#at least i have a cool keyboard now though

[gamerwoo]

hi im alive i think i have (had??) tonsillitis but my tonsils are feeling a lot better today and im less stuffy but i’ve stayed home from work all week and my boss and coworkers definitely hate me for it 🙃

but in good news: my new keyboard showed up!!!! it’s like clear/pink and it sounds super satisfying to type with, i just need to get used to the new spacing since it is smaller than my old one and doesn’t have a numpad but eeeee im excited to use it!!!!!

[pomefioredove]

If you're still taking requests, I think something funny would be Idia w a reader/yuu that, in the middle of listening to him ramble (with lovey dovey eyes bc they like listening to him <3) just says. Would. Or like I want you. Like they didn't notice they were saying that out loud and now Idia and them are both dying but Ortho is just like OMG ITS HAPPENING FINALLY EXITING STAGE LEFT! hahdhahshsh I hope you get what I'm saying, completely fine if not!

I got u anon

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ slip of the tongue

type of post: fic characters: idia additional info: romantic, reader is gender neutral, reader is yuu author's note: I know very little about video games so I stole a lot of idia's dialogue from my boyfriend. if he sees this. um. hi baby

"The designs are pretty good. I mean, they fit the same three molds, but they're unique, you know?"

Idia shows you his screen again, rolling his gaming chair to the side so you can get a better look at the game he's been explaining to you for half an hour.

"The fighting is kinda button-mashy, but the graphics are cool enough, so I don't really care,"

You haven't gotten so much as a word in for almost ten minutes now, but that doesn't bother you. You like listening to him talk.

He goes back to the game menu to show you the special features, and then to the menu again. His long, nimble fingers dance across his keyboard, as if he were made for this, and he pulls up another screen with a lot of numbers in colored text.

"The game is free, but it's got an insane file size for it. 180gb. Nothing should be that big,"

Your thoughts become a little louder as you zone out, letting his words, heavy with tech jargon and fast with excitement, become music. You can't always keep up with Idia when he starts going on tangents like this. Usually you have questions, but now, you can't think of any. You're looking more at him than the screen. He's being distractingly cute today.

You sigh, letting your thoughts rest on the tip of your tongue, and without meaning to:

"Would,"

Idia's hands jump off the keyboard, and he goes still. Oh. Shit.

He wasn't supposed to hear that.

He slowly turns to look at you, his eyes widened, his face beet-red. In your defense, you really thought he wasn't listening.

You don't say anything. Either of you. You wait. He waits. His computer eventually powers down, making the room a little darker. Finally, Idia looks away.

"...I forgot what I was saying," he mumbles.

Weird. Okay, he's just going to ignore that? Is that good or bad?

You look away, too. "Something about the file size. I think you were-"

"Did you mean that," he asks, but it's not exactly a question. More like a demand for an answer.

"Um..." you say, looking at the floor. "...Yeah, I did."

Idia narrows his eyes at you. He's quiet, studying you, your expression, your body language. For what, you don't know. Maybe he thinks you're lying. Whatever it is, though, he doesn't say.

"...Okay," he finally says, turning back to his monitor. "Well... um... at least give me some warning next time, or something. I would've dressed nicer."

You blink. Next time. "...Yeah. Okay. Next time, then,"

[thesharktanksdriver]

The witch boy and magical girl (platonic)

Sorry the ending is a bit rushed, I have a wake This weekend and a funeral plus exam on Monday

I still wanted to get this out tho so enjoy!

Magical girl y/n masterlist

Bruce could deal with a lot more than the average person could ever imagine

He’s dealt with a literal killer manic clown

Aliens

Vampires

56 assassins attacking him at once

Literal end of the world events once a year at least

But he doesn’t think anything compares to what he finds himself peering in on now

When he adopted a daughter who fights shadow creatures that feed off of negative human emotions and want to literally eat the universe he knew he was gonna see some weird shit

The weird cosmic ferret, he’d mentally dealt with that already

Same with the Magical weapons that transform and how his new daughter could change her appearance at will

That he could all deal with

But watching his daughter paint her nails with Klarion the witch boy, lord of chaos while they talked about sailor moon wasn’t something he thought he’d have to grapple with

So instead he closes the door and ponders his life and how it got to this point

How you somehow befriended the witch boy started as all good things do

Accidentally finding a someone being tormented by Shadowmites that you have to then kill

But oddly enough instead of the usual human it was…a cat?

An orange cat with distinct blood red eyes and striped black rigged markings

It hissed and scratched at the Shadowmites but was unable to harm them much to its confusion

Until you whacked its assailants with a hammer making them dissipate into nothing

It stared at you and you stared at the cat

And it just kinda tagged along with you for the rest of your patrol

To be fair…having a ultra intelligent possibly eldritch creature in the disguise of a regular animal wasn’t really a “new” thing to you

So when the cat began to follow you it didn’t really bother you much

If anything it was kinda funny especially since Rigel seemed to have an almost silent companionship with the feline

Staring down at the ginger cat from his perch on your shoulders as you continued your nightly patrol

Chittering and barking as the cat meowed back occasionally

If at this point you questioned anything in life anymore you’d be curious as to how their seemingly communicating but now you couldn’t really care

You were just happy the seemingly demon cat got along with your ex-deity ferret

Along with the fact that this seemingly aggressive cat who tried to scratch the eyes out of anyone who got too close for its liking seemed to enjoy your presence

Even at one point during your food break curling up in your lap wanting to be lavished in attention

The violent cat being reduced to a softly purring mass of fluffy orange hair

Black leather collar and red gemstone attached to it

This was definitely some bougie cat, almost definitely a supernatural one as well considering it saw Shadowmites

But the collar definitely implied an owner

A rich one at that too

So you post online with a picture of yourself and the cat asking for its owner

Mostly since the collar had some type of ancient language not spoken by you in a hieroglyphic type of alphabet

Cool as hell

But impractical to you as you tried to Google translate it

He’ll you’d even sent a picture to dick and all you got back was garbled nonsense that looked like he slammed his face against a keyboard

Which was probable since he was on yet another coffee bender where he stayed up for too long

Alfred would definitely not be pleased

But back on topic of the eldritch Garfield cat, eventually you got a response

But not via online

More like in person since a figure then materialized in front of you via scarlet fire

And there floating in all his glory was lord of chaos Klarion the witch boy

Looking back maybe you should have payed more attention during that one league meeting your dad took you to where they talked about him

To be fair though, at the time you were surviving on 2 hours of sleep, a combination of redbull and monsters along with hopes and dreams

So you couldn’t be blamed in remembering he had a cat familiar

Or said cat familiar was likely an eldritch level entity in the form of a cat

A cat with red eyes

….ok maybe there were more obvious warnings and you were just excited about the weird cat to notice

As you had a mental debate with yourself there he stood, hair pointed upwards into what looked to be horns and in a suit

Magic twisting around him in a scarlet aura

Distinctly you notice patches of ice blue on the tips of his fingers that quickly distort to the flesh tone consistent with him

And from then on out the encounter with him is…odd to say the least

His cat (whom you then learned was named Teekl) getting up from your lap

Klarion is….odd

He scoops up his familiar fretting over the ginger cat, making subtle threats your way the entire time

Asking the kitty if he had to “erase someone from existence” once again

But luckily for you whatever the cat meows to him is enough for him to cast a glance back to you

Though now not out of suspicion but instead curiosity

(Something perhaps to others would be just as bad)

He quirks an eye at you, looking you up and down once more but now giving you a proper look

Now seeming to notice your own magical aura and companion of otherworldly nature

And suddenly something clicks in his head

“You’re that magic girl I’ve heard about.” He says gliding a hand through the fur of his familiar, the demonic cat purring in content.

“Bit vague of a statement, but yeah that’s one way to describe me I guess” you respond shrugging your shoulders laxly, he seems on edge even with your demeanour.

“And your…not attacking me? Not trying to play goody-two shoes? And “bring me to justice” with a big speech about doing good” He almost seems to hiss this out. A defensive air to him.

“Look dude, I deal with weird inter-dimensional shadow creatures that feed on negative human emotions” you explain pulling out your magical weapon in the shape of an axe, you close an eye and aim while biting your tongue before throwing it to hit said shadowmite clinging to his shoulder. The creature gives out a cry, before dissipating into a melting puddle of inky black sizzling liquid, he stares down now seemingly more intrigued. “I don’t deal with robberies or anything besides those things and the occasional helping someone. Plus I’m decent friends with a few villains of the city”

“I’ve been trying to kill that thing for ages…” he pauses whisky looking down at the creature. Teekl hisses at the disappearing remnants of the creature. “How come your able to destroy them?”

“Only magic from their realm can kill them, I’m the only one with access to it ”

For a long moment the witch boy goes quiet, staring at the spot the puddle used to be. He turns his face to you once more, a smile on his face. “I think I like you Magic girl. Your more interesting than I thought.” He says this so suddenly that your left a bit baffled yet you give him a thumbs up. This seems to make him more amused as a portal opens beneath him, “I’ll be in touch”. With that he left

As he said Klarion would appear to you a few nights later on your lunch break during patrol

Quite literally appearing from nowhere as he laid down kicking his legs back and forth

Along with stealing some of your fries

You had to resist the urge from stopping him from stealing your food, it was still hard getting used to having an abundance of food now

There was no more scraping together to afford cup ramen from the 711 cashier who’d pretend not to notice the missing 50 cents

No more going to go to bed hungry because of the free lunch program at Gotham academy and reasoning you’d save your scraps for dinner the next day

No more barely scraping by just to survive

But never truly live though, surving was different to truly living

You couldn’t call your much of life before your adoption as living

The only moments you did truly feel alive was when you’d save someone or watch old reruns of sailor moon or cardcaptor sakura

Forever dreaming to be a better hero like them

To be a pretty sailor scout who saved the day despite being scared

To be able to enjoy something as mundane as skating on roller blades without potentially being mugged

Though your trying to get used to having free time

Having a Better sleeping schedules

Having Food

And having free time

It’s still feels odd

Still is weird to finally have time to yourself with nothing to fill it with

Even like now on your break during patrol you don’t know how to spend it

But now at least you have more company to fill that uncertainty of what to do

Curiously Klarion eyes your weapon, before finally speaking aloud

For awhile he asks mostly about your abilities

The extent of your power and what type of magic you could do

Showing him your weapon and transformation seems to cause him more questions

Especially since he mumbles to himself about your magic being different to anything he’s seen

As a lord of chaos it was safe to say he was adverse to almost all types of magic there was to offer

So seeing something this new and odd after millenniums of years of being alive is certainly a sight

He even says so to your face

Which brings up the question to you, after so long he’s still a kid?

You get that he probably ages slower than most, almost all magical creatures or people did

But after so long he was still a kid?

You can’t say you relate

You grew up too fast

But maybe that’s why your equally intrigued by the horned boy

You begin to notice that at some point he began to watch you from afar during missions

Sometimes from a rooftop

Other times it’s from an alleyway

Klarion watches and you always find yourself waving to him

But as time goes on he gets closer

Even if Damien or Jason tag along with you

But neither seem to notice him

No one but yourself ever does even if in a crowd of people he’d be someone they’d be fleeing from

Definitely some sort of magic stuff

Or maybe he was just oddly good at blending in

Either way you see him and wave and he gets closer each time

As does his vists during your break where he asks you questions of your magic

Your abilities

What the shadowmites are and what their goals are?

Are they fully sentient?

Their all things that you answer him as best you can, now bringing extra food for him so he didn’t steal from you anymore

Yet despite that he always steals a fry

Probably something he finds funny and something you find yourself less anxious about now

In a lot of ways he reminds you of a cat which is funny considering his familiar

He watched from a distance before getting closer and closer as time went on

Mischievous and sometimes a bit spiteful but with a playful edge like a cat pushing something off a shelf with fluffy claws

Positive interaction usually being something that pushes him farther away at first but now gravitates him closer

It’s odd

He’s odd

But so are you

A lord of chaos and a magical girl definitely weren’t titles that upheld the pillars of normality

So it’s perhaps not odd either of you are the way you are

And yet it draws you both closer like magnets all the same

Meetings get more frequent

As do more topics of much more mundane things being brought up

He asks you about human things he doesn’t understand, questions he’d feel to embarrassed to ask any of his “allies” due to not wanting to be written off as an oblivious kid

Because for as much as Klarion tries to be taken seriously he’s still subtly looked down upon

His chaos seen as little more than that of a child being given godly power to wield at his command

But over your talks you come to see there’s much more to it all

Lords of chaos function differently to humans both physically, emotionally and mentally

What was seen as mindless abject chaos to others was an art form and way of living and expression to them

A means to express and delight in the non-orderly nature of the universe, to live not constricted to the boundaries of reality itself

Constructing a landscape of Picasso paintings come to life or making a smiley face by moving the stars out of their places in their solar systems are a sort of expression to him

They viewed the universe as their canvas

That could be both good and bad in various ways

It’s the same in the fact too much order could be bad

Because chaos and order are a revolving door that need one another

They weren’t objectively good or bad, just neutral in nature until the scales tipped too much in one direction

Because complete anarchy is objectively terrible but so it a totalitarian police state

Both are bad in different ways because the scales are unbalanced

And now he’s left one of the last of his kind, for better or worse

And he’s a lot more lonely than he’d like to admit

Because he’s surrounded in a sea of beings too unfamiliar to his own

Orderly creatures in an orderly society in an orderly world and in an orderly universe or at least that’s how it feels to him

Human bodies function in certain predicable patterns as do the ways their societies work. Cogs and Gears working orderly in a intricate machine

And that makes it all the more confusing and alien to him in a bad way

But you can understand feeling alike to society even if you are human

So you try your best to explain to him

And even if at times he still seems confused he seems appreciative that you try

That you don’t seem to look down on him for not understanding humans and how humanity works as a whole

Because how can anyone assume that he would when he’s a lord of chaos

It’s literally in the name

And from then on it grows

The interest beyond the supernatural to the mundane

You show him the little things in life

Taking him in disguise to your favourite hotdog stand on a corner of a dodgy street down to walking him around Gotham and almost getting shanked along the way

All the while you show him that humanity is quite as orderly as he thought

He sees graffiti sprayed on brick walls, tags of neon colour of names that people try to scrub off but stubbornly and triumphantly remain

A person in odd dress on the street corner waiting for a bus, the way in which their clothes don’t mesh at all and the colour clash but they wear it anyways in style

The little shortcuts you take him to through alleyways and through abandoned buildings still standing to the test of time.

By his smile you think he comes to appreciate it all

The small signs that the machine he assumed humanity to be wasn’t just that

Cogs and gears too big or too small, bringing a bit of chaos in their wake

He knows your identity, you’ve known that he’s known for a long while now, and yet for some reason you trust him with it

Just as he trusts you to treat him all the same while in his true form

Blue skin, red eyes and all

And he’s seen you too

The girl behind the dramatic cutesy clothes, magically changing eyes, hair, face and height

You were just you

Klarion was just Klarion

And Tekyl and Rigel tagging along with it all

But to be honest you’d never thought he’d trust you enough for this

Whats this exactly? Oh well just him dragging you along to a meeting the Light was having as his quote on quote “human translator”

Aka explaining to him human things he didn’t understand

Aka him just wanting you there to sit with him for the duration of said meeting

Your not sure how this happened

Neither is any other member except the old man your pretty sure is Damien’s assassin grandfather

You can tell by the pointed emerald green eyes, similarly deathly composed demeanour and the same look of surprised/somehow impressed he gives you similar to when Damien sees half the shit you deal with

Speaking of which you’ll need to get him on board with Klarion to have another member for clue night

But that was a later issue

The real issue was right now

Klarion arguing with half the people here as you stand there more exasperated than anything

The witch boy occasionally shaking you by the shoulders…and climbing on you hissing and swiping at people who got too close

You see why a demon cat is his familiar

But even Teykl seemed a bit annoyed by his behaviour by how she rolled their eyes

Didn’t know cats could do that but hey, teykl’s also a demon cat so there’s probably a lot she can do compared to regular cats

Just as cute, but more lethal though instead of just getting a quick swipe at your hand

A door opens, a new contender for the fight

Though luckily (or unluckily for you) it’s Deathstroke

Instinctively you wave

And that pauses the fight

“Hey, how was that job abroad? I haven’t seen any dictators dead yet”

“You’ll be seeing it in the news soon, but what are you doing here?”

“Klarion brought me”

“Ah”

“You have a shadowmite on your shoulder, hold on, lemme get get it for you” and with that you transform you magical weapon, sparkles fly as a bright light momentarily flashes the room. In your hands was a battle axe, pink with bows and ribbons flowing as you chuck it at the invisible creature now made visible on Slade’s shoulder when the blade imbeds itself into the things flesh. It screeches reaching a shadowy hand as it’s pinned to the wall, prying your axe from the wall it falls to the floor but can’t get free as you hold it down beneath your foot. There’s no last words for the creature, just hungry screaming for its next victim until the axe comes down on its head severing the tie from this world.

The room is silent for a few moments, “you could’ve killed it with just the throw if you aimed a bit more to the left. Besides that you had good form”

You get to sit between both Klarion and Slade for the meeting

Somehow you doing your hero job impressed (more like terrified) this group of villains

Maybe it was manifesting your weapon from thin air within the blink of an eye

Maybe the fact you threw it at Mach 1

Maybe it was the fact that you could’ve summoned it at any time, make it any weapon you wanted including a bazooka at will

Or maybe it was learning your keeping the literal universe from being eaten on a daily basis from inter-dimensional shadow creatures who’ve eaten countless realities already

Fun thing to explain to such a diverse group ranging from a evil billionaire, a dictator and two immortal men who were older than dirt

The entire meeting you end up keeping Klarion from impulsively deciding to leave because he found it boring and drawn out

To be fair to him it definitely was, but how he’s gotten away with disappearing 30 minutes in each time was beyond you

So somehow you do the impossible

He stays the duration of the full meeting

It’s a first for everyone

What’s also a first is that Tekyl hasn’t gone off and scratched some unfortunate members leg like a scratching post

Mostly because she stayed perched in your lap along with Rigel

Later on when hanging out with Klarion on a roof your not surprised when he mentions that you’ve been offered a “partial membership”

He laughs and burns the letter for you

You’d think that the meeting between Damien and Klarion wouldn’t go well

And you’d be mostly right

At least until Damien spotted Tekyl on klarions shoulder and somehow the two ended up talking about things

And looking past the being a hero and being an super villain they got along well

Well enough that your now slightly worried for anyone who sent you weird messages online again

Because now they’ll have to deal with Tim giving these two their up address

But beyond that you feel bad for Bruce

Because dear god when he finds out Damien invited the lord of chaos to movie night

Jason was gonna love him

Your iffy about Tim but you know Dick is gonna practically wedge himself into the three of you hanging out before Damine threatens him or Klarion sends him halfway across the world or something

Besides all of that though your happy he gets along with Damien

That he has another human friend

Your also proud of Damien as well

Though you do wish he’d stop giving Klarion new ideas for his schemes

Showing him MLP wants a good idea when the character of discord existed

Yeah he had a field day when he was introduced

Chocolate rain and literal actual cotton candy clouds had a lot more of an environmental impact than shown in the kids show

Thankfully it was only the UK that suffered the side effects

And a very pissed off John Constantine

At some point you and Damien begin to sneak him into the manor

Somehow Alfred knew and can only smile and warn the lord of chaos to turn things back to normal before he leaves

And so the fun begins

Damien shows him his swords collection and bat cow

You end up binging madoka magica with him and your collection of magical girl figures

He ends up showing you and Damien some of his magic

And the infinite pillow fort in the corner of your room is born

It literally goes on forever…you think

Is there an end? You don’t know, but all you do know is that at some point you went in there and emerged 7 hours later still not reaching the end

Kinda like the backrooms but with less monsters and piss stained looked walls and carpet but instead with pastel pillows and my melody and kuromi merch scattered around

Now having permission to appear in the manor, or at least in yours or Damien’s rooms he sometimes appears at odd hours of the night

Like you’ll wake up at 4 am and find him hanging out in your room

Sometimes resting in a corner quietly with Tykl

Other times just poking around your room with curiosity, examine various nick knacks you have

Photographs and poosters

High class Jewelry and handmade bracelets

Old magical girl shows on equally old cds and the new HD releases on blue-ray

Books that were yellowed and brand new ones piled on a shelf

He admires them all

Turning them over in his blue palms or tracing them fondly with a pointed finger

He sees the wear and tear in the old and the loving upkeep behind it all

The new items that you gratefully covet like the old

There’s an unexpected and uncharacteristic fragility to his actions

A certain look in his eyes that faulted under the weight of your own once he realizes your awake

In which he then finds himself sitting at your side

Crossing his legs and pretending to stare at nothing in particular

Though you see his gaze occasionally flicker from your window showing the Gotham night and then back to you

It continues like this until you take his hand and get up from bed

Dragging him through the darkened halls

Depending on the night schedule of that particular day sometimes the two of you go to the gardens

Sitting down on the marble benches to listen to the calming sound of water flowing from the fountain

His hands shifting and turning to create illusionary magic

A rabbit hopping through the air in streams of starlight

Like the white rabbit of Alice in wonderland, then slowly leading you to the land of dreams

The next morning you wake up in your bed as if nothing happened

The only proof of the night before being the flower crown he made for you to match the one you made him still on your head

Woven in messy hair

Other times you show him to the library but not before a small detour to the kitchen

Taking the secret stash of Alfred’s beloved cookies to snack on as you read together by the fire

Your duvet blanket wrapped around the two of you and was dragged halfway across the mansion floor

Surely leaving a small trail of feathers in its wake that’ll lead Alfred to you in the morning

And depending on if Damien is there that night you go to knock on his door

Your brother in everything but blood opening his door and inviting the two of you in

Thankfully Damien’s bed was renovated to be big enough to fit him and his pets

So the three of you can laze on it comfortably without being pressed for space

Sometimes a board game is pulled out

Other times you all just talking until passing out

And sometimes when you fall asleep first both he and Damien talk heart to heart

About what exactly your not privy to

But your just happy both get along so well after the bumpy meeting

Sometimes Bruce calls you along with the justice league if they need your help with him

Honestly it’s flattering and funny at the same time

You can’t help but feel a bit bad for his teammates who see your pastels and instantly known that Klarion is gonna pull out the battle in an instant

He used to complain about it

But now the minute you show up and politely chid him for nearly exploding a building he snaps his fingers and things are back to normal

And then he teleports you away to hang out as per usual

Is this usual to everyone but yourself and him and maybe Damien? Highly

But do you care? Not exactly when you have a friend

And also end up helping Bruce/dad

To be honest your still unused to calling him dad yet

You definitely view him as your dad, he’s been the only one besides Rigel to fill that role

But it’s weird saying it aloud

Of carving it in stone

Putting it to paper

Saying how you feel and being emotionally intimate when you’d built up walls and barriers

Opening up is still hard for you, even after various times you had let people in

You’d think it would get easier to open the gate around your heart but there’s always a hint of hesitation each time

Like a twitch in your fingers

A whisper in your mind

Because you care for people

You care about your new family, your friends, Klarion included

And it’s hard each time to feel the guilt of hesitation

Because it isn’t them but it’s you

You feel it now as you sit atop the top of Gotham

Watching the skyline as the cool air blows past

You wish to be open

To speak your mind and break down the walls but it feels so hard in the moment

So odd showing your hand

The cards up your sleeve

Opening the always shut door

How do you even introduce that? Hey here’s my heartfelt feelings

Each time you’ve done it beforehand it’s felt so awkward

So weird starting off

And then you get emotional

And start getting teary eyed and people ask if your ok and that makes you break-

Klarion is the one who starts first

It comes from nowhere, like a sudden burst of chaos that makes sense for him and a surprise for you

He explains to you that “when I gaze at you i see mortality incarnate”

Something that will last moments to him in his life yet will haunt him for the rest of eternity

Like a glass doll that will inevitably break and yet in its fragility holds incomprehensible beauty

A blazing fire that’ll eventually burn out yet it’s gentle warmth lingers

A memory never forgotten and always there even if the moments is long gone

He’s lived so long and will continue to live even when your long gone

He’s similar to Rigel in that regard

Something and someone so consequential that they’ll last millions of years

You’d only become important from chance compared to him and many others

They were born great, with powers or had qualities that made them special

You became a magical girl because Rigel picked you by chance (or at least that’s how you felt)

And yet here’s a lord of chaos, an god in almost human form saying you were important

That you were special besides your powers

He explains to you that he’s met many magic users

Some competent others masters

Yet none were like you

But what was initial the thing that drew him in didn’t matter

One day he would’ve forgot, it would’ve faded from his chaos filled brain eventually

But what remains is you

Not the magic, the thing that made you special

But you

Just you at your most plain and simple

It wasn’t the magical girl who saves Gotham from an invisible force that not even he could fight

Not the frills and magical transformations or weapons

Not the limited magical abilities that could make you level a building easily

It was just you

All the times you’d shown him through the streets of Gotham

The willingness to explain to him concepts of humanity he didn’t understand

The kindness in your gaze when he shows you his true form without a hint of apprehension

“And it’s there” he says that he comes to value you for all your worth, humans for all their worth

Because despite their fate set in stone

The fact that they can die so easily compared to just about everything in the galaxy

Despite it all they shine the brightest somehow

Because beings like himself have hundreds of millions of years to do something with their lives

To shine slowly and at a snails pace becomes stars

But humans with their short lives make the most of it all

They may die but in those terminally short years to others in this large universe they become a supernova

And their impact is heard and felt across time and space itself

Because sometimes despite it all an ant can move a mountain and that’s a whole lot more impressive than when a god does it

And an ant doing it will always be more impactful when it knows that at the end it’ll die moving that mountain

But does it anyways

“This…may be be a weird question but in a hundred years when I’m dead and gone…will you remember me?” You ask this in a moment of fragility, looking up to the smoggy night sky. Distantly you see the small glimmer of starlight hundreds of millions of lightyears away behind the pollution. “Even if I’m a blip in the grand scheme of things”

Klarion looks to those same stars, with a swipe of his hand the sky clears. For the first time in a hundred years Gotham sees the natural night sky. The dark navy blue of midnight and the hundreds of thousands of speckles of light dot the sky. “I will, somehow you humans make longer impacts than any creature I’ve ever met. For better or worse” it’s spoken in sincerity as he looks with you at the night, and distantly he chooses a star and decides that it’s you. A star he’ll one day look at when your dead and gone, a star that might already be dead and fizzled out and yet its light and impact still crosses the galaxy hundreds of thousands of years later to still shine, to still meet his eyes in the infinite dark if night.

A star that he would nurture and protect

To keep its light from going out

A star that one day he’ll clutch closely as the universe comes to a close from natural causes or the ravenous mouths of the creatures you fight

He says his piece and opens the way to say your own.

[villainessprefect]

~Tell It to My Heart~

title: Late Night With You

Prompt #2: Ending a phone call with an accidental “love you”

Idia x gn!reader

Read on AO3

Your eyes glide to the clock at the corner of the screen. You watch as the seconds literally tick by and bite back a sigh once you realize how late it's gotten. If the darkness enveloping your room and the main source of light coming from your computer wasn't obvious that it was well past your bedtime.

"It's getting late," you say. It is late, you mentally correct yourself.

"And?" Comes a voice from your headphones. You roll your eyes at his response. "It's not like we're doing anything tomorrow."

"You're not. I am." You fiddle with your mic that's connected to your headset. "Unless if you want to show up to class with me?"

You hear something akin to a huff and can practically feel his eye roll.

"Hard pass. These drop rates are harder than pulling for a limited edition SSR character and we're only given a week to grind for them? An event like this won't get a rerun for at least a year or two. It's now or never."

You shake your head and let out a yawn. Leave it to Idia to find importance in an online game. You don't doubt that he's right, but you're not a hardcore gamer like him. Life calls whether you want it to or not and you have to answer it.

"You make a convincing argument. Think you can get enough for me too?"

"Do you know who you're talking to? When I'm done we'll have enough materials to make a second set of weapons for display," he says with a chuckle.

A smile inches on your face at the sound. A shame that you can't hear it in person. It sounds better compared to the slightly muffled version in your ears.

"Thanks. We still on for Saturday? That's when the drop rates increase, right?"

"Yeah. I'll send you better armor so we can one-shot those raids too."

"Cool." You feel another yawn coming your way and barely manage to hold it back. You rub your eyes and feel a little guilty for not holding much of a conversation. To be fair though, keeping your eyes open isn't easy even with the blaring light of a laptop shining on your face. "Okay, I can't be up much longer. You should be heading to bed soon even if you're not going to show up for class."

"Eh? No way. I can do this all night!"

"I'll message Ortho," you threaten with a grin. Idia falls silent and you can imagine him glancing back to look at his brother. The image makes you chuckle. It wouldn't be the first time you'd manage to get Ortho to get Idia to bed. "Kidding. Anyway, see you later, Idia. Love you."

You pull off your headset and place it on your desk. You log off your account and then the laptop's screen fades to black. A whine escapes you as you're forced to adjust to the sudden darkness.

You stretch your limbs as you stand from your chair. Carefully, you navigate the walk from desk to bed. It's a short path but you don't know what lies hiding in the dark. Thankfully, your mission is successful and you land in bed with a thud.

Grim rolls around beside you, muttering something in his sleep. The monster doesn't wake, surprisingly, and you take a moment to run a hand through his fur. He purrs, getting cozy underneath your touch, and nestles closer to you. Then he mumbles something about tuna.

"Sweet dreams..." You breathe out. With one last yawn, you shut your eyes.

Only to have them shoot open as your body jerks itself upward.

"Oh my god..." You gasp, a hand flying to your mouth. You can feel your cheeks burning, your heart racing a mile a minute.

Did you...Did you really just tell Idia you love him?

You totally did not just do that.

Idia is frozen in his chair with wide eyes. He feels like a cat that's just been spooked as he repeats your goodbye over and over in his mind. Those two little words you uttered could easily OHKO him. And if you were right in front of him, he really would have died on the spot.

Idia pulls his hands off his keyboard to cover his face. His room is enveloped in a soft blue glow that stems from his hair. Now it begins to flash a light pink. His cheeks began to match the new color surrounding him.

"Th-They didn't mean to say that..." He tells himself. "I-It's late and they're just tired. Yeah. Th-That's it. N-No way they'd tell me that. Besides that's not a way they would confess..."

Not that he's thought about you confessing to him. Well, he has. A bit. Okay, more than he's ever willing to admit. And he's not going to go off about how he imagines it happening underneath a cherry blossom tree after school with flowers sparkling around your image.

"They're right, i-it's getting late..." Idia tries to calm his nerves while logging out of his game. His fingers are set on autopilot as your voice echoes in his head.

Even as he finds himself in bed, curling underneath the covers, he can't fall asleep. You are on his mind now more than ever. His heart bounces around his chest, making him feel giddy while his mind fights against it, scolding it and being realistic about your words being a tired mistake.

Regardless of which one wins, he's definitely not going out tomorrow.

Oh. That brings up another problem. Instead of looking forward to playing with you, now he's dreading it.

What the hell is going to happen on Saturday?!

[lorkai]

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ A/N: Silly and self Indulgent scenario that's been living in my head since I've started learning coding like javascript and html awhile ago, like pls let Idia teach me, I'll listen to everything he has say. Or not. Probably not. I would probably be looking at him all the time like 👀💞.

Coming from someone as quiet as Idia, people would think that he only hides inside his room and that only silence surrounds him. But that was far from true, Idia laughed, screamed or hummed all the time when he was safe and sound inside those comforting walls and, like now, his fingers tapped the keyboard keys frantically.

"What's that supposed to be?" You asked, pointing to a series of strange codes on Idia's dimly lit computer screen. How he could see with all the lights off, you didn't know. But at least, you now knew why he complained about his eyes hurting.

Idia replied without turning around, "They're called arrays. They're used to store more than one code inside a variable, Yuu-shi."

You made an understanding sound even though you didn't understand what that meant. You remembered a thing or two about your world's programming, but the memories were blurred and as today was an especially calm day, you decided to pull a chair close to his desk and sit next to Idia to watch him work. Maybe it would help to understand what those "arrays" were for if you could watch him, besides it was fun.

You noticed how his fingers trembled slightly against the keyboard and the ends of his hair turned pink at your sudden approach, but you preferred to spare him the embarrassment and just watch him create his codes. It was almost peaceful the sound of his fingers and his soft humming.

"That's an opening tag right there, right?" You pointed again not sure and he nodded.

"Yuu-shi..." He mumbled as if unsure of his proposal. Even though you're friends, he's too scared to voice his ideas sometimes and you don't force him to say anything while you wait for him to search for the right words. Finally after a few seconds Idia turns to you with a small smile on his face. "S-sit closer, you'll be able to see better that way. I can even explain what each code is for if that doesn't bore you."

That was his shy way of saying that he would like to have you around and that he didn't mind your questions, and you readily nodded, pulling the chair closer and resting your face in your hand. Idia kept working, fingers practicing typing over and over entire columns of tags and other codes that you gradually remembered the name.

"Yuu-shi, you never told me that you, uh, liked programming." He mutters uncertainly. But then a wide smile spreads across his lips and he looks at you sideways, laughing sinisterly. "But that means I can teach you everything I know, and after I've stuffed all possible coding knowledge into your little pretty head, Yuu-shi, you will evolve from an R card to a UR+."

You shudder comically, wondering if it was too late to run. But Idia's cool hand closes over your wrist and his slender fingers find their way to yours, lacing them together as he opens another page on his computer.

"Let's start with your lesson, Yuu-shi, and... And, uh... And if you get everything right, I have a reward in mind." Idia declares, a rosy blush taking over his face.

And truly how couldn't you deny him that?

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

since i’d already played the original trilogy approximately seven million times in french, i finally got round to playing french apollo justice instead. just finished it and hoooo boy was this localisation just as interesting

just like in the og trilogy, the entire thing now takes place in france (presumably paris, though they didn’t specify in this one). at least there aren’t earthquakes this time so it doesn’t feel quite as surreal.

apollo’s “i’m fine!” catchphrase is now “tout va bien !” which means “everything’s fine!”

some of the names have been translated again. for example, trucy is now called “Vérité” which not only is the french form of the english name “Verity”, but it also is the literal french word for “truth”, which gives some dialogues a double meaning whenever they’re discussing the truth. “Vous dites... la vérité... Apollo Justice... ?”

they did not change lamiroir’s name. they did however change machi tobaye to “Tomas Kashkash”, make of that what you will

in the first case, phoenix and kristoph use formal pronouns when addressing each other in court, and informal pronouns outside of court, which is fun. by the final case they’re exclusively using formal pronouns since their friendship has pretty much ended. (it’s a similar case with klavier and daryan, who switch to formal pronouns when they’re trying to be serious/professional and when their friendship starts to splinter.) (apollo and trucy use informal pronouns on each other pretty much the whole way through.)

trucy says “Mééééééé !” a lot

she also calls apollo “Pollo”

wocky kitaki (”Willy” in french) is my fricking favourite oh my god. he speaks in such verlan-ified slang i had to painstakingly decipher every single thing he said. i love him. when he said “sakom” i felt that 😔✊ he’s nigh-incomprehensible just like he was in the english version. absolute king.

in order to make wocky so iconic they apparently had to sacrifice klavier though, because in this version he is english. ENGLISH. AS IN, FROM ENGLAND. usually the french localisation takes its cues from the english version so i thought they’d keep him german, and then when he started calling people “miss” instead of “Fräulein” i thought maybe they’d made him american, like he was in the original japanese version, but NO IT TURNS OUT HE’S JUST ENGLISH??? LIKE FROM ENGLAND????? U WOT M8 JOLLY GOOD OLD CHAP CHEWSDAY INNIT????? I’M FROM ENGLAND, THIS IS THROWING ME OFF TOO MUCH

and they didn’t even commit to the englishification!! he barely says any english stuff at all! he sometimes says “miss” or “mister” and that’s... about it? he doesn’t even have any “Achtung, baby!” equivalent!! he calls apollo “M. Grand Front” which yeah means basically the same thing as herr forehead but it’s entirely in french so what’s the point?? god if you were gonna curse him by making him from freaking england then at least go all the way?? at least his “Objection !” sounds cool i guess...

and his name is “Konrad” in this version. that’s fine because “clavier” means “keyboard” in french (like the thing you type on) so i get that it would have sounded silly. but imo they should have gone in the opposite direction and picked a random english word to name him then. they should have named him Stapler or something. why’d they give him a normal name. he is Stapler Gavin in my heart

ema calls him “minet pailleté” btw which yeah pretty much just means glimmerous fop. (she studied in england too in this version WHY THE FRICK IS EVERYONE ENGLISH)

there were some fun french puns, such as calling phoenix apollo’s “mentor” (french for “mentor”, if you couldn’t guess) and then calling him “menteur” which means liar and sounds very similar

“I killed a man named “Smith” with a bottle because I am an evil human being.”

[wrongcaitlyn]

also, since i feel bad about making you guys wait so long and i'm also not 100% sure if i'll manage a chapter before sunday (will be trying, but it's been a whileDJSD) here's a snippet of what i've already written!

and a little update on the chapter, i've got like.. 1/6 of it done? ish? and i def could've written more earlier but instead i spent an hour planning and outlining one of nico's future music videos with @wronghuntress

it's a very cool mv and i am very proud of it and just like the details and aesthetics of the next few albums are ahghsldkjsldfj im so so excited for you guys to seee!! i feel like i should be making pinterest boards for these. but that's my brain derailing me again. i will do that over summer.

so!! snippet!!

They decide on the end of July for the rescheduled concerts. Partly because it gives Nico a little over two months to mentally prepare, partly because Will has a summer class in June so he’d be able to travel with them in July (along with Leo, who invited himself along too), and partly because it worked with Alex’s schedule.

Until then, though, there turns out to be a lot to get done.

Will’s rescheduled finals have been all finished by the end of May. Apollo has set up a series of job interviews for the three main people he’s decided they need—a publicist, a tour manager, and an assistant for him (that last one was pushed for by Nico, and then Will as well, and because Apollo isn’t able to resist their combined efforts, it worked)—throughout the last week of May and early June. The Archery World Championships are from the tenth to the sixteenth, in the Netherlands, and the entire family will be there to watch Kayla. 

From there on, it’s studio work, studio work, and more studio work throughout the rest of June. It’s a lot of therapy. It’s some secret project that Apollo keeps obviously working on, but is clearly attempting to hide the evidence of. Nico doesn’t know whether he should be concerned, but his eye bags have faded slightly, and he’s returned to styling his hair rather than throwing it up in a bun, so Nico thinks that’s a good sign.

The New York estate doesn’t have a proper studio—at least, not as good as Apollo’s house in LA. Still, it has the basics, including a mic, a computer with some audio editing software that Nico’s familiar with, and a keyboard, so while Will is studying and out taking his exams, Nico is there. 

For once, he feels like he doesn’t have much to write about the situation. It scares him for a bit when first walking into the studio, expecting to open his phone to an extensive list of depressing lyrics, only to find nothing.

He tells Mr. D that during their next therapy session. There’s no concrete answer, because Nico isn’t quite sure what exactly prompts him to spill out his thoughts in lyric form usually, but Mr. D had suggested the idea that instead of falling straight to the conclusion and having to sort out his thoughts, he was instead stuck in a sort of paralysis while Will was in the hospital, and then immediately talked out his feelings in person rather than on paper afterward.

Nico supposes that it makes sense. But that doesn’t stop him from rushing to the studio as soon as he’s sure Will won’t ‘accidentally’ overwork himself once left alone for over an hour—just to see if there really isn’t anything left to say.

It turns out, there is. There always is. But the songs that he writes now feel more self-deprecating and slightly relieved rather than the accusatory, grieving tones of the rest of the album. And besides, he thinks that he’s too close to a possible release date (or, at least, the beginning of the promotional singles process) to be planning an entirely new series of songs.

He still writes them, of course. They’ll just have to remain in lyric form, for now, though.

[bisnes-socks]

bluza analysis under the cut, i'm feeling two ways about it

i'm a bit conflicted. i didn't listen to any of the recordings of the live version, and that was a purposeful decision, and i'm glad i didn't. i heard the song in helsinki and i haven't heard is since, so i went into this kinda blind, which is how i prefer to approach music tbh.

i have both positive and negative thoughts on this one.

after listening to it three times, my first thought is that i'm personally not feeling the mixing on this (i listened to it in a quiet room with proper noise-cancelling headphones, twice on tidal and once on youtube, so like i cannot blame my surroundings or my own tech for the experience, so i feel pretty confident saying what i hear is actually in the mixing of the song).

when the drums finally come in fully, they are buried in the mix. like usually the point of bringing the full drum kit into play only at the end of the song is to grow the sound and get a big and satisfying finish, but for me, purely because of the mixing, that feeling wasn't there. and the very forward and loud keyboard sounds that are panned heavily to the right distract me from the guitar lead part, that is mixed heavily to the left. i feel a bit disoriented by the mix because i find it difficult to focus on anything.

now that isn't to say the mixing is bad! it's just not what i expected and i, personally, am not finding it easy to get used to. i hope i will get used to it, listening to the song more though. knowing what to expect now, i'm sure i will.

because:

i do like all of the individual elements in the song! it's such a simple song in its structure and basic melody that all of the delicious little details the guys seem to be experimenting with on the third album make it a very interesting song to listen. like there's always something cool happening somewhere! the song feels very familiar and homey (at least in part because it follows very usual and typical chord progressions, but that's not a bad thing! just means it's not super unpredictable, but instead easy and comforting to listen to).

i really do wish i could hear the bass and the drums more clearly, that they were a bit brighter in the mix, buuuut i guess nace and jure got to show off on šta bih ja, so we shall allow a guitar heavy song 😌

final verdict: a very cute song with lots of cool details, that i wish i could hear just a bit brighter.

[harocat]

I find lots of people who are into Cdramas have what I can only describe as “celebrity brain”. They only really watch shows that have their fav actor, always want the character played by their fav to be the endgame romantic choice (even if it goes against character and theme), and seem to hinge their mental health on whether a show with their fav does Big Numbers. Fans of male actors tend to have misogyny problems too, but I think most people who run an account dedicated to a Chinese celeb could afford to take a step back and remember that they don’t actually know these people

Yes it's very stan culture centered. This is one of the reasons I like Cdrama tumblr better. It feels like it's more about actually enjoying the shows (and yes, sometimes the actors), then endless forced promotion, discussion of heat indexes, fan wars, etc.

People have their faves here, and they share news about them, pics of them, etc. They go out of their way to watch their dramas (or at least attempt to if they end up bad lol), and they're happy when they're successful or popular. They share info about accolades and awards.

But most don't make that their whole viewing experience. They aren't becoming keyboard warriors for some dude they don't know and will never know. They're here because they love dramas, not because they have an intense parasocial relationship with an actor or actress.

The way the Wang Yibo blackface discourse morphed from people rightfully calling him out, to the WYB super fans taking over the conversation and making it more about how antis are using it to hate on him is such a good example. Now discussion of it is rebuked with 'oh no don't give the 🐜 more fuel to hate him', and that sucks. I don't give a fuck about antis. I care that WYB did blackface in his movie, and that pisses me off!! They're over there like 'I know in my heart of hearts WYB could not be racist' as if they've ever been within the same wide vicinity of him in their entire life.

With the Dylan thing it's so wild to me because:

he is the male lead

he is the endgame romantic choice

They're pitting him against the female lead for what reason?? They're not rivals. It's giving misogyny, and the fact that they can't handle a woman standing on an equal level with him (she was first billing because she was more famous at the time, yes, but she's also just as much the lead. LBFAD is pretty balanced in that respect). She must be below; both the character and actress. She must be the less popular and important character!! We are going to restructure the narrative of Love Between Fairy and Devil in our minds so it's entirely DFQC's show.

This same person was complaining about the Xiao Lanhua being a goddess storyline because it makes her too important and makes DFQC 'pitiful' (totally out there to me; every other Cdrama fan I know eats it up when a man is pitiful). Like, people would not care about Dylan in LBFAD, and he certainly wouldn't be getting acting accolades, if he were cool all the time in it. It's the pitiful moments, the emotional moments, that make people love him.

It's not even just LBFAD though. I saw major Dylan fan accounts undermining Bai Lu and cropping her out of pics when promoting Only for Love.

I think Esther and XLH just get it worse, because let's be real, LBFAD is good, their chemistry was undeniable, the show was huge, and regardless of how close they are now (we have no idea), it's obvious they were really good friends when on set.

[wirewitchviolet]

"They Don't Teach Kids About Computers These Days!"

I see variations on this a LOT these days. Sometimes it's people in their teens/early 20s being frustrated at how they're expected to know everything about computers, sometimes it's college professors straight up HORRIFIED when they realize they have students who don't have any understanding that their hard drive, a school's internal network, and on a public website are completely distinct places for a file to be located, and I kinda figure the weird stress a lot of people seem to have about the concept of getting a game and not having it just go into their Steam library specifically is a related issue.

Now on the one hand, obviously, I sympathize with this. I have a series of posts on this blog called How A Computer Works, because... I want to teach people about this stuff. (That's still ongoing by the way, I've just got a lot else going on and need to settle on the scope of the next lesson.) On the other hand, uh... I'm from the generation before the one that apparently has all the computer literacy problems, and nobody taught us this stuff in school... and the next generation up wouldn't possibly have had access. So was anyone taught how to use them?

Now I say "they didn't teach my generation how to use computers in school" but that isn't technically true. I see a lot of people call people my age "the Oregon Trail generation" when this topic comes up. Sort of on the edge of Gen X and Millennials, going through school in that window where Apple had really really pushed the Apple ][ on schools with big discounts. And they did have "computer classes" to learn how to do some things on those, but... that isn't really a transferable or relevant skill set.

Like, yeah, if you're below the age of let's say 30 or so as of when I'm writing this, the idea of what "a computer" is has been pretty stable for your whole life. You've got some sort of tower case, a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, and in that tower there's a bunch of RAM, a processor, video and sound cards of some sort, and a big ol' hard drive, and it's running Windows, MacOS, or some flavor of Unix going for the same basic look and functionality of those. It's generally assumed (more than it should be, some of us our poor) that a given person is going to have one in their home, any school is going to have a whole room full of them, libraries will have some too, and they are generally a part of your life. We can probably make the same sort of general assumption about IPhone/Android cellphones for the past what, 15 years or so too, while we're at it. They're ubiquitous enough that, especially in academic circles where they're kind of required professionally, people are going to assume you know them inside and out.

Prior to the mid-90s though? It was kind of a lawless frontier. Let's say you have a real young cool teacher who got way into computers at like 5 years old, and now they're 25 and they're your computer class teacher in the mid-90s. The computer they got way into as a kid? It would have been this.

That's not a component of it, that's the whole thing. A bank of switches for directly inputting binary values into memory addresses and some more switches for opcodes basically, and then some LEDs as your only output. Nothing about this is other than the benefits of fundamentally understanding some low level stuff is going to be useful at all in any sort of practical sense if you sit down a decade later with one of these.

This at least looks a bit more like a computer you'd see today, but to be clear, this has no mouse, no way to connect to the internet, which wasn't really a thing yet to begin with, and no hard drive, even. You did not install things on an Apple ][. You had every program on a big ol' floppy disk (the sort that were just a circle of magnetic film in a thick paper envelope basically and were, in fact, floppy), you would shove that in the disk drive before turning the machine on, it'd make a horrible stuttering knocking sound resetting the drive head, and just read whatever was on that right into memory and jump right on in to running Oregon Trail or a non-wysiwyg text editor (i.e. there's no making bold text appear on screen, you'd just have a big ugly tag on either side of your [BOLD>bold text<BOLD] like that). It was not unlike popping a cartridge or disc into an older video game console, except for the bit where if you wanted to save something you'd have to take the disk out while it was running and pop a blank one into the drive to save to.

So when I was a kid and I'd have my "computer class" it'd be walking into a room, sitting down with one of these, and having a teacher just as new to it as I was just reading out a list of instructions off a sheet like, "flip open the lock on the disk drive, take the disk out of the sleeve, make sure it says Logo Writer on it, slide it in with the label up and facing you, flip the lock back down, hit the power switch in the back of the machine..." We didn't learn anything about file management beyond "don't touch anything until the screen says it's done saving to the disk" because again, no hard drives. I guess there was a typing class? That's something, but really there's nothing to learn about typing that isn't where every key is and you only (but inevitably) learn that through practice.

Now, overlapping with this, I eventually got myself a used computer in the early 90s, very old at the time, but not as old as the ones at school. I had a proper black and white OG Mac. With a hard drive and a window-based operating system and everything. And... nobody taught me a damn thing about how that one worked. My mother just straight up did not touch a computer until something like 2001. I didn't really have any techie mentors. I just plugged it in and messed around and worked everything out. Same way I worked out what I was doing with older computers, mostly on my own at the local library, because that computer class wasn't much, and how I was totally left on my own to work out how to hook up every console I ever owned, which was slightly more involved at the time.

That forky bit in the middle was held in place with a pair of phillips headscrews. Had to keep the VCR and cable box in the right daisy chain order too.

Enough rambling about how old I am though. What's the actual disconnect here? How did my generation work out everything about computers without help but the next one down allegedly goes dear in the headlights if someone asks them to send them a file?

Well first off I'm not at all willing to believe this isn't at least largely a sampling bias issue. Teachers see all the clueless kids, people asking online for help with things is more common than people spontaneously mentioning how everything is second-nature to them, etc. Two things stick out to me though as potential sources of the issue though:

First, holy crap are modern computers ever frail, sickly little things! I'm not even talking about unreliable hardware, but yeah, there's some shoddy builds out there. I mean there's so many software dependencies and auto-updating system files and stuff that looks for specific files in one and only one location, just crashing if they aren't there. Right now on this Windows 10 machine I've got this little outdoor temperature tracker down in the task bar which will frequently start rapidly fluttering between normal and a 50% offset every frame, and the whole bar becomes unresponsive, until I open the task manager (don't even have to do anything, just open it). No clue what's up with that. It was some system update. It also tries to serve me ads. Don't know if it's load-bearing. Roughly every other day I have to force-quit Steam webhelper. Not really sure what that's even for. Loading user reviews? Part of me wants to dig in and yank out all this buggy bloatware, but I genuinely don't know what files are loadbearing. This wasn't an issue on older computers. Again, screwing around with an old Apple ][, and old consoles and such, there wasn't anything I could really break experimenting around. It was all firmware ROM chips, RAM that cleared on power cycling, and disks which were mostly copy-protected or contained my own stuff. No way to cause any problem not fixed by power cycling.

Next, everything runs pretty smoothly and seemlessly these days (when working properly anyway). Files autosave every few seconds, never asking you where you actually want to save them to, things quietly connect to the internet in the background, accessing servers, harvesting your info. Resolutions change on their own. Hell emulators of older systems load themselves up when needed without asking. There's a bunch of stuff that used to be really involved that's basically invisible today. The joke about this being "a 3D print of the save icon" already doesn't work because how often do you even see a UI element for saving? When we still used disks regularly, they held next to nothing and would take like half a minute to read and write.

And don't even get me started on launchers and start menus and all that.

So... basically what I'm getting at here is if you feel like you never learned how to properly use a computer, go get your hands on an old computer and mess around. There's yard sales, there's nice safe runs in a browser emulators, hell there's kits to build your own. That or just look for someone wearing like a Mega Man T-shirt or playing a Madonna CD (hell maybe just any CD these days) and start politely asking questions, because again just because everyone who knows this stuff just had to work it out on our own doesn't mean you should have to.

[lieblingspulli]

Night Routines: SKZ

W.c: 1.9k

Changbin x Reader

Summary: Soft Changbin hours. Lots of cuddles, night routine and the likes. 

A/n: Just a quick little work I did to get my brain juices flowing. I imagine that when I write my brain feels like those clear looking PCs that have tubes with cool looking lava lamp liquid and a fan. I hope you know what I’m talking about LOL. Based on some prompts: “Do you think it would be helpful if we were cuddling?” and “Look at me in the eyes right now and tell me what time you went to bed last night, or if you even went to bed.” Enjoy this sweet and short piece!

Masterlist!

SKZ Masterlist

P.s. I just noticed all my Changbin pieces are about him coming home to you, don’t know why but he’s just such a homey person? Idk. 

Usually, whenever Changbin got home from the studio, you were either making dinner or showering to get ready for bed. Usually. 

Most days, you got home earlier than he did, owing to you being a college student and he, a performer and songwriter. Changbin tried not to make it too late, he knew he had to keep work boundaries, but sometimes he did run a little later than usual. 

The routine was always as follows. You usually got home, got some work done and tried to finish before Changbin got off of work. While he rushed home, you made dinner or showered then made dinner with Changbin. Succeeding this, the two of you did dishes, a minor tidy up of the apartment and then your night routine of washing up and bed cuddles. Most nights, this took you up until almost 10:30 on a good day and past 11 on a bad one. 

Changbin was used to this. He loved the structure. He could run to the gym after work if you had a heavy workload that week, or he could come home and relax with you on evenings which should have been this evening. 

The time read 10:46pm. You were only on page 6 out of 10 and really wanted to rip your hair out for not doing this earlier, but you also had a lab report to write up earlier instead. It wasn’t the latest time ever, but you had been working all day and you felt like a zombie on its feet. Every once in a while, the soft lighting and ambience from your music would lull you to sleep before you snapped your eyes open again. The unfortunate event of Changbin coming home did not snap you out of your constant battle between filling in your outline and trying to stay awake. 

As soon as Changbin entered the apartment, he could hear keyboard keys clicking. There was faint music coming from the bedroom, the living room lights were off and it was oddly silent, even though he could hear the music. Right away, Changbin felt a frown form on his face. 

“Jagiya? You home?” Changbin called out, hoping you would come out and say sorry for not greeting him right away. No response. He could only hear the psychological echoes of his voice. 

Changbin threw his bag down and took off his shoes in the doorway before heading to the bedroom right away. He swung open the door to find you hunched at your desk, completely focused on the screen in front of you. Or, at least that’s what he assumed. You laptop was open to a document, with the extra monitor opened on youtube. However, the youtube video displayed the “are you still watching?” sign. Changbin stood there for a few seconds, waiting to see if you were actually awake, but to no avail. He shuffled forward in hopes the noise might startle you, but it didn’t. 

Hm. He walked over and peeked over your shoulder. You were hunched forward, leaning your cheek on your wrist. Your eyes were closed and your eyebrows scrunched together. You must have fallen asleep while writing. Changbin smiled, mildly entertained by the scene in front of him. He also didn’t want to scare you awake, so he lightly tapped your shoulder and whispered, “Y/n? Baby?” You stirred but didn’t open your eyes. Changbin held his breath. He then poked your cheek. You startled awake. 

“Wha- Was I asleep? Oh. Hi baby.” You mumbled and rubbed your eyes open to see your boyfriend standing right by your side. He cheekily grinned and motioned towards the monitor with his head. 

“What are you working on that has you falling asleep on your desk?” He chuckled and squeezed your shoulder as you readjusted in your seat. 

“Oh, this is my research paper. I gotta get it done by tomorrow.” 

Changbin nodded and gave a little, “Ah.” You nodded and tried to attempt to see where you left off before you fell asleep. Changbin looked at your face and studied how tired you looked. He had walked into a similar scene yesterday and fell asleep to it too. 

“Babe, no offense, but how long has it been since you slept?” He carefully said. You turned your head to answer but kept your eyes on the screen. You non-committedly replied, “I took a nap earlier.” This reply irritated Changbin. He didn’t like when you didn’t rest enough, it only led to worse things for your body. The odd silence in the apartment further irritated him and led Changbin to drag your chair away from the desk, with you in it. This solicited a “Hey, I was working!” from you, but he just shook his head and firmly turned you towards him. He kneeled in front of you and settled his hands on your thighs. You frowned at him, but couldn’t stay mad at his soft looking face. You huffed in annoyance. 

Changbin thought for a bit before asking again. 

“Babe. Y/n. Look at me in the eyes right now and tell me what time you went to bed last night, if you even went to bed at all.” He taunted you with his eyes. You rolled your eyes and tried to look at him in his eyes. You shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. He raised his eyebrows, expecting an answer. 

“3.” 

“Okay. What time did you wake up to finish that lab report? I know you didn’t finish it.” 

Your boyfriend sure was cheeky sometimes. You blew some hair out of your face in annoyance. 

“7.” 

“Oh my gosh, Y/n-” He groaned and let his head drop to touch your knees. You kind of felt bad for worrying him so you hurriedly tried to defend yourself. 

“Hey, Look, it’s not that bad. At least I got some sleep.” You sucked at this. He looked back up to you and rubbed his own tired eyes. “Babe. I just came home to you asleep at your desk. My yelling didn’t even wake you up. You can barely keep your eyes open.” He pointed out. You didn’t know what to say. He sighed and hopped back up to stand. 

“Fine. If you won’t sleep, then I’ll make you go to sleep.” He said with a firm nod, proud of himself for taking some initiative. You started to protest but Changbin just leaned forward and pulled you over his shoulder, eliciting a shriek. 

“Seo Changbin! What are you doing!” 

“Baby, this is for your own good. I’m taking care of my baby, that’s what I’m doing.” He said and you could only prop yourself up on his back. He carried you to the bathroom before setting you down. 

“Why are we here?” You puffed in annoyance. 

Changbin just started getting out your face wash and other things related to your night routine. As soon as he set everything down in front of you he motioned to the mini display and crossed his arms. 

“We are doing our night routine. Like we always do.” He just stood and waited. You scoffed and began to brush your teeth, occasionally looking back at your boyfriend. He really just waited until you started until he began to do it himself. While you two were brushing your teeth, he even tried to smile at you with his toothbrush in his mouth. Unfortunately a bunch of toothpaste foam fell out of his mouth and you laughed at him, almost choking on your own spit. The both of you giggled like kids as you moved on to face wash. 

Changbin insisted on doing this step for you, so you let him put your face wash on your face (with clean hands of course!) and rub it in circles. He put a little too much pressure though, and he was moving your whole face in circles. 

“Changbin!” You laughed and he smiled at the sight of you finally smiling for once. Man, he loved you so much. 

“What?” 

“You’re moving my entire face!” 

“Yah, stop talking unless you want bubbles in your mouth.” He lessened his firmness and continued to emulsify the soap on your face until you tried to pull away. 

“Hey, I’m not done!” He scolded you. 

“Baby, it’s been 60 seconds. We’re done.” You laughed and proceeded to help him do his face. He sat patiently while you spread his face wash on his cheeks, forehead, chin and nose. You also gave him a forehead massage. He sighed and melted in your hands. Entirely focused, you moved on to his cheeks and then his nose. He stood as still as possible. 

After you tapped his cheek, signaling your task was complete, you both rinsed your face and did the rest of your routine together. After that, you climbed into bed as he changed into his sleeping shorts. 

“Yah, what are you staring at?” Changbin feigned to act all shy. You laughed and stared at his shoulders. 

“Oh, I’m just admiring all the hard work my boyfriend puts in at the gym.” You snickered and pulled the blanket over you as Changbin picked up the pillow from the edge of the bed to throw at you. You both giggled. 

Changbin climbed in as you let the cover fall from your face. He snuggled up close to you and you wrapped your arms around his torso as he fit himself into the shape of your body. 

“Baby, I don’t know if I’m tired anymore.” You whispered just as he began to close his eyes. He snapped them open. 

“What?” Changbin pouted. 

You laughed. “I can’t stop thinking about my assignments.” 

“Ah, would it help if I cuddled you how you like?” He pleaded with his doe eyes. 

You nodded and made a sad face. He scrunched his nose in reply. 

“Whatever makes my baby sleep better at night.” He then turned to flip off the lights and readjust you so you were the smaller spoon facing him. 

“This better?” 

“Mmm, yeah.” You sighed and relaxed in his arms. 

“You’re so warm.” You whispered. He rubbed your back to lull you back into a tired state. 

“Go to sleep baby. I’ll be right here to hold you all night.” He whispered back and kissed your head. You were too tired to reply, and before you knew it, his body warmth had lulled you to sleep. You didn’t even get to kiss him goodnight. 

Changbin watched your eyes close and he could feel your breath even out, signaling you fell asleep. He watched your eyelashes flutter as you went off to dreamland. 

“I love you Y/n.” He whispered before relaxing more himself and settling into a deep sleep for himself. 

[dasha022]

Chapter 4

"So, Superman and Phantom were cloned?"

Batman didn't stop his work on the keyboard at any point, so with his eyes on the screen and detailing every word of the information acquired, plus the reports from the YJ group, he proceeded to respond to the curious Nightwing; who had just entered the Batcave only two minutes ago.

"Hnn..."

Nightwing removed his mask and proceeded to roll his eyes in annoyance. "Could you provide a few more than your usual onomatopoeia response" so many years and his mentor hadn't learned his lesson about using mumbles or grunts as a response.

"When I finish the report, you can read it," replied the big bat without turning back...

Dick looked grumpily up at the man, grabbed a chair from the other desks, set down and pulled out his phone. Tim was currently at the YJ base. However, he would be doing the same as Bruce; and young Robin has a worse hiperfijasion than the big bat. So, his only safe bet would be Wally or Donna, but the second one it's traveling through Malawi on a humanitarian aid mission, so he's only left with Wally. He should have done that in the first place if he wanted to know the whole story instead of coming to Bruce. At least the flash family did know how to communicate things willingly and without loss any details.

Alfred, faithful to punctuality, made his presence known at the base bringing with him a tray of late-night snacks. "Master Richard, it's nice to have you around tonight. how's Bludhaven been?"

Nightwing put aside his cell phone and gave his full attention to the butler. Even though his best friend had just sent him a great paragraph telling him what happened and he was about to read it. Gossip can wait when it comes to Alfred. "I can't say it's all right because that would be a lie, but I can claim he's had one or two improvements these past few weeks."

"That's wonderful to hear, Master Richard." Alfred poured a cup of hot chocolate for Dick as he gave him a little smile. "You do what you can, and that's what counts." He continued, then turned to the other older adult in the room and the smile was once again a line on his face. "Master Bruce, do I have to unplug the Batcomputer so you can take a break ? or you will be finally pausing for a snack? you still haven't had any food since you've arrived.”

Bruce’s fingers stopped instantly, a deep sigh left the man’s lungs before he locked the computer, removed his hood mask and turned to his adoptive father with resignation. He did not look at his eldest son, for no reason did he look at that gloating face. He kept his eyes on the mug of hot chocolate and the pair of sandwiches that came with it.

 “Thank you, Alfred.”

“You’re welcome, sir.”

Just as Bruce was about to take a bite of his sandwich after a small sip from his chocolate mug, his league communication device started beeping. He heard Alfred sigh and that was all he needed to put his hood back on and put the call through to the big baticomputer screen.

“Batman, here.”

Phantom’s image took up the entire monitor, now without the cloned baby in his arms and a somewhat uncomfortable look on his face. “Hello, Bat. Phantom here, are you busy?”

“Phantom, did something serious happen?” the Gotham knight responded with another question. “Where are the… childrens”

Danny looked at the Gotham’s knight and wondered again how his mask was able to minimize the lenses in his eyes to reflect frowning eyes. Okay, he was straying from the topic at hand. “My little star is with my big sister and Hydor is helping to Cool his mother. Well, that’s what I want to talk to you about-”

“Hydor?” interrupted Dick, now with his mask firmly in place. Next to him, Alfred, also making use of his distinctive black opera mask.

Danny grinned with countless teeth, “Oh, the half-Kryptonian kid was agreed with my name option. I don’t know if he’ll change his mind later, but for the moment Hydor is the name we use to refer to him”.

Nightwing was about to speak again, but Batman cut his opportunity. “What did you mean by mother?” If they were talking about the child made with Superman’s DNA, then Phantom must have named Lex. However, the phantom hero didn’t have to name the villain. Bruce thought about how the hero had said he had ‘sisters’… plural. He didn’t say how many, but it was more than one.

Quickly, Bruce opened another window to the side of the call and brought up the reports regarding Clark’s cloning. As this one searched through the countless notations about the failed experiments, Danny spoke again.

“Yeah, well, I wanted to talk to you about that man.” Danny began, his expression shifting to somewhat serious, though mostly relaxed. “By your hovering movements over the keyboard, I’m taking it for granted that you have a clue what I’m going to say. So, I’ll give you the quick version of the subject.”

The search stopped at the penultimate document on the list and Batman didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried by such a find.

It couldn't be that...

Danny saw his pause and chuckled a little. “That was quick” he commented. “But yes, it looks like Lex was conned by his own team of scientists.” He continued this time without holding back his laughter, though no one in the cave seemed to share his amusement. “So, besides giving me a daughter, Cadmus gave me a nephew. Isn’t that great?”

“You mean the clone of Sup-.”

“Hydor” , corrected Phantom with a warning look and losing all grace from his face.

“You mean Hydor is the son of Superman and one of your sisters?” asked Nightwing again, his face not emerging from the surprise of the fact. “Wait, since when do you have sisters!”

“Since I can remember, And yes, the other donor for Hydor’s creation is not Lex, but is my little sister, Nightmare.” At this point Phantom began to levitate in front of the camera, from what Batman can deduce he is sitting in mid-air while suspending the communicator in front of him with his telequinesis.

[kanmom51]

JK and Vibe

cr./ to all the creators of the media used in this post.

I did promise a post about this, didn't think I'd be doing it so soon.

People are real shit, you know?

I mean, in my line of work I've been in contact with many, at the very least, not good people. But since I've opened this blog, wow, my eyes have been opened up. Supposedly normative people, not criminals, not low lifes, what we like to call 'good' people getting behind a keyboard and just having at it like the worst of the worst.

Give them a sense of anonymity and they will write anything that comes to their mind, unfiltered, unlimited, no caring of other's feelings they might hurt.

They hurt others that share the net with them.

They also hurt the people they claim they 'love'.

And even though this might not be the exact right time to bring it up, I still am, cause I've been kind of pissed since yesterday.

As per usual JK talks, JK's attacked.

He doesn't say enough, he says too much, he just can't do right.

Funny how most of the time these accusations thrown at JK seem to be proven wrong time and time again. But not before the hate wave against him gains momentum.

This time it we saw it with Vibe.

"JK didn't mention JM alone, it was all about Tayang being cool."

"JK didn't know the lyrics, he can't be JM's bf. How disrespectful, he clearly doesn't care about JM."

"JK's a shit boyfriend that mocks his bf all the time, this time included laughing at his song."

Not only didn't JK support JM's song he's now mocking it."

Etc. Etc. Anything that could create that image that JK and JM, god forbid, are in a long term loving relationship.

Well, too bad for them. Cause the truth always comes out.

Let's start by the fact that JK did hype up JM, mentioning JM first, then following with Taeyang.

People run to make conclusions based on half translations and without seeing the actual moment. And it's not that hard to find these little clips of moments to match with the supposed translations out there.

Maybe, and I say maybe because most of them are blind to social queues, facial and vocal expressions, but maybe if they would have seen JK talk about Vibe, they wouldn't be sprouting their nonsense.

The way JK talks there, the "oh, JM", the way he brings up JM's name a second time without any real point, the facial expressions throughout. How can you say JK isn't hyping JM up, or that he doesn't know or love the song (the way he sings it later, especially JM's part is kind of a tell too)?

You can find some of JK's vibings to Vibe here, including his cute dance moves:

Also kinda feels like JK knows the lyrics, mainly JM's that is.

And now let's compare to him singing Taeyang's part...

I'll let you be the judges.

Bottom line: shit people won't stop me from loving those two.

[truthofherdreams]

poetry, beauty, romance, love

also on ao3

Belle stops in front of the door to the lecture hall, trying her best to calm her laboured breaths as she presses a hand to her chest. A group of students walks toward her in the corridor, so she takes a sip of her water as to hide her discomfort, although she is certain her red cheeks are betraying her anyway.

The walk from her College to the Medical Sciences building is a short one - on purpose - but she is yet to get accustomed to the strain on her heart every time she exerts herself, even slightly. She tried a bike instead, on her very first day in Oxford, but the results were not any better. Hopefully, her body will get used to those brisk walks across the city.

Thankfully, the lecture hall is almost empty when she enters, a whole half-hour before the lecture is actually meant to start, so Belle takes her time going down the steps, all the way to the very first row.  She selects her seat slightly to the left of the room, close to the still empty lectern. Behind her, two other students talk to each other in small whispers, while a girl at the very back is busy typing away on her phone.

Belle gets her own out of her pocket, checking for her latest messages. Despite the early hour, she has one unread message from her sister - a picture of Fanny’s current art project, one that has Belle frowning at her screen as she tilts her head to the side, trying and failing to guess what the meaning of the painting is meant to be. Maybe she will ask Fanny later, or maybe she will let her sister to her deranged phallic art pieces and sculptures.

Instead, Belle opens her laptop, hoping for at least twenty minutes to work on the assignment she was given yesterday. Barely half a way in Oxford, and she is already drowning in a sea of essays, reading assignments and lab notes. Well, any other student would be drowning. Belle is doing just fine.

“Seat’s taken?”

She looks up from her laptop, blinking in surprise at the boy next to her. She belatedly notices the room has filled up by now, whispers of two turned into a cacophony of voices. And this boy, still staring at her, now with his eyebrows raised.

“Hm, sorry, no - no it’s free.”

“Cool.”

He plops into the seat next to her, his long legs stretching in front of him under the table, as he drops a laptop right next to hers. The thing seems almost broken beyond repair, with faded stickers all over the back, one broken corner, and some tape keeping the screen from escaping from the keyboard. Belle forces herself not to comment, thankfully distracted from the acidic words on the top of her tongue when students start passing around piles of printed-out syllabi for the course.

Belle grabs one, even though she’s had it downloaded onto her iPad since last night. IPad she now fetches from her bag, along with a paper notepad and her pencil case. She neatly lines up her three favourite highlighters - blush pink, lavender and soft green, before she takes a sip of water.

And notices her seat neighbour staring at her.

“Problem?” she asks him, raising an eyebrow at her.

He shakes his head for a moment, tongue against the inside of his cheek, before he thinks better of it. “Have you watched any of those videos about those Sorority girls?”

She frowns. “I fail to see your point.”

“Bet you do.”

Then he turns his focus back on the (still off) lecture screen. The way he does it, so casual - too casual, even - immediately gets on her nerves. So what if she likes her notes to be neat and organised? So what if she will spend another hour after the lecture, going back through what she’s written, just to ensure everything is written well, colour-coded, highlighted, sticky-noted? She huffs in frustration as she turns back toward the front of the room too, but not before noticing his smirk from the corner of her eye. The jerk.

Professor McGregor chooses that perfect moment to make his way to the lectern, and all other thoughts leave Belle’s mind as she focuses on the man’s lecture. For the next hour, she dutifully takes notes, nodding to herself every time she remembers one of the facts from her past readings.

The professor might not be the liveliest, with the monotonous drawl to his voice, but his insights into the field still are satisfying to Belle. She does make a mental note to check his research papers later, out of curiosity more than anything else.

When Professor McGregor finishes his speech for the day, her ever so delightful neighbour jumps right out of his seat, broken laptop under his arm. He gives her a salute, as lazy as his grin is mocking.

“See you on Thursday, Bama Rush.”

“Fucker,” she grumbles.

He’s too far up the stairs to hear her.

…

Professor McGregor, as it turns out, also happens to be her tutor. Which is how, the next week, Belle finds herself in the professor’s quarters, overlooking the gardens of St John’s College. Despite being of a decent size, the room feels stuffy, with its large mahogany bookcases on every wall, its displayed human skeleton in a corner, and its wide array of nicknacks on every possible table, desk, and shelf. Very much absent from the room, though, is Professor McGregor himself.

“Do not touch that,” Hetty hisses.

Belle looks up, just in time to see Sneed’s hand retract from a large jar with what seems to be an embryo with two heads floating inside. Bell wrinkles her nose.

“What a waste of time,” Sneed complains, moving on to his observation of a polished skull on one of the bookcases. “At the price of tuition…”

“Cry me a river, Sneed,” Hetty replies. “We all know daddy dearest paid extra for you to be here.”

Belle stifles a laugh as Sneed glares at Hetty, who replies with her most condescending smile. Even though they’ve barely interacted so far, Belle enjoys Hetty’s company - she’s smart and sharp and unafraid to speak her mind, when the occasion calls for it. They could make great friends, given time, and Belle hopes this tutoring group will give their friendship the space it needs to blossom.

Hetty winks at her, and Belle smiles.

She is about to say something, when the door to the study opens, and all three heads snap to that direction.

But the good professor still is yet to make his entrance. Instead, the boy from last week’s lecture stands in the doorframe, blinking at the darkness of the room.

“Old git still not here, huh?” he says as he enters, door closing behind him. He didn’t bother with his broken laptop this time.

Actually, he didn’t bother with anything at all, strolling through the room with his hands in his pockets until he drops himself unceremoniously next to Belle on the small settee. She glares at him. He ignores her.

“They let anyone in these days,” Sneed mumbles, before he turns back to the bookcase.

“Indeed. Remind me, how many A* did you get?” the other boy retorts. “Three? Four? Oh no, wait. That was me.”

If looks could kill, Sneed would have murdered him on the spot with the glare he throws over his shoulder. Hatty rolls her eyes.

“Yes, Dawkins. We all know how smart you are,” she says, but her tone is more exasperate than biting. Like an old argument, repeated too many times.

Has Belle already missed on that much drama, even after only a week, by spending time between her bedroom and the library? Has life gone past her so fast, that enemies were made already?

Dawkins bumps his shoulder with Belle’s conspiratorially. “You heard that, right? She calls me smart!”

He offers her a shit-eating grin, the kind that makes Belle’s stomach do a little jump. Despite her best try at stoicism, she smiles too. The grin grows bigger.

There is a twinkle in his eyes, when they drop to her lips, a flash of something Belle doesn’t quite know how to name. It’s there and then it’s gone, his eyes meeting hers again - and here’s that mischief again, the boyish stupidity that fits him like a glove.

His mouth opens, slightly, like he's about to say something, and…

The door slams open.

They all startle.

Professor McGregor enters, his steps unsteady, his hand wrapped around the neck of a wine bottle. He stops, blinking at them in confusion, before he mumbles something that both his beard and the alcohol make inaudible.

Hetty is the first one to jump to her feet, to spring to action. “Should we come back tomorrow, Professor?”

He waves her off, before he drops himself in the closest chair and takes another long sip of his wine. Sneed can barely hide his grimace of disapproval, a reminder to Belle to smooth out her own features.

The professor gives them brief and confusing instructions on readings and reports to be completed for the next session, and research to be done in pairs. He vaguely points to Hetty and Sneed first, then to Belle and Dawkins, with some misogynistic comment about making it equal, giving a chance for the ladies to learn something. Then he waves them off, and they all scramble to escape as fast as they can.

Belle runs down the stairs, only allowing herself to breathe once she is on the lawn of the front quadrangle, head down and hands on her hips. She inhales deeply, to calm her heart and will the annoyance away.

“Here.”

She turns around, facing Dawkins. His arm is stretched toward her, paper in hand. She takes it carefully, then frowns down at the scribbles that make up a name - Jack, she guesses, even though it reads as Jeck - and a phone number.

“Got that doctor’s handwriting locked in,” she comments.

“Thanks, it’s the dyspraxia.”

She blinks, and swallows back a curse to herself. Of course she had to make a fool of herself, and insult him in the process. He may be infuriating, but that doesn’t mean she has a right to be that rude.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean…” “It’s fine,” he waves it away. “Just text me when you’re free for a trip to the library.”

…

It’s funny, how quickly new experiences become habits. How the unknown turns into the familiar in the blink of an eye. How Jack makes his way into her life, one infuriating jab at a time. 

Every Monday, ten o’clock on the dot, they meet in the same study room of St John’s College’s library, to study and work together on Professor McGregor’s assignments. The study room allows them privacy, so Jack can use the text-to-speech tools on his computer, or so Belle can read out loud some passages for the both of them. She proofreads his essays when his dyslexia gets the best of him, and he always brings her favourite snacks to avoid her sugar levels crashing.

Despite what she thought, it works seamlessly.

They fight, of course. On new medical research, on which technology to use, on grammar and methodology and whether Star Wars or Star Trek is the best. They argue, and yell, and get stern reminders to be quiet from the librarian. They help each other up, fact-check everything twice, and motivate each other when the burden of first year medicine becomes too much, the pressure, the workload, the late night study sessions.

One Monday at a time, he becomes part of her life, of her universe.

“Why don’t we ever study at yours’?” she asks him one particularly chilly November morning, when the library is so cold their fingers turned blue, until Belle gave up and dragged him all the way back to her dorm bedroom.

He lies down on the floor, fluffy blanket on top of him as he hugs one of her Squishmallows to his chest. “You don’t want to come to my place, believe me.”

“Why is that?” She puts her laptop aside, cross-legged on her bed, peering down at him. “Live in the dungeons?”

He scoffs. “Worse. Subletting from some old fart who used to be a porter for St Cross College till they caught him stealing from students.”

“What is he doing now?”

“Working at Costa.”

“And how did you meet this lovely gentleman?”

Jack’s smile is wry. “Working at Costa.”

Belle snorts a laugh. Not for the first time, she is reminded of the socio-economical differences between her and Jack. How she was sent to boarding school to Cheltenham Ladies’, while he did his studies in some no-name high school in South London. How her parents pay for her tuition, but he got in on a full scholarship. How she spends the summers in Greece, or Spain, or back home in Australia, while he’s stuck here, working to make meets end. How she has a loving mother, and a fool of a father, and a crazy sister, while he’s all alone.

They never properly agreed not to talk about it - not in so many words, at least - but sometimes, like today, it hangs between us. Heavy. Obvious.

“Do you fancy some tea?” she asks, to change the conversation, to lead it back to more comfortable topics, like anatomy and lab reports and lectures. Not Jack’s misfortune in life. Not Jack’s empty bank account. Not the way her heart misses a beat when he looks at her like that, open and vulnerable and oh so eager.

Her heart is used to skipping beats.

Not like that, though.

Never like that.

…

“The WHO defines health as…”

“A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being,” Belle recites as she walks up and down the corridor.

Hetty hums at the back of her throat, before she switches to another card. “Decline in deaths from infectious diseases in the second half of the nineteenth century was mainly due to…”

“Improvements in diet, housing, and public sanitation.”

She is wringing her hands now, the motion nowhere near as soothing as it ought to be. Her bottom lip is raw from biting down on it and picking at the skin, and her heartbeat is going way faster than ever recommended by her own doctors.

“What is NOT a task of a sociologist in medicine?”

Belle pauses. Stops. Stares at Hetty. Hetty stares back.

“Develop theory that assists in understanding social issues related to health,” comes from behind her.

Belle sighs, and turns around. “Just because you can memorise everything by heart…”

“Please, Belle. We both know your memory is far better than mine could ever be.”

She wants to tell him that is not true. She wants to remind him he got better exam results than her last year. She wants to pout and says that he’s better than her at sociology, period. She wants…

He hands her a chocolate bar, and all her worries go away.

“Jack Dawkins, you are a blessing.”

He laughs, even though his cheeks turn red “Can I get that in writing?”

She waves him away, more to dismiss his unwanted silliness than anything else, but still has a moment of panic when he indeed starts walking away from the exam hall. From the corridor. From her.

Mouth full of chocolate, she gestures vaguely at the door. Jack grins, and walks back the few steps separating them to boop her nose with his finger.

“Different room. Extra time. You knew that, Fox.”

She did know that, indeed, knows his SPP by heart - the 25% extra time he gets for every exam, and the text-to-speech machine to help him go through the papers. It doesn’t make it any less difficult, to know he will not be in the hall with the rest of them, that the sight of his mess of blond hair will not be able to sooth her nerves during the exam. He’ll be right next door, but she might as well be all the way back in Sydney, for she will feel his absence just as well.

“You got it,” he says, and it’s soft and quiet and full of emotions she refuses to question now. “I’ll see you when I’m done, alright?”

She nods, and swallows around the chocolate pieces in her mouth. “Good luck.”

“No need for luck when you’ve got talent,” he winks at her.

…

She passes with a 96.

He does so too. With a 99.

…

Belle doesn’t remember how it happened.

Well, that is a lie. Her memories may be fuzzy around the corners, but she remembers every second, every moment, every word and every touch and every tiny, single detail of that afternoon.

It starts, as it so often does, with the end. The end of exam week, the end of an academic year, the end of their first year of medicine. It starts, as it so often does in Oxford, on the banks of the river, where the grass meets the water, where boats move lazily and students gather, bottles of cheap wine and packs of snacks in hand.

It starts on the bank of the river, laughing as Hetty kisses girls after girls after girls, and makes fun of Sneed for having no game, and no girlfriend, and no summer internship. It starts with a bottle of rosé against Belle’s lips, warming her stomach and her cheeks and her brain.

It starts when it ends, when the sun is so low everything turns golden and beautiful, like a painting from an era long gone. It starts with Jack and his golden hair, and his shining eyes, and the smirk he keeps just for her, for when she’s happy and carefree and on the right side of tipsy.

It starts with her laugh.

“Jack Dawkings, everyone!” she exclaims as loud as her lungs will let her, “Top of the class!”

People cheer and whoop and toast, any reason good enough for yet another drink. Belle’s arm is flung around his shoulders, her body pressed into him, and he chuckles against the mess of her hair.

“How much did you drink already?”

“Enough,” she replies, smug and proud and laughing.

“Yeah, right,” he says, and takes the bottle from her.

She pouts, but she doesn’t fight back, not even when he hands the bottle to some random guy just passing by. She’s tipsy but not drunk, and she’s fine with it - especially when Jack’s side is pressed against her chest, against her breasts, when his arm is wrapped around her waist and he holds her to him, strong and solid and present.

“Top of the class,” she whispers to him, softer this time.

He looks down at her, and he’s soft too. Bright eyes, even brighter smile. “And yet, you’re my number one.”

She kisses him. Or maybe he kisses her. Not that it matters, when his lips are on hers, when his fingers are in her hand and on her neck, when he grabs her and pulls her close, close, closer until she forgets where he stops and where she begins, until it’s only them, them, them.

When he breaks the kiss, it’s to rub his nose alongside the ridge of hers. Delicate. Loving. Adoring. She kisses him again, just because she can.

Hetty yells at them to get a room.

Belle happily obliges.

[sparklepocalypse]

🥑☁️🐝🎨 please.💜

🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

I'd get in touch with @cha-melodius for her anatomical knowledge (y'know, maybe I can resuscitate whoever it is?) and @happiness-of-the-pursuit for his legal expertise, in the likely event that the resuscitation doesn't work.

☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?

You know, I've had this username since about 2010, and I honestly can't remember the backstory. I'm fairly sure it has something to do with some sort of arts and crafts project and then-untreated ADHD, though...

🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them

This might get long, so I'll come back to this one and toss it under a jump. 🤣😅

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

You know, prior to the latest RWRB zine being published, I wouldn't have been able to narrow it down to just one, but this JC Leyendecker-inspired piece by @artofobsession is possibly my favorite piece of fanart that's ever been created. It's just -- even nearly a month after it was first posted, it causes beauty aggression in me and I just want to bite it because it's so pretty and glowy and ethereal and lovely and they're just so blushy and so into one another. It's the first fanart print I've ordered in years, and it's going to go on my wall of ephemeral pretty things with my Lindsay van Ekelenburg art and my various tarot card prints from Kickstarter decks.

[Send me emoji from the Writers Truth & Dare Ask Game and I'll answer the corresponding questions!]

Aight, back to 🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them

I mean, obviously I'm tagging you first, @ad-astra13, because you're the Most Excellent of Doc Gremlins and your flailing in my Google Docs has been so, so motivating. Your fiber work is really cool and creative! I'm always intrigued to see which project you'll take on next.

And then there's @hgejfmw-hgejhsf, who even with a bunch of stuff going on IRL still takes the time to DM me a screenshot when someone has recced one of my fics, which -- warm fuzzies just everywhere. Val is one of the sweetest, most deeply passionate RWRB fans I have ever met, and her encyclopedic knowledge of all things book and movie have come in handy on like, dozens of occasions in the few months since I've gotten to know her.

@kiwiana-writes and I basically have the same brain in different bodies on different continents, the vibe is so consistent. Half the time I read his work it feels like it could've emerged from my brain instead of his, and now it turns out he's a pretty gifted songwriter too? Incredible, awe-inspiring, iconic, etc.

@artofobsession and I have a Spider-Man meme thing going on where I yell at Hann about their art, and they yell at me about my writing, and it's just a never-ending cycle of yelling. Pretty amazing to consider that I was Too Scared To Say Hi ™️ for awhile there, because I'm a big ol' introvert. Regardless of what Hann's got going on, I've never read an unkind word that's emerged from their keyboard, and they're super well-spoken and yeah, really glad I started making unhinged bulleted lists of art reviews as a way to break the ice, because they're good people.

Speaking of Spider-Man memes, @seanchaidh7 and I have also been Spider-Manning back and forth these last few months. She's created some really, really incredible art for my Big Giant AU, and just genuinely seems like a cool person. I'm happy we stumbled across each other in this fandom!

@duchessdepolignaca03 is one of the best unhinged idea riffers I've met. She deserves at least partial credit for the idea for my RBB fic, because a simple "fic where [x]" message can lead to a thread of dozens (or hundreds) of messages back and forth just flinging ideas out there to further the prompt. Half the time the riff is all that happens, but occasionally, the riff spawns something way bigger.

And there are folks who either I haven't found on Tumblr, or who left Tumblr behind in like 2013 and haven't looked back -- super grateful for everyone who's enabling my weird little brain to do the thing!

[stargazinglesbian]

intro i guess

Edit: i have an art blog!!! go check out @introvertedandscared if you want to see my drawings :))) ok now onto the real introductions

just a quick introduction to who I am and what I like

I’m a teenage asexual, genderfluid, lesbian. I have about a billion more labels but they’re not needed here

I use all pronouns except for she/her, including stuff like neos i really don't mind

right now im trying out the name mars, since ive been thinking about changing it for a while

My greatest dream is to work in science. right now i'm gunning for chemistry and even though i *want* to get a doctorate one day, i'm not very smart

My favourite animals are sharks, moths, frogs, pigeons, and cats.

my favourite sharks are black tipped reef sharks, my favourite frogs are glass frogs, my favourite moths are cecropia moths and my favourite cat is uhhh Cat. a all pigeons are perfect.

I love Furbies and my favourite cryptid is mothman, but Nessie is a very close second.

my favourite video game is stardew valley but I’m also a big fan of hollow knight! So far I’ve spent 40ish hours playing the game and 23 of those were spent defeating the false knight

I’m not sure what my favourite book is, I have a lot, but Annie on my mind is definitely a comfort one, the spirit bares its teeth is one of the greatest things i've ever read, and i love the entire miss peregrines home for peculiar children series! (i even blog about it sometimes)

right now i'm super into the paper girls comics, and i'm watching the show!!! the comics are where my pfp and header r from :33

I like art, even though I’m bad at it, and I have limited knowledge on playing the keyboard. i only know a couple songs, but like i'm apart of the school band (although that may be very different than what u think it is depending on where you live)

my favourite colour is pink, but I’m also a big fan of lavender

my least favourite colour is orange, but green has been testing my patience as of late

my favourite dinosaurs are parasaurolophus' and ankylosaurus'!!

my second favourite tv show is probably The Owl House and my favourite of all time is the hollow. absolute banger of a tv show. go watch it. rn.

riverdale is a tv show i am. a fan of. i mean, it's indescribable, so really i can't rank it as a favourite or not. yeah sorry

my favourite movie is i saw the TV glow, and my favourite song changes from day to day but rn i reallyyyyy love Sailor Song by gigi perez and anything by Daïtro

my favourite mushrooms are shaggy inky caps and when I saw them for the very first time in person I nearly cried

my favourite holiday is Halloween, even though we don’t celebrate it here in aus

always on the hunt for show, book or movie recs so please if you have any!!!

i've been getting into dc pretty recently, especially the batfam! my top three favourite robins are steph damian and tim!!! (in that order, roughly) and my favourite superhero of all time is Superboy (Kon El Kent) he's just... so cool. also, my favourite superhero team is young justice (the 1998 comics version, not the show)

mostly reblog stuff about space, stupid comedy, palaeontology, nature photography, and fandoms (sometimes clown husbandry too, but not much)

i tag all my posts that i write with 'original post' so do w that what you will

i also have quite a few original characters, and like 3? i've blogged about. small town freaks and empress aren't very developed, but i've made some longer posts about av. all of which are just tagged with their names

and to finish it off here’s a nice photo I took of the moon! (My favourite moon phase is waxing gibbous btw)