#ooh maybe with it they could release the old games on Switch too

[lavena]

Okie doke, here we go. Slight TW for mentions of grotesque imagery and pain, really not that bad just pulling out a tooth too early, and peeling scutes

So I have a head cannon for 2k3 Mikey, I forget what episode, but it was one of the like first 5 I think, where the boys were going scavenging and Raph asks why Mike isn't helping and Don says something along the lines of "would you rather him be bored or be goofing off" and pretty much immediately Raph is like "nope, yeah, goof off over there bub" and they don't revisit that I don't think.

ANYWAYS as a kid with ADHD even with so many things to occupy me, watching Bones or House, coloring, playing with my dogs all at the same time being bored can be utterly brutal. And I didn't have a phone, or cable or internet (still dont) so I had no way to get that quick serotonin or switch to re-engage myself, and I was like 6 or so, and it was like 6 at night during fall so sun, no outside fun time for me. So I occupied myself in a less than ideal way.

In this case, here is where the like slight grotesque bit comes in, one of my teeth was funky due to an accident at a bouncy house a year or so before, and so I decided I was going to take a pair of pliers and spend the next three hours in the bathroom pulling out one of my front teeth, and it worked, I did it, was probably not the best idea cause that tooth took almost another year to grow in, but none the less I occupied the time, and it got my mind off being so aimlessly bored.

Now imagine mikey doing this as a kid, before he had cable or video games, or a way to get a quick release. Imagine his brothers being tired for the day, dont want to play with him, and he is just beyond bored and needs something to occupy his hands, his last sheets of paper were already full and he wasn't allowed to paint on the walls cause last time Raph ran into one and was left with a pink nose for a week. Its about time for their scutes to peel anyways so why not just start early. He wanders off into a corner somewhere and finds any tool he can put his hands on, a kitchen knife, and screw driver, maybe even just his own nails. And just begins peeling at the edges of his shell. Sure it hurts and feels weird, plus his back is at a weird angle from trying to get it off, but none the less he weasels his way between the new scute and the old, and peels it off. The thing is, the scute under is sensitive and wasn't quite ready to be exposed despite the edges lifting on the old scutes. Eventually one of his brothers or even splinter will wander in on him prying off bits of shell, and be rather horrified at this discover as you can imagine.

Anywayss. I mostly see people highlighting the silly funny, ooh shiny bits of ADHD and not the bizarrely self destructive kids with it can get into with boredom, even if they are "occupied" by games, and animals, and siblings, and shows, our brains can just go " yeah this isn't as entertaining as it was five minutes ago, and the twelve other things I could be doing atm don't sound interesting enough, so let's do something that distracts my hands and my nervous system by causing controlled pain with an end goal in mind. 🙃👍

[fleeting-sanity]

OC Talk #9

My OCs as 2020 songs.

There’s a LOT of releases this year but this is all I’ve listened to so far? Post is long as always.

PS: LOL I struggled to find suitable songs for some OCs that 2020 ended ahhaha I’m slow as always-

Aryuni

Rina Sawayama - Comme Des Garçons (Like the Boys)

Yeah, oh, girl, it's okay You should never be ashamed to have it all Yeah, yeah it's gonna be okay Yeah, you've come a long way

Don’t fuck with me hoe Take you down like Judo Elevate your vision when you put me on the cover

Hot like a fever Make you a believer Write my name up in the sky  From Paris to Shibuya

Lady Gaga - 911

Holding on so tight to this status It's not real but I'll try to grab it Keep myself in beautiful places Paradise is in my hands

My biggest enemy is me Pop a 911 

Taylor Swift - mad woman

What did you think I'd say to that? Does a scorpion sting when fighting back? They strike to kill and you know I will You know I will

Every time you call me crazy I get more crazy What about that? And when you say I seem angry, I get more angry And there's nothing like a mad woman What a shame she went mad No one likes a mad woman You made her like that

Ariana Grande - shut up

My presence sweet and my aura bright Diamonds good for my appetite Guess it fuckin' just clicked one night All them demons helped me see shit differently So don't be sad for me

I vibrate high and my circle lit We ain't really with drugs and shit Love the game so I never miss Keep opinions muted for the hell of it 'Cause I like my shit

Harry Styles - Adore You (From Arcann)

Your wonder under summer skies  Brown skin and lemon over ice Would you believe it?

You don't have to say you love me You don't have to say nothing You don't have to say you're mine

Oh, honey I'd walk through fire for you Just let me adore you

Taylor Swift - mirrorball (To Avery, Avelyn, Saxan)

I want you to know I'm a mirrorball I'll show you every version of yourself tonight I'll get you out on the floor Shimmering beautiful And when I break it's in a million pieces

Hush When no one is around, my dear You'll find me on my tallest tiptoes Spinning in my highest heels, love Shining just for you

Chloe x Halle - Tipsy (To Arcann)

I've been crucified, darling Ghost haunt me like New Orleans I've been charged with murder 'Cause some wanna push me further I'll hit you where it hurts, yeah If you don't put me first, yeah And I don't give no apologies If you lose a life that's not on me, yeah

I might be a little tipsy on your love Makes me a little crazy but so what You're strumming on my heart strings, don't be dumb If you love your little life then don't fuck up

Avery

Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

I know you're dying trying to figure me out My name's on the tip of your tongue, keep running your mouth  You want the recipe but can’t handle my sound

No matter what you do, I'm gonna get it without ya I know you ain't used to a female alpha

Katy Perry - What Makes A Woman

Is it the way I talk sweet? The way my skin is soft? Or how I can be a bitch? Make you keep your fingers crossed? 

Is it the way I cut my hair And put no makeup on? I feel most beautiful Doing what the fuck I want 

Rina Sawayama - Dynasty

I'm a dynasty The pain in my vein is hereditary Dynasty Running in my bloodstream, my bloodstream Dynasty And if that's all that I'm gonna be Won't you break the chain with me

I'm gonna take the throne this time All the words all mine, all mine It's been way too long, too far Too gone, to carry on You can't hide it in the walls Sweep it under marble floors It's been living in our lives Best told damn family lie

Chloe x Halle - Overwhelmed

Holding my breath till my face turns blue Head underwater Breathe deeply they said I need a weekend again Looking for bright sides Low on the high types Running so fast, I done worn my shoes Head on the pavement I'm just trying to win Pushed in the river, I swim Nothing can blind side  Me like the high tide I don't do well under pressure I don't know at all I wish I had all the answers Fix it all myself (Oh) I feel overwhelmed

Avelyn

Selena Gomez - Dance Again

Happiness Ain't something you sit back and you wait for Vulnerable Ain't easy, believe me, but I do it

Feels so, feels so, feels so good to dance again With my emotions, I just start going in With everything To dance again 

Katy Perry - Resilient

'Cause I am resilient A full flower moment Won't let the concrete hold me back Oh no I am resilient Born to be brilliant You'll see me grow right through the cracks Yeah, 'cause you're gonna watch this flower grow right through the cracks

Childish Gambino - 19.10

I remember back when I was six years old Daddy said "the world's so cold" "There is something that you should know", "You're so gorgeous", (thank you daddy) "Nothing's really worth your time" "But someday soon you just might find" "The truth about the world's design", oh

“To be beautiful is to be hunted I can't change the truth, I can't get you used to this”

Ariana Grande - my hair (To Ezekiel)

It’s got body and it’s smooth to touch The same way as my skin Don’t you be scared 

To run your hands through my hair Baby, ‘cause that’s why it’s there Come run your hands through my hair Ooh baby, so don’t you be scared So come run your hands through my hair 

It’s been way long overdue Just like these inches down my back Usually don’t let people touch it But tonight you get a pass

Enzaran

Miley Cyrus - Midnight Sky

I was born to run, I don't belong to anyone, oh no I don't need to be loved by you See my lips on her mouth, everybody's talking now, baby Ooh, you know it's true See his hands 'round my waist, thought you'd never be replaced, baby Ooh, you know it's true, yeah

You should know right now that I never stay put in one place Forever and ever, no more

Dorian Electra - Gentleman

I'm a gentleman Take my gentle hand Off to a gentle land I'm a gentleman

I pick you up I put you down I say the perfect thing then I make you spin around Yeah I'm lighting you up Throw you around This is a conquest a war is going down 

Thundercat - King of The Hill

A king in his castle A king of the hill Wasting his time Chasing cheap thrills He knows it's gonna cost him God knows how much

Jurbiend

Billie Eilish - Therefore I Am

Stop, what the hell are you talking about? Ha Get my pretty name outta your mouth We are not the same with or without Don't talk 'bout me like how you might know how I feel Top of the world, but your world isn't real Your world's an ideal

I don't want press to put your name next to mine We're on different lines, so I Wanna be nice enough, they don't call my bluff 'Cause I hate to find Articles, articles, articles

Childish Gambino - 32.22

I'm a funky motherfucker, man Don't fucking call me I been the man, don't fire me Things ain't all bad

We are the, we are the warlords We are, are you ready? Firelight, got it, warlords Pick it up, no, pick it up Firelight gonna clean it up Firelight's goin' way up Red light's on fire

Riornivo

Harry Styles - Treat People With Kindness

Maybe we can find a place to feel good And we can treat people with kindness Find a place to feel good

Givin' second chances I don't need all the answers Feelin' good in my skin I just keep on dancin'

Childish Gambino - Time (ft. Ariana Grande)

Seven billion people Tryna free themselves Said a billion prayers Tryna save myself I can see it coming But it's moving fast

Maybe all the stars in the night are really dreams Maybe this whole world ain't exactly what it seems Maybe the sky will fall down on tomorrow But one thing's for certain, baby We're running out of time

Running after something But I don't know what Am I running to? Too afraid to stop Hundred miles an hour With no seatbelt on Time is everlasting I can't wait that long    

Selena Gomez - Let Me Get Me

Like a prayer surrounding us, moving effortlessly  Every word is relief  No self-sabotage, no letting my thoughts run Me and this spiral are done Burn this camouflage I’ve been wearing for months Tryna let a little happy in for once

Don’t get me down, I won’t let me get me I’m good right now, I won’t let me get me Take that tired heart and go and turn it inside (out)      

Diving in ferociously, dancing intimately I’m so connected to me In the dark I’m letting go, so anonymously I guess this is what it feels like to be free

Troye Sivan - Take Yourself Home (To Rionnic)

Talk to me There's nothing that can't be fixed with some honesty And how it got this dark is just beyond to me If anyone can hear me switch the lights

Who you really tryna be when they see your face? Is it worth it trying to win in a losing game? Well it's all waiting for you And, boy, I know you're eager But it just might destroy you Destroy you 

Arca - Calor (From Arcann)

Rio, me tienes Rio, me tienes

Eres el premio que más deseaba Eres el sueño que no me atrevía a tener Eres el premio que más deseaba Eres el dueño de todo mi ser

Lady Gaga - Stupid Love (From Vaylin)

You're the one that I've been waiting for Gotta quit this cryin' Nobody's gonna heal me if I don't open the door Kinda hard to believe, gotta have faith in me

Now it's time to free me from the chain I gotta find that peace Is it too late or could this love protect me from the pain? I would battle for you, even if I break in two

Look at me now 'Cause all I ever wanted was love I don’t need a reason Not sorry I want your stupid love

Taylor Swift - marjorie (To Vianiel)

“Never be so kind, you forget to be clever” “Never be so clever, you forget to be kind”

“Never be so polite, you forget your power” “Never wield such power, you forget to be polite”

And if I didn't know better I'd think you were talking to me now If I didn't know better I'd think you were still around What died didn't stay dead You're alive, you're alive in my head 

Rionnic

Lady Gaga - Sine from Above (ft. Elton John)

When I was young, I prayed for lightning My mother said it would come and find me I found myself without a prayer I lost my love and no one cared When I was young, I prayed for lightning

When I was young, I felt immortal And not a day went by without a struggle I lived my days just for the nights I lost myself under the lights When I was young, I felt immortal

Thundercat - It Is What It Is

When the gold becomes dough And the magic starts to fade When it all comes to an end When there's nothing left to say It is what it is I tried to make it work My best just wasn't enough It couldn't be helped, the end The things I would do for you

After all is said and done And I'm all alone When I sit back and reflect From a broken heart Sometimes there's regret It is what it is

Taylor Swift - peace (From Jaesa)

Our coming of age has come and gone Suddenly this summer it's clear I never had the courage of my convictions As long as danger is near And it's just around the corner, darlin' 'Cause it lives in me No, I could never give you peace

And you know that I'd Swing with you for the fences Sit with you in the trenches Give you my wild, give you a child Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other Family that I chose now that I see your brother as my brother Is it enough?

Rina Sawayama - Chosen Family (From Vette, Katei)

We don't need to be related to relate We don't need to share genes or a surname You are, you are My chosen, chosen family So what if we don't look the same? We been going through the same thing Yeah, you are, you are My chosen, chosen family

Saxan

Dorian Electra - Edgelord (ft. Rebecca Black)

We live in a society That's always lashing out at guys like me They pushed me to the edge, you see Never, never, never gonna come down One question, why so serious? Did I offend you? I'm so curious Ha, my identity's mysterious Never, never, never gonna come down 

Taylor Swift - this is me trying

I've been having a hard time adjusting I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting I didn't know if you'd care if I came back I have a lot of regrets about that

They told me all of my cages were mental So I got wasted like all my potential And my words shoot to kill when I'm mad I have a lot of regrets about that

The Weeknd - Save Your Tears (To Linnea)

You could've asked me why I broke your heart You could've told me that you fell apart But you walked past me like I wasn't there And just pretended like you didn't care

I don't know why I run away I make you cry when I run away

I made you think that I would always stay I said some things that I should never say Yeah, I broke your heart like someone did to mine And now you won't love me for a second time

Taylor Swift - gold rush (From Linnea)

I don't like a gold rush, gold rush I don't like anticipating my face in a red flush I don't like that anyone would die to feel your touch Everybody wants you  But I don’t like a gold rush

What must it be like To grow up that beautiful? With your hair falling into place like dominos My mind turns your life into folklore I can't dare to dream about you anymore At dinner parties I won't call you out on your contrarian shit    

Vianiel

 Katy Perry - Daisies

They told me I was out there Tried to knock me down Took those sticks and stones Showed 'em I could build a house They tell me that I'm crazy But I'll never let 'em change me 'Til they cover me in daisies Daisies, daisies 

Billie Eilish - everything i wanted

I tried to scream But my head was underwater They called me weak Like I'm not just somebody's daughter

Coulda been a nightmare But it felt like they were right there And it feels like yesterday was a year ago But I don't wanna let anybody know 'Cause everybody wants something from me now And I don't wanna let 'em down

Selena Gomez - She

'Cause she was a girl with good intentions Yeah, she made some bad decisions And she learned a couple lessons Wish I could tell her

She didn't know all of the hurt she could take Her world was crumbling and so was her faith Wish I could talk to her, 'cause what I would say "Oh baby, you're enough to get you out of this place"

Taylor Swift - tolerate it (To Jurbiend)

I greet you with a battle hero's welcome I take your indiscretions all in good fun I sit and listen, I polish plates until they gleam and glisten You're so much older and wiser and I

I wait by the door like I'm just a kid Use my best colors for your portrait Lay the table with the fancy shit And watch you tolerate it If it's all in my head tell me now Tell me I've got it wrong somehow I know my love should be celebrated But you tolerate it

Vyria

Rina Sawayama - Paradisin’

Paradisin' Living my best life, drivin' Drivin' you crazy Paradisin' Living my best life thrivin' You say I'm misbehaving But I'm just a kid, so save it Let me have an unforgettable time of my life

Lady Gaga - Free Woman

I'm not nothing without a steady hand I'm not nothing unless I know I can I'm still something if I don't got a man I'm a free woman 

[zoequeenz]

Won’t Get Fooled Again (Part 2)

MASTERLIST

PREVIOUS CHAPTER

3rd Person POV

At the hospital Reid and Gideon are questioning Mr.Clurman.

“What can you tell us about the package, Mr.Clurman?” Gideon asks.

“I thought I knew what it was. Pot for an orchid. I collect them. I ordered the pot through the mail.” he explains.

“Why didn’t you take it inside?” Gideon asks another question.

“It was for my office. I was going there anyway. Thought I’d take it with me. That’s the last thing I remember.” Mr. Clurman answered.

“You had an argument with Joe Reese. Do you remember that?” Gideon asks, continuing the questioning.

“Joe was there?” Mr.Clurman asks.

“He was angry, he accused you of blowin’ him off.” Gideon told him.

“Uh....” Mr. Clurman couldn’t remember.

“Any reason he’d want to hurt you?” Gideon asks instead of pressing further if he could remember him being there.

“Joe? No. I mean, He’s a confrontational guy, but if he wanted to kill me, he’d just beat me to death.” he told Gideon.

Mr.Clurman then exclaims in pain.

“A lot of people were angry about that deal fallin apart, and they were angry at you.”

Mr.Clurman looks at Gideon confused.

“I don’t know how does that make you feel?”

“I felt awful. I thought those condos would make a lot of money for a lot of people, myself included. I thought that geologist was legit. He didn’t even take samples. He scammed us.” he says defeated.

“All those investors who lost their money… Barbara.”

“Barbara Keller?” Gideon asks.

“The first victim.” Reid states.

“What about her?” Gideon asks Mr.Clurman.

“It’s just such a shame. Such a nice lady, you know?” Mr. Clurman answers.

“It was such an easy sale. Sometimes...I felt like I took advantage of her because she’s old and lonely. Now, she’s dead. Well… I feel terrible.”

“OW!” he exclaims. It was his foot. However, it wasn’t there anymore.

“I’ll get you some help.” Gideon says leaving.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Persephone Chase’s POV

After finding the tool box with what seemed to be filled with things to build a bomb, Hotch, Elle, and I went back in to look around the house. Elle was looking at some of the Clurman’s photos while Hotch and I were in the kitchen. Suddenly, Hotch’s phone rang.

From what little I could hear Clurman wasn’t the bomber. Just as Hotch hangs up Elle walks in with a photo.

“Look at this. This is their nephew in Texas. And according to Mrs.Clurman, he was staying with them for a month and left last week.” she tells us.

“Mercury switches are a little sophisticated for a twelve year old kid.” Hotch tells her.

“I’m not saying he’s the unsub, but boys his age like to blow stuff up.” Elle counters.

“I’ll call Morrison. He’ll contact local PD in Texas. He’ll pick up the kid and talk to him.” Hotch says.

Elle and I walk away as he calls Morrison.

“Kids these days are so odd.” I say and Elle laughs.

“I mean I don’t remember any of the boys I grew up with blowing stuff up.”

“Must be those video games.” Elle jokes.

We share a laugh. Elle’s starting to grow on me.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

3rd Person POV

As Morgan works on the bomb, Garcia sits playing a video game.

“You know, a watched bomb never assembles.” Garcia tells Morgan.

Morgan huffs in frustration “I’m down to the last few pieces, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out how they fit together or if they fit together.”

Garcia listens but still is playing her game.

“They might not even be a part of the bomb at all.” Morgan adds.

“What’s the big deal?” Garcia asks.

“You got most of it. I’d give you a B plus.”

Morgan laughs “Thanks.”

“The big deal is it could be part of his signature.”

“Ooh, signature, like a sign of the zodiac, that kinda thing?” Garcia asks.

“Yeah. Yeah, just like that.” Morgan responds jokingly.

“I was serious. I really wanted to learn that time.” Garcia says shoving Morgan.

“Signature’s the thing that they get off on, you know, like a flourish. You know, a certain kind of pipe, a certain mix of powders. Like the Unabomber, he always used something wood in his bombs.” he explains.

“I mean, I don’t know...I mean, these guys,they think they are artists or something, so they sign their work.”

“And you think by putting these last pieces together, you might find the signature?” Garcia asks.

“Yeah, and...see, sometimes the design itself is unique, so once we do put it all together, we can compare it to other exemplars in our evidence database and see if the bomb was built by somebody we may have already come across.” Morgan explains.

“What?”

“If there was another piece like this…”Garcia starts.

“No, I tried that. It doesn’t fit.” Morgan says.

“No, it could’ve been part of a longer rod that fit through the top and went all the way through.” Garcia finishes poking a wood rod through the rebuilt bomb. Morgan looks at her in shock.

“Tetris.” she says.

“Damn it.” Morgan sighs rubbing his face.

“What? Did I mess something up?” she asks worried.

“No. No, no, Garcia.” he answers.

“You nailed it. I know who built this bomb. The guy’s doing life in federal prison.”

Morgan moves to get up as Garcia stares at him in disbelief. He goes to the phone to dial Hotch.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Persephone Chase’s POV

Just as we were on the way back to the police department, Derek called Hotch and told him he knew who the bomber was. He also said he would send photos of the finished bomb to us so we could look at what we were dealing with. Just as we arrived so did Gideon and Spencer. We all met up before we got in so Hotch could fill Gideon in, I immediately went to Spencer. We didn’t say anything just smiled real big at each other and began to follow the rest of the team in. Sometimes, I didn’t need to say anything just being around him was good enough. We walked into a private office and Hotch got out a laptop.

“Morgan emailed these over. The three on the left are the bombs from yesterday. The one on the right’s from the evidence room at Quantico.” Hotch announces as we all crowd around the screen.

“They’re all identical. Made with steel reinforcement rods.” Spencer says.

“Adrian Bale.” Gideon announces.

“Who?” asks Detective Morrison.

“He held our agents in a standoff in Boston last year. He took out six agents and a hostage with one of his bombs.” Hotch explained.

“So you’re thinking he’s behind this?” Elle asks.

“Possibly.” Spencer answers.

“But, he’s in prison.” I add.

“He’s got kind of a cult following, like Charles Manson. It could just be a copycat.” Spencer adds.

“There’s one way to find out. Let’s put the screws to this guy.” Morrison says.

“ No, no, no. Bale’s too smart. If we want information from him, we have to handle him carefully, and even then you have to assume that road will lead nowhere.” Gideon tells us.

“You’re saying the connection to Bale doesn’t help us at all?” Morrison asks.

“No. I’m just saying let us handle Bale.” Gideon responds.

“Look, we just heard from local Texas PD. You were right about Clurman’s nephew. He admitted the bomb stuff was his, which is great for the Clurman’s, but it leaves us with zero suspects. So what do you suggest my men do now?” Morrison asks.

“Proceed from the profile.” Gideon says matter of factly.

“I didn’t know we had a profile.” Morrison says.

Gideon tells Morrison to round up his men. We all meet up in their bullpen to go over the profile. While Gideon paces, Hotch stands to the side, Elle stands to my left, and Spencer and I sit next to each other on a desk. It was nice to be next to him. We were so close but there was only maybe an inch between us. Maybe I could slowly move closer while Gideon is talking to touch shoulders. Goodness did I sound like a high schooler. But I can’t help it, he’s just too darn cute.

“When we’re dealing with a bomber we’re talking about someone who’s non-confrontational. If you bumped into him in a cafe, he’d apologize. Even if it wasn’t his fault.” Gideon starts.

“We would classify this bomber as highly organized based on the meticulous design of his bombs. It means above average intelligence. He probably has a skilled job, a trade, one that allows him to work alone. That’s how he was able to make a sophisticated device without raising suspicion. Furniture maker, jeweler, etcetera.” Hotch explains.

“Background in explosives?” asks Morrison.

“No, not necessarily. You’re thinking about a type that likes to blow things up. Gives them an emotional or sexual release. Death? Secondary.” Gideon explains.

“Then what’s this guy doing?” an officer asks.

“Murdering.” Gideon bluntly answers.

“Bombs? Just weapons. And these attacks, they are not random.”

“Well, how do you know that?” another officer questions.

“By process of elimination. We know bombers fall into a discreet number of categories according to motive. There’s the terrorist whose aim is to spread fear. We expect him to strike in a populous area like a subway. There’s the politically motivated bomber. He makes a statement by choosing a symbolic target like an abortion clinc. Then there’s our unsub. He made bombs designed to kill and he chose his victims specifically by placing the bombs at their stoops. That tells us he has a direct motive. Statistically, he bombs for profit or to conceal a crime.  And it tells us how we’re going to find him. Through the people he killed.” Hotch explained.

“Somewhere among the three victims, there is a direct motive. Keep digging.” Gideon says.

“Thanks.” Hotch says closing the meeting.

“If you have any questions, we’ll be around.”

Gideon then tells us he will be going to the prison to talk to Bale. Gideon asked Spencer to come with him. So as he was collecting his bag I said goodbye. Bale was an interesting man and what if he tried to hurt my Spency. I mean I doubt that Gideon would let him near the man but I was still worried.

“Be careful okay, I don’t know who I’m gonna have movie night Friday’s with.” I say to him.

“Don’t worry Percy. I’m a big boy. I’m also in the FBI in case you didn’t notice.” he responds.

I laugh “Whatever, stay safe. See ya when you get back.” I say then kiss his cheek quickly turning around and walking away to hide my blush. Hotch, Elle, JJ, and I all stay back to work on finding a suspect. We are sitting in a private board room to have a bit more quiet when JJ walks in.

“How we doing?” she asks.

“Frustrated.” Elle responds.

“I can’t see why anyone would want to kill a little old lady who collects cats and coins.”

“Unless somebody wanted the coins.” Hotch says.

“I spent a good chunk of my childhood looking for a 1994 penny worth thousands.”

We all stop and look at him. This was something I could maybe see Hotch doing. It was cute. When he realizes we’ve stopped working he looks up.

“Yes, I was a little bit of a nerd. Is that so surprising?” he asks.

I shake my head with a small smile as Elle says “Not to me.” as she gives JJ and I a look that says “not at all”. Then the phone rings. It's Derek with new information for us.

“Morgan?” Hotch asks.

“Yeah. I just got the lab results from the powder residues on the bombs. Ammonia nitrate, potassium chloride, and aluminum powder. Nobody uses that mixture, Hotch.” Derek explains.

“Nobody but Bale.” Hotch fires back.

“That’s right. And the closer I look at these things, the more they’re the same. Same weld pattern,  same switch assembly, same thread sizing. It’s weird, man.” Derek informs us.

“This guy’s not building bombs, he’s forging them. That’s the other reason I’m calling you. Bale wrote addresses on his packages in block letters with blue ink. I’m thinking our guy’s doing the same.”

“Ok. I’ll set up a press conference, make sure the public knows.” JJ says texting on her phone.

“Thanks, Morgan.” Hotch says hanging up.

Just as he was done with that call his phone rings and he steps away for a second while Elle and I continue to work.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

3rd Person POV at U.S. Penitentiary

Adrian Bale sits in his cell when his name is called. He has a visitor.

“You know why I’m here?” Gideon asks the man.

“This guy in Palm Beach, right?” Bale answers shrugging.

“The Palm Beach bomber. Somebody’s got to give him a better name.”

Gideon sighs “He uses your bombs, your designs.”

“Well, he should be careful. Those things are dangerous.” he says nonchalantly.

“Adrian...you can’t fool me.” Gideon says.

“If you’re involved in this in any way and you do not help me, I will make your life even worse than it is now.”

“Oh, but no, actually, I can fool you because I fooled you before. And now there’s another me out there, watching, waiting.” Bale responds.

NEXT CHAPTER

[synoxshots]

Tagged by @sentinelapologist to answer some video game questions and rest assured I am about to give some very embarassing answers! (I wish I was kidding)

GAMES:

First game you ever played: This is gonna date me! Right so. I can’t remember it well but Fifa 98 definitely had an indoor stadium so I must have played that, because it wasn’t on Fifa 99 which I have much clearer memories of playing. But that would have come out when I was like, 3/4 years old so I’m not sure if I actually played it so much as went OOH! at whatever my brother/cousin (because we would have been at my aunt’s to actually have computer games) were doing. Or if we were behind the curve with getting it (also very likely). Definitely played Fifa 99 on my cousin’s computer for many years, also Lego Racers (which heh, I redownloaded earlier in the year as well for the nostalgia kick - no lies it holds up!). I have a lot of nostalgia for late 90s/early 00s video game graphics because of this, and tbh Fifa games probably peaked with 99. 

Favourite game: Honestly I’m so invested in SWTOR so it’s hard not to say that, it’s had the biggest impact on my life like. Open world + Star Wars? the dream. I’m more of a SW fan than a gamer so it was definitely the universe that drew me into it in the first place. Also BOTW because oh my god. And I only got into that once lockdown hit this year but honestly, I cannot say how much I adore it.

Game you’ve played through multiple times: Super super into the Lego games, so Lego Star Wars - to the point we had it on the Xbox, and then I’ve downloaded it on Steam and played through it multiple times on the pc. And I’m a completionist, so that’s like, collecting everything not just going through the story once. Fun story, the prequel games were released before RotS came out so I got the basic outline of the film from that game first oops. Also I’ve played through the Crash Bandicoot GBA games quite a bit too.

Game you hated at first but now you love: Don’t think I have one? Because yeah if I’m hating it right off I’m not gonna stick with it. Which is probs why I’m really fussy about buying games and replay so much stuff instead. I have my comfort zone okay

Game you used to love but now you hate: I spent a lot of hours playing Runescape in my life, and every now and then nostalgia tells me ‘hey log in!’ and within two minutes I realise it is the grindiest game ever. I still have my account from when I was like, 11, though, which is a substantial chunk of my life. Also League of Legends - I joined it because a few friends roped me in and it was great when we could play together but going it alone was pretty brutal because fuck up a tiny bit and boom, toxicity. So then I just played ARAM mode and not SR with others, then just stopped altogether. May be partly why group-finder scares me so much, though also y’know social anxiety in general. But let’s not get into that.

Your favourite game atmosphere/setting(s): BOTW for sure, I can just lose myself in that world forever. The music is fab as well and I’ve been trying to learn a bit of it on guitar, music adds a lot to a game/film/anything for me so yeah. But it’s also visually just so beautiful. There’s a lot of planets in SWTOR as well, Tython, Voss, etc.

Game with the best group/companion(s): I don’t really play a great deal of games where I have companions really so gotta say SWTOR! Smuggler gang is my favourite. Just all out nonsense.

A game with your favourite ending: literally drawing a blank here. I think a lot of things I’ve played have been the type to go on and on. 

A game with the worst ending: as above. maybe I just don’t finish things? That said the final boss fight in I think the second of the Crash trilogy games was super disappointing and didn’t match how insanely hard I found that game. (And I’m talking as an adult hahaha, I got the Switch ones this year). also kinda with you on the end of the agent storyline too, I left that one til last because the internet raved about how good it was but in the end I was...underwhelmed. 

Best character customisation: struggling to actually think of games I’ve played with character customisation as opposed to ones where I’m just given a character/choose from a selection. and it’ll be a real sad indicator if I say SWTOR because I am constantly complaining about the creator. though I do like outfit designer. hmm, pass.

HERO AND COMPANIONS:

Your favourite playable character: does it count if they’re my own? haha. in SWTOR I’d generally say a smuggler because I seem to come up with 5000 different ideas for OCs and playing as a gunslinger is super fun (and I’ve learnt to love scoundrel too!). And then in the Lego games I’d play as Shaak Ti a lot, but that was first because she looked cool though I do think she’s neat generally! But she probably doesn’t count as a video game character. Ooooh Link as well, because I’m getting more and more into Zelda games.

Your favourite companion(s): *cough* Theron. Kira. T7. Risha. Guss. Blizz. Gault. Torian. Felix. Nadia. Vette. Talos. Ugh, loads tbh, I’ll forget them all. *gesticulates generally at SWTOR*

RELATIONSHIPS:

Favourite game friendships: I live for the smuggler crew dynamic, and the BH crew as well. And the Jedi Knight/Kira friendship warms my soul. 

Favourite game relationships: obv I’m super biased but Theron/Knight. Smuggler/Risha. Consular/Felix. BH/Torian. I’ll just list my otps here shall I? SWTOR is the only game I’ve done where there’s been relationships I think. still haven’t finished KOTOR.

Favourite companion banter: smuggler crew probably again. Smuggler just never stops. not sure about between companions though there’s a bit of it with the smug as well.

A relationship you weren’t sure of but loved: I knew going into the Docmance how many people hated it but I really enjoyed it! Suited how my Knight was at that point. 

A character you wish you could romance: Elara with f!Trooper, hoping that becomes more of a thing going forward. Also I wanna kiss Tau. And Anri. Basically I see a cool woman come along and I’m just like...is this a love interest?

FUN:

Shoutout to a random NPC: hey Numen Brock! And Lemda Avesta as the first wlw I got to kiss in game!

A game you love watching playthroughs for and want to play: I don’t really watch playthroughs a great deal so I got nothing here! and when I watch playthroughs they’re normally of games I already know well because I wanna experience them first for myself? So I like watching BOTW challenge/speedrun/trickshot videos and stuff sometimes, and ACNH island tours but that’s because I know the games.

Love watching playthroughs but won’t ever play: as above really, but if I don’t have the intention to play them then I’m almost certainly not watching vids of.

Why do you play video games?: uhhhh. because I enjoy them, but also escapism I guess? like it’s easier to throw myself into another world and focus and fixate on that rather than dealing with the general...stuff. it’s a type of relief sometimes innit. 

anyway if you’ve made it this far down in reading this then consider yourself tagged, because this was a long’un!

[unnecessary-database]

back at it with the movie au

Before we get started, for chronology, these are the big fat posts in chronological order: the movie au i couldn’t quite help, the movie au strikes again, oh look more movie au, it’s the freaking movie au again, and now this, back at it. 

Yeah, I’m not sorry. No one’s contractually obligating you to read this.

"Don't think I don't remember the hickey incident, you two," Sam muttered, pointing two accusatory fingers at them from across the room, and Kara and Lena both blushed.

 "I think going around with hickeys for over a week and everyone knowing exactly where they came from was enough punishment without bringing it up again, don't you?" Lena said lightly, and Kara nodded vigorously. "Shut up Kara," Lena added, shoving at her shoulder. "The ones you left on me were way worse and you know it."

Kara's laughter burst out of her, and Lena and Sam both bit back smiles at her. "It's not my fault, you started it," Kara said, and Lena rolled her eyes. "You know who I grew up with, and you thought you could win any kind of fight with me? Besides, if you'd get out in the sun every once in a while maybe they wouldn't be so obvious."

"You're talking about a hickey fight? You're incorrigible."

"Ooh, big word," Kara teased, still giggling. "Did you learn that one from Percy Jackson?"

"Funny, I seem to recall you also stating it was a literary masterpiece, and, funnily enough, that was before you split your head open."

Kara was still giggling, completely incapable of stopping it now. "I told you I was fine," she gasped. 

"Was this before or after you cussed out the world like it was the 2016 election all over again?" Kara was completely incapable of responding, bent over now, and Lena sighed dramatically as she let Kara slump into her. "This is a pathetic showing for someone who claims to win every fight." Kara just kept wheezing and Lena adjusted her posture without real thought to let Kara lean into her more fully, wrapping an arm easily around Kara’s shoulders and pushing a stray strand of hair.

"Nice, guys, looks great," came Sam's voice from across the room. Kara giggled once more before managing to sober herself up and sit up straighter, determinedly not glancing at the cameras that surrounded them on the couch in case Sam did that thing again where she used footage from after she called cut. Lena shoved at her shoulder and Kara leaned back into the couch, pretending to be wounded, still chuckling. 

"Actually yeah," came Sam's voice again. "Lena, go after her. You know." Lena turned on her smoky-eye-drive-you-crazy charm all at once, the kind Kara still thought should be patented or trademarked or whatever it was, and leaned over Kara, suspending herself for a long moment with one hand planted on the side of the couch and the other by Kara's shoulder. Kara felt her eyes flicker involuntarily down Lena's body as she stretched her arms above her head deliberately, and Lena smiled that dangerous smile. 

She moved towards Kara infuriatingly slowly, and Kara felt her smile slip away as Lena pressed against her, Kara's hands moving to wrap Lena up, one arm around her waist and the other hooking around the back Lena's neck gracelessly to drag her closer. Lena, for all her swagger, still kissed her gently as ever, their first kiss in something close to three and a half years delivering an electric shock through Kara's system that made it feel like she was waking up. Kara gasped into the kiss, and Lena pulled away just a little, and Kara could feel her breaking character, she was going to ask Kara what was wrong because she cared more about Kara than about the take, but Kara didn't want that. She chased Lena, moving up and kissing her again, relaxing as Lena leaned back into her without a question, her fingers steady in Kara's hair, holding her gently.

 "Nice, that was good." Sam's voice cut across Kara's bliss again. Kara reluctantly released Lena, still blinking dazedly as she unwound her arms and Lena pushed up off Kara slowly. "I really liked that. I want a few different angles, let's take it again from where you shove Kara down, sound good?" Kara and Lena both voiced their assent and sat up. They filmed a few more takes. It got a little bit easier with each one. Just a little. Four more times of Lena hovering over Kara with that dangerous smile and Kara felt a buzz like alcohol seep into her brain by the time they were done, but she didn't feel blinded by it. She felt loose. Powerful and energetic and coiled and ready to jump a fence and run a hundred yards. Ready to film a hundred more scenes where she could wrap Lena up and kiss her with abandon and chuckle off compliments on her acting. 

"Excellent work," Sam said, smiling at both of them, pleased. "You still got it. Excellent, really. I'm really pleased with what we have. Thanks for coming in for the screen test and being so flexible with no lines and stuff. I would have prepped you a little more but I trusted your natural chemistry, and I was right."

Lena smiled, looking a little breathless, and Kara ran a hand through her hair, grinning widely at Sam, who seemed like she was onto her, but whatever. "No worries Sam. We're thrilled to be working on this project again. I missed these characters."

Sam appeared to bite back a comment, but just smiled. "Me too. Now go home, enjoy the weekend, we'll call you in a couple days, yeah? Good seeing you two, and thanks again." They were dismissed. 

Kara smiled, just as pleased as Sam. She sprang off the couch and stretched her hands to the sky, grinning widely at Lena. Kara reached a hand towards Lena, who took it, still looking a little dazed, and pulled her up easily. "Burgers?" Kara said. "I kinda know a place."Lena turned her head and focused slowly on Kara. 

"Did, um, did that feel a little different to you?"Kara was a little too blissed out at getting to make out with Lena like five times in a row to notice the waver in Lena's tone.

"You mean the tongue you slipped me the last two times?" she teased. "To be honest, it did a little bit. Did you finally remove the spacer from your piercing?"

Lena hesitated, biting her lip, and Kara had a totally logical reason to follow the movement and think nothing of it, quirking an eyebrow patiently. "I might have," Lena said slowly, and Kara grinned.

 "I knew it. You could put it back in if you wanted, don't feel like you have to take it out for me. It wasn't uncomfortable or awkward or anything." Kara was stepping from side to side a little bit, dancing in place like she did when she had too much energy. "It switched things up, it was actually pretty fun." Lena looked at her with something like concern, and Kara paused in her dance to meet Lena's eyes before moving her shoulders around instead. "You don't have to put it back in if you don't want to," Kara said easily. "Obviously. Totally your choice, of course." 

Lena was still staring at Kara like she was crazy, but this wasn't really new. Kara shrugged happily. "Bye, guys," Kara said, waving to the small crew assembled, who all returned her goodbye. "Bye, Sam! Come on, Lena, food." Lena let herself be tugged away. 

---

Filming with Kara in the winter was the absolute worst, Lena decided. And by worst, she meant best and worst. 

Filming with Kara in the winter meant Kara in absurdly elegant coats and things that Lena's pretty sure were pulled from Sam's personal wardrobe during the day. Kara a heart-stopping, head-turning kind of presence in the room that turned into a dancing lunatic every time the cameras were turned off. Sam had plenty of videos of Kara doing ridiculously dorky dance moves in expensive, boldly colored but very elegant clothing. 

Filming with Kara in the winter meant Kara in the night scenes that were more casual, Kara in slouchy beanies and tight jeans and these boot/sneaker hybrids that were very gay and Lena want to throttle the costume department for putting a human through this. It meant the indoor scenes were Kara in all forms of lazy pajamas that she totally pulled off, and Sam knew exactly what she was doing when she gave the direction for Kara's outfits. There was always some kind of soft on one half and skin showing on the other combo that Kara seemed to not only feel comfortable in but she looked absurdly good in, always showing off a long line of muscle on her arms or legs that made Lena want to go back to the outdoor scenes. (Lena had to admit though, one time she thought of filming with Kara in summer and immediately decided to be grateful for winter instead) At least, though, her character was expected to drool over Kara's. 

Kara's character, who had a magnetic sort of presence that tended to melt to mush when Lena's character approached. Lena never got tired of watching Kara's eyes go from flinty steel to stupidly soft when she turned to see her in the middle of a take, a soft smile gracing her lips as she held an arm out automatically and Lena slid into her side gently. 

Kara, in short, was not only looking better than she ever had at just past thirty years old, but had the professionalism of Sam and the energy and bounce of Ruby. Kara was the fucking dream. Lena had never felt more like she was stumbling over her feet in her whole life.

On the bright side, Kara was on top of her game, and when Kara was on top of her game, she tended to haul everyone else upwards with her. Kara pulled Lena's performances up from rock bottom into something passable. Watching the scenes later helped Lena realize her lovesick look was obvious, yes, but it played well on screen. 

Lena stopped worrying so much and let herself fall into Kara's contagious vibe after a couple stressful weeks of filming. Kara only got happier when Lena joined her in her stupid dances in between takes.

So Lena dropped her guard, let herself fall into character, let Kara take her hand and swing her around whenever she wanted, still looking stupidly classy despite her dopey smile. Lena fell headlong into Kara and resolved to enjoy it while she could. She'd deal with it sooner or later. For now, she flirted as obviously as she felt like and let Kara’s loud laugh wash over her in response, soaked up as much time with Kara as she possibly could, and let Kara talk her into anything and everything and kissed her on screen with abandon.

---

Alex was worried by the time she came to visit halfway through the five month film schedule. She drove up north the four hours to their film location to surprise Kara for a weekend visit and walked in on them filming the last scene of the day in a spacious lobby filled with smartly-dressed extras, and suspicious activity was abound. 

Kara was holding one of Lena's hands, legs at shoulder's width as she demonstrated. "See, I move my left arm, then my right, like I'm only moving one part at a time, and when the movement reaches you through our hands--you move." Kara moved as she spoke, and Lena moved obligingly as the motion reached her hand, a little more clumsily than the Broadway star, which was definitely forgivable.  What was not forgivable was the easy way she adjusted her grip on Kara's hands, the easy smile on her face as she laughed and looked back at Kara for confirmation. 

Something had changed in the way she looked at Kara. Alex couldn't describe it. Not with words. But she was a federal agent and a successfully married lesbian besides, and her wife was a cop. Her little sister was a bi disaster who everyone fell in love with and she was well-practiced in protecting. Alex watched silently as they tried the move again, Lena moving with more fluidity this time, Kara's movement still more graceful despite her elegant coat that was a little on the bulky side around her shoulders when she lifted her arms. 

Sam stepped up beside her. "It's been like this for a while," Sam said quietly. 

Alex sighed heavily. "I figured."

"It hasn't been too painful, actually," Sam said, sounding surprised at her own words. "The screen test, like, wow. I could see Kara floating off to cloud nine at finally getting to kiss Lena again, but Lena looked like her world had tipped over. Kara was too blissed out to notice."

"Please maybe don't ever use that word to describe my sister ever again, thanks," Alex said, wincing, and Sam chuckled.

"It was like, the exact opposite after their first chemistry audition. Kara looked like she'd never eat again, Lena was bouncing off the walls. Except then, Lena was obviously totally unaware and stoked on a good audition. Kara obviously knew and that was the first time they had kissed. Now Lena's caught up and it's like they're both very aware they're in love but thinks the other is just psyched to be back on the movie and will never love them back like that." Sam paused. "It's kind of painful for me and everyone that's not them, actually. They seem to be doing fine with it."

Together, Alex and Sam looked over at Lena and Kara, who were practicing the dance move again and both struggling to hold in giggles at the same time, neither doing a very good job. "Are you going to say something?" Sam asked. "Interfere with your sister's love life?"

"I'm a federal agent. I'm a big proponent of interfering." 

Sam laughed. "It's good to have you around, Alex." Alex smiled reluctantly, and they hugged before Sam slipped away to call out the final couple takes' instructions.

Alex watched from behind the cameras as her sister slipped into character, smiling despite her irritation. Watching how far Kara had come was still something that made her proud after all these years. Kara had an irritated and sharp conversation with a man with a little too much gel in his hair, her eyes cold and a little dangerous. Kara ended the conversation and turned to see Lena entering with her usual graceful and slightly disaffected air. Kara's irritation drained away at the sight of her, tension bleeding away and a smile rising on her face as Lena moved towards her. Lena pressed into her side gently and kissed her cheek, taking her arm and leading her away as they had another, much calmer conversation. Sam had them run it twice more before she was satisfied.

"Nice work, everyone. Let's break. We'll see you all Monday." There was a general murmuring as everyone began to break, and Sam added into her small megaphone, (looking entirely too pleased she got to use a megaphone) "Hey, uh, superstar, you have a delivery."

Kara frowned at Sam in confusion, trotting over obediently anyway, and Alex noted wryly the way she let go of Lena in stages, letting their arms slip out of their linked position but holding her hand, then letting that go but her fingers still drifting towards where Lena trailed behind her. Kara was halfway there when she caught sight of Alex and shrieked in delight the same way she had since she was seventeen years old and Alex had surprised her by driving all night in the middle of the semester to see Kara's performance in the high school theater program. Kara rocketed towards Alex, thankfully dodging all the expensive equipment and throwing herself into her sister's arms. Alex staggered back as she caught Kara, grinning like mad despite her exhaustion and irritation. Kara pulled back just enough to beam at Alex. "You didn't tell me you were coming up!"

"That's why it's called a surprise," Alex told her, and Kara rolled her whole head along with her eyes. 

"Whatever, nerd," she said. "Thanks for coming."

"Anytime," Alex said, squeezing tighter. "I love you, kiddo."

Kara released her, still smiling that megawatt smile. "I love you too." Kara turned like she knew the exact moment Lena would approach, turning that same megawatt smile on Lena, whose own smile widened in response. 

"Hey Alex," Lena said, smiling a little shyly. 

Interesting. "Hey Lena," Alex said, pulling her into a hug. Over Lena's shoulder, Kara beamed.

Oh, they were going to have a talk. 

[eddiespagheds]

reddie youtuber au!

okay i know its been forever since ive posted my writing but i have a lot instore including a little prequal too this oneshot! i wrote this based off of a headcanon by @billdenbroughsponytail !! you should go check it out and show jenn lots of love!! i really hope yall like this!!

word count: 1348   

ships: reddie

fluff cause im a sucker for it

Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak were both well known internet sensations, and have been for about 6 years now. Surprisingly enough their strong relationship of of 5 years began because of it. They now live together with their teams in a huge house where they film their Youtube videos.

Richie has a reaction channel that he uploads to every Monday and Wednesday while Eddie is an MUA that uploads every Tuesday and Thursday, and they upload daily vlogs everyday except for Sunday on a conjoined vlog channel they have. The happy couple wouldn’t be able to do any of this without their amazing crew that just so happens to be their best friends. Richie’s crew consists of Stan his editor, and Ben his writer while Eddie’s crew consists of Mike his editor, and Bill his writer, and Beverly films for both of them.

One day, all seven of them sat in their large office discussing video ideas for this week.

“I don’t know of a look I haven’t done yet Ben, it’s easy to run out of ideas rather quickly after doing this for six fucking years.”

Everyone just sat there staring at Eddie because it wasn’t like him to snap at someone like that, especially not Ben.

“Eds, maybe we should take a break for a bit, you’re starting to get really stressed” Richie began massaging Eddie’s shoulders almost instantly calming him down.

Eddie apologized to Ben before leading everyone to the living room where they ordered take out, and watched an old Friends rerun while simultaneously being on their phones.

“Have you guys seen James’ Twitter poll about shaving his eyebrows?” Bev laughed not even looking up from her phone.

“That’s it! I could tweet out asking what I should do for my next video!” Eddie practically jumped from his spot on the couch to go get his laptop, and he opened up Twitter when he returned.

“Okay, how does this sound? ‘Hey guys, tweet me some ideas for things you want to see in my video for Thursday!’” Eddie looked around the room, and saw approving faces reassuring him that his tweet was good.

About two hours later Bev grabbed the camera and began filming Eddie and Richie for the end of their vlog of the day.

“So, Eds here is about to reveal what you guys want his video to be about.” Richie said doing finger guns to the camera. “Okay drumroll please” He continued, switching to an impression of  a ring leader. Bev turned the camera around, catching everyone stomping their feet and patting their laps.

“Well the majority of the people that responded are saying that they want to see the ‘Boyfriend does my voiceover challenge!’” Eddie said letting out a small giggle.

“Cute, cute, cute!” Richie was pinching Eddie’s checks as he spoke. “Hope you guys are ready to see the best damn voiceover in Youtube history” Richie sloppily kissed Eddie;s cheek, both of them laughing the whole time.

“Okay, that’s a wrap from us! See you guys tomorrow, please like and subscribe down below. We’re Reddie’s vlogs and we’re out!”The two said at exactly the same time since they had memorized their outro ages ago.

The following day they began to film Eddie’s video that was featuring Richie. The two sat in Eddie’s office that he always filmed his videos in. It had a pastel pink background, and a bright white table with a few mirrors on it. On both sides there were shelves filled with wigs, brushes, palettes, and so much more. There wasn’t a script for the video because Eddie could handle his intro, and the rest was going to be Richie saying whatever dumb shit came out of his mouth. Since Richie was going to be doing his voiceover Eddie just had fun doing his makeup while talking to Richie and Bev as she filmed the whole thing. It took Eddie about an hour to complete the look, and then he filmed his intro afterwards.

“Wanna film my intro with me?” Obviously Richie said yes because he was practically incapable of saying no to Eddie.

“Hello everyone, it is me Eddie K your favorite MUA, and with me I have Richie the trashmouth Tozier” Eddie spoke at a rather fast pace that made Richie let out a small laugh which only made Eddie laugh.

“I asked you guys on Twitter what you wanted to see for this week’s video, and surprisingly enough, you all wanted to see this idiot do my voiceover.”

Richie smirked to the camera before speaking.”And who am I to disappoint?” Richie winked to the camera, and Eddie only laughed the whole time.

“So, without further ado, let’s get into the video!” Eddie smiled as he watched Bev turn the camera off. Richie and Bev then made their way to Richie’s office where they would film the actual voice over portion of the video while Eddie waited in the living room.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Look at my Eds waving at the camera, looking all cute and shit. So, first he’s putting on lotion to keep his skin nice and soft and all that shit. Wait a minute...that’s my lotion! I used it with his mom last night.” Richie paused the video to wink at the camera before continuing the video. “He’s pouring some tan shit on the back of his hand, uhh i think it’s foundation or something like that. Now he’s fucking pounding it into his face with this marshmallow looking thing.” He stopped the video again and turned to the camera putting on his best Australian accent. “Aye, here we have one of the rarest of makeup marshmallows, completely edible, but hard to swallow.” Both him and Bev started laughing before Richie played the video and continued. “Now he’s putting some lighter tan shit under his eyes, probably to cover up the eye bags he gets from fucking me all night long. Now he’s putting on dome powder that’s whiter than Stan the man! I bet you could snort that shit. Holy shit look at my boy kill the game! Look at that contour. Y’all bitches can’t even spell contour. Is he putting shimmery eyeshadow on his cheeks??? What the fuck Eds.” He put on a bad British accent before speaking again. “Look at the lad, bringin’ out his eyes!” He chuckled a bit before averting his attention back to Eddie. “Oh my God, my Eds looks so fucking good with shimmery eyeshadow, it brings out his beautiful chestnut eyes quite nicely. Now he’s putting some black shit on his eyes. Ooh, look at the flicka da wrist, aye, look at the flicka da wrist. Yes look at my spaghetti man! Ohh I know what this is, it’s mascara. W-what is that orange thing? Why is he putting it up to his eye? Eds on’t do it, it’s an orange clockwork torture device! Oh, wait...nevermind, he just made his eyelashes look better. Look at all of those lipsticks he has. Ahh yes, he is choosing the red lipstick to symbolize spaghetti sauce because he is my Eddie spaghetti...I love him so much. And now he is spraying some shit that looks like water on his face. Wow he is gorgeous, look at his cute smile while he’s waving with his little hands aww.” Richie finished gushing over Eddie, and turned off all of the equipment before exiting the room, and Bev followed him out.

“Thanks again for doing this Rich.” Eddie said from where he sat on the sofa when he saw Richie appear in the living room.

Richie walked up to where Eddie was, placing a soft kiss on his lips before speaking. “Anything for you spaghetti.”

That Thursday the video was released, and it was a huge success. People have always loved seeing Eddie and Richie together, and that was very obvious based on the amount of likes, view, and positive comments that the video got. Bev and Bill had been telling them to do more videos together for months now, and maybe they’ll do just that.

let me know if you wanna be added to my tag list!

@trashmouths-love-to-cuddle @wlwrichie @eddiehoney @lovely-eddie-it @lovely-kaspbrak @kingsteve-more-like-dadsteve

[ughthatimagineblog]

not your baby (part two)

steve harrington x reader | part one

requested:  Okay first off, “I’m Their Healer” is AMAZING and i loved the plot twist at the end!! You are extremely talented! Could you maybe do a Steve Harrington x Reader that involves the reader being a shy, but really sweet and caring new girl that accidently pisses off Billy somehow and Steve comes to the rescue? Id love for him to get revenge and kick his ass. Then the girl meets the Party (and loves Max cause they both have red hair?) WOW thats specific sorry so dont do it unless you want to!

warnings: cursing (a lot), fighting, billy being a major butt, kind of sexual assault? kinda. kinda.

word count: 2017 (lol)

a/n: so i changed it to where the demodog doesnt come crashing through the window and Elle just kills them all. some other small details are changed im sure but other than that I stuck to it. hope yall enjoy! :)

 Your personal dramas were all cut short when the reality of the Upside Down really set in. You were on your way to Nancy’s, only to find she wasn’t home. Then, you were picked up by some kid named Dustin and Steve to help catch what he called a demodog. Cut to you, now scared and skeptical, in the backseat of a bus in the old Hawkins junkyard with three of Mike Wheeler’s friends.  “Guys, I’m not even sure if I want to be here, can’t I just go home and you can play your game without me?” You complained and Dustin glared at you. “It’s not a game.”  You looked at Steve, for the first time all night actually, and he nodded. “It’s not.” He confirmed. “You’re in on this too?” You asked. “Unbelievable. A bus filled with two redheads, which Max, I’m a fan of the hair believe me,” You smiled despite going literally insane about the events happening before you. “Two eighth graders and a senior who are all psy-” You couldn’t finish your sentence when a loud growl was heard outside. 

 “What was that?” You were quick to ask. Steve immediately stood up. “They’re here.” He stated, grabbing his bat and moving to the front of the group. Lucas, who was also Mike’s friend, came crawling down the ladder. “Shit, shit, shit.” He muttered on his way down.  “Is he out there?” Steve asked. “Yeah but he isn’t going for the bait.” Lucas reported. Your eyes were darting between the two, starting to get scared that they were serious and a monster that ate Dustin’s cat was truly out there.

 Steve’s eyes darted to you and you saw something in them. Something you saw that day Billy showed up. When you exchanged glances and he switched seats almost to. . . protect you.  Something was felt in your heart that you couldn’t explain, but you couldn’t voice it before Steve was handing Dustin the lighter and walking out the door. You moved up the ladder with Lucas to watch what was going on in the yard. You could see a creature on four legs in the distance. You were about to make the excuse it was a dog, when it’s face opened up and released a blood curdling growl.  You clasped a hand over your mouth and Lucas leaned over to whisper. “Now you believe us?” You nodded. “Steve is going to fight that? Alone?” Lucas nodded. You looked to your right and your stomach dropped. “But what about those.” You pointed to the other creatures that entered the junkyard. Soon there were about five or six and Steve was well outnumbered.  You and Lucas rushed down the ladder and slammed open the bus door. “Abort! Abort! Steve!” You called after him and it was almost too late when he noticed he was outnumbered. You held the door open and he rushed in, making his escape. You shut the door and were about to go back up the ladder to scout the area when thuds were heard on the roof and a terrifying face popped through the fire escape hatch.  You screamed and Steve nearly knocked you over, pushing himself in front of you. “Out of the way!” He shouted, waving his bat at the ‘demodog’. His face opened up but before it could bite, a distant screech was heard and its head popped up. Deciding you all weren’t interesting enough, it changed its mind, and retreated. Leaving most of you dumbfounded.  “It left.” Lucas said, breathing heavily. “No, no, they didn’t leave,” Steve said, opening the door and looking to the distance.  “They are going somewhere.”

By the time you reached Hawkins lab and piled everyone into cars, your feet hurt and you were crying. Sobbing even. Never in a thousand worlds or lifetimes would you expect all this to be real. And to hear someone died made it even more surreal.  You were in the back of Hoppers cop car with Steve and the ‘Party’ when you felt a hand on your knee. It was Steve’s. “Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay. I know this is all overwhelming but it’s going to be okay. Come here.” He offered his arms out to you and you sniffed, wiping your nose on your jacket.  “Like you said, Steve, I’m not your girlfriends best friend so you don’t have to be nice to me.” You said back, bitterly. “I know.” He said. You looked to his face. There was no sign of sarcasm. No smirk. Just a pure gesture.  Reluctantly, you scooted to the other side of the back of the van and sat next to Steve, who wrapped his arms around you, allowing you to lay your head on his shoulder where you fell asleep. For the time being.

 When you woke up, you woke up on Joyce Byers couch. There were no adults to be seen and only Lucas and Max were sitting in a chair across the room. It was unfamiliar. You didn’t know where Hopper was or even Steve. Steve. Where was he?  You sat up quickly, catching the attention of Lucas and Max. Seeing you in your panicked state, they rushed to your side. “It’s okay. Hey, Steve’s in the kitchen talking with Mike and Dustin.” Max explained while Lucas called Steve’s name.  He came in and explained everything. Where Joyce and Hopper were, where the rest of the team were, what had happened and how they kept you safe.  “So this girl, Eleven, she took the dogs down?” You asked to clarify, sitting at the table with a glass of water. “Yes.” Steve confirmed and you nodded slowly. “Okay.” You said calmly. “Are you good now?” He asked. You nodded. “I have to be. It’s my reality. Besides, if any of the dogs come back, i’ll kick their asses.” You said confidently, finding the best way to cope with your fear was to fight it.  “Alright.” Steve nodded but was cut off by Max and Lucas arguing in the living room. You both got up to see what the commotion was all about.  

 “What’s going on?” Steve asked and you stood beside him. “Billy’s here. He’s looking for me. If he finds me I’ll get killed, or worse, we will.” She gestured to both her and Lucas. You and Steve looked to each other.  “I’ll handle him.” You stepped forward. “What? Y/N, no!” Steve protested but you held a hand up to his chest. “Listen, hot stuff, you’ve protected me from this asshole enough. Let me handle this, okay?” You said, and he shrugged, backing off. “Good to know the old you is back.” He made the snide remark before watching you go. From the inside, he surveyed the situation from the side of the window.

 Outside, Billy was just turning off his car when you stepped out the front door. “What are you doing here, Billy?” You asked, arms crossed.  “Ooh, Y/N. Funny meeting you here.” He smiled a sly smile and you felt bile rise in your throat. You wanted to spit. “Not that funny. You aren’t laughing.” You replied, not letting emotion cake your features.  Billy approached you slowly, his cigarette hanging between his lips. “Feisty. Nice.” He commented and lifted his hand to brush one of your hairs away but you pushed his hand away.  Inside, the gesture made Steve flinch. He wanted to walk outside and deck that guy. But Dustin held him back. They both knew you could hold your own. For now.  “Too bad I’m not here for you.” He stated, crossing his arms and taking another drag. “Yeah, then what are you here for?” You replied. “My little sister.” He turned from looking behind you and looked straight at you. “Who?”  “Shot, redhead, bit of a bitch?” Billy asked, flicking his cigarette into the ground. You nearly rolled your eyes. “Never seen her.” You shrugged. “Oh yeah?” Billy commented. “Then who’s that?” He pointed behind you and in the window you saw four heads duck down.  “Shit.” You muttered to yourself before you felt two arms wrap around you, spin you around and back you into the door of his car. Billy pressed his body against you and you leaned away best you could, trying to escape the stench of cigs and cheap cologne.  “Now, I could let this go, if I get one night with you. . . What do you say, baby?” He whispered grossly into your ear, ghosting his lips over your neck. If this was anyone else, if this was Steve you’d be turned on. But it wasn’t. So you were disgusted.  “She isn’t your baby.” You heard Steve say and a door slamming open. He was quickly making his way across the front yard and Billy was just pulling away from you when you saw Steve’s fist collide with Billy’s face. You were so surprised it took you a moment to recuperate.  “Now this is the King I’ve been hearing so much about. And last I heard, she was single. So who’s baby is she?” Billy shouted, gathering himself from the pavement, a smirk plastered on his lips once again.

 Steve’s face had a look you had never seen before. It made you scared. He was angry. More than angry, he was seething. “Don’t you fuckin’ touch her Billy or I swear to God I’ll rip your fuckin’ face off, you hear me?” Steve shouted and ran at Billy again, tackling him to the ground. From there, Steve took a few blows. Two to the side of his ribs and one to the face but all of them he was quick to recover from.  You decided to run inside and take action. You grabbed a needle and filled it with the sedative you assumed was used earlier to sedate Will.

 You were pushing through the kids at the doorway when you saw Steve repeatedly punching Billy, who was smiling the whole time. “She’s fuckin’ mine, that’s who.” Steve grunted and your heart leapt, stunning you in your place for only a moment.  She’s fuckin’ mine.

It was Max who broke your daze and stripped those words from echoing in your mind. “Y/N!” She shouted and you jumped, finally snapping out of your trance and rushing up to the scene. You plunged the needle into Billy’s neck which made the struggling boy go limp. You pulled Steve off of him, repeatedly saying it was over and he won.  He stopped resisting when he looked at you, realizing why he got so angry.

Inside, Billy’s passed out body was laying on the couch while the kids left you alone with Steve in the kitchen. You were cleaning up his wounds when you decided to comment on what he had said.

 “Steve-” You began but he cut you off by putting his hand on the one that was dabbing the wound on his lip. “I know what I said. And I’m sorry.” He looked at you. “Why?” You asked, breathless and heart speeding at a million miles an hour. “I don’t know. I just. . . When I saw you and Billy out there and he had his hands on you, and his body on yours. . . It just made me so angry. And I realized that maybe I like you more than just a friend.” Steve explained. “I know it wasn’t right of me to call you mine. You’re not and I-” You held up a hand to stop him in his tracks. “I will gladly be yours. All you had to do was ask. Truth be told, Harrington, I’ve always liked you. I just didn’t know I did until the night of the party. So, no need to apologize.” You gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.  “What about Nancy?” He asked, lacing his fingers through your free hand. You thought long and hard about that for a moment. “She has Jonathan now.” You shrugged and smiled, leaning in for a kiss, one Steve gladly returned.

You broke away by the sound of Dustin’s voice. “So are you our mom now?”

@izzy-zzz I hope you enjoyed!

[mysteryfanfictheatre3000]

Back to the Frollo MST- Prologue

This has previously been posted on Archive of Our Own, but I had to remove it due to copyright. This IS fair use, as it is for the purpose of parody/critique and thus exempt. However, I don’t feel like dealing with the headache of talking to the mods (?) about it, so I’m posting it on Tumblr. 

This is a story by author FrolloFreak/Crazed Writer and part of a universe in which her OC, Danisha, is Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame’s girlfriend. It has elements of the Disney movie, the musical, and the book,  so everything is such a mess I’m not sure what to even list the fandom for this as. There are a TON of stories by this author set in this ‘verse, but this is the main event.

Warning: weird descriptions of a naked elderly priest. 

It had been a grueling day, and Claude Frollo had put in long hours at the Palace of Justice. First there was that band of highwaymen who had terrorized Parisians traveling in and out of town. He had laid a careful trap for these hoodlums, successfully capturing and, ultimately, punished them for their crimes.

You can’t just switch verb tense like that. It should be either “capturing” and “punishing” or “captured” and “punished.”

Then there was that new, dimwitted lieutenant. He had infuriated Claude with some minor insubordination, so much that Claude made sure he was justly "disciplined". So what if this half-brained soldier complained, "I'll never be able to secure another position again! You made sure of that! I'll get even with you, Claude Frollo!"

The way “discipline” is in quotes makes me worry. And making someone forever unable to secure another job due to a minor insubordination is messed up- though, seeing as Frollo had a previous captain whipped and tried to shoot Phoebus off a bridge for refusing to murder someone, this guy probably got off easily. 

The Minister of Justice sneered at this inane threat. "And just WHAT will you do? It is obvious you can't even negotiate a walk across the street, let alone perform your duties! Yes, I guarantee you'll never find work in Paris again - now begone, you idiot!"

Again, this is sort of messed up.

Claude Frollo smiled. It had been a productive day, but oh-so tiring. He needed a release. Claude paced about his study, restless from boredom, yet drained from overwork. A thought suddenly came to him. That's it!, he thought. After all, it was a warm day, and a quick swim would be just the thing to relieve the stress. Claude Frollo's thoughts turned to Danisha, his 14th FSM.

Who the hell is Danisha? That’s not exactly a common name in medieval Paris. And what is an FSM? Do I want to know? And what timeframe does this take place in? If it’s before the movie, what happened to Danisha to leave Frollo free to obsess over Esmeralda? And if it’s during the movie, does he have two obsessions at once? I wouldn’t put it past him, but still… squick. And it can’t be after the movie because he’d be dead. 

She suggested I take up some pleasant past-time, he thought, my lovely wild-honeyed lady. Always so caring, so sweet, so..

Wild-honeyed lady? What does that even mean?

His mind raced back to that magical summer of luscious days and even sweeter nights spent with her. She had maddened him at first with her off-the-wall humor and saucy tongue. Yet, somehow, she had managed to melt his heart and stirred a desire in him so strong that he could not...

Wasn’t the entire plot driven by the fact that he’s a member of the clergy and cannot have sex or fall in love? Seeing as he wanted to either rape or murder Esmeralda her evil sin of being attractive, it just doesn’t seem like he’d have a healthy relationship with Danisha, whoever she is. 

"Stop this!", he muttered to himself. "Thinking about her only stresses you more."

But it good stress! A wicked smile lit up his face as he made his way outside. Mounting his horse, Snowball, he informed his sergeant that he was going for a short swim. "If an emergency should arise, you'll know where to find me." Claude did not notice the just-fired lieutenant lurking in the shadows of the Palace. As Claude rode off, the ex-soldier motioned to some boys playing nearby.

Yeah, there’s nothing that could go wrong with randomly bathing in a pond, telling people that dislike you that you’re doing so, and then leaving...

"Hey kids!", he called to them, "Want to earn a little money?" "Sure", said the oldest boy. "What do you want done?" The soldier grinned. "Let's play a game called "Getting Even with the Boss" The boys nudged each other and grinned back. "Where to?", asked the youngest. "Just follow me." And soon the entire group followed the tall man riding a fine black horse.

  Whatever this guy has in store for him, Frollo probably deserves it.

Claude Frollo reached a lovely, secluded spot just outside of town. The water looked so inviting and refreshing. Besides, there was no one around to spy on him or bother him with petty concerns. Here he could be by himself, enjoy a swim, and collect his thoughts. Claude tied Snowball to a tree, neatly folded his clothes and piled them on the riverbank, and took the plunge. Oh, this is heavenly, he thought, as he allowed the cool water to envelope and rejuvenate his body and mind. It was nearly sunset, he realized, must not stay too long... but this IS wonderful.

This is literally just tempting fate here.

Claude became so wrapped in his enjoyment that he did not notice a group of boys watching him through the bushes. He did not see those same boys quietly lift his clothes and untie his horse. Nor did he see the ex-soldier guiding Snowball down the road. Ah, nearly dusk, must get out now. I'm feeling sooo much better. Claude got out of the water and reached for his clothes. He suddenly panicked. Where are my clothes! Where's my Snowball! He looked up just in time to see that damned soldier and some boys hastily running down the road with his clothes and horse

  How did someone just walk off with his entire goddamn horse without him noticing? Also, I have a feeling that a judge/archdeacon (depending on the adaptation) just casually bathing in a random pond in the view of several people would raise a couple eyebrows. 

"Come back here you thieving vermin!" Claude roared at the top of his lungs. "You'll dearly pay for this insult!"

In their haste, the merry group dropped Claude's cape and something else. A sterling silver, amethyst-studded device. Claude picked up his cape and the small, silvery pager.

This story takes place in the 1400s, does it not? How on earth did this guy manage to get ahold of and use a pager?! And even if he did somehow manage to find one, he’d probably accuse whoever had it of witchcraft and burn/draw-and-quarter them. He doesn’t exactly have a great track record of accepting things he doesn’t understand. 

Wait until I get my hands on them! I'll tear them apart! Make them suffer the worst possible punishment I can... Claude Frollo was livid, as he wrapped the cape around himself, and, clutching the little pager, walked back to town.</p>

He’s fantasizing about torturing some young pranksters?! I get if he’s mad at them, but they’re kids! Jesus Christ!

Judge Claude Frollo slipped back into town unnoticed. Thank goodness no-one's spotted me, he shuddered, his body now shivering from dampness and the cool evening air. Have to make it back to the Palace of Justice and then I'll take care of those thieving ruffians... Just then, he heard a swell of female voices heading up the street. FSMs! How did they find me? That blasted soldier! Now he will clearly pay for embarassing me!

 What the hell is an FSM?! The context here makes me think he’s just referring to women as a whole, which is weird. 

But the horde of young females had already spotted his tall, slender form. "There he is!", shouted Aranxta, "Ooh, he is DIVINE!" 

 There’s nothing the ladies love more than naked old priests/judges who fantasize about torture, rape and murder. Also, what type of name is Aranxta? It makes me think this author is just inserting names of her friends here, because girls from medieval France generally aren’t called things like that. I’m no historian but I generally think of, like, Mary or Agnes when I think “middle ages.”

Their leader, a woman who called herself Belladonna, urged the ladies, "Get him, girls! Don't let him get away!" Claude dashed up a side street, trying frantically to get away. He felt a tug at his cape. It was one of the older FSMs.

You can’t just keep using that acronym without telling your audience what it means.

"MADAM!"

"Just trying to get a peek at that MANLY body!"

Because he’s just such a ladies’ man, as evidenced by Esmeralda choosing death over sleeping with him.

Frollo: Choose me or the fire.

Esmeralda: *spits in his face*

"Ladies, please!", Claude pleaded, "This is not a good time. I have important business to attend to...." Eventually he struggled out of the cape and disappeared down a dark alley, whilst the FSMs continued fighting over him.

And he wanted to burn Esme for witchcraft? I want to know which magic potion he’s using to make people think he's attractive.

Out of breath, cold, and angry, Claude hid in a recess of an abandoned building. He still clutched the tiny pager. 

How and why does he know how to use a pager?! Why does this exist

"Why didn't I think of this before? Yes! She will help me. My beautiful brown-sugared....Darling Nisha..."

His weird descriptions of this Nisha chick are kind of unnerving. Brown-sugared?

Claude took the pager and began pushing the buttons. He cast his eyes heavenward. "Oh PLEASE let this work", he prayed as he began coding a cryptic message.

Seeing as God literally made a gargoyle come to life to fall off the cathedral and “plunge you into the fiery pit,” I really doubt he’s on your side.

And does using a pager really require “coding a cryptic message?” I mean, I’m no specialist, but it just doesn’t seem all that complicated. Maybe for a guy from the 1400s, but seeing as how he both owns a pager and is not surprised/confused at its existence, I’d assume he knows how to correctly use one. 

[favouritequeeronthecitadel]

Heyyy figured I’d throw together a small list of game recs since we’re all going feral together

Games listed:  When The Night Comes,  Cinders,  My Time At Portia(MTAP), House Flipper, Terraria, The Long Dark

The Lighter Side

These are games with a smaller time requirement.

When The Night Comes - 

Currently on Itch.io for $5, this is being redone for a Steam release & an Itch re-release. It’s a supernatural mystery visual novel. However don’t expect it to lean heavy on the mystery for gameplay: There’s no bad endings for not figuring out the mystery or adding up clues. WTNC is more interested in telling a story than making you prove your murder mystery chops, which is always a plus in my book but tastes vary.  

There’s optional romance - 1 woman, 1 NB, and 4 men, with 2 polyamorous romances, but the only thing you lose story-wise if you don’t romance any one is some character specific lore. The players pronouns can be chosen: she/her, they/them, or he/him. Absolutely gorgeous art, though the art style can vary wildly between CGs, even along the same romance route, which feels a little odd. 

Lunaris Games, the company behind WTNC, has their second game out now on Steam. It’s called Errant Kingdom and is being released in chapters (currently on Ch1) though once you’ve bought it you own it. You won’t be paying piecemeal per chapter.

4/5 - The dissonant art styles threw me off enough to be A Problem but it looks like that might not be an issue when its re-released. Roughly 4 hours long? This depends on how fast you read and whether you skip any of the dialogue (eg common route scenes after playing through once).

Cinders - 

Ooh, I love this one! A retelling of Cinderella if all of the characters acted like (mostly) reasonable people. Fantastic art and the ability to sass the shit out of everyone (don’t over do it or you might end up in prison though). 

Optional romance with a variety of endings which can themselves vary based on Cinders’ personality. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone make the stepsisters sympathetic while retaining their personalities. 

5/5 - A little difficult if you’re gunning for specific personality types but fuck it’s worth it. Maybe 2 hours for a single run.

ChunkyBoi

These are either massive time sinks or “time varies”.

My Time At Portia(MTAP) - 

 Build shit! Fight shit! Get married! Play a fishing mini-game that isn’t hideously difficult! MTAP is basically a builders farming sim. You’ve inherited Dad’s old workshop in a sleepy little town and the other builder in town has taken it personally. It’s a little heavier on combat than most farming sims for both plot and lore reasons and there are Main Story plot fights.

A lovely art style with some of that Good Character Writing (if a little sparse but hey you should be checking on your forges not driving Arlo round the twist). Of note, you don’t have a Proper Nemesis but Higgins feels very human in that sense: You just mildly annoy each other and maybe Higgins takes it personally. There’s no time pressure on the MSQ, you can just fill commissions to your hearts content, thought you need MSQ for some recipes. I’ve played for 72 hours and only just convinced Arlo to date me so that might give you a sense of the IRL time commitment you’re making here.

Be warned that the backstory/lore can get pretty dark. This game is set post-apocolypse, just far enough that it’s hard to tell, so y’know. The apocalypse is never sunshine and butterflies. Personally I like bright, colourful, cheery games with hints of suspiciously dark lore (like Stardew Valley and the war).  

4/5 - Still a little rough around the edges - some content is lacking especially for some of the romances, though more is being added (some just recently in the Valentines update). ??? Hours. You’re looking at at least 40 odd hours to play out the MSQ and social life, assuming you aren’t gunning it to the finish line.

House Flipper

There is no plot. It’s just you, a paint roller, and so. many. tiles. Important note: You can turn the cockroaches off in the settings - it turns them into glass and is the best setting ever because...uuugh. But other than that, yeah. It’s an interior decorating game. They have recently released the Garden Flipper DLC which adds garden design too! 

Note: The buyers for the Apocalypse Flipper bunkers appear to be broken and if you add too much canned food they switch to thinking there is NO canned food. It is impossible to completely please the family man because of this.

Terraria

If you like building things and being hunted by vengeful bees that are like 5x your size all for the low low price of $10, this is the game for you. 

Build a house. It does not have to be a good house but if you don’t the zombies will get you. There is no grace period here: when the sun goes down you become public enemy number one, day one. 

I have been informed that this game is like Minecraft but with more action-y elements. I have not played Minecraft.

The Long Dark

I hear this has a story mode now. I do not care. I am here to trudge through a blizzard so thick I cannot see my hand in front of my face, while the wolves howl so loud as to be heard over the wailing winds and every crack could be a branch or my ankle.

Survival mode in this game is not cheerful or bright or upbeat. It’s one desperate survivor scrounging whatever they can to try and make it through just one more night, with no hope of rescue. 

But it is very absorbing and very very pretty.

[remembermemorablememories]

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

post #386

main points:

- banana for breakfast

- colorectal surgeon appointment hemorrhoids

- buy hoagie for lunch

- figure out stuff with second broker, decide to work exclusively with them

- japan trip planning

- dentist appointment cleaning

- dinner with the fam

- asia trip planning with dimitri

- fortnite with josh and his friends (we got 3 victory royales o-o)

- smash online with sheena

- solo smash online

writing this on wednesday january 30

today i:

- woke up at 9am to my alarm. i snoozed in bed until maybe 9:30am then went downstairs and grabbed a banana for a small breakfast then went to the colorectal surgeon

- i got there around 10:15am for 10:30am appointment and checked in, made a co-pay. then i was brought in pretty quickly for height/weight, then blood pressure. i had to go to the bathroom for a bowel movement and figured it was probably good to get that done and over with before anything happens with the doctor

after i finished in the bathroom (which was watery small stool), i went back to the room. the nurse told the doctor i was ready and then the doctor came in shortly after. she asked me about my bowel movements, when i first noticed the hemorrhoids, some other basic things. then she said she will examine my bottom

so she called the nurse over to the room to help. they told me to bend over, my knees were on the foot rest of a chair that was able to elevate itself. then they put a towel around my waist and told me to take off my pants. then the doctor first applied some lubricant, then checked manually with her finger. it felt like a kind of pressure but no pain. she then said she was going to use a scope to take a look, which is a bit bigger. so she put some more lubricant and then inserted the scope slowly. it kind of hurt when she twisted it around to take a look, but for the most part it just felt like a lot of pressure and i needed to have another bowel movement. i was tense the first time she put it in to take a look so she told me i need to relax a bit so she could get a better look. then i relaxed taking a bunch of deep breaths and she inserted it a second time to get a better look and then we were done

whew glad that was over with. i put my pants back on and the nurse left the room. the doctor said that the hemorrhoids look really small, and shouldn’t be too much of a problem. i just need to add some fiber to my diet so that my stools are more soft, and to avoid straining on the toilet. she said give it 4-6 weeks with some fiber and see if it goes away. then if not, they’ll do a band ligation procedure. she gave me a small packet with info and then i headed out

i asked her briefly if she would know anything about my potential chest pain, where it hurt to breathe in yesterday, she said that’s probably better asked for my physician

so i headed next door to ask the available appointments, and was directed to call the phone service to schedule an appointment. the first one today was 2:30pm but i had a dentist appointment at 4pm. so i asked when the next one was and they said 8:30am on thursday. i was like eh okay why not (i later canceled it)

drove home and stopped by the pizzeria to get a hoagie + french fry lunch special for my lunch

- i ate half of a cinnamon bun (dad bought some from ikea yesterday) and half of the hoagie with fries + watched S2E16 of scrubs

- watched jtails lucina competitive video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3vWea0npF0

- had a call at 12:30pm with the second broker after i tried to reschedule my showings with her. she told me on the phone that she also has all of the listings that the first broker may offer and would also like to go first cause otherwise there might be holes in our tour. i feel like both of the brokers were telling me that i basically only need one broker. so i decided to go with her since she’s been so responsive and communicative (even though the other broker firm has such a good reputation). i emailed the first broker to let him know that i’ll be working with her instead

- spent some time planning out my japan itinerary. i first figured out which dates i’d be spending where. i’m gonna spend 5 days in tokyo, 2 days in kyoto and 3 days in osaka. but potentially 3 days in kyoto cause i also realized i might actually have 11 days not 10. also talked to sho/asked him for some  suggestions. i just came up with a timeline and started looking into things to actually do there. and pulling up some videos on youtube to see people’s vlogs traveling around there. i still need to book housing, figure out itinerary, and when to fly to taiwan (decide whether to spend 3 or 4 days there)

sheena also came home early, around 3pm. cause all after school activities got cancelled since it started snowing

- around 3:20pm i left the house to drive to the dentist for cleaning. apparently i hadn’t been there in a year and a half. which makes sense cause i did some cleaning in boston the past year. the woman who helped me was new and said she joined in november. she was really nice, i think from her accent she might be from japan? she also reminded/showed me how to floss and brush my teeth cause of my gum inflammation. i wrapped up around 4:45pm and then drove home

the drive home was kind of scary. it was raining earlier on the way to the dentist, and on the way back still raining. but midway through it started to snow. and then started snowing hard... rain + snow is not a good combination. and the front windshield started to fog :O so i had to keep wiping it with my hand to see. and there was also traffic / rush hour so i decided to listen to some planet money podcasts

i listened to #889 pay what you want about panera’s experiment

https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=686660129

and #690 All in about a professional poker tournament

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/03/18/470866146/episode-690-all-in

interesting stuff! haven’t listened to a podcast in a long long while

- came home and played smash doubles online with sheena for a bit. then went downstairs to eat dinner with the fam around 6:30pm. mom got back from work just as i came out of the bathroom. sheena started chem so we talked a bit about chem at dinner and other stuff, a wholesome time :D 

- went back upstairs around 7:30pm to hop on a call with dimitri. we figured out HK and beijing housing and then we were done. we just need to plan some itineraries for the locations and we’re good. dimitri also added me to a group chat with cae simon and sam cause they’re planning to go to greece in august!! dimitri and i just kind of hung out on the call afterwards. i started patching smash cause pirahna plant was just released with v2.0. but then tried to play online and it said the servers were under maintenance until 10:30pm :( we hung up around 9pm. i wasn’t sure what to do so i decided to play some botw. i haven’t touched it since 11/22/18 according to my last save file

i played for maybe 15 minutes and then sheena came in asking if we could play online and i told her about the servers being down :’( she was like darn. cause she’s free for once cause it’s the start of the new marking period. we decided to mess around with pirahna plant locally against each other

josh messaged me on disc saying they have room for one more in fortnite squads if i wanna join. i was like ooh yeah. i told sheena i’m gonna play fortnite until 10:30pm so then we can play online

so i played fortnite with them around 9:30pm. it was a solid squad, it was josh with two of his friends. the second game we already won a victory royale LOL. i only got 1 kill though and was basically carried. but the very next game we started at tilted, and i got 4 kills and we won victory royale again. then a few games later, we won a third time :D and they called it a night and we stopped

also while this was happening, around 10:30pm i told sheena our squad was on a roll so i said she could play online solo if she wanted. so she played in my room while i was playing fortnite with them. sheena was having fun/also a bit of gamer rage :p also i asked jwoos to switch my online back to my old account. cause 1.) i thought i needed my old account cause i paid for pirahna plant on there (this turned out to be untrue). 2.) i was done experimenting to see if i was good enough to get into elite smash cause i thought win-loss ratio matters (but it doesn’t). so now i’m back on my old account with all my frens on switch :’) 

i signed off fortnite around 11:30pm, then played some doubles with sheena until 12:30am. then sheena went to sleep

i should’ve just gone to sleep buuut i wanted to play snake on the old account to get him to elite smash and got him there around 2:15am. took a shower and then went to sleep

the end

whew what a long day

[pauldeckerus]

Lightroom Sucks: An Open Letter to Adobe

“Panic on the streets of London, panic on the streets of Birmingham, I wonder to myself, could life ever be sane again?” You’d be forgiven for thinking The Smiths were singing about wedding photographers mid-summer running around the streets in a naked hysteria after they’ve just installed the latest Lightroom update.

Adobe, I hope you read this because it seems like for too long now you’ve ignored the issues and released update after update that actually made things worse, NOT better!

This open letter is not a plea for you to up your game — it’s a demand. You owe it to all the subscribers that have shown great loyalty to you for such a long time.

“Ooh look I have 6 weddings in the queue, I’m a little stressed and wedding season is taking its toll, but it’s OK as I have three days solid booked out to make a dent in things. Ok, I’ll just load up Lightroom…” And this is where a whole world of frustration, irritation and wanting to walk into traffic begins. For while we may have time finally to catch up on some editing, Lightroom generally decides to throw a spanner or ten in the works!

Now I want to get one thing very straight here, Lightroom is a wonderful piece of software… when it works properly. It’s revolutionized the way wedding photographers process work, making it easier and more convenient.

Why oh why then does Adobe continue to release updates that seem to make it almost unusable at times? At best these days my experience of using it is sub-par, a whole catalog of issues are present at all times, and of course, I’m not the only one who has this experience. So Adobe for the love of God will you PLEASE sort it out!

I hear time and time again from people involved in their beta testing that Lightroom needs to be rebuilt rather than updated and that Adobe is aware of ‘bugs’ and trying to resolve them. Well, quite frankly, that isn’t good enough! How many hundreds of thousands of wedding photographers use Lightroom and pay their subscription to CC? It’s impossible to know, but MORE than enough to warrant Adobe giving us more back — a hell of a lot more.

There’s also a stark warning here for Adobe: you rest on your laurels and eventually someone else will release something and everyone will jump ship. You only have to see how many people have switched to Sony from Canon or Nikon to understand that brand loyalty doesn’t mean anything if something shinier, better, and more appealing comes along. It will happen one day to you too, Adobe, if you continue to be so complacent and not give us the software we want and deserve.

Minimum System Requirements

I’m going to list some of the issues I face using Adobe Lightroom in a moment and then a load that other photographers have also shared with me. Firstly though I want to examine what the recommended system specifications by Adobe are because it makes for surprising reading!

Source: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/system-requirements.html

So a minimum 4GB RAM and 12GB recommended. Yes, that’s right: a MINIMUM of 4GB RAM. So what Adobe is saying is that you CAN run Lightroom on a machine with as little as 4GB of RAM, really?

12GB is the recommended… how old are these specs? I think that’s one of the things that irks me about Adobe’s approach to their software packages. If they said ‘hey it’s a minimum of 16GB RAM but we’d recommend 32GB’ it would help us make informed decisions when spending $2,500 on our editing machines.

If you use Lightroom as your main memory-intensive application then you could easily be lulled into thinking that a cheaper spec machine with less RAM is fine, when it really wouldn’t be. Adobe do you really think Lightroom CC can run fine on a machine with 4GB of RAM? Erm, no!

I Have Issues

I tried to write down all the issues I face using Lightroom, some will no doubt have slipped my mind, but I think the list in itself is pretty comprehensive and includes the following:

– Flicking between images even with Smart Previews enabled takes too long, there’s a pause while it renders. Ok, this is one everyone pretty much has, but it seems to be getting worse!

– Preset not showing as being applied until I make a change. It just shows the straight-out-of-camera version until I change the exposure or crop/rotate and then BINGO, there’s the preset. This is an intermittent issue, sometimes it’s there, sometimes not… however, when it’s there it affects several hundred photos at a time. It’s a confusing and irritating problem. It seems to occur if I edit for a few hours, like Lightroom is tired and can’t be arsed anymore, keen to get home for its dinner and watch The Walking Dead.

– Trying to crop or rotate anything involves a lag similar to my 3-year-old when I ask him to do pretty much anything. This is a new issue (in LR, not with my 3-year-old — that’s always been there with him), and it’s very annoying, Adobe!

– In full-screen mode the left menu panel used to pop out when you hovered over it, it no longer does this, except last Tuesday when it DID, only to revert back to not doing so by Wednesday morning. Apart from that delightful Tuesday, I have to click to open it and click to close it again.

– Then there’s the curious issue for whenever a new update is available, my current version either suddenly runs super sloooooow or stops working altogether, forcing me to update to the latest one. Now I’m not suggesting Adobe is somehow sending a sneaky patch to break my existing version so I HAVE to update, but if they are it’s REALLY annoying and happens so often it’s hard to not feel a little suspicious about.

– Let’s not forget the issue where you are using a catalog and wish to open a different one, which results in the first catalog successfully closing, but Lightroom just sitting there and not responding until you either force quit (or sometimes actually have to switch off the machine as it won’t force quit), or after several minutes it finally decides to respond again and open the new catalogue.

– Photoshop opens weird about 75% of the time. So if you’re like me and like to add an extra bit of sharpening to portraits or clone out bird poop from the fence where the couple is standing etc, you’ll Command E to open Photoshop. It’s great you can open PS from LR, edit, save and it appears back in LR as a .tiff. Bravo Adobe, that is one nifty function! Except when it opens like this three-quarters of the time.

Apologies for the portrait, clearly not keeping it real at this point of the wedding – this was just the only time I remembered to screen shot the issue

I haven’t cropped anything from the PS window here, that’s how it opens most of the time. To make it usable I have had to click ‘view’ and then ‘full screen with menu bar’ so many times recently that I’m starting to get RSI (and RAGE) from it.

Incidentally, if anyone else is suffering the same issue, I found a quick way to make it display correctly. I stumbled upon by pure accident as I tried to ALT+TAB back to Lightroom. My RSI finger completely unaware of what it should be doing pressed the desk instead of the ALT key by mistake, thus showing me that pressing TAB alone changes the view mode and makes it normal again… hallelujah!

There are other issues too. It’s slow. It lags a lot. If you import images to a new catalog you have to close LR after it’s imported them and reopen again or it runs slower than me in a school sports day father’s 100-meter race. Oh, and don’t forget to close the histogram as having a tiny graph at the top of your screen makes LR wheeze with pain at the pure exertion of displaying it.

While all these things might not seem much, they impact my day to day work, it’s an inconvenience I could do without, and as I’m paying regularly for the use of this software I’d damn well like it to work properly! It costs me time and frustrates the living daylights out of me.

System of a Down(beat Photographer)

I appreciate I don’t have a monster of a machine, but it is actually a higher spec than Adobe recommends. So going on their information, supplied in order for us to make informed purchases, I shouldn’t be having any issues, certainly not from a machine performance point-of-view anyway.

Problems in the Community

I asked the Facebook community that I run (please join us on there if you aren’t already a member) what issues people were facing and what spec machines they were using because as with most things in life, you worry that it’s maybe just you. It turns out I’m not alone!

Rob Georgeson [Intel Core i5 / 16GB RAM / 1GB NVIDIA Graphics Card / 120GB SSD HD]: “My pc definitely seems to be working harder just to do basic editing. It used to be a breeze but now I can hear the fans running at full speed trying to get my computer to chill the f**k out”.

Andrew Bowness & Esther Wild [Windows 10 / Intel i7-6700 @ 3.4ghz / 16GB RAM / SSD / 6GB Nvidia Graphics Card, Mac OS High Sierra (10.13.6) / Intel Core i5 / 8GB RAM / Radeon Pro 2048 Graphics Card] also are having the same issue, Andrew’s being so bad ‘I put music on to drown it out.’ Esther also has issues with it hanging and getting the spinning wheel of doom.

Michael Newington Gray & Paul Marbrook [Mac OS High Sierra / Intel Core i7 / 16GB RAM / AMD Radeon R9 Graphics Card, MAC OS High Sierra / Intel Core i5 / 24GB RAM / NVIDIA GeForce GT Graphics Card]: When flicking between images in Develop module the images aren’t loading / going sharp until I zoom in and out.

Oli Kelly [Windows 10 / Intel Core i5 / 8GB RAM / GeForce GTX 1050 Graphics Card]: When I’m doing brush work it can lag out so badly and make the mouse skip over the image like it’s buffering. When flicking through images it can pixelate the original raw for sometimes 10 seconds until it remembers what I have done to the image and then shows my edit.

Denver Aubrey [Mac OS High Sierra / Intel Core i5 / 24GB RAM / AMD Radeon R9 Graphics Card]: Everything seems to lag despite massive amounts of ram and a decent spec iMac. Drag a slider, let go, wait for half a second or a whole second and then see the effect. Maybe. Just updated LR CC classic today to the latest version. Now LR opens for about 2 mins and then unexpectedly quits.

Ally Hedayati [Mac OS High Sierra / Intel Core i7 / 20GB RAM / AMD Radeon HD 1024MB Graphics Card]: When I want to do some external editing in PS from LR, PS revets it to SRGB – making a black and white image colour for instance. Even though I have “turn to SRGB” unticked.

Jade Eleanor Evans [Mac OS High Sierra / Macbook Pro 15″ 2017 / Intel Core i7 / 16GB RAM / Radeon Pro 560 4GB Graphics Card]: Too slow, not sure what on earth it’s doing but I have one of the new macs (2017) and it gets so hot it actually leaves red marks on my legs when I have it on my lap. Even when its used on a desk it still gets hot and the fans sound louder than my hair dryer! Also for some unknown reason when I export and choose ‘resize to fit, longe edge’ I type in whatever for the long edge and that ends up being the shorter edge… No-one has any idea why it does this! So if I type in 2048 for the long edge (I mostly shoot landscape), they export at 3072 x 2048 making the shorter edge 2048 (yes I am definitely clicking ‘long edge’ not ‘shorter edge),

Jamie Ousby [Mac OS Sierra / Intel Core i7 / 16GB RAM / NVIDIA GeForce GT Graphics Card]: Lightroom doesn’t export some exposure changes for around 10 x images when exporting a wedding of 800+ images. Go to the image in question and adjust the exposure slider up and it accepts it. Switch to full screen to take a look and it shows the correct exposure for a split second and then flashes back to the “as shot” exposure. No matter what I do when exporting this image it will not accept the exposure setting.

A bride on her wedding day still traumatised after installing a new Lightroom update the day before. Image by Andrew Billington

What is your current relationship with Lightroom?

The Other Side of the Coin

Not everyone we spoke to experienced issues with Lightroom. In fact, some found it to work perfectly. Their specs were similar to those above with one large exception – their memory ranged between 32GB and 64GB RAM. So is this the solution?

Adobe, we’d love for you to clarify just what is going on here. Is it just you’ve told us incorrect information when stating the software should run perfectly on 12GB RAM (hell, it should still run ok on 4GB according to your minimum specifications)? Or, as I’ve been told many times by your beta testers, is the software inherently broken and does it need rebuilding from the ground up? If that’s the case, is this going to happen, and if so when?

Yours Sincerely

I did consider signing off this open letter with ‘yours faithfully’, but to be completely honest I’m only faithful to you because there aren’t any serious alternatives on the market at the moment. Yes, Capture One can do a similar job, but from what I’ve heard it’s not quite enough to make the leap over.

So I’ll stick with you until something better comes along… or you buck up your ideas enough to actually make this more than a marriage of necessity. Over to you, Adobe!

About the author: Andy Hudson is the co-founder of Photographers Keeping it Real, a website, award, and podcast for documentary wedding photographers. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors. You can find more content by Hudson and connect with him on his website and Facebook group. This article was also published here.

Image credits: Header illustration based on photo by Mwangi Gatheca

from Photography News http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PetaPixel/~3/2CnQC6wObGA/

[kira-aub]

Ooh boy, I was hoping I would do this sooner but now I’m about a month behind on my update!! Okay, so a lot has happened, February was a busy month. Following my trip up to London for my birthday, I went on a day trip to Oxford with other Tier 4 Visa students. We spent the day wandering around the gorgeous city of Oxford, my friends and I spent quite a while in the Ashmolean Museum. We also found a quaint little bookshop that sold new and used books, where I came across 6 Japanese volumes of Berserk, one of my favorite manga series. They’re really hard to find normally so I instantly took all of them home with me. 

For the rest of the Tier 4 week where most of my friends were off galavanting in Budapest, I spent almost all of my time with the 2nd Year Animation students on their film. I worked on cleanup, so I was given a rough animation and I would go over it with smooth lines, then a color artist goes in and colors between them. I did both of these, but I was mostly cleanup. I got really good at it on this project, the directors called me the “Abdul Master” (the character above, he was the only one I drew). It was very fun but very long work. I would spend around 10 hours in the studio with all of them, holed up on an absolutely gorgeous Cintiq that is larger than my torso. Working on a new Cintiq was an absolute dream, and while I can create the same kind of work with my tablet, I will wistfully dream about how nice it was to work straight onto my digital work. It was an incredible learning experience, and it’s going to be the first animation I’m in with my name in it! I’m excited to see how it comes out when it’s finally finished!

Working with the second years did make me realize a few things, and one was that if I wanted to do digital animation, I needed a new computer. My Macbook air is already elderly and suffering problems and has nowhere near the amount of RAM that I would like it to have, especially when I was working on Photoshop files up to 3GB. A while ago I was prepared to buy a Macbook Pro as an upgrade, but at the price I know I can get a much more powerful PC. So I decided to make an investment for the coming years and put my student loan to use. I consulted many PC-user friends on what to get, I was looking for a high-end gaming laptop (with a high GPU and RAM and a lot of storage) that could handle a lot of different programs for whatever I may need. I also needed it to be lightweight, being physically weak with tendonitis in my elbows. We ended up finding the Razer Blade, a beautiful gaming laptop, almost as slim as a Macbook Pro, and better in every way hardware-wise. When it finally came I was ecstatic and I still touch it reverently. It has a really pretty glowing keyboard that I can configure the colors on and I’m pleasantly happy with Windows 10, so far it’s been a really easy switch. It can handle multiple programs at once and even worked well with a monster of a Photoshop file that was 4.5GB. I can’t wait to use it for my final project (which is puttering along slowly, but coming together!)

Though I was ecstatic for my new computer, it was quickly overwhelmed when I had to be taken to A&E. The night before I had started convulsing and it hadn’t stop the next day, it was making it hard to breathe and it looked like my body was having a fit, shaking uncontrollably. It was not a fun experience. Rhi, my savior once again, took me to the hospital, even piggybacked me to the taxi when I couldn’t walk. The doctors took me in immediately, they gave me Valium to control the spasms, and they settled down quite a lot but not completely. Around 7 hours later I was finally released with the doctor saying they would have a follow up appointment the next day. I went to that, but never really did find out the cause of it. My doctors assumed it was an anxiety attack, but it was different from any that I have ever experienced and was quite scary. It lasted around 2 or 3 more days after that, and now it’s thankfully gone, but I have a lingering paranoia that it’ll happen again. If it does, I’ll be sure to press for more answers than anxiety. But I don’t want to bog this down with health talk, I could go on forever and it’s really not all that interesting and this is long enough as it is.

It did take me a while to recover physically, I was exhausted and the medication I was on for it made me sleep a little too well and I ended up oversleeping quite a bit and I was really physically weak for a few days. It put me out of commission for about a week, so that was a week of no work on my project which only added to some of the stress. But luckily I’m still on track because I was ahead to begin with and am getting closer to the Production stage of my project with each day! On the tail-end of still feeling ill my animation class went (back) to Oxford, but this time I got to see the Pitts River Museum, which was extremely interesting. I hadn’t seen dinosaur fossils in a very long time and it was really exciting! We were supposed to be gathering some primary research for our projects, but sadly nothing in the museum actually pertained to what I am doing. I also don’t like drawing in museums for some reason. But it was enjoyable nonetheless, even though it left me wiped out afterward.

For Rhi’s birthday we went to the Cat Cafe, which is probably the most heavenly place in this entire city, maybe even the country. I bonded with an adorable 11 year old kitty named Auntie Anne who looked just like a kitten and had the biggest sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen. I want to go back and see her again, it was such a calming place and the business is so smart and well-run and ethical, it makes me incredibly happy. 

Continuing to trudge away at my final project, the first storyboard is done so hopefully an animatic should come soon. I’ve taken on a lot for this, but I’m excited for the challenge and hope I can bring my best!