#(and took me 3 hours and 50+ layers)

[theradicalace]

i want them to be bowling rivals so badly

[m0rang0z]

50 layers (the background was made in a different canvas, so I'm not counting the layers it took to make it)

2 hour and 37 seven minutes (without the background canvas still)

I'm slowly going back to the creepypasta fandom heheheheh (*´꒳`*) since the votes about me drawing undercircus sans (my au) haven't finished, tho the results are pretty clear, i have decided to do my fav slenderman proxy first :3

This ended up being almost a pose and specially background practice ngl, anyway i love this guy, we both got daddy issues /hj

As always, y'all from tumblr r the first ones to see my art, cuz sometimes my lazy ass take days to post it on Instagram, tiktok and threads lulz

[godofdumpsterfalling]

Headcanon Dump - Hermes & Apollo ft. Dionysus (Riordanverse)

Because I have a mountain of these and if I don’t organize them they will be completely incoherent. Under a cut for length.

- Apollo basically raised Hermes, for all the value of “raised” when concerning gods.

- Maia did not want to be a mother, and had no idea how to. She tried, and did care about Hermes, but was secretly relieved when Hermes took to following Apollo everywhere. Zeus was really perfecting his parenting style of the day, which was caring about his kids from a distance (he had other priorities, they were not really near the top) and occasionally popping in to give some Fatherly Advice or have bonding moment (omg taking his kids fishing…deadbeat dad core for REAL) before fucking off again like “parental control duties DONE I am SUCH a good dad. See you again in like 50 years, sport!” It was particularly bad when Hermes was born.

- Hermes followed Apollo around for a solid couple hundred years, acting as his shadow pretty much. It drove Athena and Artemis CRAZY. Apollo’s extroverted ass was completely baffled by people being off put by his baby brother basically being attached to his back. He’s not gonna bother you he’s just gonna hang out?? What’s the problem??

- Hermes stayed in a younger form for a looong time because he knew Apollo would never say no to him if he looked cute enough. Until he got hit with the depression beam, he kept whipping that form out whenever he got in trouble. He’s baby, your honor, you can’t be mad at a BABY

- Hermes held Dionysus for 2 seconds before he decided he was willing to die for this little guy. The couple hours after he was born were spent by Hermes holding him up to random family members and going “LOOK AT HIM HES SO SMALL” and the family members going “Hermes please do your job”

- When Dionysus joined Olympus, Hermes eagerly took him under his wing in a similar manner to Apollo taking on Hermes. Not as much weird parental responsibility though. But he was still following Apollo everywhere so Apollo got TWO mischievous shadows. Much to Artmemis’ dismay. Why are there TWO OF THEM

- All they ever had to do was duck behind Apollo and he’d defend them against whoever they’d pissed off now even when they were 100% in the wrong. Especially when they were 100% in the wrong, honestly.

- Zeus and Hermes’ relationship has a lot of layers (a post for another time) but the bare bones basics is that early on Zeus just thought he was a Clown (that’s my funny boy <3) and nowadays he’s Zeus’ under appreciated, overworked personal assistant. Although he’s kind of been Zeus’ lapdog since the beginning. Father Please Notice Me I am not as shiny as Apollo but I can roll over so nice pls pls pls

- Hermes has not had a nap in the past century somebody please help him. Give your local delivery man a nice tip because he has like 20 other domains and would rather be doing Literally Anything Else. And also a hug maybe, the most contact he ever gets is when he brushes hands with whoever he’s giving a package. Somebody get this man a paid vacation he has been holding Olympus together with duct tape

- Hermes has the worst case of Middle Child Syndrome Known To Man

- Hermes and Artemis like each other! Shockingly. For reasons unrelated to Apollo, even. They just like to hang out. Hermes is one of the two Olympians she’s happy to be around <3

- Apollo has tried, with varying success, to get Hermes and Athena to be friends. The results have been… mixed.

- Athena, Apollo and Hermes will occasionally have absolutely legendary verbal smackdowns. So brutal that it would actually evaporate a mortal on the spot. Indescribable, really. Anyone who overhears them will never mentally recover,

[tiny-caffeinated-panda]

Edwin WIP (3-4 hours of work) started on October 15 vs Charles WIP (2-3 hours of work) started on October 2 The finished Charles piece from before probably took around 40-50 hours. Lost and afraid in the world of digital art, I stumbled around in the dark. Thankfully, more experienced people could advise me about resolution, tools, and layers. Fucking layers, man. And hey, at least I learned enough to start Edwin off in a way that doesn't make him look like a Sims character. Progress!

[imagine-dragonlords]

Heya, I just wanted to ask you, one of the greatest edit makers I've ever seen, if you would be willing to share some tips and tricks for other potential edit makers (myself, and your many other admirers).

I've been trying for so long but I get so lost in content and editing and I don't know what I'm doing, haha. Like, what inspires you? :)

<3<3<3

Oh wow thank you so much.

Honestly, one of the biggest pieces of advice is just don't be afraid to make something bad, just use that passion for the content to help you learn and feel comfortable with the tools you are using. The thing is, your best friends are time and practice.

I started editing videos in 2008, on Windows Movie Maker. They are NOT GOOD. My first ever uploaded edit was June 2008; one of my first edits trying out Sony Vegas (a whole new programme) was March 2009 but looking back from now, they are still *not good*, but a year later this video I think still looks pretty good. Even comparing on my current channel videos from a year ago to now, I think my editing style has grown in ambitiousness and I feel more confident doing certain things. (I am not saying it took me 15 years to get good at these skills, I took a 8-year break from editing videos between 2014-2022, and now I use a new editing software called Wondershare Filmora. But obviously, lessons and skills learned from previous years I still remembered). I also make A LOT of content, and edit often, so I practice my skills and style regularly.

I also share works-in-progress with people I trust, and their opinions help make edits even better than if I'd worked alone.

But aside from the mechanics of editing, and more around getting *inspired*, honestly I just pick songs that I enjoy (if it's a song-edit, you will end up listening to that song around 100000000 times, so you better make sure you like it to begin with 🙃😅). Edits can take anything from like 8-hours of editing to 50 hours of editing, depending on how long it is and how complex the layering I've chosen to do (also how frantic/short the clips are, as more clips=more time=more listening to the song).

After you're editing for a while, you get to know the source material very well. I am very comfortable with Merlin, so it takes me less time to make those videos, and I get "lost" less often. I often will listen to a bit of a song, and have a very specific scene in mind that I think *wow that would fit that exactly*.

I like to build up tension in edits up to a big crescendo during the climax of a song, as such, I often edit that bit first, so I am not limited to the EPIC scenes I can choose. Because it's meant to be a climax, I usually put the fan favourite scenes or emotionally intense ones there, and the rest of the edit will have to deal with it. A great example of this, is my edit to Us by Gracie Abrams (ft. Taylor Swift) (1:12 - 1:46), so many of my favourite scenes are cramped into flashes there, but means they can't really be used elsewhere. Which means I see less of my favourite bits, but it contributes more effectively to the emotional impact of the edit, and frantic feeling of the song.

Tips:

Make a playlist of songs that inspire you, for later use.

Make a document of the lyrics and annotate it with possible scenes from the show you are editing that speak to those lyrics, before you start (but don't be afraid to throw it out if while you're making it, something else works better instead). It's good as a starting point, rather than a bible.

Start simple, and learn from there. Some of my most popular videos are really simple in terms of editing. Like, literally just basic colouring, no effects, just one clip in front of another.

Pay attention to movements within the footage. Editors can often use effects and overlays to match clips to the beat and rhythm of songs. But, one of my favourite things to do, is use movements within clips themselves. For example, in my Guilty as Sin video, around the 3:19 mark, if you watch Merlin's eye movement, it matches the rhythm of Taylor's voice. And in the clips that follow it, you can just see that little shifts in movement or turns match up with the beat or words of the song - that is very much on purpose. It takes a while, but is so satisfying to the subconscious viewer - and it's something you can do without many fancy effects or overlays etc.

Isolating vocals. I like to edit a video with all the voiceovers, then mute the song, save as mp3, so all the voiceovers are together. Then use a programme online (there are many different ones available) to remove background music from the voiceover. I save that as another MP3, put it in the editing file in the right place, mute all the previous voiceover clips, put the song back on. And voila - now your voiceovers sound really crisp and the music from the show won't muddy the music you've chosen for the edit.

Work smarter, not harder. I often reuse editing files, so that I don't have to worry too much about re-doing the colouring, effects etc. It also means I have already got a bank of clips that I probably want to use. It means that my edits have a consistent style a lot of the time, and less work for me :-)

Don't worry about editing to a song that someone else has already done. We're all different and as long as you're not copying the edit, it will probably end up very different. And hey, if it's a perfect song for that fandom? Other people will probably agree and want to watch multiples of that edit to that song anyway.

That is all I can think for now, but I am happy to do a kind of "edit-with-me" workshop in the future if people would want that :-)

thanks @windforkthewriter for the ask, sorry if I went on for too long!!!

[consplaysuperior]

Hi I am such a huge fan of your Soundwave cosplay, absolutely legendary and I dream of the day it’s for sale.

Till then I have a most ambitious dream that you might save me a lot of time on. I am a welder and have amassed a stockpile material to make a metal cosplay suit. Do you have templates or drawings or anything really of the Soundwave cosplay?

The biggest trouble I’ve been having is with figuring out his plating and if you had any sort of sketches or planning I could use I’d be eternally grateful. I totally understand if it’s classified/non-disclosable/etc.

You folks are legends among Transformers cosplayers and rightfully so. Most amazing work!!

Thank you! I'm glad you like our work! I don't see us selling our suits any time soon, but we're always glad to help anyone making their own! We have no secrets here

Soundwave's plating is really complicated. One of the pieces that wraps around his side took us almost 3 hours to pattern! There's one thing like that in every cosplay, it seems... I'm not sure where our actual templates are right now, and they would take time to photograph since they're quite large, but we do have a process album that shows a lot of his pieces close up, and how the layers go together. We also used the Art of Prime book, which is sadly out of print and really expensive now. However! One of the artists who worked on it has pages on deviantart, so here is Soundwave's.

A metal cosplay of Soundwave is going to be very heavy, but you probably know that. Ours is mostly foam with a bit of metal for strength and moving joints, and it weighs probably 40 or 50 pounds.

If I do manage to dig out any of our sketches or templates, I'll reblog with pictures, but in the meantime, feel free to ask any questions that come up. I can't wait to see what you make!

~Mod Starscream

[multifan2022]

Golden lies 8

PART 1 PART 7

MyMasterlist

Maybe.. Just count on these hurting for a while

After spilling your guts out, you got up refusing to look at Hardin's now cooling body. You needed to move, not only because you're screaming gave away your position. But you needed Hardin's body out of the arena, it was going to kill you if you saw it again. You were thankful that the two of you had set your bags just behind you. You wouldn't be able to loot his body. 

You practically ran back into the woods, tears nonstop streaming down your face as the sun finished setting. You ran until your legs gave out, hitting your knees you just stared blankly at the ground. Huffing air in and out as you screamed for your mind to shut off. You looked around, finding another one of those tree root holes. 

You forced yourself into it, pushing yourself into your sleeping bag. Your bag was down in the extra space at the bottom, so someone would literally have to kill you to get your supplies. The machete Hardin had was firmly in your hand, ready to strike out if you needed. As you laid there, trying desperately to just sleep, the sky lit up. 

Green, purple and blue swirls filled the sky as the Panem anthem played. It was softer than normal as Hardin's face replaced the Capitol seal. It was only up for a moment, before the music faded and the colors swirled around each other softly. Almost like a tribute to the lost tribute. 

The last thing you remembered before falling asleep was your promise to Hardin. In the morning, you would eat the last of your rations. Fill your two canteens and start hunting other tributes. You just hoped someone got to the kids from four before you did. Because you didn't know if you would be able to kill them after this. 

~~~~~~~

Walking.. That was all you had done as the sun moved through the sky. The temperature rose, layers came off, your sports bra, pants and boots all you kept on. A sickle in one hand and the machete in the other. At this point you didn't even know where you were going, you were just walking. 

After hours you noticed something up ahead, butterflies. Huge butterflies, almost 10 inches in size, swarming around something on the ground. The closer you got, the further away you wished you were. 

Down under what had to be 50 or 60 butterflies was a half eaten body. The insects feasting on dead flesh and muscle as you recognized the dark hair of the district 2 female. Goosebumps filled your skin as you watched them walk and flutter around her. Upon further inspection you noticed berries in her hand, ones that you assumed were poisonous. 

You didn't know if it was symbolic or not, the butterflies, but chose to ignore it. Turning away to walk some more, looking and listening for a live tribute. An undetermined amount of time, you heard some whimpers of pain. When brown curly hair peaked up a little from the grass on the ground, you wished you had stayed with the butterflies. 

Beck, the tribute from 4, was laying on the ground, his shirt covered in blood. Slices covering his chest as his hand stayed firmly around what looked like a trident. Your knees got weak as you approached him. You didn't know if he would try to kill you as you walked closer, but figured he probably wouldn't do much damage. 

“Hey..” You said softly watching his body flinch, he tried to raise the heavy metal weapon but his hand just fell back to the ground. He relaxed slightly when he noticed it was you, but he was in so much pain. Tears were streaming down his face as your knees met the grass next  to him. 

“Its ok.. Shh.” You tried to comfort him, carding a hand through his hair watching as his eyes closed. When they opened a minute later, they were significantly darker. “They have… River..” he gasped a breath painfully trying to finish. “I failed.. They took us… Then 8,6 and 7 took me…” Blood was now seeping out of his mouth as he pushed through, enjoying the small amount of calmness your hand brought. 

“1 and 3 have River... You have to save her if you can… Please..” Beck used every drop of the strength he had left to raise his hand, dropping the trident into your lap. Then he pointed to his bag, “Sponsor gift.. For later.. Please..” You grabbed his bag digging through to look for what he was talking about. When the small gray canister was found you held it out, and he sighed while nodding. 

“Finn said it's for when the lightning starts.. Rub it on your skin..”

His eyes closed, sighing again because he felt like he had done what he could. He couldn't fight 7 people twice his size. He couldn't heal the slashes across his chest. But he could give you what he had in hopes you got to River in time. “The boy from 8.. He thought it would be fun if I died slowly.. He said pain brings people joy..” 

Your lip pulled back in a sneer, disgusted that someone would do this to a kid. You knew that unfortunately for someone to win everyone else had to die, but to purposely put someone through pain like this.. You blamed yourself, you shouldn't have given them the bags. You shouldn't have told River to run, then maybe they would have died quickly at the bloodbath. “Im so sorry.. This is all my fault.” Your voice was shaky, you were so tired of this. You felt like if you got out, you would just be an empty shell. 

Beck shook his head, “Just stay with me.. Then find River.. Then win.. Please.” Beck gasped, starting to choke slightly on his own blood as his vision got darker. “Can you sing.. My mom always sings me to sleep.” You nodded, crossing your legs and laying his head in your lap. As your fingers brushed his curly hair back from his forehead. 

I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go

When all those shadows almost killed your light

I remember you said don't leave me here alone

But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight

Your heart was breaking into more pieces than it already had been as you watched Beck's chest move up and down in ragged painful breaths. You were thanking whoever was out there that Hardin hadn't died like this. You wished you had the strength to mercy kill Beck, but you just didn't think you could do it. 

Just close your eyes

The sun is going down

You'll be alright

No one can hurt you now

Come morning light

You and I'll be safe and sound

You used the hand that wasn't carding through his hair, to brush the dirt off his face. His cheeks and forehead were becoming more relaxed. The creases between his eyebrows and the frown lines disappeared as his heart slowed, then stopped. The cannon firing as you finished the last line of that verse. “I'm sorry..” Was all you whispered as you leaned down and kissed his sweaty forehead. 

You didn't know why you connected so deeply with these two kids. Maybe it was because you had always been against the games and they were so young. Maybe it was because you saw Hardin in River, and yourself in Beck. Two friends who would do what they needed to protect each other. But Beck's objective was to save River, just as yours had been to save Hardin. 

Both of you had failed. Then you had failed Beck, and now you felt you would also fail River. Laying his head down, you knelt elbow resting on your knee holding your head up. Looking down at his small torn up body, something broke deeply. That part of you that had been separate, was now all you. 

The part that had been protecting you from feeling the pain of killing others now all you felt. A scary numb came over your entire body as you stood and spoke down to Beck. “I will find them.. I will find them if I have to burn down this entire arena.. It's the careers turn. They will kill me or I will light their pyre. I promise.” 

The trident lay at your feet unused and while you wanted to pick it up, you had no experience with one. You knew that going into this fight with something like that could mean your death. So you picked it up, and wrapped Beck's fingers around it, ensuring that it would be taken out with him. 

You turned a blank dead look on your face as you walked just far enough away. Waiting until the Capitol ship appeared and lowered the crane to lift his body. You watched as it lifted the small boy up, before the doors closed and it disappeared again. “Let the Gods have mercy on him.. Gods have mercy on me.. Because I will kill them.. They will all burn..” 

The tribute center had never been so quiet for so long. 

Nobody wanted to say anything, afraid that it would set others off. Haymitch had been dedicatedly watching from your screen. Chaff, Seeder and a few others gathered with him from time to time. 

Finnick didn't think Mags had stopped crying since she watched you kill your friend. It only got worse when they watched the alliance split, one of their tributes going with the careers and one with the outliers. Their tiny screams for each other would haunt Finnick forever. He had even shred a few tears watching you lull Beck into a painfilled death. 

He was thankful that you had done what you could by sitting and singing to him. He felt like a failure every time that one of his tributes died, but this year they had been so young. It hurt worse than he thought it would. He had only been a mentor a few years himself, he didn't know how he would keep doing this like Mags had. 

“God have mercy on him.. God have mercy on me.. Because I will kill them.. They will all burn..” 

Before your words could even sink in there was a knock at the door. A peacekeeper walked in looking towards the group of people hovering at the district 9 monitor. “Abernathy.. There's a man here to see you.. Mr. Crane.. He would like to discuss the finale” Nobody had ever seen the drunk move so quickly as he ran out the door. 

Unknowing of what he was bringing into the young girls life. 

@avis15 @liballer @avoxrising @notplutos @asapkyndall @wolfstarfate

[snoopdoggs]

Would you ever consider explaining your process on how you make gifs so quickly? Not a full blown tutorial but mainly sharing the programs you use?

sure!! i'll try to break it down but tbh im not good at explaining the method used to make gifs so i recommend checking out some tutorials for something more in-depth.

i use two programs to make gifs: adobe premiere rush & adobe photoshop cc

putting this under the cut because i included some pictures to help explain

step one: clipping (premiere rush)

so here i usually import my video into premiere rush and clip out the scenes i would like to gif. to keep it somewhat consistent, i like to make my clip sizes 2-3 seconds if possible, and this usually takes me anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes depending on how big the video im trimming is and how much screentime the person im giffing has

step two: importing (photoshop cc)

so i use videos to layers to make my gifs, which i would recommend if you have storage space to spare on your computer because it can eat up a lot of your space during the process. but essentially, i import my trimmed video into photoshop and add the sharpening i'll use, then split each gif that'll be made into it's own layer. i repeat this with the rest of the video and save each file as it's own part. the longer your trimmed video is, the longer it'll take to do this step, but this specific example took me 15 minutes to do.

step three: coloring (photoshop cc)

this is probably the fastest part of it, but it's basically going back to each part you made and coloring the gifs. you'll use the marker to trim it down for each gif and save it for web. if the video you're trying to gif is easy to color, it will go pretty fast, and it took me about 10 minutes to make 50 gifs.

note: the entire process of making these specific gifs took me a little over half an hour (10 minutes to clip, 15 minutes to import, 10 minutes to gif = 50 gifs), but obviously the time varies depending on each project and it's difficulty. i will say my method probably goes faster because it's a lot of repeated actions all at once so once you get the hang of it you can go pretty quickly. i also tend to clip stuff in advance to gif later just because it's my least favorite part and probably will require the most focus.

[thehydromancer]

Lordship at Last; A Scrub's Tale

After 268 hours (I know) and 173 levels (I KNOW), I finally cleared my first Elden Ring run. I... love it. It took me a long time to realize exactly why, but when it hit me it made perfect sense. The whole game is the Water Temple. I don't think I need to explain that to anyone. A simple statement, but the more you think about it, the implications are layered and sublime. I vaguely recall an ancient game mag interview with some dev or another who, when asked what his dream project would be, described a grittier Zelda with more subtle storytelling and more interesting uses in combat for traditional equipment such as the hookshot. I remember loving the concept, and later Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom. Elden Ring though feels like the logical conclusion to exploring the freedom and flexibility of modern fantasy adventure games, the masterpiece bookend to the world of possibilities that the OG NES Zelda began to reveal to us.

And what a journey its been. My first Souls-like game, starting out as a bandit named Torrent (IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN THE GAME {I THOUGHT} ADDRESSED MY CHARACTER BY NAME IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES!!!), not understanding how shields worked, and grossly under leveling vigor (hell finished with only 40 before hearing after the fact that 60 is typically the goal). Dying to the lake side ruins bats again. And again. And again. Standing in the Church of Elleh thinking I was safe, studying the Limgrave Tree Sentinel with my shiny new telescope, only for it to drop the walls on me. Not understanding how elemental damages work till the last 3rd of the game. Breezing through some bosses only to be kneecapped physically and spiritually again and again by a pair of mangy mutts, cocaine bear, biblically accurate angel bubbles, or simply a zombie holding a torch causally away from their body. Spending the first half of the game dying in numbers that would make Rosus himself say 'hey slow down there partner, thanks for putting my kids through Raya Lucaria with all those runes you lost, but I really need a break.' Forgetting I'd picked up the crystal tear for cleansing during the Mohg fight, instead trying everything up to and including Law of Regression to clear the triple ring status effect during the fight.

Ever so slowly, painfully, learning the ins and outs of the game. Slowly morphing from a dex curved sword user with throwing knives and a bow to a mage knight desperately cheesing his way through the last 60 hours of the game. SO. MUCH. BACKTRACKING. I must have revisited Stormveil over the course of 100 hours, finding something new every time. Exploring every nook and cranny in the world, scrapping runes together as hard as I could in the early game, only to be shocked at how easy leveling became in the second half of the game. Hosting tryouts for every Spirit Ashes like I was assembling the outer-gods-damned Avengers to fight Thanos wielding the Elden Gauntlet. ACCIDENTALLY STUMBLING UPON DRAGON ELDEN LORD, WHOOPS SORRY SIR(S?) DIDN'T MEAN TO DISTURB YOUR ETERNAL TIMELESS SLUMBER! In the end, somehow, managing to defeat all demigods and I'd guess 95% of the bosses in the game. I know I missed a few, and there was 3 or 4 I purposefully decided to ignore for my own sanity (if Blaidd had been half red wolf he'd of been the next Elden Lord I swear).

Bosses that gave me the greatest trouble at the time;

Margit (pretty sure we killed each other at the same time, so I never got his runes)

Godrick (I'd like to think it'd be a different story now that I've developed some skill and muscle memory but boy was this a grind)

Dragon Tree Sentinel guarding Lyndell (probably over 50 deaths, just the worst, only read about the additional summons later!)

The Elden Beast (how do pure melee builds beat this guy!? I had trouble keeping up with it using various ranged spells, the opportunities to stab it felt few and far inbetween)

Bosses that I was shocked at how easy they were based on memes/carbot/the community;

Radahn (only demigod I beat my first time, still an awesome battle)

Placidusax (one of the most enjoyable fights in hindsight, really felt like I was hitting my stride with the ebb and flow of battle finally)

Malenia, Blade of Miquella (in fairness was probably grossly over leveled by this point, downed in 3 or 4 attempts)

Radagon (the cheese was real but I was also serving it)

Special shout out to the meteorite staff and rock sling spell, the true MVPs of my run and the breakers of bosses, especially dragons. The carian knight sword and grandeur skill had an incredible run until I was able to nab the Sword of Night and Flame, and eventually the Dark Moon Greatsword itself, fulfilling my transformation into Fierce Deity Tarnished. Loretta's War Sickle was surprisingly fun as well for non boss fights.

As I look ahead to the DLC and meander/experiment through a NG+ or 3 while I wait, I can't help but wonder, probably a true dark horse theory... are we, the Tarnished, in some way, shape, or form... Miquella? Why would Malenia, instead of seeking him out to rescue her beloved brother, wait for him in the one place she knows he isn't... convinced he'd return... when it was I, Tarnished, all along who returned? Silly I know. But Torrent (I hate that I have to specify this, the horse) also reacted to Torrent (the Tarnished) in a way that felt more meaningful the second time around after having experienced most of the story. Why would Melina choose us (assuming we were her only attempt) over all others? Did she even truly know?

Alright that was a lot. I wish I'd kept a running journal of my play through, there was just so much wonder and discovery. I look forward to picking up Bloodborne and Lies of P to continue feeding my new addiction!

[sunshine-tattoo]

i think a pretty big pet peeve of mine is people who don't dress for the weather/ climate and then complain when they are uncomfortable.

like the obvious one is early 20s white girls going clubbing and then freezing their asses off going home because there ain't a jacket among them.

but there are quite a few that are honestly worse.

example: a few summers ago I worked at a kids outdoor camp. for many days it was over 30C (90F) with over 80% humidity.

in other words HOT.

we also had very limited shade and were usually in the full sun for most of the day.

so i made it very clear to all the parents and caregivers that every child was required 4 things:

1. Sunscreen

2. Sunglasses

3. Water

4. Weather appropriate clothing like shorts and t-shirts

for the most part I didn't have any trouble.

kids came with what they needed and I made sure they took plenty of water breaks and applied sunscreen every hour.

but there were two instances where things got bad.

Instance One

a mom refused to have her child wear sunscreen. I don't know if it was a fear of chemicals thing or her just believing that because their family was slightly olive complexed but whatever.

either way this kid went three days in intense UV with no sunscreen.

can you guess what happened?

he got so badly burned that he had to miss the rest of camp.

I was furious.

this kid had to stay home and be miserable all because his mama didn't listen to me about sun safety.

darker skin tones might protect you a little compared to paler ones but at the height of summer it don't matter what shade you are.

You. Will. Get. Burned.

my family is mixed and my auntie always said:

"Black don't crack but it does fry."

so me (white as fuck) and my cousins (50 shades of brown) wore the same amount of sunscreen every summer.

Instance Two

the camp being in Toronto we had a lot of first generation kiddos from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds.

which was awesome. we all learned so much from one another.

except for one family.

they were from Saudi Arabia and had only been in Canada for a few months.

they sent their little girl to camp in full traditional clothing.

- long dress

- legs and arms covered

- head scarf

which in air conditioned spaces or ontario's frozen winters is fine.

but NOT in the middle of summer with no place to cool down.

I tried to talk to the parents about it, telling them that their girl was gonna be hella overheated all day and that was a health risk.

the dad just scoffed and said "our country is much hotter than this and everyone dresses this way she will be fine."

yes its hotter but its also a DRY heat.

I may live in Canada now, but I grew up in the swamps of the south eastern USA.

if there's one thing I know, it's that you can't treat humid heat and dry heat like they are the same thing.

in dry heat, flowy layers like traditional Saudi clothes are perfect. they keep the sun off and encourage breeziness.

humidity don't work that way.

layers will only suck up moisture like a sponge and lead to burns and rashes.

the key is limited clothes (like shorts and t-shirts) and then coating yourself in sunscreen and chugging water to keep up with the sweating.

I tried to explain this to the parents, but they didn't listen.

And you know what happened?

this poor girl passed out from heat exhaustion and we had to call a fucking ambulance.

then. because the EMTs told the parents directly that this girl needed different clothes. the parents took her out of camp entirely!

they would have rather wasted a few grand and not let their kid go to camp all because they refused to dress for the weather.

like I understand dress and tradition and faith are important but not to the point of risking personal safety.

bottom line of these stories: I need people to be less dumb when it comes to how they dress and what they do in extreme weather.

either dress for the day. or have a plan to keep yourself safe like going inside regularly to cool off/ warm up.

temperature-caused aliments are no fucking joke and they can easily be avoided if you actually use your brain.

[softsky-daily]

11/28/2023

The sky was so light today, and faded into this soft pink near sunset time.

Positive thing: I got some homework done with my friend and I managed to get caught up with my Japanese flashcards I had been putting off.

That was over 500 cards by the way, so not a quick feat. And Anki makes you do it over if you get it wrong, so I think all of them took me an hour and a half of just straight flashcards.

I think the 逃げ恥 haze is finally coming loose from me, but I definitely still got really distracted throughout the day whenever it'd come to mind. Especially at work. I had trouble with my last task since it was more involved than usual and all my brain wanted to do was replay 逃げ恥 scenes over and over. I ended up not finishing it, so I'll have to do it tomorrow.

Besides that, it was very cold today. I've only really lived in warm climates and I'm sensitive to the cold so anything below 60 degrees gets me shivering. Today was in the low 50s - 40s and I was all bundled up in 3 layers of clothing plus my scarf. I always love the opportunity to wear it though - it's from my mom and very warm and thick makes a good blanket in a pinch.

Tomorrow is the Secret Santa gift exchange some of my classmates and I are doing. I hope my recipient likes the gift I got for them. We wrote out our likes/dislikes in a group chat so we could all get a sense of what to get for whoever our person was. Mine mentioned liking plushies and handwritten cards which made looking for a gift pretty straightforward. I wonder what my Secret Santa got me. Last year when we did this my Secret Santa was extremely kind and got me Pokémon Violet and also some paopu fruit earrings. Well, the Pokemon Violet was because she heard I wished I could afford it and she bought it for me, so not quite part of the event but still a very pleasant surprise of course. I don't think that level of gift-giving will happen again, but I'm sure whatever it is I'll like.

[bike42]

PAWs Old World Wisconsin Ride

Sunday, June 2, 2024

We slept in, took some time for stretching and organizing stuff, then went down to the rather disappointing breakfast at the Baymont hotel! We saw very few riders, so didn’t know if most had left or were in their rooms, or maybe the smart ones went out to breakfast (we will tomorrow!).

It was overcast when we starting riding, but dry. We started out in layers, but no tights today. We had to make a few adjustments stops for creaky bike, noisy breaks, bug in the helmet, etc …. So it took awhile to find our groove.

We rode some of the roads that we’d hiked on for the IAT, and that was fun. We passed an artisanal well where we’d actually taken a break to wait out a short rainstorm. I recalled showing the gang a new yoga stretch I’d just learned, and noted spots where I’d taken photos! We turned up Kettle Moraine road, and to the left, the IAT disappeared into the woods as the Whitewater Segment.

The rest stop was just 12 miles in. We weren’t hungry, but I grabbed some snacks for later and we struck up a conversation with two guys from Ohio - Hal and Kendall, the first PAWs ride for each of them. They had nice bikes, and Kendall griped that the group they ride with in Ohio was all about stats and keeping their average above 18 miles per hour. We set out at the same time, and somehow I knew we’d be riding harder to hang with them (we did). Gorgeous ride along the shores of Whitewater Lake with decent roads and fun up and down. We’d fall a bit behind on the climb, but scream by them on the downhill.

We arrived in Palmyra about 24 miles into the day. Google maps helped me find a coffee shop just off Main St, and Hal and Kendall joined us there but had Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream rather than coffee. They took off for the 50 mile loop, we decided the 40 mile loop would be enough, so we turned and headed back towards Whitewater. We rode slower, partly because the roads were bumpy and not great. We’d peeled off our outer layers and it was great to be soaking up the sun today, trying not to focus on how awful the forecast looks for the next 3 days!

We showered, relaxed, napped and read before going out for the evening happy hour. After that, we walked downtown again (1.5 miles) heading for a neat looking Taco shop we’d seen yesterday. Being Sunday, it was closed, so we headed across the street to an Italian restaurant, which was really good! We passed on dessert, heading back towards our hotel and Culver’s. We strolled back at a more leisurely pace, taking in the historic homes and college housing along our way. Culver’s had Turtle Sundae as their “Flavor of the Day” - yum! We’ll work it off tomorrow!

We enjoyed our stay in Whitewater … sort of like a “Stay Cation” for us!

40.6 miles, 996 ft elevation gain

2 hours, 45 minutes of riding time (4 hours elapsed time)

[nothing0fnothing]

I remember picking up my younger brother in my scrawny little arms and protecting his head as I ripped him away from the dinner table. Shards of glass had just fallen around us and I couldn't be sure there was none in his plate. He was sobbing for his Dino nuggies back and I'd barely gotten us to the living room when my mom demanded I go to her. I placed his tiny feet onto the floor and told him to go to our room, put a film on and I'll be right up. He was unsure, but he gingerly made his way back. My mother was spitting fire by the time I found her. She picked up a schoolbag to hit me with, and out of it clattered 5 coloured pencils. "Pick it up" she screamed at me. She had just took the bag to my face and sent my glasses flying. I had barely a second to catch my breath before she struck me again. She was hitting me so hard and fast I barely had a moment to blink the black spots out of my vision before they returned. I was feeling around blindly for coloured pencils I couldn't see. Every so often I could catch a glimpse of my hand or a drop of blood on the textured tile. Eventually I had collected all the fallen pencils and she stormed off to find her husband. Probably to finish the argument they had that escalated to all this. I remember trying to steady my shaking breaths. Immediately to my left was the bathroom. I went inside and dared myself to look into the mirror. I was a mess. My skin had gone so pale I looked like I had been tinted blue. My eyes were somehow both sunken and puffy. I was bleeding. There was specs of splattered blood across my forehead and nose, but it had rolled down my face too. From the point of contact between my brows, down my nose and into my eyes, where it became diluted with my tears and rolled down my cheeks. I barely looked at myself for a second before I got to washing my face clean in horror. Gingerly wetting my fingers and swiping the red away, so afraid to spell a drop of water onto my mom's bathroom floor and be in for it all over again. After a minute or two of washing and breathing and calming, I looked far better. My skin had turned from ghostly blue to a sallow yellowish colour, and the red in my eyes subsided for a glassy, pinprick pupil look. Without the blood in the way, I could see the wound didn't look so bad. I could see the skin, peeled away in paper thin layers at the contact of the canvas bag. Red raw right in the centre and barely tinted pink the rest of the way, no bigger than a 50 pence piece. I had just come to terms with the sight of myself when my swollen eyes darkened as my mother called my name. Not giving me even a second to reply before she was banging on the bathroom door. I can't remember what she wanted. I just remember lying to her when she asked if I was bleeding as if answering the affirmative that she knew to be true was going to further offend her. I wasn't taking risks. I can't even remember if my brother made it upstairs safely, or if he was intercepted by our mother's husband and equally punished. I remember being brought out to the garden, walking past a still warm plate of dinosaur nuggets on the kitchen island and noticing a shard of glass the size of a thumbnail in it and I remember sitting on my bed 3 years after this happened crying into a towel for over an hour because I remembered it so vividly while I was in the shower.

[shinxeysartgallery]

how do you draw that much that fast what the shit

Motivation and practice.

It really depends on the complexity of the piece, but on average, it takes me between 1 and 3 hours to complete each piece. A lot of it being that little amount of time is because of how long I've been drawing (over 20 years now). I've gotten used to things like proportions and anatomy, so I don't have to spend as much time fixing/redoing stuff in the drawing, which knocks the time down a lot. Obviously, I'm not perfect and I still do make mistakes in the drawings, but I make a lot less than I used to. But that's only if I do one character with no/a simple background. If I'm drawing an entire scene for a background, then it'll take me a lot longer to do. If I'm doing weird stuff with the shading layers, that will also take longer. It'll also depend on how many characters are involved. If it's 5 or less, I can most likely do that within a day, but more than that will probably take me at least two days to finish. For example, this summer piece I did last month with a handful of my favorite OCs took me about a week to complete. It features 15 characters, fully colored and shaded, though the background is rather simple. This one here of Shana and Judy took me around 5-ish hours to complete because of the background scene. But something like each piece I did for my June art challenge only took me around an hour each to do. The other thing is how used to drawing a character I am. I draw my OCs a LOT, so I'm pretty used to drawing them. lol Since I'm used to drawing Sonic character anatomy from that, it makes drawing other characters that aren't mine (for example, the Sonic OCs featured in my Art Fight attacks) a bit easier to do. And since Sonic character anatomy is very similar to human anatomy, it makes drawing human/humanoid characters pretty easy now, too. The main differences between the two are really just the head and torso shapes for the bases and the proportions of the head and hands to the rest of the body.

And the rest of it just boils down to time, motivation, and how I'm feeling! It doesn't take me too long to do most pieces, but I'm less likely to start on a piece despite that if I have more important things I need to get done (like my college classes). I've got a good rhythm going with doing my assignments and doing other stuff during my free time, but that leaves a few days where nothing art-wise gets done. If I'm not feeling well or my hand is hurting, then I definitely won't be doing anything, even if I really want to. Don't want carpal tunnel, after all! And sometimes I just don't feel like drawing, even if I want to. Sometimes I'd rather do something else like write or play video games, so I don't draw. Thankfully, my motivation has stayed pretty consistent for Art Fight, otherwise I don't think I'd have made it even to 40 attacks, let alone my goal of 50. lol

[myloveforhergoeson]

That's All She Wrote - Chapter 6

Chapter 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5

Find me on wattpad and ao3

Show: Big Time Rush

Pairing: James Diamond x Original Female Character

Chapter 6: Writing Wrongs ~ 12k

One thing Roxy’s father hadn’t told her before he taught her how to play the guitar was just how painful the strings could feel on the pads of her fingers, especially after many hours of play. Though she had been building up the calluses on her fingers for nearly a decade, she was beginning to feel the sharp sting after her long session in the recording booth in order to properly track both the lead and rhythm guitar layers to the band’s new single “Famous”. 

The new song, a rock-influenced track focusing on the dream of overnight fame and fortune, wasn’t that far off from what had happened to her and her band. Even if they weren’t quite famous and not quite fortunate yet, “Famous” was nearly radio ready - the band just had to finish recording their vocals. 

Recording days were always stressful, for both the band, their assistant, and their bosses. Gustavo was incredibly nitpicky about the order of the process: write the song, record the background music, solo recording, and then finally, group recording. The process was grueling but the high risk-high reward mindset was always in the forefront of their producers' thoughts. 

Since arriving in the morning, Roxy had played “Famous” on the guitar at least 50 different times. Though her last recording of the track on her electric guitar was her boss’ favorite, he took the previous recordings to use as background layers and eventually got the boys in the booth individually to record their parts. 

Now, well into the evening, the four boys stood in the recording booth together finishing their last take of the song. 

Group recordings were Roxy’s favorite part - the boy’s voices melded so well together and after their solo recordings they were familiar enough with the song to only do three or four takes to put the finishing touches on the track. From there, she and Gustavo would get to piece everything together to get their final product EP ready. 

As the track came to a close, Roxy cut off the recording from the soundboard and used the little computer beside Kelly to name and label the file to be placed in the “Famous” folder. 

Once she was done, Kendall’s voice filled her headphones as he spoke to the three in the soundroom. “It sounded great, right?”

The girl saw Kelly throw a thumbs up and moved to copy her action before their boss audibly sighed. “No… Green Day sounds great. You guys didn’t make me want to vomit.”

“Oh, Gustavo!”

“Come on!”

A chorus of protest came from the band as they ripped their headphones off, not caring if the producer heard their comments or not, before Gustavo hit the ‘mute’ button to the mic in the booth. Even through the soundproofed walls, Roxy could practically hear them cursing their boss out.

If that bothered him, the man didn’t show it. He was too preoccupied with pointing to his headphones and acting like the sound had been mysteriously cut. 

Guys are so weird.

It only took a few seconds for Kelly to step in, smacking Gustavo’s back to startle him and grab his attention. “Why can’t you tell them they sound good? Or thank the teens for all of their hard work?”

Roxy agreed, nodding her head, “With each recording session they keep getting better and better. It would mean a lot to them coming from you.”

“Showing thanks is a sign of weakness. And besides, you don’t hear them thanking me.”

Once the boys had figured out their communication had been cut, they made their way into the soundroom to join up with the other three. 

“Gustavo!” Kendall called from the doorway, waltzing out to stand in front of the large man. “We just wanted to thank you.”

All at once the boys began to express their thanks to the producer, holding their hands out for fist bumps and high fives. Even Roxy joined in, thanking Gustavo for teaching her so much about the writing and recording process and thanking Kelly for allowing her to learn more about the inner workings of the music industry. 

When the producer fell silent, his talent scout gave him a nudge to the shoulder. 

“I just wanted to say, you guys are… done for the day.”

Kelly and Roxy looked at each other, sharing an eye roll at their boss’ lack of proper response. 

Ignoring the disappointed looks on the band’s faces, he continued, “Kelly and I are off to North Carolina.”

“Ooh!” Carlos sounded incredibly excited, “Can you bring us back a tar heel?” 

“Ooh!” Their boss mocked, “I’m thinking about bringing back a hot new band that I can replace you with when you inevitably fail me.” 

His comment sent a jolt down the assistant’s spine. Replace us?

Though Gustavo had attempted to walk away as if what he said was no big deal, the band rushed after him into the hallway to figure out exactly what he meant. Just before he reached the door to his office, James was able to grab his attention. 

“You’re not gonna replace us, not after you see my new headshots: One hot young doctor, one hot greasy mechanic!” 

Pulled seemingly from out of nowhere, James held up the two images on either side of his face, giving the man a little bit of smolder. 

“Ooh! I’ll put these with the others.” Gustavo mocked again, snatching the images out of his hands. With not even a glance towards them, he threw the pages behind his back - ignoring a yelp from James - and turned to his assistant to start a new conversation. “Kelly, who’d you get to house-sit my mansion?”

“You said that you would take care of that!” The woman bit, pointing an accusatory finger towards Gustavo. 

“There is no way I would have ever said-”

Beep!

A voicemail played from the speakers of her phone, “Kelly, I’ll find someone to help house-sit my mansion.”

With a smile, she turned to face the teens, “I record everything now!”

This conversation felt personal, and one the assistant definitely wasn’t interested in hearing, so she tugged on Carlos’ arm and motioned down the hall. Gustavo had told them they were done for the day, so why stick around and listen to him groan? 

Unfortunately for her, the boys were moving their heads back and forth towards the adults as they bickered with each other - watching as if it were the most captivating soap opera of all time.

“You can play your blame game later! Meanwhile, who’s gonna dust my 100-inch plasma, feed my exotic pets, and make sure my 1 million dollar media room stays set at 68 degrees?” 

This time, it was Carlos’ turn to tug on her arm as the band slowly inched forward at the mansion’s description. 

A day off and a sleep over at a multimillion dollar mansion… Not a bad plan. 

“We could!” Roxy nearly yelled, trying to contain the smile threatening to form on her face. “Mansion-sit that is. It’s not like we’re doing anything else while you’re gone.” 

“You want me to let you and the monkeys mansion-sit?” 

More like the Monkees, the assistant thought as Logan spoke out in confusion. 

“I thought we were dawgs?” 

“You’re monkey dawgs! And the answer is no.”

Before the band could protest farther, Kelly smiled menacingly towards her boss before gathering some of his jacket in her fist, “Can I see you in your office, please?”

While the pair conferred, the teens looked among themselves excitedly. If anyone was on their side, it was Kelly, and she was awfully good at convincing Gustavo to be a little more lenient towards his employees. 

“I don’t think I can even imagine what his place could possibly look like.” Logan thought aloud, inching closer to the closed office door to hear what the pair were speaking about. 

Oddly enough, Roxy had a very clear picture in mind thanks to the wonders of reality television. “He was on an episode of MTV Cribs a couple years ago… The media room alone is enough to kill for.” 

“Aw, man!” James pouted, moving to lean on the door in order to evesdrop on the adults’ conversation before whispering, “I wish we could be on Cribs.”

“Well, keep doing what he asks and some day you might be.” She offered, taking place in the space beside him as the rest of the band members joined them in listening into Kelly and Gustavo’s confrence - more like what was left of it. 

Kelly had said something the teens were unable to make out before pulling the solid wood door open and sending the band and their assistant tumbling in a pile down to the floor. 

Clearly, they had been listening in and their bosses knew this to be fact, but as the five picked themselves off the floor they did their best to be nonchalant about it. 

“Studio!” was all Gustavo had to say in response, pushing past the teens until he reached his destination. 

As per usual, the band found themselves in a military style line up while Gustavo yelled out at them. 

“There are five mansion-sitting rules at Casa Gustavo…”

Everyone was far too excited to really internalize his comments, giving each other excited nudges and eyebrow wiggles down the line. 

“...One, stay out of my media room…” 

Maybe that’s a rule for the guys… I don’t have a track record of destruction. 

“...Two, do not open my living room fridge…”

We’ll get dinner on the way.

“... Three, keep your butts off my 40,000 dollar Federico Benini couch…”

What’s the point of a couch you can’t sit on?

“... Four, do not touch my Peruvian hairless cat, Monty…”

Ew. Don’t need to tell me twice.

Logan said something about how much he loved cats before Gustavo let out an intimidating grunt, in which the boy went on a full 180 to talk about how much he hated the animal. 

“...And five, if anything - Anything! - is broken in my mansion, you are all fired! Are we clear?”

The five didn’t even need to think twice, before they began to celebrate, “Yes!” 

***

“No!”

The band and their assistant had stopped by 2-J to run the mansion-sitting plan by Mrs. Knight and grab dinner before they headed out. Kendall and his mother were arguing with each other in the kitchen while the other four, and Katie, sat around the dining table and munched on some dino-nuggets and fries. By this point, they had been back and forth a few times and Roxy was really gunning for Kendall to win this one. 

Mrs. Knight had been entrusted by the other parents to watch over their kids, but since Roxy’s father hadn’t even met her by the time they moved to Los Angeles she didn’t really have a parental figure to tell her what she could or couldn’t do. She held nothing but respect for the woman who had helped her out on countless occasions and was kind enough to feed her multiple times a week so if Mrs. Knight said no, she wouldn’t be going, but she was really uninterested in finding someone else in her contacts list to mansion sit. 

“Mom, just one night!” Her son fought back. 

“You’re too young.” 

“I’m not too young, I’m 16. We’re all 16!”

From the table, Logan chimed in, moving to face the squared off duo, “Together, we’re 80. That’s older than you!”

The woman didn’t even have a response besides placing her hand on the boy's head and turning it back down towards his plate. 

“Mom,” Kendall tried again, “It’s time you stopped treating me like a child. And, it’s also time you stop feeding me dinosaur-shaped chicken!”

For the record, the writer found the dino-nuggets quite charming, even when the blond reached down to her plate and plucked one up for emphasis. 

“You love your dinosaur chicken,” Mrs. Knight chuckled, seemingly unaware of the real reason for Kendall’s outburst. 

“Yeah, when I was eight!” 

Turning around again, Logan added, “We are men now, Mrs. Knight.”

His comment pulled a laugh from his assistant, who nearly choked on her bite of food. “Then why are James and Carlos forming a french fry volcano and sacrificing their nuggets to it?”

Their creation was quite impressive, a pile of fries formed into a cone shape with ketchup atop it for lava, but it was quickly destroyed as Kendall threw the nugget he had been holding at their plate. 

Almost like the meteor that took them out.

“Mom,” Kendall tried for a final time, reaching his hands out to place tenderly on the woman’s shoulders. “It’s time.”

For a moment, she turned the thought over before looking at the other teens sitting at the table. Her son was right, and it was evidenced by the fact everyone was nodding in agreement. 16 was a bit old to still be going everywhere new with your kid.

“I want hourly updates.” 

A healthy compromise that all five mansion-sitters agreed to. 

***

Casa Gustavo was far larger in person than it had appeared on the small television the girl had seen it on back in Minnesota. Just looking on from the outside, Roxy wasn’t sure she could explore it all in one night. 

The two story mansion - more like a palace - appeared to loom over the five as they took their overnight bags from Mrs. Knight's car. Its dusty brown, Spanish style of architecture and beautiful landscaping out front didn’t seem like their boss’ style but from his strict rules regarding the inside, it was safe to assume this place was not as it seemed. 

Can’t judge a book by its cover.

Glancing over to her friends, the assistant noticed they had come prepared with sleeping bags - something she hadn’t even thought of. Her overnight bag consisted of a change of clothes, pajamas, and her travel toiletries. In her defense, the only thing Gustavo said to keep off of was his stupid-expensive couch so hopefully she wouldn’t mind if she took one of the many unoccupied rooms in his home for the night. 

There was also a large blue and white duffle bag on the concrete that someone had managed to pull out from the trunk, but what it contained Roxy didn’t know. Maybe the band were hoping for a spacious backyard they could play field hockey on.

From the front seat of the car, Mrs. Knight rolled down the window, worried look in her eyes. “Okay, I set my phone number in all your speed dials. Just dial ‘M’ for ‘Mommy’.”

“Mom…” Kendall cringed, carefully biting his tongue to not say anything to make her change her mind about letting them stay in the mansion overnight. 

“And I brought your jammies for you!” 

“Mom!”

The other four teens let out near silent chuckles as their friend accepted the clothing from his mother. It was very sweet Mrs. Knight cared about them so much, but everyone was enjoying Kendall’s embarrassment just a bit too much. 

With a sigh, the woman set her hands down on the window sill, “Okay, have fun… And Katie, you’re not staying, get out of the duffle bag!”

The bag zipped open revealing the youngest Knight, pouting. Unfortunately, she wasn’t quite old enough for sleepovers with her friends quite yet. In attempted solidarity, everyone whispered their apologies as she climbed back into the mini-van. 

With a wave, the Knights were off, and the teens burst through the iron gate and front door into the foyer of Casa Gustavo. 

First thing, they were greeted with soft classical music coming from invisible speakers as they walked past golden drapes that marked the end of the hallway to the door. In contrast to the brown exterior, the walls inside were painted a dull white to match the tan tiled floor and chocolate colored crown molding. A spiral staircase leading upstairs was protected by black iron railings that popped nicely against the predominantly white theming, yet blended in against the beautiful art hanging on the walls. Windows covered nearly every inch of the side facing the backyard, giving view to an expansive, green garden.

Roxanne had never been anywhere so nice in her life.  

Clearly, neither had the boys, as shown by their jaw-dropping espressions at just the first room. 

In the center, a white abstract sculpture stood as if it was watching the front door and guarding the home from any intruders. 

“A helmet rack!” Carlos gleefully called, taking his accessory off his head and making his way towards the ceramic piece.

No one registered what he had been talking about until he rushed over and popped the helmet on top of the statue’s head. In a flash, the other four circled it, arms out to catch it if it fell, and a chorus of “no, no, no!” as Logan gently took the helmet off to hand back to his friend.

“Look,” Kendall gently affirmed,“We promised that we would do this in a responsible manner.”

“Responsible manner… in a manor!” Roxy smiled, pointing both fingers to the ceiling.

Logan was the only one who laughed as the front man continued, “Now, we have 80 years of experience between us and… Who am I kidding? I’ll race you to the media room!”

Locking eyes, the five teens sprinted down the hallway to their right, a nice red carpet cushioning their footsteps. In both directions, there were a handful of doors that could lead to all different places, and the band lost time opening and closing doors once they figured out it was not their desired location.

Their assistant, however, had the privilege of having a basic understanding of their boss’ home, and raced to the end of the hall where a large pair of red barn doors greeted her. Once she slid them open, she had a dance of silent victory when she noticed the 100 inch plasma TV in front of a smattering of soft, comfortable looking beanbag chairs. 

Not wasting any time, Roxy quickly found the remote on the coffee table and plopped down into a beanbag chair before pressing the ‘on’ button. Typing in the channel code for MTV, she was more than overjoyed to find out Jersey Shore was airing.   

By the time the band had found the room it was far too late.

“Dibs!” She called, waving the remote around in the air as the four found spots to sit in around the room, dejected.

Thank God they take dibs seriously. 

Trying to ignore the band’s loud sighs and obvious eye rolls, Roxy was more than happy to watch the full Jersey drama unfold on the hi-definition screen and incredible surround sound. It was almost like she was there in the vacation home caught up in the everpresent drama of the famous housemates. 

In this episode, a fight at one of the bars they frequented on the shore broke out - just her chance to get the guys interested enough. Excitedly, she pointed to the TV as Pauly D and The Situation threw the first punches, “Look, look! Action! Violence!”

Instead of the usual twinkle in their eyes that could often be found during a fight happening when they would watch hockey games, her friends looked more confused than anything.

“Uh, why are they fighting again?” Logan questioned, cocking his head to the side. 

The answer, to Roxy, seemed obvious, but was clearly lost on the boys. “The two guys they keep showing over and over, the DJ and the one with the crazy tan, were trying to juggle a couple girls at once.” 

“Woah,” That seemed to catch Carlos’ attention. “You can do that?”

Not wasting a second, she and Kendall both breathed out, “No!” 

“Technically-” 

Buzz buzz

Incoming call: Dad

Never had she been more thankful her phone had cut James off. Whatever he had to say next might lead her to the levels of violence the patrons of the Jersey Shore bar were displaying. 

Wasting no time, the girl hopped off her beanbag chair and darted into the hallway before picking up, “Hello?”

“Hey, kiddo! Haven’t heard from ya in a while, just thought I should check in.”

It was nice to hear his sweet, Southern voice, though she much preferred her own Upper Midwest accent she had picked up living in Minnesota all her life. 

As much as she didn’t like to think about it, he was correct; she hadn’t really had the free time to call in the week since they’d moved to Los Angeles. Besides her initial “hey, we made it!” call from the airport, and a few texts about big things like school and work every now and then, calling home had simply slipped her mind. Hopefully, that didn’t bother him too much. 

A small, guilty chuckle left her lips, “You wouldn’t believe what Gustavo’s got us doing - in fact today is our first real day off and we’re mansion sitting for him.”

“Sounds excitin’… Who’s ‘we’?”

“Oh, Kendall, Carlos, James, Logan, and I.” She said without second thought. The five of them being together had just become so natural to her she didn’t even think of what that might sound like to the father of a teenage girl. 

There was a brief pause in the conversation and Roxy swore she heard a pop! emanate from somewhere in the mansion. 

“And Miss Jennifer was cool with that?” He sighed. 

It sounded as though he, like Kendall’s mom, needed a bit of convincing. 

“Yeah! She’s just down the road if we need her. Besides, we’ve got like 80 years of experience between the five of us-”

“Roxanne.” 

She hated when he used her full name like that. All clear and commanding, as if he were actually there in the room with her.

“Just be careful, ‘kay?”

Casting her eyes down to her shoes, she nodded to herself. “You’ve got it, Dad… Do you want me to ask you before I hang out with the guys alone next time?”

“No… no…” His words didn’t match the hesitation in his voice. “I trust you, honey bun. It just hasn’t been all that easy not having you around so I’m still adjusting, I guess. ‘Sides, I remember what it’s like to be a teenager - can’t blame me for being worried about ya.”

“I miss you, too. Honestly it’s been really weird waking up and not finding one of your notes on my kitchen table.”

When he laughed, she could practically see the image of his smile swirling in her mind. “D’ya know how quiet this house has been without you in it? That dusty old radio in the kitchen is finally getting some use now that you’ve taken all your tapes.”

“Oh! That reminds me! I’ve written two songs for the band now, I can’t wait for the EP to be complete so I can send you a copy.”

“I’m not sure I want to listen to four of my daughter’s boy-friends singin’ pop-y love-y songs she wrote.”

“Da-ad!” Roxy gasped, stretching out the word in jest. “Only one of them is a love song… What else is there for a boy band to sing about?” 

On the other side of the line, the writer could hear some sort of incoherent mumbling. 

After a few seconds, her father spoke again, “Sorry, kiddo, looks like my break’s been cut short. Back to the grindstone for your dear old Dad since not all of us can take the red-eye to L.A. and get all rich and famous.”

“Rich and famous? I’ll have to get back to you on that one.”

“You better! I don’t want to wait a week for another call.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow morning, I won’t forget. Love you!’

“Love ya.”

With a click the line went dead. 

A whole week and a half had gone by and she had completely forgotten to call her father. 

Of all the things a sixteen-year-old should be doing with their time, living alone in Los Angeles, California, two thousand miles away from home, was pretty low on the list. He had been incredibly understanding and flexible with the entire situation because he more than anyone wanted her dreams to come true, and this was how she repaid him. 

Some daughter I am.

As she walked back into the room, nose buried in her phone calendar, she set little repeating reminders throughout her week so she’d never forget to call again. Only when she felt something whizz by her and smack onto the TV frame, she realized the boys had gotten a hold of the TV remote. 

Standing in the middle of the room was James, 9 iron in hand from a set of golf clubs in the corner of the room, teeing up a golf ball aimed once more for the television. Watching from the beanbag chairs, mouths and hands full of popcorn, were Carlos, Logan, and Kendall who appeared to be making quite the mess as their assistant spied a smattering of yellow kernels trailing from the kitchen.

“Why the hell are you hitting golf balls at Gustavo’s TV? Are you out of your mind?” She found herself shouting, scaring the boy in front of the screen.

This time, it was his turn to act as though the answer to her question was obvious, “Chill! They’re just foam… It’s part of a video game. Wanna take a shot?”

 ��“Pass.” She deadpanned, not sure if she fully believed what he was telling her, before moving to the back of the room to join the other three. “I’m going to be too busy yelling at your audience to pick up after themselves.”

“We’ll do it later!” Carlos assured her, a few kernels falling out of his cupped hands as he reached up and out of Kendall’s emptying popcorn bowl. “James needs to finish his turn right now.”

Taking a few more seconds to once again line up his shot, James bent his knees and looked from the screen to the ball a couple times. “Now, watch the birdie-”

“Miss it!” The other band members shouted, taking their popcorn and tossing it his way to try and mess up his aim.

Smoothly, James managed to bring the iron behind his head and swing it down towards the ball. Connecting with a crack! it almost certainly sounded like a real golf ball, but when it hit the TV it simply bounced off, but not before sending his virtual ball flying in the same direction. 

  Once it sailed into the hole, he let out a cheer of celebration before stepping back and handing the club off to Carlos. 

Sliding onto the window sill where the helmet-wearer had previously been sitting, Roxy stole the seat before her long-haired friend even had the chance. 

“This is totally awesome!” The boy at the tee reflected. “The five of us kicking back in a mansion-”

His thoughts derailed as he took his shot. 

“Where we’ve broken rule number one by entering the media room,” Logan reminded everyone, souring the mood. 

That one’s kind of on me.

Anxiously, the boy continued, “But it stops here, right?”

“Right!” The rest of the teens agreed.

By then, it was Kendall’s turn, and the salty, delicious smell of popcorn was making the assistant’s stomach rumble. Maybe the size of the house would be a good indicator of the size of her boss’ pantry - a fact she would be happy to investigate. 

Stepping out of the room again, she made her way towards the kitchen, before noticing something odd in the living room leading there. On the right hand side, a large, silver refrigerator stood with an equally large, silver chain wrapped around the handles. In the middle of the two doors sat a padlock, increasing her curiosity about what it continued. 

Is this the living room fridge Gustavo mentioned?

As if her band could read her thoughts, they suddenly appeared behind her, no doubt harboring similar ideas about wanting to crack it open.

“Rule number two,” Roxy recited, tone more mocking than anything. “Do not open the living room fridge.”

Holding a hand to his chin, Kendall raised an eyebrow. “Sure… But why do you think Gustavo locks it in the first place?”

“I bet he keeps his heart in there.” James concluded.

“Or his victims.” Added Logan.

Beside his friend, Carlos’ eyes lit up, “Or food!’

There was a moment's hesitation before the blond spoke again, confirming most of the group's thoughts, “Well, only one way to find out.”

The thought of whatever Kendall was insinuating was enough to make Logan tense up in fear. 

“Woah, woah, woah, are you crazy? You just heard Roxy mention mansion-sitting rule number two!”

“Sure…” The girl sucked in a breath. “But of the five, this one doesn’t seem like the most career-ending. Besides, we’ve already been in the media room and everything is fine.”

That was hard logic to beat, so when Carlos swept his arms out in front of his friends and slowly made his way towards the appliance, no one moved to stop him. 

“Step aside, friends! My uncle was a locksmith, you just place your hands between the cylinder and the central housing,” With each word, he lined his hands up with the lock as if he were prepared to crack it - before completely abandoning this idea and grabbing a sledgehammer Gustavo had laying beside it. “And then hit it with the sledgehammer!”

And just like that, the chain tangled up in the handles fell to the floor with a clink.

Gently, he reached forward and grabbed a hold of the doors. He pulled them open slowly, like he was opening some sort of gift, and a soft yellow glow emanated from inside, shining on the teens as they watched. By now, the doors were able to swing open on their own and Carlos stepped back to join his friends.

Inside, were rows upon rows of chocolate pudding cups, bathed in the refrigerator light as if they were blessed by heaven itself, neatly arranged to fill the entire surface area inside. And, for convenience, a mug with five golden spoons sat nestled in one of the shelves on the right door. 

In a blur, the boys rushed the appliance, knocking down the perfect arrangement to grab as many of the cups as they could carry, nearly destroying the inside of the fridge in the process. Cups were squished, crushed, and dropped before they were finally opened, as the boys settled down onto the living room furniture to enjoy their treats. 

No big deal, the assistant told herself as she stared into the open doors and realized how many pudding cups their boss would surely know were missing. We can just head to the store before he gets home and replace what we eat.

 Since Gustavo wouldn’t be back until the following evening, there was no use in denying herself a bit of fun too. 

Beside the pudding-fridge, there was a small cart with a popcorn machine almost halfway full of delicious smelling kernels. That, mixed with the sweet smell of chocolate radiating off the boys behind her, was more than enough to make her stomach continue to growl. So, she took a small bowl next to the popcorn machine and added a few scoops, before turning back to the pudding fridge to take a pudding cup and spoon. Dumping the chocolate into the bowl, she used the spoon to mix everything up before squeezing her way onto the couch between James and Kendall. 

Already, the boys had accumulated a mountain of trash in the form of empty pudding cups piling onto the coffee table. 

Did they even taste it?

“And to think, Gustavo didn’t trust us!” Kendall sighed, finishing what must've been his fourth cup. Glancing down to the bowl his assistant was holding, he asked her a question as she took a scoop of her popcorn chocolate creation to her lips. “What’ve you got?” 

“Pop-choc… Or Pudd-corn, maybe?”

He didn’t even ask if he could try any before digging his own spoon into her bowl and taking a bit, a splash of pudding falling onto Roxy’s leg. 

Thankfully she had been wearing shorts; if he ruined a pair of her pants she’d probably go ballistic on him. Without thinking, she used her index finger to scrape the pudding off and fling it towards her friend, horribly undershooting. Now, instead of a chocolate covered leg, they had a chocolate covered couch cushion. 

Couch… Couch!

Roxy’s stomach dropped; the band confirmed her fears as they jumped up from their seated positions and gathered around, examining the stain. 

Turning to them, eyes wide, she pleaded, “Please don’t tell me this is-”

“Gustavo’s $40,000 couch!” Carlos finished for her, though it was hard to take him seriously with chocolate stains covering his face. 

Like they were poisoned, the band and their assistant emptied their hands of pudding cups and bowls - finished and unfinished - out of fear they’d cause another accident. 

Nearly on the verge of tears, Logan pointed towards the stain, “Get your butts off his couch was rule number three!”

“Don’t make me feel any worse, Logan, I know what the stupid rule is! Why did any of you sit there if you knew that was the couch Gustavo mentioned anyway?!”

It wasn’t fair to try and shift the blame off of herself, but the knot forming in her stomach needed to be eased.

“Gustavo’s gonna kill us and we’re only 80 years old!” A nervous James responded, tone of voice making it sound as if he were the one who caused the stain. 

Taking in his words, the band paused for a moment before turning to face their assistant, still sitting next to the mess she had made. She was too afraid to move in case that would disturb the glob any more.  “How hard can it be to remove a stain from a white couch? We’re more than capable of figuring that out.”

“Logan. Brain. Now!” The front man called, panic strewn into those three little words even though he was trying to appear calm and collected in the face of their situation.

Though he was slightly thrown off by the spotlight suddenly on him, the studious boy began running a number of scenarios through his head. “Right, okay, um… Gustavo has a cat, right? And cat litter’s main ingredient is bentonite, which as we all know, is a natural absorbent.”

“Carlos, get the cat litter… James, open the door to air out the smell…And Roxy, stay perfectly still…” Delegated Kendall, handing out the jobs that would most benefit his friends. No one was in the mood to argue, and quickly went their separate ways in order to find the solution to their ever growing problems. 

A few minutes later, a slight breeze kicked through the room, giving a slight jostle to the girl’s hair as Logan took the kitty litter from Carlos and gently poured it onto the pudding stain. Setting the bag on the table with their other mess, he offered a hand to Roxy to help her up now that the stain was contained. 

She distanced herself as far as possible from the piece of furniture, ending up beside Kendall as they observed the litter sit there.

With a sigh, Logan turned to his friends, happy the crisis had been avoided, “Now we just relax and wait.”

Mrow!

Sound scaring Roxanne half to death, she dug her fingers into Kendall’s arm as Gustavo’s cat, Monty, made his first appearance of the night, hopping up onto the couch and sniffing the pile of litter poured on seconds ago. The band shared her sentiment, tensing at the sight of the strange, bald creature she likened to a plucked, raw chicken. 

“Woah!” Cried Logan, taking a few steps back and pointing to the animal. “What is that thing?”

Wincing a bit at his assistant’s grip strength, Kendall breathed out, “It must be his cat!”

“That’s a cat?” Carlos asked in disbelief. 

Nodding her head, the assistant confirmed, “Rich people have the weirdest tastes.”

“J-just get him off before he-”

Like he somehow understood what James was about to say, the cat lifted up one of his back legs and relieved himself over the mound. 

No more room for patience, the blond stomped his foot in anger, “Get him off the couch!”

At the command, James shoved Carlos towards the cat as their assistant tried to stop him. “No, no, no, no, no! Gustavo said not to touch him!”

Her pleading was drowned out by Monty screaming as soon as he was grabbed. Then, growing even louder as the boy ripped him off the couch and threw him out the open door, attempting to claw at his attacker the entire time. 

“There goes rule number four!” At this point, Logan wasn’t even trying to hide his displeasure with their situation. What had started as harmless rule breaking had now expanded into life-ending-at-the-hands-of-their-boss territory. Throwing his hands in the air, he sat down on one of the tables decorating the room to avoid sitting on any more couches, accidentally catching the top corner of a remote and triggering some kind of mechanism in the process.

As everyone stood around the couch, watching the disgusting stains meld together, a disco ball dropped from the ceiling and a thumping club music track replaced the classical tune that had been playing only a moment ago. Blue, pink, and purple lights added to the mix, casting a bunch of sparkles from the mirrored glass all over the room.

It would’ve been fun, had Roxy not been focusing all her energy into not having a full blown panic attack in the midst of everything happening around her. The media room and the living room fridge would be easy to clean and restock; Gustavo could be none the wiser about their rule breaking. But now, the stain on the couch and the missing cat were just two more nails in their coffins. 

Desperately trying to turn the music off and put the lights and decorations away, Logan found the remote he had crushed and began pushing every single button on it. None of them seemed to be working, and his pushing began to get so aggressive a poof of smoke blew out the back - suggesting the remote was toast.

“Rule number five!” Screamed James, trying his best to be louder than the music rattling their brains. “If we break anything, we’re fired!”

Anything… Maybe everything…

It was getting hard to hear even her own thoughts over the pounding, pulsating club tune, and even harder to whatever her friends had to say. 

At one point, Kendall shouted something, but she was only able to make out a few words here and there, “...Calm down… got to… the stain…couch… the cat… disco ball… do this together!”

How the boys were able to understand their friend was astonishing to their assistant, but as she noticed them all place their hands in the middle of a team-style huddle, she was able to surmise they had come up with some kind of plan. Looking over towards her, they impatiently waited for her hand as well. 

Here goes nothing.

***

Five minutes later, their combined efforts to help the end crisis they had found themselves in had done absolutely nothing - except make the situation infinitely worse.

It all happened in such a blur, no one really knew who was to blame for what, but at present the teens were focused on putting out a fire that had started in one of the trash cans in the living room. Throughout the house, the fire alarm was blaring, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and focus on the most pressing issue. 

Thankfully, when Roxy had run into the kitchen, heart pounding as loud as her footsteps, and thrown all the cabinets open to find a fire extinguisher there was a brand new tank under the sink. Why she had been the only one to check there, she didn’t know, but when she returned with the device she noticed that the boys had strewn just about anything they could get their hands on across the foyer before learning their search attempts were futile. 

Pulling the pin, then squeezing down on the device’s lever, she was able to release the extinguishing agent and douse the fire with a whoosh. 

It was then Kendall appeared behind her, eyes wide as he examined the damage the fire had done to both the can and the white, now black, wall behind it. Before he was able to say anything, Logan sprinted in from the backyard looking equally as terrified.

“I can’t find the cat! At All!”

Just as quickly as he had entered the room, he was gone in another flash to try and survey a new area. 

As he ran off, Roxy noticed James standing in the middle of the foyer, two pieces of the shattered white statue Gustavo had for decoration in his hands while even more tiny pieces were covering the tile floor. He looked at the pieces quizzically, “I think I broke the statue.”

Unknowingly, her grip tightened, still on the lever of the fire extinguisher, and some of the white chemical substance flew out of the nozzle. “You think?”

Before she could say anything else, Kendall cut her off, “Well, the good news is, this can’t get any worse, right?”

Right after he finished, the three heard Carlos let out a blood-curdling scream from down the hall. Glancing to Kendall, Roxy shot him a Really? glare, as she saw Carlos appear out of the corner of her eye. Carrying his precious helmet in one hand, he stopped in the middle of the corridor to turn to his friends, then whatever spooked him down the hall, then back to his friends. 

“The alligator’s loose! The alligator’s loose!”

 More than anything they had done today, those words were more than enough to drain the color from the girl’s face. Dropping the fire extinguisher, she felt herself freeze as Carlos came barreling down the hall, Logan now joining him, while the unseen creature let out a roar from somewhere in the building. 

“Wait! Is there a-” Logan was just as freaked out as she was, yelling at his friends over the sound of the fire alarm. “Why is there an alli-”

Unable to finish his sentence, the other four watched as their friend tensed up. None of them were able to register what was happening to him until his muscles relaxed and a bit of light left his eyes, before he completely passed out onto the floor. 

“Get him! Get him!” Someone yelled, but the girl was too busy trying to keep herself afloat as she watched her friend fall helpless on the ground. With every passing second it was getting more and more difficult to breathe, feeling her chest tighten as she truly began to realize the extent of the problem they were facing. At this point, getting eaten by the alligator might be a kindness compared to whatever Gustavo was going to do to them when he came back from his trip.

By now, Carlos and Kendall had managed to haul Logan up and were carrying him over their shoulders, while James grabbed Roxy’s hand and pulled her up the giant spiral staircase behind them. Both she and the passed out boy were beginning to look a bit worse for wear as they took shelter on the second floor. 

Finally able to take a breath and assess the damage, the four crowded themselves on the top step next to their unconscious friend in hopes that the alligator wasn’t able to figure out how to climb. Their bags, however, were still at the base of the hallway and the girl hoped that nothing in her bag smelled enticing enough for the creature to venture anywhere near her things. 

Enticing smell…

“If…” She tried, barely able to push out the one word from how bad she was shaking. “If Gustavo has any meat in the kitchen we might be able to lure the alligator into one of the rooms and lock it in there. Then we can work on damage control.”

With a nod, Kendall turned to Carlos before pointing in the direction of the kitchen. The two took off, wordlessly, leaving the other pair to look after Logan for a bit. 

Roxy reached for her phone, thinking that after they cornered the creature they could call animal control to come and get it, and realized her hand was still firmly clasped into James’. 

Embarrassed, she let go, but not before stealing a look at the small amount of pink creeping up his ears. 

As she looked up the number for animal control, the boy beside her shifted a little bit.

“Hey, uh, we never really talked about what… What happened the other day.”

The comment made the girl freeze as she pretended to examine her phone screen in detail; the only thing he could have been referring to was their semi-date. 

“What about it?” She replied, not even glancing his way. “It’s every girl’s dream to have their date strapped into a gurney and carted off.”

Her joke elicited a bit of a chuckle from James, thankfully, which gave her a bit more time to formulate her thoughts into feelings. There was really no way to tell someone the only reason you went out with them was to kill time and anger your boss. That, and to save a new friend from four different guys harassing her nonstop. 

For Jo, She told herself. Definitely for Jo.

“That wasn’t the only thing that happened.”

“Oh, yeah…” Roxy sighed, holding her finger to her chin in fake thought. “You also got me yelled at. Then you asked another girl out right in front of me.”

Scoffing, the boy shook his head, long hair sweeping over his eyes, “Be serious, Roxy. You know that I-”

“-GATOR!” 

Logan, who had most likely scared himself awake, bolted upright next to James, hand clutching his chest so hard his knuckles turned white. The creature, still on his mind, hadn’t moved from its place down the hallway where Carlos had first discovered it. 

Since it was where Carlos had left it, he and Kendall were able to return to the base of the staircase with a hunk of raw meat, a broom, some string, and a ladder. They were quickly able to fashion the meat to the end of the string, creating a makeshift form of bait and placed the ladder towards the entrance of the hallway where the creature had last been spotted. Conveniently, their setup was right in front of one of the bathroom doors where they would be able to trap the creature inside. 

Once Kendall and Carlos climbed up the ladder to safety, they cast their line, and the other three moved to the base of the stairs to join them. 

“How did an alligator get in here?” Kendall questioned, trying to keep his cool as the giant, scaly creature began to inch closer to the fishing line. 

Scratching his helmet sheepishly, Carlos sighed. “I opened the back door to let the smoke out, and it crawled in from Gustavo’s moat!” 

“His moat?” James and Logan chorused, causing the girl to curse her bad memory. She should’ve paid more attention to Cribs.

Slowly but surely, the terrifying reptile waddled around the corner, closer and closer to his prize at Kendall’s gentle coaxing as the rest of his friends held their breath in anticipation. 

A little more… A little more…

The creature bellowed, snapping its jaws open and shut before any of them could even blink, taking the steak between its teeth. According to plan, it noticed the open doorway behind it and thought it to be a means of quick escape, so it turned into the bathroom to eat its meal. 

Once it was fully inside the doorway, Roxy gently shoved James and Logan towards the trap, “Close the door!”

Was it cruel to send her friend who had literally passed out simply at the thought of seeing the alligator down the stairs towards it? Yes. But once the animal was trapped inside the room as the door slammed shut, Logan had seemingly forgotten all about his fear as the boys erupted into celebration. 

They’re so good at that, their assistant mused, watching as the four of them danced around the living room. Celebrating before the actual problem is solved. 

Eventually, the four collapsed onto the bottom step of the stairs, directly on the step in front of the writer. There were a few moments of silence between the five as they looked out over the foyer of the mansion, surveying the damage they had inadvertently caused. Bits of shattered marble statue littered the floor, strewn around pillows and couch cushions that had been upturned, discarded pudding cups upturned and soaking into the carpet… It was a miracle Roxy herself hadn’t passed out at the thought of her career coming to an end. 

“Now, we just need to find Gustavo’s freaky bald cat so he doesn’t kill us,” Kendall reminded his friends. 

“If only that were the least of our worries…” Sighed the writer, racking her brain to try and find the most time and cost effective way to get their boss’ mansion back to normal. 

“Call the FBI!” James cried, seemingly out of nowhere, turning towards Logan for idea approval. He seemed very sure of himself until the other boy scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. 

“The FBI? For a missing cat? They only work with serious crimes.”

At this statement, the long-haired boy's eyes widened as his friends exchanged confused looks. Staring off into the distance as if he were trying to trigger a flashback scene from a bad 80s movie, he sucked a bit of air between his teeth, “Oh, that explains a lot… I know one of you used all my ‘Cuda massive hold!”

Roxy’s “That cannot be that important right now!” nearly outshadowed Kendall’s “Can we please just focus?!”

The frontman’s statement was enough to capture everyone’s attention as his words slightly echoed through the room due to Gustavo’s incredibly high ceilings. “Now, there’s only three possible places the cat could be hiding. One, he’s roaming the neighborhood. Two, he’s hiding up a tree-”

A loud alligator burp emanated from behind the closed door to the teen’s right. 

“...And that would be three.”

***

Thirty minutes and twelve some-odd phone calls by Carlos later, the five were now in possession of an orange tabby cat. 

Though it was nearing the middle of the night, the helmet-wearer had assured his friends he would get the cat situation under control while the rest of them began to clean up the house to the best of their ability. Though none of them had really made a dent, so when Carlos slipped out the front door and returned moments later carrying the creature, that had fully captured their attention. 

“Carlos… you seriously cannot do what I think you’re about to do.” Roxy said, jaw nearly dropping to the floor when she noticed James beside him holding an electric razor he had found in one of the bathrooms. 

The four boys stood in front of the coffee table where the cat had been placed, watching it curiously as he sat and scratched at himself with one of his paws. 

Logan nodded in agreement, “I second that. It’ll just make more of a mess anyway.”

“Oh?” James questioned, tone dripping with sarcasm. “Would you rather tell Gustavo we lost his and, you know, have him replace us and destroy my dreams?”

Like before, once his tone of voice grew louder with the last few words of his question, James’ voice echoed off the walls of the mansion. 

His words, however, had no effect on Logan, who simply ignored him as he looked toward Carlos.

“Where did you get the cat?”

“I’ve got a guy.”

The answer was vague and non-descript, yet left no room for argument among the five. 

“Alright,” Agreed Kendall, raising his left hand to grab the razor from James. “Hold him down steady.”

Carlos was able to reach out and grab the cat’s body, gently guiding him down on his side. 

“Oh, I can’t look.” Logan cringed, and not look he did, as he covered his eyes with one hand. 

As Roxy looked onward at her friends, every part of her brain was telling her this was just another bad idea that would only spell more trouble, but it wasn’t often that her friends' harebrained schemes didn’t end up working out. Besides this being borderline animal abuse, at least it might save her chances of staying in Hollywood for longer. 

Turning her back as well, she didn’t say anything as she took the nail of her thumb between her teeth. We’re all headed straight for hell.

“Would you two chill?” She heard Kendall ask, a remark that shouldn’t have come so easy from him. “How hard can it be to shave a cat?”

With the push of a button, the clippers turned on, buzz emanating from the small machine. This, of course, was enough to thoroughly spook the cat, causing him to wiggle out of Carlos’ grasp. Bolting away from the four as fast as possible, the assistant felt him rush through her legs and watched as an orange blur made its way around the room. 

Not thinking, she took off after him, doing her best to make sure any knocked over items didn’t end up smashing all over the floor. Somehow he had found his way onto the full mantle above the fireplace, darting this way and that to keep up his fast pace. After catching a vase full of flowers, a glass picture frame, and some sort of abstract sculpture, her hands were regrettably full, and she watched in dismay as the cat accidentally knocked about five more things to the ground.

He seemed to enjoy circling around the room, almost like he was doing his best to purposely destroy the most fragile items before he made his way back onto the table Carlos had previously placed him on. From there, he had a perfect view of the boys that had attacked him, and he took his chances to return the favor. 

Bouncing from Carlos, then to James, then to Logan, then to Kendall, the cat was sure to tear clothing and skin as a friendly reminder that he could not be contained. It happened fast, too fast for any of them to register what was truly happening to them as they cried out in pain.

Once it had her friends stunned, Roxy watched in horror as the cat turned to face her before letting out a scream and dropping the items she was holding. Beside her, she grabbed a cushion from one of Gustavo’s lounge chairs and was able to use it as a shield, knocking the cat to the ground as it leapt up to pounce on her. 

The mix of sounds; ceramic smashing, curtins tearing, boys groaning, and pillows being ripped to shreds rang through the halls leaving the five without any hope left. 

It’s official. Roxy gently guided her dazed friends over to the white couch they had destroyed earlier while the cat was distracted with destroying a pillow she had thrown at it. We’re so dead.

Now, the five of them sat together, watching the cat continue to decimate everything in sight. 

First the chair, then the silk drapes, then the canvas of a painting, until finally he seemed to have worn himself out. As if nothing had happened, the cat stopped what he was doing and lazily stretched out, moving to the middle of the foyer to lay down and roll around on the cold tile. 

For a while, no one said anything as they let the initial shock of the incident sink in. 

The first to move was Roxy, who made her way over to the foyer as well and sat down next to the animal. Slowly, she lowered herself to the cleanest stretch of floor she could find and sat cross-legged next to him, gently reaching her hand out to stroke the cat’s belly. Though he jumped a bit at first contact, he rolled onto its side and allowed her to continue. 

Soft fur running along the palm of her hand was doing enough to keep her from having a full blown meltdown for the time being. 

After a while, Carlos got up and walked over to the popcorn machine near the fridge. He took a large bowl and many full scoops of the snack out of the machine before walking over to his assistant and sitting down as well. A few more minutes passed after this, but eventually Kendall and James moved to join the other two in the middle of the room, while Logan made his way over towards a laptop Gustavo had laying on one of the side tables. 

“We are horrible mansion-sitters,” Breathed Kendall, playing with the end of one of his frayed sleeves. 

Beep beep

A text tone sounded out from his phone, which he was able to dig out of his pocket to review the message. 

“Oh, good news.” He deadpanned, a sardonic smile beginning to form on his face. “Gustavo and Kelly are coming back early.” 

Feeling utterly crushed and defeated, the assistant couldn’t think of anything to do as she let her head fall to the side, onto Kendall’s shoulder as Carlos let out a scared yelp.

Across the room, Logan called, “I can fix this!”, rushing over to his friends with the laptop in hand. 

“Yes!” Cried James, fist pumping the air as he watched his friend set the laptop down to show off the screen. “I knew the smart out would come through. What do you got?” 

Pointing to the text on the screen, their friend continued, “There’s a 4:00 am flight to Bolivia. We get there, change our names, raise alpacas.”

“The company credit card is in my wallet,” Roxy said, raising a finger to point over towards her bag. “I think I’ll change my name to… Quinn… something…”

Waving her and Logan off, Kendall sighed, looking towards his phone again. 

“I have a better idea.”

Lighting up, Carlos spoke with a bit of enthusiasm, “You’re gonna call a cleaning service!”

Why didn’t I think of that? Roxy asked herself before saying, “Or a late night furniture store.”

“A statue repairman!” Added James.

“And,” Logan included, “One of those places that gets the cats out of the alligators.”

 He didn’t even need to think before pressing “M” on his speed dial, “All of the above.”

***

Before any of them realized it, Mrs. Knight and Katie were bursting down the door, cleaning supplies and multiple packs of pudding in hand, to greet the teens and assess the damage. 

After the initial call, the five were able to let their guard down a bit and relax. Roxy had poked around in one of the bathrooms and had found a first aid kit, passing out alcohol wipes and bandages to her friends to dress their many, many wounds. In the process, she had also managed to find some cleaning supplies under the bathroom sink, so covered in dust she doubted they had seen the light since the ‘90s. 

It must be so nice to be rich and have other people clean your house for you.

Kendall jumped up from the floor, racing to his mother immediately to give her the full rundown of the damage. 

“Hey, Mom, here’s the sitch-”

Mrs. Knight held her hand up, “Zip it. I’m gonna need three liters of club soda, a sewing kit, a bucket of vinegar, bleach, and get on the phone and find a place that delivers super-turbo bonding glue and semi-gloss white paint.”

Nodding, the teens seemed to be in agreement with her words, before Carlos held out his hands in confusion. “What about Gustavo’s cat?”

From the bucket in her hands, Mrs. Knight pulled out a box full of Pretty Kitty treats as she marched into the living room. Shaking the box a few times for good measure, she attracted the orange tabby as he rubbed against her legs, and poured a small pile onto the floor. 

Mrow!

From the hallway to their right, Monty emerged, eager to share the treats with his new kitty friend. 

Never before had seeing a cat relieved the writer so much, and the band shared her sentiment, letting out a chorus of cheers as Monty and the tabby curled up together. 

“That’s a cat?” Katie questioned, furrowing her brows as she looked onto the bald creature. 

The two devoured more treats, in a strangely mesmerizing fashion, causing Mrs. Knight to clap her hands and pull their attention back to her. “What are you all staring at? We’re gonna be here all night! Go, go, go, go!”

Nobody needed to be told twice; everyone scrambled to pick up different jobs around the house and gather the supplies the woman had requested. 

Finding some trash bags in the kitchen while she had been looking for club soda, Roxy eagerly handed them off to Kendall who took off down the hallway. Whatever large bits of trash he found were grabbed and placed into the bag, with Carlos trailing behind with a handheld broom and dust pan. 

Club soda, a sewing kit, and vinegar had been easy enough to find and bring to Mrs. Knight, but now the assistant was faced with the task of finding a place still open selling super glue and paint. She found herself sitting on the base of the stairs, tearing through her notebook trying to find where she had left the number for the overnight construction crew that had built the basketball court in Studio B a bit ago. 

Her fingers shook, pressing the numbered buttons on her cell as she watched James begin to vacuum the carpet in the living room. Bringing it to her ear, she spied Logan on the other side of the room, doing his best to sew the large, golden drapes together with the small sewing kit she had located. 

Despite the hour, the man on the phone had been very kind to her, and within minutes of placing the call, she was holding the glue and a gallon of paint, while passing off nearly all the cash in her wallet to the delivery man as a massive “thank you” tip. 

As the time ticked on and on, the pudding in the fridge had been restored to its original number; the drapes, pillows, and furniture had been sewn up and stain treated; every surface in sight wiped, swept, and tidied; statue nearly puzzled back together; and the decorative pieces scattered throughout the house had all been put back in their proper places.

It was the sound of early birds chirping through the windows that alerted the seven that morning had finally come, meaning their cleaning spree was about to be interrupted by a particular music producer and his assistant. 

Roxy was in the media room, sweeping up the popcorn that her friends had trailed in from the kitchen when she heard a little knock on the open door. Wiping her brow with the back of her hand as she looked up, she found James standing in the doorway. 

“Need any help?”

A simple enough question, but as the girl glanced around the room she couldn’t help but feel like something was out of place. 

“Did you put that golf game from earlier away?”

He nodded, taking a few steps into the room towards her.

Sunlight flooded through the windows behind the writer, illuminating his figure as he grew closer, before he veered to the right and picked a few bits of trash she had missed off of the couch and onto the floor in front of her broom. 

When he leaned down to place his things on the ground, his cheek hit her eye level where she noticed he had missed a spot near his ear when he had been cleaning the scrapes the cat had left. A bit of dried blood caked three claw marks, nothing deep enough to leave a scar, but definitely visible enough to worry him about his appearance if he had seen it. Maybe he had been too frazzled to notice it the first time around.

Without thinking, Roxy stepped back to set down her broom and grab a clean paper towel off the roll she had been using to wipe down the tables. James watched her, curiously, but didn’t move to stop her as she carefully reached up to take his chin between her thumb and forefinger. Easily enough, at the slight pressure she placed on him to turn his head to the side, he did, and she used the towel to clean the small wound. 

Between his completely claw-shredded clothing and disheveled hair, this felt like the least she could do to help ease his situation; the five of them had had enough panic in the last 12 hours  to last them a lifetime. 

Once she pulled the towel away, the relief on his face was evident as his features relaxed once he turned to face her again. A smile hinted on his lips, he brought a few fingers to the site of the wound before pulling them away to find nothing unsavory staining the pads. 

Why did I cut him off earlier? She asked herself, silent as he looked down at her. Dark circles were forming under his eyes, evidence of the harrowing night they had been through together. Surly it wouldn’t be that bad if-

“Thanks, Roxy.”

Remembering the situation at hand, she quickly glanced down to her feet as she felt her stomach twist. “No problem.”

“Really,” He said, voice dropping a little as he leaned a bit closer to her. “All this, and you’re standing there worried about me?”

“I don’t know if… worried is the right word.”

Eyebrows raising slightly as if he were surprised, the smile from earlier grew a bit wider. 

Now it was her turn to watch in silence as he raised a hand to cup her cheek, eyes fluttering behind long, brown lashes, to examine her face. There was no way he didn’t notice the red absolutely forming in her cheeks.

“What’s the right word then? Concerned? Uneasy?” He asked her, head tilting a bit to the side and revealing a little twinkle in his eye. “Nervous?” 

He’s enjoying this… Bastard.

Roxy found herself smiling too, glancing up a bit to meet his unwavering gaze, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

When he opened his mouth to respond, someone from down the hallway called out both of their names. 

As quickly as the moment had come, it had come to an end. Like a flash, James was out of the room, leaving his assistant standing there - dumbstruck as to what she had just done. The twist in her gut remained, even as she pulled together her supplies and made her way back to the living room where everyone else had gathered. 

By the edge of the living room and foyer, Mrs. Knight was pacing the room back and forth, scrutinizing every little thing to make sure it was in more than perfect condition.

“Looking good everyone!” Her shoes clicked on the tile flooring as she neared the front door. The statue in the middle of the room was completely put together, now it just needed to be set before the boys could let it go. “And that glue will be dry in ten, nine…”

Mrs. Knight began to count down ominously, reminding the assistant that their boss would likely arrive home any second. While the boys held the statue in place, she grabbed her overnight bag and ducked into the nearest alligator-free bathroom to change into her pajamas to make it appear as though she had a good night's sleep. 

“Bigfoot’s on the campground!” Logan yelled, finally getting a chance to use the secret code phrase he had come up with prior to the cleaning session. It let everyone know Gustavo was on the mansion premises, giving everyone the extra push they needed to finish whatever they were doing.

Though he said it a few more times, and Roxy heard the panicked screams of her friends as they waited for Mrs. Knight to reach one, by the time she made it out of the bathroom and back into the foyer the boys had also changed; Mrs. Knight and Katie were nowhere to be seen. 

Any other day Roxy would have made fun of the band for their kiddie pajamas and matching nightcaps, but today she squeezed onto the couch beside Logan and curled into his side while closing her eyes, feigning sleep. 

Everyone heard the distinct jingle of keys, sliding into the lock of the front door and turning, listening as the door swung open and the two adults stepped onto the tile. The footsteps were rushed, like Gustavo was running around to make sure everything was in place, but no one dared open their eyes to figure out just what he was doing.  

Once the steps stopped and the five could feel the overwhelming presence of their boss a few feet away, they slowly allowed their eyes to flutter open as if they were just waking up. Stretching and groaning, the teens did their very best to act calm and refreshed, even as their hearts threatened to pound out of their chests at the thought of Gustavo finding something wrong. 

“Oh, look who’s here…” Kendall pushed out through fake yawns. 

A few tired musings and James followed with, “It’s Gustavo and Kelly.”

Sitting up and disturbing Roxy’s comfortable position, Logan held his hands out to the pair in appeasement, “We slept here ‘cause we didn’t want to touch anything.”

“I’ll make sure to wash these pillow cases for you.” The girl added, referring to the throw pillows the five ended up lounging on. 

“Yeah,” Carlos nodded along with her statement. “We’re not just pretending-” Roxy cut him off with a pained laugh as Logan and James smacked him in the stomach, “Because that would be silly! We don’t joke about mansion-sitting.”

“Silence!” Gustavo called, voice echoing far more off the walls than anyone had managed to the previous night. “Monty?”

Mrow!

From wherever he and the orange tabby had ended up hiding, Monty emerged around the corner of the hallway and lovingly jumped into Gustavo’s arms. If the man saw the claw marks riddling the boys’ faces, he didn’t say anything as he nuzzled the cat into his chest. 

While Gustavo was preoccupied with his pet, Kendall used this to get the teens one foot out the door. Bundling up his overnight supplies, the other four followed suit as he stood and called out, “We’d love to stay and chat, but we gotta get out of here.”

“Thank you so much!” Both Roxy and Logan thanked the adults as they filed behind Kendall, who was making a beeline for the door. 

Carlos and James followed behind, making sure to proclaim how much fun they had staying overnight as they passed by Gustavo and Kelly. 

Just as Kendall reached his hand out to turn the door knob, Gustavo yelled at them to stop.

“There’s something I need to say…”

Mouth going dry, Roxy swallowed nervously, eyes scanning the room around her to make sure nothing had been forgotten. There isn’t anything for him to find… or is there?

Kendall also looked around nervously, presumably for the same reasons she had before clearing his throat and turning back to the door, “Well, you can say something tomorrow, so…”

Other four mumbling in agreement, they once more made their way to the door before Kelly called to stop them again. “Guys! This is important, okay?”

Turning back around, the teens trudged back to the middle of the foyer. They had definitely been caught, and there was no use in running away now. 

“We’ve been working together for almost two weeks now,” Gustavo started. “And, I just wanted to say, although we’ve had our ups and downs, the truth is, I luh… I luh…”

Using her shoulder, Kelly gave her boss a little nudge. 

“I like you.”

They didn’t bring another band back with them.

Just as he finished his emotional speech, a distinct cracking sound came from the middle of the marble statue and everyone watched in horror as it shattered into a million pieces all over the carpet below it. 

“And we like you too!” Kendall assured the producer, before adding, “Run!” onto the end of his statement. 

Following her friends, Roxy grabbed her bag and bolted out of the mansion before Gustavo could grab them and wring their necks. 

They were nearly halfway down the driveway and into the street before Roxy remembered they had locked an unwanted guest in one of the bathrooms by the foyer. 

“Oh, my God, we forgot to tell him about the-”

Gustavo finished her sentence for her, screaming loud enough to be heard from miles away.

“ALLIGATOR!”

--

Hi! This chapter was not beta read, so if there are any errors please kindly let me know

In other news, I have a few things to share:

- Happy summer! Now that I have some more free time, I'm going to do my best to update once a week instead of once every two weeks :)

- You can find myloveforhergoeson on ao3 and wattpad

- Though it's a bit far off, I was thinking of publishing a one-shot chapter between "seasons". If anyone has any suggestions for situations they'd like to see Roxy and the band in please leave a comment here or in my tumblr ask box. This can also maybe function like a q&a as well - if you have any questions about the characters/their profiles/anything please let me know!

-As always, thanks for reading!!

[nart-is-a-monster]

How long does this take for me to complete it?

Uhhh

It depends of the drawing!

This one I finished it quickly and didn't spend much time on it bc it was just some base colors and cutting and pasting some things ok top of other layers on the canvas

But I began this around 4:55 or just 4 pm

(Screenshots and more rambling under the cut for the same cw's)

And ended it at 6:50 something and added the details and was done at 7:10

So it would be around 4 hours that this thing took me to complete... But also I took side quests while doing it bc

✨ adhd ✨

Brain tells me hey complete this one tag, but also brain tells me... Hey... You haven't done that mission on genshin, or hey what if you stand up and go to the bathroom to talk to yourself for a long time in front of the mirror like a balanced and normal human being!

So remove like... What? 50? 30? Minutes??? IDK JDJFJGKY

so it took between 3 hours and something

And for the ideas of how I come up with that

Uhhhh

Idk I just thought.... "Hey" (my brain placing it's hand on my shoulder like that dead uncle of miles morales) "basing on their vibes wouldn't it be so fun to make them do this fucked up thing together?" ... And then I started to draw stuff

Also early that day I saw a fanart for idk what bc the text was in Japanese of a random character that I don't know being in one of these thingys where you put meat to sell and I went...

Huuummmmn what if Hugo bought him bc he fell in love and then played with varian for months and almost a year slowly removing parts of Varian's body to eat...

So I went head first and this thing exists now ᕦ⁠(⁠ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ⁠)⁠ᕤ

Also for other drawings that have more detailed painting, I can spend more hours doing them bc I mostly use one brush on magma (lately I've been feeling comfortable using that website (even tho i have sketcbook and krita djskhgjhg)

LISTEN, THE PIXEL BRUSH IS MY BELOVED U__U

the sketch at first it was this, but then i decided to change it to

this, and then to that i added more stuff.

at first i had just like "oh so the theme is cannibalism, then im going to draw hugo eating meat" but i felt like it was... boring? so i decided to add the twink getting tortured as a treat :3

and also i was listening to a playlist at the end and some of the vibes of the songs were inspiring a bit some of the end details decisions for this

ALSO

Once I'm done drawing and painting, I take the drawing to ibis paint where i add some filters and play with some details for the layers like so

the layers that have the thing with less opacity are just the drawing but i played with some filter and i didnt wanted to be only the filter but a combination of the drawing with the filter and the normal drawing

those are my favs when im adding stuff to drawings :3

and these were the prev render versions of the thing

and then the last version of the render

ᕦ⁠(⁠ò⁠_⁠ó⁠ˇ⁠)⁠ᕤ wooooo

DAY 6: cannibalism