#I used to design and make bookmarks of its quotes | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ginkgomoon · 3 years ago

Text

Gavin’s Mini House In Detail 🏡

During the Mini House special events, I obtained all the furnishing items and had already unlocked all the furniture in the home so I thought for Gavin’s Birthday Week, I would share all of the little secrets it contains!

Gavin has four sections of the house including-

Living Room

Loft

Courtyard

Basement

This post also includes MC’s commentary and quotes from special happenings associated with Gavin. Special furnishes will have the coziness points indicated next to its name.

Please enjoy!

Living Room

Soft Stool

The white soft stool next to the tea table.

This stool is a must when Gavin watches soccer games.

The leather surface is very soft, and its height is just right for watching TV on.

Want to know the trend of the soccer lottery recently? How about asking about it?

It seemed to have won all the recent games, and is both happy and lonely.

If his favourite team loses, Gavin will sit here alone. (#sad)

White Sofa

With so many pillows, you don’t have to worry about having no support behind you.

Is the white sofa difficult to clean?

The bolsters are very comfortable.

Curled up on the sofa with soft ginkgo aroma.

“Gavin, do you remember what you told me?”

“I just want to be with you, just like this...”

“You still remembered!”

“I won’t forget what I’ve told you.”

“Then... Do you have anything you want to tell me this time?”

Gavin kissed MC’s forehead gently.

- This special happening (Starry Sky) refers to the Furniture City Date!

White Table

“Gavin’s Pad is placed here too.”

(It has a photo of MC and she says she will change it into the both of them next time.)

“I can add a snack box, but Gavin doesn’t really eat snacks.”

Hallway Cabinet

“Gavin waters the plants regularly.”

“These are often loose change on the cabinet which we can take before going out.”

“The silver ornament is a souvenir I bought when we went to Disneyland.”

The “Wavy Thing”

“I noticed a little “go for it” written on the most recently scrawled page of the notebook.”

“I found a magazine that puts people to sleep in a second, which was necessary for insomniacs.”

Zoombot

The black Zoombot.

Today I’m again busy all over the place saving Zoombot.

It’s a bit stupid and often gets stuck after hitting the furniture.

Makes a buzzing sound when working.

You threaten it: If you hang again, I’ll replace you!

Music Stand

The music stand bought by Gavin.

On it are sheets of music scores printed by Gavin.

It will sometimes think that the small black table next to it is a bit short.

Sometimes Gavin uses in in the hanging chair to record melodies.

Gavin will print the music scores and put them on it to practice.

Flowers on the Wall

Each flower is carefully selected by Gavin.

The front wall stores a variety of flowers.

The flowers on the entire flower wall are all preserved fresh flowers.

Black Table and Seat

Looking at it closely, it is the song that Gavin played last time. (Music score sheet on table.)

It is also very comfortable with the little black seat cushion next to it.

The soft black cushion stuffed with cotton.

My exclusive seat for Gavin’s recital.

I bought it with Gavin when we were shopping at the furniture market.

Hanging Chair/Rose Hanging Chair (Coziness 88)

A great napping spot.

Here in the Leisure Time special happening, MC and Gavin talk about the swing they had in high school. MC is surprised that Gavin knew about the view of the sunset when being on it. He says he “passed by” sometimes. MC notes how the ginkgo leaves danced in the wind. He says, “they were gifts from another person”.

Heart-Shaped Chair (Coziness 28)

A cute small stool and a convenient storage box.

Gavin’s expression was a bit subtle while he sat on it first.

Alternating blue and pink hearts, as it’s a Valentine’s Day limited edition.

Surfboard Cabinet (Coziness 42)

It’s a new surfboard. Bring it next time we travel.

There are also other surfboards. Guess where they are?

It says fly on the surfboard, like I can leap through waves with it.

(THEIR CUTE SHOES ARE NEXT TO IT AHHH)

Blue Lamp

A lamp that always blows bubbles from the bottom to top.

It’s beautiful and dreamlike when switched on at night.

Black Table on the Left

“This looks like the score that Gavin played on the beach last time. I suddenly feel a bit nostalgic.” - This refers to the Slightly Drunken Date!

“I found a picture of an asleep Gavin. He was sleeping soundly.”

Claw Machine and Carpet

A dream-like claw machine. Gavin will add new dolls in it.

The inserted game coins can be taken out from the back of the machine and then reused.

A small black carpet in front of the claw machine.

I bought it together with the large carpet.

Red Bunny, White Bunny, Pink Bunny, Red Bunny, Grey Bunny.

Motorcycles

The blue motorcycle sometimes want to compete with the opposite motorcycle.

The colour of the motorcycle displayed is sky blue.

Maybe its name will be “Azure”? (because Gavin uses colours to individually name items.)

Spring Landscape Display

The landscape has been embedded into the window, like beautiful paintings.

Maybe there is a new world inside.

I can't help stopping to enjoy the view each time I pass.

Is designed for a wider view, improving your mood even when you're tired.

Winter Landscape Display (Coziness 61)

A corresponding landscape should be changed into winter.

Such heavy snow! Frozen river! Unfortunately, they are all fake.

You can enjoy the red maple leaves and snow even at home, isn’t it wonderful?

Loft

Painting

This is a word map that covers the entire wall.

Looking at it, Gavin and I have already been to so many places.

If you want to travel, you can find the destination on it in advance.

I'm willing to create memories with him in many more places.

Chandelier

The current iron style design is really cool.

Shines warm yellow when turned on, warming our hearts.

Display Cabinet

It should have been a wine cabinet, but Gavin doesn’t drink, so it became a display cabinet.

The ‘little things’ between me and Gavin are displayed inside.

It looks empty now, but it will slowly be filled up in the future.

Black Tea Table

A black low table in front of the sofa.

I occasionally work here.

The star and moon deco piece is very beautiful, I picked it with Gavin.

You can put fruits and snacks on it while reading.

The wood texture had a matted quality with the black coat of paint.

Art

Looks cold but is artistic.

Seems useless, but also seems cool.

Greenery

A corner with blooming flowers all seasons, is warm and restful to the eye.

Outside the window is a huge ginkgo tree, and the fallen leaves are like brocade.

I feel like it’s always spring with all these flowers around.

It compliments the scenery outside the window. (They have a ginkgo tree right outside their home!)

Cabinet

Photo framed have karmas from the Starry Date and the Romantic Date!

Decorative Cabinet/Snowman Closet (Coziness 49)

The two little snowmen stared at each other throughout the winter. (Cute little reference to the CN Recovery ASMR.)

It looks like a window at first glance, but it’s actually a cabinet if you look carefully.

And you could open it. Didn’t see that coming right?

Starry Sky Wall (Coziness 52)

Today’s wish… I hope that Gavin…

I will accompany you to see the meteor rain which falls on this Earth.

Every moment a wish is realised, there will be a meteor streaking across the sky.

Dandelion Lamp (Coziness 43)

The lamp looks exactly like the grapefruit during Mid-Autumn Festival.

Like a burning sparkler, shining brightly.

Six light sources, not too dazzling nor too dark.

Festive Decoration Table (Coziness 57)

Although there are two cups of drinks, we can still drink from the same cup.

The sofa in the corner always makes people feel safe.

Although we are only two people, I still chose two long couches.

The letter under the ginkgo biloba leaf, writes a love poem.

All the shopping bags represent his most flawless love.

The wide view allows you to see the scenery in the yard.

The soft white mat was added afterwards.

But it’s always hot under the sunlight, so the curtain is often pulled down.

Basement

Security Camera

You are in a monitored area, please mind your actions.

Bulletproof Glass

It’s not a normal screen, it’s bulletproof.

It's not often that one gets to see such a cool and HARD-CORE transparent screen.

Anyways, curious what’s in this wall.

Sci-fi glass wall in the movies.

The engraved badge is Gavin’s silent pride.

1-2-3... still shorter than it!

Gingko Tree

Seasons slip by soundlessly.

No matter how small their wishes are, they will become seeds and eventually bloom in gold.

All life’s little joys turned into gold.

It guards the serene life here quietly over in the corner.

(Gavin makes ginkgo bookmarks with them for MC. CRIES.)

Corner Resting Area

These action figures are actually pretty fun!

The puzzle is all grown up. It should be able to piece itself back together. (LOL)

(Puzzle) Maybe finish it while Gavin’s gone?

(Table) It sometimes thinks the table is a bit short.

(Chair) It looks hard but it’s actually comfortable to sit on.

Very spacious, but looks a bit empty.

Some decorations should be displayed here.

Sitting on a blanket is also very comfortable. You can also lean on the small pillow.

(Carpet) This is a carpet. You can’t tell, right?

The advanced smart carpet that is warm in winter and cool in summer is awesome.

(The book on the table is called ‘Kritik Der Urteilskraft’- The Critique of Judgement by famous German philosopher Immanuel Kant. It follows after the Critique of Pure Reason and the Critique of Practical Reason- the First and Second Critiques, respectively. The Critique of Judgment constitutes a discussion of the place of Judgment itself, which must overlap both the “understanding” and “reason”.)

“You need to take better care of your health.”

“Who was the one working overnight over the proposal the other day?”

“Alright, we’re birds of a feather, so... so both of us should look after ourselves for each other!”

“Rest assured, I will. After all, it’s different now. I have you by my side.” -Harmonous Compa Special Happening

Gavin’s Workspace

Accompany Gavin though every sleepless night.

This seems… No, I’m seeing things.

All folders are neatly organised and arranged.

A spacious table, with files and reports spread all over when busy.

I no need to worry about waking up from naps due to cold late at night.

I was reminded of some criminal investigation shows I have watched. Come on, Officer Gavin!

If this complicated case is made into a movie, it will be an exhilarating one.

(Computer) A customised large-screen UHD model customised for work purpose.

(Computer) Work exclusive computer, only connected to intranet.

(Computer) The three auxiliary monitors can help keep the data safe.

(Chair) If you want to protect your waist, you should first have a comfortable cushion.

(Chair) if you work long hours, be sure to work in a comfortable chair.

(Board Area) What does it say? Ermm… Cats have nine lives?

“Found a girl crookedly drawn next to a work record when he reached a bottleneck.”

Airplane

This airplane model was assembled by Gavin himself.

The computer says- Agent B-7

Team Operator S.T.R.I.K.E

Location Tracker

S.P.Y Camera

U4V Commando

Gunship Operation

Motorcycle Repair Area

Every vehicle is so cool in its own way!

Hello, you are... Little… Erm… Let me think…

With the strength to lift mountains and the spirit to take on the world! Ha!

The robot arm is actually a simple robot.

For your safety, please don’t linger below it

(Motorcycle) I would like to greet my seniors.

Electronic Control Pad

Responsible for controlling the rising, descending and switches of the entire area.

On Spring Festival, it will say: Happy New Year, Sir!”

Sooner or later, fully automated smart management will be achieved.

Radio Office

It’s an important communication device, and the only disadvantage is that it’s a bit heavy.

It’s actually a satellite phone, and it can receive signals everywhere.

Looks like the palm phone in the 90s. Oh no, I’ve exposed myself.

It looks like an electrocardiogram.

Don’t know how to use this weird device.

A thick laptop that it’s properly shut when not in use.

A cool eagle logo is printed on it.

Gavin used it only for special tasks and it will not be brought out.

LMAO MC DOESN’T HAVE ACCESS-

Courtyard

Corner Seating Area

A courtyard in sunny or snowy days are interested in their own ways.

Sometimes the unfrequented bolsters will envy the knee pillow.

It's’ wonderful when two people are sitting here reading, even if they don’t talk.

Standing barefoot on the soft lawn is very comfortable.

There's nothing nicer than basking ourselves when its sunny.

Binoculars

The white binoculars which you can see things several miles away.

You can use it to watch the stars when it’s not too cloudy.

But star-watching is clearer mid-air.

Seems to be the same binoculars as those in the scenic area.

The binoculars in the scenic area require coins, but this one doesn't.

Outdoor Lounge Chairs

The new furniture I asked Gavin to buy.

Can enjoy the sunlight spa comfortably when relaxing.

Closing my eyes, I feel like I’m lying on a beach.

The soft breeze and warm sunshine. This is life.

Lying on it and looking at the blue sky and white clouds, your mind goes blank easily.

The blue and white clouds-

Leisure Table/Romantic Table (Coziness 52)

Lace tablecloth… I can’t imagine that it was chosen by Gavin.

The elaborately prepared dinner and roses, just for today.

A large sunshade on the balcony. (Black large umbrella.)

Bird Nest (Coziness 37)

Once it was a pair of binoculars, now it’s a bird’s nest.

I bought it just because it was cute, but I’ll consider having pets in the future.

Birds flying by can also have a free meal here.

#mlqc #Gavin's birthday #mlqc mini house #love and producer #mr love queen's choice #mlqc gavin #Gavin week #happy birthday Gavin

31 notes · View notes

the-resurrection-3d · 2 years ago

Text

I feel like Elon Musk trying to buy Twitter fascinates me so much because I agree with a lot of his assessments of it -- but the more I think about it, the more I find the project of rehabbing Twitter’s reputation incredibly daunting. (and also I’m fascinated by web design and its effects on behavior.)

Tumblr partially rehabbed its image only via a mass exodus of users-- certainly staff has been making some positive changes, such as tipping and the “non rebloggable” option that allegedly will exist soon, but I think we can all agree that the reason Tumblr is seen by many as calmer than before is because of the porn ban.... whereupon all the worst users went to Twitter.

I’ve already posted about the content moderation issue that plagues most social media sites. (Fun new example from Youtube: I was watching a stream where one superchatter was asking for advice about how to comfort his elderly, COVID+ father, and another chatter was suggesting a bath of Epsom salt for aches and it got fucking deleted as COVID misinfo while the streamer was reading it out loud.)

Multiple posts/threads/videos have been about this, but I think that so much of Twitter’s user interface is designed to make you want to tell people to swallow glass that to actually tackle the harassment problem-- as Musk indicated he wanted to do very recently --you’d need to redesign the whole thing. A few “the devil is in the details” things that stand out to me personally:

the What’s Happening tab stands out the most to me because I actually recently installed a Ublock Origin filter to get rid of it. There should never, EVER under any circumstances be a trend-- especially a political trend-- that I am not able to banish to the fucking Shadow Realm. Ever.

this feature can also amplify harassment by directing people to the Twitter Main Character of the Day. Though, to be fair, this is really a problem with the site’s users and not so much the feature in a vacuum.

Inserting random shit onto your timeline also needs to go. Part of the reason I don’t like using my professional account is because I’ll get a bunch of “liked by whoever” tweets that are about people’s family members dying or OP getting diagnosed with cancer, which obviously the person I follow liked out of sympathy.

quote-retweets are pretty much only used for dunking on other people. Even visually, the quote-retweet is “pushing down,” as it were, on the OP, privileging their voice over OP’s. I think part of the problem with them is that they cut notifications off from the source-tweeter; this is why so many artists have “NO QRTS” in their bios. But this means that you can reap all the dopamine of a “hit tweet” by QRTing someone else.

also worth noting that, though you’re allowed to RT things onto multiple accounts from the app, you still have to go into QRT mode to select the account you want.

oh god remember during the election when they made QRTing pretty much mandatory

Something I’ve noticed that is Twitter seems to be dealing with this trend of mass-QRTing people into oblivion by arbitrarily pretending the QRTs aren’t there. I’m sure other people have noticed this, right? The page with the parakeet with the big cut-out human eyes? Very odd.

This one is probably the most obvious, but as many others have noticed, the way longer threads are displayed does the work of taking shit out of context for you.

The character limit. Oh, the character limit. This will always be a fundamental problem with Twitter so long as people treat it as a real website and not an RSS feed.

Things I like about twitter got gov dot net that should stay:

Allowing you to go private at any time without blocking your followers from viewing your content. This is one thing I think Twitter has over Tumblr, hands-down.

Private bookmarking, though I think there should be some way to organize them, similar to how ao3 has bookmarking tags and collections.

Allowing people to make lists of users to follow that’s separate from their “main” list of followed accounts. I follow one list of nothing but magazine accounts and it’s great.

That time during the election when Twitter (at least the app) had a pop-up chiding you for retweeting a link you hadn’t opened. I think they should bring this back. Honestly, it might even be worth it to outright block you from retweeting links you haven’t opened, or at least tweaking the algorithm so that likes/RTs from people who haven’t opened the link are discounted. Musk mentioned recently that he thinks free speech and shadowbanning people can co-exist (which I find funny, because a lot of the people who complain about censorship also complain about shadowbanning), so this change would work with that idea.

downvoting replies is hilarious and I love it

Of course, part of the problem with the site, too, is that people are trying to break its features over their knees to make it work for a ton of different communities with tons of different needs. 50+ tweet threads are the best example of this-- especially when you see one and the very first, most-liked reply is someone @ing the thread-unroller bot so that it’s in a more comprehensive and readable form. And THEN OP complains about it because it’s stealing money from them, somehow.

Honestly, Musk should pull a Fortnite and take the site offline for a month or two while it gets revamped. All the worst users will kill themselves and the problem will have sorted itself out!

4 notes · View notes

shinelikethunder · 5 years ago

Text

aftermarket hacks: a love letter

Not reblogging directly from @star-anise because the post is long e-fucking-nough already, but yeah, hey, let’s talk about actual useful things you can do with third-party code on AO3!

Simple stuff you could potentially do with the contents of the page, plus maybe some on-the-spot data-fetching:

Detect quotes from the fic text in comments, and float a little expandable comment marker next to that line in the text.

Make user links point to the user’s full works page. Or their profile.

Or auto-attach profile info to the default user-dashboard view.

On individual works, look for a “remix/reuse policy” paragraph in the author’s profile and display it after the notes section if found.

Set a work’s bookmarks page to only show the ones with tags/comments

Guilty Pleasure Ratio #1 on all work pages: anon kudos to logged-in kudos

More complicated stuff you could potentially do with local storage and periodic background fetches:

Guilty Pleasure Ratio #2 on your stats page and your works: private bookmarks to public bookmarks

Sticky / always-on “exclude” filters

Designate certain users as trusted bookmarkers, and whenever a fic they’ve bookmarked appears anywhere on the site, display the bookmark tags in a separate section below the work tags. I’ve seen this floated as a way to share warnings for, e.g., untagged racism while dodging the absolute shitshow of abuse potential you’d get with full crowdsourced tagging.

Not gonna venture into extensions that submit actions on the user’s behalf, because you really don’t want to fuck around with that lightly, but I do wonder if you could turn the “create bookmark” form into something along the lines of XKit’s one-click reblogs. Or pre-fill its tags/collections fields with ones you’ve used recently.

Stuff you can already do:

Floating Comment Box aka the best thing ever

Sticky / always-on filters - Exists as a userscript but I’m not sure whether it makes full use of the new “exclude” filters, someone should experiment with that... there’s also another one that lets you save searches and track them for updates

Bookmarking extras: star ratings, specific chapters, last-read date, update checking, track last reading position

“You might also like” recommendations (one userscript, in beta; note that it collects browsing data to crunch into recs; plenty of room for other people to post their versions of this too)

Filling localization gaps (translating menus into Chinese, adjusting typography and word counts)

Shortcuts: download buttons and “entire work”/”last chapter” links in work listings without having to click through, estimated reading time, tag ID on tag feeds, first/last chapter links on work pages, a subscribe button at the end of the work as well as the beginning, full user menu in the global dropdown, chapter navigation by arrow keys, quick links to more by this author in this fandom/pairing/etc

Highlighting (or hiding!) fics you’ve already read/kudosed

So many blacklisting options to go with your filters. So many. By user, including comments and kudos. By specific work. By pairing, character, freeform tag, whether it’s a crossover, whether your OTP is a secondary pairing, whether it’s a non-beginning part of a series. Hide works with too many tags, or just too many relationships. If you’ve got a blacklisting need that’s too fine-grained even for these, someone will probably write it for you just so it exists.

Selectively hiding parts of a work you don’t want to see: individual tags (or highlight ‘em!), lowercase tags, images, author’s notes, empty/double-spaced paragraphs...

Many, many options to display various ratios of kudos, bookmarks, hits, and hits-per-chapter. Although I haven’t seen any with the Guilty Pleasure ratios yet.

Most of these are userscripts; a handful are browser extensions. None of them are mobile apps because, well, any helpful AO3-related mobile apps just got nuked from orbit along with the scummy ones. That means custom functionality is mainly a desktop thing at the moment. AFAIK Firefox for Android allows extensions, including Tampermonkey, but I’m not actually running any userscripts on it so I can’t personally vouch for their availability. iOS users, to the best of my knowledge, are shit outta luck unless they’ve got a jailbroken iPhone.

#ao3 #userscripts

604 notes · View notes

kunstpause-archive · 4 years ago

Text

FFXIV Write Prompt #12: Tooth and Nail

It was still dark outside as Thea slowly made her way through the mostly unfamiliar room. It wasn’t actually cold, but the nightly winds in Ala Mhigo had a certain, sharp quality to them that was just enough to not be entirely comfortable.

She had wrapped a thin sheet around her, to keep the slight chill that came through the open windows at bay, as she lit a small candle.

There hadn’t been any time for her to take in her surroundings earlier that evening. All she had noticed was, that the chambers she was in were opulently furnished in traditional, Ala Mhigan styles. Decorative, intricately woven tapestries adorned the walls. As Thea quietly walked around, trying to see as much as she could in the dim light the candle gave her, she noticed that, while everything was meticulously decorated and placed, there seemed to be next to no personal touch to anything. Nothing looked like it was regularly used. The entire room felt like there was no one actually living in it. The armor stand in one corner, and an elaborate display of several swords seemed to be the only things she could see, that actually seemed to belong to Zenos.

That was until she passed through the doorway into the connected side room and came to halt in front of the books. Carefully she raised up her light, looking around this entirely different room, taking it all in. It was what looked like a small library. Tall bookshelves filled every single bit of wall-space, reaching up high to the ceilings. There was a table to the side that was littered with books, some lying open, many having more than one bookmark poking out of them. A pair of reading glasses sat on top of another pile on the desk, accompanied by what looked like a mug of tea gone cold.

In the same corner, safely behind glass, there was a small oil lamp still burning. Like someone had forgotten to turn it off as they left this place in a hurry.

To go looking for an intruder, Althea thought to herself as she kept looking around. This room felt so decidedly different from the rest of his chambers, it was nearly incomprehensible. But only nearly. Dimly, she remembered the stories from back home. About the crown prince who never showed his face in public. Who couldn’t be bothered to attend official functions and the gossipy voices of the people claiming that he rarely ever left the royal library.

Curiously, Thea walked along the bookshelves, running her hand over the fascinatingly varied arsenal of volumes. She tried to make sense of it, but as she read over the titles, she couldn’t discern a system of order behind it all. From war tactics to poetry, history books to a manual on herbal remedies specific to Orthand, and even children’s books, the shelves seemed to be in no particular order.

“How does he find anything in here?” she mumbled quietly.

“By remembering where I put it,” came his answer from behind her, and Althea nearly dropped the candle in surprise as she turned around.

Zenos stood in the doorway, wearing only a loose pair of pants as he watched her with curious eyes. His long hair fell openly over his shoulders and chest, only partially hiding the cuts and scratches she had inflicted on him earlier and Althea swallowed, suddenly acutely aware of her own skin looking much the same under the sheet. If she listened closely to herself, she could feel the dull pull of freshly closed cuts and blooming bruises quiver in tune with her own heartbeat.

“If you are looking for your weapon, it is in the sitting room, right there on the table,” Zenos added at that moment, inclining his head with a raised eyebrow and Thea swallowed once again. She hadn’t even been looking for it when it would have been the smart thing to do that first thing after she had gotten up. But somehow, the room she stood in was far more interesting than her missing chakram.

“Thank you,” she said, sounding so overly polite that her own voice felt out of place to her. “But I was just…” she looked around the room, trying to find an explanation why it held her attention so much.

“Not one for sleep?” Zenos mused, looking the slightest bit intrigued at her behavior.

Althea shrugged in an attempt to look more casual. He had a way about him that caught her off-guard far too many times. Just for once, she would prefer to keep her calm around him. “I bore easily,” she said simply before her eyes went to the bookshelves again.

“Anything catching your fancy?” he asked, sounding just as polite and laid back as she did. Althea wasn’t sure if they were playing a game or if, by some strange occurrence, for once neither of them was.

“I can’t tell, there is no way of finding anything in here.” Again, her attention was caught by the shelves. As if there was something there, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on yet. Hidden in plain sight.

Zenos chuckled, and the sound sent a shiver down her back with how new it was. How different it sounded from everything she heard from him before. “There is a system,” he insisted. “Trust me.”

“So, there is something you do, except fighting all day after all,” Althea said lightly, and the half-smile on his face – like the chuckle before – felt so very different from the smiles she had seen before, it was mesmerizing to watch as he shrugged. “I bore easily,” he quoted her earlier reply with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

And suddenly, as Thea looked once again, she saw what she had noticed before in the back of her mind. Her frown slowly melted away and gave way to a smile. It was in the spines of the books. From the far end of the room to the shelves near the reading table, the change was subtle, but once she was aware of it, she couldn’t unsee it. He did have a system, indeed. The books were sorted by how often he had read each one of them.

Following a hunch she went up to the desk, placing the candle-holder down carefully, before reaching for the shelf that was closest. Her fingertips brushed over well-worn leather, feeling each crack in the spine as she pulled out a small volume. The moment she saw what it was, she knew that what she held in her hands was his favorite book.

“Fairy tales…” Thea said softly. She could hear him shift slightly behind her before his equally quiet voice came.

“I always found them… more compelling than everything else,” he said simply. “More vivid, more real…”

“Describing what life was supposed to be, instead of the dull grey mass that we get,” she finished the bit he was quoting, and her eyes flickered to the cover of the book she still held. She knew this particular story only all too well. A tale of a young child that wanted to experience the world but could only ever see it in black and white. A story about their journey to find the color everyone else kept talking about. It had always been a bittersweet story for her, amplified by the tale leaving it open, whether the hero found the color at last, or simply learned to see the beauty in the grey. “My mother used to read this to me,” she said finally.

“Your mother?” There was a clear hint of confusion in his voice and Althea couldn’t blame him for it. She would be hard-pressed to imagine a village full of wood-dwelling Viera reading their children imperial bedtime stories as well.

“My adoptive mother,” she clarified. As different as they had been, thoughts of her parents – her real parents – the people who had taken her in without reservation and had raised her as their own, never once making her feel like she didn’t belong, always put a small smile on her face. A smile and a dull tug of pain at their loss. No matter how much further the Calamity sank into the past, the sense of loss never really lightened.

Althea shook off the gloomy thoughts, focusing on the things that made her smile instead. “It was one of her favorite stories as well, I think,” she mused. “We had a very passionate fight about the ending when I was about seven.” Her hand smoothed over the worn cover, as she followed the letters imprinted on it with her fingertips. “My mother was convinced there was only one true ending, that the moral of the story was, that you have to grow up to accept the world as it is – and then you will find happiness in it.”

While she talked, Zenos stepped closer, coming up behind her until he could look over her shoulder. “If you fought her on this I suspect that seven-year-old you thought the exact opposite,” he said, and his warm breath on her neck sent a pleasant shudder down her back.

“I was furious that she even wanted me to consider that claim,” Thea said, a rush of old, long-forgotten fondness going through her at the memory. “I fought her tooth and nail on this, until my father intervened, making us agree to disagree.” With a last fond look at the book, she carefully placed it back in its designated spot.

A moment later, Zenos’ warm hands were on her shoulders, drawing her back against him. It felt decidedly different than everything that had happened between them before. Softer. Nearly unbearably so, Thea thought as he asked, “And what do you think today?”

Althea didn’t answer. Not out loud at least. There was something there between them, something just like this library. Something she could almost see. Hidden in plain sight, ready for her to discover if she only looked long enough and she let herself relax against him, shifting slightly until the sheet around her fell open in the front. An image from earlier that night was vividly on her mind. Of him, looking down at her with red-stained lips, and Thea turned around, the sheet falling to the floor forgotten as she pressed herself against his warm, naked chest.

She looked up with the knowledge that she still believed as fiercely as she did when she was seven years old. That she could never stop looking for color in her life. And as her hand snuck around his neck, drawing him down into a kiss that was smoldering with red, hot, heat she thought she just might have an idea of where to look.

#FFxivWrite2020 #FFxivWrite #Zenos x WoL #Wol x Zenos #ffxiv #Kunstpause writes stuff

28 notes · View notes

uzumaki-rebellion · 4 years ago

Text

“Stark’s New Intern” Chapter 23

youtube

"When I'm in a bad mood It's good to know I have you You got niggas from your past that still ain't pass you But you're on my time But you're on my time now, and our past through

Now that we finally got them out the way All the decisions that I wanna make I want your body in a million ways Nobody ever makes me feel the same…"

DVSN—"A Muse"

Erik practiced playing poker online. When work was finished with Tony for the day, he would take himself to his apartment and cook a simple meal of plain brown rice with sautéed vegetables and boneless skinless chicken breasts.

Food consumed, he'd check personal emails, call his grandfather, and then hunker down on his laptop and play three hours a night. He was going to use the money Tony paid him that he had saved to get him in at the bottom: half a million dollars. Minus the other half a million he gave away to his family, he was willing to bankroll his spot at the high stakes poker table with no help from Tony.

Work had gotten serious. After Tony's cover story appeared in Forbes, the focus of his company turned toward escalating weapons manufacturing, and Erik finally saw the bread and butter of Stark Industries. His days were spent working with Tony at his subsidiary company AccuTech designing a new missiles system that he called Jericho X. The man spent hours of brainpower trying to create an experimental model that he wanted to manufacture and have on the market within five years. Inking a new contract with the United States Armed Forces, Tony was under pressure to deliver the hot-launched missiles sooner than the five-year deadline he gave AccuTech. The man was hands-on and Erik's education at the Naval Academy was useful to him. Erik had the mind of a soldier, and his training was meant to prepare him for his forthcoming Naval career. Those military eyes helped him on the job.

Erik had to concede once more that Tony was a smart motherfucker and his focus on work was just as laser-sharp and obsessive as Erik. Working around him on the Jericho X project was eye-opening and the long hours pushed Erik's mind to its limits. He was allowed to work at AccuTech and give up a lot of his assistant tasks which he was all for. He acted with restrained professionalism, and that allowed him to hang around after hours to do his own experimentation with the vibranium.

It did take the heads of AccuTech a couple of weeks to be accustomed to a Black teen having so much access to a secret project. If he had been some lanky white teen with an overly ingratiating personality, no one would question his presence. He would just be viewed as a white boy genius and "Atta boy!" accolades would've been thrown at him along with pats on the back. Instead, he was a Black boy genius faced with bias and suspicion. He endured the usual bullshit just so he could get his hands on equipment, testing space, and cutting-edge STEM knowledge.

Sitting on his bed and winding down from playing online poker, he checked out the housing available to him at M.I.T. In six months, he was leaving for grad school and he was already designing his life there. He checked out restaurants and clubs, searched for areas that had Black people and Black cultural things he could access. He searched for any capoeira spaces and the ones he found were white-dominated and he wanted Black people to practice with. He needed Black touchstones to keep him sane after his experience at the Naval Academy and Stark's internship.

Checking the M.I.T. website he found an alumni link that helped new students transition to the Institute. A few hyperlinks found him peeping the on-campus radio station, WMBR, that served the Cambridge-Boston area. Listening to a few archived music shows, he stumbled across one that was deejayed by someone called ButtaFly. The show was called Cosmic Café and when he listened to the first ten minutes, he immediately bookmarked it and added it to his listening rotation. The music was Blackity Black and spanned generations, and the DJ did live mixes that had Erik head bobbing.

For two months he laid on his bed from twelve midnight until two in the morning just being carried away by the sounds and also the voice of ButtaFly, a woman who made Erik's entire body relax. She opened her show with a positive quote or a bit of poetry and then she had themes that she created stringing songs from the field hollers of Black chain gangs to the Black Neo Soul of 90s British R&B, or any type of current African diaspora music she could blend with Hip Hop, Deep House, or Electronica.

He tried looking up personal details or even pictures of ButtaFly, but she was a hidden ghost, just words and rhythms and vocal soothing that helped him sleep before heading off for the grueling hours of AccuTech.

She became his brain muse, expanding his mind so he could juggle the science he worked with every day.

Stretching on his bed, Erik closed his eyes and put in his earbuds.

"As-salaam 'alaykum, Beloved. Welcome to the Cosmic Café. I am your host, DJ ButtaFly bringing you that good nourishment, that savory food for your mind, body, and spirit. Tonight's theme is going to run us into the realm of quantum physics. A little Afrofuturism to get us through Black History Month…"

Erik felt his shoulders loosen up and he closed his eyes. He tried to imagine what type of face went with the sultry voice blessing his ears. The modulations and changes in tone she used as she spoke hypnotized his ears. Muscles throughout his body relaxed and he wondered what kind of musical journey she would take her listeners on that night.

"I want to open the show with a piece from a sister whose work I adore, Alexis Pauline Gumb. I feel like someone out there needs to hear it. I know I do. This is taken from her book of experimental poetry called 'Dub: Finding Ceremony'. This particular joint is called 'Commitment'. Are you ready, Fam?"

Erik nodded his head as he grew more comfortable, slipping deeper into a state of mental ease. He rolled his right hand down his chest and rested it on his stomach. Lying nude in the dark he could almost hear his heartbeat.

"We promise to wake you if we think you won't get the point of the dream. We promise to show up if you show up. Everyday. We promise to make you feel sick if you lie to yourself. We promise to let love through if it's love you came to do…"

Soft. Soothing. Safe.

Her voice cradled and held him in a warm place. She wrapped his thoughts around her words.

"We promise to make time flexible if you give us your time. We promise to think of you more often than you think of us. We promise to remember you when you forget. We promise to be wherever and in everything you haven't noticed yet. We promise to be we, even one by one…"

Erik's body floated. He was still firmly pressed on his bed, but the eternal part of himself seemed to rise above his tired flesh and hover at the beckoning of ButtaFly's mouth thousands of miles away.

"We promise to outsmart your mind. We promise to overlove your heart. We promise to echo over your voice. We promise you everything. Everything. All we ask."

An image formed in his mind.

Full lips. Feline eyes. Skin rich and dark and made for touching and deep kissing.

His hand slid to his manhood.

ButtaFly spun dreams, drums, and breakbeats, sounds and rhythms that kept him floating above himself even as he stroked a growing erection in his hand. He tried to create a more detailed rendering of what he imagined the DJ to look like, but as pre-cum beaded at the tip of his swollen glans, his brain substituted Devika's face and body as a placeholder and he ran with it.

He tugged hard on his dick, keeping a tight grip right under the ridge of his tip. He imagined Devika's ass wiggling as he slapped his dick on her ass cheeks. ButtaFly's music urged him on and when she spoke to her audience about the songs she was about to mix in next, he latched onto her voice and grunted hard.

"Fuck!"

His hand was slick and more pre-cum spilled onto his fingers.

"Fuck this dick!"

"You ready for more?"

The haunting track ButtaFly flooded his ears with dragged him to the edge. He jumped up and turned over on his bed. Grabbing his pillow, he jammed it under his waist and ground his dick on it, pumping his hips as his glutes flexed hard. Eyes squeezed shut he conjured up images of a shapely ass clapping loud because of his thrusts.

A disembodied voice had him humping his pillow, the casing growing damp from the amount of pre-cum he was shooting out from his sensitive tip. He jammed his right hand on top of his erection to create a tunnel, allowing him to pretend he was in ButtaFly's pussy. His hand was slippery and he pushed down on the pillow to get more friction. The music in his ears was made for fucking and he thrust harder imagining some tight pussy yanking on his dick as his balls pounded into a nice soft ass. She sounded like the type who could throw it back on him and make him cry because it was so good. He lost it then.

He yelled like he was knee-deep in gushy pussy.

His thighs grew taught and his orgasm rushed across his ass and up over his back and neck before any semen flooded all over his pillow and sheets. A long groan blew out from his throat as he rubbed out another smaller nut. His fingers touched the pillow. The whole thing was soaked and sticky.

Leaning on his thighs he threw his head back to stretch his neck.

The moment he got to M.I.T. he was going to look for that DJ. There was no way in hell she could make him cum like that and he not find out what she looked like. His dick was still hard, and she kept the music going. He reached for his cell and searched through some old files. He pulled one up.

Athena.

She allowed him to film her as he hit from the back while she held onto her bedroom dresser. He watched Athena's big titties hang down and bounce in the mirror as he pounded her pussy. Jacking off again he allowed the music in his ears to narrate the fucking he watched himself do on his phone. Cradling one overly full breast in his hand on film, he watched his video self cum inside of her, calling out her name as she released on his dick screaming his. His eager hand worked his dick on the bed, the hard strokes slowed down until his cum splashed all over his stomach. He fell back on the bed feeling wiped out.

During his lunch break the next day, he downloaded the book of poetry, ButtaFly shared from the previous night, and read the piece at least five times. The words resonated with him. And they did something else: reminded him of his purpose.

Inside the work labs at AccuTech, Erik studied the mock-ups of new guns and smart weapons. He toyed with experimenting with vibranium and creating sonic weapons.

"We promise to outsmart your mind."

The line of the poem came back to him.

Staring at the new gun design that Tony had posed with on the Forbes magazine cover, Erik thought of converting it and somehow using the properties of the vibranium on it. As he listened to the best weapons designers grapple with the Jericho X missile prototypes, Erik memorized what he saw so that he could sketch it out later in his apartment. He wanted to compare it to the designs he saw in his father's old journals. He asked to work on the Stark sonic canon, a non-lethal long-range acoustic device. Granted permission to do so, he studied how the LRADs could be modified with the ideas he had swimming in his head. He looked for cheap and easy ways to mass manufacture devices that could be shipped around the world undetected. But he had to figure out how much vibranium it would take to modify Stark's LRADs. He only had six months left to absorb all he could.

He stayed diligent with his work and Tony visited AccuTech often giving his thoughts on their progress. Stark was preoccupied with some politicians giving him grief, and also preparing for the new batch of summer interns. He stripped down the number of interns he would have from 100 to fifty. That meant it would be even more competitive. Summoned to Tony's Los Angeles office from Palos Verdes where he had been working, Erik stepped into the outer sanctum and found Devika speaking to some assistants from other higher-ups. She took one look at him and paused for a long time. He realized then that they hadn't seen one another for a couple of months, his time spent in Palos Verdes cutting off contact between them in person.

He was about to step into Tony's office, but she held up a hand signaling for him to wait. When the assistants left, she walked over to him.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi."

Her eyes stared at him like she was seeing him for the first time.

"What?" he said feeling self-conscious.

"Something about you is different."

"How so?"

He sat on her desk.

"There's a swagger about you that is different…hmmm, more confident maybe?"

"When have I ever been less confident?"

"You look…good. Sophisticated."

Her eyes flitted away from his face. She was acting bashful all of a sudden.

"How's Wyatt?" he asked.

Her eyes regarded him carefully.

Wyatt was her new boyfriend, an older dude from Seattle she met at a mixer in Los Feliz.

"He's doing well. Thanks for asking."

He let his eyes linger on hers. She was still checking him out.

"He better be treating you like a Queen. Let me know if he doesn't," he said moving off of her desk and heading into Tony's office.

"Stevens. Good, we can get this intern stuff sorted. Come with me."

Tony swept past him and Erik followed. They only went around the corner from his office and into a mid-sized conference room. Pepper was inside the space along with two other executives Erik was not familiar with.

"Awesome, we can finish up now," Pepper said.

Tony and Erik took a seat at the end of the oval conference table facing a blank wall. Pepper handed them touchpads and turned on a floating screen.

"We've narrowed down applicants to just under three hundred. You need to choose who you want to be interviewed."

Erik and Tony scrolled CVs on the touchpads. So many names.

They painstakingly went through every CV, staring at applicant photos floating in front of them. Tony was open to Erik's suggestions, and this fact alone opened up the pool of applicants from ones Tony would've overlooked from his own biases. He tended to court favor with those from Ivy League schools and who had the same boring backgrounds. Mainly white and East Asian applicants who all did the shit that they thought would make them stand out. How many classically trained pianists/violinists who played La Crosse, Tennis, Chess, and water polo did one need? Sometimes too many extracurricular activities signaled a follower. A simp that did things not because they enjoyed it but because it padded their resume. He forced Tony to consider graduates from non-Ivy Leagues, those who did community-based work where they lived. More women applicants of color, especially Black and Latinx ones. He even suggested Tribal Colleges and lower-tiered public universities and colleges. He also mentioned looking at people who didn't have perfect Dean's Lists grades.

"I tell you what. I'll give you three weeks to open up the pool and bring in those types of potential interns you suggested. Pepper, give him access to the advertising bulletins," Tony said.

"That's cutting it close, Tony, we need to have interviews lined up and applicants chosen by the beginning of May."

Pepper and the other two Execs looked annoyed.

"Stevens can get it done. Give him the bulletins," Tony said, standing up.

Erik followed Tony out of the conference room.

"Let's go have lunch," Tony said.

Tony drove them to a restaurant in Pasadena. A small French café with excellent crepes filled with savory meats and sauces.

"Are you enjoying AccuTech?" Tony asked.

Erik nodded as he chewed a forkful of chicken masala crepes.

"I'm getting good reports about you. You've adjusted to the pace."

"It's cool. The LRAD work is right up my alley. That's what I'll study at school. Hands-on work will have me ahead of the curve."

"Grimaldo keeps hitting me up. He is ready for this re-match."

"I am too,"

"You sure you don't want me to bankroll you?"

"Nah."

"He tends to be at his best on his home turf."

"I'm good."

"Some things to know…"

A waiter brought over a glass of wine for Tony and sparkling water for Erik.

"We will be among a lot of royalty. I know you have excellent sartorial choices, but I need you to step up even more and have some formal clothing for at least a week—"

"A week? We'll be gone that long?"

"I'm making some business deals while I'm there, so work will be happening. You can use that time to work on the intern stuff. Pepper isn't coming with us, so I will slip you back into your old personal assistant role. She'll guide you from here. You'll need to be extra discreet while we are over there, and also be prepared for last-minute changes."

Erik ate his meal and listened.

"You sound kind of nervous," Erik said.

"Not nervous. This Jericho deal is very important and we'll be among some other industrialists and even some nefarious characters that want to see me fail. Things have to be tight and not attracting negative attention."

Erik nodded.

"I like the things you brought up at the intern meeting."

"Pepper and the others didn't sound so delighted."

"They'll get over it. It's why I put it in your hands for new outreach. Hey, are you sure about leaving for school after August?"

"Yeah. Gotta get that graduate degree."

"You should stay on at AccuTech."

Erik shook his head.

"M.I.T., Navy. That order."

Tony finished up his wine and glanced at his watch.

"Back to work," he said.

Erik stopped at Tony's office before picking up his car in the Stark garage. Devika was alone there, and her eyes seemed to light up when she saw him again.

"How was lunch?"

"Good. What do you want me to bring back from Monaco for you?"

"You don't have to bring me anything—"

"I want to."

"A t-shirt is cool-"

"T-shirt? That's so gauche. I'll bring you something classy."

"Don't spend a lot, Erik."

"I'll bring you back something that won't make your man jealous. How 'bout that?"

"Okay."

He smiled at her. The aroma of her perfume hit his nose suddenly and the scent took him back to her bedroom and the smell of her on his skin.

"I'm out," he said walking away quickly.

When his work was over for the day, he spread out on his bed nude and slipped on his earbuds.

"As-salaam 'alaykum, Beloved. Welcome to the Cosmic Café…"

Erik's muse took him away once more. Soothed his spirit. Steadied his mind.

He was ready for Monaco.

###

Chapter 24 HERE.

###

Tag List:

@fd-writes @soufcakmistress @cherrystainedlipsbaby

@tclaybon

@thadelightfulone

@allhailqueennel @bartierbakarimobisson @cpwtwot @shookmcgookqueen @yoyolovesbucky

@raysunshine78 @the-illlestt @terrablaze514 @l-auteuse @amirra88 @jimizwidow @janelledarling

@chaneajoyyy @sweetestdream92 @purple-apricots @blackpinup22 @hennessystevens-udaku

@scrumptiouslytenaciouscrusade @bugngiz @stariamrry @honeytoffee @meilintheempressofdreams

@tyees @eye-raq @writerbee-ffs @chocolatedream30 @childishgambinaa @mygirlrenee @thewaysheis—awkward

#Stark's New Intern #Killmonger Fanfiction #Killmonger Fanfic #Killmonger Smut #Tony Stark #Black Panther Fanfiction #Uzumaki Rebellion's Pantherverse

42 notes · View notes

jerinakterunit13 · 3 years ago

Text

EVALUATION

For my FMP, I concentrated on furniture design and combined it with architecture. I knew how to use AutoCAD and the basic architecture design styles like a plan, section and AXO. This is why I wanted to learn something new for this project, which could help me in the future, like model making with different materials. I am happy that after completing this project, I learned new skills, which made it more challenging and fun, and it didn't feel like work. I loved working with wood, as it allowed me to learn how to drill, work with wood, and the best part seeing my idea coming to life. I always loved crafting and origami, and working on my table felt like a dream, which felt very pleasing. Thinking about my initial ideas and looking at my model almost done now, I have to admit I didn't expect I would have completed such an intricate structure. Even though I am not done yet with all of my outcomes, I feel like I am at a good point, considering I was new working with wood and still managed to achieve a lot. I hoped I would have at least the booklet and the bookmarks done by now, however not having the table completed, I can't work on the book, but fortunately, I finished my bookmarks and have to print them on proper paper. I had few issues during the project, from the mini models to getting the correct wood and measurements. I wanted my small building to be geometrical, concentrating on its structure more than colours. I thought I would first experiment with origami and get the final designs ready before working with model paper and plaster it at the end. After I had my structures ready, I shifted to producing the outcomes. Unfortunately, I ended up not being able to fold the card, which meant all my models being very intricate, wouldn't make it. For a few of these models, I cut each of the sides and glued them together with UHU glue, which was very stable, and I didn't end up having any problem with folding. However, there were other structures I couldn't cut into pieces and glue them, as they are too complicated. After experimenting and trying to solve these issues, I found an easier way of solving my problem. I had the model out of printing paper, so I just added a card piece on the bottom and one between the joints, which solved my issue and made the model stable. I decided against my decision not to make the mini model out of plaster, as I might loose all the details, and they wouldn't be strong enough. This way, if I have room inside the buildings, it will allow me to put even lights inside. For my bookmarks I followed a simple style for both colours and illustrations, identifying myself in it. I thought about what kind of quotes will work for a book lover, expanding the project from me to other people. In my booklet instead, I only completed the cover. I am still waiting to finish my table, then I can put the pictures in the book, describing my inspiration and explain each of the parts of the models. I took inspiration from EXPO 2015, Biennale of Venice, Pinterest and origami structures for my mini models, keeping them all in white and in size for the tea table. My table, on the other hand, was inspired by the Italian War Memorial, George Greaves table and Matt Kelly's works. I had few issues with the wood at the beginning. The measurements I planned at the beginning of the wood pieces to be, ended up being a bit off, which meant I ended up going twice to buy the wood, as it wasn't enough. I ended up with 18mm plywood to build the table and kept a simple colour palette, white on the outside and enchanted ivy on the inside. I want to have plants displayed on the bottom part of the table, which I will get from home, so it showcases storage space, and the colours will balance together. The display of my model for the exhibition changed twice until now. First, I wanted to have my tea table with plants, with on top a bookshelf on the left side and the mini buildings with trees and people but, after I built the table, I saw it wouldn't work well having the bookshelf on one side but would be better if it was in the centre and would balance well with the table. Next, looking at the final model coming together, I saw the height for both the table and the bookshelf would be similar, which means it wouldn't work and wouldn't even look good. When I was looking into a platform to elevate my model for the exhibition, with the help of the teacher, I figured out I could expand my works and not jam them all together. So, my final works will be displayed on a platform. My table will be in the centre of the platform, with the bookshelf on one side, the mini buildings around the table with the trees and people. I think I will have to have boundaries, so none of my works will trip when people attend the exhibition. I am pleased with my outcomes and everything I achieved in this project. I enjoyed working and learning new things and looking into making different types of models. In the future, I will plan all the things I will need and get them all in the first few weeks, so I won't have to wait and can directly work. Having experience now with woodworking, I will be freer to make more intricate structures and be more independent in the future.

#FMP #evaluation

1 note · View note

these-eyebrows-are-not-even · 4 years ago

Text

Christmas Gift Ideas 2020

All of the gifts below that I thought of can be altered/customized to your budget, personal style and resources.

Face Mask’s

If you are handy with a sewing machine then this is a great one for you, using fabric scraps you already own or thrift bedsheets/t-shirts etc you could make your loved ones some custom face masks. Bonus points if you find a silk shirt and flip that into some face masks as silk, is hypo-allergenic, breathable and causes less friction on the skin so is perfect for anyone suffering from maskne (mask-acne). However, if sewing isn’t for you then places like Etsy have a wide range of masks for everyone and purchasing from sellers on their also supports small business.

Candle and match sticks

Candles are all the rage with thousands of reels and tik tok’s on how to twist candles. If you are brave enough then go for it! You can gift your hand-twisted candles to your friend along with a box of nice matches. Writing empowering messages or mantra’s on the matches (maybe get extra-long ones if you have large handwriting!) will mean that every time your loved one goes to light a candle there is a message from you to brighten their day. There is no need to twist candles, you could support a small business and buy theirs or just get a standard candle. You don’t have to support every trend! Bonus points for matching your loved one’s colour palette to the candles or vice versa. For example, my favourite colour right now is green so a set of candles ranging from emerald to sage would be much appreciated.

Seasonal Drink

It may be the British in me but Christmas is a time where having something to drink on these long winter nights is the norm. I am speaking of something alcoholic but non-alcoholic also works. I love vintage/second-hand glasses and they can be pretty cheap €1 a glass. You could get a second-hand glass of your choosing and send it to your friend along with a bottle of their favourite drink. If you want to amp it up, you could also include a cocktail/mocktail recipe book and some drink rocks. Drink rocks are reusable and do not dilute your drink. If they aren’t a spirit/liquor drinker then a stainless steel ice cube tray is also an eco-friendly and plastic-free option. I could go on with more items to include in this bundle but metal straws, coasters, fabric napkins and more are all ways you could expand this gift idea.

Seasonings

If you know a good amateur chef or home cook then getting them some fancy salt, oil and or vinegar may be an interesting idea. You could buy; one, two or all three and either make sure they coordinate e.g. Rosemary salt, garlic oil and lemon vinegar or they could be contrasting e.g. Truffle salt, chilli oil and amaretto vinegar. The endless combinations make this a fun gift and allow for some fun experimentation when cooking. If you’re a big diy’er you could infuse the oil and make custom labels for everything. You could also add in crackers, olives and risotto to turn it into a Mediterranean hamper or harissa, dried apricots and Ras-el-hanout to make it more North-African.

In the Bag.

A thrifted bag from a second hand/vintage shop (if open where you are) or one bought of Depop/eBay may make a great gift for a fashion-conscious person you know. Then you could add in a lip balm and/or a lip-gloss, a packet of their favourite sweets, a cute bottle of hand-sanitiser and a travel-size bottle of hand cream. These are all optional, the bag would be more than enough but they are just extras for you to think about. You could also make any of these extras vegan, cruelty-free, plastic fee etc

Cosy Toe’s

I don’t know about you but I get really cold feet in the winter. So thick socks are a must! A great idea could be to give someone a pair of fluffy socks. They could be practical or whimsical. I have been gifted thick, grey woollen pairs and a fun foxed themed pair (I love foxes). You could embroider a message or design on them if that’s your thing or pack them with some foot cream and a pedicure kit. As salons haven’t really been open this year pamper time is even more important.

Dried flowers

I do not mean the trendy ones, all over insta interior posts, I mean the Victorian past time. Pressed dried flowers, you could use flowers or leaves you have, buy some and then press them or that sounds too long then you could even buy pre-pressed and dried online. I saw a cute DIY on YouTube where they had been glued on to a small bowl or plate in a pretty pattern. This could be used to display jewellery, makeup etc. Furthermore, you could also arrange pressed flowers and plants into a pattern and place them on a canvas or in a frame to make a minimalistic art piece for someone.

Body care kit

I often joke, I am secretly an old lady as I have dry skin and so am always re-applying lotion. Now, its wintertime that is an absolute necessity but it’s also an act of self-care and 2020 has been a long year so extra self-care is needed. So gifting someone a kit of body scrub, body wash and lotion is a little bit of luxury we all need right now. You could expand on this and include a dry brush to get that circulation and lymphatic drainage going as well somebody oil or a bath bomb to increase the level of pampering. Making body scrub is quite easy but I recommend sugar and not coffee grounds if you do go the DIY route and you can turn regular liquid soap into fun shapes with jelly moulds and gelatine.

Homemade bookmark

Before you laugh, I am not suggesting the ones you made when you were seven unless you were an expert crafter. I am suggesting more sophisticated ones but the end product is up to you so I take no responsibility, I am just the provider of ideas! Those pressed flowers we had earlier? Extra ones could be attached in a pattern and glued onto card. You could go full out an paint one using all your creativity. Or make one out of photos of you and the booklover you’re giving this too. Lastly, it could just be an inspirational quote like: you deserve another glass of wine

Or you could do one of each and give them a medley of bookmarks for all their mood and needs.

Last but not least a Playlist

I know this may seem a little 2012 Tumblr but bear with me. You curate a playlist for them on their preferred app; if you don’t have access or its different to your one then give them detailed instructions for how they should assemble it). The playlist could be based upon a memory you have together or something you’re planning to do with them in the future, or anything you want! Then write out an explanation behind why you chose each song, what it reminds you of and why you thought that person would get it. You could burn the playlist onto a CD if you have the tech for that. For all the artsy types you could illustrate the written out reasoning with drawings, attach photos, collage – whatever you like to get the emotion across.

To everyone reading, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and for those who don’t celebrate then this list may come in handy for another gift-giving occasion. I don’t know about you but I cannot wait to be stuffed full of food on Christmas day, opening presents and sharing laughs.

Happy Christmas!

Elsa x

2 notes · View notes

wasithard · 4 years ago

Text

yas (@chariotrace) tagged me to answer reading related questions and i couldnt be more thrilled ily ❤️

do you have a certain place at home for reading?

i mean the most common place i read is in my bed but its not my designated reading place you know

do you use bookmarks? if so, what kind?

i have so many different bookmarks!! my favourite one is this magnetic one i bought from the MoMA when i was in NYC that has van gogh’s starry night on it.

can you just stop reading or do you have to make it to the end of the chapter?

i can stop reading anywhere but i prefer to make it to the end of the chapter. if it’s a great book then i’ll refuse to stop before the end of the chapter for mental health reasons

do you eat or drink while reading?

absolutely, i have stained many a book with food marks and have many crinkled pages from spilling water on my books :(

music or tv while reading?

NO im not a monster

one book at a time or several at once?

i’ve usually got one physical and one audiobook going at any one time. my parents are divorced so sometimes i’ll be reading a different book at each house but atm i’m bringing my kindle between them

reading at home or out?

both absolutely. i try to never go anywhere without a book (either physical, on my phone, kindle or audiobook). if u catch me driving or walking 80% chance i’m listening to an audiobook.

reading silently or out loud?

silently

do you read ahead, skip pages?

sometimes i accidentally read further down on the page than i’m up to and sometimes i’ll literally cover the page with my hand so i don’t spoil myself lol but no i’ll never purposely read ahead

i only skip pages in very rare circumstances where there is alot of description and its not really relevant to the plot. i literally cannot read more than two sentence of description at a time.

breaking the spine?

i mean ideally no but it just happens unfortunately. i like breaking the spine in books i love/have read many times because it gives them that worn-in well-loved look but for books i’ve only read once it annoys me. don’t ask me to explain.

do you mark your books?

i dog ear pages of paperbacks if something amazing happens, like a quote or a funny/romantic/badass moment. my sister reads alot of the books i’ve read and she says that she loves coming up to pages i’ve dog-eared so that’s a nice little thing we share. i don’t write in my books ever.

i’m gonna tag @chaserpercy, @perceabeth @tridentgum and @jilyseason.

#thank u yas ur a gem <3 #it was funny reading your answers compared to mine #i love people's quirks #tagged

7 notes · View notes

thebiblesalesman · 6 years ago

Text

Thoughts on Genji in Storm Rising

Storm Rising reframes the beginning of Genji’s journey and his interaction with the original Overwatch. Gone is the Genji who “single-mindedly set about the task of dismantling his family’s criminal empire” and abandoned Overwatch when his mission was complete.

Instead Storm Rising is the latest bookmark of a Genji who invested himself in Overwatch for an extended period of time and has finally begun to encounter support and friendship as a part of the Strike Team. Perhaps most importantly, the mission shows us that Genji is already capable of responding to positivity and that his Retribution-era coldness was not so much an inability to be properly social as it was a reflection of the dark personalities around him.

There are a few gaps between Retribution and Storm Rising that might be relevant to Genji’s personality shift: (1) we still don’t know exactly how his Shimada Clan mission went, or (2) the reason his cybernetics were upgraded (aside from his Blackwatch design looking very prototypy). We do know that one year prior to Storm Rising, Genji was sparring with Tracer while Blackwatch was on suspension and did not yet have his new cybernetics. In the year between Uprising and Storm Rising, a decision was made to export Genji to mainline Overwatch for some reason. Blackwatch is (kinda) back in action at the time of Storm Rising- I think I’ll talk more about that in a dedicated “plot developments” post.

We also know from other media that Storm Rising takes place within months of the destruction of Overwatch HQ. Any support Genji gained during his time with the Strike Team will be lost very soon, and I have to imagine that various revelations about Blackwatch and public opinion on Overwatch as a whole could do a lot of damage to someone whose body has been extensively modified to assist the organization. In the even more immediate future, Genji is going to be badly damaged by Doomfist despite his new cybernetics.

These defeats raise other questions, like did Genji perhaps avoid other members of the Strike Team purposefully after Overwatch ended, or did they simply not reach out to him? This is a particular quandary for the new character Captain Sojourn, who is shown in Storm Rising to be committed to supporting Genji as a fellow cyborg.

But there are a lot of routes the developers could take on explaining Sojourn’s absence in Genji’s life after Overwatch. For example, maybe Genji’s Nomad skin is literal rather than thematic canon and he actually disguised his identity in the most fashionable way possible. Maybe Sojourn was injured during the destruction of HQ and acquired triple amnesia. Maybe she was arrested after the arrival of the Petras Act. The possibilities are truly endless. It would really be nice to get some sort of media about the destruction of HQ and its aftermath...someday...

Genji’s persistent discomfort with his cybernetics seems like it should have been addressed by support specialists sometime before Retribution or in the two years since. Maybe it was, and there is just no interest in showing Genji’s psych evaluations as part of a poppy bright mission cutscene. Experiences like Genji’s don’t go away with one or two visits from a qualified professional, or ever, so it’s entirely possible Overwatch put as much support as they could into him and it simply was not helping.

But it is interesting to me that Sojourn is the one showing some empathy to Genji’s condition, whereas the doctor who saved his life generally makes light of her role. Other interactions in Storm Rising do seem to indicate that Mercy is not very good with people, and I would be remiss not to discuss the Gency interactions in the mission, but I think I’m going to do that in a separate Mercy-focused post. She got a lot of love this mission too, and not just from Genji.

I think what’s got me scratching my head is the sanitizing effect the Storm Rising personality shift has on Overwatch’s disgraceful conduct toward Genji.

On the one hand, demonstrating Genji’s preexisting ability to be something other than an angry boy and showing off how he responds to positive people dovetails nicely into his eventual meeting with Zenyatta. The interactions in Storm Rising also elevate the other members of the Strike Team, showing how they are genuinely trying to be Genji’s ally. Contrast this to the Blackwatch team, who frequently refer to Genji as an asset rather than a person.

On the other hand there is a Marvel-like unwillingness to explore the ethics of the story Overwatch sets forth for Genji, but given the punchy comic book underpinnings of the lore I guess that should not be a surprise at all. There’s a hyperintelligent hamster in this game.

And while there may be a lack of emphasis on certain human rights situations, the devs are very interested in covering how the heroes in Overwatch altered the trajectories of each other’s lives. Genji and Zenyatta was always the classic example of this, but now we know Genji was not a wall to everyone that came before. He is, in fact, quite human. :)

Just in case you left this mission with the sense of “why does he even need Zenyatta then?”, I’ll reiterate a few things. First and foremost, Overwatch is about to be destroyed, and then Overwatch activity is made illegal by the Petras Act. Genji’s hero profile still describes him as having “abandoned Overwatch”, but maybe it was more that he was torn from a purpose he was serving as a replacement for having a life.

I’m not convinced Genji has a sense of himself beyond his occupation in Overwatch even during Storm Rising. But whereas others in Blackwatch could be brazenly ignorant of what he was going through, the Strike Team seems to be mostly on-board with including him as a friend as much as a coworker, leading to interactions such as this:

Genji’s sense of humor is much more obvious in this mission overall (”mAYbE hE jUST liKEs to loOk at IT”), but his tone also oscillates wildly, going cold when there is a brush of conduct that sounds like Blackwatch work (”he’ll talk”) or when the subject turns to his cybernetics (”was that a joke?”, but he isn’t laughing). Most people have by now noticed elements of his behavior in the cutscenes such as him checking with the team about what he needs to do, then his arm shaking when he is not allowed to outright kill Maximilien. His embrace of the Strike Team could just be another prop to keep himself going.

When Genji says the ocean is beautiful in the quote a little ways above, he is looking at the sea under the influence of a hurricane, covered in lightning.

Genji’s anger is not something that ever goes away, even years later during the events of Dragons. It is not something even Zenyatta can take from him, because the goal of healing is not to erase a feeling that exists, but to improve how we deal with it.

(As an alternative hypothesis, the shaking is not just anger but some issue with the new cybernetics. Considering how robotic the motion is...did something happen to his remaining arm? Note how Maximilien, who is completely machine, moves with far more grace and control in the same scene.)

I also want to note that Genji considers Maximilien “dramatic”, and his tone when speaking about Maximilien and his money tends to be disdainful. Genji comes from a rich criminal family himself, but no one on the Strike Team appears to pick up on that angle of his responses. I think it’s safe to say he is holding a few cards close to his chest and trying to stay macho about the whole situation, but that’s not really what he needs to heal.

So get to it, Zenyatta.

#overwatch #genji #stormrising #myrestxt

28 notes · View notes

surveysonfleek · 5 years ago

Text

1528.

Is your hair long enough to pull over your face like a moustache? yes. Do you ever find yourself making up survey questions throughout the day? haha no. Who is your favourite online friend? i don’t have any online friends. What was the last thing you tried for the first time? i feel like today was the first time i ever worked at 8am. i think.

The last thing you said out loud: How loud were you speaking? inside voice lol.

What is your favourite nail polish colour to wear or see on others? brights and pastels. What was the last thing you learned? how to do more shit in my job. How warm do you like your showers/baths to be? really hot in winter, cold in summer. The song you’re listening to right now: What lyrics did they just sing? i’m watching tv. Are there any advertisements/commercials you actually like? Which? i never watch tv anymore. Which holidays do you decorate your house for, if any? just christmas. How often do you visit your relatives? i don’t really have any immediate relatives that live near me. everyone is interstate or overseas. In your opinion, what is the scariest natural disaster? something sudden like earthquakes. What design is on your bed sheets? those big bright green leaves that are everywhere right now. If your house was a hotel, what would its star rating be? 3? there’s no gym or pool here lol. What is your favourite brand of fizzy juice/soda? coke. As a kid, did you use toothpaste that wasn’t minty? (Like orange, etc) nope. What is your favourite vegetable? broccoli. Do you any other countries’ timezones saved to your computer/mobile phone? yes. What was the last musical you watched? i forgot honestly. Which meal of the day is your favourite to eat out for? dinner! Is your username the same for every website? no. Do you enjoy taking photographs? What do you usually take them of? yes. anything and everything. i love taking photos while i travel. What do you have in your bookmarks? social media, my emails and streaming websites. Do you have a lucky number? Why is it so lucky? not really but i have favourites? Do you set your browser to remember passwords? yes. Describe the perfect burger: medium rare patty, a milk bun or brioche bun, maple bacon, a nice secret sauce, melted cheese, tomato, onion etc. anything and everything. What was the last thing you made yourself to eat? noodies. What is something most people find ugly that you find cute? idk lol. Do you agree that the nude scenes in movies are generally unnecessary? yeah sometimes. Have you ever stood on a sea creature while at the beach? not intentionally. What’s worse: Speaking in all caps or all lowercase? caps. What’s your favourite place to go to for fast food? kfc or burger king. How many fillings do you have? two. Do you prefer having cold or warm hands? warm, duhhh. cold hands suck. Have you ever had a mud fight? no. When you see people in love is your first reaction, “ew” or “cute?” um, it depends. Have you ever woken up from a dream and thought it had actually happened? haha yes. Are you obsessed with a certain country’s culture? not really. but i still find that shit interesting. Do you know anyone who closely resembles someone else? yes. When your sunburn peels, do you leave it or pull at it? pull it. What type of food do you find yourself craving most? snacks. i never used to be a snacks person but ever since i moved into an office workplace i always snack. it’s so bad. Why did you last go to the doctor’s? to get a doc cert. Are you good at Name That Tune? if the song isn’t too recent i feel like i’d be good at it. Name something that frightened you as a kid that you like now: sleeping in the dark haha. Do you prefer pictures or videos? either or. depends what it is. The people who pop in your “Who you might know” list: Do you ever know them? yes, usually. Do you ever highlight excerpts of books that you particularly enjoy? no. How easy is it for you to recognise what quote/lyric something is from? if i’m familiar with it, pretty easily. On a scale of one to ten, how tired are you currently? 8.

#survey #surveys #quiz #bored #questions

4 notes · View notes

slapshot-to-the-heart · 6 years ago

Text

For the Love of Queens

Totally random one-off idea I’ve had floating around for a few months, so bear with me, haha! Only planning for it to be a one-part, but please tell me what y’all thing!

For the Love of Queens

Late August, 2018

After the snap, the last thing Peter wanted to do was to get himself in trouble again. He had had his fun already, been to more planets than 99.9998% of the population— if you rounded to the fourth decimal, he did the math— and had seen more tragedy than anyone should ever have to experience. But he wasn’t willing to hang up the suit. He couldn’t. His city still needed him, his people still needed him, and as much as he sometimes wanted to throw in the towel, he couldn’t. He had an obligation to help wherever and whenever he could, and that commitment was one he didn’t take lightly. If he wasn’t going to protect Delmar’s bodega, and that kid who had his bike stolen, and that nice Dominican lady who bought him a churro, who would? Spider-Man wasn’t gone, but he needed to go back to his roots, back to where he came from. Back to being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Back to Queens.

So, almost like someone had spun a Time-Turner back to 2017, Peter was sitting on the edge of a ten-story building a few blocks from his apartment, a #5 in one hand and his phone in the other. But the difference was, this time, he wasn’t constantly texting Happy, itching for an assignment, for a chance to prove himself. He was scrolling through a Buzzfeed article entitled “46 Memes Guaranteed to Butter Your Eggroll.” He needed new material for the Midtown High Instagram page that he, Ned, and MJ ran. Now that his weekends weren’t packed full of a potentially universe-ending sojourn to Titan, he had a little more spare time to actually, you know, be a kid for once. He bookmarked the page, finished off the churro, and zipped his phone into one of his suit pockets. Telling Tony he wanted to take a step back from the Avengers, having that conversation with him, was one of the hardest things Peter had ever had to do. There was nothing he hated more than disappointing people. Compounding that with the fact that Tony was probably the closest thing he had to a dad since Ben died, and Peter was practically shaking when he told him he wanted to ease up on missions. Tony was strangely understanding about the whole thing, even though Peter wasn’t too sure why he expected otherwise, and pulled him into a hug, telling him to “do what you need to do, kid.” And as soon as Petter reassured him that he did want to keep working with him, just maybe make the “Stark internship” less Avenging and more STEM-y, he nodded, made a thirty-second phone call to Pepper, and told him to show up Monday after school.

So Peter wasn't less busy than normal, not by a long shot. Between school, homework, his actual internship, and the patrols— decathalon season hadn’t started yet, thank God— his schedule was more packed than ever. But he was also happier than he’d ever been, and more fulfilled than he could ever remember.

As Peter swung down from the ledge, dropping down to the street below, he noticed something odd. Not concerning, just out of the norm. Three people, young people, in T-shirts with clipboards, pens, and stacks of what was either flyers or restaurant menus, Peter couldn’t really tell. They weren’t with Greenpeace, or Amnesty, or the ASPCA, judging from the lack of logos on their clothing, so he was more than a little confused. Keeping a curious eye on them from his hiding place behind a lamppost, he waited a few minutes for the group to reach the next block. They had tucked some kind of a pamphlet-postcard-type-thing into the frame of Glen’s Barber Shop, and after a moment to make sure the coast was clear, Peter looked for a moment, grabbed it, and slid it into a pocket.

At about half past eleven, Peter was back on the fire escape outside of his Queens bedroom. After May had discovered his, er, “extracurricular” activities, she left his windows open at night, contingent on his promise that he’d be back by midnight and kept his GPS location on in case anything went amiss. She knew that he was a good kid, that his heart was in the right place, and at his core, he just wanted to help people. And what kind of person would she be if she told Peter, who for all intents and purposes was her kid by this point, that he couldn’t be a good person?

He threw his backpack on the floor, wincing when he heard the telltale “clang” of his water bottle, and unzipped his suit, folding it haphazardly and placing it back into its designated box. The pamphlet fluttered out of his pocket,and Peter leaned down to pick it up, one arm still wrestling to pull his favorite sleep shirt over his head. He originally tried to smooth out the creases, quickly abandoning his efforts, and sat on his bed. Peter knew that there was an election in a few months, he knew he absolutely detested Donald Trump, and he knew that he was mad as hell that he couldn’t vote. But that had caused some amount of complacency with him; if he couldn’t actually cast a ballot for anyone, what use was it knowing who was running or what was on the news if all it seemed was ever on was old people yelling at each other? It wasn’t like Peter didn’t care about the issues; that couldn’t be further from the truth. If he didn’t end up going into crime-fighting full-time after high school, what he really wanted to do was go into environmental engineering and sustainable development. He’d seen all of the heartache and pain that gun violence had brought the city and people he loved, so he knew how important reasonable gun control policy was. And despite all of New York City’s espoused progressive values, Peter’s AP Spanish teacher had come to school with red-rimmed eyes one day, telling the class that him and his husband had just been turned down by another adoption agency for being gay. And college. College was a big one. Tony had repeatedly offered to set him up at MIT— “Think of it like a scholarship,” he had said,— but Peter didn’t want to feel like he was getting anything handed to him that he hadn’t earned. May didn’t make too much either, and while they could certainly live off of her salary from the hospital and Uncle Ben’s life insurance for a while, hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans were a different story.

Peter flipped the pamphlet around, scanning the front cover. Dignified healthcare. He liked that. Tuition-free higher education. He really liked that. Quality employment. A $15 minimum wage in New York City was great, but still didn’t make ends meet for some people. Justice for all. Sounds about right, Peter thought. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat for Congress NY-14. He’d have to look her up.

Half an hour later, Peter yawned as he finally closed his laptop from her campaign website, remarkably tired and also pretty sure he had signed up for a mailing list at some point. It was almost one, and he needed to get to bed. Research could wait until morning.

It was a block day, so after his calculus class had let out, Peter grabbed his lunch from the locker and walked over to the cafeteria, meeting Ned and MJ at their usual table.

“Sup,” Ned said, in between waffle fries.

Peter looked at him quizcally. “Since when do you say ‘sup?’”

He shrugged. “It’s a new thing I’m trying out. Doesn’t work?”

“Not by a long shot.”

MJ snorted. “You guys are a couple of losers, you know that?”

“And you’re not?” Ned asked.

She tilted her head. “The thing is,” she said, pausing, “I already knew that, and I’ve accepted it. It’s only when you really come to terms with yourself and who you are that you’re able to move on and develop. So what if I’m a little bit of loser?”

Peter shook his head, trying to hold back a snort. “Hey guys, want to hear something weird that happened to me yesterday?”

“I’m always up for weird,” Ned responded.

“So, I was on patrol, and these people were walking around. And at first I thought they were like from the ASPCA or something, you know how they’re always around here?” They nodded. “But anyways, they weren’t, and I picked up one of the flyers they left by Glen’s, the barber shop, and I got to reading, and—”

“Oh, God, Peter joined a cult,” Ned said, panicking.

Peter shook his head, reaching down into his backpack to retrieve the pamphlet. “No, no, I promise it’s not a cult. I guess it was people campaigning for the election, what’s it called, canvassing? Well, it’s people canvassing for this woman running for Congress—”

“AOC?” MJ asked, interrupting.

“Huh?”

“AOC. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. That who you’re talking about?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Yeah, how did you know?”

The side of her mouth twitched. “I’ve been walking for her since the summer. You know how I’ve been busy on my weekends now?” Peter and Ned nodded. “I’m heading up her youth volunteering. Outreach mostly, getting high schoolers to understand that they deserve to have a say in who’s elected to represent us. Getting them to campaign for someone who actually believes that we all deserve a fair chance. To campaign for someone like them. A young person who’s a woman of color, who didn’t come from money, who cares.”

“Geez, MJ, why don’t you run yourself?” Peter asked, only half-joking.

“I mean,” she started, grabbing the spare hairband from her wrist and pulling her hair into a ponytail, “obviously I’m too young, but I’m not even sure if I’d want to be the kind of public face that elected officials are. I’d rather be the one calling the shots from behind the scenes, the guy in the chair, if you will,” MJ added, nodding towards Ned.

“Wait, I’m still confused. So who’s she?” Ned asked, looking in between Peter and MJ.

Peter slid the pamphlet over to his side of the table while MJ grinned. “Now, let me tell you.”

Ten minutes and two online forms later, MJ had signed both Peter and Ned up for canvassing on Saturday. “I know you’ve got your ‘Stark thing,’” she had said, using air quotes, “and your actual Stark thing, so I put you down for the morning. You said you’re free then, right?”

Peter nodded. “I don’t have to be at Tony’s until what, like 2 or something? Plenty of time.”

“Great, and Ned?”

Ned tilted his head, in that low-key, laidback way of his. “Hey, you just tell me what you need and I’m there, MJ. I trust your judgement. You say she’s the real deal?”

MJ nodded. “She is. I’ve met her, and I like to pride myself on having what’s probably the best bullshit detector of anyone I’ve ever met.”

“Then I’m in.”

So Saturday afternoon found Ned, Peter, and MJ crammed into a small and packed but bright office in the north side of Queens, listening to someone who Peter’s pretty sure introduced themself as AOC’s campaign manager. Maybe deputy campaign manager? Peter wasn’t too sure, he didn’t know how these things usually went. But she was standing on a desk, which was cool.

“You need to make sure you’re able to ask for their support, see who they’re supporting, and tell them why you support Alexandria. This campaign is going to be won by people making connections and ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard and everyone feels like they are listened to. Because she’s running to represent the entire New York 14th, not only the ones who will vote for her. And I know it might seem tempting, but please, please make sure that you remain cordial to everyone, even if they say they’re voting for the other guy or they think her policies are crap. Stay calm, thank them for their time, and move on. This campaign is already an uphill battle, and we don’t need anything else stacked against us.” She finished her speech with a slight nod of her head. “Can I have all of our regular volunteers or field staff raise their hands?” About fifteen people in the group of thirty-five or so raised their hands. “Alright, anyone who’s new or more comfortable with someone more experienced, grab a partner or two and get into groups of two or three. Javier over there,” she pointed to a young man by the door, who was precariously holding stacks of folders in one hand, “has the district maps and lists of all the houses everyone will be going to, so go see him for that. One per group.” She was about to step down, but wheeled around and raised her voice again. “Oh, and one more thing—” she added, “Alexandria will be stopping in the office around noonish after a town hall she’s hosting, so be sure to swing back by if you haven’t met her. Fair warning, she’s a hugger.”

MJ nudged Peter with her shoulder. “You ready?”

He grinned. “Oh, hell yeah I am.”

#peter parker #peter parker imagine #marvel #mcu #marvel imagine #marvel writing #peter parker imagines #marvel imagines

13 notes · View notes

love-and-gloom-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Love and Gloom Chapter One

Rating: T for Teen

Contains: Adult language and situations

Summary: New York City there is thousands of people inhabiting it, including aliens, heroes, and villains. Mara and Neil, two college students attempt to survive this city. Both coming from broken homes, their hearts struggle to heal. They will soon encounter all sorts of people who are just as broken as them, but will their hearts grow stronger or break them down even more?

Main Pairing(s): Female OC x Eddie Brock/Venom - Male OC x Max Dillon/Electro

We hope you enjoy. <3

Chapter One: Mara Lovell

It was a cool October night when Mara Lovell and Neil Yūutsu finally brought up the last box into Mara’s new studio apartment in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn. The brunette woman had finally left her abusive household and was now living on her own.

It terrified her.

As she took a long look around the apartment, she felt a strange mix of both anxiousness and relieving freedom in the lived-in flat. As she took it all in, the sound of a box dropping to the floor snapped her back to reality. “Finally we are done!” Neil stated and sat on one of the boxes containing books, wiping a tiny bead of sweat off his brow. “Your punk ass mother had to make things difficult by being all ‘woe is me, my daughter is leaving’ and shit.” He reached over to the counter top next to him, grabbing one of the many cans of his Tiki Punch he brought for what he called a ‘test of his strength and endurance’.

Mara rolled her eyes at him and sat on a box across from him. “Yeah… but thankfully we won’t have to deal with her anymore.” She said both ashamed and exhausted.

“No… YOU won’t have to deal with her anymore. Bitch ain’t gon’ try me again like she did today.” He said as he took a sip of the maroon-colored drink, earning another chuckle from the brunette.

Roxanne Red Lovell, formally Roxanne Red Stewart, now known as ‘punk ass mother’ by Neil, stopped Mara from getting most of her things from her mother’s house.

“I bought you those clothes, so they’re mine!” Her mother would yell, “The furniture too! Your father left it to me not you!”

“Vernon is gonna kick your ass if you talk shit about him just you remember that!”

Vernon was Roxanne’s boyfriend for thirteen years now. He was a meth head that frequently got high around the house, and took ecstasy with his friends which often included Roxanne. He did nothing for a living, just lived off of social security income for a reason that Mara didn’t care enough to find out about.

Mara looked over at a box of clothing sitting on the slightly worn couch. They were clothes that Helen Stacy had given her.

Helen was the mother of her best friends; Gwen Stacy. Helen gave the young college student Gwen’s old clothes when she heard that Mara was moving out.

“She doesn’t need these anymore… She’ll want you to have them.”

Gwen… It’s been a year since she died. The day that she was kidnapped by the mad supervillain, ‘The Green Goblin’, was one that Mara would never forget. Ludicrous name. He kidnapped her and threw her off the George Washington Bridge. The hero ‘Spiderman’, tried saving her but he ended up being the one who caused her death. The string of webbing he shot to save her caught her by the leg mid-fall, and the sudden stop broke her neck. Mara didn’t blame the Spider-Man for killing her friend as she would’ve died from the fall anyway, but she was not a fan of the wallcrawler either.

Her friend took a glance at his watch before standing up and taking a stretch, “I gotta head to work now, Sugar, they really need me tonight. Sorry that I have to leave so soon.”

Mara’s reminiscing was cut off by this, and she looked up at her bestie with her silver eyes, “No no! Don’t be sorry! Thank you for helping me with all of this.” She stood up and opened the box of Gwen’s clothes. “I know I can be a nuisance someti-.”

“You are not a nuisance, your mom is.” He interrupted as he walked over to hug her tightly, “Are you sure you don’t wanna just live with me and not alone?”

She smiled and hugged him back with a giggle, “I need to take care of myself for the time being.” The brunette then gave him a wink. “I appreciate the offer though.”

They let go of each other and walked towards the door.

“I understaaaand.” The Japanese student said as he shrugged his shoulders took a step out the opened front door. He turned around and smiled at his friend, “Take care of yourself, darlin’. Call me if you need anything okay?”

The French American smiled and stood in the doorway, “You know I will, take care. I love you.”

“Love you too girl. Byyye.” He said, throwing a peace sign above his head as he sauntered away down the hall.

Mara watched him before he turned the corner out of sight. She closes her apartment door and sighs, leaning back against it. She was finally free of her mother. After a moment of basking in her freedom, the woman grabbed her phone, adorned with a pink case with lizard designs, to check the time.

6:10 pm

“I guess I should organize a little before making dinner.” She said to herself before putting her phone back in her pocket, pushing herself off of the door, and walking back to stack of boxes to unpack.

⧫⧫⧫

The next hour or so yielded some progress. One of the boxes she worked on contained literature she loved to read. Some included the Great Gatsby, A Little Princess, and of course Romeo and Juliet. She was quite fond of reading fantasy and romance novels, as she could easily escape her reality by diving into the pages for hours at a time. The college student looked across the room near one of the wide, worn windows and found the small old shelf Neil gave her as a moving gift. Smiling softly at its presence, she pushed it to the wall before stocking it with books.

One of the books slipped from her hands, the pages fluttering in the air before hitting the ground and expelling a small photo she once used as a bookmark. She hesitated, seeing that it was a book Gwen had given her a long time ago as a birthday present. Mara picked up the photo to see Neil, Gwen, and herself, smiling happily in front of one of the stone lions at the library. Looking down at the page the photo fell from, she read one of the quotes.

"’Why did you do all this for me?’ he asked. ‘I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you. ’You have been my friend," replied Charlotte. ‘That in itself is a tremendous thing.’”

As a teardrop fell and darkened on the page, Mara quickly put the picture back in the book and put it away.

“No, no… I can’t think about her now…” The brunette thought to herself sadly. She promised herself she wasn’t going to cry anymore.

“Let’s room together Mara, it’ll be fun. We can stay up all night watching Netflix with no curfew!”

Gwen was silly around her. Gwen was nice. Gwen was cool. Gwen was beautiful. Gwen was smart. Gwen was her best friend.

Gwen was alive…

The woman took the picture back out from the book and placed it up on the shelf, “We got our apartment Gwen. Just like you wanted.”

Tears filled her eyes and her heart felt heavy, “I always wanted to share this moment with you.” Her tears rolled down her face before she left the bookcase and went to her other boxes.

She opened another box and found her black case containing her glasses. Mara was colorblind, she had tritanopia meaning she was blue and yellow blind. She opened the case to see her broken glasses only containing one lens. It broke when Vernon threw them on the floor and crushed them because he was angry at her. Mad at her for what? She thinks it was because he thought she took his last beer when he was holding it in his hand.

He was also the reason she was colorblind. Mara used to see normal color but it all changed when Vernon came into the picture.

⧫⧫⧫

When Mara was little and still lived in California, she picked golden daisies for her mother. They were Roxanne’s favorite, because she loved the color yellow but mostly because it came from her one and only daughter.

Around the time she was six, her mother and father divorced. At seven, Roxanne took her to live in New York to be far away from her father as possible. The mother took care for her child till she found Vernon and sadly Roxanne was a weak woman. She felt like she needed a man in her life to show her affection. When Mara was eight Vernon moved into their house, he used to be nice till he moved in of course.

One day when the eight year old was walking home from school she found some golden daisies and picked them for her mom. It was a nice day, school was fun, and her artwork was placed on the classroom’s wall. What a great day it was.

But when she got home Vernon was screaming in front of the house with a beer bottle in his hand. Mara was scared but she slowly walked towards him.

“Where the fuck is it then!? Where the fuck is my lottery ticket!?” He screamed stumbling around, “It had fifty fucking dollars on it!”

He then spotted the little girl and had a realization.

“You.”

She turned her head to look behind her, confused, she looked back at him. Her?

“You.” He pointed at little Mara with the hand that held the beer, “You took it you little shit!”

“No I didn’t.” She said scared.

“Don’t you dare lie to me!” He shouted grabbing her by the hair.

The girl screamed dropping the flowers for her mother on the ground and grabbed his hand, trying to pry it off of her brown hair. But that made him angrier. He smacked her head with the bottle which made her call out in pain and collapsed on her knees.

“MOMMY!!” She cried as she felt hot and cold liquid roll down her face.

Roxanne came out smoking a cigarette, disinterested but mildly annoyed.

“What?” She said plainly.

“MAKE HIM STOP!”

“Just give him his lottery ticket you fucking idiot.”

Mara’s eyes widened. What? Why wasn’t mommy helping her? Why would they think a eight year old took a lottery ticket? What did she do wrong?

“Yeah!” Vernon shouted, dragging her to the wooden beam and smacked her head on it. “Where is it!?”

The little girl saw stars.

He smacked her again, “Where is it you little shit!?”

Everything was fading away in black clouds.

Again it happened, shouting the same thing.

Blood dripped to the ground and vomit oozed from her mouth. Today was supposed to be a good day.

The little girl’s body went limp and her eyes went completely black.

She woke up in a hospital bed. Bandages wrapped around her head. Everything looked weird, the colors seemed off. She looked around to see a doctor talking to her mother.

“Your daughter was attacked when she was walking home? Where were you?” The lady asked.

“I was getting groceries with my boyfriend and I found my child on the floor doctor!” Roxanne said with tears rolling down her place, “Why would someone do this to a child!? I should’ve walked her home, but the school is just right across the street!”

She was lying. Why would a mother let that happen to a child?

Mara blacked out again, later she found out she went color blind. The head injury caused it. Vernon caused it, for a fifty dollar lottery ticket that he hid in his sock drawer the whole time.

Her world went grey, because of a stupid mistake and her mother didn’t help her.

The golden daisies turned white and she never picked them for her mother again.

⧫⧫⧫

Mara slammed the case and glasses onto the ground in anger. She shouldn’t be remembering these bad times. She grabbed her phone to check the time again.

7:08 pm

“Food will make me feel better.” She said and looked through a box to find her rice cooker. She went to her small kitchen to place it on the counter and plugged it in. She filled the cooker halfway with water and placed three packets of ramen noodles in it. She closed it and put it to cook.

The colorblind girl looked around her small empty kitchen and then looked at the ramen, she wondered if the kitchen was going to get any use. It was most likely she’ll only eat instant ramen for a few months since she’s broke.

Money is saved up in her bank account, but for only a few months of rent. Some of her money was from her father who passed away when she was twenty. Her rent is only $800 a month, which is pretty cheap thank god, but the landlord will raise it to $850 around December.

If she is careful and save while working at her new job at a singing cafe called, ‘Purely Purple’, she should be A-OK.

“I’m going to die.” Mara mumbled as she sat on one of her boxes and waited for her rice cooker ramen to finish cooking.

⧫⧫⧫

After she ate, Mara went back to unpacking. She unpacked her art supplies, her art, framed posters, pictures, she stopped unpacking when she found her scrapbook. The book was tan and had red text painted on it (it looked pink to Mara). The text was a quote from a book that she hadn’t read yet it said, “Maybe Memories Should Be Left The Way They Are.”

One would think the scrapbook would contain pictures of friends, but it contained newspaper clippings from the Midtown High School, the Daily Globe, and the Daily Bugle. Why? Because the articles were written by a man who she had a crush on since high school, Edward Charles Alan Brock. Mara had articles from Welcome to Midtown High! to Confessions of a Sin Eater. The college student always liked his writing, she buys a newspaper everyday just to see if he had written anything but the last few days she hadn’t bought any because of her moving situation. Maybe she could ask her friend Peter Parker if he could get them for her since he worked at the Daily Bugle as well.

Mara smiled as she went through the articles. Eddie Brock was and still is very popular with everyone, to her he was perfect in every way, but that could be that she’s in love. She imagined being with him but never attempted to actually ask him out, mostly because he already had his perfect girlfriend Anne Weying. Well… ex girlfriend now, they broke up two years ago.

Anne was Eddie’s life, he wanted to marry her and everyone knew that but Anne wanted to finish up school first before they do that. No one knows exactly why they broke up though. One would say that if you like him just ask him out, but Mara was a very shy person with very low self esteem, she doesn’t feel she was good enough for Eddie. Anne was an amazing girl, and how do you ask someone out who was set to marry the girl of his dreams? Was there a time of grief he still needed to do? Romantic relationships was indeed not her forte.

Mara wondered why he wasn’t dating anyone, maybe Anne was his one and only? Eddie was very handsome, goes to school, works at the Daily Bugle as a writer and part-time photographer. He’s a former football player, but when he stopped playing two years ago he gained some weight, he now has a belly and his cheeks were a bit chubby, yet he was still beautiful to the colored blind girl.

She flipped a page and saw the poem she wrote in high school, My Dear Football Player.

⧫⧫⧫

My Dear Football Player

My dear football player how I love you so.

The way you look at me and make my cheeks glow.

Sweet eyes like stained glass.

That turns me into brass.

My love for you is but a prayer.

To hug and hold my dear football player.

In a black and white world your are most colorful.

And your smile is bright and so so meaningful.

If only you could be mine.

But someone else promised to love you till the end of time.

I just smile and wave.

And cherish the happiness you gave.

To me you are the world.

To you I am just an ordinary girl.

In the shadows I watch you craft.

And mourn for the dear football player I will never have.

Grey is my world, color is yours.

My eyes grow tired as the salt water pours.

I hate to say goodbye dear football player.

But I will never be yours, not even in my hopeful prayer.

-Midtown’s Silly Lizard

⧫⧫⧫

Midtown’s Silly Lizard was a secret name when she anonymously sent poems for the school newspaper. The name had her initials on them.

Midtown Mara

Silly Stewart

Lizard Lovell

Though the student doesn’t have a middle name, she used her dad’s last name Stewart, which helped throw people off her trail, because the teens in that school wanted to know who made that pathetic love poem. Flash Thompson assumed the poem was about him and the girlfriend was Liz Allen. The witch hunt only lasted about a week and everyone forgot about it.

The only people who knew about it was Neil and Gwen. They encouraged her to show her more artistic side to the school, but the shy girl decided she would rather do it actual art form and not writing.

The brunette yawned and then checked her phone for the time.

10:53 pm

“I should get ready for bed.” She said softly to herself and looked around, she pretty much organized everything. She just needed a dresser for her clothes and she’ll be set.

Mara put her scrapbook in her shelf and grabbed the air mattress Neil bought her (that she will pay him back for later) and started to inflate it. When it was done she grabbed her African patterned quilt that her old lady friend Fae Miller made for her and grabbed one of her pillows, and placed them on the mattress. The curvy woman stripped to only her underwear and shirt and snuggled into the bed.

⧫⧫⧫

Meanwhile in a facility in Newfield, New York.

“MIRANDA! MIRANDA!” A scratchy voice called out.

“Yes LouLou?” A young woman said in a doctor’s coat and holding a clipboard.

“MARA LOVELL MOVED. RESEND INVITATION.” The voice said.

The woman pressed her reading glasses back and walked over to the computer, “Thank you for telling me.” She typed on the keyboard and accessed into the system to go into Mara’s files.

Name: Mara Stewart-Lovell

DOB: 06/21/**

Height: 5’5

Weight: 158 lbs

Hair: brown

Eyes: silver

Social: ***-**-****

Address: 300 Quincy Street, Brooklyn, New York, 11216

Work: Purely Purple, 631 9th Ave, New York, NY 10036

School: Empire State University

Major: Fine/Studio Arts

Relative(s): Roxanne Red Lovell-mother

Disorder(s): tritanopia-color blindness

“Oh so she moved to Brooklyn?” The woman said before printing out her letter, “Nice place. Hope she isn’t with her mother, horrible woman according to my research.”

A green parrot flew and landed on her right shoulder, “HORRIBLE HORRIBLE! BAD MOTHER BAD!”

The researcher shushed the bird as she grabbed the piece of paper from the printer and wrote her signature.

“LouLou.” She said as she placed it in an envelope, “Give this to Richard.”

Green slime came out the bird and grabbed the envelope, it then slithered out the parrot which made the pet flapped its wings rapidly. The green ooze shaped itself to look like a slithering imp and skittered away.

“Hi.” The bird squawked and nibbled her hair, it can’t say proper sentences without its parasitic friend.

“Mara Lovell, with your help we can change the world.”

“Change!” The bird squawked earning a smile from the woman.

“Yes, for a better world.” She said as she softly patted her parrot’s head.

⧫⧫⧫

As Mara slept she started to dream.

The silver eyed girl was sitting on a bench at Central Park. She breathed in the fresh air and smelled the fresh cut grass and hotdogs being sold around her. It was peaceful.

She then saw her friend Neil in the middle of the field with Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker. Mara smiled brightly as she went to get up and run to her friends but she couldn’t move.

A look of puzzlement spread on her face as she looked down to see she was chained to the bench. This struck fear inside her as she tried to yell for help but a breathless screamed came out, no one could hear the poor girl.

She tried to yell again but again no one heard and she started to sink into the concrete. She screamed but only a squeak came out before she was completely emerged in the darkness.

Mara tried to wake up, she struggled to breathe. Her limbs felt stiff and all she could muster is a twitch now again.

“Is this how people die?” She thought before realizing she was now in a dark room on a bed.

The woman got off the bed and noticed she was naked and when she looked at her body she was filled with large holes. Her body ached where the holes were, like she actually felt her body rot away.

The woman got off the bed and walked to the door and once she opened it, she appeared in the hallways of Midtown High School.

She looked around and saw some people she knew. The girl walked down the hall exposed and saw what they were doing. The high school jock Flash Thompson was making out with his girlfriend in high school Liz Allen and right next to them were Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy making out also. The boys however didn’t have their eyes closed like their partners, they were staring at a naked Mary Jane Watson who was laying sensually on the floor. The red head smiled confidently with her eyes closed as she laid there.

“Mary Jane!” Mara cried out and grabbed her arm, “Don’t let them look at you like that!”

Mary Jane opened her green eyes and glared at the empty girl, “Don’t be jealous that I receive the attention and you don’t. You are disgusting.”

“Mary Jane I know I am but you shouldn’t expose yourself like this!” The dreamer said almost in tears.

The iris’ in her friend’s eyes enlarged as she said, “You’re the one hiding secrets.”

⧫⧫⧫

Mara woke up in cold sweat.

“Oh god.” She mumbled sitting up and rubbed her aching arms. Mara could still feel where the holes were on her body. The dream was confusing and surreal, she didn’t understand it. What did dream Mary Jane meant about ‘hiding secrets’, Mara didn’t have secrets…

“I don’t have secrets…” She murmured.

(She was in love with Gwen Stacy, that was a dirty secret.)

She lied, she did have secrets. Secrets the college student tried to hide.

(She’s hopelessly in love with Eddie Brock.)

“I have no secrets.” She told herself and laid back down.

(She fell for a person who scammed her.)

Mara was embarrassed about her secrets. Some of them she knows that Neil knew, but there was one she keeps from everyone.

(She thinks she deserved the abuse her mother and Vernon gave her.)

“This move stressed me out more than I thought.” She said as she laid on her side and went back to sleep.

(And the biggest secret of them all… she is broken.)

⧫⧫⧫

Mara woke up around 11:00 am. She missed a few texts from Neil and her friend Alma Alvarado. She yawned as she opened her texts.

Neil: Hey gurllllll. Got you dumplings. Come over when you can. (sent: 1:22 am)

Mara smiled, her best friend was so kind.

Alma: Hey, can you watch Kima Tuesday? I’m going to a party. Thx. (sent: 6:00 am)

“Huh? Alma I just moved in…” Mara muttered to her phone and quickly laid back down, “I don’t have time for that…” She fell back to sleep.

Then her phone rang. It played Please Don’t Make Me Love You from the Dracula musical. She groaned as she grabbed her phone to check the caller I.D. It was Neil. She picked up the phone and yawned, “Hello?” “Girl! It is 11:30, get your ass over here and eat your dumplings!” He stated over the phone.

Mara rolled on her side and stretched, “Okay, I’ll bike there in a few minutes.”

“Kay, don’t keep me waiting. I’m making breakfast.” The Asian said sweetly.

“Make coffee too please.” She said sitting up from the air matress. “I don’t drink coffee, there is no coffee.” Neil said, “I have juice.” “Aw. Learn how to drink coffee.”

“Learn how to live without coffee.”

“I can’t, it’s my essence.”

“Then find a new one.”

“I’m getting dressed right now, I should be there in an hour.” The woman said sitting up and looked for clothes to wear.

“Kay, I’ll be waiting. Love you.” “Love you too baby bugga boo.”

Neil hung up.

Mara looked through Gwen’s old clothes. She could almost still smell Gwen’s perfume on them.

“Thanks, Gwen…” She muttered and took out a green and black striped blouse, a pair of blue jeans, a red belt, a pair of green socks, and a pair of black sneakers.

“No underwear or bras…” She mumbled, “I need to buy some.”

The brunette got undressed and wore the outfit she picked out (without undergarments) and then brushed her hair. She then grabbed Gwen’s signature black headband and placed it in her hair. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she saw Gwen.

“This is creepy… I look like an obsessed stalker.”

Perhaps she was, but who stalks a dead girl?

Mara grabbed her phone to check the time. 12:03 pm

“I gotta go.” She thought to herself, grabbing her old brown leather bookbag and old white bicycle and head out of the flat. The woman placed the bag in the basket before rolling it down in the hallway towards the elevator. Once she went down she left the building and started biking to her friend’s apartment.

⧫⧫⧫

It was a nice day for a bike ride in New York. It was sunny but wasn’t too hot, there was a slight breeze. What a nice day to go biking.

She smiled as she turned into an alleyway to avoid the streetlights. When Mara was halfway down two men came out from a doorway from the wall and stood in the way.

“Oh shit..!” She muttered knowing the men planned to mug her, the alley was too narrow for her to turn her bike around so she quickly got off, snatched her bag, and ran.

But there was a man behind her.

“Hey little lady, where you think you’re going?” The man asked taking steps towards her making Mara take steps back.

“Please just let me go.” The woman said scared.

“What? Let you go?” The second man behind her said. “Why was a lovely young lady like you going down in a old alleyway anyway?” The third man said smirking, “Just screaming for someone to grab you.”

Mara took a deep breathe and gathered all the courage she could muster and yelled, “Leave me alone!”

The man in front of her laughed, “Did you hear that boys? She’s being so rude to us! Should we punish her?”

Hearing that her body felt numb. She had to escape. Mara attempted to run past the man in front of her but her just grabbed her and his friends rushed behind her.

“Oh no, you can’t leave.” He stated.

Mara struggled and yelled, “LET ME GO!”

One of the men behind her covered her mouth and whispered harshly, “Not till we have fun with you girlie!”

“That’s what you think!” Someone said, but it didn’t sound like a person, it sounded like a monster.

A figure jumped off the wall and landed on its feet. The three men stumbled back and screamed in fear, Mara’s eyes widened, it really WAS a monster.

It was seven feet tall and huge! It’s skin looked like black tar smoothed on a bodybuilder’s body, with a large white spider printed on it chest. The monster’s teeth were razor sharp with large amounts of saliva oozing from its mouth, it had what seemed like a permanent, demonic smile, and its eyes were pure white blotches, emotionless, but so sinister looking. Its stare just pierced the souls of the four humans in front of it.

“Despicable villains, threatening an innocent! We hate scum like you!” The monster stated lifting its muscular arm up and shot white webbing at the chest of the criminal standing in front of Mara, and pulled him fiercely towards him. The man screamed before the monster punched him in the face, knocking the man out stone cold and fall to the floor.

“O-Oh my God..!” Mara thought shaking staring at man that fell to the ground, he didn’t move, was he dead?

“LET’S GET OUT OF HERE!” One of the men shouted, before he and his friend started to run the opposite of the demonic spider.

Mara wanted to run but she was petrified. What did this demon want with them?

“Not so fast!” The creature said shooting webs from its hands again. The webbing wrapped around the men’s legs and it pulled them harshly, making them scream as they fell face flat on the ground. Then the monster started to drag them towards it, “We’re not done with you quite yet!”

“Oh God please--! Someone help us!” One of the men shouted as they were dragged.

The other man clinged onto the college student’s leg tightly making her yelp as she fell on the floor and dragged with them.

The monster sneered as he snatched the man who held onto Mara away, forcing him to let go of her.

“You scum! It is too late for you to beg for help, you poltroon!” The monster stated before its long slimy tongue slipped out of it mouth and licked the scared criminal’s cheek, “Did you know we like brains?”

“Brains!?” Mara thought horrified covering her mouth with her hands.

The man stared at him terrified, tears leaked from his eyes, and his heart felt like it was going to pound out of his chest, “P-Please! I-I’m s-s-sorry!”

“Too late for atonements we’re afraid.” The monster said simply as it’s oily skin crawled onto the man’s face and covered in completely, “Hurting the innocent is the most hideous sin, my boy.”

The woman and the other man watched in horror as the man struggled and thrashed in midair. He kept struggling till he went limp and the spider man dropped him to the ground.

Limp and lifeless, just like his friend next to him.

The last man was shaking, he and the girl next to him couldn’t comprehend what exactly was happening. A strong smell waft through the air, it smelled like urine. Mara looked at the man next to her, he pissed himself. Oh God, it was so weird seeing criminals being scared shitless… Well… pissless.

“Now for the last one.” The monster said glaring down at the two humans under it. It squatted down over the piss soaked man with its tongue out, “Mmm-Mm-Mm! We can’t wait to eat your brains.”

The man just shook in fear as the monster’s tongue and gave him a lick on his cheek. The third and last criminal fainted making the behemoth chuckle. It the grabbed the man’s body and and sprayed webbing on him to stick the man to the wall.

“Miscreants like you should not be done with so easily.” It said grabbing the other men and webbed them to the wall, “But we have to tend to the lady.”

“Tend to the lady!?” Mara thought as the monster turned to her, its eyes pierced her soul. When it took a step towards her, she got up and booked it. She did not want to die this way.

“Wait! Mara! Don’t be scared!” The creature shouted with its long muscular arm reaching out towards her.

Her mind went blank. It knew her name!? Distracted from her own confusion the young woman tripped over her bike and fell hard on the floor. Her bookbag slid away from her and Gwen’s headband fell off of her head. She felt pain on her right arm as she struggled to get up.

Mara then felt strong hands grab her from her waist and lift her up gently to her feet. Once the hands let her go she turned around to look at her savior.

“Who are you?”

“Sorry for being rude.” The monster said patting the top of her head, “We’re Venom.”

“Ve-Venom?” She whispered before remembering seeing him in newspapers.

Venom Lethal Protector! Venom the Alien Menace! Spiderman and Venom: Arachnids of New York!

“The… The Lethal Protector?”

The creature couldn’t help but chuckle a bit.

“We see you’ve read the papers...” He said shaking his head, “...We don’t care for that title much.” The monster looked back up at the woman before noticing the scrape on her arm, “Poor thing. Here.” Venom then grabbed her arm and webbed the wound. “That’ll help it heal.”

“O-Oh…” Mara said rubbing her arm, “Thank you.”

“Where are you heading to?” He asked picking up her bookbag and headband.

“Crown Heights.” She answered as he gave her back her bag. She wore it over her shoulder.

“That’s not far from here, we’ll give you a lift.” He then placed the headband on her head.

The woman blushed and shook her head, “No that’s okay. I have my bike.”

“Nonsense.” The alien said grabbing her bike and webbed it to the wall, “We insist. We will take your bike home afterwards.”

“I appreciate the offer but---” She said as Venom lifted her up, “Ahhh!”

“We’ll get you there in no time.” He embraced her making her wrap her legs around his waist.

“S-Sir. I can go by myself.” Mara said before the black alien walked on the wall making her stare at the ground as they got higher and higher. She tried to find an excuse for him to put her back down, “Venom, we can’t just leave the men there!”

“The law enforcement will handle them.” He said simply as they reached the top of the building, “Hold on tight Mara.”

He then jumped from the building, making the college student close her eyes and held onto the spider for dear life. She felt his cold smooth skin against hers as he swung building to building. It was hard but yet he could expand it, like he was made of liquid marble.

To most people who didn’t live in New York would think that was ridiculous, but when you live in a city that had men made of sand, water, and electricity. So marble skin that could stretch wasn’t too far fetched.

They were both silent for a few minutes before, well the alien was singing a song. Mara believed the song was Mr. Telephone Man by New Edition. It was odd hearing a sweet song being sung by a deep voiced monster. It was terrifying.

When Venom finished his song he started humming. Curious of where she was, she opened her eyes to see the streets below her. Mara gasped and clenched her eyes back shut and wrapped her arms and legs tighter around her transporter.

The spider gave an awkward grunt as he continued to swing building to building, “Afraid of heights?”

“No… Just falling. (To my death.)” She answered with her eyes still closed.

“We’ll never let you fall.”

“Thank you�� Good to know.”

“Being sarcastic?”

“No no! Just…” She gulped, “Just want to be put down.”

They were silent for a few moments, making Mara feel bad that she hurt her savior’s feelings.

“You can let go now.” Venom said.

“No no no! I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings!”

“You didn’t.” He said as he patted her back, “We’re here.”

The woman’s eyes snapped open to see that she was on top of a building, but the world started to spin so she closed them again.

“Dear lady.” Venom said awkwardly, “Are you still scared of falling..?” “... Yeah.” She admitted sadly, “Everything is spinning.”

“Ah, we see.” The hero said looking around not knowing what to do, “We’ll just sit you on the ground.” Venom’s skin expanded lifting her off of him and gently placed her on the ground.

She opened her eyes, she was still dizzy.

“Th-Thank you.” Mara said standing up but stumbled to the monster making him catch her, “S-Sorry.”

“No problem Mara.”

She moved away from him, “How do you know my name!?”

He was silent for a moment before answering, “We read your mind.”

The college student looked dumbfounded. Could he really do that? Well this is New York, anything can happen.

“So where do you live so we can deliver your bike there?”

The woman blinked before answering his question, with a question, “I thought you could read minds?”

“We’ll just leave your bike then.”

“So you don’t read minds?”

“We’ll leave now.” He said as he hopped on the ledge.

“It’s 300 Quincy Street in Brooklyn.” Mara said making him turn his head back at her.

“300 Quincy… Got it.”

He was about to jump off before Mara called out to him, “Oh Venom…”

Venom looked back at her, “Yes?”

“Thank you… for saving me.”

“No problem. Take care of yourself, Mara.” The man said with a grin (A bigger grin than usual.), before hopping off the building and swung away with his webbing.

Mara went to the edge and watched him till he was gone before realizing she was on the roof of Neil’s apartment building.

“Can he read minds or can’t he?” She asked herself before grabbing her phone and called Neil.

“Hello?” Neil answered.

“Hey uh, Neil? I’m on the roof.”

“The roof!? The roof of what?”

“Your apartment.”

“My apartment!?”

“Yeah. And I can’t exit the door, so can you open it for me?”

“How in the hell did you get on the roof!?”

“Long story, can you get me please?”

⧫⧫⧫

After Neil opened the door on the roof for Mara, they hurried to his apartment. She told him about getting mugged but being saved by Venom.

“Who?”

“Venom.” She answered earning a stare from Neil.

“The Lethal Protector?” She said earning silence. The woman sighed and grabbed her phone and googled the hero. She faced the phone to him that had a picture of the spider creature standing on a rooftop with his tongue out.

“That’s a lot of man…. But a whole lot of ugly.” The oriental student said simply as Mara put her phone away.

“He is rough around the edges but he’s nice… I just can’t look at him for a long time.”

“Because he’s ugly.” Neil stated.

“Y-Yeah.” Mara nodded.

“Like… I don’t mind him using his tongue on me, he just needs to wear a bag over his head and I’ll call him daddy.”

Mara laughed, “Eww. No thank you.”

The male student chuckled before stating, “You’re not going home tonight, you’re sleeping with me.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s a blessing to sleep with me girl!” He stated before grabbing plates of food, “Also I don’t trust you being alone after all of that. You’re sleeping here tonight, come with me to school, then I’ll walk you home.” He then placed a plate of pancakes, sausage, and eggs in front of her.

“You know, I don’t mind. I felt lonely in the apartment anyways.” The silver eyed girl said, “But what do I do for clothes?”

Neil smirked devilishly, “We don’t wear clothes here.”

“I do.”

“Fine. I have a spare skirt and turtleneck in a box.”

“Where did you get that?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Kay.” The girl said simply before she started to eat the breakfast her friend made, it was delicious.

Later they watched movies and shows together till it was time to go to sleep. Mara wore Neil’s shirt and shorts to bed in his spare bedroom and quickly fell into slumber.

With a day she had, sleep was a must.

She enjoyed her sleep before Neil woke her up in the morning, shaking her shoulder.

“Mara! … Mara!”

Groggily she woke up confused, “Wh-Wha---”

“Look!” He stated before showing the front page of the Daily Bugle Newspaper.

She rubbed her eyes before examining the paper. It had a picture of Venom swinging around a building, holding her bike. The colorblind girl then looked at the headline.

Venom Steals Bike!

“Oh my fucking God…”

#fanfic #venom #electro #max dillon #eddie brock #spiderman #Love&Gloom

4 notes · View notes