#I need a plain space in order to get any work done

[everything-is-as-it-was]

I can tell you right the fuck now that when I own my own place it's gonna look like a fucking museum because my goal is to 1) own a lot of Really Cool Old Things to Look At and Be Happy but also 2) have an uber modern aesthetic so it's just gonna be like. Old collector's books next to minimalism and I'm just hoping it doesn't turn out too pretentious looking 'cause I just like Old Things but also New Things and I Cannot Choose

[moody-alcoholic]

Boundaries

I've had time off work, so I've been pumping these out since my main project is on hold for the time being. It's been a lot of fun.

Summary: Ghoap x Reader, throuple. Slow burn (sorry but not sorry). 2.4k words. Reader is female (she/her), army nurse, non descript physical features, names used: Ashe.

CW: Alcohol, mentions of sex, language. Back to the fluff... this is supposed to be a slow burn...

Previous parts - masterlist - next part

Enjoy <3

You sit at the table your leg nervously bouncing up and down. Simon comes to sit next to you pushing a cup of tea over. 

“Thank you,” you say blowing on it, you haven’t been able to stop thinking about this since Johnny woke Simon up telling him we all needed to talk. Your mind had been going at a million miles an hour. What if you saying you’re falling for them is too far? They are already married, you just kind of barged in.  

“Right!” Johnny says standing up his palms flat on the table. 

“I call this first official family meeting to begin.” He says way to enthusiastically for your energy level.  

“Christ.” You hear Simon sigh next to you, you look at him his fingers squeezing the bridge of his nose. You smile sipping on your tea. 

“We’ve all had a nice time but I think we need a debrief.” You chuckle.

“You want a post sex debrief every time?” Simon asks Johnny who taps his knuckles on the table.

“I don’t have a hammer thing.” He says. 

“Is this a court room or a meeting?” Simon asks. They’re winding each other up you can’t help but smile. 

“It’s a meeting, casual, a safe space to air out all your problems.” Johnny says. 

“Now first order of business, boring stuff out the way first.” Johnny puts a key down on the table moving it towards you, you pick it up. 

“You’re welcome over any time,” Johnny says smiling. That’s not boring that’s a massive thing.

“Do you guys want keys to my place?” You ask looking at them, it seems only right, you have access to their home they should have access to yours.  

“Up to you.” Simon says. You make a mental note to look for a key-cutter tomorrow.

“PDA! Now I love a good smooch in public but Simon’s all about that stiff upper lip, sometimes he won’t even hold my hand.” Johnny says pouting.

“Nothing wrong with keeping your private life private.” Simon says defensively.

“What about you?” Johnny asks turning to you.

“I don’t mind I guess, I can get self conscious easy.” You admit, Johnny nods.

“Okay we’ll work on that.” Johnny says. 

“Sex, do you have any limits? No-go’s other then the obvious ones.” Johnny says looking at you. 

“Eh, I don’t know I’ve never really done much other then the normal stuff.” You feel heat rushing to your cheeks.

“That’s fine, we can work it out as we go along, don’t worry we’re not going to do anything crazy. Plain old vanilla sex is also fine, besides Simon’s the kinky one anyway.” Johnny says winking at you.

“Sure I’m the kinky one,” Simon chuckles. Johnny rolls his eyes sitting back down in the chair. 

“Anything you want to add?” Johnny asks Simon who shakes his head, then his eyes fall on you. You don’t know what to say, maybe now would be a good time to ask them to stop being so…nice. 

“You don’t need to be so accommodating, if you guys need some time alone, I can make myself scarce. And I don’t mind paying for things, food and what not, and I don’t mind treating you guys, it’s the least I can do.” Simon’s hand finds your thigh as Johnny smiles at you. 

“Don’t worry about that, you just being here is enough.” Johnny smiles.

“I need to make the most of it, when I get posted I could be gone for up to 6 months.” You say, your last post was 6 months now you only have a month off before you’ll be sent somewhere else. You could be sent abroad, it had been years since you were stationed somewhere outside the UK but it could happen then you would feel even further away from them. Your hand rests on top of Simon’s as he squeezes your thigh.

“S’okay, we’re all over the place too, could get a call right now and we'd have to drop everything and leave.” Johnny says. The thought of them leaving makes you sad, you know Johnny is only trying to help but it just fills you with dread. There’s a pit forming in your stomach, their job is harder then yours more dangerous, they could leave any second then you might never see them again. Johnny defuses bombs, you’re not sure what Simon does but it’s enough that it makes him hide his identity. The most danger you have ever experienced was a field hospital in a run down building in the middle of a war-zone, even then you were surrounded by soldiers who’s sole job was to keep the medical staff safe. You Squeeze Simon's hand, now you can’t imagine being without them. 

“It’s very rare we get called like that.” Simon says as he moves his hand to hold yours. You look up at him, he must be able to see something in your eyes, his face softens and he brings his hand up to stroke your cheek. 

“I never know where you go, how long you’re going to be gone for. If you’ll ever come back.” You say looking in Simon’s eyes. He kisses your forehead pulling you into his chest. 

“I know I’ll come back I have the worlds best marksman watching my back.” Simon says. 

“Yeah and you should see the things Simon can do with a knife, or a sniper, or a pistol.” You hear Johnny say. It makes you feel a little better, that they’re being so blasé about it, that pit is still there though as you pull out of Simon’s arms. 

“How about we go out, get some food just chill? We can try out that new place on the corner you’ve been wanting to go to Johnny.” Simon says, Johnny’s eyes light up and he’s out his chair before he can respond. It makes you smile, you’re not really in the mood to go out but you you could use the fresh air, maybe a nice meal out will be good. 

“You okay?” Simon asks as you stare off towards the bedroom. 

“Yeah, I need to start bringing a change of clothes.” You say, Simon smiles.

—————————— 

The place is nice, not fancy or anything and there’s a cosy looking beer garden in the back Johnny excitedly leads you to. You sit outside under the strung up lights and Johnny leaves to go order. Simon reaches into his jacket pulling out a cigarette and a lighter. 

“Sorry,” he says lighting it. “I’m trying to quit.” He turns his head blowing the smoke away from you. You move to sit next to him on the bench.

“I could get you some nicotine patches.” You say. He shakes his head smiling. Johnny comes out with a tray of beer placing them on the table. You reach out picking one up. 

“It’s 2 in the afternoon.” Simon says chuckling. 

“Stressed?” Johnny asks sipping his beer. Simon sighs, Johnny winks at you. 

“Simon only smokes when he’s stressed.” Johnny says as you take a sip of your beer. 

“Not true, I smoke when I want to.” Simon replies. Johnny laughs, it’s a proper laugh and it makes your heart flutter. You look up at Simon who looks less then impressed, they’ve been teasing each other all day. They start bantering back and forth until Simon finishes his cigarette. Johnny opens a menu and starts reading the options out, well the options he likes the sound off. Simon just says he’ll have whatever Johnny’s having. Johnny seems to see that as a challenge his eyes going back to scan the menu as a cheeky grin appears on his face.

Simon’s hand finds your thigh again, you didn’t think he would be up for touching with the conversation this morning but you don’t mind it’s nice feeling his hands on you. Johnny orders food asking what you want, honestly you haven’t been paying attention but you’re not hungry so you just order a sandwich. Johnny sighs ordering you a side of chips. You sigh but don’t argue. When the food comes out you switch to sit next to Johnny, you’re not sure why, but this whole relationship seems to be about finding what works, at least for now.  

—————————— 

Your leaning your head on Johnny's shoulder his arm wrapped round you picking at the last of you chips which you’re convinced at this point he bought just for himself. 

“Another round?” He asks as Simon finishes his beer off. Simon nods and Johnny peels himself a way from you collecting the glasses and heading inside. You smile at Simon, today has been nice, the food was good the beer warming your belly as the evening breeze is rolling in. You could almost say it was perfect. Then the sound of glasses crashing forces your head to snap looking for the source of the noise. 

“What the fuck man!” There’s a voice shouting now. 

“Sorry but you came out of fecking nowhere mate.” You hear Johnny’s voice, Simon is already on his feet moving to the back door of the restaurant Johnny had disappeared into a few minutes earlier, you gingerly follow after him. 

“I came out the bathroom mate.” The man replies his voice still loud. You can see people turning to look, it feels like there’s a million eyes on you. 

“What’s going on? You alright Johnny?” Simon asks as he reaches them. You look past Simon to see Johnny and a man both covered beer broken glasses on the floor. 

“Yeah, I’m fine ‘e just came outta nowhere slammed the door in my face.” Johnny says . 

“It’s okay, we’ll get you new drinks.” You look over and see a waitress with a mop in her hands waiting for them to move.  

“I came out the bloody bathroom!” The man says as he takes a step closer to Johnny who holds his ground meeting the mans eye line. “I’m supposed to be going on a date, now my suit is ruined.” 

“Shame, you wouldn’t want her to think you’re incompetent.” Johnny says, that cheeky grin on his face. 

“Johnny.” Simon’s voice cuts through the tension like a knife, low and commanding. You feel hairs stand up on the back of your neck. Simon grabs Johnny's arm pulling him out the way as Johnny’s eyes follow the man until he walks past Simon turning to look at you. 

“You okay?” You ask not really knowing what to say, his expression changes almost instantaneously when he sees you a smile appearing on his lips. 

“‘Cause lass, no one’s fault!” Johnny says his arm wrapping round your shoulders leading you back to the table.

“Oi!” You hear the man call, Johnny doesn’t turn or stop walking. 

“Alright, calm down,” is all you hear from Simon as you move out of earshot. 

“Think Simon will be okay?” You ask as Johnny sits you down next to him, his arm never leaving your shoulder.

“Pff Simon, who spends his days ordering soldiers round, he’ll be fine.” Johnny laughs. “Between you and me he could use some practice in conflict de-escalation.” You relax into him not realising how tense your body has become, he kisses the top of your head. 

“You stink.” You chuckle the smell of beer is almost overwhelming making your head spin. A few minutes later a waitress comes over with fresh drinks apologising for the situation, explaining that the builders installed the door wrong and it’s just been an accident waiting to happen ever since. Johnny laughs it off telling her it’s no problem and he’ll pay for the replacement drinks. Simon comes back as she leaves sticking his hand in his jacket looking for another cigarette, he sighs muttering under his breath as he sits down. 

“All good?” Johnny asks Simon who nods sipping his beer. Guess he’s out of cigarettes. 

“Paid for his taxi home so he could change.” Simon says leaning back, his eyes landing on you, you smile at him. He seems tense, Johnny lightens the mood by telling a story that happened when he was a kid and his dad dropped a pint on his head. 

“That explains a lot.” Simon says seeming to relax after a few sips of beer. The sun is setting quickly now and wind chill is picking up. Johnny promises you’ll go home after this drink.   

——————————

As soon as you get in Johnny is rushing into the shower. You fall on the sofa with Simon as he flicks the TV on. You lay up against him stroking his chest. 

“Is it true you get to boss people around all day?” You ask him. 

“What did Johnny tell you that?” He chuckles. You nod.

“Price does all the shouting, I’m just there to make sure they listen.” He says. 

“Is he nice Price, your boss?” You ask, you want to know something about their work maybe it will make you feel better when they inevitably go away. 

“Yeah he’s nice, we go way back. He’s a good boss.” He says as he lands on the football satisfied he puts the remote down. 

“I’ll go home tomorrow, I’ve got some errands to run, I could use a shower, and a change of clothes.” You say, but as you say it you realise how little you want to leave. 

“I can come with you if you want, or Johnny can?” He says his arm stroking your shoulder. 

“It’s fine you should really spend some time together.” You say not wanting to be a bother but at the same time that does sound nice having them just following you around. The more time you can spend with them the better. 

“I doesn't work like that, if we want some time alone we’ll let you know, besides you were right this morning, at some point we’re both going to be back at work and then it could be months before we see each other.” You look up at him the pit reforming in your belly. 

“Oh hey who’s playing?” You hear Johnny ask as he comes down to the sofa. Simon plants a kiss on your lips as Johnny comes to sit next to you. 

“Man city and Sheffield.” Simon says you put your head back on his chest. 

“I forget do we like that one?” Johnny asks. Simon chuckles.

“Yeah we like that one.” He replies, going back to stroking your arm. Johnny scoots closer to you and you lay your legs on him, his arm reaching over to run his fingers through Simon’s hair. Now you just hope and pray the world stays quiet for another few weeks.  

Next part

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[vodika-vibes]

Ohhhhh so I have an idea for ....

Forget-me-not and narcissus

You throw yourself in the way to save (clone of your choice), and he gets super angry at you for doing that because he's loved you forever. You both have but never admitted it ...

You can go from there. Love oo

I Don't Want To Forget

Summary: You are a civilian employee on the Resolute and you're a little bit accident prone, which is why you're shocked when General Skywalker wants you out on the battlefield one day. Luckily you have Kix looking out for you...unluckily, you get shot trying to save Kix's life.

Pairing: Clone Medic Kix x F!Reader

Word Count: 1720

Warnings: Reader is shot, and Kix yells

Prompts: Forget-me-not - Don't forget me, Narcissus - unrequited love

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni @imabeautifulbutterfly

A/N: I'm not so sure about this one. Apparently Kix is a weak spot, lol

“The only reason I’m agreeing to this-”

“-is because it’s not up to you and General Skywalker says that I have to be here?” You interrupt, a small smile on your lips as you look at Kix. 

“This isn’t funny.” He hisses, “You have no business being on the battlefield at all.”

“I know, Kix. I’ll be careful, stay by you, and listen to orders. I promise.” 

He sighs and rubs his hand over his head, “That doesn’t make this any better, cyare.” He rubs his head a couple more times, and then he steps closer to you, “This armor stays on until you’re back on this ship.”

“Got it.”

“I mean it, unless it needs to come off to save your life, it stays on.”

“Kix, I understand. Really.”

He sighs and starts helping you with the armor. It was specially made for you, which means it fits well, but since you aren’t a soldier, this is the first time you’re wearing it. Hence needing Kix’s help to actually put it on.

After a few minutes, he takes a step back, “There, done.”

You look down at yourself, and at the plain white armor, and then you look back at Kix, “I feel like a kid playing dress up.”

“Well, with luck, this will be the only time you have to wear it.” Kix replies, before he frowns and tugs on the collar of your armor, “It’s a bit too big on you. Have you lost weight?”

“...I’m not answering that.”

“That’s a yes then.” Kix tugs on your armor again, his frown increasing, “There’s not that much give, so you should be fine.” He grabs the helmet off the table next to him and hands it to you, “Put it on.”

“Woo. Helmets. Enclosed spaces. Right around my head.”

“It’s fine, you’ll hardly notice.”

“I’ve had nightmares like this before you know,” You say as you lift your helmet, squeeze your eyes shut, and then pull it on.

There’s quiet for a moment, and then a low chuckle, “You still have your eyes closed don’t you?”

“...maybe.”

“Go ahead and open them.”

You sigh and open your eyes, blinking up at Kix who’s standing a lot closer to you, and seems to be messing with something on your helmet.

“Alright. The helmet fits fine, how are you doing?”

“Uh…this might very well be the worst day of my life.”

“You’re being dramatic.” Kix replies warmly, he messes with something at your neck, “Do you think you’ll be able to work like this?”

“...yeah. Probably.”

“Alright.” Kix pulls his own helmet on, “Do you remember what you’re here to do?”

“Yeah. Get in, check the droid, download what information I can, and get back to the ship.”

“Exactly that.” He lightly raps his knuckles against your helmeted forehead, “There will be no heroics from you, do you understand?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Then let's head out. Stay behind me.”

Half an hour later, Kix is carefully leading you through a downed starship, shot down by separatists, and you’re miles away from the rest of the battalion.

Which is a good thing, in this case. The rest of the 501st is fighting the droid army, while you and Kix remain unseen.

And you really meant to follow Kix’s orders.

Partly because a part of you thinks that if you follow Kix’s orders he might think of you more fondly and see you as more than just “that accident prone tech from maintenance”, but mostly because you’re very much not a soldier and having set orders to follow is making this a lot easier.

His order of “no heroics” is very easy to follow.

And you meant to follow it.

Right up until you saw a flash of gold out of the corner of your view screen. You turn slightly and see a beat old golden droid (it almost looked like an old HK unit, but that couldn’t be possible) taking aim at Kix.

And you just reacted.

You lurch forward and place your hands on his pack and push as hard as you can.

Kix stumbles forward, and a curse falls from his lips as he rounds on you, but then there’s a sharp pain in your head, and your helmet vision goes staticy, and there’s nothing.

Kix’s gaze is sharp as he keeps his eyes on his cyare.

It was dumb of her to push him out of the way. It was dumb of her to take a shot meant for him, but, at the same time, she saved his life. The blaster round would have gone through an opening in his armor and killed him instantly.

Because of her height, it hit her in the temple of her much thicker helmet.

He shouldn’t be angry.

He shouldn’t.

He should be grateful that she cares enough to save him.

But all he can think about is how his blood ran cold when she hit the ground. All he can remember is the sound her body made as she hit the ground. All he can remember is the panic that he felt when he thought that he saw her die right in front of him.

Tragically, he’s used to watching his brothers die in front of him.

It’s different for civilians.

It’s different for her.

It’s always been different for her.

He leans forward in his seat, and folds his hands in front of his mouth, his gaze lingering on her face. Aside from a massive bruise covering the side of her head, she looks fine.

There’s a low groan, and Kix’s head snaps up. “Cyare?”

Her eyes flutter open and she squints at him, “Kix?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” He stands and grabs his penlight from next to the bed, “How are you feeling?”

“M’ head hurts,”

“I’m not surprised. Do you remember what happened?”

Her gaze drifts to the side as she thinks, “...Did I trip over something?” She asks.

“No, sweetling, you didn’t.” Gently, very gently, he brushes some hair out of her face, and cups her cheek, “Can you try to remember what happened for me?”

She sighs and leans into his touch, her eyes closing as she tries to think.

Slowly, Kix rubs her cheek with his thumb, offering what comfort he could.

And then she sighs again and open her eyes, “I’m sorry, the last thing I remember is General Skywalker sending me a message saying that he needed to talk to me.”

“It’s okay.” Kix uses his free hand to squeeze her fingers, “I can tell you what happened. You were shot, sweetling.”

She blinks at him, twice, “I was shot? Me?”

“You pushed me out of the way and were shot in the temple,”

She blinks at him again, seemingly in disbelief, and then she nods slowly, “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay. At least you weren’t hurt.”

“At least I…” Kix stops and closes his eyes, “You disobeyed a direct order.” He says flatly, “I told you no heroics.”

“You can’t scold me for something I can’t remember, Kix. That’s not fair.” She says with a small frown.

“What were you thinking?” He hisses, “You could have been killed. If you helmet was any thinner-”

“I obviously wasn’t killed, and of course I reacted to save you. I probably did it without thinking!”

“That’s the problem! You weren’t thinking! You never think and you always get hurt!”

She wilts under his glare, and averts her gaze, “...sorry to be such a burden.” She says quietly, hurt clear in her voice. “Next time I’ll just treat myself-”

“That’s not what I meant.” Kix interrupts. “You are not, and have never been, a burden.”

She still doesn’t look at him, and Kix sighs.

He reaches out and gently tilts her head to look at him, “I’m sorry for snapping at you.”

“S’okay. I’m sure I deserve it.”

“No.” Kix replies immediately, “You didn’t.” He pauses for a moment to gather his thoughts, “It bothers me, you know?”

She tilts her head curiously.

“The only time you come to see me is when you’re hurt.” Kix explains, “Every time I see you it’s because you tripped, or fell, or electrocuted yourself…or got shot, and I…hate it.” He says with a laugh, “I hate seeing you bruised or bleeding, and it’s the only time I see you.”

“...sorry-”

“Don’t…I am not blaming you. I’m,” He laughs again, “venting.” He absently traces your lower lip with his thumb, “I hate seeing you hurt. I wish you would just…come and see me because you want to see me, not because you have to.”

She’s quiet for a moment, “You always seem so annoyed whenever I am brought here with another injury. So I’ve been trying to be more careful, so maybe you’ll stop being annoyed with me. Guess I didn’t do the best job-”

“I love you.” Kix says, “I love you so much, and I know it’s not allowed and I tried so hard to forget about it, to forget about you, but I can’t. And you got shot for me-” He trails off, “Holy shit, you got shot for me.”

She blinks at him.

And Kix leans in and presses his forehead against hers, “I don’t want to forget you. I want…kriff…I want 2.5 kids and a house and a white picket fence, and I want to kiss you so bad that it hurts sometimes-”

He’s not able to finish his, slightly rambling, thoughts as she tilts her head back and catches his lips with her own. 

Kix is so surprised that he doesn’t react right away, and then his hand tangles in her hair and he’s kissing her back like it’s the only thing he’s ever wanted in his life.

And maybe it has.

When he breaks the kiss, slowly, grudgingly, he keeps his eyes closed, as if afraid that if he opens his eyes he’ll realize this is nothing more than a dream. But then her forehead is pressed against his, and his gaze locks with hers.

“So,” Kix murmurs, “That was…”

“I like you too,” She whispers, “But I’d prefer it if we waited a bit before we talk about those 2.5 kids.”

He laughs softly, “Deal.” He strokes her cheek gently, “I love you.”

A small, awed, smile crosses her lips, “I love you too.”

[keepingitformyself]

learning to warm cold hands

A/N: i don’t know what this is????? just a bunch of love nonsense because i was in the absolute mood for love (you’ll see). will it make sense? idk. the ending was intentionally made abrupt… hope u like it tho :]

synopsis: two people who love each other belong together. that’s it.

pairings: natasha romanoff x reader

genre: fluff?

warnings: none i don’t think…

please do not repost my work anywhere for any reason at all. if you do see this happen to any of my stories, please let me know. thank you x.

—————————————

natasha still doesn’t know how to deal with it; being loved.

but every little obstacle she has ever faced in her life has been that she had to deal with it.

sometimes she’s still a bit astonished at the fact that she has an entire family who has her back, a sister who calls just to annoy her, a best friend who defends her, and you who she comes home to, to kiss and to love endlessly.

natasha thinks that in some sense she had always been in love with you. for the amount of time you’d know each other she thought it was so strange that it took so long for you to be together.

you were always there, in plain sight. then one day, the stars decided to align and you were there and she had finally seen the light.

so yes, natasha decides that you were the best thing she’s ever had to deal with. being in love with you? she will own up to it for as much as she can.

she has accepted the scary fact that she must let herself be known. she shall let you unravel her and climb inside her heart and choose to stay. she will deal with the consequences of it later, but she hopes not.

she carries a polaroid of you in her wallet as a reminder of this. it’s there when she opens it to pay for dinner with you, or groceries, or when she sees a bouquet of lillie’s she thinks you’d appreciate.

and when she comes home to your shared apartment you’re there in the kitchen cooking a meal for her.

‘my grandmas recipe. i know you loved them when she came to visit us.’ you say as you stir a pot on the stove. she lets out a laugh through her nose and comes up behind you for a hug.

‘i made it dairy free for you. i know you’re trying to cut that off a little.’ natasha’s heart swells even bigger.

when the food is ready and the table is set and you’ve put the lillie’s in a vase at the center of the table, you will sit together and eat. natasha will listen to you as you tell her about the dish.

how you cried chopping the onions and had to take a break in between, how much you thought about her liking this meal while you made it, and how you specifically only used red and orange peppers because you remember her telling you that ‘green is boring when it comes to vegetables’ and when you’re done with your rambling you’ll reach over the table and kiss her.

she’ll tell you she loves you and you tell her she has onion breath and you’ll both laugh and god being in love is such a beautiful thing.

but everyone has their bad days.

you usually enjoy the rainy weather but it’s that time of the month and it’s effecting your mood swings greatly. natasha offers to go out and buy your favorite snacks and a deli sandwich from the bodega two blocks down.

you decline her offer with a sad smile and hide yourself under the covers of your shared bed. natasha sighs, she knows you better than that. she knows how badly you want all those things but she also knows how much of an inconvenience you feel like when you get like this. she tries to let you know that she’s okay with going out in the rain to make you happier.

you don’t budge, instead you groan into the pillows and hide further into the sheets. ‘i just need to be alone for a while.’ you mutter, a bit annoyed.

with a new determined mindset she decides she’ll give you the space you need. she brushes off all comments you made and grabs her coat before quietly leaving out the front door.

the rain doesn’t bother her one bit. she makes it to the bodega in record timing and orders from the deli. your order leaves her mouth as if she were ordering for herself.

‘can i have teriyaki grilled chicken on a sourdough with three slices of mozzarella and honey mustard, some grilled onions on the side too, can you also toast the bread for about thirty seconds longer? please, thank you.’ she orders for herself and smiles at the man working the grill then sets off on finding your desired snacks.

she’s quick with it, easily acquiring the cucumber lime gatorade you love so much, a payday bar and baked hot cheetos. she pays at the front where her deli order waits and rushes home to you.

she checks her phone on the way only to find it with four missed calls from you. the worst comes to mind and she’s home within two minutes.

she finds you on the couch looking small, her heart drops when she spots the tears that stain your cheeks. ‘i thought you were upset after i told you i wanted space.’ you mumble out. natasha sighs and sets the stuff down. she takes careful steps towards you, afraid you might disappear if she does anything too quickly.

‘no..’ she grasps your cheeks, her thumb brushing along your cheekbones. ‘i just wanted to make you feel better.’ she kisses your forehead. ‘it wasn’t anything to do with me being upset.’

you look down almost in shame. you hate being so sensitive, it makes you worry even more and you feel like an even bigger bother when things like this happen. your mind gets way ahead of your heart and you let things bother you that you know shouldn’t.

natasha notices the wheels turning in your brain. she recognizes the mental battle you’re having with yourself. your shoulders slump a little, she knows you’re tired. you’re biting your lips to keep from saying anything.

‘hey..’ natasha whispers. her heart clenches a little. it’s such a silly thing, all this. the normal you wouldn’t have let anything get this far. she laughs a little at the fact. screw periods.

‘why are you laughing?’ you’re confused and your girlfriend is laughing at you. it makes her laugh a little more and you grow a little impatient.

natasha pulls you in closer. her arms enclose around your waist and her chin rests on your shoulder. ‘i love you, okay?’ she whispers it in your ear.

she hugs you tighter.

‘whatever you’re thinking right now is only half true.’ she tells you. you’re just as confused as ever and you’re about to ask her what she means but then she’s pulling away and grasping your cheeks in her hands.

‘i want to be inconvenienced by you.’ the look in her eyes is as soft as ever. her lips have a slight tremble to them. ‘please bother me, like all the time.’

‘you are the very notion of my existence. i want everything that i do to be for you.’ she says it with that raspy tone in her voice, you know she means everything she’s telling you.

you are putty in her hands at this point, she went out and ordered your favorite comfort meal in the pouring rain…after you told her not to. because she knows you. the intimacy of it all, she knows you and she chooses to stay after the stupid things that come out of being with you.

she notices the slight furrow of your eyebrows, you’re processing what she’s just told you. you never say anything, instead you pull her in and bury your nose into her shoulder. natasha hears your inhale and she holds you even tighter.

she smells like home. like the candle you love to leave on all day, the fabric softener you use to wash her clothes, that perfume you complimented her on your first date.

a silent understanding settles between you both.

you feel the absolute removal of any walls when around each other. you have seen sides of natasha not even her own best friend has seen, or her sister.

she makes the corniest jokes, you always laugh, sometimes snort and that makes you laugh even harder. when you’re having dinner it’s silent. but it’s a good silence. the silence is comfortable and she’s holding your hand while the other is holding her spoon and when either of you talk, it’s listening and you feel like the most heard person in the world.

it all feels so perfectly warm in the bubble you’ve created together. you feel so seperate from the rest of the world in the best ways possible. in the they don’t know us like we know us kind of way.

you pull away to look at her. your heart is cradled in her hands.

[crow-crafting]

Hello! I have so many questions. Okay. 1) I want to make a bunch of cotton kitchen towels both for practice and also because I need kitchen towels. This feels like a reasonable beginner project, is that correct? 2) I keep reading that you can do multiple towels on one warp but I’m not seeing how you’re supposed to separate the towels. Is it just cut the thread, roll more, start a new towel? But then how do you start the new towel? 3) when wet finishing something off the loom, the order is definitely sew the ends and then wash right? I don’t see how you could wash before seaming the ends…

Thank you so much for your time! And if you have links to beginner resources I’d really appreciate them!

I am so excited for your weaving journey!

I feel like towels are a great beginner's project. With a rigid heddle, it is mostly sticking with plain weave (also called tabby weave), so you can play a lot with colors and textures with the yarns themself.

I am currently warping up 6 yards to make 5 towels in one warp. The best way that I have found to make multiple projects in one warp is to...

Leave a gap between the projects!

Once you have gotten to the end of your first towel, hem stitch the edge to finish it off. Then, leave a couple inch gap on your warp and start weaving again!

If you like, you can use a waste yarn here to give you a solid edge to beat against.

Screenshot taken from the video Suzie Liles' Fastest Hem Stitch from the channel Eugene Textile Center.

It shows a good idea on the spacing to leave, as well as a good hemstitch to keep the edges all in place before you are done.

The video is below:

For towels especially, I like starting and finishing the last inch or so with a thinner weft (if you have one that coordinates), so you can sew the edges.

Also, it's a good idea to know how long your project it, so you know when to stop! This is doubly true if you are looking to make projects of the same size. Some people use a flexible tape measure and sewing clips, but I use a method with a ribbon and sewing pins. Try a few different ways and see what you like best!

This is an example of my measuring ribbon! I got a few spools from my local big box store (Michael's in this case) for a couple dollars, and they have been a great way to ensure I have consistent items. Any color works, the person I learned this from uses white ribbon. I just have red here because it makes it easy for me to find when it gets buried in my art room.

You are very right in needing to finish your edges before wet finishing.

Most towels, be they commercial or handmade, are hemmed. It gives them a little most structure and longevity. I would consider sewing the raw edge (not the selvage, your woven edge) if you have a way to do so. Even if you don't have a good way to do so, fringes are very cute on towels!

If you do choose to hem, I usually go for .5" hem size. The picture above shows how I usually fold it, so the raw edge is tucked away and less prone to wearing.

With wet finishing for weaving, I am usually a bit mean to my pieces. I use HOT water, dish soap, and agitate the heck out of it. I do my wet finishing in a five gallon bucket, then spin the excess water out with a salad spinner, then hang it over a clothes drying rack.

I am going to work on pulling together a good list of resources I have been using and probably reblog onto this with it.

In the meantime! A good tip for you, that I didn't learn until I was at least 8 projects in, is to use some kind of layer between your yarns in your warp. It helps so much with tension and keeps your yarns from wanting to snarl up with the layer beneath it.

Screenshot taken from the video Rigid Heddle Part 3 - Threading holes and Tying on the Warp from the channel Margery Erickson.

Like this! The weaver here is using cardboard, and gives a very good demonstration on winding on in the video below. The actual winding starts around the 10:30 mark.

I will be back with more information...

[sunflowervoltwentyeight]

Hello! Happy 28th! This is my April 2023 fic rec. The first two fics listed were just published this month, so I wanted to highlight those first. The rest are in no particular order. Enjoy!!!

And What If I Were You by jacaranda_bloom / @jacaranda-bloom (109k)

For Louis, will losing his sight give him the clarity to realise what is right in front of him?

For Harry, will losing the love of his life give him the strength to finally open his heart?

And can they find their way back, before they lose each other forever?

A story of love. A story of loss. A story of fighting for each other, no matter the odds.

Darkest Before Dawn by amomentoflove / @daggerandrose (50k)

Harry Styles has standards. His coffee must be a cold brew with one pump of vanilla and a splash of cold cream. His computer must be catty-cornered on his left. His sketchbook must be directly in the center of his desk. He must have a cork board on his right to pin fabrics, sketches, and other inspirations he finds.

But most importantly, his space,—work or living,—must be organized. He doesn’t understand how people live otherwise. Everything has a place and it must be in its place in order for him to get anything done. Which is why he grits his teeth every time when he walks into the fashion workroom and sees Louis Tomlinson’s workspace.

It’s chaos. He’s chaos personified. He’s annoying, loud, and well… not as creative as Harry is. His designs are unimaginative and plain. Harry doesn’t understand how Louis managed to be accepted into the fashion program, but he supposes some people have to slip through the system.

Best Kind of Bad Something by wildestdreams / @thelavendrhaze (40k)

Nobody really understood Harry and Louis. Not even Louis. But for Louis, the world began and ended with Harry, and there were certain things he just wasn’t capable of explaining.

or Louis is the town troublemaker and everyone hates him except for Harry.

Part one of go ahead, rip my heart out if that's what love's all about

Come Home to My Heart by wildestdreams / @thelavendrhaze (25k)

Harry was always going to be beautiful, he thought. And he knew deep down that his heart still beats for Harry, that he loved him something so terrible, and those two things would never change.

or a chance encounter, four years later, brings Louis and Harry back together.

Part two of go ahead, rip my heart out if that's what love's all about

It Goes, It’s Golden by lucythegoosey / @harryrainbows (150k)

The chaos Zayn left in his wake wouldn't feel so disastrous if Harry had Louis. But everything between them crashed and burned a long time ago. All Harry is left with is a hopeless longing and a fear that the band's current disarray will set in for good.

... And then he finds himself stuck on a sixteen hour plane trip with Louis Tomlinson.

This could either be the most awkward flight of Harry's life, or the beginning of an atonement he's been dreaming of since 2013.

Canon Compliant AU in which Harry and Louis broke under the strain of it all and now, years on, there's a chance to put all the pieces back together. Set in early April 2015 all the way through to October. Written in Harry and Louis' perspectives, alternating every chapter.

Let Your Heart Be Light by cyantific / @cyantific (77k)

Louis Tomlinson, a self-proclaimed holiday-hater, loses his job two weeks before Christmas. Broke and desperate to see his family back home in England, he takes the only job left at the mall as one of Santa’s helpers. Harry is an unconventional mall Santa, the youngest one they’ve had in years, but with as much holiday spirit as any other seasoned Saint Nick. He’s determined to un-Grinch the new guy in Santa’s Village if it takes until Christmas, then he finds out the devastating reason Louis has lost his Christmas cheer. Will Harry be just the thing Louis needs to help him get his sparkle back?

Featuring Liam as the manager at Santa's Village, Niall as an easy-going Irish elf and Harry's best friend, grumpy Grinch Louis and his best friend Zayn and one matchmaking Mrs. Claus.

A 2022 Advent Fic

That Sounds Fake but Okay by dancingontheceiling (112k)

Harry Styles is a rookie journalist forced to work the gossip desk at a major New York magazine. Louis Tomlinson is the A-list actor who doesn't appreciate Harry or his articles.

Twist and Then Collide by bananasandboots / @anylessreal (180k)

"These instances can last anywhere from a few days to a few months," one doctor says. "Or they can persist indefinitely."

"Indefinitely?" Louis questions, the only one of them able to find his voice. He keeps throwing cautious glances at Harry, searching to make sure he's okay, to make sure he's still with them, still breathing. Harry wishes he wouldn't. He swallows the bile rising up the back of his throat, audibly exhaling through his nose, sharp breaths, small breaths. It's all he can do to keep from emptying his stomach.

"Travis is in a coma," the doctor says. "There's no way to be certain how long it might last."

Or, the one where Harry's boyfriend falls into a coma and Harry falls for his boyfriend's best friend.

Into That Goodnight by devilinmybrain / @thedevilinmybrain (62k)

Once upon a time, there was a boy. But not just any sort of boy. This was a clever boy, the cleverest of them all.

[bomberqueen17]

more stories

ok since telling myself stories of how my day was gonna go worked yesterday i'm gonna do it again today

i did get... a lot of what i wanted to do yesterday done, but i could have done more and just plain didn't. so.

i do have a photo of paint colors behind the cut.

I went to the hardware store and they don't do little sample paint pots. I had to buy a $6 quart of paint in order for them to mix it. I'd grabbed a handful of paint chips, and picked one at random for them, and it's a color I love and think is gorgeous and also almost immediately realized that I super Do Not Want on my kitchen wall, but it was too late to stop the guy so. now i have a quart of this beautiful Sandhill Crane color. (It's PL266, for the record, by Pratt and Lambert.)

I painted a swatch of it inside the basement hallway, which adjoins the kitchen and is going to need redoing anyway.

And then I used some of it to paint a "floor cloth" shelf liner, which is drying now and I plan to sew a backing to and then install today.

[Image caption/description: a chunk of white canvas mottled with a deep blue-green color. I got this effect by priming it and then letting the primer only partially dry before I went at it with the final color, because I wanted a mottled effect. I then went and added a second layer of color when the first layer wasn't entirely dry either, not just out of impatience but because this is what I was going for. I'm then going to sew the hem on an old sewing machine I'm reasonably confident can handle the paint-stiffened fabric; I'm backing it with an old sheet. And then it will be done. I'm not coating it in polyurethane because this is a temporary/low traffic kind of solution.]

And here's the color, swatched, on the wall:

[image description/caption: The background, to the left, is my kitchen, with the stainless steel fridge and grayish cabinets, the floor still covered in taped-down cardboard. The foreground, to the right, is my basement hallway, formerly blue, now bordered in white primer where they replaced the plaster with drywall and fixed the doorway. And in the middle is the swatch of Pratt & Lambert's "Sandhill Crane", which is a blue/green kind of teal color, rather dark but vivid.]

It's not the color I want. it's too... well it's just a little muddy somehow, IDK. It's beautiful and I want to look at it at lot, but I don't want a big expanse of it anywhere. And it's too dark I think. I want bold and vivid but I want it to reflect into the space and change the grays, I don't want it to absorb light into itself.

So here's all the swatches I grabbed, which all look really dark too. The vertical ones are what I'm thinking for main colors, the horizontal for accent colors. The two ones that are the gradient paint chips are because there was literally not a single shade of scarlet or orange in the single-color chips, and because I liked the green one.

I was standing there in the aisle with my scribbled list of colors, confronted by the fact that the paint chips aisle is not organized by any criteria I can understand. It's not like a color wheel. THey don't even put similar colors together. So when I say, "i'm looking for like an ultramarine blue", there's no such thing, I have to take my idea of what I think ultramarine looks like, and I pick up the chip and it's called "soft lavender" or something and i'm like wtf this isn't purple, and it's not, but. wtf.

All of these are too dark and not bright enough, and I have to go back and try again, but I was just trying to get something to start with. I should pair the accent colors with the mains I was thinking of them with. But whatever, it's a start; if nothing else it's something for Dude to disagree with.

So today I need to go out I think. I'm going to measure the cabinets and look at what I'm putting in them, and then go to Homegoods and see if they have any discount shelf rack spacer things, and then find if anyone has any shelf liners in stock. The idea of getting colorful fun ones is great, but those are not sold anywhere, so that idea isn't going to work. I can have gray, white, beige, and if I order online I can have patterns of gray, white, and beige. I'm not going to buy stick-on wallpaper because the point is to not damage the shelves, not to coat the shelves in adhesive that will strip the finish if I decide to remove them.

So I'm just going to go to Target and buy whatever they have, for the shelves I can't see anyway.

I am going to make liners for the lazy susan cupboard, still. but that's how i'm getting started.

so: get the cat off me. Change clothes. Put another load of laundry in, that'll be two down out of the four I probably have built up to do. Put away the dry laundry from yesterday, it should be dry by now.

Go over to the house. Measure specifically which cabinets you want racks and bins for, and compile a coherent list of those.

Go to Homegoods. (please, god, get there before ten am. ugh.) Look for racks/bins/baskets only to fit specifically the dimensions on your list. Don't buy anything else unless it's specifically suited to your needs.

Go to Target. Buy an under-sink liner, you already know which ones they carry. Note what you did and did not get. Go home, order online for whatever they did not have in stock. Buy shelf liners if they have them and Homegoods didn't.

Lunch.

Finish the shelf liner and install the microwave, so you can feel like you're accomplishing something. Install shelf liners in shelves. Begin to move dishes over into the kitchen cupboards Jim said were ready to be used. (Uppers, not lowers, as lowers still have countertop guys to contend with.)

Perhaps find fabric and other materials for the turny-cupboard shelf liners? Cut those out? See how it's going. Play that by ear.

Come home and make dinner.

Oh yeah I was trying to get a chapter update up this morning. I'm like, so close, but it needs another editing pass and I just don't have time.

[inkwell-passion]

Farther Than Life

The screams of welding torches and hissing of pipes fill my ears while I work on the Al-Space Drive for the P.I. Odyssey's Maiden Voyage. As I'm lost in my head, the doors of the engineering bay hiss open, like a cat not wanting you to come any closer, causing me to startle and attempt to sit up, resulting me in hitting my head.

The Vapid Captain with the blurry nametag of 'Seymour'... I think, presses his hands to his hips and cocks an eyebrow. "Hey, Engi' What's the status on the Drive?"

I roll out from underneath the drive, looking at him and squinting, trying to read his tag to remember his name. "It could have been done already, if you hired me a week or two earlier. What are you thinking cutting corners like this, Sir." I grumble before sliding my phone out from my front pockets, looking the black reflection of the screen as a makeshift mirror, massaging the salt and pepper beard that was trimmed to regulation standards, and slicking his hair back into the manbun.

"The Jump is in 45 minutes have it ready by then. We're on a tight schedule." I squint closer at the nametag, oh it says 'Seldom'. Man I need better glasses.

"Sir Yes Sir." I drone like a private that is just a little less eager than he should be.

"No delays." The Captain reminds me, and I roll my eyes and give him a thumbs up.

"We wasted a good minute or two of your 'tight schedule' in order for you to tell me shit I already know, Sir So if you don't have anything else to say, Let me get back to work." I kneel back down and slide into the drive. God that guy is an asshole.

If they had hired me just a few weeks earlier, They would not be paying my Hazard Rates, and I would have been in and out of here in about two weeks time, but no. They just wanted to wait until the last second, what were these Pangea Cucks even thinking? Or was it the Gaia Thundercunts that did it instead...I can't remember.

I reach around to find my monkey wrench, grabbing it and loosening the bolt keeping the calibration panel covered, and input the master code to start running a basic diagnostics. As it runs the lengthy diagnostic process, I slide back from underneath it and walk over to the mirror, fixing my Engineer coveralls and readjusting my cracked glasses.

In the mirror I can just faintly read my own nametag 'Hermon Ordon, Senior Engineer'. God my coveralls are dirty, and probably irradiated....among other things. I also notice how the beige of the coveralls contrasts harshly with my pale-ass complexion, whoever decided I needed to compete with milk for how white I am should be put in front of a Grand Jury.

While I am sat in front of the full body mirror, lost in my own critique of myself, I fail to notice the announcement for the Al-Space Jump. The thing that snaps me out of my self-hate fueled fugue state was the expensive sound of an Al-Space drive having a catastrophic meltdown, before suddenly, it all goes wrong. The last thing going through my head is worrying about how much the repairs are going to cost me, before the world turns to onyx.

Black, then White.

Blue, then Orange.

Red, then Green.

Purple, then Yellow.

Before I can even register what I'm seeing, it all mixes together to reveal the oil-painted dunes and mountains in front of me, my head aches and my vision is bleary. I feel around for my glasses, grabbing them once I find them and finally I start to clean them. Once my glasses are clean, I put them on, they feel much better than before...before what?

I can't seem to remember what happened before I opened my eyes in this strange land...or is this land familiar? It ebbs and flows in a way that confuses my senses. Its colors invade my eyes even when I close them, it fills my ears with noises that feel close to natural, but something is off.

In the time that I had been focusing on the scenery itself, it has shifted from mountains and dunes to flowered plains, the flowers melting and melding into each other, evermoving as I start walking through the field, trying to find some anchor, something that holds some semblance of genuine familiarity, not this faux similarity that threatens to lull me into a false sense of security. My walking feels more like swimming, as if it is trying to convince me I'm simultaneously walking, swimming, and floating through a vacuum.

Over the horizon I spot the P.I. Odyssey, and in a mere instant I'm right in front of it. Well, half of it, due to whatever happened, it was sheared in half through pure stress overloading its tensile strength...How did I get over here? When I turn back there is nothing for me to have passed through, it's not a wall, my eyes just....stop perceiving. I turn back to the P.I. Odyssey before I can get too freaked out about the concept of my eyes not working.

The sparkling new vessel looks both brand new, and weathered through a hundred asteroid storms, almost like being sat in a state of quantum superposition despite being observed. I step through one of the cracks in the armor, and find myself impossibly in a crew hallway. I should have at least found myself in a maintenance hall first. The more I try to make sense of this place, it makes my head hurt linearly, I feel both alive and dead, faux-walking through the walls before feeling as if I'm actually walking again. A sense of familiarity washing over me as I explore, trying to find another soul on this vessel.

I can't.

I walk through the hollow halls of the warship, dodging a mixture of rusted out holes and bare metal frameworks, dancing through the past, present, and future of this warship. What happened here? I pour over my memories and I can't seem to find any evidence that I was ever even on this ship, yet I navigate it with a familiarity that helps me from getting too lost. I need to get medical resources, that and food are the most important thing in a survival situation like this.

Is this a survival situation? Where even am I...

Who am I?

I look down at my nametag, apparently I'm Hermon Ordon, and I was a Senior Engineer. That doesn't sound right, but it also doesn't sound wrong...What happened?

The ship trembles and rumbles, the shaking is familiar yet distant, close yet strange. My body moves before my mind can follow, diving to the floor and covering my head, it feels like this is both my first time and my hundredth time doing this, but no impact comes, sitting in an endless void of anticipation and waiting. Memories flood into my head but they're mixed up, as if it's just the raw data without any formatting.

My eyes shoot open, before I scramble to my feet and start sprinting towards the medical bay, slamming the door open and heading to the first aid kit, but when I open it, I find myself back outside the ship.

That doesn't make sense, I was at the medbay, what do you mean I'm outside the ship. Was I just lost in my thoughts? I could have sworn I was there.

It doesn't matter, I know where to go, I climb up into the ship and start walking the all-too-familiar path, letting my mind wander. What is this place? Where am I? Where Is Everyone else? and Why does it feel like I won't get an answer to any of this. Where was Captain Seymour or Seldom or whatever his name was, why do my glasses work better than I remember?

Before I can even start working on the labyrinthine twisted task of working through the knot of questions I have tied for myself, I bump headfirst into the first aid kit in the medbay.

Odd, that trek should have taken longer. Or no time at all considering I was already here before I was placed back outside the ship like a laggy old video game character. I open the first aid kit attached to the wall and I find nothing but the imprint of medical supplies. I mean I reach out and try to grab them and my hands just grasp open air. It looks like they are a collectable set waiting to be well...collected.

Nothing seems to make sense here, I can't understand any of this, every time I come close to understanding even a fraction of this, it shifts and breaks itself. I don't think I was ever meant to be here. Where is everyone? Why am I alone?

I don't like being alone.

I don't like being forgotten.

I'm overwhelmed with that same macabre feeling of trying to comprehend the end of comprehension, trying to imagine what it feels like not to think, not to understand, not to perceive, to be absolutely nothing. It scares me.

I shake my head and call out. "Alright funny joke everybody! You can turn off the simulation."

There's No Response.

Panic hits me like a freight train, I run through the halls of the ship, and back out, all around me I find an endless sky streaked with Aurora Borealis like colors. The flower fields having disappeared, and my footing along with it. My faux-walking returns as I swim out and out and out, looking for the edge of this simulation. It has to be a simulation. There's no way this isn't a simulation, none of this makes sense.

I'm not alone, nobody forgot me, I'm just in the ship, I'm having fun with the crewmates who I'm helping out. What was I helping them out with? I can't even recall, please let me remember, if God exists please let me remember, what was I doing, what was I doing, What was I doing.

Why Can't I Remember?

My body flails, the scenery around me shifts, alarm bells are blaring in my head, water filling my senses. Help Why can't I find the edge, these Simulations have edges. This has to be a simulation, it needs to be a simulation.

Please let this be a simulation.

Solar flares howl in my ears despite me being in a body of water.

An explosion rings in my ears and I find myself in a labyrinth. I think it's a labyrinth at least. I can't really comprehend it anything. My mind betrays me everywhere I go, I can't understand anything going on, every time I search for an anchor it gets stolen from me.

My head screams in pain as I continue to walk, following along the right wall. If this isn't a simulation then what is it, I can't remember anything with clarity, the scenery keeps shifting as if there are thousands of landscapes intersecting each other. None of my theories stick, I just can't understand this and that scares me.

By following the right wall, I find myself at the center of the Labyrinth, staring down a tree that's larger than life.

Wait that's it.

Larger Than Life

I'm dead. This is my mind trying to grapple that it's dead! I'm Farther Than Life itself!

Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no no no.

"No no no that can't be right" my hoarse and broken voice whimpers out to no one, being met with a tsunami of senseless voices.

They all melt into one voice. My own. And it tells me.

"Stop trying to make sense of it. Stop Thinking. It'll all go much easier."

And so, I stop.

[Playback End]

Dr. Arkwright sits in awe of what she just saw, looking towards Orchestra with a silent question. 'What did I just watch?'.

Orchestra has no answer that would be anything that Iris doesn't already know.

Dr. Arkwright would collapse into her chair once more.

"Play it again."

"Of Course Iris."

[kuwajima]

Can I ask how you made the lil kny chocolate bombs? they’re SO CUTE

Yes of course! I bought a KNY chocolate making kit (from Bandai) from Amazon JP. But it’s not actually intended for hot cocoa bombs, so I had to improvise a little.

The molds are intended to be filled completely with chocolate and pressed together while the chocolate is warm to make one solid piece, but that doesn’t work when you need to have them filled with cocoa powder. So after a few tries, I figured out how to make it work!

If you want to make them too, I have steps listed below! It’s not that difficult once you get the hang of things!

The little picture of chocolate Inosuke with a pink nose inspired me to try out the molds in full color! Fun fact, you can buy some things off Amazon JP if you’re in the US. You do need to pay for somewhat expensive shipping, but it was cheaper to buy this from Japan than second-hand via eBay for me!

You will obviously need chocolate for this. Theoretically anything could work, but I used colored candy melts from the craft store and some almond bark stuff from Walmart. Melt it per package instructions, which is usually the microwave. The cup they give you in the kit is actually awesome, it kept the melted chocolate SO warm. But I was using so many colors for the set that I actually filled a Pyrex dish with boiling water and kept my tiny heat-safe glasses of colored chocolate in the water to keep them liquid enough to work with. If you’re going to use a lot of colors, it’s good to be strategic with the order of melting colors. If you’re doing just one of two colors you won’t need the dish of water.

For the fully colored ones I did small layers of colored candy melts and let each layer cool completely before adding the next one. This is why it took 2 hours lmao. When I made them with just plain chocolate it took significantly less time (maybe 30 min total with cool times for all 6?)

So for Inosuke I had to do the little white dot on his eyes, let it cool, add the blue, let it cool, then add MORE white! You’ll do this until the entire mold is coated with chocolate, but you want the layers to be pretty thin so you can add as much cocoa mix as possible. I was using toothpicks for small details and chopsticks for larger portions like the clothes.

HOWEVER if you just want to make solid colors or way less detailed bombs, you can just coat the entire mold in a thin layer of chocolate. Either way you want the cavity of the mold to be pretty big because that’s where the cocoa mix goes.

It’s hard to see, but one side of the mold doesn’t have chocolate up to the rim of the mold. There’s like a fraction of a cm of space. Let them cool completely.

Once cool, you’ll fill ONE side with cocoa mix. This is just a pre-made mix, but you can do anything you want. Cocoa mix is basically just cocoa powder and sugar lol. I also tried this with flavored milk tea powder! Since the other side is hollow, you can make a tiny mountain of the mix instead of just filling it to the top of the cavity.

Because the chocolate is cool, the two sides will not fit together on their own. This is why I left a tiny bit of space on the other mold.

Cover just the rim of the character on the opposite mold with hot melted chocolate. You can be a little messy here because the extra stuff will get smooshed to the side, away from the character. Match the notches when the chocolate is HOT (if it’s only kinda warm it won’t attach as well) and smoosh. You see the super thin layer of chocolate outside the character area? That will break off when you open the mold. Make sure the chocolate is totally surrounding the entire rim of the character because if there are any gaps, the mix will leak out when it is taken out of the mold.

Let it cool completely in your fridge (or at room temp, I guess?) for like 10 minutes and it should pop right out of the mold! If it doesn’t, you can also carefully press one side of the mold to take the character out.

And boom! You’re done! Now you can drown your faves in the hot milk or beverage of your choice! Go forth and eat your blorbos!

Giyu and Shinobu about to be sent to their doom:

[khunyuki]

There's this new game released yesterday called "Tokyo Debunker" and so far I am loving it <3

Before I start my review, I just want to tell you that this is my first ever review and first ever post in tumblr so pls bear with me🥹.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Tbh I was surprised when it suddenly installed itself on my phone cuz I forgot I even pre-registered for it. Before the release, I had no idea nor clue about the existence of this game cuz it never showed up to me as an ad nor did it show in any of my social media accounts. I just remember scrolling through google play then seeing it and liking it immediately so I registered for it.

Anyways, when I downloaded it I thought it would be big and that I won't have any space for it since I also have other games to play. And when I started it, I was waiting for the loading screen to show the downloading files etc but didn't see anything of the sort.

First Impression

I honestly thought that it was a normal visual novel game like the Ikemen series but it wasn't. The opening story was comic-like with voices included (including the MC) and damnn that was engaging. The smooth flow of images unlike any other game where you only get CGs, you can easily visualize the scene because they are literally showing it to you! Not to mention the translation, it was really easy to understand and there's no typos so far.

Story-telling

I love it so much! As I said earlier, it is really engaging and it catches your attention. The transition of normal visual text to comics then back was perfect for showing what actually needs to be shown. Tbh, it would be a lot better to see it and experience it for yourself.

Tutorial and Settings

Tutorial is kinda useless. It just showed you the basics of where and how you progress then that's it. It doesn't elaborate on how to do battles. There is no guide that has in-depth explanation of how to defeat your enemies efficiently since you can just skip it.

Gameplay

So far it is like an idle game where the character cards you have will do the farming for you, you just need to click click click. This kind of thing is certainly unique to me as usually it would be long-ass lessons that uses SP or LP, or missions that you have to wait hours for a single drop. Compared to those, this is fast and efficient.

If you're an F2P player like me, vising the shop isn't the most ideal since it is expensive and usually need a lot of irl money for it. Though in Special shop, there are free summons everyday but that's that. Also you can hatch an egg there.

There's also guilds you have to join immediately but it doesn't require much participation cuz you just have to do the activities once then you're done.

The cases are important, you have to clear it in order to read the latest chapters. It's like the battle system of the game but you can just skip it for free. However, you can be stuck at a level even if your card levels are high or your overall stats. I think it's because of incompatibility with your elements though i'm not sure. Tbh I don't understand how it works i just wing it. The only good thing about this is that you are not alone and a lot of people will be stuck at the same level as you🥲.

Gacha

Gacha in this game is the worst. It's just money-grubbing at this point. First of all, they do not even give you pre-registration rewards, just immediately daily log-in. There's no free single pull or free 10 tickets giveaways. Codes are also non-existent. The free gifts are just for EXP and not related to gacha at all. The only guaranteed SSR is for when you buy gems.

As an F2P casual gamer, this is just plain horror. While I don't usually do gacha even in other games, this kind of thing just isn't right! I once heard from the global chat that someone did 500 pulls just to get a single SSR. Like how is that even possible??? The pity system is also non-existent that it's crazy!!!

Gem farming is also hard cuz you only get gems from the bonus cases, occasionally from the guild, 10 gems every episode of the story, and from permanent tasks. It's just impossible even if you spend your gems wisely.

Although I got lucky and used up all of my luck by getting SSR Kaito on my first 10 pull🥲

Characters

This is probably the part where the most obvious duplicating original works happens. As some reviews might have already said, it's a copycat of Twisted Wonderland or Harry Potter (I could agree to some point but I am not that angry or exaggerating about it). This game certainly has it's own charm if you choose to ignore those and just enjoy playing.

Prime example of uncanny resemblance to characters we know is the guy above ^^^^. Kaito Fuji's looks are certainly deceiving. I didn't choose him at first because he wasn't my type nor did I think his personally would be that interesting. His mannerisms reminds me of Ace (Twisted Wonderland) and mostly Zenitsu (Kimetsu no Yaiba), especially when you hear his voice. Lucas, the guy beside him, reminds me of Deuce (Twisted Wonderland) and Hiiro Amagi (Ensemble Stars) and you really can't unsee it.

To some people, they might be irked by the resemblance and obvious plagiarism but personally, I think it's all part of the charm. Seeing those sides of them like that just like having the same dynamics as Adeuce made me like them even more. Because they are not all that, they have their own personality and stories which I like too.

Conclusion

This game can certainly do a lot more work and I believe it has potential as long as it is aimed for the player's enjoyment rather than just for their money. The story is really good while the gacha is trash. The battle is kinda frustrating but you can skip it. The characters have their own personalities too. The rest are so-so.

Personally, I play this game because I love the story and I don't usually gamble with gacha so it's just fine for me. If you do not want to download it and play, that is totally fine as well.

I just wanted to share with you my thoughts: of what I like and dislike about this game ^_^

Thank you for reading until the end💕

[hole-of-babel]

FFPR Aug 26th 2021

Been ordered to do a Face Fucking Report right away. Tried to resist. Need to be focusing on my work. Edging and writing and refreshing my stats have taken up all of the space in my cluttered head. I don’t have any meetings so I am wearing one of my Daddy’s sports jerseys that I stole from his collection. For a long time I could smell him on it but it’s washed away and that makes me sad. In my head I fantasize that I am sleeping in his bed and I threw this on like lovers do because I am so FUCKING BROKEN and twisted. 

When I snap I throw it off and rush over to the closet. This is why I bought the 6” heel lace up knee high platform boot from sinful shoes. I cut back on my grocery spending to make up all the money I have been spending on slutty shoes and clothes. I don’t want Daddy to get mad at me for what I am doing. I’m a grown woman. I don’t have a credit card or a phone that I control because I am so fucking broken. I need to escape but my brokenness keeps pulling me back. 

It takes a while to lace them up. I’ve been practicing since they arrived. I love how it’s a ritual how it takes time how I need to focus all of my energy into looking hot for random guys. It’s calming. Being feminine is calming. Nothing much else is for me. Maybe my dog. 

I wobble like a horse just learning how to walk in them. They make a clomping sound on my hardwood floor that I know my roommate can hear. She’s used to what a freak I am. I pay way more rent than her so she will shut up about it. I edge thinking about how perfect her ass is and how I wished she would make me worship it. Asian girls with perfect asses should be illegal. 

Mounting my Daddy sized dildo on my full length mirror next to my work desk I squat just as I have been instructed. It takes a while to get my balance and my fat cow udders sway as I do making it harder for me to keep my balance. My whole body is trying as hard as it can to make me look stupid. I am stupid for doing this. Writing that makes me wet. 

I forgot my belled udders clamps so I scramble up to get them from their home on my desk. Sometimes I just need to clamp myself need to feel pain need to ache to remind me of how horrible a person I am for having the feelings I do. WHO THINKS LIKE THIS??”? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?

I squat, turn on the video recorder on my phone, clamp and start.

I am violent today on my throat. I want to hear my bells ring like Santa’s sleigh. I’ve been watching porn where girls are face fucked and they make a sound that is so obscene I need to hear it on myself listen back to it as I edge. Wallow in my filth like a pig fuckpig. They sound like nothing I have ever heard. Glug glug glug glug glug. Maybe a goose IDK I look into my eyes as the demon that has possessed my RAPE CUNT controls my face makes me fuck myself HARD makes it hurt WANTS me to sound sore in meetings make people wonder if I am sick surely they can guess do I really look like an innocent Daddy’s girl? 

I look back at myself in pure self loathing. I will never be in a relationship. I will always be this broken stupid CUNT my face is plain I am a 5 I heard that over and over again in high school Elsie is a 5 she’s a 5 for a cow. The girls who named me elsie heard one of the boys call me a 5 even with my fat udders and so they picked it up. At night I would touch in shame. Now I face fuck myself in shame. At least now I will be able to suck dick. They will have to leave me after I throw all their clothes out of the window or find me in the bathroom crying in a ball. 

Anger is the best way to practice. This is all that I am good for. I need to be fired so I can become an online whore. It’s all that I am good for. 

I love how my thighs strain squatting. I love the ache I love how my throat aches I love aching for cock it’s a good pain it’s the best pain it’s why I exist it’s why all women exist just most of us are lying to ourselves. I’m done lying. It’s boring. 

Eventually I fall over. I look ridiculous. I can’t even do this right. Need to practice more. I’m not even good enough to be a cheap whore.

[practically-an-x-man]

Oc ask :3! Your characters are tasked with hiding a draft horse in a zoo of otherwise exotic animals. The horse is calm and cool with pretty much anything being done to it, but it has to stay hidden without getting caught by park staff or visitors for 24 hours. Bonus points for who questions why they're hiding a horse, and who does it immediately without question.

Ooooh very interesting!!! This is really creative, let's see what I can come up with!

Rae: Decides to hide the horse in plain sight. She gives it its own enclosure, brushes its fur a bit, then comes up with a placard that makes it look seem more interesting than it is - she even takes her knowledge of languages to provide translations and anecdotes in various languages, passing the horse off as some kind of incredibly rare, near-extinct breed of wild horse found somewhere in the American plains. She herself finds a zookeeper's uniform and makes a show of keeping the enclosure in order to keep the rest of the staff away.

Robin: You said it's a draft horse? Well, she'll hide in plain sight too, but not quite the way Rae does it. She turns it into a gimmick - throws on a historical-ish blue dress and saddles up the horse, then rides around the zoo offering a "Disney princess meet & greet". The zoo staff doesn't remember agreeing to hire a Merida impersonator, but it's so entertaining to the guests that they just decide to go along with it.

Madison: Just keeps moving, keeping the horse hidden wherever there's enough room for it and moving on when there get to be too many guests or staff. Once, there get to be too many people before she can move the horse again, so she camouflages herself and opens half the doors in the aviary, and the resulting chaos of birds is enough to divert attention for her to move the horse again.

Ophelia: There are a lot of trucks behind some of the larger exhibits, used to move the animals' food, water, or other resources around. She essentially builds a "shell" of one of these trucks - it can't drive, but it looks fundamentally the same from the outside and has a large enough space for the horse inside - and parks it with the others, then just waits with the horse and offers it food and water throughout the day.

Jasper: Finds an exhibit currently closed for construction, and manages to find a way inside. If there are any actual zoo staff or construction workers inside, they'll manipulate their emotions to make them feel tired (so they'll call off work, or move to an easier task), but otherwise they're free to just wander around the empty exhibit with the horse until their time's up.

Kestrel: Doesn't exactly hide the horse, just creates a bigger problem for people to deal with. They stash the horse wherever they can find, then fly across the zoo and shapeshift into some large, dangerous-looking animal (like a tiger or a rhino) and wander around. Obviously they don't attack anybody or cause any major damage, but it results in all the guests being evacuated and all the zoo staff diverted to taking care of this supposed "escaped" animal.

Katherine: Uses magic to cast some sort of illusion over the horse, then places it in the enclosure that will cause it the least harm (probably among some sort of bovine, or any herbivore with a good large habitat)

Quinn: Bribes one of the workers to close off one of the animal houses for the day (let's say the aviary, they're usually air-conditioned and not as smelly as some of the others, though it's a little loud in there), and just hangs there. No need for complex plans, especially since it's enough work just leading the horse inside when they have to also lean on their crutches.

Eris: Doesn't really bother hiding the horse - I mean, he finds a hiding place somewhere, but doesn't worry about it lasting the whole day. Instead they just wait with the horse until it's discovered and argue with the staff worker who says they're not supposed to be there, which then turns into such a full-scale, confusing debate that by the end of it the staff member isn't even sure if the horse was supposed to be there or not. Eris is... well, very good at arguments.

Nikoletta: Finds a large, somewhat shadowy building somewhere on the zoo premises - maybe some far corner of the bat cave, it's smelly as all hell but good and dark - and manipulates the shadows to hide the horse (and herself) completely from sight. If anyone turns the lights on, the jig is up, but who turns the lights on in the bat cave?

[octoagentmiles]

Any thoughts on what could have possibly happened during the time between the Octopod crashing in A&B, and it being repaired and the Octoray being added in?

Like what would the crew have been doing during that time. Their home was just destroyed and they had no way of continuing their job while it was repaired.

So what would have been doing? (Fully just headcanon what you want for this)

👀 Okay so as for the Octoray, I headcanon that Tweak and Barnacles were already working on it long before the events of The Skeleton Coast. The way Barnacles brought up "working together" with Paani, makes me feel like the Octo-Agent program was something that had been in the back of his mind for a while. He just needed an excuse to put it into action, and meeting Paani inspired him to finally do that.

(Dashi probably helped with the Octoray's construction, but I like to imagine her being made the Captain of it was a surprise.)

Tweak being able to get the Octopod standing in order to bring all that water to the elephants was impressive as heck—but it was done very rushed, and she was probably still running on pure adrenaline at that point after the crash. So unless we're about to see the Octopod fall apart or break down in a future ep as a result of the rushjob, it's safe to assume she took a MUCH longer time making it sea-worthy again.

Now what the heck were they doing in all that time?? 👇

They could've been living in the unfinished Octoray, but I feel like they'd have the same problem as when they lived in the OctoLab (much smaller space, no privacy, etc.)...

BUT the Octoray was being built in the Repair Station, so depending on how much damage was left from the ROF incident, they could've been living there. This makes the most sense to me, because it would mean they would still all be together, and they would've had access to at least some of the GUPs.

They also could've been living with their families; or at least, Kwazii, Shellington, Peso, and maybe Inkling—since the others were fixing the Octopod. For them, it would've been like a real, uninterrupted vacation, instead of what they got in The Arctic Adventure, or Kwazii's coconut crisis ordeal. Just plain relaxation. (or as well as they could relax knowing their home is destroyed, but ✨ yeah ✨)

Barnacles specifically was probably having a Really Bad Time™. You can imagine why, I'm sure. No matter what they were doing, it was not fun for him. He's either missing his crew, or stressed about the Octopod/crash. He definitely blamed himself for it, and didn't feel better until everything got back to normal.

👀 Then there's also the question of the Octowatches, because all the agents were given them upon recruitment, and they're brought up a couple times in a "Hey Look At My Cool Octowatch™ It's So Useful" way (Tracker using Shellington's creature collection, CJ's first Octo-Alert; talking about how much Pete loves it, etc.) but the Octonauts themselves aren't given them until the 2nd episode, and that part is never explained.

Tweak probably built 8 watches, knowing who Barnacles was considering for the Agent program. Paani's was originally going to be given to Bianca, but Barnacles was on the fence about asking her in the first place, so he gave it to him instead. It wasn't until after the whole thing finally got set in motion, that they realized it would be a good idea for all the Octonauts to have them too. Tweak offered to make Barnacles' Octocompass into a watch for him, but he declined. Inkling just didn't want one.

I don't know how to end this post non-abruptly but those are my headcanons okay byeeeeeee— ✨👋💞 xD

[popculturebuffet]

Sam and Max Save the World Retrospective Finale: Bright Side of the Moon! (Patreon Review for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy freelance police and after a short delay, we're finally back with the final chapter of telltale and skunkape's SAM AND MAX SAVE THE WORLD! Rest assured as the fact i've often called this the sam and max telltale retrospective shows, i'm nothing if not consistent, this isn't the end of the road as we'll be going onto it's sequel, Beyond Time and Space, next month and The Devil's Playhouse whenever the remaster comes out. If I need to stall for time we've got PLENTY of other sam and max content to shove down your ravenous max sized gullets.

But the future is the future and the past is a rainbow colored cult leader our heroes have to stop in order to Save the World. It's been a long strange trip.. and honestly some of the most fun i've had doing these reviews. As I said in the first chapter of this retrospective, and I feel bears repeating now we're at the end... I often don't quote jokes.. because there's so damn many. Trying to do reactoin images recently I had to rely on a best of montage because the game is around 7 hours long and just.. DENSE with quotable lines. And even with that I've had to pace myself and only done about half an hour simply because the writing is that sharp. The level design is also fantastic for the most part, and the puzzles aren't that obtuse and this again being the internet age, when they are it isn't a problem. That also brings me to a few odds and ends about the game as a whole I haven't really talked about. The first is the hint system. See I did try this in the first chapter, but felt max was just rambling and it was a joke.

Yeah the hint system is very helpful, it's just sometimes you have to ask twice because it's max we're dealing with. Kev told me it was and I just.. plain forgot for most of the game till this chapter. I was so used to the gameplay loop of trying it myself then using the guide I genuinely forgot I had an in game helper there. I still required it when I got stuck on one puzzle, but for the most part it makes the game so much easier. And of course being a professional I took the fact there was a really helpful tool I could've been using this whole time like a pro

The other thing is the dialouge changes to the remaster, waited on till now so I didn't run into any spoilers I hadn't already run into years before doing this retrospective. And look I know a lot of longtime fans of Sam and Max aren't fans of the changes... but they were necessary. The game was 14 years old at the time and none of these jokes had aged well. And in a LOT of cases the replacement joke is better. To use an example in Reality 2.0 originally the googles they have for max were desgined for "special needs children"

Yeah it wasn't funny THEN, should not have been made in the first place, and has only aged worse with time. By contrast the replacement is the COPS emphasising you can use it for various sporting activities. It's a more sam and max joke than "Hey let's laugh at children with disablities!". There were other just.. outright gross jokes like asking "Why the sex change" when bosco crossdresses in the final chapter (More on that later), and bosco implying he pretends to be an underaged girl online. which just

NONE of that was funny to start with, so taking it out of the game dosen't really hurt it. It only dosen't work when they don't sub in another joke, and that's more "If your going to all the trouble to edit out these lines, re-record the dialouge and fix stuff up why didn't you make a new joke when you have for OTHER lines you cut out?" And even then i'm sure there's a rational explination why Skunkape didn't. It's fine to touch up your work for a rerelease especially when said work is simply something your not proud of anymore. If it's okay for them to touch up the textures, add needed accesiblity options, and other neat stuff.. why isn't it okay to get rid of some offensive stuff that simply dosen't really fit sam and max?

Now those odds and ends are out of the way it's time to return to the moon to put an end to this hypnosis scheme, reconnect with some old friends, and save the world. Goody!

Chapter wise, Bright Side of The Moon is a strong contender for my faviorite. It is REALLY hard to pick betweent his one and The Mob, The Mole and the Meatball. Writing good as usual, but there's an epic scope, a genuine tension and unease, and it really feels like a grand finale to everything you've done up to this point, while still keeping the level design tight. The only real issue is the long walk from the blister of tranquility back to your car. And having to walk back a bit when you need to get back to sam and max's street is a common issue it's just emphasized here. But overal one hell of a finale gameplay wise. let's get into the story.

We open with Sam catching up ot the audience.. by complicated deduction, he figures out Hugh Bliss is behind things, and finds out from the Chief where he is: THE MOON ALICE... I mean the giant face was kinda a big clue. So our heroes head back to the moon! I covered their previously moon adventure recently if your interested. It's in large part because Bad Day on The Moon is one of the only two stories pre-telltale explictly refrenced in this trilogy, via the photos in the boys office, the other being Meet the Road, from which both bosco's this season and stinky's next season come form, simply fleshed out into fully explorable places here. There's nothing saying the other Freelance Police comics or tv show aren't canon, and it's likely light on call backs outside of hit the road to be accesible to new audiences. And possibly rights issues ala the tick, which REALLY needs a proper comics refresh that brings it all together. But that's a retrospective for another day (and if anyone's intrested let me know).

For now our heroes head to the moon, and we see our first of MANY character returns, as , fitting a season finale, at least one major character from every previous chapter shows up on the moon, now having joined Prismatology. The only exception is the soda poppers...

It's a mildly weird omission but I get why: they only needed four call back characters for the puzzles, their terrible and I hate them, and their the only group present on the moon that didn't intersect in some way with Hugh's plan, so there's no real reason for him to care about them.

And we do find out his plan.. and I like how it's revealed: you can just casually find out in the gift shop. That's it. Hugh just has his plan up there.

It also is a shockingly well thought out one, as each plan had a contegency.. and as we find out this episode Hugh had both a moon base and a final plan should all these fails. You gotta admire the guy for being through. And each one in the previous chapter was a seroius threat to the world, an amusing as hell one sure, but if our heroes hadn't stopped it Hugh woudl've likely conquered the us and eventually the world. And even if he couldn't do that last part , his controllign the us would at least stall for time long enough for him to carry out his masterstroke with no one to stop him.

You might also be noticing that Brady.. is absent. And that's because his plan, while kicking off our heroes knowing about hypnotisim.. wasn't planned. It's also nicely set up that way: unlike the others after ther'es never a reveal of a larger part of the conspiracy and his plan does nothing to help Hugh in the long run. It's just to make BRADY feel better and bigger, with his minons being chosen.. because their show was succesful and his wasn't. As for how Brady stole the protype goggles, also from the gift shop, hence Harry Mole now working as security. Thankfully he ONLY checks sam so we're able to smuggle a telekinesis talismen out in max... though we'll have to get it out later.

The TK Talismen is one of several we'll collect but first we have to get past sam and max's oldest and most dangeorus foe: DOORS!

Yes once again Agent Superball is guarding one. This time it's a bit easier though, as he gives us a unicorn which tests one's prismatology level. It also allows you to ask everyone "Want to touch my unicorn" which is just the best. Sam gives you the solution, pointing out how it likely works like a cheap mood ring, so you simply need to heat it up.. and I figured out HOW quickly... All it requires is a quick jaunt back to earth, as we start the adventure on the moon. Before we check in on Sybil and Bosco, I check the closet.. and also get the coat hanger for the tv again. Sadly... the last trophy room item is pretty weak, just the vr gag. There's a great and entirely close to home gag out of how they destroyed the internet

But it feels like a let down after the presidents head and leonard> Leonard is plot relevant this time as Max fed him the deed to america. Like the talisman we can't get it YET, but we shall. So it's time to check in with Bosco but before using his micro we see his deal for the episode: He's become his mother!.. no really he's pretending to be her and unlike most of his personas which are just a shoddy accent, he commits to the bit and it's hilarious. Gratned Sam and Max being.. shocked by this as much as they are has aged like wet cheese on the titanic, he's just wearing drag, but Max's frustration Bosco won't break character and eventually buying into the bit is comedy gold.

Anyways Bosco is selling an earthquake machine but as usual we can't buy it yet. We can however use his Microwave to cheat the system, and I do like that Bosco's various conviences are something that commonly come up to solve the puzzles. It's something you'd think of instantly given their always there, especially after the ketchups come in play twice and instead of calling you a dum dum for thinking that they just.. let you be right.

Before we go back to the moon though we check on Sybil and for her final random job.. and i'm goign to miss these as I didn't realize till Kev told me that next season your quest buddies change. Sybil and Bosco aren't written OUT, but I will be sad to see them not around as much.

WIth Sybil though I kinda get it as it's entirely hard to top her FINAL JOB... QUEEN. OF. CANADA. Yes really. It's both so entirely random and such an escalation from her previous more mundane jobs as dating service person, carbondater and beta tester. It's a cermonial thing but it's still just a heck of a reveal and a lot of fun with canadian sterotypes. I assume Red Green is her minister of ducktape and her minister of annoyance is of course.. Lorne

I assume he was one of Max's presidental pardons. I also assume one of the cofnidtions was he was shipped in a crate second class. It had at least one airhole though.. maybe... so that was nice of him.

At any rate this will naturally be useful to us later. It does give me a chance to talk about the gameplay loop though.. and how it works. You'd THINK after 6 chapters of "go to sybil or bosco to move the plot along" it'd get boring.. but honestly.. no. The writing is sharp, and each time things are radically different. I mean across these 6 chapters Sybil gets locked up by a patient, gives you a psyche eval, needs her death faked by you without her realizing it to save her from the toy mafia, has a dating service, gets her heart broken by you two via the lincoln memorial, beta tests and finally becomes queen of canada among some other shenanigans we'll get to. While with bosco he takes on various disguises, has some new doodad set up or someone hassling him, from jimmy twice, once as a skinbody once as himself, to whizzer.. you'll ALWAYS need to visit these two.. but they'll always have some funny stuff to say and something fresh. It's a way to recycle the enviornments sure but it dosen't feel stale. I can see why they swap them out next time: as sad as I was to find that out it DOES make sense to change your item buddies each game to keep things fresh.

Anywho, now we can get through the door via our bright red unicorn horn

So we're on to the next part of this episode and it's fairly straight forward: Hugh Bliss is in the deepest part of his blister of tranquilty, which is a very close second with Ted. E Bears to my faviorite setting of the game. It's weird rainbow amusment park complete with a roller coaster, a shark floating in acid, and as said earlier a gaggle of familiar faces from each chapter, each having a new prismatology talismen that grants a psychic power we need to get to the final section of the chapter. Starting with the most familiar of faces, we have Abe Lincoln, whose not really happy to see the guys who blew him up real good a few chapters ago. Hilariously though it's not any of the obvious reasons: he's fine being just a head, and as for loosing the presidency only a "grade a psyschopath" would want the roll. Max is naturally touched> I mean grade a. His real beef is that they ruined his chances with Sybil... deciding he wanted to get back out there. Max has.. several questions about that.. questions we thankfully don't here as otherwise the rest of this review would just be me rambling incoherently from madness. Not the BIGGEST difference mind but I like to at least have the illusion of quality control here.

Our heroes are happy to help and thus we get one of the funniest sequences in the entire game as the two have to feed abe lincoln pickup lines. It's easily the best of these long strings of "answer it right or go back to start" puzzles, as there are just enough options to get a LOT of great comedy out of Lincoln's horrible pickup lines and Sybil's annoyance, but not so long it becomes frustrating like the midtown cowboys stuff in episode 2. You successfully get the head of abe lincoln laid

And get us the talismen. The next one is an eye that can see through stuff and it's with our old friends the C.O.P.S. who are a TAD mad about our heroes taking away their goodhood, but allow them to beta test their game. Which once again and not with hyperbole, is one of the best jokes in all 6 chapters. Seriously the writing for this chapter is the peak of Save the World: In a post apocalyptic hellscae only the strong survive. Can you face the challenge of TIC, TAC, TOE?! Well you shouldn't as you need to loose. luckily the game just sorta. .had me loose. I was genuinly trying to win but either the game was rigged for me to, or the switch futzed it up. Either way , another talismen got. Now before we get our last one we need to open our present from the gift shop. Getting it out of max was easy, just use the gastronomy talismen, which I already had when I had him eat it. The hard part.. is getting the thing open. It took me ages and was the one puzzle that REALLY got me for this chapter. I looked it pu and it turns out it's simple. There's a lunar landar outside you can get into, using your coathanger, netting the key. You simply place the talismen under it, activate the lander which can only go up an ddown and boom, telekensis kyle. Well specifically bending anything similar to a spoon, which is clever. Is the puzzle frustrating? yes. Is the prize worth it? yes. So with that our final talismen, which allows you to pull jimmy out of a hat. Just him. To get it we talk to Philo Pennyworth, the most welcome return of all. I mean I fucking love the COPS but i've got minor spoilers they'll be in the next two games. I don't think Philo shows up nearly as much so his long awaited return was appricated. He can pull jimm y out of his hat but since jimmy's clinging to a parking meter to avoid more shenanigans from our heroes, we have to bend him off. With that philo pulls him out and is disgusted enough to let us have his talismen.

With that we can enter hugh's sanctum, which is neat, using the spoon bender to open the door, the eye to see so we can bend the door and jimmy to hit the switch.

Normally this would be where our heroes confront our villian, violence and some puzzles and jokes ensue... but in a clever twist on telltale's part... Hugh KNEW they were coming, would likely do some shenanigans to get into his sanctum and presumibly what htey had for lunch. For the record it was a hamsteak with extra gravy and extra ham and an all dress flavor stygian being of questionable origin. It also turns out our heroes are too late as while Hugh didn't do it 25 minutes ago.. his plan is already set up: to use a crystal thing with him in the center to make EVERYONE on earth Hugh bliss.

As for WHY he'd do that, it turns out he's a sentient colony of plankton and eats emotions, a neat and utterly batshit twist, and his translucent look he takes on for a second is genuinely unsettling. Really Hugh's entire demeanor post turn is unsettling as he's still got that squeaky sing song voice, think Regular Shows Pops if he snorted hellium.. but instead of being just.. blindly happy and a tad hammy, you can also sense his malice and pride at what he's done. Sure guys gotta eat but he's just so gleeful. Now granted you could poke holes in this , say there were easier ways than mass hypnosis to get a free emotoinal meal, etc etc... but you have to remmeber what game we've been playing for the past 6 months

So it REALLY dosen't matter and the fact Hugh went to all this lengths is likely part of the joke. But the one thing that can stop endless bliss? Max. His chaos is the one thing that can possibly upset this plan... so Hugh lured him here to steal his bliss... so he takes out his sloth, hunger and violence, leaving Max a shell, Sam disturbed and our heroes needing to round up three other maxes to restore him to proper zaniness and resotre the world. First up is Red Max, all of max's anger and violence.. and he's SHOCKINGLY disturbing. Usually max' s violent tendencies are played for laughs, the violence done off screen. This max.. has a gun, laughs manically and is geninely creepy. Dispatching him is nicely tricky but not too bad once you think it out: being a max, red max jumps around, jumpsa round, get up get up get down.. and his stalking grounds just so happen to be right next to the roller coaster. This.. really just gives him a fun ride, but luckily there's a big ole chekov's spork on the track, and since it's spon adjacent, you can bend it, send Red Max for a ride.. and disarm him. Or dishand him. Max gets his rage back and we're on to our next one.

Our next max to collect is the Green max, who being the embodiment of max's endless hunger for sentient planets and artifical cheese, is currently terroizing boscos. Suprisingly you DON'T use the gastrolgy talismen which is good as i'm pretty sure the contents of Green Max's stomach at this point would get Telltale brought up on obscenity charges. The solution is no less horrific though: you FEED HIM JIMMY. Yes you have him eat a rat.. which to be fair i'm sure Max's has done at some point but is still pretty .. eeeuuugh. We use the magician's hat from fethearly to pull him and max's stomach out which is way less graphic than it sound but still will haunt my nightmares for many moons to come, and thus max has his hunger back.

All that's left is sloth which, while max is OCASIONALLY lazy is the only one tha tdosen't quite fit. This max just... lays on the moon. To get him we finally give Sybil her due in one of the funniest callbacks of the game. So you remember how max was feeding the deed to the united states to leonard?

Turns out you need to get him to cough it up, give the deed to Cybil and canada now owns the untied states!

Seriously I.. don't see a downside. With that she gives us the money for bosco who charged a zillion dollars this time. I also love his justification "All I know is I keep making up the biggest price I can think of and you guys keep paying it, now tell me, whose crazy?". With that we have the earthquake machine.. aka the last of his satlite network. I'd also be remiss if I didn't point out the finally "do you have any" gag. See the rest are all just a great stream of Sam asking Bosco for random stuff. This one though.. turns out EVERY ONE is a solution to a previous puzzle. It's fucking glorious especially with Max's mounting bafflement that in all the things sam asked for he never asked for these when heneeded them. Bosco DOSEN'T have hugh bliss tied up back there, but can't blame Sam for trying. It's a brillaint payoff to what's already one of the best running gags in the series.

So with that we head, whoah oh, back to the moon again, and use the satlite to flip lazy max over, take his tale and max is' restored. With that we're FINALLY to the finale, with Hugh, mad they were able to beat him, deciding to put on a show.. specifically putting Sam thorugh a ton of magic stuff while max watches from the crystal chamber thing. It's easily the best climax of the whole game: tense, fun, and using every talismen you've gotten so far to turn the tables on hugh before using the lunar lander to finish him off. Hugh Bliss is no more. Problem is.. the machine goes off so now everyone is maxified. Our heroes naturally have a solution for that though... PUNCH EVERY PERSON IN THE WORLD. I'm.. not exagerating or underplaying it. That's how season 1 ends. Our heroes are happy, the world is saved and Max is going to punch every last person to de-max them. And that would honestly be a perfect ending to a perfect season of gammery.. but this being sam nad max they took it one last step further for the credits.... which is max punching EVERY single character we've seen, or most of them at least to the games best song. I didn't think you could top War.. but .. here we are

It both beautifully sums up max, and is a relaxing and hilaroius way to close out a relaxing and hilaroius game. I can't stop listening to it, not that i've tired very hard. It's so damn good. It utterly baffled me when I saw it, but I still loved it. I can't belivie THIS I show they ended it.. but I can't imagine a more perfect ending to this game. As an added touch the menu music for the remaster is an insturmental of this so it makes a nice bookened for your adventure.

So with that we've closed out Save the World.. and this may be one of the funnest experinces i've had reviewing. It not only opened me up to finally reviewing games, with more to come, but I got to play a game i'd long craved to , got paid for it and enjoyed every second of it. All thanks to kev. While this only ends the first third of this project.. it dosen't make it any less special or hard to say good bye to this game. This was true fun and I thank so many of you for reading... and see you next month for round 2.

[bixiebeet]

Winston’s First Day: part 3

I will put this onto Ao3 once I reset my password and get into my account! I also like giving a first glimpse here on Tumblr. It feels like I can still edit if needed.

Earlier chapters: https://www.tumblr.com/bixiebeet/718131221788524544/she-waits-for-me

Chapter 3: The Firehouse Tour

Egon slid past Janine and entered the office. He introduced himself and shook Winston’s hand. “Has anyone done a brain scan on you yet?” Egon asked.

Winston panicked until he realized that this must have been a joke. “You guys are real pranksters,” Winston said.

“I’m serious. I’m curious why someone would willingly join a business like this,” Egon said flatly.

Janine raised her eyebrows from behind him. “Not for the pay. But don’t tell Dr. Venkman I said that,” she muttered.

Winston was trying to come up with a good answer when Ray burst into the office. He slammed his Tobin’s Spirit Guide on Peter’s desk. The cover and pages were very worn down. “Sorry it’s a bit rough. We can get you a new copy.”

Egon brushed some potato chip bags off the desk and revealed a pristine copy of the same book. “I’m sure that Peter won’t mind us borrowing this. He didn’t open it once in grad school,” Egon said with a smirk.

Janine dashed back to her desk to take an incoming phone call. Egon and Ray took Winston on a tour of the firehouse, starting with the upstairs. The snacks and refrigerator were open to everyone. Same with the arcade games—they were ready to play anytime, no coins required. Ray and Winston each played a game of pinball, while Egon grabbed a pack of Twinkies to eat later.

The shared bunk room was plain but functional. Ray explained that they’d all lived in furnished apartments at Columbia University before moving into the firehouse. That’s why they didn’t bring much decor with them. (“We were unceremoniously thrown out on our asses thanks to Venkman,” he said. “And it was the best thing that ever happened in my life. Despite being scary as hell.”) They offered to get a new bed for Winston or have him sleep on the firehouse’s pull out sofa. However, he insisted that he’d rather keep his apartment in the Bronx. Even though the subway commute would be long, Winston told himself that it would be nice to have his own space.

Although most of the areas were for common use, Egon’s lab and Ray’s book collection were off limits. These were some of the only spaces with a modicum of privacy—something that felt quite elusive while working and living all in one place. (“This is a 24/7 gig. Even Janine works late. Peter always tells me to escort her home, and he tries to insist that I spend the night. As if I want to sleep on her sofa when I have a perfectly good bed here,” Egon scoffed. Winston silently suspected that Peter wasn’t trying to force Egon to sleep on Janine’s sofa.)

Winston was extremely impressed by what he saw in the lab and makeshift library. Egon had stacks of drawings depicting the various Ghostbuster gadgets. Some items were adapted from existing tech, while others were totally new creations. Moreover, Egon obviously loved building things just as much as he loved drawing them. Winston had worked with a lot of military and construction equipment, but he’d never seen anything quite like Egon’s work.

After playing around with an early neutrona wand prototype, Ray led them over to his books. He had a very unique ordering system and preferred that no one meddle with it. (It was a mix of theme, author, and how many pictures were inside.) But otherwise, anyone could ask to borrow a book at any time. Unlike Egon’s gizmos, none of Ray’s collection had the potential to blast a hole through the ceiling.

Winston tried his best not to get overly excited, even though he felt like a kid in a candy shop. His childhood library paled in comparison to this. Ray had sourced books about spirits, hauntings, and the paranormal from all around the world. He had a whole section dedicated to major cities: Cairo, New York, Tokyo, and more. Ray’s section on London hauntings filled up a whole shelf; he explained that he had studied there and brought home a suitcase full of supernatural reference books. Winston couldn’t wait to start reading.

They continued the tour and passed through the lobby, stopping to ask Janine about ordering Winston’s jumpsuit. Then Ray remembered that he’d left another full ghost trap in the back of the Ecto-1. They grabbed the trap, and the three men went down to the basement.