#but i gotta tweak some things (plus it's a little old and i want it to reflect wherr my art is now lol)

[lee-blogs]

Gonna try to stay up a little late tonight! Tomorrow's going to be a very busy/chaotic day so i won't have any time to work on my refs for ArtFight + some other things. So i'm gonna try to do a good chunk of it tonight!! Got myself some energy drinks (only gonna drink one) and i've got some podcasty/long videos to listen to while i work!

Wish me luck lmao

[morsmortish]

i see you vague posting about a “bones and all” AU, i need more!!!

oh how glad i am you asked. there are many thoughts, many many many things to say.

i gotta admit i only watched bones and all for the first time a few weeks ago but all i could think about the whole time was how similar lee and barty were and then i started listening to a shitload of ethel cain and then i gave in to the voices and started properly thinking about a rosekiller au of all of it combined- i would say while i’ve tagged it as a bones and all au, it’s more of a hybrid of bones and all AND preachers daughter AND all my whirring thoughts on religiously traumatised bcj. (plus i’ve always had a soft spot for cannibalism imagery, which is probably only slightly concerning.)

the plan for the fic is to follow the rough plotline of bones and all (two cannibals on a road trip that fall in love) with a few tweaks. controversially, barty occupies the role that maren has in the film, but only in the sense that he is the main protagonist, and the story is more following his journey of self acceptance than it is of evan’s, who fills lee’s role as the ‘love interest’ who helps barty discover himself and then…well, dies. lee himself is so so barty but i think some of his traits and experiences (i’m solely thinking of the “do you think i’m a bad person?” to “am i bad? am i bad? thread for this) can and will still be a part of barty’s characterisation here.

there are some key changes to the film in this au though. for starters, barty crouch junior is going to be carrying a Hell Of A Lot of religious trauma. i want his dad to be a preacher, the pair of them living in a small town together. barty’s mother is dead, and barty is made to feel sort of responsible for this. the cannibalistic urges he has are kept under lock and key by his father, who essentially tries to scare him off of acting on them, using the threat of what happened to bcj’s mother as a kind of ‘ammunition’ (it makes sense in my head i swear). i want things to be getting progressively worse in this town, barty not being able to control himself as he gets older, i want his father leaving him to fend for himself one day. i want barty fleeing his town as they line up with metaphorical (or literal!) pitchforks outside his front door, and i want him meeting evan a few days later. i want them embarking on a mission to find barty’s father, but, unlike maren and lee, evan and barty are on a road trip to find and kill this old fucker.

evan is a difficult character for me to latch on to in this. he’s similar to lee in the way that he has left his town, he has a (twin) sister waiting for him back home, he’s USED to this life now. he’s very circumstancially (is that a word?) similar to lee, but, because he’s Evan Rosier, he’s just a weird little freak. he fills the ‘part’ of lee in the story but his personality is entirely evan. i want him being off-puttingly pedantic about the people he eats, the way he eats them, how he disposes of the evidence. like lee, he has a system for how to take advantage of his victim’s belongings, but it’s much more meticulous, almost mechanical. he’s somewhat detached from the whole thing. he loves the rhythm of eating someone, unlike barty, who much more resembles a rabid dog. he’s got a system for how he is going to live his life all laid out, and he’s not the most accommodating when barty tries to butt in and change everything around by dragging him along on some harebrained revenge scheme against his own dad. but he can’t help but get sucked into barty’s aura and he can’t help but (albeit reluctantly) drive him all across america in a fuckass truck.

that’s a sort of (extraordinarily long) backdrop for this fic. at its core it IS a bones and all au, but there’s so much to unpack in terms of barty’s religious trauma, which i think will pair so nicely with the cannibalism (↤ top ten phrases ever???). there’s also evan and pandora and their backstory, and don’t even get me STARTED on tom riddle and his Death Eaters (the clue is in the goddamn name).

BUT THANK YOU FOR ASKING ROYAL, you’ve given me such a lovely opportunity to ramble about my thoughts and i’m spiritually lying on my bed giggling and kicking my legs any time i get to reply to an actual ask that an actual someone has actually asked me. the issue is i’m notoriously bad at actually writing these ideas, so this may end up staying as a very developed concept, with a pinterest board, a playlist, a tumblr tag…you get the gist.

[the-starry-seas]

You gotta tell me more about Whisper's problems. How bad could it *really* be for ne and Sol to be drinking buddies?

LOL well-

The biggest thing is, well, y'know. The kind of people who say "an army of child slaves sounds like the perfect way to solve problems" are probably the kind of people who dehumanise said army of child slaves. Jango straight up calls them livestock. Plus the whole barcode and CT numbers thing. Enough to give anyone issues when it's all they know! And that's not accounting for the extra trust issues coming from the fact that the Aces were betrayed by a clone from their own company.

Also I have a really incoherent set of thoughts about clones not having personal autonomy or the ability to say 'no', and the ways that can break them. And about how much worse that is for clones with touch aversion, like Whisper. And about how nonverbal episodes can make anything difficult, but are potentially lethal in a life-or-death situation. And how with emotions being all... fucky wucky, sometimes the only way to feel something is to get punched in the face. Kiss with a fist is better than none, etc etc.

(I also have a lot of thoughts about there being a different version of the clone chip that's installed with "live" programing, when sending a clone back to Kamino for reconditioning would take too much time. These chipped clones have to obey every order they're given, even if it would kill them to do so, and are forbidden from fighting back against anyone hurting them. I have even more thoughts about Whisper being threatened with a chip like that and being scared shitless because ne could never let the Aces endanger themselves to protect ner.)

This is entirely headcanon, but, Kaminoans are transphobic as hell when it comes to the clones. The army was made male on purpose and there's no reason for them to not stay that way. They hear about a clone changing up their gender and consider it a 'programming aberration', something tweaked in the DNA that makes the clone a little cuckoo for cocoa puffs in comparison to the 'real' soldiers. For one thing, Whisper is not fond of being called an aberration. And apart from the effect transphobia has on a kid, it's just stressful to wonder what's enough to get you taken from your family.

But that's not ner only aberration, as far as the Kaminoans are concerned! Or would be concerned, if they knew that Whisper was autistic. Which also brings a whole new set of Shit Whisper Doesn't Want To Deal With. I'm ready to kill someone with my bare hands like a gorilla after 15 minutes in a Wal-mart supercentre, and Whisper spent ner entire life in either a multi-million-people city or a war zone. Considering ne has no idea what a coping mechanism is (presumably some kind of machinery), is it really any surprise that ne has a load of emotional disregulation and anger issues?

The Aces did a lot to protect Ember and keep his deafness a secret. An unintentional side effect of that is that he sees his deafness as a Problem that would get them all killed if anyone figures it out. Did the Aces try to accommodate Whisper's own disability and accidentally teach ner the same thing? Does Whisper think there's something wrong in ner brain, and that ne needs to be fixed to be normal so ne's no longer a problem that ner family has to keep covered up? Yep. It sucks when your family teaches you shame, especially when they never meant to.

Also Whisper is asexual and demiromantic so like. That is also very alienating when you realise that you're not physically capable of feeling something that everyone else considers a defining trait of being human. Which also definitely ties back into the whole angle of Kaminoan dehumanisation, and the whole "ah fuck gotta fix the brain to be normal" thought pattern.

But the big thing is the child murder! In canon, one of the Cuy'val Dar had a fight ring, and multiple cadets died from their injuries. Whisper got kicked into the fight ring when ne was seven years old. Ner first time there, ne ended up killing ner opponent. And ne was efficient enough about it that Priest kept bringing ner back for more fights. Killing other cadets (some of them younger than ner) since childhood has, what's the phrase... deeply fucked ner up.

There's also the fact that ne internalises everything instead of relying on ner family for help or support. Everything is ner fault, therefore ne has to fix it all on ner own, too. It's like a damage multiplier against ner emotional state. The other Aces don't even know about the fight club thing, ne told them it was intensive training for consideration for an ARC program. That's gonna be a fustercluck.

[clotpole-art]

Retrospective: Illustrated Merlin Alphabet Challenge

Finally finished the Merlin Alphabet Challenge, so here's the artist notes no one asked for! See below the cut for comments on each piece by order of creation. Be warned folks, it's a long post.

Before we begin: credit to @merlin-gifs for the challenge, which can be found here. It's awesome, go do it.

First thing you should know is I did probably 80-90% of these while on phone calls or in Zoom meetings and that's reflected in the simplicity of most pieces -- the compositions aren't complicated, the lines aren't refined, the coloring is slapdash. If you noticed variation in quality of the pieces, that's why!

Second: I tried to focus on trying something new for each drawing. Didn't always happen, but this challenge did succeed in helping me push me out of my own comfort zone.

Without further ado...

A is for Arthur Pendragon

Textures, baby! Brushed metal of his armor, scratchy linen texture of his shirt, wispy softness of hair and skin. I'd recently gotten my tablet out of storage after a year of figuring out where the hell I was going to live and this was one of the first pieces of digital art I spent time on. Glad it was Arthur kicking us off!

B is for the Beginning of the End (1x08)

Fun fact, I did not draw this with my tablet. I drew it with my work computer's touchscreen. It was awful, would not recommend.

C is for Camelot

I wanted to get used to different brushes, so landscape of the castle it was! There are brushes that help with drawing grass; I did not use said brushes and my wrist hurt afterward. That being said, I really enjoyed working on this and it was one of the few pieces I didn't do while multitasking.

D is for Daegal

Also drawn on my work computer's touchscreen, not my tablet. I didn't learn my lesson from B and the experience was even worse. This is my least favorite piece which sucks because it's Daegal so I'm slated to redo this sometime in the near future. Gotta do our boy justice.

E is for Elyan

Oh, I adored drawing this. Elyan often gets shafted in terms of fandom appreciation so I made sure to choose Elyan for this prompt and to participate in the Elyan fest. Plus, I love a good ghost story and figuring out a way to include the druid spectre was fun. Didn't multitask on this piece because Elyan deserved my full attention.

F is for Freya

Ho boy. This piece. I have such mixed feelings on this drawing. Really really didn't like it after I'd decided it was done and very nearly scrapped the whole thing. I had a vision in my head that I just couldn't render into reality and it frustrated me SO MUCH. Looking back, I like it much better than I did when I first created it.

G is for Gwaine

What can I say, he's pretty when he's cold. I didn't stretch too much with this one -- it's my normal drawing style, I was just trying to find a brush that mimicked the softness of pencil.

H is for Hunith

Another one that didn't stray too far from my comfort zone. I was stupid sick and slammed at work, so a motherly Hunith manifested herself. I blame the bad brush choice on the cold medicine.

I is for Isolde

I woke up and chose violence! Tried to vary my figure drawing style a little in this piece but my brain resisted, resulting in... this. Not mad at it, but not happy with it either. Poor Isolde.

J is for Juggling

Ah, this lovely piece was drawn during a particularly vexing meeting at work. Fun fact, there's another version of this line art that's less about Merlin's stress and more about mine.

K is for Knights of Camelot

Continuing the theme of doodling through bad news and shit meetings. Like I said above, normally meeting doodles aren't complex because I'm concentrating on something else. This one was more involved because I didn't want to concentrate on the meeting. I have a few issues with this from a technical standpoint (perspective, my nemesis) but it's still one of my favorites. Tried some funky coloring technique, didn't hate it.

V is for Vibrant Colors

And here is where we said fuck the rules and started going out of alphabetical order! This one was really fun to do and I loved kicking off Albion Party with this as my first submission. The colors were a challenge (as I hoped they would be) and this is the first time I had to do some color tweaking midway though and after finishing the coloring process. Vibrant Arthur, my beloved. This started as a multitask doodle but took dedicated time to finish.

O is for Old Religion

The concept for this one was buzzing in my head for a bit before a quote-prompt solidified it. I adore the thought of more visible, tangible representations of Merlin as the son of the elements, of "magic itself" -- not just sun-gold eyes, but sea-water hair and sandstone-skin. A complement to the vibrant Arthur portrait.

S is for Sorcerers

When I said I wanted to challenge myself, I wasn't kidding. Ho boy, this was fun but frustrating. I wanted to completely illustrate a gif. So I did. Will I do something like this again? Maybe. A while from now.

M is for Morgause

See above -- same illustrated gif style so at least I was able to reuse some drawings. Poor Morgause ended up looking a little wretched here because I was mentally done with this when I was drawing her. Love the concept of tarot cards + Merlin but others are doing it so I won't continue this series.

Z is for Zzzz

This one was specifically done to test out some custom brushes I made in Krita to make abstract background drawing easier for me. I think they turned out well! Plus who doesn't love bb iridescent Aithusa.

L is for Leon, P is for Percival

Quick, minimal doodles of the boys! Mentally, I was going for a Brady's-style retro ensemble cast TV show credits feel. Not mad at it! Some boys look closer to their actors than others (I think my brain broke drawing Percy, my apologies to Tom Hopper).

T is for Tristan

It wasn't until after I posted this that I realized there was more than one Tristan in Merlin. Could have drawn Isolde's bf but I drew Ygraine's dumb jock undead brother instead. Had some fun with dark greys and blacks here regardless.

Q is for Queen Annis

Best royal in Albion, bar none. I tried a different coloring technique here and I kinda like it! may make it my go-to but we'll see. Old habits are hard to break. Also: our queen deserved more badass clothes.

X is for Arthur X Merlin

Oh, be still my shipper heart. Doodled and colored during a meeting. I had hoped to spend more time on it outside of multitasking but alas, work is a bitch. This one is slated for a rework sometime in the future; I adore the concept too much to let it go without creating another version of this that isn't an utter mess.

U is for Uther's Ward

And here's my attempt at forgoing line art. Not fun, do not like.

Y is for Young Warlock

Channeled some pain into this one. Those are the dead eyes of someone who had been told that he'd succeeded when his friend died. That the destiny he'd been expecting to carry on his shoulders into old age was done and dusted before he turned 30. Grief plus the existential dread of the aimless immortal. Oof. One of my favs.

N is for Nimueh, R is for Rising Sun, W is for Will

And we end on this sorry offering. I was away from home for a while without my tablet and I just got tired of waiting. So, pen doodles at the airport. This was a challenge in its own right because 1. pen only and 2. I wasn't able to pull Netflix up for a reference on the fly. Which is why Will's face is obscured and Nimueh looks.... not like Nimueh lol.

In summary: this was a goddamn joy to do. I finished 26 letter prompts in approximately 21 weeks, which exceeded my own unspoken goal of filling one letter per week. I found a good, happy corner of the Merlin fandom after a years-long hiatus away from being a fandom creator. If you did make it this far with me, thanks for reading my inane comments and giving this little project even a moment of your time -- I'm so grateful.

[ramblinganthropologist]

MER Week Day 2 - Long time no see

Summary: It’s been a while since Alistair Shepard and Garrus Vakarian have seen each other. They’ve been busy on their separate planets, helping in whatever ways they can to get things back to as normal as they’re going to get. However, with some free time, they’re finally getting to meet back up. Problem is... somebody forgot to mention the testosterone. Whoops. Well, at least Shepard’s got a free offer of carapace ripping from his sister if things go south.

(Set after ME3, enjoy your t4t shakarian lol)

---

Babe: See you at 3 then.

The message still glowed on his screen, burned into his retinas from the night before. It was the last message in a long conversation that had lasted well into hours he should have been sleeping, but it had been worth it. After all, it was important to hash out details when your fiancé was coming to visit.

It was even more important to do so in his circumstances.

“Fuck…”

The words leaked out from between Alistair’s teeth as he glanced around – the time said it was sometime after 2:40. Like always, campus was busy, full of his fellow students going from one class to another. Most of them look tired – and he understood that fully. Between med school and fighting the reapers… some days it could be a toss-up, depending on what he was doing.

Most days, med school won. Maybe that was a good thing? Or maybe he was just a sadist.

Regardless, campus was busy. It was easy to blend into the crowd like this as he sought a seat on a bench under a tree. All he could do was look at the screen of his omni-tool, frowning as he read through the messages.

He shouldn’t have been nervous… but he was.

Maybe that was why he clicked onto a new message window, just as busy as the one with the one he had been glancing at. Even better, the other person was online. Something like hope sprung into his chest as he started typing, fingers flying with the speed of an ex-Alliance officer.

Some things were fading with time – this probably never would.

Al: Where are my anxiety meds when I need them?

Bo: Relax, he’s going to love it. And if he doesn’t, there won’t be anything left to bury afterwards.

Bo: Or whatever turians do when they die.

“Nothing like threatening my fiancé to get me to calm down.” He chuckled despite himself, shoulders relaxing ever so slightly. However, a beeping drew his attention. Bo was attempting to video call him, which he was more than happy to accept.

Rannoch was as busy as ever on the other side of the line. He could see quarians and geth in the background, going about their business as his adopted sister focused her camera. Even after tweaking it, she was still a little skewed and not completely in the frame. However, she was allowed to be – her analogue sense of direction had saved his ass. She could be as out of focus as she wanted.

“I mean it, Al.”

He chuckled again. “I know, Bo. I guess I’m just nervous. I mean… we haven’t seen each other before…”

With his free hand, he gestured towards his body. Some days, especially in the early morning when he was half asleep, he was still unable to believe what was actually happened. It seemed more like a dream… at least until his voice cracked. It was doing that far less as his range settled, but still. At his age, it was kind of embarrassing.

Oh well, puberty was rough, especially when it was triggered for a second time in his 30’s.

“Told you that you should’ve sent him more dick pics.” Bo’s tone was flat as a pancake as she adjusted her camera – still out of focus. Now he was getting a view of Rannoch’s currently cloudless sky. Last time he had seen it, it had been full of Reapers. Honestly, he preferred it without them. Much friendlier. “Just relax. You know he thinks you’re hot as hell. All you have to do is use your commander Shepard voice and he’ll be eating out of your hand.”

Alistair felt his face color a little as he looked to the side. “I’m not going to use that in public…”

“You know what I mean. An Adam’s apple isn’t going to turn him off, so no sense worrying about it.” She paused, and he swore her eyes glowed. Maybe that was the camera angle? “And if it does…”

He could already see the threat – beating him with his own carapace was one of her favorites. He had never actually seen someone do it, but it was a classic at that point.

“Yeah, I know - death and calamity upon his head like you’ve only reigned down on the last guy who tried to take your crown.”

“He’s still recovering.” There was pride in her voice at that, and she should have it. After all, it wasn’t every day a human went undefeated in Omega’s underground Krogan wrestling tournaments. Surviving the reapers only brought better challengers, and it seemed to keep her well supplied with cannon fodder. “But anyway, just go for it.”

There was a pause, and her camera focused momentarily. “Also, since when did you start growing a beard?”

Oh, hail the mighty power of testosterone…

“Like two months ago, shaving sucks.” A beeping drew his attention – his heart raced at the sight of a new message. “Gotta go… I think that’s him.”

“Remember, just call me if you need his carapace ripped off.”

After the offer of violent assault, the call disconnected and left Alistair alone with his thoughts as he switched back over to his messages. Just like he thought, the message was from a certain someone he was waiting for. His heart jumped into his throat as he glanced around – nope, not there yet.

Babe: Almost there, got a little lost. I’ll never understand human city planning.

He always said that. Still, it made the ex-marine chuckle as he stood, waiting. Soon enough, they would be together again. It had been far too long, and the distance achingly wide. But now that the relays were working again, it was possible.

Note to self: maybe don’t take out the relays next time he saved the universe. It made travel a nightmare to say the least.

At least it wasn’t a long wait. Out of the corner of his eye, Alistair spotted movement that didn’t quite track for tired med student. It was too focused for that, and the pace was all wrong anyway. Plus, the whole carapace and being like seven feet tall thing helped, but it didn’t sound nearly as cool as the former.

“Alright, just… relax. Like Bo said…”

Of course, that didn’t help the butterflies in his stomach as he stood, adjusting his shirt. All the logic in the world couldn’t have saved him then as he watched the turian approach, clearly scanning the crowd for familiar markers. His heart stopped when their eyes met in the crowd, blue into blue.

Garrus was looking good for someone who had nearly died killing Reapers.

“Al?”

There was no mistaking the surprise in the turian’s voice as he made his way over to the tree. When he finally got there, his mandibles flapped like flags in the wind. The gears were turning in his brain, no doubt running countless calibrations. In a weird way, it was kind of cute.

At the same time, it was fucking nerve wracking. Talk about a conflict of interest.

Still, it was Garrus, and he was finally there. That was enough to put a smile on Alistair’s face as he reached out to take the turian’s taloned hand. It was just as rough and warm as he remembered, and his fingers still stretched as they laced together. It might have been a little sore, but muscle memory wasn’t letting him down.

“Hey, babe. Good to see you got here in one piece.”

Thank the universe his voice didn’t crack with that one. Maybe this was the thanks he got for saving it.

At least Garrus had the good grace to not look as though his jaws had stopped working. Alistair did get to watch his eyes travel downward in the classic once-over, though. All the while, his stomach bubbled. It felt as though a heavy weight was poised to drop on his head, and all he could do was stand there and wait.

Eventually, the turian squeezed back carefully, the blunt side of his talons sliding down his fingers. “So, I guess this is why you’ve been so shy about video calling me lately?”

“My voice was cracking really badly up until about a month ago, you were saved a lot of translator feedback.” He smiled, sheepish. “But… yeah. I didn’t really know how things were going to turn out and…”

His voice trailed off as he felt heat leak into his cheeks. “Here’s hoping you still think I’m hot?”

Yep, his voice definitely cracked at the end there. Maybe the universe had it in for him after all. At least Garrus didn’t wince too hard at the sudden shift – good old turian military training there. Still, he hadn’t said anything yet. That… wasn’t promising.

Maybe he should have sent those dick pics?

“You… what’s that called again?” Garrus cocked his head to the side in a gesture that always made him look cute and kind of bird-like. “On your face. Joker was always talking about his.”

Right, turian…

“Beard. And mine’s not quite as good as his yet I’m afraid but give me a few months and I’ll see what I can do.” He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand, fingers ghosting over his amp. It hadn’t seen action in almost a year now, and it was still odd to feel it cool to the touch.

Much to his relief, Garrus nodded. “It looks good now. I mean, you look good in general and all… I thought turian reactions to hormones were impressive, but humans are something else.”

“Gotta love those secondary sexual characteristics, babe.” Relief flooded through Alistair’s system as he sighed in relief. “And I think you just saved yourself getting your carapace ripped off by my sister.”

Hooray – that would have been a nightmare to fix.

Now it was the turian chuckling as he reached down to press his faceplates to his forehead in an alien version of a kiss. It was a gesture that always got his heart racing, even if it was just a quick peck. He had missed that in their time apart – texting just couldn’t beat actual contact.

“That’s probably for the best. I’ve not had a lot of practice lately, might be getting a little rusty.”

Alistair chuckled as they started to walk through the crowd. “You, rusty? I find that hard to believe.”

“Oh, no, it’s true. Barely had any time to run calibrations even, I’m starting to worry I’ll forget.”

That time, they shared a laugh between them. Maybe this was what Alistair had missed the most in the time spent on different planets – there was just something about the interplay between human and turian laughter that made his insides feel warm. Or maybe that was just his reaction to Garrus in general. Right then, anything was possible.

Still, he felt his face color a little as he looked to the side. “I’m sorry I didn’t send any in-progress shots. Bo could confirm any embarrassing details if you asked her.”

“Trust me, I get it. Remind me when we get back to your place to tell you about how I didn’t tell my sister I was going on hormones until after she came back from basic.” Another squeeze. “Of course, if you wanted to test that new vocal range out in some more strenuous conditions first…”

Oh, there was nothing friendly about that gaze. And it was something Alistair could appreciate as he squeezed back. Home was well prepped for what they both had in mind – they just had to get there first. Lucky for him, he lived within walking distance of campus.

The chuckle that escaped his lips was definitely not of the innocent afternoon type as he leaned in so only the turian could hear him. “I think that can be arranged, Vakarian. Better pick up the pace, though.”

“Sir, yes, sir.”

With that, it was off they went at a faster rate, not quite a run but definitely quick. With the sun shining and thoughts about what was waiting for him when he got home, Alistair was once again glad the whole universe saving thing had worked out for the better.

Now… what exactly was he going to do with the turian when he got home? The options were endless…

[swgoji2001]

My Thoughts on Jedi Fallen Order

So after upgrading to a new, stronger laptop (pretty sure my stupidity in attempting to run this game on my old laptop hastened its tragic, untimely demise), I finally finished Jedi Fallen Order last night. I had mixed feelings going into this game, as I have some friends who said it was amazing while others said it was a mediocre story with decent gameplay.

Now after playing, was it the greatest Star Wars game I’ve ever experienced? No, but it was very good. Some minor gripes here and there, but overall I had a blast playing the game.

Warning: Some spoilers will be included, I’ll try to keep them as minor as possible though.

Story:

So I’m not gonna go overly deep into the story as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who still hasn’t played the game, but to be honest I found the plot of Fallen Order to be a bit generic at first. It’s a classic light side vs dark side narrative with a redemption arc or two sprinkled in. In fact, I found the plot of Fallen Order to be quite similar in structure to the Disney Trilogy. Both have MacGuffin hunts (holocron and wayfinder), both include journeys to different planets following the trail of someone else (Eno Cordova and that one assassin dude mentioned in IX), both have mentors who have distanced themselves from the Force (Cere and Luke), and both have antagonists who were failed by their masters (Trilla and Kylo). 

Fallen Order splits off from this more generic route after returning to Dathomir and does it’s own thing, but I found myself asking why I enjoyed the first 75% or so of Fallen Order when I absolutely hated the DT. I found the answer to lie mainly in two things: the characters and the world they found themselves in.

Characters:

Cal Kestis: I absolutely loved Cal’s character arc. He has his own deep personal struggles with his past, feeling responsible for the death of his master. He faces those fears and comes to terms with his past, determined to make a better future. Cal not only comes out of his journey a Jedi Knight, but as a stronger person. Compare this to Rey, who had no meaningful flaws or personal struggles. Plus Cal’s the first ginger Jedi! Score one for diversity!

BD-1: My fourth favorite Star Wars droid, only behind HK-47, KOTOR 2′s T3-M4, and K-2SO. He’s cute, adorable, and loyal to a fault. What more could you ask for in a droid? (Other than a tibanna-powered blaster rifle and a bloodthirsty, anti-meatbag personality of course!) Plus there’s a revelation about his history towards the end that only makes him better and better.

Cere Junda: Star Wars has always had its mentor characters, but in all honesty I found Cere to be pretty generic. A Jedi Master who failed her Padawan and touched the dark side, only to be horrified by it and renounce the Force. Throughout learning her story, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had already seen something like this before. Her arc isn’t bad, it’s well done and feels natural to her character, it was just rather generic.

Greez Dritus: Gotta say Greez grew on me as the game went on. He has his flaw in his gambling problem which bites Cal in the ass a couple times, but towards the end I really felt the connection between him and the others grow. He’s also the source of a good deal of humor.

Nightsister Merrin: Sadly, Merrin being an eventual ally was spoiled for me, but I love the subversion because it was built up that she would be an eventual boss fight. Merrin might be my favorite character besides Cal, I wish there were more interactions with her in game! She’s hot, has a great accent, a wicked sense of humor, and is powerful with Nightsister magick. But beyond all that, she’s a parallel to Cal. Both are survivors, the last of their kind, and I’m hoping that if a sequel is made, it goes deeper into their relationship because Merrin and Cal have great chemistry. I also love how Merrin challenges Cal and Cere’s plan to train the next gen of Jedi using the holocron, putting that idea in a more realistic, less idealistic light.

Prauf: I really feel bad for him. I liked him and you could feel the camaraderie between him and Cal, how he wanted Cal to succeed and do great things. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.

Oggdo Bogdo: Fuck this frog! He killed me so many times!

Trilla Suduri (Second Sister): The Jedi Padawan that felt betrayed by her master and became an inquisitor. I always love it when antagonists have a personal connection to the protagonists in some way, shape, or form. Trilla shakes Cal’s faith in Cere, and plants seeds of doubt in him. She wants revenge and the Emperor’s favor, and therefore we know why she chases Cal across the galaxy. She has motivations for all her actions, which is something that Kylo lacked in the DT.

Taron Malicos: I knew something was off about this guy the second I met him. I quite enjoyed the clash of beliefs between him, Merrin, and Cal. Malicos proposes a way forward, a new Jedi Order, but one founded on darker teachings. He offers Cal that power, but Cal proves his stature as a Jedi in refusing it.

Ninth Sister (Masana Tide): Probably the weakest of the villain characters for me. Ninth barely has any presence in the game at all other than the start and to serve as a boss battle on Kashyyyk. I honestly just don’t think she fits into the story as is. Perhaps if they tweaked it so that Ninth and Cal knew each other back before Order 66 she would have fit better. Ninth just doesn’t have any personal connection to Cal and the Mantis crew (like Trilla does) and doesn’t really serve as a trial like Malicos does. Remove her from the story and not much changes.

(If you somehow haven’t had this next one spoiled yet, I’m impressed. Please skip to ‘World’ if so)

Darth Vader: I absolutely loved how he was portrayed. A terrifying, unstoppable force. You won’t last in a fight with him, your can only hope you can outrun him.

World:

Fallen Order’s worldbuilding was on point. Cal’s ability to sense Force Echoes lets you get a more detailed understanding of the environment around you. It’s a small-scale Star Wars story, but the planets all feel lived in if you take the time to explore them. It’s the small details like the probe droid witnessing your initial use of the Force on Bracca or the side-stories you can discover like the tragic tale of the family running from the Empire on Zeffo or Malicos’ corruption and manipulation of Merrin that really flesh out the world. Compare this to the galactic-scale story the DT told, which somehow made the galaxy feel extremely small and uninteresting.

My only complaint with the world-building is the Zeffo. They’re just... there. Very little is explained about them. Who were they? Why were they important? What happened to them? Why did they disappear? Perhaps this was to leave room for a sequel but to me the Zeffo just felt like discount Rakata. I wish the devs had gone with the Rakata instead, but maybe that’s just me.

Also the wildlife on every world is more than capable of killing you if you aren’t careful so you almost always have to be on your toes for them, which rolls us into the next part...

Gameplay:

The gameplay was great fun in Fallen Order. Leveling up and unlocking new abilities was exciting and once I got the hang of them all, it was so much fun just cutting through your enemies. I played on Jedi Master difficulty (died approximately 75 times, give or take a few I may have missed) and it felt really well balanced. It forced me to study my opponent’s moves and adapt to them instead of being a hack-and-slash type of game. Combos are fluid and fun to pull off, parrying opponents leaves an opening to attack, and you can experiment with different fighting styles.

Customizing your lightsaber and appearance was also great fun. So many different options and combinations for everything! Plus you got rewarded for exploration with these extra customization options, so it adds incentive to do that if you care about appearances and whatnot. You can become the General Grievous of ponchos!

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Fallen Order was a great game that could have been even better. Of course I have to admit I’m looking at this through the nostalgia of games like KOTOR 2, which flipped Star Wars completely on its head. I would have preferred if Cere’s story had been a bit more nuanced, the Ninth Sister had more reason for being in the story, or if the game had Cal seriously question the use and role of Jedi in the galaxy (he does a couple times to BD-1, but it’s never really built on).

And then there’s my overall gripe about this type of story set after Order 66. It sets up questions like... where was Cal during the OT? Was he dead? Somewhere in the Unknown Regions doing something else? I know the ending of the game sets up the opening for Cal’s story to continue, but still, these types of stories usually end in death for the Jedi protagonist, so I am a bit nervous for his future.

Despite that though, I am super happy I finally decided to play this and am eagerly awaiting a sequel to continue this story.

[avintagekiss24]

.8PM. Sam Wilson. Bucky Barnes.

PAIRING; Sam Wilson x Bucky Barnes

WORD COUNT; 1,996

WARNINGS; Smut, Anal sex, Nipple play, Oral Sex (male receiving)

SQUARES FILLED; I2 for @star-spangled-bingo​ SSB2020 ‘nipple play’

B1 for @sambuckyevents​ ‘couch sex’

NOTE; I can’t get enough of Sam and Bucky being in Louisiana together in Sam’s sisters house. I haven’t been able to think straight since that trailer dropped. Here’s a little smut on this fine Sunday afternoon. Hope you enjoy.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come to dinner with us?” Sarah asks, throwing her purse over her shoulder. 

Sam throws his eyes towards his sister from his spot on the couch and then glances down at the half asleep man on his chest, “Even if I wanted to, I don’t think I could. I currently have a Toyota parked on top of me.”

“Fuck you,” Bucky grumbles before nuzzling his face into the crook of Sam’s neck and slipping his hand up his shirt to feel his warm skin. 

Sam rolls his eyes but smirks at his sister and her husband, “We’re good, thanks.”

“Well, we’d bring you something back but if things go well tonight, we might not be seeing you until tomorrow morning.” Tom smiles back, wiggling his eyebrows before yelping in pain as a swift slap stings his arm, “Oww!”

“Have a good night, you two.” Sarah calls, offering one last warm smile before the young couple heads out into the night.

Sam rolls his head back towards the TV as an old sitcom plays. He takes a deep breath, expelling it slowly as he drags his fingers up and down Bucky’s spine. They’ve needed a few days like this. No drama, no running, no punching or shooting or killing - just reruns of Miami Vice, a room temperature, half full beer, and his man on his chest. Coming back home was the right idea. 

“They’re gone?” Bucky's raspy voice asks after a few quiet minutes. 

“Mmhmm.”

“They deserve a nice night out.”

Sam chuckles, “Oh, is that so?”

“Yeah. They’ve been cooped up with us for the past two weeks, no thanks to your lecture.”

“Lecture?”

Bucky shifts on top of him again, not opening his eyes, “We can’t trust anybody right now. We’ve gotta keep our heads on straight. No calls, no impromptu visitors, nothing…” He mocks, dropping his voice down an octave to try and mimic Sam.

“Oh okay,” Sam starts, “So, me trying to keep my sister safe is a lecture now, I see.”

“Oh, stop,” Bucky smiles gently while sweeping his fingers along Sam’s chest, “I’m just glad they could get some time to themselves, that’s all.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear ya. I might have been…”

“A little much.”

Sam laughs, “I get it, thank you.”

“Too much, honestly.”

Sam rolls his eyes again, but his smile grows wider, “I get it. Thank you.”

Bucky smiles as he lets out a breath, “It’s nice to have a little time to ourselves too.”

“Yep, nothin’ like falling asleep at 8pm on a Friday night, Barnes.”

Bucky slaps his chest lightly before his fingers sweep across Sam’s smooth skin again. His fingertips graze along Sam’s abs, and then up to his chest before he runs them lightly over Sam’s left nipple. Bucky smiles when Sam squirms from the quick contact. He loves a responsive man - and suddenly, Bucky is wide awake. 

He glances up towards Sam, whose eyes have shifted back to the TV, trying to pretend that he’s unaffected. Bucky drops his eyes towards the TV as well but pays it absolutely no mind. His warm fingers start to play underneath Sam’s shirt again, this time circling his areola lightly with his middle finger. Sam shifts underneath him again and another smile spreads on Bucky’s face.

His fingers skip over to Sam’s right nipple, repeating the same technique - a swift graze before a slow, soft rub. He squeezes Sam’s peck, pressing his fingers into his skin before he decides to inch up Sam’s long body. 

Bucky nuzzles into Sam’s neck as Sam continues to play coy. His tongue darts out, and slips along the curve of Sam’s neck before he closes his lips around his skin. He sucks softly, his fingers circling Sam’s nipple before he pinches his flesh. He pushes his hips down into Sam’s, grinding them slowly into his thigh and crotch as he nips at Sam’s neck with his teeth. 

Sam lets out a soft groan as he lets Bucky work him over nice and slow. His starts to rock his hips slowly with Bucky’s as they push and grind into his, his dick growing hard from all the attention. He jumps again when the pads of Bucky’s fingers graze over his hard nipples before he squeezes Sam’s pecks again. A fire starts to burn in the pit of Sam’s stomach as Bucky tweaks his nipple again, sending a jolt right to his hips. 

Bucky sinks his teeth into Sam’s neck, groaning loudly when Sam lets out his first real, deep, loud moan. He continues pinching and rubbing his nipples, drawing more and more sounds from him. Bucky hisses and bites his bottom lip when Sam bucks his hips into his, not able to contain the soft laugh that escapes. 

“How’s this for falling asleep before 8pm on a Friday night?” Bucky asks, his voice low and full of ardor.

Sam quirks his eyebrow as he grabs Bucky’s ass with both hands, “Eh, it ain't so bad I suppose.”

Bucky pushes Sam’s shirt up his torso, revealing his broad chest and chiseled stomach. He leans in, that devilish tongue of his darting out again to tease Sam’s nipples some more. 

Sam hisses loudly as his hips buck into Bucky’s again. He hums with arousal as he grips Bucky’s body, pushing his fingertips into his flesh, grabbing and squeezing before shoving his hands into the back of Bucky’s pants. 

Bucky swirls his tongue around Sam’s left nipple, biting down softly as his fingers pinch and pull at his right nub. He pulls Sam’s nipple into his mouth, sucking and flicking his tongue along his smooth skin as his other hand skips down Sam’s side. His fingers flirt with Sam’s flesh,skirting their way down to the rim of his Nike basketball shorts. He pushes his hand underneath, teasing Sam’s senses by dragging his index finger from his left hip to his right. 

He leans back quickly, pulling Sam’s shorts and boxers away from him to discard them to the floor. He kisses a hot trail down his chest and stomach, his eyes darting back up to meet Sam’s as they stare back at him. He runs his nose through the course, curly hair at the base of Sam’s stomach before his tongue peaks out again. He keeps his eyes on Sam’s as he drags his tongue from the base of Sam’s cock to his tip before swallowing him whole. 

“Oh, Christ Buck.” Sam breathes heavily, jutting his hips upward.

Bucky has the best mouth that Sam has ever encountered in his thirty plus years on this earth. It surprised him if he were to be honest, but God does Bucky fucking Barnes know how to please a man. Sam rocks his hips into Bucky’s mouth, grabbing and pulling at his short, dark hair as Bucky’s skilled fingers continue to tweak and pull at his nipples. He lets his moans fill the otherwise quiet house as his muscles tense, his body shivering every now and again. 

Bucky hums as his head bobs up and down, taking every inch that Sam has to offer. He lets Sam pull on his hair, his scalp pricking with small stings of pain with each tug. His hips continue to grind against Sam’s thigh, his rigid hard on touch starved. He adjusts his speed to match Sam’s now enthusiastic hips, quickening as Sam becomes feverish - quick and haphazard. 

Bucky feels a tug on his arm, pulling his eyes back upwards. Sam holds a small tube of lube in his hand as he wiggles his eyebrows, “I guess we’re not the only ones to have a little fun on the couch.” He then scrunches his face, “Not that I necessarily want to think about my sister getting railed in this exact-”

“Stop.” Bucky says firmly, grabbing the lube from Sam’s hand, “Don’t even go there. I am not going to let you ruin this magnificent hard on before I get some of this dick.”

Sam laughs before zipping his lips with his index finger and thumb and tossing the imaginary key over his shoulder, “Yes sir.”

Bucky sheds his sweatpants before he straddles Sam’s waist. He squeezes some lube into the palm of his hand and reaches back to grab Sam’s girth. He strokes him a few times, coating his cock with the warming gel before he squeezes a little more onto the tips of his fingers. He circles his hole before he pulls up, grabbing Sam’s cock again to guide him. 

Sam grabs Bucky’s hips as he lowers down onto him. He lets his head drop to the arm rest, his eyes closing as he’s encased by Bucky’s internal heat. He feels Bucky’s fingers squeeze his shoulder, hears him suck in a quick breath before he hisses loudly. Sam spreads his fingers on Bucky’s thighs before he squeezes them as Bucky takes a minute to adjust. 

Bucky rolls his head as he places his hands on Sam’s chest. He spreads his fingers, pushing them into Sam’s skin as he starts his ride nice and slow. Bucky lets out a breath that is quickly followed by a smile as his eyes flutter, “You feel good Sammy baby.”

He fucks Sam slow, rolling his hips as he moves. His fingers find Sam’s nipples again, pinching and pulling, tweaking and rolling them as he rides him. He lets his head roll back on his neck as Sam grabs his ass and pushes him forward. He hisses again when Sam wraps his hand around his dick, dragging it along his length before teasing Bucky’s slit with this thumb. 

It doesn’t take long before Bucky’s hips are quick and greedy. The fullness of his ass plus Sam's quick, firm strokes start to send shivers up and down Bucky’s spine. He bounces harder and faster, his moans growing louder as Sam lifts his hips to meet his halfway. 

“God Sam,” Bucky moans, his eyes shut tightly, “I’m gonna cum babe. I’m gonna,” he mumbles as his breathing goes shallow, “Fuck.”

Sam bucks into him harder, digging his fingers into Bucky’s ass as he feels his own orgasm start to rush towards the surface. His toes curl as he punishes Bucky’s ass, reveling in the loud grunts and groans of his lover, pushing him higher and faster towards his release. 

Sam loves to watch Bucky cum. His jaw goes slack as his eyes roll towards the ceiling. Sam hisses when cum leaks onto his fingers as he continues to stroke Bucky through his orgasm. Hot, long ribbons of Bucky’s cum squirts onto Sam’s chest and stomach as he continues to bounce up and down on Sam’s dick. He swallows hard, his adam’s apple bobbing as he grunts. 

Sam quickly joins the wave, cumming hard into Bucky, filling him with his spunk. He wraps his arms around Bucky as he collapses to his chest, Sam still bucking into him as he cums. Sam’s hips finally start to slow, his body being milked of every ounce of cum and energy that it could produce. 

Their breaths are heavy and labored, both men completely spent. They lay sweaty chest to sweaty chest, Bucky’s hands encasing Sam’s head, Sam’s hands on the small of Bucky’s back. Bucky lifts his head just enough to press a sloppy kiss to Sam’s chest before he drops it again, closing his eyes to listen to Sam’s erratic heartbeat.  

“I guess it is kinda nice to get some time to ourselves too.” Sam quips after a few minutes, laughing when Bucky’s hand slams against his chest.

“Shut up.” Bucky laughs, nuzzling his face into Sam’s neck once again. 

The night finishes just like it began. Bucky fades back to sleep as Sam throws a blanket over their bodies. Sam grabs his room temperature beer, taking a quick sip before he shifts underneath Bucky’s weight and turns his attention back towards the TV. It’s good to be home. 

[talltalesandbedtimestories]

The Hunter Who Loved Me (Part 1)

Series Page

Characters/Pairing: Dean Winchester, Castiel, Jack Kline, Dean x OFC

Series Summary: Part Three of Some Sunny Day. Dean's trying to balance his new relationship with Julie and his need to hunt. How long can he keep it from her? And can Julie keep her curiosity at bay?

Section Word Count: 6300

Section Content: language, fluff, dirty talk, smut, Domestic!Dean, Slight Dom!Dean

How did I get so lucky? That this was turning into just another day in her life with Dean Winchester made her shake her head. This has to be what it feels like to win the lottery.

Julie sprayed the top of the sliding glass door with a window cleaner. She took time to enjoy all the sexiness on the other side of the glass, the view of Dean in her backyard, while attending to her household chore. A few final touches and Dean would be done with the assembly. Crouched down and bent at the knees, Dean added some utensil hooks to the side of the grill. Unknowing, he was giving her all of that gorgeous, serious profile of his to study. Sunshine streaked through his hair and flamed the fiery orange-red tips incognito most of the time. She wiped away the cleaner slipping over her view. 

The grill had been an impromptu purchase on her end the weekend before. She and Dean had gone to, of all places, a home improvement store together. He had noticed a couple things around her house that needed fixing. But he wanted to run the ideas past her and some options before he went ahead and did anything. It was very domestic and thoughtful of him. It brought a huge grin to her face. 

He’d snuck a peck on her cheek when they were alone in the garden and patio center, talking about the drop in price of some seasonal stuff. His eyes lit up at a behemoth gas grill. He whistled and spouted off the stats: three burners, one on the side, plus a sear station burner to boot. The sucker could deliver 60,000 BTUs, which according to Dean, was awesome. Those meaty, handy fingers of his glided over the stainless steel top. Julie heated up.

It was decided that since Julie was throwing Brigida a surprise birthday party that following weekend and the October weather was pleasant enough, why not buy a grill and make it an outdoor affair. Most of the guests would end up outside anyway. Would Dean be keen on manning the meat for her? Julie tossed the unintentional innuendo out and had the six foot plus Adonis blushing in the middle of the display floor.

Satisfied with the streak free glass, Julie went out to check on Dean’s status. He leaned up from his work position and smiled. “All good. She’s ready for action. Just lit her up.”

Julie nodded, sighing in relief. “Cutting it close.” A couple hours from now the guests would arrive. And Brigida would definitely be on time, if not earlier, an hour after that.

“Yeah. But, it only took me threatening three store clerks at nine am this morning. Pulled a working igniter out of the floor model to get this baby up and running.” He waved both hands in the air with a flourish. “Now, we’re golden. No more nose crinkles. The meat’s marinating in your fridge.” He cocked a thumb over to Wes and Samuel’s house. “They’ve got the booze covered and some side dishes.”

“You need me to dash out for anything else before I finish up my food and the cookies to go along with the ice cream cake?”

He shook his head and drew her in by the waist, their bodies snug. “You trust me with all that fire power?”

Her hand rubbed over his vintage AC/DC t-shirt right under the collar. Sweat stippled his brow from the running around and grill tweaking. The mix of it with his sharp, clean soap scent got her warm and tingly. God, how does he make sexy so effortless? “You can handle it. I’m no Prometheus. You should worry more about my mom trying to take over the grill once she gets here.”

“Hey, it’s her birthday. If she wants the tongs and spatula, I’ll hand them over and be her sous chef.”

Julie smiled. “She’d probably love that.”

He grinned and bent down to dust her bottom lip with his mouth. “How many we gotta feed again?”

She rattled off the memorized total. “Twenty-two, not including us. Fifteen adults, three kids, two teenagers, and two dogs.”

Dean tipped his head. “Piece of cake.”

Julie smirked. “Not pie?”

His fingers flirted over the denim covering her ass. “Saving your pie for later.” He leaned down again for a deeper kiss.

Julie’s backyard had never seen such activity. Lawn chairs scattered over the freshly mowed lawn. Stacey and Carl’s two older children, Evan, 10, and Rory, 7, played cornhole in the driveway. Brigida had latched onto their youngest boy, two year old Dylan, right after everyone had given her a Happy Birthday surprise welcome. Karen’s boyfriend, Carter, the New York Mergers and Acquisitions lawyer, Wes, and Carl kept Dean company by the grill. He seared chicken, flipped hot dogs, checked and rechecked the pork ribs, sipped his beer, and took doneness requests for the beef burgers. 

Samuel chatted under the covered patio with Karen, Stacey, Cat and her partner Sheila, along with the handful of Brigida’s Little Italy neighbors that had made the short trek out of the city to celebrate. Karen’s teenage boys hid most of the time, busy on their phones under the shade of the carport. Julie attempted to involve Karen’s oldest, Khaleel - a sullen 16 who more than likely wanted to be anywhere else - asking if he would man the playlist blaring out of the portable bluetooth speaker. The younger by two years, Kevin, emerged from his cocoon to explain TikTok to Dean. The explanation only furrowed the cook’s brow even more.

Julie caught Dean’s this-is-for-the-guests smile settle into the I’m-actually-kinda-glad-to-see-you version when Cas and Jack finally showed up. Cas had picked up some weekend shifts to make ends meet. Jack was still working his side job as much as he could, balancing school, to save up for his trip to Texas over Winter Break. He was going to MIRL with this fantasy girl if it was the last thing he ever did. At least, that was the confession he had told Julie as the four hung out for a movie and pizza over Dean’s a month back.

Cas took his usual post at Dean’s right side by the grill. Julie glanced over every so often at the comical duo. Somewhere between Abbott and Costello and Martin and Lewis. Dean monitored his friend’s interactions with the new group of men. If Cas needed to pull back on the conversation a bit or shift to another topic, Dean cued him with a slight shake of a head or cough. Cas held his beer in a fierce grip and mimicked Dean when he took a sip. God, there is so much codependency there. What they hell did they go through together? Dean gave Jack a pair of tongs and had him man the second round of dogs. Jack smiled from ear to ear like a teenager getting the keys to the car after passing his driver’s license. And, he’s like a second dad to that kid.    

As was always the case in hosting, and determined to not have her mom lift a finger, Julie barely had time to relax or eat for the first hour of the party. She made sure the other food got served when Dean plattered and presented grilled meats. The two of them used a lot of hand gestures and miming to coordinate everything. Dean would every so often switch things up and make Julie blush with a few obscene ones.   

Once Dean had been schooled by Cat on Salt and Pepa’s breeds - a Samoyed and Belgian Sheepdog, respectively - he had them eating out of and drooling into his hands for scraps. Cas and Jack procured a frisbee from the outdoor toys and tossed it back and forth with the kids. The dogs played monkey in the middle.

Dean called out to Julie once everyone else was situated and eating. “Jules! Got a medium-well burger with your name on it, ready in a minute.” He winked over. She set the last of the latest round of drinks in front of guests and gave him a thumbs up.

Stacey cooed. “Knows just how you like your meat, does he?”

The old college friends did their share of giggling and cackling. Julie pointed a finger from Samuel to Stacey. “No more of your red wine for this one.” 

Carl tapped his wife’s knee. “Take it easy, sweetie.” Stacey gave her husband a slobbery raspberry on the cheek.

“That is a sweet ride.” Carter pointed to Baby in Dean’s driveway as her owner snuck behind Julie. He presented a cheeseburger on a perfectly toasted bun. Julie smiled at the lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles - all her favorites - already on top. The charred meat and fixings smelled divine. Her stomach grumbled. A side glance noted her mom’s own smiling face. Brigida stared over at the both of them while talking to the two older couples.

“Well, you can take a look under the hood later if you want, Carter. Rebuilt her more times than I can count.” He whispered in Julie’s ear. “Eat something before you pass out.”

She grinned, wanting to tease that he sounded like Brigida, but thought better of it. Stacey and the crew were watching their interactions like hungry vultures, ready to pounce on anything too tasty to tease about.

“So, Dean, if the ladies have another girls’ night, maybe we can get us a poker game over at my house.” Carl interjected.

Sheila chimed in, “Only if I can join.”

Julie overheard Cas whisper to Dean in confusion. “Wouldn’t Sheila be a part of girls’ night?”

Dean muttered back, “Not if she has better taste in music than the rest of them.”

Carter shook his head. “Oh, God, you wiped me out last time we played poker Sheila.”

Dean cocked a brow and gave Sheila a lopsided grin. “Some actual competition. Sounds like we gotta make that happen soon.”

Sheila tipped her beer to Dean and gave his frame a thorough inspection.

“My poker skills would benefit from someone new to play with, as well.” Cas nodded to Sheila. “I know all of Dean’s tells at this point. It’s getting rather boring.”

Sheila patted the empty seat next to her. “You might be my new best friend, then, Cas.”

Cas smiled and puffed out his chest.

Dean whispered to Julie, “Should I break the news that he hasn’t a shot in hell?”

Karen helped Julie with some of the kitchen cleanup before dessert. It was really a ruse for alone time and girl talk.

“How was it?” Karen asked in a hushed tone, in case anyone snuck in. She’d known about Julie going on birth control again. Had actually been the one to give her the idea in the first place.

“Which time?” Julie smiled. “We’ve been at it every night since the middle of this week when I surprised him.” She added. “Sometimes two or three times.”

“Jesus. Two or three? Carter’s five years younger than me and two times in one night has never… never happened. Three?” Karen fanned herself over the sink and running water. “How are you handling all that man, Jules?” Her brown eyes widened while she rinsed plates to drop in the dishwasher. 

Julie answered by holding her hands apart to approximate Dean’s length.

“Get the fuck out of here!” Karen’s voice raised. She slapped a palm over her mouth at the outburst. Water and suds flew everywhere.

Julie crossed a finger over her chest, blinking at the water that splashed her face. “When have I lied under oath?” 

“Be careful or you’re going to get a UTI.” She added in a whisper, “From all that fucking.”

Julie laughed. “I booked a follow up with my gyno as soon as I got the prescription. I see her next week.” She whispered back. “Kar, it was amazing, mind blowing before this. But now, it’s like…” Julie trailed off, daydreaming about her lover in the backyard. Her insides sore, throbbing with the memory of him; a deep and beautiful stoking she couldn’t wait to experience again. 

“I think Carter and Carl have crushes on him.” Karen shook her head. “Carter might come in his pants if he gets that car tour.”

“Don’t tell Cat, but I think Sheila might be crushing, too.” Julie giggled.

“We heard that!” Stacey and Cat screamed in unison. Karen and Julie screamed back in shock. Cat, a bit tipsy herself this afternoon, sported a toothy grin. From Julie’s vantage, she was lighter than usual, airy even. One of her arms draped over Stacey’s shoulders as the duo sashayed into the kitchen.

“Only speaking the truth.” Karen raised a hand as the other still clutched her chest at the friendly fright.

Stacey waved a hand. “I get dibs on Dean when Jules is done with him.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

Julie rolled her eyes. “Not planning on it anytime soon, Stace.”

Cat opened her mouth. Her eyes caught the threat Julie’s eyes beamed with an intentional telepathy. Cat snapped her jaw shut before the other ladies noticed.

“Not fair to keep all the juicy details to yourself.” Stacey whined, sliding out from Cat’s grip and into one of the kitchen chairs. She slumped over the table, elbow propped, cradling her chin in a manicured hand. “Some of us have needs.” She sighed.

Cat leaned against a counter, eyes glazed behind her glasses. “I think Brigida’s had one too many.”

Julie was happy for the segway but not pleased with the content. She settled her own glasses against the bridge of her nose in a nervous tick. “Really? A saw her with a glass of wine. But, she usually only has a little.”

“I think Wes and Samuel made her a special birthday cocktail.”

“Ugh.” She wiped both hands down across her face. “Love ‘em but those men and their alcohol.”

Stacey did her best pigeon impression again. “Do you love ‘em as much as Dean?”

A very deep throat clearing had all four ladies turn their head to the hallway. Dean stood there carrying a huge empty platter covered in meat bits and juices. “Am I interrupting something?” Julie blushed at the proud grin on his face. He skimmed past Stacey’s seated frame. Stacey was eye level with the denim hugging his ass and licked her lips. He excused himself again and slid around Cat, lifting the platter over Julie’s head winding past, to end up near Karen by the sink. “This is a nasty one. Let me take care of this, Karen.” He offered.

She shook her head. “Hand it over. Least we can do after you did such a stellar job at the grill. You got Kevin to eat a burger that doesn’t come in a fast food bag.”

“That is high praise. Thanks.” He smiled and gave Julie a once over before asking, “Anything else have to go out?”

“You think I should grab the ice cream cake out of the basement fridge?”

“It might be a good idea soon.” Dean shrugged. “Everyone’s either winding down or is pretty hammered.” He glanced over at Stacey.

Julie nodded and pointed at the counter behind him. “Would you take that tray out with the dessert plates and all the other necessities? Pretty please?”

He winked. “Yes, Ma’am.”

Stacey groaned. “Ugh. Could you two reel in the cuteness?”

Julie ignored the request. “Thank you. Cat.” She turned to ask her friend. “Wanna help me with the cake?” 

“Um, sure.” Cat hesitated.

When they got down to the basement, Julie listened to ensure Dean’s heavy steps had made their way out the sliding door and Stacey and Karen were busy talking in the kitchen.

“I’m not the best person to ask to carry a cake upstairs.” Cat mumbled.

“You can spot me.” Her hand rested on the fridge handle. “Speaking of looking out for me…”

“I know. I haven’t reached out much since that last conversation we had.” Cat shrugged. “You sounded happy that night, with him. I figured I should mind my own business for once and stop investigating.”

“Thank you, Cat.” Julie smiled.

“He seems decent, Julie. A good guy, even. Simple. Easy.” Cat waved a hand. “I don’t mean either of those things as a negative.”

Julie laughed. “I know. But, trust me, he’s anything but simple or easy to figure out.” She tilted her head. “I’ve been thinking... would you send me over a couple of those books you found?”

Cat pursed her lips. “I’ll think about it.”

It was ten o’clock by the time Dean and Julie finished with a majority of the clean up from the party. The last dishwasher load had been started, all the guests had gone home, and Brigida was fussing in the kitchen. Dean looked like a very uncomfortable giant next to the birthday lady.

“I don’t need-ah to stay.” Brigida insisted. “Dean-ah can take me home.” Her Italian accent was a lot heavier laced with alcohol.

“No, Dean can’t. None of us should be driving, Ma. We’ve all had a bit too much to drink. You have your extra meds here in your room. You’re going to take them, drink lots of water, and go to bed.”

She waved her hands. “I don’t want to be in the way.”

Julie rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Brigida, we just threw a party for you. How could you think you’re in the way?” Dean asked with true sincerity in his voice.

“Dean-ah.” She clutched his forearm. “I don’t want-ah you to run home. And, I know-ah this one won’t leave me in the house alone-ah. Thinkin’ I won’t be able to walk twenty steps without falling over and knocking myself out-ah.”

Dean shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, I’m pretty tired. Long day.”  

“Ma, Dean can stay over if he wants to.” Julie widened her eyes to encourage Dean to play along.

“Ye-yeah. Sure. We’re both exhausted.” He faked a long yawn and stretched out an arm. “Sooo tired. Gonna conk out as soon as my head hits the pillow.”

Brigida grinned. “You are a bad liar.” She tapped his tummy. “Fine. I’ll get myself ready for bed.” She raised both arms at Julie. “Appy?”

“Very happy.” Julie smiled. “Need me to help you with anything?”

“No.” Brigida motioned for Dean to bend down. She gave him a very long mama bear hug and then squeezed a cheek. “Thank you.”

Julie’s heart warmed at the interaction.

His facial features squirmed under Brigida’s vice grip. “Welcome.”

When she retracted her fingers, she announced, “I’ll be up early cleanin’ and makin’ breakfast.” She shuffled out of the kitchen. Her loud voice rang out in the hallway. “Don’t come down here naked in the morning, Dean-ah. Not-ah unless you got plans for me.”

Dean snorted as Julie yelled. “Ma!” 

Dean shook his head. “She’s even more of a pistol drunk.” He wrapped arms around Julie when they were alone. “I’ll hang out until she’s in her room and sleeping. I don’t think it’ll take long. Help you clean up some more. Then, I’ll duck out.” His kiss was soft and warm.

Julie hummed. “You heard her. She’s making you breakfast.” She shrugged. “You can stay.”

Dean smiled. “Sweetheart, if I stay, we won’t be sleeping.”

“Good.”

They took turns in the upstairs bathroom. Dean first, as usual, since Julie took longer with her nighttime skin routine. Cleanser, applied to her face in gentle circular motions, wiped away the makeup and sweat from the day. Cool water splashed against her skin. Splashes of moments from the party entered her mind. Her mom’s absolute shock and then subsequent soft crying at the surprise. Stacey wrangled the girl power squad together for a group selfie. It would post onto the social medias before Stacey got well and fully sloshed. Cas pulled her to the side to give her a genuine, heartfelt thank you for the invitation. Jack assisted with the dish clearing without even having to be asked. Mom’s ancient, pudgy neighbor, Lydia, who didn’t move once from her seat under the patio, tugged at Julie’s wrist to tell her she needed to do a better job holding onto this man than the last one. 

She patted away most of the wetness with a face towel. This man. She opened the medicine cabinet to put away some items and grab the moisturizer. Everything she disliked about her face on bright display under the bathroom lighting. The pads of her fingers danced over the circles under her eyes and some of the wrinkles forming around her mouth. All those old Italian women and their snarky little comments. Wondering what Dean’s doing with me. Even with all of his secrets and all that she still didn’t know, she still felt that tug of insecurity. Not being good enough. His imperfections, the cracks appearing over the months of infatuation and obsession with this man, were making themselves known. But they were all things she could handle and cast aside at the end of the day. Because all it took was that one second of his eyes locking with hers in that way. That very Dean way. Craving it in that moment, she hurried and worked the cream into her skin.

She entered the dark bedroom. The only illumination was from the television, the volume low and muffled. White light from the screen flashed like lightning over Dean, laid out on the still made bed. 

He had slipped on the grey and blue plaid pajama bottoms Julie bought him. She picked them up as an afterthought one Sunday shopping when he’d started staying over a couple times a week. He came across them, folded and waiting, on the unspoken but understood side of Julie’s bed that was now his. A lopsided grin had been given as thanks.

There was a reason I didn’t buy him a shirt. A remote in hand rested on his tummy and that luscious bare chest. He cradled his head atop two pillows with his other palm; his biceps curled, primed, and ready for action. Legs crossed at the ankles and his foot swayed with an ancy rhythm. The image of him stretched out imprinted in her brain under the bright pops of light as if someone were taking lots of polaroids of this magnificent specimen.  

He turned to her, smiled, then whispered, “Wanna watch something?” The remote was used as a pointing device toward the floor. “I can’t tell if that’s a chainsaw or your mom snoring.”

Julie nodded. “I told you, you can hear everything in this house.”

“Maybe soundproofing needs to be another project.” He frowned. “This is going to be torture.”

She giggled low and soft, hands on her hips, cinching in her oversized nightshirt. “Why?”

His fingers skirted over the comforter creeping in her direction. “Cause I want to make you moan like the other night.” 

That very Dean way. The sexy stare made her smile drop. “Thought you were tired.”

“Come here, sweetheart.” He gave her a chin nod.

Julie sighed and eased onto the bed, aware of every creak and squeak. “Karen was right.”

“‘Bout what?” He opened an arm. His embrace clutched her to his warm chest.

She snuggled in. “You’re going to give me blushing bride syndrome.”

“A blushing what now?”

His lips pressed to hers cut off an immediate response. She nibbled on his chin when he released. “Too much sex. You know, can cause issues down there.”

He pulled back to study her face. “I’m not going to apologize for wanting you.”

“Not asking you to.” She pressed into him.

Mischief lined his lips. “Maybe I should take it easy on you. Give you a break. Since we have to be quiet and all.” He flashed the all-knowing, hot shit grin that stopped her heart. “I mean, we know you can’t keep that dirty little mouth of yours shut when mine’s all over you... or inside you.” His voice was husky and gritty, breathing near her ear. 

“Oh, really?” She whispered her retort. “Who was the one panting and groaning last night about how hard he was going to come?”

Dean latched onto one of her knees. The pull dragged a thigh to rest over his hip. His warm hand traveled and danced along her skin. It snuck under the night shirt; pushed it high up past her waist. Fingers clutched at the top of her bare ass and kneaded. He shifted into her more and wedged their bodies tight. “Nah. You couldn’t have heard that. You were too busy screaming my name over and over.”

A jarring motor-like sound drifted up from Brigida’s bedroom for only a second. They froze in place. Dean chuckled. Tangled together, Julie rested a finger on his mouth. “Shhh.” She pressed into the softness of his perfect pout with more force and threw in a nose crinkle for good measure.

“I wasn’t going to say anything…” His lips struggled to release the words under her finger. Julie had learned early on upon their meeting that Dean enjoyed teasing out a variety of reactions from her.

She sighed and relented the tiny attempt at restraint. “What?”

“When you were in the bathroom earlier and I got a good listen of it all. Actually had something to compare it to.” He paused. “You snore like your mom.” His grin spread slow and wide, lips pursed tight.

Julie’s eyes widened on defense. “No, I don’t.”

“Yeah, you do.” He nodded, still grinning, lifting his brow for emphasis. “Get so loud.” A slight, controlled circling of those strong hips began. The motion matched the sensual rhythm of his verbal descriptions. “You start off so nice and quiet. Then it’s up. And up. And up. Like a freight train in here some nights, sweetheart.”

A few more seconds of silence followed. “Shit.” That was the only admission Julie would allow, listening to his description of her inherited sleeping habits while succumbing to the wondrous feel of his body lighting her up. “Don’t compare me to my mother while doing that, Dean.”

Dean laughed and gave her another chin nod in victory. “Still. Proves my point. Can’t help yourself. Way louder and noisier than I could ever be.” 

Julie nuzzled close, finding the tunnel under his arm. Firm strokes down the slope of his back relished in the heat vibrating through his body. She ran a thumb back and forth over that plump pillow of a bottom lip. “You were the one that almost broke my headboard. Remember? Talk about noise.” And talk about fucking hot. “White knuckling it to get some leverage, slamming it into the wall.” His mouth parted and a hunger filled his gaze. She grinned at the erection hardening more in the pajamas against her patch of curls. “While you were slamming into me.”

He caught her thumb with a clench of teeth. His tongue flirted along the pad before he sucked at it with a low moan. His lips released it when he whispered back. “That was a memorable fuck, sweetheart. You under me. Letting me ride you so hard. Wish I could pound you like that for days. Wreck us both.”

“Jesus, Dean.” Julie moaned, rocking soft against his clothed cock.  “There wouldn’t be anything left of me.”

The hand left her ass, skirted under the shirt. Those meaty fingers landed on the curve of her breast and massaged into bliss. “But what a way to go.” He groaned, then peeled away enough to dip down and mouth a nipple through the shirt. “Shit, got me so hard.” He spoke between licks and sucks. “I wanna fuck you. All. The. Time.” The warmth and wet of his mouth soaked through to the taut nub. “All I could think about today was getting you alone. Here. Like this.” He nudged at the material with his nose to expose the dark, pebbly flesh to the air and his mouth. “Sliding inside you again. Nothin’ but me and you.” He suckled at her tit. When he came up for air and met her gaze, he whispered in that smoke and honey tone. “It feels like home inside you, Jules.”

Dean’s eyes lit up with another flash from the television. Glassy, eager and laser focused with intent. He always downplayed his ability to convey and verbalize feelings. But that confession, those six words - It feels like home inside you - made her whole body shiver. Like the night they’d first had sex. You feel so safe. It had been four little words back then. Not THOSE three little words. But it was pretty damn close.

“I think we should give ourselves a challenge.” The seriousness faded from his face, replaced with that impish grin. “A quiet, well contained, controlled fucking.”

Julie giggled, her body still buzzing from his actions and words. Her hands answered, pulling the pajamas down past his ass. He lifted up from the mattress an inch to assist with the disrobing. The fabric bunched around his knees.

He groaned when she tugged at his cock, free and rigid. She curled toes and peeled the material down far enough so he could shake his feet out the rest of the way. “Turn around, baby.” His voice held an authoritative tone. “Everything. Off.”

In the process of her slow and quiet one-eighty flip she rid herself of the nightshirt. The cool air in the room prickled at hot skin. He moaned at the sight. “That’s not being quiet.” She tisked.

He lassoed her in with a bear hug, onto her side, this time her back sealed along his chest. A haphazard pull at the band released the ponytail. His fingers brushed away strands. Searing lips attacked the exposed flesh of her neck. “Are you gonna be good for me?”

She stifled a moan and nodded.

“Hm.” Fingers slid into the folds, finding the wetness. “Very good so far.” He pushed farther in and searched. Circled her entrance. “All this for me already?” He groaned in her ear. “Goddamn, I wanna get my mouth on that. But we know you really can’t contain yourself when my face is between your legs.” Those fingers ended up at his mouth. She could smell her excitement, inches away. The sound of his lips sucking and his moans stoked her need. “Maybe a challenge for the morning.” He thought aloud.

His body, large and eclipsing, leaned up, shifting. His cock slid between the cheeks of Julie’s ass like a heat seeking missile. She let out a pitiful whine and bit her lip. They hadn’t even talked about that as an option. But every time his cock got tantalizingly close the thought had crossed her mind. She’d never wanted to try, not even with Steve. But Dean. Dean made her want to experience everything.

The sex with Dean had been many things over the past months: fun, playful, sweet, luxuriating, romantic, fast, rough, hard, naughty, and tons of dirty talk. Yet, none of that fifty shades stuff or roleplaying she had anticipated. Almost vanilla sex in comparison from what her mind could conjure up. 

Almost, but never vanilla. Not with Dean. It was that French Vanilla ice cream that you’d get at a family owned creamery worth a two hour drive. One made by an artisan, churned by hand. One bursting with flecks of vanilla bean hitting all the taste buds. It was rich, creamy, indulgent, velvety, cool, lolling about on your tongue, savoring the flavor in the moment, crystalizing a memory for wonderful recollections.  

Still, there was a palpable restraint by Dean, holding back, in terms of physical limits even if never in vocal declarations. Sometimes she thought she could feel the inner shift in Dean. It could be an imperceptible tell if their bodies weren’t so connected; a retraction of his muscles under that worn skin and the myriad of scars she would cling to in mounting desperation of the most amazing kind. He never out and out stated it. Dean never would. But she felt like the pilot in this jet when it came down to it. He was her trusty co-pilot, offering suggestions but always adhering to the final decision, charting her course, making sure she stayed on track, allowing her control. Allowing her safety. 

“No one’s gonna be quiet if we give that a try tonight.” Dean read her mind, again keeping her on track with the original plan. He scooted down, cupping her figure with his. “Any other night, sweetheart, you let me know.” He dotted her back with kisses and wedged a knee between her legs. The motion splayed her bottom half, spreading her. His palm crooked under her knee, bent it just so. “But, this way.” The cock tip pressed at the entrance. “I think we can both get what we need and not wake sleeping beauty.” He licked little patches along her shoulder blade. “What’s that thing you always say?”

Jesus, why is he teasing me now? “When?” She huffed out.

“When you come over and decide to clean up my kitchen.”

“No muss, no fuss?”

He rumbled into her back and began the slide. Inside. “Yeah. That’s it. No Muss. No Fuss.” His large palm grabbed at her breast, latched onto it, thumbed the nipple. She could feel the strength of his hips guiding the wondrous length and girth of his cock. He bottomed into her and stopped. She wanted to feel how tight his ass was clenched in that moment. Sought it out with a hand and squeezed. “Hm.” He approved of the action. “How does that feel, sweetheart?” His voice, low, deep.

“You feel so good inside me Dean. You feel good everywhere.” She moaned when the controlled pistoning switched on. 

“Hm. So, the quiet part is gonna be impossible for you, huh?”

She moaned again, softer, she thought. “This is me being quiet.”

“Baby?” He moaned out the question.

“Yeah?”

“Would you be alright if I helped keep you quiet?”

A fire lit up in her belly. “Yeah.”

He groaned. An arm threaded between her rocking body and the mattress. His hand slid up her chest, over her neck, her jaw. Settled over her mouth. “If it’s too much.” He panted. “If I get too carried away, you tap. Okay?”

She tapped his ass cheek to confirm she understood. Listened to his inhales and exhales. His thumb wedged between her upper lip and the underside of her nose. Two massive fingers clamped over her mouth. The other two had a firm grip under her chin, ensuring her lips stayed closed. All while he pumped in and out of her from behind, slow and purposeful.

“Feel so fucking good.” He whispered. His mouth pecked at her back, shoulder, her side, her arm, anywhere it could reach. “Four nights into your ‘I’m on the pill’ surprise.” He panted out his confession. “I’m sure I’m going to come down eventually, Jules. If that gives you some hope. About this blushing bride thing.” A soft growl left his mouth. “I mean, I’m no Superman.” She moaned into his hand when his pace and thrusts picked up. He was still very much in control and not rocking the bed like she knew he could. “But, I am Batman.” His chuckle vibrated into her back.

He shifted, circled, found that spot in her and focused all his energy. More muffled moans erupted from Julie.

“Shhh, sweetheart.” He used more of his palm against her mouth now, pressed harder against the flesh. “Be good for me.”

The subtle restraint was electric, increasing her pleasure tenfold. The sounds of her slick and his rutting inside her only made her more wet.

“I gotta feel you cum.” He begged. His other hand glided over the top of her thigh, rested against the mattress and palmed her pussy. “I’m gonna work you quick, baby. Okay?”

She nodded as much as she could with the hold of his hand.

He parted the folds, found her swollen clit and took no mercy. It was hard, fast. Explosions of light began popping into her brain. Her body jerked with slight tremors. It wouldn’t be long. “Yeah, that’s it. I love it when you come undone. Cum all over my cock.” Dean whispered.

His voice tipped her into the orgasm. She moaned, tightened, while he continued to pump.

“Yeah, right behind you, Julie. Yeah. Fuck.” And, he was, chasing her with his own orgasm. The pulsing of his cock, the spilling of him inside, warm, mingling with her wet he’d produced. His pants and groans against her back. His weight on her body, hand still cupping her mouth. “Man. I give us an A for effort. But, I wasn’t much better than you in the sound department. I might need a damn muzzle.”

Julie smiled into his palm.

“Sorry, baby.” He removed his hand from her mouth. “Should have tapped me. You okay?”

She nodded into the comforter. “Oh, yeah.” Eased onto her back. “Definitely. Can we do more of that?”

He laughed, staring with those beautiful eyes, crinkles extending the gleeful expression on his face. That very Dean way. “Sure.” He shrugged. “Just maybe not tonight?” He kissed her lips, then flashed her an exhausted smile. “I really am pretty beat. Been one helluva long day.”

Julie nodded. “Me too.” She tapped his forearm. “Bathroom again for me and then sleep.”

“Don’t be long.” He collapsed onto his back and closed his eyes.

She smiled, closing the bathroom door. He’d be asleep by the time she slipped back into bed. The sounds of his snores would cover a variety of animals from a grunting pig to a snarling lion. But she wouldn’t tease him in the morning about it. She promised to give him a pass.

Part 2

Series Page

[0poole]

The Thing about Furries

This is literally me thinking to myself and putting it online under the guise someone else might care enough to read it, so really there’s no actual point to this, feel free to ignore.

Also obviously I just gotta say people can do whatever the hell they want as long as it isn’t hurting someone else in some way. Also, this is pretty much exclusively about the character design aspects of furry-ism and not the IRL aspects anyways.

So my brother just introduced me to Beastars (even though I’ve known about it for a long time because internet) and after being super insanely into Animal Crossing and other junk, it feels like I have to piece together my thoughts about “furry” characters because it’s funky. Like, insanely funky. Everyone agrees that it’s funky too, which is weird. Usually some people are just making it funky for laughs/dismissiveness but no, here it’s pretty universally funky.

First of all, the definition for the purpose of talking about it. Let’s just say a “furry” character is an animal character with distinctly human traits and talks. For the sake of scope, since the term “funky” made me think of it, Donkey Kong is a furry character. Thumper from Bambi is a furry character. Obviously all the characters from Beastars, Animal Crossing (non-humans), Zootopia, and pretty much all Disney properties where the main character is an animal is a furry character all involve furry characters. One thing I won’t say is a furry character are animal sidekicks that don’t talk, even though they emote like human beings, like Moana’s pig or something. Pokemon aren’t either, outside of Mystery Dungeon stuff obviously. Anything can be turned into a furry character via fanart, but canonically, let’s just say they’re not. This is probably the funkiest part of furry-ness but yeah, I honestly think the one threshold that separates “furry” from “non-furry” is whether or not they talk. I don’t know what it is, it just feels like characters that talk cross the line. It’s basically a nonsense term that can be whatever you make it anyway so who cares, but that’s how I’ll be thinking about it. Also, I’ll never use the term “furry” in a derogatory sense. I’ve never really thought of it as being anything other than a descriptor, not anything with inherent goodness or badness to it, like calling someone a “construction worker” or something. Also “scalies” are just “furries” under another name. Reptiles are still furry as far as I care.

So the age-old question, am I a “furry?” Honestly I think I’m not, because even though I do obviously like furry characters, it’s not like a super big part of my likes. I basically just like good character design and appealing characters, some of which are furry. If I became a “furry” just for that, millions of other people would then become “furry,” basically making the term useless.

Doesn’t really matter though, I just wanna talk about furry character design, because it’s a seriously mixed bag. It’s like a bag filled with lettuce, marbles, and volcanic rock. That’s probably the reason why so many people are into it, since it gives characters a relatable anchor (animals) but can shoot them off in so many different directions that there’s inevitably something for everyone. You can either choose to make them basically humans with animal heads, like in Beastars, super magical and cute like in My Little Pony, or… whatever’s going on with Sonic characters.

I feel like the over-under of “good” furry character design is tweaking the biology of the animal in question without straying too far, and if you do go far, then it’s either relevant to the story of the character or just a thing with all furry characters in the world. For example, horses aren’t pink. But, in My Little Pony, they are, because horses can be any color, and so on. And, ya know, apart from that, just the usual character design stuff, like good color use and whatnot. Frankly the stuff I hate most about “bad” furry design is just “bad” character design, and not really relevant to the furry-ness of the character. It’s just cherry-picked correlation, not actual causation. Human characters can be just as bad as furry characters, there’s just a lot less to change in humans, so some people think the openness of furry design causes bad design when there’s just a lot more left up to the creator.

To be honest I think the pinnacle of furry character design is Zootopia. I feel like one of the big things people like to do is associate people/character traits with animals, like thinking someone’s a weasel for being super cunning and witty, or if someone’s a lion for being super powerful-feeling and proud. Zootopia, I think, manages to not only represent that in the structure and stature of its characters, but really implant a human face on to an animal. When you look at a Zootopia character, you can almost see someone you know in that face. Maybe that’s just standard in most cases, but it feels really present here. As for the character traits of animals, obviously it’s kinda rich pointing that stuff out in a story explicitly going against all that, but in terms of visual design I think we should think of the associated traits of an animal and pair that with their actual biology to an extent. For example, the ungulate characters have pretty thick bodies with thin legs with really pronounced knees. You know, like ungulates. They don’t have human proportions because they’re basically just animals with the stature and culture of humans. I think Nick is one of the big examples of a really easy and good trait to have in furry characters, that being having pretty short legs relative to a long body. 

Humans have really, really long legs compared to everything else. That’s why no one walks on all fours on the soles of their feet, because our arms are so much smaller than our legs, meaning we have to shuffle along on our knees. Animal legs are different. Also, just basic things like size difference and such are basically a given. Rabbits are small. Water buffalo are big. Shrews are even smaller than rabbits. For the most part, you shouldn’t stray too far from basic size differences. Obviously Nick probably would be a bit taller than he is in that case, but since he’s a protagonist he kinda gets a more limited pallet for the sake of wider appeal.

Also, one of the big things about Zootopia that really makes it the best is how society adapts to different biologies. Zootopia itself is so goddamn colorful and diverse, because even the most diverse cities in the real world are only gathering up people of different skin colors, ethnicities, locations, etc. Zootopia has to account for so many different biologies, and the designers really didn’t limit themselves there. Even little things like food stands having a little elevator to get drinks up to giraffe-height really make the world. Obviously they would separate the different biomes, but each biome still having bizarre little bits of technologies in it makes it amazing.

So with that all said, I must hate Beastars, right? I mean, they’re just humans with fur and animal heads. Well, I’m just as surprised as you are, because I actually kinda didn’t mind it as much as I thought. Obviously I’d take a Zootopia over a Beastars any day, but it wasn’t really that bad for character design purposes. Other critiques aside. I mean, the one big thing of size difference is still there, so it doesn’t feel completely lost that these are all animals with different biologies. Plus, I think the big thing is that their animal parts are still very animalistic, and not the usual “furry” design liberties, and that they at least extend well downward into their human parts. For example, in the first episode, that one parrot girl really caught my eye because she still looked like a parrot. What we could see of her arm still looked parrot-like. But, then, what about everyone else who basically is just a furry human with an animal head? 

One of the big, BIG things that turns me off with most furry media is how serious things are. They’re talking animals, Jim. I get you want them to have a super edgy backstory with tons of death and trauma but they’re animals. My brain can’t just shake that thought, and since a lot of my least favorite stuff is super edgy and etc I just get turned off to the idea. Movies like Zootopia fix that by being like “Haha, talking animals am I right guys? Oh by the way there’s a government-funded drug cartel trying to frame carnivores as monsters in order for herbivores to rise above them in power.” If the makers toy with the idea of talking animals being funny/cute/fantastical/etc, then they can implant the serious seeds that make a good story. Things like the Warrior Cats series (my sister’s brand) don’t feel like they strike that chord before they go on to tell a super serious story, so I get lost in the mess (Or at least that’s how fan works seem to go, I’ll probably never read the original books, let’s be real. If they’re not like that then just imagine that as being a critique of fan works). So, what about Beastars? I feel like making the animals so human is absolutely necessary in telling their serious story. Plus, since the animal parts are so much like actual animals, it feels much more like “this is a character represented by an animal” instead of “this is a talking animal” sort of thing. By not making things so cartoonish, they can tell a less cartoonish story. I’m still not super into it but it does work. I’m into cartoons as a whole tho, so I’ll always take cartoons over basically anything else. 

 Now, I want to talk about hands. Choosing whether to give a furry character hands is the turning point in design philosophy. Obviously mammals are probably going to have hands no matter what, because we associate most with them, and they kinda-sorta have fingers, but what about fish? Finding Nemo characters… sort of have hands? They will definitely try to pick things up as much as possible (i.e. Marlin caressing Nemo’s egg) but they don’t actually “grab” things. But, sure, their fins can feel like hands to a human because they’re sorta-kinda in the same location. 

What about wings? Guardians of Ga'hoole has probably the greatest furry bird character design of all time. I HATE it when character designers try to turn feathers into fingers. Probably exclusively because of this movie, but still. I can’t praise this movie enough for sticking to its guns in not only keeping an owl’s actual claws as its hands, and wings only staying something secondary for gestures and stuff, but also for designing WEAPONS for OWLS. Again, they are talking animals, but like… They transcended the thought of it being funny and cute and instead led us into thinking they’re totally badass, because, let’s be honest, birds are probably the most badass of all animals. They fly, have sharp hunting skills, a piercing gaze… and, ya know, are descendents of dinosaurs. They can even be super cute if need be. Did I mention they can fly? That’s like their main thing that mostly only they can do. Not sure if you’ve heard, but flying’s pretty cool. But, yeah, whatever, keeping a bird’s hands to its claws is basically necessary I’d say, unless you want to go the Sonic route and not even give them wings in the first place. 

What about something that doesn’t even have limbs? Snakes are even more bonkers than birds. If an alien came to Earth and the first thing they saw was a snake slithering around they’d probably pack up and leave because their petty minds weren’t vast enough to imagine a thing moving so elegantly and so, like clandestine-ly? Like, just by looking at them, you really can’t imagine how the hell they move. Anyways, this is starting to turn into me gushing about animals… We all have seen that one tweet of that one rattlesnake character from Rango being called one of the coolest character designs, and by golly they’re totally right. Snakes are a place for character designers to flex their imaginary muscles because of how weird they are. What if we get a snake, but… instead of a rattle (which is already a crazy biological feature let’s be real) let’s give him a prosthetic GATLING GUN instead. And also like a gigantic-rimmed hat. That is unreasonably cool. Again, snakes are badass, so instead of having to convince us that it’s all fun and games they can very easily be like “Don’t mess with that guy, he’s a snake” and pull out some seriousness from that.  But, as the internet will surely convince you, snakes are also weirdly cute sometimes. Sometimes so cute you have a crisis of faith. Back to Ga'hoole, the nursery mother snake character there might just be one of the cutest snake characters ever. I still hold true that adults can be as cute as children/young people in the right circumstances, and she is a prime example of that. Also, can we just talk about Viper from Kung Fu Panda? Good God, what a character. I can imagine the board meeting: “Okay so we want a lovable cast of characters that do Kung Fu. We got the main Panda, a Tiger, a Crane, a Snake, a Praying Mantis, a…” “Wait, a SNAKE? How the hell are we supposed to make a snake do Kung Fu?” and then they fucking NAILED it. Not only is she a total cutie pie, but she has some of the best design direction of that entire, amazing franchise. Really, AAA western animation studio furry design is almost always killer. 

Now I want to talk about Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic is easily the Chaotic Evil of furry character design. What the fuck even are they? Imagine starting up a video game company and hearing this one guy come up to you like “I’ve got this game about a blue hedgehog with super speed and one weird inter-connected eyeball and gloves and he collects golden rings and turns Super Saiyan if he picks gets some magical gems” and suddenly he becomes the face of your entire company. I have no idea where all that came from. But, guess what? I still love it. I have no idea why, but it’s great. I mean, even apart from the usual things people say about him, like having a good silhouette and junk. Maybe he’s just been so ingrained in our society that it’s basically Stockholm syndrome, but I do like Sonic characters. I think the only issue I have with the character designs is that some are a little too similar in the face/body (I think Espio and Charmy should look a little stranger imo), but for the most part they’re great. It’s even really refreshing when you do get some character that strays from the normal body type, like Big the Cat, Vector, or that one grey hawk guy from Sonic Riders. My favorite of the games is Cream and Cheese, mainly because she’s a cute rabbit with a Chao (the best part of the Sonic franchise hands-down) but I think the “best” from all forms of media is Tangle from the comics. She has the necessary gumption and sportiness you’d expect from a sonic character, while still looking interesting, but not looking too out of left-field, and also having a super iconic and relevant trait (a giant, fluffy tail. Gotta love those) that has a unique use. One day they will make a game using the comic characters and that day shall be a glorious day. I seriously think the art of the comics is amazing, even though I haven’t actually read much of it myself. I’d definitely give it a shot if given the chance though.

Although, you really can’t talk about furry characters without mentioning porn at least a little bit. At this point it kinda forgoes design and is just a personal preference sort of thing, as you’d probably expect. Porn’s like that. But really, for me, I think any kind of non-human genitalia is actually disgusting. Literally, any excuse to put human dicks on something is a good one. I’m not gonna go into detail, but wouldn'tcha believe some people genuinely are into the idea of having large, human-sized breasts in the same areas as a normal animal’s nipples, i.e. around their hind legs? I mean, anything’s possible, but it’s just… yeah… No. I don’t even want to talk about the various shapes of animal “anatomy.” It’s not fun, and the less I have to think about it the better I am. Obviously if a character’s human enough it’s fine, but I just can’t stand the biology of some of it. Like, how would you fuck a snake? How do they even do it in the first place? My brain just doesn’t conceive of it, and as such it’s not in my purview. But, one things for sure, you are NOT a zoophile for liking furry porn (even if the characters in question don’t stand up on two legs). That’s an entirely different beast, and it’d be nice if people stop pretending like it’s at all relevant here.

The last thing that’s sort of a preferential thing for me is toe beans. I just can’t stand them. It’s like one step below nauseating for me, and I have no idea why. It makes it infinitely harder to enjoy furry stuff because of it, because it seems people are universally for them, both in a weirdly pornographic sense, and in just a cuteness sense. Even the cutest possible depictions of toe beans still make me want to shrivel up inside. Maybe that’s why I like rabbits so much… They’re too fluffy to show them, whether or not they actually have them in the first place.

But yeah, furries. Of course I have a fursona. He’s been in the works for ages because I never feel like I can get him exactly right. Chances are he’ll break off into a separate character like my last attempt. 

[the-clocktower]

Hey, CW! I love your blog and personally apologize that you were forced into making it (I feel that on many levels), but, uh, quick question... how bad are you at web design because this design is awful and I'm sorry. The body text is a poor font choice for readability, the tag color is the same as the background, everything blends in FAR too much, there's no visuals whatsoever which is fine, maybe, if the colors differed, but you NEED a background of #4d0066 and an off-white text and also

Danny waited patiently after explaining his plan clearly and concisely, giving his friends the time that they needed to think everything over before deciding. He gave them twelve seconds, which, really, that was plenty of time. “So? C’mon, let’s get to work! CW is only gonna be distracted so long.”

“No, no, no, back up here. You stole their laptop- They have a laptop?” Tucker looked some mixture of delighted and confused, Danny feeling a surge of empathy for the same exact feelings he had gone through when discovering the laptop and subsequently the blog that CW had actually made (an event shortly followed by Danny being forced to sit down and finish his homework). “And you want to… what do you want to do?”

“Change their blog, duh. I mean, look- Here, let me show you what it looks like right now.” Danny, still in his ghost form, flew over to Sam’s large and ridiculously extravagant bed before letting himself fall and bounce a couple times before settling, making sure he was stable before pulling the borrowed laptop out of his backpack.

Sam and Tucker were quick to settle on either side of him, both of them making similar noises of disgust and horror once Danny brought up the correct blog, which, thank you, honestly. CW finally made a blog and apparently knew nothing about design.

“Jesus… I feel like I might actually cry over this- Did they use the same color for the text and background- What is this font- Danny. Danny, I can’t- I’m having an attack.” Tucker dramatically clutched his heart and fell backwards as he ‘died,’ Danny snorting as he turned to Sam.

“Well… it could definitely use some work,” Sam admitted, taking the laptop and getting to the customization screen in a few short clicks. “There, now if anything happens, they can blame me and you won’t have to go around pouting at being yelled at.”

“I don’t pout,” Danny muttered, leaning up against Sam as Tucker scrambled and moved to sit on Sam’s other side so she was now in the middle, laptop easily reachable by all of them. “Okay, so, that background color has got to go first. Like. Now.”

“No, no, we need a title for this blog first,” Tucker argued, leaning over to jab a finger at the screen. “Look at that empty space. It’s making me cry, Danny.”

“Boys, boys, settle down,” Sam made a clicking noise with her tongue, clicking around on the screen before bringing up a list of themes - free ones, Danny noticed. Honestly, disgustingly rich and she still searched for whatever was free or cheapest, which… fair. “We’re changing this blog theme, first. It’s disgusting.”

The three were silent as they scrolled through the choices, communicating in grunts, mutters, and disgusted noises. Danny was almost sure they wouldn’t actually get anywhere before he was jabbing the screen hard enough to move it, “There. That one. It’s perfect-”

“We are not giving him a Miraculous Ladybug themed blog, Danny,” Sam sighed, Danny offended at how Jazz the tone she used was. “We’re all better than that.”

“Speak for yourself,” Tucker snorted, finally shaking his head. “Forget it, colors and title first, then blog. At least with colors we’ll know what we’re looking for better, right?”

“Alright, alright,” Sam groaned. “Colors and title first. What should we use for a title? I don’t know enough about them to choose anything good.”

Danny blinked as the two turned to look at him, panicking for a moment before blurting out the first thing that came to mind. The looks only turned into confused frowns and baffled expressions, which, okay, fair, since Danny had spoken in Latin.

Clearing his throat, he spoke it more clearly, giving a shrug, “Pulvis et umbra sumus. It’s something I learned when they were helping me with Latin, it just means we are but dust and shadow.”

Sam and Tucker went quiet, shared a look, and then nodded together before Sam was typing it in with a quiet, “Fitting.” It really was, when Danny thought about it, so, there. That was one thing done. “Okay, next up is title font.”

Clicking open the options, Tucker was half-shouting at once, “Comic Sans! Sam, we gotta give him Comic Sans-”

“No, no, choose that Grumpy one, now that is perfect.” Plus CW’s reaction would be hilarious.

“What? No- Comic Sans!”

“But Tuck, c’mon, the pun-”

“Both of you shut up,” Sam snapped, glaring at the two of them almost at once which was actually impressive, if Danny had to admit to it. “We’re giving them 1785 Baskerville.”

Danny and Tucker were both quiet, sharing a long look before Tucker decided he wanted to become a ghost ahead of schedule, “Boo, you goth.” He was shoved off the bed for his troubles, something which Danny managed to not laugh at if only so he wasn’t shoved off as well.

Once Tucker crawled back onto the bed they got back to designing, arguing over colors (“Oh my God, it should not be taking this long to have a sample color just pick something!”), font choices (“No, screw you both, we’re going to use Google Fonts like a normal family we are not having another fight over this!”), and which theme they should go with (“You know what? Screw it- Screw it! We’re just going to use the Tumblr Official theme like heathens and edit that!”)

It was taking longer than Danny thought it would, but slowly and surely the blog was coming together, Tucker having firmly taken over once it got to the actual coding part of the website, which was how they ended up with transparent textures to go with their background color (“Aw, but, guys, c’mon, this texture looks like stars! How cool is that!”), a transparent texture for the posts themselves (“I know you like your stars, Danny, but it won’t work with the font color and look, the parchment fits, don’t you think?”), and even a cooler looking blog title (“You know what? Here, no, we’ll put a text-shadow command on the title- There. That looks pretty cool, don’t you think?”)

There were a few hiccups along the way in choices (“No, no, make his avatar shape a square, because… you know. He’s such a square.”), but at the end they had a nice blog that really had taken way too long and Danny was half-certain that CW was about to show up and yell at them any second.

“You know,” Sam said at the very end, “This is still kind of a boring looking blog, everything considered. We could have gone way more crazy with all of this.”

“I mean… yeah, I guess so,” Danny admitted, closing the laptop and carefully putting it back in his bag. “But I didn’t want to like, you know, really make something crazy, I guess. I mean… Their blog sucked, but it’s still their blog, you know?” Danny shrugged, floating off the bed and giving a light stretch. “Dunno, just figured I’d tweak it a little to fit them better instead of having them waste time on it. You know, show off that wise old mentor who cares and has everything together and stuff thing.”

Danny barely even finished before a pillow being thrown at his face, Tucker laughing as Sam booed him. “You’re too nice! Get that sickeningly sweet attitude out of my room!” She was grinning even as she ‘yelled’ at him, Danny rolling his eyes with a laugh as he did as told.

Not even half an hour later and Danny was back where he started, laptop returned to its proper place and back open and waiting.

It was the latest ask that he saw in the inbox that had him pausing, Danny reading through the ask and unable to help himself whatsoever as he snickered before clicking the ask to respond.

you know what asker? you’re absolutely right so lets try this out

-Danny

            [Story and blog re-design by ibelieveinahappilyeverafter.]

[miracle-in-the-eye-of-the-storm]

Sorry I’m Not Perfect, part II ― Trixx’s Grief

eyy part two! i’m gonna go back and tag the first bit i did as “Sorry I’m Not Perfect AU”, which is what i’m calling this thing. when i’ve gotten all of the chapters/parts up on tumblr, i’m gonna move it to AO3 as well, so look out for that!

Trixx has always loved its kits, even when it wasn’t the one to personally choose them. What could it not love about them? Fiercely protective, resourceful, clever, curious, and sneaky when they needed to be. True, they may not be as powerful as Tikki and Plagg’s children, but they’re still Trixx’s, and for that it will always love them dearly ― even when it has to leave them.    It had thought that Alya would be one of the better ones, with time. Right now, she is too loud, too brash, too prone to charging in when she should have been watching from the shadows and waiting for the perfect moment to bring in her illusions. But that would be fixed, if she could be trained properly as its next Wielder. So when Tikki tells it in their dreams that Alya has failed as a hero in her civilian life, Trixx grieves her as if she had lost her life, not her friendship with the kwami. And then it decides to test her one more time, Tikki giving it her blessing.     Trixx has never understood how the Guardian Fu’s tests for Plagg and Tikki’s kits worked; what would he have done if they weren’t there? What if someone else had helped him? Would he have given them to that someone else? What if he actually had been hurt, more seriously than he had let on? It made no sense to Trixx. Ladybug choosing Alya made more sense to it, because she knew Alya, and she trusted her. Alya was curious, and bright, and mischievous. Trixx loved her almost right away. But to hear that she had set aside her natural curiosity in favor of the newest shiny thing, that was ― that hurt. All the kwami in and outside of the Miracle Box had felt Tikki’s fury last night; their eldest did not change to her Spirit form often. Wayzz, who had spoken with Tikki, had told them all what had happened with Fu.     Personally, Trixx doesn’t particularly care about the old man. He’s just a human who made a mistake, and was so ashamed to admit to it that he ran away. He took care of their Miracle Box, yes, but that was it; he’s made no effort to try and bring back the Order, or to train others to take up his duty when he can’t any longer. Trixx said nothing against him because Wayzz loved him, but there was no love lost between the man and the kwami.     Trixx imagines that Wayzz must be feeling as betrayed as it does, right now. He and Fu had become very close over the years, so to realize that Fu would rather prioritize the feelings of the one at fault over the one being hurt must have come as a horrible shock.     It shakes itself; it is going to see Alya. It is going to look and listen with its own eyes and ears, to make sure that she isn’t beyond hope. She goes to the same school as Ladybug and Chat Noir; it can see how she treats them outside of the mask, too. It doesn’t have very high hopes, considering what Tikki told everyone, but still ― still. It loved her ― loves her. It doesn’t want her to be this . . . child that Tikki has described her as. It wants to believe better of her. It wants to have faith in her.     “Alya,” it says by her window.     Alya, who’s sitting at her desk and appears to be editing a video, startles and looks up. She lights up when she sees Trixx, and bounds over. “Trixx!” She squeals and cups her hands around the kwami, hugging it. “I haven’t seen you in ages, I missed you so much! Wait.” She pulls away, frowning in concern. “There isn’t an Akuma attack, is there? I can’t imagine why else you’d be here . . .”    “No, no Akuma,” Trixx assures her. “I am here of my own volition, kit. There are certain circumstances that allow kwami to be separated from their Miraculous for a while, and this is one of them.”     Alya raises an eyebrow, but accepts this. “It’s not a bad circumstance, is it?” When Trixx shakes it head, she squeals again and whirls around. “Oh, this is great! We can catch up on how we’ve been, we can talk about Ladybug, we can ― ooh! Do you have nails? We can probably still do a makeover party even if you don’t, but―”    “Alya,” Trixx interrupts, exasperated. “It is after midnight, and tomorrow is Monday. Don’t you have school tomorrow?”     Alya slumps. “Yeah, but I still gotta get this video up and finish the last bits of my homework.”     “So do that,” Trixx tells her, settling down on her bed and resting it tail around itself comfortably. “There will be time to catch up later, when you don’t have other commitments.” The girl groans, theatrical and dramatic, but grins at Trixx and agrees to finish her work and go to sleep. When the light is off, and they’ve told each other good night, Trixx curls up on her pillow and hopes for the best.     The next morning, Trixx hides in Alya’s bag while she walks to school and grimaces at the cramped feeling. At some point, Alya meets up with another girl ― someone decidedly not Ladybug, though Trixx isn’t sure who else she is. Whoever she may be, though, Trixx knows it doesn’t like her. She feels too sly, too sharp, too wrong. Trixx has a sinking feeling that this is the Lila girl who pushed Alya away from her path.     Trixx’s suspicions are confirmed when except for classes and going to the bathroom, Lila doesn’t leave Alya’s side. In the middle of lunch, Trixx sneaks away to meet with Tikki.     “I don’t remember it hurting this much,” Trixx confesses to its elder. Tikki nods solemnly, holding its pas in hers. “It’s always horrible when our kits stray away from us, but . . .”     “It feels worse every time,” Tikki finishes. “I know. And I’m sorry that yours left so early, Trixx.”     Trixx sighs. “Thank you, Tikki. I’m going to talk to her after school, today. If she doesn’t realize she’s done anything wrong, then . . .” Trixx shakes its head. It blinks, and says “I’m sorry, Tikki, I have to go ― Alya’s finishing lunch.”     “Goodbye,” Tikki calls softly as Trixx flies off.     It phases back into Alya’s bag just before she opens it up to check for the kwami. Trixx smiles at her reassuringly, and she grins back. Trixx’s smile hurts. “Alya,” Trixx says, after watching her hum and tweak an interview with Lila for two hours. The girl doesn’t answer, absorbed as she is in her work. Trixx sighs. “Alya,” it says again, louder.     Alya’s head jerks up, and she looks around at it. “Hmm? What’s up?”     Trixx studies her. Her face is open, smiling and joyful; there’s no hint of any guilt that she tossed aside her best friend at the drop of a hat, no sign that she thinks something is wrong here, nothing to say that she feels bad for believing Lila over Marinette. Alya ― its dear, lovely, reckless kit. “What do you think of Lila?” It says eventually, instead of asking her how could you like it so desperately wants to do.    Alya immediately lights up, and Trixx closes its eyes in resignation. “Lila? Oh, she’s awesome! Did you know she saved Jagged Stone’s cat from being run over by a plane? She got tinnitus from that, but Jagged was so grateful that he wrote a whole song dedicated to her, so I think it was worth it. Plus, she knows Prince Ali from the kingdom of Achu, too! She spent a while with him working on ways to help stop pollution in the world. She’s given me a lot of interviews ― did you know she’s Ladybug’s best friend? They started hanging out after Ladybug saved her from an Akuma that turned everyone around her into chickens. Like, animal chickens, not ‘ooh, what a chicken’ chickens. Lila said she even knows her secret identity! Apparently it’s because Lila and Ladybug are descended from heroes, so they’ve known each other since they were little kids. Lila isn’t a superhero anymore because Ladybug was so worried about her safety. And―”     “Alya,” Trixx says, floored, “Alya, stop.”     Alya draws up short and blinks at it. It stares at her, feeling nauseated. “Trixx?” She asks uncertainly, coming closer. “What’s wrong?”     “You,” Trixx says helplessly. “You’re what’s wrong, Alya, can’t you see that? You don’t even realize how ― how ― how horrid that Lila girl is, you’re so blinded by her tall tales! Ladybug’s best friend? Descended from heroes? Alya, you of all people should know that isn’t how this works. If she were Ladybug’s best friend, she should know better than to say that to all of Paris, including Papillon ― all that does is paint a target onto her back. And if she knew Ladybug under the mask? That’s even worse, Alya, that would mean she’s betrayed Ladybug’s trust ― you know that girl’s secret identity is important to her, you know it is! Why would she let someone tell everyone from here to the moon that they know her personally? Alya, please, think; Lila can’t be telling the truth. You contradicted your own story just now! They met when Ladybug saved her from an Akuma and have been friends since, but they’ve known each other all their lives? That just doesn’t fit, Alya, and you know it doesn’t. More than that ― you know that Ladybug gets her power from her Miraculous, not her bloodline. Lila wouldn’t be able to be a superhero because she has no Miraculous.” Trixx floats up to Alya’s eye level, giving her a pleading look. “Please, think about it.”    Alya stares at it for a while. At the beginning of Trixx’s rant, she had taken a step back, her eyes wide. Now, her lip is a thin line, her arms are crossed over her chest, and her eyebrows are drawn together. Trixx sags; clearly, Alya isn’t backing down from her position on Lila. “You don’t know Lila like I do,” Alya says, proving Trixx right. It had so dearly wished this was one of the times it’s proven wrong. “She’s an amazing girl, and I know ― I know she wouldn’t lie to me about all that stuff. Sure, maybe she’s . . . exaggerated some of the details, but I’ve done that plenty of times! Plenty of kids in my class have done amazing things! Rose, Juleka, and Ivan are in a band, and they’re already selling copies of their debut song. Marinette’s won a whole bunch of competitions, and she was in Clara Nightingale’s dance video. Adrien’s a model. Why wouldn’t I believe Lila?”    Trixx gives her a tired look. “Let me ask you this,” it says instead of answering. “Why would you believe Lila?”    Alya blinks, startled. “Excuse me?”    “Why would you believe Lila?” Trixx repeats. “What about her has convinced you that she’s trustworthy? Some interviews to raise hits on your blog? Promises she has yet to fulfill? Why, Alya, have you given this girl your loyalty when all she has given you is a ball of yarn?”     “She’s my friend!” Alya snaps.     “Marinette is your friend, too,” Trixx counters. “And if I remember right, Marinette doesn’t believe Lila.”     Alya rolls her eyes. “That’s because Marinette’s jealous of her. If she could just―”     “Jealous?” Trixx interrupts. “Jealous? Of what? You said yourself, Marinette is hardly unaccomplished. What on earth would Marinette be jealous of?”     “Uh, Adrien?” Alya asks with a raised eyebrow. “Duh. The girl’s had a crush on him for almost as long as she’s known him, and Lila’s been pretty close to him recently. With how jealous Marinette’s gotten of other girls, of course she’s touchy about Lila sitting next to him in class.” Then Alya pauses and squints at Trixx. “Hang on, why are you so hung up about Marinette? It’s not like she’s all that important or anything. Sure, it’d be great if she and Lila could get along, but she made it pretty clear that’s not gonna happen.” Alya rolls her eyes again. “Going so far as to accuse Lila of stealing from her? That’s a new low.”     Trixx feels something in its chest go very cold. It steps forward, shifting into its Spirit form as easily as breathing. Alya’s eyes go wide and she stumbles backwards. Wisps of smoke and mist fill the room, gently waving in the shape of fox tails behind and around Trixx. “Alya Cesaire,” Trixx says, cold and low and echoing even in the cluttered space. “I revoke you.”    Alya gasps and clutches at her chest where the Fox Miraculous would rest if she were wearing it. “What―?” She starts, tearing up.    “You have lost your curiosity,” Trixx tells her. She looks up at it through her tears. It’s towering over her now, has to bend over so its head doesn’t hit the ceiling. “You have lost your loyalty. You have lost your joy in real companionship, and for that I revoke you. Alya Cesaire.” It kneels, letting its own tears drip down its snout, caressing her cheeks. “I loved you,” it whispers. “I loved you so much, Alya Cesaire, but I can’t love you anymore. You can’t love me anymore, either, and for that I am so sorry.”     “I don’t understand,” Alya croaks. “If I could just ― just give me a second chance―”     “This was your second chance, kit!” Trixx cries, its tears blinding it for a moment. “This was your second chance, and you wasted it.” It strokes her cheek, wiping away a tear track and shifting the way her glasses sit on her nose. “I’m so sorry, kit, but you’ve made your choice. You have to live with it, now.”     It draws away, shifting back to its Doll form, and leaves her sobbing on the floor. It watches from the window, hidden, as her mother knocks, then comes in when Alya doesn’t answer, then exclaims and rushes to hug her daughter. Alya leans into her mother, her cries clear even through the glass.

[fo4companionmusings]

Me again! Companions are crushing on sole and someone suggests that they date. Much love !

Might make some tweaks to this later when I have access to a computer!! Sorry for the crappy formatting because of mobile. Also, apologies for the Hancock angst, ahaha…

Hancock: Even though he’s Mr. Charismatic, he’s super nervous to tell anyone about feelings for anyone he might have. Fahrenheit was the only person he trusted to not squeal. “You should go for it,” she stated. “What could you have to lose?” Part of him inside snapped a little. He didn’t think he’d be able to handle rejection. It was totally different when it wasn’t just some casual fling. He never made the first move. He talked to Jet instead of Fahrenheit from then on.

Gage: Once Mason figured out that Gage had a crush on Sole— something about pheromones he’d said— Gage gushed and gushed about them. He did so in subtle ways like complimenting how they fought or what foods they preferred. It was only when Mason suggested they become mates that Gage final made the move. Their first date was an excursion to the Kiddie Kingdom shooting Feral Ghouls. It was oddly romantic. They’ve been together ever since.

Nick: Nick usually kept to himself, telling little personal bits to Ellie every once in a while, but this was something he hated about himself, or old Nick, or whatever made him this way. It was all too confusing. “Maybe it’s just some sort of malfunction,” He’d think. “A part has to be loose or something..” It took all he had not to blow a gasket. So, he told Ellie. She looked at him in that same sad way that clients do when he has to say that their relative is dead. “Oh Nick,” Ellie sat down beside him. “You gotta tell them.”

Deacon: Doesn’t give two shits. The instant he mentioned what he felt to Glory, Glory slapped him on the back and told him to get his ass in to gear. He wanted to live life to his absolute fullest. Plus, he’d dealt with enough shit in his life that if he got rejected, he’d probably just end up changing his face again and disappearing. It wouldn’t be that hard, morbid as that sounds. So, in the most half-joke, half-serious tone ever, he asked Sole out. Naturally, the Sole Survivor already knew. Deacon wasn’t very subtle.

Preston: Sturges and Preston spent a lot of time talking about their feelings together. It was weird to have that kind of non-toxic male friendship in the wasteland. Sturges encouraged Preston, but didn’t push it too far. “Hey, only if you’re ready. I see the way they look at you though. I think you’ve got a chance.” His eyes lit up at that comment. “Really? You think so?” “Man, I know so.”

Piper: Piper’s sister insisted that she actually put forth some effort in to making her life better. Blue was the only person that made her feel and that was a hell of a lot better than anything else in this wasteland of what’s left of the world. She spent a lot of time thinking about how to confess her feelings, but it all just came out in the heat of battle when they both thought they were gonna die. Afterward, the Sole Survivor couldn’t stop grinning and tell Piper how cute she was.

Cait: Doesn’t understanding that punching your crush all the time doesn’t exactly let them know you’re madly in love. Curie steps in and tries to explain what she knows about human behavior from books. Unfortunately, the Sole Survivor was standing only a few feet away and heard absolutely everything. Cait’s face was redder than her hair.

Danse: What! Are! Emotions! It was way too much to try and bear. Instead of talking to anyone bipedal, he vented to Dogmeat a lot. “Should I tell them?” He’d asked one night when everyone else was asleep and he was on rounds. He received a small bark in reply. That settled it. Sole never expected it. Quite frankly, Danse didn’t either.

Curie: One drunken night around a fire, Curie, being the only sober person there, made her own lapse in judgement. While the Sole Survivor went to pee, she asked the whole group what to do about her predicament. Everyone encouraged her. She quickly gathered a couple flowers together and stood waiting for Sole in front of EVERYONE. Sole loved the gesture!

MacCready: Cait found that the best way to confess in her very limited experience was to be super fucking drunk. So, Mac went along with her wise words. He sat down with Sole and they both got super wasted. It all came rushing out. He talked about how he was scared to be vulnerable. Maybe he cried a little depending on who you asked. Either way, they found it super sweet.

Maxson: Macho man Maxson didn’t ask anyone for advice beforehand. He decided that if things didn’t particularly work in his favor, he’d station the Sole Survivor somewhere away from him, so he wouldn’t have to see them. His confession came out half-baked, almost insulting and crude, but Sole was understanding and knew exactly what he meant— with a little thinking first.

X6-88: It wasn’t until someone else contemplated asking Sole out by coming to him was when he final began to think about his own relationship with them. He eventually came to the conclusion that he was most certainly broken, but he wanted to be broken with the Sole Survivor. It took some time for Sole to figure out their own feelings too when X6 came and told them, but they eventually got to a point where they said that they were together. It took time, work, and more work.

EDIT- Old Longfellow: The old man entirely laughs it off as a joke. He says so casually, “Ya, they’re attractive, but it’s not like that would work. Look at me! ‘M a human barnacle.” He feels that he’s far past the age for anything romantic, not that he really was in his youth. However, one of the settlers still keeps mentioning it. “Go for it. Just try!” He doesn’t.

[yunhycran-blog]

( the cuteST )

for once i don’t have a long ass spiel typed before introducing myself, imagine that ! hey i’m kat, i’m 20, canadian, and uh, i’m rly pulling this stunt again huh !! bc of lo siento fucking me up, i’m giving this brat one last shot in the group rp realm rather than pick up a new muse ( i am.. v convinced i kill or ruin rps by presence alone but with her ?? it’s tenfold so fingers crossed GKSKGKSL ) i’m just.. rly attached to her ok. 

i’m a uni student and in love with sowoo if that wasn’t already obvious, plus i’m 90% sure at least a quarter of you have seen me use hyeran before so this shouldn’t be a surprise to you SDKGJGKLDFS. you can find extras abt her — including stats — HERE, hmu on d*scord if you’d like ( STREAM LO SIENTO !!#2030 ) and with that, i’ll shut up and ( re ?? perhaps ? dfgjslkg ) introduce you to this brat !

` +⬦･ﾟ——— SHE/HER, PANSEXUAL — YUN HYERAN is said get mistaken for JEON SOMIN on campus all the time. they are TWENTY-TWO and about to go into their SENIOR YEAR. rumour has it they’re majoring in MUSIC COMPOSITION and came all the way from DAEGU, SOUTH KOREA. their roommate says they’re EBULLIENT & RESOLUTE but also SELF-CRITICAL & CIRCUMSPECT. ( kat, 20, gmt-3:30, and she/her  )

yun hyeran, a daegu native with an older and younger brother, an ambivert and an all around baby

tbh this is a copied intro from a few months back that i tweaked a bit for the rp, and i don’t have the time to perfectly incorporate much of her bg, so you can check out all of that HERE

buT she became involved in music through her father, who studied it in uni and ended up becoming a music instructor with a focus on piano, flute and vocals

her and her mom.. also her older brother, didn’t have the best relationship when she grew older, which seemed to die altogether when her parents divorced and her mom left. but her and her brother’s still exists, albeit barely. he’s a bit of a toxic influence on her, or at least that’s how she perceives it, and she tends to distance herself from him

would visit jeju island when she was younger bc her aunt lived there

she adores said aunt, her dad’s sister and the maternal figure she Deserves, so overall jeju holds a special place in her heart

went to uni in seoul to pursue music like her father ( a daddy’s girl too like ) but transferred to busan u after some.. shit and her own feelings ? anyways she was content when she settled here and soon found her way into the world of production !! by junior year, she’d transferred out of her original program and majored in that instead and has loved it ever since

for the time being, she works full-time as a barista at a café off-campus

she’s also making something of an income as the creator of an acct on youtube and soundcloud for her music, something she’s had for abt a year now

she’s not even close to making it big yet ofc, and she doesn’t mind if she never works for a moderately to highly popular label — though she should if she wants to get by

among the aesthetic, lo-fi music crowd ( one of those yt accts with a livestream for certain playlists that go on for hours, rip ) where for the most part, it’s personal faves mixed with her own works, and has a substantial following as of now. but has an interest in experimenting, with mashups ( as a lover of them ?? i couldn’t help myself sgflkdsjg ) for example, with a small fear of how that change would be received

this is so short since i took out a bit from when she was recent uni grad!hyeran so, pardon that sgkljgskfld

in terms of her personality and other things:

she’s a very loyal person, v e r y. while like i said ( and will elaborate on in her bio ), her relationship with her brother is Not Great, she hasn’t completely given up on him. maybe for the time being — by that i mean another two years or so ?? LJSKSDFGJ my baby’s still hurt by his bullshit so — but her being someone who’s open to the idea of people changing for the better somewhere down the line, leaves a bit of room for her to possibly change her mind if he does enough to allow her to consider it

so she can be a bit of a doormat in some cases, it all depends on how she sees the person that determines if that’s the case, but she generally won’t let you off if you’re being dumb/an ass to someone or if she gets advantageous vibes from you for example ( given she can.. be a little naive and is a p gentle soul ) so.. idk fgklsj good luck to the 99% ig ??

don’t confuse that with her being v forgiving, weak, etc, etc. she’s a soft bitch, p vulnerable too ngl but.. she’s not that Dumb sdljfkg

speaking of vulnerable, she does have a slight dependency on others despite her thinking all signs point to the opposite, and even though her and her mom never rly had a good relationship she still reels from the neglect/abandonment some days so handle her with Care if she deems you a close pal

spontaneous tbh, transferring to busan was a little last minute on her part, for one

she’s a bit reclusive when focused on something, if she tells you she’s working on a track, it’s essentially a head’s up that you might not see her for a couple of days depending on how soon she gets it done — lowkey that bitch™ who makes up an illness to her boss, so she wouldn’t even show up for work if it’s more than just her fucking around

bc admittedly, a lot of what she posts is fucking around and liking it, her more thought-out and effort packed projects are hidden away on her laptop

a bit insecure with her work and just her general disposition ?? those first few points above mess with her a lot and leave her disheartened so.. my poor child

v strong overall, takes people’s shit and if it gets to her, she gets over it p fast. doesn’t dwell on much and will be courteous to you even if she’s declared you too toxic to stick around 24/7

isn’t exactly one to get angry ?? she’s basically just disappointed or annoyed at best 99% of the time, it takes a lot to get her beyond that

positive, ugh. maybe not sickeningly sweet, but.. still dgklsf

don’t confuse that with optimism tho, bc she’s a bit of a defensive pessimist deep down, with her optimistic side always trying to overpower it

a cute bean who wants the best for everyone

uhhh

has a good understanding of english, her mom’s an american national so she grew up with it being spoken in the house at times

prob speaks it better than i speak french ( and uh, i studied that for almost ten fucking years with a shit end result on that end of things LKSDFGJGDKF ), but still wouldn’t consider herself fluent

.. i would tho js

plays piano and bass guitar, but knows her way around a flute and tenor sax ( you don’t know how tempted i was to say clarinet as an homage to jiwoo gjflkgds )

prob had some kind of little amateur rock band with a few music majors and took up bass for the hell of it lmao

loves animals, leans towards cats or big dogs. corgis and those little spaniels get a pass tho

speaking of, she has a cute little calico kitten back in daegu ( i’m shit with pet names so if lucy sounds lacklustre.. you know why rgkjls ) who she Loves, her baby !!

sweater, ball cap and basic t shirt junkie

those glasses somin wears a lot ?? hyeran wears them too but.. actually needs them for reading and especially while she’s working on shit on her laptop, not even close to a fashion statement

doesn’t don much makeup unless someone’s dragging her to a party or something

thaT’S when she looks a little more like a classy early twenties bitch.. which lbr, is hard enough when adulthood is a whole Train Wreck for the most part LGFJSDL

not a heavy drinker, but the textbook definition of a lightweight so.. she’s always praying for anyone who has to deal with her dgfjklsfg

lattes are her livelihood

a bit of a hopeless romantic, just a bit, but god help her nonetheless

her favourite subject in hs was literature/writing and reads quite a bit on her breaks at the café, even took up a couple of courses since attending uni

favourite music genres.. it’s easier to say what she doesn’t like/finds boring, which is prob country and some aspects of edm/pop, not into punk/metal either

these are super basic but.. i’ve gotta get myself together for the day so this’ll do for now i hope ??

so if you’d like to plot, im me here or on d*scord ! i prefer the latter personally, but whichever’s easiest for you. i have a list of a few of the specific wcs i have in mind ( for the time being, catch my lazy ass avoiding listing all the basic ones and revising a few i have on an old blog ) for hyeran up now, which you can find here, so just lmk if any of them appeal to you !!

[angrygivercomputer]

Mac Os Stands For

Need a little help figuring out your new iMac or MacBook? You’ve come to the right place.

Mac Os X Stands For

Mac Os Stands For Computers

Mac Address Stands For Computer

Check out our updated survival guide for the basics on Mac OS X, including details on the latest “Mavericks” features, illustrated guides for updating and backing up your Mac, must-know tips, and more.

Within the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) network model, MAC addresses are used in the medium access control protocol sublayer of the data link layer. As typically represented, MAC addresses are recognizable as six groups of two hexadecimal digits, separated. And now, with just a USB cable, unlock your phone's possibilities on PC and Mac through Samsung DeX. Click to download Samsung DeX app for use on PC and Mac. FOR WINDOWS 7 AND 10 FOR MAC OS. DeX for PC is available on selected devices, and on Windows 7, 10 and versions of Mac OS higher than 10.13. Visit the FAQ page for a full list of device.

The basics

What is Mac OS X?

It’s the software that powers all the day-to-day features on your iMac or MacBook. Every time you click a menu at the top of the screen, open a folder on your desktop, or search for a document on your hard drive, you have the Mac operating system (or “Mac OS”) to thank.

OK, so what does the “X” in “Mac OS X” stand for?

It stands for “10,” as in the Roman numeral—and specifically, it means we’re currently using the tenth major version of the Mac OS. Mac OS X first arrived for desktop Macs way back in 2001, and had been preceded by—you guessed it—Mac OS 9.

“Mavericks” is the latest version of Mac OS X, the software that powers your iMac or MacBook.

What is “Mavericks”?

Over the past dozen years, there have been a series of big updates to Mac OS X, and the latest update, 10.9, is nicknamed “Mavericks.” Previous updates to Mac OS X have been named “Panther,” “Leopard,” “Snow Leopard,” and plain-old “Lion.” Yes, it’s safe to say that Apple has a thing for felines—or had, until OS X Mavericks came around.

Anyway, Mac OS X “Mavericks” (which came out in October 2013) adds more than 200 new features to the Mac operating system, including all-new Maps and iBooks apps that mirror those on the iPhone and iPad; major overhauls for Calendar and the Safari web browser; revamped folder windows that now boast tabs, similar to Safari; and enhanced desktop notifications, including alerts from Mavericks-friendly websites like the New York Times and CNN.

Check out Apple’s rundown of the 200-plus new features in Mavericks right here.

Where to get Mavericks

Mavericks is available for download from the Mac App Store—and yes, it’s free.

The “About This Mac” window will tell you is your Mac is new enough for Mavericks.

Can your Mac handle Mavericks?

Generally speaking, you’ll need an iMac or MacBook Pro that was manufactured no earlier than 2007, or a MacBook circa 2008 or later.

Specific iMac and MacBook models have different requirements, however; click here for more details.

How to install Mavericks

The Mavericks installation process is fairly straightforward, but it will require at least an hour of your time.

Once you grab Mavericks from the Mac App Store, your system will download the update and alert you when it’s ready to begin the installation process. Just follow the prompts (there are only a few), sit back and wait. After a restart or two, your Mac should be all set.

How to back up your Mac

Don’t even thing of updating your Mac’s operating system without backing up your hard drive first. Luckily, backing up your hard drive is easy thanks for a Mac OS X utility called Time Machine; here’s how to use it.

40 must-know Mac tips and tricks

1. 5 gotta-try folder tricks for “Mavericks”

Apple’s just-released (and free) software update for the Mac comes with a series of nifty folder tricks up its sleeves, including the ability to open a folder as a tab in an existing folder window—yes, kinda like you can in a browser.

Want to map a street address directly from Safari? Easy.

2. Map a street address within Safari

Ever stumble across a street address on the web—yes, an actual street address—and wish you could quickly pinpoint it on a map? Usually, you’d just copy and paste the address into Google Maps, but the latest version of the Safari for “Mavericks” saves you a step.

3. Take a screenshot

So, you know how to snap an image of your iPhone’s screen—but what if you want to take a screenshot of your Mac’s desktop? Well, there are actually four ways to snap a screenshot on your Mac, and they’re all just a few keystrokes away.

4. Customize and create keyboard shortcuts

Wish you could snap a screenshot on your Mac by tapping just the F5 key rather than tangling with the SHIFT + COMMAND + 3 keyboard combo? Well, you can.

You can create time-saving “macros” for your street address, job title, phone number, or practically any string of text.

5. Create time-saving, text-replacing “macros”

Mac Os X Stands For

You can create custom, text-replacing “macros” (or shortcuts) on your Mac for your home address, job title, phone number, or other oft-used strings of text.

6. Pick a new alert sound, or install your own

Getting tired of the little “blurp” (or “ding,” or “beep”) sound your Mac makes when it needs your attention? As it turns out, your Mac comes with more than a dozen built-in alert sounds, and you can change the sound whenever you want.

7. Set “Do Not Disturb” mode to turn on (and off) automatically

One my of favorite new features in iOS 7 is the ability to automatically silence iPhone or iPad alerts during the wee hours—and now, thanks to Apple’s recent “Mavericks” update, you can set your Mac to muzzle notifications on a daily (or nightly) basis, too.

Got a DVD-less Mac? You can wireless share the optical drive of any nearby iMac or MacBook.

8. Share a DVD drive over Wi-Fi with Remote Disc

The MacBook Air, the Mac Mini, the new “retina” MacBooks, and other optical drive-less Macs come with a feature called “Remote Disc,” which lets you wirelessly borrow the optical drive of almost any nearby Mac or PC.

9. Get the hang of desktop “spaces” in Mission Control

The Mac’s handy Mission Control feature lets you manage multiple desktop “spaces” at once, each filled with its own assortment of open documents and applications. Sounds confusing, I know. But once you get the hang of it, these additional, virtual desktops can become addicting—and even essential.

10. Why “natural” scrolling feels backwards—and how to turn it off

Does scrolling on your Mac feel backwards to you? Blame Apple’s new “natural” scrolling feature. Luckily, turning it off is a cinch.

Wish you could get your scroll bars back? All you have to do is tweak the right setting.

11. Get your missing scroll bars back

Hey, what happened to the scroll bars on your windows? Don’t worry—you can get them back in a few clicks.

12. 12 handy trackpad gestures you need to try

Want to zoom in on a web page, twirl a snapshot in iPhoto, sneak a peek at the desktop, or look up the definition of a head-scratching word? You can do all that and more with a simple swipe, “pinch,” or tap on your Mac’s trackpad.

13. Turn on your Mac’s speaking clock

Your Mac has a built-in speaking clock that will read you the time every hour, on the hour—or the half hour, or even quarter hour. Here’s how to turn it on.

You can add a new Mission Control desktop with a little help from your mouse.

14. Create a new desktop in Mission Control

Making a new “space” in Mission Control, the essential Mac feature that gives you a bird’s eye view of all your virtual desktops, is easy—if you know where to look.

15. Pin an app to a specific Mission Control desktop

There’s a way to assign an app to a specific desktop in Mission Control, perfect for keeping your programs in their proper “spaces.”

16. Paste your signature into a PDF, no scanner or printer required

Got a contract or some other document that you need to sign and return via email? Just snap a photo of your John Hancock with your Mac’s iSight camera (just about any recent iMac or MacBook should have one), then paste it into the document you need to sign.

17. Make the most of the Mac desktop dock

Thanks to the handy Dock at the bottom of your Mac desktop, your favorite programs, files, and folders are never more than a click away—and if you know where to look, you can make the Dock behave practically any way you want.

“Sticky Keys” make for a clever alternative to playing “Twister” with your fingers.

18. Enable “sticky keys”

Having a tough time maneuvering your fingertips around multi-key combos like SHIFT + ALT + DELETE? The “sticky keys” feature in Mac OS X can help.

19. Take a “Quick Look” at almost any file

Meet “Quick Look,” a handy, built-in Mac tool that lets you take a quick glance at almost any file or folder without committing to firing up a program.

20. 12 Mac keyboard shortcuts you need to know

Switch applications, take a “quick look” at a file, get help, and more, all without touching your Mac’s mouse or trackpad.

21. Give your Mac desktop icons a makeover

Got a jumble of icons cluttering your Mac’s desktop? Are you desktop icons too big—or too small? Wish they would just arrange themselves? Help is here!

22. 5 ways to make the most of the sidebar

Looking to add your own folders to the Mac sidebar? Or perhaps you’d rather make the sidebar bigger, smaller, or just plain gone. Help is here!

Just dip into your Mac’s system settings to make the mouse pointer bigger.

23. Boost the size of the mouse pointer

Want to save both your eyesight and your sanity? Here’s an easy way: by dipping into your system settings and boosting the size of the mouse pointer.

24. Control your desktop with “Hot Corners”

Turn on the Mac’s hot-corner feature to jump to Mission Control, clear your desktop, and more, all with a simple flick of your fingertip.

25. Disable the Caps Lock key

Sick of striking the Caps Lock key by mistake? The good news is that turning off Caps Lock for good on a Mac is easy.

26. Stop programs from launching automatically

How long does it take for your Mac to start up? Too long? Maybe your Mac is trying to launch too many apps when it’s first starting up.

You can zoom your Mac’s display with a few keyboard combinations.

27. Zoom the display

Squinting at your computer screen? You can zoom the entire display on your PC or Mac, a handy trick for anyone with iffy eyesight. Here’s how.

Mac Os Stands For Computers

28. Choose your default web browser

Sick of having Safari pop up when you really wanted another browser, like Chrome or Firefox? There’s single, centralized place on your Mac where you can set your default web browser once and for all.

29. Create a “recent files” folder on your desktop

It’s easy to create a folder on your desktop that’ll display only the files you’ve created or worked with in the past day, week, month … you name it.

30. Set your Mac to automatically start up (or shut down) each day

Want to wake up each morning to a freshly brewed pot of coffee and a fully powered-on Mac? It’s easier than you might think.

31. 16 Mac keyboard shortcuts you need to know

Want to switch applications, empty the trash, search your hard drive, or put your Mac to sleep, all without touching your mouse? Read on for 16 keyboard shortcuts that’ll let you zip around your Mac like a pro.

By tweaking a single setting, you can use your Mac’s function keys without having to press and hold the “Fn” key.

32. Use the function keys without pressing “Fn”

On most Mac keyboards, the function keys—you know, those keys along the top of the keyboard marked “F1,” “F2,” “F3,” and so on—don’t get the luxury of having an entire key to themselves. Want to switch things around so you don’t need to press and hold “fn” to use a function key? No problem.

33. Set multiple “home” or “start” pages for your web browser

Want more than just a single home page to appear when you fire up your web browser in the morning? No problem.

Mac Address Stands For Computer

34. Cram a bunch of files into a single “zip” archive

Got a bunch of little files that you want to send to a friend? Well, you could always drag them all into an email and send them as attachments, but talk about messy. A cleaner, tidier alternative is to take all those little (or not-so-little) files and compress them into an archive—or, to be more specific, a “zip” archive.

Tapping to click takes getting used to, but it’s surprisingly addicting, not to mention easier on your fingers.

35. “Click” the trackpad with a tap

Having a hard time clicking the MacBook’s squishy trackpad? If so, here’s an alternative: setting the Mac trackpad to “click” with a simple tap rather than an actual click.

36. Share files between nearby Macs with AirDrop

Got a file on one Mac that you’d like to send to another Mac just a few feet away? A built-in Mac feature called AirDrop lets you…well, “drop” a file from one Mac onto another.

37. Change the default programs for your files

Annoyed that the Mac’s Preview app, and not Adobe Reader, always gets to open your PDF files? There’s a way to permanently change the “default” program that opens a given type of document.

38. Customize the buttons in program toolbars

Ever wish there were a Print button next to the Reply and Forward buttons in the Mac’s Mail app, or a pair of Zoom buttons on the top of every Safari browser window? Well, here’s the thing: you can add, remove, and rearrange the buttons in the “toolbar” of several familiar Mac programs.

You can set your wallpaper to change at any interval you choose, from once a day to once every 5 seconds.

39. Put your desktop wallpaper on shuffle

Getting tired of the same old wallpaper on your Mac desktop? If so, try this: just set your Mac to shuffle some or all of your favorite desktop wallpaper (or “background”) photos, at any interval you choose.

40. 4 ways to right-click on a Mac trackpad

There are actually several different ways to right-click on the MacBook’s trackpad, which (nowadays, at least) is essentially one big button.

Get more help

Have more questions about Mac OS X, or Mavericks in particular? Click here to ask me directly—and remember, there are no dumb questions.

Related posts:

[edh-a-to-z]

Every Unstable Card - White

Alrighty, now for some real card dumps!

Here’s the white cards!

Side Quest

Grade: D+

You all know I don’t rate combat tricks, or any low-mana cost low-level reward type cards, very high, due to the scale of EDH.

But I just can’t bring myself to give Side Quest an F, because is so fun. And technically speaking, YOU are a player in a silver-bordered game, and assuming you don’t have shroud, you can give control of a creature you control to yourself, and get it to grow by 2 +1/+1 counters.

And there’s always the fun of sending your Ragnaros (wrong card game) Ur-Dragon to cause chaos in another game (which can be anywhere from a phase to several turns, depending on how fast you play). I’m just scared of that player saying, lol, I’ll just kill the creature you gave me cuz I need to.

Adorable Kitten

Grade: D

It really is adorable. And depending on how strong Host & Augment are in a singleton environment, this little kitten may be useful in Un-EDH, but until I get more experimentation done, it’s too low-impact, and too high-variance to be useful or reliable.

By Gnome Means

Grade: B+

With so many ways to abuse counters and sacrificing artifacts, only the mana cost prevents this from being Mirrodin-era broken. 

Lots of fun in Breya, Atraxa, or any deck that likes playing with sacrifice, counters, and artifacts.

Jackknight

Grade: C+

A bit weak for EDH, but has some serious potential. Again, Contraptions increase it’s utility greatly, but I don’t know how well Contraptions will fit into Un-EDH.

A few tweaks may make this card decent enough for Black-Border sets.

Do-It-Your Seraph

Grade: A-

I may not be @actualborossoldier, but I do have a love for angels, and I’m glad one made it to Unstable. 

An amazingly powerful creature that can build itself into a juggernaut. Grab something with Hexproof here, something Darksteel there, and boom, she can fight til the cows come home.

Rules Lawyer

Grade: A-

It’s powerful, and evil. 

It dismantles what we know as Magic, beyond the bounds of Abyssal Persecutor and Platinum Angel. -X/-X doesn’t work, Loyalty barely matters, nothing you control dies.

Slap hexproof on this sucker and it feels as bad as facing Iona in a monocolored deck.

Midlife Upgrade

Grade: Contraption!!!

Gotta confess, I cheated on the grade.

I’m not sure how to judge these contraptions in Un-EDH without experimentation. Also not sure how to have contraption deck within the bounds of EDH decks, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be figured out. 

Makes at least one contraption, and gets rid of ones you don’t need anymore. Solid card. Just not sure how solid yet.

Ariel Toastmaster

Grade: Contraption!!! + RIGGER!!!

Finally, more Riggers for Steamflogger Boss. You can kill you artifacts (including Contraptions) to make a new contraption! So if you’re digging through you contraption deck for something specific, this is awesome!

Knight of the Kitchen Sink

Grade: A

Even in Silver-Bordered Magic, the majority of decks will have tons of black-bordered cards, making this fella have “Protection from Most Things.”

Solid in Knight Tribal (which is still weak).

Chivalrous Chevalier

Grade: D-

Not bad, but not that useful. For 5 mana, I want a lot more from this card slot.

Sacrifice Play

Grade: C+

Choose gets around protection, sacrifice beats indestructible. An effective combat trick...if the person feels like helping you.

Riveting Rigger

Grade: B-

You can sac a Contraption that’s not cutting it, then get another out. Plus its a 4/4 for 3CMC then, so that’s pretty sweet.

Old Guard

Grade: F

I like the look and name, but it’s not impactful enough for EDH, and an unreliable ability is not worth depending on.

Knight of the Widget

Grade: D-

Any */* depending on others is unreliable.

So it’s bad.

Oddly Even

Grade: C

Conditional board wipes are nice, but I’d rather pay less for Wrath of God for something that always gets everything.

It’s hard to optimize “Kill as many opponents creatures, save as many of mine” so I’d leave it in the trade binder.

GO TO JAIL

Grade: B

Remove a creature for W. Sweet.

And it might be gone for a while (thanks to the 1:6 odds of getting it back each upkeep), which might be a few turns away in multiplayer, so nice.

I prefer Swords to Plowshares, but this makes a nice silver-bordered addition to that removal suite.

Ordinary Pony

Grade: C

Necessary for the Augment/Host deck, so okay body with a blink effect.

Also, errata from MaRo.

Amateur Auteur

Grade: D

This is already a Black-Bordered card, like 4 times over.

Felidar Cub, Kami of Ancient Law, Keening Apparition, Ronom Unicorn.

Half-Kitten

Grade: C

Nice Augment, and nice triggering requirement. Decent enough for the Augment/Host deck.

Shaggy Camel

Grade: C-

Depending on how often you can fire off that ability, it flips between “it only worked once” to “jeez that’s broken.”

Rhino-

Grade: C

Blocks like a champ, but that’s what hard removals for.

Again, Augment/Host needs it. Because it needs that sweet, sweet, critical mass to be a viable deck.

Humming-

Grade: D-

Attacks based triggers are not the worst, but there are some board states where it’s hell. And most of the abilities on the Host are underwhelming in terms of power and utility in conjunction with this.

Even with evasion and +2/+3 gain, it’s also pricey in terms of “Aura” value.

Teacher’s Pet

Grade: B

The high grade reflects the necessity of using this to help out a Host+Augment deck. This bird is amazing.

For 5 mana you can pull out Half-Shark, Half- instead of paying it’s Augment of 5U, so that’s awesome!

Sucess!

Grade: F

Combat trick with conditional upside. Blech.

High Five

Grade: F

Pure lifegain, and it’s better for playing at Unstable pre-release (given the proximity of nearby Silver game players vs usual EDH multiplayer crowd).

That’s all for now folks, stay tuned for more!

[thisxolove]

Nothing Without You (Chapter 6)

Nickiah  "The fuck wrong with you!?" I yelled as the warm vomit sat on my skin.  Abel was coughing as he held his stomach.  "Shit, I told you to get off me." I stormed off into the bathroom and turned the faucet on.  "We going home!" I yelled. "Home for what?!" I heard him yell back. "Something is fuckin' wrong with you!" "Ain't shit wrong with me!" I heard him fall limply onto the bed.  "We getting out of here first thing smoking! I can't deal with your bull shit here!" I took the excess vomit from my chest before jumping straight into the shower. The fuck is wrong with his ass? Two Days Later Abel We just touched down in Los Angeles again. Nicki wanted to come back home as soon as possible after I left her alone in the hotel room. Needless to say, but said anyway, we're not on good terms. She's been bitching at me about it ever since. Can't say I blame her either, but I can't put up with her shit.  When we got back to our Beverly Hills mansion, things were awkward. "Hey, ma." AJ said to Nicki.  "Hi, baby," she answered in a dry monotone. I watched as AJ's face scrunched up in confusion.  "What's wrong?" He asked "Nothing," she replied.  That's when I watched Nicki walk towards our bedroom and shut the door behind her.  AJ looked at me with confusion on his face. I took this as an opportunity to talk to him. "AJ, come over here," I waved at him. He walked over towards the couch and sat beside me.

“Is she okay?”

I sighed. “She’s a little upset at me, but don’t take it personally. She’ll get over it.”

“What did you do?”

I smacked my lips as I debated telling him the truth. “I threw up on her.”

AJ looked at me before bursting into laughter. “You threw up on her?”

I chuckled, “Yeah, man. She’s pissed at me.”

“That sucks,” he continued laughing.

“I know. Ay, let’s go visit Uncle Lamar for a minute,” I suggested.

He hopped from the couch, “Yeah, because I owe him a whooping in 2K.”

I laughed before I picked up the car keys from the ebony wooden coffee table. I watched as AJ grabbed his XO snapback and placed it proudly on his head. That shit made me smile.

He never left the house without XO somewhere on his body.

“Gotta wear your hat, huh?” I asked.

“Hey, if it ain’t XO, then it gotta go, right?” he shrugged his shoulders.

When he said that, it caught me off guard. My head jerked back in interest as my smile grew bigger.

“I like that shit,” I said, holding my hand up for a high five.

AJ smiled proudly before delivering a smack to my hand. He really was my mini me, a smart, shy kid with a sense of humor. The only difference was that my son was happier at his age than I was. That’s the way I wanted it. I bust my ass in the studio so my family can reap the benefits at home.

It made me proud to have the type of relationship I had with AJ, though. I see myself in him so much. Hopefully I’ve done a good job at keeping him happy so he won’t have to turn to drugs and partying in a few years like I did at his age.

We left the large home before walking out to the Aventador sitting in the drive way.

“Wait, we didn’t tell mom we were leaving,” AJ said.

I thought about going back to say something to her, but I quickly waved it off. “Nah, I’ll call her while we’re out.”

I really didn’t feel like being bothered with Nicki right now because I felt it would just cause an argument that I wasn’t willing to have.

We hopped in the car and pulled out of the gates guarding our home. I called Lamar on the car phone.

“Yo, nigga I’m on my way,” I said.

“Nigga, don’t be popping up on me like that. That’s how you get killed.”

We both chuckled and I looked over at AJ.

“I got the mini me with me today,” I informed him.

“AJ?”

“Hey Uncle Lamar,” he said.

“Wassup nephew,” Lamar replied.

I smiled. Even though I was starting to have a strain in my marriage, I didn’t think it was enough to kill the vibe I was feeling with my son right now.

After hanging up the phone with Lamar, I turned the radio back on.

Can’t Feel My Face began playing and AJ began nodding his head to the beat as he sang along.

I laughed, “You really like this one, huh?”

“You sound like Michael Jackson, dad.”

I took that as a huge compliment as I smiled.

“What ‘chu know about MJ, boy?” I laughed.

“He’s the King of Pop. He reminds me of you.”

I was quick to correct him. “Nah, he shouldn’t remind you of me. I should remind you of him. He’s the legend.”

AJ nodded, “He’s the King of Pop and you’re the King of the Fall.”

I chuckled, “That’s right.”

“I loved that last album, dad. I can’t wait for the next one.”

I decided to get some insight from my little twin. I trust his word, always have.

“What’d you like about it?”

He shrugged, “It was pretty fun and upbeat, well, not The Hills, but…”

“Boy, what are you doing listening to The Hills?” I asked as a chuckle escaped my mouth.

“The girls like it,” he laughed.

I couldn’t hold my laughter after hearing that. AJ is taking after me more and more everyday.

“The girls like it?” I asked, “Girls in your school?”

All of my kids attend a private school here in LA. They don’t go full time though because the family schedule is always hectic due to me and Nicki’s careers. I don’t know if we’re making a mistake by only having them in school part-time, but it’s working out so far. My kids ain’t slow.

“Yeah, they’re always playing in my hair and asking me to sing for them.”

I proudly smiled. “And do you do it?”

“I try, but I can never hit the notes like you do.”

I laughed, “Don’t worry, with time it’ll come.”

He smiled. I knew he was proud of me and I was fuckin proud of him too.

“But daddy, when is your next album coming out?”

“What? Haven’t you heard?”

“Heard what?” he asked.

“I’m retiring from music, son.”

I glanced over at him and his eyes widened, “What?! You retiring?? You can’t retire, dad! Music needs you! XO needs you!”

I smiled. That shit just tickled me.

“I’m not retiring, AJ,” I laughed.

“You promise?”

“I’ll be dropping albums ‘til the day I die.”

“Even ‘til you’re old and your hair turns gray?”

“You damn right.”

He smiled in satisfaction.

“I’m just trying to find the theme of my new album.”

“Dark like Kiss Land or Pop like Beauty?” he asked.

Intrigued that he knew so much about my music, I took another glance over at him. As surprised as I was that he even asked me, the question struck me with more interest. I had to sit and think on that one.

“I mean, I’m gonna try and appeal to a broader audience, but still throw my dark side in it.”

“Why are you trying to change your sound to appeal to people who didn’t care when you started?”

Damn. I had to admit, my 11 year old had a valid point.

“Um, it’s a lot with that.”

“Like what, dad?”

“There’s the business aspect of it, now. My label wants me to generate music that can be played on the radio. Then again, I’m just testing the waters now. Trying to reinvent myself over and over again. I’m not trying to recreate any old feelings.”

“But dad, you started off doing dark music because it was unique. Who cares if the crowd doesn’t understand it. It’s who you are and it’s how XO was born.”

“No, I created dark music because it reflected how I felt on the inside.”

“You don’t feel like that now?”

I sat silently because I knew damn well if I was to answer him, I’d be lying and I’d rather say nothing than to tell him the hard truth about how I’ve been feeling.

Truth is, I’ve been conflicted. Part of me is torn between wanting to vent my true feelings into my music, but then the other is trying to make my music appease the large majority. After working on Kiss Land the way I wanted to and it didn’t generate well in the mainstream, my label pressured me into changing my sound up. I rebelled for some time, that’s why I wrote King of the Fall, but I knew if I wanted others to hear my project, I would have to tweak it some.

Plus with me being sober and not taking any drugs during the last three eras, Kiss Land, King of the Fall, and Beauty, I’ve lost a lot of confidence. I feel like I’m lying in my music and thus, lying to my fans. It’s a lot to absorb, especially when my label is on my back about radio hits and pop music.

Part of me loves the pop sound because I get to branch out and experiment with my music, then another part feels like I constantly have to keep topping my last hit just to stay on my game. I’m losing confidence and trying hard not to show it through my work.

I decided to change the subject.

“You hungry?”

He looked at me. “Yeah, I am.”

“What you want to eat?”

“Let’s go to Taco Bell,” he said, pointing at the food joint on the side of the road.

I chuckled. I love that my kids are so humble even though they live larger than most.

I pulled up into the Taco Bell parking lot and parked the car. Before getting out, I put my sun shades on and a snapback on my head.

“Camouflage,” I said, laughing as I looked over at my son.

He returned the laugh, “Is that why you cut your hair, dad?”

“It was a big reason. Tired of people spotting me from 3.8 miles away and shit,” I laughed.

He couldn’t contain is laughter before opening the passenger car door. Nicki would kill me if she found out that I let AJ ride shotgun beside me. She still feels that 12 and under is the age that kids should stay in the backseats, but when we riding in these foreign sports cars, we got limited choices. Besides, he’s 11. He’s good.

We walked into the restaurant and blended in well. I mean, people know I live in this neighborhood, but any tourists could be around and I didn’t need the hype right now.

After ordering a couple Doritos Locos Tacos and a snack pack of soft shells, we sat at a table not too far from the door in case I had to get the fuck out of here. I don’t have my security with me so I’m taking a chance, but I’m with my son. I don’t give a fuck.

I sat down and began unwrapping one of my Doritos Tacos before AJ stopped me.

“Dad, we have to say grace,” he said.

I sighed. “Oh, shit. I forgot.”

“Mom makes us say grace before we eat anything.”

“Yeah, I know she does. Nothing wrong with it. You say it, though.”

He looked at me and slightly chuckled. I was dead serious though.

He closed his eyes and bowed his head, “Father God, please bless this food we’re about to receive in our bodies. We ask you to remove all impurities from it and bless the hands that prepared it. Please allow this food be nourishment to our body and soul, in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

“Amen.” I opened my eyes and began ripping open my tacos.

AJ took a bite of his nacho cheese flavored Doritos Locos Taco.

“Dad, when are we gonna go back to bible study? Mom’s been wanting to lately.”

I shrugged, “I don’t know. I’ve been so busy planning for my upcoming album lately, but I’m planning on throwing a lot of religion into this new project.”

“Mom would be so proud,” he laughed. “What do you think you’re gonna do?”

“Not sure yet. Probably use the symbol of the cross. I have a lot of imagery to play with,” I wiped my mouth. “Not even sure church would benefit me now.”

“Why’d you say that?”

“Because,” I paused. “Just a lot of stuff going on.”

“Like what?”

“Stuff you don’t need to know about right now.”

There was no way I could tell him about the evils of the music industry. I’ve thrown myself into that snake pit and honestly, sometimes I just wish I could trade it all for some inner peace and spiritual satisfaction, but I made the damn decision and now I gotta live with it.

There’s sex, women, lust, money, and tons of drugs entangled in the mainstream music industry and with me trying to escape my drug habits, I’ve been backed into a corner of confliction. A feeling I can’t escape. That’s why Prisoner was written with Lana Del Rey. I had to vent and I have a feeling I’ll vent in this new project.

“Does mom know how you feel?”

“Um, nah. I’ll just keep that to myself for now.”

“You’ll let it out in the studio, huh?”

“Yeah, that’s where I do my best venting.”

That’s when my phone rang. It was Nicki. I knew she would call sooner or later.

“Hello?”

“Abel, where the hell are you? And where is my child!”

“Calm your voice down. I took him to grab some food and we’re gonna go chill with Lamar for a little while.”

I heard her voice calm, “Look, you could have told me you was leaving.”

“You left the room and secluded yourself from everyone. My bad.”

“I still need to know if you leave. Anything could happen! Is it just you and AJ?”

“Yeah.”

“See, you don’t even have any security with you!”

“Nicki, calm down. We’re good, girl. Stop tripping.”

I was resting my phone in between my shoulder and ear as I took AJ’s garbage filled tray along with mines over to the trash.

“Well, call me when you get to Lamar’s house,” she demanded.

“Alright, I got ‘chu.”

Just then I heard laughter to the side of me. I didn’t pay it any attention until someone said my name.

“Abel,” the familiar voice came.

I turned to follow the voice and all the blood rushed to my feet, making it impossible for me to move.

“Bella?!”