#he drew the short stick he got the bad end of the deal etc

[the-ghost-king]

actually no we don't talk about nico who likes pirates enough. we don't talk enough about how he probably has a favorite pirate. we don't talk enough about how he probably has a favorite ship. we don't talk enough about how he probably has a favorite shipwreck too. we don't talk enough about how he probably spent all day on the canals with the gondole, asking the gondoliers all sorts of questions about their boats until his mother had to pull him away. how many hours did he spend on the port of venice just watching the boats come in and leave? just.... how far does the love of pirates go? is it a love of boats too? like we know he loves (I refuse to believe it's past tense) pirates, but we don't even know if he knows how to swim, or if he likes being on cruises, or at the beach or what. it's sad.

[multi-level-shipper]

Drop all the Shawn headcanons you have, now

His dad was insanely tall (and a redhead, of course). Mom was short and a brunette.

He was raised by his single mother, who was a bit of a hardass but also a scarily accurate depiction of the phrase "mama bear."

Had a boyfriend back home when he was a young teen, but they eventually lost touch.

Because of his height, he was never that hard to pick out in a crowd. Wasn't that bad looking either, so he got a lot of female attention. Definitely soaked it up (and caused some trouble,) but didn't treat anything too seriously, and wasn't about to bring any girls home yuck

Actually really enjoys doing landscape paintings, not so much character art.

Was pretty well-liked by his peers, very animated and expressive, and generally brought up the mood of the room. Anyone who didn't like him usually didn't want to pick a fight with him.

Had a slight temper, but on the flipside it was hard to get a rise out of him

Joey took him on for both his attitude and talent (unknowingly taking on someone who would tell him exactly where to stick it.)

"Top o' the mornin'!" was Shawn's daily greeting, and if ever absent (which was very rare), the whole factory floor shouted it in his place.

Definitely talked to himself a bit while he worked.

Came to the conclusion that the offerings, etc. were just some kind of half-baked team building effort (and completely shared in the general consensus that Mr. Drew had officially gone off his rocker.)

Heavenly Toys became an area Wally had to frequent after Thomas's departure, mostly in order to avoid the toy machine combusting. Guess who was also there

Shawn and Wally were never the most quiet of JDS staff, so naturally they roped each other into some friendly conversation, and they never really stopped talking to each other.

They formed a standard "bromance" and somewhere along the line the "b" became silent lmao

Norman caught wind of this, ended up bringing it up to Shawn, reassuring him that he wouldn't say anything since he had no interest in stirring the pot (and didn't see it as a big deal), but also gave him the "If you ever hurt Wally I know 20-70 fun facts about you" speech

Shawn left JDS not long after Wally.

The day after Shawn left, all offices were boarded up.

Shawn was the last survivor of JDS, the others being Wally, Allison, and Thomas.

[joonsmagicstudio]

➢ One Five-Zero (m) : PJM

⇁ synopsis: You make a deal with a devil for a wild time in the middle of classes.

or 

the time when you were bored in the class and drew 150 pentagrams exactly in your notebook before a devilishly handsome man in a red suit breaks down the door of your class room and yells “wHAT the fUCK do you wANT?”

⇁ female reader x jimin

⇁ smut, jimin devil!au

⇁ general smut ig? oral sex (both lmao), slight derogatory language, creampie, unsafe sex (pls get a condom or some contraceptive before you do it kiddos), blowjob etc the list goes on.

⇁ lol a short PWP( 3.8k) . I saw a post somewhere on insta and wanted to write it at 1 am. Pls if you find that post because it gave me a reason to right, lemme know! I lost it sadly,

⇁ A/N: I had actually been busy writing 5 long ass story for my own joy but suddenly a small idea came to my mind after seeing a post and I really wanted to post it for y’all to enjoy. Hope you like it. PS: English is not my first language and this hasn’t been edited. I will edit it soon, but please do let me know if there is any mistakes! Also I am having issues with keep reading, let me know if you are facing some issues with it too! I don’t want to annoy some people by making them have to scroll through the entire fic. Also this is like my first fix, forgive me.

You sat in the back of the lecture hall as usual with your hoodie pulled over and your face resting in your left palm as you couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the American History your professor was droning on about. You had a lot of regrets, one of them was choosing history but then it was your fault anyways and no one but you was to blame. 

As the professor went on, you had zoned out and doodled lethargically in your notebook with a dull red pencil that you found somewhere on the in the hallway that you pulled out to at least look like your were taking some notes in case the professor decided to look at you. However, the chances of the professor looking at you in far back of the hall were infinitesimally small since the good students that were actually engaging with the lecture content and asking questions were in the front row. You had an absolutely great respect for people like them, it was because of these people you were able to skimp out on paying attention and keeping a low radar in the classroom.

Out of all the doodles, you had taken a keen liking drawing circles and then a star in it to complete a pentagram. It was easy, no effort and quick for you to keep mindlessly doing it until the classroom ended sometimes you would shade in boxes on your notebook if it was a block paper, unfortunately it was the good ol’ lined paper, hence the pentagram. You had finished up a total of one hundred and 50 small pentagram in your notebook with that red pencil when a rather loud cracking of the door was heard, effectively pulling all of the class attention, including you, on the the door that had flown off the hinges and landed across the class room, at the windows in just splinters and large pieces of wood chunk.

However, your attention was on the devilishly handsome man in velvety crimson suit, unfortunately his beautiful face was contorted in an expression of pure anger and frustration, his fist seemed to be clenching and his eyes were dead set on you in a piercing glare, who dares to upset and making his screw up his handsome face? However your thoughts were interrupted by him “wHAT the fUCK do you wANT?”, he yelled, his loud voice reverberating your ear like a clap of a thunder and you swear you felt chills down your spine but moreover you were terribly confused. You were just admiring a masterpiece of an artwork.

You had no idea who he was other than the fact that he was extremely handsome, his hair felt like the kind you could run your hands through, his lips were plushy and kissable. But still you had no idea what you had done to constitute a rather handsome man to be yelling at you in the middle of the classroom after breaking a door with a kick. Was he that powerful?

The classroom had followed his line of vision which lead to you and now everyone had their eyes on you, including the professor, which offended you a little bit. Generally, a professor should get the intruder out but instead it seemed that the professor was invested in the drama that was unfolding right now. You weakly pointed at yourself and mouthed ‘me?’ to clarify if it really was you he was yelling at or maybe someone behind you or in front of you? Idiot, your back was to a wall and nobody was at least within few seats in front of you.

The handsome man rolled his eyes aggressively and ran his hand through his hair as he let out a sigh of frustration. Then he took large and quick strides to stand in front of you, now you were getting a strong aura from him, up close he was intimidating and there a sparkle of something unusual in his eyes. Maybe it was because he standing and you were seated and that he was actually leaning into you. You had shifted backwards until you were close to falling off the chair. Also, if you must add, he had a really nice smell of cologne coming from him and you couldn’t help but enjoy the cologne a little but until the man in front of you slammed his hand of you desk and seethed, “You. Me. Copier room now.” and with that he stormed off, leaving you with your jaw hanging wide open and your eyes blown to the size of the saucer. The professor suddenly cleared his throat and tilted his head to the direction that the man had left, signalling you to take your and go after him.

Embarrassment creeped up the back of your neck as you scrambled to pack everything, including the shitty red pencil you found and speed walked your way out into the hallways. You were utterly confused as to why were the two of you meeting in the copier room for. You would expect the conversation to be held in a cafe or hallway or even in an empty classroom as a matter of fact. You distractedly made your way to the entrance of the copier room which it was closed. You stood there, readjusting your bag strap on one shoulder and to give yourself a moment to prepare yourself to facing him again. Unfortunately, that was cut shot when the door swung open wildly and the man in front of you grabbed your wrist to pull you inside and slamming the door shut behind you. Now you were sandwiched between him, the door behind you and caged between his arms.

A small click was hear and you glanced to the source of the sound, he had locked the door from the inside- what, was that even possible? Locking a door from inside, it would make more sense to lock it from outside. Your train of thoughts were again interrupted when the man in front of you took a step back, standing directly underneath white light that hung from the ceiling. He truly was breathtaking, the red suit complimented his fair skin and his dark brown hair made him look irresistible. 

“Listen up, Y/N right?” he spoke, looking at you with his one eyebrow raised up to clarify if he had got the right person. You nodded immediately and he proceeded to talk, “You-you little-annoying piece of shit summoned me 150 times. What the fuck do you want?”

“Uhm, who are you? I’m positive that I never called you.” You spoked softly, genuinely unsure of what on earth was going on for you to receive swear words from this man’s mouth, not that it was bad at all, in fact it was fucking hot to hear that.

“Damn woman. I’m Park Jimin, the devil you were summoning with your fucking 150 pentagrams. You know just a few would have been fine, but nah you decided to go for a full fucking 150 pentagrams. Do you have any idea how annoying it is?”  The man, now Jimin scoffed, blinking several times to grasp the foolishness of this situation. Not only he had come after being called 150 times, the person who called him had no clue either.

“oh-OH.”, the realization dawned upon you when you remembered that you had indeed drawn many pentagrams in your notebook, but you didn’t actually know it was 150 times you had doodled it and you definitely had absolutely no fucking idea that it would summon an actual devil. It’s kinda nice that the devil was an eye candy though, “Right, uh sorry. Um you could go back I guess? I won’t do it anymore. Sorry for the trouble Jimin.” You mumbled apologetically, sticking out a hand for a handshake and thinking that it would magically resolve how irritating you were according to Jimin.

Jimin stared at your handshake in disbelief, most people would jump at the opportunity to get something granted or scream in fear and run away. Instead, you just stuck out a hand for a handshake and told him to go back. Instead of shaking your hand, he scrunched his eyebrows tightly and pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering what he should do with you now that you had called him 150 times for no reason. He didn’t want to go back for nothing, at least something should be done. Then he opened his eyes, and this time you swear your saw lust in his eyes.

Jimin realized that if you weren’t scared and had nothing to ask for, he could at least ask you for a favour, “Hmm, kitten how long has it been since you had your release?” he purred softly, the side of his lip slowly stretching into a smirk as he dropped the tension from his shoulder and tilted his head slightly while keeping his eyes trained on you.

You knew how this was going to play out, you gulped slightly and thoughts were whirling around in your mind. You honestly were actually considering what he was insinuating and after all it had been a while since you got some action.

“It’s been 6 months.” You replied honestly, and Jimin chuckled at the response, “That’s too long kitten, aren’t you craving for some now?”

Jimin took a step closer to you, hungrily eyeing up your body before he closes the space between the two of you. He then brings one hand to cup your face and bring it closer to his lips, the other hand snakes around your waist and pulls you closer so that his crotch was pressing tightly against you. His lips against yours were opening up the primal desires you had deep within in you and almost instantly you brought your hands around the back of his neck to play with his hair and pull him deeper into the kiss, giving into his his kiss because you honestly needed some action. Jimin grunted at your pull and pull back a little to see your face, he saw you with your eyes half-lidded and a small smile gracing your lips, with that he swooped down to capture you lips in another heated kiss. This time his hands both of his hand had move to the bottom of your shirt and tugged it upwards so that you could move back and stick you arms up while he rid of that article from your upper body.

Upon discarding your shirt, he was in awe of your breast that was still covered by your bra and he went to knead is softly over the bra, stimulating a small sight of relief from your mouth. Hearing the small sigh, he couldn’t help but get turned on slightly and that went unnoticed by you. You brought on of you hand to cup his hard on knead it gently to help him, the tent beneath his crimson pant got noticeably harder and in no time you had gotten on your knees to unbuckle his pant. You removed the belt and guided his waist backward, slightly to the left so that he could lean on the printing machine supports. You nimble fingers unbuttoned his pant, pulled the zipper down before reaching to the sides to pull down his pant completely to reveal the black boxer that had been stained slightly in a darker colour from the wetness of the pre-cum. Before you could do anything, Jimin put a hand on your shoulder, causing you to look up.

“Remove your bra sweetheart.” He played around with the strap, waiting for you to slip of the strap and unclasp it from your chest, allowing your nipple to be exposed and harden in the cool air of the copier room. Jimin gulped at the sight and then pushed your head slightly towards his crotch to get you continuing. AT first you stroked it through his black boxer before Jimin grunted, urging you to take it out. You obeyed easily and pulled down his boxer, letting it pool around his ankle, where his pants had fallen previously. His hard on finally was revealed and its length stood out impressively against his abdomen. Without further hesitation you licked a long stripe from his balls all the way to the tip. You cautiously looked up to see how would Jimin react, he had his head tipped backward, clearly he was enjoying it. You took his length in your hand, giving it a few strokes before engulfing the head of his length in your mouth. You swirled your tongue around his head, earning a small groan from his throat and then pushed in deeper.

Jimin was deep in your mouth, enjoying the warm wetness that brought pleasure in his abdomen. He could feel that he was halfway close to a release however he didn’t want it to be in your mouth. He had other plans to deal with you. Gripping roughly on your hair, he pulled you away from his and a thin trail of saliva stretched out from his head of his length to your mouth. That sight alone would have made him nut right then and there. He tilted you head upward to see your face, a rosy blush was present on your cheeks and you looked awfully fuckable. He let go of you hair and gently brought you up by holding your chin and pulling you up.

“Why? Don’t you want me to finish it off for you?” You asked, licking your lips to moisten it up. Jimin replied, trailing off slightly as he watched you lick your lips, “No… let me prepare you kitten.”

He leaned into the crook of your neck, peppering it with soft kissed before biting to create hickeys while he twirled you around so that your back was facing the copier instead of him.You gave in under his ministration and ran up your hands in the back of neck. Jimin slotted himself between your leg and pulled away to lift you onto the printer. He unbuckled your pants and roughly pulled them down and tossed it to the floor. He was thankful that you were wearing a simple slip on van that was easy to remove. Now you were nearly undressed except for the underwear that seemed to have been soaked slightly.

Seeing that Jimin was more dressed that you were, you whined lightly, “Jimin, you have your blazer and shirt on. Can’t you at least remove that for me?” You toyed lightly at the buttons of his black button up shirt. His hand coming up to hold your and and pull it away, “Kitten, are you that desperate hmm?” 

First he took of his crimson blazer and then unbutton his shirt rapidly, yanking the shirt of his upper body before tossing it somewhere in the copier room. Now you could admire how well built his body was. He indeed has abs and striking black nevermind tattoo on his ribcage, you couldn’t help but lightly glide your fingers along the words. Jimin chuckled softly at your admiration of his body, he pressed his fingers at the wet underwear of yours, causing you to shudder.

“Seems like you got wet at just sucking me off and admiring my body. Aren’t a little bit of a slut?” he continued to pressed it before deeming it wet enough to yank it down your legs to let it join the floor, his once soft words were turning filthy now and that had you yearning for mow. He now had a full view of your wet mound, he dragged to fingers across the slit before pressing softly on your clit causing you to feel pleasure to begin in your abdomen. However, it wasn’t enough to satiate you, “Jimin?”

“Yes?” He he whispered, looking up to meet your eyes, “what is it, kitten?”

“Could you just fuck me already?” You asked in you sweetest voice, however Jimin did not reel to it. Instead he slipped his finger into your wetness, enjoying the hot tightness of it as you felt it enter and stretch you a little. He pulled it out, admiring how your wet juice had coated his digit completely. Then he added the second digit, stretching you out again and feeling you twitch around his finger. His erection was growing much harder and painful for him to ignore. He was going to have to put it inside you real soon. After a few pumps he added the third digit and had his thumb circling your clit.

“Jimin-ngh please.” You bit your bottom lip hard when he started circling around your clit, the pleasure wave coming undeniably close. Jimin seemed to sense that you were close by your twitching around his digit, so he pulled it out, licking his digit clean off your juice. You couldn’t help but whimper at the empty feeling but that was quickly recovered by his mouth on you. Now he had you moaning out softly under his control. His tongue licking long stripe across your wetness and stopping at the clit to play with it. Occasionally he would push his tongue deep into you as of he was devouring his last meal. That alone brought you to the edge, moaning his name softly under breath as you tried your best to keep your legs open whilst your hand were gripping his hair. Jimin kept slurping and licking, riding out your high for as long as possible. When he came up, you could see a sheen of shiny layer of your juice coating his lip and some on his chin to which he collected with his thumb and rested it against your lip for you to suck it off cleanly.

“Now that your pussy is slick wet, you wouldn’t mind if I pounded it hard right slut?” Jimin cooed as he slipped his length with more stretch than you could handle, not allowing you to say anything as the words died in your throat due to the sensation of the stretch and him filling you up nicely.

“Fuck, look at that body of yours.” Jimin complimented you as your hard arched your back, your elbows pressing hard into the copier for some support. When he noticed that, a small idea came to his mind.

“Slut, I’m going to need to get off for a moment. Could you do that?” He smirked at you and your mind was too clouded with lust and desire to wonder what next he had up in his sleeve. All you needed was him to dick you to hell and back. Without much hesitation, you scooted off the copier with the help of Jimin holding onto your waist and then he reached out behind you lift up the scanning lid of the copier. The machine gruntled to life as the white shot shone out from the scanning glass. Jimin then turns your around and forced you to bend over, your bare breast pressing against the cool glass of the copier. Then it clicked to you what he was planning to do. It unfortunately, turned you very on as Jimin smashed the scan and print button before he rammed into you, hard this time which got you groaning contently with him filling and stretching your every time he pushed in.

The tightness of your slick brought him closer each time he thrusted in, he was now finding hard to keep up the ruthless pace he had. He was slowing down, trying to enjoy each and every thrust into you, “Fuck, look at you taking me in so well darling. I ought to fill you up nicely.” Jimin muttered in your ears to which you could only response with a weak nod.

“Uh uh, that’s not the right response slut. I can’t hear you.” Jimin slowed to an extremely agonizingly slow place to get you to respond to his needs. His panting was heaving, the skin contact between the two of you was getting slightly sticky due to the sweat. You couldn’t look back to see Jimin’s face but you could definitely imagine strands of his hair sticking to his forehead from sweat.

“Yes, please fill me up.” You gritted, somehow sounding comprehensible through all the dicking, the pleasure taking over your senses and Jimin heard it well, “Since you said it so sweetly darling.” He cooed, resuming to a slightly faster pace. His hands gripped around your waist tightly that it was starting to leave red imprints, his near was coming close and with a sharp stutter in his pace and pushing deep inside you, he finally cummed. You swear you could feel his cum painting and fill up your walls.

He simply slowed down, coming to a full stop with his dick deep inside you as he pressed both of his hands on the waist, hunching over you body slightly to catch his breath. He had to admit that it was a good fuck he had quite in a long time and looking at your heavy breathing and fucked out state, he was sure you also a good one. He slowly pulled out, watching the cum leak out your wet slick, but before it could spill out, he cupped it gently as if he was trying to contain it whilst he grabbed you underwear with his other hand and slipped it on you, “Keep in inside of you slut. If you don’t I sweat to god I will make you beg.” He whispered in your ears while he pulled up the under wear a little higher to make you yelp at the sensitivity of your clit being pressed by the fabric.

The two of you got dressed up in silence, the copier room definitely smelled strongly of sex and the two of chuckled when you both looked at each other after smelling it a bit. It was the first time you saw Jimin smile naturally and you had to admit that it was a good look on him. As you slipped on the shirt, Jimin went to the copier and picked out a bunch of paper from the tray, you had a pretty good idea of what the scanned documents were but you still were shocked when Jimin took one and flipped it around to show you how your breast on display looked like.

“I’m keeping them as a keepsake.” He winked before folding it and tucking it away in his is pants.

“Sure, take it as an apology for me summoning you 150 times Jimin.” You teased lightly, picking up your school bag and swinging it over your shoulder.

“Jesus, don’t remind me of that. Quit summoning me 100 times, just a few times will be enough whenever you need another release because darling, I am sure I do it better than anyone else you’ve had.” He leaned in and gave you a small peck before opening the door to leave. You were stunned at the fact that you were permitted to summon him anytime you desired, you wanted to ask him if there was any other ways to contact other than pentagram doodlings but by the time you ran out into the hallways to catch him, he seemed to have disappeared into the thin air. 

Looks like you’ll have to doodle pentagrams to get him to come.

[neildylandy]

✨🎥💕🏳‍🌈💢 also 📌 for the fuck of it LMAO

i was gonna put this under a readmore but i refuse now. endure my gundam 00 infodumping

✨ what draws you towards your hyperfixation? what is interesting about it?

i said a lot when i was just starting to watch gundam 00 with you that it really gave off a lot of similar vibes to metal gear solid, and while they’ve since become Very Distinct Entities in my mind i do think that was what initially drew me to it. 

gundam 00, like mgs, involves characters i’m very fond of that are forced to deal with the horrible intricacies of geopolitical warfare in their constant effort to Make Things Right In The World. and the specific reasons each of the gundam meisters wants to do that, the ways they go about it, the flaws that manifest and magnify as they’re put under such an unimaginable strain, the bonds they forge from being united in their goals and their trauma...i love that shit. can’t get enough of those guys. the gundam meisters live in my head rent-free and i signed the lease

so i guess, in short: the characters!

🎥 do you have any favorite scenes from your hyperfixation?

i have SO MANY but i think if i’m gonna force myself to pick One it’s gonna be the confrontation between setsuna and lockon in s1e19

honorable mention to s2e8 (of course) and also literally any time hallelujah is on screen

💕 tell us about one of your favorite characters and why you like them!

i’m gonna break my tradition of gushing about the gundam meisters and talk about graham aker. graham aker is legally an antagonist in that he is a mobile suit pilot for a geopolitical supergroup that wants to destroy the protagonists, but he acts more as a foil for setsuna than a villain, and ohh my god i love him for it

the man is a pokemon rival in a giant robot war anime. he goes around saying shit like “it must be the red string of fate that brought me here to you” and “as a sentimental virgo...” and “TIME FOR A LOVER’S EMBRACE, GUNDAM” and then he uses the Special Pilot Maneuver that he Named After Himself and then kicks your ASS with it because he can actually back all that shit up because he’s just genuinely super talented

he and setsuna are easily the most stubborn, determined people in the whole show which makes them ABSOLUTELY PERFECT RIVALS. it’s a joy to see him on screen and it’s ESPECIALLY a joy to see him and setsuna on screen together because this guy will just start spouting off the most poetic bullshit unprompted in the middle of a battle. he owns a katana collection. i love him dearly

🏳‍🌈 do you have any headcanons (lgbt, race, neuro, etc) that are important to you?

all of the gundam meisters are trans but lockon stratos is especially trans

like i have to say that one a second time, even. Lockon Stratos Is Trans

💢 what do you NOT like about your hyperfixation? is there something you would want to change about it?

allelujah and definitely hallelujah are both just criminally underwritten, especially in s2. lockon in s2 is almost as bad. and that absolutely sucks but also it does just give me an opportunity to write them Better so there’s that

season 2 in general becomes way more of a Fighting Robot Anime™ than s1 and i think it sacrifices a lot of what i loved about the characters to do that. but again, lockon and allelujah seriously got the short end of the stick there

also a wakening of the trailblazer was just not a good movie despite the extremely fun fansub we watched of it

📌 how did you find your hyperfixation?

[spacegaywritings]

The Wonders of Sleep - You are a Nightmare (4/5)

Summary: Remus is in another chaotic frenzy and refuses to calm down, so Virgil has to step in and convince the Dark Creativity that sleep can be fun too. At least Thomas well get to rest with this.

Tags: Remus things! Talks about murder, death, violence, inflicting pain etc on others/self (your basic favourites in intrusive thoughts), weapons, brutality, Remus, virgil, dukexiety, the duke of nonsense and bullshit, caps, angery remus, moth man/ rat man mentions, sexual innuendo, food, (eating) worms, plants, weird living conditions, disgusting room description, absolute chaos, caring about thomas, mutual care, fluff, domestic fluff, swearwords, lotsa cursing, dismissive nicknames, self harm (mention)

Tumblr : 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 . Ao3: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / all.

  My KoFi  - Support me ♥ or Commission me

Story under the cut: (<2k)

A gargantuan mace hit the ground, sending splitting stones and other pieces of damaged ground flying through the heart of the imagination.

 “KILL HIM, I SAY!”

 Dark Creativity screeched into the air. He ripped the mace out of the ground with great effort and immediately struck the ground with a loud war scream.

His deafening screams and yells filled the vast emptiness of the mindscape. Other than that, the slightly more silent noise of Remus consistently breaking and devastating the rocks and mountains of the desert he was in.

 “Thomas just needs to get a simple baseball bat and SMASH HIS SKULL IN!”

 Remus repeated his motion of shattering the bleeding ground as he hurled his mace out and behind his back for the maximum amount of swinging power science would give him.

 “No more PAY! No more BILLS!”

 He worked the mace down into the ground, his whole body following the movement. His upper body went down with the large weapon and stopped just shy of the unsteady ground, splitting it.

A growl could be heard. It erupted from the depths of the ground could as the dark floor slowly drove itself away from one another in two halves.

 The Duke’s rage had halved the currently imagined world.

He freed his mace and brought it back to his chest. One of his hands brushed over the end of it, the one without stabby spikes! Still a pretty side, to Remus.

A little light bubble, dark pink, grew at said end with a bit of distance to the stick-part itself.

 Remus shook the mace, letting the spikes give way to nothing but a long, black stick. Once the hurty spikes were gone, he YEETED the consistently expanding bubble in front of him and repeated.

 “KILL HIM!”

 The bubble manifested itself in the air, sticking to the invisible laws of the Duke’s whimsy. Slowly, a picture started to fade onto the dark background. Thomas could be seen, holding a bat. It was just as Remus had predicted.

The scene became crystal clear and with a simple snip of his fingers, Thomas moved as if trapped in the gifset of a violent mind. He bashed into his head, again, again, again and again as Remus chanted in moral support.

 “GO! YES! GO! AGAIN! MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE-”

 “Remus.”

 The Imagination shifted at once, the bubbling magma morphing into a small river while the dark ground, the stones and rocks and destruction turned into a field of grass.

While the air remained heavy, the bubble popped and Remus’ stick became nothing but an elegant twig.

 “Why are you up so late?”

 Creativity growled in response and shook his body like a wet dog. His flouncy outfit floated as if in timelapse.

 “Why are you up so late? Stop asking me silly questions. I am creating.”

 Virgil hopped over the small river and turned to look directly at the raging side.

 “You look as if you are pouting”, he stated calmly, much like Logan would, “what got ya stinki mood up, poopy boy?”

 Remus glared back at the smaller side and cleared his throat. He bowed to pick up his twig.

 “My mace.”

 That was definitely a pout. Remus’ lips were pursed into a pout, even his words seemed to pout despite his sentence being so short of them.

The mustache seemed to stretch his face into a long, sad face. Maybe he was actually manipulating his appearance, maybe the facial hair really put an extra emphasis after all.

 “You are the Duke of Creativity. If you want it back, you do that. Now, how about we give this financial discussion a break and fucking chill for a minute.”

 Remus threw the twig away and shook his head, arms crossed in front of his chest.

 “Yeah, you would like that. How about Thomathy here gets it on with a hot dude and I will shut up?”

 Virgil rolled his eyes.

 “We could eat that cockroach Thomathy squished this morning! I will get it from the trash!”

 The Duke started running for time before the other could even react. Anxiety kicked in, shifting the imagination in a way, they found themselves in Remus’ messy bedroom.

A huge vine came out of the closet and ended mid-room before the bed.. or whatever one wanted to call the mess of clothing. There was a glowing blue trail of splatter on the floor. Weapons and.. hair??? were cluttered all over the floor.

Virgil could hear a distant slapping of meat.

The floorboards seemed rather loose and rattled.

 “My room! ROOM ROOM ROOM!”

 Remus drew Virgil close.

 “Emo! Look at my plant! It is really cute! It will love you!”

 Virgil clung to the ever-changing mess of ideas and shook his head.

 “I want to sleep, Remus. Shut up and go to sleep with me. You can wreck havoc and reek tomorrow but Thomas needs to sleep or else he will be shit in the morning.”

 The man in question bounced.

 “If I make Thomathy beat up himself, he will look like shit for sure!!!”

 The emo rolled his eyes and nudged Remus towards the bed. He had not even expected the room to look as bad. Maybe he should have taken this to the living-room or literally any space that had a comfortable ground to lay on. He was a metaphysical being who could not really perceive pain after all - the choice to sleep was really just allowing Thomas to deal with things more calmly, at least in the case of Anxiety. Also, only given that Virgil did not deliberately clock out in order to spare Thomas any effect from his side.

 “Nah, that is work. Work sucks. We wanna sleep forever and eat weird shit, right?”

 Remus grumbled.

At heart, he sort of agreed. Right now, he was driven to do things, to be active and creative or destroy and simply do as much as he could because he had that energy.

 “Nap time, Dukey.”

 Virgil tugged him towards the bed.

 “Oh, Virgil ~ I did not know you were into this kind of thing ~”

 The addressed side blushed but shook his head.

 “In your dreams, fucker.”

 He stepped closer to the unmoving wall of Creativity. Confidently, he let their chests collide, sending Remus backwards.

The wavering Duke gasped in surprise and squeaked insolently.

 “EmO!”, he screeches with a voice that got scratchier and scratchier by the minute. His arms flailed into any direction until he drew them in front of his chest to cross them.

“How can you be cunning and cunt-y?”

 Virgil could hear his brain yell a conditioned “language!” response at him. He literally heard Patton scold Remus in his brain. Judging from the sour look on the other’s face, the anxious trait assumed he could hear it too.

 “Now you know how tiring it can be to hear something in you, that you can’t stop? Pretty fucking shitty, huh? Move, babysitting you is tiring.”

 The reveal of a long, pink tongue was the response but Remus kicked off his boots and patted his clothings until they dissolved into some sort of magical glitter dust. It silently trickled down onto the floor and was blown into all directions of the room.

This place really had a mind of its own. Not that Virgil really minded this.

 “Good Remus”, Virgil praised softly as he joined the other on the bed. They laid down together and Virgil kicked a bundle of weapons and books off the bed, “oops. My bad. I thought it was your pet raccoon.”

 Remus giggled.

 “No! That is you!”

 Virgil shook his head, grinning into his oversized mess of a self-ruined jacket. The Duke looked at him in his own naked glory and patted the space next to him. To join him on the fun, he eyed the stack of his dirty single socks collection and gave it a strong kick.

 “PARTY!”

 “Nooo, nap time. We wanted to be nice to Thomas and fuck shit up tomorrow.”

 Creativity blinked at Virgil. A rare occasion. The blinking and directly looking at someone. He usually just stared into something nobody but him could see. It was chilling and so deeply terrifying, Thomas would feel it in his bones when anyone but Logan or the (former) Others interacted with him.

 “You will join me?”

 Virgil threw his head back as he slowly snuggled up to Remus, filling the spot he had previously patted. A groan escaped his lips and he let his head roll against Remus’ shoulder.

 Instead of answering, he clapped his hands together, summoning a little bowl he thrusted into Remus’ hands.

The bowl was full of little gummy worms which looked surprisingly disgusting with how slimy and wet they appeared to be. They had a certain shine to them and the colour was so unnaturally neon orange, they were glowing in the dim lighting of the Duke’s room.

 “Have a cursed snack and get your creative energy into a fucked up sex dream instead of making Thomas uncomfortable. He’s got some shit to do tomorrow.”

 Silence took over the room.

Virgil caused some rustling sounds as he curled up next to Remus. The room was surprisingly un-stinky compared to what he had expected.

Loud chewing sounds interrupted the momentary silence.

 It was good while it lasted but Virgil was willing to trade his own discomfort for the sake of Thomas’ well-being. He needed his sleep with another tough schedule coming up.

 “Virgil?”

 He hummed in response.

 “Are you anxious because of the new projects they planned?”

 The former dark side curled further into himself, shaking his head stubbornly.

Chewing sounds continued for a bit until Remus took a small break and suddenly snapped his head back and emptied the whole bowl into his mouth. Without even moving his jaw to chew, he swallowed his big ball of cursed sweets and made a lewd lip-smacking sound.

 Virgil opened his mouth to comment on how disgusting the other was but he interrupted him.

 “Come cuddle. It is okay to be scared. I will eat your mean anxiety.”

 He shook his head. The Duke turned to pull Virgil into a hug. The anxious side chuckled.

 “This is not how I work.”

 “Yeah, but it is how I work.”

 “Whatever, Remus. Shut up if you wanna cuddle, you rat man.”

 It was Remus’ turn to chuckle.

 “You just wish I was moth man!”

 Virgil shook his head, smirking into Remus’ neck. He finally allowed himself to close his eyes and hold onto the other.

 It was silent.

For real.

Within minutes, Remus was asleep and Virgil was ever so silently snoring, nobody could hear it.

[inkbloodpaperandbone]

So this is a follow up to this drabble that is also cross posted on my ao3 account here

On the anniversary of the tsunami Buck gets a new tattoo. This time Eddie and Christopher go with him.

It's been three months since Eddie all but jumped Buck in the station's changing room, unable to hold back his feels upon seeing his son's drawing on his now boyfriend's skin.

It's funny but in hindsight not all that suprising how well they've transitioned from best friends to lovers. It's not exactly smooth sailing, no relationships ever are but in a way very little has changed. Only more kissing and umm other stuff.

In the week leading up to the first anniversary no one at work has braved speaking of the upcoming event. It's a date that marks a extremely traumatic time for both men, and Bobby - both the station captain being cautious about any potential risk of having the two at work on such a emotionally charged day and Bobby the friend, wanting to allow them time for themselves to - had given the two men the day off.

Neither had protested.

The city of LA still bore the scars of that fateful day in the streets and sidewalks of the most affected areas. In the buildings still under construction and renovation to repair the damage left by the water and debris. As the date drew closer new memorials for the dead and the missing where remade. But LA and it's people were healing. No matter how slow.

 

They're healing too, this little family of three they've created Eddie thinks on the morning of the anniversary as he watches Christopher cheerily eat rice crispies giggling around each mouthful whilst Buck dramatically throws away the toast Eddie burnt and proceeds to make more. It's a scene he's seen almost everyday now for the past couple of months but it hasn't gotten old yet.

Christopher still had nightmares, although they were becoming fewer and further between. He was still going to therapy and had even begun swimming again. In the shallow end clinging to his dad or Buck but it's progress.

Since learning that Buck had gotten a tattoo of his drawing Christopher has steadily been filling the Diaz household with new tattoo designs. Crayons and markers have been worn down to unusable stubs and there probably isn't a shred of paper that hasn't been doodled on.

Eddie doesn't mind, and has found himself perusing the arts and crafts section of the local superstore, Buck in tow for new supplies.

The news Buck getting a tattoo in reminder of surviving the tsunami (and the subsequent upheaval of the lawsuit, Eddie's fight club drama and the actual work of just dealing with it all) came during the billionth rewatch of Finding Dory with Buck confiding to Eddie in a low voice as not to disturb Christopher who was lodged between them fast asleep on the sofa, that he was thinking of asking Christopher to draw it.

Of course Christopher took to the task with all the enthusiasm a nine year old could muster- which was a lot.

He and Christopher had spent several nights after dinner huddled around the coffee table surrounded by paper and crayons working on it.

The end result wasn't anything elaborate or big - in keeping with the rest of Buck's tattoos.

Buck had also suggested that they made a day of going to the tattoo parlor on the tsunami's anniversary, to replace a bad memory with a good one.

Christopher finishes with his cereal, he rinses out the bowl as Eddie's taught him before hurrying off to get ready for their outing. Both Buck and Eddie where already dressed, Buck looking over the final design fondly as they wait in the lounge.

The design was three small fishes swimming in a wave.

There's been around ten different versions before now, but Christopher has become somewhat of a perfectionist and had deemed each preceding "not right" and thrown away.

Christopher has been telling everyone, friends, family, school teachers, random strangers in the street, everybody, that he's going to be a tattoo artist when he grows up.

Secretly Eddie worries that Chris will be heartbroken if this latest career dream doesn't pan out, although Christopher is likely to change his mind soon enough. He is nine after all and it's less frightening than his kid wanting to be a firefighter or astronaut. The thought of his little boy millions of miles away in outer space - nope not happening, no way.

Christopher's dexterity is good for a child his age with CP, his handwriting is improving and his art - though Eddie is definitely basis - is great for someone his age. Who knows. Maybe.

Christopher emerges from his room a suspiciously full backpack slung over his shoulder. Buck takes it from him and peers inside. When he shows the contents to Eddie, he can't help but laugh. Christopher has crammed a box of crayons, a paper pad, several power rangers and a couple of handfuls of Lego in side.

Buck slips the folded design inside before scooping up Christopher to carry him to Eddie's truck.

Eddie follows locking up behind him.

The drive to the tattoo parlor is a short one - well short for LA, only a little traffic since the morning rush hour has long since died - they arrive twenty minutes before the booked appointment, Christopher audibly excited as the truck pulls up.

The parlor is situated between a fancy free weight gym and a organic vegan coffee shop, it's larger than Eddie expected, there's a huge mural of flowers and birds in mixed styles reaching out over the shop front.

Glass doors lead into a spacious waiting area with a floor to ceiling shelving unit decorated with action figures and retro toys acting as a divider between said area and the actual work space.

Christopher drags his dad over to the shelves for a closer look whilst Buck confirms his appointment with the cheery receptionist a young guy with a purple mohawk and tattoos on every exposed bit of skin besides his face, he introduces himself as Luka and directs them to the couch to wait on before hurrying off to fetch their artist.

Both Buck and Christopher are practically vibrating in excitement. It's cute Eddie thinks as he ruffles his son's curls.

Chris has got the design stored in his backpack along with his latest sketchbook and some crayons to keep himself entertained. The little boy rummages through his bag whilst they wait, occasionally shoving unwanted items into Buck's waiting hands until Chris triumphantly pulls out his drawing.

"Is this the famous Christopher?" A lilting voice calls out. The owner, a short women probably in her mid-forties, the visible skin of her arms and legs adored with flowers and Disney characters, comes into view around the dividing wall.

She hurried over hugging Buck before turning to Eddie, hand out in greeting, they shake hands quickly. "I'm Mara, you must be Eddie, and you must be Christopher."

She shakes Chris hand too making him giggle.

"Well let's get this show on the road."

Lead into the main shop, Eddie looks over the room, more tattoo inspired murals cover the walls, one of which has a large flat screen TV hanging from it. There are three workstations with cushioned benches, wheeled stools and a desks. One station is already occupied, the burring of an ink gun travels the room.

Mara's station is already partly prepped, the bench and it's adjoining rests wrapped in plastic, several ink bottles line up along the desk. As she sets up her equipment Mara explains each step to Eddie, Buck and Christopher, although Eddie notes that she's directing the conversation to his son. Chris is utterly enraptured by it asking questions and peering closer.

Buck sits down on the bench rolling up his t-shirt sleeve to his shoulder. Eddie takes a seat on one of the free chairs, beside it, laying a hand on his boyfriend's thigh. Christopher comes over and Eddie picks him up to set Chris on his knees.

Christopher's backpack and crutches are leant against the leg of the second chair out of the way.

Mara demonstrates to Christopher how his drawing is printed on to a transfer sheet, " Like the temporary tattoos you can get with sweets,"  she explains, " it'll let me trace the design with my gun so it'll match perfectly with your drawing."

Mara, sitting on her stool, scoots up the side of the bench to were Buck is waiting.

"Okay Christopher now I'm going to wipe Buck's arm.." Buck makes a face at Chris as Mara does so causing the little boy to laugh.

"...where the tattoo will go so that the skin is all nice and clean and then we press the transfer paper on like so.."

The transfer paper is pressed to the inside of Buck's right bicep, Mara rubbing the paper to get it to stick down smoothly.

"Hold that there sweetie." She tells Buck as she moves to ready the ink gun with the first needle before turning back to Buck and starts removing the transfer.

"Now we peel it back and the design should now be on Buck's arm." Mara explains shooting a grin at Eddie and Christopher.

It looks really good already" Christopher chimes as the design comes into view.

"Sure does buddy." Buck agrees flexing his bicep like an old fashioned boxer, Eddie rolled his eyes, good god he loves this dork.

There's a part of Eddie that is still scared by how much love he feels for the man in front of him. Scared by how deeply that love has rooted it's way into his heart.

Eddie has had only three great loves in his life, Shannon, Christopher and now Buck. And each love is very different. Shannon was his first love, a highschool sweetheart turned wife and mother of his child. Despite their estrangement, their fumbled reconciliation and her untimely death that love still lives, though it no longer romantic in nature. A nostalgic love, a remorseful love but still love all the same.

His love for Christopher is all consuming. It is fierce and unbreakable. The love of a parent, wildly protective and proud. A love that for a long time was the only real thing Eddie felt he could show the world. Not just another role to play. Another title add to the list, like dutiful son, loving husband, war hero veteran, firefighter etc, etc.

His love for Buck grew out of the kind of friendship Eddie hadn't had since childhood, an easy friendship (despite the rocky start) that filled in the cracks left by Shannon's abandonment, his parents disapproval, the stress of single parenthood.

It grew as Buck began nudging his way into the life Eddie and Christopher were building in LA.

It grew from Buck introducing him to the godsend that is Carla Price. It grew from the endless random trivia Buck spouted. It grew from their seamless partnership on calls, from joking around with their friends.

Most importantly it grew from Bucks devotion to Christopher, his ability to work out ways to make that little boy laugh, to work out ways to help Chris do the things other kids could do. To have Christmas with his dad despite work. From Buck's sheer desperation to find and protect Christopher during the tsunami to his utter relief he was found alive and unharmed. The fact he loves Christopher so much he didn't think twice about getting a tattoo of a silly little doodle just because.

Eddie thinks of this love as Buck holds his arm still whilst another of Chris' drawings is permanently etched into his skin.

All in all the whole tattooing process doesn't take long given the size and simplicity.

Christopher has charmed Mara and her fellow colleagues who come over to say hi and is reaping the benefits of being a cute nine year old as the adults scramble to accommodate his every whim from choosing what to watch on the TV to being set up at a spare desk to draw when he gets bored to getting a chocolate milkshake from the café next door when the parlor's intern goes on a coffee run.

Eddie hopes Chris will never use his cuteness for evil but doesn't protest the spoiling.

Buck turns out to be terrible at sitting for a tattoo. He fidgets and winces. Makes faces and keeps nearly distracting Mara with random questions and jokes.

But Mara is clearly used to this, barely batting an eye and steadily working on.

When the last of the ink is applied and the the excess is wipe away she gives them a chance to look over the work.

It looks good even as the skin starts to redden, Buck is grinning from ear to ear.

"Pretty great huh Chris"

"Yuh huh." Christopher nods excitedly as he scrambles in for a closer look, hand reaching out to poke at it.

"Does it hurt?"

"It does if you poke it buddy." Christopher jerks his hand back.

"Sorry."

Buck laughs and pulls Christopher into a one armed hug, he looks over the boy's head and gestures to Eddie who moves to join in as Mara comes back to finish wrapping up Bucks arm.

She gives him a well rehearsed run down of after care, joking that she knows Buck knows what to do but that she also knows with his luck it's best to be on the safe side.

By the time Christopher's things are cleared away back into his backpack, buck has already paid.

Christopher shuffles shyly up to Mara and hands her a bit of paper. It's a drawing of a tattoo gun, a bit wobbly but clearly it's meant to be a tattoo gun.

Eddie watches as the woman smiles, a little teary eyed and thanks his son proclaiming the drawing will have to be hung up somewhere in the shop.

Christopher preens.

The day's still young as the trio get back into the car, Buck suggests getting some ice cream which Christopher enthusiastically agrees. Eddie knows that ice cream on top of a chocolate milkshake will mean trouble come bed time. But how can he resist the double whammy of both Christopher and Buck's pleading eyes.

They'll be the death of him for sure.

But Eddie doesn't mind.

Today maybe the anniversary of one of the worst days of their lives, but so far it's been pretty great.

So they go and get ice cream. Christopher will make a monstrousitity of chocolate, whipped cream, sprinkles and gummy bears he won't be able to finish. But will get brain freeze from eating his too quickly and will pester Eddie for kisses to make it better. Eddie will pretend to be annoyed but secretly enjoy his boyfriend's silliness.

Today will officially become a cheat day when Buck orders from their favourite Chinese restaurant too tired to cook after running around the backyard with Chris for hours after they get home.

And when Christopher has finally crashed and has been tucked into bed Eddie will grab a couple of beers and they'll sit and watch nonsense on TV.

It'll have been a good day, better than expected but nothing majorly special. Just the three of them, together happy and healthy and whole.

And if Eddie is honest he can't imagine anything better.

Tagging @evaneddie I finally posted yay!

[sarcasticace]

wait why is AME b2 so bad??

Under the cut because this gets long and kinda rant-y, sorry

 - The writers should’ve never implemented double elimination. It helped this season feel different, which was something this book needed to be successful, but it only made it feel like the new characters left way too soon. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like we hardly got to know most of them. I get that it was so there was never an odd number of contestants, but they could’ve done something like… winner is exempt every other challenge or something.

 - I am convinced the writers DID NOT know what to do with Ivy or Vince. Particularly Ivy. They kept switching between the 2D villain Adam-mancers love to petty hate to this really compelling (at least imo), complicated rival character.  They should have stuck with the later AND they should have paired Ivy with MC at least once, leading to addressing her betrayal from last season: letting players forgive Ivy and move on (and rekindle their romance if players did that last season) or remain bitter towards her. But mostly pairing MC and Ivy in a challenge for the drama. It boggles my mind that both Ivy and MC are in the same season, but no one bothered to pair them up. I vaguely remember it was one of the reasons S10 didn’t tank. I might be remembering some details wrong, but in-universe, didn’t fans tune it to see that sweet MC/Ivy drama? Any good showrunner would have taken advantage and milked the hell out of it by doing whatever they can to put the two in the same room. I guess Carson being portrayed as incompetent subverted that, but Carson is a fictional character so that doesn’t count. If the writers weren’t going to fully take advantage of the Ivy/MC dynamic, they should have cut Ivy from the book entirely.

 - The partners. This was such a brilliant idea, but omg did they fuck it up. Why did they ONLY pair MC with Slater, Vince, and Adam. I mean, of fucking course it’s Adam, but they should’ve made it so the contestants got new partners AFTER EVERY CHALLENGE. Not when Carson felt like it or something came up. And MC should never have been paired with Adam (or Mack and Derek for that matter). It should have been Ivy (for the above reason) and all the new characters especially if they were committed to the idea of double eliminations. That way players get to know the characters one-on-one before they’re gone. Obviously, Adam is gonna stick around till the end because he’s one of the LIs and he’s on the cover. Also because of the whole proposal setup. Making him one of MC’s partners is a waste of time when you have new characters that will be leaving way before him. Diamond scenes aren’t going anywhere. That’s where they’re putting LI character+romantic development nowadays. MC, Adam, Mack, and Derek seem to have formed a friends group. They interact the most and there are several entire chapters where those three (+Jen) are the only characters to appear. What’s the point? Just pull a Total Drama and bring back the old contestants in a season 10.2, but switch up the elimination order. Having said that, yes, we do get to interact a lot with Eden/Heath and Kiara, but not characters like Yvette and Rowan. Maybe it’s just me, but I felt like I knew more about Ryder, Lina, and Han in their short time than any of the new All-Stars. These are winners and VIPs of previous seasons. They should have something to offer! If the new characters mean nothing then why waste the assets. Take Yvette for example… she’s a mom and willing to use her kids to guilt people into not voting her off. Enough to make players dislike her, but besides that moments and a few single lines, she’s a throwaway characters. And to prove my point, PB didn’t even wait for AME2 to finish before recycling her character model for a minor patient character in Open Heart. I don’t care about PB reusing assets, but can they stop being THAT lazy for five minutes.

 - There’s the fact that they didn’t do anything creative with partners outside of the ones involving the MC. Particularly the ones for the LIs. Vince, for example, didn’t get paired with Adam AT ALL despite their history. Just like with MC/Ivy, why would any showrunner worth their salt not want to capitalize on the drama between Adam and Vince? Same goes for the actual writers of this book. Why even have Adam around if not to spice things up with Vince? 

 - And since we’re on the topic of Vince… why did he not have that big of a role? I mean, on one hand, I kinda like that he’s just a diva and annoying. I’ll give B2 that much, they subverted my expectation of Vince being the main villain of this book, but in all honestly… they should’ve went with that route. It would’ve been exciting if MC would have to ally with Ivy in order to defeat a worse contestant. Then I was expecting Slater to be the secret big bad and Vince would be a red herring, but again… nope. Vince is just a diva and Slater plays rough. Those aren’t bad things, but they were also disappointing… much like the entire book. I know they didn’t want to copy what they did in the last book, but having this book’s finale just include your friends/LI rather than having it you vs. your rival is kinda lackluster imo.

 - One last thing about Vince… he almost seriously injured Adam in one of the earlier chapters and it’s never brought up again. Ever! They could’ve included a scene later on, like B1 had with Zeke, where MC could decide whether to reveal they saw Vince mess with the controls and that’d sway the opinions of the jury house and affect whether or not they’d listen to him. But of course that’s not what happened. This is Choices so consequences are only every applied to the MC. 

 - This “dating Jen” drama should’ve been done in full back in B1, but only for players actually romancing Jen. No offence to the other LIs, but Jen was the most appealing. Having a forbidden romance with one of the producers? Narrowly avoiding getting caught and risking your chance of staying on the show? It’s way more interesting that Adam/Mackenzie all of a sudden falling for MC just because. We know PB has the coding power. They could’ve and should’ve done it If they’re gonna have multiple endings for RoD, of all books, then they should commit to a standard for their books and should’ve coded AME A LOT better. Hell, they should’ve just outlined the whole series better, but we ended up with… this.

 - Also they need to do something with Mack’s backstory… her family is poor? She wants the prize money to put her sister through college. And yet she ONLY ever sabotaged Ryder then fell in love with MC and did nothing dirty for the rest of both seasons. If they weren’t gonna make Ivy a complicated rival character, they should’ve just cut Ivy all together and given that storyline to Mack. This is mostly a B1 complaint, but it follows through to B2 because they don’t commit with Ivy and don’t do much  with Mack. They introduce her family, which was interesting, but idk she lost a lot of appeal for me in B1 when she fell head over heals for my MC for no reason. Mackenzie’s route had “slow burn” written all over it, but they neglected her. Either Mack should’ve been the rival LI or they should’ve cut her and made Adam fully customizable (like Hayden) then have Ivy fill the role of second female LI.

- Again with Mack… her complaining about cheating is really funny and kinda OOC. Like I mentioned before, she literally sabotaged Ryder because he was a jerk and she wanted to win. Did the writers forget about that? This was just one of several points that shows the writers did not care about their own story and characters. 

 - Also they needed to do something? … anything… with Derek. Poor man, he’s the only LI who gets how this show is played. He deserves better. I don’t talk about Derek much, but I honestly love this man. He’s just dull. He needs… anything. Give him anything. Like the only significant storyline they gave him, that I can remember, is his show-mance with Ivy and that was more Ivy’s storyline than his.

 - And Bianca being friend-zoned despite PB bringing her back. Really? PB must know a lot of fans like her. At the very least a lot of tumblr fans. Idk why they wouldn’t want to capitalize on that. Did they really think it wasn’t a good idea to give her a few diamond scenes? Did neglecting her again make them more money? So instead of giving Bianca… literally anything, they give Slater, a completely new character, a couple of diamond scenes and let players be a little flirty with him. 

 - Having Eden/Heath and Kiara getting into an accident was a good twist, I was genuinely worried about them, but I gotta laugh that it took them both out of the competition. I mean, it makes sense. They were seriously injured. Realistically, they wouldn’t be able to compete, but their elimination brought the final 6 to MC, the LIs, Vince, and Ivy/Slater. Determinant 5 of 6 contestants are from S10 and one has been in 3 seasons, 2 of which he quit. That’s so dumb. Like… were there ANY in-universe fans who saw this and thought this show was rigged? I mean, more than fans normally would about reality shows?

 - How did Mack, Adam, and Derek even get on this show? At first I thought MC was surrounded by celebrities. Bianca was a model, Han was an athlete, Ryder was a pop star, etc etc. I assumed everyone else were celebutantes or something and MC was the odd one out who got lucky when they stumbled across Whitney and Jen. But nah, Mack and Adam (and I think Derek too) are just college students who applied for the show to pay for tuition??? If they’re not famous or didn’t come from fame, why did Piper invite them to compete in the first place? What was so special about them that drew her attention. This is a minor complaint, but it’s just weird to see each of the LIs come from regular families like MC. Not that what we got was bad, but like… did they win a contest or something? What’s the deal? Idk if it’s in a diamond scene I didn’t pay for, but it really should be a free piece of characterization. It would’ve made me care more about the LIs and make them more memorable. 

 - Does anyone think the friendship/ally status does anything besides determine who votes for who at the end of the season? Why would they implement the friendship meter from ES if they don’t use it for alternate dialogue? Because they know most of the characters won’t be in the next book? Probably, but still. I can’t tell if Adam hating MC is any different then Adam being MC’s ally besides him voting for them at the end of S10, but even then, that doesn’t make sense because he has ample reason to not vote for Ivy. And yet he still votes for Ivy if he’s anything lower than ally. Again, mostly a b1 complaint.

 - Someone had a great idea (I forget who, but please message me) that the LIs should be an auto vote and for the rest, whether or not they vote for your should be based on a percentage. The higher the relationship status, the higher the chance. Friends being 75%, neutral being 50% or lower, dislike/hate somewhere around 20 -15%. As an idea.

And that’s the major ones, I’m sure there are more other people can tack on.

[loiterer87]

So, the other year I got challenged to do some creative writing/flash-ficcy thing by  a mate. I sent it to her and another mate who does writing sometimes for their opinions and they seemed to like it. Then I sat on it for ages because I do that sort of thing a lot...

Anyway, I decided sod it, let’s stick it up here and see what happens. Here’s a short, Urban Fantasy thing I wrote up t’other year featuring my character Dave from the Loiterers comic doing something his mates don’t know about...

                                        A DECK OF MANY THINGS

Heidi texted me.

'Dave, you in town?”

It was winter and I was out with my studio mates, all of us had a different reason to celebrate. Mostly it was Christmas revelry, but each of us had our own reasons to be cheerful. I had just posted out the last three commissions of the year and was happy whiling away the rest of the day drinking. After replying, she sent me back another almost instantly.

“Ring me.”

I sighed, excused myself and slipped outside the pub.

“What?” I said. It wasn't exactly a winter wonderland outside, but it was cold enough. I wanted to get through this quickly and go back to my pint.

“Someone's got a Deck of Many Things.”

It's basically a pack of magic cards. Doesn't matter if it's your standard lucky pack of Fifty Two, a cursed Tarot set or someone just faffing about with an enchanted deck of Magic the Gathering, some of us of a certain generation of magic-users started calling them a Deck of Many Things. Yes, Gary Gygax has a lot to probably answer for.

“And this is important... how?”

“This someone's not supposed to have it.”

“Isn't stuff like that your job?”

Heidi is part of what can be described as a cross between a Neighbourhood Watch Association and a mystical security force. She'd say 'she walks the city, night and day, protecting us from threats, unseen and unheard... blah blah blah, prose of the purplest hues, etc.' It boils down to her and her group keeping everyone safe from dickheads with magic. Usually armed with a big stick.

“Normally, yes, but not right now.”

I could vaguely hear some singing in the background. It took slightly longer than I care to admit but eventually I realised what she meant. She was celebrating with her family. All of them.

“Oh.”

“Yeah...”

“...I'm at the point of merry right now.” I sighed.

“You're also the only person who's in town who answered.”

“...So, Deck of Many Things then...”

She told me that a seer had phoned her about it and that it was happening live. At the Cuthbert Broderick Wetherspoons.

I swore. Heidi noticed. I was about two minutes walk from there, if that, at another pub down the road.

There's a book, in a library somewhere called 'Like Attracts Like: A Study on Luck, Magic and Probabilty' by a guy called J. Ohljson. It's about how magic-users and magically-inclined folks essentially find themselves becoming weirdness magnets. I hate it. I was thinking about it and how much I hate it as I made my way across Millennium Square and up the stairs into 'Spoons.

It was busy. I couldn't immediately tell who the pillock with the Deck was so I headed up to the bar and ordered a drink.

“Don't tell me Heidi sent you!”

I looked up at the bartender. It was Lee. Lee doesn't like me.

“Evenin', Lee...”

“Of all the people she could've asked...”

“I was the only one who answered. We both have to deal with it. Now, what's going on?”

He looked at me distastefully. Probably trying to work out whether or not it was worth me helping the Watch.

“Look, while you're mentally wording your letter of complaint to Heidi and her lot, can you get us a pint please? I'm supposed to be celebrating tonight.”

His grimace increased, my smile became shit-eating. He responded by putting a pint glass full of water in front of me.

“My right, far end of the bar. Five of them.”

I downed my glass while stealing a glance in the direction Lee mentioned. I could see a small trio at the far end but...

“Three lads, two girls. One lad's nipped out for a smoke, not sure where the girl went.”

“You're definitely sure it's them?”

“Guy who got the first round went for all the really expensive shit. Paid contactless with a Queen of Diamonds under his actual card. Our till had a brief glitchy flicker and miraculously his bill was paid.”

“Is that it?!”

“Also, the guy outside is busy performing fire-breathing tricks right now.”

He nodded behind me. Looking round, he was correct. There was a drunken, braying idiot belching a jet of fire that'd impress a dragon. You know, if it had really low expectations. The crowd were amazed though. Very drunk, thankfully, but impressed.

The guy was clearly a student. Another glance at his friends inside confirmed it, all modern clobber and all pissed. It was coming up to Christmas after all. They were also watching their mate outside and one of them, the money man Lee mentioned, was idly thumbing through a half opened pack of playing cards.

“Definitely a Queen of Diamonds?”

Lee nodded, “Please don't wreck the place.”

I tried thinking of something clever to say but he had a point. Try as I might, and honestly, while my magic's not really that strong or destructive, sometimes things break. And the Cuthbert Broderick's facade is mostly glass.

Getting up, I left my bag on the seat and asked Lee to keep an eye on it.

“What you doing?”

“Piss. I need to think. Get us a proper pint while I'm gone.”

I left him before he could answer back and headed downstairs.

The toilets were probably the old cellar of the place. As you go further down, the nice smooth walls suddenly become old red brick. And the ceiling is really low. In the past I've bashed my head on it even with my head bent. I passed the communal sink area and into the gents.

As I went about my business, something was bothering me. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I felt as if there was a camera or something on me. Most unusual for the gents, normally everyone keeps to themselves. Snatching a quick glance around there was me and another guy. He had his eyes down. That wasn't it.

Then I heard a giggle. Not loud, like a little snicker that slips out. Again, there was no one else in the room. I carried on. Again, the giggle. Another look around and I thought I saw something  for a second on my left. I pretended not to notice and sniffed. And there it was, a sickly sweet perfume in the air. It was almost as if it was peering over my shoulder. The smell was godawful and got up my nose in the worst way. I sneezed.

As I jerked my head left, force from the reaction driving it forward, it connected with solid air. I also distinctly heard a girl go “Ow, shit!”. I finished up, headed out and back upstairs.

“Yeah, they're proper magic cards.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a young blonde walking past, tissue hiding a bloodied and broken nose, shooting a very dirty look in my direction. She headed straight for her friends with the cards.

Lee's face and shoulders dropped and he groaned. “We need to clear out the place, don't we?”

“Now now, not necessarily...”

“How's your thieving skills?”

I said nothing, then, “Let's not pull the fire alarm just yet! That's all I'm saying.”

I looked through my bag. There was very little actually useful in there. I grabbed my A6 sketch book and shoved it in my jacket pocket. Rifling through the pencil case I carry led me to grabbing a pencil, old wood and blunt lead job (probably HB), and the Magnum. A permanent marker so chunky, it has little practical purpose in my day job. This stuff however? Conjuring magic symbols and creating works which alter a tiny bit of reality is so much easier with a bit of kit which actually leaves a decent-sized indelible mark.

I chucked the rest at Lee, “Keep an eye on that, will you? Maybe also hang around the fire alarm.”

“...You're not going to make me regret calling this in, are you?”

I shrugged. Downed the beer I'd ordered for liquid courage and decided to do something stupid.

On the way outside I grabbed a glass of something clear off an empty table. In hindsight, I should probably have sniffed it before taking it but I was kind of drunk. It might've avoided how bad things got.

The fire-breather was still showing off when I got out the door. I shouted to the prick just as he was about to give it another round. He turned, flames flicking the corners of his mouth.

“Does that leave you with bad breath or does it just make everything taste like burnt toast?” I asked to him and the incredulous audience. He snorted derisively.

“No really,” I continued, “I would also resort to circus skills if I was that desperate for a shag at a fucking 'Spoons!”

That got his attention. He sneered, took a deep breath and as soon as I saw a flash of orange I threw the drink in my hand.

Turns out it was vodka.

There was a short flash in the guy's face as the vodka met the flame and then a lot of screaming. The crowd panicked and scattered while the fire-breather was on the floor frantically trying to put his face out.

As he slapped at his face and shirt, I sauntered over and picked up the card off the floor. The three of hearts. Turning back and there was a little commotion inside, no doubt my antics had got their attention in there too.

Amongst the people who'd just seen the fireworks were his friends. I tapped the window to properly get their attention. They looked, I showed them the card. Then tore it in half. I took a step back, tilted my chin up and thumped my chest in that unspoken way which translates to “Come on then.” I also saw Lee staring agog at that display of completely immature bravado. At him, I just shrugged. Then he went and pulled the fire alarm.

All the doors suddenly burst open, patrons and staff trying to get out of the building, I waited for the initial rush to subside before slipping in and heading up a nearby staircase to the mezzanine. Soon as I made it to the centre I got on my knees and pulled out the Magnum. The strong smell of the ink did not help with my beer-addled state and made it harder to concentrate of the magic as I drew.

I could hear angry voices below me as I neared completion. Peering down through the glass bannister, I could see the remaining card-wielders arguing. A second later, one spotted me. Shit. I took the marker to the glass and drew a seven pointed asterisk which looked like a shatter pattern. I capped the Magnum and held my drawing hand over it for about three seconds before smacking it as hard as I could.

Upon impact, the glass blew outwards like a bullet had gone through it. The fragments spiralled and contorted in the air like a flock of razor-sharp birds in flight before piling down at the four. The girl with the bloody nose screamed as the shards rained down. After they'd finished I saw her heading towards the exit screaming “That is it I am so done with this magic shit!” The ring leader tried to calm her down but she was having none of it.

“I don't care! It was funny when you nicked 'em but now I've got guys throwing glass at us! I'm going home!”

And that was the last I saw of her that night. Unfortunately, me listening in had also alerted them to my presence and one of the remaining two guys was beginning to head upstairs with a handful of cards.  I turned to face him, only to hear the sound of a card deck being flipped through. He was gone.

Then he was behind me and all over my back. Fucking. Teleportation. I fell to the floor as he shouted something tough at me, I wasn't listening. All I was concentrating on was working the pencil out of my pocket. It was a lot harder than expected, what with his weight pressing down on top of me and what I was sure was another pair of arms trying to keep me pinned.

After retrieving it, I drove it point down, straight into the first hand I saw which wasn't mine. He screamed, the hand vanished back into nothingness and I managed to roll the guy off while he was dealing with the temporary phantom pain. I snatched the pencil up off the floor and headed behind one of the pub's decorative bookcases. The pencil's end was covered in blood. That was good, I whipped out the sketchbook and started some rudimentary Voo-doodling.

I stole a quick look at the guy; daft blond cow-lick, neck tattoo, white rugby shirt, before putting pencil to paper and sketching a quick headshot in blood and lead. He might have seen me, because just as I finished the last lines a bolt of lighting struck the case I was hiding behind and caught fire. I wiped the pencil on my jeans and ducked behind a table as another bolt arced overhead. And another striking the table leg. Clearly, his aim was off.

“God, this one's shit...” He said, throwing the card aside. I took the moment to finish off the ritual. I stood up, held the sketchbook image out and declared: “By book, blood and lead, I bind you!” He hurled a pint glass at me in response.

I was back behind the table when I remembered there was more to say. I held the book up again, “And in binding, your will is mine!” Bloody beer brain! Knowing my luck, it probably messed the spell's effects about.

He threw another. Yep, definitely not working properly, I thought. The teleport card made its presence again, this time startling me by having the guy appear in front of me. I swung both arms in  panic as I saw him materialise in front of me. The spell did work though. Sort of. I saw him appear, then suddenly jump to the right, colliding hard with the railing. Okay. So, I couldn't control his complete will, just his direction.

I tested this by pulling the book back left, leading my new puppet back the other way into another bookcase. He charged at me, every direction the book pulled him merely annoying him. We ended up doing some strange violent dance, him throwing punches at me, me leading by book and dodging the odd fist. A jab came towards my kidney which was flung back towards a chair. Which smashed. This continued for a while, punches, dodges, the odd furniture being struck. Which I noted didn't always end in destruction. At some point, I also noticed that he had two cards left in his back pocket.

I snatched the pair when his back was turned and when he turned back, pulled the book straight up, this time the effect was different. Blondie staggered back like he'd been chinned with an uppercut. Even better, he staggered back and stood right over the thing I'd drawn earlier. A trapdoor.  The floor beneath his right foot suddenly gave way and he fell through, only getting stuck fast as his crotch slammed into it, leaving him and his one free leg jutting awkwardly out of the hole.

At this point I should probably mention I have a habit of drawing undersized trapdoors. Don't know why, I just do. Maybe it's a time thing. Either way, what with the combination of dizziness and understandable pain on his face, I think he was done for this round.  

Then everything around me was filled with broken glass. A lot of broken glass. Most of it smelling like some booze or another. After several cuts to my face and yet more holes in my jacket, I'd had enough. I was the floor when I started shouting, it was full on childish tantrum shouting, I'll admit it. I don't remember exactly what it was other than something along the lines of “Oh, will you just fuck off?” All of a sudden, the glass stopped. It fell to the floor like whatever had been holding it up had just dropped everything and left. Peering over the edge to the ground floor confirmed it.

Leading pillock was shouting at the only other remaining member of his little crew. She had another card in her hand and was heading for the door.

“What the fuck, Nat!?”

“I don't know, Bobby! He just shouted at me and I just want to go!”

“What!?”

“Don't you start! You got us into this shit! You-- Forget it, I'm off home!

And with that, she threw the card on the floor and stormed out. I laughed.

And then Bobby saw me. “Don't move!” I shouted. He didn't. I looked over at my hand. Still had Blondie's two remaining cards gripped tightly in it. I figured one must've been some sort of compelling voice thing. Looking back down, Bobby was still stood frozen. After some standing and stretching, I made my way back down to the ground floor.

“Alright then, tell us, “ I said, still holding the pair I had, “where'd you get these?”

“...”

I sighed, he still couldn't move. Whoever enchanted these things clearly didn't do a decent enough job, the do-what-I-say card took my words too literally.

“Uuugggh, alright! You can move, but tell me who you got the cards from!”

“I took them from this weirdo who lives in the same cluster as me at Beckett. He's into all that weird shit. Told me he made them himself. I thought it'd be a bit of a laugh to take 'em out.”

“Was he one of the lads here tonight?”

“Fuck off! He was on acid or something, I took 'em from his shelf and he didn't notice a thing. I even tripped on his coat on the way out and he didn't even flinch!”

I was about to ask him to hand over the rest of the deck, but I'd forgotten that 'You can move' has multiple meanings. By the time I'd started my next sentence, I had to quickly swap the back end of it for simply the word:

“MISS!”

And that was just seconds before I dodged out of the way of a chuffing great black battle axe burying itself into the staircase behind me. Thankfully, it was embedded deep enough into the wood that Bobby had to really work to unstick it. This gave me enough time to put some distance between us. I couldn't get another command out before he came swinging at me again! This time smashing a table. Then another. And one of the windows.

The wind blew a sharp cold draft through both of us and sadly, one of the two cards I had left in my hand. Bobby noticed this, grinned and raised the axe. I saw the card flit in the breeze before I saw the axe coming up and thought quickly.

I ducked, cringed and either shouted another command or screamed as the axe came down. It was not the most dignified way to die in this game, but really, I've yet to hear of one that is.

Then I noticed I wasn't dead. Bobby noticed too. He pulled the axe back and tried again. Swinging for my midsection. Again, nothing. Around this time, I'd stood up and flinched when he tried yet again to no avail. We both stared at each other confused. I felt myself confirming, yes I was still whole and intact while Bobby tested the axe on another table. Which smashed. I still had one card left and checked to see which it was. Then I grinned as I worked out what was going on.

It was the Joker. I turned it face down and quietly picked a piece of broken table leg off the floor and a half spilled glass of something. Bobby was trying to dislodge the axe from the floor. As I crept up, he must've realised something about the magic and dropped the card he was holding. The axe vanished, he picked it up again and the axe appeared in his other hand. He turned and thrust the blade towards my neck! Nothing. He still hadn't figured it out.

Not missing the moment I threw the mixture of broken glass and alcohol in his face! When he dropped the card again while shrieking was when I broke his nose with the table leg. As he laid writhing in a pool of many varying fluids, including some bodily ones, I stepped over him and retrieved the rest of the deck. Out of the fifty-four in the pack there was still about thirty plus. I flipped through them before pocketing them and digging out my phone.

There were three missed calls from Heidi and maybe three times as many texts.

“What the hell did you do!?!” Her voice was harsh and shrill with a mixture of concern and outrage. “Lee called and said you'd gotten into a full on war with the gang who had the deck!?”

“They were a bunch of drunk students...”

“Why didn't you just steal it!?”

“How?...”

She was silent for a good thirty seconds before asking, “Is it over, at least?” I looked around, even if I couldn't see the fire on the mezzanine, I could smell it. “I got the deck, yeah.” I stepped behind the bar and pulled my bag up onto it. Still talking to Heidi.

“Heidi, it's mostly cosmetic is the damage. Also, I had no idea what I was walking into and some of these cards have destructive properties!”

More silence. I dug out a compact mirror marked with stray correction fluid and a small pot of black corpse paint I borrowed from a band I'd done some work for in the past.  Eventually she said, “When you say 'cosmetic'...”

“One of the guys tried electrocuting me and another had a big fuck-off axe! What the hell was I supposed to do?”

“...Alright, go home, Dave. At least the building's still standing. Can we talk later?”

I was applying the black paint around my eyes in the style of an old-school bank robber, “That'll be fine. Got to go now, need to paint my fingers.” I hung up and put my phone away before smearing the remainder of the paint on my fingertips.

The emergency services showed up just as I'd grabbed all my belongings from all the floors and walked out one of the broken ground floor windows. No one stopped me or even noticed. I've used the Burglar Mask trick so often I don't even try to sneak away from people anymore. With the mask over my eyes and fingers. No one can see me, not unless they try very hard. I surveyed the damage, several of the ground floor windows were broken as was one of the glass doors. There was the small glow of fire coming from the mezzanine and the whole ground floor was a mess of glass, liquid and splinters. I could even see Lee talking with one of the police on site all the while looking around for me.

I took a deep breath and decided to head home to sleep off the inevitable hangover.

It was about a week later when the whole thing about the Deck came up again. Heidi had rang to tell me that it had been destroyed. She was just calling to let me know and if any of the missing cards had been destroyed. Outside of the fire-breathing one and one or two others I'd ripped up I'd assumed the rest were taken by the fire. This seemed to satisfy her. After she hung up I went back to clearing out my messenger bag, there'd been a bit of debris inside since and it was starting to muck up some of the pages in one of my sketchbooks. Digging around led to me discovering what turned out to be the Queen of Diamonds.

It took another minute or two to remember, this was the magic money card. I put it to one side and grabbed the jeans I was wearing that night from the laundry bin. In the back pocket, beside a used tissue and forty three pence was another one. I must have put it in there and forgotten about it after the blonde guy smashed his balls on the floor. I considered ripping them up there and then, but...

I remembered I'm also a starving artist and a mage. Neither career was especially rewarding. So I decided to keep hold of the Queen for a rainy day. The other card was the Nine of Spades and I never did see what that one did. I still don't, come to think of it, but it may come in useful somewhere along the line.

[lyricalt]

2017 fic round up + annual fic meme

It’s that time again, folks. Let’s see the damage.

THE LIST

*drabble/stuff under 1k words +wip

Boku No Hero Academia

Tell - inatodo

Destiny

hardcase* - implied andal brask/cayde-6

a code of you - original character: sol-6

Gamble* - andal brask/Cayde-6

Integrate

got a feel for you* - post-canon seep - pre-canon

Overwatch

R76

feel something*

21

Fourth Date Stuff

Prompt: cut*

punchline

GEN / MISC.

a priori - time travel, Reaper&Gabriel Reyes

gift for gift - gen - Reaper, Widowmaker, Ana Amari, Jack Morrison (mentioned)

all his cards you want to touch - Jesse McCree (Vigilante)/Jesse McCree (Riverboat)

cross your heart and hope - Destiny AU: has mcgenji, implied r76. Too lazy to link to individual pieces on ao3, so I only linked the ones only on tumblr.

Showteam+

Trigger happy

of all just fools - Destiny 2 AU

MCGENJI

not far from home vantage make you sway Prompt: rainy day* Prompt: surprise* must be love cut* devil gave me a crooked start down and doubt - (background implied r76) on your mark+ - AU where genji is a motorcycle and mccree is a mechanic. serial never had much faith (in love or miracles)* Carry case of six wake up calls: 1, 2, 3 Beach drabbles: 1, 2, 3 like you would to a point, to your knees damned if you do - incubus mccree/oni genji sun steel / soul intersect count to three triple threat+ Prompt: kiss on the back of the hand* 

Total number of completed stories: 33, excluding drabbles and some prompts. 

Total word count: AO3 stats say around 56,500. I’ll ballpark it 60,000.

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted? 

 I wrote more words and more fic this year, but a bunch of it were very short stories! Shorter than my usual, I think. I am also very in love with the Destiny AU so I think that had a lot to do with my high word count. I also wrote a lot on the side I never posted, ahaha. I think I was very distracted this year by too many fandoms/ideas. Ah well.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? 

Nah. I’m predictable. I’m still side-eyeing the genji-as-a-motorcycle AU though. I did that?

What’s your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest? 

 CARRY. It was Carry. I loved writing that stupid fic. It was so dumb but I feel so vindictive and about it because I wrote it to have fun and also to express some exasperation about a couple of mcgnj tropes I felt were kinda not-my-thing. BUT!! it makes me happy that a lot of other people enjoyed it too and also @vfordii drew THIS.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? 

 I don’t feel like I took any huge risks. I am pretty comfortable with the subject matter I write (--though I think it’s more of a matter of motivation and sticking to it). I, uh, did write some bottom/sub mccree which is somehow not all that popular within the mcgenji fandom and let me tell you this was hugely a case of “if no one will write it then I will but I will complain about it for the entire time”. I wouldn’t consider it a risk though, but I did learn a bit about how to comfortably write dirty talk without needing it to be explicitly written. I don’t think it shows up a lot in my current fics but I’ve been taking note of what sounds right to me vs how much I want to write, if that makes sense.

Also for the record all my mcgnj fic is implied sexual dynamic sub/bottom mccree, like, in the case it ever happens. (I’m kidding. Or am I. I am. (Not really.) No, I’m dead serious.)

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year? 

 Finish the damn fics I start, why don’t I!!!!! (This is a constant goal.)

I do want to write some fandom stories for original characters. I also want to write more explicit fic without shaming myself out of it. What are the nastywords all the hip young adults are using nowadays? I don’t know and I get conflicting reports, but by god I will try to learn.

My best story of this year 

Hardcase, which is admittedly a small drabble but I think.. it holds very well under Destiny 2, despite my frustration with how Cayde is portrayed in comparison to the Destiny 1. I’ve always had this specific opinion about Cayde and his mysterious (and not so mysterious) agendas. Dude definitely has a hero complex and this fic sorta toes into it. Plus, I like any Cayde angst related to Andal.

I feel like, out of all my fics this felt the most complete, and one that I was most satisfied with what I wanted to convey with a limited amount of words. I’m aware that I’m not… really made for longer stories, so I guess… I like to play to my strengths? And this was it.

My most popular story 

 According to AO3 hits and kudos, it was make you sway, another mcgenji fic that started with the same motivation as carry. I think.. it’s obvious… that I, uh, like writing a specific brand of Horny McCree, in that he’s not so much embarrassed by his attraction to Genji but just slightly exasperated by it (and his timing). And, haha, also Genji not being 100% on top of his libido is a nice change of pace too. I remember having fun with this!!

Story of mine most under-appreciated, in my opinion

feel something is one I’m super fond of. It’s very short, but I feel like it’s my best r76 fic in terms of the relationship I want to portray, especially post-Overwatch. I like the way I wrote it; in my opinion it was very to-the-point, and doesn’t have the happy ending they don’t quite deserve (yet) but in my mind it’s still a very positive fic without being too idealistic? Not that either way is bad, it was just something different for me, personally.

Most fun story to write

devil gave me a crooked start was a fic I pulled right outta my ass but wrote it all in one sitting after I came up with a couple of lines of dialogue; “So I’m stuck in the future,” “Would you like to know the future you?”, etc etc. It helped that Blizzard had just released McCree’s Blackwatch skin (WITH THE BLACK LEATHER CHAPS!!!!) and while I wasn’t comfortable about Blackwatch Genji having any sort of romantic relationship with Blackwatch McCree, I was sure as heck willing for Present-Day!Genji having some good nasty fun with a younger McCree.

Also I had a stupid amount of fun writing triple threat: genji/genji/genji, and I’m now just seeing a pattern that I enjoy writing characters being humorously turned on and having fun getting their rocks off, so there’s that. What a revelation.

Most Sexy Story 

God im sorry but I wrote a mcgenji week drabble about blackwatch genji and mccree beating the shit out of each other and it’s the opposite of romantic and definitely not meant to BE romantic, but fighting can be sexy without being horny, right?? RIGHT???

Story with the single sexiest moment 

to a point, to your knees.  

It takes a huge effort for McCree to sit still after that, spine tingling and heat crawling over his body. The switchblade knife in Genji’s hand spins once in a little flourish, drawing McCree’s gaze to it. 

 His attention caught, Genji places the blade at his thumb and forefinger. He slides the knife between them once to no effect, then another time. McCree can hear the grating metal against each other and then the hiss of steam, knife edge still wet with spit from when McCree had held it on his tongue. 

 “Shall we see how sharp your mouth is now?” Genji asks, running the knife through his fingers once last time.

Genji sharpening McCree’s knife with his fingers and McCree getting hot (literally, metaphorically) and bothered by it is a personal achievement. For me or McCree, that’s up for debate.

Though I have to admit I’m absolutely still pissed about not titling the fic “cut to the feeling” instead because that’s a far better name for a knife kink fic an also my third favorite carly rae jepsen song.

Most “holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story 

 I don’t think anyone was surprised about even my most wildest fic. I think a friend of mine was initially disappointed that the knife kink fic was tagged for “mild blood” instead of straight up bloodplay. I’m sorry.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters

I never quite like this question because I always have a good idea of how I want to portray a character in fic since most of my fics tend to lean on the introspective side of things. down and doubt is a very McCree-centered fic that deals with Gabriel, as well as Genji in relation to Gabriel. I wanted to show a lot of things about how McCree and Genji fight together, and what each of them thinks about the whole Gabriel Reyes = Reaper thing. I didn’t hit all the points, and I unfortunately had to scrub a scene off that I definitely want to rework in another fic, but I think I had the basics… present in the fic. I guess what did surprise me was touching on Soldier: 76, though the dynamics between him and McCree is another thing I want to write about for a later fic.

Hardest story to write 

  Intersect , mostly because the later half was such a visual story I had wanted to tell in a form that wasn’t all writing. I think It would have done better as a comic but what can u do? I still very much like the first half, which I had rattling in my head for the last year and a half, really.

I was aiming to write about McCree having hang-ups about Genji, and how he views himself—a washed out mercenary with no clear goals, in comparison to Genji, who’s off in a better headspace than him but still interested in McCree anyway. And it’s not so much a reunion fic I wanted to show but a story where it’s just ok to try and reacquaint yourselves with someone who might be a new person to you. I think. I very much did not want it to be a reunion fic.

Most disappointing 

 Intersect!!!!!!!! It was so jumpy!!!! I had a lot of expectations for it!!!! I wanted it to be so much!!!! In the end I just gave up trying to make the words all fit and banged out the rest of the story and let it go. I’m still upset it didn’t come out the way I wanted it but I think it was better to just post the damn thing rather than let it rot in my drive forever. I felt better for posting it but I don’t think I can reread it anytime soon.

Easiest story to write 

 I lot of fics that fall into this category were the drabbles like Wake Up Calls. I really like writing about mundane moments and little glimpses of a developing relationship, especially for mcgenji, because my headcanon of them consists of a bunch of little moments that somehow build up into a rolling romance that sneaks up on both of them. I think it’s why I have such a hard time writing one long cohesive fic about them. There just isn’t a Big Ah-Ha Moment for them to me? I guess? I guess. I’m rambling!!

Biggest surprise 

 That I continued the mcgenji motorcycle AU, honestly. I love it to pieces and it’s fun but god do I think it’s such a chore writing the build up leading to the parts I WANT to write in the first place!!!!!

Most unintentionally telling story 

  gift for gift started out as a very Gabriel Reyes-centric story but somehow I got passionate about Widowmaker and so it’s also very much about her as well and how she functions within her lack of autonomy. I wanted to explore Gabriel’s motivations/drive to push forward without mentioning just what, exactly, he was going for, which was surprisingly very easy.

Story I’d like to revise

Intersect, not so much revising it but revisiting some of the themes and concepts, especially about McCree. I’ve talked enough about this fic. Anyway.

Story I didn’t write but will at some point, I swear 

 Well. It’s more of a WIP at this stage but I want to write my epic 100k, 50 chaptered Guardian/Fallen romance fic for Destiny but we’ll see how that goes? Mostly I’m waiting on Bungie because I’m so dry on Bungie lore and I have no idea what the House of Dusk is up to and that’s kinda important to my story—which is, not really at all, but I would LIKE to make sure.

Anyway, that’s a wrap for my 2017 fics. Thanks for reading and all the encouragement! I hope to write more entertaining stories for 2018!! :’)

[sneakyhomunculous]

Last PT Report

Day 1: Wake up fresh; shower normally and then turn it freezing for the last 30 seconds. Shadowbox for 5 minutes. Stand on head against the wall for 3 minutes. 20 push-ups, get dressed and shuttle 0.4miles to site. Walking would be better, but it’s a bit cold and I don’t wanna worry about a jacket. Arrive at 8:55, pods go up minutes later. Arrive at the table to see Zvi and 6 others I don’t recognize. Zvi is two to my left. Open my pack Ayara, Edgewall Inkeeper, Slaying Fire, Fierced Witchstalker, and thankfully a Charmed Sleep. Slam the Charmed Sleep. I’m not going to let the way some early packs break determine my fate in the last PT ever. I’m passed clockwork servant and a bunch of mediocre cards like scorching dragonfire scalding cauldron maraleaf rider. Slam clockwork servant. Pick 3 there are no good cards, luckily I’m greeted with a Fabled Passage. Take it easily over middling things (I did briefly consider taking corridor monitor). 4th pick I am greeted with a gift from the gods. A 4th pick Opt!!! One note, at this point corridor monitor is the only blue card I’ve passed. This pack contains no blue cards besides Opt. Many people would panic thinking Blue is being cut. While the chance that is happening are not 0, they are not significantly more likely just because you haven’t seen blue cards in 2-3 picks. The packs easily could’ve just been light on blue cards. But what is certain? No one on my left has even seen a single blue card they can take. Pick 5 no blue cards. I take Jousing dummy over middling cards in other colors. Pick 6 a welcome sight. Corridor monitor! Slam it so fast as I wouldn’t want to give the players on my left a faulty signal. Pick 7 there is a mad ratter that I assume my fellow draft mates did not see in the pack. Pick 8 there are no blue cards but a wicked guardian will do. I already have servant and monitor, to go along with Opt and this mad ratter. Not sure how I’ll cast it but we’ll see I round out with another joustin dummy and that early corridor monitor tables!!!!! Pack 2 I crack open a pack without a blue card. Luckily there is an epic downfall that I may end up playing. Pick 2 I get passed a pack with the best common in the set, draw 3 sry 3. I take it quickly over reave soul and other irrelevant cards. 3rd pick Stolen By the MF Fae. Thanks Worth! 4th Pick Frogify over nothing. They aren’t going to give this draft to me easy. 5th pick No blue cards 😡 take Witch’s Vengeance I probably won’t play. 6th pick SO TINY; The second best common in the set with a run away together and didn’t say please in the pack too. Bad distribution tilt. 7th pick spinning wheel. I can’t wait until they fix these bots and we can get REAL practice in 8th pick Draw 3 scry 3 😂 this is when I knew I had 2-1 at least locked up. Around this pick I notice the player on my right (I’m on the edge so he’s directly across from me) has an opportunistic dragon sticking out of his pack C. So I call a judge and they have to replace the pack with no issues. I round out the pack with dregs. Pack 3 I open Folio of the fancies GG yo I get passed a pack so blank I almost cried but then I noticed a scaulding cauldron, whew. 3rd pick I face the decision of mystic sanctuary vs hate drafting, and sanctuary is completely busted so I take that. Pick 4 I am greeted with another 4th pick Opt!!!! 3 for 3 baby. 5th pick there is nothing great I take a searing barrage I hopefully won’t have to play. 6th pick I get passed a pack with didn’t say please! But there is also a Lochmere Serpent and a Drown in the Loch. I take the serpent 7th pick is blankish if I recall correctly and I got sad. 8th pick another mad ratter, I recall being happy/content. And saying to myself in my head... I think I shall play it all! I do end up playing everything! 4 swamps 1 mountain 1 Fabled Passage 1 Sanctuary 10 Island. My SB is pretty weak but I do have a couple searing barrages, a forever young and a few expensive fliers/jousting dummy type things I can bring. [Insert Picture of deck 1 here] (I’m trying but can’t figure out Tumblr maybe I’ll post all the pics at the end?)* Wouldn’t be a PT without a Round 1 Doozy I’m paired vs someone I don’t recognize. Apparently it is their first PT but I don’t know this at the time. They seem confident but reserved and ready for battle. We both keep 7 and I am on the play. My opponent plays a turn 1 witches Cottage. On turn 2 he plays a swamp and an order of the midnight. It immediately becomes So tiny. On turn 3 I do nothing. My opponent plays a mountain and a redcap raiders. I miss my land drop but put the raiders into a Charmed Sleep. On turn 4 my opponent plays swamp Lochtwain Paladin with Cheese. I untap and draw Fabled Passage. My hand is expensive cards like mad ratter Draw 3 Serpent and something else. I am about to fetch and then I realize his hand is facedown on the table but looking thicc. I just double check how many cards and he picks them up no problem and says 5. And it’s correct it is 5. However my brain says it should be 4. Turn 1 land. Turn 2 land 2 drop. Turn 3 land 3 drop. Turn 4 land 4 drop. This means he started with 7, drew up to 8. Played his land down to 7, and he didn’t miss any land drops so far. So turn 2 his card played should mean he is down to 6, then turn 3 down to 5, and now his Paladin down to 4. He has an extra card!! I count 5 times just to confirm, and sure enough he is 2 cards ahead of me. I call a judge and after a quick count and discussion it is confirmed he has one too many. He is extremely calm but also quiet during all of it. I didn’t get any vibe of him trying to be dishonest or hide anything. At the same time it’s incredibly sketchy of course. How and when did he get an extra card? He is on the draw so he’s already got extra cards, seems like he’d notice if he had 9 to start or something?? The ruling is that I get to Thoughtseize him basically and he has to shuffle what I pick back in his deck. I really hate this rule as its putting so much of the onus on me to always track my opponents hand so vigilantly. If I would’ve noticed he drew 9 to start, it would be hugely beneficial for me to Thoughtseize him. But now I Thoughtseize him and see 5 spells as I’m already behind on the board and want to throw up. Did he just draw 2 cards at once on turn 4 because he needed a land? I’ll never know. But his hand is completely fucking stacked and I can’t find myself ever beating it. He has another lochtwain paladin, Murderous rider, another order of midnight, lash of thorns, and a festive funeral. I take the murderous rider but miss a land again and by the time I can play serpent I am forced to block into his Lash and have no outs so I just concede without showing him. Game 2 I don’t remember a ton of, but I know he plays multiple rimrock knights and order of midnights and I am so close to dying so many times. I had spinning wheel and he made a few small errors, and it let me survive at one life but needing to topdeck a cheap creature/play to survive at all. I peeled a Charmed Sleep and it left me actually in control with mana left over to tap his one other attacker. Well, as in control as you can be with 1 life. Shortly after I find a draw 3 and turn the game around over 2-3 turns before he can find a way to deal me 1 damage. Unfortunately the time is about out in the round and we only have a 7 minute extension. I slam in the 2/1 bloodcrazed wolfthorn guys and both searing barrage hoping to have time to finish game 3. Instead I am on the backfoot and in serious danger of dying. T2 order. T3 rimrock it and play rimrock. T4 rimrock it and play rimrock. I am all the way down to 4 before I have any chance at stabilizing. I play in the only way I think will give me any chance to survive and it involves letting him untap with me at 4 life and him having a Brimstone Trebuchet in play, knowing he has at least two cheap knights he has returned with order of midnight/forever young combo. He did only have 5 mana so I wasn’t that scared (I had witch’s vengeance for walls ready on my next turn). But the prospect of surviving at 1 still seemed grim at the time. Oh yeah somewhere in there he played a murderous rider and pumped it with rimrock knights so he was at 30 and me at 1. I never felt safe until around a minute before time was about to be up. Unfortunately my opponent was still at 30. The judge called time right as I passed so I got turn 1. On my Opp turn 2 I flashed in serpent and untapped and sacrificed two swamps but could only find more lands. I made it unblockable and attacked with it and all 4 of my stolen by the Fae tokens and 8 of my mad ratter tokens leaving back a few more to make sure I wouldn’t die to the swing back from my now 3 life. My opponent took 17 down to 9 so they must have been at 26 at the time. On turn 4 I had a small sweat as I left myself dead to barge in (hadn’t seen one, did pass multiple in draft though) as I really wanted the win and not the draw. Luckily my opp not only didn’t even attack, but they played out their entire hand and were clearly dead on board by 2 points more than lethal. Win on turn 5. Wild start. The rest of the day was a lot smoother. R2 vs ZVI Mono G Zvi Mulligans on the play g1 but leads t1 Goose. I have so tiny and Charmed Sleep draw 3 and bunch of lands so I ignore goose. He plays a wildwood tracker at some point I so tiny and I Charmed Sleep a Fierced Witchstalker. He is hitting me for 1 with gingerbrute when I cast draw 3. Then I cast another. Then I play serpent and folio etc and I’m still above 10 life and he dies in short order. In g2 I get sloppy and lose a game I have no business losing. I turn 3 clockwork servant turn 4 Wicked guardian draw a card, but this was just a mistake. I did this knowing I would take 5 damage this turn but I had no business taking it as I already had everything I needed to win this game. I needed to preserve my life total. On turn 5 I do start preserving life, but when I flash in serpent on turn 6 to block Zvi has Insatiable appetite on his gingerbrute that has counter from weapon rack to kill me from 7. G3 is a lot smoother as I so tiny a gingerbrute, and at some point am up so many cards I decide to use a searing barrage on the untapped gingerbrute with so tiny on it (only 3 cards in Zvi yard) just so I don’t have to worry about losing to double insatiable appetite when I tap out for stolen by the Fae and or serpent. R3 vs GW I play vs the person feeding me and my heart drops. I assume he is blue and will have many secret keepers and didn’t say pleases and I know I am screwed because I have 0 counterspells. Instead he leads forest curious pair food turn 2 the 1/3. Then he misses land drops and eventually beanstalk giants up to 4-5 mana but just plays some medium GW creatures. I win without much resistance and G2 goes about the same. 3-0 and now it’s break time. I immediately start running to subway as I want to beat the crowd on our short lunch break. Unfortunately as I open the door I am greeted by a 50+ deep line. I turned around and dive into the fried chicken place. 30 person line and 1 lady working. GG yo. I am feeling good despite not having any lunch options. At some point in the beginning of the constructed rounds Allen Wu shares his protein cookie with me, and I think that was just enough to save me from crashing too early. R4 JetSki Fires I don’t recognize my opponent but I Open his list and see a Sam Roflo Specialeee. 4 Bonecrusher 1 Shimmer 1 Fae 1 Realm Clock 4 clarion 8 cavalier stock fires. I have a t2 Oko on the play, but otherwise my hand is Shite. Joe Demestrio is birding and brings up my line after the game saying he would have done things differently. That is why Wallace was on the rail and I was in the streets. The point was that my opponent played a turn 2 shimmer. On my turn 3 I made my food an elk and attacked for 3 missing a land drop and said go without playing paradise Druid. The reason being that if my opp has clarion you always want to have a food back to start attacking immediately. This way I could make food with goose in response to clarion untap make it a 3/3 and play Druid. Instead my opponent did nothing, and I passed turn 4 with a lethal attack if I untapped (9 damage from elks and 2 from Druid I just played with opp at 11). But They play 4th land and say go? I am worried about going for it as if they have bonecrusher giant for my Druid and then untap and realm cloaked giant I will have an Oko no food and 2 lands with no plays. But I don’t see any real other options. If I don’t make My 3rd elk and attack with everything I still will die to the realm cloaked. My opponent just concedes when I right click attack all. I sort of forgot what Joe even wanted me to do. Maybe it was not playing Druid T3 he didn’t like, or maybe it was when I turned my goose into an elk the following turn. But that was mandatory as it left me a food back Incase my opp had the t4 clarion or fires/clarion, and left me with a lethal attack if they did not. G2 I play a T3 nissa untap Breeding Pool attack, my opponent plays 4th fires and I Aether Gust it and untap and krasis for 6 or something. I won that one. R5 Jack Kiefer on JetSki Fires. His list was notably a bit cleaner and played less bad cards (except he had a bunch of shimmers I guess, that does qualify as a bad card) This match was really good, but just showcased how good the food deck is. He beat me g1 with no real sweat as I couldn’t pressure him nearly fast enough. G2 and 3 details are blurry to me but I know a surprise brontodon really threw him off in one of the games. He cast fires into drawn from dreams turn 4 and when I untapped and played and brontodonned his fires he seemed frustrated. I don’t know if he could have taken different cards with drawn but his next couple of turns were not good enough and I won. Oh I remember now. I absolutely ravaged him with a casualties of war in the other game killing his 5th land and only white source, his fires, his sorcerous spyglass and his cavalier. 5-0 R6- Oscar Christensen Mirror Oscar had a good list with 2 Casualties and I was a bit worried going into this match as I hadn’t practiced much at all with my deck and I felt he was probably well prepared for these mirrors. That proved to be true as he seemed to play very well in all the games. I think I just ran away with one game on the play, and the other game I won was solely bc I jockeyed myself into a position where he was forced to make plays to keep parity and left himself tapped out and dead to my 1 SB casualties. That 1 card I put in my sideboard at the last possible second after discussing how much I hate duress with Collin is certainly the only reason I made this run. It singlehandedly won me 4 matches. 6-0 R7- Craig Krempels Mirror Craig has a Karn’s bastion in his deck! I immediately screamed judge to get an Oracle as I had no idea what that was. But the rest looked pretty normal. I don’t know Craig well but I knew he was old school and at least a good to great player. I was in the zone this round and I think I got extremely lucky in a few ways. First was the seating arrangement. By the 2nd game a huge crowd was forming and I could sense them around me, but couldn’t really see any of them. He had them over his shoulder but also could see all of the people behind me up close and looking on. He made a few glaring strategical errors (Multiple times in Nissa fights he attacked with a land which let me kill his nissa for free where otherwise I would’ve had to overextend/throw things away to get to it), but he also just literally forgot to activate his planeswalker one turn and also forgot to play a land in another. He ran away with game 1 with a t2 Oko followed by an early Nissa, capped off with a Karn’s Bastion threatening to activate no less! In game 2 we have a bit of a back and forth affair but I am starting to fall behind. I am not giving up hope as on turn 5 I draw the black source I need for Liliana on the following turn. My board is two wicked wolves and a food, and I have 4 forests and a watery grave after playing land this turn. My hand is Liliana and my freshly drawn overgrown tomb. Howver Craig has just deployed Nissa to go along with his Oko on 10 counters, and his own goose and wolf. On his turn he makes an attack after I had attacked his walkers with my wolves. His only blockers now are the lands and one goose but his Oko has so much loyalty and nissa is now at 4 because I hit it with a wolf last turn. Fortunately he says go without even using his Oko. I untap ready to slam Liliana and hope I can fade krasis for a couple turns and claw back from a dangerous life total (I was at under 10 but don’t recall exactly). Instead I draw my 1 casualties 🏆 I kill both his creature lands and his Oko which leaves his nissa at 4 loyalty and him only having a goose to chump. But I have two wolves and a food so he can’t save nissa and chooses to not block with goose. He’s down to 3 lands goose and I end up winning easily with Liliana a few turns later. Game 3 is another back and forth affair but this time I wrestle control in the middle turns and also have my casualties ready. He is fighting back and has a vraska in play for a couple of turns, but I manage a krasis for 3 which will threaten to kill it as its at 1 going up to 3. He does remember to use it and has a goose he can use to jump in front and protect it for one turn. But I have nissa and casualties ready this turn and when I untap I know it’s over. I start by attacking Vraska with Krasis. He blocks with Goose and Bins it. I ask how many cards he has as they are on the table and he spreads them out slowly and it’s 4. As this is happening someone behind me on the huge rail screams Judgeeeeeee. My eyebrows raise and I immediately realize he left his Vraska at 3 but it should have gone to 2 from Krasis Trampling over his Goose. So I tell him this. Craig looks incredulous. I said yeah u chumped with goose it should be at 2. He says well trample is your ability. You have to remember your own abilities. So I said wait what? Did you think maybe I just wanted to go ahead and assign all 3 damage to the goose this time?? Really fuck that goose up good huh??? He kind of shrugged and said something back but I said let’s just call the judge. Lengthy call but I just lead with exactly what happened. I tell them that the person behind me screamed judge after a few seconds and that is what prompted me to scan the board and realize he didn’t tick his vraska down. It’s been 5-10 seconds since binning goose and all I have done was ask how many cards he has. I acknowledge that it wasn’t even on my radar until someone screamed judge (bc I was so happy and knew I was going to win. Also probably bc I suck and can’t seem to remember what my own cards do) They basically rule that trample does not have a default rule, so it’s on me to assign it. And also that someone behind me saying judge seems to have prompted me to realize I missed it. So the vraska stays at 3 I think this rule is kind of BS in the first place. Trample should be automatic default lethal + rest at you. (That’s how it works on Modo and Arena no?) But also barely any time has passed and no actions have been taken here, so I snap back and ask “What if I would’ve just called you over and told the exact same story, but left out the part about someone behind me screaming out judge?” You would rule differently right? “I cannot answer that hypothetical at this time” Ok well when can you?? “After the match” Ok thanks. “You can appeal if you are not comfortable” No it’s all good. Nissa float Gb with overgrown tomb untap casualties your entire board except vraska and a useless wolf go. The crowd goes wild!!!! “Olldddd Schooooooollllll” rings heard throughout the hall. He died the next turn or so. I bring it back up with Craig and I just let him know it’s not 1999 anymore. It’s actually the future now, 20 years later. And almost everyone in the room would just tick their own Vraska down to 2. He didn’t agree with that, but I have faith in the new guard. 7-0 R8 Eli Kassis on GB Adventures I was starting to fade hard at this point. The lights also got to me a bit. Its extremely bright up there and I was actually having trouble even reading what lands/cards he was playing. Game 1 I was feeling the head spin from not eating and having such a long day. I managed to keep it together and I am proud of myself for recognizing what I should be doing in this game. I had a wolf and 2 goose and on turn 4-5 I untapped and could slam nissa, but he had left 3 mana open and had some cards still. And I identified massacre girl as a massive blowout if I didn’t get my food count up ASAP. On top of that Nissa was so likely to just die to Murderous Rider or Grasp as he’s not doing much proactive stuff and I haven’t given him a great window to use either of those cards either. The issue is mostly that I didn’t practice so I haven’t played this matchup. But I totally blanked on Liliana for a few turns. The passive plays I was making left me completely fucked if he had one removal spell (kill a goose) into Liliana make me sac two. I still think I made all the correct plays, but after a few turns of skipping my plays to make food with geese to play around massacre girl and abyss him with my wolf, I realized how big of a threat Liliana was and finished the game off while playing around that as well. I win and he drops his hands of all lands. He played well but literally drew all lands so any plays I made throughout the game probably would have been good enough to win. G2 and G3 I think I play quite poorly. I don’t remember specifics but every time I made a play I felt like I was guessing and second guessing and I would just tell myself to make a play u are thinking but actually not getting anywhere. Go ahead, guess you monkey!!! No amount of thinking can save you. And then I’d just listen to The Oko Devil on my shoulder and make a random play. It all culminated in me scooping when I wasn’t dead. (I was dead as shit, but not technically dead. He had 2 cards and a castle, and any 1/1 or removal spell in the top 4 cards would kill me immediately) but I never would have scooped if I knew wasn’t dead immediately. You see the problem was Lovestruck Beast. Eli had 2 of them, a massacre girl, and a 1/1 human. I had a wolf that could kill the human and now help double block Massacre girl. The bigger problem? I played the entire match as if Lovestruck Beast was just a 5/5 for 3. Totally forgot it can’t attack without a 1/1. There is no excuse as I had the card multiple times in draft, but after a long day it just totally slipped my mind. 7-1 [Happy] One other note. Open decklists. I think this is a massive reason for my success at this tournament. I don’t have much time to practice these days, and there are so many damn formats and they are always changing! Magic is already so hard, but when you don’t have the practice + confidence in what your opponent will have in their list + confidence in your ability to remember and understand all of the possibilities/interactions/situations in the entire format it makes each game so much harder to form your long term strategical plan, which in turn makes all of your tactical ideas harder to execute as well. Knowing exactly what I am working with and against every round makes me 10x as comfortable/dangerous. I know it goes both ways, but I feel like most players at the top level have a huge edge on me without open decklists. I struggle to play around cards/piece together what they might have until it’s too late so often. Mostly because I’m bad at it and scattered, but also because of the lack of reps. I can never remember what set a card was from or how long ago a standard was or all the decks from the old formats etc. I actualy can barely ever tell you what sets are in standard and which cards are in which set! And that’s when I’m actively playing. So yeah. Shoutout to Open decklists. I’m sure many people hate them, but I strongly prefer them. I’m always going to bring caw blade anyway; GG yo. Day 2 & Day 3 Coming soon!

[ualscout]

Captain’s Log: 16 Triggers II

Communication

24-27/09/18

The 16 prompts continued...

9: Recreate the moment after…………..…

Alright, I’m really not proud of myself for this one. I couldn’t think of anything, so I drew a picture of a shattered window from the inside looking out onto a kid with a baseball bat and a look of shock and terror. This is a universal “oh shit” moment, which I think most people can relate to on some degree even if it isn’t baseball. I used the window to frame the kid and put him at the center of attention, and by using the window as a frame I also added focal layers to the sketch.

(The universal feeling when rolling a nat1, or a critical fail)

After I did it I thought of a ton of different ideas though. Like rolling a nat1 in a Dungeons and Dragons game when everything is on the line. Or closing out of a program/having a program crash and realizing you forgot to save. Or saving and forgetting you just saved so you save again. I dunno, I thought of better stuff but didn’t have enough time to go back and fix it because I just didn’t have time. Let’s just say the kid rolled a nat1 or something?

10: Reconfigure a newspaper

Y’all know Brexit? Yeah? Cool.

Anyways, I’ve always been encouraged to be aware of the world by my high school social studies teacher. I get news updates on my phone and all that. I gotta say, the world is depressing. When you’re constantly getting updates on the next mass shooting or stabbing or acid attack or stupid thing politics did, it’s hard to stay positive, but it’s kinda necessary to be aware and look at it with as little emotion as possible. It kinda feels like a ball and chain anchor.

(Pics of the ball and chain hanging from door)

So I represented that feeling by making a literal ball and chain out of newspaper about Brexit. Then, on the chains, I wrote

“Calling the world from isolation, ‘cause right now that’s the ball where we be chained”

from Humility by Gorillaz, which is about Brexit. The biggest project out of the prototypes, definitely. I did the installation first then documented it in my sketchbook.

11: Apologise for a mistake (visually)

This one was really hard because in order to apologize, you need a mistake. By nature, this needs some kind of narrative behind it that you can’t use words for and ideally want in one panel. Some boring ways of doing this could be helping someone up after tripping, or patching up something that broke, or WAIT.

I thought of something better- someone being stabbed through the heart by someone they love while being hugged by said person. Angst central… why didn’t I think of that earlier…?

Anyways, I did something kinda boring…

I made a confession box. I kept the statement vague. People could accept the apology, deny the apology, apologize for something they did and feel bad for, etc. I did it because I wanted to use the cardboard I brought lol. It ended up getting tossed by someone, so… whoops.

12: Record what another student is doing

Someone was passed out at their desk lol. I hope they’re doing alright. They seemed tired and kept sniffling. I just kinda scanned the classroom and saw them, basically taking the easy way out. Didn’t take a picture of them because that would be kinda creepy.

13: Make a path for others to follow

(How can the thread be red if it’s invisible?)

There’s this superstition about everyone having a red thread tied around their pinky that’s connected to someone else’s pinky and that person is their soulmate. You just need to follow the thread, which is harder than it sounds… I wanted to make an animation or something based off of that. It would follow two ends of the string, winding through the city and terrain, and watch the characters pick up and manage the amounts of red string they find along the way. I’d want this to be a music video, ideally to “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men or “One Red Thread” by Blind Pilot. I did some sketches in my book- the characters and everything would be simple marker sketches while the only color is the red thread.

… but I ended up displaying a meme option. One of my favorite emotes is OwO and it looks very demonic when you fill in the eyes with darkness. So I drew the emote normally, then blinking, then opening to darkness to the words “We all have demons, and sometimes they win.” This is 100000% a meme and shouldn’t be taken seriously, despite what my tutor thinks… Anyways, the path to follow was the path to your inner demons.

14: Add something extra

Do you guys have chipotle here? Well, guac is always extra. I don’t like guac personally, but it seems like something that can be put into other food things to disgust people. For instance: an ice-cream cone, a pom pom, a snowball, etc. I didn’t really have any good ideas, just that…

15: Making a drawing without touching a pen

… Okay.

(Fountain pen for flare and sarcasm)

I didn’t touch a pen, I did touch a pencil though. I drew a fountain pen and wrote “no” in pen because it was funny. Sometimes it be like that, chief. I think it’s funny because the pen is so carefully drawn and sketched in a pencil style, then you just have “no” there. Again, I just do things to try and be funny.

16: Make a neglected place loved

The first thing that came to mind was a grave made markless after being out and exposed to the elements for so long. 

(Like this- creepy and generic)

And that got me thinking about how that’s the last thing holding their physical body to the mortal plane. Their body is there, there is likely evidence of their existence, but no one will ever know for sure. The memory of them and the physicality of their body are completely disconnected. Not to mention these graves are so old they’re likely not visited or cared for in the same way recent graves are, they’re not remembered. I wanted to do something to make them remember…

… but then I decided to just make haunted shit. I like the idea of fixing and renovating even if it takes away some of the personality of the house. I think it’s like a reset, like painting the walls in a rental or getting a tattoo. But what if the house didn’t want to be remembered? What if someone wanted it to stay the same…?

Enter the song “O Green World” by Gorillaz. It sounds like a person washing windows in a slasher film. I like the idea of following an unaware protagonist and following the narrative through the windows, like some of the other pieces I did in the past (see Scene Change: No Story Time and prompt #9). I kinda just drew a basic concept, but it would take place in a haunted house and the characters would interact with the different sets inside.

BONUS: ZINE!!!

I swear to God when the tutors were briefing us on the zine I felt my heart beating with anticipation. I wanted SO. BADLY. To do this. Ideas started racing through my head and I felt my hands jitter as ideas raced through my head. A zine is the perfect way to tell a story and boy do I have stories to tell.

I thought through a bunch of ideas, like doing something about Mothman, explaining the story behind Haakon’s banishment, doing something about The Adventure Zone, but I realized I could tell a cohesive story by just making it like a textbook. I took from the prompt first prompt, recreating and object from my past. Again, not my past.

This is the past of Bo Phadez and Sandman. My first long-term DND character met an elemental golem the first session of the game, shoved a handful of ash into its receptacle, and unfittingly named it Sandman. Sandman went through a whole character arc with Bo during the game, with them nearly getting blown up in the pursuit of an infinite power supply. The Game Master threatened killing him multiple times… but he knew I’d make him regret it. Sandman remains my favorite thing to have come out of my misadventures in DnD yet.

Time was short, so I had to act quick. I wrote the lines as if they were part of an SCP file or a textbook. That way, even if the reader didn’t understand the crazy world the story took place in (jumping from a desert planet to a space opera with nukes and guns in a page with characters pulled out of a Russian version of Lord of the Rings. I used a brush pen to make bold and quick lines.

As I drew, I realized I spent less and less time for each page… I just knew how to make the characters look how I wanted. I know pencil was banned, but I used it for putting down lines, and at some point I just stopped and went with the pen. I had a lot of fun considering the different blocking and ways to compose the screen, as well as making the text fit in the frame. I played with colors a bit, making sure to use them to show how Sandman was changing forms and powers without fully doing it. To make full use of the frames, I cut the paper so I could glue the backs of the pages together so I wouldn’t have to deal with creases while I drew.

Honestly, making this zine gave me an epiphany. I want to draw like this for the rest of my life. I love designing the characters and getting to know their designs well enough to do them quickly and expressively. This certainly wasn’t my best work, but it was the quickest one with the best results and the most pride in my work.

I really wanted to pursue this more.

This was the moment I decided I wanted to specialize in animation.

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In conclusion, I think I make art for reactions. I.e. whenever I had trouble thinking of deep connections that I would actually care about I tried to go for comedy or sarcasm. I don’t know why, but maybe it’s because I’m an entertainer at heart. I really enjoyed doing all these miniprojects. It’s like throwing pasta at the wall and seeing what sticks. This kind of format lets me really stretch my thinking style because I didn’t care too much about making sure the end product was perfect- I just wanted good ideas and had fun with it! Some prompts came slower than others, but I always figured something out.

[evasjournal]

#blessed

Thanksgiving was just about perfect.

It’s unfortunate that in the two years we’ve had our gigantic dining room table, it’s only been used a total of two times. The first time was Thanksgiving last year when Amy, Zack, and I sat down at the eight person table for our little Thanksgiving meal. The second time was yesterday and it was filled with love, joy, and laughter and it was absolutely wonderful. The only thing missing was my husband, which made me very sad. But, thankfully, I had my family with me.

I drew the short stick again this year and had jail court duty on Thanksgiving, just as I did last year Thankfully, the list of inmates on Thanksgiving and today was quite short. We got done by 10 a.m. yesterday and I was able to head home and spend the day with the fam.

By the time I got home, they were just finishing up breakfast. I joined in for a quick bite before everyone sort of dispersed throughout the house to get ready for the day. On the other hand, I dispersed to get un-ready – I couldn’t wait to get out of my work clothes and into some sweats. I started helping my mom prepare some of the food before Emma and I began getting the Christmas decorations out! She was a big help J But not even a half hour into our Christmas decorating, my parents decided they needed to go to the store. I didn’t have any Cokes and God knows my family can’t function without being powered by Coca-Cola. My parents get so anxious driving around here – they’re always getting lost, so I had to accompany them and off to Wal-Mart we went.

The store was deserted, for obvious reasons. We picked up a few last minute things for dinner and on our way back home decided we would take a detour through the Lexus dealership. The exact car that I had been looking at and had just test driven the day before was still parked up front when we arrived. My parents took a look at it – my Dad absolutely loved it. He even asked me to take his picture next to it. Of course he thinks I should just get it, as if it were that easy.

After we got home from the store, Emma helped me decorate for a little bit until she, my dad, sister, and Aaron left for a movie. My brother helped me finish putting up the trees and garland around the house while my mom watched the baby and finished cooking. It looks like Christmas time at my house now!

Later that evening everyone got back from the movie and my sister ventured out again with the kids to try to snag up some Black Friday deals at Wal-Mart. She was able to get what she wanted, but it took longer than expected and dinner was delayed, but boy was it worth it!

We all sat down at the big table for dinner and that’s when it hit me – there was one empty chair. As we went around the table sharing what we’re thankful for, it brought me to tears to think of Zack being gone. Even though things aren’t necessarily ideal, I know I still have a lot to be thankful for.

I’d like to think that I’m one of those people who is thankful and appreciative the remaining 364 days of the year, but the truth is that I am not. Too often I lose sight of the things that matter and the things that I do have by focusing far too much energy on the things that I lack. I lose perspective far too much and so I welcome the month and day where giving thanks is urged upon us.

First, I am thankful for my husband. My mom is frequently reminding me of what a good man I found and she’s absolutely right. Zack is the most selfless, hardworking, and righteous man I know. He loves me and supports me and makes me want to be better. He is a good husband and will make a great father someday. I am incredibly lucky to have found such a man and ever so grateful that he is in my life.

My gratitude for my family is beyond words really. I am immensely fortunate to have been born to such loving and selfless parents. Parents who have sacrificed and will continue to sacrifice for their children and grandchildren. Parents who will always, always put their kids first. My parents are the most hardworking people I know. Day in and day out I deal with parents who have some pretty severe shortcomings as caregivers. Miraculously, I did not have to grow up with that and I am truly blessed to have the parents that I do.

I give many thanks for rest of my family too – for my brother and sister and the kiddos. The kids bring me a great deal of joy. They all are really great kids – and well, the truth is that they’re being raised by the same people who raised me so it’s not surprising. My brother is a great kid and I’m very proud of the man he’s growing into. And, as for my sister goes, she can frustrate me at times and she has her own stuff to work on, but at the end of the day it’s nice to have a sister. Not everyone knows what a sisterly relationship is like and it’s unfortunate because it’s a special one. I’m thankful that our relationship has only improved as we’ve gotten older.

And, speaking of relationships, the ones I have with my friends is a great deal to be thankful for. I sometimes feel bad for my sister because I don’t think she’s ever had truly great, real friends. It isn’t that she doesn’t have friends – I think she has quite a few actually. But if she’s ever had relationships like the ones I have with Amy, Jennie, or Laura, she’s never shared that with me. I have a really amazing, albeit small, group of friends. I adore them and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Those relationships are so valuable to me and I am thankful that somehow our paths crossed and they are now in my life.

My nightly prayer (when I remember to pray) always includes “casa, comida, salud, y vestido.” That phrase has been ingrained in my for as long as I can remember – I think it comes from my mom. A summation of the material things that I am thankful for (other than “salud” because I suppose that’s not really a tangible thing). But it’s true – I have a lovely, sturdy, strong house to come home to everyday. A home that keeps me warm and is filled with all of my “things,” which I have a lot of and I’m thankful for all of it. There are so many out there who don’t have enough and here I am with an abundance of it, yet I always seem to want more. I have a reliable vehicle, clothes on my back and plenty in the closet, and always enough food in the fridge. But it never fails that I feel my clothes aren’t nice enough or I don’t have a wide enough variety; I want a nicer purse; more shoes; there’s nothing good to eat in the fridge; this isn’t the “good” kind of creamer, etc.

What is wrong with me? It’s in the material things that I lose sight of what I have. So I am counting my blessings, which the truth is are far too many to actually keep track of! I am in good health, as far as I know – no cancer! The recipient of love from a wonderful husband, family, friends and in possession of a car, a home, clothing, the necessities to get through a winter, always with enough food, a cell phone, tablet, accessories, shoes – I mean I literally could go on and on. The Lord has blessed me, there’s no doubt about that. I need to sit back and take that in – give thanks for it all and pray that he keeps blessing me.