#Workflow Win

[mentorshelly]

Unleashing Efficiency: The 4 Indispensable Benefits of SOPs in Business

Navigating the complexities of business can be daunting, but with well-crafted Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), your enterprise can move with precision and confidence. Let’s delve into four transformative benefits of SOPs: 1. Unmatched Consistency: SOPs are the secret ingredient to uniform excellence. They ensure every product and service meets your high standards, reflecting the reliability…

[frostfishy]

more exocolonist stuff

[iamnotlookingidonotseeit]

pretty cringe of me to be freaking out over not meeting a requirement that I knew I was being lax about but didn't know was an actual hard and fast Rule

[ashprince-of-bel-air]

A Late-Night Session.

A/N: I'm not gonna lie, this is purely self serving one-shot, I'm sure I dreamt about this so I wanted to write it.

Summary: You were part of the Hellfire crew and had just finished your most recent campaign, Eddie invited you over for the night after the rest of the club had left.

Warnings: reader is afab. It does include smut so 18+, both the reader and Eddie are at least 21.

Eddie slumped back into his throne with a smile, he had been in charge of this story for a while, and it had finally come to conclusion. The cheers from the rest of your party made Eddie smile enthusiastically, you could not help but look at him, you loved seeing how happy DnD made him. Eddie’s smile was intoxicating to you and was pretty much the only reason you attended the weekly Hellfire meetings at this point. Yes you had enjoyed DnD in your younger years but now all you went for was the enigmatic leader, Eddie Munson. He was so energetic and passionate, you had never met a dungeon master like him. You were almost sad that your current campaign had ended, hoping he would come up with another one so you could all play together again and you could be in his company.

You all cheered wildly at the end of the campaign, your group being victorious against Asmodeus. It was a difficult campaign, but you and your team made it through, celebrating your win thoroughly. The night of your win was a wild one by DnD standards, you all ate too much and tried not to drink yet in front of the younger players, you could do that later. The young ones spilled out of the room, leaving to catch their rides early into the night. The older ones, like Gareth and Jeff, left a little later leaving you to clean up, not that you minded. It left you and Eddie alone, this was something that you had become used to, each week everyone would have a reason why they could not stay and help clear up. You did not mind though, you enjoyed your private time with Eddie, just the two of you, it was the favourite part of your week, you both flirted with each other, but neither would be brave enough to make an actual move. There had always been a palpable chemistry between the two of you, it was obvious to everyone that saw you together, however you both seemed to tiptoe around it.

This week, Eddie told himself it would be different, he would ask you back to his place and he would finally make a move against you. It had burned up inside of him each day he saw you that he did not act upon his attraction to you, he wanted to claim you as his before anyone else had the chance to. The air was quiet as you had both started to clear the chairs and cards away, you never wanted to interrupt Eddies workflow, he had a system for how he worked, and you respected it. You both tidied up in silence for a while until Eddie’s deep voice broke the silence between you.

“So, Y/N…. You got any plans for tonight?” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he asked, he wanted to seem cool and confident, but his current form was betraying him, you turned to focus on him and your heart melted. He looked so cute and anxious that it made you smile.

“Eddie, I’m actually flattered that you think I have any sort of social life outside of DnD” You joke and smile softly at him. Eddie had always loved your playful nature, he had often wondered why you were not more popular than you were, you seemed so approachable and enigmatic to him, you were due to leave for college this year and he wanted to try and shoot his shot before you left and found someone whilst you were away.

“Well, I don’t know what you get up to in your spare time, Princess” You turned back around to stack the chairs away but you could almost feel the smirk that was plastered on his face, he was the only one that was allowed to call you Princess, you hated hearing the name from any of the other guys but Eddie got a free pass with it, for some reason the name coming from his lips made you blush and go warm, the way he called you it was almost as if he knew what effect he had on you.

You rolled your eyes at him playfully as you finished clearing up, you walked over to him. “Well actually, Munson, I don’t have any sordid plans tonight, why do you ask?” you chuckle at him, trying not to be distracted by those big brown eyes of his. They were your biggest weakness; he could commit any crime known to man but if he looked at you with his big brown doe eyes you would melt. Many a time you had to tell him playfully “You put those big brown eyes away mister” because you were annoyed at him and did not want him to worm his way out of a telling off.

Eddie had finished collecting up any figures and cards that were laid out on the table as he replied to you. “Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to come to mine for a drink. My uncle is away for work, so I have the trailer to myself?” He tried to seem smooth as he asked but his heart thumped wildly in his chest, he had never been this forward with you, but he wanted to try his chances with you, the moment he met you he was enthralled with you.

A soft blush crept upon your face as you responded, pretending to be interested in something else to hide it from him. “Sounds good to me chief.” You would love nothing more than to be alone with him in his trailer, you had spent time alone with him after each DnD session but being alone with him in his trailer was different, it was more intimate and was something that you had craved, you wanted a chance to be with him in an intimate setting, you were not sure what you would do but you wanted the chance nonetheless.

A smile erupted across Eddie’s face, you had actually agreed to spend time together, just you and him. His nervous sweaty palm ran through his hair trying to tame the wild curls somewhat. “I’ve got some good films we can watch whilst we have a drink, it’s completely your choice” his voice was slightly nervous as he spoke, he wanted to make sure you enjoyed your time with him. You chuckled and shook your head at him. “I was more than happy with the idea of free drinks, don’t give me the stress of choosing a movie to go with them”.

The final bits of the gathering were cleared away as Eddie chuckled, he spun his car keys in his hand and nodded his head towards the door. “C’mon then Princess, I’ve got a few beers with your name on them.” You rolled your eyes playfully at his smile, trying to hide how much it made you weak at the knees. You followed him outside and made yourself comfy in his truck, you had been in it many times, but this felt different, you felt there was a tension in the air between the both of you. The ride to his trailer was mostly uneventful, filled with pleasantries, asking how you both were and how he was doing with work and whatnot, he told you that he was adamant that he would graduate this year, 86 was going to be his year. It was not long until you pulled up outside of his trailer. The gentleman he was, Eddie made sure that he quickly walked around to open the car door for you, eliciting a playful eyeroll from you.

Eddie opened the door to his trailer, inviting you in. Giving you a playful bow before escorting you in, you had been in his trailer many times and he did that stupid bow every time. “So, you want a drink yeah?” Eddie called from the kitchen as you stood in the living room adjacent to it.

“Yeah sure thanks” You were not overly bothered about having a drink, but you just wanted an excuse to spend time alone with him. You both took a seat on the sofa an made yourself comfy, Eddie sat there, his legs wide apart and holding his beer bottle between his legs. You decide to test the waters and softly and drape your legs over his and lay down on the sofa, pretending to be nonchalant about it. Eddies eyes went wide as he felt your legs drape over his waist, his hand instinctively landed on your thigh. You were wearing criminally short shorts in Eddie’s mind; how could he resist touching you.

Eddie groaned internally as his hand rested on your bare thigh, he squeezed it softly causing a soft moan to emanate from your lips. You felt his rings dig into the flesh of your thighs and you could not help but moan against the feeling of the metal digging against your skin. The soft moan caused Eddie to grip your thigh even harder as he leant towards you with a smirk. “Are you okay, Darling?” His hand started to stroke further up your thigh and rested just beneath the hem of your shirt, his fingertips grazing the skin of your stomach, waiting for confirmation that you wanted more from him. You blushed at the fact you let the audible moan slip from your lips, it was hard to catch your breath knowing where his hands were on your body, desperately wanting them to explore further. Eddie leant towards you on the sofa, his hand ever so slight trailing up underneath your shirt, feeling his calloused palm against the soft skin of your waist.

“Cat got your tongue sweetheart?” He purred, that stupid smirk on his face caused your heart to flutter, but you would not be bested by him. You leant forward and left barely any room between his lips; he could feel your breath hot against his face. “I’m more than okay, Munson” You could sense that this was your opportunity, if you were ever going to get him then it was now, you held your composure despite your heart feeling like a jackhammer in your chest, trying not to look into those deep brown eyes that were now raking over you.

Your response and eagerness to lean closer to him was all the confirmation that Eddie needed, His free hand came swiftly to the back of your head and pulled you into him, your lips crashing together. You felt yourself moan into the kiss as his hand on your waist squeezed the delicate skin there, it felt like bliss as his hand gripped you and pulled you closer. You lost yourself in the kiss and moved closer to him, your aim to straddle yourself over his lap on the couch. An aim that Eddie did not stop you from achieving, he let out a throaty groan against your lips as he felt you move onto his lap, his hands devouring your body hungrily, he wanted to feel all of you. His lips released yours and found your neck, placing wet open-mouthed kisses along your neck and collar bone. You back arched towards him, wanting him to explore all of your body with his mouth and tongue. Your hands travelled up his arms until they reached the base of his neck, where you slowly tangled your hands into his soft curls and gripped softly, pulling yourself against him even more.

Eddie was in heaven, he had you on his lap and his mouth was exploring your body, he craved more though, he had wanted you from the day he first met you and this was not enough. His lips found your neck again and his voice vibrated against your skin. “Fuck…. I need you, Princess” His deep voice against your neck made you groan into him desperately, you needed him just as bad as he needed you. You gripped your hands tighter into his hair and kissed along his jawbone, your voice soft and breathy as you spoke. “Eddie…. please.” His eyes rolled back in his head at your breathy plea and gripped your thighs roughly. Eddie regained his composure slightly and positioned his hands under your thighs. He stood up from the sofa, lifting you with him and carried you towards his bedroom down the hall. You wrapped your legs around his waist and carried on kissing along his jaw and neck, now feeling his excitement thick against your thighs.

He dropped you roughly on his bed, resting on his forearms above you on the unkempt bed with pure lust in his eyes, he had wanted you for so long and now you were here in his bed, he would make sure that you enjoyed it and would want more from him. His plump lips found your neck again, his teeth grazing against your skin causing you to moan softly and grip his hair, spurring him on even further as he nipped his way down to your chest. You helped him swiftly remove your t shirt, laying bare chested before him. Eddie’s eyes laid on you half naked form, fuck you were beautiful to him, he needed just a moment to commit this vison to memory before his lips found your skin again. He kissed along your breasts, his teeth teasing you and nipping at your soft delicate skin. You felt him suck at your soft skin, leaving his marks upon your body, this aroused you even more, knowing that he was claiming you as his, knowing that he wanted nobody else to touch you.

The kisses along your breast and stomach were sloppy and desperate, until he reached the waistband of your shorts, you looked down and could see his beautiful eyes, asking for permission to remove them, a soft nod from you was all it took, and he quickly took them off and threw them on the floor. His teeth now grazed against your inner thigh, and you moaned desperately, he was teasing you and he knew it.

“So needy Princess, good girls wait patiently” You felt his smirk against your thigh as his tongue roamed your skin, wanting to taste every inch of you. Your hips bucked towards him involuntarily, you wanted him to relieve you of the heat that was swimming in your lower stomach, you were desperate for his touch. Finally you felt his lips upon you, you were already soaking wet for him, a fact that made him chuckle against you as you felt his tongue against your clit, moving in slow languid circles to torture you further Your soft moans were like music to his ears, whilst his hands roamed your skin, his big calloused hands finding your breasts, squeezing them causing your back to arch further into his touch.

“Eddie….” You moaned softly as he continued to tease you, you wanted to feel him and let him relieve you of the pressure building inside of you. He smiled and left one final kiss against you, lifting his head from your thighs, you could see your juices dripping from his face and thought he had never looked sexier. In one quick move he removed his t shirt and leant his body against yours, revelling in the feeling of your breasts against his bare chest now. His lips found yours again, kissing you passionately as he tried desperately to undo his jeans. You could feel his thick length against your thigh through the denim of his jeans so when you felt him bare against you, you moaned desperately. You had imagined what Eddie would feel like many a night, you craved it desperately, even pleasuring yourself over the thought, something Eddie did over the thought of you as well. Eddie steeled himself and took a deep breath, he had wanted this for so long and he would savour the moment, he held his cock in his hand and swiped it against your wet folds, chuckling to himself at your desperate moans. He loved seeing you so desperate and needy beneath him, knowing that he was the one causing you to come undone like this. He slowly pressed his throbbing tip into you, feeling you stretch around his girth, squeezing his eyes closed as he felt how good you were around him.

A deep breathy moan escaped your lips as you felt him inside of you, you had been with other people before but you were not used to this size, it was almost sinful how good he was making you feel just from pressing slowly inside of you. “Fuck…..” Eddie whispered as he felt himself stretch your cunt, you felt so good already and he wasn’t sure he would last too long at this rate. He started to thrust a slow and steady pace, one that felt torturous to you, your hips bucked against him as you wanted to feel him thick and fast against you. “Baby…. Please I can’t” He whispered against your neck, he wanted to, so badly he wanted to fulfil your desire and drill into you.

“Eddie… I’m so close… please” your voice desperate for him now, your nails digging into the skin on his back, he looked at you, your eyes almost in tears because you were so desperate for him now. His hands gripped on your hips, pulling you even closer to him, as he buried his face in the crook of your neck, he wanted to be close and hear your moans for him. He pounded into you roughly and after a few thrusts he felt your walls clench around him tightly, your moans were like heaven to him, he told himself that he would commit that sound to memory. One more thrust and he was spent, he felt himself tremble inside of you as he collapsed on top of your body, leaving soft wet kisses on your neck.

You were both laid together, sweaty and gasping, feeling the afterglow of your orgasm. Your hand softly stroked Eddie’s hair behind his ear, loving how the fringe of his hair was slick against the sweat of his forehead. You looked deep into his deep brown eyes and smiled, you both felt happy and at peace in each other’s arms.

Eddie finally rolled off the top of you, laying beside you he pulled you into his arms, stroking the soft skin of your back affectionately. You both laid there silently for a while enjoying each other’s embrace until Eddie spoke up, hooking a finger under you chin pulling your face up to look at him. “So, is this going to be a regular after session thing or not?” You rolled your eyes playfully at his smirk, answering him with a deep kiss. You knew this would be more than an after-session activity.

[spiffysoultarot]

What do you need to know? Pick a troll:

Pile 1: wheel, ten pent, 5 wands, empress. Whoa, talk about good fortune coming your way! We have both benefics represented here with the wheel (Jupiter) and empress (Venus). Something you once thought was totally out of the realm of possibility for yourself could actually be working out… but not without a fight. It is worth fighting for. It’s not underhanded, nasty, manipulative type fighting— it’s more like a healthy competition that makes you want to get better or just be a better person in general. I’m getting like an auto ski rope that you grab onto to get to the top of the ski hill— it’s like that, you just have to hold on tight and maintain your balance of self-love and nurturing to get there (financial abundance awaits at the top💵). Maintain a comfortable pace— don’t stand on your tippy toes all the time trying to be extra bc that’s not sustainable— know your limits/talents. Honor your natural workflow. Overall very positive— good for you, pile 1!

Pile 2: temperance, 8 swords, queen pent, knight cups (R). This one was kind of all over the place, 8 of swords always brings chaos and murkiness to readings for me. Multiple things here so bear with me. I got that someone here may have been very patient in achieving a material goal but are now feeling trapped or extremely emotionally unfulfilled or doubting if they even deserve it— like what are you so sad about? You got it. Idk, lol, I’m sorry if that’s blunt. But also— YES you deserve it!! Like maybe the material is balanced but now your mental/emotional state is out of whack. Someone may have burned you and made you doubt your judgement.“Never trust a salesman.” Keep him blocked, girl. Another thing was a successful self-made person uncovering material/physical proof that confirmed their suspicions someone was lowkey a goldigger. Then feeling hopeless as if they will never find someone who can match them in all the ways they desire. This sucks and I’m sorry that happened— you can move on a bit wiser now but also do you even really need anyone? Or do you just think you do bc you “should”? Something to ponder on bc the Queen and temperance upright are pretty balanced on their own. Animals are great companions. 🐈

Pile 3: star, ten of wands, judgement (R), 8 cups/10 pent (R). Finally seeing your own skills/strengths/talents and embracing them which will lead to positive attention, a win, recognition! ⭐️Possibly online. ORANGE & PURPLE. With the purple, yall are intuitive af and possibly saw it as a burden before but are now embracing your natural talents without shame. You’re not afraid to be seen. You’ve walked away from that which no longer serves you and certainly didn’t bring financial fulfillment. Wishes are granted here and new opportunities are abound— but they could be draining and will require hard work but I don’t see that being a problem for this pile at all. This win/oppurtunity is a long time coming. Leaving the status quo behind, finally stopping trying to fit your square self into this circular peg of typical life that you never fit into and probably never will. You’re here to help lead the way for others by simply being yourself. This new path has its own challenges but at least you’re doing something authentic, feeling inspired and emotionally fulfilled. In living authentically, you’re actually inspiring others to do the same. Keep doing you pile 3– you rock, and it looks good on you.

[wedontdeservethestars]

Can U do Johnny Cage w/ a reader who looks exactly like her sister Kitana? Thx 🙏

Ok. First of all anon I am SO sorry this took me like. 7 months to get around to. Idk why but for a while I just had NO workflow with this one BUT!! I ended up liking how it came out! Lots of emotional stuff in this one, with reader and Johnny learning to appreciate one another. Again--so sorry for the wait but I hope you like it!

(AO3 link here!)

“Kitana, baby!”

“No.”

“Ohhh, the other one.” 

That was how most of your conversations with Johnny began. Sure, you were technically the younger twin. You were second in line just behind the new Kahn, and despite the numerous times you and Kitana had agreed to this arrangement of Kahn and Royal Advisor (though, in all honesty, you held more power than a simple Advisor), you couldn’t help the jealousy you felt towards her. How could you not? All because of a few mere minutes of time-difference, you had spent most of your life in Kitana’s shadow. The forgotten sister.

“That isn’t my name, either.” It was bad enough being mistaken for your twin by anyone, but for some reason the fact that it was Johnny made you even more irritated. 

“Sorry, princess,” he shrugged carelessly. 

“And I’m not a princess,” you continued. The words felt sharp on your tongue. One of the first things you insisted upon when Kitana took over the kingdom was to remove your title entirely. You couldn’t stand the thought of her growing to such a powerful rank while yours stayed the same. Princess. You hated the word. It seemed childish. 

“Man, I just cannot win today, huh?” Johnny waved his hand as if to say, ‘ah, well,’ and wiped any memory of the past few seconds from his mind.

“If you’re looking for Kitana Kahn,” you said, emphasizing her title, “She’s with Master Liu Kang.”

You pointed a finger towards the opposite end of the venue, where, indeed, Kitana stood with a few close friends. Though she and Liu Kang weren’t touching, they were indeed standing rather close together. Besides, Johnny was well aware of their relationship to one another. Most were. You couldn’t understand why he tried so hard to gain the affection of an already-involved woman. 

Johnny, following your aim, squinted, lifting his shades. He apparently decided that he didn’t like the company she kept, because he shook his head, flipping the glasses back down. “Eh. Whatever. Was just gonna check if she’s havin’ a good time.”

“Are we supposed to?” you mumbled, mostly to yourself. Outrealm-Earthrealm meetings like this weren’t your idea of a good time, even if the events were thrown specifically as pleasant meetings where members could laugh and drink and be in good nature with one another. To keep the peace, Kitana had explained when she first brought up the idea. There had only been a handful so far, but you hadn’t enjoyed yourself at a single one of them. Maybe you were just too much of a wallflower. 

“Are you supposed to have a good time a party?” Johnny tried to clarify. “Uh…yeah. Yeah you are.”

“It’s not really a party…”

“Drinks. Music. F…” Johnny frowned as he drew out the ‘f’. His mouth started to form the word ‘friends,’ but he quickly backtracked. “Fffffun people.”

“I suppose,” you grumbled, arms folded over your chest. He sighed and gave you a nudge.

“C’mon, loosen up! You don’t have to do anything. No world to save, no politics or anything. Just relax.”

You were about to point out how, technically, the only reason this ‘party’ was happening was because of politics that specifically dealt with the two of your homeworlds, but the thought suddenly exhausted you and you let it slide. “I don’t…relax easily.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” Johnny chuckled and took a sip of his own drink, some sort of foamy liquid with an ungodly color of aquamarine fading to green at the bottom. It looked like it could kill. Half-heartedly, you hoped it would. “Tell you what, next drink is on me.”

Well. It couldn’t hurt. “Fine.”

“Hella.” He gave you a grin, his teeth too perfect and square, and grabbed you by the arm, practically dragging you to the catering bar. “C’mon!”

“Johnny, slow down–” you frowned. “I’m in heels!” 

“What’dya want?” he asked as you stumbled up behind him.

“Uh…” Your gaze skimmed over the menu. Drinks you’d never heard of with ingredients even less familiar. Of course, the catering company had to come Earthrealm. “I don’t know. That one looks fine.”

“Shoulda known you were a Pinot Grigio kinda gal.” He leaned over and murmured something to the bartender, who tried his best not to look flustered (and failed). You scoffed. You couldn’t ever imagine giving into Johnny’s “charms” so easily. Never.

Shortly, a tall fluted glass was in your gloved hand. You took a tentative sip and immediately felt your tongue dry up. Not letting yourself wince at the sick, bittersweet tang that overcame your taste buds, you bravely took another sip. Johnny didn’t take notice–he was in the midst of downing the rest of his glass. Slamming the glass down, he stifled a quiet burp into his fist and laughed. You rolled your eyes. When the bartender turned around again, there was already another glass of whatever horrid drink he’d just finished. 

“Thanks, stud.” He raised his glass and gave a wink to the server, who, this time, couldn’t stop a shy little smile from coming across his face. You felt sick.

“Thank you for the drink,” you mumbled and started to hightail it out of the crowd, but a hand on your shoulder stopped you. 

“Hey, c’mon. At least talk with me a little. Not like you were doin’ anything else.”

You sighed. Damn him. “Can we at least go somewhere quiet? I don’t like crowds.”

“Yeah, whatever,” he shrugged. Realizing you weren’t going to get rid of him so easily, you decided to suck it up and scanned the venue, looking for a way out. You spied a patch on the outskirts that wasn’t too populated, a little garden area with leaves that glistened in the dew of night and held promise for some peace and quiet. 

“This way.”

While squeezing through seemingly endless amounts of people, you heard Johnny behind you, stopping to talk to a few and saying a quick ‘hi’ to nearly everyone else. You wished he would just focus on the task at hand, but then again, did you expect him to act any other way?

“So, Edenia,” he said awkwardly as you two came up on your destination. Fortunately, your guess had been right–it was much emptier and calmer over here. 

“What about it?” You turned to face him and suddenly wished he weren’t so tall.

“Uh…how’s it going?” he tried. “With your sister as ruler, and all.”

“Did you really insist on continuing to stay with me just to take about my sister all night?” you asked curtly. 

“No! No, just, uh, y’know. It’s a big shift, I’m sure. And…” He gave a timid chuckle and lowered his voice to a stage-whisper, as if he had an audience you didn’t know about. “I’m just trying to make conversation. Help me out here.” 

Your lips twitched. You hid them in your glass. “It’s going fine.”

“Good, good.” 

There was a silence, and before Johnny could say something stupid, you decided to at least try. “How are your…movies?”

“Oh, great!” You couldn’t begin to describe the amount of relief that washed over his face. “We just finished wrapping Breaknose Mountain last month. That’s gonna be a good one. Give the audience a good ol’ tug at the heartstrings. Y’know, I don’t really get to do dramas often, which, like, whatever, every actor has their niche, and mine happens to be awesome-as-shit stunts and comedy and, like, shirtless scenes, so I always have to really appreciate the times where I get to hunker down and get into a serious role. Not that all my roles aren’t serious, at least, I take them seriously, but it’s different, y’know?” 

For a moment, you didn’t know what to say. Truthfully, you didn’t know–Edenia didn’t have movies and the stories and theater your culture did have were nothing like whatever was going on in Johnny’s films, based on what he had described to you before–but the way he spoke about this…it was the first time you saw something genuine in Johnny. Something more than the brash sense of style and flirtatious glances and overconfidence. 

“That’s…interesting.” You weren’t lying.

Johnny smiled, and for once it didn’t come off as entirely jaded. “Nah, I just…uh, actually, forget it. It’s kinda stupid.”

“I’m sure it’s not.” You were curious to see whatever side of him was starting to peek out. “Tell me.”

“Okay,” he chuckled with a nod. “I, uh…I haven’t been on a stage since I was a kid. Like, live acting, in a play. Probably not since high school. And…I miss it. A lot. It’s different from film. And the stuff I did then, I’m sure it was shitty as hell, but it felt real.”

He paused, a wistful look coming across his face. He looked distracted, like he wasn’t really seeing you anymore even though his eyes were still trained on you.

“I loved Shakespeare especially. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as alive as I did when I got to be Romeo. It was…everything. It was funny, it was sad, it was romantic. There was fighting. There was kissing. And the audience, they were right there in Verona with us. Living and breathing the same air. Or…that’s what it felt like, at least. With movies, you just…you film. And it’s usually on a green-screen set. And then you go home, and…you wait for it to come out, and the reviews come in. But they’re just words on paper. Comments. Everyone sees you act but no one sees you act.”

“Johnny…” You had no idea exactly what he was talking about in terms of sets and Shakespeare and whatever Verona was, but you didn’t need to. “That’s…”

“Dumb,” he said quickly, eager to put back on that Hollywood-boy persona. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean, I’m one of the biggest stars in America. Why would I want anything else?”

“I don’t think it’s dumb,” you frowned.

“Oh.” A look of genuine surprise came across his face. “Well…thanks, I guess.”

“Maybe you could still perform onstage if you really wanted to.”

“Eh, doesn’t really match the Cage brand,” he smiled sadly. “It’s okay. It’s just somethin’ I think about sometimes.”

“Well…I bet you were wonderful onstage.” You offered your best attempt at a smile, and Johnny gladly took it.

“Oh, I was.” Immediately your smile dropped as his old facade came back up, but he just laughed. “Kidding. Thank you. Really.”

“Humph,” you said in return. 

Johnny swirled what remained of his beverage around in its glass. “Can I ask a question? And promise you won’t get mad?”

You sighed, but nodded, finishing off your own drink almost just to spite the flavor. “Fine.”

“It’s about Kitana,” he warned.

“I thought we got past that.” But you waved your hand to tell him to keep going. 

Still, Johnny hesitated. “How do you really feel about her taking the throne. ‘Cause, like, you guys aren’t just sisters, right? You’re twins?”

You nodded once. Words sat on your tongue, but you knew you letting them escape would be a mistake. “I feel like…I shouldn’t talk about that.”

“Why not?” He cocked his head. “It’s just you and me. No one’s gonna hear.”

“I don’t care about what others think,” you lied. Surrounded by this kind of company, your jealousy could easily be misconstrued as planned treason. 

“Then why won’t you tell me?”

“Because I hardly know you. And it’s not an issue for a Earthrealmer to worry about.”

“So it is an issue,” he pressed. 

“No,” you huffed, “I didn’t mean–”

“Didn’t you?” His ocean blues pierced into your skull and you had to avert your own eyes. 

“Don’t do this,” you muttered. 

“Do what?”

“Cage.”

“What?” he asked again. “Listen, I’m just sayin’–if you can’t talk about this stuff normally, then I don’t mind being an outlet. Like me and my stupid theater dreams.”

“The aren’t stupid,” you said before really realizing you were doing it. Quickly, you moved on. “And that doesn’t equate to the politics of my kingdom. Not at all. One is a dream. The other is…”

“A dream?” he asked knowingly. “Of…running away? Being Kahn? Going back to the way things were?”

You didn’t deny any of his guesses. You also hoped he wouldn’t notice that detail. “Why do you care so much?”

“I…don’t know.” He frowned into his drink, and then had some more of it. “Just wanna get to know you. Know what you care about. Not what the Royal Advisor of Edenia does.”

There was silence for a long time. It got to the point where it was almost impressive how long Johnny was keeping his mouth shut for. You were clenching your teeth so hard you thought they might crack when you finally answered him. “Kitana has…everything now. We spent so long dreaming of the day when we would finally overtake that monster who killed our father, and when we could pay respects to our lost mother, and…Gods. I don’t know. We planned everything together, in hushed whispers at night, ever since we were children. We both agreed she should be Kahn. That I would remain by her side. But…it feels more like I’m behind her, or beneath her. And why shouldn’t I be equal with her?”

He stared at you. You suddenly felt awful for voicing your ugly desires.

“No. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said any of that. That was…”

“You’re right.”

You stopped dead in your tracks. “Excuse me?”

“You’re right,” Johnny said again. “I mean, like, I don’t wanna start a whole-ass Edenian civil war or anything, but I think it’s pretty normal for you to feel this way.”

Secretly, you were immensely relieved to hear that. “It feels like it isn’t.”

“I don’t know how else you’re supposed to feel about it.” He wrinkled his nose. “Content? ‘Cause that seems like a pretty shitty deal.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter either way,” you tried to brush off. “I can’t do anything about it.”

“You could talk to her,” he offered.

“Deceptively simple answer,” you replied in such a way that made it clear how often you’d thought about this. 

“I don’t think it is.” But he backed off when you gave him an annoyed look. “But hey. I barely know what’s goin’ on with my own country’s politics, let alone yours.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.” 

Johnny let you stew in the conversation while he finished off his drink, setting the glass on the ground beside yours. “Well, I guess…I’m sorry. That you’re in this position.”

Hearing him say that felt like a cool breeze filling your lungs. It didn’t solve any of your problems, of course, but it was nice to have someone just…listen. Understand. 

“Thank you,” you said, and you meant it. “I’m sorry for you, too. About your acting stuff.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” he shrugged, but you thought you saw his chest relax like yours had.

The silence you shared was a little awkward, but it wasn’t tense like the previous ones. It was a little bit nice, actually. You looked around the venue, deciding that the location and lights and music were a little bit nice too now that you really thought about it, and when you looked back Johnny was staring at you in a very, very particular way.

“Hey,” he said softly. “I can give you something Kitana doesn’t have.”

“What’s that?” He was close, now, his face looming over yours. It made you nervous. You almost wished he would get closer. 

“I can’t tell you until I give it,” he smiled. His eyes searched yours for something–understanding of what he was talking about, maybe. His smile widened: he’d found it. Rightfully so. You did know what he was talking about.

“You promise she doesn’t have this?” you asked, feeling your chest grow tight. Johnny moved in closer–his strong nose was nearly touching yours now. 

“Oh, big time,” he laughed quietly. 

You gave a simple nod, and that was enough. Johnny sealed the kiss. 

[bitsofshanshine]

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[darbyoakana]

An Overlord's Tail - Chapter 1

An Overlords Tail Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10

Summary: Alastor X reader, F/M. You are new to the hotel staff working under Alastor. He spends his days pestering and tormenting you. But that pestering turns into a competition, one you want to win. Can you get the upper hand? Are you getting too close to him? Warnings: No real warnings for this chapter, just Alastor being a dick. This story is 18+, minors can fuck right off.

Other Notes: Thanks @sailorsmouth for the doodle and encouragement!

Darby Link Tree

___________________________________________

Chapter 1: A New Start

It had been three months since you walked out of your job at VoxTek and you were starting to get desperate. Without work to focus on, everything else felt so much harder. You had nothing but stress to distract you and it wasn’t enough. You pushed your self-loathing to the side.

You rushed out the door, wanting to get to the interview early. The last interview you had went poorly. Perhaps it was the interviewer, or maybe it was the fact that you were covered by entrails from an incident out front. Hell is a wild place, expect the unexpected. But you were set, nothing was going to ruin this. You adjusted your plastic poncho, surprise bodily fluids or parts were going to get you today. The joke, per usual, was on you. You should have also worn rain boots you thought, as a large gush of blood filled your shoes. You groaned. Watching the still-gushing corpse being dragged down the alleyway next to you. 

The cafe door's bell dinged as you walked in, pulling off the poncho. Despite pouring your shoes out on the curb, they still made a soggy squish as you walked. The cafe was pretty empty except for one person sitting at a table. You froze. No way, you thought, that can't be who I'm meeting

Vaggie sat nervously at the booth waiting. She had lost track of how many interviews she had gone through for this position. She had hired eight people so far and none of them had lasted longer than a week. Why did Alastor have to be such a pain in the ass? The hotel needed help, since the last extermination and the elimination of Adam, sinners started to accept the hotel. Their residency numbers had shifted dramatically and more staff was needed to keep things running. But for whatever reason, the one position that needed to be filled was constantly challenged by the person Vaggie was trying to help in the first place. Vaggie looked up and waved at you, you hesitantly approached the table. 

"Hi! So nice to meet you!" Vaggie got up and shook your hand. You both sat down. Typical interview discussions ensued, past experience, general information about the hotel, etc. You could see that Vaggie was eager, maybe a little stressed. 

"So.. what exactly is my job position?" you asked.

"Well.... there's a lot of miscellaneous work that needs to be done until we figure out a better workflow for the hotel while it goes through these changes. But for the most part you'll uh..." her tone became painful. " Be assisting Alastor...." Your facial expression dropped to concern.

"That's uh, a hell of a job..." you said. 

"Well...." Vaggie's teeth were gritting together, knowing she needed to be upfront about the position. "...based on your resume, I think you are the most qualified person so far. And the pay is great! It kinda has to be at this point.” She sighed “Look, we’re getting desperate." 

Oh, you were qualified alright, six years at VoxTek putting up with the most insane bullshit you could imagine. If it wasn't Velvette being an absolute cunt, it was Valentino being a fucking nightmare, Vox surprisingly was the least painful to work with. Which is why you ended up in the position you did. He eventually made you his assistant, to keep you convenient and close. And frankly, if you could put up with Vox's boo hoo "Alastor doesn't love me" baby bullshit, how hard could this job be? At best, Alastor doesn't like you and you keep looking for jobs. At worst... you die a terrible and painful death. At least then the job worry wouldn't be a concern anymore. Fuck it, you thought. 

"Yeah, I do see your point." you sighed. "Alright."

"Can you start tomorrow?" she asked eagerly

They had offered you a room at the hotel. You felt it best to endure the trial period Alastor seemed to be implementing before you gave up your crummy apartment. You laid in bed both excited and dreading tomorrow. Vox was going to lose his shit, you thought. You knew WAY too much about his personal life concerning Alastor and there was nothing in Heaven or Hell that would convince Vox you weren't doing this just to hurt him. But that was his problem. In honesty, it was the last place you wanted to work. You wanted so badly to be free of your current situation. Let things go and move on. You hoped this wouldn't blow up in your face. But most things did, it was Hell after all. 

You woke early, the Hotel was a good distance from your apartment. You took a cab to be safe on time. You didn't bother with the poncho, Alastor struck you as someone who would enjoy you being uncomfortable covered in drying sticky blood. The lobby was large, you hadn't been to the Hotel before and you didn't know what to expect but you found yourself impressed. Most of Vox’s footage was from the outside of the hotel. 

Vaggie waved you down and welcomed you. Introduced you to the staff one by one. Charlie was thrilled to meet you. But you got the feeling she felt that way about anyone and anything. Vaggie went over the floor plan of the hotel, kitchen, dining room, and so on. You scribbled away on a notepad. Sounded like the dress code was relaxed here, you felt relief. Vox always made you wear these business suit-like outfits that surely came from Val's studio, they were so tight and short. You didn't mind at the time, it made your unprofessional activities much easier, but the idea of wearing your own clothes sounded nice.

"Here is your desk. You'll be using the computer to log complaints from the guests, ordering supplies, typical stuff." She looked down to see a shattered computer screen. "UGHHH pendejo! I recommend saving a backup copy of everything you do, Alastor is still protesting the use of the computer and keeps destroying it." It didn't surprise you, you knew for a fact Vox spends all his free time spying on the Hotel. And any electronic device was an in for him. "ALASTOR!!!!" She yelled. 

"No need to shout" Alastor was right next to her. She jumped. 

"Stop doing shit like this!" she pointed to the computer. "You are sabotaging the hotel!" 

"I'm doing no such thing." He looked at his nails, uninterested. 

"Uuugghhhhh! .. Whatever." Vaggie pinched her fingers between her eyes and collected herself. She took a deep breath. "Alastor, this is ---" She was cut off by the sound of Charlie calling for her, tears gushing from her eyes. "Shit. Sorry! I'll be right back!" She gave you a look of concern, and you gave her a reassuring nod, letting her know you'd be fine without her. 

"I assume you are the new replacement." Alastor said flatly.

"And hopefully the last." you said cheerily. 

"Mmm. Hope. So fun to destroy!" he spun his microphone. "Very well then. Follow me." 

You followed him through the hotel as he listed item after item that needed to be done. You scratched away at your notepad. He was clearly trying to overwhelm you, it didn't however. It felt similar to the days that you assisted Velvette. Constant list of demands that were consistently changing without notice. 

"Actually, Alastor sir, there's something I'd like to discuss before we go any further. If that's alright?" 

He leaned towards you, head tilted. "And what might that be, my dear?" 

"One of the reasons Vaggie thought I would be a good fit for this position is my previous experience." 

"I'm afraid I haven't looked at your resume, inlighten me, will you?"

"Well.." It was awkward and somewhat painful to say, but you knew it needed to be done. "For the last six years I've been employed at V Tower, the last three years I was Vox's personal assistant." You had previously been very confident up until this point, but this was uncomfortable. "I figured it was best to tell you right away, rather than you finding out later. I didn't want it to look like I was hiding something." 

"Hmm. Very wise of you. Why pursue new employment?" 

"There were a lot of reasons. But my relationship with Vox had become... unprofessional." You pushed the image of Vox fucking you on his desk back down into the pit it came up from. "He's pushy and controlling, both as a boss and... whatever else we were. Always wanting more, pushing boundaries constantly. But bottom line, he broke my trust.” 

Alastor knew exactly what you meant. Vox had constantly pushed for more from Alastor. And being set in his ways, Alastor often felt like he and Vox were sheets of sandpaper slowly wearing away at each other. He of course didn't tell you any of this, there he remained with his unnerving smile. 

"Hmm." He leaned in closer to you and placed the tip of his claw under your chin, tilting your head to an uncomfortable angle. "Quite a dangerous move, switching sides like this." Alastor was a bit taller than you, but right now it felt like he towered over you, you knew he was trying to intimidate you. Radio static hissed in your ears. You stood your ground, staring into his deep eyes. Eyes that felt like dark endless pits. He snapped back to his smiling self, straightening up. "Well, enduring those buffoons, maybe you will last longer than the others!" He chuckled. "I do however appreciate the disclosure. Come, come." You took an exhale of relief and followed. You hoped this information would make you more valuable in the long run.

You knew a lot, more than you should, about the inner workings of VoxTek. Vox was arrogant, he liked to boast. Showing you the newest upgrades that haven't been released, all the ways he spied on the city. One thing in particular, you savored. He left you alone in his penthouse once, you weren't snooping per se, but tucked away was a small ..shrine? For lack of a better word. Where Vox kept all his trinkets and photos from when he and Alastor were "friends". You felt, should the need call for it, you could be very helpful to the Hotel if Vox became a bigger threat. Though guilt did run through you, despite the bad parts, you missed Vox. A lot of those things were told to you in confidence. And you didn't have any intention of sharing them unless Vox forced you to. You knew it was only a matter of time before he got wind of your new job. And no doubt in your mind, Vox would indeed be a personal problem. 

_______________________________________________

The days following would be a struggle, Alastor wanted his coffee and paper by 7 AM. The hotel was at least a forty-five-minute walk and you didn't have much left in your account to pay for a cab. A room at the hotel sounded more and more appealing. Entering the gates you picked up the paper, putting it under your arm. You set your bag down at your desk and headed to the kitchen. Pulling out your notepad, you flipped to the page where you wrote down instructions on how to make Alastor's coffee the way he liked it. Hopefully, he wasn't the type to throw it at you if it wasn't right. Velevette threw her coffee at you once, burning your arm. You were ready to make some new memories that didn't involve the trauma endured by the V's. 

Coffee, cloth napkins, and paper were placed on a tray. You contemplated folding the napkin like a swan but decided against it. It was a silly thought, and you didn't want to come off as trying too hard, even though that was what he set you up for, to try hard and fail. You tapped your nails against the tray as the elevator ascended up to Alastor's room. It was 6:58 AM. You stood outside his door watching the clock. Only at 7 AM, on the dot, did you set the tray down in front of his door. Alastor was sitting in his chair reading, ready to scold you for being early and found himself slightly impressed. Getting rid of you the typical way might be harder than he thought. All the others were so easy to frighten. But if there was anything Alastor loved, it was a challenge. He had been bored out of his mind playing this hotel game. Unable to leave and pursue more interesting ventures. And the rest of the core group of hotel residents were getting annoyed with his antics. Maybe you could entertain him for a little while. Surely there had to be something that would break you. He waited for the elevator to descend before retrieving the tray. 

You snuck into the kitchen to make yourself some coffee, before anyone came in to make breakfast. You made yourself at home at your desk. The drawers were a mess from the previous employees. You sipped your coffee and organized your papers. Looking over previous orders for supplies and food, trying to get an idea of how much the hotel goes through monthly.

"Why good morning!" Alastor said, suddenly at your side, bent over, his face a bit too close to yours. You tried your best not to jump, you had a feeling that would be happening often. "At your desk already? Don't you want to join your new comrades at the breakfast table? Hmm?" 

"Good morning to you too sir. No, not today. Until I have a full understanding of my schedule, I don't want to add anything unnecessary to my plate." 

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, as they say." 

"I'm pretty sure that's a con cereal companies used to sell sugar to children." Alastor held in a laugh.  "Coffee is fine for now. Speaking of-" You looked up at him. "How was your coffee this morning? Did I make it correctly?" 

"It was passable I suppose." It was the best he could do without lying and without giving you praise. "There are some errands I need to be done." He handed you a list. Skimming over it, it seemed doable to get done by the end of the day. "I want it done by noon." 

"...noon?!" It was already 9 AM, here it was, an impossible task. Setting you up to fail. Maybe you could use some of your third-party contacts from VoxTek? "Alright.. I'll see what I-"

You were both suddenly interrupted by the boisterous sounds coming from the dining room. Leaning forward over your desk, you could see Charlie was singing. 

"Hmm. Glad I skipped breakfast...." you said flatly. You didn't see it but Alastor smirked. 

The tasks given proved to be a bit difficult. All things Alastor could have easily done himself, but where was the fun in that? You did take advantage of some of your previous contacts, which helped immensely. You took care of a few calls before heading to the city. Most of the errands were pick-ups and drop-offs. One task, in particular, you'd have to call in a favor for. Meanwhile, Alastor was eavesdropping, hoping to see you struggle and stress. 

"Frankie, listen, if this order isn't here by noon, I will personally come down there, pull your intestines out your asshole, and festoon them along the fence of this establishment. Do you understand?" Frankie babbled in your ear. "Great, I'm so glad we could come to an agreement. As always, a pleasure to work with you." 

Alastor couldn't help but have a genuine smile on his face, he wouldn't admit it, but he liked how you got things done. Threatening someone in such a creative way delighted him. 

You hoofed it around the city for hours, practically running from destination to destination. You were exhausted and sweaty when you arrived back at the hotel. It was a few minutes before noon, just in time to see Frankie's delivery truck be unloaded. 

"In the kitchen, please. Thanks, fellas!" You yelled to them.

Your arms were full as you dumped everything on your desk. Gently folding Alastor's dry cleaning over your chair, stacking some of the items. Including a few books. How does this help the hotel? You thought. Hoping these kinds of tasks would end once Alastor was bored with you. 

"Well- color me impressed. All with five minutes to spare!" Alastor appeared in front of your desk. "Though it does seem like something is missing. That's too bad. I had such high hopes for you, dear." 

You gave him the biggest shit-eating grin you could muster and pointed at the two men coming through the door hauling a freshly slaughtered deer to the kitchen. If you weren't already intensely looking at him you would have missed Alastor's eye twitch. Someone might as well handed you a trophy. It took everything in you to not showboat as you followed the delivery men into the kitchen.

The deer was laid on the large island in the middle of the kitchen. You signed their papers and the men were gone. Alastor, suddenly in an apron, was ready to go. A black tentacle sliced its head off with a sharp crack. 

"Hold this." 

He handed you the head. You held it by the antlers, dripping blood onto the floor by your feet. You stood there for a while, watching Alastor prepare. Realizing that he didn't need your help, this was just another task to pain you. The head was heavy and your arms were getting tired. As you adjusted, trying to give your arms a break, you felt the antlers texture in your hands, it reminded you of a gaudy hotel in Montana your parents took you to in the summer of '92. 

"If you do this often, which I get the feeling you do- you could save the antlers and make a chandelier. It would look good by the bar."

"Hmmm." Alastor glanced at you as he removed the skin. It wasn't a bad idea, however, he could just make one just like he made the bar itself. But an opportunity was found. "Very well then." He snapped his fingers and the head fell off the antlers. Landing on your feet with a splat. Filling your shoes with coagulating blood. 

You groaned. What the fuck, were these shoes cursed? Blood squished between your toes. The sensory overload made you want to scream. You swallowed it down. Instead, letting out a loud sigh. You sat the antlers down on the counter and picked up the head. Alastor couldn't help but to cackle.

"So glad you are amused." You said flatly. 

"Oh indeed I am." 

In truth, he was. But also disappointed. He didn't get so much as a yelp out of you. A measly groan? He was losing his touch. But the clear discomfort the drying blood in your shoes provided would have to be enough. At this point, the head you clutched to your chest was dripping down your front. You greatly regretted wearing a skirt today. Alastor watched the blood drip down your legs from the corner of his eye. Pooling further in your shoes. 

You stood there for what felt like ages. How long did it take to gut a deer? He couldn't be using the whole thing, could he? What was he even making? You got tired of standing and hopped on the counter, hugging the head now in your lap. You were already covered in blood, it didn’t really matter now that the base of the severed head was soaking into your lap. Thankful your skirt was at least black. Alastor would have to try harder than this to drive you out. He’d previously been relying too heavily on his reputation and the fear people felt from his presence. He would have to get more creative with you, how fun. 

"Hiiiiiii guuuuuuuys!" Charlie popped her head into the kitchen, breaking your concentration. "There is a short group activity we are about to do! Would you like to join us? " She glances at you, then at the glob of sticky at your feet. "Mayyyybeee we could get you some slippers...? Alastor?"

"You may go." You’d rather hold the deer, but you weren’t about to let him know that. 

You dropped the head in the sink with a thud and a squelch. Alastor smirked, enjoying the squishing sound your shoes made as you walked away. You were grateful to have clean feet and warm slippers. But the short group activity wasn't short at all. It had been several hours at this point and the deer head didn't seem so bad now. You sat slumped in a chair, waiting for your turn to share your “feelings”. Charlie had sung two songs now, she was a lovely person but this activity was making you want to claw your eyes out. You sat up straight when you saw the kitchen door open, pretending to be engaged in the activity. God forbid Alastor to catch on that this was torment for you, he’d end up signing you up for every activity Charlie came up with.  

The rest of the day was filled with busy work. By the time 5 PM rolled around you were exhausted. You grabbed your jacket and purse, heading out the front door. By the time you got home, you felt like you were going to collapse. Just get through this week, you thought, things will level out after that. You trudged up the four flights of stairs and as you approached your apartment you noticed a note on your door. EVICTION NOTICE in bold print. You ripped it off the door and crumpled it in your hand.

Great. 

[yuurei20]

Trey Info Compilation part 17: Rook

Rook refers to Trey as “Chevalier des Roses,” but this nickname apparently did not appear until their second year when Riddle enrolled at NRC, as, “One must have a roi—a king—to be a chevalier, or a knight.”

Trey does not like this nickname and often asks Rook to stop using it, which Rook tends to ignore.

Rook seems very fond of Trey (“All Rook did was sing praises about your smooth workflow,” says a Science club student), and when Sebek calls Rook creepy for bursting into song during Spectral Soiree Trey explains, “The random singing isn’t all that uncommon, actually. He does that sometimes during club meetings.”

When Sebek prepares to attack Rook for being suspiciously calm Trey defends Rook, explaining “Okay, sure, Rook’s a little weird. It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking, and sometimes he does that thing where he looks at the sky and smiles…but he’s not a bad guy.”

Rook wins Sebek over by telling a story ostensibly from his childhood, which Trey does not believe saying, “You just can’t get enough of these elaborate jokes, can you?…Just don’t go overboard with our remarkably gullible freshman, okay?”

When Sebek tries to pressure Rook into sharing personal stories from his childhood Trey comes to Rook’s rescue, pretending to see a ghost behind a pillar.

Trey explains, “I just figured you wouldn’t want people prying into your private life. I’ve noticed you tend to steer clear of that kind of stuff when we talk at club meetings. But I’m sorry if I read too much into it and overstepped.”

Ever sensitive to embarrassing situations, in a science club-based vignette, Trey asks Rook to not talk to the plants while they’re watering them, saying, “you are your eccentricities.”

Rook gives Trey “a fancy feathered cap” for his birthday, but Trey cannot figure out what he is supposed to wear it with.

Trey says Rook roped him into researching classic vampire moves for Halloween, but while he pretended to be scared, Rook was not convinced.

Trey says that if he had to pick someone to take with him to a deserted island, it would be Rook.

During Beanfest Rook gives a long monologue about how it was that he knew where to wait out in order to meet with Trey, explaining, “You strive to achieve exceptional marks in any situation that could reflect upon your dorm and its housewarden, the Roi de Roses. Moreso in exams or extracurriculars—any occasion with discernible outcomes for all dorms involved. But you don’t like drawing attention to yourself…You weren’t likely to take an aggressive stance. You are not a proactive man when it comes to events such as the one we find ourselves in today…and indeed, the Trey Clover I know wouldn’t go out of his way to seek out and and farmers for a chance in the spotlight...you would hunker down in territory familiar to you, behind natural fortifications, and wait out the enemy for a spell.”

When looking for people amongst the school third-year students that he thinks are the most approachable, Trey chooses Rook and Vil.

After Rook gives a dramatic description of his plans for post-NRC, Trey responds without acknowledging the curious way in which Rook expresses himself. Cater observes, "Rook's hype didn't even faze you at all" and Trey explains, "I'm used to it."

[crazykuroneko]

A chance to watch IWTV S2 premiere!

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[nestedneons]

I didn't realize I had created a structured midjourney workflow for my tezos collection till I joined a challenge today and used it, I'll add to the collection if I don't win...

Bubblegum Warrior Nuns by jilt with midjourney

Cyberpunk art commissions

Ko-Fi

My ai models

[krowfaced]

Small story time!

So back in 2013, I studied game art at this vocational education. One of my personal projects for the education's portfolio courses, I was making a model of Zlatomir #mandatory3Dblorbo and I went through the entire workflow a typical artist would do in the industry; Concept art, sculpt, low poly, rig and skinning. One of the educators there had recently gotten into 3D printing and he was having a lot of fun just testing a bunch of prints. Then he got the idea to have a little contest; show off a print-friendly sculpt you had made, get votes, winner gets a 3D printed sculpture. So I made my edits and submitted. I didn't win, but it was really fun to see the entries and the actual print of the winner in the end! - Years goes by, I work as a game artist for a while, realize I don't like working with it, get my existential crisis, and decide to enroll to the same vocational education but specialize myself to a technical artist. This educator with the 3D printer was still working there (and now directly as my own educator). One day he announced that he set up a table at the school's kitchen with various 3D prints he made over the years, telling people to pick anything they fancy because he would throw them out otherwise. Some were abstract geometrical shapes, some were duplicates (or misprints haha) of that winner's entry, and some where just of a various different sculpts from other students. It was neat to examine them, but I didn't end up taking any of the offerings. Then I go to my desk, and I was met with a small surprise; There was a 3D printed Zlatomir bust next to my keyboard. There was a post-it underneath it, that just said something in the lines of "Didn't you make the sculpt for this one?" It was so wholesome and unexpected. Not only is there a blorbo print on my desk I never expected to ever see, not only did my educator actually remember it belonged to me even though at the time he was not my educator, not only that he randomly decided he wanted to use my sculpt as a little guinea-pig outside of the contest, but also that he set it aside from the rest of the prints he was giving out to make sure I had dibs for my blorbo. So many levels of wholesomeness

[ladyaldhelm]

Making Gifs Part 1 - Capturing Video

I am making this for @errruvande but I thought maybe others could use this guide to. This is my own personal workflow on how I make my gifs. Everyone has their own way of doing it, and there is no right or wrong way, but I have found this works best for me, with my limited tools and since I do not have photoshop.

Please note I am not an expert lol! There are people out there making far better gifs than me, and many other gifmaking resouces on Tumblr that are probably better than mine.

Keep reading below >>>

So there are two ways that I have found that work for capturing video. If you have the discs like I do, using a program like Videobyte BD-DVD Ripper works really well to grab video clips from Blu-Rays and DVD's. I recommend only using Blu-Rays if you have them. since DVD's are much lower quality.

However I have noticed the videos I captured with this program tend to be dark and have some compression artifacts, even when rip to an MKV with high quality settings. So I use a different method which I feel produces higher quality video captures.

I use Windows Screen Recorder (I have Win11 but this will work for all versions of Windows) with the quality settings set to High. In order to do this, go to Settings > Gaming > Captures and set the following:

Make sure the Video Quality is set to High, set your Screenshots folder, turn off Audio (you don't need it), and keep the frame rate to 30 fps.

For Windows 11 press WIN + ALT + R to activate the screen recorder. There is usually a bit of a delay so make sure you start a few seconds before the scene you want to capture. And try to keep the length of the capture below about 90 seconds; the shorter the better.

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Capturing Sequential Caps

So, for those of you with Photoshop, you can import your video directly into the program and make your gif from there. But I found that Photopea really does not like videos, and will stall and crash if I load a video directly. So I have to capture sequential screencaps to make my gifs.

I use VLC Media Player. There are a few others out there that take sequential caps, but I have not been able to get them to work myself.

Download and install the latest version. Then go to your settings to set up the Sequential Caps function. They have a great guide on their website here but I will reiterate it in this post.

Go To Tools > Preferences and then at the bottom of the screen select the All radio button to show all settings.

Select Video from the left menu. Scroll down about halfway until you see the Snapshot section. Choose the folder where you want the caps to go.

3. Then, under Video on the left, expand the Filters list.

4. Check the "Scene Video Filter" from the list.

5. Then scroll down on the left menu under Filters and click on Scene Filter. This will open up the settings for that particular filter.

6. Set the Image Format to PNG.

7. Then for the Recording Ratio, change to "1". The Recording Ratio is the frame interval. So for example, if it was set to "300" (with a 30fps video), then it would take one cap every 10 seconds. Setting it to "1" will make it take a cap once per frame.

8. None of the other settings need to be changed.

9. One more important setting, otherwise this will not work! Close the menu, and go back to Tools > Settings and leave it on Simple. Go to the Video section and MAKE SURE the output is set to "Automatic". This is important because if it is not on Automatic the Scene Filter won't work!

Then just open your video with VLC. VLC will automatically take the screencaps while the video is playing. If you pause the video, it will stop taking caps.

NOTE: For smoother gifs, change your playback speed to be slower. Go to the top menu > Playback > Speed > Slower (fine). The more you click this the slower the video will playback, and that means more caps will be taken over that time frame. I usually set it to 0.75x, but if you want even smoother gifs for really short clips, you can set it even slower than that.

Your screenshot folder will look like this:

Then we are done with this part and onto Photopea! Which I will go into detail in another post: PART 2

[tallerthantale]

What Does Aziraphale Actually Believe, Part 4: Heaven is Wrong

This is a series of my takes on what Aziraphale believes through the timeline of the show. It is all my personal interpretation, and I am happy to hear others. You don’t need to read them all in order, but know that I am coming from a perspective on Aziraphale’s machinations that can be difficult for people without a psychology background to follow without the first two as a primer. The quick version is that Aziraphale has a set of beliefs that exist in some form or another within his mind. However, at any given moment, only some of them exist ‘with awareness’ or as I am putting it here, conscious!Aziraphale only has access to the beliefs that the rest of his mind, veil!Aziraphale, allows him to know about. The context of the moment will determine what lives on the surface and what stays buried behind the veil, whatever arrangement best prevents a threat to Aziraphale’s sense of self and makes whatever he is inclined to do feel right.

This post is all concentrated Job saga, though it skips over the ox rib, which I’m saving for the next post. About 3.5k words. I got carried away with the length again. I really meant to keep it shorter.

Uz is where things get really interesting. It's also where a lot of the fandom, in my opinion, gets a bit thrown off. That's because the events at Uz are 4500 years before the modern era. All the character growth we see here is well over 4k years old, and that has a lot of people wondering, where the fuck did that character growth go? How could the angel that did all that so far back still not understand heaven is just as bad all that time later? The first answer is that Aziraphale doesn’t have consistent beliefs, he has options for what he can believe that get selected from to fit the situation. The second answer is that there are some very particular ways Aziraphale manages his rationalisations, and they are going to have a lot to do with Aziraphale's opinions on God’s ineffability. 

His Children!?

When we first see Aziraphale interrupt Crowley’s workflow, he is incredibly performative. “Avaunt Foul Demon!” He drops it immediately on recognising Crowley, but he also puts it back on after. The character of “Angel of the Lord” is put on for show, and not just because he didn’t know it was Crowley in particular. “Despised Tool of Satan” is also a character that Crowley is playing. When Aziraphale calls him that, he is referring to the role, not the person. Aziraphale is popping in and out of being himself and being his job with very clear distinctions. He likewise has distinctions between Crowley’s job as the “Foul Demon” and Crowley the person, who is tasked with that job. Crowley may have been assigned the job of kill the goats, Aziraphale is determined to thwart the assignment, that doesn’t mean he has ill will towards the person tasked with it. 

After the business about the permit, when it moves onto the children, his first attempt to step in about the kids is to insist to Crowley that he doesn’t HAVE TO destroy Job’s children. “Surely the great thing about being a demon is that you can do whatever you want.” It’s jealously, and Crowley calls him on it. Aziraphale insists that he is happy to have the opportunity to do whatever God wants. He believes he believes this. 

Aziraphale is also revealing himself to be painfully unaware of how bad Crowley’s situation is. While this series in general and this post in particular focuses on how Aziraphale’s circumstances are really shit, I don't want to give the impression of a trauma olympics argument. I’m focusing on Aziraphale because I think he is more confusing, not because I think he has it worse.

When Crowley asks "Like killing innocent children to win a bet with Satan?" Aziraphale’s response, hushing his voice and looking to be sure the other angel’s aren’t listening, "I don't think that is what God wants." This is huge. My big recurring question for how Aziraphale deals with ineffability is: if Aziraphale doesn’t think it is possible to communicate or understand God’s will, what makes him think he knows what God wants? The only direct evidence he has of God’s opinion is God signing off on the bargain with Satan, and that doesn’t support Aziraphale’s position at all. He is clearly aware that the other angels would not support his interpretation, and has already abandoned any attempt to convince them.

The only reason Aziraphale has to conclude that God doesn’t want the kids dead is that he doesn’t like it. If something is God’s will, and he doesn't like it, that’s an existential crisis. So Aziraphale’s mind rejects that by keeping that possibility behind the veil. Remember, this is not Aziraphale debating with himself and presenting, “But if God’s opinion is Y, I don’t like that so God’s opinion must therefore be X” as an actual philosophical argument, this is veil!Aziraphale will not allow the idea “God believes Y,” to exist in conscious!Aziraphale’s perception or thoughts, and as a result “God believes X,” is the only observable opinion to consider. The reason why Aziraphale inexplicably believes a thing generally boils down to: Aziraphale isn’t emotionally prepared to deal with a reality where that thing isn’t true. 

While this is the same pattern as Aziraphale being happy about the destruction of the universe / fancy wall paper plan, in that the opinion veil!Aziraphale prefers is the only observable opinion, it has one main reversal. Before Aziraphale was believing in something reprehensible to protect his personal safety. Now he is believing something dangerous to himself to protect his principles. That switch signals to me that Aziraphale has grown to a point where he has become invested enough in his experiences in the world that he is more ok with being against the institution of heaven than he is with wanton destruction.

Aziraphale can’t cope with a reality where he is misaligned with God’s will, but neither can he cope with a reality where God’s will is for him to condone child murder. Enter ineffability. God’s will is incapable of being put into words. That long permit / contract sure does seem like it’s a bunch of words. If God’s will can’t be put into words, what is She doing dicking around with contracts and permits? Being told 'this subject can't be put into words, here's a book on it' is certainly an experience, let me tell you. (Or well, I would tell you, but it would be in words, so... soz.) But if God is playing games and misrepresenting Her own will, and it is impossible to really know what God really wants, Aziraphale can just decide whatever intuitively feels right to him is God’s will. Ineffability is the life hack to end all life hacks. (This is a dangerous one IRL, see end note.)

Who’s Side Are You On?

Aziraphale thinks he knows Crowley. Crowley disagrees. Aziraphale shifts his phrasing. I know the angel you were. Crowley doesn’t disagree, but insists that isn’t who he is now. This is a point of misaligned communication. Crowley is being honest when he says that the angel he was isn’t who he is now. But in the context of the conversation, it is a statement made to support what is soon after revealed to be a lie by obfuscation. The fact that Crowley was serious about not being the angel he used to be gets lost in the reveal that Aziraphale was right about him not wanting to kill kids, human or otherwise. This lets Aziraphale hang on to the idea that Crowley is essentially still the entity that existed as an angel, and lets him read Crowley’s demonic status as a temporary state of being he is suffering under, possibly as one of God’s games. 

Aziraphale sounds very smug at the revelation that Crowley did not kill the goats, and Crowley insists that they aren’t on the same side, irritated by Aziraphale’s smugness. I think this is because the way Aziraphale framed the situation, “I don’t think that is what God wants, and I don’t think you want that either” puts Crowley and God on the same side, which Crowley will not accept. Crowley thinks God wants all the kids dead. Crowley expresses that they are “(temporarily not on) (opposite sides),” since they are both going off script with their bosses. Aziraphale says “just as you say.” I think Aziraphale has changed some definitions though, and is parsing it as “(temporarily) (not on opposite sides)” where Crowley is temporarily a demon who, due to temporary demonic status, can’t technically be considered on God’s side, but is destined to return to it later. 

When Jemimah asks if Crowley is a demon, Aziraphale answers “Yes, well. He is in fact, technically, a demon…”. I don’t think this is just him being embarrassed about being seen with a demon, I think Aziraphale really does think of Crowley’s demonic status as a kind of technicality. Aziraphale sees Crowley as a sort of double agent for God, whether or not Crowley sees himself that way. He digs in his heels in the cellar. “Come on, you’re a little bit on our[God’s] side.”  “Well you're not on hell’s side.” “Well who’s side are you on?” 

Crowley suggests he isn’t as opposed to hell as Aziraphale is framing, but ultimately characterises himself as on "My side.” Aziraphale’s response telegraphs what his line of questioning is really about. “Ours?” It's a question not an opinion, trying out what Crowley’s interpretation would mean for himself. He can’t consider himself on his own side, his mind won’t let that be an option.

When Crowley asks, Aziraphale insists that the side he’s on is “God’s, of course.” Crowley works for hell, and they talk about to what extent Crowley is on hell’s side. Aziraphale works for heaven, and in that role, and in the parallels of the language they have been using, you might expect Aziraphale to insist that he is on heaven’s side. He doesn’t, because he isn’t. He’s on God’s side, and heaven sometimes isn’t. I think at this point Aziraphale is still fairly confident God doesn’t want the children killed. 

Crowley asks, “same God that wants me to whack the kids?” Aziraphale starts to answer, “Yes, but-” and Crowley cuts him off. Aziraphale doesn’t argue the point like he did before, but I think it’s mostly to do with him knowing he has no evidence. Aziraphale knows how unconvincing his own faith based reasoning is to other people, and he is smart enough to know when to leave it alone. He can’t convince the other angels to believe God secretly wants something completely different to what She’s signed off on, and right now Crowley doesn’t seem any more likely to believe something that far out of left field. Crowley hasn't been shy about his disdain for ineffability.

Can Aziraphale see himself and Crowley as together on their own side? I think not yet, not without them being the secretly aligned playing pieces of an ineffable God, or they end up avowed by the same side. For now it’s only “our side” if God is there too, or the other option, as Crowley puts it, “see you in hell.”

While I’m Wide-Eyed and I’m So Damn Caught in the Middle

(Lyrics from Strong, by London Grammar)

Aziraphale is very confident and determined to rescue the kids when he isn’t being stared down by Michael and Gabriel. He looks terrified and ashamed when he actually has to lie to them. His determination pulls him through, it helps that his default shame response is to lie, but it doesn’t feel right, and Aziraphale gets messy when it comes to things that don’t feel right.

From lying to Michael and Gabriel to waiting at the shore, Aziraphale does believe he went against God’s will, but I will argue it was only for that span and no further. Aziraphale initially thinks he has been cast out as an angel and has been turned into a demon. He has not been. He expresses that he lied to thwart the will of God. This is a departure from his earlier claim that he doesn't think killing the kids is what God wants. While Crowley agrees with the ‘thwarting the will of God’ description, I think Crowley has accidentally and unknowingly talked Aziraphale out of that interpretation by the end of the scene. (I sometimes read “the will of God” in this sentence as a term of art for the policy positions of heaven, but that feels like a cop out, so I’m going to ignore that interpretation.)

Aziraphale's claim to have lied to thwart the will of God happens when he is under the impression he is already a demon and is about to be escorted to hell. If Aziraphale believes things based on what maintains his sense of self, how did he end up putting himself, however temporarily, into the worldview that he was a fallen angel who lied to thwart the will of God? When someone motivated reasonings their way into believing something terrible, it is to prevent themselves from believing something worse. Here lies one of the biggest tragedies of Aziraphale. 

At least for that span of time, waiting at the shore of Uz, he would have preferred to be a demon over being caught in the middle. When Crowley doesn’t understand why Aziraphale thinks they are going to hell together, his first choice of words to express to Crowley that he thinks he has fallen are “I’m like you now.” He could hope that the reason he didn’t fit in with heaven was because he was always supposed to be a demon, hope that he would fit in with hell and gt to work together with Crowley. The forces of hell exist because God wills it to be so, maybe he could do better as an extension of God’s will as a demon. At least then he would know what he was supposed to do, and what he was supposed to be. He could go back to just doing what he was told. None of that is realistic of course. He is trying to find something to cling to that he could believe more readily than he could cope with reality. 

He now lives with a sword of Damocles on him, and will for the next 4500 years. Heaven isn’t for him, he doesn’t fit in anywhere, he will likely spend the rest of his immortal interactions with the angels locked into half honesty at best, and the only person who knows why is still his enemy on paper. Speaking freely is something he may never be able to do again. Aziraphale is stuck being internally alienated from the institution of heaven while still on opposite sides to Crowley. He is trapped in the worst of both worlds. His question to Crowley towards the end of the minisode, “but what am I?” might be the saddest line we hear from him in the show.

The Canary in the Coal Mine

By the end of the conversation he is aware he is still an angel. I believe after the sword incident, Aziraphale believes God to be omniscient, and the lack of divine punishment raining down on him is proof of God's tolerance if not approval of his actions. He thought he went too far this time, and assumed he had fallen because he assumed God would know he lied about the children. He had no reason to believe that the institution had found out, and I don’t think he believes Crowley would have told on him, certainly not as a confidently assumed given.  

“You think you’re a demon? With your curly little… and your neat white…” Now that Crowley has essentially told him 'you would know if you became a demon because it would metaphysically change you,' and we saw Crowley’s wings flickering in Before the Beginning suggesting that starts kicking in at the first sign of wavering, Aziraphale can use his metaphysical state of still being fully an angel to prove that whatever he has done isn’t grounds to fall in the eyes of God. If he does ‘the wrong thing’ God would immediately know, and he would immediately change. As long as that hasn’t happened, he is aligned with God. (Crowley doesn’t interpret things the same way because he considers God to be some combination of not entirely omniscient due to not always paying attention, “God, ya listening?” and being too indifferent these days for it to matter, “That’s all it took to be a demon in the old days.”)

In Aziraphale’s mind, God instantly knows everything he did, and if he hasn't become a demon, that means his original take, that God didn't want the kids whacked, was correct. He gets to preserve the idea that he is fully aligned with God’s will. However, this opens the can of worms he had been avoiding by thinking he was getting sent to hell for thwarting the will of God. The entire rest of the population of heaven was down to whack the kids. Aziraphale now lives in a universe where publicly acting in accordance with his best guess at God's plan could be a death sentence, not because he might get it wrong, but because he might be the only one to get it right.

But if the other angels are also still angels, doesn’t that validate them too? Yes and no, but mostly no. I’m going to circle back to this in a later post, because it is big and important and needs to be discussed while integrating a lot of other things from other points on the timeline. For the time being let us understand it as: He thinks they have things wrong, but he only thinks of himself as being potentially accountable for getting things wrong.

As Aziraphale sees it in this moment, he now lives in a universe where the entire institution of heaven is dramatically misaligned with God's will, he has no power to fix it, and will be instantly crushed if he tries. Situations like these are where it gets really useful to not always consciously believe everything you believe. This is now something Aziraphale can believe when he needs to, but won’t look at when he doesn’t. A lot of the shift we will see him go through over the next 4500 years is not really how strongly he believes heaven is misaligned with his values and God’s will, it’s how easily and how often he can allow himself to believe it. 

Part 4/10

End Note: Deciding that God’s will is (whatever your intuition tells you) is a very dangerous life hack that leads to a lot of extremely toxic behaviour IRL. The worst of the toxic Christians often have some version of this, where they are convinced that everything that feels right to them has been rubber stamped by God, and everything that feels wrong to them is punishable across the board. When an authoritative religion decides something is God’s will, that tends to come along with an insistence that it is everyone’s responsibility to act accordingly. If you consider yourself able to intuit what God wants, that can extend to putting yourself on a hierarchy, because what God wants is universal and has implications for everyone. 

As I brought up in the ineffability post (part 3/10), Aziraphale’s concept of ineffability is a mix of Christian and Daoist themes. When Aziraphale is at his most Christian themed he can slip into the toxic controlling pattern, early Edinburgh, some of the bandstand fight, some aspects of the Ball. Where he is at his most Daoist themed, he will only apply the lifehack to deciding if his behaviour is the right choice for himself. 

On a book on a subject that can't be put into words: The Daodejing opens by telling you that the Dao can't be described in words, and then proceeds to be a book on the Dao, written in words. It never presents itself as infallible or as a work of the divine, but the contradiction does still raise eyebrows for obvious reasons. The legendary origin story reconciles the contradictions by saying Laozi was essentially badgered into writing it. The text likely had multiple historical authors, so as funny as I find the Laozi being nagged into it story, I think it is better explained by an analogy from Chan Buddhism (the half Daoism precursor to Zen).

You can see the moon (the way) for yourself with or without someone pointing at it. A finger (words) pointing at the moon should not be mistaken for the moon, and no amount of pointing at the moon will force someone to see it. It's not like it's some kind of heresy to try pointing at the moon, so naturally people try. Sometimes it might help, and sometimes people decide it's actually a coded manual for how to live forever by drinking mercury. Individual results will vary.

[alicornze7]

-EMERGENCY INTERRUPTION POST/hj-

idc if it’s 4 days late have this April Fools special!!

this took longer than it should but it’s more of a treat for myself so win-win

I don't actually have an official persona so have this lil’ guy I made in 6th grade instead (he's gonna represent me until I design my actual sona)

Close-ups :

this drawing single-handedly destroyed my workflow

-we will return to our regular posting schedule shortly-

[satohqbanana]

How to Write Consistently

Or more specifically, what has allowed Satoh to progress far into her story despite having always struggled to write multi-chapter works? Please be advised that these things worked FOR ME, SatohQBanana. If you find that these tips aren't helpful for you, feel free to ignore it.

Also this is very long.

TIP NUMBER ONE: Brevity is the soul of wit, and this meeting could've been an email. It's OK to skip scenes - not the type of skipping where you put [insert action scene] here, but the kind where you can instead summarize what occurs. If you're going to build up a character to prepare for a fight, make it obvious that they'll win, and make them win the fight, then you can skip describing what happened in the fight.

TIP NUMBER TWO: Skipping scenes for the drafting stage? That's the devil speaking! You'll end up with a far worse issue of having to make the disjointed parts fit together like a puzzle. The past you is a different person from the current you - and you probably just need to rest your eyes and your mind for a bit, to figure out how to untangle that difficult scene.

TIP NUMBER THREE: Be prepared to kill your darlings. This is especially true if you are skipping to writing the scenes you just wanted to see play out. Doing them immediately is OK as a writing practice, but be warned that future you will find a way to ruin past you's work. Don't leave problems for the future you, who will have fallen in love with current you's work and might have to face the inevitable part of the editing process that is scrapping entire ideas.

TIP NUMBER FOUR: But if you close your eyes, you'll be able to move on. Not seeing much of what you've written can help you focus on what has not been written. Tricks such as changing font styles and font colors, saving your work chapter by chapter, and even taking photos of your work on the screen to prevent yourself from editing them are helpful. If you repeat writing the same part, that's fine. You can always edit something that exists, but you can't do anything with something that does not exist except think about it all day long!

TIP NUMBER FIVE: Rotate tasks like farmers rotate crops. It is scientifically proven that having a variety of activities in one's life leads to a healthier life. And by tasks, I don't mean WIPs. Do something nice IRL: visit a museum, go to the amusement park, study a new thing, and so on. Not only does this allow you to take a break from your creative projects, but this also helps you learn more about the world, widen your view, and increase your knowledge and wisdom that you are drawing from to write your stories.

TIP NUMBER SIX: Don't forget to lay the field fallow and take a break. It is also scientifically proven that rest reenergizes you between tasks, allowing you to do the next task very efficiently. By rest, I mean actual real rest, the kind where you sit or lie down, maybe doing some ruminating, but way away from any of your devices. You can even do activities that destress you - such as cleaning, or treating yourself to a nice meal, or reading a book. Sure, it isn't writing, but it is taking care of yourself as a writer, to make sure you don't overwork yourself into a corner and curse yourself into weeks or months of writer's block.

TIP NUMBER SEVEN: Change your mindset and establish a philosophy that will allow you to work with yourself, move around your flaws, and achieve your goals. If your current workflow isn't allowing you to write well, you gotta acknowledge that and move on to a different strategy. Be open to the notion of being wrong and be open to new ideas that will challenge your current beliefs - in fact, those might help you untangle your ideas as well!

TIP NUMBER EIGHT: Hold yourself accountable. If you must use pomodoro timers or write-by-word-count apps, do it! If you must schedule your writing sessions because you have a condition or circumstance that demands it, do it! If you must have someone waiting on you so you can get motivated to have that draft done by the end of this month, do it! Be responsible - you are the author of your work, and no one else is going to write it for you.

TIP NUMBER NINE: Do it, and do it scared! JUST DO IT! If you're having doubts, you must remember: new and uncertain things are scary, but you won't know about them for real if you keep pulling yourself away from them. Growing and accumulating rich experience takes a bit of courage and doing a lot of things you don't know is right or wrong for you. But what's important is that you try, and you do. (And you have to try to finish what you set out to do, so you can have a better idea of whether the new thing is good for you or not!)

TIP NUMBER TEN: Connect with your story truly, madly, deeply. I would advise against trying to write a big idea just because it's got really nice vibes. I need you to feel your story in your soul, and have its core themes resonate with your beliefs. Just as you are your first critic, you are also your first fan. Not only will this help you love your story even as you shape it into something else, but this will help you keep in mind its essence, even as you develop it. If multiple artists can make changes to a character's design and have others recognize the character anyway, then so can you with your story!