#(once I started explaining and adding more background to a few things

[the---hermit]

Not me adding annotations to a book to make it more accessible for my mom when she will read it

[maraschinomerry]

Rock Paper Scissors

Pairings: George Karim x gn!reader, background Locklyle

Summary: George is your best friend, Lucy's convinced there's more to it but he's not your type... is he?

Content: friends to lovers, oblivious flirting, misunderstanding, light swearing and suggestive thoughts, kisses

A/N: it's officially 1 year since I posted my first Lockwood & Co fic!! Thank you all for making it such an incredible year and continuing to support my writing, it means the world to me ❤️ and thank you to the Multiverse of George for fuelling the buff!George fire 🔥 I've even made a montage so everyone can see the vision, plus the gif above of George swinging the chains he's definitely strong 💪

Word count: 4.2k

Taglist: @neewtmas @marinalor @ettadear @honey-with-tea @mischiefmanaged71 (let me know if you want adding or removing!)

Ever since you'd started working for Lockwood & Co, you and George had had the most playful rivalry.

It had started on the very first day, when you came for your interview. Lucy had welcomed you into the living room while George went to fetch the biscuits. After breezing through the tests, Lockwood gestured to the plate still being clutched by the other boy.

“Biscuit?”

You frowned at the boy in the armchair, who looked like the last thing he wanted to do was to share. “Am I supposed to fight you for them or something?”

George had the audacity to snort. “In your dreams.” But then he did offer you the plate, albeit reluctantly.

Once you got used to one another, you found that you actually got on really well and gradually he became your best friend, but by then you'd set a precedent that neither of you wanted to drop.

“We're heading out soon,” Lucy informed you both as she slid cups of tea across the table. She and Lockwood had an appointment with a client, leaving you and George behind to keep working. “Can one of you oil the chains ready for tonight?”

You turned to George; he was already looking at you. A gleam came to his eye.

“Rock paper scissors?”

“You bet,” you grinned, already raising your hand. It took a few attempts, as you'd done it so many times by now that the two of you knew what each other was planning before it happened, but eventually you lost. Sticking your tongue out, you picked up your cup and headed towards the basement. Lucy followed you down.

“Can I ask you something?” she began cautiously.

“Course you can.” It wasn't like Lucy to not just ask straight out. This was odd.

“What's going on with you and George?” This was definitely odd. “It feels like you've gone past teasing, you're almost flirting with each other.”

Your gaze flew to your friend, who had lingered on the stairs. Was she being serious? “It's not like that, Luce,” you replied, wondering if it was warm in the basement or if it was just you. “I love him to bits, but the same way I love all of you. He's just not my type.”

Her eyebrow quirked up at that. “You have a type?”

“Don't say that like you don't,” you hit back. “You and Lockwood are made for each other! And George is great, really, but I prefer guys a bit more… buff?”

Lucy nodded. “Interesting.” It was spoken with the air of someone who knew exactly why it was interesting and someone who was absolutely not going to explain why. “Well… just don't rule anything out, but please be careful. I love you both too and I'd hate to see either of you get hurt.”

It was touching to hear her so candid about her feelings for you both. “I won't, I promise.”

—

You always forgot how ridiculously heavy the chains were. Just trying to hoist them up to make sure you'd oiled all the way round each joint was a workout. It was only adrenaline that carried you through working with them on cases. Thank goodness you were almost finished - your arms were beginning to ache and you were sure you were coated in sweat.

“Need a hand?” George's voice drifted from the stairs. You hadn't heard him come down, probably drowned out by the clanking links and your strained grunts, but there he was, sitting on one of the lower steps and watching you in amusement.

“You mean you want me to dishonour the sacred pact of rock paper scissors?” You mimed fainting in shock, taking the opportunity to slump back on the pile of chains and let the tension dissipate from your shoulders.

He chuckled, climbing down the final few steps and holding out his hand. “Will the sacred pact allow a lunch break? I made soup.” He'd got you there and he knew it. You loved his soup. Grinning, you accepted his hand and he pulled you away from the cold, hard metal.

There were two steaming bowls already set out on the table when you got back to the kitchen, and beside yours was a plate of sandwiches, cut exactly how you liked them.

“You're the best.”

“I know,” George smirked. He was eating with one hand, the other scribbling away on the Thinking Cloth. As he became more engrossed, he leant further forwards, his dark curls flopping over his brow. It was fascinating watching him get so engrossed in his work, the whole world melting away around him. Once you finished eating, you glanced across and took his empty bowl from in front of him. He looked up sharply, snapped from wherever his thoughts had taken him.

“Sorry, didn't mean to disturb you,” you mumbled.

“No, it's fine. We should probably get packed.”

You followed him down to the basement and pulled your kit bags from the shelf. Set side by side on the table, you both began to load up.

“You can carry the chains,” you told him over your shoulder as you picked up a half-empty box of flares and emptied it into your bag.

“Hey, you're the one who lost!”

“Only for cleaning them, I've done my bit.”

He huffed, but gave you a smile as he made his way over to the mound of chains. Your eyes widened as he scooped up a whole length in one easy movement and gave them a quick shake loose. You'd spent nearly quarter of an hour trying to manoeuvre that section earlier.

“How the hell did you do that?”

“They're not that heavy,” he shrugged, then added with a cheeky raised eyebrow, “or at least only when you’re trying to clean them.”

You threw the empty cardboard box at his head with a laugh.

—

A week later, the four of you were nestled in the living room. Outside, rain battered against the windows, which were almost being shaken out of their frames by the driving wind. You'd never have guessed it was June; it felt more like January. The fire was lit in the hearth, the occasional crackle of wood splitting the only other sound.

Eventually, Lockwood broke the silence. “I hate to say it, but someone's going to have to go out. We've got no tea left and barely enough food to last until tonight. We can draw straws to make it fair.”

He needn't have bothered. You and George already had your fists raised. One, two, three, paper. One, two, three, rock. Scissors. Paper. Scissors. Rock. Round and round you went, the symmetry only fuelling your competitive natures.

“This is ridiculous,” Lucy muttered. She was right, of course.

You raised your fist higher, leaning forward in an offered challenge. “Right. Arm wrestle. Loser goes.”

George leaned in, resting his elbow on the table. Lockwood and Lucy exchanged wide-eyed glances.

“Y/n…” Lucy began, but you weren't listening. Your elbow was already mirroring George's, hand in his. You weren't sure why you'd expected the easy, flexible grip of holding a rapier, but his fingers were clenched firmly around the back of your hand. Lockwood moved closer and counted you down.

Your hand hit the table almost immediately.

It felt like all the air had left the room. You stared in shock at the boy opposite, the triumphant toothy grin that crinkled his eyes, the unexpected tightness of his shirt sleeve around his arm. The similar tightness in your chest. Interesting.

Some sort of realisation hit you, and your attention shifted to Lucy. The look she was giving you was almost as satisfied as George's. Warmth flooded your cheeks. You drew in a shaky breath as you struggled to drag your eyes away from George's arm, which was still pinning yours to the table. After a moment, you felt his fingers loosen and with some reluctance pulled your hand away. The silence in the room was palpable. Lucy was still watching you in amusement. Lockwood was watching Lucy, trying to figure out why she had that “I know something you don't” look again over a simple arm wrestle. George was watching you too, his expression slowly shifting from victory to concern.

“Y/n? You okay?” he asked quietly. Your thoughts rushed back into your body, snapping your attention into the real world.

“All good,” you mumbled. “Just preparing to get drenched. If I'm not back in 20 minutes, assume I've been blown to the other end of the country.” At least that got a laugh out of Lockwood. Hurriedly, you stood and made your way to the front door. Why had you agreed to this? It was your own fault, of course, for continuing this whole competitive thing with George, but how were you to know he was that strong? A flash of bicep clouded your vision again, and you reached for the door handle before you did something regrettable.

“Hold on,” a voice came behind you. It was him. Keep it together, you told yourself.

“If you're about to volunteer to take my place, go ahead,” you forced yourself to stay casual.

George moved closer, and you swallowed a lump in your throat. “I was actually going to question why you looked like you were about to leave without a coat.” He reached to the rack over your shoulder, lifting yours from its hook.

“That might help.” You knew you were blushing again, but prayed he thought it was just from embarrassment at being so forgetful. Definitely not how close he was, how he was holding your coat in the same hand that had been holding yours moments ago.

—

By the time you made it back to the house, you were soaked to the bone and almost shivering. It seemed like the storm wasn't going to let up until at least the next day, so you'd decided to stock up on plenty of food which had seemed like a great idea until you tried to carry it all home. You'd had to stop several times on the way, ducking into doorways and bus shelters to escape the weather as you swapped hands, flexed your shoulders or relieved your fingers from where the handles of the bags had started to make dents. When you finally made it, you held the door open with one foot as you negotiated the bags in and dropped them unceremoniously on the hall floor. George emerged from the living room, alone this time; Lockwood and Lucy must have gone upstairs or down to the basement.

“You look awful.”

“Aww thanks, you're not so bad yourself,” you joked dryly. Oh god, Lucy was right, you were almost flirting. A shiver ran through you and this time you hoped it was from the cold.

For a second, you thought you saw George's eyelids flutter. “Well, I uh… I ran you a bath to warm you back up. I'll put this away.” He hauled up the bags of shopping with barely a huff, and you tried to reason that he hadn't just carried them through a storm.

The water was soothingly warm and scented with lavender salts, the smell wafting up in delicate bursts as it swirled around, relaxing all the tension in your aching muscles. As you lay peacefully, you reflected on what had happened earlier. You weren't sure you'd ever felt… You couldn't even identify what feelings you'd experienced during the arm wrestle. Shock? Embarrassment? No. It was something else, something that Lucy had noticed immediately and had been trying to get through to your oblivious self. But she was wrong, wasn't she? You said it yourself, you weren't into George, even if he did now fulfil your main criteria. Then again, so did plenty of other guys you'd met. Kipps was quite well built, definitely had muscles, but that didn't mean you'd considered dating him. He wasn't like George though - smart, funny, thoughtful George. You couldn't imagine Kipps running you a bath or making your favourite lunch, or doing any number of the things that with George felt so natural. And there were all the little things you did for him that you'd never do for anyone else. No, there were no two ways about it: you were a pair in whatever capacity that meant.

Still didn't mean you fancied him, you told yourself.

You volunteered to help George with the dishes after dinner that night. It was always nice to be able to spend time just the two of you in sync, but tonight especially you figured it was a good idea to be around him in perfectly normal circumstances. You'd chat or enjoy the companionable quiet, you'd both be at ease; nothing could possibly happen, which would give you time to prove your feelings were a fluke.

George picked up his blue rubber gloves and tossed you a tea towel. He was dressed casually, in sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt (so large that the sleeves almost met his gloves at the elbow). The radio was playing quietly in the background, giving you a welcome distraction. Whenever a song you recognised came on, you'd start humming along or singing under your breath, and George would smile at you, sometimes even joining in. Your heart leapt a bit when he did, but that was nothing, you were just happy to be sharing this moment with your friend. He stuck an arm deeper into the sink to grab something at the bottom and made a small noise. Water had splashed up onto the cuff of his sleeve. You giggled at the look of disgust he made at the wet fabric sticking to his skin. The sound died in your throat when he took off his gloves, draped them on the side of the sink and rolled his sleeves up out of the way. You were so used to him being hidden behind his giant tops, or at the very least being in longer sleeved shirts, that seeing his bicep completely exposed was a shock in more ways than one. It wasn't much wonder he'd beaten you so easily at arm wrestling with muscles like that. You wondered whether it was just his arms that were so toned, or was the rest of him the same? Was he hiding a set of abs under that T-shirt too? Were his thighs-

“You okay?” George nudged you, and you hastily looked away.

“I was just…” Come on, come on, find an excuse, your brain urged. “...thinking how this means we both got wet clothes today, if you want me to put that top in with my washing after this?” God that was lame. Not much wonder he wasn't interested in you. That wasn't the point, you reminded yourself.

“Oh,” he smiled. “That'd be great, thanks.” He leant over to put a chopping board on the draining rack, and his bicep brushed against yours. A shockwave of warmth resonated through your whole body. Oh.

“Tell you what,” you forced yourself not to stammer, “are you okay to finish up here and I'll go and grab the laundry basket?” He nodded, and you tried not to fall over your own feet as you retreated to the hallway and sucked in a breath to calm your racing heart. Oh.

—

You cursed yourself for ever starting this. No, this was Lucy's fault for pointing it out. No, still your fault.

Being around George was becoming unbearable. Not for anything he'd done, rather the things he wasn't doing. He was carrying on exactly as he always had, that inimitable blend of playful and caring, and it was driving you mad not knowing whether he meant any of it in the way you wanted him to. You couldn't say anything, of course. If you were wrong, it would mess up the whole dynamic of the group. That would hurt almost as much as any rejection. But the more things went on, the more you took notice of the little moments between you, the more your feelings grew until it felt like they would crawl out of your chest.

“What the hell were you thinking?” George snapped at Lockwood. He and Lucy had been out on a case which went badly, and now the four of you were sitting at the dining table in the early hours, George applying butterfly stitches to a cut on Lockwood's arm and you cleaning a couple of scratches on Lucy's face. The misty gloom of the night outside the window reflected the atmosphere within.

“I was thinking,” Lockwood snapped back, “that we only had to handle a couple of Type Ones, according to your notes.”

“I told you those weren't finished!”

“Well maybe next time, don't get distracted.” Was it your imagination, or had his gaze flickered to you?

“Maybe next time,” George replied darkly, “do your own research.”

“Fine.” Lockwood pushed his chair back and stalked from the room. Lucy shot you both an apologetic grimace and followed.

George began pacing round the kitchen, hands twitching angrily. You stayed at the table, knowing it was best to give him the space to say or do whatever he needed to let his feelings out. You were there if he needed you.

“Can you believe him?” It was rhetorical, you'd heard him say it enough to know, so you waited for him to continue. “We end up in this situation almost every week, because he's too reckless to wait! I know he'd rather be in the action, but he'd be able to do all that more if he'd let me give him the right information first.”

You gently waded in, trying to be reassuring. “We all know how useful your research is; he just gets overeager, especially when Lucy's involved.”

“I know you know how important it is,” his words sent butterflies through you, “but Lockwood just…” He gave a frustrated huff. “Maybe I should make him do all the legwork for a change.” You tried very hard not to think about whether George's legs were as muscular as his arms.

“I'll support whatever you decide, but for what it's worth I think you should just talk to him.”

He sighed heavily, placing his hands flat on the table and allowing his head to drop. “You're right. Thanks, y/n.” The sincerity in his voice caught you off guard, as did his deep brown eyes as he raised his head to look at you. You were already distracted by the tension which lingered in his shoulders, the rigidity of his arms as they supported his weight, the way he had leaned into the pose so much that now when he looked up his face was so close it almost filled your vision. You swallowed nervously.

“Any time. I- I have to go.” You stumbled up from your chair, ignoring George's confused stare and sounds of protest as you practically bolted from the room.

—

You lay on your bed in the attic, tears slowly soaking into the pillow you'd buried your face in. This was the end; it had to be. You couldn't carry on working for the agency like this. If George had shown any interest it would be okay - Lockwood and Lucy managed to balance being a couple who worked and lived together, there was no reason you two couldn't do the same, but it could never work being so one-sided. You'd just keep being weird, struggling to hold your nerve around the boy until it would start bleeding into cases and Lockwood would have no choice but to fire you for everyone's safety, if you hadn't already got one of you hurt by then. Not to mention the emotional hurt. It would happen either way, but at least if you walked away now you could control it.

“Y/n?” Lucy's voice came tentatively from the bottom of the steps. “George said you ran off, is everything okay?”

You flipped onto your back, drawing in shuddering breaths to recover from almost suffocating in the pillow. “You were right, Luce.” There was movement on the steps, but you kept your eyes on the ceiling. You couldn't bear to look at anyone right now. “I tried so hard to make sure neither of us got hurt, but George doesn't love me back and now I feel like even if I stay I'm going to lose him.”

The silence that followed dragged on longer than you could bear. Why wasn't she saying anything? You forced yourself to sit up.

George stood at the entrance to your room, eyes wide and lips parted.

You scrambled to your feet. “Shit! I mean, hi, um… how long have you been there?”

George continued to stare.

“I'm so sorry,” the words were rushing out of you now, “I just panicked but I don't want to make things weird so can we just pretend-”

“What do you mean, ‘doesn't love me back'?” he interrupted quietly.

You froze. There was no mistaking it: he'd heard you basically say you loved him and now there he was looking like the mere concept was so unbelievable, like the option hadn't even crossed his mind. Why would it? Time stretched on as you fought the urge to run again, as far as the ever-widening space between you would allow. Neither of you had moved, but you could feel the room expanding around you to make room for the bottomless pit you wanted to crawl into. “I…” you drew in a slow, deep breath, “I was fine just being friends but Lucy got in my head about you being exactly my type and now I think I'm actually flirting while you're still just pretending and I'm sorry…” Tears were pricking at the corners of your eyes and you hurriedly looked away, hoping he wouldn't see.

George stepped closer, and you shrunk even further into yourself. Your heart skipped a beat when he gently tilted your chin up to meet his surprisingly soft gaze. “I meant, why do you think I don't love you back?”

You faltered. Was he saying what you thought he was? “Well, I mean, I thought I'd made things super obvious and awkward but you didn't change so I thought you weren't interested.”

George's hand was still on your chin and his thumb rubbed soothingly across your cheek, wiping away the single tear that had spilled. “I thought you weren't interested! You normally go for those muscly gym guys so I figured I'd take whatever I could get with the arm wrestles and stuff, but then you started avoiding me so I thought you were done with it.”

A small laugh escaped you, and he looked at you in confusion. “Have you seen yourself?” Hesitantly, you raised a hand to his bicep, marvelling at finally being able to feel the muscle instead of just staring at it, and more amazed at the way the boy responded to your touch, drifting closer until you were barely inches apart.

“So then why did you run?” His voice was whisper soft against your face, eyes gazing down at you with an overwhelming blend of sincerity, bewilderment and something like longing. His cheeks were tinted as pink as you knew yours were.

“Got flustered.”

“Flustered? You? I don't believe you.” A smile tugged at the edge of his lips, the playfulness you were used to creeping back into his voice. It was such a relief to feel the tension dissipating from the room, to have your George back, that you buried your head in his shoulder with a giggle. He laughed too, wrapping an arm around your waist. “Oh, I see, you really want to do this? Okay, let's see ‘flustered y/n’ at their best.”

You yelped in surprise as his other arm hooked under your legs and swept you off your feet, your arms flying up round his neck for support. His arm was tense across your back but he looked the most relaxed he'd been since he walked in, and he shifted you closer to press a quick kiss to your lips before setting you down on the bed and sitting beside you.

“Lucy's going to be very smug about this, you know,” he nudged you.

“I know,” you whined, burying your face in your hands. “Rock paper scissors for who has to tell her.” George laughed again and placed his arm around your shoulder, pulling you closer as you leant into the embrace.

“Is this just a ploy to get more hugs?”

“Is it working?”

In response, he brought his other arm around your waist and kissed your forehead. You smiled, leaning up to kiss him properly, and he reciprocated eagerly.

—

Lucy had left George alone on the steps to your room once you started your confession, giving you both a bit of privacy, and decided when he didn't come back downstairs immediately that things had either gone very badly or very well. She believed, and hoped, that it was the latter. Her suspicions were confirmed when she came to tell you she'd made breakfast and found you fast asleep, wrapped in George's arms.

[yelenasdiary]

hi!!

with this new yelena content, i have a "sort of" request??

i mean, i have like a phrase that buzzes in my head, a phrase that if it were said to Yelena the entire fandom would break down in pain.

so, the quote is this: "i want to be able to worry about you"

it is possible, even in the future, to have a fanfiction or even a short one shot with yelena x r, and r says this to Yelena?

the context of why that phrase is said I would leave up to you to decide :)

(or maybe all this only makes sense in my head, idk lol)

Drunken Sober Thoughts

Pairing: Yelena Belova x GN! Reader.

Summary: When Kate's birthday party comes to an end, you and Yelena find yourselves alone.

Angst, Fluff.

Warnings: Mentions of drinking, Mentions of death, Reader has dark thoughts. This is not proof read or corrected | 0.8K

AC: I loved this idea, I hope you enjoy it! x

Red and blue plastic cups littered the rooftop of Kate's studio apartment, the young Avenger had just celebrated her 24th birthday and threw a little party with her closest friends. Kate has been one of your closest friends since you recruited her to the team, and although you were a few years older than her, you've seen her more as a little sister than anything else. 

She introduced you to Yelena shortly after she had joined the new Avengers team, you already had some kind of background on Yelena from Clint but the two of you seemed to grow close quickly. 

"What's going on inside of the big, smart brain of yours?" Yelena's accent brought your thoughts back to reality as she took a seat down next to you, the two of you now looking over the city of New York. You took a sip of your drink and smiled softly, "nothing new" you replied. 

Your comment made Yelena frown, "come on, you talk to me" she said, placing her red cup beside her. "You've been a little distant recently and I know you don't like to worry Kate but she's worried too" the blonde added. You couldn't help but sigh to yourself. "You don't have to worry about me, nor does Kate" you replied before taking another sip of your drink.

There was a moment of silence between the two of you before Yelena spoke again, "you know, you remind a lot of Natasha sometimes" she said, looking over at you. 

"Natasha was a very smart and respected woman" you replied, looking back at her. 

"Yes, but she too was closed off. Although I only got to spend a little time with her, she was happy. You gave her a family when she needed one and now your family has retired but you haven't?" Yelena questioned, "why not?" she added. 

You shrugged, "I guess, outside of being an Avenger, I have nothing. An empty home, nothing to keep my mind from replaying everything that ever happened in my life plus, Kate keeps me busy" 

"You're hiding" Yelena said, taking a sip of her drink once more.

"Hiding?" You questioned with a frown. Yelena nodded, "you're using this new Avengers team as an excuse to let yourself be happy" 

You couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, "trust me, I am not someone that somebody wants to come home to every night" 

"I do" Yelena said softly. 

You looked over at Yelena to find her already looking you in the eyes. The look in her eyes told you everything, a simple look and you knew what she was about to say. "Yelena" you started.

"I know, I know what you're going to say and you can try to tell me just how much you don't think you're worth it but I want to be able to worry about you, I want to be able to come home to you, I want to see the world with you, to take you out for dates and do all those little things that love so much. 

I don't want to waste what is the rest of my life letting my past control what I do and how I feel, I've had feelings for you since that day you came to Nat's tombstone on her birthday. You left her favorite flowers you didn't leave the site until you knew I was okay. We had only met twice, and you had it in your heart to be there so a stranger. I think about that day a lot" she explained. 

Your mind went back to that day, Yelena sat with Nat for hours. You didn't mind waiting and making sure she would be okay, after all, you promised Nat that you would be there for her whenever she needed, and something told you that day that Yelena needed somebody to watch over her. 

"You would've done the same" you replied. 

Yelena shook her head, "if I didn't know you, no I wouldn't" she replied honestly. 

"Yelena, you're probably just drunk, you don't mean any of this" you added, rising from your seat, "it's late, I should probably make sure Kate isn't chocking on her own vomit" you added. 

Before you knew it, Yelena had a grip on your wrist, not a hard grip but even to make you stop trying to walk away from her. She pulled you closer to her, never breaking her eye contact with you, "I can handle my vodka, but I can't bare another moment without you" she spoke softly before kissing you deeply. You dropped the plastic cup in your hand, letting it hit the ground and splashing your drink as you found yourself wrapping your arms around the back of her neck, deepening the kiss. 

You pulled away for air as a tear rolled down your cheek, Yelena smiling softly as she wiped it away with her thumb, "don't worry about Kate, she's been drinking punch for the last two hours" she said, making you chuckle. 

"You're not going to reject this in the morning, right?" You asked as worry filled your eyes. 

"Not in a million years" Yelena replied.

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[otrtbs]

Hi I hope you're doing well 🌷

I had a question. I'm totally asking out of pure curiosity, it's not a criticism or anything of the sort.

In ahb (this masterpiece of yours) Sirius's favorite painting is Degas' Dancers.

I wanted to know if you knew the background of this painting and if making it Sirius' favorite was a deliberate choice or if you had no idea at all.

Because the Ballerinas in Opera Garnier in Paris were all really young and mostly, they were poor. The dancers were often their family's hope to crawl out of misery.

The audience was full of men.

In fact, the sad flip side was that there was a whole prostitution network behind the scene. With these young girls. Men could pay for backstage access to watch ballerinas change and sometimes rape them.

So Degas was a big customer.

That's how he painted the dancers and most of his works.

That's again how he sculpted the ballerina, her tutu was added meaning the 14 year old girl was posing nude.

Degas is also suspected of being Jack the Ripper, there are a certain number of credible leads and potential evidences.

That's why I was wondering if you knew.

Since there is this whole chapter where they insult Picasso (as they should) I found it strange that Degas being a known major p*do did not receive the same treatment.

Ps: I'm french, I don't know if I made any mistakes writing this, if I have please excuse me I tried my best 🙏

Okay hi, hello! I am doing well and I hope you are as well! You have unlocked Art Historian Thesis Nat, so I am going to put an extremely lengthy post under the cut, I'm so sorry (this is literally my area of study,,, i fear i am incapable of being brief about this)

I do want to clarify that right off the bat, I don't necessarily think many of these art historical figures are "good people". Like none of them are the best, most moral, upstanding citizens you should model your life after (but they're also dead sooooo). But I also understand that I did take some time in my fanfiction to make my hatred for Picasso very clear, and so I can also understand the confusion in not extending that same hatred towards Degas. But there are a few reasons for that, that I'll try to explain below!

The direct historical documentation of Pablo Picasso's violence towards the women in his life is vast and damning. If you want particularly good insight into his violence and abuse, then I recommend reading Marina Picasso's (Picasso's granddaughter) memoir titled: Picasso: My Grandfather. I also recommend Françoise Gilot's (romantic partner of Picasso) books, Life with Picasso and Picasso and Matisse. It is through the memories of the people who loved Picasso and who loved him in turn, that we hear of his sadistic nature that drove his lovers to suicide and we get personal letters that he wrote to Gilot in which he says things like "Dora, for me, was always a weeping woman… And it’s important, because women are suffering machines" and "For me there are only two kinds of women: goddesses and doormats." His granddaughter has this to say about him: “He submitted [women] to his animal sexuality, tamed them, bewitched them, ingested them, and crushed them onto his canvas. After he had spent many nights extracting their essence, once they were bled dry, he would dispose of them.” And Gilot says: "I am the only one to not have been sacrificed to the sacred monster(…) and is alive to tell the tale. He was a wonderful person to be with, it was like fireworks, amazingly creative, so intelligent and seductive(…) but he was also very cruel, sadistic and ruthless with others and with himself (…) It was the greatest love of my life, but you have to protect yourself (…) The others did not, they clung to the powerful minotaur and paid a very high price."

Why this matters: The evidence for Degas being so virulently misogynistic and cruel towards women is extremely less substantial and more speculative in nature.

Degas being Jack the Ripper. Degas being Jack the Ripper started off as a tiktok theory posed in early 2024, (though you can find an article as early as 2004 written by The Guardian's art critic here) and while fun to think about and speculate, it isn't true. August and September and November of 1888 is when the Jack the Ripper crimes were committed in London and Degas was in the South of France at that time receiving medical treatment because he was in extremely poor health. (Which you can find in The Letters of Edgar Degas edited by Theodore Reff (I'm sure there's. free PDF version out there somewhere)). Also, self-admittedly speculative, but Degas didn't visit the East-End of London when he did make his excursions to London because he was classist 😭. So, it would be odd for him to know the ins and outs of the streets where the murders took place. And also he had failing eyesight starting at 36, so the odds of him being Jack the Ripper are extremely slim.

The Ballerinas Yes, while it is true that the ballerina's were often subject to horrific conditions and were prostitutes for the "wealthy" patrons of the opera house, this does not mean that Degas partook in that. in fact, most historical documentation surmises he didn't. Degas considered himself a "realist" painter rather than an impressionist painter, wishing to document "real life" in all of its ugliness, beauty and unstylized truth. Therefore his primary concern was documenting the opera house and ballet in all of the moments, not just when the girls were dancing on stage. And in many of his paintings, Degas captures the opera patronsn in his ballerina paintings as lurkers behind the stage curtains as sinister black shadows, or as men predatorily watching in nice suits (e.g. Ballet, 1876 and The Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage (1874)). But Degas himself, was NEVER a ballerina patron, he is even quoted as saying "People call me the painter of dancing girls. It has never occurred to them that my chief interest in dancers lies in rendering movement...". (now this is not because Degas was morally outraged at what was happening to the ballerina's, but because he viewed the men abusing the girls as committing a sin against God by sleeping with prostitutes). But while Degas had access to backstage, he was never a customer. And in fact, Degas is a notorious, well-documented celibate. This is because Degas believed sleeping with women would make him lose his special painting ability. No lie. Here's a direct quote from Vincent Van Gogh in his a letter to his brother Theo about the artist: "Degas lives like a little lawyer and does not like women, for he knows that if liked them and went to bed with them, he would become intellectually diseased and would no longer be able to paint." Degas was also known to reject ballerina's advances as well (again, fearing women would take away his magic painting power).

Feelings towards women By all accounts, Degas friends describe him as being reclusive towards women to being jovial with them, but always kind to them outside of a working environment. He even developed friendships with his fellow contemporary women painters. In a working environment, Degas was obsessed with perfection, demanding ballerinas contort their bodies in painful positions, and making them hold those positions for hours at a time. By all accounts, this was not because he hated them, but was obsessed with capturing their movements, the limitations of the human body, and he demanded perfection from himself. (x x x) (i.e. his obsession for his work and drive for perfection as a painter made him demanding and harsh towards his subjects, not his pure hatred of women).

Conclusions: So by many accounts, Degas was not particularly fond of women, and had little regard for his dancers. But the claims that he must have slept with the ballerina's and been a patron/customer "because that's what all men did back then" are not backed by any evidence. only evidence to the contrary. I went in on Picasso because those that were close to him have written first-hand accounts of his monstrocity. This is not the case with Degas. So, while I didn't tear him down like I did Picasso, I wasn't lauding him as a saint either. I highly recommend reading the article called Degas's Misogyny by Norma Broude which details the ways in which modern times have run away with this idea of Degas being a sadistic woman-hater and how we've gotten to this point. Anyway, TLDR; I was aware of the dark "underside" of the Paris Ballet at the time in which Degas was painting his works. Do I think he is Jack the Ripper and a man who participated in ballerina prostitution? No, not at all. At the end of the day, I am just an art history girl, telling anyone who will listen that there is not enough documentation on Degas to take these claims as 100% truth, or put that man up there with Picasso. Peace and Love! <3

[loveisanimaginarydagger3000]

The Babysitter (20)

Is Someone Jealous?

MILF Wanda Maximoff X Reader 18+

Summary: In need of money and a way to escape the problems at home, you get a job babysitting two lovely boys named Billy and Tommy Maximoff. What happens when you start to feel things you shouldn't for their mother? Will it bloom into love or leave you heartbroken?

A/N- I would just like to say that there will be some sensitive issues in this story such as alcoholism, homophobia, anxiety as well as more mature content such as smut so, if you continue to read this, please consider this warning.

The Babysitter Master list | General Master List

Chapter 20- W/c 6.2k- This chapter contains 18+ Content

Tag list- @natsluttt @cerberus-spectre @dorabledewdroop @bibliophilicbi @hopelesslyfallenninlove @simpform1lfs @get-the-fuck-outta-here @natashaswife4125 @marvelwomen-simp @supercorpstan97 (Comment if you want to be added)

Is Someone Jealous?

"Fuck college."

Natasha's head snapped up at your annoyed tone, a chuckle leaving her lips at the way you flopped into the chair opposite her, closing your eyes and groaning at the way your back hit the chair.

"Hello to you too," she teases, putting down her pen and watching you intently, your eyes fluttering open to see her amused green. "What's got you so moody?"

"College," you grumble, Natasha rolling her eyes at your obvious answer, her foot kicking yours under the table to make you look back at her and answer her properly. "It's just stressing me out. We have our mocks in a few weeks and all the teachers want to do is set us work that isn't going to be on any of the tests," you sigh out, leaning your back against the plastic chair, grimacing at how uncomfortable they were.

Natasha offers you a sympathetic look, closing up her workbook and turning all of her attention to you, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Fuck College," she repeats, making you laugh as she stretches, her back cracking satisfyingly after being hunched over a text book for the last hour or so, waiting for you to finish your class.

You both sat in a comfortable silence after that, your mind planning everything you needed to do to make sure you had enough time to do all your work and revision with breaks so you didn't burn out. The peaceful atmosphere was interrupted by your phone going off, the annoyed frown disappearing once having read the name at the top of the screen, a knowing and teasing smile tugging at the corner of the redhead's lips.

"I wonder who that could be," she chuckles out before taking a sip of her coffee, peering over the rim of the cup to watch you roll your eyes at her words, lifting the phone to your ear.

"Hey Detka," Wanda says in a rather quick tone, stress evident in her tone even through the phone.

"Hey, what's up?" you ask, noticing her displeased mood and irritated sigh leaving her lips.

"I'm currently back in the office and will be for a while," she explains, "Some idiot messed up one of the biggest deals of the year so I'm having to fix their fuck up."  You can tell she's extremely pissed by the way she curses under her breath at the person, the sound of people frantically working in the background briefly audible. "I don't think I'm going to be able to pick the twins up today, is there any chance you could? If not, I can call Pepper or Hope asking them if they could watch them."

"I can pick them up don't worry," you can hear the sigh of relief from her, smiling a little as you could imagine her biting her lip anxiously as she awaited your response. "I need to be there by three right?"

"Yeah, you'll see Pepper most likely there so just follow her to where you meet the boys, I'll message her and let her know to look out for you," you check the time and note you have plenty of time to get there, mostly likely going to persuade the woman opposite you to give you a lift. "I have to go now Detka so I will see you later," the sound of shuffling can be heard over the phone, the sound of someone directing her towards a meeting room indicating where she was going, "Thank you for doing this Dorogaya."

"No problem," you say genuinely, not minding in the slightest that you would have to get the twins, "Don't overwork yourself please and take care."

"I can't make any promises," she chuckles out, finding the way you care for her endearing, helping relax her nerves a little, "Bye Detka."

"Bye," you say just before she hangs up, Natasha grinning at you, teasing comments at the tip of her tongue. "Don't even start," you warn with a faux serious tone, the smile unable to be wiped off your face.

"Don't what?" she innocently says, "Tease you about being so in love? I would never," sarcasm drips from her tone, a laugh escaping you at that. "What was that about?"

"Wanda is stuck at work so I'm in charge of picking the twins up," you explain, "I need to be there by three..." she can guess where you're heading by the tone of voice, shaking her head playfully at you.

"Let me guess, someone would like a lift," she raises her brow knowingly at you, your shoulders shrugging nonchalantly.

"I mean if you're offering," your tone is cheeky, making her laugh once more, finishing the rest of her coffee and placing it down.

"You're unbelievable," she grumbles, packing up her things while you mentally cheer at not having to get on the bus, knowing how busy they would be after class.

"You still love me though," you joke as she grabs her bag, walking with you out of the café towards where her car is.

"Yeah, yeah," she agrees begrudgingly in a humorous tone, "Just get in the car."

***

"Thank you my chauffeur," you taunt as Natasha pulls up on the side of the road near the school, her brow raising at the teasing nickname.

"I'll start charging you for lifts if you push it," she warns, clearly joking as you unbuckle your seatbelt, pretending as if you didn't hear that comment, her laughing at your little smirk.

"Bye Nat," you say sweetly, grabbing your bag from the bag and shutting the door, waving to her as she drives off. You chuckle when she shows you the middle finger while moving away, a parent giving you a stern look as you accidentally make eye contact, looking away quickly in search of Pepper. You walk further down towards the gate and see a familiar bun of ginger hair strolling towards her.

When you get closer, you see her talking to Hope, the older woman noticing you and motioning for you to come closer to them, a shy smile taking over your face.

"Hi," you greet a little timidly, feeling strange talking to these women without Wanda or any children.

"Hello Y/n," Pepper greets, Hope doing the same. "The boys will be out in a few minutes," you nod to her words, pulling your bag tighter on your shoulders, occasionally glancing over to the other women, unsure if you should start a conversation. Pepper, however, decides for you, "How was college today? Was Tony being his usual charming self?" She asks and you shyly smile at her, not sure whether you should tell her your current opinion on her husband for setting more work.

"I'm not sure you should ask me about your husband at the moment," you chuckle out, your hand going to the back of your neck in a nervous manner. "College was... stressful but it's nothing I can't do." She gives you a warm smile, understanding how hard A-Levels were.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," she encourages, "and if Tony annoys you, just tell me, I'll set him straight," she adds with a laugh, you chuckling along as well.

"Well in that case," you dramatically move your hand up, as if counting on your fingers the amount of times he's annoyed you, the older woman letting out a breathless laugh before moving to follow the other parents into the playground, the kids being released now.

You follow her and the other parents, an impressed smile on your face at how interesting and fun the playground looked. Why did schools improve their facilities once you left? Where was your cool playground?

The sound of excitable twins snapped you out of your reminiscent thoughts of primary school, a wide smile stretching across your face as they ran up to you. Their small bodies collided with yours, a few parents watching with endearing smiles, a teacher also noticing the interaction and watching closely.

"Hey Mini Maximoffs," you greet, ruffling Tommy's hair and squeezing Billy's shoulder as you knew he didn't like his hair being played with. "How was school?"

"Boring."

"Interesting."

You laughed at the contrasting answers, them quickly starting with their favourite activity of asking as many questions as possible.

"How come you're here?" Billy asks in a confused tone, not that he minded you picking them based on the fact his body practically buzzed with excitement upon seeing you. Tommy then turned his head to you, also intrigued in knowing the answer.

"Well, your mom got caught up with work so it's going to be us for the majority of tonight," you say, them sad their mom wasn't going to be home for a while before Tommy spoke again.

"Does this mean we can have pizza for dinner?" There was a cheeky grin on his face, a small chuckle leaving you at how quickly he proposed the idea of junk food.

"That all depends on whether you two do all your school work," you say, ruffling his hair once more to tease him, a giggle escaping him when you go to tickle him. Billy giggles as well at seeing his brother being 'tortured' as he phrased it, you relenting on your tickle attack when a blonde woman approached you.

"Miss Danvers," Tommy excitedly greeted, wriggling out of your hold and looking back at you, "This is Y/n." A look of realisation washes over her face, a soft, gentle smile taking over her at the boy's energetic state. Her light brown eyes meet yours before briefly looking up and down your body, a confused smile on your face at what was going on.

"Oh so you're the infamous Y/n," she says in a teasing tone, a blush forming on your cheeks at her knowing who you were. "The twins won't stop going on about how much they love you," she continues, a nervous laugh escaping you at the idea of them talking about you to someone else.

"I hope you've heard good things," you say with a shy tone, her hands resting on the boys shoulders as she steps closer.

"I've heard many things, most of them good," she says with a grin, looking at the twins who just laugh along.

"Most?" your gaze goes to the boys who look away sheepishly, you rolling your eyes hoping the bad things were just embarrassing stories.

"Nothing bad I assure you," her tone genuine before she looks around, searching for Wanda. "Is Wanda not here?" she asks you, the boys going off to say goodbye to their friends briefly.

"No, she's currently held up at work so she asked if I could pick them up," you explain, understanding that she was checking the twins were going to be safe. After all, you were a stranger to this woman.

"Normally, she would have to inform the school that someone else was picking them up, especially someone who's not on the system," you nod along, hoping that she'd let you take them as you didn't want to have to call Wanda and interrupt her while she was stressed. "But, as I can clearly see they know you, I will let you take them home this once. Next time you need to be down on the system," you let out a sigh of relief, the boys coming back so Miss Danvers could double check they know you and are comfortable with you.

"Thank you," your tone grateful as you start to walk off with the twins, her calling your name making you stop.

"Before you go, I need your phone number for the system," she says, pulling out her phone which you furrow your brows at.

"Um yeah sure it's," you tell her your number, watching as she types it into her phone. You assume she was just typing it into her notes, not too sure whether she would be allowed to just take your number like that.

"And your last name?" You tell her your full name, her smiling at you as you wait with the twins. "A pretty name for a pretty girl, isn't that right boys?" she says, making your face redden, the boys laughing at the pink tainting your cheek and agreeing with their teacher. "I'll let you three get off now," the boys wave at her before starting to walk ahead, you waiting a moment as Miss Danvers motions to speak with you "I hope to see you more often Y/n."

You offer a small smile, still a little confused at the way she's looking at you and nod your head. "You too Miss Danvers," you say to be polite, her lips pulling up into a smile at your formalities.

"Carol is fine," you just offer another shy smile before saying goodbye to her, walking a little faster to catch up to the twins who tease you, saying how Miss Danvers likes you, making you threaten them with salad for dinner which quickly shuts them up on the walk home.

***

Taking the empty plates into the kitchen that definitely did not have pizza on them, you placed them into the sink and checked your phone to see Wanda still hadn't replied to your message. You understood she was busy so you paid little attention to the lack of contact, deciding to busy yourself with cleaning up while the twins did whatever they wished in the living room. Well, it seemed Tommy was doing whatever as Billy timidly walked into the kitchen, a smile forming on your face before it turned into a frown at his unhappy state.

"Hey what's wrong?" you asked as you moved to sit next to him at the kitchen island, your hand soothingly rubbing up and down his back as he seemed to be anxious.

"Nothing," he mumbled, avoiding eye contact to further emphasise that something was definitely wrong.

"You are a terrible liar Mr Maximoff," you say in a light-hearted tone to try and cheer him up, letting your shoulder playfully nudge him as you let him build confidence on what he wants to say.

"It's just about what Mom said when we got back from Grandma's," his tone quiet as you understand what he was referring to. Sticking to your promise to Wanda, you stayed with her as she told the twins that her and Vision were no longer together, explaining to them that it was the best for everyone as sometimes people just fall out of love. "Will... Will Mom fall out of love with us too? Like she did with Dad?"

Your heart breaks at his disheartened tone, his eyes peering up into yours for an answer. You offer him a soft gentle smile, wrapping your arms around him and bringing him in for a hug.

"No," you say without hesitation, making it clear to him she won't, "Your mom will always love you, no matter what." Billy listens attentively as you continue, "Your mom loves you two more than anything in the world, you know that right?" He nods his head quickly, knowing how much she adored them both. "There's a special place in her heart where you two belong, where nothing can taint her love for you both, I promise you."

"I never want her to fall out of love with us," he whispers and you pull him closer, squeezing his body gently in your arms while you prop your head on his.

"She won't because you and your brother are the most important things in the world to her, she would do anything to keep you both happy," you say truthfully, knowing the amount of love she harbours for her children.

"I want to make her happy too," he mutters, making you smile at how much he was like his mother.

"You make her happy," you stick your finger into his chest to emphasise your point. "As long as you behave and eat all your vegetables," you tease at the end, making him laugh, him wriggling out of your grip to sit next to you again, leaning his head on your shoulder.

"All of my vegetables?" he asks, making you chuckle at his disgusted tone of voice at having to eat all of his greens.

"Mhmm all of them," you hum out, him groaning a little before letting the two of you sit in a comfortable silence for a moment.

"Thank you," he softly says while moving to get up and join his brother in the other room, who was busy watching whatever cartoons kids nowadays watch.

"You're welcome and remember you can come to me whenever you need, I'm here for you too," his smile stretches at that before he goes and runs off to join Tommy.

Once you're left alone in the kitchen, you get back to washing the dishes, letting your thoughts wander to random places while you scrub the plates and glasses, only snapping out of them when the sound of the front door opening can be heard. The sound of the twin's excitable noises indicates it's Wanda, a small smile subconsciously sneaking onto your face at the thought of the older woman.

You quickly dry your hands and the final plate, placing it back in the cupboard before making your way through the house to the living room where the other three were. You pause in your tracks, leaning against the door frame as you visibly see the tension and stress of work leaving Wanda's body as she listens to the twin's ramble. A smile is engraved on her face as she lets her hands wrap around both of their shoulders pulling them closer as she lets them do all the talking, occasionally acting shocked and surprised to keep them entertained.

"Y/n also picked us up today which was so cool," Tommy says when he notices you, Wanda's green eyes flickering over to you with an enamoured glint in them. Her features soften when her gaze meets yours, your smile growing a little as you walk over to them and sit in the armchair next to the sofa they were on.

"Oh did she?" Wanda says in a surprised and amused tone, the boys nodding energetically.

"Yeah and she got all nervous with Miss Danvers, it was so funny," Tommy added, making you pull a face, Wanda's brow raising as she turns to look at you.

"And she went all red when Miss Danvers called her pretty," Billy said, the two of them digging your grave as you could see Wanda's jaw clenching.

"I think Miss Danvers likes Y/n," Tommy expresses his thoughts out loud making you wish a hole would come and swallow you up, Wanda's eyes darkening as she looks at you.

"They would be cute together," Billy then adds and holy fuck kids don't have filters.

"It doesn't matter because I do not like Carol," you say, grimacing as you know you've just fucked up.

"Carol?"  Wanda then speaks up, you nervously swallowing from across the sofa.

"Miss Danvers," you quickly correct but that doesn't stop Wanda from looking at you with an indecipherable look in her eyes.

"Y/n even gave Miss her number-"

"For the system," you interrupt Tommy, praying whatever trick the universe was currently playing on you to be over. "I had to give the school my number so they could confirm I'm allowed to pick the boys up," you explain and Wanda merely hums in response.

The twins carry on their rambling, Wanda only stopping them once it was time for bed, ushering them to go and brush their teeth. You follow them up, watching as Wanda tucks them into bed, both of you wishing them goodnight before leaving, Wanda walking past you towards her room. You let her take the lead, walking behind as she sits on the bed, brushing the stray strands of hair out of her face.

You climb onto the bed behind her, wrapping your arms around her and pressing a kiss to her cheek, earning no reaction from her.

"I missed you," you murmur softly into her ear before pressing another soft kiss to her cheek, then letting your head rest on her shoulder as she still doesn't respond. You frown at her lack of responsiveness, thinking as to why when your phone goes off, a notification from Natasha.

"Was that Carol?" she mutters in annoyance and it clicks. She's jealous.

"Is someone jealous?" you tease instead of answering her, Wanda moving around in your arms so she's facing you. Her lips ghost yours, heat coursing through your body at the sultry look in her eyes.

"Do I have a reason to be?" she rasps out, her eyes searching yours as you lean forwards, your lips brushing hers briefly.

"No," you whisper, "Never." Her body relaxes at that but you continue your teasing, "But just because you don't have a reason to be, doesn't mean your not jealous," your fingers tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, smirking at the older woman who just lets you continue teasing her, you being unaware of where her thoughts were heading.

"I'm not jealous," she murmurs back, manoeuvring around so that she could pull you into her lap, your arms loosely wrapping around the back of her neck, fingers playing with the baby hairs there. "To be jealous implies I want something someone else has, I have what I want," you raise your brow at that, letting your lips meet softly before pulling back, further digging your own grave.

"So you wouldn't mind if I replied to Carol," It was probably unfair to tease and torment Wanda after the day she had but, if you were being honest, you wouldn't have minded if she wanted to take her frustrations out on you. "Tell her I can't wait to see her again when I next pick the boys up-"

Wanda's lips roughly met yours, one of her hands cupping your face while the other threaded through your hair, tugging on it to guide your head where she wanted it. Her tongue effortlessly slipped into your mouth, causing you to moan lewdly at the feeling of it against yours, dominating the kiss while she moved the two of you, guiding you onto your back. The hand that was cupping your cheek travelled lower, trailing down your jaw and along your neck before resting at the base of it, applying a minimal amount of pressure as she gauged your reactions.

Your eyes were the darkest she'd ever seen, your lips kiss swollen as you panted beneath her, watching her with submission swirling in your eyes. She smirked at your reaction, applying a little more pressure making you groan, her head tilting as she admired the sight of you under her.

"If you want to act like a brat Detka, I'll treat you like a brat," she husks out, accent slipping into her words as she gazes into your eyes lustfully. Your breath hitches at her words, arousal pooling between your legs as fuck, you don't think you've ever been as turned on as you are now. "Not so talkative now, are you Detka?" she sinisterly chuckles out in a low tone, revelling in the power she holds over you. Your mouth opens and closes, her daring you to continue teasing her, deciding on the safer option of staying quiet.

She leans forwards and claims your lips again, moving her knee to slot in between your legs making you moan into the kiss, your hands going to her hair when she grabs your wrists and places them firmly above your head. One of her hands remains pinning your hands while the other supports her body as she hovers over you, smiling down at you and meeting your lips softly this time, letting you adjust to the shift in dynamics. It was clear Wanda was always going to be the dominant one but for her to actually be so dominant with you, she wanted to make sure you were alright.

"Have you ever heard of the colour system for safe words, Detka?" she murmurs, the feeling of her lips against your skin burning, needing to feel her closer.

"Yes," you sigh out in a ragged breath, both nervous and excited about where this was going as she pulled back from peppering your neck in kisses. Her free hand tilts your head up by placing a finger under your chin, your heart beating wildly in your chest as she bites down on her lower lip, the sight not helping with your arousal.

"Tell me what they are," she hums out, letting her thumb brush over your cheek as she awaits an answer.

"Green means I'm ok," your voice wavers as you speak, wild thoughts racing through your mind as you try and anticipate what Wanda has planned for you both, "Yellow means I want you to slow down or I want a break, and red means I want to stop completely."

"Good girl," she praises, your cheeks flushing under her intense gaze, "Would you be comfortable if we used these Detka?" You nod and she raises her eyebrow at you, "Use your words Dorogaya."

"Yes," you desperately sigh out, needing her to just touch you already. To have her body pressing into you, lips ghosting yours, was just cruel if she wasn't going to do anything about it.

"Colour?" She asks while her fingers play with the hem of your shirt, sliding under and scratching your skin gently before pulling out.

"Green, so green," she swiftly rids you of your shirt, pulling the item over your head and instructing you to keep your hands where they were before lowering her mouth to the top of your breasts.

"My beautiful girl," she mutters against you, littering your body in sensual kisses while her hands roam the exposed, soft skin. Her lips are teasing as they kiss your sensitive nipples through the fabric of your bra, a small whimper escaping you at the sight of her green peering up at you. "You're mine, aren't you?" she rasps out while letting her fingers unfasten your jeans, sliding the material down your legs with ease. You gasp at the feeling of her hands gliding up and down your inner thighs, awakening goosebumps in their tracks.

"Yes, all yours," you moan out when her hands brush your core through your soaking panties, Wanda eager to torment you.

"All mine," she murmurs, removing her hands from near your core, making you whine, silencing you with her lips as she unclasps your bra, removing the item and discarding it somewhere in the room.

Her lips travel down your neck and you think you're going mad at the way she keeps teasing you, her lips heavenly against your skin.

"Please," you whimper, Wanda looking up from where her mouth ghosts your breast, one of her hands cupping your other breast while her free hand moves to trace patterns along your inner thighs.

"Please what?" she asks in a condescending tone, her words sending a shiver down your spine while you blush at how much you enjoy her talking to you in that tone. "You have to be specific Detka, tell me what you want."

"I need you to touch me," your tone laced with submission and desperation, the older woman chuckling to herself at how needy you were already. She hadn't even started yet.

"I am touching you," she teases, pressing a soft kiss to your chest while letting her fingers pinch and pull your other nipple, a low moan escaping you.

"Please, I need more," your eyes meet hers, pleading with her to give you what you want.

"More?" she hums out, "So greedy." She takes your breast into her mouth, her tongue expertly swirling around your sensitive nipple while her hand lavishes your other breast in the same amount of attention.

You groan at the pleasurable feeling of her mouth on you, hands clasping at the sheets as you try to keep them where she told you, desperately wanting to thread them through her silky hair.

"Fuck," you sigh out when she pulls away from your chest, a string of saliva connecting form your breast to her mouth, her thumb brushing it away before she kisses at the valley between your breasts, moving down your body.

"Colour?" she murmurs against the skin of your inner thighs as she slides her fingers under the waistband of your panties, your hips bucking as you can feel her warm breath through the drenched fabric.

"Green," the words spill from your lips in a rush, Wanda smirking into your skin as she can feel your body twitching under her in anticipation.

"Be a good girl and spread your legs," she commands and you do so obediently, her body sliding comfortably between your legs as she slips the last item of clothing off your body, your arousal glistening in the light as you're dripping for her. "So wet," she whispers, almost in awe at how turned on you were, her green eyes flickering up to meet your desperate gaze, "Don't worry Dorogaya, I'll take care of you."

Her lips meet your inner thighs, her teeth gently biting on the skin to leave a mark, making you groan at the idea of being marked by her. She litters your inner thighs in marks while the pad of her index finger runs through your folds, gathering your wetness before moving to circle your clit.

"Wanda, please, I need you," she indulges in your wishes, moving her face so her tongue could lick a broad stripe along your folds, a guttural noise leaving the both of you. Your head is thrown back at the feeling of her warm and wet tongue licking your clit, her mouth gently sucking on it causing your hips to pathetically buck against her face, whimpers spilling from your lips. Wanda groans at the taste of you, her fingers teasing your entrance before she slides a long, slender digit inside you, a broken noise escaping you. "Fuck, Wanda," her name falls from your lips like a chant when she curls her finger, starting a leisurely pace of thrusting it knuckle deep inside you.

"You take my fingers so well," she purrs out when she adds another, your hands gripping onto the sheets with all your strength as you meet her eyes, the sultry look making you whine at the pleasure coursing through your body.

When her tongue swirls against your clit, her fingers relentlessly curling against your g-spot, walls clenching around her digits, Wanda knows you're about to come, a wicked smirk sneaking onto her lips as she peers up at you from her place between your legs.

"Are you close Detka?" she asks innocently, your head frantically nodding while your body squirms under her.

"So close," your voice breathless.

"If only you had been a good girl," she rasps out, placing a final kiss to your clit before moving up your body, fingers slipping out of you while her mouth meets yours to muffle the frustrated noise that was pulled from the back of your throat. "It's not fun to tease, is it Dekta?" she rasps out in a cruel tone, her eyes sparkling with amusement at your desperate form, hips bucking against her as you get over being denied.

"Please, I'm sorry, Please let me come," you beg, eyes pleading with her to touch you again.

"Brats don't get rewarded," she husks out, pressing a soft kiss to your lips as you whimper into her mouth.

"I'll be good," the pure submission radiating off your body, the needy tone of voice is enough to have Wanda's idea of edging you for a while crumbling apart, a new, significantly more pleasurable one, entering her mind. "Please let me come."

"Promise me you'll be a good girl," she murmurs, her teeth gently biting down on your lower lip, dragging it back before releasing it.

"I promise," you lean forwards to meet her lips once more, the kiss soft and intimate while her hand drifts back down your body, fingers effortlessly sliding into you.

"We're not stopping until you can't take it anymore," she whispers, your breath hitching at the idea. "Remember to use your safe words if you want to stop," she reminds, her fingers picking up their pace. It doesn't take long for her fingers to be mercilessly pumping in and out of you, her mouth muffling all the sinful noises that spilt from your lips. The palm of her hand brushes your clit, adding to the pleasure, while her fingers curl expertly inside you.

"That's it Detka, you're taking me so well, such a good girl," she whispers at the shell of your ear, a pathetic whimper leaving you at the praise.

Moans tumbled out of your mouth, quickly swallowed by the older woman, her mouth unrelenting on yours as she thrusted her fingers deep inside you, revelling in the way you clenched desperately around her.

"Come all over my fingers Detka, I know you want to," she purrs and it's almost mocking, her words quickly sending you over the edge as her mouth claims you, dampening the scream of her name that was ripped from the back of your throat. Your body shudders under hers, legs clamping over her hand as you grinded along it to ride out the aftershocks of your powerful orgasm, Wanda sticking true to her words and continuing her brutal pace.

"Fuck," you groaned out when she moved her thumb to circle your clit. "Please can I touch you," Wanda smirked into the skin of your neck when you asked for permission, still obediently listening to her earlier command.

The older woman answers you by moving her free hand up to interlock with one of your hands, letting you squeeze her hand as euphoria and arousal takes over your body. Your other hand moves to the back of her hair, tangling it in the silky locks as you groan into her mouth, her tongue sliding lewdly against yours.

"Harder, please," you whisper, your tone a little shy as your eyes flutter open to meet hers, silently begging her.

You can feel her smirking into the kiss when she increases the force between the thrusts of her fingers, a guttural noise leaving you at the action.

"Fuck, I'm going to come again," your head is thrown back, your neck exposed for her to kiss against as you tremble in her hold, pleasure crashing through your body.

Wanda can tell your feeling overstimulated by the small whimpers and whines leaving your lips as she eases her pace, slowly sliding her fingers in and out to help you ride out your orgasm, her kisses that were hungry and passionate turning softer and gentler.

"Colour?" she murmurs lovingly, her eyes searching yours for an answer.

It takes you a moment or so to answer, "Red," and she smiles at your honesty, claiming your lips once more while letting her fingers slide out.

"Good girl for being honest," she whispers, pulling away from your body and brushing some hair out of your face, watching how exhaustion creeped onto your face. "Let's get you cleaned up, then you can go to sleep, Moya Lyubov," her voice a gentle hum as you wrap your arms around her neck, trying to keep her close.

"Ok," you murmur softly, letting her guide you into the bathroom where you quickly cleaned yourself up, swiftly moving back into the bedroom and snaking your arms around her body as she joined you in bed. The feeling of the soft mattress under you, Wanda's warm body pressed against you after she had changed into light pyjamas further adding to your comfort. Her fingers lazily stroked your cheek, a soft smile engraved on her face as she watched your eyes flutter open, head resting on the pillow opposite her.

"Was that alright Dorogaya?" she whispers, your head leaning against her hand that was now cupping your cheek.

"Yeah," you sigh out truthfully, enjoying her display of dominance a lot. "I like it when you take control," your voice is a little quieter, almost timid at confessing it.

"Oh yeah?" her tone was a little teasing, "I like it too." You offer a small smile at her agreement, Wanda continuing, "I also like it when you're a good girl, not a brat," she watches your cheeks tint pink, smiling at your flustered state.

"I am good," you mumble, moving closer to her body somehow, your legs a tangle of limbs under the sheets.

"Mhmm you are," she wraps her arms around you while whispering her words, hands sliding up and down your back soothingly, "If not, maybe I'll spank your ass black and blue to get you to behave." It was a joke when Wanda initially said it but the way your cheeks darkened even more and the small hitch of your breath implied your thoughts on the matter, "You like that idea?"

"Maybe," you mumble shyly, moving your head to rest at the crook of her neck.

"We can talk about that another time," her fingers scratch softly at your scalp, lulling you to sleep while she speaks in a gentle, soothing voice. "Goodnight Detka," her lips press against your forehead, your body having already drifted off into a peaceful sleep in her warm embrace.

[daisynik7]

Bursting at the Seams

Pairing: Takashi Mitsuya x Original Female Character

Rating: Mature

Word Count: ~3.3k

cw: switching POVs (2nd and 3rd person), explicit language, kissing, established relationship (yay!)

Summary: You and Mitsuya make your newly blossomed relationship official. To commemorate this special occasion, he invites you to his house for breakfast, where you meet his mother. 

Author's Note: Thank you for your patience with this! I really love writing this story, so I’m doing my best to work on this while I continue a few other WIPs. I appreciate every single one of you who have read this so far. I’m excited to show you all how everything will play out! Would love to know what you think and maybe some predictions on what may happen in the future chapters. Thanks so much for reading!

Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Next Chapter

Saturday morning, Mitsuya wakes up with a bright smile on his face, the confession from just hours before still replaying in his head like his favorite scene in a movie. He flexes his hand, fondly remembering how hers fit so seamlessly in his. They were close to a kiss; if they hadn’t been interrupted by her parents, he’s sure it would have happened. While he wants nothing more than to feel how soft her lips are, especially pressed against his, he wonders if this is all happening a little too fast. After all, they aren’t official yet. He ought to ask her to be his girlfriend first before he smooches her, right? Isn’t that what a gentleman does?

And is Takashi Mitsuya, founding member and Second Division captain of the Tokyo Manji gang even capable of being a gentleman? Of being a good boyfriend?

He gradually comes down from his dreamy state to contemplate how best to proceed with this. After breakfast, he calls both Draken and Takemitchy, the only two people he knows that are actually succeeding in the boyfriend category. 

“You have a girlfriend now?!” Takemitchy exclaims loudly on the other end. Hina’s in the background, begging him to put it on speaker so she can listen in too. 

“No, not yet. I confessed to her last night and she likes me back.” He smiles to himself, recalling the moment once again. 

“Holy shit, you actually took my advice,” Draken chuckles. “Good shit, man. So did you two kiss yet or…?”

“Well, we almost did,” he explains. “Her parents came out right as we were about to. But it got me thinking that maybe we should make it official first before we do anything irresponsible.”

Draken barks out a laugh. “You know that you can’t get a girl pregnant just from kissing her, right?”

Before Mitsuya can cuss him out, Takemitchy comments, “No, I totally understand where you’re coming from! When Hina and I started dating, we barely held hands. It took even longer for us to kiss! Waiting for the right time just made it all the more special.” 

“Hina, stop holding the gun to his head, we know you’re in the room with us,” Draken teases.

There’s shuffling on their end as she grabs hold of the phone, giggling, “I didn’t even have to tell him to say that! Anyways Mitsuya, I think taking things slow is a wonderful idea!”

“Nah, screw that. You’re a man now, Takashi. And men have needs. As long as she wants it too, I say just go for it.”

“Go for what exactly?” Mitsuya asks, genuinely curious.

“Dude, do I really have to spell it out for you?”

“Please don’t,” Takemitchy murmurs.

“Nothing gross!” Hina chimes in.

“I’m talking about fu – ”

“Ken Ryuguji!” Emma’s voice rings from the line. “Do not say what I think you’re about to say! Not in front of our child!”

“It can’t even hear yet!” 

Clearly now, Emma insists, “Mitsuya, whatever you do, do not listen to Draken. Go with your heart instead of your…well, you know.”

“Says the woman who is currently pregnant because of you-know-what,” Draken mutters.

“This is totally different. We’ve been together for years. Mitsuya’s only known this girl for a month. And unlike you, Ken Ryuguji, Takashi is actually a sweet guy.”

“Hey!”

She ignores him, adding, “You’ve got all the time in the world. Do what you think is right. Everything will work out in the end.”

He thanks all four of them for their input before ending the call, heeding their advice carefully the remainder of the day as he babysits his sisters at home. It’s probably best for him and Hana to discuss what their expectations are going forward. He has no experience in relationships whatsoever, so naturally, he’s apprehensive. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he somehow becomes a rotten boyfriend. 

Around dinnertime, he decides to text her, asking if she is free to talk on the phone later tonight, to which she confirms that she is. He takes the next few hours to prepare himself, rehearsing what he’d like to say over and over in his head until he tucks his sisters into bed, retreating into his own bedroom to dial Shimizu’s number. 

After two rings, she picks up. “Hello?”

He smiles, happy to hear her voice. “Hi. How are you?”

“Good. And you?”

“Good. Great, actually. I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“You’re not. I’m happy you called.”

They exchange pleasantries, recounting each other’s nights before getting to the main matter. His heart skips a beat, getting increasingly nervous, despite how comforting it is to hear her speak so casually with him. When the right opportunity arrives, he clears his throat, remembering what he practiced from earlier. “I just want to make sure that we do this right, you know? I’ve never had a girlfriend, so I really don’t know what to do when it comes to things like this. But I want to do my best to be a good boyfriend to you.”

Her voice is gentle and sweet as she replies, “I feel the same way. I’ve never had a boyfriend either. I don’t know how good of a girlfriend I can be. But I’ll do my best too to be good to you. We’ll learn together. ” 

He grins, touched by her words. “Together. I like that.” He swallows his emotions to continue. “I’m sure your parents won’t approve of you dating a gang member. But you’ll always be safe with me. You have nothing to worry about when it comes to Toman. I can promise you that.” 

“It doesn’t matter to me that you’re in Toman. I already feel safe with you, so I’m not concerned about that at all.”

Surprised, he says, “Really?”

“Really,” she confirms with confidence. “I want you to feel safe with me too. I’ll do everything I can to protect you. I mean, I can’t fight. But I promise that I’ll be there for you whenever you need someone to lean on, someone to support you. I want to help you however I can.”

Tears begin to well in his eyes, his heart on the verge of bursting from his chest. He’s never felt anything like this before. He’s always taken pride in protecting the people dearest to him, whether it be his family or his fellow brothers in the gang. And while he knows that his friends will always have his back, knowing that someone outside of Toman is looking out for him, determined to protect him, feels different. Is it okay for Mitsuya to rely on her like this? To be vulnerable and depend on her throughout all the obstacles that come his way? Draken’s words from last night replay in his head. You deserve to be happy. You’re always the one taking care of others, it’s about time someone takes care of you. The more he thinks about it, he realizes that yes, maybe he does deserve this. 

He grabs a tissue from his nightstand, wiping away his sniffles. “You’ve already helped me so much. I don’t know if this makes sense, but when I’m with you, I feel normal. I feel like myself, you know? Like I’m more than just this Toman jacket. I’m just me. A lot of our classmates are too scared to talk to me, and when they do, it’s usually for a favor because of my reputation. But you approached me, wanting sewing lessons. I feel like you see the real me more than anyone else does.”

It takes a several seconds for her to respond, seemingly holding back tears. Eventually, she says, “I’m really glad I came to you for lessons then.”

“Me too.”

There’s a comfortable silence between them as they cherish each other’s heartfelt sentiments, Mitsuya stares at his bedroom ceiling with the phone pressed to his hear, wishing he could see her right now. “So, Hana Shimizu.”

She giggles. “Yes, Takashi Mitsuya?”

“Would you please do me the honor and be my girlfriend?”

There’s more of her precious laughter as she answers, “Yes. And will you do me the honor and be my boyfriend?”

“Absolutely yes,” he replies, smiling even wider. He’s tempted to get out of bed and drive to her house to commemorate this special occasion, but he resists. Instead, he blurts out, “Do you want to come over for breakfast tomorrow? I really want to see you before school on Monday. I can make pancakes. Plus, my mom has a late shift and she’ll be home, so you can meet her.”

“Isn’t this too soon to be meeting your mother?” 

“Is it? Are there rules against it or something?”

She laughs. “I guess not. We can make up our own rules. As long as we’re learning together, right?”

“You know I like the sound of that. I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“Yes, tomorrow. Goodnight, Takashi.”

His breath hitches, enjoying the sound of his name from her mouth a little too much. Chest fluttering with affection, he says quietly, “Goodnight, Hana.”

~~~

Within twenty-four hours of his confession, you are officially Takashi Mitsuya’s girlfriend. 

You stare wide-eyed at the ceiling of your bedroom in disbelief, the phone still warm in your grasp having just finished your conversation with your now boyfriend. You’re tingling all over, utterly amazed and completely ecstatic at this recent turn of events. Who would have thought you, plain and ordinary Hana Shimizu, would be anyone’s girlfriend, let alone Takashi Mitsuya’s girlfriend? 

It takes you a while to fall asleep, mind racing with thoughts and fantasies of your new relationship. You wake up the next morning, both nervous and excited to see him. Knowing that you’ll be meeting his mom today, you put on your best dress, hoping to make a good impression. You quietly step down the stairs, barely sticking your head into the kitchen to greet your parents. “Morning! I’m going out for breakfast!” 

Before you can sneak away, your mother calls out to you. “With who? Mei and Keiko?”

You contemplate lying, but you know that never pans out well. So, praying they don’t question it, you answer, “I’m going to the Mitsuyas.” You listen for any reaction, and when you only hear hushed whispers between your parents, you slip into your shoes, heading out the door. 

It’s a short trip to his house, less than ten minutes. You knock on the front door, taking a deep breath. He answers quickly, a smile already on his face, eyes full of kindness as he greets you. “Hana, good morning.” Your name sounds so soothing from his mouth; you never thought your name was special but hearing it from him makes it feel that way. “Hi, Takashi.”

He rubs the nape of his neck, a slight blush on his cheeks. “I’m not used to hearing you say my first name yet.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No, not at all. I just…I think I like it a little too much,” he admits. 

You reach for his hand, brushing your fingers gently along his knuckles. When Luna and Mana come running towards the entrance, you immediately retract from him, embarrassed. “Ms. Hana!” they cheer, hugging you tightly around the waist. 

You pat their heads. “Hi! I missed you two!”

They peer up at you, beaming. “We missed you so much!” 

“What did Taka do to you, huh? Should we beat him up?” Luna offers, shooting a glare at her brother.

“No, no, no! He didn’t do anything wrong, I promise,” you assure them. 

Takashi snorts, playfully rolling his eyes. “Like you even stand a chance.”

“We know exactly where to hit you, Taka!” Luna threatens. 

Mana chimes in. “Yeah, you taught us, remember?!”

You grin at him, brow raised. “What are you teaching them?”

“Self-defense, of course,” he replies, smirking. “In case some idiots try to mess with them.”

A woman with the same downturned lavender eyes appears from the kitchen, a warm smile on her face. The resemblance is uncanny; this is definitely Takashi’s mother. She’s as beautiful as you imagined her to be and you’re immediately flustered under her gaze. You bow to her, the kiddos still latched to your legs. “Good morning, Ms. Mitsuya. Thank you for having me.”

“Of course. You’re welcome anytime. I’ve heard so much about your from my children, so I’m so happy I finally get to meet you. The food is ready, so if you’d like, we can start eating.”

The five of you gather around the table, Takashi taking the seat beside you, his knee touching yours as you sit cross-legged on the cushion. The spread is fantastic: fluffy pancakes stacked neatly one-by-one, pillowy golden tamago topped with strips of seaweed, bowls of strawberries and other fruit to top it all off. Luna and Mana help themselves to a pile of pancakes, drizzling a generous amount of syrup before they take a big bite. Takashi serves you, giving you a little bit of everything to try. His mother watches the two of you, a small grin on her face. 

You chat casually, Ms. Mitsuya asking the typically questions: how’s school, what your family does for work, what you plan to study in university. “I’m going to major in education. I want to become a teacher,” you inform her.

“So you will follow in your father’s footsteps. How wonderful,” she comments. “Mitsuya, maybe you should consider doing that, too.”

You face him, nodding. “You’d be a great teacher!” 

He shrugs, stuffing a forkful of eggs into his mouth. “I think I’d rather keep my major to business. If I ever become a designer, I might want to open my own shop, you know?”

His mom leans forward, a serious expression on her face now. “Do you think you’ll really follow through with it, Takashi? I know how committed you are to Toman, but maybe it’s time to move on from it. I don’t want you to put your dreams on the backburner for this little gang of yours.”

“Why can’t I do both? I’m not just going to abandon my friends, Mom. And I’m not going to abandon my dreams, either. I can do them both,” He avoids her gaze, staring down at his almost empty plate of food. You rest your hand on his knee, squeezing it, wanting to show your support for him. If he’s confident that he can balance both obligations at the same time, then you believe in him too. 

He smiles at you, entwining his fingers with yours. “I have another announcement to make. Hana and I are dating.” Much to your shock, he holds your hands up, showcasing this display of affection. 

Luna and Mana squeal, applauding enthusiastically. “Yay!”

You anticipate his mother’s reaction and breathe a sigh of relief when you notice her serious demeanor relax, a grin spreading across her face at the news. “Congratulations. I’m very happy to hear that.”

He grips you tighter, looking at her. “Mom, I know you think I have a lot to deal with, but I can do this. When have I ever let you down?”

She shakes her head. “You never have.”

“So, do I have your support? Do we have your support?”

She smiles. “Of course. You always have, and you always will.”

While the abrupt announcement has you shaken at first, you can’t help being elated at how well this is already going. With his mother’s approval, this only leaves your parents to consult with next, which might prove a bit more difficult than this. However, with Takashi by your side, you’re confident you can convince them to trust in this new relationship of yours. Especially with all the wonderful merits your boyfriend brings to the table. 

After breakfast, you play with this sisters in the living room while mother and son wash the dishes in the kitchen. When Takashi excuses himself to use the bathroom, you take this chance to speak to her in private, if only for a brief moment. Standing next to her at the sink, a clean dish towel in hand, you offer to dry the dishes, which she gladly accepts. “Ms. Mitsuya. I just want to thank you for welcoming me into your home.”

“Like I said, you’re always welcome here.” She glances at the hallway, checking on Takashi, who remains in the bathroom. In a lower, hushed tone, she adds, “I just hope that you can push Takashi in the right direction.”

Confused, you ask, “What do you mean?”

She sighs, scrubbing the last bowl with the sponge. “I don’t want him to be in Toman for the rest of his life. I’m not sure if you know this, but back in middle school, he got into this really big fight. He was beaten to nearly an inch of his life, all for the sake of his friend, Hakkai. I’m scared that if this continues any further, there will be a time he’ll put his life on the line and won’t be able to get back on his feet. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders, so maybe you can steer him to where he needs to go.”

It’s never crossed your mind what hardships Takashi has had to overcome in his past. Sure, there are rumors and idle gossip about him floating amongst your classmates, but you never paid it any mind, wanting to get to know him for yourself. Hearing this from his own mother is concerning, and with her subtle plea for you to guide him away from Toman, you’re not sure if you’re qualified to do that. It doesn’t seem like your place to interfere with his life. All you can do is support in whatever decisions he makes, right?

Your boyfriend returns before you can respond to her, standing beside you to help dry the remaining dishes. Ms. Mitsuya slides her gloves off, wiping her hands on a paper towel. “I need to run to the store to get a few groceries. I’ll take the girls with me so they can pick out some snacks. Will you be okay here, Taka?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“Hana, it was so nice to finally meet you. I’ll see you again soon, okay?” She wraps her arms around you in a snug embrace. 

“Yes, thank you for breakfast, Ms. Mitsuya,” you say, squeezing her back. You hug Luna and Mana goodbye before they leave hand-and-hand with their mother, leaving you and Takashi alone.

You turn to face him, stepping closer. “I guess I should head home soon.”

He closes the distance even further, leaning towards you, his hands in his pockets, a smirk on his face. “Yeah, maybe that’s for the best.”

You grin at him, wrapping your arms around his neck. “Thank you for inviting me. This was really fun.”

He slides his hands around your waist, pulling you closer, nuzzling his nose to yours. “It was. Thank you for coming.”

Your lips meet in a delicate kiss, sweet and soft just as you imagined it’d be. Warmth fills your chest and you’re almost breathless when you part, his forehead pressed to yours, smiling. “Do you really have to go?”

You giggle, giving him a peck on the cheek before you pull away. “I think I should.”  

He watches you from the doorway as you make your way outside, twirling in your dress once more to wave goodbye. You stroll through the neighborhood in a daze, lips tingling, body buzzing with excitement, taking your time to get home. 

Ms. Mitsuya’s request still lingers in your mind as you enter your house, humming a happy tune with your mom and dad eyeing you suspiciously. Then, there’s your parents, of course, who you’ll need to talk to soon. There may be obstacles to face, but you’re confident that you and Takashi can persevere, together. All that matters in this moment is that the two of you are happy. And there is nothing standing in your way to stop that. 

[thepaperpanda]

I Want To Be A YouTuber || Venom & Eddie Brock drabble

Summary: In response to Venom's demands, Eddie creates a YouTube channel

Warnings: none, just Venom being insistent 😁

Word count: 1067

Authors: Cass & Rouge

Although Venom was persistent, he was the only one who persuaded Eddie Brock to do dumb things. Eddie always listened to Venom primarily to make him shut his mouth and hush him; it never lasted more than a few minutes. Eddie was this time persuaded by Venom to start a YouTube channel.

Venom exhorted Eddie, "We're unusual! Take us to the world. We'll be famous like Kim Kardashian!"

Eddie finally agreed to Venom's idea after almost two weeks. "I can't believe we are doing this..." Eddie muttered as he set up the camera and the background. The youtubers he saw all had nice backgrounds. "I am really unsure about this, V... What are we even gonna record?"

"You must introduce yourself, punk," Venom instructed firmly and loudly. "You must explain who you are and why you are opening the channel," symbiote responded. You wanna get some pussies? Don't get in front of the camera with that stupid grin of yours. You have to present like a cool, bad guy. Girls like bad boys. Say something like ‘Yo, I'm Eddie Brock and I've gotta show you what I got after that fucking meteor hit our planet’, yeah?" Venom joked. "Like cool banditos, yeah?" Symbiote advised. “We’ll be recording us. We’re cool, yeah?”

"There's no way I know how, but I'm gonna say you watch too much YouTube," Eddie pointed out.

As Eddie sat in front of the camera, he turned it on and began recording. "Hello! I'm Eddie, and welcome to my channel! Many of you may wonder why I have a channel, but I'm special in some way since I have this little buddy," Eddie said as he tapped his shoulder.

Out of nowhere, Venom appeared, grinning to the camera and licking his fangs. "Hello there, punks, I'm Venom and I'd love to meet you all, especially your lungs, brains and livers. But that's a story for another time. In today's episode, we're going to demonstrate our awesome abilities by eating bad guys."

Eddie glared at the symbiote. "Venom... Really? You can't be that aggressive. We need to be nice and likable so people will watch us."

"Don't worry, we know our role," Venom reminded and his tone softened. "So once again, we are soft Symbiotes, we came from outer space and we're happy we found him," Venom said, pointing his head to Eddie. "He's a dumbass, but we love him."

As Eddie hugged Venom, he said, "He is an asshole, but I love him so much. He can be rude, but he is a great friend."

Venom's head was petted; Eddie earned a low grunt of happiness from the symbiote.

"I hope you'll enjoy our channel and whatever we do here," Eddie added, smiling to the camera.

As Venom licked Eddie's cheek, he added, "We'll prank people in public."

"I don't think this will be possible, V. I have a job, I can't run around and prank people then upload them on the internet," Eddie said, turning off the camera. "Now I just have to edit it and it will be ready to be posted on our YouTube channel."

In response, Venom nuzzled Eddie and added, "Edit it as soon as possible."

Eddie nodded, "I'll deal with this now. I have nothing better to do," he grabbed his camera and walked to his computer.

Venom asked, "Can you give us that delicious cheese you have in the fridge first, punk?"

"I'd appreciate it if you left me something to eat, too," Eddie gave Venom a careful glance.

In order to get his cheese, Venom disconnected from Eddie and crawled to the fridge

The camera was connected to Eddie's computer when he commented, "You look funny, V." As he waited for Venom to return, he began editing the video.

After gliding back to Eddie, Venom climbed onto his back.

Eddie petting Venom's head asked, "Are you happy now? I am almost done."

Venom held a piece of cheese in his paws and chewed it. “Eddie, you edit it? We'd like to see it. And yes, it's fine now. Cheese was tasty."

"Yes. I am done," Brock presented the video to Venom.

Venom's white eyes widened as he exclaimed, "We can upload it! Look, Eddie, we look like a top model. I meant us, not you, but you do look great too. Upload, upload!"

Eddie laughed, "Yes, we do look like Top Model." He quickly uploaded the video. "Let's go eat something now. We will check the reactions tomorrow morning."

____________________________

The next morning Venom awoke as first, although this time he was disconnected from Eddie. He was still nuzzling the man's shoulder. "Eddie, get up, get up. It's morning! We have to check reactions!" Symbiote licked Eddie's cheek as soon as he opened his eyes.

As Eddie sat up and rubbed his eyes, he murmured, "Wait... Wait... Just let me wake up." In a few minutes, Brock got up from bed and opened his laptop, sluggishly turning it on.

"C'mon, punk, we can't wait!"

Eddie yawned and opened the page with their video, then scrolled through the comments at the bottom.

Venom stared at the man, asking, "What, and what, do they think we're ready to start yet?!"

Eddie muttered, "Well... The comments aren't really nice... Read them yourself, V."

As Venom read, he became more enraged. “What a nasty, fucking shits. Can we eat them?!"

"No, Venom, just forget about this idea, and let's stick to the newspaper," Eddie sighed.

"No, no, no. We've got to eat them. We've got to eat those fuckers," Venom claimed, showing his fangs.

"No, Venom. We only eat bad guys, not people who dislike us."

"When they don't like us, that means they're mean. That's what makes them haters. Haters are bad people so we can eat them," Venom concluded after a few longer moments.

Eddie sighed and petted Venom's head as he said, "It's not always like that. Maybe they're right. It's not our thing."

With an angry voice, Venom said, "But we love you and you did a great job, Eddie."

"Let's eat something tasty, shall we?" Brock suggested, trying to get Venom's attention away from YouTube.

"Yes," Venom replied, wrapping his arms around Eddie. "We love you."

Getting up from the chair, Eddie said, "I know, Venom. Let's go to your favorite place and order whatever you want."

Venom grinned widely. "Yes, that's a very clever idea."

[dantefreakdaaaa]

If you're doing requests I was wondering if you could create a fic of being a part of the alpha team

And when captain Wesker was giving instructions to the squad, you were sketching him in mid instructions and he notices 🤞 idk I thought that sounded sweet

i doodle him all the time mfjihrueherige

no pronouns are used and all of the fic sfw (rookie will be used instead of y/n)

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

Your captain was droning on and on, and while yes he did have a nice voice you would much rather not listen to him explain the instructions for your upcoming mission. You had soon pulled out a pencil from your pocket, it wasn't uncommon for you to have at least one or two on you. A tendency you had is once you get bored you'd doodle, drawing people, places, things, just whatever's around you. And Captain Wesker just so happened to be what you wanted to draw. You had grabbed out a small sketchbook from your pocket, something that was always on you and flipped to a new page. Gently sketching little drawings of him, slowly thinking more and more about him. How pretty his eyes might be if he slipped off his glasses, how pretty he looked whenever his hair was out of place, though that was rare, and how his uniform hugged his body nicely. You soon wouldn't stop staring, your gaze permanently fixed to him.

You looked back down at your sketchbook after his eyes almost locked with yours, your cheeks tinted pink out of embarrassment. The pencil you had in your hand move back to the page, gliding across it and adding details to the drawings. His voice carried on explaining instructions, fading into background noise as you kept drawing, soon signing your name in the corner once you finished it. A few minutes later you were all excused and started to exit.

"Rookie, I need to speak to you about something, can you stay behind please?" His gravelly voice filled the now quiet room just as you were about to leave.

"Oh- yes sir." You turned to face him staring back at him expectantly. Nervousness eats away inside you and you assume you're in trouble.

"I noticed you were drawing earlier, may I see it?" He extended his hand, waiting for your response.

"Oh um- sure." You pull out the sketchbook from your pocket and place it into his hand. You watch him flip through it, staring at each detailed sketch and scribble. You watch as a small yet cocky smirk forms on his face once he sees the drawings of him.

"These are very well done rookie," He closed it and placed the small sketchbook back into your hand. "I really like them."

"Thank you sir! I appreciate that.."

"That's all I wanted to talk about, you're dismissed rookie." He walked over to the door and held it open for you as you walked through, closing and locking the door to his office once you left.

A slight smile spread on both of your faces, though wesker was soon able to shake off the smile, yours was practically stuck there all day, your thoughts about him not helping remove it.

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

I started this at 3am and I haven't proof read it so mb if there's grammar issues or sum thing like that.

[usafphantom2]

SAC Crew Dogs: The Elephant Walk, The Wing Commander, and the Boom

T Campbell

@tcamp202

·

4h

… as the crew pulled up to the Alert shack, they could see the Wing Commander’s Chrysler Reliant K-Car parked right at the main entrance to the shack. The Air Force blue car was still smoking a bit, and most of the paint had been burned away… somebody was gonna get a chuck taken, that much was sure…

This is the retelling of a story I heard as an A1C (Airmen First Class) while pulling SAC Alert at Loring AFB when I was a Boom Operator in the KC-135 A model. It was probably embellished when it was told, and I might embellish it even more… cause you know, that’s how Alert Stories go. I do hope that I do it justice in my retelling.

In order to understand the humor in this small fairy tale, I first need to explain a couple of technical details about KC-135 operations. It’s a lot of background to tell a silly old story, but please bear with me… the story is funny (or at least I think it is.)

Engine Start: The KC-135A was equipped with the Pratt and Whitney JP-57-P/F-43W, good solid engines, but they required a lot of tender loving care, and if they didn’t get it, they let you know in a hurry. There were a few different ways to start the engines.

The most common was to have an air cart connected to the aircraft. It would supply air to the bleed air manifold and would be used to start all four engines.

Another way we could start the engines was often called a Cart Start. Using a Cartridge, a canister about the size of a large coffee can, filled with a slow burning explosive, which could create enough air to turn the starter long enough to start the engine. All four engines could use Cartridges.

If you had any single engine running, you could use bleed air from that engine to start the others, however, you had to push up the power a bit to generate enough air pressure in the bleed air manifold.

Image

Gases escaping after turning the engine starter during a Cartridge Start on a KC-135A.

Photo from https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Air-Force/Boeing-KC-135A-Stratotanker-717-148/666058/L

Hot Starts: One thing that these engines did not like at all was being started with an insufficient amount of bleed air, whether from a ground cart, or the other engines. Failure to get the engine turning fast enough when adding fuel often resulted in hot starts with flames shooting out the back of the engine, kind of like an afterburner, but these flames weren’t blue… they were a reddish yellow, like fire and could reach out to the tail of the aircraft. Sometimes flames would even shoot out the front. They were dangerous. Fire bottles were always on hand for engine starts, just in case.

Engine Shutdown: After landing, the pilots would stow the spoilers, retract the flaps (otherwise, tower might think we’d been hijacked) and shut down two of the engines, usually the inboards to avoid accidentally sucking up anything from the taxiways into the engines, and also, so that when the ground crew chocked the tires, they wouldn’t have to walk closely to a running engine.

However, on Alert, we always shut down the outboard engines first, so the ground crew could install a new Cartridge in the #1 engine (furthest to the left.) The cartridges were dangerous, and the last thing the crew chief wanted was a running engine behind him and no escape route if there were any problems. Once the cartridge was installed, the other engines could be shut down because we had the ability to restart the jet if required.

Ok… if you’re still with me… great! Last thing you need to know is about Elephants walks on Alert. An elephant walk is where a group of airplanes get all configured for a mission, start engines and taxi out, but instead of taking off, they just taxi down the runway. Kind of like a parade.

For elephant walks on Alert, this process is started with the Klaxon going off and the brass inspect the aircraft as they are taxing to ensure they are all properly configured for takeoff. Think of it as your typical military inspection… you know, “Trim those nose hairs” type of affair, but with airplanes.

Last thing to remember… SAC took Alert VERY seriously. Everything had to be done by the book, and if it wasn’t, there’d be hell to pay. The aircraft always had to be ready to launch on the nuclear mission to refuel B-52s. As they say, failure was not an option.

So… now that you are armed with some knowledge on how the KC-135 normally operates, it’s time to tell our story.

Image

An Elephant Walk. KC-135 R models (bigger engines), not A models... but it gives you the idea... imagine a car driving between the aircraft to inspect them. Our ill fated crew was somewhere in the middle of the line.

Once upon a time, there was a crew… we’ll call them R-113 with Captain William Bligh as the commander, the co-pilot and nav shall remain nameless, but the Boom Operator was SSgt Fletcher Christian. They were on Alert, spending another seven days cooped up in the Alert facility, and serving their country. Breakfast started the day followed by a mandatory briefing at oh eight hundred. After this, maybe some ground training or bon bons and the Price is Right, and then it’s lunch time. A combat nap would take up most of the afternoon, followed by dinner around five. All the while, waiting for the Klaxon to sound off. Not exactly riveting stuff, let me tell you.

“FOR ALERT FORCE, FOR ALERT FORCE, KLAXON KLAXON KLAXON”

One day, our fateful day, the Klaxon went off and the crew sprinted out to their aircraft. This is a hectic event. Get the covers off the engines, get the door opened, rush up into the cockpit, check all is clear, and fire up those Cartridges to start the engines. Black smoke is billowing everywhere and it’s hard to see, but the engines get started, the crew chief makes his way up the ladder into the aircraft, and they button up to the aircraft, ready to taxi.

On the sidelines, the Wing Commander is proudly watching his KC-135s do what they do best. He watches the rolling clouds of thick black, toxic smoke as the engines start.

“FOR ALERT FORCE, FOR ALERT FORCE, MESSAGE FOLLOWS… SIERA NOVEMBER ALPHA FOXTROT UNIFORM…”

The message from command post… it’s an elephant walk exercise. The aircraft will taxi out of the Cage, the Alert pad for the KC-135s, and out to the runway. There, they will taxi about halfway down the runway, turn off and line up, nose to tail, on the returning taxiway waiting to be inspected by the Wing Commander.

While sitting in line, with a tanker just in front of him, and another just behind, Captain Blight decides to save some fuel, he’s going to shut down two of the engines. This is normal. However, instead of shutting down the outboard engines, as was normal in this situation, he shuts down the inboard engines as if he’d just finished a normal flight.

As soon as the throttles were in the cut off position, he realizes his mistake, but there’s nothing he can do. He announces his dilemma over the crew’s intercom… so the boom, SSgt Christian says, “Hey, just restart them, what’s the big deal?”

Meanwhile, at the end of this line of KC-135s, the Wing Commander starts inspecting the aircraft. He drives by each jet, taking a zig zag route through the jets, looking to ensure the flaps are set correctly, the stabilizer trim (the horizontal portion of the tail) is trimmed to the correct position for takeoff. He’s quite proud of his jets… maybe he’ll get another promotion and get the h*ll out of this sh*t hole base.

Captain Bligh says, “In order to start the engines, I’m gonna have to push up the outboards a bit to get enough bleed air, but I don’t want to FOD (foreign object damage) out the jet behind us, but ok, let’s do it.” He pushes up the outboard throttles as much as he dares and starts the engine start sequence for the number two engine (left inboard). He turns on the ignition, and then after the engine has just barely enough rpms, the turns on the fuel.

Right about this time, the Wing Commander has finished looking at the jet behind our ill fated crew, and he is crossing behind Captain Bligh’s number two engine, when a huge flame, at least forty feet long come shooting out of the back of the engine, right onto the hood of his car.

As you might be able to imagine… the radios come to life and the Wing Commander starts screaming about the jet with the flames coming out of it… followed by “Everybody report to the briefing room (at the Alert shack) after re-cocking the aircraft.”

It was pretty quite for the next thirty minutes or so, while Captain Bligh and crew got their aircraft re-cocked for Alert. After they wrap things up, they get in their Alert truck and head back. There was a little discussion though, they had to get their story straight.

As the crew pulled up to the Alert shack, they could see the Wing Commander’s Chrysler Reliant K-Car (remember, we bailed out Chrysler) parked right at the main entrance to the shack. Oh sh*t… this wasn’t going to be good. The Air Force blue car was still smoking a bit, and most of the paint had been burned away from the front fender and hood. There was no doubt, the briefing room was not going to be a pleasant place to be.

As the last crew sat down, somebody called “Attention”, and everybody stood up at attention. The Wing Commander walked down the center isle and up to the podium. “Crew 113… get up here!”

The Wing Commander addressing Captain Bligh asked, “Why on earth were you restarting your engines?”

Captain Bligh responded, “My Boom Operator said to.”

Lesson learned… if you are the lowest ranking guy, always look be on the look out for sh*t rolling downhill.

@tcamp202 via X

[spicyvampire]

hi, your edit for wandee goodday is cool https://www.tumblr.com/spicyvampire/750559639385587712?source=share

would you please make a tutorials for those gifs? 

Hi anon sorry for the long wait for this, unfortunately the more I looked at my psds for this gifset the more things I saw that just aren't like basic gifing knowledge. I simply did not know where to start. Anyways I tried to go and find the tutorials that helped me when I was just learning those techniques or wtv inspired me to use them instead, because they are all very details and explain way better than I could, along the way I'll give you a few tips to make your life easier

My very first tip would be to not do all those things at the same time, learn one technique at a time please, for your own sanity

Everything else under keep reading

STEP 0 : basic gifs

You need to have basic gifmaking knowledge, if you don't here's a good tutorial that pretty much touch everything

Gifmaking for beginners by hayaosmiyazaki

gif sizes and sharpening for tumblr by anya-chalotra

Here's a few tips for when you are about to start :

You need to have an idea of what you want to do before you start cutting anything aka

what's the theme of the gifset : that will help you separate how many concepts you gonna have because of that theme

once you have the concept : how many gifs are necessary to get the concept across and what lines from the show are you gonna use, how would you write those lines and your own comments to be as clear as possible (I advises test them by sending them to friends when you are done before publishing)

what is the layout of each gif gonna look like, do you need to search (pixabay or vectorstock) for some shapes in png

Once you have like most of that, you can start choosing scenes and cutting but not before because trust me you gonna over work if you don't do this

Example : So my theme was Yak being a green flag, I have 6 big gifs and 9 concepts, I fit a lot of those concepts together, but in total I have base 23 gifs

It is important that every gifs of a concept that is gonna end on the same background gif have the same amount of frames as the big gif

Make, color and save each gifs individually, so if you fuck up, you can always just go get your base gif again, name them in relationship of the final gif

Example : the final gif is named green1 so every gif in there are named green1,1 - green1,2 - green1,3

Please for the love of god, name and/or give numbers to everything and make groups in the PSD! You won't be able to find yourself in this mess if you don't do this : To make groups you can either, select what you want to group -> CTRL + G or select what you want to group -> right click -> Group from layers

You need to be able to manipulate colors, to enhance them, change them and neutralize them

becca’s mega coloring tutorial by nataliescatorccio

This was done with Step 4 of Becca's tutorial, because the colors of the scene was easy to manipulate

the beginner's guide to channel mixer by audrey-plaza

gradient map + gradient fill by ruanbaijie

This was done by making the gif as neutral as possible with channel mixer and then putting a gradient fill on because I was lazy, gradient fill is a mix of step 3 of becca's tutorial and hanyi's gradient fill, I usually do that when I can't just manipulate the colors the gif already has easily

STEP 2 : clipping mask

The easiest way to me to have a bunch of other gifs on a bigger gif in any kinda shapes to me is clipping

clipping mask + layer mask by usergif

Tips :

Start by making your shape on the background gif to know so you can play with the layout of everything and see what looks good before adding any gif

When you make shapes (in my case a rectangle) in photoshop it tells you the height and the width of the shape, so when you are gonna clip your gif to that shape, I suggest cropping it in your base gif around like 30px more than what those are before you duplicate it in your big gif, that helps to have room to move your duplicated gif around when you are done clipping it to the shape

When you are done cropping the gif you gonna clip into the shape, convert to smart -> dupplicate in your big gif -> clip to shape

Example : the rectangle is around 150px width and 240px (or something), my duplicated gif was cut 180px 270px (or something) just so i can be free to move it when it's clipped

The yellow and green sticking out of the shapes are drop shadow added for drama and the tape is literally just searching for a tape png I put on it

STEP 3 : layout from scratch

The 3rd gif layout was made from scratch because I only had 3 gifs for that idea, and also I didn't want to look like the others so the gifset wouldn't be too one tone because I'm genuinely mentally ill

layouts from scratch by eddiediaaz

tutorial: using layer masks to format multiple gifs by yuutta

I used the 2nd tutorial like word of word and it gave me this

STEP 4 : fonts and other minor stuff

gradient text by anya-chalotra

I'm only gonna explain the GREEN FLAGS text because all the other colored texts are just a variation of that without the outline and with a different font, Gradient text tutorial says it all, here are my settings for this gifset

Kate's quick textstyles tutorial by aubrey-plaza

I use the technique on Gif 3 from step 4 and on (minus the outer glow) of Kate's tutorial, and made the stroke layer italic to make the outline of GREEN FLAGS

In the end, the layers are stacked like this

Now for the rest there isn't really any tutorial but here goes nothing

For the white text, I just put enough drop shadow for everything to be easy enough to read, for that I play with the opacity of the layer

And the little white lines are made with the line tool, to make the line continues just hold shift while you are making them

I hope all of this made sense, my biggest tip for all of this is literally to play with every setting until you find something your eyes tell you looks good, If you need more advice on something in particular feel free to send another ask

[cadriox]

Sorry if i'm bothering you/ you dont have to respond, but how do you come up with cool backgrounds and ideas for your fanart drawings? Your stuff is super creative!! I was just curious because i draw characters in the same poses every day 😭❤

I check my tumblr notif every once in a few days but still missed this, so sorry if I was keeping you wait!

Thank you so much for the compliments! 💖💖💖 this makes me really happy, you’re not a bother at all.

Just speaking from my experience, but an artist usually have several ways of kicking off a drawing. If I start off drawing a character without actually knowing what I want to draw, I face the same exact problem as you where all the characters are just there! Standing! That isn’t a bad thing, however. I sketch a lot (roughly and fast ngl) so I immediately shift to the next drawing and considered those my warmups until a solid idea pops up. I love focusing emotions so I often start from drawing emotions on the character before coming up with scenarios for them.

Another way of kicking off a drawing is to start with a general idea. It can be a concept, a dialogue, or a composition.

Examples of said ideas I can recall:

•eremin kissing in a wide bloody background

•Eren holding armin’s face w that bloodied hand

•Flojean in a cell. Floch lives

•Gen with his hand as foreground

Concepts can start forming when you’re drawing so you keep adding in the details, or they can even change completely midway depends on you. No need to commit to it, these are just something to get your engine running!

I firmly believe that putting stories in art make it so much more special. My favorite artist is a comic artist, and they express so much and so well in even the smallest panel, their art is truly my inspiration! So as long as you got your story down and try to express it, every piece of your art is unique in its own way💖

(Also if you notice, all my backgrounds are suuuuper lazy made. I barely drawing them, most are a bunch of gradient and colors. But that’s the whole point, as long as the colors indicate what, where, and the atmosphere I don’t feel the need to draw them out!)

I find my art very rough most of the times, but the skill to let go “refining art” and prioritize dynamic and overall atmosphere are essential. It’s also always beneficial to practice drawing people on different angles and pose because it broadens your options for composition!

One last thing: everyone has a personal library in their head, whether it’s for stories, compositions, cool dialogues, lighting, character designs, music, or more. Your library was built according to your interests and what you consume. Personally I LOVE reading fanfics, watching films and series and animations of the genres I’m into. Watching more media will always give you ideas, once in a while you can go back to your library and think what would you like to see that suits your taste and haven’t been done yet.

OKAY, This replies become super long for some reason😭 I’m not the best person when it comes to explaining my thought process but I’ve always love art questions.

Anyway I hope this helps! May your drawing journey be filled with joy

[pianocat939]

Hey Celina-

So I've been wanting to start a writing blog myself and I have a vague idea on what I wanna write about. But I don't know how to exactly write it...

I was wondering, how does your writing process go? What do you do in longer pieces specifically?

I'm a hellfire of a writer and I find it absolutely hilarious that people want advice from me, but I'm more than honoured to give you my burnt pasta advice-

Ok first things first- give yourself like a minute to think of a big idea-

Like nothing too specific- for example not a whole sentence explaining the plot or character, rather just a few words: Ex. Evil Queen.

From there I like to jot down the words onto the document/platform I'm working on and start typing out random sentences that come to mind.

This can be both starting the story or fleshing out the character. That way, you don't have to be stuck on thinking of writing a specific topic.

Now there's one thing I like to point out in particularly how I write. I like to stick with my initial image of the character HEAVILY. I don't know if people notice this, but I keep a common theme with most of characters from when I first wrote them. [Unless if it's an AU of some sort]. Ex. personality traits, background, etc.

From there I usually end up building an outline of the plot.

Now my teachers have always said to keep your outline like a few words long, but I like keeping my bullet points detailed. So my points end up being a few sentences each, considering I'm writing the plot.

You don't need to write your outline in a grammatically correct method nor does it have to be pretty. Like my outlines are honestly like "This mf dies by accidentally tripping and tumbling down the hill like a wheel of cheese." It's easier for me to keep track of my thoughts and often times I can add a funny thing from those said sentences.

This is the part where I start to slack off compared to other writers.

I'm sure most writers actually proofread their work and ask for peer review, but I don't lmao. (Honestly, primarily because I don't write long pieces as much)

I would suggest those, but at the same time I don't do them aha...

Anyway, once you finish your outline, give a brisk run through and cut out anything you think is unneeded or unclear. Remember, writing beautiful is easy, it's the clarity that's hard. In my case I think it's very true since I sometimes use big words.

Then you actually write your draft-

USE THE THESAURUS. I don't know how many times I've needed to say that to people. I always put a lot of synonyms for my adjectives. It gives a lot of colour.

Then carefully read your paragraphs so you can cut out anything you don't need or makes it difficult to keep clear.

I do the last few changes [adding/removing, more fancy words]

And then bam-

Finished.

(Sorry if this was messy lmao. But hey, this is how I truly write)

- Celina

[izicodes]

Hey there, love your blog. If you don’t mind sharing, could you please show us how you track your projects on Trello.

Thanks in advance 🙏🏾

Hiya! Sorry for the last reply to this but yeah I can show you how I keep track of my projects on Trello! [LINK] I currently have only one big one, I usually delete the old ones once I am done with them! The site is fairly easy to use but I'll just explain for those reading that don't know how exactly!

━━━ ⋆⋅☆

☆ 1 - Getting onto your homepage

This is what it looks like when you log in! As you can see, I have my Maze Game board already set. But I'll quickly show you how to set up a board.

I normally use one of the templates they have and start from there, too much hassle to start from scratch! At the very top, it says 'Most popular templates' and those are just a few.

━━

☆ 2 - Choosing a board template

On the navigation bar, there is a button that says 'Create' and you want to click 'Start with a template'. It'll show you a list of options but you want the page with the full list so go to the bottom of the list and click 'Explore templates' and that will lead you to the page below:

There are lots of categories to choose from but because the majority of my projects are web design related or designing a program etc, I click the 'Design' or 'Engineering' themed templates and normally click the ones that are like 'Design Project', 'Game Development' or 'Web Development'.

You can scan around for which suits you and your reason to make a board in the first place. Once you click on one, start using the template!

━━

☆ 3 - Customising your board

As I mentioned before, I have my Maze Game project already set on Trello. I track by splitting the project into sections like having the overall checklist of the project (the first list you can see) and then I down deeper and make further lists (each of those blocks is called a 'list') for each to-do I made in the first list. Then I make a card (the things listed within the list block) of what needs to be done.

You can do other things like adding a background image, stickers, double-click on each card to edit the text inside, adding more content in each car by clicking on the card once and you get this pop-up:

And you can add dates, deadlines, checklists like I've done here and more. I really like it and it's nice to get things done using the board + card method! Totally give it a try and let me know what you think! I haven't explored the non-tech-related templates but I hope this helps with your project planning!

━━━ ⋆⋅☆

Hope this answers your question! If not, let me know and I'll help you further! Thank you for your ask! 🙌🏾🤎

[nakimkcapstone]

2/4/2024-2/18/2024 Progress Update

I just wanted to go ahead and get a head start on the next progress update. These past few weeks had a lot of interesting things. Firstly I started and finished most of my script for the project. I have the beginning and ending fully fleshed out, at least how I want it. My hurdle is in the middle, how I’m going to connect the two parts together. This is where I will be using ChatGPT as a virtual assistant. I will explain to it what I have already, and ask for ideas on where I can take the story from there. My goal is to not have it write specific scenes, but to at least give me scenarios in which I can apply to the script myself.

For context, my short film will be styled in an old Japanese samurai film, but with futuristic elements to it.

I already used ChatGPT to come up with names for my characters by describing their personalities and the nature of my script. The responses it gave me, and the reasoning behind the names turned out really great.

Alongside starting the script, I have also been practicing more with the AI tools. This time, instead of doing something unrelated to the project I built out a scene from my script, which I’ll link below.

I filmed the ship practically, once again using a model that I found on Amazon. I combined it with the use of 4 AI tools; Midjourney, Pixverse, Color Match.Ai, and Suno.ai.

I created the background using Midjourney, something I went over in my previous progress update. The shot I came up with is a top-down shot of a forest. From there I threw it into Pixverse, a free AI website that adds movement to photos using depth mapping (something I also went over in my previous update). The result was great but the final result was only 8 seconds long, so I slowed it down in premiere. It’s longer, but the movement in the image is now less noticeable.

Shooting the model practically ended up being a bit rough. Firstly, propping the camera to be above the model (whether actually placed above the model, or turning the model on its side) proved to be a hassle. C-stands would have fixed this issue, but the ones I ordered prior to the new year still never to shipped.

I used to own a slider but the person I lent it to has not returned it. A lesson for the future about loaning out equipment. To work around this, I Jerry-rigged a dolly to a tray so I can pull the model and the green screen.

The results came out clunky and rotoscoping in After Effects started to get rough with the finer details, so I ended up freeze framing it in premiere, and adding the motion manually through key frames.

Colormatch.ai is a software I invested in a few years back, it works by importing a still image of something with color grading you’d like to try out, and it exports a similar result for use in your own projects. Since one of the inspirations to my project is Akira Kurosawa, I wanted to replicate the black and white methods used.

But why use this instead of just pulling the saturation down? One thing about Kurosawa’s stuff I’ve noticed is the halation and sharp contrast that his films have. I wanted to try and replicate that as best as I could. The end results weren’t perfect but it’s a good starting point.

Suno.ai is similar to Midjourney, but for generating non-copyrighted music. The results aren’t perfect and there’s a lot of artifacting in the songs, but for something that matches my theme I think it turned out quite alright for now.

To solidify the scene, I added some fog effects and speed-ramped it as the ship flies by.

In the end, I came up with this result after about 2-3 hours of messing around to see what works, and about an hour and a half of execution on a “final”product. As I near further into my production I hope to flesh it out even more.

I hope by the end of the next update, I will have finished the script, storyboard, and shot list.

After that, I will be looking to translate my script into Japanese for authenticity. Then I’ll be onto looking for talent and possibly crew to help me out.

I know I promised a breakdown on EBSynth, and I promise I’ll get that out soon!

Until then, here is the scene that I have created while testing everything out. It’s short but hopefully by the end of it all will be a part of a greater scene.

[just-a-carrot]

Carrot! I’m in existential identity crisis, and have no idea what i want to study in future, considering that i’m supposed to apply for university in a few month. I was thinking a lot about choosing programming study program, and i wanted to ask you, how did you get started coding novels? Can you tell me some advices about where to start, video lessons, how to understand code, some programs to use? Any of that would be really helpful! Thank you!!

Oh, gosh! I'm so sorry that you're going through such a tough and confusing time. I was similar when I was in school and ended up changing majors multiple times and even going back to get a second BA (and also even now the work I do has nothing to do with what I got my degrees in... lol). It feels so impossible trying to figuring out what you want to do in life (and it can change so often...) 💦

Mmmm. I didn't have much coding knowledge at all before I started working on OW. (I also don't think it requires much knowledge just to start doing simple stuff in it—and I still don't think I have much knowledge even now LOL). I remember it felt really overwhelming and confusing at first, so I kinda took it slow and did a lot of my initial attempts in steps?? And from there slowly started to get more familiar with it and learn more and more. Let me try to explain:

The first thing I did before coding anything was write the script. I had about half of Arc 1 finished before I even thought about making it into a game, so I just had it written in my writing software.

I decided to see how it would look in a very simple VN format using Ren'Py. To learn how to start using Ren'Py, I played through the tutorial game included in Ren'Py that teaches you a lot of the basic functions. I remember this was really overwhelming because it teaches you quite a lot of things quite quickly—and when you don't know anything at all, it's so much to take in. So I tried to start simply using ONLY THE VERY BASIC STUFF:

My initial prototype only included text, backgrounds, music, and sound effects. So I only focused on the code required for those things, so basically, the code for displaying an image (defining it using image then showing it using show), for showing text on the screen (I just defined a single "actor" with basic formatting and used that for all the text), and for playing music and sound effects (the play music and play sound commands).

By only focusing on these bits, I was able to simplify it enough that I could understand it. And so then I began copy-pasting my script in line by line while creating basic BGs using royalty free photos, finding royalty free sound effects, and adding the music (I already had a collection of royalty free music I'd found for the game).

As I worked on it, I got more familiar with it and began to understand how different bits of it worked, learning new things such as pauses, screen shakes, etc., that I could also add in. Whenever there was something I didn't know how to do (for instance, zooming/cropping an image, creating variables for keeping track of player choices, etc., I would just look up on Google and could usually find something in the LemmaSoft forums).

Once this initial prototype was made and I was loving how it looked, I decided to go all-in on the game and actually start creating art for it! This was when I started drawing the character sprites, CGs, etc. Because I already was familiar with the basic coding stuff, it wasn't hard for me to then apply what I knew to making the sprites and CGs appear on screen (since it's all just using the image and show commands, and maybe moving them around using stuff like ease).

Only once I had made a lot of progress on art and more writing and scripting did I even think about tackling things like the GUI, since that requires some more advanced coding stuff. I remember the video tutorial I used to start figuring out how to do the title screen for instance was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zq3V28qp2w&ab_channel=ZeilLearnings

That took me pretty much to the release of Arc 1! Then as I kept working on subsequent arcs, I kept getting even more familiar with things, and would also try out new things I could do to create various scene effects.

Then when Spooktober came around for some reason I decided to try a ton of different things and really go wild. I definitely learned the most during that month LOL However, it was all built on skills I'd slooooooowly been building basically throughout the course of the whole year. Even doing research itself is a skill tbh. Like being able to figure out kind of in your head what you need to do something to locate what it is you don't know, then knowing how to research that thing and parse out the solution so it will work in your version of the code, etc. And I was only comfortable handling that for more advanced stuff because I'd done it so many times before just figuring out more simple stuff.

Tbh tho literally none of what I have in any of my games is very advanced, it's all just a ton of things moving on the screen in different ways and at different times

Hmmm I have no idea if that long rambly thing I just wrote is very helpful LOL Those were all the resources I used tho: the tutorial game in Ren'Py, that video I shared for the title screen, tons and tons of Google searches and the LemmaSoft forums.

But I really feel like the biggest thing that helped and made things manageable for me was breaking it down. Like, I don't know if I would have managed it if I'd tried to start right away with art and sprites and do everything all at once. I needed to start with that very simple prototype with only a few necessary commands so I could get familiar with it first, and only after that, start working on art and add it in. Breaking it down into small simple pieces really helped my brain so much! (And also was more motivating, as I could create the prototype quite quickly and already get really excited by how it looked even with just BGs and music, which inspired and motivated me to keep working. Whereas if I'd had to wait and take all the energy to draw all the art first, too, I might have gotten overwhelmed and demotivated.)

Those are all the things I PERSONALLY did to learn how to code my game. However, since I began, even more resources have become available that will probably help even more and be a lot more accessible. The biggest one I can think of is Vimi's YouTube channel, which has a ton of very basic tutorials for getting started in Ren'Py and just a ton of stuff about making and coding VNs in general. I feel like this could be super helpful for you!! https://www.youtube.com/@vimi

There are also other programs for creating visual novels, for instance, Naninovel allows you to create VNs in Unity, though since Unity uses C#, you will need to learn some of that I think?? Ren'Py uses Python, though for basic scripting it's not really actual Python and more just very basic Ren'Py script or something. You will need Python though to get into some of the more advanced stuff you can do with the GUI and menus and such though (or if you want to do anything much more advanced like add mini games).

I hope this helps you at least a bit! But if you have any questions about anything specific, don't hesitate to ask!!!

[thomasce]

*appears from the void* Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday!

So how did the conspiracies come to be? What led up to events we see in the present?

Hey bestie! Thanks for the question! This is gonna be a long one.

So for anyone who doesn't know much about my story under the project name Project: Windchill, it is a duology about our protagonist, Jeremy, who wakes up one morning to find the world outside to be practically dead.

This story came to be back in middle school (that's almost 10 years ago!) when I was super into conspiracy theories. The most popular conspiracy around that time was the Chemtrail conspiracy theory, which states that the vapor trails in the sky are from military planes and actually contain chemicals that are harming the planet and killing people. In addition to that theory, I added the Microchip theory that stemmed from fear of the Covid vaccine. Now, how these conspiracies came to be real in the story is, in my opinion, quite interesting.

Some background on the universe first:

There are 15 months in a year.

Any conspiracy regarding world governments has the potential to be true (except for things that are anti-Semitic, racist, or bigoted).

The characters tend to be described as "mutants," as their physiology has become mutated. Anyone who has not been mutated is referred to as human.

In this universe, the world governments were quite fearful of an uprising of any kind, especially after the second World War, so in the late 1950s, all children were microchipped in the hospitals as soon as they were born. Adults also had to be microchipped by law. The few that didn't were arrested. The first use of these microchips occurred a few days later, when the governments used them to wipe everyone's minds of the microchip incident even occurring.

Then, in 1996, the governments started to pollute the air with what are now known as chemtrails. These chemicals being released had an adverse effect on some of the citizens: their physiology changed completely. Their microchips were no longer effective. They could no longer be controlled. And, what scared officials the most - these mutants had strange abilities that could not be explained.

The government attempted to wage war on these people but could not gain their countries' support. So they took three months at the end of the year, during a period known as deep winter, and put those microchips to work once more. They put any human to sleep and erased everybody's memories of having more than 12 months in a year. They erased news articles and weather reports from any of those months. Anything that indicated there was missing information was eliminated. They then used those three months to attack the new mutant population.

These are the basics of the theories I have implemented and how they are used. I hope this answered your question!