#yikes imagine taking this long to gif

[zepskies]

Hey could I please request headcanons for how Dean would react to reader texting him "she's busy" as a joke, yk kind of like

Dean: Hey baby

Reader: She's busy

I really hope this makes sense and isn't so confusing 😭😭

Ooh I think I know what you mean. 😏

Pairing: Dean Winchester x F. Reader Word Count: 850

Imagine: Texting Dean when he's on a hunt.

Once again, Dean sighed while he waited on his brother.

They were stopped at a 7-Eleven gas station after a hunt, but Dean had long ago filled up Baby's tank. Sam was inside, grabbing a few snacks for the road tomorrow. Supposedly.

Dean fished out his phone from his pocket and texted him.

Hey, Driving Miss Daisy. You good in there?

A couple of minutes later, Sam responded.

Yeah, just getting a few things.

Dean rolled his eyes. Right.

For half an hour? What, you taking a shit or something?

Sam's response was testy, just as Dean predicted.

Dean, give me a minute. Jesus.

Dean sighed, with a roll of his eyes. He scrolled back into his texts and found your name. He was a couple of states over from Lawrence, but still within the same timezone. You should still be awake back at the bunker.

He decided he wanted to hear your voice, let you know that he and Sam were going to catch one more night of rest here at the motel before they made the long drive back home.

But...you didn't answer when he called.

Weird. You were typically a night owl, either watching something or plugging away at your laptop. He tried texting you instead.

Hey, baby. You up?

He eventually saw the three gray dots pop up. You were typing...

She's busy.

Dean frowned. What the hell?

Had you invited someone over? Like Jody or Donna?

But neither of them would've replied like that...so he texted back.

Stop messing around.

Dean tried calling you again, but it went directly to voicemail this time. In came another text from "you."

She'll call you back, dude.

Dean's jaw ticked with annoyance. And despite himself, unease began to creep in and churn his stomach.

What the fuck is this?

She's in the shower. I'll tell her to call you back, no worries.

All right. WHO is this?

Ooh, are you the boyfriend? Yikes lol.

A deep, slow breath made it through Dean's nose. He closed his eyes, counted to ten, reminded himself that he did, in fact, love you.

Then he responded.

Babe, if you don't call me in the next 30 seconds, there's gonna be hell to pay when I get home.

Dean checked his watch and actually counted. About ten seconds passed before his phone rang with an incoming call...from you. He answered.

"Promise?" came your teasing voice. When it ended on a giggle, Dean rolled his eyes and rested his head back on the seat. He blew out a frustrated breath.

"Oh, trust and believe. You're gonna fuckin' get it this time," he said, though his lips curved on a reluctant smirk. You full on laughed at him then.

"You make it too easy," you replied.

He knew this. It wasn't the first time you'd teased him, and he knew it wouldn't be the last.

Still, he couldn't help being a bit irritated this time.

"You know, how would you like it if I did that to you?" he asked. "Wouldn't be so fucking funny then, would it?"

"...Okay. You're right. I'm sorry, baby," came your more contrite voice. But he could still hear your smile. Could imagine the way you might soothe a hand along his arm, if you were here.

"How about I make it up to you?" you offered.

That worked a slow smirk onto his face. "Yeah? What did you have in mind?"

For the next few minutes, you purred into his ear about all the things you'd been thinking of while he was gone. Daydreaming about the talents of his hands, lips, and tongue.

In particular, you reminded him about a certain birthday wish that he still hadn't claimed from a couple weeks ago, when he and Sam got wind of this hunt.

Two weeks really was too damn long, in your opinion. (He agreed with you.)

Now with a half-straining bulge in his jeans, Dean licked his lips and tightened his hand on the leather wheel of the car.

"All right. Sounds like a plan to me, sweetheart," he said, deceptively breezy. As if you'd just told him you planned to make tacos for dinner.

"When are you getting home?" you asked.

He heard the tone of your voice, like black silk. It sent a tendril of heat down his spine, raising the hairs on his forearms.

"Tonight," Dean said. Deeper, a note of gravel in his words. "I'll see you tonight."

"Good." Once again, he heard the smile in your voice. "I love you."

He sighed, and raised a hand to card through his hair.

"Love you too...even though you play too fucking much," he muttered the latter bit.

Your laughter once again reached his ears, reluctantly making him smile.

He hung up with you just before Sam finally opened the passenger seat door and climbed in with two hefty grocery bags. Did he do a whole damn shopping spree in there?

...Whatever. Dean shook his head and started the car.

"Change of plan," he said. "We're heading home."

"What? Thought we were gonna catch a few hours of sleep. It's a long drive, Dean," Sam said, earning his brother's gaze.

"Yeah, well, you'll live," Dean snarked. A more devious grin spread across his face. "I've got a date."

And she's about to get punished.

The Impala's tires screeched as Dean pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

AN: Ha! This one was fun. 😘 Thanks for the prompt!

Dean Winchester Imagines

Dean Winchester Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Dean W. Tag List:

@hobby27 @kazsrm67 @letheatheodore @agothwithheavysetmakeup @jacklesbrainworms @foxyjwls007 @wincastifer @iamsapphine @simpforbuckyb @vanillawhiskeyflavoredkisses @roseblue373 @this-is-me19 @emily-winchester @spnexploration @deans-spinster-witch @deans-baby-momma @iprobablyshipit91

@melancholictearz @nic-kolas @sleepyqueerenergy @wayward-lost-and-never-found @thewritersaddictions @just-levyy @samanddeaninatrenchcoat @deanwanddamons @antisocialcorrupt @lacilou @adoringanakin @theonlymaninthesky @teehxk @midnightmadwoman @brianochka @branj19

@agalliasi @venicesem @chriszgirl92 @lyarr24 @ladysparkles78 @solariklees @xsophianicolex @deansbbyx @candy-coated-misery0731 @curlycarley @sarahgracej @bagpussjocken @ultrahviolentart @chernayawidow @beskarfilms @mimaria420

[demonpiratehuntress]

Good to know you're doing great, and that's fine (and Yes Inumake Toge 😍😍 🥺🥺) How about Zoro x reader (reader is the daughter of Gold Roger but uses a different last name she's two years older than Ace and her identity is a secret, she does tell Zoro in private after they get together) them having triplets together all look like Zoro (all have his sense of direction lol) just the shenanigans of reader having three lost Marimos 😂 she's very amused by it (it makes sense considering her sense of direction is non existent too 😂 the crew has five direction challenged members yikes) also she's a fighter (has Uzui Tengen's swords lol... I'm only adding this part cause I don't really like reader not being a fighter sorry if that's inconvenient you can remove it, I'm not asking for battle scenes just a note to point out) she's his height (the struggles of my tall ass constantly having to imagine how tall a character is for them to be taller than my 6'4 ass 😂) and kinda hot headed

i love the idea of Zoro's and reader's children being directionally challenged just like him lol. i can do this idea, because i am also directionally challenged :) i just don't know who Uzui Tengen is, but I did google him to make sure! i hope you enjoy this :) so sorry it took so long!

taglist - @kabloswrld

it runs in the family

Roronoa Zoro x F!Reader

summary - the ask ^-^

warnings - not proof read

It was hard enough having one lost soul to take care of. Watching Zoro was like watching a child, needing constant focus and attention to keep him from wandering off. Everyone takes turns watching him, but it ultimately ends up being your job most of the time because it's so exhausting.

"I'm going to that weapons store over there, be right back."

Your head snapped up when you heard him say that, eyes going wide as you immediately lunged forward to grab his wrist.

"It's right over there!" He protested, "I won't get lost."

You snorted and raised an eyebrow, "Babe I've seen you walk across the street and get lost. I don't believe you for a second. Sit down."

He grumbled and complained, but listened and took his seat next to you again. The two of you were waiting for the others to come back from their respective tasks, having finished your own (no thanks to Zoro, you had done it yourself). You swore you looked down for two seconds and when you turned to say something to him, he was not there. You shot up instantly, looking around for a mop of green hair.

"That idiot-"

You found him soon enough, and he was making his way to the weapons store just like he wanted. You were quick to scramble after him, knowing if you lost him now it would take you a whole day to find him. Maybe two.

"Zoro!"

The man grunted as you grabbed his ear, shooting you a pained glare as you twisted it and pulled him in the other direction.

"Dammit woman, at least let my ear go!"

"You need a leash!"

"..."

And that's pretty much how it goes every time you have to babysit your husband. It only got worse when you found out you were pregnant, and produced three exact copies of the swordsman. Three little menaces with his hair, his features, his personality, and your eyes. That's about the only thing they got from you.

To absolutely no one's surprise, they turned out to have a horrible sense of direction just like their father.

To be honest, you were a little relieved they hadn't inherited anything from you. As the daughter of the famed Gol D Roger, you were just as much at risk of being captured and locked up forever - or executed - just because of your parentage, like your younger brother. Only Zoro knew who your father was, as you kept the secret as possible. Even then, you only told him because you wanted no secrets between the two of you, which you'd promised each other on your wedding day. It seemed so long ago, with everything you'd been through, but you were more than grateful for the swordsman.

Not just for keeping your secret (you were pretty sure he forgot the day after you told him) but for protecting you to a point. He knew you could take care of yourself, he'd seen how skilled you were with your blades. He wasn't overbearing, because you were already a strong fighter, but he protected you in other ways, like keeping you from getting into dangerous situations that risked exposing who you were - like that one time in Water 7 when Garp absent-mindedly noted that you reminded him of Gol D Roger, Zoro quickly changed the conversation. He was dumb, but he was more perceptive than he led people to believe.

All these memories, of meeting him and dating him and eventually marrying him, flooded your mind as you gazed down at your sons. A soft smile on your face, you admired just how much they looked like their father, something you had hoped for but the others teased you for.

But you found out soon enough that although having three little kids running around was hard enough, it was made worse when you and the crew found out about their lack of directional sense.

"Zoro!"

You smacked the back of your husband's head hard, immediately waking him from his nap. He glared up at you for a moment before seeing the furious look on your face and immediately became nervous.

"Where are the boys?!"

"They were right over-" He pointed to the nearby swing, "-there."

"Uh huh, and where are they now?" You crossed your arms.

He scratched the back of his head, getting to his feet, "Uh..."

You smacked him again, "Dumbass. You're just lucky this island isn't as big as all the other ones we've been to!"

But as it turned out, searching for your lost children wasn't hard. They were only a block away from the small park Zoro had taken them to, huddled together on the side and looking around in confusion. In true Roronoa Zoro fashion.

One of them spotted you and yelled happily, dragging his siblings towards you and your sheepish husband. You smiled and scooped two of them up, leaving the third to be lifted into Zoro's arms.

"You guys know you're not supposed to go anywhere without me or your father," you scolded, holding back a smile at how cute they looked glancing at each other before looking down.

"Sorry, mommy. It won't happen again."

And they sound so cute, so sad, you just have to smother their little faces with kisses until they're laughing and pushing your face away.

"Ew, mom!"

But of course, it does happen again. Because they're Roronoa Zoro's children, they always manage to get themselves lost. The next time it happened, you were visiting Vivi in Alabasta. As you and the others were caught up in greeting the princess, your overeager kids found some other kids to play with and went off with them without telling you or Zoro.

Your husband, bless him, tried to go after them but got himself lost in the process. How you know? Sanji found your kids and brought them back, but said he hasn't even SEEN the swordsman.

"Babe you are the LAST person who should go looking for lost people!" You sighed when you found him, shaking your head. "It always ends up like this."

"Those are MY kids-"

"Clearly," you pinched the bridge of your nose. "Anyway Sanji found them, so let's just go." You dragged him back to everyone else, ignoring the way his eye twitched at the mention of the cook.

That's not to say you were good with directions, because you were also bad with them. Sure, you had a better idea of direction than Zoro did, but the crew was still a little wary about sending you anywhere alone.

You and your family tended to butt heads about it, especially when you were all shopping for things you needed. Zoro would claim what you were looking for was in one aisle, while you asserted that it was in another.

It was quite funny for the crew actually, watching the five of you argue and then run off in different directions, only to forget which way you came from and struggle to get back. They had a blast when you took the kids to a carnival where there was a maze, because they found their way out relatively quickly. All the while you, your directionally-challenged kids and your even more directionally-challenged husband went in circles.

"I think it's this way."

"No, no, it's definitely this way!"

"Trust me, I know where I'm going!"

"So do I!"

You two were so busy arguing about where to go that you didn't notice your mischievous children sneaking off to try and find their own way out. Much like Zoro, they hated arguing and they wanted to just take action instead of thinking. By the time you realised it was too quiet, they were nowhere nearby.

"Oh my God, not again!" You face-palmed, then whirled on the swordsman, "This is your fault!"

"Mine?! You wanted to argue!"

Steam was practically coming out of your nose and ears, but you took a deep breath and calmed yourself. One of you had to be reasonable here. So without a word, you turned and walked in one direction while your thick-headed husband went in the other.

"(kid 1 name)! (kid 2 name)! (kid 3 name)!" You tried calling, hearing their voices call back out to you every time you did. But as soon as you thought you were getting close, you would call again and their voices would be even further away.

They were going in the opposite directions.

"Hey, kids!" You called again, "Just stay right there for mom, okay? Stay where you are."

Eventually you do find them, but now you have no idea where you came from so you have no idea where to go. Outside the maze, the rest of the crew is fast asleep as they wait for the five of you to figure it out, Nami being the only one staying awake just in case you made it out earlier than they expected.

You didn't.

"We can't take you guys anywhere," the redhead complained, making you laugh.

Yeah, that was pretty much what the Straw Hat crew had to deal with.

A/N: i hope this lived up to your expectations! i wasn't sure how to piece it all together so just tell me if i missed anything in your request, or if you're not satisfied with any of the parts! :) im open to criticism!

[harrywavycurly]

I’ve been contemplating serial killer!Eddie. I love him soooo much (even tho he be a murder bby) and would most likely fall for whatever he says cuz I be naive, don’t get me wrong, but I just can’t imagine being completely blind to what he’s up to. Like…I don’t mean knowing exactly what he’s doing, but there’s gotta be some little tells that just makes you go “hm…that’s weird” or “that doesn’t add up, did he just lie?”. And maybe sometimes instead of shrugging it off, those little worries just nag too much in the back of your head that you feel you need to have a talk with Eddie. I mean, the kind of conversation where you come home early, probably a bit unannounced (you usually give him a call when you’re about to clock off work) —maybe even when he has a victim guest over, yikes—and just worried out of your mind because these feelings have really been bothering you for a while. They keep you up at night wondering what Eddie is doing…is he seeing someone else? Are drugs or other illegal things involved(😏 there is but ya don’t know that)? Why has he been so secretive lately?

And could you just…imagine Eddie actually comforting you. He feels bad that you’re actually upset so he starts saying all the right things you need to hear and doing all the right things you need him to do (while his guest is just chilling out, mind you). Just trying to make things right because he loves you so much and doesn’t want you to be upset (but especially doesn’t want to expose you to what he’s really been up to—he knows that would be “the end” to the relationship and that would kill him). What would an actual argument be like with serial killer!Eddie? Normally, I’d say pretty terrifying cuz serial killer + anger = not too good ending, right? But, would it be different since it’s Eddie?

Hiii babes!! I hope you like this, but remember it’s an argument so it’s not super fluffy🥺💖

-find all things Serial Killer Eddie here✨

TW: Yelling, mentions of blood and Eddie is a serial killer

Tag List: @clairesjointshurt @sofaritsalrightt @squidscottjeans @stardustmunson @amberpanda99

*You finally ask Eddie the question you’ve been dreading*

You feel like your heart is going to beat out of your chest as you hear the front door open and close letting you know Eddie is home. Eddie smiles as he walks into the house and sees you sitting on the couch in the living room, he drops his keys on the table by the front door and hangs his jacket up on the coatrack. You stand up so you can turn and face him and the look you give him makes the smile instantly drop from his face.

“What’s wrong baby?” Eddie feels his heart sink to his stomach as the possibility that you found out his dark secret begins to creep into his mind. You take a step closer to him and his eyes go wide as he sees a shirt in your hands, a very specific shirt he was wearing while doing not so nice things to a man named Jeffery about a few days ago.

“How long have you been cheating on me?” Eddie wants to let out a sigh of relief but he knows better so he just takes a small step towards you with his hands reaching out for you. “And please don’t fucking lie to me Edward.” It’s the way you say his name with almost a hint of hatred that makes his heart want to break.

“I’m not cheating on you sweetheart.” You just shake your head as you toss the shirt at him making it land at his feet.

“Then explain why there’s a mysterious red stain on the collar of your shirt that looks an awful lot like a tacky shade of red lipstick.” Eddie bends down and grabs the shirt so he can look at the collar and when he sees the few smeared drops of red he can’t help but roll his eyes because how the hell did blood manage to get on his collar he could’ve sworn he was careful. “Don’t roll your eyes at me like I’m crazy.” Your voice is dripping with hurt making Eddie instantly regret his actions.

“It’s just blood baby.” You take a step backwards when Eddie takes a step towards you with the shirt still in his hand. “I swear I’m not cheating on you.” Eddie hears you sniffle letting him know you’re close to crying so he takes a few more steps and grabs your arms before you can move further away from him.

“It’s just blood? How did blood get on the collar of your shirt Eddie? Please explain that to me.” You pull your arms out of Eddie’s hold and cross them over your chest as he lets out a sigh and runs a hand over his face.

“I work at a plant baby and things happen, I must’ve cut myself or something.” Eddie knows by the way you roll your eyes that you’re not buying his excuse. “It’s not lipstick.” He snaps making you jump a bit since it’s very rare Eddie ever speaks to you in a harsh tone. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-” You turn and head into the kitchen making him take a few calming breaths before he rushes after you.

“I’d know if you cut yourself.” You begin washing the dishes in the sink as a way to busy your mind and keep yourself from crying. “Just tell me the truth Eddie.” He watches you grip the edge of the sink as your shoulders drop. Eddie slowly crossed the length of the kitchen so he’s standing right behind you.

“I’m not cheating on you Princess.” Eddie reaches out and gently places a hand on your shoulder so he can turn you around so you’re facing him. “It’s just blood.” Eddie feels his heart drop when he sees a few tears roll down your cheeks. “I don’t know how it got there but I swear that’s all it is.” He explains as he reaches up with both hands to cup your face so he can wipe away the tears from under your eyes with his thumbs. “I love you so much.” You reach up and place your hands over his that are still on your face.

“I love you too.” Your voice is low as Eddie leans down and places a kiss to your forehead. “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions.” Eddie just shakes his head as you look down at your feet now embarrassed that you even accused him of doing anything bad in the first place.

“Don’t do that.” Eddie drops his hands from your face so he can place them on your shoulders as he bends down so you’re now looking him right in the eyes. “You had every reason to be upset okay? I’m the one who’s sorry I should’ve explained the stain to you the moment I got home and needed it cleaned.” You let out a sniffle as you rest your head on Eddie’s chest making him wrap his arms around you.

“I love you.” Eddie smiles at you when he looks down and sees you looking up at him.

“I love you too baby.” He responds before placing a kiss to your lips. Eddie feels the guilt begin to sink in as you wrap your arms around him in an attempt to pull him closer to you, he tries to shake it off as he gives you a squeeze and places a kiss to the top of your head. He knows one day you’re going to accuse him of doing something horrible and he’s not going to be able to lie his way out of it because it’s actually going to be the truth.

[daddyharrington]

We missed you too, Steve

second story I’ve ever written/posted, yikes!

in this little number, Steve returns home after almost a month away(!) and is stunned to see how much you and the baby in your belly have changed while he’s been gone. I firmly believe you have to be the story you want to read in the world, so here’s my take. love you for reading, bbs.

warnings: pregnant reader, reader with afab anatomy, discussion of weight gain, body worship. as always, if I’ve missed something please let me know and I’ll add it!

---

your gaze swept the parking lot as you pulled the maroon beemer into a spot near the stop where Steve’s bus was due to arrive any minute. there were a number of buses unloading right now, and you weren’t sure which direction to look first.

you couldn’t believe Steve’d been away for nearly a month. you’d talked on the phone every night, but you were very relieved he wouldn’t have to go away on any more business trips for the foreseeable future.

when he’d originally committed to the trip, you both knew it would be tough but worth it in the long run because of what it could mean for Steve’s future at the firm. that had been months ago. months before you’d realized Steve wasn’t going to be leaving just you back home. months before that perfect plus sign had appeared on a pregnancy test and turned your world upside down. it had taken everything in you to convince Steve not to back out of the trip for his own sake. it was the longest you’d ever been apart, and you were more than ready to have him back, because this rapidly-growing baby was already taking a lot out of you.

you opened the car door and your face was immediately met with the chilly January air. your movements were a lot slower these days, especially getting up from a seated position. you eventually heaved yourself out of the car, readjusted your long winter coat, and tightened your scarf under your chin. closing the car door, you began to make your way over to where all the passengers from the most recently-arrived bus seemed to be congregating and resurrecting their luggage from a chaotic beige and black pile.

“Y/N!” you heard a familiar voice from amongst the muddle. turning your head to follow its sound, you could just make out Steve’s hair, the top of his forehead as he bounced up and down, trying to get a clear eye-line, and his hand, waving wildly back and forth over the crowd. you beamed. just a few inches of Steve was enough to get your heart racing after so many weeks apart.

normally you’d run to him, but that was easier said than done now. you did your best, increasing your pace as fast as you could, meeting Steve in the middle of the parking lot. before you could get a word out he’d dropped his bag and had one hand gently but firmly pulling you towards him by your lower back, the other cradling the nape of your neck. your lips met in a kiss that Steve immediately deepened, your hands had reached up to caress either side of his face without even realizing, instantly falling back into muscle memory, everything fitting back into place between the two of you like it always had.

or, well. almost everything. apparently you had grown more than you thought in the last month, because you couldn’t get quite as close to Steve as you normally did. everything was just about 20° farther apart than it used to be.

Steve’s eyes said it all when you finally came up for air. “Hi, babygirl,” he finally greeted you, smiling from ear to ear. “Hi,” you replied. so relieved to have him back, but slightly shy, too. It seemed surreal to actually have him here in front of you, rather than imagining him sprawled across his bed in a hotel room, over the phone.

“worst month of my life,” Steve said, beaming as he brushed a stray strand of hair behind your ear. “I can’t believe I left my girls all alone for that long.” “we missed you too, Steve,” you laughed. “but we did okay here. very glad to have you back now, though,” you admitted, as you gave him another peck on the cheek and reached for his duffel bag.

“woah woah woah, what do you think you’re doin, sweetheart?” Steve admonished, quickly stepping between you and the bag so he could pull it onto his own shoulder instead. “helping you with your bag, Steve! it’s what polite people do when they pick loved ones up after long bus rides!”

“not people who are busy growing babies in their bellies!” Steve tutted, patting your bump as he starting steering you back towards the car which he’d already spotted in the lot behind you, “you’re carrying enough as is.” “oh please,” you huffed, “I’m not even that big yet. I think I can manage a bag of your dirty dress slacks and boxers, Steve.”

“I dunno, hon, I hate to say this but…” he paused in place, observing you from behind as you continued towards the car, “I think your cute little walk has turned into a waddle.”  “what! you’re imagining things, Harrington,” you said, rolling your eyes as you tossed him the keys and made your way over to the passenger’s side.

“there you go again, pretty. you think you’re opening that door for yourself, don’t you?” he asked, as he slow-jogged over and opened it for you, with a little joking bow and a stupid grin on his face.

“you’ve been gone for weeks, Steve, and believe it or not, I did manage to get into this car without your assistance during that time,” you sassed, as you made your awkward way back into the car. unfortunately, between the cold outside and the baby inside, your actions spoke louder than your words. there was an awful lot of grunting going on as you got situated, and by the time you’d gotten the seatbelt extended as far as it needed to go to circle your belly, Steve had an incredibly smug look on his face. “I just call em like I see em,” he teased, as he leaned in to give you one more peck on the cheek before closing the door behind you and hopping into the driver’s side, getting the heat turned on so his girls could defrost asap.

---

you’d decided to stop on the way home to pick up some groceries—you were mostly out of the things Steve considered staples since he’d been gone, and you had a few other items on your list that you figured you might as well get while you were there. you hoped Steve wouldn’t notice that they were slightly irregular, given the season.

Steve immediately went to grab a cart as you unfolded your list, planning to meet back up with you in the produce section. unfortunately, inside the grocery store was much warmer than it was outside, and you were getting too hot for all the layers you’d needed just two minutes ago. you tugged your scarf off and, realizing that wouldn’t be enough, began to remove your heavy winter coat as well.

Steve was just walking back with the cart as you were in the middle of unzipping. when the sides of your coat parted ways, he was stunned to see the new bump that was obviously poking out between your now wider hips—his eyebrows shot up as he took it all in.

“Y/N!” he exclaimed. “way to bury the lead, babe!” he eyed your middle in amazement. “what, Steve?” you tried to feign innocence, knowing it was no use. “don’t you ‘what?’ me, Y/L/N! look at you!” he reached out, hands gripping either side of your belly. “you’re huge. when I left you were just starting to get your little speedbump, but now… tell me the truth, babe. how many kiddos do you have in here?” he asked, half joking, half serious, gaze still locked on the bump protruding between his palms.

you knew most women would be self-conscious about their boyfriend calling them huge, but you were actually proud of your growing belly. it was tangible proof that you were taking good care of your and Steve’s future daughter, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t know where the extra weight had come from. baby girl’s growth spurt had kept you ravenous all month—everything you ate just tasted incredible, so between her appetite and your cravings, it wasn’t a shock to you that there was a lot more to love right now. what you hadn’t considered was how much of a difference a month would make to Steve. your belly had popped and then some since he’d been gone, going from looking bloated to unmistakably pregnant in the intervening weeks.

you sighed as you looked down at your swollen belly. you’d figured this was coming, but you’d hoped you wouldn’t have to have this conversation until you got home… ideally once you could sit down and put your feet up.

“I know, I know,” you admitted sheepishly, groaning slightly as baby girl chose that exact moment to kick into your side—you rubbed at the spot, hoping to settle her down some. once it ebbed, you let one hand reach around to support your lower back, while the other stayed put on your belly—a new posture that had quickly become habit, but only served to emphasize your bump even more. Steve knew your body better than anyone—at times you thought he might know it better than you did. you’d felt your baby growing and your body changing, but having Steve notice it made it finally seem real. “I feel huge. baby girl has been really hungry this month, Steve. I can barely keep up with her. actually, you should hear some of the things she’s been hungry for. now that’s going to make your head spin.”

“cravings too, huh?” he asked, still stroking your belly, only half paying attention to the conversation. “I’ve missed so much already,” he realized sadly, looking down at you with his big brown teddy bear eyes.

“you could say that, yes,” you huffed. “although, not all of the, uh, cravings have been food-related,” you muttered out of the corner of your mouth, hoping the words would only find Steve’s ears.

his head immediately sprung up, perky as a puppy again. “oh yeah, sweets? well you know, now that I’m back, I think I might be of some help in that regard,” he grinned mischievously.

you were glad you’d been able to lift his spirits so quickly, and you still had one more card to play. you leaned in close, this time whispering into his ear, “you think my belly’s huge, babe? just wait til you see what this pregnancy is doing to my tits.”

Steve gulped, eyes instantly searching your sweater for signs that his favorite parts of you had benefitted from the new arrangement of fat on your body. “h-honey where’s that list you brought? let’s get these groceries and get outta here so you can bring me up to speed on everything I’ve missed, okay?”

“sure, Stevie,” you winked seductively, sashaying your hips playfully towards the kiwis which, out of season or not, baby girl was absolutely demanding. “soon’s we get home, I’ll give you the full tour.”

[queen-paladin]

March 2024 Reading Wrap Up!

Hiya guys, since I have been on a book reading craze lately (I want to read 30 books before I turn 30 and am now on 13 in March, which says something). I enjoy Goodreads, but little to no people read my reviews. My most popular one on Goodreads has *drumroll* six likes *confetti*. And I have a lot of feelings and thoughts and nowhere to express them...so why not here!

That being said...Books I have read in March of 2024! Better late then never!

What I read and my own personal, take it with a grain of salt thoughts on them below:

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

(YA Fantasy)

Summary:

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over. But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

I am usually not the type to stay up late reading because I have to know what's going to happen. I usually set the book down and tuck in bedtime.

This book was an exception.

I was on the edge of my seat, forgetting the time and hour, wanting to read just one more page because I had to know what would happen. The pacing was just right, the world was beautiful and dangerous, and I enjoyed the characters. Scarlett was a breath of fresh air in a genre notorious for internal misogyny in it's female protagonists. Timid and Proper and Responsible, but grows on her own and learns to take initiative.

The environment was very reminiscent of the Night Circus, imagine like, if the Night Circus was a town built on illusions, and you have Caraval. But the Night Circus, rereading it as an adult, had an insufferable MMC who has a girlfriend who sacrifices so much for him, then the MMC who cheats on his girlfriend for the FMC, and then when the girlfriend has the truth confirmed to her, she gets upset and briefly lashes out, the writing then frames her as An Evil Woman Scorned for doing so (which is...yikes) Justice for Isobel Martin. She should have done a full Carrie White style Everyone Dies rampage and I would have rooted her on the whole time.

There's none of that crap here! We have a lovely romance between Scarlett and Julian full of all sorts of wonderful, chemistry-building moments.

But what got me was the story- the various twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat, gasping and clinging. I was captivated. Entranced by it's spell. This is a roller coaster of a book, so just hold on and enjoy the ride. I am so glad I read this book, it gave me a feeling and experience I hadn't had with a book in ages, one where I had to stay up late, because I had to read what would happen next.

5/5

The Unlovely Bride by Alice Coldbreath

(Romance, Historic, Fantasy)

Summary: Lenora Montmayne leads a charmed life as the most beautiful woman at King Wymer’s court, surrounded by admirers. And then disaster strikes. The red pox sweeps the summer palace at Caer-Lyones and Lenora’s fair face falls victim to its ravages. Without her looks, what does Lenora have left to her?

If ever there was a knight the crowd loves to hate, it’s Garman Orde. Even his own family despises him. Then one night a heavily veiled lady offers him an extraordinary bargain. And he finds out that Lenora Montmayne was never just a pretty face.

Review: Any marriage of convenience story I will read, and I will devour it. I've been looking forward to this book for a while, and I do love the premise. And most of all, I love the setting! This lovely world that is part medieval England part not because fuck it, it's not history, just the vibes. And I LOVE our female protagonist. Leonora relied on her looks and nothing else for years to get by, and now that they are gone, she relies on her own person. She loves kitty cats, she believes in prophecies and fortune-telling but is smart, pragmatic, and determined. She and Garman have a nice romance with some great lines and moments (and some nice spice). My complaint is that while the first half is amazing, the second half kind of drags, and not much happens, it could have used more tension, more stakes, and more plot. I may read another Coldbreath book sometime, just because I love the world of Karadok, but I'm not sure.

3.75/5

Medea by Eilish Quin

(Historic, Fantasy)

Summary: The daughter of a sea nymph and the granddaughter of a Titan, Medea is a paradox. She is at once rendered compelling by virtue of the divinity that flows through her bloodline and made powerless by the fact of her being a woman. As a child, she intuitively submerges herself in witchcraft and sorcery, but soon finds it may not be a match for the prophecies that hang over her entire family like a shroud.

As Medea comes into her own as a woman and a witch, she also faces the arrival of the hero Jason, preordained by the gods to be not only her husband, but also her lifeline to escape her isolated existence. Medea travels the treacherous seas with the Argonauts, battles demons she had never conceived of, and falls in love with the man who may ultimately be her downfall.

Review: Ok, ok, I have so many feelings about this. I was...sadly disappointed by this book. Medea is probably my personal favorite of the Ancient Greek Women, if not, my favorite of the spicier, more controversial, morally grey ones (Hera, Circe, Medusa, Clytemnestra, etc)

But, my biggest issue with this book, and it's big, is that I don't believe there is a love story between Medea and Jason. The writer makes him unlikable from the get-go, to where he has numerous Kick The Dog (tm) moments like physically abusing Medea and killing one of Pelleas's daughters when she won't stop crying. Medea herself doesn't justify them, and she keeps thinking of "eh, he's sometimes kind of good-looking, but he's okay."

Like, Medea in this book, after meeting Jason, she flat out tells her brother that he is the man she loves the most in her life (which...YIKES for the implications. But in order for any Medea story to work, I HAVE to believe she is madly, desperately in love with Jason. There's no oath where Jason swears before the gods to stay with her, so then there's no hurt. She kind of has to marry Jason to preserve her honor according to Aunt Circe, but not out of love. Since there's no romantic chemistry, the sacrifices Medea takes make more sense and the betrayal hurts even more so then when she does what she does in Corinth, she is extremely sympathetic at least in the beginning.

Like, she has a moment after Jason revealed he cheated on her and is leaving her for Glauce and she goes "oh, poor Glauce is a victim like me." Which begs the question for this version- why doesn't she just kill Jason himself? She calls Glauce a poor baby victim, she kills Glauce, not Jason. If she loved Jason that much, then she would hate him more, and killing Glauce would make more sense. She wants to watch Jason suffer.

Also, I feel like Eilsha Quinn is a bit afraid of the moral nuances of Medea. She has her "I didn't really MEAN to!" moments and there is one character she kills who she then re-animates (like she re-animates her brother, so oopsie Daisy, she's actually not a kinslayer! And he just...vibes with them as the third wheel lives with them, and helps look after the kids. This makes it less tragic because A) She's not a murderer who risked and left everything for him, she's more "perfect" and not as flawed, and B) when Jason betrays her, she's less alone and has an immediate support system there in her brother). And the kid- killing she does to trick Jason and then she re-animates them later, or tries, to but no, that failed and they're dead dead, whoops. Even if Medea purposely killing the kids was the invention of Euripides, I want to believe Medea is capable of purposely, intentionally doing some violent, controversial things and this seems to be afraid of her spice, her teeth.

The writing is pretty, and I liked the beginning with learning about her childhood, but this was a letdown.

I did order Hewlitt's book of Medea, which is higher ranked on Goodreads so my hope is higher for that one.

3/5

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

(YA, Fantasy, Romance)

Summary:

After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.

Review: This book was utterly beautiful, breathtaking, and heartbreaking all at once and yet uplifting and then it breaks your heart again. The world is simple and lovely. It's a mix of World War One/two aesthetics with a fantasy setting. It's basically You Got Mail but fantasy and more focus on the drama then the comedy.

The romance is lovely, there is such a beautiful love story between Roman and Iris as they sort out their feelings, reveal their secrets, doubts, failures, grief, and insecurities, and learn more about where they fall for each other. Plus, the twists and turns were a lot of fun and the pacing was just right.

I have no faults or complaints, this was just a lovely, lovely book and I look forward to the sequel because THAT was quite a note to end on!

5/5

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Summary: After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.

A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.

And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.

Reveiw: This is such a hyped, beloved, popular book that is so many people's baby and favorite series and it...it was okay.

It wasn't bad.

But I didn't find it phenomenal, amazing, spectacular, life chagning.

It was good. It was okay.

I honestly got extremely tired of trying to learn how the over-complicated Arthurian society worked. It's explained in a super info-dumpy way that the characters get, but I don't. And the pacing was way too slow, I feel like it needed to shave off a good hundred pages, or fifty, perhaps.

I do enjoy the main girl, Bree, alright. She doesn't take bullshit, but has moments of vulnerability. As well as exploring race, grief, family history and the scenes with root magic were amazing. The beginning was fantastically done, it was the middle part where it peterred off for me.

But the rest of it, not gonna lie, was kind of...eh.

And, ngl, I am more Team Nick. Sel is a giant jerk who treats her like garbage, yet people root for them and want them to be together, and I'm like....??????? why? At least Nick, white saviory as he can be, is trying and cares for her and affirms and appreciates her strength.

I respect that this is so many people's favorite book and that it speaks to them and moves them. But for me, if none of these people made any content around this book and said nothing, based off of my opinion independent of others, if you plopped this book on my lap and said nothing about the hype about it...I'd still say it was just okay. That might be my controversial hot take, but it's just what my personal experience was from this book.

3/5

Currently Reading: The Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Lemming, The Death of Jane Lawrence by Starling, Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Fairies by Fawcett, and Twisted Love by Ana Huang.

[dilfiam-afton]

“You will be fine” pt 2

 Summary; William is being oddly hostile with you and let´s you sleep in the guest bedroom which is attached right to his own. You happen to wake up and “sneaking out”, William catches you. You basically annoy him. Y/N grows more comfortable with William. Some very very mild fluff ig. Quite long!  Writing this to keep you guys on your tip toes for the next part (lemon) and also so I can just jump right into it next time. 

NO SMUT YET; GUYS JUST UH.... (semi) NORMAL THINGS

GENDER NEUTRAL

READER IS OF AGE

You found yourself awake once again, under unknown covers. At first you startled, already having forgotten where you were but immidiately settling back down comfortably upon remembering you were in Williams guest room! Come to think; why would William even let you sleep here, so close to him? Hmmm..Probably to avoid further confrontation between you and all the others. Yea, sounds about right. You wouldn´t want to interpret anything..questionable into Williams´ actions since you didn´t know the man well enough.

To put it short; you were bored. You had somehow managed to re-gain a lot of energy from the..wait. How long have you even been asleep for? Where was your phone? Your blood ran cold when you noticed that you must´ve left it in the bathroom whe you changed into your pyjamas. Well shit. Seeing as the guest room didn´t have any windows, nor clocks for you to be able to tell the time that meant you would have to leave the room in order to get your phone. But then it hit you- the guest room you were currently in was attached to Williams room..Oh Oh. 

After a long time of reasoning with yourself in silence you decided that, if you were quiet enough you could probably sneak out the guest room, retrieve your phone and sneak back. Yes, sounds about right. So you started your little journey, now standing in the middle of Williams room. William stirred in his bed-perhaps he was having a nightmare? You decided to look at him, not for stalking or “being creepy” purposes, but because you simply couldn´t imagine such a harsh, bitter, and toxically masculine man all snuggled up in bed, just sleeping. It just didn´t seem like a “William thing”.

His bed was positioned headboard against the middle of the wall, a nightstand on each side, with a large window close by. The moon was higher up in the sky than earlier, not only indicating it will be morning soon but thus also illuminating William in his bed. He looked almost unnatural; just laying there, eyes closed, lips slightly parted, and if you weren´t mistaken you could also spot some stubbles re-growing on his usually clean-shaven face. He was rather cute like this, actually! Usually he was rather intimidating, actually. Seems you were staring at him for too long because he now started to wriggle around again, stretching apparently. A small noise escaped his throat, almost sounding like a little squeak. You couldn´t help but let out a quiet giggle and an “aaawe!”.  Well, he was still asleep. Weird. You were convinced he was going to wake up and lecture you for being creepy.

 Not wanting to be caught, you quickly made your way to the bathroom. Ah, fuck. Your clothes were missing. Or were they? You reluctently opened one of the bathroom cabinets, perhaps William put your clothes in one of them. Nope, this was probably Michael´s cabinet; it contained a a few bottles of the same “3 in 1; bodywash, shampoo, conditioner″ men´s bodywash. How could one possibly use the same product for their body and hair?! Yikes. Oh! There was also a toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash and like 5 different kids of hairgel. You sighed, moving on to the next cabinet. This seemed to be Liz´s cabinet. 

After rummaging through most of the cabinets and wondering how many towels and toiletries, and bandaids a family could possibly need you hit the jackpot! William`s cabinet and your clothes! Yes, finally. Oh, William had a lot of fancy stuff...You were curious. Oh well, taking one look couldn´t hurt. The packaging of his products was awfully fancy and he didn´t use the “3 in 1″ stuff that Michael used. Well you should´ve figured that out before, William was undeniably well groomed.He practically owned a whole beauty store! Conditioners, Shampoos, Soaps, Bodylotions, Bodyscrubs- everything! You giggled to yourself; imagining William in the bathtub, having a bubble bath, using the body scrub while his conditioner is setting. Silly. It was fun and games until you spot razors. One being one of those old-fashioned ones, labeled “face” and the other of a more modern nature labeled “nether region”. Now you truly felt invasive to his privacy, so you grabbed your clothes and flushed the toilet to not raise suspicions IF there was someone awake, wondering why you were in the bathroom for so long.

As soon as you left the bathroom you screeched. In front of the door stood William. In purple,grey and white flannel pants, a purple bathrobe which looks like it could possibly be too small, and plushy purple slippers. You put a hand on your chest, now glaring at him. “Took you long enough.”  You sighed “I´m sorry, Will” the older man chuckled as you were hastily searching your brain for words. “Ah already gave me a nickname, yeah?” and now you truly were flabbergasted...how could you save this? You died inside from emberassment! “Now now, nothing to be emberassed about. People often shorten my name to `Will`,  though I wish they would put more effort in giving me a better, more creative nickname.” he seemed oddly calm and collected..As if he´s been awake for quite some time. You just giggled nervously, actually you did feel a bit sorry for him. There weren´t many nicknames for his name..William. A lovely name but what could one possibly nickname a William?? “Don´t you dare.” you giggled “Willy!” William didn´t look very pleased. Unfortunately for him, this was more than funny for you and so you burst out laughing. William sighed in response “Would you mind stepping aside for me? I´ll be right back.” oh, right you were still blocking the bathroom. So you quickly left and let him do whatever he was gonna do. 

You opened your phone to a bunch of messages from your best friend, asking you if you left and if you were alright. You didn´t respond; she could´ve and should´ve checked up on you personally earlier! You ignored her, and instead looked at the time “5:01 am” oh. Not much use going back to sleep, is there? But what could you do? Hmm....oh yea, perhaps google nicknames for William and then present them to him when he gets out the bathroom. And that´s exactly what you did. 

The clock now strikes 6am and you and William were sitting on his bed like schoolgirls, while eagerly discussing nicknames for him. “Wilburt?” “NO” “Hmmm...Bill?” “Not too fond, but better than bloody Wilburt!” you giggled. You were out of ideas so why not just mess with him a little? “Sugarbuns.” you grinned at him. Now it was his turn being flabbergasted “What?” he seemed genuinely shocked “Oh please, Y/N give an old man some dignity!” “Babygirl?” “What is the satisfaction you young people have with calling men, especially older men `babygirl`?” oh. How does HE know that one already ? Oh well. “How about peepaw willy?” and that must´ve done it for him. A loud gasp errupted from the older mans throat, his lips parted, and eyes wide open (basically :0) “Do I look like a peepaw to you? Unbelievable!” he was seriously offended over this? You couldn´t help but start laughing. William didn´t appreciate that, not one bit.

 Soon after he unfolded his arms, and threw a pillow right in your face. You acted offended yet didn´t waste a second to throw it back at him and he ducked in response, so you missed. You grabbed the pillow and crawled over to him, so you could personally hit him in the face with it but he was good at holding you off, just laying on his back. So you found the ultimate solution for his demise; climb on him, thus holding him in place so nothing could get between the pillow and his face! So withouth thinking twice you proceed with your plan, now sitting on his upper thighs, straddling him. You raised the pillow, ready to strike but you couldn´t reach his head good enough just yet. Jeez, he really was tall. So you scooted up, now directly straddling his hips and, without a thought striking his face with the pillow at the same time. Both you and him jolted up when you felt something very very squishy right between your legs. And then it hit you; you just sat down directly on his very private part. You immidiately started apologizing to him. “Ah, don´t worry I don´t mind. Haven´t had anyone on there for a long time!” William giggled. 

Despite being at home now, you couldn´t get over your time with William. Pondering about EVERYTHING. Hopefully things wouldn´t be weird between you and him when you come over next time. Come to think of it; the next time you would be over but be the anual vacation trip of the Aftons and your friend group. Shit..

[animatorweirdo]

Fond memories

You get fondly teased for your friendship with Maglor, but now you wonder if your feelings for him could be more than that.

Warnings: None as much, anxious feeling, mentions of someone passing away, teasing, startling, and some funny things.

Chapter 2

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

A groan escaped your mouth as you walked through the healer’s wing with Camilla, who was annoyingly awake and less tired than you. People and other healers walked past you in their business, which made you dread the amount of work today. Why, in the name of hell, it had to be Monday?

A whine left your lips when your stomach let out a familiar ache. 

“Cami—Are you certain I don’t have food poisoning from your latest potion?” you asked. “It feels like my stomach is having a party in a gym,” you added. 

“Yes, because if you did have food poisoning, you would be complaining a lot worse,” Camilla said as you two arrived at the main hall of the healer’s wing. You mentally whined when you saw the number of new patients. It meant the day was going to be long and awful. 

You two walked through the lanes of beds. “You know–I didn’t plan a lot for my life since I had so few options thanks to this parasite, but being a nurse was not one of them,” you said as you approached a familiar elf who was tending a patient. 

“What’s wrong with being a nurse?” Camilla questioned. 

“They’re underappreciated and overworked. Their sleeping schedule is just as good as mine, and besides— working with you is a bloody nightmare,” you said as your friend Faye heard you coming and turned around to look at you after dealing with the patient. 

“You’re bossy and heartless,” you said. 

“Oh, shut up and go retrieve some towels and bedsheets. It looks like we’re having a long day,” Camilla said back. “See, she doesn’t appreciate me,” you looked at Faye while pointing at Camilla, who was rolling her eyes.

Faye chuckled. “Well, she’s not known for being the most expressive person in Himring now, isn’t she?” she asked. “Thank you, at least someone gets it,” you glanced at Camilla, who gave you a stink eye. 

“Go before I smack you,” she said. “Yikes! Abuse!” you said, making Faye giggle. “Camilla, there are some patients that are waiting, so I would appreciate it If you could take a look at them. (Name) would you mind lending me a hand carrying some extra things from the storage?” she asked. “Sure. I wouldn’t mind getting a break from this angry woman,” you pointed at Camilla. “Go!” she struck you. 

“Alright, alright! Chill!” you nearly screamed while walking out of the healer’s wing with Faye, who was watching the whole thing amused. 

Walking through the corridors, you complained. “I swear she’s getting pissier each day. I think it's the coffee. She literally drinks it 24/7, or maybe she’s already hitting her middle-aged woman years,” Faye giggled at your claim. “At the age of 25? By Eru– I can only imagine what she will be like when she gets older,” she said. “A living nightmare, for sure! I can barely handle her at this age. Imagine what happens to me when she gets old and more mean,” you said. Faye grinned. “I make sure to keep you in my thoughts and prayers when that time comes,” she said. 

“Hopefully, I will still be alive by then. The chances are I will die because of Camilla's pissy moods just because I sorted the medicines wrong,” you said, making her shake her head. 

“Seriously— I know we’re living some tough times, but do all old people have to be so mean all the time?” you groaned at the thought since you saw some old people at the wing. 

“It makes me miss my grandpa. He was nice and kind,” you said songfully. 

“What happened to him?” Faye asked curiously. 

“He passed away from cancer. It was pretty devastating for me and my family, but at least he passed away peacefully…unlike some unlucky ones,” you said, thinking about your family and the skinwalkers. 

“Well– that’s good to hear. What is your most fond memory of your grandfather?” Faye asked, trying to light up the mood. You thought about your answer. “I guess… it's when he often took me and my little brother fishing. He was one of those old timers and a simple type of man, but my most fond memories of him are seeing how he loved my grandmother,” you started.

“They were like… soulmates…so perfect for each other. I remember sometimes seeing them slowly dance together in the middle of the night. It was very mesmerizing,” you smiled at the memory when you sneaked around to get some treats from the kitchen but then found your grandparents dancing together in the living room. 

“That sounds beautiful. It nearly reminds me of my own grandparents,” Faye said. “Yeah… my grandmother was never truly the same after he passed away,” you said as you arrived at the storage. 

“Alright, wait here. I’m going to make a quick check to see if we’re missing something,” Faye said as she walked through the door. You wait, letting your thoughts wander, and your foot taps against the ground. 

It was quiet. You could hear some ruckus of people in the distance, but it was relatively quiet in the corridor and the yard that decorated the place and worked as a loitering place for patients who wanted to catch some fresh air. 

A feeling suddenly crawled up on your skin. It was weird yet a familiar feeling. You couldn’t put a finger on it. It was like on the top of your tongue, yet it refused to come out. 

You felt like—you weren’t alone, and your feeling only became stronger as time progressed, and it felt like you had spent an hour. Soon, you were so consumed by the feeling that you were left ignorant of the sounds of footsteps behind you. 

“(Name)” someone laid their hands on your shoulder, making you shriek and jolt with sudden fright. 

You and Maglor stared at each other for a moment. Surprise and shock plastered on each of your faces. You stood there for a moment in absolute silence before you broke the silence. 

“Oh, it's just you. Where did you come from? You appeared out of nowhere,” you looked around, making him release an amused chuckle. “I’m pretty sure you would have noticed me coming if you had just paid attention,” he said. “Nah, you elves have footsteps silent as a mouse. There’s no way I would have heard you coming,” you shook your head, making him look at you with a judging smile. 

“Anyway. How have you been doing? You have been rather busy lately,” you questioned.

“Yes. I managed to finish most of the insufferable work Maedhros has tasked me with, so I decided to take a little break and see how things are for you,” he explained.

“So, how are you? Have you and Camilla been progressing in finding the right medicine?” he questioned. “Well—experiments have been done, and many concoctions have been tried, but I think we’re slowly getting there even though most of the concoctions Camilla made taste worse than the latter,” you answered. 

“Oh, one time, one of her potions gave me a voice of an old man,” you added. “Oh— Well, that sounds interesting,” he said with a smile. “Oh, you have no idea what other side effects I got,” you said. 

“Are you certain it's safe for you to try them head-on?” he asked. “It's fine. Camilla doesn’t put anything lethal in them. The worst thing I could suffer is severe diarrhea or food poisoning, but I have faced worse,” you brushed it off.  

“However, I am worried since I might end up spending months now without my usual medicine. I have a temporal one, but its effect isn’t nearly as strong as my previous one,” you said with a worried tone. “I’m certain you will find a new medicine soon,” Maglor said. 

“You know, it's kinda ironic now that I live in a world full of magic and creatures that would be considered fairytales yet there is not a single magic plant that could help me with my medicine,” you said. 

“I must be cursed with bad luck,” you said. “Well— I don’t think anyone would have an easy time with a condition like yours,” Maglor said. 

“I say it's a miracle you have lasted this long,” he stated. “When you put it like that, I guess I have been doing pretty well despite the stuff that happened in winter, the orc attack, the capture, and…kinda wrecking your old place further,” you looked at him with a guilty expression. “Sorry about that,” 

“It’s fine. It was pretty much destroyed after the Sudden Flames,” Maglor said, and you both laughed about it.  

“(Name). You look a bit more tired than usual. Are you having trouble sleeping again?” Maglor asked.

“No…I just had a bad dream last night, a very bad one, and couldn't really sleep after that. It was just one time, so I don’t think it will affect me as much,” you replied while the vision of drowning in blood flashed in your mind, giving you goosebumps. 

“I can sing for you if you feel like you can’t properly sleep,” Maglor suggested. 

“Oh, no, it’s fine. I don’t really want to put you responsible for my sleep and possibly carry me back home like last time,” you flushed at the memory. “I’m not even certain how you manage to deal with my supernatural shit and all the crazy things that have happened ever since we met,” you explained. Maglor smiled. “Let's just say– I had some practice dealing with craziness with my six very wild brothers,” he said. “Auch– burn,” you chuckled at his response. 

“I seriously don't mind helping you,” Maglor said. “If you need anything—all you need to do is just ask, and I will do anything to help you with it,” 

You were baffled as he looked at you with such a sincere expression. “Tha…thanks. I consider it and… keep it in my mind,” you replied, uncertain how to feel and respond. There was a sense of happiness in you, which was backed by uncertainty. 

“I see you later. I bet Maedhros took the chance to add more awful work into my what-to-do before-I-go-mad list,” he said, making you laugh. “Yeah…see you later,” you said as you watched him walk away. A sense of longing filled your being as you watched him leave the healer’s wing. 

You nearly missed his presence already. You don’t know why, but seeing him and his smile warms your heart as the gentle touches of sunlight.

Faye walked behind you as you continued to stare at Maglor. 

“Looks like love—” she softly teases, making you jump with fright. “Jesus! How long have you been there?” you questioned in a loud tone of voice. “Oh, I was actually waiting inside when I heard you talking with him. I didn’t want to ruin the little moment,” A grin blistered on her face. 

You rolled your eyes and released an annoyed groan. “We’re on friendly terms. I care about him and love him, but as a friend, I’m certain he feels the same. There’s nothing else,” you explained while Faye only replied with a hum. “For a friend, he sure has a soft spot for you,” she said. “And what is that supposed to mean?” you rolled your eyes at her. 

“I don’t think I have seen prince Maglor that casual with just anyone. He is casual with his brothers and family, but with others and new people — he’s usually very upkeep and refined,” Faye explained. “And he comes quite often to see you. Of course, since you have that mysterious illness, but that’s a bit more for just a friend,” she added. “Maybe he cares for you more than it seems?” she suggested with a grin. 

“Okay. We’re somewhat close, but not that close,” you frowned at the elf. 

“Speak for yourself. Time may unravel more than you see,” Faye said with a confident look. “Now come help with these. We need some bedsheets, pillows, bandages, and medicines,” she said while walking inside the storage again. 

You obediently followed her and picked up the stuff.

You wondered about Maglor and Faye’s words. You do adore him, but romance is most likely the last thing you should look for, and besides—the last time you dated someone. It didn’t end well.

[mywonuderful]

I'm still not over long haired minhee like-

request: i was wondering if i could request: how minhee would react to having a crush on someone a little older than him/how would he act around his crush in general?

pairing: minhee x older f!reader

genre: this is written in the perspective of an office setting

a/n: normalize romantic relationships with females being older than their partners! just a little reminder that these are purely based on what I perceive and what my knowledge on mbti (because i clearly have too much time in my hands)

main masterlist

Alright we're taking about minhee here

The person who's known to be rather quiet yet mature and reserved out of all the members in the group

I read that he's quite studious too yike the disappointment i'll be to him

Anyways

If minhee's crush ended up being a couple years older than him, I feel like her would be quite intimated at first

Like he would be hesitant on approaching you at first or feeling anxious when you're near him

He's definitely someone who would admire his crush from afar, observing your movements as you conversate with your coworkers

For some reason I'm imagining this in a office setting between a senior employee and junior employee

I get the vibes that he'll try to make himself more mature (if he isn't already) to match up with you 'level'

His big eyes and soft smile while he listens to you talk, slightly nodding omg

I don't think he would tell his members about his crush first. If anything, he'll want to sort out his feelings first, concluding to himself that what he is feeling, is a crush.

He manages to hiding his feelings well, putting up a kind smile

But once he let's his guard down, he's an open book lmao

The workplace was busy, employees chattering and bustling. Your desk was a couple across from his. He could help but to stare at your concentrated expression, brows slightly furrowed as you bit your lip, trying to type something down. Your eyes suddenly travelled above your computer, meeting his dreamy eyes directly. Minhee darts his eyes away, covering his mouth as naturally as possible but in reality, he's a blushing mess.

I feel like once Minhee realizes that he has a crush on you, he ends up holding it with pride

He somehow finds creative ways to interact with you, even if it leads to him looking beat red in the end.

Majority of your coworkers have clocked out, you had to stay overtime to finish up with your work.

Minhee actually finished work a while ago but after seeing you stay behind, he thought that he'll stay behind too, to accompany you, even if you didn't notice.

But then he's purposely walk slowly past your desk to head to the breakroom.

"Oh hey Minhee! You're still here? Working overtime?" Your eyes lightened up, greeting him. His stomach fluttering.

He ends up doing some extra work on the empty cubicle beside you and that's how the two of you started to get closer.

Minhee fell deeper in love with you when he realizes how you don't stereotype or discriminate between the difference work classes, and treats everyone with equality.

I can totally see Minhee taking care of his crush. Especially when it get's busy and she skips out on lunch or when it's raining and you forgot your umbrella. Minhee is somehow always there.

Being on a higher level, you deal with more workload and stress and so Minhee is always by your side to listen with all ears about your rants. He's very supporting over the things you do, and never fails to let you know how proud he is of you.

You would sometimes see sticky notes on your desk whenever you come to work or after your break

"Remember to eat your lunch!" "The weather is nice today, get some fresh air during your break!" "You've work hard today, don't forget you're human and needs breaks!"

He loves to see your expression when you find his notes, your cheeks heating up as you hide your expression before glancing over at him, shaking your head while smiling.

He starts stepping out of his comfort zone to interact with you more, maybe even adding in slight teasing and jokes.

He might not realize it himself but he ends up finding opportunities to spend time with you, whether it be working together, grabbing a quick lunch together or walking home together.

At first he might seem to give off a more mature, quiet and cool vibe because he didn't want you to see him as someone too childish but as time goes on, he loosen up, showing more of his energetic, and playful side which you obviously accept with love

It might take some time for him to open up at first, especially if you are older than him, but once he falls in love with you, he's all-in. He pours his admiration, adding in the spark of fun and excitement in your life which you would not except from him. <3

[morkitten]

I finally read the IDW Sonic comics

I wonder if anyone’s been wondering why did it take me this long to do it. “You’re a Sonic fan, right?” I imagine some people who know me ask. I think people get the wrong idea of me.

I have strong opinions about Sonic-related things having followed the games for so long and having some Sonic games be my favorite games of all time. I was in Sonic forums, my first characters were Sonic fan-characters.

(pictured: my first character)

But I think people think that because of those things, you need to “follow the fandom”, that you need to consume and like every single thing related to a franchise. I was like that when I was young, but I’ve been an adult for a decade, and I think “liking” things should be much more complex than “is of this intellectual property”. Do the people who made the things that you like about your favorite game still work at the company who owns the IP of its franchise? People make things, not companies, although it can be fun to see other talented people do their take on a thing that you like, when they have interesting ideas and aren’t doing so cynically.

Still, when it’s something that it’s been a big part of your life and you have strong opinions about it, you feel the pull of curiosity tugging you, and when my friend asked me to read the IDW comics to talk about’em and gave me access to their account so I could do it, it felt like the perfect opportunity to jump in.

To be honest, at first I was extremely bored. It took me something like 30-something issues (yikes!!!) to start coming around to it. I thought that the writing was really boring. It wasn’t funny, it wasn’t witty, it didn’t make me feel things for the characters. Especially at the beginning where they’re just introducing every single character from the games. Why? Couldn’t you introduce a handful to use for a story arc, then use another different selection for the next story? Were they worried that a kid that had Silver or the Chaotix as their favorite characters would think that they would never be a part of the story if they’re not introduced fairly early? It’s strange. So the first few issues feel like a bunch of “introduce a character and make them look cool defeating some robots”. It’s boring. I mean, there’s really no sense of danger when those characters are just fighting regular badniks, is there? You know it’s not going to be an issue. So why have them? You could argue, well, it can still be good action even when there’s no sense of danger or stakes. I think it can be great opportunities to make good physical comedy, like Tom & Jerry where the robots are Tom and Sonic is Jerry. But a lot of times the way to dispose of those robots is just a panel of like, Sonic dashing between a bunch of them and they explode. Snore! Like, remember how Sonic CD had those ending sequences of Sonic fighting badniks in different Zones and every single time he does it in a different way? How cool and even sometimes really funny it looked?

dude... he’s made’em look like they were fuckin’

now let’s compare to literally one of the first pages of the IDW comics:

Boring! Just because Sonic boosts into enemies to destroy them in the games doesn’t mean that I’d want to see him do that in a comic. Actually, especially because of that you *shouldn’t* do that in a comic! We’re outside of the boundaries of video games - you can write all sorts of scenes and actions and stories that we don’t see in a video game, that don’t work on that format, that we haven’t already *seen* in the games. Give us something new, exciting, funny!

This is actually a big issue that I have with adaptations nowadays. It feels like we’re overcorrecting the fact that adaptations in the west were often completely uninterested in the original material, now going too far into “needs to be very literal to the source”. And especially with the IDW comics at first, it feels like a barrage of references to the games, like it’s marred to this mentality that more references = better adaptation. Anyone can read a wiki nowadays, it’s not impressive. It just feels like you’re being bombarded with stuff that shouldn’t even be here. Who was asking for the Deadly Six to come back? Why do we need them? And like, because I got the Sonic brainrot I understand every time that they pull something out of the reference hat, but often they’ll reference things in ways that I’m like “how is a kid supposed to understand what this *means*”, like they’re written like you’re supposed to already know these things, already have played every single other game, and the comics are just a “sequel” to all of that.

Anyway, I think this issue with the action might also be a problem of how comic books are made. Writer and artist are often separate entities, unlike manga, so you often don’t get like, very specifically graphic comedy or action that requires that many panels to set up a joke or some specific action that is maybe only appealing because of how specifically it is drawn. I’m guessing the writer just writes “Sonic disposes of badniks” and the artist isn’t going to debate “well, if we can make some significant cuts to other things that you wrote and give me some time, I can both think up and do a whole sequence that takes up a page and a half as to how he disposes of this very small inconsequential thing in a way that’s funny or fun”. That isn’t going to happen. You’re going to get one or two panels of Sonic dashing into these inconsequential badniks unless the writer envisions a specific bit and writes it down, I’d imagine. Unless you got pages to spare. Also all the characters look like that while they’re doing it, right? The smug smile, throwing a quip or two. I really dislike that. There’s not much emotional range in the comic for a while, it’s just this emotional temperature for several issues.

And even when they start introducing different emotional temperatures and character conflict, the writing at first really isn’t great. I was also not sold by the Metal Virus story, even though there are some nice ideas that I really like in them, I don’t think it’s “there yet”. I think this page here illustrates my issues with the writing:

For context, Cream (the rabbit) is something like 6 or 8 years old, and the robot (Gemerl) is her robot friend butler who decides in its programming that the best course of action to make Cream and her mom safe is to beat up everyone infected by the virus that turns people into robot zombies - Sonic’s partially infected and is fighting off the disease.

Like, is this how a 6 year old would talk? Is this how a 6-8 year old girl would plead to her friend to not attack her other friends? It feels like that genre of tweets where it’s like “my 6 year old son walked up to this bigot in the bus and told him how racism and homophobia is bad and that you should vote joe biden and the entire bus clapped”. I think she should be scared, she shouldn’t be able to “make an argument”, like she’s not that articulate or confident in her own words, but that she knows that it’s wrong, she knows she doesn’t want this to happen and is pleading desperately to Gemerl and is maybe confused as to why would Gemerl even hurt her friend. It’s also really weak that Gemerl would just be convinced by this tepid argument like it hasn’t thought of these things before until Cream said them, it makes Gemerl look really stupid. Maybe it changes its mind because Cream is scared, because it decides in its programming that keeping her happy is part of her safety or more important than her physical safety, maybe something else happens! I don’t know! I just know that what we got instead is boring!

There’s tons of plot points or conflicts that are disposed of quickly, easily, pointlessly like this. Sonic for an issue drops down in Blaze’s dimension with amnesia but gets his memory back and gets sent back to his world extremely quickly. Like we spend maybe 4 pages total with this whole “Sonic has amnesia” bit. Why did that happen at all, then? It’s not funny, exciting, it doesn’t set up anything, it’s... nothing. Nothing happens.

Also, a lot characters are constantly written in a really flat way. Especially if they’re good guys, they often don’t feel like they have motivations other than “to do good” and their argument for someone in a moral crisis is always “well, but you’re doing *good things* now, aren’t you?” And it makes me want to scream “Good doesn’t mean anything!” I think every character should be written like they have different ideas of what doing good for themselves and others mean. I think they get slightly better about this later on, they make it a point that Sonic’s ideals are about fighting for people to be free, that he prizes freedom above all else, which then leads to him resolving conflicts often with just letting villains go. But like, Tails disposes of a bad guy in an issue by putting him in jail. I would not write that. I think Tails is too lined up with Sonic’s ideals and prizes him too much to do something that Sonic would disagree with so strongly.

The art is also hit-or-miss. I don’t like shit-talking visual artists. Illustration is hard especially if you’re banging these out quickly. Comics are hard! But the quality undoubtedly fluctuates a lot depending on what artist they got for the issue. I like a few artists and I don’t really like the rest.

---

Okay, so! With all of that out of the way, how exactly did I turn around on these comics? Just to be clear, I don’t think they completely turn around, a lot of these issues still somewhat persist, but are lessened.

Well, I think the comic really starts getting good once we get more of the original characters in. I really like them! They’re interesting concepts and they work quite well with the already established cast. Dr. Starline in particular, feels like a great secondary antagonist to play off Dr. Eggman and the rest of the cast. It’s a really welcome presence that never feels like it’s jutting out weirdly, like a guest appearance or a temporary addition.

Belle the Tinkerer is also a really fun character. What all the new characters have in common is, besides that they’re fun conceptually and that they have fun designs and personalities, is that they’re allowed to have character arcs, growth, plotlines, these things that are essential for a comic that leans into a serialized narrative like this one, that they can’t quite do with the pre-established SEGA characters. It makes me wonder if a significant part of my issues with the early stuff is just that they were very tied on how they’re able to portray the pre-established characters or what they can do. Once they create a cast of new characters and flesh them out and create narratives surrounding them, it really starts to get going.

To be fair, the thing that most made me want to read these comics was Surge. One look at her and it’s like. Oh. she’s catnip made for me.

But that made me all the more wary about her. Do I trust her to be written well? I think people often fall into these pitfalls writing the sort of character that she is and end up with stuff I find really bad. But man, I’m so glad she’s exactly the kind of character that I thought she was going to be, she’s written and drawn exactly how I would like her to be. I don’t wanna spoil people so I can’t exactly explain what that means, just know that: I love Surge, I really do. I’m just going to post some of my favorite panels of her.

The art is also consistently better in the more recent issues (look at this last panel I posted! this artist gets a ton of work on the latest issues and their stuff consistently looks great!), and the Surge & Kit, Starline and Belle the Tinkerer plotlines are engrossing and fun. I’ve been finding plenty to like even if there’s some stuff I’ve felt is less than great still persists. In short, I’m glad that I didn’t quit even when I felt plenty justified in doing so. I’m trying to be open and not dismissive of things. Try stuff out and go through with them, because I don’t ever want to dislike something, and if I do, I want to be desperately proven wrong! If you keep trying new things out, even those that you’re iffy on looking from the outside, you’ll often find some stuff to enjoy, to enrich yourself, or even to just make an enormous post that nobody in their right mind will read afterwards.

[nancypullen]

Sunday Evening

There are about ten different things I should be doing right now, but I am the queen of procrastination so here I am on the ol' blog. It was a very long week. I have such mixed feelings about the job. The people are absolutely wonderful. The work is interesting and beneficial. But the schedule is...unpleasant. Well, I say that as a person who doesn't really have a schedule. I had to ask several times if I could maybe know my work days/hours at least a week in advance. I'm there 8.5 hours but take a mandatory 1 hour unpaid lunch. So I work 7.5 hours most days, though I worked just 5 on Saturday. They are long days. I suppose I had the idea that part-time would be 20-ish hours a week. Looks like the plan is to work me just under the cut off between part/full time. Not having a set schedule in advance makes it really hard to plan any sort of normal life. For example, the Edgewaters have been asking me if I'm off on Feb. 10th to celebrate the grandgirl's 6th birthday. It's 12 days away and I still can't tell them yes or no. How can I make a doctor's appointment or even schedule a haircut? You don't call anywhere around here and get in quickly, so it would be nice to have, say, a month's schedule to reference when trying to make an appointment. I get the impression that it's not looked upon favorably if you throw a wrench in the works and request particular days off. I guess I'll ride it out and see if it gets better, maybe because I'm the newbie they're just seeing if I survive before locking me into the work calendar? Every time I asked, no one seemed to think it was a big deal. It's a big deal to me, I like to plan my life and get my ducks in a row - not knowing my works days/hours ten or twelve days out rattles me. Really hoping that part gets better.

.I'm a minimum of twenty yeas older than everyone at work, thirty years older than most of them. I feel like a fossil. Actually, the director is around my age, but she has put in her retirement notice. So I show up in my old lady glory and try not to grunt or groan when I get up from shelving books on the lowest shelf. I've had to move boxes, tables, racks of chairs, wood and glass bookcases and pretend that my sciatica isn't flaring up. There is a lot of ibuprofen involved. This is how I feel there...

but they're all nice to me because their mamas raised them to respect their elders. I was at the circulation desk one morning and talking to another employee who is not yet thirty. I realized that I could easily be her grandmother.

The eternal optimist in me says to keep plugging away and everything will settle into place and I'll just be the nice old lady at the library. The part of my brain that always yells, "FLEE! You don't belong here!" is screaming in my ear. Luckily, the eternal optimist occupies about 90% of my gray matter, so she usually wins. Onward, onward, onward. I mentioned that on Saturday I was off work at 2 o'clock. Shortly after that the Edgewaters came over and brought their pizza oven. That was a treat. They made gourmet pizzas for our dinner and we had a wonderful visit. Little Miss kept me busy with Barbies and books, and I plied her with cupcakes. They left today around 3 o'clock and the mister and I are sitting here now wondering if we even want to bother with dinner tonight. I'm ready for bed. The workweek is staring me in the face and I'm not ready. Have I whined enough? I swear I'm not unhappy, just tired. I'd give my right arm for 5 hour work days (like Saturday) instead of 8.5. Mickey has been amazing - actually cleaning and cooking! I have no reasons to complain. So I should probably shut up. That said, we're moving forward and starting to plan a 40th anniversary trip. I'm crossing my fingers that they'll grant me unpaid leave. As a part-time employee I don't accrue vacation days, so I guess we'll see how all of that plays out. Yikes.

I'm boring myself sick with this post and I can't imagine that it's been at all interesting or entertaining to read. I'll wait a couple of days and try to post something worth reading. There have been amusing incidents at the library, but I hesitate to write about any of it because this is a small town and my name is on the blog. I'll have to find my way with that. I certainly wouldn't name names or embarrass anyone. Oh well, I'm off to ready my clothes for work and pack a lunch. I'll try to keep a Mary frame of mind. No one I work with would get that reference.

I'm so old.

*sigh* Until next time - stay safe, stay well. Sending out loads of love. XOXO, Nancy

[aprillikesthings]

TIME FOR MORE SHE-RA

s1 ep7 let's do this

note: it's 9:14pm let's see how long a single episode takes me ahaha

Y'know, I was going to make a joke about how this is so my aesthetic it's painful, but interestingly enough the colors shifted wildly between my screenshot and adding it to the post. Have they been doing this the whole time and I hadn't noticed??? In Netflix it looks far closer to periwinkle??? fascinating

It's always been a little odd to me that nobody carries ANYTHING (other than magical swords I guess) in this show. And I get why (too much of a pain to animate) but it does mean they have to just sleep on the ground without a blanket or pillow or anything.

Meanwhile I can't even leave my house without at least a messenger bag

I ALWAYS WONDER THIS

okay so I forgot about Mystacor being the place all the sorcerers hang out and it's also mystical vacation land

SIDE NOTE a small thing that frustrates me is how little the animators agree on Glimmer's body size/shape. She's intended to be chubby (and not in an hourglass-y way) but it feels like a lot of the animators just refused to do it. There's a lot of scenes where she looks closer to my size, and I wear a small/medium in American clothes. Harrumph.

I was just about to make a joke about how Adora is gonna struggle to relax

Like gooey stuff in Miyazaki/Ghibli movies, but with a much lower budget

I can't find a gif but you know what I mean

Listen. I know I'm literally here for the gay. I know the show was made by people familiar with fandom, who put all that subtext in there on purpose and knew we'd read into it. But I still did a little kicky-feet wiggle thing when Catra's eyes widened at the mention of Adora's name.

TBH I think this is actually why I keep falling for animated media. You always know that whatever is on the screen was done on purpose.

Like, this shot from Arcane:

This is right after Vi sees Caitlyn visibly flirting with another woman; earlier Vi had asked Caitlyn "men or women?" and Caitlyn had wiggled out of the question.

So Vi's face here does an "Ah, so women it is then. NICE. Shit, I might have a chance." in like, a second and a half.

And it was all very intentional!! The people at Fortiche animation have SAID this. We're supposed to read it that way!!

I dunno. Maybe I'm still just traumatized from my time in the BBC Sherlock fandom. Are we supposed to read it as romantic or not? Because so many shots seemed full of intentional subtext (and I'm not even getting into TJLC shit, just stuff we ALL NOTICED after THE FIRST SEASON, even fucking normies noticed it) and then the showrunners spent the next few years telling us we were just imagining it.

Whereas if Caitlyn looks at Vi's lips before looking back up at her eyes, and we read into that, it's because we were supposed to. If Catra looks worried about Adora after Shadow Weaver mentions her, that's on purpose.

UGH.

Anyway.

Catra (trying to sound bored): sooooo gotta go find Adora again, got it Shadow Weaver: Nuh-uh. You get to just stand outside as guard, because you're a worthless piece of shit. [Unspoken: And also so Hordak doesn't know I'm disobeying him. :) ] Shadow Weaver: *creates a ginormous monster* Catra: yikes Shadow Weaver: GTFO OR GET HIT

Glimmer keeps trying to get out things like the tour and the eclipse ceremony and it's like your Auntie is right GIRL YOU CAN PUT UP WITH IT FOR ONCE it's all new to Adora c'mon

sorry I just get excited when they make places look a bit like medieval cathedrals

Side note did you know that, at least in England that I'm aware of, none of those medieval cathedrals have foundations. None. None of them. There's one in England that's built over a GRAVEL FILLED LAKE and if the water level gets too low the place is just gonna collapse. (They have fancy water gauges and plans for diverting water if necessary.) Anyway that's part of why so many of them charge admission for non-religious stuff. Keeping those 800-year-old super tall stone and glass buildings with NO FOUNDATIONS standing up is hella expensive. D:

Here's the twitter thread where I learned some of this information, btw

NOPE.

Anyway this is why part of the plot of my fic is related to how Adora and Catra have never had a healthy model for any kind of relationship, family or otherwise.

Oh I forgot Shadow Weaver's previous name. Anyway I still think her and Castaspella were together at some point

Adora's expression here ahahaha

Adora has ADHD but I already said that lol, and yeah I love the beach and I still need something to *do* even if it's just endlessly walking back and forth

also how does a floating island have a beach? anyway (edit: they're clouds that SOUND like water)

Yes this moment gets ruined immediately but I love it when they throw a bone to other ships, okay

YES???? DUH

also I get that they did the top on Bow so they didn't have to draw nipples and make him the only one that's topless but also we can imagine it's covering top surgery scars, trans!Bow headcanons are always winning

"So, mom stuff?" "No, commanding officer stuff. ...And mom stuff."

'cause yeah that's not awful or anything

but also now I'm imagining Shadow Weaver trying to explain periods

AAHGHHG Bow is the best. "sounds like she did a number on you. But you're away from her now. Did you want to do something else? Maybe find something to hit??" he's trying so hard to be supportive

The fact that Shadow Weaver knows how to make that monster have Catra's voice, and that she knew that was Adora's weak spot...

And this is in Hordak's, saying basically "the entire rebellion will end up dead and it'll be your fault :)"

Shadow Weaver knows exactly how to psychologically torture Adora.

Okay so Castaspella says She-Ra destroyed "a thousand years of sacred writings" and I'm just like...okay that implies Etheria has an actual religion??

And yeah that's definitely still Shadow Weaver

Also I watched the screenshot change color as I posted it. Gyahhhh.

A mutual pointed out in her live-tweeting of s5 that you could write an entire essay on the meaning of face-touching in this show. It's the one thing Shadow Weaver ever seems to do to intentionally imply affection/caring, but she only ever does it with manipulative, cruel intent, and there are multiple times I think that both Adora and Catra lean into it (even if only for a second) out of hope/relief.

(something something about baby monkeys clinging to dolls that shock them rather than have no mother at all)

(don't look up that experiment if you don't know what I'm talking about as it's incredibly upsetting, but the gist is that children will seek affection from a parental figure when hurt, even if said parent is the one hurting them, because seeking out a parent/caregiver when hurt is instinctual to infants and children. And if knowing that explains any part of your childhood I am so, so sorry)

Yeah that's straight out of the Standard Abuser's Guidebook

"Nobody cares about you or loves you or understands you the way I do. You're just like me, not them."

More face-touching!!

oh I don't like the implications here at ALL

[EDIT: she wasn't actually going to do that. She just wants Adora under her thumb to control her. it's the kind of bullshit abusers promise the moment they think you might leave. "I'll be better this time!"]

I'm not screen-shotting Adora's little speech of triumph but oh man it's GREAT and cathartic to watch

"Adora, enough of this. Come home." ....didn't Catra use nearly those words exactly

Yeah I'm glad they included that line

Bow: I'm so sorry we didn't believe you :( Adora: No, that's what Shadow Weaver does--manipulates people and pushes them apart

That's some nice awareness

And then yeah we get a moment of Catra scheming.

OKAY it's 10:44pm. Hour and a half! For twenty minutes of TV! But to be fair I did make/eat toast and play with the cat (he walked in and then jumped into the laundry basket, of course I had to parade around the house with him in there).

11:24pm: shit this post has been sitting here for half an hour bc I was actually writing on the fic lolol

[woodsfae]

Babylon 5 s02e10 Gropos S02 Table of Contents • previous episode

"No traffic, no complaints, no noise. Traitors, troublemakers, and ambassadors all tucked snugly in their little beds. I love this time of night."

Well, now something's definitely going to happen, Ivanova. You've jinxed it!

*jumpgate opens. 6 ships inbound.*

Is General Richard Franklin related to Doctor Stephen Franklin? Aaaand that was answered very quickly. Dr Franklin's dad has arrived with 25,000 soldiers that Sheridan needs to find berths for. I don't even want to imagine. And the influx! It'll be standing room only in every single crack and crevice of the place.

From a Trekkie point of view, rotating shifts of soldiers getting downtime on the station while the rest do whatever on the newly spacious ships seems like a better idea than "find 25,000 beds right now."

General Franklin: "I had an Alfredo Garibaldi under my command during the Dilgar invasion. Excellent soldier." Garibaldi: "That was my dad." General Franklin: *raises an eyebrow* "So much for genetics."

sick burn, dude. One of those lines that startles a laugh out of me. B5 has a lot of those. Way, way more surprise-laugh lines than any other show I can think of.

Yikes. This classified mission sounds like extremely bad news, and very classic USA imperialism interfering. Yeah, go on to a sovereign planet and wipe out one of the factions waging civil war at the request of one of the factions. That way always lies long term stability, duh.

But Sheridan was on the planet Akdor before? Earth has been around in the armed conflicts already, apparently.

Babylon 5 didn't already have enough armaments to defend against a warship? Sheridan not wanting the weapons is sorta understandable. But I'd rather have enough weaponry to deter anyone from poking holes in the walls between me and explosive decompression. (space fascinates and terrifies me)

The Franklin sisters sound impressive!

Bummer. General Franklin is xenophobic, humanocentric, and really invested in Stephen Franklin using his xenobiology experience to make xenobiological weapons.

Yeah I could never be in the military. The first time someone called me a mutant maggot I'd be court martialed for my response.

Seriously, rotate the soldiers in and out for leave. Cramming them all on board at once is too much.

The emotionalism of these parent-child relationship plots is kinda lost on me. My thoughts are "talking hasn't worked so far! Why bother beating your head against a brick wall. Not worth it."

Susan's advice to Stephen is far superior for relationships continuing to exist, that's for sure.

Lay hands on the Minbari Ambassador? Smart.

Shit, I want this soldier lady on my side no matter what. Also, excellent fight choreography.

What is up with all the mutant insults? Rubs me the wrong way. But dehumanization usually does.

Stephen Franklin: *tries to apologize* Dad Franklin: "I didn't raise you to say things you didn't mean!"

See? So much less of a headache to just stop trying to talk to unreasonable people.

Sheridan is an amazing peacekeeper. It often does take a third party to talk the emotionally riled up people around. And he's very good at it.

Garibaldi: "So, uh... what would you like to see first?" Durman: "Good restaurant." Garibaldi: "Okay." Durman: "Then your quarters."

get it, girl.

Welch is a good wingman, hah.

You're way, way overthinking it Garibaldi. Making this casual hookup real weird. Dodger/Durman's actor is spectacular. The way she pitches her voice low and loud when talking in public, but goes high when angry in private is some a+ acting.

Awww, father-son bonding.

I am enjoying the B5 staff guy Keffer hanging out with the two gropos. But how do you end up a 30 yr infantry person?? this guy does not look 50, and I can't imagine being a 50 year old grunt in the military, holy shit, rough life.

Kliest just wants to be a dick. Gonna be a racist idiot and try to assault the Minbari ambassador, then gonna start shit with the one B5 staff with a huge, fearless vet at his back?

Rando gropo: "Battle call!"

🎵 I'm gonna swing from the chandelier, from the chandelier 🎵

hilarious. Bar fight!

"And when I get back, I promise, we'll talk."

soooo Dad Franklin is definitely dying on Akdor, yeah?

There are some things on B5 that are just wonderful, aspirational, and a little depressing in their current relevance. Today's example: the black reporter, Tanya Wallace, with dreadlocks, respected as a journalist.

Dad Franklin made it, but Dodger died? :( And also Keffer's two bunkmate buddies. Very sad days.

Fitting for the episode to end right after panning across the lives lost so Earth can have a base closer to Narn and Centauri.

Pretty entertaining and enjoyable as far as Garibaldi episodes! And I appreciated the Family Franklin highlight, too!

next episode

[rainee-da]

🍀 Your First "I Love You" [1]

CHARACTER ❥ Doom 🪞 / Famin 🃏 / Epidem 🍮

WARNING ❥ Spoilers!!!! and maybe might be a bit OOC, depending on how you interpreted the character. Fluff PG-13

D O O M 🪞

He paused instantly, sword hanging in the air as he stuck in position for a while.

Poor him, his brain is buffering for a moment. You saying this in the middle of his training didn't help either.

Please help him lower his hand, he's going to give himself cramps with all the weight of those swords hanging in the air.

"I'm sorry dear, I think I misheard your words before... can you repeat that to me again?"

You repeat your words, declaring your love again. This time he heard it all, and his brain is buffering again lol.

Not for long though, because after this he let out a gentle sigh, and his usually stoic face morphed into a gentle one. A small, genuine smile plastered on his face.

He settles his sword to the side and approaches you slowly, hand reaching out to touch your face. To map your expression to ingrain it in his mind.

He has long accepted his blindness. But you made him wish he had a set of eyes to be able to see your lovely expression.

"It's nice to know such loveliness still exists in my dark world. Thank you, dear... and I love you too."

After this, he'll speak to you more lovingly and express his love more bolder than he did previously. 

However, he'll still need to be mindful and keep it minimum when in public. Especially around his father because yikes.

He loves and appreciates you so much, though he sometimes doesn't express it clearly. But he's willing to make an effort, so you will believe that it's true when he says that he feels the same way.

F A M I N 🎪

"That's nice," is all he said. As he stares at you with a blank face.

If you didn't know any better, you may thought that he didn't care.

But if you've been with him for a while, you'll notice that there's a drastic reaction in his body language.

A twitch at the corner of the eye, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, with palms opening and closing, with head slowly tilting to the side. For his usual expressionless self, this is a highly emotional response coming from him.

He can be more expressive though when he's angry... but you wouldn't want to do that.

"Say it again," his words come out thicker than usual as he grabs your shoulder with both of his hands, leaning closer with face still seemingly devoid of emotion.

Be prepared to say "I love you" repeatedly because he'll make you do that for a while lol.

He can feel his heart skip a beat as you stimulate it by adding variations of phrases and sentences to your confession.

Although you didn't need to do that. Even if you just say the classic three-word confession thousands of times, he wouldn't get bored of it.

Out of everything in the world, you're the only person in his life that he simply can't imagine getting tired of.

After he is satisfied, he'll simply hum and turn away. Deadass leaving you alone like yo what the fuc-

But oh? If you manage to take a glimpse, you'll notice that the tip of his ears goes rosy as he disappears into the corner.

Be prepared to find random gifts at the side of your bed for a while. Don't scream either, though I know you would want to.

Man has the same emotional capacity as a cat after all.

E P I D E M 🍮

He dropped his spoon (wand-spoon?) with a loud clatter. His head snapped to look into your eyes, and his mouth formed into a silent 'o' as he stared at you in silence.

"Is this for real? Are you for real, love?" he asked you gingerly, hand raised to caress your cheek.

He's so flabbergasted that he didn't even realize that he also dropped his pudding. That's gonna be your future problem lol

You repeated your confession to his face. The 'o' shape formed in his mouth goes bigger as he stares at you in an awkward silence.

All of a sudden, he lunges towards you and gives you a big hug. You couldn't see his face, but you could still feel his happiness by the way he hummed a happy note, swinging your body side by side.

He leans back to look at your face, and now you can see that his face which is usually so composed and calm except when he's having a pudding withdrawal is decorated with a warm smile as he stares at you with eyes full of love.

He leans forward and peppers your cheek with a kiss, mumbling about how soft and fluffy your cheeks are. A giggle escaped from his mouth when you yelped at the way he bit into your cheek.

He can't help it! After all, you're just like a pudding! You're so soft and fluffy and adorable like- his mind will go into a tangent as he internally has cuteness aggression.

"I was waiting for you to say that, I'm so happy my love! Like a pudding, you just know how to make my heart flutter with joy!"

Talking about pudding, now you gotta deal with his temper tantrum as soon as he realizes that he dropped his pudding. Hopefully, you brought him an extra one.

Oh yeah, he loves you too :) after pudding though... maybe?

I run into a writers block when writing this and I really need to sleep, so I'll make one for Delisaster, Domina, and Cell War at a later time (sooner if the reaction is good). This is my first headcanon I made in this blog. I've read Mashle before but just fallen in love with it after watching the anime. It fuels the delulu that has long died down inside of me lololol-

I really can't wait for Devil's Quintuplet (Mash's brother) to appear in the next season hopefully so I created this specifically for them. They need some love too!

I really hope you like it~ have a good day! 🍀

[sonkitty]

The Pocket Trick Touch #1 - Triple Part 1 - Between Building Windows

This post was last updated 01/27/2024.

Touch #1 (Episode 2; Triple Part 1; Between Windows)

The first of these pocket touches appears in episode 2 as Crowley is walking by himself and before Nina will notice him.

Alright, let's take a look at this thing brighter and slower, much like my post about the Tied Hands. I'll be reusing a lot of the images from that post since it helps to slow things down and give a closer look at given moments.

The first thing to get out of the way is that this touch introduces us to the concept of the Tied Hands, the Rainbow Connection, and that a Rainbow Connection Reflection can flip the mirror of the Tied Hands.

Yikes.

Since that's a lot to cover, even beyond what was already noted in the Basics, here are some links:

Tied Hands

The Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection

...

Alright, so we covered those things.

What else does the GIF tell us?

It tells us that Crowley possibly pocketed some black bars, a bush, some concrete, a long green bar that's like a frame with nothing to frame, a sign, a garbage bin, and maybe even his own pants if we use our imaginations. All we have to do is watch his left arm move, what his left hand digits are up to, the rest of his body, the background of the scene, and just let those imaginations run wild.

But let's reign it in a bit because maybe he didn't do those things since we're just imagining them, and we're getting ahead of ourselves. Only some of these make a faint appearance within an apparel-to-car pocket at the start of The Door Trick in episode 6.

I am logging a lot of details further below in the hopes to give myself a chance at better figuring out this massive puzzle. My chance is slim, but I still want it.

...

When the scene initially starts, the right thumb is visible, and it's not clear just yet that the other four fingers are in the pocket. The left hand is partly visible but not showing its fingers yet. The watch is visible.

The part of his thumb that is visible is touching over the snake belt while being touched under the vest.

Due to how everything is positioned, visually, with a brightened screenshot to make things more apparent, there is a pocket between the vest part that is touching the thumb, the belt part that is being touched by the thumb, and the left front side of the jacket that is definitely not touching the thumb.

Since the belt is connected to Crowley's head, let's go look at Crowley's actual head in the first frame. There is a pocket of light due to the shadows on his left cheek and then more light outside the shadowy border of that pocket of light. That is...right, okay, fine, that's something we can just note. This group of puzzles is so silly.

Even still, the inner part of the front of his jacket's hanging out along the side edge of all of that, making sure it is not touching the pants.

One tie strand is attached to the right side of the jacket, and it's the one that will be more obviously following along with the left hand soon. The clasp that is its thumb joint is conveniently hidden at that exact moment. This tie strand will act as if linked to the jacket as well.

The other strand is down and looks strongly aligned to the left lapel of Crowley's jacket. The top clasp before the tassel tip even seems to start at about that point. Despite that, it's also generally over the edge of the vest. The vest is what this tie strand will act is if it is linked to.

Behind Crowley is a window that is to the camera's right. The window's right window frame is aligned to be be just to the right of Crowley's left arm. It's an edge, a threshold, to alert us that this touch is going to be putting Crowley between Building Windows. That is the designated Pocket Frame. He's going to do certain things before reaching the physical threshold of the next window that credit him the touch within this Pocket Frame.

Ahead of Crowley and to the camera's left is a door. This touch is the first one, so it's not chained to past touches. As such, we start from the basic understanding that thresholds are doors. He is going to be in front of a threshold eventually that seems to allow him to do certain things once his fingertips are more clearly visible.

But not yet.

Crowley moves in a way that eventually his left hand becomes more clear and on screen.

Here is a brightened GIF for further assistance:

With that one little movement, a few things happened.

The tassel tip on the right side of the jacket disappeared behind that part of the jacket. The left thumb tip did not become visible and is more understood to be behind the left hand. The right thumb disappeared behind the watch.

Quite early in the overall movement, the snake belt disappeared behind the left front of Crowley's jacket. Let's check this Belt Head thing. Did anything happen to that pocket of light on Crowley's actual cheek on his actual head? Yes. It fully disappeared at the point of stronger clarity for this part of the cut with the watch and the fingers. You have got to be kidding me. What is that supposed to mean? Well, we're still going to see that belt without that pocket of light once the belt is seen again.

So, with that pocket between the vest, belt, and jacket gone, instead there is a large shadowy area within the jacket itself except the an edge where the vest meets the shirt that's presumably supposed to be yet another pocket. Likewise the left jacket sleeve has its own little hole indicating a pocket by the watch.

All four "thumbs" are off screen so that we can look at four fingers that aren't showing their fingertips yet. Those fingers just so happen to be in the area the jacket was avoiding with the area between the ring finger and pinky finger visually over the edge of the pants.

It is probably not a coincidence that there's some sunlight hitting the edge of the hand and pinky along with the edge of the ring finger, the two fingers at that edge.

Based on what happens, that's like marking the target for the illusionary touch that is going to happen on the pants with the index and middle fingers eventually. It will be passed along when the time is right. For now, with no magical left thumb joint vertex touch, that's what this thing seems to do.

Pocket touches use lighting as clues, and a little light seems to tell us one of the black bars behind Crowley is broken. These black bars are in front of a bush. I haven't figured out how or why that might be relevant to anything anywhere.

Time to move again.

This time we're starting with a GIF to see some movement:

And now a specific brightened screenshot from near the end of what the GIF itself is showing:

Crowley moves some more such that the left hand is not clear, but we should certainly stop at this point because something important is clear anyway.

The left thumb became visible even if blurry.

The blurry thumb joint is now by the edge of the jacket. In fact, it's by where the lower edge of the bottom jacket meets the edge of the back that's receiving the sunlight. This part is a blurred vertex touch from the left thumb joint to the jacket. Is it an actual touch? It doesn't look like it is, but everything's responding as if the illusionary nature of it doesn't matter.

Blurs in Earthly Objects mean something like pass or share. We are going to see a different type of vertex later involving the thumb joint, so this part is, again, like marking a target for what will eventually happen.

Both the actual hand thumbs are on screen and now so are the tie tassel tips. The strand that was on Crowley's right side of the jacket—that's going to follow along with the left hand—is still on that part of the jacket. Its tassel clasp is at the edge of where the sleeve meets the jacket. Yes, we found another edge, which makes sense because its parallel hand has the thumb joint on an edge.

Meanwhile, for the right hand, it's doing edgy stuff as well. That thumb joint is now touching the edge of the vest, which is touching the edge of the snake head of the belt. The tip of that vest is positioned between the right thumb joint and the snake belt to give us yet another vertex.

The part of the jacket that was along the side edge of so much happening is now showing its outer part, and it too is at the edge of something. Visually, it is at the edge of a nearby garbage bin.

Edges! Edges everywhere! Now with vertices!

The vest now also has a visual pocket between itself and the snake belt over part of the shirt.

That tie strand linked with the right hand is hanging out over on the right side of the vest, and its tip just so happens to be along the edge of the vest and the shadowed area in the jacket. Shadows seem to allow leniency, so it must be doing its job of keeping that tip at an edge when it needs to be.

Are there any other edges that we missed? Probably. For instance, the left front outer edge of the jacket is covering the left pocket, probably at its edge. Crowley's left side of his vest has its tip slightly past the bottom edge of the snake belt. It is partly touching a belt loop too.

The top tips of Crowley's lapels of his jacket are just past the edges of that part of the jacket., Fascinating.

Not long before this vertex touch took place, a jacket sleeve pocket formed. There was a little space between the left elbow of the jacket sleeve and the torso of the jacket itself. That space grew and is still present in the vertex touch itself.

I'm all out of energy looking for edges so instead am going to bring up that it is now more clear that the right hand fingers are in the pocket.

As for lighting, the left hand has lighting up until the index finger, and yeah, there's going to be something with the index finger soon. The left sleeve and left back area of the jacket are also receiving light.

During this pivotal moment, Crowley's partly in front of that first door mentioned earlier. That door is acting like permission for this part to initiate.

Let's move on.

Here is the earlier GIF again since the above screenshot is where that GIF ends.

In the next more clear shot of movement, part of the left hand is partly off-screen. It seems to cut off at where the middle phalanges would be visible for the fingers and keeping the proximal phalanges visible. The thumb does not have a middle phalanx so is basically cut off from showing a thumb tip. As such, the tie strand corresponding to the left hand has decided that its tassel tip should shift its tip off the jacket to be partly over the vest since the left thumb tip is indeed part of what has become off-screen.

The tie strand linked with the right hand is on the right side of the vest and just along the inner middle border of that vest. A tiny bit of its tip has ventured over to the left side. The tips of both sides of the vest seem to be content along the lower edge of the snake belt. The right tip that was at the snake belt's edge has shifted a little more to Crowley's left, so it's not directly on the edge anymore. It also has more shadow over its own right side.

The left jacket sleeve pocket that formed has opened. It is no longer fully closed in within the jacket, though it is fully closed in between the jacket, Crowley's left hand, and the bottom of the screen.

Indeed, everything probably still matters, but a lot of edge-concerned items are no longer at their concerned edges.

The first door behind Crowley has not been passed yet. In fact, if we take an extra look, we can see that Crowley's shoulder aligns itself with a panel edge on that door.

Onward.

GIF for some extra assistance:

Crowley moves some more, and we're going to stop when the left hand becomes clear again, including those pivotal fingertips.

They have at last revealed themselves perhaps thanks to the blurred thumb from earlier.

Since so much happened before, let's take a look.

An overhead light to the first door is shown on screen. It is to the camera's right. While it is not directly above Crowley's head, we can tell that it is above his head. Eventually, Crowley is going to turn his head, and that might be significant in making sure an overhead is assuredly to the left side of his actual head.

Meanwhile, another light is more visible on the camera's left. This light is not above Crowley's head, but it is above where the snake belt buckle would be, if it were visible. The lighting in pocket touches is quite intentional, so we should take note.

The left thumb is not visible at all. The right thumb is only partly visible, but its thumb tip is obscured by the left hand. In fact, the part of the hand obscuring it is where the left thumb joint should be, if we could actually see it. With both thumb tips and both thumb joints not visible, the tassels and the clasps have hidden themselves too. The belt is not visible.

The left jacket sleeve pocket is gone.

Is there an edge we should concern ourselves with?

Yes, indeed. We have some lighting to help remind us of where to look. Three fingers are visually over the right pant leg. They are the middle finger, ring finger, and pinky finger. The index finger just so happens to be not over the pants with them. Instead it's visually over the edge of some edge of the building behind Crowley. Now we have to look at the index fingertip and the middle fingertip because do you know what is visually in between those? The right edge of the front of Crowley's pants! The pass from earlier is done.

The first door behind Crowley is still partly visible as behind him. He has not finished passing it yet and reached the next door.

I want to move on again, so we will.

This time we're stopping when the left hand is blurry again because of a thumb joint thing again.

Crowley has turned his head. Things have changed.

The overhead light is now given a chance to be to the left of his left side of his head.

From the Tied Hands post, relevant enough to be re-stated here:

There is a pocket between Crowley's left hand, the watch, the left jacket sleeve, and the left jacket side-to-back area. It's a lot like our previous vertex touch but not quite. This pocket is special because the left jacket sleeve is more evident to be over the edge of that back area of the jacket. Their connection is not direct edge-to-edge, or close enough anyway, like the earlier version. One edge extends over the other. Other parts of the apparel were more evenly lined up with edges before too, but here, they are not trying so hard. Due to the lack of a helpful manual for The Pocket Trick and the need to use my imagination with word play, we are calling this thing an over-the-rainbow touch.

End quote.

This part was where the tied hands' mirror flipped with a Rainbow Connection Reflection.

A human using pockets has become visible. They are facing the window pane. I have only one guess on their significance. They are a clue for the touch point of the Pocket Frame. I'll wait to explain then.

Let's move on.

These frames are more clear, so I'm using my best judgment on the next place to stop.

I've chosen the frame where the line between the left thumb and the rest of the hand is no longer visible.

The tie strand on the right part of the jacket is still on the right part of the jacket, mostly. The clasp is at the edge of a lower part of the right lapel of Crowley's jacket. The tassel has swung enough so that its tip is over the right side of the vest. The right thumb tip is still visible, even if only slightly.

The tie strand on the vest has also shifted over, now finding itself on the left part of the vest instead of the right. Its clasp and some of its tip is still visible, but it takes only 1 more frame for that to change. That clasp meets the edge of the bottom of the left lapel. Given what's happening with what is and is not visible of the left thumb, this makes sense—only if you catch that the strands swapped with the joint movement and mirror flip.

Crowley's right front of his jacket is covering up a good amount of space over the right thumb, leaving at least its thumb tip visible. That jacket's shadow also seems to be over the snake belt head some. The belt itself is visible, especially more of what's between the back of the snake head up until the left bottom tip of the vest. That first door can no longer be seen. We are not going to see those fingers do any more illusionary touches.

The lighting is suggesting we pay attention Crowley's left side in general, so we will.

Moving on.

After some more movement, I've decided the next clear shot where we should stop is after Crowley's head has moved even more, and the left hand itself has hit stronger clarity.

The edge of the left thumb is quite likely behind the index finger. The tassels are really sneaky here. They switch so that the strand tied to the right hand gets hidden, and the strand tied to the left hand comes out again. It's easy to miss if you're just looking for the more key frames and not watching them do that. I speak from experience. So, is our visible tie strand at an edge? Yeah, go find the shadow of the jacket by the vest, and the tip of that tassel is probably at the edge of the right side of the vest and the jacket, which is positioned in just the right way to allow it.

It is really hard to tell with the dark clothes, but there does appear to be a vertex touch between the little bit of left thumb visible with the belt and vest.

Much like earlier, there is now a pocket between the vest and the belt itself. Likewise, the pocket of the left jacket sleeve near the watch is visible.

The index finger is not showing its tip. Both it and the middle finger are showing part of their middle phalanges with the index finger showing more. The ring and pinky fingers are not showing their middle phalanges.

Some of the snake head on the belt is visible with a little hidden on each side of that head but not much.

Now let's look for more edges.

The left jacket sleeve is layered over the more general left side of the jacket itself. At the exact point where their edges meet is that same garbage can from earlier, just its other edge from a front view of it.

We have found another vertex.

There's also a little stand of some sign that's near the elbow. I can't figure out why that's important or going to be important beyond maybe it was a clue to the Rainbow Connection Reflection earlier due to framing and timing. If I go back a few frames, I can lighting hinting there is tiny unseen pocket between the jacket and the sleeve where they meet. Going over that bit again and again, it looks like the right thumb joint is at the vertex of the vest and the jacket. However, the edge of that vest is ever so slightly over the edge of that right thumb. So, there's still more left to happen.

Crowley is in front of the second door for this part.

The right pants pocket just passed the edge of some visual thing on the building behind it.

We are so, so close to being done.

Okay, Crowley has moved, and things happened.

GIF for some assistance. This one actually covers movement from after the mirror flipped:

What happened?

So much happened.

The most crucial thing to know is that the Pocket Frame touch point happened. I will show it later. For now, we'll go over numerous other things.

The thumb and fingers of the left hand have collectively moved themselves out of the way and are no longer on screen. In the process, that left thumb joint hit that same vertex area it had before, or was very close to doing so.

Early in the movement, both tassels revealed themselves together, swapping their tips back to what they were before the tip tied to the right hand was hidden. Soon after, there was a frame of both on the vest. The left tie strand was more closely aligned with the left part of the jacket though, from the clasp down, not touching the edge. Above the clasp, it does look aligned with the edge of the lapel. The right tie strand, meanwhile, was more close to the inner part of the right side of the jacket and the vest. The actual left hand was mostly off-screen.

Only one frame after those tassels were on the vest, the watch met with the edge of the light on Crowley's left side of his jacket that was just behind that hand.

At that same time, both tassel tips started to leave the vest and swung so that their tips moved over to an area of the right front of the jacket, not quite reaching any edges.

Generally, the actions by the tie strands indicate those hands were being untied. I think that is the case because I think they re-tie themselves when encountering Nina soon.

That right bottom vest edge moved itself even further onto the thumb while making sure to not touch the thumb tip. It landed about the center of that thumb before deciding to go back up and then touch the edge of the thumb. When it was centered along the thumb, the tie strands were centered along the vest itself. The tie strand for the left hand on the left was a little further down than the right. Interestingly, that matches the camera positions of the visible hand parts. The left actual hand is further down than the right actual hand.

Once that vest edge finally touched that right thumb edge, the touch finished.

By that point, Crowley is just outside the edge of the next window.

The human mentioned earlier is providing a clue to further confirm that this touch is at the Pocket Frame touch point. The human's reflection is in the upper right torso area of a suit jacket. If you look toward the upper right torso area of Crowley, you can see that the tip of his right lapel is lined up with an edge of the structure behind him. It is an edge that is not at the second door or the second window, but a large frame around that second door. This frame sticks out and connects to the overall outside from of the window.

The overhead light above the first door is slightly visible. It will no longer be visible in the next video frame.

We have cues that the Pocket Frame has reached its touch point even if Crowley's going to pass that window frame edge with just a few frames left.

Here is that point:

After passing by the human using pockets and facing the window pane, the car hit another red alert to inform us that Orange in the Rainbow Connection is ready.

Yet another thing that happened, as if we didn't have enough to deal with, was that still another human entered the scene. That human is blurry, and their clothing, presumably a shirt or something like that, is blurry. That clothing has multiple colors. The purple is the hardest to find, but otherwise, this piece of clothing is the rainbow. The colors are not in the order of a rainbow, but they are there. There is red, orange, green, yellow, purple, and blue. They are also using a phone. Phones show up again, and if they have a specific function or meaning within this Trick, it is beyond me.

Another human entered the cut behind the rainbow one.

I am going to talk about another human not mentioned earlier. Way, way back at the start of the scene for this touch, all the way to the camera's right was a human holding a red purse. That human was never fully seen. They disappeared fully from the camera's view before the first vertex touch and re-appeared as the fingertips were reaching clarity for their illusionary touch. Once Crowley reached the presumed exact frame of that touch, the human had not passed the window frame of the first window.

Their red purse was at least a clue about the Rainbow Connection. Beyond that, they might be yet another clue because there are several humans, especially women, with bags in The Door Trick that seem to act as a chain reference to this one and probably others in other touches.

That's it for this post.

The Pocket Trick - Basics

[sweetswesf]

A Long Overdue Update...And This One's a Juicy One...Pt. 2

Continued from Pt. 1

Tumblr did me DIRTY and deleted everything I wrote for my part 2. Talking about I CRASHED the editor. *EYEROLL!!!*

I'm angryyyyyyyy I had so much there...Sigh...I'm already pretty stressed...This has happened before...let's start again...

I woke up to an email. Got let go. Company was sad they had to make the decision to lay off 13% of the workforce. I was angry, sad. Stayed in bed for hours and didn't work out, but did get up to do some self care, eat (real meals...a lot!), and wash the dishes. I took a nap, woke up, and realized I was laid off and just felt so low. I also kept telling myself, "I hope I don't stay this way forever. The road ahead is not clear and I have no clue how these next few months will go. I can see how people turn to vices or spiral out of control. I will be okay, but for many, bad situations like this are extremely hard to recover from. I can't imagine anything worse. I can't judge anyone either." Homelessness did cross my mind as an irrational fear, but I could see how something like that could happen for many without opportunity. Please just trying to get it right. Thank God I have support around me, but a lot of people don't. I've always known that but empathized a bit more that day. One bad day leading to a pattern of bad habits. I felt sick.

I was one of two Black software engineers, to my knowledge, that got let go, and one of two engineers on my team that got let go. The other engineers in both situations were on leave. It hurt. It felt like a rug was ripped out from underneath me. This was the only tech company I have worked at, the company I have been at for over the past 6 years, and joined when I was 22 (I'm now 29). I was overwhelmed. So much so, I ate the remaining pack of red vines on my nightstand for breakfast.

I caught myself comparing myself and even secretly hoped I wasn't the only one in my apprenticeship cohort that was let go. It was true though. I hope my force to be positive and protect my ego during this time doesn't make me miss out on my lesson. Maybe this was supposed to happen. Maybe I just wasn't ready. Maybe my next spot will be better.

Back in high school I was so sad I didn't get into UCLA, but USC was where I belonged the whole time. Back when I was about to start my bootcamp, I was mad my manager did not let me take a sabbatical and was mad when I found out he was let go literally MONTHS after I decided to leave. But had I not gone by that time, who's to say I would have made the transition because the pandemic came the next year and trying to make a transition at that time would have been SO MUCH HARDER. I could still be in FINANCE! YIKES!

···

GIF by zemenipearls

A lot of people came to my help though. I thought of everything I should do. Moving back home was not an option: no one has a room for me and I haven't heard from my parents or grandfather in so long. My grandmother, although shady when she calls, has been the only one with well wishes when she does. Ehh. I felt like my life was very hard. I thought of moving away but everything would be just as expensive as staying with moving costs and such and the time suck it would be and I kind of need to keep as many things as I can control stagnant so I can focus. I thought of taking some time off but to do what? Mope & watch YouTube? Not smart to take a big financial trip, and traveling ANYWHERE is a big financial trip at this point with rent this high and no promise of income after mid-January 2023. Maybe it'll serve as motivation TO go somewhere WHEN I get hired. I made schedule and figured this was probably for my best. I didn't think I'd be one and thought back to all the warnings a paranoid colleague of mine had about us potentially being on the chopping block. We both were. Layoffs like these are not always due to performance, but I can't help but feel that that was a part of my story too. Maybe I just was not ready. I had been working a LOT but finally getting to a place where I was catching my rhythm and told myself to just stay focused.

This post was longer and had more passion and detail but Tumblr has me HOT. Maybe it was not meant to be posted. I thought of getting a sugar daddy for a hot second. I thought of pursuing acting, being a rap tour manager, taking my app to a start up accelerator. Listen to the advice of haters who prompted me with, "Are you going to do something completely different?" BITCH YOU WISH!!! I know I just expressed my thoughts of probably doing something else, but coming from one of the haters, it felt like hate. She been a confirmed hater for a while. My internship ended around the time when people got laid off in 2020, so she thought I was one until I came back. When I came back, her post in the channel was, "How are people being able to come back so quickly?" People weren't getting hired back, she didn't know the logistics of my internship, so it looked like I was let go and hired back. I called her out publicly in the same channel. She's attempted at friendship pretty poorly since then. She suggested we even hang out when she NEVER has offered but has had many opportunities to in the past. "You should write down what you REALLY want to do," came from an old lady in my network. Girl bye. I'm on this mission and I'm going to get it.

But I did have thoughts. Maybe this was a sign that I need to do something else. But I told myself, "No, that's the devil." I like how this is challenging me. Who it's forcing me to become. I feel like it is in line with what I believe God's purpose for my life is and that's to heal and help heal. Build generational wealth. Be a lender, not a borrower. Help others. Work hard but live comfortably. I had improved. It's been challenging. It's forced me to think about my health more and has drawn me close to him. But I'll keep listening and hope that a bit of pride isn't wrapped up in my decision to keep going along this path too. Sometimes I feel like there is SOO much for me to learn and will I thrive elsewhere and not just be SURVIVING which I feel like I have been doing my whole career? Do I love it? No, but I am learning a lot, and it's allowed me to have multiple investments and streams of income...kinda, on that last point lol. I now only have 1 stream and that stream is pennies, but I'll get another stream back.soon..

The next day, a friend reached out who was also laid off but not at my company and recommended me for a role. He said helping people helps him get out of his funk. That was sweet of him. I am reminded that his cousin sexually assaulted me on his couch two Summers ago, but he didn't know about it, it wasn't his fault, and I wasn't going to remind him.

It encouraged me though. I updated my resume, scheduled some calls with some recruiters, put a weekly check-in meeting on the calendar with some folks who were also laid off, and put my name on the list recruiting circulates to help laid off folks find placements sooner. This could have been worse! I could have been fired solo. That would have been even more embarrassing. But if I want to get to a place of TRULY not caring what people think, I have to shake the ego off. I even scheduled a meeting with an old teammate who's at the company that's on the top of my list of places I want to be. I didn't know that she had left and I didn't know she was there. We've had a FEW encounters in the past. She wanted to help when I was an apprentice. We had a weird encounter then, and I think it was partially due to my ego. Kinda regretting that now. I don't know if she peeped game. We've been cordial since. She also used to be on my team when I started with my most recent team. We haven't gotten close, but maybe all these run ins where just a set up for this next big step. It's also a reminder that, you never know when you'll need someone on your side, and burn bridges if you must, yes, but do so strategically. Not everyone has to know how you TRULY feel. I'm trying to take my own advice and remain humble. Learn from my past mistakes. Whatever will be will be...I'm hoping it's in God's plans and that what I'm hoping to come true will and that it's the best thing for me in God's eyes. Here are the things I want to master and my proposed schedule plan:

Going to focus on algoexpert, interview cake, codewars, and leetcode.

So in addition to these learning goals, I'm going to stay on my health goals and get down to my desired weight. I'll take some time off before my next role starts. I can't imagine I'll take some time off before then. This is all that's on my mind. I'll get some time to focus on the things I wanted to learn but just didn't have time to at work. I was out of balance and hopefully this allows me to get back on track. If I have to dip into savings, so be it. Thank God I have them. I can't eat out as much or buy as much, but I don't need much these days anyway. I feel like I'm pretty good on what I have. Not too dazzled by the restaurant options in SF. I've tried a lot and can wait a little while. At least I can mope and not take care of myself on the days it is really hard instead of having to be a person in front of a spouse or children or have to find a job before I get kicked out of the country because it's against my visa like others who are not citizens like me. Can't travel as much, but I will again soon. This won't be forever. It just pushes those goals out a bit to achieve some others that God wants me to focus on. And it'll bring me even closer to him. Focusing on the blessings. Trying to at least. It will be a rollercoaster, but it will make me better. Part of the fear is that I have tried to master these concepts before but also get fatigued. And maybe that's because I've consistently had the promise of a job where that wouldn't be tested...but it is now. So I will have to become a different person to elevate. Maybe spend less time on these social media sites. Eat better. Stay hydrated. I'm already so tired but I have no choice but to do it. Failure or giving up is not an option here.

Also, RIP Takeoff. This week was ROUGH! This year has been rough. But tomorrow is a new day...Although my life has genuinely felt rough, I have accomplished a lot, am much more independent, am much more confident, have been in my apartment solo now for a year, and I'm still here and of pretty good health.

I hope to keep this thing updated more often on this journey in hopes that it is helpful to you. I hope to do it weekly. I hope you'll tune in, read, comment, share. I'll leave you with some videos that encouraged me (even though I don't really love Dave Chappelle):

Y'all be blessed!

[minilpark]

hi :) i hope you're not too overwhelmed with all the TGM ship requests! may i request a top gun ship? please and thank you!!

pronouns: she/her

personality: i'm quiet and reserved when i don't really know people, but when i open up, i can be quite loud and enthusiastic. i love making the people i care about laugh. i'll even make it my mission when am with friends who are introverted and on the quieter side. i'd say i'm a bit of a nerd in a sense that i like to learn fun, useless, facts, but more importantly, i like to learn things to affect change. i was a poli sci major in undergrad and am currently in grad school pursing an MA (and possibly will pursue a PhD but who knows). i gotta say, i'm terrible at setting boundaries but i'm working on it. it's a problem bc i often feel the need to help my friends with stuff but it gets draining. totally a secret but when i'm alone, i absolutely do karaoke as if i'm a famous singer and will sometimes imagine what my life would be life if i was a celebrity (yikes that sounds shallow). and although embarrassing to admit, i sometimes imagine myself doing interviews with talk-show hosts lmaoo

interests: big marvel/mcu fan; avid NBA fan

hobbies: singing; guitar; piano; painting; embroidering; reading; writing; gardening

likes: staying home; enjoying food and drinks; watching TV shows and movies; quick-witted people; meaningful and vulnerable conversations

dislikes: bigots; clear injustices; close-minded people; camping (i'm very much a city gal)

pet peeves: having a know-it-all attitude and a my-way-or-the-highway attitude because damn is it frustrating to converse with someone like that; people who can't communicate because helloooo, i can't read your mind!

ideal date: nothing in particular, as long as i'm spending it with the right person (lol corny i know)

favourite music, colour, season: i think my music taste is all over the place, but i'd say i mostly listen to pop, R&B, hip hop, and jazz. my favourite colour, hands down, is yellow. and lastly, my favourite season is fall because are you kidding? when the leaves change colours, it's gorgeous.

~ 🐞 anon (i hope this emoji isn't already taken haha)

lmao i may be getting a smidgen overwhelmed with ship requests, but it's fine! thank you for asking for one though! also, you are such a cool person i love your vibes.

anyways, you and fanboy would be great for each other.

mickey isn't necessarily an outgoing person, but he isn't a complete introvert either. when you're struggling to set boundaries, he will definitely help you with them and remind you that you deserve a break from taking care of your friends and to focus on yourself for once too. i've mentioned this multiple times, but i definitely think mickey is an actual nerd and fanboy about things. you two would definitely geek out over marvel content or anything else you two are interested in. imagine going to whatever new marvel movie comes out in the theatres on the premier weekend! anyways, besides this, i can definitely imagine the both of you staying home one night, eating some kinda takeout food, having drinks, and a karaoke night singing to all kinds of songs since you two enjoy similar music genres.