#but the deck really needs a lot of ramp

[dahairoman]

I need to improve a Mardu deck's ramp for cheap (only cards around $2 and below) and holy fuck it's hard, Mardu ramp sucks ass unless it's the real expensive stuff and everyone only talks about the most expensive stuff (just add a Smothering Tithe snarf snarf) really tempted to just slap all 3 of the tapped diamonds and call it a day...

[nolita-fairytale]

call sign: tennessee whiskey | rooster x fem!reader & hangman x phoenix | chapter two

summary: you and phoenix make plans to dinner on saturday, instead of going to the hard deck. (rooster x reader-heavy chapter)

warnings: enemies to lovers, slow burn, eventual smut, swearing, mentions of death, strong possibility of military inaccuracies, second person pov, no use of y/n,

wc: 5.2k

listen to: you're all i need - marvin gaye & tammi terrell | the playlist

chapter one | masterlist | chapter three

“Will you slow down, Whiskey? Run’s over,” Phoenix says, trying to catch her breath as the two of you walk back up the beach. 

“Just trying to keep up with you,” you shoot back, slowing down your power-walk pace as you make your way up the beach. “So damn competitive.”

Nat had in fact set a blistering pace for your morning run, and now, you were on a roll, using every muscle fiber in your body to propel you uphill to your first cup of coffee. You can already tell that you’re going to be sore tomorrow. Why did you think it was a good idea to go on a beach run this morning? It was practically a hike just to get back and the two of you had your first meeting back on base at 0800 sharp. 

“And you’re not?” she quips, causing you to laugh. 

“No, you’re right,” you concede to her, making your way up the steps that lead off of the beach. 

There’s a coffee place across the beach entrance and it’s the first place you intend to go before heading back to the barracks to get changed. 

You and Nat order your coffees, taking them to go as you cooldown on your walk back to the barracks. The sun has just risen and it’s nice to have a moment to yourself before things get serious again. It became apparent on day one how high stakes this special mission is and you can tell that it’s already beginning to affect everyone. It’s only been a few days of grueling training and everyone’s already looking forward to having the weekend off. 

“So… I saw you and Rooster talking the other night at the Hard Deck,” Phoenix prods, changing the subject. 

“Not this again,” you groan, taking a sip of your latte in an attempt to breathe life back into your body. “You have anything to do with that?”

“You can’t blame me for being excited! I have been trying to get the two of you in the same room since we met in Bosnia,” she defends herself before continuing her explanation. 

“And somehow every time I do, you’re deployed, or he’s deployed, or you have a trip planned, and the only time he can come visit me is when you’re visiting your dad or blah blah blah. I mean, this is a freakin’ miracle!”

“What’s up, Phoenix? Why are you so intent on setting me up with this guy anyways?” you ask, stealing a glance in Nat’s direction. 

“Because!” she exclaims with an exasperated sigh. “You both are the best people I know and I think you have a lot in common. More than you know.” She chuckles to herself before continuing with:

“Plus I think in all the time I’ve known him, he’s had maybe one or two serious relationships? You know how this job is. I just-, I think he’s really ready to settle down and… I think you’d be good for him.”

Her response makes you chuckle, but you still feel hesitant.

“I don’t know, Nat,” you drag out. “It’s not like we’re here to date, though, perhaps the Navy should’ve thought twice before putting their best and brightest all in the same room together.” 

She laughs because some days it’s like the fuckin’ Olympics when most of these people are in tip top shape, tension and testosterone ramped up to 100, and single. How could it not be like the fuckin’ horny Olympics?

“This mission is… somethin’ else,” you continue. “I mean. No one on active duty’s pulled something off like this – not even Maverick. I’m not sure any of us can afford to get… distracted… right now. If we get selected for this mission-.”

“When we get selected for this mission,” she interjects, quick to correct you. 

“… I don’t know I can do my job if I’m up there just… thinking about him… and his porn ‘stache,” you giggle, completing your sentence. 

“Oh, so you’ve been thinking about it?” she’s quick to quip. 

“I never said that,” you defend yourself playfully. 

“Well, he’s been thinking about you,” she says in a sing-song voice, earning a funny look from you. 

She shrugs, waiting for you to take the bait, as you open your mouth to ask:

“Wh-, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothin’,” she shrugs again, coyly. She’s satisfied with herself, because whether you want to or not, Bradley Bradshaw’s already distracted you. “He just made it a point to ask me if you were single yesterday, is all.”

“Huh,” you hum in response. 

You know she means well and you can’t fault her for her persistence. Over the last few days you’ve been around each other, you can see why she wants to set the two of you up. Rooster’s good looking, he seems kind, and he’s a phenomenal pilot – something that makes him even more attractive to you. In any other circumstance, you’d be all for it, but the parameters of the mission have had you on edge all week. 

“What?” Natasha presses you. 

“Nothing. It’s just funny because that first night at the Hard Deck-, he asked if me and Jake were a thing,” you admit, as the two of you get closer to the barracks. 

She lets out a dry laugh. 

“I don’t blame him!” she exclaims. “Who’d meet you… and then Hangman… and ever think you’d have enough in common to be friends! Not to mention the two of you are weirdly very affectionate – and I’d like to add – publicly.”

She follows it up with another fake vomit, earning a laugh from you. 

“Jake is family. It’s the Texan in us,” you shrug, defending you and Jake’s relationship lightly. 

“So…?” she asks, waiting to hear the end of this story. 

“What?” you ask back, as the two of you approach the barracks. 

“So did you tell him that or not!?” she pries, the curiosity killing her. 

“Yeah of course!” you exclaim with a laugh, before deciding to turn the tables on her. “Don’t worry, Phoenix. I told him Jake’s more your speed anyways.”

“You did what?!” she practically screeches, using her free hand to grab your forearm. Phoenix pulls you to a sudden halt, practically glaring you down in response to what you’ve just said. 

“I’m just kidding, jeez. Relax!” you cry out, holding your hand out. “But don’t think I don't notice the way he looks at you.”

She scoffs, “Bagman looks at anything that moves like that.”

“So you’ve noticed?” you shoot back. 

This is so payback. 

She groans, shoving you playfully. 

Was it that obvious?

Phoenix likes to think she’s quite good at squashing any kind of affectionate feeling she’s ever had for Hangman behind sarcasm and snarky jabs at the arrogant aviator. It never occurred to her that – suddenly feeling very self-conscious about it – that you may have noticed what’s been lying beneath it this whole time. 

Then again, you’ve known him the longest. 

And you know her so well. 

But she’d rather not talk about her and Jake right now, reminding herself that there is no her and Jake. 

Nat shifts her focus back to you. 

She’s not ready to give up just yet because there could be a you and Rooster and she spent most of last night before bed cooking up a plan. 

“Why don’t we go out this weekend? Maybe we skip the Hard Deck on Saturday… go to a nice place for dinner and get dressed up. Blow off some steam?” Phoenix suggests as she smoothly changes the subject. 

“Yeah, that sounds great, actually,” you agree, because it does sound great. “Should we make it a girls’ thing? I can invite Halo.”

“No!” Nat protests, immediately pulling back on the intensity so that you don’t catch on. “Nothing against Halo. But we haven’t really gotten to catch up much, one on one. Next time.”

You shoot her a funny look, mostly because she’s acting really strange right now. 

“Okay, you fuckin’ weirdo,” you tease, agreeing to her weekend plan. 

“Great! I’ll look up a cool spot and send you the details,” she squeals excitedly. 

What you don’t know is that Natasha Trace has no intention of showing up. 

*

You spend most of your Saturday resting. You grab breakfast with Halo, your WSO, before taking a solo walk along the beach. Everyone’s gotten a single for this three week stint at TOPGUN (a courtesy, you suspect) but living in a glorified college dorm room feels surreal.

It’s nice to get some recharge time, especially after such a long week. To say it’s been brutal would be an understatement: there’s the never-ending sets of 200 pushups, the fact that this uranium enrichment assignment seems to be a near-suicide mission, and the tense relationship Rooster seems to have with Maverick that’s impossible to ignore. 

Your phone buzzes as you walk back up the beach, heading back to your bunk for a quick nap. It’s a text from Phoenix – a link to a cute little Italian restaurant along the San Diego Bay. 

You’re quick to reply with a little humor. 

You: How romantic. 

Phoenix: Date night!! Lol. 

Phoenix: Rooster let me borrow the Bronco to run some errands so I’ll meet you there. Wanna take Uber there and I’ll drive us both home?

You: So I can drink more wine than you? Absolutely. 

Phoenix: Not everything is a competition, Whiskey. 

You: LOL. I didn’t mean it like that, but deal. 

Phoenix: 7 pm. Don’t be late 😘

Phoenix: And wear something cute. 

You laugh, because you know she hates it when you’re late. And you’re almost always running a little bit behind. 

You: Can’t wait to spend a night out of uniform.

You: And I’ll try my best. 

Phoenix: Think of it as a ‘who can get there earliest’ competition. 

You: ☠️

You spend the afternoon doing absolutely nothing before getting ready for dinner with Phoenix. You appreciate that she volunteered to drive because you’re ready to blow off some steam. You put on one of your favorite sundresses, something you brought along with you for after the mission. Your plan is to stay in Southern California for a week or so longer before you return to Lemoore. It helps to have a fancy friend with an investment banker husband and an extravagant summer home in Encinitas.

You can’t remember where they’re summering this season instead. A chateau in Provence? The Amalfi coast? Or was it Mallorca she’d mentioned over the phone a few weeks ago when you’d made this arrangement? Regardless, you’re just glad they let you use the place when they’re not there. 

And it seems as if Phoenix’s earlier challenge is working, as your Uber pulls up to the waterside Italian restaurant at exactly 7 pm. 

There’s a first time for everything, you think to yourself, knowing that Nat will be more-than-pleased that maybe your punctuality – often only reserved for work – is beginning to trickle over into your personal life. 

“Reservation for Trace,” you say to the host. 

“Right this way,” the host replies warmly. You follow the young man outside to a waterside table set for two. There’s a small tea candle lit in the middle of the table with a soundtrack to match the soft, beach vibes. 

You’re surprised to find that Nat hasn’t gotten here yet, especially since she made such a big deal about being on time. Your phone buzzes, and you have a text from Nat that reads:

Got caught up in errands. Running a few minutes late but be there soon!! 

You type back a quick:

All good. See you soon! 

You chuckle, shaking your head, because of course, the one time you’re on time she’s running late. Leaving your phone on the table for now, you look over the menu, picking out a bottle of wine for the two of you when the waitress comes by. 

Sure, it’s summertime, but you know Nat can’t stand white wine, so you settle on a bottle of chilled red that seems refreshing enough for a Southern California summer night. 

After the bottle of wine comes to the table, you glance down for the time, and when a few minutes turn into fifteen, you start to worry. 

Where the hell is she?

You grab your phone off the table this time with the intent to call Natasha. It’s then that the host reappears, ushering a tall, brunette man in your direction. You’d recognize him anywhere with his Hawaiian shirt open, layered over a white tee. That combined with his signature mustache and the aviators are practically his own version of a civilian uniform. 

What the hell was Bradley Bradshaw doing here?

He spots you, and you watch as he exchanges a few words of gratitude with the host, before making his way to your table. You stand up out of your chair, really fucking confused as he approaches. 

“Hey,” he says as he approaches, removing his aviators and tucking them into the neckline of his t-shirt. He shoots you a friendly smile, but you can tell that he’s just as confused as you are. 

“Hi,” you greet him. “What’re you doing here?”

“I’m supposed to be meeting Phoenix here for dinner. What’re you doing here?” he asks back, causing your jaw to drop. 

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” you scoff, with a shake of your head. 

That conniving, scheming, little firebird 

“What?” you hear Bradley ask. 

“I-,” you start, letting out another amused laugh before taking a breath. “I was also supposed to meet Nat here for dinner, and it’s just now occurring to me that… she… never planned on showing up in the first place.”

“What do you-?” Bradley begins to ask, before realizing what you mean. “Oh shit.” He laughs too. “She parent trapped us.”

“I think so, yeah,” you nod in agreement, a half-apologetic smile on your face as you look at him. 

You both turn your attention to your phones as both of them go off, signaling a notification. 

It’s Phoenix. 

I love you both, but you’re so damn stubborn. Don’t hate me for what I had to do. 

You and Rooster share a look, exchanging a laugh between the two of you. 

“Wow. I can’t believe-, well, I can. But I can’t believe her!” you remark, still in disbelief that she managed to pull this one over on you. 

“Yeah this is… only a little embarrassing. She’s…” he sighs, looking out across the bay for a moment. 

“Something,” you complete his sentence. “So what do you want to do?”

Bradley focuses his attention back on you as he says, “Looks like you’ve already ordered a bottle of wine.” He pauses briefly to take the sight of you in. “And it’d be a shame to waste such a pretty dress, don’t you think?”

He’s not hiding the fact that he’s very obviously checking you out, and you can’t say that you don’t like it. 

“I was also really looking forward to having pasta tonight,” you add to the ‘reasons why we should stay and have this date’ list. 

“What do you say?” Rooster asks, gesturing towards the table with a hopeful look in his eyes.  

You pause for a moment, just to appreciate how handsome he is before saying: “Why the hell not?”

As you move to sit down, Rooster’s right by your side, pulling your chair out for you like the gentlemen his mother raised him to be. 

“Thank you,” you smile, feeling your heart skip a beat.

You put your phone back into your bag as Rooster returns to his side of the table, sitting down across from you. 

Okay. So this was happening. 

Damn, you think to yourself. 

Nat always finds a way to get what she wants. 

And you’re not sure whether you want to thank her or kill her later. 

But you push your thoughts about Nat’s little scheme away to focus on getting to know Bradley. You’re here now, so why not see if Nat’s been right this whole time about the two of you. 

You strategize with Rooster, choosing a few things that you can share together in order to try as many things that seem appealing to the two of you. You tell him about how you fell in love with Italian cooking when you were stationed for a year in Naples and he confesses that he doesn’t know all that much about wine even though he thinks he should. You tell him that Halo’s a sommelier and that you’ve learned a lot from her about it. He thinks you should all go on a wine tour sometime and you like that he wants to make future plans with you.

“So you’re at Lemoore, right?” he asks, in reference to which Naval Base you’re stationed at. 

“Yeah, and you?” you ask back 

“Oceana. Virginia Beach,” he replies. “But I just got back from a deployment overseas.”

While he tells you as much as he can about his last deployment (and he can’t tell you much) you can’t help noticing the song that plays in the background. You smile to yourself, hearing the comforting and familiar notes followed by:

“You’re all I need to get by…” 

“Oh, I love this song,” you groan in response to the Marvin Gaye duet. 

“Really?” Rooster asks, surprised by your reaction to one of his favorite motown hits. 

“Oh yeah,” you emphasize, your eyes lighting up as the song continues. 

Nat had always said that the two of you had a lot in common and Bradley begins to understand why. 

“I’m surprised you know this song,” he blurts out, immediately regretting the words that have flown out of his mouth. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you tease him flirtatiously. 

But it doesn’t throw him. He’s smooth as he plays it off, shrugging with a:

“I thought I was the only one left these days who listened to the classics.”

“Well, you’re not so!” you exclaim with a giggle. Now you’re intrigued. “I’m surprised you know this song.”

Then again, this is the man who had managed to rope an entire bar into singing “Great Balls of Fire” with him the other night. Maybe you shouldn’t be so surprised. 

“What can I say? I’ve got good taste,” he flirts back, eyeing you. 

Shit, Bradley thinks to himself. 

You’ve got great taste in music. 

You’re fucking gorgeous. 

And the silky slip dress you’re wearing has his imagination running wild. He can’t stop thinking about how flimsy the straps of the dress are, and how one of them somehow keeps managing to slip off your shoulder. His eyes follow your hand each time you reach up to pull the strap of your dress back over your shoulder, your fingertips gliding across your bare skin. It’s got him thinking about all kinds of things…

Bradley looks at you like he wants to devour you, and you’re trying your best not to let him do it, right at the table. 

You clear your throat, trying your best to focus on the fact that you were just talking about your favorite motown classics a second ago. 

“I don’t know where you got your great taste in music… but my dad owned a record store when I was growing up – well, he owns a record store now, but it’s a different one. He’s a musician too and he’s always felt really passionate about supporting Texas musicians on the up and up,” you share with him, explaining some of your most personal connections to music. 

“Actually, fun fact: he had both Gary Clark Jr. and Leon Bridges play at the store he had in Houston.”

“Yeah?” Bradley asks, encouraging you to share more. 

He could listen to you talk all day, especially about music. There’s something in the way your eyes light up that makes his heart flutter as he hangs on every single word. 

“Yeah. After my mom died he remarried and he and my step mom opened up a little record store / cafe in Austin after I left for the naval academy,” you continue. 

“I think that was the last thing he ever expected – me joining the military. I don’t think he and my step mom really got it at first, them both being artists and whatnot. I mean, Dad was like… a total hippie in his day. Protested the Vietnam War and everything. But it paid for college and they’ve come around.”

“Wow,” is all he says, marveling at you. “You are so much cooler than Hangman.”

You let out a loud, unexpected laugh in response to what he’s just said.

“What makes you say that?” you ask, in regards to the somewhat random connection.

“I just-, I didn’t know Texans could be cool,” he stammers out, earning another laugh from you. 

“Well. We are. Jake and I are also from very different parts of Texas. He’s a good ol’ Dallas boy,” you shrug. “Which is probably why he’s such a dick.”

Rooster chuckles, gazing out over the bay, before bringing his attention back to you. 

“You two have quite the rivalry,” you bring up, curiously. 

Rooster shrugs, “I guess.”

But he doesn’t want to talk about Hangman right now, and neither do you. 

“I uh, I’m sorry to hear though… about your mom,” he says quietly, catching you off guard. He knows exactly why he wants to hear you talk about that, but he’s not sure if he’s ready to share why yet. 

“Oh!” you gasp, a little caught off guard by his redirection. “That’s-, thanks. We lost her when I was really young. Car accident.”

He nods slowly, in understanding.

“I lost my dad when I was really young too,” he shares, empathetically. “Training exercise gone wrong.”

“He was also a pilot?” you ask, your voice soft. 

“Yeah, aviator in the Navy. It’s actually why I learned to play piano,” he continues. It’s also why he joined the navy too – despite what Maverick had done – but he’s not sure he’s ready to share that part yet. “Used to play all the time with my mom when I was a kid. Some of my earliest memories with him.”

“Oh I’m so sorry, Bradley,” you say, using his proper name. Using his call sign just doesn’t feel right for the intimacy of the moment. 

“Thank you,” he replies, his voice still quiet. 

Rooster thinks it may be too much: telling you about his dad and his mom in the same night. Besides, wasn’t this supposed to be a date?

He clears his throat, ready to change the subject as he dryly says, “Wow this is uh-, great first date conversation.”

“No I-,” you begin, reaching across the table to place the gentlest hand on his forearm. “I know it’s not the cheeriest topic but… I’m glad you told me.”

You wait a beat. 

“I-... I’m glad that I know that about you. And thanks. For listening to me.”

You share a smile with him as the two of you stare across the table at each other. You don’t move your hand just yet, because the warmth of his forearm underneath the palm of your hand feels too good. There’s an intimacy here that wasn’t there when the night started and you decide that you like it. 

“So your dad’s a musician. What about you?” he asks, changing the subject. 

“I dabbled a little with a whole lot: piano, guitar, and briefly explored playing the clarinet for about six months in high school. I’m good enough to get by, I guess? But… nothin’ like my old man. He still plays gigs in the little performance space at the record store,” you answer, happily. 

“If I recall correctly, you’re quite the piano player yourself,” you say, offering up another chance for him to share something with you. 

“Gives me something to do in the barracks if there’s one on base,” he replies, casually, as if the other night hadn’t been some of the best piano playing you’d heard in a long time. 

“And if there’s not?” you inquire, raising an eyebrow.

“I bring my own!” he declares, unapologetically. 

You laugh. 

You can picture it now: while the rest of his squadron is trying to sleep, he’s three floors below playing Jerry Lee Lewis at two in the morning on his BYO-electric keyboard. 

“Oh wow, your squadron must hate you,” you joke with him.

He chuckles at your sassy remark, “Tell me about it.”

You’ve got a fire inside of you that he really fucking likes. 

By the time your food comes, you’ve talked about everything: from your time at the naval academy and his at UVA, whatever the hell carbonic maceration means about the bottle of wine you ordered and how wine can be so pretentious, best to worst pizza toppings, ranked. You think you could sit here and talk to Rooster for hours. He’s charming – not in the way that Jake or any of the other suave southern playboys you grew up around are – but he’s sweet, genuine, and you really can’t get over the fact that you actually like the mustache on him. 

“Hi guys. No rush, but I just wanted to bring by your check,” the waitress says politely, as she comes by the table. 

The sun has completely set, the evening lit only by the lights from inside, the tiny tea candles on each table, and the gas lamps that line the patio. You really weren’t kidding when you called this place romantic. 

“Do you wanna split-,” you offer. 

“I got this,” Rooster insists, firmly. You watch as he takes care of the bill, handing his card back to the waiter. 

You watch the interaction carefully, looking from him to the waiter inquisitively. He seems more than eager to pick up the bill, so you let him. Maybe it’s the wine, or the fact that you’re really enjoying this night, that emboldens you to ask:

“So this was a date?”

Bradley smiles, a flush of pink running across his tanned cheekbones. 

“I think Phoenix made that clear,” he says. “And you know she’d kick my ass if I let you go dutch with me.”

You giggle, nodding in agreement, before shooting him a suspicious look. 

“Were you… in on this?” you drag out. 

“Would it matter if I was?” he asks back, something soft in his chocolate brown eyes. 

“No,” you shake your head, quick to reassure him. “This… is the best date I’ve been on in a long time.”

“For the record,” Rooster starts, leaning in towards you. “I wasn’t. This… was all Phoenix.”

He waits a beat before adding:

“But I kinda wish I had been.”

“Yeah?”

He smiles before admitting, “This is the best date I’ve been on in a while too.” 

You both decide to head back to the barracks, realizing that Phoenix had thought out every single piece of this. Now it made sense – why she asked you to Uber here when you had a perfectly good car. She really made sure neither of you could deny that this was a date. 

A really good date. 

You watch as Rooster leads you to his car, following you to the passenger side so that he can open the door for you. 

A true gentleman. 

Damn, he was already making this really fucking hard. All you want to do is let him peel off your slip dress and forget all about this special op. 

“Rooster, wait,” you say, turning so that your back is pressed up against the passenger door. 

“What’s up?” he asks, a hint of concern in his voice as he towers over you. 

He’s so close to you right now, and you can smell the remnants of the cologne he was wearing earlier. It wouldn’t be so bad if you just-. 

“I want to be honest with you,” you begin, so that you don’t do the thing that you really want to do. “This mission scares the shit out of me. And it thrills me. And… I really want to go.”

“Okay…” he trails off, only smiling a little because he finds you so damn cute when you get passionate.

“It’s just, normally, after a date like this, I’d definitely kiss you,” you continue boldly, earning a smile from him. “Amongst… other things. And I’d want to keep kissing you and I wouldn’t think twice about getting all kinds of wrapped up in whatever this is.” 

You pause, fighting all of your better instincts to just do it. 

“I just don’t know if-, if I can start something right now… and not get distracted and… I don’t know if either of us can afford to get distracted, especially in the face of something like this mission.”

You’re beginning to over explain yourself but it’s like you can’t help it as the words tumble out of your mouth. 

“I mean, it’s not like this is some regular deployment. Usually we’d have more than three weeks to pull off something this complex and this is something that no one has managed to do before and every day the hard deck drops and some does the time limit-. It’s not like I’m expecting you to wait around for me or anything but-.”

“Whiskey,” he cuts you off, the dumbest grin on his face as he does. 

“I understand,” Bradley says, taking a step towards you. 

“You do?” you ask, sounding much more surprised than you intended to. 

“Yes,” he smiles back at you, reaching up to tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear. Your heart flutters and you’re suddenly questioning why you can’t just kiss him now. 

“You’re right,” he agrees, his voice soft and sweet as he reassures you. “We can’t afford to get distracted. So we’ll wait. Till after the mission.”

“Really?” you ask. 

“Like I said before. This is the best date I’ve been on in a long time too,” he admits, earning another smile from you. 

“Maybe… we can get to know each other as friends over the next two weeks?” you suggest, hopefully. “Explore what else this could be after the mission.”

“I think that’s something I can agree to…” Bradley trails off, pausing before he adds, “... under two conditions.”

“Okay. Let’s hear ‘em,” you encourage with a giggle. 

“When this is all over… I’m taking you out on a second date,” he says, laying his first condition out on the table. 

“And the other one?” you ask curiously, tempted to just wrap your arms around him. 

“And the other one…. While I’d love to get to know you…” he leans in, dangerously close to you now before continuing with his second condition. 

“…Don’t think for a moment, sweetheart, that we’re just friends.”

The way he whispers the last part in your ear sends chills down your spine, and you have to bite back a moan as you feel his body press up against yours. 

You’re not sure how you’re still breathing as you whisper, “I think that’s something I can agree to.”

“Good,” he rasps, his lips ghosting over the shell of your ear. “Let’s get you home.” 

He pulls away from you, allowing you to step aside, so that he can open the passenger door for you. You climb into his Bronco, your heart racing from your conversation with Rooster. And in the spirit of condition number two, a few minutes into the drive, you tangle your fingers with his, and you hold his hand for the rest of the way home. 

Just so he knows that your intentions are anything but friendly too. 

The next two weeks can’t go by fast enough.

*

a/n: i swear i gave myself heart palpitations while writing this. *hyperventilates bc they're so damn cute wtf*

read: chapter three

[theunstuffedpepper]

Home office views vs in-office views — not sure which ones I like better 😏

My home office has been decked out with some beautiful plants and a new accent rug. I just have to order & frame some photos for the wall above the couch and I think it’s about done. I’m loving this little space at home that’s just mine. Too, having the treadmill in my work space has transformed my daily habits. I’ve been working out a lot more than usual and eating much better as a result. If the scale could just budge a bit more, that’d be great.

This week I commuted into the office twice and it wasn’t as tough as I expected. I’m actually enjoying getting out of the house, having some quiet time to myself on the train, and interacting with my colleagues in person. Twice a week seems doable for now. It’s also nice wearing something other than leggings and a nursing tee. I really need to find some good bras though.

I’ve managed to wean my supply so that I don’t need to pump during the day but I still have plenty of milk for the baby at bedtime, overnight if needed, and in the morning. I didn’t think I would be able to accomplish that — when I was exclusively breastfeeding, it seemed crazy to think I could go all day without nursing/pumping and still have a supply at night — but here we are. The further along I get in my bf journey this time around, the more proud of myself I am.

Work has asked if I can travel internationally over the next few months and my gut instinct was to say yes, although I’m rethinking the breastfeeding aspect of that. I’m lucky that my boss is flexible and she wants me to do what’s best for me. So, I’m still mulling it over. We’ll see.

The kids are adjusting to me being away twice a week pretty well, better than anticipated. My MIL has been helping out whenever she’s not working — in the mornings Monday through Thursday and then Friday all day. No more big bumps in the road as far as she’s concerned. Fingers crossed it’s smoother sailing here on out. I’m still working on mending our somewhat strained relationship. It’ll take time.

The bird obsession continues to ramp up. Spring migration is almost upon us y’all, and I’m PUMPED. I was out back doing a happy dance while watching a flock of common grackles and red winged blackbirds in the yard the other morning. I guess this is life now? 🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛😅

[ridiasfangirlings]

Wheelchair user Saruhiko because I have to use a wheelchair and want comfort.

Wheelchair Fushimi and the first thing S4 has to do when he’s hired is make the place more accessible because all those stairs are not disability friendly, Munakata you should be ashamed. Imagine Fushimi who has always needed to use mobility aids in some capacity, maybe he can stand if needed for short periods but largely he needs the wheelchair for day to day life. He has a ton of trouble at home though because his giant house also has a huge staircase and you know Kisa wouldn’t even care that her kid can’t physically get up the stairs, his bedroom is on the second floor and if he has to literally drag himself by his arms to get there then oh well. Since normally no one is home Fushimi just commandeers one of the first floor rooms to be his, sleeping on a couch because he can’t bring the futon down from the other room by himself. Niki probably enjoys causing Fushimi a lot of trouble with the wheelchair too, hiding it when Fushimi’s sleeping or throwing it down the stairs and breaking it and Fushimi has to drag around this rickety wheelchair held together with duct tape because he can’t get a new one.

At school he’s allowed to just coast through because no one expects anything of the kid in the wheelchair and Fushimi figures if they think that way then why should he even try. When Yata saves him from being bullied Fushimi assumes it’s pity for the poor wheelchair kid and throws that in Yata’s face. Yata ends up troubled by it because he didn’t expect Fushimi to have such a sharp tongue and was he assuming stuff on his own. Imagine once they become friends though for Fushimi it’s like this is the first time someone’s seen past the chair and treats him just like anyone else. If anything Yata thinks the chair is cool, like Saruhiko’s so good at maneuvering it and you can go so fast, with the right tools Yata’s sure Fushimi could make a super awesome futuristic wheelchair. And because of this Yata is the first one Fushimi ever allows to help him too, like anyone else who touches the handles of Fushimi’s wheelchair gets a glare (imagine he puts spikes on them or glues knives on) but he’ll sometimes let Yata wheel him around when he’s feeling lazy and doesn’t want to push himself. (Yata also visits Fushimi’s house, sees Fushimi sleeping on a couch in a side room, and brings the futon down from upstairs without needing to be asked.) When they move in together imagine Yata being really conscientious of what Fushimi needs too, like they took a room on the first floor but there’s a single step to get in the doorway and Yata gets some wood and nails and bangs together a ramp so Fushimi can easily get around in his chair on his own.

In Homra is when all the old feelings of uselessness come back, Fushimi feeling like of course Yata thinks Mikoto is so amazing, Mikoto can walk. I imagine a lot of the Homra members at least initially being wary of Fushimi being a member too because of his chair. Even Kusanagi is hesitant for a moment, like them being middle schoolers already gave him pause but he’s really not sure about putting Fushimi in danger this way. Fushimi just glares when he starts to say anything though, and Kusanagi quickly realizes how competent Fushimi is regardless of the chair. Despite that trust Fushimi pushes himself more and more to be stronger, imagine he gets super skilled at maneuvering his chair in a fight and his chair is probably just decked out in hidden knives (oh imagine he can even pour his power into the chair too, Fushimi would totally be willing to run over anyone who pissed him off). 

When Munakata first shows interest in him Fushimi assumes it’s just being patronizing but it turns out that no, Munakata thinks he’s useful even with the chair. I imagine once in S4 Munakata gets Fushimi like the best chair money can buy and maybe Fushimi even customizes it too, like it’s got a computer built-in and Fushimi has fun with that. He adds more hidden knife compartments too, it’s pretty much a combat wheelchair at this point (and then he has a second more ‘normal’ wheelchair for when he’s in the office doing paperwork, and he can ‘accidentally’ run over Doumyouji’s feet with it when Doumyouji doesn’t finish his reports on time). Fushimi won’t admit it out loud but it’s important to him that Munakata sends him on missions alone and doesn’t act like he’s fragile or can’t do things, and even the squad think he’s super amazing. There’s probably some grumbling when he becomes third in command due to both his age and disability but anyone who works with him quickly finds out that the wheelchair in fact just makes Fushimi more dangerous.

[wander-wren]

been listening to epic (the musical) (the concept album) a bunch and my brain has been hatching lots of ideas for how to stage it, so i will share them with you, good people of tumblr.

some caveats: i don’t pay attention to any extra streams, videos, etc, so most of my context is purely the music plus some things my friend tells me. therefore i will completely be making shit up on occasion, like in the gaps between some songs. i also know that jorge has said the dream is to do some really crazy cirque de soleil shit onstage, and i don’t really know enough about that to include it!

additionally, i will be trying to keep practicality and realism in mind, but this is still pretty far-fetched and assumes we have a large stage and near-infinite backstage storage at our disposal. to be fair, the odyssey has a LOT of different locations and you can’t make a story called epic without some massive set pieces. also, my experience is mostly deck crew, idk lighting stuff or choreography or anything, so i’m just going to try my best with that.

all onboard? epic. commence troy saga:

vocab notes

stage left and stage right refer to the audience’s left and right. upstage means away from the audience, and downstage means closer to them. midstage/center stage are self explanatory. most theatres (i think? i’ve only seen a couple) have multiple curtains that can divide the stage horizontally, called travelers. i think that’s it.

the horse and the infant

i want lights down everywhere but stage left, where there is a big sort of plywood cutout loosely in the shape of the trojan horse, with of course the interior of the horse painted on it. odysseus and a couple of his soldiers are here

i originally thought you could build a small space jutting out of the horse for them to crouch in but you would have to have some serious counterweight on the other side. it would look cool tho. even if you do do that, odysseus doesn’t stay there long because that’s a pretty cramped and uninteresting position to be in.

when the soldiers all say “yes sir!” the first time, the rest of the lights come up, revealing the city of troy, which is represented by some more painted plywood backdrops of the city at night. they’re all on wheels. the lights should still be fairly dim for the vibes, and pretty blue and orange to match the album. y’all are gonna learn quickly that i loveeee putting sets on wheels.

also more of odysseus’s men are there! as odysseus names each of his men, they do something kind of related to whatever he says.

when they say “yes sir!“ the second time, well, you can do some funky group choreo there. it’s kind of hard because technically they’re not attacking yet, just sort of demonstrating what will happen. shrugs.

once odysseus calls out penelope and telemachus…my stage had these ramps on the side next to the stairs with walls, and we would put people and sets there all the time. so depending on the theatre layout, they will appear there on stage right periodically through the entire show until odysseus gets home. throw a lil spotlight on them. bam.

naturally, when odysseus yells “attack!” the rest of the soldiers charge into the city and some trojan soldiers can enter stage right to fight them. the trojan horse flips to reveal the other side is painted like a gate/the city. slowly, the city backdrops roll offstage left, and the fighting greek/trojan soldiers move off with them. the music here will probably need to be lengthened to allow for this.

simultaneously, a room for the titular infant has been set up. probably like two half walls and a crib and a fancy decoration or some such. i’m thinking some kind of projection of like, silhouettes of odysseus to represent his vision and the eagle that represents zeus.

then zeus enters stage right and has his little convo with odysseus, stepping back to sort of dramatically reveal the crib to him. he and odysseus talk, nothing special happens, zeus spookily exits stage right as he sings his last line about odysseus choosing the blood on his hands

of note, i want 90% of the cast to be soldiers in this scene. as the soldiers die, odysseus’s little ensemble can shrink, and the dead soldiers can be double cast as the various enemies and their sidekicks. the exceptions to this are penelope, telemachus, zeus, and athena.

just a man

i want to be very specific about when odysseus looks at the audience for this one. it’s such a private, pivotal moment that i want him to avoid acknowledging that anyone except him and the baby exist. the two main points i think he can look at the audience are when he says “close your eyes, and spare yourself the view” and the “forgive me”s.

otherwise not much special in this song, its just odysseus holding a baby. he can act like he might drop it, from the wall, just so the audience is Aware, but it’s definitely important that by the end of the song what he does is ambiguous

i know the musical is meant to be sung through and so i want to avoid having moments where the stage goes dark for scene changes, but there are points where it’s unavoidable bc of the crazy set this thing has to have. so, we will put one right at the end here, keep the music real quiet for the audience to just sit and absorb this song

full speed ahead

when the lights come back up, we’ll have odysseus’s ship on stage left-centerish (odysseus should always be traveling from left to right, basically, since ithaca is stage right) and that’s all

dadada we introduce eurylochus and polities, then set for the island starts coming out on stage left for polities to comment on. the island sets can all be painted backdrops, so then theres two sides for some variety, and the same set of rocks/plants/trees arranged in different ways to show its a new place. i want the colors and things to be very bright and just this side of unnatural, because this isn’t home, they’re strange lands.

the boat can slowly be going off left as odysseus and polities make their way onto the island at the end of the song, which ofc flows right into the next

open arms

polities and odysseus wander across the stage for this, nothing exciting.

definitely can do some fun costuming with the lotus eaters when they pop up. i’m thinking of the trolls (or the hidden folk, i guess?) from frozen on broadway. but creepier, maybe

not a note but i just love this song i love polities so much <3 my bestie

once they get the location of the cave, they can start walking back left and the lotus eaters can go off, taking/rearranging their set as they do because it’s about to be a new island. lights go down there as well. odysseus slows his steps to stop roughly center stage, or center-left depending on how big the stage is. he looks conflicted about what’s just happened. polities slowly walks off as he sings

athena comes out of somewhere. i think it would be fun for her to pop out from behind the set as opposed to entering from the wings. when she says “have you forgotten your purpose? let me remind you,” lights can come up on the right, kind of yellowy? i imagine ithaca as being very yellow for some reason. maybe some flickering to represent going into a flashback.

i know it’s not the original idea, but i think having a second actor play younger odysseus fighting the boar and stuff would be best/clearest. i have NO idea how to do the boar bc i feel like it would look kinda silly any way you did it? but that happens

athena this whole time is standing outside of the yellow light, narrating the flashback to odysseus. when young!ody starts calling her out, he doesnt look directly at her (because he’s bluffing, of course), until she steps into the light, which both symbolizes her dropping the spell and entering the flashback story

young!ody leaves and athena returns to odysseus after the last chorus, as she says “i still intend to make sure you don’t fall behind.” she gets very close to him to warn “don’t disappoint me” at the end, which makes odysseus look at her stubbornly. lights down, unfortunately, for another scene change to the cyclops cave

[magicwithclass]

Value Boosters in Bloomburrow.

With the discontinuation of the draft booster, there was a void in the market for a cheaper booster product. Play boosters typically cost between 4 dollars and 6 dollars, depending on the set, and that is actually quite expensive for a casual experience. The audience has been demanding a cheaper booster product because people like the thrill and excitement of cracking packs. The adrenaline is quite addictive and that experience can not be matched by opening a preconstructed starter deck or commander deck. Even so, they did attempt to put a taste of opening packs into commander decks in the form of the collector booster sample pack. Wizards of the Coast's market research must show that adding the collector booster to commander decks leads to more people going out and buying more product. The sample pack is not meant to be a free include but is meant to mimic the, "first one is free," drug mentality that gets so many people hooked. The starter decks and commander decks do a great job, value value, of giving players a product that they can play right out of the box and upgrade over time. Yet, you need to know your market! Of course, you should buy the singles you need and not risk your money on what is essentially a mystery box. However, that is simply not the reality of our world. People want to open pack. Players want to experience the rush of tearing the pack open and smelling the new cards. The sense of excitement as you flip through the cards. Your anticipation builds as you get closer to the pack hit. The, either you hit big and want to relive the experience or you miss and you feel the urge to open more packs until your body feels the reward chemicals released into your body. The value boosters are merely a product meant to prey on our emotions and desires using research to maximize squeezing money out of groups of people. That can not be replicated by buying cards on the secondary market. Wizards is selling a feeling. Other companies like card kingdom or tcgplayer sell cards. It is possible to sell emotions for a reasonable price but these products typically target people with addictive personalities and are exploitative. Do I think this new value booster is any more exploitative than any other random booster product? Currently, there are are a lot of unkowns. First, the price of a pack, or even an approximate price, has not been stated. There is no more msrp but they sometimes include an approximate cost. In the very short article that introduces this product, there is no discussion of the price. It is only stated that this is a more budget-friendly option for players that just want to open cards. The price is going to matter. Sometimes I would see pokemon or yugioh cards in family dollar or dollar tree. These packs were only a dollar and less than two dollars. As a parent, shutting my kid up with a one dollar pack while I shop could prove worth it. How many times did you beg your parent for something in a store as a kid that you didn't even really want? Getting mtg cards into these dollar stores will widen the audience that is exposed to the game. Now, kids will start to recognize mtg from a younger age because they see the products alongside pokemon cards. If the price of a pack is less than 2 dollars, I will say that the value pack will be a success. It is a cheap way to get cards into the hands of a younger audience. Society is typically much more ok with spending a buck or two on something rather than 5 dollars. Wizards of the Coast is releasing this new product to widen the brand and not really to sell more cards. These value packs are meant to expose children to mtg when they are young as an on ramp to the game when they are a little older. if I have mtg cards as a kid and then I see a crossover with my favorite franchise, then these marketing strategies are meant to continuously draw people back into the game. Expose someone to something when they are young and you may have hooked them for the rest of their lives.

[ttalgi]

cupid ꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱ diluc x fem!reader

:01 feeling lonely

synopsis: growing up a hopeless romantic, you always believed in cupid. however because of your social anxiety, you end up as a loner and start to lose hope,,until fate has you move nextdoor to diluc, the all-star bachelor of teyvat university

cw: small amount of depressing/depreciating thoughts; if there's more, please let me know

small smau + 2.7k written portion

Thirty-seven minutes have passed since you parked the moving truck into the residential parking space, and yet you haven't made an attempt to get out.

Actually, that's a lie.

You've been trying to mentally prepare yourself, but each time ends in failure because of thoughts like these.

‘What if when I try to move my mattress, it accidentally falls on top of me and I can't move and need help to get it off of me.' and 'I feel like there's so many people out and about right now. I know that they're going to see me alone and think that I'm a loser...'

In reality, only about four people have passed by in the time frame that you’ve been parked, but to you, four feels the equivalent to 100. Now having thought of your worries again you realize that yeah, a couple of more minutes before heading out couldn't hurt.

Slumping back into the cushioned driver’s seat, you let out a small giggle thinking of how the seat probably has a mold of your body indented into it. You start your mental timer of five minutes before an unnerving thought emerges and jumps to the front of your mind. What are you forgetting, what are you forgetting, what are you forgetting?!

You spend a good minute racking your brain until this particular sun ray angles itself to blind you momentarily an- ‘Oh my god, Lumi should be here any minute now.’

Hastily grabbing your phone, you go to the conversation between the two of you to look at the timestamps. If you take into account the six minute drive from campus to the Starbucks in front of Windwail Highlands, the seven minute wait in the drive thru line, and the one minute venture from the Starbucks to the building complex; you realize that your theory is correct.

At times you worry that Lumine is worried about you. Ever since meeting in your guys’ shared dorm room two years ago, she’s experienced just how disencouraging your social anxiety can be in your everyday life. Lumine never fails to be caring towards you, and sometimes she even reminds you of a mother hen. Wanting to show her that you can easily do simple tasks such as moving boxes in new settings, you defrost the actor in you and put on your performance called “showing Lumi that you can be semi confident doing things in public without being with someone that you're comfortable with.”

‘I should really work on my naming skills.’

Having found a new motivator, you unlock and open the weighted door to hop down from the raised truck onto the asphalt. You go to grab your phone and the rental truck keys to slip into each of your back jean pockets before turning to the back of the truck and closing the door behind you. Stepping up to the raised sidewalk, you reach up to unlock the back double doors of the truck and carefully swing the doors out to the sides.

It’s kind of amusing seeing as how you arranged all of your boxes like you were playing a game of Tetris; except the only pieces that you were given are the squares and a single line piece representing your mattress. This is making you remember that you really don’t have a lot of difficult items to haul, so the whole process shouldn't be too hard…right?

After carefully lowering the deck ramp, you grab the hand truck that’s sitting to the side and then start to maneuver some of the smaller and lighter boxes onto the dolly platform. Successfully loading on two boxes, you begin to slowly tilt the cart backward towards you; you walk down the ramp and continue until you’re about to enter the elevator doors when you notice a white sedan pulling up and parking a space over your rented U-haul.

Bea, also known by her full name Beatrice. Bea is Lumine and Aether’s shared car that they got as a present for their 18th birthday. The 2021 Toyota Camry, although still fairly new, has definitely seen some things; examples being when they drove their little sister Paimon to Klee’s birthday party. Lumine told you that since they’re great friends in their grade school classes, Paimon wanted to give a whole food platter because “food is the greatest gift.” However, things quickly went awry when Paimon “accidentally” opened the container and started to eat one of the sandwiches. Then when an unnoticed speed bump appeared, the entire platter ended up nestling into each crevice of Bea. On rare occasions, you swear that you can smell deli meat while being a passenger in Bea…

Anyways, while reminiscing about the story, you register that the driver side door has been opened and that a blonde head with its signature blue flower clip now starts to become visible above the top of the car. You automatically start to smile and call out to Lumine, who’s holding two iced lattes in her hands. "Lumi! My pookie bear! I’ve missed you so much!”

She starts to gleefully skip towards you, careful to not spill the drinks. "Y/n! My scrunkle! My pookie bear! I missed you so much while in our class today," finishes Lumine stopping in front of you with a pout on her face.

Returning it with your own pout when you say, “trust me when I say that missing Professor Ningguang's classes scare me. Like, I know attendance isn’t a part of the grade, but missing her classes?!…feels unnerving.” You start to shudder a bit just thinking about it. “Plus, starting early in the morning today was the only time that they would allow me to park and unload the U-Haul for some reason."

Lumine starts to tilt her head to the side. "Huh..that is weird not going to lie. But! I see that you've started already!” She uses her elbow to press the elevator button for the both of you. “Come on! Let's go and put these boxes inside your place already. Then we can finish our drinks real quick and move the rest of the boxes together.”

The doors open with a ‘ding!’, and you wheel the hand truck backward into the elevator with Lumi squeezing in beside you. Not being able to press the floor button yourself, you ask Lumine to push the ‘4’ button on the side panel. After pressing the switch, Lumine starts to give you a quick crash course lesson of what happened in your guys’ shared “Principles of Microeconomics” class today.

“And then Childe had the GALL to interrupt Miss Ningguang saying things that I couldn’t even bother to remember.”

You ponder for a second before asking who this Childe person is. You've never been the best with names or faces, especially since you tend to look down for most of the time. After learning that he’s tall with ginger hair and plain blue eyes, the elevator doors open and the two of you exit the metal box.

Walking down the corridor Lumine questions which number yours is, and you respond saying that it’s apartment 440D and that it should be right around, “A-ha! Here it is!”

Still holding onto the dolly, you ask Lumine to take the keys from your pocket and to open the door to your new place for the upcoming year. Walking through the door first, you set the cart to the side and spin back around to Lumine, amusing her with your impression of pretending to be on an episode of the show “MTV cribs.”

The two of you drink your lattes while you give Lumi a quick tour of your one bedroom apartment. With the beverages basically chugged down, Lumine begins to push her sleeves up with a determined look. "Alright, it's game time."

//

"WHEW! We…finally…hauled the mattress up…"

After a particularly rough shove of the mattress through the door, you kick the door shut and practically dive to the floor in exhaustion. You can’t stop heaving, feeling that there’s not enough air on the planet to bring your lungs back to normal. It’s at times like these where you think to finally accept Lumine’s invitations to join her at the gym.

You can tell that Lumine’s in a better state, due to being fit with her regular weightlifting sessions, but she ends up joining you on the floor to cool down beside you, allowing herself to take a break. Taking your hand in hers, she starts to shake it back and forth with joy on how the both of you finished the job. “I know that it only took two hours, but that sure was draining. I’m really proud of us, Y/n!”

The two of you stay on the solid hardwood floors and end up in small banter, not realizing another hour passing by.

“Oh yeah! I actually have a friend who lives in this complex as well. Though, I don’t know the exact unit since he switched when his old lease ended a couple of months ago.”

You were about to respond when your thought process was halted by feeling a twinge in your stomach, making you realize that it’s been a while since you ate in the morning. “Hey Lumi, are you hungry?” Continuing after you hear her hum of agreement, “Do you wanna head to the new sushi place with the revolving belt? Uyuu Restaurant. I saw that it just had its grand opening the other day."

Lumine stands up with a swiftness you didn’t know existed, and you swear that you could see visible sparkles around her figure. She picks you up from your lying position and your only thought at that moment was that this must be how her barbells feel.

//

After having a satisfying meal and successfully paying the entire bill as a way of thanks, Lumine drops you back at Windwail Highlands before needing to go back to campus and attend her club meet. Before Lumine drives away, she tells that the two of you should meet up for lunch on campus, and you agree while waving her goodbye.

It’s now the late afternoon and frankly all you want to do is spend the rest of your day indoors, but you still have the U-Haul truck to take back. Once again settling into the driver's seat, you set your phone GPS to the nearest location which, thankfully, was only a three minute drive from the complex. After completing the dreadful drop off process, you awkwardly power walk to get on the bus waiting at the entrance to the U-Haul lot.

A factor that you love about this area, is that the public transport is one of the best, with relatively frequent arrival/departure times and numerous locations, some being Teyvat University and Windwail Highlands. However, a factor that you hate is how public the public transportation is. Having to be surrounded by strangers is a complete nightmare that you can't wake up from.

You did have your own car that you used to commute with, your 2016 Honda Accord that you’ve named Franny, aka Frank. But since you moved to a walkable area with good transportation, your parents wanted you to leave him at their house so he could be used as an extra family car. Not having a choice, you reluctantly departed ways with Frank this morning. All you could wish for is that your siblings don’t completely ruin him.

The bus commute comes to a stop when it finally halts at the Windwail Highlands station bench. Wanting to escape the sea of people (there were six other people onboard, including the bus driver) and the abnormal October afternoon heat, you don’t hesitate to dart straight for Unit 440D.

//

Forgetting that you haven’t unpacked anything was a big hit to your hp meter, especially since you know that leaving it for tomorrow would completely knock you out. You start to make a list of the priorities to unpack, just so it doesn’t seem overwhelming to unpack everything today.

‘Let’s see. First I should move my mattress to the bedroom, then unpack my bathroom products, then all of my clothe- wait, my dresser hasn’t come yet…then some of my clothes with the hangers, then my snacks.'

Deeming your list as complete, you go to find your headphones so you don’t have to spend unpacking alone in silence.

The next hour was surprisingly productive, most likely from the OSTs fueling your imagination as being the main character for once. It was halted when you decided to snack for a bit to get a quick power up. Taking a moment to pause, you grasp that even with all of the full cardboard boxes surrounding you, you feel barren and alone.

'Like how it always is.'

Your first thought is to text Lumi and absorb yourself into a conversation with her, but the devil on your shoulder sometimes can't help but to indulge himself onto your thoughts.

'I said that I could do things myself, deal with things myself, didn't I.' You feel your heart heavy in your chest, tossing, turning and folding itself up. 'I know that I'm being too clingy anyways.'

Waiting to escape from these thoughts, you subconsciously put yourself in autopilot as you leave your unit and end up in front of the playground that sits across from your specific building. You allow yourself to drag your feet until you end up slumping onto one of the swing sets.

With a pathetic attempt of swinging, you only end up slightly jostling yourself before coming to a stop. You can't help but to reminisce of the times when your parents would push you since your legs couldn't reach the bottom. Kicking the ground with greater force, it gives you the momentum to start swinging your legs. You could perfectly swing yourself, but all that you could wish for at this moment would be to not have to push yourself on the swings. To have someone pushing your back. To have your back.

To have to not feel lonely anymore.

Deciding to stop swinging your legs, you let the momentum allow you to continue to ride the wind back and forth until you come to a gradual slow still. You take a moment to stare at your sneakers, the same pair that your parents once bought you as a gift for getting accepted into Teyvat University. The once pristine and creaseless kicks now appear dull and beat up, and you can’t help but think that your shoes remind you of yourself at this very moment.

‘But worn out shoes show that they're loved.’

The corner of your lip twitches upwards and you sharply exhale out of your nose realizing that even in your dim moments, Lumine’s words never fail to pierce through the shadows, illuminating themselves to be seen once again. With your head now feeling a bit clearer and lighter, you finally raise your head and notice that you’re not as alone as you once were.

Gazing from left to right, you spot a couple of teens playing basketball and/or skateboarding in the court beside you, as well as the handful of joggers on the sidewalks surrounding the area. You let yourself slip out of the rubber seat and let go of the metal chains holding the swing up. Reaching your hand into your hoodie’s front pocket for your phone, you start to panic when you don’t feel the familiar device. Your panic ends as quick as it started when you spot it on a pile of wood chips a bit to the side where the swing naturally rests.

Bending down to grab your phone, you feel your body start to ache. Now knowing that your moving endeavors from the day are catching up to you, you decide that you want to simply head straight to your apartment to rest up for the night. It should have been simple, just walking 20 meters without any incidents.

‘It never is for me.’

Your first mistake was having your headphones still connected and playing music, unknowing of the warning call directed your way. Your second mistake was paying attention to your phone rather than focusing on where you place each of your steps. Your right foot landed on a spare skateboard that rested on the edge of the sidewalk, and not thinking, you tried to take a step forwards with your left foot making you start to fall face first.

Everything happened so fast that it’s still complicated to process what happened. All you saw was a flash of red before feeling arms wrap around you and your face pressing against something firm before falling to the ground.

scrunkle: "used to describe something or someone cute" (as seen on urban dictionary; me and my friends started to use this and it just stuck with me)

the moving process could have definitely taken less than two hours,,if only you guys hadn't started talking about aespa's new album

since lumine/aether don't have canonical birth dates, i'll just say that their birthday is on 1/1, new years !!

prev • masterlist • next

notes: this chapter took so long to write,,maybe i was just too nervous to actually post it  乁₍ッ₎ㄏ

i feel like you could see where i derailed in the middle but anywho,,hope you guys enjoyed hehe

taglist: open! @whipped-for-fictionals @aisclosed @cieluna @freshlaundry

[notinthislife50]

Chapter 25

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

“Y/n, please,” Bucky implored, reaching out to you. However, you tensed upon feeling his touch, causing him to quickly retract his hand in distress.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Barnes,” you whimpered, tears streaming down your face as you walked away.

The boys were devastated. How could you not realise that they would never stop loving you?

When Okoye approached them, she could see how low their spirits were.

“Gentlemen, it’s not that she doesn’t want you anymore, but she feels she isn’t worthy of your love anymore. James, you remember how you felt when you were here; it’s how she feels now,” she reassured, patting his arm.

A few weeks later you stood on the flight deck before T’Challa, Shuri, and Okoye, "You really don't have to go, You can stay for as long as you need." Shuri stepped forward, offering comfort, “Y/N, you can stay.”

“I know, but I need to face reality,” you sobbed, hugging her tightly.

“Well, if it gets too much, please come back. You should see what I have now for my brother to try on,” she chuckled.

“I really want to see that, so you better send me a video. But I have to try, Shuri. I’ve been hiding my whole life, but I promise, if it gets too much, I’ll be back to torture T’Challa with you,” you laughed through your tears.

You turned to T'Challa "Thank you for making me feel at home here. I have never felt as much peace as what I have here." you smiled hugging him tight.

Then you turned to Okoye " I don't have the words to tell you how thankful I am, you have given me my life back, and I will forever be in your debt." you bowed your head to her.

But you were taken by surprise when she hugged you. "Please come back and see us, you still have a lot to learn."

You nodded, then turned to Natasha and Wanda, who patiently waited at the quinjet ramp. You looked at them both took a deep breath and sighed "I'm ready."

@kandis-mom @silverfire475 @rivthejellyfish @cjand10 @ladywhistledownx @marceline-vampire-queen-blog @imjustanotherperson @panhoeofmanyfandoms @krissydclayton93 @ambersmommy2009 @calwitch @randomranda @clio-hook @drdbnkl2008 @vicmc624 @selenestar78 @itsfrwithia

[jussst-lurking]

The sound of the stars - snippet

So turns out I can actually write when I’m supposed to do other things (*cough* studying) and I’m kinda bored rn so have a snippet of my lestappen space au:

“Charles!”, he shouts, out of breath, “open the hatch, start the engine, we have to get out of here! I’m- fuck- I’m almost there!”

The transmitter crackles. Fucking old thing, Max should really get a new one.

“I thought you had the perfect plan to pull this off, Maxy, doesn’t sound so perfect now”, the amusement in Charles’ voice carries through the tinny clang of the speaker.

“This is not the time to be smug, Charles, hurry!”, he retorts.

Charles doesn’t answer, but the hatch of the ship opens with a rusty squeak and a moment later the hum of the engine is drowning out the sound of the alarms, the footsteps and the heavy rain.

Max dashes up the ramp, only stopping once he’s inside the belly of the ship, where he doubles over, trying to catch his breath. Running is the fucking worst.

“Close the hatch, I’m in”, he pants into the transmitter.

“You have it?”, Charles asks as the hatch is closing in what feels like slow motion.

Through the closing gap, Max sees more guards arriving at the other end of the parking lot, and fuck, they’re armed.

“‘Course I have it, I keep my promises, Charlie”, he assures and watches the hatch close all the way. Imminent danger of getting shot averted.

“Come up here, I need to kiss you”, Charles calls, his voice brimming with excitement .

Max grins, all too happy to oblige, and falls into a lazy jog through the ship’s intestines.

“Oh, by the way, babe, could you put the ship into gear? We have company and they’re armed.”

“Ok, hold on tight”, Charles warns and Max can just so grab onto the ladder leading to the living deck before a jolt goes through the ship and they’re rolling.

Max climbs up the ladder, strides through the living area and enters the cockpit.

Charles is sitting in the pilot seat, his pressed-together lips and furrowed eyebrows reflecting in the window screen, the screen wipers distorting the image every few seconds, as he steers the ship across the parking lot, steadily upping their speed. His efforts are accompanied by some Earthen rock music blaring through the cockpit over the radio, and Charles is tapping his foot to the beat, probably without noticing it.

Max comes up behind him and puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Move over, I’ve got it.”

Charles looks up at him, green eyes twinkling with mirth, lips curling into a smile, god, Max wants to kiss the life out of him, but they have more important things to take care of first.

“So bossy, do I have to remind you that this is my ship?”, Charles teases in mock offence, but clambers over the console and into the co-pilot seat, while Max gets comfortable in the pilot’s chair.

“Well sorry, would you grant me the honour of piloting your ship and getting us the fuck out of here before we are swarmed by guards and it’s too late?”, Max asks, already flipping a few switches and turning some knobs, preparing them for take off.

“Permission granted”, Charles smiles.

“You’re impossible, you know”, Max sighs fondly.

[inventors-fair]

All For Nothing: Zero Commentary

Alright, and that's a wrap! I'd just like to thank everyone once again for all their entries this week, it really made my first stint as a judge a truly unforgettable experience. I encouraged you all to get weird with it, and by golly if you folks didn't deliver in spades. With that said, though, I feel as though there's a fine line between "weird" and "excessive." Not to say any of you crossed it, of course, it's just something to keep in mind.

But enough prattle, let's get into the thick of things!

@bergdg — Pact of Annihilation

Okay, first things first: four of these in your opening hand is a turn 1 kill. That's an easy fix, of course, just need to adjust the numbers down a tick. That aside, though, this is a lovely little piece. A pact is a natural fit this week, and this one feels more quintessentially red than the one we currently have. Very much calls to mind Pyrokinesis, although it's not without an identity of its own. Centrally, trading the card disadvantage of Pyrokinesis for the delayed payment makes the decision intriguing, and giving it the ability to hit players in exchange for a strict two target cap is super smart. It's a solid design all around, cheesy OTK notwithstanding.

~

@curiooftheheart — Belzym, Veteran Grafter

This is just a big ol' bundle of all things Simic, huh? Graft and Coiling Oracle, together at last. Right out of the gate, I want to say that I really appreciate the commitment to asking for specifically 0/0 creatures, rather than just either/or. That does a lot to instantly inform deckbuilding around this, but it's still open enough that players can have a "Eureka!" moment when they discover the perfect card for the strategy.

I'm not quite as sure about the reward, though. As much as I appreciate the Coiling Oracle callback, as I said, it feels a bit disconnected from the condition besides the ongoing green-blue commitment to "do thing, get value." I could maybe see the logic be that scaling X creatures like hydras would want the ramp, but with the card so flavorfully tied to graft, I don't think that quite resonates.

~

@hanavesinauttija — Rogkhar, Kher Keep Raid Leader

Next in the storied (which is to say, unfortunate and short-lived) line of Kheer Keep kings, here comes Rogkhar, shouting their little head off. We've seen extra combat effects with a degree of specificity before—Akki Battle Squad springs to mind—but none quite so specific as this one! With that said, as much as I appreciate the joke, part of me does think this should cost some amount of mana. Even if nothing gets to attack, there's a surprisingly high number of uses for an extra combat step, especially with all the effects these days that trigger at the beginning of combat. Not to mention the extreme synergy with hydras and their ilk, which wouldn't be quite as much of a problem if this couldn't be thrown into literally any deck that could want it. In a similar vein to Phyrexian Metamorph, it allows for an effect that's very strongly tied to its colors (in this case, extra combats) to bleed outside of it, which is potentially dangerous. Even just one red pip would go a long way, but I do really want to see this little guy succeed.

~

@helloijustreadyourpost — Mindbreak Phoenix

I can't think of many phoenixes that simply allow you to cast them from the yard rather than tying their revival to a trigger, but I also can't think of any other way to make this hellbent, so I won't hold it against the card. Among the most aggressive phoenixes I've seen, too, which is saying something. This thing isn't about to give your opponent a moment to breathe, and even though its defenses seem paper thin, it'll just keep coming back given half the chance. Tying the discard to being blocked is super smart, too. Suddenly, blocking this thing can almost hurt more for your opponent than letting it through, because not only will they have to lose something, but it'll bring you closer to just being able to recast the dang thing. Wicked!

~

@hypexion — Spectral Host Prelate

Spooooky. The idea of Phyrexian Spirits is pretty suitably terrifying. I'd say this would fit snugly in defender decks if it weren't for the incubator. In general, I think the incubator might verge on a bit of a misdirect? Outside of precisely Brimaz, incubators are generally intended to be large vanilla creatures. So, in decks built around them, the spirit may end up feeling less like a compelling reason to sacrifice them and more like consolation prize when they get removed. That's not an actual knock at that gameplay, just a bit a communication issue. And who knows, I might be overblowing it. On a gameplay level, though, this runs into the problem that if you can reduce the spirits' power to 0 through an aura effect, you've suddenly got an infinite chain of spirits, which probably necessitates a contingency. Sorry if that got a bit negative. I really like what this card is doing, I just feel like the card itself doesn't quite get that across all the way, y'know?

~

@jestingmaniac — Sanity Blast

Well, this certainly lives up to its name! Just roll your sanity into a ball and spike it at some poor sap like you're in gym class and they just said something particularly unflattering about your mom. That said, I think this actually might be a bit too much cost for the output you're getting. Discarding cards is usually used as a substitute for other costs, and discarding your hand even more so. Not being able to target players is smart, but limiting this to just a single target feels like a bit much. It'd have to be a very big creature that throwing your entire hand at it wouldn't feel like comical overkill. Some way to target additional permanents—or even just making this a full-on boardwipe—would go a long way, I fell. You're on the right track to making something bombastic here, but take care you don't blast your own sanity too.

~

@just--a--penguin — Untimely Creation

We've seen plenty of mana rocks that can animate themselves over the years, but none quite so extreme as this one. I love the idea that it only gets up the moment right before you die, but I'm seeing a few rickety parts in the execution. The idea of sitting at zero life as a last chance hit point is great, but the fact that it requires you to hit precisely zero to work means it seems like it wouldn't actually happen much. Perhaps make it a one-time version of the Fortune Thief effect to lock you at 0? The body it becomes, then, is suitably large, but without evasion or defensive utility, it may struggle to close out the game or stand fast against the presumable army bearing down on you. I love what you're doing here, but it's just not quite there.

~

@misterstingyjack — Zeke, Zero Theorist

In contrast to some of these cards, this one is comparatively quite straightforward. Make big modular creatures, swing in for big number, with an attached fractal to jumpstart the process. Especially with how big some hydras can get, the ability to just entirely sidestep blockers is quite fearsome. Straightforward is good, though! It's clearly stating what it wants you to do with it, and a lot of people will be drawn to it. The one part where I think the straightforwardness hurts it, though, is the choice to use fractals. Fractals made a name for themselves by having all sorts of weird ways to scale their power that were often completely unique to the card that generated them, so a flat X/X feels...not bad, just stings of missed potential.

~

@mudthing — Possibility Tender

Next up is this adorable little sprout, here to teach us about the importance of the number zero, and also the importance of scale. A mana dork that draws you cards is certainly a tempting prospect, and we've seen this kind of design before, where it rewards you for spending the mana on a specific type of spell. A word of caution, though: the existing versions of this effect (specifically Battery Bearer and Gilanra, Caller of Wildwood) both require you to cast high-cost spells to draw cards, which require high commitment and can't be cast until later in the game. Comparatively, casting a zero power creature every turn is far more achievable, which means this has the potential to produce a truly dizzying amount of value, even more so with multiple copies. A higher mana cost or a reward a bit smaller than drawing a card could do a lot, though!

~

@nine-effing-hells — Aspect of Progenitus

With all this talk of hydras, you'd think there would be more hydras this week than just the one, but oh, what a hydra this is! Protection from spells is a really clever derivative of Big P's protection from everything, and the shift from five colors to just Naya feels so natural as to just be a no-brainer. This is another one of those cards that encourage you to convoke them down to zero, but having these be a modular spell rather than a fixed cost you have to chew through changes the gameplay significantly. Suddenly, it's not a binary yes/no decision, and there's a whole range of options depending on exactly how much of each resource you have available. Oh, I just adore it! I can feel confident saying that no matter what you put into this, you'll feel like you got your mana's worth, which is always the place to be for X spells.

~

@partialgardens — Unity

This is a strange one, to say the least. Mana value isn't a characteristic Wizards has every really explored, although there's technically nothing stopping you from messing with it. The card on the surface reads like a hate piece, but I struggle to actually call it that. You said in your submission that you intended it to synergize with all the removal that only targets creatures with low mana value, and I can kind of see that...but the larger problem is, the only cards that care about the mana value of creatures on the field are more or less those removal spells, or otherwise cards meant to be pointed at your opponent's stuff. So, I can't think of many situations where this disrupts someone's strategy based on that. The color removal is more on the right track, but it's still very specific, and actually works against the swathe of white effects that care about white creatures. A fascinating concept, but I think this is crying out for some amount of objective power if you want the effect to be this specific. Even something as simple as attaching it to a body or having it draw on entry.

~

@phyrexiandreadthot — The Void Engine

To say the least, this one's a house and a half. Hoo boy. Okay so, first off, I appreciate the forethought to have a measure against cheating this out, but I fear you may have gone a bit lenient with it. For one, plenty of decks have no issues hardcasting this early. I'm sure any tron player would salivate at the idea of casting this on turn 3 and promptly dumping their entire hand onto the table. Also, the fact that this only wipes the once means it's entirely possible to just rebuild afterwards (aided by the obscene discounts this gives you), even if it didn't also hamstring your opponent. It also crucially misses nonland permanents that produce mana, meaning that careful setup could make this barely set you back at all.

Beyond that, the fact that the cost reduction applies to abilities as well, and without the clause seen on cards like Training Grounds that prevents the cost from being reduced below one, means this is liable to create all sorts of hilarious infinite combos (every generated infinite black mana with Initiates of the Ebon Hand?). As I mentioned earlier, the Praetor-like reflection of the effect on your opponent is positively crippling, ratcheting up every cost they pay as much as double. Furthermore, this also means that the best counter to a Void Engine is another Void Engine, as colorless decks are hit the hardest.

On a rules level, while the effects groks well, "generic mana costs" are still mostly unexplored in the rules. As well, "rather than pay" as language usually refers to replacing an entire cost, rather than a part of it. All in all, this is a crazy ambitious design that I respect the intent of, but I think you may have flown a bit too close to the sun.

~

@railway-covidae — Miser's Bargain

I really want to love this card, and it's so, so close, but it runs into one crucial issue that plagues so many designs: memory. Every effect so far that modifies hand size is either a static ability of a permanent, or sets that number to infinity. Without any built-in aid, tracking whichever number between 0 and 7 you set your maximum hand size to across multiple turns sounds like a headache, and can possibly even cause irreparable gamestates if you end up forgetting. The effect is gorgeous, though, presenting a real spectrum of choices that has merits in choosing either end. Although, I'm not sure for what reason besides symmetry you' allowed people're allowed to choose 7, given that causes the spell to resolve without effect. Oh, and also tasteful reference to the obscure Miser cycle from original Kamigawa. Those guys are neat!

~

@real-aspen-hours — Teachings of the Void

First off, it's "you draw a card and lose 1 life." Sorry, that's the pedant in me speaking, and I see that mistake a lot. The rest of me, though, says that I like this card a lot. I love the tension of a card that ideally wants you to have an empty hand, but draws you cards. Naturally the best way to play it is to simply empty your opponent(s) hands with discard, but the fact that you also have to find a way to empty your own hand every turn to get the best results is a fascinating play pattern. I'm not entirely confident in the decision to make this an uncommon, though, especially paired with the ETB effect. That, or maybe adjust the cost just slightly up. Just minor tweaks, though! The core here is very strong.

~

@wifeswarmacademy — Shoo Away

The name and the flavor here are great, immediately. Following on the heels of such stars like Access Denied and Didn't Say Please, it's always fun to inject of bit of levity into your countermagic. The card's all-around solid, too, though I will say that leaves me wanting a bit more. Specifically, Remand (and more recently, Reprieve) can do the same thing with fewer hoops to jump through, and I feel that this one would stand out more with a reward just a little more bombastic than drawing a card. Convoke on countermagic is a bit tricky, too, as holding up creatures is far less visible to your opponent than holding up mana, which could potentially create some pretty feels-bad moments. Although, there aren't many examples of it yet, so I'm really just speculating. Now, shoo!

~

@wildcardgamez — Voidheart Core

An alternate level up cost, eh? Well, you've certainly got my attention right out of the gate. The fact that it's not a creature until it's levelled up is also a fascinating twist. A manaless 2/2 that requires you to sacrifice some resources is pretty hefty, but perfectly workable in the right deck. It's past that you start to lose me, though. Eight more sacrifices to boost it up to a vanilla 6/6 is a huge ask, and I'm not sure how much you're liable to have left to sacrifice once you get there. Level up is famously hard to judge without playing with it, though, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and leave it at the fact that I love the concept.

~

That's zero entries left, and I'm feeling pretty zeroed out myself. See you next time!

@spooky-bard

[niuttuc]

My omnath locus of rage deck was the first one I built way back, and now it feels like my clunkiest deck, do you have any recomendations for it. It's landfall with a bit of typal synergies

Clunky, uh? Landfall decks are usually fairly straightforward, since they can go really hard with land ramp and use it to enable everything else, which is hard to interact with. But Omnath IS seven mana.

It's hard to do recommendation on how to unclunkify it without more context. Was it updated since it was first built? Did the decks around it change and it can no longer keep up? Did your taste change? Feel free to leave that in a reblog, either a decklist or just what doesn't feel right.

In the meantime, the recommendations will be pretty generic...

Usually I like to stay budget with these suggestions, but I'd be remiss not to mention a new Elemental that's great at getting a bunch of lands entering at once! Aftermath Analyst is cheaper, both monetarily and manaterily, but not an elemental itself. Generally speaking, WotC has been exploring that space of reanimating a bunch of lands at once more lately, and it can be very powerful to ramp ahead a ton and get a lot of landfall triggers all at once. Of note, it's even better if your deck has lands that put themselves in the graveyard, typically fetchlands and such, so if you include these, might want to look at your manabase. Even budget fetchlands work with those though, terramorphic expanses and such, even if the "real" fetches will be a bit better. Though New Capenna fetchlands will be as good as "real" ones here, since they ignore the whole "tapped" bit anyway. These are all good to have in a landfall deck anyway because they can double trigger landfall, so wouldn't be surprised if you already had a bunch.

I tend to like these kinda creatures that can get you lands every turn by attacking. They all have their quirks, and they can be a bit more fragile and slower than the traditional ramp spells, but they're a presence on board and they can snowball much more... If your playgroup isn't too heavy on board wipes.

Spelunking is a recent addition to lands decks that does a LOT of heavy lifting (ignore the Cave text). It replaces itself, can ramp too, and turns all your ramping and fetching for the rest of the game into untapped ramping and fetching, which is pretty huge, essentially discounting all those spells or generating extra mana. It rarely feels like something your opponents need to remove, but it'll quietly generate a lot of advantage.

Finally, we got a bunch of tools to trigger Landfall a fair bit with single cards recently, so might as well include them.

Sorry for nothing more custom than that, but Landfall is pretty generic and I'm not sure exactly your issue.

[jasper-pagan-witch]

what advice do you have for beginners of MTG both in the game itself and for magical/divination purposes?

(it’s okay if they’re the same advice)

please and thanks dear wizard

Overall:

Find a color that suits you mechanically. Each color, at its core, is good at a few things:

WHITE: life gain, damage prevention, vigilance, untapping permanents, combat, protection, enchantments, toughness increase effects, creature tokens, exiling, board wipes

BLUE: card drawing, counterspells, stealing permanents, library destruction, mimicry/copying, shapeshifters/morphology, power reduction, returning permanents to hand ("bouncing"), tapping and untapping permanents, evasion/unblockable/stealth, illusions/nonreality, technology/"artifacts matter", time manipulation, taking extra turns, hexproof

BLACK: discarding, reanimation/digging in your graveyard, evasion, first strike, regeneration, lifelink, sacrifice, life loss, creature destruction, weakness/power and toughness decrease effects, parasitism, removing counters

RED: card draw, combat, direct damage, firebreathing/power increase effects, haste, sacrifice at the end of turn, land and artifact destruction, mana ramping, randomness (such as coin flips)

GREEN: animating artifacts, anti-flying, artifact and enchantment destruction, enchantments, card drawing, creature tokens, fight (not related to combat), land destruction, luring/making things block your attack, mana ramping, playing additionall lands, mana fixing, shroud and hexproof, regeneration, temporary growth/power and toughness increase until end of turn effects, trample, uncounterability, untapping, venom, poison, deathtouch

Any color can do just about anything, but that doesn't mean it's good at it. Generally, when you're first learning, you want to stick to what two overlapping colors are good at.

I recommend taking a browse through the Color and Multicolored pages on the MTG wiki (but using a Breezewiki mirror so that Fandom isn't so damn hard to read) to see what appeals to you most. It'll also let you learn more about different mechanics and keywords. I recommend keeping it simple to begin with.

I also recommend immersing yourself in a pod of MTG players. If you can't access any in person, then feel free to come join us in the Magecraft Discord server! We're willing to help out.

The game itself:

Were this back in the mid-2010s, I'd recommend picking up a 60 card precon deck. Nowadays, all of the precon decks are Commander, which is a very popular format but not necessarily beginner-friendly.

Start learning the vanilla game (60 cards, no more than 4 of the same name except for Basic Lands, etc; we call this "Kitchen Table Magic" and it is not an officially-sanctioned format, but it's how most people play the game) and then get into more specific or different formats from there. If you're just starting out, you don't really need to worry about what cards are banned, but that gets a little more important when you get into formats like Limited, Commander, Pauper, and so on.

NEVER learn the game through the official rulebook. That is objectively the worst way to learn.

Magically:

*opens jaw and my MTG resource post falls out*

*reaches into a hat and pulls out @strixhaven-biblioplex and sets them down in front of you*

*points at literally any resource that talks about using literal cards, such as tarot, oracle, playing, or Clow, in magic and divination*

In short:

There's a lot to learn when you're coming into this game. I'd even argue it's one of the most overcomplicated trading card games out there once you get into the hot mess that is "any creature with more than three lines of rules text".

If all else fails, Murder is a great go-to card.

~Jasper

[pbandjesse]

I had to leave from the music festival an hour early. I couldn't take the heat anymore. It was 105 in the heat index. And it was rough. But it was not a bad day. I had fun! I drank so many drinks!! I tried really hard to stay hydrated.

I slept really really hard last night. I struggled hardcore to write my post last night. I was falling asleep while writing it. So I apologize if I didn't make a ton of sense. I was really really struggling. And fell asleep almost immediately after posting it. I just remember saying okay goodnight to James and falling out hard.

When I woke up I was alright. Tired but not horribly so. I let myself sleep until 830. And when I got up I was kind of shaky. That would be a theme for the day.

I was having a hard time not being in the AC. We only have ac in our bedroom. Someday I hope we can add central air to our heating system. The furnace will need to be replaced in the next to couple years. We will save up for that and an ac after the fence and doors get fixed. And then we'll start working towards a deck and french doors in the backroom.

Once I was clean and dressed I would make sure my tote again had everything I might need and then some. Tiny fan. Frozen nalgene water bottle. Fake Stanley of ice water. Soda cup. Snackle box. Drink packets.

I would feed Crabcake and give Sweetp new water. I would soak on of my bandanas and would end up using it as a headband. Some cool was on the back of my neck. It would help a bit but the heat was unreal.

I would sit in the basement to stuff the new bears j made. I had hoped it would be cooler down there and it wasn't horribly hot but I was sweating and shaking but I would get them stuffed. I would sew them once I got my table set up.

I had a hashbrown for breakfast. And would leave at 930. And as soon as I left the house I was like. Oh shit. It's going to be very hot. It was already 94 degrees! I was worried but I was trying to be positive despite the shaking.

I got to the parking garage and things were going okay. I paid on the app. I got a spot on the second level. Things seemed okay.

Except the I couldn't figure out how to get out?? I was wandering around for almost ten minutes. The stairs were there but I couldn't bring my wagon up the stairs. And the elevators weren't working. I was trapped.

I finally just decided to go up the car ramp. They gave me no other option. I was sweaty and upset and not having a good time

Even though it was hot outside at least the air wasn't sitting and there was a little breeze. I got across the street without dropping anything. But when I got over there, after checking in with Kathleen, I heard someone yelling something. I had dropped a whole basket of beads and they were all over. Oops. I dropped off my wagon and went back for them. Another vender helped me put them back. And then I was just working on set up. It didn't take long. I have a pretty solid routine, even if the tables are different each time.

I would feel a little unprepared. I didn't have any tape or extra binder clips with me. Thankfully Kathleen would have painters tape ans jw ould make it work. And I was happy with my table. Once I was set up I would work on sewing the 12 bears. I would fall in love with some of them. But I decided I jeeded to keep this one red bear. I just loved him so much. Reminded me of Edwin. The bear I sleep with. And I would keep him in my cleavage all day. I would pour water in him to keep myself cool. That was the battle today. Staying cool as best I could.

I would make good sales. It wasn't the best day ever, mainly because the turnout wasn't amazing with how hot it was. But the people who were there were great. Telling me how cute my stuff was. People being so cute interacting. I liked the music too! And I felt like even if I didn't make a lot of sales I was just going to have a good day.

I finished all the bears within the first two hours. I was hot but I was trying my best to ignore it. I would finish my soda by 1130 and refilled that cup with water. My nalgene was mostly melted. I would end up refilling my soda cup three times and my fake Stanley twice. I would pour the nalgene water over my head twice. Just soaking myself to try and cool down. The mid afternoon was the worst part. But I troed to remain positive.

Meril was there running a booth for the museum. They wrote "what in heck is old time?". They forgot the "the". It was very funny to me. She was really sweet and shared one of her ice packs with me (she told me that she brought "every ice pack" she owned) and it would help but it would melt pretty fast. We were all trying our best.

There were some characters. People fighting but mainly it was calm and nice. I really enjoyed the music. And I was just knitting away all day. I would make 8 squares! Which brings me to 39 squares for my 144 square blanket. It's exciting to see it coming together.

I would start feeling a little insane. I would eat my snackle box. I would try to remain normal. I was having fun! But it was so hot.

Meril would leave at 4. She wished me luck. James would be done work soon after that and would come help me. Give me a break. I would get a little upset when they didn't come straight there. Instead biking the long way. I know they love biking but they had been in the AC all day and I had been locked to my table. It made me feel very frustrated and I knew I was on the verge of being irrational.

So when they did finally come I told them what I was feeling and they apologized and went to find me more water. Which was a struggle. They had taken the hydration station away to refill so James was just walking circles trying to find it. But they would eventually return it. And I had cold water again.

James would go and get me shake shack. Which I would end up dropping and was very sad. I would remove the parts that touched the ground and eat the safe parts.

James would get a falafel and fries and shared the fries which were very good. I would go on a little walk to see the other venders. I bought a little hip bag. But the other two things I liked were $65 so I decided to save my money. Maybe another time.

At 630 I was just so done. The sun had been creeping into my tent. I was hot and tired and I had drank so much water but never had to use the bathroom because I had been sweating so hard. James joked that the bear I had in my cleavage would only sell for $1 (for being sweaty and gross) or for $100 (for perverts). I wanted to make it through.

But I apparently looked so bad that even Kathleen said if I didn't feel safe I should pack up. And I took that seriously. We made one more sale of two of the blind bags (which would leave me withh one! We did so well!) and then packed up.

Packing up goes quick. I would make one stop to give a woman a business card who possibly wants to do a collaboration. I am hoping I get lots of people readhing out this week. About the teddy bear hospital and my workshops and classes. It was a really positive way to end the day. Even if I didn't feel like myself.

This honestly was an endurance test. I was just so done.

James pulled the wagon and I carried two baskets. And we had to go down the ramp because we couldn't figure out a different way. But we found the car fast. James loaded me up and gave me a kiss goodbye. They would walk back to their bike and I would drive home.

It was only 10 minutes but it felt like forever. When I got back here I got a good spot. And got inside.

I spent a few minutes checking on everything. Crabcake are all his food. Proud of him. I would let him walk around and would sing at him for a little. Sweetp let me hold him. And I fed the frogs. And soon after that James was coming in. And we were all together again.

I played a song I really like for James. Juno by Jesse Detor. And James put the dishes away. Watered the plants. And I went to take an everything shower.

An everything shower is hair washed, body scrubbed, shave, scrubbed again, conditioner. Then regular lotions and add in oils. I went all out. I even brought a fan into the bathroom so I didn't get sweaty after I got clean.

James would get me more water before they took their own shower. And when they were done they came and joined me in the sitting on the floor time I am having. They brought me a little leftover pasta from yesterday. I am glad I ate a little. I am ready to lay down now.

Tomorrow James had the day off with me!!! I am so excited about that. We are going to have brunch and go paint pottery and get laundry done and hopefully just have a really nice day.

I hope you all are staying cool. I love you all. Goodnight!!

[tasteofdeathao3]

Your post made me realise that I see Izzy as 24/7 regressed just fluctuating in age, he's Like That because he's a 7 year old with adult responsibilities, and as much as he'd rail against having the adults take over his stressors and gentle him all the time so he can just be a happy kid, it is exactly what he needs, he isn't gonna go down quietly though

yes thank you anon!!!!

like he's a grumpy shit... because he's a child dealing with violence and danger and an intense workload managing an entire crew as well as the person who really should be managing him.

he spits and he snaps and he grabs and he pulls and yanks and snatches and yells because he literally has no other way of expressing himself. 90% of the time he's not in the right headspace to realise he could explain himself, he could ask, he could wait, he could get Ed or Stede, he just knows there's pressure on him and he needs to get it off of him.

the likelihood of him ever accepting help from any of the adults is.... pretty slim, but if anyone ever managed to pull him, kicking and screaming, from his responsibilities and give him even a tiny bit of the gentle care and help he needs it would benefit him so much.

of course, he's not going to let that happen, because he firmly believes that he is not a regressor and would never need to regress or have a caregiver or anything like that, but on the off chance that it does?

For the first time in at least ten? twenty? years, he's not completely squashed by his responsibilities to take over everyone else's responsibilities and then manage Ed and all of his responsibilities, and he's finally able to relax and just.... be chill.

So after what was probably hours, if not several days worth, of screaming and kicking and fighting and then a fair bit of tears, he's calm and happy and holding as tight as he can onto Ed's arm until Ed has to use a chamber pot and is forced to pry Izzy off of his arm and onto Stede's.

By the time any of the crew catch a glimpse of him, he's calmed entirely and is happily trailing around behind random crew members and hauling around one of Stede's miniature mannequins and asking politely for a second serving of dinner and telling Pete as nice as he can to please be quieter because his ears are hurting, and the entire ship is completely bewildered and suddenly very aware of the situation at hand.

also I think once the general consensus that Izzy is a chronic (?) regressor spreads across the ship, a lot of his aggression is just treated like a toddler ramping up to a tantrum.

like he pulls Fangs beard and then Ivan's hand is around his wrist and is gently prying Izzy's fingers out of his beard and telling him "Hey, we don't do that. That's not nice. Use your words." Which of course makes him more cranky until he simmers down and ends up very sleepy and getting a midday nap in Stede's bed.

The next time he's yelling at a crew member for not securing the sails or tying reliable knots or swabbing the deck, oluwande or one of the captains will come down, get the information out of a very wound up Izzy and calmly reassign jobs so that everything gets done properly, since regressed Izzy kind of can't communicate his stress and worries without snowballing into anger and physical aggression, and then Stede or Ed will take Izzy to go get calmed down in private and come back for an apology (from both parties) once he's calm enough to be able to ask for help communicating.

once some of the stress is taken off of his shoulders (i.e. the crew start picking up their workload) Izzy is way more chill, and if that work gets done correctly? it's smooth sailing.

[illness]

After a rough year of health, my grandpa departed from this plane about 28 hours ago. I’m treating myself kindly, but my heart has a noticeable absence inside.

He was a guy who always, always did everything for everyone – if you need your deck restained? Done. Need a new shower? Give him like a week and it’s there. Want a new window? Yeah dude he had it done in a day or two. Like. A tree fell through this man’s ceiling and he had it tidied up, with assistance, in a week. When my mom needed a ramp for her wheelchair in her final months, he had it made in a few days. He got shit done, always with others in mind.

He was also secretive with a lot of things; we knew he was declining over the past year just by looking at him, his tremors, a noticeable decrease in blood flow. But he was still doing jobs and painting houses. He was just that kind of guy and I respected it heavily. I envy it still. Everything he labored was with love and care that you could not find from anyone else. He amazed me.

He was preceded in death by the love of his life, we’ll call him Dean. I never met Dean – he passed a little before the turn of the century, so I only know him in stories. They helped raise my mother together – her mom wasn’t in the picture for much of her adolescence, but those two were. My mom only ever spoke in adoration of them. Things weren’t stable and they moved a lot, but they had love – and they always had her. I knew he did experience a few hate crimes, around the 60s or 70s, which breaks my heart. I never brought up his sexuality with him – mainly because it wasn’t my business, and I felt no need to prod at him about this open familial secret – but I wish he could have lived in the time that I do right now. Even with all its trials and tribulations. Despite all that… he had many admirers. Male and female. A real ladykiller. That did come with some stalking… he had a man who was highly interested in him try to sneak in through the dog door in his house. 🫣 even still, I can see where they’re coming from… he was a stud!

Speaking on my mother, my grandpa would move mountains for her. When we would go on our little beach excursion every year, he would go to our house and always fix something up or add some new fixture. I remember him totally redoing our kitchen, our bathroom, our dingy little porch in the back… we would be gone for a week max, so he would check on our animals and workshop. He still did this even in a damn recession. No cost, no questions, just love.

And the animals he had! He grew up on a farm with a slew of sisters and a few brothers, and he just always had something. He had these gorgeous salukis with my mom when she was growing up, and once he got his own house, he would always have his own dog and a crowd of stray cats that he would inevitably befriend. He even rescued a baby squirrel and raised it before trying to send it back into the wild – I think it stuck around in his backyard for the most part, still visiting him and climbing on his his shoulders. The animal who held his heart the most was Sam, a golden retriever my mom picked out herself and gifted him. He lived to about 8 or 9, but that was his soul animal.

Following Dean, the other loss that changed him was my mom. It’s almost been half a decade since she left, and I knew that broke him. His only daughter gone before 50 – what do you do? I don’t know. But he still kept my sister and I in mind, always, making sure we were set. He left us a house – the same house we all grew up in, with decades of work inside. All for my sibling and I to live comfortably. A house with the most beautiful backyard full of elephant ears, hydrangeas, tulips, pea pods. A backyard that I spent hours running around in, with a shed that’s got tools for days and a fully working kitchen. Somehow.

I don’t know where I’m really going with this. The fact that he spent so many of his final years making sure our family would be okay, to set up this level of comfort for us – I have been musing over it constantly these past few days.

Something I loved about him was how comfortable with silence he was. I would walk with him and his dog in the neighborhood as a child, rattling off sentences constantly, and he just nodded and listened. As I got older, I became quieter for a multitude of reasons. I remember just sitting in the yard while he did his work, never feeling pressure to talk – we didn’t need to. Taking in nature instead of forcing small talk. I never thought that I would miss not saying anything with him, because there’s so much I wish I could have asked him, even still. Though I regret not opening up more, I still look upon the quiet fondly. He appreciated it, and I appreciated him for it.

I’m going to miss him a lot. Understatement. Getting older has been very hard on me and I’m not even at a quarter of a century yet, lol. My heart is sore but I am eternally grateful for what he’s taught me and what he has left for our family to continue on with.

I will close this jumble of words with my favorite story about him. One day, circa early 70s, my grandpa calls out of work and tells his boss he’s sick. Really, he just wanted to take his daughter to the park with her mother/his spouse at the time. Conveniently, someone with the local paper is there and snaps a quick pic of the group after a brief chat.

The next day, he’s reading the paper, checking the weather for the week… and then he sees it:

I don’t know if his boss found out or if there were repercussions, but it’s still my favorite thing to recount. It’s just such a thing he would absolutely do. I love it.

No amount of words could properly sum up who he was, truthfully. He was one in a trillion, and I am grateful that I had the honor of being part of his time on Earth. I had a less-than-stellar childhood and upbringing at times, but he was always a safe space for me. It’s a high honor to be a man in my life with little flaw – he is one of the few I can bestow that upon. I can’t exaggerate just how much of a beacon of light he was in our lives.

I’m grateful that I was able to hold his hand as he transitioned, becoming free of the ailments that tried to rescind his independence. I will never know what waits for us after life, but I’d like to think that he is in some sort of heaven – adding a fresh coat of paint onto the pearly gates, dozens of animals and people eagerly awaiting his arrival. I know he’s back with the loves of his life, the ones he longed for from the moment they departed; his daughter, his Dean, and his Sam-bone. How beautiful and deserved that is for him, my Papa, to be free of decades-long grief. ❤️

[magicwithclass]

Foundations

I wanted to write more about the newly revealed mtg set Foundations. However, there was so much news today that I could not fit all I wanted to say in one post. Apparently there is a character limit so if you do not even know what Foundations is, then I suggest you read my other post. I find it so unusual that we had information about standard legal sets for 2025 and beyond but there was a secret standard set announced less than 6 months before release. What was the point of that? What was the point of making this legal for five years instead of simply until the next rotation in three years? Is this a plan to ensure that some deck strategies remain eternally viable without needing to buy new cards from new sets? Initially, I thought the cards would be weak but the spoilers so far tell a different story. Llanowar elves is absurdly powerful in standard as there has not been a one mana dork legal in standard since gilded goose. Gilded goose was not even a true mana dork in standard as you could not typically ramp with it on every turn. Even so, gilded goose just saw some high level modern play even after the release of modern horizons 3. Avacyn's pilgrim was also a one mana dork legal in standard but that was during Avacyn restored era in 2012. So why did they choose such a powerful card to make legal in standard for five years and at common? This card threatens to speed up standard even more. I would say the card would be banned but the power level of standard has exploded. Perhaps there will be times when llanowar elves does not even see play in standard. We also just returned to dominaria. There was a chance to reprint this card even if the flavor does not match on every world. There is no need for Foundations to use the excuse that these cards could not be reprinted due to flavor concerns. Day of judgement, for example, is generic enough to fit in almost any set. Day of judgement also represents power creep in the game. Original zendikar was the last time we had a 4 mana board wipe with no other ability. There are 4 mana board wipes in standard but they also have other effects so they are not strictly better. Does anyone remember when board wipes had to be 5 mana? Omniscience is also going to be legal for 5 years in standard and I already see a big issue with this reprint. Reenact the crime already sees a lot of play and I do not want to be hit with a turn 4 reenact the crime into an omniscience. Anthem of champions also seems really pushed. It is a 2 mana lord for all creatures? That seems very strong Typically, you need to pay 3 mana to give a universal creature buff but clearly this set is defining the highest possible power level a card can be in standard while also being the simplest version of the effect. The nine lives cat may not see standard play but I can see sacrifice deck running this cast as you can sac it during each players turn and it will return so you can sac it 4 times per turn rotation. I believe Foundations signifies that cards and sets will only increase in power level. In our new world that focuses on eternal formats, specifically commander, a core set would have to incredibly powerful to sell at an acceptable level. That is the reason the last core set failed despite having some decent reprints. We shall see if Foundations leads to new design philosophies. Cards are so wordy but is that necessary to make a strong card? Some of these Foundation cards imply that you do not have to be verbose to be powerful and see play. Maybe designs stay at a higher power level but the cards become simpler. It is also possible that these generic, but powerful cards eclipse the niche cards in other sets. Imagine if wizards had to ban multiple cards that are just a sentence or two in length. Would everyone be wrong? Does the increase in the amount of words on cards not automatically increase the playability? I do find it suspicious that they would not mention this set until now. I would like to hear the reasoning behind keeping this set under wraps. How do you feel about Magic the Gathering Foundations?