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#my web skills are shit
moodycarcass · 8 months
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I should fuck around and find them templates that don't suck for my blogs.
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pinketine · 2 years
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"I don't blame you for being dead, but you can't have your sweater crown back"
Or, Joey missing Xornoth when they weren't quite dead, but may as well have been.
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1. Fool - Cavetown
2. Humility - Gorillaz
3. Smokey Eyes - Lincoln
4. Francis Forever - Mitski
5. Feel Better - Penelope Scott
6. Traitor - Olivia Rodrigo
7. Dissolve - Absofacto
8. Rät - Penelope Scott
9. Francis Forever - Mitski
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absentlyabbie · 5 months
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seriously, though. i work in higher education, and part of my job is students sending me transcripts. you'd think the ones who have the least idea how to actually do that would be the older ones, and while sure, they definitely struggle with it, i see it most with the younger students. the teens to early 20s crowd.
very, astonishingly often, they don't know how to work with .pdf documents. i get garbage phone screenshots, sometimes inserted into an excel or word file for who knows what reason, but most often it's just a raw .jpg or other image file.
they definitely either don't know how to use a scanner, don't have access to one, or don't even know where they might go for that (staples and other office supply stores sometimes still have these services, but public libraries always have your back, kids.) so when they have a paper transcript and need to send me a copy electronically, it's just terrible photos at bad angles full of thumbs and text-obscuring shadows.
mind bogglingly frequently, i get cell phone photos of computer screens. they don't know how to take a screenshot on a computer. they don't know the function of the Print Screen button on the keyboard. they don't know how to right click a web page, hit "print", and choose "save as PDF" to produce a full and unbroken capture of the entirety of a webpage.
sometimes they'll just copy the text of a transcript and paste it right into the message of an email. that's if they figure out the difference between the body text portion of the email and the subject line, because quite frankly they often don't.
these are people who in most cases have done at least some college work already, but they have absolutely no clue how to utilize the attachment function in an email, and for some reason they don't consider they could google very quickly for instructions or even videos.
i am not taking a shit on gen z/gen alpha here, i'm really not.
what i am is aghast that they've been so massively failed on so many levels. the education system assumed they were "native" to technology and needed to be taught nothing. their parents assumed the same, or assumed the schools would teach them, or don't know how themselves and are too intimidated to figure it out and teach their kids these skills at home.
they spend hours a day on instagram and tiktok and youtube and etc, so they surely know (this is ridiculous to assume!!!) how to draft a formal email and format the text and what part goes where and what all those damn little symbols means, right? SURELY they're already familiar with every file type under the sun and know how to make use of whatever's salient in a pinch, right???
THEY MUST CERTAINLY know, innately, as one knows how to inhale, how to type in business formatting and formal communication style, how to present themselves in a way that gets them taken seriously by formal institutions, how to appear and be competent in basic/standard digital skills. SURELY. Of course. RIGHT!!!!
it's MADDENING, it's insane, and it's frustrating from the receiving end, but even more frustrating knowing they're stumbling blind out there in the digital spaces of grown-up matters, being dismissed, being considered less intelligent, being talked down to, because every adult and system responsible for them just
ASSUMED they should "just know" or "just figure out" these important things no one ever bothered to teach them, or half the time even introduce the concepts of before asking them to do it, on the spot, with high educational or professional stakes.
kids shouldn't have to supplement their own education like this and get sneered and scoffed at if they don't.
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fabioquartararhoe · 5 months
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i’m pretty sure fabio and tony swapped helmets
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polakina · 10 months
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intensified senses
pairing: miguel o'hara x reader
rating: explicit
outline: being highly recommended by his lieutenants, miguel decided to recruit you into the spider society. wary of you at first, he kept a distance. but you were persistent on getting through the cracks of his stony exterior
warnings: cursing, fluff, eventual smut, miguel being a sarcastic bitch, pining, flirting, masturbation (male), blindfolding, sensory deprivation, blowjobs, unprotected sex, riding
requests are open! hope you enjoy, petals <3
masterlist
II
He watched you from afar at first. Crouched from a high tower, dressed in inconspicuous clothing and hiding in plain sight. You came highly recommended. Jess and Ben spoke rather fondly of you, of your loyalty, bravery. You took care of your neighbourhood, of your city. And you were damn fucking good at it.
Miguel didn’t see it. He looked at you with a rather cold stare as you perched from a rooftop, your headpiece laid beside you as you looked out towards the streets. You crouched there with a bagel in one hand, iced coffee in the other. Your suit was all yellow, like the sun. The spider on your chest a deep orange. The sunset made it shine brightly. A pretty amber in the light. Miguel just sort of scowled at you. 
“What do you think, O’Hara?” Jess came through on his earpiece, crackly, but clear enough to understand.
“She’s…you think that she could join the society?” He asked incredulously. “She’s a kid!”
“She’s actually similar in age to you, just with a better skin care routine,” he heard her chuckle lightly.
“That’s funny,” he responded coolly. Sarcastically. As he usually did. But he trusted Ben and Jess’ judgement, and to be fair, he was trying to expand the spider society further. So perhaps you would be an ample addition, in his eyes.
-
You knew someone had been watching you for a while. You felt eyes on the back of your head. For what reason, you weren’t sure, but they didn’t pose a threatening feel. So you let them be.
It wasn’t until you felt their presence behind you that you felt that something needed to be done about it. You heard his footsteps quite a fair distance behind you, and the hairs on the back of your neck stood up straight. He was big. Very big. Putting your headpiece back on, you stood up straight and kept looking ahead of you. It was only when you felt him get a little closer that you sent your webs in his direction. You heard him grunt as he was webbed to the rooftop door, stuck in place. 
That’s when you turned around to face him. Glad that your face was covered, he wasn’t able to see the look of surprise on your face. The way your eyebrows raised or your mouth fell slightly open. Goddamn. He wasn’t exactly what you had expected to be following you all these weeks.
Dark curly hair. Reddish eyes. A waistline that would put any model to shame. The man was built like a brick wall, but with a face carved from a God or something. You blinked back into focus, not letting him distract you right now.
“Who are you?” You asked, trying to conjure a sort of authoritative voice to not seem so young. Or small. Which you were in comparison right now.
“That isn’t important right now,” he said, struggling against your webbing. “I need you to come with me. I’m recruiting you. That’s the reason I’ve come to find you. Not so we can chitchat and braid eachother’s hair.”
You laughed a little. Miguel ignored how his heart leapt a little at how pretty it sounded. “Wow you’re really good with your people skills. Has anyone ever told you that?” You walked a little closer to him, still hesitant. “Unless you tell me exactly who you are, and exactly what you’re doing in my city, I’m not going anywhere. And by the time that webbing’s structure decomposes enough for you to break free, you won’t find me again.”
He just sighed at you, rolling his eyes out of impatience. “Okay, I’m over this.” talons protruded from his hands in replacement for his fingers, and he sliced through your webbing. Shit, you put so much effort into that webbing too. He sauntered towards you, hips swaying as he looked down at you with a deeply disinterested glare. You backed up until your legs hit the edge of the rooftop, pinning you between him and the ground below. You could have just jumped. Leaned back until you fell from the roof and swung through the streets, far away from him. But you couldn’t. It was like you were frozen in place. “You’re coming with me. One way or another.”
You stepped up onto the ledge, almost as tall as he was now. “As much as I’d love to come back to what I assume is a cute little lair, I’m going to have to pass.” You fell backwards off the ledge and watched his eyes widen as he went to reach for you, but he wasn’t quick enough. Clearly his spidey senses weren’t kicking in today.
You fell, looking towards the ground as it got closer and closer to you. 
But you never did reach it.
It was a blur, a flash of coloured lights blinded you for a few moments. There was a pressure on the back of your neck, as though someone had grabbed you harshly, penetrating skin from the pain it inflicted.
Instead your body collided with a solid stone floor. Hard. you felt somethin crunch as your body hit the ground, sending shooting pains through your entire arm. Blinking your eyes a few times, you adjusted to the bright fluorescent lighting around you. Screens were put up on every wall, a large computer sat atop a much larger desk was raised above you.
“What the fuck?” You whispered, pushing yourself off the ground. Turning slowly in a circle, you tried to gauge where you were, until you came face to face with him again. “You! Where the fuck have you brought me?” You started swinging at him. You don’t really know why. It was a defense mechanism, you guessed? But you swung at him nonetheless. Pointless as it was, it made you feel better.
He just huffed and shook his head, batting away your hands and feet as they came at him, as though they weren’t even hurting him. It wasn’t until he grabbed your wrist which you injured, feeling the dislocation in the bone. You hissed in pain, trying to pull away, to no avail. He said nothing, just snapping it back into place and your cry echoed throughout the room. 
“Asshole!” You cried out, turning away.
“You’re welcome.”
“I wouldn’t have even been hurt if you hadn’t have kidnapped me!”
“I told you I was recruiting you for something.” His voice was so plain, so boring, so calm. Not a smidge of emotion or humanity in it.
“You could have asked nicely! Maybe explained the situation before…teleporting me to your shitty office,” you breathed heavily.
“You didn’t give me a chance. This was the only way.” He turned towards the desk, making his way up to it. You followed, rolling your wrist to alleviate the pain. 
“So why am I here? And who exactly are you?” You walked to the desk, taking a seat in the chair and spinning in it until his face became blurry. You came to a sudden stop when his hands fell hard onto the arm rests, his face inexplicably close to yours. You held your breath as he scowled down at you.
“Get. Off. My. Chair.”
“Who. Are. You.”
He rolled his eyes. But it wasn’t he who answered your question. It was a woman. “Miguel, you’re back! And you brought company. So this is the Lemon Spider? I expected something…different.”
“Lemon Spider? That is not my name,” you chuckled, looking over to see a blonde woman on the screens.
“Well, LYLA is my name. And Lemon Spider suits you, so Lemon Spider is your name.” She smiled, her grin was big and bright.
“And you’re Miguel? I’m glad someone finally told me.”
Eventually Miguel explained why he’d brought you to him. The Spider Society. Hundreds of spiders from hundreds of different alternate realities protecting the canon events and ensuring nothing disrupted them. His lieutenants had recommended you after close observation of how you handled situations within your own universe. You were small but quick, good at getting in and out of places that others couldn’t fit. You had heart. You never acted out of anger, or revenge. Only when someone needed you, needed your help.
It was a noble cause. One that, of course, you would have signed up for yourself if Miguel hadn’t first brought you here against your will. The man really needed to work on his people skills.
-
Months later, you had worked your way up the ranks. A valued member of the society. Even Miguel was impressed. Not that he ever showed it. You’d even met some other spiders. Pav and Hobie being the ones you were closest with whenever you got a chance to see them.
But Miguel was always the one you wanted to see the most, but you tried to keep that your own little secret.
“So…how ya been?” You asked, spinning on the desk chair once again as he leaned over the desk beside you. He rolled his eyes once again, but his mean demeanour had slightly softened with you around over time. Even LYLA had noticed it, once asking him if he did in fact begin to soften towards you. She earned a low growl in response and never spoke of it again. 
“Busy.”
“As always,” you huffed, looking at the same thing he was, a screen with a lot of maps and circles and colours…you understood none of it.
“Shouldn’t you be working? Doing spidey stuff?” He asked, looking over at you, his eyes softening at the way you looked up at him. He brushed it off quickly though.
“My canon events are safe,” you assured. “Besides, I’ll be notified if anything canon related or otherwise is affected or in jeopardy. So until that happens, I have a clear schedule.”
He just looked away, scanning activity on the screen. “Well, that’s great,” he mumbled under his breath, sarcasm lacing his tone.
“Come on, I’m great company,” you smiled up at him.
“Uh huh.”
You sighed, leaning back in the chair, putting your feet up on the desk. “Well, you’d prefer me over Hobie, at least.”
He grunted, pushing himself off the desk and turning towards you. Grabbing both your ankles, he yanked them off the desk, pulling you closer to him, your legs either side of his body as the wheely chair rolled swiftly towards him. “Look, as much as I love the cute little attitude you seem to have,” he leaned closer towards you, his cologne filling your senses. “I have work to do. And you’re a distraction. So either be quiet, or go elsewhere, okay?”
Words escaped you. And Miguel realised exactly what he’d just said. He also realised he’d essentially caged his body between your thighs. You gazed up at him, he noted a little surprise in your eyes, as well as something else. But he couldn’t put his finger on it. Letting go of your ankles, he stepped away. You stood from your chair.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to be a distraction now, would I, O’Hara?” You asked, a little smirk playing at your lips. You patted his chest and walked away.
He hated that he watched you leave, completely ensnared by you as you left the room. 
-
You stayed at the base that night, knowing that Miguel had his room set up there, a few doors down from the meeting room. You planned to go back to your own dimension, but it was quite boring back there right now. So you hung out in the meeting room, suspended upside down from the ceiling. Tracking the activity of your own city, you were met with absolutely fuck all. No activity. No spikes in crime or anything altered on your own timeline.
Sighing, you dropped down to the floor, preparing to go back to your own timeline. You would have said goodbye to Miguel, but you weren’t exactly sure he wanted to talk to you right now.
Just as you were about to leave, you heard something. Your ears perked and the hairs on your arms stood up. It was coming from Miguel’s room. You shouldn’t have inspected, it wasn’t your place. But your feet took you there anyway. Outside his door, you pressed your ear up against it, listening intently. At first you thought he was communicating with someone. LYLA, perhaps. Until you heard something else. Groaning? Grunting, maybe. But then you heard moaning. And he was saying something. Your name. Your hand covered your mouth so that he wouldn’t hear you. But he sure as hell would have sensed your presence. Wouldn’t he?
You stepped back, knocking into the wall behind you. His noises halted almost immediately. Hearing his footsteps approach the door, you backed away quickly, but he opened the door before you were completely out of sight. His pupils were blown wide, his shirt discarded and his chest glistening slightly with sweat.
“I thought you’d left,” he said, his voice low, gruff.
“I stuck around, kept an eye on the screens for a little while,” you admitted. It wasn’t a lie, for the most part. “Thought you would have heard me, or known I was still here.”
He cocked his head in confusion. 
“Spidey senses? I always know when someone’s around,” you smiled. But he shook his head in disagreement.
“I don’t have those. Wasn’t bitten by a spider, you see,” he revealed, and your eyebrow quirked. “How long have you been stood out here?”
Your heart dropped. “Um…not long. Was just about to leave anyway, so you get back to…whatever it is you were doing. I’ll see you around, O’Hara.”
You turned to leave until his voice stopped you. “Or you could…stay?” You didn’t turn around at first, but you felt him come up behind you. Close. Very fucking close. His heat radiated onto your back. “I’ve been cold towards you, I know that. I haven’t meant to be.”
“So why have you been?” You spun on your heel, almost stumbling as you came into contact with his bare chest. But his hand on your waist caught you.
“If I let myself enjoy your company as much as I do, I’ll become distracted from my life’s work,” he let his head drop.
Confidence suddenly overtook you and you placed a hand on his cheek, tilting his head back up to look at you. “Sometimes a distraction is what you need to be able to do your job.”
He chuckled. The first time you’d ever seen him do that. “You saying I do my job wrong?”
“I said sometimes, O’Hara,” you smiled. “But maybe a distraction is what you need right now.” Taking his hand, you led him back to his room. You expected him to pull away, but he didn’t, he followed. Miguel shut the door behind him and your eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room, the only light source coming from his desk light. His hands found your waist from behind you, his breath on your neck.
“A distraction sounds pretty good right about now,” he purred in your ear, kissing your neck softly. You melted into his touch, your legs becoming a puddle. He kissed down your neck to your shoulder and you turned your head, letting your lips meet his in a gentle kiss. 
This was the gentlest you’d ever seen him. Usually his walls were up, and he was cold and distant from everyone. But here…here he was entirely exposed. To you. You walked him slowly to the couch in the corner of the room, the backs of his knees hitting it before he sat down, his hands pulling you closer.
“You said you don’t have spidey senses, right?” You asked, standing before him. He looked up at you expectantly. 
“What are you getting at here, princesa?”
“Just something I want to try.” You pulled the thick ribbon from your hair that tied it up in a bun whenever you were out of your suit. Your hair fell down to your shoulders, falling in front of your face.
“Oh, we’re trying things? So early on?” He joked, a small smile in his voice.
“Oh shush, I think you’ll like it,” you held the ribbon in front of him and he realised what you wanted to do. He nodded, his trust put in you. Covering his eyes, you tied it around the back of his head. “Just have a little faith.”
“In you, I do.”
You knelt before him, so thankful he was just in sweatpants. You weren’t very good at handling belts. Wrapping your fingers around the waistband of his sweatpants, you felt him tense up lightly. “Easy, O’Hara. Just relax, okay?”
You looked up to see him nod. Smiling, you continued, pulling his sweatpants down to his ankles. He’d opted to go commando under those pants, and you stifled a gasp at what awaited you beneath the fabric. 
Shit. you knew he was a big guy…but you didn’t expect him to be that big of a guy. Miguel’s cock sprang out of its confinement, hard, long and thick. For a moment you worried yourself that you wouldn’t be able to take all of him. Or even…most of him. But you were too pent up and needy for him that you pushed past it.
Wrapping your hand around the base of his cock, Miguel shuddered at your touch. He didn’t want to admit it, but it had been a while for him. Having only his own hand to work with, he couldn’t fathom how good it felt to be your hand instead.
But fuck, the second he felt your mouth envelope his dick, he couldn’t stop the moan that escaped his throat. You loved it, the raw feeling behind his groaning and whimpering. Taking him further in your mouth, you sucked slowly, deeply, your tongue circling the tip so his legs tightened under your hand where it laid, resting on his thigh.
You felt his hand travel to your head, fingers entangling in your hair and gripping it with a firm hold. He didn’t push, he just held you there. The more of him you took, the tighter his grip got. His panting and moaning was like music to your ears.
“Shit…shit…” he breathed, raising his hips up off the couch, his dick pushing deeper down your throat. He was about to come, on the verge of it, you could feel it. His head fell back against the top of the couch, his teeth gritted against each other as he felt the precipice of his orgasm fast approaching. “Wait, wait, wait.” He spoke quickly, racing through his words.
You did stop. Pulling away and looking up at him. “Are you okay?” You asked, worried you’d gone too far, too fast.
“I’m fine,” he panted, head tipped towards the ceiling. “But…” Miguel pulled down his blindfold so it hung loosely around his neck. He gazed at you, his eyes coated in a thin sheen, glossed over. “I’m not gonna be the only one who gets to feel this good though.” He pulled you up and onto his lap. You felt his dick twitch beneath you as your face was ever so close to his, inches away from one another. “So now it’s your turn, princesa.”
Miguel smirked, his hand sliding down the front of your pants, gliding under your panties and came into contact with your bare skin. Your breath shortened as his fingers drifted down to your pussy, already soaked from the moments previously, and he smirked at the wetness he felt there. “Already this wet, hmm? Guess it’s not going to take long for you to be able to take me, huh?” He was so smug. So confident. In any other instance you’d find it annoying, but right now you couldn’t have found it more attractive. All you could muster up was a quiet, desperate please.
He smiled, pushing a finger deep inside you and pulling a soft moan from you. God, he could listen to that on repeat for the rest of his life. Moving his finger in and out at a quickened pace, curving his fingertip to hit that sweet spot you could never reach yourself, he felt you clench around him, your eyes begging for more when your mouth couldn’t form the words. He happily obliged, adding a second finger. The palm of his hand grinding against your clit with the added pressure of his fingers fucking you was driving you to the edge quicker than you thought possible. 
He knew it too. Your eyes rolling back, your hips shifting to rock with the rhythm of his fingers inside you. You were close. 
“You want to come, angelita?” He asked, his words dripping with want, with need. For you. He watched you nod frantically. But he slowed his fingers, his other hand gripping your jaw gently, but firmly. “On my fingers, or on my cock, hmm?” He saw the way your eyes lit up at that proposal. “Oh, honey. I think I already know what you want.”
He didn’t even try and take off your pants, he tore right through them instead, his talons scraping against your skin, but never breaking your skin. Throwing your torn clothes across the room, he lifted you up so you hovered above him. Miguel grabbed his cock by the base, running it along your pussy, soaking the tip with your wetness. 
Words escaped you and your mind went numb when he first pushed his cock into you. At first it felt overwhelming, the size of him frying your senses and fogging your head. Only at about half way in, Miguel started to feel resistance, and the look of shock and the overwhelmed tint in your eyes showed him why. “Just relax, conejita. You’re taking me so well,” he whispered, one hand on your thigh and the wrapped around your back.
His praise and encouragement cleared your clouded thoughts. You nodded, taking your time and sinking lower and lower until you reached the base. Letting out a deep breath, you gave yourself a few moments to adjust. Miguel smiled up at you. “Atta girl,” he mumbled, a smirk on his lips. He shifted his hips, rising up into you, purposefully grinding his dick up into your soaking pussy. Fuck, he loved the way you bit your lip to stifle your noises as to not make too much noise. Not that anyone else was here anyway. He wanted to hear you. 
You started rocking back and forth on his dick, the tip hitting something devastatingly sweet every time and it sent shockwaves through your entire body. You wrapped your arms around his neck, nails scratching into his back, digging crescent shaped indents into his skin as you rolled your hips quicker and quicker. Miguel’s hands both found their way to your hips, guiding your movements and controlling your speed. His head dipped down as he kissed your neck, taking your skin between his teeth and biting gently, sucking deep marks into your neck. 
His lips trailed down, passing your collar bones, down your sternum to your breasts. His tongue circled your perked nipple before he sucked identical purple marks into your breasts, kissing along to the other breast as he did, giving the same treatment to both. 
Mumbles and whimpers fell from your lips, flooding the room with your desperation for Miguel’s touch, for Miguel’s praises, for Miguel’s hands all over you. His fingers dug tighter into your hips, grinding you against him hard, his cock reaching the perfect places inside you to make you squirm, to make you cry out his name. 
“You gonna come for me, princesa? Hmm?” He asked, a smidge of cockiness in his tone. He was good. And he knew he was good. You couldn’t deny it, not knowing that even though you were already so overwhelmed by the size of him, mixtures of pleasure and pain that balanced one another out perfectly, you couldn’t deny that you weren’t already craving more of him. 
But the second he started raising his hips to meet yours, you lost it. Your head fell against his shoulder, and his lips attacked your neck, pressing soft kisses there, biting gently. His hand drifted between your bodies, putting pressure against your clit with his thumb. That’s when your body began to unravel, your senses skyrocketed. You gripped the back of his neck so tightly as you felt your orgasm growing closer, your thighs shaking and your movements started to falter in both speed and momentum. 
Miguel sensed it it too, his hands on your hips becoming the sole thing after a point, that kept you grinding on his cock. He was close too. But he held out with all of his focus. Wanting you to come for him first. Needing you to. “Come on, honey,” he purred in your ear, his lips brushing the shell of your ear. “Be a good girl and come for me.”
You couldn’t hold it in anymore. You let out a small cry, Miguel’s name playing on your tongue. Your orgasm washed over you. It wasn’t gentle either, like it usually was whenever you touched yourself. This was powerful. This was like a tsunami. It tore through you, electrifying your veins and causing you to clench hard. Your thighs caged him, closing tighter around his body as you clung to him. You bit into Miguel’s shoulder, hard enough to draw blood, but it didn’t stop him from fucking up into you. He didn’t stop. Not until your orgasm had finally satisfied the both of you. Your body collapsed against him, your chest heaving as you tried to regain all of your breath, filling your lungs to their capacity.
“You okay, conejita?” He asked, raking his fingers up and down your spine, kissing the side of your head. He chuckled lightly as you just nodded, a quiet groan all you could muster up at an attempt for words.
You lifted your head, leaning back to look at him. A gasp escaped your throat as he shifted beneath you once more, his cock twitching. “You didn’t…” Your words trailed off as you looked fown for a split second.
Miguel shook his head. “No.”
“Why not?” You asked, a mixture of curiosity and a little embarrassment lacing your tone. 
He smiled, leaning back, running his hands up and down your thighs. “You think I can only last one round, honey? I’m offended,” he laughed jokingly. Your eeys widened a little, and you were slightly concerned you wouldn’t be able to handle more right now. Not if it was as good as that. “Don’t look so afraid, baby,” he whispered, lifting you and your legs wrapped around his waist. He carried you to the bed on the other side of the room, laying your down gently, your head settling comfortably into the pillows as he climbed on top of you, his body between your thighs. “I’ll be gentle, I promise.”
You huffed a soft laugh. “Miguel, I don’t think you know the meaning of gentle.”
He matched your soft laugh with one of his own. Rolling his eyes, he leaned even closer to you, your lips almost touching. “I’ll try to be gentle. At first.” His eyes darkened in the dimmed room and your heart beat just a little faster. “But don’t think it’ll take me more than five minutes to fuck you into this bed until all you can do is scream my name.”
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Note
Another Vox enthusiasts I see? Well if I may...
Vox with a GN Hacker reader who was turned entirely digital after manifesting in hell. They don’t even have a physical form they’re completely stuck within Hell’s databases, their skills are obviously useful to him so he offers them a place on the team which they immediately accept on the condition that Vox makes them a vessel to inhabit because holy shit are they going stir crazy.
I’m not entirely sure how Vox’s abilities work but given he can at the very least project himself onto screens and the like I get the feeling that he’d plug himself into the system whenever they talk. Mostly because it keeps them grounded, they’re alot calmer when he’s actually next to them and not looking in through a screen.
I hope this didn’t get too wordy or long I just wanted to be thorough because I have massive brain rot for this techno mf-
Take your time with this request! Kisses darling <3
-📽
Dude, does anyone else remember having Shimeji's or that internet episode from Fairly Odd Parents? Cause that's what I'm about to write!
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Digital Pet [Vox x Digital Reader]
When you first manifested in Hell, you were completely unaware that you had ended up in Hell itself. Because instead of manifesting in the overcrowded circle designated for sinners, you instead found yourself in a digital landscape. Countless screens surrounded you like a million portals. You could see the different shapes and sizes of the devices being used in hell and could even alter whether or not you saw what was being displayed on the screen or what the screen could see itself like a window to Hell.
At first, you had a massive meltdown. From what you could tell, you were the only one in this digital Hell custom-tailored to leave you isolated despite having access to every device in Hell. You wondered what you did to deserve the extra punishment layered on top of not being good enough for heaven, especially since you hadn't done anything particularly evil when you were alive.
You lost track of how much time passed. You entertained yourself by jumping from system to system. You'd watch shows that sinners binged, and you'd watch the city from large advertisement screens that overlooked the sinner's circle of Hell. Anything to stave off the loneliness.
One day, that all changed when you felt an electric buzz make the hairs on the back of your neck stand. You heard the voice of someone swearing and immediately pulled yourself away from the screen you had been sticking your nose into. When you turned, you saw another demon who was still sparking with some bright electric energy as he dusted himself off.
For a moment the two of you just stared at each other in shock. As far as you and Vox knew, you were the only ones who could access the digital realm of Hell's database. Vox is immediately wary, but you are thrilled as you approach him quickly.
"H-Hi, oh my god!" you breathe as you look him over. He didn't look new to Hell, but you had never seen anyone else in the same pocket of space as you before. "Did you just die? Have you seen anyone else? Did you just get here? It's been so long since I saw another person that wasn't on a screen!"
Vox blinked as you rapid-fired questions at him. He looked you over as you rambled something about the irony of his face being a screen when he finally shook his head and held up a hand to stop you.
"Woah, woah, woah, slow down," he started. "What are you talking about? How are you even here? No one else should be able to traverse through the database of Hell but me."
Vox's interest only grows as you explain your situation. "I see," he hummed as he looked you over with new intrigue. "I wonder if you have similar abilities to mine and just got caught in the in-between..."
It was easy enough for him to lure you into a deal. The sheer amount of panic you expressed when he pretended he was going to just leave you there was hilarious at the time. In exchange for you "surfing the web" for him, so to speak, he took you on as an apprentice of sorts. Vox trained your abilities and helped you hone your magic. While you had every hope of one day figuring out how to manifest in the physical realm the way he did, Vox cleverly avoided any pursuit of the possibility.
He liked having full power over you and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't starting to grow attached. While you hadn't learned anything about manifesting physically, you had learned how to appear on his screens. He'd never admit it to you out loud, but he found the tiny image of you running around on his devices and talking with him to be pretty damn adorable.
Despite his manipulation, the two of you actually slowly became friends. He found himself genuinely proud of you whenever you popped up to show him something new you had learned. There was a weird warm and fuzzy feeling in his chest when you would bounce with excitement at your new discoveries.
Sometimes you'd ask him to play a certain show or song for you. Even after you learned how to control inactive devices so you could look up anything you wanted, you still liked to ask him to play things for you just so you could watch them in his presence. You'd send memes to each other and Vox had to quickly excuse himself when you sent him a crudely drawn image of Alastor slipping on a banana peel while he was in the middle of giving a presentation at a meeting.
Vox was emotionally constipated, but he wasn't stupid. He could tell that the warm feeling in his chest was growing and he knew you were the source. He clutched his chest as he stepped into his lair and saw you sleeping on his desktop toolbar, waiting for him to come home after a long day at work. He had promised you that you'd watch the new episode of a show you'd been watching together, but his gameshow had run late.
He sits down with a sigh and traces over your sleeping form, feeling something twist inside of him as his claw only met with the cold, flat surface of a screen. He wondered what it would be like to hold you. To touch you. To have you in his arms while the two of you lay on the couch while you made him watch stupid shows instead of...
"Fuck," Vox whispered to himself as he pulled away from the innocent image of you. He clutched his face as he slumped forward in his chair. He had a decision to make.
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And so do you, dear readers! I want to make a part two to this, the real question is:
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rongzhi · 6 months
Note
Hi! Love your TikTok translations, they help me learn so much. Sorry if you've answered this before already, but as a language student myself, I was just curious about how you got so good at Chinese - is it a native language for you, or what's your background in using/studying it? Thank you!
I think I answered this a long time ago (like 2021 maybe) so I will just tell it again. It's kind of a longwinded boring post that's very self-centric (😬) and also probably not going to have any helpful advice to the average language learner, so I'm going to put it under a read more!
Background
My family is Chinese so it's my heritage language. I did learn it before English as a baby but then forgot a lot of it. My parents speak Chinese at home but I always replied in English growing up. Part of this is because I have a twin sibling and because we spoke English at school, we also started speaking English to each other at home.
We went to Chinese school on Sundays growing up (this is like a community/cultural school; it included other courses like math, Chinese dance, art, pre-SATs (lol), etc, depending on who in the community was available to teach), but I didn't really pay attention so my Chinese was pretty shit for a long time—like broken conversational level shitty, although I have always had a strong comprehension ability. My dad's side is from Sichuan so I grew up understanding a bit of Sichuanese.
The beginning of my "studying"
I don't actually have much of a background studying Chinese in a formal setting. I took Chinese 101-103 in college as part of a language requirement (specifically chose to start with 101 so I could relearn basics, even though my teachers kept offering to place me in higher levels). I really credit my Chinese 101 prof who was also the college's calligraphy teacher for making us focus on brush stroke order and recognising characters and understanding semantic components, which is something other profs did not emphasise (they were more focused on building conversational skills).
Anyway, that was only my freshman year of college because I ended up changing majors and not having a language requirement anymore (boo). I continued studying a bit of Chinese in the intervening years, but I am not a very disciplined person when it comes to self-study, so much of it was just translating song lyrics for my own amusement. During this time, I also started watching some cdramas, but mostly just Chinese web shows, which maybe helped? (I don't think I was watching enough for it to really make a difference).
Fast forward a couple years to 2020 and I started watching more cdramas during lockdowns, including watching 成化十四年 (The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty), which I was super invested in for about two years (this used to be a fandom blog lol). Basically, hyperfixation led me to rapidly improve my Chinese; I started translating a few behind-the-scenes videos for fandom friends. In order to keep up with Chinese fans and gain access to more material about the show, I started venturing onto Chinese sites such as weibo, bilibili, and eventually, douyin, which I downloaded around October of 2020 (so this was 6 months into my increased interest into Chinese things). At first, I translated a couple of douyins to share with fandom friends as I had done with behind-the-scenes materials, but for whatever reason I felt like some of the videos I wanted to translate would just be annoying to spam into the chat... I couldn't figure out a way to connect them to the blorbos, but I still wanted to translate them, so I started posting them here on tumblr. That's how my douyin translations started out. This was the height of covid-19 related sinophobia, too, so at some point I started realising how important it was to continue translating douyins, and that motivated me to continue even beyond it just being a fun thing to do. On that topic, it was through this blog that I realised how poorly understood China and Chinese people are, specifically on this site. I feel like that has changed a lot, or maybe that's just a comment on insular online spaces, but I have to think not; since I started translating douyins, I've seen a noticeable decrease in sinophobic comments and messages (not that I don't still get them, but it's lessened), and I think that's also thanks in great part to other blogs on here that were posting/have started to post more content from China to help increase exposure to tumblr users.
Improving
In any case, in the beginning, I did a lot of translations mostly by ear rather than reading captions because my Chinese reading wasn't that good.
It's kind of slowly improved with time and repetitive reading, and over the last three years now, I've also gone through periods of taking notes and actively seeking out some vocab lists or grammar explanations... but it usually comes in the process of trying to translate something. My motivations in "studying" (it's more like "figuring out") Chinese is largely based on the simple desire to know what people are talking about... what they're joking about... what they're ranting about and roasting. Related: I also started reading fanfics in Chinese about a year ago. Some fics have been easier to read than others, but some of the best ones I've read were also the ones that challenged me the most, and which I had to take a lot of notes on while reading. I'll admit! There have been times where I just took a fic and dumped that sucker in google translate and have it read the Chinese to me, so I could just listen to it like a podfic. But even so, I would take notes, because I think my improvements in Chinese are heavily connected to my Chinese literacy.
Reading douyin comments and forums on douban or comment sections on bilibili has been one of the main ways that I've picked up on common phrases and characters. I often write things down but I do so more as a muscle memory practice, because I have never really been the sort of person who reads back notes (this was also how I studied in school, iirc). Branching out and translating things that are written in formal or non-colloquial styles is also a way I challenge myself from time to time, and I do like to look up the etymology of Chinese characters from time to time because it helps me pick up patterns of semantics and phonetic hints when I'm reading (this makes it easier to guess what a character might mean or sound like, even if you've never seen it before). Overall, translation has been the great learning tool for me. I think maybe it comes down to learning styles? I have always learned better from trying to teach others, and I feel like translation works a similar muscle in the mind; translation is about figuring out ways to efficiently communicate a message, and in order to do so, you must be able to grasp the essence of what it is you're relaying.
All this said... And to try and return to your original ask after all my usual Wawa rambling... I actually don't think my Chinese is that good, lol. In fact, there's probably people who follow this blog who are studying Chinese in a more conventional and methodical manner whose Chinese is objectively much better than mine 🤷🏻‍♂️ I mean, if you crunch the numbers, I have really only be self-"studying" for three years. Three years of what is really just vibe-based learning. There's a lot of vocab I still don't know (I mean my English vocab is pretty limited too, sooo.... 😭), a lot of areas that I can still improve on, and am improving on, and try to improve on... when the mood strikes. Again, I am not a very disciplined self-study type.
Maybe this will give any other Chinese diaspora hope, though. I feel like it's never too late for us to start learning. There is probably a seed or language foundation within you already which will make it easier for you to start, and then after that, I think it sort of comes down to finding what interests you and will keep you motivated.
Most of the stuff I talk about on here when it comes to culture or folk art or what have you, I did not know even five years ago! I learned about it because I was interested to find out more. (That's another reason I have to laugh when I get some of the asks I do in my inbox... The stuff I don't answer is dumbfounding at times. You translate a couple of funny videos and people think you're some kind of Tripadvisor cultural ambassador guy! I swear...)
The "study" resources I use regularly are the following:
Pleco
Zh-En browser extension
Yellowbridge (usually to check brush stroke order, since I have Pleco)
Baidu etymology pages / Chinese etymology dictionaries such as hanziyuan
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xmalereader · 9 months
Text
Miguel O’Hara x Black Cat! Male Reader || 4 ||
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|| Masterlist ||
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Authors note: Hello Everyone! I am back from another vacation…this boy be traveling a lot, but I was able to get part four done of this little mini series! I also want to thank everyone for 7.2k, because holy shit I gained 200 followers in less than a week. I don’t know how that happened but thank you! Also enjoy this new shot!
Summary: Miles and Miguel are a little stuck during a mission and Miles is hesitant to call for back up until a familiar anomaly changes things.
Warnings: No spoilers, fighting, language, parenting skills, hobie is the goat, fluff, black cat anomaly, protective reader and Miguel, some hints of Rio knowing about Miles and Miguel’s identity, short.
Word count: 2.0k
— || Part One || Part Two || Part Three ||
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“Ah!”
Miles is throw against Miguel who catches him easily as the two tumble to the ground. The teen lying on top of the older Spider as they groan in pain. “How are these guys not giving up?” Miles grumbled out as he slowly gets up with the help of Miguel. The two have taken notice of an unusual Anomaly in the wrong universe. The two expected it to only be one only to encounter four on the other side when entering the universe. Both Miles and Miguel have been at it for hours, growing tired and restless.
“I think we should—“
“No.” Said Miguel, shutting down Miles suggest.
“I just think—“
“No.”
“Do you always say no?”
“No.” The sudden bickering catches the old Spider off guard as Miles grins under his mask, quick to dodge a piece of rumble heading towards them as the teenager swings after the anomaly and lands onto another building. “All I’m saying is that we should bring some back up!” Shouted Miles, grunting as he’s grabbed by the leg and dragged down from where he stood, causing a scream to escape his lips.
The teen comes face to face with Doctor Octavias, someone that he’s very familiar with in his own universe.
“We don’t need it!” Miguel shouts back as he attacks one of the other anaomlies, clearing not listening to Miles who struggled with his own problem as he used his electric static to try and malfunction Doctor Octavias arms. He escapes from his grasp and climbs higher up the building. “Lyla!” He calls out to the artificial intelligence.
“Yes, baby spider?”
Miles groans at the name.
“Can you call for back up, please?” His eyes widen when he’s pinned down a flash of black and white in front of him as a pair of claws dig into his neck and jaw, squinting up in pain as he grunts and makes direct eye contact with a familiar outfit. “Noir?”
The figure leans closer.
“Sorry, hun you must have me confused with someone else.” The voice is feminine as Miles frowns, noticing that the cat holding him down wasn’t Noir. This was someone entirely different but yet, similar to the one he knows. “Didn’t think a kid like you would be a spider—a bit clumsy.” She taunts, holding him down as her claws dig deeper into his neck, causing the teen to wince and glare under his mask.
Miles tried to use his web against the black cat only to have his wrist pinned down, he struggles with moving as she chuckled at him and looks around. “Don’t make this your fight kid, go home before you get yourself hurt.” She warns. Miles huffs out a small laugh as he watched her closely.
Miles can’t help but think about Noir and how every black cat was the same but him and he’s able to tell the difference between her and noir. “Yeah, I don’t think so.” He looks over her shoulder, noticing the familiar portal opening up. “You don’t belong in this world and if I can’t take you back then my dad will.”
The women above him cocks her head with a confused look on her face. Before she can react a flash of black is quick to shove her off Miles, watching as she rolls with a grunt and is quick to stabilize herself. The sound of metal claws against the pavement gets Miles attention, sitting up slowly to see Noir in front of him.
He’s in a crouching position, cat like as he glared under his goggles at the women before him. “Touch my kid again and I won’t hesitate to kill you.” He growls out in warning.
It didn’t take long for the rest of the back up to arrive, both Gwen and Hobie landing next to Miles and helping him up while Noir focused on the black cat in front of him. “Help Mig with the others, this ones mine.” Noir instructs the teens, his eyes not leaving the women before him as she grins at him. “How cute, but I’m not going anywhere.” She states, launching herself at Noir as the two get into a brawl.
Miles steps back and grunts.
“Did he just punch a women?” Gwen asks when she noticed Noir punch the other black cat in the stomach.
“Equal rights, equal fights!” Hobie shouts as he jumps off the building, heading towards one of the anomalies and helping Miguel. As much we he hated it, he knew he had no choice but to help. The three teens worked together on taking down the villains, tying them up and getting rid of their weapons while Miguel worked on the one he was dealing with, using his fangs to inject the poison and numbing them from doing anything else.
“I told you I didn’t need back up.” Miguel grumbled as he drags the anomaly towards the pile of villains as Miles chuckles nervously. “Sure you didn’t, took us a few hours to try and take down one. We needed all the help we could get.” He explains, knowing how much Miguel hated admitting help when it comes towards missions like this. “Doesn’t matter—is it just you three?” He questions.
“Y/n is still dealing with a different version of himself.” Gwen points behind her back towards the roof top of one of the buildings as the four of them turned to watch the fight, noticing how Noir and Black cats movements are nearly in sync. “Five bucks that he takes her down in a minute.” Said Hobie, getting the other teens intrigued by the bet. “Bet ten that he takes her down, now!” Miles points at the scene before them as Noir grows angry, changing his way of fighting and using an old trick of his that Miguel taught him a long time ago.
“Stay down, for once!” Noir growls through gritted teeth as he gets her tied up with his grappling hook, keeping her claws far away from the wire and using the extra wire to tie her wrists together, finally getting her pinned.
Miguel hums, shrugging his shoulder. “I taught him that.” He mumbled as he swings towards the building, landing next to Noir and giving his husband a glance. “You know, I didn’t think you’d be able to take your own self down.”
“For the record, that is not me and second I learned a thing or two differently than everyone else.” Noir shot back as he leans against Miguels shoulder, feeling himself grow tired from the constant fighting while wincing in pain. Turns out that he got a few pretty good cuts from the anomaly. “We should have that checked out.” Said Miguel as his fingers touch the small wounds which only caused Noir to smile. “Nah, I’m okay I’ve been through worse.” He bends down to pick up the anomaly and carry them with towards the rest of the others as Miguel opens a portal back to base.
“Still, at least have it checked for me.” Miguel takes his own anomaly and drags them inside the portal while the others do the same. Y/n sighs softly and rolls his eyes when hearing how worried his husband is for him and knows that he shouldn’t argue with him. “Fine, I will get it checked out.” He walks through the portal that takes them back to base.
Getting assistance from the other spiders and taking the anomalies back to their own universe where they belonged while Y/n walks alongside Miguel and Miles. Y/n had noticed Miles limping with each step he took, causing him to raise a brow. “Hey.” His voice gets Miles’ attention and turns to face the older man who gently gripped his chin. “You alright? You’re limping—she didn’t hurt you did she?” Y/n’s voice suddenly growing protective as he glares, but Miles is quick to shake his head. “No, no, don’t worry this wasn’t her doing. I was dealing with one of the other anomalies and they pulled me by the leg, I should be fine soon.”
Miles give his leg a small shake and continued to walk alongside Y/n with a content smile on his face after he removes his mask when entering base. “Good, because I can’t have your mother hunting me down if she finds out what happened.” Miles groans, forgetting about his mother.
It’s been three months since Miles’ mother found out about Miles and Miguel being Spider-Man, catching the two in the act. Miles couldn’t forget the amount of laughing that Y/n did when he was told about the accident. Miles was panicking and Miguel was not happy with his husbands reaction with all of this. I took some time for Miles’ mother to grow adjusted with the idea of her son being the cities hero. She had actually threatened Miguel to keep a close eye on Miles whenever they are out on missions.
Technically, Miles is suppose to be under Miguels watch. But, he wasn’t doing a very good job at it.
“Just tell your mom that you pulled a muscle.” Y/n shrugs his shoulders when entering Miguels lab. “She’s a nurse, she will notice how I really got it.” Miles shakes his head already knowing how clever his mother was. His mother, Rio, knew about his identity along with Miguels, but she still had no idea that Miles’ mentor was the cities greatest thief. The same thief that his dad spent days trying to capture not knowing that so called thief was the same man who was invited to his families dinners.
“If Rio finds out about you, she will not be too happy to know that her son hangs around a thief.” Miguels words catch the cats attention as he gasps dramatically, placing a hand over his heart. “You wound me.” Y/n gives off a small show of being dramatic only to laugh in the end. “She can be upset about me being a thief, but she will for sure kill us back when she finds out that you married a thief and knew about it the whole time.”
Miguel froze, knowing damn well that Y/n was right.
“Then we are a very small, but dysfunctional family.” Miguel mutters out as he focused on his work, making sure that everything was left as a report regarding the anomalies and who was involved in the fight. It was very rare for Miguel to accept his feelings about having a family again, after losing his daughter and gaining another kid from Y/n was still something new to him. He’s slowly getting used to Miles and the teen was still adjusting to Miguel too.
They had their moments together and the rare times that Miguel grew protective over Miles. Y/n remembers the first time he witnessed such actions, noticing Miguels body language change. It happened when one of the spiders had the audacity to pick on Miles for being an anomaly, blaming him for the doom of universe 42 since they didn’t have a spider to protect their world. Miguel usually showed no signs of the matter of caring, doing his own job, but when the spider took things too far. Miguel stepped in and he was not happy.
Y/n still remembers the fear that he struck on the spider, telling them to focus on their job on protecting their own world and minding their own business and threatening to send them back to where they came from and cutting off access to allowing them back on base for picking on his kid.
His kid.
Even though Miles wasn’t theirs by blood, their time together made them feel like a family.
Y/n sighs softly, snapping back to reality as he approached Miles. “Alright, go on. Mama bird is waiting for you. I’d suggest heading back home before she gets worries and starts calling Miguel about your late return back home.” He gives the teen a nudge on the shoulder and tussling his hair on the way over to Miguel.
Miles chuckles. “Alright, I’m going. I’ll see you both tonight!” The teen gives them a small wave before opening a portal back to his universe and heading back home for the day, leaving both Miguel and Y/n on there own.
Y/n walks over to Miguel, standing next to his side and leaning his head against his shoulder. “I think we make great parents.”
“I don’t think sending a kid to fight off four villains is considered good parenting.”
Y/n laughs. “You were there weren’t you? That means that you were keeping an eye on him and making sure that nothing happens to him.” He points out, chin on Miguels shoulder as he watched his husband closely who rolls his eyes at him. Not saying anything and taking his silence as a small victory.
“See, we make great parents!” Y/n says with a huge smile.
Miguel can only sign deeply. “Rio is going to kill us.”
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cryptidcorners · 5 months
Note
HEY! could we get a cute oneshot abt mike and reader being his gf and being taller than him 😭😭 i think it’d be so silly and cute and funny
Mike Schmidt x F!Reader - Short Problems
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Description: Just a sweet one-shot with Mike's girlfriend being taller than him . Requested by anon .
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Media: FNaF!Movie
Character: Mike Schmidt
Tags: Girlfriend!Reader + Reader is written to be above 5'5, Fluff, Height Differences, Established Relationship, Slice of Life, One-Shot, Flustered/Shy!Mike bits, Sweet Talk, Cute Stuff.
No Warnings.
Check out my INTRO before reading, thank you.
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Mike's hand was extending so far, he swore he could touch the stars if he could. Yet, his fingertips were scraping against the rim of his fridge, exclaiming quietly in frustration. He swore a couple times after he rocked up and down on his toes, struggling more each and every time. He had tossed an old box of cereal far against the roof of his freezer a couple of days ago due to the pure exhaustion of his draining work life. His eyes were too droopy to clean so he had abandoned his traditional skills and fell into a circle of just throwing things out of sight.
"Shit." Mike sucked his teeth, "Come on." he grunted. He was getting nowhere, and it was itching him the more he stirred. Even if he gave up, he'd still think about it. Mike couldn't believe he was trying so hard to get a partially empty box that was probably webbed with dust.
"Hey, Mike. Have you seen the-" you were walking into the living room, eyes fixed on your hands as they stuffed a few bent documents into your already crammed purse. You looked up, stopping in your tracks as you saw your boyfriend lightly hopping to reach something. "-what are you doing?" You felt bad for laughing, but it was almost cartoonish. Mike's head swung around in embarrassment, "I'm trying to get some cereal, but it's fine. I'll get it, it's just . . . really," he grunted. "back there."
Your gaze flew up, "Michael, it's not that far up." you giggled. It wasn't even that far from the edge. Mike released a tempered exhale and strolled away from the fridge door. "Well, why don't you try." He challenged. Though, you could tell he knew you were right judging by his face shying away.
You flashed a smug smurk before reaching your hand up slowly, drinking up Mike's face before snatching the box and shaking it with a light snicker. "Here you go, baby."
He was trying to look unimpressed, "It's your heels,"
You peppered his face with kisses as his face softened and loosened from mock denial, as Michael mumbled some protests, he started giggling once you reached his neck. You always knew he grew soft when you went there, "Okay, okay!" Michael exhaled. "Thank you. Come on--pfft! Thank you!"
You reeled your face back and pressed the box against his chest with a loving expression, "If you ever need me to reach things for you, just ask, okay? You know I love helping you."
"Well, you know I love not bothering you." Mike titled his head. So, you threatened him with another peck to his cheek, making him recoil playfully. "Kidding, kidding."
“I’m just joking,” your eyes veered to the clock. “I really gotta go, I’ll pick Abby up after work, kay?”
“You really don’t need to,” Mike sighed. “I can.” You pushed away his reply gently, “Just focus on work. It’ll be fine.”
Mike nodded and let you slip out of his tight grip and out the door. Just before you left, he grabbed your shoulder. “Look, by the way, it really was the heels.” Mike told you after kissing you again. He really was hooked on you. You smirked, “If you ever need to feel tall, you can borrow.” and you ruffled his hair before getting ready to work with the biggest smile on your face.
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Note
Ok but secret relationship with Jason hc?? 👀👀
⋆⭒˚.⋆ jason grace x secret relationship! reader hcs
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content: jason grace x secret relationship! reader hcs warning: angst (i always do this to my boy jason he just makes me SAD okay), like literally no fluff to save this, also wayyyyy ooc jason but i needed a man to be mad at sorry bbygrl author's note: i got mad at a man (my father, duh) and this was the production of that. i know you probs wanted cute ass relationship shit but i put mitski on and just raged out my bad yall. never let a man treat you like this, not even soft boy jason. fuck all men, let them rot in the deepest darkest pits.
you knew love wasn't supposed to feel like this
it wasn't supposed to be sneaky kisses in an alley one second and screams the next
while he was screaming at you to improve your skills, it didn't help the knot in your stomach any
it didn't help that he said things he shouldn't've, things that were told in the delicate privacy of shared beds and bare skin
and here he was, screaming it for the whole troop to hear
and he'd kiss you after, like it never happened, but only behind a dumpster or deep in the reaches of new rome, where no one went
and it was fun for a little bit and you enjoyed it, thinking it flirty and sexy to be hidden in the illusion of darkness
but then when you asked to go further, maybe even into the light, and he instantly shot you down
you knew
you knew in that moment you would never get more from jason grace than his skin
you'd never feel the heat of his love, just his lust
and it broke you down, every kiss following that realization feeling like a blade against your throat
every squeeze of your ass was the tightening of his web
every whisper in your ear of a family and kids and a wedding the size of the moon was like poison flowing down your throat and stilling your heart
so, one day you woke and decided you done letting yourself be jason's play thing
you deserved better than sucking dick in back alleys and behind buildings no one knows the name of
"hey, baby," he tried, reaching his hand out for the curve of your ass but you smacked his hand away, promptly turning and walking away
"what's your problem?" he asked following after you, causing you to spin around, seething.
"you, jason grace, are my probelm. get out of my way," you huffed but he caught your arm as you tried to walk past.
"i don't know what's gotten into you but-"
"i'm sick of it, jason! i'm sick of my heart strings being played with. you know i liked you and youre just mean for playing with me because of it," you bit out, trying to tug your arm out of his tight hold, tears slowly gathering in your eyes.
"y/n, you know i liked what we have. no need to ruin it with-"
"well, news flash, i don't like what we have. i feel disgusting when we're done; used. it's gross and...and i'm done," you managed to get out, swallowing down your sobs, refusing to let him see you cry.
"done?! what do you mean, done?!" jason asked, verging on panic as he tried to reach out to her, but she just pulled her arms away from him, glancing up with glassy eyes filled to the brim with tears
"it's over, jason. i- i- i can't keep living like this. it's not fair," you whispered, causing jason to spin around, running frantic hands through his hair
"i'm sorry, y/n, let's talk about this. please, please don't leave," jason begged, shaking his head like he refused to believe this was his life
"we tried talking. i'm done and it's for the best-"
"YOU DON'T GET TO BE DONE! YOU CAN'T JUST QUIT!" jason screamed, a rage filling his eyes as he spun on the girl, who began shaking as she backed away from him like he was a wild animal
"you know, you really are just like your father." she whispered out, a tear finally breaching her waterline before she scrambled out of the apartment, throwing glances over her shoulder like she was scared he was going to chase her.
"no, no, no, no. please- please come back, i'm sorry, wait-" jason tried calling after her, all the rage leaving him at her words.
he fell to his knees in that now quiet apartment, crying and rocking himself, flooded with thoughts that he did this to himself
and you wanna know the worst part? he really did love her too
he just didn't know how to go about it, emotions not coming easily to him
but he knew there was no excuse, no reason other than shame to drag it out this long
jason grace knew he lost the girl he loved because he didn't know how to love her in the way he was supposed to
maybe she was right
maybe he really was just his father's son.
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deadgodjess · 9 months
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It's really funny how Twitter is rolling out this rebranding on like, a design level, outside of just Elon's whole man-baby routine.
They didn't have a new logo created, they're just using a Unicode 𝕏, it's for math. It can't be trademarked because it's not a distinct logo so they have 0 control over how, if, or when people use their branding on other sites, which is just an insane situation for a major social media company to create for themselves.
Search engine optimization. You are a major social media company, you want to be THE PLACE people go for social media, news, etc, right? Well, good luck chucklefuck, because while X is the top search result, it's also the ONLY one on the first page (on duckduckgo) that refers to the social media site. Search Twitter and it's the entire front page of search results including news articles and Wiki articles about the social media site.
Association with porn. X-[anything] sounds like a porn site and XVideo IS a porn site. That's what you're contending with, and while I personally don't believe there's anything inherently shameful with close proximity to porn, on a professional level most companies are going to notice that and have to seriously consider if they want refer people to their X Account to see their X Posts on their X Feed and you see what I'm getting at here? Which then gets into...
The sheer brand recognition of the Twitter name. There is NO other social media site with the kind of brand recognition that Twitter has. Zuck would sell his right nut for the kind of brand recognition Twitter has. They have their own word for posts! Facebook doesn't have that! Reddit and Tumblr don't have that! Myspace and LiveJournal and Xanga also never had that! All for the far more generic 𝕏. No one's Booking on FB or Ditting on Reddit or w/e. But on Twitter they be Tweeting. Saying you tweeted someone tells people EXACTLY what site you were on immediately. Now they're what, X-posting? Well that's short for "cross-post". Posting on X? Looks like you're being vague about what site you were using on purpose. "I @'d [so-and-so] on X" doesn't have the same ring it, either.
They didn't make all their rebranding decisions BEFORE announcing and rolling out the rebrand, so now we have a site called 𝕏 with a LOT of the on site references to the site itself and it's features still called Twitter [thing] and you still post using a button that says "Tweet" (as of 7.29.23) and they JUST settled on a word to replace that with. USUALLY when a company is doing a rebranding, especially one with the kinds of resources Twitter has available, they plan it all out well in advance and do the roll out all at once rather than this hodgepodge thing that's going on. This is a big one and I don't think Elon understands how unprofessional this looks. This doesn't look like the work of a team of skilled, experienced web developers, designers and marketers. This looks like a site being ran on a shoe-string budget ran by a disorganized child making decisions on a whim.
Okay so I can't fully divorce the design decisions from Elon's general fuckery, but you get my point. Like, all the behind the scenes and PR shit is bad enough but even if we didn't know he had a tantrum over the name of PayPal and hadn't been all over the site being loud and wrong about everything, just these decisions listed would be enough to show what an entitled, inexperienced, immature walnut he is.
And it's really fucking funny.
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chronicallycouchbound · 8 months
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Rating names/terms for Ehlers Danlos Syndrome:
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: 10/10 Lawful neutral, it’s the official terminology, lets you know what’s up
EDS (in all caps): 9/10 Sometimes confused with other unrelated conditions and acronyms but usually works
EDs (‘S’ is lowercase): 2/10 Usually refers to erectile dysfunction or eating disorders, which causes a lot of confusion.
Ehlers Danlos: 8/10. Good shorthand while still knowing what’s going on.
Earers Daniel’s Syndrome: 1/10. I have only heard this once, from an ER doctor. He said it to me as he turned away from his screen (which was pulled up to the Web MD page for EDS) and proceeded to mansplain my condition to me inaccurately. At least he tried.
“Eyers Dan—“ *waves hand around*: -5/10 I’ve heard this one a lot from medical professionals. I just know I’m about to be malpracticed and am already planning the quickest way out of the situation.
Zebras: 6/10 I like the imagery, I like mascots, I like the story (when doctors are in med school they’re told “if you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras” but them zebras are missed) however, I have two criticisms: a) more rare conditions are out there, and zebras technically refers to any rare diseases, not just EDS b) I feel sad when I think about how it basically calls EDS the “I was medically malpracticed disease”
EDSers: 8/10 a cute lil shorthand for “people with EDS”. Easier to explain than the zebras thing
hEDS/vEDS/cEDS/including subtypes: 7/10 I like the idea of being able to know what your subtype is and find people in your sub community, HOWEVER my only concern is that it can feel (and used for) invalidating people without a genetically confirmed subtype because of inaccessibility. I haven’t had gene testing because I can’t afford it— but I have clinically diagnosed EDS, which has been confirmed at multiple hospitals by multiple specialists. I score a 9/9 on the Brighton, meet all major criteria, and meet almost every other minor criteria for EDS on top of that. But I don’t know my subtype yet. I don’t hate/dislike people who use this term and I don’t discourage it, but I do encourage mindfulness about genetic testing accessibility and privilege of access.
Bendy disease: 10/10 a silly goofy joke I say with friends “I cannot walk up stairs on account of my loosey goosey bendy disease” which is always funny to me. Even with my serious things like “my life threatening cardiac conditions are rapidly progressing” you add “on account of my bendy disease” and bam theres my coping skill.
Ehlers: 3/10 a step in the right direction, but it sounds like “yellers” and dismisses half of the team that described the condition
“Double jointed”: 1/10 I was told my whole life until I was 18 that I was just “double jointed” for starters, it’s medically inaccurate. You’re hyper extending, subluxing, or even dislocating joints whenever you’re “double jointed” in a joint. There is not two joints there (unless you’ve had x rays and for some reason genuinely do have two joints in that spot). I honestly hate this term and it’s incredibly dismissive of the pain that happens with EDS while also making it seem like a super power that we’re encouraged to do
Contortionist: 1/10 [NOTE!!! some contortionists DO NOT have EDS and can just bend like that. Some have benign joint hypermobility. But many contortionists do have EDS.] In the context of people with EDS, I hate this term. It’s often the first thing people jump to when I explain my condition. They see my crippled ass in my wheelchair/powerchair or limping around with my cane/crutches/rollator, usually in multiple braces/supports (and thats just external noticeable-to-everyone things, let alone if you hear any aspects of my daily life) and their first thought is: “wow!! So you can entertain me like it’s a freak show!” And not “holy shit dozens of dislocations per day and countless subluxations per day must be excruciating”. I did contortions when I was younger to get praise and due to peer pressure. Fuck that noise I will not be your ugly law era freak show creepy cripple p0rn. Fuck everything to do with that actually.
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mewhenimanangel · 10 months
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moon river, miles morales x reader
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
pairing: earth 42!miles morales x spider!reader
synopsis: miles takes you out for valentine’s day, not before showing up almost an hour late
wc: 2.0k
warnings!: swearing, teens in love, google translate spanish
nia’s ౨ৎ notes: is this chapter filler, maybe a little bit. but is it necessary for the plot, yes! let me know if you’d like to continue to be in the taglist
prev ♱, next ♱
you swung on your web up to your bedroom window, easing it open. you quickly discarded of your spider suit tucking it into a box and the very top of your closet, changing into a pair of shorts and a big t shirt. it'd been three months since you got your spider powers and little by little you've made new york a little safer and you’d gotten stronger, faster, and better.
you frequented your uncle’s gym more often. him training you on your fighting skills and agility. then you would go to may’s house and she would teach you how to use what you learned with your webs.
when news first broke out that there was a new spider person swinging around brooklyn, people said you were just a poser and a copy. but you proved them wrong when you shut down a drug trafficking ring that the police had been chasing after for a while.
ever since then, you've fought to protect your city, whether it was trying to track down kingpin or fighting some villain of the week, new york was a much better place for it.
you stepped out into the living room, your mom turning to you with a sour expression. "where were you? i didn't even see you come in. you're like fourty minutes late for curfew." she crossed her arms. you shrugged it off walking to the kitchen "i came in like thirty minutes ago, you must've been in the bathroom or something." you lied, getting a plate of rice and chicken.
"mhm" she narrowed her eyes at you making you squirmed under her gaze. lying was not exactly your strong suit and right now you were lying to practically everyone in your life.
she turned on the news and watched the headlines about spider-girl. "bless that girl’s heart. keeping everybody safe and shit, we really needed that" your mom said. you smiled a little to yourself before shoveling rice down your throat.
you washed up and filled your water bottle with some cold water before saying goodnight to your mom. you brushed your teeth and came back to your room to find miles laying there already, on his phone. you hurriedly closed the door "miles! my mom is awake" you whispered. "oh then let me go say hi" he joked. your mom knew you were dating miles but what she didn't know was that he would climb into your window late at night almost everyday.
you rolled your eyes and went over to give him a kiss on the lips. he held your hands and pulled you down on the bed, making you giggle. you laid down with him on top of your body, arms wrapped underneath you. he rest his chin on your chest and looked up at you "valentines day is coming up, and i was wondering if you'd be my valentine? mi hermosa, hermosa novia" he asked, a shy smile on his face. you giggled "baby you don't have to ask, i thought that was implied since we're already boyfriend girlfriend"
"doesn't hurt to ask. seriously let me take you out somewhere nice, por favor mi amor" he said playfully pushing a lip out. "yes i would love to go out with you bonito" you said pulling him in for a kiss. "aye yes! te amo mucho ma" he said pecking your lips.
he pressed his lips harder against yours, grabbing your face "i love kissing you you know that?" he said, bringing you back in for a kiss. you nod your head and smiled, holding his cheek. "so what are we gonna do?" you asked him, breaking the kiss. "it's a surprise baby" he said pecking your lips. you frowned at his answer, you had a need to always know what was going on, surprises weren't your thing.
"don't give me that look, you're just gonna have to wait" he smirked getting off you. you reached over to your nightstand to grab your phone and put on some music. 'moon river' by frank ocean started playing, it was you and miles' song. the first time he took you out, some guy on the subway platform was playing the instrumentals and it stuck with the both of you.
he got up and faced you pretending to grab a microphone, holding it up to his face. he mouthed along to the lyrics "two drifters off to see the world. there's such a crazy world you'll see" you smiled and joined along, grabbing your air microphone "life's just around the bend, my friend. moon river and me"
the song faded out and he grabbed your face kissing you once again. "i really love you princesa" he said nose pressed to yours. you held his hand that was holding your face, rubbing a thumb over his knuckles. "i love you too miles" you said back staring into his beautiful brown eyes.
you were sitting on the couch with nas and your mom, waiting on miles to come plait his hair. you answered the door when you heard his knocking. he opened the door, afro out and curly ready to be braided. he kissed you on the lips and took his shoes off. "hey ms l/n, my mom said to give you this" he said handing the woman a $20 bill. "ugh bless her heart how many times do i have to tell rio she doesn't need to pay me, you guys are family" she said pushing the bill back to him.
he sat down and your mom got to work on his head. she shaped up the sides of his head and put his hair into plaits. after about an hour and a half of playing with nas and eating your mom's food while she worked he was done. he got up and stretched looking in the mirror "ohh this is fire ms l/n gracias" he said checking himself out. you got up and looked at him "ahhh you look very handsome" you told him, taking out your phone to take a few pictures of him.
suddenly his phone rang and he rolled his eyes watching the caller id. "yo?" he answered. "yeah yeah i'm coming." he said hanging up. "aye princesa i have to go, it's work." he told you, giving you a hug and a kiss. "i'll come pick you up tomorrow at six okay?" he put his shoes on and was practically running out the door. "thank you again ms l/n!" he called out. "love you" you said closing the door.
he was late. by thirty seven minutes to be exact. you were sitting on your couch in a white backless shirt with a black mini skirt and a pair of black loafers, hair straightened in pigtails with white ribbons around them.
you texted him at 6:05 asking if he was on his way, no answer. then again at 6:10, no answer. then again at 6:25 asking if you should even bother waiting, no answer. finally when you called at 6:30, it going straight to voicemail, you rolled your eyes and decided to just change out of your clothes and relax in bed. a knock interrupted your plan, you begrudgingly made your way to the door and opened it to find miles standing there with flowers, a big teddy bear, a box of chocolates, a small jewelry box and an apologetic look on his face.
"escucha princesa i'm so sorry. i-i got caught up with work and i didn't mean to" he explained. "okay." you said in an unamused tone. "what?" "what?" "why are you being like that?" he said moving into the apartment. "because you're forty minutes late miles!" you scoffed. "listen baby it was work and-" "yeah well it seems like it's always work." you mumbled rolling your eyes. "aye well what do you want me to do? it's work and you know i need this! plus don't act like you haven't been acting mad dodgy lately." he retorted.
you rolled your eyes "whatever." and walked away. he grabbed your arm "okay listen i'm sorry, amor. i should've told you i was gonna be late. will you please let me make it up to you? nights not over yet" he said holding your face. you looked at him, hiding the small smile growing on your face. you could never stay mad at him for long because no matter what he always knew how to make it up to you. you finally took the time to take in his appearance, his braids were back in a ponytail, one stray braid at the front of his face. he wore a black button down top with black shorts, white socks and matching black loafers.
"here, these are for you baby" he said giving you the pink roses and other gifts he got you. "ah look now there's that pretty smile" he giggled kissing your lips. "miles, my lipstick!" you said pushing him away. "girl i don't care bout a lil pink on my lips, just gotta be from you" he smirked pulling you back in.
"look what i got you" he said giving you the jewelry box, it was just plain white, adding to the element of surprise. you opened it, jaw dropping at what it was "miles." inside was a pink petra pendant necklace from vivienne westwood and next to it a gold ring with a light pink gem on the top.
"it's a promise ring baby" he spoke up taking the box from you, taking the ring out. he grabbed your manicured hands, and put the ring on your finger. "i'm not asking to get married or anything" he chuckled "but i just want everybody to know that you're mine. you are one of the best things to ever happen to me. i cant promise to match your perfection but i promise i will absolutely try. i promise to always love you, mi vida" he said kissing your hand.
"miless don't make me cry my make up off" you chuckled, lip quivering. you reached your arms around his torso pulling him in for the most loving hug. "you're so amazing, i love you so so much miles, and i promise i'll always be there for you" you said pressing your lips against his in a heartfelt kiss. "i feel bad now, all i got you was cologne and wrote a love letter" you giggled.
"baby anything at all would be more than enough" he said. you grabbed the bear and the roses putting them in your room, grabbing his present on the way out. you'd gotten him a bleu de chanel parfum and wrote a very heartfelt love letter, sticking a polaroid of the two of you and a red rose in the bag.
"gracias mi amor" he said taking the bag and kissing you, seriously he loved doing that.
you locked the apartment door behind you placing your arm around miles' as you two left. you still didn't know where you were going because he wouldn't tell you until you got there.
you took the train into manhattan and walked a few blocks to get to where you needed. your face lit up, seeing the front entrance of a fancy french restaurant you had always wanted to go too. "miles, you really shouldn't have" "baby, tonight is all about you. and us" he kissed your knuckles.
after dinner, he took you on a walk through central park and rented a boat. he held your hand as you stepped into it. "miles since when are you so romantic?" you asked, smiling as he struggled a bit with the oars. "just wanna show you my love, princesa" he smiled.
the boat ride was beautiful, the way the buildings' lights reflected on the water, the noise of cars and people creating a calming medley. he rowed out to the middle of the lake and watched the way you looked around at your backdrop.
"te amo princesa, mucho" he said, leaning in for a kiss.
taglist ʚɞ
@3zae-zae3 @itsberrydreemurstuff @darksidescorner @spritecactus @gwennesy @itzsab123-blog @randomhoex @fiannee
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meowmeowmeowmeow4x · 25 days
Text
Dark Blue Moon and the Suffering Sun Part 3
Danny would guess they'd gone about 20 miles by the time he'd stopped. They were well within Siren Territory by then, not that that was any comfort, considering the source of most of the trouble in the last six months, but distance was distance. Thankfully, none of his usual enemies bothered to rear their heads, likely licking their wounds from their last encounters.
In a tiny cave blocked off by kelp and coral, Danny leaned back against a wall and caught his breath. Damian had been silent for most of the swim, which was a small blessing. It let Danny think; think about what happens next. The tiny siren loosened himself from Danny's arms, and did a few cursory flaps of his fins.
"Where have you been taking me?" Damian mumbled.
"Around. Can't exactly double back to Amity right now." He hoped Bruce Wayne was an accepting man. He'd adopted kids from all manner of backrounds, but that didn''t help the same nagging uncertainty that plagued him whenever he thought about his own parents. If he'd just doomed Damian to a life without his father, he didn't know if he could live with himself.
Damian floated to the other side of the cave, his eyes on Danny the whole time, arms crossed in a scowling expression.
"And then?"
"I don't know. I give you back to your dad? I wasn't exactly planning out every step earlier."
"Then what were you thinking?" Damian's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Do you suggest I return to the public, to school looking like this? I can hardly breathe over water, let alone walk."
"I don't know! I just..." Danny poked his finger webbing. "I've been doing this for six months. And the whole time, even if it was hard and painful, I never lost someone. No one ever, well." Danny swallowed thickly.
Damian huffed. "You are a poor excuse of a hero."
"I failed you, there's no denying it. I was too late, and I let you drown. I'm sorry. There was no other way, I swear."
Danny looked up to Damian again, but the smaller boy looked away, his expression unreadable. "Take me back."
Yeah, that wasp probably the best he could do for Damian now. Bruce Wayne was probably having the mother of all freakouts, and if Damian never wanted to see Danny again, then that was fine. He was sure the world's richest man would be able to accommodate Damian's needs just fine. Rich people were weird like that.
It took some begrudging glares, but Damian at least allowed Danny to take his hand and use his much better swimming skills, but Damian didn't look very happy about it. Then again, today was probably the worst day in the kid's life.
They were approaching the island at rapid pace, its lustrous palm trees swaying in the distance, a promise of stability, and safety at last.
Motors hummed in the water. Danny's blood froze. Immediately he submerged and ducked near the sea floor.
"What is this delay for? Let me see." Damian pushed against Danny's hand, but the older boy kept firm.
"Patrol boats. Dozens of them. And they're all on high alert. And they've got Fenton tech. Shit."
"Can't you swim past them?"
Danny sputtered. What was this kid thinking? He wasn't some god of the sea! "I can't fight thirty boats by myself! They're gonna skewer us both!"
"What about your camouflage?"
"That would've worked a couple months ago, but these guys have got Fenton Sonars."
Damian did a double take. "The Fentons? You mean the town crackpots?"
Ouch, his parents were a little obsessed, but they definitely weren't crazy. Not anymore. "The town siren hunters. And yeah maybe Jack's not great at hunting, but their inventions work. I've got a scar or two to prove it."
"My father is on that island." Damian growled. "You have to do something."
"But it's not your dad on those boats, is it?" Danny furrowed his brow. "Those guys don't see you as human, or even sentient. They think you're another monster to be studied."
"No thanks to you." Damian challenged.
Danny growled back. "I was saving you! And now you wanna be un-saved?"
They glared into each other's eyes. Danny should really feel bad about squaring up to this literal child, but man was he difficult not to get annoyed at. Deep breaths, Danny, deep breaths. This was going to be more difficult than he imagined.
Damian glared at Phantom, the supposed siren superhero of Amity Park. He wanted to scream, to yell and to cut something open, preferably Phantom, if he weren't his only ticket home, and if only he had his weapons on him.
Such a loss of composure would be beneath him, so he remained stubbornly defiant.
As much as he wished for it not to be the case, Phantom was in all likelihood correct. This horrid, horrid body was new to him. Dozens, no, hundreds of foreign sensations flared from every part of his person, each impulse sending his body wobbling in new, unexpected directions. He would never get through the blockade on his own, which killed half of his initial plans. These blasted sonars killed the other half.
Damian grit his teeth. "Fine." He said, despite the embarrassment welling up at having to admit defeat. "But this conversation is not over."
"I bet." Phantom said, the infuriating cur.
By Damian's estimates, it should have been around midnight when Phantom stopped. They took refuge underneath a larger cave, filled with sparse furniture, a rug and some tables, with dark green curtains over the entrance. Small glowing jellyfish provided faint light. It seemed like the hopelessly domestic scene Jonathan would enjoy.
Damian slithered (He didn't crawl or shuffle. He was too dignified) into the corner of the cave, where he assumed a defensive position and poured all his seething hatred into glaring at Phantom.
"Welcome to Casa de Phantom! Or at least one of them. I've got a couple hideouts here and there. I'd say 'make yourself at home,' but I guess you beat me to the punch." Phantom said with a laugh. How dare he!
Damian hissed. "Tt. I am taking advantage of the opportunity for respite while taking necessary precaution against a rogue element."
"A rogue element? I don't know if you're serious or just pulling my tailfin."
"Do not test me, Phantom."
"Right. Look, I'm gonna go get us some food, so just stay put or something or other. I won't be long and then we can talk about where we go next. Oh, and don't touch anything!"
Damian growled at him again for good measure. Phantom exited the cave in short order, leaving Damian with ample opportunity for investigation. He wouldn't be a Robin if he didn't seize this opportunity.
Damian uncoiled himself and pulled his body along the soft sand. The grains tickled and pricked at his scales. The tables held a number of different gadgets and tools. Human clothes like t-shirts, a few vests and belts were scattered around. The bench held various strange devices, like a glowing blue lipstick, and a thermos of all things. Damian knocked on the thermos, the clanging sound confirming it was hollow. The most incriminating detail of all, however, was the distinctive F logo branded onto the side of each and every device.
How does a siren with no legs acquire so many inventions from siren hunters? He supposes they really are better siren hunting inventors than proper fighters. It was a miracle Jack Fenton hadn't drowned by now, considering how he conducted himself in a fight.
The thermos was lightweight, its metal settling gently against his webbed hands. Videos of Phantom's exploits have been scarce, and grainy, showing very few useable details. Various buttons and lights adorned the thermos, showing it was no ordinary soup holder.
Damian popped the cap off. The thermos' interior contained a circular mechanism of some kind. "What in the world?" Surely this could not be a weapon. The cylindrical design and lack of handholds would have made it too unwieldy. The kickback from any shot would throw off the wielder's aim every time. As Damian peered and tried to get a closer look, his finger slipped on one of the buttons. Blast.
The thermos whined. Its interior glowed blindingly bright. Before Damian could react, a blue beam engulfed his body. Damian felt his body warp and compress into a tiny space, before his vision went dark.
Damian awoke, vision blurry and head pounding. Phantom's smug face floated above him.
"And that's why I told you not to touch anything."
Damian shook off the grogginess and sat up, almost colliding with Phantom's face. "What manner of trap was that? Were you attempting to disfigure me once again for your sick pleasure?! En garde!"
Damian was no good swimmer in this form, but it was easy to launch himself off the floor and into Phantom. Phantom, for his part, didn't sit idly like the last time. He raised his arm and blocked off Damian's access to his neck, a shame, but that did not stop Damian sinking his teeth into Phantom's flesh.
That is, if he could actually penetrate his skin.
Damian blinked in shock. Sirens were supposed to have razor sharp teeth. He'd seen those fangs in Phantom's own mouth. He should be drawing blood right now, but as he was he was barely denting Phantom's scales.
Phantom laughed, as if it just tickled. "Dude, I literally let you out of the thermos. It's not a 'trAP to diSFiguRe yOu fOR mY sIcK PleaSuRe,' it's just a containment device for sirens. Also can you stop that please, it tickles."
Damian flung himself off of Phantom's arm, retreating back into his corner. "How have I not drawn blood?! This is madness!" Damian sucked in breaths through his gills, an endlessly foreign and vulnerating sensation. "The only useful thing about this body was supposed to be its natural offensive capabilities, yet it is unable to achieve even that!"
"Siren kids just have blunter claws and teeth. Youngblood's the same."
"Do not call me a child!"
"Your claws will grow in over time, it's just the nature of things."
"You say that as if you will not return me to my true human form."
Phantom shifted uncomfortably.
Damian pressed. "Well?"
"Yeah about that..."
"Do not tell me you have no way to reverse it!"
Phantom's look of guilt sealed it. Damian's heart sank. Goodbye Robin, goodbye previous life. All his hard work and sacrifice for naught. Phantom had saved him from death by drowning, but suddenly Damian felt as if he were better off dead anyway.
Tears built up. What was happening to him? He hadn't cried since he was five years old, a show of weakness that grandfather had beaten out of him. Then again, he was really one year old back then, artificially grown to a competent age.
"H-hey, d-don't cry or anything, I was just-"
"I am not crying!" Damian shouted. He turned away from Phantom and stuffed his face into his tail, praying somehow the tears would go away on their own. He was Damian Wayne, son of Batman and daughter of Talia Al Ghul, there was no such thing as crying for him, none at all. There had been nothing, absolutely nothing he had been unable to overcome. He was going to overcome this, no matter what. These things he knew.
Why had this feeling not abated?
There had to be a solution, there just had to be. There had to be some kind of surgery that could split his tail into legs again. No that was absurd, what kind of quack surgeon can completely alter someone's species? Perhaps magic instead? Normally he hated the involvement of magic, but if it was the only way. Perhaps Zatara could assist, or he could pawn something off to that Constantine. But nothing ever good happened from associating with that man. Or maybe Aquaman would have a solution, someone well versed in oceanic magic, except Aquaman's claim of being king of the ocean was doubtful considering the siren attacks that lead him and Father to this forsaken resort town in the first place. What if... What if....
Damian felt lightheaded.
A weight pressed on Damian's body. Warm scales against his own, their individual texture segmented, but smooth, like a kind of weighted blanket. A hand laid on his shoulder. Damian remembered where he was, remembered to perform the mental exercises Father had taught him.
Slowly, his breathing evened out. His fins steadied into a gentle lull. Damian's eyelids felt heavy. His chest vibrated in a strange rhythm he couldn't place...
Suddenly the weight disappeared, and Damian blinked himself awake. Phantom retreated a sociable distance away, looking sheepish.
"Sorry, about touching you without your consent, I just saw you were hyperventilating, and I remembered a few classes about this stuff, and I watched that film too, Puss in Boots 2, it was great and-"
"Do sirens watch human media often?" Damian said. He gripped his tail, something solid to keep him anchored.
Phantom seemed to freeze for a moment. "Uhm well, maybe they do! just because we're sirens doesn't mean we're uncultured!"
Damian would have loved to pick this information apart, scan it for weaknesses until he knew this person in and out, but at this moment, he simply sat and let it settle underneath the shame of expressing similar, or even more weakness.
"Speak of this to anyone, and I will have your head."
"Yeah that would be a dick move, so if I ever did that, feel free to take it."
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blueskittlesart · 1 month
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Question abt drawing: been trying to attempt learning how to draw forever but I always have trouble getting over the obstacle of having to learn/study things like anatomy and shading, which then causes me to stop drawing and have a harder time picking it back up. I know it's important for improving your art and yourself as an artist but I can't help but see it as tedious and overwhelming, especially the anatomy since it's more on the science side of things and science is not my thing lol. Do you have any advice on how to get over it or work thru it?
i think there's a couple facets to this question. firstly i'd recommend you consider what exactly your end goal is in learning how to draw: do you specifically want to be able to produce anatomically accurate figures and true-to-life shading, or do you just want to be able to make something for fun that looks good to you? one of the most helpful things I ever learned at art school was that accuracy doesn't matter if it looks good. 99% of my art isn't strictly anatomically accurate, and part of that is stylization, but even when i'm doing realistic figure drawings i like to lengthen limbs and exaggerate curves in order to make my drawings look better. So if your only real goal with art is to make something that looks good and enjoy the process, my first piece of advice would be to stop worrying so much about stuff like perfect accuracy! if you use references and keep pushing yourself, the skill and understanding you're looking for will come naturally with time. before I was ever classically trained, I got pretty far just by drawing my favorite characters in different poses and situations over and over again, and that experience laid the groundwork for when classical training did become available to me. Just because you're not necessarily doing serious figure studies doesn't mean you're not getting valuable practice--what it means is that you're having FUN while you're practicing, and having fun with your art is the most important thing!!!
Secondly, you mentioned anatomy being on the science side of things, which suggests to me that you may be looking in the wrong places when trying to do more serious anatomical study. if you look up 'anatomy' or anything similar on a web search engine, you're likely going to get a lot of very complex scientific illustrations. and while those aren't necessarily devoid of artistic value (I took a class all about scientific anatomy for artists last semester and it was GREAT) for a beginner who's just trying to learn how to make a body look like a body, they're not what you're looking for. what is going to be much more helpful for you are sites like line of action or quickposes. these sites are basically repositories of figure drawing images, and you can set them to automatically switch to a new image after a certain interval of time. if you really, desperately want to improve your anatomy specifically, what I recommend is going to one of these sites, setting it to the shortest interval possible, and trying to copy the pose as closely as you can before time is up. this might sound crazy, since the shortest interval is usually somewhere between 30-60 seconds, which obviously isn't enough to get much down. but what this will do is force you to look at how these models' bodies are constructed and translate it onto the page quickly and without overthinking it. be warned, your first maybe hundred of these are going to look like shit. but if you do this enough, you're eventually going to gain an intrinsic sense for 1. how a body works and 2. the easiest way for you personally to construct a body when drawing it. even without knowing the scientific names and anatomical rules, you're going to get a FEEL for how things work, which is much more important and useful to you as a character artist.
Finally, i think the most important thing to remember is that no art is bad art, even if you're not satisfied with the end product. when you're first starting out as an artist, you're going to make things that don't look right and you're going to be frustrated with yourself because of it. i vividly remember crying over a sketchbook at maybe age 11 or 12 because I was so upset i couldn't put exactly what was in my head on the page. Skill comes with time and practice and that is a frustrating fact of life, but no time spent doing something you enjoy and are passionate about is wasted. It might look bad now but you are laying the groundwork for your future success, and someday you're probably going to look back on your past work and say "I can't believe I thought this looked bad back then. for my age and my skill level i was doing AMAZING." And as previously mentioned, it's a lot less discouraging when something looks bad if you had fun making it, so try to have FUN with your art. draw things you enjoy and are passionate about and don't worry if it looks bad. focus on the experience, the skill will come in time. you've got this!!
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baoshan-sanren · 11 months
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best cdramas I’ve watched since the last one of these posts in 2023 (and some I’m still looking forward to seeing)
A League of Nobleman (watch on WeTV VIP | watch on AppleTV | watch on Viki | watch on bilibili | watch on YouTube) Adapted from the novel "The Mystery of Zhang Guo" (张公案) by Da Feng Gua Guo (大风刮过) starring Jing BoRan, Song WeiLong, Hong Yao, Guo Cheng and Wang Duo. Definitely gay, but in like a very focused, we-have-a-mystery-to-solve way. Loved the acting and the plot; cannot believe people actually gave Song Weilong shit for his acting in this drama. He was aMAzing. The downside is that the editing grew progressively sloppier as the drama progressed, and although majority of the visuals were very satisfying, I never realized how crappy the quality of the light was until I tried gifing some of the scenes. The upside is Jing BoRan holding kittens. Enough Said. 7/10
The Blood of Youth (watch on Viki | watch on YouTube) Adapted from the novel "Shao Nian Ge Xing" (少年歌行) by Zhou Mu Nan (周木楠) starring Li HongYi, Liu XueYi and Ao RuiPeng. Love this goddamn drama. I adopted the entire cast within the first 3 episodes and then I spent the next 37 terrified that half of them would get killed off. There’s def some major character death in this drama my chickens, so keep that in mind (and not a canonical death either, from what I understand). Anyway, this is my fave genre by far so I’m never really picky, but this drama is exhilarating and gorgeous from beginning to end. Highly recommend. 9/10
New Life Begins (watch on iQIYI | watch on Viki | watch on YouTube) Adapted from the web novel "Qing Chuan Ri Chang" (清穿日常) by Duo Mu Mu Duo (多木木多) starring Bai JingTing and Tian XiWei. Just sweet and fluffy. The plot is easy and devoid of complexities, but very satisfying nonetheless. The acting is definitely on another level. The entire cast has bonkers chemistry, and it’s about time someone made good use of Bai Jingting’s comedy potential. One of the top 5 easy viewing dramas on my rewatch list.  8/10
The Legendary Life of Queen Lau (watch on Viki | watch on YouTube) Adapted from the web novel "Huang Hou Liu Hei Pang" (皇后刘���胖) by Ge Yang (戈鞅) starring Li JiaQi and Li HongYi. Loved this. Although it doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects, this is basically a comedy from beginning to end. Not gonna lie, I mainly gave this a go for Li Hongyi, but it’s hard to even notice him when Li Jiaqi is in the room. There’s no shame in being overshadowed by superior talent :) 7/10
(yeah, after all this, I rewatched Nirvana In Fire again)
Under the Microscope (watch on Apple TV | watch on Bilibili | watch on iQIYI VIP | watch on Viki) Adapted from the novel "Xian Wei Jing Xia De Da Ming" (显微镜下的大明) by Ma Bo Yong (马伯庸) starring Zhang RuoYun and Wang Yang. Continuously impressed by Zhang RuoYun’s skills. This drama is 90% grit and tension. Drool-worthy visuals. Interesting plot. Sound mixing that gives me a Mo Ran style boner. Make your friends watch it and they will hate you. 9/10
Till The End of The Moon (watch on YouTube | watch on Apple TV | watch on Viki) Adapted from the web novel "Hei Yue Guang Na Wen BE Ju Ben" (黑月光拿稳BE剧本) by Teng Luo Wei Zhi (藤萝为枝). Starring Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu. This was so breathtakingly gorgeous. The chemistry between the actors, the visuals, the special effects, the costumes, everything is stunning in this drama. The romance is by no means original, but still manages to draw you in. Absolutely worth watching at least once. 8/10
Still waiting on:
Immortality - based on danmei novel The Husky and His White Cat Shizun by 肉包不吃肉 starring Chen Feiyu and Luo Yunxi (you can think I’m a clown but you’d be wrong bc I’m a wholeass circus)
Winner Is King - based on the danmei novel Sha Po Lang by Priest starring Tan Jianci and Chen Zheyuan
Step By Step Lotus - based on historical novel Return to Ming Dynasty as Prince by 月关 starring Zhang Binbin and Luo Yunxi
Eternal Faith - based on danmei novel Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu starring Zhai Xiaowen and Zhang Linghe
Joy Of Life Season 2 - based on wuxia novel of the same name by 猫腻 starring Zhang Ruoyun and Li Qin
Story of Kunning Palace - based on the novel 坤宁 by 时镜 starring Bai Lu and Zhang LingHe
Flying Phoenix - based on danmei novel of the same name by 風弄 starring Dai Jingyao and Shu Yaxin
The Story of the Bat - based on danmei novel Bat by Feng Nong starring Mao Zijun and Zhang Yao
The Longest Promise - based on xianxia novel Zhu Yan by 沧月 starring Xiao Zhan, Ren Min, and Zhang Yunlong
Mysterious Lotus Casebook - based on wuxia novel 吉祥纹莲花楼 by Teng Ping 藤萍 starring Cheng Yi and Zeng ShunXi
Follow Your Heart - historical drama starring Song Yi and Luo Yunxi 
The Thirteen-Hongs in Canton - historical drama starring Zhu Yawen and Yu Haoming
White Cat Legend - based on manhua of the same name starring Ding Yuxi and Zhou Qi
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