#and these were pre-edited by the photographer

[daguerreotyping]

Absolutely stunning post-mortem daguerreotype of a young man with killer cheekbones and haunting eyes, c. 1850

[disneyprincemuke]

triple threat * fem!driver

it’s always the three of them against everybody else

pairings: oscar piastri x fem!driver, logan sargeant x fem!driver

warnings: swearing

notes: i’m such a crybaby for all those long live edits on tiktok so here i am crying over a fictionAL SERIES THAT I CREATED ALL ON MY OWNNNN

(series masterlist) | (📂 pre-formula 1)

-> 2016

“i can’t believe it,” oscar says, appearing behind her. she turns around and meets the two pairs of eyes she’s been looking for. “you finally beat me.”

her eyes are teary, cheeks flushed as her hair stuck out from her ponytail. “did you let me win?”

“of course not!” oscar pulls her in, wrapping his arms around her. “you did it all on your own. good job, mate.”

“finally,” logan appears from behind oscar, replacing him for another tight and comforting hug. “congratulations on the win. you did amazing today.”

“thank you. i can’t believe it,” she giggles, a hand covering her lips. “i finally won a race. i might actually have a shot at this.”

oscar raises his eyebrow, tilting his head slightly. “you’ve always had a chance. you’re wonderful on the track.”

“yeah, but i’m a girl,” she mutters, sighing as she watches the crowd build up for the podium announcement. “it’s not very often someone like me is accepted around here. you guys are my only friends.”

logan smacks her shoulder. “we don’t care if you’re a girl. i’d beat you at any competition any day.”

“i will continue putting up a fight, though,” oscar grumbles in a frown, giving her a side eye. but upon meeting her eyes, his lips spread into a proud smile. “but not today. today is all yours. embrace it.”

she sighs, closing her eyes as the sun shines brightly above them. “it’s not every day i get to beat you on the track.”

-> 2017

“i can’t believe it! i’m so happy for you!” she shrieks, arms thrown around oscar’s shoulders as she sways their bodies. “another win in your pocket.”

“i’m sorry you crashed out,” oscar frowns as he pulls away. “you would’ve caught up with me and won if you hadn’t.”

truthfully, crashing out in a karting race dropped her morale by a lot. walking back to where her parents were, she had to hold back her tears and bite her quivering lips to hide disappointment.

but she can’t do that with all these eyes on her. so while her two friends made it on the podium that day, she forces a smile to her face and opened her arms wide to congratulate them.

“doesn’t matter. i’m proud of you,” she smiles. she turns, noticing logan walking towards them. “and you!”

“thank you! it was a good race, don’t you think?” logan beams. “i’m sorry for your crash, though. was it bad?”

she shrugs as she scrunches up her nose. “doesn’t really matter. today is about you guys! you made the podium again!”

“it’s not a podium i consider successful if you’re not on it with us,” logan drops his head with a frown. oscar nods in agreement, giving her a small smile. “you’ll come back next race.”

“of course!” she smiles, taking the hug logan is offering her. “go on the podium. i’ll wait for you guys right here.”

“ice cream still on for after?” oscar grins as he takes a step away. “take my good side, okay?”

“and mine,” logan adds. “i know you’re not a photographer often. but please, i beg you to take good pictures for once.”

she rolls her eyes, pushing logan towards the direction oscar is already walking. “i promise you will look good in your pictures today. blythe’s here to take pictures — she’s good at taking pictures of you.”

-> 2018

glancing through the small gap between the makeshift wall and the curtain, logan towers over her smaller frame as they watch the crowd gather beneath the elevated stage.

“this is a sight to remember,” she says excitedly, turning to meet his eyes. “this is so fucking cool.”

“i know. you think anybody important is down there?” logan mutters, raising his eyebrow. “where is oscar?”

“i’m here,” oscar giggles from behind them, prompting the two to turn around stiffly to look at him. “i was in the bathroom.” he raises his eyebrow as he realises where they are. “the hell are you guys looking at there?”

“the crowd for the podium,” logan smiles, beckoning him to come forward. “look, dude. it looks amazing.”

“i would hope so,” oscar grins, hopping over to them to peek through the gap they were looking at.

his smile drops, developing into a stare of awe and shock. the crowd has developed since he last glanced at it on his way to the bathroom.

“oh,” he says as he breathes out. “you’re right.”

she squeezes herself between oscar and the curtain, phone held out between the gap to snap a quick picture. “i’m remembering this moment for life. first of many.”

-> 2019

oscar rips his helmet off his head, running over to crowd that’s formed behind the barrier ahead of him.

“i did it! i won in formula 3!” he cheers, pumping his fist in the air as he runs over to where his team is gathered. he jumps into the crowd, choosing specifically where she stands, just slightly taller than the barrier that separated them.

“bitch!” she shrieks, falling backwards as his weight falls on her. “i’m proud of you, but god, oscar!”

“i won! i won!” he cheers as his feet meets the concrete floor once more. he jumps on the spot, grabbing her wrists. “did you see me on the track?”

she jumps, grabbing his wrists tightly. “i did! you raced an amazing race today!”

“dude, you won!” logan’s voice approaches them, joining the jumping huddle they’ve formed. “i can’t believe it!”

“i did!” oscar screams, one of his hands smacking logan’s shoulder. “i’m sorry for pushing you off track, though.”

“doesn’t matter! you won, you won!” logan cheers. he turns to the girl behind the barrier. “today, we eat a meal. not ice cream. i’m starving.”

“dude, same,” oscar says calmly. he turns to her. “you choose where we eat.”

“what?” she cries incredulously as she throws her head back. “you guys raced today. you choose where we go after the race.”

“no, you’re always here during our races to support us. this time, we give you a choice,” logan grins, leaning on the barrier towards her. “our way of giving back to you, of course.”

“i’m here because i want to be here,” she smiles. “i want to be able to support you from the sidelines! i’m your biggest fan.”

watching her friends progress to be in a league higher than her hurt, of course. but there are some facts she’s come to terms with and it’s that they will never have the same opportunities.

all she can do is swallow back the bitterness of it all and look at the brighter side. if racing doesn’t work out for her, there will be other opportunities for her. surely, somewhere else if it’s not here.

oscar hums, raising an eyebrow at her. “fine.”

logan sighs, shaking his head. “stubborn. let dalton choose, then.”

“i can’t believe it!” she drops her helmet onto the cushioned chair. her hands are quick to cover her eyes, catching the tears that fell as she heaves with every breath. “i could’ve won that race!”

logan and oscar, stood behind her, are speechless as they follow her to a spot without cameras. the race was brilliant, overtaking countless cars and climbing her way to a good spot.

but then she made a mistake and stalled, causing her to lose out on a couple of positions. realistically, she could have won the race.

“everyone makes mistakes,” logan says softly. “it’s okay.”

“no! i raced like it was my first time in a stupid car! i’ve never stalled before!” she cries.

logan quickly pulls her into his arms, rubbing her back as they try their hardest to comfort her. “this was the race! this should’ve been the race that did it for me!”

“there will be more races, you know,” oscar tries his luck at saying something.

despite growing around many women in his life, comforting any of them is a feat he has yet to meet. he never know the right words to say to them.

she breaks free from logan’s grasps, falling into a squat as she continues to cry. “i’m never making it to f1.”

“hey, don’t say that!” oscar scolds her, tapping her shoulder softly. “i stalled the other day in an f3 car. it could happen to anybody.”

“it shouldn’t be happening to me! i’ve got a lot more to prove than you guys,” she sobs, rubbing her tears all over her face. “you know that. i’m never making it out of this league after that. i fucking-“

logan squats right next to her, rubbing circles on her back. “you’re too hard on yourself. one race doesn’t define you.”

she frowns, rubbing her eyes. “it’s over for me.”

-> 2020

she takes a deep breath as her name is called, tears filling her eyes. she walks past the wall and out onto the elevated stage as the crowd erupts in cheers.

in the crowd below her, she spots her parents standing against the barriers with oscar and logan behind them.

a smile stretches her lips as she catches their eyes, phones held up to document yet another achievement from her in the sport.

logan gives her a thumbs up, while oscar gives her a simple smile and a nod. but it tells her more than it needs to.

her parents are in tears once more, watching their eldest achieve things people never thought she could and would.

after the podium celebration, she pulls her hair out of her ponytail as she approaches the two boys that’s come out to support her. “hey! thank you for coming to watch my race!”

“i wouldn’t have missed it for the world, stupid,” oscar smiles, turning immediately at the sound of her voice. “that overtake you did in the last corner? masterclass.”

“dude, i thought you were gonna crash out with that move,” logan says through gritted teeth, shoving her back slightly. “you were so good!”

she flips her hair over her shoulder and bats her eyelashes. “i learn from the best.”

“you’re very much welcome,” oscar grins. “how was it up on that podium? hearing your national anthem and all? cool, right?”

“amazing, actually,” she says exasperatedly, throwing her arms in the air. “okay, let me be a good daughter. i’ll find my parents, let me get changed and we’ll head out to dinner like we planned.”

oscar nods. “be pretty. you’re going to be all over our snapchat and instagram, mate.”

-> 2021

she taps her card onto the reader, the gantry opening up for her. when she crosses that line, oscar appears next to her with a smile.

“the f1 paddocks look so much better than i remember,” she whispers to oscar as they start walking. “this is so cool.”

“oh, look who finally made it,” logan sasses them, approaching them with his hands on his hips. “never changing out of being tardy, i see.”

“you were early for marketing, stupid,” she scowls, walking further in with them.

her lips part as she looks around in awe, a smile spreading her face. “i want to be here every weekend someday.”

“we’ll get there,” oscar grins, nudging her slightly his his elbow. “but this is fun, isn’t it?”

“i could get used to this,” she nods, folding her arms over her chest. “but it’s unrealistic. i will stay in my lane, actually. maybe f2 is the furthest i’ll get?”

“i’m not making it to f1 without you.”

-> 2022

she frowns, looking at her phone screen as chaos ensues in her living room. dalton and oscar are battling it out over a game of just dance, screams passing their lips as they continuously miss dance cues.

her team has just announced her entry on their socials, and the comments are less than ideal. there were a few supportive ones, but they are all from known figures in the sport who are technically obligated to put a positive word in.

“hey, you’re awfully quiet,” ciara says softly, crawling towards her end of the couch.

which is true, because a couple of minutes ago, she was hurling insults at oscar’s ability to deliver a convincing performance to beat dalton at a game of just dance.

she locks her phone, resting it on her stomach as she forces a grin to her face. “nothing. just looking at something.”

“no, something’s bothering you,” ciara frowns, sitting on her feet.

logan pops up behind the couch, leaning on the backrest. “is it the instagram post for your announcement?”

she smiles weakly, nodding. “did you read the comments they had on there? i’m a good driver,” she says softly, slightly discouraged by the comments she was unlucky enough to have read. “i worked hard to be considered for f1.”

“they will never care about that,” ciara says.

her eyes snap up to her younger sister. how naive can she be to think that ciara would have toned down her harsh words for once?

but ciara slumps her shoulders and continues to speak. “you know that,” ciara says, resting an elbow on the back of the couch. “but you were chosen to be in f1. it’s now up to you to prove them wrong.”

logan smiles, poking her cheek. “she’s right.”

“i know, but it’s just unfair. all this hate because i’m a girl? like i haven’t had enough of that since i started karting.”

“they’re always going to say the same things,” logan sighs. “but now you made it to the big league. you’re going to be amazing.”

she doesn’t notice the game is over. immediately, dalton tackles ciara and oscar is sitting on her feet.

“what ‘cha talking ‘bout?” oscar asks, grinning at them. upon meeting her downturned lips and sad eyes, he drops his smile immediately. almost as if he already knew.

and he actually does, suddenly remembering that she mentioned her team will announce her transition some time today. “oh. i’m sorry. they already posted it, haven’t they?”

she nods, pressing her lips together.

he pats her knee. “they’re not in f1. don’t let it get to you, mate.”

-> 2023

“look at me!” she shrieks, jogging out of her racing home, jumping in front of oscar and logan. sebastian follows shortly behind her with a small smile and a phone held up.

“oh, purple is your colour,” logan agrees as she twirls with her arms out to show off her racing suit. “look at mine.”

he copies her actions, twirling around for them. “oh, let’s go, williams driver!”

oscar laughs, covering his mouth before stopping abruptly when they stare at him blankly. “what?”

“show off your race suit, duh,” she says, giving him a knowing look. “it’s your first year as a racing driver! do it!”

“no. i was here last year,” oscar smiles, trying to wave off her request. but their stares gives him the impression that they will not let him pass without doing it.

so he slumps his shoulders with a sigh. he twirls around slowly, arms out to show off his race suit halfheartedly and sebastian’s laughter prominent above his friends’.

“cute friends,” sebastian laughs. he puts the phone down, handing it to the younger girl all suited up for the test session. “welcome to f1, guys.”

taglist: @wcnorris @treehouse-mouse @laura-naruto-fan1998 @mindless-rock @inejismywife @vellicora @leilanixx @meadhgbcavanagh @2bormaybenot @ironmaiden1313 @angsthology @cherry-piee @christianpulisic10 @elliegrey2803 @cashtons-wife @love4lando @sadg3 @bborra @a10vely-yutazen @mellowarcadefun @glitterf1

[oacest]

Hi I would like to delve deeper into the oasis lore and was wondering if you have any book recs ?

I read that the supersonic book (containing all the interviews from the doc) is quiet extensive, and obvi from the sources themselves, but maybe you have other Recs that you found interesting?

we were delighted to get this ask, bc yes yes YES we DO have loads of opinions on the oasis books! Be aware that most of these cover sort of the same time period (my spirit mourns for an in-depth book dealing with the mid-to-late aughts). Presumably every publishing house in the UK circa 1996 was offering book deals to randos if they heard the name "Oasis", but these are the best ones (there are, if you can believe it, many more):

The Supersonic interviews are a definite rec -- they're exhaustive, cover way more than the doc suggests, and feature a lot more voices too. The editing job is astounding. Definitely be aware while reading that the interviews were conducted in 2015; with Oasis especially, facts and feelings change depending on time, mood, the wind, whether one is hungover, etc

Brothers from childhood to Oasis by Paul Gallagher. If one never reads any other book on Oasis, they should read this. In fact, no one is permitted to have an opinion on Noel or Liam without having read it. Paul has his blindspots, as one would expect with any sibling, but he also ofc knows his brothers and what makes them tick in a way no one else on the planet does, so!

Oasis: what's the story? by Ian Robertson. This one is somewhat controversial; the author was a bodyguard/security coordinator for Oasis and people understandably have opinions on that. Imo he's a good enough writer that he has a very clear authorial voice and perspective, which makes any worry about being fed lies moot so long as one has a brain. I appreciate he also takes some artistic risks in this book. Also, regardless of his flaws as a man or employee lol, he has a keen, at times painfully empathetic read on Liam specifically. iirc he was the only person who wrote about Oasis in those early years who had a front row seat to Liam's voice/throat problems, which lends a somewhat Cassandraic air to the whole book.......

Getting high: the adventures of Oasis by Paolo Hewitt. Oh, Paolo. What can we say. You have to read this one because it covers so much ground, just be aware it's badly written and the author is quite biased towards Noel. (I say this as a Noelist myself)

Was There Then: A Photographic Journey by Jill Furmanovsky. This is a photography book (and a fucking beautiful one) but it also has a TON of text background. Critically, it offers a perspective on the band/brothers missing from all the rest in this list -- that is, the view and impressions of two women who worked closely with the band (Jill herself and Daniela Soave, a music journalist)

Oasis, definitely by Tim Abbot. This one had a lot of personality and abbot was a creation guy so he knew the band pretty well.

Take Me There: Oasis' Story by Paul Mathur. Mathur was a Melody Maker journalist who followed them around in the early years. He had a pretty fair take on them.

The Truth: my life as Oasis's drummer by Tony McCarroll. So, obviously Tony hates Noel, like. A lot. You have to approach this book like you're giving a hostile witness a cross examination lol but THAT SAID, he does cover stuff missing from other books like pre-deal Oasis.

[kyra45]

Donation scams

(Donation scams)

Donation scams are one of the most common scams you’ll find on tumblr, most often distinguished as being from relatively new blogs whose URL’s are autogenerated though this isn’t quite a reliable method of spotting a scam account. Legitimate accounts will often have these autogenerated URL’s but there is other ways to spot scam accounts. This post combines both donation scams and pet donation scams since both are extremely common scam types.

Both scam account types are usually a few days old, has only a few trending posts, no other original posts beyond pinned, and will usually have a PayPal link (though legitimate accounts will have this too, suspicion should be taken if the country doesn’t match a veterinary bill. Example: The bill says it’s in the states but the PayPal says Philippines.)

—

Pet donation scams are fundraising accounts who take the photographs of their pets from Facebook/instagram/etc and repost them here claiming to need veterinary care for the cat/dog/horse/etc and being unable to afford it therefore needing mutual aid from others. Unfortunately the poster may not actually own the animal and has simply stolen their post offsite with edits made to a pre-existing story.

More often then not, these scams will say they were denied ‘care credit’ and will supply a screenshot that’s often stolen from the original post. Otherwise they’ll show images they don’t own, and won’t be able to show you any other images because they don’t own the pet. The vet bill may be edited to cross out a name since scammers tend to use a different one or on rare occasions will completely copy it for themself.

If you ask them questions about the animal, they won’t be able to answer you honestly and may eventually cease contact. Real pet owners would have extra information on hand if you needed it.

—

Donation scams themselves are just as common, generally taking someone else’s post and passing it off as their own. These range from medical emergencies, health related issues that need immediate attention such as being diabetic and needing insulin, or needing help getting an RV for other reasons. There are other scam types, but this post is for a general idea of what these scams are.

Medical scams are often seen as posts of accounts saying they need Humalog (insulin), or saying they need $350 for it which is “nt much” and occasionally even scams that say their nose freezes. Those who actually have a disability would usually easily be able to catch out these scammers because they’d know how Diabetes and such works. This is not to say everyone who posts these is faking it. Scammers tend to have private PayPal accounts with peculiar names though these names often take from real people.

Donation scams also take images from other websites (even Reddit!) to pass off as their own content. Sometimes these images will have watermarks on them proving they came from someone else.

General scams are usually someone saying they need groceries showing images that are USD prices but then lead to a Philippines PayPal address which wouldn’t make sense if the poster is someone in the states.

—

Also not every gfm post you may see is a scammer; It’s very important to search around and locate further details disregarding posts that tell you it’s a scam but doesn’t provide any reasonable evidence and is just calling it a scam on the spot. With gfm fundraisers often getting closed due to false reports, alternative methods may be used so try and see if someone mentions it anywhere.

—

This post is just a basic explanation of common donation scams. Feel free to share it around, but please don’t use it to say everyone needing mutual aid is a scam. If you know what scams are, then that’s good but others may not.

[feelbokkie]

L♡VE IN F♡CUS | Chapter 12

PAIRING: idol!Changbin x fem reader

WARNINGS: mention of food and eating, swearing

GENRE: smau, crack, angst, fluff

P♡V: 1st/2nd person (depending on how you view it)

SUMMARY: Amateur concert photographer Y/n has recently been promoted to junior music journalist. Her first assignment? An exposé on the popular Kpop boy group, Stray Kids. Spending an entire tour doing in depth interviews with eight men seems simple enough, but one member isn't exactly open to the idea. Will Y/n be able to break down the walls around his heart, or will her big break turn into a big disaster?

TAGLIST: closed

W♡RD C♡UNT: 6,009

A/N: we only have a few more chapters of the ones that I pre wrote to last when I think this hiatus will last so I spread the releases of these chapters a bit so they can last a bit. sorry for the wait.

PREVIOUS | MASTERLIST | NEXT

©feelbokkie (2024) — all rights reserved. reposting/modification of any kind is not tolerated.

You mindlessly scroll through Twitter while you wait for Changbin to join you for breakfast. Your notebook lays open next, ready to add any last-minute questions you might come up with that you should ask him or if you see any questions that fans want answers to that are reasonable.

It's early—almost too early—in the morning for your brain to be working. But with the lack of an itinerary, you had to schedule the meeting with Changbin this early so you can try to figure out how the day is going to go. The concert went slightly longer than it should have last night when Felix's "Let's go one more!" turned into five more. After that, you got caught in traffic on your way back to the hotel. You’re not sure if it’s the post-concert adrenaline that you’ve grown accustomed to or pure anxiety from your one-on-one day with Changbin, but you couldn’t sleep when you got back. So you decided to get some work done editing pictures until you felt tired enough to sleep.

Unfortunately for you, that came an hour before you needed to wake up. And even then, it was more like your body forced you to go to sleep than you actively decided to go to bed. You’re glad you had some sense to set your alarm ahead of time or else you definitely would have overslept.

Ding!

You let out a deep sigh as you click over to the message you just got from your team leader. Seoul is only 2 hours ahead of Bangkok meaning that he’s already back home from church and decided to torment you all before lunchtime. He may be a worse workaholic than you.

“You’ve got to be fucking joking,” You grumble under your breath as you scroll through the message he sent you.

“If you’re fussing about me being late, I still had 10 minutes before I needed to be here, noona,” Changbin speaks lowly as he takes the seat across from you.

From the corner of your eye, you catch a glimpse of a staff member, a babysitter as you like to call them, taking a seat at a table nearby. They sit just out of your view but right in Changbin's line of sight. There's a rotation of the same four staff members who accompany you and the group on official outings. It's annoying asking the members a question and watching their eyes drift off to the side to get approval, even for the simplest questions. If you were a bolder person, you'd take advantage of the times you hang out with the members off the clock and ask them questions without their babysitters. But even you know when to draw the line between work and pleasure.

"You're fine. Honestly, I expected you to be a little late. You're part of insomniac-racha, no? We got back pretty late so I thought you'd sleep in a bit." You exit out of the message from your team leader and slide your phone into your camera bag. You'll worry about it later.

"Of the four of us with bad sleep schedules, I have the best one. I can guarantee you that Chan hyung, Hyunjin, and Jisung aren't leaving their beds before noon." He jokes a little louder as he sets a jacket down in the chair next to him.

Changbin's a bit more dressed up compared to the other times you've met up with him. Photo ready. His hair, a now faded dark green leftover from last month's Japanese comeback promotions, is straightened again, his bangs only giving a slight preview of his forehead. He is wearing a short-sleeved button-up shirt that is a similar green to his hair. The green shirt is unbuttoned, revealing the white tank top tucked into his blue jeans and accessorized with a matching black belt. A simple outfit for probably one of the more complex members of the group. Even his accessories are simple. A single, silver ring on his right ring finger, two small layered silver chains, and black-rimmed glasses that you know he doesn't need but somehow ties the whole outfit together. You didn't manage to see his shoes before he sat down but you wouldn't be surprised if they matched the color scheme of his outfit. If you didn't know any better, you would have thought that he touched up the color of his hair to match his shirt.

He's certainly dressed better than you are with your baggy blue jeans, oversized black graphic shirt, and red Converse that you threw on before you left the hotel. It's the least professional outfit you've worn on a workday, but you didn't really care. You're too tired to care. And besides, your job is to be behind the camera not in front of it. Nobody is going to care that you aren't wearing makeup or that you're wearing a face mask and glasses to cover up the dark circles under your eyes that are permanently etched into your face. Or that your hair is going to spend the day in a messy bun or loose ponytail. They're only going to care that you get exemplary shots of their bias.

"Good morning, by the way, noona," Changbin lowers his voice again, so as to not to disturb the other people in the diner.

You chuckle at the delayed greeting. "Good morning, Changbin,"

"Did you order already?" Changbin takes one of the menus that is sitting on the table and skims through it.

"Not yet," You shake your head as you take the other menu. "I didn't know when you'd be here and I didn't want you to feel like I was rushing you. This is one of those places where you have to go and order at the front though so just tell me what you want and I'll get it."

"I'll order for us. It'll probably be easier." Changbin says casually without looking up from his menu.

"You know Thai?" You tilt your head to the side, dumbfounded.

"Chan hyung is close to BamBam seonbaenim and one of his love languages is learning languages. He always tries to teach us what he knows." You can't see his face beneath his mask but you can hear the soft fondness for Chan in his voice. "Plus, I believe that there are five fundamental things you should know in terms of foreign languages: how to order food, how to ask for directions, how to shop, proper greetings...and how to ask where the bathroom is."

You can't help but laugh at the last addition. You can only imagine how many times he's gotten in trouble before he realized he needed to learn the last one.

"Okay, you can order for me. Your Thai is probably better than mine anyway." Truth be told, you were fully prepared to head to the counter with your broken Thai and the menu and just pointing at what you wanted to order. Part of you is grateful that Changbin offered to order instead.

"What do you want?" He sets the menu down, finally settling on what he wants.

"This," You turn your own menu upside down and point at what you wanted. Thankfully, the menu had English descriptions right next to them. "And the largest, strongest ice coffee that they have."

There's an expression on his face that you can't read for a moment before he nods. You watch as he walks over to the Skzigi sitting near you and has a brief conversation with her before going to the front counter to order. You laugh to yourself when you finally see his shoes: white sneakers with green on them.

You quickly jot down what Changbin said about Chan and BamBam and about the five fundamental things of learning a new language in your notebook while they're still fresh in your head. You have a tape recorder for the actual interview portion, as old school as that sounds. But you don't want to pull it out now and be rude. You're extra cautious around Changbin and any sort of recording device you have after what happened in Sydney. You two may have reconciled, but you know he still doesn't fully trust you.

Changbin comes back from the counter and walks straight back to the Skzigi, handing her a receipt. It only now just dawned on you that he went up to her earlier to ask what she wanted to eat and ordered it for her. You take note of it in your notebook. It's one of the few things that you've noticed about all of the members, their kindness towards their staff. You've been around groups that treat their staff members as poorly as you can imagine. Or, if it's not the entire group, it's a few members. It's refreshing to see that the entire group treats the staff like they're a part of the group as well.

"How much what my stuff?" You ask Changbin when he sits back down with you. You pull your phone out and open up to a money transfer app.

"Don't worry about it." Changbin waves off as he puts his receipt in his pocket.

"I can pay for my own food." You blink.

"I'm using the company card. All of our meals today are on JYP PDnim."

You'd believe him if you hadn't spent months hearing the other members saying the same thing despite the fact that you say them using their personal cards. Most of the other members already blocked you on money-sharing apps or disabled their Apple Pay so you couldn't pay them back. You're almost certain Changbin hasn't done that yet.

"Changbin--"

"It's fine, noona," He sits up straighter in his chair.

"...I'm paying for lunch. But thank you" You sigh as you see that Changbin also blocked you. At this rate, you're going to be pulling out a suspicious amount of cash by the end of the tour and sneaking it into all of their suitcases.

"We'll see," He laughs. "What pissed you off earlier?"

Your mind trails back to the text from your team leader that you never responded to. You quickly go back to the message and put a thumbs up to it so he knows that you saw it. If you didn't, he'd end up sending you a bunch of emails and texts later until you acknowledge him despite it not being a work day and you're technically out of the office.

"I was just reacting to the list of comebacks and debut albums for January. Which just means I'm going to have more reviews to finish over the holidays." You can already imagine how many albums and eps are currently sitting in your inbox.

"Isn't The Seoul Star a big company? Are you the only one there who can review albums?" You can feel the concern in Changbin's voice leap across the table and float around your head.

"It's...it's complicated. The short story is that I'm apparently too good at my job. The longer one is that it's all bureaucratic bullshit and I like being employed so I just keep my mouth shut and do what I'm told."

"If you're that good at your job, shouldn't they treat you better?"

"Am I the one getting interviewed? What's happening right now?" You laugh, but not because it's funny, but because you're too tired to get into that topic right now.

"Technically, the interview hasn't started yet." He says smugly.

"Speaking of which," You quickly shift the topic off of you, "where are we going first today?"

Changbin nods, realizing that you don't want to get into it. Instead, he follows your lead into the new conversation. "We'll see,"

"Excuse me?" You freeze. You want to hope that you misunderstood him or that he's playing coy. But you know him enough to know that he's being serious.

"We'll see," He repeats nonchalantly, picking at the nonexistent lint on his shirt.

“I hope that means you already planned everything today, like I asked you to do, and you’re going to wow me with your amazing travel guide skills.” You laugh nervously.

You know that if Changbin’s concept doesn’t look half as good as the other members, you’re in deep shit with their fanbase. While Changbin isn’t your favorite member because of how rocky your relationship started, you’ll have “Changbin anti” rumors circulating as soon as the magazine is released. Not to mention other rumors that will completely derail your career and everything you worked hard for.

“It means that we’ll see where the day takes us,” He clarifies, not that it makes anything better.

“I’m entirely too tired for this,” You mutter under your breath as you lay your head against the table. “I knew I should have planned something just in case.”

You sit there for a moment, your forehead pressed into your forearm, trying to even your breathing. Crying first thing in the morning in front of Changbin is the last thing you want to do. Crying in front of anyone is the last thing you want to do in general but in front of the man who most likely hates you is worse. Instead, you focus and try to remember some of the events that you looked up a few months ago.

We can try to do something with the floating market. It'll be harder, there'll be a lot of people around, and I'll have to edit their faces and hope the concept comes out well. There are too many Christmas events going on right now. Which would be nice if we were releasing the magazine now, but it's not coming out until the middle of next year. Going to The Grand Palace or temples might come off as distasteful and cause a scandal that neither of us would survive. Well, Changbin might survive it. His fans might just shove the blame on me. Which, in this case, would be correct. Maybe we can do a "Date with Changbin in Bangkok" concept and just have him eat street food. Even then, that's a pretty desperate and lame attempt that would reflect negatively on me. Not to mention the lack of permits for any of these places. It might be more complicated to explain to locals what's going on, especially since we can't really advertise for them. Maybe we can--

"Noona?" Changbin's voice calls out softly, his fingertips graze your arm almost shocking you out of your spiral.

"Hm?" You plaster on a fake smile and lift your head to meet Changbin in the eyes.

You've unlocked a new expression from Changbin. It takes longer than normal to register the furrowed brows forming three perfectly parallel lines between them, his lips pressed into a thin frown, and the way his eyes carefully looked over you as concern. It's similar to the one that Wonseok had on his face when you spent your first Christmas in Seoul and the two of you got drunk in his room after opening presents with his family. Right after you hit your soju limit you told him that it was the happiest Christmas you've ever experienced.

"Wipe that look off your face, you're weirding me out." You laugh as you push his hand off of your arm.

"I didn't think it would stress you out that much." He whispers, almost as innocently as a child who got caught doing something they shouldn't have been doing for the first time.

"You're saying that you wouldn't be stressed out if someone told you, last minute, that you had to freestyle your performance?" You scoff.

"I'm a rapper, I'm supposed to freestyle," He sits up straight again, finally removing his hand from the spot on the table where you pushed it to.

You pinch the bridge of you, throw your head back, and let out an exasperated sigh. You don't care how this comes off to the staff member sitting not even 3 feet away from you. "It's been so long since I've met someone who manages to piss me off every time they talk. You really know how to wear my patience down, don't you, Changbin-ssi?"

"I'm not--"

"Here's your food," The waiter says slowly, making sure that you and Changbin understand every word. He sets down the two plates towards the end of the table, not sure what belongs to who, but also not sure if the two of you would be able to understand him if he were to ask. He only heard you and Changbin speaking rather loudly in Korean earlier.

"Thank you," Changbin says with a smile and a nod. After the waiter leaves, he slides over your food, which had been placed closer to him. He leans in slightly over the table and whispers, "I'm not doing it on purpose."

"Could've fooled me," You mutter as you roll your eyes. You ignore the plate of food and take the glass of iced coffee that has, thankfully, been placed close to you and take a large lip of it.

You can't hide the face that appears on your face as the bitter taste of the coffee hits your tongue. Still, you force it down and set the cup back on the table, deciding to let the ice melt a bit to lessen the flavor. Changbin wordlessly slides the sugar packets towards you.

"Thank you," You whisper without looking at Changbin. You take four sugar packets and one of the vanilla creamers, pour them into your cup, and mix it quietly with a spoon from the table.

The two of you sit in relative silence in the diner, the only comfort that makes it not completely awkward is the white noise coming from the kitchen and the other patrons. You watch as Changbin fiddles with his utensils and his food, seemingly having to have lost his appetite.

"Look," You take another sip of the coffee and set it back down on the table, "I'm sorry. I'm just extremely sleep-deprived right now and it's making me act unprofessionally. Let's just eat and then we'll figure it out."

"It's fine. I'm sorry too. You're just so wound up and focused on your job all the time, I thought that I could...I don't know, force you to slow down today by being spontaneous." He finally stops playing with his food and shovels some of it into his mouth.

"There's nothing wrong with a strong work ethic." You shrug while taking a bite of your own food.

"There's a difference between working hard and working yourself to death." A hushed tone replaces his usual, booming voice.

You stop chewing for a second, studying Changbin. He keeps his head down as he eats, almost like he's refusing to look at you. You set your fork down and lace your fingers together as you place them on the table in front of you. You twiddle your thumbs together as you think about your words carefully. The caffeine coursing through your veins is already causing your previously sluggish brain to work faster than it did earlier.

"We've been on tour for three, almost four months now. In that time, you've done 18 shows in 10 different cities." Changbin glances up at you as you lean in a bit closer. "And during that time you've also promoted a Japanese comeback, performed at and attended award shows, completed countless interviews, worked on and promoted collabs, worked on an entirely new comeback for next year, and filmed content for future projects. And that's just you. The other members had their own schedules--hell, some of them attended fashion week or flew back home to help other artists produce songs. And I know for a fact that you're planning that comeback to be released in between the gap between the first and second leg of the tour.  The call is coming from deep inside of the house."

"You've got me there," Changbin sets his utensils on the side of his plate. He takes his napkin and dabs the corner of his mouth before placing it on his lap. He pauses for a moment before making eye contact with you again. "But at least I know how to relax on my days off."

You smirk as you let out a huff of air, your patience wearing thin again. "You have seven other group members that you can lean on when work gets to be too much. I don't have anyone. I may wear a Skzigi badge, but I'm not one of them. I'm an outsider to them. My team back home only sees this as a glorified vacation, I can't even complain to them without coming off as entitled. I don't have the luxury to relax."

A sinking feeling in your chest overwhelms you, filling you with dread. You've become concerningly aware of the staff member sitting near you, who is most likely going to gossip with the other staff members about you later about how unprofessional you are and how rude you've been to Changbin. You squeeze your eyes shut, almost like a child.

One...Two...Three...Four--

"Noona--"

"Forget it," Your eyes snap open as you quickly cut Changbin off, not really wanting to hear his pity for you. You pick up your fork and go back to picking at your food. "Just eat and find something for us to do with lax photography policies. We're wasting time with the conversation. It's not going to change anything."

***

"You don't cook a lot normally, do you?" You ask Changbin as you go over the pictures in your camera. The tape recorder you've been using all day sits between you. Both of you have small mics so that you can be heard loud and clear when you play it back later.

The day ended up well, despite its rocky start. The two of you went to the floating market after agreeing to do a food theme. You got pictures of Changbin "buying" fruits and vegetables from merchants on the boats. You even bought some actual fruit and got pictures of him eating them. You did some walking around and got pictures of Changbin at some food stalls, one of which the three of you actually ate at. You found a Thai cooking class for tourists and rented the space so that you could get pictures of Changbin cooking. Overall, it looks like another date concept, but it comes off almost like the Stay is going through a sort of farmer's market with Changbin and then cooking dinner with him. You got some amazing shots of Changbin feeding the camera that you're really proud of. You even had some time earlier to explore the more scenic routes around Bangkok, which is why the two of you are taking a bus ride over an hour back to the hotel.

Click

You turn to Changbin, who sets down the disposable film camera you gave him earlier in his lap. He peers over your shoulder to see what you're looking at. It's a picture of Changbin looking at an egg that he dropped on the floor. You know there's a picture somewhere of him holding a pan on fire that you took almost 20 minutes after that.

"It's not that I can't cook. Like most things, if I focus and try my best, I can do it." He speaks clearly and loudly so his voice isn't muffled by his mask. He lets out a soft chuckle like he's remembering something fondly. "But I don't trust myself in the kitchen. I'll end up wasting more things because of mistakes so I just order food or let one of the members that can cook take over. I know when to step away and let the professionals take over. I'm not as bad as Yongbok...Ayen, or Kim Seungmin though."

"So you're asking Minho to cook a lot then?" You set your camera down and rub your eyes. You're not sure if sleep is catching up to you or if your eyes are tired from looking at the camera screen.

"Yeah but...Minho hyung is a bit funny." He laughs as he leans his head against the back of the seat.

"Funny how?" You tilt your head.

You watch as Changbin's eyes shift over to the Skzigi sitting in front of you, asking permission to talk about it. You hate when the members do this. Especially when they do it over questions that are nowhere near controversial. The Skizigi's back is facing the window of her seat so she can keep an eye on the two of you and prevent anyone else from sitting near you and hearing your conversation, not that they would be able to understand you anyway. She pauses for a moment, looking up from her phone, before giving him a soft nod. She glances around before gesturing for Changbin to answer. There are not many places for people to sneak up on you since you're sitting in the back of the bus.

"I don't know if it's because he has that tsundere thing going on or because he's an only child so he's not used to all of the attention, but...Like if one of us asks him to make something directly, he'll say 'No.' Or if one of us just mentions that we're craving something and he happens to be in the room he'll say 'Just use your food delivery app.'"

You laugh, you've witnessed similar scenarios with Minho where he's done things like that with the other members more than enough times for you to believe it. "That sounds like Mr. Cat."

"Right?" He continues. "But then a few days later he'll call and say 'Come over, I made too much food to eat by myself' and it's the food we asked him to make or mentioned. And no matter how difficult it was or how much time he took, he'll play it off like it was no big deal. You've heard about the Beef Wellington story, right?"

Changbin's voice has a certain...soft fondness that you don't think you've heard in anyone's voice as he talks about Minho. You only just now noticed that he does that when he talks about any of the members.

"You mean when he spent like...four hours making Beef Wellington for Felix's birthday?" You recall.

"Exactly! He's always taking care of us like that. He pretends like he doesn't care about us or that he can't be bothered but..." Changbin glances over the Skzigi again. This time she hesitates to answer. Instead, he ignores her and turns his attention back to you before she can object. "It's all an act for the camera. But he truly cares about and loves the members. Even if he won't admit it. He is more of a 'showing his love through actions' person than a 'speaking his feelings' person."

You glance over to the Skzigi this time, mentally taking note of the annoyed look on her face. You know she's going to say something to you later.

"You know," You speak loudly so she can hear you as you turn back to Changbin. "I've been around a lot of groups where it's blatantly clear that their relationship is just a business one. But, after spending these past four months with you guys, I can see that you guys are an actual family."

"A family?" Changbin's voice trails off as he looks past you and out the window behind you. "Yeah, we are...I used to beg my parents and pray when I was little for a brother. And now I have two older ones and five younger ones."

You almost miss the worried look that appears on the Skzigi's face. Changbin catches it and thinks to himself for a moment.

"Take out the part about me praying about it. You can just say that I begged my parents for a brother." He says softly.

"Understood," You nod. You make a note of it on your phone just in case the mic didn't pick it up.

You understand why he said it. Even though his contract renewal gave him more freedom, there are still things he can't talk about. Or rather, he shouldn't speak about to protect his idol image. You remember the backlash Felix received just for being seen holding his Bible and mentioning that he'll pray for fans.

"I think we're done for today," You yawn as you turn off the tape recorder and shove it into your bag, along with your phone.

"Are you tired, noona?" Changbin asks, snapping back into his normal self.

"I think all the caffeine I've consumed today has escaped my body," You yawn again. If you're being completely transparent, you've lost track of how many coffees you bought today after the third one.

You squeeze your eyes shut and open them as wide as you can to keep them from staying shut. You slowly take apart your camera and pack it away in your bag as well. Still, the low lights in the bus, the quiet ambiance from the few passengers, and the stillness of the night are starting to make your eyes feel heavy and unfocused.

"An hour? Noona, that's not healthy." Changbin nearly shouts.

"It's fine. You guys have your own schedules for the next few days before we leave for Jakarta. I'm going straight to bed and sleeping in tomorrow since you don't need me." You grab your bag from your side and set it between you and Changbin on top of his jacket so you're sure you won't forget it.

"Yeah, but that's..." Concern laces Changbins voice as it trains off. "We're still far from the hotel and it looks like we're in traffic. Why don't you rest? I'll wake you up when we get there."

"Hm, maybe just for a moment. I'm probably going to end up knocking out at this rate anyway." You yawn again as you rub your eyes.

You settle a bit more into your seat, resting your head against the back of your seat and crossing your arms across your chest. You let your lead heavy eyes and don't try to open them again.

The three of you sit in silence for a while. You can hear someone typing away on their phone. Somehow, it doesn't annoy you. It's almost like ASMR.

"I'm sorry for being a bitch this morning," You mumble.

Thud

You force one eye open to see the Skzigi bending over to pick up her phone. You let out a soft chuckle at her reaction to hearing you swear. You don't do it often. Another sign of how tired you are. You close your eye again.

"I-I wouldn't use those words," Changbin clears his throat nervously. "But you're fine. I was being rude and frustrating earlier. Your frustration with me was completely valid. I'm sorry,"

"Apology accepted."

The two of you fall silent again and the soft typing resumes. The bus moves forward a little and then stops, almost like it's rocking you to sleep. Only, a thought pops into your head as you try to drift off to sleep.

You try to shake it out of your head to no avail. The more the louder the thought gets in your head, the more away you're becoming.

Fuck,

“Can I ask you something else off the record?” You break the silence again.

“Go to sleep, noona,” Changbin sings softly.

“Just one last thing, I promise.”

Changbin pauses for a moment, debating letting you ask the question. You crack your eye open again to find him deep in thought. After a moment, he turns to you. “If I don’t feel comfortable, I’m not answering.”

“Okay,” You nod, closing your eye again and resuming your previous position. You sit there for a moment, thinking of different ways to phrase the question.

“Noona?" Changbin whispers softly. "Did you fall asleep? Or are you having second thoughts?”

“I’m not having…It’s just a complicated question to ask.” You breathe.

He gently knocks your knee with his. “Stuff like that is off the table, you know that.”

“This has nothing to do with your romantic life, family, or private life.” You say quickly.

He pauses for a moment again. You're not sure if he's thinking or trying to read your thoughts. You're too tired to open your eyes and check to see what he's doing. You hear a soft sigh before he opens his mouth. “Then why are you having trouble asking it?”

“Because it’s…” You press your lips tightly into a thin line as you try to find your words. Your brain is nearly mush in its current state. You give up trying to find a diplomatic way of asking the question and just go for it. “Why did you hate me at first?”

More silence. You're almost certain that he's planning on getting out of the question by waiting for you to fall asleep. You hear him clear his throat again.

“I didn’t hate you." He says faintly. "I don’t hate anyone.”

“Bullshit,” You snort.

Thud

“I’m telling you the truth!” He says a little too loudly.

It's enough to make you jump and open your eyes. You scan the bus, none of the passengers seem disturbed by the volume.

You place your hand on Changin's forearm as you shush him.“Shh, okay, I believe you,”

“Sorry,” He lowers his voice, almost whispering. “Look, I didn’t hate you. Hating people isn’t good for your health and it takes too much energy away from you that you can use on something else.”

“But, you definitely didn’t like me,” You push.

“Not because of who you are.” He reassures you.

You think for a moment as you go back into your sleep position. “Because I'm a reporter?”

“Exactly,” He hums. You can almost picture him nodding his head as he says it.

"But you do interviews all of the time. I saw the Rolling Stones article. The journalist is a good writer, but you seemed comfortable."

"That took a while to get to that point. But after what happened at the MET Gala...I've been cautious around photographers and reporters. And this situation is...it's different because you're always around. Always watching and listening."

"Not always," You laugh to yourself, "As you pointed out earlier, I'm always working and I'm not around to that often."

"I know...Anyway, I was just worried about the group. It's our seventh year. It's a scary time, anything can go wrong, even if we don't do anything. We've reached a new level of fame this year and with that comes unwanted attention. It's hard to know, at this point in our careers, who is there to help us and who is here to harm us."

"...I'm here to help."

"I know that now. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize."

"It's fine," You yawn loudly.

"Go to sleep, noona," Changbin whispers softly. You can almost feel his breath on your ear.

Satisfied with the conversation, your brain rapidly returns to sleep mode. You offer a hum in response to Changbin. The bus starts moving again, pulling your body deeper into the state of sleep.

Your body is in a weird state where you have no real concept of time. It feels like you're only resting your eyes. You can hear the low hum from the bus moving and gently squeaking as it slows down. But your brain and body also feel like you're asleep. It feels like it's only been a few moments, but your eyes are glued shut. You can't even open them to check the time on your phone.

You feel warm all of a sudden, almost like you've been covered with a blanket. A few moments later, or soon after you can't really tell, you feel like you're falling. A few more moments later you feel something touch the side of your head, making you fall faster, just before the other side of your head hits something soft. You feel a soft smile creep on your face, but you're no longer in control of any part of your body anymore.

Click

—

Buy me a coffee?

—

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[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Happy with the staff content this year but am I the only one who is disappointed with the PV we got? It's basically a slideshow of art we've already seen, major downgrade from the year 1 PV that had literally all the events. There was a drop in quality of the anniversary PVs over the years and it really shows this year. Sorry if you find this too negative I don't mean to hate I just wish Twst would do better for it's ANNIVERSARY.

[For everyone's reference, here are the anniversary PVs in order of release: 2021 / 2022 / 2023 / 2024]

Mmm, now that you mention it, I noticed this trend with the Halloween PVs 🤔 For year 1, there was a video that showed all members of the NRC casy, even those that did not receive cards at that time. There were then several short variants of the PV released for year 2/Endless Halloween Night (part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4). Altogether, they feature all of the characters, including the students from year 1 but heavily shadowed and with glowing eyes to indicate ghostly possession. Even Glorious Masquerade features all of the students that get new cards for the event plus Rollo, although there are notably more still shots here. The Stage in Playful Land CM, by comparison, is significantly shorter and only shows us the three SSRs (Ace, Ortho, and Kalim) as well as the two new characters (Fellow and Gidel).

As this anon has said, the anniversary PVs have changed a lot over time too. The first one was the most animated and integrated several event outfits. The second one was also animated a fair amount, but you can tell corners were cut in some places where they transition to photographs/still images. This alone works thematically given that the player is a photographer, but you can still catch dips in quality when it comes to the art style. I remember finding Deuce running and the Kalim + Silver flying scene odd, as well as Jade and Trein's faces strange in general. Then the third PV rolls around and it only features the third years; the animation also seems to be much more sluggish (although this could be a stylistic choice; not sure). A friend actually recently pointed out to me that Lilia's pose looks like he was pulled straight from other assets; his artwork in the animation is almost the exact same as his smiling expression in the game. This year's is the most different (+ most static) and, like year 3's PV, only provides "new" content for a select few characters (the dorm leaders). They also reuse pre-existing illustrations already found in the game that don't seem to be picked for any particular reason (like, there are random Master Chef/Culinary Crucibles groovies in there). This direction, I'm guessing, is less costly and more efficient than making an entirely original animation, which is what was done in previous years. (Not that Disney or Aniplex is hurting for money to fund this, lol) Would I have preferred another PV in the style of year 1's? Yeah, for sure. I want to see other events and their outfits animated! Was what we got this year bad? Not necessarily; I think the production and editing was very technically impressive, but I'm still sad we didn't get anything substantially "new" to chew on (as someone who isn't a fan of most third years or the dorm leaders). Maybe it's just something we perceive as a deficit only because year 1 set the bar so high. It is what it is; whoever was in charge of the anniversary PV was probably doing the best they could with whatever budget they were given 😔 Let's hope that next year's will be a return to form, or that at least the money/effort is being redirected to other bigger projects (maybe the anime?).

[majaloveschris]

Why nothing makes sense part 9.

Vanity Fair edition

What a weekend we had, right? We started with the Oscar pre-party thing, then ended it with Vanity Fair.

First of all, isn't it weird that they waited up until this point to make their red carpet debut? Why not on the Ghosted premiere or on the Golden Globes? Why did they wait until the biggest event's afterparty? She was there at the Ghosted premiere, they were there at the GG after party, why now?

Looking at those VF Fair videos and photos, I still have the same opinion and feeling about them as a couple. They don't look natural at all, and it always seems like they are doing everything for the camera. As if they are always playing a role. And I know, I know, that the most famous couple use their relationship for PR reasons too, which is totally fine. But where is the love? Why does everything seem so forced? I mean, we are supposedly talking about two people who are in love, married, and happier than ever.

They look really awkward in this video. They don't really know what to do. It got better when they started talking to someone, but when they are alone, it seems so unnatural, as if two acquaintances are standing next to each other. The kiss was awkward too, similar to the LA restaurant one. A little kiss on the mouth, and that's it. His face after the kiss was interesting too. He seemed happier before it happened. You can clearly see that when Chris realizes they are being recorded, he starts talking to her, while up until that point he was rather talking to someone else and not even looking at her. They always make sure somebody is watching them when they are about to show how much they "love" each other.

And I'd also like to talk about this gif (thanks to the person who sent it to me via DM), where you can clearly see he didn't want to pose with her but had to since she made him stay. They posed separately, and then he wanted to go, but she had a different idea.

People say they looked in love, but I don't see it. This was probably his best attempt to sell it, but I wouldn't say it was convincing. Of course he is not going to wipe his mouth; of course he will try harder. This is the VF party, not some kind of pap walk. This is the afterparty of the biggest event in Hollywood. More people will see these contents; more people will see them together. It's also to his benefit not to act like a jerk. But body language doesn't lie. Vibes don't lie. And theirs are always off when they are around each other. It's always hard to pinpoint the exact meaning of this, but the best way to describe it is as being awkward, uncomfortable, and strange. Or as if they always had a fight before they were being photographed and tried to play it off. And two people who are supposedly in love shouldn't give off these vibes or be acting like this.

All in all, it didn't change my mind. However, it showed me that there is still something so weird about them. I guess he could've at least been more convincing in the past years if he tried (I don't think he could've sold this relationship, because again, his body language doesn't lie, but he could've made it better). One thing is for sure: they are awkward together, and everything they do seems so ungenuine.

[oblivious-aro]

And then Siffrin killed themselves.

Text and bonus content under cut:

"Oh sure, blame it on the little guy."

"He must've missed the angry key with his ONE EYE!!"

Pictured below is the initial base of the Siffrins (aka the part of the process where they look like freaky ghosts), and Siffrin 1 just before inking (I forgot to photograph Siffrin 2 before inking, but have a pic of him pre clean up and shading):

I had to redo Siffrin 2 during the ghost stage because I forgot about his massive hat, and it got in the way of Siffrin 1's text. That's why the ghost stage is important, kids (maybe I'll remember its real name later).

The reason Siffrin 2's text is so squished is because it's actually part of a collage/drawing page thing:

I edited big Siffrin's hat out with Pixlr. I got so caught up in it that I had to run to work to be on time ha ha whoops. And it wasn't even that good of an edit... (thankfully, it really didn't have to be)

Running is still terrible, in case you were wondering, but the endorphins you get from running are pretty good, I must say. Forgot about those.

The pathetic Siffrin is from a hair tutorial the isat dev made, and JaidwnAnimations is there because I couldn't figure out what I wanted to draw, and she's a fun go-to. I enjoy drawing her hair. Messed up both her arms because I drew her in semi-darkness, for some reason.

[and-claudia]

His Heir pt. 41 (Darth Maul x pregnant! reader)

Hey long time no see. Life is a shit show for me, but here's the next part of His Heir. It's not super edited, die like men, IG.

Wordcount: 3334

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The next morning was a whirlwind of chaos. I got dressed in my everyday clothes after I got up and ate the breakfast that was brought to our room for us before heading out to attend to the list Totin had given me. He was busy with last-minute stuff and had me to check that everything and everyone was prepared for the dress rehearsal that evening. It wasn’t too long of a list and was definitely manageable, even being as pregnant as I was. 

First on the list was to make sure that the ceremony space was set up correctly. I loved Totin to death, but he was very particular about things that he has envisioned in his head. This would be no exception, and if a single thing was out of place it would upset him and that was the last thing I wanted to do. 

“This one, it’s missing a flower.” I said, pointing out one of the displays placed at the end of one of the rows. 

“Yes, we know, that’s why we placed it further back, so it was less noticeable.” One of the decorators that was with me explained. 

“No, it needs to be fixed. Nothing can be out of place or missing.” I said, continuing to look around, trying to see if anything else was wrong. 

Everything else seemed to be okay, so I sent the servant droids to round up everyone who would be in attendance for the rehearsal dinner to give them the information they would need. We were meeting in the great hall. Since the palace was so huge it took nearly half an hour to get everyone rounded up and to the meeting location. Once everyone was there and was sitting, I rose from my seat and cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention. 

“Okay, thank you, everyone, for meeting me here. I am just going to give you a rundown of how everything is going to happen for today and tomorrow. Today, after lunch, if you are in the wedding party, meet in the pre-disclosed getting-ready area for hair and or makeup for tonight.

As we all know, Totin and Dasar do not do anything small or simple and everything must be photographed and or recorded. So, please be sure your attire does adhere to the dress code for each event. I highly recommend eating at least something, because once hair and makeup are done, everyone will get dressed and then head to the ceremony space for the rehearsal and who knows how long that will take,” everyone laughed a little at that, knowing how Totin can be about his events, “Dinner will be after the rehearsal. Then tomorrow will look very similar to today but the getting ready process will start after breakfast and not lunch because the ceremony is early in the afternoon.” 

Everyone nodded along as I gave all the details. Once I was finished I allowed them to ask questions to clarify anything, then once everything was settled, I dismissed everyone to continue their day until it was time to get ready for the rehearsal. 

The next big thing on my agenda was to check that everyone’s gowns and suits were ready for them in the getting-ready areas. Maul tagged along to keep me company. 

“Okay, there should be…38 different suits in here.” I said, checking my datapad. 

“38?” Maul asked, shocked. 

“Yup… they know a lot of people. I have all their names and a picture of what they submitted to wear. I just have to make sure they match up and are labeled for the right person. And that the servant droids have pressed and steamed them.” 

“Here, give me the datapad. I’ll call out the names and what they should have and you can check them.” He offered. 

“Thank you.” I said, handing him the datapad.

I didn’t mind that he was getting the easier part of the task. It was my task to do after all, and I was fully capable of doing it alone. I was just happy to have help. 

We had gotten about halfway through the suits when there was a knock on the door. I looked at Maul with my eyebrows furrowed before calling out. 

“Come in!” 

The door opened, and in rushed Totin. He was clearly frazzled. 

“Have you seen the servant droids?” He asked. 

“No. Last I heard, they were supposed to be prepping all the dresses… why what’s wrong?” I asked calmly. 

“I can’t find my suit… Dasar has his, but mine is missing. I told them to steam and press it with all the others, but now I don’t know where it is! Dasar pressed his own and offered to do mine, but I didn’t want him to worry about it but now I am thinking I should’ve let him do it because now mine is gone! I can’t walk down the aisle naked, Yn, I can’t! Well, I could, I would look great, but this isn’t the time nor the place for that…” 

As he continued to spiral, Maul subtly flashed me the datapad. At the very bottom of the list, Totin’s name was there with what he should be wearing as well. 

“Totin,” I took a step towards him and carefully grabbed his arms, “deep breath.” I did the same to get him to do it with me, “Now, did you tell the droids to bring all suits to this room?” 

“Well, yeah. Are we missing another one?” He asked, clearly missing what I was trying to get him to realize. 

“No. Totin, all of them are here.” I said, emphasizing all. 

The relaxation and relaxation was visible all over his body. 

“It’s here?”

I nodded, “It’s here.” 

He sighed heavily, and I released his arms before leading him to the last suit hanging along the wall. 

“You’re a lifesaver. You know that, right?” 

I smiled, “I try. Now, do you want to take this with you now or do you want to send for one of the droids?” I asked. 

“I think I’ll just take it…” he said, carefully reaching up to take it off its hook. 

I continued to get everything else ready that I needed to. It was then a little over half an hour before lunch. Perfect timing. 

“Maul, I arranged to have lunch brought to the room, care to join me for a quick nap? Maker knows I’ll need one to make it through tonight.” I joked, already starting the journey back to the room. 

“It would be my pleasure.” He said with a slight smile. “Just so we’re clear, I mean an actual nap, not a handsy leading to more type of nap.” I said with a small laugh. 

“You’re no fun.” He teased, but I knew he wasn’t really disappointed, he knew I had a lot to take care of both today and tomorrow, and this rest was needed. 

Once we got to the room, we just at half an hour for me to close my eyes before the food got there. After we ate, Maul escorted me to where the ladies were getting ready before heading off to get ready himself. Although he wasn’t actually in the wedding party, he was my date for lack of a better term, so he had to get drug to all the preparations.

Since I had to go double-check that everything was running smoothly, I had to get hair and makeup done first. It was nothing fancy, just some light, natural makeup and a nice touch-up on my hair to keep it out of my face. 

Then, I had one of the girls there help me put on my dress. I used to be able to get into and out of dresses without any assistance, but being pregnant threw me way off balance, so it was nice to have an extra set of hands to help with the zipper. Then last thing to do was to put on my shoes. Tomorrow, for the wedding, I would wear actual heels to match everyone else, but I knew that if I wore them tonight as well, my feet would be beyond sore tomorrow, so with Totin’s approval, I opted to wear flats for tonight. 

Once I was ready, I made sure everyone in my dressing area was good to go and did not need anything from me before I left. Then, I made my way to where those wearing suits were getting ready. I knocked and made sure everyone was dressed before entering. Things were understandably going quicker in here. There weren’t as many needing makeup done in here, so most of them were just getting their hair touched up or fixed for the evening. In Maul’s case, he was doing a quick touch-up on his horns at one of the far mirrors. I smiled to myself, remembering the times I’d gotten to help him. I wanted to go over and offer my help now, but I knew I couldn’t. I had to make sure everything was on track. I made a few quick announcements to everyone and when there were no questions in response, I left with the handful of people that were ready and walked to where the rehearsal was taking place. 

I had a datapad once again with me. This one gave a detailed list of who walks when. It didn’t take long for more people to trickle in and so I began lining everyone up. I called out names and got them in line and told them whether they would stand on Totin’s or Dasar’s side when they got down the aisle. Dasar showed up and stood at the front of the line. It took about 10 minutes from when the last few people arrived for me to get everyone where they needed to be. Luckily, though, instead of walking individually or splitting at the end of the aisle to either side, they had decided that each pair would stand together, alternating which side they would stand on. My name was last on the list, right before Totin, which was a huge honor. I got into my spot and asked Totin if I was good to tell those inside to open the doors and begin the rehearsal. 

“Yes, that’s fine, but why isn’t Maul here?” He asked glancing to where the Zabark in question stood off to the side. 

“He wasn’t on the list…” I said, confused. 

“Well, I thought it was a given that he would be walking you down?” He said as if it were obvious, “Everyone is walking down with their partners if they have one.” 

It was only then that I realized that everyone here was a couple. 

“Oh…” was all I could say before excusing myself to go get Maul. 

He was just as confused as I was for a moment, but regardless, he came over to join me. Once we were back in line, I used the comlink to tell them to start, and soon, the huge double doors opened in unison, and music began to play. Luckily someone was at the doors telling people when to walk, so I wouldn’t have to do that as well. 

I felt a tap on my shoulder as Totin leaned down, “You didn’t really think I would let you walk down the aisle without the man of your dreams did you?” He said right before it was our turn to walk. 

I felt heat creep up in my cheeks as Maul and I walked down together. I was holding onto his arm, stealing glances up at him from time to time.

“What?” He asked quietly. 

“Nothing… I just hope the next time I am walking down an aisle after this wedding is at ours.” I said. 

Maul very rarely smiled genuinely, especially in the public eye, but upon hearing my words, he had the biggest smile out of anyone in that room. 

“It will be, I promise.” He whispered just as we got to the end of the aisle. 

We turned to go stand on the side that Totin would be on and waited for him to walk down as well.

Surprisingly, the rehearsal of the ceremony only took about an hour. They didn’t say their actual vows, wanting to save them for tomorrow. We all practiced our exit, and then it was time to head to the dinning hall for dinner. I was getting really tired as the night drug on, and after eating, my tiredness only grew. I had scooted my chair closer to Maul and had been resting my head on his shoulder. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but the next thing I knew, Maul was nudging me slightly. 

“I’m so sorry.” I said quickly, glancing around to see who had seen me asleep. 

“It’s okay, Totin wanted me to come tell you that you can leave. We both know you have been on your feet all day, making sure everything was running smoothly. Which we thank you for, so much. Go get some rest. We will see you tomorrow.” Dasar said gently. 

“Tell him I said thank you.” I said before turning to Maul. 

He stood up before helping me do the same. He bid Dasar a goodnight before leading us out of the hall. The walk to the room felt like it was taking ages. When we finally got there, the moment we were in the door, I was already turning my back to him to get him to help take my dress off. He undid the zipper and carefully helped me out of it. Then he took the garment over to the wardrobe to hang it until the housekeeping droids came to get it. He brought me a tunic to sleep in, as I sat down on the edge of the bed. 

The next morning was a whirlwind of getting ready. I allowed myself to sleep in a little later and just get ready in my room instead of with everyone else. The golden dress fit perfectly and complemented Maul’s tan suit nicely. 

“That’s a good color on you.” I commented as he fixed the jacket in the vanity mirror. 

He hummed in response. 

“I am almost ready. I was just going to repolish my horns one last time.” He said, grabbing what he needed from his toiletry bag. 

“May I help?” I asked. 

“Of course.” He said, moving to sit down in the chair, which I had used to do my makeup earlier. 

I admittedly took longer than I needed to with the task, wanting to soak up every moment of calmness before the inevitable chaos of today started. 

“We need to get going, love.” Maul finally said gently. 

I nodded, “I know…”

Without a word, he stood up and walked me back to the bedroom to help me with my shoes. Then, before I knew it, we were watching Dasar walk down the aisle for real. Their vows were absolutely beautiful. You could really tell how much they loved one another. I slightly cursed my damn hormones as my eyes began to water when they kissed. Maul subtly pulled out a small handkerchief and passed it to me so I could wipe my eyes. 

After the ceremony, there was about an hour lull to allow everyone to change into the reception attire. This dress was a lot more fun than the one I had worn to both the rehearsal dinner and the ceremony. It had sequins that were sure to catch the light and shine and sparkle all night long…or as long as I would last. 

Maul didn’t really change, instead, he just removed his suit jacket, leaving him in just a tan vest over a white button-down. 

Once we were both dressed, we made our way to the grand ballroom, where the reception was to take place. Once again, we were lined up in the same order we were in for the ceremony; however, now, both Dasar and Totin stood behind Maul and me. Someone with a datapad was going down the row asking everyone how they would like to be announced upon their entry. I was a little shocked when they stopped before they got to Maul and me but Dasar told me to just trust him. 

It wasn’t too long before we were next. I was a little confused by what Dasar had said… how were they going to announce us? 

“Now welcome, Lord Maul, Lady Mand'alor Yn, and their heir to Crimson Dawn!” The DJ said, causing a huge uproar of applause as Maul and I walked in. 

I was a bit embarrassed that he included our titles, but everyone here knew of those titles, I just didn’t want to take away any attention from them. Also, under different circumstances, the mention that our son was the heir to a crime syndicate wasn’t something I wanted to be announced; however, again, everyone here already knew that. 

Within no time the party was in full swing. The formalities like cutting the cake, the first dance, and parent dances were all over and now it was time to have fun. I found a few old friends of Dasar and I and danced with them as much as I could. And I must say, despite my center of gravity being completely thrown off, I held my own pretty damn well and was still able to get down. Unfortunately, one aspect of the pregnancy I couldn’t work around was the fact that I get winded much faster now. Unfortunately, I had to take frequent breaks between dancing to catch my breath. 

Maul was dotting over me the whole time, though. Anytime I came off the floor to sit down to take a breather, he was right there with a glass of water for me. However, eventually, I couldn’t keep going much longer and I knew my night would be coming to a close soon. 

I walked off the floor to sit down again and was surprised when I couldn’t find Maul anywhere. Regardless I took a seat, figuring he may be off getting himself a drink or something and would return soon. Which he did. He sat next to me in his chair and grabbed my hand.

“You doing alright?” He asked over the music. 

“Yeah… getting tired, though. I think it may be time to call it quits.” I said with a laugh, though I was very serious. 

“Do you have the energy for one more dance?” He asked. 

“For you, always.” I said with a smile. 

The song that was playing ended, fading into a much slower song. One that I recognized quickly. It was one of my favorite slow songs. Maul stood up and offered me his hand. I took it and he helped me stand before leading me to the dance floor. He held me close to him, and I leaned into him, cheek resting against him. I had slipped off my heels earlier in the evening so he was quite a bit taller than I was now. 

“I love you.” He whispered mid-song. 

“I love you too, Maul.” I said, pulling back just enough to look up at him. 

“I had the housekeeping droids pack our things already. They left us both something to sleep in and something to wear tomorrow to depart in.” Maul said quietly. 

“What? We’re supposed to stay a few more days.” I said, confused and slightly hurt. There was still more celebrating that would happen. Admittedly, they would be much more of a party atmosphere with drinking and even possibly some spice, I wanted to be here for it, for my friend. 

“I know you wanted to stay, but I have arranged something for us, with the help of Dasar and Totin. They said we could return later after the baby to celebrate with them again.” He explained. 

“Okay… what are we doing?” I asked still confused. 

“That is a surprise.” He said with a small smile. 

@fan-g0rl @mxkyrie @onceuponanightmareisawme @lothiriel9 @wordsfromshona @kgbtardis @wondermia69 @mh073099 @ktrivia @fifithexeno @perseny @justalittletomato @pomiotszatana @ameliachastain @lune-de-miel-au-paradis @its-me-meg 

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[skipper1331]

Poser // Lina Magull

a/n: based off this request. Enjoy:)

You loved to take pictures since your childhood. It didn‘t matter If it was the sky, a tree, an animal or anything. Everything was perfect for a picture, you just had to have the right perspective (and some editing skills).

So as many people you turned your passion in to your job. You even had your own photo gallery and were internationally known.

Let’s just say, you did your job damn well.

A few years ago though, you got a job offer - Bayern Munich - you couldn‘t say no. How could you? Sports photographer? You loved it.

You met the staff members the first day in to your new job, they were all super nice and welcoming, thankfully the language barrier wasn‘t as difficult - you had been in Germany often enough to have a nice conversation. It made it easier to feel comfortable and like Munich could be your home for the next few years.

You didn‘t meet the team until the recovery training after their first game of the season. Alexander Straus introduced you so no one would wonder why you were traveling with the team or that you‘ll send them pictures in a high quality of them to upload on their social media.

And that‘s how you met your girlfriend. Lina Magull.

The moment she saw you, she was intrigued by your beauty and your work.

It didn‘t take her long to ask you out and eventually to be her girlfriend. Strong years as a couple ahead of you.

-

It was a hot summer day, pre-season had officially started and everybody was full with new energy.

You trailed along the pitch where the girls did their drills, your camera at the ready. The lightning was great, it made your job a lot easier and you wouldn’t have to edit too much later on. Taking more pictures of the new signings then of the rest was normal at the pre-season time. It was your job to present new players and enchant fans. But you took many pictures of everyone in general.

"Liebe! Soll ich für dich posen?" the german yelled as she saw you frowning at your camera, the typical wrinkle between your brows, biting your lip in concentration. As respond you lifted your camera, looking through it. The midfielder loved to pose for you, it didn‘t matter If it was on the pitch or behind closed doors, she enjoyed seeing you work. Two birds with one stone.

She started off with a few jumps, her arms stretching in all directions, then some dance moves. Slow dance, party moves as if strangers were around and moves as If she was wasted and with you and/or her friends. Your finger was almost constantly clicking on the camera's shutter button. There will definitely be some really good pictures.

Some girls even joined her and started to dance the Macarena dance. It was funny as hell.

The Munich girls respected you, not only because you were Linas (long term) girlfriend, but also because you were funny and sweet. As well they liked the pictures you took of them. You had a good instinct for the camera, years of practice, and also a good human instinct, you knew which pictures the girls liked of themselves and which they didn't, without them ever seeing some of the pictures. That’s what made you and your talent special. That little certain something, your own style hidden in every picture, your signature touch. You were an important part of the team.

"Are there any good pictures, my love?" the german asked, wrapping her arm around your waist. When did she get to you?

"I think so, they‘re always great when you‘re there" you giggled, winking. "Such a flirt" she laughed before pressing a quick kiss to your lips. "hey! you are just photogenic" you chuckled, clicking rapidly on the camera to annoy her, yourself going down in crazy positions to 'get the right angle' as she already did new poses; kissie faces, heart shapes out of her hands.

"You‘re a total poser" you chuckled, refering to one of your favorite marvel movies. "You did not just use a Black Widow quote on me, did you?!" she yelled, walking backwards to her team mates, her eyes still on you.

"What If I did?"

The german always mocked you for the love you had for the marvel universe yet secretly enjoying the times were you would force or beg her to watch them with you. The excitement your eyes held as she gave in. She even cried watching Endgame (who wouldn‘t??)

To make you happy and laugh, your girlfriend jumped up before landing in the typical Black Widow pose which she corrected slightly on the floor. You immediately lifted the camera and took a photo. Only one. It would have ruined the moment if you had taken several, somehow you knew that it was the photo.

You couldn‘t help yourself but whisper, "such a poser" one of the most iconic lines of the one and only Yelena Belova.

-

While the girls were in the gym, you connected your camera to your laptop about to finish your job for today. You edited the important pics and sent them to the respective player. Editing does take a certain amount of time so the remaining pictures would get your attention at home on the couch or the bed, something comfy.

The knock on your office door pulled you out of your daydreams, your girlfriend standing in the frame "Ready to go home?" she asked. You answered with a nod and grabbed your belongings before walking out of your office, your fingers interwining with the midfielders.

At home, the two of you watched some random football match, the brunette laying exhausted on your chest while your hand massaged her scalp. As soft snores filled the room, you looked at your phone - the picture of your favorite girl in the Widow pose as your new backround. No editing needed, the picture was perfect just as you had predicted.

Maybe one day there‘ll be a special Lina Magull exhibition in your gallery - you definitely had a lot of perfect pictures of your favorite poser.

————————

translation:

Liebe - love

Soll ich für dich posen? - Do you want me to pose for you?

————————

[babybulls15]

(Charles Leclerc/Carlos Sainz Jr., 1.1k, rated G, 1/1)

(based on that one video from the Miami shoot where it looks like Carlos is reaching up to fix Charles' hair, they're being oblivious menaces and driving the photo team insane in the process, POV Outsider, Ambiguous Relationship, kind of, they're acting like a couple soo, Idiots in Love, Crack)

Summary:

They can't keep their hands off each other. It's becoming a problem.

Read it on Ao3 or below. :))

(Tumblr kept throwing this at me and somehow it got stuck.

Thanks again to the wonderful @leversainz for beta reading and preserving what's left of my sanity! <33

I hope you enjoy and I'd love to hear your thoughts! :3)

------------------

When Sal had taken over the role of lead photographer for Ferrari a few months ago, she’d known it would not be a cakewalk. She’d known they were going to have high expectations and standards. She’d not known it was going to be this kind of chaos.

Really, it should be simple. A simple photo shoot. Get the drivers into the clothes, position them on the set, take the photos and repeat until the whole line has been visualized - nothing new, nothing really exciting.

Also not a lot of room for problems. Sal is a professional, Carlos and Charles are professionals, everyone is a professional, who’s been through this exact thing about 1000 times before. However, for some inexplicable reason, shooting together seems to make their two models prone to ignore all that professionalism in the room and throw their own out the window with it.

Prior to her first shoot, Sal had already heard stories from the PR-team about most of the vlogs and challenges going a bit awry. But nothing could’ve prepared her for whatever they are.

(Teammates? Friends? Boyfriends? Insane mostly.)

Their exact relationship is a big question mark to everyone, probably even themselves, but they do seem incredibly comfortable - constantly in each others space, touching in some form or another.

That, in of itself, is not a problem. It starts becoming one, when the people they work with need them to not do that for a few hours, and it is apparently impossible.

(They’re not getting downright handsy, but the way they move around each other is still too physically intimate to be edited around the power of teammates and friendship.)

And the worst thing is, no one can even really fault them, as they actually don’t seem to be doing it on purpose.

Sal recognizes it from her own relationship – the need to be close, the bubble of intimacy that makes everything else disappear - so when she has to reposition them for almost every second shot because they keep unconsciously shifting closer to each other, she can’t find it in herself to blame them. At this point, she’s gotten used to it.

(That doesn’t mean she can’t still send them chastising looks every time it happens.)

What she definitely can and will blame them for though, is their current predicament - the candid videos of the new race suits, that are taking way longer than they need to - because Carlos and Charles seem to have a lot of trouble with the 10 cm gap between them. It has repeatedly taken about 20 seconds after positioning, for them to get lost in themselves and instinctively move closer again - much to the chagrin of the videography team.

After they have to cut off the video for the fifth time, because neither of them can keep their hands where they’re supposed to be, Sal also starts blaming the director.

She keeps giving them the call of “Act natural! Like you’re in the garage preparing for the race!” and somehow the guys seem to take that particular one very seriously.

Because, just like before every race, they are completely in their own world, oblivious to whatever is happening around them. Sal has photographed enough Grand-Prixs and therefore witnessed enough of their pre-race rituals, to know the phrasing is really not helping anyone.

They’re now on their eighth attempt to get a particular candid shot of the two drivers in their shiny blue race suits wearing equally blue sunglasses.

The longer she looks at it, the more ridiculous the scene becomes in Sal’s opinion, but it’s the last one and they need to make it stick, so everyone can finally go home. Although the photo-part of the shoot is done and the videographer has taken over two hours ago, Sal and the rest of the photography team are still there (company policy...) and it is starting to drag.

Most of the staff not actively working is gathered around the director and her video monitor, impatiently waiting. They need one minute of usable footage for the promotion. One minute.

As the first half counts down, everything seems to be going swimmingly - they’re keeping it cool, they’re keeping it civil and most importantly they’re keeping it an appropriate distance apart.

At around 20 seconds to go, Charles starts fussing with his hair.

It’s an innocent enough thing, to go down without any protest from the crew. But then Carlos, in a gesture that seems too intuitive to be entirely conscious, starts moving his hands up to where Charles’ are buried in his curls.

The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. It is almost entirely silent. No one is even looking at the two drivers. Everyone knows what’s coming is inevitable, so the only thing that matters is the clock ticking on the video timer.

Carlos’ hands reach Charles’ head with about 10 seconds to go. As he starts untangling his teammates hands from his hair and gently takes them into his own, the silence is disrupted by a cacophony of almost unison groans from the team. 10 seconds. 10 seconds later and it would’ve been completely fine. Everyone is already resigning themselves to do the whole thing over again, when the director sighs loudly and shakes her head.

“No. This ends now. I do not care how we do it, but we will find these 10 seconds somewhere else. Cut the last part. We are done here.” Then she gets up from her chair and, to everyone’s surprise, simply leaves the studio.

There is a moment of stunned silence, before the whole team lets out a collective sigh of relief and immediately starts moving to pack up.

As the two drivers are ushered to the dressing rooms, Sal sees Charles lean into Carlos, making the other man reach out instinctively, pulling him closer.

They smile and wave her goodby, when they pass where she is zipping up her bags - talking animatedly to each other, once again caught in their own world.

Oblivious, Sal thinks as she waves back.

Shouldering her equipment, she watches them for a moment longer. Carlos has one arm wrapped tightly around Charles’ waist, like he has been restraining himself the last six hours and now needs to make up for lost time. Charles is no better, as he seemingly tries his best to reduce the space between them even more, practically melting into his teammates side.

Sal sighs, turning to leave. They really are insane.

[robsheridan]

I’m thrilled to finally have my original analog glitch skull back in print today after the first edition has been sold out for years - here’s a first look at the actual print and all its remastered details:

This has become an iconic image for my work and for analog glitch in general, as it was my first piece back in 2012 that paved the way for my analog glitch work with How To Destroy Angels and the beginning of a new fine art movement of VHS/CRT glitch that is thriving today more than ever.

For these tenth anniversary editions I went back to the original photographs (captured at high speed off the screen of an old CRT television) with everything I’ve learned over the years about mastering analog glitch for print, and the results are crisper, more vibrant, and more true to the original vision than ever before.

In the close-ups here (these are all photographs of the print itself) you can see a couple elements I’m proud of that were always very hard to preserve in print, like the subtle glow of the skull, which displayed as increasingly tiny bits of light on the pixels of the screen dithering out to black:

Every pixel of the CRT can be seen on the print until they disappear into the black, creating a glow that is soft from a distance but rich with texture up close. I strive for the very highest fidelity of low fidelity!

The first of these new editions were on display at last year's Glitch Art is Dead show for their proper 10th anniversary in 2022, and now they’re finally available: Four analog glitch anniversary editions out today (including the Welcome Oblivion vinyl album cover piece), personally signed/numbered, limited to only 30 copies!

Next month I should be able to share photos of the first-ever premium canvas editions of this work (available for pre-order now), which give it the large format fine art presentation I have always dreamed of.

All of my limited edition prints are personally signed/numbered fine art giclée prints on archival matte paper, printed by me to personally ensure the finest museum quality on 308gsm German fine art paper at ultra high 1440dpi print resolution, and packed/shipped worldwide with care by my wife Steph from our home studio in Tacoma, WA. Every print comes with a signed certificate of authenticity and an exclusive sticker.

[madameaug]

To Our Daughter

Pairing: Jennette x Jungkook

Synopsis: Exploring deeper into the day Jennette's water broke and peanut was born.

AN: Long-awaited peanut cup name reveal

Three little birds sat on my window

And they told me I don't need to worry

Summer came like cinnamon so sweet

Little girls double-dutch on the concrete

Jennette harmonized with the lyrics. She was in the kitchen alone lighting different summer candles. A habit she just started getting into, with the dwindling weeks of her pregnancy. Her nose had become so sensitive in her pregnancy, strong fragrances gave her a headache, or made her nauseous. Lavender and coconut were her go to scents.

There were a few things Jennette had on her to-do list. First she needed to check her email, to see if the photographer sent the final edits of her pregnancy photoshoot. The actual photoshoot itself was done just a little under two weeks ago, and was waiting any moment to see the results. Secondly, she needed to do one more load of laundry. Asia, embracing the title of 'Titi' has been buying boat loads of newborn clothes by the day. It's getting to the point where some of Peanut's clothes are in Jungkook's underwear drawer.

But the most pressing matter she had to attend to was her cravings. While she walked around her kitchen, she was waiting for the timer to go off. She could smell the peanut butter cookies in the oven. It didn't bother her that is was eleven am and she was baking cookies. Her baby wanted some cookies, so of course she was baking cookies.

Jungkook only a few feet away from his girlfriend was fighting sleep on the loveseat couch. Pre-parental anxiety was normal, but his anxiety was getting the best of him. Any slight groan of discomfort sent alarm bells in Jungkook's head. The obstetrician predicted Jennette going into labor within a week. Detailing that the predicted size of Peanut, increased the likelihood of Jennette delivering early. Making the estimated due date of September 8th, highly unlikely.

"Wan a cookie?" Her mouth was full as crumbs of peanut cookie collected around the corner of her mouth. She held a golden cookie in a napkin and presented to Jungkook.

Admiring the big belly, Jungkook sat up patting the empty seat beside him.

"Mmmm." Jennette rubbed her lower back.

"What's wrong?" Dropping the cookie in his lap, Jungkook's hand protectively touched Jennette's belly. He watches her face wince in discomfort. She huffed out again, holding her hand over his much bigger ones.

"She just kicked me in my back." Soothingly rubbing her back, Jungkook playfully scolded Peanut. Jungkook found himself admiring Jennette's side profile. His hand still on her belly, rubbing his thumb up and down the profound dark brown line on her belly. Any moment now, his Peanut cup would be here in the world with him. He would be holding her. Feeding her however many times she wanted.

"Oh my gosh, stop staring at me." Jennette held up a hand to block her face.

"It's giving stalker." She laughed.

"I can look at you as much as I want."

"Oh yeah." Jennette turned around facing him.

"Close your ears Peanut." Jungkook responded not backing down. The couple waited for the other to make the first move. Jungkook knew Jennette didn't stand a chance in a tickle match with him. He knee all her sensitive spots, and Jungkook was only ticklish on his feet.

With quick speed, Jungkook snuck his fingers under Jennette's armpits. Her knees jerked upwards, as she tried to grab Jungkook's hand. Her shriek laugher made it difficult for her to break free from his grip.

"S-stop. Oh my gosh. Please." She struggled in her sincereity. Every word she said caused Jungkook's hands just to move faster ans faster.

"I'm gonna pee myself. Please stop. Stop."

Allowing Jennette to waive her white flag, Jungkook triumphed at the sound of her defeat.

"I need to go to the bathroom." She pushed off the couch, waddling to the bathroom. Jungkook gushed as she walked away. The waddle was by far Jungkook's favorite change that happened to Jennette. Before she was pregnant, Jennette was on the slimmer slide. But the thirty pounds of baby weight was mostly apparent to her face and abdomen. Jungkook loved tugging on the chubby cheeks.

Picking up the half-eaten peanut butter cookie, Jungkook relaxed into the couch. He couldn't stop grinning. Moments like this- the ordinary and sweet just felt surreal. In the next few days he was about to be entering a new chapter in his life. His life was about to transform forever.

Jennette called out from the bathroom. "You better not eat all those cookies!"

"No promises, bug." Standing up her grabbed a second cookie. They were soft on the inside with the perfect crunch on the outside. His peanut cup had impeccable taste.

"You're lucky I'm pregnant right now, or I would have had to fight you for these cookies." Jennette immediately noticed the dent in the pan of cookies. Obviously omitting the fact that she ate five cookies before offering some to Jungkook.

"You have another row in the oven. I won't eat those, Deal?"

"Deal." She smiled leaning her head on his shoulder. "Peanut's been quite active this morning."

"You think she's gonna come out today?" His voice turned serious for a moment.

"Maybe not today, but my body just feels... different."

"Peanut can take her sweet time. Appa is patient." He kissed her belly. He stood up hearing the second ding from the oven. Jennette rubbed her belly. The smell of the fresh peanut butter cookies wafted to where she sat. Her stomach contracted, and an indescribable pressure radiated to the lower section of her pelvis. His eyes bulged open.

"Jungkook." Her voice called out with a hint of uncertainty.

Cookie try in hand, Jungkook immediately noticed her face of discomfort.

"Another kick?"

Shaking her head no, Jennette's face grimace. "This is different." The pressure in her lower pelvis was only growing. She tried to reposition on the couch, but nothing was giving her any relief.

"I-I think my water just broke." Her chin tilted up as she huffed out her breath.

Jungkook placed the tray of cookies down. Her turned off the oven, before grabbing his car keys. Jennette held her stomach as she tried to look around for her shoes.

"I'm gonna have a baby." Jennette spoke to no one in particular. It felt different saying the words out loud. Now was the moment of truth.

"Here." Jungkook dropped a pair of crocs in front of her feet. Gently lifting her foot into each shoe. He held her hand as they walked to his car. He had a hospital bag in both of their cars, so no matter when Jennette's water broke they would be prepared.

"I'm gonna have a baby." Jennette strapped herself in the seatbelt. Her body just seemingly going through the motions. Jungkook in his mind was battling his own nerves, but held it together for Jennette. After it was her that was going to have to push and deliver the baby.

Jungkook turned the thirty minute drive to the hospital a sixteen minute one, as he pulled into the parking space.

"How are you feeling?" He asked breaking the silence. Jennette opened her mouth but quickly closed it as another contraction hit.

"Like I'm Peanut's personal punching bag." She tried to smile through the pain, but it was truly reaching up there.

"I didn't think I was gonna be having a baby today. I feel so unprepared." The hormones getting the best of her, Jennette started to cry. She was trying to speak, but her words were just sounding muffled.

"I'm not ready." She drawed out.

Jungkook hushed her, wiping her tears. He reassured her that they both were ready. He packed the hospital bag with everything that the doctor told them that they would need.

"You are going to be amazing." Sniffling Jennette got out the car. She was holding onto Jungkook's forearm like it was her lifeline. The contractions were growing in intensity and Jennette wasn't sure if she could stand any longer while these waves of contractions hit. Jennette was wheeled to her birthing room. There were three nureses assisting her with check in. One started an IV on her hand, one called the obstetrician, and the other coached her through her pain.

It felt like everything was moving so fast. Once the IV was inserted the nurse focused on getting Peanut's heartbeat on the monitor.

Dr. Choi knocked on the room with a gentle smile on her face. She looked so happy seeing the couple. Her voice was gentle as she rolled on her sterile gloves. Jennette felt a little better knowing that her doctor was present. She heard about the stories of doctors not making it to the delivery. She didn't need any unnecessary stress on her body. Going through labor was enough for her.

"Well Jennette, you are about four centimeters dilated. We are almost in active labor."

"Oh wow." Jennette huffed out. "So, I'm definitely having a baby today?"

"Yep." She smiled.

"Oh gosh." Her face winced as another contraction occurred. Her face turned to the side as she did her best to distract herself from the pain. She focused in on Peanut's heartbeat.

"Is Peanut doing okay doctor?" Jungkook chimed, watching the contraction paper spit out it's results. He wasn't sure what exactly the peaks of the different waves meant, but he didn't want to start freaking out over nothing.

"Yes, she's responding well to the contractions. Her heartbeat is strong too. So both are good signs." Looking at the monitor with awe Jungkook felt giddy.

"I'll be back in an hour or two to check on you two."

As the hours passed, a montage of Jungkook pacing back and forth in the private room could have been rolling. Jennette, now lying on her side, held onto the bedrail. Sweat coiled between the layers of skin underneath her neck.

"Do you need another cool cloth?" Jungkook asks, his voice coming far away in Jennette's mind. Her dula warned her that labor was all a mental game. If she allowed herself to succumb to the pain, then she would be miserable. Jennette had used every trick in the book, but these five hours were grueling. Her momentum was slowing down.

Her stomach was in knots like never felt before. Her mouth salivated, salty fluid filled her mouth. In a weak attempt to project the vomit into a trashcan, Jennette covered her mouth. Like a stream, the pale emesis sprawled over her hand. Jungkook hit the bed alarm, alerting the primary nurse and Dr. Choi to it. Both rushed into the room, hustling to contain the situation.

"She's extremely dehydrated." Dr.Choi stated matter factly. "Increase normal saline to 125 mL an hour."

Lifting up the drape, Dr. Choi checked how far Jennette progressed. Jungkook waited anxiously with his numb nail between his teeth.

"Still four centimeters." With a voice of disappointment, Dr. Choi stood at the foot of the bed.

"She's failure to progress. Start the pitocin, and put it on 5 units." Somewhat delirious, Jennette squinted, trying to find Dr. Choi. She was seeing double right now, and the hospital light was not helping.

"What, does pitocin do?" She immediately regretted speaking as a wave of nausea overcame her. Worry was all on Jungkook's face for the past two hours. Truly he wasn't sure what to expect when Jennette would go into labor. Sure, he didn't expect her to smile and grin the entire time, but he didn't expect to watch the color drain from her face either. She moaned shakily from the pain.

Holding her hand, Jungkook wiped her forehead. He wish for nothing more than to take this pain of Jennette's shoulders. The pain she was feeling was like a stab wound in her spine. It felt as if she had no time to catch her breath. Each contraction felt like it was getting stronger and stronger.

Her eyes shed tears. The pain effectively made her mute. She turned on her side, her back now towards Jungkook. The nurse motioned for Jungkook to follow her. Kissing Jennette's forehead, he quietly followed the nurse.

With the click of the door closing, Jungkook tapped the back of his head on the wall. He let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding. His chest felt lighter.

"I wanted to bring you out here to let you know what's happening. The Pitocin we're giving Jennette will help strengthen and regulate contractions."

"Is that gonna help with her pain at all." His mind seemingly focused one thing.

"It'll make labor more intense, but we can put in a request for an epidural."

"I just feel useless. Like I should be doing more. I can't stand seeing her like this."

The nurse was in awe, holding the clipboard tighter to her abdomen. "Jungkook you're doing a great job."

"Labor is hard enough, and you don't know how often I see women in here with less than supportive partners. It's the same things she'll remember. Trust me." The nurse gave him an encouraging smile and patted his shoulder. She walked down the hall, responding to the flashing lights above another patient's room door.

Jungkook lingered outside the hall, collecting his thoughts before entering the room. Jennette was still in the same position; her breathing was louder. Jungkook watched her back muscles expand.

"Hey love bug." He leaned over her back. His eyes searched for hers. She peeled her eyes, trying to give a warm smile.

"Hey." Her voice was low and hoarse. Jungkook grabbed her bonnet, gently lifting her head and placing the braids in it. His thumb massaged the whipsy baby hairs that curled up.

"I don't know if I can do this." Her voice timid and uncertain. "It hurts so bad."

"Yes, you can." His voice was full of conviction. He walked to the other side of the bed, coming face to face. Her eyes were glossy. Jungkook had to be a source of strength for both of them. He had to push his own fears to the back of his mind.

"Do you hear me." She sniffled, nodding her head. She weakly reached out for his hand, bracing herself for the upcoming contraction. Her nails dug into Jungkook's skin. He didn't react, so she held onto him. This discomfort was nothing to what she was feeling.

"Oh my God." She placed her heel in the bed, pushing her body off the bed. The contraction lasted for eighty seconds. Holding her hand through it all.

"I need an epidural." Her voice trembled. With a fire lit underneath his ass, Jungkook marched to the nursing station. Not even caring that the nurses there weren't the primary nurse. He needed to see the action.

Dr. Choi accompanied the anesthesiologist. Jungkook assisted Jenentte into an upright position. The anesthesiologist laid out his tools, doing his best to move swiftly. Jungkook held Jenentte's shoulders steady as he concentrated on where to insert his needle. He explained his steps to Jennette, but she focused solely on his face.

Jungkook's emotions were calm, centering on Jennette. His eyes, too, were slightly glossy but were a source of pride. She winced slightly as the doctor inserted the needle, a few stray tears dropped onto the hospital gown.

"Give it a few minutes, Jennette." Dr. Choi watched as the anesthesiologist cleaned up. Jennette laid back down on her side with a folded towel. Jungkook wasn't sure as to its purpose but figured he'd let the professionals do their jobs uninterrupted. A couple minutes passed and Jennette released a sigh of relief. For the first time in six hours the sharp pain was dulled. The sight brought a smile to Jungkook's face as well.

The anesthesiologist stood in the corner, monitoring for any adverse effects per hospital protocol.

"Do we have a name picked out for the baby?"

Jennette smiled at the question. "Yeah, I've always been a fan of the name 'Lavender'."

"May I ask how it came about?" The doctor was intrigued, never hearing the name before.

"Well, believe it or not, before I was pregnant, I hated peanut butter. Anything with peanuts or peanut butter was a straight no for me. My tastebuds must have done a 180, when I was pregnant cause I started craving it uncontrollably. So much so that I could go through a family-sized jar of peanut butter in a week."

"I always thought it was cute to name a baby after something or someone you loved."

"As you can tell I didn't make the cut." Jungkook quipped. Both doctors laughed, and Jennette rolled her eyes.

"It would be stupid to name by baby peanut butter. Or even worse, 'Kookiana' as a tribute to her father. But I also loved the scent of lavender; when I would get nauseous, it would calm me down. I guess it just stuck."

"Awww, Jennette, that's beautiful." Dr. Choi rubbed her shoulder.

Jungkook stood at her side, his hand rubbing over the baby bump. Ever so often, he'd glance at the monitor, watching the steady heartbeat of his Peanut cup.

The epidural worked it's magic as the next series of contractions were manageable. Jennette could engage in small talk. Jungkook checked his wristwatch and jumped when he saw it was 11:50pm. The slow progress of the labor, made Jungkook feel like only an hour or two had passed. He had to reorient himself seeing that seven whole hours had gone by.

Yet again checking how far dilated Jennette was, Dr. Choi's face popped up with a surprised look.

"You're crowning!" Jennete's eyes wideneed. A mixture of fear and excitement.

"I am?" She seemed to question what she was hearing.

"Little miss Lavender just tryna sneak up on us." She pulled on the mechanical legs of the table, propping Jennette's legs on them. She brought down the overhead light aiming directly over Jennette's pelvis.

The room got hectic again, as the new nurse shift entered the room. There was one nurse on either side of Jennette. Jungkook remained calm in the chaos, holding Jennette's hand.

Dr. Choi coached her through her pushing. Jennette honed in on her voice, breathing in with her nose and pushing out with her mouth. The intensity was growing again, but now Jennette was pushing purposefully.

"Okay, we got half of the head."

Jennette gritted her teeth, determination flowing through her veins. Jungkook held a cool cloth on her forehead, as she caught her breath.

"Come on, mama, a couple more pushes."

Jungkook teared up, using their conjoined hands to wipe his tears. The nurses in attendance cooed at the sweet moment.

"One more big push!"

With a primal cry, Jennette pushed with all her might. Veins in her neck and forehead emerged as she pushed out her baby.

"GET HER OUT NOWW!"

Dr. Choi smiled into her mask, supporting the newborn's fragile neck as she wiped the excess mucus off the baby's face. Jungkook stood in awe as the doctor held the baby. His baby.

Catching her breath, Jennette looked around the room. Noticing that she wasn't hearing any crying.

"Why isn't she crying? Is everything okay?" Speechless, Jungkook just nodded. A nurse clamped the umbilical cord and handed Jungkook medical scissors. Jungkook was taking everything in. Peanut's eyes were squinting, trying to adjust to the light she was under. Her complexion was pink and grey, her little lips quivering.

Jungkook cut the cord and took a step back trying to regain his balance. Sitting down, he noticed the few sparse hairs on the back of Peanut's head. He smiled, looking at his bald baby. He didn't care; she was the prettiest baby he had ever seen.

Dr. Choi popped Peanut's bottom, eliciting a cry. With a gasp of a big breath, Peanut started crying.

"Hi baby." Jennette smiled, arms wide open to hold her. The nurse gently placed Peanut on Jennette's chest. Jennette stroked her cheek with her finger.

"I'm your mama."Peanut's cry turned to a soft whine as she sat on her mother's chest.

"Lovey bug." Jungkook cooed. He stood over Jennette not seemingly wanting to blink. He wanted to watch every small thing that Peanut did.

The actions of Dr. Choi and the other nurses seemingly go unnoticed. They focused on the next delivery stage, ensuring the placenta was delivered intact. The post-partum nurse placed a pink newborn cap on her head.

"Wait, can we put on this one. It's personalized." Jungkook dug in the hospital bag, holding the light purple cap. In cursive, the name 'Lavender' was across the cap.

Swapping out the hat, Jungkook held his daughter. Her dark brown eyes were looking around with curiosity. Her eyes were shaped just like his, perhaps looking a little bigger. Jungkook could now see why his eyes were compared to 'Boba.' Peanut had his eyes as well.

The post-partum nurse completed the assessment of the newborn before handing her off to Jungkook.

"Ms. Lavendar is nine pounds on the dot. She's twenty-three inches long. And she was born at 12:28 am on September 1st." The nurse listed off.

"Happy birthday, baby," Jennette spoke.

"Best birthday ever. Me and my twin." Jungkook placed a kiss on Jennette's lips.

To: Lavender Skye Jeon-Brooks

XOXO

Mama & Appa

[randomfoggytiger]

Fics That Deserve More Comments (Part IV)

Back on the fic list grind with a part four~!

**Note: Will ghost edit later.**

Loose chronological order below~

@hipsbef0rehands/Millenial_Falcon’s(WBM/WBM)

What do you think Mulder and Scully's best days were, respectively, as children?

He took her onto the navy ship which he he worked, showing her everything from the command room to the engine room. He took her to the tiny bunk beds where the crew slept, the head, and the kitchen. Young Dana looked at the living arrangements in horror.  When he took her to the forward dock of the ship and she could see the vast ocean before her. It was then that she understood her fathers love for the sea and adopted the same passion. It was this day that her love and respect for her father grew immensely, and sometimes where she needs to take a break from life and retreat to her happy place, it is on the dock of that ship. 

Mulder and Scully come to separate but important realizations as starry-eyed children.

4. Mulder shopping for Scully

It had been easy in the past, with women like Diana and Phoebe, he found the most dazzling expensive piece of jewelry and they were happy. The gifts were nice but he never really put much thought into them. That wasn't Scully.

Post IVF-- Mulder wants to pick the perfect gift for Scully's birthday after the IVF and before the impending millennium.

BED SHARING

Scully continued on with he night-time ritual of putting on her pajamas, fluffing up her pillows, and turning down her sheets, when Mulder emerged from the bathroom. He plopped unceremoniously onto the bed disrupting the sheets that she had just perfected. 

Pre-Dating-- Mulder and Scully take their own personal liberties.

20. “You need to wake up because I can’t do this without you.”

Heaving herself out of the sunken cushion of the battered chair, she pushed it closer to Mulder’s bedside. Once settled back into the Scully-shaped indent she had managed to create over the last three days, she hesitantly reached out and took Mulder’s hand in hers. Despite his improving condition, fear wound around her heart, squeezing out all hope and replacing it with the heavy weight of despair. He could very easily be ripped from her life once again. 

Deadalive Scully waits (and begs) for Mulder to wake up.

A Nice Hike in the Woods (Ao3)

“Mulder, are we out here looking for aliens?”

“No” he chuckled. He held his arms out. They were surrounded by pine trees in various shapes and sizes. “Well…” he said. “Pick one”.

Scully raised her eyebrows looking up and down, questioning him with her eyes.

“No, Scully, a tree…. pick one”

Pre-IWTB Mulder tries to make their unremarkable house a home.

You're told to write/direct/produce a msr scene of your own doing for one of the revival episodes.......go.

Taking her left hand he raised it to the level of their eyes. Gently, he began to play with the silver band that no longer adorned her neck but once again, her ring finger.

“I gave this to you almost 4 years ago. I never made good on my promise.”

Revival Mulder and Scully are back on the road and back together, giddy and happy and ready for the next step.

Babylon Headcanon

“She is a doctor, Scully.”

“Yeah, so I’ve heard. Well, Mulder, I’ve been a doctor for a lot longer and let me tell you, if you ever do anything like that again, I will have you committed.” 

“Scully… you know I will, eventually” he said with a smile. 

Babylon Mulder cannot, of course, escape a Scully scolding.

You're the only one I trust (archive.org)  

A free-floating assortment of The X-Files fics that are fun to scroll down and read.

mad_martha's (annex-files, x-sites)

Pilot Flipped (Ao3)

In contrast to the corridor outside, the office was brightly lit and austerely neat, its untidiest feature being a pinboard near the door that was covered in newspaper cuttings and photographs.  Even those were arranged in a semblance of order.  There was a desk which, apart from a stack of ageing files,  a set of document trays and a slide projector, seemed to be empty of even normal office equipment; and a set of shelves around the walls filled with orderly rows of books and box files.  Mulder couldn't remember the last time he'd seen any office in the Bureau looking so tidy, and he included the Director's inner sanctum in that assessment.

AU-- Pilot Mulder is assigned to Scully.

9 Minutes

 The label inside the blouse collar bore the name of one of Scully's favourite outfitters and as she examined it, noting that the size was also her own, she made a disturbing discovery.  Just inside the neck of the blouse lay a small tangled gold chain and cross.

   Scully's fingers flew to her own neck, where an identical cross, given to her by her mother on her fifteenth birthday, lay against her skin.  What the –

   Her thoughts were suddenly jerked away by a distant scrabbling sound, barely audible above the noise of the machines around her....

   Scully jumped to her feet.  That voice had been familiar.  "Mulder!" she shouted, hearing her voice echo horribly.

   No reply, but there was a series of thumps and grunts, brought up finally by a loud thud. 

AU-- Pilot Scully flashes to the FTF hallway in the 9 minutes she and Mulder lose on the road.

Conversations

There was a pause as she tried to hang onto her anger and hurt, but Scully's innate sense of what was fair wouldn't allow this statement to pass unchallenged.  "I don't know about that, Mulder," she observed ruefully.  "I can think of a couple of occasions when I haven't been particularly fair to you.  More than a couple, if I'm honest."

"I won't argue you with you, but nothing you've done, or imagine you've done, can possibly match how unfair I've been to you over the past five years."

"I don't want to play "my blame's bigger than your blame" either."

Mulder gave a rough chuckle.  "Okay."

Pre-Dating-- Mulder and Scully get nudged and scolded by her family (twice) and Skinner (once) before they finally confront their S6 hurts and confess their love... in a cave-in.

@two-microscopes/twomicroscopes's

Sicktember 2022 Day 12: Psychogenic (Ao3)

He swallowed. “Scully, even if that’s what I’ve done to you–”

“Don’t make this about yourself.”

“Take care of yourself.”

S1 Scully's health keeps breaking down in her overexuberance to keep up; and Mulder, worried, tries to look out for her.

Sicktember 2022 Day 1 (Ao3)

“Chicken soup, I said–I said I’d bring you some,” he spluttered.

He was so desolate, it tugged at her heart.

“Buffalo chicken pizza soup, to be specific, I guess.”

Scully is sick and snappy about Mulder's mother henning, but relents.

Sicktember 2022 - Chapter 4

“Do you just want to get into pajamas now?”

“Mulder,” she sighed, slumping onto one bed, “you know they took our luggage.”

Ah, yes, when the vengeful cultists also smashed their rental car’s windows and slit its tires. They were nothing if not thorough. You had to grant them that.

Scully is running a temperature, and Mulder gets her to a motel as fast as he can with slashed tires and missing luggage.

Sicktember 2022 Day 5 (Ao3)

He leaned closer and drew a deep, argumentative breath against his congestion, instead sneezing dramatically.

“Great, now I have your germs all over me.”

Scully insists on taking Mulder home after he keeps sneezing in the office.

Sicktember 2022 Day 20 (Ao3)

They’d last seen each other at that briefing–was that three days ago already? By then even Mulder had admitted this case might not be an X-file.

No, a serial killer was ravaging across DC and their already non-existent work-life balance.

Buried in their office, Mulder swam in a sea of tissues, too.

Scully skips an autopsy to care for her sick, insomniac partner.

Sicktember 2022 Day 3: Painkillers (Ao3)

In the dim light, he could make out Scully’s eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. She rolled her head towards him as he leaned down to touch her matted hair. This was worse than he’d been expecting.

Cancer arc-- Mulder rushes to help Scully, reasoning past her refusal to take painkiller meds.

Sicktember 2022 Day 9: Home Remedy (Ao3)

“Scully? Scully!” Mulder called through their adjoining motel rooms’ door.

Faster than a conspirator to a smoke shop, she rushed out of bed and burst into his room.

Post Redux II Mulder's nose bleeds; and Scully rushes in to assess the injury and calm their panic.

Sicktember 2022 Day 10: Excessive Use of Tissues (Ao3)

Here Scully was, curled up with her Capote novella. Only Jeopardy playing in the background split her attention. Oh, and her sickly partner sniffing on her couch.

“Mulder, for the last time, blow your nose.”

“But, Scully,” he whined from her couch, “I just did.”

Dating-- Mulder is sniffly during a cozy night in.

@hamster-on-fire/fade_into_the_dusk_with_me's For The Sake Of Driving (Ao3)

‘I just. I need to drive, Scully.’

It’s trivial & bizarre & it really is too late....

‘Yeah- um, yeah, alright.’ She nods along to herself, as if he can see her. As if it matters.

Car rides shared between Mulder and Scully through the years.

@sunlightscully's

Travel

There are moments where he makes a fool of himself in airports. He catches glimpses of dark braids, swinging for just a moment before disappearing into the throng of people, and finds that his hands are shaking. She is forever escaping him, forever just a few steps ahead, and his chest tightens with the absolute conviction that it was her, that those braids belonged to her and now he has lost her again in the crowd.

It happens for the first time around Scully. She reaches for her gun and then his hand. He is incredibly grateful, suddenly; he hadn’t realized he’d been afraid that she wouldn’t.

Early seasons Mulder and Scully bond in airports, learning to appreciate each other.

City in the Clouds

He tells her he wants to settle down in the country, grow old where he can see the stars. He tells her she could be a mother, and she thinks for the first time of settling down with him. Fleetingly, she sees herself in the window of a little white farmhouse, wearing an apron. Cooking oatmeal.

She couldn’t stand it.

Scully realizes, years later, that she did want to live Home Mulder's domestic dream.

Kitchen

On the tabletop, her index finger splashes into a small pool of blood. “Come on,” she says, and Mulder leans obediently forward. The cut isn’t bad, or deep – head wounds always look worse than they actually are – but she dabs at it anyway, cleaning the blood away, applying disinfectant. He hisses, tries to move away, but she has one hand pressed to the top of his head, holding him steady.

Scully cleans up Mulder's latest injuries; and the two make a laughing but important blood brother pact.

Food

“There’s cheese on your mouth,” she says, and he tries to see it in the reflexion of the window but the car weaves and she grabs his arm instinctively.

“Mulder! Watch the road, I’ll do it.”

She wipes the corner of his mouth crudely with the scratchy brown napkin.

Mulder realizes he loves Scully while they eat food in the car, scratchy napkins and celestial comparisons serving as evidence for his belief.

Beautitudes

“I can’t accept it,” he says, and she wants to say, “You have to, it’s happening,” and, “There’s nothing anyone can do about it,” but he wouldn’t believe that either.

He makes everything harder.

Somehow, though, she is thankful. He’s fighting for her, and no one fights harder than Mulder.

Scully and Mulder support each other through their shared and separate tragedies.

My_Love_Forever's

The Strength of Their Beliefs

Sometimes he talks. Don't leave. I need you to stay. Keep fighting. I'll make them pay for this. I don't know who did this. I can't let them let you go and I can't make you stay. 

One Breath Mulder desperately clutches Scully's necklace while Scully feels his gaze, even in her coma.

The Realization of Weakness

Hidden in the back of his mind, the thought of not finding the thought of the Scully he lost. He has noticed that things faze her that she never blinked at before. Now she turns away and says she needs a moment when she is faced with the horrors of the world where previously she would have been fired up with rage at the perpetuator and would be shooting down his theories with facts. That is one of the things he missed most when she was taken for that long time; he would say "I think you have a vampire problem here" and pause, expecting her to take a deep breath and start listing all the reasons why that can't be after her exasperated "Mulder."

Irresistible Mulder wants to help support or heal Scully, hoping that, somehow, he is.

Waiting, in Reverse Order

For once, in a change of pace, she waits at his bedside. They have changed places, one sleeps on the bed and the other keeps a vigil in the uncomfortable chair at the bedside. Last time she was the one in the bed and he was waiting but now they have changed. She saved his life and waits at his bedside, hoping that her last memory of him is not the one where he ditches her to keep her safe.

End Game Scully waits in the hospital instead of Mulder, for once.

Viridian5's

Blowing Smoke

"Things are tough all over," I replied in my best hard-boiled voice.

He smiled darkly. "A change is gonna come..."

"Yeah?"

"You may not see me again. I think I'll be getting a promotion soon. I only had to stab a few backs to capture it."

S2 thug observes Krycek on a break.

Haunted

//As the roar and keening whistle grew louder, I stood up and walked into the trough between the rails. With an increasing feeling of clarity and peace, I turned to face my ride. When I threw the empty bottle against the rails, I couldn't help smiling at the sharp, crashing sound it made as it shattered. It sounded final. The approaching train looked liked a darker, moving cutout in the night. Except for the flashing lights.

//The lights.

//I couldn't move. Terror and a bone-deep feeling of loss gripped me along with paralysis as the flickering lights froze me in place. I couldn't see through the glare, and I heard someone screaming, and I could swear it was a girl, and she was screaming words, but I couldn't make them out, even as I sensed that she yelled the same word over and over again, and I was helpless and couldn't move again...

//NOT LIKE THIS! FIGHT! MOVE!

Mulder is transported to the memories of his childhood suicidal ideations while investigating a ghost and train tracks casefile.

Dead to the World

He looked so pale and still lying there. He had something odd, something that had left bruises and abrasions, wrapped tightly around his neck. Two more lines of that something enveloped his wrists. When she felt his neck to search for a pulse her fingers brushed it and quickly shied away. It was warm, moist, and alive. The other end of each of the lines trailed off into the darkness.

But he still lived. She took a scalpel from her coat pocket and prepared to cut him loose.

Mulder's eyes slowly opened, as if consciousness didn't come easily. She watched so many emotions flicker through them before he settled on blankness.

S5 Mulder willingly lets a monster parading as Samantha kill him; and Scully watches, horrified at his suicidal tendencies.

Circle - Chapter 1

It’d be interesting to see what Alex’s Consortium would be like. Maybe no better. Maybe his would even be worse.

But he was the one paying me.

AU-- Cashier rises through the Consortium ranks with the help of Krycek... only to face him again, years later, in a darker context.

Unprotected

"You have a neck brace on. You could have been killed. It was a stupid thing to do."

Mulder couldn't tell if he felt rage or despair. It teetered from one side to the next from second to second. He told myself that she was just upset that he'd ditched her and injured himself again, but--

He remembered why he never confessed anything to her or anyone if he could avoid it.

An injured Mulder feels alone after a careless comment from Scully.

7-Eleven Nightmares at 3 a.m.

Mulder was surprised his whole head didn't get devoured in his last yawn, which felt like it had split his face. //If I were a cartoon character...//

An insomniac Mulder is bored out of his mind... then starts to question his sanity after spotting a cup of very black, very oily diner coffee.

Starbuck_Lover's Under The Milky Way - Chapter 1

“You insisted I come with you in the middle of the night, you won’t tell me where we’re going, and you’re being incredibly vague,” she gestured wildly, “Excuse me for noticing a pattern.”

“You’ll love it,” he beamed at her, “I promise.”

Mulder wakes Scully up, taking her to a field to watch the stars.

Deb Longley's

Whistlewood - Chapter 1

I take a little longer than I should to turn back around, but the room behind me has transformed: it is lit softly, by candles fixed on each side of the fireplace, casting amber halos on the walls, and the fireplace now has a fire, which has burned down to nothing but softly smoldering ashes....

I swing back in his direction. He hasn't budged. Unexpectedly, he moves past me into the room, startling me into a yelp which he doesn't seem to hear.

An unconscious Mulder witnesses the vision of a dead man sledgehammer his family.

The Fear Place

I wonder what other people see when they look at him; the man is beautiful with his wild, windblown dark hair, and eyes, and tall, lean frame. A few of them are audacious enough to look him up and down, but they usually stop when they get to his eyes. He's thirty-eight, but he has the eyes of an old soul. He sees deep, and through, observing things that others overlook. He looks at smiles and perceives the lies hiding behind them. He sees the truth.

Mulder's messed-up knee and mother-son dynamic drives him to call Scully on Thanksgiving for reinforcements. Tena finally relents, if only a little.

story_monger's Predictable

He’s predictable, and he knows that.

Want to see the Mulder guy do some flips? Stick him in front of a missing child’s report; make it a little girl with dark hair. Watch him run.

He feels sick....

They should know that there’s a girl missing, and she has dark hair, and she’s supposed to turn ten in a week.

Mulder loathes his own reactions to cases similar to Samantha's; and Scully helps him to calm and get some sleep.

enigmaticblue's

True Hearts

He’s told Scully that the truth will set them both free, but he feels like a hypocrite for saying it. Mulder believes in the truth, he trusts in its power, and yet he’s hiding the truth from his partner.

Mulder has half-convinced himself that it’s not important, that they have to get through this crisis first. He owes Scully the truth, but he can’t bring himself to add to her burden.

Post Memento Mori Mulder feels guilt over not telling Scully about her ova.

Let Them Eat Cake

Scully peruses the plate of donuts at the end of the table, irritated when she realizes that cake donuts are all that’s left. She feels someone lean in close behind her, and an arm snakes around to snag one of the chocolate-frosted ones with multi-colored sprinkles.

She glances over her shoulder to see Mulder’s grin. “You didn’t want that one, did you, Scully?”

She resists rolling her eyes through a strong effort of will. “I don’t like cake donuts, Mulder.”

“Cake donuts are the best kind,” Mulder protests, taking a big bite, catching the crumbs with his tongue.

S6 Mulder and Scully debate donuts at a team-building conference.

Under the Mistletoe

“Hm?” He adjusted his glasses as he looked up at her.

“Is there something you wanted to tell me?”

“About what?”

“You know about what.”

He frowned, clearly confused. “No, I don’t know. What did I do?”

Scully pointed to the mistletoe, waiting for him to confess, or at least smirk. Instead, his face remained completely innocent—although that didn’t mean much, since this was Mulder.

Pre-Dating-- Scully notices but avoids the mistletoe. Mulder does not.

Reflections

His old man had missed Vietnam, but Doggett had an uncle who’d joined up. He’d heard a few stories, most while on leave after boot camp. Uncle Duane seemed to think they shared a connection that hadn’t been there before, and he talked about steamy nights that were filled with gunfire and the smell of reefer.

Later, much later, when he’d been given an honorable discharge after Beirut, Uncle Duane had talked about the horror of watching your friends get limbs blown off, of hands stained with the blood of innocents.

Pre-This Is Not Happening Skinner shares the details of the Unrequited case with Doggett. Both wonder what was and wasn't worth it.

A Strong Shoulder

The knock on the door came as a surprise around ten, and Scully heaved herself up off the couch, one hand on her back for support. A quick glance through the peephole had her hurrying to open the door.

Mulder stood there, a crooked grin on his face, his eyes a little lost, a little vulnerable. “Hey.”

Post Three Words Mulder slowly drifts in, glad Scully wants him to stay even if he's handling reentry badly.

All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue

Scully gave thanks that William was such a good-natured baby; he stirred once as she bundled him up, opening his eyes sleepily, then immediately closed them again once he was secure in his carrier. Keys in hand, she set the car seat down in the hallway to lock the door behind her, then froze as she heard footsteps.

How was it that she could recognize his walk after he’d been gone for months? How was it that she could sense him coming even though she had no expectation of his arrival?

AU-- S9 Mulder returns to Scully and William for Christmas; but he leaves again, though both wishes he could stay.

@cauldronoflove/thegoodthebadandthenerdy's

Close Your Eyes, Be Patient

He stood in his forlorness like it was a new winter coat. It was draped across the downward curve of his shoulders, tugging impishly at his struggling-to-remain-steady mouth. It wasn't that she'd never seen him like this - as much as he tried to hide it, she knew there were certain cases that kept him awake long into the night, same as her - it was just that she'd never seen it so set in.

Pre-Dating-- Scully makes a calculated effort to carefully disentangle Mulder from his mind.

The Prairie State Debate

Dinner twisted away like dandelion wishes, table plated in hard plastic cups and warm to the touch dishes. The tea was syrupy sweet, made by the hand of a true Southern child despite their current place on the map, and the food sported heavy gravys and savory score marks - a combination that left Scully, two servings and only yeses for 'would you like a refill?' Scully, ready to collapse into the gossamer sheets of her bed until tomorrow.

But when she felt fingers on the rise of her shoulder, heard an absence of footsteps beside her, glanced up at a dazzling marquee, she lead the way in to the theater. She was tired, yes, but she had been more so, no doubt would be same time next week, and these moments like monthly allowances were something she needed as much as anything.

Dating-- Scully remembers their first not-date.

••• - •- -•--

It's dark out, moonlit sky extrapolating between the slats of still open blinds, but he gets the sense that it's not the same night he remembers falling asleep in. The only other light is a small lamp somewhere above him, casting low light that does nothing for his pale, thin skin. He looks fragile, even from his own estimates - battered and bruised and made from poorly picked and sewn together parts.

He can't help but think he doesn't deserve the smile he finds waiting for him, not in this state. That doesn't stop her though....

Scully saves a drugged up, nearly dead Mulder.

All I Need's a Fraction of Your Happy Heart

Scully ducked her head into the street, looking both ways before bustling across the crosswalk, Mulder following a single footstep behind. To onlookers, their height difference was exasperated as they hitched their arms up and jogged quickly through the sounds of honking traffic, but it never seemed to cross their minds. When they picked back up on the sidewalk, he ducked his head and leaned forward, just enough so she could hear him, just enough so she could let a laugh kick up her throat.

AU-- Scully, giddy and freshly married on a case, reflects on the events that led to their mutual proposal, and courthouse wedding.

Gravity, Oh Gravity

because the second thing he sees is scully. scully in a shirt he's had to have seen her in a thousand times, the one he thinks is green, but isn't sure because his eyes have always betrayed him. his eyes have to be betraying him. scully and-

and         and                  and

(and his heart stops beating.)

it thunders back to life as he stumbles forward, legs feeling like they've been chopped from his body and reattached in the wrong direction. 

AU-- This Is Not Happening Mulder wakes on the ground to the stars and Scully's face. Even Skinner cries.

Looking Back Over My Shoulder (I See it Clear as Day)

There are few people that Mulder is okay with calling him Fox. Admittedly, they're all named Scully....

Her sister isn't, though. 

Revival Mulder and Scully chuckle over Melissa's ghost's audacity to chew out her sister's partner.

@youweremytouchstone's First time she winked at him!

He looks back over at the door. As usual, nobody down her except for him this early in the morning. He turns his attention to the cases piling up on his desk.

And then in a flash, she’s at his desk, looking at him like she’s been there the last hour.

Dating-- Scully enjoys teasing Mulder and pretending it never happened.

@pukajen's (Ao3, LJ) Sleep Cycle

Even all these years later, it feels like a stolen moment to watch him sleep peacefully; undrugged, unconcussed, in their bed, the one they've shared for years. So many times in the past she's kept vigil over his hospital bed, watching him sleep, worried he'd never wake up.

Revival Scully still loves watching Mulder sleep.

@dinascully/unsedentary's Miles Adrift

She said something about being blinded by someone’s brights, losing control, ending up in the ditch, and he tries not to think about whether or not this was an accident. He’s already called Skinner.

He waits a few minutes before trying to start the car again. If he’s lucky, they’ll be on their way and home before Scully wakes up. But the car has other plans – it coughs pitifully, whines, and refuses to go anywhere.

Breakup-- Scully and Mulder reconnect after a car accident. His car breaks down, forcing them to have a tearful conversation.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[anotherplacemag]

Beautiful Brutalism | Jo Underhill

Beautiful Brutalism is an ongoing project which started in 2011. I have always been a fan of brutalist architecture and concrete as a material, so I decided to explore this by photographing the National Theatre in London. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to photograph more of these amazing post-war buildings so in between commissioned work I have been exploring and photographing buildings across the UK. Unfortunately, brutalist architecture has not been universally liked or supported. Not all of these buildings were built with the same original design vision and over the years many have been neglected and fallen into disrepair. As a result, public opinion has often been negative and disparaging. In many peoples’ minds concrete has become synonymous with ugliness. In recent years dozens of brutalist buildings have been demolished - Birmingham Central Library, Tricorn Centre, Welbeck Street Car Park to name but a few – with many more currently under threat.

The project has evolved from the early beginnings of simply wanting to photograph concrete and brutalism, to a life–long undertaking to document and highlight the beauty of brutalist architecture in the UK. This project celebrates those buildings that have already been lost and I hope, in some small way, challenges the prevailing view about brutalism by showing how beautiful these buildings are if you take the time to really look at them.

In early 2022 I self-published a limited-edition book bringing together photographs from the first ten years of this project which was designed by Stanley James Press. The book is now sold out but since the beginning of the year I have been collaborating with musician and composer Carl Woodcroft on a soundtrack to accompany the photographs in the book. Carl was inspired by the book and has created a mood and soundscape for each building. It is a mix of sound and vision; the album includes a digital booklet of the photographs featured in the book and notes from Carl talking about inspiration for each track and it is available to preorder now and to buy from Friday November 3rd.

website

instagram

album - highly recommend listening to, and pre-ordering, the accompanying album by Carl Woodcroft... it's fantastic!

All images & text © Jo Underhill

[ri47]

[Preview] Armored Blade Jetkaiser: Archetype

While Jetkaisers don't slot cleanly into a normal class system, the exact nature of one's interface with their holy frame can be sorted into several martial schools, which are known as Archetypes.

An Archetype is more like an ideology, a way of thinking, than it is a true set of rules. An Archetype is, in the truest sense, a choice of path towards heaven: the vein one follows to the burning heart of divine peerlessness.

While an Archetype might inform the way a Jetkaiser fights, its effects are most strongly felt outside of combat, represented in flourish and theatrics. Even still, there are certain circumstances where one's Archetype might decide the outcome of a duel.

Additionally, each Archetype selects a Path Symbol to carry with them, representative of the way they have chosen to follow. Examples are included, but not necessarily the only options.

Included in Bootleg Angel, the first pre-release edition of Jetkaiser, are three Archetypes. More may come in the future, along with instructions on creating homebrew Archetypes.

-

🦗十重の変身幻想 〜 Ten Illusionary Shifts

Ten Illusionary Shifts is the path of change, justice, and chivalry. Those of this Archetype interface with their holy frames as extensions of themself, an object worn tightly against their body that can be ready at a moment's notice if only given the cue.

Holy frames used by these Jetkaisers tend to take on a semi-organic appearance, layers of chitin-like material resulting from the blend of their being with the divine engine on their backs. A Jetkaiser who follows this path is never truly disarmed unless they are truly dismembered.

Path Symbols

A recognisable article of clothing left to you by the one who saved your life, the thread of their memory laced deep along the seams

A physical photograph of someone you can never forget, stained and mistreated, but never truly lost

A borrowed name, a stolen face, often worn in place of your own

🗡️精作悲嘆の坐禅 〜 Meditations on Perfected Misery

Meditations on Perfected Misery is the path of duality, loss, and endless improvement. Those of this Archetype interface with their holy frames as semi-autonomous companions, lending some of their Azariel's power to the armour itself, splitting their will into two.

Holy frames used by these Jetkaisers take the form of animal familiars when inactive, shifting into traditionally-styled suits of armour when activated. A Jetkaiser who follows this path sacrifices themself—for their own sake.

Path Symbols

A tattoo marking a regrettable past affiliation you just can't shake off, the seal of a soul with terrible deeds undone

A burning scar, an aching memory, and an irreplaceable lesson left to you by someone for whom you'd rather not find respect

A scent of blood that cannot be washed away, the subject and consequence of many an unfortunate misunderstanding

🌹使徒の輝ける殉教 〜 Visionary's Shining Calvary

Visionary's Shining Calvary is the path of resistance, beauty, and martyrdom. Those of this Archetype interface with their holy frames as beautiful weapons, love made manifest, irremovable from their very nature as a being.

Holy frames used by these Jetkaisers take the form of "enchanted" (or cursed) weapons, taking form as an exteriorisation of their inner world and wrapping their bodies in protective arms. A Jetkaiser who follows this path sharpens their heart against the rocky shore of reality.

Path Symbols

A pin, brooch, signet, or other trinket that carries a floral crest, wreathed in the distant reek of a past lover's perfume

An amulet held to the heart, ringed in glass and metal, summoning memories of home when squeezed tight in bloodied palm

A hazy memory of the one you sought to become, idolatry sinking through the mirror's cracks

-

TL Note: all of the Archetype names were written in Japanese first and worked backwards to English in homage to questionable fan translations of the late 90s and early 2000s. they are intentionally indirect translations that make some weird choices on purpose

TL Note 2: because I used a japanese bible I had around for help with the translation on a lot of these, you can't say "none of these words appear in the bible" because most of them do