFINITELY HAPPEN, AND IT WOULD BE FUNNY AS HELL.

Anyway, that’s it, thanks for reading my brainrot. 🦉

[labete-du-gevaudan]

Julie Maggert is the photographer behind Exposing Nature Through My Lens. She had heard of a strange orange colored snowy owl that was flying around Michigan and needed to see it for herself. She drove two hours to see the incredible bird, which she nicknamed Creamsicle. It took a few days for Maggert to get the images of this unique owl. She ultimately logged over 30 hours watching the owl and getting the perfect photos.

The owl was originally photographed and studied by photographer Bill Diller, who nicknamed the owl Rusty.

Some believe that this could be a color mutation that is effecting the owl. A number of strange color mutations have shocked the world before much like a blue lobster, black flamingo, or yellow penguin. Others, like Michigan State University’s biology professor Kevin McGraw, think that Creamsicle or her mother had been exposed to something “that disrupted her genetic code”.

Owl Research Institute stated “that it most likely could have been as a result of being sprayed (either accidentally or on purpose) by plane de-icer. Type 1 de-icer color swatch matches the owl feather color in question nearly perfectly. […] There is also fire retardant Phos-Chek that contains iron oxide that could cause that color, there were fires actively being fought in Winnipeg, north of Michigan, in January. But we'll let the reader consider the evidence and make their own decision. This mystery will likely go unsolved, as there are no plans to catch it and take samples, as we also suggested.”

[villain-crown]

dust | @jegulus-microfic | words: 864

critical care, part 8 (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 9)

a Jegulus nurse!AU

James Potter was a catch. 

A brilliant, handsome, charming catch. He was confident boarderlining on arrogant, suave verging on dazzling, one of the smartest nurses in Gryffindor, and god help him, he was not going to fuck up the pass he was attempting to make at Regulus Black.

The very same man who had just texted him his clean STD panel after telling him in no uncertain circumstances that they would be fucking soon and enthusiastically.

[Of course, I expect you to provide the same results.]

Hell, James would take whatever test Regulus asked of him. He’d take the entire nurse licensing exam all over again if he wanted it. And blood results? James would stick himself with a rusty nail if it meant satisfying Regulus’s requirements. 

Play it cool, Potter. Play it cool. 

Not desperate, no; just cool, suave, James Potter. 

He had this. 

[For sure! You’re very organized lol!]

The answer: [I prefer no condoms.]

Holy shit, he did not have this.

“...you think Dorcas would go for that?” 

Sirius was still carrying on their conversation and did not seem to realize that James was about to pass out right in front of him.

“Sure, Pads,” he all but wheezed, fighting to keep a straight face. “Dorcas. Good idea.”

“Really, James, are you okay? You look… weird.”

He waved him off, clearing his throat. “No, no, I’m just… dust! There’s lots of dust floating around.” He coughed pointedly once more. “Keep talking, I’m listening.”

[Does that bother you?] Regulus asked while James was in the middle of saving his number. 

Oh, James was bothered alright. 

After some deliberation, he decided he needed some kind of code name for the Slytherin to be saved under. It would be nothing short of incriminating for someone to see Regulus Black texting him suggestive shit, but he needed something slightly less obvious than Sirius’s Hot Little Brother. He thought back to the little silver chain twined around Regulus’s gorgeous neck. Three letters hug off it: RAB. 

Perfect. 

…This was completely crazy. He was having a straight-faced conversation about possibly the most earth shattering, borderline-pornographic sex he would ever have in his life with Regulus Black and Sirius wanted to stand there and talk pranks.

[You’re so fucking hot. I am fighting for my life here.]

[You could stand to suffer more. So tell me what you’re into.]

Oof, what a loaded question. Well, apparently he was into best friend’s little brothers who enjoyed dirty sex, which was an interest he could do without. 

Good sense made him pause. 

Was he ready to hand over very personal, potentially humiliating information to a coworker he’d just met yesterday? The memory of Regulus’s gorgeous, lithe body standing on his toes as he leaned into James’s space to whisper the things I like might be a bit much for you was the deciding factor. 

Jame Potter would honestly hand Regulus Black a fucking loaded gun if this conversation would just continue. 

But what could he say in response to a question like that? He didn’t want to come off as too much, but Regulus didn’t strike him as the kind of guy that would be satisfied with too little, either. 

Fuck, what to do.

Apparently, Regulus has some ideas.

“Am I not entertaining you here, Prongs?” Sirius snapped loudly, forcing James to look up from reading the incredibly dirty texts that Regulus was starting to send. His best friend was glaring at him.

Suddenly, Sirius lunged for his phone. 

And James, who hadn’t expected it, found that he was too slow to keep custody of it.

“SIRIUS, FUCK OFF!”

“No! I want to know what’s so fascinating on here that you can’t be bothered to listen to me for the last ten minutes!”

He tussled with Sirius to steal it back, but with no luck. At a certain point in the scuffle, James became uncomfortably aware that the family of the patient in bed eighteen was blatantly staring at them. Embarrassed, James backed off, straightening his burgundy scrubs and trying to look professional. Sirius, who could care less what other people thought, didn’t even bother looking up, instead taking his time examining James’s text messages. 

He held his breath, desperately trying to come up with a solid defense for why Sirius’s precious baby brother might be texting him some of the dirtiest shit James had ever been sent. You know, just in case Sirius Realized. 

I was framed.

It was an accident.

He looks like my future husband. 

Weak. Weak defenses, all of them. 

Get it together, Potter! 

“No condom, huh? Wow, what a whore,” Sirius declared with the admiration of one who had shared that title. He glanced through the texts and negative STD results, making James nearly ascend. “I respect him. This guy knows what he’s about! Rab, huh? Who’s this again?”

“I didn’t say.”

Bloody hell, Sirius was going to kill him—kill him twice: once for having a single sexual thought about his little brother and again for letting Sirius say that about Regulus, who, according to Marlene, he believed was an innocent baby angel who could do no wrong. 

“It’s just some guy,” James finished faintly.

“Huh.” Sirius handed the phone back. “Hot. You should fuck him.”

…Well, if you insist.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Costume meta 8x01, 8x02 & 803

Life is incredibly busy for me at the moment, so I’m not able to spend as much time on things like writing Costume meta as I’d like, so, while I am planning on writing a meta for each episode, these are likely to be shorter and I will only be guaranteeing to do Buck and Eddies costumes. Any other character will be entirely dependent on my time and if there is anything interesting to point out! That being said, because I’ve combined the first three episodes into one meta (because they spent most of it in uniform!), it is on the longer side!

So, let’s get this season 8 costume meta show on the road!

Last season I pointed out the show was going heavy on the pink colour coding and suggested it was being employed to signal an overarching theme for the season - innocence and naiveté and the loss thereof. This proved to be correct  and we saw the show weave stories across the season about innocence and naiveté and we then watched characters experience the loss of those things.

So I was intrigued to see what colour they would be using this season and had been contemplating over hiatus what I thought they’d go with. I regret not making a post about it back then, because my thoughts had been focused on orange, and early indicators suggest orange is indeed the colour they’re using - along with a second colour - brown. 

I have spotted a lot of both colours in both episodes of the season so far, and very often they are using a sort of burnt/rusty orange/brown, that combines both colours I’ll be keeping my eye out for both colours in the upcoming episodes as well.

rest below the cut!

Examples of it in these opening two episodes that I’ve spotted are;

The light aircraft had orange and brown detailing on the tail. 

The truck has a brown logo, the driver who ran up to the car on the highway was wearing an orange check shirt, and his co-driver is wearing brown

Tori and her assistant Sheila are wearing orange and brown and Sheila is wearing brown trousers with and orange check when the bees attack. 

Hen’s jacket has a lot of orange and some brown in the plaid, and Denny’s shirt has a dark orange text on it.

Eddie and Buck are wearing brown shirts and Eddie is wearing an orange hat - the orange balloons and streamers are also fairly dominant in the party decorations.

Denis is wearing a light brown zip front hoodie (he also has his orange prison jumpsuit but I’m not including it as its standard prison uniform and would’ve been included regardless!)

Tia is wearing an orange/brown shirt under her white and coloured design jacket

Amy the manager of air traffic control is wearing both brown and orange

the toothbrush Dennis makes a shiv from is orange

several crew members on set are wearing brown

the workman who removes the blade fro the firetruck is wearing brown.

Orange means enthusiasm optimism and emotional strength. It’s also a colour of positivity and progressive thinking as well as creativity and success in endeavours! Orange can also be impatient and can also symbolise insincere personalities or intentions.

Brown meanwhile is stable and reliable, honest and supportive. It is also seen as protective and it is the foundation from which new things can grow. It also means honesty, wisdom and strength and it is a dependable colour. It can also have meanings such as loneness isolation and sadness, as well as being seen as boring or dull.

They are two colours that have intertwined meanings and to me this is suggesting an overarching theme for the season of positive stable progression. The idea of letting go of the past and moving forward. Everyones arc’s so far this season seem to be setting up the exploration of all our mains having to deal with aspects of their past (or connected to their past) be that something that happened to them or their behaviour, something they haven’t let go of that continues to impact them and that is preventing them from being able to progress further than they have. It feels very much like the show is setting itself up for making some changes to things for season 9 onwards (not saying people are leaving I want to make that clear - just that I think we might see some changes to what roles people fill within the show)

Check Theory

Check theory was out in force in these two episodes as well - and it has yet to fail me! The small aircraft pilot,

the truck driver,

the first passenger we see on the plane (whose shirt also happens to be that rusty orange/brown colour), one of the attorneys in LA, Sheila the PA, Amy the air traffic controller, all wearing check patterns along with Hen and Tommy. If you haven’t read my theory before - you can find it here, but basically check generally means the character will be the one in danger in some way (not always physical, it could be emotional) and in the case of the passenger on the plane - he is a signifier for the entire plane being in peril by virtue of being the first passenger we see.

Hen’s check came in a scene where we start to see the jealousy she feels towards Chim and Mara’s relationship (while Karen isn’t reacting to it at all - beyond seeming happy that Mara is happy) and is foreshadowing the upcoming issues with Hen and Chim’s relationship and their fight to get Mara back. the use of two different types of check is perhaps hinting at the fact Hen will be facing issues on two fronts - the Ortiz front and the Chimney/Maddie front. The raw edged denim also helps to play into the idea that Hen is reaching the end of her capacity to deal with things - she is feeling raw and frayed.

Tommy’s check is serving a similar purpose - we get a continuation of Tommys dismissive comments when Buck is telling him something about his life and it is clearly foreshadowing the issues and hurdles Buck and him are going to face. Interestingly the colour of the check is hard to figure out - I'm pretty sure its black, but it looks dark green in some moments and navy blue in others. The black and white colouring in a check pattern is giving us hints - telling us that in the case of Tommy things are very black and white - that there is little nuance to his character.

It's telling us what we see is what we get and that all of his behaviour up to this point can be read for what it is and t hat what it is isn't good because of the check. the other thing about black and white is that it suggests a lack of change - things being black and white in costume terms generally means that the character in that moment a a minimum can be read very plainly - they are how they are and how they have always been.

The fact Tommy is wearing it in a scene discussing Gerrard really is implying that things on that front are going to be black and white and that plays into the theory that it is his problematic past at the 118 (that the show deliberately chose not to address last season) is at least one of the issues that’s going to come up this season and that it is a black and white issue - as in not one with grey areas.

Tommy's blue party hat is also pretty interesting, and telling, blue is very much a Buck colour, its one he wears a lot of - far more than any other colour, this, along with the fact the black check on the shirt appears blue or green depending on the lighting and camera angle, fits with my theory that Tommy is meant to not only be similar to Eddie, but also and alt version of Buck. The fact he is wearing an open shirt over a henley also plays into this theory as they are items of clothing associated with Buck (open shirt) and Eddie (henley). 

Navy blue as a hat colour is an interesting choice to have Tommy wearing in this scene because it is a colour associated with several things, its supposed to be a symbol of peace, commitment and honesty, as well as authority. It also means fragility, depression, impersonality and coldness. 

We saw various shades of navy blue on Buck a lot during his relationship with Taylor - especially during the more fractious periods - moments such as the ily scene - seemingly a moment affirming commitment and honesty, but also revealing the fragility and coldness of their relationship.

So on Tommy it seems to be conveying a similar concept - the juxtaposition of the commitment of Buck and Tommys relationship and the idea that Buck is at peace with himself in relationship terms right now, but it is also revealing the fragility and coldness of the relationship - its supporting the textual clues we get in the scene and setting up Bucks arc for the season and the instability of his relationship with Tommy.

On to Eddie and Buck now we've dealt with the more general costume things!

I’ve already written above about the meaning of brown and how its meaning is stable and reliable, honest and supportive. It is also protective and it is the foundation from which new things can grow. It also means honesty, wisdom and strength. It is a dependable colour. It can also mean loneness isolation and sadness, as well as being seen as boring or dull.

The thing with brown is that it is made up of all of the colours and can therefore have different coloured undertones. In this scene, Bucks shirt is red toned and Eddies is yellow/orange toned and this means we should look to those colours for additional information about the potential meanings.

Eddie

The yellow and orange undertones for Eddie means his brown is connected to communication and enthusiasm as well as the meanings of brown I’ve described above. the meaning that particularly stands out to me in this scene is the idea of support - of being supportive. It’s a theme that plays out in different ways in this scene especially for Eddie and Buck. For Eddie specifically it is the idea of being supportive of what he thinks his son wants - what he i being told his son wants. 

Eddie is trying to communicate with Christopher but Chris is not communicating back - Helena is the one that communicates the information we get about Chris - that he is happy in El Paso and has lots of new friends and is visiting the pool a lot etc. Eddie tries to be supportive of what he is being told, despite it making sure his broken heart stays broken - because he thinks it’s what Chris wants because it is what he’s being told. 

We also have eddies orange party hat - picking up the orange undertones to the t-shirt, it emphasises the emotional strength Eddie has to employ to keep persevering with Chris - even when he is getting barriers thrown up at him. He’s being creative - throwing the party in LA even though he’s not with Chris - trying to make himself a part of things and show Chris that he’s trying to mend the bridge he broke. The orange is also playing the long game with Eddie as well - the lack of orange in the El Paso visuals is telling us that Eddie will be successful in his endeavours - he just needs to be patient and keep trying.

It's also worth noting a couple of things about Eddies clothing - firstly that Eddie is back to wearing slightly oversized tees again - calling back to season 5 and his breakdown and mental health struggles. and secondly the choice of putting him in olive drab cargo pants and his mom in jeans of the same-ish colour (its hard to tell exactly what shade of olive drab they are as the colouring through the computer screen is wildly different!) is an interesting choice - its hinting at where Eddies battles lie - an indication of both going into combat with one another!

Buck

For Buck his brown has reddish undertones (these are much less obvious than the yellows and oranges of Eddies undertones), and there his also the red party hat bringing the red aspect into focus. Red is a symbol of anger, danger, impulsiveness, aggression, passion, sacrifice, and courage. 

Again the concept of support comes into play with the brown - Buck supporting Eddie, being a source of strength and stability at his back, as is visually shown with him never leaving his spot behind Eddie (unlike Tommy who moves away and out of camera in both the video call and the way the scene is shot - its costume and directing working in tandem to relay information about Tommy to the audience). 

The reddish undertones play into the other aspect of the scene - the conversation (if yo can call it that) between Buck and Tommy - its foreshadowing Bucks anger towards Gerrard later in the episode, and also his impulsive and courageous actions to save Gerrard. I think the honesty and wisdom of brown is also important here as well. Buck may be questioning his motives and actions - if he intended to hurt Gerrard or save him, but the brown is giving him stability and suggests that ultimately he will figure things out in a positive direction.

I do want to quickly talk about the fit of Bucks shirt as well, because it is important in relation to what we've seen with Bucks costuming across the seasons and from the bts pictures we've had from Oliver showing a couple of Bucks costumes for upcoming episodes. The fit of this shirt is really really good on Buck and that is important.

I spoke quite a lot in my season 6 and season 7 meta's about the fit of Bucks clothing - in particular his trousers, but in his tops as well, how we've seen his clothing seemingly shrink and become to tight, right through to ill fitting and slightly oversized clothing.

The wardrobe department have been clearly showing Bucks character growth through the fit of his clothes - to tight and too short in the leg when he's uncomfortable and has outgrown his current situation - playing into the idea that Buck is trying to make himself smaller - make himself fit inside a skin that doesn't really represent or fit him any longer.

Then we've had the other extreme where his clothing is baggy and ill fitting - suggesting he doesn't fit in to the new him he's trying on - it is a perfect way to visually show that Buck is growing but not yet comfortable or at ease with this new version of himself.

His clothing settled into fairly well fitting through the latter half of season 7, and it was really interesting to see which scenes he was dressed slightly oversized or slightly too small in. Interestingly we tend to see clothes being slightly oversized now with Eddie and pushing towards too tight with in Tommy scenes, the ones where there is cross over (such as the greyish brown and light blue vertical stripes which we saw in scenes with both the fire fam and Tommy) we tend to get a good fit.

Right now we're in a period where Buck is the most content within himself that he as been and this brown shirt echoes that. It fits him well and it is a scene which features both Eddie and Tommy. WE know that we're going to see Buck wearing a range of fits of clothing, the up coming golf scene with Gerrard for example has a return of the fit being too tight and too short in the leg- emphasising Bucks discomfort. It will be really interesting to see which way things play out when it comes to costumes soley associated with Tommy, compared with costumes that are connected to Eddie or connected to the wider fire fam. I'm not quite prepared to pin my colours to the mast on this front just yet, but I do think we'll either see a slow shrinkage connected to Tommy and things being sightly oversized when it comes to Eddie - as a way of exploring his diminishing feelings for Tommy and expanding knowledge of his feelings for Eddie, or we'll see the reverse - oversized with Tommy as the relationship starts to run into problems (in much the same way we saw Eddies oversized clothing during his break down in s5 and now again in s8 connecting to Christopher's absence and his struggles with that) and to small with Eddie as a sign Buck no longer fits into the status of their relationship - that his feelings for Eddie don't fit the concept of friend any longer - that they are more than simply friendly.

So yeah - its going to be very interesting to see which way it plays out!

I'm finishing here as I'm already so much later posting this than I intended (thanks tumblr for being a pain and not letting me upload pictures into this post no matter how many times I recreated it - but I won the fight in the end!) hopefully 804's meta won't take so long or be such a technological pain!

I'm not tagging anyone this time as I didn't have time to ask if anyone wanted tagging in my costume metas - so this is your chance - if you'd like to be tagged in future costume metas for s8 - please drop me comment and I'll include you in the 804 meta!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed - its good to be back talking costumes! 💜💜💜

[rogerswifesblog]

For the Christmas bingo:

Steve Rogers, fluff, secret santa

Gift giving

My Masterlist

Thank you for taking part in the Christmas bingo!! ❤️

Summary: Steve’s first Christmas with the Avengers.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Warnings: none, just fluff:)

A/N: First Drabble for the Christmas Bingo! It’s not proof read so please beware, there might be some mistakes…and I’m also a bit rusty😂 feedback and reblogs are appreciated!

You can still use this trope for the bingo:)

It was the first Christmas Steve Rogers spent in the new century.

The first Christmas he would be totally alone, without family, without friends, without…he even felt like it was without Steve Rogers. He was Captain America to everyone. Steve Rogers stayed in the ice, they only pulled Captain America out of the arctic.

And it was depressing.

So it was quite surprising when he found an invitation in his mailbox.

Well, it wasn’t his plan to spend Christmas with Tony Stark, but the invitation said others would also be there-so maybe you’d be there too.

This was probably the only reason why he actually decided to go.

He furrowed his eyebrows as he noticed a QR-code at the back. Someone at a cafe shop had once explained him how it worked-he wanted to find their internet page and the barista made him scan the code to get to it.

A green button appeared on the screen, be a secret Santa. God, what did Tony do? Even without clicking on it, a spinning wheel with the avengers names appeared on the screen.

It spinned for a moment before stopping on a name-well, nickname given by Tony.

It was you.

Steve was your secret Santa.

————

When you entered the main living room (yeah, Tony had multiple living rooms) your gaze fell onto the huge Christmas tree. Even though it was the first time you’d spend Christmas here, it didn’t surprise you a bit to see the to-the-ceiling tree.

Somehow it just screamed Tony. Especially with all the ornaments on it, noticing some avenger themed, too.

A quiet chuckle escaped your lips as you placed a small package underneath the tree.

God, you hoped you had chosen a good present, especially since it had been incredibly hard to get.

————

One by one everyone finally arrived, you sat down at the table, next to Natasha and…Steve. „Hi, nice seeing you here”, you smiled at him, already suspecting it must’ve been hard to come here, spending his first Christmas in this new time.

„Yeah, I’m glad you’re here-I mean, well, nevermind”, he mumbled, blushing furiously and lowering his head. He was still awful when it came to talking to women, especially one that he actually likes. „It's okay Steve. I get it”, feeling a touch on his hand he looked up, but your hand was already gone before he could even react to it.

“Would you-“, yet he couldn’t finish his question since Tony walked into the room, of course bringing everyone’s attention to himself.

The evening went by smoothly, after dinner you watched a movie, drink hot chocolate and sharing some family stories and memories, even Steve said something about how he spent his time back in his time-even though it made you a bit sad and you couldn’t stop yourself from resting your hand on his thigh, soothing.

Then, you parted ways, being tired from the day you went to bed.

_______

JARVIS voice woke you up in the morning, moments after his greeting loud Christmas music played from what felt like everywhere. You knew you had no choice than to get up, sadly.

Still in your pajamas you walked to the living room, after JARVIS told you everyone was supposed to meet there. The first thought that crossed your mind were the gifts, and you were right. Tony sat in one of the loveseats, with Pepper right next to him. Natasha, Bruce and Steve on a bigger sofa, with a free spot next to Steve for you. Thor was in a loveseat by himself.

Everyone was clearly dressed in the clothes they had slept in, Steve still having a messy bed head, the same with Tony. This hair was in a messy low bun, while Bruce seemed to have tried to fix his hair with his hands and Natasha…well, she always looked fabulous even after being awoken by ‘last Christmas’ at 8 am.

“Time for gifts!”, Tony’s voice made you frown, as you sat down next to Steve, hoping you didn’t look like a complete fool with your sleep shirt with the big Captain America shield on the front. But his shit eating grin said something different. “Just-don’t. It’s comfy” “I kinda like it”, he grinned back, leaning a bit closer to you.

Your breath hitched as you looked at him for a moment, before lowering your gaze.

Pepper gave everyone their gifts, since all of them were signed. “Okay, let’s open up. Clint’s gift will have to wait till he comes to visit.”

You raised your eyebrows, looking back at Tony as you held the wrapped box-or whatever it was-in your hands. “Should we unwrap them one by one? And guess who the secret Santa is?”, you asked, but Tony shrugged. “We can still guess after everyone unwraps everything, don’t ya’ think?”

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

So you decided not to discuss anything, especially not at such an early hour.

Your gaze fell to Steve as he was still holding the flat present, watching as others unwrapped their gifts, smiling especially bright when Thor opened a huge carton of pop tarts and a plushy poptart.

As he looked at you, his cheeks flushed a little- “You’re not opening yours?”, it was something between a statement and a question.

“Well, I wanted to watch others open their presents so it’s your turn-“ “ladies first”, Steve retorted, making you chuckle.

So, after losing the discussion with Captain America himself you started unwrapping the gift-your mouth falling open as you took out a wooden sculpture of your pet. Without needing to look up you could still feel Steve’s gaze on you, making you realise it was a gift from him-besides there was a little ‘S.R.’ At the bottom. His initials.

Oh god. It was beautiful.

“You did that?”, you whispered, hugging the sculpture closer to your chest. The sculpture of your recently lost pet. It’s been a few weeks, but the heartbreak was there, deep in your chest. “It’s beautiful. Thank you so much Steve”, you whispered, leaning against his side as you looked down again. It was breathtaking.

Then you looked back at Steve, who still hasn’t opened his gift- “it’s your turn.”

God, you hoped he’d be as happy as you were.

He seemed a bit nervous, still looking into your eyes for a moment, watching as you blinked away the tears, still a bit taken away by the gift.

As he unwrapped the present, his hands shook a little bit. He couldn’t remember the last time he has gotten a gift-and from the way you were staring at him from the side he assumed it was a gift from you.

It was light and small. Maybe some…he couldn’t think of anything that would suit this size and weight. Maybe book? No…not really.

But as soon as he pulled away the paper his movements stopped.

It couldn’t be.

It…it was lost.

There was some water damage at the bottom corner, another corner ripped slightly…but it didn’t change a thing.

The picture was still intact.

One of the few pictures of him with his mom shortly before her death.

Steve felt like he could cry, holding the framed picture tightly in his hand, turning to you and wrapping you into a tight embrace-managing to remember not to squeeze you with his whole strength.

“This is the best thing anyone could give me. Thank you-“ “you don’t know it’s from-“ “I’m not stupid, I can tell it was you…besides I don’t think anyone else would actually find a meaningful gift for me. Thank you…I love-it”, he swallowed at the end, sniffing quietly.

As he leaned back again, his cheeks were flushed-probably because he nearly confessed his feelings to you because of a gift.

He looked once again back at you, feeling your hand wrap around his, your fingers sliding between his, his heartbeat immediately quickening.

“I love my gift too Steve…”

You both knew you weren’t just talking about the gifts.

Thank you for reading! Feedback and reblogs are highly appreciated! It motivates a lot:)

Taglist: @rogersbarber @inlovewithchrisevans

[op3ra]

hands that fix / eyes that shield

fav actresses: there are so many wrench actresses i like!! i haven't seen footage of her but recently maja johansson is my fav visual inspo for her <33 the perf faceclaim honestly

fav ships: oh u know i'm unironically mentally ill about wrench x rusty. i think she deserves softness in the form of the kindest most stubborn idiot she's ever met. that "older workaholic couple learning to love for the first time in many years" dynamic just gets me. i also love dinah x wrench OF COURSE and my besties are massive brained for coming up with that one <333 volta x wrench and joule x wrench also favs

headcannons: she used to be a steam crane before converting herself to a diesel hydraulic crane. she's self propelled so she's pretty fast and can't race behind an engine in partner races since she's classed as one herself. she's been a dedicated race medic and trainer her entire life, and is highly sought after by professional racers. inbetween racer contracts she works as a standby medic for races. hasn't dated in decades because she prioritizes her career and is thrilled to have found herself a partner who is cool never being her first priority and values independence. repaired and brought joule to life and is incredibly fond of her <3 owns two robocats who live with rusty. constantly feels cold due to a fluke in her conversion. is the only train to have done her own conversion with her own hands. instead of dreaming when asleep she runs maintenance on her code. has misophonia and major depressive disorder. convinced she doesn't know how to be vulnerable or loveable. krupp is her oldest friend and has worked with her many times before they both got hired by electra. big enjoyer of different teas. is a crazy workaholic. has triangular pupils which nobody knows the explanation behind. has seen her fair share of death and suffering as a trackside emergency responder. has an innate need to look put together to other people at all times even when she's struggling. knows how to fight and will fight to protect her loved ones (the components). rough and blunt on the outside. gift giving and acts of service are her love languages. doesn't really have a home because she's traveling with electra so often. there's more but this is a huge wall of text already

opinion: i don't like it when men cover her tbh let androgynous women be women. luuk hartog is the only exception bc he's so damn good at her makeup

[chaotic-cheese-blog]

Dialtown Music AU

Akin to my Dancetown AU, but with instruments instead of dances

Randy- Sooo ukulele coded to me. Kinda pathetic, kinda fits with the vibe of his cheap tropical vacation theme. Incredibly embarrassed that *that* is the instrument he plays

Karen- Marimba? I was going to say karimba because of the alliteration, but marimba fits better, methinks. She's a percussion girlie to me. Dabbles in piano

Oliver- Honestly I struggle with him. He feels like an omnicord kinda guy, but probably also knows how to play ocarina and otamatone, and also owns a kazoo. *Really* wants to learn the saw, but hasn't gotten around to it

Gingi- Creechur *cannot* play at all, but has a broken trumpet and a kazoo for some ungodly reason, and makes it everyone's problem

Bigfoot- The triangle. I will not explain myself.

That or bass guitar, nice and low, but still a banger

Norm- harmonica because every exiled cowboy knows harmonica, it's the law. Also plays guitar, he feels like an acoustic guitar guy. Probably tried making his own in exile and whether he succeeded or not is up for debate

Roger- he's a tuba man, to me. I will also accept the trombone. That or piccolo flute

Fabron- French horn, exclusively because of the joke. Or saxophone, because that's also funny to me

Peter- Clarinet? He looks like he plays clarinet (also because his wife's name is Caroline, and he plays the Clarinet- What do you mean having one letter in common isn't enough for the bit to work? Fock you)

In general I think that the plant worker use almost only metal/brass instruments, because that gives them that factory feel

Shooty and Stabby- they are canonically jazz musicians in their free time, so I like to headcanon that one of them plays the trombone, and the other plays saxophone.

Mingus- The regal, funnily enough (it's basically a portable organ) bc I like the name and I think it fits her well. Also plays the actual organ. It fits her grand demeanour to me

Tango- he looks like he plays violin, maybe. I don't know why I think that, but he has the look of a violinist

Little Billy- are explosions an instrument? Tchaikovsky thought so, and Billy is inclined to agree (as if the little shit knows anything about classics)

Callum Crown- Grand Piano. His metal fingers were a bit clunky for the keys, but the other hand was nimble enough to make up for it, I headcanon it was one of the first things he did when he built his hand (also, it's good practice, to get used to his new appendage)

Jerry- Viola or cello, I could be convinced either way. Idk why man, it's just vibes. Or maybe he started with cello, and it was a massive pain to carry around with a lack of accommodations, and realised he also liked viola, so he keeps his cello at home unless someone can take it for him, and uses viola in his everyday

Hobo/god- He will tell you he can't play shit, but he is LYING because he can't be bothered to put in the effort. He can play lute, harp and lyre like a true bardic geezer (I'll even let him know bagpipes, for Dogman's sake), and rather well at that (granted, he's a bit rusty, could do with a couple of warm ups, but it's still good enough) if you catch him in a good mood (proper drunk, but not drunk enough to forget how hands work) and provide him with the instrument, he *might* play you a little ditty

Theoroar- Accordion (as propositioned by k4nd1d3ntur3z, I agree that it fits him really well)

Bunny- Piano, (as propositioned by Riz, AKA #1 Abelbunny Fan) he does indeed feel like a piano playing bitch (I say as someone who used to play piano)

Abel- The triangle (once again propositioned by Riz, AKA #1 Abelbunny Fan) he wouldn't make the effort to learn something new after quitting violin, and he really doesn't want to get involved

[songhunter]

trans allegory in mystic fragrance and forbidden rain

aka: the essay no one asked for

Content warnings for: Discussions of homophobia and transphobia, and brief mentions of suicide.

If you guys have any other comments on this topic (especially KnightsPs, I'm an UNDEADP so I'm less familiar with their lore) please comment or rb or drop an ask or anything! I love talking. It's also been a hot minute (3 or 4 years) since I last took an English class so my analysis is a little rusty.

Part 1: UNDEAD's "Monster" and Queerness

Every UNDEAD song (with one exception) has the same premise — the singers are the impure, immoral monsters who are singing to a pure, human audience. There are two genres of UNDEAD song:

“I’m a monster seducing you into the darkness, give into your desires because I know that secretly you want it too” — Immoral World, Savage Love Affair, etc.

“I’m a monster and I’m so badass” — Darkness 4, Nightless World, etc.

Darkness 4 lyrics, translation by Shirayukin on Fandom wiki.

The “monster” in UNDEAD’s music is shorthand for anyone that exists outside of a pure society. By joining the monsters, you become tainted and can't return to society, but that’s the only way you can possibly live as your authentic self. In this way, the "darkness" is a safe space that these monsters have created for themselves.

This is, of course, a reference to Rei and how he feels ostracized from society -- the whole reason why Koga began UNDEAD was as a message to Rei that if Rei felt like a monster, he shouldn't roll over and die, but live with them as an undead. However, the concept of the queer monster is incredibly applicable imo. Historically, lots of villains in horror media were queer-coded as a way of eliciting disgust or a fear response, as a way of making its villain seem strange and, well, queer. (Oh, no! Look at all these horrible people ruining life for the law-abiding families!) The link between queerness and horror has been analyzed to death.

But queer people also love the misunderstood monster who's shunned by "proper" society. The gothic novels that originated the horror genre in the 1800s, like Dracula or the Picture of Dorian Grey, were written by queer authors and/or contained scores of queer themes. Do I need to go into why werewolves, shapeshifters who had to go deep into the woods to hide their wolf form, can be read as queer? Do I need to go into why Frankenstein, someone abandoned by his own creator and shunned by society by the nature of his existence alone (something out of his control), can be read as queer? Do I really need to go into why the modern-day vampire is queer? Vampires? Of course queer people will love these monsters, because they see themselves in the monsters, more so than the victims. (Also, nothing more in line with the queer experience than seeing a monster and going “ngl they're kinda hot actually.”)

In summary: It's very easy to read UNDEAD songs and UNDEAD's conceptualization of the "monster" through a queer lens. The monster is queer, and the monster welcomes you into the darkness and invites you to also give into your desire to live freely.

Immoral World lyrics, translation by Mandy on Fandom wiki.

Also, shout out the love you tried to hide, huh? Show me your truth? Show me your pride?

Dude.

Dude.

Sidenote: The one exception to this “monster” theme is of course the elephant in the room, Sustain Memories. I think it plays well into UNDEAD’s image — at least in !-era, Rei, Adonis, and Koga have always been the monsters, while Kaoru is the human that joined them (see: their Halloween costumes in !-era). So Kaoru doesn’t sing of monsters, he sings of a human love. There's also something to be said about Kaoru being the one member of UNDEAD who tried so desperately to appear cishet and experience a "normal" love in !-era. But also, it's a wedding song because the anime boys look cute when they sing about weddings.

Part 2: What about Forbidden Rain?

Here's the thing about UNDEAD's other monster songs -- they're always proud of being monsters. They're not ashamed, and they want the audience to join them in their freedom.

Forbidden Rain lyrics, translation by @/snaketaper on Twitter.

On the other hand, the singer in Forbidden Rain sees themselves as a "beast" who can never be forgiven, someone who's slowly poisoning their pure lover. They love them so much that they apparently have to let go of them, for their own sake. It's the first song that actually contains references to genuine love (usually UNDEAD is just horny).

The song remains sort of ambiguous about the nature of the relationship between the singer and the audience. It's clear that the audience does actually care for the singer, since they do reach out a "gentle hand" that the singer can't take. But the singer says, "Let's end this thing that never even began" -- are they even together in the first place? Maybe it never began because they were scared of the "beast." Or maybe it never truly began because the relationship was built on a lie. They sing about a beast inside them that they have to hide, and says that their current self -- the one they show to the audience -- is a fake. And this is something that cannot be forgiven.

It's not hard to read this in the context of queerness. Maybe it's about a gay singer who doesn't want to reveal their feelings and tarnish a platonic relationship. Or maybe it's a trans singer who's wracked with guilt at keeping their identity under wraps and hasn't come out to their heterosexual lover, so they want to break off things before they come out and taint their previous relationship.

In Love & Beast, the "source material" behind Forbidden Rain, Inogari (Adonis' character) is soft-spoken, protective, and kind. He saves the main police character in the very first scene. He's an ambassador and a respected enough member of society that he's part of the Sakurayama (Rei's character) social club. He uses "watashi," which is even more polite than Adonis' "ore." He literally faints at the sight of blood. He's the picture of innocence and goodness and all that society approves of. But in a Jekyll and Hyde-like twist, he ends up secretly being the killer Beast. In the end, the Beast is finally caught when Inogari realizes the truth and chains himself to a wall so he can be caught by the police in an act of sacrifice.

Inogari is the picture of propriety, but he keeps the Beast repressed, and eventually this Beast destroys him. Even if you try your best to act as part of proper society, you'll never really fit in.

Silent Oath lyrics, translation by royalquintet on Fandom wiki.

Another note: Forbidden Rain has a lot of the same themes of self-sacrifice, repression, and pure, romantic love that Knights songs do. Knights, in game, is a much more traditional idol unit than UNDEAD is. Forbidden Rain thus attempts to align itself more closely with the socially acceptable Knights, but it's still an UNDEAD song at its core. The monster is inescapable.

Part 3: Mystic Fragrance and Trans Allegory

This thread by @/pretty5P on twitter (https://x.com/pretty5p/status/1625958198623539200?s=46&t=lm_x5Uw5f8pKXHUoLzYksw) is a really cool analysis on the perfume symbolism in the song and how it relates to Arashi's gender identity (go read it!!), but if you don’t want to give Elon Musk ad revenue, the gist of it is this: Odette is her "masculine" initial impression, the impression others have of her, and the impression that fades most quickly. Odile is her lasting "feminine" self and the true self that remains when the top notes fade away.

Over the course of the song, the singer (Odette/Odile) grows more and more tainted, going from a pure white dress to a multicolored rainbow dress to a pitch black dress. The final perfume note is desire, the desire to live as themselves, the desire to be with the person they love.

Mystic Fragrance lyrics, translation by KYM2020 on Fandom wiki.

While the song does focus on a pure romantic love, just like Knight's songs, the symbolism of wanting to be Odile is far more similar to UNDEAD's monster. The idea of a "hidden desire" lying in wait beneath pure feelings is explored in almost every song, as is the symbolism of a dress that gets tainted by desire:

Savage Love Affair lyrics, translation by Nina on Fandom wiki.

And just like UNDEAD songs, the "tainting" of the pure is never presented as a bad thing. Note the references to the moon in both -- it's only in the dead of night, in a midnight ballroom, that one can "spread their wings" and reveal their true self. The darkness, the space of monsters, is a safe space, and in the light of the truth-seeking moon the singer of Mystic Fragrance says that their audience is beautiful.

In the original Swan Lake ballet, Odette is a beautiful woman who falls in love with Prince Siegfried. She's cursed to transform into a swan in the daytime, a curse that can only be broken if someone who has never sworn their love to anyone swears their love to her (in other words, someone untainted). Unfortunately, the evil sorcerer who cursed her turns his daughter into Odile, the black swan who looks identical to Odette, and Siegfried mistakenly confesses his love to her. Knowing that the curse can never be broken, Odette throws herself into the lake rather than live the rest of her life as a swan, and Siegfried joins her.

Mystic Fragrance isn't tragic, however.

Part 4: Living your truth

The endings of Forbidden Rain and Mystic Fragrance are where they differ. Both of their source endings are tragic — Inogari is unable to control the Beast and shackles himself to a wall, waiting to be arrested. Odette and Siegfried leap into a lake and drown themselves, because the only way they can be together is in death. Forbidden Rain ends with the singer holding their loved one close to them one last time in the rain before they leave.

But Arashi rejects her source material because she chooses to embrace the monster. She becomes Odile. She decides to live her truth, and as the top notes and heart notes fade away, all that lingers is her true self. That's why Mystic Fragrance has a happy ending.

There's a lot of symbolism in the Mystic Fragrance music video with respect to the person who loved Arashi during the war era and who killed themselves. She spreads her arms like the wings of an angel and sings in front of a setpiece that looks like the cenotaph. Her outfit contains anemones, symbols of a lost love and grief (and, coincidentally, the flower that Adonis in greek myth turned into when he died). Her greatest regret was that that person couldn't love themselves the way Arashi now tries to love herself. In this way, Mystic Fragrance is like a message to that person -- live your truth.

[kyber-crystal]

Okay bestie how about Christmas HCs where Obi-Wan is spending Christmas with you and your strange family ❤️

HI YES OKAY

also i'm so sorry if my writing seems off, i'm lwk rusty from not having written anything in a FAT minute. anyway enjoy some festive obi-wan!!

you and obi-wan were born on complete opposite ends of the galaxy, on different planets

this meant different cultures, different traditions, different ways of life

obi-wan doesn't remember much of his childhood—he can barely recall who his family was and only has a few fading memories of them���while you remember your loved ones in great detail

so when he hears you talk about your family and sees how your face lights up when you do, it's very bittersweet for him

now, life day (i believe this is christmas in star wars terms lol) is quickly approaching but you had been too busy throwing yourself into teaching an introductory sparring class for the younglings, along with your personal training, to realize it

if it were up to master windu's doing you wouldn't be getting as long of a break

but it's master yoda in charge here, and he grants you a long weekend to rest—which you and obi are incredibly grateful for as you've gotten a combined 6 hours of sleep in the past 3 days

(pathetic, you know...especially when it's drilled into your heads from day 1 of being in the temple that rest is the key to a happy, fulfilling life)

your family stories are always filled with lots of laughter, vibrant colors, and more love and compassion than he could even describe

so when you invite him to come to your home planet with you he's obviously excited

though outwardly he expresses how he feels a bit nervous

they've all heard about your best friend and wise master, but have never spoken to him in person

"it'll be fine, trust me! i have a big family but i promise you they're the nicest people you'll ever meet."

so he agrees, and you fly out that following morning

you can tell he's nervous as you get to the front door

so you intertwine your fingers together, giving his hand a squeeze

it's your silent way of telling him it's going to be just fine :)

and your family instantly LOVES him

of course, you're first bombarded with the classic "are you two married?" "when's the wedding?" "y/n, this is the first time you've brought a man back home!" "he's so handsome!" and whatnot

meanwhile, obi stands there with flushed cheeks...

the older women of the family—your mother, godmother, grandmothers, aunts, etc—instantly love him since he offers to help you out in the kitchen

in the meantime, you sit in the living room with your siblings, cousins, and the rest of the men

"where is the ring on your finger, y/n?" your favorite uncle asks you. he has this GIANT grin on his face and he's wearing THAT "ugly sweater" with a pink loth cat on it

ever since you got it for him, he's made it a yearly tradition to put it on at every holiday gathering

so it's hard to not laugh at first when you're trying to respond

"uncle ted, you know jedi can't get married!"

"who said you had to follow the rules?" he raises a brow at you and you laugh again

"y/n," your dad adds on, "he's right. you should be getting married soon..."

"but the jedi code!"

"it's not a crime if they don't find out, right?" your oldest cousin, cal, says

...and all the men murmur a "yep" or "touche" at that

obi wan catches part of this conversation and comes over, "who's marrying who?"

"she's marrying you!" your younger sister, layla, exclaims with a giggle

and now it's time for both you and obi to get extremely flustered

"SORRY," you quietly tell obi in your mind. "my family can get a bit...chaotic."

"it's okay, don't worry about it," and he smiles at you

while you're eating dinner, you catch him looking around the room—at your family, the eccentric decorations on the fridge and walls (courtesy of layla, cassie, and cal), the most stunning tree standing tall in the corner, the golden stockings with hand-stitched names of each cousin hung above the crackling fireplace—and your heart swells with warmth

in all his years of living so far, obi-wan has never felt so much at home as he has now, with you by his side

even amidst the chaos of the day, he tells himself he wouldn't want to be anywhere else, & he means it

later, you're making gingerbread houses together (apparently obi has never heard of this tradition before, so you take it upon yourself to teach him all about it)

but despite knowing little about it, he ends up making the best house out of everyone

you come in close at 3rd place, though you're sure your house is only one breath from falling apart

there's frosting all over your hands

and on your chin, apparently, but obi wipes it away with a quick sweep of his thumb

the longing look in both your guys' eyes doesn't go unnoticed by the rest of your family

long after everyone has gone to bed for the night, you stay by the fireplace together with glasses of warm milk on the coffee table in front of you

"you're really lucky, you know," he tells you. "to have a family you can remember and spend time with when you can."

"i really am..." you agree, "but obi-wan, you're always welcome to come over. my family loves you. i know it's only been a day but they already want you to be a part of the family."

(neither of you realize that he's taken ahold of your hand and started to gently brush over your ring finger)

and just around 4 short months later, you wake up one morning to find a sapphire ring on that exact finger

"just so you know, i'm saying yes," you squeeze his shoulder before going off to continue with the rest of your day

(how the council doesn't suspect anything, you have no idea. but you're grateful for it lmao)

ok i'm so sorry idk what i was doing with the ending there but I HOPE YOU ENJOYED &&&& merry christmas & happy holidays!!!'

tags (once again, this list hasn’t been updated in a while so apologies if it seems off haha): @voguesir @fl0ating @lady-elena-adeline @katelynnwrites @freeshavocadoooo @buckysbeloved @kelieah @kaleidoscope1967eyes @lam-ila @amelia-song-pond @unstablecaffeinatedmind @elenavampire21 @joyfullyswimmingface @arkofblake @hellotherekenobi

[miraculousmaker]

Alrighty. Magnus Protocol 1. Here we go.

this will be SPOILERS, fyi.

So, already, we’ve got someone referencing only needing social media drama and coffee to live. I’m keeping my EYE on that, wink wink.

Backwards compatible. Haha.

Oh god they’re playing into our hunger for found family. This is a punch in the teeth by Rusty Quill, i swear to god.

Something automatically turning on to spy on important conversations, as usual.

“What sort of incidents?” “…you’ll see.”

The arbitrary filing system, back at it again. I absolutely love how convoluted the Freddie system already is.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

‘Automatic reading’, ‘started a year ago’, I’m about to cry.

Dangly gray haired old man balls.

Also, in case you weren’t aware, if the ‘really old text to speech’ starts pausing and using inflection, IT’S NOT TEXT TO SPEECH.

Omg this series is going to give me an aneurysm, this is great.

Anglerfish sort of monster for the first ep again!!?? Bc it drew the person in instead of just toyed around like a not-them would have. The entities are probably going to be slightly different, but still!!

More inter office drama, and we are always privy to it. This is going to be great.

My guy learned German just to figure out some old source code and I’m /not/ supposed to find him incredibly endearing? He sounds so done with everything and I love him.

The way I almost started crying when our favorite eldritch man started talking through a computer, in an alternate world, ABOUT THE INSTITUTE. I’m really hoping there’s going to be a point where our guys escape the computers bc if not I will claw their eyes out and feast on them.

VICTORIAN ASYLUM vibes in the burnt down institute?????

Strange symbols, eh?? Also, all the papers being gone is just such an obvious point that I’m not even going to address it.

EYES??? THE SPELUNKER’S EYES??? MAGNUS BRO IS STILL AROUND, OR SOMEONE SIMILAR???

What is it with people reconnecting with exes over incomprehensible horrors? Is that common in the UK?

Aw Colin, no need to be freaked out. Sure, they’re feeding off of the ‘incidents’, but they’re sort of like annoying flies.

This is going to be great. It feels like coming home after years of hopelessness. Even though I’ve only been ‘in’ for the past few months, this is… life.

[deke-rivers-1957]

Least favourite elvis characters

Good question anon.

Since I haven't fully analyzed all of his movies yet, I'm just gonna the characters from favorite to least favorite for movies I did review.

1: Jodie Tatum

I'm sure some of you are as shocked as I am that this almost universally panned film gave me the best Elvis character so far. Jodie when you really look at his character is the perfect main character to have in an Elvis movie. As much as I typically despise the cocky, womanizing jock type character, Jodie managed to have all of those character traits and not be annoying. Just by looking at his scenes alone you can write a completely new movie where he's the main character and you would have a significantly better movie. Everything you need to write a movie about a young man learning to become humble and set aside his differences with someone he doesn't stand for the purpose of achieving a common goal of uniting two worlds through marriage is right there. Saying that a side character genuinely deserves their own movie more than the actual main character is the ultimate compliment.

2: Deke Rivers

It was so hard to pick between my number 1 and number 2. As much as I love Deke as a character, unless you want to write about him before the events of the movie or expand on what happened during the movie, Deke doesn't have that much potential for a story. His character arc is complete and he went through the most change out of any Elvis character. There just isn't really that much left to his story where you go "I want to see a sequel and see what happens next."

3: Scott Heyward

This is the best character writing out of all of the cheap to make era Elvis films so far. Scott has actual depth by not wanting to use nepotism to get everything he wants in life. Scott acknowledges that he's in fact privileged but doesn't use that as an excuse to lord over the lower classes. As much as he admittedly doesn't understand having to make a dollar stretch and wanting to have a comfortable lifestyle, he doesn't shame Dianne for doing what she does. The only thing keeping him from being #1 is that it seems out of character for him to want to be with Dianne on a romantic level since she's actively doing the one thing he wanted to get away from. Unless we have a character arc explaining what changed, it just doesn't make sense.

4: Walter Gulick

I admit that Walter doesn't have much of a character arc. But that doesn't matter to me, because the appeal of his character is his relationships with others. He's in the cynical world of boxing, but still has a wholesome outlook on life. Watching him interact with the done with life New Yorkers is incredible. Even though he knows they look at him strangely, he still has a high level of respect for not only the men but also women. It's honestly incredible that Walter isn't once tempted to be with anyone but Rose. Just a wholesome character with a good moral code and shows that not every character needs to have a significant flaw to be interesting.

5: Vince Everett

As much as I find him unlikeable, I think his character has a lot of fanfic potential. Seeing this otherwise everyday man's fall from grace, become one of the hottest artists in America then suffer a possibly career ending, life-threatening injury is such a wild ride. You can easily write introspective stories on why he became a jerk, how he felt when he though he lost everything, and see if his relationship with Peggy will work out.

6: Rusty Wells

Definitely a dark horse of an Elvis character. I wasn't expecting to like him as much as I did. In the first half I thought he was just going to be somewhat of a Tulsa. But once he got in a bar fight with drunken frat boys just to keep Valerie out of trouble, he immediately became way more interesting. The face he makes when one of his band mates ask him about Valerie is so telling. He genuinely cares about Valerie's well-being. And watching the process of seeing this flirtatious man genuinely fall in love and want to stay in a committed relationship is a pretty good character arc for a cheap to make beach film.

7: Clint Reno

I would've been perfectly fine with his character but the last 20 minutes of the movie or so has him go completely off the rails. Him losing his mind about Cathy potentially cheating on him can work as long as it's written well. Given his perceived age there's plenty of ways you can write this concept that shows a different side of Clint without making him completely switch to the "villains" side.

8: Charlie Rogers

Had all the potential of being a great character yet the writers completely dog on him. As much as he has flaws, I genuinely couldn't care because everyone else in his movie were much, much worse. Him wanting to go back to the carnival makes no sense because of how terrible he was treated. I think if done well he can be an interesting character.

9: Glenn Tyler

As much as I like the backstory and think he has the potential of being an amazing character, I don't think his story was handled well. Some of the decisions that he made don't feel like they fit with his character. He doesn't really love a lot of room to write introspective stories since we already have a full idea of why he's the way he is.

10: Mike Edwards

I really like his dynamic with Sue-Lin. It adds a level of depth that makes an otherwise generic nice guy interesting. Even though he doesn't have a character arc, the conflict that he's put in is so engaging. This conflict doesn't end with him learning a lesson, but it allows him to show a different skillset that otherwise wouldn't exist. I still believe that his romance plot with Nurse Warren wasn't necessary but at least it still shows how not everyone who goes through an unexpected conflict end up having a complete transformation.

11: Tulsa McLean

Tulsa is just a generic main character. He does have some comedic moments where he's sassy with his superior officer and "Tiger". Him being of Native American descent and having a lot of experience with women doesn't really add anything to his character. At least he does have a specific goal and the romance he has with Lili gives him an interesting conflict.

12: Rick Richards

I just don't think he's a memorable character. The conflict he faces is a result of his own actions but it really doesn't matter because he doesn't learn anything. His romance is so much of an afterthought that they don't even kiss until the very end. We get more of a focus on the people he used to be with than focusing on him overcoming that past. You get more invested in the Hawaiian background and the Polynesian Culture Center than you do with him.

13: Josh Morgan

The most boring Elvis character. His only goal isn't even his own: it's the Air Force who wanted him to go to the mountain. We don't learn anything about him outside of his distant relation to the Tatum family. His romance with Azalea doesn't give us any interesting dynamics and just feels pointless. He is a completely nothing character to the point where he shouldn't even be a main character.

[ru5t]

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑶𝑼𝑻𝑳𝑰𝑵𝑬.

for sanity's sake, dustverse only answers, but if you want answers for any of her aus you can rattle me and i'll do it again with the shifts

origins + family.

full name:  as far as the zones are concerned, it's Techno Havoc (or, more sparingly, Miss Magpie); it's not very hard to overhear her brother call her Maddy but repeating that is a really bad idea

date of birth: 5 may

age: middle 20s somewhere

social class: middle in the city; she's arguably kind of recognizable in the zones depending on which circles you move in, which is zones-culture version of being higher on the proverbial ladder, but there's not really a class system out there

parents: Mayhem Maker/Adrienne Magson (mother, deceased); Scott Magson (father, estranged); Merit (biological father, unknown to her)

siblings:  Jack (half brother); Pedal sort of??? (biologically her cousin, but was raised by her biological father- listen it's. it's involved. it just depends how you wanna view things. ig it's kind of moot though because she doesn't know pedal atp....ANYWAY)

physical + appearance.

height: 5'2"

weight: under what it should be, she struggles to put weight on

distinguishing features: scar through her right brow probably the most distinguishing, the scar on her chest maybe the most disturbingly obvious, but there's others (top of right shoulder, outside of her left thigh, on her left arm, her knees, her hands, etc. etc.)

hair color: naturally rusty red, typically dyed california poppy orange with at least one streak of neon green

eye color: amber / tawny brown / gold / whatever you want to call that

what do they consider their best feature?: if you asked her this directly i don't think she'd be able to answer you but from my all-seeing position i think it'd be something that isn't technically a feature so much as a skill which is that she is ambidexterous, or maybe that she runs fast s;dlkgfj;lsdkgfj; she... does not put a lot of thought into her body in terms of whether or not it's appealing to look at

style of dress/typical outfit(s): a little tiny bit tomboyish, a little punk/grunge inspired except in brighter colors, many pockets, [common outfits here]

jewelry? tattoos? piercings?: she has her ears double pierced! no tattoos (yet?), and often wears woven and beaded bracelets, preferably with beads made of wood or plastic, she's not big on metals

do they work out/exercise?: as a distinct activity, no, but every day of her life is effectively a workout so,,,,

belief +  intellect.

level of self esteem: broadly speaking i'd say it runs under what a distinctly healthy margin would be, she does a lot of second-guessing of herself, but she's prone to fits of like... she has cocky moments, and when other people question her capability suddenly she's little miss egomaniac of the year

known languages: english, slangy zone-spanish, she reads but cannot speak some scattered japanese; fully capable in multiple coding languages which is not really a communication language exactly but goes here anyway i feel

gifts/talents: prodigiously gifted electronics engineer and programmer until they drove her a little bit crazy. she's still above-average incredible but probably could have been scarily untouchable had things gone differently.

how do they deal with stress?: in whatever way it takes to survive it. she's... an interestingly effective compartmentalizer, in the sense that she can put things into systems and categories and etc. in a way that makes them endurable, however her version of enduring is. different, i think, than what many people's perceptions of effectively handling something would be... if that makes sense(?). also she gets weirder (more likely to space out and dissociate and say things that aren't for you and that are fragments of her constantly-making-associations-and-doing-math thought process) and also. she gets bitey-er.

what do they do when upset?: angry-upset tech is a Shouting Match expert, and sometimes the arguments are even good ones. fearful-upset tech is a runner. hurt-upset tech is a pouter with the biggest wettest how-could-you-est eyes. triggered-upset tech is going to say anything, everything, but especially what she thinks is going to scare/wound someone enough to back off, nothing is off the table, no line is too far to cross. (until she's already over it and no longer as upset as when she crossed it and now she has Regrets)

do they believe in happy endings?: she. would like to.

how do they feel about asking for help?: depends on what she needs help with and who she'd have to ask to get it.

optimist or pessimist: weird sort of spiteful optimist.

extrovert or introvert: on a sliding scale i do actually think she might... fall closer to extrovert? by some margin? but there's. tl;dr it's just not clean cut.

leader or follower: follower.

makes decisions based mostly on emotions, or on logic?: entirely dependent on what exactly needs a decision. there are times when she's incredibly capable of taking a big step back from things and looking at -and solving them- like puzzles, at other times she can't see around her big big feelings and at others she just. gets overwhelmed by those feelings and can't even make decisions.

spontaneous or planner: planner. her in-the-moment decisions can often be impulsive but she's often thinking about eventualities and possibilities and there are many things that she has. varying levels of serious plans (and sometimes even like, hidden resources etc.) for. not to invoke doomsday preppers but maybe she's got a few little hidden caches of things, what about it.

organized or messy: messy-organized. it's a system (usually), it's not neat and tidy in any sense of the word. things go where they go, don't move anything (no, not even so you can walk across the room without stepping on stuff.)

worrier or carefree: lol. lmao. (worrier.)

artistic?: not... especially? she's got some artistic expression in her clothing and arguably in the way she makes her machines, but she doesn't fit the general perception of being Artistic™

mathematical?: very. it's hard for me to write sometimes because i am not particularly mathematical as a default setting, so i usually end up relying on analogies and figurative language that explains the concepts as i best understand them instead of strictly literal or expressly functional descriptions of her computing and engineering. luckily for me she's also an odd little bug so explaining explaining a particular computer system via You Know How Clouds Pick Up Lakes To Make Rain? is very at home in her dialogue and internal monologue.

sex + intimacy.

current marital/relationship/sexual status: she has. well it's some kind of relationship with the Kobra Kid (but not just any concept of him specifically the one my friend wrote who i have. assimilated into the version of him i now write (@hittheredline)) but it's not an exclusive or traditional relationship it's. just definitely Something. i accidentally wrote myself into shipping her with another of my own OCs as well but it was so completely accidental. also sometimes i talked with my friend about shipping her with Lith (her best friend) but i don't know how serious that ever was or if it was more of a queerplatonic thing or what.

sexual orientation (is it something they question or a secret): asexual, biromantic. it's arguably more grey-sexual? but that's under the umbrella and she's not exceptionally pressed about putting a hyper-specific definition on anything other than "don't fucking touch me unless i give you permission." it's decidedly not a secret, the zones are Very queer.

views on sex (one night stands, promiscuity, etc): her views are less views and more... personal dynamic with sex? and it's. complicated. she's not repulsed by it on principle, or ashamed of her experiences, but it is very adjacent to Many of her triggers and some other generally sensory stuff and she's got disorganized attachment and it's just. it's a lot. she has No opinion on what other people are doing with their sex lives.

ever been in love?: unclear! (yes)

do they fall in love easily?:  no.

do they desire marriage and/or children in their future?: absolutely not to both.

thoughts on public displays of affection?: she's very socially conscious, both in terms of people being near her and in terms of the amount of attention she's generating, and isn't the biggest fan of said attention, so she's not... exceptionally prone to them? unless somebody is playing jealously games in which case she has been known to .. for lack of better terminology stake her claim. it doesn't take a lot to fluster and lowkey embarrass her in this regard and she'll always do some amount of protesting but also. it's kind of a good flustered and a good embarrassed and she maybe secretly likes the other person being the one who does the public gestures that other people can see. one of those things where she'll go "stop" but doesn't actually mean it. if you can somehow get her anxious brain to scale down and she's not even thinking about whether or not other people are looking (difficult, but possible) then she's just all happy warm melty about it.

how do they show affection/love to their partner?: lots of preferential treatment, except. not always in the most obvious ways? she is capable of being really sweet and earnest in a way that disarms people i think, but that's a high vulnerability state and it's more likely to get a bite-y version of her that's Distinct from when she's being mean to be mean (flirty-mean.) she will commit crimes for you! you might not have even asked her to. she might not tell you about it. she will try so hard, very hard so desperately, to keep you Safe, even in ways that you wouldn't like. the rest are ultra super private it would be unfair to go around airing out.

relationships.

social habits (popular, loner, some close friends, makes friends and then quickly drops them): she perceives herself as a loner who doesn't quite know how to interact with people and will, especially in times of distress, demand various levels of distance and independence, but i do think she's actually pretty social. (far more than her brother, in fact.) she's definitely got a shorter list of like, close/highly trusted individuals, but her overall network of friends and allies and friendly-enoughs and aquaintences and she-doesn't-know-it-but-they're-really-fond-of-her's is ...quite large. she's often convinced that even if she could make herself a more stationary kind of person that people would get sick of her. i think most of her contacts would be happy to have her around, even though she is rather temperamental.

how do they treat others (politely, rudely, keep at distance, etc)?:  broadly, kept at various levels of distance. it takes a lot for her to open up — rather it takes very specific key moments of revelation. which sometimes come naturally and easily and quickly close the distance. (even more or less instantly, in some cases.) but most of the time getting to all these kind of key moments takes time and/or effort (and/or her orchestrating them coming around as a test but that's a thing that needs its own post) and it's. a process. she is, usually, at least vaguely friendly-leaning when encountering new strangers -no reason to make an enemy for no reason- but it doesn't necessarily take a lot for her to get rude, snappish, or decide she doesn't like your vibe. her snap judgements aren't final but they sure can snap, sometimes. and her close contacts aren't safe either - if anything being safer means seeing more of her honest edges, and not just the stay-away-i-don't-need-you edges.

confront or avoid conflict?: depends entirely on the nature of the conflict. behold my daughter, the walking contradiction. she'll run from everything. also she'll fight anyone. that shit's a coin flip.

secrets.

dreams: i can't figure out if this is supposed to be dreams like ambitions or dreams like the thing that happens when we sleep but the former is ambiguous and the latter is a recurrent thing i have and will continue to write about so. just hang around ig.

greatest fears: hallways and heavy boots and held breaths and doctors and the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark. the Forever of There where the line really never ends and the ends of you don't exist and sparks flicker out, smothered in madness and Empty.

biggest regret: mmm practically speaking probably trusting whatever little bastard of a joy-killer was the one who turncoated and got her hauled in for reEd but i'm not sure.. she actually has any functional memory of who that was/possibly that that's how it happened. i have a hunch that everything right around her capture is still a big blank to her.

what they most want  to change about their current life?: man can BLi just fuckin DIE. (no. it's a company not an individual it's not that simple.) i guess that's not a secret but it is technically the answer to the question so maybe this is just an oddly titled section of questions.

likes + dislikes.

hobbies: putting her nose where it doesn't go. scanning the radios, tinkering with her little nonsense bots (they're little robots that don't have 'a purpose' other than just, being little guys) talking to her cat. she likes to read, any book she can get her hands on.

indoors or outdoors?: outdoors but only in the sense that if she couldn't have access, if she was locked it forever, it would it end her (vs. being on the move permanently would be survivable. difficult, and often painful, but still.)

favorite color: gotta be the greens. the orange is very Her right, i'm not arguing and she wouldn't argue that, it just Fits it just Is. california poppy orange, little orange cat. but the bright green is what her favorite is, i'm pretty sure.

favorite smell:

favorite and least favorite food: i know that she must have a favorite, if only by the power of some nostalgia memory alone, but i do not currently know what it is. least favorite, obligatory power pup mention.

coffee or tea?: i don't think she's into either. i think tea is more common/available in the zones. ... actually im not sure how accessible coffee is at all that's very much an import/luxury item it's hard to say if the city would be invested in it? this a devolvement risk. anyway both are not her particular choice (a sugary energy drink goblin.)

favorite type of weather: sunny skies with lots of funny fluffy clouds to look at but that don't interrupt the warmth

favorite form of entertainment: reading, i think?

how do they feel about traveling?: if you held her still forever she would explode and die

what sort of gifts do they like?: i don't think i'm allowed to answer this she wants people to figure it out ;dslkfgj;dslkfjg

drugs + alcohol.

thoughts on drugs and alcohol: idk, they're around? doesn't care at all what other people are doing (unless it makes them a threat to her.) has her own complex relationship with the nature of what a drug fundamentally is. she is... a regular but not Habitual™ drinker. genuinely can pass on it without any struggle, just (as a person chronically hypertense) likes the effects of a good rolling buzz when she's trying to have fun.

do they smoke? If so, do they want to quit?: she does, but more as a comfort action that a routine habit. she'll keep them with her but isn't running through the packs, you know? more of a. grounding item/positive trigger to invoke when she's Lost.

have they ever tried other drugs (which, what happened, consequences): involuntarily, so many. voluntarily... actually a few i think? but i haven't properly rattled this thought so i don't know what the experience was like right now i'll have to think about it. i can say— nothing intravenous. no thanks.

do they have any addictions?: nope. related yet unrelated thought that i also need to rattle out better and i think mentioned before but she's got.. a weird thing going on with her level of tolerance/resistance that i'm not sure she fully understands. though to be fair i'm not sure the people responsible for it fully understand what they did to her, either. (if it is anything that happened with intention rather than as a weird side effect, they were probably trying to make her less resistant.)

other details.

most important/defining event in life to date: man. shit's been happening okay?

typical Saturday night: her n her cat and the radio scanner.

what is home like (messy, neat, sparse): where is home? magpie nest.

pets? if not, do they want any?: bestest boy Glitch, the cat who knows to much and may be aware of the fourth wall a little bit dwbi (<- that's a joke i'm joking.)

can they hold their breath for a long time?: survival skill. she can hold hers longer than you probably, but don't ask her to.

do they know how to swim?: nope.

can they cook (if so, how well and do they enjoy it)?: she can... make things that are edible out of the resources she has access to. i dunno that i'd call it cooking, exactly. food and cooking is very much a necessity thing for her, not an enjoyment thing.

[lkfarrout]

What Happened Last Summer (18+) Chapter 10

Last chapter of the main story but there's still more to come :)

Start with Chapter 1 here if you're new and read Chapter 11 next

Enjoy! Thank you to everyone who has stuck through with this series, it's been super encouraging!

“Can I put the code in, Grunkle Ford? I’ve never gotten to do it.”

“Go ahead, Mabel. Do you know it?”

“I think so,” Mabel tiptoed to see the panel on the vending machine in the dim light of the closed gift shop. With a few beeps, the large machine swung open to reveal a passageway, and Stan’s grip on Kathy’s hand tightened slightly. Ford led the way with the small flashlight he always kept in his pocket, with Dipper and Mabel close behind.

“Watch your step, pumpkin.” The light wasn’t quite bright enough to be useful for Kathy and Stan, who brought up the rear. Still, he confidently led her along, as if he knew the passageway like the back of his hand. 

____

“Don’t get too close,” Ford held an arm out in front of the twins, “it still isn’t completely stable.” The sheer enormity of the thing was incredible. Kathy stared in awe at the massive chasm that surrounded her, and the giant triangle that stood as the focal point of it all. Even with chunks missing, and cables strewn about the concrete floor, it was still impressive.

“You built all of this, Stanford?” She asked.

“Hardly,” Ford placed both hands into his coat pockets, “Bill designed it, Fiddleford assembled most of it, and Stanley here perfected it. My job now is just to clean up the mess I started.”

The group fell quiet again as they all gazed around the cold room.

Ford broke the silence once again, “I could use some help, you know, Stanley. Removing some of the larger pieces will require both of us.”

Stan scoffed at him, “Sixer, you got ‘em up there yourself.”

Dipper cleared his throat and stared at Ford, as if to remind him of something they’d previously discussed. The latter sighed, defeated, “And, I suppose things would go faster if you could explain to me a few of those final calculations you did.”

Stan perked up. He slapped a hand onto his twin’s shoulder and leaned an ear in, close to his face. “Sorry, didn't quite catch that. You said you need my help with what?”

“With math,” Stanford rolled his eyes, “I need your help with some math.”

Kathy and the kids giggled.

Stan continued to relish in the moment, “Oh, I know what’s goin’ on. You got me confused with my brother – see, he’s got all these fancy degrees, but I never made it through high school.” He inspected his fingernails casually. “Course, that wasn’t my fault.”

Ford took the hint. “Stanley, I’m sorry I got you kicked out, but I could really use your help. I’m a little… rusty after thirty years.”

Stan slapped his brother playfully between the shoulder blades, “Why didn’t ya say so, Poindexter? Course I’ll help you.”

[canmom]

ffxiv mod project, maybe?

there is a sizable mod scene for FFXIV, which primarily leans on Dalamud, a third party launcher which is able to hook in custom code to the game as it's running. it's crazy impressive, honestly - there's no dev kit because modding is against TOS, and everything about how the game works had to be reverse engineered from the binary.

the maintainers of Dalamud, understandably nervous about the risks of doing something that is against TOS, are pretty strict about what plugins they will distribute with the program. it's mostly limited to things like UI adjustments.

built on top of Dalamud is another layer of mods, particularly model and texture replacers. there's a stack of mods (Penumbra etc.) that set up this functionality, helpfully collected here. they will let you do stuff like replace your character model, replace gear, replace everything really on a per-character basis. of course there are a lot of nude mods, this is a mod scene and this is ffxiv - but i'm struck by the different sensibility that ffxiv players bring. frustrated by the lack of fat body types? you have several few options, plus the ability to scale parts of your character's skeleton to adjust them further. want a fluffier tail on your catgirl? want your character to be trans? someone's probably got you covered! have a look through aetherlink, xivmodarchive, glamour dresser and (of course) nexus mods.

compared to what we had back in the old days of Bethesda modding, it's an incredibly sophisticated system.

the jewel in the crown of all this is Mare Synchronos, which allows you to use mods to customise your character with new models and the like, and then synchronise your modded appearance to other players using a third-party server run by the devs. when you sync with another player, Mare Synchronos will helpfully download those mods into a folder, and set up your client to apply them to that player. so, this lets you have your modded appearance be seen by others, and only with your explicit consent. you can also create 'syncshells' which allow a whole group of players to synchronise; and many RP venues will run a syncshell.

so, naturally having encountered all this, I start thinking - can I make a mod?

as it turns out, Dalamud plugins are written in good old C#. this is the language I use at work in Unity (for now - Rusty days might be on the horizon), so getting started on this should be a piece of cake really. the question is what I want to do with it once I have got stuck in.

my biggest problem with FFXIV as it stands is like, having two characters interact through animation is a total jankfest. if you want to hug someone, you have to carefully line up your character so you're slightly clipping into them, and then hope that you're positioned right so that when your character hugs the air it's kind of around them. if you want to dance together, you need to try starting repeatedly until you happen to sync up.

in general though, getting two characters, whose sizes and positions are unpredictable, to interact in a realtime animation system is a surprisingly difficult problem.

in games like Dark Souls, when you backstab someone, both characters snap into a backstab position until the animation is over. doing this ensures the animation always lines up properly, but it does look a little silly when the enemy abruptly stops moving and slumps into their 'I am being backstabbed now' state.

even if you do this, animation is so finicky that it's easy to mess up. in Warframe, you can have a pet alien cat dog on your spaceship, and like all modern games must, you can pet the dog, which gives you a short cutscene. but even though the game has full control of both you and your dog, often this animation doesn't line up properly and your character will awkwardly wiggle their hand in the air a few feet away from their pet. this is partly because Warframe has to accomodate a huge range of different sizes of character model, but often it seems like the pet just ends up in the wrong place due to some other game system interfering with its placement.

in theory, you could improve on this by modifying the animations in real time using an Inverse Kinematics (IK) system to adjust the animation and make sure a given bone is in a given place. however, IK is more computationally expensive, and it can only go so far.

for an RP system, I think the way it would make sense for this to work is that you would grant another player consent to take temporary control of your character's animations when they play an emote. Then, we can author some specific multi-character animations, such as hugs, handshakes, dancing together, picking a character up off the ground, and so on. (the obvious use for this is ERP but like, there's way more you can do with it.)

to make this work, we send some kind of plausibly deniable signal through the game that the mod is able to pick up, such as a specific string in chat - or alternatively have a side channel like Mare Synchronos does, but using the game would be a lot easier if you can avoid detection. then, on a modded client, the mod would temporarily override your character's animation data to show you the modded animation, and relinquish it afterwards. to unmodded players, there would be no sign of the mod being used.

conceptually it's simple enough; the devil would be in the details. FFXIV players have already figured out how to modify animation data ingame in GPose, so looking at how that's done would be a good starting point. then, we need to load animations, intercept the game's rendering, and override the skeleton data. that's going to take some digging. we also need to figure out the right way to synchronise it and handle network latency. probably using /tell between players is the right way to go about it: the mod could intercept and remove its messages from the log, and noone else would see it. but this problem might have already been solved by other mods. we could also replace the game's existing emotes, e.g. replace hug with a custom hug.

after that, we'd also need to setup a format for loading sets of animation data, and making sure both players have the data to hand. (this could hook into mare synchronos, hopefully). so we'd need a protocol to handshake two modded clients.

along with all that, we'd need some actual animations! I could come up with a bunch, but to really thrive there would need to be an easy way for other animators to create and share their own.

but like this shit is literally my job lmao so I think I can probably figure it out. i'm gonna try and find out where the ffxiv modders hang out - and if I get anywhere with this project, I'll let you know...