#also. neon teal would be turquoise

[crabussy]

that blue was originally indigo when indigo was first coined as a colour, and over time societal colour perception changed so that indigo was nudged into the zone of purple and Actual Indigo became known as blue. I'm being a pissy old hag from the 1800s upset that things aren't how they used to be. you know. when colours MADE SENSE and blue didn't dominate ONE THIRD OF THE ENTIRE COLOUR WHEEL THAT CONSISTS OF SEVEN BASIC COLOURS

a gentle reminder

[renai-fr]

Perler Flight Banners!

Made the first of these when I made the flight flags a bit back (my flight, Light), and figured it was a good time to make the rest of the flight banners and share the designs! To the best of my ability, they're also to scale with each other, so I think they'd look pretty good if you wanted to make the whole set and put 'em on your wall or something.

Sort of also for Dergtober's first prompt ("Flight"), but uh, ran into that thing with trad media where sometimes you run out of materials, ha! This is also why they're mostly not fused (Ice and Water share most of their mid/light blue beads, for example).

(Crafting info after the break!)

First off, all of these are either 17x34 or 19x34 (these squares are 17x17 on their own). They fit fine on the larger squares, but my big squares happen to all be either bright red or bright yellow, and don't show off the colors very well. They almost all use transparent beads for structural reasons- if you want to cross-stitch these, the transparent beads are fine to ignore! I was just making them so they could theoretically hang on a wall.

Colors used (my best guess, not gospel! I get most of my beads from kits/mixed bags, and they don't always list the color names :/ )

Light: Cream/Créme, Yellow, Cheddar, Transparent

Lightning: Copper (metallic), Robin's Egg, Parrot Green, Glitter Blue, Turquoise, Transparent

Fire: Black, Cherry, Orange, Cheddar, Neon Orange, Transparent

Arcane: Pearl Pink, Cheddar, Raspberry, Pink, Light Pink

Plague: Red, Cherry, Raspberry*, Pewter, Brown, Kiwi Lime

Earth: Brown, Light Brown, Pewter, Dark Gray

Ice: Robin's Egg, Pastel Blue, Gray, Dark Gray, Toothpaste, Light Blue

Shadow: Pastel Lavender, Purple, Dark Gray, Pewter, Toothpaste, Transparent

Wind: Kiwi Lime, Dark Green, Bright Green, Yellow, Rust, Red, Transparent

Water: Denim, Turquoise, Pastel Blue, Parrot Green, Teal, White, Marshmallow, Pastel Yellow, Transparent

Nature: Olive, Bright Green, Kiwi Lime, Dark Green, Marshmallow, Cream/Créme, Transparent

(* I used Raspberry on Plague's flag because I ran out of Cranberry. Cranberry looks WAY better, but like... mismatched didn't work at all. I highly suggest using Cranberry in place of Raspberry in all places it occurs on the design!)

Another color note- when you fuse metallic beads, the shiny stuff makes a lil halo around the bead's center hole. For Lightning, since they have wires/chains on their banner/support, I figured it would work fine, but you could swap the Copper beads out for Rust and it would look good enough, I think. You do lose the shiny factor doing that, though.

A couple of these extend off of the side of the boards; better to use a bigger board for them if you have one (or like, if you have a third 17x17, sticking it to the side of the others and scooting the entire design over a peg would also work!)

As is very visible on the Light banner, it's really easy to get a faulty fuse where the boards meet. The trick where you put masking tape/painter's tape on the back of the beads before ironing (the OTHER side, and then take the tape off to iron its side, to be clear) helps a lot on multi-board fuses. You don't have to poke holes in the tape, but I find that doing so with a ballpoint pen or what have you can help a lot with keeping the beads from moving around, etc.

Happy crafting- if you end up making any of these, please ping me (or um, whatever I'm supposed to call it... still don't quite know how this site works) so I can see!

[becauseimanicequeen]

Because you like color related questions: What is your favorite color and what ql use it best?

Hi, Anon.

I love the question, but...

How can this artist who loves colors possibly choose a favorite among the things that give her life?

I know I'm crazy, but not that crazy! lol

So I'll just change the question a bit and steer this post in the direction I want (and give you more than you asked for). Okay? Okay!

I'm practically obsessed with one half of the traditional color wheel. And that's everything from purple, going into blue, and up to blue-green (or what most people call turquoise or teal, the latter which seems to have become really popular in the past few years). Throw some pink in there, preferably the neon/fluorescent kind, and black and you basically have my art, lol.

To summarize, though, my favorite colors are:

Purple

Blue

Blue-green (or what most people call turquoise or teal)

Pink

Black

With that said, let's move on to the second part of your question.

I can't remember if I've ever seen blue-green (turquoise/teal) in a QL (but my memory is fucked, so help me if you want).

When it comes to the other colors, I will share some moments from QLs where the colors are particularly beautiful (in my eyes), used in a great way in a particular scene, or when there's a color-coded character I like rather than focus on the use of a particular color throughout a whole series (the latter would turn into a thesis for each color, lol, and I just don't have the time or energy for that right now).

Let's start with black and then move through the others according to the color wheel.

I love black because it goes well with every other color. But I also love black because it's a color that can be used in shows/films without using it. And that's by filming night scenes.

I love night scenes in shows/films because it's many times used for the big emotional scenes, from confessions to breakups and everything in between.

The black might not be evident in all these particular images I've included below, but all these scenes play out in the dark of evening/night.

Like in To Be Continued when Ji practically confesses that he likes Achi but gets rejected (kind of):

When Zhou Shu Yi confesses his love for Gao Shi De in We Best Love: No. 1 For You:

Shu Yi is also one of my favorite QL characters, and he often wears black.

When Sailom confesses that he likes Namnuea in Wedding Plan:

Which I think has a deeper meaning since he can only ever truly be himself in the dark or in the company of Yiwa through a large part of the series.

Then there's Phat loosing his shit in La Pluie:

He finally got to unload some of the shit that had been weighing on him for so long, and I loved that scene so much.

And then there's My Stand-In that practically show a multitude of different emotions in their night scenes:

And Ming wears black a lot, which I've written about in this post about his clothes in particular, and in this one where I've also written about Joe's blue.

I could spend a whole post on night scenes, but I won't because I need to save some images for the other colors, lol.

So, moving on to pink!

For me, there are two characters/shows that stand out with the use of pink. The first one is Tankhun in KinnPorsche:

He's so ridiculous, such a drama queen, and that's exactly why I love him so much. And, he's constantly surrounded by pink.

Then there's Wandee Gooday. This series didn't just use pink, but neon pink, and I will forever and ever love this one for that:

The one above has some purple in it too, but the color on their skin, pillows, etc., has more red than blue in it, which (in my eyes) means it's verging more towards pink.

There's also this softer pink that's in contrast to the other images above. They're using different values, intensities, and hues of pink to create different moods/vibes in their scenes, and I love that.

Other honorable mentions (but I have to save on the images since tumblr only gives me 30... lol):

Tharn and Phaya's first (real) sex scene in The Sign (not the dreams). The neon pink is divine in that scene.

Maybe in Secret Crush on You as well. I can remember that there were neon lights. And, when there are neon lights, there has to be pink, right? (I will be rewatching this series for my Pride Month celebrations soon, so I might get to see how wrong I am, lol.)

The pink neon lights in Ai Di's club in Kiseki: Dear to Me were also divine.

Now, let's move on to purple.

I obviously have to mention Dee from Wandee Goodday here, because he just looks so good in purple:

Also, both Dee and Yak look good in purple:

Please, Wandee Goodday, give me more purple!

Other than this, I can't remember purple that well. So, let me share three examples that are a bit purple-ish. The first one is Kiseki: Dear to Me where the lights sometimes verge towards purple.

Then we have two different series where there are blueish and pinkish lights that, kind of, mix and create purple. The first one is this scene in KinnPorsche:

And the other one is this scene in Love in the Air:

They look really similar, don't they? And I absolutely love those colors together. That lighting is divine.

Next, we have blue.

Blue is used a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot.

So I had to narrow it down a lot and choose a couple of blue characters and moments.

Let's start with this scene from Deep Night:

This is the scene where Pan and Ken start flirting with Seji like it's a competition. But what I love about this shot in particular (besides from the blue) is that Pan, who is the one who brings up poly, shows up between Seji and Ken in the shot (and in several scenes throughout the series). He's the one who brought all three of them together. And I love that he often stands in the middle. Also, he looks so good in blue.

Then there's Ji in To Be Continued who is surrounded by blue basically all the time because he's a blue character. And he looks really good in blue.

And then there's King from Bed Friend who is also gorgeous in all the blue hues:

Then I love this moment in Two Worlds:

These two got about 10 seconds in the finale, which was the highlight of this episode for me. Both of them practically propose to each other at the same time, both are dressed in blue and standing in front of those blueish pillars. I loved every single second of this scene as if each second was a whole hour long.

Then there's a whole series called Blue Boys, which meant I had to watch it as soon as I heard about it in April/May. The second part started yesterday with a new episode and I have to say that I really love this short series and its vibe (their chemistry is great, btw). And Nami's blue shirt:

That blue is gorgeous.

And then, last but not least, there's one of my favorite blue characters, and that's Saengtai in La Pluie:

I love this blue boy and his yellow boyfriend so much. They're one of my favorite couples in the QLs I've watched.

As an introvert (passing off as an extrovert, which makes me want to shut up and hide on purpose most of the time to protect my energy, lol) I can absolutely relate to Tai not wanting to socialize with everyone all the fucking time. He's chosen the people who get to drain energy from him (I wish I was that good at putting up boundaries, lol) so I'm not as annoyed by his silence as many others who watch this might be.

Yes, he hurt Phat's feelings. Yes, Phat had every right to run away when he was hurt. Yes, it was glorious to see Tai switching on his loyalty like never before when he realized how much he'd hurt Phat. And that whole episode of him searching for Phat and losing it when he found him healed parts of me I didn't even know were broken (lol).

If you haven't seen La Pluie, I recommend watching it.

Anyway...

There you have it, Anon. My favorite colors (because I can't choose one) and some of my favorite characters/moments including those colors.

Thank you for your ask.

[k7tt1]

fun question for you: if kitty could design her own look, and wasn’t beholden to the voxtek aesthetic, what kind of look would she prefer? are there any fashions or design components she likes or gravitates towards, but can’t really indulge in due to her role?

I was actually talking to @kakodaimones about this not too long ago; by default, since she does carry Fizz in her system’s programming, she tends to gravitate toward the traditional clown aesthetic; she doesn’t quite understand it, exactly, Kitty just knows that she enjoys the array of colors & chaotic patterns!

You have to also remember the Glam Sisters aesthetic; it’s a mish mash of all of this, truly. If it were up to Kitty, well, I don’t think she’d be allowed onto VoxTek premises! She’d clash too much with Vox’s vision of ‘perfection’, at least on the business side of things. She’s an assistant, not a public performer!

Bright neon greens, teals, turquoise; [ ironically enough, her preferred color scheme fits more with pilot!Vox’s colors! ] — more punk-ish, rather than the doll-like aesthetic she currently has going on. Checkers & dollar signs everywhere ( she is a Mammon / Fizzie brand, after all! ) with a big tutu, a clown nose to boot because she loves how you can honk it; because I personally envision her as a trapezist in her imp!AU [ not to mention the Glam Sisters, ] she’d definitely wear something like that, with lots of frills! God, she absolutely adores frills, ruffles and obnoxiously bold patterns; again, she doesn’t understand them, if that makes sense… all she knows is that when she sees such clothing, she’ll just stare & stare,

C’mon, Vees! Let her be a clown!

[thecorvidcurio-if]

Can I ask for some physical descriptions of the ROs?

Also anon asks are off if you didn't know!!

Hi there! Thank you for sending this :) Absolutely, I'll provide some descriptions here. I'm working on putting together some visual references and character profiles, but those will take some time. (As for the anon situation, thank you for the heads up ♥)

To keep things simple and spoiler-free, these descriptions will be for their glamoured human forms only. (Except for Abby who forgets his glamour more often than not.)

This got long, so the rest is under the cut.

First off, here's a skin colour chart for them, though this may be subject to change as the artist and I work on their profiles:

Vicente

Height: 5'8" (172.72cm)

Build: Middle of the road, not particularly bulky or slim. The way he dresses makes him look softer than he actually is.

Features: Gentle features, soft and slightly rounded, eyes crinkle when he smiles genuinely

Hair: Black, extremely curly and falls just past his shoulders, often tied back

Eyes: Deep reddish-brown, upturned with thick eyelashes

Style: Cozy but classy, favours the colour red. He doesn't wear jeans but prefers khakis and slacks. His clothes are meticulously taken care of, he doesn't wear anything that hasn't been tailored, and his outfits are carefully picked out even when he isn't going anywhere. When he's performing with Thea, he dresses entirely differently. Much more casual "night out" sort of style, but nothing flashy. He wants to look nice, but not stand out. Tends toward masculine styles more often than not.

Abby

Height: 6'9" (205.7cm)

Build: Like someone who was already tall and lanky lost a fight with a taffy stretcher. When not wearing a glamour, his proportions don't look quite right. Ridiculously long legs and arms either way.

Features: A bit sharp, pointed chin, dimples when he grins, when unglamoured his features are as uncanny as his bodily proportions, left ear has as many piercings as can be physically fit onto one ear

Hair: Bright teal, long on one side and almost totally (and unevenly) sheared off on the other, constantly in disarray. Looks like someone got carried away with a set of scissors, maybe while blindfolded.

Eyes: When glamoured, both his eyes are a normal shade of light green. When unglamoured, the left eye is magenta and his right eye is lime green, both with slit pupils.

Style: Blinding. His entire wardrobe is exclusively eye-insultingly bright neon, and he makes no effort to coordinate colours. His sense of style is "colours make brain go brr" and that's all there is to it. Tries to fit as many colours as he can into any single outfit. Red is the exception, he won't ever wear red. No preference as far as the "gender" of clothing - if it's fun, then it's fun. That's all he cares about.

Marina

Height: 5'4" (162.5cm)

Build: Heavyset, looks very soft and squishy but it's all muscle underneath.

Features: Rounded, but distinctly lacking the sort of gentle quality that Vicente has, oval lip shape with heavy upper lip

Hair: Fuchsia undercut, the unshaven part is about the length of a pixie-cut, wavy but that's hard to see when it's so short

Eyes: Turquoise, eyelashes and eyebrows match pink hair, eyes are rounded and would typically be considered adorable, but there's a hardness to her gaze that neutralizes the effect entirely

Style: Would be punk if she had more patience for clothes. As it is, she can't stand them, she hates the feeling of fabric on her skin. She likes the look of leather and plaid but it would kill her to wear that sort of thing. Her clothes are mostly black and pink, with some blue mixed in. Doesn't own anything with full-length sleeves or full-length legs. Any rips or tears are repaired by safety-pins rather than thread just to be contrarian because Vicente once told her she should repair them properly. So, of course, she never will. The "gender" of clothing doesn't matter to her because it's all horrible. If she finds something tolerable to wear for a whole day then that's a big enough deal that the gender of it doesn't matter.

Thea

Height: 6'1" (185.4cm) (without heels) Build: Slender, might even be seen as delicate if you don't know her well enough to know better

Features: Angular with a refined air, a large, hooked nose, wears makeup when on the job but refrains when she's at home.

Hair: I wish blood orange wasn't a meme because that's really the most accurate way to describe her hair colour. If she were to straighten it out, it would fall just past her shoulders. As it is, she usually has it styled in waves or curls, or done up in 20s-inspired hairstyles. She'll try out hairstyles from other time periods, but since those don't spark the same joy for her and she can't wear them for work it's hard for her to motivate herself to expand her hair horizons

Eyes: Yellow. She literally can't put a glamour on them, for reasons that will be explored in the story. It isn't that big a deal, though. Coloured contacts are a thing, and the fact that she's a performer makes it easier to assume it's a sort of costume. Not to mention, humans get so overwhelmed by her very presence that they usually can't manage to question her eyes. She likes to wear small, feathered eyelash extensions.

Style: Classic and elegant styles, often 20s-inspired. When it comes to her work wardrobe she goes full-throttle old Hollywood glamour. For her personal life, though, she prefers day dresses and casual wear (still in that classic and elegant style though, even her casual outfits have a refined air about them.) She focuses on the fit and silhouette when she puts together outfits, and has a personal tailor. Exclusively presents femininely in the way she dresses.

Kaida

Height: 6'3" (190.5cm)

Build: Streamlined. Kind of like a swimmer's build, strong but built to be quick and aerodynamic.

Features: Sharp, brow is often furrowed, strong jawline, cheekbones could cut glass, whether he's capable of smiling is anyone's guess

Hair: Very, very long. Falls past his mid-back, perfectly straight and white. Somehow, it never gets messy or out of place. Almost like magic or something... But even so, he ties at least some of it back if it's getting in the way. His hairstyles (when he bothers styling it) are more elaborate than Vicente's, but simpler than Thea's

Eyes: Very, very dark brown, almost black, monolid, eyelashes and eyebrows match white hair

Style: He likes things that are long and flow-y at the hem. A long trench-coat, a cardigan that has a "tailcoat" sort of shape. He laments the fact that capes and cloaks fell out of fashion. The sleeves need to be fitted, though, otherwise they get in his way. As far as colour, he isn't very picky as long as it's nothing too bright and colourful. He has a preference for the colder shades of purple. Wears a lot of rings, necklaces, bracelets, but no piercings. I'm not sure what to call his overall style other than "modern warlock chic?"

Shiloh

I can't really get into Shiloh too much without spoilers, but I can tell you that their hair and eyes are always black. I can also talk about their style a little bit.

Style: Layers upon layers, as much of itself covered as possible. Always has the bottom half of its face buried behind a scarf. Clothes are all black and may not actually be clothes, but no one has been able to get Shiloh to clarify about that.

If you want to know about anything specific I may not have mentioned, please let me know ♥

[ginger-hell]

(I don't have any new art yet so have this draft from 2 weeks ago or something, also happy 2014 guys X3)

Also you know how each main of the eddsworld characters kinda has their assigned color

So for my ocs it would kinda go like this

Maja - White, which is contrasting for her actual personality (since white resembles purity etc. And this bitch is anything but pure)

Freya - Turquoise, tbh I didn't put much thought into this one since she wasn't rlly made with an actual color in mind, I just picked it because it kinda resembles her eye color and looks okay on her

Anastasia - Black, but originally it was maroon. MAYBE it will change in the future but...it's black for now

Micah - Yellow, which is kind of symbolic considering she tries her best to be somewhat optimistic due to her sister (Yellow hoodie on top of a black shirt and stuff) but fails like 80% of the time.

Now for the counterparts:

Fran - As she is a counterpart to Freya, her color would be Teal, and I think it's self explanatory

Maisie - Micah's counterpart and her color is orange 🫶 it plays along with her character, as orange symbolizes warmth, confidence and optimism

Aree - Pink! But like, a neon kinda eyebleeding one. I just gave it for the overall vibes, literally any other neon would work, especially blue or purple. Also I didn't mention it but she's Anastasia's counterpart.

Mallory - Also white, or grey, idk tbh. If it was grey it would be very light, but at the same time I'd want to keep it white for the sake of plot. Mallory kinda has her life together, Maja doesn't, and that's why Maja is more mean to her than to most (which can count as a death sentence). Mallory symbolizes the actual peace and stability white represents, while Maja contrasts it with her chaotic, borderline obnoxious personality.

[top10bharat]

Braces Colors to Avoid

While braces give you the chance to express yourself, a bad choice in color causes huge and very serious effects in the person's looks that he or she would not be able to even think of. There are colors that are just not made for your kind of skin; some will point out food particles, or even be the cause of unsightly discoloration of your teeth.

Why Your Braces Color Choice Matters?

Braces can be part of your smile, and the right color can give you a justifiable reason to smile brighter while giving you more confidence. The wrong color choice, however will detract from your smile and could leave you with some regrets in the long run. Here's why choosing the right color matters: Influence on Your Appearance Some colors can represent yellowness or staining of your teeth, and that's as far from ideal as you would be from looking for if you want your braces to leave a smile beautiful and fine.

For certain venues You will, of course have followers if you want bright or neon-colored braces, but perhaps such is not in the right places for formal or professional environments.

Time commitment Since you will be wearing the braces for some weeks or even months, it is prudent to choose a color that you will like. Avoid specific colors to save yourself from regretting later.

Avoidable Braces Colors for a Great Smile

Incorrect choice of color will make all the difference in how your braces and teeth look. Below are some of the braces colors to avoid:

White or Transparent Braces

They seem to be an obviously very clever choice, but because they are nearly invisible, they stain very easily with the foods and drinks you consume, like coffee, tea, or curry. In this way, white braces are bad for the aesthetics of your teeth because they make them not as white as when you did not have such braces, and even not as radiant as they would if you did not have them. Alternative: If it's mild and not going to stain easily and you don't want to draw attention, then consider light gray or silver.

Yellow Braces

Why Not: Of all color options the worst, yellow braces are one because after a little while they will draw attention to natural yellowing of teeth, assuming that your pearly whites aren't the whitest. Alternative: If you want a warm color which isn't going to draw attention to possible discoloration instead of yellow, you can opt for the gold or light bronze colors.

Green Braces

Steer clear of if: If you want something that closely resembles food stuck in your teeth, green braces are a pretty awful idea. While some people appreciate the vibrancy of green, it oftentimes carries the wrong connotation at close distances. If you're interested in green but aren't sure what the effect will be on your smile, try teal or turquoise.

Brown Braces

Why Avoid: Brown seems to bring to mind mud and decay-things you definitely don't want your braces to say. It's going to pull an ugly shine from your smile. Alternative: Deep reds or maroons have that earthy tone but won't carry any negatives associated with brown.

Black Braces

Why Avoid: While black is either bold and cool with an edge, it can also seem like something is stuck inside your mouth if seen from a distance. Black braces should be avoided to not sport an appearance that looks messy and not so clean. Best Option: If you are looking for something bold yet clean and classy then dark blue or purple works best.

Bright Neon Colors

Why Steer Clear: Neon colors like neon pink, neon green, or neon yellow will look great at first, but you may not be okay with them when you wish to look more formal. Since neon colors tend to attract food particles and their intensity will certainly fade after sometime. Hard soft pastels or darker colors like navy, or even burgundy can complement your colorful smile without overwhelming it.

How to Choose the Best Color for Your Braces?

Well, with these colors put aside, here is how to choose the best colors to wear with braces: one of the very important considerations. The following are some things to consider:

1. Skin Tone White and fair skin general appeals great under light color braces like pastel blues or purples. However, people with fair skin should be wary of white or yellow as it discolors their teeth. While it is possible for individuals with darker skin tones to wear the most saturated colors such as red, purple, or even deep green, avoid bright yellows and neon.

2. Tooth Color If your teeth are pale yellow or off-white, you want to avoid colors yellow and white, for they can make your teeth appear even yellower. Instead, go for cooler colors such as navy, deep purple, and gray, which create contrast and make your teeth look whiter.

3. Personal Style You can choose for the colors that will give you focus if it is what you love, that is even darker reds, royal blues, or even purples since they mean your uniqueness. Or if you are not up for something flashy, then the best hue to opt for is neutral, silver, or dark gray.

Conserve the Colorfulness to Your Brace

Once you have picked the perfect color, you will want to keep it looking fresh. Here are some tips that can help in keeping your braces colors as vivid as when they were first put on:

Avoid Stain-Causing Foods and Drinks

Avoid these foods and drinks. Coffee, soda, berry juices, and tomato-based foods are some of the most common staining agents. If you do ingest any of these, rinse your mouth.

Do Good Oral Hygiene

If you brush after every meal when you finish eating, you floss and use an interdental brush, then you will keep your braces incredibly clean and free of debris that can cause discoloration issues.

Regular Orthodontist Appointment

Make a regular visit to your orthodontist so that your braces are as clean and conditioned as you want them to be. For instance, if you feel your bands have stained, you can change for you on your appointment time.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Change the color of my brace if I do not like it? Yes, you can change your braces color when next you visit the orthodontist for changing the elastic bands around your braces. Most orthodontists usually provide a color change each time they come to change the elastic bands.

2. Does braces color affect my teeth's appearance in terms of how they look? Actually, it is very true that colors add to or detract from your teeth- appearance. Like for example, darker colors in navy or black would mean whitewashed teeth. I would say that if it's one of the light colors with a white or yellow kind, it can show imperfections.

3. How often can I change my braces color?

You get a chance to change the colors of your braces at every visit and the time between the orthodontic visits may vary from every 4 to 6 weeks.

4. Some of the brace colors do offer white appearances on the teeth? Yes. Darker colors: it was a myth saying that darker colors like dark blue, purple, deep red do not make your teeth appear white as it adds contrast. Bright colors like yellow, white, light green must be prevented in order not to make your teeth yellowish.

5. Can I have different colors for my braces? Orthodontists usually let you choose a combination of several colors to use on your bands. You can alternate a different color with each band, or you can choose a certain pattern if you want something a little more playful.

Conclusion

No doubt that the choice of the colored braces will, at one time, always give you a good smile in the course of orthodontic treatment. Some of them occasionally go to mix up different colors-it's funny; some stain easily do not match with your skin tone, or your teeth are just yellowish. Thus, while choosing the right color for the braces and maintaining oral hygiene, you would give yourself a brighter and fashionable smile during the course of treatment.

[heartofsnark]

Can You Feel The Sun? (Chapter Five): Just To Want It All

Notes: As stated in last chapter notes, i have a decent chunk of chapters done so these are coming out pretty rapid fire. Otherwise, I don’t have much to say other than massive thanks to my friend who reads these over for me and has been cool with me dropping 80+ pages of fic on them in a week. because yeah...I finished another chapter of this. 

Word Count:  7885

Chapter Warnings: mentions of alcohol and cursing, if that counts as a warning in cyberpunk 2077.  

If you haven’t yet, you can read the previous chapter here!~

Lizzie’s Bar stands out brilliantly in the city; out of all the gangs, she thinks she likes The Moxes aesthetic the best. Vivid pink and bright teal. Their colors splashed across the overpass, along with a neon pink skull sign with hair and a bow. At the side of the building is a towering neon skull girl sign, full bodied with an animated kicking leg and axe held above her head, the same hot pink color.

She parks and gets out of her car, doing a quick scan of the area, searching for more Militech drones. None that she sees, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. The credchip burns in her pocket, remembering some of the stuff T-Bug has taught her. How to crack an encrypted shard and see what’s on it, how to transfer its contents. V rifles through her bag, remembering she had a blank credchip somewhere. If Militech did anything dirty, V should be able to transfer the eddies onto a clean chip.

V makes a beeline to the front door, cement blockers and walls covered in graffiti.  More neon signs, the bars name over the door in glowing turquoise letters. Lizzie Jizzie scrawled across an outside wall; two screens on each side of the double stores, all covered in Nicola ads requesting V ‘taste the love’.  Groups of people loiter in the open outside the bar. V’s eyes are drawn to the two bouncers outside the doors.

Two women, one leans against the outside wall as she puff away on a cigarette. Short slicked back hair that starts blue and then fades to green, eyes hidden behind sunglasses and a gold septum piercing in her nose. The other one stands in front of the doors, a yellow spiked bat held over her shoulders. Long hair pulled up into space buns, purple roots and pink ends. Both of her arms are metal; black with pink and teal accents as well as spikes along the forearms.  Both women are skimpily dressed, no shame in that. The one wielding the bat has a white top with cleavage going beyond her breasts,  showing her almost plastic looking skin and the Moxes tattoo across her chest. The other shorter haired bouncer is wearing neon pink pasties beneath a teal bomber jacket.  V’s been here before, has maybe seen them in passing, both really attractive. She’s not sure there’s a Mox member who isn’t.

“Hey there, dollface!~” The bat wielder greets her with a grin, as if she could actually see V’s face.

“Interest you in a preem BD?” The smoker offers.

“What you got?” V asks to be polite, she doesn’t honestly even like brain dances. But the girls are cute, so… no harm in a little small talk.

“What don't we got? Women and men of your dreams, synaptic acting A-listers. No washed-up virtuporn boytoys or blow-up dolls here.”

“Auteur stuff - It'll grip your heart and blow your nerves right outta your body. Pure bit-based ecstasy - that’s why people come here.”

“Sure know how to sell it, don’t you?” V signs, trying not to laugh as the bouncers give her the spiel.

“Not a sales pitch, it's a warning. I'll give you one word - bespoke. Not for everyone's synapses.”

“Think you can handle it?”

“Think I can manage it,” she tells them, knowing damn well she has no intent to get any sort of virtus.

“Mmhm. Couple of things you need to know first,” she affectionately rubs her bat, “Ahem. Severe penalties for any unauthorized recording… “

“No drugs, no groping. Someone catch your eye, you do not grab 'em. You find 'em in the catalog, ask for a BD and get yourself a box.”

“No worries, not even my first time here.”

“Door's open. Have fun, Doll.”

“Welcome to Lizzie’s.”

The double doors open and V walks through a blue beaded curtain. There’s a front room, a stand where a woman with a bright pink mohawk is selling clothes, under another Nicola ad and neon letters saying ‘Fuck To Death’ behind her.

“My what a sweet face you have,” she says, her tone honeyed but its clear she hasn’t looked up from the counter, not even noticing as the masked merc walks past through another beaded curtain and double doors to the main club.

“Here in Night City~”

Music thrums as she steps in; the room is lit with strobing pink and teal lights. Couches with neon glowing lights on the underneath, some people with BD wreaths and others playing on their phones. People dancing  to the club music and  bar tucked away in the corner.  She doubts the client will be right at the start of opening, so V finds an empty stretch of couch, sitting down on black leather with a pink neon light at her feet.  V slides the Militech cred chip into her mask, it takes a moment, but she manages to crack it and get a look at the inside.

Ten thousand eddies and malware; it was meant to send all of Maelstrom’s data to another server and then fry the systems. Meaning, if V handed it over Maelstrom would get their systems fried, with her and Jackie dealing with the aftermath. V slides the blank cred chip into another slot in her mask’s edge, transfering the clean money over to it. Fucking around with tech and daemons isn’t her strong suit, but if she recalls Bug telling her that fairly simple malware like this could be reworked pretty easily. She works through the coding with her thoughts, the data and interface all on her mask. If she can get the coding right, she might be able to have it send something other than data back to the Militech servers…  Shifting and twisting what she thinks will work… if she’s done it right, instead of sending data back to Militech’s server, it should inject the same malware back into their system. If used, it would spike both Maelstrom and Militech.

She’ll call up T-Bug before they hit Maelstrom, double check she did the steps right. If Maelstrom play nice, they can pay and be done, if not...she can fuck over the gangoons, Militech, and walk away with an extra ten thousand in her pocket.  She puts the credchips in her pockets, spiked one in her left and clean one in the right.

Time to have a look around for the client. V making a beeline for the bar, bartenders always have all the info. Lizzie’s Bar in neon over the drink station, a brightly blue lit corner where a man works at making drinks, shelves of booze behind him.  She climbs onto a blue vinyl bar stool, feet no longer on the ground and unable to resist swinging them a bit. The bartender comes to her; a man with slicked back dark hair,  glowing white cybernetic eyes, and silver embellishments run across his cheeks and jaw. His shirt bright blue with a tropical design and if not for a single button above his pants, it’d be completely open. Beaded necklaces bringing even more attention to his exposed chest and stomach.

“Get you something?”

“Looking for Evelyn Parker,” she speaks the woman’s name, not wanting to waste time fingerspelling it even if the sound feels tight in her throat.

“And you are?”

“V, me and her were supposed to meet here.”

“Well, V,  it’s a pleasure. I’m Mateo.”

“Nice to meet you… any idea where she’s hanging around?”

“Club's big. Gonna have to look around. Can't do it for you-”

“It's all right, Mateo,” a feminine voice calls out and V’s eyes are drawn to a woman at the bar, “I was waiting for this one.”

There’s something about her, distinctly Mox and also not. Her hair is a short vivid blue bob with bangs cut straight across her forehead. Heavy makeup, a tight silver sequin dress with a dipping neckline, red thigh high vinyl boots, a black trench coat that pools around her knees with a pink and white feathered collar.  She holds two fingers up to the bartender and moves to the bar stool closer. There’s a clang and tink of glass; Mateo getting out a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses.  

“That won’t be necessary,” V signs before he can fill the second glass, “I don’t drink on the job.”

“Aww, what a good girl,” Evelyn coos, a smile pulling at her painted lips, “Evelyn Parker. I knew it was you as soon as you walked in.”

“And you decided to let me wander around instead of introducing yourself?”

“I wanted to get a good look at you first.”

“And?” V watches as Evelyn takes a swig of her tequila.

“Rest assured, if I didn’t like what I see, you’d know,” she takes another drink, “C'mon. Know a place we can talk where ears won't prick up to listen. We'll be in the lounge, Mateo. Anyone asks we're not here.”

Evelyn takes her black clutch purse and leaves the bar, V puts some money down for Mateo; if nothing else to compensate for his time. V hops down from the stool and follows after Evelyn, through a pair of double doors that goes into a hallway tinted red and pink, booth doors lining the way. The blue haired woman opens up a door, standing to the side as V walks in.

The booth is small, circular with a red vinyl couch around it’s curve, a table in the middle projects a hologram of a stripper who twists and dances. V sinks into the cushions, watching Evelyn stride in and light a cigarette as the door closes behind her. Everyone in the city a smoker it seems.  As Evelyn puffs on a cigarette, V is somehow just noticing the gold nail like finger caps she wears.

“Dex had a load to say about you. Called you professional, effective. And trustworthy. I hope he wasn't overselling…“

“You don’t give a shit what he says,” V retorts, not missing the tinge of disdain Evelyn’s voice. V doesn’t need anyone to blow wind up her ass.

“You have trouble accepting compliments?”

“Flattery’s beneath you.”

“Maybe Dex is beneath you,” Evelyn moves around the table, grabbing an ashtray from the table, then sitting down next to V, crossing her legs, “Have you known each other long?”

“First time working with him.”

“Hmmm, I've heard there are two kinds of fixers. Those with stable crews on long contracts and short leashes. Loyalty and predictability they value above all else. Then there's the other kind- Dex's kind.”

“Meaning?”

“Headhunters. They lay their trust elsewhere, not in people but in a thing- their intuition. They bet on potential. And if they lose that bet…It's the last mistake they ever make. I’m hoping Dex’s intuition served him well in this case.”

“Let's get to the point, why am I here, what’s this about?”

“Your target - I trust you know what it is.”

“Arasaka biochip.”

“Mmmhmm, their Relic, secure your soul technology. Arasaka's poured billions into personality transfer technology. But me - I just want the data on this one. The chip is tucked away inside Konpeki Plaza, the hotel. You ever been?”

“Fancy corp hotels? Yeah, no, way out of my price range.”

“The decor's to die for. As you'll see for yourself.’

So, V and Jackie have to bust into some fancy hotel to get the chip people are arguing about on tv. Understood, so far. But, theres a lot of risks involved in a heist of this scale. Its one thing to rip off a dropped piece of cargo or a convoy from a corp; but this kind of top notch tech?

“You know where the chip is, exactly?”

“In a suite on the top floor. The room's occupied by Yorinobu Arasaka.”

V swallows the lump in her throat, the son of Saburo Arasaka, heir to the entire fucking corp. She’s once again finding herself wondering why Dex thinks her and Jackie can handle a job of this caliber, the Arasaka’s seem downright un-fucking-touchable to a merc like her.

“He’s in NC?”

“Don't you read the screamsheets?”

“Not particularly, no.”

“Well, the media couldn't get enough of Yori coming to Night City, it was all over the headlines. He's heir apparent to the Arasaka empire - Saburo Arasaka's only surviving son.”

“So, he trying to take over while he’s in town?” V asks, trying to understand what exactly is going on.

“Only a handful of people in Night City know what the Arasakas' real plans are.”

“And you included in that?”

A smirk stretches across her face, green eyes devious; “Yorinobu is a puppet. He lost all his cards years ago when he failed to do daddy's bidding. Saburo's had Yori's balls in a vise for years. He might just turn the screw and crush them outright if he learns his son's up to no good again.”

“Someone like him is bound to have an army surrounding him, that hotel is probably a fortress by now.”

“Yorinobu keeps exactly no muscle around. Not one guard. Got rid of them a long time ago.”

“Why?”

“Surely you know what they say about Arasaka intel? Sneeze in Night City and a blossom drops from a cherry tree in Tokyo. Yorinobu was convinced his Arasaka security detail reported directly to his father.”

“If you got a spare ache up your sleeve, I’d love to see it.”

“ Now, this should make your tits perk up,” she says, putting the ashtray aside and leans forward.

“My tits are quite comfortable where they are, I assure you.”

“Cute, but more importantly, Yorinobu recently swiped the chip from an Arasaka laboratory. He's made a deal with NetWatch, aims to sell it to them. Have you spotted my ace yet or do I need to spell things out?”

“Okay, no muscle because he has daddy issues and no security on the device because he stole it from said daddy. Any idea where he’s hiding the thing?”

“Likely in a specialized container, one that mimics an organic neural environment. On the outside, it looks like an ordinary briefcase.”

“Which would be where?”

“You'll see for yourself soon enough,” she stamps out her cigarette and stands up, walking to the door, “Provided we're done gossiping about the Arasakas.”

“You know anything else about him?” V asks, wanting to see if she can mine any more useful information about the heir that could help.

“Quite a bit, actually. He studied finance and biotech in Tokyo. Hm, probably didn't have a choice in the matter, come to think of it. Saburo was grooming him to be his successor. But then Yorinobu vanished to chase his own dreams, cut himself off from the corp for years. Long story short, though the black sheep returned, the bitter taste remained. But that's only one side of him. There's another - an intelligent man who has always walked his own path and so has his own designs on the corp.”

There’s no doubt in V’s mind now that Evelyn knows Yorinobu personally, the way she talks and speaks is clearly colored by experience. Some prodigal son who ran away from his father and then came back with his tail between his legs when he couldn’t cut it alone. An odd lump in V’s throat at the thought; running away from shitty dads, being a black sheep…

“Sounds like any other corpo dick to me,” V signs, not liking the parallels her brain is starting to draw.

“Hm. Ever tried to imagine what life might be like for an emperor's son? You have everything, yet you are no one, nothing. At least as long as you remain in Saburo Arasaka's shadow. I…” she scratches almost sheepishly at her neck, her wannabe femme fatale attitude slipping for just a moment, “...sympathize. It's a vulnerability I understand well.”

V is still finding herself finding uncomfortable similarities between herself and fucking Yorinobu Arasaka. Its stupid, she doesn’t know the man and he has the wealth to destroy her for pretending she does. But, a power hungry leader for a father, leaving home, terrified of being under his thumb. Only difference, well many, but most pressing is she’s managed to make it on her own...so far… at least. Not that she hasn’t had her doubts or worries.

“So, what’s next?” V asks, practically shaking her head to dispel the weirdness swimming in her brain. Black sheep or not; Yorinobu Arasaka has a silver spoon in his mouth. She’s a nomad turned Night City edgerunner; their lives couldn’t be more far removed.

“Now comes the best part,” Evelyn opens the door and turns to leave, “Follow me. Got somethin' for you. Should help you plan. Braindance from Konpeki Plaza.”

V follows Evelyn out into the hallway, “ how’s a braindance going to help?”

“Think BDs are only good for fondling virtual tits, jackin' off to in those boxes?”

“Thought that was the main selling point, yeah,” V teases back as they turn a corner in the hallway, headed towards a door.

“No. They can be a very useful tool. Good for analyzing details human perception, even boosted, doesn't grasp. Exactly what you need,” Evelyn teases as they enters a dressing room, a few Mox at the tables painting their faces with makeup and styling their hair.

“What's on the tape?” Through another door and neon lights fade to harsher, darker lighting.

“Yorinobu's suite. The glorious interior,” the walk down a short metal flight of stairs, “You'll need to locate the Relic yourself. Hope I grabbed enough detail to make that possible.”

The stop at the end of the steps, Evelyn turning to look at V with a hand on her hips. Not that V really had any more doubt about it, but she’s been given more evidence that Evelyn and Yorinobu know each other.

“You recorded it?”

“Mhm. BD rec implant. Why, you object?”

“Not particularly, who you know and what you do with them is none of my business, lets see the braindance.”

“Judy'll help. She's a Mox, too,” down another short flight of stairs, deeper into the basement, “Besides, we go back… years.”

Evelyn stops them again outside a pair of double doors, Lizzie’s is starting to feel like a little maze at this point. But more importantly, Evelyn’s paused again, stumbled over her words and showed something under her facade. V felt something was off, a Mox but somehow not, and she’s starting to think Evelyn is purposely trying to put up a front. That she’s trying, a little too hard, to come across like femme fatale or corpo. Evelyn clears her throat.

“V, this is important. Judy's always been there for me. Always helped out. I trust her. But she's a Mox, not the latest member of your crew. Try not to forget. So you'll be a good girl, tread lightly and keep that tongue on a leash.

“Oh, but it's not my tongue you need to worry about.”

“Hmm, can feel you smirking under that mask, keep it up and I’ll tie those hands down, too,” Evelyn says with a wink as they pass through the double doors into another hallway, then through one more door.

Evelyn leads her through the basement doors, a dark little room with servers, netrunning chairs and screens. In an office chair slouching with one leg on a desk is a woman; late twenties or so with olive skin. One side of her hair is shaved, the other shaggy and down to nearly her shoulder, a deep green color with bright pink ends. The woman is heavily tattooed, bright red roses nestled above her collar bones, a spider web on her right shoulder, a cartoon ghost sitting in a shell, and a large number 13 on her bicep are among the standouts. But V could spend hours describing each artwork.

“Ahem.”

“Hey, there you are…” Judy greets Evelyn, a playful almost flirty tone to her voice.

“This is V. She's here for that BD roll. And V, this is Judy - best braindance editor I know.”

“Enough already, gonna make me barf.” There’s a slight accent to Judy’s voice, not unlike Jackie’s.

“Impressive set up,” V signs, at least, she assumes it’s impressive. Tech is already a bit of a blind spot for her, especially when it comes to brain dances.

“Mhm, Analyzers, sensory sig amps, acoustic and emotive wave monitors, facial expression translators.”

“Ahem, Judy,” Evelyn stops the inked editor before she can tell V more.

“All right, all right… Compiled your BD, Ev.”

“What do you think? Will it do?”

“Still pretty raw… but yeah, oughta do.”

“Mhm. V needs to get deep inside, that's most important.”

“So, let's calibrate, tune it to her,” Judy stands up from the table and moves to the desk closer to the door, sitting down below a neon pink light, “Believe me, I've dealt with worse. Should see the dig-Jig Street porn we gotta contend with sometimes.”

Evelyn has followed behind Judy, standing behind the editor’s chair, “So we drop V inside? Let her look, let her rummage around, right?”

“How 'bout it, V? Raw braindance - ever taken a dip before?” Judy leans forward on the desk, looking at V.

“No, not at all, but I’m a quick learner,” that feels like a lie as soon as she says it, “ and need to know what I’m dealing with. So.”

“Siddown, settle in, and we'll get you goin'.”

V turns around to the chairs, either netrunning or ripperdoc chairs, she’s not sure. But, she climbs into one, settling down into it as Judy comes back out around the desk. Judy is nearby, fiddling with a brain dance wreath.

“Be easier to fit without the mask.”

“Mask has optic tech, linked to my neuroport and biomon, should work just like it does with any set of cybereyes.”

“‘Fraid of ruining the mystery?” Evelyn asks, teasing again.

“Mask is for business, lot harder to track a merc if you got no clue what they look like. You that curious, feel free to try and track me down during my off time.”

“Fine, fine,”  Judy affixes the BD wreath around V’s head, lining it up properly on the merc before walking back to the desk,  “Gotta create your sensory profile first.”

“Go for it.”

“Now, sit still, look at me. Gonna run the analysis soft should feel a slight tingling…”

V’s breath catches as it prickles across her skin, a crackling and warm sensation crawling across every nerve. From the base of her skull, down her spine, across her arms to her fingers, running down her legs to her toes. A vague pulse, a current of something.

“OK now let's set the optics and other sensory sigs. Look smack into these two screens, pretend it's an eye exam.”

The two wreath panels flash and strobe white light, building in urgency and frequency.

“Gimme two more minutes. One more sec, need to get the pain receptor limiters in… OK. All set. Need to test your profile first. Tossing in a sam-”

“We can just use my recording, there’s no point in wasting time,” Evelyn interrupts Judy.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“I’m fine with just jumping to her BD,” V interjects her opinion, “better to get right to it.”

Judy sighs and rolls her eyes; “Fine, fine, what do I know.”

“Great, I’ll just need to patch Bug in.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Who?” Judy jumps up from her desk, crossing her arms and looks at V like she just asked to summon Satan.

“Runner from my crew, security specialist. She'll tell me what to look for while we analyze. No problem, I assume?”

“Actually, it is a problem! You’re already asking me to cut fucking corners and now you want to bring someone else in?! Not what we agreed, Ev!”

“It’s not a big deal,” V signs, not sure what Judy’s sudden problem is.

“No big deal! You don't quite grasp the risks I took by lettin' you in here! What I'm risking pokin' around with this stuff!”

Judy continues to yell and V rolls her eyes, she’s a BD editor, not part of the actual crew, the client, or the fixer. If Arasaka goes after anyone it sure as shit won’t be Judy, so why is she throwing a fit.

“And you don’t seem to grasp the risk I’d be taking if me and my partner went stumbling into that hotel with no fucking clue as to what we or our runner are up against. I miss one hidden turret and I get pumped full of lead, either my runner links in or I’m gone.”

V makes a point to twist her head and look at Evelyn at the last part; Bug is the most highly trained member of their crew and Dex’s go to runner. Without her involvement and eyes on it, the job won’t be going anywhere.

“Bye then!” Judy yells out, “good riddance and don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”

“Judy, please…”

“Ev, she wants to bring a 'runner in. What part of that don't you understand?! How do I know she'll only perch in this footage, observe, not fuck with anything?!”

“Because Bug is literally involved with the heist, has a dog in this fight, and wants it to go well too,” V signs, hoping the AI voice is getting her annoyance across, Judy does level a glare at her over Evelyn’s shoulder.

“Me,” Evelyn steals Judy’s attention, “I'm your guarantee.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Help me, this one last time. I promise everything'll work out,  just like we planned.”

And it hits V, between the flirting and the soft drop in Evelyn’s voice here. The reason Judy is so worked up about this; her and Evelyn have something. Friends teetering the line into something else, girlfriends already, or maybe even more than that. V’s not sure. But there’s something distinctly not platonic to the way they interact. Maybe that’s the play on Evelyn’s. Scam Yorinobu Arasaka then run away with her porn editor girlfriend.

“Fine,” Judy shakes her head and sits back down, the anger gone, “call Bug and we’ll dive in.”

That issue taken care of V rings up T-Bug, the netrunner answering after a ring or two.

“What’s up, V?”

“Bug, listen. I got some useful footage from Konpeki Plaza. It's a braindance.”

“Konpeki? Ohhh, thought as much…” Judy looks up at Evelyn.

“Someone there with you?”

“Client and her...friend...is what I’ll settle on; that’s not what matters right now, its going to give us a layout of the room, a chance to find where the chip is, and some idea of security.”

“All right, see if I can walk you through it. Jackin’ into your tech now,” notifications alert across her mask’s interface, “Mh, you've gotta give me access. Opening port 1779… Secure protocol? Good, I'm goin' in. Should be getting my request… …now.”

“Got it. You ready?”

“Millisec. OK, connection confirmed, now some quick temp ICE and… we're clear. Ready to dance.”

“Let’s do this.”

And with that the wreath panels begin to flash and strobe in front of V’s eyes, quicker and quicker until the world goes out in white. And in the next snap of a moment, one reality becomes another. Her body is no longer her own, she’s placed in Evelyn’s mind standing outside an elevator. What feels like her body, moves to adjust a purse strap, gold capped nails.

“All right, V - eyes open. Gotta find out where Yorinobu is keepin’ the Relic. Everything is controlled by thought and intention; you can step into editor mode, access everything her cyberware picked up a signal of, can scan, rewind, fast forward. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

The doors open, exposing the hotel room, and a horror show of a man walking towards her. V can feel the spike in fear, whether from Evelyn in the moment or V’s own instinctual reaction; she isn’t sure. He’s around eight feet tall, complete metal and cyberware from his feet to his upper lip; more machine than human. Wire, hydraulics, steel; all branded with Arasaka. The flesh section of his head is sickly ashen protrusive veins, glowing red where eyes should be. As he draws closer there’s a whirr of machinery, hydraulics pistoning to give him movement. How is he alive? How is he functional?

“You look like a cut of fuckable meat. Are you?” He asks as he walks past, voice edged with something inhuman.

Evelyn reigns her fear back in, the past version of her walking deeper into the room, where a dark haired man sits at a table in front of a large screen where another blonde haired man speaks back to him.

“I said no,” the dark haired man speaks out, his voice colored by a Japanese accent and V knows it’s Yorinobu. Evelyn continues to walk closer, her heels clicking against the floor.

“They'll have my head for this…”

“Then you shall perish for a good cause.”

“But I-”

“Make yourself comfortable. I need a minute to finish,” Yorinobu tells Evelyn, sparing just a glance over his shoulder.

“Listen in on that conversation, V! Could be something important.”

She wants to watch through first, do an initial watch to look for things and then go more in depth. Two watches at least should mean she’s covered everything. Yorinobu switches the conversation to his holophone, pacing around the room. Evelyn meanwhile puts her purse down on the chair, then walks behind him, trying to keep him in range

“My father is a tired, visionless old greybeard who thinks nothing will change and he'll live forever in his tiny, frozen bubble! You will listen to this - Saburo is an addled despot utterly removed from reality, stuck in some fossilized vision of a world that no longer exists! Of a world that may never have existed! We have not seen eye to eye for the last twenty years. I am quite sure we won't now.”

Yorinobu continues to talk as Evelyn pours herself a glass full of champagne and takes a drink, the tech allowing V to taste the sweet bubbles as if they were on her own tongue. Glass in hand she takes a slow look around the room and walks back to the center of it, sitting at the table, the plush of the cushion letting her sink into it.

“Noted,” Yorinobu says into the phone as he starts to walk back to Evelyn, there’s something in his eyes, “enough.”

He hands up, putting the phone down on the table. Evelyn looks up at him and V through her eyes gets her first good look at the Arasaka heir. Dark hair with the sides shaved down close to the scalp, glasses perched on his nose. His cyberware is surprisingly minimal for a man of his wealth, two streaks of silver going up his neck to his jawline.

“Sorry, to make you wait,” he touches Evelyn’s shoulder and the woman rises, “business can be stupid.”

They’re close and V can feel his hands on her, Evelyn’s, hips. Evelyn’s hand on his shoulder.

“Mmh, it wasn't long,” Evelyn hums and it feels wholy unnatural to feel like she’s speaking with someone else's voice, “Not even long enough for me to grow bored.”

His hands start to creep and Evelyn goes to pull away, movements playful, when Yorinobu pulls her back in. Then he starts to dip his mouth.

“Fuck no!” V yells out as she pushes the thought to enter editor mode, separating her senses from Evelyn’s before she has to feel Yorinobu’s lips on Evelyn’s neck. She looks down and sees herself, though slightly digital, her bright blue nail polish and not gold jewelry. The scene around her has paused and a digital filter over them.

“Something wrong?” T-Bug asks with a slight laugh.

“Nearly had corpo droolon me,” V signs, happy to find the tech allows her translator to work in editor mode, “was going do a watch through, then a second go in editor mode, figured two look throughs would be best...then”

“Then you nearly had to lock lips with Yorinobu Arasaka.”

“Gag, rewinding back to scan the call fully.” With a thought she watches as Evelyn and Yorinobu move in reverse, getting back to win the heir was starting the call. Once she gets where she needs to be she scans his phone and restarts it from editor mode, thankful for the sensory disconnect. She hears the man on the other end of Yorinobu’s call speak.

“Please speak with your father. He's taken a particular interest in this project, he can certainly explain the risks invol--”

“My father is a tired, visionless old greybeard who thinks nothing will change and he'll live forever in his tiny, frozen bubble!”

“I should not even be listening to such things.”

“You will listen to this - Saburo is an addled despot utterly removed from reality, stuck in some fossilized vision of a world that no longer exists! Of a world that may never have existed! We have not seen eye to eye for the last twenty years. I am quite sure we won't now.”

“Read the documentation carefully. The Relic requires specific storage conditions. You MUST provide them.”

“Noted,” Yorinobu hangs up again and V pauses the BD.

“Heard that? Relic docs gotta be around here somewhere. Look for them,” Bug confirms.

“Once we find where the chip is stored we’ll do a clean sweep of the security, okay Bug.”

“Smart thinking.”

V watches half-heartedly as Yorinobu and Evelyn interact; her range of vision and senses limited to Evelyn. She fast forwards through the two canoodling, only mildly catching Evelyn mentioning something about ‘candy’ though V assumes it’s of the nose variety. Evelyn separates away from Yorinobu for a moment and walks to a control panel, offering to lend music to the scene.

But V’s interest is piqued when she catches Evelyn rifling through Yorinobu’s messages, a few spam and scam emails. Then she pulls up an email from Clouds, a dollhouse in the city. Evelyn deletes it, V rewinds back and pauses. The email thanks Yorinobu for his patronage; hmm, heir has a taste for doll prostitutes. Something, Evelyn doesn’t want that email to be there… Its all beginning to make more sense and V’s not sure she likes it.

The merc fast forwards further through the BD, moving through to Evelyn playing awful music and going to meet Yorinobu in his bed. Where he sits with a tablet, the second the screen is clear. She pauses and scans it, bingo.

“Manual details a special temp controlled container. Relic needs to be kept real cool,” T-Bug explains through the technobabble.

“Chip’s got to be in a freezer.”

“Yep. Could damage it otherwise. OK, switch on thermal layer detection in the editor. Should be easier to spot where Yorinobu's keeping the chip.”

V switches with a thought, the world turning into temperature signatures as she searches for unnatural cold places and spots. An air conditioner pumps out cold air, but that would be a stupid place to put billion dollar tech. One malfunction and you lost it all.  She rewinds back to get more of a view, a ice bucket for champagne, a fridge?

“That’s just a regular fancy fridge, not cold enough,” Bug tells her when she spends t0o long contemplating it.

V rewinds further and an amass of blue ice cold air from behind a pillar catches her eye, It seems to come up through the floor, unlike the AC, ice bucket, or fridge she has no clear idea where this one is coming from. A secret container in the floor? Seems like a much craftier place to hide expensive stolen tech, V scans it.

“Right, grabbed the heat sig. Matches the spec in the docs,” T-Bug tells her.

“Chip has to be here, we got it.”

“Mmhmm, time to scan security.”

V switches back to the regular mode, looking for what she needs to scan. The camera system first.

“Shit, cameras packed with newtech motion sensors, heat sig activators. IFF.”

“Can you kill it?”

“With access to their subnet, but we need the Flathead bot for that.”

They continue on, with Bug commenting on each security measure they scan. Alarm with fresh firmware, Automated turrets connected to the hotels server. Yorinobu’s pistol, loaded with the safety on. V rewinds and fast forward, searching anything else that might be an issue but comes up empty handed.

“Seems like we got everything. Looks like all their security systems are linked to the hotel subnet. We need the Flathead. No other way to shut down these systems,” T-Bug sumises.

“No way around it ourselves?”

“Nope. Least I'm fresh out of ideas. Think we got everything we need.”

“Okay, but hang on the line with me after we get out of the BD, need you to look over something for me, if you don’t mind.”

“No problem.”

V exists out of the brain dance, a flash of white and the world returns. Judy and Evelyn looking at her from across a desk, T-Bug still in the call panel of her mask. Her eyes hurt, her throat feels dry, and she can feel a migraine pushing at her temples. She fucking hates brain dances.

“Get everything you need?” Judy asks, a dark raised eyebrow.

“From the BD, yeah, got to clear something with Bug while I got her on the horn,” V gets the chip she fucked with out of her pocket and slides it into the proxy reader of her mask, “got a chip I fucked around with; decrypted and tried to rewrite the virus on it, so it will spike the people who gave it to me. But I want to make sure, I didn’t fuck up.”

“Need me to grade your work, V?”

“Kind of…”

“Oh, shit, V. You fucking over Militech?” T-Bug exclaims, a little pride in her voice as she reads over the code, thankfully her voice is only audible to V through her hearing aids.

“Mmhmm.”

“And you don’t want to sign and have your translator read it, because you don’t want to risk the client knowing you’re fucking over Militech while prepping to fuck over Arasaka.”

“Mmhmm, will it work?”

“It will fry the servers of any tech it’s plugged in proper and fry the servers it’s linked to, a Militech van from the looks of it. Won’t be a dent in their bottom line, but will surely piss off some reps. That what you meant for it to do?”

“That was the plan.”

“Preem work then, but I do want to make some...edits,” T-Bug edits the chips code in front of V’s eyes, “there we go.”

“Something wrong with it?” Nerves creep up V’s throat, if she fucked up, she’d rather learn her lesson now.

“Nah, I added a bit of a personal touch for you, nothing wrong with a little style added to your hacking.”

“Appreciate the help.”

“You know I won’t always be here to check your work.”

“I know, I know, but it doesn't mean I won’t take advantage while I can. Thanks again, talk soon.”

“Later, V.” With that V hangs up the call and slots the spiked credchip back into its respective pocket. Judgement, suspicion, and resentment are radiating off of Judy.

“I'll wipe the cache and your data. You were never here.”

Judy stands up from the desk and V tries to decipher a few of the tattoos she sees, noticing more sea themed ones, like a dolphin and sharks. V flinches behind her mask as Judy removes the BD wreath, glad to be free of the contraption, but she could have taken it off herself.

“Thanks…” V signs, despite this, just trying to be polite despite their spat.

“Keep it,” Judy hands her the wreath, V getting a good look at the octopus tattooed on the woman’s hand,  “I'll put it on Ev's tab. Portable device for handling BDs. I already uploaded your calibration settings. Not as sophisticated as what we got here, but should do the trick.”

“And it keeps you outta harm's way. Clever.”

“Speaking of harms way, know what I see looking at you,” Judy pins her hands to her hips and gives V that look again, “walking, talking corpses.”

“We needed this recording, just… relax, will you?”

“Relax! If Arasaka finds out you have it, you're dead. I'm dead! If you fuck this up and Arasaka comes knocking on my door!”

“Judy, relax, that’s… not gonna happen,” Evelyn is the one trying to soothe the editors temper again.

“Evelyn, please… no shortcuts. You go that route, city'll always win. So be careful.”

“'Course I will be. Besides, we'll talk in a bit,” Evelyn looks to V,  “lets walk.”

V stashes the new BD wreath into her bag and climbs from the chair, following Evelyn out of Judy’s basement space. It’s not like V is heartless or doesn’t know anxiety; but of everyone involved, Judy has the least skin in the game. V can’t spend her time coddling someone who doesn’t have a whole hell of a lot to worry about compared to her, Jackie, or Bug.

“Well? What do you think?” Evelyn asks and V can see that hint of nerves coming back.

“You’re not worried about this coming back on you, if they start looking through everyone he’s been dealing with?”

“They'll have a long list, then. Packed full of big names. Much bigger than mine. You tell me who they check first. Corpo hotshots and cutthroats? Or a little bedroom plaything like me?”

“Well, then... “ V tries to find her words, this all seems, too good, “intel on the heir, on the place, know roughly where the chip is, and how we should get to it… Seems like a perfect plan and job.”

“Mm. Thanks. Now the punch line, please.”

“Seems too good to be true, there’s got to be a catch…”

“Cold feet? Are you looking to get out of it?”

“I want to know you’re in control here; that there’s no secrets, no catches, no surprises that turns this heist from a cakewalk into a bloodbath.”

“V. I have zero reasons to haze you. We’re in this together. Really. Trust me that I got this.”

“Okay, if you say so, what next?”

“V….” there’s nothing good in the way Evelyn pauses, words stuck to her tongue for a moment, “Do this job for me. I mean me alone. No splitting the payout with anyone else. No middlemen. No Dex.”

Of course, of fucking course, there had to be something. Evelyn’s trying to play cutthroat corpo, fucking over a fixer because she has dollar signs in her eyes. But, she’s too damn naïve to the game to know that no merc with the lead in their gun would pull that shit. Greedy mercs who screw over their fixers end up broke on the street at best and swimming  with cement shoes at worst. And a high profile one like Dex has the means to destroy her.

“Fucking knew there was a catch, you want to fuck over our fixer.”

“Dex is a middleman. And a useless one at this point.”

“You don't fuck with fixers. That's the one rule every merc in this city knows - and actually follows!”

“But if we're smart…”

“There is no smart to this, a mistake like that will cost me my reputation and without that, a merc is fucking nothing in this city. Are you serious about this?”

“Better ask yourself that question. Do you want to spend the rest of your days blasting scavs? Or become a legend overnight? Your choice.”

“He would put me in the ground, if I pulled some gonk shit like that.”

“I could give you fifty percent, V, . Eddies enough to do whatever the hell you like, without needing Dex for anything. With cred like that, you wouldn’t want for anything, you could retire.”

“It’s not about the money.”

“I thought you were a merc. I thought it was always about the money.”

“No, its not actually. He trusts me, he’s taking a leap with me. And even if he weren’t, I’m not the only person I got to worry about. Bug vouched for me too and Jackie is my partner. I fuck over my fixer, it hurts them too. I’m not going to send them down the river for a bigger cut of the pie.”

“Fine. I never asked. But V?”

“Yeah.”

“I just hope you're as good as you are naive.”

“Pff, you think I’m the naive one, here. Cute.

“If you need me, call. I'll send you my number. Now go. I need a few words with Judy.”

“Later, then.”

And with that V heads back up the stairs, tension draws tight across her shoulders. This whole damn thing with Evelyn throwing her off. The BD and everything seems clear cut, if they get the Flathead, the job might even be easy. But, wanting to fuck over their fixer. Evelyn is not the corpo or femme fatale or whatever she seems to think she is. A doll, V’s sure of that.  Evelyn must have deleted the email from Clouds because its’s connected to her and the Mox offer protection to sex workers; must be where she and Yorinobu met. Clouds even has connections to Arasaka through the Tyger Claws. And she managed to become a powerful rich man’s plaything, so now she thinks she’s smart enough to fuck over not only him but Dex too.

She’s a messy client with good intel. V doesn’t want Evelyn to get hurt. The older woman is in over her head and doesn’t know how the merc world works. She doesn’t deserve to get hurt for that, the last thing V wants is for Dex to lose his cool and hurt the woman. But, V also owes it to him to let him know Evelyn put that deal on the table. If she doesn’t, what’s to say Evelyn won’t pull this on another fixer? Or Dex gets another job aligned with her and the next merc she offers this to isn’t so loyal? She has to tell him.

V fumbles with her holo as she walks back through the club, doing some quick research on Konpeki Plaza. Finding their policy on guns. Given the stealth nature of this mission, she can assume the only way they’re getting in is to find a way to get in like regular patrons. Which means they’d be scanned for guns as soon as they get through the door. If something goes south, she doesn’t want her and Jackie left unarmed with a hoard of Arasaka soldiers on their ass.

But they can’t confiscate cyberware.

Might be time to cash in her savings for something. Her holo buzzes in her hand as Dex calls; her stomach drops. Unsure for a moment what to say to him, if she should go ahead and tell him what Evelyn tried to pull. Would he lose his temper? Drop the entire damn heist? Would he hurt her for it? It weighs on her shoulders as she pushes through a blue beaded curtain, considering her options with a finger hovering over the phone.

[bribe-the-door]

If every song from hs2 was a color, what would they be?

[Track 1] Golden

so.... this is “pretty much on the nose” for what color it should be but I see it as sunset golden... except it’s the shadows of the sunset. you know how you try to take pictures on the beach at sunset and it’s all silhouettes? exactly. it’s bright and warm and golden but ALSO dark and an outline of what you’re trying to capture. your [person] is outlined in golden hues and a slight baby pink or bright orange if the sun hits the water just right on the beach... but you can’t see the faces of those in the picture.

[Track 2] Watermelon Sugar

care-free and bright pink. you’re on a beach [again.... sorry] and you’re sleepy in the sun. you have a pink drink in hand [a strawberry daiquiri maybe?] and are dulling the sunlight by way of huge sunglasses because the ocean in front of you is insanely bright blue like the ‘electric blue’ Crayola marker. it’s a song that feels drunk and dizzy and tastes sweet even on the darkest and moody of days. fight me on this. this is my happy song. it is laced with vodka or tequila and only to be thought of as a sunset song. NEXT PLEASE

[Track 3] Adore You

this one is all earth  tones... a mossy green, a deep inland lake blue, some rich soil brown, all things to make up a spring-time island. there are slivers of grey and deep heather gray and an occasional metallic gold of sea life below the waters, but also hues of deep red-brown and turquoise (easily confused with black or gray under the ripples of water). it’s grainy like a vintage-film reel and smells of old books.

[Track 4] Lights Up

lights up? it’s dark, y’all. all of the colors are muted and murky, kind of like you’re drunk and trying to make out what is in front of you. it’s a deep green again, a very deep yellow or beige, despite the boldness of the sounds heard. it’s as if you’re trying to fight your way out of murky lake water and as the harmonies grow to be stronger, you’re reaching closer to the top [of the lake/pond/ocean/water]. you can finally take a deep breath of clear air once you come to the top... and it’s a clear pale blue. you made it, babe.

[Track 5] Cherry

this song screams early fall morning to me. it’s foggy, there is a hue over a big field of grey and a slight pink, but it’s too early to tell. soft colors; lilac, an olive green, so many hues of pink and white and the slightest tinge of ice blue. kind of like the most stereotypical farm/field-based Nicholas Sparks movie you can think of, but made it slow-motion and sad and also probably post-rainstorm. there is most definitely a cherry blossom tree in the background and also a small white farmhouse, too.

[Track 6] Falling

periwinkle. violet. a tiny bit of a mustard yellow. the cool hues outweigh the bright character of the yellow without fail but the yellow tries to peak out every so often, clearly outweighed by the darkness of blues and purples. it feels like the morning dew and sticks to you like the humidity of a late summer night before a storm rolls in. you feel clouded by the weight of the world but see an ounce of hope in the peaks of the harmonies, that goddamn yellow peeking though again.

[Track 7] To Be So Lonely

baby blue ONLY for the “little boy” mention. i will not take notes on this. also... this song screams groovy and crunchy colors like burnt orange and a vivid gold color, and also a nice cheery blue. kind of the sky blue you see in cartoons but also a navy blue, too. this isn’t color related but the diversity in instrumentals here is incredible, this song feels like a goddam rainbow, but muted. like a jewel-toned rainbow with some glitter. only because of the use of the phrase “an arrogant son of a bitch”. case closed.

[Track 8] She

smokey and deep red embers of a flame, somehow kept alive by a force unknown. there is a deep purple vibe to this song, too, almost confused by a black or the complete absence of color in the dark of night. there isn’t a single bright thing of this song, save for maybe a spark or fleeting ember from the fire in a blazing orange or yellow. maybe even a white [if things are hot enough]. this song is pink in nature but red in execution, only shown in the light with a deep hue of maroon and gold.

[Track 9] Sunflower Vol. 6

YELLOW! YELLOW! YELLOW! is this even an arguable POINT! it is yellow and orange and bright pink and all things HAPPY because sunflowers are warm and remind me of summer when things are okay and fine and LOVELY. also there is definitely a hint of bright green and blue and a little bit of rainbow sparkle.... but only a little. kind of like only around 1:28-:1:35... you know? it’s sparkly. get out of here if you say it’s not. the “boop boops” are also translucent like bubbles and that’s a FACT

[Track 10] Canyon Moon

transition of afternoon sun to a sunset... like dusk, but a color. oranges and yellows and the preparation that goes into a bonfire. also the golden perfection of a perfectly toasted marshmallow? crisp like the evening breeze... teal and purple with darkness but kept warm by the flames of the lasting embers of the flames in front of you.

[Track 11] Treat People With Kindness (THIS IS MY FAV)

it’s rainbow. don’t even try to fight me on this. this song can only be described as confetti cannons going off at all times. i wish i had more to say but i had too much fun jamming out to this song!!!!! it’s absolute madness!!!! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!!! IT’S SO BRIGHT AND NEON AND HAPPY AND I LOVE IT!!!!!!

[Track 12] Fine Line

this one starts as a very, very dark green. it stays that hue for a while but slowly transitions into a brighter blue-green as the song progresses. little glimpses into the future of the melody show itself with golden and pink rays but they’re drowned out by the green-blue until the peak of the song when things transition into “we’ll be alright” over and over and over. it’s like a sunrise after fighting your way through the foliage of a dark night and not sure where you’ll end up. but you make it though it all and finally find the sun... golden and shadowy like this album started as. the change between dark and like are so obvious during this song.

[pandoramajora]

[Images courtesy of Fenty Beauty & ColourPop]

Happy Jojo Friday! 

This is a tentative list of some lipsticks I was request to compile that gave me that Jojo-esque vibe. These are mostly lipstick colors I see character wear (also their color of their outfits) and have found real life matches for or just colors I feel fit in nicely with that Jojo aesthetic. I will definitely continue to add if I do find newer lipsticks that feel are worth mentioning. 

Never be afraid to experiment with color. There is never not a good time to wear bold colors. I wear one crazy lip color once a week, usually on Jojo Fridays. The first time you go out wear a green lipstick, yes, you may feel odd because people might stare. I have never gotten a bad comment. If anything, I get compliments and get told they wished they could wear green or blue lipstick. My reply? “What’s stopping you?!” But don’t be embarrassed! Live boldly! Fuck what other people think.

Put on your green lipstick and go out there and make Dio proud!

[long post, so everything is under the cut! also PS: no affiliate links/not sponsored. I just like makeup and Jojo. If you like this sort of content and would like to see more, let me know!]

Advice: Before you jump into this list I do have some advice.  Make sure to prime and line your lips! Not lipstick is completely immune to transfer or fading. So also keep you lipstick color with you to reapply when it starts to fade. 

Priming: You want to protect your lips the same way you protect your face when you apply makeup. Using a lip primer (I use Ozone from Urban Decay and NYX glitter glue) will help the colors last and help it go on smoothly. With certain colors that I know fade at the water line fast, I use both Ozone and NYX’s glitter glue. I go in and use Ozone then apply a tiny amount the glitter glue on my bottom lip, along the water line. After letting that drying I go over it again with Ozone. After that I go in and line my lips before applying the lipstick.    

Lining your lips: These colors do tend to feather around the lips after sometime, so lining your lips to keep it from feathering or bleeding out is a must!

“But I can’t find a lip liner in blue or green!”  Find yourself a white lip liner or a shade closest to your natural lip color. I use one that is slightly darker than my lip color and I have had no issues with feather or color bleeding. 

ColourPop 

Under $10

By far my favorite makeup brand. I have never had any issues with any ColourPop product. They are an indie brand that is also very budget friendly. I put them first on the list because they are affordable and when trying out these colorful lip colors for the first time you may not want to spend $15+ on something you may or may not like.  

ColourPop Lux Lipstick – Sweetener (cool fuchsia)

ColourPop Lux Lipstick – Cheetah (lilac/cool-toned lavender)

ColourPop Lux Lipstick – JV (cool dark denim

ColourPop Lux Lipstick – Confetti Cake (teal green)

ColourPop Lux Lipstick – Getty (deep teal)

ColoruPop Lux Lipstick – Trill Seeker (periwinkle)

ColourPop Lux Lipstick – Check, Please (yellow-orange)

ColourPop Lux Lipstick – Around the World (red-orange)

ColourPop Lux Lipstick – Aeronaut (Black)

ColourPop Lippie Stix – Chi Chi (true orange)

ColourPop Lippie Stix – Are You Surreal (Vibrant hot pink)

ColourPop Lippie Stix – Tickler (“neon” pink)

ColourPop Lippie Stix – Heart On (cool-toned magenta)

ColourPop Ultra Stain Lip – The Rabbit (bright fuchsia)

ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip – Dr. M (deep green)

ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip – Friday (Black)

 Anastasia Beverly Hills

$18-$40  Anastasia has always been good to me. Great pigmentation. Their mattes don’t dry out my lips and they last a long time. They are a bit on the expensive side. I only own the more colorful shades from this brand because of their longevity and comfort. I don’t own any of their nude color lipsticks. 

Anastasia Beverly Hills Liquid Lipstick – Insomniac (Faded teal)

ABH Liquid Lipstick – Requiem (metallic blackened teal)

ABH Liquid Lipstick – Nocturnal (Indigo Blue)

ABH Liquid Lipstick – Violet (cool-toned purple)

ABH Liquid Lipstick – Clover (“stormy” lilac)

ABH Liquid Lipstick – Rio (blue-toned hot pink)

ABH Matte Lipstick – Insomniac (mint turquoise)

ABH Matte Lipstick – Cobalt (cobalt blue)

ABH Matte Lipstick – Midnight (black)

ABH Matte Lipstick – Rage (vivid grape)

ABH Lip Palette (palette for mixing lip colors to create a custom color)

 Fenty Beauty

$18

If you ask, you will get mixed comments about these lipsticks. I like what I have used, but you do have to prep and prime because they do wear at the water line fast. Or they just don’t apply well to the water line. But with proper priming, they last. I love the shade One of the Boyz (it is definitely the shade Abbacchio wears) and Midnight Wasabi (or as I like to call it, Dio green). 

Mattemoiselle Lipstick – Midnight Wasabi (deep green)

Mattemoiselle Lipstick – Turks and Caicos (deep teal)

Mattemoiselle Lipstick – Ya Dig? (periwinkle)

Mattemoiselle Lipstick – One of the Boyz (lilac)

Mattemoiselle Lipstick – Violet Fury (Vivid Violet)

Mattemoiselle Lipstick – Clapback (True Navy)

Mattemoiselle Lipstick – Tiger Tini (orange)

Mattemoiselle Lipstick – Saw-C (tangerine)

 Urban Decay

$19

I own more of their nude and vampy colors, but they do last and wear comfortable. 

Vice Lipstick – Control (Blue)

Vice Lipstick – Heroine (navy blue)

Vice Lipstick – Pandemonium (Purple)

Vice Liquid Lipstick – MAD (Shimmery bright purple)

 NYX

Under $10

NYX is a brand I have a love/hate relationship with. Most of their products I either enjoy or I just end up returning or throwing out (thank goodness they are relatively inexpensive). Jet Set so far has been the only liquid lipstick from their lipstick lines that I liked and don’t have issues with. But perhaps you will fare better. 

Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick – Little Denim Dress (sky blue)

Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick – Jet Set (Royal Blue with purple under-tone)

Notable mentions:

TooFaced: I own some of their Melted Mattes and they are great, but they do tend to dry the lips and can sometimes flake off when you reapply throughout the day.

Kat Von D: I still own some of her liquid lipsticks. They are great and she has a wide range of colorful shades, but I no longer support her brand and try not to purchase from her if I can help it. 

Black Moon Cosmetics: Tons of colorful shades! But I’ve never tried this brand before. They are on my list to try next.

[mambo-rewritten]

A Girl by Many Names: Chapter 5

Previous

“It’s a damn good thing they’re letting us work together on these tests,” Six sighed, his tentacle curling on his forehead. “I can’t imagine completing all of these by myself. I think C.Q. said there were, like, eighty tests in total? And I don’t really see myself completing that many on my own.” The metro’s doors slid open, and the two subjects made their way inside and sat in their respective seats on the bench in the back of the train car.

“We should plan out where we’re gonna go next,” Five murmured, booting up her map of the metro’s railways as the train lurched forwards. “From the looks of it, we’ve unlocked lines B, C, and D, and have two items that we can retrieve on lines B and C, but C's item is farther away, meaning more tests. Unless we can unlock lines that will allow us to take shortcuts to get to the items easier, we’ve still got a ways to go.”

Six extended his arm to point at where lines D and C almost met. “Look here. There’s a line connecting these two. If we can get to the junction station and unlock this line, it should make getting C’s item easier.” He frowned, his lower lip getting caught between his teeth as he thought. “Five, we’re idiots.”

“Hey! Don’t lump me in with you!”

“No, look.” His hand traced over line C to where it connected with line D, then towards the right. “There’s a junction station two stops down. That should be where we head next. If my guess is right, the rail will connect to the ends of lines C and D over… here, which is where we were trying to go in the first place. We completely overlooked this station.”

“...Oh. I guess we are idiots, huh?” Five giggled, moving the cursor over to select the stop just before the junction station test, but hesitated. “Hey, Six? Doesn’t this all feel… I dunno, weird?”

He looked over at her, his eyes full of concern and confusion. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just… we wake up here with no memories, no idea of who we are, and suddenly they’re forcing us to take a variety of tests with the only goal being to survive and get to the goals they set up for us. Not to mention the octarians that are in there…” She trailed off, looking hard at the remote. “They used to be like us. They had lives before they came down here. Then something happened and… now they’re like that. Living, un-alive robots. And we just… kill them. Over and over again. Isn’t it weird?”

Six looked down as he mulled over Five’s words. “Yeah… when you spell it out like that… yeah, it is pretty weird. But… C.Q. wouldn’t actively hurt someone… would he? He’s a fucking sea slug!”

Five shook her head. “It wouldn’t be C.Q.. He’s just the conductor of the train. Someone else is pulling the strings, telling him what to do.”

“That would make sense. But shutting this place down isn’t really our primary objective, is it? We just wanna get our memories back and get out of here, right?” Six stood up, beginning to pace. “But doing that feels wrong! We can’t just leave them down here!”

“We have no other choice, Six! If we don’t get out of here, we’re gonna end up like them! Is that what you want to do with the rest of your life? Become someone’s puppet?! Because I sure as hell don’t wanna go back to that.” Five suddenly stopped, her turquoise eyes going wide. “Oh my cod, Six. I remembered something, just now. I was someone’s puppet before I fell.”

“Weren’t we all, technically? I mean, we all served under Octavio. We didn’t really have much of a choice, what with the hypnoshades and everything.”

Five shook her head. “No, I wasn’t ever required to, for some reason. A-anyways, we’re getting sidetracked. We need to focus on getting to the junction station so we can get the item and knock out one of the objectives. I can take on Targetbuster if you wanna do Girl Power and unlock the next rail line.” 

“You sure? Normally you’re the one to take on combat-centric tests,” Six crossed his arms. “I’m not skilled like you are, especially with elites.”

She pursed her lips in a pout and crossed her arms. “You did the last test. It’s only fair I do the next one and we trade off. You know, like we compromised? Plus, I’m a hell of a lot faster than you are.” 

Six sighed and hung his head in defeat. “You’re right… alright, fine.”

---

Five stepped out of the train and over to the weapon’s display. Two large brushes were presented on the wall, as well as a lightweight roller, all paired with curling bombs. Six walked up next to her, his brows knitted together as he helped her weigh her options. 

“The Carbon roller would give us the most points, but the Octobrush is recommended and yields the least, but the Inkbrush is faster when you run with it. And no matter which main weapon you choose, you’re gonna get curling bombs as your sub,” he contemplated, chewing on his lower lip in thought. A habit from his previous life that carried over, Five guessed. 

“So, which one should I go with?” She prompted, crossing her arms. 

“I’d go with the Octobrush to be on the safe side. Plus, we’re doing pretty well on points, so the extra four hundred from the Carbon isn’t really going to make much of a difference on our wallet.” Six lifted the larger, flat brush off of its pedestal and handed it over to Five, along with the bomb pack. “I’ll be waiting for you and watching from the turnstyle. Please be careful.”

Five snickered and rolled her eyes. “You’re such a worrywart. I’ll be fine and back before you know it.” She took the point card from his hand and gave him a smile as she swiped it on the turnstyle. “See you on the flipside.”

She sprinted out of the station platform, making a beeline for the dash track that lay at the very end of the entrance floor, and landed gracefully in front of a series of neon yellow and orange crates and between a set of nasty-looking Octowashers. Wasting no time, Five whipped out the brush and sprinted, weaving between the obstacles and taking out the initial twelve with speed unrivaled. 

The next six were a piece of cake, since they were simply stacked on one another. Riding the rail and taking out the next seven was easy enough, as well as the final nine on the ending platform. Five grit her teeth and swung the brush down with full force on the giant orange box, smashing it and sending it splintering across the platform. She sighed and watched the launchpad form at the very edge of the space, smirking to herself. 

---

Six was absolutely speechless, only able to gape at Five as she landed from her jump back to the station platform. “What was that?”

“What was what? How did I do?” Five asked, her voice tinged with worry as she placed her loaned weapon back on its pedestal on the wall. “I passed, didn’t I?”

“I-I mean, yeah, but… what the hell? You completed the test in half of the allotted time. I’m pretty sure that’s not how that’s supposed to work.” 

Five offered him a shrug. “I’m sorry? I told you I was fast. It just means we can keep going faster than we anticipated. I don’t see the issue.” She lead him back into the train, grabbing her black cloak and wrapping it around her shoulders. 

Six didn’t offer a response, his attention now turned elsewhere. “Uh, Five? We have a new passenger.”

“Hm?” She lifted her head and froze. A tall inkling man in a suit was sitting toward the front of the train car, his legs crossed casually as he examined something in his hands. “Hey, that’s mine! I mean, it’s not, but I found it!” She barked, causing him to lift his gaze from the octopus dagger and meet her eyes. Her blood instantly froze in her veins, and she found herself unable to move. 

His eyes were exactly like the octarians’ in the testing chambers: bright, glowing teal irises with black sclera surrounding them.

“Oh, my apologies, 10,005. I just found it intriguing, is all. Here,” he held out the handle towards her, a small smile playing on his lips. “I do, however, need to speak with you alone, my dear. It seems there has been an issue regarding your tests that I need to take care of.” 

“An issue? But C.Q. said Six and I could work together to pass?” She blurted out, pocketing the blade. “What’s the issue?”

The squid gave her a wry smile. “Not to worry, it has nothing to do with that. There is simply… how do I put this in a way that’s not alarming? There is simply a contaminant within your system that can prove fatal to the constructs within the testing facilities. We will have to decontaminate you in order for you to be able to continue with your assessments.”

Five paled slightly. “Contaminated? Like… I’m sick?”

“Not necessarily. The bacterium is not malicious to you, but to the constructs within each testing facility. The decontamination process won’t take too long, so we will be pulling you while 10,006 completes his next test.”

“Wait, hang on!” Six suddenly interjected, sending a glare towards the inkling. “You can’t just walk in here and tell us that she’s sick, then say you’re going to, I dunno, ‘cure’ her or whatever! We don’t even know who you are!”

“Six!” Five hissed.

The tall squid smiled, his eyes narrowing behind his round glasses. “Apologies for not introducing myself before. I am the CEO of Kamabo Corporation, Cecil Teufel. I monitor each subject’s succession rate in each facility and progress toward their goal to get to the promised land. I also handle a variety of things behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly for those who wish to make it to the promised land, and those who simply wish to ride my subway.”

Five turned to give Six a hard stare as she set her jaw and quirked a brow. 

“I-I meant no disrespect, sir. I’m sorry for my behavior,” Six stammered, his face suddenly becoming very warm as he shifted his gaze to the floor. “Thank you for allowing us to have a chance to find out who we really are.”

Mr. Teufel uncrossed his legs and rose to his feet, turning his attention to the tiny conductor. “C.Q., can you direct us to Central Station? I have business with 10,005 there. After you drop the two of us off, take 10,006 to his next assessment. I will alert you when she is ready to resume her tasks.” 

“Yes sir, Mr. Teufel. Now departing for Central Station.” 

The CEO smirked and looked back at the two octolings, folding his hands in his lap as he sat back down on the bench. “I look forward to seeing how you two progress, as you’ve both done excellently so far. 10,005?”

She snapped her turquoise gaze up to match his own, fear etching her features ever so slightly. “Yes…?”

“I’m going to make you... marvelous.”

First / Previous / Next

[rowanthestrange]

Tis the season to make £70 impulse-buys of the new Doctor Who Scarf.

Thanks to Paul Smith I now own A Fashion, so I thought for everyone who isn’t going to drop this stupid amount of money on a scarf, that Doctor Whool and I should probably give a bit of an infodump on it. Read and AMA I don’t cover.

So first, Side A and Side B have different colour blues. If you’re hand-knitting this then that is going to mean some serious double-layering, and I’d just pick a blue from one side, or a mix, and go with it. Or just accept the intarsia will kill you anyway so you might as well go the whole hog, I dunno, I’m not your dad.

Width of the whole thing is 30cm exactly. Length is roughly 180cm which is taking into account 5cm of tassels each end, so is about 170cm without them.

There are 100 tassels per end, which are continuations directly from the scarf columns, and is where the ‘double layering’ is most noticeable, and the ones at the end have split into their two sides (with no unravelling, damage signs etc.)

There are 19 colours in that stripy section, all about 2 stitches wide, and each colour’s width about 5.7mm. That rainbow section comes to about 11cm overall, 18.5cm for the blue section, and about 5mm for the last pink stripe.

It feels very soft, your standard machine knitted wool scarf. £70 doesn’t net you much difference in my opinion, but then I’m a simple man who may not understand the facets of these things. I can tell you as an autistic person though that it isn’t itchy. It also isn’t immediately absorbing every water drop that lands on it, but it’s not a particularly weather resistant sort. Dries quick. Likes to attract every bit of pet hair and fluff, but does actually bash off easily. Comfy. Doesn’t get too sweaty. Not inclined to suddenly slide and garrotte you. Definitely could see the Doctor wearing it (presuming someone else bought it for her anyway), but doing what I’ll be doing, and removing the labels, because fashion or not, if you leave those labels in, you can’t wear it light side out without looking like a clod. Which is boring. A reversable scarf is clearly better.

I’d say it’s a wee bit darker than the promo pics suggest, except for the pink stripe at the end, which is very bright indeed.

So, to the colours. Obviously colour is subjective. The photos above are pretty good but even they make it seem a little bit brighter. I’ll try and describe them best I can below the cut, for the people who are deeply interested:

(I’ll be referring to wools that are common in the UK, but if your wool providers are different, you should still be able to have a Google and see what I mean).

Red. Standard bright red, can’t go wrong there. Standard Marriner red is great.

Burgundy. Or maroon. (Burgundy is red + purple, maroon + brown, but they look similar enough here that no-one’s going to quibble).

Dark burgundy or dark wine. Here it’s your darkest colour, and it shows. A hint of purple will help it blend with the next stripe better, but you might be able to get away with a reddy-brown. Your call.

Purple/Dark purple. On the violet end in my opinion.

Light(er) purple. Almost an exact match with Cygnet DK Lt. Mauve.

Pink/Dark pink. Matches well with Cygnet DK Cerise.

Flame orange. One of those colours you know when you see it. Cygnet DK Rust (the colour it actually is, not the faulty colouring on the website and Amazon) is a great match. King Cole Dollymix DK Flame is close too, if a shade brighter.

Light orange. A rich saffron would potentially do you at a push.

Sort of lemon yellow. You don’t want neon, but still that...sometimes almost unpleasantly yellow colour. Daffodil would be a bit too warm sort of yellow (though in practice here would almost certainly be acceptable). Marriner’s yellow seems pretty accurate here, but it’s a tricky one. I’d just go with whatever and don’t strive for perfection - yellows are tricky.

A very slightly greener darker yellow than the previous yellow. That’s all I can call it. If you have an extremely yellowy green then go for it. These two columns are almost indistinguishable from afar. Honestly you’d do it a favour by making the colours more separate. 

Khaki green. I’ve been searching for this precise colour for ages, and the closest it comes to is a Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran called Bark. You’re looking for a bit more brown than green here - muddy.

Dark teal/Dark Wintergreen. Too much green to be cyan/aqua. (But of course with your scarf you should use what you like).

Light Wintergreen. See above.

Petrole. On the greener end. Fits pretty well with Cygnet DK Petrole. (They should be sponsoring me at this point).

Prussian blue. Or the bluer end of petrole. Had to look this colour up.

Not white - a very Light Blue. Hard to find a fit. Cygnet DK Bluebell is pretty close but a tad too purple, and James Brett Top Value (i spare no expense) DK Light Blue is almost /too/ light and bright. Sirdar Snuggly DK Twinkle Toes, is a bit more green-tinged than the real thing, but would be the one I think I’d go with because it blends out of that section quite nicely.

Light blue. The standard kind. Honestly a bit duskier would be good, but something simple like Marriner DK pale blue looks alright.

Royal blue. Or Marriner DK ‘blue’. Standard school jumper blue colour.

Navy blue. The last stripe here is dark and easy to miss. Marriner DK Navy Blue is close, but i imagine most navy blues will work here.

The Big Blocks Of Blue:

Side A: Eleven’s TARDIS blue. Somewhere in the valley between royal and navy.

Side B: Light teal on the bluer side. Very unique colour (joy). If cornflower and turquoise had a baby, this would be that baby. It’s not too bright, and it’s definitely blue - the green is a hint, not the majority colour, so don’t tie yourself in a knot and think a light sea green is gonna work - it won’t. The photo above is pretty accurate - hold it up next to some wools in a shop, spend three weeks trying to find the right colour, and then say screw it and buy the cornflower.

Doctor Whool’s: Saxe Cygnet DK. It’s a pretty nice middle ground between em.

And the final stripe:

Neon Pink. I’m serious, it’s neon pink (Marriner DK’s fits perfectly), no doubt. But remember it’s your scarf and you can go a bit darker to fit the general colours better. I went with fuschia for Doctor Whool.

‘But what about Doctor Whool’s Scarf?’ Nobody cries. DK wool on 2.25mm needles (that’s right chickens, needle sizes are guidance only), knit lengthways to fit as many colour stripes in as possible. About 128 stitches, which yes, on 25cm needles was a bit of a push. Some colour tweaks to keep overall feel. Marriner DK Red, M. Dark Red, M. Pale Rose, Cygnet Superwash Geranium, Stylecraft Special Saffron, Sirdar Snuggly Elfin, C. Bluebell, C. Saxe, C. Fuschia.

And now to put all these back.

Happy Holidays, y’all

[writeouswriter]

The OC Tag

Tagged by @kayemoriarty thank you!! (Wow, you’re right, this is really more about me than OCs)

Okay so I have like 10000 WIPs so this might be a little over the map, but here we go. This will probably be very long. I apologize in advance, but also have no shame.

If you could go to one of your OC’s bachelor/bachelorette party, which would you choose (also: who would have the wildest one?)

I write a lot of YA so most of my OCs are too young to get married and the older ones are too melancholy or busy fighting off demons and stuff to get married so I have no clue. Most of my character’s bachelor(ette) parties would probably get crashed by ghosts or monsters or ancient beasts and while that would totally be a riot, it’s not exactly how I want to go out. Um, okay, if I had to choose, Bachelorette party: Marilena (witch detective from my uf mystery series) because dark magic and liquor brewed into potions? Fortune telling and telekinesis and neon lights and snark. She knows how to throw a party! Bachelor party: Daven, (lead of one of my monster hunting agencies). His party will definitely be crashed by all the monsters, but you can’t say it won’t be a night to remember. And we get stupid antics between him and his best friends, the three guys who should not be in charge of an entire agency responsible for keeping the public safe from the paranormal. I think those are probably both some of the wildest ones.

When is your favorite time to write?

Whenever it is not convenient to write. AKA whenever inspiration strikes. AKA around 12AM to 2AM.

What’s your favorite relationship in your WIP (platonic or romantic)?

Jonah and Dezzy from my WIP Jonah and the Veil. They’ve been best friends since childhood and are in love with each other, but like not romantically. They love the way the other laughs, the way they sing, the way they dance when they think nobody is watching. They love going on adventures together, running through the woods and breathing in the crisp autumn air. They love the crease of their cheeks when they smile. They love the idea of growing old together. But their story focuses on Jonah’s fear that they’re going to drift apart after graduation, because what if she wants more, what if this is the end. Because of this, they then get tangled in this whole nightmare world where they have to work together to escape and their friendship is only strengthened and it’s really complicated to explain without backstory of the WIP, (He has the power to travel through the veil between reality), but anyway they have one of my most vivid relationships. 

How far are you into your WIP?

On average of my many, many WIPS, I am not very far. Most are around 2000-5000 words in, then I get a bit lost, a few are as much as 15000-20000. My main ones currently hover around 8000-9000. So yeah... Um, next question.

If you were stuck in a broken elevator for twelve hours, which OC would you choose to be stuck in there with you? (Note: you have to be in there for the twelve hours! No Houdini escape!)

A lot of my OCs are terrifying reality warpers and I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Most of them don’t have control of their powers, so I’d say bad if our 12 hour elevator stay instead transforms into say an eternal timeless loop of some kind of hellish landscape, good if our 12 hour elevator stay instead becomes like a relaxing beach trip together. Not sure if I want to take the chance on that one though... Also this question just made me realize how many of my characters suffer from claustrophobia... also how many have uncontrollable powers I do not want going off within a 2ft radius of me... like werewolf? Haha, no thank you... If I want to hear terrifying visions of the future and quite possibly my death by plummeting elevator, Cyrus is my man. I do not want to hear that though so... God, I’m terrified to spend that long in an elevator with any of my characters. Something is literally just destined to go wrong. I’m going to go with one of my safest bets, which is Walsh, one of Daven’s friends and a medic for the agency, he’s funny, level headed and has a big imagination, but one that doesn’t horrifyingly come to life in twisted ways... plus he keeps tiny robots on him, so... that’s cool.

Favorite color?

Teal. Not blue, not green, not turquoise, teal, like goth turquoise.

Where would one of your OC’s propose to the other? (If this question isn’t up your alley, replace “propose to” with “surprise attack hug.”)

If Jonah and Dezzy were older (and not platonic), probably the top of the waterfall in the woods just less than a mile or so away from their houses where they’ve shared some of their best childhood memories, and where they had all their adventures (aka the small waterfall actually on our bush property in real life)

Which OC is most like you?

None! They are all like Keanu Reeves! No, uh... God, I have no clue, whichever is the nerdiest, but most sarcastic. Probably one of the teens from Daven’s crew, possibly Dezzy or Jonah because their story was inspired by my very nostalgic back country memories, and high school grad fears... their entire existence is from memories of mine, and inspiration from our own property (like I said, the waterfall, also fog lit fields and woods and etc.) But that’s more like their circumstances are like me, and not really them themselves. I actually try to make characters as least like me as possible... I mean, I share some traits with some characters, but I don’t think of any as inherently “like me.” I’m not a leather jacket clad monster hunter with cool hair and leadership skills. I’m not a hotheaded half demon with a fear of enclosed spaces. I’m not a snarky, bleach blond deaf guy who’s great with children and secretly rich. I’m not a calm insomniac scientist with schizophrenia who can walk through dreams. I’m not a vintage-y take action girl obsessed with finding the truth about aliens. I am however a major nerd who mashes a bunch of characters into one. I am also Ash’s sarcastic wit. I am Cari’s snarky confidence. I am Daven’s secret nerdy side. I am Jonah’s insecurity. Also Jonah’s love for his friends. I am Jaime’s fear of monsters in the dark. I am Olivia’s curiosity. I am Lydia’s love of oddities. The list goes on.

Do you prefer writing with ambient noise, music (if so, with or without lyrics), or in silence?

Silence, sweet, sweet silence. I get way too focused on lyrics if I listen to music, that’s all I can hear in my mind then, or too distracted by sounds and beats, though I do sometimes like to listen to music before writing, never during.

If you suddenly got the power of teleportation, where in the world would you go first?

I’m a big fan of the Irish countryside, I’d love to see there... I’d also love to tour some television sets or Vancouver or Hollywood. But like right away? That’s a lot of pressure. I’d probably just teleport to see some of my friends because I can’t drive. And that’d be cool to freak them out, wouldn’t it? Idk, I’d teleport into some jerk rich people’s bank vaults and take their money and donate it. I’d teleport to college, like nearest college is hours away, but teleportation? Heck, I don’t need to pay housing now, sign me up, those rich people’s bank vaults could also be donated slightly towards my tuition, don’t you think?

_______

Tagging (if you’d like, of course): @adricki, @lonely-pages-of-ink, @leskychuchu, @paperspensandwords, @charlottewritesthingsxx @whoever wants to do this, you can say I tagged you because I am lost when it comes to searching through usernames on here

[melypeira]

I was tagged by @silversexual to do this! Will try my best :D

Rules: tag 9 people you’d like to get to know better!

Relationship status: Being all my (animal) pets MOM but also really fine having no one (tho it fluctuates).

Chapstick or lipstick: Lipstick, like purple and some hardcore gothic colors, and chapsticks on summer (my lips crack a lot then).

Favorite colors: Black, Purple, Teal, Aqua Turquoise Cyan or wtv is called the blue-green one. Emerald and Forest Greens..... Honestly most colors excluding those hella neon ones (but on art is FINE^TM) and some green-yellows-oranges...

Last song I listened to: “Devil’s Dance Floor” by Flogging Molly (I am addicted)

Last movie I saw: Black Panther, very good!

Top 3 bands/artists: Lmao i am those people who haven’t got quite faves but their songs? Tho if I should: Coldplay, Disturbed and Three Days Grace/Hollywood Undead/Breaking Benjamin (I CHEATED SO WHAT)

Top 3 favorite tv shows: Why must I pick faves? They all are different. XD Black Sails is still hot in da list, Hannibal and probably StarTrek? Or if more recent would be a fight between Gotham and Sherlock (takes too long!)

Currently reading: Fanfictions....thats it. Maybe manga counts? I swear I got books but my life sucks and fanfics give me more life than what i get from books  (mostly stress-counter and when shipping-free (AKA: unobssessed by smt))

I tag…. @merrkkat @denimbxy @bigolegay @alovelylight @gaylienn @stasispunk @significanceofmoths @brassfannibal @runawaymarbles Sorry guys I was going to SCREW DA RULEZ and tag no one but ya know, if you want to do it, DO IT XD

[maydayswiftie13]

rules // answer these 83 questions and tag some people

Thank you @alitoowell for tagging me!! I’ll tag: @stumblehome-tomycats, @redlipclassicstyles, @swiftiesparkleshine , @whiskeyxonxice , @swiftiesand1989 , @talk-turned-2-screams and anyone else that would like to answer 💓

the last:

1) drink: pepsi 😋

2) phone call: My Mom 🤗

3) text message: the fam, @redlipclassicstyles @stumblehome-tomycats and @alitoowell 💓💓💓

4) song you listened to: Like Gold by Vance Joy featured on Nation Of Two (WHICH YOU SHOULD GO OUT AND BUY IF YOU HAVENT YET BECAUSE IT IS BEAUTIFUL)

5) time you cried: On monday when I found out that Ali cried because I met James in Australia and it made me all emotional 😭

6) dated someone twice: nope

7) kissed someone and regretted it: sort of lol

8) been cheated on: no

9) lost someone special: unfortunately, yes

10) been depressed: never medically diagnosed but I’m sure I’ve been depressed before.

11) gotten drunk and thrown up: nope 😎👌🏻

three favorite colors:

12) turquoise/teal/neon blue

13) Emerald Green

14) Black & White together

in the last year have you:

15) made new friends: I thunk I’ve made some of the most incredible and loving friends this year thanks to James and Taylor. I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH 😭😭😭😭 (you know who you all are)

16) fallen out of love: no

17) laughed until you cried: I mean who hasn’t 🤣

18) found out someone was talking about you: yeah, but I choice to just distance myself from them so 💁🏻‍♀️

19) found out who your friends are: all my friends are awesome

20) kissed someone on your facebook list: nope (well like besides the kiss on the cheek from relatives, but I’m sure that doesn’t count lol)

general:

22) how many of your facebook friends do you know irl: The majority, I don’t like to add random people to my Facebook.

23) do you have any pets: I have 4 doggos. A 17 year old chihuahua mix (Juliet), 10 year old Australian Shepherd mix(Basil), and two 5 year old chihuahua/terrier mixes that are brother and sister (Pedie & Prada) and then two kitties who hate but love me lol (Maddie aka madam fuzzal socks and Luna)

24) do you want to change your name: I did when I was younger but I’ve grown to like it.

25) what did you do for your last birthday: I spent the day with my mom in San Francisco shopping then eating the best ice cream then went with my roomie and friend jasmine to go get the best ice cream 😋 BUT THIS YEAR IM SPENDING IT WITH MIKAELA (and maybe Ali who knows) AND WE ARE SEEING VANCE JOY ON MY BIRTHDAY AHHHHHHH!!!!

26) what time did you wake up: about 11AM

27) what were you doing at midnight last night: trying to stay awake lol

28) something you can’t wait for: Ed Sheeran this month with Mikaela!!! VANCE ON MY BIRTHDAY!!! (Also with Mikaela (2nd row for one of the dates 😱) and maybe Ali 😉) TAYLOR FREAKING SWIFT IN NOVMEBER IN THE SECOND ROW and HARRY POTTER NEXT YEAR WITH ALI, also finally graduating school will be cool lol

29) when was the last time you saw your mom: Feburary 8th 2018

30) what are you listening to right now: A movie for my class lol

31) have you ever talked to a person named tom: I’m sure I Have at one point in time.

32) something that is getting on your nerves: my hair and the humidity

33) most visited website: twitter

34) hair color: medium/dark brown

35) long or short hair: Long

36) do you have a crush on someone: not at the moment

37) what do you like about yourself: that I’m approachable

38) piercings: ears (only one in each ear)

39) blood type: O+

40) nickname: my mom calls me bumblebee but that’s about it lol (my grandfather used to call me Maruchas before he passed)

41) relationship: just a single Pringle

42) zodiac sign: Virgo

43) pronouns: she/her

44) favorite tv show: A really liked teen wolf but it’s no longer airing sigh 😔 but Big Bang theory is always gaurenterd to make me laugh and as 8 year old me once said “friends is my favorite show”

45) tattoos: don’t you come after me with a needle if you want to live lol (I have none)

46) right or left handed: right

47) surgery: never had surgery

48) sport: I started swimming at the age of 3 all by myself 😋 and I used to swim competitively but I stopped swimming because of body image issues. I also used to play soccer until an injury caused me to stop.

49) vacation: I mean I’m in Australia for an entire year soooo 😉

more general:

51) eating: I’m picky sooo lol, I mean I like sugar AHAHAHA but who doesn’t. I’m just really picky if it has animal products in it.

52) drinking: water, carrot juice, Pepsi

53) i’m about to: go to sleep soon lol got class tomorrow

54) waiting for: My mother once told me not to wish my life away so I’m just going to live my life in each moment 😊

55) want: to make more friends from all across the world

56) get married: eventually but I’m not at that point in my life yet

57) career: something that involves traveling

58) hugs or kisses: hugs

59) lips or eyes: eyes

60) taller or shorter: taller

61) older or younger: older

62) nice arms or nice stomach: arms

63) hookup or relationship: relationship

64) troublemaker or hesitant: hesitant

have you ever:

65) kissed a stranger: no

66) drank hard liquor: yes and I hate it

67) lost glasses/contacts: I lose my glasses all the damn time but I always find them

68) turned someone down: yeah

69) sex on the first date: big no lol

70) had your heart broken: not that I can recall

71) been arrested: nope

72) cried when someone died: yes

73) fallen for a friend: no

do you believe in:

74) yourself: if I don’t, no one else will

75) miracles: considering James was standing behind me randomly yes... yes I do

76) love at first sight: I mean it’s possible

77) santa: in my household, you don’t get presents if you don’t believe ive in him 🤣

78) kiss on the first date: yeah

79) angels: I’d like to believe they are there

other:

80) best friend’s name: Ashely, and of course Ali, Jade, and Mikaela have sunk their way in

81) eye color: Brown 👁

82) fave movie: LOTR and Harry Potter series

83) fave actor/actress: After LOTR, Orlando Bloom will always have my heart but I also really like Eddie Redmayne. As for actress I like Cara Delevingne and Emma Watson 😊

The end!!

[lady-nevermore]

Tag you’re it! ^_^

Umm.....I’m pretty sure I’ve already done this survey/questionnaire before; ah well, I’ll try to make my answers vary a bit from last time, but I’m pretty sure that I’ll probably just copy and paste my answers from the last one (feeling sorta lazy atm, sorry). lol ^^;

But anyways, yeah, I don’t mind doing this a second time around, they’re actually pretty damn fun, so let’s get started! :D

Rules: Answer these questions, and tag 20 amazing followers that you would like to get to know better.

Tagged by: @blueteamproblem​ (Cool - Thanks for the Tag). ^_^

Name: *sigh* I’m hesitant/reluctant when it comes to revealing my name, cuz I’m paranoid/anxious, that people I knew from my past will end up finding me again......and tbh, I’m not quite ready for that reunion/confrontation just yet.....But here’s a hint: (My name means Soul in Spanish). ^-^

Nickname: Ama (by my dad, my little cousins, and one of my fave Aunties), hmmm....A few of my old-friends back in my high school days used to refer to me as: “Almy, Almita, Soulzzz, etc”. Do these count? lol ^^;

Zodiac sign: Leo (Western Zodiac) and Sheep/Ram (Chinese Zodiac).

Hogwarts House: When Pottermore first started becoming a “thing” around 2010-2011 (I remember cuz I was one of the beta-testers), I was sorted and placed in Slytherin. .....But I believe that, that was due to the fact that I was in a really really really depressed, bitter and dark place at the time (those who have read my first entry of my “therapy blog”, and will end up reading more in greater detail later down the line, will know why); but as of right now: I’m happy to say that I’m a Proud Pottermore Ravenclaw. ^_^

Height: 5′3” (yeah, I know i’m pretty smol). heh ^^;

Orientation: Bisexual (I know that I’m attracted to women at the very least, as well as men....but it’s sorta on a 70/30 sometimes 60/40 on the spectrum/scale), but as of late, I feel like I could also very possibly be ace, maybe even possibly demisexual (Let’s just say that It’s safe to say I’m still questioning/trying to figure myself out, and leave it at that). ^^;

Ethnicity: Hispanic/Mexican-American

Favorite fruit: Cantaloupe, Gala/Fuji Apples, Granny Smith Green Apples, Mango, Strawberries, etc. 

Favorite season: Fall/Autumn and Winter Seasons 

Favorite book series: The Harry Potter Series The Inheritance Cycle / Eragon Book Series The Unexpected Dragon by Mary Brown The Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings The Hunger Games Trilogy The Giver Book Series The Time Traveler's Wife Shakespeare Edgar Allen Poe Grimm Fairy Tales 

Manga wise: Rurouni Kenshin by Nobuhiro Watsuki His and Her Circumstances aka Kare Kano Yu Yu Hakusho, Hunter x Hunter, Level E, and Ookami nante Kowakunai all by my all-time fave mangaka (infamous for his long-ass Hiatuses, but damn it I still think they're worth it): Yoshihiro Togashi.

Favorite fictional characters:  Waaaaay too many for me to list here, but currently as of right now, as I’m sure some of you may have noticed, I’m crushing/fangirling rather hard over Soi Fon at the moment. lol xD

Favorite flower: I love most flowers (like for example: a classic single stem Rose) but I do have a soft spot for Small flowers, like: Morning Glories and White Clovers.

Favorite scents: Petrichor aka the smell of the earth/soil after it rains, though the smell of coffee, the smoky scent of firewood during a cold night, the crisp cold scent of an early morning/early evening/late night, the smell of freshly mowed or cut grass, the fresh smell of laundry, and the scent of sandalwood are all pretty damn nice too. ^_^

Favorite color:  Purple, Lavender, Orchid Purple, Wine Red/Red-Violet, Magenta, Sapphire Blue, Cerulean Blue, Light Blue, Red, Maroon, Teal, Emerald Green, Turquoise Green, Seafoam green, Gray, Black, Silver, Gold, Neon Colors, basically any type of bright / vibrant colors, though pastels colors are pretty nice too....I find most hues/shades of colors beautiful in their own right.....So let’s just say everything! lol ^^;

Favorite animal:  I’m real fond of the whole Trickster-archetype when it comes to animals, so it’s safe to say that I really do have a soft spot for Corvids (Crows and Ravens), and Foxes; though I also really like Wolves, and Owls. But above all else, I really really really fucking love felines/cats (big and small); ie Grey Tabby Cats, Maine Coons, Norwegian Forest Cats, Lions, Leopards, Jaguars, but especially Snow Leopards! =^.^=

Favorite artist/band:  

 Musical Scores:

- John Williams's Scores in the Harry Potter Films - Murray Gold's Scores in Doctor Who - Trevor Jones's Scores in The 1998 Merlin/Merlin's Apprentice mini series (aka the one with Sam Neill). - ATLA/Legend of Korra Scores by Jeremy Zuckerman - Pirates of the Caribbean Scores by Hans Zimmer - The Anime Scores in both Rurouni Kenshin and in Yu Yu Hakusho respectively. - Oh! And the anything by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams (like the RWBY and RVB OST for example) Oh! and the Scores in Harvest Moon and Legend of Zelda Soundtrack (Song of Storms anyone?). ^_^  And probably several other scores in anime and videogames that I just can't recall at the moment. But music-wise: Just like with anime, books, and tv-shows I tend to be a pretty open-minded and am into several types of genres (from J-pop/J-rock/anime theme and ending songs, anything by Megumi Ogata, punk rock, alternative rock, 80's and 90's pop/rock music, electronic, pop, hip-hop, r&b, jazz, anime jazz covers, classical music, modern classical music with a modern twist aka pop/rock covers via a classical musical sense, scores in anime and in some of my fave nerdy fandoms, basically anything and everything even country....all except for like "pure rap or purely screamo heavy metal".... like, I don't mind if there's a little bit in like r&b/pop or rock respectfully, but yeah, just no). ^^; My Fave bands/musicians: - Green Day - Death Cab For Cutie - Daft Punk - Owl City - Etc.

Coffee, tea, or hot cocoa?: Tea; I used to be quite the coffee drinker, but not anymore mostly due to my anxiety (trust me I still really miss it, especially the taste & the smell of coffee.....Hmmm, I’ve been thinking that maybe I should try decaf), but anyways, yeah, over the years I’ve stuck and grew to really love tea....tho cocoa is nice every once in awhile (especially during the colder seasons). ^^;

Average sleep hours: *sigh* I have insomnia, so my sleep cycle is pretty much wack and all over the place; I’m lucky if I get 5-6 hours of sleep. -___-;

Number of blankets you sleep with: As of right now: one; I really really really hate humid/warm/hot weather....makes it soo damn uncomfortable to get a good night’s sleep (but that’s what I get for living in California, I suppose). ugh. >_<;

Dream trip: Japan would be pretty cool! ^_^

Last thing Googled: Butterflies and their symbolism with souls/afterlife.

Blog created: Since 2011

How many blogs do I follow: Dunno, I never really checked. o.o

Number of followers: 697

What do I usually post about: Usually, I tend to just reblog a lot of fan art, gif edits, or posts pertaining to some of my fave fandoms; right now it’s: Bleach (Soi Fon), RWBY, Yu Yu Hakusho, etc. But I will be posting about my therapy sessions in my “therapy blog” in the future, so look out for that I guess. ^^;

Do you get asks regularly: Not a whole lot, but when I do, they never fail to make me smile. :)

What is your aesthetic: Damned if I know...Um, 90′s aesthetic? idk! lol ^^;

Tagging (don’t feel obligated to do this if you don’t want to): @angelotics , @theamazingflyinglion , @tdk-blog, @doctordearie , @youko-fairy , @nightjasmine10 , @luckystarchild , @tifa-the-bacon-goddess , @boserwulf , @ravenhull , @fionaandcake27 , @hirusekidragon , @weissrose , @rwby-fan , @yangsmash , @bizarrolord , @blue-eyed-korra , @hellfire47 , @yyhlove , @yyhaesthetics