#Technically I could talk for an hour about my comparisons but eh | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

wannaliveattheholidayinn · 4 years ago

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Alright, now that I've been given a few hours to stew and think and cry and have several breakdowns over the cancellation,,, let's talk about how I found this show, my relationship to it, and why I love this show

Anyone who's interacted with me in this fandom, be it over tumblr or in the discord know I started watching because my dance teacher was an extra in the Help! scene (bc I never shut the fuck up about it). But it did start a little earlier.

I had seen a few ads, on NBC and on YouTube. I thought it looked interesting, but I was in sophomore year, having breakdowns just about every other day, the homework was hard, and there were also reports of the virus. At the time it seemed so far away, but I had a feeling it would arrive soon. So it didn't seem like something I could add to my plate. I thought it would simply become another Good Girls to me (aka a show I really wanted to watch, and still kinda do, but I never really got around to it.) So, watching it kind of fell to the back of my mind. And then... that fateful day.

It was a big deal when the teacher would put on the TV in the main studio. It didn't happen often, and when it did, it always had to do with dance in some way. But my teacher was on YouTube and googling Zoey's. We sat down, I even grabbed my glasses so I could see what we were watching. We picked up at the ladies singing "Whatta Man" which the owner of my studio was howling at. I'm lucky enough that two of my teachers have been involved in Smuin Ballet in San Francisco, one still currently in the company (although she just had a baby and... y'know professional dance is hard in the pandemic.) I'm also lucky enough to have met another former Smuin dancer who was also an extra in the Help! scene. So, my teacher pointed himself and the other former Smuin dancer out, funnily enough, they were similarly dressed. So, the scene ended and we went on with our class. I went home and put on the first episode.

And then... well we all know what happened next. The US went into lockdown, and there wasn't much to do.

And yeah, I had school. I went into the two five pm history classes I had, I still had homework,,, but other than those two history classes and the occasion english class there was nothing... dance had stopped, homework, class, and the workload changed. Suddenly, I was left with a lot of free time. So, continued to watch Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. For a while, it was Killing Eve and Zoey's Playlist, but then that went away, and it was just Zoey.

(also, yes, I'm aware this isn't linear and in chronological order, but give me a break, my memory is already shit and this pandemic just made it worse.)

In April, I wrote my first fanfiction for the show. It was this small, little piece of fluff that showed a future Zimon and their four kids (four kids, Jesus Christ, what was I onnnnnn). It's already outdated bc of my use of Eddie and not Perry but I still hold it very dear to my heart. It was posted on ao3 on Jun 13, 2020, and was my first fanfic on the site. I've posted more since then, but it's still overwhelmingly zep there, and I currently have two ongoing fanfics. My goal is to become that person in the zep fandom who is known for her works where people perceive Zimon's relationship, in a funny but wrong way (and when I say people, I (mostly) mean Tobin.)

I love Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. It's made me laugh, made me cry, made me sing along with it, and made me actually fully enter a fandom. I've considered myself in fandom long before Zoey's, but Zoey's actually had me interacting with others. It's technically not my first fandom. I'd say that was Mighty Med, all the way back in sixth grade. But it's the first where I've actively interacted with others and even made an acquaintance (Isabella ily 💗).

Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist had moments that made it hard for me to love it the way I do. There have been some bad writing decisions. I personally don't ship cl*arkeman, even though it's clear they are endgame.

But, I still love it. It was a coping mechanism in a hard time, and I love that it helped me. And I know it helped others as well.

I know not everyone is going to understand my comparison to Cloak and Dagger. They are vastly different shows. But the cancellation... that's what gets me the most about both. They were both canceled in a way where the fandom was going to feel like crap. Both were canceled after two seasons when they had more story to tell. It was done quietly, and there was backlash. Different programs eyed them. The difference is we don't know how this one will end yet. Cloak and Dagger was canceled, and I'll never be the same. I'll never truly be over it. And while I know I'm not in the right headspace to process this cancellation, I think I may be able to find a way. It'll be really, really fucking hard. But I'm slowly getting there with Anne with an E, and I think I could with Zoey's. It was an incredible show while it lasted, and if it's its time to go... I'm glad for the time I had with it and will help keep it going along with others in the fandom. All that being said...

Save Zoey's Playlist

Start petitions (ig, idrk how change.org works), keep it trending on Twitter, let NBC know it made a mistake, and let other streaming services know we're interested in seeing the show go on. It deserves a clean resolution that's not a cliffhanger. Just let these characters be happy in the end.

This doesn't have to be another Cloak and Dagger, or Timeless, or whatever show anyone has felt never got a proper chance to tell its story and end in a satisfying way. It can be another Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or Lucifer, or Friday Night Lights (me, side-eyeing NBC for that one). This doesn't have to be the end. And maybe I'm too late to writing this, maybe it's not trending anymore and it won't trend again, and it won't get picked up. But at least we can say we tried.

This was long as fuck to write, and I could've put that time towards... idk homework ig, or writing the fanfiction I just started, or any of my ongoing two. But it felt it necessary to write this. I don't know why, maybe I just needed to get this shit off my chest. If no one in the fandom reads this... eh, I really can't blame you, it's long as all fuck.

If you did, and you got this far, I love you, I love this fandom, I don't regret my time here, and I hope you don't either. It means the world to me that you read this.

I love you all, and I'll shut up now 💖💗💖💗

#i'm starting a new tag for when i fucking rant #04 rants #there :D #zoey's extraordinary playlist #zoey's playlist #zoeys extraordinary playlist #zoeysplaylist #mutuals i love you please forgive me for this long ass shit

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kafka-ish · 5 years ago

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stanley’s sister has got it going on | r.t.

richie’s got a crush and he’s got it bad. the only thing that’s keeping him from the girl he’s been chasing is his best friend—her brother.

word count: 4,665

warnings/included: nsfw (not explicit), fluff, swearing, fem!reader

a/n: as i was rereading this i realized that this is the dirtiest thing i’ve ever written??? (so far). in comparison to other works it’s probably vv vanilla so pls bear with me

In the defense of Richie Tozier, it wasn’t his fault he ended up catching feelings for Stanley Uris’s little sister. There were a lot of things he couldn’t control. Like when his mouth opened and out came a poorly done impression of his chemistry teacher. (Which just so happened to have been done as Mr. Ford was standing behind the boy).

Richie may as well just start a list of things he can’t help, marking y/n Uris down as number thirty-three.

“Hey, Richie!” Well, well, well, if it wasn’t the person Richie had been most desperately trying to avoid. “Are you going to Stan’s tonight?” y/n asked. She was standing outside of his car door while he was in the driver’s seat, flicking through the radio stations, trying to find a good song for the ride home.

Upon hearing the voice, Richie stopped fidgeting with the knob. It was honestly hopeless trying to find a good song at this point. None of the good stuff comes on until later. He turned his head to meet eyes with the accompanying voice from outside his car.

Bad idea.

Of course, y/n chose to wear a tank top and the shortest skirt possible that day. Hell, any day he’d find his thoughts lost in her. Whether she was wearing a bikini at the quarry or in an oversized t-shirt and checkered pajama pants.

“Earth to Richie?” y/n laughed. She waved her hand in front of his face, trying to capture his attention. Little did she know, that wasn’t necessary.

“Actually, I was thinking about being a no-show today. I’ve been neglecting my training.”

“Oh! You train? Which gym?” She was grinning wide and her gaze burned a hole through his heart.

“The arcade. I gotta keep my skills fresh if I ever wanna keep that high score.” y/n rolled her eyes, but his comment still made her laugh.

“Well, can you take me home? Once you drop me off I promise you can have all the time in the world to work on your skills.” Emphasis on ‘skills’.

“Promise, eh?” Richie repeated, giving the girl a hard time. “Did Stan forget how to drive?”

“No…” The ‘o’ part was drawn out. “He has his bird watching club today and I don’t feel like sitting in the sun for an hour while I wait for him.”

Richie smiled to himself, thinking for a moment. On one hand, he shouldn’t be alone with the sister of one of his best friends’, as he had different intentions. On the other hand, he couldn’t just leave his best friend’s sister hanging like that. In hindsight, he had come to the conclusion that there was a possibility of Stan getting mad at him either way.

Taking Stan’s sister home it was.

“What are you waiting for, y/n/n, get in.” Richie finally made his decision.

y/n cheered happily, thanking him, as she rounded his car and opened the door to the passenger’s seat.

“You have no idea how happy this makes me!” y/n smiled, her expression reaching ear to ear.

“Oh yeah. I bet you’re over the moon about getting a ride from your brother’s best friend in some beat up chevy.” Richie tried his best to distance himself. He really did. But he couldn’t help but notice y/n’s figure in the tight-fitting clothes, especially when she sat in such a close proximity to him.

“I don’t think you get it, Tozier.” y/n hummed as she started turning the knob on the dash, finally settling on some rock station. She lowered the volume so they could still talk without yelling over the atmosphere. “We never hang out.”

“We’re hangin’ out right now,” Richie argued, daring to look away from the road for one millisecond just so he could steal a glance at her.

“Yeah, but… You hang out with Bill, Eddie, and Stan, and stuff.” She sounded disappointed.

“I guess it’s different with them.” Richie shrugged. It was different with them. Bill, Eddie, Stan, Ben, and Beverly even, had their group together. They had the same classes together. They faced off a killer clown together.

“I get that you guys have your own friend group and stuff.” y/n said quickly, not wanting to sound lonely or weird from her previous statement. “But we’re friends. Aren’t we?” She said this with an unsureness in her voice that Richie didn’t know how to reply to.

I should’ve just left her at school. What’s so bad about waiting in the sun while Stan’s off watching some stupid birds? I guess it is kind of hot out. But a little heat won’t hurt anyone, right? Besides, she’s wearing a tank top.

Richie peered over at y/n who was looking out the window as her head leaned against it.

A white, lacy tank top that makes her skin look even more—

“Richie?” Concern washed over the girl’s eyes. Her attention turned to him instead of the scenery that passed by them.

Richie whipped his head away from her body and stared blankly at the road. It was almost as if he were a ghost. Except he actually had color in his face.

“What is it, y/n/n?” Richie’s eyes were still on the road.

“I asked if we were friends.” The girl giggled, not being able to take anything seriously for longer than five minutes. “But that’s a stupid question.” She looked down and began to pick at her nails.

“Of course we’re friends.” Richie insisted. The only problem is that I want more and your brother would kill me.

Something inside of y/n calmed at the affirmation. “So we should hang out.”

“Already told ya, y/n/n. I got a date with destiny today.”

“I don’t mind being the third wheel.”

To be frank, that was the last thing Richie needed. It was bad enough that middle schoolers would wait lined up behind him, watching as he lost at some silly arcade game that he still had a passion for. He didn’t need some hot girl hanging over his shoulder while he did so, too. But Richie’s mouth had betrayed his thoughts.

“Only if you want to, y/n/n.” He had avoided trying to call y/n anything other than her name or her nickname. He wouldn’t allow himself to call her any of the cutesy trademark pet names he’d call other girls that he would shamelessly flirt with for fun. He started implementing this tactic in sophomore year once he really started to notice her.

At first, it was the way she greeted him every time the losers met up at Stan’s house. Maybe he was crazy, but he swore she gave him special attention: always running up towards him when she saw him, her lingering by his side before Stan yelled at her, asking if she had anything better to do. Her smile was seemingly wider and her eyes brighter whenever she held conversations with him compared to the other losers—or maybe that was just Richie looking into things too much.

Due to drama and false rumors, y/n had started hanging out with the losers more this year. It was an attempt for her to take her mind off of the absence of friends on her part. None of the losers seemed to mind, even Stan. Thus, she became a regular when the group went on swimming trips to the quarry or slept over at each other’s houses. This didn’t really help Richie’s case. Now, he was basically forced to see her figure in a swimsuit and in every other setting imaginable. Not to mention, he couldn’t do anything about it either.

The two had finally arrived at the arcade. Richie had managed to snag the closest parking spot to the entryway and y/n relentlessly made fun of how he never parked straight until they got in the door.

“Okay, kid. Once you get your license, you can criticize my ‘bad’ parking. But for now, since you’re hitching rides for free, I say you better just keep quiet for now.”

“But you’re so over the lines! I can’t imagine your coloring if that’s how you park.”

“I’ll have you know, y/n, I don’t color. For one, that shit’s for babies. And I am way past that preschool shit. And second of all, coloring’s way lame.” Richie had made his way over to the Street Fighter machine and inserted a quarter in the slot.

y/n watched him thoughtfully for awhile as he fidgeted with the joystick and jammed the buttons.

“Do you want anything to drink?” she asked, growing bored of watching the same repetitive visuals from over his shoulder. But she didn’t think she could ever grow tired of watching him.

“Hold on.” His hand smashed against the buttons in rapid fire movements while he simultaneously maneuvered the joystick. A few seconds after, the game played a pitiful noise and the boy let out a groan. Richie had lost.

“That’s a weird way of saying coke.” y/n hummed before skipping off to the lounge area.

On her way back, she saw Richie’s face contort in frustration. Once again, he had lost to the game.

“Cheer up, buttercup!” y/n passed handed him the glass bottle and Richie had finally stepped away from the Street Fighter machine.

“Easy for you to say. You don’t got an inanimate object beating ya four to one.” Richie pretended to wipe the nonexistent sweat off his brow and looked down to y/n, offering her a smug look.

“Would a kiss make you feel better?” The girl leaned closer to him and got up on her tippy toes, preparing to peck him on his cheek.

This was the first of y/n showing any sign of real interest. And while Richie wanted to bask in the glory of his long time crush finally coming around, his thoughts also drew to Stan. What kind of friend would he be if he made a move on his friend’s little sister? Technically she’s the one making the moves-

Cut it out, Rich!

His internal monologue argued for a while before he realized y/n’s lips were attached to his face.

“W-what are you doing?” Richie belatedly snapped out of his thoughts and came to his senses.

y/n pulled away. Her arms crossed tightly around her chest and her posture was now slightly hunched over. Oh.

“I thought I could make you feel better.” She mumbled. When she eventually spoke, she let out a breath she wasn’t aware she was holding in. “Can you take me home?” She asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.

“Of course.” The two started heading for the door and Richie tried to slow his pace so that his long legs would be in sync with hers. “To be honest, y/n/n, I was kinda getting tired of this ol’ dump anyways.”

A small smile graced y/n’s lips as he talked. Even if she was still embarrassed from the previous events.

“You’re not gonna be a professional video game player?”

“Oh no. That dream’s been abandoned for a long time now.” Richie quipped back. He was turning the keys into the ignition and began to drive off.

The car ride to Stan’s place was silent. Either because of the turn that had taken place earlier at the arcade, or because Richie didn’t wanna open his big mouth and accidentally slip up; ruining his relationship with both Stan the Man and Stan the Man’s hot sister.

Richie’s old chevy slowly came to a stop at the front of Stan’s house. The sky was cloudless and an unnerving shade of blue today, highlighting how perfectly trim and green Uris’s lawn was.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” y/n finally spoke up. Her voice foreign to Richie’s ears after the fifteen minutes of dead air from the two of them. But it wasn’t that foreign. Her voice echoed through his brain practically everyday. Whenever classes got boring or nights seemed endless, Richie found himself either replaying past conversations between them. Or other scenarios… She was an unhealthy addiction he couldn’t quit. Like smoking, only hotter and way more deadly.

“What’s there to talk about?” Richie faced y/n, putting on his best ‘I’m-not-interested-in-you’ face, when he really felt quite the opposite.

“Richie, I feel like you don’t like me.” Her accusation was dead wrong, but there was hurt in her eyes. Somehow, Richie had managed to convince the girl of his dreams he hates her when that couldn’t be less true.

“I don’t.” He forced a chuckle to ease the tension but y/n wasn’t having it.

“Can I tell you something?” y/n asked. Richie nodded, a quizzical look on his face. Before continuing, y/n swallowed. She didn’t usually get nervous, but Richie was someone to get nervous over. “I like you.”

Her words felt like something out of a dream Richie once had before.

“What can I say, kid. It’s impossible not to.” Of course, y/n didn’t really like him. At least, not like that. She was probably just saying this for shits and giggles. Pulling his leg. A classic Richie stunt.

“I mean, I like you like how Ben likes Beverly.”

Richie’s eyes then widened at the declaration and his body stiffened.

“It’s okay if you don’t like me back,” she said with such ease that Richie admired. She shrugged and the thin strap of her tank top fell down her shoulder. Richie couldn’t help but notice, his eyes wandering where they shouldn’t.

“Listen—” He gulped. His eyes kept trailing down no matter how hard he tried not to. “Listen,” he repeated, now meeting her big eyes, “I don’t not like you, y/n/n. In fact the funny thing is… is—” his words got caught in his throat. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her. Not with Stan’s breathing always down his back (whether Stan was actually there or not).

“What’s so funny, Rich?” Her soft, sweet voice filled his ears once again. It was like a spell, because suddenly (and conveniently), the thought of Stan was no longer in the back of Richie’s mind.

“I like you too, kid.” His voice was low, but y/n still heard him.

“So what’s stopping this?” A sly smirk formed on y/n’s face. She climbed over the control panel and her already short skirt rode up to be even higher.

y/n sat herself on Richie’s lap. The boy had to keep from pinching himself. What was happening was straight out of a wet dream of his he’d probably had last night.

The girl on his lap was toying with a strand of his hair while looking into his eyes. Her shoulder was still bare from the strap that fell off it.

“I’m so glad you feel the same way.” Richie didn’t think he could help himself any longer with the sultry way she was speaking and the fact that she was on his lap. “Now I can do this.”

y/n placed a tender kiss to the awestruck boy’s lips. It was slow and steady. She didn’t want to mess things up since they had just admitted their feelings to one another.

But Richie was impatient.

As soon as she pulled away, he connected his lips to hers again. He was sloppy and fast paced with his movements, yet still full of passion.

y/n giggled into his mouth which caused Richie’s heart to skip a beat. She’d been waiting for this moment since she first laid eyes on him.

The first time Richie stepped foot into the Uris household, y/n had greeted him excitedly.

“y/n could you get that!” Stan shouted to her from their den. He was busy setting up board games, making sure every last piece was in its designated place.

“Why do I have to?” y/n grumbled, still walking out of her room so she could get to the door anyway. “You were closer.”

“I’m preparing for game night. This is the first time my friends are coming over and I want everything to be suitable.” Stan was polishing the game pieces now.

“I don’t think your friends will mind if one of your little thing-a-ma-bobs is out of place.” y/n jokingly tipped over one of the players to Stanley’s game that he had already put into place but she quickly put it back upon noticing the discontent that marked his face as she did so.

“I’ll mind.” Her brother replied calmly.

Another knock at the door.

“Can you please get that?”

y/n got up and walked over to the door. She was first met with a lanky boy whose legs were too long for his torso and eyes were too big for his face.

She didn’t expect Stan’s friends to be hot.

“Hi!” y/n exclaimed, hoping to give off a good impression on the group.

“I didn’t know Stan had an underaged maid. I guess the Uris’ will do anything for labor work.” No one laughed at Richies joke.

“That’s Stan’s sister, dipwad,” Eddie said, disgusted at his friend.

Richie made an ‘o’ shape with his mouth and the group shuffled in, meeting Stan in the den.

“Stan you never told me you had a hottie for a sister.” y/n could hear Richie’s voice from across the hall. Her intestines turned into butterflies and she could pass for a canary with how red her face had gotten.

But despite having the hugest crush on Richie, y/n never shared any classes with the boy. She was a year younger than Stan, but in the same grade as him because of the accelerated classes she took. So y/n had to admire from afar.

Well, not anymore.

Her lips were now attached to his neck, eliciting a moan from him. She smirked at that and started to roll her hips against his. Her name fell from his lips over and over and over again which evoked her to keep going.

“Richie!?” An angered voice called from the outside of his car.

It was the one and only. Stanley Uris.

It was too late to act fast. Richie pulled y/n off him and looked guiltily out the window to see the face that matched the voice.

But Richie already knew who it was.

“Who me? I dink you ghat de wrahng goey.” Richie did his best Irish man accent but it was no use.

“Okay, Richie, cut the crap.” Stan’s face was twisted up in an expression that almost scared Richie. His hands were folded against his chest and he was waiting for an answer.

Richie simply couldn’t bring himself to answer the boy. He sat in shame with y/n next to him staring at her brother. Richie may as well have had ‘I’M SORRY’ written on his forehead with the way he was gaping at Stan.

“y/n get out of the car.” Stan said, breaking eye contact with his friend.

The girl complied, whispering about how sorry she was to the boy who drove her home before getting out. After that, she didn’t dare glance back at him in his car and Richie didn’t have the energy to even look anywhere besides the steering wheel.

That was last week. Since then, Stan and Richie hadn’t said a word to each other. Richie hadn’t spoken to y/n since then either. The tension was too thick between Stan and Richie and Richie didn’t want to mess things up more than he already did.

“I c-cuh-can’t believe yo-you liked y/n.” Bill chuckled.

It was after school and the two were in the library. The details of what happened that day eventually got out. Both Stan and Richie had told their sides of the story and the losers were respectful enough to not take sides. They just hung out with Richie when Stan wasn’t around and hung out with Stan when Richie wasn’t there.

“What’s so bad about that?” Richie looked skeptically at his friend, trying his best to defend himself.

“I mean, yea-yeah sh-sh-she’s cute—”

“She’s beautiful.” Richie cut off but Bill rolled his eyes.

“What-h-ever. I-it’s just funny tha-hat you wuh-would go after her.”

“I already told you she kissed me first.” Richie proclaimed, a little too proudly.

“Sh-he’s Stan’s sister!” That was true.

“And a good kisser.” That was also true.

“Gross, Richie.” Bill returned to the book in front of him, but Richie kept egging on the conversation.

“I don’t see why someone has to be off limits just because they’re related to a friend.” His annoyed tone was evident and Bill gave him a sympathetic look.

“It-t’s b-ba-basically written in th-the br-r-ro code.” Bill paused for a moment and Richie didn’t know if it was because he was embarrassed of his stuttering or if he was gathering his thoughts. “But i-i-if you li-li-like her… wh-who am I to s-suh-say any-th-thing.”

If Bill was insinuating what Richie thought he was, then that made him cooler than he already was.

And that’s how Richie found himself in y/n’s room Friday night. The losers were meeting up at the Aladdin to see the new Jim Carrey movie and somehow Richie had been able to get himself out of it, claiming he was overdue on chores and couldn’t make it.

“Th-that’s t-too bad, R-Rich.” Bill said over the phone (but he knew better) while the other losers pressed their ear up against it, listening in. “The c-co-omedy should be ri-right up your alley.”

“Dumb and underdeveloped?” Eddie asked Bill. “I don’t wanna see a movie just to hate it,” he complained.

“Yowza, Eds. And I thought you appreciated my jokes.” Richie feigned hurt over the speaker. “Anywho, I gotta make like a tree and hang up. The ‘rents are asking for me.” They weren’t.

“O-okay. Maybe nuh-nuh-next wee—” Beep.

Richie had already hung up.

y/n grabbed his hand, which was clamped over her mouth and took it off. She was bursting to the seams with laughter.

“I can’t believe you’re a liar now,” she tsked, trying to fake an ‘I’m-not-mad-at-you-just-disappointed’ look that her English teacher had given her once.

“Only under these circumstances.” He was fast to attach his lips to hers. They didn’t have much time and he wanted to make the most of what they had now.

Richie was on top of her now, his lips still on hers. He kissed her everywhere from the crown of her head to the crook of her neck. If his kisses left a print, her skin would be buried under them.

“Rich…” She sighed contentedly, eyes fluttering from the pleasure he inflicted on her when he had found a sweet spot behind her ear. y/n kissed him back hard with force and a sort of dominance Richie didn’t know she had in her.

She flipped them, so that she was on top now. y/n took this liberty of having full control to take off her shirt and Richie’s as well.

Richie smirked and began to kiss lower. His pace was slower than he originally started. Painstakingly slow. y/n wined at how delicate his lips felt tracing her skin but she needed more.

“Touch me,” she urged. Richie obeyed, his hands were now on her chest, massaging and caressing her delicate skin.

There weren’t enough words to describe the thrill and satisfaction Richie gave her. y/n could relish in this boy’s embrace forever with how good he made her feel. She began grinding against his jeans, just like the day they were caught by Stanley, so she could ease the ache for him between his legs.

Richie chuckled, feeling her press against him. He knew precisely what she wanted but to give or not to give in was the question.

“y/n/n, we don’t have that long,” He warned.

“I don’t care.” She started peppering his face in kisses the same way he had done to her. At the same time, she began to unbutton his jeans. Who would Richie be to turn down sex anyway?

She was fast at getting him inside her. Definitely not inexperienced. But Richie didn’t want fast. Not with y/n, at least. He wanted their first together to be slow, sensual, special—

“You’re amazing,” he grunted and she blushed in response.

Her pace quickened at his praise. Their movements together felt electric and y/n herself was so hypnotic, Richie felt he could get lost in the thought—or the feeling —of her forever.

A feeling that was indescribable washed over Richie once the two of them were finished. He had stayed inside of her, and y/n was now laying on his chest, listening to his heartbeat and tracing circles on his skin with her thumb. Their chests rose and fell together at the same time, a small action that Richie melted at the sight of.

“For the record, I didn’t want it to happen like this,” Richie said. There was a sort of fear palpable in his tone.

“For the record, you kissed me first.” y/n eyed him suspiciously before giving him a peck on the cheek. “And what does that mean? Did you…” She shyly decided on her words for a moment. “Did you not want to..?”

“No, no, no, no.” Richie immediately counteracted the girl’s suggestion. “I so wanted to do this. I’ve dreamed about doing this—” Richie stopped himself before his talking could make things worse, but y/n found his rambling amusing.

“So, what did you mean?” y/n tried again. She reached out to hold his hand, intertwining her fingers with his.

“I mean.” He let out a sigh before continuing. “I wanted us to be, like, an official couple and shit before we do this shit.” He motioned between them and to where they were still joined.

y/n flushed at the sight and covered her face.

“Hey.” Richie was soft. Softer than y/n had ever seen him be. He took her wrists in his hands, uncovering her face so he could admire her.

She was stunning even after sex.

“I don’t want this to be a one time thing.” He was almost embarrassed to admit it, but with y/n he didn’t feel the need to be afraid. “I want us to go on dates and hold hands and tell each other about our day.” He was looking at the ceiling, daydreaming at the thought.

y/n’s eyes searched his face thoughtfully. “Of course, Rich. I want that, too!” She kissed his lips once more, elated at the boy in front of her. Her face fell shortly after she had a sudden understanding. “What’re you gonna do about Stan?”

“Who’s Stan?” But Richie’s fake grin wasn’t fooling anyone. “Uh, well, we could tell him…” But when Richie saw a certain uneasiness consume y/n’s face, he ruled that option out. “How do you feel about dating in secret?” He offered. The situation wasn’t ideal, but at the time it seemed to be the lesser of the two evils at hand.

“Okay,” y/n whispered. “So you should leave.”

“Woah, babe, I just got here.” Richie sat up, looking for his shirt.

“Yeah, but the movie should’ve ended by now.” y/n gestured towards the alarm clock on her nightstand causing Richie’s jaw to drop.

He was heading towards the window now, knowing he had enough time to get out, but he wanted to be careful.

“See you tomorrow then?” y/n giggled at how clingy he could be.

“I’ll call you.” And Richie just couldn’t get enough of the smile she was wearing.

“Sounds like a date!” He yelled from outside her house.

During the drive home, Richie’s thoughts became lost in y/n once again. This was just the beginning.

#it 2017 #it 2019 #it chapter 1 #it chapter 2 #it x reader #it imagine #it fanfic #it fic #richie tozier #it richie #richie tozier x reader #richie x reader #richie tozier imagine #richie tozier fanfiction #richie tozier fic #richie tozier scenario #richie tozier fluff #richie tozier smut #bruh can this be classified as smut idk

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kaoru-takaida · 3 years ago

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MHA Fanfic Collab Fanfic

Chapter 4: Reveals

Kirishima lays on his futon awake and unable to sleep. Bakugou is near him, in his own futon, trying to sleep. Kirishima sits up a bit, checking whether or not any of the other boys were visibly awake. "Hey. Bakugou. Are you still awake?" Kirishima whispers.

"No." Bakugou says.

"Come on, man." Kirishima whispers. "I need to talk to you about something."

Bakugou growls slightly. "Ask me in the morning." He grumbles.

"Bakugou." Kirishima whines quietly. "It's kind of important. It's about Kaoru." Kirishima hears Bakugou exhale a sigh. He then turns onto his stomach to look at Kirishima.

"What is it?" Bakugou asks.

Kirishima scowls a bit. "I overheard them talking to Mr. Aizawa a little bit ago." Kirishima begins. "And they mentioned something about people being after them." Bakugou is taken aback. But Kirishima can see he's not surprised and put two and two together. "Kaoru told you, didn't they?"

Bakugou nods. "Yeah." He scoffs. "That dumbass needs to be more careful in who they tell and where they talk." Bakugou clenches his fists. "I was pretty surprised myself to be honest."

Kirishima grimaces. "Do you think it's the League?" He asks.

Bakugou shakes his head. "I don't know. They only said a group of people. I'm not even sure Kaoru themself even knows." Bakugou looks up at Kirishima. "For now, they'll be safe, though. I'm sure of it. We should try to focus on training and getting stronger. Kaoru included."

Kirishima smiles a determined smile at Bakugou. "Right!"

Bakugou puts a finger to his lips. "Shhhhh." He shushed Kirishima. "Don't be so frigging loud." He lays back down, covering himself with his blanket. "Now go back to sleep, idiot." Kirishima gives one last smile and rolls back over, laying down.

Unknown to the two, however, a couple futons over, Midoriya's eyes were wide in disbelief. His back is facing everyone, so he was able to listen to Kirishima and Bakugou talk. He'd heard everything…

Kaoru glares down at their cell phone and scowls. They're outside of the camp base, sitting on the porch. And although it was summer, the nights are cold. They readjust their hoodie sleeves before looking at the cellphone again. The contact number "Uncle" on the screen, ready for them to call. Kaoru sighs, clicking the phone icon. They lift the phone to their ear and listen to the phone ring. On the second ring, the phone is answered. "Kao? Why haven't you been answerin' the phone? Do you have any idea how worried I've been?" A male voice asks. The man sounds a bit irritated. And Kaoru knew he was angrier than he was letting on. "You need to come home right away."

Kaoru waits a second before talking. "Uncle, I've decided to continue going to U.A. to become a Hero. No matter what you or anyone else wants." Kaoru says. The other side of the line is quiet. "I know you don't want me to. But I'm staying in class 1A."

"Kao, I-."

"Uncle, you need to trust me and start telling me more about myself!" Kaoru says, clenching their fists. "How else am I going to grow if I can't learn to take care of myself? If you won't trust me?" Kaoru sighs. "We can figure it out together… Starting with that group that's after me." Kaoru says. "Please tell me what you can about them."

After another few seconds of silence, their uncle talks. "If I tell ya, you need to promise me that you'll stay away from them. No matter what!"

"I promise."

Kaoru could hear their uncle sigh. "I swear yer one of the most stubborn people I've met." Kaoru smiles.

"You've got no one but yourself to blame for that one, Uncle." Kaoru tells him. "I'm not nearly as stubborn as you." The man laughs once, but goes silent.

After a moment of silence and hesitation, their uncle answers. "You already know their name." He says. "They call themselves the League of Villains." Kaoru's expression changes from a smile to alarmed. "Almost 6 years ago, I rescued you from them. They've been tracking ya down ever since." Kaoru gulps, realizing they'd had their suspicions the whole time.

"No wonder you were so against me going to class A." Kaoru says. "I guess I should have known."

"It was only for yer protection, Kao." He responds. "Trust me when I say I didn't wanna discourage ya or tell ya not to be a hero." He explains. "I just wanted you to be safe." Kaoru closes their eyes.

"I understand, Uncle." Kaoru tells him. "I'm sorry for worrying you."

Their uncle scoffs. "I'm always worryin' about you." He says, making them smile. "Hey. Remember our motto, okay? Stay cool and stay true." He tells them.

Kaoru nods to themself. "Stay cool and stay true."

Kaoru runs with all their might, sweating like crazy, gasping for air. "Quirks are a part of your body like muscles." Aizawa had explained. Kaoru remembers this in their head as they run, despite already feeling like they'll collapse. "Muscles grow stronger and tougher by tearing and growing back in a way that can withstand more." He'd been explaining to Kaoru, who wanted to get stronger and more creative with their Quirk. "For you, you'll have to focus your efforts on every aspect of what a Quirk is. So you'll rotate between endurance runs and strength training." Kaoru had been running around the training ground for nearly 2 hours now. They were tasked with 100 laps, without running on all fours.

This was the third day of camp. Before they could switch to their next exercise, Aizawa and Class B's Teacher, Mr. Vlad King, had called for a short break. Kaoru fell to the ground next to Midoriya. Both panting and gasping for air wildly. "I've never… felt… so exhausted in my life." Kaoru says between breaths, lying on their stomach next to Midoriya. He grabs his water and takes some huge drinks. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

He smiles down at them. "Yeah." He looks around at his classmates all resting. Both class A and B, training together. It was a different vibe with the other class than the Sports Festival. "Everyone is working so hard to push their limits and go beyond them."

Kaoru smiles now too, sitting up on their haunches. "I'm with you and the other power types for the next 2 hours. Have you been improving, Deku?"

Midoriya chuckles nervously. "It's hard to tell really. But I know I'm feeling stronger aside from being exhausted." Kaoru smiles at him.

"Good." Kaoru tells him.

Without warning, Bakugou strides over. "Oh, Kacchan." Midoriya says. Bakugou gives a side glance at him, scoffing. He turns to Kaoru.

"Take this." Bakugou drops a cold bottle of water. Kaoru catches it and gives Bakugou a wide eyed look. "Make sure you're drinking water, dumbass."

"Oh, thank you." Kaoru tells him as he walks away. He waves them off, heading to Kirishima. Kaoru opens the water and takes a drink.

"Wow. Kacchan and you really are becoming good friends, huh?" Midoriya asks. Kaoru's ears perk up slightly as they stop drinking.

"Hm?" Kaoru looks at Bakugou giving Kirishima a bottle of water as well. "I mean, I guess so." Kaoru laughs halfheartedly. "Most of the time I just seem to annoy him. I'm not sure if he actually likes me or just feels like he needs to make it up to me since he thinks he hurt me."

Midoriya looks over at Bakugou too. "I've known him for a long time. Trust me. You guys are good friends." Midoriya spots the kid, Kota, from the first day. He gives a small wave, meeting eyes with him. The boy simply sticks his tongue out and scoffs, walking away from Mandalay towards the base. "Eh heh…" Midoriya looks at the ground, seemingly at a loss.

"Wow… that kid looked like he wanted to punch you in the balls again." Kaoru tells him.

Midoriya sighs. "Yeah. I… want to know why he acts like he doesn't like heroes."

Kaoru blinks. "But why?" Midoriya looks over at them, a questionable look on his face and a small "huh". Kaoru puts a hand out. "Why do you wanna know? Isn't that his business?" Kaoru asks. "What if he has his own reasons and it's a reason you don't agree with? Or what if he has no reason at all?" Kaoru looks down and rubs the side of their water bottle with their finger. "I mean, there are plenty of people out there who don't like heroes. It's becoming harder and harder to make out what a real hero is any more."

Midoriya frowns. "I guess you're right. But… "

Kaoru crosses their arms. "If Kota wanted you to know, don't you think he'd have told you himself?" Kaoru asks. Midoriya doesn't say anything for a moment. Then Kaoru gasps, seeing Midoriya's puzzled face. "Oh! Deku, I'm sorry. I didn't mean any disrespect or to be rude." They say, waving their hands at him.

Midoriya shakes his head. "No. It's alright." He tells them. "But Kaoru…" Kaoru looks up at him. "I care about Kota, even though I just met him. Besides…" He smiles at them, a determined scowl now on his brow. "Meddling where you technically don't belong is in the essence of being a hero." Kaoru can't help but feel awestruck at this revelation.

Kaoru stares at the cutting board. Kirishima laughs at the fox girl's confused glare at the potatoes in front of them. "Have you never cooked before?" He asks. Kaoru doesn't say a thing. And then after a couple of seconds, their ears droop and their tail lowers itself and Kaoru growls to themself quietly with a strange grimace on their face. A clear sign of embarrassment on their part. "You seriously haven't?" Kirishima exclaims. He reaches over and readjusts their hand on the handle of the knife. "Okay, look. Hold the knife like this so you have better control." He moves over to his own cutting board. "Then, carefully chop the potatoes like this."

Kirishima begins to slice the potatoes. He then turns the slices and dices the rest up into tiny cubes. Kaoru's ears perk up in excitement. Their tail wags a bit as they begin to chop the potatoes, copying Kirishima's movements. "Hah! I'm doing it!"

"Good job!" Kirishima says, giving a thumbs up. "I'm not really that great at cooking. Especially in comparison to…" Kirishima and Kaoru look behind them at Bakugou, chopping fiercely away at carrots.

"Woah, Bakugou." Uraraka says. "You're really good with that knife." She clutches the firewood in surprise. "It's weird."

"What do you mean it's weird?" Bakugou shouts. "How can you people be so damn bad at everything?"

Kirishima gives an exhausted sigh. "Look at that. He's not blowing stuff up." Kaminari says, walking behind Bakugou.

Kirishima stops chopping to look up, rolling his eyes a bit. I'm too tired for this… He thinks to himself. He looks over at Kaoru, watching Bakugou chop intently. Like they were studying how he was chopping. He can't help but give a weak smile. Kaoru turns and starts to chop now too, holding the potato similar to how Bakugou was holding the carrot he was chopping. The look of satisfaction on Kaoru's face made Kirishima laugh. "You really never learned to cook?" Kirishima asks.

Kaoru shakes their head. "No. My uncle made all the meals so I never really got a chance to." Kaoru shrugs. "And there aren't any Home Economics classes in America. Not anymore at least."

"Huh." Kirishima says. "They're pretty common in Japan, actually. Even these days." He stops now, before he clears his throat after a moment. He glances to make sure no one around was close enough to hear. "So, um." He continues to chop his own potatoes. "I overheard you talking with Mr. Aizawa." He begins.

"Wha-!" Kaoru starts. "Ow!" They exclaim in pain, having cut themself with their knife. Kirishima grabs their sliced hand quickly.

"Ah! I'm sorry." He gestures towards the building. "Come on. Let me help." Moments later, Kirishima is wrapping medical tape around the tip of Kaoru's index finger on their left hand. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." He was on his knees in front of them, on the floor of the lobby where Kaoru had been seated on one of the couches. Kirishima closes the first aid kit and sets it on the couch next to Kaoru.

Kaoru shakes their head, pursing their eyebrows. "No… You're fine. I was just surprised." They sigh before laughing halfheartedly. "I guess I need to be more careful with knives." Kaoru frowns, noticing Kirishima avoiding eye contact. "How much did you overhear?" Kaoru asks, an almost bitter tone in their voice.

Kirishima looks down at the floor. "Pretty much all of it." He admits, clenching his fists. He then scoffs at himself and smacks both of his cheeks. He drops forward, his hands to the floor and bows his head. "I'm sorry!"

Eh! A Japanese Dogeza! Kaoru gasps a bit. They grimace, blushing nervously. "It's fine, Kirishima! Really!" They say, waving their hands for him to stop. "Seriously, cut it out! It's not that big a deal." He sits up. Kaoru sighs again, looking away. "I suppose I should be more careful about what I say and where I say it from now on too." Kaoru crosses their arms, they look at Kirishima. "So you know why I'm here and what I'm running from." Kirishima nods once, still not meeting their gaze.

"I've been meaning to ask whether or not you're safe here." Kirishima asks. "I mean, these people after you. They're dangerous, right?" Kaoru smiles at Kirishima.

"I'm safe here." Kaoru answers. "Mr. Aizawa assured me and my Uncle that no one knows where we are except the principal, a few teachers, and The Pussycats." Kirishima smiles now too, finally looking at them. "I appreciate the concern."

Kirishima's smile fades now. "Do…" He wrings his wrists a little bit, hesitant. "Do you know why these people are after you?" Kaoru keeps the smile on their face, but sadness sinks over them.

"Honestly, I have no idea." Kaoru answers. Kirishima looks at them, scolding softly. Kaoru shrugs. "Maybe it has to do with my childhood? Or these scars I have?" Kaoru pulls the sleeve of their hoodie down trying to hide the scars on their wrists and hands. But it doesn't cover all the way.

Kirishima gives Kaoru a determined smile. "You might not like them. But I think scars can be manly." Kirishima tells them, pointing a thumb at his own scar on his right eyelid. Kaoru's eyes light up at the way he'd said that. "They're a reminder of something that happened to make you you!" Kirishima tells them. "That's how I choose to see them."

Kaoru watches with a bittersweet reaction and an almost crying Kirishima as he's dragged away by Aizawa to go to remedial classes by their teachers capture scarf. Him and a few others. Ashido, Kaminari, Sero, Sato, and Kirishima all failed the practical portion of their finals apparently. The punishments were special remedial classes that started yesterday into today. And not satisfied with their training today, Aizawa had decided that they'd sit out the Test of Courage the Wild Pussycats had put together for Class 1A and 1B. It was night out and both classes, despite their exhaustion all were looking forward to this.

"I almost feel sorry for him." Kaoru says to Bakugou. He scoffs looking away.

"That's what he gets for failing." Bakugou murmurs. Pixie-Bob, Mandalay, and Tiger all explain how the Test of Courage will happen. Class B hides in the forest. Class A goes through in pairs and tries to get papers with their names at the far end of the forest and come back to the clearing. All while Class B use their Quirks to scare them.

After drawing randomly, Kaoru is matched up with Midoriya to go in last. Midoriya cries and gives Kaoru a look of relief. "Oh, thank God I'm not alone! I would have died of fright or had a heart attack!" He says with a waterfall of tears. Kaoru laughs.

"Don't be too relieved yet, we still have to go in." They say. As the team's begin to go into the forest, Kaoru gives Midoriya a thumbs up. "We'll be fine, Deku! Don't worry." However, the screaming in the forest starts and Kaoru can't help but feel a shiver run up their spine. They force the smile to stay on their face, but start sweating nervously. Their ears droop and their tail tucks between their legs, a clear sign of fear. "Yep… We'll be… perfectly fine…" They say, stiff as a board.

That's not very convincing! Midoriya thinks in a bitter panic.

Kaoru opens their mouth to say something, but suddenly they scowl. Kaoru sniffs the air. "Huh?" They sniff repeatedly now, closing their eyes.

"Kaoru?" Midoriya asks.

"There's a strange scent." Kaoru begins. Kaoru turns to Pixie-Bob and Mandalay. "Do you guys smell that?"

"What's this foul smell in the air?" Pixie-Bob asks, covering her mouth. Midoriya looks around. He then points at the forest side of the mountain.

"Do you see that?" Midoriya asks. He points and Kaoru's eyes widen in alarm and they gasp. Smoke is rising from a light, bright blue haze above the trees.

"Black smoke?" Mandalay asks. Kaoru swallows hard, their heart beginning to beat rapidly. Worried glances and expressions now are seen on all of the students and the Wild Pussycats now.

"Has something been set ablaze?" Iida wonders.

"Maybe a fire on the mountain?" Ojiro suggests.

That same moment, a man with a patchwork face and stitched arms is holding a hand to a grove of trees. Blue flames setting the trees on fire with fuming and overwhelming heat swirl from his hand. The raven haired man opens his turquoise eyes.

"Now, it begins." He says, as the flames grow bigger and stronger.

#mha oc #bnha oc #my hero academia oc #boku no hero acadamia oc #my hero Academia fanfiction #mha fanfiction #boku no hero academy fanfiction #bnha fanfiction #Kaoru Takaida #my mha oc #my bnha oc

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radramblog · 3 years ago

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Full-Art Lands Pt.2

Hello internet persons, this is Rad from 2/9/21 speaking. I am tired from an early early shift at work, and also just got the first vaccine dose, so I’m going to be posting these words written on Monday when I anticipated exactly this level of exhaustion. This might defeat the purpose of “a blog post a day”, but its hardly the first time I’ve done it and also I think I have a pretty solid excuse.

Anyway. This is a continuation of a discussion of every Full-Art Basic Land set in Magic: The Gathering, starting now with Modern Horizons. It counts!

Modern Horizons

Kind of cheating, because technically the Snow-Covered Lands are different cards, but unless you’re building around them (or a card like Extraplanar Lens) then they’re functionally pretty much the same. These are also literally the only Full-Art Snows, so if you’re running those then this is basically your only pimp option.

Ultimately these are kind of held back by the fact that, well, everything has to be blanketed in snow. There’s some interesting blues going along with the Plains and Mountain, and there’s some fun sky colours, but the remainder is left a little bland.

I currently believe these are worth investing in, for what it’s worth. Both Full-Art Lands and Snow Basics always go up eventually, slowly, over time, and these are still less than a dollar each for now.

Secret Lair: Artist Series: Seb McKinnon

This one is kind of a special case, because there’s just a Swamp. And there are technically two of them, but one is just an older version of the art. So I wasn’t sure whether or not to count these.

Because of these limitations, it’s hard to recommend these unless you have a lot of money and also a mono-black deck. They look great, matching Seb’s excellent style from the other cards in the drop, but it’s a bit of an awkward one. That said, I just have these sitting around, seeing as I got this drop just for the Damnation, so…might as well, I guess?

Theros: Beyond Death

Much like Amonkhet/Hour of Devastation, this set has one full-art mixed in with several regular basics. The difference is that these are representative of Nyx, the world of Theros’s gods, with its symbolic and nebulaic art.

There’s no real getting over the part where these just look like the Basic Energy cards from the Pokemon Trading Card Game. Considering WoTC’s hand in designing that game, and that the two are equivalent because, well, WotC designed them that way, it’s a fair comparison. But I don’t think this is why these ones aren’t as good as other full-arts. I have two main issues with these lands, and the first is that, well, there’s no land on them. For a set themed around a specific plane, one would expect that plane to be represented in the art, and Nyx does have actual landscapes on it. I get the space-themed design, but they could have been up in the sky above an actual Mountain or whatnot.

The other is the missed opportunity of these being Nebulae. That’s a fine enough design choice, though the symbology is a bit hammered in, but like. In a set based on Ancient Greece and its astronomical focus, with Gods that look like and are represented by constellations, with a mechanic called Constellation, they probably should have just been constellations. It would have made for a more subtle, less, well, Pokemon look, as well.

Unsanctioned

New Un-Set, new basics. These ones are kind of a hybrid between the Unglued and Unstable ones, with that golden frame and almost borderless design. I’m actually not sure how I feel about these, since while the frame looks nice, it’s also kind of pointless, and the texturing on the mana symbols is a little weird. I don’t like how smooth and reflective they are.

The art is at least still excellent. Not John Avon, but Adam Paquette does a great job distinguishing himself, less realistic but still believable places that feel fantasy. I actually feel like Unsanctioned was overall a miss, especially since each box came with like 2 of each of these basics, but that’s not something I’m holding against them.

Secret Lair: The Godzilla Lands

Secret Lair has been an opportunity for WotC’s designers to experiment a lot with card frames, though this set of basics doesn’t quite represent that. I’m not sure how well this one did, to be honest, though they did make future basic-only SLs, so fair enough I guess.

So, do you like Godzilla? Because he’s on all of these, along with some other Kaiju from the greater series canon. It’s kind of a little distracting, because the landscapes are otherwise gorgeous. Ironically, though, Godzilla himself is kind of being a scale-reptile in these pieces, giving a sense for just how big that mountain is, or how far away the “camera” is from the ground.

The only Island I see in that Island is Godzilla himself, though.

Double Masters

These are just a set of reprints from Unhinged and Battle for Zendikar, but in a more borderless style. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about the Unhinged arts being blown up like this. But this is a reprint set, and these are honestly kind of boring, so eh.

Zendikar Rising

Another Zendikar more lands etc. etc. you get the idea. Like the title suggests, this iteration of the plane has a lot of vertical exploration in its flavour, and the new basics reflect this. Especially in the Plains, Islands, and Mountains, that sense of adventure and traversal is back from the first Zendikar set.

Interestingly, this one doesn’t have any reprinted arts, unlike Battle for Zendikar, even though there��s only 3 of each land here. There’s probably something to be said about distancing this set from BFZ- that set faced a fair bit of backlash, and it is thematically very different from ZNR. There’s also the conspicuous absence of the Hedrons, apparently having been replaced in art and in flavour by the Skyclaves. No, I still don’t know what those actually are supposed to be.

At the end of the day, these cards do end up making Zendikar feel like it’s lost its edge a little. They’re just a bit too bright and friendly for my liking, even with the inclement conditions in some of the images. I think it literally just might be the clear, bright skies in this one.

Secret Lair: The Unfathomable Crushing Brutality of Basic Lands

Yeah these are about as edgy as the name suggests. Monochromatic and striking, this set of basic’s iconography is much more evocative than literal, the mood of the colours in their themes, captured largely without them.

It does greatly amuse me that literally all of these arts contains skulls. Talk about gothic. I like these a lot better than the Theros: Beyond Death lands, despite the similarities- Particularly, that the mana symbols aren’t literally just the standard ones- arguably the Island is, but it at least is in the form of negative space.

I can’t get over how thematic these are. Plains embodies community with its weapons and runes and roots, and the human face on the Sun icon. Island represents the vastness of knowledge with its endless waters and starred skies. Swamp is death, skeletons mired in the depths of the surroundings. Mountain is fire, bold and unflinching, while Forest’s gnarled branches running through the skull shows the unflinching nature of, well, nature. They’re all so utterly sick.

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt

The most recent addition to this list, and one you actually can’t get yet. I think the frames on these being so thin is excellent, since it means they aren’t taking away from the spectacle of the art- not to mention the monochrome of the border and art.

These pieces are magnificent gothic landscapes, the kind you’d expect to see illustrated on the inside cover of Frankenstein or a Lovecraft story. Each and every one of them is ominous in its own special way, with the Swamp that’s a ruined river town to the rugged cliffside path of (presumably) Geier Reach. And the Island with the waves crashing across the cliffs is utterly gorgeous.

Obviously we haven’t seen these in paper quite yet. And the monochrome may make it difficult to tell them apart at a glance. But these are sacrifices I am willing to make for the sake of style.

This is the sum total of all the FABs. For now. Something I didn’t quite realise when writing this was the sheer number of options for this kind of pimping, and how much they’ve ramped up in production over the last few years. Much like with the increase in cards in general, I suppose, as well as premium product versions like the Secret Lairs. I would be genuinely shocked if the game ever exclusively started using Full-Arts, but I’d also not be surprised if we saw them yearly at the longest.

Either way, I’m sticking with my BfZ lands, because those are the ones I already have!

#ramble #mtg #basic lands

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salty-donut-collecter · 6 years ago

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Why Not?

Part Twenty-One

Part Twenty {Masterlist} Part Twenty-Two

Chapter Word Count: 1,108

Trigger Warnings: Negativity, panic attacks, possibly mentions of accidents and such

Please tell me if I need to tag anything else :)

*Also, I’m planning on having this story as a slow burn, so please be prepared ;)

Prompts: “Do I look like I give a fuck?”, “I don’t know what I’m feeling, but I’m feeling a lot of it.”, and “Not to dictate your life, but drop your shitty friends.”

A/N: Happy reading! (Also, feel free to comment your thoughts! I love reading comments :))

Also, if you’d like to be added to the tags list, please let me know! :D

_____________________________________________________

Sitting upright, you loudly sighed as you ran your hands through your hair. Your fingers tangled, you got them out, it was fine. It's all fine.

But what if it really... wasn't?

Your curiosity got the better of you as you sat to think. Well, you were trying to think, anyway.

You should-- no.

A pause.

Well...

It was illegal, but you wanted answers. They were so attainable, too.

So is imprisonment. You thought.

...

It only took you about five more minutes of battling with your conscience, and not long after that to hack into HYDRA's files, and the 'AVENGER INITIATIVE' files.

After that, it was just sorting through everything you thought was connected, and everything you thought was stuff to ask about another day. (An Example would be the weird shit you'd seen on some of the adoption sheets you saw.)

When you saw it, and you pieced it together, your breath just kind of... stopped. Your eyes went wide, and you felt a shiver down your spine.

Slamming your laptop closed, you begin to panic.

"Y/n L/n, are you alright? Do I need to inform..." that was the last thing you heard F.R.I.D.A.Y. say before the blackout that ensued moments later.

...

You woke up, strapped to a stretcher in the lab, an IV strip in your arm, and both Tony and Stephen at your side, staring at you intensely. The sound of a heartbeat-- your heartbeat-- rang out from the monitor next to you, telling everyone that you were awake, yet calm. You didn't really understand what'd happened for a few moments, but you started to remember what'd happened before you'd blacked out.

The file you'd put together under the 'AVENGER INITIATIVE' having to deal with Micheal was printed and on the table next to you, a picture of your foster brother peaking out.

As you looked at it, you felt the panic swell in your chest again. You didn't really remember why, until the golden America boy himself walked in with a glare that could kill off all the bloodlines of everyone in the building. (Or in simpler terms, he was not happy, and looked like he'd gotten literally zero hours of sleep.) You observed the hickeys on his neck, but decided to think nothing of it as you met his gaze with a stern look of your own. (Look at the balls on you, eh?)

"Steve, you look upset. Do you want to talk about it?" Bad move on your behalf, but you didn't so much as look as he clenched his jaw and fists, narrowing his eyes at you angrily.

You noticed the way Tony cringed, and the way Stephen held back a sigh. Your heart rate monitor beep faster, but you didn't visibly react in any other way. The panic in your chest was still there, but it was growing quieter in comparison to your quickly growing rage.

"You might as well tell me when my funeral is, cause y'all look like you're gonna kill me." You sighed, trying to lighten up because for some reason they couldn't. This had been far from the first time you'd passed out from an anxiety attack, so how was this time different? Did you actually die this time? (If so, why the fuck would they care?)

You heard a sigh come from behind you, which caused you not to flinch, but instead slowly look behind the stretcher as much as you could manage. It was Bruce, Natasha, Clint (who honestly look pretty happy and amused), T'challa, Rhodey, a pouting Wade Wilson, and finally, the infamous Nicholas Fury.

Aside from Clint, Fury actually didn't look mad at you. He looked more amused or impressed, and you had no doubt in your mind someone had called him cause they had no idea what the fuck they were going to do with you.

"Fury." you tried to nod.

Nick nodded back, then slowly moved past Banner to your "bed" side. After a moment of looking into your eyes, which you didn't really understand at first, he began to undo the straps of your arms. For the entirety of you being awake, you had barely moved, and the restraints hadn't moved much either. You were in an almost completely calm state, with understandable amounts of anger and panic.

Bruce reached a hand out, "Don't." he sternly muttered.

You felt a ping of something similar to betrayal, but you pushed it aside.

"She's not a threat anymore, Dr." Fury stared him down as he spoke, pausing on his job loosening the restraints, "She hasn't moved since she woke up, and she's in no position to be talked to." He undid the rest of the strap on your left hand, moving in to work on your arm's strap, "Besides, it's not like you don't have the ability to debilitate her without the straps is it?"

There was silence.

"That's what I thought."

The silence continued.

...

It didn't take long for you to be sitting on the edge of the couch in the Living room. What did take forever, though, was the conversation that ensued.

"Is anyone gonna tell me why I was strapped to a stretcher with an IV? Cause, not gonna lie, that's something I've been curious about." Y/n asked.

Everyone in the room was quiet for a moment. You wondered if it'd have been the same way with your siblings, or if they'd have gotten to the point with you by now. Well, you were almost sure that they would've gotten to the point because Micheal was really bad about hiding his feelings about other people's flaws. That's one of the (many) reasons people didn't usually like him. (He was also just really aggressive, but that's just a part of him now.)

Thankfully, Wade quickly got tired of all the quiet.

Unfortunately for him, he started everything off by laughing.

"C'mon everyone," he chuckled, "Why're you being so serious about this? You would've had to tell her eventually, so things are out of the way now, right?" he held a smile for a moment before quickly dropping it and rolling his eyes. "You all are seriously a bunch of stuck ups," he dug his palms into his eyes, "She was literally trained to find answers when she needed them, then you encouraged the behavior, and kept secrets from her. It's not that hard to think through and find her reasoning!" Another exasperated groan.

Steve gave Wade a side glare, "Are you blaming us for this?" he asked, his voice gruff and angry.

"Well, it's not that I'm blaming you captain red-white-and-blue-all-over. However, I will agree to you accusing me of saying that Y/n isn't entirely at fault, but that's mainly because she's not entirely at fault. Catch my drift?" Wade winked with a smile.

Steve was admittedly confused by most things that came out of Wade's mouth, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Who would you blame then?" Fury asked, looking more amused than having previously been. He moved forward, his chin resting on his hands as his elbows sat upon his knees.

"Well, Y/n hacked the Avengers and HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D., sure, but she also gathered all the information to put the pieces together and spare you guys the burden of having to go to her and tell her yourselves. She did you a bit of a favor. Plus, wasn't she doing what y'all were telling her to? Hacking people and finding information isn't just a HYDRA thing she can't get rid of. It's also a tiny baby thing that you took in and raised, encouraged to have grandkids, and live with you instead of in its own house where it belongs. You played the cool parent and said I'd rather you do it in the house when, heads up, that still causes addiction." Wade laughed, "And then it blew up in your faces!" he lightly exclaimed, his voice breathy as he let out a small laugh, "The funny part is how mad you are about this! It's like a tiny teen tantrum." his shoulders shrugged, "And it's so cute!" he squealed, patronizingly.

You smiled, Wade was your favourite for a reason. He was usually pretty funny, and he always stood up for the kids, unless it was a matter of safety. This, apparently, didn't seem to be a matter of safety and Wade thought you were completely fine and far from endangering anyone. Hearing that in his voice made you feel a lot better than you had waking up, and some of your panic went away.

"So... what did I do after I blacked out then?" You asked, surprised at how quiet you were being. Then again, it was really hard to follow the conversation. It was kinda like they sounded farther away than they were, and you were kind of zoning out.

"You just startled Steve and Bucky with some violent questions last night. You were reading his mind very violently, so your eyes were glowing as per usual, and it was dark so they didn't know it was you right away. They were very alarmed in their vulnerable state so they attacked you. You've been out for three days without anyone aside from Bruce, Tony and Stephen to see you. We called Fury yesterday to ask what to do since Bucky doesn't... " Clint paused, trying to find the right words.

"Randomly turn into a psychotic animal like you," Steve growled. (Much to your amusement.)

You smiled, "Wow, so venomous, Steve, I'm hurt. Truly." then mockingly snapped your jaw in his direction, laughing only moments afterward.

After another breath, you thought for a moment, realizing what you'd just heard about you doing. You weren't actually psychotic... were you? Your smile dropped and you were no longer looking at any particular person, but more so at the ground. You really like Steve and Buck. they were a cute couple, and they did a really good job of making sure Chloe was taken care of, and they loved Katie just as much, even if she wasn't technically their responsibility.

A sigh left your lips, "Look, Steve, I really don't mean to randomly freak out, and you should know that I've been working on it." You lick your lips. Huh, they're chapped. Not surprising. "And I'm glad you love Bucky enough to see past his flaws, but ignoring them is just plain ignorant." You look up at Steve now, starting to feel the anger again as he looks back at you, his eyes cold.

"I was with James while he was busy being the Winter Soldier. He trained me as his understudy for a long time, and if you really think that he didn't have control of himself back then I honestly feel sorry for you." You were lying, all you could feel was rage, but you didn't care. You'd feel sorry for him later.

"Bucky raged out just like me, if not worse. He had little to no control over his mind back then. It literally took him years of mental torture and assistance to get to where he is today with you. Now I'm glad that you love Bucky and I'm happy that he trusts you, but doing something so..." You were raising your voice now. You didn't mean to, but you also didn't really care. "So childish and fucking revolting! James was like a really scary father to me when I needed it and dismissing all of his progress, while trying to take a swing at me? Wow, Mr. Fucking America would he be ashamed of you! That's probably why he's not here right now, huh? You sent him away so he couldn't sympathize with me and try to defend me?"

Nat gave you a look you had yet to see and couldn't quite place. "Y/n, that's not--" You cut her off. Right now, there was nobody with high authority on your side, aside from maybe Nick Fury who still had yet to say something.

"Can I go now? I'm tired." despite the fact that you'd been out for three days (which, now that you think about it, kinda shocked you) you hadn't really slept. You were unconscious, not resting, not sleeping, unconscious. The more you listened to everyone talk to you, the more you just wanted to curl up and sleep.

The seconds passed by, and the room was silent. Every moment just weighed you further down. Fury was looking at everyone, who were just staring at you. Eventually, he and Tony locked eyes, and they nodded.

"Y/n, go rest. We'll call you to a whole team meeting later." Nick jerked his head in the direction of the door, and you took that as you que.

With that, you sighed, standing up and halfway through realizing you had a lot less strength than you realized. You stumbled and fell, which had Steve immediately on his feet to try and help you.

You could feel your eyes glow with anger as your gaze met his within a millisecond of him moving to help you.

"Don't fucking touch me." you spat, almost choking because it felt like you had broken your finger when you landed of your hands and you'd started tearing up.

Now, saying this any other day probably wouldn't have made Steve back off, but the sheer betrayal in your voice, the pure rage directed solely towards him, and the fact that you had choked up with tears in your eyes caused him not only to back off, but also caused him to regret the past three days of hatred he'd held towards you.

With that, you somehow managed to push yourself up and walk to your room, only daring to cradle your hand after you rounded one of the many corners of the big, now pretty empty mansion.

Sleeping wasn't easy at first, but once asleep you didn't dream (a true gift from whatever God was up there). Instead, you were in the void, softly breathing and actually relaxed once.

You were at peace.

_____________________________________________________

Taglist: @introvertedsin, @galacticalstarcat, @acidrain707

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karinrumi · 6 years ago

Text

She’s his mechanic [KawaSumi, OneShot, AU]

AN: Because First Villian x Another Villian ship could have an interesting dynamic is my official excuse for writing this OneShot. [But the truth is @benteja mentioned KawaSumi could have a similar dynamic to EdWin on discord and at this point, nobody could stop me from writing it.] Enjoy puns and hidden Naruto references!

Both Kawaki and Sumire are older when the events of the OneShot are happening since it’s an AU. And the interaction between Sumire and Kawaki can be little OCC because as of now they didn’t interact with each other in canon.

Happy Mother’s Day for all moms around the globe and Happy Birthday for all people born in May.

Anyway, I hope it’ll be an enjoyable read.

MY MASTERLIST

Your clumsy author - Karinrumi ;)

Title: She’s His Mechanic. [KawaSumi, KawakixSumire, OneShot, AU]

Rating: M.

Wordcount: 3, 842.

Sumire cleaned the lab working under her senior colleague, Akita. She respected this woman a lot and always listened to her instructions. After all, it was thanks to Mr Katasuke that she had a chance of figuring out how to synergize with Nue.

Working with the machines and new inventions was far more enjoyable for Sumire as of lately. At first, she thought about joining the Ninja Science Department only because of Nue and when she doubted her decision Boruto's words were the final push she needed to do so.

However, when she wanted to be a ninja didn't her decision was influenced by Boruto too? But a lot of days passed without Sumire even seeing him, not to mention she found new people that were the source of her inspiration, so her enjoyment right now originated from something else than Boruto's words, right?

It was quite a while when Sumire really enjoyed something for real. Brainstorming with the team about new inventions that can basically change the entire fate of a fight, helping civilians with new tech, even simple tasks like cleaning was more enjoyable than Sumire thought it would be before.

"Sumire, could you please move this package over there?" Akita asked pointing out her finger towards the table with a label 'Prototype-Mecha-Hands'.

"Prototypes of mechanical hands? I thought we already finished making them, Akita." Sumire said in her confusion but still walked over to pick up the box and put it on the assigned table.

"Well, kind of. Finished mecha-hands are just for specific people. The main reason for it is that our finished ones use the basic chakra system." Akita's explanation was reasonable. It's not surprising the package content went under the label of the prototype products in this case.

"Eh? Wouldn't that mean our mecha-hands are mainly suitable just for the ninja? What about the citizens which chakra is hard to identify?" Well, technically the science department Sumire worked for, focused on ninja tools, but improving technology for Konoha citizens was equally important. If you took into consideration how many times Konoha was attacked in the past... Creation of mechanical hands and legs for people with hard to identify chakra could pay off in the future.

"Our tools are created specifically for the ninja, but sir Katasuke wanted to improve our mecha-hands anyway. Our intended goal is to make our product available without the need for using or depending on the other person chakra." And that's how Akita Inuzuka started to talk about the details of their new experiments with prototype products.

Immersed in their discussion like always they forgot about cleaning and after snapping out of it finished to clean everything losing half of their life span. On the lucky side of things, Seventh Hokage was late to his earlier announced visit.

Taking into consideration that Sumire planned to attack the village hurting innocent people in the process and Mr Katasuke's actions under genjutsu influence, Hokage regular visits to supervise them weren't surprising.

"Now when I think about it is there a reason why we suddenly work again on mecha-hands prototypes? We were focusing on our other project just yesterday." Sumire decided to ask Akita while waiting for Naruto Uzumaki arrival.

“You’re pretty sharp. The project we were working was postponed this morning." Akita sigh meant it was a really stressful situation for their staff.

"Why?!" From what Sumire gathered project that started just yesterday came to a halt this morning. It was unusual because when Mr Katasuke discarded projects staff was informed one week before it could happen.

"We received a special request from Lord Seventh," Akita whispered to her.

If the project was scrapped because Hokage had a special request, it's no wonder Mr Katasuke accepted it. Both her and Mr Katasuke should be happy to receive the second chance that Naruto Uzumaki was willing to give them.

"Oh... Isn't it rare occurrence?" Sumire curiosity about what Naruto Uzumaki requested just grew more when Akita asked her to make tea for the guest that was supposed to arrive one hour ago.

"Yeah, it's rare. Would you like to lead the project requested by Hokage? You've worked with us long enough, so I don't think Katasuke would be against you taking the lead." Akita tried to start the topic in the most casual, possible way.

"Could I really work on it?" Sumire question hid excitement and enjoyment that she now felt.

"Yes. Why won't you talk with Lord Seventh personally? It seems he already came." What?! Hearing Akita's words Sumire looked in the direction of the front door and saw Naruto Uzumaki smiling and waving in her direction.

"It would be great if you want to work on my request Sumire, ya know?" Naruto spoke and Sumire at that moment wanted to disappear from embarrassment she couldn't sense Hokage presence at all.

"Really, Lord Seventh? Can I?" Sumire couldn't believe her luck. It was the truth she enjoyed tinkering with machines, so working on mecha-hands was the big opportunity to work on the project she's passionate about.

"You can, ya know! I can include it to your rehabilitation record. I'll explain to you everything in detail personally." Lord Seventh ruffled her hair gently. Sumire was grateful that Naruto Uzumaki didn't treat her coldly.

"Thank you!" Sumire bowed and followed Lord Seventh to the main lab room. After all, she needs to know why Hokage requested them to work on prototypes of mecha-hands.

Naruto Uzumaki sat on one of the chairs in the main lab room and gestured for Sumire to sit next to Mr Katasuke that was surprised seeing her here.

"I took under my protection the boy named Kawaki. Some of you know it already, but he lost his arm protecting my daughter, Himawari. For now, he's using my own personal mecha-hand as a temporary solution, but it has its limits." Sumire had a hunch The Lord Seventh explanation was mainly for her and not Mr Katasuke that looked rather bored hearing this story.

Sumire was glad Himawari was safe and nodded prompting for Lord Seventh to finish explaining his request. She could tell that he had fun in being overdramatic with his explanations, now she knew where Boruto got from his storytelling skills.

"For various reasons, I want to appoint Sumire as Kawaki’s personal mechanic. I honestly believe that this boy should interact more with children around his age without trying to insult them." Naruto Uzumaki sighed.

"So not only will I be checking how Kawaki adjust to the Lord Seventh mecha-hand, but try to create a more suitable replacement for Kawaki needs?" Sumire asked. Lord Seventh gave her the report with all the information she needed. After a while of bragging how he's more popular with children in comparison to Sarada's father, Lord Seventh shadow clone disappeared from the lab.

"He could just hand us the report and save all those theatrics for later. Anyway, I appoint you as the leader for our mecha-body-parts project, Sumire. Don't disappoint me." Mr Katasuke was really serious right now so Sumire couldn't mess up things up. It was her chance to work on something she really is passionate about.

And she planned to use this chance in the best way possible.

A week passed after Sumire started to work on Lord Seventh request. She was preparing every needed thing for the first meeting with Kawaki that was supposed to come today.

In the precise moment, she wanted to question her subordinate competence a handsome, tall boy with the appearance of a delinquent entered the room without knocking.

"Yo, I came for the check-up and to meet my mechanic." From his seemingly uncaring mannerism in his body language, Sumire had a hunch it was the person Lord Seventh described in his report.

"Oh, you've arrived earlier than I anticipated. I'm your appointed mechanic, Sumire Kakei." Sumire introduced herself with the best smile she could manage. Some even could say she was sparkling during this introduction. The first impressions are important after all. It doesn’t matter if they just an act or not.

"Ain't you fucking sunshine and rainbow," Kawaki glared in her direction not hiding his suspicions towards her. Sumire seeing his reaction could sense he just like she had a difficult life. Now she could understand why Lord Seventh told her being Kawaki's mechanic can be included as part of her rehabilitation.

"Ain't you an example of a real gentleman?" Sumire raised her eyebrow accepting the challenge of showing him she wasn't either sunshine or a rainbow. If he ever develops balls to really get to learn anything about her at all.

"You scientists are always up to something shadier than my appearance," he growled. It seems despite his short temper and rude attitude Kawaki had really high intelligence and decided to accept her challenge. Sumire couldn't help but respect him for that. It's the first time when a person could see through her acting.

"I can assure you that not all scientist are shady. Some of them really want to help people using just the ethical methods. I don't know what happened between you and scientists in the past, but I intend to gain your trust and in exchange, I want for you to trust me too," she boldly proclaimed. If acting doesn't work then being honest will.

"...fine," he sighed probably thinking she was too bold and refusing her meant disrespecting Lord Seventh care for him.

After the check-up and listening to all Kawaki problems with the hand he got from Lord Seventh, Sumire noted everything down for further research purposes and subtly told him he can leave. After that, she scolded her co-worker for failing his task but giving him a second chance to fix the mess he made.

Her relationship with Kawaki is rather hard to describe, but Sumire had a hope she'll gain his trust. Especially, since they're supposed to work together from now on. At least now she had a glimpse of what to do in future. And it was her own decision, the decision she made without depending on anyone.

Buying research materials wasn't something girls around her age did. Most of them visited Konoha shopping district to buy a cute accessory, ninja tools, or fashionable clothes.

It wasn't the only reason Sumire made a long-trip to Konoha. She wanted to see both Boruto and Sarada. Double-check if the decision she made to give up on her feelings for Boruto is the correct one. Spotting them a minute later and seeing their happy banter, Sumire was sure the decision she plans to make is the right one.

It was time to stop idolise Boruto and depend on him for everything she wants to do in her life.

"Ain't you that mechanic little girl?" Sumire could swear the voice she heard was familiar.

Turning around she noticed Kawaki holding a Lord Seventh card from the Shinobi Extreme Scrolls. He looked at her with bored expression ignoring girls that swarmed around him like a flies due to his so-called 'mature charm.'

"Who you're calling a little girl? I'm the only present mature girl here," she shrugged it off completely ignoring murderous stares of other girls.

"Such pettiness. If it ain't proving you're little girl, so your other traits do." Kawaki stood up and walked over to her in an attempt to perhaps run away from unnecessary attention.

"Just because I'll let that comment slide doesn't mean I'm a little girl," she clarified.

"Yeah, yeah. Where are you going?" From what Sumire knew from the rumours it was strange Kawaki was that calm while interacting with her. Maybe the main reason for it was that Hokage gave him an instruction to respect her? It didn't mean she personally gained Kawaki's respect and trust. At least not yet.

"To the tool shop. I need some things for my research and your next check-up." Sumire felt she could be honest in Kawaki's presence. Even when she was spending time with her friends from academy days, she was acting to some degree. But Kawaki wasn't her friend from the academy, so she didn't see why she should bother with all theatrics. That guy could see through her acting anyway.

"I'll go with you," Kawaki stated with confidence. Sumire suspected it was because he wanted to make sure she's telling the truth. The more time she spends with him, she's more convinced he holds some grudge against science, or to be precise experiments.

"Suit yourself." It was the only thing she could tell. Rest of the day was filled with complete silence between her and Kawaki.

Their second encounter was more casual, they even made a small conversation. Kawaki didn't trust or respect her, but she made progress.

Sumire was aware that getting to know Kawaki will require having a lot of patience and time. Because she had a hard past as well, she probably understood it more than anyone else. Perhaps. She wasn't a mind reader, so maybe Kawaki is right in calling her a little girl.

Sumire made the first step in stopping being dependent on Boruto. Instead of her usual two-braids, she changed her hairstyle into braided-bun. She still didn't want to cut her hair to respect the memory of her mother.

"Your bun looks nice", commented Akita while they were working together yesterday. Sumire liked that change herself. It was the first change she made to strive towards her goal of being more independent.

From now on she wanted to live her own life not being dependent or completely influenced by others. She'll grow to be a beautiful, independent, confident woman that can hold her own ground. Hey, maybe she could be a famous scientist in the future?! That would be nice.

"What do you think, Nue?" she asked her first friend and companion. Sumire decided to summon this still little monkey and was happily explaining everything that happened when he wasn't summoned. Nue just nodded approving decision Sumire made. Spending time with her long-time friend really helped her to feel refreshed.

Recently her days were filled with leading some projects, doing routine check-ups on Kawaki mecha-hand and going out to Konoha shopping district to have all needed materials. She saw and initiated the conversation with her old friends but had the best contact with Denki, Iwabe, Metal Lee, Wasabi and Namida. It's strange how time can change the structure of your relationships.

"Yo, little mechanic girl," Kawaki entered the lab and Sumire sighed. Because of him 'little mechanic girl' started to be a nickname used by her co-workers.

"I'm not the little mechanic girl. I'm growing up, you know?" Well, her words weren't taken seriously by Kawaki at all. At least he didn't show his usual short-temper. He once called Sarada an 'asshole' during one of his bad days.

"You're still far from being mature. Changing the way you tie your hair up ain't changing that." This sort of conversation started to be a welcoming ritual between them. Kawaki always called her a 'little mechanic girl', she denied it by saying she's mature just for him to refute by stating she's still immature.

Sumire started to work by doing the usual check-up. It will consume some time to make it, but she created the formula for mecha-hands designed for people with hard to identify chakra.

"Ain't you too much serious today?" Kawaki chose the wrong moment to talk.

"How do you manage to talk when I try to focus and be silent when I want to talk?" she decided to ask. It was rare for Kawaki to be in a talkative mood. Sumire was usually the one that was doing all the talking.

"Don't you remember? You challenged me subtly during our first meeting. Ain't it normal I'm testing if you're really trustworthy?" Kawaki looked at her like it was the first time he's genuinely interested in how she responds.

"I suppose it is. Trust after all is something you build up just with people you want to put faith in." Yes, it was the answer Sumire reached after thinking through her past actions. She regretted them, was grateful for a receiving second chance, but the feeling of guilt welling up inside her mind never left her side.

"That doesn't mean they're good people," he scowled. Considering this conversation triggered her bad memories, Sumire was assuming it could trigger some bad memories for Kawaki too.

"In that case perhaps we're more similar than we initially thought," Sumire concluded the subject. Rest of the check-up they spend in their usual silence.

Sumire knew that she was far from gaining Kawaki trust and respect. However, now she could understand him a little bit better as a person.

Her hard work to change paid off. Not only her hairstyle was fitting for her new image of a future scientist but her clothes too. Maybe she'll manage to really be acknowledged as mature by Kawaki. She honestly doubted it, but she could always hope.

"And mecha-hand suitable for that stubborn donkey that can't admit I'm mature is finished!" Sumire happily admired the polished result.

"Ain't this sort of comments proving you're still a little mechanic girl?" Kawaki raised his eyebrow. Sumire wasn't even surprised he entered the lab without knocking. She was more worried she couldn't even notice he was here until he spoke to her.

"Oh, you're here. Good, I need to make few final adjustments." Sumire ignoring his comment meant they were going into silence mode. There was a lot she had to work on today. For example, swapping Lord Seventh mecha-hand with mecha-hand created for Kawaki needs.

After the final adjustments, Sumire was satisfied it was over. Six-months of hard work and regular check-up meetings with Kawaki to create mecha-hands designed for civilians were worth it.

"How do you feel with using your new mecha-hand? It's adjusted to your body size, so it should make your movement easier. " Sumire needed to jot down Kawaki input just in case she needed to make more adjustments.

"It feels strange using another artificial hand, but I think I'll manage." Kawaki opinion was helpful, even if he was lost in thought looking at the ceiling of the lab.

"In that case, we can limit our check-ups to two meetings every month." Sumire decided and got his approval.

"I think you'll remain a little mechanic girl, but among all scientists, I know I respect you the most," Kawaki whispered, which didn't escape Sumire's attention that this time had on her real smile.

Sumire still couldn't describe her relationship with Kawaki, but his respect towards her meant a lot. During these past six months, she started to respect him too. Though, she wasn't sure where their mutual respect for each other will lead to.

Sumire mainly worked staying the entire day inside the lab, so taking a day off felt like a strange phenomenon for her. Just like they agreed on Kawaki regularly visited the lab for check-ups two times every month. That helped them to start to be on more friendly terms.

Sort of friends. Neither she or Kawaki openly called their relationship a friendship. Even after they managed to open up a little about the past family problems they had in common.

Having shitty fathers was the things that they both shared. It's no wonder Sumire felt the need to gain Kawaki's trust. She sensed some sort of solidarity with someone who went through a hard life in relatively peaceful times.

"I didn't see you in Konoha shopping district in a while little mechanic girl." Kawaki whistled some strange tune saying his greetings.

"It wouldn't hurt you to say sometimes my name. I always am open to small changes." Sumire stretched out trying to relax.

"Ain't you usually busy?" Kawaki had his usual bored expression.

"I have a day off today. Want to go with me admire the beautiful lake near the village?" Sumire question was answered by his grumbling that she interpreted as 'yes'.

The view just like she heard was really breathtaking. Clear azure lake, trees surrounding the landscape, chirping birds and presence of not many people made this place ideal for making her more relaxed.

"Sumire." That's why Kawaki sudden use of her name startled her. The moment he did it was the moment she was caught off guard.

"Yes?" It was her automatic response.

"You're still a little mechanic girl. Calling you by name or not ain't changing that." She thought he wanted to talk about something serious, but it turned out to be his attempt to mislead her!

"I'm more mature than you think!" She went into her memorised response.

They closed the distance between each other at the same time. Sumire spaced out for a moment but before she noticed she and Kawaki was sharing a passionate kiss. She didn't have any idea who kissed who first, but at this point, she just enjoyed the thrill of it.

Both of them were wrestling with each other for a while before landing into more intimate position. Taking short breaks to catch a breath between kissing didn't stop their fight for dominance over the other.

When Sumire thought the winner of her internal fight with Kawaki will be decided by moving a few steps further, she heard familiar footsteps.

"I can't believe Sasuke won popularity contest for the coolest looking dad of the year!" Lord Seventh shouted accidentally walking into them and seeing quite an intimate position the youngsters were in.

Sumire distanced herself from Kawaki that send an angry glare towards Lord Seventh.

"Did I interrupt something?" Naruto Uzumaki let out a nervous chuckle. He wanted to appear as cool guy in front of his adopted son.

"N-No, not at all! I-I was just checking if Kawaki's mecha-hand is working without any problems." Sumire lied in her panic.

"She's my mechanic, after all, ain't she?" Kawaki lied to Lord Seventh appearing to be calm, but Sumire could tell he was equally confused by the whole situation.

"Is that so? I suppose every person feels the spring of youth just like says Rock Lee, even if it's overwhelming sometimes, ya know?" Naruto concluded scratching the back of his head.

This certainly was awkward. After a short explanation from Lord Seventh that killed the mood Sumire was in, she decided to head back home saying some sort of excuse she already forgot.

Now she couldn't define the relationship she shared with Kawaki at all. Friends weren't kissing each other in the way they did. They weren't dating either. Love wasn't out of the question, but with the type of person, Kawaki is expecting any sort of confession when they were both confused about their feelings wasn't the best course of action.

It'll take a lot of patience to define the relationship she has with Kawaki, but Sumire was alright with that. Some people need more time than others to sort out their emotions. Kawaki acknowledged her as his mechanic in front of Lord Seventh.

For now, it's enough she's his mechanic.

#Sumire Kakei #Kawaki #KawaSumi #Akita #Katasuke #OneShot #AU #KawakixSumire #Naruto Uzumaki #Romance #Slow romance

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youknowwhatelseyouare · 6 years ago

Text

Something New

“Stop!” TJ crowed.

Cyrus lowered his card back on the pile, glaring at TJ.

“How are you so good at this game?” He asked, feeling his ego deflate a little.

No one had been able to best him at Russian Bank until TJ came along.

“Well, I learned from the best.” TJ said with a wink.

Cyrus ducked his head, feeling a blush grow on his face. They had been dating for over a month now, and he sometimes still didn’t know how to respond when TJ flirted with him.

The doorbell rang downstairs, and Cyrus’s eyes snapped to the door of his bedroom. TJ reached over and placed a hand on his arm.

“Relax,” He soothed.

“Didn’t your mom say she was meeting with a friend later?”

“Yes, but-“

TJ leaned over and planted a kiss on Cyrus’s forehead.

“Quit being so paranoid. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Cyrus, it’s for you!” His mother called from downstairs.

“You were saying?” Cyrus hissed.

Footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. Cyrus leapt to his feet and dragged TJ up off the floor. He pushed his boyfriend over to his closet and shoved him inside, sliding the door shut behind him.

“Cyrus? What are you doing?” Buffy asked as she and Andi entered his room.

“Um...just doing a bit of…”

Buffy’s eyes landed on the cards still scattered on the floor.

“Who were you playing Russian Bank with?”

“Uh, no one. I mean, just by myself.”

“Isn’t that a two person game?” Andi asked, peering down at the cards.

“Er...yes, but I like to play myself. It helps me...practice.”

“Uh huh.”

Buffy looked unconvinced.

“So, um, what are you guys doing here?”

Andi handed him a pale green envelope. Cyrus opened it, careful not to rip the flap, and pulled out a gold edged card. His eyes darted over the words...You are invited...Wedding of Bex Mack and Bowie Quinn...Invite for you and plus one…

He looked up at Andi, who was beaming.

“Isn’t it exciting?”

Cyrus nodded, unable to speak. He knew it shouldn’t bother him so much, but mention of a plus one weighed on him like a brick. Sometimes he felt so guilty not telling his friends about TJ and him dating, but he always had to remind himself that it was his idea in the first place. Even though Buffy had forgiven TJ, that didn’t mean she would be eager to see him dating her former rival.

“Who are you guys bringing to the wedding?” He asked, painfully aware that his boyfriend was still hidden in his closet.

Andi nudged Buffy, who rolled her eyes.

“I’m bringing Marty,” she admitted, the corners of her mouth turning up a little as she said it.

Cyrus’s mouth dropped.

“Wait...are you guys actually…?”

“She texted him to ask if he’d come earlier and he said yes.” Andi said.

Buffy shook her head, but Cyrus saw the grin spreading across her face.

“I’m happy for you,”

“Wait til you hear who Andi’s bringing,” Buffy replied, a smirk crossing her face.

“Let me guess, Jonah?” Cyrus said, fighting back an eye roll.

Andi shook her head, a smile growing on her face.

“I’ll give you a hint: her brother was a total jerk to me.”

Cyrus heard a gasp from the closet, and Andi and Buffy turned to look behind him. Cyrus opened his mouth in an attempt to cover up where the sound had come from.

“Speaking of TJ, have you spoken to him recently?” Andi asked.

Cyrus tried not to glance behind him at the closet.

“Er...not recently.” He lied.

Buffy didn’t look convinced.

“That’s too bad, I thought you guys were friends.” Andi said, only increasing the guilt gnawing at Cyrus.

“So who are you going to bring to the wedding?” Buffy asked, a shrewd look in her eyes.

“You’re welcome to bring a friend or...someone else.” Andi chimed in.

Cyrus nodded, feeling his heart in his throat. He should tell them. He couldn’t keep it a secret for forever.

A chime sounded and Andi looked down at her phone. A frown crossed her face.

“It’s Bex. Apparently there’s been a crisis with the dress. Again. I should probably go before Bex and Cece tear each other apart.”

“Mind if I come with you?” Buffy asked.

Andi gave her a look.

“Trust me, you don’t want to be near this drama. It’s intense.”

“Fine,” Buffy relented.

“I have to start studying for a science test anyway.”

Andi frowned.

“Test? Buffy, we’re in the same class and we don’t have anything planned for the next two weeks at least.”

Buffy shrugged.

“It’s never too early.”

Cyrus shook his head. He wouldn’t say he was a bad student by any means, but Buffy certainly made him feel lazy in comparison.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you guys around.” He said, stepping towards the door.

He hoped poor TJ would be able to breathe in there.

After walking his friends to the door and waving them goodbye, Cyrus dashed up the stairs. He saw TJ flopped across his bed.

“Teej, I’m so sorry, if I had known they were coming over I-“

TJ sat up.

“Hey, it’s okay. I get it. Besides, I’ve been in the closet for most of my life anyway, it doesn’t matter to me.”

Cyrus laughed in spite of himself.

“So, I guess Andi’s parents are getting married huh?”

“Yup.”

“I’m assuming you’re going to take Iris.”

Cyrus gave TJ a scowl.

“I never should have told you about that. But so what if I did? She’s really nice.”

“Eh, not my type.”

“TJ, no girls are your type.”

“Exactly. You’re my type, and I intend to keep it that way.”

Cyrus shook his head, suppressing a smile. TJ was too cute for his own good.

—-

“This was a bad idea,” Cyrus mumbled.

He could feel the sweat start to trickle down his neck.

“Cy, we agreed. It’s time. There’s no turning back now.” TJ said, giving Cyrus’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this? Do you want all your cool friends to find out that you’re dating a loser like me? A loser with sweaty palms?”

TJ raised Cyrus’s hand to his mouth and planted a kiss on it.

“Nothing could keep me from being with you. Not even your sweaty palms.”

TJ looked up and Cyrus saw his face whiten.

“Are you regretting this now?” Cyrus whispered as Buffy walked towards them, wearing a purple dress.

“Cyrus...and TJ,” she said, her eyes resting on their intertwined hands.

“Hi.” Cyrus squeaked.

“Has...this...been going on long?””

Cyrus nodded, staring at his shoes.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you would be mad at me, for dating-“

“TJ? Please. You’d have to do something a lot dumber than that for me to be mad at you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“It’s nice to see you too, Buffy.”

Buffy glared at TJ.

“If you even think about hurting him,” she threatened, pointing a finger at him.

Cyrus reached out and gently lowered her arm.

“He won’t.”

He gazed up at TJ who gave him a big dopey grin. Buffy sighed.

“You two are disgusting.”

“We know.” Cyrus beamed.

There was a crash in the distance.

“That must be Marty,” Buffy sighed.

Cyrus tilted his head.

“He’s been knocking things over for the past half hour,” she explained.

“I’d better get over there before Cece sees, I’ll catch up with you guys later.” Buffy called, already jogging off in the direction of the mayhem.

“Well that went better than I thought it would.” Cyrus said.

“See? I told you there was nothing to worry ab-“

“TJ?”

They both looked up to see Amber walking toward them, her pink dress flowing behind her.

Cyrus looked at TJ.

“You didn’t tell her?” He hissed.

“It didn’t come up organically,” TJ muttered.

“Hey sis!” He called as Amber stood in front of them, hands on her hips.

“TJ, what are you doing here? I thought you were going over to a friend’s house?”

“Technically I did. Incidentally, that happened to be the house of my boyfriend, Cyrus, where we got ready to come here.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were dating Cyrus? Or that you were gay?”

“Do we really have to have this conversation right now?”

“I’m your sister, I have a right to know about what happens in your life, and-“

“Hey, what’s going on?” Andi asked, walking over to Amber and taking the other girl’s hand.

Cyrus thought he was going to faint from shock. Sure, he had known Andi was bringing Amber to the wedding, but he hadn’t thought it was anything other than platonic.

“You were saying?” TJ said, clearly trying to collect himself.

“I, ah- Andi, you’ve met my brother, right?”

“Our paths have crossed,” Andi said, her eyes fixed on Cyrus and TJ’s linked hands.

“Apparently you’re not the only one keeping secrets from your friends.” TJ remarked.

Cyrus elbowed him.

“Like you’re one to talk,” Amber scoffed.

Andi cleared her throat.

“I’m sure we all have a lot to catch up on. But, it can wait til after the wedding,” Andi said, giving her girlfriend a pointed look.

“Fair enough.”

Andi led her girlfriend off into the crowd with a wave, leaving TJ and Cyrus still standing near the entrance to the Mack’s backyard.

“That wasn’t awkward at all.” TJ said.

“Who would’ve thought that you and Amber were both the gay twin?”

“Not me. I feel bad for not telling her now.”

“But then again, she didn’t tell you either.”

“True.”

They lingered near the front for a few more moments, neither of them entirely sure where to go. Finally, Cyrus guided TJ towards the rows of chairs facing the back. They took seats near the middle. Cyrus desperately hoped that they had faced the last of the awkwardness and could just sit back and enjoy the wedding.

As more and more people filed into their seats, Cyrus felt himself relax. It didn’t hurt that TJ had been rubbing his thumb over his hand for the past half hour.

He jolted upright as gentle guitar music started to play. Cyrus looked over to the front, where Jonah sat, off to the side, lost in the music. He smiled. Bowie had taught him well.

Andi practically skipped down the aisle, beaming a mile wide. She was wearing a dress the color of the sky, and carrying a bouquet of sunflowers. It didn’t take long after that for Bex, escorted by Ham, to make her way to the archway covered with flowers. She looked radiant.

Bowie, who had almost seemed to be shaking from all his nervous energy, straightened as he saw her walk towards him.

Cyrus was happy for them, but more than that, he was happy for Andi. He knew how long she’d been dreaming of this day.

It was a beautiful wedding, and Cyrus may or may not have shed a few tears. Even TJ seemed a little misty eyed.

Once the ceremony was over, and the chairs were cleared away for dancing, Cyrus felt a sudden shyness come over him. It felt right being out in the open with TJ like this, but after weeks of hiding their relationship, he didn’t quite know how to act when it wasn’t just the two of them.

As he watched Bowie and Bex glide across the dance floor, he felt even more conscious of the back of TJ’s hand brushing against his. Cyrus’s palms began to sweat. Would he ever be able to be around TJ without feeling like he was about to combust?

More and more couples filed out onto the dance floor. This was too much pressure. But just as he was about to go drown his sorrows in lemonade, TJ caught his hand.

“Cyrus, um- would you dance with me?” He asked, looking down into his boyfriend’s eyes.

Cyrus felt his face flush. He nodded. It felt like something was blocking his throat. Maybe he was just too overcome with emotion. Or resisting the urge to vomit. But maybe no words were needed after all.

A slow song started playing, and Cyrus laced his fingers around TJ’s neck while his boyfriend held him by the waist. They swayed in time to the music, and Cyrus felt himself begin to relax. He didn’t know what he had been so afraid of.

“Psst!”

Cyrus looked up and saw Bex and Bowie flashing them thumbs up.

“Go Cyrus!” He heard Bex say before Bowie leaned in to whisper in her ear.

They laughed, and Cyrus felt something bloom in his chest. Later, long after most guests would return home, he and TJ would learn about Bowie and Bex both being bi, and how they eventually came out to their loved ones. They’d hear about Andi and Amber’s first date, and see how Andi and Amber looked at each other when they thought the other wasn’t paying attention. They'd watch Buffy and Marty arm wrestle each other, and then have to pause their match because they couldn’t stop laughing at something that had been said. But for now, Cyrus would dance with his boyfriend, surrounded by people who loved him. And it was more than enough.

#andi mack #tyrus #ambi #muffy #bexie #one shot request #sorry this took so long anon hope u like

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idontknowhowtowritesosorry · 6 years ago

Text

What I Love About You

Shawn Mendes x Reader

Description: Just a list of things you love about him

Authors Note: My god I know it’s been forever and I said I was gonna put something out but this technically counts right? Eh who even cares anyways lol. And on that note school like sucks which is why I am inactive but I think I’m starting to get back in the swing of things so maybe I’ll have time to right now. Well I hope you enjoy! -em (its late when im posting so unedited, sorry)

Okay so Shawn’s your boyfriend of course

An he gets insecure sometimes

It happens to the best of us

And every time he does

You just go through the list of thing you love about him

Hair

How could you not start with the hair

Legit how could something be so soft

He absolutely loved as you ran your hands through it

After a hard day of work he practically begged for it

But you weren’t one to complain

You loved the way the locks wrapped around your fingers

The way he dozed off everything time you played with it

It was a habit at this point

Your hands rhythmically moving around twisting the luscious curls through your fingers down to his neck and up again

Hands

The way they subconsciously trace circles on your skin whenever you are near

Or the way his hands reach out and grab your hand in his

Fingers always sliding together in perfect synchronization

And they are ever so soft and delicate, even with the rough calluses from long days of strumming his guitar

You could just sit there and play with his fingers for hours feeling the way the soft grooves of his fingertips brushed against yours

Eyes

Books paled in comparison to the quality of Shawn’s eyes when it came to getting lost in them

His eyes could find yours from anywhere in the room

Just one look and you could practically feel his every emotion

Whether sadness or anger or whatever

And on top of that was always love

His face breaking a little every time he glanced over, as if in relief

You blushed

Every

Single

Time

A habit you knew he adored

But how could you not when a man so perfect looked at you the way he did

Arms

God his arms

You couldn’t even describe to him the feeling of safety and comfort you felt as they wrapped around you

Or how soft his skin was

You would never admit how much you watched for the muscles in his arms to move

Or that your heart stopped just from him just moving to grab something or run his hands through his hair

What you didn’t know he has caught on and does it on purpose just waiting to hear your breath hitch

Smile

That smile could honestly cure any disease

Solve world hunger

Lead to world peace

You swear the Earth stopped every time

You simply strive to see the smile

A life goal to be the reason his lips parted that way

Or how his face would break and eyes crinkle

Leaning his head every so slightly forward as he lets out a little giggle

If that was the last thing you ever saw, you would have lived a good life

Laugh

And I mean on top of that smile is his laugh

It made your stomach flutter like it let a thing of butterflies loose

You could pick up that noise from anywhere

And it was oh so contagious

He was like a little kid you swear

Yet it made his giggle seem just so sweet and innocent

And all you wanted to do is give him the biggest hug and pepper him in kisses

Which you totally haven’t done before

Cheek

One thing you knew he hated was that little divot in his cheek

Yet it was no secret that you loved it

While you doubt anyone ever noticed it on him

You always saw it as a flaw

But not a bad one

As if it almost proved to show how perfect he was

That even with the little imperfection he still amazed you every single day

Every time he came home after a long day

Or long trip

Or maybe just long nap who knows

You had a tendency to pepper him with kisses

Always landing right on that spot before falling to his lips

Tattoos

Finally were his tattoos

They made him look even more like a piece of art

You loved hearing him talk about them when people asked why?

The story of how why they meant so much making you realize

How much he meant to you

#shawn mendes x reader #shawn mendes #shawn mendes fluff #shawn mendes blurb #shawn peter raul mendes

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thetakenpokemon · 7 years ago

Text

@askiceboundlopunny

Clementine@Snakewulf: “Well aren’t you a charming lizard? Not something I’d expect from such strong looking pokemon if I’m being honest.” She gives a small chuckle. “But I suppose the same could be said for a lot of pokemon couldn’t it?”

“Although with that said…” She leans in a bit holding her chin with curious smile. “I can’t say I’ve seen or heard anything about your species. Which brings it’s own set of questions that I’m sure you already been asked quite a bit. But what I’m actually interested in is what a big boy like you is really capable of. I can already guess that you must be pretty tough with that skin of yours, a good amount of strength, and maybe your pretty agile too. And I can only imagine what else you have going for you.”

She stands upright again and gives the lizard a friendly smile. “Hope you don’t mind me asking, it’s just not that often I find a new species myself.” Her eyes widen a bit as she comes to a realization. “Oh! Where are my manners? Asking a stranger questions like these and I don’t even bother to introduce myself.” She places one hand on her hip and the other over her chest with a bright smile. “My name’s Clementine. Nice to meet you.”

[PoV: Snakewulf]

The moment my gaze fell upon the Human I froze in my tracks, the orange eyes of mine widening with great surprise.

After several long moments of silence my lips end up parting away to reveal a great smile, course of which exposes all of my fangs. “It has been a long while since I’ve seen one of you!” I laugh, quickly making my way to her. “I can’t recall the exact time since I’ve seen a Human face-” I pause before shaking my head. “Well, perhaps I can. Nevertheless, it’s still been quite some time.”

I sit down on the ground, my whip-like tail swishing when she compliments me. “Lizard, dragon, dog, or any mixture of the three is the most common description for me.” I chuckle. “However I do put a lot of effort to be a charmin’ fellow, so hearing you acknowledge it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.” The fingers on my tail quickly snap together, the claws creating an audible ‘click’. I turn my head to the side and give her a wink. “Nevertheless I give you my greatest thanks, since I’m glad to know that my efforts are succeeding~”

When she starts talking of her observations and thoughts, I let out another laugh. “Well now, sizing me up are ya?” I raise one of my forelegs and scratch the underside of my chin with my claws. “But you’re most correct, I definitely am a big boy sporting with a good set of skills that I’m most proud of~” My tail whips around and taps my back with its claws. “My hide is both thick and rather tough, it takes a lot of effort for someone to stab through it and actually get into the meat on my bones. Not to mention my body is very good at healing, I’d have a ton of scars if it weren’t for them fading away.”

I place my foreleg back on the ground with the rest, flexing my toes so that my claws dig somewhat into the soil. “Now my bones are made of reinforced calcium, but my claws and teeth?” I open my mouth slightly to show off my pearly-whites. “Made of incredibly tough protein, allowing me to bite right through metal if I try hard enough.” I pause. “Well…I can, but I’ll most likely break a tooth or two. It can be rather painful so I don’t do it often, but thankfully my teeth do grow back after a week or so.”

“Course I’m also a rather agile doggy, since I was made to be so since I’m no creature born from the womb like everyone else.” I let out a quiet snicker. “Nope, actually a science experiment with the purpose of being a master hunter. I can run at a maximum speed of fifty miles per hour, my current record at going at that speed is running for precisely two hours and thirteen minutes before stopping to take a massive breather.” I puff out my chest at this, my voice containing obvious pride. “Bet none of your canines can do that one.”

My eyes glance over to my tail. “That pretty much lists most of my capabilities, however my tail is also something that should get an honorable mention.” It reaches towards the sheathed machete on my rear leg and grasps the handle with its three fingers, and with a single motion it pulls it out as easily as any other hand. “I don’t know what I’d be able to do without it, since it makes a lot of things possible.” I hold the blade for a few moments before swiftly sheathing. “I mean, one hand allows me to open doors and dial phones. So nope, doorknobs are definitely not one of my weaknesses~”

My playful smile softens as I look back up to her. “Course I’d like to say that I don’t blame you at all for your curiosity, I’m the new guy that’s walking the block so you gotta check me out.” I let out a snort and quickly shake my head when she apologizes for not introducing herself. “I tend to have that effect on people, no worries whatsoever.” I point one of the fingers of my tail at my head. “Don’t go apologizing to this guy here, ‘cus I’ll just forgive you before you even say it. I’m very cool like that.”

I watch her strike a bit of a pose when she does introduce herself, upon seeing an opportunity I immediately go to snag it. “Clementine eh? After the fruit?” I snicker again. “Quite a sweet name if you ask me, even if names are technically just apples and oranges in terms of comparison.” A mischievous glint sparkles in my orange eyes. “But speaking of apples, my name is just as different towards yours. Now it isn’t quite as sweet or delicious, but I think it has quite the right tang.” I stand up and turn my body towards her, offering my clawed tail as an offer to shake. “The name here is Snakewulf, one-of-a-kind Pokemon and the star of the fruit salad. Greatly a-peach-iated to meet ya as well.”

#snakewulf #guardiansoftwilight #askiceboundlopunny #ask #submission

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kaleidoscopeheartache · 5 years ago

Text

SEVEN DEADLY SINS

Sin 1: Lust

1. Who was the last person you checked out? Did they check you out too?

Does bumble count? I’m scrolling through this guy name Brad’s profile right now because we matched. Lol.

2. Who was the last person you desired, but they didn’t feel the same?

Like literally? The last person I wanted was my Brad, like 20 seconds ago.

3. Ever cheated on a significant other? If so, have you learned from it?

Yep. It fucking blows. Don’t do it.

4. Do you watch porn?

Sometimes. I tune out pretty quickly though. Or I skip to the parts where it’s not like violent or weird.

5. Do you masturbate?

Yep.

6. Best physical features on your preferred sex?

Backs. Good facial hair. Eyes. Collarbones.

7. Who are some celebrities that you think are totally hot?

Chris Evans. Michael B. Jordan. Liam Hemsworth. Idk plenty. I don’t think about them that much because they’re so out of reach lol.

8. Did you ever lust after a best friend’s significant other? How did it turn out?

Not a BEST friend’s, but a friend’s. I ended up dating someone else. They broke up eventually but I stopped paying attention.

9. When was the last time you had sex?

A little over a week ago? Before this stint though it had been literally years.

10. Ever pursued someone, even though they were taken?

No. I just liked them from afar.

Sin 2: Gluttony

1. When did you last eat at a restaurant? What restaurant was it?

Like sitting down? Chili’s, a few days ago with Shannon.

2. When did you last have fast food? Where did you get it?

Chick-fil-a. In my car today. Classic nugs and a sweet tea. I ate too fast.

3. What was the biggest meal you had all day?

See #2.

4. Do you have too many clothes? How often do you go shopping?

Jesus Christ yes. I use shopping as an emotional crutch for other holes in my life. I need to purge so much shit.

5. What’s something you have a LOT of?

Clothes. Shoes. Nail polish. Pens and markers. Books. Regrets 😂

6. Do you eat a lot?

I eat in like weird intervals. I won’t eat all day and then forget that I’m hungry and then I’ll overeat junk at night. It’s bad.

7. What was the last thing you splurged (spent a lot of money) on?

I was about to buy running shoes but they didn’t have the ones I wanted in my size. I probably would’ve gotten a different pair if Anna didn’t convince me not to.

8. What do you spend most of your money on (besides bills and anything necessary like that)?

Clothes I guess. Maybe restaurants?

9. Last time you ate candy? What was it?

I guess whenever I had some of the chocolate from my stocking.

10. Last thing you ate too much of?

Muddy buddies this morning probably. No reason for that.

Sin 3: Greed

1. Do you share things? How often?

Share what like things? Or thoughts? Idk I’m fairly generous with people I like.

2. Someone asks you for a piece of your cookie. You break it in half, but the pieces aren’t equal. Who gets the bigger piece?

I let them pick.

3. When you see change on the ground, do you pick it up?

Depends on where it is.

4. How often do you lend money to people?

I don’t get asked often. Venmo makes things pretty convenient these days.

5. Do you loooove money?

I told my mother I was a slave to capitalism this morning so I’d venture yes.

6. If someone offers to pay for you, do you decline or readily accept?

If it’s a date and he seems to have his shit together, then I’m fine. I don’t like getting paid for all the time though. Not a date, I’ll question and probably fight it.

7. Which of your friends is the wealthiest?

Anny. Easily. Bitch gets to fly on this fancy airline to Australia all the time.

8. Would you take a high-paying job that you didn’t really like just for the money and benefits?

Depends on how high paying. If like double my current salary, then yeah. At least for a little so I can pay down some of my debt 😂

9. Ever stole from anyone? What about stole from a store? What happened?

Sometimes I “forget” to scan things at the Target self checkout. Nothing’s ever happened.

10. Do you ever have enough money?

Like in comparison to so much of America, yes absolutely. I do have student debt and regular debt, and I’m living paycheck to paycheck. But I live well. So.

Sin 4: Sloth

1. Last thing you procrastinated on?

Velocity QA.

2. When you’re at a strip mall and the next store you want to go to is at the other side, do you drive over there instead of take a short walk?

I usually just walk.

3. What’s a typical day off of school and/or work like for you?

Sleep in, probably work out at some point if I’m purposely taking off, watch YouTube, probably play Dead by Daylight. Maybe walk Teddy. Hopefully nothing else.

4. What’s one talent you have that you don’t really work on, even though you have the ability to be good at it?

Uhhh I mean I’m a good singer but I don’t do anything with it anymore.

5. How many hours of television do you watch a day?

Like actual tv very little. I put on YT most of the time these days when I get home until I go to bed.

6. What about the amount of time you spend on the internet a day?

I’m almost always on my phone just poking around the web. All day.

7. How many hours of sleep do you get a day? Do you sleep in late?

I don’t typically sleep in that much, though some of these weekends I’ve really taken advantage. I’m usually in bed around midnight and get up around 7:30ish if I’m not working out in the morning.

8. Do you drive to places that are less than three blocks away?

Nah my neighborhood is quite walkable.

9. When was the last time you exercised?

Today. Bout to get up in 7 hours to run 7 miles lolol.

10. Ever copied and pasted your homework from a website on the internet?

Probably though I definitely tried to make it look at least a little more like mine.

Sin 5: Wrath

1. If you could kill one person and get away with it, would you do it?

Like how would I have to kill them though? Like if I could somehow poison Donald Trump from afar I totally would.

2. Is there anyone you honestly and truly can say that you hate?

Yeah dude have you seen some of the assholes in DC lately?

3. Is there anyone you want revenge on, whether you want to get them back big-time or just play a little prank on them for hurting your feelings?

Yep. I would love for my old friends to feel ashamed and embarrassed about being total dicks to me. They deserve a comeuppance.

4. Are you fighting with any friends right now? Why?

Fighting? No.

5. Last time you were really angry? What happened?

James and I stopped talking yesterday but that’s only partially because I was angry. Partially it was him being a coward so 🤷🏽‍♀️

6. When you’re angry, what do you do to calm yourself down?

I text people for feedback. I vent. I sometimes raise my voice.

7. “Hate is just the fear of loving someone.” true or false?

Psh. Love and hate are both passionate emotions but I don’t think they’re that similar. Love involves respect.

8. What’s the best revenge you ever got on someone?

I haven’t actually gotten revenge, unless you count I Told You Sos, in which case I’ve had plenty. I have good instincts.

9. Was there any hard feelings after your last break-up? On whose end was it on?

Actual last relationship was Austin. He technically broke up with me, but then we had a non-commital thing for months afterwards because we were a good match in bed. There were hard feelings because he was a selfish asshole in the end.

10. Ever been cheated on? How did that make you feel?

Not that I know of? Though late-stage Austin definitely felt like it when he was hooking up with other people and we were still sometimes together. Shitty feeling. It’s really just bad optics, the person is trying to have their cake and eat it too. Just come clean that you don’t want them anymore.

Sin 6: Envy

1. Is there anyone you’re jealous of? Name a person and tell us why.

I am an extremely envious person. Currently I’m most jealous of Toni, because she’s engaged to my Brad. I am neither engaged nor with him.

2. List three physical features some other people have that you’re envious of (no need to get specific and name people; you can just say something like “brown eyes” or “having perfect eyebrows”).

A symmetrical smile. A flat stomach. Thinner legs.

3. List three personality features that other people have that you’re envious of.

Care-free. Charismatic. Subtle.

4. Are you a jealous significant other?

Yes.

5. Could you date someone who was really jealous?

Some jealousy is healthy but it’s obvious when it’s too much.

6. What celebrity’s looks do you envy the most?

Eh? Idk maybe Janelle Monaé? She’s like a robot she’s so pretty.

7. Do you think anyone is envious of you? In your opinion, what characteristics (physical and mental) do you possess that you think someone might be envious of?

Probably. Everyone thinks the grass is greener. I have really long eyelashes. I am very passionate and confident in my abilities.

8. What are a few things you wish you were good at?

Being upfront about what I need from people. Drawing. Letting things go.

9. Did you ever date someone, break up, and then see them dating someone very attractive a few days later? Were you jealous of that person?

Yep. It’s called high school.

10. When looking at a love interest’s exes, do you often find yourself jealous of their good-looking exes?

Sure. If they dated someone totally hot and now they’re with me I get confused. I’m quirky and cute, not hot. What are you tryna pull homie

Sin 7: Pride

1. What’s something you brag about a lot (be honest–we all brag sometimes)?

I work a lot. I have a very cute dog.

2. What physical features do you take the most pride in?

Eyelashes!

3. Are you satisfied with what you have?

Mmmmmostly.

4. Be honest… when someone is telling you something, do you often change the subject so it’s about you and your accomplishments instead?

Lol no I’m not a fucking narcissist.

5. Do you like talking about your achievements?

Eh not really. I like when people acknowledge them but I don’t like bringing them up myself.

6. Do your parents tend to brag about how well you came out?

Idk. They’re not really the bragging type. I’m doing pretty well.

7. Do you strive to be better than others? Do you think competing with others is healthy?

Yes. I’m very competitive. I think it’s a good thing, it pushes you to be a better you. Mostly. Just don’t go overboard.

8. What do you do better than most people?

Project manage. Sing.

9. Do you believe in taking pride in things you can’t control (ex. being proud of your heritage, being proud of your skin color, being proud of your natural artistic ability)?

Yeah for sure. There’s so much culture to celebrate it’d be a waste not to lift it up.

10. Who are you competing with right now (it could be anything–classmates for a grade, co-workers for a position, other girl for a guy, etc.)?

I am apparently competing with this chick Kiffen for a chance at dating James. Though I don’t think she knows that. I don’t even remember if that’s her name that’s just what’s in my head.

#idk I felt like doing a survey and being really real #survey

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robertkstone · 7 years ago

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Snow Queen: A Cold Pursuit of One’s Finnish Roots, in the Dead of Winter (w/Video)

I have a thing for snow. When other people head south on vacation, I go north. I come by it honestly. I was born and raised in Northern Ontario, and my mom is a Finn. So when editor in chief Ed Loh needed someone to fly to the top of Finland and breach the Arctic Circle to test Nokian’s newest tires, the formulation of a plan began.

Snow, tires, cars, reindeer, northern lights, and saunas—time for a good old-fashioned Motor Trend road trip. Spoiler alert: Things got personal along the way.

Nokian Tyres is a big deal in Finland. The company traces its history back to the founding of the Finnish Rubber Works in 1898, and it invented the winter tire in 1934. Today Nokian has a 1,730-acre winter test site near Ivalo, 180 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Nokian is a household name in Europe when shopping for winter tires, but in order to grow it must enter the mainstream with new lines of all-season and all-weather tires. Hence its desire to raise its profile in the U.S.

New tires have been developed for North America, and Nokian is building a $360 million tire plant in Dayton, Tennessee, with ambitious goals of doubling sales in five years.

So we headed to Lapland (a region covering the northern third of Finland) for a taste of what this small player—$1.7 billion in sales in 2016 versus $32.5 billion from giant Bridgestone—with big plans has to offer.

Our Motor Trend trio included videographer Cory Lutz—a fellow Canadian in danger of getting soft after years of living in Southern California—and photographer Robin Trajano, who was born in the Philippines, now lives in L.A., and could provide thin-blooded comic relief in these frigid arctic climes.

We rendezvous in the capital of Helsinki and hop a 1.5-hour flight to the northernmost airport in the European Union. “Welcome to Ivalo,” the airport sign says, showing a current temperature of minus 4 degrees Celsius (25 degrees Fahrenheit). No big deal; my hometown in Ontario has dipped to minus 40. Trajano, however, is giving me sideways shade for putting him in this icebox. Eh, he’s young and tough.

“Kiitos” I say under my breath, Finnish for “thank you” and a remnant of the Finnish I knew as a child listening to my mother talk to her mother. I am finally in a place long on my bucket list. I swallow hard past the lump in my throat.

In Ivalo, a former gold-mining town that is now a winter recreation destination, you can snowmobile to the highest point in Finland and see Russia. Finland is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its independence from the Russian Republic; they haven’t always been the best of neighbors.

Nokian is the only tire manufacturer with a permanent winter testing facility. Nicknamed “White Hell,” the Ivalo Testing Center has slalom and handling courses, a 1.0-kilometer (0.6-mile) speed run on the lake, a rally track for drifting, hills to test traction, an SUV course through the reindeer-populated woods, and an ice hall housing 2,300 feet of natural ice. There are more than 30 tracks covering 62 miles on a variety of ice and snow conditions. In this sprawling complex, Nokian tests 20,000 tires a year from November to May. Every day, results from icy ovals are sent back to corporate headquarters in the pursuit of the best beads, compounds, treads, and studs to improve grip.

Nokian is not alone in its quest for winter tire supremacy. Michelin, Goodyear, and Bridgestone now have small test sites near Ivalo, Hankook recently built a facility, and there is an independent facility the industry shares.

In Finland everyone knows Nokian, which has its headquarters and a tire plant in the city of Nokia, near Helsinki. Nokian split off from conglomerate Nokia (best known for cell phones) in 1988.

Winter tires are mandatory across Scandinavia, Russia, and other northern countries. As a result, the Nokian brand and its Hakkapeliitta tire have become synonymous with excellent winter tires. (“Hakkapeliitta” was a Finnish light cavalry unit during the 30 Years’ War. The name refers to their fearsome roar as they charged into battle.)

The brand is also known in Quebec, another place where winter tires are mandatory. But Nokian is largely obscure on this side of the Atlantic—beyond users such as the Michigan State Police and wonky Hakkapeliitta enthusiasts. The push to increase awareness is now the responsibility of new CEO Hille Korhonen.

For our Finnish excursion we are joined by Nokian PR rep Dan Stocking, a Michigan native who grew up smelling rubber at his family tire shop. Among the Finns who meet us at Ivalo Airport is Matti “Mr. Tire” Morri, a Nokian technical expert who has spent the last 27 winters in Lapland but has never seen it in the summer. Growing up, he cross-country skied a mile-plus to school every day on a track his father groomed for him. He still likes to end his day with a kick-and-glide on an XC trail.

We pile our gear into cars. Morri whips away at breakneck speeds on what we later discover are roads of hard-packed snow compacted to the consistency of ice. Our studded Hakkapeliittas so completely grip the low-mu surface that we are caught unaware when we get out of the cars. We promptly windmill our arms as we struggle to keep our balance.

Among the perks of Lappish life: Our rooms at the Hotel Tunturi in Saariselkä have private saunas. The Finns invented the sauna, and I was eager to compare them to the traditional wood-fired saunas in Canada in which we steam and then jump in a lake or roll in the snow. And conveniently, my room at the Tunturi has a snow-covered patio. We also are invited to join Nokian dealers and executives in a corporate-building communal sauna and dip, but I prefer to limit my team-building exercises to Motor Trend Of The Year testing.

Another Finnish delight: As we walk back from dinner, crunchy packed snow underfoot, we see the northern lights. The scientific explanation for the aurora borealis is charged particles hitting the Earth’s magnetic shield and releasing energy in bands of colorful light across the sky. Northern Finland is in the “Aurora Belt,” where the lights are most frequently seen as leaping iridescent lime spikes, flaming pink shoots, or bright purple curtains in stark contrast to the inky black sky above the Arctic Circle. By contrast, back home on Ontario’s 49th parallel, my last sighting displayed black and white piano keys being played across the sky like beams from a flashlight in need of new batteries.

Day 2

We are back on frozen rural roads heading north to Inari through areas where reindeer farmers herd via snowmobile. Our destination is Lake Pasasjärvi, also known as White Hell Area 2. A fleet of Audis awaits us.

To escape the minus 20 C (minus 4 Fahrenheit) cold, we hop in a yellow AWD RS 4 with studded Hakkapeliitta 9 tires to try the slalom and handling courses. There also are areas for drifting and collision avoidance. Although drifting on the slippery stuff is tempting, the actual goal is to drive on the edge of control and not drift. The combination of the car’s traction control and the grip of the tires almost stops the vehicle completely until it regains control and accelerates again. Same excellent grip in a red RS 5 with studded tires.

A blue RS 6 is doing speed runs on the lake. Nokian has the world record for fastest car on ice with the RS 6 hitting 335.7 km/h (208.6 mph) on the Gulf of Bothnia wearing studded Hakkapeliitta 8s. By comparison, we are mere amateurs. Bouncing along the uneven surface at autobahn speeds, I repeat the winter-driving mantra, slow hands, slow hands. We back off at 100 mph, knowing the car and tires could easily have done more.

To test the new SUV tires we try Audi Q5s with studded tires but also with the nonstudded Hakkapeliitta R2 SUV winter tires. Even without studs, the traction on sheer ice is remarkable. The vehicle prefer to stop rather than drift. There are occasions I’m convinced of an imminent kiss with a snowbank, but the tires pull the SUV back on track time after time.

On the way to lunch at the Kultahippu restaurant, we stop abruptly on the crest of a hill. In the not so far distance, we spy Murmansk, Russia. We taunt our grumpy neighbors with our American, Canadian, and Finnish flags.

Finnish cuisine is influenced by Germany, Sweden, and Russia. But Lapland is influenced by what is available. We have a fine lunch of traditional reindeer stew (sliced reindeer strips in gravy over mashed potatoes with lingonberries and pickle spears). Dinner that night: the same reindeer stew but with a third pickle spear.

I learn Finnish men drink giant glasses of milk with their meals. I also learn that pulla (the Finnish coffee bread I grew up with) is not on every table. In fact, I never found it during my travels. Crepelike Finnish pancakes were also scarce, and the fish stew I know as kalamojakka is apparently not a Finnish word at all! “Oh, yes, in Finland it is called kalakeitto,” my mom tells me after I get home.

With bellies full of Dancer and Prancer, we dash through the rest of White Hell before calling it a day.

Day 3

We’re up early to start our road trip south. It’s still March, but the days have started getting longer—with sunrise about 7 a.m. and daylight lasting until almost 6 p.m. in this land of the midnight sun. We have a pair of rental cars: a 2016 Volvo V40 fitted with studded Hakkapeliitta 9 tires and a 2017 Volvo XC90 with the R2 SUV tires. Our ultimate destination: Nokian’s headquarters, which employs about 1,500 people at its R & D facilities, tire manufacturing plant, and immense logistics center.

The V40 will finally be sold in the U.S. when the next-generation 40 series launches, starting with the XC40 early next year, so we were curious to spend time in its European predecessor. We have a bare-bones Volvo V40 T2 with cloth seats and no navigation system. Our support vehicle is a Volvo XC90 D5 with a two-tone leather interior and soft-pore wood. Compared with Motor Trend’s long-term XC90 T6 Inscription with the 2.0-liter gas engine, the diesel in the D5 provides nice, smooth acceleration. It also means we got to pay 1.426 euros/liter (about $1.70) for diesel rather than €1.545 for regular gas or €1.609 for premium gas.

Our new Finnish friends greet our drive route with skepticism—they attempt to persuade us to book a flight for part of it. What they underestimate is how much driving, photography, and video from thigh-deep snow we can pack into a day. What we underestimate is travel time: Speed limits are reduced in winter, coinciding with the December 1 to March 31 mandatory winter tire period.

We leave Saariselkä and head south on E75. Finland is a country of 5.5 million people occupying 151,000 square miles. It looks exactly like Northern Ontario—I swear I have not left home—with 190,000 lakes, high snowbanks, and packed-snow roads that don’t see pavement until spring. The same pine, spruce, and birch trees mean we see the same barn wood as we cruise through Finland’s rural environs. They also have the same national animal: the mosquito.

Our studded tires perform so well in the deep snow that we can whip the V40 around to double back for photography. It is proving to be a sturdy vehicle and blends in with the other small cars and SUVs that dot the roads—with Volvo, Audi, VW, Mercedes, Mazda, Honda, and Nissan nameplates being the most common. Finland has the most vehicles per capita in the world, and many wear extra headlights to spot reindeer during the long, dark winter months.

We stop for a late lunch in Rovaniemi, hometown of Santa Claus. But its history is not the stuff of children’s books. Snow covers the ground pockmarked from World War II bombings by the Russians and the scorched-earth retreat of the Germans. The local airport is a former Luftwaffe airfield.

We visit the Arktikum Lapland museum, the gateway to the north. You enter from the south, and the structure disappears underground like an animal burrowing under the frozen tundra for warmth. Inside are scenes of Finnish Lapland and Arctic life: fishing, hunting, a cold room, and a northern lights theater.

Our trip then meanders west to the border with Sweden and the Gulf of Bothnia.

The weather gets milder as we cross the Arctic Circle—where we also cross the freezing mark. It is easy to forget we have studded tires when the pavement bares itself, but we are reminded in the hotel parking garage in Oulu with a staccato snap, crackle, and pop underfoot. The Hakkapeliitta 9 has new stud technology. There are more studs, including some in the center of the tire, and the corners of the studs are cut so the tire doesn’t hit the ground before the stud does. But the studs are also smaller, lighter, and designed to spread out on impact to help protect the occasional exposed patch of pavement.

In Oulu we walk under fat snowflakes to a French bistro for dinner. Robin rejoices; he has had enough reindeer for one trip. Once again, my room has a sauna. I am in heaven.

Day 4

We are up with the sun as sleet swirls outside our windows. We continue south on E8 along the coast to Vassa, where the scenery is marked with elevation changes and rock outcroppings. I choke up; Vassa is the birthplace of Signe Kujanen, my mummu (grandmother). She is the one who introduced me to pulla and taught my mom how to make the incorrectly named kalamojakka. Listening to her, I learned Finnish as a toddler. My first car was the 1972 Chevy Impala she willed me. We gave it a Finnish accent: It was known to everyone as from PerformanceJunk WP Feed 3 http://ift.tt/2ioPhlL via IFTTT

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robertkstone · 7 years ago

Text

Snow Queen: A Cold Pursuit of One’s Finnish Roots, in the Dead of Winter

Snow, tires, cars, reindeer, northern lights, and saunas—time for a good old-fashioned Motor Trend road trip. Spoiler alert: Things got personal along the way.

New tires have been developed for North America, and Nokian is building a $360 million tire plant in Dayton, Tennessee, with ambitious goals of doubling sales in five years.

In Finland everyone knows Nokian, which has its headquarters and a tire plant in the city of Nokia, near Helsinki. Nokian split off from conglomerate Nokia (best known for cell phones) in 1988.

Day 2

With bellies full of Dancer and Prancer, we dash through the rest of White Hell before calling it a day.

Day 3

Our trip then meanders west to the border with Sweden and the Gulf of Bothnia.

In Oulu we walk under fat snowflakes to a French bistro for dinner. Robin rejoices; he has had enough reindeer for one trip. Once again, my room has a sauna. I am in heaven.

Day 4

Vassa is a city of 68,000 with a history of Russian occupation. Everything is covered in snow and ice. Pedestrians prod the snow with walking sticks for traction and push sleds on sidewalks to carry their groceries, and some brave souls ride bikes on the ice.

We grab a quick bite at a Finnish McDonalds, find some terwasnapsi pine tar liquor for the questionable palate of my colleague Frank Markus, and get back to work. We have a lot more kilometers before we reach Tampere, near Nokia.

It was a longer trip than it appeared on paper, with many single-lane highways, fluctuating speed limits, and a preponderance of speed cameras. Despite our diligence we see a bulb go off. Finland is one of those counties where the fine is pegged to your annual income if they deem it an infraction. We app from PerformanceJunk WP Feed 3 http://ift.tt/2ioPhlL via IFTTT

#IFTTT #PerformanceJunk WP Feed 3

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