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Just What I Needed - Chapter 24

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Frank Woods x CoD Bell

Woods rounded the corner quickly, his hand pressing into the banister as he propelled himself upward. Just ahead, Mason was taking each step two at a time.

“Fuck she’s fast! Was she always this fast?!” Mason exclaimed.

Woods didn’t respond. He was still in pain from the kick Bell had given him in the shoulder. It had come out of nowhere.

When he and Mason had brought her back to the apartment, she had been completely unconscious. Then he came back to her room, and she took him by surprise. Fully awake and ready for a fight.

At some point, she was on the ground, and her foot had landed square in the middle of his bad shoulder. If he hadn’t known better, he would have taken it personally. Just a lucky strike, he had to guess. Had to hope. Woods hadn’t had time to dwell on it because she had taken off running.

She was heading up the stairs before he knew it. Why up was anyone’s guess. It didn’t really matter. They just had to get to her before she did anything stupid. Likely she was hallucinating and thought she was somewhere else. Things could get dangerous real fast.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he found Mason there catching his breath at the door.

“Look,” Mason said, “She’s probably hallucinating. I don’t want to startle her. Hell, she might not even be able to see us.”

“Oh, she definitely could see me,” Woods said, thinking about the pain in his shoulder.

“Mason gently pushed the door open. Bell was standing only a few feet away. Her back was to the roof ledge. Hands in the air, she looked like she was talking to someone. Trying to stop them from doing something. But no one was there.

“Mason held up a hand telling Woods to stay back as he carefully approached Bell. She didn’t seem to notice him. Her gaze was fixed in front of her. The wind began to pick up, and her hair swirled around her. She didn’t seem to notice that either.

“-did everything you asked of me!” Bell wailed.

He didn’t have to wonder who she thought she was talking to. Adler. He had always had the impression that she hadn’t had time to negotiate with him. Beg for her life. That Adler just shot her, maybe even in the back. But he had faced her. After all the shit he put her through, he actually looked Bell in the eye and did it. 


“Bell," Mason said as he approached cautiously, "Adler's not here.”

Bell blinked. She turned her head slowly to look at Mason, still holding one hand up to keep the Adler, who wasn’t there, at bay. The other hand, she used to hold Mason back. But she stared at him as if he had materialized out of nowhere.

“He’s not real, Bell. I know-“

“Fuck you!” Bell exclaimed. She looked between Mason and the empty space where she likely thought Adler was standing. In a quieter voice that Woods could barely hear over the wind, she added, “You’re the reason why I’m like this.”

“He couldn’t tell who it was directed to, Adler or Mason. But then he realized Bell was staring hard at him.

Did she think he was someone else?

Bell took a step back. Even though she wasn't near the ledge, Woods knew she could bolt at any time. And if she didn’t realize where she was, she might end up accidentally propelling herself off the roof.

“Bell," Mason started again, "Even if you don't trust me. Just look around. There are always gaps where reality slips through. It's hard. It's fucking overwhelming-“

“Shut up," Bell choked out. Her voice was strained, breaking. Woods was too far to see, but he had a sense she might be crying.

“You think I’m an idiot?” Bell continued, “Maybe you were able to fool me once, but there’s no way. No way Mason and Woods would come for me. That's the reality."

“Mason’s shoulders dropped. He couldn’t hear it over the wind, but he was sure his friend just let out an exasperated sigh. Not that he’d ever let up. But the two of them were so damn stubborn they could be out here for hours.

"You don't have to believe me. But what's under your feet? Grass and dirt? Or dried rooftop tar? You know what you really feel, Bell."

“Bell muttered something in response that Woods couldn't quite catch. He saw Mason shift his weight impatiently. Mason knew what she was going through. He could commiserate with her, but his patience was always a little thin, even in the best situations.

Slowly, Woods stepped forward. He chose to head closer to where she seemed to think Adler was. As he moved, he wondered what Bell was seeing.

How many times had she imagined this?

She had so few memories she must have run through them over and over again in her head when she was alone in that prison facility.

When you’re locked up in a cell, sometimes all you have to think about is your past. And escaping. And those people who worked for Perseus had seemed intent on torturing her. They had drugged her recklessly too. They hadn’t cared a bit if she lost her mind.

Did they have her run through this over and over again? Just to torture her? What she had done to make her former pals hate her so much that they would devote so many months to torturing her. Even that blonde, Ivanova, played her part in the torture. But on that prison train, she and Bell had worked together.

What made them turn on each other?

Bell definitely saw him approach. She seemed to have forgotten about Adler and Mason. Her hard gaze was fixed on him. Woods was careful not to get too close. It was then he was sure; she thought he was one of those guards at the prison facility. She wasn’t seeing him as himself, just a hallucination meant to fuck with her.

“No,” Bell said, shaking her head. She pointed at Mason. “Him maybe, but you?” She shook her head again. Bell was looking Woods dead in the eye. “No, fucking way. Woods would-”

"Don't tell me what I would and wouldn't do," He interrupted her. His voice was firm, and she seemed taken aback by it.

Bell bit her lip. She kept her feet on the ground, but he could see her hips move as she shifted her weight. Her toes curled as she felt the rough texture of the rooftop. Her eyes widened briefly. Woods could only make an assumption about what might be running through her head. That what she felt under her feet didn’t match what she saw around her. That seeing him may have made her begin to doubt things.

Bell took a step back.

Fuck.

Woods exchanged a look with Mason.

“Lost so many people. Do anything to get them back. Mason coming back-“ He shook his head. He still wasn’t quite ready to talk about that one.

“And you? After everything you did? You’re-“

A hero?” Bell spat.

“Nah, that’s what-” Woods started. He waved his hand to indicate the city. “That’s what they say about- about people like us. But they don’t fucking know.”

They really don’t, do they? Civilians? No, fucking clue what it’s like.

If they weren’t calling him a baby killer, they were calling him a hero. He was neither. Why she thought he was going to say that was interesting. Maybe it was a word they had used, a way to try to pump her up, get her to believe them.

“After all the shit that was done to you. You could’ve- but you didn’t. Everything you went through. You’re one of us-” He said finally, gesturing between himself and Mason.

It was strange to admit. He couldn’t explore the feelings behind it at the moment, but it had been hard to say. Even though it was the truth.

Bell’s expression softened just slightly. Her hands lowered. Maybe her defenses were finally coming down.

“Look, we’re not stupid. We know everyone doesn’t see us as the good guys, right? Everything we’ve done hasn’t always been on the level, right? So, yeah if I’d have known who you were, what happened to you. If Mason had known? We’d have still come for you.”

“You’re just saying what you think I want to hear,” She shot back. But it was halfhearted.

“Bell, look, you really think they’d stand around having a conversation with you?” Mason interjected, “They wouldn’t just try to tackle you and bring you back? If you don’t believe us, fine. There are gaps where reality bleeds through.”

He could see Bell set her jaw, but she was definitely thinking it over. Allowing herself to be convinced. She was seeing the world around her for what it was, finally. He saw her toes curl up again. The way her eyes scanned the tarred roof. She looked up at the dark sky. Her eyes were focused when her gaze fell on the buildings around them. Bell turned. Carefully, she walked towards the ledge.

“Go slow. Put your hands out,” Mason warned.

He moved towards her, careful not to crowd her. Woods had to fight the urge to tackle her. Save her. But she had to see it for herself. They couldn’t force her and lose the little trust they had just built.

He watched from an unnerving distance as Bell put her hands out and touched the ledge. He let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding as she knelt down and leaned over the ledge to look down. Bell let out a small cry as she looked at the city around her.

It must have been unsettling as the hallucination melted away, and a whole city appeared before her. Woods moved closer. He could hear her clearly.

“West Berlin,” She said. Then she looked over her shoulder at Mason. “You came for me? I live here now?”

“Yeah, sorry we stuck you with that old man,” Mason said, thumbing toward Woods.

Woods made a derisive sound in response, drawing Bell’s attention to him. She looked at him like she was seeing him for the first time. Her eyes were suddenly clear and focused. It almost made him uncomfortable to be looked at like that.

“You good?” He asked. She nodded.“All right, can you get the fuck away from there?” He said, chuckling a little, “You’re gonna give me a damn heart attack.”

Woods helped her sit on the edge of the tub. He leaned over to run the water until it was warm and placed a stopper in.

“Put your feet in there,” He directed.

The soles of her feet were practically black. He wasn’t even sure she realized how dirty her feet had been as he had stopped her seconds before she attempted to hop in bed.

Wordlessly, Bell complied. She hadn’t said much after the roof, just followed along with him, her hand in a vice grip on his shirt. Making sure he was still there. It was something he was familiar with.

Occasionally, Mason would need a reminder as well and just reach out for his friend to give him a tap on the shoulder. Or a shove. Whatever helped to ground him. Woods knew to respond in kind. Reach out as well. It had taken some getting used to at first. Not something he was used to. His family had never been affectionate that he could remember, but he grew to like it.

The tub began to fill with water. He stopped it when her feet were submerged. The water began to turn gray and swirled around her ankles. She leaned forward to watch it change color. He knew her fascination with it was because of the drugs and that she might actually be seeing something more interesting than gray water. At least part of this evening wouldn’t be a complete nightmare for her. He grabbed a washcloth from the top of a pile of towels and dipped it in the water, then picked up a bottle filled with pinkish liquid and poured it over the wet cloth. It had a soft floral scent to it.

Woods sat on the edge of the tub. Bell was gently kicking her feet in the water, watching with fascination at the ripples created by the movement. He looked her over. The hair on the back of her head was wild, tangled by the wind.

Woods reached out a hand to comb it smooth with his fingers. He wasn’t sure how she would react, but Bell closed her eyes at the touch. Her kicking slowed to a stop. When the tangles were gone, he dropped his hand. Woods thought he heard Bell sigh, but when he looked back at her, her face was neutral.

He then leaned over the tub and reached for her ankle. She curled her toes under, likely trying to hide the fact that she was missing toenails.

“What are you, embarrassed?” He chuckled a little. Bell didn’t respond. Then he picked her foot up a few inches out of the water he scrubbed at the sole. Even her calves and shins were streaked with dirt.

“With all the shit I’ve seen- Don’t you remember jungle rot? Hell, you should have seen me when I-“ He paused. He was trying to be reassuring. Let her know he didn’t care about a few missing toenails. But he wasn’t sure it was landing.

“I just can relate, is all.”

His feet had been in worse shape than this when he crawled out of that camp at Da Nang. He hadn't even thought to be embarrassed. And really, she was just missing a few toenails. His comment seemed to relax her. She uncurled her toes, and she watched him continue his work impassively.

Soon, the towel was nearly stained black. Woods dipped it in the water and squeezed it out, dripping dirty water into the tub. When he looked back at Bell, he caught her scrunching up her nose in disgust and smiled.

So there was some of the old her in there somewhere.

Then he picked up her other foot and started to scrub.

“Why?” She blurted out. This made him chuckle.

“Maybe because you were running around barefoot?”

Bell shook her head but seemed unable to complete her thought. He gave her time to think as he finished working on her other foot. Then he drained the tub and used the sprayer on her feet. Woods washed his hands.

Then he grabbed a towel and sat back on the edge of the tub laying the towel across his lap.

“Come on, gotta dry them now.”

She didn’t move. Instead, she stared intently at her feet and the last few streams of water heading down the drain.

“I hurt you,” Bell said finally. He blinked in surprise. He supposed she had, but it didn’t hurt anymore. Stung like a bitch when she had done it.

“You just did what you thought you had to.”

She gave him a look that seemed to say she wasn’t buying that.

“You still got a lot of fight in you. Never lose it,” Woods said. He patted his thigh and she complied, propping her ankle up on the towel.

“I could have just taken a shower.”

“Thought you might have had enough of showers.”

She actually laughed then. It wasn’t a great laugh, an exhausted one if anything, but he’d take it. And after everything that happened? Good to know she could laugh. And that she wasn’t pissed off at him. Or at least not yet. Maybe when everything settled in, she would be.

He dried off her other foot in silence. When he was done, he stood up next to her and offered his good arm to help her stand. It surprised him how unsteady she was on her feet now.

Was this the same woman who had just outrun both him and Mason on the stairs?

"Come on, I know you've been sleeping for a while, but you still gotta be exhausted."

"How long?"

"About a day, brought you back yesterday morning. Early.”

She nodded. Whatever she did with this information, he couldn't tell.

Woods brought her to her bed, lifted the edge of the blanket, and helped her in. Then he pulled the covers over her.

“I’ll be right back, ok?”

Bell sat up then. She made a noise in protest.

"I'm just gonna get you something to eat," He said, thumbing over his shoulder at the door. Her eyes darted to the door. She gripped the blanket in her fists, knuckles going white. Probably an effect of the drugging making her anxious.

"I won't be gone for long, ok?"

She nodded, but he could tell it made her uncomfortable. He left the door ajar so she could hear him working away in the kitchen. Keep her connected to reality.

Mason was in the kitchen making himself a sandwich. He looked as exhausted as Woods felt.

“Want one?” Mason asked, keeping his voice low. Woods shook his head.

Mason nodded towards Bell’s door. “How’s the patient?”

"She's ok. Getting her some toast."

Mason looked at the open door.

"She might still be having trouble telling the shit that's happening in her brain to reality," He said, "It doesn't just switch off. Even when she's not on the drugs."

Woods nodded as he put two bread slices in the toaster. He knew it, but he also knew Mason needed to say it. He was the best advocate for Bell’s situation. He’d be the voice he himself had needed. A gap Woods could have filled if he had been around back then.

"We gotta stop them from drugging her,” Mason said firmly.

"Already on it. Got Park on our side too."

"Hudson?"

“He called. We had a conversation."

Mason nodded. He knew what that meant.

"Adler?"

That made them both chuckle. Adler would have to go along with it whether he liked it or not at this point. Woods had managed to be somewhat civil in his conversation with Hudson. He needed him to understand the gravity of the situation, and now he and Park were looking into alternative solutions.

Mason yawned loudly, he picked up his plate, and began moving toward his room.

"Hitting the hay?"

"Yeah, might as well, right? You got her, right? No more late-night roof excursions?” Mason joked, then he glanced at the clock, “Fuck, early morning, I mean.”

"Yeah, I got her."

The toast popped up. Woods piled the two pieces on a plate and cut them in half diagonally. Filling up a glass with water, he took both to Bell’s room and set them on the nightstand. When he entered, he noticed that she was still sitting straight up, her wide eyes watching the door, waiting for him to come back. He sat on the edge of the bed and tapped her hand, then pointed at the plate. Finally, her posture relaxed, and she picked up the toast.

“Not exactly exciting. Not sure what kind of condition your stomach is in. Last thing you need is to feel worse."

Bell nodded and took a few tentative bites of toast. She seemed to decide her stomach was fine, and in a moment, the toast was gone.

“Nothing about your appetite has changed, huh? Get you a steak next.”

One corner of her mouth turned up at this comment.

“Don’t forget to drink your water, ok?” Woods said as he took her plate and stood up to leave. Bell tensed again, and her eyes widened.

“Frank-“ She started to say but didn’t continue. He knew she didn’t want him to leave her.

It was how it was going to be with her until she felt comfortable.

“Yeah, all right, hang on,” Woods said. He left and set the plate down on the kitchen counter. He went to his room to change into shorts and a t-shirt.

“The hell are you doing?” He muttered to himself as he pulled the shirt over his head. But he knew the answer. She wouldn’t be in this situation if he had just checked his ego and come for her earlier.

But it wasn’t just the guilt, was it?

He tucked his pillow under his arm.

When he came back into her room, he stood by the bed.

“Scoot over.”

If Bell seemed surprised by this, she didn’t show it. She just shifted closer to the wall making room for him. He pulled the covers back.

“This is only to keep you connected to reality," He said, tossing his pillow against the headboard next to hers. Then he got in. There wasn’t a lot of room on the bed, so he threw his arm around her and pulled her into him.

“I’m sorry,” She said quietly. Her voice had a distant tone to it like she was drifting to sleep. Woods wasn’t sure what she was apologizing for this time, maybe everything.

“Yeah, so am I,” He said. But he could tell she was already sleeping.

Careful not to disturb her, he settled in. And soon he was asleep, too.





It was mid-morning when Bell exited her room. Woods was actually surprised to even see her up this early. He had almost expected her to sleep off the day.

But there she was fully dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. She had pulled her hair into a short ponytail. And if she hadn’t looked so pale it would almost be like the past few weeks hadn’t even happened.

“I’ll get you some coffee,” Woods said.

He folded his paper in half, laying it over the arm of his chair. Standing he walked into the kitchen. The pot he brewed that morning had long gone cold. He dumped the water and started a fresh pot. In the meantime Bell had wandered into the kitchen. She was looking at everything around her like she was seeing it for the first time.

The coffee pot made a gurgling sound as it finished brewing. Woods grabbed a mug for her from the cabinet and after pouring the coffee in handed it her. He refilled his own cup and moved back to the living room. Bell, on the other hand, was hovering between the living room and the kitchen. He could sense some hesitation in her, like her first day here.

"Come on, this is still your home."

Bell nodded and took a seat on the couch. She looked around at the stacks of books piled up on the floor.

"What are all the books for?"

"I uh-" He paused, "Thought they might help you figure out a name for yourself. If that’s, uh, something you're still interested in."

She set her mug down and slipped off the couch onto the pillow on the floor. Bell looked down at the pillow as if she just noticed it.

"You never moved it."

"Nah, I knew you'd use it again."

Bell raised her eyebrows at this, but said nothing. Instead she focused her attention at the closest stack of books. Picking one of them up she brushed her hand over the cover. It was red, old, with a linen cover. The spine had long been broken and some of the pages were falling out. Carefully, she opened it.

"You got these for me?” Bell asked, not looking up from the book in her hands, “When?"

It was a funny question since she was clearly examining the check out card.

"Been a week or two,” Woods said with a shrug, “Who can keep track of the time?"

This time she looked up at him, again she studying him with that strange expression on her face. As if she was trying to see through him. It was like she expected him to turn into something else. Or to tell her he's fucking with her.

In fact, she probably was thinking that. Still unsure about what was real around her. Still unable to trust that he was being honest with her. At first it made him angry- how could she think he was like that? But there was nothing he could do to fix it. The uncertainty was internal. It wasn't a reflection of his character. The only thing he could do was be consistent. And maybe she’d grow to trust him again.

"Hey," He said as he leaned forward placing a hand on her shoulder to help ground her, "You hungry?"

At first, she tensed at his touch, her shoulder flexed as if she wanted to shove his hand off. But it only last for a moment before she relaxed again.

Finally, she nodded.

They both headed to the kitchen. Woods opened the fridge.

"Shit, that's right.” He said as he peered in remembering now that no one had bought food in some time. There was some deli meat, maybe an egg, but not much else.

"I can make myself something-" Bell started. She stepped in front of him and looked through the fridge herself.

"What did you eat?" Bell asked.

"Uhhh," He stammered. He hadn’t actually eaten anything, yet.

"Frank-"

"What I was worried about you!" 


Bell sighed and got out a frying pan.

"Hey, you should be taking it easy."

"I'm fucking sick of taking it easy, I want to do something that isn't just sitting on my ass. What else do we have here?" She opened the pantry.

"Don't you have any food in this apartment?" She asked, though she definitely was not expecting an answer. “Get the eggs and milk,” Bell ordered him.

”Yes, ma’am,” Woods said with a chuckle. He placed them on the counter.

From the pantry he saw she picked up some cinnamon and sugar and she placed those on the counter with the authority of someone who knows what they're doing.

Bell grabbed the milk, giving him a look when she saw how the container was nearly empty. She poured it into a bowl. The eggs she cracked and added to the bowl, whisking them together with the milk.

"Is Alex here?" She asked as she sliced up bread.

"Yeah." He was trying to suppress a grin, but she must have caught him.

"What?"

"Just haven't seen you like this in a while."

"Oh, get out." She said as she shoved him out of the kitchen.

He took a seat on one of the stools and watched her work. Bell plopped the slices of bread into an egg and milk mixture. As she watched the liquid quickly soak through the bread she sighed.

“What?”

“Just not the bread I’d use for this.”

“We could go to the grocery store later. Get better food. We need food anyway.”

Bell didn’t respond. Her mouth was a firm line. She plopped some of the soaked bread into a hot frying pan. She probably wasn’t looking forward to finding herself in a crowded store full of people. It had been overwhelming for him hadn’t it? That’s why when he did go, he always shopped at night. As late as the store would let him. He wasn’t the only one.

”An all-night grocery store,” Woods added.

“Yeah? They have those?” Bell asked, her tone hopeful. She did not look up from the pan.

“Y’know, it’s only hard at first,” He said. He too was staring at the frying pan, watching the bread cook. Whatever she said, it smelled great to him.

“Getting used to being around people again. People who don’t want to hurt you.”

Bell blinked a few times. She kept her eyes on the pan. Then she flipped the bread.

“It- it gets easier?” She asked the pan.

“It gets easier.”

Bell let out a soft sigh. He watched her plate the first few slices and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top.

“It would be better with syrup and powdered sugar,” She said, making it clear to him that she didn’t approve of the food she made. He knew Bell wouldn’t ordinarily stand for sub-par French toast.

“And better bread. Butter.”

All the same, she cut the slices in half diagonally and served them to Woods. The next batch she wrapped in foil and put in the fridge for whenever Mason got up. Woods was nearly done with his when she finished making hers. It was still pretty good food. Nice to eat anything that wasn’t takeout for once. But he didn’t tell her that. She would probably remind him how much better it could be with decent ingredients. Some of the personality she had before, when she was Bell, when he first met her, was coming out again. Assertive and stubborn. She liked things a certain way. He wondered if this is how she had been before.

Probably.

She plated her own food and sat down next to him. She took a bite of it and made a face.

“It’s not that bad.”

“I make better food than this,” Bell insisted.

“I’ll go grocery shopping.”

She took a disdainful bite of her French toast and chewed slowly. Woods had to hold back a chuckle. She was acting like it was something truly distasteful.

“I can order something,” He offered.

“No, I’m not wasting food.” Bell stubbornly stabbed her fork at a piece of the toast, then another, stacking them on the tines. He understood what she meant. Food was still food, you don’t just throw it out because you don’t like it.

“I’ll go with you,” She said, determinedly.

“Yeah?”

“You’ll be with me right?”

“Won’t leave you alone for a second.”

“After everything that’s happened you’d think I wouldn’t be nervous about something as simple shopping.”

“It’s different. A guy pulls a knife on you; you know what to do. A crowd of people? You’re just not used to it.”

“It gets easier?”

“It gets easier.”

When she finished he grabbed her plate and his and began washing the dishes. As he scrubbed the pan, he looked over his shoulder and said, “Take a look at those books ok? You don’t have to pick a name today, but I gotta have something to call you.”

Bell only nodded in response and left him to finish the cleaning up.

When he emerged from the kitchen he found Bell sitting on the pillow. Her legs were bent, shins resting on the edge of the coffee table, and her back against the couch. She had a book resting on her knees. Next to her was a pile of books she had already gone through.

“These are some interesting books you picked,” Bell said without looking up.

Most of the books were collections about famous women. Some biographies, in case she wanted to know more about who she was naming herself after, and then baby name books. The librarian had given him an odd look when he requested those, but he wasn’t worried about what she thought.

“Just wanted you to have all the options. Or I could just call you Vicky.”

“Vicky?”

“Yeah, short for Victoria.”

“Oh.” He had only been joking, but a look crossed her face like she was considering it. Sometimes she took things so seriously it made him want to laugh. But then she might think he was laughing at her. As she thought he settled back into his chair and grabbed a book off the top of a pile.

“No,” She decided, “I can’t use her name. I’m not her-“

Bell trailed off. He gave her a curious look and so she continued.

“I had a dream about her.”

“Thought you always dreamed about her.”

“No, I mean I do, but-”

Bell was looking at him now. Her brown eyes wide, shining.

“This time I wasn’t her.”


“You want to tell me about it?”

She shook her head and looked back to her book.

”You never have to tell me anything but if you ever feel like talkin-“

She had raised her head again, thinking it over. At least she was considering it, but in the end, she said nothing.

They read silently together and new piles of books grew around them. At least they were getting through the task fairly quickly. Occasionally, Woods would read a name aloud. She would take a moment to seriously consider it, then shake her head and go back to reading. A few names they even tried out, but eventually they were all rejected. Some she said out loud, but the moment they left her lips she knew they were wrong. He thought some of them had been pretty nice. But she had to be happy with them, that’s what mattered.

They read in silence for a while. Eventually Mason got up. He grabbed his French toast and ate it cold, much to Bell’s annoyance. He did try to tell her it was good, but Bell gave him an earful.

“All right all right,” Mason relented, his hands up, “You’ve convinced me. I’ll let you make me some good food sometime.”

“So is this what you’re doing today? Can’t wait to hear your brand new name. How about Alexandra? No?”

Bell gave him a look.

“Not helping,” Woods said without looking up from what he was reading.

“I’m kidding, I’m sure whatever you come up with will be great.” He left soon after. Mason had been away from Em and David for the past few days. Em was definitely accustomed to it having been on the job herself. But it didn’t mean she had to like it. And that she didn’t worry. But Woods was glad he had called him in for help. He’s not sure he would have been able to get Bell down from that roof on his own.

Woods flipped through his book. He wasn’t sure if he was really helping her by reading too, but it felt like leaving her to do it all alone might be too overwhelming. In fact the whole idea of it was overwhelming.

How do people pick out names?

Bell shifted on the cushion. She stood up, still holding open her book in her hands and did a slow paced lap around the apartment. Having her back completely changed the feeling of the apartment. It felt warmer, more inviting. And the idea of not having to come back to a cold and empty space again? He could definitely get used to it.

“How you doin?” Woods asked, looking up and watching her pace. He considered standing up himself. He set his book over his thigh and tilted his torso forward to give his back a good crack. Bell sighed.

“That sounds good.”

“Yeah?” Woods asked, a grin spread across his face, “Want me to pick you up? Crack your back?” He wasn’t actually sure he could do it with his shoulder still healing.

“Mm tempting,” She said as she completed another circuit. She rested one of her hands on her lower back. “How do people figure this stuff out?” She groaned, “All these names none of them seem right.”

“Maybe when you find the right one you’ll know.”

“I hope so.”

“What about in those books you were reading for fun? Any good names in there?”

She stopped walking to think it over.

“Not unless you think Meg suits me. Wendy? Mercédès?”

“Nah, never mind.”

Bell continued her reading and walking. As she did another lap he heard the floorboards creak behind his chair. And then stop. She had paused just behind him. He felt her fingers rest just on the skin at the base of his neck. It made the hairs on the back of his head stand on end. With one finger she pried his shirt away from the shoulder revealing his healing skin.

“This was the thermite?” Bell asked quietly.

“Yeah, the molinya.” Woods turned to look at her.

She let his shirt fall back into place, but let her hand linger for a moment before continuing her walk.

“Can’t help but feel like it’s my fault.”

“How could it be your fault?”

“If I hadn’t said anything about Duga-“

“Hey, it was a good thing,” Woods insisted, “Hell you even warned us. It wasn’t you. It would have been worse without you.”

Bell came around and sat down on the arm of the couch just across from him.

She could never just sit could she? Always had to be on the floor, or with her feet up, or like this, on the arm of the couch.

“What you found there- the recording. That’s what I saw in my dream. I saw Victoria record it.”

He watched her closely but said nothing. Bell looked away from him, her eyes narrowed. She tucked a loose hair behind her ear. He knew that gesture, she was thinking something through, gathering her thoughts.

“She seemed like she was, um, at war with herself. Maybe the gravity of the situation was hitting her.”

“What do you think she was doing?”

“Nova-6.” Bell sighed, “There were those sleeper agents right? And all that unaccounted for Nova-6. At least at the time.”

“But you don’t know for sure.”

“What else could it be? Victoria cracked the programming. Драгович.” Bell looked down at her hands in her lap.

“At the very least it’s good to know she hesitated. Some humanity left,” She said with a sigh.

“Never went off, though, did it?”

“What?”

“You think she was trying to use Dragovich’s sleeper agents in the states to activate those old Nova-6 stockpiles on civilians? But that didn’t happen.”

“Right, but that was 13 years ago. What’s even the half-life on that stuff?”

“A lot longer than 13 years.”

“How do you know that?”

“Just one of those things.”

“Frank, why doesn’t it bother you? Even if it failed, she still tried it. She broke the code-“ Bell stopped short, her eyes widened, and she jumped up from the arm of the couch. “Fuck, the notebook!”

“Notebook?”

“Yeah, she had all her stuff encoded and written in a book. She put it into a safe at Duga. Fuck. If I had fucking remembered sooner-”

“Oh, we got that.”

“You did?!” Bell threw her hands up. “Why the fuck was I trying to reverse engineer the recording if you had m- Victoria’s notebook?”

“Adler, took it.”

Bell’s shoulders slumped, and she took her seat again. But she accepted this answer. They both knew that it would be difficult to convince Adler to give her anything from her old life. Especially if it contained secrets, it wasn’t completely unreasonable. Adler, personally, had good reason not to trust her. He thought Woods and Mason were being naive.

“Did you get anything else?”

“Yeah, actually, I did. Hang on.”

He stood up and went to his room. From the nightstand drawer he pulled out a photo. He hadn’t been certain when he found it, but if there was any possibility that it was hers he wanted to make sure she got it. Who knew what Adler would do with it. When he came back to the living room he handed it to her.

It was a small black and white photo. Faded. And a little burned on the edges. The photo was of two girls. The younger one looking like she wanted to run off and play. The older had a serious expression on her face as she stared down the camera.

“They look familiar to you at all?”

Bell took the picture. At first her face showed no expression. Then she passed a finger over the smaller girl in the photograph.

“Where did you get this?”

“In the barracks. There was a private room. It looked like someone had tried to torch the place. Like they were really pissed off at whoever was supposed to be in there. Everything was wrecked. But this was tucked behind the nightstand. Hidden. Like someone knew it might get destroyed.” 


Bell clutched the picture to her chest. Sensing she might need a moment he stood up.

“I’m gonna get some more coffee. Want some?”

Bell nodded.

There was no telling when that fire had occurred. It could have easily been after Solovetsky. But it nagged at him. Victoria, had tucked it away for safekeeping for whatever reason. Maybe it was wishful thinking on his part but her hesistation about the recording just added to his suspicion that she may not have been a willing participant in everything. And setting fire to her room? That was an act of rage. That maybe at the end she had a change of heart. That she betrayed Perseus. He poured the coffee into their mugs and headed out to the living room. Bell was just exiting her room.

“I put it in there for safekeeping.”

“Yeah, it’s yours,” He said with a shrug. It was funny now to have confirmation that the photo was actually hers. Seeing her as a kid. Hard to think that anyone he ever worked with were kids once. Hell, they probably had the same trouble with him, imagining him born with a full beard and tattoos. ==

Bell took the mug and curled up into one corner of the couch with a different book. He took his place on his chair again, picking up where he left off.

The stack of unread books was getting smaller. They’d have to make another trip to the library at this rate. Or find some other method for name-choosing. Woods could feel his eyes glazing over. It was a lot of reading for anyone. Even Bell seemed to be losing stamina. They had depleted the coffee again and she was in the kitchen making another pot.

In his lap he had a book open about famous figures from World War II. A name jumped out at him that made him chuckle. He sat up straighter to read the passage. At that moment Bell had come back in and was setting his coffee on the table.

“What’s up?”

“Just a name I recognize.”

“Old friend?” She asked, leaning over to look at the book. He caught a whiff of something floral in the air when moved closer to him.

“Nah, no way. Come on, I was just a kid then.” He pointed to a photo of a young woman in uniform. She was smiling and standing next to Eleanor Roosevelt.

“Russian sniper. Did a tour with Elenor Roosevelt, uh the First Lady, in the 40s after World War II. I remember seeing it in the papers when I was a kid. She killed so many they nicknamed her Lady Death. What I remember is how much the papers liked to talk about how she didn’t wear pretty clothes and makeup. Kind of funny, did all that and what do the papers care about? How good she looks in their photos.”

Bell perched herself on the arm of his chair and looked at the photograph. He caught another whiff of that floral scent. It was nice. Then he realized she must have taken another shower this morning. He hadn’t really noticed until now. But he could understand it. Imprisonment kind of has a smell that sticks with you, even if other people couldn’t smell it.

“That’s her?” Bell asked, shaking him from his thoughts.

“Yep.”

“Lyudmila Pavlichenko,” Woods said.

“I’m sure I heard of her at some point,” She said. Bell placed her hand on the book moving the page to read it better.

“Probably.” He looked up and watched her read. She at least seemed interested. It gave him the spark of an idea.

“What about that for you?”

“Lyudmila? You think I look like a Lyudmila?” It was a genuine question.

“I dunno,” He shrugged,” Tough gal, tough gal. Maybe use a nickname. Lyuda? Lydia?”

She raised her eyebrows and glanced at him. Then she looked back at the page. With her thumb she covered part of the name in the headline.

“How about this?”

He looked at the remaining letters.

“Mila?”

She looked back at him searching his face for a reaction.

“Mila,” He said again to her.

“Mila,” She said back. He nodded.

“Yeah, it suits you. At least try it on. If you don’t like it, we’ll pick up where we left off.”

“No more, Bell?”

He shook his head. She was looking at the book again. Skimming Lyudmila Pavlichenko’s bio again.

He tapped her knee to get her attention.

“So what do you say tomorrow that we take your name out for a spin?”

“What does that mean?” She asked brows knitted.

“Didn’t I promise to take you to a record store?”

Mila looked uncertain. As she wasn’t sure if he was joking or not.

“Ok."

[nerdierholler]

IT'S DONE! I made a book! I never thought I'd ever be able to make a book. Sure mistakes were made but it was still a fun process and I learned so much from making this first one.

This a binding of The Wayhaven Chronicles IF but with my personal Detective's choices included and the resulting text smoothed out to read more like a novel.

Honestly, I thought something like this would be way beyond my skill set but it wasn't as scary as I thought once I got started. Definitely check out @renegadeguild for some book making and typesetting guides and their discord is super friendly and helpful as well.

If you want to learn from my mistakes I'll go into some trials and tribulations under the cut.

I'm not sure how well this book will hold up long term but that's ok! It was more about learning and I'll make some adjustments and try again with the same text probably.

Typsetting

Margins - need to make them bigger. I mostly read paperbacks so I was going for that format with narrower margins but then when I ran into paper problems, I didn't have a ton of room for trimming.

There was an option on the imposer to add dotted lines to the center fold and I clicked that but they're visible still even after binding. Could be that I needed to sew my signatures tighter and that would help but regardless I don't think I need them in the future so I'll be skipping that feature.

The font was intentionally small, along with the margins, because I was trying to minimize the number of signatures I was dealing with for a first project. I'll bump it up in the future.

Paper (so much wrong)

So the grain should run parallel to the spine but I couldn't find short grain paper. I read at some point that someone recommended using sketch books instead because that should be the right grain. It was not, at least not what I bought, so it still ended up going the wrong way.

The sketch note book I bought had perforated pages. It made them easy to get out but I didn't realize that the page widths were inconsistent until everything was printed out. The paper width varied by at least 1/8 of an inch. I wasn't planning on trimming my pages but my top was super uneven because of this so an attempt at trimming was made. It could have gone worse (there was no blood) but the trimming could have been a lot better too.

Should have just used printer paper. The results would have been the same.

Making Book Cloth

Used the Heat and Bond method with some spare fabric and it worked pretty well. The problem was when it came to adding backing. I'd read tissue paper or even plain paper so I grabbed some piecing paper that was close at hand. That was a mistake. It was good quality fabric so it was thicker already and the paper backing made it too thick. I could barely fold it over and it kept wanting to flip up. It's the spine fabric and I'm still concern it's going to do this in the future.

Used tissue paper for the marbled looking fabric and it was much easier to work with.

Book Board

Not measuring right was all on me. The rice box worked in a pinch but I think it will be prone to bending. Got me the experience I needed be wouldn't be my go-to material for a project of this size.

Glue

I used Elmer's All Purpose and it got the job done but, again, probably not going to hold up the best long term. However, I'm glad I didn't buy PVA and basically waste it on this project. Elmer's was good and cheap enough for practice. I'll be getting some PVA for future projects.

[bratbutcute]

A sparkle in the night

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Pair: Alastor and Vox. A bit platonic, a bit romantic, could be read in different ways.

Disclaimer: Nothing other than it’s a SFW tickle fic. They are also slightly ooc but tbh we don’t really know since I’m describing a moment that happened before the series takes place sooooo… who knows (but honestly, Alastor is much too sweet to be canon).

Also I had fun with some fonts I found online, I don’t know if that is a problem so if you find difficulties reading please tell me and I’ll change it!

Vox is stressed and wants to reminisce old times, old friends, old feelings.

I got the idea for this from this fic by @starlight-write. I wanted to explore Alastor and Vox’s relationship before whatever happened between them.

I hope you all enjoy it!

~~~

Hell had changed a lot since Vox first arrived. He had met many Overlords who now weren’t ‘alive’ anymore, killed by Angels or by other sinners. He had seen Hell change its geography, different shops rising and then succumbing to nefarious fate.

He had met friends along the way, and he had lost them too.

Vox had learnt that the afterlife was just as complicated and confusing as his past life: people were hard to read, it was hard to understand their needs and, honesty, he wasn’t very good at accommodating them. Of course it was easy to solve people problems work wise (most of the times he was the one creating a fake problem and giving the public a new product as a solution), but when it came to personal business he couldn’t just hypnotise everyone. Well he could but…

He was alone in his personal room, monitors all over him, phones and computers all around him. Even if he was alone he was constantly under the spotlight. He knew he had to prove he was stronger. That he wasn’t scared of anything or anyone.

That’s how he would spend the majority of his afterlife: surrounded by his constant eyes, recording every movement he himself ever made.

So that’s why he felt so excited when he turned off every single monitor except for the bigger one in front of him. He shut down every camera or microphone around him. Unrecorded. Unregistered moments.

A shiver ran down his spine.

After seeing that ghost of his past back again after seven years of absence he had to see something. Something that was his and his only.

What he was looking for was an old memory, one that he had to update digitally from his old headset.

Everything was meticulously categorised so it didn’t take long before he found what he was looking for.

The video started.

And he was almost 45 years younger, he had a different - and much heavier - headset and an ‘old pal’ next to him.

They were in the middle of an animated conversation in a remote bar in the pride ring. Everybody was keeping their distance from them and the moody bartender kept sending them drink after drink.

«Television is much more than photography you radio obsessed demon. Television is alive, it’s thrilling!» Vox exclaimed standing up and stomping his foot on the chair in front of him. Alastor looked at the action with little to no reaction, his usual smile plastered on his face.

«You, young man, are as loud as a cow at the slaughterhouse. That is in no way an Overlord behaviour.» he said squeezing his shoulder and inviting Vox to sit again.

Vox blinked in confusion - and slight worry because of the metaphor - before pouting as a scolded child. He got himself back on the high stools next to the counter dangling his feet.

Alastor poured another whiskey in his glass.

«I admire your enthusiasm, but you have to understand that Hell is different from Earth. You cannot show demons your… moving pictures and expect them to simply follow you. You need to plan. To be strategic. Logical.» he offered the drink to Vox, who looked at the goldish liquid with skepticism.

Alastor’s smile grew bigger. «A peace offer?». Vox sighed and gulped it down in one shot, much to Alastor’s disapproval.

«I think you’re complicating your life too much! I can hypnotise people!» he pointed at his eyes as the pupil changed, but Alastor was unfazed.

«It doesn’t work on me.»

«Yeah I still have to understand why…» he sighed as his head started to spin. His face became a bit foggy, just for a moment.

That made Alastor grin wider. «Is the strong and powerful aspiring Overlord feeling a bit dizzy?»

«Fuck you I am not. You’re just-» he looked down at his empty glass and grabbed the bottle to refill it. «I am an Overlord! ‘M not aspiring to be anything you pompous-» but he was cut off by Alastor cupping Vox’s hands with his and helping him pour the drink. Vox’s heart skipped a beat as his antennas sparkled.

«You were saying?» he hummed, fully aware of what he was doing.

«Fuck you.»

Alastor’s smiled softened «Charming.» and Vox smiled back, rolling his eyes.

They had these kind of conversations every time they hang out. They would go to a bar and sit far away from everyone, start bickering, try to get a deal one from the other only to call it even and repeat this cycle every few days. Vox kept convincing himself that these encounters weren’t a big deal but things like that, like that genuine smile, made him doubt that.

Vox drank his whiskey quickly, just to see Alastor’s ear flicker in dismay, a gesture Vox had learnt to recognise over the years.

He took the bottle and refilled his and Alastor’s empty glass.

«You do not understand what it means to be an Overlord just as much as you do not understand how to enjoy your drink.» Alastor said turning on his stool and leaning with his back on the counter.

«AH! Alcohol gets you drunk. That’s the big meaning behind it.»

Vox was about to chug down his whiskey when he felt something brushing over his side. As he yelped Alastor snickered, trying to camouflage it with a cough.

«AÆl- he glitched - what are you doing?»

«As you can see I am not doing anything.» he said raising his hands to prove his point. Vox straightened his back, looking at his surroundings in confusion.

His fogged brain was trying to process whether there was a threat or not. He felt electricity build up in his body.

As he raised his glass, he felt it again, something brushing his side, just lightly, but, when he turned, his eyes could only scan thin air.

«What is going on?» he mumbled putting the drink down.

Alastor didn’t answer, but he was having fun. Vox could see it by that stupid tail of his that was slightly wagging.

If it was his doing… oh no.

The tendrils came out of nowhere and wrapped around his torso, caressing his stomach and sides slowly.

Vox felt electricity between his fingers and in his antennas. He clamped his mouth shut with his hands, slightly kicking his feet.

«Is everything alright Vox?» Vox shook his head, little sparkles all around him. That fucker…

One of those tentacles circled around the center of his tummy, caressing the blue skin. He could feel the tip lightly scratching the sensitive area, making his body tremble.

It was so agonisingly slow. The gesture felt both sweet and mean, as if it were Alastor’s fingers toying with him.

Then he increased the pace.

Vox’s face started trembling, the image of his expression danced on the screen for a moment, deforming his flat features. Alastor came closer to his prey, enjoying every second.

«Maybe it would be better if you just let yourself…-» the tentacles that were around his stomach changed direction and dug in his hips «…Laugh.»

Vox giggles sparkled, as static electricity vibrated around him. He tried so hard to contain himself, but once the first chuckle was out he could not stop.

«AHAHAHAHL nohohoho.»

«No? But I’m not doing anything my dear! I think you had one too many of these.» he said sliding away the man’s drink, saving it from being destroyed.

«Yohohou knohow dæ-ámňņ well what you’re dohohoing.» Vox managed to say while trying to push his tentacles away.

«Of course I do.» he got closer, more tentacles coming from all around him. Vox felt his heart pounding in his chest, his face a mixture of fear and excitement. A stupid wobbly smile was plastered on his screen.

«And you’re enjoying every single second.» had Vox been a little less drunk he would have probably tried to retort, but all he could do was stare at Alastor’s tendrils.

Two of them wrapped around his wrists, raising his hands.

«Oh noho don’t y҉̗͚͚̯̋̏̍̑O̸͎͕̒̽͐̏U҉͓̦̰̘̌́̏̾͆ DARE ALASTOR!» the tentacles danced in front of him, circling around his underarms. Two of them were near his sides, and no matter how hard he tried to pull at his restraints he couldn’t free himself.

«Oh how I like seeing you like this.» Alastor sighed «So helpless.»

«Ahahahahahl Ihihi ha-hatehehe yohohor stupid gahames.» he protested. He was still sat on his absurdly high stool, his feet trying to touch the floor to push himself back. But there was nowhere to run.

Every demon in the place had already fled, believing that the Radio Demon had found his new victim. Well they weren’t completely wrong.

«Do not lie to me.» Alastor caressed Vox’s screen with a single finger, and fake sweat flashed on his face. «You love my games. And besides, a powerful Overlord like you should laugh at the face of danger.» that actually made Vox titter.

Anything said by Alastor made him laugh.

«Let me see your smile.»

All of the tentacles attacked at the same time, some caressing his skin, some scratching at the fabric of his clothes. They were under his arms, on his stomach, meaningly attacking his hips.

The laugh that left his throat gave Alastor goosebumps. It was loud, the loudest he had ever heard from him and it was so… carefree.

All the sense of control, the pressure of becoming a powerful Overlord, the high standards the man held on himself all crumbled down. And he was just helplessly laughing in front of his friend, eyes closed, not afraid to be hurt.

Unfortunately for him he was definitely too sensitive though and the moment a tendril flicked his antenna he started to glitch.

«NOHOHOHOHŒĦØ-»

A spark of electricity made the entire place blackout for a moment, before the lights came back on. Alastor looked at the display of power both amazed and awed.

The man was really strong.

«Be careful my friend-» Alastor’s voice came from much closer than before «We wouldn’t want you to short circuit would we?»

He decided to give him a little break.

The moment the tendrils freed him, Vox turned his back and held the counter with both of his hands, looking for stability.

He could not stop the giggles and titters leaving his body, feeling even drunken than before even though the alcohol was starting to wear off.

However, before Vox could stop laughing, a single tentacle snuck under the his shirt, through his sleeve, slowly and gently caressing his underarm with its tip. The small movement was driving Vox mad.

He collapsed on the counter, laughter now pouring out of him. His feet were kicking the air. The free arm was pounding on the surface, not lucid enough to try to free himself.

He let his head rest on the table, the screen tilted toward Alastor.

«Yohohouh bihihihitch.» he giggled before trying to pry away a new tendril that was slipping under his shirt, targeting his stomach.

His feet kicked harder and quicker as he started to hiccup. «Ihi- IHĮĦĮ- chahaæn’ț.» his voice changed and distorted.

Alastor drank another glass, closing his eyes and enjoying the flavour.

«Sooo» he stood up next to the giggling mess. «Do we wanna make a deal?» he asked making his tentacles stop their torture and back away.

Vox took a few seconds to compose himself before lifting his head and facing the other demon.

Giggles were still stuck in his throat, threatening to leave his body at every word. «A deahal?» he straightened his back and fixed his shirt, now turning his entire body towards the friend.

«I’m not selling my soul for some T̵̲̫̈́̉͗̂͆-tickles. You can’t be that stupid.»

«I am not, my friend. And for once I do not care for your soul! Oh no no no! I would like…-» he let the anticipation roll on Vox’s nerves as he approached him with twitching fingers. «-for you to never drink whiskey in such an inconsiderate way. You either taste your liquor or you don’t drink at all. You do not gobble your alcohol. You understand that young man don’t you?» and as he pronounced the last sentence, he started tracing invisible circles on Vox’s sides.

Vox closed his eyes and the giggle that escaped his lips was a mixture of ticklish agony and amusement.

«Are you finding my request funny?» his fingers danced on his sides.

«Oh c’mohohn Ahahal.» he kicked his feet again, very careful not to hit the demon in front of him. «Ihiht is fuhuhucking hilariohohohus.» he managed to say.

Alastor was not amused.

«Well if you think this is hilarious I cannot imagine what you’d think of t̷̥̲͎͇̤̒̈́̔h̵̳̪̰͋̊ȉ̵̭̦̰̊̉̒s̶͈͉͙͕̥̅̚.» as his voice distorted he drilled his thumbs in Vox’s hips, scratching slightly under his clothes.

Vox’s face became black for a few seconds, before returning to his loud self, pounding with his free hands on Alastor’s chest.

«Such a sweet sound.»

«Ḍ̷̙̙̪̏́̏̒͊e҈̫̓̓̈ͅĥ̴̤̖̪̓́͗̀a҉̤̩͙̏̿ĥ̴̤̖̪̓́͗̀a҉̤̩͙̏̿ĥ̴̤̖̪̓́͗̀a҉̤̩͙̏̿l̸̳͓͔͇̗̋͌̈ ḍ̶̣͎͍͇̐̂̉̿̎e̷͎̘͌̈a҈̫͎͆̏̇l̵͉͚͓̃̄ ḍ̶̣͎͍͇̐̂̉̿̎e̷͎̘͌̈e҈̫̓̓̈ͅĥ̴̤̖̪̓́͗̀e҈̫̓̓̈ͅĥ̴̤̖̪̓́͗̀a҈̫͎͆̏̇l̵͉͚͓̃̄.» his glitched and distorted voice came so soft to Alasto’s ear.

Alastor stopped with a chuckle.

«You enjoyed it.» he said before stepping away.

«Oh well don’t think I didn’t notice your tail wagging.» the tv demon whispered with a smile on his face.

Alastor turned himself, hiding his back and his stupid soft tail, a small blush colouring his cheeks.

Vox laughed again, a genuine laugh, and then grabbed his own glass. The older man way eyeing him, fingers ready to summon his power once more.

Vox drank slowly, feeling the warmth of the alcohol. He closed his eyes, enjoying the taste.

Alastor smiled at him, the genuine smile reserved to these late night, where the alcohol in their veins made their heads lighter and their words easier to leave their lips.

The words Alastor pronounced forty-five years ago echoed in the empty room. They sounded sincere, no filter altering them, just honesty and liquor on his tongue.

«You’re like a sparkle in the night Vox. You make this dark world brighter with your smile. Remember that»

Vox closed his eyes and let out a sight. He hugged himself for a moment and let those words sink in, burning his soul.

He allowed himself to feel this way for a few seconds, before turning everything off and straightening his jacket.

He had to go now.

He needed to find out what that pompous old prick was planning.

~~~

I feel like I’ve been working on this fics for a month, but it’s actually been a couple of weeks.

I loved exploring Vox and Alastor’s dynamic and showing Alastor being kind of a mentor for Vox.

Initially Valentino had a part in this fic, but in the end his role got cut off, but who knows! I might explore their relationship and how it affected Vox and Alastor in future fics! In this universe (yeah, the one I created pretty much for this single tickle fic) Al and Vox originally had a strong relationship, something between platonic and romantic, that got ruined when Vox met Valentino and started hanging out with him (Even though I strongly believe that in the serie Vox was the one that fell in love and Alastor was just trying to get something out of him and eventually got tired of Vox and left him)

The first scene felt really like when Hamilton and Burr go drink together at the beginning of the musical ahahahaha.

I don’t know when will I publish the new fic, it will take me a long time before I am able to write so much again.

Let me know what you think guys 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

[markerofthemidnight]

Thinking about liminal horror and how cool it would be to see some of that in the Headspace. Here’s a fun idea I came up with below the cut.

The house never, exactly, abided to reality’s rules. Its layout was similar to that of their house in the real world, but each room was bigger than it was supposed to be. They know because Mind personally measured the height and length of each room in order to confirm this, and it bothered him ever since.

Some rooms, like the jail used to hold Heart post-Ruler of Everything, would exist one day and then cease to be the other, as if it disappeared simply because the house doesn’t need it anymore.

But six rooms would always stay there consistently. Their respective rooms, the living room, the kitchen… and the Basement.

The Basement was a door tucked away in the darkest corner of the house, with an inordinate amount of wooden planks nailed to it. None of them had ever went down there before, and for good reason.

Mind reasoned that, if he and the others all represented parts of a person’s consciousness, then the Basement was probably the subconscious brain.

They say only 5% of our brains are dedicated to our consciousness.

And if the three sentient beings with insane anatomy, made of formless nothingness, and the endless labyrinth of trees with a nonsensical warping house in its centre, is just 5% of the actual Headspace…

…then they probably really don’t want to see what’s in the Basement.

But people get curious. And even moreso than that, Soul gets desperate.

So one day, he decides to do the unthinkable. He decides, to punish Heart and Mind for never listening to him, and never doing anything but arguing all the time, he’s going to lock them in the Basement.

To say they didn’t quite like that idea would be an understatement. Heart couldn’t get further away from that thing, and whilst Mind would usually scoff at him being so emotional, he never did so whenever the topic of the Basement came up.

Dragging them down there was relatively easy. Not because they didn’t try and fight back, but because they couldn’t, not with Soul’s near-infinite power so long as he has the Trident. The boards separating them from the Basement also didn’t put up a very good fight when he got to them.

He throws them inside, and they abruptly land at the top of a set of stairs, in such a way that prevents them from tumbling down the rest of the flight… however long that flight may be, as a fair chunk of those steps were covered in fog.

Soul’s about to close the door… but it doesn’t work. The door doesn’t have a latch. Well- that can’t be right. Were those boards the only things keeping the door shut this whole time? They couldn’t be, right?

He groans, and decides to do something… well, in hindsight, incredibly stupid. Instead of just finding a chair or something, he steps inside himself, and tells Heart and Mind to keep going.

And there’s a click, as the door locks.

…He could not have just heard that, right? Soul turns back to the door, and- it has a latch again. And a lock. A lock that won’t open. He’s trapped inside, just like the other two.

After a few seconds of manually trying to wrench the door open with his trident, he sees something else has changed about it. There’s a sentence on it, written in three different colours of blood- their blood.

It’s fairly small, but still easy to see even in the darkness of the Basement. There, perfectly legible with proper punctuation, written in a font reminiscent of an old typewriter, is a message to the three of them, or- no, just to Soul.

Look what you’ve done.

[probablynotamimic]

Successfully finished my map of the airship from my fic!

"If I Too Am Forgotten, Will You Look For Me In The Stars?"

(Was originally gonna be three decks but the last one is just empty cargo space so its not worth the effort lol)

(As I've said before, quite a few sprites are just edited/taken from the game, but any stuff that you don't recognize from the game is made by me.)

I've also annotated some neat details/notes! ^^

Annotations and non annotated version below the keep reading thingy.

------------

2. Star windows! ✨The light from them is faintly visible on the floor of the dandelion room!

1. The control console for the airship! It has a comically oversized compass, and reasonably sized barometer and a wind-speed-cup-spinny-thingy- you know what i mean.

Anyways it also has two little magic-crystal-wishcraft-orb-thingys that the pilot somehow uses to control the ship- idk ill figure that out later, they've got little stars in em though cause i think it looks neat!

3. Dandelion room! I think in my fic I may have described patterns all over the room- but imma retcon that to just the circle thingy depicted here, it only glows when the ship is actively being flown- so technically its impossible for the dandelion to be visible while the symbols are glowing but idk it looks cooler this way.

4. Hey! See those constellations?! Those are the irl zodiac constellations! all of them are as accurate as I could make them, with correct number of bright pixels for stars and lines in as close to true lines as i could make them

5. So all the stuff in the house is sorta low detail cause its frozen in time, so I got to be pretty creative coming up with details for the door!, it's got stars everywhere and even the writing along the top!

6. Odile has blocked her window on purpose, she doesn't need any more reminders how high in the sky they are :P

7. Mira has her ~bonding papers~ she needs distractions with the new emergency haha

8. Bonbon and Nils rooms! They're pretty barren, as they're both a bit mentally lost atm :(

But Bon has some of the food & spice supplies stored in theirs and Nils has Bon's sleeping bag in her room due to nightmares that may or may not occur in the futureee.

9. Loop aint gonna make their bed.

B. The stairway to the cargo bay! As I said before, i didn't map it as its basically just alot of empty space and crates & barrels etc.

Why is it "A" now instead of "10"??? Because the annotation circles I made didn't have room for two digits in this font! And I wasn't about to start over with bigger circles :D

A. Sif and Isa's room is arranged for optimal cuddle configuration.

C. Somebody's keeping an eye on the fam! (/◕ヮ◕)/

D. How does a stove work on a wooden airship???? IDK magic probably

------------

Now at long last I can start writing the next chapter 🙃

[unforgettwble-sumii]

𝐌𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 ☆ — W. A

(Wednesday x fem!reader 📖)

⭐ When Wednesday becomes unsure with her feelings, you come at the right time to comfort her.

⭐ Warnings ‼️: ooc! Wednesday, maybe some swearing (?)

⭐ word count: 845

a/n: Hi my dolls, I have no idea what this is but I hope you guys enjoy. I also tried making the font bigger because I realized that it was actually quite hard to read with the small font size I often use, and also since most of you guys liked the bigger font. ε(🎀｡・"・)з

—

Wednesday huffed, her gaze fixed on the piece of paper in front of her. It was now her writing time, but she wasn't feeling as inspired as usual.

She didn't know why no ideas were coming to her; just last night, she had grand plans for a new chapter, but now that it was time to type them down, they seemed to have vanished from her memory.

Perhaps she was too busy with the investigations that she had let the ideas slip her mind. Nevertheless, this was frustrating her. Her mind clouded intensely, whatever she was feeling, she did not like it. She felt vulnerable; it was absolute torture for the young girl; torture she did not like.

She cleared her throat, changing her gaze from the piece of paper to the window. She has never felt this unmotivated.

She stared out the window for a couple of minutes. She hasn't even realized that she hadn't blinked at all; she's too lost in her thoughts.

Suddenly, all the current events came flooding through her mind. From the luckless investigations to you almost dying because of her. The feeling of guilt quickly washing over her. The feeling of it never leaving her.

She was drowned by the overwhelming thoughts, not realizing a stray tear had rolled down from her eye. She snapped out of her trance, quickly wiping the tear. She looked at the wall, unsure of what she was feeling. Her black heart somehow felt softer and weaker.

Soon, more tears came down. She tried her best to wipe them, to no avail. They just kept rolling down her cheek, and soon her chest started to heave.

She promised herself after what happened to Nero—her scorpion, which was unfortunately run over by a bicycle. That she would never cry because it never solved anything. It just made her feel fragile.

However, she broke that promise. She looked so helpless that she internally cringed. She needed something. Something to clear her mind and help her solve her messed up feelings. Or perhaps, a someone.

—

You knocked on the door with a beat, eyes beaming with excitement. You hadn't seen Wednesday all day and thought that paying her dorm room a visit would be a great idea.

A few seconds passed, and no one opened the door. 'Maybe she's not here? ', you thought to yourself. You slightly felt bumped; your excitement was slowly fading. You decided to wait and not barge in uninvited. Maybe Wednesday was just taking her time.

You knocked a second time.

Wednesday heard it this time around and quickly stood up. She made her way to the door, opening it and facing you.

"It's late." Wednesday deadpanned.

"I know, I just wanted to pay you a vi-" you audibly gasped.

"Oh my...have you been crying?" Your tone in voice softening with each word.

Wednesday was stunned with your question, you can see her slightly struggle to respond.

"May I come in?" You asked, to which Wednesday nodded.

You sat at her neatly arranged bed, patting the space beside you; motioning to her to sit with you. She made her way to her bed, maintaining the stoic expression, but not once looking you in the eye.

"What's wrong?" Brows furrowed, concern lacing your voice.

Usually, when someone asked her this question, she would not answer and simply walk away, completely shutting the person off. But after she met you and the two of you started dating, she slowly started to open up. You slowly carved away the hard stone bricks that had caged her little black heart.

She sighed, unsure of what to say. Then, she glanced at you. Your face held a sympathetic expression that encouraged Wednesday to let whatever she was feeling out.

"I am frustrated. No ideas are coming to mind for my book, irrelevant clues that leave me to nowhere, and one that has been bothering me for a while now; the fact that you had your life at line because of me."

She sighed once again before she spoke. "I don't want to put you in danger, Amore."

The endearing nicknames Wednesday called you always made your heart swell.

"I don't care whether I have to go through the deepest darkest pits of hell, as long as I end up in your arms. I choose to be with you even in the most dangerous situations, because I love you, Wednesday. You overwork yourself to exertion, so much so that you barely get enough sleep. Please, get some rest."

You held her hand as you spoke. Each word that flowed from your mouth, uplifted Wednesday's heart.

You slowly engulfed her in a gentle yet heartwarming hug that caught her off guard. She didn't say anything back, but you could feel her slowly melt into the hug and you knew she understood what you had said.

She knew that no matter what happened, you'd always be by her side, in her arms.

She also knew she would face the most heinous and terrifying beast ever conceived to keep you safe.

"I love you too, Tesorina."

— ⭐ ©unforgettwble-sumii's work. Pls do not repost, steal modify, or translate.

[logicbutton]

Hey guys what's up I learned bookbinding to make @cindthia a physical copy of Synchronized Cardioversion for our anniversary :3

Pics and process documentation below!

I used the following resources:

How to Make a Book by ArmoredSuperHeavy

Bookbinding Resources Master List by Renegade Bindery

r/Fanbinding

the fanbinding tag on AO3 - shoutout to r3zuri's fanbinding of a FFVII fic for their extremely informative cliff's notes version of the process

the Intro to Hand Bookbinding class at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, an incredible resource for anyone in or near Minneapolis interested in learning how to bind their own books.

First, I typeset the fanfic. I did this by downloading it from AO3, trying to figure it out myself, checking How to Make a Book for help with a problem I was having, and realizing that I should have just used it from the beginning in the first place. I used Microsoft Word 2013.

Fonts: Palatino Linotype, Helvetica (for the characters' text messages), Beatline (for titles) Margins: .88" top, 1" bottom, .75" inside, .75" outside, .25" gutter Front matter: - Title page with only the title - "Praise for Synchronized Cardioversion" with comments from the fic - Title page with title, author name, and a colophon I made - Copyright page with fic copyright, fic URL, TLT series copyright, disclaimer, AO3 fic summary, first chapter author's notes, copyright for in-text art, book design credit, font info Back matter: - Acknowledgments (from the fic) - "Also by CindFourth" with all their TLT fic separated into Synchronized Cardioversion Extended Universe (might make another book of this at some point); Other Camgideon, Campal, and Team 69; and Other Locked Tomb

I set the page layout to "book fold" with 16-page signatures. As for the art, one of Cind's requests in last year's TLT Holiday Exchange was for art of this fic and they got not only a fantastic one-page comic from their assigned creator, our friend @anaeolist (who also did a sketch of Cam and Gideon kissing - we'll come back to that later), but also a lovely piece as a treat from our friend @kat-hikari. I got permission from both artists to include their work in the book.

The finished file was 408 pages, so I added four blank pages (two sheets) to the beginning and the end to make 26 signatures even.

Next, I printed the pages. I used my Brother DCP-L2550DW and Hammermill 11x8.5 24/60 lb. cream bookbinding paper from Church Paper. I'd read that sometimes using short-grain paper in a regular printer could cause it to jam, but it went fine. The cream color made the pages look so professional.

I folded the pages into signatures and then pressed them overnight. Since I don't have a book press, I sandwiched them between two sheets of bookboard and put a heavy box on top, and that worked well.

The next step, punching holes and sewing, was my favorite. I'd made a punching cradle using instructions I got in my bookbinding class. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and it only used bookboard and PVA glue, so I didn't even need to buy anything I hadn't already bought for the project.

I used three pieces of tape and sewed them on using a kettle stitch.

Then I went to MCBA to use their guillotine on the text block and their board shear to cut boards for the cover.

I chose orange cardstock for the endpaper, and because I am a novice making novice mistakes I unfortunately forgot to get a size of cardstock that would let me fold it on the grain, but anyway. I trimmed it to the exact size of the pages and glued it to the text block. Next I glued the spine of the text block, rounded it a bit (not the way an expert would; you learn that in Intermediate Hand Bookbinding), added a strip of super mull and headbands at either end, and sat it under a weight to dry while I made the cover.

The Bristol board I cut for the spine was probably 1/8" too wide, which makes a bigger difference than you would think. Next time I'm going to err on the side of slightly too narrow when I'm already giving myself three board widths of a buffer on either side.

Aside from that, the cover turned out great! I could have done a better job lining up the endpaper when I glued it in, but that's the kind of thing you practice I guess.

I love the way the navy blue bookcloth looks with the cream paper, the orange endpaper, and the red and white headbands.

Now that I had the exact dimensions of the book, I could finally design the dust jacket. Remember that sketch of Cam and Gideon kissing that anaeolist did for the holiday exchange? I commissioned them to turn it into a finished piece for the cover, and boy did they ever deliver. I also asked some of our other friends who had read the fic to give me blurbs for the back cover, and they delivered too. Cind's and my relationship wouldn't have been possible without the wonderful community we met in and I wanted this gift to reflect that.

I created the jacket in GIMP at a print resolution of 300ppi and saved it as a pdf. The final step was to get it printed, which I was nervous about because it was the only part of the process that I had no control over at all. Long story short, I ended up with something I was very happy with done by a small chain print shop where I had to go in and talk to a human about what I needed.

I also posted this to AO3!

[snek-panini]

Got a bit of a different bookbinding post today. @renegadeguild got an ask from a new binder saying they were intimidated by everyone's gorgeous binds (me too, actually, some of you guys are scary good), and so they've asked people to share their first binds. And I realized I'd never even taken photos of my first one, so here it is, warts and all:

This is E.M. Forster's The Machine Stops, a public domain scifi short story that you can read for free at the link. The first reason I chose it was that it's an interesting story, and I'd bought a print-on-demand copy a few years previously that was just terrible. Baffling cover choices, basic errors in the typeset (like quotes that face the wrong way), weird size that didn't fit on my shelf; just not a good product. I couldn't do it with more indifference than the PoD people. The second reason was that I was too intimidated by the thought of asking a fic writer if I could bind their story and then producing something with a thousand sloppy beginner mistakes, and then they'd want to see photos and I'd have to show them this and it would have been mortifying, but Forster has been dead since 1970 so I could not disappoint him. It was very freeing. I bound it in 2021 as an experiment, to see if I liked this hobby enough to stick to it. The cover is green cardstock and faux leather scrapbook paper that I bought at... probably Hobby Lobby. I added the title later, as a practice project when I first got my Cricut; for the first two years of its existence it had a blank cover.

There are more photos under the cut!

In this photo we can see:

--Too much glue when attaching the leather-print paper, so it oozed out onto the cover.

--Cricut font too thin and too much heat/too long of a press, so the letters have gaps and the glue also oozed out here. It's a continuing theme with this bind.

--I tried to use a bone folder to give it a sharper hinge crease and accidentally pressed too hard and tore a hole in the paper; you can see this in the little white vertical line near the top of the hinge

The fore edge is not square. I actually don't remember why this happened. I may have eyeballed the board position when I made the case, or the paper may have slipped while the glue was wet, or I cut it crooked and didn't notice till later. Either way it's bad enough that the book doesn't stand on its own. There was a crooked man/who walked a crooked mile/and found a crooked sixpence/against a crooked stile./He bought a crooked cat/which caught a crooked mouse/and they all loved together in a little crooked house, and I bet they read this little crooked book from their little crooked library.

Top view, you can see that the case is too big and the text block doesn't sit straight in it. It has no endbands or bookmark, and it's hard to see in this photo but there's glue on the top of it, at the spine. This still happens to me but I know how to trim books now so this bit gets cut off. You can also see that the scrapbook paper has some cracks where its white core is visible. This is why I do cloth or actual faux leather on the spines now. Endpaper shows uneven trim (did I not use a ruler for this??), too much glue causing major seepage, and it doesn't sit evenly in the case. I'm not sure if this is because of the case itself being crooked, a badly-trimmed endpaper, or if the text block is also crooked. Or it may be a combination of all these factors. Unclear.

Typeset photos! Here we see:

--Title page has a page number on it. This is a pet peeve of mine and I fixed it after this book.

--There is no half title, summary, or metadata. All my later binds have these things.

--It's typeset in Times New Roman. Unlike many I don't actually hate this font but reading it reminds me of being in high school so this is the only book I used it for. Baskerville is my beloved now. The font is also much bigger than it should be. It's not huge but it's like a large print book so it feels weird for me to read it.

--Lol what are margins

--Lol what are page headers

--Actually I think I left the headers out so it wouldn't have a header on the first page of each chapter, because I knew about page breaks but not section breaks at this time.

--It's on regular-ass lightweight printer paper. There's nothing wrong with this but I switched to heavier weight paper shortly after to help with bleed-through and the light stuff feels so flimsy now.

--I didn't understand how Word's book fold worked at this time, so when I had to set the sheets per booklet and it had an option for 4, I chose that thinking it would give me 4 sheets of paper (16 numbered pages) per sig. It did not do this. It gave me 4 numbered pages per sig. So every signature is 1 sheet of paper. Every page is its own signature. I am still mad about this but it sure drove home how the setting works and also how to make kettle stitches since you make one after every sig. A book of 48 pages has 12 signatures which is just ludicrous.

--There's no photo of this but it has a piece of printer paper on the spine because I didn't have mull. I did use PVA though. Lots and lots of PVA.

--It's stitched with regular sewing thread, which means it doesn't have much swell for a book with that many sigs, but it's less sturdy and more likely to tear the paper.

And that's that! It probably sounds a bit like I was tearing it to shreds but I actually love this book quite a lot. I learned so many things that I applied to my next binds, it was an invaluable experience. It let me fall in love with the hobby so I could make the awesome things I make now. I've got those all posted on my main blog under the tag #snek makes books, or you can see them all on my side blog @papersnakepress. For a first book it's functional and readable, and still better than the PoD copy I had before. I've been thinking of doing a rebind as a sort of progress gauge, actually. Maybe next year.

[shuuuuush]

Just Hang Up! | Sharky

Summary: Sharky and you are both too stubborn to turn off the video call.

Warnings: "shit" is used, and just fluff, you both being idiots seeing who would end the call first 🤪

A/N: no special colour font title cuz I'm lazy, and also just thought of this short cute idea bc of Sharkys insta live earlier today (14th of September)

"I still cannot believe that happened to you today!" You exclaimed into the phone, mouth still agape from shock.

Sharky and you were currently on a video call, he called you after a video shoot and was on the way home, except that he had to take the train back to get there.

He told you all about what happened at the shoot and the shocking spoilers for the next videos to come out on the beta squad channel.

About how Niko and Aj became the idiotic duo, which somehow made the video like 10 times better in his opinion, it added more to the comedy side of the video. Although at times he'd beg to differ, Sharky would say he's also kinda funny. (You've backed him up on that definitely)

"Yeah, kinda ironic, huh?" Sharky chuckled, reminiscing about what happened earlier, suddenly glancing off to the side as he heard the train announcement.

You couldn't hear it too clearly but from the few words that you did hear, you could tell it was an announcement for the next train stop.

"Is that your stop, Sharks?" Grinning as you thought of him coming home so quickly, ready to leap into his arms and give him the best hug.

He shook his head, causing your smile to turn upside down. Shutting your eyes as you sank back onto the couch you were sitting on and sighed.

"How much longer??" You groaned, turning to your side as you leaned further into the couch, now able to lean your hand against it to hold your phone.

Hearing laughter on the other side of the phone, you opened your eyes to see Sharky laughing, a cheeky smile on his face.

"Aww, you missed me that much?" He chuckled, his smirk growing even bigger as he saw your face.

"Well, obviously." You mumbled quietly, turning your gaze as you didn't want him to gain any more pride than he already had.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you?" He inched closer towards the screen, placing a hand over his ear indicating he "couldn't" hear.

"I SAID WELL OBVIOUSLY." Yelling into the phone as you rolled your eyes playfully, a small smile appearing onto your face as you hear Sharky laughing on the other end, clutching his stomach.

"Shut up." You mumbled, not being able to hide the growing smile when you see Sharky's one recovering from laughter.

"Love u too, babe." He winked, your contagious smile affecting him, grinning at you with his pearly whites.

He moved closer to the phone and scrolled downwards, a sigh escaping him as he rolled his eyes.

"Shit, my phone's on 20%," grabbing his phone on the left of his side and tapping the screen to check the percentage. "My other one is almost dead, too."

You nodded, waving a goodbye to him, "Alright babe, that's fine. See you later."

You waited for him to end the call as he waved back at you, both of you staring at each other through the screen. The whole minute of silence, expecting the other to end the call, made you two laugh.

"You go first." You chuckled, smiling as you watched Sharky cross his arms, shaking his head.

"No, you go first. I don't wanna end the call and make you feel bad."

"I won't feel bad, just end the call."

"Why don't you end it?"

"Why won't you??"

"Just end the damn call Y/N."

"You literally can press the end call button. Your phone's about to die anyway, just press it."

"Oh my days, babe, I'll feel bad, I don't like ending calls first."

"Sharky, as much as I love you, it's not the end of the world if you end the call first."

"Just end it. You're holding your phone anyway, mine's on the table."

"I'm not pressing shit."

"FINE." You heard him curse under his breath before grabbing the phone and pressing the end call button.

You laughed in victory as you texted him really quickly.

You 💟

See?? That wasn't that hard, was it??

Sharky 🦈

Stfu

You 💟

Love you too babe 🫶

Sharky 🦈

🙄

.... ily too❤️

Taglist: @b4tasquad @p3drii @n1kodl @elora-k @slutforpablogavi @enhacolor @amwife @distantfromu

Mutuals Taglist: @b4tasquad @p3drii @vctrvn-ls @allygatcr @slutforpablogavi @kennysboxergf @n1kodl @amwife @valeriesfantasty @lunasmindinwriting @kenhoess @heartsbyvalentina @stxrblxss

[folkbreeze]

hiya! I did check if you had a resource page but couldn't find one (sorry if I missed it!) I was wondering what re/gshade preset your using? Also how did you make your weather/task templates for gameplay like here (post/736165530204028928/completed-task-swim-for-1-hour-in-wakabas) I wouldn't even know where to start in photoshop lol Thank you!

hello, hello!! I don't have a resource page yet so don't worry! l'm using a personal, sorry.

how i make my templates under the cuts (reminder that english is not my first language and that i have photoshop in spanish so i don't know the actual name of things in english)

we'll be creating the simple one from here:

Now, for the templates, it depends on what i want to do, but i usually try to keep them simple, so I use mainly 2 photoshop tools: as you can see here, the weather template I made has (1) a rectangle layer, (2) an image and (3) text layers.

keeping this in mind, let's create a thing (a bank notification) together so I can show you the steps I follow:

(0) Create a new file

There's no size I ALWAYS use, but i usually choose a bigger size since i can always resize it down later when I use it (if it's too small and you have to resize it to be bigger, it might end up looking pixelated). You can also open one of your screenies in the size you usually edit them, and deciding how big your template has to be.

(0.1)

I recommend creating a group (using the little folder icon) where you will drop all the layers of the template so you can move it around and all that

(1) Shapes

This is the first thing I always do for this type of templates, just create a base shape that will contain all the other stuff on top. In this case i created a rectangle with rounded corners.

you can use those circles in the corners to round them or make them pointy. If you press alt while doing it, you can round corners individually.

I added a parallel shadow so it integrates better with the whole screenie, but that's a personal preference.

(2) Now, if you want to have icons/images/etc. I recommend creating another shape (in another color, just so you can see it), and positioning it where you want your image to go.

Now you want to transform that shape to an intelligent object (right click the layer and click that option). This way, if you double click the layer image, it will open in another tab: you can add your image/icon there, click save, and when you go back to the other tab, it will be there. Much easier to edit it! An intelligent object layer will look like this:

(2) Text is literally what MAKES most of templates. When you're creating templates, i recommend looking for inspo AND getting fitting fonts for it. Let's say I want to create a netflix template: i'd do a quick google search to find what fonts does netflix use. Sometimes fonts are not free, but try looking for similar ones.

I'm using manrope for this one because it's simple and easy to read, but when i'm doing this kind of phone notifications i also use fonts that are usually called something UI.

Now you only have to move things around until you like it. Then save it as a .psd so you can edit it and use it whenever you want and that's it!

(4) This is how it looks like

you can now edit it as you want, lower the base rectangle opacity, add more shadow, change the colors...

From this simple thing, i created another version using... you guessed it: another shape, another icon and another text layer. Here you can see the final templates being used in a screenie:

Honestly, don't let the big amount of tools and options photoshop scare you! As you can see, you don't need much to create something like this

Hope this was helpful enough! Let me know if you have questions 🧡

[liu-anhuaming]

Reading Chinese Ebooks on 讀墨 ReadMoo

For the past few years, I've labored under the assumption that I can't read Chinese ebooks because I just can't focus on them. However, I recently saw someone on insta mention the app 讀墨. I was intrigued, and decided to give it a try. And wow, what a shock, I can in fact read Chinese ebooks! I just have to change it to vertical text and make the font very large.

So the past couple weeks I've been trying to read more consistently using 讀墨. The book I started with was slow going at first, which almost made me give up; it was the Chinese translation of The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera. This book really wasn't for me, and I didn't want to keep reading it. So instead of just giving up, I bought one more book and tried again: 《你的孩子不是你的孩子》 by 吳曉樂 (yes, it is the basis for the Netflix show of the same name).

I devoured the book in under a week. So yeah, I think Chinese ebooks work for me if I like the book.

Below is gonna be an overview of the app, and my thoughts on it so far. It's not comprehensive though, since there's a lot of things on this app I haven't explored yet (like the audiobooks).

***Please note that 讀墨 is a Taiwanese app, and as such it mainly offers books written in traditional characters. There are apparently books written in simplified available, but I haven't explored those since I'm fine reading traditional.***

Buying Books

Buying books is fairly simple. You make an in-app purchase of coins, which you then use to buy books. Note: As of writing this, I have recently recently received a notification from the app that their book purchasing system will be changing soon. Instead of being able to buy the books in the app, you'll have to log in to your account in a browser and buy the books there. The books will apparently then appear on the app for you to read.

As it stands, 210 coins costs $10.99, and the books I've bought have ranged in price from 210 to about 300 coins. That means the books cost ~$11-$16, just like a regular book. This could be pricey, but since I'd otherwise be paying for international shipping if I were buying a physical copy, this feels like a bargain to me. (For me, shipping books from Taiwan/China to the US typically doubles the price of the purchase rip)

Once you buy the book, it's in your library for you to start whenever you please.

As for browsing for books, I haven't gone too in-depth yet. I went in to 讀墨 with a TBR and went for books off that list exclusively. When it comes to buying books online, I almost always go on whatever site I'm buying from with a list of the books I'm thinking of buying. I get recommendations elsewhere (e.g., Goodreads or insta).

Reading Books

The 讀墨 reading interface is pretty typical for an e-reader app. What makes me like it way better than other apps I've used is that it has a lot more customization options.

For starters, you've got 6 options for page/text color. There's the typical black, white, and sepia, but there's also blue and green! I use the 奶綠 option, since I don't like having such a stark contrast between the text and the background when reading on my phone for long periods.

Then there's the options for changing the text size and spacing. You can make it bigger or smaller as you please, and put more or less space between each line of text.

You can also change the font. There's 8 different fonts you can choose from, including the default. There's even a font that puts 注音 next to each character! You can see a preview of that one in the photo below.

And then, there's the option to switch between horizontal and vertical text. The default is horizontal text, but I've come to prefer vertical when reading Chinese novels. If you go to your settings on your profile, you can make vertical text your default, which is what I ended up doing.

Like any good e-reader, there's options to highlight text. There's four different colors you can use (pink, yellow, purple, and blue). If you go the ToC, you can find all of your highlights and filter by color of highlight. Super convenient, since I've been using pink to highlight words/phrases I don't know or find interesting and yellow to highlight key sentences/paragraphs.

Aside from highlighting, when you select text you have the option to look the characters up in a dictionary or online. I've been getting a lot of errors with this recently, but I'm wondering if that's just my phone acting weird? It worked perfectly fine when I first started using the app. Anyways, the dictionary it takes you to is 夢典 MoeDict and it opens in a browser. This personally is a bit annoying bc I actually have this dictionary app installed on my phone, but this is a minor complaint. The dictionary opening in a new browser tab is a non-issue.

Reading Stats

Now, I'm a big dork and love to track my reading stats. To my great satisfaction, 讀墨 keeps track of some stats. The main one is time spent reading. You can set a daily goal (the minimum is 20 minutes), and if you reach it you get a nice checkmark on the calendar. The calendar doesn't update until the very end of each day, so if you've reached your goal for the day it won't show on the calendar until the next day.

Also, keep in mind time differences between where you live and Taiwan. I'm ~12 hours behind Taiwan, so the app doesn't start a new day until around noon for me.

Below the calendar, there's a chart that shows your total reading times for a week, month, or year. I normally can't be bothered to time my reading (especially not when I'm reading physical books) so this is cool to see. I think when it comes to reading in Chinese, being timed is more interesting because I'm able to more clearly gauge progress.

And below all that, there's a breakdown of the genres you read. I don't pay much attention to genre when choosing books, so I don't find this one quite as interesting.

(tfw you're reading a non-fiction book about a tutor so your main genre becomes 教育)

Overall Thoughts

So yeah, I've enjoyed myself so far. Aside from the reading interface, I find the app pretty easy to navigate. I spent a bit of time just clicking around and was able to figure out what's what pretty quick.

Like I said, this isn't a comprehensive review, but I'd recommend giving the app a try if you're willing/able to put down money for ebooks and are able to read traditional. It feels worth the money for me, since the interface is pretty customizable and easy to use.

If you're wondering where to find simplified ebooks, idk. This is my first real foray into Chinese ebooks, so I don't really know where to find them for simplified or traditional. I have heard that it is a little easier to pirate Chinese ebooks since their copyright laws are a little different than ours in the US?

[thefaiao]

What are your inspirations for drawing? Like other artists or things

I'll start with my biggest inspiration, which got me into art as a whole: Adam Adamowicz. I got introduced to him through Skyrim concept art, but I honestly think his Shivering Isles concepts are some of the best concept art out there. You can see how much he just takes an idea and completely sores with it. A torrential stream of beautiful sketchy goodness.

I love Oblivion's flat ass dough faces and early Xbox 360 charm, but this shit is simply crazy. Look at this, it makes you wish to dedicate your life to bringing this to life, as all good concept art should. It inspires more of itself.

I could post all the images there are out there, because I sincerely think this is the type of work that has stuck with me the most. It's something to strive for. You can see it for yourself instead. That was what got me started. After that, and through my journey on Tumblr and Twitter, I think what stuck to me the most was the art done by small artists, my "compatriots". The things you don't see. There is so much love in little things, and maybe in another universe there are entire cultures dedicated to them. I wish we had time to explore each and every one of the smallest pieces of media, especially narrative media, weird media.

I'll concede that it's a bit of an abstract thing to be inspired by, but once you realise how much work goes into the smallest of things, I believe you'll find inspiration anywhere you go. I think the reason why my Batter drawings are the way they are is my inspiration from just the design of letters and fonts in general. I think making something that blurs the line of symbol and representation over and over is fun.

One artist that has stuck with me is the late great Gunner Leatherwood. He passed away earlier this year. I watched this guy grow from a hundred followers to thousands. I saw his art improve. I think that inspiration transcends just the visual aspect of the art. It's a story, a lived experience, as all art is, but I felt I understood it much more. I think going after and following these small artists pay off because of this. Everyone can make something truly great, and some people have and no one noticed. Many amazing animated movies have been made, but never got to the people who would understand them, who'd have dedicated themselves to easing other people into it. We like to think we understand media in a completely intuitive, isolated fashion, but it's not true at all. Our shared experience contributes to classics being recognised and loved. Sometimes you need the right person at the right time to understand. Gunner was a great artist because of how intuitive and visceral his drawings were. It was like he was drawing from his entire life experience to express himself in a page. At first he had little control of it, but with time it was molded and polished so that the madness was discernable, but not gone from the drawing. His mindset for drawing was fun, and he too was always going after small artists of all kinds.

But going back to Batter drawings and abstraction, an artist that has also inspired me over the years in that aspect of bluring symbol and representation into one solid thing, and similarly started somewhat small like Gunner, is Matt Lesniewski. His hatching is out of this world, and his character design is evocative and never boring. The characters are huge balls of symbols made into physical objects. Recently he straight-up draws the belts of characters floating. It's wonderful.

Another artist that does this bluring very well, and is very inspiring, is nailgun waowao. They really, well, nail the appeal of making images that have all the defining elements of a certain scene or character, but open closer look they are fragmented and completely abstracted. It's like a bigger image overlayed with many smaller stories and symbols.

But to go back to talking about active inspirations that came before, and got to me to where I am at the moment, it's a bit harder. I can't really make it sound smart besides going "uuh I don't know like abstract stuff, cubism idk lol." Just try to appreciate the great things your friends make, and try and work together to make something even greater.

Some of the most improvement I had in art was from learning with friends. Art ultimately is a form of communication, understanding other people and yourself will make you better at it. Technical skill is fun and speaks for itself, but your experiences will reach much deeper. In a world where we can't even begin to compreehend the powers that be, loving and understanding what is close is probably gonna make your life and art much better.

[deathbyathousandroses]

We can't keep meeting like this.

ellie x fem!reader

content warnings ☆ cursing, alcohol and weed, vomit (brief and not described), smut (oral, overstimulation, fingering). Lemme know if there's any I missed.

College AU. ☆

Brief Summary ☆ To new beginnings! You were finally moving out of your home town to a bigger city. When you meet the hottest girl you've ever seen on your first day. You can't help but keep meeting in embarrassing situations. ☆

WC ☆ 6.3k

a/n ☆ Howdy Ellie fans, hope y'all enjoy this. I'm not the most magnificent write. But I had an idea so might as well. Feedback is appreciated!

The sound of your tapping foot muffled by the rattling of the car made it all more consuming to get to your destination. Whoever told you being in a small confined space with your chatty dad for five hours was a good idea. Needs to be told off. Anticipation surged through your body as you realized you would almost be there. This was instantly followed by apprehension…'What if my roommates a dick? No, what if they think I'm the dick?'

Scratch that, keep happy thoughts. And so you did - kinda. Soon enough you had arrived at the campus. Although you had done endless amounts of research on this school. No immense amount of websites or pictures could have prepared you for the overwhelming feeling of seeing the massive campus in person. Fuck, I mean do you get any financial compensation for the amount of walking you're gonna be doing?

"Hey kiddo, c'mon!" Your dad put his hand on your shoulder with a look between loss and rejoicement. Soon enough. you're struggling to balance bags and boxes onto a small rolling cart. Making your way into the lobby.

The environment immediately made you anxious. With a mix of student orientation leaders and staff member, that all didn't wear any identification. You're struggling to be assisted, until your lord and savior of a father found someone.

A tall lanky raven haired boy trotted his way over to your dad with a clipboard. As your dad mumbled his concerns to him, you squinted your eyes to read the minuscule font on the back of his clipboard. 'Resident Assistant(s)' Oh, well it looks like your old man did a good job at finding exactly what you needed.

Next thing, you were being led to your residence hall room and passed around to different people along the way to aid your confusion. Making your way through the crowd was terrifying. Though, it all worked out as you got to a door that room number matched your paper.

A relieved sigh escaped your mouth, followed by a loud groan from your father. You unlocked the dorm, taking in the foreign area. It was a decent size, you didn't hate it. Thankfully, considering this was gonna be your living situation for god knows how long.

"Hey, looks like your roommate beat us to it." Your fathers voice filled the room. "Ok, Mr. Captain Obvious." You snorted admiring the decorated half of the dorm. Posters and other items scattered the wall, and you noticed a theme of purple. Purple comforter, purple stationary, purple bags.

"I wonder if purples their favorite color, what do you think?" You quipped.

"I reckon it's yellow, no?" Earning a small chuckle out of you.

The two of you began getting to work unloading the boxes upon boxes. God, you should have never allowed him to organize these. Somehow, you were finding toiletries in your clothes box, and stationary in your technology box. Yes, it was a pain in the ass to keep guessing where everything was. But, it did give you more time with the old fucker. Admittedly, you were gonna miss him. Of course, you'd never tell him that to save your pride.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

The day was nearing an end, you'd gotten most everything heavy unpacked. The rest you were able to handle by yourself. A palpable sense of realization fell over you. You'd be having to say goodbye. By the looks of your fathers face, he was thinking the same thing.

"Why don't we have waffles for dinner, on me kiddo." He faintly smiled, ruffling up your hair. You did the smallest nod, but he understood. Then causing the sappiest scene to known to man kind to happen. He took you into a tight embrace kissing the top of your hair. You weren't listening to too much of what he was whispering. But you heard the quiet 'I'm so proud of you's.'

"Okay, okay. Enough of this dad. I'm starving!" You groaned. He reluctantly agreed. Not wanting this moment to end, and you both made your way out of the campus back to his car.

The ride to the restaurant was sat in a comfortable silence. Only the small hums of your dad listening to music. And the gusts of wind knocking on the windows. You loved these car rides, although sometimes it's a pain to hear him rant about cars and sports. Having to live with a new person you didn't know. Was ultimately gonna be worst. Especially not having these little moments everyday.

Once you both arrived, and were seated and ordered. You and your father talked about lists of things to do prior before classes. He was urging you to make some sort of itinerary to help you stayed organized. You, of course, had to reassure him multiple times that it was unneeded. You had everything you needed that your professors required. He still was worried.

The two of you carried on your conversation, just rambling about everything and anything. Until your food came. It was always a little tradition to get waffles with him after something big happened in your guys life. You always enjoyed this, and was glad he was carry on this tradition into adulthood.

The first bite was amazing, as always. Although, not as good as your the waffle place you both frequent back home. You watched your dad inhale his food. Only to realize how hungry you were, you both hadn't eaten all day. Besides the roadtrip snacks, you were starving.

It was here, the dreadful goodbye. You'd never think watching your dad pay for a check would make you tear up. But here you are trying to hide your emotions in a 24 hour diner.

"You gotta get back." He held his hand up pulling you out of the sunken in booth. You put your jacket on and followed him back to the car. He flipped in your favorite CD, and you both sang along to it. Relishing in this fleeting moment. Unfortunately, the car ride didn't feel long enough.

There you were, reluctantly pulling the car door open. While your dad raced to your side of the car.

A smile painted his lips, and he grabbed your hand. "Here, why don't you let your old man walk you to your room?" The silence gave him the answer he needed. And he put his arm around you walking into the lobby. Memories from this morning flooded back, but the lobby looked drastically different without the crowds.

The walk was nice, besides the rambling about being a good student and kid. Not getting into drugs, blah blah blah. The universal run down every parent feels like they have a duty to say.

Stopping at your dorm door. The same expression was plastered on his face from when you finished unpacking that afternoon.

"Bring it in kiddo." The embrace was tight again, you didn't want to let him go. If you did you'd have to face the reality of him leaving. It isn't like you weren't ready for this new start. You were just scared of being alone. You felt the top of your head getting smothered in kisses. If anyone walked by, you'd sure think they'd start tearing up.

He was the first to let go. You hadn't realized his face was also wet from tears. Until you finally tilted your head back up to him. This earned a chuckle from both of you.

"You know I'm gonna miss you." You mumbled, dragging on the first few letters.

"I know." His voice was only but a whisper. The next thing he did was kiss your forehead one last time "Don't do anything stupid, you understand?" Nodding your head in agreement, you went in for a last hug. This one was shorter, but still had the same impact as the rest.

You both said your goodbyes, and the sound of his footsteps grew fainter every second. When you couldn't hear him anymore, you finally began unlocking your door. Only to be greeted with a girl on the bed.

She lay there with earbuds in, a book. Her hair was braided in the back, and an earthy floral scent filled your nose. With the sudden sound of the door shutting. She took her earbuds out smiling wide.

"Oh! You're here!" She came up and hugged you. This was different you thought. You didn't say anything verbal in response, still too shocked by the big embrace she took you in prior. "Oh shit, right, my bad. I'm Dina."

"Y/N, nice decorations by the way." You responded.

The rest of the night was filled mostly by Dina talking and you listening. You didn't mind though, you thought she was interesting. Besides, it was better than having an asshole of a roommate.

"Okay, before we go to bed...What's your schedule for tomorrow?" Dina questioned.

"Oh, well I have my art class at 9am. Journalism at 11, then Calc in the afternoon."

"Journalism with Bardot?"

"Yup, that's the one." Earning a hum out of Dina.

"Okay, how about we meet up here before Journalism and we can walk to class together," Dina mentioned. You agreed. "Also! I'm going to a party tomorrow night, you're coming."

You were ready to argue but Dina didn't budge on the statement. I guess tomorrow would be filled with trying new things...

☆☆☆☆☆☆

Loud beeps awoke you. It was already morning? The clock read 7am, you had two options. Sleep in until 8:30 and have only 30 minutes to get ready and to your class. Or start getting ready now to look presentable, while also not having to rush across campus.

With a little more deciding, you once in your life picked the responsible decision...Slowly parting ways with the warmth of you bed was hell, but getting into a warm shower was great compensation.

Once you finished getting ready, it was almost time to leave. Checking you school bag, and tying your shoelaces. Thats when Dina woke up.

"Good morning Y/n." Her groggy voice rang. She sat up wrapping her body in her comforter and rubbed her eyes. "You headed to class?" She questioned.

"Yup, I actually need to leave," pulling out your phone to read 8:50, "right now-" Ur voice now laced with panic. You couldn't be late for your first class of the school year. How would your professor feel about this?

The adrenaline coursing through you, carried your legs faster than you could have ever. Checking quickly for the room number you needed you finally had. 8:58am. Took only eight minutes, nice job.

Lecture hall was abnormally quiet, even your feet taking steps felt too loud. A lot of seats were taken, so you chose a seat near the center. Wouldn't have been your first choice, but I guess that's what we get.

The class began shortly after, going over the basics of the art course. Just in detail of course expectations, professor policy etc. It was all dandy until a finger taps on your shoulder. You look back to be met with the most piercing green eyes. Your eyes wondered the mystery girls face. She had freckles scattered on her face like constellations, and short auburn hair that framed her face perfectly. Perfection is all you could describe her as.

"Can I sit here?" Her raspy voice broke your trance.

"Uh, yeah of course!" Mentally face palming yourself for saying that so energetically. She didn't speak much after that, carefully opening her notebook with doodles and following along to the professor talking. It wasn't like she was saying anything important right now, it was all just first day rundown. But you couldn't help but admire her tattooed wrist.

That short-lived admiration ended when the bell interrupted. Groaning, you gathered your things and began to head out when the freckled girl spoke.

"I'm Ellie by the way." Her voice rang through your head like a broken record. You did a slight smile to acknowledge her, but she still stood there waiting expectantly.

"Oh! Sorry, I'm Y/n." A deep red blush painted your face after speaking.

"Well, I hope to see you around. Y/n." She began walking away after. Did her voice get hotter every time she spoke? Oh how you'd pay to hear her say your name again, and again, and again.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

The first school day came to a close. Dina and you walked together to your dorm as she rambled on about her day and the upcoming party tonight. This was when you realized your first obstacle; finding the right outfit to wear to a college party.

Dina started getting ready right away, leaving you stranded and clueless on how to look presentable. Do I wear something nice? Something casual? The first you focused on was hair and makeup. It wasn't anything extravagant. But definitely something that was bolder than your everyday.

Once that was over with, you watched Dina slip on a cute sweater with a skirt. It was simple, but so cute.

"Dina?" You spoke, making her look up at you. Humming waiting for you to talk, "Can you help me pick an outfit?"

"I was waiting for this moment all day." She frantically got up wasting no time to rummage through your closet. You couldn't decipher what she was thinking. She took a long time to pick pieces of clothing, so you wondered if she thought your wardrobe was ugly.

"Ah-ha!" She triumphantly said, waving a tight white long sleeve in your face, paired with some simple dark-washed jeans. The outfit was basic and simple, but there was a reason that shirt was in the back of your closest. You never wear it.

It clung too much for comfort, and the backless detail didn't go unnoticed either. It wasn't an ugly top, it was gorgeous. You just didn't think you could pull it off.

"Go try it on dummy!" She practically pushed you into the bathroom.

When you came out, you studied Dina's expressions. Her once blank face, turned into one of aw. "You look hot, what the fuck?"

Her words made you feel so confident. If it wasn't for her you'd probably be wearing a random hoodie. This was it, this was your look. The last thing you both did before heading out was checking yourselves in the mirror, and you were out.

As you walked through the halls, Dina abruptly stopped. "Shit, I forgot something." Without any explanation she quickly ran the other way. Leaving you stranded by the vending machine room. Welp, might as well buy some water as you realized how dehydrated you were.

After receiving the water, you began chugging it with no hesitation. The water began dripping from your mouth onto your white shirt. Realizing the mishap, you cursed under your breath looking for paper towels to clean yourself up. With your luck, no paper towels, and the water was right on the tops of your chest. Exposing your lack of bra.

Mumbling more curses under your breath, you started to choke on it when you saw Ellie standing in the entrance way staring at you amused.

"You scared the shit out of me, how long were you standing there?" You questioned.

"Only the part where I watched you drown, but don't mind me. I like the view." Her eye adverting to your shirt.

"Oh my god, this is so embarrassing." You groaned putting your hands to cover yourself.

She chuckled, passing by you to get to the vending machine. Just in time for Dina to come back with whatever she needed.

Saying your rushed goodbyes to Ellie, the two of you went back on your path to the party. Mentally cheering at Dina not asking who Ellie was.

You realized shortly into your walk, that you hit the jackpot with Dina as your roommate. She was such a polar opposite from you, but a part of that made you two gravitate to each other. Within the day and a half you'd known her. It felt like you'd been friends for years. I mean, there was a dull moment with her. Something, you never had with anyone except your father.

The party wasn't a far walk. but you still regretted not bring a jacket due to the coldness. And still somewhat damp shirt, luckily the it wasn't sheer anymore.

"We have arrived m'lady." Dina used her fingers to play air trumpet. You both went hand by hand up the stairs knocking on the door. To be greeted by a towering man.

"Jesse, this is Y/n, Y/n this is Jesse." Dina introduced you both to each other. He open the door more to signal you both in, and greeted you. "I'm her boyfriend by the way." You nodded, as you watched them become affectionate. Giving you a cue to walk away.

The party started off tame, not too many people were there at first. But as the night went on, the music became louder. Lights became dimmer, and it reeked of booze and weed everywhere. Dina had introduced you to a couple of other people. With the help of alcohol in your system you were able to strike up conversations easily.

You tried your best to stick with Dina for the most part. When she wasn't present, you stuck with a couple of people she introduced you to.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

The scene somehow migrated into a random bedroom. You were now at limit of alcohol, cutting yourself off from anything else.

"Alright, form a circle guys." Jesse instructed the room. Everyone got into position, when a knock at the door made every turn. The last person you expected to enter, entered. It was fucking Ellie. She immediately had her eyes on you. Giving you a slight nod to acknowledge your presence.

"Well if it isn't Ellie fucking Williams!" A girl yelled over the music. Other people began greeting her, making it very apparent she had mutual friends her. You watched as she sat in-between two girls, you felt jealously rise in you. But you pushed it down.

"Ok simmer down everyone," Jesse interrupted everyones conversations, "Were gonna play seven minutes in heaven." He dramatically slammed down an empty beer bottle in the middle. He stood up and sat on a nearby beanbag. To show he wasn't going to participate.

As the game went on, you became more and more anxious as your turn was coming up. Seven minutes went by fast in each turn, but you couldn't help but realize how long that really was. You needed to do it, you couldn't pussy out now.

"Your turn Y/n." Dina tugged on your arm. You slowly reached for the bottle locking eyes with Ellie. As the bottle spun, you watched it intently. Picking at you fingernails from the anticipation. It felt like it was in slow-motion near the end. As it came to a stop, your eyes geared towards the torn up converse that the bottle tip pointed at.

The bottle landed on Ellie. Whatever you were feeling before was ramped up double, she was the first to stand up. Smirking the whole time. She led you to the closet, and opened it to let you walk through.

"So art class girl, how's it going?" She playfully whispered. You were about to speak when you felt an overwhelming response to barf. Your hand flew to your mouth and you ran out of the closet and the room. Straight to the bathroom, only to release the worth sickness you've felt in years. I guess mixing boxed wine and vodka wasn't your brightest idea.

The lack of material covering your back relieving the heat you were feeling. As it hit the cold wall. You sat in the bathroom for awhile recollecting yourself, you didn't know how to get back from that. How did that make Ellie feel? I mean it seemed like you were barfing at the idea of kissing her.

The rambling of your thoughts were interrupted by a knock.

"I'll be out soon, sorry!" You screamed over the blasting music.

"Uh, it's me. Ellie, can I come in?"

Fuck me, just my luck. You slowly got up from the floor and opened the door inviting her in. She stood there for a second looking at the scene in front of her. You were a mess. Makeup probably smudged and hair now wild.

"I'm taking you to your dorm, you're clearly too drunk." Her voice was demanding. It made a familiar sensation pool between your thighs at her assertiveness. "Yes m'am." You squeaked, burping from the alcohol.

She took your hand, and guided you out of the bathroom and the party. She didn't have any transportation like you, so you both walked back in silence. The cold night making you shiver under the breeze.

"Here take my jacket, you're shivering." Ellie pulled the thick clothing off of her body, and guiding it onto you. Leaving her in a thermal underneath.

"But aren't you cold?" You mentioned. Ellie shook her head 'no' and you kept walking until you reached the campus. The walk helped you sober up a little, but not enough to chase away the dizziness you felt. You couldn't decipher if it was the alcohol or Ellie's close proximity making you dizzy though.

"Ok, you're gonna have to give me directions to your dorm," She spoke closely to your ear sending shivers down your spine, "Can you do that for me, sweetheart?" The new nickname made you almost buckle at the knees.

You told her the room number, and she nodded understanding where it was. Then, she took your hand helping you up the stairs. The hand-to-hand contact made your stomach jump in circles. She fortunately kept holding your hands as she navigated the hallways searching for your room.

When you arrived, she let go of your hand. Leaving you feeling empty.

"You know, we gotta stop meeting like this." Ellie breathy chuckled. Her hands went into her pockets. You nodded not knowing what to say, but agree. Feeling her eyes on you as you struggling with the lock of your dorm.

You began to enter, before stopping to look at her. "Thanks for walking me, this means a lot you know. Considering I almost barfed on you." This made you pull your hands up to cover your face in embarrassment.

"You can make it up to me sooner or later." Ellie responded, "Before I forget, give me your arm."

You reluctantly did, as you watched her pull a sharpie from her pocket. She began writing something you couldn't make out. When she finished you looked to see her number.

"Just so you can thank me again when you're sober." She remarked. This was the last thing she said before you both said your goodnights to each other. Parting ways for the night.

Getting inside, you checked your reflection in the bathroom of your dorm. Realizing how fucking red your cheeks were. After much review of the night, you cleaned yourself up and went to bed. For your first college party, it wasn't too bad. Despite one mishap.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

Like expect, you woke up with a raging headache. Never again you scolded yourself, before taking some aspirin. Dina was still fast asleep under a pile of blankets. Luckily, your earliest class was at 12 today, meaning you had an ample amount of time to pull yourself together.

Still, your thoughts lingered on last night. Of what could have happened in that closet. You didn't necessarily want your first kiss with Ellie to be in a closet. But apart of you didn't thin you'd get a chance else where. Of course, you blew it.

You began turning on a hot shower when you noticed the small black marker written on your arm. Remembering Ellie wrote it outside your dorm before she left. Before getting into the shower you quickly saved the number to your contact.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

The day went on as normal, just the same lectures about course expectations you got on the second. You couldn't help but think back to Ellie, and how you practically had her at ur fingertips in your phone. No prevail, maybe it was too soon to text her? Or maybe you waited too long?

After getting out of your last class, you made it back to your dorm and bit the bullet. Sending a short, 'Heyy, it's Y/n from art. Just wanted to thank you again. :)'

It wasn't anything special. but it did take you ten minutes to come up with. Your mind was running at all the possible replies she could give. And you became more anxious by the minute at the lack of them. Until you heard a ding.

'Hey Y/n, no worries. Although, I do think you owe me a lunch.'

You had to have read that tezt a million times by now. Lunch was practically the only word you could think of. Now for the hard part replying back. Don't sound too desperate Y/n, you got this.

'That I do.' That was the best you could come up with. But was it too short?

'Perfect, meet me at the campus cafe in ten. It's a date.'

Fuck fuck fuck. Did she really just fucking say that? After all, you thought you blew it after last night. You only changed out of your sweatpants into jeans. And fixed your hair before heading out. The walk to the cafe wasn't far, but you didn't wanna risk being late.

When you arrived at the cafe, your eyes scanned the busy area looking for the familiar face. You sat at an empty table of two. She was probably running late, it was only five minutes after the fact.

While you kept overthinking, the girl in question stalked over sitting down in the chair in front of you.

"Sorry I'm late." Her voice was quieter than usual. Was she just a nervous as you? You quickly dismissed it, reassuring it wasn't a big deal. The two of your got situated.

"So, I wanna know more about you." Ellie's voice was so low you almost has to lean forward to hear her. You watched her eyes study her fingers as they fidgeted. Only for them to come back to meet yours waiting for an answer.

"Well, what do you wanna know?" You replied, still studying her face. You couldn't exactly read her. Which was killing you. Before she could reply, a server came over asking what you both would like.

This prompted you both to skimp through the menu. After a minute, you order just a coffee. While you listened too Ellie ordering a tea with a pastry.

After the server left, you continued your conversation where it left off.

"So, what do you like? Is maybe what I should start off with." She laughed, it was such a contagious one. That you mimicked it unintentionally.

"Well, I don't know I like art I guess. My dad was always a huge painter, so I guess thats where the love came from. I also like space, specifically astronomy. You know, like constellations and what not." You promptly cut yourself off when you realized you were rambling.

"I love space too, I've loved it from a young age." She was smiling so much, you couldn't help but replicate it. The conversation was starting to get more comfortable after that new found shared interest.

It seemed like you two talked about everything, from what you were like back home. How you applied to this university. Ellie was not what you thought she be. Not that you had any bad impression of her. You just didn't expect her to be a huge nerd. But you were too.

"Yea, well my dad loves embarrassing me. " Ellie spoke through laughs. You were somewhat surprised that she was also raised primarily by her dad. You don't thin you've met anyone with that experience. It made you feel all more safe talking to Ellie.

"Uh, fuck. It's late. How long have we been here?" She questioned now acknowledging the lack of people in the cafe, from when you both were first here. You were about the speak when she spoke again, "Maybe you'd like to come back to my dorm?"

The question made your eyes widen in disbelief. The silence wasn't intentional, but you obviously weren't gonna turn down this offer.

"Or not, shit sorry did I make this awkward?" Ellie nervously watched you.

"What? No-YES! I mean sure- I would love to come." Your stuttering made you wanna crawl into a hole.

You both got up gathering your things and stretching from the lack of movement you both done in the past couple hours. You couldn't believe it had been that long, it felt like was only thirty minutes.

The walk to her dorm was different than last nights. Instead of silence, it wad filled with you and Ellie laughing and chatting the whole time. As you walked up flights of stairs, you couldn't help but gradually move closer to her. Now having your hands briefly rub past each other whilst you walk. You took this opportunity to be bold and tangle your hands together.

She looked at you for a brief second stopping mid sentence. You both held hands the rest of the way. You couldn't help but wanna scream.

"This is it." She stopped at a door that looked identical to yours. "I have a single, so no roommates." She reassured you.

Upon opening, a faint smell of weed hit your face. You studied her room noticing space posters and other things on her walls that she previously told you she liked. Your eyes went to the bong on her windowsill. You think she noticed, because she immediately went to put it away.

"Sorry about that, I don't wanna make you uncomfortable or anything."

"No don't worry, I don't mind." You reassured her.

She sighed in relief, "Wanna try?"

"Why not." You responded. She grabbed the bong, previous water already occupying it. "Come, sit." She patted the spot next to her on her bed. As you did, she began packing the bowl. You intently watched her fingers as they worked away. Fuck- they were so long.

"Ok, you know how to do this?" Ellie questioned. You told her you've never used a bong to smoke weed. She nodded.

"Ok." She then took your hands placing the bong in them. "Put your mouth over the here. And start to inhale, okay? But don't do it til I finish lighting" She instructed. You did as she told you, and she brought the light up to the bowl and lit it. When she finished you inhaled watching the smoke rise up into your mouth. You brought the bong away and inhaled as much as you could before you started coughing.

Ellie patted your back to subside the coughing fit. When you collected yourself, you watched as Ellie expertly did everything with ease. She inhaled with no problems, passing it back to you. You both went back and forth until you were comfortably high.

The two of you lay there talking about stupid things, the high amplifying the amount of laughs you both let out.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

It seemed by now the two of you ran out of things to talk about. Now just enjoying each others company in silence. It was getting late and you knew this, but you didn't wanna leave. Still, feeling you overstayed you shift upwards looking at Ellie. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion by the sudden movement.

"I think it's time I head out, Dina might be worried." You finally spoke. She nodded biting her lip like she wanted to say something but couldn't. As you finally planted your feet on the ground she put her hand on your shoulder.

"Before you leave, can I ask you something?" Her voice now quieter than before.

"Go for it." You pressed on not knowing what she'd say.

"Did you want to kiss me last night in the closet?" She didn't make eye contact with you the whole time. Your heartbeat began fluttering faster than ever. Of course you wanted to kiss her. You've wanted to jump her bones since art class.

"Ellie..." You began. But she interrupted, "No don't answer that. I'm sorry shit-"

"I wanted to kiss you before that Ellie." It was not your turn to interrupt. You waited for an answer, but watched as her jaw unclenched and turned into a smile. She then finally looked at you for the first time since the question.

You watched as she leaned closer to you, "What's stopping you now?" Her voice now more raspy than ever. Your eyes fluttered shut as you leaned forward pressing your lips to Ellie's. They were so warm and soft, it felt like a dream really.

She deepened the kiss by grabbing your face, using her left hand to tug at your hair causing a moan to slip out of your mouth. She used this opportunity to slip her tongue in. Making you react once again. This went on for awhile, her teasing you to see what reaction she can get out of you.

When you both pulled away, you stared at her lustful eyes and now redden lips.

"Fuck you're so beautiful Y/N." Ellie put her hands on your hips guiding you to straddle her lap. She kissed you once again, bringing her knee in contact of you heat. You moaned louder, this time causing a chuckle to come out of Ellie.

"Ellie stop teasing!" You whined. She kissed down your neck earning another small whimper out of you. "Someones needy..." She finally answered. Her fingers worked at the bottom of your shirt, looking at you to take off your shirt. You nodded frantically helping her life it over your arms and neck.

She stopped her movements to admire your shirtless figure. Reaching out the touch your breast, her cold thumbs ran over your nipples. Making you shudder against her, and involuntarily grind your hips on her thigh. That didn't go unnoticed by her, "Keep fucking yourself on my thigh baby." Her voice was addictive now, laced with nothing but lust.

You obliged, becoming a moaning mess from the stimulation. Ellie leaned down putting you breast into her mouth swirling her tongue over your nipple. A yelped escaped, as she nipped at your skin before pulling away.

She got up off the bed, leaving you in a huff. She mocked your neediness, and quickly pulled her hoodie off leaving her in a white tank top. The buckle of her belt took you out of your trance as she was in nothing but her underwear and tank top. She was now urging you to take your pants off.

Climbing on top of you and pulling you into another heated kiss. "I can't believe I get to do this." She whispered. Her hands traveled further down your body stopping at your clothed heat. She used her finger tips to rub up and down your underwear. Laughing at the wet spot that leaked through. "Who got you this wet?" She looked at you for an answer, "Hm? Answer me." Her voice got louder, pinching your thigh.

"You Els, s'only you." You practically moaned it. She hummed in contentment, snapping your underwear waistband against your skin. You lift your hips to easily slide them off, her fingers traced down your slit causing you to buck your hips up.

"Lemme take care of you." She kissed your neck and trailed kisses down your body stopped at you lower abdomen, looking up at you for reassurance. "You want this?" Her voice now filled with real concern. You nodded frantically. "I need a verbal respond sweetheart."

"I want this-I want you. Please Ellie fuck me!" You whined, getting impatient at the lack of friction down there. Ellie obliged licking a long strip on your wetness. Making a moan erupt from you. She continued to do this, latching her lips around your clit; sucking.

The feeling was unlike anything else. And you didn't know if you could go back to using a vibrator after her. She was practically a god right now. Her name fell from your lips like a chant. You couldn't stop, it felt too good.

As she kept kitten licking your clit, she slowly inserted one finger watching your face contort. As she fucked you with one, she inserted another. They curled up hitting your g-spot. The double stimulation was getting all too overwhelming. She could feel you were close.

She sped up her fingers, and harshly sucked your clit more getting more moans out of you. When you breath started to catching, and you legs starts clenching around her head. She knew what was to come. "Fucking cum Y/n." Her demands rang through your head as you moans. Tears spilled out of your eyes from the amount of pleasure you felt.

She did one last suck, and you were done for. Your legs started shaking as the coil in your stomach snapped. You came screaming her name like it was a mission. She continued to fuck you through your orgasm, but didn't stop when you finished.

"E-els! I can't take it anymore, please-" You croaked out, trying to push her head from your heat. She still didn't listen and kept sucking on your clit.

"C'mon one more princess, you can do it." She mumbled into you. Your moans became louder again, feeling another orgasm rise. The intensity building up due to your sensitivity.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!" You moaned cumming again, this time squirming your legs and crying out from the overstimulation. She finally parted from between your legs. Chin covered in your juices.

"You taste so good, couldn't let you go." She explained herself, coming up to kiss you again. You tasted yourself on her lips, and she deepened the kiss again playing with strands of your hair.

"Ellie, what about you?" You questioned. She softened her gaze looking at you. "Another time, don't worry about me." Her voice now softer than when she was eating you like her last dinner.

You both laid there for awhile taking in each others presence. As you dozed off you couldn't help but feel so happy. You didn't know you were capable of even becoming friends with Ellie. Let alone do this.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

A/n: ANYWAYYY, I got a little carried away. I hope you guys enjoyed that! Feel free to leave requests for me to write. And leave feedback x

[fedoraspooky]

I haven’t been here long. What irritating changes have been made?

Credit where it's due, some changes have been good, like polls and stuff! But the big recent changes thus far that I would classify as irritating are:

- The UI change. This one may be less irritating for newcomers because it's basically the same layout as twitter and instagram, but for a lot of folks who've been here a long time, it feels cramped and like a loss of identity for the site. For many, the appeal of tumblr is that it ISN'T an algorithm hell like twitter or insta. Also, there's the annoyance of having to relearn where everything is, because it all got moved around.

- The users being lab rats for various tests the devs wanna pull out of nowhere without consenting to beta testing new site features- like the one that took away user icons on the dash for like half the site. They finally put them back after getting enough feedback that said NO, but users were so used to their feedback being disregarded that they were half expecting the change to be pushed through anyway.

- The Netflix tie-in advertising being pushed even to people who had PAID tumblr for a no-ads experience. Complete with them somehow thinking it would be a good idea to put an unescapable-by-scrolling spooky clown on peoples' dashboards that u had to use ublock to get rid of. While I'm not scared of clowns and often find them quite charming, it sucks that staff didn't take coulrophobia being a common fear into account.

- A wave of fully sfw trans posts being wrongfully marked Mature and staff doing little to nothing about it. Not sure if this is still ongoing, but it destroyed a lot of trust and good will. (LGBT+ users have been having to fight a constant war against censorship ever since the adult content ban on tumblr, so yeah... Nevar 4get the list of banned search words that would bring back no results, like 'girl')

- The site gradually moving away from customization. Tumblr is a BLOGGING site. But it seems to have lost sight of that fact, because most new users don't even know you can fully customize your blogs with css and stuff (an option that is now off by default for new accounts!), because of the in-dash viewer giving you only how blogs look on mobile, which is a lot more uniform. There, it's more like every other site- you get a banner and icon. Oh, but you can change colors and fonts from a drop-down list too, that's cool I guess. Though they recently took away custom color schemes on Message windows, just another little bit of personalization taken away.

- TUMBLR. LIVE. Basically tumblr teamed up with a skeevy dating app partner to allow for livestreams- but not the cool kinda livestreams like on twitch where you can draw or play games, no- to a site full of people who value anonymity, they decided to push phone cam only livestreams. Not only that but by agreeing to the terms, you're giving out tons of personal data including your location to said skeevy dating app partner and all of THEIR third-party ad partners. Needless to say, most people didn't wanna use it, so instead of users it's flooded by p*rn bots (which is ANOTHER issue we've been dealing with for a long time and have been getting an even bigger influx of FROM tumblr live) and scammers. And thus, since tumblr likes to put a carousel of current streams on people's dashes, you often get softcore p*rn thumbnails from the bot streams with no way to avoid it except for toggling off tumblr live entirely.

- Oh wait. That's right. You CAN'T toggle it off. Because you can only snooze it for a while until BAM, you're jumpscared by a carousel of ladies licking your screen again! But hey, at least they made the snooze 30 days instead of the 7 it used to be, right? Yeah, except for the fact that you can't get rid of the tumblr live button itself on the app anymore, and now it's front and center with a NEW notification tag on it, overlapping your dash and cramming useful stuff like the search button out of the way.

NOW- A lot of this stuff CAN be at least mostly fixed on desktop by installing ublock and xkit and tampermonkey + dashboard unfucker... But that's a lot of stuff just to make the site usable, you know?

[rae-pottah]

Don't Trust a Malfoy (pt. 1)

Fandom: Take a guess (Harry Potter)

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Malfoy!Reader

Y/n = your name

Warnings: they/them pronouns, trauma, bad parenting, (your probably used to both if you're reading this) ( that was a joke don't take offense), events are taken out of order from the story, shitty writing. Some People Live (Lemme know if I missed anything)

Noises are in a bigger font

---------------------------------------

*Y/n's POV*

I never understood why I was treated so differently, nor why only the house elves took care of me, and why my 'family' treated me like I owed them. Only my mother and my brother showed any sort of love or kindness towards me, behind my father's back of course. My mother did love me but she only ever showed it by quick looks of "I'm sorry", my brother a like, just before punishments came, mostly for whats happening currently.

WOOSH, you can hear the wind blowing as the three of us blow by on our brooms escaping Filch and his demon cat. We had set dung bombs to explode as soon as he opened his door, then glitter cannons going off after he's covered

"And that'll be a detention for the three of us after he's cleaned" I say as I look to my best friends in the entire world, without them, I wouldn't be able to get through life at home.

"He can't give us detention if he can't catch us" Fred starts, shrugging, throwing his hands to the sides of his head

"Besides, it'd be McGonagall who would be given us our punishments" George continues pointing a finger at me to set his point

"Yeah-yeah, you boys are going to get me in trouble again" I say with a grin as we all sit down in the gryffindor common room, hoping for a laugh... I don't get one. With solemn faces Fred speaks up

"I hope it wasn't too bad this summer" he asks, I pick at my fingers and look at the ground

"It wasn't that bad, little bit here and there nothin' awful, anyway how was your summer" I say quickly trying to change the subject. Fred gives me a strict look as if to say 'don't lie to me' but George carries on.

"Oh rather fun actually, our brother Charlie came home for a week or so durin' summer so he- " he rambled on with Fred when our little heroic trio (a name I used for them often) walked in

"Harry! Hermione! Ronni!" A year younger than us but they were all like my little siblings

"Y/n!" They all yelled as they piled on top of me

"How is my little heroic trio, how was your summer"

"Fine, I heard you three started the year off with a bang" Harry said sending all five of them into laugher

"Well what more could you expect from us?" I ask

"Mm" Ron pretends to think "how about Snape next?" Making George and Fred stand up

"Oh we tried"

"But oh no that's not allowed, tell them to say the word and we could-"

"Nope! No real teachers!" I end it there

--

*Fred's POV*

Everything seemed fine but the way they deforested my question earlier made me uneasy. I hope one day they can get out, on good terms.

--------------------------------

*Y/n's POV*

There had been an incident, you-know-who got hurt Mr. Weasley, all the Weasley kids including Hermione and Harry were called to Dumbledore's office, well, I was dragged by Fred and George.

"Wh- Fred, what's happening?" I ask confusedly

"Dad's been hurt" I stayed quiet and ran with him wherever he went, they needed me, if they didn't I wouldn't be out of bed, so I ran

--

All of them were to be sent back to twelve Grimmauld place, I looked at all of them and said

"Be safe"

"And why would you be saying your goodbyes (ms./mr./mx.) Malfoy? You're going with them." Dumbledore said lowly, with wide eyes I start

"But my-"

"No need to worry about that, I've taken care of that"

"Do they-" I start again only to be cut off again

"I've informed them yes"

And so we were off to Grimmauld place

-------

Part 2

[onboardsorasora]

🎾Tennis AU pt 33🎾

No, your eyes do not deceive you, you don't need to adjust your glasses. Wanted a bit of fluff from these boys specifically

Part 1 - Max Meets Dan | Part 31 - Thanksgiving | Part 32 - FIA Prizegiving

He was late, Max and Rupert had gone on ahead of him while he'd had an interview scheduled at the hotel. The SUV pulled up to the edge of the Melbourne Walk and Daniel's eyes widened at the size of the crowd.

“You reckon we can just power walk it through?” Blake asked and Daniel gave him a dubious look in return. 

“We can try. It probably won't be so bad though.” 

The door opened and Daniel stepped out, smiling his thanks to the volunteer. He only had a second before he registered that the crowd was going wild. It wasn't until he closed the door and saw people stretching their arms out with caps and signs and markers towards him that he realized that the crowd was going wild for him.

Daniel! Omg Daniel! We love you Daniel! Aussie Aussie Aussie! Ki Ki ki!! aaahhhh Daniel! Danny Ric!!

Two burly security people flanked him from seemingly nowhere and Daniel felt his eyes widen further before he shook himself out of it and stepped onto the Walk. 

It was chaos of a good kind. He couldn't remember signing so many things at any one time at an open. He still couldn't believe this was his life. This must have been what Max felt like when he'd come to the Australian open. No one had expected all the screaming fans with red bull racing kits stretching for a picture or his touch.

At the end of the path was an interviewer and Daniel grinned when the presenter threw an arm around his shoulder to start asking him questions. I honestly couldn't hear himself think over the roar of the crowd and truly was happy when they made it further into the more quiet parts of the paddock.

“Mate that was mental.” Daniel gushed to an equally floored Blake.

“We might have to get you a disguise to get you outta here later.”

They made it to the energy station, waving to DC and Adrian as they sequestered themselves in the quieter space.

“Oh Daniel, there you are! C'mon, I need you to change quick.” Vicky came out of nowhere, pushing Daniel in the direction of the driver rooms.

“Hey Vicks, erm what are we doing?”

“You're doing a hot lap with Max and Ford. I need you to change into the race suit in Max's room and then we need to go.”

Daniel looked back at Blake who seemed to be looking at his phone, Daniel wondering if he was checking the out of nowhere overfilled calendar again.

He changed as quickly as he could, fighting to get the navy nomex up his thighs without Max's help. The race suit was navy and basic. Branding him Red Bull and Ford Performance. He walked out and was immediately escorted onto a golf cart.

“Daniel!” Max greeted him with a kiss and Daniel calmed down a little. His anxiety had been spiking with all of the new unknowns happening at the same time.

“Hey baby. Do you know what's going on here?” Daniel looked dubiously at the helmet he was given and Max grinned at him. Luckily Vicky explained in short order.

“So I'm supposed to ask him questions while he tries to make me puke on a lap? And you want to film this?” He asked even more dubiously, Max's snort made him smile.

“You won't puke Daniel. It's just like a rollercoaster, I think.” Max pointed out, Daniel didn't have the heart to tell him that the last rollercoaster he'd been on he actually had puked a little. He'd keep that tidbit to himself.

They strapped him up in the car and Daniel looked at the cardstock paper they gave him. There were a few questions and the paper was thick in case he started clenching it maybe.

“You'd think they'd use a bigger font or something.” Daniel muttered which caused Max to look over at him and laugh.

“You'll be fine. Just make shit up if you can't read em.” Max shrugged and patted Daniel's thigh. “You look lovely by the way.”

Daniel grinned at him and blew a kiss.

“So what should I do?” 

“Uhm, just brace, maybe. Keep your head planted on the headrest as best you can and look forward don't try to look through the windows, you'll get sick.” 

Daniel felt his shoulders lose some of their tension at Max's words and cadence. He could do this. It wouldn't be so bad.

He was wrong. It was bad. Damn this thing was fast as fuck. A hysterical laugh tore itself from his throat.

“The questions!” Max prompted with his own laugh. 

“Oh shit!” Daniel giggled and patted his lap to find the paper. “God these words are vibrating all together– uhm when– uh fuck it I can't see shit. What's your favorite Ford vehicle?” Daniel couldn't read those questions if he tried. He was in a Ford with Ford emblazoned on his chest. When in doubt, think about marketing

Max laughed a happy sound. “That raptor we drove in LA was pretty great. Remember when we took it up the mountain. I didn't think we would have made it to that ridge when you went off road but I was surprised.”

Daniel cackled when he remembered how Max yelled at him the entire time they were pretty much diagonally climbing the hill. “Oh it was so sick, the four wheel drive on that thing mate. Holy crap this thing is fast! We might have to get one of these too.”

They laughed all the way to the end of the lap while Max started drifting through the last turns. 

“Oh jeepers that was mental.” Daniel crawled out of the van, comically pretending to kiss the asphalt while Max rolled his eyes and took off his helmet.

“It wasn't that bad, I think.” 

“This is why I drive when we're going anywhere!” Daniel laughed at Max's grin.

“No, this is why Blake drives.” Max needled then ran off with a laugh when Daniel lunged after him.