#getting the color edits to match was another challenge

[slutoru1207]

i NEED more viltrumite mark vs modern technology 🙏 like reader tries to teach him more about phones, games, computers, other tech stuff………… PLEASE 🙏

here ya gooo beautiful

Viltrumite Mark vs. Modern Technology

Mark Grayson x Fem!Reader

You had just gotten back from another day of saving the world, your mind buzzing with all the things that had happened. You were ready to relax—maybe grab a snack, scroll through some memes, and catch up on a show. But, of course, Markwas already sitting on the couch, his eyes narrowed at the screen of your phone, looking completely lost.

"Uh… hey," you said, trying not to laugh at his confused frown. "You okay there?"

He looked up at you, blinking a few times, clearly frustrated but trying to hide it. "I just don’t get it," he said, his voice low and serious, like this was a matter of great importance. "What is the point of these... 'apps'? Why would anyone use this device for something other than its intended purpose?"

You raised an eyebrow, walking over to sit next to him. Mark was holding your phone like it was some kind of foreign object—completely out of his element. A small part of you found it endearing how this Viltrumite warrior, who could destroy entire cities with a single punch, was utterly flummoxed by something as simple as a smartphone.

"It's not just for 'calling people,' Mark," you explained, pointing at the screen. "Here, let me show you how it works." You swiped through the phone, opening your social media feed. "You can use it to talk to friends, watch videos, play games, or even read news. It’s like a small computer, in your hand."

His brow furrowed further, his eyes scanning the phone like he was trying to decode a complex alien artifact. "So… I can talk to anyone with this thing, no matter where they are?"

"Exactly!" you said with a grin. "See, that's a video call. You can talk and see each other at the same time. It's like magic, but it’s technology."

Mark squinted at the phone in your hand. "I still don’t understand. This tiny thing has more power than the communication systems I used to help the Viltrumites conquer planets… I guess I’ve been living under a rock."

"You’ve been literally living under a rock," you teased. "Come on, let me show you something fun." You handed him the phone, unlocking it. "Let’s play a game."

"A game?" He looked at you like you had just suggested that he solve a galactic puzzle with no instructions. You swiped through the apps until you found a game that was simple but addicting: a puzzle game that involved matching colored blocks.

You handed the phone over to him, and for the next few minutes, Mark's intense focus was on the game. You watched as he tapped away, trying to make sense of the mechanics, his lips muttering to himself.

"This is… harder than I thought," he admitted after a while, his competitive side clearly coming out. "I don’t understand how anyone could be good at this. I’ve fought intergalactic armies, but this... this is a different kind of challenge."

You couldn’t help but laugh. "You’re doing fine, Mark. It’s just about strategy. Just think of it like a mission. You have to plan ahead."

Mark’s eyes glinted with determination. "I can do this," he said with a grin, leaning forward as he swiped the phone with more force. A few minutes later, he finally cleared a level, and his face lit up with victory. "I did it!" he exclaimed, making you giggle at how proud he looked.

You smiled. "See? It’s all about strategy, just like your battles."

Then, you decided it was time for something a bit more advanced. You pulled up your computer and opened a video editing program. "Alright, now this one’s gonna be tricky. It’s how I make some of my videos. I think you’ll find it interesting."

Mark looked at the screen, his eyes narrowing. "That’s a lot of buttons," he said, clearly overwhelmed. "How am I supposed to know what any of this does?"

You sat next to him, taking a deep breath. "Okay, let’s start with something simple. This is your timeline where you can add clips and sound. You can use this tool here to cut and arrange them." You showed him the basic steps, your hands guiding his, even though he didn’t quite get the concept of “editing” yet.

He paused, looking at you. "You create these videos yourself?"

"Yeah," you replied, “I like to make them when I have free time. It’s relaxing, you know?"

"I see..." Mark said quietly, his eyes watching you as you spoke. "It's incredible that you can create something like this with just a computer. I’ve never had to do anything like that before. All I’ve ever known is fighting... saving the world."

You chuckled, nudging him playfully. "Well, you might just be a hero in battle, but you’re definitely a rookie when it comes to this tech stuff." You paused, giving him a warm look. "But it’s okay. I’ll teach you all the cool stuff. Slowly."

Mark blinked, his cheeks flushing a little as he gave you a sheepish smile. "I guess I can’t be the hero in everything, huh?"

You reached over, lightly brushing your fingers against his. "Not if you’re busy being a nerd with me," you teased. "But don’t worry, you’re still my favorite superhero, even if you’re not exactly up to speed with every piece of technology in the world."

Mark chuckled, shaking his head as you both turned back to the screen. Maybe the Viltrumite warrior still had a lot to learn about Earth, but for now, he was happy to learn from you.

[zepskies]

UNRAVEL ME - Part 1

Pairing: Soldier Boy (Ben) x Afro-Latina!Reader

Summary: In the wake of Vought Tower finally falling, you find yourself crossing paths with Soldier Boy. Rogue, weakened, dangerous, and hunted, he needs a place to hide. You’re not about to offer up your own home to shelter a supe wanted by Homelander and the CIA…but he’s also not going to let you refuse.

AN: Finallyyyyy lol. I know I've been talking about this series for months now, but it was genuinely challenging for me to write this prequel for Lost in Translation (which was requested by various Tumblr friends and anons who wanted to see Soldier Boy matched with a woman of color). I think maybe it's because this is now my third Soldier Boy series, and getting this guy to show character growth is hard to do three different times. 🤣 But let's see how it goes with another post-season 3 misadventure! 💜💙 This series also fulfills a hilarious prompt for @jacklesversebingo!

Song Inspo: “Unravel Me” by Sabrina Claudio

JVB Prompt: Accidental Old Person Acquisition

Word Count: 6K

Tags/Warnings: Angst, threats, SB being his typical asshole self, obnoxious flirting, racial elements, Ben drinks Cuban coffee, among other ethnic mini adventures in the future. The reader is a mixed-race Afro-Latina with textured hair. 

💜 Series Masterlist

💙 YouTube Playlist || Spotify Playlist

Part 1: Hot Tamale

Vought Tower is falling.

Or at least, that’s what it feels like: the ground trembling like a Magnitude 7 earthquake, overhead lights flickering, a line of rubble falling on your head as you finally manage to squeeze out of the stairwell and into the main floor's reception area. You take in a large gulp of air, breathing past the oppressive clog of warm bodies, sweat, fear, and a hint of piss.

The walls quake along with the tile floor; you spill onto it hard, hitting your knees, though you curl your fingers fast when a woman from Legal almost steps on them in her dagger heels. Fuck!

Fear and adrenaline compel you to scramble onto your feet and claw your way through the gift shop. Maybe you'll be able to cut through the aisles of overpriced Starlight plushies and Special Edition Black Noir Funko Pops to get to one of the east exits.

It's Vought’s very own 9/11. You were told to evacuate over the intercom, and now you're about to find out why.

It’s taken over an hour to try and escape. You’re still trapped in the building, obviously, caught up in the lobby. It's backed up by the clusterfuck of people squeezing themselves through the narrow exit doorways to the garage, like rats clamoring over one another to avoid extermination. Somehow they've broken through the glass to override the security protocols that had first tried to lock you all in.

Just when you make it past the display of red, white, and blue Homelander mugs, a blinding light catches your eye through the tall windows and the growing darkness of the evening. The light falls and falls, what looks like a tangled ball of red and orange and green.

It explodes into the ground, shaking the very foundations of New York City. You cling to the display table and manage to dive underneath it.

You hide there until the shaking stops.

Tears sting in your eyes as the unsteady screams of your coworkers ring out in the lobby, even though you don’t recognize most of them. You suddenly remember your boss; you lost sight of him on the way down the first five flights of stairs. You morbidly wonder if he was one of the ones who got trampled along the way, or blown off the side of the building in the crash.

When the outside world is quiet again, you crawl out from underneath the table. Everyone who still can is slowly getting to their feet, picking themselves up, some of them helping the people closest to them. You don’t know what the hell is happening, but you have a strong feeling Homelander is involved. He’s been playing at CEO for weeks, now that Stan Edgar has been deposed.

Instead of leaving out the front, you continue your plan of going through one of the east side exits. There’s a narrow alley that leads to the garage farther down. You step out into the evening light, made darker in the alley behind what’s left of the Tower. You know the metal door to the garage isn’t too far away, but before you can get to it, you see a man stumbling right toward you.

It's too dark to see him clearly, and even though you back up a couple of steps, the green of his uniform captures your attention.

“Oh my God,” you breathe. “Soldier Boy?”

He glances up at you through furrowed brows. The state of him, ragged and soot-stained, his labored breaths, and the way he’s leaning against the wall—it all tells you that he’s been through some major shit.

“Uh, a-are you okay?” you ask shakily, clutching your messenger bag.

“I’m fine,” he says, though his eyes bore into yours with an intensity that makes your spine prickle with unease.

In record time, your brain collects what little you know about the ancient relic of a supe that’s mere steps away from invading your personal space. Homelander has been calling him a rogue in the press, but even though your role at Vought barely makes you a blip on anyone’s radar, you know enough about what really holds the company together…which means you know better than to believe even one iota of what that star-spangled prick told the public. 

Your gaze flits over Soldier Boy, now with some concern despite your wariness.

“Are you hurt?” you ask.

“I said I’m fucking fine. Do I look fucking hurt?” he growls tiredly. When he tries to stand a bit straighter, he almost stumbles against the wall.

Part of you twinges with sympathy, but still, your lips purse at his attitude.

“Dude, you don’t want me to tell you what you look like,” you say.

His eyebrow twitches. He opens his mouth to retort, but that’s when a man’s voice can be heard nearby. You turn your head at the sound.

While you’re distracted, Soldier Boy grabs you with more strength than you anticipated and drags you along with him against the wall. You gasp, but he holds a dirty half-gloved hand over your mouth.

Voices begin to echo from down the other end of the alley, closer to the main road. The supe has already turned his head in that direction, but your gaze flicks there next, your eyes wide and fearful.

“I don’t need a fuckin’ doctor,” says a man. His accent is thick as hell, like a Mary Poppins chimney sweep. Cockney? He’s tall, wearing a long black coat to match his black hair. He’s also arguing with a black man and a skinny white guy. A couple of ambulances zoom by, for a moment overtaking their voices and casting their bodies in the red glow of the siren alarms.

“Considering you coughed up blood on my fucking shoes, I’m dumping you off at the nearest hospital within a mile, and then you lose my number for good. Got that, motherfucker?” says the black man. He’s just as intimidating as the other guy, if not more so, considering the way the Brit's leaning against the wall like he might keel over right there.

The skinny guy breaks the tension between them. “Look, we should go. Annie’s got Maeve, and Homelander could be circling the sky looking for us right now.”

Queen Maeve? What happened to her? She was supposed to be in rehab. Who's Annie? Oh shit. Annie January. Starlight broke Maeve out? No. I should've known that rehab story was bullshit too. Who fucking knows what actually happened there. More importantly, what's happening here?!

Your thoughts tumble into one another while your heartbeat pounds in your ears. Your breathing comes out shallower through your nose, considering the big meaty hand covering your mouth.

If Homelander's looking for these guys, then none of this little scene is good. It makes you a fucking witness. Shit...

Soldier Boy tightens his hold on your arm. Slow and quiet, he opens the door to the parking garage with his elbow, since his other hand is still locked over your mouth. He guides you in. 

“Don’t scream, or I’ll start squeezing,” he warns. At least he releases his hand from your mouth, instead, grabbing the back of your neck. “Where’s your car?” 

“Wait, come on,” you plead, your voice shaking. “Whatever you did, I don’t want to know, but I didn’t sign up to be your getaway driver.” 

Ben’s grip tightens a fraction. “All I need is a fucking ride. That isn’t too much to ask, now is it, sweetheart?”

“Depends on where you’re trying to go,” you say. But you decide that not getting snapped in half is good enough reason to lead him to your car. You rarely have cause to drive it, so it mostly just stays parked here in the garage. For once, you’re grateful that you shell out a portion of your monthly paycheck to reserve this space. 

You fish your keys out of your car and unlock the door with shaky hands. Soldier Boy watches you press the button on the small key remote with furrowed brows, but he takes it from you after forcing you in the driver’s seat, so he can enter the car on the passenger side.

The second your tiny blue Kia rumbles pitifully to life, your music blares loud enough to feel the bass in the floor. Soldier Boy smacks the radio buttons roughly until it stops.

You give him a thin smile. 

“Not a fan of Bad Bunny?” you ask.

Irritated, he grabs a hold of the small plushie swinging from your rearview mirror. He yanks it off despite your protest, nearly breaking the mirror, and stares in gruff bewilderment at the white fluffy heart. It has a Dominican flag embroidered on the front and a Cuban flag on the back—custom made on Etsy.

The supe raises a brow, but he dismissively tosses it somewhere in the back seat. When you look at his grumpy face, he just reminds you of Oscar the Grouch. He reaches down and shifts the seat back, but he barely has any leg room for those thunder thighs and combat boots.

“Just fucking drive,” he says, his voice like sharp gravel.

Again, your annoyance sparks at his rudeness. Are all supes assholes, or is it just the ones you’re forced to interact with?

“Okay, but where the hell do you want me to take you?” you ask. “The subway? The airport? The Hudson River? What?”

He thinks about it, drumming his fingers against his leg. His uniform is a bit poppier than military green, yet more classic than Homelander’s with the stretch of that silver-plated eagle across the chest. 

“Too many eyes at the airport. I need to lie low for a while before I get outta dodge,” Soldier Boy admits. Then he sits back in your passenger seat, adjusting the recline until his broad frame is below the view of the window. You think it’s both for his own comfort and so he’s less likely to be seen. 

“Your place should be all right,” he says, crossing his arms over his chest.

Your mouth falls open in shock. “Are you for real?” 

He just gives you a stern look. He’s not fucking kidding.

“Look, you may be a superhero and all, but I don’t fucking know you! And…” Just then, clarity strikes you as you remember what’s been going on in the news for the past week. “Didn’t, uh, didn’t you…blow up a building in Midtown?”

He doesn’t seem to want to answer at first, leveling you with that stoic, bearded face. His gaze eventually drifts away from yours. 

“That was an accident.” 

Your breath gets caught in your throat. “That’s a pretty big accident.”

Again, Soldier Boy doesn’t answer you. You try to focus on the road, but it’s pretty impossible when you have a supe that’s supposedly risen from the dead in your passenger seat, who also exploded 19 people on accident, who tried and failed to kill Homelander.

Speaking of, Homelander himself is looking for this guy…which means you’re helping a fugitive escape. What’s worse, he wants to crash on your goddamn couch.

One of your hands leaves the steering wheel to cover your mouth. You press your hand there until the mix-match of gold and silver rings start to bite into the sensitive flesh of your lower lip. 

“Coño su madre,” you mutter the curse under your breath. I’m so fucking screwed.  

You unlock the door to your third-floor apartment with a heavy sigh. As usual, it gets stuck the first time you try to swing it open. You throw a little more strength in your arm the second time, and the door finally budges. 

You flick the lights on inside and unveil the shoebox that is your home. It’s barely a one-bedroom. The open kitchen lies to the right with a small two-seater table nestled against the wall, while the “living room” lies to the left. There you managed to fit a faded violet loveseat couch from your college days, a bookshelf from Goodwill, and your TV perched on what’s supposed to be a coffee table.

Straight ahead is a narrow hall that leads to your bedroom door on the right side and the one and only bathroom on the other. 

Well, this is gonna be fun. Slumber party with America’s Most Wanted, you think, with no small amount of Jesus fucking Christ weighing your steps.

Soldier Boy’s broad shoulders barely clear the open doorway. He shuts and locks the door behind him and takes stock of your apartment with a slow turn of his head. He doesn’t seem impressed, except for the paintings, funky ‘60s style shelves, and other canvases decorating the walls.

“You some kind of artist?” he asks, giving a cursory glance to each one.

“Uh, yeah, kinda,” you nod. “But most of these aren’t mine.”

On every wall, there’s a cluster of art, from canvases to pottery, glass, burnished clay, and brass. There are replicas of paintings by Salvador Dalí and Frida Kahlo, Picasso and Basquiat, Monet and Amelia Peláez, even a sculpture of a woman that you tried to replicate from Ana Mendieta. It’s meant to represent the suffering of women. Hell if today doesn’t qualify.

You toss your messenger bag onto the couch and throw up your arms at your sides.

“Well, since the police, Homelander, and probably the rest of the government are looking for you, you should do the whole ‘get outta dodge’ thing in the morning,” you say. You clasp your hands together in the facsimile of a prayer and politeness all in one. “But if you really wanna spend a night on my couch, then that’s okay.”

We’ll get through this. Just one night of insanity and then this’ll all be over. 

“That bed looks big enough for two,” the supe says. He nods at your open bedroom door and smiles suggestively, his gaze roaming over your form.

You get that shiver down your spine again, even as you blush. You take a pointed step away from him.

“Uh, how about fucking no,” you snap. “That door will be locked, and I have a taser that I’m not afraid to use on any tender bits.”

He raises a brow at you, but he snorts. He steps toward you, his gait slow and arrogant. You cross your arms while he closes the distance, his hair falling forward across his forehead as he stares down at you with a hint of a sneer. His chin and forehead are still stained with grime, just as his red gloves are scuffed and half burnt from whatever happened in that blast.

Your heart trips up faster. A tremble of fear runs through you, but you refuse to move.

“You do realize that that’s tantamount to flicking me with a rubber band,” he says. His half-lidded gaze runs over you with a note of interest. The corner of his mouth raises in a smirk. “Besides, whatever we might get up to, I can guarantee you’ll enjoy it. Just ask Loni Anderson. Farrah Fawcett. Hell, Molly Ringwald. Love me a fuckin’ redhead once in a while.”

You give him a look that could (proverbially) crumble Empire State.

“Don’t fucking bet on it,” you say.

Yes, your voice is quiet. Yes, you have to work past a swallow. But you don’t ever drop your gaze. You meet him head-on with every bit of stubborn fire you have left inside you.

“If you touch me, I’ll scream," you say, a wary trembling in your chest. "Even if you kill me, they’ll find you that much quicker.”

His smirk falls away. His gaze roams over you again, this time in a different way. Maybe he sees the way your entire body is tense, locked up tight, prepared to recoil and scream if he tries to grab at you. He relents.

“Christ, relax. It’s your fucking loss anyway, sweetheart.” His eyes roll dismissively as he turns away from you. “I need a shower.”

He strides down the hall in search of it. You move quickly to get ahead of him. The last thing you need is him rifling through your bedroom drawers.

“Ah, wait! I’ll get you a towel,” you say. It irritates you to have to treat him like a “guest,” but you don’t know what else to do. The man can literally snap your neck. Even for that big ass bluff you just pulled, you really, really don’t want to die.

You could try calling the police while he’s in the shower, but you don’t know what he’ll do if he finds out. And who’s gonna be quicker on the draw—the human police force, or the literal super soldier?

No, it’ll be more painless to just wait this guy out and see him off in the morning. For now, he doesn’t seem inclined to hurt you. He even took a rejection of you “sleeping” with him pretty well, for a supe. They tend to think they're God’s gifts to humanity. Working at Vought, you’ve been propositioned more than enough times. Though God forbid you say no for a ride on their magical dick. You’d rather not jump on that potential steel trap. You know a guy in Marketing who had his happy place literally frozen and chipped off.

After finding a fresh towel for Soldier Boy, he shuts himself in the lone bathroom across from your room. Soon, the old pipes roar to life. You retreat into your room for a long, slow breath. It’s less steadying than you’d hoped.

You also shut and lock the bedroom door behind you, for whatever good that might do you. 

Not much, you realize warily. 

You sink your fingers into your hair and blow out a sigh of frustration. What even is my fucking life right now?

Tugging on the knotted curls, you loosen them from the bun you wrapped tightly this morning. For all Vought claimed to care about diversity, your boss once commented on your “wild” hair shedding on the tile floor. 

Taking in a few deep, yoga-style breaths before you lose your shit, you dig into the recesses of your closet and dresser drawers. Your most recent ex had left at least one shirt, maybe a pair of boxers. Soldier Boy will have to make do with your favorite sweatpants. They’re stretched out enough from years of wear and washes that they’ll probably fit him. 

Juuuuust great. You're really contemplating this asshole wearing your clothes.

By the time you gather your bearings, shove your soul back into your body and leave your room, Soldier Boy is exiting the bathroom, the fluffy purple towel slung low around his hips. 

“Jesus!” You jolt and instinctively step back. There’s nowhere far to go in the hallway, so your ass ends up bumping against the hollow wall. 

Once again, he wears a smug sort of smile as he stares down at you in amusement. 

“Like what you see, huh, baby doll?”

“Put your tits away, please,” you snap, handing him the bundle of clothing while trying not to look at him directly. You can’t help glancing at his muscular frame out of the corner of your eye. 

Good lord, it’s like he was chiseled from marble. Make that marble with a golden tan, and a patch of hair across his chest that you could run your nails through.

His lips curve with a cockier smile. You quickly look away.

Great. He caught you ogling for one tiny second. And with that moment of human weakness, all that strong talk you accomplished earlier had probably just withered away into nothing. Is he going to take that as an invitation to slide into bed with you tonight while you’re trying to sleep?

Yeeeah. Who the hell are you kidding? You’re going to tape your own eyes open if you have to, but you’re not dropping your guard around this guy. He doesn’t seem to actually want to hurt you. He wants to use you for convenience’s sake. But it doesn’t change the fact that he’s dangerous, hunted, arrogant as fuck, and weirdly horny for a guy who just threw himself off a building.

Subtly clearing your throat, you move past him to the living room. There you set up the couch for him to sleep on. He ventures back into the bathroom to get dressed, which gives you a small break. You’re mentally counting the seconds. 

He comes back somewhat fully dressed. The shirt is a bit small for him, as are the boxer shorts. 

“Christ, who did this belong to, a fucking eunuch?” Soldier Boy asks. “Tell me you’ve got a brother. Because if this was your boyfriend’s, then he wasn’t doing shit for you, sweetheart.”

You begin to blush on reflex, shooting him a steely glare. Those clothes did belong to your ex, but that’s none of his damn business. 

“As promised, here’s the couch,” you gesture to the neatly fitted sheets, blankets, and even a fluffy(ish) pillow you so generously laid out for him. “Again, I will be locking my bedroom door, and if you make even a step in that direction, prepare to get tased in the dick. It’s already set on the max setting.”

Soldier Boy smirks. You fail to see how what you’ve said is in any way funny. You’re definitely not laughing, but you do blink in surprise when he takes your hand and brings the back of it to his lips for a kiss. His beard briefly rasps against your skin. He looks down at you, meeting your eyes with his own. The green in them makes you falter. 

“Believe it or not, I appreciate the help,” he says, turning on the charm. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

Your lips purse. Does he really think hitting you with that Brad Pitt tone of voice is going to work on you? He fucking kidnapped you, and not to mention, is currently holding you on house arrest.

“Oh, now you want to know my name? After conning me into being your Uber driver and your Airbnb in one?” You try to slip your hand out of his, but his grip tightens. He’s still smiling, amused by your struggle. 

“Come on, what’s your name?” he cajoles.

You sigh. Despite your better judgment, you give it to him begrudgingly.

"What's yours?" you ask, mostly drenched in sarcasm. Though a small part of you is...curious.

He stares back at you for a moment, something almost like surprise flicking through his gaze. His lips twitch at the corners, wry and humorless.

"Ben," he says, finally letting go of your hand.

“Okay, cool. So nice to meet you, uh, Ben," you reply, gesturing at his overall form. You still can't believe he's standing here like an iron lamppost in your living room. Are you about to step into the portal to Narnia now and continue this fever dream, or fall straight down to hell?

"All right, mind if I go now?" you say, crossing your arms as the snark escapes its cage. "I’ve had a bitch of a day and I need my beauty sleep."

Ben raises a brow.

Shit. You bite your lip.

Okay, you know you’re being a bit too hostile to a man who can all too easily snap you in half, but he’s got this way of pushing every single one of your buttons at once. Not in a good way. In the wish I could fucking scratch your eyes out kind of a way.

You're frankly lucky that Soldier Boy just seems amused by your attitude. Silly woman with her silly fits of belligerence.

His green-eyed gaze slides from the curve of your jean-clad thighs to your hips, over your breasts concealed by a red blouse, and finally up to your chin, your lips, your eyes. You can’t help the way your skin tingles at his scrutiny, even as you frown.

“From where I’m standing, sleep isn’t what you need,” he says. He somehow manages to sound both flattering and suggestive. 

Your face flares hotter, and your lips press tightly together.

“Sweet dreams, Soldier Boy,” you say, somewhat sarcastically as you head back to your room. You intend to grab your pajamas and take them with you into the bathroom. You’re going to have to bring your taser and lock yourself in there for a shower, even with the obvious safety hazard. What-fucking-ever at this point, as long as it keeps out Hungry Like the Wolf out there. But his reply makes you pause. 

He snorts. “Good night, sweetheart.” 

You turn to look at him over your shoulder. He spares you one final look, less arrogant and more taciturn, before he turns away and lowers himself down onto the couch.

You sigh, but you can’t help peeking around the corner at the supe sitting in your living room. His broad frame takes up the entire center of the little couch. You’re not all that sure he’s going to be comfortable there, since his long legs are definitely not going to fit across the loveseat, but he’s going to have to deal with it until tomorrow. 

You watch him rest his elbows above his knees and blow out a long, tired breath. He raises a hand to rub between his furrowed brows. For a long beat, he just stares vacantly at the floor between his knees. 

Then he leans back against the couch, crosses his arms, and closes his eyes. He seems…lost. Exhausted.

You wonder if he has anyone in his life worth getting back to. Anyone at all.

Shaking your head, you quietly make your way back to your room.

Ben finds himself watching you the next morning. He sits at the two-seater table while you putter about in the kitchen.

You’re cute, he has to admit, all sleepy and barely awake as you slide around in your fuzzy red slippers. A large Knicks shirt hangs off your body, exposing one smooth shoulder. Your sweatpants are overlarge as well, which only makes him think about the generous curves you’ve got hiding underneath. He took notice yesterday. You had a lot to work with under that little blouse, jeans, and chunky heels.   

Yesterday you were put together, even though you’d clearly had a rough time escaping the Tower. Today you've slunk out of your room with baggy pajamas, your hair a mess of curls running down your back. 

“Want a cafecito?” you ask.

Ben raises a brow. “If you mean coffee, then that’d be good. Something hot to eat would be even better.”

“First of all, this isn’t a bed and breakfast,” you say, turning to him with an edge to your voice. “Look, I’m exhausted. There’s a bakery down the street. I can pick something up.” 

As a matter of fact, your favorite Colombian bakery is right around the corner. You start thinking about all the pastries you’re going to treat yourself with, even though it does make you miss the Cuban bakeries back home. You would absolutely kill for a pastelito with guava and cheese right now. 

Instead of cold-blooded murder, you set the tiny espresso cup of coffee in front of Ben. His face shifts to confusion and bewilderment. 

“I asked for a cup of coffee, black, not this baby doll tea set cup of coffee,” he says. 

“It’s a Cuban espresso,” you inform him. “And believe me, you don’t want it any bigger than that.”

Unless he just wants to spend the rest of the day on the toilet. Maybe he needs to clean out his system. 

“Just try it,” you encourage. “I think you’ll like it.” 

He eyes you with skepticism, but he takes a sip.

It’s sweet, but the rich, robust taste hits him between the eyes. His brows raise high.

“Okay,” he says with a growing smile. “I see what you mean.”

“See? Now you don’t gotta doubt me again,” you nod. He watches you pour one for yourself, stirring in a frankly alarming spoonful of sugar. 

“Where are you from, exactly?” he asks. 

You glance over at him, taking issue with the way he asks the question. 

“New York,” you respond tartly. You're really from Miami, but he doesn't need to know that.

He rolls his eyes. “You know what I mean. What are you, Mexican or something?”

You raise a brow, your lips pursing when he begins to smirk.  

“I do like me a juicy taco,” he says. 

His slutty grin is too much for you. Your hand tightens around your coffee cup.

“Okay, a lot to unpack there, Romeo, but no. Not all of us are Mexican!” 

“All right. Calm down, Chiquita. You should take it as a fucking compliment,” he says. He raises a brow at you. “You’re a real spicy one, aren’t you?”

You gape incredulously. “Excuse me?” 

Chiquita?! What the hell is that? Is he saying you look like a goddamn banana, or does he actually know a few words in Spanish? Is he actually calling you a little girl? And for the cherry on top, did he really just call you spicy?!

Either way, he’s about to get slapped across his pig-man mouth. 

“I’ve gotten with a few Latinas in my time,” he says as he leans back in his chair, crossing his arms as his thighs splay out a little wider in the sweatpants you let him borrow. “Always with that fuckin’ feisty little temper. But you know what, I got no problem with a hot tamale.” 

“Oooh.” The sound is pure and unadulterated FED UP. You down your espresso like a shot. You’re already contemplating another dose, because you don’t have the energy for this.

But you’re also reminded then, that this man came to fame in the 1940s. He was born, what, before the damn Dust Bowl and the Great Depression? He’s literally an ancient relic, a walking black and white billboard of tóxico, and he acts like one too. 

You fairly slam your ceramic cup on the dining table as you slide into the seat across from him. 

“Just so we don’t have any more conversations like this in the future, here it goes,” you say with a sharp sigh. “My mom is Cuban. My dad is black and Dominican. I’m as mixed as it gets, but I’m in no way spicy. If you’ve got me mad fucking tight right now, it’s because you clearly have no idea what decade you’re in.”

Your insult strikes a nerve, making his eyebrow twitch. Soon, however, his lips curve. 

“I’ve got you tight, huh?” he says, cocking his head. A lock of his hair falls roguishly across his brow. “Gotta say, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had that effect on a woman.” 

You freeze, another hot blush burning in your cheeks. You can feel it making its way down your neck. “That’s…that’s not what you think it means.”

His lazy, arrogant, salacious smirk really makes you want to slap him, but you have a feeling that it’ll hurt you way more than it would hurt him. You get up from the table and ignore the loud scrape of the chair on tile.

“You know what? Forget it! I’m hungry. Don’t follow me.”

You go back to your room and lock the door behind you. You come back out a few minutes later dressed in what he thinks is your way of teasing him—in some ass-hugging jeans and a shirt that clings to your form. Ben watches you cross the room, smiling at the way you give him some narrowed side-eye while twisting your hair up into a wild ponytail. It’s a simple thing women do that’s always attracted him for some reason.

He also likes the shade of red you painted on your lips. 

“You are a feisty little thing,” he remarks, sipping his espresso. “Can’t say I mind.”

“Good. Stay here,” you hotly retort. Or better yet, get the FUCK out of my apartment.

You don’t say that last bit out loud, but he can read it loud and clear in your eyes, filled with that Latina fire. He remembers it all too well.

He grabs your wrist before you slip by him though. He hears the way your breath hitches, your gaze snapping down to meet his. You manage to hide most of your fear.

Maybe it makes some part of him twinge, deep down. You don’t know that he mostly finds you amusing. That he’d rather not hurt you, considering you don’t pose even one fraction of a threat to him. That like it or not, he needs to stay in your rathole apartment until he can figure out how to get out of the city unseen, let alone out of the country.

“You think I’m fucking stupid?” he asks.

You say nothing, but the look on your face tells him what you want to say. His eyes narrow.

“You’re not leaving,” he says.

“Well, I’m not cooking,” you counter. “There’s nothing to cook—”

“Order a damn delivery.”

“You know how expensive that is? Between delivery fee and tipping nowadays, Doordash charges a whole other meal on top of the meal! UberEats isn’t much better. Plus, none of the good places around here deliver like that. Not for breakfast at least. And anyway, I really need to go grocery shopping. What do you expect me to do, open a can of tuna and a jar of olives for breakfast?”

Ben’s not going to pretend he knows what the fuck you’re talking about, but his patience is running out.

“All right, enough. Give me your uh, your phone,” he demands. His tone gains an edge, a warning.

You expel an irritated huff, but you reach into your purse and all but slam it on the kitchen table. He takes it and examines it with some curiosity, but mostly, he retains his stoicism.

“I know for a fact you can get basically whatever you want on this fucking thing within half an hour,” he says. “Do what you need to do to get some grub over here, but you’re not leaving this fucking apartment until I say so."

He raises his brows and meets your eyes in a not so subtle warning.

"Just so you know, I've got a sharper ear than you think," he adds. "If you get stupid and try making a call for help, it's gonna be the last thing you fucking do. You understand me?”

Your teeth grind together, but ultimately, your sense of self-preservation reminds you not to poke the bear anymore. You force your anger and fear to dim to embers beneath your skin, and you nod in agreement. You then lower your gaze, waiting for him to let you go.

When he does, you slip away from him as soon as possible, taking your phone as you go.

For what it’s worth, you lock the bedroom door behind you. 

AN: Aaaand we're off! lol Did you expect him to basically force her into house arrest? 😅 We're gonna have some fun on this one, but there's also going to be a fair bit of action and slow-burn moments.~

Next Time:

You suddenly stand from the table, your chair scraping across the floor. You can tell the sound irritates his sharp ear as he glances up at you with a frown.

“You are a goddamn fugitive. You get that right?” you say, regarding him with an incredulous tilt of your head. “Now you’ve hooked me into this. I could get into serious shit because of you, and you don’t even seem to care! What…what kind of fucking superhero are you supposed to be?”

At the same time, you don’t know why this surprises you. Most of the supes you’ve met couldn't care less about the average person. The entire purpose of Vought’s Legal Department springs to mind.

Still, you thought America’s first supe ever—the one who supposedly fought in WWII, pounded Nazis up the ass, and represented the ideals this country was supposed to be founded on—might actually give a shit. Yet again, it stings to be proven wrong.

Ben’s expression had been verging on apathy, but now, he’s irritated and angry. He pushes back from the table and stands up to his full height. Even wearing your ex’s plain gray crew shirt and some threadbare sweatpants, the man’s frame is intimidating. He makes slow steps closer until he’s looming over you.

⋆˙⟡ Keep Reading: Part 2

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[rocknrollsalad]

rating: T cw: abandoned pets tags: modern au, platonic stobin, first meeting, animal shelters, another universe another menial job, bad holiday innuendo, implied hook ups word count: 995 written for @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt "mistletoe"

there's now a part two

One of the fun bits about running the social media for the animal shelter was naming the animals that came in. Crafting something just unhinged enough to be spread around which lured people in was Robin’s jam. Yeah, her creative skills could be better used but they weren’t going to waste. And this way cute animals got loving homes.

As fun as it was to name a litter of kittens things like “Left Sock” and “Stolen Pants”, Robin also had to play to the season. Though her and her supervisor went rounds about this. Robin didn’t want to entice parents to adopt a kitten for their kid only for them to get the thing back in four months. She didn’t make the big bucks though so she had to do what she was told.

When the large litter of kittens rescued from a cold and abandoned barn came in? Robin knew what she’d be forced to do. The props would be cute but the names would be lame and overused.

It wasn’t a shock to anyone that she dragged Steve into the process. He was her best friend, they applied for the job together and wanted matching schedules, but he also actually had Christmas cheer.

Best friend, decorations, and kittens all wrangled into the same space, they set to the difficult task of naming each of these adorable little furballs. There were eight of them and that number was the only thing stopping Robin from bringing home the whole litter.

Latkes, Kugel, Lump of Coal, Winter Solstice, Krampus, The Ghost of Christmas Past, Cheeses, Meeces, and Mistletoe were all photographed and the colors of their colors logged before Robin and Steve went to the office to edit pictures.

Steve had Latkes in the pocket of his hoodie, sleeping away in the comfort and warmth, and Mistletoe wandered from shoulder to shoulder. The rest were happy back in their homey pen, heating blanket and food freshly stocked. Robin wanted to be annoyed but Steve always had at least one animal in tow, he couldn’t help that they were drawn to him. Or that he couldn’t say no to them.

“We oughta take a picture of you like that, imagine the dates you could get asking people to meet you under this mistletoe,” Robin said, turning back to the screen.

“Wouldn’t that be better if she was the one in my pocket?” Steve asked.

“Oh my god, why would you say that?” Robing aggressively clicked the ancient mouse to try and make the computer load faster so she didn’t have to think any more about the implications of that.

“You set me up for it!” Steve said, that same indignation he always had that made Robin want to punch him.

“Whatever. Not even you could get a date with something like that.”

Robin didn’t turn around, she could feel Steve accepting the challenge she absolutely had not issued. No way he got it to work.

—

The day had been slow, boring but expected. Robin was the only one on duty right now. The two others went off to take their lunch knowing Robin was fine with Steve there. He’d come in to hang out, a pretty typical thing when they weren’t scheduled to both work.

Steve was sitting on the counter, Robin in the chair with her feet up and next to his leg. They were on their fourth Buzzfeed quiz when the door opened. Steve and Robin both had to fight glaring at whoever interrupted the scientific “what type of fruit are you” quest.

“Hey, do you guys still got Krampus?” the guy asked, skipping all greetings.

His lack of manners had Robin staying in her seat. She wasn’t going to overdo it if he couldn’t manage the bare minimum. Steve, however, was on his feet all Christmas cheer and eager to help. Robin knew what that meant.

Added confirmation came as Steve leaned over and whispered “I think he needs to take home Mistletoe.”

Sticking her finger toward her mouth, Robin gave a half-hearted gag. If anything, she was annoyed with how easily this all came to Steve. This guy was so his type there was no way he wasn’t going to try something and Robin supported that but did he have to be so good at it?

“We do,” Steve said. It shouldn’t have been a seductive statement and yet…

Of course, it worked. The guy was the first person Robin had ever seen do a spit take without having anything to drink.

After an awkward stare-down, Robin cleared her throat as the only professional for miles around, “Would you like to see him?”

“Yeah, yeah, man. I think I would,” the guy said.

Rolling her eyes, Robin lifted a foot to kick at Steve's hip. “Show him the cat, you idiot,” she groaned.

Since he was almost out of reach, the kick did nothing to Steve as he flashed that award-winning smile that drove everyone wild and he had the customer follow him.

Just once, Robin would love to channel whatever magnetism Steve had. There’d been so many girls that had come through the door, single girls who talked about their ex-girlfriends, and Robin couldn’t so much as give them her number. Steve was going to walk out of here with a wedding ring.

Sure enough, twenty minutes later, Steve and the guy walked back to Robin looking like they’d solved world hunger. Thankfully Steve was smart enough not to hook up with people at the shelter but Robin knew that look, both on the customer and Steve, a hook up would happen.

In case that wasn’t enough, the guy was carrying Mistletoe and not Krampus like he'd asked for.

Steve stood on the customer side of the counter and said “Hand me the adoption form, wouldya? We’ll get Eddie this adorable little friend and then I’m going to help him set his apartment up to be a cat dad.”

“You’re insufferable.”

[emeraldserenade]

Escape With Me ~ Joaquín Torres

synopsis: You're stuck in an experiment with no recollection on how you got there. You end up escaping with Joaquín Torres, someone who also doesn't remember how he got there and says he's a superhero.

tw: fem!reader, limited use of y/n, implied kidnapping, reader does MMA for funsies, reader is shorter than Joaquín, barely edited.

fic, ficlet, drabble, request

Guys, I had a dream about this. It was weird but I can't get it out of my head so I decided to write it. The ending was different, my dream I ended up at a tropical themed restaurant with my grandma, her friend, and Joaquín were it was revealed that Joaquín and I were dating. Sorry for the odd ending, there wasn't a satisfying way to end this.

Also I'm sorry for going MIA, I was cleaning a house all day Saturday (one of my jobs) and then I don't have an excuse for Friday except that I was too tried from exams (I still have more 😭).

➽──────────────❥

You don't remember how you got there, you were just there. It was a room with 3 machines that looked kinda like an MRI and a bunch of people. You glanced around and recognized no one, you watched as so a pair walk into the room.

"Thank you for choosing to be apart of this experiment," the lady said.

"You will be paired off, please look at the paper in your pocket," the man directed. You did as you were told and grabbed your paper, it was a small purple circle. "The shape and color will match another person's, please find your partner," you did as you were told and found her. She was a blonde that introduced herself as Rainy, you shook her hand and smiled before the lady instructor started talking again.

"One of you will get in the machine and the other will stay out. When you are in the machine, please make sure you are laying on your back." Rainy offered to go in and you let her, you had this weird feeling about it but said nothing. The small door shut behind her once she was situated and the male instructor started explaining.

"Those of you who are out, you will be completing challenges. With each challenge you will be able to insert your collected token into its correct spot. Once in, the needles will insert into your partner and you can move onto the next," the man said.

"You have 15 minutes to get ready," the woman told you all before the both of them left. You panicked about what you were in. You didn't remember volunteering for this nor how you got there. Rainy gave you a thumbs up and told you that you got this, but you glanced around. Everyone seemed so normal about it, except for the guy right next to you. He seemed just as panicked as you and you hoped he would be open to talking to you.

"Hey," you gently got his attention and he looked at you. "This may sound odd but I don't remember how I got here. Is there anything you could tell me?" You gave him your most relaxed smile you could muster.

"I don't remember either," he admitted and you almost sagged in relief. You could tell he realized and relaxed a bit more too.

"I have a bad feeling about all of this," you stepped closer and he leaned just a bit closer so you could speak at a lower volume.

"Me too, what is this machine for? And why is there challenges?"

"I have no idea but I think we should leave," you muttered. "Oh, and I'm y/n," you offered him your name.

"Joaquín," he gave you his. "And yeah, I think we should leave," he glanced around and you did to. Everyone was looking at you two and you inched slightly closer to him.

"They want to leave!" One of the other men shouted and the two that were giving instructions came bursting in.

"Do you trust me?" Joaquín looked down at you and you nodded. Before you two could run for it, the two instructors ran to grab you. You watched as Joaquín fought off the man and decided to use your MMA skills. You fought the girl before you two made a run out the door. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Joaquín questioned you as you two ran down the hallway and out the building door.

"I do MMA for fun every other weekend, I've never used it outside of class though," you admitted, you two were on a busy street and decided to blend into the crowd. "How about you?"

"I'm a superhero, Falcon to be exact," he admitted and you nodded, you had heard the Falcon title was passed down but never got around to reading about it.

✧°˖ . ݁˖︵‿❀‿︵˖ . ݁˖°✧

You and Joaquín realized, embarrassingly late, that you were being followed. You figured it out when you had heard the same male and female voice outside your hotel room. Joaquín was in the next one over and you slipped out of bed, grabbed your jacket and the old clothes you were wearing along with the duffle bag you got along with your new clothes at the store. You gently opened the conjoining doors before walking through and going to Joaquín.

"Joaquín, we gotta go. The people are here," you gently whispered but he didn't move. You sighed and gently grabbed his upper arm before shaking him. "Joaquín," you said his name again and he rolled towards you, he was clearly not fully awake so you didn't think much of it when he pulled you to lay down with him.

"Angel, go back to bed," he whispered but you shook your head.

"Joaquín, wake up," you said and watched as his eyes fully opened. He looked horrified and went to apologize but you cut him off. "The people from the experiment are outside my room, we have to go," you told him.

"Ok," he quickly got up and grabbed his own duffle bag, you both paused when you heard the two shuffling around your room before rushing out his door and to the stairs.

✧°˖ . ݁˖︵‿❀‿︵˖ . ݁˖°✧

By the time you reached his coworker, Sam, you were exhausted and sure your family and friends were worried about you. You two had been on the run for days but you felt like you could relax.

You listened as the two talked and by the time the two people found you, Sam and Joaquín were ready. You found out that the experiment was by some corrupt government official who wanted to try and make enhanced individuals. The challenges were to prove you were smart enough to be there and you and Joaquín were the only two that didn't sign up or wasn't brainwashed.

"Well, thank you," you shook Sam's hand.

"It was no problem, y/n," he assured you.

"Are you ready?" Joaquín was driving you home and you nodded, at least you had stayed in DC area. Getting home would have been a pain in the ass otherwise.

➽──────────────❥

Masterlist | Requests

[sharkorok]

all eyes on you (enhypen)

or the moments that make everyone think you’re dating

cw/genre: idol!reader, reader doesnt have specified gender but implied to be a female, fluff, so cute bye, secret relationships, humor, u have delulu fans

requested: naurrr

a/n: ehe thx for 100 followers :) I hope my writing makes u happy because knowing people read my works makes me super duper happy! luv uuuu

•-•-•-•-•-•

heeseung

-at an awards show your outfits were matching, like very obviously matching

-matching bracelets, you had one on your left wrist and he had one on the right, the colors matched each other, same style and aesthetic…

-he gets v nervous but also you were in some dating rumors with another idol so…he wouldn’t be mad if he was next tbh….BUT THEN UR GROUP WAS ASSIGNED NEXT TO HIM??

-dawg was sweating the whole time trying not to admire you and how cute you two looked

-but no every one of those “enhypen mma reaction” or “heeseung reaction focus” showed him very clearly staring at you 😭, twt had a field day with you two

-he can’t help it, you looked so good and how can he keep his eyes off his lovely s/o when they’re all dressed up + matching?? seriously his management was insane for putting him so close to you

-and when all groups were leaving he was seen literally sprinting to be closer to you

-ya dispatch didn’t even need to confirm anything after that awards show

the others r below!

jay

-during a live he got his guitar out and started playing all your favorite songs

-and this was literally a day after you named your favorite songs

-then to make it worse he was like “yeah these are y/n’s favorite songs don’t they have good music taste?” and then he kept talking about you and staff was sweating while watching istg

-the way he talked about you tho,,he either had a massive crush on you or you two were dating

-the ship edits the next day were insane honestly some of your fans need to get into the editing business because you genuinely believed a photo of him holding your waist was taken at inkigayo

-he doesn’t even try to hide how much he likes you istg, he goes out of his way to talk to you at awards shows and always films challenges with you, he gives the shippers so much content

-then another time jay cooked your favorite food in a vlog and specifically said it was your favorite food, name dropping and everything

-literally no one is surprised that you two are confirmed dating after a while.

jake

-accidentally went on live while talking about you

-he fully believed he closed out of the app when he was talking to jay and saying stuff like, “I’m really excited to see her at the performance, I hope we have time to hang out…” and then he hears notifications and sees that he was streaming and he nearly faints

-plays it off like he fully intended for everyone to hear that and continues like he planned on going live

-he’s also trying to hide the way his eyes flickered up to your rapid texts being like, “JAKE WHY ARE WE TRENDING ON TWITTER??”

-jay is behind the camera just trying not to laugh becuz how do you even recover from this one, literally all the comments are talking about you and him

-“y/n…? yeah ahahah I know her uh huh mhm anyways moving on” and his horrible deflecting skills are making it even more obvious

-and when you go on live?? oh u bet the comments are “did you see jake’s recent live?? are u cheating on us y/n?”

-u desperately distract by spoiling your comeback but there’s already 14k Tik toks analyzing every interaction you had with Jake and why you two are cosmically intertwined

sunghoon

-describes you to a T when asked about his ideal type

-he meant to just mention the broad details but he gets excited talking about u ok :(

-“yeah a good heart and around (your exact height), with (the hex code of your eye color) eyes, born on (your birthday), hobbies include (every single one of your hobbies) and also…(literally all the information under your kprofiles page)”

-ur fans catch on and are like “isn’t this literally y/n” and he’s like “omg nooo coincidence”

-it is NOT a coincidence bro he was fully thinking of you and only you during that interview

-anyways you don’t help the situation by describing him too when asked about your ideal type, but ur at least a tad less obvious 😭

-“yea I love guys who ice skate and stuff”

-u two definitely get scolded by management

sunoo

-sometimes he forgets to care about keeping things secret (like that lipton tea thing he did)

-so he’s showing fans his camera roll and he shows selfies you never posted before…in his camera roll…never before seen by anyone but him and you to the camera and is like

-“y/n’s visual is so perfect, right?”

-and yeah duh ur stunning and gorgeous but fans are distracted by your beauty for a second before being like “hm…how did he get those selfies and why r they in his camera roll”

-ur fans r thankful for the content tho so he kinda did everyone a favor

-but it’s a LITTLE suspicious…but neither of you address anything so it just festers a little

-until you two do a tik tok challenge together and he captions it with a heart emoji like oh my god 😭

-you’re not innocent either when you said “sunoo’s visual is so amazing” like both of you get some media training I beg

-everyone loves how obviously whipped you two are for each other tho :,)

jungwon

-accidentally exposes your polaroid in his phone case

-thankfully he has photos of his members and maeum but why were you there??

-he completely ignores it tbh he shows the photos to the camera and is like “these r the polaroids in my phone case. anyways.” n he’s playing it cool but internally he’s PANICKING

-“hopefully they didn’t see the heart I drew on the Polaroid,” he thinks foolishly

-we did.

-so you try to do some damage control on your own live when asked about why he has ur photo in his phone and ur like “oh we’re really close friends!!”

-n honestly that’s a good and healthy response because everyone has the right to their platonic relationships

-but jungwon’s heart he drew on your Polaroid was just a little bit tooooo suspicious…anyways this leads to fans over-analyzing every single interaction to the point you two weren’t allowed to be seen in a ten foot proximity at events for a while

-but at least it reminded jungwon to be more careful lolol

niki

-accidentally rizzes you up on live television

-you’re an mc for smth and you’re interviewing enhypen and you’re like, “oooh, some burning questions, what is your ideal type?”

-and Niki, with no hesitation fully goes, “you lol” and you see ur career flash before your eyes

-ur co mc is nervously laughing and niki realizes like oh wait we’re being broadcasted so he’s like “oh just kidding haha!!!” even though you two are making awkward eye contact while you’re mentally scolding him

-he’s so used to teasing and flirting with you in private so it’s a little hard to shake off in public

-anyways fans notice he’s looking at you a little too lovingly and being a little too genuine when he responded so it’s not long before you see ship edits on Twitter and tik tok

-doesn’t help when you answer the ideal type question with “someone who is playful and funny” thinking it was broad enough but ‘twas not <3

-he doesn’t really care too much but thought it was funny, even if he had to take a media training class again afterwards >:T

[jerzwriter]

I'm still determined to get through the 30-day challenge in 60 70 days! lol Day 22's prompt is to write for 15 minutes without deleting anything. I didn't delete or stop while writing, but I did a tiny bit of editing when I was done. Since I was really missing Tobias & Casey, I went with a little Carrick Family Sweetness. 🍬🍬

Book: Open Heart (Post Series) Pairing: Tobias x Casey Carrick Featuring: The Carrick Girls Rating: General Words: 961

Summary: It's a typical Saturday morning in the Carrick household, and the Carrick girls are staging an intervention.

A/N: Participating in @choicesmonthlychallenge May Mahem - but this is the GOOD kind of mayhem: Caught, Smirk, and Wink

30-Day Challenge Masterlist | Full Masterlist

At one time, this would have been way too early to be up on a Saturday, but like so many other things, that changed over the years. The Carrick’s kitchen smelled of freshly brewed coffee and sugary cereals that were only to be eaten once a week – a rule that was applied to Tobias, too. And right about now, he was grateful, for he needed both things to stay awake.

But while many things had changed for the Carricks, some had remained painfully the same.  

Casey and Tobias sat across from each other, each wearing matching bathrobes they had bought the previous Christmas. Each time their eyes met, a heat that generally wasn’t experienced over Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms began to simmer. Tobias was the first to start.

“Babe, have I told you that you’re absolutely beautiful and I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

“Why thank you,” Casey blushed. “And, for the record, I think you’re gorgeous, and I’m the luckiest woman in the world. It’s just such a shame that I love you so much more than you love me.”

“Oh really,” he laughed, leaning back in his chair with a grin. “Sorry, babe. But it’s not even close – I love you more.”

“Mmm, nope,” she corrected, stuffing a spoon of marshmallow-laden cereal into her mouth. “I love you most. End of story.”

“Really?” he said, squeezing her hand. “I love you so much that I bought two of these mugs – one for home, one for work – and they’re the ONLY mugs I’ll use.”

He proudly brandished a “Real Men Marry Hot Doctors” mug in his hand, raising it to his lips as if to declare victory. But Casey was unconvinced.

“Please,” she scoffed. “That could be any doctor – it doesn’t specify it’s me.”

Tobias’s eyes went wide. “Are you implying that I have another wife out there?”

“No,” she giggled. “But I love you most because I pretend to like your ridiculous bedtime meditation playlist even though it sounds like two wounded hyenas mating.”

Tobias clutched his chest in mock horror. “Wounded hyenas mating?! It’s the sounds of nature! It’s tranquility!”

“Tell that to the hyenas,” Casey winked. “Sorry, I love you more.”

In the family room adjacent to the kitchen, you could almost hear the eyes rolling. Twelve-year-old Samantha was curled up in the corner armchair with her favorite book. As the eldest of the Carrick girls, she considered herself the resident expert on these things.

“Here we go again,” she mumbled.

Ten-year-old Brooke, who was lounging upside down on the couch nearby, began to giggle. “They do this every Saturday.”

“They do it every day,” Sammy groaned. “Honestly, we need a separate kitchen. Maybe a separate house.”

Only six-year-old Kayla, who was coloring a picture of a unicorn, seemed unbothered.

“Do you think they even remember that we exist when they get like this?” Brooke asked.

Samantha put her book down. “Only one way to find out.”

A moment later, the three girls marched into the kitchen full of their usual sass.

“All right!” Samantha announced, arms crossed. “You two need to stop.”

“Stop?” Tobias blinked. “Stop what?”

“This!” Brooke said. “We get it. You’re obsessed with each other.”

“And, frankly, it’s nauseating,” Sammy sighed.

Now, even Kayla wanted in on the action. “Mommy, Daddy - you love each other too loud.”

“Too loud?” Casey laughed so hard she nearly choked on her cereal.

“Yes! Too loud,” Samantha confirmed. “We’re one ‘No I love you more’ away from filing a complaint with Grandma.”

“Oh, God!” Tobias gasped. “Don’t do that! Anything but that!”

Casey leaned on her elbows, clearly amused. “So this is how you girls repay us for giving you the gift of life and a pantry full of sugary cereal!”

“Don’t distract us with sweets,” Brooke smiled.

“And don’t talk about giving us life!” Sammy cringed. “GROSS!”

Casey shook her head with a laugh. “All right! All right! We’ll try to tone it down – a little bit!”  

“See,” Tobias said, wrapping his arm around Casey’s shoulder. “Your mom was the first to cave, which only proves one thing. I love her more!”

“UGH!” Sammy cried. “Why are you two like this?”

“It’s called being madly in love,” Tobias announced with pride. “If you’re really lucky, you’ll understand yourselves someday.”

“Ew!” Brooke wrinkled her nose. “Hard pass.”

“We’ll remind you of that when we insist on chaperoning all of your dates,” Casey winked.

“I’m not going to date,” Brooke insisted. “Boys are gross.”

Tobias smiled, pulling his middle daughter onto his lap. As relieved as I am to hear that – I’m sure you’ll be dating someone someday – whether I like it or not.”

“Well, I’m going to date,” Sammy announced. “And I am going to be so gross – just to get you two back.”

Casey scooped Kayla up on her lap and pulled Sammy under her arm. “You do that, sweetheart. We probably deserve it.”

“What about you, pumpkin?” Tobias said, kissing the top of Kayla’s head. “What are you doing to do?”

Kayla reached up on the table and took a spoon, dropping it into Tobias’s abandoned bowl of Fruit Loops.

“I’m going to eat all the cereal,” she said with a full mouth.

“That’s the best answer of all,” Tobias laughed over a chorus of giggles.

 “So, Kayla loves Fruit Loops most of all,” Brooke laughed.

“A very wise choice,” Sammy nodded.

When the girls returned to their activities, Tobias wrapped his arm around Casey, kissed her temple, and whispered in her ear. “Why don’t we call it a draw? We both love each other most of all?”

“All right,” she smiled. “For the sake of family peace, I’ll sign on to that for today. But next time, all bets are off!”

[basedonconjecture]

Sharing (Sample?) Sunday

Idk anymore I’m just here for the vibes and accepting the challenge to share something I’m proud of given by @ofcrowsanddragons & @biowaredisasterbisexual

And even though ik some of you have done this or been tagged already I’m tagging you anyway bc I want tags back so I can share your stuff 😤 (and also hi): @thedissonantverses, @hyperions-light, @bygonesigh , @mythals-whore, @introvertedfangrl, @muqington, @operative-arrow, @mercars-musings, @corvus-frugilegus, @propenseverbosity, @pavuslavellan

And taking this opportunity to share something I have not really shared here yet beyond the first line! Mostlyyyy because I’ve barely done any editing on it yet (I’m working on it I swear, for those of you who’ve already read it) but I’m still really proud of how this section turned out 😅

For those of you also reading Per Esseri Veri, it is the one mentioned in chapter 6 :)

Anyhoo, have a bit of a lighthearted piece about a silly (informal) contract Lucanis accepted from Viago (vaguely set around the same time as the infamous dagger gift who knows exactly, not me) feat. a young gambling Rook de Riva and a very ugly hat

Viago de Riva had squandered the last of the goodwill he’d accrued with House Dellamorte. If not with that house entire then, most certainly, with one of its three primary members. However, two facts presented themselves as challenges to how Lucanis might make this change in status known to the Talon of House de Riva.

For the first, he was forced to acknowledge that he did not have nearly enough sway with the Talon of his own house as being the more favored of her grandsons might suggest. As for the second… his present irritation with the man in question did not run deep enough to inspire any genuine vindictive feeling.

Instead, he entertained himself imagining a series of minor slights that would, perhaps, get the point across. Unfortunately, the Talon was already so devastatingly unimpressed with him that none of them were likely to cause more than brief irritation.

Entertaining to think about, nonetheless.

Rather, it kept him occupied while he waited for his mark to make an appearance.

Viago had given him little in that regard. Look for the ugliest hat in the place, the Talon had instructed him in his missive, alongside little else but the name of the tavern and an address.

Lucanis had to give it to him: the hat was, indeed, very ugly.

An old, wide-brimmed felt thing not unlike something he’d seen in the country. Whatever color it had been before had faded to a muddled gray, pinned up on one side, and a scraggly black feather stuck through it to make it all the worse. Illario would have deemed it an insult to hats had he been there to see it, Lucanis was certain, he could almost hear the droll remark in his cousin’s voice. The youth wore it tilted high on their forehead in a jaunty fashion that matched the confidence with which they sauntered into the tavern, a silk cape that had seen better days tossed back over their shoulders.

He tracked them from his corner table as they crossed the smoke-filled taproom to a group of rough-looking men already deep in their cups.

Sailors, by the look of them. Or, more likely, fishermen. In their flat caps, and threadbare linen shirts stained with old sweat, fully brined from a day’s labor hauling in nets—he could smell them from where he sat. They’d been telling ribald stories over their card game for the last hour, growing more brazen with the barmaid who kept their tankards filled.

Now, they laughed loudly and elbowed one another as the youth approached. There was a telling flash of coin. A pause. Then the scrape of stools as the group made room for one more in their game.

He caught an expression that passed between a few of them, but the youth took no notice as they settled in, hat firmly in place. The first round, unsurprisingly, went to the youth. Then the second and the third. Their pile of coins quite high, they now wagered the entirety on a fourth round. Confident in their winning streak, and aided by ale, with no little encouragement from the woman serving the table, they had no idea they were about to lose it all.

Internally, he sighed from his corner, ready to finish this contract and be done with it—and Viago de Riva—for good. Once the youth lost their winnings, there would be his opening.

As expected, the youth was sorely fleeced and Lucanis prepared to move as they begged for another hand to be dealt. The men rebuffed them at first, demanding to know what they would wager now their money had been claimed. Silence fell among the group as the youth produced a gold andris—the single coin worth more than what they’d won.

Lucanis sat up a little straighter, his eyes narrowing as he watched the group regather. There was some argument as to who would meet the bet until they put forth their agreed upon representative, pooling their earnings together in an attempt to win the andris off the youth. Eventually, they all settled once more at the table, while the cards were shuffled and dealt between them.

The energy in the tavern seemed to shift, becoming quieter, breaths bated, as all eyes turned to the game.

[everybatmancomicreviewed]

Review 1: Detective Comics #27 (March, 1939): "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate"

Milestones: First Batman issue, first Batman in Detective Comics issue, first Bill Finger Batman issue, first Bob Kane Batman issue, first Batman cover

Debuts: Bruce Wayne/Batman, Commissioner Jim Gordon, Gotham City (sort of), The Batmobile (sort of), Wayne Manor

Summary: 4 owners of a chemical corporation find themselves in a murderous conspiracy, and only the mysterious Bat-Man can solve the case...

Quote: "As the two men leer over their conquest, they do not notice a third menacing figure standing behind them... It is the Bat-Man!"

Review: A thing I think many casual fans may not realize is just how different these first issues were, not just for Batman, but any superhero. These were different times, and comics were written like they're from another world: Half pulp novel, half children's comedy strip. This isn't exactly what a modern reader might expect from a Batman story, though it must be said it's not TOO far off.

Really, what we get from this one is atmosphere: the issue is dripping with it. Every panel is either gloomy and dark, or straight out of a police procedural. The golden age didn't have the best art nor the best coloring, but there is a vibe to reading these that's hard to match, and it's felt strongly here.

It's hard to beat these two pages right here, that introduce the world to one of the greatest fictional characters of all time. But there's no denying the rest is... A little lacking. Batman barely faces a challenge, Arthur Stryker is up there with the most boring villains anyone has ever written, the mystery is so simple that Batman solves it offscreen and it's not exactly something a genius wouldn't get, and it ends with a death, which as I said, I shall dock points for.

But that's not to say this issue is bad by any means. It's simplistic and lacking in much bite, but first impressions count most when it comes to aesthetic and looks, and this one passes with flying colors. Sure, it's not all there (the purple gloves, the red batmobile, the lack of a Batcave), but with a few simple edits, you could release this today and people would find it acceptable.

I think what I enjoyed most was the pure drama of Batman's appearance. He barely speaks throughout, and he carries himself like a ghost mixed with a brawling boxer. I love how classic his first moment is: Just appearing on the roof suddenly, a visual that will be adapted over and over again. If Superman rose to the morning sky with a smile, Batman descended onto a dark rooftop with an aura both terrifying yet inspiring.

I also think it's kinda funny that Bruce Wayne being Batman is presented as a twist here. He used the same car, guys.

Yeah, there's not too much to digest here, but it's still a great appetizer for what's coming. The Golden Age isn't much for stories full of the psychological depth we'll expect from this character moving forwards, but for now, we get some cool vibes, and sometimes, that's all you need. No matter what you think of this issue, its existence alone earns a respectful score.

Final score: 7/10

Cover Rating: 7/10 (another classic that deserves respect)

Villain: Arthur Stryker

Best Character: Bruce Wayne/Batman

Worst Character: Arthur Stryker

Appearance Tracker:

1st: Bruce Wayne/Batman: 1

1st: Commissioner Jim Gordon: 1

Next time: Detective Comics #28, where we get more of the same, but far shorter for some reason.

[weirdmageddon]

MMOLB UPDATES

haven’t been on here in a while so i’ll post some updates.

over the week, the site’s performance has dramatically slowed down because there are over 1,200 (lesser league) teams now. each one is playing a simulated game against another team, meaning above 600 games being played simultaneously. Danny has a new server ready and is getting ready to migrate it there.

new games are scheduled to begin every 2 hours, but because of the server throttling we apparently have had two spillovers on games that lasted more than 2 hours. it seems very unlikely (most games should end at about 50 minutes), but there are a lot of teams! the sim ticks keeping time probably slowed.

the election options are now available to view. Season 0 Lesser League players are going to be replaced by a new lineup on people’s teams going forward. there were clones at the beginning (the seed wasn’t increasing properly which has since been fixed but cloned players remain in the league) and other bugs, so this would be a way to truly start fresh. Season 0 really was just a test run anyway, so it’s understandable.

some people expressed sadness because they already got attached to their team’s players, but have we learned nothing from the incineration of jaylen hotdogfingers upon opening the forbidden book? nobody is meant to last forever. anything could happen. FACT.

the tentative schedule as i have come to understand it is as follows:

Games start Monday morning — End midnight on Saturday

Break during Saturday’s daytime

Reconvene Saturday evening at 6pm CST for the Home Run Challenge and Superstar Game.

“For the Home Run Challenge, each league's top hitter will pair up with the pitcher that gives up the most home runs, and they take turns trying to hit as many home runs as possible. After that, the Superstar Game is an exhibition game featuring the top players from each league forming teams and facing off at The Starfield! The winner of the Superstar Game will get home field advantage for their team in the Greatest Series, the final match of the Postseason.”

Games start up again on Sunday at midnight — Thursday afternoon (next week)

Friday and Saturday (next week) are for the postseason and Seasonal election.

the Sunday the day after the election, idk day of rest maybe?

for my personal team Tampa Strings, i want to put their stats here now for posterity. i’m going to pick Relegate during the election since i’d still like to see them around sometime in the future, even if they’re pulled to another team in the league.

Fortuna Skyes is my best batter, but Fox DeGrom and Fiona Shevchuk trail close behind her.

my pitchers are probably why my team’s W-L ratio is 17-24 despite my great batting lineup.

*foghorn sound effect*

i’m excited for the future of MMOLB, and glad to be here from the beginning even with all the kinks that needed to be worked out.

Danny and the Umps are doing a great job

EDIT: MMOLB has been moved to a new server and the site runs much smoother now.

also, from within a game, you can click on a team’s name and see their roster from there instead of having to get at it from the league standings.

stats for players are now visible on the site! however if you’d like a color-coded overview, there is a fan-created alternative we were using before stats were deployed on the site.

https://lunanova.space/mmolb/

it also still has its own advantages over MMOLB’s built-in stat display:

you can see a team’s overall stats all at once.

color-coded stats (table is sortable)

you can see your team’s ranking in your Lesser League Subleague, since the MMOLB site only displays the top 12. (Elo at the top of the page).

you can see your game history and quickly see the stats of the teams yours were up against.

[lesbiandanhowell]

Sam reacts to: Who Is the Real Dan Howell?

What parallel universe have we entered that we got another video so quickly?? Also the fact that only Dan was on the thumbnail briefly had me thinking this is a Dan solo video and I just, accepted that.

- "How do I please my husband" PHIL WHAT THE FUCK. Wedding hill is so real I am not even joking anymore.

- So much touching I am just thinking of @danrifics every time Dan softly puts his hands on Phils shoulder.

- OH MY GOD PHIL WHEN DID PHIL BECOME THE HORNY ONE OUT OF THESE TWO

- They are wearing so much color in this video, and lowkey matching, like the colors of Phil's sweater are the same shades as Dan's and it's doing things to me.

- I am not going to lie, the sponsors just make me giggle these days like babe they broke.

- "Full drag race challenge" please more gay jokes like this that aren't just incredibly horny, my lesbian ace self is very thankful.

- Phil clutching his pearls (aka his non existent boobs) why has this become a thing?

- "Can we take a moment... who is googling how to chew gum" He sounded so genuinely soft and confused when he said that it made me laugh.

- Dan calling boobs lumps and Phil trying to save it and Dan just breaking out into the full song, all lyrics memorized.

- Dan stop looking at Phil (they kissed after this, I am just going full demon, but come on)

- THEY EDITED THIS THEMSELVES. First video in a hot minute that where no editor is credited which is CURIOUS.

- Dan I do not want to know how to suck dick THANK YOU VERY MUCH I AM FINE ACTUALLY

- "I would wave my trunk around" PHIL ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOURSELF I AM SOBBING and the fact Dan didn't even point it out and just looked at Phil all wtf.

- "How to be cunty" YES DAN BE CUNTY

- "Twitter just shut up"ohhh Dan talking like the tumblr phannies

- HOW DO THEY KEEP MOVING CLOSER like they are basically sitting in each others lap at this rate. They always start out with a reasonable distance and then just lean into each other the entire video.

- "Get a cat" YES GET A CAT

- SHOULDER TOUCHING FUCK OOOOOOOFF

I am severely unwell actually bye.

[bellaaldamas]

Love the latest edit for Angrboða (Especially for Angrboða Appreciation week)! <3

I'm curious (and have been in a little while), but have you ever thought about making tutorials of how you style your edits or is there any tutorials out there that you reccomend for people who's starting out? This ask is late, but I hope you're taking care of yourself in any way (with life being merciful of course). 💕💕💕 ^^

Hey there. Firstly, I'm glad you enjoyed my little contributions to Angrboda Appreciation Week and we have Serena/@stupidrant to thank for making it possible by organizing and hosting it for us all. Angrboda deserves all that and more.

Regarding the gif styling process, there are several types of design for gifsets and techniques that I normally use. Seeing as you mentioned one of my latest ones, I assume it is specifically the "colorful/vivid" gifs that you would like me to delve into the process of creating. I will be using this gifset as an example of the most common design I go for, which is three color edits (as I am not skilled enough to pull off anything more complicated and versatile). Like this gif:

As you can see, there are three dominant colors - a classic combination of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow, with additional dashes of orange and blue. Now, I have to admit that in order to produce a gifset a day for the Angrboda Week I shamelessly cheated with this one and picked the most "easy" scenes to manipulate the color. As you can see, the top two scenes in the composition do not have much movement in them and have one dominant color which you can enhance or change to another color.

With the winter Atreus and Angrboda scene I simply enhanced the blues, changed them to deep cyans, added some cyan into whites for background and then changed the reds of Atreus's clothes to be magenta while erasing the color change from the rest of the scene (especially their faces) with layer mask. I will be covering this part in this tutorial because the biggest challenge of making colorful gifs is to avoid color manipulation affecting characters/actors faces. It is especially important to make sure that by increasing brightness and saturation you don't whitewash POC characters/actors (will be touching up on that too).

Then there is the main scene in the composition where the original footage has a convenient background in the form of a carpet the two are lying on; which has several colors in it already. Thus, one can tweak those to match the exact color combination they need (will be addressing this as well), in this case cyan+magenta+yellow.

It makes it even easier that there is almost no movement in the scene and it takes just two brush strokes to erase whatever color changes one has applied from their faces.

And I also realize everything I just said above would not make one lick of sense to those just starting out which is why consider it a preface to an actual tutorial.

It is also an explanation to why I have decided, for this occasion, to choose a more challenging scene (not included in this gifset) where there is A) much less color to manipulate and work with and B) a little bit more movement.

So let us go from this:

to this:

Now, do keep in mind that as a separate gif, in it's own right, this looks too obnoxiously vivid and not the result one should strive for if they are making a regular gifset. We are focusing specifically on "stylized" multi-color gifsets now.

In order to get to the point where you have the gif in it's original color (top one), you have to have a basic knowledge on gif making: uploading screencaps/frames to photoshop using a player (I use KMPlayer) or a built in Photoshop feature. Then you have to crop and resize the gif to meet Tumblr standards and, most importantly, sharpen it. When the entire composition is ready, you will have to set the frame rate (the speed of the finished gif, where all the colors are enhanced and all the scenes are merged together).

To accomplish the above, as well as to learn basic coloring, I recommend these thorough, step by step tutorials that guide beginners through the entire process and offer different approaches to the basics of gif making: X X

Once you do have the top gif, sharpened and playing in your Photoshop timeline, let's get to our vivid coloring. First thing first, you have to apply basic coloring before you have anything to go off of in terms of color manipulation.

In many cases people use ready made base PSDs or adjust lighting, contrast and saturation themselves using Curves, Levels and Vibrance Layers. In both methods, with scenes like this where there is not much color dimension and one dominating color (in this case blue in the mid-tones), you might end up with a result that enhances only that one color. While this is important for further manipulation, it also has a side effect of making the coloring look flat and the skin tones do not come out right. Like this:

It is not necessarily a terrible start for a base - the contrast and saturation already look better than in the original - but as you can see, the blues and magentas are in all the wrong places: on characters' skin and in the areas where they make reds and yellows look snuffed out and watered down.

So let's add dimension to the scene before we apply our base (for base PSDs I recommend following the tips and coloring process of this blogger on YouTube, for they excel at fixing dimly lit, undersaturated scenes; most of my base PSDs were created using their methods). To do that, create a Curves layer below any "base PSD" or before you tweak the lighting, contrast and saturation.

Once you have the Curves layer, click on the mid-tones eyedropper, find the spot in your gif that is neither too dark or too bright that has too much dominant color (in this case blue) and click on that spot to offset this color a little. Like this:

This is the result you get:

Already better! This is the trick that works wonders on more tinted scenes (like the ones in Ironwood a lot of which have a yellow tint and this method balances out the yellow by adding blues to mid-tones and making the shot cooler, as opposed to warmer like here). No more blue tint all over the characters and more dimension added to the surroundings due to yellows and reds being automatically enhanced.

However, the color still looks flat, Atreus's face has gained a sickly greenish tone and further adjustments might end up whitewashing Angrboda's skin. So I went on and added several new layers to fix/prevent this:

A Color Balance Layer: Mid-tones: Reds: +4 (adds the saturation and vibrancy to the overall gif)

A Selective Color Layer: Reds, the blacks slider + 100 (ensures that Angrboda's skin is not washed out when you add more brightness and curves layers later; duplicate this layer if need be, depending on your coloring and character's original skin tone). In my case, I use the "Absolute" setting instead of "Relative" because the goal in this one is to bring back/preserve the original skin tone despite upping the brightness vs oversaturating the skin.

All of the above layers should be placed below the base PSD (that's an important part). With them and the base PSD the gif will look like this:

Finally, a solid base to work with.

This is the point where I forgive Kratos or I kill him where the "colorful" part comes in. You have two options for the next step: try one of the many ready-made PSDs on here or create your own. For this gif I used a ready made PSD (which I claim no credit for) + my own adjustments. The end goal is to enhance the Blues and the Yellows.

To do that, create a new Selective Color Layer, go to Yellows and increase the Yellow in it (pull the yellow slider to the right). Depending on what hue you are going for, play with the Cyans slider in Yellows and move it a little to the left to remove the greenish hue and add dashes of orange into yellows. Then create a new Selective Color layer (you can use the same one but I prefer to create a new layer for each color enhancement), go to Blues and pull the Cyans slider all the way to the right and the Yellow slider all the way to the left.

For Blues I normally use the "Absolute" setting rather than "Relative" in the Selective Color layers. This makes blue more saturated without affecting other colors. You end up with a pretty blue background and a generally much more pleasant looking gif.

After the ready made PSD (I recommend this Resource blog to look for those - it has a vast collection of PSDs, including bases and vibrant ones, for Live Action and Animated media alike) and my own layers enhancing the colors mentioned above, I get this:

If you are making a regular gifset, this is where you would want to stop. But since my previously stated goal was to make an unashamedly vibrant edit, I will continue.

This stage is where color change/manipulation starts. Remember one simply rule: for a manipulation to work, you HAVE to first enhance the color you are manipulating. In this case, I wanted yellows to become purple in some places, particularly behind Atreus (the house wood) and I wanted the reds of his clothes to gain a purplish/magenta hue. For background, I wanted Blues to be more cyan.

The Blues to Cyans part is the easiest: just create a Selective Color layer, go to the Blues tab and pull the cyans slider to the right again and the magentas to the left as much as you need. Play around with the yellow setting to see which works best. Then go to Cyans tab and enhance the cyans (pull the appropriate slider to the right) and see if you want to tweak any other slider to get the hue you need.

My settings are as follows:

Selective Color - Blues: cyans + 100, magentas - 18

Selective Color 2 - Blues: cyans + 100, magentas - 50, yellows - 70

This is guaranteed to make blues more vibrant and then turn blues to cyans. Everything else is up to preference.

The Yellows and Reds to Purple or Magenta is more challenging.

For that, I created a New Folder, added a Selective Color layer, pulled the "yellow" slider in Yellows all the way to the right (this is to make yellow as vibrant as possible; duplicate the layer if you want even more vibrancy), then created another Selective Color Layer, went to Reds and pulled the Cyans slider all the way to the left (this enhances the Reds and makes them more vibrant).

Once I had Yellows and Reds as saturated as possible I changed both to be purple. This can be done by using Selective Color or, if you are a beginner, the easiest way would be Hue/Saturation layer. Pick the color you want to change from the drop down list in the layer's menu and move the slider to get the desired result. Play with the saturation and lightness if need be.

As you have probably guessed, doing this would mess up characters' skin badly (even before making the colors purple and definitely after that). That's where Layer Masks come in.

There is a reason why I mentioned creating a New Folder earlier. But fret not if you didn't do that - you can make a Group out of specific layers at any point. For that, select the Layers that you need in your layer panel and Click Ctrl + G. This is how you have a group of layers where you enhanced the colors and then changed them.

I named and color coded my "purple group" to make it easier to get oriented, as this gif already has an inexcusable number of layers.

Now that you have the layers grouped, add an Inverted Layer Mask to hide them. Click on the Layer Mask in your bottom panel, then click properties, then click Invert. The mask will become black. This will hide all the A) Yellow and Red enhancements and B) the changes you've made to those colors to make them Purple. Character skins and other areas of the gif will go back to normal.

Once it's done, pick a Brush tool, make sure to choose the White color and paint over the Inverted Mask on your "Purple Group" in the area that you want to be purple to "reveal" that area.

In my case it was the wood behind Atreus, some bits of his clothing and a little "glow" behind him to fit him into the background.

As you can see, we got purple added to the backgrounds without affecting any other areas of the scene.

You have probably noticed that the finished gif above has a lot more yellow in it than there is now (especially the accessories on Angrboda's outfit, her earnings and Atreus's armor). Then there is snow behind Angrboda that has more cyan in the finished version too. After all the enhancements we still do not have that in the screenshot above.

So how do we get there?

The answer to all of that is: at this stage I created a new Selective Color Layer, put it below the PSD coloring which is demonstrated in the gif above (the one I recommended to stop at if you're not up for playing with colors), went to Whites and pulled the yellow slider to the right. This added yellows to Atreus and Angrboda's clothes and some "glowing" touches to Fen's fur. I added a Layer Mask like before, except this time I did not invert it but took a Black brush and erased the areas where I did not want whites to be Yellow. Such as the snow.

Then I added another Selective Color layer, went to Whites again and pulled the Cyans slider to the right to add some cyan into the snow. Experiment with the Brush settings to find the right opacity, flow and hardness.

Before adding color to Whites:

After:

I didn't really like the lemon shade of the yellows that I got as the result of adding them to Whites. Hence why I created another Selective Color layer, went to Yellows tab (not Whites anymore - those have already been transformed into yellows and cyans and you no longer need that tab) and pulled the cyans slider to the left and the magenta slider to the right to add some red/orange into Yellow.

I also enhanced the Purples by adding saturation to them (Selective Color, Magentas tab, play with the settings to see which would work best).

Then I created a new empty layer and added some light brush strokes (30 percents flow - I use the flow setting instead of opacity for the Brush but again, this depends on the scene and on the result you strive for) and a "light/glow" textures, setting one of them to "screen" mode and other to "lighten".

And here we have a gif demonstrated above, that can be used as one of the images for a bigger "colorful" composition:

In many cases I use the Blending technique to combine scenes (like in the bigger gif above) but it doesn't always work. In some cases a layout with multiple gifs looks much better (like the other big gif in the set linked above).

If you're looking for tutorials on how to blend scenes, I once again recommend checking this blog and their navigation page. It features a worth of educational content, including some of the best and most comprehensible Blending tutorials.

Hope you have a good time and hit me up if there is anything else you want to ask :)

[defaultsalsamusic]

i'm in the process of preparing and starting a new neighborhood based on the sims 1's old town and wanted to share and record my progress! i need to give a shoutout to @tvickiesims' old town sims recreated which i am using as the basis of this file! in addition, the neighborhood itself was created by @kalisasims and cleaned by sunraidersims.

anyways! i first started with the hick family which i actually did a lot of major changes to. the main thing is that i've started to merge the lore with the broke family of sims 3 in hopes to eventually be a part of the pleasantview broke family.

i've never played the sims 3, but i was slightly inspired by the sims 3 broke family's home with the multiple buildings. i also put each building on a foundation (a pain in the ass, i had to shift the main building one tile because it just wouldn't let me put a foundation there) since there is no way a house like this should be at ground-level. the new shack is not very substantial but i figure i'll add to it as the family gets more money. i also replaced the interior bathroom with an outhouse (a sims 1 recreation by @crispsandkerosene) and a dorm shower which makes a huge mess so idk if i'll keep it that way. but! makes more room in the house.

(also ngl i moved to another lot a little further from the main strip of old town because it didn't fit the business district aesthetic i want for that area...... i'm sorryyyyy)

ANYWAYS to now introduce the cast:

first we have elden hick from the original family. i changed his look a bit and aged him down to a teen but he is still CC-free. i made him a pleasure sim and changed his personality and interests to match his sims 1 (usa) version. he is 0 neat/5 outgoing/7 active/8 playful/5 nice.

elden is a bit of a rebellious teen who is head over heels with his girlfriend, flo. he is not very ambitious, which is a pain point between him and his mother.

also seen here is leroy the rottweiler. i'm not a fan with the default sims 2 dog breeds so i replaced the original leroy with a male rottweiler designed by PharoahHound. leroy's personality is between doofus and genius/hyper/independent/aggressive/pigpen and is the youngest of the family's three dogs.

back to the human sims, next we have mama hick and (a character who was not in the sims 1) baby named skip broke. :) mama is a elden's mother is an adult popularity sim in about the middle of her life stage. mama used to be a celebrity in sim city, but has since fallen from fame after losing her fortune (and having her son ngl). mama's interests and personality are based on her north american sims 1 personality which is neat 2/outgoing 4/active 2/playful 7/nice 7.

the mother of skip and elden's girlfriend is none other than flo broke! flo is basically a female dustin broke with dyed red hair (genetically blonde). like elden, she prefers a bit of a punk style. she is a family sim and has a personality of 5 nice/6 outgoing/4 active/3 playful/6 nice. she loves both elden and skip, but her relationship with mama is difficult. mama blames flo for being a bad influence on her son. still, mama let flo live on her property once she got kicked out.

another of the three dogs is bobo the male australian shepherd, who is the oldest of the three dogs. like all the dogs here, the previous bobo was replaced with a new one (this one was made by DemittiNix with minor color edits). bobo's personality is doofus/lazy/independent/aggressive/in between pigpen and finicky.

finally, the last and middle dog is duke, the male german shepherd! duke is edited from Fifar and probably the most edits i've done on any sim in this family. tbh i am pretty proud of it, though fifar did do most of the work! duke's personality is doofus/lazy/in between independent and friendly/aggressive/finicky. pretty much all the dogs here are aggressive and independent so they are definitely a challenge!

the house i feel has a lot to be desired but in general i'm really looking forward to actually playing this family!

[gottacaptcha-em-all]

Say hello to my feral bog child, she is my first ever dnd character 😁 (lv.3)

The crocodile’s main prey in this bog are deer. Juni wears the skull of a stag.

Appearance-

Junebug, or Juni for short, is 14 years old and is no taller than 5ft. She has clammy tanned skin with a slightly green hue and always seems to have condensation on her exposed skin. She has big black eyes that match the color of her hair. Her hair is long and puddles around her when she’s in water. Her teeth are crooked (in a cute way), and her incisors are sharp… almost unnaturally sharp. Her primary weapon is two karambits.

Species - Water Genasi

+1 wisdom

+2 constitution

Acid resistance

Dark vision

Amphibious

Swim = to Walking speed (30ft)

Constitution based spell casting (or wisdom??? (Acid Splash cantrip, shape water cantrip, create or destroy water) 5ewiki and dnd beyond say conflicting things.

Class- Barbarian (path of the wild beast)

When in rage, the bestial power within Juni is revealed. Until the rage ends she takes on the attributes of a crocodile.

Build for Hermit/Outlander Barb-

Learned

Diagnose an Illness, or determine what killed the recently slain (Medicine) Recall lore about gods, religious rituals, and holy symbols.(religion)

Proficiency in Herbalism Kit.

Innate

Notice something that’s easy to miss (perception)

can follow tracks, forage, find a trail, or avoid natural hazards. (Survival)

Custom/Edited Equipment-

Background items

a hunting trap, a trophy from an animal you killed, a herbalism kit, cooking utensils, and a pouch containing 5gp (gold pieces)

Class items

A karambit, another karambit if the dm allows, a rapier, and an explorer’s pack.

*the dm said yes!*

🆒 - Boots of false tracks, Fishing tackle

Eventual Feat- Fighting initiative so that she can pick duel weapon fighting style, then gift of the chromatic dragon 4 acid damage

Questions For The DM:

1. Can we make it a rule that I can only enter barbarian rage after I am hit first. Or that I enter rage when I am dealt a certain amount of damage? Like after I lose a quarter of my health or something? I think that would be fun and add a bit more of a challenge to my combat style bc I would have to rely on my base stats until I could get rage bonuses. Which one of those do you find more interesting 😁?

2. Cån my constitution make it so my character has a really high alcohol tolerance because that would be hilarious if a 14yro could out drink an adult man w/lower constitution.

3. What if Junebug was introduced to the party(specifically the paladin or any lawful adventurers) by fighting them./ they can confuse me with the monster in the swamp terrorizing the town (or like a thief). But like there are things pointing to me not actually being the monster. I think that would be such a cool introduction bc it would impact our character dynamic/relationships but it’s probably something up to the dm

Lore/character details-

1. She was born a human but mutated into a water genasi due to prolonged exposure to the bog.

2. She makes tasty meals as treats for herself after a good hunt/forage and spices up her medicine and remedies. Small comforts y’know. cooking is she picked up out of necessity but became something she enjoys.

3. Juni fights like an animal. She acts like one too, she basically has zero social skills.

4. Juni has spent her entire life in the wilderness of the bog. It has taught her patience and it has taught her to listen, she hears and see things most aren’t still enough to notice. (Perception)

5. More feral than most Juni has learned to rely on her senses, she can expertly navigate the wilderness. (Survival)

6. One of Juni’s parents is a lycanthrope, and she’s inherited some of their curse. (This origin is cool bc it adds some religious flavor to why she was abandoned in a bog, Juni’s animal characteristics could’ve exposed her father’s lycanthropy to the rest of a very religious town, ruining his reputation.)

7. When she’s older she is going to become a priest.

8. Can preform impromptu but more than slightly unorthodox autopsies (medicine is wisdom based not intelligence based 😌😊)

Stats, Weapons, & Damage-

Can lift 128 at current age. 255 as adult

Can drag 255 at current age. 510 as adult

48 Hit Points

Primary

She primarily Duel wields karambits that she made out of crocodile claws.

(2d4 + 2d4)+ 4= 20

*bonus action* (2d4+2d4)= 16

20+16=36 Damage Point Max from Karambits +2 when in rage.

Secondary weapon

Is Rapier that she stole off of dumb noble who ventured into the bog and underestimated its danger. This is her shiniest possession. She doesn’t really find it practical to hunt with, so she mostly uses it to spear fish and roast small things over fires (would use it to toast marshmallows.)

(1d8 +4)= 12+ 2 = 16 when in rage

Natural weapons

1. Claws: 2d6 +4(2) +2 =22 Alt. 1d6 +4 + 2= 12

2. Bite: 1d8 +4 +2=14 If at half hit points when used, you gain health equal to your proficiency bonus.

3. Tail: You grow a lashing, spiny tail, which deals 1d8 piercing damage on a hit and has the reach property. If a creature you can see within 10 feet of you hits you with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to swipe your tail and roll a d8, applying a bonus to your AC equal to the number rolled, potentially causing the attack to miss you.

[cigarettesandinevitablebetrayal]

4, 5, and 17 for end of the year fic ask?

4) A fic you wrote this year that was most fun to write?

Probably Ricardo's chapter of Stand Tall to the Beast. I'd been wanting to rewrite the villain debut for Rashad for a while just because I see it happening so differently from how Ryden wrote it and being able to play around in the empty space of a villain named Heartbreak was a lot of fun.

I used to be really bad at writing action, so this chapter in particular was a fun challenge, especially given all Rashad's restrictions (can't rely on telepathy or their old style of fighting due to their HBI injuries). It took me ages, but I had fun the whole time.

5) Weirdest fic you wrote this year?

Probably Unorthodox Strategy for OC Kiss Week. I was running a bit low on ideas and was rifling through my Sidesteps and my friends' Sidesteps and trying to match up a pair that seemed like they'd fit when I decided on @nebuluxx's Damian. Damian and Miro are just a fun pairing given that they're a gay man and a butch lesbian, but they're both kind of dirty fighters so the sparring scene just came together nicely.

17) Two favourite lines/paragraphs/scenes from this year's fics?

The camera flashes have stopped. Figures. It's no longer looking good for him, and nobody actually likes having the footage of a Ranger's murder. He failed. Again. Failed Anathema, failed Herald, and now he'd be failing Rashad again. Ricardo drags in a ragged breath, electrical currents building up in his emitters, and he screams out into the dark as he lets the electricity loose. It explodes out around him in cascades of light. A useless rage against the inevitable. As the streaks of lightning subside, Heartbreak's helmet creeps back into his sight. He stares up at them, snarling through the pain, "You'd better do your worst, pendejo, because I'm never going to stop hunting you down." But Heartbreak doesn't move, like Ricardo expects. They stare down at him with their impassive mask, unreadable to him. "Did you hear me?" He yells again. Let them get angry. What's the worst they could do? He doesn't care anymore. "Finish the job!"

From Beast. I actually wasn't planning this interaction at all. This wasn't the intended ending of the chapter. Ricardo was originally going to just accept the defeat, but it wasn't sitting right with me. I'm not sure where this interaction came from. I just sort of let the character speak through the writing and came out with a significantly more impactful and in character response, in my opinion.

And two paragraphs from Riches and Wonders:

It’s funny how many little things Mortum hadn’t noticed he was missing until Mariana waltzed into his life, filling his lab with sound and light and color that had, unbeknownst to him, long since seeped out between the cracks in the concrete floors. The silence had made it easy to keep focused and now he finds it grates on his nerves, feeling like so much dead air without Mariana’s conversation or soft humming. The endless monochrome of greys feel drab without the pop of Mariana’s merlot dress or cobalt pantsuit. Could he ever really go back to just the smell of detergent after having the lingering scent of her perfume on his lab coat?

I really loved this paragraph (and the original, which was a touch longer before editing down) and how it highlights the differences Marianna has brought to Mortum's life. I like the symbolism used here a lot and the imagery it evokes.

Mariana snorts at that, a most undignified sound from her, but it makes him smile. It’s been a joy to watch her facade drop bit by bit as the time passes. He finds himself doing the same with his own mask, hanging it up beside hers like a coat by the door.

Another really nice indication of the affect Mortum and Marianna have on each other. It also ended up giving my the inspiration for Mateo and Mortum's ship name.

Find More Year End Fic Questions Here!

[satoshi-mochida]

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves launches April 24, 2025 - Gematsu

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam on April 24, 2025, developer SNK announced.

A “Secial Edition” will also be available, which includes the base game and Season Pass 1 for $59.99 / €59.99.

Users who pre-order the game will receive a Terry Bogard costume based on his classic Fatal Fury appearance, as well as three days of early access starting April 21, 2025.

Get the latest details below.

South Town’s Finest Unite

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves brings together a diverse roster of familiar faces and new blood, with 17 playable characters at launch. Iconic fighters like Terry Bogard and Rock Howard return to the scene alongside debuting challengers, like the science prodigy Preecha and street assassin Vox Reaper. An additional five downloadable content fighters will be added in Season Pass 1.

SNK revealed the latest fighter, Mai Sharinui (voiced by Rebecca Rose in English, Ami Koshimizu in Japanese), the globally renowned ninja now sporting a new look. Mai is the successor to Shiranui-style ninjutsu. Following an important tip-off from dutiful monk Sokaku Mochizuki, this modern-day kunoichi proceeds to South Town with purpose—her intense flame and ever-refined techniques lighting up the darkness therein.

Game Features and Modes

City of the Wolves blends innovative new mechanics with familiar features for a captivating and rewarding experience for both newcomers and veteran players alike.

REV System + Returning Systems – Unleash the all-new REV System, offering powerful offensive moves like REV Arts and REV Blows, pushing the excitement to the max until the REV Meter overheats. Classic systems like Combination Attacks, Just Defense, and S.P.G. return, reimagined for today’s battles.

Controls for Veterans and Newcomers – Arcade Style offers precision and technique, while Smart Style allows for easy, flashy combos with simple inputs. Both newcomers and seasoned pros can feel powerful with their control scheme of choice.

A Story of Fates Intertwined – Embark deep into South Town in Arcade Mode, where fighters clash over the legacy of Geese Howard. Driven by powerful emotions and past rivalries, they race to a long-awaited showdown. Dive toward the future and uncover the truth of the epic saga in South Town’s narrative climax!

Episodes of South Town RPG Adventure – Introducing “Episodes of South Town” (EOST)—a solo RPG where challengers battle foes under unique conditions, earning XP and building skills along the way. Level up and chase the crown in South Town to forge a legend unlike any other.

Rollback, Cross-Platform, and More Online Features – Experience Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves with integrated rollback netcode and cross-platform functionality, offering flawless matches with players across any system. Choose from Ranked, Casual, and Room Matches, and watch as AI technology crafts clones from player’s styles to challenge others or even themselves!

Customization With No Bounds – Adjust the appearance of any fighter by way of outfit and gear colors, as well as distinct patterns—which are all unlocked in Episodes of South Town—and more! Players can also jam out to a vast catalog of iconic tracks across the FATAL FURY series, including additional music from another South Town classic, The Art of Fighting. Create personalized playlists to customize the background music for specific modes and rev up to the music!

Watch a new trailer below.

Release Date Trailer

English

Japanese

Mai Shiranui Trailer

English

Japanese

[jcmarchi]

30+ Essential Wedding Stationery Templates for Photoshop – Speckyboy

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/30-essential-wedding-stationery-templates-for-photoshop-speckyboy/

30+ Essential Wedding Stationery Templates for Photoshop – Speckyboy

Weddings are joyous occasions that create fond memories. It’s one reason why we love to hang on to keepsakes from the day. Each memento is a reminder of good times.

Perhaps there’s no better keepsake than wedding stationery. The feel of the paper, the elegant fonts, and the carefully selected color scheme tell a story. It’s no wonder we put so much effort into making them perfect.

These projects can be time-consuming for graphic designers. But don’t worry – we can help you get off to a fast start.

Below is a curated collection of wedding stationery templates for Adobe Photoshop. They cover a variety of styles – you’re sure to find one that matches your needs. Plus, they’re easy to edit and customize to your heart’s content.

Find your favorite template, and you’ll have everything you need to create a precious keepsake in no time!

Wedding Stationery Collections for Photoshop

Are you looking for a perfectly coordinated set of wedding stationery templates? The following collections have you covered with templates for save-the-date cards, invitations, RSVPs, menus, thank-you notes, and more. These professionally-designed templates will help you every step of the way.

Wedding Invitation Photoshop Templates

Invite friends and family in style with these beautiful wedding invitation templates. You’ll find everything from classic to modern looks here. Some packages come with extras, such as alternate styles and additional types of stationery.

Save the Date Card Templates for Photoshop

These save-the-date card templates are the perfect way to share happy news! Included are ready-to-mail postcards and standalone options. You’ll even find templates that use custom shapes. There’s something for every taste. Use your favorite to build anticipation for the big day.

Wedding RSVP Card Photoshop Templates

Dress up your RSVP cards with these stunning templates. There are great options whether you prefer to send a postcard or a traditional card in an envelope. Customize them to the happy couple’s specifications and start creating memories.

Wedding Thank You Card Photoshop Templates

These templates provide an elegant way to say “thanks” to guests. Type a message or, even better, handwrite something personal. It’s something loved ones will cherish for years to come. And it’s another way to mark a special event.

Wedding Photo Album Templates for Photoshop

A photo album is the perfect way to look back in time. Each of these Photoshop templates can be customized with your photography and text. Have an album professionally printed, and it can be passed on to each generation.

Create Beautiful Wedding Stationery

Establishing the perfect look for your wedding stationery project can be a challenge. There are so many types of documents and endless possibilities. Luckily, the Photoshop templates in this collection make your job much easier.

Find the options that interest you and start experimenting. Here’s hoping you create something that captures the magic of the day!

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