#using fan to mimic wind

[balkanradfem]

Plant update!

I mentioned I had some unauthorized plants illegally growing in already-occupied pots. I'm now gonna transplant them to their own pots! Or I'll do as many as I can, because I am running out of soil.

This tomato looks the most established; I wasn't sure how to take it out, so I clumsily pushed my finger under it, trying to pull it up from below. I think I accidentally snapped away a piece of root, but it has another little piece so maybe it lives? It's a very feeble root system I have to say. But may it live!

I do feel much better seeing her in her own pot, feels right! The two tiny tomato plants underneath, I have damaged even worse, but I still planted them together in a little cup, hoping one might make it.

Next I checked on my paper towel seeds to see if any seed germinated, and there were some! I found 3 little dwarf tomatoes, and two broccoli seeds activated. I gathered up as much soil as I had left, and put them in 4 little plastic cups.

They're so tiny! Since they've already activated I feel like I can be confident these will come out of the soil, they're Certified Viable Seeds.

At this point I became banned from further gardening, because I don't have any more soil to work with. And this isn't the fault of my poor planning! Right when I was going to the forest to gather soil, my aloe arborescens had all those babies that needed to be transplanted if I were to keep them, and I couldn't abandon little aloe babies, that would be crazy. So in transplating all of them I spent.. half of my soil, and I need to go to the forest to get more. Earth is frozen, temperatures are below zero, ground is frozen, forest is cold. Good luck to me!

However there was another thing I figured I could do. All of my plants were starting to look leggy and sad, reaching to the window for there was not enough sun. I knew a trick to deal with this, even though I've never used it before, it felt like I really needed it now. I found a big piece of cardboard, and reached for used aluminum foil I had stashed 'just in case'. I wrapped the board in aluminum and placed it facing the window, and the plants.

The idea behind this is doubling the solar power the plants receive, by reflecting it right back at them. This way the plants get almost double amount of light, and they get it from both sides, so they stop reaching terminally towards the window, and straighten up a little! I realized after I've done this, that it could be more efficiently achieved with a big mirror, but I did not own a big mirror I could randomly move around, so I left it at cardboard and foil.

This is how it looks like installed:

I took the first picture yesterday, and the second today to compare progress, and even though the plants are still leaning out, their tips are straightened up! They are slightly more inclined to grow straight now they have a reflective source of light. I should have done this from day one, maybe plants wouldn't even get leggy that way. Am mesmerized by the new knowledge I acquired! My next batch of plants will thrive because I learned to use the power of the sun.

I also started using a big paper fan on them, fanning wind at them every day, because wind resistance communicates to baby plants they need to grow stronger stems! That's why professional greenhouses always have those big fans working, that and preventing the mold and disease occurring on wet leaves (wind dries faster).

Isn't it interesting how many normal household items you can use for growing a little garden in your kitchen? Plastic cups, paper fan, little spray bottle to water the tiniest seedlings, aluminum foil with some cardboard, my entire setup is just a big wooden plank placed on a cardboard box, it creates a little plant table. I bet everyone has most of the stuff they need for gardening at home.

[cherry-coffees]

actress!Caitlyn x reader

cw: 18+ mdni, mutual pining, reader falls first but Caitlyn falls harder, mentions of fingering/oral sex/strap sex, Caitlyn's a little possessive, dom!Caitlyn, but both are switches, nothing too explicit but yk, inspired by the Wildest Dreams music video

Wildest Dreams starring Caitlyn Kiramman.

Caitlyn Kiramman is the darling of the acting industry. She never wanted to go into the political world of Piltover, thus she hired an agent and found her way into acting before her mother could say no. She's an immediate success. After all, she's a tall, commanding, endearing woman: the acting industry's lesbian heartthrob, if you will. So when the opportunity arises for you to co-star in a romance movie with her, you jump at the chance.

It's over from the start, basically. You fall victim to her alluring gaze and long legs and her surprising amount of strength. When you film a scene, Caitlyn picks you up from behind and swings you around a little, holding you securely against her chest. She's ever the gentlewoman: even when your dress flies up, she's smoothing it down with one hand before setting you on your feet. You come off the set with your cheeks flushed pink. It's not your fault that she's devastatingly attractive.

It takes you a few weeks to figure out that it's not an unrequited crush. You're filming a scene in which you run after her in the rain, your clothes soaked and breath shaky. When the director calls cut, Caitlyn immediately slips off her jacket and lifts it above your head to shield you from the rain.

"You're not too cold, are you?" Caitlyn's hand brushes stray raindrops from your messy hair, lingering a little too long as it slides down your cheek: a touch too intimate to be platonic. You look up at her with widened eyes and see nothing but concern in her own. "I have extra blankets in my room. I don't want you to catch a cold." Her posh accent and furrowed eyebrows display a picture of innocent worry.

That's the night it begins.

Fleeting glances and the occasional brushing of hands on set become messy kisses in the privacy of Caitlyn's hotel suite. She fucks you nice and deep, putting her unfairly long fingers to use. At night, she'll guide your face between her legs, then shift your body upwards so she can fuck you properly. "Oh, just imagine if fans knew you were this desperate," she whispers when she curves her fingers to hit the spot that makes you keen. "We're here to work, but all you want to do is get fucked, huh? But not by everyone. Only me."

It's not just nights with her, either. When Caitlyn reads over her script in the morning, memorizing her lines for the day, she'll tug you into her lap. You shouldn't be surprised when you feel her strap against your thigh. "Go on," she coaxes, though she doesn't look up from her script. "You can ride me. But you're not allowed to come until I have this scene memorized."

Yet, the second you step on set, it's like none of that ever happened. You're keeping a secret that only the two of you share, and you're not sure how to feel about it. Maybe you want Caitlyn to be yours, and maybe you want other people to know it too. When you kiss her in front of the cameras, you pretend it's the first time you've ever known how soft her lips are.

And when you're back on set to film a scene, draped in luxurious fabrics as fans mimic the wind brushing through your hair, you can feel her icy eyes burning into your back. Her eyes follow your form constantly, always observing from a distance while the two of you are working. Even when you're getting your makeup touched up, Caitlyn's gaze traces over your face as the makeup artist smears blush on your cheeks. It's the first sign that sex isn't all she's interested in, that this illicit affair has grown into something far more akin to love.

Nothing ever really stays a secret, right?

inspired by Taylor Swift's Wildest Dreams music video ♡

I want Caitlyn so bad ugh. My fics are a manifestation of exactly what I want with her. Like pleaseee, Commander, I'll be an angel :(

~Cherry 🍒

[aphelion-alifer]

relieving wing related dysphoria

something that I see many winged folks experience, including myself, is wing related dysphoria. more specifically, dysphoria relating to not being able to fly or not having wings physically. all my life this is a struggle I've dealt with, and I understand how painful it is. there are ways to relieve it though! here's some things that I've come up with and suggest to those who are struggling:

create mood boards, wallpapers, stim boards, and pinterest boards relating to the sky, your wings, theriotype, shifted form, etc

dive into media that has winged people/creatures (maximum ride, the maleficent movies, the croaking, just to name a few)

play games that let you fly, either with or without wings. bonus points if you're able to do it in VR (roblox, minecraft, feralheart, aer memories of old, superflight, fugl, etc)

practice lucid dreaming or astral projection

blankets!! especially weighted blankets, this can mimic the feeling of having wings

create or buy cosplay wings that look like your own (either typical cosplay wings worn with a harness/straps, or a backpack with wings, or a shawl in the shape of wings)

wear the colors of your wings, theriotype or shifted form

surround yourself with wing related themes or themes related to your theriotype or shifted form (buttons, pins, stickers, doodles, plushies, etc)

wear wing related accessories (rings, necklaces, hair pins, wings you can put on the laces of your shoes, etc)

if you're able to, get wings tattooed on your back or get a tattoo related to your theriotype or shifted form

if you're able to, participate in sky/air related sports or activities (skydiving, wingsuit flying, paragliding, hang gliding, etc)

draw/doodle your wings, theriotype or shifted form!!

meditate and visualize your wings. feel their weight, see their colors and textures, etc.

connect and talk to others who have wings if you need support and are looking for folks who have had similar experiences

carry around a backpack and make sure to give it some weight! having a backpack of a similar weight to my phantom wings tends to make my phantom wings go away, if you're looking to stop your phantom wings from existing for a bit for any reason

collect feathers that look like yours if you have feathered wings

connect with nature! this helps ground me and feel more connected to my natural self. I suggest going outside on a windy day or climbing trees.

stick your head/arms out of the car when you're going somewhere! this is one of my favorite things to do and it mimics what I imagine flying to feel like (pro tip, don't do this if you're driving)

make your room feel like the environment you belong in (using nature or wind ambient sounds, fans to get air flowing, that sort of thing)

watch flying POV videos

I'm sure there are more things that I could add, but I think that this is all my brain can think of at the moment. feel free to add onto the list if there's anything else that any of you want to add if I missed anything!

[princessbrunette]

omggg i’ve been thinking about how rafe has been imitating reader’s moans a lot and just plainly makes fun of her with his group with her right there and she’s all mopey and sad n embarrassed. and during sex she doesn’t even moan, trying to hide them, biting down on her lip and turning away and rafe is having none of that and maybe he’s a little nice to her to coax her into moaning again omgggjfkjxjsjd

₊˚ ‿︵‿︵‿︵୨୧ · · ♡ · · ୨୧‿︵‿︵‿︵ ˚₊

thinking about him at the golf course in his shirt and his stupid backwards hat, holding a hand out infront of him to mimic the hand he uses to press your back down when he fucks you in doggy, moving his hips as he mocks your moans.

“oh rafey, oh daddy!” he imitates and you push his hand away, shoving your body against him to try and get him to stop as his friends laugh.

“rafe…” you whine, pulling at his shirt and he laughs, stepping back when he thinks you’re gonna lightly swat at him.

“daddy, huh? didn’t know you had it in you!” kelce laughs, stepping forward to bring a hand down onto your shoulder. even in his playful state, rafe plucks his fingers off you quickly, not a fan of when other people touch you.

“alright, settle down. i can bully my girl but you fuckers better watch your mouth.” he winds down, squeezing your waist with one hand before swinging his golf club in a circle. “whos turn is it, again?”

you sulk until it’s time to go home, standing with your arms crossed and a permanent pout etched onto your face. he makes it up to you slightly, feeling a little bad— coming up to you between rounds and squeezing your waist, pressing sloppy kisses to your cheeks.

₊˚ ‿︵‿︵‿︵୨୧ · · ♡ · · ୨୧‿︵‿︵‿︵ ˚₊

[gaddaboutgriffon]

Went almost two months without doing art, and listening to my choir director’s 5 year daughter talk about her My Little Pony toys got the spark going for a bit. Then again I was a gen 1 and gen 4 fan. We’ll see how far this goes. Maybe I’ll make a custom coloring book for her.

Anyway to the art.

Now to explain the names. Well not the pony’s names but the species.

I always thought that calling the regular ones earth ponies was unimaginative and even a little disrespectful. So I changed the design to make them the biggest, gave them gem hooves, rock and earth powers, and Named them Claysdales.

Yeah same situation with Bat ponies. But the name was harder. Can’t call them thestrals cause I am pretty sure that is copyrighted. I was stumped until I put two random bits of information together. 1 Pegasus was originally the name of one individual winged horse and became a species name over time. 2 cavalum is the name of a bat winged horse in Portuguese mythology. If it worked once it works here. So now I named my batty ponies of the night Cavalum, and gave them sonar, night vision, the ability to control shadows and even travel through them, and dream walking.

Pegasi don’t change too much other then the mane and tail now being made of feathers. They of course walk on clouds and have wind and air magic and are very fast.

Unicorns I changed to be smaller and slimmer, almost deer like compared with the other pony species. And gave them the classic lion or ox tail seen in medieval art. Males will have a beard. Their powers include levitation, teleportation, and general magic which lets them mimic other creatures powers but at a lower strength level. Basically if it isn’t the first two they are a Jack of all trades and master of none.

The Chitiny…. Ok they are a mix of the flutter ponies in gen 1 and the changelings in gen 4 design wise, But still really different in the lore I am developing. The name comes from the words Chitin (what bug exoskeletons are made of) and Tiny, cause they are the smallest type of pony, standing at about a foot tall (fyi the claysdales range about five to six feet tall at the shoulder…. Yes I’m American). The antennas let them communicate with other Chitiny and people they have built a bond with telepathically. They can lift several times their weight (like ants and bees) they can make silk, honey, wax, royal jelly, and a sticky slime. Of and cling/crawl on walls. Yes they live in hives. Rosy Maple is from the Lepidop hive ruled by queen Luna and king Atlas.

Zebras I never understood why they weren’t used more in MLP. Anyway I wanted to give them a wild nature theme and am giving them powers to make plants grow faster and even move, and if you don’t think that is impressive let me just point out when the trees woke up in Narnia Prince Caspian. I will never get the image of tree roots dragging that one guy underground out of my head. Oh they can also understand animals.

Ok tagging people who I think will enjoy this. @artstaeus3600 @bianca-hooks123 @confusedshades @emacrow @hubedihubbe @kizzer55555 @pinkiemachine @tigertaurus22

Ooops quick edit. This isn’t all the pony species I thought up but was what I had time to draw. We still have the Kirin, the Kelpies, the alicorns and one I made up called the Najor. And about 11 other non-pony species that make up this world’s inhabitants. So there will be updates.

[thr0wnawayy]

A Waste of Air (Why Inasa Sucks as a Character)

Reasoning

Boring quirk (wasted potential, uncreative)

Wind powers are so underutilized and Inasa's is no different. It effectively amounts to 'what Hellflame does but worse'.

Whereas Enji at least has some (albeit very limited) control over the form of his fire and where it comes from his body, Inasa can only move wind around in a spiral and also use it to propell himself.

His existance only serves to be a hindrance and an obstacle both to the plot and to the characters

Literally only exists as an obstacle to Shouto, backtracking on Shoto's previous growth just so Bakugo (authors pet-cough) won't fail alone.

His introduction downplays Momo's accomplishments and skill. Taking her top spot in the Recommendation Exam by turning it into a technicality because he raged quit. (she isn't even in the flashback)

His stupid backstory.

His backstory is so fucking contrived that I almost don't want to even bother going into it.

Firstly, his reaction to Shoto's demeanor is so disproportionate that it's pathetic

Oh boo hoo, your idol was mean to you. Yeah that would work, with anyone but Shouto. It's veery similar to the Hitoshi problem. Where he bases his opinion about something/someone he knows nothing about.

Telling Shoto he's 'just like his father' is probably the worst thing you can tell him.

Secondly, He takes Shoto's reaction/rejection in the worst way possible. If what Enji had done or said had been more severe, then his reaction would be understandable as a trauma response.

However why don't we look at what Enji said:

Presumably he knocked Inasa out of the way, while an incredibly unprofessional and cruel thing to do and say (especially to a child who just wants an autograph). It does not justify his reaction towards Shoto after the entrance exam nor at the licensing exam.

It doesn't justify him throwing away his spot at UA like a child.

And it certainly doesn't justify Inasa antagonizing him in the middle of an exam!

It makes Isana come off as short sighted and inconsiderate, ironically the very same way he views Enji and (because he can't or won't differentiate the two) Shoto.

How I would Write Them

I'm not just going to sit here and moan about how lacking Hori's writing can be at times, no.

I'm going to do something about it.

Genderbend (or trans that gender)

This show is in desperate need of female characters getting the spotlight and being allowed to show their skills.

Change her backstory to emphasize Enji's sexism:

Basically she goes up to Enji after a villain arrest and excitedly tells him about how she's a fan and has been practicing very hard. She creates a decently sized tornado in her palm to show him (not much bigger than a canteen)

He then scoffs dismissively (almost snickering at her) and says something like: "Someone of your constitution would never make it to the top, stay out of the way girl and let the heroes handle it"

he glares at her before walking off with his back turned to her.

He then tosses her notebook back behind his back, burning it's corner in the process by his careless quirk use

(bonus points if the flame is snuffed via landing in a puddle, showing how her dreams were metaphorically "put out".)

Have Shoto's (unintentional) attitude remind her of Enji's insult (by dismissing her accomplishment of besting him [while still losing to Momo)

Make her resemble Rei (but not be related):

Adding another layer of connection and trauma for Shoto.

Have him seek her out instead and make her want nothing to do with him (at least at first, with the exam later forcing them to work together and gain a mutal understanding)

Upgrade her powers to something besides (Wind go wooosh).

This could be anything, personally I'd make it varied, like she's able to both mimic Air Walk and Air Cannon but can also fly around, create tornadoes and even create air pockets. Thus showing her growth and efforts.

I will say this again, Pro. Hero. Family, Make her a legacy kid. Show just how biased Hero Society can be towards those with Heroic ties.

Don't toss her after the arc is done, keep her appearances consistent, yet spaced out.

Have her appear after the Licensing Exam, highlight both 1A's growth by having her grow with them.

I would also merge the remedial course with the Licensing Exam as a sort of second portion that involves showing restraint and kindness, as well as problem solving and situation awareness in a domestic setting.

Showing that heroism is or should be more than just "punch harder, punch with feeling".

Lastly here's the design I came up with and a little information to boot.

(nothing fancy just a head and a 3rd quarter sketch, no Hero costume yet)

Isana Yaorashi, Kanji: 勇渚 (勇: brave, strong, resolute. 渚 ripple or wave (used here as a substitute for "wave" of air) also used to represent the "ripples" Enji's insult had on her life and the she impressions that she leaves on others)

Legacy Child, comes from a long line of heroes, though her parents were not about that life. Her grandfather is the one who recommended her for UA and later Shiketsu: Yoroi Musha.

Holds an intense grudge against Endeavor for his sexism and his careless/cruel tendencies. Isana wishes to show the world that "heat" isn't what makes a hero.

Personality: Very intense, a fighter to her core. Isana seldomly backs down from a challenge, however she's more than willing to push that aside to help someone in need.

Applied for both U.A and Shiketsu in advance, left due to Shoto's attitude being to remincent of an encounter she had with Endeavor's true face during her childhood.

Placed Second in the Recommendation Exam at U.A then dominated Shiketsu's Entrance Exam with a total of 100 points!.

Probably got into fights alot as a kid. Probably for good reason too.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Madhubala (Mughal-e-Azam, Barsaat Ki Raat, Mr. & Mrs. '55)—The Venus of India; heart-throb of all who saw her; responsible for the sexual awakening of every single desi lesbian I know (including me!) And my god, she is breathtakingly beautiful. Look at the subtle grace with which she moves, and that smile - the kind of radiant smile that can make you laugh with sheer delight, or cry because of its hidden pain. Those wild curls! That Cupid's bow! The way she tilts back her head and smiles at you with mischief dancing in her eyes! She has a way of looking at the camera that makes you feel she's sharing a private joke just with you; it's something about that quizzical twist of the lips and eyebrows. As an actress, she is inimitable; she seems to effortlessly inhabit roles ranging from a heart-broken courtesan to a laughter-loving socialite. Fun fact : she's had quite the fan following in Greece! Stelios Kazantidis even wrote a song as a tribute to her.

Olivia de Havilland (Adventures of Robin Hood, Gone With the Wind, The Heiress)— The woman who took on the Studio System at the height of their power and Won! A double Oscar winner! Is magnetic and beautiful in everything she's in and gave us all the juicy scandal with her sibling rivalry with Joan Fontaine! Before the Oscar Slap was the Oscar sister snub! Also everything she wears in Robin Hood she makes beautiful even a purple green and orange monstrosity how does she do it! Anyway this scene is one of my old Hollywood favourites

This is round 3 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Madhubala:

An icon of Bollywood, who was well known for her beauty and has continued to inspire performances and songs into the 21st century. She was at times described as "the number one beauty of the Indian screen" and "the biggest star in the world".

SHE IS EVERYTHING AHHH. JUST LOOK AT HER SMILE-

She's been nicknamed the Marilyn Monroe of India and was one of the highest paid actresses in the Hindi film industry (the term Bollywood did not exist yet) during the 1950s. Also an extremely talented dancer and singer

SHE'S JUST SO STUNNING, like seeing her eyes IMMEDIATELY CAPTIVATES YOU, THE DANCING, THE BEAUTY!!!!!!!!! She worked in Bollywood for over 20 years and passed away at a sad early age of 36, BUT THE IMPACT SHE HAD WAS UNMATCHED!!!!!

That sassy sideways glance she does always has me WEAK AT THE KNEES. And when she's making silly faces at the camera to mimic someone ahhhh my gay little heart <3

Olivia de Havilland:

She is just perfection. She has a smile that is looks like it is barely holding back, and yet so reserved as well.

Broke the contract system and won freedoms for actors (the de Havilland Law is still in effect I believe). 2 time Oscar winner. Beautiful and smart

She legally challenged the movie studios' unfair contracts and won, setting a precedent for other actors to be treated more fairly. This was at great cost to her financially and essentially getting her blacklisted for years but the resulting judicial opinion is still known as the De Havilland Law and has won her a great deal of praise and admiration.

Her performance in The Heiress is one of my all-time favorites, she’s so good at making melodrama feel real and grounded without sacrificing any of the passion/drama.

Serenely beautiful, she struck a balance between crowd-pleasing fluff and prestigious drama. Famously at odds with her equally successful sister Joan Fontaine, she was too much of a lady to ever say anything public. Successfully sued Ryan Murphy for portraying her as a saucy gossip in Feud.

the period costume + eye patch combo in That Lady is just an absolute serve

She has the most adorable and cherubic face and voice

[bluespiderlully]

KNY PLUS AU - Breathing Styles & fighting

[We're back again talking about this AU and the lore, of course these are pretty different from canon, that's an AU, I guess it's always better to specify that.]

I'll start saying that all the breathing styles effects are visible; talking about katas and tecniques, they all learn how to fight with their weapon of choice (shinobu has a rapier, she has to learn a complete different fighting style, and learning katas with a rapier... doesn't just make sense), the breathing style is heavily limited to a certain weapon. The weapon forged with the purpose of being in possession of an Hashira that uses a certain type of breathing must have a gemstone embedded in the hilt, this isn't of any use actually, it's iust a tradition.

💙 WATER AND DERIVED 💙

🌊 Water Breathing

The weapon used is a regular katana that turns blue, the stone is a sapphire, the effect appears as a light blue waves. The target's movements are significantly slowed.

🪷 Flower Breathing

The weapon used is a regular katana that turns light pink, the stone is a rose quartz, the effect appears as pastel-colored flowers. It makes the target's flesh rot.

🧊 Ice Breathing

The weapon is a regular katana thay turns light blue and the stone is a blue quartz, the effect appears as icicles. It freezes the target.

💚 WIND AND DERIVED 💚

🌪 Wind Breathing

The weapon is a regular katana that turns green and the stone is an emerald, the effect appears as green gusts of wind. The target is hit by rapid attacks, focused on limbs.

🦋 Insect Breathing

The weapon is a rapier that turns indigo and the stone is a chaorite, the effect appears as every kind of insects. The target is hit by swarms and is confused.

🌫 Mist Breathing

The weapon is a regular katana that turns teal and the stone is aquamarine, the effect appears as a thick white layer of mist. The target feels like they're suffocating.

💛 THUNDER AND DERIVED 💛

⚡️ Thunder Breathing

Thunder Breathing users have two katanas that turn yellow and the stone is a citrine, the effect appears as yellow lighting. The target is paralysed and can't keep up with the fighter's movements.

🌩 Storm Breathing

The weapon used is a pair of caestus that turn orange and the stone is a tiger eye, the effect appears as red lighting (red sprites). The target is hit with fast fists that paralyse them too.

✨️ Light Breathing

The weapon is a slightly longer katana that turns light yellow and the stone is a golden calcite, the effect appears as golden light beams. The target is blinded.

🖤 VOID AND DERIVED 🖤

🕳 Void Breathing

The weapon is a pair of fans that turn dark blueish purple and the stone is an onyx, the effect appears as dark blue/purple black holes. The target is attracted by these black holes.

⭐️ Star Breathing

The weapon is a regular katana that turns greyish violet and the stone is a lepidolite, the effect appears as golden and violet stars. The target is hit with a certain strength since this breathing style mimics supernova explosions.

🧿 Shadow Breathing

The weapon is a bow that turns dark blue and the stone is a lapis lazuli, the effect appears as a mixture of dark blue mist and black ink. This style is focused on stealth.

🩶 STONE AND DERIVED 🩶

🪨 Stone Breathing

The weapon is a zanbato that turns dark grey and the stone is a hematite, the effect appears as grey stones. The style focuses on being the more destructive possible in a single hit so the target loses balance as if caught in an earthquake.

☄️ Meteor Breathing

The weapon is a pair of cleavers that turn dark purple and the stone is an amethyst, the effect appears as blue, violet and purple meteors. The target is struck with hits from above (mimic the impact of an asteroid).

⌛️ Sand Breathing

The weapon is a flagrum that turns tan colored and the stone is a septarian, the effect appears as sand and sandworms. The target feels like they're sinking in the sand, their vision is compromised too as if they were in a sandstorm.

🧡 FLAME AND DERIVED 🧡

🔥 Flame Breathing

The weapon is a regular katana that turns bright red the stone is a sunstone, the effect appears as red/orange flames. The target literally burns.

🌸 Love Breathing

The weapon is an urumi that turns bright pink and the stone is a rhodonite, the effect appears as pink flames. The target burns while being under the control (total or partial, it depends) of the opponent.

🐍 Serpent Breathing

The weapon is a short flamberge that turns violet and the stone is an obsidian, the effect appears as black flames shaped like vipers. The target burns but the black flames actually devour their flesh.

💜 DREAM AND DERIVED 💜

🔮 Dream Breathing

The weapon is a regular katana that turns lavender and the stone is a moonstone, the effect appears as lilac mist. The target feels like they're about to fall asleep and the slayer can decide if they should feel like they're in a pleasant dream or in a horrible nightmare.

☁️ Cloud Breathing

The weapon is a regular katana that turns sky blue and the stone is celestite, the effect appears as white clouds with blue eyes in them (resempling angels). The target is thrown in a deep state of terror.

⚰️ Death Breathing

The weapon is a pair of sickles that turn greyish blue and the stone is a selenite, the effect appears as greyish blue and dark golden mist. The target feels their life slipping away and enters a survival mode, allowing the slayer (or other slayers) to focus on their vital points.

♥️ BLOOD AND DERIVED ♥️

🩸 Blood Breathing

The weapon is a twinblade thar turns dark red and the stone is a ruby, the effect appears as thick red blood. This style focuses on cutting veins and arteries.

⚗️ Venom Breathing

The weapon is a kris that turns acid green and the stone is malachite, the effect appears as a thick green fluid. The enemy is... well... poisoned.

🌹 Thorn Breathing

The weapon is a spiked whip that turns dark green and the stone is a jade, the effect appears as dark green thorns and red roses. The target is captured in the whip as if they fell in a bush.

Hope you liked!

[bambiraptor9blog]

'It's Complicated'-Sonadow Fan Fic-Chapter 1

Posting this chapter here in its entirety from my AO3 page. If you like what you read, please feel free to add notes, blaze, comment and read the rest on my AO3 account-thanks! :)

Chapter 1-The Mean Bean Coffee Co

The black quilled Hedgehog with crimson tips looked up at the entrance to the corner coffee shop, raising an eyebrow curiously while folding his arms against his chest. His white patch of chest fur puffed up with the brisk icy wind—Montana was not known for gentle climate, especially not in the dead of Winter—and he stowed the thought that he was freezing cold deep down inside his mind, letting his child-self seize in pain whilst he took on a dour expression.

“The Mean Bean,” he grunted softly to himself, his hot breath instantly becoming a miniature cloud on the cold breeze. He blinked his bright red eyes, shook his head, and let out a bemused, “Tch!”

“Hello, other Hedgehog,” the more heavy-set Dr. Ivo Robotnik—Sonic often called him Eggman—had somehow snuck up behind the black and crimson quilled creature in question. He dramatically pivoted to block the creature from entering his beloved slice of Americana—as well as his secret lab. “I see you’ve found my quaint establishment in the heart of Green Hills! I trust you—hoofed it—all this way okay?” He swept his white gloves through his comical moustache, getting icicles off its wiry mass, and grinned maniacally, his red snow goggles obscuring his eyes from the Hedgehog before him. “You know—all you Hedgehogs look awfully alike. What’s your name again?” He paused grooming his moustache to fold his arms across his chest, doing his best to mimic the Hedgehog’s pose. “Don’t tell me—wait—it’s something contrived and simplistic, isn’t it? I mean, the red one with those big, meaty paws is called Knuckles, the fox with two tails is called Tails, so you must be—”

“Shadow,” the Hedgehog grunted, rolling his eyes. “And I know who you are. Move aside, Doctor. I’m here to investigate this little…coffee shop…of yours.”

“GUN didn’t make you part of the Health and Wellness Advisory board, did they?” Robotnik spread his arms out wide, lightly tapping his fingers to sections of his palms as he did so in a rapid-fire text. Agent Stone, within the shop, shuttered the blinds and switched out the F- grade placard to an A placard, catching a glimpse of Shadow with fear in his large brown eyes.

“Doctor—who is that?!” Stone typed frantically while shutting down his Robotnik Cosplay Device 2.0, now with an added Sims 4 component.

“I have no idea, Stone,” Robotnik typed back while facing Shadow. “Let’s play nice for now and see where it gets us. You know my order by now, baby.” He smiled even wider at the scowling creature.

“Latte—with steamed Austrian goat milk!” Robotnik heard Stone say, and the lab was now a storefront once again, with warm lighting, a fireplace in one corner, and coffee grinders revving up, crunching down the beans that sat within them loudly.

Shadow sniffed the air. A memory hit him—one where he found a container of Professor Gerald’s prized Arabica coffee beans while he and Maria were playing hide and seek aboard the ARK. He let the memory stay, the cold mountainous town drifting away into a sea of starlight below his air shoe clad feet. Robotnik marveled as he levitated, watching the fire from the boosters instantly melt the snow on the ground.

“Oh ho! Where did you get those? I haven’t seen air shoes since…since…!” Robotnik was about to sink into his own reverie when he broke Shadow’s.

“I must get inside,” Shadow gruffed, and pushed past Robotnik toward the doors. Robotnik’s jaw dropped and he whirled about with a sound mimicking one of his badniks turning on its chassis.

“Eager to try our Mean Beans, I see!” beamed Agent Stone, in his barista outfit. The slender, olive-skinned man with short black hair and a well-groomed beard-and-goatee rushed around the counter to meet Shadow, and to ensure Robotnik’s rage was quelled long enough to develop a customer service façade.

“Coffee,” was all Shadow could mumble, overwhelmed now by the sight of the grinders and state-of-the-art dispensers, in polished stainless steel. The smell of coffee is what made his head spin more than when he performed a homing attack—the rich, heavy, earthy smell that reminded him of home, of the love of his beloved Maria and her comfort. His air shoes hit the tile floor and singed the grout slightly, making Stone inwardly sigh, Oh great. Another space porcupine to clean up after…I hope Ivo knows what’s he’s dealing with this time…I’d…I’d really like for just us to… “Barista…Stone. I’d like to try some of your coffee, please.” Shadow read his crooked nametag, which Robotnik narrowed his eyes at, and then Stone straightened it nervously.

“Absolutely—uh--?” Stone replied as he scuttled back behind the counter, holding the creature’s cold, soul-piercing gaze, waiting for the name. He swallowed hard. This space porcupine…why does he remind me of Ivo in our younger years? Focus, Stone! Focus!

“Shadow,” the softest hint of a smile started to thaw the iciness in his gaze. “Shadow the Hedgehog.”

Stone scribbled on a cup while Robotnik ambled over and took a seat in a booth by the front counter, staring at both of them curiously. Why my fate continues to be tied to these…Hedgehogs…is beyond me. Still, the gems they keep bringing to this world will make for an incredible source of power…and this one. This one will be the one to beat! I wonder…what makes this creature tick? He seemed to be lost in thought with the smell of the coffee—perhaps a loved one? A lover? Maybe both? Who cares? I have to get into his head before he gets into mine! Robotnik thought, all while Stone served him a lovingly etched cup of hot Austrian goat milk latte.

“Would you like a latte? An espresso? If you’re feeling cheeky, maybe a flat white’ll do ya right, mate!” Stone tried to impress Shadow and failed miserably as he returned to the counter of the shop. Shadow just stared at Stone, blinking. Robotnik rolled his eyes and sipped his latte slowly, loudly.

“Stone,” Robotnik’s tone made the other man freeze. Stone looked down at the floor, his eyes wide, his smile fading. He was expecting a rebuke, a sharp retort, a cruel jab at his big heart. Robotnik lifted his chin, and winked. “You did excellent, adding just the right amount of mushroom. Keep it up, and you might get a raise!”

“Yes, Doctor!” Stone felt the spring in his step as he continued to address Shadow. Shadow raised an eyebrow again, staring at them both even more curiously than he stared at the false storefront moments ago. What an odd mating ritual. Humph. Pathetic humans, groveling for attention.

“Mmh,” Shadow thought for a moment. Then, “Can you do me a favor, Barista Stone?”

“Yes, whatever you’d like!” Stone felt his voice crack. Robotnik furrowed his brows at that, and Stone cleared his throat, waiting expectantly while leaning over the counter slightly.

“Put only your finest roast beans in the cup. No water, no espresso, no grinding. Just whole beans.”

“You don’t drink coffee?” Robotnik mumbled aloud. “Fascinating.” What a little weirdo, he thought, finishing his cup.

“Of—of course?” Stone asked Shadow, looking over at Robotnik for clarification. The doctor shrugged and started adding notes into his watch. “Any specific flavor?”

“Hm…” Shadow stood there, thinking, letting the recesses of his memory rise to the surface, like the twisted tendrils of Black Arms aliens, turning his gaze distant. He recalled popping open Gerald’s glass coffee container and eating the beans with his hands, soiling his gloves, struggling to chew them. He read the small white label on the container’s glass surface as he ate. “Ah-ra-bick-uh,” he grunted aloud, phonetically sounding out the word as he did when he was young.

“Dark or light roast?”

“Dark, of course,” Shadow returned from his reverie. Just the way Gerald and Maria liked them…as did I… “Oh, and please include a serving spoon. I don’t want to get my hands dirty.”

“Not yet you don’t!” Robotnik chortled, a glint in his eyes that only Stone could catch.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Doctor?” Shadow asked, genuinely unsure of his double entendre.

“Nothing at all, my fine black and red quilled fellow!” Robotnik grinned, wandering over to Stone and Shadow. He set his goggles on one end of the counter and balanced his weight with his elbows against it. “So. What brings you here tonight? Your…usual den too cold?”

Stone prepped the coffee and listened in on the conversation attentively.

“I’m no mere Hedgehog, Doctor. I thought your grandfather clued you in on that ages ago,” Shadow gruffed in response, avoiding the man’s eye contact.

“Well an alien Hedgehog, at least to us here on Earth, yes,” Robotnik nodded, fidgeting with his moustache. He steepled his fingers beneath his chin, raising an eyebrow at Shadow.

“You know why I am here. I was sent by Gerald and GUN to investigate your establishment,” Shadow gruffed.

“Are you familiar with the other Hedgehog that lives here on Earth?” Robotnik wanted to know, ignoring his statement.

“There’s…there’s another?” Shadow wondered. I thought they were all extinct, wiped out with the Siege of Longclaw! I thought I was the last…!

“Yes, and he’s been…antagonizing…” Robotnik gritted his teeth, “the residents of this town for years, including yours truly. His name…is Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!” and with Hedgehog! Robotnik shouted angrily, making Stone wince and Shadow’s eyes widen in alarm.

When the echo of his voice died down, Robotnik caught his breath, and he cleared his throat.

“I take it you know of him? I know GUN does…”

Shadow was quiet for a long time. Stone peered at him from behind the counter, blinking slowly.

A blush had risen to Shadow’s cheeks. He tried to force down his feelings, tried to hide the years of longing that welled up in his chest and in the tears he felt moving to the corners of his eyes. He closed them, taking in a few deep breaths, his chest hairs quivering with the attempt to calm down.

Another Hedgehog? A…a chance to have a mate at last? A chance to…be happy?

Then, aloud, softly, “The story goes all Hedgehogs, as you know of us, died out along with the owls years ago. I…I didn’t know…another had…escaped that fate!”

“You see,” Robotnik continued, chewing on a cookie Stone presented to him. He wiped away the crumbs with taps of his fingers, infinitesimally tiny bots cleaning them away from his suit, and started to pace the floor between Stone and Shadow. “I’ve been trying to track the origins of that blue quilled menace for a while now. Alas, I can only pinpoint a comet that orbits close to our solar system once every 50 years.”

“A…a comet?” Shadow felt an internal shudder. An unbidden memory arrived, a roving slimy yellow and red eye, moving listlessly in a black and red skinned alien being, hissing his name after he emerged from his incubator tank…

“It turns out that my grandpapa, as brilliant as he was, had to make a deal with an extraterrestrial devil to keep his business alive. And this devil was involved with these…Hedgehogs…and this comet, too.”

“I am more than a mere Hedgehog, and more than Gerald’s business, Doctor,” Shadow growled, his quills and fur hackles rising with the implication. He pointed a finger at the mustachioed man and continued, “I am the Ultimate Lifeform on this planet! The only hope we have against such…intruders! How dare you insinuate that I am allied with them!”

“Ah, but Sonic is allied with this comet and this devil, it seems!” Robotnik nodded, pausing in his pacing to face Shadow.

“What!” Shadow was taken aback. At that moment, Stone gave him a cup full of the roasted beans.

Shadow chewed on the new information and the dark roasted Arabica beans. He grunted in pleasure, which Stone and Robotnik found oddly arousing, and they stared at him as he ate, enraptured.

“It’s never good,” Shadow continued while swallowing, “to dilute the flavor.” He cleared his throat, noting the shocked expressions of both men.

“Stone,” Robotnik whispered. Stone started to blush and sweat, adjusting his collar.

“Yes Doctor?” Stone wanted to know, unable to take his eyes off Shadow as he dug in another spoonful and ate, rolling his red eyes in bliss.

Robotnik hissed to Stone: “This Hedgehog is not the same as Sonic. Clearly not. He’s got to be some kind of mutant hybrid. I mean, who eats raw coffee beans?”

“I…I honestly don’t know, Doctor. I can’t help but watch him…! I mean, how does he--?!” and Stone let out a gurk! as Robotnik grabbed the man’s necktie below his barista smock and yanked him close.

“The way he looked when I mentioned our blue rat…do you think there’s a possibility, an inkling that he could be…attracted to Sonic?”

“I thought they were related!”

“No, you buffoon! I was using that information as a decoy, to set him up into thinking that somehow, someway, they might be distantly related. Obviously not direct, Shadow was supposedly a project my grandpapa kept secret from the government for decades! But is this Shadow…my Shadow? Catch my drift?” Robotnik set Stone down, who gasped for air gratefully.

“I…I think so, Doctor…” Stone swallowed, recovering and adjusting his tie, straightening his barista smock.

“This coffee…is…most…excellent,” Shadow proclaimed, nearly finished with his cup. His quills began to stand on end and he started to rev up his air shoes instinctively. “I will need to go on a run soon to burn it all off. So tell me, Doctor and Barista Stone…is this Sonic…am I…somehow involved with this…comet? Is Sonic allied with the ones known to me as the Black Arms? Did he betray us, betray…me?”

The Black Arms? Could that be the devil alien race my grandpapa knows?! Robotnik leaned in even closer to Stone, his voice an imperceptible whisper that made the latter’s neck hair stand on end: “He’s into him, Stone. Hook, line and sinker.”

Then, pulling away and ambling toward Shadow: “This Sonic…ever since he came here, he’s been nothing but trouble toward me and Stone here. He’s nearly destroyed this town with his buddy cop daddy, and last I checked, he has the Chaos Emeralds.”

“The Chaos Emeralds?” Shadow wanted to know. He coughed slightly, the coarse beans sticking to his throat. Then, Robotnik continued:

“We both know the kind of power he has with those—he could be some kind of terrorist, out to conquer the world for Hedgehog kind! So we’ve been trying to get the Emeralds back—”

“Why?” Shadow wondered, tossing his cup in the trash and giving the spoon back to Stone, who grimaced in disgust—it was covered in his saliva, and teeth marks made divots into it. “Doctor, there’s no need to safeguard the Emeralds for GUN. That’s my job, last I checked.”

Robotnik sneered and then put on a wide fake smile. “I’m the smartest man on this planet. Well, aside from Stone. And I know what’s at stake here, Shadow. I know what that power means, in the wrong hands. Shouldn’t I—I mean, shouldn’t we, as humans that are the stewards of this blue planet—do the responsible thing, and prevent chaos from reigning supreme over this world? Isn’t that what Maria wanted?”

 Maria! Shadow’s heart nearly stopped on hearing her name. His angel, the blonde human girl with blue eyes deeper than the ocean floor; the one who, despite being sickly, loved him unconditionally. The one who sent him to Earth 50 years ago…the one whose name once again brought him back to life.

Shadow’s rage began to rise on thinking of his loss, and he scrunched up his nose in a deep scowl.

“A Hedgehog like Sonic cannot be captured. Only bested, Doctor,” Shadow tsked. His eyes glowed red like coals on an open flame, and energy started to surge through his quills, turning them neon orange. The lights in the Mean Bean began to dim and flicker as Shadow’s energy started to build. Shadow’s limiter rings tightened on his wrists and ankles, making him wince for a split second.

Robotnik noted the rings and tapped on his watch, taking photos of them silently. Then, “Race that blue rat to the ends of the Earth if you have to, Shadow. I want you to fulfill my grandpapa’s—no, Maria’s!—promise. You say you’re here to protect mankind? Prove it, and bring that Hedgehog back to me, so I can…deal with him…accordingly.”

Then, he snarled, “Sonic will be mine, Doctor. I will make sure of it, because I am the Ultimate Life!”

Before Robotnik could give a single quip in response, Shadow was gone, blasting out the doors of the Mean Bean Coffee Shop in the dead of night, his quills and air shoes the only brief light before total darkness surrounded the streets of the mountain town.

[danco110]

“Gold coin for your thoughts, my Queen?”

Sylvia snapped out of her reverie, riding atop her partner Khorvath’s back. She reached down and patted his scales with a gauntleted hand, completely unfazed by the opponents’ attacks sailing past her in the sky above Valor’s Reach.

“I’m afraid not, friend,” Sylvia sighed. “Not unless you can do something about our own fans, in the stands.”

“What about them? Do they trouble you, my Queen?”

Khorvath’s tone became incredibly soft in the space left by Sylvia’s silence. His wingbeats also slowed, while still avoiding the spells and arrows coming from the ground.

“What is it, my love?”

“Listen. To the crowd.”

Khorvath waited and listened. The crowd cheered his name over and over again.

“They cheer for us.”

“For you!” Sylvia snapped. “It’s not your fault but, you’re…you! The dragon! I’m just the knight standing next to you.”

“Atop me, technically.”

Though Khorvath could not see Sylvia’s glare, the knight’s silence told him everything he needed to know.

“Well…if it’s any consolation, I do hear one voice cheering your name.”

“You don’t need to make me feel better.”

“No, really! Listen…Oh, wait. Human hearing. I’ll fly us down!”

Khorvath leaned into a nosedive. The wind buffeted Sylvia fiercely, but she seemed more troubled by her thoughts than the turbulence. Soon she and her partner floated close above the stands.

“All right. Who…oh!”

“Yes! He’s even dressed like you!”

In the front row, a goblin cheered louder than anyone else around him, wearing a mimic of Sylvia’s helmet. And sure enough, he was chanting her name.

“Thank you, Khorvath-” Sylvia instinctively leaned backward, dodging a stray bolt of magic. “Right! Enough self-pity. We have a match to win!”

Khorvath nodded dutifully, swerving back towards the fight. The maneuver earned another round of cheers from the stands. And again, the loudest of all was the goblin in the front row.

[That’s me, I’m Cheering Fanatic here. Sylvia does most of the heavy lifting in my partner deck!]

[holographic-mars]

Have you ever cooked up a coswave fan child? If so, can we see them?

I have not!!! Unfortunately I have a disease called Not Being Creative so making OCs and fan characters is almost impossible for me.

I have, however, dabbled in an AU idea where Soundwave and Cosmos find a little protoform bitlet and took it in bc they had no idea what else to do and the bitlet was temporarily dubbed “little spaceboy ” bc they found him abandoned in (you guessed it) space.

Cosmos is immediately enamored by the little mech. Soundwave has deemed himself an unfit guardian so he kinda. Glances at it and then walks off, and Sky-Byte won’t ever admit it but he’s also totally in love with the little bit as well.

Stuff happens, we get some filler episodes, and then eventually we get to a point where The bitlet is Not Happy and it’s constantly crying. Nobody can calm it down. Sometimes thundercracker can get it to stop crying and refuel but only for a short period of time.

Everyone is passing the little mech around trying to find out what to do while also blaming everyone else for making the bitlet cry, and eventually it ends up in Soundwave’s arms. A couple minutes pass of loud yelling amongst the crew, and finally someone (Rumble) yells “everyone shut up the bitlet isn’t crying anymore!!” And everyone panics bc holy shit. They killed the kid.

But no, the little mech is pressed against soundwave’s chassis as soundwave rumbles a nearly inaudible purr from his long-unused dock (an age old tactic Ravage used to calm down Soundwave in the Dead End. Soundwave learned that he could somewhat mimic the purr if he repeatedly winds and unwinds the spools in his chest. It worked with calming down his cassettes in moments of distress, so it only felt natural to do it now).

So now the baby is transferred to the custody of Soundwave (even though he fully believes he is not guardianship material) and Cosmos naturally is along to help.

Cosmos becomes the world’s most doting partner and scurries around to make sure Soundwave and the bitlet have enough stuff to be okay. Soundwave is sitting in the berth with the little mech against his chassis and Cosmos is flitting around with blankets and energon and bitlet-wipes trying to help as much as he can.

Eventually soundwave makes him lie down in berth with him and warm the bitlet and Cosmos is happy to comply. He rambles about how good Soundwave is with the little mech and how caring and wonderful he is and how he looks so good as a guardian and please oh please can we have a bitlet pleaseeee and Soundwave gets so flustered and embarrassed he just puts a pillow over Cosmos’ head and goes right to sleep (while still cradling the bitlet).

Ravage and the cassettes play a big role in taking care of the little mech but that’s a lot of ideas to write out and I scrapped the au idea eventually bc it requires more creativity than I have.

But yeah! Idk! It was a silly little idea bc I do love parental figures coswave,,, oufhhhg,,,,,,,

THANK YOU FOR THE AASKK!!!!!! I APPRECIATE YOU!!!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️🛸🛸🛸🛸

[natsuki-bakery]

⁎˚ ఎ Venti agere hcs໒ ˚⁎

hi! was wondering if I could have some little venti hc's? around 0-2 age please? ty!

•Even as a baby, Venti would be incredibly curious and playful. He might giggle at the slightest breeze or try to reach out and grab the leaves fluttering in the wind

•Venti would show an innate connection to music. His babbling might sound unusually melodic, and he could be soothed by gentle humming or the sound of wind chimes

•He'd likely be fascinated by flowers, trees, and any natural elements around him, often trying to touch or crawl towards them

•Venti might have unusual sleep patterns, perhaps more active during twilight hours when the winds change and the stars begin to appear. His caretakers might find it easier to lull him to sleep by rocking him gently under the open sky

•Favorite petnames : sunshine, twinkle, little wind, sweetheart or songbird

•Even as a baby, Venti might show a preference for sweet foods, reaching for fruit purees or anything with a naturally sweet taste

• As he learns to speak, Venti might mimic the sounds of the wind, birds, or even the rustling of leaves, showing his early connection to the natural world and music

•Even at such a young age, Venti might show signs of an adventurous spirit, eager to explore his surroundings and discover new things, always moving towards new experiences with a bright-eyed curiosity

•When Venti is in his little age state, he would exhibit a very playful and innocent demeanor. He loves simple games like peek-a-boo or chasing butterflies !

•Venti might have a favorite plush toy or blanket that he clings to for comfort. This item would be something soft and perhaps a bit worn from love and use

•Venti would have specific nap times where he curls up somewhere cozy, like under a tree or in a soft bed, often lulled to sleep by the sound of the wind or a gentle lullaby

•He would love playing outside, feeling the grass, and watching birds or butterflies

•Venti would be very clingy, always wanting to be held or to stay close to a caregiver. He finds immense comfort in physical closeness, often reaching out with small hands to be picked up

•He would need help with feeding, enjoying the process of being fed soft, sweet foods like pureed fruits or milk

DNI: basic criteria, DSMP, vivziepop/h4zbin h0tel/h3lluva b0ss fans, Owl h0use fans, St4r butterfly fans, Ghibli fans, ddlg/abdl, nsfw/k!nk, anti-agere, anti Christians blogs

[lyraofthestarsss]

Do you guys want to see my “Storm from EPIC: The Musical” analysis I did for my music appreciation class?

vvv

EPIC: The Musical is a concept album created by Jorge “Jay” Rivera-Herrans based on Homer’s The Odyssey. It is an ongoing project split into two acts with nine arcs, referred to as “Sagas”. The song I have chosen for this project is “Storm”, which is the opening song to the third arc, known as the Ocean Saga. Since the project does not have an official stage production, fan artists and animators are key in visualizing the events of the story.

One of my favorite parts of this musical is its use of instrumentals to represent different characters. In the song, the main character Odysseus is leading his fleet of soldiers through an aggressive storm. During the verses when he is giving out orders, an electric guitar plays the main melody. Odysseus is represented by two different types of guitar: an acoustic guitar for more gentle and vulnerable moments, and an electric guitar for more commanding leadership moments. Drums are also very common throughout the piece, being the supporting instrument for the main melody as well as setting up the upbeat tempo. The kick-drum plays the “pulse” of the piece, the constant heartbeat that is buried underneath layers of other instruments and harmonies. The hi-hats are used as a representation of the waves crashing against the side of the ships. It’s loud, it’s aggressive, and it increases the intensity of the overall dynamic. One of the most important instruments in this song is the trumpet. The trumpet is a symbol of Poseidon, Greek god of the sea and storms. Despite not physically appearing until the ending song of the Ocean Saga, the trumpets are used to represent the looming danger Odysseus and his crew are in. The storm itself is a manifestation of the karma Odysseus gave himself when he blinded the Cyclops and revealed his name to him.

The dynamic of “Storm” is incredibly loud throughout the piece. The combination of trumpets, electric guitar, drums, loud vocals, and a fast tempo drive up the intensity of the overall scene. You as the listener feel as if you are inside a hurricane, especially with the repeating rhythmic pattern in the chorus. As Odysseus and his men sing the word “storm”, they raise and lower their voices to mimic the rise and fall of a ship on unstable waters. At 1:45, the instrumentals and overall dynamic change dramatically. When the crew members point out the island in the sky, the instrumentals quiet almost completely besides the kick drum playing the pulse/heartbeat and a flute playing the main melody. This represents the eye of the storm, both physically and metaphorically, as Odysseus gets the idea to ask the god of the winds, Aeolus, for help on their travels home. As mentioned before, all of the main characters have an associating instrument. The flute, a very light and high pitched woodwind instrument, is a perfect match for Aeolus. The song reaches its grand finale at 2:05, when the “storm” rhythmic pattern repeats once again and the other instruments return in full force. To me, this represents them returning to the other side of the hurricane.

[kishibedefender]

Hello Tumblr gods, I kindly ask that you bless this post to go to who it needs to.

This. Is vile.

For several reasons but let's start with the obvious.

This person is (seemingly) defending the use of AI to generate fanfiction, and is posting it as their own work rather than disclosing that it's AI. Now I've been on TikTok since 2019, I know what ragebait looks like. But this is just one little sliver of an issue I am PASSIONATE about because of my degree.

AI in creative spaces.

Not only is AI extremely harmful to the environment, but it is extremely harmful to artistic industry, and is inherently unethical when it comes to fan-creation. Lemme break it down.

Fan works, like my own, are transformative. We take an existing story, characters, setting, etc., and change it using our own creativity. This can be as minor as adding an original character in, and as major as reworking an entire ending. However, the work is transformed, and completely original, while still being dependent on source material.

AI generated fan works, especially fanfiction I would like to argue, is not original.

How AI works, is it mines data from the internet to train itself, and learn how certain prompts should be answered. It takes every piece of data submitted for that keyword, and molds it into the perfect, most streamlined response, eliminating any diversification of thought to an idea. It takes the creativity out of creating.

While this could employ practical use in, say, medical fields, as a creative algorithm this will do 1 of 2, if not both of these things:

1. It will generate fanfiction, train itself on the fanfiction, and we will see the gradual disappearance of different types of format or content because the AI does not generate it anymore. (Think: all fanfics streamline to a few genres with little differentiation, repeated lines and paragraphs, disappearance of some fandoms as niches get saturated)

This mimics how corporate art style had become very similar across the board. It was the most effective, and designed to be as such, so now things are oversaturated with it. Same with the Steven Universe art style-pocalypse. It was an easily replicated style that worked, and so so many people used it that eventually there was a drought of different illustration styles (not to discredit artists that used or still use the style, art is subjective). Now artists have diversified again and it's amazing, but for a long time there was an issue where that art style was insanely dominant.

Now, we see the rise of the AI art style, that has people who employ the style naturally having to include a disclaimer that they do nor make AI generated work, and show their process to prove it. I'd also like to point out that AI also has replicated other art styles, with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure author Hirohiko Araki literally having to put out a statement saying he straight up didn't want people using AI to replicate his style.

All of these diverse art styles are feeding the AI, which in turn will churn out more and more "art" and start to streamline the digital art space, with AI generated artwork being easily made by typing in a few words. More and more is generated, less and less is actually drawn, and we see everything begin to bottleneck.

2. AI will destroy the desire to create transformative works, because it will take away the motivation to create the work.

You, a first time fanfic author, slaved over a computer for hours, writing an absolute masterpiece of a oneshot of your favorite ship. You title it, tag it, and throw it to the winds of AO3, a nervous wreck but excited to see what happens.

Only for an AI generated work to get more kudos and comments than yours ever will.

How does it feel? Not good right? Those kudos you do get mean a lot, but a fanfic written by a robot in 5 minutes was better received by the community than your all-nighter piece. So you never post again, because you lose all motivation. The use of AI to generate fanfiction in this sense will discourage new authors, because it diverts attention away from their own work in favor of a corporate, built to be perfect, story.

There is already a lot of desire to present a perfect product on the internet, because the internet has such a tightly-controlled idea of what should and should not occur. In today's internet, perfection is valued above all, because a lot of spaces are hyper critical of their perception. The internet killed 'cringe', and therefore no one wants to be labeled as something or bullied or hated on, because their work was not well received by a niche. Thanks, Tik Tok.

So, why risk being put in a situation where your own work is torn apart by people with an inability to move on, when instead you can use a machine to generate a fanfic that will be received well, because it is trained on other fanfictions that did well?

Foolproof idea, right?

Wrong. Now that work isn't yours.

Let's get to the meat and potatoes here.

AI FANFICTION RIDES THE EDGE OF PLAGIARISM

You are using a system that sources every fan work created by people on the internet, that in turn, is being spat back out with the most common themes and writing.

"I spent so long prompting it."

Prompting. Is not. Writing.

You did not write that. Do not claim it as your work. You entered keywords. That is not transformative, your work is not original, from your brain.

There is a lot of room here to say that fanworks themselves are not original because they rely heavy on source material, however, as a fanfic author myself, a lot of work goes into fan creation.

I write for canon-compliance with an OC insert. I have to keep the story happening, make my character not completely passive, make them fit into the world around them, and make sure they contribute without derailing the story. It's very hard. Some authors take characters and throw them into completely different situations, worlds, power-systems-

You get the picture. It's hard to write fanfiction, and yet we do it because we are passionate and excited to tell the story our own brain thought up.

And to address the accessibility argument, I would actually like to argue that AI is not good for accessibility in fan creation because it assumes that people who may have disabilities are incapable of generating their own fanworks without substantial help. I myself do not have any disabilities, though, so I would actually love to see someone weigh in on this with more experience than I, perhaps we have different opinions!

Anyway rant over, I think AI is a blight on society with few practical uses, have a good Friday y'all 🩷

[ryoshudoodles]

The Plushū Diaries

This is a long post about the plushie I made as a beginner and just me venting about the process. Just skip this is you don't like long posts. Also I will probably mix up UK and US English a lot here. The usual Internet learning experience.

Canto 1- I can (not) make a plushie myself

So... As you may gather from the existence of this blog, I love Ryōshū a very normal amount. And like many other PM fans, I wanted a plushie of my best girl.

Two problems arise.

Independently made plushies made by commission are EXPENSIVE (For a very valid reason, this things take AGES to make and require a lot of work and skill.).

And

All the "Mass" produced ones by indie designers that I saw had animal ears or features, which I don't really like.

So, Sunday at around 10:00 pm, I, in all my wisdom, say to myself "I want it! So I'll make it!" I already had some material from a previous failed attempt, so might as well use them.

I dug up the doll skeleton and the body I had and stuffed that thing. By then it was already late and I had to work on Monday so, to bed I went.

Canto 2- The Real Start

By morning on the following day, I had already gotten over the Idea of making a plushie myself. Too much work. Too little skill. Like any other good little ADHD demon, I am allergic to completing my own projects and I jump from new idea to new idea too quickly to get anything done.

So, imagine my shock when at 11:00 pm I get that little itch to just make the thing. That little night owl brain magic that happens when everyone else is asleep and you are just now deciding to be productive.

So I grab the body, my embroidery thread and a bathtub of coffee and I just started.

Luckily I already had a pattern that a friend printed out for me two years ago. But then, the mistakes also started.

Mistake 1- Improv

I had no idea what I wanted to make. I had a design that I had painted In photoshop before but I didn't have that materials nor skills for that. So I made a simpler one on the spot. I don't own a printer. I don't have transfer paper. So... like a person with a very aesthetically pleasing smooth brain, I just drew the design STRAIGHT ON THE FABRIC with BRIGHT red pen.

Mistake 2 - The bright red pen

At the start it wasn't much of an issue just something to mark the design because I don't have a tearaway stabilizer.

By the end of this saga, those smooth clear lines had bled SO MUCH I could no longer tell the difference between te guide and random stains. Oh! And you can also see the guidelines from the outside of the doll. Cool.

Mistake, the third - The felt hair

This doesn't seem like a mistake, but trust me, It will haunt the narrative.

Mistake forever after - Hubris

It took... around 1 hour to line up everything correctly on the embroidery ring? Why? Because I am stupid, that's why.

During this first day I decided that I didn't need to use pins. I could just put it on the ring by eyeballing it. How bad can it be?

I was a fool. There's a reason why professionals use them, and there's a reason why some people sew some pieces temporarily during certain steps of the process before finally attaching them together. Pins truly are unsung heroes.

Canto 3- The unembroidered

So... embroidery. Embroidery is hard. Symmetrical embroidery is hard. Symmetrical embroidery with bleeding guidelines and no stabilizer is HARD. Symmetrical embroidery with bleeding guidelines, no stabilizer and you are a total beginner is maddening.

I watched someone do it by hand on YouTube before and I tried to mimic the process as much as I could. It didn't help much. Youtube tutorials can only do so much to compensate my lack of experience.

By the time I had done one eye I was already seeing problems. My stitches were all scattered to the four winds. They were all going in different directions. Some of them were too far apart or too close to others. The lines in the back of the doll were piling up and there were more knots in the thread than in your average omegaverse fic.

I went colour by colour. First black since I needed it to line the hair and it was the most used colour, then white just for the little highlights and finally red.

(Funny thing, the number of this red thread of this brand is 666 wich is kinda funny for miss hellscreen over here.)

After the red thread it finally started to look kinda decent (by beginner standards)

Canto 4 - Revenge of the felt hair

After all the embroidery was done it was finally time to get her off the ring and sew the parts together.

For those unaware, the regular soft plushie material, Minky, is really lightweight and very thin. Felt... isn't thin. And when you are sewing a plushie head with may parts and layers, all those millimeters of fabric pile up really quickly. One layer of felt is easy to pierce with a needle. Five layers? Not so much. Several needles were broken in the process of joining the front of the head with the back. I do not own a sewing machine. I did all of this shit by hand.

Thank god for the tetanus vaccine. When I say this little creature has my blood, sweat and tears, I MEAN IT.

The curse of the felt hair didn't end there.

Now that the head was done, it was time to stuff it.

Naturally, I had to rip parts of the stuffing to get it inside the head and around the skeleton. This sent bits and pieces of the thing flying everywhere. My room is FILTHY. And the felt hair got the worst of it. All those little dusts and microfibers stuck to it like a fly in a web. As I write this I am still trying to rip out bits of stuffing without damaging the felt. It is horrible. My girl is DIRTY.

(Also, plushie heads take WAY more stuffing than I thought. Holy shit.)

Finally, on the last day, it was time to attach the body to the head and sew the back of the hair. (I should have done that before but... more layers of felt. Broken needles. You know... nheeeeeee)

So, with a lot of fear in my heart I ladder stitched those bastards together and mocked up a decent enough pattern for the back of the hair. And just like that.... she is done.

Canto 5- The Plushie Defining

So... what did I learn?

Use pins. Stitch things temporarily with an obvious visible line that you can cut out after and test things before committing to a permanent stitch. If you are a beginner, like me, and are afraid to sew pieces together because you don't want to ruin your embroidered parts that you spent SO LONG working on, do this before.

Fuck felt.

Don't use a bright red pen.

Mess up. Make your plushie. Make it ugly. If you hate making bodies like me, buy one made and practice the head. Despite everything, I love my asymmetrical girl a lot. Like... I made this little bastard. She is MINE and I made her. This never stops being magical. It's a nice feeling.

And I did it without specific materials.

Some cheap threads, a body you can probably make too, some felt I found at the discount bin and random needles. That was all. No tearaway stabilizer, no sewing machine, no printer, no embroidery machine. The minky fabric is the only thing that was more of an investment. The rest is pretty accessible.

Do you know that post that says "Everything worth doing is worth doing poorly." Yeah, that applies to artistic projects. Go for it! Just... don't start with something hard like a human... Christ sake that was a nightmare.

I'm probably still gonna get a better plushie of her in the future, but for now, this is my baby.

Goodnight Tri-state area.

[your-divine-ribs]

Caught Red-Handed

Words: 6.3k

Doesn't Van ever think about knocking?

Friends to lovers // eventual smut // I have a Sam version of this story on my Wattpad too xxx

Imagines Masterlist Main Masterlist

You'd been friends with Van for years, right back when the notion of recording platinum-selling albums and touring the world was just a dream. He was that friend who you could talk to if you had a problem. He never judged you and he always had your back. He was the one person you could call on if you needed anything. So when you'd had a huge bust up with your friend and house-mate and he asked you to move into his house in Chester you didn't think twice. Larry had moved out just months before and there was Van, rattling around in the house all by himself. He'd never been any good with just his own company… and you were of no fixed abode. It was the perfect solution. There was just one small problem...

The past few months you'd started to see Van in a different light. His striking ocean eyes captivated you like they never had done before. The feel of his body pressed up next to yours when he greeted you with a hug made your heart race. And seeing him with his female fans fawning all over him just set off a sharp sting of jealousy which you had no business feeling.

Now here you were on a Sunday night, lounging on the sofa watching TV and feasting on takeaway pizza, trying not to react to the fact that your pulse had started to quicken the moment Van took his seat next to you, barely leaving a gap between your two bodies.

"Give us another slice of yours," he says, not waiting for your consent but reaching over into the cardboard box on your lap.

"No way!" You protest, slapping at his intruding hand and then snatching the box away out of his reach. "You've already had two slices you greedy git!"

"Come on, yours is well nice," he pleads. "I'll swap ya."

"Ughhh not a chance. It's not my fault you ordered the worst pizza on the menu. I mean who has pineapple on pizza anyway?" You wrinkle up your nose in disgust.

"Well, I'll just have to take control of this then if we're not sharing!" Van announces, grabbing for the remote control and switching channels.

You groan as Match of the Day fills the TV screen. You hate football and Van knows it. He's obviously just trying to wind you up and it's working.

"Hey that's not fair, it's my turn to choose what we watch tonight. Spider-Man's on in ten minutes and I wanna see it."

"Do you really wanna see the film, or just perv over Tom Holland, eh?" Van chuckles, holding the remote control higher as you swipe for it. "Ah that's it, isn't it? Ooh Tom, Tom! You're so sexy!"

He mimics you in a silly girly voice, throwing his head back and laughing as you narrow your eyes at him. God he's bloody infuriating sometimes, like a big kid.

"Shut up and pass it here!" You whine, setting your pizza box down on the empty seat next to you so you can reach up to grab the remote.

It's no use though, he passes it over to his other hand and stretches right out so there's no chance of you getting it from your current position.

"If you can get it you can watch what you like," he taunts. "And if you don't I get the rest of your pizza!"

You rise up out of your seat, leaning right over him, one hand on the back of the sofa near his head, the other reaching over as far as you can, fingers straining.

"You're so bloody annoying!" You complain, kneeling on the seat next to him so you can reach even further.

He just laughs with the widest shit-eating grin plastered across his face, riling you up further. You're almost there, your fingers practically touching the remote, just an inch further and it'll be yours…

And then your foot slips out from under you and you find yourself sprawling forwards, toppling right over into his lap. You're practically straddling him, your chest thrust right in his face.

"Woah! If you want my body you've only got to ask!" Van jokes, his whole face creasing into laughter at your obvious embarrassment as you scramble up on to your feet, your cheeks glowing.

You'd normally laugh it off, come back at Van with some cutting remark, but for once you're lost for words, a combination of your self-consciousness and the fact that being so close to Van has made your body react in all sorts of inappropriate ways.

You have an urge to get away now you're on your feet, putting your head down and heading for the door, mumbling something about not feeling too good.

Van springs to his feet immediately, catching hold of your arm just as you're about to exit the room, gently bringing you to a stop.

"What's up? I've not really pissed you off have I? I was only joking you know. We can watch whatever you like... Y/N? Are you alright?"

You've no choice but to turn and face him, your awkwardness increasing. You just hope you sound convincing.

"I'm okay, it's not you... I've just... come over feeling a bit funny... a bit sick. I think I'm just gonna go and lie down upstairs for a bit..."

Van's face falls with obvious disappointment and then creases with concern. "Hope you're okay..."

You pull away, saying you'll be fine, hurriedly rushing up the stairs and into your bedroom, pushing the door closed behind you and flopping down on to the bed, frustrated.

This has got to stop. You've known Van for so long he should be more like a brother to you. If anything happened it would just make things weird. Not that he's probably remotely interested in you at all romantically or sexually. The trouble is, now you've started to see him that way you can't get the thoughts out of your head. There's no way you're going back downstairs now to torture yourself all the more.

You sigh, resolving that you may as well just call it a night and try and get some sleep. You get undressed and shimmy into the little silk slip that you sleep in. It's far too hot to get under the covers so you lie on top, closing your eyes and trying to clear your mind, hoping that sleep claims you soon.

It's useless. Images of Van scroll through your head ceaselessly. His disarming smile... his stunning blue-green eyes... that cheeky way he looks at you, waiting for a reaction when he's winding you up...

It starts out innocent enough, but then your mind really starts to wander. You recall a morning last week when you'd bumped into Van in the hallway when he'd just stepped out of the shower dressed in nothing but a towel, his pale skin still flushed from the warm spray. Imagine if his towel had slipped...

Warmth floods your body at the thought and you squirm on the bed, pressing your thighs together.

Think about something else Y/N, for fucks sake...

Your thoughts drift to yesterday afternoon. Van was messing around with lyrics for a new song he was writing and he wanted your views on them. A smile springs on to your lips, you love the fact that he values your opinion so much.

This is a safe topic to think of. You picture the scene from yesterday. Van was sitting on the sofa in front of the window, strumming away, his eyes screwed shut whilst he sang, completely lost in the music. You'd been grateful for that so you could watch him uninhibited. The sun was low in the sky and it was streaming through the window, bathing him in a soft golden glow. God he'd looked gorgeous.

You'd been focussing on his hands, his long, slender fingers flying up and down the frets, expertly picking out the notes. His hands...

Oh god.... here you go again. You must admit you've become quite obsessed with his hands recently. His fingers are just so... long...

Just imagine...

Fuck... now your mind's really working overtime but this time you don't try and divert it. It's been months since you've been intimate with anyone after your prick of an ex dumped you, and he treated you that badly you've not felt sexy at all since... until now. Why not just enjoy the feeling? It's only a fantasy anyway.

Eyes still screwed shut, you hitch up your silky slip around your hips, spreading your legs apart. You start to touch yourself over your underwear, imagining it's Van's fingers instead of your own. That's when you realise exactly how turned on you are. In no time your heart's racing and your breathing heavy as you writhe on the bed. Your panties feel damp to touch as you curl your fingers around the edge of the lace and move them aside.

You start to caress yourself, dipping one finger inside you to gather the slickness of your arousal, then spread it upwards over your clit, moving in tight circles.

God that feels good. You tip your head back on the pillow and spread your legs even wider, moving your hips in time with your caresses, little whimpers of pleasure escaping your lips. All the time you're thinking about Van and imagining his hands on you, that familiar tightening feeling building in your core.

What you don't realise is that you have an audience. Van came upstairs a few moments ago to check on you, worrying about you feeling poorly.

He didn't knock. He didn't even think. Now he wishes he had... or maybe not...

He knows what he should do. Back slowly and quietly out of the room, pretend he's not seen you, then carry on pretending he's not seen you. But he can't. He's transfixed. He doesn't think he's ever seen a sexier sight in all his life than you pleasuring yourself. Hair spread wantonly over the pillow, brows furrowed a little, your mouth a perfect O shape. Your body's rising and falling with your deep breaths, your fingers gliding over your slick skin. Christ, those little moans that you're making. He can feel his dick stiffening, pressing uncomfortably on his jeans. And then...

"Oh Van..."

What the fuck?

The shock suddenly snaps Van out of his trance and he steps back quickly, kicking the door as he does, alerting you to his presence.

What the fuck?

Your eyes snap open in a heartbeat and you sit bolt upright, confused for a second until you see Van lingering in the doorway, a stricken look on his face. Did he see... everything? Did he hear his name?

Your heart practically leaps out of your chest and you grab for the duvet, horrified, wrapping it tightly around yourself.

"Jesus Van, haven't you ever heard of knocking?" You cry out, mortified, feeling the colour instantly drain from you in shock but then swiftly return with your humiliation, staining your cheeks scarlet.

Van appears to be speechless, his mouth opening and closing like he's a fish out of water. All the time he's shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Finally he manages to string together some stumbled words.

"I... I'm so sorry. I was... errr... worried about you... 'cause you said you felt sick. I was just... errr... coming up to check on ya."

"Yeah well I'm okay!" You say, your voice coming out high-pitched, your eyes darting around so you don't have to look directly at him.

"I can see that!" He blurts out.

You allow yourself to look at him now, and there's a moment where your eyes lock, and it's like there's a million things you both want to say but you can't find the words.

And then it passes. Van backs clean out of the room, still muttering his apologies, and you sit there in shock... absolutely mortified.

What now?

As soon as your eyes flicker open the next morning it all comes flooding back in a wave of red hot shame and humiliation. How the fuck are you supposed to face Van again after he's seen you in such a compromising position? And, even worse... did he hear you moaning his name? How the hell are you even going to look him in the eye if he knows you've been fantasising about him?

You hurriedly shower and dress and make your way downstairs to find that Van's already there, he's obviously rolled right out of bed and come straight down in the hunt for breakfast.

He stands in the kitchen in just a pair of trackie bottoms, no t-shirt, hair all mussed up and looking every bit as delectable as the full English he's frying up on the stove. Your mouth's watering and you're not sure whether it's the aroma of the bacon or the sight of him.

Your gazes lock as you enter the room and for an awkward moment you don't think anyone's going to speak, but then Van does, and it's an admirable attempt to make things seem normal but it just falls flat.

"Oh... morning love. Want some of this? There's plenty. I was gonna come and ask if you wanted some but..."

You thought you might disturb me finger-fucking myself on the bed?

Of course he doesn't say it but you're both thinking it. You can tell by the tiny hint of a smile that plays on his lips, the way he trails off, looking down, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Errr... no... thanks, I... errr... actually have... a meeting first thing. Thought I'd get to the office early, catch up on some stuff. I'm so busy at the moment. Honestly the emails... they never stop coming..."

Now you're babbling, and you have a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that what's happened will taint your easy-going friendship with Van. You really don't want a silly moment to ruin the precious bond you have. You panic, still mumbling about your heavy workload as you grab a banana out of the fruit bowl and make for the door.

You cringe all the way to work and by the time you get there you're in such a state over it that you vow to try and put the whole thing to the back of your mind or you'll just drive yourself crazy. Thankfully work is busy and you throw yourself into it, managing to completely switch off your whirring brain. In fact you almost forget all about it until your phone buzzes with a text notification mid-afternoon. It's Van.

Van: Hi hope you're ok. Me and Bondy are having a few drinks down the local tonight if you fancy it? x

Usually you wouldn't hesitate, especially if Bondy's down from Newcastle. You love seeing the guys, but you realise that you can't face it and you find yourself grudgingly typing a reply.

Sorry Van, I'm having a rough day and I'm tired already. Have fun and say hi to Bondy for me...

Van obviously does have fun as he's still not back home by the time your eyelids have grown heavy and you've taken yourself off to bed that evening. You can't sleep though, lying there on your back staring up at the ceiling, going through scenes in your head where you and Van sit down to discuss what happened like two sensible, mature adults. The only problem is every single scenario you dream up has the same outcome: Van sniggering like a naughty schoolboy and you ending up red-faced and flustered and even more embarrassed than you were beforehand.

You're still chasing sleep when you hear the key in the lock and heavy footsteps traipsing into the kitchen at gone midnight. You sit up in bed, wondering whether you should get up and speak to Van but then you hear a loud clattering noise, followed by some curse words and muted laughter. He's definitely drunk.

You sigh, sinking back down into bed, listening to Van clumsily banging around in the kitchen, then you hear his footsteps on the stairs. You even find yourself counting the steps, waiting for the moment he'll walk past your bedroom.

And then there's silence... He's stopped... right outside your bedroom door.

You can just make out his shadow in the tiny gap of light filtering under the door. He's standing right there! Your heart almost stops beating and you realise that you're holding your breath, waiting for a sound... his voice, maybe a knock, or maybe he won't knock... again. Maybe he's standing there imagining you like you were last night...

And then you hear him move away.

The rest of the week carries on in the same vein. You blatantly avoiding Van by way of feigning imaginary illnesses or tiredness and enduring awkward encounters in the kitchen that have you quickly scurrying away, and by the time Friday comes around you're running out of excuses.

You've had another exhaustingly long, hectic day at work and when you arrive home you breathe a sigh of relief when you stand quietly in the hallway, listening for any signs of life in the house and you hear none. Great... that means Van's more than likely out, so you've got the whole place to yourself. No sneaking around, no hiding away, you can just relax.

You kick off your shoes and make for the kitchen, on a mission to find the largest glass you can to fill with wine before heading upstairs for a long soak in a luxurious bubble bath. It sounds heavenly...

"Surprise!"

You practically jump out of your skin at the sight of Van in the kitchen as you push through the door. He's standing there holding a bottle of wine in one hand and two glasses in the other, the widest grin on his face practically splitting it in two.

"What's all this?" You exclaim, eyes wide, heart pounding from the shock of discovering that you're not as alone as you thought.

"Thought I'd treat ya... 'cause you've been working so hard and I also thought you needed cheering up 'cause you've been dead grumpy..."

"I've not been grumpy!" You protest, aware that you do, actually, sound extremely grumpy. You smile despite yourself.

He continues, placing the glasses down on the kitchen table and beginning to pour out the wine. "And you've been avoiding me."

Shit...

"I've not been avoiding you at all, I've just been... busy, and tired. It's been a long week."

He pauses, looking at you with eyebrows slightly raised. "Oh really? So you've not been avoiding me since..."

Uh-oh. Here it comes. You brace yourself, feeling your cheeks warming, watching his face scrunching in second-hand embarrassment for you.

"Since... The Incident..."

The Incident?  The way he says it, even pausing for effect, like he's talking about some award-winning feature film he's bigging up, leaves you in no doubt that you're not going to be able to get away with pretending like it never happened. He wants to discuss it. Right now.

You shoot out a hand, reaching for one of the wine glasses and gulping at the contents, hoping for the alcohol to dull your embarrassment, but sadly it doesn't work that fast.

"Did you have to bring it up?" You say, swirling your wine around in the bottom of your glass to avoid looking at him.

"Actually yes, I do," he says. "If we're gonna live together we need to clear the air. We can't go on like this. I feel really bad that I didn't apologise properly as well, so I'm saying sorry now. I really should have knocked. I just didn't think..."

"Okay, okay!" You interrupt, relieved that he actually seems to be handling the situation maturely and not descending to adolescent level. "Apology accepted. Can we just forget about it now... please?"

"Uh-huh..." Van nods before taking a sip from his own glass, but he's eyeing you over the rim in such a way that you know it's not the last you've heard of it.

You try for a distraction. "Shall we get a take-away? I'm starving."

That seems to have worked. Van immediately clutches his belly announcing how hungry he is and you suggest Chinese. Van places his phone on the kitchen counter and you spend a while hunched over it, perusing the menu. Then you wander into the living room with your wine, leaving Van to phone the order through.

You smile to yourself. Well... that was pretty painless. Hopefully now you can just get back to being housemates and carry on hiding the fact that you're secretly in love... hold on, no... LUST...with Van. There's no way that this is love. What made you even think that?

Your thoughts are interrupted by Van entering the room, grumbling that the restaurant are busy tonight so your food will take at least an hour.

"Well... we may as well have more wine then," he says, holding out the bottle to offer you more and you gratefully accept.

"Woah, not so much," you protest as he fills your glass so full it's practically slopping over the top. "You know how drunk I get on an empty stomach!"

"Lightweight!" He teases, setting his glass down on the coffee table and taking a seat next to you on the sofa.

To your surprise he doesn't sit facing the tele but angles his body so he's facing you, and when you glance over at him him he's got his eyes fixed on you with a grin. You look away but you can feel his eyes on you still.

"What?" You finally say. "What are you looking at me like that for?"

"Can I ask you something?"

Anxiety squirms in your gut and you take another large swallow of your wine. "Well... I'm sure you're just going to ask me anyway..."

You pretend to pick at an imaginary piece of fluff on your dress so you don't have to look at him.

"Do you... errr..." he pauses for a second before carrying on. "Do you do that... all the time?"

"Do I do what all the time?" You say, playing dumb, but you know damn well what he's talking about.

"You know... last weekend... when I caught ya..."

"Oh my god Van!" You cry. "What sort of a question is that?"

He shrugs, still grinning. "C'mon Y/N. How long have we been mates for? We can talk about anything can't we? I'm just curious... that's all."

The embarrassment is radiating off you in waves, but Van's completely unbothered. Your instinct is to tell him to mind his own business, but you don't. There's something about the thought of discussing such an intimate topic with him that's made your heart thump with excitement.

"Of course I don't do it all the time!" You giggle shyly. "Why? Do you?"

"When the mood takes me. Which is... errr... quite a lot actually!" He starts chuckling, while you shake your head. "Well? It's not like I've got anyone else to do it for me is it?"

"What are you talking about? You're not exactly short of female admirers are you? And probably male ones too! You could be shagging someone different every night if you wanted to!"

Van pushes his hair back off his face. He's still wearing a huge smile. "And why would I wanna do that? You know I don't sleep with fans. And I don't go for one night stands... not anymore."

You consider Van's words. He's right. He's certainly not the horny 22 year old he used to be who took full advantage of having girls throwing themselves at him everywhere he went when the band first started getting a following.

In fact since you've moved in with him he's not had any lovers over to stay the night at all. It was one of the things you were worried about when he'd asked you to move in with him to be honest. The thought of having to smile sweetly at a parade of loved up, freshly fucked conquests each morning whilst eating your breakfast just made you feel sick to your stomach with what you’re now realising is jealousy.

Van hasn't finished. He reaches over for his wine glass whilst he's talking. "It's funny isn't it? Back then I thought I was living the dream, but now I realise how kinda shallow I was. I guess as you get older you realise the thing about sex is it's not quantity but quality that's important."

This surprises you. You weren't expecting the conversation to take this sort of turn, you were anticipating Van teasing you mercilessly about what he caught you doing. You'd been dreading it, but the realisation hits you now that it would have been a lot easier to cope with. Hearing Van talking frankly about his love life is just making you realise how much you want to be a part of it. And it's not just the sex. You want all of him.

"Yeah well it's alright if you find someone you're compatible with I guess..."

Van drains his glass, reaching for the bottle and topping himself up. "You're so right. I mean why settle for a quick meaningless fuck with a practical stranger when you can have a real connection with someone?"

And then he looks at you. Really looks at you. You can feel yourself melting under his gaze. You want him so bad. And maybe he wants you too...

But maybe you're getting this all wrong. Maybe it's just wishful thinking and the wine and the talk of sex that's making you feel like the atmosphere in the room has changed. Your head's spinning with thoughts and you panic.

"I hope the food doesn't really take an hour! I'm starved!" You suddenly blurt out, making to rise up out of your seat, but Van darts out a hand to gently grip your arm, stilling you. He's still got that look in his eyes, a certain intensity that makes your belly flip and your heart stutter.

"I heard you," he says quietly.

"What?"

"I heard you say my name... last week. You were thinking about me weren't you? While you were..."

Oh shit! How are you supposed to get out of this one? You can't deny it.

"I... I..." you start but trail off. Your cheeks are burning and your head feels light and there's nowhere to hide.

Van takes your wine glass from you and places both his and yours on the coffee table. Then he reaches for your hand, his fingers curling around yours, entwining them together. He has an earnest expression on his face as he speaks.

"It's okay... don't be embarrassed. I have a confession to make actually..."

He shifts in the seat, moving closer, his eyes not leaving yours. The air between you is thick with a heady kind of tension which only increases as Van speaks again.

"Since I saw you... like that... I've not been able to get it out of my mind. I think it was the hottest thing I've ever seen. All I can think of is seeing you like that again. I really wanna be the one to make you feel like that... for real..."

"I... I..." you stutter, struggling to form anything coherent, your mind fogging over with lust, imagining what might happen.

Van pulls the hand that he's holding towards him, urging you to move your body around to face him more fully and you comply. He's getting closer still, now just inches away.

"Because I reckon I could make you feel good. Really good... if you'll let me?"

He reaches forward with his other hand, gently cupping your cheek. You want to surrender to him, your body automatically responding, your breathing deepening, nerves bristling, but you find yourself holding back.

"I... I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to... it's just... I don't wanna complicate things. I like you Van. Actually... I really like you."

You feel your cheeks warming from the unexpected confession you've just let slip, immediately fretting that you've said the wrong thing, but you don't need to worry. You feel Van's fingers brushing your cheek, his eyes simmering with desire but affection too. "You don't know how happy that makes me to hear you say that... the feeling is definitely mutual."

His gaze drops down to your lips and back up and you find yourself doing the same to his, waiting for the moment they meet, eager to taste him. But still you hesitate. "Can we... can we just... go slow?"

"We can go as slow as you like..."

You both lean in together, too hasty, teeth clashing. It's silly and awkward and you laugh breathlessly, pulling away.

"We'll try that again shall we?" Van chuckles softly and this time he takes the lead, his hand going to the back of your neck, winding through your hair, pulling you closer.

Your mouths meet and this time it's tentative and slow, your lips brushing each other's gently. You sigh into the kiss as it deepens, your tongues entwining. It's like a release, you've dreamt about this moment for so long and now it's actually happening.

Van's free hand goes to your waist and he pushes you back on to the sofa. You grasp at his hips, wanting to feel the weight of him on top of you and he obliges, pressing himself on to you, his knees sliding between your legs. Just the feel of his warm body flush next to yours makes desire pool down deep inside you and you feel your hips push upwards to meet his like they have a mind of their own.

"Hmm... someone's eager," Van whispers, as he pulls away from the kiss, hovering over you.

"You have no idea," you smile back, your hands sliding between your bodies and going to the buckle of his belt, hastily unfastening it. Ideas of going slow are suddenly the last thing on your mind.

He smiles wickedly, and he catches his bottom lip in his teeth as he looks down on you. "You're a fucking vision, you know that? I've been dreaming about this for so long. What I'd like to do to you..."

"Oh yeah?"

His belt's unfastened now, and you slide your fingers under the waistband of his jeans, but you don't get far before you feel Van's hands on your wrists, gripping them gently but firmly, guiding them away, pushing them back against the chair.

"Nuh-huh, this is all about you," he says. "Told you I wanted to make you feel good didn't I?"

"But..." you start to protest, stopping when he raises a hand and presses his index finger against your lips.

"All I wanna hear from those lips is how good it feels, okay?"

"So I've just got to lie here?" You say, biting back a grin at the smirk on his face as he rises up slightly, placing a hand on either of your thighs, pushing your dress upwards until it's bunched up around your hips.

"Yeah... think you can manage that?"

You feel a little vulnerable and exposed in front of Van in such an intimate way for the first time, feeling the flush on your cheeks, the adrenaline flooding your body with excitement.

His fingers trail down your thighs slowly, tracing little patterns on your skin, and you can feel the small callouses on his finger tips. You're so sensitive to his touch your body shivers every now and again and he watches you intently, a smile playing on his lips as you gasp as he inches closer to the edge of your underwear and then moves away.

"You're a fucking tease McCann," you say, watching his smile widen, his eyes light up with mischief.

"It'll be worth the wait... trust me," he says self-assuredly.

Christ... your heart's beating double time, your breathing getting shallow. You need to feel something, your hips twitching as Van places a palm on either of your thighs, slowly pushing them even further apart. Then he dips his head down, and you feel his lips pressing against your inner leg by the knee. He plants delicate kisses all the way up one thigh, then moves to the other side, repeating his actions. Little tremors shoot through you in anticipation.

"Van..." you breathe, yearning to feel his touch where you need it.

"What's up love?" He asks teasingly, fingers trailing along the edge of your underwear. "What do you need?"

"You know damn well what I need," you whine, impatient. All you can think of is his hands. Those long fingers and how they're going to make you feel.

"Let's get rid of these then," Van says, his fingertips hooking under the waistband of your panties. 

He begins to inch them down your hips, not taking his eyes off you as he does it and there's something about this that builds the tension in such a way that it's almost unbearable. When you feel his fingertips connect with your skin, one skimming over your your sweet spot, your body reacts instantly with a shudder of pleasure.

He leans over you to kiss you again, fingers exploring the folds between your legs, repeatedly flicking over your clit. It feels better than you could ever imagine and you moan softly into his mouth, bucking your hips upwards, chasing his touch as his fingers start to stray away.

"Don't stop," you plead in between kisses.

"Mmm... I have no intention of stopping," he purrs. "Tell me... how does this feel?"

He pushes one finger slowly inside you, followed by another, stretching you out deliciously. You whimper underneath him. "Fuck that feels good..."

You words tail off into passionate sighs and you close your eyes, tipping your head back. His long, slender fingers reach parts of you that you could never hope to, and before long you're writhing on the bed as he pumps them slowly inside you, moving your hips in sync with his motions.

Suddenly his touch disappears, and your eyes flick open. He's hovering over you, eyes glazed over with lust, and you watch as he raises his hand, slipping the fingers he's been pleasuring you with between his lips.

"You taste fucking amazing," he says, licking his fingers clean.

The action simultaneously makes you blush furiously but also stokes the fire that's already burning between your legs. You're so turned on you feel like the lightest touch might make you explode.

"Don't make me wait... please!" You implore, rising up slightly, reaching for his hips, feeling desperate now.

"But I don't wanna rush this, you look too good," he whispers, gently pushing you back down by your shoulders, before placing a sweet kiss on your lips. "In fact I'd say you looked good enough to eat."

Fuck... Your body's pulsing now, the heat between your legs intensifying. Van moves completely off the sofa, his fingers curling around your thighs, easing your body around so he's kneeling in between your splayed legs.

You look down to see him moving closer, and he keeps his eyes on you as he leans in, licking a slow stripe to your aching heat. Then he starts to work you with his tongue, concentrating all his efforts on the sensitive nub of nerves. Watching him pleasure you like this whilst he's looking you right in the eye is probably the single most erotic thing you've ever experienced, but you find that you can't maintain his gaze for long. The sensations are just too powerful and you can feel your eyes rolling back in your head.

"Fucking hell..." you breathe, and he hums an approval, the vibrations travelling through your core, making your body quiver.

You can feel that familiar tight knot starting low down in your belly, sure you'll peak soon, and as if on cue, Van suddenly hoists your legs up on to his shoulders to get even closer. He buries his head between your thighs, lapping relentlessly at your clit, easing two fingers inside you, curving them at a spot that has you seeing stars. You can feeling yourself unravelling at an increasing pace, hurtling towards your climax.

Your hands thread through his hair, tugging it roughly at the roots, losing yourself as the first swell of your orgasm hits you like a hurricane. Then it's wave upon wave of indescribable pleasure, moans falling from your lips, your legs trembling. Van doesn't stop until the last of the shudders wrack your body.

"Oh my god," you breathe, slowing coming back down to earth as Van emerges, leaning towards you with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

"That alright then?" He grins cheekily, pulling your dress back over your body to cover you up, then resting his hands across your lap.

"Bloody hell, that was... a bit better than alright!" You say, still panting slightly.

Your body feels wrung out but in the best possible way. Van kneels there looking up at you, hair dishevelled, pupils blown wide, his lips still glossy with your arousal, and you think you might have just been transported to heaven.

"I suppose I should... repay the favour," you say with the most flirtatious of grins, raising your eyebrows at him.

Van's smile mirrors yours as he rises up from the floor, taking his seat next to you on the sofa and wrapping an arm around you, drawing you into a close embrace.

"Oh I'm definitely going to hold you to that love..."