#i a lot on the second - and even third - tier could be higher but im picky

[grapecaseschoices]

I've seen this around, from a few people, and I wanted to do it so!

tagging: whoever wants to but specifically people i remember who write fic [if i dont tag you fic writing pals its not lack of love but lack of brain!]

@laufire @equusgirl @andthatisnotfake @sustainably-du-mortain @thee-morrigan @serenpedac @amlovelies @wayhavenots @thelittlestspider @thewayhavenchronicle @evilbunnyking @magebastard @narrativefoiltrope @lizzybeth1986 @agentfreckles @agentnatesewell @cypresssunns @queerdetectiveblue

[obaewankenope]

on the ranking of angels

the whole ranking of angels kinda comes from one guy: pseudo-dionysius the areopagite from 5th century ad, this dude gave us the basis for ranking angels in groups, levels, grades, choirs etc

we don’t really know who tf he was since he literally just made himself out to be some psuedo version of dionysius (because we obviously needed another dionysius in human history) and i’d love to time travel and kick him in the nads if i could.

anyway. so yeah. ranking angels. 

my upbringing is catholic and i went to communion and read that godsawful bible and blah-blah and so on so like, a lot of my own understanding stems from that and then the deranged Research Frenzies i’m known for. this means i’ve done learning about this topic and generally, i feel like there’s a bit of a... misunderstanding in the good omens fandom as to where aziraphale, crowley (as raphael or not), gabriel and co seem to land in terms of ranks and power levels.

cherubim, seraphim, archangels... fancy words we sort of know but don’t really Get. time to get em.

.

F I R S T  S P H E R E

saraph/seraph-im:

according to tradition, these boys are top dog in christian theology but fifth in jewish. my memory serves to remind me that archangels are also seraphim and that the three main types of angels are cherubs, saraph, and thrones with the other spheres being more titles for them to have on top of that. i’ve read online where the archangels michael, gabriel, and samael/lucifer are either saraph or cherubs but this is... well, thanks to pseudo-dionysius, not exactly easy to frickin’ parse. the book of isaiah describes saraphs as having six wings (two on the back, two hiding the face, two at the feet/genitals).

this means that gabriel, lucifer, michael, uriel and even sandalphon (dude why no ‘iel’ on the end, it’s sad) are higher ranks than aziraphale in terms of sheer power even if they may be outranked by aziraphale regarding humans proper. make sense? nope? not surprising.

cherub-im:

cherubs attend to god and are also kinda shoved into the joyous role of guarding eden. in jewish theology, cherubs are either second or third lowest ranked (eighth or ninth) compared to the saraphs who are middle of the way. it’s from cherubs -- described in the book of ezekiel -- that we have that many faced, multi-winged conception of angels btw. usually a lion, ox, human, and eagle to represent all types of animals (where’s the snake you say? crowley nicked it... probably). thanks to some later western christian traditions we kinda see cherubs as plump, little, babies with those bows with love-heart arrows (probably crowley’s doing to piss aziraphale off). cherubs do have two pairs of wings (four in total) compared to the six that saraphs have, making them different at least there.

so aziraphale being a cherub makes sense. but he’s gonna be second-tier to saraphs like gab’ and co thus he does still obey gabriel as and when required--only in regards to humans can aziraphale kinda disobey because principality trumps archangel with humans but again, gabriel has more pull in heaven and can still punish him (plus gabriel is an asshole in the show and is Just Like That)

thrones aka ophanim:

these fellas are kinda just guards of gods throne. they’re called thrones or galgalim (refers to ezekiel’s wheels during his vision of the chariot). a dead sea scroll calls them angels and puts them below saraphs and cherubs while the book of enoch says they never sleep (like saraphs and cherubs) and guard god’s throne. i can’t really find any names ascribed to this group but are associated with meting out divine justice and maintain cosmic harmony.

i can only imagine how Done they are with crowley over him stopping time...

.

i’m just gonna straight up skip the second sphere because, well; dominions organise lower angels and keep things ticking over; virtues are the sign post makers of divine shit; and powers/authorities just watch a lot and keep things running along on a cosmic scale. so, administrators. literally. poor civil servants of heaven. they probably don’t even get a decent pay.

.

the third sphere is what we’re interested in anyway, because of the whole “principalities outrank archangels tho” stuff. so here we are

.

T H I R D  S P H E R E

principalities:

principalities/rulers are guides and protectors of nations and institutions. so you’d have a principality guarding the catholic church, one covering the orthodox church, another who deals with maybe protecting italy and so on. aziraphale is the principality of the eastern gate of eden, that- that’s a pretty big thing. principalities wear crowns and carry sceptres, and carry out the orders given to them by upper sphere angels.

in canon, aziraphale is a principality, but i can’t recall him being called anything. i’m not sure if it’s fandom deciding here’s a cherub or not, ignoring the spheres or not, or whatever, but he doesn’t Really rank above gabriel. gaiman himself made a note of the difference between Archangels and archangels - the capital A makes the difference. so see seraphs as Archangels and third sphere archangels as the generic boys. 

in my mind, gabriel and michael -- as pretty much the only really named archangels in christian theology -- are the Archangels whilst sandalphon and uriel are archangels. so aziraphale can ignore two of the four but not michael or gabriel outright (we’re not discussing the disobedience by avoidance tactic he employs a lot). expanding the Archangel category to include maybe Raphael (angel of healing) and Azrael (angel of death) works too, but generally, aziraphale can’t disobey direct orders from them because they are his bosses. unless -- and this is the thing -- it comes to something involving His Specific Principality. but being the principality of eden is... well, eden doesn’t exist anymore. some major mental gymnastics would be required for aziraphale to decide Earth Is Eden Thus Earth Is My Principality SUCK IT GABRIEL and ignore heaven... actually... this might well explain a fair amount of his behaviour lmao. someone else can play with That tho. 

archangels:

funnily enough, archangels aren’t mentioned in the bible more than two or three times. in christianity, gabriel is called an archangel but there’s actually nothing in the bible to support that. michael is called an archangel in the new testament tho. the word means “chief angel” coming from greek archein for first in rank or power -- hence why it’s a bit odd for archangels to be ranked below others. archangel is only ever a singular term and used Only for michael btw. 

but in the book of tobit/tobias, we get an archangel raphael, an archangel uriel is also brought up in anglican and russian orthodox religions. raphael isn’t really considered a Canon angel outside of roman catholicism (my lot btw), eastern orthodox and anglicans, whilst uriel isn’t mentioned in the western christian bible at all. 

raphael gives us the idea of seven archangels btw - from the book of tobit where he says he’s “one of the seven who stand before the Lord”. 

in the books of enoch and revelations, we’re told that there are seven spirits of god that stand before the throne and some interpretations have the seven archangels as those seven spirits.

depending on the theological tradition, the names of the archangels vary. the ones i know of as roman catholic are gabriel, michael, and raphael (lucifer doesn’t count bc he’s fallen obvs), whereas eastern orthodox has seven and even an extra one depending: michael, gabriel, raphael, uriel, selaphiel/salathiel, jegudiel/jehudiel, barachiel, and jerahmeel/jeremiel.

the names vary depending on what faith you are but, generally, the three most common are gabriel, michael, and raphael - who are described as seraphim or cherubim and archangels as like their job title.

angels:

regular dudes. i cba even going Into This One Okay?

.

so all of this means that aziraphale is second to gabriel no matter what unless he does some awesome mental gymnastics and claims earth as eden and argues it’s his job to oversee it as fit (just imagine the vein in gabriel’s head popping from That Conversation).

aziraphale is definitely powerful, he’d have to be as a principality of eden - it’s kind of a Big Deal to be in charge of eden, even if you might share the job with three others - but he’s not quite as powerful as an archangel who is basically the second in command of heaven after god.

unless, as i’ve said, aziraphale draws on his position as a principality and uses That over gabriel who seems very set on his “i’m the fucking archangel gabriel” spiel lmao.

so yeah. this is just A Thing for me. idk if any one else feels this way about it all or not, but you can ignore me about all of this. i’m not an Authority on it and honestly, this is more to make sense of it all For Myself than to Tell Ya’ll How It Ought To Be.

[madisonrooney]

im not that involved in the tangled fandom but i have some Thoughts on the finale/series overall now that its done so i figured id share. im a little under the weather so sorry if these are kinda scattershot

(spoilers below)

for starters, ive been watching since the beginning and was hype since it was announced. i love tangled the movie, probably in one the higher tiers of my fav disney movies, not to mention it was the first tv show wed gotten based on disney movie since emperors new school 11 years prior.

at first i was skeptical about them giving rapunzel her long hair back. it was pretty clearly just a marketing ploy but it was done pretty well in the pilot which i really liked so i could get behind it.

i thought the first half or so of s1 was really good and really cute. it was just a sweet little slice of life in corona. 

i started to get disappointed in the show once queen for a day came around. varian is my fav character (more on him later) and i didnt really like his villain arc. it felt really out of nowhere. not an obvious villain, not a surprise twist villain, just a character that didn’t feel like should’ve been a villain at all. it just didn’t bode well with me. 

i also felt that the jump from slice of life show to high stakes, serialized show was far too abrupt. even tho i liked the second half of s2 and all of s3 better (more on that later as well), it still seemed to have an uneven balance of light and heavy plotlines. i dont wanna sound like one of those people who hates filler episodes. filler episodes are good, but need to be done in the right way at the right time, and i feel like this show didn’t do that very well.

speaking solely on the high stakes, i really feel like they were too high for a show of its kind. in a way, i felt it was somewhat disrespectful to the source material. the show isnt canon, and i feel like it made some big changes that effected the story and characters from the movie, which i think is taking a step too far if youre working on a tv show thats made by an entirely different crew than the film (even tho its the same cast). like, eugene’s dad being revealed and being given a backstory, gothel having a daughter, it just felt like too much for me. compare it to, say, the dragons series, which had very high stakes but also fit snugly between the first and second movies, and took great effort so that nothing they did effected the films’ stories. the showrunners on the dragons show were even consultants on the third movie, so they all flow together nicely.

but rapunzel and the great tree reeled me back in and i was much more invested from there forward, main reason being it gave me my favorite trope (that was kind of already there, but even moreso from this point on): a bubbly girl and an angsty girl who are somehow best friends, though they may be at odds sometimes, like during this arc. i became way more invested in cass as a character and rapunzel and cass as friends (or a ship, im fine with either).

my problems with the imbalance and too high stakes didnt go away with the remainder of s2 or with s3 but my investment in cass’ arc (AND THE REDEMPTION OF VARIAN WHICH I WAS HOPING FOR) was enough for me to put my issues with the show at least somewhat aside.

as far as more things i liked about the show:

VARIAN

he is my fav character and has become one of my new fav characters of all time. i have this thing i think ive mentioned before where if i like an actor and like a show he’s in i love the character twice as much as i otherwise would. so having one of my fav broadway actors whos in one of my fav broadway shows play him made him an instant fav. but i also just love how cute and quirky he is.

cass!

like i said, i love cass and grew to love her more through her newest arc. partially for the same reason as with varian with the VA thing. i dont know much about eden espinosa but ik shes played elphaba and i love that they employed so much broadway talent for this show (more on that later). since the show has started, ive gotten into rent, and she was broadways final maureen, so thats cool too. but beyond just that, i love her arc and personality and of COURSE her relationship with rapunzel, that being one of my fav aspects of the show. it fits right in with liv and maddie, riley and maya, trish and jessica, webby and lena, luz and amity (depending on how the rest of the owl house plays out lol) and im HERE FOR IT. also, despite the fact that i wasnt a huge fan of the high stakes, i give the crew a lot of credit for making a main character a villain for an entire season. thats a big step for disney to take that i dont think theyve come anywhere near before and i give them props for that.

the broadway and disney alum cast!

weve got james monroe iglehart, pat carroll, christian borle, gavin creel, laura benanti, jane krakowski, etc. and as a broadway nerd i love that, not to mention that some of these people had worked with alan menken before which is awesome

the fact that they brought back the ENTIRE movie cast PLUS alan menken is amazing. i dont think any other show based on a movie can quite attest to that

so, onto the finale itself

- i was worried varian may go bad again especially given his initial resistance to eugene suggested his dad might go bad but that didn’t happen so yay. i noticed other people mentioning musical call backs but the only one i noticed was let me make you proud and it made me so happy - ALSO VARIAN BEING THE ROYAL ALCHEMIST IM SO PROUD OF MY SON - this being disney, i figured cass getting redeemed was probably inevitable, but i’m still relieved it happened. now i dont have the bad taste left in my mouth jessica jones gave me. and i loved how her redemption went, seeing her so vulnerable and letting herself be that vulnerable in front of rapunzel CRYING INTO HER ARMS LIKE MY HEART. they really made her very broken, it reminded me a lot of maya hart. sometimes disney channels not willing to go that deep but im impressed they did. - i was kinda hoping it would be revealed that gothel wasn’t actually cass’ mom, i remember seeing some people hoping for that, cuz, again, i feel like thats a bit much to change from the movie canon, buuuut that didnt happen. oh well. - I WAS HOPING FOR I LOVE YOUS BETWEEN CASS AND RAPUNZEL AND WE GOT IT AND WE GOT A HUG AND IM ALIVE - lance adopting the kids was adorable - all the movie parallels were *chefs kiss*

everything wrapped up so nicely and im really happy with it as a finale!

that aside, again, i do still have some issues with the show. so im gonna take a moment to shamelessly plug big hero 6 the series bc imo that does the movie to show adaption FLAWLESSLY.

tl;dr: great finale, despite both loving and hating some things about this show, yall should watch big hero 6 the series, im love varian

[gukptune]

Blood Rank || One [m]

Pairing: jimin x reader

Genre: angst, vampire!au, highschool!au, eventual smut

Warnings: vampire!reader, human!jimin, mean!hoseok, asshole!taehyung, bloodbag!jungkook

Words: 2.3k

Plot Summary: Jimin is afraid for his best friend makes a deal with the devil he’s been in love with since he was 14.

a/n: not edited, sorry for any mistakes or errors in spelling and grammar!

B L O O D  R A N K - Part 1 / Part 2

This was no normal high school. Van Emrick’s Academy is a school in the supernatural world in which humans and vampires strive to live alongside each other. In it’s situated location with a higher ratio of vampires to humans, it’s high school was the same.

Location of the most wealthy of vampires and humans who worked together in business and relations. It’s high school was the exact same. With a student made hierarchy of blood rankings. Let’s just say the more vampire you are the more power you have within the system.

The supernatural world held all types of creatures of the night, including werewolves, witches, vampires and hybrids. Each species being restricted to it’s labeled school, humans had the upper hand here in being able to attend any of the three reigning schools.

Van Emrick’s Academy for Vampyres, Adolphus’ College for Lycans and lastly Necromancer Institute for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hyrids, which were rare, get to choose their schools too but with limitations where they need to be somewhat related to the corresponding species.

The most prestigious and most powerful school of them all is of course Van Emrick’s due to their generous stream of funds towards the government by parents.

Park Jimin, was lucky enough to attend Van Emrick’s Academy― mostly due to his loaded parents and intelligence which he never really boasted about.

He boarded at the Academy, which was normal and all students do as the dorms were specular. He boarded mostly due to the fact that his parents believed that he’d have his mind strictly on education, which was something he believed in too but with those blood thirsty vampires, high rates of hormones and highly attractive people he was distracted nearly all the time.

He boarded in the Azrael dormitory alongside his housemates. Students were separated into seven different houses according to their corresponding Archangel. Extremely for the novelty and not practicality as students merely stayed within their houses in the dorms and common room only and mixed around otherwise.

There he was just laying on his bed in his dorm suite. He shared the large room with 3 other students. A text from his best friend woke him.

Sooyoung: U up? [6:42 am]

Sooyoung: Im in the cafeteria if ur wondering :D [6:42 am]

Sooyoung: Meet me here [6:43 am]

Jimin immediately stood up off his bed, he was already dressed and merely slipped his shoes on before taking off. His dorm mates were all still sleeping, probably due to how early he was up. Moving quietly outside the room and closing the door as quietly as he could to not wake anyone up.

He was out of the room in his clad uniform, sporting the academy’s signature dark navy uniform and his house crest on his blazer’s breast pocket. His tie done neatly and his blonde hair styled to perfection.

Jimin: Alright

Jimin: I’ll be there in 5

Which was a lie, he wasn’t going to be there in 5 minutes because it would be impossible. Her dorm was literally across the school and he wasn’t exactly going to run because he’d look extremely stupid.

Sooyoung: Okii take ur time

Sooyoung: im going to do some homework as I wait okay

Jimin knew that she wouldn’t eat without him as they always waited for each other. As he was texting a reply to her he was rammed into by something, well someone.

He fell to the floor with his phone a distance away from him. Uttering a low mumble. He looked up to see the person that ran into him.

Well shit. He thought.

In front of him was a practically shivering student. Jimin could see the collar on the poor guy’s neck. He was a blood bag. Jimin breathed slowly not really knowing what to do.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s okay. I’m fine,” Jimin quickly cut him off, giving him a reassuring smile before getting up slowly. The other boy trying to help him up but was too afraid to touch Jimin.

The hierarchy in this school was ridiculous, up in the top tier were the student council members usually students of the most pure blood line and had the most influence, of course they are leading all the students. In the second tier, were pure blood vampires, then third were half bloods, fourth were those turned, whilst confusing humans held the tier between third and fourth since their influence mattered more. Including their wealth and connections. Lastly were the blood bags, also called “tractare”, mostly these were anyone who made deals with the council and couldn’t pay it back.

You might believe that this school’s currency was blood but it wasn’t it was favours and real money. People wanted things done, scores raised, reputation raised or rumours dead would make offerings. If unpaid the council turns them into blood bags, meaning that their lives were now in the president’s hands.

Only the most desperate go to them, being their offers were hard to pay for, that’s why most students turn into blood bags so easily.

Jimin knew this boy, he was in his Chemistry class. His name was Jungkook, rumours risen about him watching girl’s in the changing room and jacking off to them. He wanted all of that to disappear so he asked the council, Jimin didn’t know what the payment was but he failed to pay, now he lives as feed.

Jungkook was shaking. This boy was pale and frail. Jimin couldn’t help but feel so bad for him.

But a voice boomed over the crowding audience. “Now, now, tractare-shi, learn your manners.”

The voice was head secretary, Jung Hoseok. He shoved Jungkook’s head onto the ground. The younger boy immediately began bowing to Jimin, over and over.

Jimin’s eyes practically bulging out of his head. Hoseok merely smirked. Tension rises as Jimin feels extremely worried.

“Sorry about the livestock, he’s fresh, still learning... hope you understand,” He chuckled as he dragged Jungkook by the collar away.

Jimin stood frozen as the students around him disappeared. Running into a student council member was rare, speaking to one was even more rare, well he was being spoken to but still. 

He could finally breathe and made his way to his destination.

“That’s literally so horrible,” Sooyoung sighed as she bit into her croissant, “Why does this system even exist!”

Jimin looked up from his cereal to see his best friend frowning, “I don’t know.”

“We should change it, isn’t it like centuries old. So medieval of the Council to keep an old system,” She suggests, nodding to her own thought.

Jimin couldn’t help but chuckle, “It’s not centuries old, Soo, each time a new President is elected he/she changes the system, since our latest president was elected only a few years ago the system isn’t even half a decade old.”

“So she’s into the whole medieval, humans are lower than vampires thing?” Sooyoung huffs. With the mention of you, the president Jimin blinks briskly.

“Uhm, not defending her but... anyone could be a blood bag. Jungkook is a half blood,” He didn’t want Sooyoung to think he actually cared about anyone apart of the council because she hated them.

Sooyoung sighed, “I guess.”

“Though, I heard that those deals that she makes with everyone are like extreme, because people tend to ask for a lot. Sometimes murder, though I’m sure she doesn’t let that pass but she tends to make sure people don’t get what they want,” She said.

“I’m sure it’s because they want blood bags,” She ended. Concluding by herself.

It was true, they needed the circulation of blood to keep everyone in check. 

“People get paid for blood though, blood donations. Because every vamp pays for them. People get paid for blood and others pay for it,” Jimin said.

Sooyoung nods in agreement, “That’s true, but I heard it’s way better from the vein, that’s why students sometimes offer their body for certain agreeable deals.”

Jimin thought about this deeply. Of course blood was better from the vein, it’s fresh and warm. He felt gross thinking about this but then again it was fascinating just because he wasn’t one of them.

“Anyways enough of this, you know how I was doing that homework well-” Sooyoung’s voice drowned into the background as Jimin’s eyes met with a figure coming into the distance. They came closer, closer to his table.

A hand slammed onto their table as their drinks fell, Sooyoung lets out a shriek at the surprise and Jimin placed his hands on his lap.

“Well, well, Park Jimin,” Vice President, Kim Taehyung nods at Jimin, who gave a little nod back, Taehyung’s eyes met with Sooyoung, “And pretty Miss Park Sooyoung.”

Taehyung slid into the chair next to her and placed his arm over her shoulder, she flinches at this. Kim Taehyung, notorious playboy and your local asshole. His mean attitude and rudeness passed due to his seemingly great connection to the president which is why Jimin secretly hated him. All due to jealousy. 

“You look great, you could eat in the dining hall you know, instead of eating whatever this is,” Taehyung nods at their food tray, “I’d let you bring your lapdog too.”

Which Jimin knew was directed towards him.

Sooyoung pushed Taehyung’s arm off of her, “Gosh, like I’d ever eat in their with you people and Jimin is my best friend- uh all you people do is look down on others-”

“I don’t look down on you, though I wouldn’t mind going down on you,” Taehyung whispered lustfully and groaned at his own imagination. 

Disgusting was all Jimin could think, not the action but merely how Taehyung was saying this to someone who didn’t like him and didn’t want him.

“God! You’re disgusting just go away,” She tried to shove him before he gripped her arm tightly.

He pulled her face closely to his, “Look here, I get what I want, and don’t be rude to me- you’ll find that opposing me will only get you into a very very bad place in this school.”

He literally growled at her. Taehyung was a pureblood vampire, which meant he was extremely powerful in every single way. Jimin wanted to stick up for his friend but he can’t.

“I-” Sooyoung whimpered trying to say something back. Though her lack of words and tone was all that was needed for someone else to step in.

“Tae, get off her, we don’t have time for this,” the sultry voice that lived in Jimin’s wildest dreams broke the tension in the air.

It was you, you stood in your perfectly tailored uniform, that looked different to everyone else’s. Student council members had their own style. Your blazer stuck onto your upper half so tightly with double buttons. Your flat cross tie framing the top of your quite large breasts.

Jimin couldn’t help but stare at your perfectly braided hair and sharp features.

Taehyung coughed and quickly got up and stood next to her. He was whispering things in your ear. Taehyung’s eyes met Jimin’s very lustful eyes. 

As you heard the things Taehyung wanted you to hear you merely nodded. You did see what happened and Tae was going to get it. He can’t make your school look like trash.

Before you could take Tae away he spoke again, “Look at little blondey, got a crush on our President?” He teased, laughing mockingly.

You looked straight at Jimin to see him flush a bright red and his hand picking at eachother. A sign of nerves. You kept a smile in as you let out a soft huff.

“Whatever, Tae-”

“Come on, Jimin-ah. Our gorgeous President is right here in front of you. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to get some, though would she―”

“Kim Taehyung, do not cut me off, now get back to our office before I remove you,” You said, calmingly. As fearfully calm as anyone else could hear.

Taehyung immediately shuts up and with wide eyes walked away, a few members of the council following him as they always do. Taehyung knew not to test your limits as using his full name meant this was the last draw.

“Park Jimin, was it. I’m sorry about him-he’s just you know him,” You straighten your back.

Jimin stuttered looking at you blankly as if he wasn’t believing what was happening, “Uhm- it’s okay―”

“No, it wasn’t, thank you,” Sooyoung cuts him off and thanks you. You felt a little annoyed that she cuts Jimin off but here you get to see that you were definitely not the dominate one in this friendship.

You merely nod and take your leave, as the rest of the council follow you back to deal with Taehyung.

Computer Science was not Jimin’s thing but he took it because he was required to. The only thing he could focus on was your interaction with him which never left his mind. Your face, your body and scent. Better than he ever imagined, he didn’t want to come off as a stalker or creep but you were just... incredible to him. Trying to calm himself off by thinking of light fairy thoughts instead of you.

A beep breaks his trail of thought.

Sooyoung: u okay? u ran off

Jimin recalled what happened, right after you left he felt as if he was going to throw up.

Jimin: yea just felt sick

Sooyoung: oh thats okay

Sooyoung: was it the president

Sooyoung: was it what tae said u know about her

Jimin didn’t know what to reply with, his fingers were shaking and he could feel himself getting red. Sooyoung was in a different class right now and he sat alongside some hardworking students, he’s glad no one could see his face right now.

Sooyoung: so its true?

Sooyoung: jimin

Sooyoung: just tell me 

Sooyoung: do you actually like her???

Jimin had many thoughts running through his head as he ran through some possible scenarios depending on his response. Though he felt adventurous and very rebellious now. He did what he thought he could never do.

Jimin: I’m sorry.

c. 2018

[littlebitoffanfic]

Different Kind Of Lucky

Fandom: Guardians of the Galaxy Characters: Kraglin, Yondu Relationship: Kraglin/reader Request: Can you write for kraglin where they have to get all dressed up for a gala or something? No one knew that you and Kraglin were seeing each other, and both of you intended to keep it that way. He crept to your room late and night, not knocking in case someone was to heard and you would pull him into the side rooms during the day to retrieve kisses before parting ways once again. Surprisingly, it all worked really well. No one was any the wiser to your secret affair with the first mate and no one knew that the first mate was sleeping with the only female on the ship. You worked as part of Yondus crew as a favour after they managed to get you out of a tight situation, but had stayed because you enjoyed their company. Sure, sometimes they got a little rowdy and drunk but nothing you hadn’t seen before. You ran through the halls, looking desperately for your secret lover, who you found doing a stock check of goods in the warehouse. After glancing around and seeing no one else was here, you ran up to him, wrapping your arms around his neck and kissing him deeply. To say he was taken aback was an understatement, but he was quick and eager to respond to you affections, wrapping his arms around your waist, unaware of your news. “[y/n]?” Kraglin chuckled against your lips, but seemed unwilling to pull back. “I have to go.” You breathed, pulling back only an inch, looking up at him as he processed what you were saying. “G-go? Where, when, how long will you be gone, what-?” Kraglin jumped as he stammered out question after question and you could see the fear and concern in his eyes. You couldn’t help but smile at his reaction. Because it showed you that you weren’t just a quick fuck, you really did mean something to him. You interrupted him before he could work himself into too much of a state. “Yondu wants me to go get some information at a Gala happening on one of those high society planets. Its in a weeks time and I’ll be gone for one night.” You had been standing on your tiptoes to kiss him, so you fell back on your heels a little. “Oh, I thought you were leaving for good.” Kraglin sighed with relief. “although, don’t know what I’ll do without you fer one night.” He smield, pressing his forehead against yours. “Well, that’s why I came to find you.” You smirked. “Yondu wants me and someone else down there and pose as a couple so its no so suspicious. Because it’s a fancy ball thing, its very unlikely that I can use my ‘feminine’ charm on anyone because most will be there with dates. Anyway, he said I could pick who I took with him for trust and comfort reason.” You swayed in his arms, trailing your fingers up and down his shoulders. You saw him smiled slightly. “So im taking Tullk!” You announce. You saw his face fall slightly, reminding you slightly of a wounded puppy. “Im kidding.” You giggled. “Of course I chose you.” “Good, cause I was about to go beat the living daylights out of Tullk.” Kraglin mumbled, pulling you in close. -----------------------time skip---------------------- You walked down the beautiful marble stairs, your arm linked in Kraglins and your chin high. For the ball, you wore a beautiful, elegant, asymmetric dress that walk long at the back and came up to your knees at the front. It flowed behind you as you descended the stairs. The top hugged your body and made you feel like a princess. Your hair was pulled back in an elegant bun with a few strands curled down to frame your face perfectly. Kraglin glanced at you against for the hundredth time that night, but his breath was still taken away. Ravengers were rough and dirty but here you were, a picture of beauty. Kraglin himself had cleaned up nicely. He had managed to get his hands on a nicely fitting suit and had brushed his hair back. He had made sure no one of the ship saw him so he rented a room out at a near by hotel for the two of you to get ready at and stay the night there. He had told Yondu he was booking two rooms, one each, but there really wasn’t any point. “You look beautiful.” Kraglin leaned in and mumbled in your ear, making you blush and look down. “Thank you.” You giggled at the compliment that he had repeated since you had come out of the bathroom. He had nearly fallen to his knees in front of you when he first saw you. The evening consisted of the two of you mingling with the higher class. Occasionally, he took you to the dance floor and did a standard waltz that you had taught him through the last week just so you two didn’t stand out. Well, too much. You were only left on your own when he went to get drinks for you both when you heard a group of girls behind you speaking. You didn’t turn around but “I wish my husband looked at me the way he looks at her.” One pouted. “Did you see the way he held her as they danced?” one said in a dreamily state. “I can barely get Victor to talk to me, but they seem to never have nothing to say to each other.” Another said bitterly. You looked about, wondering which couple they were speaking about. “I wonder if it was an arranged marriage or if they chose each other?” The first asked. “I don’t know. Lets ask her. Excuse me?” A hand gently tapped your arm and you turned around to see the three girls you had just been listening to. They had been speaking about you and Kraglin? You could have fainted with pride and joy. “yes?” You answer, trying to be polite and not let them know you had been listening to them. “I apologies if this seems a little person, but we were wondering about you and your husband.” The first smiled kindly and the three gathered around you. “Oh its okay. What would you like to know?” You smile, making sure to speak properly. “How long have you been together?” “Was it an arranged marriage?” “how long have you known each other?” The three women threw their own questions at you all at once, making you giggle a little. “We’ve been together 5 years, married 3. It was arranged is some sense. His father and mine are in the same business together but they agreed on a trade deal after we started to date each other and blessed the union. And we have known each other for 10 years now.” You answered the question in order that you had heard. While you lied about the who ‘father’ thing (agreed upon before coming to the ball), you had known Kralgin for 10 years and had been seeing him for the best part of 5 years. “Aww.” The first put her hand over her heart, smiling as if she was listening to a fairy-tale. A part of you felt sorry for the girls. They were all married but none happily. “My Gregor and I have been married for a little over a year and he seems already tiered of me. But at least I lasted longer than his first two wives.” The second said bitterly, taking a drink from her glass. “I don’t mean to offend, but your Gregor sounds like a ass.” You spoke before you though, too taken back but her being his third wife. You froze, unsure of how they would take it. “Oh, he is.” She agreed. “Then why are you with him?” You ask, tilting your head to the side. “Because his family runs a good business and my father approved.” She shrugged, seeming so indifferent to everything. “Look-“ You stepped closer, wanting to help these women. They deserved better. “-if you don’t love someone, don’t be with them. Money, fame, beauty, all that fades and disappears. If you find the right person, it doesn’t matter if they have a penny to their name or if their name is plastered over all the building in this world.” All the woman seemed to hang on your every word. “So, you’d still be married to your husband if he were poor?” The third raised an eyebrow. “yes, even if he were a ravenger for Christ sake. I’d follow him to the ends of the universe and back.” You nodded, smiling as you revealed a little bit about yourself to them, without them realising it. “[y/n]?” Kraglin placed a hand on your lower back and you turned to look at him. “We gotta go.” You saw his eyes dart to the side and followed them to see someone you recognised. Someone the both of you had held at gunpoint only a few months ago. You could bet your life he would know you. Just then, you heard a low humming come from the glass ceiling of the hall. You looked up and recognised the underside of Yondus ship. Quickly, you darted towards the grills. “Look, he is a ranger and Im a hacker. I have followed him to the ends of the earth and he’s pulled me from the jaws of death. Don’t waste your lifes with someone you don’t love. Trust me. I can help you get away from this, if you wanted. Here.” You spoke quickly as the three stared at you with wide eyes, mouths hanging open. You pushed a little device into the firsts hands. It was a connector that would allow them to call you without giving away your location. just them, there was a crash from above. No glass hit you, Kralgin made sure of that as he shielded you. There was screaming and people ran to the edges of the hall as the ship landed in the centre of the dance floor and the bay doors open. “Come on, you love birds! I aint got all day to be saving your asses!” Yondu walked down the ramp, looking around for you both. You then heard the unmistakeable sound of a gun being cocked to your right. You glanced over and saw the man you had robbed holding a gun pointing at you. “Gregory! NO!” The slightly drunk woman called out. But Kraglin was quicker. He pulled a gun out his suit and raised it, firing it and hitting the gun right out of the mans hands. You gasped a little, very aware that that could have gone a whole lot worse. Kraglins hand grabbed your wrist and pulled you towards the ship. “Coming.” You chirped as you ran beside him up the ramp. “girl, you clean up all right.” Yondu nodded at you. “Thanks, captain.” You giggle as the three of you retreated inside the ship, but not before you saw the shocked faces of the three woman. Maybe not shock, but in awe. You would find out that yours and Kraglins little secret was out, since Yondu had went to the hotel to call off the mission and figured out you had stayed in the same room. That and some CCTV footage that was found of the two of you making out. But that wasn’t the only thing that happened that night. About an hour later, you got a call from the three women, whos names were Lily, Beth and Rachel. They asked for your help, having decided that the three of them would run away together for safety and security. You smiled and agreed to help them as much you could, but you really didn’t have to do much. They had managed to drain their husbands personal accounts (you were assured that the men were pigs and the accounts had well less than half the money that the men owned. You manged to get them new names and hacked all their records to wipe them clean. They moved to a little planet where Lily now worked with children, Beth had started her own book and Rachel had proven to be rather good when it came to the stock market. Kraglin was confused why you were helping them. “Because their not as lucky as me.” You smiled, leaning into his touch as the two of you lay in bed. “Lucky? Did you see the diamonds on each of them? That’s more than we make in a year.” He pointed out but you shook your head. “Their not happy. I am. I have a man who loved me unconditionally, while their men only seem to tolerate them.” You couldn’t help but feel saddened but then you remembered they had a new life in front of them. Kraglin chuckle, making you look up at him with a raised eyebrow. “Well, just someone like that be jealous of us. Its not something im used to.” He smiled down at you. “Well, we’re a different kind of lucky.” You shrugged, pulling yourself up to kiss his lips.

[reprisedpiece]

Drop Your Pants

Pairing: Ben Platt x ArtMajor!Reader

Warning: swear words, sexual implications 

Request: “i would DIE if u did an art student reader x ben platt !!!!!!”

Word Count: 1815

Note: THIS STARTED OUT REAL FLUFFY ((and the entire thing is)) but the ending,,,, i just had to, im sorry. who knows i might even make part 2 ;---)  as always, feedbacks are appreciated!

MASTERLIST

Without a doubt, Ben found it absolutely beautiful when he found out you were an art student. He always had a knack for art, never really having the opportunities to talk about it as he didn’t have anyone to share the common interest with.

He admits that dating you entailed a lot of cheesy yet exquisite moments. Not that he was complaining. He always got the same giddy feeling whenever you mindlessly drew landscapes on his forearm, asking him to let you paint portraits on his back, and when he catches that glint in your eyes as you pull out your sketch journal whenever you see something worth drawing. 

Heck, there were even moments where he’d catch you staring at him for nearly an hour and you’d present him with a breathtaking sketch. Even if it was a loose drawing, he’d still find it stunning.

He just absolutely loved how you were able to catch every single beautiful thing in your line of vision and interpret them into something even more beautiful through your pieces.

Whenever the two of you hung out and decided to stay in, he’d always persist that it would be in your place.

Sure, your small apartment was a tad bit messy but it represented your personality quite well. It was colourful, abstract, original, vibrant. Just like you, he thought.

He never forgets to bring flowers to when he visits you. They’re not always in bouquets. Sometimes, he brings you a single flower with a small ribbon tied around its stem and it was enough to make you smile for the entire dy.

You’d put the flower/s in a vase near your other pieces as he looks around, marveling at its beauty. His gaze would switch from the easel, to the untouched canvases and sketch pads, to the paint-stained cloths near the stairwell, then eventually to you. 

He’d always see you either with charcoal markings on the side of your left hand or with a touch of paint across your cheek. You were a masterpiece in Ben’s eyes and he felt privileged to be able to even just watch you.

But of course, he also knew that your relationship would bring out of the ordinary moments.

There would be times where he’d be watching something and you’d suddenly ask him to hold his hand up near the light with a certain pose so you can sketch it. There were also time wherein you’d find him by a window, the light hitting his face just right, and you’d ask him to stay completely still.

Nonetheless, Ben didn’t mind all those things for you. He knew it was for your work. If anything, he found your dedication for your artistry simply fascinating.

Though today might be an exception. 

“Babe, I need you to drop your pants.” You said with no hesitation.

He slowly looked up from the book he was reading when he heard you say those words from across the bed.

“I need to what?”

You blew the piece of hair hanging in front of your face. You had charcoal marking over your hands so you couldn’t exactly move it away. “You heard me. Drop your pants.”

“Uhm,” He started, putting his book down. “ Look Y/N, we just ate. I think we should wait until-”

You quickly felt your cheeks heat up as you started to feel flustered. “Oh my fucking god, Ben! No, I’m not referring to that!” You said quickly, wiping your hands with a piece of cloth before smoothing out your sundress.

You were suppose to eat out that afternoon but the two of you got lazy and just decided to order in. Since then, you haven’t changed.

He simply cocked an eyebrow, smiling at you with amusement. “Okay, so why do you want me to drop my pants?”

“I need a nude model,” You started to explain. “I’m trying to sketch some poses and it would be easier for me to visualize it if someone actually did the poses.” 

Ben just stared at you, still determining if you were actually serious. This was definitely something new. Out of all the things you had him do for you, this had to be the most unconventional yet.

"We’re talking about full-on nude?”

Just like colors, you could be very bold. You simply nodded. “Yeah.”

Ben hesitated but started removing his clothes slowly nonetheless. He started with his shirt and his socks. His actions became slower when he started unbuttoning his jeans. You caught a glimpse of his face. You can tell from his expression that he felt nervous.  

“Oh, c’mon. I’ve seen it all, Ben.” You reassured him, kissing him on the cheek before walking to the sofa where you expected him to pose.

He reluctantly agreed as he began walking to the red sofa that was placed across your easel. He began laying on his, side facing you.

“Paint me like one of your french girls.” He tried lightening up the tension in the room, voice wavering ever-so slightly. He had a nervous grin on his face as you told him which pose to imitate.

You chuckled at his statement. He always said that, even when you asked him to do simple hand poses. You made him put the weight of his head against his hand, laying the other on his stomach. You placed a white sheet over his lower body, your hand accidentally brushing over his groin area.

He shifted, clearing his throat. You shot him a look. “Don’t even think about it.” He pouted at you.

“The things I do for you, I swear.” He mumbled. 

You gave him a smooch on the lips. “I know you love me.” You say with a cheeky smile, walking back to your easel.

“Unfortunately, I do.” He said back, biting his lip as he tried to keep himself from smiling.

“Just so you know, I’m sketching you.” You tell him, peaking your head from behind the easel.

“Yeah, can you make sure that my face is covered?” He asked nervously, trying to ignore the itch forming behind his leg. He knew the drill. When you asked him to pose, he had to stay completely still.

“Or just tweak it a bit so it doesn’t look exactly like me. It would feel weird if I had a nude portrait of me hanging somewhere.” 

You hummed in response. "Sure, babe. Whatever makes you feel comfortable.”

Ben observed you as you sketched, watching as your eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Nearly an hour into sketching, you unconsciously stuck out you tongue a bit as you focused on the shading. He couldn’t help but smile as he admired you.

It was when you couldn't find your eraser when things got, well, hard. So to speak.

Your eyes were still focused on the paper as you blindly fumbled around to your side. You continued patting around, looking for your eraser.

You groaned with annoyance when you still couldn’t find it. You were forced to tear your eyes away from your work.

You stared at the top tier of your organizer. 

“Why the fuck do my erasers keep on disappearing?” You muttered to yourself, scrambling the items in search for the damn eraser. It was the third time you lost it in two weeks.

“Damn it. I hope I still have some left,” You whispered to yourself as you dropped to your knees. You bent down, searching for a spare eraser in the bottom tier of your organizer.

Ben’s breathing hitched. Your dress was short so with you bending down, Ben couldn’t help but stare. His eyes shifted to your ass, catching a glimpse of the black lace underneath your dress.

His gaze lingered as you fidgeted around in search for the eraser. It was taking you an awful lot of time but Ben wasn’t complaining. He took in a sharp breath when the skirt of the dress rode higher.

“Aha! I got it!” You exclaim, sitting back on your calves. You scrambled to get up back on your feet as Ben cleared his throat, quickly straightening his body once more.

You went back to your piece, erasing and fixing the wavy line you accidentally made. When you finished with that area, you glanced at Ben as you started to draw his lower body. Doing so just made you laugh.

"Benjamin Platt!” You fake scolded, stifling a chuckle from slipping past your lips.

He stiffened his pose. “I’m sorry! My back started to ache so I just had to straighten my back.” He quickly defended himself as he though you were referring to his shift in pose.

You were giggling at this point. You couldn’t even form words so you shook your head at him, signalling that you weren’t talking about that.

He gave you a confused look. 

You cleared your throat, simply pointing a little bit to your right. Ben’s eyes followed your finger. He almost immediately realized that you were pointing to his groin area where a small tent was formed.

He felt his face red up a bit, trying to be still as possible. “You were wearing the black lace. You know I couldn’t help it.” He whines.

“So you got a boner in like ten seconds?” You questioned him as you looked at him with amusement.

“Just so you know, you were bent over for over five minutes.” He started defending himself again. “And besides, what can I do? You turn me on.”

You looked back at your sketch before looking back at him. “Though I am flattered, your boner changed the way the cloth falls. It doesn’t match the sketch anymore.” You say with a pout on your face.

Ben smirks. “I mean, there’s really only one way to bring it back to the way it was.” He said expectantly. “And you know, you’re the only one who can help with that.”

You rolled your eyes, giving him a cheeky grin. “Nice try, babe. Unfortunately, the answer is no.” You say, his smirk falling.

“Wait, wha-”

“I’m going to move to another area and I will just skip that part for now,” You say as you pointed to his groin area, giving him a wink. “I’ll let it limp down by itself.”

His jaw nearly hit the ground. “So you’re telling me you’re going to leave me here? With a boner? Flustered and all?” He said slowly.

You nodded with a smile on your face. “Exactly my point.” You reply, going back to your sketch.

“I-” He started, eventually closing his mouth as he didn’t know what to say.

You giggle at his expression. “My apologies but you know art comes first.”

He just nodded slowly, obviously upset as his eyes were set on the floor. 

“Hey,” You called out. He lifted his gaze to your face.

You gave him a smirk. “Rest assured, I’ll make it up to you later.”

| part 2 here |

[magmasliveblogs]

1.22 (part 2)

aaaaaaaaaaand im back! when we last left erin, she was dealing with acid flies. lets see how this develops! 

“You have a talent for finding the most dangerous things, don’t you?”

Pisces shuddered as he gazed at the acid fly traps. He edged away from them and rubbed his arms nervously. Erin grinned at him.

“Aren’t they gross? But look—the jars are almost half full, and it’s not even been more than two hours.”

“How fascinating.”

He took another step back. Erin eyed him, but she couldn’t judge him too harshly. Both she and the mage were a good ten feet away from the glass jars.

Pisces licked his lips as he stared at the jars. The way the countless glowing shapes moved and heaved against the glass was hypnotic.

“I imagine…I imagine if all four containers were to rupture, the swarm of these insects could very well engulf us and melt our flesh within moments.”

“What a lovely image.”

“Yes. Yes, I imagine it will fill my dreams tonight.”

“They can’t get out of the jars. They’re not that smart. They wriggle in, but the lid keeps them from exiting. I did the same thing with fruit flies back where I lived.”

“I applaud your ingenuity. But may I ask why you decided to capture a swarm of deadly insects that prey on dead matter?”

“Well, they’re bugs. I bet Klbkch would love to eat them.”

Pisces gave her a fish eye look. He shook his head.

“It’s your funeral if you want to attempt to cook them. May I advise removing the acid before you serve them to your guests?”

Erin glowered at Pisces. She wasn’t even sure why she’d invited the mage to see her traps. She just wanted to show off, and he was the only one who’d come for dinner that night.

“I don’t get how they can survive anyways, if they explode so much. I mean, how would they even live long enough to reproduce?”

“By having few predators insane enough to risk consuming them. That, and the fact that they are nearly limitless in number.”

“Ah.”

Pisces waved a hand at the glass jars.

“These are only the males of the species, in any case. The females are—substantially—larger. In fact, the sole purpose of the male is to gather as much food as possible. He will dissolve and absorb as much nutrition into his lower abdomen before returning to a female in hopes of winning her favor. They all do it.”

“Oh, sort of like how bees and ants both have queens, right?”

Erin glanced over and saw Pisces gaping at her open-mouthed.

“What?”

He shook his head.

“I was unaware you were so familiar with the biology of insects, that’s all.”

huh, lets hope we never see a female 

“Oh, I know tons of weird animal facts. When I was kid I watched Discovery Chann—I mean, I read lots of books.”

“You can read?”

Pisces gave her a look almost bordering on respect. Erin glowered at him.

“Of course I can read. I can also play chess, and I read poetry. Sometimes.”

“You can play chess?”

Erin glared again, but he seemed genuinely curious.

“Oh yeah. I play chess. A tiny bit. You could say it’s a hobby of mine.”

“Really? As it happens, I was considered one of the better players in the northern cities. Would you care for a game? Perhaps with a wager or two on the side?”

Pisces smiled innocuously at her. Erin rolled her eyes.

prepare to get trounced 

An hour later Pisces stared at the chess pieces in front of him with desperate concentration. He moved the king piece in front of him left, and then right. He turned his head to look at the board another way.

“Perhaps if I—”

“Nope. And even if you try to take the pawn, it’s still checkmate.”

Erin didn’t bother looking up from her meal. She’d made scrambled eggs with sausage on the side. It wasn’t the most exciting of meals to eat, but it was tasty, filling, and it was better than having to stare at Pisces.

“I cannot fathom it. I was—am one of the best players in on the continent! I have outplayed [Tacticians] and other mages of similar caliber and skill. How could you defeat me?”

She shrugged.

“Amateurs are still amateurs. By the way, I’ll put the money you bet me on your tab.”

“Ah. That. Clearly I made a miscalculation. Would you care to waive my debts if I—”

“No. You bet and I won. No arguing. Eat your eggs.”

Erin heard a loud sniff, but after a moment she also heard the clink of metal on pottery.

“I must admit, this is better fare than your unfortunate soup of yesterday.”

She looked up. Pisces quickly looked down at his plate.

After she’d glared for a bit, Erin asked a question that had been on her mind for a while.

“What do you do all day, anyways?”

Pisces looked up and swallowed the scrambled eggs.

“I study the mystical realms of the transmundane. To unlock the secrets of the ether and command over supernatural forces I—”

“You study.”

“Pretty much.”

Pisces shrugged and went back to munching on his breakfast.

“Do you need to study that much? I mean, don’t you know spells?”

He sighed.

“For all my magical proficiency, I cannot cast more than a few magics beyond the third tier in any field, and I am relegated to first and second-tier magics in most fields outside of my specialization.”

yay studying!

“Oh. Um. Magic has tiers?”

Pisces rolled his eyes.

“Indeed. Seven, or eight to be exact. There is a speculative ninth tier of magic, but no mage has ever cast or discovered a spell of such magic. In any case, to cast such spells mages such as I require concentration, time, and effort to unravel the workings of each new incantation.”

Again, Erin had to pause to figure out what Pisces was saying.

“Right. So you study to cast better spells. And I guess that makes you level up as well?”

“Obviously. It is a taxing affair, especially given that menial affairs such as lodging and sustenance must be taken care of while one attempts to study.”

Erin propped her head on one elbow.

“Almost makes you wish you had a job, huh?”

Pisces eyed her dourly.

“Until recently I had a quite profitable side business liberating unneeded supplies from the locals in exchange for entertainment. But now I abstain from such activities to stay within your good graces.”

“Yeah, and because Relc threatened to stab you if you kept doing it. That’s not really a good career path, you know.”

He sniffed loudly.

“I also had a far more lucrative occupation liberating unneeded items from those who were in no position to use them, but apparently that is considered a grave violation of privacy as well.”

“You rob the dead?”

“I reburied them afterwards.”

Erin opened her mouth, raised a finger, threw up her hands, and gave up. She stared at Pisces as the mage huffily finished his food.

not like the dead will come back to life for revenge, or do they? we dont know yet 

“Why don’t you do something actually useful instead?”

“And what would I do that is so useful?”

“I dunno. What do mages do for a living? Blow up stuff with fireballs? Dispense sage advice? Sell their beards? I found a bunch of magic runes in the kitchen. They kept food fresh for—I dunno, years.”

“Ah. A [Preservation] spell, no doubt. Yes, that is certainly a service some mages skilled in runecraft can provide for plebeians.”

“…And? Can you do that?”

“I cannot.”

“Darn.”

“I am sorry to betray your high expectations in me, but I fear even a mage of my caliber cannot study every school of the higher arts.”

Erin glanced up at Pisces. The mage was scraping his plate with the knife and fork. She had the distinct impression he would have licked it if she weren’t watching.

“I never had high hopes for you in the first place. I just think it’s too bad, that’s all. You know magic and you don’t do anything with it.”

Pisces put down his fork.

“Some would say magic is its own reward. I would.”

“I guess.”

Erin sighed. She felt like she was talking to a wall. A particularly annoying wall with bad hygiene.

“You know, if you actually helped people and were a bit nicer, I think you’d actually be fun to hang around. Why are you so rude to everyone?”

She hadn’t meant it to sting, but clearly it hit Pisces somewhere vulnerable. He sat up straight in his chair, his eyes flashing.

“Thus far I haven’t found any people worthy of my assistance. Why should I help those who judge me in ignorance and fear?”

Erin blinked up at him. The young mage’s face was pale with indignation, but spots of color flared in each cheek. She thought about asking him another question—but he was in no mood for conversation.

Instead, Erin shrugged and stood up.

“Because you’re a better person than they are.”

She collected his plate and hers and left the mage sitting at the table. When she came out of the kitchen he was gone.

yay motivational messages! (sarcasm)

The next day Erin got up and went to check on her fly traps. They’d worked scarily well.

All four glass jars were filled with crawling, wriggling shapes. Erin took one look at the jars, gagged a bit, and then had to go sit down.

“Oh man. Oh wow. That’s the nastiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

It was also, on reflection, the scariest thing she’d ever seen. Erin wondered what would happen if she accidentally knocked the lid off of one of the jars. She recalled Pisces’s comment about melting flesh and shuddered.

Carefully, Erin walked over to the jars. She repeatedly thought about how important it was not to trip.

Her foot caught on a tuft of grass. Erin windmilled her arms wildly and caught herself just before she tripped into one of the jars.

“Not okay. Not okay.”

Before her heart could finish stopping, Erin adjusted the lids of each jar so they firmly covered the openings. Now the acid flies couldn’t get out at all.

“That’s better.”

Erin hefted one of the jars up and felt some of the acid flies explode within.

“Oof. That’s heavy.”

She shifted as the acid and flies shifted in the jar. For such little insects, they weighed a ton.

“Gotta be all the acid in their backsides. Okay. This could take a while.”

Erin took one step, and then another. She adjusted her grip around the glass jar so she wouldn’t drop it. She’d have to watch the ground for potholes, but she was pretty happy with her posture. She took another step, and tripped over another of the glass fly traps.

The ground rushed to meet Erin’s face. She realized she was still holding the glass jar and hurled it away from her just in time. She smacked into the ground hard and exhaled hard. Aside from that, she was fine.

Then Erin heard the glass jar shatter as it hit the ground. She rolled to her feet and stood up.

The large glass jar lay in shards on the grass. Green-gray acidic sludge dripped onto the ground, raising steam and hissing where it met the soil. For a moment, all was still among the wreckage. Then, with a horrific buzzing a swarm of black shapes flew into the air.

Erin felt her heart stop. She looked up at the spiraling cloud of flies. They flew around wildly, looking for whatever had disturbed them. Erin backed away slowly, praying they would ignore her. For a moment it seemed as if they would fly off, but then the entire direction of the swarm changed. The cloud of flies seemed to recoil, and then encircled Erin in an instant.

Her heart had stopped. It wasn’t beating in her chest. Erin looked around desperately, but all she saw were buzzing, buzzing flies. They filled the sky, the ground, everything.

“I—”

They swarmed at her. Erin screamed and covered her eyes and mouth.

“Gust!”

Erin heard the voice, and then a raging gale blew around her. She staggered as the wind blew her around. The effect on the acid flies was even more pronounced. They were blasted away from Erin into a funnel of air which whirled them into one spot. They buzzed around angrily, disoriented and confused.

So was Erin. She looked around and saw a familiar young man wearing dirty grey robes. He was pointing a finger in her direction.

“Duck, Erin!”

Erin dove to the ground and hit the dirt hard. She looked up and saw Pisces raise one hand. A pale frost formed at his fingertips and half-visible gusts of wind blew around the length of his arm. He pointed at the disoriented swarm of acid flies.

“[Frozen Wind].”

A gentle breeze blew against the top of Erin’s head. Then, the air crackled and her hair froze in place. Erin could see the faintest trace of whirling air as it blew over her head. Where it passed, snow began to fall from the sky and she felt intense freezing cold engulf her.

The swarm of acid flies flew into the freezing breeze and fell out of the sky. Erin yelped and ran as they showered down around her, frozen insects that burst as they hit the ground.

She dove into the river, and leapt out of it just as quickly in case the flat fish tried to bite. When she cleared the water out of her eyes, the glowing swarm was gone, and all that was left was a circle of smoking dirt and frozen grass.

When Erin had finished shaking so hard she couldn’t move, she stood up. She was still trembling uncontrollably.

“That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

She lurched over to Pisces. She wasn’t sure if she should throw her arms around him or start crying. She settled for a brief hug, and then doubled down and hugged him fiercely. He didn’t seem to notice.

Pisces was breathing hard. He stared at the sizzling patch of earth where the acid flies had been, as if mesmerized. She could see the whites of his eyes as they shifted towards her.

“It—that was a beginner’s spell. Not suitable for most combat and downplayed by my instructors. However, it was the best tool for the moment. All magic is worth using, after all.”

“Right.”

Erin nodded. Pisces nodded. His eyes flicked back to the patch of melted earth.

“You saved me. It was incredible, that spell.”

He shook his head and waved a hand weakly in her direction.

“I am—I am a mage of Wistram Academy. As a specialist of the Wind Elementalist field of magic, of course such displays are second—second—”

Pisces bent over and threw up in the grass. He retched, and then threw up again. Erin patted him on the back and waited for him to stop.

it appears wistram graduates arent all he says they are if it just takes two spells to tire them out, unless he is just low on mana after studying or someting similar. that or he is weak from hunger other than the meals erin feeds him  

After a while Pisces wiped his mouth with a corner of his robe. His face was still pale, but he looked better.

“You were lucky I happened to be here. Very lucky.”

Erin nodded.

“I was. I really was.”

Pisces nodded back. Erin felt like they were both bobbleheads, but there was nothing else to do. He pointed a trembling finger at the three glass jars still holding the swarms of acid flies.

“If you insist on using such traps, might I suggest you anchor them in the stream?”

Erin looked blank.

“The stream? Why?”

“Several reasons.”

Pisces shakily counted them off on his fingers.

“Firstly, the natural buoyancy of the water would prevent the breakage of glass if the jars were dropped, or at least mitigate the danger of the acid flies. Secondly, the effects of wind and other native life would also be mitigated. And thirdly, I would not be at risk tripping over such traps.”

“Right. I can do that.”

She wasn’t sure if it was the moment, but the trembling in her body had nearly vanished. Erin grabbed a rock, tied a some long grass to it, and anchored the rock to the glass jar. She dropped the rock in the stream and watched the jar bob and float in the water.

“Hm. I need something heavy to make sure it stays upright. I guess sometimes the jars might turn over…but it’ll work. Better than leaving them on the ground. A hundred thousand times better.”

Pisces nodded again.

“Well.”

“Good thing you came along.”

Both nodded again. Pisces opened his mouth and grimaced. He went over to the stream and shakily rinsed his mouth out. Then he looked up at her.

“May I ask—what is it you plan to do now, Erin?”

She looked at him. Then she looked at the glass jars full of flies.

“I’m going to take these jars back to the inn. You’re coming with me in case I drop one. And then…”

“And then?”

“And then I’m going to feed you until you explode like one of the flies.”

Pisces glanced down at the glass jars and the milling acid flies within. He shuddered again.

“An apt description.”

while a good description, ew 

The jar of acid flies was a mix of acid and death. The corpses of hundreds—thousands of the small bugs floated in a sea of glowing green juice. It slopped against the side of the glass, an obscene testament of insectoid death.

“Hold on, I think there’s one left.”

Erin shook the glass jar. The last remaining acid fly bounced against the glass and popped dully within.

“What will you do with them?”

She looked up at Pisces. The mage was sitting several tables away from her, deliberately not looking at the glass jars.

“I’ll separate the flies and the acid. I don’t know what I’ll do with the acid.”

“If you dispose of it, please do so with utmost care. While the acid of these insects cannot eat through metal or many conventional materials, it is extremely quick to dissolve any organic material.”

Erin nodded. She carefully put the glass jar back in its corner and stood up.

“Right. Um. Want another piece of bread? Or would you like some more juice?”

The sight of the fresh bread and cup of juice made the mage’s face turn an indelicate shade of green. He patted his bloated stomach and erped. He covered his mouth with his hand, but Erin was pretty sure he’d nearly thrown up.

“Maybe not, then.”

“You have been most kind.”

yeah looks like he was just hungry 

Pisces stood up and clutched at his stomach. He wavered, and cast his eyes towards the door.

“Most kind. But the night is old, and I believe I shall retire.”

“Are you sure? I could get you a bag of food to go.”

He turned a darker shade of green and waved a hand quickly at her.

“You are very considerate, but no. No. I will be off. Thank you for your hospitality.”

“It was nothing. Let me get the door for you—there. Careful on your way out.”

She saw Pisces out the door and then turned and looked back at the table he’d sat in. It was filled with empty plates and crumbs. She debated cleaning it up, and then shook her head.

Carefully, Erin picked her way across the inn. She walked over to the three filled jars of acid flies and made sure for the umpteenth time that the lids were secure, and that she couldn’t see any flies still wriggling around inside.

Among the many things Erin had bought from Krshia, one of them was a chalkboard and piece of chalk. She’d meant to record things she needed on it, but now Erin wiped the black slate clean and used her best handwriting as she wrote on the board. Then she propped it up on the bar’s counter.

Menu

Pasta w/sausage and onions – 3 cp. per plate.

Blue juice – 2 cp. per glass.

Acid flies – 1 s. per plate

She dropped the chalk on the counter and cast her eyes back at the jars of dead flies. Erin shuddered. She rubbed at her arms and sat in her chair. Too close. Too close by far.

In a while she’d fall asleep. In a while she’d wake up screaming and then fall asleep again. She’d be haunted by the sound of buzzing wings for the next week. But for the moment, Erin’s eyes closed.

[Innkeeper Level 10!]

[Skill – Alcohol Brewer obtained!]

[Skill – Dangersense obtained!]

“…I wonder if you can make fly cookies?”

ooo alcohol brewer? can she now made wine from the fruits, like what magnolia had delivered? also is [dangersense] just spider sense but better? 

thats the end of the chapter! will pisces return more often? will klb love those flies? 

see you next post 

[kellykperez]

Google I/O: What’s going on with Progressive Web Apps?

At Google’s developer jamboree, Google I/O, last week the search giant paraded a host of big name case studies and compelling stats to herald its success with two initiatives to make the mobile web better and faster: Progressive Web Apps (PWA) and Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).

Progressive Web Apps are a Google innovation designed to combine the best features of mobile apps and the mobile web: speed, app-like interaction, offline usage, and no need to download anything.

Google spotlighted this relatively new web product at last year’s Google I/O, where the Washington Post showed off a newly-built Progressive Web App to enhance its mobile experience.

Whether companies believe in or plan to adopt Progressive Web Apps, the initiative (along with AMP) has done a fantastic job of highlighting a) the importance of making websites and apps lean and mean so they perform better on mobile and b) how ridiculously bloated, slow and inefficient websites and apps have become.

PWA and AMP are not the only answers to mobile bloat, but being led and backed by Google, they bring the potential for 1) broad adoption, 2) lots of resources, and 3) favorable treatment from Android, Chrome and Google Search.

What’s so great about Progressive Web Apps?

PWAs bring native app-like functions and features to websites. They should (depending on the quality of the build) work on all smart devices, adapting the performance to the ability of the device, browser and connection.

The key features that get people excited about PWAs are:

The ability to send push notifications

Option to save to the device (home screen and – now – app launcher), so it loads even faster next time

Ability to work offline (when there is no internet connection)

Make payments. One of the most significant PWA announcements at Google I/O was that PWAs can now integrate with native/web payment apps, to allow one tap payment with the users preferred provider, including Android Pay, Samsung Pay, Alipay and PayPal

Closer integration with device functions and native apps.

The margin of what native apps can do compared with a web-based app (N.B. PWAs do not have a monopoly over mobile web apps) is disappearing rapidly.

The last year has seen a remarkable 215 new APIs, allowing web apps to access even more of the native phone features and apps, announced Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, VP, product management at Google, in his Mobile Web State of Union keynote.

He pointed out that you could even build a web-based virtual reality (VR) app (if you wanted to), citing Within and Sketchfab, which showcase creations from developers around the world.

Who ate all the pies?

But the most compelling thing about Progressive Web Apps is their download size, compared with iOS apps and Android apps. Check out the size comparisons in the image below for two case studies featured at Google I/O: Twitter Lite and Ola Cabs (the biggest cab service in India, delivering 1 million rides per day).

Size of Twitter’s Android app 23MB+; iOS app 100MB+; Twitter Lite PWA 0.6MB.

Size of OLA Cabs Android app 60MB; iOS app 100MB; PWA 0.2MB.

Why does size matter? Performance on the web is all about speed. The smaller the size the quicker the download. Think SUV versus Grand Prix motorbike in rush hour traffic.

Interestingly, Twitter markets the PWA as Twitter Lite particularly targeted at people in tier two markets where connections may be inferior, data more expensive and smartphones less advanced; while Ola Cabs markets the PWA at second or third tier cites where there are similar issues with connections and smartphones.

This (cleverly) helps to position the PWA as non-competitive to their native apps.

Which companies have launched Progressive Web Apps?

A growing number of big name brands (see image below) have launched PWAs. These include:

Travel companies: Expedia, Trivago, Tui, AirFrance, Wego

Publishers: Forbes, Infobae, Washington Post, FT, Guardian, Independent, Weather Company

E-commerce companies: Fandango, Rakuten, Alibaba, Lancôme, Flipkart

Formerly native app-only companies: Lyft, Ola Cabs.

At I/O, Google trumpeted the achievements of a number of companies, inviting several to share their experiences with the audiences – only the good stuff, clearly.

1. Faster speeds; higher engagement

m.Forbes.com has seen user engagement double since launch of its PWA in March (according to Google).

For the inside track see this Forbes article. The publisher claims its pages load in 0.8 seconds on a mobile device. The publisher was aiming for a Snapchat or Instagram-like experience with streams of related content along with app-like features such as gesture-based navigation.

In this video case study, embedded below, created for I/O, Forbes claims to have achieved a 43% increase in sessions per user and 20% increase in ad viewability.

The Ola Cabs PWA takes 1-3 seconds to load on the first visit – depending on the network, “including low 3G” Dipika Kapadia, head of consumer web products at Ola, told I/O attendees. On subsequent visits it takes less than a second as it only needs to download the real-time information, including cab availability.

Ola achieves this partly due to its size: the app is just 0.5MB of which only 0.2MB is application data. As it downloads it prioritizes essential information, while other assets download in the background.

2. Consumers readily download PWAs to their home screens

When mobile visitors are using the mobile app, they receive a prompt to save it to the home screen, so it loads faster next time. It does this by caching all the static parts of the site, so next time it only needs to fetch what has changed.

Twitter Lite, as Patrick Traughber, product manager atTwitter, told the Google I/O crowd, sees 1 million daily visits from the homepage icon.

Since launch of the Progressive Web App, in April 2017, Twitter has seen a 65% increase in pages per session and 75% increase in tweets.

3. Notifications

The ability to send notifications to mobile users to encourage them back to the app, used to be one of the big advantages of native apps over mobile web. No longer.

Notifying users about recent activity is very important to Twitter, said Traughber. And Twitter is taking full advantage of this capability, sending 10 million push notifications each day.

For the inside track on Twitter’s PWA, see this article.

4. Winning back customers that have deleted your native app

App-only companies face the challenge that users only download and retain a limited number of apps on their smartphone and will uninstall those that aren’t used as regularly as others, thus once deleted, it’s over.

Thus it is an eye-opener that 20% of Ola PWA bookings come from users who have previously uninstalled the native app.

See Google’s case study on Ola’s PWA.

5. PWAs appeal to iOS users

Compared with other mobile browsers such as Chrome, Edge, Opera and Samsung, the default browser on Apple devices, Safari, can be slower when it comes to adopting advancements in mobile web. This means Safari users won’t experience some of the more advanced features of PWAs, yet.

Despite this, brands are seeing improved mobile engagement after launching a PWA. Lancôme Paris has seen session length improve by 53% among iOS users, according to this case study of the Lancôme PWA, cited at Google I/O.

6. Conversions

According to Wego’s video case study, embedded below, created for I/O, the Singapore-based travel service has combined both PWA and AMP to achieve a load time for new users is 1.6 seconds and 1 second for returning customers. This has helped to increase site visits by 26%, reduce bounce rates by 20% and increase conversions by 95%, since launch.

If you need more impressive stats to make the case for a web app, visit Cloud Four’s new PWA Stats.

For more articles on mobile web performance see:

How video impacts mobile web performance and UX, part 1: data and download speed How video impacts mobile web performance and UX, part 2: autoplay and audio How to fix your bloated mobile website: fewer, better, smaller images Optimizing images for mobile: right format, right size, right place, right device How JavaScript impacts how fast your page loads on a mobile device

Andy Favell is Search Engine Watch’s columnist on mobile. He is a London-based freelance mobile/digital consultant, journalist and web editor. Contact him via LinkedIn or Twitter at Andy_Favell.

from IM Tips And Tricks https://searchenginewatch.com/2017/05/23/google-io-whats-going-on-with-progressive-web-apps/

[pinocchio2015]

Profit Builder 2 review - What is WP Profit Builder 2.0?

ProfitBuilder review The 10 Minute Forex Wealth Building contractor is a functional, affordable, and very fundamental Foreign exchange training program as well as was ranked a High Top Tier product. Just what I like most around this system, well there are plenty of, so below goes. First, any person could learn it as well as use it. Second, it removes 2 high chances of failure that investors face that trigger them to lose money; these are trading as well commonly and trading when they shouldn't. Third, it is a tested constant lasting long-term cash manufacturer. As a result, there was no other means to price it but a 10 out of 10. It satisfies all our certifications as well as ought to be high your checklist when attempting to earn the decision on which item to acquire.

This is because lots of IM-ers focus much more on web traffic sources compared to they do on their landing page design. While it is necessary to find targeted traffic, if you cannot get that website traffic to get from you after that what's the point of getting it in the first place? Creating an efficient landing page is incredibly crucial for the success of your online business. In this post we shall be checking out a few ProfitBuilder review ideas that provide results.

ProfitBuilder 2.0 No Further a Mystery

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Getting My ProfitBuilder To Work

Your landing page generator needs to be light and quick. Stay clear of putting anything there that's going to have a lengthy loading time, as well as if you must, put it better down on the page. The headline as well as major info you want them to see should fast and also easy. If it takes permanently to lots, they'll obtain annoyed and also click away. Itcan also be utilized for a smaller sized company browsing to display their products and also products and also solutions. This permits for personally styled designs of their pages. Middot if you are a specific blog owner after that the thesis motif is for you. Itcan additionally be used for a smaller sized company browsing to showcase their products as well as services and products. This allows for directly styled layouts of their web pages. Middot if you are an associate marketing expert or you want to leadpages after that the affiliate theme is just what you wish to make use of. To stay out unqualified web traffic, you need to be certain. If your target audience is firms with 50 workers or more, say so. For shopping, take into consideration sale price. Words like "luxury" could extract deal shoppers.