#(though that one also needs a proper logo)

[stardustings]

Some of the images I have saved for my personal brand relaunch moodboard…

[octuscle]

A unique holiday experience

Stephen was lying by the pool… The wind rustled through the oleander bushes. From the restaurant, he could hear muffled conversations. He took a sip of his vermouth tonic. The ice cubes clinked in the glass. It really was a perfect idyll. From the pool, you had a perfect view of the plains of Mallorca, looking out over the sea of houses of Palma and, in the distance, the glistening Mediterranean. Stephen was somewhat exhausted from a road bike tour through the Tramuntana Mountains. But after a few days of just relaxing by the pool, he really needed a bit of a change. The bike tour had been a good idea from the concierge… But now Stephen needed something else. He surfed the internet. The offers from getyourguide were quite nice, but he didn't need another visit to the cathedral of Palma, another visit to an olive oil factory, another hike on the dry stone wall trail. He knew all that well enough. But then he stumbled across an ad that sounded original: “Bored of the luxurious Mallorcan quality tourism? Fancy a break from the real world? Party and have fun with normal people? We offer you a vacation like you've probably never experienced before!” The logo showed two young guys who reminded Stephen unpleasantly of the booze tourists who had made him shudder more than once at Palma Airport.

Still, it sounded kind of funny… Stephen clicked on “Continue”… Then he took another sip from the beer can. The stuff got damn hot in the sun. Then he fell asleep.

“Mate, you fell asleep in the sun again. Drinking ain't good for you. Want another beer?” Stephen woke with a start. He had to belch in shock. The guy in front of him laughed and held out an ice-cold beer can. Where the hell was he? Stephen was lying in the blazing sun by a small, shabby-looking pool. The cheap plastic lounger groaned as he sat up. Shit, that hurt! He was bright red. “That looks nasty, mate! You gotta cool it down!” The boy in front of him shook the beer can and opened it. A beer fountain hit Stephen's burnt chest. And even though he was sure he wanted to say something else, he said, “You absolute arsehole. You can't be wasting beer like that. Or are you gonna lick it off my six-pack again, you dirty pig?” What the fuck was going on? The chav in front of him laughed and actually licked the beer foam off Stephen's body. Or what was probably Stephen's body. What Stephen could see was an athletic, fiery red body with a few cheap-looking tattoos. And what he could also see was the tent that he was building in his shorts. “Bloody hell, can't you wait till we're back in our room? The pricks will end up banning us if they catch us!” This was a nightmare? Stephen was stuck in a strange body and was like a remote-controlled robot. He had no control over his actions or his language. He was stuck in this body and watched everything like a movie. Except that the pain of the sunburn was just as real as the lust that was coursing through his body. “Bruv, let's get up to our room, innit? If they're changing the sheets tomorrow, we might as well have a proper go at it, yeah?” Stephen didn't need to be told twice. He didn't know the guy's name, he didn't understand why he was talking about their room, but he wanted to fuck the guy. Now! And hard! He opened the door with his door card. He threw the guy onto the bed. He pulled down the guy's Adidas shorts. He pulled down his own shorts. He didn't give a shit about the stark contrast between his red-burned and chalk-white skin. His boner jumped out of his pants like a jumping jack. The guy squealed with anticipation. And Stephen fucked him like only slightly drunk chavs can manage shortly after the end of puberty. And Callum (Stephen suddenly remembered the name) was right: tonight they would have to sleep in cum-encrusted sheets. But tomorrow there might be fresh ones. If the maid didn't refuse to clean the room again because it was too messy.

After the fuck, Stevo and Callum lay on the beach for a while. Stevo had organized a new round of beer and was checking with the other guys from her soccer club what was going on tonight. Dinner at their cheap all-inclusive hotel in Magaluf was set, but after that it was unclear whether they wanted to go to the sports bar for a few rounds of darts or go straight to the club to pick up chicks. Callum didn't participate. He was drunk again and sleeping off his drunk.

The four days of drinking and fucking in Magaluf were always the highlight of the year. The football club organized this trip every year and Stevo had been going since he was 16. Shit, it was a wild time, but what happened in Magaluf stayed in Magaluf. His girlfriend in Birmingham didn't believe a word of it anyway, no matter what he told her about the trip. Hehehe, he could only hope that she had no idea what had been going on between him and Callum. Hey, it had always been without eye contact, it wasn't homo.

His buddies and he had savored the last day at the pool as best they could. They'd had to vacate their rooms in the morning, but they'd been allowed to use the all-inclusive until the bus picked them up for the airport. And the bar had been serving alcohol for an hour. Callum had already pissed his pants again, Stevo had already been to the loo once to throw up, but had unfortunately just missed the toilet bowl. The bus wasn't due for another hour. He had bought himself another beer and fell asleep on the sun lounger.

The other guests always raised their eyebrows a little at the sight of Stephen. The young man may have been able to afford the expensive hotel in Bunyola, but with his tattoos he somehow didn't fit in here. And he drank a little too much beer. And the burping could also be more discreet. Stephen didn't care about any of that. Somehow he thought that beer and Mallorca formed a unit. And if that bothered you, just get in touch. So far, Stephen had shagged everyone who was bothered by something to their senses.

[flemingsfreckles]

Physio’s Daughter Pt 8

Read the other 7 parts HERE

Warnings: cursing, suggestions to sex, mentions of throwing up, that should be it!

WC: 4.8k

A/N: hello 👋

“Really? You still have interest?” Jessie looks baffled, her eyes wide with raised eyebrows.

“Oh don’t act so surprised, you saw me staring earlier.”

“Yeah I did.” She smiles, thinking back to how she had intentionally wiped her forehead while facing in your direction. She was more than pleased with herself when she put back down her shirt to see you had been watching.

“Look, you said terrible things, and if anything even remotely close to that happens again, I will never speak to you again. But Jessie I really like you. I want to give you a second chance even though maybe I shouldn’t but I’d like to believe what you and Janine both said is true. This isn’t your typical behavior, you’re just under a lot of pressure.”

“I promise I’m not usually like this.”

“I know, that’s why I like you. But that’s also why this is so frustrating and why the other night hurt me so much. I know you’re not usually like this, I know how kind and caring and sweet you are. And if it wasn’t for all this, the fact that we work together, in this dynamic, I would’ve asked you out on a proper date weeks ago.” It’s true, if you haven’t worked with her, if you’d met her at school, at a cafe, just walking down the street, you would’ve already taken her out. You would’ve asked her on dates, but you couldn’t, not when you worked together.

“Then fuck all this,” she gestures to the room and the Canada logo on her own training top. “Just ask anyway.”

“I don’t want to get you or myself in trouble.” You look at the logo on her shirt, it wasn’t that easy to just say fuck it to the team, the team Jessie had represented since she was 15.

“We can talk to whoever we need to.” She spits out.

“Oh be for real Jessie we haven’t even gone on a date, we don’t need to be in Helen’s office signing paperwork already.” You give her a smile, it was nice she was willing to talk to Helen but a little too early.

A smile breaks on Jessie’s face. “Okay, maybe that was a little premature.” The smile from her face fades as she speaks again. “So, maybe we go with the original plan? Wait until these games are over, see where we’re at?”

You nod in agreement. “But for now, coworkers.”

“Coworkers.” Jessie repeats looking at you before a mischievous smile comes across her face.

“What?” You ask, somewhat afraid of what her answer might be.

“This is I think the third time we’ve agreed to be coworkers.” She scoffs.

“No, this time I’m serious.” You do your best to give her a stern look.

“You said that last time.” She laughs

“Shut up.” You can’t help but laugh with her, you two were terrible at being coworkers.

“At least it’s only a few more days and one more game.” She says softly after she’s done giggling.

“Only one more game.”

You quickly found yourself getting ready for that final game. The reality that you were helping prep players for an Olympic gold medal match had you a little extra nervous. Canada was taking on Spain. Reigning World Cup Champions Spain.

The first 90’ minutes of the game felt like they went by in a blink. When the whistle blew the score remained 0-0. Both teams had good shots, both keepers making impressive saves.

The extra time came and went as well and suddenly you felt like you were back a few days ago.

Penalties. Again.

You watch the first few players step up. Julia makes her penalty 1-0, a Spain player makes her’s as well, 1-1. Feeling overwhelmed, you stare at the ground for the next few players. You watch your feet, you don’t even need to watch. You can hear the silence followed by the kick and you get the answer on save or miss through the reactions of the staff standing next to you. Chloe misses, 1-1, Spain makes theirs 1-2, Jordyn makes it 2-2, a player from Spain misses 2-2, Ashley makes her kick, and the Spanish player misses wide, 3-2.

You feel a quick pinch at your side where your Mom’s hand was resting around your waist. You look up to her and she subtly nods toward the field. You turn and watch as Jessie picks up the ball. You can practically feel the air get sucked out of your lungs. She was taking Canada’s fifth and final kick. If she makes it, it’s over. If she misses, Spain has the chance to tie.

You watch her meticulously place the ball, adjusting it a few times. Once she’s satisfied with the ball, she takes three steps back, and looks down, closing her eyes for a moment. You held your breath, beginning to subconsciously time how long she was waiting. You started to panic, feeling like you could puke, it felt like she was waiting too long again, or maybe it just felt like time had frozen. Jessie opened her eyes, and began her approach. She kicked it and you watched as the ball slammed against the back of the net.

You’re practically yanked onto the field by those around you, you’re not even sure where you were running besides the mass of red and white in front of you. You end up in the mob of bodies, receiving random hugs from whoever was around you. You kept your eyes scanning hoping to find Jessie, her height not helping her stand out. You also know she’s likely in the middle of the mass of her teammates, scoring the winning penalty.

As the initial celebration dies down, the players begin to spread out. Some find their families in the crowd, others moving to sit and soak in the moment. You keep your eyes scanning, hoping to find the girl with the armband.

While you’re busy spinning in circles looking for her, someone grabs your hand from behind.

“Come here.” The captain had found you before you could find her. Jessie grabs your hand, pulling you out and away from the crowd. The two of you move over to the side of the pitch, not far off from her teammates but enough to be in your own space. She turns you toward her, dropping your hand.

“I thought about you.” She says, tears in her eyes, her hands holding your face between them, her thumbs gently rubbing your cheeks. “I thought about you when I took that kick. You were my calm person.”

“I almost threw up.” You admit to her.

“What?” Jessie says, a mix of concern and a smile across her face. Her hands are still on your cheeks.

“I was so nervous watching you kick.”

“Oh.” She laughs. “You’re the reason I wasn’t nervous.” You’re grateful Jessie was able to quickly move past the fact that you had almost thrown up from nerves, embarrassed that you even said it to her.

“Congratulations, you deserve it Jessie.” You say, finally getting out the words you prepared and meant to say when you first saw her.

“I wouldn’t have been here without you, you deserve this too.” Her eyes are still locked with yours. You both stand listening to the rest of the team celebrate behind you. You both break eye contact hearing some screaming getting louder.

“Wooooooooo” you watch as Janine goes running by, a flag in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other hand with Jordyn and Julia following shortly behind her yelling to give them back the bottle. You watch as Jessie rolls her eyes at her teammate’s behavior. You both turn back toward each other. This time Jessie’s eyes move down to your lips, then to your eyes and back to your lips. She moves her head slightly toward you.

“Jessie.” You warn her, you don’t want her to stop but you want to remind her that you’re both standing in a packed stadium with hundreds of cameras taking photos.

“Who cares.” She whispers before she starts to lean in again. You start to close your own eyes, not leaning in, wanting this to be her choice to kiss you in front of her team, her coaches, her family that was likely here.

“Congratulations Jessie.” You hear a voice you know all too well to the side of you. One of your Mom’s hands coming down on your shoulder while the other comes down on Jessie’s shoulder. You feel a slight push back on you, breaking up how close you and Jessie were.

Jessie’s hands fall from your face as she turns to look at your Mom.

“Oh, um, thank you, hey congratulations to you too, none of us would be here without all your hard work.”

“Thank you Jessie, assuming you were just thanking my daughter as well?” Your Mom gives you a quick glance, you know she’s teasing both of you, Jessie doesn’t get the message, trying to explain herself.

“Yeah, of course. I mean, she’s been great, um obviously, with my injury of course, my calf, she helped me a lot. I was thanking her for all that.” The way Jessie starts to stutter, tripping over her words as she tries to subtly deny the fact that she was about to kiss you, it was cute. You’re sure if she wasn’t already red in the face from playing, her cheeks would be from embarrassment.

“Hey if I don’t see you again before you players go out tonight, be safe, look out for each other.”

“We will.” Jessie assures your Mom before she walks away leaving you two again.

“She really has impeccable timing doesn’t she.” Jessie looks at you.

“She does.” You say before muttering “cockblock” under your breath only it comes out a little bit louder than you expected.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

You both stand for a second, your chance to kiss clearly over as you’ve both been brought back to reality of standing in the stadium, Jessie’s teammates still running around. You watch as she scans the crowd before her head stops moving and she waves.

“There’s my family.” She points in the direction she waved in and you see a small group of people waving back at her.

“Go.” You shove her in their direction and she looks at you giving you one last smile before taking off running in their direction. You watch her, looking at the back of her jersey as she runs away to be pulled into a group hug. You turn back to go find the rest of the staff, giving your congratulations to whoever you passed in a Canada shirt as they did the same back to you.

The stadium is soon only filled with a sea of red, the Spain supporters leaving. The podiums are brought out at you watch as they begin to set up for the medal ceremony.

The team is quickly ushered back into the changing rooms put on their designated podium outfits. They quickly come back out, lining up to step up and receive their medals.

You stand off to the side, watching as France steps onto the bronze medal platform, followed by Spain. And then you watch as the Canadian team steps up. You can’t help but feel tears in your eyes, watching the girls that you’ve been working with for countless days helping at training, at matches, helping them stretch on the bus or in a hotel room, all those moments, all they had worked for and they did it. You watched as they got their medals Jessie receiving hers from Janine and putting one around Sabrina’s neck.

You watched as Jessie picked up the medal around her neck, examining it with her hands, flipping it around. You watch as Janine leans over, saying something into Jessie’s ear, Jessie immediately picking up her head and looking in your direction. She gives you a smile when her eyes meet yours. Janine must’ve noticed you staring and told her. You give her a thumbs up before they begin playing all the national anthems.

Once the ceremony is finished you stand around a bit longer, watching all the players soak in the moment together. You find yourself catching Jessie’s eye every once in a while until she finally makes her way over to you.

“You’re coming out with us, right?” She slings an arm around your shoulder.

“Tonight?”

“Obviously, we’re going to go celebrate, we’ve got a bar rented out.” You had heard discussions of the post game celebrations, but never really read into them too much, you didn’t want to get too ahead of yourself thinking they’d win, it felt like you’d jinx them.

“I don’t want to intrude, if it’s a player thing.”

“It’s not, everyone’s invited, coaches, staff, families, everyone.” Jessie turns so her lips are against your ear. “Plus, I want you to be there.” She says quietly. You feel your skin prickle at her low voice and the feeling of her breath on your body.

You stumble over your own words as you agree to meet them at the bar later, your brain short circuiting from the feeling of her lips against your ear. “Oh, then yeah I’ll be there.”

You quickly found yourself a couple drinks in, courtesy of the Canadian foundation, in a rather large, but dark bar. Loud music and conversation filling the air. You had only arrived about an hour ago, thankfully it was within walking distance from the hotel. You had gone back and changed into a nicer pair of gray jeans and a simple Canada sweatshirt. Since you opted to change you did not arrive at the same time as Jessie, you had been unable to find her since arriving. You felt like you were back searching for her on the field after the match. Most of the players had remained in their sweatsuits, some changing into other t-shirts, sweatpants. You had found just about every other player, who all led you astray in which direction they last saw their captain.

You make your way back to the bar to get another drink, deciding you’ll just go sit with Olivia and the rest of the staff at the table they had occupied.

“Hey, where have you been?” You feel hands grab tightly onto your hips and you turn to see the brown eyes you’ve been looking for.

“Hi, I changed.” You gesture down to the fact that you were no longer wearing athletic clothing like you did while at work. “but I’ve been here an hour or so, I’ve been running around looking for you.”

“I’ve been looking for you.” Her eyes graze over your body. “You look good.” You can smell the alcohol radiating off of Jessie you’re not sure if it’s alcohol she’s consumed or if it’s just a mix of the champagne that was sprayed across her skin in celebration along with the smell of the bar. Her hands are still firm on your hips. “Come here.” She gently tugs you away from the bar.

“Hang on, let me grab this.” You reach for the beer the bartender had placed in front of you and then let yourself be pulled away.

She moves to grab your free hand instead and keeps pulling you, through the mass of red and white, back to the back corner of the bar and into a small hallway.

“Where are we going?” You ask when she finally stops walking.

“Here, where it’s just you and me.” Her hands find their way back to your hips and she pushes you back so you’re against the cool brick wall. “So we can do this.”

Her hand comes up to your cheek as it did after the game, but this time it doesn’t stop at your cheek she keeps moving it to the back of your neck, gently pulling you toward her and she moves in. This kiss was different than the rest, the rest had been timid, soft, gentle. This kiss was firm, her lips starting to move against yours immediately, its only a few seconds before you feel her tongue against your lips. You part your lips and let your own tongue graze against hers. You get the answer to your earlier question as you can taste the tequila and what you think is vodka on her tongue. The taste has you pulling back.

“Hey.” Jessie protests, a frown across her face.

“Are you drunk?” You put your hand without the beer against her chest, holding her back from leaning in to kiss you again.

“What?” She cooks her head at you.

“Are you just making out with me because you’re drunk? I can taste the liquor.”

“No you idiot, I mean yes I’ve been drinking, but I’m not drunk, plus I’ve wanted to makeout with you for weeks.”

“Okay but we’re in public. You team could see.” It’s not that you don’t believe her when she says she’s not drunk, it’s just you couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy with her choices to suddenly makeout with you in a bar, knowing she had definitely consumed something.

“I don’t care.”

“Jessie, no.” You step away from her..

“What? Oh come on? Because I’ve had three drinks? How many have you had?” She posed a fair question, she had had just as many drinks of you but you had been at the bar for far less time, if anyone was the problem here it would’ve been you.

“I just think you’re not fully considering the consequences of making out with me in a public bar. When you’re sober, we can do this.”

She leans down close to you and you think she’s going to kiss you again, but she brings her mouth toward your ear. “Okay, then I’m done drinking because I want to makeout with you. I promise I’m not drunk, not even tipsy, but if you want to wait that’s fine.”

“Okay.” You reply and Jessie turns walking back into the room. You follow her and watch as she makes her way to the bar, when she turns back she has two bottles of water in her hands.

“You should drink if you want to drink, it’s your night to celebrate.” You say when she comes over to your side, shaking one of the bottles of water at you. You don’t want to be the reason she doesn’t celebrate.

“No, I’m not a big drinker anyway, I had already decided to be done, I just got peer pressured into some shots with some of the youngsters when I first got here.” She takes a large sip of water.

“Jessie.” Your conversation is interrupted by hearing someone call from behind you and a girl runs up to her followed by two other men and a woman.

“Hi! Oh I’ve miss you.” Jessie takes the girl into a tight hug before releasing her and moving onto the next person hugging the next person.

“We’re so proud of you honey!”

“Thanks Mom.” Jessie mutters into the women’s hug. That's when you’re able to make the connection, this was Jessie’s family standing in front of you.

“This is my family, my mom, dad, sister and brother.” She points to each person. She introduced her family to you. She starts explaining how you’ve helped her with her injuries, and how you help everyone with stretching and staying healthy. She’s singing your praises to her family, making you blush standing next to her.

You stick around for a couple minutes as Jessie continues to talk about you. Not wanting to force her family to listen to stories about you, you tell Jessie you’ll be over at a table and leave her to enjoy the moment with her family.

You slide into a booth next to Janine and a few other people you didn’t know, assumed friends and family of the team. It doesn't take long for Janine to bring up the topic of Jessie.

“Just so you know,” Janine claps her hand hard against your back, giving you a slight shake. She leans in close to you. “I’m spending tonight, and probably the rest of the nights we’re here in his hotel room.” She points at the man next to you who now you recognize from photos to be her fiancé. “So there won’t be someone else in Jessie’s room.” You pull back to just look at her, you couldn’t believe what she was implying.

Janine must’ve thought you didn’t understand what she was suggesting when you didn’t respond. “Ya know, if you and a certain someone want to-”

“I know what you meant!” You spit out quickly. Taking a sip of the water you had. Upon your snappy response Janine quickly changed the subject, eying up the medal around her neck again, showing it to her fiancé.

It wasn’t long before you felt the booth sag next to you and Jessie alone with her sister found themselves next to you in the booth.

“Elysse!” Janine exclaims reaching over you and Jessie to attempt to hug the girl. Both of them leaning in pushes you and Jessie practically into each others laps.

“Sorry.” You apologize to Jessie, it wasn’t your fault but you felt like you were squishing her.

“All good.” She gives you a sweet smile before returning to her own personal space as Janine removes herself from across you two.

“Hey.” she slaps Jessie’s leg getting her attention. “I just finished telling this one that-” You almost go to cover Janine’s mouth with your hand. You know she’s been drinking and you also knew what was about to come out of her mouth. But you don’t stop her, instead you tilt your head down clenching your eyes hoping it’ll stop Janine’s words, only it doesn’t. “I’ll be in Ethan’s hotel room the rest of the trip, if you want to use it.”

“Oh.” You can feel Jessie’s eyes burning into the side of your head as you slowly open your eyes and send a pointed look in Janine’s direction.

“What?” She says, reading the uncomfortable looks you and Jessie were both giving her. “Oh what, do you two really think you’re doing such a good job of keeping it secret? You were practically making bedroom eyes at each other during the medal ceremony today.”

“Janine!” Jessie shouts at her friend before just shaking her head. You finally have the courage to take a glance at Jessie, her eyes are wide, she looks uncomfortable, you can also see her sister behind her looking between you and Jessie, trying to stifle a laugh.

“Alright, it might be time to get you out of here.” Janine’s fiancé says, grabbing Janine’s hand as he stood up. He gives a quick wave at the table, half as an apology, half as a goodbye. You all wave back to him and Janine and they walk into the mass of people.

You sat for a little bit longer, some teammates coming to join your table for a few minutes to chat before they’d run off to talk with someone else. It was only an hour later that Jessie’s Dad found his way to the table. “Jess, we’re going to get out of here, it’s late and we’re not young anymore, we’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah of course.” Jessie responds, she smacks your leg a few times then pointing to the side of you. You get the hint and stand up to let her out of the table. You watch as she stands up giving her Dad a tight hug.

“Coming now or later?” Her Dad looks at Jessie’s sister.

“Now, just give me a second to use the restroom.” She nods and her Dad walks away after they agree to meet outside.

“I don’t have to pee, I just wanted him to walk away. You two enjoy your night without Janine.” She says with a wink and a look between the two of you. You look over to Jessie who’s sporting a blushed red face. Her sister stands up to hug her and whispers something into Jessie’s ear, making her turn even more red. She gives you a quick wave and heads in the direction of the door.

“I think I’m going to call it a night too, feeling tired.” You say, suddenly feeling the exhaustion of the day hit you all at once. A yawn coming out of your mouth.

“I was actually thinking the same thing.” Jessie flashes you a smile. “Would you want to walk together?” You’re not sure if Jessie actually was ready to go or just decided she was going to leave since you were.

“That would be nice.” You take the empty water bottle from her hand and toss it onto the bin with yours. “Do you need to say bye to anyone?” Jessie just shakes her head.

“Do you?” You shake your head back. Your Mom had gone out with some of the older training staff, not wanting to be in a rowdy bar, Olivia was still around but you’d text her later letting her know you were back in your room. You’re not sure even if you said goodbye to anyone if they’d remember it in the morning or not.

The night was quiet when you stepped outside of the bar, Jessie shortly behind you. You start walking in the direction of the hotel and she quickly jogs to catch up. The two of you walk side by side down the roadway.

“Does it feel different the second time?” You break the silence asking.

“Does what feel different?” Her pace slows down as she turns her head to look at you.

“Winning gold.”

You hear her breathe in and then watch as she tilts her head slightly, deep in thought.

“It’s different, but I’m not sure if it's the winning that’s different. Last time it was an empty stadium, we didn’t get to do the celebrations with family and friends, there weren’t people watching, it felt so isolated, but it was in a weird way more peaceful. We got to just sit on the field, really soak it in.” She took another breath. “We didn’t get to do that, even if we could’ve there would’ve been fans, it would’ve been rowdy. Not to say one is better than the other, but yeah it’s different. I also wasn’t captain last time, so this time was more stressful, I felt like a lot of it was on me. Even though I know it wasn’t, it just felt that way.”

You hum acknowledging her answer as you walk into the lobby of the hotel. It’s thankfully pretty empty, Jessie's teammates still out celebrating and only a few other country’s athletes sitting around. You both get into the elevator, you press the button and you can feel a tension building as you ride up in silence. When you get out you walk Jessie to her door first, wanting to be polite and make sure she gets in alright.

“I’m sorry if Janine made it weird earlier. I'm not sure why she said that. I mean I get it but, I don’t want you to think I told her that was going to happen or anything. I don’t expect it to.” Jessie turns before she puts her keycard to the door.

“It’s all good. Little uncomfortable, especially with your sister there but it’s alright.” You shrug. It was uncomfortable but you didn’t mind too much, you had already forgotten about the conversation until Jessie brought it up again.

“Yeah, I’m sure I’ll have to explain myself to her later, she thought it was funny, she teased me for how red I got.”

“Yeah.” You both stand awkwardly outside of Jessie’s hotel room, you shift your weight between your feet, swaying slightly.

“Um, do you want to-”

“Have a goodnight-”

You both speak at the same time.

“Go ahead.” She gestures to you.

“I was just going to say goodnight.” You didn’t want to invite yourself into her hotel room despite Janine’s offer.

“Oh, yeah okay.” You can tell she seems a little disappointed.

“What were you saying?”

“I was going to invite you in?” Jessie looks up at you, her eyes with a glimmer of hope in them. She blinks quickly a few times before adding “Only if you want to, you don’t have to, I’m not expecting anything, you don’t even have to stay very long if you don’t want to, I just thought,”

“Jessie.” You cut her off, able to tell she was starting to overthink by the way her hands were fidgeting. “I’d like to come in.” You say before you lean down, now it’s her back pressed against the wall as your lips find hers. You pull away before any of her teammates or god forbid your mother decides to take a trip down the hallway and sees you two. Jessie turns to unlock the door and you follow her inside. You pull your phone out quickly texting Olivia.

You: Probably not coming back to the room at all tonight, or if I do it’ll be late, don’t worry about me I’m safe.

It takes a minute but she responds.

Olivia: Thanks for the heads up, I expect all the details of your escapades tomorrow

Olivia: seriously though, be safe, don’t do anything stupid.

You look up from your phone over at Jessie, thinking to yourself at least if you “do” anything, it wasn’t considered doing anything stupid, Jessie was smart.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

The Birdcage

Jurassic Park: It's Ironic, by Meig of A-Dinosaur-A-Day

What follows is a retelling of the Jurassic Park story, mainly based on the 1993 film, with portions of the original novel used to supplement the story. The main point of divergence occurs when the park is unable to find workable nonavian dinosaur genetic material for cloning, since - as in the real world - dna degrades much too rapidly. Instead, the park consists only of extinct dinosaurs that can be brought back - birds from the last 2.5 million years. What happens after that is, as Ian Malcolm would say, an emerging pattern.

Thanks to beta readers @plokool, @killdeercheer, and @otussketching! Thanks to logo artist @i-draws-dinosaurs for the killer logo! Happy 30th anniversary of the Jurassic Park film!

Fic Chapter Masterpost

Prologue: The Peck of the Raptor

Robert Muldoon had seen much in his forty-odd years on planet earth. A pride of lions tearing into the carcass of a giraffe. An elephant kicking an African leopard into the air. A swarm of hyenas attempting to hunt the wildebeest, only to flee in panic from their hooves. Nile Crocodiles and Hippos fighting over river space, with no obvious winners. Wild dogs hunting him, with coordination and planning he wouldn’t have believed if he hadn’t seen it for himself. Indeed, if someone were to have asked Robert Muldoon if he had seen everything nature had to offer, he would be tempted to say yes.

At least, until today.  

It was a simple transfer operation. Take the new asset from the hatchery complex to their permanent enclosure. Introduce them to their new flock members. Try to not drown in the torrential rain, to hear each other over the violent wind. Remember that humans are warm-blooded and no matter how much the rain soaked to the bone, warmth would return. Go home in time for dinner.

The thought now, of course, made Muldoon snort out loud, though of course no one could hear him. Flock was the moniker the higher-ups had chosen, ages ago, but he knew flocks. This was no flock. Better, really, to call this grouping a pack. Not that it mattered. After this, Muldoon was certain of his course of action.

He had to recommend termination.

Everything had happened so fast. The loud calls of the other assets, anxious for their flock member far away. The container, raised to the pen entrance. Locked in, safety verified. The animal was silent, but they usually were during transfer. Muldoon had chalked it up to fear or hesitancy, though it was odd that it wasn’t calling back to the others. All workers were in their proper positions, so he called for the gate to be raised. And then, before he could register any of it, the asset had rocked against the container, shaking it loose. It managed to reach out, grab onto Jophery’s hand – the scream chilled Muldoon down to the marrow – and suddenly there was no more Jophery, apart from his second hand, grabbing for dear life to the side of the container. On instinct, Muldoon grabbed his hand, and pulled as hard as he could. Jophrey was still screaming, the other workers were shouting and scampering, alarms were blaring from the cage, a gun or two going off pointlessly. The asset, still, remained silent. It didn’t even bite, or claw, or crunch, or tear.

All it had to do was peck – at the temporal artery

Peck again – at the leg – near the femoral –

Peck again – on the neck – blood was everywhere –

A final peck, Muldoon couldn’t even see where, there were feathers and limbs and blood and screams and –

Jophery went still.

Only a few more seconds, and the asset was also down, multiple tranq darts sticking out of various places. Muldoon hadn’t even had a chance to insist on lethal ammunition, but there was no point now. The asset was neutralized. No one was in immediate danger. The alarms were still blaring, and Muldoon was starting to lose his hearing from it, as loud as it was in his ears. But he couldn’t undo Jophery’s grip – it had been so strong; it didn’t even need rigor mortis to lock in – and he found that the slippery blood oozing from Jophery’s neck and face down the arm weren’t helping matters. But Muldoon had been hired for this position for a reason – a few, actually – and he managed to take a deep breath, grit his teeth, and remove the hand from his.

Now he was walking, slowly, to his employer’s office, tracking mud and rain and blood down the hall with him. People were running, talking in hushed whispers, angrily arguing. He didn’t much care for these lab rats who never entered the tropical sun, never mind interacted with the very things they were working on. Even now, when their concerns should be one and the same, he heard mentions of rehabilitation, modification, and genetic integrity – worries from individuals who did not have blood on their hands refusing to dry in the humid air. So antiseptic they had removed their own humanity.

Muldoon couldn’t wait any longer. The image of Jophrey’s clouded eyes hung in his mind as he shouted into the hallway.

“HAMMOND.”

Ray Arnold stuck his head out from the control room, eyebrows raised over the rims of his glasses. “Hammond isn’t here. Shouldn’t you be getting cleaned up?”

“We have to shut it down.”

Arnold sighed, “You know he won’t do that, Robert.”

“This is the third worker.”

“Yes, but –“

“Third. If you think officials across the water will ignore it at this point, you’re out of your god-damned mind.”

“People die on construction projects, Rob. All the time, in fact.”

“Their corpses don’t usually come back littered with peck marks.”

“We’ve managed all crises up to this point. Hammond insists on moving forward with this asset.”

“All because his impossible pet project didn’t work out, we have to insist on these uncooperative, murder-minded –“

“They’re no more murder minded than a lion or a wolf.”

“Says someone who has never interacted with any of them.”

Arnold sighed, fidgeting with his tie. Muldoon had moved to face him directly, but Arnold continued to look at his computer screen, the lines of code reflected in his glasses.

“I’ll talk to Hammond. If we can’t even get them in the enclosure, maybe it is time to pull the plug.”

“Finally,” Muldoon spat out, “Thank you.”

“Uh-huh.” But Arnold was already back at his computer, not even facing his torso towards Muldoon. So Robert turned and walked back, through the hallway, muddy bloody footprints showing his short journey down the hall and back.

It was time to call up another family.

[milf-murdock]

Manchester Mixup

Simon "Ghost" Riley x Reader

Summary: Simon’s non-British partner that doesn’t realize there’s a Man City football team and a Man U football team and buys the wrong tshirt ☠️ Warnings: language, just some domestic fluff A/N: It’s also very much giving Domestic!Simon Riley and I love it, your honor. short little drabble because this seemed fun and I was proper confused when I found out there were, in fact, two Manchester teams

Earl Grey or an herbal blend? You silently debate between the two tea options before a click of the kettle tells you the water is ready. “Earl grey it is, then,” you mutter, preparing your mug for the boiling water and letting it steep as you set a timer for the recommended time.

The pre-game show plays from the tv in the living room and you lean against the open wall between the living room and kitchen to catch a bit of the show while your tea brews.

“What the fuck are you wearing?” Simon asks incredulously as you come into his view. He’s sat on the couch, his pint halfway to his lips when he notices the offending item.

You glanced down at your shirt in confusion, tugging out the hem to get a better look at the logo displayed across your chest.

“It’s a Manchester shirt I picked up in preparation for the big game. I figured I’d represent your team seeing as we’re here now, so I guess they’re sort of my team now too,” you shrug as your timer goes off for your tea. Heading back to the kitchen, you gingerly remove the tea bag and toss it in the bin before adding what Simon always considers to be an offensive amount of milk and sugar. Regardless of the cheeky comments directed your way, though all in good fun, you still felt like you were adapting more and more to what you would consider “British Culture” as the days passed since you came back to settle down with Simon.

“Who knows, babe, maybe it’ll it be good luck,” you chirp pleasantly, walking back in the room carefully with your full teacup in hand before placing it on the coffee table.

“The fuck it will be,” Simon gives your shirt a dirty look. “Wrong fucking team, love.”

Your brows furrow and you look down at your shirt again. “No…it’s Manchester, Simon.” You adamantly point to the MCFC logo. “And it came in this super pretty blue color,” you carry on absentmindedly, completely impervious to Simon’s faux look of outrage at your compliment.

“Sweetheart,” he says with a sigh, trying his best to fix you with his firmest stare, whilst also trying to withhold his own laugh at the situation. “There are two Manchester teams: Man City and Man U.”

“Two teams?” Your brows furrow even deeper. “How can one city have two teams? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Just the way it is—I didn’t make the teams up,” Now it’s Simon’s turn to give his shoulders a shrug.

“Hmph.” You cross your arms in front of your chest, a playful sort of irritation seeping through. “So two teams, huh?”

“Yup,” Simon gives a solemn nod.

“And this is the wrong one?” You gesture vaguely to the shirt.

“‘Fraid so, darling.”

The dramatic sigh that escapes your lips is worthy of its own Oscar. And then, inspiration strikes and a smile starts to tug at the edge of your lips.

You saunter the last few remaining steps toward Simon, standing between his open legs.

“Guess you’ll have to take it off of me then,” you suggest as you flash him a suggestive smirk.

“Oh it’s beyond just taking it off, love,” he sighs in exasperation. “We’ll need to go burn the bloody thing in the alley way.”

Simon huffs out a laugh before two strong hands grab your hips and pull you forward onto his lap, familiar lips finding your own.

Masterlist ✧ Ask Box

[lovehotelreservation]

chapter eight: maybe you should run right back to her summary: worldwide fame and a political tie or two has you--one of the biggest pop stars around--in dire need of reliable protection. thankfully you have four ex-military retirees to entrust your wellbeing to. but what happens when that protection turns possessive? rating: pg-13 story pairing: f!reader/task force 141 | chapter pairing: f!reader/soap previous chapter | next chapter

care for some sweet potato yan with ur dere in this chapter ? 🍠

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

Love is patient, love is kind.

In the most dire of times, scripture was something Johnny would turn towards for comfort, for guidance to return back to a path illuminated by the light of the Lord–or at least something close to it, given part of his life journey traveled as a soldier. 

And creeping Christ did he need to calm down. If not for the Bible verse that he was constantly looping in his mind and occasionally grunting out while stomping his way through the streets of SoHo, he might have gone and revived the old bloodied habits of his previous occupation for vengeance.

For you, he had patience, he had kindness, and he had a budding warmth that continued to blossom with every moment spent by your side. Seeing how joyful you were to at last have a break from tour prep and other promotional obligations and have time to record music with one of your previous longtime producers from your girl group days made him feel so alive with purpose.

The same could not be said for Pearl, especially after today.

“Three’s company and I’m here anyway, MacTavish. Go get yourself a nice lunch or something in the meantime. On me.”

With a smile that didn’t reach the eyes, the haphazard toss of a 50 pound banknote, and the subsequent slam of the recording room’s door right in front of his face, Johnny was seeing blood red and it definitely wasn’t the shade of your manager’s bob cut.

There was something underhanded about all of this. The only times he and any of the guys ever saw Pearl was whenever she was just in the midst of stepping out to meet, call, or have a smoke with industry types, so for her to suddenly be not only adamant to be with you while also shutting him out–

He was already texting up a storm to Price in the group chat, autocorrect struggling to keep up with the furious slams of his thumbs on his phone screen.

🧼: what is her FUCKING deal cap!!! what a door dirty does she think she has to make these kinds of calls against her own artist’s protection?!?!?!?!

🧼: **authority my bad

👨🏻: let it simmer for now, johnny. can’t raise 2 much of a ruckus

👨🏻: i don’t like this either but we can’t be fighting doll’s management b4 the tour

👨🏻: concede the battle win the war 😎😎

Though small, the conversation was a salve at least, much like the ice cold bottle of water from the studio reception room that he chugged down and proceeded to crush in his hand upon the last gulp.

His darkened blue eyes were cast straight down the hallway that led back to the recording room, where you were likely singing away at the Dev’s direction.

The furrow on Johnny’s brow deepened.

Similarly to Pearl, he did not have anything nice to say about your producer.

Because before he was literally shut out from the recording session, he saw it.

The way you and Dev reunited.

The way that man drew you in for a hug against his chest, his arm slinging low around your waist, his hand resting on the back of your head.

Like one would to a lover.

With yet another follow-up with Price, the former captain least assured that–being aware of schedules and all–Dev cleared, background-wise after running a thorough check on his end. Records were clean, no rumors, whether hushed or open secrets, of suspicious behavior. Just a tattooed Chicago lad with a mop of bleached blonde hair, thin-metal rim glasses from Jins, and a baggy t-shirt with some stupid parody of the Jack Daniels logo that was more annoying than endearing.

In other words:

🧢: absolute tosser

👻: a proper twat

Harmless.

But an absolute tosser and a proper twat regardless.

Johnny and Price were definitely of the mind that a man being physically affectionate towards you was a problem to be handled with later, especially given your existing connection with him.

For now though, all he could do now was wait.

And plot.

And–

As his hands reached into his pocket, his blue eyes flickering down to the crumpled 50 pound banknote he tucked away earlier.

–be productive.

This all led to the present, with Johnny returning to the studio with vengeance in his mind, anger in his steps, affection in his heart, and a present in his hands:

A box of fresh jam tarts from one of the high-end bakeries a few blocks down.

On the drive over, he remembered you looking out the window with soft yearning as the car passed by, a comment of hoping to pass by later tumbling out from your lips.

At last, a smile–small as it was–finally won out against the frown that had been plastered on his face.

It would be a nice surprise for you once you were done with your session.

However, it was Johnny who was left shocked as he returned to the reception room.

Though a blessedly familiar sight, he just didn’t expect to find you lounging around on one of the sofa chairs, your attention on your phone with your own cold water bottle from the fridge in hand.

Alone.

His surprised query of “Lass?” occurred at the same time your head lifted upon hearing his footsteps.

He watched as the neutral expression on your face brightened up as soon as you saw him.

“Johnny!”

Once so heavy with irritation now light and swift, his feet damn near teleported himself before where you sat instantly, powered by the sweet chime of his name on your lips.

Grinning from ear to ear, he gazed down at you fondly as he then held out the box of tarts in humble offering. “Looks like fate brought us together for this moment, eh? For ye, my lady...”

As you curiously looked over the box, it was seeing the name of the bakery from earlier that had you looking up at him in awe. “Whaaat? You went and got these for me? Really?”

The precious look on your face was so worth enduring Pearl’s prickliness from earlier.

With a firm nod and a pat on his chest, he affirmed, “‘Course! Knowing ye–” His tone turned teasing. “–ye would’ve recorded an entire album on the spot before ye remembered to grab lunch for yerself.”

You pressed a hand over your eyes as you laughed, lowering your head in faux-shame. “Can’t argue with you there.”

“Ahh no time to argue when ye can be treatin’ yerself right now,” he laughed while taking the seat beside you. “Go on, Dollie!”

Your response was you holding out a plastic fork towards him. “Gladly, but you’ll have to eat one too with me.”

As if he couldn’t adore you any more.

Smiling warmly, he accepted. “Yer wish, my command…”

Together, side by side, the two of you enjoyed the medley of sticky fresh fruit and delectable crust. 

While enjoying forkfuls of tarts, he wondered aloud over where Pearl and Dev were. The answer was still in the recording room–the former wanting to talk to the latter since he was a recently signed talent to the label, now meant to be under her direct management.

Though an explanation, sure, all Johnny could think of was much more neglected you would become with Pearl’s attention now split, a thought that had him chewing a bit harder than need be.

But love is patient, love is kind, as always, no–was the mantra he dredged up once more. He was in your presence after all. Such aggression had no place, no right to be near you.

Especially when your voice called out to him once again.

“Johnny?”

Your tone was softer than usual.

His attention was immediately on you. “Yes Doll?”

He was met by a rather remorseful expression on your face, a sigh escaping your lips as you remarked, “I’m sorry…”

Your current state reminded him of that day in Oxford University. Fearing that you would be reduced to tears once again, he quickly brought a hand to your shoulder, his expression twisting with concern as he gently asked, “Hmm, what for? Far as I know, ye ain’t done anything wrong.”

The warmth of your hand resting on his felt so nice as you continued, “For not saying anything when Pearl kicked you out earlier.” Your eyes closed while you lamented, “I would’ve loved having you check out the recording session.”

Victorious. Vindicated.

His heart was ablaze with such sheer rapture that he would have roared–you siding with him over Pearl?

Perhaps a conceded battle wasn’t needed after all, as he was determined more than over to brute force his way through this conquest.

By contrast, he still looked to you tenderly as he reassured, “Aye, it’s fine. In the end, as long as ye had a safe and fun time, yeah?”

While your expression did improve a bit after hearing his response, there was still this noticeable discomfort on your face as your eyes shifted to the side.

“I mean, today’s been…alright.”

Johnny’s flames were tempered as he raised an eyebrow. “‘Alright?’”

You brought your fork to your lips, tapping gently while you slowly elaborated. “Like…Dev is always nice to work with–professionally. But…”

Johnny tensed. He did not like where this was going.

“...sometimes he comes off a bit too friendly. It’s been such a long time since I last saw him that I forgot how touchy he could be.” You were bouncing so quickly between your explanation and your desire to keep peace, but he knew exactly how you truly felt. A sweet woman like you in an industry like this–he knew placating to avoid burnt bridges was unfortunately needed to help your career thrive all the more.

At the same time, “touchy” was gonna push Johnny a touch too far.

Still, he continued to listen to all that you had to say while he thought of all the ways he was going to absolutely eviscerate that man.

“It’s more awkward than anything though! He wasn’t super creepy and I know Pearl just wants me and him to get along more since we’re officially labelmates now–”

Your words fell as you suddenly found yourself in Johnny’s arms, your body pressed close against his chest.

Pressed against and caged within hard solid muscle.

And yet he spoke to you with such soothing tenderness while he brought a hand to the back of your hair, cradling you ever so preciously. “I’m so sorry, Dollie. I’ll make sure that a man never lays a hand on that pretty head of yers.” Drawing away from you slightly, his stormy blue eyes locked right with yours, unwavering, captivating. “Ever. I swear to ye.”

A relieved smile found its way to your lips just before you happily returned his embrace. “You’re the best, Johnny. Thank you.”

“Anytime, lass,” he murmured softly, even while in the depths of his heart, he was ranting and raving that this was the exact reason why Price needed to stop fucking around with the schedule so much.

With your face against his shoulder, your voice was somewhat muffled as you then asked, “When we pick up recording again, will you…” It was your turn to shift back so you could face him fully. “...come back inside with me? I’d really love to have you ther–”

Your soft lips were hushed by his calloused finger.

Johnny gave you a wink. “You don’t even need tae say a word. I’m all yours.”

You hugged him again all while he craved to just kiss you once.

But for now, as the two of you eventually broke apart to resume enjoying more of the tarts he purchased, he was already obsessively going over every detail of today’s ordeal with Price, Simon and Kyle. What the afternoon confirmed was that Pearl was a lot more malicious than they already assumed and those within your professional circle could absolutely not be trusted.

Anything that dared to ruin that smile of yours, he would be first in line to handle personally.

After all.

Love is patient, love is kind, and love is something that Johnny would kill for in order to have with you.

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

thank u johnathan for rising up to answer the question posed in this fic's summary 🫡🫡

just you wait until you see what's up with the british ojisan in the next part !!!

- chapter title: it's alright to just admit that i'm the fantasy - chapter focus: price

[runwayrunway]

No. 1 - Lufthansa

We begin with a large fish even by the standards of the large pond in which we operate. A very intentionally chosen large fish. Deutsche Lufthansa is Germany’s flag carrier and the second largest carrier in all of Europe by passenger volume. In 2018, they unveiled a new standard livery for their fleet of airplanes, and it...well. It’s this. 

Even the presentation - good lord, is this an auto show?

My feelings on Lufthansa’s 2018 livery are visceral. There’s no mental evaluation required, no taking it in, thinking about the choices made - I look at the modern Lufthansa livery and immediately, profoundly know that I hate it. And that’s not just because of the specific choices made - which are bad - but because of the space they occupy amidst a creatively barren wasteland within livery design. This is going to be a very long post, which isn’t standard for this blog, but my goal for an introduction is to break down exactly the sort of design that made me feel the need to start doing this to begin with. 

But in reality that’s only the beginning. Yes, Lufthansa’s livery is specifically disappointing, but it is so much more than that. It is the purest distillation of the greatest challenge aviation faces today, far weightier than scheduling issues, outdated IT, and runway incursions. It is not the worst example of it, not in the slightest, but it is a large airline which has a very textbook presentation of symptoms and thus feels like a great example to describe exactly what I hate about this sort of design. Let me explain. 

Essentially, airlines have found a formula. It goes as such: 

Almost entirely white body. (There is a name for this trend: Eurowhite.) In some cases, there may be a colour on the underside, generally either a light grey or whichever secondary shade the airline has committed to. In the case of this Lufthansa livery, it is just white. 

Aside from the white body there will be either a single colour (generally some dark blue, or less often some sort of red) or a few colours, usually but not exclusively on flag carriers to match their national branding. (The proliferation of red, white, and blue flags out there means that a disproportionate number of airline liveries are these colours.) Unless it is literally just a white plane meant to be as generic as possible for short turn-overs when leasing, it will at least attempt to have some sort of design, but it will be minimal, and:

All of the detail will be on the tail. There may be coloured winglets or engine nacelles, but other than that it is only at the rear of the plane that you begin to see any interest. Usually this is just a logo, though it may be an abstract design which looks like a default tumblr header. It will often only be on the tail, with nothing at all on the body proper.

The name of the airline written in a sans-serif typeface which is set as default on at least one word processor. Rarely will anything creative be done with this. It will (usually, except in egregious cases) match the impotent attempt at graphic design which has been confined to the empennage and it will have all the charm of a large retail chain’s flyer describing the benefits you’ll definitely totally get if you work for them - sickeningly corporate. Low-cost airlines may slightly vary the theme by putting their website onto the livery, either towards the back or just instead of the airline’s name. The brave will also write it on the ventral fairing, but most don’t even bother with that simple act. Some airlines have their name written in the language spoken in the country they’re based in, usually beside the English text, but most are only in English despite operating in countries where this is not the most widely spoken language. 

Not every livery which has these features is badly designed, as seemingly small changes can make all the difference. There is the occasional livery that fits most, if not all of these features that has some clever tweaks or design choices which makes me actually think it’s fine, acceptable, maybe even decent. (I have taken the initiative of making sure a few of these are among my early posts, just to demonstrate that it can be done). And some airlines depart from this entirely and come up with something even more hideous. Yet I somehow find myself respecting even these more than I do Lufthansa. 

The Corporate Standard Livery Design (Lufthansesque design, if you will) is - and I do not think I am being dramatic at all here - an epidemic. Taxiing through most airports, you sometimes have to actually try to tell the planes parked around you apart in the sea of red, blue, and mostly white. And I spend a lot of time looking at planes.  

These liveries do not only fail to inspire me. They instill in me a profound disgust. They are not trying to be good. They are trying to be what I described earlier - decent, not worth complaining about, because that’s cheaper and easier than designing something good. Graphic design is not anyone’s passion here. They’re just trying to toe the line. They’re so poisoned by the modern minimalist-design brain virus that they don’t realise that to be acceptable a livery this simple needs to do something interesting. There must be a creative decision made somewhere, a compelling feature, or you may as well be flying an MLA-formatted plane. In their striving for adequacy they become not just ambient, but lukewarm. They are a bottle of water which has sat in the sun for so long that when you drink it, even though you’re overheating and parched, it feels only negligibly better than the air you’ve been breathing in. 

To be fair, I do not only hate the Lufthansa paintjob because it exemplifies whatever-ness. Even in an industry saturated with gross in-flight nothingburgers served with some stale biscuits and a paper cup of Lipton tea, Lufthansa manages to offend in specific and unique ways. 

Throughout its long history Lufthansa has had a handful of different liveries, but from 2018 onwards this has been the situation. They’ve never been brilliant, but it’s only gotten worse over time. I normally would commit to a separate post for historical liveries, but in a move that I don’t foresee becoming particularly common I’d like to talk about the history and evolution of Lufthansa’s liveries from the golden age to now - the fall, if you will. 

(image: lufthansa bildarchiv)

Their early liveries were already pretty much plain white or metal, but they still had a few features that made them seem a bit less like photocopy paper which was meant to be printed plain blue but only got through a tenth of the sheet before ink ran out. To begin with, they used a lighter blue and combined it with a vivid yellow to add some actual visual interest. The layering of the yellow over the blue where it curves around and below the nose and on the ends of the tailplane actually draws the eye. The font choice is nice and legible, spaced apart in the center of the fuselage. I imagine it was easy to read even from far away. (Shame it’s a bit blocked by the wings from some angles, though.)

(image: lufthansa bildarchiv)

This early 707 design keeps the cheatlines extending past the nose but makes them sharper than the ones on the Connie to match the sleek profile of the jet. Back when this plane was painted adding white to your plane was a choice rather than the thing everybody was doing, which allows me to respect it for the choice it was instead of considering it the factory default. The bottom half, denoted by the cheatline, is left unpainted, which only adds to the sleekness of the overall profile, and the text is clear and plain but still aesthetically pleasing. The 707 is by modern standards pretty antique-looking; you can take one look at one and tell it isn’t particularly streamlined. This paint scheme, though, makes the plane look sharp and aerodynamic, despite not being revolutionary. I would go so far as to say I like this particular livery. This is, unfortunately, as good as it gets. 

Oh. Oh no...

Let’s assess the damage here. The cheatlines now simply meet at the front without wrapping down to the belly of the plane and the nose is a simple black tip. I like it when airlines paint their planes’ radomes, and I wouldn’t mind it here if not for what it was replacing. The font has been replaced with a generic sans serif font which is closely spaced and put up into a corner, like the name on a homework assignment - it’s not really part of the total package, just there for administrative purposes. Most upsetting to me is the tail. While I wouldn’t say I love the little section on the old plane, it at least felt like it belonged there, creating a second blue-and-yellow layer above the white. Its placement on the fin above where it begins to taper gives the plane a bit of an aerodynamic feel. It’s certainly not changing the world, but it feels at home in the livery. 

The new fin is a sharp downgrade. With nothing to mark the transition the fin abruptly goes from the white of the upper fuselage to a shiny blue which contains an enclave of the only yellow to be found on the entire aircraft. This makes the yellow stand out, as it has nothing to tie it in with the rest of the plane, and the fin itself feels almost like it’s been Frankensteined onto the fuselage from a different plane by a different airline. There’s nothing to mediate the transition from a block of white to a block of blue, like how the cheatline separates white and grey. It just is blue now, stop asking questions. This also means that the only part of the plane that the eye is really drawn to is...the tiny portion of the whole that is the fin, which may as well be floating detached in midair. 

This is foreboding. Knowing what I know now, it feels like looking back at when a romantic partner began to act strange years later, after the divorce, as you walk by the house he bought with his mistress. 

(image: g najberg)

The most recent, and only, time I flew on Lufthansa was in 2014 and was aboard one of their 747-400s. (Actually, if you’d still like to fly on a passenger 747, Lufthansa is basically your only option.) At the time, they looked like this. This is...just sad. They got rid of the cheatlines, because that’s trendy now, and they painted the whole plane white and made an attempt at lip service to the old metal lower half by painting just a bit of the plane grey, like if a human stepped into a puddle of paint that only covered the very sole of their foot. And I’m being generous by showing a 747, a plane which inherently makes any livery look less boring by being interestingly shaped itself, instead of the classic slightly pointy single-decker tube. Not to mention the double-decker design makes the text vertically centered instead of the default Lufthansa look of awkwardly shoved nearly all the way up the fuselage. 

In defense of the modern livery, it’s possible to argue it’s an improvement on this. Honestly, looking at them next to each other, it’s difficult to pick out which one I find less defensible. 

But then you see D-AIDV, an A321 painted in a heritage livery, and you feel the immediate, visceral “no!!! no go back!!!” as you remember that this is a false dichotomy and we could have something so much better if they weren’t peer-pressured into generic modern design. 

And for what? For this?

(image: hvdfonts)

For the third time, I remind you of what we have been reduced to. We have achieved a state of reductio ad absurdum where this barely qualifies as a design. This plane is more or less a white blot. You can put as many insets as you want and it is still a white blot. 

I am relatively sure that the font used is literally Helvetica. EDIT: I have been informed that it is not, in fact, Helvetica, but a custom typeface that happens to look almost exactly like Helvetica. This is, in my own opinion, worse! They did apparently use Helvetica in the past, though. Here is a very detailed description of the design process of the font, which manages to contain a grand total of zero ideas. 

I would hate this on its own already, but it’s also so closely spaced and located so far up that it makes me feel like I’m suffocating. In my own experience as a dyslexic person, kerning is the single weightiest feature when it comes to if I can easily read something or not. While Helvetica, ugly though it may be, is generally considered a very legible font, any benefits from that are more than cancelled out by committing to making sure the entire name of the airline fits between the frontmost two doors with room to spare. It feels almost hostile.

Now, all given, I at least somewhat enjoy the shade of blue used for this livery, which is darker than the normal fare. I do miss the way the grey broke up the endless white space, though, and I mourn the yellow even more - in addition to being something to look at, losing it has also lost any visible reference to the flag of Germany, the country for which Lufthansa is the flag carrier. They don’t even have the black part of the German flag despite that being basically free. If they went for black instead of dark blue I would honestly respect this a hell of a lot more. One of the most recognizable flags in the world and instead your airline looks like a discount SAS.  

Yeah, I said it. If we want to go even further with comparisons by including airlines that aren’t Lufthansa, this is basically the SAS livery. Except not, because the SAS livery does a lot that this doesn’t. 

This is about Lufthansa, not SAS. I’ll look at SAS soon enough, because comparing their look to Lufthansa’s has made me appreciate it in a way I never used to. But I don’t think I need to elaborate too much for it to be clear why SAS’s livery works and Lufthansa’s doesn’t, despite the superficial similarities. SAS took their absolutely horrid previous livery and turned it into something which might not wow anyone but at least feels uniquely theirs, while Lufthansa had something which accomplished much the same and then diluted it into nothingness, Eurowhite writ large. Two washes and you’d wonder if your Lufthansa flight is actually a Smartlynx lease.  

The way that the blue slices into the bottom of the fuselage and doesn’t fully cover the tailfin is...something? It’s a design element. It’s not nearly enough to save it, but it’s a design element. However, this presents another issue specific to Lufthansa’s paint job, best demonstrated with a specific plane: 

(image: lufthansa)

Lufthansa is the world’s largest operator of the Airbus A340, a somewhat eccentric airplane which is perhaps best thought of as a four-engined A330. I love this airplane, and am delighted seeing it overhead on my walk home from work, because Lufthansa is kind enough to operate a daily service with it to my home airport, but that’s beside the point. The point is this: what I have pictured is specifically the A340-600, which is the world’s second longest in-service airliner. Yes, longer than the A380 and the 747-400, and, in fact, only shorter than the 747-800. With a plane this long, the Lufthansa livery creates an incredible look of rear-heaviness. This plane looks like it should uncontrollably pitch up until it’s perpendicular to the ground every time it takes off. Of course this effect is less pronounced on shorter aircraft, but it’s still there, and I dislike it. 

You can barely even tell there’s paint at all on a much smaller plane! And the white bit on the front of the rudder which looks okay on a conventional empennage looks downright horrible when it’s only on the very tip of the t-tail’s forward point. 

Oh, and when you take the windows out for a freighter conversion it gets even worse. 

This is a generic-brand airplane. It genuinely reminds me of generic branding. There is a specific brand that has this exact appearance and I can’t remember what it is but it’s right there and I’m fairly sure I’ve seen it at CVS. I don’t think that’s what you want to go for when designing an airline livery, especially for an airline representing a country, but if Lufthansa wasn’t going for that they’ve failed. 

                  __________________________________________

Overall, Lufthansa’s livery is superbly boring and not terribly well thought out. It’s not worth this absolute dissertation on its own, but I’ve singled it out to complain about general trends, and for that I probably owe it an apology. Said apology is predicated on the fact that it is still a very underwhelming and bad design which could have used a lot more thought. There are a million ways this could have been made decent, and none of them were implemented because that would have taken effort and time and creative vision. I think this post actually required more time and effort than Lufthansa put into designing their planes. 

That said, Lufthansa gets a final grade of D. It’s...bad, it definitely is. There’s the vague flavour of the start of something, like the very distant smell from a barbecue happening three blocks away, but is that really even a redeeming factor? 

No. The second-largest airline in Europe should be able to do better. If I have to stare at rows upon rows of their planes any time I’m at a German airport, they should have the decency to make them interesting to look at. 

[the-softest-love-is-ours]

F/O Headcanons: Pokemon Universe Edition!

(More will be added with time)

(Also, many of these are inspired from headcanons I’ve previously read, so you may recognize them. Unfortunately, most of these have been in my phone for a long time so I don’t remember some of the original sources; if you do though, please message me so I can give proper credits)

Aromatisse tend to make potpurri nests

Nessa and Raihan are cousins.

Leon does not know how to break open a safe or pick locks… Hop knows how to do both. In fact Hop has numerous skills that are also a little shady.

It’s hard keeping a Riolu at their beginning stage because they are very loving, loyal and friendly pokemon. Don’t give your kid a Riolu because you will be taking care of a Lucario.

Phantump can possess all kinds of tree stumps (fruit trees, redwoods, birch trees, etc.). This gives them some natural variation in appearance.

Kirlia will often "intern" under Gallade and Gardevoir in order to enhance their psychic abilities. Which one a Kirlia trains under is thought to influence its evolution if male.

Magikarp are popular among breeders because they have a good amount of variation and produce lots of eggs. You can get Magikarp/Gyarados in various colors and patterns because of this. This is also true among Rattata, but they’re less popular due to people considering them weak and boring.

Absol are known for being paranoid. They are extremely protective of their trainers and will try to prevent any negative thing from happening to them, even if that thing is "leaf blows into their face" or something equally mundane.

Sylveon and Umbreon get along surprisingly well because they're both stealth hunters.

One popular textile company uses a stylized Leavanny for their logo.

Modern Pokeballs create simulations for the Pokemon inside that make them feel like they're in a large environment. In addition to making the Pokeball feel extra comfortable, they also help keep the Pokemon enriched.

Eevee and their evolutions arguably have the cutest courtship rituals on the planet. They start off by showing interest with short yips and sniffing, studying each other. After that, play-fighting ensues. When that's done, the pair share tiny kisses on the cheek.

Umbreon can spray poison from their rings. They can poison themselves if they breathe it in accidentally due to not being poison-types, but the toxins are pretty mild.

Leavanny can fly, but only for very short distances and not very far off the ground.

A popular rumor states that the more powerful the Lucario the more black they have on their bodies, but there's nothing scientific to back up this claim.

There are some that believe that Fidough evolve faster when around fire-type Pokemon. This claim has yet to be scientifically backed, however.

Young Vulpix will actively try to get their trainers to "hold their paw for reassurance.

The Leavanny line becomes incredibly agitated if they don't have any materials to "sew" with, so make sure they have access to plenty of greenery.

Absol live in isolation out in the wild, only coming together to breed and take care of their pups.

Jolteon oddly prefer sparkling water. Many theorize that the breed generally prefer foods that cause ‘tingly’ sensations as it’s similar to the hum of electricity.

Legendary and guardian pokemon in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos are so rarely seen they are thought of as myths. Meanwhile the Tapu guardians in Alola have shown up in people's backyards to mess around with their sprinklers and lawn ornaments.

Luxray are used as police or medical Pokemon in Sinnoh due to their ability to see through objects and strong stature. They are good at finding and retrieving victims and people who need assistance. Along with that they can be trained to listen for heartbeats and give electricity in a way similar to an AED.

There is a superstition in Johto that if an Eevee jumps into a child's crib, the child is blessed. Often times for baby showers, the mother is gifted an Eevee egg for this very reason. When the kit hatches, it is left in the room with the baby. If the Eevee stays by the child's side, but outside the crib, the child is destined to be average and live a normal life. However, if the Eevee jumps inside the crib and sleeps next to the child, the child will be blessed with fortune, prosperity, and joy.

It's thought that having someone with a positive aura take care of Riolu eggs helps them to hatch faster.

Eevees tend to mimic the personality and habits of their trainers. If their trainer tends to be energetic, the Eevees will get a share of that energy too. If, on the other hand, the trainer tends to be more on the relaxed and a bit lazy side the Eevees will behave like that too.

Popplio are frequently used for public performances and other forms of entertainment. It works out nicely, as it serves as excellent enrichment for them

Swablu's soft, cotton-y down is a favorite filler for pillows, especially because they shed it often. Nowadays it's more common to find synthetic substitutes.

Eevee’s love to be groomed and accessorized, especially on their tail. They don't like baths though but they groom themselves well.

Hisuian Growlithe/Arcanine are still found in some volcanic regions, but they are incredibly rare and protected under law.

A group of Chingling/Chimecho are known as a gong.

While Vulpix and Ninetales have incredible fur, harming one is considered bad luck and, in some areas, sacrilegious.

[sanddusted-wisteria]

Doodle Dump, 1/2024 - 4/2024 (part 1)

So uh...I haven't posted as much on here ever since like, the beginning of this year. Instead, I've been doodling like mad over on the OTAS server and have completely neglected to post any of that over here alsdkjalk. So here's most of the doodles I've done, oldest to newest :> (with wild variations in quality,.,,, a lot's changed in my art skillz in 6 months)

[VERY long post below]

A staring contest, ft. @florisam 's Onyx and @illusidy 's Aerie...queens of the death stare.

Thank @/florisam for this one lol

After a body swap AU where Wis swaps with Qi...Wis has to do manual labor with Qi's wimpy wet noodle caffeine dependent body and Qi's def not taking proper care of Wis's body either... probably doesn't put her hair up if he works with a burner or corrosive chemicals aldkfjl

from a superhero/villain AU, wis is neither hero nor villain...she's the civilian that somehow ends up at the epicenter of every super battle and takes advantage of that by becoming a hero/villain accountant 😂

started drawing some more outfits for Wis, but I never finished them. Will probably get back to these a bit later.

and ofc she's gotta try on Qi's disaster outfit asd;lfkdjlrk

I made Wis a logo! Combined a sprig of wisteria with a pine cone, for her workshop, Fresh Pines. Also made a possible combo logo for her and Qi. Y'know, in case they ever make that multistage rocket + launchpad they've been dreaming about...

Wis would be stoked to get her new stamps :>

Wis as a butler in a maid cafe AU...that I do not have the space or time to fully outline the extent of the chaos within... (inquire in the OTAS server for more info asdlkjlrkadf) Also the first time I drew Wis's clone sisters (which I am aware that I haven't introduced at all on tumblr...I wouldn't blame you if you forgot that Wis is a clone 😂 but SOON I promise)

Ft. @spookemsdukems 's "Builder", it's the mystery gorls! No one really knows where they came from. Well, they know. But they're sure as hell not gonna tell you... (ehhh well wis might tell you about herself if you're friends lol)

asdlfklj based on a quote from an incorrect quotes generator

Initial concepts for one of Wis's clone sisters, the one that ended up in Duvos! Eugh the attempt at a waist up in the bottom right corner still haunts me asdlkfjlkjd Also note that that's not what a real prosthetic AK peg leg would look like, I did these without any real research 💀

Ft. @sunstream7 's Val...no explanation needed i think alsdkfja;sdlkrj

An idea I had about a romance/post-marriage gift that Qi could give you: a necklace with dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin that he managed to synthesize...the neurotransmitters of love <3

Love is the Solution: A special necklace given to you by Qi. The little vial contains a mix of neurotransmitters--the mixture of love. Even though they're trapped inside the vial, when you put it on, you swear you can feel them surging through your nerves all the same. Stamina +15

And I've hit the image limit so this is the end of part 1 a;sldkrjlkjlakfj

[mscryinglighting]

The AM Effect

Alex Turner x actress!reader

Part 1/?

Word count: 1.5 K

Synopsis: You get invited to an Arctic Monkeys listening party and catch the eye of the lead singer Alex Turner

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Being the new Hollywood 'It Girl' certainly has its perks: gracing the covers of magazines, attending glamorous parties every weekend, and walking red carpets at high-profile events. Your rise to fame was meteoric, propelled by your award-winning performance in Euphoria Fades, which captured the hearts of audiences and critics alike. You’d never admit this publicly ,but you were a huge music geek in highschool and Arctic Monkeys has always held a special place in your heart so you couldn’t have agreed faster when your agent told you you’d been invited to their listening party for their new album AM. 

The day couldn’t have come faster, you’d spent the week leading up to it trying to find the perfect outfit, after scouring all the best LA shopping malls and outlets you settled on sparkly gold shorts and an off-the-shoulder black top with a pair of black heels, you’d also gotten your nails done for the occasion specially.

Upon arrival the room hummed with anticipation, a mix of dimmed lights and sleek modern decor setting the tone. Industry professionals mingled with a few die-hard fans, clutching cocktails served in glasses etched with subtle logos of the album’s artwork. A low murmur of conversation filled the space, punctuated by bursts of laughter and the occasional clink of glasses.

At the center of it all was a stage with a huge lit up sign in the shape of music beats spelling out AM in the middle of it and a giant screen with a countdown on it which you’d assumed was counting down to when you could all listen to the album until then you were stuck bobbing your head along to some pretty generic party music which blared out through the speakers. You looked around for any familiar faces but could’t find any, you started fidgeting with your nails as you continued to scan the room, but before you had a chance to wallow in self pity you felt a tap on your shoulder, snapping your head around you came face-to-face with the legend himself Alex Turner. He was fashioned in a leather jacket with a button up that had the first few buttons open and black slacks. He was also wearing sunglasses... even though it was the middle of the night, and we were indoors.

“Oi, I saw you comin' in, thought I'd pop over an' give ya a proper welcome.” He had a warm smile on his face, you could tell  immediately he was a good-hearted guy despite the rockstar persona he put on.

Mimicking his smile, you reply, “Did you now?” He nods sincerely, “Aye, I did. Could tell you were lookin' a bit lost.” “Well, thank you. I was feeling' a bit out of place in all this,” you say, motioning around at the bustling party. He laughs softly, a relaxed, almost self-deprecating chuckle. “Yeah, it’s a bit mad, innit? All this noise and lights. Hard to know where to stand sometimes. You’re not the only one feelin' outta place." You raise an eyebrow, intrigued. “Oh? You? Of all people?” He shrugs, his smile never leaving his face. “Yeah, well... even rockstars get a little overwhelmed now and then." You both chuckle, the tension from before starting to fade. “Well, in that case, maybe you could show me around?” you suggest, half-joking. He tilts his head, giving you a playful look. “Ah, so now you’re askin' for a personal tour, eh?”

“Maybe,” you reply with a grin, “unless you're too busy being the leading man.” He raises his eyebrows, clearly amused. “Oi, I’m just a bloke in a leather jacket, love.” He gestures for you to follow as you both move deeper into the crowd.

You feel your cheeks warm at his use of the word Love. God, Y/N, get your shit together! He’s British. They call everyone that, no need to get your hopes up.

After following him through the party, you reach a booth by the bar, where the rest of the band members—Matt, Nick, and Jaime—were hanging out, along with three girls you could only assume were their girlfriends. After exchanging introductions, you learnt they all know who you are—a side effect of fame you still weren’t used to. You sat at the far side of the booth sandwiched between Alex and Matt, Alex leaned in, his words low but clear in your ear.

“I’m gonna head to the bar to get us some drinks. Would ya like anyfin?”

“Vodka Tonic on the rocks, please.”

“Righto” He pats your back before jogging over to the bar.

You look over at the giant countdown Twenty minutes till release. You turn your head over to Matt. “Quite some party, have you done this for all your albums?” 

“Nah this is the first listening party we’ve ever done, it’s crazy innit?”

You nod “It's something alright.”

After some light conversation with the table Alex comes back holding two trays full of drinks, he skillfully sets them down on the table without spilling a drop before sitting back next to you.

“Woah, that was impressive.” 

“Thank you, was a bartender when the band was just starting out.”

You raise your eyebrows surprised “Really? Bet you have some interesting stories from that experience.” 

He grins, leaning back in his chair. “Aye, well, it wasn’t exactly the glamorous rockstar life people think it is. More like a crash course in humility. But I swear, we made the best cocktails in Sheffield at that place.”

“I bet you did Turner.”

Before Alex could say anything else the timer on the screen ended signalling the start of the actual listening portion of the party, the speakers started blasting the first song and the screen the timer had once been now showed the title of the song playing. Do I Wanna Know?

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . After nearly an hour of listening to the album, getting drunk, and dancing, the night seemed over… or so you thought.

“Now that was an album!” you exclaimed, your voice louder than you intended.

The boys raised their glasses with a collective cheer of gratitude.

“I’m gonna—gonna call it a night,” you slurred, fumbling with your phone to call a cab.

“Aye,” blurted out Alex who was as drunk as you were. “We’re all heading to mine if you’d like to join us. Safer than you stumbling around LA, yeah?”

Biting your lip you thought for a moment about his proposal before nodding “Yeah sure sounds great.”

The corners of his mouth twitched upwards. “Great.”

Upon arriving at Alex’s rather modest house the group was completely partied out after the initial listening party, turning the atmosphere into a one of tranquillity. You’re sitting next to Alex on his couch so close that you could almost hear his shallow breaths. Despite already being drunk you couldn’t pass on Alex's famous margaritas, so there you sat sipping on the sweetly-sour concoction and looking up at his spiky hair. Before you knew it you were running your hands through his hair.

“I like your hair, it's all soft.” You murmured, half-surprised at your own boldness 

He blushes rubbing the back of his neck, “Er thank you.” he mumbled, his usual confidence seemingly subdued.

The conversation dwindled as the night wore on, the warmth of the margaritas lulling you into a comfortable haze. Jaime started playing guitar for whatever reason, the soft strumming of acoustic guitar filling the room like a lullaby.

The others had sprawled out across the couches and floor, a quiet chorus of heavy breaths replacing the earlier chatter. You felt Alex shift beside you, his shoulder brushing against yours.

“You good?” he murmured, his voice low and close.

You nodded, your head feeling heavy. “Yeah. Just... tired.”

His lips curved into a faint smile, and he stood, offering you a hand. “Come on. You shouldn’t sleep sitting up.”

The rest of the night blurred as he led you down the hallway, his arm steadying you. Somewhere between the soft sheets, whispered words, and the heat of his touch, the world spun into darkness.

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You woke to sunlight slicing through the curtains, a dull pounding in your head. The unfamiliar room smelled of laundry detergent and something faintly woody. Blinking, you turned your head—and froze.

Alex was lying beside you, his arm draped loosely over your waist, his face relaxed in sleep. The events of the night before rushed back in disjointed fragments: his quiet laugh, the margaritas, the warmth of his hand on yours.

Your heart skipped as you noticed the scattered clothes on the floor—yours and his.

Oh.

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Hope you all enjoyed part 1 let me know what you think! Also do we like the narration to be in the 2nd person or 1st? Since this is my first time writing in the 2nd person and It definitely takes some time to get used to.

I take requests!

[albertonykus]

The plan was that I'd do one of these and go back to regularly unscheduled dinosaur drawings, but brain said no, so now I've made a whole series of mock covers for the "main character Shizuka" AU.

Logo based on that of the Doraemon manga published by Shogakukan, as well as a promotional graphic for an event at the Doraemon Waku Waku Sky Park.

Brief notes on each cover below the break:

Vol. 1: Based on "Shizuka the Friendly Witch" from the manga, in which Shizuka borrows gadgets from Doraemon so she can cosplay as a witch and help people in need. In this AU where Doraemon actually lives with her, I imagine this would be a recurring event. As Shizuka finds out in canon, riding a broomstick gets sore after a while, so I took a leaf from the 1981 anime adaptation of the story and had her change pose so that both of her legs are dangling off the same side of the broom.

Vol. 2: Shizuka tries using Momotaro's Dumplings to tame a wild animal. Unfortunately, it happens to be the one animal Doraemon is terrified of.

Vol. 3: My original idea for this was that Doraemon would be helping Shizuka with a school project, but I don't know what elementary school project would require Doraemon to consult his Universal Encyclopedia! Either way, they're working hard. You can decide what they're working on. Other fans have made the observation that in the manga, Shizuka has the recurring character tic of holding her pencil in her mouth, so I chose to incorporate that here.

Vol. 4: As in the source material, Shizuka's pet canary escaping would be a regular concern. Here, Doraemon intends to use the Course Marker to help her recapture the canary (which he has also done in canon).

Vol. 5: As revealed in "Boy Becomes Girl", Shizuka actually loves climbing trees, but her mom prohibits her from doing so on the grounds that it's not "proper" behavior for a girl. Maybe with Doraemon's help, she can get away with indulging this interest more often...

Vol. 6: Well, there's no getting away from the fact that one of Shizuka's best-known character traits is that she loves bathing, even though official media mostly uses this as an excuse to put her in some gross and questionable scenarios. Here she introduces Doraemon to the concept of a milk bath, inspired by her desire to take one in the film Nobita's Little Star Wars. They've used the Shrink-grow Cup to create enough milk for the tub.

Vol. 7: Another one of Shizuka's more famous character traits is that she is dreadful at playing the violin. I am also dreadful at drawing violinists, so I'll blame any errors I've made with her posture on the fact that she isn't good at playing. Either way, this is something Doraemon would have to deal with in this AU...

Vol. 8: After shrinking herself with the Gulliver's Tunnel, Shizuka can play with her plush bunny in a new and exciting way. I wanted Shizuka to be doing something with her stuffed toy collection in this one, but I wasn't sure what. I ended up being partly inspired by another scene from Nobita's Little Star Wars.

Vol. 9: Shizuka and Doraemon enjoy their favorite snacks. At this point in the "series", I think Shizuka would have learned to tolerate Doraemon knowing about her fondness for sweet potatoes.

[catfox13102ndblog]

Trying to add more information to the Maria Robotnik's Fast Track AU.

The first post didn't really have much information regarding the AU, so hopefully this next post can add more too it. A little justified since I just made the AU pretty much.

This one will attempt to... well... add more information to it, mainly ideas for the paint schemes, tracks and a few other characters as well.

Paint scheme ideas.

I orginally said ideas for the cars, but I actually ment to say paint schemes, since the cars themselves are 90s NASCAR stock cars.

I also headcanon that they're specifically based on the CES prototype cars seen here:

Yeah, they're pretty much the same as the cars from the regular arcade game, just with a more basic look and without the rear tires popped out.

Anyways, I don't need to explain Maria Robotnik's car, since I already mentioned that her car is literally the player's car in Daytona USA. Specifically the AT colors. You've all probably seen this car before, you know what it looks like.

Now... onto the others...

Melody [LAST NAME SPOILER]: #13, Scorpio Plasma

The sponsor is a reference to the one seen on the normal level car from Daytona USA 2, while the number is a refrence to the Hornet's number in Daytona USA Deluxe/CCE.

Helen: #67, Chaos Cola

Frances: #68, Chaos Soda

Just felt like Chaos Cola and Soda should be sponsors really. Plus, Sonic X is mostly based on the Adventure-era games, so it'd fit.

Princess Elise: #06, Balance

This one I brefly mentioned in the last post, but the car is pretty much one big Daytona USA Deluxe/CCE reference, as the #99 Balance car is one of the cars that you can drive in the game. The number is a pretty obvious nod though.

Sara: #93, SEGA

This catgirl's sponsor is the company that made Sonic themselves! I know that Sara is a gamer in some of the OVA's scenes, so I thought her sponsoring a video game company would fit. The number meanwhile is a reference to Sonic CD's release date (1993). The Sonic OVA does have Metal Sonic in there, so it makes sense to me.

Hope Kintobor: #14, SOAP

Hope's number is ment to be a reversed version of Maria's number, and the sponsor is based on the SOAP Shoes ad seen in City Escape.

Molly: #58, Emerald Notwork

Sponsor is just another reference to an ad seen in City Escape.

Merlina: #00, Phantom Full Force

The sponsor is a reference the one seen on the hard level car from Daytona USA 2.

Sage: #51, Eggman Empire

The number is a nod to Roudy Burns' number in Days of Thunder, and I figured that Eggman would definelty sponsor his empire on the car, he is a narcissist afterall. And to fit with the retro vibe, the Eggman Empire logo could be the same on seen in Sonic 2 down below.

Claris Sinclar: #16, Oriole

Helen Cartwright: #2, Max

Like Elise's car, these two cars are playable cars in Daytona USA Deluxe/CCE. Though, they actually have the proper numbers of course.

Hatsune Miku: #01, Greatsmirk Racing

I mentioned this one in the previous post, but for those unaware, the sponsor is a parody of Goodsmile Racing, something that Miku is commonly assosiated with. The number is a reference to to the number seen on Miku's shoulders.

Neptunia characters and paint scheme ideas (if they actually appear).

I'm still unsure if they will actually appear here, but Hyperdimension Neptunia was published by SEGA, so it's still a possibility. Regardless I'll tell you the ideas for their cars anyways.

Neptune: #91, Nep Bull Noire: #94: Lastation Racing Vert: #1, Leanbox Labs Blanc: #81, Amazoo Delivery Service (It's a FedEx-like company instead of an Amazon parody here) Uzume Tennouboshi: #7, Sleepcast Pillows Nepgear: #27, Gallop (Another car from Daytona USA Deluxe/CCE) Uni: #53, TSA Tools Rom and Ram: #3, Star BLUE and #4, Star RED

The Tracks.

The tracks are pretty straight forward, they're mostly existing tracks from Daytona USA and Virtua Racing. And while they don't really matter in this AU, I did mention before that this could work better as a fangame, so track list is as follows:

The tracks from Daytona USA and Daytona USA Deluxe. (Three Seven Speedway, Dinosaur Canyon, Seaside Sreet Galaxy, National Park Speedway, Desert City, and Silver Ocean Causeway)

The tracks from Virtua Racing. (Big Forest, Bay Bridge, and Arcropolis)

The Beginner Course from Daytona USA 2. (SEGA International Speedway)

Florida International Speedway (a parody of Daytona International Speedway)

Speedianapolis Motor Speedway (a parody of Indianapolis Motor Speedway)

Other Characters

Alright, time to introduce other miscellaneous characters.

The Mobians (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, Ray, Shadow and Amy Rose), Madonna, and Dr. Eggman.

The crew from Sonic The Hedgehog of course, as well as a scrapped human character from the Tokyo Toy Show build. They all utilise their classic designs to fit with the overall 90s vibe the AU is going for.

Currently, Shadow is the only modern-era mobian included in this AU. He will have a custom "classic" design to fit with everyone else.

Sonic and his pals (and Shadow) usually hang out and have their own adventures outside the race track, but they also hang out near the garages and watch the cars zoom by. Sonic and Tails also often help out in the garage or within the popcorn booths as well. While Shadow goes to see Maria.

Amy Rose and Madonna work as race queens, they do race queen stuff, nuff said. (And yeah, the idea of Madonna being one of the racers is retconned now.)

Dr. Eggman isn't really an evil mad scientist here, he's more of a goofy nuisance who likes to cause trouble while still being a self-centered narcissist like in canon. To sum it up, he's JP Eggman with elements of Dick Dastardly if he were the owner of a race team instead of a driver.

Tom West and Mr. Virt McPolygon.

The race announcers who work for SEGA Sports Channel, you can probably guess what they do.

Tom West comes from Daytona USA 2 while Mr. Virt McPolygon comes from Virtua Racing.

And that's all there is to this semi-extended post about the AU. Now I'll admit, there still isn't much here, but then again, like I said in the previous post, there isn't really a "story" for the AU by any means.

Anyways, like always, you can ask me things about it, or do the designs for the race outfits and cars if your interested in doing that.

[ultimateplaylistmaker]

*gently holds out mic*

Want to share any DICE headcanons?

/nf

Im sick so lets talk dice

The main dice members all have multiple nicknames with a few running themes like chess pieces, clown titles, card suits, and also just random things like puns or things that stuck, also every member is queer in some way and only 3 are cis (though they think its 4 before kokichi realizes that they are egg) and they get teased over it all "oh look a bus is coming Emi you better hide"

The missing member from the picture was Kokichi's first real failure, back before dice was AS serious they had that extra member, but he got tracked down by a certain private detective and forced back to his abusive family and none of them has seen Toharu since. Kokichi refuses to not still speak of him as a member, and insists one day they'll find him.

Everyone they meet more then once tends to get at chess piece nickname, but because they've long since run out of standard chess pieces it's all fairy chess names at this point like Kaito being "anti-pawn"

No one has the queen nickname though, this is to confuse and boggle people and let kokichi go "all women are queens actually"

The group you see in game is the "main" group, but dice actually has a lot of members because basically any kid or teen they help or hang out with becomes an honorary member and then stays an honorary member unless they do something to have them removed. Komaeda and the warriors of hope actually used to be some, but then they started doing ~crimes against humanity~

I always see Dice and kokichi as like, people who live in like a port town or a city with a lot of fishing culture, kokichi just kinda has boardwalk ocean eating ice cream vibes.

A good chunk of honorary members are random feral pets they've caught, got them proper shots and treatment and spayed, slapped a checked collar or other accessory on, and then given to random people and random other honorary members

They're all very much skilled at scams and cons. Jam auction? badger game? three-card monte? they know it all

The reason they wear bandanas is not just a logo, but so they can wrap it around their hands in case they need to handle something hot or use it to slide down something

They all know JSL and have a lot of loaded phrases that make no fucking sense to anyone else all

"man this is a pretty cold cage huh?" "i dunno, gazing at all these rails are getting pretty boring" "you're really going to pip like a pigeon?" "i dunno, its so fishy its getting me tilted." "if you keep this up Loki's gonna have you cleaning tanks"

^ a completely sensical conversation if you know what any of those words mean, but utter nonsense if you don't

[foxglovegames]

DEV LOG: February 2024

One of our goals for the year is to post more regular dev updates, but we're still working out a comfortable format for these so please bear with us heh! 😅

TROUBLE COMES TWICE: BONUS STORIES

Testing Bonus Stories has mostly been about tweaking the script and fixing silly sprite mistakes. (Also, Cam and Adrian hanging out alone at the park? What could they be talking about? 🤔)

We jumped the gun and said probably February for the release (obviously, that didn't happen). We're very confident about releasing the DLC this month though, so keep an eye out for a release date in the coming week! 💜

BURN THE MIDNIGHT OIL

We've been focused on Bonus Stories, but there's a lot happening behind-the-scenes on our new project thanks to our amazing art team.

SPRITES

Lydia's just wrapped up the first sprites for the eight main characters (including protagonists Circe and Dante)! We're now working on the expressions and minor pose changes for these before moving onto the side characters needed for the upcoming demo.

UI

We spent February experimenting with logo drafts! Toby had so many good ideas, it was tough to decide on just one.

Though we're going to keep the finished logo a secret until we're ready to announce, we figured it couldn't hurt to show a quick look at some of the icon ideas. 😉

BACKGROUNDS

Just last month, we welcomed the incredibly talented Damien to the team. He's already worked through about half of the BGs we need for the demo and we're extremely excited to see them in-game! 🌙

It's hard to wait and not just show off everything right away when we're so excited about the future of this project!! Hopefully sometime this spring, we can make a proper announcement and reveal more. ✨

GOALS FOR MARCH

Release Trouble Comes Twice: Bonus Stories! 🌞

Continue work on Burn the Midnight Oil 😈

[thirteenthdoor]

What's For Dinner Inside The Doors?

No outside food permitted in Waverly Hills Sanatarium.

Most, but not all, of the eating in this door world occurs in this weirdly artsy cafeteria. After all, one of the nurse NPC's first warnings to everyone is that all meals need to be taken in said cafeteria, and no food brought from the outside should be eaten.

Oh no! Someone is both eating food from outside and eating it outside the cafeteria! The nurse NPC gets real stabby about it.

If you look closely, you can see that the terrible thing the patient is eating ... is a cracker. Has Fuckboy already started to test the rules by giving a patient one of his crackers before trying it on his fellow players? If so, he didn't wait around to see the results. Eh, maybe he figured he'd hear about it either way.

The first time our trio shows up in the cafeteria proper, they're here to scope out the competition, not eat the food. The inmates are eating from metal trays with metal chopsticks -- which is not the kind of hardware I'd give to patients of any stripe, but what do I know?

We don't get very good shots of what the patients are eating, but there's only two choices, and it's pretty clear that here they've got the version of the trays with the big steamed buns on them. Someone is pushing a cart down the center aisle with large metal vats in it. In wider shots from later scenes, you can see a bunch more of those vats over to the left side of the cafeteria.

Ruan Nanzhu suggests they come back and eat later because, and I'm quoting the subtitles here, "Mental states are contagious." Consider how bad he's trying to get Lin Qiushi to catch his crazy, I'm going to label this statement as aspirational.

After a restless, unpleasant night of being kept up by a repeatedly falling body (yikes), the trio returns to the cafeteria for a meal. Now we get a better shot of what's for breakfast: slices of a marbled rye bread, chunks of an orange squash or sweet potato, some stewed greens, and white rice porridge. Some of the inmates have spoons, but these three have the metal chopsticks, which they use to eat from their industrial metal trays.

This is also where we first get to see Fuckboy's cute little tin of crackers, which makes Nanzhu (understandably) furious. Helpfully, his fury provides the context for a few close-ups on his tray. There's a little logo printed on the trays, but hell if I can read even a bit of it.

I don't know where he got this second tin of crackers from, though, considering that he leaves the first tin with Ruan Nanzhu in the cafeteria. Did he just come into the doors with a bunch of little decorative tins full of Saltines, so he has several to choose from? That seems kind of inefficient. I guess if you're just real worried about getting your crackers smashed in transit.

Now I want crackers. Dammit.

The cracker water is so gross to me. I don't even know why it's so gross, but it is. This is the only shot I'm going to include of it, because I find it just ... ugh. So gross. I'm just saying, if I pulled out my water bottle and it was full of cracker water, I would 100% notice.

Next breakfast is much the same as the previous meal, except that the bread this round is fluffy white buns.

Back to the cafeteria to steal rice! Which actually frames the cafeteria from a number of angles that don't show up in other scenes.

And then breakfast once more, the same one with steamed buns, only this time Lin Qiushi has opted for a spoon (and his hands) instead of chopsticks.

Later, fuckboy eats a cracker to prove it's safe, convincing Hu Die to do so. This is either decorative tin #2 or decorative tin #3 of crackers. Man loves his crackers.

Or do you think he found the crackers inside the door world? The same way that the Hako Onna arms her traitors, do you figure the horrible doctor smelled this guy coming and was like, ah, here's a fucker! and pointed him toward the hospital cracker stash? That almost makes more sense than having him show up with the perfect sabotage snack food. Who knows! Anyway, hope your crackers tasted good, shitbag. You and your almost-awesome '80s t-shirt can enjoy them while you're stuck inside the doors forever.

Bonus detail #1 -- and this is very important to me -- the two male players at the back of the initial group are always together in the cafeteria. One of them's got a white shirt with a thick black plaid on it; the other is wearing a tan hoodie with white stripes down the arms. After their second appearance in the cafeteria, they don't show up again. I guess the implication is that the door ate them, which seems reasonable, considering this show's general death toll.

However! I should also note that this is, to my recollection, the only regular door-world door where we don't see a clue fall down when someone unlocks it, and no one behaves like they've found one when they get back home. Did two mysterious homosexuals find a different way out the door while the Obsidian company tangled with the homicidal-suicidal nurse? If you choose to believe this, the show will not contradict you.

Bonus detail #2: The Waverly Hills cafeteria is also the background for the first gay-ass shot of the closing credits. I guess they liked the symmetry of it? Beats me.

[silvershadow1711]

I have to force myself to practice digital art, and the best way to do that is by drawing OCs. So this is one I made while reading far too many All Might/reader fics. She's more a thought excercise about mutated physiology than anything. More info under the cut.

Meet Nagisa Williams, aka Ultrasound. Her quirk is "Frequency", which allows her to emit both infra and ultrasonic frequencies from the "vents" on her cheeks (actually modified vocal chords) that can be used to speed up healing/ reduce pain, or inflict dissorientation, nausea/vomiting/diarrhea, concussions or even death (though the physical strain of using her quirk with that level of intensity can result in injury or death for her as well). She stays away from the that side of her quirk and is instead a licsensed medical hero.

Her respitory system is highly mutated, most likely due to the high concentration of avian-type heteromorphs on her father's side of the family. On top of the additional tracheas, vocal chords and vocal pouch that are visible as external organs, she possesses several air sacs in addition to her lungs, allowing for flow-through breathing (she lacks a diaphragm as a result) and both humeri bones are pnuematic, connected to her lungs.

This design was her about 20 years before MHA would start proper, when she was 30 and just moved to Japan after getting her licsense in the name of getting field experience without needing to join the military (you can't tell me the advent of quirks didn't make the US more militaristic).

The eyebleeding orange isn't something she chose for herself. The rescue agency she worked for mandated that its heroes need to be visible when out in the field, and given that most people didn't want to wear garish colors, it was agency policy that all support items/gear would be the company orange (the logo are also reflective). That's also why she wears her hair up- it's such a light/bright shade that it acts as a visibilty flare for both her team mates and any civilians.

I'd love to think of more members of her old agency (I imagine they're one of the biggest rescue agencies in Japan in the modern day, but 20 years ago there were only 6 or 7 members including Nagisa). But it's hard to think of interesting quirks that would not only be well suited for search and rescue work, but would be interesting to draw. You can't introduce me to a world where mutants with distinct physical appearances are commomplace and then expect me to care about boring, normal ass-looking humans. This is the perfect excuse to draw things that would be body horror in any other setting but are damn-near mundane in this one.

(This is my first time handwriting with a tablet. That's not why it looks bad- I just have horrible handwriting)