#of course when I was a kid I couldn't afford commissions!

[indiiglow]

I'm trying to figure out a profound way to say how much some artists have impacted the entire way I draw

[kogameh]

I don't know where else to post this so. Uhh. All Nintendo systems we've owned!

We never had any real console and have always been strictly handheld haha. We also missed out on the 3DS because of, uh, tregic backstory™ reasons, we just couldn't afford one at the time (same story on why I never owned a drawing tablet growing up lol)...so uh, character development? I guess? It's gonna take me multiple occasions to even tell the story behind them so I'm just gonna dump them under the cut \o/

GBA Micro - Actually the first legit game system we owned! A friend of my late dad was selling it with Pokemon Naranja (yes technically my first Pkmn game is a bootleg cartrige'd romhack...), which is kinda surprising because my late dad knew nothing about video games at all- He only wanted to give a Pokemon game to the 10-years-old me and struck gold with this haha. I didn't even realize this model existed after the SP until years later, it's so small and sturdy! The screen is noticeably more vibrant and crisper than the SP even. This later got passed to my twin sis after we got a GBA SP.

GBA SP - My late dad also bought this from a friend months after we got the Micro just so all 3 of us siblings would stop fighting over the Micro- Okay kidding but. Yeah. (Ironically we never tried multiplayer with both GBAs because no shops ever sell GBA Link Cables here-) Actually has a Lot of Pikachu stickers, though obviously the ones on the top lid peeled off. The only reason it has...uh, seen better days is that my older bro keeps playing in bed and most often than not he always fell asleep mid-game so yeah... Imagine the number of times it fell off... I'm still too scared to even touch it anymore because the hinge feels like it could snap off any day now jkasghsgfhasj

DS Lite - Let's just say I got this as a sort of "graduation" gift from my mom as we finished our final elementary school year haha. The funny story is: I never bought a legit game for my DS since day 1. The seller we bought it from bundled it with an R4 card being all like "oh yeah pick 10 games from our catalog and we'll "install" it on your DS! But ofc if you want to add any new games, do come back :D". Didn't take too long for me and my bro to discover the R4 has an SD card... And can be attached to our laptop...And we found out DS ROMs from the interwebs work with it....... So we never came back........... To this day I have 0 ideas if the seller underestimated us or is sabotaging his sales like this. This still works like a charm even today after I replaced its batteries :D Also this might as well be the first ever red-colored gadget I've owned and kickstarted my obsessions with them ig haha.

Switch Lite - Uh, my twin sis bought this with her own pocket money months ago. Long story short she basically bought it because her friends really wanted her to play ScarVio on launch with them lol. Of course I got stuck in that FOMO too haha-- Plus it matches her baby blue/turquoise laptop and Intuos tablet! Albeit the "turquoise" in this one is more Miku Green™ leaning-

Pokemon Switch OLED - Ah yes I hope you guys know that I worked 3 vacation-less weeks for this knowing that I'll never ever be able to afford this from commissions alone ahahhahahahhahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahhhah 😇 Okay. Well. On a lighter note. At first, I was more interested in the Lite because I didn't like any of the colors from the reg Switches but then this ver was announced when I'm still saving up so I'm just "Eh. It has mine and my sis' fav colors (red and purple respectively) so why not." Didn't regret though because I LOVE how nostalgic the sticker bomb pattern at the back!! Reminds me of how I decorated my GBA even!!!! And the dock is so cool!! My attachment also adds up unexpectedly as I ended up liking ScarVio more than I thought euhuhuhu....

Honorable mentions: The PSP 1000. It's the only Sony we ever have and we never even bought it because..........someone left it at my parent's workplace and they never claimed it back for months so. yeah. played the hell out of W/inx Club out of it 7.5/10.

Also the N-Gage which was my bro's "GBA" when we had ours. The N-Gage was so damn cool y'all I've seen more people with an N-Gage than the DS around my area as a kid. Fucked up.

[iamvegorott]

For the highschool au, I know it's about dantistache, but I can't help but wonder how Google and Bing's relationship is? I imagine at some point Google asked Bing why he wore shades so much, and Bing falters for a second because the reason he wears shades so often is because he lost an eye when he was younger and didn't want to wear an eye patch but also couldn't afford a synthetic eye either, so he picked some shades and began wearing them everywhere he went.

“Hey, Google! What’chu up to!?” Wilford greeted loudly as he, Dark and Anti walked over to Google, who was looking up a large tree.

“Where’s Bing? You two are practically attached to the hip.” Anti asked with a little giggle. “It’s almost like you’re-” Anti stopped when Dark placed an arm around his waist, his hand giving him a little squeeze as a warning to stop. Anti curled up a little and turned his head to hide the slight blush on his cheeks.

“The moron you speak of is currently trying to break his neck,” Google answered, pointing to where he was looking.

“Googs! Check it out! I’m a bat!” Bing laughed as he hung upside down from a branch.

“I’m going to hit you with a bat if you don’t get down!” Google threatened.

“Come on, Googs! I’m just having fun!” Bing chuckled, kicking his legs out and making Google stiffen with fear. “I’ll be fi-” Bing’s comment became a shout as he lost his grip and fell off of the branch, crashing into a lower one before landing on the ground.

“Bing!” Google shouted and ran over to Bing.

“Go get the nurse,” Dark ordered Wilford and Wilford immediately took off towards the school building. “Hopefully he’s still here.”

“I’m going too,” Anti said before taking off after Wilford, Dark knowing Anti just wanted to get away since he wasn’t the best with these situations.

“Bing, are you okay!?” Google asked, kneeling on the ground next to him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Bing answered on his hands and knees, but one of his hands was up and covering an eye.

“Did you hurt your eye?” Google grabbed Bing’s wrist gently to move it, but Bing jerked away.

“No!” Bing snapped, face quickly relaxing when he saw the surprise on Google’s. “Um…no…sorry.” He said softly.

“Here.” Dark said, holding Bing’s sunglasses out towards him.”

“Thanks,” Bing said, taking the glasses and turning his head away to put them on.

“No need to fear, the doctor is here!”

“And there’s Mr. Nestor,” Dark said.

“I heard Bing fell from a tree.” Mr. Nestor said, helping Bing to his feet. “Did you get anything in your eye?”

“No,” Bing muttered, moving his head away when Mr. Nestor tried to remove his sunglasses.

“You know I need to check it. It’s not good if you get something in there, especially dirt.” Mr. Nestor stated.

“Can we look at it in your office?” Bing asked, holding his sunglasses to his face now.

“Of course. You’re lucky that Wilford and Anti caught me before I left.” Mr. Nestor said as he and Bing walked away.

“Wait-I…” Google stopped himself when he saw that Bing was slumped over in shame.

“We’ll wait for you out here,” Dark called.

“I just realized we’ve never seen Bing without his glasses,” Dark said.

“Maybe he has a really bad case of pink eye?” Wilford suggested.

“Or a black eye.” Anti shrugged, not seeing the look on Google’s face.

“If it was a black eye, it’d be healed by now,” Dark stated.

“What if he kept getting them? He’s a clumsy dude.” Anti said.

Google didn’t listen to the rest of the conversation as he watched the school’s doors.

x~x~x

“Thank you for driving us, Dark,” Google said as he and Bing got out of the car.

“No problem, we’ll see you guys on Monday,” Dark said.

“Have fun on your date, you three~” Bing sang, sticking his tongue out at Anti when Anti did it first. Google rolled his eyes and closed the door, both of them waving as the car drove off. “Your place or mine tonight?” Bing asked, waving again when he saw his mother at the window of the house.

“Mine,” Google said, waving with Bing. Bing pointed to the house next door and his mother gave a thumbs up and nodded, watching as he son and best friend go into the other house.

Google and Bing have been neighbors their entire lives. They’ve been on playdates since before they had memories. Their mothers knew each other very well and their dads got along too. They were used to them either being at one house or the other. Their mothers would make jokes about having two sons instead of one.

“You’re later than usual, Google, dear.” Google’s mom said, standing in the kitchen and writing something down on a notepad that was sitting on the table.

“Bing decided to go tree climbing,” Google said as Bing grabbed one of the cookies from the table, smiling widely at Google’s mother. Google’s mom was a lot more business-like than Bing’s. She ran a real estate company while Bing’s mother stayed at home.

“Please tell me he didn’t fall.”

“Maybe.” Bing giggled.

“I thought you were supposed to prevent him from doing stupid things.” Google’s mother teased and ruffled Bing’s hair.

“I can only do so much.” Google chuckled.

“Well, your father and I are going out with Bing’s parent tonight. We won’t be back till late. I left some cash on the counter for pizza. The number is on the fridge.”

“Thanks, mom. We’re going to go up to my room.” Google said and Bing helped himself to another cookie before they left.

“What game do we wanna play tonight?” Bing asked, rubbing his hands together as he looked at Google’s collection.

“Bye Google! Bye Bing!” Google’s mother called up.

“Bye!” Both Google and Bing called back.

“Actually…Bing…” Google swallowed thickly. “I want to talk.”

“Sure. What’s up, bro?” Bing asked, catching Googe’s tone.

“Why are you always wearing sunglasses?” Bing’s face dropped at the question.

“I just like them, dude.” Bing weakly chuckled.

“Then take them off,” Google said.

“Nah, dude.” Bing took a step back.

“Bing, we never hide anything from each other. We know everything. We’re honest. We’re the only ones were fully honest too.” Google placed his hands on the sides of Bing’s face, holding the sunglasses. Bing quickly covered Google’s hands with his owns and kept them there. “If you’re getting hit, we can-”

“Hit?” Bing’s eyebrows went up. “What do you mean hit?”

“Why else would you be hiding your eyes?” Google’s voice cracked a little.

“Googs…I’m not getting hit. I promise.” Bing bit his lip. “But you don’t want to see it, trust me. I don’t want to scare you away too.”

“Bing. You need to trust me too.” Google said. There was a long pause before Bing lowered his hands and swallowed.

“Okay,” Bing whispered. He cringed when Google slowly removed his sunglasses and he kept both eyes closed. There was another pause before he opened them, showing Google that one of his eyes were missing.

“You don’t…”

“Yeah. I don’t have one of my eyes.” Bing let out a weak laugh. “Why do you think I’m so clumsy?”

“What happened?” Google asked.

“A fucking wasp stung my eye when I was a lot younger. I had an allergic reaction and the doctors couldn’t save the eye and like hell, we could afford a fake one and I learned quickly that everyone thought you were weird if you wore an eyepatch.” Bing explained. He could feel tears forming as Google didn’t respond. “I know it looks weird, it looks gross, I look disgusting because of some stupid accident I had no control over. I was a kid, man. Wasps are assholes and they ruined what people called the ‘doors to your soul’. One of my doors is gone.” Bing shook his head. “I’m sorry, Googs. I shouldn’t have let you-” Bing stopped when Google suddenly grabbed his face and pulled him in for a kiss. “Wha…”

“You’re beautiful,” Google said and gave him another kiss. Bing’s eyes stayed wide for a moment before they fluttered shut and he wrapped his arms around Google, joining in on the kiss.

“Google, do you know where I left my-oh my gosh!” Google’s mother’s squeak scared both of them apart. “Suzan! Suzan I called it! I told you they would get together!” She shouted as she ran away from the room, her heels clicking down the hall.

“Oh, God.” Google groaned while Bing started laughing loudly.

|Buy Me A Ko-Fi|  |Commissions| |Master Post|

[jejublr]

hey Nat! first of all congratulations on your anniversary!! 🎉👏👏 hope your first year with this blog was great! secondly, for the anniversary writing game: wonwoo and "1978" (i know it's not that creative but i wanted to leave a request and i couldn't think of anything better lol) 💖💖💖

“1978″ & Wonwoo

ahhh thank you for your kind words!! thanks so much for being with me on this one-year journey!!! this one’s for you~

meanie alert. tw for some blood and gore.

1978 was deemed one of the bloodiest year in the history of homicide in South Korea.

It all started when the first body was found on a hiking trail. A woman in her thirties named Jung Herin. A family had been going on their weekend hike when the daughter spotted a pair of legs sticking out from one of the bushes. The cause of death was determined to be from a head trauma caused by a blunt object hitting the victim on the back of their head.

The second body, Kim Ilsung, was found slouched under the tree in the roadside woods. The man was found with his hands over a wound on his side. It was assumed the killer left him wounded and abandoned him there to die from the cold. Cause of death: abdominal aortic hemorrhage.

The third and the fourth victims were a pair of sisters, Seo Minah and Minji, both in their late teens and was last seen by a shop owner walking their way home. They’d been found seperately—one in a garbage bin downtown and the other found in the woods like the second body. Both died from head trauma.

In the span of two months, four bodies had been found with minimum leads and no suspect.

Detective Jeon Wonwoo hated cases like this, where the killer was as smart as he was careless. He didn’t seem to kill out of necessity, but rather out of enjoyment and his unpredictability only made him the more dangerous. The killer didn’t have any particular weapon of choice. None of the victim was related in any sort of way and all the victims were found with their wallets and belongings intact. The motive was unknown and the pattern does not exist. The inexplicable nature of the murder easily made it one of the deadliest murders in the history of South Korea.

Nimble fingers and diligent eyes skimmed over the surface of the report files, silently hoping that there’d be a new lead that could help him solve the case a little faster. He couldn’t afford another victim, another life, to be spared.

Wonwoo heaved another heavy sigh as he chucked his glasses onto his desk. There’s no point. The killer clearly knows what he’s doing and left no trace whatsoever. The killer was a ghost, cunning as it was clever, leaving no breadcrumbs in his wake. 

Wonwoo liked to think of himself as one of the country’s finest detective but he started to think that maybe being the best wasn’t enough. He had searched into every nook and cranny, under every rock and leaf, and each one of his leads only took him to a dead end. The killer knew what he was doing and by now, the police force was just his stooge.

“You look like crap,” a voice commented and Wonwoo didn’t have to be a detective to know that it was his less-than-helpful junior officer that had graced him with his presence.

Mingyu strode into his office like nobody’s business, all long legs and slicked back hair with two paper cups filled with steaming hot coffee as he flashed the older man a toothy smile. How he managed to be this perky so late into the night baffled him.

“Thanks,” Wonwoo replied sarcastically as he reached out for the coffee. The heat of the cup provided a different kind of comfort on nights like this and he was partially glad that someone cared enough to bring him coffee when he needed it most.

Mingyu propped a hand over his desk, eyes catching the newspaper articles and case files strewn messily over the mahagony lecturn, “Any leads on the killer?”

“No, not yet,” Wonwoo sighed for the upteenth time that night as he slouched over his desk. He felt a gentle pat on his back, “Don’t worry. You’ll catch him. I know you will.”

Wonwoo glanced at the younger man. Officer Kim Mingyu had only been commissioned at their station for give or take six months now and if Wonwoo has to be completely honest, there’s a lot to say about that kid. His presence in the office definitely brought some fresh air with his knack for stumbling over thin air and his ability to cook some of the best instant ramen he had ever tasted. His charm and easy-going nature won the other officers fairly quickly and he was easily part of the team in no time. 

It’s been a while since Wonwoo remembered how it felt being that young and wide-eyed about the world. When you work for the force for long enough, you learn soon enough that not every case gets meet its happy end. Most don’t even get an ending.

“You should get a shut-eye,” Mingyu suggested. He shook his head.

“I can’t. I have to find the killer.” The victims had a wife, a husband, children, lives. He can’t afford someone else getting hurt tonight.

It was then that Seungcheol poked his head into his office with a grim face and announced: “They found another body.”

The trees flashed red and blue as police cruisers swarm the place. Police lines fluttered in the wind, keeping a curious audience at bay as officers set out to work. Special teams search out the area, flashlights flashing into the night as they attempted to gather evidences. In the midst of it all, was a body. It was another murder, presumably by the same culprit, and the body had been hastily discarded, bloodied and battered and exposed to the elements. 

The young detective easily walked pass the police line, fallen leaves crunching under the weight of his footfalls as he strode in like he owned the place. To a certain extent, he does. Wonwoo was as easily at home at crime scenes as he was in the library. This was a familiar territory and he’s in his element.

Wonwoo walked brusquely towards Mingyu, who was standing over next to a group of forensics marking the area around the body. He freezed and took a double take when he saw it. It wasn’t the sight of the bloody, gaping gash on the victim’s neck that made him suck a sharp breath, but rather the sheer familiarity of the lifeless face looking back at him.

Mingyu noticed him tense as he glanced at him,”You know her?”

Does he know her? Of course, he does. 

He knew of the lifeless body he stood over at that moment. Knew her from the shy glances he stole of her whenever he visited that sh** coffee shop. Knew you because you were the story he never got to read. Until now. Until what was left was the end dangling on a fraying page.

Wonwoo had to be completely honest: working as a detective wasn’t always as glamorous and as andrenaline-fueled as one might imagined. Most days, Wonwoo found himself dawdle in his office, fingers skimming over books after books. His life only got relatively interesting after a particular coffee run. A particular coffee run that had led him to you.

You were different, to say the least. Unlike most people, you wear your heart on your sleeve, and your face an open book free for all to read. It didn’t take a genius to understand you inside out. You let people in as easily as you let them out.  You were simple. Uncomplicated. Wonwoo guessed that’s what drew him to you.

You never knew it but Wonwoo always came back for anything but the coffee. You never knew of the sneaky glances he stole as you worked on the counter, humming along to the music and completely oblivious to the fluttering of his heart. It went on like this for months; you’d smile and make a small talk and he’d smile politely as he ordered. 

He never caught your name. Until now. Until tonight, when they found you dead in a ditch. He wished he’d had the guts to talk to you. He wished he’d had the nerve to ask you out when he had the chance.

“No,” he decided. “No, I don’t.”

The murder stopped after you but the damage had been done. Five victims and a rogue killer was on the loose. Wonwoo kept searching.

They never found the killer.

[whimsically-ominously-auspice]

The guy... That We bought it from...

He used to take me around when I was a kid. And I would buy an entire apartment complex in Harlem for like $50k, sell Jesse James One apartment for $75k. He would flip it... I would end up paying like 30k out of pocket to help him tho... With materials cause he could never afford to pay so he says cause i would rip him off you know... So he would then end up selling it for more than $100k so he would make well nothing... But I would let him keep the whole $100k although he. Never actually paid me the $75k for the apartment... But he would sell it straight out for the $100k then fell he owed me money...

See i was trying this trick to figure out how to get free labor... Because i was doing all this work to get people out of human trafficking... So i figured out how to do it to Jesse... Cause how do you trap people?

So I would give him the full $100k them have him pay out of pocket to rehabilitate 3 or more apartments (row houses)

Well Steve never knew i actually never took money from Jesse... But we always agreed that he owed me.. Because i couldn't be a human trafficker... But I could see how easy it was.

So Steve swore he would never get ripped off by me. Never. Ever. Ever. For nearly 30 years he's sworn he wouldn't get ripped off

Well one YouTube video later... My ass got a castle for $2.5 million USD

Jesse did pay me tho... He gave me a check one day for $600k and asked me about his commission and pay. I was all "that's not the deal buddy. Where you been living the last 5 months? How you been eating man? You get nothing"

Nah but i did give him $200k and i made $750k off a 50k purchase in SE Harlem.

Steve Vaughn never knew that tho.

Couldn't go around telling people i was making others rich. How would that look?!

So he always swore I would never rip him off.

Do you know the tax write off on a loss of a $6 million dollar house sold for $2.5M?!

At least $3.5 million

He was an old CIA lawyer back in the day i asked to make sure i didn't break laws while trying to get myself real close to as human trafficking as possible.

But he didn't know that either.

I told him I just wanted to rip people off and wanted to know how to do it legal.

He gave me good business advice and told me to figure out the rest. But he did give me "if you wanna be an ass hole" advice. Which made my eyes shine.

Jesse was good at finding people to mortgage an apartment in Harlem off Wall Street. He would ask men on Wall Street that had a certain look -- a Harlan Vibe -- guess they were from Harlem and tell them we were trying to get it back to its roots and bring Harlem back up and that is how he sold them so easily.

And he did the construction himself with his brothers. Extra sheetrock for sound control so it was more private than hearing neighborhood noise.

Chandeliers and major upgrades.

So while he got only 250k for the Harlem cause I charged him 50k rent although he claims he didn't live there -- I must had just caught him sleeping on the job. For 5 row homes... He did pretty good.

And the next 15 that needed less build and repair and just upgrades and Windows got him half million to share with his brothers.

We never told anyone. Not especially a lawyer who i paid $20 per day to help me

So i always been ripping him off!!

He always swore I wouldn't rip him off. But I always ripped him off most..

Except when i told the CIA he did earn his fee of $200 per hour. And I told the CIA he was under billing cause it cost him 2 hours to see me in commute in Harlem. And had them pay that, too.

And i would call and tell them to pay if he just talked on the phone. He said "I'm not charging you. You're a kid!"

"Is that because of my legal age?!"

So i would call back to HQ and tell them i had talked legal shit with Steve and they had to pay him again. Every dam time.

Even if he just called to cuss me out.

In a month he earned half a million. 3 million in two months.

Idk.

Jesse asked why I paid him $250k when he said he should only earned $5k and wanted to borrow money to try again to flip it and make money like me.

I told him I wanted to know how human trafficking worked and I did it. I let him sleep whenever and wherever and took him food once a day and didn't pay him for 2 months and he did all this work

And I told him "you didn't deserve to be human trafficked but I did it. I did it to the lawyer Steve, too. And now I'm rich and you're not. And I'm going to turn myself in to the CIA about Steve"

And that is how Steve became a multi-millionaire.

Because I explained to the CIA I did it to two people right under their nose.

So they paid Steve 3 full months 40 hour week days at $200 per hour

Then they took the $250k I gave Jesse and doubled up and gave him an additional $500k

So Jesse gave me $50k to buy in on a new set of row houses. 30 of them. I told him bull shit you owe me for sleeping on the job and food.

It workedm. Human trafficking is easy. Just "oh I'll pay you later" that's what they do down there.

That is why i call them all Jesse James. Anyone that worked for him in Harlem... Some weren't so great as you recently read about.

I call the one i put into Sabrina's Slavery, Papa Smurf. He lives over in Austin. Has a big ole house and a bunch of dogs.

So getting this big ole castle... I mean it's a great price and has a fantastic story.

But it means so much more because of the family we got it from.

Because we bought it from that lawyer.

That ole lawyer from with a one way hour commute Harlem.

Its a small fucking world.

Family really is family.

And I didn't even know it was his. I really just watched a video 60 seconds with Tommy Johnson Jr and it popped up under the recommended

And Ritchie told me "that house ain't on the market"

So maybe i ripped him off -- but unless he invested poorly -- he got plenty off investments on that 3m so maybe it was the first time he spent it... Well he got it all back. From build cost and maintenance and upkeep he was only gaining 200k.

Just about what jesse got on his first set of row castles down in Harlem.

Kinda a perfect world huh?

Of course before i knew who he was... I hired him for consulting again... Because i don't know the area we bought the house in... So i told him he can help with letting us know how that area is... Because he knows a different way about it than our relators.

So I bought a castle built by a CIA lawyer. So that shit is tight. Already has in home cameras.

Which Miss Gremlin said was because there was soooo many murders the cops had a feed right to their police station. Not too far off from the truth...

So yeah... Brian didn't just buy a mansion..he bought a castle.

And from family.

So its like now this big fucking legacy.

With multiple mysteries

Not bad for a 7 year old home.

I'm not just lucky. I'm grateful.

It really goes to show what you put into this world, you get back.

💞