#/but it was neat because it could have videos and photos i remember

[damallarky]

What I Liked About Dragon Age: The Veilguard

I keep seeing extremely negetive comments about Veilguard, even nearly two months after the game has been released, and that is insane to me.

Now, I'll admit that I had my own gripes about the game. But I have decided that I am not going to focus soley on the negatives. That makes me and everyone around me angry and miserable and that is not why I am on Tumblr.com. I am here for the memes and to talk about Dragon Age man.

So, I have decided to be the change I want to see in the world and make a non-exhaustive list of all of the things that I LIKED about Veilguard.

The Companions: I loved them. I loved their story arcs. I think they were well-written and very Dragon Age-y. They reminded me of the DA:O crew in a good way. I also can see what Bioware meant when they talked about the found family vibes.

The Art Style: This art style is my favorite out of all of the Dragon Age games. I've always prefered a more styalized look, because it's fun but mostly because it ages SO MUCH BETTER than a more realistic style in video games. Games like Zelda, Fable, etc still look pretty good today because they all have a more styalized look. At least in my opinion.

The Animation: This could go along with the art style, but I wanted to make it a seperate category. The animation in Veilguard was fantastic. The facial expressions on the characters were so well done. Ghila'nain moved like a Little Nightmares character which was great. Characters actually held onto their mugs!

The Voice Acting: Every Bioware game I've ever played has fantastic voice acting though. *shrugs*

The Seige of Weisshaupt: Was an absolutley fantastic moment in the game. Having a terrifying face hover over you while you desperately try to fight your way through the hordes of Darkspawn? Being led to safety by some random, badass kid? Davrin killing a Darkspawn's cousin last week? Lucanis not being able to stab a cloud? Perfection.

Being Able to Pet All the Cats and Dogs (and Assan): This speaks for itself tbh.

The Ossuary: Dude, walking into that funky underwater prison and seeing a massive aquatic creature swim by you was such a neat moment. I really enjoyed that area. That's also where we get to meet Lucanis and Spite, so yay!

The Fade Fish Tank: For similar reasons to above. I just think fish are cool ok? I also spent a little more time than I probably should have watching the fish swim back and forth.

Photo Mode: I love when games have a photo mode and I LOVED Veilguard's photo mode. I also love all of the photos that the community have been taking.

The Combat: The combat was really fun. I don't remember having as much fun with combat in a Dragon Age game as I had with Veilguard. You can tell the team put a lot of time and effort into it and it shows.

The Fact That We Got a Game At All: Look. After ten years of development hell, I wouldn't have been surprised if the game got scrapped. Yet somehow, despite the odds, the team at Bioware managed to deliver a finished game despite the odds stacked against them. Is it perfect? No. But it's here and it's real and out there for us to either love it or hate it despite the many times Bioware could have thrown in the towel.

Feel free to add to this list or talk about the things you liked about the game in the replies section! I know Veilguard has it's issues. Don't let the bad get in the way of the good.

[vro0m]

Height fact checking - 2023 edition

Dear all, do you remember this?

Back in 2022, when the only good grill the grid video came out, I decided to factcheck the height the drivers claimed to be with this grid photo of them through complicated and absurd calculations.

The whole thing was kinda shit because they were walking and had fluffy hair in the wind and it was highly inaccurate.

Well.

It's time for round 2!

It took me hours to correct the perspective the best I could. Then I applied the same logic than last time which was fiding a px/cm ratio based on one of the drivers to infer the others' height. It got complicated. I had to do 2 series of measures because the ones on the platform are further away than the ones at the front. You also want to pick someone towards the middle of the photo as a benchmark because they're least subject to lense deformation but for the lower rank it meant not seeing their feet and in the upper rank, I saw on another photo angle that Guanyu was standing back compared to the others. In the end, I used Valtteri and Max as benchmarks. I used lines based on the platform and relative position of the drivers to get an idea of where their feet were and get a base to measure from.

Here's what I found :

You can tell I did not correct the perspective well enough because there are consistent error trends as you move further from the middle, although the green lines tell you that the platform measures pretty much the same thing from one side to the other. The results are way more accurate than last time but it's still just a silly little fun thing so don't take it too seriously!

Detailed comments under the cut :

Max was used as a benchmark so I have no comments about that. Sergio measures 173cm as he said. Last time I found him to be slightly taller than that. Once again, I argue that Seb is wrong, whatever he thinks, Charles is indeed 180cm.

On the platform, you can tell Guanyu was indeed standing back as I said, because he appears smaller than he is and what I found last time. In 2022, Lando seemed to be much shorter than he actually is but he had a weird position. It seems correct this time. Of course Piastri wasn't there last year. I found online he's listed as measuring 178cm. I found 177 which is not far off. Valtteri was the benchmark so no comments about that. In 2022 he was positioned on one of the side which means more probability of him being in a weird perspective which probably explains the off measurement.

Now that's were it starts to get tricky. On the ground rank, George and Lewis seem to have accurate heights. In 2022, Lewis was the benchmark which explains the neat 174cm. In 2023 he is ~174cm EVEN THOUGH he's standing on his tippy toes. Yep. He is. If you look carefully at his right foot, you can see his heel is not on the ground. Silly short king.

But on the upper rank, we start to see an error trend. Lance is the right height, he seemed way taller in 2022 but it might just be down to fluffy hair. Alonso is a weird case because he's 1cm taller than he claims AND that was also the case in 2022. He might just be wrong about how tall he is lol. And then we see both Alpha Tauri boys are pretty much 1cm taller than they claim. That's probably down to perspective issues. It's kinda weird that they only affect the top rank and not the bottom rank but then again, Nyck and Yuki are further left than George and Lewis so it might be because of that.

And here we have issues.

Bottom rank : Carlos +1.5 ; Pierre + 2.75, Este + 1.25. In the video, one of the tall drivers said the tall drivers have terrible posture. My bet is if Este was standing straight his measurement would be even more off and we could see a clear trend of people gaining cm the more to the right of the picture they are. That's down to me not correcting well enough despite my efforts rather than them lying. How do I know?

Because the same thing happened on the top rank : Hulkenberg +1 ; Magnussen +2 ; Alex +2 ; Sargeant +1.5. We find ourselves with a similar case of people gradually gaining centimetres the further right they are. Sargeant is a weird anomaly. Either

he's shorter than he claims to be and the difference is closer to 2 or 2.5,

he's standing closer to the camera than the others are, but it's difficult to say because we can't see Alex's feet although when I look at the Haas boys feet compared to his it doesn't really seem to be the case

something is really really weird with the perspective being warped like ⬇️ this even though the lines around them are straight? 🤔 Seems weird to me.

Anyway here's a summary of the errors trends :

Conclusion : the height claims are boringly mostly accurate.

The end ✨

[hikennosabo]

#tristampparty day 2, episode 2: the running man

day 2 of @tristampparty!! i have less to say about this episode than the first one so hopefully this will be a shorter post than yesterday LOL

iirc this is 98 knives's seiyuu on the radio, right?!!! i am only about halfway through my jp 98 watch and can't recognize him by ear (yet) but i think it's very neat that the original seiyuus have cameos :')

also vash keeping the photo with him What If I Ate Rocks

he is such a kicked puppy of a man

why does roberto say revenge. what does he mean. what does he know. what has he figured out from knowing vash for maybe like a few hours. or is he just throwing that out there without realizing how close he is to the truth. partially, anyway. he didn't guess the savior complex part.

i'm not entirely sure what meryl means by honor...? but money is a pretty normal reason to want a plant, as we've seen and as we'll continue to see.

i like how meryl has a fear of bugs... i can relate lol. i think this character trait comes from the manga when she was kidnapped by zazie and was grossed out? i think here it also serves to reinforce her being sheltered, still unfamiliar with the world at large since worms are everywhere--WAIT HOLD ON.

PAUSE. ZOOM. ENHANCE.

RAI-DEI SPOTTED?!?!??!?! this rewatch is becoming an I Spy game with the wanted posters, jfc.

man i'm so glad i finally downloaded tristamp so i can appreciate the visuals without the crunchiness of streaming video... i can't do the animation justice with just screenshots but i love watching vash scamper around like a... i don't know. he scampers like a cockroach in 98, but this is giving a different vibe. like a... something. like a creature.

i also want to take a second to appreciate how gorgeous the backgrounds are, like,

i loooove the backgrounds, it looks like... maybe a mix of markers and colored pencil... i love the detail and the colors are so pleasing. this is such a gorgeous anime to look at, i don't know how anyone could possibly say it looks bad without them just blindly hating it because it's 3dcg. god i'm getting so distracted looking at the backgrounds that i'm missing the action AND the subtitles LOL

wasn't there a post somewhere that actually calculated how much a bullet is worth based on this information. i don't remember what conclusion it came to. but i'm thinking either food is expensive (tbh, likely) or bullets are inexpensive and vash is just poor (also likely). also it's funny that the dub changed this to donuts. ...where are the donuts at in tristamp anyway...

roberto lmao 😭😭😭😭😭 i guess that's one way to guarantee it doesn't spill

roberto up until this point has acted like meryl is dragging him along unwillingly, but here he's the one telling meryl to get in the car so they can get a move on, lol. yeah yeah we all already know he's actually a softie and that he really cares underneath his aloof demeanor.

which brings us to this scene... i don't want to say that he has vash "all figured out" because obviously he doesn't, but he's got SOME of vash figured out at least. definitely more than meryl atp. he knows vash is running from knives... i wonder how this conversation would have gone if they weren't interrupted.

yeah i don't really have that much to say about this ep, relatively speaking... i don't have any deep thoughts about the nebraskas, they're just comic relief villains anyway, i don't care about them that much, even though tristamp kind of tries to make us care a little bit by the end of this episode...

next episode is gonna be a doozy though. ohohohohohoho.

[xplrvibes]

what would you say ARE sam and colby's top 3 most intense videos? like... the ones with the most compelling evidence that can't be easily debunked? i agree with you that the new conjuring videos have some things about them that create room for doubt, but i REALLY like sam and colby's content overall and i think the two of them together are just so charming. so i wanted to see what you consider are their strongest videos. :,)

(I am so sorry for the delay in answering this - I actually had a tough time in deciding what my #3 was going to be and it sent me down a rabbit whole for a few days, so this has been sitting in my drafts while I figured it out!)

So, to preface my answer: I only took their haunted content into account for this because I think that is more of what you were looking for. However, I am of the opinion that some of their non-haunted content (the xplr days and 25x25 in particular) could probably match the intensity of any of their haunted videos, just in different ways...so I am more than happy to do a separate post diving into that content as well, if you want.

When I think intensity of their haunted content, I think of the videos that have moments that feel so charged that you can almost feel the tension, anxiety, discomfort, what-have-you through the screen. There are a lot of videos that have really great moments with neat evidence or great banter with them, but they may not necessarily have that energy to them, or they may have a lot of evidence that is debunkable (ex: Bower's Mansion - fantastic video, huge omg! moment in it, but that omg! moment is very hotly contested and highly debated to this day, so this one doesn't make this list). So, this list - to me, anyway, and please everyone remember that whole thing about opinions - is the best of the best as far as making you feel super tense through the screen while watching.

The Night We Talked to Demons | REAL Conjuring House (2021):

Yes, the og Conjuring video. This remains, to this day, the only haunted video they ever made that made me feel wildly uncomfortable the whole way through. I remember when this came out, everyone was talking about how it felt so different and how it made so many people uneasy and lowkey afraid - and not like, jumpscare, haunted hayride afraid, but that kind of afraid that hits you in bed at 3am sometimes where you swear there's someone watching you from the closet. Yes, they may have been misrepresenting the house and the fact of the story (Ken Burns level of historians, our boys are not), but the genuine thrum of fear and anxiety that ran throughout that whole video was real and unsettling.

Evidence wise, this is kind of the start of a new era for them - this is where they learned the Estes Method, after all. And some of the answers they were getting during the Method? Still creepy to hear, to this day. This is also where they caught the photo of the little boy on the thermal camera.

Amanda is in this, and is being very Amanda-like, yes, but this was early on and it's kind of easy to ignore her more..dubious traits.

This one is just a great watch if you want to be genuinely spooked, feel genuinely afraid for them and what they are doing, and you don't want any yelling streamers or weird wacky games to kind of stop the whole natural flow of things. As far as their 3 trips to the Conjuring is concerned, I am of the opinion that the first trip remains the best, in a lot of ways.

2. Our Haunted Night at Villisca Axe Murder House (2021):

The intensity with this one really comes along with the tragic tale of this house itself, and how that story will make you feel. It's an ugly, sad story and the horrible feeling from the crime that took place in that house is baked into the walls.

The whole place just has an eerie vibe of being wrong somehow, and that really comes across in this video. They tell the story of the house and the people who were murdered in it very well, and very respectfully, and their discomfort with the subject matter comes through as well and all works together to just create a tense, tense atmosphere for the entirety of the video.

Seriously, this video is an exercise in intense vibes.

The evidence in this video was pretty solid - not a crazy amount, but what they did get wasn't really controversial or easily debunkable so that's always a plus.

It's just the house. The house just feels...off. And that off-ness carries a tension and intensity with it that never goes away, through the whole video.

3. Ok, so this is where I struggled greatly, and eventually I gave up and decided that number 3 was going to have to be a 3-way tie, because all of these videos have elements of intensity to them that I feel need to be included. So, without further ado:

3a. A Horrifying Encounter at Black Swan Estate (2022):

The intensity in this video really starts at about 27 minutes in, when the boys discover what a "psychomanteum" is and subsequently put themselves into creepy ass trances. Colby leaning forward with those giant ass night vision pupils of his and muttering, "the way...that they would," for no fucking reason creeps me out to this day.

3b. Our Terrifying Encounter at Most Haunted Hotel (2022):

OK, this one almost didn't make the list because it's less bad intense, and more good intense, if that makes sense. It's a really good watch (and an underrated one, quite honestly), but nothing overly scary happens.

Colby gets busy with a ghost lady and the way it all kind of goes down is super interesting, cause it's almost like he goes into a whole other state of being. Again, nothing bad about this - in fact, he talks about how good the feeling is the entire time. But, it's really strange and intense nonetheless.

3c. The Night We'll Never Forget | Haunted Hotel Del Coronado (2021):

This one almost didn't make the list because of Amanda's shenanigans, straight up.

But the building is fucking creepy. It's trippy, it's weird, it's unsettling...and as they're going through the halls, it starts to make you feel like you're on some kind of trip to another dimension. Again, this is another one where the vibes of the building were so off and so intense, that it kind of seeps through the screen and sets the tone for the whole episode. The intensity with this one is the backdrop, not necessarily the evidence and the content itself.

[angeloparker]

finally have some free time, so a little summation of panda at baltimore celebfest 6:

I met Sonny first. I got so emotional even going up to the table that she immediately looked at my face and went “DO YOU WANT A HUG!?” when I passed by later she yelled about my shoes.

Met Tully next and he was very kind and sweet. We talked about his old matches and wrestling in general and he was just very actively listening and very nice.

Then I ran over to Arn and Brock. They had a combo special with a really cool poster with both of them to sign, a picture with Arn, a picture with Brock and a picture with both. Brock seemed genuinely surprised that I was excited to meet him and watched his Dark/Elevation matches and was sincerely grateful which means I have collected him as a favorite. Arn seemed really pleased by this as well and he was so sweet making sure I was like comfortable holding his old belt and all after he heard me offhandedly mention having bad shoulders to the promoter.

Julia was next, she had a line at this point so I tried to not waste her time but she was very sweet. (More on coming back to her later).

Kip was next, we talked for a LONG time about the BritWrestling promotions and he recommended me more stuff to watch and his character development in AEW. He was chuffed when I said I’d made the Kip in a Box music video. We talked about wrestling in general and he took a picture of my Cutler tracksuit to send Brandon and we talked about how good Brandon is because he’s so in character with everything he does in the ring.

Penelope remembered me from October. She was so nice and her and Vertvixen asked me about my shoes. Vert and Viva Van actually both wrote about my shoes on my 8x10 and Vert shared my IG photo with the caption “The coolest girl with the coolest shoes.”

I met Fred Rosser next. I wanted to tell him how much he meant to me going as far back as when he was Darren Young and it was a very different time to be an out wrestler especially someplace like the E. I told him how much he meant to me and that I never miss an NJPW match and he walked around the table to hug me. We talked for a LONG time and when he heard I was going to Capital Collision got really excited and told me the passion I had for wrestling gave him goosebumps and he gave me another hug. He also promptly followed me on Twitter after I shared my photo and reminded me to tell him my Cap Collision seat when it gets closer so he could say hi.

Swung back around to Julia’s table to meet Brian Cage who was doing other stuff. I congratulated her on her engagement and she gave me lots of details on like behind the scenes stuff that already happened that felt neat. Like how they walked her HOB turn, what her original plans were, and filming Rhodes to the Top.

Brian was actually really sweet, was happy I watched Lucha Underground and noticed somethings about his matches I appreciate especially after Brandon once talked about it.

Tony Schiavone was also a total sweetheart. Trey Miguel and I talked about Impact but also my outfit.

[suyooo]

Making BIG SIF2 (Part 1)

If you have been following the SIF series for a while, you might have seen "Hop Hop With Everyone ♪ Big SIF" (jp. "Minna de Pyonpyon ♪ Deka Sukufesu") before. It was an attraction made by Klab for the original SIF, which appeared a few times at the SIF Festival locations and Sunshine City. And as the name implies, it's big SIF. You play as a team of nine, one for each of the nine spots, and have to tap a big button with your feet or jump on it to hit the notes on your spot:

However, it has not been seen since 2019. I guess there's a certain virus to blame, and with the original SIF kind of not existing anymore and Klab being gone, we don't really know what is happening to it.

It is now 2023. SIF 2 has released, but it is not big.

Time to fix that.

What follows is me writing along while I am working on this project. If you want to find out how this works or how you could make one yourself, read on, otherwise, the TL;DR is I have one working switch out of nine so far (the one that has a cable sticking out of it) and there's a little video of it working at the bottom of the post :)

In June 2022, I ran a little contest about trying to play SIF with things you shouldn't play SIF with, inspired by the legendary sausage/soldier game video. There were guinea pigs and dogs, apples and garlic, a tatacon and a shower head, and it was a lot of fun. In the lead-up to the contest, BIG SIF obviously came up as a related topic, along with some thoughts about how one could build it themselves. I think big buttons are just a really cool way to play games in general. Big buttons are fun. I've made a pop'n' controller setup with 5 Donkey Konga bongo controllers before so you could really slap them down, and that was neat, too.

I actually did some brainstorming about how to approach a DIY BIG SIF around that time, but I ended up never pulling the trigger to start working on it. I did remember about those plans around the start of this year though, since conventions and such were starting to come back. (Obviously ignoring D*komi, which is more of a safety hazard than a convention at this point.) Maybe BIG SIF could be something to bring to these, as a mini-event? Even if not, I can play it locally with others - and you could play it with just three people too, it doesn't need to be nine players...

I'm just making excuses, really. The truth is simply I think it looks cool and I want to try making one.

There's obviously a lot of details to deal with, but what I like to do is focus on the most important questions first. In this case, to make the project possible, I need to find out: - How do I build a foot switch? - How do I control the game with external switches?

Anything else - like how to connect everything, making things look nice or easier to use - can come later, because those parts are not vital. Those two questions are what I need to answer to make sure the project is possible in the first place. I'm obviously not the first one with the idea of making a DIY BIG SIF, obviously, so in case you want to see another - one I found was made by members of the Rikkyo University Love Live! Club (which sounds extremely cool), with some pictures shown here.

The foot switch method I ended up choosing is really simple: it works by having strips of copper tape touch. Put it on two surfaces facing each other, put an air gap between them so they don't have contact, but can bend and touch each other when there's a weight on the button. This way, you don't need to deal with any sensors, it's just a simple electric circuit. In fact, now that I am writing this down and looking at the photos again, I think that's also the method the Rikkyo club's BIG SIF used? I think I can see copper tape stuck onto what seems like acrylic plates, and some light foam between to keep them seperated when there's no weight on them. (Again, I'm not the first to have any of these ideas. Also, their controller probably works with SIF 2, too, so I'm not the first one on that, either. I just want to feel fancy and write about the setup I'm building)

Though, in order to make the entire controller thing easier to transport, I didn't want to go with a solid material like that. There was one thing I found that seemed like it would fit the bill: making switches out of shelf liner. That's what makes up the two surfaces, and anti-slip rug pads can be cut to create the air gap. That was the perfect approach: it results in an extremely flat button, the materials are light and flexible so I could just roll the switches up for transport, they're easy to clean after use, and also, I had more than enough at home that I could use for the project! I basically already had everything I needed - copper tape, shelf liner and rug pads. Of course, the fact that it keeps the project cheap is a nice bonus, but the main thing that makes me happy about it is that I really like recycling old stuff that's not in use anymore.

I went with the same tape layouting approach as the original shelf liner mat switch: each surface has the tape arranged in parallel, with one of them rotated 90 degrees so they form a grid, and the rug pad has holes in the locations where they cross over each other. The width of the copper tape I had just perfectly worked out, which was pure luck and 0% planning. There was a different problem though - my tape required a lot of soldering. The copper tape didn't have conductive adhesive, so I couldn't just stick tape on top of tape and have it connect electrically, it needed a seperate connection. If you want to make one of these yourself, get copper tape with conductive adhesive. It will save you so much work, oh god.

Doing the solder job also revealed another problem that I probably should have seen coming a mile away - the shelf liner melts in the places where I take too much time. (If you ever play on my setup, make sure to check the bottom of the switch to see how badly I messed up on the one you're using! (Actually, please don't.)) Instead of trying to get good at soldering, I just added another piece to the stack: another layer of shelf liner that is just decorative and can hide my mistakes. This one I had to purchase, but that's alright because I found some colored shelf liner that matches the three SIF attributes!! That's worth it, right!??

Some snap caps on the bottom shelf liner and the decorative top will be holding everything together, so I can take it apart again to repair or clean the switches easily after use. In general, the buttons built like this should be fairly resilient - there's nothing to break apart through excessive force, and I can replace single layers of each switch in case something does end up failing. The main thing I'm worried about is the solder joints, and how they'll hold up when I roll up the switches or otherwise transport them.

And with that, we have our first foot switch. Wow! I only did a little bit of multimeter poking to confirm it works at this point. Note that the sensitivity of the pad can also be somewhat calibrated by simply making the holes in the rug pad bigger or smaller. I think I overdid it a little - even if the switch is nice and sensitive enough to even register the smallest of tippy toe taps, it sometimes gets stuck in the pressed state for a bit when releasing after standing on it. And that's really bad, since hold notes in the game will require perfect timing on the releases as well. So, I'll probably redo that layer, and just make the holes one row smaller to have the perfect sensitivity.

Now, it's time to get the controller side of the project going, to see whether I can actually play a game with it.

The easy choice here was to simply get a board made for DIY arcade controller panels. These are meant to be easily connected to buttons and joysticks you purchase seperately, and are recognized by any device you plug them into as a normal gamepad. But in practice, they don't care about what you wire to them, as long as it acts as a button - like the floor switch I just built! I get an easy way to convert them into input, without any need to write custom code, or to deal with debouncing the signal or anything. It just works!

The next step was to connect the board to my phone. That's because another thing I want to do is run the game as intended, no modified app or emulation or anything. I just really want to not deal with all those Android emulators and any lag that could possibly cause, or in case any hosts have reservations about using emulated games (and also emulators are just a pain on Linux in the first place). But even with that as a limitation, this part was surprisingly painless! The board just connects through a USB-A to USB-C adapter, it's recognized as a generic gamepad as mentioned above, and the Key Mapper app for Android simply lets you map all of the inputs to taps on the screen. That's all that's needed!

So far, only one button is finished, but it is connected and it works - which means I can already play the most important part of the game...

... the timing calibration.

On the next part of Making BIG SIF2: doing the same thing, but eight more times. Also maybe I'll write about something else too, just so the post is not just a picture of eight more circles.

update: the second part is over here!

[risu5waffles]

Two fives for a TEN, mate?

Woof. Time. Fast. You know the drill. Seriously, tho', this is just getting foolish.

Gosh, but i just fell in love wiv the presentation on this one. The choice of colours is top notch, all the little creatures, the pulled, warped dimensions on things. i love that Keith put a puppet of himself in there, and it has appropriate piercings. Seriously, this was both my jam and my toast. There's a bit around the middle where something feels a little wonky wiv the platforming, but i don't know if that's a translation issue, or a skill one. Aside from that, there isn't going to be much here, challenge-wise, that will give most players pause. It's just a nice, cruisey trip through Keith's imagination, and i'm here for it.

Yoooo! This was such a nice bit of LBP1 kit to stumble across, let me tell you. i love the physics-based mechanisms we had from that era, even if they are prone to breaking in LBP3 (hell, let's be honest, they were prone to breaking back then, too, just a little less so). i love that the level references a "great points drought" a few years prior, and i wish i could remember the community at that time wiv enough granularity to know what they're talking about. My only real quibble here, is there isn't a really good chance to see the engine once it's running. They put a camera on it, but i think i backed out of it too quickly. i wish there'd been, like, a viewing platform? 'cause it's really neat. At least we get to see it powering up.

There are some nice ideas here, and i love the presentation, but it really is overlong, and the loop is just a bit too clever for its own good. Plus, it's variously broken in LBP3. That's, you know, a problem. The lighting takes a pretty nasty hit; none of the dark areas are supposed to be quite as dark as they are for us (i found someone else's play through, it's included in the video description). But the big issue is there's a whole set of platforms that are supposed to be emitted where we got stuck. Wivout them, you just can't make the jump to the sponge bit you need to progress. It's a real shame, too, because it's pretty close to the end of the level.

Eh, we talked about this before, and it still is what it is.

This one's pretty well done for one of the standard LBP2 archetypal styles. It does feel a touch slow moving and fiddly, but the "sunrise" bit at the end was nice, and i appreciated all of the semi-secrets in there. It's weird, but there's a sticker switch toward the end, that doesn't pull up a corresponding sticker? i played through a couple of times to see if it was an Ace level prize or something, but i got nothing. i wonder if it was something from a DLC i don't have. As much as i love sticker switches, and i do love sticker switches quite a bit, that was always one of their downsides. If players haven't got the sticker, well, they're kinda fucked. i know that was a way to make special secret areas for friends, which is, honestly, a pretty neat idea. Just hope no one deletes community photos ever.

Oh, oh dear Entropy, the charm just oozes from every pore of this level, and i love it. The Wobblebots are such a cute little take on the standard LBP-style patrolling enemy. Y'all know how i feel about those. But the presentation of space, and just the layout of the gameplay, it's all so very good. We tried playing another of Chicoleunis' levels on stream, but it looks to be broken in LBP3, and that's just such a gosh darn shame.

The environmental design is so nice in this one! The track is really solid, as well, tho' i can't say that it's the best fit. Was still really nice to listen to. Nothing too standout in the gameplay, but it keeps you moving well enough, and there's not anything here that should be a point of frustration, so that's nice. You know, i saw the Q in the creator's name, and got so excited that my brainmeats glossed over for a bit that their name actually starts wiv O. Where're all my Q creators at?! Seriously, i'm backlogged up to episode 204, and we still have yet to see a single creator whose name starts wiv Q. That seems statistically unlikely, and i hate it.

i wasn't 100% sold on the material choices in this one, and there are a few bits where you can get hung up behind thin layer bits and wind up getting killed, but this was still a pretty fun one in the end, and it felt like it was just about the perfect length for what it was trying to do. It's a good 'un.

Big and chonky, and a pretty fun go, although there are definitely a few points that could be polished. i don't know if this was a translation issue, or if the creator just didn't account for it, but there's a bit where you're riding up an elevator, and it looks like you should be able to jump to a (maybe?) secret area to the left. Except if you do that, it's real easy to get yourself killed. Which isn't the problem. The problem is the elevator never comes back down, and the last checkpoint is before it, so you basically softlock the level. It's deep enough into the level i can't imagine a lot of players going back in. i tried 4 or 5times for the archive, before i just had to throw my hands up and say "it's not worth it. i just don't have the time." It's a shame, 'cause there's a whole lot after that point players will miss if they just bounce. i guess... don't jump off that elevator? Also, i don't think i managed to catch the magic mouth, but that owl is kinda a douche. Just a real jerk.

This one was really quite cool. Definitely tricky from a pure gameplay standpoint, but not too hard; at least not if you're just going for the goal. Some of those beetles were a real pain in the butt, and i just said nuts to that. Lighting and material choices were really solid as well. Definitely one i feel like i could recommend to folx.

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

So, that's the that. Coming up on 200 Archive entries, and that's all kinds of wild. When i started the series, i wasn't really sure daily entries was going to be where it was at, and yet, here we are.

Life is life. There are parts that could be better, but my brainmeats seem to have calmed down from "housefire" levels since our little bout of excitement last month. i dunno, maybe they're burned themselves out a bit, which, you know, is kind of fine by me? Not being able to feel the extremes means i get to be buffered from the lows, but it also means i don't really feel the highs either, and i do hate that.

Level building has slowed down a little. i'm trying to think of a list of small things that need doing, so i can focus on those and keep moving forward until i have it in me to tackle the last couple of real chonky bits. Gee, it's just like life in meatspace. Folx, i love y'all, and i gotta say, i'm getting a bit sick of metaphor.

Anyhoot, yeah. Y'all have a wonderful day, and keep yourselves safe! i'm rooting for you over here on this side of the world!

[simbelmyne20niniel]

So we both were exhausted. Alright, I'll try to remember to send you the photos after Christmas!

I still didn't listen to "God Only Knows", I'm stuck at their second album now and "Surf Jam" just got stuck in my head - that sweet drum intro, I am melting 🫠 I'll give a listen to "God Only Knows" tho!

Haha, in RuPaul's Drag Race in the best drag outfit ever! He was a true beast on drums and I love "Who Are You" video, especially the parts where Keith is just goofing around - the end of it tho is a peak. Pete wants a high five and Keith slaps his hand so hard that Pete yelps 😂

This video shows how generous he was, it was a great thing he bought them instruments. That's one of a few times we could see a good side of Keith in media 💜

He was right on that tho, she says, I can't hahahahahahahaha! Keith's shitposting on social media would be the best kind of shitpost - The Who would be known for the shitpost not their music anymore!

I didn't know Green Day took inspiration from "Tommy" when they were working on "American idiot" album, that's such a neat piece of info.

John really has difficult chords on bass. My bestie is learning how to play bass and she tries to play The Who's songs. She's cursing a lot while doing so, she told me it's very difficult, plus the rhythm is very fast.

"Roger's voice and hair are cultural heritage of rock" - truer words had never been spoken!

Alright, about the fic - it's published on AO3. Go in the movie section, go in Tommy tag and once you spot fic that's called "His Sweet Candy" then that's the one. Fair warning tho: it's explicit, read the tags before you click on it, I don't know how much you're okay with things in fiction, but I hope it won't make you uncomfortable because I would love to get some comments! And please, don't think of me as weird when you see it 🙏

I love your choice of their favorite songs!

Oh Gosh, believe me, I imagined myself dancing with David when I saw this scene for the first time!

NO WAY you like Rick Allen this much, he's one of my favorite drummers! I absolutely love his work on "High 'N' Dry", the song "No No No" might be my favorite of them mainly because of the guitars and Rick's drumming.

NO WAY (again) that you like Jim this much! He is the reason why I'm in the classic rock fandom. I heard "People Are Strange" randomly on spotify and it literally took the first three notes and his voice and I was swept off my feet! I also love his lyrics, his poems, he is a legend really 💜 Love that moodboard!

As for other bands - that we didn't talk about yet, I think - it would be:

The Jam - really new to them. I actually bought their album at random, a compilation of their songs and I fell in love, they sound so good and the drummer? Please, he's GOOD

Rainbow - Cozy freaking Powell, do I even need to say more?

Pink Floyd - I love their vibe. I need to be in a mood to listen to them, but "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is my favorite (the whole song, whole 25 minutes)

The Police - Stewart Copeland, he's the entire reason why I listen to them. Heard "Roxanne" randomly, heard his drumming and thought: "This drumming is GOOD" and here I am, having his as my third favorite drummer

Wings - I listen to them mainly because of Paul McCartney, but not to every album. I have three favorites and atop all of them is "Red Rose Speedway". I love each song that is on it, this album is so calm 💜 But there's also "Back to The Egg" and "Rockestra Theme" and John Bonham drums there, I cannot walk past that

The Beatles - I have to be in a mood to listen to them, but generally I listen to them because of Ringo - I even have a small plushie of him! There's something good about his drumming, something very catchy (hence why I listen to his solo music as well)

Led Zeppelin - John Bonham, second favorite drummer. They sound absolutely amazing, but I'm being me and I listen to drums, probably destroying my hearing slowly

What are your thoughts on the bands that I've mentioned? Feel free to skip on the ones we've talked about or the ones you don't know!

Sorry!! I thought I had published my answer hahahaahha, but here it is!!! I hope that your friend gets to master all those chords!!! "And please, don't think of me as weird when you see it" WHAT???!!! Do not worry about it, I know it is fiction, and plus.... we are all weird in our own way!!! 

Yes, RICK ALLEN!!! I love that he got in the band thanks to his mom. If I ever have children of my own, I want to be that supportive!! Sometimes I think he doesn't get the recognition he should. There is a Rolling Stones Magazine about the 100 Greatest Drummers, but I don't remember seeing him there. He should be on that list!

Jim's poetry is just..... *chef kiss* It is sad that he died so young. The 27 Club is such a ROMAN EMPIRE. A lot of talented people there, that left us wanting more. People are Strange is one of my favorite songs too. And thank you! I'm so happy that you liked the moodboard! 

The Jam is a cool band. I do see why you like them. I've heard songs but not the full albums. They are one of the bands I want to listen to more. I think I'll do in this winter break. 

No way!! You like Rainbow!! Powell is such a legend. Blackmore and Dio. From them I like:

Catch The Rainbow

Stargazer

Stone Cold

From Wings, I don't listen to them a lot, few songs, like the most popular from them to be honest. But I do see why people like them a lot. I mean, Paul lyrics are great. Plus, Paul and Linda <3 ICONIC couple.

Ringo!!! He always looked to be in such a good mood while playing the drums. If my memory serves me right, in The Beatles: Get Back there is part where, after one of their many arguments about leaving the band, they went to Ringo's house, and they agreed to return the next day. They all relied on him at that moment, Ringo the real "chill guy" from the band.

Stewart Copeland has the looks, has the talent. I love the Walking On The Moon video. He's just there with his drumsticks playing different objects and that space rocket or spaceship (I don't what it is xD)

As I told you, I love Pink Floyd, but what you said is totally true for me too. You have to be in a certain mood to listen to them. My favorite of them are: 

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (full)

Wish You Were Here

The Great Gig It The Sky

Brain Damage + Eclipse (that transition!!!!!)

High Hopes

Echoes (full)

The Gnome

Bike

See Emily Plays

I also totally agree with Rick and David that "Wish You Were Here" is their best album. But, If I have to choose my three favorite albums from them... the order goes:

The Dark Side Of The Moon

Wish You Were Here

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

What I also love about Led Zeppelin is John Paul John's contributions. He was not only playing the bass but many other instruments. Bonham is so great!! I once read that Bonham was probably the only drummer to keep on and adjust to Page improvisations on live shows.

This is a jam!!!

I'm going to mention some artists and tell me what you think about them: Simon and Garfunkel, The Cure, T. Rex, Zombies, Rory Gallagher

And... How was your day? 

[theclo4ked1]

~Happy Holidays!~ Finally, I am catching a break and I'm so happy to start chillin' with some DLC (downloadable content) in my room. I used DLC as a shitty gaming alternative to TLC (tender loving/love and care), but it's true! Before a few days before Christmas, I just could not remember the last time I played a videogame--the last time I even touched a joystick! I was going through a "withdrawal" period. I wasn't experiencing the actual symptoms of proper substance withdrawal, just this constant realization that every work day passing was another day in my life I was not gaming, another day without Sonic or Mario or Smash Bros., all my faves. But this also helped me realize that this is just where I am right now. Times have changed. My body and mind have changed, and I'm not the "Sonic-X-at-7AM-Saturday-Morning" kid I once was. And you bet I'd be playing Sonic games (SA2 mostly, if I recall) after watching the show that same morning until around noon. I'm thankful I was lucky to have that--HELL I'm thankful to be privileged to still have access to have that, I just have a bit less time now. AHEM but that was about a week ago, this is now! I wanna show you something!

You know "Supa Paypa Sistas", right? It was the best stop-motion animation video I've made in years. It was also the...only one of mine that have made it onto the internet... All the other ones I've made are either lost to/in time, or stowed away on my Windows 7 (the best one) laptop's hard drive. You can re/watch the film via the embed YouTube video, or the post link from the start of this paragraph.

Below are the work-in-progress posts I put on Tumblr leading up to the completed film.

https://theclo4ked1.tumblr.com/post/703490039983800320/the-black-box-a-wip-stop-motion-animation-shot

https://theclo4ked1.tumblr.com/post/703689454131478528/supa-paypa-sistas-no-longer-the-black-box

There exists a third draft video that's not on Tumblr and has only ever been used for an outside purpose. Y'know, it's been about a year since I finished that film. I suppose this post is something of an anniversary, and that makes me proud. Without further ado, NOW! for the moment you've been waiting for: what I wanted to show you! Since Tumblr allows only one video per post, I've compiled the forgotten tests and extras I did just before working on "Supa Paypa Sistas", all in a neat Windows Movie Maker package for you :3 They're rough and run slower than the final film because I had initially underestimated the 3DS' ten frames/second animation runtime and did animation on twos instead of ones. Beneath the video I'll detail some things about each cut.

Music: Is That You or Are You You? - Chris Zabriskie

The camera easing test was probably done just as a test. Easing was a concept I've applied already in 2D animation, but in stop-motion, I needed this to create something of higher quality.

True, before the box, there was this bear thing that transformed in a kraken because a super pill went up its butt. I dunno what I was thinking last year, it was late at night.

All three of Veretta's animation tests were just ways of getting the film to start. Two of the cuts were based around the idea of her creation. You can see she was originally put together with just tape before I turned her and Nina into paper dolls using string to increase efficiency. There's one frame at the end of the third test where you can see the circle where Veretta's shoulder connects her arm to her body.

The bouncing box was another easing test to simulate physics with the box's reaction gravity and material. I never thought of what that material is.

Nina's only appearance before the film started was her sliding on the ground.

Veretta's final cut, also the final of the cutting room floor, is her just falling. This was probably a test put after a planned creation since that's what happens with Nina after her creation in the film.

The last thing I want to share are these two photos I captured of the two sisters on December 7, 2022, after I had drawn and cut out all of their limbs. Since the faces were drawn with pencil, I was able to erase and create new expressions when I needed, but Veretta's left facing face was harder to change because I pressed the pencil to hard, so she kinda had a "resting Donkey Kong face".

In an email explaining my animation process, I told my recipient "Nina and Veretta are bristol board paper dolls I made using 8 limbs each: Head, torso, 2 pairs of full length arms, 2 pairs of thighs, and 2 pairs shins/foot parts, ALL painstakingly cut, and bonded by tape, glue and string to create two girls." I think that's all I wanted to say about my little film. I hope to make more things like that in the future, but maybe not with those puppets, they're relics now. I keep them in a drawer of other stuff I've made "by hand" in the last, maybe, eight years? They even have the same expressions I left them with after the film ended. Up for auction: never. Thanks for reading!

[alisheaburgess]

The Death of 'Me': A Travel Memoir Part 2 of "yes"

April 4, 2022 (Still on the way to Vegas) (Full Journey Map)

So...

My flight had a layover in Dallas. My experience there was not the best. The Dallas airport is kinda poopy. The people working at the restaurants in there were mean, not just like normal bad day kinda stuff, like MEAN! (I've worked fast food, and they were just poopy). And it was at all the places I checked out too.

Without going to into it, I can't eat gluten and they gave me the wrong items knowing that. I couldn't fix it... so I ate french fries that whole day... (Grammarly wants me to capitalize that 'french' so bad XD)

I need food to function, as most people do!

At this point I'm still so nervous because I've never done this before so it's all kinda whorly at the moment. And then...

I get to my terminal and there is a huge commotion. Huge crowd, and lots of yelling from one or two people. It sounded like a fight at first. People were huddled around the terminal and video. I couldn't see anything and it wasn't in me to ask (much like food wasn't in me...).

It was here that I was getting a bit scared about being on my own. Everything felt horrible (I was just hungry and nervous). I also had to call the hotel and tell them I'd be checking in late. Don't ask how I knew to do that. I don't know. In my over-planning and freak-out researching...somehow, I learned that.

I hate phone calls XD

You may have already guessed this, but I did, in fact, survive the phone call. I know, I was shocked myself. I'm also pleased to announce that it only hurt a little, and not enough for crying. Now I didn't cry, but I easily could have. Which is why I said "pleased to announce" and not "whelp" XD

This flight was a bit delayed I think... because of spooky airport things (I have no idea, we were just sitting there. I'm sure they told us but I really wasn't well 😅)

WOW... hold up! The sunset right now as I'm writing is the color yellow that looks red in the bottle. Like food coloring yellow... I didn't know they made the sky in that color... neat! -April 7, 2023... I just remembered that it's Amber... the color is amber

It was here that I decided I was never gonna fly again because being in an airplane was the reason I was feeling like a dehydrated potato. It wasn't but that was a hint... The noise was a lot because I was sitting on the wing for the first flight, as you can see in the photos in the first post. I think I was a bit in front of them this time... It was still loud, but the headache wasn't from the plane anyway XD

And oh yeah, Las Vegas is a desert!

Note: I arrived somewhere between 12am-1am. Which means we are on a separate day from the one dated at the top. I am of course used to this as I use the day I woke up in and not the date of the present when journaling. I usually wrote at like 3 am... Cause when else are you supposed to write how the day made you feel? After it leaves is the only option! Going forward just know that it is the 5th of April.

The airport was huge and had so many baggage claims. My airport has 2...small ones. And I've only seen them use one...

I arrange a pickup, get my luggage, and head to the 'place to wait.' Not the official name, but it sounds right. The cool part is that there are signs FOR EVERYTHING!!!

Now as soon as I stepped foot outside, my mouth went so dry... The darn desert stole my spit. It was so fast it was scary. Never experienced that. Never want to again. I decided that if I was gonna die though, it was my final mission to make it to the hotel. (I wasn't feeling well! I'm the drama, I get it XD)

This is my first time EVER riding with a stranger alone... so I was really worried about this part. Not safety-wise, but rather my anxiety... I also have really bad road anxiety (or whatever you call it...).

But I survived! And even though I was near unconscious at this point with a full migraine, I had a fun convo with the driver. I don't remember it because I was out of it... But I remember that it was fun!

Up until this point in my life, I thought I was shy... (spoiler: not) At this point in the trip though I thought I was just scooting by. I figured as soon as I ate and drank some water I would clam up again. I thought it was nerves. Oh, honey.

I get to the hotel and holy crap, there was a huge line to check in at 1am!!! But I didn't die yet so...

Next life mission: check into the hotel. I've never done this and was super nervous...

I think it took me an hour or more to get checked in. I was so miserable at the point that the couple behind me kept talking to me and I can only assume they were checking on me. I'm super neuro spicy and so whenever I'm uncomfy, or just existing, I move around a lot... They were super sweet and even as much as I couldn't interact, it was a pleasant distraction from the wait.

When I got to the desk, the guy who helped me was so nice!!! I stayed at The Link and the staff the entire time I was there was so nice. I asked him where I could get water. Cause I knew I wasn't in a state to find it on my own... He loaded me up with 4-6 waters to take with me. I thought he was gonna point me to a vending machine XD He was so sweet! I was worried after the Dallas airport 😥

So I didn't die! I didn't have any food yet though so I just drank water and went to bed. Don't recommend that but hey...

That was 2 life missions in just a couple hours. That's quite a night if you ask me. And that was the first day of my 7-day trip to Las Vegas. The majority of it was spent being nervous about it actually happening XD

This trip was already such a big step for me. I have never been anywhere by myself. Never went anywhere just for me. And this was for an entire week!!! And I did it all by myself. Something I was convinced I couldn't do. So if you are thinking about traveling, even if you need to go solo, you can do it! You can take safety precautions just as well as the person you are told you had to take with you. I was 27 years when I got to take this trip. It took a lot to get to this point, but once you get there, it's only a couple of life missions until you are in your hotel bed and safe again... XD You got this!

I don't have any photos or diary entries for this leg because of all the near-death experiences and life missions to fulfill. But the rest of the posts will have more! But these are from the earlier flight... I also looked at a cloud on the first flight and said, "I'd jump into that..." I then decided that I meant sky diving (I had to search for the word, I almost put 'sky jumping' XD help) So fluffy!!!!

P.S. at this point in the trip I'm still listening to Shakira...

[spinningyarns]

Women's fashion history is super interesting and as somebody who re-creates historical hairstyles, although generally from slightly later in the century, I did want to weigh in on this point, because it's fascinating stuff! For background, I'm usually concerned with fashion and hairstyles of the 1860s and in that time period, we have a lot of photographs to compare with the illustrations in magazines, like the one in the post above, which helps us determine what real women are actually wearing vs what's being marketed to them. What I've found is that there's a big difference between how "fashion plates" are illustrated and what women wear on a daily basis. Which makes sense- I also don't do my hair every day according to what I see on TV or instagram or whatever. It's very, very likely to be the same in the 1830's- what Cosette reads in fashion magazines is almost certainly not what she's doing with her hair for everyday wear.

The above image is from a British publication called The World of Fashion (June 1830, I googled "1830s hairstyles" and found this image on Wikimedia Commons) These styles are party hair! They are awesome, they look really fun to do, and a normal woman going about her average day is, again, almost certainly not doing her hair this way. Also, hairpieces and "fillers" (I don't know/remember the actual word for it) are definitely a thing, so if a real person is wearing her hair this way, it may not all be her hair, or at least not that part of her hair that's currently attached to her head (see the video I linked below, where the modern woman starts out by making herself a hairpiece).

Of course, like other women, Cosette is going to dress for the circumstances to a degree that's more highly prescribed in the 1830s than it is today. For example, her "walking outfit" will be distinct from what she wears to receive callers at home (I mean, she may not actually receive callers because her dad is Jean Valjean the nervous hermit, but like, theoretically.) She probably can't get away with what I do, which is braid my hair every single day for literally every occasion.

So if Cosette's not planning to go to a party, she probably is doing something much simpler. I've found a few examples below, of other options that she has. They might look complex by modern standards, but they're not bad at all and if you give yourself 45 minutes or an hour to get ready in the morning, these styles would be very do-able in that amount of time. I actually do the first one all the time and it really only takes 10-20 minutes for me to do it by myself. It's faster when I do it for someone else, since it's easier to braid hair when you can see the entire head and don't have to put the pins in by feel! So if we imagine that Toussaint styles Cosette's hair for her, it's not going to take a lot of time but will still look very neat and put together.

The curls in the second one will definitely take longer, if Cosette is curling her hair, but again, not a huge outlay of time or effort if you can afford to spend time styling your hair daily.

The third one shows a couple of examples I also think are probable- these folks were going to the time and possibly expense of having their portrait painted, so they're definitely dressed up! But the women's hairstyles still look like the kind of thing you could do without a huge amount of fuss at home and using your own hair, rather than a hairpiece.

(Photo Credit: New York Public Library Digital Collections/ Public Domain, accessible at: https://www.thevintagenews.com/2021/09/22/the-fabulous-and-sometimes-strange-female-hairstyles-of-the-last-two-centuries/)

(Image description: art depicting a young woman from the 1830s, wearing an off-the-shoulder dress apparently trimmed in lace. Her hair is parted in the middle and braids on either side are looped under her ears and pinned around a larger braided bun on the back of her head.)

(Anna Motherbig, 1830, by Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein, accessible at: https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Anna-Motherbig/236A4D9F748FF503)

(Image description: a young woman of the 1830s, wearing a dark blue dress and cross necklace. Her hair is parted in the center with ringlet curls on the sides of her head and a large braided bun in the back. )

(Théodore Joseph Jonet and his two daughters by François-Joseph Navez, accessible at: https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1830-1839/)

(Image description: Three people posed for a portrait painting. The man is wearing a dark suit and has short hair. The women are wearing nice dresses and jewelry. Both wear their hair parted in the center and curled to some degree on either side with braided buns in the back.)

Sources:

https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1830-1839/

https://recollections.biz/blog/100-years-of-womens-hairstyles-1830-1930/

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2021/09/22/the-fabulous-and-sometimes-strange-female-hairstyles-of-the-last-two-centuries/

And a couple cool example tutorials including one for a "fashion plate" style:

Cosette’s men are at the barricade, stressed and suffering because of her, but paradoxically, not particularly concerned about her well-being (as @pilferingapples pointed out yesterday). Meanwhile, as Jean Valjean risked his life carrying a mattress, Cosette woke up. It’s an interesting narrative strategy: Cosette was not mentioned while she was sleeping, but as soon as she woke up, the focus shifted away from the barricade to checking how she was doing. I am actually glad she is back.

She is absolutely unsuspecting of what is happening and that is why she remains hopeful and almost content, expecting Marius to show up after three days of absence. Hmm… It’s interesting that Cosette has forgotten how he was blackmailing her with the prospect of him killing himself. Marius, on the other hand, was absolutely convinced that his words about death deeply affected her and that she was aware of his immanent demise. But no, Cosette has simply blocked out all the disturbing memories and doesn’t remember what Marius had told her. A healthy attitude, I suppose.

Unfortunately, her light-hearted mood does not last. And after she “dressed her hair, which was a very simple matter in those days” (really? are you sure, Hugo?), and glanced out the window, she became aware that something horrible was happening. As she recovers her hope for the best and puts her trust in god, she notices small details that indicate something disturbing is unfolding on in the city: the shutters are still closed, and the potter’s lodge is also shut, with an eerie silence everywhere, except for the “sharp shocks” in the distance, which she mistakes for peaceful urban noise but are, in fact, cannon shots.

The last paragraph, where Cosette observes a birds’ nest under her window, seem to suggest that she is ready to start a family and become a mother. At least that’s what I suspect Hugo is trying to convey here.

Meanwhile, the 1830s "very simple" hairstyles:

[lilihasabadweek]

Anakin's letter opens up first, his writing neat but a bit more informal than Ben's.

Lili,

It's Anakin. Hi. I'm really sorry we haven't been to see you or called you. I don't think our older 'brother' will let us. Not that we aren't adults but- he hasn't given us your address or anything like that. In fact he handled delivering our letters, too. But I think he feels bad.

Ben and I aren't doing very well without you. Our bodies hurt, we're getting so many headaches, and our lack of motivation is insane. We miss you so much. It's been so long already, I think. Time is sort of crazy when you feel half-crazy.

I hope you're doing well. We learned of the pups after we left and we're so glad that they have such a wonderful mom to look after them. You took care of us when we were there, I have no doubt you'll be the best caretaker.

I want you to know I really, really wish we could be there with you. I miss you. I know I already said that but... yeah. I wish we had more time together.

Anakin

Ben's letter is after, written in pure, beautiful cursive.

Lili,

I'm terribly sorry it has taken us this long to write to you, darling. The fact of the matter is... we have not really been able to. Feemor is allowing us to send these letters and I do hope they actually reach you, rather than this being some sort of scam on his part.

I miss you. I miss your scent. I miss your touch. And your cozy farm, as well. I miss being in bed with you almost all day. It... might not seem like I remember such things, considering my previous feral state, but I do. My memories are fully recovered. I wish more than anything that you could be here with us and that we have a different lifestyle that would allow us to be together.

If you don't wish to write back, I understand- though I do want you to know I'd be more than happy to hear from you. I hope you're doing well, my beautiful mate.

~ Ben

I sit down slowly in my truck and cry as I read their letters, crying after I finish, too.

I miss them.

I don’t want to see them just… just for them to be taken away. I don’t want to smell them just to lose it again.

I compose myself after a long moment and then move back in to the post office.

First, I send a short letter to Feemor as I have been doing all along,

Master Feemor,

Thank you for the letters. I won’t be writing back because, again, it’s easier to be pulled away than to lose them entirely for a second time.

I’ll be having the babies soon and I will send photos once they are born.

Tell them I say hi again,

Lili.

Then, I write a different letter, to Obi-Wan Kenobi, from a random address that I pull from a different piece of Mail so Feemor doesn’t catch it,

Obi-Wan,

I got your letters. I liked them, thank you. I live on a farm just outside of Ta’Lu on the planet Derra. I tell you this so that maybe you can visit after the pups are born, no sooner. The pregnancy is at risk and if you come and leave again it’ll kill them. The doctors on Tatooine said so. I trust them.

That being said… it hurt last time and I don’t really look forward to that hurt again. It’s just easier if I don’t have to smell you. To correct yours and Anakin’s assumptions, Feemor has been trying to get me to agree to a visit or a video call and I am the one who has declined, not him. It’s been hard for all of us and I think that will make it worse. Plus I don’t have technology for that anyway.

I am glad to see you two are able to talk, I admit it’s weird to hear more than three words from you. I will send pictures of the babies and a blanket with their scent on it when they are born, as I’m told by the doctors it will calm your nerves as well.

I start to write ‘I miss you’ but cross it out, not wanting to get to sentimental. Feemor will catch it, then. Instead, I write,

I hope you succeed in your missions, I’m told you both are great Generals.

Best,

Lili.

[allstitchedup]

see i have always been an annoying hipster wannabe piece of shit

i used to have a zune and then after years caved and got an ipod shuffle, but then ended up listening to music on a fucking walkman in high school 

[belphies-cuhm-sluht]

Hc for the demon bros going to the human world with mc and discovering that MC is a HUGE internet celebrity. Thank u ❤️

Brothers Finding Out MC is an Internet Celeb

(Changed it up a bit but still stuck to the main point. If I added them going up to the human world it would’ve gotten too long)

Lucifer

Great, grand, fantastic. How is he supposed to react? It doesn't affect him, there’s nothing in it for him. He’s not gaining anything from you being a celebrity and down in the Devildom you're nothing more than just a human, and that’s where you’ll be going back to, so don’t let that “celebrity” status get to your head.

“Your followers and likes mean nothing down here, Y/N, remember that.”

Mammon

You’re a celebrity!? Is it modeling? What do you do? What did you do? Can you shout him out? Can he be on your page? He loves it, he thinks it’s amazing. He’s also somewhat of a celebrity himself in case you didn’t know… he just doesn’t have the money to prove it right now but, seriously, believe him. He’s the hottest model in the Devildom.

“Ya know, with yer followers and my modeling, we could be rackin’ in all the Grimm. Think about it Y/N!”

Leviathan

It depends entirely on what kind of internet “celebrity” you are. If you got famous for playing video games then he’ll absolutely love it. Everything else doesn’t really matter to him. If you are a celebrity gamer, he will like, follow, subscribe, and comment on every single video telling you how great you’re doing. Might even join you for a streaming session occasionally.

“D-Did you see all your new subscribers? I… I might have shouted you out while playing a game… is that okay?”

Asmodeus

A celebrity!? You’re famous?! Of course you are! Everyone should love you, you’re so cute! He is 100% involved, he is your biggest fan. He’ll also somehow, without even really trying, become your sort of manager. He’ll also be your makeup artist, your photographer, and everything else you need. Will also get into each and every one of your pictures, videos, vlogs, etc. because if you’re famous in the human world, he’s going to be just as famous alongside you.

“The last photo shoot was amazing! Did you see how many likes you got?! We definitely have to do one like that again, together this time.”

Satan

Much like Lucifer, he’s not really interested in it…??? Who cares? Not him. The attention you get in the real world won’t be felt in the Devildom, so you might as well just forget all about it. No one down here knows your name, no one knows or cares who you are. You’re one measly human in a world of demons and if you expect them to love you as much as the humans in your world do, you’re sadly mistaken.

“Don’t expect that attention down here, Y/N. The only reason you’ll be getting chased around now is if someone is trying to kill you. *sips tea smugly*”

Beelzebub

A celebrity? How did you get like that? He doesn’t actually care, he just sees that it makes you happy, so he’ll listen to you talk about it while he eats. The only way he’s even interested in it is if you do like, food ASMR, then he’ll probably ask what your name is on the streaming site so he can binge watch all your videos. He’ll support you no matter what though, because seeing you happy makes him happy too.

“That’s really neat, Y/N. Thank you for telling me about it. I’ll watch/check out all your stuff.”

Belphegor

That seems like a hassle. He wouldn’t personally enjoy it, mainly because it would take away from his nap time, but you do you. He’ll act like it’s no big deal to him, but when he’s alone in bed he’ll check out all your pictures or videos. A secret, sideline supporter, he’ll probably have a pseudo name so that you don’t know it’s him, but he’ll hear you gushing over the comments that he left and then he’ll be smug smiley Belphie for the rest of the day… until you come to him and talk about it.

“You came up here just to tell me about a comment? Ugh, fine. I guess I can lose a couple minutes of sleep to hear about it.”

[lolly-dolli]

That wasn't even the weirdest part of the book or the controversy surrounding it either and I'm mad I can't just. Reach into the aether and manifest them IRL to show it to people. I remember being legitimately mad in the dream because the setting was kinda neat but got ruined by the like. Actual plot

Okay so like

The author was this semi-infamous blogger shitlord dude (think like. "Mid-2000s forgotten Channel Awesome member who hopped on the commentary over videos of CRINGE CHILDREN bandwagon for a bit but is really only known for being smug and not that actually funny" energy). I think his only real claim to fame other than being Smug and Not That Funny was a picture of him in a pinstriped fedora holding an empty, still-dusty crystal goblet that he 100% bought from the nearest thrift shop along with the fedora as props for this specific photo and making an overexaggerated DreamWorks face while looking towards the viewer as if they were both privy to something they both considered to be embarrassing happening just offscreen? I VIVIDLY remember the image and that people constantly posted it when dunking on him though)

Anyway, one of the reasons he was semi-infamous was that he was known to have a weird fixation on some badass tomboy gundam-looking anime-type character, and he'd written this weird dark-and-gritty kind-of-fantasy post-apocalyptic novel where the world is all walking dead-y aesthetics wise but instead of zombies there's The Fae, and also part of the apocalypse is that there are "no more true virgins," but still a need for Virgin Sacrifices to The Fae in A Ritual that also involves soup (not like, people soup, the virgin just had to have a bowl of soup near them, I guess), so the meaning of virgin has changed, but somehow still includes not having sex????? Weirdly enough the dude was staunchly atheist, and the book had a bunch of platitudes relating to God being dead, because no loving god could ever have allowed this to happen, only for the main character to go on a Ready Player One-tier "Stop believing in fairytales and wake up," rant. This happens at least three times.

Anyway the thinly veiled self-insert MC and his thinly veiled waifu-insert love interest are both virgins being hunted down by the fae for some reason, except MC is a Big Strong Man Virgin so I guess that means he must protect the cool badass love interest lady even though she is Tough and Not Like Other Girls (keep in mind these are like 30 y/o characters) because she's a Girl Virgin and I guess also some kind of Special Real Virgin, so she's like. The Last True Virgin maybe and the fae want her for like. A Prophecy or something IDK, but also he Saved Himself For Her so that means he's More Worthy Of Her 30-Year-Old Virgin Coochie, I guess.

Anyway the book became a massive meme because you made a video on it and the Funny Thumbnail had a picture of some other Smug Internet Guy the author had beef, possibly over the anime girl, with Starscourge Radahn looming ominously above him as you look at the camera with a very "ő_ő" sort of face while wearing a pretty sick antler crown with Funny Text that said "NO MORE VIRGINS" right above smaller text that said "GOODBYE TROUT POPULATION," which among reviews of books featuring Egg Suns and Oxycodone Hats and Space Squids and Jake Thorn The Demon isn't all that odd, but it took off because of a viral clip someone cut out of you trying to explain, as calmly as one can through trying to hold back raucous laughter, how the love rival (clearly and proudly based off the aforementioned Guy He Had Beef With) got killed by the moon for not being a virgin when he tried to rescue the love interest.

As in, "the moon came down and hit him like a meteor, crushing and killing him instantly," and this is meant to be a 100% serious death in the book. I think the moon itself is implied to have been fae-connected and also somehow a sapient being capable of having decided to be judge, jury and executioner for this one random guy and then just...never be mentioned again, I guess.

The dream ended with me ranting to my friend over discord (after going down an hours-long rabbit hole researching this dude and going more and more batshit as I reported my findings) about how "the stupid 'no more virgins' setup could've maybe worked if they'd gone with the other definition of virgin as 'pure of heart' because the apocalypse happened and now it's like an Appalachian flannel axemurder survival horror nightmare world or something, I dunno, but he was cumbrained and horny for anime woman with a pixie cut who has definitely already canonically fucked so the premise and setting is wasted"

I wish I could recreate the thumbnail it was so so good

Anyway thank you for providing hours of free, weird book-based content both in my waking and unconscious hours, they bring me great joy

I just woke up from a dream where you reviewed a book where the moon is a sapient being that killed a guy for not being a virgin and a clip of you trying very hard to keep your composure while explaining this scene became a bigger meme than the weird dude who wrote it (who was quite odd in his own right)

I wish the moon was a slut shaming god

[shreddedparchment]

A Wife for Thor Pt.12

Queen of New Asgard

12/02/2020

Pairing: King!Thor x Reader          Word Count: 9,737

Warnings: fluff, cute babies, talks of pregnancy, angst, Avengers shenanigans, talks of sex

A/N: So this one is a bit longer than the rest, I really wanted to make sure that this one was a lengthy treat. I didn’t want to split the chapter into two between getting to the Avengers and then actually meeting them and spending tie with them. I wanted to keep it together. I hope you all like it! I had a lot of fun with it, and mostly, I just really love Thor. I want him for myself. If you happen to reblog, thanks so much for helping me spread my work! xoxo

Please DO NOT repost my stories on other sites or blogs!

REBLOGS are always welcome!

To say you’re a mess would be an understatement.

At least having Thor by your side gives you a small sense of stability, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re about to meet the Avengers.

Earth’s mightiest heroes.

People so famous that everyone knows their name. Even people in remote parts of the world know they exist.

The sensation of being pulled and gliding through the air in Thor’s arms as the Bifrost glow surrounds you both in your transport is nothing compared to the rolling of your stomach at the thought of saying or doing something stupid in front of Thor’s friends and comrades.

You hold him tighter, loving the way he feels in full armor. Only because it really drives home the fact that he could protect you from anything as opposed to being comfortable.

You’re dressed more simply though not at all casual. The outfit you’re wearing was shoved into your bag with two others in case of official events that might crop up during your honeymoon.

Because dinner with Thor’s teammates is supposed to be a relaxed event, you chose the most unimpressive of the three.

The bodice consists of a one-piece made of leather. Armor would be more accurate in describing it. Though bits of it have been dyed a dark yet also soft gray-purple, others, like the right breast piece and the strip that wraps down around your left side are a natural brown. Textured with a ridged design to compliment the thinner more boned design of the gray-purple section.

Around your waist and laced at the back is another a-symmetrical piece of that natural brown leather, but along the base of it is sewn a long flowing skirt made of a cotton voile base in navy and a sheer silk light blue making the effect of it together like shifting water.

The skirt is left open slightly on the right. If anyone pays really close attention, they’ll see the top of your thigh in the sway. Generally, the dress is appropriate and since this will technically be your first public outing with Thor, it was important you look the part.

Neither of you is wearing a crown. Not necessary really, if it isn’t an official ceremony or event, but you are wearing the large golden pin that Thor had made for you to put on the left breast of your sleeveless gown.

It’s the same interlaced arches that are on your swords with a crown that looks just like your wedding crown at the center where the arches connect.

It shines bright, brand new as it is, and is a symbol of your new status in the world.

A human Queen of Asgard.

It’s safe to say that your name is known from one corner of the Earth to the other which you only just realized when you were doing some research on the time it takes for a body to decompose in a demi-damp environment occasionally exposed to heat. You’d stumbled across a tabloid page with the headline How the New Queen of Asgard Bewitched the God of Thunder.

You hadn’t bothered to read the article because it was clear exactly what kind of reporting they were doing from the picture of you, which someone had pulled from the website of your old school, sitting on Thor’s chest with a photoshopped smirk and glowing red eyes.

There were a few others you read, most of them nice and from official news sources. All of them detailing your tragic childhood and your ascension to wealth. Then your birth ancestry was exposed making you a top candidate for Queen of the Asgardians and in one article for the New York Times, you recognized the pictures of your wedding as you and Thor stared at each other in all of your enamored glory.

Anyone with eyes can see that you love him and in those pictures, you can admit that it helps you feel a bit more secure in Thor’s love to see that he’s looking at you the exact same way. How can he look at you like that and not love you? Or at least be really fond of you?

As the air gets colder, mushy gray snow lining the streets below you, Thor’s body pulls up, preparing to stand as his speed slows.

You feel him step onto the pavement before you do, then slowly he lowers you, large hands so careful with you that you can’t help but look for his eye to see what he might be feeling.

His eyes are not on you though. They’re on the crowd that’s slowly begun to gather.

They’re giving you a wide berth, but they’re stopping to look, and some have pulled out their cell phones to take photos or record video.

You can hear whispers shift through the cold New York winter air, people leaning over to each other in excitement and curiosity. Much like the crowd back in New Asgard had when you’d driven by them to get to your dress fitting and the wedding parade.

You can’t really make out what they’re saying but Thor can, and he wraps his arm around your waist, turns you to face those that are nearest, and waves.

You follow his example and give them as kind a smile as you can, despite the sudden nerves eating at you.

Shit, do you have to say something? Are you expected to?

“Hello everyone. I know most of you have seen her in the papers and on the interwebs already, but this is my beautiful and lovely Queen. My wife, Y/N.” Thor declares, but even your name he caresses with the soft shift in his tone.

“Hello?” You don’t mean it to come out as a question, but it does.

Still, there are a few people that giggle at your reaction.

A sense of calm overcomes those watching, as if finally hearing you speak seems to have burst a bubble.

“Aw yew a pwincess?” A small hand tugs at your skirts and you turn to look down at an adorable little girl with smooth deep brown skin. Her hair is gathered in two small buns, tight braids keep it neat.

All you can really see are her big brown eyes, so wide and full of wonder.

You pull from Thor’s grasp and squat down to be on the toddler’s level. She can’t be more than three.

“She’s my Queen, little one.” Thor explains, squatting down beside you. “Queen of New Asgard. Isn’t she pretty?”

The little girl giggles and nods, then reaches up to touch your own hair which has also been braided, one long in the middle giving it a mohawk look, and several other small braids along the sides to keep it neat while flying.

At least that’s the bit that you remember from this morning.

Thor had pulled you out of bed at four o’clock, led you to a chair in the bathroom and then started messing with your hair. Of course, that sent you right back off to sleep but you remember asking him sleepily at some point why he was braiding your hair and he’d explained that it was to keep it from getting all messy while flying.

That’s the last thing you remember before he was suddenly kissing you awake and then your mind was busy with the delicious way he carried you back to bed and then heartbroken when he said you had only ten minutes more to sleep while he showered.

You’re so tired.

Smiling at the little girl, watching her own joy grow in her eyes gives you new energy and you take her hand and hold it in your two.

“It’s so lovely to meet you…?”

A woman hurries over from the crowd, voice frantic as she seems to have finally spotted her little escapee.

“RUBY!” The poor mother cries, hurrying to her daughter’s side.

“Ruby,” You repeat.

The little girl turns to look at her mother while you keep hold of her hand.

“Wook mama! A Ka-ween!” She giggles and her mother slows, hesitating now that she notices you and Thor.

“Holy shi-” Her mother says, “I’m so sorry.”

Hurrying forward, she takes hold of Ruby’s shoulders and pulls her close, not because she’s threatened by you two or anything. She must be shocked.

You let her hand go as it’s pulled gently, and Thor helps you stand back up. Once you’re standing, he reaches down to take hold of your hand, intertwining his fingers with yours.

“It’s okay.” You shake your head, smiling at the woman as Ruby turns to hug her leg excitedly. “She’s very sweet.”

“She’s a troublemaker. That’s what she is.” The woman counters. “D-Do I have to curtsy or somethin’?”

“Not this time.” Thor tells her, “For having such an adorable child, we’ll give you the curtsy pass.”

He’s joking. Teasing the woman.

“Thor…” You nudge him and he chuckles, amused by you more than his joke. “What he means to say is, yes. Normally you would have to, but he knows I’m already nervous out of my mind so it’s okay.”

The woman looks around behind her, aware of the flashing camera phones and the videos they must be taking. So, she turns back to you and clumsily makes a curtsy.

Little Ruby sees her do it and then turns to you and does an even clumsier version of the same bow.

“Thank you.” You manage to say, voice almost completely deprived of volume from how nervous her attention makes you.

“Yes,” Thor agrees, suddenly serious. “Thank you. Both of you, for the warm New York welcome.”

“It was nothing.” The woman says, dipping down to pick up Ruby. “Say buh-bye, Ruby.”

As they walk away, Ruby twists in her mother’s arms to look over her shoulder at you and Thor and waves.

“Buh-bye!”

“Bye, Ruby.” You wave at her, smiling at her cuteness before you look up to meet Thor’s gaze.

“See, that wasn’t so terrible.” Thor gives you a squeeze. “Just our luck that it was an adorable child to greet you first.”

“She was so cute!” You gush, wishing you could take her home.

Maybe Thor sees the deep want in your own face because he leans in and presses his lips to your temple before resting them softly against your ear.

“Don’t worry, cherub. Soon we’ll have our own little one running around the palace.” He promises.

Even though he means it in an innocent way, the deep tone and intent in his voice is also very clear and if there weren’t a lot of people watching, you’d pull him down for a kiss.

He smirks down at you, almost like he knows that you picked up on that lusty vibe despite his words being sweet.

“You’re not playing fair.” You complain.

Thor chuckles then gives the crowd, which has grown quite a bit, another wave.

“Something to look forward to when we go home.” He reasons.

“Will we get to do everything you want with this crowd around us?” You give them a look and tuck yourself into Thor’s side a little more but wave all the same.

All these eyes on you. Watching you. Listening to every little thing you say?

“I’ll make it possible, cherub.” Thor assures you.

He twirls his hammer, a near replica of the one his sister destroyed before they arrived on Earth and takes a step towards the crowd with the look of someone about to make a speech.

~~~~~~~~~~

When you look at yourself, you still look like you. Still wearing the dress you’d pulled on in the morning. Braids still in place.

Thor is still in full uniform. Still holding his hammer. But as the two of you walk through the city, no one stops to look.

After you and Thor had ducked into that first shop—a bakery that had lured him in by the nose because apparently the breakfast you’d cooked him hadn’t been enough—and emerged freshly fed, none of the people who had stopped to watch you when you'd landed were looking at you as you passed them.

Some of them even looked right at you then away as if they didn’t recognize you.

“It’s magic.” Thor whispers in your ear.

He straightens up, watching you with an amused grin as understanding overcomes your face.

“A trick my mother taught me that Loki has helped me perfect. Would you like us to see what they do? Our clothes, I mean? We’ll still see each other.”

“Sure.” You nod, excited by the proximity of magic to yourself.

Thor gives you a nod. He twirls his hammer, held loose in his right hand and it turns into an umbrella.

His clothes are neat and somewhat formal. More of a business casual with dark pressed trousers, a thick black t-shirt made of a heavy and soft cotton blend. His jacket is coal gray, with just the slightest hint of brown.

You gasp lightly, stunned by the sight of him with two electric blue eyes. No sleek black and gold eyepatch. Just two pretty orbs that blink at the shock on your face.

“What, love?” He worries, reaching down to place his hand on your lower back as the two of you continue down the sidewalk.

“Your eyes.” You shake your head, speechless.

“Oh, yes. Well, it helps me blend in.”

His blonde hair is styled too, a smooth wave of the longer hair along the top of his head. Why is he so pretty?

Thor chuckles.

“You’re not so bad yourself.” He teases, still looking forward.

“I’m staring,” You huff a laugh. “I’m sorry.”

But you give yourself a look and find yourself wearing a chic black pantsuit. More heavy cotton blend fabric from head to toe. It has that waterproof sheen though. Like if you spill something it’ll just roll off. Black long sleeve shirt with a higher than normal collar. It’s just a few inches short of being a turtleneck.

Over that you’re wearing a sleeveless wool trench coat with big black buttons and large pockets. The cut is feminine and left open since it’s cold but not too cold during the day with the sun streaming down.

It’ll be different tonight.

“We have these actual clothes waiting for us at the compound. I had them sent over when Stark told me that I’d be able to bring you for introductions. We can change in my room once we’re there, so we won’t be as constricted.” Thor takes your hand to his lips and gives it a kiss.

“You have a room at the compound? Isn’t it like a military base or something?” You wonder.

“Parts of it. There is a shooting range and a hangar with plenty of planes and jets. A pretty large garage with quite the selection of cars. Maybe we can go for a drive after dinner for some alone time?” He wiggles his eyebrows at you, but you’re still trying to wrap your mind around bedrooms at the compound.

“Do some of the Avengers live on the compound?”

“Yes.” Thor nods, his attention pulled away from his suggestive expression. “Several of them do. Wanda lives there. Captain Rogers, Natasha, Vision, Samuel and Barnes live there now too. Stark has moved out to be with Pepper on some cabin they purchased together a year ago.

“Barton lives with his family, so he doesn’t stay at the compound. And of course, for me it has been a home away from home. The only other person that stays there but doesn’t live there permanently is Banner.

“After we arrived from our journey in space, he took to his lab and slept at the compound for nearly six months before he finally went home. He hasn’t come back to the compound since. Says he’s working on something, but he’s promised to be here for our dinner.” Thor assure you.

Sad to say that you can’t exactly be as excited as he is as the list of names, he just went through looms over you like a test you didn’t study for.

Suddenly he stops, and he waves over at another tall blonde man with storm blue eyes and what looks to be a full beard. His slightly outgrown blonde hair is pushed back, the tresses smooth and silky as he hurries towards you both, brown leather bomber jacket zipped shut over a pair of jeans.

“Oh, you’re dressed up.” He says, but you recognize him and as Thor stops, you find yourself gaping at Captain America. “Maybe I should have picked something nicer.”

“Not necessary. You and the rest of the team are friends.” He takes Captain America’s hand and shakes it before they both meet in a quick hug.

“It’s been too long.” Thor admits.

“Well, you’re a busy man now. King and all that.”

“H-How did you recognize us?” You stutter, focusing on the mystery before you instead of the fact that Captain America is standing right fucking there!

“I let him see us.” Thor explains. “The veil holds only for those I want to shield us from.”

“Oh.” You whisper, not intending to but you have no air in your lungs again.

Thor seems to read your frayed nerves because he reaches around to wrap his arm around your waist and offer you some support.

“Captain Rogers, this is my lovely and very nervous wife, Y/N Y/L/N. Queen of Asgard and if I’m honest, the love of my life.” Thor’s honest gushing, the way he sounds honest and so freaking sincere brings you back to yourself a little and with a squeeze from him, you relax.

“Steve, Thor. Please. I’m not Captain America anymore.” He says, almost as if it’s a reminder.

This confuses you because as far as you know, Steve Rogers is still Captain America.

“I read the e-mail.” Thor says, shaking his head. “I thought perhaps it was a joke.”

“Since when have I ever joked about something this serious?”

“I don’t know, I thought perhaps you might have-”

Steve Rogers turns to you, ignoring Thor for the moment as he holds his hand out and slowly you take it.

“I know I should probably bow, but we don’t want everyone knowing who I’m talking to so, is a handshake okay?”

“Of course!” You say breathlessly as he shakes your hand softly. His grip is firm, but you can tell he’s very aware of not hurting you.

“It’s an honor to meet you,” He begins, then leans in towards you and whispers, “Your Majesty.”

Both of you are left smiling while Thor’s eyes are narrowed at the two of you.

“How do you find married life? Has Thor gotten on your nerves yet?”

You can tell he’s joking because while he’s talking to you, he steals a quick side-eye at Thor to gauge his reaction.

“Not yet. But he does like to eat all of the bacon.” You whisper.

Steve makes a pained look, directing it at Thor, still holding your hand in that gentle handshake.

“That’s a big no-no.” Steve agrees.

“Right?” You press, enjoying the pout on Thor’s lips.

“Alright, Rogers, release my wife’s hand.” He reaches and takes your hand out of Steve’s forcefully, but you and Steve only chuckle.

Thor pulls your hand up against his chest and with his other arm still around your waist, he’s basically got you wrapped up in his arms.

“Come on, everyone’s waiting.” Steve laughs, moving towards a black luxury sedan.

Thor makes to move forward but you pull back, resisting because meeting Steve Rogers was already stressful enough.

Now you have to go meet the rest of them? Can’t you just call it quits now?

“Cherub?” Thor looks at you, the concern pouring from him so overwhelmingly sweet that you give in.

He wants this so badly. It’s so important to him. You’ll also have to do many things from here on out that will make you anxious and stressed.

Suck it up.

“I’m just nervous.” You tell him, as if he can’t already see it himself.

“Thor?” Steve calls from the driver’s side of the car. He’s got the door open, both arms resting against the top of the vehicle.

“A moment, Steve.” Thor says, and for some reason it gives Steve a curious look on his face.

It’s almost as if he’s not used to Thor calling him by his first name.

“You have nothing to be nervous about, my love. You’ve already met Rogers and he’s like one of those dogs with the long ears and the funny long howl when it comes to sensing when anything’s amiss. Clearly, he likes you. You’re perfection, Y/N. You have nothing to worry about.”

Thor’s gushing should make you feel better, and it does a little. But you’re about to meet so many people. All of them important to Thor. What if you say something that makes one of them angry? What if you and one of them—or all of them—just don’t mesh well?

“I just-I-I don’t want to, I don’t know, disappoint you?”

Thor’s face falls into complete adoration. His smile is soft but wide and so pleased. He takes a step towards you, reaching up with both hands to place them on the back of your head, just behind your ears.

“You’ve already made me so proud, cherub. You’re here, standing with your head held high, greeting the people of a foreign country with grace and kindness. You’ve made jokes with one of my closest comrades already. I have every faith that you will continue to outshine me.” He chuckles as you relax a little more. “Do you need a few minutes?”

You shake your head, reaching up to take hold of his wrists. “No.”

“Ready?”

“Yes,” you nod.

Thor slips his hands down, flicking them gently so that he can take hold of both your hands.

He pulls them to his lips and kisses them, never breaking eye contact.

He must lose concentration for his magic because as he kisses your knuckles, his two eyes turn into one as the eyepatch takes its place again.

His regular clothes turn back into his armor and your own dress shifts back into the more Asgardian appropriate attire.

“Uh, Thor?” Steve Rogers insists.

Thor looks at him and with a nod towards his body, Steve Rogers communicates the problem.

You look around and people are stopping their shopping and walking and going about their days to turn and look at the two Asgardian monarchs suddenly standing on the sidewalk in a sweet and affectionate embrace.

“Oops.” Thor smiles at them and gives them a wave while simultaneously taking hold of your hand.

You follow his lead and give them a regal wave and polite smile as he pulls you towards the car. Steve Rogers is already there, holding the back door open for you.

You get in and he shuts the door as Thor moves around to the other side and gets in too.

“You distracted me.” He accuses you, reaching around you to pinch your side.

You give a small scream of laughter then look at the watching crowd with a startled and embarrassed smile, but they’re pleased by the exchange. Some of them taking video and photos. Others just giggling and laughing along with you.

There are a few young women and men who even look envious. And honestly? Who wouldn’t?

You look and Thor and as he chuckles at your reaction to his teasing and the reaction of those watching as Steve Rogers pulls the car away from curb, you can understand their envy because Thor is beautiful and anyone, even if in the end they decide they don’t want to be with him, would be lucky to share in his love.

~~~~~~~~~~

You made Thor promise to keep his hands to himself and you’re already regretting it.

You feel like you’re going to pass out. It’s all wobbly on your legs.

Knees are buckling and you might go down any second.

Thor takes an inch in your direction, but you give him a frown and he clears his throat before going right back to the spot he’d been in.

Both of you stand in a long common room. There are two modern armchairs in a gray almost beige cotton fabric. Two long sofas in an orange sandstone color sit completely occupied.

On the sofa to the right sit two beautiful red heads. One has short shoulder-length hair with pale blonde tips. The other’s long locks in a deeper less vibrant red fall to the base of her shoulder blades.

The brighter red headed woman has a sharp face, with large bright green eyes and eyebrows that start somewhat full on the inner corners and slowly fade into much thinner lines.

They’re perfectly shaped for her face though it does give her a sterner look.

She’s wearing a plain black dress with capped sleeves and a plunging V neckline. Her shoes are simple black flats though, which she taps against the floor as she waits for you to speak. Black Widow is just as fearsome as she looks in the news.

The other woman is much younger, her youthful face round. Her eyes are a pretty soft brown, more inviting though still a little distrustful. This must be Wanda, the Scarlet Witch.

It’s like she’s analyzing every move you make.

Fuck.

Beside her sits a man with peachy skin, short blondish-reddish hair. He looks older than her, but still handsome.

Despite the appearance of his older age, he has hold of one of Wanda’s hands. Fingers intertwined.

They’re together.

Vision, your mind provides.

On the other sofa sits Steve, his eyes kind as he waits patiently for you to be ready. Beside him sits a handsome black man with an exhausted expression.

You can tell that it isn’t directed at you, but he looks tired. Just home from doing some Avengers work, maybe?

Beside him sits a middle-aged man with small streaks of gray at his temples. His face is kind, but he seems like he’s preoccupied. Like he’s got places to be or things to do.

He keeps wringing his hands slowly, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees as he watches you.

On the far armchair is the man himself, Tony Stark. He looks every bit a king in his domain, just like Thor back home in New Asgard.

He owns the place—literally—and everyone knows it just by watching him sit there. He’s inquisitive about you, his mind clearly racing from the look in his eyes.

He’s the most analytical out of everyone. He keeps looking at you from head to toe, every shift in your stance, the way you hold your hands, or the fact that you’re looking each of them over and making your own conclusions catches his attention.

The last person in the room, and the only other one standing aside from you and Thor, is a tall beefy man with shortly cropped dark brown hair. He also looks tired, and he reaches up to rub his exhausted face with his shining black arm etched with golden veins that run through the sleek indestructible metal.

Bucky Barnes, the former Winter Soldier. Though most people still call him that, from what Thor said in your prep when coming is that he’s been fixed?

No, that’s not the right way to phrase that. He’s not a dog. He’s been deprogrammed.

You don’t quite understand what that means, but you realized as Thor spoke that Hydra had done something to Bucky to make him do the things that he’d done. Like brainwashing, though you know nothing about how one gets brainwashed.

It made you sad, that someone would be that cruel and take from someone their identity and all the things that make them who they are. You heart aches for the former Winter Soldier and he gives you the tinies of smiles. Just a soft and subtle gesture of encouragement.

All eyes in the room are on you, and you’re freezing up so you appreciate the figurative extended hand.

When you speak, your voice trembles at first.

“I-It’s so…I’m s-so…”

They stir, sitting up straighter at the sound of your voice.

Get it together! You’re Queen of an entire fucking kingdom!

You clear your throat, and with a quick shallow breath you try again.

“I’m sorry, I’m a l-little nervous. I know how important you all are to Thor and I-I know this was sudden. We were both really sorry that you couldn’t come to the wedding but I’m so glad to meet you now. My name is Y/N, and I…I think that’s it?”

Turning to Thor, you find him smiling wide, singular eye bright. He’s proud and you can see it in the way he pulls his shoulders back and moves back towards you, slipping his arm around your waist.

Both of you are wearing the real versions of his illusion now minus the coats, formal King and Queen garb abandoned in his room.

Thor’s arm is a welcome warmth.

“That was wonderful, cherub.”

“Cherub?” A snarky voice teases, and both of you turn to look at Tony Stark.

“Leave them alone, Tony. I’ve heard some of the things you call Pepper when you think we aren’t listening.” The Black Widow, Natasha, cuts in.

“Like what?”

“Pudding-pop?”

“That’s a good one.” Thor observes. “Can I borrow it?”

“All y’all being really gross.” The new Captain America, Sam, points out.

“You’re just jealous you don’t have your own pudding-pop.” Bucky sighs, moving to the back of the sofa to lean both hands on the seat and look down at his friend.

“When’s the last time you had someone call you pudding-pop, Barnes?” Sam wonders, a clear attempt at a jab.

“Uh…1943? Just after I enlisted.” He answers, no sarcasm or embarrassment about that fact.

“You both need to get a life.” Natasha points out.

“You first.” Sam retorts.

Natasha fixes him with a look of confusion before getting up and moving towards Bucky. For a moment it looks as if she’s just going to pass right by him and into the kitchen behind him, but instead she slips her arm through his metal one and leans against him gently.

“I’ve got one. Don’t I, pudding-pop?”

The silence that follows is heavy but with building energy.

Then the room explodes with exclamations of, “What?!”

“When did this happen?!”

“How long have you two been a thing?”

“Why?!”

With their attention diverted, you relax, leaning into Thor’s embrace as Natasha catches your eye and gives you a quick subtle wink.

“I thought we were gonna wait?” You hear Bucky ask Natasha over the cacophony of voices demanding information, all of them on their feet again too except for Steve who is smiling and hiding it behind his hand.

Obviously he already knew, and it’s also obvious that Natasha revealed her relationship with Bucky for your benefit and to make meeting you the secondary event of this get together and while some women would be pissed that she’s gone and stolen your spotlight, you could not be more grateful.

~~~~~~~~~~

A metallic shoulder rubs against the side of your head and you lean away, gasping because you hadn’t expected the sensation.

You’re greeted with a metallic mask, similar to those of Tony Stark’s Iron Man helmet with slight variations around the mouth. The color is also brushed silver, the body white and red. It shifts to the side a little, away from you but it tips its head down in apology like an old 18th century gentleman.

“I’m sorry. Please, excuse me while I collect your empty plates.” The robot says.

“Sorry about the A.I., Cherub.” Tony says, then gives a quiet whistle. “Hey Bud, why don’t you take the night off?”

 Beside you, Thor chuckles at Tony’s new nickname for you. He’s done nothing but call you cherub since Thor did earlier in the night. It’s going to stick, or so Steve had promised.

The A.I. straightens up and puts the plates back down before moving off down the hall and out of sight.

“Bud?” Bruce Banner asks, who insisted you call him Bruce and drop the Doctor and the last name.

You have to keep reminding yourself to do so every time you talk to him. Because you can’t seem to remember, you’ve just chosen not to talk to him until you can.

Tony gets to his feet, moving around the table to lean over you, hand placed on his jacket to keep it from swinging against you.

“B.U.D.” He repeats, each letter on its own. “Buggy and Underdeveloped. I’m working on it. I’ve got their manners down. Jarvis quality though not as reliable. Vision is helping me work out the kinks.”

“I do what I can.” Vision says, Wanda reaching around to massage the back of his shoulders.

“You’ve made all the improvements. Tony had them calling us dickheads that one week before he asked for your help.”

“It was a typo!” Tony moves around to Natasha’s plate and piles it on top of yours, then Bucky’s who mutters a nervous thanks which Tony also mutters back a somewhat stiff approval.

You’re not given much time to notice their exchange before Thor’s hand finds your thigh under the table and he gives it a gentle squeeze.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes.” You smile at him, reaching down to take his hand. “Just surprised. I’ve never been around artificial intelligence of that caliber.”

“Don’t worry, Cherub. You’ll be used to it soon. You’ll be getting an upgrade at that pretty space cottage of yours pretty soon.” Tony says, grabbing a few glasses one at a time as he moves around the table.

“I’ll help you, Stark.” Thor suddenly says and releases your hand to move around the table and grab the other plates and glasses.

Why does he call him by his last name? Habit maybe?

“Thanks,” Tony nods.

“Space cottage?” You’re not sure what he means.

“Yeah, that big wooden house you all call a palace?” Tony clarifies.

“Oh,” Silly way to look at it. “There’s steel too.”

Tony smirks, “Well, I’ll be sending some people over to get a security system installed and an advanced satellite scanner to catch any movements that might come in from—up there. With this new threat that-”

Thor coughs loudly, dropping a glass that makes a terrible shattering glass sound against the black tabletop. Bucky catches the glass and holds it still then offers it up to him again.

Tony meets Thor’s singular eyed gaze who shakes his head minutely.

“-which I guess you’re not supposed to know? Whoops.” And with that he turns and leaves the room.

You look at Thor and find him watching you, then he quickly turns and follows Tony out of the room.

Whenever you’ve read in the past that someone sees red, you’d always suspected that it was metaphorical. However, you see red as your brain short circuits and all you can feel is a level rage.

The one thing you’d asked of Thor was that he won’t keep secrets from you and here is one, not even a week after your wedding!

“Don’t worry.” Natasha interjects, getting up from her seat. “When it’s worth knowing about, Thor will tell you. He just doesn’t want you to worry.”

Your frown only grows. You can’t seem to get your sudden temper flare under control.

“You’re upset.” Steve notices, getting up when everyone also starts to rise. “Why?”

You follow their example and get to your feet, pushing your chair under the table before following them into a smaller living room space just off the main common room while trying to quell your anger.

The living room is mostly white and gray with a long sectional that is full of red pillows.

“Because I’m Queen of New Asgard.” You point out, speaking a little more firmly than you mean to.

Steve gestures to the seat at the edge of the sectional and you take it, swallowing hard as you shove some of that upset down into your tummy so that you won’t lash out at the very nice people that Thor sees as family.

“You are.” Steve agrees. “No one would argue that you aren’t.”

Does he not get it?

“He might not want me to worry, but I have a responsibility to the people of New Asgard. If something is happening that might affect them, I need to know.” You cross your arms across your chest, huffing lightly and letting that be the peak of your temper.

You don’t want to fight with Thor here in front of everyone.

The reaction isn’t what you expect.

Sam, who is sitting on the floor at the bend in the sofa leaning against it as the weight of his sleepiness begins to take over, whistles.

Long and slow.

Bucky chuckles as Natasha settles beside him, her arms crossed across her chest as she leans back into his arm.

They don’t look together even if they are, just comfortable. Bucky’s arm curves a little more for her and is the only giveaway that there’s more between them than friendship.

She smirks. On the sofa beside you, Wanda leans forward to try and get a look at your pouting face, her red curtain of hair falling over her shoulder. Vision is standing by the TV looking at a collection of records to put on a turntable that sits ready and empty.

Dr. Ban-Bruce isn’t anywhere in sight.

Steve settles in beside Wanda but closer to Sam, leaving enough room for Vision to sit when he’s finished with the music.

“Thor said you had some bite.” Natasha shares, “Said something about you standing up for Loki? What’s that about?”

You feel your cheeks burn, neck too. With a shrug, you drop your arms and clutch at the fabric of your pants by your knees.

“Yeah, dude’s pretty psycho,” Sam adds.

“Sure, yeah, because a bunch of people dressing up in costumes and going around fighting crime and otherworldly forces are completely sane.”

Shit, did you seriously just say that?

There’s a beat of silence, then, “She sounds very sensible. Now that I’ve had some time with it, I think the cape might have been a touch too far.”

Everyone chuckles, and you turn to look at Vision who finally picks an album and slips it in place.

“Sorry,” You offer, hesitating a moment before you decide to explain yourself. “Loki has been nothing but kind to me. And calling him a psycho offends me. I know you all and the rest of the planet, have issues with him and what he did…so did I, but he’s trying. And he’s family now…like you all…so…”

Your words trail off as you turn to look for Thor, but you can still see him across the common room in the kitchen, exchanging hushed words with Tony and it’s starting to rile you up again. What’s coming? What’s so important that Thor has brought in the Avengers too?

“What did Thor call it?” Bucky asks Nat.

“Bite.” Steve tells him, “She’s got bite.”

“I’d say it’s more like a sting. But she’s right. I don’t think any of us here can judge someone by their past. At least I can’t.” Bucky nods.

“Or me,” Nat agrees.

“Or me,” Wanda smiles.

And then the music starts. Vision turns, hands behind his back as he also smiles at the general pleasantries.

“Taylor Swift?” Sam demands, “Really?”

Vision’s smile vanishes and he gives him nice wide eyes of surprise, “I’ve never heard this one before.”

“Excuse me.” You get up and move towards the kitchen, determined to get an explanation while the room behind you continues to argue the merits of Vision exploring different musical avenues.

“Whose album even is that?” Sam demands.

Steve clears his throat, “I think you should both get some sleep. I want a debrief first thing in the morning. I might not be Captain America anymore, but I’m still running this show.”

“Don’t try to change the subject, you’ve never accepted the boss mantle until now. Which other albums do you have in your room that you’re too afraid to share?” Nat adds.

“Hey, I have no shame in my musical taste.” Steve defends.

As you near the kitchen, the open spaces separated only by two large circular pillars and a sleek concrete counter island, you slow as their quiet conversation begins to reach your ears. It wasn’t necessarily that you’re trying to eavesdrop…but they’re not talking about what you expected them to be talking about. So, you freeze.

Too nervous to move, forward because what the hell? Or back, because they’ll no doubt hear your retreat.

Where’s the talk about threats to the kingdom and planet? No, you get a nice dose of fear and jealousy instead.

“You only knew her for a week before you married her?”

“It was arranged. All of you knew this. I explained it the last time we met.”

“I get that, but what-” You can hear the hesitation in Tony’s voice.

Despite the fact that he knows he probably shouldn’t bring it up, he throws his dishtowel on the counter and turns around to lean against it as Thor’s hands continue to sift through the dishes, washing them slowly. “What happened to Foster? Weren’t you two pretty hot and heavy? Last time you brought her here-”

“Jane has other priorities.” Thor cuts him off, clearly still hurt from his breakup with Jane.

You hate the sound in his voice. Why does he have to be so clearly heartbroken?

“That’s all I get?” Tony asks, waiting and leaning in a little closer to Thor.

“What else would you have me say? It was hard to leave her. And if I’m honest, I still find myself thinking about what life might have become if she’d been ready to settle down.”

What?

You take a step back, wanting to get away from this horrible conversation you wish you hadn’t accidentally run into. Retreat being heard be damned!

But then, “Cherub?”

It’s Tony, a smirk in his voice as he turns to help Thor dry the dishes he sets aside.

“She is my angel.” Thor smiles, just a teeny upturn at the corners of his lips as he steals a glance at Tony.

Your heart gives a painful clench at the love that you’ve been seeing in his eye pour through in his voice.

“A celestial creature sent to me by fate. I had no knowledge of the capacities of love. I’ve only ever found love as I found Jane’s. We were met by chance, and the attraction was clear and instant. Intention as well. With my cherub, things though they grew quickly, were harder to find. I had to look past my own melancholia to see that she was there waiting for me.”

“She does look like she’s completely lost it.” Tony nudges Thor aside because he’s taking so long and takes over the washing.

“I hope you mean lost her heart to me?”

“What else? Her mind? Though why anyone would agree to rule an entire country is beyond me.”

“She’s brave.” Thor boasts, body completely relaxed. “I’ve never known anyone with her courage. The first night of our engagement she demanded that I be honest with her, even if I decided to keep Jane as a mistress.”

Tony looks at him, eyebrow quirked as he asks a voiceless question.

“Which of course, is out of the question. I entertained the thought for a bit, I can’t deny it. At the very beginning as I was making my plans to go leave Jane, to end things permanently so that I could do right by Y/N and really try to make our marriage something lasting—I wanted to keep Jane at my side by any means necessary.

“Imagining a life without her was painful and I hate to admit that I had every intention in those last moments before I saw her to ask her to be with me even after I was married.” Thor confesses, sounding torn between guilt and desperation.

You remember seeing that desperation in him before he’d gone to see Jane.

Even after his proposal to you, even after those earth-moving kisses, he’d wanted to keep Jane at his side.

Of course, he did. You shouldn’t be surprised by that. He and Jane had shared so much before you came into the picture. Before you were forced in if you’re honest.

Still, it hurts, and you hate hearing it.

For a second time, you take a step back, wanting to leave.

But then, “What changed your mind?”

Thor sighs heavily, exasperated, exhausted by something.

He crosses his large arms across his chest, black shirt straining against his biceps and pecs. He’s so massive. Standing next to Tony only accentuates that fact.

“It took her two hours to make time to speak with me, and another three before she stopped explaining her work on energy spikes in some far East quadrant of space to let me even bring up the fact I was officially engaged to someone else.

“The only reason I was able to hold off for so long is that she would come and kiss me every twenty minutes to promise that she’d be done soon.”

You hate that.

“It was the waiting around after three months of having seen her last and six months since we’d been together. I just couldn’t stand the thought of that always being my life. As much as I loved her, I didn’t want to spend my marriage waiting for a woman when another had already assured me of her commitment to rule at my side as wife and Queen.”

“Is that the only reason you’re so into your Cherub? Because she obviously likes you?”

“No.” Thor shakes his head, “No, there are many things about Y/N that draw me to her. Most of them I’ve discovered since I made the choice to really let Jane go. When I came home that night, she was there to lure me back from the pit I’d crawled myself into by telling Jane goodbye.”

Tony stops washing to fix Thor with a knowing gaze. He scoffs then turns back to his washing.

“So, the sex is good, is what you’re saying?”

“The sex is very good. Incredibly good. I have no complaints about our physical chemistry. In fact, it’s better than with Jane or anyone else I’ve ever been with. I’m not sure what it is, but we are very well suited in the bedroom. She has such vigor, such desire. I am never in no doubt of her want of me. It’s so good that I almost didn’t want to bring her here because then I’d have to give up an entire day of having her to myself wrapped up in nothing but her bedsheets.”

“Alright, I think I get the picture.” Tony holds up one soapy hand to stop Thor’s bragging. “So, she sleeps with you and makes you feel better. Jane makes you wait, so you end it for good. Did you at least give her a proper goodbye?”

Thor is silent, and this time, you don’t want to know. You’ve already guessed and have been suspecting that this is very much the case, but you don’t want the confirmation.

If that’s what happened when he went to see Jane, you don’t want to know. Even if it happened before you two were married and really together, it happened when you were already in the picture and your heart was already being swayed.

Stepping out from behind the large round pillar, one hand resting against the smooth black curve, you watch Thor think about Tony’s question, tilting his head up to look across the room towards the living room space where the Avengers are now laughing about who the hell knows what.

He sees you and his face loses color.

“Thor?”

“What’s the matter?” He asks, a small bit of panic in his voice.

He moves towards you and you move towards him, meeting halfway.

“Did you hear?” He knows, probably because of whatever is on your face that’s making him panic.

His large hands are already pushing your numerous braids back, throwing them over your shoulders gently so that he can place his hands on your neck.

“Thor,” You repeat, this time getting a hold of yourself and reaching up to grab his wrists and pull his hands down away from your face. “What’s coming?”

This is why you’d come in here, and this is what you’ll insist on knowing. Fuck everything else they were talking about. You don’t want to know, and you don’t care what happened or what Thor felt before both of you exchanged vows.

“What?”

He seems stunned by the shift of topic, despite the agony that you’d momentarily been in. His voice even cracks a little, too shocked by the change.

“The new threat,” You clarify. “This new thing that we need satellites back home for? What is it? What’s happening? I know that you probably don’t want me to worry or want to protect me or maybe you’re still thinking of me as a civilian? But I’m Queen of our kingdom, Thor. If something is coming for us, I deserve to know. I need to know what’s coming if I’m going to help you protect our people. It’s my job and I can’t do it if you don’t let me.”

“Cherub’s got a point.” Tony adds, and claps Thor on the shoulder before gathering up a tray and makes his way out of the kitchen and towards the others with a bottle of beer for each of them.

“You’re right.” Thor nods, reaching to take your hands and he pulls them up to his lips kiss away the pain that he must have seen you feeling.

He seems to know though that you don’t want to focus on that and so he doesn’t bring it up.

You can tell he wants to though. He really wants to talk about what was just said in this kitchen.

“Yes, you’re right, you should know and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I didn’t want you frightened or worried when you didn’t have to be, but you’re right. As Queen, you have every right to know what might be coming. But can’t we wait to talk about it until later? Tonight perhaps? When we’re alone?”

You don’t want to agree. You want to make demands of him and make him tell you everything right now. However, you also know that you’re a little angry about what you overheard and that’s probably why your pulse is pounding in your throat, heart ramming itself against your ribcage.

“Fine.” You huff then turn to move back into the living room.

“Hey,” He coaxes you back, voice low and deep so that the others won’t hear him.

He catches your wrist and pulls you back gently.

“Did you hear us? Because if you did, when I went to leave Jane I-”

“I don’t wanna know, Thor. If you slept with her, I don’t want to know.” You sigh, stomach clenching painfully. “You did what you have to do. It’s not like you and I fell in love in any kind of traditional way. We were forced together and now we’re married. I’m not stupid.”

“Of course you aren’t, and as true as all of that is, I don’t like the way you’re talking about it.” Thor agonizes, wrapping his arm around your waist to pull you closer and further into the kitchen out of view of the others. “You’re acting as if I don’t love you, or as if it’s a farce. I love you, cherub. It happened quickly, but it is real.”

“I know that, Thor,” It’s nice to hear though, because you’re seriously feeling weak in the confidence you’d spent every night since your wedding building.

For a bit there, you’d believed wholeheartedly that Thor loves you. You still do…but the realities of Jane and how quickly he’d had to end that relationship with her because he had to marry you to give his people a Queen have been brought to light and ruptured the bubble of your new marital bliss.

It’s also suddenly very clear to you that he must still love Jane very much. Even if he loves you too. There’s no way he can move on this quickly.

“You don’t look like you do. You look sad and it’s putting knots in my stomach, love. Please don’t doubt me now.”

Fuck!

You lean forward, shoving your forehead against his wide chest. You wrap your arms around his waist and fist the back of his shirt as he brings his hands up to the sides of your head. You can feel his lips against your scalp, kissing against the large middle braid that goes down along the back of your head.

“This is so hard.” You admit, hating your jealousy.

“I wish I could take all of your strife.” He kisses your head again, an audible smack. “I’m sorry I’m the one making it for you.”

Both of you knew that this would be tricky.

“I swear to you, cherub, it’s only you. You are the only woman I want and the only being in the universe that I want to bear my children.” His words are full of truth and you look up at him to find that same honesty in his gaze.

It’s pained and sorrowful and you hate it.

“I shouldn’t have listened.” You pull yourself up against his body and push yourself up with puckered lips.

Eagerly he leans down to meet your lips with his own but he shifts his head to the side to deepen the peck you’d wanted to leave you in no doubt as to his devotion, or at the very least, his passion.

He leans down to wrap his arms around you and press you up against the side of the pillar.

“Thor…” You whisper when he pulls back to tilt his head the other way. “We’re guests here.”

The reminder cools him down and he places his hands on your hips instead while you tickle the hairs on the back of his neck.

“We should get back to your friends.”

Thor sighs heavily, hating this idea, but he knows you’re right.

He reaches up to take hold of the back of your neck, squeezing it possessively before he leans down to give you one more quick kiss.

“Tonight, I will leave you in no doubt as to my devotion and love. I promise.”

His declaration takes your breath away, and apparently Bruce’s too as he sputters a cough around his own beer as he freezes on the other side of the kitchen by the fridge where another large round pillar lines a different entrance opposite the side you’re both standing on.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Bruce says, reaching up to wipe at the beer dribble around his mouth.

Thor takes his hands back and you slip out from between him and the pillar then make your way back towards the living room feeling flushed.

As you walk back in, observing the room, Steve and Vision are currently playing an apparently rousing game of Connect Four on the floor while Nat and Bucky sit cuddled up on the far corner of the sectional, talking quietly but also giving the two battling on the floor the occasional glance.

Wanda is on her phone, typing away quickly with a beer held between her thighs. Sam is standing by the records, despite his previous griping, nodding his head as Taylor Swift’s 22 fills the space.

Tony is on his own phone, standing in the far corner of the room with a sappy smile on his own face which tells you he’s probably talking to his own wife, Pepper Potts, who couldn’t make it tonight due to a work engagement.

All of them have a beer around them or in hand, and as you make your way towards the bend in the sectional feeling a little like you’re intruding, just as your back hits the sofa a cold bottle meets your cheek.

You jump a little but turn to look and Tony holds out a sealed bottle for you.

“You okay with import? Or do you want domestic?” He asks, holding his phone to his shoulder, brows drawn together as he waits for your answer.

“This is fine, thanks.” You take the bottle and then give him a quick smile.

“Good, because then I’d have sent you down to get your own.” He assures you, but a voice from his phone calls his name and he hurries away again, phone pressed to his ear.

You look at the bottle of beer in your hands, wondering if the top is a twist but when you go to turn it the ridges hurt your hand and you stop instantly.

Just as you’re about to lean over and ask Bucky to open the bottle for you, the sectional dips beside you and heat envelops your shoulder and side as Thor sits right beside you.

“It sounds like excuses to me.” He says, looking at Bruce who sits down beside him with a bit more space allowed between them.

“It’s not an excuse,” Bruce insists. “I’m working on something that needs all of my concentration. I’ll come visit soon, I promise. I’m going to be coming with Tony for the security system installation so, I’ll get to see the palace then.”

“Thor?” You hold the bottle up for him and he takes it from you, kissing the side of your head before he simply flicks the top with his thumb and it flies off and falls right on Steve’s head.

“Hey,” He complains, but then gets distracted as Vision connects his four red chips.

“I win.” Vision declares.

“Damn,” Steve concedes. “You got me. Go again?”

Vision dumps the chips, and they start splitting them up.

“Here you are, cherub.” Thor hands you back your beer, and you take a quick drink before settling in against Thor’s side a bit more comfortably as he gives you a squeeze but continues to chat with Bruce.