#actually i bought dark fate for myself a couple weeks ago to complete my collection

[runyatic]

i'm new here and i'm getting a ton of mixed messages like do you hate kino or not??😭

Welcome !!! I'm assuming you want to be anon for this hehe

It's complicated. I can actually relate to him in a lot of ways, but also I DO NOT forgive him for the time he spilled guava juice all over Yui, made her suck on his finger and called it "practice" cause nahhhhhh💀💀💀💀💀💀

But I like the way hes portrayed in the 4komas, he's so silly. I also like to make fun of him but I wouldn't say I hate him(?)

I like to bully him. Affectionately.

Tldr: yes

[s-horne]

6. “Well, it’s the thought that counts” (Steve/Tony)

Thor leant over the back of the couch and clasped Tony’s shoulders excitedly. Tony winced ever so slightly under the weight but returned the man’s smile.

“I can’t believe you are engaged, my friend! This is a wonderful day.”

“I can’t believe he beat you to it,” Clint snarked from opposite them, sticking out his tongue at Thor’s playful glare. “Who would have thought the team’s commitment-phobe would beat Midgard’s power couple down the aisle?”

“I have to admit,” Bruce said, looking over at Steve and smiling warmly, “that I always thought Steve was going to be the one to ask,”

Steve blushed and turned away, burying his head in Tony’s shoulder for a moment as Tony laughed loudly, lifting his legs and tucking them up underneath himself.

“There was no way that Steve would ever have been the one to ask,” Bucky replied and grinned widely when Steve lifted his head just enough to shoot him a dark look, cheeks still stained red. “Have you actually met this guy? It took about six months for him to even confess he had a crush on Tony. No way he would ever be brave enough to pop the question.”

Before Steve could snap back an angry retort, Natasha collapsed on the couch next to Tony with a glass of wine in her hand and let out a very unlike-her sort of squeal.

“I need details!”

Steve kissed Tony on the cheek and stood up. “You know what; I’m going to call my ma. You can tell the story, but please don’t give Nat all of the details – just brush over some of them. You know the ones I’m talking about.”

Steve left the room and headed into the kitchen, grabbing a glass of wine from Sam and his cell from the coffee table on his way and only stopping to smack Bucky on the back of his head. Clint sat down next Tony in Steve’s abandoned seat and reached across him to share Natasha’s wine.

“Go on, then,” he said, nudging Tony as he took a sip. “Give us the details.”

Tony dropped his gaze to his lap and muttered something intelligible. He looked up in time to see his friends exchanging confused glances and shrugging.

“--what?”

“--wait, what?”

“--say that again--”

Tony sighed and threw his head back onto the couch cushion behind him with a groan. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“What?”

“The proposal,” Tony clarified, letting his gaze wander over to Bruce. He figured Bruce would be the most sympathetic to his idiocy at that moment. “We just hadn’t spent any quality time together for the last few weeks and I missed him. The other night we were in the bath after a day spent just the two of us and it was nice and…” Tony’s voice trailed off again as his cheeks flamed a vicious scarlet.

There was a long moment of silence before Clint suddenly burst out laughing.

“And what?” Bruce asked kindly, ignoring Clint as he nearly chortled himself right off the couch.

“He was giving me a massage,” Tony practically whispered, “and it just sort of slipped out. It felt good and I realised I wanted to feel that way forever so I asked him to marry me.”

There was another moment of quiet, broken only by the occasional snort from Clint and the smack of Natasha’s hand against his shoulder. Just when it sounded like Clint had gotten himself under control, Sam’s restraint broke and he set Clint off again, their loud laughter filling the air.

Tony resigned himself to his fate and leant back, letting his friends – well, maybe he would rethink that description – get it all out. Eventually, Bucky cleared his throat and leant forward to rest his elbows on his knees, fixing his eyes on Tony.

“Did you not mean it?”

“I meant it!” Tony hastened to say, voice strong as he lifted himself up to protest in earnest. “Of course I meant it. I just didn’t mean to do it when we were naked in the bathtub.”

At that, Clint completely lost it again and Natasha didn’t look too far away from joining him. Bruce was trying to be loyal to him, pressing his lips together in a weak attempt to prevent himself from adding his laughter to Sam’s raucous sniggers, but Bucky was definitely judging him and not trying to hide it in the slightest.

“I meant to ask him next week,” Tony continued a little defensively, dropping his gaze from everyone else’s once more and picking at his nails. “I had a lot of planning and reservations in place for a big grand proposal; I bought the ring about six months ago and I was hoping to give it to him during the speech, not about 12 hours later. Was gonna take him to the – well, it doesn’t matter now, does it? It just, it just sort of slipped out. I couldn’t stop myself.”

“Well, you’re a disaster,” Bucky said with a roll of his eyes, a fond smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “But it’s the thought that counts, I guess.”

“Yes, it is.”

They all startled when they heard Steve’s soft voice from behind them and Tony winced. He turned slowly, his expression sheepish and his shoulders up near his ears.

“Hey, baby. How’s your mom?”

“Good,” Steve said, his face calm and not giving away a thing. He held out for another moment before he cracked and let the corners of his mouth quirk up into a smile, growing wider when Sam started laughing again. Steve slid his phone into his pocket as he pushed himself off the doorframe and walked further into the room, kicking at Clint until the man got the hint and gave up his seat, throwing himself to the floor instead. “She sends her love.”

“Good.” Tony leant into Steve’s side automatically, dropping his head onto the other man’s shoulder and rubbing his cheek against the wool of his sweater. He stared resolutely down at the floor as he tried to keep his voice even. “Still on for Sunday?”

“Yeah,” Steve said, his hand curling around Tony’s knee as his fingers began to rub absentmindedly over the worm denim. “She said she can’t wait to see everyone. I am thinking about uninviting Clint though.”

“Oi!”

Steve grinned at the indignant expression on his friend’s face. “I absolutely will if you don’t stop laughing. I mean it, man.”

Clint held up his hands placatingly. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just classic Tony.” He pressed his lips together for a long moment in a clear attempt to stop any laughter from sounding before he gave in and pushed himself up to stand. “Nope, I can’t. I thought I could, but I’m sorry – I just can’t.”

Tony buried his face in his hands with an embarrassed groan as Clint and Sam left the room holding each other up as they struggled to walk and laugh. Bruce looked between Steve and Tony before he too let a loud chuckle escape from his mouth and quickly stood to follow the others.

“Hey,” Steve murmured, reaching out to pull Tony’s hand down. “Look at me.”

Tony just whined loudly into his palms, causing Steve to sigh fondly. Steve met Natasha’s eyes pleadingly over Tony’s head and she jumped into action, standing gracefully from the couch and grabbing the far-too-interested Bucky and Thor to empty the room.

“Sweetheart, please. They’re all gone. Just look at me, please.”

Tony finally did as asked, though he made his reluctance clear as he pouted dramatically, eyes hooded and lip jutting out almost to the point of pain. Steve gave a sweet smile and lifted his hand to cup Tony’s cheek.

“I don’t care how you proposed, Tony,” Steve promised, his words and the soft look in his eyes for Tony only, “I only care that you did, you fool. You could have asked me anywhere in any way and I’d still have said yes. Who cares what anybody else thinks? It wasn’t them I was saying yes to. Because it was a yes, just like it will always be. Whether you ask me outside or in, come hell or high water, in snow or on a beach. If it’s you asking, I will always say yes.”

And really, when he was staring into Steve’s loving gaze and feeling the coolness of the man’s ring against his cheek, it didn’t even matter that Tony could still hear his friends’ collective laughter from down the hall. Nothing mattered except the perfect way that Steve’s lips moulded against his own.

[spektijim]

Hello everybode!

A month ago I ran the Derby 10k for The Trussell Trust, who run food-banks in the UK.

A little more than a month ago I posted a blog about the fact that I would be dressing as a Unicorn to do it.

Well, never let it be said that I let my public down, because that’s exactly what I did, and here is the picture evidence!

1. Ears and Horn

The ears were the first thing I made, using some felt I had acquired during a mad felt-buying spree (fellow craft addicts – you know how these things happen) several years ago.

Nearly finished ears!

Being me, a lot of the felt was pink, and so it was an easy start.

Next was the horn – I decided early on that the basis of this, the most important part of the costume, should be an alice band, as many people on Pinterest had shown the way with their own unicorn horns – onto this would fit a ‘head-dress’ with horn and ears.

I used the time-honoured cereal box and toilet roll tube as a base. There really should be some kind of tribute – a poem or song – to these crafty stalwarts which have saved many a parent (and even more so their children) every end of term, Halloween or birthday party.

These were covered with tissue paper (first white, then pink) and decorated with acrylic paint and plastic gems. The inside was painted purple and eventually it was hot-glued to the alice band – hooray! My horny head-dress was my pride and joy.

Getting shiny…

Grumpy, craggy unicorn.

My pink horn. Ooh err missus!

I was just putting some extra gems on two days before the race when I realised…I nearly forgot to add the ears!

Because I’d started on them so early they had completely passed out of my memory – sadly the full ears were a little too big to work with the head-dress, so I trimmed them in half and glued them on. A sad fate but the result was pretty good, if I do say so myself!

2. T-Shirt

This T-shirt was one I bought last year for a costume, but I ended up using a long-sleeved on instead- it seemed perfect for this task, just needing some careful applique. This was my first time using applique and I have to say I am now hooked. It was much easier than I first thought and produced some great results.

I cut the pieces I wanted out of paper first, then ironed a rectangle of the bondaweb on a piece of material, slightly bigger than I needed, then traced around the original paper and cut out the shape. This worked well because, like interfacing, the bondaweb makes the material slightly stiff and easier to cut through. Then I ironed each piece onto the t-shirt – it looked pretty darn good. Sad to say I think I spoiled the perfection by securing each piece with some stitches, as it cause the fabric to ruck up in places, but I suppose it was worth it knowing they wouldn’t fall off mid race.

The lettering was in the always unpredictable 3D Pearl paints – it work eventually but the mix kept on going wrong and sinking into the fabric, hence why it’s not quite as neat as it could have been! I added extra stars with some acrylic paint and it was all ready for running!

The colours might also give a subtle clue to something. Maybe.

3. Tail

The tail was a relatively easy build – using strips of felt sewn together and then sewn into a tube (and sealed), I more or less cut of random sections of gauze to put in – finished off with a couple of hot-glued gems, of course!

On the day of the run it was attached using that age old tail-attached- safety pins!

At this point in the making I got a chance to visit the local Trussell Trust food bank in Sawley to make a food drop – a wonderful friend of mine very kindly drove me there and took some photos of the nearly-finished cozzy…

My donation to the trust!

Posing with a lovely volunteer at the foodbank!

Posing with Twilight Sparkle!

  4. Finished Article

The finishing touch to my look was, of course, makeup.

I have been getting pretty good at day-to-day makeup recently (though I don’t actually wear it day-to-day, more’s the pity) but I thought I should go one better for this unicornage. Of course, sparkly was the order of the day with the majority of the leg-work being done by eyeshadow (isn’t it always?).

I used four different colours, starting with a dark blue in the corner of the eye, working through purple into pink, with silver below the eye, topped off with liquid eyeliner and mascara. So sparkle, much glitter!

5. The Race Itself

The Derby 10k took place on the morning of a lovely sunny day – thankfully it started at 9am so it wasn’t roasting (as it became at midday) but mild. I have to be honest, I wasn’t at my best – my right knee had been giving me some problems after my last 10k practice and  I hadn’t run in about a week – that is a sensible part of the ‘tapering’ process common to running but it meant that I’d had no opportunity to test my leg, and was worried it might go wonky at the starting pistol or – even worse – halfway round!

I arrived a little late (thanks to putting on my makeup – damn my vanity!) and had to join a queue of about 10 million to put my bag into safe storage, as I would be starting all on my own.

The moment I dropped it off I had to hot-foot over to the starting line which was already bustling the four top tiers of runners – A-D. I was group B – as I’d waited to put my bag away I’d found myself worrying if I’d been perhaps a bit ambitious – perhaps even hubristic – as I saw much more keen looking runners in groups C and D.

It was barricaded all along the side with such a press of people I had no idea how to get over and into the fray. Eventually I was naughty and hopped over the barricade, there being no wardens around to either advise me or prevent my scandalous behaviour.

Although 10k is enough distance for you to find your pace by about mid-way and join the runners who are your natural speed-mates, it is frustrating to have to start in such a tightly packed knot that you lose valuable seconds at the off.

Still, all this aside, I tried to give it my all – I smiled at the wardens and the cameras, gave high fives to a couple of kids, waved at people pointing to ‘the nice lady dressed as a Unicorn!’ and kept up a decent pace. As I drew in they announced my time but I was wearing headphones (safe ones, I promise!) and missed it – all I knew was they were calling 58 by the time I’d collected my bag and gone to meet my friends.

I had to wait until that evening to discover that I had come in 892nd of 3208 at a time of 49:57 – my goal of being under 50 minutes was reached, if only by a hair!

I sadly don’t have any pictures of me actually running in the 10k (there were some by a professional photographer by I haven’t got the money to buy one right now – maybe another time!) but I do have one right after – as you can see, I was quite tired. Most of my makeup melted.

6. The Aftermath and What’s Next

Thanks to the generous support and donations from friends and family, my running with a pink sparkly horn managed to raise (drum roll please)….

£365!

Not too shabby! Way off my target of £1000, but I knew that goal was over-ambitious anyway. So, what’s next? Well, I plan to continue supporting the Trussell Trust in whatever way I can – I haven’t had a chance to volunteer for them yet but I have got my papers so I will be signing up soon!

If you feel that my banging on about it for ages has made you care about people who need food-banks and more, please do start a monthly donation for the trust or bring stuff for a food parcel – trust me (groan) it’s worth it! Depending on the result on the election on June 8th, we may sadly find ourselves needing them more and more.

On the running side I am planning to do the Wilne 10k in September, a nice break before a new challenge, and am also signed up to my local Park Run at Markeaton parkMarkeaton park – join us there every Saturday at 9am! Although I won’t be dressed as a unicorn there, sadly.

Thanks once again to all my lovely pals who contributed, you are awesome and I love you.

Spekti out!

Flight Of The Unicorn Hello everybode! A month ago I ran the Derby 10k for The Trussell Trust, who run food-banks in the UK.