#honestly i might just redo that painting i think it could look a lot better

[apuff]

hey. yesterday seems as though it never existed. do do do dududududud do

[shirohige-pirates]

Birds of a Feather

CisFem Reader x Marco

CW: Violence, blood, language, adult themes and scenes. 18+ only

Summary: Life has not been kind to you. After a string of bad relationships, you're a little jaded and a little depressed in all honestly. The worst day of your life seems to be the turning point, but the roller coaster ride that follows could either throw you soaring free, or have you caged forever?

Chapter 12: The Firebird

Getting out of the car, you already saw Kid leaning against one of the bay door frames. The day was barely started and he was already covered in grease, shop uniform giving way. Knowing him he’d been working all night and hadn’t slept yet, versus having gotten up early enough to be in that state.

“Usopp here yet?” You call out, heading up to the shop proper, Marco coming up behind you.

“Yep,” Kid answers, squinting against the morning light as he cleans his hand up a little with a rag that’s seen brighter days. “Only just got here though, so you haven’t kept ‘im waiting much, Mouse.”

You roll your eyes and jerk your thumb toward Marco. “Eustass Kid, Newgate Marco,” you step aside as Marco steps up. “Marco, Kid.” You say, finishing your lazy introduction.

“Pleasure.” Marco says, taking Kid’s mostly de-grimed hand and giving it a shake.

“Sure thing.” Kid tilts his head toward the parking lot. “That yours?”

Marco looks back at his car and smiles as he looks back at Kid. “It is.”

“… Lemme put her up on a rack so I can get a good look at ‘er and I got a hood arm for you, no other charge.” Kid offers, still squinting against the light. Looking back and forth between the two of them you realize Marco’s the only person you know who could look Kid in the eye, damn giants.

Somehow Marco looks smaller than Kid, but probably because he’s not nearly as broad.

Marco looks to you and you smile. “I’m not gonna lie, I’ll be under the rack getting my fill too, if you’re okay with it.”

Marco chuckles. “Alright, it’s a solid deal, yoi.” He admits. “I’ll bring the car up. That bay?” He asks, pointing to one that looks like it has a lift in it.

“Yup.” Kid answers, his tone a little more friendly and a little less business.

“I’ll go talk to Usopp while you do that, and get things rolling.” You state, heading into the shop proper to find your car and Usopp.

The young artist is setting up his gear near your car. You start to say something to him, but the sight of your car catches your attention. In several pieces to make it easier for the paint job, everything has been reworked. If it wasn’t for the distinct body style and design of the interior, you’d almost wonder if it was your car.

“We either replaced or refurbished just about everything.” A familiar voice says from behind you. Looking over you see the wild blonde hair of Kid’s childhood friend Killer, one of the co-owners of the shop, poking out from behind the frame of a van with flames down the side of it. He turns to get a better look at you, lifting up his welding mask and giving you a smile.

“We kept what we could, but strictly original parts barely make up 10% of her now.”

“Did you guys redo the entire frame then?” You question, giving a wave to Usopp as Killer comes over to walk you through what they did to the car.

“Just about. You didn’t have near as much rust as we expected to find. Kid might not say so, but you took care of her really well, honestly. The engine had to be scrapped. There wasn’t enough machining to save it, and truthfully, the newer engines are just far too efficient.” Killer starts pointing at a few places while he explains. “Replaced all the clips and lines, new brake assemblies and tires. You got that sky blue base color, so we went with white for the interior. You had that dingy 70s silver before, so Kid didn’t think it was too different to bother saying something before hand.”

“Nah, white’s fine. It’ll be a challenge to keep clean, but y’all do detail jobs, right?”

“A-yup. Heat an’ Wire mostly, but I don’t think you’d hear a single complaint if this was the car they were cleaning.” Killer continues on. “Left the manual windows, and there’s an emergency release for the seat, but we did add fully adjustable controls to the seats.”

“Oh, programmable?” You prompt and Killer tilts his head.

“Here Kid was worried you’d be irritated by technology invading your precious time-capsule.” Killer grunts and you wave him off. “Yeah, you can put things were you want and save three different settings, so have fun with that. It’s still good old fashioned key-bound entry,” he continues on. “Kid says since you won’t have to worry about jumping her with the new, well, everything, that we could set you up with one of those magnetic keys for extra security if you wanted?”

“Hmm, I’ll have to think about it. Restored like this I’m going to have to get a new coverage policy, that’s for sure. It’d be cheaper on my end with the added security of a fancy key like that. Any chance I could have three for this car?”

“Three keys?”

You nod. “For now, one for me, one for the shop, and one for my house, in case I lose the one I keep with me.”

Killer tilts his head a little, and then nods. “I don’t see why not. I think we can order up to four for a single ignition without raising any concerns.”

“Perfect.”

“Whaddya think of her now, Mouse?” Kid asks, coming over to where you are with Marco not far behind.

“I think I’m going to go kick Victoria’s tires if you don’t stop calling me that.” You grumble.

Kid snorts. “Yeah, well, don’t kick Vicky’s tires, or your new car’s tires.” He warns. “Steel-belted, you might actually break a toe.”

“Hells Kid, are the windows bullet proof too? The security on this is already high enough as it is.” You tease, and Kid seems to consider.

“I mean, they could be.” He muses.

“No, no, that’s -,” you pinch the bridge of your nose and shake your head. “Thanks Kid, you guys did a great job.”

“Of which you had no doubt.” Kid retorts. It’d be arrogant, but he and the guys have the skills to back up his statement.

You smile and sigh, seeing no reason to give him an actual response. You turn to Usopp and give him a smile. He’s the only person in the entire shop that isn’t towering over you, it’s refreshing.

“Let’s talk design, Usopp.” You begin cheerfully. “The faster we get on the same page the faster I can look under Marco’s car’s skirt.” You hear Marco cough as Usopp laughs. Pulling a paper out of your pocket you unfold it and hand it off to Usopp. “I was thinking this kind of design.”

Usopp looks at it, looks to your car, and looks back at it. “That’s the original insignia design for the most part, isn’t it?”

You nod. “The expansion of the tail feathers would be unique, and I was thinking, one chain could go down each side of the car, and the third could come down through the headlight assembly?”

He tilts his head and looks back and forth again. “Yeah, I can see it. Do you know what colors you want to go with?”

“I think so. So if we do the outline of the wings in a kind of teal, with a metallic gold accent? I was thinking maybe a less metallic gold and more of a… hmm… dandelion gold for the chains.”

“Hm… rimmed in the metallic gold would be a nice touch.” He offers.

“Ooooh, yeah, that would. If the clear coat was a gloss finish too and not matte that would add to it.” You agree.

You’re too distracted with Usopp to notice, as Marco covers his face with a hand, listening to the two of you talk. Kid notices, looking over at him for a second before looking back at you. He keeps his voice low.

“You alright?”

“Huh? Oh - yeah, yeah. I’m good.”

“Wait, what if we invert the gold and yellow on the chain?” You prompt, and Marco makes a strange pained sound only Kid hears.

“You sure?” Kid presses a little. “If you’re going to hurl in my shop, step outside first.”

“No, I’m fine, yoi.”

Kid’s eyes narrow for a moment, and he seems about to say something when his eyes go wide.

“Oi, Mouse, I’m borrowin’ your boy toy for a minute.” He barks, grabbing Marco’s collar and pulling him away from everyone else.

“Hey, hey, don’t you-!”

“It’s alright.” Marco says, waving you off and giving you a smile as he and Kid go to the other side of the shop.

Your face twists a little, but Killer pats your shoulder. “I’ll keep an eye on ‘im, stay focused with Usopp for a bit.”

“Yeah, thanks Killer.” You murmur, turning back toward Usopp after giving Kid and Marco one more glance. Kid didn’t look happy, but Marco didn’t look bothered, so you did your best to pull your attention back to Usopp.

“The phoenix?!” Kid hisses, caught between disbelief and anger. “You’re Marco the gods-damned phoenix?!”

“Was.” Marco answers flatly. “Twenty years ago. Been a vet for over a decade.”

“The Whitebeard pirates were legendary.” Kid states. He opens and closes his mouth a few times, unsure of what to say. Caught between admiration and disbelief, he finally settles on the only thing that’s coming to mind for him. “Is she in danger?”

“No one’s been safe since Roger tried to right the world.” Marco answers a little more sourly than he means to. “But in danger because of me? No, not so far as I know. We stopped being pirates and the government stopped being a problem. Less trouble to just leave us be, yoi.”

“… Are you really immortal?” Killer asks, looking over his shoulder and giving a thumbs up before turning his attention back to the other two.

“I age,” Marco replies, tilting his head a little. “Past that, I don’t know. Nothing’s even so much as left a scar on me, yoi. But I’m not exactly testing the limits of things by taking care of cats and dogs.” He’s quiet for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck. “I haven’t talked with her about this yet, so I’d prefer-.”

“I’m not going to snitch,” Kid grumbles. “Talking about that stuff’s gotten fuckin’ touchy over the years, and considering mine keeps the shop running smooth I ain’t so stupid as to go around yappin’ about someone else’s business.”

“Happy to have your understanding.” Marco says quietly.

Having finished with Usopp, you came over to the other three, looking a little tentative until Kid waved you over directly.

“We all good?” You prompt, looking from one set of eyes to the next.

Marco smiles. “Exceptionally.”

You narrow your eyes a little and Marco looks taken aback for a second before you turn on Kid. “You didn’t go and do that whole big brother routine, did you?”

Kid rolls his eyes. “The hells would I go and do that? Yer doc’s alright.” He grumbles. “Let’s look under this car before Usopp paint’s the whole damn shop teal an’ gold.”

He pauses for a second, and turns and looks at you. “What made you pick those colors anyway?”

“I don’t know,” you admit, looking back over your shoulder at your car. “Just seemed right.”

[jezabatlovesbats]

Alright, fine. I’ll talk about Wish.

Here are some ideas I had for how I’d redo it. It might be bad, but I’ll give it a shot. Here goes nothing…

- I would've changed the title to something like The Wishing Star, or The Kingdom of Wishes, or Asha and the Wishing Star. 

- I'd keep the 2D-3D animation blend. I can see why they'd want to go with that. It's like, a nod to all eras of the Disney studio's animation. But, it would look better however possible. 

- I think we should redo the entire soundtrack to make it way less pop. The best movies from the studio have Broadway-ish soundtracks. I've read on YouTube comments and such that it's better for musicals to focus on the story and themes and not pop replay-ability. Not every song needs to peak on the charts like We Don't Talk About Bruno did. (We can probably keep At All Costs, though.) 

- For the soundtrack, I would have taken a similar approach to the SpongeBob Musical, where each of the songs are from different songwriters they’ve worked with. Like, one song from Lin-Manuel, one from the Lopezes, one from Alan Menken, etc. As I saw in one comment, they could even bring in Elton John and Phil Collins. Another way I would’ve done it is have all of them collaborate on the soundtrack together. That would have been impactful. 

- Probably change the designs of the characters, the architecture and backgrounds of Rosas, and the music so that they better represent the Iberian peninsula/Andalusia. There's so much to work with from that area. Some of the characters' names can be changed to better fit the area, too. But I'm not from that area, nor am I of that heritage, so I'm not sure how that would be done. 

- The name of Rosas can also be changed so that it fits in with the theme of stars and wishes. I was thinking something along the lines of Estrellas. 

- What kind of a name is Magnificent? I thought of changing King Magnifico's name to something like King Maximilio. He can be called Maximilio the Magnificent (Maximilio el Magnifico). 

- I was thinking that Asha is his and Amaya's adoptive daughter. 

- The major supporting characters would be Star (as that shapeshifting humanoid being), Dahlia, and Sakina, who can be Asha's (biological) aunt.

- I'm not sure if Valentino would be there as well, honestly. 

- @annymation’s rewrite had the king and queen have a pet bobcat, and I think that's cool! I think they could have an Iberian lynx or something!

- I like the idea of Asha having a human friend group, and I understand basing them off of the 7 dwarves. While I've heard people say that there doesn't need to be so many of them, we could possibly make them all work. We've just gotta give them more recognizable character traits and more to do in the story. (Off-topic, but Bazeema looks like an OC I would make.) 

- I'd also keep the beginning of the movie having a storybook being opened and read from. But, what I think I'd want is for there to be some opening credits with a song, like in Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland. The prologue song can be about, well, starlight and wishing or whatever. 

- For the actual plot of the movie, and for Asha and Star's dynamic, I'd have it be pretty similar to these ideas because I have none of my own: 

^ Read the description.

- My ideas aren't exactly like these, of course. They're, like, adjacent to these. Do you understand what I mean? 

- Anyways, Rosas (or whatever it's called) wasn't founded by Maximilio and Amaya. It's been there. They're just the current rulers of the place. It's painted as this happy, colorful place where all of your wishes can come true just like that. You can do anything or be anything you want to be. 

- I wouldn't make Asha pessimistic. I'd make it so that she's living idyllically in her kingdom, which, like I said, is marketed as the world's greatest kingdom or something. But then, she learns the hard truth about the way it's run when she hears of the people's untold suffering. 

- Sabino can be a poor old man that Asha meets, and he can be her very first encounter with someone who knows the truth about what's going on. 

- Basically, there's a false sense of equality and equal opportunity at play in this kingdom, and the rulers don't care about what the people want and won't do crap about the kingdom's issues. It's basically this, except it’s actually happening.

- So, when Star is summoned down, Asha hopes he'll be able to fix everything in a snap because her parents told her the stars were capable of anything. But, he can't do that. He, of course, helps her on her journey, and she challenges her parents, who aren't who they claim to be and all that. 

- A scene where Asha's friends and Sakina explain their wishes would probably be good.

- Maybe the rulers colonized the stars. Like, they exploited them and their power to only benefit themselves, and that has a really negative effect on them. So then maybe, when Asha wished on the stars, they saw it as a chance to save them, and so they sent down Star. 

- So Asha feels like her happiness is tainted because of what she knows now, but she keeps her mind open and tries to fight for a better future where all the people's wishes can come true.

- When the rulers are defeated and the stars are free, Star wants to stay with Asha because they've caught the feels for each other. It's kind of a Ponyo-like ending because Star has to give up his magic in order to do that. Maybe he could change his name to something like Aster or Esteban. 

- When he becomes human, he sends his magic up into the sky, and it takes the form of the wishing star. It's there to remind people that the stars will be there to guide you, and they'll help anyone in need.

- The theme I had in mind for this is like, No one’s wishes can really come true unless we’re all truly free to make them. In other words, don’t be greedy or ignorant and actually care about people. 

[dollsonmain]

up the stairs down the stairs up the stairs down the stairs up the stairs down the stairs up the stairs down the stairs up the stairs down the stairs 

Went down to look at dolls and consider doing a fresh faceup and despite my skill having improved, I still don’t feel like changing most of my dolls. I’m content with them, mostly. Maybe Bastien but I worry I’d have to redye him if I wiped his faceup.

I was also thinking about which ones I did and didn’t paint myself.

I didn’t paint Elma. Her faceup is pretty simple and it suits the character, though I might go in and redo it.

Hyacinth still has her FCS faceup with some additions by the previous owner. I honestly can’t remember if I’ve added anything to it. I might have. It’s very bland and pale. She could use a legit body at some point (she’s on a knock off night lolita with different hands), but BW oldskin Volks bodies are even more difficult to come by than NS oldskin anything. Maybe I should use her to try to practice the current Volks style faceup which I like a lot. But oof eyebrows. Eyebrows are so hard and for some reason I can NOT do them lightly.

Sayaka Miki still has her factory face with a little blush. I feel like she needs glasses.

MoonMoon... No idea who did her face but it’s very sweet and I have no desire to change it.

MiniMe still has her default faceup, and I’ve added to it over the years. It was kind of flat but the line work is better than I could do.

The unnamed Unoa face plate was painted by K. Knadle. Still tickled by how well it matches the Prettie Girls Kimani body. Pure luck that I just happened to have an extra that I’d thrifted.

Everyone else was me. There are 3 upstairs, and out of them only the Little Kurhn Colorist (I do include her due to aesthetic) wasn’t painted by me.

The F-08 gifthead that’s coming in will have a faceup but I have no idea what it’s going to look like, and the SDM has a Volks default faceup I think.

[svtskneecaps]

crew and cast

(gender neutral) reader x jihoon

genre: fluff + some?? angst? listen i tried lmao; words: 2.8k

well howdy @toxicsocial​ tis i, your tct secret santa. so uh, i can’t actually make people cry in a timely manner and i didn’t figure most people would be down to read like 9k of buildup, so!! the angst is minimal!!! but i tried really hard and i hope you like it i love you so much also i forgot to title it again until right now so don’t look at it too hard

You loved your high school’s theatre crew. From freshman year they’d been a staple in your life. It was refreshingly stable to be able to walk into the tech room anytime and reliably know what would be going on. Except, there was one thing about theatre you couldn’t stand: Lee Jihoon. You’d avoided him since freshman year, but unfortunately for you, you’d taken over the position of Run Crew Head and Prop Master, and he was the Student Director. You were forced to sit through every production meeting with him.

Which, fine. You’d do anything for the show to run well. But that didn’t change the fact that he made you want to commit a crime.

Or three.

“Great news guys!” you yelled, sweeping into the tech room. “The crutches still aren’t right and Jihoon wants us to repaint the brickwork on the platforms to be less ‘garish’ and the typewriter is from the 1940s when it should be from the 1890s and I’m going to set something on fire!”

Chan slammed his head against the nearest cabinet. “This is the third time he’s rejected the brickwork, oh my god.”

“Fourth time he’s hated the crutches too, and I’ve told him that the only period accurate typewriter in the basement is literally one wrong keystroke from breaking onstage but I guess he’s willing to take that risk for a typewriter that’s going to be in one scene.” You massaged your forehead. “I’m gonna stay late Wednesday so we can have our shit together by Hell Week.”

“I’ll have to join.” Chan peeled his head off the cabinet, cracking his knuckles. “You think Mingyu’s got time to spare? I might get him to help; there’s way too much platform for me to do in time.”

“Dunno, he’s pretty busy.” Vernon scooped a loose screw out of a sawdust pile and swept the whole thing into the dustpan. “Makeup’s been working hard to get the ‘ragged urchin’ look right.”

“I’ll con Soonyoung into it then, I don’t think they’re rehearsing the dance numbers tomorrow so he might be free.”

“I wish you luck with that, dude.” You scooped the crutch off the floor. “I gotta go beg costumes to let me into the basement storage and see if there’s another goddamn piece of fabric I can use for the crutches.”

“You have fun.”

You ended up getting lucky; Minghao already needed to go down there so you wouldn’t have to fight for cell signal to make sure you were allowed to deface the cloth scraps you’d found.

“You seem stressed,” he noted as he unlocked the basement door.

You snorted. “Stressed is an understatement.”

“Jihoon again?”

“If he tells me to redo the damn crutches again I’m going to nail him to the wall.”

Minghao lead the way down the stairs. “I really thought you had it that time.”

“Nothing is good enough for that guy.”

He shrugged. “He just wants the show to go well.”

“Yeah, well, so do I. He doesn’t have to get up everybody’s ass sticking his opinions where they don’t belong. He’s never been crew, why does he get to make us repaint the entire damn set anyway?”

“He’s the director.”

“Everyone else thought the bricks looked fine!”

Minghao looked at you sideways. “What’s your deal with Jihoon?”

“Like I said, poking his nose where it doesn’t--”

“No, you had beef before he got appointed Student Director.”

You sighed. “I don’t know. He’s always kind of been a pain even when he was ensemble.” You drove your finger into your temple. “And he broke a crucial prop that wasn’t his the night before the show opened and didn’t tell me.”

“You did props?”

“Buddy I was Prop Master. I literally didn’t find out until the Stage Manager tried to run that scene before school.” You glared absently at the shelves of typewriters to one side of the walkway. “I literally had to skip my last three classes and dinner to get a replacement and he never even apologized for it.”

Minghao whistled. “That’s unforgivable.”

“Tell me about it.” You waded through the costume racks to get to the bins of scraps in the back.

“And you’ve never considered forgiving and forgetting? I mean, it’s been two years.”

You sighed, leaning the crutch against a shelf. “I mean. . .”

He snickered. “Come on, it’s just you and me and the ghosts down here, you can say it.”

“I mean. . . he just makes me so mad!” You yanked the lid off a tote with a snap that echoed across the basement. “Like, every time I start thinking maybe he’s not so bad he pulls some other shit on me and I slam right back into hating his goddamn guts.”

“You’re on the same team,” Minghao called down the row. “You’re just trying to make the show better.”

“Making the show better shouldn’t involve painting the entire set three times.”

“I’m just saying, it’d put at least three years back on your lifespan.”

“Yeah yeah.”

You managed to update the crutches by the end of the day, and repainted the entire set on Wednesday--although you had to sacrifice your lunch and free periods and several hours after school to get it all done. Thursday left you with a finished set and another production meeting.

He didn’t like the bricks.

You saw red.

In the hallway, you pulled him aside.

“What don’t you like about the bricks?”

He frowned. “They detract attention from the actors.”

You wanted to seize him by the shoulders and shake him like a maraca. “It’s gray! It is the darkest most nondescript color we have in the buckets and you’re telling me it detracts attention from the actors? You haven’t even seen them rehearse with it!”

“It’s gonna be too much,” he argued. “It’s the same color as half the costumes--”

“I have seen every single costume in the show, it’s not even close to the same pigment!”

“Even still--”

“Listen,” you snapped, your heartbeat pounding in your ears, “if you want the set redone in time for Hell Week then I expect to see you in the goddamn tech room tomorrow after school wearing something you don’t mind getting paint on because I’m not going to make Chan and Vernon repaint the entire damn set by themselves for the fifth time and I have to figure out how to keep that 1890s typewriter from falling apart, do I make myself clear?”

He looked almost disgusted at the prospect, but he nodded stiffly. “Crystal.”

You turned on your heel just as stiffly, striding away before you lost all composure.

To your complete surprise, Jihoon actually showed up the next day, wearing a pair of faded jeans and a shirt so faded that whatever decal had been on the front had long washed away.

“So he arrives!” Chan yelled from his perch on the desk, where he’d been watching you wrestle with the typewriter.

Jihoon looked distinctly uncomfortable, but he squared his shoulders. “Where do you need me?”

“We gotta move all the set pieces in before we start,” Chan said. “Then I’ll probably have you start on the legs. We gotta wait for Vernon before we can move the tall stuff. One sec, I’ll--” he bolted into the hallway.

Jihoon stared after him, then looked to you. “Where is he going?”

“To tell Vernon we’re actually doing the repaint.” You shrugged. “Honestly I’m surprised you showed up.”

“I said I would.”

“Actually you just said you understood the ultimatum; we had no idea if you’d show or not.”

“Oh.”

You shrugged. “Good to have you anyway.”

Chan returned with Vernon before the silence could get too awkward, and you helped them move all the platforms back into the tech room. From there, Vernon set up his speaker and the real work began.

Jihoon helped choose the color of the bricks (and Chan threatened to really break his leg if he changed his mind about it later), and they got to laying down the base coat. You went back to glaring at the typewriter and reading through every antiques article you could find online.

After trying seven different methods to no avail, you shoved your chair away from the desk. “Typewriters are hellspawn created by the Devil himself to punish unfortunate Prop Masters.”

Vernon snickered. “That good, huh?”

“I’m going to put a screwdriver through the keyboard,” you said mildly.

“Okay maybe don’t do that.” Chan paused to pull a clean paintbrush out of his pocket and throw it at you. “You know where the overalls are; come take a break.”

“Why do you just have that?” Jihoon asked.

“A painter is always prepared.”

Jihoon glanced at you. You shrugged. “I don’t question it.”

Between the four of you, you managed to finish all but one platform by the time Chan and Vernon had to go. Being older, you had infinite time, so you cracked your knuckles and sat back at the typewriter. Jihoon lingered in the doorway.

“You need any help?”

You looked up. “Nah, I think I got it. Thank you, though.”

He shifted. “Listen, I know we didn’t really get off on the right foot but, I’m sorry. I know I never really apologized for the prop, and I’m sorry for how long it took, too.”

You sighed. “It’s fine. It’s kind of unfair of me to hold it against you this long anyway, so, I’m sorry too.” It wasn’t the only reason he made you so angry, but that chip on your shoulder made a lot of other offenses you would have normally overlooked seem larger.

“Can we maybe start over?” he asked. “Freshman year all over again?”

You actually found yourself nodding. “As long as you don’t make us repaint the set ever again.”

He laughed, running a paint-stained hand through his hair. “No, I won’t. I can’t do that to your crew again.”

“Good. Cause we weren’t kidding about breaking your legs.”

“I will keep that in mind.” He hiked up his backpack. “I’ll see you on Monday, then?”

“Happy Hell Week.”

Hell Week was hell (and the sky is blue).

Three of the actors lost their voices four days before Opening Night. One of the glasses for the restaurant scene shattered during the dance number--even though it was supposed to be offstage already--and the third lead got very close to twisting her ankle after landing a jump wrong. The actors could never manage to find their light, there were technical glitches with the backstage mics, and you were so on edge that if you heard the word standby you’d jump so bad you’d bruise your knee on the table.

The typewriter gave you more anxiety than it was worth. The actress using it had strict instructions not to actually touch the keys, because the only thing holding it together was gaff tape. You’d put Jun and Wonwoo in charge of bringing the desk it sat on onstage, because you trusted them to have it under control and keep it from tipping, because if it tipped at an angle any more than about 30 degrees, the keys would get out of alignment and that required time and experience to fix, of which you had neither.

Needless to say, you were two steps away from tearing your hair out.

At least you weren’t fighting with Jihoon, though. You’d even gone out to grab takeout with him for dinner, once, and yelling about all the problems in the car was really cathartic and you came back refreshed and relaxed, for once (only for every muscle in your back to clench at once because an actor bumped the prop table in their hurry to get in costume and one of the glasses fell over).

But it was Opening Night, and you were wound tighter than a spring waiting for everything to go wrong.

And it did.

Jihoon was in the hallway behind the stage, giving Joshua a few final notes about his big solo, and he didn’t check his surroundings closely enough. In his wild gesturing to demonstrate the level of enthusiasm, his arm clipped the typewriter.

And it fell.

He stared at it. Joshua stared at it. You could not tear your eyes from it.

The keys had tilted out of alignment. The bar holding the paper was skewed. The decorative paneling to one side had cracked down the middle. You didn’t have time to fix it before it went on. Maybe you couldn’t fix it at all.

“I am so sorry--” Jihoon started, but you stopped him with a hand, balling the other into a fist.

“Don’t,” you forced through your teeth, because you didn’t want to start yelling at him; it was an honest mistake and it was your fault for not resettling it on the desk after the last run. You were just seething with rage, at yourself, at the typewriter--you didn’t want to project it.

“Ten minutes to go!” someone yelled down the hall. You forced yourself to exhale, gingerly picking it up, flinching with every shift of the keys.

“Is there anything I can--”

“Get to the booth. Tell Seungcheol what happened, just-- be in your place. Jun!” you yelled into the tech room. His head jerked up. “I need you to take over headset for me, can you do that?”

His mouth fell open seeing the typewriter and he nodded, wordlessly, leaping to his feet and hurrying backstage.

Jihoon still stood there, looking between the typewriter and you with an anguished expression. “You’re sure you don’t--”

“I got it,” you said again, clipped. “I can handle it. I can-- just get to the booth, Jihoon!”

You hadn’t yelled. You knew enough not to yell when the audience was already in their seats. But your words had the same effect, because he flinched, and he nodded, and he turned the other way and ran.

Your rage was turning inward as fast as it was dulling, but you had a show to put on, so you placed the broken typewriter carefully on a counter in the tech room and sprinted for the basement.

You managed to get the 1970s typewriter back upstairs and on the desk before it went on, and the show went on without a hitch. The actors hit their marks, all the props found their way back to the prop table, and the pit orchestra didn’t have to loop a section for a missed cue even once.

You waited until everyone was gone before you let yourself cry.

“I really am sorry.”

You looked up.

Jihoon stood in the doorway, twisting his hands.

“It’s fine,” you said. “It’s partially my fault for not making sure it was centered right.” You rubbed your eyes with the palms of your hands, hoping to disguise the redness. “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “Do you want help?”

“I don’t know if it can even be fixed,” you said, staring blankly at the remains of the typewriter in front of you. “It might-- it might be beyond my help.”

For a long moment, you stared at it, mind spiralling.

You pushed yourself up. “They’ll want to lock up.” You slung your backpack over your shoulders. “I’ll just come in before the show and work on it. Maybe get Jun to grab me some McDonald’s or something and eat during the intermission.”

Jihoon’s brow furrowed. “That’s not healthy.”

“I’ve done it before.” You waved him off. “The show must go on, you know?” You slung your backpack over your shoulders. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The day came by in flashes as you researched the typewriter with a renewed vigor. You could probably use hot glue and some kind of putty to hide the crack in the paneling, you could probably put the keys back or at the very least tape them to look like they were back, from a distance. The bar at the top would be much harder but you hadn’t really inspected it the night before so maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as you thought it was?

You didn’t feel particularly hopeful when you stopped by the tech room to pick up the typewriter.

Until you saw the typewriter.

“What the fuck.” It was fixed. The keys aligned, the crack sealed, the bar sitting on top just as it was supposed to be. It looked exactly like it had when you’d first set it on that desk.

Jihoon came around the corner, dried putty staining his hands. “Hey,” he said, seeming tired but absolutely beaming at you.

“Did you do this?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. I didn’t want you putting your health on the line.”

“Oh my god, thank you. I can’t-- this is incredible!” You kept tracing your fingers over the ridge formed by the sealed crack, but you couldn’t see it.

“I did a good job, then?” He put his hands in his pockets, grinning.

“Better than good, oh my god I could kiss you!”

Your cheeks burned when you realized what you’d said, but he laughed. “Whoa, buy me dinner first.”

“Bet,” you said, accepting it like a challenge. “You pick the place, I’ll pay.”

“Okay,” he said, and then lifted his hands. “I gotta wash up.”

“Meet you by the front door in five?”

“It’s a date.”

[creativeskullcreations]

Buddy’s Problem part 1

Everyone's escaped from Snaktooth, but what happened directly after? And how did Buddy Copperbottom, now ex journalist, help Filbo become mayor? Find out in this short, three-part fic, from the author that brought you Outside!

Hey everybody, I know I'm supposed to on a writing hiatus right now but I felt inspired! Also not sure when the next part's gonna come out, but I'll have it up as soon as it's done, don't worry!

Buddy led Filbo up the stairs, the other Grumpus sticking close as the journalist fished the key out of his bag. He unlocked the door and let it swing open. He felt like maybe he should say something, like "Welcome to my home!". But he was tired, and honestly couldn't care less about it. Instead he stepped aside to let the light blue one in, and then closed and locked the door behind him.

"Make yourself at home." He muttered in lieu of anything else, and made his way to the kitchen. He hoped that maybe something had survived his month long excursion. Anything that wasn't ketchup or chocolate sauce. He opened the fridge, and then immediately shut it at the smell. 'That's gonna need cleaned out soon. Ew.' He went for the pantry instead, and chose a can of Chef Beenopi ravioli. He dumped it into a large bowl and stuck it in the microwave, listening to Filbo looking around his living room/office.

"Wow, you've done a lot of articles. No wonder Liz invited you." Ah, he was looking at the Wall of Paper, where Buddy had put up every article he'd ever gotten published. There weren't really a lot, and most of them had been pulled for being stupid or wrong. But, he had gotten them published in the first place, so onto the wall they went.

"Yep." Buddy replied as the microwave beeped. He pulled the hot bowl out and poured about half into another one. He then grabbed out a couple of forks and shoved a pile of stuff out of the two chairs set at the table. He then sat down himself to eat. "There's food in here if you want it. Real food."

"Oh, yeah. Thanks!" Filbo hurried into the kitchen and sat down in the other chair. Buddy couldn't stop the smirk of amusement when the other rushed and burned himself eating the ravioli. He sobered up quickly though, reminding himself that Filbo hadn't had any truly hot food for quite awhile. Months, even, depending on when the expedition had landed and they had started eating Bugsnax.

Buddy cleared his throat, letting his fork rest in the bowl. "Sorry about the mess." He finally said, feeling self conscious when Filbo looked up at him. "I don't... usually get visitors, and I certainly wasn't expecting anyone right after I got back." He cleared his throat, looking down at the dusty floor. 'I wasn't expecting anyone ever.'

"Oh that's alright." Filbo waved him off. "I'm just glad you were able to let me stay here."

"Not a problem." Buddy got up, leaving his ravioli barely eaten. "Let me go set up the, ah, guest room for ya."

He entered the backroom, and as soon as the door was closed he began to panic. There was no spare room. Sure, there was a bed and shelf in here, it had come with the apartment, but the whole room was shoved full of boxes that you couldn't get to either of them. And there was no place else to put the boxes.

"... Maybe he won't notice if I put him in my bedroom. I don't sleep in there much anyways." He grinned, clapping his paws together. "Yeah, that could totally work!"

The door behind him opened, and Filbo peeked in. "Uh, hey, Buddy, is there anything I con do to help?"

"Nope!" Buddy shoved him out of the room, and slammed the door behind them. Instantly there was a crash from inside the room, and he inhaled sharply through his nose, fake smile plastered on. "The spare room is toast!" He informed his friend cheerfully. The light blue Grumpus just looked confused. Both flinched as another, smaller crash resounded from the spare room. "... The couch is a pullout though, and a pretty comfortable one too. Not the same as a bed, but it's just until the Snax wear off, right?"

"Uh, yeah sure." Now Filbo looked worried, and Buddy feared the situation would quickly spiral out of control. So he just grinned wider, putting as much false cheer into his voice as possible.

"Great! I'll, uh, I'll go get the sheets." He hurried quickly to his room, where he kept the spare bedding. Not that he had a lot of that, but he figured he had enough for Filbo to use.

With Filbo's help(apparently he had the same kind of couch at home), he managed to unfold the thing and get the sheets on. He'd even found a spare pillow for him to use. It wasn't a lot, but it was a functional bed, and would work for the few days he needed before heading back home.

... And then it'd be back to being alone for Buddy, drinking the nights away while desperately trying to find his story of a lifetime. He wondered if that was how Lizbert had felt, before she found out about Snaktooth. He almost wished he could ask her about it.

Speaking of, once Filbo had settled, Buddy pulled out all the interview tapes he'd collected. He laid them out on his bed, then grabbed a notebook and pencil to start drafting the article. Surely, surely this would take too long.

()()()()()()

Filbo wasn't sure what to think of Buddy's apartment. It was a mess, that was for sure, but the kind of mess made by someone who didn't care about cleaning. Or who was too drunk to clean. He'd noticed the cans scattered around. Some were piled up in small pyramids, but most were just tossed in the corners. None seemed broken, thankfully, he didn't want to worry about either of them stepping on broken glass.

Still, it didn't paint a very nice picture of what Buddy's life was like. And it made him wonder what might happen when he inevitably went home once the Bugsnax wore off. He'd have to give Buddy his phone number, and the numbers of the others too, just to be safe. Then he'd have more options for entertainment besides cheap beer.

Yes, it was a good plan Filbo thought as he settled in to go to sleep.

When he woke up the next morning to Buddy in the throes of a caffeine induced panic attack, rambling about how everyone was doomed to become Bugsnax, he figured he had his work cut out for him.

First things first, calm Buddy down and get some coffee for himself. Second, find out just what Buddy was talking about. Which turned out to be that no matter what angle he went with, more Grumpuses would go to Snaktooth Island and be assimilated.

Okay. Filbo could work with that.

It didn't take long to go through Buddy's notes while the orange Grumpus was asleep on the couch and find something they could do. The volcano was almost too obvious. It was in  the midst of erupting when they left, and maybe they could exaggerate how bad it had been. Shouldn't be too hard to get in contact with the others and redo a few interviews. Buddy agreed, once he woke up again, and the two of them got started.

It took almost a week to get all the interviews done, and that was without interviewing everyone. Triffany, Floofty, and Snorpy were the ones they needed to "prove" the volcano had been a ticking time-bomb, and they were all happy to help. Wambus and Chandlo were given interviews about Liz, since they were there and to help fill out the article. Beffica appeared once she found out what they were doing, and demanded a redo of her own.

And, while they couldn't get their interviews, Filbo did call the others with Beffica's help to tell them the cover story. No Bugsnax, only a volcano. It had just been a con that Liz had done, in an attempt to get people for her settlement, before she got in over her head and fell into a chasm. Not a lot of people liked throwing her under the bus, Filbo included. But, it was that or let more people be assimilated by the Snax, and he refused to let that happen.

Put like that, even Gramble could get behind it, though he did so reluctantly. It still didn't feel right, but Filbo couldn't see another option, and neither could anyone else.

By the time the article was done, with new interview tapes and everything, the Snax Filbo had eaten had worn off and he looked just like he had before. The day he woke up looking completely normal, Buddy made the call to his boss to set a time to turn in the article.

Together they went up to Ms. Clumbernut's office, and handed off the article. She read it, praised Buddy for it, and then informed him that not only had he been fired since before he'd left for Snaktooth, but she'd done her best to get him declared dead.

"Might want to get that fixed." Was all she'd said as she left the room, taking the article with her. Buddy stared after her, with wide eyes.

"Well, that wasn't... ideal." Understatement of the century. Better change the subject. "So, I hear the elections are coming. I-I was thinking of running for Mayor." He grinned when Buddy turned back to him. "I could use a helping paw. How about it?"

For a second, Buddy hesitated. He didn't know anything about mayoral campaigns. But, then again, he had helped everyone else out, one way or another. What was one more? "Sounds good, Filbo!" He agreed with a smile, one that Filbo eagerly returned.

"Great!" He said, leading the way out of the office. "I have so many great ideas for this. I can't wait!"

Buddy couldn't wait either. He had no clue how he would be able to help, but he could figure it out later. For now, he was just happy to be useful again.

[vintagesimstress]

VI c. UV_1

(Previous: Changing the texture displayed in Blender)

As mentioned before, the uv_1 map plays a very different role than uv_0: it tells the game where certain parts of your mesh are located, so that the whole thing could move with sliders. It seems many people struggle with it a lot – and to be honest, I have no idea why, as in my experience uv_1 has always been totally unproblematic. Hopefully you'll share my feelings on this!

Let's click once again the little triangle on the right ('Data') and choose 'uv_1' this time.

As you can see, the texture on the model turned very weird – and it'll stay this way, as that map is not meant for texturing. You can as well change to solid shading, if you find that craziness spooky or annoying.

If you switch to edit mode, you'll see that the map looks just as crazy:

UV_1 uses a completely different type of template. It differs very slightly depending on age and gender of your sim; the adult female one looks like this:

You can download all the versions from S4S forum, in HERE (I highly suggest you make some kind of 'Basics' folder for all those things which you'll keep reusing!)

Once you have downloaded it, click 'Image' and then 'Open image'. It works exactly the same as in case of uv_0. Now it should look like this:

You can see that your vertices are twice wider than the template. I'm not sure why the template has been made in this way instead of getting adjusted to the TS4 requirements, but that's what we have to work with. Select all the vertices (a), press s, then x, then type 0.5 and press enter. Do not move your mouse! Your uv map should be twice narrower now:

We still have to move it, so that it'd align with the template. Select all again, this time press g, x and type 512. That's exactly the number of pixels you need to move your mesh to the right. Now it should finally look correct.

Just like in case of uv_0, the top part is completely done, so the only thing we have to do is unwrap the skirt. This time the only valid methods for doing it are no. 1 and 2 (see: VI a), namely moving the lines manually or using cylinder projection. As at this point making manual adjustments would be too cumbersome, we're going to use option no. 2.

Select the lowest line of vertices to select your whole skirt, go to front view this time (num 1) and choose cylinder projection.

Move the newly unwrapped faces up or down (g, y), to the black area, so that you could properly see them.

You can see that my dress got unwrapped a bit unevenly – there are small 'steps' on the sides. I highlighted all the faces which should form the left edge. Now I'll move the highlighted parts on the right to the left, and the non-highlighted parts on the left to the right, and then it should all look and work fine.

Tip: you can also move them precisely into the right place by typing g, x, 1024 (to move to the right) or g, x, -1024 (to move to the left)!

The weird part at the bottom is the closing circle; you can select the central vertex (which is here doubled on the sides), weld it and move it down, to more or less align it with the lowest row. Or simply wait with closing your dress until you're done with uv_1 ;). The bigger problem is that step my dress still has at the top. I'll select all the vertices below it and just very gently move them along the x axis to the left. Now, that looks better:

And now, just as we did before, we have to connect the skirt with the top. It's a bit trickier than in case of uv_0, because you can't do it in one piece: your mesh has to be split along the back and both sides. Take a look at the top mesh. Let's start from the left: click the rightmost face and then, in 3D view, the faces right underneath it. This will tell you where your skirt should be split.

I'll deselect the face of the top, select the whole part of the skirt left from the selection and then move it to the left (g, x), separating it from the central part.

That weird line at the bottom is the closing circle again – I'll delete it and redo it afterwards, it'll really be easier.

Repeat the same steps for the part on the right.

The edges of those three parts should be, if possible, straight. Mine aren't. To be able to adjust them, I'll select the edges and temporarily split them (ctrl + e, in 3D view). Select a vertex or two above as well, or the uppermost one won't get split!

(If you're having problems with selecting edges, it might be smart to select the whole skirt (not the top!) and change it back from tris to quads (alt + j). Then you can easily select edges by clicking them while holding alt).

Split also the top row of vertices, to separate the skirt from the top. Just for a second.

Now select a whole edge, press w and choose 'Align X'

Repeat for the remaining edges. If you want to and feel that it's needed, you can also straighten other lines in your mesh.

Now it's finally the time to put it in the right place. Select the skirt and move it up (g, y).

One can immediately see that it's way too tall. Scale it along the y axis until it looks more reasonable. It should start at the lowest line of the top and end a bit above the feet. Nothing big will happen if it covers them, but it has to fit inside the picture!

And now just scale and move each of the 3 parts individually, along the x axis, to match them with the top.

The only thing left to do is to weld the vertices. It's unlucky that we separated the skirt from the top; now we have to select all, remove doubles and then once again split the side edges to be able to weld everything properly. Just like with uv_0: select a vertex, press w and choose 'weld' from the drop-down menu. Repeat for aaaaaall the vertices connecting the skirt with the top.

Sometimes the vertices can be quite far away from each other. Is it still safe to weld them? I'd say risk it. If you see some weird stuff happening in game when changing your sim's body type, you'll know you have to fine tune it: straighten some lines, make them more regular etc. However, chances are quite high that it won't matter at all.

Select all and remove doubles. Yes, again (I keep doing it all the time, that's probably why I love the edge split modifier so much).

And now a very important, final step that I usually forget about: you have to revert the moving and scaling changes you made at the very beginning. Select all and press g, x, -512 to move it back into position, and then s, x, 2, to make it twice wider again. Otherwise TS4 will get quite perplexed with your mesh (and so will you, seeing everything being weirdly deformed and moving with all the wrong sliders)!

As you see, it's not very difficult and once you get a grip of it, you can do it in no time. To be honest, 90% of the time I don't even do the whole scaling and moving thing; I just open the picture, to know where the feet are, and adjust the rest to the top. UV_1 is really not that bad, at least as long as you don't have to deal with the upper body half.

Here are just a couple of general, closing remarks which I'd like to share:

If you move any vertices of the top, immediately move them on the uv_1 map as well. I try to avoid it at all costs, but sometimes I can't resist making just one teeny tiny adjustment... Arms are usually not a problem, neck can get problematic, and breast area is an absolute nightmare. I already mentioned it once, but honestly, better dissolve vertices and cut new edges with the knife tool than move anything in there.

If you're frankenmeshing, remember to weld any vertices you merged in 3D view! If your mesh is getting split in game when you move any sliders, that probably means you didn't connect those parts on the uv_1 map (or that it's vertex paint... but that's another story).

Of course, if you added any other parts to your mesh than just a skirt – or if you frankenmeshed a thing, but changed its location, e.g. took a hair ribbon and put it on the skirt – you have to put it in the right place as well! In case of frankenmeshing you just have to change its location on the map; if you made it yourself, you'll have to experiment with different types of unwrapping first (pssst, projecting from view usually isn't a bad idea).

There are also certain cases - rarely, but still - when it might be a better idea not to properly unwrap a part of the mesh, but weld it all together to a little dot and put it in the right place on the uv_1. The first example which comes to my mind are 3D buttons. I always weld each button to a single dot, so that it’d be changing its size evenly, without deformations. However, this comes at a prize of an increased risk of clipping.

And finally: if you're having big problems with uv_1 and my method doesn't work for you – or if you made your mesh completely from scratch, so you don't have an unwrapped top – you can always make a data transfer, copying uv_1 data from another mesh. I won't elaborate on this one, because Teanmoon already explained it all in her amazing tutorial, which you can find HERE. Scroll down a bit until you see 'UV-1 Transfers'. I think I used it myself once or twice in the past and I was quite pleased with the results :).

***

Once again, I'm sorry both for how long you had to wait for this tutorial and for its final length. I swear I intended it to be a simple, concise explanation ^^. I hope that at least it's all clear and will help you avoid any problems with uvs. Please tell me if you have any questions or if something doesn't work for you – really, I mean it! Half of my inspiration for this tutorial comes from me watching other simmers struggle with making their first pieces of CC, as it helps me notice what hasn't been explained yet.

From now on we'll be moving into the dangerous territory of clones, cuts, regions, bones and weights, and I need some time to figure out how to divide this whole topic into sensible parts. It's not even that hard, but very interconnected, and that makes it difficult to tackle – as covering it all in one part is absolutely out of the question. Please have some patience with me and stay tuned!

[littlebitoffanfic]

Baskets And Gifts

Fandom: Tinkerbell Characters: Bobble, Rosetta Relationship: Bobble/reader Request: Hi there, i was wondering if you could do a Bobble x Reader where reader is a Gardening fairy and she has a crush on Bobble but she's to shy to tell him so Rosetta ends up blurting it out to him.

 You flew from flower to flower, checking every one over for any issues. You smoothed out any petals which were winkled, wanting them to be perfect before painting tomorrow. You were so engulfed in your work, that you didn’t hear the approaching fairy. “you know, I think Tinkerbell said there would be a delivery today.” Rosetta appeared suddenly beside you, making you jump and nearly fall off the petals you were on. “Rosetta! I could have fallen.” You moaned as you looked down. It was a long way to the ground. “You have wings, silly.” She giggled, pulling at your wings. “Yes, but you gave me such a shock, I might not have had time to react.” You turn away from her, tugging your wings back as you fluttered to the next flower, hoping that she would drop it. But that wasn’t Rosetta. Ever since she had figured out your little crush on a certain tinker fairy. You didn’t think you were that obvious around Bobble. You two got along great, and he always stopped to talk to you. “I think you should tell him today.” She suddenly said, making your head snap to her. “Rosetta.” You whined, but she put her hand on her hip. “you two would be perfect for each other. Everyone thinks so. Please, just consider it.” She takes your hands, and you knew she wouldn’t let you get back to work until she had a response she thought was acceptable. “I’ll think about it.” You sigh, but she seemed happy enough with that response. “Good. I’m going to go see Fern. I wont be too long, then I can help you with the final checks.” She looked out over the petals before whizzing away. You rolled your eyes, before settling on another flower. It was probably the worst you had had all day, so you knelt down in the centre, setting to work. It took a little longer than normal to sort this particular one, but when you were done, you felt proud of your job. Standing up, you sort your skirt. “Hi, [y/n].” Bobble suddenly appeared next to you making you jump. And loose your footing. Falling back, you expect to fall off the edge and have to hope to god your wings stopped you from hitting the floor. But Bobble managed to grab your wrist, stopping you from even needing to worry about your wings. “Sorry!” Bobble pulled you back onto the petals with bright red cheeks. “No, its fine. Apparently Im easy to sneak up on.” You tried to laugh off, but your laugh sounded too forced. If Bobble noticed it, he didn’t say anything. He was too preoccupied looking for something. He ended up flying up a little from the flower to look around. He seemed to spot what he was looking for on the ground and flew down to it. It was certainly an odd reaction, so you followed behind him. You landed beside him as he picked up a woven basket. Probably the one you had asked him for last week. Bobble had been bringing it to you, and dropped it in favour of grabbing you from falling. But it took damage, now having a few broken strands in one side. Even your non-tinker eyes could see it would need to be done again. “Oh, im so sorry, Bobble.” You felt the guilt run through you. “Its okay. I can fix it.” Bobble waved off your concern as he inspected the damage. “You shouldn’t have to waste your time redoing something because of me.” You shook your head, scolding yourself. “Its not a waste of time.” Bobble smiled, drawing your attention back to him. “It is. Here, it will be fine. I’ll use it for the daisy petals. They are large enough to cover the holes and not fall out.” You go to reach out for the basket but Bobble pulls it out of your reach. “Sorry, miss. Cant have damaged items leaving this cart.” Bobble shook his head firmly. “But Im the reason its damaged.” You couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Nope. Sorry. Im afraid I’ll just have to come back tomorrow with a new one.” Bobble flew to the cart, putting it in the back of the cart. “you don’t have to come back. Honestly.” You move from one foot to the other, looking away. “I… I want to come back and see you.” Bobbles words drew your gaze up to him. The second your eyes met his own, you noticed his cheeks were burning red. “Really?” You breathe, smiling slightly as you fiddle with your own fingers as your question earns a shy nod. “I’d like that.” “Great. I’ll come by about mid-day.” Bobble instantly brightens up at your answer. You were so lost in happiness that you didn’t notice Rosetta approaching, hearing the end of the conversation. “Oh good, did you finally tell him?” Rosetta appears, having picked up the petals and put them in her new basket she had already collected. “Tell me what?” Bobble asked before you could think what she meant. “About her crush on you.” Rosetta spoke up, making you stand up straight and stare at her with wide eyes. “Rosetta!” You cried out in betray. Rosetta dropped the basket out of shock as she looked at you. It was clear as you both stared at each other that she realized that she had messed up. Her hands flew up over her mouth as she looked to Bobble for a moment. the betray you felt in your stomach turned to dread as you remembered that Bobble was standing right there. “I- I’d better…” you turned on your heels and flew up to the top of the daisies. The large petals would hide you nicely as you try to figure out what the hell you were going to do. landing on them, you wrap your arms around you, shrinking into yourself. Sinking down so you were kneeling, you soothed out the small wrinkles in the petal half heartedly. You couldn’t hear the hushed voices, thinking that the other two had dispersed. Bobble would fly back to his workshop and an awkwardness would form between you both. Rosetta would probably run to your group of friends and ask what she could do. You would probably forgive her by tomorrow. You didn’t hold grudges, especially because she hadn’t done it to be nasty or mean. But that didn’t mean you didn’t plan on wallowing in self pity for the rest of the evening.

 ----------time skip ------

  You were only half concentrating on the task at hand of painting the flowers. You chose to do it by hand because you hoped it would take up most your day without having to run into Rosetta. You were just finishing a batch when you heard the familiar sounds of wheels creaking. The delivery wagon. You landed on the ground, curious as to why there was deliveries today. And you could have fainted when Bobble appeared. Cheese steered the cart right to you, squeaking happily as you instinctively petted him. “I-I thought you wouldn’t do a delivery today.” You try to sound normal, but your voice shook slightly. “I said I’d come back with a new basket.” Bobble smiles, the red in his cheeks obvious, making you wonder why. He had no reason to be embarrassed. You left Cheese at the front to go to the back of the cart as he offers you a new basket. “well, thank you. I really apricate it.” you grin, taking the basket but noticing it felt a little heavier than the normal ones. Looking inside, you were surprised to see something wooden. Reaching in, you pulled out a hand crafted wooden flower. It was small, sitting easily in your palm, but the amount of detail in the petals was incredible. It must have taken hours for him to make it. Had he made it for you? The small wooden flower was beautiful, the petals painted your favourite colour and everything. “Rosetta told me yesterday. And I-I would have liked to hear it from you. But I think we’re both to blame.” Bobble’s wings flutter nervously behind him. “How so?” you ask, drawing your attention away from the flower to look at him. “We’ll, I’d get too shy around you and couldn’t tell you how I felt. just like you.” Bobble rubs the back of his neck, rambling a little as he looked anywhere but you. But his words were not lost. You close your fingers around the flower, holding it to your chest as you try to hold back a smile. “You mean it?” You ask, trying so hard not to get your hopes up for him. You didn’t want to be heartbroken again in two days. “Yeah.” Bobble nodded, and the second his eyes met your own, he grinned. “I really like you. A lot.” You could have fainted right there and then, your face as red as roses. But something drove you forward. wrapping your arms around his shoulders, you couldn’t control the joy you felt at hearing him say such words. The flower was still clutched in your hand. Bobble let out a breathy laugh before his arms wrapped around you, as if he couldn’t quite believe it. Suddenly realizing what you had done, you felt the wave of shyness crash back on you. “Sorry.” You mumbled, pulling away a little. But Bobble makes no attempt to let you go, and even though you had pulled away a little, you didn’t want to break the contact. You looked up at him through your eyelashes, noticing how his eyes darted to your lips and back. He leaned closer and your eyes fell shut as your lips connected. You felt as though a gust of wind had carried you away into a dream land. Your wings fluttered happily as you kissed him back. The shyness was obvious in the kiss, but you hoped that it could grow just as your relationship had. “Did you get your new bask-“ Rosetta flew through the flowers, to preoccupied on counting the petals in her own before she froze at he sight of you and Bobble in each other arms. you both pulled away at the same time, cheeks blazing as Rosetta stifled a giggle behind her hand. But her eyes betrayed her. you only just managed to hold back a groan. “I’d better be getting on with the deliveries.” Bobble waved to Rosetta as he retreated to the cart. You followed him. “Do you want to maybe come back tomorrow? If you’re not too busy with deliveries.” You quickly added the last part, busying yourself with petting Cheese who had sat very well the entire time. “I think its going to be pretty busy tomorrow.” Bobble sighs, and you felt the disappointment in your chest. But he perks up. “But I could come after I finish.” “Yeah, I’d like that.” You beam at him, more excited than you had ever felt. He nodded, before waving goodbye to Rosetta and you. You watched him go, trying to figure out what you were going to do till tomorrow. The sound of fluttering wings to your right brought you out of your dream and you saw Rosetta creeping closer, looking as though she might burst with excitement. “You really have poor timing, Rosetta.” You couldn’t help but smile as you attempted to scold her. But she raced to you, wrapping her arms around you and spinning you in the air. “Oh this is great!” She squealed with excitement. “careful.” You opened your palm to make sure the flower was okay. “Ohhh, whats that? Its so pretty.” She reached out, touching the flower but didn’t take it from your palm. “Bobble made it for me. Do you think Tink has some string I could put it on?” You ask, feel a small amount of pride at the gift. “Yes! Im sure she could figure something out. Lets go now.” Rosetta grabbed your free hand and pulls you into the air. You cry her name as your wings flutter, managing to catch yourself. You flew beside her, beaming as you gushed to her. You didn’t notice Bobble watching you go, smiling widely.

[spacesnail3000]

Brooklyn’s Sweetheart Chapter 1: Birthday Girl Gets the First Drink

Pairing: Stucky x Reader

Chapter Summary: It's her birthday and she'll cry if she wants to, or if crying happens to be the situationally-appropriate response.

Word Count: 5,380

Warnings: Language, drinking, eventual smut

Masterlist / AO3

The party had started a half hour ago and she still wasn’t there. Bucky was sitting at one of the poker tables that had been set up in the den, along with Steve, Tony, Sam, and Rhodey, all high-ranking members of the mob. He had just lost several hundred dollars and was about to ask Steve to spot him some more to keep him in the game when a guttural shout broke through the pop music playing on the surround-sound speakers.

“Where the hell is she!?”

“Honey, please, she’s just getting changed—just come in here for a little drink.”

Y/N’s parents came through the door of the den. Her mother had delicate hands placed around her husband’s meaty arm, somehow steering him into the den despite their massive size difference. Her father, the formidable Obadiah Stane, was red-faced and shaking with rage.

Tony immediately stood to go placate him, motioning to Jarvis at the bar to make him a stiff drink.

Mrs. Stane looked tired and on the verge of tears as her husband threw obscenities and curses around about their daughter. “I throw her this fucking birthday party and the ungrateful girl doesn’t bother to show her fucking face—I’m this close to marching up there and beating the shit out of her!”

His wife tried to placate him. “Darling, please. She’s just getting changed—she had to change her entire outfit and redo her makeup after you told her she couldn’t wear the gold dress.”

Obadiah only grumbled.

He had a temper at the best of times—of course he couldn’t give his daughter a break just because it was her birthday.

Obadiah was her stepfather, technically, but nobody ever talked about that. Seriously—nobody. One time, a lower member in the mob had merely mentioned Y/N’s biological father, and the next time anyone heard about him, his body had washed up in the Hudson.

So everyone acted like Obadiah was her real father—even Y/N.

Bucky shared a look with Steve. They could only imagine how the argument about the dress went. They had seen the dress, too—a formfitting number with a slit high up the thigh, thin straps on the shoulders, the fabric covered in glitter. It had been hanging up in her room for the better part of a month, and she had been so excited about finding “the perfect dress” for her debut.

Well, Bucky knew the first time he had seen it that her father would never let her wear it. Maybe he should’ve warned her in advance.

Steve hadn’t said anything about it either. Then again, Y/N and Steve still weren’t speaking that much. They hadn’t been for the better part of the year. When Bucky had asked Steve what that was all about, Steve shrugged and said she was mad at him about something.

When Bucky told Y/N what Steve had said and asked what she was mad about, she had huffed and said that she hadn’t been mad about anything, but she sure as hell was now.

Bucky thought they might get over it, but then Steve started dating Peggy and it only seemed to get worse.

As a result, Bucky had seen less of her, too. Now that he and Steve were getting older and more involved in the mob, they didn’t have as much time for her. She had been so busy over the past year with school and extracurricular clubs. They went to her high school graduation ceremony barely a month ago and teased her about all the cords that were draped over her shoulders.

Now it was her eighteenth birthday and her parents had thrown her the most extravagant party. Casino games were set up in the den like some kind of Monte-Carlo replica. There was a dance floor and drinks (non-alcoholic for the kids). The entire backyard of the Brooklyn brownstone was decked out in Christmas lights and flowers.

Not everyone had arrived yet, but it was starting to fill up.

“She’s here!” someone called from the foyer, and all of the high school students started to file into the other part of the house to see Y/N come down the steps.

Her parents went with them. Steve and Bucky wandered over to the bar and Bucky ordered two fingers of scotch. He would need to be drunk for the rest of the night.

There were too many young people around. It made his skin itch.

“It’s like my junior prom all over again,” Tony muttered, echoing his thoughts. “I swear, if she weren’t my goddaughter…”

From where he was counting his winnings at the poker table, Rhodey said, “Well, nothing’s keeping me here like that. As soon Stane’s occupied enough, I’m going to Jasmyne.”

“That new club downtown?” Sam asked, “I’m in. The sooner we get outta here, the better. You guys wanna come?” he asked Steve and Bucky.

Steve shrugged and Bucky said, “I think we have to stay. If we don’t, Y/N’s probably gonna cut our throats.”

Tony snorted. “She wouldn’t do that. But she would cry, and you know how she gets when she cries.”

Bucky cringed. He did know. It wasn’t fun.

They played one more game of poker before Rhodey and Sam headed out. The party was raging on by now and they could hear the teenagers talking excitedly all over the house.

“I’m gonna go have a cigarette,” Bucky muttered to Steve, weaving through the crowd until he reached the outside. Despite the décor, the yard was largely empty. Still, he went to the side of the yard so nobody would complain about the smoke.

As he lit up, he heard the back door open. He watched as Y/N and a few of her girlfriends stepped outside, giggling about something or another. 

Y/N’s hair was pinned up into a fancy twist on the back of her head, and she was twisting a loose curl around her painted nails. She wasn’t wearing the gold dress, of course, but the one she wore was nice, too. It was long, emerald, and made of satin, with a sweetheart neckline and a flared skirt.

Bucky thought she looked beautiful. He had realized in the past year or so how attractive Y/N was, but of course he had never acted on his thoughts because she was underage and he was also terrified of her father. The distance that resulted from whatever happened with Steve was welcome—it kept Bucky’s thoughts of her at bay.

Three of her friends were with her, and one of them took out a cigarette and lit it up. Bucky stiffened—he knew her father would not be okay with his daughter being friends with a girl who smoked. Obadiah was far too protective.

The girl, who Bucky recognized as Wanda Maximoff, said, “Too bad about the gold dress. It was so sexy!”

“I know,” Y/N huffed, “But you know my dad.”

“He’s such a hard ass,” another girl said, taking a drag from Wanda’s cigarette.

“Ugh, I know,” Y/N groaned, “I wish he’d just leave me alone.”

“Well, he’s not out here now,” one of the girls smirked and dug through her clutch before pulling out a small rose gold flask. “I have Bacardi!”

The girls squealed and giggled. Wanda said, “Birthday girl gets the first drink!”

Bucky rolled his eyes and huffed. He had just wanted to have one cigarette, and now these girls were out here and now he had to step in before Y/N got into big trouble with her father.

He cleared his throat, stepping out of the shadows and into the light of the Christmas bulbs.

Y/N’s eyes widened, while the other girls looked over at him with expressions of intrigue. Her friends tended to hit on him and Steve whenever they had the chance. It was annoying.

“You girls shouldn’t be drinking out here,” he said with an air of finality. “Go back inside.” He thought about taking away the flask but he decided it wasn’t worth the trouble and the temper tantrum the girls would undoubtedly throw. 

Y/N looked at her friends and said, “You go back inside, I’ll be right in.”

The girls grumbled, but went inside, leaving the two of them outside in the low lights, surrounded by fragrant red roses and white hydrangeas and verdant green foliage. She was looking at him with a small unsure smile.

He leveled her with a blank stare, taking a drag of his cigarette. Usually Steve was there to be the bad cop, but for the past year, Bucky had to wrangle Y/N and her bad behavior himself whenever he had to. Usually it wasn’t too often. She tended to be more bratty than delinquent, but he didn’t have the knack Steve had for fixing her attitude with a few sharp words and a well-placed glare.

“You shouldn’t have been out here with them,” he told her, but his tone was not as harsh as he wanted it to be. He couldn’t help it—she was his soft spot. “Your father doesn’t want you smoking and drinking.”

She rolled her eyes, stepping closer to him. Bucky was the lesser of two evils when it came to her “guard dogs”, as he and Steve were often referred to, and she was plenty aware of this. She knew she could get away with a lot more around him, and she knew he wouldn’t yell at her tonight. “Well, I didn’t do either of those things.”

“But you were going to.”

Her pout drew his attention to those perfect pink-painted lips. “Please don’t scold me, not on my birthday.” She looked up at him with wide, sad eyes, and Bucky relented—of course. She knew how to play him just right.

“Fine,” he sighed. “Happy birthday, by the way.”

She twirled around in front of him, showing him her dress. “How do I look?”

“Beautiful,” he said honestly. His breath caught in his chest when she came to a standstill right in front of him. He could smell her perfume, see the slight redness under her eyes—no doubt she was crying earlier after her father yelled at her.

“You think I’m beautiful?” she asked, eyes wide, pretty eyelashes fluttering, and her question was so earnest it made his heart clench. A blush rose on her face and Bucky found himself enraptured.

He nodded. “Yeah, of course I do, doll.”

Her blush spread down her neck and chest; she ducked her head and smiled. Bucky had the urge to run his lips over her cheek, her throat, the swell of her breast, everywhere he saw that delightful redness spread.

Bucky stepped back from her before his mind got away from him. “Go back inside, Y/N,” he said, turning away before he could see her sad pout. “If your dad sees you and you smell like cigarette smoke, he’ll kill me.”

“I don’t know why you’re so afraid of him,” she scoffed, but he could heard her footsteps retreating towards the door. “He’s all bark and no bite.”

The door clicked shut as she went inside. Bucky sighed. Y/N didn’t know the half of what her dad could do.

For the rest of the night, Bucky nursed several drinks, stepping away as often as he could to smoke. Peggy had come and Steve spent the night with her on his arm, dancing amongst the hoard of teens. 

Bucky tried to stay out of the way. He usually liked parties, but not ones with so many underage people. He felt like an old man amongst the partygoers, which primarily consisted of Y/N’s entire graduating class. Steve and he were only four years older, but it felt like a lot more than that.

At least Y/N was having a good time. She was lavished with attention from her classmates as they reminisced about memories from swim practice and student council. They squealed over their college plans, chatting about possible majors and the prospect of joining Greek life. She slow-danced with every boy at the party, giving them polite smiles and laughing with them; after that, she danced with her girlfriends to pop music, jumping around and laughing so hard she cried.

Her mother brought out a huge birthday cake for her, decorated with intricately piped flowers and glittering sparklers. They sang a rousing “Happy Birthday” to her before she managed to blow out all of the candles on her first try, grinning up at Bucky when he cheered her on.

As the night wrapped up and people started to leave closer to midnight, Y/N got into an argument with her father about something or another. He had pulled her into the kitchen and yelled at her. The guests couldn’t hear everything, but they got the gist of it—she was hanging out with too many boys, her friends were too rowdy, and she shouldn’t have asked if her girlfriends could spend the night for a sleepover.

Obadiah stormed out of the kitchen and went up to his office, Tony following with a grimace. Y/N’s mother came out and quietly suggested that everyone remaining should go home.

Y/N came out next, brushing past everybody with a watery frown and making a beeline for the doors to the backyard. 

“That’s just awful,” Peggy said sadly, holding a hand over her heart. “How could her father—”

Steve hushed her with a stern glare. Peggy wasn’t part of the gang, and she didn’t understand the life they lived or the reason Steve and Bucky said nothing about some of the awful behavior exhibited by the senior members. It annoyed Bucky, the fact that they constantly had to explain things to her without revealing too much, and he resented Steve a little bit for continuing to date her. It was more of a hassle than it was worth.

Still, Steve seemed happy with her, and she was nice enough. 

Steve said, “I’ll take you home, Pegs. Buck,” he turned to his friend, “Are you gonna stay and pick up the pieces?”

“Do I have a choice?” Bucky grumbled. He said his goodbyes before grabbing another glass of whiskey—he was going to need it—and following Y/N onto the back porch.

 She was curled up on the porch swing, legs tucked under herself, high heels abandoned on the ground. Her face was buried in her arms and he could hear her sniffling.

His heart broke for her.

“Sweetheart,” he murmured, moving closer to her. She didn’t acknowledge him. He sat next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into him. She curled around him, tucking her face into his chest and let out a sob.

Bucky stroked her shoulder with one hand and took a long drink with his other. With the whiskey burning a path down his throat and to his stomach, he tried to console her again with a gentle tone. “Hey, doll, don’t cry. C’mon, don’t cry on your birthday.”

She cried for several more minutes as Bucky rubbed her back before her sobs started to settle down. Eventually, she pulled away and he handed her his pocket square to wipe her tears.

Once her face was cleaned up, she sniffled a few more times before muttering, “Why does he have to be so cruel?”

He sighed heavily, unable to answer her question. Obadiah Stane was one of the most unkind and unforgiving members of their gang. He wondered how his daughter had turned out so sweet and innocent when her father could be downright evil at times.

“I’m sorry, doll,” he whispered, kissing her hair as she leaned her head on his shoulder. “I really am sorry…”

“Do you think he’ll let me go to NYU?” she asked. She had gotten a swimming scholarship to the university and had already accepted the offer. Obadiah hadn’t said anything against it—yet.

“I dunno, doll,” he said, “I guess we’ll see.” 

The most likely scenario Bucky could see happening was Obadiah telling her she couldn’t go right before the semester was set to start. He had done it multiple times before, allowing her to get excited for something before pulling the rug out from under her at the last moment. Trips to Europe for spring break, concerts in Manhattan, parties her friends threw. He was randomly controlling when it fit his mood, and typically nasty and punishing alongside it.

“All my friends are going…” she mumbled, “I just really want to go with them… I want to be normal, you know?”

He did know. Years ago, he had felt the same way right before his father had started pulling him into the mob business.

Bucky pulled back to light a cigarette. She sat back and looked at him, one eyebrow raised. “What happened to my father killing me if he smelled smoke on me?”

“I don’t think you’re gonna be seeing your daddy for the rest of the night, sugar.”

She sighed and rested her head in her hand. After a few moments of silence, she asked, “Can I have a drag?”

He sent her a look like she was crazy. “No. You shouldn’t smoke.”

“I never have before,” she replied, “I just want to see what it’s like.”

Her expression was so innocent as she batted her eyelashes at him, and Bucky sighed before handing over his cigarette. “You’re not gonna like it,” he warned her. 

He didn’t know what compelled him to let her try it—her father would torture him and cut up his body into at least 30 different pieces if he ever found out. But he figured if he let her try it, she wouldn’t try it with her friends and feel peer pressure to keep smoking.

She took the cigarette delicately between two fingers and held it to her lips. The first drag she took was heavier than it should have been, but Bucky applauded her for going in and getting to it. He laughed when she coughed on it, hacking and handing the cigarette back to Bucky with panicked eyes.

“Ugh!” she groaned when she finally stopped coughing, “Ew! That’s so gross!”

He smirked and took another drag. The filter was a little moist with her pink lip gloss, and it tasted like cherries when he put his lips over it. “I told you that you wouldn’t like it.” He blew the smoke out into her face, making her cough more and smack his arm. 

“Well, you should have told me that it tasted horrible and that I would cough up a lung.”

“I figured you didn’t need me to explain that part to you,” he said. “Now, are you ever going to smoke again, doll?”

He used a serious tone with her, one that made her squirm. “…No. I guess not.”

Bucky frowned. He wanted more of a promise than “I guess not” but apparently he would have to settle. 

Y/N leaned forward into his shoulder, reaching for the glass of whiskey in his left hand. She got a good grip on it before he could pull away and asked, “Can I try your drink?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never drank before, either.” He knew she hadn’t, though, based on the hopeful look in her eyes and the pretty little blush that covered her cheeks.

She shrugged pouted. “Please? Pretty please?” 

Bucky wondered if the alcohol would make her blush more. “Fine.”

“Yay!”

He gave her the glass and she sniffed the amber liquid inside before bringing it up to her lips to taste. She took a small sip, and then a larger one. “This is alright, I can see why you drink it.”

Bucky wanted to tell her that it was only good because it was from her father’s expensive stash, but he didn’t want to bring Obadiah up at that moment—he figured it was still a sore spot.

He reached for the glass just as she downed the rest of it, filling her mouth full with the liquor. “Hey!” Bucky said indignantly. He hadn’t intended for her to drink the rest of his glass. 

His irritation fell away when a drop escaped her mouth, falling down her chin. She swallowed and hissed at the burn. Before he could think, he brought his hand up and gripped her chin, wiping the spillage away from her chin and lower lip with his thumb.

“That burned,” she said, her eyes watering a little.

“You’re just supposed to sip it, doll,” Bucky informed her with a roll of his eyes, letting go of her chin, ignoring the stickiness of her lip gloss on his thumb.

“Whoops,” she shrugged, giggling. “Is this what it feels like to be drunk?”

“You can’t possibly be drunk yet.” He looked down at his empty glass and grumbled at her, “Great, now I have to go and get another one…” She giggled unapologetically at that.

Leaving her outside, he told her to wait for him and he would be right back. Nobody was inside—everyone had gone home, and her parents were upstairs. He was glad for this—he didn’t want anybody to find out he’d given her whiskey.

He filled the glass a little more than he normally would, needing the extra alcohol if he was going to get through this night with her. When he came back outside, he shucked off his suit jacket and rolled the sleeves of his dress shirt up, pleased to feel the light summer breeze on his skin. He was getting hot from the alcohol, from being so close to Y/N. 

He sat down and she tucked her legs into his lap and sat back against the side of the porch swing. It was a familiar position for them, one they had done many times on this same porch swing.

As he rocked them back and forth on the swing, one hand on her bare ankle, he thought back on their friendship. Although he and Steve were four years older than she was, they had always been friends with her because their parents were so close. They had played together all the time as children. When he and Steve started to grow older, they took on a sort of protector roll for her, encouraged by their fathers who were all obsessed with protecting Y/N, like she was the crown jewel of the mob or something. 

As teenagers, they had frightened off boys who were interested in her. Once she hit puberty and started high school, that was a lot more common. Bucky had lost count of the number of little haughty shits he’d scared away from her. He remembered one particularly obnoxious boy from a rival swim team—Y/N had actually liked him and got so mad at Bucky and Steve for beating him up in the school’s locker rooms, she didn’t speak to them for a month.

Now, it seemed like things had changed between them. Something definitely happened between her and Steve to ruin their friendship, and Bucky felt awkward caught in the crossfire. Especially because he really missed hanging out with her.

“Why don’t I ever see you anymore?” There was a little bit of a slur to her words—Bucky figured she would be a lightweight.

Bucky frowned. “I see you every week.” He knew it was bullshit, too.

“Yeah, to take me places when my dad tells you to,” she scoffed, “You never come around just to hang out anymore. You guys just act like my bodyguards.”

“Hey, we’ve always been your bodyguards,” he said cheekily.

“Yeah, but you used to be my friends, too…” Her tone was sad, and it made Bucky feel bad. He was so soft for her.

“Well, Steve’s not coming around as much, so…” He shrugged. They both understood. He went where Steve went.

“Steve’s so stupid,” she sighed, shaking her head like she pitied him for being dumb.

Bucky agreed with that, but he asked, “Why do you say that? What happened between you two?”

She rolled her eyes and tipped her head back. “He kissed me.”

“What?!” he asked, leaning forward in shock, his hand on her ankle tightening unconsciously, “When?”

“Like a year ago.” She kicked her foot out a little to get him to stop gripping her so hard. “We were at the Hamptons. And I was sad because I’d never been kissed before. So he offered to kiss me, but after that he got all weird. And he started ignoring me all the time. Then he started dating Peggy, so, like, whatever, I guess.”

Bucky was confused. “Steve never told me that.”

“Well that’s how it happened.” There was a silence between them as Bucky processed the words. “I don’t even like Steve. I just didn’t want my first kiss to be with some douchebag. Of course Steve had to go and prove how much of a jerk he could be right after that.”

Steve had kissed her! Bucky couldn’t believe this shit! Bucky had been holding back his desire for her for more than a year because he thought it would be sleazy to go after someone who was underage, when he was four years older. Well, now she was 18. And Steve was dating Peggy.

“Have you kissed anyone since?” he asked. She shook her head, blushing madly again.

Before he could contemplate it more, she leaned into his shoulder and reached across his body for his tumbler. “Can I have more?” He could feel her soft chest pressing up against his bicep.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said, holding it further away. She stretched her body over his more to try to reach it, practically sitting in his lap now.

“Please? It’s my birthday!”

“It’s past midnight. It’s not your birthday anymore.”

“It’s my birthday until I take this dress off and that’s final! Please—I’ve earned it!”

Bucky’s eyes flickered down to her glossy lips, her exposed chest. One of the straps of her dress had fallen down her shoulder, and Bucky knew he should have slid it back up but all he wanted to do was yank it down until her breasts spilled out.

She was still pressed up against him, giving him puppy dog eyes, pouting in a way that somehow convinced him to say yes.

Wordlessly, he brought the glass up to her lips for her, his own eyes boring into hers as he tipped the glass up to spill some of the liquor into her mouth. Her own hand came up to regulate the glass, but he tipped it up too quickly, too much pouring in and past her lips. Some spilled down her chin, dripping down her neck and chest, and Bucky couldn’t help but follow the trail with his eyes.

When Bucky finally took the glass away, she coughed a little bit, her lips shining from the drink. He drained the rest of the glass and set it aside, leaning into her. His right hand that was resting along the back of the swing slipped down to caress her shoulder. She looked up at him hovering over her, her eyes wide with shock and innocence.

It was that—that look, the delicious little blush on her face, that possessed him. He snapped, and brought one hand to fist into her hair, ruining the fancy hairstyle she had worn tonight. Tipping her head back at an almost painful angle, he brought his head down and dragged his tongue along her throat where the alcohol had spilled on her. Her breath caught in her throat as he licked three more trails up her neck and chest, touching her in places nobody else had ever touched her before.

Finally, he pulled back and looked at her. Her eyes were wide as dinner plates, pupils blown, and her mouth was open in shock. The blush on her cheeks was darker than ever. 

As she looked at Bucky, she was almost frightened by the look on his face—predatory and dark, blue eyes dark like a summer rainstorm, looking at her like he was going to feast upon her.

And he did just that, claiming her mouth in a bruising kiss, pushing his lips against hers insistently until she snapped out of her daze and clumsily reciprocated. He didn’t know how much Steve had taught her about kissing, but Bucky kissed her with a ferocity that she could barely keep up with. 

Her hands fell to his shoulders, pushing him away lightly, but he was too strong for her. His tongue forced its way into her mouth, tasting the whiskey on her tongue and the cherry lip gloss on her lips.

He groaned into her mouth and it startled her, but it spurred her to relax into the kiss as she tried to move her lips in time with his. His mouth tasted like liquor and tobacco. She found herself enjoying the taste, the feeling of his lips molding to hers, the rough wiry texture of his scruff on her chin. It was a lot of new sensations at once, and she lost herself in it.

One of his hands had snaked down to her waist, pulling her close against him, and she had just started to return his embrace when they heard a light cough.

“Eh-hem.”

Bucky pulled away from her like she had scalded him and looked to the door.

“What the fuck, man?” Sam stood there, eyes wide in shock.

Y/N let out a tiny “eep” sound, her face going up in flames. Bucky leaned away from her, burying his face in his hands. He fucked up so badly. Why had he kissed her?

Why had it felt so right?

“Y/N,” Sam said, “Why don’t you go up to bed. Barnes, Tony called for us.”

She shot up, wavering slightly on unsteady feet. Bucky shot his hands out to steady her around the waist, then let go again when Sam glared at him.

She turned to Bucky and gave him a small smile. “Goodnight, Bucky…”

“G’night, doll,” he muttered, unable to help the way his heart clenched when he looked at her.

“Goodnight, Sammy,” she said as she passed, smiling at him with those innocent puppy dog eyes.

“Goodnight, Y/N. Happy birthday,” he said with a smile, going soft just like everyone did for her—except Steve sometimes when she was being a brat.

Just as she turned to step through the doorway, she ran into a body—Steve’s body. He steadied her just like Bucky had, hands on her waist.

“Whoa there,” he said, but when he realized it was Y/N he snatched his hands back.

“Goodnight, Stevie,” she said sweetly.

“Goodnight, sweetheart,” he breathed, looking down at her and taking in her flushed cheeks, swollen lips, heavy lids. Before she left, she hugged him—just a quick press of her body against his—and then she was brushing past him and into the house.

Once the door closed, Sam turned on Bucky, glaring at him. “What the fuck was that, man?”

“What was what?” Steve asked, “Why’d she smell like whiskey?”

Sam asked, “Did you get her drunk so you could make out with her?”

“Make out with her?” Steve asked, his voice rising as he turned to look at Bucky with wide, disbelieving eyes, anger simmering beneath.

“Keep your voice down!” Bucky hissed. “And no, I didn’t do that. She had a sip of my whiskey—she was curious. The kiss was… an accident…” It wasn’t that far from the truth.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Listen, I won’t tell anyone else, but it better not happen again. Do you know what Stane would do to you if he found out about this?”

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me.”

Sam had been a member of the mob for longer than Steve and Bucky, so he knew Stane’s temper and how scary he could be just as well as Steve and Bucky, who had been born into the mob and grew up around Stane.

“C’mon,” Sam said, motioning for Bucky to join them in the house. “Tony said it’s important.”

Bucky followed Sam in, ignoring Steve’s accusatory glare as he passed. He didn’t regret the kiss, but he certainly felt like he fucked something up big time.

[actionfiguresfanart]

what if... Ruth!Doctor and Dhawan!Master got a chance to hang out

partly an illustration for recent chapter of my current fic “double agents” (link in replies) because... yes we could imagine a lot of unhappy interactions, but if they were getting along, the banter between the two of them could be pretty fun

reblog & follow for more ActionFigures FanArt

bonus pics and doll hobby chatter under the cut >>

height difference (exaggerated by camera angle) and the doctor’s shoes because i was happy to find those

i decided my first dhawan!m doll would be the one to hang out with ruth!doctor because their head sizes are a better match. the second one i made fits more with my 13th doctor. #dollproblems huh?! anyway this one looks pretty excited to be here :D 

i’ve reduced this dh!m’s height by about an inch, through shortening the bottoms of his ankles and the torso right above the waist, areas where the ken mtm body is unrealistically tall. i also added some belly while i was at it :) since i had to stick the torso back together with heatmould plastic

was super excited of course to see ruth!doctor, especially because of how similar she seems to Ian’s (@trans-kaidan-alenko​) OC dr who that i remembered from several years ago. so of course she had to become a doll as soon as i could figure out which face to use...

it was hard to choose a head for ruth!doctor because, honestly, available dolls and action figures of her demographic are kind of lacking (we know why)... but i finally settled on the darkest skintone curvy mtm that has recently become available as one of the BMR1959 dolls. i was afraid to do much overpainting because the factory paint was very nice, so i just did a very minimal addition of lines on her face because the actress is like 60 and though she doesn’t in any way look like the 2nd oldest dr who ever, she does look middle-aged.

the doll’s original hair was very nice so i cut it off carefully and saved it for someone who does re-rooting (is that you? message me!) and then i rehaired her with homespun yarn to imitate locs. i hope the hair will hold, but if not i can just redo it the same way. basically i used a rerooting tool to push parts of each strand into the existing rooting holes. if it comes out i can just poke it down again in a different hole. it is only one layer because the strands were so thick. since the character wore her locs up in a ponytail, that seemed to be okay. 

her suit jacket and scarf are for action figures and her pants are from ken. i used a barbie crop top to make the little bits of her blouse that show.  i think her brainy specs are from integrity... i used acetone to take off some sunglasses shading that was on the plastic, but it made it not clear anymore, that’s why they’re not on her face. they are coloured yellow with a highlighter :D because it was handy and it’s not like she’s gonna wear them out in the rain or something... i might try gloss sealer later to see if it makes the plastic clear again

the tardis background used is the one from the 1st doctor

@not-mandip​ @blacktardis​ @fastlikealambo​ i hope it’s ok i tag you

[bubblegumstardust]

i havent bombarded you with questions in a long ass time so here i am (feel free to skip some if its too much): 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (i know you probably won’t even have to google), 16, 17, 18, 24, 27, 29, 33, 36, 41, 47, 51, 58, 59, 61, 66, 71, 74, 75, 76, 79, 80, 90, 95 and finally 100🥰🥰

Dear God Chelle 😂😂💕💕

So sorry this is so long but I can't do read more on mobile

1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk?

I try to have more cereal generally but I just chuck milk in randomly and if it ends up being more then it ends up being more 🤷‍♀️

3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books?

I generally just use an actual bookmark, but some things I've used in a pinch are: receipts, a pen, sunglasses, some mail, another book, debit card, a hairband, my purse

4: how do you take your coffee/tea?

I don't drink coffee and I just have a teaspoon or 2 of sugar in my tea

7: do you name your plants?

Yep, I have 2 in my room called Ellie and Nyah. I even named their pots because they're cute and shaped like a sheep and a hippo! The pots are called Pippa and Mimi and they're girlfriends

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings?

Generally writing I guess. I do a lot of painting/drawing too but that's less feeling expression and more just fun.

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself?

Yep, and I'm probably very annoying to share space with because I do it a lot

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach?

On my side and I have to switch like every 10 minutes when I'm trying to sleep or I get uncomfortable

11: what’s an inner joke you have with your friends?

Literally cannot think off the top of my head. @wonderfilledness, remind me please. Also Chelle tell me any of ours I might have forgotten.

12: what’s your favorite planet?

In our solar system, Pluto because fuck science, it's a planet! Other than that there's a planet I can't remember the name of that, because of rotation speeds, always has the same side facing the sun so like most of the planet is uninhabitable except a thin strip on either side between the two

13: what’s something that made you smile today?

The pup. Also I was helping my mum make masks and I completely fucked up and it was really funny

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?

Ngl it would be a mess. Also probably covered in books and art stuff and it'd probably be light and airy with lots of plants and cute pastel colours

15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is!

Oh where to begin! Okay so for one NASA had to design a special pen for use in space because due to the lack of gravity, normal pens don't work. Any liquid in space will form itself into a sphere due to surface tension. Sunsets on Mars are blue. There's a planet where it's constantly raining glass sideways because wind speeds are so high. There's a (I think) dwarf planet in our solar system that they nicknamed The Goblin. Planet 9 is something we can observe exists but no one can find it and it might not be a planet at all. It could be a black hole or something. The moon is slowly drifting away. I'm gonna stop here but I could go on for ages.

16: what’s your favorite pasta dish?

Fucken love a good spaghetti bolognese

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair?

Kinda want it pastel pink or purple again but also really wanna dye it like a deep turquoise colour

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.

Excuse me how dare you assume I've done anything dumb! Tbh I definitely have but again my memory is really bad for stuff like this so I'm gonna turn to @wonderfilledness and @mooncloudsea for this again

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets?

Tbh, you Chelle. Also I'd definitely trust Alice with them but it's somehow easier to tell you because admiting stuff face to face is horrible and I can only talk to you online really

27: what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor?

I don't like gum

29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing?

Everything all you guys do is cute 😘💕

33: what’s your fave pastry?

C r o i s s a n t s

36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now?

Hmmm. I don't know what my mood is right now so like idk?

41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving?

I mean I'm pretty sure the last book I actually read was Aurora Burning so I gotta say that

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe?

Well there's plenty of foods I don't like but I'm not sure I'd ban any of them because there's always people who do like them.

51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them?

Okay it makes no sense but I always think of Alice when I here B0$$ by Fifth Harmony because it's one of the songs we always end up screaming along to in the car

58: who’s the wine mom and who’s the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why?

I feel like Alice is a vodka aunt and maybe I'm the wine mum?

59: what’s your favorite myth?

Idk actually. I quite like the echo myth though

61: what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received?

Honestly I have no idea 😂

66: what would your ideal flower crown look like?

Small little delicate one with lots of small cute flowers like daisies and other pink white and purple ones. Also it would be full of forget me nots because they're my favourite flowers.

71: what’s your favorite kind of tea?

Peppermint all the way

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns.

They have short brown hair and give some of the best hugs. They're a couple inches taller than me and will not let me forget it. They also steal all my old clothes and would probably steal my dog if given the chance. They need to learn to fucken drive already and it's been too long since I last saw them

75: tell us about your pets!

He babey. He also a little shit but I adore him

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t?

So many things. Probably most importantly, applying for uni

79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you?

Lol no one likes me enough to do something cute for me

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why?

Light purple. I chose it when we first moved here but painted it even lighter a couple years in

90: talk about your one of you favorite cities.

I'm generally not the biggest fan of cities but I actually really loved living in Nottingham. It was super developed and you had like everything you could need and want there but also really kept its historic feel and it never felt so overcrowded like places like London do and idk, it was just a really nice place to live

95: what are your plans for this weekend?

I don't really have any in particular. Probably do some more art and writing and stuff but idk really

100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? why?

I usually pick future no question but like I'm a little concerned as to what such a near future will actually look like. Maybe the past so I can redo some stuff and make a few better life decisions and get help for my mental health sooner and also maybe find a way to do something to prevent some of the awful things happening right now

[leiascully]

Fic:  Baseball Metaphors (7/?)

Part One  |  Part Two  |  Part Three |  Part Four |  Part Five |  Part 6

What can I say except you’re welcome, it’s PG-13, and don’t expect more until the weekend probably.

+ + + +

Between their travel schedule and Ethan and Jenny's various appointments, it's three weeks before they manage to get together for dinner again.  Mulder is honestly surprised it even happens.  He assumed when they all promised it would be a regular thing that everyone else was just saying it for the usual social reasons.  He's never quite sure what to do anymore when someone who isn't Scully enjoys his company.  But he dutifully makes reservations at an upscale Latin American place in deference to Jenny's cravings for beef and avocados, and Jenny practically croons as she looks at the menu.  

"Oh, Fox, I can't believe you remembered," she gushes.  "That's so nice."

"That photographic memory," Scully says fondly, and pats his hand.  She's wearing a blouse tonight, silky and pink with one more button undone than her usual office wear, and a skirt that looks like it would be easy to slide his hand under.  But he's definitely not counting his bases before they hatch, or however the metaphor would go.

"There was no way I was getting between a pregnant lady and her tacos," Mulder says.  

"These are going to be way nicer than the ones we make at home," Ethan says.  "Nice job, Fox."

Jenny pats her belly.  She's showing slightly now.  "I'm sure our little peanut will appreciate that."

"He's so considerate," Scully says.  She throws Mulder a melting look.  

"Sorry we haven't been able to meet before now," Ethan says, "but big news - we closed on the house.  It's officially ours."

"Maybe we'll have you over for dinner!" Jenny says.  "After the painters finish, of course.  Can't be around the fumes right now."  She laughs.

"Of course," Scully says with a gentle chuckle.  "Maybe it'll inspire me to redo my apartment."  

"I thought you were going to redo your apartment soon anyway," Mulder says in a meaningful tone, nuzzling at her ear.

"Oh, Fox," she says, playfully pushing him away.  "You know we haven't worked out all the details yet."

"We've got news of our own," Mulder says, turning back to Ethan and Jenny. "We're moving in together."  Jenny claps her hands.

"That's so wonderful!" she says.  "You'll have to have a housewarming when you find your new place."

"We haven't even decided whether we're getting a new place," Scully says, smiling.

"You will," Jenny says decisively.  "You know when you get to our age, it's just too hard to let someone else into your space, or to give up your own place.  A fresh start is better.  That way you can work together from the beginning.  It all starts with compromise."

"Wise words from a beautiful lady," Ethan says, leaning in to kiss her cheek.  

"I just know you'll find the perfect place," Jenny says.  Her eyes are shining.  "And if you need any help, Dana, I actually love looking through the real estate ads.  I'd be happy to look up a few places you might like."

"That sounds perfect," Scully says.  Mulder nudges her knee with his under the table.  She presses back firmly.  

Dinner, fortunately, is delicious, because it's accompanied by endless details about Ethan and Jenny's bungalow, their paint colors, the new stove they're having delivered, and the plans they have for their guest room.  In the absence of wine, Scully indulges in a margarita or two.  Mulder watches her lick the salt off the rim of her glass and remembers the kisses they shared in his car.  They haven't talked about it since, but he's indulged in a few reminiscences, alone in his apartment.  He picks up a forkful of pickled vegetables and pork from his Cuban plate and orders another margarita for himself.  

The meal ends with churros, fresh-fried and glistening with sugar.  Scully dips one into the accompanying chocolate sauce and holds it to Mulder's lips.  He bites into it, only a little self-conscious.  It crunches gently, hot and delicious.  He looks at Scully and it's like they're the only two people in the room.  Maybe that's where this ridiculous ritual comes from.

It's a nice night, somehow, or nice enough, for a night that doesn't involve watching either UFOs or baseball.  He couldn't have imagined becoming anything even approaching friends with anyone who'd ever dated Scully, but Ethan isn't that bad, and Jenny's definitely trying to smooth everything over.  He can tell that all this domesticity is still pressing on some sore spots in Scully's heart, but it isn't intentional.  Ethan and Jenny just genuinely want to share their joy.  

They say their good nights at the door of the restaurant.  Mulder puts his arm around Scully and she slips her hand into the back pocket of his nice jeans.  He isn't sure whether she's actually squeezing his ass, but at this point, he wouldn't put it past her.  When he agreed to play pretend as her boyfriend, he didn't expect either of them to commit to the bit so fully, but it makes sense despite Scully's generally reserved nature.  When she goes for something, she goes all in.  Rewriting Einstein.  Pursuing some kind of accelerated program through med school that he still doesn't understand so that she could join the FBI.  Wrangling him and investigating the X-Files.  Cuddling up to him at a restaurant as if they're sickeningly in love.

He's seen worse coping strategies for dealing with one's ex and one's ex's new house purchase, promotion, and pregnant pretty fiancée.

"See you soon?" Ethan says, holding out his hand for Mulder to shake.

"We wouldn't miss it," Mulder says.  "Or that double housewarming."  They wave as Ethan and Jenny turn to go through the parking lot.

"Is this what it's like to have friends?" he murmurs to Scully.

"I'm not sure anymore," she says wryly.  "All I have is you."

"I'm not so bad," he says with amusement.  "Am I?"

Now she's definitely squeezing his ass.  "You do all right."

"You okay?" he asks.

She sighs.  "It's srange," she says at last.  "On the surface, it seems as if they have everything I've always wanted, but I don't look at Ethan and want to be with him.  I don't even know if that life is what I want at this point.  I mean, it is, but this job isn't exactly compatible with parenting, and I don't want to give it up, and I don't want to have a family unless I have a partner, which I don't have time to find.  My parents loved each other, but I saw what raising four kids basically on her own put on my mother.  And Dad missed so much."

"Meanwhile my parents had nothing but me in their lives," Mulder says.  "After Sam, I mean.  That wasn't ideal either."

"So two to four kids," Scully muses.  "I don't think I'm the type for immaculate conception."

"That should be the least of your worries," he tells her, opening the car door for her.  

They bicker amiably about the existence of Bigfoot on the way home, a refrain as familiar as anything on Top 40 radio.  He parks outside her building and turns to her, trying not to have expectations.  But he can't stop remembering the heat of her kisses that fogged up the windows, the weight of her balanced in his lap.  She blinks at him slowly in the dark of his car and he thinks she's remembering too.

"Walk me to my door?" she says, and the quirk in her lips makes her intent clear.  

"It would be my pleasure," he says, and follows her into her building.  He props himself against the door jamb as she unlocks the door.  It takes her a second, even though he knows they were at the restaurant long enough for the margaritas to wear off.  If she's jittery, it's for some other reason.  He hopes it's him.  The lock clicks open at last and she tugs her keys out.

"Well," he says, grinning, "good night."

She reaches up and tows him into her apartment by his shirtfront.  He kicks the door shut and lets her press him against it as he bends down to kiss her.  He does taste salt and sugar flecked at the edges of her lips this time, but what matters is the heat of her and the way her lips and tongue insist on capturing his full attention.  He cups his hands around her face.  He'd pick her up if he dared and let her wrap her legs around his waist, but as natural as it feels to kiss her, all this is new.  

"I think you've earned second base," she says.  "For outstanding performance at an endless dinner."

"You sure?" he asks.

"I saw the way you looked at me in that hotel room in Oregon when I showed up in nothing but a robe," she teases.  "To say nothing of assorted evidence I've gathered over the last few years, up to and including elevator maintenance.  If you're not interested, we can say good night, but I better not hear any more bullshit about method acting."

"I'm interested," he assures her.  "It's just that pesky real life and office that we share I'm worried about."

She shrugs.  "It's worked so far.  I'm not going to tell my therapist about it, but it's worked."  She pulls him closer and looks up at him.  "If I didn't let Them take you from me, I'm not going to let this take you from me."

"If you're sure," he says.  

"I'm sure that I'd rather that you were feeling me up than that we were continuing this conversation," she says, pressing her body against his.  "So shut up and put out or get out."  She winks to soften her words.  

He kisses her again and unbuttons her blouse with feverish intensity, sliding his hand inside to touch the lace of her bra.  Her nipples are already hard.  He flicks his thumb across them and she gasps against his lips.  

"Ah, Scully," he says reverently.  

"Couch," she commands, stepping away and taking his hand, and he follows her over.  She perches on the arm of the couch, her shirt half-open and her eyes half-lidded.  He sits below her and buries his face between her breasts.  She laughs, her chest rumbling against his forehead as he nuzzles against her velvety skin.  

Scully, in a surprise to no one, has absolutely perfect breasts.  They're perfectly shaped, with a perfect weight in his hands, and her nipples are rosy peeking through the lace of her bra.  He loves them.  He could play with them forever.  From the noises Scully is making as he gently squeezes them, that's more than all right with her.

He loses track of time.  He's hypnotized by the texture of her, the salt taste of her skin under his tongue.  He pulls her on top of him, toppling onto the cushions.  She's straddling him and yes, he was right about the skirt being easy to push up.  He undoes her bra and pushes her shirt off her shoulders.  She slides her arms out of the straps and he has access to all of her.  The way she braces herself above him changes the shape of her breasts and he could spend forever just exploring all the things gravity or the lack thereof could do to her body.  He wants to get her in a pool.  He wants to take her into space.  He wants to grow old with her, and fuck, he already knew it, but it's a whole new world.  

"Mulder," she says, and her voice comes from far away, but he reels himself in.  She slides down his body until she can look into his eyes.  "I don't want to stop."

"I hear a big 'but' coming," he murmurs, kissing her.

"But I don't think we should round the bases tonight," she says, her voice brimming with regret.  

"You know I hate it when you're right," he says.  She leans down, smiling against his lips.

"I know you do," she says.  "But you and I both know we're going to have to have more dinners with them.  It makes more sense to ration it out."  

"Just in case of catastrophe," he says.

"That and I don't want to fling myself into your arms to assuage my regrets about my former relationship," she says.  "You deserve better."  She kisses him again.  "But god, I want you."

"You'll just have to wait a little longer," he says indulgently, brushing his hand down her bare thigh.    

"At least until the nursery's painted," she says, rolling her eyes.  

"That's third base," he tells her.  "Housewarming is home."

"Who put you in charge of the calendar?" she teases.

"I'm kind of in charge of the elevator," he jokes back.  "Besides, who knew the way to get you to drop all your inhibitions was to put you at a dinner table with a nice boring suburban couple?"

"That sounds much more scandalous than I think you intended," she says with a smile.  

"My scandal level is precisely calibrated," he says.  She climbs off him and he sits up.  He'll have to address his situation again when he gets home.  He's half-amazed he didn't come in his pants like a college boy fumbling around in his twin bed with his first hookup.  

"Good night," Scully says, tracing a finger down the buttons of his shirt.  

"I guess you didn't get to second base," he says, looking at his chest.  Hers is much more appealing.  She's shrugged her shirt back on and her breasts are bare inside it, flushed and possibly marked by his teeth.    

"Next time," she says.  "You don't have quite as much to work with."

"I might surprise you," he says.  

"Next time," she says again, and this time it's a promise.  She sends him out the door with a kiss and a slap on the ass.  He shakes his head in the hallway, only half-believing that any of this is happening at all.

[mysticsparklewings]

I will be with You

When you go, just know that I will remember you If living was the hardest part, we'll then one day be together And in the end we'll fall apart, just as the leaves change in color And then I will be with you, I will be there one last time now --My Chemical Romance, "It's Not a Fashion Statement, it's a Deathwish" ____ It's rare that I'm this proud of an artwork I've created. ^_^ Usually, there's some glaring issue or just an assortment of small things I'd still change if I had the patience and/or artistic ability to do it. Or even just some things that I feel like could've been done better, even if I know it did the best I could. This time? No. Not right now, shortly after it's been completed, anyway. I'm sure years down the line from now I'll look back and feel at least slightly different. But as it stands now, while I'm sure it has its faults, I am truly happy and truly proud of what I've created here and whatever faults are there aren't bothering me at all. So what then is this, exactly? This my dear Sparklers is a visual love letter to the band I discovered just a little too late but was still there for me when no one else was all the same. Earlier this month, I uploaded a different piece of art to celebrate the announcement of My Chemical Romance's Return, but even when I uploaded that one I was already thinking of doing another one, this time something that was more obviously fan art. But not just fan art as I've done for them in the past (Exhibit A, Exhibit B, and Exhibit C), but something extra-special and fun. I really did go into creating this wanting it to be as I described it above; a visual love letter to this band that I love so much and could not be happier that they're back. As such, I've squeezed in as many references as I could: 1. The female figure is molded after Helena from the album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge 2. The male/skeleton figure is supposed to be Pepe (that's what Google said his name was, anyway), the icon and seemingly marching band conductor from The Black Parade album 3. On Pepe's hat, I replaced the usual symbol with the Candle symbol that's been featured in the band's Return artwork 4. They fade into leaves based on the line from It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish (a song from Three Cheers) that I quoted at the top of the description 5. behind them is Party Poison's mask, as featured in the Danger Days music videos 6. on the mask, I replaced one of the black triangle shapes with the hanging man silhouette from I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love 7. The rest of the background is inspired by the covers for the Conventional Weapons releases (which in my mind I count as essentially an unofficial fifth album) (Debatable) 8. Their touching hands could be an indirect reference to the line "And as we're touching hands, and as we're falling down" from Demolition Lovers, a song from Bullets. That's at least one reference each (Three Cheers technically got two) for each of the main releases, plus one directly related to this new era we don't know much about yet. It's not an exhaustive "spot the reference" game, but I'm glad I was able to incorporate as many as I did. Now that I've explained them, maybe I can talk about my process without having to stop to re-explain each reference as they come up.   After some brainstorming, I got this image in my head of Helena and Pepe in this pose (inspired at least partially by this pre-existing fanart I've seen many times before) , which to me is a "renaissance dancing" pose but I'm sure there's some other better way to describe it I haven't thought of. I tried for a very long time to find a reference image of this exact pose to help me get the proportions and general anatomy right within my own stylization, but for the life of me, I couldn't find anything close enough to suit me and I really didn't want to have to settle for something else. As such, I'm sure the proportions and anatomy are off, but even so, I think I did pretty good considering. The main issues I ran into during sketching were mainly balancing the energy between the two characters--which I do think I managed in the end--Helena's skirt, as she's supposed to be holding onto it with that hand you can't see, and Pepe's torso. Originally, I was planning on doing this piece traditionally, but once the sketch was finished it almost immediately clicked into place that I'd be better served to do it digitally, considering what I wanted to do with the mask in the background already, as well as the leaf-fade. (The Conventional Weapons reference hadn't been planned yet, and it was technically only made possible later on by this piece being digital.) Luckily, doing things digitally meant that Pepe's torso was fixed pretty easily. It was too thin in the sketch, but all I had to do was select the right lines and move them out a bit in Photoshop. He's still a bit thin and not super buff, but personally I'm letting that go because...I mean, he's at least part if not all skeleton. If anyone's going to be too thin, wouldn't it make sense that it's him? Helena's skirt I did end up happy within the sketch but...we'll come back to the skirt in a moment. Pepe's...face? looked a bit odd in the sketch, but other than that, once I was happy with that foundation, I scanned it in and got to work on digitizing everything. I went over my lines for Helena and Pepe the way I normally would for something like this if a little intentionally messy instead of trying to get them super clean--as I thought that might be appropriate here--and then I paused with them to work on the mask behind them. The mask admittedly came out very poorly in the sketch, just because I bothered to look up no references for it whatsoever once I decided I was going to make this digital and I knew I could just draw half of it and flip it over. And I'm glad I didn't start trying to follow my sketch lines for it at all because looking up actual references showed me that would've been way off. While I had my reference up, I ended up going in and basically full-coloring and detailing the mask right then. That's the beauty of digital work; a lot of steps can be done basically out of order from how you'd have to do them traditionally and it doesn't matter because you can just move layers around and adjust effects later. I went with this pseudo-soft shading based on the colors and shadows I was seeing in my references, even though I wasn't sure yet exactly how I was going to shade Helena and Pepe. I figured that even if I used a different method for them that I could either go back and adjust the mask as necessary or that it wouldn't matter since the mask was part of the background anyway. Once that was done, I went back to ponder my two figures and the leaf effect that I wanted to do with them. And again, I went a little out of order here, as I ended up filling in the silhouette of Helena and Pepe with a blanket layer of gray so I could see how them blocking the mask was going to look (and I figured based on past experiences I might need the blanket layer in white later). From there, I went into working on the fading-to-leaves effect. My logic was that I'd need mostly the silhouettes of the leaves and then I'd get what I wanted after playing with layer effects or something. This assumption ended up being correct, but we're not there yet. As I worked, I kept looking at my "finished" messy lines. Something just didn't feel right. Honestly, I couldn't tell you where the idea to do this lineless look came from, but it got in my head as I was working and I kept looking at the lines I had and not being happy to just color those in as I normally would, shade it, and call it a day. I tried. I tried really hard to ignore the urge to at least try it and carry on as I was. I'd already come this far, and I'd be done so much faster if I stuck to the plan...But!! Clearly I lost that argument with myself. You know what though? I'm glad I did! I don't think I've ever done lineless art like this before, not counting my watercolor work where that's just part of the process to me. But digital? Certainly not. Human figures? Also no. I've come close in the sense that I've shaded my art before, turned off the line layers before, and thought, "oh hey that almost works without the lines because of the shading,"  but not much farther than that. Naturally, I wasn't even sure how or where to begin, so I went with what came naturally to me. I started by just filling in the lines as I normally would have, and then I went back layer by layer and went back and forth between having the line layer (with the opacity brought down somewhat already so I could sort of see what I was doing) on and off to try and balance the shapes between what they looked like with and without the lines. It's weird because if you ever try this, it's a little like having to figure out a bunch of individual silhouettes that make one whole one, except you need them to be a little more defined if you want them to make visual sense. That step and the next one, the shading, are tied in my mind for which one took me the longest. For the shading, I really just went in blind, using hard-edge cell shading, though originally I planning to come back with some soft shading in certain areas later. The soft shading ended up not happening partly because I liked it much better than I thought I would without it, and I thought the hard-edge shading made the figures pop a little more compared to the background. The thing about this was the same issue I run into with my lines nowadays; to get smooth shapes I spend a while going back and forth between putting color down and erasing it, and sometimes undoing and redoing the same line a dozen times to get it right in one stroke. But that's really my own fault for being stubborn and trying to work solely within Photoshop and not use other programs, as I know good and well I'd have less of that issue if I'd hop into Paint Tool Sai and use the linework layers in there. What can I say? I live up to my Capricorn sign by being as stubborn as a goat. Anyway. The biggest challenge to figure out the shading for was Helena's skirt. I think I would've still had issues with that though even if I colored and shaded my normal way, with the lines and everything. It's just the position it's in that complicates things. I actually did a good amount of shading in reverse here, where I'd make the base layer the shadow color and then the layer on top would be the regular color, as in some cases it just seemed easier to do that than the other way around. The part of Helena's dress around the top, for example. Or Pepe's pants (what little you can see of them). Additionally, I ended up leaving the feather attached to Pepe's hat alone and not really smoothing it out, as I thought the roughness and inconsistencies worked really well to make it seem more feathery. With enough patience and persistence and much back and forth among the various layers, I made it through all of that. I was a little concerned at first about some of my color choices and if the shading was too harsh in some places or not, but I mellowed out as I worked and ended up not making make adjustments after the fact. For instance, originally I thought I'd go back and make Pepe's...skin? closer to a true white and this fleshy off-white color was more of a placeholder, but the longer I worked with it, the more I didn't want to change it. It actually makes sense, given that his hands are normal (as they are presented in official artwork and other fan art not made by me) and that bones usually are naturally more of an off-white color. And I also think it just looks really good next to Helena's pale skin. The hands were a special challenge in regards to both shading and coloring, as hands like to be the more complicated part of a drawing more often than not, but even that I managed to get through with a lot more ease than I would've bet on. The other thing about that is that I was surprised once I got through the steps at how much better Pepe's face looked in comparison to the rest of the drawing. As I mentioned before, it looked odd in the sketch. But one I had most of the colors for him and Helena filled in digitally, the contrast or something just made it look infinitely better. (Combined with a hefty dose of earlier back-and-forth making adjustments to his jawbone area.) Originally, I thought I might use the same cell shading for Helena's eyeshadow. However, while I was still thinking of adding some selective soft shading, I added it using one of the brushes I'd used on the mask earlier. It looked so good to me that even after I tried added the soft shading with it like I planned and decided I didn't want/need it anywhere else, I kept it. And for the record, Helena's hair is kind of the wrong texture (it's officially more straight than this) and she's missing this little netted veil thing she's supposed to have, but I had a very specific vision in mind, so those were the two creative liberties I took with her design. I say it's fair game since I took a liberty with Pepe's hat to get the Return reference in. And besides, those two details being off doesn't make her totally unrecognizable if you know who Helena is in the first place. Once they were done, I spent longer than I bothered to document playing with the leaf layer I'd made earlier to try and figure out how to get the effect I wanted. Sparing you the boring details of my trial error, as I'm sure this description will be long enough without them, I eventually determined the best thing to do was to have one layer of the leaves on top set as an "overlay" layer, and another behind/beneath Helena and Pepe. Then I went back and extended my color and shading layers to extend down over the leaves, and I arranged and clipped the layers accordingly. Technically, the overlay layer wasn't necessary, but it added a little extra dimension that I really liked. By that point, it was my second day of working digitally and getting late, but I had to do one more thing before I could go to bed with my mind at ease that night. With Helena and Pepe done, I turned the mask back on (I'd turned it off so I could focus on them without it distracting me or otherwise getting in the way) and I felt like they weren't standing out enough against it. The bright yellow color was competing too much for my eyes' attention. So, after trying the "stroke" blending option in white and that looking God-awful, I added a new layer between them and the mask and manually gave them a white outline. It wasn't a perfect solution, and I knew that even then, but it was enough that I could sleep soundly knowing how far I'd gotten with the artwork. The next day I had to take a break from working on this to bust out a painting for the challenge I decided to take on this month, but I went back to this as soon as I could after that was taken care of. When I came back to it, I acknowledged that I technically could've left it as it was and call it finished. But I still didn't like how obnoxious the mask seemed for a background piece and it felt...I don't know. Almost hollow, in a way. It was a cool graphic, sure, but I wanting something more than that. Again, I'll spare you most of the nitty-gritty details. But long story short, I played around with layer effects and filters for a while until I had blurred the mask out just enough that it wasn't so obnoxious but also so looking at it directly didn't make me nauseous, and the edges were softened so it felt more like a true background piece and not just an accessory that had been plastered carelessly back there. It was only after I started saving off versions with different backgrounds--one with no background, one with white, one with black--that I realized I was missing a golden (semi pun intended) opportunity to incorporate a Conventional Weapons reference/allusion. Which was exciting because I'd previously been disappointed that I couldn't think of a good way to do that. I went back and forth on layer styles and adding texture with brushes and things for a while on that too, but you can see what I ultimately settled on. It's not a 1:1 to the CW covers, but I'm really pleased with it anyway. I did end up adding a bit more to the white outline in a few places and adding a drop shadow to Helena and Pepe so they'd pop a bit more (it almost makes them look like paper cutouts to me!), but really the only other thing I had to do after that was add my watermark. It took roughly 3 days of work from start to finish, but I was honestly surprised by how fairly smooth the process went. Especially considering the new things I'd tried along the way. I can only assume it's because of just how much my heart was really into making this piece. As I said before, I am truly proud of how this piece turned out. I love it. I love it, and I love the band that inspired its creation. Even the title says a lot here, I think. I picked this line that's repeated at the end of It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish, as it was a leading inspiration with the leaves and everything, and after looking at the lyrics I realized how fitting that line is for this. I discovered My Chemical Romance two years too late, two years after they broke up in 2013, but I've stuck by them ever since, and I will continue to do so, with whatever the unwritten future holds. They've changed, as anyone would over the course of six years, but they came back anyway. Even if it's just for a few shows and they're gone again. Or if it's going to be so much more than that. They. Came. Back. And that's not an easy thing to do a lot of the time. And so, I show my solidarity. I will be with you, MCR, no matter what comes next. You were there for me, and now it's my turn to be there for you, even if it as just another fan among the crowd. And that's really all I have to say on the matter. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

[pbandjesse]

I keep gagging. Why. Ugh. Today was a really good day and i dont like feeling bad at the end of it!

I woke up around 7:30. My alarm clock scared me but it's okay. I got dressed and I felt pretty good. I said sweet pea and got him in his carrier. I decided to leave a little bit early just in case since I was going somewhere I didn't know very well. I walk to the bus stop and I went to wait for the purple. To Silver's in a green went past. And that's when Google decided to update that I should have taken this over. And then nothing came for 20 minutes. I was going to be late to this appointment and I was so upset. Sweet Pea was crying and everything was the worst. Finally a bus came right on time. It was the latest one I could have taken but I only got there a couple minutes late. I called and they were okay with it. I still felt stupid. I hate being late.

But we talked to the vet and they were really nice. Got off sweetpeas information and and they said it's the same allergy he had before. He's going to be on steroids for a couple weeks before he can get any vaccines or anything. Get this lip all healed up. But he did a really good job. I have very good cat.

We got some compliments on his wheelie bag carrier on my way out. Everyone know where I bought it. And then we walk down the street. Stop at CVS to get a couple things and then waited for the bus which was much more on time this go around.

I got back to my neighborhood and stop at the grocery store. Sweet Pea still strapped on my back. And then back to the apartment. I have a snack and did some cleaning. Worked on some stuff. But soon enough it was time to go again. I loaded up the tooth sculpture and the fan for the BMI and walked to the dentist office. I almost dropped everything but it all was fine. The dentist loves the tooth and they posted all over social media. So that was really cool.

I went down to the Harbour next. James is having his lunch out on the pier so I sat with him for a little bit and then said goodbye and biked up to the museum.

I got there and got the fan setup. I had to duct tape the bottom of it so that it wouldn't fall off the base. But I think everyone is just going to be glad to have a little bit of air flow. I got a whole bunch of compliments on my outfit today. Including from a toddler who said that my outfit was very cute. Made me smile. And soon enough we were leaving for our field trip.

We went to the Lillie Carroll Jackson Civil Rights Museum. And it was fabulous. We had a 2 hour guided tour with the seven of us. First one we got there there was a sculpture outside. I had never been to Eutaw place before and I'm kind of obsessed. Thus Francis Scott Key sculpture blew me away. Just the mixed colors in metals and materials was incredible. I wish the fountain part was still working because it was so cool.

The Museum of strange. Not in the inside but on the outside because there's no sign. Just a little plaque. I wasn't even sure we were in the right place but it turns out it's the woman's home. And Morgan State University helped redo the museum in 2016. And it's gorgeous. Everything was set up so well. And I knew my mom would absolutely die she would love it so much. So I spent pretty much the whole 2 hours taking pictures of every single piece of signage they had so that I could send them to my mom and she can kind of get a virtual tour. I was able to talk to the story I didn't tell her what my mom does for the Bucks County African American Arts Council and then at the end of the tour we walked in her room and the picture of the woman on the wall look exactly like my mom. Maybe not exactly but I I was taken aback when I saw it. I sent it to my mom right away and she agreed. And then the door guide agreed as well and wants my mom to come be a re-enactor. So that was very funny. I definitely gave them the information for the group my mom works with and my mom's going to try to track them down on Facebook so that was really cool. But honestly today was just really moving in the museum was beautiful and the tour was amazing. I'm really glad I got to go. It was really important for me to be there. I learned a lot.

We left there and Mike gave me another woman to ride back to the museum. It probably should have checked where the museum was that we visited today before I was in the car because it was literally four blocks from my apartment. So I went a mile and a half away to the museum to go right back to my apartment in the back again but it all worked out because I wanted to go to the dollar store anyway.

Once we got back to the BMI I got my bike and went over to the dollar store. I got things for the party on Saturday and then I went back down to the harbor to meet up with James. But I was feeling some sick all of a sudden and he wanted me to wait an hour until he was done but I just wanted to go home and I had to stop at the art store and it was a whole thing. He teased me but I kind of got some kind of feeling about it. Not that anything he did it's just kind of my own issue. So I went home.

I stopped at the art store for a minute to get black spray paint to fix the white trunk I found yesterday. And once I got back here I cooled off and felt a little bit better. James came and helped me take the trash out and then I was going to go with him to his apartment because the bras I bought have been delivered there.

But of course it started to absolutely poor once we left the house. Like awful sideways giant drops of rain. And of course it only rained for the 15 minutes it took to walk from my apartment to his apartment. We both got soaked. It was awful. But we got inside and we heated up some food. And I think it helped both of us feel a little bit less horrible.

I hung out until 9. Some of his D&D people came over for half group game. And Lane was there and so I could give her her new Shelby. She named them raspberry. And just the joy she was having playing with it was so sweet. I'm really glad I got to be there for it. And it turned out that the other guy in the group's girlfriend, who was there, also has Shelby's and Furbies. She's not into the community. But she has them for when she was a kid and they all still work. She was very funny. I think neither of us knew what to do with information of talking to someone who also knows about this stuff so that was a little bizarre but it was cool.

But my phone was dying and I wanted to get home before it was too dark. So I left and walk back here.

I got a shower and I put away the new bras and stuff. I started packing a bag for tomorrow because we're going to go to Beaver Dam to swim. And now I'm just chilling in bed with sleepy. It was chewing on my blankets. Like a monster. I think I'm going to go get something to snack on because I'm having like acid reflux or something. I don't know. I might just go to sleep. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. We may or may not be going with James's sister or some friends or something. But either way I'm looking forward to a nice day. Hope you all have a great night. Sleep well.

[seouledbysisi]

A Time Like No Other

Chapter 12

Cafe

Misun wasn't in the mood to argue or fuss again. She had no energy left. Crying all night left her restless and she wasn't about to spend this day beating herself up even more. “If you're planning on yelling at me again you can save it. I get how you feel but I can't go through this again.”

Shownu chuckled a bit. “Please Misun, for once in your life stop being stubborn and have a seat.”

Misun glanced at Nori for a moment and finally sat in the chair that Shownu had pulled out. She didn't breathe a word. She was going to allow him to do all of the talking since he wanted her hear but the moment he stepped out of line she was heading straight for the door.

“We'll go grab coffee and pastries. What would y'all like?” Jooheon asked them with a huge grin on his face.

“I just want a vanilla cappuccino.” Nori answered him. She was on cloud nine simply being in this man's presence.

Misun looked away. She couldn't figure out what more Shownu had to say to her. Her stomach was rumbling of hunger but she was not about to ask him to pay for her food. She would just wait till they left and grab something to eat later.

Shownu stood at her side waiting on a response. “Nori what does she like because she's obviously not going to tell me.” He sighed.

“Get her a white mocha frappucino.” Nori said with laughter.

Misun rolled her eyes at Nori. “No, I don't want anything.” Her stomach growled again loudly.

“Your tummy is saying different, I got you.” Shownu told her and walked away before she could argue.

Misun frowned. “Stupid stomach!” She pouted.

“He's being nice again. Take what you can get for now because last night was brutal!” Nori told her.

“Oh don't remind me. I never thought it would get to that point but maybe I needed someone to give me a reality check. He said some real stuff and even though it hurt to hear it, it was true.” Misun looked towards the window.

Nori rubbed her arm. “You may be broken but it won't last forever. Time heals all wounds and eventually you'll learn how to let people in.”

Misun shrugged. “But what if I can't be fixed? I want love and romance but I don't know what that looks like when it comes to me. I don't even know if I deserve it.”

“Why would you ever say that? You are the most wonderful person that I know. Someone is going to cherish you and not take you for granted. Everyone has their moment.” Nori reassured her.

Misun gave her a half smile. “You have to say that because you're my best friend.”

Nori shook her head. “I have to say that because it's true. You know I only speak the truth!”

The guys finally made it back with their drinks and pastries.

Shownu sat beside Misun and placed her drink in front of her. “Caramel Frap, right?” He said with a smirk.

Misun lifted her head and stared at him with disgust. “No, it's supposed to be a White-”

His abrupt laughter cut her off. “I'm joking. It's a white mocha frappucino.”

Misun sighed of relief. “Thank you. You really didn't have to though.”

“I know I didn't have to but sometimes people do nice things simply because they want to. That's something you need to embrace.” He told as he sipped his Americano.

“Sir yes sir.” She answered with a nod.

Jooheon and Nori were simply watching the exchange. It was awkward. They didn't know how this conversation was going to go but they were praying that it went better than last night's encounter did.

“I don't mean to rush y'all but are we just gonna sit here in silence?” Jooheon asked. He was ready to get this show on the road so that maybe it wouldn't be so weird anymore. He wasn't feeling the vibe.

Shownu cleared his throat. “I guess I just wanted you to come so I could apologize.”

Misun looked up at him. She was confused. “Why should you apologize?”

“Although I meant everything I said, I feel like I could have said it differently. I didn't mean to make you cry. I just wanted you to understand where I was coming from, you know?”  

Misun nodded and looked away. “Maybe I deserved it. We're good. You don't need to apologize. The truth hurts I guess.”

“And the answer is yes.” Shownu added.

Misun scrunched her eyebrows. “Yes? Huh?”

Shownu smirked. “Last night you asked could we start over. The answer is yes.”

Misun smiled a little. “I totally forgot that I asked that. Well thanks for the redo.”

Nori couldn't stop her smiles. She was happy that they were finally getting it right one way or another.

“Should I knock you over again?” Shownu asked as he lifted an eyebrow.

Misun giggled. “I don't think that'll be necessary. Can I settle for a handshake and introduction?”

“Oh you're no fun! I was looking forward to you falling for me again.” He answered with a laugh.

Misun rolled her eyes. “Well I won't be falling for you anymore!”

“That's what you think. I'm Shownu by the way.” He reached out his hand for her to shake.

She was a little taken aback by his statement. She was glad that her skin was a bit dark otherwise it'd be obvious that she was blushing. “Nice to meet you, I'm Misun. I just moved here.” She grabbed his hand softly and shook it.

Shownu wasn't ready to let her hand go so he took his other hand and cupped it over hers. “Maybe I could show you around sometime?”

Misun tried her hardest to hold back a smile. “I'd love that! Just let me know when and I'm there.”

“Well there's no better time than the here and now since we're already together. There's an amusement park that me and Jooheon love. Wanna join us?” Shownu looked at both girls.

Nori's eyes got bigger. “Yes!” She yelled a bit too loud out of excitement. She covered her mouth immediately. “I'm sorry but I love amusement parks!”

Jooheon hugged her shoulders tightly. “You're the cutest thing I've ever laid eyes on.”

Nori began to blush. “Really? You're just trying to butter me up.”

“No I mean it! Out of curiosity this counts as our second date, right?” He asked her.

Nori looked dumbfounded. “When did we have our first?”

“I kind of just assumed that last night was our first.” Jooheon chuckled.

Misun smiled at their interaction. She got up to throw away her trash and to give them a bit of privacy.

Shownu decided to follow her outside as they waited for the other two to finish their conversation. “So, what does the mysterious Misun like to do?”

Misun put her finger on her chin as she thought of something. “I work all of the time and I'll probably be working a lot more since we've been signed to a entertainment company. You're no stranger to that though I'm sure.”

Shownu stood directly in front of her so she wouldn't have a choice but to make eye contact. “You have a way of evading questions. I don't like that.”

Misun took a sip from her coffee drink. “I'm sorry. I know I do that, it's one of the many things I have to work on. I'm simple though, I can ride the wave with anything honestly as long as it's fun.”

“But what's something that Misun would love to do here in South Korea? I wanna know you!”

Misun was becoming a bit uncomfortable. Not because of him but more so from the way he was making her feel. “This might sound crazy and boring but I wouldn't mind having a picnic near the Han River someday. I hear it's a beautiful sight.”

Shownu gave her a honest grin. “Now we're getting somewhere. Favorite food?”

“You're going to think I'm lying but I love veggies! I'm not super picky though.” She said with laughter.

Jooheon and Nori came out. His arm was around her shoulder. “Are we still good?” He asked.

Shownu shook his head. “I don't think we're going to have anymore problems, right Misun?”

Misun took a deep breath. “I don't know I'm known to be a trouble maker sometimes but I think we'll be okay.”

Nori grabbed Misun's hand and they walked to Shownu's vehicle.

“Will you please sit in the backseat with me?” Misun whispered to her. Her heart was already about burst out of her chest so she was trying to calm herself down.

Nori giggled. “Whatever makes you comfortable.”

Misun reached for the backdoor but Shownu grabbed her hand. “You're up front with me. I think Jooheon wants to sit by his lady.”

Misun looked at Nori with troubled eyes.

“I swear I won't bite unless you ask me to.” Shownu told her as he walked her around to the passenger side and opened the door for her.

Misun slid into the seat with her purse in her lap. She couldn't stop her leg from shaking. She was never this nervous. It got even worse when he slid into the driver's seat.

“Do I make you nervous?” Shownu asked her as he put the car in drive.

Misun shook her head quickly. “Why do you ask?”

He licked his lips. “Your legs are making it obvious.” He placed his hand on her leg to try and stabilize it.

She jumped from his sudden touch. She moved her leg over a bit so that his hand would fall from it. “You're not helping.” She said with a bit of laughter.

After a twenty minute drive they finally made it to the amusement park. Misun was happy that she wasn't stuck in the house for the day, and the fact that she was among great company was even better. She hadn’t imagined ever hanging out with Shownu again but she was glad that they had finally made amends. 

After walking around the park trying to figure out what to do they heard a camera click.

“Did you hear that?” Nori asked them.

Misun looked at Jooheon and Shownu. She had no idea what Nori was talking about. “I don't hear anything but people screaming on the rides.”

The camera clicking was heard again.

Nori looked right at the photographer. “What are you doing?” She yelled in her direction.

The lady ran off quickly.

“Fuck!” Jooheon yelled.

Misun looked confused. “What's wrong?”

Shownu sighed. “That person is probably going to sell these pics for a story.”

“What story, though?” Misun was honestly confused.

Jooheon was frustrated. “They're going to make it seem like we're dating! I'm so sorry.”

Nori raised an eyebrow. “Why exactly are you sorry?”

“Our company doesn't know that we're out with you and those pictures aren't going to look exactly friendly. They're going to paint this out to be a dating scandal.” Jooheon answered.

Shownu grabbed Misun's hands. “I can deal with my company but you're still new to yours. Are you gonna be okay?”

“We're fine. We can handle it. Plus me and you aren't dating so all we have to do is deny it, right?” Misun answered as she softly pulled her hands away.

“I wish it were that simple. Those pictures are technically proof in everyone else eyes.” Shownu explained.

Misun rolled her eyes. “I'm not letting any company or person tell me who I can or can't hang out with. Me and you aren't dating but even if we were who cares? Last time I checked both us are adults and we should be able to live our lives like normal people. I'll be sure to deny it openly for your sake though since it's such a big deal!” She patted his shoulder and began to walk away.

“I feel like she took that in a negative way.” Shownu said to Nori and Jooheon.

Nori just squinted at him. “How so?”

“I don't know she just seems irritated.”

Nori shrugged. “Well y'all are kind of making this bigger than it has to be. I know you're worried about your image but damn! At the end of the day wouldn't you want to be honest with your fans and company? Why hide how you feel?”

“You make it sound so simple. We can't just walk into our company and do whatever the hell we want to. That's not how contracts work. We have to be smart about every move we make if we don't want to ruin our careers.” Jooheon explained as nicely as he could. He was already frustrated and their attitudes weren't making it any better.

Nori was amused at this point. “So this will ruin your career?” She asked as she pointed from herself to him.

Jooheon breathed out deeply. “You know that's not what I meant, Nori.”

“Well it sounded a lot like that. I gotta go find Misun!” Nori told him and walked away to catch up with Misun.

“We move two steps forward just to be knocked 10 steps back.” Jooheon said to Shownu in frustration.

[csleko]

3D Printed Darksaber.

I didn't make the models, only printed, painted, and stuck them together. Files can be found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4911059

I was printing some pieces for my ongoing Boba Fett cosplay, when I ran into some headaches trying to get the gauntlet pieces to come out. So I thought I'd take a break from that and try making another print I've had my eye on for a while. It's a Darksaber model with all the segments separated by color. Ideally, the pieces would all be printed in their corresponding color of resin or filament, but I don't have black or dark gray resin. In fact, I don't even have my usual light gray resin. I have white, and I have beige. I also have some "Tenacious" which is sort of a clear yellow, but the idea is to mix a bit of it in with the regular resin to make the prints more flexible and sturdy.

POINT IS I was going to have to paint the pieces before assembling the saber.

The handle guard pieces actually ended up fusing together while printing somehow, so I ended up having to redo them. The file was for both pieces, so I had to separate them in Blender and export them in order to change the orientation. Aside from that, there was a bit of warping on some of the pieces that caused some gaps that shouldn't be so prominent, but not bad enough that I consider it ruined.

Then I had to print the 12 alternating gray/black rings that make up the lower handle grip, and slide them onto that thin piece. Printing was no problem since they have wide flat sides. Getting them off the plate was no problem. Washing off excess resin was similarly no problem.

Curing them all efficiently was going to be...not a "problem," but a tedious affair. I COULD have just dropped them in the UV bucket, waited a few minutes, then painstakingly flipped each one over for another few minutes.

OR....

I could make a resin-kabob and let all the sides cook evenly at the same time with no flipping required.

And since they printed flawlessly because of their small size and shape, they fit together perfectly. LET'S PAINT THESE LITTLE BUGGERS.

I HAD a black metallic spray paint that would've been perfect for the black parts...if I actually hadn't used the last of it on my Metal Chocobo Keyblade... Went looking for another can of that specific one, store was out, but I managed to find a dark metallic *gray* that would work perfectly for the gray parts. I ended up just using plain black for the black parts, and it came out pretty good so I don't really have any complaints.

Ran into one small, but incredibly frustrating problem with the final assembling. That problem being that between some of the tiny details (screws and buttons) came out slightly bigger than they were supposed to because of some resin shenanniganery, and the layer of paint only made it worse. Basically, none of the small pieces fit into where they were supposed to go because I printed them flat-ways instead of angled on supports which I probably couldn't even really do because of how tiny they were. (I managed to get the little white rectangles to print properly, though, so they fit perfectly into the slots.)

I had to file down the edges of so many small pieces to get them to go into the slots they were supposed to, and it didn't help that everything was still slightly sticky because the paint was only 99% dry. The whole affair was a lot messier than it probably needed to be, but EVENTUALLY....

For how messy it was putting the thing together, it honestly came out surprisingly good. I actually think the metallic black might have overdone it alongside the metallic gray, so the plain black was probably the better call anyway.

What will I make next? Probably that 40-piece Han Solo blaster I've had my eye on since I first found Thingiverse, but who knows? Maybe I'll work out the problem my printer has with those damn gauntlets and finish my Boba Fett cosplay?