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coffeeshades · 2 months ago

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credits to the gif maker!

LOVE IS COMPLICATED - PART XI

—this must be the place

summary: two idiots who got their shit together and now love each other unconditionally.

pairing: pedro pascal x actress/singer!reader.

word count: 3.3k

warnings: 18+ (minors dni). filthy smut, p in v, unprotected sex, lots of fluff, cursing, age gap, mentions of alcohol. no use of y/n, if i missed something please let me know!

a/n: hello besties, dual pov so watch out for that, and reminding everyone this is a work of fiction so just sit back and relax and enjoy! but if this isn't your thing, move along :)

masterlist!

January 18th, 2024

Los Angeles, CA

January was a whirlwind. Awards season came faster than either of you could’ve anticipated. After years of grueling work, both of you were at the pinnacle of your careers. The Golden Globes were just the beginning, and somehow, you found yourself receiving best actress nods at every award show that followed. Each time your name was announced, you were stunned—as if each award was a surprise gift wrapped in disbelief.

Pedro? He was right there beside you, proud, beaming, like he’d won every accolade himself.

And in a way, he had.

The Emmys came next. Pedro was dressed like a hot English teacher—a title you bestowed on him while posing for photos on the carpet. He blushed at your words, but his imagination clearly ran wild through the entire ceremony. You’d catch his mind drifting, the corners of his mouth twitching with thoughts you could only guess.

But when the time came, he lost his category. You turned to him with an exaggerated sad face, eyes wide, and before he could even fake another mournful look, you took his face between your hands and whispered in his ear, “You might be an Emmy loser, but you’re my Emmy loser, baby.”

He chuckled softly, a mix of amusement and adoration, his hand resting on your thigh, fingers tracing absentmindedly. “Maybe we can celebrate the loss later,” he teased, and you grinned, your shared laughter barely masked by the applause surrounding you.

February 25th, 2024

Los Angeles, CA

Pedro wore Prada that night. A crisp white button-down shirt, half the buttons undone, his chest peeking through like a prince stepping off a ship in some romantic novel. His hair was so much longer, curling softly around his ears, a curl decorating his forehead, and when you both arrived, you couldn’t take your eyes off him.

“You look dreamy,” you’d whispered, your hand lingering on his arm.

You shared a tequila shot for luck before the ceremony, a ritual that seemed to work for both of you. When Pedro’s name was called, you watched in awe as he walked up to the stage, shock evident on his face. He was adorable, overwhelmed, and completely unprepared, but still effortlessly funny.

"And thank you to my love for being my biggest supporter," he said during his speech, eyes finding you in the crowd. "I love you."

The audience roared with laughter as he joked about having a panic attack. You covered your face with your hands, laughing with him, but your heart swelled with pride. When your category came not long after, you got up there, thanked everyone, and finished with, “And last but not least, thank you to now SAG Award winner Pedro Pascal for also being my biggest supporter."

Later that night, you posted a picture of the two of you holding your statuettes, captioning it, “a couple of winners,” a nod to the moment and your shared triumph.

March had rolled faster than anticipated. The Oscars themselves were here, and there you were, sitting in the middle of Hollywood’s most glamorous circus, your name announced as a Best Actress nominee. The whole thing was surreal—like, pinch-me-I’m-dreaming kind of surreal.

Pedro sat next to you, gripping your hand for dear life. He had been holding it for the last half hour, unable to let go, which made you wonder if he was comforting you or himself. Maybe both.

You gave him a quick glance. He was calm on the outside, but you could tell by the subtle way his thumb kept moving over your knuckles that his nerves were bubbling underneath too. You squeezed his hand back, your silent way of saying, Hey, we got this, right? Though, in truth, you weren’t sure who “we” were anymore. You hadn’t breathed since they started announcing the nominees.

And then it came—the moment. The envelope opened, the pause, the suspense that felt like it dragged on for an eternity, and then... someone else’s name. Not yours.

The applause in the room felt both deafening and distant, like you were watching it all through a fog. You let out the breath you’d been holding since they called your name and tried to steady yourself. You smiled, clapping for the winner because, hey, they deserved it. But inside, you were thinking, Well, damn.

Before you could even process the mix of relief and mild disappointment, Pedro turned to you. His eyes were gentle but mischievous, the exact combination that both made you feel better and also a little nervous. He tilted his head, looking at you like he was about to drop the world’s most important line.

“You might be an Oscar loser,” he said, grinning that cheeky grin of his, “but you’re my Oscar loser.”

It took everything in you not to burst out laughing, because of course he would say that. But he leaned in and kissed your forehead, so sweet and sincere, that you felt your heart melt just a little. Leave it to him to make losing feel like a win.

You rolled your eyes, more at how much you loved him than anything else. “Nice one, P. I feel so much better now,” you teased, shaking your head.

"You did the same to me; I had to."

"That's just cruel."

You elbowed him, laughing despite everything. Because at the end of the day, you realized something—you hadn’t lost at all. You were sitting there with the person who made you laugh when you needed it most, who held your hand through the stress and teased you when you least expected it. And that, as far as you were concerned, was the best kind of win.

•••

The next few months were filled with so much love and so much laughter. Pedro went with you to every concert you had scheduled, sitting backstage or in the crowd with your friends, watching you command the stage. It became your new routine, traveling to different cities with Pedro beside you for each show.

June arrived, and with it, Pedro’s filming schedule kicked back into full gear. This time, though, it was a little different. Instead of the usual months of long-distance calls and late-night texts across time zones, he was filming in New York. That meant he came home every night to your shared brownstone.

It felt wonderfully domestic.

One evening, you were curled up on the couch, the windows open to let in a soft breeze. You could hear Pedro moving around in the kitchen, humming to himself as he tried to figure out what to make for dinner. He had arrived early today and insisted on taking care of it. The scent of garlic and olive oil was already beginning to fill the room.

You smiled to yourself, getting up to join him. “Need some help, Chef?” you teased, leaning against the doorframe as you watched him stir something in a pan, his brow furrowed in concentration.

He looked up, a grin spreading across his face when he saw you. “I’m handling it. Don’t worry, I’ve got everything under control.”

You raised an eyebrow, walking over to peek into the pan. “Uh-huh, that’s what you said last time."

“Okay, first of all, I told you that was ‘blackened’ for flavor,” he shot back, pointing the spatula at you. “And second, tonight’s different. I’m on it.”

You laughed, moving closer and slipping your arms around his waist from behind, resting your head against his back. “Mmm, smells good though. Maybe I’ll give you a pass this time.”

He leaned into your embrace, his free hand coming up to hold yours around his middle. “Only a pass?” he teased, turning his head slightly to catch your eye. “I was aiming for full marks.”

“You’ll have to earn that,” you replied, your voice playful as you squeezed him tighter. “What’s on the menu tonight?”

He twisted around in your arms to face you, a mock-serious expression on his face. “You are looking at a masterful creation of... stir-fry.”

“Fancy.”

“Very. It’s gourmet,” he said with a grin, pulling you closer. “It’s got vegetables and everything.”

You couldn’t help but laugh; the ease between you was just so comfortable.

It wasn’t about the food or the dinner itself—it was about the quiet rhythm of life you’d found together, the simple joy of these little moments. The kind of comfort that only comes from knowing someone so well and loving every bit of it.

As the food sizzled away on the stove, Pedro pressed a kiss to the top of your head, his hand still resting on your back. “I like this,” he murmured.

“What, my expert critique of your cooking? Because I can keep going."

He laughed softly. “No, I mean…this. Us. Coming home to you every night. It feels right.”

A smile spread across your face as you tilted your head up to meet his gaze. “It does, doesn’t it?”

He nodded, his eyes soft as he looked at you. “I could get used to this.”

“Well,” you said, grinning as you stood on your toes to kiss him, “good thing you’re stuck with me.”

He kissed you back, his lips warm and familiar, lingering just long enough to make you lose your train of thought. “Best decision I ever made,” he murmured against your lips, pulling you closer.

You smiled into the kiss, feeling the warmth of him seep into you, grounding you in the moment.

“Alright, mister. Let’s eat before your gourmet stir-fry turns into another ‘blackened’ creation.”

“Noted,” he laughed, turning back to the stove with you still wrapped around him.

July 25th, 2024

San Diego, California

The morning had a slowness to it that Pedro liked.

The two of you were still wrapped up in the sheets, limbs intertwined in a comfortable, familiar tangle. The sunlight crept lazily through the curtains. He felt your body stir next to his, your warmth pulling him further out of sleep. His lips found the curve of your shoulder, soft kisses trailing across your skin, while his fingers lazily traced patterns on your back.

"You nervous for today?" you asked, your voice still sleepy but carrying a smile that he could hear.

Pedro groaned slightly, his morning voice raspy. "A little," he admitted, his face half-buried in the pillow.

"You’ll be great. They’re going to eat you up," you said, teasing but reassuring, your lips brushing his neck. "Anything I can do to help?"

He smirked, his eyes still closed as his hand found its way down the small of your back, pulling you closer. "Actually, yeah… I’ve got a couple ideas."

You laughed, straddling him, your hair falling over your face as you leaned down for a slow, lingering kiss. The kind of kiss that promised more, the kind that was a language only the two of you spoke. Pedro’s hands moved with familiarity, tracing the lines of your body as if he were memorizing you all over again.

He discarded yours and his clothes too. Your perfect breasts in his face as soon as you straddled him again, knees on either side of his thighs as you sat down on his cock. His head fell back on the soft pillow as you dug your nails into his broad shoulders.

For a while, it was just your steady breathing as you rode him, smooth and constant. Your moans—a delicious symphony to his ears—filled the room, mingling with his own groans of pleasure. And then both of your movements became more urgent, and he held you down to his chest, his lips finding yours in a hungry kiss.

"Fuck," he cursed, his hands gripping your back tightly as he pushed himself deeper inside you.

"Need-need you deeper."

He heard you say, and with a low growl, he complied. "Lay down."

You quickly got on your front, head turned to the side, ass in the air, and he entered you from behind. He filled you, slowly, centimeter by centimeter, stretching you in the most delicious way.

"Yes, yes, yes."

It fueled him to see you and hear you so fucked out and desperate for more.

"Goddamn," he breathed, pulling out before gliding in again, this time a little harder, a little deeper. He repeated the motion several times, each time pushing you into the bed harder and harder, the sound of skin slapping against skin filling the room. It's filthy. His hands dug into your hips. Your moans grew louder—consuming him, matching the rhythm of his thrusts.

You were close; he could tell by the way you were clenching around him. He cannot take it anymore. It's stupidly, brilliantly too good. Too intoxicating. He leans forward, chest pressed against your back, skin slick with sweat. "Come for me, baby."

He sees your eyes go blank as you reach your peak, your body shuddering with pleasure. The sight of you unraveling beneath him pushes him over the edge, and he follows right after you, his hips turning erratic, heat spreading inside him, and his release mixing with yours.

You don't move, and neither does he. He stays buried deep inside you, both of you trying to catch your breath and come back down from the euphoric high you just experienced together. The only sound in the room is heavy breathing and the occasional whisper of a kiss against your skin.

•••

Later, the chaos of Comic-Con surrounded him, but Pedro was good at playing it cool, even if he didn't really feel like it. He’d been in the industry long enough to know how to handle the intensity of the spotlight, but today, something felt a little more electrified. It could’ve been the crowds, but as soon as you arrived and caught sight of him, you couldn’t resist teasing him.

“Oh my god, what did Marvel give you?” you said, grinning up at him with a mischievous glint in your eye. “You look ten years younger—I’m scared.”

Pedro chuckled, turning a little and glancing down at himself. “It’s all smoke and mirrors, babe. You know that.”

"Right. Smoke, mirrors, and a little bit of Marvel magic."

You stole a quick kiss. "I'll be right here when you're done, P."

He loved how you could always ease him with just a few words. No matter the situation, no matter how chaotic or overwhelming things got, you had this way of cutting through the noise and grounding him. It was something he never took for granted, especially in moments like this—before the whirlwind, when he needed to remember who he was underneath it all.

"Now, get out there and win them over, handsome."

•••

Summer turned into fall; life became a blend of filming and fleeting moments of domestic bliss.

Pedro’s schedule took him to London for Fantastic Four, and you had your own projects to attend to, which meant falling back into the familiar rhythm of long-distance. It was tough—long nights filled with texts and video calls, stolen moments across time zones—but somehow, the two of you made it work. You'd promised you would.

One night, as you lay together in bed before your next trip, he whispered, “I’d rather have you 3 days a year than anyone else all the time.”

You smiled.

Weeks later, Pedro went back to New York after a short break and found solace in the little routines.

He loved coming home to you.

He found himself doing little things for you. He’d never been much of a "chores guy," but there was something solid about washing dishes while you hummed in the next room, or folding laundry. It made up for the time he spent away, the guilt he sometimes carried for being gone so much. Doing these little things felt like his way of making sure you always knew how much he loved you, even when he wasn’t physically there.

One night, after a particularly long day for you, you flopped into bed. He was finishing brushing his teeth in the bathroom. As he walked into the bedroom, he noticed the exhaustion in your eyes. You were sprawled out on the bed, your blouse slightly rolled up. He pressed a knee against the edge of the bed and hovered over you.

You looked up at him, your voice a soft whisper. “You’re the only calm thing in my life.”

Pedro’s heart swelled at that, his mouth instinctively forming a smile. “And you’re the best kind of chaos in mine,” he teased, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. But beneath the joke was something deeper—a truth he felt in every fiber of his being. You had become his home.

He crawled back down slowly, peppering you with gentle kisses along your neck and sternum. You unbuttoned your blouse as he continued to trail kisses down your body. Each one a promise.

He bit your hip playfully, leaving a faint mark, and when the red faded, he did it again.

You laughed, the sound light and full of affection. “Always leaving your signature.”

“All part of the service."

•••

As fall settled, Pedro found himself reflecting on everything that had led him to this moment—this life he had built with you. All his lonely days, all the times he had doubted whether love like this would ever find him, seemed like a distant memory now. Everything he had been through had led him to this.

And there wasn’t a single part of him that wasn’t grateful.

As he watched you move around the London flat he had rented, his home for the next few months, catching you mid-laugh or lost in your own world, he felt whole. Complete. Every piece of his life had finally fallen into place.

And he knew, without a doubt, that there would never be a time when he had enough of you. You were his everything, and he would always come back.

Always.

a/n: the end!! sad because i'm gonna miss them so much :( but happy to have finished this the right way. thank you everyone who reads, likes, reblogs and leaves a kind message <3

#pedro pascal imagine #pedro pascal smut #pedro pascal x reader #love is complicated fic #pedro pascal fluff #my writing #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal fanfic #pedro pascal x you

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foxtricksterwriting · 2 years ago

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Yijun Bai

Author's Note: this is 1 of 3 mcs, I'll link the others when they're posted.

Credits: This is a mc for the interactive fiction game-thingy Infamous. Find it here @infamous-if

Preferred Name: Yijun Bai

Alias: Juniper

Gender + Pronouns: man + he/him ("I know I look feminine, you don't need to tell me")

Singing/Voice Claim, if any: Cowboy Malfoy for his singing voice and his speaking voice lol

Age: 26

More About Him: Yijun Bai and Juniper are like two completely different people. Juniper is Yijun's stage name/act, as such he acts very different. The change is so stark it's often jarring to strangers, acquaintances and even friends.

Juniper is portrayed as a flirty drunken fool. He acts drunk or tipsy even when it's been days since his last drink. He flirts with everyone; fans, interviewers, other bands(👀). He often seems clueless as to what happens around him and acts overly laid back. Contrasting Yijun's usual punk-grunge clothing Juniper wears loose, flowy shirts and pants in various shades of wine red, purple and black. He has a sense of careless laziness that clouds everything he does.

Yijun himself is serious and has a no-nonsense attitude. He seems to despise the stage act he's made, but can't seem to shake it no matter how hard he tries. He has a 'devil make care' attitude and does mostly whatever he wants. He's loyal to a fault, and once you make it into his inner circle it's hard for him to hate you. Yijun is willing to do anything for his friends. He tends to be very calculated and aggressively blunt.

Two things that don't change between 'personas' is his general non-conformity and his love of nature. He strives to stand out in as many ways as possible; the blatant promiscuity and generally flowy-ness of his stage act and his normally aggressively in-your-face view points about the world are the first examples that come to mind. And his love of nature. He does everything he can to lessen his effect on his environment and cares a great deal about the wilderness. He hikes when he has the time and is known to go camping regularly. He's stated that sometime after he retires he wants to live in a cabin in the woods, away from people and engrossed with the forest around him.

Fun Facts:

His Pinterest here.

His(and the others because I'm ✨uncreative✨) band is called The Cult of Dionysus, specifically so he can call his fans Dionysians since he thought that was cool as fuck. Does NOT promote any of the shenanigans that actually went on and is willing to publicly denounce someone if they try something. ("Guys, don't try to replicate anything the actual fucking cult did. For the love of fuck, do not. That's a warning.")

He's fairly superstitious, thanks to his family also being superstitious.

He has a routine he tries to follow closely and if it gets messed up somehow it ruins the rest of his day.

He tends to suppress his emotions and gets frustrated when he does end up feeling them. This also makes him kind of oblivious to some things and a little insensitive, but he's quick to apologize. He's emotionally constipated, please bare with him. ("I'm sorry I said something hurtful to you, I didn't mean to hurt you like that. I don't have a excuse, but I truly am sorry.")

He wants to be covered in tattoos and is getting there slowly but surely. If you ask about them, he'll explain why he got them and what they mean.

Yijun is not close to his family; they're very traditional and conservative people while he's the exact opposite. ("My family? You don't need to know about them")

He likes photography and specifically favors those polaroid cameras. He'd like to have a photo wall, but hasn't settled in a place long enough to build one up.

Yijun doesn't like interacting with his fans, not because he doesn't like them but because he's scared he'd say something wrong and hurt or offend them. Will happily give hugs and pose for pictures if asked.

While Lani wants a PO Box, I feel Yijun would actually have a PO Box and treasure each and every little thing sent to him. You could send him a rock and he'd be 🥺🥺🥰🥰🥰

You know the way parents embarrass their kids by constantly bragging about them? Yijun does that with his fans lol

He's a fucking tsundere lol would absolutely accidentally say some variation of 'it's not like I like you or anything!' lmao

Yijun is one of my regular ocs and has his own story. His 'pre-made' backstory is that he met Lani when he was like 8. In high school he met Storm, and shortly after started a band. In said band he's the lead singer and drummer, among other things.

"I'll stick with you from now on, so you better not fuck this up."

#MC #MC: Yijun #infamous if #infamous mc #interactive fiction

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guidetorp · 1 year ago

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I’m actually new to the Tumblr RP community and it’s sort of confusing to take in at first so I’d love some advice, thank you so much in advance for anything!

I’m not really sure where to start or how to search for roleplays, appropriately make or tag them, or terms like “muses”? I’ve seen it around, but I’m never sure what it means.

My only experience in getting involved in the roleplay community on other platforms would be through things like “communities” or basically a big user ground labeled “something RP”, but there’s nothing like that here. How would I reach out / extend my reach?

Oh!! Well first and foremost, welcome to the RP side of Tumblr! It's been a few years since I've been active in the roleplay community myself, so I encourage you to take my advice with a grain of salt as I'm sure things have changed!

That being said, starting into the rp community can be a daunting task for sure. Navigating tagging, links, etc is an acquired skill, but certainly not impossible! Just remember to be patient with yourself and allow a few dink-ups along the way.

Now, let me preface this by saying that the tagging system here is dogshit! Completely terrible! But using appropriate tags for your roleplay is still extremely important, as it helps other individuals either find you or avoid you! Lengthy roleplays can be a bit of an eyesore on the dash if you aren't involved in the community so using #rp or #roleplay each time will help the filters out.

I strongly recommend checking out this blog for more relevant roleplay etiquette, which also has some pretty great information on the tagging system! The individual running it has stepped down though, so it's just for perusing and not an active help blog!

Now, muses! Muses are simply a source of inspiration. In the sense of roleplay, they are the chosen character the roleplayer is using in the RP. Fictional or nonfictional, original or established, anything can be your source of inspiration. A similar term thrown around is a face claim. A picture of the muse to display, very simply, what the character looks like. That can get messy if you aren't careful, as you want to make sure you're crediting the artist or not claiming pictures of someone else's original work under the guise of 'inspiration'. Some use photos of celebrities or stock images, not as official 'this is what my character looks like' but more as a 'this is the ballpark of vibes I'm going for'.

Remember, if you want to have a specific picture for your muse, commission someone to make it for you, or make it yourself! The RP community can be fantastic for exploring other hobbies, depending on what kind of flavor you want to implement! I've seen people make comics, paper crafts, or customized photography for whatever their scene requires! I've even been a part of an immersive horror rp that went on for months as a real-time mystery.

To get yourself out there, I HIGHLY recommend fandom first. It might be a bit controversial, but having a fandom oc or character will start you in an established universe and provide the basics of familiarizing yourself with roleplay. From there, you can expand universes and begin interacting with other non-fandom characters!

And how would you interact with them? Roleplay memes/ask games are a great source, those huge lists of prompts with numbers next to them? Yeah those are fantastic for getting started. Just choose a few of them at a time and start writing! Just don't over exert yourself! If you aren't getting any replies or interaction, that doesn't reflect on your ability by any means. Just have patience and write for your OWN enjoyment.

You can also send prompts to other RP blogs! People usually love reblogging those big lists so if you have a few folks in mind that you'd like to start roleplaying with, shoot them an ask!

Anyways, I hope you can glean what you need from this response! If there are any specifics you'd like to know about, I'll always be here. I wish you best of luck with establishing yourself within our roleplay community, and once again, welcome!!

#anonymous #technical #nitty gritty #muses #rp prompts

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everton-jones223 · 2 years ago

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The Future of Jobs: Will AI Take Over? Uncover the Truth and Secure Your Future with Robin AI

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Title: The Future of Jobs: Will AI Take Over? Uncover the Truth and Secure Your Future with Robin AI

As technology continues to advance at an unprecedented pace, there is increasing speculation about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the job market. Many people are concerned that AI will eventually replace human workers, leaving them unemployed and uncertain about their future. However, the reality is more nuanced than this fear-driven narrative suggests. While AI has the potential to transform the workplace, it can also create new opportunities for those who are prepared to adapt and harness its power. In this article, we will delve into the topic of whether AI will take over our jobs, exploring the attention-grabbing myths and facts. We will also introduce you to Robin AI, a cutting-edge platform that empowers professionals to thrive in the age of AI, and show you how you can take action and secure your future by signing up with Robin AI.

Are you worried about the future of your job? Do you fear that your profession could be at risk of being taken over by artificial intelligence? If so, you're not alone. The rise of AI has sparked widespread concern and uncertainty about the future of work. However, it's important to separate fact from fiction and gain a clear understanding of the real impact of AI on jobs. Let's explore some common myths and misconceptions about AI and jobs that often grab attention but may not reflect the full picture. Myth 1: All Jobs Will Be Taken Over by AI One of the biggest misconceptions about AI is that it will replace all human jobs, leaving millions of people unemployed. This dystopian view of the future is often sensationalized in the media, creating fear and panic. However, the truth is that while AI has the potential to automate certain tasks and roles, it is unlikely to completely replace all human jobs across all industries.

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Myth 2: Only Low-Skilled Jobs Are at Risk Another misconception is that only low-skilled jobs are vulnerable to being replaced by AI, while high-skilled jobs are safe. However, the reality is that AI has the potential to impact jobs across the skill spectrum, from entry level to highly specialized roles. For example, AI-powered algorithms are being used in the finance industry for automating investment decisions, and in the legal field for contract analysis. No industry or profession is immune to the transformative effects of AI.

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Fact 2: Upskilling and Adaptability Are Keys To thrive in the age of AI, professionals need to be proactive in developing skills that complement and leverage AI technology. Jobs that require creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence are less likely to be replaced by AI. By continuously upskilling and adapting to the changing landscape of work, individuals can remain relevant and competitive in the job market. Platforms like Robin AI are specifically designed to help professionals stay ahead by providing personalized insights and recommendations on skills development. Interest: Now that we've debunked some common myths about AI and jobs, let's explore why AI has the potential to be a game-changer in the workplace. Understanding the real benefits of AI can pique your interest and open your mind to the possibilities it offers.

Benefit 1: Increased Efficiency and Productivity AI has the ability to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing human workers to focus on more strategic and high-value activities. This can lead to increased efficiency and productivity in the workplace. For example, in industries such as manufacturing, logistics, and customer service, AI-powered robots, and chatbots can handle routine tasks, freeing up human workers to focus on more complex and critical tasks. This can result in faster turnaround times, improved customer service, and higher levels of innovation.

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Benefit 2: Enhanced Decision-Making AI has the potential to analyze vast amounts of data and provide valuable insights that can inform decision-making. This can help businesses make data-driven decisions, leading to more informed and strategic choices. For example, in the field of marketing, AI can analyze customer data and provide personalized recommendations for targeted campaigns, leading to more effective marketing strategies. AI can also assist in risk assessment, financial forecasting, and supply chain optimization, among other areas, helping businesses make smarter decisions based on data-driven insights. Benefit 3: Improved Safety and Accuracy AI can improve safety and accuracy in various industries by reducing the risk of human error. For example, in the healthcare industry, AI can assist in surgical procedures, monitor patients' vital signs, and analyze medical data for the early detection of diseases. In the transportation industry, AI can help with autonomous driving, reducing the risk of accidents caused by human error. In industries such as construction and manufacturing, AI-powered drones and robots can perform tasks in hazardous environments, minimizing risks to human workers. AI can also enhance accuracy in tasks such as data analysis, language translation, and quality control, reducing the chances of errors and improving overall outcomes. Benefit 4: New Job Opportunities While there are concerns about jobs being replaced by AI, it's important to note that AI has the potential to create new job opportunities as well. As AI technology continues to evolve, there will be a growing demand for skilled workers who can develop, manage, and optimize AI systems. Additionally, as AI automates routine tasks, human workers can shift their focus to more creative, strategic, and interpersonal roles that require uniquely human skills such as empathy, communication, and leadership. For example, in the field of AI ethics and governance, there will be a need for professionals who can ensure that AI is developed and used responsibly and ethically. There will also be a demand for AI trainers, explainability experts, U.S. researchers, and AI consultants, among other roles.

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#a.i.#a.i. generated #software #career #chatgpt #Youtube

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daydreamingleclerc · 3 years ago

Text

instagram files: the art of not giving a fuck - mason mount AU

in which, you and mason have given up caring about what you post on instagram.

this gets pretty explicit, warnings for partial nudity & sexual references

my beloved @judeswhore & @cesarazpi28 make appearances in the comments 😗😗

DISCLAIMER: these pictures are not mine. credits to the original owners, and the advertisements both Y/N and mason give in this post are simply a work of fiction and do not exist.

masonmount ✔️

liked by reecejames, declanrice and 892,027 others

masonmount lazy sundays 🤍

comments on this post are limited.

declanrice what’s gotten into you👀

↳ masonmount you should be asking Y/N that question not me 😼

↳ declanrice walked right into that one

leighbabyy you two r actually so foul

↳ masonmount speak to someone who gives a shit 😃

cesarazpi is this what you do on sundays🤨

↳ zaraazpi mi amor don’t act like we don’t cuddle like this too

↳ cesarazpi 😁🙊

january 23rd 2022

yourusername

liked by masonmount, sasha__rebecca and 728,836 others

yourusername when mason said ‘lazy sunday’, he wasn’t completely lying

comments on this post are limited.

masonmount i so wish my hand wasn’t covering that😼

↳ yourusername you absolutely would kick off if i showed all of instagram my tits

↳ masonmount yeah but they’re tits😼

↳ yourusername i hate you

perrieedwards have you hacked into my photos or are you and mason just on my wavelength?

↳ yourusername you know what they say - great milfs think alike xx

↳ alexoxchamberlain nobody says that

↳ perrieedwards yes they do🤍

cmpulisic room for one more?

↳ masonmount no

↳ yourusername yes, my other boob’s a bit cold

↳ cmpulisic be there in 10 minutes😼

january 23rd 2022

yourusername

liked by declanrice, cesarazpi and 837,621 others

yourusername bubbles n hoes

view all 638,728 comments

zaraazpi cesar why have you liked this post🤨

↳ cesarazpi i thought we could try it mi amor💖

↳ zaraazpi we would do it better than Y/N and mason❤️

timowerner how did you take this picture

↳ yourusername paid kai £5 to come and sit on the bathroom floor xx

↳ timowerner you’re not funny🤨

masonmount shame no one took any pictures of what happened next 👀😼

↳ yourusername no one wants to see what happened next

↳ masonmount i do 😼

february 4th 2022

masonmount ✔️

liked by jorginhofrello, benchilwell and 792,820 others

masonmount the wine was very … tasty

comments on this post are limited.

yourusername the thing behind the wine looks pretty tasty too

↳ masonmount it was delicious, actually

benchilwell ‘the wine’ 👀👀

↳ masonmount may or may not have had something to sweeten it up a little bit

kaihavertz29 since when have you drank wine

↳ sophiaaemelia schatz….

↳ kaihavertz29 … oh

itsamelewigi i’m going to block you if you carry on

↳ yourusername please block him, save yourself lewis

february 16th, 2022

yourusername

partnership with ASOS

liked by leighbabyy, lauren_fryer_ and 362,930 others

yourusername matchy matchy 😍 // use code Y/N20 at checkout for 20% off!!

view all 281,739 comments

masonmount the tits are sold separately

↳ yourusername that’s what you think

declanrice does mason have a bra on under his too?

↳ yourusername a nice little pretty pink lace bralette actually x

leighbabyy can my onesie come with a pair of tits like that

↳ yourusername absolutely but think jude might have something to say about it x

↳ judebellingham you’re right, he does but he’ll happily recreate the picture 😼

↳ leighbabyy the onesies are in my basket rn

february 21st 2022

masonmount ✔️

partnership with calvin klein

liked by yourusername, jackgrealish and 683,920 others

masonmount feeling pretty peachy 👀 / use code mason25 at checkout for 25% off

comments on this post are limited.

declanrice how the fuck is this a paid advert

↳ masonmount i have no idea but i’m not complaining

yourusername bulge not included xx

↳ masonmount that’s all me 😼

↳ yourusername yeah okay give ur sock drawer some credit

↳ masonmount you’re so gonna regret that

zaraazpi mason…

↳ masonmount yes zara?

↳ zaraazpi do we need to have another one of our chats?

↳ masonmount … no

itsamelewigi opened instagram first thing this morning to this… i hope you’ve blocked the in-laws

↳ masonmount 😁😁

february 28th 2022

yourusername

lille, france

liked by zaraazpi, cesarazpi, jorginhofrello and 907,372 others

yourusername got a bit carried away in the hotel room x

comments on this post are limited.

sophiaaemelia i thought it was a bit loud across the corridor

↳ yourusername had to celebrate the hattrick n all that x

benchilwell ‘mason you’re a hattrick hero’👀🤨

↳ yourusername keep your mouth shut

↳ benchilwell i wish mason would’ve said that to you last night 😒

cesarazpi that makes two of us 😊

↳ yourusername i thought zara seemed a bit too happy at breakfast

↳ zaraazpi césar mi amor !! i think mason needs to up his game

↳ masonmount nothing wrong with my game…

↳ yourusername i can confirm there’s nothing wrong with masons game

march 16th, 2022

masonmount ✔️

lille, france

liked by jorginhofrello, hakimziyech and 983,730 others

masonmount hattrick celebrations with my one and only 🤍

view all 372,939 comments

reecejames Y/N’s towels a bit small

↳ masonmount they ran out of big towels bro 👀👀

↳ reecejames i bet they did 😂

leighbabyy this isn’t as foul as i was expecting it to be

↳ masonmount i saved that for the bedroom

↳ leighbabyy glad it’s Y/N dating you and not me x

declanrice is Y/N sitting in a big teacup🤣

↳ yourusername r you jealous

↳ declanrice you wish x

yourusername i feel so sorry for that bathroom

↳ masonmount good job it can be easily cleaned x

↳ kaihavertz29 can you two not go five minutes without touching one another 😒

↳ yourusername obviously not 🙄

march 17th 2022

#mason mount #mason mount smut #mason mount fluff #mason mount imagine #mason mount imagines #mason mount blurb #mason mount AU #mason mount x reader #mason mount fanfic #instagram au #footballer x reader #footballer fanfiction #footballer smut #footballer fluff #footballer imagine #footballer imagines #england imagine #england blurb #footballer blurb

822 notes · View notes

majimasleftasscheek · 3 years ago

Note

none of my friends play yakuza so i’m gonna rant about majima in your inbox sorry

majima is the light of my life. the sun in my universe. my scrunkly. my 50 year old man. i eat sleep and breathe majima. for the blind he is the light. for the hungry he is the bread. for the sick he is the cure. for the loner he is the companion. for the sad he is the joy. for the prisoner he is the freedom. every time i think about him i have to pace in circles for a little bit. alright thank you

do not be sorry, this is it, this is the shit I cum here for

I love Majima so much I've become *that* Majima fan. I'm getting his tattoo, I own so much merch, I have a framed photo of his crunchy ass on my desk. Loving him has become part of my personality. I can't stop thinking about him. Everything reminds me of him. I see snakeskin in a store and I have to physically hold back the urge to get on my knees and whip out my credit card

I cut my hair for him. I have a cosplay nearly complete. There is a life size cardboard standee of him in my living room, ready to greet any fool that dare visits my abode. I learned how to draw people just so I could draw him. Everyday my partner wakes up in a cold sweat knowing I am unwell and that our house will progressively become more and more Majima themed

I see a picture of him and I must hold my breath, contain the feral creature that I've turned into. When I'm sad I think about him to cope. I have had past fictional loves but none have railroaded me into a fine red mist like Majima. My wardrobe now belongs to him. I own 4 pairs of leather pants and typical summer temps here reach 120F (49C). God has abandoned me but who needs that when I have a bowlcut bimbo

#I am cringe but I am free #before anyone is genuinely concerned for my mental health I am fine lol (serious)#majima just makes me very happy #and helped me thru some tough shit in the last couple years #blog mod

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lune-hime · 4 years ago

Text

Future (Chocobros x f!Reader)

“How did you imagine our future?”

↞Noctis↠

The blossoms tickled your cheek as you turned to regard the prince. His question was asked with a tone as light as the crisp night air.

“Well, last I checked we were still getting married.” You chuckled, reaching out to idly caress a velvety petal between your fingertips. “It will be a grand wedding, no doubt.”

Noctis hummed contently next to you, your forms spread out in the vast field.

“We can expect nothing less from Specs.” He added. The two of you giggled at the image of a Ignis as a wedding planner.

“What should we do for the honeymoon?” You speculated to the starry sky, gaze getting lost in the endless maze of constellations.

“Sleep.” Noctis replied dreamily. You huffed and shook your head in disbelief, the movement causing petals to fall into your splayed locks.

“How about going fishing?” He proposed. The scowl you gave him caused an amused smile to settle on his smooth features.

“Altissia and a little sleeping and fishing on the side?” He offered in a last ditch attempt to fit his two favorite activities into the plans.

“That sounds more like it.” You sighed happily, letting the coolness of the midnight breeze delicately prickle your skin.

“Y/N.” Noctis cooed, the sound as smooth as the surface of the flowers. You turned back towards him, heart lighting up when you were met with his smile. The euphoria only lasted a moment, however, before the once pleasant chill of the night began giving you goosebumps.

“Promise me something.” He requested in a feigned upbeat tone. You could tell he was trying to mask the sadness in his voice.

You nodded once, watching the corners of his mouth quiver slightly.

“Anything.” You whispered. Noctis’ touch was temperate in contrast to the brisk air as he reached out to run his palm along your jawline.

“Promise me you won’t let me ruin your future."

Every physical aspect of reality had seemed to halt in that moment. You no longer had any sense of time nor of the itchy feeling of the blades of grass against your bare legs. You could no longer see the complex colors of the heavens and the moons seemed like dull street lights in the sky. The cold wind no longer bit at your skin. You felt completely numb to everything except Noctis.

“What?” You choked, suddenly feeling like a rock was lodged into your throat. Noctis’ shook his head, silently telling you not to cry, and flashed you another grin.

“Please do everything we just talked about, either for yourself or with someone who makes you happy.” His voice cracked at the second half of his phrase, but he retained his grin.

“I’m so sorry I’m not able to give you that future, goddess knows I would have given you the entirety of Eos.” His sapphire eyes reflected the dazzling lights in the sky and his gaze was filled with thousands of words he would never be able to say to you.

“Instead of living in my memory, live for my memory, okay?” His eyes softened into a smile of their own as he regarded you like it was the last time he ever would.

Suddenly, you felt the sudden urge to embrace him but before you could throw yourself into his arms, he had disappeared on the wind and you felt yourself being dragged out of the field with a swift tug.

“Rise and shine, Y/N. By the six, we need to find a new expression for that now. Time for another hunt.” Iris sang as she gingerly shook you awake. Blinking the sleep from your eyes, you craned your neck to peek out the tent window to regard the dark world that awaited for you. Heaving yourself up from your sleeping back, you rubbed your eyes and cracked your back with a resounding pop before getting to your feet. After slipping on your boots, you gave the jewel around your left ring finger a loving twirl as you walked out to the campsite. Even in the shadows of Eos, the little gem still managed to shine.

“I promise, Noct.”

He was now your past, but you would forever be his future.

↞Prompto↠

He was the personification of a wilting flower. His once bright eyes were now sunken and bordered by heavy bags. He barely showed his dazzling smile anymore, so you had said goodbye to the little dimple on his cheek weeks ago. Even his once vibrant golden locks had seemed to dim in hue along with the rest of the world. When Eos lost its sunlight, so did you.

You barely registered the question he posed into his lukewarm coffee. Your heart broke when you hear the hopelessness in his voice.

Turning towards him, you reached over only to brush past his arm to grab his camera lying on the diner counter. Prompto looked over to you with slight interest, still slumped weakly in his chair. You flipped through the photos, pressure bubbling behind your eyes at the happiness of your youth. He always kept old pictures on his camera to make sure he never forgot what life used to be like. Photos were physical and more tangible compared to memories, anyway. You blinked back the wetness in your eyes until you found it.

Wordlessly you slid the camera over to him, and he picked it up with gentle hands. Once his gaze met the screen, they starting shaking and the camera began to fall from his grasp. You placed your hands firmly over his, securly holding the device in place.

It was a selfie Prompto took of the two of you at Wiz’s Chocobo Post early on in your journey. Sandwiched in between the two of you was your own Chocobo, Blueberry, his periwinkle feathers bristling in excitement and his beak open in mid chirp. Happiness radiated off you and Prompto, your smiles overtook all the other features of your face and the afternoon sun casted a cheerful glow over the image.

Prompto sucked in a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

“This was our future.” You gestured towards the photo with a sad smile. You removed your hands from his and used them to cup his cheeks, turning him to face you. It was the first time in a while you had gotten him to directly look at you.

“And it still is.” You stated, voice unwavering. As you looked into his eyes, all the memories of your Prompto flashed through your mind like the title credits of a movie. A happy smile found it's way to your lips this time.

“You are forever my sunshine, even more now so that the world has grown dark. And we will find the light again.” You sealed your promise to him with a soft kiss, his arms immediately coming to cup your forearms gently. When you pulled away you saw a few stray tears had begun staining his cheeks but more importantly that dazzling smile that could drive the darkness away with one glance.

↞Ignis↠

The soft puff of air that left your mouth tickled the corner of Ignis’ lips. Your hesitation caused his heart to sink. He bit his lip nervously, teeth worrying over the chapped skin. He didn't mean to sour the previously sweet and intimate moment but the question had become a chronic worry of his. The various fictional situations of his disability somehow ruining your constantly ran through his mind and were gnawing on his insides.

In the absence of a response, he felt his intrusive thoughts begin to manifest into reality. Before he could turn away, however, your hands on his chest rose to gingerly clasp onto his cheeks, forcing him to face you. Through his clouded vision, he could only see the shadow of your movements but he knew your features were contorted in the way they did when you were trying to articulate a particular feeling.

“I didn't picture it like this, but I know you didn't either.” You almost laughed, bringing his face closer and looking into those milky green orbs. Although seemingly lifeless, they still sparkled with the same vigor the man had expressed before the incident. Brushing his eyelids shut with gentle fingertips, you replaced your touch with a feather light kiss to both of them. When you pulled back, the look of adoration on Ignis’ face made your heart swell. Who knew such a simple thing like a kiss could calm the tidal waves of insecurity that resided within the man.

“But I wouldn't change a thing, because even though the world went to shit, I still have you. And you are still you no matter what happens.”

↞Gladiolus↠

Gladiolus’ question replaced the comfortable silence between the two of you as you maneuvered through the briarwood. The inquiry made you laugh and you almost slipped at the minor distraction, boots squelching against the muddy ground. Gladiolus, reflexes as nimble as ever, gripped your arm thus preventing you from coming into contact with a sizeable bramble bush.

“Well, our lives haven’t exactly been a fairytale now have they?” You replied sarcastically, the both of you chuckling as he lifted up a low hanging vine so you could step under.

“I mean, sure I obviously thought it would be a lot different than this-” You started, abruptly stopping in the middle of the path much to Gladiolus’ confusion.

“But look.” You smiled, pointing to the sky. Gladiolus followed your finger to the thick canopy of the woods. A clearing in the branches allowed for pale rays of sunlight to seep through the dense foliage, the sun warming his skin and causing him to squint. His eyes started to sting from it’s intensity, but it was a welcoming feeling. What wasn’t welcome, however, was the moisture that began collecting in his eyes.

“And we have this” You stated, taking his hand and guiding it to rest on the slight bump of your stomach. He splayed his palm and rubbed soothing circles against the fabric of your shirt. He regarded you with an adoration he never knew he would get to experience.

“Thank you, Noct, for giving us this future.” Gladiolus said to the sky, his voice thick with a menagerie of emotions. The sun had given back their ability to live, but it was the boy behind the sun that had given Eos a second chance to shine.

↞Bonus↠

“Noct for the thousandth time NO we are not spending our honeymoon at the recreational fishing area.” You retorted over your shoulder as you sped walked to keep up with a swift paced Ignis. Why did he have to have such long legs?

Ignis was simultaneously speed firing you questions regarding the shapes and materials of various dining wares and whether or not you wanted hydrangeas or lilies placed in the center of each table as the three of you maneuvered through the elaborate department store. Well, it was more like the two of you with how far back Noctis was straggling behind. While Ignis was like a worker bee buzzing from section to section, the prince on the other hand was taking a leisurely stroll; touching random items here and there but not regarding them with much enthusiasm. You had told him that it was fine if he didn’t come; you were enjoying planning out your wedding enough for the two of you. But Noctis protested, saying that even though it wasn’t his favorite thing to do, he wanted to be there because at the end of the day it was both your wedding.

Ignis abruptly stopped in front of a vast display of fabrics, carefully inspecting each one with fine detail. You patiently waited behind the advisor, giving Noctis some time to catch up.

“On any other occasion a weekend fishing with you sounds heavenly, but I don’t want to spend our honeymoon smelling like trout and stinky worms.” You stated, grimacing at the thought of your cute outfits smelling like dead fish.

“Which one of these do you fancy would be suitable for the table cloths for the reception?” Ignis inquired, shoving a book of samples into your hands as he slowly moved down the line of textiles. A moment later, Noctis popped up behind you, idly looking at the samples from over your shoulder. Once you noticed his presence, you held them up so he could get a better view.

“Black obviously.” Noctis declared blandly. It was clear to everyone that he wasn’t that into the whole wedding planning process and was more excited for the actual event than having to be involved in everything that went into arranging it. It didn’t help that he had to get up two hours earlier than he normally did either.

“Of course, Noct, but which black.” Ignis exhaled, looking close to short circuiting. The cloth samples were indeed both a dark shade of cobalt, but they differed in pattern and sheen. Taking matters into your own hands you pointed to the silk cloth with intricate silver embroidering.

“This one is pretty, Iggy.” You chimed in, wanting to keep Ignis’ sanity intact and let Noctis be done with the whole process as soon as possible.

“Couldn’t agree more, Y/N. You always have had the better sense of aesthetics out of the two of you.” Ignis praised before immediately moving onto the next item on the list, leaving behind an annoyed Noctis. You choked back a laugh and turned to face him, poking his puffed cheeks until his pout turned into a smile.

“How about we go to Altissia, with some fishing on the side?” He proposed, grasping your hands and lowering them from his face to intertwine his fingers with yours.

“It’s a deal!” You beamed, bouncing on your heels. The excitement on your features set off sparks in Noctis’ chest.

“If I receive some persuasion, maybe we can throw in a few naps in there too.” You added playfully, swaying your entangled hands from side to side.

“Oh, we can do more than just nap.” Noctis grinned, taking his hands out of yours and fluidly moving to lightly tickle your sides, offering an animated shriek from you. Just as you were getting into a small tickle fight, the buzzing of the store’s intercom system activated.

“Stop dilly-dallying lovebirds and lets get a move on, we still have to go to the caterer’s office after this. I am in isle 24, the silverware section.” Ignis’ unamused voice echoed off every surface of the building.

The two of you exchanged a look of disbelief before breaking out into hysterical laughter.

“Better not keep him waiting.” You patted his chest and broke away from his embrace. Noctis rolled his eyes and placed a kiss to your forehead before the two of you ran hand in hand to your lovely wedding planner.

#ffxv #ffxv gladiolus #ffxv noctis #ffxv prompto #ffxv ignis #noctis x reader #Noctis Lucis Caelum #prompto argentum #prompto x reader #gladiolus amicitia #gladiolus x reader #ignis scientia #ignis x reader #ffxv imagines #fanfiction #final fantasy fanfiction #chocobros #chocobros x reader

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neocatharsis · 4 years ago

Text

NCT’s Mark Lee on Dreams, Instagram Poetry, and Growing Up

Mark has a lot going on — but he’s making time for poetry, introspection, and, of course, the members of NCT Dream. - Vivien Wu

“I’ve been thinking about dreams a lot these days!” Mark Lee exclaims over Zoom from SM Entertainment’s Seoul headquarters.

The 21-year-old leader of NCT Dream is enthusiastic as he mulls over the meaning of dreams, his back against a wall of pink and yellow flowers assembled by his fellow NCT members. He’s wearing a simple, white tee, and when he gestures with his hands, you can catch glimpses of the friendship ring that all seven members of NCT Dream wear as a symbol of their bond.

“I actually feel like dreams hold a large portion of a life, and I’m not just talking about the subconscious dreams that we all have when we sleep,” he continues. “If you put it in a way where dreams are actually things that motivate us, and the drive that keeps us going, especially as a strongly driven person myself, I feel like… a guy with no dreams is like…” He looks up, thinking. “…A car with no engine. So, I think it’s as important as yourself. That’s how deep I go with dreams.”

His interest in dreams is fitting, considering that they are also the central, underlying concept to the lore behind NCT Dream’s parent group, NCT. They connect their three subunits, NCT 127, NCT Dream, and WayV, in a complex, Inception-inspired fictional universe where dreams are the only way they can find each other, and where upon uniting they can mix to form new subunits collectively referred to as NCT U. In practical terms, this has resulted in a 23-member mega-group that is multifaceted in every way — from their musical styles and visual aesthetics to their cultural backgrounds and spoken languages.

NCT Dream’s original teenage concept meant that members were supposed to “graduate” when they came of age, and as the oldest, Mark was the first to leave the group at the end of 2018. Having grown attached, however, fans were devastated at his departure; after a year of separation, SM announced that the graduation system would be scrapped and that he would rejoin the group. Their new album, Hot Sauce, is the first with Mark in over two years. As fellow member Haechan declared in an interview with Teen Vogue earlier this week, “Mark [is] very special. NCT Dream means Mark.”

But before the rapper led NCT Dream, and before he joined NCT U and NCT 127 and SuperM — the man is in high demand — Mark’s childhood dream was writing. He grew up in Toronto, and through doing school projects and essays quickly discovered that he had a natural way with words. Inspired by Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan, Harry Potter, and James Patterson, Mark dreamt of becoming an author, long before he was recruited by SM at a global audition in Canada in 2012. “When I was in school, I was always the kind of guy who would write more than expected, and that became a thing that clicked for me,” he says. “I was like, ‘Maybe it’s something that I naturally do?’ But then that kind of turned into rap writing too, so I guess they kind of clicked together.” It explains his prolific career as a lyricist; since debuting, he’s amassed over 30 songwriting credits across his various groups, contributing to songs as iconic as NCT U’s “Boss,” NCT 127’s “Cherry Bomb,” and NCT Dream’s “Chewing Gum.”

Even with such an extensive body of work, however, penning lyrics hasn’t satiated his appetite for literary expression. In an interview with Japanese magazine Men’s Non-No, he revealed that he still hopes one day to write a book, whether that be a novel, autobiography, or something more philosophical.

In the meantime, he’s taken to writing what are basically short poems on his Instagram, which he created just a few months ago. He’s gathered over 4.5 million followers since then, but having such a large audience hasn’t deterred him from being endearingly vulnerable with the way he writes. When I refer to them as poems, he laughs and looks embarrassed, but when I ask him to tell me the stories behind them, he’s enthusiastic again. They’re short, but offer brief glimpses into Mark the writer — sharp, inquisitive, and thoughtful. As pieces of literature, they’re a little rough around the edges, but the sincerity he’s known for shines through, illuminating the introspective, philosophical side that may not be so obvious in person.

His first poem, loosely titled “Late Night Scribbling,” put into words his musings about sleep, thoughts, feelings, and writing. It meanders from topic to topic, hovering between feelings of hope and hopelessness, before ending with a comically awkward “haha.”

“I actually wrote that by imagining how I wanted to organize my Instagram page,” he explains. “I was thinking of creating an Instagram, then I realized that, well, I’m not really a picture kind of guy, I’m not really a travelling kind of guy… I kind of studied who I am first, and I [asked myself], ‘What’s something that I can really portray in an intimate way?’ and it turned out to be writing.”

“I started to brainstorm what kind of topics I could write about, and then from there on, I started to write a little each and every night, and that turned into Late Night Scribbling,” he continues. “That kind of gave me courage to start Instagram in the first place, that piece of writing.”

Two weeks later, he followed it up with “Black Socks,” a whimsical ode to, well, black socks — complete with accompanying photos of him wearing said socks. Immediately, it feels more confident and cohesive than its predecessor. Using the neat and tidy look of black socks as a metaphor, he describes his own mindset for living life: “Pleasure from perfect alignment; That also goes for my ability to be parallel with my thoughts and actions; I try to live out what’s in my mind, and keep it consistent even when forgotten like a working habit.”

Comments on the posts praise his writing and encourage him to continue sharing these small pieces of himself. On the stage, Mark takes on a confident, larger-than-life persona, while in vlogs and spoken interviews, he’s a bubbly character full of laughter and boyish charm. What the poems show is that, beneath these outer appearances, there’s another layer of complexity that is yet to be fully explored, and it’s not surprising that fans want to know more.

His day job as a K-pop idol doesn’t allow a lot of time for hobbies, though, and he confesses to not having written much lately. Despite that, he’s determined to stay in the industry for as long as possible. “Longevity is something that I’ve always been aiming for,” he says. “I’m willing to do this for a long time, and that requires a lot of work. I’m willing to take that as a challenge and I’m trying to stay as long as I can, but with quality.”

That focus on quality informs his preparations for the upcoming promotions with NCT Dream. In both their fictional world and ours, NCT Dream are a central component of NCT by virtue of their unique focus on growth — the seven members were aged between 14 and 17 when the group first debuted in 2016. Fast-forward five years, and the members are now 19 to 21, having reached a milestone in January when the youngest, Jisung, finally became a legal adult in Korea. When asked if he feels like an adult yet, though, Mark gives an extremely relatable answer with zero hesitation.

“I still feel like I’m in middle school, I’m gonna be totally honest. I swear to God, I feel like I’m… All right, I’ll put it up — I feel like I’m in high school!” He laughs. “I even had this talk with Jisung, ‘cos he’s the latest that turned into an adult. He said that he still feels like he’s a student, he doesn’t feel like he’s 20 [19 in international age] right now.”

It’s been a long time since all seven Dream members — Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung — have released an album together, and as the first full-length album since their debut, the fan anticipation is palpably intense. Mark himself has mentioned in various vlogs how important he believes this comeback to be, and that conviction becomes obvious whenever he talks about it.

“We had a talk all together, the seven of us, without any cameras or anything. I brought all the guys together and we talked before the whole momentum started, and I said that I’m willing to put my everything on this one. Like, I always had, but I feel like… the whole universe, or like— ” He pauses, trying to figure out how to articulate himself, and his next line is the most emphatic of our whole conversation. “There are things that are out of our control, but we can see and feel when the pieces match together sometimes, and I feel like this specific moment, this particular album, kind of had those essential parts.”

He’s thinking about all of the context surrounding this comeback: the group’s coming of age, the reunion of all seven members, the scale of the album, the fact that Jisung has only just recovered from a leg injury that meant he couldn’t dance for months — even the fact that 2020 was, against all odds, the best year yet for NCT, with release after release bringing them unprecedented success and momentum.

“I felt that coming and I explained all of that [to the group],” he continues. “This whole period of time has a lot of meaning to it, and we’re not taking that for granted, we’re working hard.” With everything that’s happened, Hot Sauce is a historic moment for NCT Dream, and that’s been reflected in their numbers — the album clocked over 1.7 million pre-orders, obliterating their previous record of 500,000 for last year’s EP, Reload.

Their familial bond and the success that has come with it is the culmination of years spent living, working, and growing up together. The members have collectively missed out on key experiences that most teenagers might take for granted, distanced as they are from normal life, and the group also benefits from an unusually loose adherence to traditional Korean age hierarchy. The result is a brotherhood that goes beyond just being colleagues. “What we have is pretty intimate, and it’s also genuine,” Mark says.

About his role, he is matter of fact. “I’m by far the most easily approachable punching bag for the team. I am not… complaining…” He laughs. “But all jokes aside, I feel like my role for this team… Yes, I am the oldest and I am the leader but I’m also… In Korea, in the culture, age is very important, but we’ve come so far that all those borders kind of just vanished and we’re all pretty much friends, and I guess I’m just a friend of theirs too.”

It’s true that, despite being the leader, his friendly personality and endearingly awkward mannerisms mean that he commands about as much authority as a small puppy. Instead, much like a puppy, he is showered with love and affection (fellow member Chenle refers to Mark as his son and his actual puppy Daegal as Mark’s little sister), but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a dependable leader figure. The opposite is true — in Renjun’s words, Mark’s presence unites the group in a way that makes him irreplaceable.

And while this may be the fifth year since their debut, in the grand scheme of things, the members of NCT Dream are still very, very young — by most standards, they would still be considered to have their entire careers ahead of them. Growth has brought them here, but where does Mark think it will take them in the future?

“Growing just never stops for us, I can see us growing continuously, endlessly,” he replies. “What the future holds is something that we will never know, but we always do try to prepare during the present, and so with whatever time we have currently and with whatever album, or whatever stage, or whatever piece of music it may be, we’re willing to make sure that we have the next one coming too.”

A final thought. “I’m glad that we’re striving for that, ‘cos we started off as…” Mark shakes his head, “…as babies.”

#nct #nct dream #Mark #nct 127

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thecraftyfoxthewriterscorner · 2 years ago

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Let’s Talk Beats

Hey Story Crafters,

I mentioned last week that I planned on watching some of the replays from ProWriting Aid’s Science Fiction Week. Though I couldn’t watch all of them, I’m happy with the few I did manage to watch. 😊

One was a replay of a workshop called Save the Cat! Writes Science Fiction. As the title suggests (if you’re familiar with the book), author Jessica Brody spent an hour or so breaking down two science fiction novels using her beat sheet story planning method from her craft book, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book on Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need. I haven’t read her book yet (though I have seen photos of it on Twitter), but the webinar has convinced me it’s a book that needs to be on my shelf of craft books.

Caption: Photo of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book on Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need by Jessica Brody. Image credit link.

Just like how the topics of story vs. plot and character exploration (or character profiling) before plotting from Lisa Cron’s Story Genius resonated with me, Jessica Brody’s beat sheet method struck a chord with me as well.

Most authors are familiar with the major narrative beats that need to happen in an effective story (e.g., the inciting incident, progressive rising (or gradually intensifying) action, etc.), and roughly where those beats need to happen. They’re beats you learn to identify after reading a lot of books and recognizing similarities between story patterns (though you might also have the added benefit of reading craft books, taking writing workshops, or being an editor). Brody goes deeper by identifying fifteen essential plot points, or beats, that make up a novel, and pointing out where those beats should happen in a novel.

My Thoughts on Beats

In the Substack version of this newsletter, beats have been mentioned in the context of writing craft before. If you remember way back in Let’s Talk Dialogue, Part 3, I covered dialogue beats.

The main difference is that narrative beats are big picture beats, and dialogue beats are small picture, within each scene. Dialogue beats are actually a subset of the narrative beats within scenes, since scenes often follow a similar pattern of rising and falling tension that the larger narrative arc of a short story or novel follows.

Narrative beats = Events that happen at the macro-level (for the short story or novel overall), where the tension rises or falls.

These events usually give a sense of progression—that the protagonist is a step closer to their external goal, and/or has taken another step in their internal transformation (i.e., character growth through “victory”). The protagonist might also experience a setback preventing them from reaching their external goal, but still undergo an internal shift as a result of this setback (i.e., character growth through “failure”), and find a (usually creative or unexpected) way to continue towards their external goal.

Scene beats = Micro-level, within individual scenes. These beats can also span several scenes over the course of a chapter.

Similar to the macro-level narrative beats, scene beats follow a pattern of rising and falling tension. The difference is that the goal (external or internal) of the scene is more of a mini-goal the protagonist achieves or fails to achieve on the path towards the big external goal of the novel.

It’s important to note that scenes may not follow the complete rising-and-falling tension path of the big picture narrative arc. A scene can start at a point of low tension and end at a high point of tension (a cliffhanger) or the other way around. A scene may even be stagnant, and act like connective tissue between two, more emotionally-charged (or tension-charged) scenes.

Dialogue beats help with the rising and falling tension in scenes.

Dialogue beats = Micro-level, within individual scenes.

Dialogue beats can be body language or physical gestures, or internal dialogue that change the pacing in a scene. They break up long sections of external dialogue, increase or decrease tension, and anchor the reader to characters (by identifying who is speaking and moving) and setting (by showing how characters are moving in a scene). In other words, dialogue beats provide context that help ground the reader to a scene.

(Dialogue beats are the most fun to write and edit. Who doesn’t love character interaction, laced with lots of juicy, often underlying tension?)

Alt-Text: Diagram of beat levels in a novel using circles. The largest circle is the Novel level, with macro-level narrative beats. Inside is the mid-sized circle, the Chapter level; and inside the Chapter level is the smallest circle, the Scene level, with micro-level narrative beats. Dialogue beats are a subset of the Scene level, micro-narrative beats.

Caption: Diagram of beat levels in a novel using circles.

Why circles? I used to think of the different elements of story as “building blocks,” and the overall structure of a novel as the goal that the story elements build towards. I’ve since found this thought process to be too rigid, and that it fails to account for the fluidity (or “messiness”) of the creative process. I now prefer to think of the different levels as being part of each other, like a circle within a circle. Each level grows outward into the next, influencing each other. (When looking at it during the editing phase, it’s like looking at an object under a microscope to see how the smaller parts make up the whole object.)

I was tempted to reference Benoit Blanc’s donut hole theory for solving the murder-mystery case in Knives Out, but it doesn’t apply to this diagram. Still, the scenes are fun to watch, so I linked a video here (see below). (Also, the beats in this movie are fascinating to watch.)

By breaking down the novel writing process into fifteen essential beats like Brody suggests, there’s more of a roadmap to follow to get from Point A (the beginning) to Point B (The End); making the process less daunting, in my opinion. But what really resonates with me is the idea of being able to plan out a novel scene by scene, while also identifying the importance or relevance of those scenes. Mainly because it’s the writing technique that works for me. 😊

A Brief Aside: My Writing Style

My enthusiasm for the beat sheet roadmap doesn’t mean I’m promoting either side of the pantser vs. plotter writing style. Each author is unique, and should follow the approach that works for them—it might even change over time! But for me, personally, I like having a general idea of what needs to happen at certain points of the story, even if I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen.

(Anyone else in support of the hybrid pantser-plotter writing style?)

So after I’ve figured out the story I want to tell and the characters needed to tell that story, I figure out how my protagonist gets to Point B. I make a list of the scenes that need to happen (or that I think need to happen) for my protagonist to get from Point A to Point B (i.e., the “plotter” phase).

This list is not an outline. It’s literally a bullet-point list of scenes, put in the order I think will help the story progress. I use bullet-points because numbers or other labels give a sense of rigidity, like the dreaded outline format a lot of us learned in school. This scene list is fluid—the order can change as the scenes get fleshed out and the story develops (i.e., the “pantser” phase). And I let them.

Okay, back to beats.

If we consider the beat sheet as a roadmap from Point A to Point B, the type of story that’s being told (e.g., self-discovery, falling in love, developing friendships, etc.) will inform the kind of scenes that need to be shown for the protagonist to reach Point B.

For example, in a romance novel, one of the earliest narrative beats will be the “first meeting” beat. How this looks will depend on whether the story is:

a sweet, first love kind of romance (in which case the first meeting will be a “meet-cute” of sorts), versus

a gentle kind of romance (e.g., a more subtle first meeting, like Character A bumping into Character B and causing an accident of spilled coffee, scattered papers, etc. They may not fall “madly in love” and go the slow burn route instead, but they can’t help being aware of when their potential love interest is nearby), versus

a more dramatic romance (e.g., the rivals-to-lovers trope, where the first meeting is less about the two romantic leads meeting and more about the reader seeing their rivalry and unresolved attraction to each other).

Deciding which type of “first meeting” that happens will set the tone for the kinds of scenes that need to play out in later beats.

Basically, there are several possibilities for how each “beat” can play out, depending on the story type.

In case the example above wasn’t enough of a clue, I love helping authors figure out the scenes that most effectively tell the story they want to tell, during a developmental edit. The possibilities may seem endless, but if you know your characters and their circumstances—where they are, mentally/physical/emotionally at Point A, and where they’ll (roughly) end up at Point B—there are actually just a few paths your protagonist can logically take (and scenes they can experience) to stay true to who they are and who they’ll be at the end of the story.

Part of my job during a developmental edit is to make sure the author is aware of the relevant possibilities for beats that already exist in their manuscript; beats that, when developed effectively, will also help develop their characters further, and create a more compelling story.

Learn about my editing services!

Until next time!

Leah

Substack post: https://thecraftyfoxwriterscorner.substack.com/p/lets-talk-beats

Interested in learning more about me, and the kind of energy I’ll bring to a writer-editor relationship? Subscribe to my Substack newsletter (it’s free!), or check out the archives.

Are you searching for an editor to work with on a completed (or soon-to-be-completed) manuscript? Get in touch! I’d love to hear about your project(s).

Send me an email!

I’m currently booking clients up until December 2022. I’m looking to work with authors of:

Fantasy

Dark Fantasy

Science Fiction

Horror

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#Writers #Writing #Writing Advice #Writing Tips #On Beats #Let's Talk Beats

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formeandmyfics · 4 years ago

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Jugenea Fan Fiction

LET’S JUST SEE WHERE IT GOES

During pre-production of For Me and My Gal, Gene comes to a realization

photo credit: @ohmygarlands

(I wasn’t gonna post this as I don’t think I’m very good at ‘pre-jugenea’, but a friend convinced me otherwise. It’s not my best, but still a fun read)

1942

"Judy, focus, girl, focus," Busby Berkeley's frustrated yell echoed in the empty rehearsal hall as his little starlet tripped on her footing once again. During a turn, she went the opposite way, tripped over Gene's leg and almost fell until he caught her hand. Judy's hand slipped from Gene's as she regained her balance and she turned away from the men, her hands on her hips. Breathing heavy from their long rehearsal of the choreography for the 'My Gal' sequence, Gene looked down feeling horribly. He had never seen her imbalanced like this before, not just on her feet but her concentration as well. He could tell she was disappointed with herself, though would never admit that to 'Uncle Buzz'. "Judy, you need to get this down asap. This is the most crucial dance to the picture," Buzz said less loudly but with a very stern tone as he turned her to face him. She refused to look up at him and he went on, "Do you hear me? We've gone through this sequence over and over. If you can't get this, we might as well scratch the whole film!" "Hey," Gene said stern himself, "She's trying her best."

"She is not trying her best," Buzz said eyeing her down before turning to Gene, "I've known her much longer than you have, Gene. She's slacking off." Gene saw Judy's eyes tear up and he took a step closer, "You may have worked with her longer, but this girl works her ass off for you people. Give her some room to breathe and back...off." Buzz turned to Gene and pointed his finger at him, "Next time you talk to me like that, I talk to Freed. You're new here, Kelly, and very easily replaced." With that, he turned and started walking away, "Get it right," he said before slamming the heavy door behind him. Gene let out a heavy breath through his nose before he turned back to Judy. Holding his hand out, he wiggled his fingers, motioning for her to continue with him, "Come on." "Just give me a second," she replied as she paced a little bit having a moment to get herself together. He waited, patiently, knowing she was a tough girl and let her have her moment. But, when he suddenly heard a sob escape her, he felt so protective and just wanted to scoop her up. Screw the rehearsal, he thought, and pulled up a chair, "Sit down, Darlin’. Come here." "I'll be alright," her voice sounded very irritable. “No, come here,” he persisted and she did just that. "Want to talk about it?" When she didn't answer, he continued, well aware of the problems she was having in her new marriage from what she had told him, "Dave?" "That's part of it." Gene could feel her holding back and he decided not to push it. One thing about Judy was that if she wanted to, she would. They were both quiet for a long moment, in comfortable silence, only sounds of the birds outside the cracked window was heard. "No one's ever done that for me before, you know." "Done what, honey?" "Stand up to Buzz like that." "Not even Mickey?" Judy smiled and shook her head, "Not even Mickey." "Well, I don't think any man should speak to a lady like that, I don't care who you are. And I don't condone bullying, especially to someone I care about, someone who they just look at as a money maker. I think speaking down to someone is the most disgusting act out there. I was raised to treat the janitor the same way you treat the CEO. Humans are humans, I don't care about stature." "You're definitely not like the other men around here. And I'll tell ya a little secret," she said taking his hand which he took gladly, "Some people around here are intimidated by you because you told off LB in that letter. I mean, that took..." "Balls?" She giggled, "Yes. And the way you spoke to Uncle Buzz just now," she looked at him dumbfounded, "Not even Clark Gable would do that." Gene nudged his shoulders, "I'm an honest man, that's all. I don't play into the Hollywood bullshit, you know this. I'm here to make art, not kiss ass. And I'll stand up to any disrespectful bastard who thinks otherwise." Judy placed her hand on his cheek and looked at him with such genuine adoration, "You're a good man, Gene Kelly." There it was, the two of them staring at each other like they had on the dance floor. Only this time, Gene didn’t feel anxiety take over his body. Her hand felt so warm and soft again his jaw as she looked at him with such respect. God, he could get lost in her eyes. Breaking their stare, Judy lowered her hand and pushed herself off her chair. He immediately felt cold. “Shall we continue?” “We shall.” “I’ll get it this time,” she stated adamantly. “And it’s ok if you don’t, baby. That’s what rehearsal is for.” “Just remind me. When we go into the hop waltz, we go...” “Counter-clockwise.” “Counter-clockwise.” “Just look at me. I’ll let you know with a look if I feel you’re about to make an oops,” they got into stance, “One thing I learned on Broadway, I know how to hide mistakes.” “How do you do that?” “I make the audience think that’s how it was supposed to happen,” he said as he made a twirl motion with his finger, like his character does in the scene, where they start their big dance number. They went through the dance, singing a cappella, and saying their lines, with Gene directing by saying certain things like ‘And turn’ or ‘Under’. She flubbed the hop but for the most part, Judy was spot on. When they did the routine a second time, they went straight through, with no mishaps. They were completely lost in one another, having fun, and just enjoying themselves. When it came time to sing their last lines, his arms around her waist from behind, Gene didn’t want to let her go. Instead of releasing her so they could bounce into their chair and strike a pose, he remained holding her. And she wasn’t moving either. Her hands slid up his arms, tightening her grip on him, before she looked up at him over her shoulder. Suddenly he noticed her breathing more unsteady than it was when she was dancing, and she was looking at his mouth again. Fuck, she wanted him to kiss. Oh, he wanted to... “How was that,” she whispered. “Perfect,” he whispered back and suddenly found his head slowly, but surely, gravitating toward hers. “Gene,” she murmured almost barely. “Rehearsal’s over!” They both jumped apart as the rehearsal door banged open. George Murphy and Ben Blue, who had been rehearsing in the next room, stood there in the doorway. George then whistled, “Buzz just called lunch.” “Yeah, let’s go. I’m hungry,” Ben started before walking away down the hall. Gene watched as Judy scrambled to collect her things, and seemed awfully nervous. “You guys go ahead,” he said as he grabbed his script, “I’m not hungry. I’m gonna work some more.” “Suit yourself,” George said a little arrogantly. Gene looked up just in time to see Judy glance at him one more before George escorted her out the door. When they were no longer in sight, he threw his script across the room in anger.

Gene took a swig of his beer, in complete contentment, as he sat at the bar of Johannes. It was a tropical, outside cocktail lounge, hanging off a cliff in Malibu, with spectacular views. It was nighttime at the moment, and even though you couldn't see much of the Pacific, except the calming waves crashing own below, the views were just as grand. The lit up lights of houses and buildings all along the cliffs and mountains gave it a starry quality. Tonight, there was a Spanish-themed band, and the breeze off the shore felt heavenly in the muggy air. Gene needed this, this and more cold beer. As he motioned to the bartender for another, he felt a hand slap his back. "Hey, Pal," Van said as he slid into the empty chair next to him. "Oh, hey buddy," Gene said gleefully, "Where'd you come from?" "Just arrived with a few friends," he said nodding towards his group. Gene leaned back to look and saw Evie, Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda just walk in. Then Judy appeared beside them. Before he could have much of a reaction, Evie caught his eye and waved at him. Judy looked over curiously, and when their eyes met, her smile disappeared. She looked daunted, so much that he immediately turned back forward in his seat, his hands tightening around his beer. "Come on and join us," Van urged. "You g'head and grab a table. I'll catch up with you in a bit." Van kneaded his eyebrows at his friend's hesitancy, but nodded, "Okay, we'll be over there. Make sure you come on over." As the group walked past him, Evie quickly gave him a kiss on his cheek, but his eyes glued to Judy in hopes that she might give him a friendly smile, or say hi. But to his disappointment, she purposefully ignored his direction as she kept on walking, following Van. Fortunately, Gene’s old friend from Vaudeville, Mike Villa, popped in, so he was happy to have the distraction. They finished a beer and got a good chat in for about twenty minutes when Van’s group started becoming a little rowdy. The laughter was infectious. They all sounded like they were having a grand time, and Gene tried to ignore looking over, but Judy’s laugh carried over everyone’s and it made him smile. Slyly, as Gene took a swig of beer, he slowly glanced over his shoulder towards the group, nestled at a table in the corner across the way. They all burst out in another roar of laughter but Gene’s eyes remained on Judy. She looked so god damn lovely as she laughed. It felt like it was slow motion, as she looked over at him, mid laugh. Their eyes caught, and her laughter stopped, but her smile didn’t. It widened. When he smiled back, her eyes looked down as she brushed some hair behind her ear. She was blushing. Gene felt a twinge burst in his stomach again and he turned back towards the bar, letting out a breath. “She’s prettier in person, ain’t she,” Mike commented. “Who?” “That Judy Garland.” “She’s a very beautiful girl.” “How is it working with her? Is she a diva like I’ve heard?” “My God, not at all,” Gene said serious, “She’s such a treat to work with. She’s professional and talented and funny, man, she cracks me up. More than that, she’s kind. She treats everyone like family.” They both looked back over at her, and saw Judy watching them, but she quickly looked away. “She’s real cute, you know what I mean?” Gene saw his friend raise his eyebrows suggestively before taking another swig of beer and he shook his head, “Yeah, man she’s real cute, but you know what? It’s a whole different ballgame. She’s not a girl to pick up, believe me. And she’s married.” “Since when does that stop anything. From what I hear, that band leader husband of hers is away a lot and everyone knows she don’t spend her nights at home. Look at her out now.” “Listen, no disrespect, but Judy’s become a very good friend of mine. She’s going through a lot. I’m protective of her, so please…” “Gene, buddy, it’s cool. No harm done. Like a sister to you, huh?” “Yeah, like a sister,” he murmured. He lied. “Hello.” Both men were a little startled when they heard that captivating, yet soft, voice suddenly behind them. Mike immediately stood up like the Queen had just walked up to him. Now, he looked like a frightened schoolboy rather than a man that had just made a suggestive remark about her. “Miss Garland, how do you do. I’m Mike Villa.” She shook his hand, “Nice to meet you. And it’s Judy.” “Mike is an old friend of mine from New York,” Gene casually interrupted. “Are you in town visiting?” “Actually I moved here a few years ago. I work over at Fox in the editing department.” “Oh, how lovely,” she turned to Gene and placed her hand on his arm and lowered her voice a bit, “Can I talk to you?” “Ya,” he said curiously and stood up. “Mike, I hope it’s okay if I steal Gene away for a little bit.” “Go right ahead.” Gene felt such relief when she took his hand in hers. He let her guide him across the café towards the back stairs that lead down to the beach. When their feet hit the sand, Judy kicked her shoes off and let go of his hand. He watched as she walked away from him, towards the water. He kicked his loafers next to hers but tread behind her slowly, hands in his pockets. She wanted to talk to him, but she hadn’t said a word yet. “Isn’t the view beautiful,” she asked softly, turning her head over her shoulder to look at him. He had to stop a moment, as the moon reflecting off her hair and face mesmerized him. He couldn’t help but stare and suddenly she looked away, giving a nervous giggle. “You know, when you look at me like that, it doesn’t make things easier for me.” Gene walked up next to her, their ankles in the gentle surf. He had a quick thought of how good the cool sand and water felt on his tired feet before he replied curiously, “Make what easier?” “My feelings for you. Feelings that I don’t quite understand,” she said meekly. They both looked at each other, their eyes searching. Gene broke their contact and ran his hand through his hair terribly nervous, “Judy…” “No, Gene, listen. Ever since we became friends, I always felt this connection with you; like I could be myself, my true self, and be open and honest with you.” “Good. I feel the same.” “Then I think we need to get a few things straightened out,” she said straight-forward and serious, “I’ll go first. David isn’t the only reason I wasn’t doing my best in rehearsals today.” “Uh,” he cut in, “You were trying, you just lost some confidence there for a little bit, but you got it back.” “Do you know why I got like that?” Gene thought and shook his head and she went on, “You.” He took his hands out of his pockets and was about to speak but Judy put her finger up to shush him, “You have given me more confidence than I’ve ever felt before, not just personally but professionally.” “Then what was the problem,” he felt a little insulted.

“The night at Ciro’s. You looked at me in that way again; the way you did in rehearsal, the way you did just now. Then you just left me there…” “I told you I was sorry,” Gene mumbled feeling like an ass again. “…but the thing I didn’t appreciate is that you lied to me. You said you were fine, and we both know that isn’t true. If we have the relationship that I thought we did, then you would be honest with me, too.” Gene sighed and took a few steps away from her not quite finding his voice. She just continued to stand there and went on, “When you left me like that, I felt like you went from respecting me to hating me.” Gene immediately turned around and walked up to her. Judy took a step back at the ferocity of his swift action, but relaxed when he put his hands underneath each side of her scalp. He was looking at her with such desperation. “I could never, and would never, hate you…for anything.” “After we talked in rehearsal, I know that now,” she quivered, “But before that, I wasn’t so sure. When you left like that, and then put a wall up, I felt like I suddenly lost you, lost my confidence.” “That is far from the truth. Why would you think that?” “I thought maybe you hated me because you could see that I was starting to like you more than just a…friend.” Gene released her to anxiously bite on his nail. He glanced up at her before looking back down at the sand and her voice became a little louder, “This isn’t easy for me, Gene. Don’t you realize I just got married last year and now I’m having confusing feelings for another man?”

Gene’s chest started to heave as he took in her confession he realized now he wasn’t only one hiding, she had been, too. Judy’s voice turned to anger, “And you’re just standing there listening.” “And don’t you realize that I’m the one that I hate,” he yelled back. It was Judy’s turn to look at him dumbfounded. As such a self-assertive, and strong man, as Gene Kelly, hearing that he even remotely disliked himself made her skin break out in goosebumps, bad ones.

“I had to get away from you on that dance floor, Judy, because I was frightened,” he turned to look straight out into the sea, focusing on a small light coming from a boat towards Catalina Island, “I just got married not too long ago myself, honey, so we’re in the same boat. I hate myself because I made a promise to myself. I’m a good man, Judy, an honorable man…”

“I know that,” she wept interrupting.

“You hear all about these things that go on over here, and I said to myself, I would not get involved in any scandal or affair or chase after other women or fall in love with someone else. I was frightened because of my feelings for you. How can you fall for someone you haven’t even really been with? One can call it just an infatuation, but if it were about lust, that would be easy. You Judy Garland…you’re so much more than that. I’m standing here telling you how I’m starting to feel about you, but I’m not going to leave my wife, my growing family. I’m also not naïve. I know you can’t change what your heart feels. That’s what’s scary.”

Gene kicked a small seashell off his foots as another small wave crashed over their feet and he suddenly felt like a timid school boy. Before he knew it, Judy walked in front of him and slid her arms around his waist, resting her cheek against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, slowly rubbing her back up and down affectionately.

“How do I make you feel, Gene?”

Gene wasn’t sure he heard her right, and then processed how she might want him to answer, but he just found himself saying, “Like Christmas morning.”

She looked up at him in awe and he went on, “How do I make you feel?”

“Sometimes you make me feel things that I don’t even feel with my husband.”

Gene swept some hair behind her ear and moved his face a little closer to hers, “If we hadn’t been interrupted at rehearsal, would you have kissed me back?”

Judy thought it a stupid thing to ask and she didn’t hesitate with her own absurd question back to him, “You don’t lust after me?”

Gene grabbed her head and crushed her lips to his. He heard her give off a noise, not of startle or surprise, but more of relief. Her lips were so full and cushy, he wanted more. This wasn’t acting, they weren’t on camera, no one else was around, this was them, he reminded himself as he pulled at her lips. Her arms tightened around his neck as she pressed into him. Gene adjusted, sucking at her lower lip now when she opened for him. He didn’t even feel his hand grab a fist full of her hair as he mimicked her move and swept his tongue into her mouth feeling her silky one reach for him. That mouth that presented the most distinctive speaking voice, and most beautiful song, and that taught him how to kiss on screen, was now kissing him back eagerly. When he felt his libido stir, he knew he had to stop this before things escalated quickly.

He ended with a few loving kisses before departing. Resting his forehead against hers, he saw her bite her bottom lip smiling.

“Yes, I lust after you.”

“I would’ve kissed you back.”

“Yes, I felt that,” he teased.

They both giggled, feeling like they had broken the ice sort-of-speak, and they hugged in an understanding manner.

”Gene?”

“Hm,” he breathed into her shoulder.

“What happens now?” Gene thought a moment, “I don’t know. I guess, let’s just see where it goes.”

…And we all know where it went. The rest is Jugenea history.

#Judy Garland #judygarland #gene kelly #genekelly #jugenea #fan fiction #for me and my gal #formeandmygal #jgfans

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wiypt-writes · 4 years ago

Text

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch51: Captain America Homecoming

Intro: The team at the compound begin their experiment with the Quantum Tunnel, but it doesn’t all go according to plan. But just as everything seems lost, Tony appears having rethought his initial stance. And he has a little surprise for Steve.

Warnings: Bad Language words.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: I can’t give @angrybirdcr enough credit…she makes my images into, well, erm, images…

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 50

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Bruce needed a day to calibrate the computer and systems to the right configuration to use with Scott’s Quantum Tunnel (which was, amusingly yet completely unsurprisingly, in the back of his ugly brown van). Katie took the chance to head into the office to catch up and then inform Soraya she didn’t know how much she would be available in person over the coming week.

They had another day before they were due to collect Emmy from the train station, her five day trip to Philly was drawing to a close and when they had spoken to her last night she had been equal parts excited to come home and fed up that it was ending. But she would be back at school soon, and she had an important few weeks coming up as she was studying for her end of year exams. Neither of them were particularly concerned about that, however, as Emmy was a complete brainbox. Although she was only a freshman, she was taking APs in Human Geography and Psychology (having told her parents she wanted to be a Therapist) and was already being touted by her tutors as Harvard potential. Steve wasn’t overly keen about his daughter being in a different state, but all things considered, Boston wasn’t too far. And he knew he had to let her make her own decision so they’d cross that bridge when they got there.

For the time being, the only bridge Steve wanted to cross was the one he and Natasha were currently planning on making to reach out to the remaining original Avengers, Thor and Clint.

“Thor should be easy, surely?” Nat asked, swinging her feet up onto the table as she sat back in her seat. She looked to Steve for confirmation, but instead he sighed and shook his head.

“Has Katie not told you?”

“Told me what?”

Steve scratched at his chin. “He had a disagreement with one of the Elders about three months back. From what Valkyrie told Katie, there was a bit of an argument over the rebuilding of their army and the elder took a shot at Thor, saying he wasn’t fit to lead any kind of battalion as he had failed to keep them safe from Thanos.”

“That’s harsh.” Nat frowned.

“Yeah, I know.” Steve bit his lip. “I think it was more anger speaking than the guy actually thinking that, but it sent Thor into another downwards spiral and he’s ignored Katie’s attempts to reach out to him again so she’s given in.” “Okay, so, maybe a little harder than we anticipated.” “Least we know where he is. Any luck on Barton?”

“Rhodey thinks he’s targeting a gang in Hong Kong.” Nat sighed. “But I won’t know for sure until he arrives.”

Steve, nodded. “Well when we find out where he is we can scramble a jet and…” “No.” Nat shook her head “Not we, me. I’ll go alone.” “Nat.” Steve frowned “Clint, he’s been leaving a trail of utter carnage behind him, I don’t think you-“

“He wouldn’t hurt me.”

“It’s not him I’m concerned about, more the people he’s taking on.” “I can handle myself.” Nat replied, firmly as she looked at him. Her eyes were sparkling with that Black Widow venom Steve had to admit he had missed over the past few years. He took a deep breath and against his better judgement conceded.

“Alright. We’ll do it your way.”

Natasha frowned, and smirked. “Really? That’s it, no argument?”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “You want an argument?” “Not really.” She shook her head, smiling.

Steve gave a chuckle and then they were cut off by an incoming call springing up in front of Natasha. She swiped to her right and the hologram form of Rocket appeared on the desk.

“Hey Nat.” He nodded, turning to Steve, “Cap.We’re wrapping things up on that latest lead, then we have to nip to Contraxia as I need a few things,” he Raccoon explained, looking at them both, “should be with you day after tomorrow lunchtime, ish” “Rocket, you were close to Thor right?” Steve spoke, an idea coming to him.

“Kinda, why?” “We need him.” Steve stated simply. “He knows about the stones, but convincing him could be a bit of a task. So I was thinking maybe you could help and go with Katie to New Asgard.” The animal pondered for a while before he shrugged. “I can try.”

“That’s all any of us can do.”

The raccoon nodded again “Alright.” He turned to Nat. “We’ll see you soon.” And with that he disappeared.

Steve stayed at the compound until late afternoon, popping in to see how Bruce and Scott were getting on, before he made his way home. Katie and Jamie were already back and he could hear the two of them in the living room.

“Who’s that?” Jamie asked as he pointed to the photo in the album that his Mom had open on her lap.

“That’s your Uncle Sam.” She smiled at the photo of Steve and his best man at the reception of their wedding “You know you get your name from him, well one of them anyway.”

“Where is he now?” Jamie asked.

“He err…he went away” Katie said slowly as she tried to figure out how to explain this to a three year old. “You know how daddy has told you about his friend, Uncle Bucky?” “Yeah.” “Well, a few years ago, before you were born, The Avengers, well they had a fight, with a nasty man, and your Uncle Bucky and Uncle Sam, and one of our other friends, a lady called Wanda…they had to go away afterwards.”

“Was Uncle Tony in the fight?”

“Yeah, he was.”

“And Auntie Nat-Nat?”

“Yeah. And Thor. There were a lot of people involved?”

“Did you and daddy fight with the Avengers?” Jamie asked, his eyes wide.

At that point Katie looked up and saw Steve hovering in the door way. He swallowed and walked into the room.

“A long time ago buddy, yeah.” He nodded.

“Did you know Captain America?” Jamie’s eyes were now almost the size of dinner plates.

“I did yeah.” Steve nodded, kneeling down in front of his son. “But he gave up fighting.” Jamie pondered something as Katie looked at her husband. “Not for much longer though.” She locked eyes with him.

Steve took a deep breath and swallowed once more. He wasn’t sure he’d ever hold that shield again.

“Maybe.” he said, shrugging, before he stood up and settled on the couch at the other side of his son.

Jamie made to turn the page in the album and the next photo was one of Steve’s favourites and one they had a large framed version of on the mantel piece. It showed him and Katie at their first dance, heads pressed together, huge smiles on their faces as he held her close.

“Momma you look real pretty!” Jamie smiled and Katie dropped a kiss to his head.

“Thanks, Baby.” “Your momma always looks pretty.” Steve smiled “She’s the most beautiful girl on the planet.” “Charmer.” Katie looked at him as he stretched his arm over the back of his son and pulled her in closer.

“Only for you.” He winked, dropping a kiss to her cheek.

****** Tony stood at the sink, rinsing down the dishes from dinner whilst Pepper settled Morgan down for the night. He’d spoken to Kiddo earlier, she’d told him they were running the first Time Travel trial tomorrow. He’d managed to push it out of his mind for most of the afternoon but now, as he stood alone, he kept thinking about it over and over again. He knew Bruce was clever, but this really wasn’t his area…

What if something went wrong? Not his problem.

Tony’s grip on the attachment to the tap slipped and it jerked out of his hand, spraying water all over the place. With a sigh he turned it off and grabbed the tea towel, mopping up the water from around the sink and then the shelf which it had squirted all over. He glanced at the photos, and paused for a moment at the frame that was placed just to the right of the one which held a picture of his dad. He took a deep breath as he wiped the water off the faces- him and Peter Parker holding the fake Stark Internship Certificate upside down, each one pulling peace signs behind the other’s head. He swallowed.

“We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back.”

Tony looked around his kitchen, his stomach turning slightly. Yes, he had something to fight for, something personal, the kid. They all had something personal right? Natasha had Clint’s family, Rogers and Kiddo had Barnes, Wilson and Wanda… Scott had his girlfriend, or whatever. But he couldn’t risk it. He shouldn’t risk it….

But they were going to risk it. He knew that. And they could, probably would, fuck it up without him.

“Damned it, Rogers.” He mumbled, placing the photo down and heading into the dining room.

Two hours later, Pepper was out in the greenhouse as she often was later at night and Tony was talking to FRIDAY, with whom he had been brainstorming a number of ideas for the past hour and a half. He looked the holographic model in front of him and tapped at the pad on the table.

“Look at a mod inspiration, let’s see if it checks out.” He instructed, watching as the image changed in front of his eyes. “So…” he pressed a few keys again, “run one last sim before we pack it in for the night,” he clapped his hands together and paced round the side of the table, “this time, in the shape of a mobius strip, inverted, please.”

“Processing.“ FRIDAY replied as Tony crossed his arms and watched.

“Give me that Eigen value,” he reached out to spin the image with his hand, “that, particle factoring, and a spectral decomp,” he grabbed the bottle on the side of the table to take a drink of the smoothie he had made, “that will take a second.”

“Just a moment.”

“And don’t worry if it doesn’t pan out,” he replaced the top on his drink and grabbing a blueberry from the packet he had been eating, “I’m just kinda…” he trailed off chewing the fruit, as he watched FRIDAY do her business.

“Model rendered.”

The red words ‘Model Successful’ with a rating of ‘99.987%’ flashed in front of his eyes and Tony felt his mouth drop open, utterly bewildered by his discover. He fell back into his chair, looking up at it and his mouth flew to his hand. He, Tony Stark, had figured out how to do exactly what Lang had proposed, how to safely travel time.

Despite himself, he felt a certain level of pride and smugness, and he threw his arms out to his side. “Shit!” He laughed out.

“Shit.” A voice spoke from behind him, followed by a giggle. He paused, and turned to see his daughter was sat on the bottom stair, grinning at him.

He held his finger to his lips and shook his head. “What are you doing up, little miss?”

“Shit.” She repeated again.

“No, we don’t say that. Only Mommy says that word. She coined it, it belongs to her.”

“Why you up?” Morgan looked at him.

“Cause I got some important shit going on here,” Tony jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the hologram, “what do you think?”

Morgan shot him a frown and he took a deep breath, when she pulled that face she looked ridiculously like her Auntie. ”No, I got something on my mind,” he explained in a softer tone.

“Was it Juice Pops?” Morgan asked, hopefully.

“Sure was.” Tony looked at the other side of the room before he turned back to his daughter, “extortion. That’s a word.” He stood up and looked down at her. “What kind you want?” He asked, taking her hand and she stood up. “Great minds think alike. Juice Pops, exactly was on-” he looked back to the model then turned towards the kitchen “-my mind.”

A little while and a juice pop later Morgan was back in bed, demanding a story.

“Once upon a time, Morgoona went to bed. The end.” Tony grinned.

“That is a horrible story.” Morgan looked at him with a glare.

“Come on, that’s your favorite story.” He grinned and as she rolled her eyes he smiled. “I love you tons.” He made it clear that was the end of the conversation by standing up, kissing her on the forehead.

“I love you three thousand.” Morgan looked at him and Tony smiled.

“Wow.” he said, quietly. His daughter had an ability, very like Kiddo, to say things that sideswiped him, and made his chest burst with love, and this was one of those moments. He contemplated that for a moment before he stood up and turned off her lamp. “Three thousand, that’s crazy.”

He walked to the door, and closing it behind him, still grinning he told her “Go to bed, or I’ll sell all your toys, night night.”

By the time he reached the living room Pepper was back inside, sat on the couch reading a book.

“Not that it’s a competition-” Tony spoke and Pepper looked up at him “-but she loves me three thousand.”

“Oh does she now?” Pepper smiled.

“You were somewhere on the low six to nine-hundred range.” Pepper laughed and turned back to her book. Tony, still chewing on the juice pop stick looked back to where the model was still projecting over his table.

“What you reading?” He asked, although he wasn’t particularly interested. His mind was racing once more.

“Oh, it’s just a book on composting”.

“What’s new with composting?” His eyes were still on the image. “Interesting science…” she began, but he cut her off.

“I figured it out, by the way.” Tony looked back at her, removing the juice pop stick from his mouth.”

“And, you know, just so we’re talking about the same thing –“

“Time travel.”

“What?” Pepper whispered as Tony glanced back at the hologram, arms folded. “Wow,” her gaze dropped down slightly, “that’s amazing, and terrifying.”

“That’s right.” He dropped down beside her, his left arm hanging over the back of the sofa.

“We got really lucky.” Pepper said, stroking his arm.

“Yeah, I know.”

“A lot of people didn’t.”

“No, but I can’t help everybody.”

“Well, it sorta seems like you can.” Pepper pressed again.

“Not if I stop.” Tony shrugged, and Pepper gave a small huff of a laugh. “I can put a pin in it right now, and stop.”

“Tony, trying to get you to stop has been one of the few failures of my entire life.”

Tony gave a soft laugh and his right arm gently rubbed the hand that was laid over his left arm.

“Something tells me I should put it in a locked box and drop it at the bottom of the lake, go to bed.”

There was a pause, before Pepper looked at him again, her eyes soft and her face rearranged into a knowing expression.

“But would you be able to rest?”

Tony didn’t reply, he didn’t need to. They both knew the answer was no. *******

“Alright, Emmy, remember what I said?” Katie looked at her daughter who was sat on the couch in the living room of their old quarters.

“Yeah, I can’t leave here until someone comes to get us.” Emmy nodded

“No matter what.”

“Yeah mom, I got it. We’ll be fine, wont we Jamie?”

Jamie nodded, grinning up at his mother “Yeah, fine.”

“Okay, love you both.”

With one last glance over her shoulder at her kids, Katie made her way back to the hanger.

“Breakers are set. Emergency generators are on standby.” She heard Steve call out as he strode back towards the computer. Katie couldn’t help but admire his ass, he looked pretty good in a pair of black denims, light blue shirt as always tucked in, belt circling his toned waist. He looked at her, raising an eyebrow with a smug smirk as he caught the expression on her face and she shrugged.

“Good, ‘coz if we blow the grid, I don’t wanna lose Tiny here in the 1950s,” Bruce said through gritted teeth, jerking his thumb at Scott, only his comment wasn’t quite as quiet as he thought. Scott, who was stood in his suit, fiddling with something on his helmet heard perfectly.

“Excuse me?” Scott glared at Banner as Katie and Steve exchanged a glance. .

“He’s kidding!” Natasha said in a playful voice, shaking her head as she tapped on the tablet she was holding which would be used to track Scott. She looked up with a smile, which Katie knew perfectly to be false and laughed. “You can’t say things like that.” Natasha looked at Bruce.

“Yeah, sorry, it was…just a bad joke.” He smiled as he looked at Scott. Scott nodded once as he walked back to the van.

“You were kidding right?” Katie looked at Bruce.

“I have no idea!” Bruce hissed. “We’re talking about time travel here, either it’s all a joke or none of it is!” He looked away from Katie and flashed Scott the thumbs up. “We’re good.”

Steve crossed his arms and let out a breath as Scott pulled his helmet on. He gave Bruce a double thumbs up and Katie smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way.

“Alright Scott, we’re gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in ten seconds. Make sense?” Bruce asked as he tapped at the keys on his desk with a pencil

“Perfectly not confusing.” Scott shrugged.

Okay, so now Steve was nervous. He took a deep breath and looked at the man stood by the back of the van, his hands dropping to his hips.

“Good luck Scott. You’ve got this.” He refrained from adding I hope.

“You’re right. I do Captain America.” Scott grinned, proudly, as Bruce hit a button, sucking him into the tunnel.

“On the count of three-“ Bruce called, and Steve dropped his hands, his fists clenching, mouth open slightly as he watched . At the other side of Bruce, Katie and Nat shared a nervous glance. “Three… two…one…” Steve breathed a sigh of relief as someone appeared but it was short lived as he realised the person in front of them could be no older than Emmy. Katie frowned as did Natasha, confusion etched across her face and next to them, Bruce adjusted his glasses.

"Guys, something doesn’t feel right.” The boy informed them nervously.

“What’s going on?” Steve asked, as Bruce set about pressing a load more buttons. “Hang on…”

“Is that Scott?” Katie’s eyes grew wide as she looked at Bruce, who ducked down to hit something on the console, her eyes locking with Steve who looked as utterly perplexed as she felt.

“Yes, it’s Scott!” The boy exclaimed.

Teenage Scott was sucked back into the tunnel, Natasha watching Bruce as he straightened up and the four of them looked back to the tunnel to see another person thrown out, this time an elderly man.

“Ow, my back!”

“What is this?” Steve asked

“Can I…I need a little space!” Bruce demanded as he moved to his right.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Steve hastily moved out of the way and going to stand in between his wife and Natasha. “Can you bring him back?”

“I’m working on it.” Bruce hit one of the screens. Katie, Steve and Nat shared another panicked look as Old Scott was yanked back in only to this time reappear as…

"That’s a baby.” Steve deadpanned.

“It’s Scott!” Bruce defended.

“As a baby!” Steve snapped as the infant looked up at them wide eyed.

“He’ll grow!” Bruce said, attempting a joke.

“Bring Scott back!” Steve instructed sharply.

“Nat, when I say kill the power, kill the power!” Bruce called and Natasha ran off to the breaker at the side of the hanger.

Katie and Steve watched as Bruce jabbed more buttons, before he yelled out “Kill it!”

Natasha pulled the lever down and Bruce slapped a large red button. This time Scott Lang returned exactly as he had been before he left.

“Somebody peed my pants.” He called out loudly, standing stiffly still. “I don’t know if it was baby me, or old me. Or, just… me-me.”

“Time travel!” Bruce beamed excitedly, throwing his hands out to the side as Katie, Steve and Natasha looked at him. “What? I, I see this as an absolute win.”

Steve simply stared at Bruce in silence for a moment, before he shook his head, placing his hands on his hips. He looked down at the floor before he walked off, Katie watching him as he left the hangar and stepped outside.

“I think we should take a break.” Katie took a deep breath. “Nat can you check the kids, I’m gonna…” She jerked her thumb after Steve and Nat nodded.

Steve stood outside by the large metal pillar at the side of the building, hands still on his hips as he stared at the floor. What was the point of being able to time travel if you couldn’t control it? The worse thing being that he wasn’t even sure if they would be able to perfect it with practice, and was he willing to keep risking Scott to do that? They had been so close, but Tony was right, it had clearly been a pipe dream.

“Hey.” Katie’s hand fell gently to his elbow. “Honey, we knew it was a long shot.” “I know.” He sighed, looking at her. “But I thought it might have worked, you know. That we might have had a chance to…”

He was cut off as a loud engine growled in the distance. They both looked out over the compound to see a familiar Audi R8 speeding down the drive towards the hangar. Katie and Steve exchanged a glance as the car pulled up to where they were stood, but overshot their position slightly. Steve followed the car with his eyes as it backed up and Tony rolled down the window and looked at them both. Steve raised his eyebrows, looking away.

“Why the long face?” Tony asked, directing his question to Steve. “Let me guess: He turned into a baby”

“Among other things, yeah.” Steve replied, an edge of frustration in his voice as he looked back at Tony. “What are you doing here?”

Tony opened the car door and climbed out, walking to the back, completely ignoring Steve’s question as he spoke.

“That’s the EPR Paradox. Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might’ve wound up pushing time through Lang.” Tony looked at Steve “It’s tricky. Dangerous. Somebody shoulda cautioned you against it.”

“You did.” Steve deadpanned, not in the mood for a lecture.

“Oh, did I?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow and Katie felt a grin cross her face at her brother’s sarcasm “Thank God I’m here. Regardless, I fixed it” Steve raised his eyebrows as he glanced at his brother in law who held up his right hand which bore what looked like a watch of some description. “A fully functioning Time-Space GPS.

At this Steve let out a genuine smile as he realised Tony was here to help. Tony returned it with one of his own

“I just want peace.” He made the sign with his fingers. “Turns out, being angry and bitter is corrosive, and I hate it.

“Me too.” Steve nodded softly, recognizing this for what it was. An apology for the other day, and he was happy to provide his own.

“Guys, we got a shot at getting these stones, but I gotta tell you my priorities.” Tony urged softly, looking from Steve to Katie and back again “Bring back what we lost? I hope, yes. Keep what I got? I have to, at all costs”.

“So do we, Tony.” Katie implored. “Our Kids, they’re the most important thing to us.”

“Nothing we do can jeopardise them.” Steve dropped his left arm round Katie. “Any of them.”

“And maybe if we could manage to not die trying, that would be nice.” Tony shrugged.

Steve smiled and held out his right hand. “Sounds like a deal.”

Tony shook it, before he smiled, cheekily, and headed to the trunk. Steve looked at his wife and she shrugged, before the two of them followed him, Steve watching curiously. Tony lifted something out, turned it upside down to dislodge the teddy bear sat on it and Katie’s hand flew to her mouth as she saw it was Steve’s shield.

Steve hesitated, taking a deep breath. “Tony… I don’t know..” He swallowed, the nerve twitching in his jaw. He wasn’t worthy of that shield, not anymore.

“Why? He made it for you.” Tony held Steve’s gaze. “Plus, honestly, I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding.” Steve looked over his shoulder at Katie, who was fighting back her tears and she gave him an encouraging nod. He lifted his arm and Tony slid the shield straps over his shirt and Steve looked down at it, taking a shaky breath. It felt like slipping into a familiar pair of sneakers.

“Thank you, Tony.” Steve looked up at his brother-in-law, his voice choked as behind him, Katie dropped a hand to his shoulder, pressing a soft kiss to the spot between his shoulder blades, her face resting on his shirt.

“Will you keep that a little quiet? Didn’t bring one for the whole team.” Tony hesitated for a moment. “We are getting the whole team, yeah?

“We’re working on that right now.” Katie moved so she could see Tony, before she heard a yell behind her.

“Uncle Nee!” Jamie shot straight by her and launched at his Uncle.

“Hey, Sport!” Tony grinned, picking him up. “What you been up to?” “Me and Emmy were colouring and making dinosaur models.” “Wow!” Tony nodded, turning to Emmy who was walking towards them.

“Mom?” Her voice was a whisper as she spotted what Steve was holding. “Dad’s…” “Yeah.” Katie smiled at her, dropping an arm round the teenager’s shoulders as she continued to glance at his shield. Never one to miss anything, Jamie glanced at his Sister, then his dad and his eyes widened.

“Why you have shield like Captain America?” Jamie frowned as Steve ran his fingers over the edge of the Vibranium before looking at his son as Tony placed him on the floor, struggling to find the words to explain.

Tony clapped Steve on the shoulder “Alright, I’ll leave that one with you. Time to go see what a mess of my compound Brucie has made. ”He walked passed Emmy, dropping an arm round her shoulders. “Walk with me kid, tell me about Philly.” He shot a glance at Katie who smiled as he steered the teenager back to the compound whilst she began excitedly telling him about her trip.

Steve turned to look Katie, his eyes glistening with emotion.

“Still suits you.” She smiled to him and he gave a little chuckle.

“Daddy!” Jamie insisted, tugging on his trousers, annoyed at his question being ignored.

“Sorry Pal,” Steve crouched down, shield still on his arm. “I have a shield like Captain America because I was Captain America.”

Jamie frowned before his eyes grew wide. An older kid might have laughed and told his dad to stop being silly, but Steve had never lied to Jamie before and it would never have occurred to the three year old to ever think he would.

“You were Captain America?” Jamie frowned. “When you fighted with the Avengers?”

“Yeah” Steve sighed, running his hand through Jamie’s golden hair. “I was.”

“Are you still Cap now?”

“I dunno.” Steve glanced back at his shield before he looked at Jamie, smiling gently.

“I think you are.” Jamie cocked his head to one side as his hand reached out to touch the shield. “Because Cap’s a hero and you’re my hero”

Katie saw Steve’s eyes water instantly as he pulled Jamie closer to him, dropping a kiss to the side of his head as the boy’s arms wound around his dad’s neck. He glanced up at Katie and she swallowed, leaning against the column to her left, wiping her eyes. It had been a long time since anyone had called any of the Avengers that, and to hear it from his son meant more to Steve than anything.

“Daddy?” Jamie mumbled against his dad’s shoulder, where his head lay.

“Yeah?” Steve cleared his throat.

“You got a helmet too?” Jamie pulled back to study his father’s face as Steve gave out a soft laugh

“Yeah buddy. I do.”

“And a uniform?”

“I have a few.” Steve nodded.

“Can I see?” Jamie’s face lit up and Steve glanced at Katie who smiled, nodding encouragingly.

“Sure… come on.” Steve stood up, Jamie easily lifted in his free arm. “You coming?” He stopped at his wife’s side as she reached up a hand to smooth down Jamie’s jumper which had ridden up slightly.

“I think this is a hero to son moment, don’t you?” She smiled, standing on her toes so she could give his lips a peck. “Besides, someone’s gotta stop Tony creating havoc in there.” “Good luck with that.” He muttered, giving her another kiss before he carried Jamie into the compound, striding through the hangar doors and across to the corridor. Katie waited for a moment, composing herself before she headed back inside.

**** True to their word, Nebula and Rocket arrived the following lunch and it wasn’t long after that Katie and Rocket headed off to New Asgard, along with Banner. Banner and Thor had shared a lot during the events leading up to Thanos’ attacking the Asgardian ship and Katie was hoping that together they stood a better chance of convincing the God to help. Katie sat in the passenger seat of the truck belonging to one of the Asgardians who had come to greet them. She couldn’t help but smile as they rolled past the sign at the side of the road WELCOME TO NEW ASGARD, PLEASE DRIVE SLOWLY. They stopped at the small port, and Katie hopped out of the truck, thanking the man, whilst Bruce and Rocket climbed out of the back.

“Kind of a step down from a golden palace for an Avenger highness and whatnot.” Rocket mused, looking around.

“Hey, have a little compassion, pal.” Bruce said gently. “First they’ve lost Asgard, then half the people. They’re probably just happy to have a home.”

Katie spotted Valkyrie who smiled at her, and then her face rearranged into surprise as she saw Bruce.

“You shouldn’t have come!” She warned as they approached her.

“Ah, Valkyrie! Great to see you, Angry Girl.” Bruce smiled.

“I think I liked you better either of the other ways.” She almost chuckled, taking in his appearance.

“This is Rocket.” Katie gestured to the raccoon.

“How you doin’?” He greeted her.

Valkyrie nodded at him before she turned to Katie. “He won’t see you.

“Still that bad, huh?” Katie folded her arms.

“We only see him once a month, when he comes for-“ she looked over to the pile of kegs on the side of the port, “-supplies.

“It’s that bad?” Bruce mumbled.

“Yeah.”

“We have to try.” Katie bit her lip, looking round before she turned to Bruce and Rocket. “Come on.” She led them down the side of the harbour and they walked up the small, cobbled street towards the fishing hut Thor was living in. Katie paused, and tried the handle. It opened and Rocket stepped in first. Instantly, Katie was hit with a smell that made her nose wrinkle. It was a combination of dirty clothes, stale beer and old take-outs.

“What the… woo!” Rocket grimaced, waving his paw in front of his nose. “Something died in here.”

“Hello? Thor?” Bruce called.

Thor’s voice rumbled through to them from another room. “Are you here about the cable?”

They made their way into the main room and Thor, who was shirtless, having definitely put on more than a couple of pounds since Katie had last seen him, was walking across the room gesturing to the TV.

“The Cinemax ran out about two weeks ago, and the sports are all kind of fuzzy.” He grabbed a beer from the ice bucket and Katie looked at Bruce who was frowning.

“Thor?” He asked, his voice disbelieving.

Thor turned and took a moment to look at the three of them, before his face cracked into a smile

“Boys!” He laughed out. “Little Stark! Oh my God! It’s so good to see you!” He crossed towards Rocket, trying to hug him, his knuckles rubbing the raccoons head. “Come here, you little rascal!”

“No, I’m good. I’m good. That’s not necessary.” Rocket groaned, wriggling away.

“Hulk, Little Stark, you know my friends, Miek, Korg, right?”

Miek and Korg were sat on a couch, the Rock creature in a Hawaiian shirt, play station controller in his hand playing what looked to Katie like Fortnite- one of Emmy’s favourites.

“Hey guys!” Korg raised his hand in greeting.

“Hey!” Bruce smiled. “Long time no see.”

“Beers in the bucket. Feel free to log on to the Wi-Fi. No password, obviously.” Korg said cheerfully as he turned back to his game, growing suddenly serious. “Thor, he’s back. The kid on the TV that called me a dickhead again.”

“Noobmaster.” Thor growled out as he spun round. Miek threw a piece of pizza towards the TV in disgust, giving a little click.

“Yeah, Noobmaster69. Called me a dickhead.”

Thor stomped over to Korg, took his headphones and spoke loudly into the mic.

“Noobmaster? Yeah, it’s Thor again. You know, the God of Thunder? Listen, buddy. If you don’t log off this game immediately, I am gonna fly over to your house, come down to that basement you’re hiding in, rip off your arms and shove them up your butt! Oh, that’s right. Yes, go cry to your father, you little weasel!”

Katie and Rocket exchanged a look as Thor returned Korg’s head set, before she glanced up at Banner who was watching, a look of disbelief on his face and Katie couldn’t help but echo his feelings. Seeing their friend, their once mighty Avenger partner, in such a state made her beyond sad.

“So you guys want a drink? What are you drinking? We have beer, tequila, all sorts of things.” Thor asked, using Stormbreaker to open a bottle of beer. Bruce walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Buddy, you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine! Why, don’t I look all right?” Thor frowned.

“You look like melted ice cream.” Rocket crossed his arms, but despite his joke Katie could tell he was concerned.

Thor simply laughed and looked at them all. “So, what’s up?

“We need your help” Katie spoke gently “There might be a chance we could fix everything.”

“What, like the cable?” Thor burped. “Cause that’s been driving me bananas for weeks.”

“Like Thanos.” Bruce spoke and Katie saw Thor’s smile slowly disappear. He put a shaky hand on Bruce’s shoulder and pointed at him.

“Don’t you say that name.”

Behind Thor, Korg stood up, taking off his headphones. “Um, yeah. We don’t actually say that name in here.”

“Please take your hand off me” Bruce’s tone was quiet as he brushed away Thor’s grip on his shoulder. “Now, I know that… guy might scare you…”

“Why would, why would I be scared of that guy?” Thor scoffed, turning away. “I’m the one who killed that guy, remember? Anyone else here killed that guy? Nope. Didn’t think so. Korg, why don’t you, tell everybody who chopped Thanos’ big head off.”

“Umm… Stormbreaker?” Korg offered.

“No, who was swinging Stormbreaker?” Thor shot back.

“Thor.” Katie started gently. “I get it, we all get it. You’re in a rough spot right now-”

“I’ve been there myself.” Bruce picked up from her “You wanna know who helped me out of it?”

“I don’t know…Natasha?” Thor snorted and Katie rolled her eyes.

“It was you. You helped me”.

Thor walked back over to Bruce and pointed out of the window with the hand holding his beer. “Why don’t you ask the Asgardians down there, how much my help was worth?” he dropped onto the chair “The ones that are left, anyway.”

“We think we can bring them back.” Katie looked at him.

“Little Stark, please stop. Stop, okay?” Thor pleaded, opening a packet of M&Ms. “I know you think I’m down here wallowing in my own self-pity, waiting to be rescued and saved. But I’m fine, okay? We’re fine, aren’t we?”

He looked at Korg and Miek eating pizza and playing once more on the Playstation.

“Nah, all good here, mate!” Korg nodded.

Katie looked back at Thor as he stared up at her. “So, whatever it is that you’re offering, we’re not into it, don’t care, couldn’t care less. Goodbye.”

“We need you Thunder God.” Katie swallowed as she shook her head sadly. ”Please.”

Thor shook his head and ignored her.

“There’s beer on the ship.” Rocket broke the silence, crossing his arms.

Thor paused, and without looking up he spoke again, this time his words softer. “What kind?”

**** Chapter 52

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #Katie Stark #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fic #mcu #mcu fanfic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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freya-the-yandere · 4 years ago

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💘Self Help Tips for Yanderes💘

Yandere blogs are used to vent and cope with yandere related feelings such as jealousy, obsessiveness, possessiveness and any kind of insecurity and pain in our relationships (whether that be romantic or platonic). If you’re unsure of what specifically to do with your blog or you just need something extra to help, please read through this post.

1. Drink plenty of water. This won’t help the bigger problem but it is important to remember. Dehydration can cause headaches, dizziness, forgetfulness and a lack of energy. All of these symptoms can add up and lead to you getting easily overwhelmed and stressed. If you’re going to face your problems and work through things, you first need to have some energy and focus. You can't work through anything if you’re getting irritated by everything because you’re too tired and you keep forgetting important things throughout the day. It can be tricky for a lot of people with mental health issues to remember to drink water. The easiest way to get this into your routine is to carry around a full water bottle and keep taking sips of it very now and then. This way, you have the water on hand, ready to drink at all times instead of you trying really hard to remember to take a break to go get the water in the first place.

2. Learn to deal with your feelings IRL. The reason we’re here is to deal with our feelings that we know are unhealthy. While a blog can help, we won’t always have it on hand to use and it’s unhealthy to focus too much time on social media. You can't build a better life and better relationships if you blog all the time. Finding ways to deal with your feelings in everyday life whilst not online will stop you solely relying on your blog. Here are some articles about dealing with jealousy: x x and here’s some for obsessing: x x .

3. Figure out your feelings. The most obvious way to figure out what you’re feeling and why you’re feeling that is to attend talking therapy. If you’re able to do this, please do. If you’re unable, some other ways are listening to music, especially music with yandere themes. Sometimes, you’ll listen to a song and the lyrics make a lot of sense to you and you really relate to them, which allows you to hear your feelings put into words. This can also be the case with fictional characters. Yandere as a trope is commonly seen in anime and sometimes video games, occasionally in mainstream TV shows and movies. If you’re able to find a yandere character you relate to, that can help you understand yourself better because the character is usually able to word their feelings and express them openly. If you relate to their quotes and find yourself wishing you could do what they do then that helps to create a visual image and words to describe how you feel. Music and characters can express what you’re going through to your loved ones when you can't. If a friend notices you’re not doing well but you can't put into words what’s wrong or you’re not sure how to word it softly enough, explain that you feel like the character you relate to or send them a song with lyrics that explain things. For yandere songs, you can check this playlist. For yandere characters, some anime with them are: Future Diary, Date A Live, When They Cry, Shiki, Inu x Boku SS, No.6, Happy Sugar Life, Baka and Test, Shuffle!, And You Thought There Is Never a Girl Online?, A Boring World Where The Concept Of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist, Canaan. Some video games: Ib, Yanderella, Doki Doki Literature Club, Shihori Escape, Mix Ore, Super Danganronpa 2, Corpse Party, Mikoto Nikki. Some TV Shows: You (Netflix), Killing Eve (BBC iPlayer), The End of the F**king World Season 2 (Netflix and More4). If you’re worried about possible triggers or upsetting content, please look up the IMDB page for the anime and TV shows and go to the parents guide. It will have all the details of the more mature content it contains like what kind of violence it may have, if there’s any drugs or alcohol, if there’s bad language etc. For video games, some will have warnings when you download them to check first. If not, try looking at the wiki page for the game, the pages usually warn you if there’s spoilers ahead.

4. Find creative ways to vent. This is where your blog can come in. Expressing your emotions through creative means allows you a safe and healthy way to express yourself. You can do this by writing stories (this can be fan fiction), writing poetry or lyrics, making artwork (drawings, paintings, sculptures, scrapbooking) and making moodboards. A lot of yandere blogs post their creations as part of their coping and to share with the rest of the community. Writing stories can allow you to type out all the scenarios that you have daydreamed about, anything you wish you could do with your crush or any kind of negative things you’ve felt towards people. You can write about a yandere character breaking up a couple because the character is in love with one of them, you can write about a yandere kidnapping their crush, you can write about a yandere saying everything to their partner that you can't say to yours. Poetry and lyrics writing can also involve you writing things that you wish you could say or do out and can allow you to put your feelings into words if you’re struggling to. There are many Tumblr blogs that post drawing of yandere characters (from shows, games and their own OCs). I recommend these blogs: @reina-mari, @aosora444, @nobutatan, @ruhianna, @ibblescribbles. Making a scrapbook and filling it with pictures of all the things you love can be a nice reminder of all the good things to keep you going. Including the people you love is good (provided you use pictures that they consented to) but also be sure to include things you love about yourself, hobbies you have, happy memories, your goals etc. Making sure you feel complete on your own is important for good mental health and can minimise your insecurities in relationships. Moodboards can be a good way to express feelings and scenarios that you have daydreamed about and shows it in a visual way. You can either put 9 square images together, going 3 by 3 on a Tumblr post or make a collage of images to post, using an editor app. For mobile, I recommend picsart for photo editing. You can make collages with BeFunky and use it to edit photos on your computer. There’s also pizap.com and photomosh.com. You can find aesthetic images on Pinterest and weheartit but try to avoid artwork because it’s likely to be stolen. If you find artwork you want to use, search up the artist first. You can do this by checking the image for a watermark of the artist name and then searching it up to find their social media accounts. If there isn't one, take the picture to google image search and if that fails, try the same thing on tineye.com. Once you've found the accounts, message the artists for permission and if they let you use it, add credit on the post by linking the original post with the artwork or write “art credit to (insert artist name on account)”.

💘If you have any other tips you’d like to add or recommendations for blogs, shows, games etc. then please feel free to add on.💘

#yandere #yanderecore #yandere community #mental health #self help #mine

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caainhurst · 3 years ago

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THE HISTORY OF CRISPIN GLOVER’S BIZARRE DEBUT ALBUM

POSTED BY WITNEY SEIBOLD ON SEPTEMBER 20, 2017 VIA NERDIST.COM

Actor, artist, and lovable weirdo Crispin Glover first caught the public’s eye in 1984’s Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, when he did a spasmodic dance to Lion’s “Love is a Lie.” The next year, he was George McFly in Back to the Future, the highest-grossing film of its year, and deeply entrenched within the geek canon. He also retained a good deal of street cred by appearing in River’s Edge, the film to win Best Picture at the Independent Spirit Awards in 1986. It wouldn’t be until 1989 that Glover would return to film. It was during this very brief hiatus that Glover, perhaps possessed by the muses, decided to explore his capacity for writing books and performing music.

For many young, upcoming stars, this is a rite of passage. Remember when Lindsay Lohan released two studio albums? Hailee Steinfeld is currently finding her feet as a pop sensation. Crispin Hellion Glover, however, wasn’t concerned as much with pop, and is not known for his dulcet singing voice. Even at the time, Glover was known for being a jittery weirdo; many may remember his infamous appearance on Late Night with David Letterman when he appeared as his fictional character Rubin Farr, answering every question with a non-sequitur. Rubin Farr was to eventually appear in 1991’s Rubin and Ed. In 1987, it made no sense.

So of course, Glover’s studio album debut was one off the most oblique, abstruse pieces of pop ephemera to come out in the ’80s. In 1988, Glover recorded and released THE BIG PROBLEM ≠ the solution. The Solution = LET IT BE. (complete with that punctuation), which is, to date, his only record. I own it on CD. Yes, it’s every bit as strange as one can imagine.

THE BIG PROBLEM, released by Restless Records, is a 13-track concept record that includes a few singles stand-alone songs, and multiple readings of strangely worded poetry set to dreamlike, atonal electronic or accordion music. Glover hooked up with famed novelty musicians Barnes & Barnes (Bill Mumy and Robert Haimer), who performed and recorded all the album’s music. Well, almost all the music. One of the accordion tracks,“Selected Readings from OAK MOT, part III” featured “Weird Al” Yankovic, who’s credited for a wild accordion solo. But fans of Barnes & Barnes likely hear the duo’s influence all over the record. It has the same sexually frustrated, echoey, strained vocal quality as the best of Barnes, and the same willfully simplistic, near-emetic tone. Glover and Barnes were a great pairing, and they amplified each other’s strangeness.

THE BIG PROBLEM was part of a larger multimedia art project that also incorporated two art books that Glover published that same year. Both books, Oak Mot and Rat Catching, were disturbing books of impenetrable poetry which repurposed existing books into nightmarish photo collages; Rat Catching was more or less an 1896 textbook that he re-drew page by page. Unsurprisingly, images from Rat Catching appear in the opening title sequence of the 2003 remake of Willard starring Glover. Glover toured with the books, giving live readings that were accompanied by slide shows and selected tracks from his album.

The album’s poetry readings are hypnotic, but the songs are outright comedic. There’s a rap about masturbating (“Auto-Manipulator”), a wonderful, wonderful, screeching, crying rendition of “These Boots Are Made for Walking,” and the big hit, a song about a clown called “Clowny Clown Clown.” Part of that track was featured on David Letterman until the annoyed host cut it short. The video, as you’ll see, also features Rubin Farr, whose photograph is in the record’s liner notes.

THE BIG PROBLEM feels like a prank, something that should not have been allowed to happen. There are no hints to its intentions, and no solutions to the titular problem. Well, that’s not entirely true. There was a hint. On the back of the album, Glover slipped in the inscription “All words and music point to THE BIG PROBLEM. The solution lay within the title; LET IT BE. Crispin Hellion Glover wants to know what you think these nine things have in common.” He left a telephone number so you could call up and give your own theories: (213) 464-5053. I called it, but it’s been disconnected. I’d love to know what was on that tape.

What do you think? I have no hotline, but I’d love to hear your theories.

#crispin glover

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fluffy-boops · 3 years ago

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Case Study 1: Once Upon a Tower

Introduction

Once Upon a Tower is a 2D platformer mobile game. However, unlike most platformers where you go from left to right, this one makes you go from top to bottom. Your controls are restricted to only going left and right. To go down you need to find holes in the ground or break the blocks beneath you. You can swing your hammer to break wooden blocks and get rid of hazards. There are also fireflies that you can collect which can then be exchanged for power-ups at the end of each level. To beat the game you need to reach level twelve where you can fight the dragon guarding the tower you are trying to escape.

Meaningful Play

Once Upon a Tower is both discernable and integrated, giving this game a meaningful play. Every interaction whether it is breaking blocks, getting rid of hazards, or collecting fireflies give an audible and visual cue. The game uses fireflies as its currency which you can obtain by either collecting them throughout the levels or by getting rid of hazards. At the end of each level you can use your fireflies to purchase power-ups. By collecting fireflies and purchasing power-ups, I was able to increase my chances of survival. This was especially useful later on as the levels became harder.

Core Loop

The core loop in this game involves moving, swinging, and avoiding hazards. To progress to the next level you need to move and swing your hammer at the blocks around you. Throughout the game there are also many dangerous creatures and traps that can kill you. To get around this I had to either kill the creatures/break the traps or avoid them entirely.

Mechanics + Dynamics

Core Mechanics:

The core mechanics of this game are moving and swinging. You literally will not get anywhere if you don’t move and almost always there will be blocks in your way so you need to swing your hammer to break them. Swinging to get rid of hazards is also very common.

Non-core mechanics:

Space mechanics:

Top-down Platform: You are in an environment where you need to move downwards to reach the next level.

Stone Blocks: These blocks cannot be broken and make up the walls of the tower. They are also be found inside creating a maze-like environment.

Barred Windows: The sides of the tower may be a barred window which allows the dragon to shoot fire through it (more on the dragon below).

Object mechanics:

Fireflies: Found throughout the map and can also be obtained by killing creatures/breaking traps. They are used as in-game currency to purchase power-ups.

Power-ups: These can give you special abilities to increase your chances of survival or help you get rid of hazards.

Wooden Blocks: These can be broken by your hammer and are usually in your way when going downwards. There are also wooden blocks that will automatically break after a couple seconds as soon as you land on them.

Carts: When hit, they will move away from the player, killing enemies in its path, and eventually stop at a dead-end (they can also fall down). Note that a cart moving towards you will also kill you. If you hit a cart and it has nowhere to go then it will break.

Nested Birds: These birds are seen outside of the tower resting on a nest. There is a stone block between them and the inside of the tower. By hitting said stone block, the bird will fly away. As far as I can tell, these birds do not affect the gameplay.

Hazards: There are many different creatures and traps in this game that can kill you, each other, and/or consume fireflies.

The Dragon: The dragon is also a hazard, however I placed it in a different category because it is the only one that cannot be interacted with until the last level. Additionally, every now and then this dragon will come and shoot fire taking up an entire row. I also noticed that this dragon is more likely to appear if you do not move as much (most likely to force you to continue moving downwards).

Photo Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWwzQbopx94&t=511s

Dynamics:

Timing: Depending on what hazards are around you, you need to time your movement properly. Every creature has their own unique way of moving and interacting with their environment. There are also traps that shoot based on a time interval. When you move (especially going downwards), you need to make sure that you don't get killed along the way and land in a safe location.

Spatial Reasoning: Oftentimes there is more than one way to move downwards. There could be more fireflies or hazards on one side of the map. There are times where if you want to collect fireflies you need to put yourself in more danger. Knowing which blocks to break and which direction to go as you fight your way through the tower can maximize your efficiency in collecting fireflies and/or alter your chances of survival. The hazards above or below you is also vital for survival. There are creatures that can fall on you or traps that shoot downwards. When moving/falling downwards, it is also useful to know what you may encounter along the way and where you end up landing. There are placed where it is relatively safe to land and also places where you can be easily overwhelmed by hazards. Moreover, you cannot jump or move up in this game, so once you make the decision to move downwards, you are stuck with it. Example (picture below): In this case, going to the right side (green arrow) instead of going straight down (red arrow) would give an extra firefly and make it easier to get the middle firefly (blue square).

Photo Credits: https://youtu.be/EqgPW_nrCmA?t=111

Collecting: Collecting in-game currency is helpful because you can buy power-ups with them. The only issue I have with their power-ups is that it isn’t always so obvious when you lose them. There have been many times where I thought I still had a power-up but died because I didn’t have them. The only one that was obvious to me was its “armor” power-up, where you get a shield that prevents you from dying once. The description for this power-up made it clear that it only works once. Also there is a clear golden circle around your character so you know that you still have that power-up. The game places your power-ups at the top of the screen with small icons, so I was constantly looking there to be safe. Personally this took me out of the game, especially since my phone has a relatively small screen.

Watching Ads: The first time you die, you can watch an ad to revive yourself. Occasionally, you can also watch an ad to get a random power-up. While almost everyone would agree that ads are annoying, I think this is a fair compromise between the creators of this free game and its players.

"Pay to win": While I personally did not do this, you can pay to purchase rubies and extra lives. The rubies can be used to purchase power-ups.

Challenges: To complete a challenge you need to finish three tasks. These tasks can be anything such as killing a certain amount of creatures or complete a level without getting any fireflies. While completing challenges won't help you survive or win the game, it will give you more points. Every time you complete a challenge your points multiplier will go up by one (so completing your first challenge will give you a 2x multiplier, completing the next one will increment it to 3x, and so on). This points multiplier is applied at the end of every game.

Are these mechanics and dynamics enough for meaningful play?

I believe these mechanics and dynamics give rise to meaningful play. I had very minor issues with the gameplay’s feedback and overall experience despite primarily being an FPS player. My actions, outcomes, and environment were very recognizable. By collecting in-game currency and purchasing power-ups, I was increasing my chances of survival. This gave me an incentive to plan my route accordingly to obtain as many fireflies as possible. Even when I had a defensive power-up (such as one that protected me from death or spikes), I was still very careful because they were rare. I did not want to waste a power-up over some careless mistake.

Aesthetics

I believe the aesthetics of this game are fantasy, discovery, and challenge. This game places you as a typical “damsel in distress”, but in this scenario you are the one that has to break yourself out. No one is coming to save you and all you have is a hammer to break blocks and get rid of hazards. There are fantastical elements in this game such as dragons and other fictional creatures. Not to mention that this game is based off of a popular fairy tale, Rapunzel. Playing this game also felt like something out of Indiana Jones, trying to make your way through some dangerous mystical temple. As you progress through these levels, you will also discover new creatures with their own unique characteristics and abilities. This game also poses a challenge as you need to strategize your way through different obstacles with each level getting harder.

Video Credits: Indiana Jones: Raiders Of The Lost Ark

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe that Once Upon a Tower provides meaningful play. The actions I did as a character provided noticeable feedback. I felt the need to collect their in-game currency to purchase power-ups to increase my chances of survival. Every new level became harder with different unique hazards to overcome. I was constantly trying to strategize my way through the map and collect as many fireflies as I could. Furthermore, at the end of every level I felt a great sense of accomplishment as if I just beat a challenging obstacle.

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