#also turn off autocorrect for your first round

[alittlebitofwonk]

A short list of ways to instantly improve your writing, from someone with a degree in writing. (Also this list is partly a reminder for me lol).

Also, some of these are beginner tips and some are more advanced, take them as you want!

Number one tip I can give you, every time— PROPER SPACING AND PARAGRAPH BREAKS. Purdue Owl is my go-to resource for formatting details, but the basics are this: break a paragraph at any new event, at scenery changes, or, and this is the most important, when a new character begins speaking in dialogue. Also, when dialogue is three words or longer, it should come at the end or beginning of a paragraph. Don’t sandwich it. Keeping your paragraphs broken and not creating text walls will immediately help retain readership.

Show, don’t tell. I’m guilty of this too, tbh. But here’s an example— instead of saying “the apple was crunchy” say “as they bit into the apple, it crunched beneath their teeth.” Pair a description with an action! Instead of “it was cold out” say “he shivered as the wind hit, tucking his hands deep in his pockets.” Also helps boost word count.

It’s okay to end your sentences. I’m guilty of this one a TON— instead of starting a new sentence, I’ll do a comma or semicolon or em-dash, and it’ll just… keep… going. It’s okay to break those sentences up completely with a period. I promise.

Don’t over describe. Some description is great, and helps your reader build a better image of what you’ve written. But too much is boring, and doesn’t give the reader the space they need to put the picture together in a way that is meaningful to THEM. Your reader is just as important as you are. Have some faith in them!

Take inspiration. As fanfic authors we do this with media all the time, but take inspiration from more than just your fandom— find it in other fandoms, find it in your own struggles, find it in the world around you. It’s there for the taking.

Practice! Practice writing when you can, and practice reading, too. You can only get better, I promise. I’ve come a long way with practicing my own writing and learning from others.

If you read deeper than the surface, you’ll write deeper than the surface. Be mindful of the content you consume, and what goes into it. Think about the Hunger Games, for example. Yes, it’s a book about dystopian America, but it’s also a heavy criticism of consumerism, the entertainment industry, and the lack of value we assign to our children.

And the antithesis, too— sometimes a blue curtain is just a blue curtain. Not every detail you put down needs to have some deeper meaning. Sometimes a character just has white hair because it’s cool— not because they’re stressed or a chosen one or something.

Finally— all the rules can and should be broken. Yes, even the paragraph breaks. Break the conventions as you please, so long as you’re mindful and intentional about it. If you aren’t breaking up dialogue breaks, why aren’t you? Is it because you forgot, or are you trying to make the dialogue frantic, trying to convey how difficult the conversation is to keep track of?

Anyway, that’s all I have right now, but my inbox is always open for more tips! Also, here’s some links to reference texts I particularly like that aren’t super dense. I’m particular fond of these two because you can jump between sections to find what you want rather than having to read the whole text. (Don’t read On Writing Well. It will come up as a recommendation with these two. It sucks. The author spends far too much of his time talking about the fact that he went to Yale.)

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #163

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re making the Alter Ego of Pleasure, Meltryllis! This one’s easy, all we gotta do is make a vampiric ballerina A.I. out of water and strap knives to her feet. In vaguely medieval times.

Yep, real easy.

Nothing to it, really.

Won’t even break a sweat on this one.

Tootally not stalling here.

Fine, we’ll really do it. Build breakdown below the cut, character sheet over here.

Next up: She’s got huge... tracts of hand.

Race and Background

So, uh... tackling the big questions first, I guess. The obvious answer here is just Custom Lineage, but we’re trying to make someone made of acid here, and slightly reflavored human just isn’t going to cut it.

Instead, we’re going with Water Genasi because let’s be honest literally nothing would actually fit here, and we already set a precedent with Arjuna and Karna. This increases your Wisdom by 1 and your Dexterity by 2. You also get resistance to acid damage because melting acid is dumb, you’re Amphibious, allowing you to breathe air and water, you can swim, and you can cast Shape Water for some fancy ballet visuals thanks to your Call to the Wave.

Your background is... complicated to integrate into D&D, but you do get a lot from your mother, so we’ll modify the Inheritor background and make you an A.I.nheritor, giving you proficiency with Arcana (the closest thing to tech in D&D) and Performance thanks to your obsession with pirouettes.

Ability Scores

You’re good at spinning around and stabbing people with swords while spinning around, so make sure your Dexterity is as high as possible. Bending yourself into a pretzel is only half the battle though, so keep your Charisma high too. Your Wisdom also isn’t that bad, you’re usually hooked into the universe’s admin systems whenever you pop up, so you’re pretty aware of things, even if you can’t feel them. Your Intelligence isn’t that bad, you’re literally a hyper-advanced A.I., I bet you’re good at calculus. This means your Constitution and Strength are pretty low. You’re canonically built for offense, and while I would’ve dumped Constitution instead of Strength normally I checked out how much HP you’d be left with and that’d just be cruel, even for me.

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: We’re starting off as monk right away so you can have Unarmored Defense to make your Armor Class good even in a leotard. You also get Martial Arts, giving you a bonus action attack, dexterity based attacks, and a d4 minimum for monk attacks.

Just saying here that we’re reflavoring your heels as short swords. This lets you dual-wield for two shoes (though it is kind of redundant since you already get bonus action attacks with your kicks anyway) and they’re pointy and already monk weapons.

You also get proficiency with Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as the physical skills Acrobatics and Athletics to make your dance moves flashier and your routines longer.

2. Monk 2: Second level monks get Ki which you can use to Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or attack twice as a bonus action by spending a ki point. You get Monk Level ki points per short rest.

You also get Unarmored Movement, making you a bit lighter on your feet.

3. Sorcerer 1: It’s been said that eldritch abominations are just outside context problems for the universe, and it doesn’t get more outside D&D’s context than a sentient AI. That’s why you’re an Aberrant Mind sorcerer, which gives you Psionic Spells for free (most of which we’ll be swapping out) and Telepathic Speech, giving you the ability to tap into Seraph’s chat system to speak telepathically with another creature for Sorcerer Level minutes, as long as you stay within Charisma Modifier miles of each other. I don’t know how you could get two miles away in less than a minute, but have fun figuring that out.

Also also your Call to the Wave improves, and you can cast Create or Destroy Water once per long rest.

Speaking of Spells, you can cast those now by using your Charisma modifier. You get the first steps of the Melt Virus thanks to your Acid Splash and Tasha’s Caustic Brew to soften up even the toughest of enemies. You also get Blade Ward because seriously try to cut water. Message is just another chat program, and Sword Burst lets you try spinning. It’s a good trick!

You also get Arms of Hadar, Dissonant Whispers, and Mind Sliver for free from your psionic spells, but we’re going to replace DW with Detect Magic right away. You’re jacked into the system, magic shouldn’t be hard to figure out.

4. Monk 3: Bouncing back to monk real quick to become a Drunken Master. You can Deflect Missiles by kicking them back as a reaction, reducing their damage and launching it back if they’re reduced to 0. You also get a Drunken Technique, making yourself even faster when you start hurting people. Using a flurry of blows lets you disengage for free, and your walking speed increases by another 10 feet.

5. Sorcerer 2: Second level sorcerers are a Font of Magic, giving you sorcery points that can be spent to recharge spell slots, among other things that don’t unlock til next level.

You can also cast Comprehend Languages now, and you should replace Arms of Hadar with Identify. Just stick it in your inventory and read the name, it’s not hard.

6. Sorcerer 3: Thanks to second level spells, you can now Blur the edges of your body to become harder to hit. You also get Calm Emotions and Detect Thoughts as freebies, though neither one is really justified, which is unfortunate.

Thankfully all your other spells get cooler thanks to Metamagic! Spend sorcery points to change a spells damage type with Transmuted Spell or make it harder to save against thanks to Heightened Spell!

7. Monk 4: Bouncing back to monk again gives you your first Ability Score Improvement, so bump up your Charisma for stronger spells. You can also Slow Fall as a reaction to avoid fall damage because all those heels kind of act like shocks. You also get Quickened Healing to spend ki points to heal yourself as an action. This probably isn’t canonical, but trust me, you’ll need it.

8. Sorcerer 4: Now that your spells are okay, use this ASI to get the Elemental Adept feat for Acid spells. Your spells now ignore resistance to acid damage and all your dice count as at least a 2 for damage. Considering how much Acid spells love d4s, this is a serious upgrade.

This level, you can use Green-Flame Blade (Green-Acid Blade?) and Enhance Ability to make your dance moves even better.

9. Sorcerer 5: Fifth level sorcerers can autocorrect thanks to their Magical Guidance, spending a sorcery point to re-roll a failed skill check. You also get a proper Melt Virus upgrade thanks to Vampiric Touch, dealing necrotic damage and healing yourself. Sadly you can’t turn this into acid damage, but it’s still pretty good on its own.

You also get more freebies from Psionic Spells, Hunger of Hadar makes for a pretty good Sarasvati Meltout vortex for at a low level, creating an area of difficult terrain that deals cold and acid damage on creatures that start and end their turn in it, respectively. You also get Sending, another chat client that can work even with people in other servers (planes).

10. Sorcerer 6: Your brand new Water Walk will let you stay on top of your own Meltout.

You also get Psionic Sorcery, not to be confused with Psionic Spells, that lets you cast Psionic Spells without verbal or somatic components if you spend sorcery points. You can also ignore material components if they’re not consumed by the spell.

On top of all of that, your Psychic Defenses firewall kicks in, giving you resistance to psychic damage and advantage on saves against being charmed or frightened. Lets be real, your mother is way scarier than any dumb goblin could be.

11. Monk 5: Fifth level monks get an Extra Attack each action, so now you can kick with both legs without using your bonus action! Your Stunning Strike can also be used by spending a ki point to force a constitution save on a creature you hit with a monk attack. If the target fails, they’re stunned for a round, giving you the perfect opening to torment them even more.

12. Monk 6: Sixth level monks get Ki-Empowered Strikes, making your fists magical weapons. You’re kind of a magical construct, so that just makes sense. Since you’re a drunken master, you also get your Tipsy Sway, speeding up how much speed you need to stand up and letting you turn your pleasure into another creature’s pain by redirecting attacks that miss you.

13. Sorcerer 7: For your fourth level spells, you can use Vitriolic Sphere for even more Acid, possibly even taking more damage on the next turn unless they pass their dexterity save. You also get more Psionic Spells, but I’ll save you the headache and just tell you what we’re swapping them with. Get Arcane Eye this level, and Locate Creature next level. One benefit to being an AI; access to the world map.

14. Sorcerer 8: Grab the Piercer feat to round up Dexterity, boosting your AC and attack power. You can also re-roll a piercing die once per turn. You also deal an extra die of damage on critical piercing attacks. You also get a Watery Sphere to restrain creatures within... drumroll please... a watery sphere. A great way to hold enemies in place while you pelt them with acid.

15. Sorcerer 9: Your fifth level spells include Enervation for a longer lasting Melt Virus, as well as Psionic Spells Rary’s Telepathic Bond for a whole chatroom, and Legend Lore. Tune into the BB channel to learn about your favorite subjects!

16. Sorcerer 10: Grab Quickened Spell as your third Metamagic option to add extra power to your rounds. Attack twice as an action, then Green-Acid Blade for even more pain!

You also get Skill Empowerment to give yourself expertise on skills you’re already good at for the greatest dances you’ve ever seen. We’re also pretty much set on good cantrips, so grab On/Off for the flavor. You can now turn nearby electronic devices on or off as an action. Honestly you could probably use a lot of the Modern Magic spells if your DM allows for it.

17. Sorcerer 11: Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise gives you a fancier outfit that makes you immune to fire and poison or radiant and necrotic damage depending on what role you choose to play. You’re also immune to being poisoned or Charmed, respectively. Your weapon attacks are now magical, and you get +2 to your AC. You get a flying speed for truly impressive jumps. You can also use your Charisma instead of dexterity to attack, but your dexterity’s better, so...

18. Sorcerer 12: Use your last ASI to bump up your Charisma. Stronger spells are always good.

19. Sorcerer 13: With your new seventh level spells, you can fully unleash your sadism thanks to Power Word Pain. If the target has fewer than 100 HP and it can be charmed, it becomes wracked with crippling pain. It can only move 10 feet per round, it has disadvantage on attacks, checks, and saves (aside from constitution saves). It also has to succeed on a constitution save to not waste the spell slot. At the end of each turn it has to try and make a constitution save, otherwise, the spell is indefinite.

20. Sorcerer 14: Your capstone level turns you into a Revelation in Flesh. As a bonus action, you can transform yourself for 10 minutes using 1 sorcery point for each ability you want to activate. These options include:

Truesight on invisible creatures (6/10 canonicity, might as well with all the divination spells you’ve got)

A flying speed (8/10 canonicity, can justify with sick jumps)

A swimming speed and underwater breathing (5/10 canonicity, but you already have these abilities so it doesn’t really matter)

Your body becomes basically liquid, able to squeeze through inch width gaps and escape from grapples and restraints. (10/10 canonicity, this is literally why we’re here.)

Pros:

With deflect missiles, a decent enough AC of 16/18 with Tasha’s Guise, and your Psychic Defenses, you’re decent enough at dealing with ranged attackers.

This is especially useful, as your mobility will keep you one step away from the melee fighters, letting you pick and choose your fights. You’re fast, and you can fly or run on water for extra escape options.

For most damage types, elemental adept is a nice addition, but nothing game changing. Not so with acid spells. So many acid spells use d4s, meaning the difference between 1 and 2 is greatly appreciated, as is the ignored resistances.

Cons:

If something can catch up to you, it’ll find out real fast just how squishy you are. Those sorcerer hit dice did not do you any favors, leaving you with only 75 HP. Be careful around high level casters with a good antivirus (Power Word Kill), or they might just delete you. Also literally any fighter.

While elemental adept helps, Acid Immunity is also pretty common in D&D. While Transmuting your spells (and just hitting people) will help keep you from being a sitting duck in those fights, it’s still a glaring weak point.

Outside of your spells, your physical attacks aren’t particularly powerful thanks to being stuck with short swords. So if you start running out of spell slots, retreating might be a good idea. A glass cannon without the cannon is just a bad thing to be.

[thesecondcircleofkel]

Cooperative

Kuroiro x Reader x Honenuki 

2.2K

Request: "Hello!! I love your blog and your writing! (Autocorrect tried to change writing to swatting, oh boy lol) In Kuroira’s nsfw alphabet you mentioned how he wouldn’t be against a threesome with someone he trusted, so I was wondering if you could do something with Kuroira x reader x Honenuki? (I don’t know if they’re friends or not but I love those two class 1b boys)"

Warnings: NSFW, threesome, bondage, use of a sex toy, oral sex, vaginal sex, plenty of filth 

Notes: Just a whole lot of filth with not a lot of plot.

Given how long you had been with Kuroiro, it was no surprise that you had started to pick up on quite a few of his desires when it came to sex. He obviously loved to push you to your limit each time he fucked you, drawing orgasm after orgasm out of you until you begged him to stop, and there was no limit to what he was willing to do to make your body tremble for him. Long rounds of oral, toys, the filthiest dirty talk that you could think of-whatever you needed to get riled up, he would provide.

You also noticed that he was a bit of a voyeur. He loved to watch you touch yourself, whether you knew he was doing so or not, and after a particularly intense session one night, he had confessed to you that he would love to watch you having your way with somebody else. He hadn’t expected you to agree to a threesome, but when you had, his mind had immediately gone to Honenuki, knowing how open-minded and cooperative his old classmate was. After a brief conversation where some ground rules were laid out and arrangements were made, Honenuki certainly hadn’t let him down in that assumption, and in fact, he had exceeded both yours and Kuroiro’s expectations.

Honenuki was either much more open-minded or much, much kinkier than either of you had anticipated. Not only was he completely fine with Kuroiro just watching the two of you for a while, but he was also very determined to give Kuroiro a worthwhile show. He claimed that he wanted to show both of you just how grateful he was for the amount of trust that you were putting in him, but regardless of the reasoning, he had absolutely no qualms with being handcuffed to the bed frame, and he even looked excited when you mentioned bringing a cock ring into the equation.

Kuroiro loved watching you take so much control over his friend. From the moment that the handcuffs clicked shut, your every move was fueled by the desire to please both men. That determination filled you with some strange new confidence, and not once did you doubt yourself as you fitted the ring around the base of Honenuki’s soft cock, then working the appendage until it was hard against your palm and tongue, all while Kuroiro watched with curious eyes. You used your hands and mouth to aid you in that effort, using the softest touches and lightest licks to tease his member until it was rigid with unsatiated need. Every gasp and twitch from Honenuki had you pressing your thighs together, those tantalizing sounds and jerks of desperation making you ache to be touched, and the whole scene made Kuroiro’s mouth water.

Anticipation budded within the dark hero as he watched you continuing to work your tongue against the head of Honenuki’s cock, which seemed to grow darker and darker with every swipe of your tongue. He could only imagine how your face was flushed at that moment, how your body burned and sparked with lust as you saw the effect that you were having on Honenuki. He could see how wet you were, your folds already glistening even though you hadn’t even been touched yet. He so desperately wanted to have a taste of you at that moment, but he’d promised to let you have your fun with Honenuki first without his interference.

The view that you were giving him was more than pleasing, anyways, especially when your hand crept between your legs, your fingers eagerly gathering up some of your essence before moving to your clit. They moved against it in long strokes, your back bowing as you finally got some of the stimulation that you craved, and Kuroiro had to bite his lip to keep from moaning at the sight. He couldn’t refrain from touching himself, though, and his own hand delved down to grip his rigid cock, stroking it slowly with just enough pressure to tide him over at that moment, but it wasn’t nearly enough to make him cum yet. He couldn’t wait to be buried inside of you, to feel your hot walls wrapped around his cock as they took him for all that he was worth. He hoped that it wouldn’t be long now, that you’d hurry up and cum for Honenuki so he could have you, too.

It looked like you may have been growing impatient, as well, since you finally took the entirety of Honenuki’s cock into your mouth, slowly moving your lips down his shaft until they met the silicone of the cock ring that was holding him oh-so-tightly. The moan that your action drew out of Honenuki was deep and gravely, and every muscle in his body was tightly strained, every single fiber of his being begging for release, but you were the one in control at the moment, so he was completely at your mercy. The sandy-haired hero almost moaned in relief as you pulled your mouth away from his cock, choosing instead to crawl up his body as you brought your dripping arousal to level with his aching cock.

You looked to Honenuki one last time for confirmation, but when he practically begged you to use him however you wanted, any doubts that you may have still had disappeared immediately. Without hesitation, you reached down to guide Honenuki’s cock to your entrance, sliding the tip through your folds to cover it in your arousal before finally letting him enter you. An uninhibited moan immediately left you, the fullness that Honenuki gave you hitting every wanting nerve in your body. He was already so thick normally, but he seemed to have grown even thicker thanks to the ring that you had put on him, and by the time that he was fully seated within you, your thighs were already trembling from pleasure.

Your desperate need to cum seemed to take over your body at that moment, and you immediately started to fuck yourself on Honenuki’s cock. His length moved in you with ease as you lifted your hips and then slammed yourself back down, briefly grinding into him before starting the process over again. Honenuki tried to keep his focus on you, on the way that your breasts bounced with each impact of your body against his, on the way that your thighs were squeezed so tightly around his hips or how your head was thrown back in pleasure as uninhibited moans bellowed from your throat, but he failed in that effort, the pleasure that was coursing through him far too overwhelming to focus on anything else.

The wild way that you rode him, how fast you moved, the power and desperation behind your hips, the heat of your body around him- the only thing that Honenuki could focus on was how you felt around his cock. He wanted to reach out to touch you, to try to give you more pleasure somehow, to help you take him for all that he was worth, but there was also something so thrilling about being completely at your mercy. Everything felt so much more intense because of it, although the cock ring might have something to do with that, as well.

Regardless of the reason, Honenuki felt like his body could catch fire at any moment, the pleasure that you were giving him causing such an intense heat to boil through his blood, and he thought that moment of rapture finally came when your walls tightly clenched around his cock, their pulsing and your wild bucking against him evidence of your orgasm.

As soon as Kuroiro saw your movements stuttering to a halt, he went to you, crawling onto the bed behind you. He gently ran his hands over your shoulders and back, before grabbing onto your hips and lifting you off of Honenuki. You and Honenuki both groaned at the loss, although your disgruntled noise soon turned into a sigh of rapture as Kuroiro plunged his laden cock into your swollen heat, your walls quivering at his intrusion.

Without warning, Kuroiro pushed you forward, grabbing a fistful of your hair as he held your face next to Honenuki's cock.

"You're not going to leave our friend hanging, are you, Y/N?"

He pushed you forward until your lips brushed against the tip of Honenuki's cock, and you parted your lips, easily figuring out what he wanted you to do even in your post-orgasmic haze. Kuroiro took that opportunity to fully push you onto Honenuki's throbbing length again, your own taste filling your mouth and a sigh leaving you because of how profane and thrilling all of it was.

Kuroiro couldn't help but to smirk as he felt you clench around him. It always seemed like he was the kinkiest one in the relationship, but he knew that that was far from true, if only because of how eagerly you went along with all of his kinks and how depraved your own additions to them were. The thought of it made every nerve in his body spark with torrential need, and he started to thrust into you, only moving in short bursts so he could keep as much of your heat around him as possible.

Even though his thrusts were short and quick, the force behind them was still intense, his movements as powerful as yours had been earlier. Each one of them jarred you forward until Honenuki's cock brushed the back of your throat, but Kuroiro made sure to pull you back before you gagged too badly. He didn't let you completely pull away from Honenuki, though, making sure that your mouth stayed wrapped around the hero's cock as he writhed beneath you.

Honenuki couldn’t contain the slight surge of his hips; he didn’t have enough leverage to thrust into your mouth too far, but his body still bucked as much as it could, wildly and without any sort of rhythm as Honenuki fought to finally get his release. Every whimper that came out of your throat sent waves of pure ecstasy vibrating through him, and when he looked at you, seeing the glazed over, almost pleading look in your eyes as Kuroiro kept plunging his cock into your wanting body, all of the ecstasy that had built up within him finally came together and imploded into a euphoric force that left him a breathless and thrashing mess.

You had fully intended to swallow every drop of Honenuki’s release, but before you could, Kuroiro pulled you away from Honenuki’s cock once again, causing some of the hero’s cum to seep out of your mouth. Kuroiro quickly wiped the translucent trails away with his thumb before pulling you back so that your body was flush against his. The change in position inadvertently caused your walls to grip him more tightly, making him let out a moan that fell against your skin as he buried his face in your neck, his pace almost doubling as his own orgasm was building.

You were so focused on the way that his cock was pounding into you, that you didn’t notice Kuroiro’s hand moving until his fingers brushed against your clit, a loud cry leaving you and your thighs shaking from the added stimulation. He could only manage to sloppily circle your clit as his hips started to falter in their pace, his moans buried in your neck as a rush of warmth filled you. That added feeling was enough to push you over the edge again, your body buzzing with ecstasy before you finally went limp in your lover’s arms.

Kuroiro gently laid you down on the bed, briefly brushing his hand against your cheek before he stood up and made his way to your bedside table, where the keys to Honenuki’s handcuffs laid. As soon as the cuffs clicked open, Honenuki reached down to remove the silicone ring from his softening cock, setting it on the bed beside him before he started rubbing his wrists to try to get the impression of the handcuffs off of them.

“Everything alright, Jūzō?”

Honenuki hummed in agreement, one of his thumbs still prodding his wrist as his eyes fell on you. Your body was fully exposed to him, a light sheen of sweat covering your skin, your breasts heaving with effort as you fought to catch your breath. You looked so enticing at that moment, and he could feel his blood starting to stir again. Kuroiro noticed where his friend’s gaze was lingering, and he couldn’t help the grin that crossed his face.

“This doesn’t have to be over yet if you don’t want it to be, Jūzō. She can take plenty more, can’t you, Y/N?”

Your eyes fluttered open at the call of your name, and you looked over at the two men, noticing how focused Honenuki was on you before you smiled at him.

“Don’t worry, I can handle everything you’ve got, sweetie.”

You probably didn’t mean that as a challenge, but that’s certainly how Honenuki took it, and Kuroiro was perfectly aware of that fact, as well. Far be it from him to give you a warning, though, because he was going to thoroughly enjoy watching as his friend fucked to you to your limit and then some.

[rooneywritesbest]

The Horsemen

The Horsemen

By Cory Benoit And Brendan Rooney

Takes place in the quaint town of Springdale which was built over an Indian burial site underlining and alluding mystery. We open to the 4H it’s a bar. The horsemen are the title of a group of friends who are essentially brothers. The horsemen are enjoying Guys night when they hear it’s karaoke night what could go wrong

John - 21-year-old leader of the solves the problem (Action Man)

Jose - 21 yrs old Brain of the group  

Jim - 21 yrs old Moral compass of the 4H sees the problem but can’t figure it out

Mackie- Funny outgoing, caring, tries to do the right thing all the time also trying to get out of the shadow of the 4H  

Melanie - New girl working or in town

Johnny: Hey Guys another night at the 4H Does this mean we are officially horsemen because were regulars all the time. They literally have our faces on the wall of fame.

Jose: Maybe in your mind but isn’t it the wall of shame. I Mean Mackie threw up last month when we were here.

Jim: Lol maybe you guys are right what do you think Mackie.

Mackie: I think it's time to order actually boys.

John: yeah you're probably right Jim -  Mackie look at the new hottie at the bar absolutely smoke screen.

Jose - Well mack go get it.

Mackie-  I don’t know boys she looks like she’s staring into my soul.

Johnny - Tell you what Mack I'll take a shot. Here I go boys

Melanie - can I help you another drink or closing your tab?

Johnny - Nah just shooting my shot and see where im getting

Melanie - Nice try and no thanks scurry back to your little fraternity over their

(Feeling a sense of shame and being upset John swallows his hubris and proceeds to walk back to the horsemen)

Mackie - Damn Johnny you got crucified up there by the bombshell

Jose - Using those big words again Mack trying to play out of bounds

Mackie -Screw you Jose I don't see you trying to stand out and make a name for yourself

(Jim proceeds to smack Mackie on the head almost to wake him up from his tangent)

Jim - Come down to earth Mack and relax bro the waitress is coming back boys you ready to order yet

Melanie alrighty you four ready to order. (Melanie has a sense of disgust for the four sitting like they owned the bar.

Mackie - I’ll have a beer and a burger

Jose - steak for me please, seasoned, and medium rare

Johnny - Uh i'll have Wings and I’m sorry for before we noticed ya wasn’t from these parts

Jim- I’ll take a sampler platter

Melanie - So Btw horsemen I guess that’s what they call you guys.  There is a karaoke night going on maybe you should join

Mackie - What uh no thanks singing is for chumps.

(Mackie suddenly gets an urge or a gut feeling then Mackie realizes karaoke sucks but only says that because he has ulterior motives because Mackie doesn't possess the ability to sing.)

Mackie- You know what actually I’ll give it a try.

Johnny - Mack attack you sure you wanna go up there

Jim - Mack we know you can’t sing you sound like a dying whale

Jose- Do you bro remember boys Mackie just being Mackie

(Mackie goes on the stage looks over at the 4H and scolds and scolds himself for getting himself in this predicament. Mackie warms up and makes a whale like sound which proves to himself that he can't sing. Sweating bullets on the stage.)

Jim- So you heard it here first I’m telling you boys shammu wants his voice back

Mackie: all right everybody got a mop this won’t take very long (im getting nervous Mackie has a sense of fear painted on his face)

Extra - here’s the mic here is the screen go break a leg. Big guy

( Mackie gets the mic he feels an earthquake below his feet but notices no one else is feeling the same which Mackie feels nervous.) (The earthquake is figurate because it’s a shift in the tone and emotion of Mackie) But I feel I could put an audio bite in the BG  

(Mackie starts to sing a little)

(Melanie is seen talking to the horsemen with a sense of amazement on her face. The others are surprised on what is occurring)

Melanie - Wow so boys Mackie is really good did you guys know he could belt like Sinatra

Jose- That’s just Mackie being Mackie

Jim- The Machine is probably doing it for him

Jose- I don't know guys. I feel like what if it’s something else. I really think it’s more than autocorrect something about that machine don’t seem right?

Johnny- Sweetheart The Mack cannot sing it’s just not possible if he could sing then I'm an alien in disguise but that’s a big joke

(Jose proceeds to get up and walk around to solemn apologize for Mackie singing even though the crowd starts to boo Jose)

Jose- Hey everyone here sorry for the torment on your ears they are probably bleeding by now

Melanie - Sounds like maybe you guys should pay more attention to Mackie from now on. You guys must look like fools not knowing he could sing like that. (Melanie walks away tending back to the bar)

Jim - Maybe the waitress is right btw what’s your name

Melanie - It’s Melanie

Johnny- Boys lets go get the big guy off the stage and buy him a round.

(So the scene ends and now we have A brotherhood. That is broken and torn because of that Microphone. The horsemen play it off quickly dismiss it. But the action shifts to Melanie sketching away on her notepad and  Melanie’s design shows Mackie singing afterward)

(Melanie suddenly gets a gut feeling pointing her to the image of the mic cemented in her train of thought)

The scene opens the horsemen sitting around confronting and asking Mackie about what just occurred walking out of the 4H

Jim -  So i gotta ask Mack where did that come from?

Mackie -  I don't know boys I really don't remember what happened

Jose -  Mackie all the ladies were chanting you're name

Johnny: bro that was dope.

( Suddenly Mackie has anger on his face almost a complete 360 of his positive attitude all the time. A vain imprint was on the face of Mackie he looked over at the three with disgust in his eyes).

Mackie - I gotta go and screw you guys. Maybe you know what. Mackie should hit the road and leave the horses in the stable from now on Mackie out.

(The trio felt broken and split Jim being the brains of the group comes up with a theory about what occurred)

Jim - Boys I think Mackie is revoking his brotherhood card. I’m telling you something is wrong with that machine. First off who talks in the third person about themselves. You know what I’m gonna take a further look. Even autotune being invented in the spring of 1997. No one is that good.  

Jose- What happened to the mack

Johnny- Boys that’s not Mackie something feels wrong

(Johnny walks to the bar and bumps into Melanie. Melanie being startled proceeds to run away).

Johnny- I'm sorry btw on how I treated you did a great job and the boys and I wanted to give you a tip welcome to the 4H and the quaint city of Springdale.

( But it was Too late the humiliation was already in seeched in his vigor and her mind)

(Next day Mackie has a proverbial fire lit up his ass.)

Mackie arrives at 4H to see the guys sitting alone. Mackie pulls up a chair

Mackie- What’s up dipsticks

Jim: Mackie you're being a douche and you can say yeah yeah whatever but you know it’s the truth. Look inside bro this isn’t you

(The horsemen are playing cards and Mackie gets dealt in)

Johnny - Deal him in boys

Mackie -  Cards in time boys Aces boys I win alrighty. So I’m off now. See ya later boys.

(Mackie leaves the table goes to the bar. The 4-horsemen are now dissolving away to the trio comprising of Johnny, Jose And Jim.)

Jim - Jose what’s macks problem he hasn’t been the same since the karaoke night

Jose- Maybe it’s a new Mackie and he wants to test the waters of the social chain I guess. (Jose tries to hide the fact that he’s afraid of what Mackie has become and wants his friend back

Johnny- I don’t know boys maybe we should come back on another music night. Wonder if Mack will actually show.

(Mackie comes back from the bar to tease the horsemen with his newfound talent)

(Jim looks at the trio with a mission about to take place).

Jim- Hey if anyone asks I’m in the bathroom.

Jose- You got it, bro, wait are you sleuthing again? (Jose gets a sense of feeling annoyed)

Jim-Maybe maybe not

Johnny- Just don't get caught.

Scene end

(We return to Jim looking at the karaoke machine and Melanie investigating the disturbance holding a letter in her hand).

Jim - I knew it autotune wasn’t even turned on. So it has be to something else or Mackie can just really sing because I’m all out of ideas. (Jim hears an explicit sound) Whose their?

Melanie- Relax I'm not here to turn you in. I just doing some maintenance getting the machine ready for the headliner. (Melanie feels conflicted should I give him the letter or not?)

Jim- Please just don’t tell anyone about this ok I’m just worried about Mackie. He’s never been this distant.

Melanie- I understand I won’t tell but you kinda should hurry back to your table just saying. (Jim leaves the backstage and joins the trio waiting for the stage to erupt when the corrupted Mackie gets up there.) Whew, that was a close one when should I tell them the truth it has to be soon. I can feel it.

(We pan to the horsemen sitting in their booth feeling lost and confused with a not a glimmer of hope to rescue their friend. Mackie strolls over with a smug attitude emanating from him clouding his judgment.)

Mackie- So boys ready for karaoke again. (Mackie then proceeds to push the horsemen severing the bond) Get out of my way chumps.  It is time to grace my kingdom. If you excuse gotta go warm up the pipes.

(Melanie enters the bar holding her notebook  sketching an image of the mic pondering till it hit her what if the mic was the problem for the four horsemen)

(Melanie rushes and surveys the bar to find the horsemen to spread the newfound answer to all of their problems)

Melanie - Guys I know what’s wrong with Mackie it’s the mic if we destroy the mic I feel like we can change him.

(The horsemen look at her with a confused look on their faces. Jim then gets up to talk to Melanie about her theory)

Jim- What are you talking about destroying the mic you crazy.

Johnny- Yeah are they gonna put that on our tab or yours just saying,

Jose- Hey are you not telling us something we should know?

Melanie - Everything you need to know is this in the letter please trust me. I can get your friend back i know a way but we have to work together. (Melanie throws the letter on the table. Jim proceeds to open and read the letter. Then the trio’s faces are immediately glued with the impression of a shock to the new-found clue of their investigation.

Jim, Jose, John- what!!!!!!!!!!!

(John Reads the letter with anger and sadness on his face staring at Melanie sensing her guilt.

John- “Dear Horsemen, It’s Melanie aka the hottie from the bar btw thx for that insult but I think I know what’s wrong with Mackie. If you guys claim to say that he couldn’t sing then explain to me in person how did he sing and belt-like Sinatra moving on? When he was up there something was surrounding him. I know it sounds weird and hard to explain. But you need to believe me. So stick with me the town of Springdale is not what it seems. Mackie will continue to spiral down a path of being a jerk and will slowly break away from you guys. I’m telling you this ahead of time to put aside your own truths and pride to save your friend before it’s too late. I know you four are inseparable but the time is now you have to fight for Mackie or you will lose him forever. (Jose stands up with a new lit fire of emotion)

Jose- Boys Mackie is our friend our brother. our fellow horsemen it’s not the 3 horsemen it’s the four horsemen we take on everything together. He fought for us let's fight for him. Whose with me!

Johnny- For the Mack

Jim- For our brother

Melanie- ok ok relax and breathe guys  Get Mackie on stage and we can fix this now

(Jim finds Mackie standing at the bar flirting away with his new faux sense of pride and confidence. The first part of the plan is starting to come together. Jim grabs Mackie and walks him to the backstage area)

Jim- Hey Mackie buddy it’s Showtime show the 4H some magic bro

Mack - Alright Jim I never liked you anyone what’s your game anyway.

Jim- I just want to see you sing bro

(Mackie walks to the stage grabs the mic. starts to sing and has the crowd chanting his name like nothing ever seen before).

(Melanie  Picks up her notebook and starts to draw a presence of energy around Mackie confirming her theory)

(John now standing next to Melanie sees her sketching away and the aura around Mackie starts to emit from the page to the visible eye).

Johnny- What's that around Mackie? (John says curiously)

Melanie - That John would be dark energy let's just say I have my fair share of knowledge

Jim- So what do you want us to do. Should we get the mic or create a diversion. Your call. I say we stop doing this and leave but that’s just me. But this is for Mack i want the old Mackie back.

Jose- I say diversion turn the lights off and get the mic out of Mackie's hands

Johnny- Melaine your call?

Melanie- do both

Jim - ok let's do this! This all started because of that stupid mic.(Jim interrupts Mackie on stage to get his attention) Mack, I'm sorry for this bro but get off the stage you stink

(Mackie furious stops singing proceeds to fume anger and the darkness around him starts to emit from him being visible to Jim.)

Mackie- What did you say to me out of everyone I thought I trusted you, Jim. You're just a follower you have no identity. (The distraction was going perfect. Jose was in a position calling out orders. Johnny would bullrush the stage and Melania was idling by at the lights waiting to pull the switch.)

Jose - Now Johnny get that mic and break it. Melanie, you got lights

Melanie - Got it

(Melanie turns the lights off for a few seconds. In the dark a fight can be heard for the control of the cursed mic)

Mackie - what's going on hey where's the mic

Jim - Sorry bro but this is for your own good.

(Johnny grabs the mic and then stares at the evil creation but then makes the choice of a hero cementing the role of horsemen leader)

Johnny- I’m breaking it boys just remember Melanie this is going on your tab

(Melanie starts to laugh and roll eyes a little. Then at that moment, The aura disappears from Melanie's notebook and the cloud around Mackie. Jose then starts to talk to Mackie)

Jose- Mack Mack you ok bro?

Mack - Boys what happened i don’t remember anything from the last time. I was up here on the stage

Jim - It’s alright Mack we got ya bud now how about a round of beers on us

Mack - I'll drink to that btw what are we drinking towards anyway

(Melanie laughs and calls the horsemen to the bar then serves the drinks and says)

Melanie  - To friends and brothers who are the one and only Horsemen  

Johnny- Hey Mel can I talk to you in private what's up with that notebook of yours.

Melanie - Let's just say I don’t think the mic will the end of these disturbances. Just remember Springdale is a scary quiet town but with tales waiting to be written. No offense you guys aren’t ready to fully understand who lives in the shadows and plagues the streets of Springdale. No one is ready for that, for now, See you boys around.

Johnny- Wait stop please your hiding something I can feel it. I know it. (Melaine calls Johnny outside and they converse more in private)

Melaine- Listen Johnny you're the only one. Whose figuring out my story, and your buddy Mackie. The poor guy just wants a place to belong and to break out of your shadows. You may not know but you cast a huge shadow on that poor guy. Just remember you seem different but that’s the thing it’s cool and intriguing about you four something brought you together. Destiny has a bigger plan for you i can feel it. I gotta go.(Johnny walks backs inside the bar almost feeling like nothing occurred in the last couple days. When it really it did but he was happy to have his brothers back.  

(The horsemen sit and ponder about what just occurred and with Mackie having no memory and Johnny questioning his thoughts on who Melanie really is and what she told him? Melanie stands outside 4H sketching an image of the horsemen enjoying their drinks. Melanie then looks up and says)

Melanie- Those four really have no idea what really lies in Springdale. However, it may seem crazy destiny has a bigger plan for them I can feel it. (Melanie walks off into the shadows of the night.)

End?   

[septic-dr-schneep]

JSE Fanfiction - In Time of Need (Part 12: Coalition)

Summary: Unable to stand by and let Anti harm the man she loves, Signe takes matters into her own hands and calls for backup.

As soon as Anti hung up on her, Signe tossed her own phone onto Jack’s recording desk, covering her face with a trembling hand and leaning a shoulder against the foam on the wall. It wasn’t long before the rest of her body followed, sagging against it for support as her legs refused to support her weight on their own.

Her thoughts were flying faster than she could process them, her heart quickening in tandem and stealing her breath. It felt as if all of the air had been sucked from the room and all of the warmth in her blood had seeped away with it, leaving nothing but the shivering numbness of aftershock. The strangling sensation of panic eventually coalesced into one horrifying thought:

This very moment, Seán could be dying.

It took everything in her to push herself off the wall and return to her phone, fumbling for her contacts. She couldn’t let it happen. She couldn’t lose him. Her fingers were tingling as she hurriedly texted, autocorrect mangling her message as she hit all the wrong buttons in her urgency.

She couldn’t think straight enough to fix it before it sent; her mind was consumed with questions as she rushed out to the hall and began throwing on her shoes, hat and coat. What time was it over there? Was he going to be awake? Was his phone even going to be on? Would he know that something was wrong?

The phone burst to life a minute or so later, nearly causing her to drop it in her rush to answer.

“Hello?!”

“Signe?” Mark’s concerned voice filled her ears and her chest with immense relief. “I just got your text. I was in the middle of recording—what’s going on?”

“Anti! Anti has them,” Signe burst out breathlessly. “All of them! Seán, the Egos, they’re hurt. They need your doctor, Iplier! I don’t know what he’s gonna do to them!”

For a few beats all she could hear on the other end was Mark spitting hasty curses and fumbling with his equipment to turn it off. “Alright, Iplier’s at Egos Central; it takes me about fifteen minutes to get there—”

“Mark, fifteen minutes is—!” It was an eternity. Anti could kill them fifteen times over in every minute they spent with him.

“It’s the best I can do, I’m sorry! I’ll take the van, I’ll pick up the doc and get the Host to narrate us to you! We’ll be there soon, I promise! Try—try to stay calm, Signe.”

Stay calm? Had he really just told her to stay calm? Signe wondered incredulously as the dial tone cut off her next words. This was the man she loved and his creations; how he could expect her to be even remotely calm or collected in a situation like this?!  

Sure enough, as soon as the infamous van seen in Mark’s vlogs appeared outside, Signe sprinted out to it as if an explosion were chasing her down a tunnel.

“How do you know Anti was there?” Mark demanded as she scrambled inside and he swung a U-turn.

“I got an alert from their emergency communicators and tried to FaceTime with them, then the phone got dropped. He picked it up,” she explained, wrapping her arms tightly around herself as she hunkered down in the back of the van. “He showed me the Egos covered in blood…He showed me Seán…He told me to beg for them and then he hung up. That was right before I texted you.”

“Well, judging by how slowly Mark drives, they’re going to be dying by the time we get there!” Dr. Iplier snarked from the passenger seat, casting a pointed glance at his creator.

“Shut up.”

“I’m also worried about Robbie,” Signe cut in, leaning forward so they could hear her over the rumbling of the engine. “When the phone fell, Jameson was just going to check on him. I don’t know what happened, but he was attacking someone—Jameson or maybe Anti, but it was silent for a long time afterward. Then Anti picked up the phone. Robbie might not be…right in the head.”

“Then perhaps Mark and the doctor were right to bring the Host along,” a lower voice spoke up from the far back of the van, causing Signe to jump. Her hair swished around her face as she twisted sideways to glance between the Host and his creator.

“He shouldn’t be here,” she stated nervously.

“We needed him to get us here!” Mark protested, a stressed laugh bursting out of him as he rounded the next turn. “And y’think I’m going to take our only doctor to Anti’s last known location without some kind of backup? He’d never go!”

“That we can agree on,” Dr. Iplier admitted, tightening his grip on his medical kit.

“Yeah, well, you forget how well I know you.”

“The Host doesn’t intend to force himself on any of the Septics, if that is what Ms. Hansen is concerned about,” the other Ego assured her. “He won’t even speak a word to them. He’s there to watch over the doctor’s work, nothing more. They will hardly know he is there.”

What kind of protest could she offer in the face of that? “Jackieboy’s not going to be happy,” Signe mumbled, shaking her head as she huddled into her coat against the unnatural chill that crawled down her spine. She hated to think of what might happen—of what had happened when Jackieboy and the Host were put at odds.

Naturally it could be blamed on Dark; he and Jackieboy had once respected each other—not because their morals aligned but because they stayed out of each other’s way, they each intended to run a coordinated household and they had a mutual enemy in Anti. Signe hadn’t heard all of the details, but one of them had infringed on the other’s boundaries and it had led to the Host stepping in on behalf of his friend. Threats were made and weren’t appreciated by either side and by the time the smoke cleared, there were major casualties on both sides and a significant fissure between the two households.

The Host was no friend to Jackieboy and he wasn’t a neutral party anymore either. Hopefully he wouldn’t be seen as just another threat to the ones who were hurt. Jackieboy would be all too eager to come to their defense.

Wait a minute…Signe realized, lifting her head as she recalled the sweep Anti had done to show her the room. Where was Jackieboy?

“Is this it?” Mark asked rhetorically, leaning over the steering wheel to see the rectangular house looming a few hundred yards away. “Only one story, out in the middle of nowhere…They got minimalistic tastes?”

“Jackieboy has a secret identity to keep; he doesn’t want people know where he lives,” Signe explained hastily as she spilled out of the van and sped toward the entrance.

“Signe, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” Dr. Iplier cut her off, his medical kit flying out behind him as he leapt out to cut her off. “Let us go first; we need to scope this out. If Anti hates you as much as he hates Jack—”

“Can’t the Host see what’s happening in there?” she demanded impatiently as Mark and the Host caught up with them at the door. As the Host ducked his head to concentrate, Signe cast a vaguely surprised glance at the bat Mark held close to his side.

“He’s letting me borrow it,” the other YouTuber mumbled with an indicative nod at the Ego beside him, keeping his voice low as the Host let his Sight work.

“…Two pairs of four, tiles stained and cracked and smeared—Jameson Jackson is standing against the far back wall not far from Jack’s medical bed, shaking violently as he stares into the shadows, afraid to tear his eyes away,” he narrated distantly. “The fear churns through him as he scans the darkness, looking for any shadow out of place. He can hear breathing but he sees no one there.”

“Is it Anti?” Dr. Iplier questioned.

“Jameson cannot see to know. The battle overwhelmed him; he shielded himself, covered his face and was blind to its outcome. He can scarcely dare to move, standing in the middle distance between Jack’s bed and the magician’s prone form. He strains his ears to listen to Jack’s medical monitors, hoping against hope that Jack is still well. There is blood under his feet.”

“Alright,” Dr. Iplier muttered, settling his head mirror more firmly on his forehead. “Who’s in the worst condition and who’s most accessible?”

“The Host can See Jameson, the magician, and the doctor. Chase Brody and the zombie are hidden from him…Jameson’s hand is damaged. Marvin is bleeding from the abdomen and Schneeplestein has wounds scattered over his chest, neck, and skull.”

“What about Seán?” Signe forced herself to ask, the words leaving her throat dry.

“Jack appears to be unharmed.”

“Appears to be?” Mark echoed tensely as anxiety visibly swept over Signe’s features.

“Jack lies very still in his medical bed, the monitors around him steady. He appears to sleep undisturbed,” the Host emphasized. “There’s no trace of blood or injury on his visible skin.”

That news was meant to be a relief, but somehow the way the Host had phrased it only kindled another spark of worry in Signe’s stomach as she unlocked the door and let the men pass.

“No more stalling then. Let’s get this over with.”

Everything in the outer rooms looked as it should be; all of the lights were on, the air conditioner rattled faintly somewhere over their heads and there were dirty dishes and a pot of coffee scattered across the kitchen table. It looked just as if the others had dropped what they were doing and run out for a trip to the movies on the spur of the moment. Fleetingly Signe recalled the time they had done just that and Jack had given them a stern word or two for worrying him so much when they returned. Then of course, unable to stay mad at them, he’d asked them how the movie was and they’d spent the rest of the afternoon acting out all of the humorous moments for him and Signe to enjoy vicariously.

“That’s the lab at the end of the hall,” she murmured, pointing over Dr. Iplier’s shoulder and earning a subtle nod in return.

The door was already cracked open, they discovered. With a slow, deep inhale, the doctor nudged his shoe into the opening to slide it further. The hinges squeaked ever so slightly, earning a startled clatter from within as Jameson flinched back, bumping Jack’s IV stand in the process.

“Jameson?”

“D-Doc? Is that—Mr. Fischbach and the Host are with you…? And Miss Hansen, thank heavens!” Jameson immediately shifted toward them and then remembered himself, frantically glancing back at the darkest corner of the room. “Wait, wait, no, step back! Don’t come closer, I beg you! I think Robbie’s watching! He sees you coming anywhere near us and he’ll rend you limb from limb!”

“What happened to him?” Signe whispered gingerly as she slid past Dr. Iplier along the side wall.

“I should never have turned my back on him,” Jameson agonized, twisting at the hem of his vest as he stared into the shadows. “I was speaking with you on that enchanted device and w-when I wasn’t looking, Robbie caught a case of the horrors! He—He fancied the blood…wanted a nip or two of it, if you understand. I didn’t. I tried to go to Chase and he…” A deep shudder rolled through him as he remembered and he curled into himself, shaking his head to free it of whatever terrible memory had arisen. Signe had a feeling she could imagine it.

“The Host and I can get through to him,” Dr. Iplier murmured, which only strengthened Jameson’s head-shaking.

“Doc, he’s like a rabid mutt! He froths at the mouth! He tossed Antisepticeye—the Antisepticeye!—about the place like a slab of dead meat and—and Chase…Oh, golly, he dragged Chase off somewhere over there. I don’t know what he’s done to him!”

“All the more reason why we need to find out,” the doctor countered, taking a series of cautious steps forward and faltering only when a low growl echoed from the far corner. The doctor stiffened, glancing over his shoulder at the Host and his creator. Swallowing hard, Mark skirted slowly around the door toward the nearby series of switches. After a nod of agreement between him and the doctor, he flipped it.

Signe’s heart surged into her throat as light spilled down over Robbie’s hunched form. His expression was almost unrecognizable; she had only ever seen him as the innocent, childlike persona he always was…never like this. He was hunched over, almost on all fours, dark waves of blood staining the torn remnants of his shirt as they cascaded from multiple wounds in his back. Brighter, redder blood and trails of saliva were smeared over his mouth and chin, dripping into small puddles onto the linoleum—and onto the still form of Chase Brody lying underneath him. Now that they could see him, Robbie could clearly see all of them, thumping a hand down on Chase’s chest and twisting his fingers into his shirt.

“Chase!” Jameson’s shoulders shook with a half-stifled sob.

“Okay…I can see where you were coming from with the ‘rabid mutt’ assessment,” Mark concurred in uneasy amazement, tightening his grip on his bat. “Signe, any ideas?”

“This is new,” Signe confessed with difficulty, drifting closer to the doctor and earning a warning rumble from the zombie for her movement. “We could, um…we could try to sedate him?”

“But how do we get him away from Chase so we can?”

“Has he seemed interested in any of the others?” Dr. Iplier asked with a sideways glance at Jameson.

“Myself, briefly, and Antisepticeye. I don’t think he’s noticed how much Marvin and Schneeplestein are bleeding,” the gentleman answered, fidgeting. “I was only bleeding after he attacked me, so there wasn’t enough to entice him forever. When Antisepticeye arrived, he d-drew Robbie’s attention away from me…He wanted his throat.”

“That’s always bleeding,” Signe murmured.

“Well, it’s not like we can throw one of the others to him and swap ’em out for Chase; we’d still have the same problem!” Mark protested.  

“The Host believes their solution may be simpler than they think.”

The Host had been true to his word; Signe had barely remembered he was there until he spoke again. He tilted his head around at his companions for several seconds, letting his silence simmer, and when none of them seemed to gather what he was implying, he breathed deeply, brushing between Mark and Signe with measured steps. As Robbie sat up, on alert, the Host lifted his hands to his hair and tugged deftly at the knot securing the bandages over his face. Dr. Iplier’s eyes widened.

“Host, don’t—!”

A thick splatter of blood spilled onto the floor at the Host’s feet and Robbie let out a roar that shattered the air, lunging over Chase’s fallen form and charging manically across the slick tiles toward the source. Dropping his medical kit, Dr. Iplier ran at him from the other side, grabbing the Host around the neck from behind and hauling him a few yards back, hollering something unintelligible that Mark somehow understood. Diving out into the open, he swung the bat.

“Don’t hurt him!” Signe screamed on impulse as the weapon connected with Robbie’s ribcage, bowling him over into the far wall.

“It didn’t, it didn’t!” Mark shouted in alarm, cursing up a storm as the zombie rolled back onto his hands and knees just as quickly, shaking himself down to recover for only a moment before he threw himself to his feet, howling feverishly as he charged them again.

Barking his own frustrated curses as blood gushed down his cheeks, the Host wrangled himself out of the doctor’s grasp and threw up an arm, blinding golden threads materializing up and down his sleeve, lashing with the force of a whip as he swung his hand out.

Signe could only watch in shock as Robbie hurtled right into them, intent on tearing past, only to find that they were unbreakable. The more he clawed at them, the more ensnared he became as more and more of them appeared around him, manipulated by the reality-warper with increasing strength and speed. In less than a minute, Robbie was on his back on the ground, his knees bound to his chest, arms twisting and turning in vain against the restraints.

“Doctor!” the Host spat, hiding his eye sockets against his free sleeve and thoroughly soaking it. Dr. Iplier rushed to his side, throwing out his palms and creating a dazzling blue glow from them to contrast with the golden threads of reality. Robbie’s struggles faltered as the energy field washed over him and after another few tentative moments, he relaxed inch by inch, blinking in bewilderment.

“That’s it…” Dr. Iplier hissed, lowering his hands as the tension in the zombie started to ease. “That’s it…Just relax…”

Signe shared an uncertain glance with Jameson as he came to stand at her side and watch. Heaving a sigh, Mark let the bat clatter to the floor as he approached from the left.

“Iplier rarely uses this,” he explained quietly. “It’s a…healing field, I guess. Whoever’s within it gets a double dose of peace and hope. Sounds cheesy, but it really works. He should probably use it more often.”

It was working. Robbie eventually went completely limp, hugging his knees against his chest and blinking up at the newcomers with nothing but mild curiosity. Breathing shakily, the Host allowed his threads of reality to go lax around him, thinning and dissolving as he hunched his shoulders.

“The Host would like to request—” he began, his voice muffled in his sleeve.

“I’ve got you,” Dr. Iplier assured him, sprinting back to his fallen kit and withdrawing his bandages. “That was one of the stupidest things you’ve done in a while.”

“…The Host won’t disagree.”

As Dr. Iplier redressed the Host’s eye sockets, Signe looked past them to see Robbie sitting up, shuffling awkwardly so he was sitting cross-legged. Apprehensively she approached him, only daring to kneel in front of him when his eyes sparked with recognition.

“Seen…?”

“H-Hi, Robbie,” she greeted tentatively, bending down in front of him. It was hard to look him in the face with all of the blood smeared across it, but she valiantly made the effort. “How are you feeling?”

Robbie paused, as if thinking it over, and then fidgeted with his hands in his lap. “Back…” he murmured pensively.

“That’s right, you are back,” she concurred, unsure why tears were starting to blur her vision.

“Back,” he repeated more emphatically, tilting his head back indicatively. “Back…hurts.”

“Oh. Well, don’t worry, buddy.” Forcing a shaky smile, she lightly offered a squeeze to his scarred shoulder. “You and the others are going to be fixed up. Just be patient.”

“Hungry.”

“…There’s probably some meat in the fridge. We’ll take care of that too.”

[hairringtonsteve]

good.

(joe keery x reader) 

request: babes! can I have a joe keery one where y/n works on the set of stranger things and to him she's like the coolest ever and the both have the same style and he falls pretty hard, and when season two comes around there's a tearful reunion and confessions of love xxxx (also can y/n be british?)

summary: turns out joe doesn’t really cope well with his emotions and cries when he’s tired.

word count: 2,393

a/n: okay, so this is going out tonight (sunday), and i won’t be on much at all tomorrow BECAUSE MY AUNT IS HAVING A BABY, so i’m going to queue up a fic that somebody submitted to me, and that’ll go out tomorrow. that is all. there are no warnings in this fic. it’s just nice and fluffy and joe cries a lil. 

It had all started with the slapping.

Well, really, it had started when you’d been hired as a production assistant for some Netflix show. The premise had seemed interesting enough - you’d grown up being into sci-fi stuff - but what had really intrigued you was the fact that it was a paying job. You’d been trying your hardest to get a job in film, on top of trying to get someone to hire you while also providing you a work visa.

Eventually, your uncle had known this dude who’d known a woman who babysat for this person’s cousin who knew someone that worked at Netflix. Which meant that a couple of months later, you were working on the set of an actual tv show.

But the actual fun? That had started with the slapping.

It was day three of shooting, when you’d noticed it. Being a PA meant that you were relatively low on the list of important people, and that you were there to do what you were told and to keep your mouth shut. But you’d started to pick up on the fact that two of the actors, Gaten and Finn, had red cheeks. Not just red cheeks where they were a little excited for the scene at hand, but like… like they’d been hit. You had younger brothers. You knew how stupid kids could be. They’d already shot the scene twice, and a difference like that would be noticeable.

So you took a chance. You approached one of the Duffer brothers - you prayed you’d get the name right - and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Uh, Matt? Gaten and Finn’s cheeks look a little off. It might show up on camera.” You and Matt looked to the boys in question, watching as Finn reared his hand back and slapped Gaten across the cheek.

“What the fuck… Hey, you two! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Matt started towards them, scowling as you hesitated for a second before following behind him. “Are you kidding me? You can’t slap each other before a take. It’s going to ruin continuity.”

“We can’t help it! We’re excited!” Gaten piped up, grinning.

“Well, are you guys going to stop?” Finn and Gaten both looked towards each other before turning back to Matt, shaking their heads, grinning like a couple of idiots. “Jesus,” he muttered. He sighed, running a hand over his face as he turned around. His gaze settled on you. “You, you good with kids?”

“Uh, sure?”

“Cool. You’re being promoted to child wrangler.”

“Isn’t there already a wrangler?”

“Well, yeah, but… You’ll be the actual wrangler. They’re worried about the kids’ safety. You’ll be making sure they don’t do anything stupid.”

Don’t do anything stupid became the mantra for the entirety of filming.

There would be days where it felt like the only things that you said were:

“Finn, knock it off.”

“Gaten, I understood the joke. It wasn’t funny.”

“Caleb, please stop talking.”

“Finn, knock it off.”

“Noah’s my favorite.”

“Finn, knock it off!”

There were more better days than worse days, though. Millie easily listened to you the best, although that was more because you’d both lived in England. But weirdly enough, your favorite person on set ended up being Joe.

“Where is everyone?”

You jerked your head up from your phone, grinning at Joe as he approached with two donuts in hand. He held out one to you, ignoring the way his pulse stuttered as your fingers brushed against his as you took the donut. He wished that he could say that it had crept up on him slowly, that he hadn’t noticed his giant fucking crush for ages until he just realized that he’d liked you from day one. Because that would have been easier. He would have had time to process his emotions and come up with a game plan.

No, he took one look at you and it hit him like a freight train. It hadn’t been his first day of filming, but within those first couple of weeks whenever everyone was slowly meeting everyone else. He’d wandered onto set during the lunch break only to come across you, Finn Wolfhard, and Caleb McLaughlin, all doubled over, laughing hysterically.

“You’re both - “ Laugh. “Such - “ Wheeze. “Shitheads.” You were getting the words out - barely - in between your laughter, Finn and Caleb losing it even more than you had.

“How was I supposed to know that it wasn’t real?” Finn snickered, grinning from ear to ear.

“Gives shithead a whole new meaning, huh?” Caleb smirked, setting the three of you off into another round of hysterics. Joe just stared at you, eyes wide. He wasn’t able to put his finger on it, but it felt like he’d just been hit in the chest.

It fucking sucked.

“The kids have a test today, which means I get some free time,” you replied, tugging him out of his thoughts. He leaned against the trailer, watching as you settled back onto its steps.

“Enough free time for us to go help out the Companions of Jorrvaskr?” He asked you, eliciting a chuckle as you bit into your donut.

“Probably not. Caleb and Gaten are most likely going to be done soon enough.” Joe nodded his head, trying to bite back the frown that was threatening an appearance. “But we could play it tonight, back at the hotel? Shooting says we should wrap up around seven thirty if you don’t suck.”

“Like, in my room?” His eyes widened, and his heart started to beat a little faster. He’d been one of the lucky ones able to get his own room. You just nodded at him.

“Yeah, like in your room? I mean, we could play in mine, but as much as Sara loves doing your makeup, I’m pretty sure she’d hate you if she had to deal with you off hours,” you teased. Joe just nodded his head a little too enthusiastic.

“Yeah, definitely. My room’s cool. Totally cool. We could grab room service or something too? We’re too late into filming, so they can’t fire me for racking up their bill.” At that, you snorted through your bite of donut, causing Joe to grin even wider.

“What’ve we got left, two weeks?”

“Yeah, I think so. Of principal stuff, anyway. Reshoots will be in a month or two, and then it's press all fucking day for the rest of our lives,” Joe said, making a face at the thought of it.

“Come on, Joe, it can't be that bad.”

“I just… I've never done it before, you know? What if I suck?”

“You can't suck at it, though. You're physically incapable of sucking at that. You're nice, charming, funny, attractive. You've got this down pat, man.”

Joe felt his entire face warm at your words. You'd called him attractive. What the hell was he supposed to say to that?

“Yeah, well, thanks for the vote of confidence.” He paused, glancing to the donut in his hand and then back to you. “You, uh, you think I'm attractive?”

You let out a bright, loud laugh as you grinned up at him. You squinted at him in the harsh sun, opening your mouth to respond just as Gaten swung open the door to the trailer.

“I'm free, Y/N! Fucking nailed it, too,” he crowed, grinning wide as you stood up from the steps, giving him space to hop down.

“Dude, language, please. Your mom said that you need to cut down on the swearing.”

“My mom needs to cut down on the shit,” he said, grinning up at you with a sly look. You shot him a glare, and to Joe's delight, Gaten shrunk under it. “I was being funny, Y/N. I was making a joke. My mom is great, okay? She's a wonderful woman.”

“Hey, you wanna go grab some donuts at crafts? They've got the good ones that you like,” Joe suggested, shooting you a quick wink before Gaten saw him.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, let's give Y/N a break for once.”

Joe shot you another wink as he and Gaten walked away, his pounding in his chest. He was so fucking gone for you, it was ridiculous.

Joe: How's London going?

You: I feel like I'm being unpatriotic but         Atlanta was waaaaay more rainy         So it's not so bad         I miss everybody

Joe: Even me?

You: Especially you.

You: Sooooo best friend

Joe: Yessss vest friend?          Best friend          Fucking autocorrect

You: I saw some nice pictures of you online with a model. Nice 👌

Joe: Oh         No         We were walking out at the same time and they made it look like that         I don't even know her name????

You: So you're not dating?

Joe: Nah

You: Good

Joe: ???????????

Finn: okay so is Y/N coming with us for the press tour or what?

Joe: Nope, they got somebody else to wrangle you assholes

Gaten: Son of a bitch

Caleb: Language

Millie: Languaaaaaage

Noah: LANGUAGE

Charlie: So does no Y/N mean that Joe's going to spend the entire time pining?

Natalia: Probably 😂😂😂

Joe: I'm not PINING JFC we're friends

Charlie: Friends don't wanna make out with other friends, mate. Hate to break                that to you.

Joe: I hate you

Caleb: THEY GOT ANOTHER WRANGLER FOR FILMING ITS NOT Y/N

Finn: no one tell joe. he's gonna be pissed

Joe had been sick when you'd told him that they'd already hired somebody else to watch the kids for season two. It made sense. For the first season, they'd been a little overwhelmed, a little under prepared. The budget had been lower, so they'd had to make do.

With season two, though, it was different. There were new actors and bigger budgets and a totally different feeling whenever he walked into set.

But that might have been because you weren't around.

Joe had been up for somewhere around fifty hours due to some travel issues and stress and then getting roped into a Mario Kart tournament whenever he'd finally gotten to the hotel. So he was a little off his game, but his first scene wasn't for another two days. Costume fittings he could handle on little sleep.

What he couldn't handle was seeing you poke your head into the costume trailer, asking for Noah to get on set.

“Y/N?” He breathed out, staring at you with wide eyes.

“Oh, hey Joe! I didn't think you were getting here until tomorrow.”

“They just - they called me in this morning. What are you doing here?” Was he hallucinating you? You'd specifically told him one night while you were Skyping that they'd gotten an actual person to watch over the kids. And if he wasn't hallucinating, then he needed to get it together. His eyes were actually starting to burn a little, like he wanted to cry.

“I'm working? You remember, my job as a PA?” You stepped into the trailer, taking a step to the left so Noah could could get out. The young boy eyed the two of you carefully, giving you a questioning look to which you just shrugged.

“But - but you said that they hired somebody else to wrangle kids?” The confusion from Joe was emanating from him so much it was almost a tangible thing.

“Yeah, but I was originally hired as a PA. I thought you would have understood what I was saying.” You paused for a moment, stepping towards him until you were about a foot away. “Joe, I would've told you if I wasn't coming back.”

Joe just stared at you, shaking his head slow, back and forth as he tried to wrap his mind around what you were saying.

At some point, the two women who had been making small adjustments to his costume had slipped outside to give the two of you some privacy. Neither of you had noticed.

“I guess you're right, I just panicked? I don't - I don't fucking know anymore.”

“Joe, are you - are you crying?” You laughed softly, reaching up to wipe a tear away from his cheek. You let your hand rest against his cheek, offering him a faint smile. “I know you missed me, but not this much.”

“I haven't slept in like fifty five hours, okay? Gimme a break.” His head dropped to your shoulder, his hands resting at your waist as he tugged you towards him. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why'd you tell me that it was good that I wasn't dating that model?”

It was silent for a few seconds, and Joe's heart felt as though it would burst. That good had haunted him ever since you'd sent it. It was the closest you'd ever gotten to addressing your feelings towards him one way or the other. He'd been dying to ask you, but even over Skype, it felt like it was too important. It needed to be discussed in person.

“Because I don't want you dating anyone, because I'm a jealous twat.” Your fingers carded through his hair as he kept his forehead against your shoulder.

“Why are you jealous?” He lifted his head so he could get a better look at you. Your teeth nipped at your lower lip, a sign of your nerves that he'd first noticed ages ago, soon after he'd met you.

You took in a deep breath, a light pink coloring your cheeks.

“Because I like you. A lot. I've liked you since we first met, but not seeing you in person for months on end sucked, and it hit me, you know?”

Joe nodded his head in response, eager enough that it brought out a small smile on your lips.

“It hit me too,” he murmured. “Really fucking fast and hard.”

“Good, that's good.” The two of you just stared at each other, looks of happy disbelief on your faces before Joe leaned in, pressing his lips to yours. You reached up, tangling your fingers in his hair.

“I'm really into you,” he mumbled against your lips, finding it hard to keep from grinning.

“I'm really into you, too.”

Noah: GUYS            AND GIRLS            YOU WONT BELIEVE IT            [Blurry image of Y/N kissing Joe, shot through the window on the door                 of the trailer]

Finn: but I like emo joe           rip emo joe

[expatimes]

Robots rising: Firms debut fuzzy pets, household helpers at CES

Exhausted from the isolation, extra chores and sleepless nights of the coronavirus pandemic? Get a robot to help.

Firms debuted artificial intelligence-enabled gadgets aimed at making staying home during the COVID-19 crisis easier, safer and less frustrating at this year’s first fully virtual Consumer Electronics Show.

Plenty of people adopted pets during the pandemic to ease their isolation. In fact, so many animals were adopted from shelters that a shortage developed in some places. But if you missed out on adopting a real pet for snuggles, not to worry.

Japanese firm Vanguard Industries is offering a furry robot named MOFLIN that coos affectionately, nuzzles your hand and clearly likes to be petted.

Looking a lot like a tribble from the TV show Star Trek, the fuzzy love bug has sensors and an algorithm that enable it to learn from its surroundings and human interactions.

AI enables the MOFLIN robot to develop its own unique personality as you interact with it

Over time, the MOFLIN develops its own unique personality to make it even more like a real pet. The furry robot, which took home the CES award for best innovation in robotics, will be available this spring. No word yet on what it costs — but at least it’s housebroken.

High-tech baby cot Cradlewise aims to help parents through those initial sleepless nights by using AI to learn an infant’s waking patterns and then rocking him or her back to sleep.

Cradlewise uses a regular RGB (red, green and blue) camera as well as a 3D camera to detect motion and an array of microphones to detect sound, including a baby’s cries. The microphones are arranged to cancel out background noise, so a crying baby on Netflix won’t confuse its system.

The sensors and AI software can then determine when the baby is close to waking up. At that point, if it’s still time to sleep, the crib moves gently up and down while it plays soothing music to keep the baby in dreamland while alerting parents via their smartphones that precious nap time is almost up.

Sensors enable Cradlewise to start soothing your baby back to sleep at just the right time

Cradlewise is the brainchild of company founder and CEO Radhika Patil, developed after she and her husband struggled to find a sleep solution for their own baby.

“She was an extremely light sleeper,” Patil told Al Jazeera of her daughter.

So far, the smart cradle is only available in California’s San Francisco Bay area, where Patil said it is saving parents more than two hours of extra sleep per day. But if you want a robot to rock your baby, it will cost you — Cradlewise will be available online for a cool $1,499 beginning in March 2021.

Helping out around the house

If you want a robot that’s a bit more mobile, there’s Scout — a sleek, high-tech contraption that can fit into the palm of your hand and zip around your house on highly ribbed wheels. Scout has sensors that enable it to avoid obstacles and scoot sideways around objects if needed.

It’s also happy to do guard dog duty. Scout has a camera behind its front panel, and AI enables it to determine whether it’s seeing a human or animal. Scout can send a 13-second message to a mobile phone instantly via the cloud and internally record up to two hours of activity.

But for privacy reasons, there is no facial recognition software on Scout and the surveillance function can be turned off, said Jun Ye, cofounder of Pilot Laboratories in San Diego, which worked with subsidiary Moorebot on Scout.

Ye also emphasises that Scout is about more than surveillance.

“This robot is actually pretty fun,” Ye told Al Jazeera. “It supports something called scratch — scratch language programming.”

Scratch is a graphical programming language that kids can use to teach the robot to do more things, Ye explained. Moreover, Scout comes with a port on top so people can customise it — by attaching a 3D-printed robotic arm, for example.

Pets and kids are fun, of course, but also messy. If you want a robot to help you around the house, Samsung is working on Bot Handy — a creation that will be able to load the dishwasher, pick up after the kids and pour you a refreshing beverage at the end of the day.

Bot Handy has an extension arm with a gripper and can stretch its height to reach shelves. Its AI capability enables it to recognise the shape and material of the object it grabs, so it will pick up a glass with just the right amount of pressure.

The Bot Handy home-help robot, on the right, is in development by Samsung

“Bot Handy can move around and do things like set the table or put away groceries,” explained Samsung Research head Sebastian Seung in a video at this year’s CES.

Unfortunately, for those hoping for help now with the dishes, Bot Handy is still in development.

But if Bot Handy isn’t available yet to pour you a glass of Pinot Grigio at the end of a long Zoom call, you could always brew your own beer.

INTHEKEG — which is being developed by a South Korean company of the same name — is about the size of a dishwasher and can make up to four varieties of beer per week.

The device uses prepackaged ingredients but lets users develop their own flavour of craft beer, the company said in an email. The firm is also working on expanding the types of beverages the machine can produce to perhaps include kombucha, wine and sake.

Of course, a big part of craft beer brewing is bragging about it. But if you’re having trouble texting after a few refreshing beverages, then you might want to download a new keyboard to your phone that has 70 percent more space per key.

Conventional keyboards come from the age of the typewriter and, as they were squeezed down to fit mobile phones, the keys became especially narrow — a problem for typing with our round fingertips, according to David Eberle, CEO and cofounder of the Swiss firm Typewise.

“Most of the mistakes are made in the horizontal dimension — so on the left or the right of a specific key,” Eberle told Al Jazeera.

Typewise uses hexagons instead, allowing it to increase the key size by 70 percent — so your thumbs are less likely to make mistakes.

“By having larger key sizes, obviously, you’re more likely to hit the actual key that you intended to hit,” Eberle explained.

The app also has privacy perks: Typewise’s advance autocorrect is entirely contained within a user’s device itself, so no data is being sent to a server in the cloud.

“Nothing that the user types ever leaves his device on a keyboard level,” Eberle added.

The newest iteration of Typewise, which will have a no-cost version, will be available for download in February.

#technology Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=16833&feed_id=28733 #asiapacific #businessandeconomy #coronaviruspandemic #economy #japan #news #scienceandtechnology #southkorea #unitedstates #usampcanada

[survivesalem]

Rites of Passage

Liam:  We Never Met :(

Jessie: your name keeps trying to autocorrect to Chernobyl idk why I’m sure you were a lovely person!

Jay: You were so robbed in this game, I hope you have the chance to play another and have a full experience.

Liam:  We Never Met :(

Jessie:also didn’t get to know you ♥️ heard you self voted but like I kinda wish I got to meet everyone

Jay:  Pepe the frog

Liam: We Never met #CanadianQueen

Jessie:a fellow Canadian who I also never got the chance to Meet ! 

Jay: I didn't get the chance to meet you but I bet you're rad

Liam: Strategic King! Super intelligent! King of Kentucky & Dairy Queen

Jessie: One of the most down to earth people I know we will get to play again together sometime soon I hope 

Jay: When I saw you on the cast I was excited but also worried because I had to vote for you in Atomic and I was worried you'd be mad. But you deserved to do way better than you did in this game

Liam: We didn’t have the opportunity to meet but I heard you were a force to be reckoned with!

Jessie:  fellow Canadian robbed early due to going after my aly actually so sweet love your cosplay lipsync you did in atomic

Jay: One of these days we'll actually be able to play together lmao. I think you're wonderful and wholesome but you're also very strategic so when we had the chance we had to take it.

Liam:  #AlaceForever!!! Sweetest of hearts

Jessie:  we never met but maybe a future game ?

Jay:  Totally swap screwed, if you had made it to merge I'm sure you could have done some damage. It really feels like forever since we talked even though it's only been like 30 days.

Liam: Your personality was super eccentric and I STAN! We had a small period of time getting to talk but when we did you were funny asf!

Jessie:  such a chaotic individual you were the first one to call out the tribe throwing and I thought you were joking . Would of been fun to see you pop off on people again

Jay:  I don't think we have played together before this game so when I saw you were playing I REALLY wanted to work with you. Unfortunately there were other circumstances this season that prevented it, but you were still an icon of this game while you were here. ILY and thank you for all the love you've given me during my times in Atomic.

Liam: Future Broadway STAR! Always had a positive energy and just icon all round

Jessie :a fellow nerd who got cut when Dylan was suppose to go you were done dirty.

Jay:  Soooo we never really spoke and that's definitely my bad but I don't have much to say other than I hope you had a good time this season!

Liam: Probably the smartest person on the cast. Your brain is POWERFUL! I love our nerdy talks about ATLA! It was sad to see you quit tho :(

Jessie:  when you quit the game I told you I hope everything’s turn out okay because your a lovely human I meant that

Jay:  I also didn't talk much with you, and I don't know why you wanted to leave but I hope you're doing alright now

Liam: The man, the myth, the legend, the kiwi! It was great to have an ANZAC with me and you were the perfect shield MWAH!

Jessie:  we became friends after atomic and I’m glad  we did . You are such a interesting person and I loved our convos .

Jay: AHHH MAC I miss you so much, you and I were tight from the start and getting to meet and play with you was a treat. I'm very excited to see you again after the season.

Liam: Board Games king!! Let’s play monopoly one day pls! I feel the worst about voting you out :(

Jessie: you are a very smart individual and you knew what was going on. Your intellectual game convos your last few rounds reallly made me think about things .

Jay: You and I didn't talk too much and again definitely on me because you seemed wonderful from the times we did talk or during tribal.

Liam:  Gizmo & I had our ups and downs… Our relationship was rocky at points but overall I did like him as a person and his passion for this game and also your passion for teaching & science!

Jessie: a quiet soul but you managed to not get first merge boot which is impressive . I saw you and Cameron as a duo . Sorry we didn’t talk more 

Jay:  You were a strategic FORCE in this game, but unfortunately everyone knew it. You played hard and I really respect that. When we talked towards the end of your time in the game, I really regretted not talking more to you sooner. I know you weren't in the best place when you were last in the game and I hope you're doing better now.

Liam:  Robbed of Pripyat and now robbed of Salem!!! You were the biggest threat @ F6 so unfortunately I had to cut you! Stoner King! Happy Birthday for Sunday my dude!!!!

Jessie: oh Brien I could say lots of nice things about you high key . Your one of the people I was friends with the start of the season and you were gonna win ♥️ your such a sweet human and I’m glad we got to play together . 100 percent your loyalty by giving me that steal a vote I’ll never forget.

Jay:  Omg Brien you're the best ilysm, voting you out was the hardest vote for me to cast all season, but I hope you can understand why I had to :( but other than that, you were one of my top allies and talking to you on call so much really reinvigorated my love of playing these games. Hope you get player of the season~

Liam:  RAFFY!!! The Bottoms really snapped this season and Raffy was the ultimate power bottom! He played a really smart game from the bottom and I was really impressed by his game overall.

Jessie:  fellow witch, your energy was definitely contagious I loved the vibes you gave off . You weren’t afraid to pop off when need be. Even though your mad I wanna be friends after this game 💕

Jay:  Raffy I have SO much respect for you. You never once gave up this season, you had fight even when you were on the wrong side of the numbers. Getting to play this entire season with you, whether we were working together or not, you made it exciting. It was really great to see you again after a few years, a real throwback.

Liam: Giraffe Icon!! I wanted to be honest with you @ the final 4 tribal and say I voted for you! 

Jessie: you were always trying to make moves until you got voted out I applaud you for that . If we connected sooner you could of been sitting here I do believe 

Jay:  Welllll it's an understatement to say we weren't so close this season. I think it's impressive how far you made it while constantly being in the conversation to go, so you definitely did something right. I think in your next game if people give you more of a chance, and I'm definitely guilty of not giving you a chance sometimes and I'll own up to it, that you could do some real damage.

Jessie:  when we first met during tribe swap I didn’t think we’d get along I thought you seemed really quiet but eventually we talked and got over that hurdle . 

Liam: The purest of hearts thank you for your loyalty and your overall kindness <3 forever love you

Liam:  Where do I even start?! I loved our lil Nerdy Conversations from day 1 and just your overall attitude you're such a queen and you deserve the best from life ilysm <3

Jay: Jessie omg I know we had a slow start but I feel like our relationship really blossomed the longer we were here. I think you played this game hard and I hope the jury gives you the credit you deserve, keep on being your wonderful self 💜 

Jay:  I WISH we got to be on the same tribe premerge because I wish our relationship could have started sooner. It's wild that we didn't really talk too much before we aligned cause you and I worked together SO WELL! This game wouldn't have been the same without you, I can't believe it's your first game ever. You killed it.

Jessie:  day one ride or die . I’m forever greatful for our convos in this game I could probably write a really long paragraph and I might after this game. This is a real friendship that I got from this game and I’m excited to be nerdy friends after .

[wonderfulworldofwinchester]

The Angel Is Off His Rocker Pt.2

Characters: Sam x Reader, Jody, Cas, Dean.  

Warnings: Language, mentions of feeling nervous or anxious. 

A/N: This is unedited, so sorry for any grammar/spelling errors/ autocorrect mishaps haha 

Word Count: 1399

PART 1 

Second part to the fic based off this imagine: Imagine going to Jody to vent after Cas says he thinks you’re in love with Sam.     

Jody waved to you as you pulled out of her driveway, headed back to the bunker to face what you had unknowly been running from. She knew from the moment she saw you and Sam, somewhere along the way you would end up here. 

The drive back was nothing shy of nerve wracking. You had made this drive so many times that you could probably do it in your sleep. You knew every turn, every road sign, and exactly how long it takes to get from point a to point b. This time, however, you missed a couple turns, usually followed by ‘shit!’ And a u-turn. Knowing how long the drive took also did you no good. You anxiously looked at the clock on the dash several times. Your heart and mind both raced. It seemed to take an incredibly longer time to get back to the bunker, but it also seemed that you were too close too soon, all at the same time. 

Everything was becoming so overwhelming. There was no reasonable explaination fro your nervousness. Nothing had changed about Sam. He was still the sweet and caring man you had always known. The only thing that had changed was your perception of that man. He would still be just as open, and he would never shut you out.

Before long, you found yourself sitting in your car just on the outskirts of the bunker’s property, desperately trying to convince yourself to go in there and lay it all out. ‘Jody thinks it’s what I should do. If she says it’s the best option here, it has to be, right?’ These are the words that swam through your head. You went round and round with what to do. 

Just as you were mid argument with yourself, Castiel appeared in your passenger’s seat, startling you. “Goddammit, Cas! Don’t do that!” 

“My apologies. I thought you might not want me to draw attention by having to knock, since you seem to be hiding.” 

“ugh..” you threw your head back against the headrest, and rolled your eyes. I’m not hiding. I just need a minute to process what I am preparing to do.” 

“So you have given so thought to my observations.” 

“Cas, if you don’t get your feathered ass out of my car right now...” 

With that he was gone, leaving you to finally put up or shut up. 

As you pulled into the garage, you could see Dean was working on Baby. He looked up at you as you got out, and gathered up your ruffled from the backseat. “Back so soon.” 

You didn’t stop to talk, but rather offered a simple answer. One you hoped the elder Winchester wouldn’t read too much into. “I have soemthing to take care of.” 

Your hands shook ever so slightly as you gripped the doorknob on your bedroom door. You placed your stuff on the bed, and went about cleaning yourself up a little, making sure you looked presentable. It was now or never. 

Sam was in his room, nose no doubt buried in some book. Your feet threaded oh so softly down the hall to his room as if they were afraid the floor would crack underneath them if you took too heavy of a step. One deeep breath, and a smoothing of your shirt later, your knuckles rapped against the surface of the door, barely making any sound at all. You were sure he hadn’t heard. Your hand raised to knock once more, but quickly dropped when the familiar sight of Sam Winchester cam into view. 

His hair was slightly tousled; you could tell he had been laying down on his bed. His eyes were just as soft and warm as ever, and he wore a simple v-neck with pajama pants. “Y/N...” He tilted his head a little to the side, “I thought you were going to be at Jody’s.” 

You looked down towards your feet, then to the door frame, suddenly afraid to look at the man standing in front of you. “I was, but I had something to take care of here, and she said I should handle it.” 

“Uh.Okay. Is it taken care of then, or did you maybe need some help or something?” You knew he was confused as to why you were at his door if you said you had something you needed to do. Hell, you would’ve had the same reaction if he had done it to you, let alone if he had treated you like you had treated him lately. 

Behind your back you were twiddling your fingers, “no, not exactly. I mean-, I just-, Can-, I don’t know-.” 

Sam looked down and chuckled a little bit before looking back up to meet your eyes. “Are you going to be completing any of those sentences?” 

“Oh come on, I’m trying here.”

“Come on. It’s me. You can tell me anything, you know that.” He reached out and bumped your arm lightly. 

You exhaled deeply before looking up at him. “Well you see, Cas kinda has this theory...” 

Sam stepped back slightly, and motioned for you to come in. Soemthing about being in his room was different now. You had been in here more times than you can count. You’ve even shared his bed with him on more than one occasion for crying out loud. It felt so much more intimate now. It was the same room, but it was like seeing it for the first time. You both sat down on the edge of his bed. “So what��s this theory about?” 

“Um, well I guess you could say it’s about me.” Sam’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion , and his head once more tilted to the side. “He has this wild idea in his head...” you paused, and shook your head. “He had what i thought to be a wild idea. Now, I think he just might be right.” 

“You’re gonna have to give me a little more to go on.” 

“Okay, let me back up. So remember when I went off before I left for Jody’s?”

“Yea..”

“Well, Cas showed up, said some things, and asked me a question that to be honest kinda freaked me out a little, which is why I got all flighty and left for Jody’s in the middle of the night, and couldn’t tell you why.” 

“What did he say to make you do that?” 

You took another deep breath, and told him exactly what Cas had said that night. “He said: I don’t understand why Sam makes you angry. If you are in love with him, shouldn’t he make you happy?” 

You refused to make eye contact, as it sank in, and he processed what you had just said. 

“And..?”

it was your turn to furrow your eyebrows, “And what?”

he looked over to you, “What conclusion did you come to?”

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, for one, Is he right? And two, shouldn’t I make you happy?”

Your heart pounded in your chest. Do you you tell him the truth? Well, you pretty much have to now, right. The inner battle went on inside your head for what seemed like hours. When you finally spoke it came out in a small whisper. Barely audible. “Yes. 

You could hear him let out a breathe and in that millisecond you feared the worst, he didn’t feel the same way. But then, he followed it with “Oh thank God.” He sounded so relieved. 

“What? Why?”

He turned to you with a big grin plastered on his face. “Because, this would be so much more awkward if the answer was no.” With that, his lips brushed against your softly, testing the waters. They were soft and warm, and everything you could have imagined. “I have to say, I have wanted to do that for so long.” 

Your cheeks flushed a shade of crimson, and your eyelashes fluttered.

“You know, you’re adorable when you blush.” He laughed as he pressed his forehead to yours. “Also, as much as it hurt to have you mad at me, i have to say that you’re incredible sexy when you’re pissed off.” 

If you want to be added to one of my tag lists, just ask :) 

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[a-flustered-paint-appeared-blog]

some short naegiri drabble thing

just a short naegiri drabble thing bc why not im craving naegiri also btw i just played a three hour game of monopoly that isnt finished yet (continuing tmw morning) and im loaded eat my ass togami also i wrote this on my phone which has autocorrect turned off so sorry for any typos/grammar errors and sorry this is not v good i wrote it late at night :/ It wasn't often the two of them got to be alone together, and to be honest Naegi couldn't tell whether that was good luck or not. He and Kirigiri were close, sure, but the two of them often shared awkward silences. To occupy themselves, they decided to walk around the third floor together, hoping to find something that peeked their interests. Aside from a few notes of possible weapons found in several different rooms (ones they'd make sure to be wary of) nothing came up. They returned to Naegi's room together and conversed casually, Naegi often being the conversation starter. They got to know each other a bit better, however Naegi realized something and couldn't help but speak his thoughts. "Y'know, Kiri," he started, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't think I've ever heard you laugh before." "Is that so?" Kirigiri answered, turning to Naegi. "I don't remember ever laughing around you." "Well, I was just thinking that..." Naegi started. "You just seem to keep your composure in every situation... how?" "I can't exactly guess," Kirigiri shifted a bit. "It just comes naturally." "I see... well, I think you should loosen up a little... you seem to be tense most of the time." Naegi faced Kirigiri, his expression showing childish enthusiasm. His friend couldn't help but smile at his expression. "Is this a challenge?" Kirigiri smirked, obviously challenging Naegi. "Alright, make me laugh." "Any rules?" He asked. "No constraints." The next few minutes were spent telling ridiculous jokes and Naegi attempting to do weird actions, but nothing seemed to phase Kirigiri. The odd chuckle was the best reaction he got out of her. "This is impossible!" He half-whined. "You're way too good at this..." he scoffed childishly, trying to think of something else to try. "Hmm, well if you think of anything that tickles your fancy, let me know." She huffed, still smirking at Naegi. "Wait..." Naegi paused, a sudden idea popping into his head after hearing Kirigiri's words. He cursed himself for not thinking of this sooner. Now that he thought about it, this course of action should've been the first thing he tried. "Hey, Kirigiri," Naegi mused, smirking at his friend, which in turn made Kirigiri frown back. "Can I ask you something?" "I suppose," she answered stoicly. "Are you ticklish, by any chance?" Naegi mentally highfived himself for his own idea as he watched Kirigiri's face go from one of confidence to one of slight panic. The answer was clear as day, and Naegi could see the anxiety clouding her eyes. She was blushing slightly, but she was trying to keep her composure as much as possible. "Uh..." Kirigiri trailed off after clearing her throat. "I... don't know?" "You don't know, huh?" Naegi asked a retorical question, leaning over his friend and making himself seem slightly taller. "Makoto Naegi, I swear..." she whispered as she backed herself further away from Naegi, almost falling off the bed. "Well, if you don't know, don't you think it's best to find out?" Naegi asked, raising his hands to his chest level and wiggling his fingers deviously. Upon the sight of his fingers, Kirigiri made a strange choking sound as if trying to fight back a snicker of anticipation. It's not that she was unbearably ticklish, but it was something about Naegi's tone of voice and smirk that just got to her. "I think information like that is best kept secret..." "I don't think so," Naegi said as he started lightly fluttering his fingers over Kirigiri's stomach, causing his friend to jerk and gasp suddenly. She didn't struggle too much, as if determined to hide her ticklishness from Naegi, but oh, he knew. "N-naegi!" Kirigiri gasped. "Un-hand me this i-instant!" she demanded in-between grunts and tiny squeaks, trying to squirm away from Naegi. "Hmm, not gonna happen," Naegi answered, continuing to poke at Kirigiri's stomach, concentrating on getting her to crack. He noted that she must not be that sensitive on her stomach, so he moved his fingers to Kirigiri's sides and gently clawed at them. To say the reaction he got from that was surprising would be an understatement, because he swore he just heard his normally-stoic friend squeal. "Weak spot?" Naegi asked, frowning when Kirigiri shook her head and bit her lip, preventing herself from giggling. Naegi changed techniques, dragging his fingers lightly over Kirigiri's sides. His friend seemed to be more sensitive to that method, so he did more investigating and tried moving his hands even higher. That's when the dam broke and Kirigiri's sudden loud squeak made Naegi jump. "Naegiiii!!" Kirigiri almost whined before starting to laugh, trying to grab Naegi's hands to pry them off the sides of her ribs. "I-I swehehear!! Nohoho!" "Looks like I found a weak spot~" Naegi teased and laughed along with her. He blushed upon hearing her giggles and squeaks, realizing that Kirigiri's laugh was quite... cute. And it seemed that as time passed, his friend's laugh just got louder and squeakier, which in turn made Naegi laugh because this was definitely a rare sight, considering Kirigiri's personality and stoicness. He switched from gentle touches to digging into his friend's ribs, which appeared to be effective. Naegi decided that he should just have fun with this. "Hey," Naegi said in an bubbly tone. "Hey, Kiri." He retracted his hands for a short moment, allowing Kirigiri to breathe. "Eheh... wh-what?" She tried to sound serious, but her aftershocks of being tickled kept her giggling and blushing. "I'm assuming you know about the theory where men have one less rib than women... or maybe it's the other way around? I wanna test that." Naegi smiled almost innocently. "C-can't you just look that up?!" Kirigiri was in-directly begging at this point, considering her ribs were most definitely her weakest spot. "The internet doesn't always tell the truth you know, and plus, why do that when I can have more fun testing my theory on you?~" Naegi teased, which made Kirigiri un-characteristically blush and snicker. God, she's adorable... Naegi thought as he slowly dragged his fingers across each of Kirigiri's ribs, counting them one by one, which was proving to be a good method. He could feel her skin twitching underneath his touch, and it was a feeling he found to be quite satisfying. "Okay!! Okay!!" Kirigiri admitted, folding her arms across her ribs to try and prevent Naegi from tickling them. "Nohoho more!" "But Kiriiiiii..." Naegi whined childishly. "I'm not done counting your ribs yet, and all your distracting laughter made me lose count! Now I gotta start all over again," Naegi huffed, starting back at square one, except this time he allowed all of his fingers to flutter freely over Kirigiri's ribs, which in turn made his friend nearly hysterical. "M-MAKotohohoho!! STOHOhohop!" Now she was begging, and Naegi was feeling quite satisfied with his friend squirming and laughing beneath him. "Hmm... not yet..." Naegi said, moving his hands back to where he started, the sides of her ribs. He dug his fingers into the bone, not harsh enough to be painful, but just enough to make it torturous. "Admit defeat and I'll stop." He teased, his voice just loud enough for Kirigiri to hear over her hysterical laughing fit. "C-Come on!! NAEGI!" She squeaked, rolling onto her right side to try and block out Naegi's hands. This only resulted in her friend moving both his hands to her left side, which didn't make the sensations any better. "Just- STOhohop!!" "Is that you admitting you've lost?" Naegi asked, chuckling as Kirgiri nodded. He stopped, just resting his hands on Kirigiri's ribs as he took in how adorable the other looked. She was blushing and still snickering cutely because of the aftershock. He gently curled his fingers, making Kirigiri tense up as he dragged his fingers down both her sides, getting a few last giggles out of her before finally retracting his hands. "Th-that was cruel..." Kirigiri panted, looking up at Naegi, who seemed quite confident. "I won, though!" Naegi exclaimed triumphantly, smirking down at Kirigiri. "I bet you regret putting 'no touching' in your list of constraints for this game." "Don't think you've won this little game of yours just yet," Kirigiri sat up, quickly recovering from the previous attack and Naegi swore he could see her smirking. "We still have another round, and you're the victim this time." With that being said, Kirigiri tackled her friend so she was on top of him and wasted no time in digging her fingers into his stomach. "W-Wait, nohoho!! KIRI!" Naegi squeaked before being reduced into a laughing mess, squirming around and trying to escape his friend's devious fingers. Let's just say Kirigiri got a more than proper revenge that day. NOTES: frick i didnt expect it to be this Long and i dont rly like how this came out but here take it i havent written a fic in so longgg

[abbygkane]

An advantageous case of autocorrect

Summary:  Great. Do you want to eat me out after picking me up? Marcus nearly drops his phone. She can’t be serious. He doesn’t know how long he keeps staring at this screen, but it soon lights up with another text. Marcus? Hello?! With shaky fingers, he types a reply. Uhm. Are you sure? Abby immediately responds. Of course, I’m sure. It would be much easier than doing it myself. Not to mention more pleasurable. AKA Abby accidentally messing up a text and Marcus freaks out about it.

Honestly I have no idea where this idea came from. Special thanks to @zoemorgans  for making sure it wasn't complete nonsense, and to @blizzaurus and @ultrahotpink for well being themselves!

Entering his office, Marcus turns on the light and just as he’s about to take his coat off, his phone pings, alerting him of a text.

Whiskey or scotch?

Chuckling, he sits down as he reads the text. After taking a sip of coffee, he promptly replies.

A bit early for a drink don’t you think? It’s not even 10 am.

He has barely sent the text when a new message appears.

I’m not talking about right now you idiot. I was referring to our camping trip.

With a smirk playing around his lips Marcus wastes no time in typing a reply.

Drinking while being surrounded by teenagers? I am appalled. What would principal Jaha think or say? That’s not proper conduct for a member of the school board.

At her responding text, he can’t help but laugh out loud.

I don’t give a damn about Jaha. If I’m going to be hauled up with a bunch of teenagers for five days I’m going to need some alcohol. So scotch or whiskey Kane? Reply within the next minute or the bottle’s all mine, whatever I choose.

After taking another sip of his coffee, Marcus types back.

Uhm, I think you mean a bunch of teenagers and yours truly, thank you very much. I’m pretty sure I can’t be described as a ‘teenager’. And whiskey please.

He has to wait a couple of seconds, but soon enough his screen lights up.

Sorry, someone came into my office with a question about one of my new patients. Consider the whiskey added to the list. And you’re right by the way. Teenager is definitely not the word I’d use to describe you :D

His brows furrowed, Marcus rereads the text. Was she flirting with him? He quickly shakes his head. No, that’s absurd. Although – before he can change his mind, he sends a new message.

Oh? And how would you describe me doctor Griffin?

Feeling nervous all of a sudden, he scratches his beard. Why the hell did he text her that?

Well, insufferable comes to mind....

The reply elicits a soft chuckle, but Marcus can’t help but feel a flicker of disappointment, which is absurd. Abby has never given any indication of liking him. Or at least not more than a friend. Still, he can’t help himself for texting back.

Anything else I can help you with this morning doctor Griffin?

Cheeky. But unless you got a medical degree during the last couple of minutes, you, unfortunately, can’t help me. But we’re still on for dinner tonight, right?

He’s not sure whether to feel disappointed or relieved that Abby didn’t tease him back.

Yes, we are. I’ll be waiting for you at 6 o’clock.

Great. Do you want to eat me out after picking me up?

Marcus nearly drops his phone. She can’t be serious.

He doesn’t know how long he keeps staring at this screen, but it soon lights up with another text.

Marcus? Hello?!

With shaky fingers, he types a reply.

Uhm, are you sure?

Abby immediately responds.

Of course, I’m sure. It would be much easier than doing it myself. Not to mention more enjoyable.

When he doesn’t text back, she sends another one.

But if you don’t want to, that’s fine as well. I’m sure you’ll be tired from work, but I just thought that it would be nice.

Nice?

It might have been a while, but from what he can remember oral sex is more than simply nice.

Oh no. It’s just, you caught me by surprise?

He has barely pressed send when she replies.

Really? I mean I know that we haven’t done it before, but there’s a first time for everything.

Marcus snorts. That’s one way of putting it. He still can’t believe how calm she is about this. You would think that asking someone for oral sex would be done in person, and to someone you’ve been seeing. Not to the dad of your daughter’s best friend. With whom you may be friends, but nothing more. He would never have imagined Abby to message him something like this. Not believing that he’s actually considering this, he texts back.

Sure.

Great. I’ll see you later, Marcus. Gotta run, I have rounds to do.

Putting his phone down, he glances at the clock.

10:09

With a groan, he lets his head drop in his hands.

Is it still too early for a drink?

A knock on his door makes him glance up from the file he’d been working on for the past two hours.

His partner’s head pops around the door. “Shouldn’t you have left by now?”

He throws her a confused look.

“It’s already 5:45,” she points out while nodding towards this clock.

“Fuck,” he exclaims before hastily closing the file and putting it in the cabinet. He then throws on his coat and gathers his briefcase. “Thanks, Indra.”

“No problem. Give my regards to Abby,” she says with a tiny smirk as she watches how her partner hurries out of his office.

“I will,” he replies as he brushes past her.

“Uhm, Marcus aren’t you forgetting something?” she calls out after spotting something on his desk.

He stops in the middle of the hallway and turns around. A faint blush appears on his cheeks when he sees his keys dangling from her fingers.

“These might be useful?” Indra smirks.

“Ah. Yes, thanks again.” He stammers while accepting the keys.

“You alright? You’ve been distracted all day.” She can’t help but ask. Normally she wouldn’t pry, but Marcus is one of the few people she considers as a friend and this forgetfulness wasn’t how he normally acted.

“No, it’s fine. Really. Just something silly. It’ll be cleared up by tomorrow,“ he reassures her.

“Okay, well I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“You will. Give my love to Lexa and Lincoln,” he states while moving towards the door.  

Marcus has never rushed to get somewhere this much in his life and he can’t believe he didn’t get a ticket for speeding. As he turns onto the hospital’s parking lot he can already see that Abby’s waiting for him.

Dammit

He quickly makes his way over and the second she recognizes the car, a warm smile appears on her face. A smile that causes a sense of anticipation and warmth to spread through him.

Try not to make a fool of yourself man.

“Hi,” Abby greets him while getting in the car and putting on her seatbelt.

“Hi. Sorry for keeping you waiting. Our esteemed Mr. Wallace decided that my latest draft of his prenup wasn’t what he wanted, so I had to come up with a new one,” he apologises and a look of sympathy appears on Abby’s face at the mention of Wallace. She knows all too well how difficult that man could be.

“No worries Marcus, I was a bit later as well,” she reassures him with a small smile.

“So,” she begins while looking expectantly at him.

“So,” he stammers, feeling a lump forming in his throat.

“Have you given my proposition any thoughts?”

His eyes widen.

Is she seriously going to bring it up right here? In his car?

“To be honest, I haven’t been able to think about anything else all day,” he admits after a couple of seconds.  

At his reply, Abby actually giggles. “Really? You must be really hungry then.”

Marcus is positive that he’s wearing a dumbfounded look on his face, but he’s having difficulties with processing what’s happening.

What?

But Abby seems to be oblivious to his bewilderment because she presses on. “So, what restaurant have you decided on?”

“Restaurant?” he frowns.

Why would they be going to a – Oh....

“Yes, we’re going to eat out. And you usually do that at a restaurant,” Abby points out very slowly, a frown appearing on her face at the slightly dazed look on his face.

“Marcus are you sure you’re fine? If you’re too tired we could always go to my place and order some pizza like we normally do?”

He honestly wishes he could bang his face against the steering wheel. Repeatedly.

Eating out. Of course, she meant eating out. I am such an idiot.

“Uhm. No no, eating out is fine. Sorry. I guess my brain is still a bit caught up with all the legal stuff. So, restaurants. Oh, I know a great place. How does pasta sound?”

“That sounds perfect,” she replies, still sounding a bit worried and she doesn’t look entirely convinced that he’s okay, but he flashes her what he hopes to be a reassuring smile.

 “Great. It’s not too far away, only a 20 min drive,” he states while turning the engine back on.

“Okay. Do you mind if I turn the radio on?”

“Oh no, help yourself.”

He actually prefers her turning the radio on. That means he didn’t have to talk to her and it would also give him time to deal with all these conflicting emotions that are running through his head.  

 “Are you ever going to tell me what’s been bothering you?” Abby inquires before taking another bite of her pasta.

Marcus looks up from his plate, slightly confused. “How do you mean? I’m perfectly fine.”

She rolls her eyes. “Sure you are. Is that why you haven’t been able to maintain eye contact for more than two seconds all night? Or why you hardly said anything ever since you picked me up at the hospital?”

Inwardly wincing for being so obvious, Marcus debates on whether or not he should tell her the truth.

Who knows, perhaps she’ll find her typo hilarious and they could share a laugh and move past it. it’s not like he wishes that she actually meant to text him that.  

Of course not.

That would be absurd. She’s the mother of Octavia’s best friend. She’s a fellow parent with whom he could discuss his anxieties as a single dad or share a laugh while enduring another of Principal Jaha’s long and tedious speeches. And the reason he joined the school board in the first place. She’s someone who shared his love for hiking and detective novels. Not to mention the fact that she’s a very successful doctor, witty, kind and absolutely stunning. Why would someone like her ever been interested in ....No, it simply has to be a case of autocorrect and he should be grateful for having her friendship in the first place.

“Marcus?”

He’s snapped out of his reverie when Abby places a hand on his arm. Directing his gaze towards her, he notices the worried look on her face.

“I hope you know that if something’s wrong you can always tell me?”

Smiling, he rests a hand on top of hers. “Of course I know that Abby and I promise that nothing’s truly wrong. It’s just something silly really.”

“Well, it can’t be that silly if it kept you distracted  all night.” She’s quick to retort and he gives her a small nod, conceding.

“Do you remember what you texted me this morning? After we decided on whiskey for the trip?”

Abby frowns as she tries to recollect the multiple texts they’ve exchanged throughout the day.

“You mean the text where I asked if you wanted to eat out after my shift?”

“Hmm. The thing is, that’s not the text I received.”

“What do you mean?”

He clears his throat, feeling a nervous flutter in his stomach. “Well somehow your phone changed the text into this,” he explains before pulling out his phone and showing her the text that had been on his mind ever since receiving it.

As Abby reads it, her eyes widen and a blush appears on her cheeks. “I- that’s not what I meant.”

“Yeah, I figured as much.”

“So that’s why you’ve been so quiet? Because you thought I asked you for oral sex via text?” she whispers while leaning closer, her voice hushed and eyes twinkling with amusement.

“Uhm, yes.” He stammers, not trusting the gleam in her eyes as he busies himself with putting his phone away.

“Well?”

“Well, what?” Marcus frowns, unsure of where this conversation is going.

“Do you want to eat me out?”

Since he had just taken a sip of wine, it takes all of his power not to spit it out.

“What?” he manages to croak out after a couple of seconds. “You can’t be serious.”

Abby merely shrugs. “What if I am? Honestly, Marcus I’ve been throwing you hints for the past couple of months.”

Eyes wide, he exclaims. “You have?”

‘Yes Marcus, I have,” she confirms while letting a hand slide across the table until her fingers can gently caress the top of his hand, making his skin tingle everywhere she touches him. His eyes travel towards her hand, observing how she runs her fingers over his skin, not quite believing what’s happening.

His mind is going back to all the little outings and interactions they’ve had these past couple of months. Her bringing him coffee whenever they had a school meeting, or how whenever she went to the library she also brought back books he’d been wanting to read. How excited she’d been the first time he had proposed that she and Clarke could join him and his kids on their camping trip. Or how he could swear that she had a smile only for him.

“You honestly had no idea?” she asks, breaking through the fog in his mind. There’s a sly smile playing around her lips. But when he still doesn’t reply, her smile falters.

“Or perhaps you had, but ignoring them was your way of letting me know that you’re not interested and I just made a complete fool of myself,” she mutters, with her eyes cast downwards and removing her hand from its position on top of his.

A wave of panic engulfs him and he quickly reaches out and grabs her hand, halting its retreat. The action causes her eyes to snap back to his and she opens her mouth but before she can utter a single word, he’s already talking.

“You haven’t made a fool of yourself Abby, trust me. it’s quite the opposite. I just can’t believe that you – I mean, your friendship means everything to me. And I don’t want to – I didn’t want to presume that you – You have to believe me when I say that I didn’t realize you’d been flirting with me. I simply thought that you were being kind. Of course, I hoped that you might feel the same way, but I valued our friendship too much in order to risk it for so feelings you didn’t share. So I didn’t do anything.“

“What exactly are you saying, Marcus? Because I need to absolutely sure that this is something you want.”

“I care about you, Abby. More than I probably should have. Or more than I deserve, but my feelings for you are strong and there’s nothing I would want to do than explore these feelings, together,” he claims, his tone soft and genuine.

“I care about you too,” Abby murmurs back, a soft smile appearing on her face when his eyes widen. Even though he knew that she returned his feelings, hearing her actually saying the words still managed to take him by surprise.

After her utterance, tension seems to seep into the air, making them both feeling a little bit flustered.

“Are we really considering this?” Marcus whispers, fearing that if he spoke any louder whatever dream he’d fallen into would evaporate.

“Yes, unless you changed your mind.”

“No, not at all,” he assures her while caressing the soft skin of her wrist.

“Alright then. Do you want to have some dessert or-?” Abby proposes, but she lets the sentence trail off.  

Unable to help himself, Marcus smirks. “Oh, I found myself hungry for something entirely else,” he teases in a low voice, feeling a thrill of excitement going through him at the way her breath hitches in her throat.

“Well then, perhaps we should leave,” Abby replies, sounding slightly breathless.

“Let’s,” he agrees before calling on a waiter and asking for the check, all the while keeping his eyes trained on hers.

After he paid the bill, they both rise from their seats, as they’re filled with a new wave of excited energy. They put on their coats before making their way towards the exit, as Marcus guides her by placing a hand on her lower back. His touch seems to burn through the different layers of clothes Abby’s wearing, making her head swim with anticipation.

He opens the door of the restaurant for her and they cross the short walk towards the car. After they’re settled into the car, he starts the engine. “Where to next?”

“Well your place may be closer, but mine’s empty and since – I mean, an empty house might be better for our plans,” Abby mutters with a blush on her cheeks and an inability to look him in the eyes.

Marcus replies with a smirk. “Oh, definitely. An empty house means that we won’t have to keep quiet.”

Abby bites her lower lip at his suggestive tone.

Who knew that Marcus could be such a tease?

“My place it is then,” she repeats.

The ride passes in not exactly an awkward but definitely a tension filled silence. The only sound is the engine and the radio. They’re both unsure of what to say, now that they’ve admitted how they feel about each other.

Fortunately, the trip to Abby’s place doesn’t take too long and before they know it, Marcus is parked in her driveway. Stepping out of the car, they silently make their way towards her front door. As Abby opens the door, she’s agonizingly aware of his presence behind her.

They’ve barely entered her house when suddenly two arms wrap around her waist and Abby finds herself pressed against her front door, as his hands come to rest on her hips.

The action makes her gasp and she can feel her heartbeat quicken at the intense look in his eyes.

Marcus slowly lets one of his hands travel upwards her body until he tenderly brushes some strands out her face and behind her ear

“Before anything happens, there’s something I need you to know,” he murmurs, as he bends his head until he can nuzzle her neck with his nose.

Her hands instinctively grab his hair, and her fingers slide between his locks. “What’s that?” she gasps

“That this is more than just a one-night thing for me. You mean more to me. So much more and if you’ll let me, I’d eat you out for as long as you want me,” he promises while pressing soft kisses against her throat

“I-“ she stammers while tightening her grip on his hair.

“Already speechless? And I haven’t even done anything yet.” he teases, causing her to narrow her eyes.

Giving his hair a forceful tug, Abby marvels in the soft hiss that escapes his mouth only for it to transform into a moan when she brushes her hips against his, grinding against the hardness she finds there.

“Seems like you’re the one who’s speechless now,” she says, her voice slightly breathless.

“You’re hardly playing fair,” he admonishes her, and in retaliation he nips at her throat, causing her to moan.

“Oh Abby, I really want to kiss you,” Marcus murmurs, his mouth almost pressed against her skin.

“Then kiss me,” she orders while tugging on his hair until he straightens himself and their mouths are mere inches apart.

[rajkumarraletta-blog]

How To Make A Website Mobile Friendly

In 2016 just because, versatile web use out performed PC use. It shouldn't have been an astonishment to anybody focusing. Cell phone use has been on the ascent as far back as Apple discharged the first cell phone and cell phones have turned out to be such a customary piece of regular day to day existence that we as a whole hope to see individuals taking a gander at their telephones each time we go out. For site proprietors, this move in how individuals cooperate with the web isn't amazing, however it increases the earnestness you need in making your site portable cordial. In the event that your versatile guests at present don't have a decent encounter when they arrive on your site, you're heading out a colossal part of your potential traffic (and harming your web crawler rankings all the while).You've heard it before at this point, however we're stating it once more. You need to make your site versatile neighborly. Yet, realizing that is something you have to do and really realizing how to do it are two distinct things.

Make Your Website Responsive

A responsive site incorporates all a similar substance and data on any gadget you get to it on, however it changes the manner in which it's shown and orchestrated dependent on the size of the gadget screen. This is the best alternative for making your site portable agreeable, on the grounds that you're not restricting the data your versatile guests can get to – regardless they get all a similar substance the remainder of your guests do. What's more, responsive structure is likewise useful for SEO. Google has said it's their favored organization for portable sites.

Make Information People Look for Easier to Find

A few people who peruse the web on their cell phones wouldn't fret setting aside some effort to peruse or peruse content at a similar pace they would on a PC, however others need to discover the data they need as quick and as effectively as could reasonably be expected. Consider the data that individuals on cell phones are destined to search for when they head to your site and put that some place clear and simple to discover on the portable landing page

Include the Viewport Meta Tag

The view port meta tag is a simple method to control how your site appears on versatile. On the off chance that your page opens up as a similar width on the little screen of your telephone as it does on your work area, you will need to do some cumbersome looking from side to side to peruse each line of content and see the various sides of the page. The viewport meta label advises programs to fit the width of your page to the screen of the gadget type the guest is originating from.

Turn Autocorrect for Forms

Something it's simple not to consider is the little ways auto correct can make a client's connection with your site progressively awkward. On the off chance that you have shapes on your site that request name or address data, one little way you can make giving that data simpler on your portable guests is to mood killer auto correct for each structure field, generally their telephone will have a go at changing their name or road name to increasingly regular words and hinder the way toward rounding out your structure.

Use Large Font Sizes

Perusing on a little screen is that a lot harder if the text style is minor. It's ideal to utilize a text dimension of in any event 14px on your website pages, however feel free to test out what that looks like to check whether going greater could be better here. It's likewise best to stay with standard text styles. Any text style your guest's program may need to download will hinder to what extent it takes your site to stack, which is terrible news on versatile.

Compress Your Images and CSS

Talking about site stacking time, you generally need your site speed to be quick. In any case, on the off chance that anything, that speed is increasingly significant on portable. That implies another great advance for making your site portable inviting is to pack whatever occupies a ton of room now and moderates stacking time.

Regularly Perform Mobile Testing

The best thing you can do to ensure your site's portable experience is a decent one is to normally test it out yourself on your cell phone. Now and then, pull up your site on your telephone and tablet and invest some energy perusing to check whether anything's difficult to see or hard to do. Request that your workers do likewise, and consider procuring clients to do testing also (since they'll be seeing everything with open-minded perspectives).

Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

Regard less of whether you get everything right today, the manner in which cell phones look and work will ceaselessly change and the present portable amicable site may not still carry out the responsibility tomorrow. Continue testing, continue tweaking where required, and keep on considering your versatile clients a need and you ought to be fine.

For Visit more Article -

 Technology Moon 

[tumblunni]

BUNNI WATCHES RANDOM OUT OF ORDER SINNOH EPISODES THAT WERE LEFT ON THIS HARD DRIVE I GUESS

Today is diamond and pearl season one episode 28 "Drifloon On The Wind!"

Huh this one had a cold open showing the climactic moment from the end of the episode before it actually happened. Thats the first time i recall the anime doing that? I thougjt initially it was a flashback and i missed the first of a two parter.

Such a cool neat weird premise! A traditional pokemon centre out in the countryside! That adds so much worldbuilding to the setting! They never state it in the english dub but it seems to be a joke on a japanese onsen? (An inn built around hot springs) the archetecture just seems to be very similar, and from what i've seen in anime the "my mum and my mum's mum and my mum's mum's mum worked here" thing is a common trope. The nurse joy family is probably a joke to exaggerate it? Also i loved the scene where Brock is like "wait what the fuck this identical nurse joy is actually old enough to have a daughter ash's age and also OH NO A WEDDING RIIIIIING" And then he thankfully,blissfully GAVE UP and we had one nurse joy centric episode without him being a fuckboi. Seriously, the older you get the less funny you find brock, it sucks that the stuff that's meant to be over the top jokes is now barely more exaggerated than how some dudes act in real life. All you real life brocks, nobody finds you as charming as a fictional goofball! You're just rude! AND REAL BROCKS DONT HAVE A CROAGUNK TO STOP THEM

Anyway i LOVE the cute cottagey aesthetic pokemon center/hotel place! It seems the family mostly treats wild pokemon in the forest and they were actually so surprised to see customers that they thought they were burglars at first! And then daww ash and co help out doing chores to pay them back for the meal and bed even though the family is like 'no dude thats the duty of a pokemon centre'. I think that was a really mature moment for ash? He realized that this pokemon center gets less business than usual ones and figured he should give them a hand. And its so nice to see him being so super excited and wowed by the chores?? Like i mean its CHORES but for him its all so new cos its learning how to work in a pokemon center. Ash's best characrer trait is how his enthusiasm really has no limits, he'll go 100% be the best choremon master ever! Or maybe he was intentionalky being all THIS IS SO FUN because the joy daughters were fighting and he wanted to help cheer them up? In a lot of ways i prefer season 1's bratty egotistical sarcasm ash just cos he had more of a visible personality and you didnt have to sorta sleuth it out like this and always be left wondering whether they really meant to write nice-Ash this way or you're just imagining it. But when nice-Ash has monents like this he's way better and i just wish it hapoened more often and was 100% confirmed, yknow? Most of the time in sinnoh he feels less like nice-ash and more like nothing-ash or changes-every-day-into-whatever-the-plot-requires-him-to-be-ash. But in sun and moon season they have all those more slice of lifey and emltional plots and he's the more nicer ash that i always wanted, and i love it!

Anyway lol im going wildly off topic. Also fun fact i spell "the" wrong so much that "tge" is the first result in my autocorrect now...

Another thing i like is that these Joys seem to be a ghost type specialist family? The kids have a big pile of drifloon cuties and when the gang first arrived they saw a bunch of happy gastlys enjoying their stay at the inn. I like to think maybe all the ghosts they have are "drifty" types like that? I feel that the writers ppicked gastly cos the pokedex entry saying they blow away on the wind like drifloon. Cos this is actually the valley windworks adaptation episode! That was such a nice surprise when it turned out momma joy's husband was the windmill electrician guy!! He looks SO cute in the anime too! He's really chubby and has such a nice round face with a button nose and big anime eyes and a cute turquoise jacket electrician uniforn thing. And he's funny and goofy with his kids and very caribg and cautious about letting them ride home alone in the bad weather, and also he's a GIANT BADASS with an ampharos that thunderpunches the shit out of team rocket and defeats them before ash can even get there lol! Actually they never show what momma joy's main pokemon is? I like to think maybe its a gengar cos thats the most chansey-ish ghost type. And also itd mean the chubby guy has a tall and thin pokemon and his tall and thin wife has a chubby pokemon. Theyre such a cute couple so itd be even cuter!

Oh and i forgot to mention that everyone travels around via drifloon??? Thats so surreal when you consider their pokedex entries saying them carrying children is a bad thing that means theyre kidnapoing them. Like, they domesticated a very dangerous pokemon and now it uses its dangerousness for the powers of good instead! Maybe its just the anime censoring a scary thing or maybe it was intentional to show how badass this momma joy is that she could tame so many spoopy ghosts that everyone thinks are pure evil? Seriously i LOVE how they show this family working to protect and heal the local wild pokemon and them all being super friendly to humans because of it. And it makes sense theyd be ghost tyoe trainers cos if youre befriending all the pokemon in a forest youre bound to find a few lost souls. Mountains and forests are like the deadliest areas for travellers so mountain forests especially so! Everyone's lucky they have this badass family team watching over the area like guardian spirits~

OH SPEAKING OF WHICH

I forgot to mention that the main conflict of the episode is that the joy sisters have a fight because the older sister is a bit overprotective and dismissive of her little sister, causing her to be reckless and get lost trying to "be grown up and help mommy". And in the end the big sister rescues her with the help of the guardian spirit of the hot springs and they reconcile their differences and have big cute hugs! Its all very well written and dramatic actually.i really felt for the older sister's determination to save her, and i felt it was a good case of a conflict where both of them were wrong and both made mistakes and it was just like they coulda avoided those mistakes if they talked it out better. And both of them had a point at the same time, yknow? So it didnt end with either of them losing the argument or anything, it was more like the lesson is just to appreciate your siblings while theyre there and also talk about your problems in clear language with younger kids instead of using excuses like "you just cant, cos im older and i said so".

Oh also SUICUNE!

The super onsen spirit is suicune?? The little sister just casually mentions her biggest best friend in the forest is suicune and is surprised when ash says its a legendary! Wow thats actually a really cool idea? You wouldnt necessarily think of it cos you kinda think of hot springs for the hot part but theyre also a sort of super clean water like how suicune is meant to be able to purify polluted lakes. Maybe it came here to make its nest cos places that are already purified are comforting to someone who wanders the earth blasting stinky water with its powers every day. I like to think maybe this is the same suicune from Generations where they said the legendary beasts are roaming legendaries because humans treated them as demons when they first walked out of the ashes, and now theyre still scared of us even centuries later. Itd be sad if they literally kept running forever, so i like to think they all have a comforting spot to sleep in, somewhere. And for suicune its this little isolated lake in the sinnoh region which used to be super far away from human civilization. But then this family's ancestors built this hospital here and suicune was initially like "oh no my house is ruined" but then it saw that these humans were helping protect tge forest pokemon too. So its like "ah fellow coworkers" and theyre the only humans it trusts. And whenever theyre in trouble it sneakily helps them and dashes away before it can be seen, but one day it got unlucky and the kids saw it and now OH NO it is stuck havibg CUTE TINY FRIENDS! I bet the littlest joy just treats suicune like a big puppy, and this great noble beast of legend plays along because it loves her so much. But if anyone else sees it demeaning itself with a game of fetch, it would be Total Social Death In The Legendaries Club

Anyway there's some cute moments of Emotionally Wise Kind Ash The Best Of All Ashes where he finds the lost little-joy and he tries to cheer her up when she's scared by the storm and keep her dry from the rain. And he has absolute faith that his friends will come to save them both! The only thing i think coukd have maybe made it better is if the big sister joy didnt beleive in suicune? Cos it just ends with her going to ask suicune for help and then suicune helps. There's a lack of tension cos you know suicune could easily resolve all this and you already know suicune is real cos the lil sis says that big sis told her to keep it a secret cos its a Big Deal and Bad People Could Take Suicune Away and stuff. Like it might have worked better if the big sis thought that little sis was just making up rumours to be all boastful, or playing with an imaginary friend. Then her going to ask suicune for help would have symbolized something, yknow? And the audience might have been tense about whether it was real or not.

But even without that added suggestion it was still a great episode! Lots of cuteness, emotionalness, familyness and a few great jokes along the way! Also i just loved them giving unique character designs and a full backstory to these minor npcs from the game. Whenever i play it now i'm totally gonna headcanon this all as true! I mean all we know about the daughter character in the game is that she says "papa youre stinky but i still love you" and that feels very in character for the slightly mischievious little sis joy that we meet in this episode. Though you only see the one daughter and she acts like she hasnt caught a drifloon yet and dreams of seeing it if you can fix the windmill problems so it'll come back. So maybe the game version takes place a little before the anime? Like, that daughter is the engineer dad's daughter from a previous relationship and the older daughter is joy's daughter from a previous relationship. And i dunno maybe lil daughter's hair colour actually is the generic npc brown from the games but she begged her momma to dye it so she could match. Like she just loves her new momma and sister so much!! And now the struggling mountain poke-center is doing better because both parents work difderent jobs now and have enough money combined to be able to keep the family in a better quality of life. And maybe the team galactic incident at the valley windworks got it a bit of publicity as a tourist destination? and after the daughter caught that drifloon everyone who visited was like GOSH ITS SO CUTIE and the dad was like "yes our special windmill attracts these pokemon that are normally only found high up on the mountains, speaking of which my wife runs an inn up there and you can go on pokemon wildlife tours to see them in their natural habitat!" And just I LOVE THESE GUYS AND I WANT THEM TO HAVE ALL THE SUCCESS IN THEIR LIFE!! There is NOTHING better than "hey we're adapting this gane what should we do?" "Add MORE FAMBLY" Like oh my god whoever had that wonderful idea should be promoted!

Thus ends bunni's disjointed review of FAMBLY EPISODE

[milehighcity-rp]

Hello, everyone! It’s that time again! If you’ve gone onto the main, I’m sure you’ve noticed a completely new look for the spring season! With that revamp we’ve also made a few other changes around here. This post is lengthy, but please read it all. Many of the changes are to the rules and we want to make sure everyone is on the same page! 

New Rules

Each acceptance round will be limited to a maximum of five apps. Why? We’ve decided in order to accommodate to new members being introduced, we’d rather have a cap and be able to adjust and give our focus to those new characters and members. If we get more than five apps, we will put the apps on hold for next acceptance date!

We’ve decided to cap FC changes at one per character.

We’re opening up secondary characters again! So, if you only have one or two, you’re more than welcome to apply for another. However, we are still asking you come to us first and present the idea to us beforehand. If you submit an app without coming to us, it will automatically be denied and you will not be accepted. 

We are doing activity checks twice a week, checking for activity in the past 72 hours. If you end up on activity, you have 24 hours to become active again or check back in with the admins or your FC will be opened up. Keep in mind, we post activity checks at noon EST, which means noon is the cutoff. Monday activity checks go back to Friday. If you made a post on Friday before noon EST, you will end up on activity check. If you made it after noon EST, you are fine. Same goes for activity checks for Thursday, which check back to activity by noon EST Monday. Once again, photos, muse quotes, and other miscellaneous muse inspo will not count for activity. If you have a queue of muse related post, we will notice and we will put you on activity check if no other IC interactions have taken place.

If we noticed that you haven't been as active as we hoped you to be or if we noticed that you've been bubbling / clique-ing with only few people, we will come to you and give you a warning. If even after a warning you still haven't improve your activity or break out of your bubble, there will be penalties. You won't be allowed to take up on a new character until you can pick up your activity and we can deny your plot request or wanted connection request based on your activity. All the activities rules apply to all of your characters in this group, you must be consistently active across all of your characters, if you fail to do so, we might ask you to drop at least one of your character.

One word replies are not allowed. Gif replies are not allowed. Starters with only gif are not allowed. We’ve never explicitly stated it, but we are a literary roleplay. This means the focus lies in writing. We’ve always been flexible with how you choose to roleplay-- whether you prefer gif convos or paras or writing out dialogue or combining gif convos with paras. It doesn’t matter, but please, please remember the focus lies in writing. This is why we ask for a para sample and a biography that is at least two, good paragraphs. In this same vein, we ask that you are also wary of grammar. We know not everyone has English as a first language (some of your admins speak it as a second), and that’s totally cool! We know mistakes get made. Typos are inevitable. Autocorrect is a bitch. That all being said, we hope that you do make an effort when you type your replies as far as grammar and spelling are concerned. Again, we don’t expect perfection or even an exceptional piece of literature, but we are a literary roleplay and we can tell when you make the effort vs. when your replies are littered with errors and there was no effort at all. It discourages those of us who do put in the time (especially those of us working doubly hard who speak English as a second language). You give what you get! 

Female character ban is still in place, though will see a lift in the near future. 

Please visit our rule page again to refresh your memory here. We know there are a lot of new rules and while we hate policing everyone, but the circumstances around the roleplay as of late calls for these new rules, and we hope these new rules will help this group to be better in the future.

New Pages

Plot request form. Here you can find a form so that it makes it easier to request a plot and you don’t have to worry if you forgot to include something or not and we have all the information on hand for admins to review! Please do this for all plots you have in mind especially the big plot / major development you want for your characters, because we don’t want to ask you to terminate the ongoing plot because maybe it’s not something we can approve, and you didn’t came to us before doing the plot to check with us.

Name masterlist. Because we do not allow for the same names to repeat, we’ve included a name masterlist, this way it makes it easier to figure out if the name you want is taken. Please be aware we also ask that similar names also be avoided (i.e. Sophie and Sophia are extremely similar), and we do not take spelling into account (i.e. Sofia is the same as Sophia). The same goes for last names, unless you are taking up the relative of a character. We also take nicknames into account. 

Reminders

Please, please remember our three starter rule. If you’d like to post a starter, reply to three other starters. If there are no new starters (i.e. immediately following an event or a lull), go ahead and post a starter, but we will be making sure you answer starters later. If we see that you repeatedly post starters without responding to three, we will gently nudge you. 

TRACK TAGS. We have a few tags that we ask you guys to track, please keep track of them and regularly check those tags. Too often we put out an unfollow and people seem to be unaware that this character has been unfollowed or has left. Other times we put out announcements and people come with questions that could have been found in a post that is located right at the top of the main. Keep track of these tags and read our posts. They often contain important information. If we didn’t think it wasn’t important, we wouldn’t be posting it. 

Please keep us updated! Whether it’s a new relationship or a change in job or if your character is moving in with someone else. We like to make sure our pages are up-to-date for the convenience of us but also, you guys! We can only do that if you guys let us know, though! We have no problems either updating old bios or other miscellaneous information. Just drop a message and let us know! 

OOC blog is not the place to air negativity or throw shade towards other players or about the roleplay whether it’s on purpose or not, directly or not, as it might turned into a bigger mess and an unnecessary mayhem, instead if you have any concerns or grievance, please come to us instead off-anon because we most likely won’t respond if it’s an anon. Try to practice some restrain before we said anything we might regret later. 

We know, that while many people are trying to be helpful, we are no longer going to responding to anons or messages which ask for us to ‘remind’ people of certain rules or try to call people out. These messages often make people uncomfortable, regardless of whether or not it pertains to them. Please allow the admins to worry about enforcing the rules, that is what we are here for and our primary job. If something is of huge concern to you, you are always free to message us off-anon and privately and we will gladly publish reminders (we do these often when we begin to notice people slacking on certain things, namely the starter rule, and we can slip other reminders in those posts for you). 

Events

So, we used to do tasks around here. They’re all available here, too, for you to revisit. And while they’ve always been optional, people don’t seem too keen on them, perhaps due to their length. So, lieu of that, we’ve decided to try putting out monthly moodboard tasks instead. Again, it’ll be totally optional and you’re always more than welcome to go back and to them. Starting April, we’ll have a new moodboard task available during the first week of the month. 

We normally try to do a dash event and a chat event each month, however, we’ve decided to take a backseat with these events and instead we’re going to try something different. We know sometimes events can be disruptive to your current threads (especially dash events) and we figure this is a good time of year to chill and let you guys play out plots in full and have conversations without you needing to feel rushed because of events or having time constraints put on you, especially if you’re not as active as others. However, you’re more than welcome to submit events still by going here and we will gladly advertise and help you run and put them together. Other than that, what we will be doing is occasionally having, what we’re going to call, a news drop. It’ll be the form of a newspaper article and will involve some kind of event or happening that your character can choose to react to. This way you guys still have something to plot around if you need to, but you are in no way obligated to react if you think your character would not care or keep up with the news. Most of the news will probably be made up by the admins, unless we find any real world news pieces we find interesting enough to use. 

More details about these additions will be posted in the event blog!

And that about covers things! As usual please like this post if you have read it so we know who has read this and who hasn’t. Again, thank you guys so much for putting up with the massive amount of changes we’ve gone through recently. We hope that with these new changes, new rules, and new season, we’ll have a good year! If you have any other questions, comments, or concerns, please shoot us a message!

[theuniversitychallengereview]

UC 49.22-24

Originally I planned to only ever do these as reviews of single episodes. Then my natural tendency towards laziness reared its ugly head and I missed a few, necessitating a batch process to catch up (okay, it wasn’t strictly necessary, but it makes it a lot easier). And for some reason I was fine with this, but only if the batched reviews came in an even number, as if they were the volume control on the TV. Two reviews? Yes. Four reviews? Yes. Three reviews? No...

If I was doing them in pairs, or fours then it somehow felt like it could be artistically justified, like I could argue there was a symmetry to them or something. With three episodes you have no such logic, but as could have been reasonably predicted by anyone based on the available evidence, I find myself surrendering to the triple episode dump. It was only a matter of time really, once the slippery slope of double and quadruple dumps had been reached. 

Of course, that nonsense about symmetry isn’t really a proper artistic justification of anything, more of an attempt at a mathematical one that doesn’t actually hold up. If I wanted to justify the batching on an entertainment level, then I would have to review all three episodes sort of simultaneously as well as separately, linking events and themes from the discrete shows in a clever and witty fashion. But I don’t have the skill or time to pull something like that off (especially since Tumblr appears to have turned off autocorrect so I keep having to check if my spelling of necesitating is correct. Which it is, its just a weird looking word) so you’re stuck with things as they are. Actually, screw it, lets do them all at the same time. Get ready for a Christopher Nolan time-jump extravaganza that makes absolutely no sense.

Each of these second round matches featured a former winner of The Challenge, with Trinity, Cam, Edinburgh and Magdalen having racked up eight titles between them. Edinburgh having claimed their maiden trophy last year of course, with Trinity and Magdalen having taken their thrid and fourth titles in 2014 and 2011 respectively.

Episode 22 - Trinity, Cam vs Lady Margaret Hall, Ox

Episode 23 - Wolfson, Ox vs Edinburgh

Episode 24 - Magdalen, Ox vs Corpus Christi, Cam

Hughes took the first of eight starters to give Trinity the lead, while Jones took the first of ten (!) to put Wolfson ahead, and Wang the first of six to put Corpus Christi in front. Unsurprisingly, they would high score for the winning team in each of their respective matches, but they all have very different playing styles. 

Hughes gives his answers in very flat tones, generally offering no more than a wry smile when they are given as correct, apart from when he admits to Paxman that one of his buzzes had been a guess, at which point he offers a sheepish grin.

I received a number of tweets about Jones when her episode was on, proclaiming her the second coming of Monkman because she was also competing for Wolfson College. Despite the fact that this pretty much gave away the result (and with it sadness at Edinburgh’s loss) before I had even watched the episode, I do feel the need to point out that Ms Jones is at Oxford, while Mr Monkman was at Cambridge, so they’re technically not competing for the same College. However, she did demonstrate some of his trademark fast fingers, with her buzz on the first question seeming to surprise Paxman. 

Wang meanwhile, is perhaps the most excited University Challenge contestant in memory, challenged only by Peterhouse’s Powell, a member of the winning team in 2016. He bounces up and down, nodding furiously and pumping his fists at the mention of bonus questions on female oscar winners (though he only manages two). He seems to be having a bloody great time, which is a joy to watch.

None of these matches are particularly (or in any way - whats the opposite of particular?) close, though LMH and Edinburgh do manage to scrape into triple figures. Magdalen don’t quite make it, but a late flurry does save them from the ignominous honour of scoring below fifty, with Captain Hardwick throwing his arms towards Paxman theatrically on every bonus question, as if he is gifting him their guesses. At this point he’s known the game is up for some time though, and greets every incorrect guess with a wonderfully polite ‘oh well’.

Edinburgh and LMH weren’t quite outclassed to the same extent as Magdalen, and both came up with some good answers of their own, but ultimately the strength of their opponents on the buzzer shone through towards the end, allowing them to pull away quite comfortably.

I guess thats it? It wasn’t quite as Inception-y as I’d thought it’d be. I suppose if you keep it really short and don’t get too inventive then it’ll probably stay in some kind of order. Apologies if I got your hopes up for some sort of epic. My one regret of using this format is that I didn’t get the opportunity to describe Lady Margaret Hall’s Le Croisette as an expensive-looking, bespoke Teddy Bear.

Final Scores:

Trinity, Cam 245 - 100 Lady Margaret Hall, Ox

Wolfson, Ox 220 - 100 Edinburgh

Magdalen, Ox 75 - 270 Corpus Christi, Cam

So we now knw the full lineup for the quarter finals with Jesus, Ox, Durham, Courtauld, Imperial and Manchester joining the three teams above. Two from Oxford, two from Cambridge and four from not those places. A fairly typical formulation for the last eight.

[buddyrabrahams]

Seven most impressive rookies of the NBA season so far

Markelle Fultz vs. Lonzo Ball was supposed to be the central storyline that dominated this year’s rookie class. Pick No. 1 vs. pick No. 2. Former Pac-12 adversaries who often seemed to have genuine acrimony towards each other. Game-changing talents at the point guard position, each one heading to a major market in the hopes that he would rejuvenate a once great but currently dormant franchise. What wasn’t to like? But then life happened. A clunky shot form or two, a suspect shoulder injury here, a family scandal involving the Chinese government there, and so forth. Now the spotlight has been taken away by a new group of fabulous first-years. And here are the ones who have been the most impressive through this first month of the 2017-18 NBA season.

*Stats courtesy of NBA.com and ESPN*

Dennis Smith Jr, PG, Dallas Mavericks

I pity the fool who tries to stand between a leaping DSJ and the basket. The No. 9 pick’s bounce has been the stuff of cultural folklore dating back to his high school days, and he is already proving his worth in other dimensions of the game as well. Smith’s 15.8 points per game leads all 2017 draftees. He’s also canning 2.4 triples a contest in November and is taking center stage as the primary initiator of the Dallas offense, leading them in both assist average and usage rate. Smith’s first step is TNT, and he seems to improve in the pick-and-roll with each passing day. Indeed, Junior is a glimmering lantern of hope on a 2-13 Mavs team, and don’t worry, he can still do that other thing too.

Donovan Mitchell, PG/SG, Utah Jazz

A largely forgotten commodity at lucky No. 13 in this year’s draft, The Mitchell Report is emerging as a much-needed young savior for a Jazz squad that lost Gordon Hayward to free agency, and then Dante Exum and Rudy Gobert to injury. He’s more a gunner (14.4 shot attempts a game) than a distributor (2.4 assists a contest) and his 38.1 percent shooting leaves much to be desired. But Mitchell has been demonstrating some well-rounded scoring capabilities for a first-year (ranking in the NBA’s 78th percentile on spot-up opportunities and the 72nd percentile in isolation situations) and complements them nicely with a sturdy defensive backbone. Simply put, he checks off a lot of boxes for a ground-and-pound Utah team still trying to find their new identity on offense.

Lauri Markkanen, PF, Chicago Bulls

I suppose 2017 hasn’t been all bad, as it has graced us with the presence of The Finnish Finisher. There’s a strong argument to be made that Markkanen is the rookie who has most exceeded expectations since being drafted. One of the lone consistent producers on a skin-and-bones Bulls team this season, the sharpshooting seven-footer carved out a meaningful role for them from the very first game, and he continues to do cool new stuff with it. Markkanen is sandblasting opponents from the perimeter to the tune of 14.5 points on 2.3 threes per game and has also been a pleasant surprise as a suctioning force on the glass (7.8 rebounds a night, tops on the team). Bobby Portis’ return could steal a bit of his shine, but otherwise, so far, so good for the 20-year-old stud.

Jayson Tatum, SF/PF, Boston Celtics

It should be considered a federal crime for somebody of Tatum’s youth and inexperience to possess such polish and maturity on the court. The teenager leads all rookies with 48.9 percent shooting from distance and is just as good from inside the arc thanks to his quick instincts and his Michael Jackson-like footwork. It was Tatum who picked up much of Gordon Hayward’s playing time and scoring slack, and it’s been Tatum who has provided the Celtics with a crucial pivot to help ignite the flames of their 13-game win streak. Yes, the ex-Duke Blue Devil is drawing praise from up and down the basketball aisle, and, oh yeah, it turns out he’s pretty darn good on the highlight reel as well.

Frank Ntilikina, PG, New York Knicks

My autocorrect may still call him Frank Nickelodeon, but the 19-year-old is the real deal. Whether he’s defending on the ball or off it, Ntilikina is a total boa constrictor on that end of the floor. He’s third in the entire NBA in steals per game, and he’s not afraid to throw his long French limbs at anybody from James Harden to LeBron James. Distributing the basketball (4.7 assists per game and 8.3 of them per 36 minutes) is also an area of particular strength for Ntilikina. And while he has only hit double digits in scoring once this season (shooting [gags] 34.5 percent from the field as a whole), the early returns are still highly encouraging for everybody’s favorite nephew, Frankie Smokes.

Kyle Kuzma, PF, Los Angeles Lakers

*whispers* Big Baller Kuzma is the only Lakers rookie who matters.

A player whom many were anointing the steal of the 2017 draft after he blazed a path of destruction during Summer League and preseason, Kuzma has kept his hype train rolling well into the regular season. With as complete of an offensive toolkit as you will find — dribble drives, mid-post turnarounds, catch-and-shoot threes, hesi pull-up jimbos, you name it — the University of Utah product has arguably been the purple and gold’s best player this year. Kuzma throws up 15 and 7 a night whilst hitting over half of his shots. Those numbers have been steadily increasing since the loss of Larry Nance Jr. to a broken hand. Now Kuzma has a rear-naked chokehold on the Lakers’ starting 4 spot, and he’s not letting go until the rest of the NBA taps out.

Ben Simmons, G/F, Philadelphia 76ers

As it turns out, Ben 10 isn’t just a Cartoon Network show — it’s also the number of different ways that kid in Philly can beat you. Feasting his way to 17.8 points, 9.2 boards, and 7.8 dimes a night through his first 13 professional contests, Simmons is a menace. At 6-foot-10, he gets to the rim with the same ease that most normal human beings would have putting on a pair of pants, and he seems to have eyes, not only on the back of his head, but on the top, the side, and on every other pore of his body as well. Simmons may be a zero from long-range (literally, with no makes on seven three-point tries this year), but he has a wet enough elbow J to keep defenses honest when they dip under screens on him. It’s a true rarity for a player of his bruising athleticism to have such an innate feel for the game. So don’t miss out and be sure to get “Ben Simmons: Rookie of the Year” tattooed on your forehead while you still can.

from Larry Brown Sports http://ift.tt/2yNcgKo