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visionsofus · 3 years ago

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Hey, my city has just been put into lockdown :( so I thought I might send a prompt... maybe something about some of the times Vision phases through Wandas wall? Idk but I hope you're well and I love your writing :)

hello! I am so sorry to hear that your city has been put into lockdown! I hope you are staying safe and looking after yourself. I bumped this to the top of my list so I could get you something nice to read quickly. It's mainly about Vision comforting Wanda but I hope it brings you some comfort too!

Mixtape track # 28: Time After Time cover by Theresa Sokyrka, Jesse Brown

| read on AO3 here | mixtape playlist | send me an ask with your song/prompt request |

lying in my bed, I hear the clock tick and think of you

synopsis: Three times Vision phased into Wanda's room unannounced and found her in varying states of disarray/ injury. Aka a fluffy comfort fic for those of you who need it.

Warnings: mentions of blood and stitches, illness (flu), mild swearing

Vision was sitting at the kitchen counter, a novel before him when Steve hurried into the kitchen and began rooting through cabinets. Vision placed a finger to mark his page and glanced up in confusion.

“Is there something you need help with, Captain?” He asked, curious at Steve’s haste. The captain jumped visibly, and Vision looked down sheepishly. The team was yet to grow accustomed to his presence in the Compound and he was still learning to be something like human. It was a slow process.

“Vision,” Steve said, a hand pressed to his chest in surprise. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

Vision nodded. “What are you looking for?”

“Cold and flu medicine,” Steve replied, turning back to the cabinets and pushing aside two different bags of coffee beans and a pot of sugar. His hand scraped around the back of the shelf to no avail. “I know we had some here somewhere.”

Vision tilted his head curiously. There weren’t many at the compound who could fall ill, Steve and himself included. Tony was away with Rhodey in New York for the weekend, Clint was with his family, and from what Vision knew of Natasha, she didn’t seem the kind of person to accept medicine.

That only left one other person in the enormous building he now called home.

“Is Wanda okay?” Vision asked his voice sound slightly strained, even to his own ears. He hadn’t quite mastered control over tone yet but was getting better at identifying such markers in other’s speech.

“She’s okay,” Steve mulled as he moved things around, moving to another cupboard. Vision heard the concern in his voice. Forgetting his page, he shut his book all thoughts now directed to Wanda. Where could she have contracted an illness? Perhaps it was overworking, of all of them, Wanda pushed herself the hardest. The last few weeks had been particularly rough with training every day, minor missions interstate, and relentless press appearances.

“Aha!” Steve cried in triumph, holding up a packet of cold and flu tablets.

“I can take them to her,” Vision said jumping to his feet and moving swiftly to Steve’s side, a glass in his hand ready to fill with water for Wanda. Steve jerked back a little, evidently, he was still not adjusted to the synthezoid’s super speed.

“Okay,” Steve sounded hesitant as he passed over the thin package. “Don’t smother her, alright? She’s not in a very good mood.”

“I won’t,” Vision said pleased as he filled up the glass with water and headed off down the corridor. As he walked, he quickly had a look at what ‘smothering’ meant – why Steve thought he might cover Wanda’s head with a pillow, Vision couldn’t understand. A little more looking revealed it could also mean overwhelm. Vision shook his head, he would make every effort to not overwhelm her, he just wanted to make sure she was comfortable and provide anything that might make her feel better.

Out of Steve’s sight, he hurried quickly down the corridor that led to Wanda’s bedroom. Once he was close enough to her bedroom he phased effortlessly through the wall, bringing the water and pills with him.

He arrived in her room to find that the lights were out and the curtains drawn despite it being mid-morning.

“Vision?” Wanda exclaimed, or tried to. Her voice cracked and she coughed most of the way through his name.

He hurried to the other side of her bed, concerned to see her covers pulled up to her chin even as sweat made her forehead shine.

“What did I saw about knocking?” Wanda said, her voice hoarse, her eyes struggling to stay open.

“That I should?” Vision said hesitantly.

Wanda murmured something in affirmation, and he felt guilty.

“Sorry, I will next time. I brought you some medicine.” He set the glass of water on her bedside table which was cluttered with tissues, empty glasses and unfinished books.

“Don’t need it, thanks,” Wanda murmured, turning onto her side.

Vision sighed. She looked dreadful, which was saying something as he rarely found her anything but beautiful. Concerned, he slowly reached out to press his hand to her forehead. Wanda shivered, feverish.

“You have a high temperature; the medicine will make you feel better.”

Wanda opened her eyes blearily and huffed in frustration. She heaved herself up to lean against the headboard and held a hand out for the pills. Vision popped two of the night pills into her palm before extending the water glass. She swallowed the medicine and shivered again.

“When did you start feeling bad?” Vision asked, trying to make conversation as he hovered about her room, not yet ready to leave her in such a state.

“Last night, but woke up feeling like the plague this morning,” Wanda mumbled, slipping back down onto the pillow. He moved forward to pull her pillow up so she was more comfortable.

“Okay, well we’ll keep an eye on your fever,” he said nervously more to himself, feeling the need to speak the instructions he had read about online aloud. But Wanda’s eyes were already closed, and it seemed she was relenting to an exhausted slumber.

Vision bit his lip, unsure if he were allowed to stay in her room while she was asleep. Glancing at her bedside table he decided to at least clean up on his way out. With the empty glasses stacked and the tissues in the bin he set about opening up a window a little bit to allow for some circulation. Even if Wanda felt cold, her fever needed to come down. Finally, unable to see a reason to stay Vision went over to adjust her blankets. Seeing that she was peacefully asleep he pressed his palm to her forehead, glad to feel that she felt a little bit less warm. She murmured something sleepily but didn’t wake.

Vision returned to her wall with the glasses in hand and phased through it once more, leaving Wanda to her fever dreams. For the remainder of the day, he kept a keen eye on Wanda, phasing through her wall each hour to take her temperature and replace her water glass. She remained asleep or at least didn’t acknowledge his care, though each time he left her mouth twitched up at the corners.

“Wanda!” Vision’s voice was a singsong as he phased through her bedroom wall, eager for their promised game of chess. He had taken up teaching her the game not long after he had learnt it himself. There was no one at the compound who could play that well but he always had fun with Wanda. Even when Vision knew all the tricks, she still surprised him. In exchange they had been following up each game with a few episodes of the Dick Van Dyke show. It was their Saturday night ritual now, though they had only known each other 6 months. Wanda had only just returned from the mission she had been on with Steve and Nat. Perhaps chess was off the table, but he hoped she would let him keep her company and watch some television. Vision struggled to understand how keenly he had felt her absence in the past week.

He phased through the wall and for a moment his sight was clouded. He emerged into the bedroom that he had slowly been acquainted with. Vision knew the view from her windows, the books on her desk, her guitar in the corner and the pattern of her bedsheets. His eyes checked off each of these features before looking to the bed. His heart dropped sickeningly when he caught sight of the figure laying atop the covers.

Wanda had propped herself against the headboard, her mouth twisted in pain as she nursed a gash that was bleeding all down her left arm.

“Wanda?” Vision whispered. Her eyes opened weakly, and she grimaced a smile.

“Hi.”

Vision was at her side instantly. “Hi? What do you mean hi? Are you okay what happened—”

“Shhh,” Wanda whispered, reaching out to grab his arm and squeeze. “Don’t want the others to know.”

“What do you mean?” Vision asked furiously. “You’re hurt, why didn’t you go the med bay when you got back?”

“Please,” she turned her eyes on him and he registered the pain behind her gaze. “Help me and I’ll answer any questions you want. I tried,” she gestured to the trail of thread she’d been using to stitch herself up with, “but my hands are too shaky.”

He ignored that she was half undressed, more focused on how her blood had soaked through the left side of her top and was dripping onto her bed. Vision spared less than a second before he was speeding away from her side. He trusted Wanda, if she said that she didn’t want the others knowing then he would wait to hear her reasoning. For now, he just wanted to alleviate her pain.

He thanked the gods for his super speed as he dashed down the corridor, down the stairs through two walls and into the empty med bay. He dipped in and out of the internet finding a reputable source for stitching up a wound even as he lectured himself for not understanding such an important procedure sooner. He grabbed more supplies, gauze and bandages, antiseptic and a fresh needle and tweezers. He sped back upstairs and arrived in Wanda’s room just as she was swiping tears away from her eyes.

“Sorry,” she winced, trying to sit up better as he set his supplies on her bedside table.

“You have nothing to apologise for,” Vision said soothingly. “Let’s get you fixed up.”

“You weren’t supposed to see,” Wanda sighed, her eyes closed as he set about propping her arm up with a pillow and a fresh towel to mop up the blood.

“Lucky I entered without announcing myself then,” Vision murmured perching himself next to her tense body. He wasn’t usually squeamish and managed to maintain a distance when it came to gore. But seeing Wanda’s blood trickling down her arm had his heart thumping far too quickly. He took a few calming breaths.

Vision straightened her arm and watched her forehead contort in pain, sweat beading. Silently he took the medical scissors and cut off the thread and the mess Wanda had made of her wound. On closer inspection he was relieved to see it wasn’t too deep and that the blood had stopped flowing. He cleaned and numbed the area.

“It’s not as bad as I thought,” Vision murmured as he helped her sit up taller, so she was at a better angle for the stitches.

“Feels bad enough,” Wanda winced.

He frowned at her pain. “Tell me about your favourite episode of Dick Van Dyke,” Vision prompted as he set about threading the needle. Wisely, Wanda decided to turn her attention to her sweeping windows and the clouds drifting across the amber sky.

“Season 2, episode 20,” Wanda said. “It’s not necessarily my favourite but it’s the episode I’ve seen the most. Rob watches this movie with aliens and monsters, it was scary for me as a kid, but I found it funny how out of control it became—” Wanda broke off with a pained groan as Vision began the first stitch.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Now it doesn’t scare me but it’s still eerie...” she trailed off to prepare for the next stitch. Moments later it was done, and she breathed out slowly as Vision tugged the thread gently, closing the wound.

“— it’s interesting to look back on the episode and –” She thumped her other first on her thigh as the needle dug in once more.

“—and see how far my life has changed since I first watched it – oh fuck that!”

Vision startled, not used to hearing her swear. “Two more and it’ll be done,” Vision replied, conscious that he was leaning over her torso and that there might have been easier ways to sit for stitching up the gash.

“Two more?” Wanda sighed her right shoulder slumping in defeat.

“Almost there, almost there,” he murmured soothingly, starting on the next stitch. Wanda cried out, biting her fist. His heart twinged painfully in sympathy.

“You’re okay,” Vision said, doing his best to be comfortingly. “One more and then it’s done, one more and it’ll be over.”

He continued to murmur small comforts, hoping his voice would distract her from the thin metal dipping in and out of her skin. Despite her pain he had successfully kept the stitches neat and hoped that they’d be suitable enough for healing. At least he had used the thread that dissolved as the wound healed and she could avoid the new pain of having them taken out once more.

As he pushed the needle in for the final stitch Wanda’s head lolled against his neck. He froze in fear.

“I’m okay,” she whispered, “just, keep going.”

Her head remained pressed into the crook of his neck, her breath warming his skin in slow, controlled breaths. Vision did his best to focus on finishing off his work. He completed the final stitch, tied it up and cut the needle free. As he moved his materials to her bedside table and picked up the gauze, he became conscious of Wanda’s shoulders shaking slowly.

“Sorry,” she said quietly, her voice thick with tears.

“It’s alright, Wanda,” Vision said with a comforting smile, though she didn’t raise her head. He raised a hand and gently stroked the back of her head in what he hoped was a soothing manner. “I’ll wrap your arm up and give you something for the pain.”

Wanda sniffled against his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re the only one who can phase through physical walls.”

Vision smiled happily; glad Wanda couldn’t see his reaction.

Vision hovered; his hand raised to knock on Wanda’s bedroom door. He’d been standing there for a few moments debating on whether or not to disturb her when he’d heard the soft noises of Wanda’s cries. Vision knew how she sounded when she was upset. In the year they had been living together there had been a few nights he had spent sitting outside her door, listening to her cry and waiting for her to fall asleep. Often, all she’d allow him to do was bring her food or a cup of tea, insisting she be left to her sorrows. But Vision was struggling to bear it tonight. He worried that she thought herself a burden, that she locked herself up in her room on her bad days as a way to save the rest of the team from her anguish. But Vision hated seeing, or hearing, her pain.

Unable to wait any longer Vision side stepped the door and phased right through the wood. The room was dark, and the air was still, Wanda hadn’t left her bed all day. Quietly, Vision walked slowly to her bedside and crouched beside her curled up form. The covers were pulled up over her head, her arms wrapped around one of her cushions. His throat grew tight with emotion as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Wanda?” He whispered. The covers shifted and her head emerged, tear tracks looked as though they had made permanent lines down her face, dark circles hung under her eyes.

She didn’t say anything, just rolled over so that her back was to him.

“Is there anything that you need?” Vision asked removing his hand, hesitant to take her rejection, he’d wait until she explicitly asked him to leave. Wanda didn’t reply, her breath catching in her throat, and she shook her head slowly.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” Vision said quietly.

“I don’t want to bother anyone,” Wanda whispered, her voice hoarse from not speaking. Vision raised to stand, hovering next to her bed. He desperately wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her close, to banish all her sadness and protect her from fear.

“You could never be a burden to me, it is a privilege to be a part of your life.” His words sounded raw, even to his own ears and he heard Wanda hiccup emotionally.

It didn’t take much, just her hand emerging from beneath the covers to tug at the hem of his woollen sweater. It was all he needed to know she wanted him to say.

She shifted to make room and Vision settled onto the bed next to her. Almost reluctantly, Wanda slid closer though her face was still hidden. When he was close enough, he pulled a blanket from the floor and wrapped it around her shoulders. She leant in, sniffling tearily. When he held his arms open, she hesitated for a few moments, her body stiff with tension. Finally, she relented, pressing her forehead into his shoulder and allowing him to wrap her in his warm arms. The tears started again, and he rocked them back and forth as she trembled.

“It’s alright,” Vision whispered over and over. He rubbed a hand in circles on her back, holding her close.

They remained that way for a while, Vision let her cry as much as she needed, not feeling the need to ask what was causing her such anguish. She would tell him when she was ready.

“When you’re feeling up for it, we can go for a walk,” Vision said soothingly, “there are wildflowers out by the woods, I even saw some bluebells the other morning. Maybe you can point out some other flowers you recognise to me. I think the birds miss you out there.” He talked slowly about small things, none of them important but gradually her sobs slowed into hiccups.

“Thank you,” Wanda whispered into his shoulders, her hands tangled up in his jumper.

“It’s okay,” Vision said softly, “just because your brain tells you you’re alone, doesn’t mean it’s true. There are so many people who care about you. Whenever you need me, I’ll always be here.”

#WandaVision fanfiction #scarletvision fanfiction #wanda x vision #scarletvision #wandavision #vision x wanda #mcu fanfiction #scarletvision fic #comfort fic #visionsofusfics #fluff and comfort

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lovemesomesurveys · 3 years ago

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How are you doing today? It’s only 1:56AM, but so far I’ve just ate a bowl of ramen and watched a couple YouTube videos. What was the best thing that happened to you today? My ramen was quite delicious, ha. Which cell phone network are you on? Verizon. Do you like the smell of cinnamon? Yesss. What was the last book you've read? I just finished, “The Secret She Kept” by Elle Gray and I’ve started, “Autumn’s Strike” by Mary Stone.

Are you hungry right now? No, I just finished eating. What was the last thing you've had to drink? Water. How often do you visit this website? I’m on Tumblr all the time. Do you like frogs? No. Are you afraid of dying? Yes. Do you like bananas? I love bananas. Do you like the show American Dad? Meh. It has its moments, but overall I’ll pass. I don’t ever watch it by my own choosing, I just catch it here and there because my family watches it. What TV show do you miss the most that's no longer on TV? Gilmore Girls, Degrassi, and True Blood come to mind first. Are you currently fighting with someone right now? No. Is your life full of drama? No. I have other stressful things I’m dealing with, but not of the drama variety. How long can you hold your breath underwater *shrug* Where's the last place you've been to out of state? When I went to Arizona to visit my grandparents about 6 years ago. Have you ever been kissed in the rain? No. What letter does your last name start with. -- What are you listening to right now? I’m watching Gilmore Girls. Have you ever had a pet that died? Yes. Would you rather use a trackpad or a mouse? Trackpad. Do you consider yourself politically intelligent? No, not at all. Have you ever done any volunteer work? Yeah, I’ve done a lot with Girl Scouts, school clubs, and class assignments. Do you like the Beatles? I like some songs. Is it night time where you're at right now? Yeah, it’s 2:08AM. Do you like steak? Nope. Do you eat healthy? No, I definitely don’t. How often do you work out? I don’t. What was the best gift you've ever received? I couldn’t possibly choose. Have you ever participated in a spelling bee? Nope. If you could have one wish right now, what would it be? Good health. Do you owe anyone an apology right now? I kind of do. Are you the jealous type of person? I can be, but it’s not something I feel much. Or at least haven’t felt in a long time. I feel envy more. Have you ever tried doing yoga? Nah. Do you like getting massages? I’ve never gotten one. Would you rather be too hot or too cold? Cold. Are you good at telling jokes? No, I’m pretty much the worst. I don’t tell many jokes. When was the last time you've attended a sleepover? Several years ago. Tell me one of your pet peeves. Eating sounds. Do you wear glasses? I do. Do you like to keep your nails painted? I haven’t painted my nails for the past few years. Have you ever had a pedicure? Nope. What is your favorite smell? I have several favorites. Do you like the TV show Full House? I do. Would you rather listen to country music or rap music? I like both. Are you a Duck Dynasty fan? Nope. Have you graduated high school yet? Uh, yeah, back in 2008. What kind of person were you in middle school? Quiet, shy, awkward. Nothing has changed. Do you have any major regrets in your life? I have a few. :/ Do you like pixie sticks? Eh. I did as a kid, but I don’t have much interest in them the older I get. Do you like French toast? Mmm, yes. Are you a fast typer? I am. Are you good at doing math in your head? Nope. Or at all. Have you ever played with Silly Putty? Yeah. Do you take in a lot of caffeine daily? I do. I love my caffeine. Do you like watching Football? Nope. Or an sport. What language do you wish you could speak? Spanish. Do you know a lot about history? No, I wouldn’t say that. If we could travel back in time, where would you travel to? Can I travel back to childhood? Would you ever consider joining the military? No. I couldn’t anyway, I’m physically disabled. Are you a cigarette smoker? No. Have you ever done something you didn't want to just to look cool? That’s kind of how it was when I used to drink and smoke. I wasn’t a big drinker or smoker, only did so socially, but still. I also did so on my own accord, I’m not blaming anyone, and I’m not going to say I hated all of it because I did have good times, but there was a big part of me that did so because I felt I had to. My friends liked to do it and I wanted to partake with them and not sit out on the sidelines by myself. It’s just that truth be told I think I would have rarely drank at all if it weren’t for that and likely would have never smoked. It had its fun moments, but I didn’t feel the need to partake all the time like they did. Do you like zombie movies? Nah. Have you seen The Hunger Games? Yep, all of ‘em. Do you have a favorite piece of clothing? All my graphic tees, t-shirt dresses, leggings, and lounge shorts. All my comfy clothes, basically. Do you own any Uggs? Nope. Are you wearing any rings on your fingers? No. Name a TV show that you absolutely can't stand. Most sitcoms today. Do you have any unusual talents? No. Or any kind of talent. Do you look like your age? *shrug* I’ve been told I look younger. Do you feel confident in a bathing suit? Nooo. Do you do a lot of online shopping? I do. Do you like the Harry Potter films? Yeah. Do you judge people based on their sexual orientation? No. I care about who a person is, their personality, and whether we vibe. Have you ever been told you had an accent? No. Have you ever ridden an elephant? Nope. Are you allergic to pollen? I do have seasonal allergies. Have you ever eaten sushi? Ew, yes. Not a fan. If so, do you like it? Nope. Are you a fan of anime? No. Would you rather play Xbox or Playstation? Playstation. Are you a big fan of seafood? I don’t like seafood at all. What kind of food are you craving right now? I’m good right now. Are you currently in a relationship? No. If not, are you happy being single? Yeah, it’s for the best. Do you like to go fishing? No. Are you a fast runner? I used to be. I don’t have the energy or strength anymore for that.

Have you ever worked at a fast food place? Nope. What's on your mind right now? Now I’m thinking about food cause of some of the previous questions. Are you texting anyone as you're taking this survey? No. Have you ever had a nasty rumor spread about you? No. Have you ever sent someone sexual pictures of yourself? No. Do you like who you are on the inside or the outside more? Neither. :/ Are you good at drawing? No, I have no artistic abilities. Do you know how to dance? Nope. What's your favorite reality TV show? Catfish, Teen Mom OG, Teen Mom 2, The Voice... Do you think Kim Kardashian deserves to be famous? I don’t care. Are you excited for Christmas this year? I’m always excited for Christmas. Do you celebrate Halloween? I mean, I put up some decor, watch scary movies, and partake in treats. I stopped dressing up and carving pumpkins a few years ago. Have you ever had a concussion? No. Do you pretend to be someone you're not? No. I certainly wouldn’t pretend to be... *gestures vaguely* this. Do you listen to heavy metal music? No. Were you sad when Michael Jackson died? I was just surprised. Do you have more upper or lower body strength? I barely have any strength anymore it feels like, but I used to have really great upper body strength. Have you ever been in a tanning bed? No, and never want to be. Do you like hot tubs? No. Do you know anyone who is battling cancer? No. Have you ever donated money to a charity? Yes. Do you get bored easily? More so nowadays. I didn’t used to. Have you ever peed your pants in public? Maybe as a little kid. Are you afraid of roller coasters? Yes, except for the Cars and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coasters at Disneyland. Are you good at doing tongue twisters? Not really. What was the last movie you've seen in theatres? Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Have you ever been to a drive-in movie? Yeah, a few times but it’s been a long time. I’ve been wanting to go to one, though. Are you good at doing fractions? Meh. I’m alright. Me and math don’t get along, but I could do some things somewhat. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas and Halloween. Do you prefer Apple or Android? Apple. Would you rather have a tablet or a computer? Computer. Do you like things that are touch screen? Yeah. What age did you have your first kiss at? 16. Do you regret losing your virginity to whoever you lost it to? I’m still a virgin. Do you have a good relationship with your mother? Yes. Do you like the color lime green? Sure. What are your plans for tomorrow? I don’t have any. Would you rather wear jeans or yoga pants? Yoga pants. Do you like your clothes to be baggy and comfortable or tight and revealing Baggy and comfy. Do you wish you could change something about your hair? Yeah, it’s really not a good look right now. I pretty much chopped it off a couple months ago for reasons and it’s in that awkward phase as it grows out. I want it to be longer and dyed red again because currently it’s all natural and I don’t like it. Have you ever gotten a makeover? Yeah. Do you get mad easily? No. but I get frustrated and irritable easily. Have you ever punched someone in the face? No. Do you think the minions from Despicable Me are cute? Ehh. Did you have a Gameboy as a child? I did. Would you rather have chocolate or gummy worms? Chocolate. I’m not a gummy fan. What are your favorite pizza toppings? Extra cheese, garlic, green onions, spinach, cilantro, crushed meatballs, and pesto. Have you ever auditioned for a talent competition? No. I don’t have any talent. Do you make good sandwiches? I think theyr’e better from a deli or when my mom makes them haha but sure. Would you rather get high or get drunk? High. Have you ever failed a drug test? Nope. Do you like the Silent Hill movies? I actually haven’t seen them. What is one thing you need to work on to make yourself a better person? I have a few things I need to work on.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

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angelkurenai · 6 years ago

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America’s ass - Chris Evans x Reader

Title: America’s ass

Pairing: Chris Evans x Reader

Warnings: None

Summary: You paired with your husband, Chris Evans, and friend and costar Chris Hemsworth during interviews for Avengers Endgame. You have a lot of fun but it all gets better when you play a game where you have to guess your costars’ body parts. As expected Chris knows yours right off the bat and once you instantly recognize his, which happens to be one of your favorites, you let everyone know just what you think and feel about his wonderful ass.

“We're gonna name that Avenger. Let's see how well you know the bodies of your fellow Avengers. We'll show you some extreme-”

“Extreme? Well, that won't end well.” you muttered, making the interviewer laugh “Are you sure you want to play this game while I am with these two guys?” you motioned to both Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth, who were already grinning and sharing looks that terrified you.

“We-well ye-yeah, I mean I guess? I-it's gonna be fun. We'll show you some photos and you'll have to guess, wh-what could go wrong?”

“Alright, don't say I didn't warn you!” you pointed at him with a grin “Plus, man I really should be with the rest of the girls or at least Scar for this, so that I can express myself freely!”

“Why? Can't you express yourself when we're around?” Chris, your husband, asked with a small frown and you looked at him with a grin.

“Oh hon, I sure can. But for one, there are some things you better not know yet and for another, I'm just scared that the things that come out of my mouth after this might cause you a heart attack. Especially given your age, oh you know the effect that can have on someo-”

“Alright, that's just mean now!” he cut you off, trying to look offended but unable to hide his smile anyway “You're barely 9 years younger than me, I'm not that old!”

“Sure you're not, baby. Sure you're not.” you patted his shoulder “Keep saying it out loud and one day you might believe it. Then, of course, you'll be even older but-” you shrugged “Oh well. Besides, you know what they say about older men?” you asked him with a flirty smirk and he returned it, same sparkle in his eyes as ever: one of pure love and adoration.

“No, but I would love you to enlighten me.”

“Alright!” Hemsworth said loud and quickly enough to be heard over anything you might say, cutting you off with wide eyes “Shall we start the game before this gets worse?” he glanced at the two of you with a grin “You don't want to bestuck in the middle of the storm of these two flirting with each other, trust me! So many years later and they seem to beunable to stop. I don't even think they want to stop.”

“Damn right, we don't.” you nodded your head. This time you placed a hand on his thigh, making Chris's smile even wider as a small laugh left his lips, as you winked at him. “'Sides, how can I help it? It's like this face is asking for it and I don't even have to try hard to come up with something to say.”

“And by that she means we've already used any and every pick up line known to the entire world so now we're improvising the heck out of it.” your husband laughed, shrugging “Some people would think it'd be over the first year after our wedding but nope! Honeymoon phase still going strong, eight years later! And will probably keep doing so for the rest of our lives, much to-” he chuckled, pointing to his friend whose eyes widened in utter horror and he pretended to choke on thin air “Hemmy's and everybody else's dismay!”

“Oh he's being a drama queen. Get over yourself Hemsworth!” you rolled your eyes playfully at your friend before looking back at the interviewer with a shrug, casually saying “I'm proud I got me this Chris and I like hitting on my man, sue me! Is that such a big deal?”

“No, no (Y/n). Believe me, there are a lot of people that would agree with you.” the interviewer nodded his head with a laugh “Alright, onto the game, and the first photo.” he flipped his tablet and showed you the photo “What is this? What's body part and who is that Avenger?”

“I don't even know what part of the body that is.” your husband leaned forward in his seat to look more closely “I don't even think I want to know.”

“Oh God.” Hemsworth mumbled, slightly turning away from it as you kept silent for most part, until you asked a question when you spoke up.

“What did Rudd say on this?”

“You're taking Rudd's opinion on this? Seriously?” Hemsworth asked you and you shrugged.

“Not his advice I just want to know what he said. I just wanna hear, something tells me it's gonna be worth it.” you said casually “I've got a vague idea about this but I jut wanna hear it before I take a chance.”

“Paul Rudd said-” the interviewer was already chuckling “Hulk's nuts. That- that was his answer.”

The second he said those words, you all burst into laughter. Your husband even clapping his hands and you exclaimed “See I told you it would be worth it! Wow how did he take Tony's beard for Hulk's nuts I have no idea, but that's forever sticking around I swear!”

“Oh yes!” the interviewer said with a smile, swiping to the next photo to reveal it was really him and that you had guessed it right.

“Wait- wait you knew this?” Hemsworth asked in surprise and you shrugged one more.

“Yeah, I figured it out from the first second. Looks like a beard, it's a goatee and Tony's the only one with that! 'Sides, don't you think I know how the beard I've kissed for six movies looks like?” you asked with a smirk, glancing at your husband whose smile fluttered for a split second. You saw a familiar look in his eyes and smiled even more. Thinking back to it, you had lost count of the times he'd gotten jealous of the scenes you had with Robert – and it wasn't as if he could do anything because your characters were a fan-favorite couple – and which had let to so many steamy nights, and mornings, and evenings, and noons and pretty much every time he got jealous, you either had to reassure him you were only his or he got so possessive that a heavy make-out session was the least you ended up doing.

“I'd like to-” he shook his head a bit, small frown on his face and his lips pressed in a line for a moment “I'd more like to forget that to be honest, honey.”

“Civil War number two here we go!” Hemsworth said with excitement, chuckling as you gave him a look before turning to your husband.

“Aw come on babe-” you always found it adorable, when he didn't have you begging for him that is “You know I prefer yours! I would definitely recognize yours too! Don't worry.” you patted his knee and kissed his cheek, which thankfully made him calm down a bit as the smile on his lips proved “It's the most irresistible one anyway.”

“Oh” he chuckled “Trust me, I do remember that!”

“Believe me, we all do! And we certainly want to forget.” Hemsworth said with wide eyes and you laughed, hiding your red face behind your hands “Never have I had five sleepless nights in a row like that before. Never! I'll tell you, Infinity War took the longest to film because of those two!”

“Oh come on, that's lies and you're exaggerating! Besides, sue me! He looks irresistible in a beard and I happen to have a soft spot for it!” you defended yourself as you grabbed Chris's chin and kissed his cheek once more “Infinity War will forever be in my heart for that!”

“I am guessing that's the reason why when you're not on set you don't shave huh Chris?” the interviewer asked him and your husband nodded his head.

“Oh yeah, definitely!” he exclaimed “The wife likes the beard? Then it definitely stays! Nothing I wouldn't do for her anyway, she's got me wrapped around her little finger.”

“Fair enough.” the interviewer nodded his head “Onto the next one we go.” and he swiped to the next photo.

“Oh that looks like-” your Chris started, blinking a couple times.

“It's well shaped. It's got- Looks like-” Hemsworth started trying but couldn't quiet put his finger on it.

“Loos like- Oh wait, it's an eyebrow! An eyebrow!” you clapped your hands “It's a woman's and it's- Oh oh it's Scarlett's eyebrow, or better yet Natasha. If- if we're going with characters.” you said after a few seconds of thinking.

“Yes!” the interviewer exclaimed in excitement, swiping the photo to reveal it was her “Two out of two, she's on a roll gentlemen and she's about to beat you at this!”

“Oh come on! That's just not fair, you've got some sort of secret or something? Someone's told you the answers?” Hemsworth narrowed his eyes at you and you chuckled.

“No, I swear! It's just that all it takes is looking at it for a couple seconds and I instantly know because I recognize it, plucked to perfect how can you not recognize that? Plus, do you know how many hours her and I have spent on these brows that you see? That and these?” you motioned to the photo and your eyebrows “Countless!”

“For real?” your husband asked a bit surprised and you looked at him, nodding your head.

“Yes, of course. Besides, what do you think we do when we have sleepovers?” you asked and he nodded his head in understanding, up to this day knowing very well of your monthly sleepovers besides your girls' night out. You went one anyway “We eat pizza, do beauty and talk about how you're in bed, baby.”

“Wh-what?!” Chris exclaimed so loudly, his eyes wide, that Chris Hemsworth nearly fell off his chair laughing. You couldn't help a chuckle or two of your own, truth be told. The look on his face was priceless.

“What?” you giggled “It's nothing personal, don't worry and don't be so shocked. And of course I tell my best friend and maid of honor about stuff like that, Chris. Girls talk either way, you know that honey. Not too much detail, though, don't worry. I keep some parts to myself... some... maybe.” you winked at him “Besides, it's all good things, don't you worry about that, babe.”

“I don't think I wanna keep going with this game anymore.” your husband said with wide eyes, laughing a bit albeit nervously “I don't think I can handle to find out any more news.”

“Oh man!” Hemsworth clapped his hands, still laughing his off at his friend “You're so done.”

“Oh no, don't think you're off the hook too Hemmy.” you pointed at him with a grin “Elsa tells us all about you when she's able to join!” you pointed out and his smile immediately vanished.

“Not laughing anymore, are you Hemmy?” your husband teased his friend who had a horrified look on his face now.

“I really think those sleepovers need to come to an end, like immediately.” he shook his head “I surely had not imagined the interview going this way. Had you?” he asked the interviewer who laughed and shook his head saying “No”

“Oh get over yourselves boys, it's a girls' thing, don't fuss so much over it. Besides, the damage has already been done you know so-” you turned back to the interviewer “Let's go on with the next one, yeah?”

“Sounds like a good idea!” he agreed as both Chrises shared a look anyway “And this, is what we've got.”

“Oh that's easy, shoulders!” Hemsworth said right off the bat until his smile fluttered “Whose though?”

“Ah that's the hard thing.” you nodded your head, arms crossed over your chest as you relaxed in your chair “They look female could they be... Scarlett Witch? Yes? No, I don't know.”

“Seriously you guys, that's not even hard. It's (Y/n)'s shoulders!” your husband said with confidence.

“Really?” you raised an eyebrow just as the interviewer swiped to the next photo and exclaimed “Yes!” and made you and Hemsworth look at it in surprise, muttering “Wow I don't even know my own shoulders.”

“You're right. Evans is right about a photo that concerns (Y/n), why am I not surprised?” Hemsworth asked with a laugh and probably a sly smirk and you giggled “You recognised that awfully too fast, you know that right?”

“Excuse me!” Evans exclaimed “Do you even think I do anything else in my entire day besides worship this woman? Hell no! Admire everything in her? Yeah, maybe that too. Think about her all the time? Sure, of course. Wonder how in the heck I am the luckiest man on Earth to have her? You bet! Plus-” he looked back at the interviewer “Have you see this woman?” he motioned at you with both his hands as you hid your burning face behind your hands “How could I ever even try to shut up about her! I can talk all day about her and not be anywhere near done. Because, yep, this is my gorgeous wife! And those are her wonderful shoulders which I can proudly say are way too hot for my old heart to take sometimes!”

“Chris, stop!” you grabbed hold of his arm and hid your face behind his shoulder as he laughed beautifully, kissing the top of your head “But wait- Seriously, is that why you can't keep your hands off when I wear a tank top?” the question was mostly rhetorical but the smile on his face was enough of an answer.

“Stop? Please, he's just getting started and we all know it!” Hemsworth said with a laugh of his own “I'd tell you to get married already but- you've already done that!”

“I've got one proud husband huh?” you peeked over his shoulder with a shy smile “Sorry for all this PDA guys, he literally never can stop. Doesn't help that he's also my biggest fan.”

Chris laughed when you pressed a couple kisses on his cheek, before he added “I sure am and I'm hella proud about it as well!” he smiled cheekily “But I'll tell you: there isn't a single part of hers that I wouldn't recognize in an instant but even more so those shoulders!” both Chris and the interviewer glanced at him as you were already grinning “What do you think I love to massage every night after we're done filming? Granted, I always started from her shoulders and ended up elsewhere but-” he grinned more when you giggled.

“Not like you didn't too eagerly offer to give me that massage, Evans.” you teased.

“Eh, not guilty.” he shrugged casually “But really-” he looked away from you “Every time. I swear to you, every single time it lead to more, so can you blame me for asking more of it? Nope. I mean, how do you think we already have a kid back home huh?”

“He just doesn't pull outta anything, that's how!” you pointed out and they all burst into laughter.

“Oh I always love to find out new things about you guys but I think that we're running out of time, so I'm going on with the next photo! Let's see who will figure it out first.”

“Oh oh that's...” Hemsworth tilted his head to the side “Looks like clothing. Could be a back o-or a chest? I don't know, is it? Probably Renner's.” he asked but he got a “No” in return.

“Come on that's probably the easiest you could throw at us and, even more, me!” you said with a confident smile, especially as you glanced at your husband to see he had a sly grin on his lips “And judging by the mere look on this man's face-” you pointed at him “Then I am not 100% sure I am 100% right.” you grinned widely “Not that I could ever like literally ever mistake that body part for anything or anybody else's. Nope. It's perfect and it's round just the way it should, it's soft and it's incredible. It's-” you could barely hold back your own laughter when Chris chuckled next to you “It's America's ass! More specifically, it's his ass.”

“Chris Evans's ass, you say. Chris, you seem to know the answer hm?”

“Oh yes, it's my tush.” he said cheekily and you laughed, nodding your head when the interviewer swiped to the next photo and revealed it was indeed Chris “It's my tushy, I told you.” lips adorably pursed he nodded his head “But you should take her word for this even more than mine, I'll tell you.”

“Chris is totally right.” you agreed “That's my hubby's ass right there and I know it better than anything in the world! It's one of the reasons I married him anyway.” you shrugged with a casual grin “Besides, where do you think my hand stays all the time, every time I'm next to this guy?” you pointed to Chris who was laughing and nodding his head “Grab it, hold it, slap it on the occasion, squeeze it for sure. You know, the whole-” you giggled a bit when both men were about to fall of their seats from laughter at your words “The whole package. Even if we're in public, doesn't matter. Gonna lay my claim on him and that tushy, as he calls it. Sometimes he could just be sitting and I'll go like “Hon, get up. I wanna admire and love your ass!” and you know what? He'll actually get up!”

“Hey man, can't say no to some lovin' from my wife, am I right?” Chris shrugged with a cheeky smile.

“Deep down I think I agreed to marry him just so I could do all that whenever I want to. Must admit, the ability to do that feels incredible up to this day and I sure as heck am not getting tired of it!”

“Something tells me you too could talk about his ass all day huh?”

“Or she could grab it all day too!” our husband pointed out and this time you couldn't hold your own laughter. You shrugged casually, as if it was so simple.

“I wouldn't have hesitated a second but I did because of the suit it's in. Granted, I'm more used to seeing it without clothes wether it be in out bed or the kitchen in the mornings but-” you paused when both men's laughter doubled “But I think I can recognize it with any sort of clothing from now on. Spent far too many hours admiring it all these years you know. Oh that perfect curve, nothing can compare!”

...

“Admiring it... with or without clothes?” Hemsworth asked with a smirk.

“What kind of question even is that?” you scoffed a laugh “Of course without! I try to get him naked 24/7 by hiding his clothes, duh.”

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missmalice202 · 5 years ago

Text

Designing Your Melody - Chapter 02: Time

Chapter 01 - Chapter 03

Marinette was once again in a state of panic. She clutched her phone to her ear as she paced around her room, tearing at her midnight blue hair with her free hand as she rambled endlessly, not giving Alya on the other end of the line a chance to get a single word in.

“I can’t believe it, Alya! Today has been so insane. First, I sleep in so I’m almost late for my meeting with Jagged Stone. Then, I nearly trample some poor guy as I’m racing to make it there on time, falling on my butt and scattering the potential designs I had drawn up all over the streets of Paris. After I finally get them all gathered up, I almost die when I ran across the street because some idiot driver didn’t see the crosswalk light was green because he was too busy talking on the phone with his head up his butt. I mean, seriously, there are laws about that kind of thing for a reason.” With a sigh, she falls back on her chaise and hugs its black decorative pillow to her chest in an attempt to comfort herself. “And then, when I finally get to the studio and meet with Jagged, I discover that I LOST ONE OF MY DESIGNS!

“I worked so hard on my portfolio and I’m such an idiot to just lose one of them. Granted, I was pretty sure that it wouldn’t be something that Jagged Stone would be interested in because the teal I had picked out for the-“

“Girl,“ Alya tries to interrupt, but Marinette’s tirade is on a roll and nothing could stop her now.

“-Accents on the jacket would have clashed with his signature purple and yellow, but still. What if someone picks it up, looks at it, and thinks that it’s just so awful that they just throw it in the trash?”

“Marinette?”

“Or what if it’s found and someone claims it as their own and they show it to Gabriel Agreste, and he hires them on the spot and they become an internationally known designer because they stole my design? And then-“

“MARINETTE!” Finally at her wit’s end with her best friends ridiculous tailspin, Alya yells to get Marinette’s attention.

Shocked into silence and her ear ringing slightly from the outburst, Marinette stops and takes a breath for to the first time in the past five minutes. “I’m sorry, Alya. Today was just such a crazy day and I don’t like the idea of my designs being out there for the world to see.”

“I get how you feel, girl, but there’s nothing you can do about it now. So instead of focusing on how your day went wrong, why don’t you focus on how it went right. How did it go with Jagged? I know he loved your designs, but did you guys settle on a concept? What can you tell me? Can I post an exclusive story on my blog?”

Marinette giggled softly. Some things never change. “I’m sorry, but I can’t give you anything yet. You know how it is. Non-Disclosure Agreement and all that. But I can tell you that Jagged’s new single is amazing!”

“You got to hear it already?” she gasped in shock. “Oh girl, I am so jelly! I can’t wait until you’re a super famous designer with all sorts of famous connections and when that day comes, you’re not allowed to forget your best friend in the entire world who loved you before you were a household name. And if you don’t give me an exclusive interview with the mind behind Jagged’s new look, I’ll post every embarrassing picture I have of you on my blog, including the pic I have of you kissing a picture of Adrien’s cologne ad back in high school when you were still obsessed over that poor, sweet, oblivious boy.”

Marinette cringed at her threat. Just remembering how completely crazy she had been in high school made her shudder in disgust. She couldn’t believe the way she had behaved at times. It had definitely been unhealthy and she was glad that she had grown up and gotten over her infatuation with her blond model friend.

After a years of unrequited pining and downright stalkerish behavior, she had finally accepted her defeat and come to terms with the fact that she and Adrien would be nothing but really good friends. And it was for the best as it would turn out.

Once she tucked her feelings for him into the darkest recesses of her heart, she had realized that he truly was an amazing friend and she was being unfair to him by trying to force him into a relationship that he truly wanted no part in. All he had wanted at the time was to have fun for the first time in his extremely sheltered life and to learn how to make friends. He wasn’t ready for a relationship with anybody, let alone the first true female friend he had made. In Marinette’s opinion, Chloe Bourjeois didn’t really count as Adrien’s friend. She was far too selfish and egotistical to truly put another person’s feelings before her own, a trait that Marinette felt was very important in a friendship.

So now, she counted Adrien a member of her inner circle and she wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize their friendship. She had taken her obsession towards Adrien and turned that laser focus on her fashion designs.

Now, a 20 year old Marinette could consider herself a relatively successful freelance designer. She still hasn’t been hired by any of the major fashion houses, but she was often contacted regarding commissions and requests that helped to support her passion. However, she was still holding out for a chance to work with her idol, Gabriel Agreste. Through her friendship with his son, she often got a heads up whenever he was holding a competition or accepting applications for designers, but so far, she hadn’t been able to do more than win a few monetary prizes for her designs and speak to the fashion icon through the screen of his assistant’s tablet.

But she wouldn’t let her phase her. One of these days, she’d create clothing that would send the fashion world into a frenzy and then the Gabriel Agreste would come crawling on his knees, begging her to work with him. But until that day came, Marinette would just have to do her best and live her life, one design at a time.

“Oh Alya,” she giggled, “you know that when the time comes, I’ll give you an exclusive interview and tell you everything I legally can.”

“Good. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, isn’t it time for us to get going? It’s almost time, right?”

Sitting up on the chaise, she glanced at the clock above her sewing desk. “Yeah, you’re right.” Standing up, she walked over to her computer chair and sat down. “I’ll see you in-game.”

Hanging up her phone and putting it on silent, she plugged it in to the charger and set it on the desk next to her keyboard. With a few keystrokes, she changed the input on her monitor from her PC to her PlayBox, the latest generation game console that she had decorated with little ladybug stickers and affectionately called Tiki. She picked up her red controller, crossed her legs on her computer/gaming chair, and uttered the words she always jokingly said whenever she turned on her console:

“Tiki, spots on.”

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

Marinette had always been an avid gamer. Everyone who knew her knew that. So it came to no surprise that when her absolute favorite game, Ultimate Mecha Strike 3, came out with another sequel a two years ago, she had picked up a copy for herself the day it came out.

One of the features she had been most excited about with the new version was the idea that it would be a MMO fighting game. But it wasn’t just fighting. It had exploration, collectables, seasonal events, and player versus player tournaments. It was a dream come true for Marinette. Looking back at the side-scrolling fighting game she had loved so much in high school, she couldn’t help but make comparisons between herself and the game. The original version was great, but the new and improved game was so different, but so much better.

The first weekend after Ultimate Mecha Strike 4 had been released, Adrien had invited her to play together online. Knowing how much of a gamer that he himself was, she readily agreed, wanting someone else with similar passion to play with her. And she had had a BLAST. They had spent hours that weekend exploring the game mechanics, gathering collectible, taking out enemies, and just learning the game. After a few weeks of their friends blowing off plans to play video games, Nino and Alya picked up their own copies of the game and started playing with them.

Over time, their inseparable team had created a long standing tradition that every Friday night, they would get together online and play. Because they played so much and had such a great rapport amongst themselves, they eventually rose to the top of the leaderboards for tournaments.

Then, a year ago, for the one year anniversary of the release of Ultimate Mecha Strike 4, the creators released a new feature that changed the game for Marinette: clans. With the introduction of clans, she and her friends were an officially recognized team and they qualified for their own hideout where they could trade and share equipment, treasures, and in game credits. But unfortunately, it was also a double edged sword because now, her clan, “Miraculous Kwami”, was bombarded with membership requests. She and her friends had agreed that they wouldn’t allow just anyone to join them. They had to be able to keep up with them and contribute to their clan.

So after careful selection and intense tryouts, she and her three friends were joined by four other clan members. One of the requirements that was set in stone for their clan was that they got together every Friday night at 7pm. Allowances were made for certain circumstances, but it was agreed that they would play as much as possible together. To Marinette, it wasn’t a big deal to spend a minimum of one night a week with her best friends.

It was with a smile on her face that she placed her headset on her head while she loaded her game. Selecting her avatar, she couldn’t help but be excited to start killing noobs. Poor players who didn’t know that she was the legendary “Ladybug” would soon discover that even though her avatar was small in build, she was built for speed and accuracy.

When the player selection screen finally loaded onto her screen, she looked at her avatar in admiration. The countless hours she had spent on this one character had led to the birth of this elite player. Her mecha was a bright, fire engine red, embellished with black pads on its shoulders, elbows, and knees. On its back, was a pair of swords, their scabbards the same red as its suit and their hilts wrapped with black leather. Its cockpit was a red helmet with two black circles around the eyes and a set of short antennae sprouting from the forehead area. Black elbow length gloves and knee length combat boots completed the ensemble.

With one final smile at her online persona, she pressed a button on her controller and loaded her character. She watched as her clan’s headquarters loaded on the screen: an old, abandoned shrine. Seeing the dilapidated tori gates, she felt a thrill run up her spine in anticipation.

And, it would appear that she wasn’t the first to arrive tonight.

She walked her avatar toward her other clanmate, clad in a dark teal and aqua mecha, a black and teal bow strapped to its back, and a vaguely reptilian looking cockpit. He must have seen the notification pop up on his screen announcing her arrival, because he turned around and bowed.

“Good evening, Lady luck,” he greeted her, his soft voice filtering through her headphones.

“Hi there, Viperion.” She waved. “Long time, no see”

Once again, she smiled. Tonight was going to be a fun night.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

Chapter 03

*Hey everyone, first and foremost, I’d like to say thank you so much for the fantastic response to chapter one. I’m blown away at how supportive you all have been. It’s keeping me going and made me want to get this chapter out to you all as soon as I could.

In regards to Ultimate Mecha Strike 4, think of it as a kind of mix between Destiny 2, Fortnite, and the original Mecha Strike 3 featured in the cartoon. The avatars aren’t completely humanoid, but they’re kind of like armor that the characters wear and control from within. I’m sure I’m not explaining it properly, but it makes sense in my head haha.

Next chapter will focus primarily on Luka, because he’s just so adorable and I can’t wait to torture him with a slow burn, mistaken identity, near miss romance with our resident goofball.

Until next time!*

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfic #luka couffaine #lukanette #lukanette february #lukanette fic #marinette dupain cheng #mlvalentines2k20 #slow burn

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maiaisbia · 5 years ago

Text

no new friends (some new friends)

Simon introduces Raphael to video games, or so he thinks...

Gen | words: 1653 | ao3

“Okay, you’re going to love this,” Simon was talking excitedly, fiddling with the TV in the central of the clan common areas.

Raphael was keeping an eye on him, making sure he didn’t break anything. Since taking over as clan leader, Raphael had worked to find ways to bring them all closer together. Having clean, comfortable places for them all to hang out during the day was one part of this. He had spent good money on the TV Simon was now behind.

“Watch out!” Raphael used his vampire speed to catch the TV as it tipped.

“Sorry!” Simon said. Raphael held the TV until Simon reappeared. “Okay, I have attached the Switch.”

“Excuse me?”

“The Nintendo Switch!” Simon pointed at the little device, now in a stand and hooked up. “You told me everyone gets to add something to make the Dumort feel like home.”

“You don’t even live here,” Raphael pointed out. “Did you take some money to pay for this?”

“Yes, from the community savings-”

“You know what, that’s fine,” Raphael pinched the bridge of his nose and mentally moved Simon up on his list of problem clan members. “Why do you think I’ll love this?”

“I’m going to show you the wonders of modern technology,” Simon said, sitting on the couch, controller in hand.

Raphael settled a few cushions over. “Lewis, do you think I haven’t played video games before?”

Simon turned, looking surprised. “You have?!”

Raphael hid his amusement with a scoff. “Magnus has been buying consoles since they first started being made. He’s always loved to see advances in technology, even if he isn’t always very good at using them.” Raphael picked up the second controller resting on the couch between them. “Who do you think helped set them up?”

Instead of being annoyed he wasn’t teaching Raphael something new, Simon’s face lit up. “That’s so cool! I never thought of that part of...” Simon gestured to himself.

“Being a nerd?” Raphael asked, knowing it was a meaningless dig.

As expected, it made Simon laugh, his fangs flashing. “Being immortal! Wow, you really have watched all these huge leaps in technology.” Simon then frowned. “Actually, I don’t know how old you are.”

Raphael glanced at the screen, hoping to draw Simon’s attention back to it. It didn’t work. “That’s a rather rude question.”

“Oh, sorry.” Simon didn’t sound sorry and was still looking at him expectantly.

Sighing, Raphael said, “I was born in the 1930s. I’m considered rather young, and you are practically a baby.” He glanced at Simon and decided to impart some wisdom, something Magnus had told him. “When dealing with mortals, especially shadowhunters, you should always lie about your age. The older they think you are, the more intimidating and formidable they also assume you are.”

“Oh, huh,” Simon said, looking thoughtful as he turned back to the TV. He flipped through a few screens that Raphael attempted to follow along. “So how old is Magnus really?”

“Depends,” Raphael smiled. “He might tell you the truth one day if he trusts you.”

“So mysterious,” Simon said, still in good humor. Nothing really phased him, and Raphael was a little jealous of that. He had not been in a good place after he had been turned, and Magnus was the only one who had been able to get him through. “Is that another requirement of immortality?”

“Yes,” Raphael said, as the music began to play on the TV.

“I wish there was a guide book,” Simon mused, flicking through what seemed to be the newest iteration of Smash Brothers.

“No guide book, but hopefully everyone finds someone who has been through it to guide them,” Raphael said and selected Pikachu. Simon stared at him for that, mouth hanging over. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Simon chose Link. As the screen loaded, he continued, “Thank you for what you’ve done to help me. I know I haven’t made it easy at times.”

“No, you haven’t,” Raphael said, quickly testing all the controls. Pikachu and the controller were almost able to keep up with his speed. “But no fledgling is easy to deal with. Add to that your baffling friendships with shadowhunters...”

“Rude,” Simon said, as Link sent Pikachu flying. Raphael growled. “But I can understand. They are kinda cops...”

“No kind of about it,” Raphael muttered, and got revenge as Link tumbled off the battlefield. He was getting the hang of the new controller shape. “But you’re welcome. You fall under my responsibility in a lot of ways.”

“I am an adult,” Simon said, and blew up both Link and Pikachu.

“You were barely an adult human, and now you are a baby vampire,” Raphael explained, Pikachu grabbing a sword that fell from the sky.

“Maybe so,” Simon laughed again. The round ended with Link winning, and Raphael huffed in frustration. “Damn that was a close match. You weren’t lying about knowing how to play.”

“Why would I lie about that?”

“I bet you haven’t played Skyrim.”

-.-.-.-

“No...” Raphael said and had a sinking feeling he was going to regret this.

A week later, Raphael found himself texting Magnus, [Can I come over?]

[Of course! Anything the matter?] Magnus responded only a few minutes later.

[No, I just have something to show you.] Raphael slipped into the community room. Some of his clan were doing their yearly binge watch of Friends. Raphael rolled his eyes at what was happening on the screen, and set about detaching the Switch.

[Certainly! Come whenever you’re ready.] Magnus texted. [I can send the hubby away.]

[Please never refer to Lightwood as that again.] Raphael quickly sent back. Magnus teased that using vampire speed for texting was cheating and that vampires should have to struggle with the rest of the immortals.

Instead, he sent at the same time Magnus did. [*Lightwood-Bane.]

Finishing packing the Switch, putting it in a bag so that no one would know what it was, he left the Dumort, tossing over his shoulder, “Be good!”

“Okay, mom!” One of the vampires, who was older than Raphael by nearly a hundred years, called back. And as teasing as the tone was, Raphael knew they would probably listen to him. They usually did. Shaking his head with a smile, he headed into the growing evening.

It didn’t take long to get to the loft. Raphael could use his speed, and climb over buildings if he wanted. Normally he would take his time, but he was rather excited to show Magnus the games. He lifted his hand to knock on the door just as it opened.

Alec smiled down at him while shrugging on a coat. “Hey, Raphael.”

“Hello,” Raphael greeted, stepping around him.

“I’m meeting my family for dinner,” Alec offered.

“I didn’t ask,” Raphael informed him, slipping off his shoes and hanging up his own coat.

“Wonderful to see you too, have fun!” Alec said, chuckling. He then shouted past Raphael. “Bye Magnus, I love you!”

“Love you too,” Magnus said, appearing and giving Alec a quick kiss. Raphael was not above making a face at them, so he did. When the door was closed behind Alec, Magnus turned his attention to Raphael and pulled him into a hug. Raphael relaxed, hugging him back.

When Magnus let go, Raphael picked the bag off the floor, holding it up to him. “I brought something I think you’ll like.”

“And I’m intrigued.” Magnus followed Raphael into the living room.

“We need your TV,” Raphael set about taking out the gaming system and some of the games from the little library Simon had somehow amassed in a week. If Raphael had looked away from the additional money taken from the community pool... well no one would know but him.

Magnus snapped his fingers and the living room rearranged itself so the couches and chairs faced a large TV. Raphael was unsure where Magnus kept it the rest of the time but understood it didn’t work with the aesthetic he was going with. Raphael then set about attaching the Switch to the TV.

“Look at this little thing,” Raphael handed the tablet of the Switch for Magnus to look over. “It can play so many more games than its bigger ancestors.”

Magnus turned it over in his hands. “Mundanes really are onto something with their computing systems. Do you think I can magically enhance this?”

“I don’t think you need to.” Raphael took the tablet back and slid it into the dock to connect it to the TV. He turned to find Magnus had settled on the couch, additional pillows and blankets now summoned around him, and some snacks on the coffee table. Some were altered so Raphael could enjoy them. Magnus was good at meeting dietary needs without having to be asked.

It was one of the many reasons that the comfort and feeling of home settled over Raphael whenever he was with Magnus. If there was anyone who Raphael was completely at ease with, it was Magnus. Magnus had taken care of Raphael in his darkest times, and Raphael had tried to return that care whenever he could. Moments like this, when there wasn’t anything dire happening, were his favorite. It was nice to spend time with someone who he could be totally relaxed around.

Climbing onto the couch and into the nest of pillows, Raphael handed Magnus a controller. Magnus accepted it, adjusting to tuck his feet under himself and lean slightly against Raphael’s shoulder. The last of the tension left Raphael’s body, and he tugged a blanket over his and Magnus’ shoulders.

“Ready to lose?” Raphael asked, selecting Smash Brothers as Simon had. Skyrim blinked tauntingly and Raphael didn’t want to think of the hours he had already sunk into it.

“To you my boy? Always.” Raphael felt Magnus’ laughter and smiled. “Let’s see what has changed.”

“I call Pikachu.”

Magnus laughed harder. “Well, apparently some things stay the same.”

#raphael santiago #simon lewis #magnus bane #my fic

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hakhub · 2 years ago

Text

oh look I have Internet time to write some dumb answers no one cares about!

Art programs you have but don't use I have Pixaki growing dust bc I still haven’t taken the plunge into pixel art -_- also Rebelle Painter bc I don’t have a working desk or pc that can run it yet

Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even) Depends on the subject! Usually if a person has a hair part closer to one side, I prefer drawing them to the opposite (so the hair part is obscured or minimized). Others I prefer drawing forward.

What ideas come from when you were little “You know what this setting needs? More explosions.” IDK how to answer this really. I guess it’s just the philosophy of loving kabooms and actiony scenes?

Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw Guts. Anyone with a not Leiji Matsumoto noodle body. Anything my brain deems visually interesting (I am not a good artist).

Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself I used to be about 80%? I’m now about 50 to 60. I’m working on getting it up higher though :V

Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it) A lot of Akira Toriyama sneaks into my work even though I haven’t played every DQ game, and I’m not a huge Dragonball fan (although I did obviously watch it growing up!) Like both are fine and I totally comprehend the impact the guy has had on the art world but it has been years since I really obsessed over his art!

A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate Oil painting. Don’t understand it. Respect anyone that can do it, whether it’s digital or on canvas.

What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in I lost a lot of steam with something called Nomad. Need to work out a few gamebreaking issues and maybe I’ll pick it up again? There’s a lot of neat stuff in there but it seems to fall short when I look at it really hard.

What are your file name conventions I’m so boring now. Month-Day-Year. I very rarely name my drawings/bigger pieces nowadays.

Favorite piece of clothing to draw Jackets and pleated skirts.

Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what Could be music, could be white noise, could be podcast/long youtube video. For fun I’m right now in a phase of listening to Rory Gallagher’s early work.

Easiest part of body to draw Everything is hard. I don’t have a ton of variance myself but I do like eyebrows given how expressive they can be.

A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing Chiho Saito. Love dramatic Utena art. Always have. Would never draw in it.

Any favorite motifs Wingies. Warm tones. Spamming the multiply/add filters for cheap lighting lmao

Where do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth) Before I wrecked my knees, on a coffee table on the floor. Until I have a desk I’m stuck in bed. orz

Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing I like to think I’m a decent writer but I don’t have a lot of fun with it. There’s moments, but it also isn’t an activity I can do socially with others, which is why I like drawing more when I’m hanging out with people. With art specifically, apparently I’m good at making people be close together when I’m drawing couple stuff. It’s not fun though because it’s hard lol

Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what Water most of the time. Back in the days I could stay up late drawing I was frequently getting a little buzzed with whiskey or beer but nowadays I can only squeeze in draws early in the morning.

An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken I broke 2 whole pen+tablets from overuse. I have slain many ballpoint pens. I recently had to toss out some decent quality watercolor tubes because I was an idiot and didn’t screw on the caps tight enough (thanks 2017 me, you done gone ruined your paint).

Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.) Trees. So nature? I like pointy rocks too. I’m slowly working up a love of drawing guns.

Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy I’m gonna repeat myself from the last one and just say “closeness” and composition?? I struggle with comp a lot though, even if it’s the backbone of whatever it is you’re supposed to do.

Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways Super shoujoy stuff. Your typical Artstation mega polished portfolio. Super painterly stuff. I’m not hard to impress and I’m generally pretty easy going when it comes to critiquing other people’s work. If something’s not for me I don’t want to make a huge deal out of it.

What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any I have to stretch my legs and knees now if I’m gonna be seated or in some set position for more than a half hour now, so just the basics.

Do you use different layer modes Multiply and Add pretty much and that’s it. I sometimes have used other ones but I don’t rely on it as much nowadays (not to say anyone that does is bad or anything! I do things this way to help me learn grey values more).

Do your references include stock images They have. Also the typical great resources like Adorka Stock and related ilk.

Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by A friend told me my style reminded them of Ashita no Joe which is a HUGE honor tbh so I can’t possibly be offended by it lol When formulating my style tho? Didn’t even watch AnJ until like 2018 (the comment was from 2015)

What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended I’m lucky that this hasn’t happened to me before. I did however get a ton of attention on something I halfassed and then crickets on something I put my soul into tho. Several times!

Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with No. I wish I was one of those Cool People that could do Warmups for 2 hours before getting to art but I got maybe 2 hours a week to make the best of it so I have to get to whatever it is I got planned or I’ll never get to it lol.

Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines) I used to do weekly trades, and then monthly trades. I hope to get back into it soon. I’m not good enough for zines lol!

Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically Hmm you know, I think most things I’m super into more or less has found some way to influence my creative process. I guess JUST visually, I’m not super into Spartacus? (I’m super into the story and acting tho oiwjfowjegiao)

What piece of yours do you think is underrated For Art: This one :V (pls give it notes I am a sad little man that gets the zoomies when I see Tumblr notifs) and this one. For writing: this one’s cringe as hell but gdi it took 6 months to write and it’s full of my cringe, sweat and word vomit.

Weirdly Specific Artist Ask Game

Didn't see a lot of artist ask games, wanted to make a silly one.

(I wrote this while sick out of my mind last year and it's been collecting dust in my drafts, I might as well let it run free) 1. Art programs you have but don't use

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)

3. What ideas come from when you were little

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

9. What are your file name conventions

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

12. Easiest part of body to draw

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing

14. Any favorite motifs

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any

23. Do you use different layer modes

24. Do your references include stock images

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

#ask game

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mischiefandspirits · 5 years ago

Text

Iron Legion (10/?)

Never let it be said that Tony Stark ever does things by half. He might have grown up with little family, but he wasn’t about to keep it that way.

Tony Stark was seventeen when his first child was born, and that was just the beginning.

For Masterpost, AO3, and Fanfiction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Big Buff Uncle, Part 1

Tony Stark was thirty-six when Bruce was introduced to the family.

Nebs, Harley, and Peter all glared at one another.

“You really want to do this?” Harley growled.

“You think I’m scared of you?” Peter scoffed.

“Don’t even think of it, little brother,” Nebs hissed. “I will toss you off the balcony.”

Peter met her eyes and set down his card. “I’m out.”

Harley tackled him. “I just needed one more card you jerk.”

“I AM THE PHASE TEN MASTER!” Peter laughed, trying to shove his brother off.

Nebs slapped her cards onto the bed and stood up. She grabbed Peter and threw him over her shoulder.

“H-hey, Nebs, let me go!” he shouted, barely managing to keep his glasses on his face.

“Oh, I will. Right over the balcony.”

Peter’s eyes widened and he started squirming. “What? Hey, no, you can’t do that! Harley, help!”

“Revenge!” Harley cheered, following them down the hall.

“Mom!” Peter shouted as they made it into the living room.

“What are you three doing?” Mom asked, looking up from where she was working.

“Revenge!”

“Mom, they’re going to toss me off the balcony!”

Mom rolled her eyes. “Nebula, no tossing your brothers off the balcony.”

“I wasn’t going to actually toss him, just let him dangle.”

“Good to go on this end. The rest is up to you,” their dad's voice called out.

“No dangling each other hundreds of feet in the air,” Mom said before turning back to her work. “You disconnected the transmission lines? Are we off the grid?”

“Boo!” Harley jeered. He and Nebs shared a look. “Want to throw him in the pool instead?”

“Sure.”

“Mom!” Peter pleaded as they turned towards the elevator.

“Your father already cut the power. Take the stairs,” was her only response.

“I hate this family,” Peter groaned, flopping over.

“Maybe next time you’ll think twice about going out before we’ve laid down,” Nebs said.

“Maybe next time you’ll learn how to be good at cards,” Peter muttered as the lights came on.

Nebs jostled him and he coughed as his chest hit her shoulder.

An idea came to him and he gave a few more coughs. “I… I think I’m… having an attack!” he coughed out. “My inhaler!”

“You’re fine,” Nebs said blankly and the worry quickly fled Harley’s face.

“Nice try, bro.”

“Oh, don’t act like you didn’t fall for it,” Peter snorted.

Harley stuck his tongue out before rushing ahead to push the door to the penthouse’s lower level open for Nebs. “When did Pepper become Mom?”

“A few weeks ago. Uncle Rhodey asked when she and Dad were getting married and I realized that when they do, she’ll be our step-mom. I figured I’d get ahead of the game.”

“They’re not even engaged. Uncle Rhodey was just joking,” Nebs pointed out.

“It’s going to happen eventually,” Peter scoffed. “Uncle Happy agrees. He’s got a ring already.”

“That’s hilarious,” Harley chuckled.

Nebs froze just before the doorway to the pool.

“What’s up, Nebs?” Harley asked.

“Don’t call me that, and someone’s overwriting J.A.R.V.I.S.’s phone protocols.”

“Is that even possible?” Harley asked and Peter turned to try and look at her.

“Not typically. It seems Romanoff took more than we thought,” she growled. “I’m going to tear S.H.I.E.L.D. a new one.”

Peter groaned and went limp. “What do they want now?”

Nebs hummed and set him down. She brought up a projection of F.R.I.D.A.Y. in the elevator with a man in a suit. Her arms were crossed and she was tapping her foot on the floor. “Agent Coulson, as I’ve told you before, Boss isn’t seeing anyone right now. You can make an appointment -”

“It’s an emergency,” the man said.

“Then I will alert Boss and ask his permission. You do not need to invade our home and hack my brother!”

The man ignored her, holding his phone up. “Stark, we need to talk.”

“You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message.”

“This is urgent.”

“Then leave it urgently.”

Coulson stepped out of the elevator and F.R.I.D.A.Y. said, “Sorry Boss, he wouldn’t listen and used a device to override my control of the elevator. I’ve alerted security. Should I call the rozzers?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Coulson said.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Nebs growled, turning back to the stairs. “You two stay down here.”

The two shared a look and darted into a media room. “Jay, bring up the security feed!”

“… Fury I didn’t want to have anything to do with S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Dad was saying as the feed came up on the tv. He was standing next to Mom with a glass of champagne, glaring at Coulson. F.R.I.D.A.Y. was behind them, holding up a holographic phone.

“Give the word Boss,” she said cheerfully.

“That won’t be necessary,” Mom said, stepping forward and F.R.I.D.A.Y. pouted, letting her prop disappear. “Phil! Come in.”

“Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent,” Dad said, following her.

“Oh no, they’ve turned Mom!” Peter gasped.

“Come on in, we're celebrating.”

“Which is why he can't stay.”

“We need you to look this over,” Coulson said, holding out a tablet.

“No, what you need to do is leave,” Nebs said, marching in with her mask and her red pixie cut wig on.

Coulson turned to her with curiosity. “Ms. Parker, I thought you quit.”

“I work with security now,” tapping her hip where her badge and gun were strapped to her belt. “And as security, I’d be happy to show you out.”

Coulson turned back to Dad. “Mr. Stark -”

“Even if I was your consultant, which I’m not, official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday.”

“Is this about The Avengers?” Mom asked.

“I turned that down too,” Dad pointed out, taking a drink.

“This isn’t about personal preferences anymore. We need Iron Man.”

Tony smirked. “More than you know.”

“Not that much.”

Mom took the tablet and pushed it into Dad’s hand.

“Whatever,” Tony huffed, walking away.

Nebs stepped up to Coulson’s side. “You’ve dropped off your package, now kindly exit the building or I will have to resort to force.”

“Look that over, Stark,” he said before allowing Nebs to take him into the elevator.

“I never get to do anything fun,” they heard F.R.I.D.A.Y. sigh before J.A.R.V.I.S. closed the feed.

“What do you think was on the tablet?” Peter asked.

“Probably cool classified spy stuff we’re not supposed to know,” Harley answered.

“Probably,” Peter agreed. He looked at his brother. “We’re going to go find out, aren’t we?”

“Of course,” Harley said, throwing his arm over Peter’s shoulders.

“You’re going to get us into trouble with the spies,” Peter said, but followed his brother out of the room and up the stairs all the same.

Mom and Dad were whispering to themselves when they arrived, but broke apart when she spotted them.

She kissed him and said, “Work hard.” She came over to them and ruffled their hair. “Change of plans. I’m flying out to DC tonight. Your father has some work to do. If you need anything, go to your sisters first before bothering him, please.”

“What’s going on?” Harley asked.

“Nothing you kids need to worry about. Go shove each other into the pool or whatever you were doing before.”

Harley pouted, but Peter just rolled his eyes. Everyone knows you don’t go to Mom for information and you certainly can’t work the puppy eyes on her.

He waited until Mom had left before slipping up next to where Dad and F.R.I.D.A.Y. were going over the files from the tablet. “So what’s going on?”

Dad snorted, but explained, “Fury lost something and he’s going to need some help finding it.”

“Something?”

“A power source, one that apparently can make wormholes. Your grandfather mentioned it one of those journals Fury dropped off in his attempt to turn me to the dark side.”

“Cool!” Harley said. “Hey, is that the Hulk!?”

Peter’s eyes lit up. “Are you going to get to meet Dr. Banner!?”

Dad gave him a look. “No way, kid. You wanna meet the jolly green, you’ve got to go through Jen.”

Peter widened his eyes and leaned against him. “But Dad!”

“Nuh-uh, Petey-pie. I’m not bringing you into this just so you can meet Banner. Especially with Fury hovering about. Call Jen.”

Peter crossed his arms. “Fine, I will. Jay -”

His dad placed his hand over Peter’s mouth. “Yeah, no. She’s got her own big green problems to deal with. She doesn’t need to be dragged into Fury’s circus either. Why don’t you go play? Pep said you guys were going swimming? Do that. We can talk about meeting Banner later.”

“Promise?”

“Nope,” Dad chirped and Peter frowned. “Get out of here you gremlins. I’ve got to find Fury’s box before the guy who stole it blows something up or whatever he’s planning.”

“Sweet,” Harley said. “Can we blow something up when you're done?”

“Sure, sounds fun, just don’t tell your mother.”

“Tori or Pepper?” Peter asked and Tony blanched.

“Alright, we’re done here. Out! Out!”

The two snickered as they left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Finally, someone who speaks English.”

“Is that what just happened?”

Tony shook Banner’s hand with a smile. “It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.”

“Thanks,” the other man said, looking uncomfortable.

“Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube.”

Tony ignored Fury. “Really, it’s great to meet you after all this time. I’ve heard so much. Don’t know why Jen refused to introduce us.”

Banner’s eyes widened. “You know Jen?”

“Met some years back. Great lawyer. She really helped me out so I return the favor sometimes when she needs some extra resources for a case. Glad she’s finally working the bigtime. Guess she just needed a little backbone. Gets it from your side of the family, I hear.”

The doctor froze and Tony slapped his back. “Don’t be modest, Banner. Big Green’s tenacity can’t have just come out of nowhere.”

“Is that what you call it?” Romanoff muttered.

“Let’s get back on track, Stark,” Fury ordered.

“I would start with Loki’s stick. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?”

“I guess we'll find out.”

“You might not like that.”

“You just might.”

“Boss, you’re getting a call. It’s from you-know-who,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced.

“Thanks, Baby Girl,” Tony said, pulling his phone out. “Sorry, Brucie, gotta take this.”

“You know they’re just going to eavesdrop on you,” Banner pointed out.

“I’d like to see them try.” Tony slipped out of the lab and into a nearby empty one. “Fri, Jay, scramble all nearby signals with audio or video. Don’t bother being nice about it.”

“Of course, Sir.”

“Right away, Boss.”

A moment later, the call connected. “Hey kids, how’re you doing?”

“We’re good,” Peter said while Harley, as per usual, got straight to the point.

“Did you fight the bad guy?”

“Yup. Kicked his butt. Now Dr. Banner and I are trying to find what he stole.”

“Can -”

“No, Pete.”

“Did you meet Captain Ice Pop?” Harley asked.

“Otter Pop,” Peter corrected.

“I otter shut you up!”

“I don’t know what you're arguing about and I don’t care. Yes, I met the Capsicle.”

“I like ours better,” Harley said.

“You can’t even agree on one!”

“Still.”

“Is he a jerk like grandpa?” Peter asked.

“Your grandfather wasn’t… a jerk exactly… but yes.”

“Knew it! Pay up, Nebs!” Peter chirped.

“Oh good, Nebula is there. I was starting to get worried.”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. told me I couldn’t tie them up and leave them in their rooms until you returned.”

“Probably for the best. Not sure how long this is going to take.”

“Where are you now?” Harley asked.

“Some giant flying S.H.I.E.L.D. ship. Jay took pictures. I’ll have him show you.”

“Is that legal?” Peter asked.

“Probably not.”

“Are you almost done in there?” Banner called.

“Break time’s over. Call you later, kids.”

“Bye, Dad!” Peter and Harley shouted as one.

“Goodbye, Father,” Nebula added.

“Bye, love you, don’t kill each other.” Tony hung up with a smile and returned to Banner’s lab.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Threat! Verbal threat! I feel threatened!”

“Sta-”

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Tony blinked and pulled his sleeve down to look at his watch.

“Got somewhere to be, Stark?” Romanoff snarked.

Ignoring her, he frowned at the readout on his watch before pointing at the staff. “That thing needs to be put in a box. Preferably lead-lined and far away.”

Fury rolled his eye. “Stark, we need -”

Tony brought up his watch’s holographic display. “See this? It’s a monitoring watch the doc makes me wear after I stuck this,” he tapped the reactor, “in my chest without talking to her first.” Not a lie, exactly. He’d made it after she’d found out about the palladium poisoning, which was after he’d put in the new reactor. “And see this,” he highlighted one graph. “It’s supposed to monitor the radiation given off by the reactor. It’s usually low enough not to be a concern, but right now there’s been a sudden spike.” He held up his hand when literally everyone tried to interrupt. “But the energy isn’t concentrating in my chest like the rest, it’s focused in my brain.” He brought up a visual for effect.

Bruce leaned in closer. “That’s the amygdala. It’s in charge of emotions.”

“Between having this in my chest twenty-four-seven and the vitamins the doc shoves down my throat, I’d be immune at these levels. Maybe a headache at most, which I’ve definitely got. Can’t say if it’s from the glow stick or Capsicle, though. You all, on the other hand, would be a different story.”

“Our arguing,” Thor said, catching on and sending the staff a look.

“Stark is arguing too,” Cap pointed out.

“That’s just my natural personality,” Tony said with a shrug. His personality compounded by his daddy issues, but still.

“You need to bring something in to contain this thing,” Bruce told the agents.

“We still need to track down the Tesseract,” Fury argued.

“We’re already running the search. We don’t need it anymore. Get it out of here,” Tony said.

Romanoff glanced between Bruce and the stick. “We should probably do what they say. This might be exactly what Loki wants, to make Banner angry.”

“It’s working,” he muttered and Tony wrapped his arm around the man’s shoulders.

“Why don’t you let off some steam? I hear it’s not good to bottle it all up.”

Bruce raised a curious eyebrow, but both were distracted by Cap pulling Tony away.

“You know damn well why! Back off!”

Oh, I’m starting to want you to make me, Tony thought, but shoved it down. Instead, he said, “Calm down, Captain Otter Pop.”

“Otter Pop?” Cap mumbled, looking lost.

Whoops, Harley was going to kill him.

He didn’t have long to think about that though because right then the computer went off, indicating that the Tesseract had been found.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“He wants flowers. He wants parades! He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered…” Tony cut off and his heart clenched. “Son of a bitch,” he hissed pulling out his phone and rushing out of the room. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., contact Nebula. Have her evacuate the tower. Get everyone out yesterday!”

There was no response.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.!”

“Stark, what’s going on?”

“He’s taken the tower!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Nebs?” Peter whispered.

She shook her head and put a finger to her lips.

The footsteps in the corridor continued on without stopping and all three relaxed.

Nebula waited a few moments, then reached out to F.R.I.D.A.Y.

The AI appeared in the room. “All the invaders have left the floor.”

“Who are they?” Harley asked.

“I recognized some of them from the files Boss was given. They are the ones he is meant to be tracking.”

“Can you reach him?” Nebula asked.

“No. The moment they arrived some odd energy wrapped around the building, preventing any communication with the outside world.”

“Is that how they’re getting around security?” Harley asked and F.R.I.D.A.Y. snorted.

“They’re not getting around it. They’re just smashing down whatever doors they need to get through. And without being able to send out a signal, the alarms are useless. I turned the sound off since it’d be annoying to listen to.”

“What are we going to do?” Peter asked.

“We need to get you two out of here,” Nebula said. “Do you think you can find a safe route out, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“I can try, but it might be better to just wait here. Boss will realize something is wrong soon.”

The three shared a look and shook their heads.

“Naw.”

“Nope.”

“We need to move.”

F.R.I.D.A.Y. sighed. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do.”

“Do we know what they’re after?” Peter asked.

“Don’t even think about it,” Nebula hissed.

“But -”

“No,” she said, cutting Harley off. “We are getting you two out of here, now.”

“Fine,” Harley huffed and Peter pulled out his phone.

Nebula pushed open the door and looked out. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., how does the -” She spun around as something tapped into the intranet. “Peter!”

“They’re siphoning energy from the arc reactor. Bet they won’t like this then,” he said, tapping at the screen.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. disappeared.

Nebula’s eye twitched. “Did you just turn off the arc reactor?”

“Yup.”

“The one they were currently using?”

“Yes,” he answered slowly, wondering what she was getting at.

“Did it occur to you that they might wonder how the arc reactor could be shut down if no one outside the building can remotely reach inside?”

No, it did not.

“Nice going, now they know we’re here,” Harley said, shoving him.

“As soon as the backup generators kick in, have F.R.I.D.A.Y. get you out. I’ll act as a distraction.” Nebula placed her finger in Peter’s face. “No more dumb moves!”

“Right, of course, promise!”

She nodded and slipped out the doorway.

“Smart moves on the other hand,” Peter hummed, turning back to his phone.

“What are you thinking?”

“Remember how Dad blew up Stane by overloading the reactor?”

“Yeah,” Harley said, smirking as he caught on.

“Think we can make whatever they’ve got blow up if we shove enough power into it.”

“I like the way you think.”

“Does anyone want my opinion?”

The two froze, turning as their hologram sister reappeared alongside emergency lighting.

“You gonna rat us out?”

She smirked. “If you want to boost the power of the reactor, you’re going to have to do it manually at the controls near the base. I’ll show you the way.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So here are the kids everyone has figured out so far: 1. Nebula 2. Dum-E 3. U 4. Jarvis 5. Peter 6. Harley 7. Friday 8. ??? 9. ??? 10. Jocasta 11. Karen 12. ??? 13. Morgen 14. Edith

With the grandkids Vision & Vivian. Also, I've been informed I should include Droney and Redwing in the count, though they're more like pets.

So you guys are still missing three. Also, the three crossed out might end up with different names because of plot reasons. I'm still deciding.

A hint for the three you guys haven't guessed: 8 and 9 are from the comics and alongside Jocasta are called the triplets in this AU, while 12 is adopted like Nebula and is technically in the MCU, but only so far as their origin story.

#tony stark #peter parker #harley keener #iron family #Avengers

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zannaleejoy-blog · 6 years ago

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15 Tips For ACTUALLY Writing ✍🏼

Disclaimer: Some of these tips are ones I’ve come across on social media and some are from my own personal experience and research. These tips don’t necessary apply to novel writing just really for any kind of creative writing such as: comics, fan fictions, essays, scripts, etc…

Tip #1 Reward Yourself

Working is a lot easier when you know there is something to gain from all that work. Whatever that may be. If you are someone who has an income and at least 20-100 dollars they can set aside. Pay yourself to write, for as many amount of pages, words, or scenes you write, pay yourself and use the money to buy yourself whatever it is your heart desires. And for those of you who don’t make much money instead- reward yourself with something you love to do. Maybe it’s playing video games for the rest of the day, or watching a YouTube video, or even taking a nap or just some time to yourself. Personally, I have a piggy bank that I put all spare money into and for every page I write at the end of the month I get that money. So if I write 15 pages in the whole month I’ve got 15 dollars to buy whatever it is I want, maybe more pencils or snacks!

Tip #2 Hold Yourself Accountable:

If you are someone who gets embarrassed easily or who has a lot of guilt find a family member or friend who can make sure you are writing. For example: If you let them know your word goal everyday is 100 words have them ask you about it and be honest with both them and yourself. Heck, a friend on the Internet or posting on your favorite social media platform your success or failure can go along way to make sure you stick to your goals. I tend to post how many words I write in a day on Twitter. My followers tend to congratulate me on my success and I like to have that positive reaction daily so I stick to meeting my goals.

Tip #3 Writing is Practice:

If you’re are scared that your writing is bad I can tell you first hand that not writing or being scared to write something bad is the worst thing you can do if you are fearful of sucking because you’re going to at least for a little while but the best part about humans is that if we were to do any one thing for days upon days we will inevitably get better at it. So if you write constantly than you are 100% guaranteed to get good. I have an old fan fiction that's been left on the Internet for years and I constantly go back to it to see my massive improvement and it excites me to think that I will continue to get even better.

Tip #4 Track Your Progress:

If you follow me on Twitter than you already know that I have a planner that has stickers for every 500 words I write in a day. I originally got this idea from Alexa Donne’s sticker method here on YouTube and have altered it slightly to fit my personal writing journey. I really like putting more stickers in my planner and it fulfills the child in me to see visually how much I’m achieving as well as I will purposely write more if I am close to receiving another sticker. Tally marks, or a spreadsheet on excel can also do wonders or anything that allows you to visually see your progress.

Tip #5 Set Low Low Word Counts:

On days that I feel shitty I usually only expect me to hit 250 words because I know on my worst day I can achieve that- Also if I hit 250 I am only halfway to my regular word count of 500 so I strongly advise setting something stupidly achieve able. 20 words? 50 words? You can write that! So do that and when you've got the hang of it build it up. Just understand that the smaller the word count the longer it'll take to write it.

Tip #6 Writing Sprints:

Writing Sprints are probably the only thing on this list I don’t practice mainly because time limits stress me out and I tend to work quickly anyway. However if you need that extra push or have very limited time to get some writing done than I encourage a writing sprint. 10 minutes to write 300 words? Or 20 minutes to write as much as you can. It prevents that critical side of you from coming out because like sonic you gotta go fast.

Tip #7 You’re Not Writing A Book:

Now for my aspiring authors like myself understand that you, especially if you are on your rough draft, are a long way from publication and that's drafting is just putting words on paper, bad words, good words, little notes of incoherent babble. It’s a mess and you are the only person who will ever have to see it. It’s a story and it’s like telling one verbally you are just trying to convey the general message it’s sloppy and you’re mumbling and stumbling and repeating and backtracking. But as long there is a complete story no matter how sucky it’s still complete.

Tip #8 Quantity is 10x’s Better Than Quality:

To add on to last point I suggest in prewriting and drafting to just put whatever the fuck comes to mind down. Especially in the prewriting phase when you are brainstorming and outlining just fit as many wild ideas as possible because in those times where nothing seems to be coming that will be your saving grace every single time. Because having too many ideas is better than none. When I was brainstorming I sat with my boyfriend when he was playing games and generated all kinds of ludicrous ideas but also came across a lot of awesome and happy accidents. You have to be brave and just dump whatever out and save it for later and dig through the trash.

Tip #9 Give Your Book Some Essence:

Your book has a certain feel that only you know this comes from playlists for scenes, characters, and plot- you've got aesthetic boards for your characters, maybe you have vines that remind you of your characters. Find those things and jot them down, put them in a folder or document and hold them close. I have Pinterest boards for my characters and settings. I’ve got playlists, and these things fuel my writing and creativity. I understand my book and I am reminded that no one can write it like me.

Tip #10 Nothing is Set In Stone:

Unless you are carving your book in a stone tablet or writing your book across the walls in sharpie than you can always go back, you can always fix and delete. We often rewrite from paper or go back into our word documents and mix things around. Write shit until you have the courage to fix it.

Tip #11 Write With A Person/Person(s) In Mind:

Writing for an audience is hard to envision for me, so instead I write for a person or a couple people in mind. Which falls in line with my writing, I’ve always written for people whether it be classmates, friends, or people on the Internet and soon when I write a book for everyone to read. Writing for me has always been about writing for others and getting through drafting and writing in general is trying to get reactions, laughs, and smiles out of my readers. If you write for someone who loves you then you will always feel comfort in pleasing them and that no matter what you write it doesn’t matter what others think because they will love it regardless. I often write for my boyfriend, mother, brother, and my best friend. The four people who are close to me and are guaranteed to enjoy my writing and I can guarantee that you too, have someone that will love what you write and you’ll want to please them.

Tip #12 Write For Children/ Write Silly:

If you feel like you have to write a story that needs to have complex prose and have subtleties and be nuanced which is nice and all but if you are struggling it’s okay to just write like you are writing for a young one, someone old enough to read but young enough to understand basic storytelling. And if writing once upon a time puts you in the mood to write more than all power to it. You can always delete that once upon a crap later. Just tell us the story. Hell I use to do this kind of stuff with outlining which was fucking hard for me at first when I was a hardcore pantser sometimes I would write really silly. For example, Henry eats food, and he falls dead, the village knows the food is bad, food is suspicious, main character Zora will find it out, it’s the storm the storm has ruined the food. Oh no! This is just a simple way for me to get many thoughts down and to easily expand and not feel like I need to write something perfect.

Tip #13 Write Dialogue First and Finish The Rest Later:

It’s pretty self explanatory but you need to just get dialogue done first. When I wrote Dragon Age fan fiction this is when I first used this. It was a sure fire way for me to get words on paper because Dragon Age’s dialogue is a big part of the dragon age experience if you aren’t already aware. I usually get distracted by dialogue tags and description and slows me down significantly so write all the dialogue and figure the other stuff later.

Tip #14 Surround Yourself With Positivity:

If you’ve got friends and family who support you like I am lucky enough to have people who support me, even if you don’t have people in your everyday life who support you then it’s a good idea to join a writing community whether it be on discord, Instagram, Twitter, whatever find your writer friends and hold them close because having some friends to cheer you on, support you, and fall back on does all the good.

Tip #15 Character and Setting Visual Stimuli:

Because I am horrible with description of people and setting I found that have pictures of my characters and settings is the easiest way to describe when I can see it somewhere other than in my head. I strongly suggest utilizing this because you also add on your own little things if the picture doesn’t fit entirely.

#writing #writingadvice #writing advice #writeblr #amwriting #creative writing #reference #storytelling #fiction #youtube

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theonyxpath · 6 years ago

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That illo, by Andrew Trabbold for Shunned By the Moon, the Werewolf: The Forsaken Night Horrors book, btw, is how my brain is right now.

It’s high pollen time right now here in the Spring on Macungie Mountain, and every thought I need seems to require being pulled out of a cotton candy wadding around my brain.

I am a zombie, koo koo kachew!

So, bear with me on this MMN blog. I’m going to keep it a tad shorter than usual – hey, stop cheering – and there might be more mis-typing. Don’t worry, I’ll leave corrections on Pg XX.

V5 Chicago By Night art by Michael Gaydos

That’s the Fuzzy in our blog Title today, now here’s some of the Social part: the last couple three weeks, you may have noticed that we were doing some damage control on the missing errata for our Scion books.

I wrote updates here on where things had progressed each week so there’d be a source of info and a curated space for that info to be processed. A fair number of backers wanted more info, or wanted what they wanted right away, and we really we not in a position to answer anyone’s questions until the team could try and figure out what happened.

I asked for patience, and explained why with what info we had upfront, and there were a lot of people who stood up and let everyone know that how we were handling things made sense to them.

Giant thanks to all of you!

Now, what I wanted to explain is really for the benefit of the people who tried to post their thoughts/questions in the blog comments section during this time but didn’t see them come up. There were a few nasty comments, and a few inquiring comments, and I had reasons for blocking both.

For those of you who were asking questions, who just wanted more answers than I had to give, I’m sorry you were shut down. I posted the comment in the first blog’s comment section and reiterated that I wasn’t going to engage on further questions in order to spend our time finding out what happened, so I hope you understand what predicated that decision, but still, I hope you’ll try and comment further in the future.

For those who wanted to post angry, nasty, comments…that’s not going to fly here. It’s not about your emotions, it’s about how they are expressed and whether it’s fair to allow one person’s feelings to upset and drive off other posters. Nasty posts might feel good to the poster, but they are awful to read, particularly if the reader isn’t here for Scion, but for the Contagion Chronicle, for example.

And I know that nastiness has this effect because after almost every time we ban someone from the forums because of a nasty series of posts, I get private messages from forumites whose forum names I’ve never read before to thank me, and usually explaining that they were afraid to post to that forum because of the virulence of that banned poster.

So there’s that. We want our community to feel good interacting with us and the rest of the community, and will curate our social media spaces to try and enable that.

Shunned By The Moon art by Leo Albiero

From the serious to the ridiculous: this week I’ll be sitting down for an interview with Dixie and Eddy, I think, as Matthew is visiting the Queen for their monthly pow-wow. It’s in celebration of the One Year Anniversary of the Onyx Pathcast!

Why, it’s hard to believe that just a year ago, three bright-eyed and eager young podcasters came to me with a crazy idea – why couldn’t they do an Onyx Path focused one?

Why not indeed? In fact, they could! And it’s really, really good!

We’re so glad that folks have kept listening and supporting it, so I’m sure we’ll talk about that. If any of you have questions you’d like them to ask me – or you’d like me to ask them! – please pop the questions into the comments section below.

With that, I’m talking my pollen-addled brain and shuffling away. Somewhere in there, I’ll be musing all about our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

Our next Kickstarter starting in a couple of weeks will be for Pirates of Pugmire!

ONYX PATH MEDIA

Illustration by Charles Bates

On this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast the gang interviews John Burke, a man with a huge accent and writing talent to match: https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

And Here’s More Media About Our Worlds:

The Onyx Path News last week was broadcast live (which seemed to go down well with the viewers!) and can be found here: https://youtu.be/Qny9awhqVzc

Here’s episode six of our Contagion Chronicle actual play, as the protagonists stumble upon a Beshilu nest: https://youtu.be/ozp5TO3h5Lw

In case you missed it, the Story Told Podcast reached episode four of their Dragon-Blooded actual play: https://thestorytold.libsyn.com/

The ever-wonderful Devil’s Luck Gaming have moved on to a Chronicles of Darkness story! Please do check them out: https://www.twitch.tv/DevilsLuckGaming

Red Moon Roleplaying continue their Scarred Lands campaign, the Great Vilhaim Heist, run by Matthew Dawkins: https://www.redmoonroleplaying.com/podcast

Occultists Anonymous’ Mage: The Awakening chronicle continues apace and can be found right here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh4mWsf86RuXzrrY_oHyjU4DdtE4MNsv2

And here’s the Dramatic Failure Podcast‘s Geist: The Sin-Eaters chronicle for your dark enjoyment: https://dramaticfailure.podbean.com/

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

ELECTRONIC GAMING:

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking!

Here’s an update from the App devs:

We’ve been having trouble fixing the android bug that messes up the resolution for newer phones. I think we have a fix for that. It was also brought up that the store display is wrong on most tablet devices, so that is getting fixed too. That should all be soon!

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue you bought it from. Reviews really, really help us with getting folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio 2: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can now order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we’ll be dealing out the Scarred Lands 5e Spell Cards!

CONVENTIONS

UK Games Expo: May 31st – June 2nd From the US comes Eddy Webb, Matt McElroy, and Rich Thomas to join with Matthew Dawkins, Steffie de Vann, John Burke, Chris Allen, and Klara Herbol! Gen Con: August 1st – August 4th Save Against Fear: Oct 12-14 GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd We’ll also be back at PAX Unplugged later this year.

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Geist2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Redlines

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

DR:E Threat Guide (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Let The Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Blood Sea: Crimson Abyss for 5e (Scarred Lands)

TC: Aeon Ready Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Development

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Manuscript Approval:

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Editing:

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Scion Ready Made Characters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Post-Editing Development:

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)

V5 Chicago By Night Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)

Indexing:

Trinity Core

Trinity Aeon

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Chicago By Night

They Came From Beneath the Sea!

EX3 Lunars

Hunter: The Vigil 2

Contagion Chronicle

VtR Spilled Blood – Contracted.

M20 Book of the Fallen

Dark Eras 2 – All sorted, I think.

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel – Mr Pride working on these right now.

Pirates of Pugmire – KS art contracted, sketches and finals coming in.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant – KS art started contracting.

Scion Ready Made Characters – getting artist on these.

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

Dystopia Rising: Evolution – With Josh.

Shunned By the Moon

Scion Jumpstart

Trinity Continuum Core – Index is in.

Proofing

The Realm

Book of Oblivion – Inputting last corrections.

Signs of Sorcery – Dev comments back to layout.

Aeon Aexpansion

C20 Cup of Dreams Novel

At Press

Scion Hero – Shipping to backers, PoD proof ordered.

Scion Origin – Shipping to backers, PoD proof ordered.

Scion Dice – Shipping to backers.

Scion Screen – Shipping to backers.

Fetch Quest – Waiting for PoD proofs.

In Media Res – PDF out to backers, gathering errata with new sheet.

Geist 2e – PDF out to backers, gathering errata with new sheet.

Scarred Lands Spell Cards – On Sale this Wednesday.

Adventures for Curious Cats – PoD files uploaded.

Tales of Excellent Cats – PoD files uploaded.

Dragon-Blooded – Deluxe at printer. Signed off of Press Proofs.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – At printer.

Trinity Core and Aeon Screens – Files at printer.

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE:

Yesterday was Cinco De Mayo. And the day before was May the Fourth be With You Day, and May 1st was May Day… so today, maybe we celebrate not celebrating.

#Onyx Path Publishing

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surveys-at-your-service · 6 years ago

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Survey #191

“i got a baseball bat beside my bed to fight off what’s inside my head.”

Museum date or aquarium date? I suppose aquarium. Have you ever been a part of a protest or a march? No. Do you play any video games? Yes. Did you ever have an emo or scene phase? Yes. Name a subject you know a lot about. Meerkats. How would you describe your style? Too-Poor-To-Dress-Goth-So-Wears-Band-Merch-And-Graphic-Tees-Instead. What’s something most people love that you hate? Coffee. Who knows the most about you? Sara. Applesauce or pudding? Pudding. If you could create ANY mix-up or mythical animal and have it be brought to life, what would it be? I think I've mentioned a meerkat with butterfly wings before? Or bird wings? Describe a moment that is a prominent memory, but didn’t have a strong impact on your life. Uhhhh there's a lot. One random one would be learning to ride my bike. If there was one problem/issue you could wipe off the face of the earth, what would it be? Ohhhhhhhhhh god, there's so much. Maybe poverty? Do you think everyone in our lives serves a purpose, or are some people just there? In the story of your own life, no, not everyone. How do you feel about getting your picture taken? I hate it. Most embarrassing poster you’ve ever owned? Never owned one I was embarrassed by. When was the last time you were in a public setting and a stranger annoyed you? I'm not sure. Strangest pet peeve? Probably how much I hate people going in/out the wrong door. If you could make a guest appearance in ANY show, which one would you choose? Uhhhh Supernatural, maybe? Who do you think is the most underrated comedian? I don't know enough comedians for this, nevermind less successful ones. Do you always make eye contact with people when you’re speaking to them? No; this is something I'm super awkward about. I don't know how long "normal" eye contact is, so I think it's very easy to notice how, when talking to you, my eyes will suddenly wander. Could you see yourself having a child with the last person you kissed? We physically can't. We both don't want kids, anyway. Who is your favorite person to have random conversations with? SARA. When you were small, did you ever ask where babies came from? If you did, do you remember what your parents told you? I think I did, but I don't remember. What’s the nicest compliment you’ve ever been given? That I was/am "absolutely beautiful" and deserve "everything in the world." Who did you have your first kiss with? How did you meet that person? Jason. We "met" via Facebook because I accepted his friend request because I thought he was a different Jason lmao. Apparently he saw me in the hall and knew he had to talk to me so somehow found out my name. Which. I still want to know how. I've come to find how creepy our origin story is lol. Have you felt butterflies in your stomach today? No. Did anyone/anything get on your nerves today? No. Think of the person you fell the hardest for. What first attracted you? I don't know which I fell hardest for, honestly... because one was to an unhealthy degree, but my bond with Sara is healthy. I know I'm closer with her than I was Jason, but I guess by definition I still "fell hardest" for him? In that case, I thought he was really unique, even odd, which I appreciated. Has anyone recently found out something you didn’t want them to know? I got to where I told my therapist about the RP hobby, per Mom's and Sara's recommendations. I'm trying to work towards not being so secretive and embarrassed by what I love, so I very slowly got it out to her as practice and as a trust exercise. Is there something you currently want, that you can’t have? HA, there's a lot. A drawing tablet, for one. Who was the last person to make you feel embarrassed or uncomfortable? LAAAAAAAAAAAAAWL. Probably the last person I had a social interaction with that wasn't my mother. Think of the last film you watched. Who was your favorite character in it? Buddy (Elf). What color is your couch? Tan. What are you known for? Probably as the unsuccessful, antisocial, lazy 23-year-old that still depends on her mother. Has anyone ever threatened you? Yes. Have you ever been scammed? I don't think so? Are you making sure you’re using your full potential? Boy, I try, but I know I don't. If you have a partner, have you ever had to sleep in separate beds? If you don’t, how would you feel if a future partner wanted separate beds? We're long-distance so like. It'd be a bummer, but that's it; I understand wanting comfort, and even I know sleeping on your own is comfier. I'm just a cuddler and would sacrifice comfiness for the sake of physical closeness. What is something you are skeptical about? People’s intentions. <<<<<< This. Is there a murder case you find absolutely fascinating? I'm sure there's some I've forgotten. What is an unusual item somebody you know owns? Ummmm. OH HA Sara keeps the complete/"good" sheds of the snakes in her room. What’s the oldest TV-show you like? When was it made? I Love Lucy, 1951. If you have a job, do you prefer morning shifts or evening shifts? N/A, but I know I'd prefer morning. Do you have a mug with your name/initials on it? No. Have you ever designed your own mug? No. Is there a game that you excel in? A number. Have you ever been in a row boat? No. What are you most confident about? Most insecure about? Ummm... probably photography, I guess? I'm most insecure about "odd" interests and hobbies. When are you most likely to say something you don’t mean? When I'm angry. When was the last time that you saw fire? I'm not sure. Probably while lighting a match to burn some incense. Do you like wearing sunglasses? Why or why not? No. I don't like my vision being dimmed. What do you think in general of girls with short hair? Rock it. How about guys with long hair? Usually attractive to me. Have you ever seen somebody get shot? No. Would you ever try one of those DNA kits? Totally. With films in languages you do not speak, do you prefer a dub or subtitles? It depends if the voiceovers are convincing or not. Generally, I like those because subtitles distract me. Which cuisine do you like the least? That I've tried, Japanese. Are there any foods you dislike because of the texture? YEAH. LOOOOOTS. Do you let your pets sleep in your bed? Yes, except Bentley. Who are your favorite songwriters? Otep Shamaya probs tops the list. What are your favorite one-hit wonders? YO "My Own Worst Enemy" by Lit is a BOP. Have you ever seen anybody naked by accident? Maybe? Have you ever had a sexual fantasy about a celebrity? ... lol yes. Have you ever changed your clothes in the car? Yeah. About how quickly does your hair grow? UGH, fast. Because I have it short now, it's overgrown in like, two months. It looks awful where it is now, but I should be getting it cut this month. Do you have to/choose to shave anything unusual? Fuck "have to." No one has to shave anything if they don't want to. But anyway, I suppose you can consider above my lip "unusual." Much to my annoyance, I have dark body hair so develop the dreaded "ladystache" if I leave it alone for too long. Do you groom (wax, pluck, or thread) your eyebrows? No. If you wear makeup, what are your preferred brands? N/A Did your school have somewhere for girls to get emergency pads/tampons? Yes, but for a bit of change. Fucking stupid. Did you have to take showers after gym before going to your next class? No. Were you in any extracurricular activities or clubs in high school? I was in the art and honors club, but we didn't do after-school activities. Have you ever picked up and kept a rock because it caught your eye? I think. Have you ever laughed at a scene (TV/film) that wasn’t meant to be funny? Ha, I'm sure. Have you seen any Hannibal movies other than The Silence of the Lambs? I haven't even seen that, but I want to. I know it's a classic and have heard great about it from horror fans. Have you read any of the Hannibal novels? No. Do you like any indie movies? Probably. What part of a man’s body do you find most attractive? I'm suuuuch a sucker for prominent shoulder blades/moderately muscular backs. What part of a woman’s body do you find most attractive? I'm weak for hips. Do you think guys look good in makeup? YO most I see doing it fucking rock that shit. I deeply respect guys who embrace their more feminine traits. Do you like using clay and/or peel-off masks for skincare? No. Do you like bread crust on pizza or do you prefer it cut off? Mmmmm love it. Have you ever driven while drunk/intoxicated? No, absolutely never would. What’s the worst/hardest drug you’ve taken? N/A What is the worst/hardest drug you’ve been offered, but declined to partake in? Nothing. If you’ve ever tried drugs or alcohol, what was your reason for trying it? I was just curious about how it tasted and knew a bit wouldn't hurt me. Do you think you could ever have an abortion if you expectantly turned pregnant? The only way that could currently happen is if I was raped, and I don't know what I'd do. I lean towards carrying it would probably be legit traumatizing to me so yes, but I suppose I'd have to be in that situation (knock the fuck on wood) to truly know. What is the weirdest ailment a pet of yours/your family’s has sustained? Ummm. The weirdest... probably the intestine thing that killed Cato. I can't remember precisely, but I believe it was some type of infection that completely clogged him. Maybe even a disease. If you were far from home and needed to sleep for the night, would you choose to rent a crappy hotel room for $60 or sleep in your car for free? In the car. Is there a situation you caved into peer pressure and regretted it? Maybe? Have you ever been in a relationship that was going great, and then suddenly something weird happened and you just KNEW it was going to be over soon? That happened with Jason. I had this odd feeling something was off for a little while. He was quieter and seemed somewhat depressed, which was totally unlike him. I even asked him quite a bit if something was wrong, but he always reassured me he was fine. Which of the guys you’ve been interested in hurt you the most? lul we knooooow. Do you know anyone who is engaged? Yes. Do you know anybody who is pregnant? Yes. I'm going to one's baby shower next month! What is your relationship status on Facebook? Taken. Would you be able to name everyone you’ve kissed? Yeah. Last person you watched a movie with? Sara, her dad, and I think her mom and one brother was with us? Who has the power to break you? I honestly hope no one anymore, at least not entirely. But Sara comes the closest. Favorite “little kid” movie? TLK. What are you listening to? WoW's Grizzly Hills music. :') Who do you feel most comfortable talking to about anything? Sara. Or Mom. It depends on the subject. Do you find smoking unattractive? Very. I think it says something about how much you care for your health. Have you ever just laid down outside and stared at the stars? Yup. Has anyone ever asked you if you were bipolar? I don't believe so. What was the last thing you looked up on Google? Types of rat cancer for that pet ailment question. We don't know with certainty, but that's likely what killed Tezzeret, brain or eye cancer or something like that. Do you lose interest in someone quickly? If you do something stupid, ha, bye. I can lose interest very fast but also slowly. Ever cried while you were on the phone with someone? Yes. Does your password have to do with a boy/girl? No. Have you ever made a boyfriend or girlfriend cry? Yes. Think back to last year. Who did you like? Sara. How did you meet the last male you called? He's my dad so like- Ever been kissed on the leg? Maybe? What was the last thing you ate? Ham, cheese, and mustard on wheat bread. If you HAD to kiss someone right now, who would it be? Sara. Who was the last person you rode in the car with? Mom. Name some things you love about winter? NOT HOT AS FUCK, snow, frost, gingerbread, chocolate-covered peanuts, I can walk outside without worrying about ticks, my birthday, hot chocolate, looking at Christmas lights/decorations, nice tree designs, Christmas itself... I just love winter. Last person to hear you cry? Probably Mom. How do you feel about your relationship status? I love it. Only thing that could make me happier is if we weren't long-distance. Is it possible to be JUST friends with someone you wanna be with? I dunno. Have you ever been given roses? Yes. Would you ever sky dive? I don't think so. Where was the last place you fell asleep other than your own bed? Sara's bed. If you dated someone that someone else liked, would you rub it in their face? Uh no, I'm an adult. Have you received a text message that made you cry? Yes. What do you think of your country’s education system? If you could change it, what would you do? WOULD YOU LIKE AN ESSAY????????????? I'd change a fucking load of things. If you could move out of your home country permanently, would you? If so, where would you go? No. Is there a celebrity that everyone else seems to love, but you find totally overrated? Why is it that you don’t like them? I'm not in a place to really answer this; I'm not knowledgeable of almost any celebs' lives. Think back to the last time you got really angry. Do you think your anger was justified, or did you act in an over the top way? It was fucking justified. If you could volunteer for any charity, which one would you choose? Do you think it’s more important to help humans, or are animal and environmental charities equally important? Probably one for the environment as far as volunteer work. We're absolutely annihilating our one and only home, and if we don't collectively get our shit together as a species, we're gone. I think both are equally important. Do you have any allergies? If not, what do you think the worst thing to be allergic to would be? Pollen. I think the worst of the ones I know would be any deathly-allergic food, especially those that there are traces of in many foods. What do you think of the term plus-sized in modeling? It is it empowering or demeaning? It's demeaning in its name. Just use "modeling" as the term. "Plus size" just makes it sound as if you're not a "perfect" model. Do you prefer holidays where you relax, or actually do things? Mmm, depends on my mood, honestly. Do you think you are ready to be on your own (have your own home, job, etc.)? No. Do you think that after we die our spirit is still alive? Totally. Do you sleep in a bra? I feel very sorry for anyone who does. Has your ex ever gone out with someone close to you? No. Can you suggest someone funny on YouTube? Personally find Game Grumps or Shane Dawson the funniest people on there. Sprite or Mtn. Dew? I hate Sprite, so. Has anyone close to you ever been suicidal? Yes. What is the 10th picture in your phone/camera of? A picture of Roman as a kitten. :') Are you friends with someone who’s autistic? My niece is, if she counts. Has anyone ever walked in on you having sex? No. Have you ever had a Bic Mac? No. I don't like lettuce on burgers. What’s your favorite part about the holidays? Seeing how excited my niece and nephew are. How old is your television? Idk exact years, but we had it before the divorce, so it's been a while. Would you ever dye your hair an unnatural color? BITCH I always want my hair an unnatural color. Have you ever been to the zoo before? Yes. If you’re reading a book, what page are you currently on? N/A How many online accounts do you have? Or have you lost count? I've definitely lost count. Have you ever been to a convention? (comic, YouTube, etc.) A reptile one. Have you ever done a first aid course? No. Has anyone ever compared you to someone you don’t like? No, I don't think so. Do elevators freak you out? Yes. How do you find new music to listen to when you want it? YouTube recommendations or Spotify. What is the biggest difference between you and your best friend? OUR FEELINGS TOWARDS MEDICATION. YOU NEED IT SOMETIMES BABE. What is something most people are turned on by but you’re not? Penises in general. I'm still bi, but seeing a dick is just. Ugh they're just hideous to me okay. Is there anything you wish you had done with a current/previous significant other? No. Well, I'm curious how actually deep sex would feel, so I guess I kinda wish Jason and I went that far, especially now that I'll probably never have actual intercourse again, but. Oh well. What are the top three qualities that draw you to a new person? Charismatic, caring, and respectful. What job would you be terrible at and what job would you be good at? Anything dealing with customers; exposing animals to healthy human contact. Do you think that forgiveness is mandatory to move on from something? I think so, to fully move on. Name three things you would buy if you had the money to buy them? A PS4, drawing tablet, totally new and better camera. If you could have a video of one event in your life, what would the video be? Sara's reaction to seeing me in her room on her birthday. Her face was the most priceless thing ever. What did you think was cool when you were younger? Light-up shoes lmao. Who do you wish you could back into contact with and why did you stop in the first place? Megan. She lied about just about everything in her life for pity. When I finally called her out, she was so upset with herself that she like, fell off the face of the earth. Have you ever had a dream of stabbing someone? No, but rather Dad trying to stab me. What’s the most bizarre Horror movie you’ve ever seen? Idk off the top of my head. Would you ever take a Lie Detector test for your significant other? No, but only because I find them as bullshit. Especially as someone with anxiety, I'd be so scared of something showing as a "lie" to remain calm. Plus, a question may just prompt a memory or thought in you that shows up on the test or whatever but isn't related to lying, stuff like that. Ever had a forbidden love or lover? No. Do you like canopy beds? YES. I WANT ONE. If you could summon any animal to come to your rescue, what animal would it be and why? Ummm maybe a bear? They're tanks and super dangerous with their claws, teeth, and muscles.

#survey #questions #quiz #random

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falcon6 · 6 years ago

Text

Learning to Create

It’s really difficult for me to admit that I’m an artist of any capacity. A lot of times, I consider that sort of term to be dedicated only to the working artist. You know, the ones who actually get paid for their work. The ones who end up creating things for everyone. The ones I admire greatly, to the point that I consider them to be living on Mt. Olympus while I’m stuck at a temple waiting for a chariot up a very steep road.

The place I work at now is a place where I don’t get to really create for myself. I create for other people. When I’m done there, I seldom get to make things for myself at home. There is an effort, of course, when I’m able to do so, but it’s hard to be that focused after toiling a retail job for 7 hours a day. You end up taking the opportunity to decompress and that ends up becoming an 8-hour decompress and you need to go to bed. That’s how it is for an adult, I guess. Don’t recommend growing up.

And that “9-5 Job, Now Do Nothing For Hours” mindset is something I need to work on, to be sure. In my mind, I see myself as someone who needs to be able to do something. I can’t make art to decompress, because art is supposed to be something important. I toil and toil, thinking about the process I need to decide on doing. “How do I become an artist like my favorite artists?” “What is the correct methods of learning it?”

How do I climb the mountain and join the greats?

In my monthly stint of introspection, I was watching a friend play Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. To this day, it may still be my favorite game. Watching it again brings back a lot of genuinely good memories, both inside and outside of the game. The charm that filled the game’s varied and interesting world and cast has still yet to be matched for my personal tastes. And for years, it was the game I played whenever I needed a good pick-me-up.

Watching him play it for the first time and getting to hear the same sort of reactions I had to it 14 years ago ended up bringing an...odd memory back to me. And it involves this image.

Low-Quality Vivian For The Low-Quality Needs

Perhaps not this specific image in particular - the internet could have phased out that one- but something similar to it.

See, back in 2004 I was just getting in on the whole Internet thing. This was back when people used what was called an “internet forum”. This was a place where people can post their thoughts on a wide range of topics, such as: “How do you jump in Metroid?”, “This game sucks”, and “Do you think Kingdom Hearts 2 will be on Gamecube?”.

I was part of one forum for a good part of my teenage life. I started at around January of 2004, in fact. I suppose I consider that a turning point in my life if I remember it to that degree.

I was fairly active in that forum. And as I began to make my posts, I began to notice something. At the bottom of every post was what you called a signature.

They were a cute little way to signify that you were the one who was making the post. It was one of the small creative outlets this particular forum had given users, though you still needed it to be both 45-ish pixels tall and kept at a low file size to help those with 56k modems.

Typing that out makes me feel really old.

There were people who were making these small images underneath their posts and the cool, hip guy I was as a teenager was like “OH BOY I WANNA DO THAT TOO!”. Of course, in order to create this sort of stuff I had to be...sneaky.

Back then, I found a pirated copy of Paint Shop Pro 7. It worked decently enough for me, but as I was a young lad with strong moral values - I didn’t even curse until well into my later teens, the frickin’ twit - I felt extremely guilty doing this. So for my birthday that year, I ended up getting a legit copy of Paint Shop Pro 8. It was at that point, I suppose, that my desire to create stuff was ignited. I was thrown into the wide world of graphic design, making sigs for myself and others.

I eventually upgraded to Photoshop 7 - after throwing away all of those moral values and growing the confidence to say the fuck-word - walking even further into this new world for me. I started making signatures for people in flashier ways, abused lens flare to the point of blinding half of Nintendo fanboys, and even dabbled in creating wallpapers for people to use. This was back when 1024x768 was the norm, if you can believe that.

I talk about this because when my friend was playing TTYD, I decided to look up art of some characters again, and found Vivian - one of the party members in the game - once more. Only, this time, in a way higher fidelity than I had 14 years ago.

Best Girl in A Good Resolution.

In general, I’d consider TTYD as the game that first got me encroaching into graphic design. This was not due to the game’s art, which is still fantastic, but because of so many people suddenly wanting signatures of their favorite new party members in that restrictive 48 pixel height.

I would get private messages in the forum asking for sigs with Mario, Goombella, Koops, Yoshi, Vivian, Bobbery, the X-Nauts, Bowser, Peach...Rawk Hawk a few times...even had Zess T. the cook in there. It was wild.

So imagine my surprise going through Google Image Search for a post about Vivian and finding an image of her that was extremely close to the kind of art I had to work with back then. I worked for a long time trying to figure out how to deal with the blur of the pisspoor scan with its low resolution and JPEG artifacts. Back then, finding official art was pretty difficult alone, and official art that actually looked like it was scanned with proper care? You were basically stuck with what you had and needed to figure out how to hide it. The people who could find clean concept art became our dealer providing the good shit while we provided our services to others.

Otherwise, you just worked with what you had. This was problem solving. Back then, you didn’t have access to as many tutorials as you do now. You absolutely didn’t have as much access to tablets. Those were from Wacom only and they were expensive. So you were essentially on your own, only getting help from the occasional artist who decided to make small tutorials on the forum.

Thankfully most of the people for signature requests were also teenagers as well, who just thought you were amazing for doing this for them.

I suppose all this reminiscing got me thinking about that mountain again. The paths up the mountain are long but they’re rarely ever getting longer or shorter, just easier to traverse. Nowadays, tablets are so much easier to acquire and art programs have gotten a lot more manageable. Art you want to look at or study or even use for your small projects are readily available, with services that makes buying personalized art easy and supporting artists even easier.

The knowledge about art programs and processes is nigh-infinite at this point. You can get a young artist’s commentary about their own virtues of art in a single tweet at lunch and get an experienced artist’s commentary at dinner. You can get atelier-level art lessons for free on Youtube.

Almost anything you want to learn is feasible now. Climbing the mountain is easier than ever.

So naturally, with my inferiority complex in full swing, I always have to ask myself why I haven’t started climbing the mountain yet. Why haven’t I just started the trek up the mountain pass already towards becoming a technically-skilled artist?

And the answer is, I am.

It’s just at my pace.

When I was a kid playing make-believe with others in the playground, I was making steps. Throughout all my teenage years of making signatures for people, making wallpapers for others, and even making a properly-awful sprite comic, I was making steps. When I was getting people stealing my sketchbook and making marks over my drawing of a Sonic character at lunch in high school, I was still making steps. When I was being critiqued by people for my skills in ways I felt were unfair or spiteful, I was still making steps. Every time I open Photoshop or SAI and stare at a blank canvas and will myself into making a mark on there, I’m still making a step.

Every step further from the start point, which is far and away from where I am now.

In my mind, I still can’t help but feel like where I should be is as some sort of master of art, but it’s really not fair to me. In hindsight, if I had drawn something every single day with intent, I could be a technical genius with knowledge of all the principles of design lodged firmly in my mind. It sounds amazing, but that’s not something I did.

Considering “what could have been” ignores what I am now. I am someone with knowledge in these various programs for over 14 years. I’ve dabbled in multiple projects, some in my own design. I can consider those things invariably shit, but the stuff I did there was stuff I did on my own terms, which I learned from. I wrote fanfics, did signatures for people, made wallpapers and webcomics, designed websites, did roleplaying, made a storyline based on friends’ characters in an MMO, and played tabletop games creating characters that became some of my favorite creations in my lifetime.

I would never want to trade that away for some sort of technical skill level-up. I’ve made too many great friends because of all of this. I am who I am because of how I’ve gotten here.

Learning how to create is all about taking the opportunities as they come along. Even this post is, essentially, me seeing one image online after a game session with friends and getting a nostalgia blast for something completely unrelated to the game itself.

The act of creating is simply doing. If you do, you create. If you create, you create art.

If you create art, you are an artist.

Don’t let your inner thoughts dissuade you from that fact, ever.

Thanks for reading.

#falcon's inner ramblings #text post #art talk #bobbery is also pretty cool too

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sharyrazade · 6 years ago

Text

Day -320

I’m gonna do something a little different here; part writing practice, part shameless self-promotion, and part gauging interest in future projects I’m playing with, I’m gonna start posting previews- excerpts from projects of mine.

While technically a flashback in-story, here, we’ve got Makoto and Yuuki in marriage counseling in the Children of Men!verse; so you know how big a dumpster fire that relationship was.

Tapping his fingers against his tablet nervously, Kentaro Masamura, while never a religious man in the slightest, prayed silently for one half of the estranged couple to at least begin to speak. Even if their first instinct was to explode on each other- he’d seen that with more than his share of couples in his line of work and he was trained to defuse said situations. But this tension- this unspoken enmity between in the room was enough to (figuratively) choke an elephant.

Fuck it, I can’t take this anymore. “So, first things first.” Masamura began, his tone unnaturally cordial. “When did you first begin to notice problems in your marriage? Mrs. Mishima, why don’t we begin with you?”

“Ms. Niijima.” Makoto corrected sternly, only glancing at her estranged husband through the corner of her eye. “And I couldn’t tell you; probably the day after the wedding.”

Yuuki scoffed in frustration, rolling his eyes. “Oh, yeah, why don’t we ask Makoto?” he began frustratedly. “After all, she knows EVERYTHING. Something she just LOVES making you aware of.”

Makoto grasped the couch’s armrest in irritation. “Well, Mister Tech Billionaire, I don’t see how it’s any different than those fancy cars you insist on driving or that penthouse you insisted on.”

At this, Yuuki’s expression was more angered than annoyed. “Only because you wouldn’t stop going on about how much you loved it!”

“I WAS TRYING TO BE SUPPORTIVE!”

The therapist rubbed his temples in exasperation. “I hear a lot of talking past one another, but no real communicating.” remarked Kentaro upon the obvious. “Mr. Mishima- since your wife already went, why don’t we get your thoughts on when the problems started?”

Somewhat cooled off, Yuuki exhaled in exasperation. “I’m going to say...about a couple of months in?” he said tentatively. “After the ‘honeymoon phase,’ appropriately enough. I guess I noticed Makoto putting in even more hours at work than usual- kinda like she was avoiding me.”

The brunette scoffed dismissively. “Please!” she remarked, a noticeable hint of defensive cruelty in her tone. “You knew my job wasn’t exactly a part-time thing when I started. If you were going to be such a baby about it, maybe you shouldn’t have married me.”

“Oh, THAT’S the understatement of my life!” Yuuki complained. “You know mom tried to warn me about you? I SHOULD have listened to her!”

“So even when she’s not here, you’re such a mama’s boy, you bring in your passive-aggressive cunt of a mother to fight your battles?”

“How fucking DARE you talk about her like that?! And that’s rich coming from the woman who spent the past ten years giving her ‘best friend’ the cold-bitch routine on a regular basis!”

Once again sensing an impasse (or rather an impeding cliff), Kentaro gave a series of exaggerated coughs to interrupt the couple. “This is getting us nowhere.” he said, again remarking on the obvious. “I’m just going to be blunt about this question- how are things between you two- you know, in the bedroom?”

Immediately, the therapist regretted breaching the topic; the cold, hostile glares shared by both husband and wife told him he’d just skipped gleefully into a goddamned minefield. “Okaayyyy...when did you first start having issues there?”

“The wedding night.” Makoto and Yuki said in reflexive unison.

The therapist was visibly taken aback by said candor. “Wow, okay. So what caused such a rocky start to your sex life?”

Yuuki shrugged. “Ah, you know, the usual- it was always ‘I’m too tired,’ ‘I have a headache,’ or ‘maybe on the weekend.’ Basically, she’s a frigid, unavailable bitch.”

Makoto crossed her arms across her chest. “Maybe if you could stop being a thirsty little twerp for ten minutes, you could learn to take a hint. I actually am tired most of the time- it’s not JUST because you’re about as sexually appealing as that plant over there.”

Yuuki, while suspecting it on some level for some time now, wore an expression of genuine hurt at having Makoto’s true feelings confirmed by the woman herself. Kentaro, on the other hand, was justifiably perplexed. “Wait,” he began, furrowing his brow. “you NEVER discussed this kind of thing with each other?”

Both halves of the quarreling couple gave each other an equally-perplexed look before responding in kind once again. “No, never.” they both confirmed.

Kentaro scribbling away at his notes and becoming increasingly pessimistic as he did so, Makoto was the next to speak. “Besides, it’s not like you were suffering SO much.” she said carelessly. “We BOTH know you got plenty from those golddigging sluts all over you.”

Genuinely wounded and offended by this accusation, by this point, Yuuki was now more angry than anything. “Never, not once!” he exclaimed.

“Really? You never cheated once?”

“No! And that’s REAL fucking rich coming from you- remember when we went to Patong back in the summer?! The first actual orgasm you had in this marriage, you called me Akira, for fuck’s sake! And that’s not even getting into why we’re here in the first place!”

“It was a slip of the tongue and you KNOW it, you tiny little man!”

As a marriage counselor, Kentaro was privy to quite a bit about the lives of his clients, but it was still at their own discretion- understandably, he was feeling quite lost now that other names were being dropped. “Wait, who’s Akira, again?” he inquired.

Yuuki was still quite offended by his wife’s casual assertions of his infidelity- as though it were a given. Particularly hypocritical given the situation with a certain lady friend of hers, he fumed. For all those romantic, chivalrous-sounding vows they shared, Yuuki could feel his blood boiling- after all the pain and insecurities he’d shared with his wife, only to have her blurt them back in an effort to consciously belittle him- No, he wanted to hurt this woman sitting next to him.

“A mutual friend of ours who Makoto spent the past fifteen years carrying a torch for.” he informed smugly. “Got involved with another mutual friend of ours about as long ago and married her- Makoto’s been a condescending, passive-aggressive bitch to her ‘best friend’ ever since.”

Her expression momentarily betraying her wound at this divulging of some of her dirtiest social laundry, Makoto quickly reverted to a couple of her tried-and-true responses, among them her rather aloof default expression.

“Well, it can’t be THAT great a marriage.” she remarked snidely, wanting to change the subject but feel some self-righteousness from her venting. “You know he- they bring other women into their bedroom sometimes, right? Doesn’t sound a man too happy in his marriage if you ask me.”

Yuuki scowled, not having nearly the emotional skin as his wife did in this game. “What makes you so sure it’s for him?” he barbed, glowering at Makoto. “She was pretty upfront about being bisexual with him- kinda important information to have going in, you think?”

“Wait, hold on-” interrupted Kentaro, holding a hand up. “We’re discussing YOUR marriage right now- not theirs.”

At this statement, Makoto lost her composure, shooting upright and looming over her husband angrily. “Oh, and here we go!” she complained. “Yes, I fucked my best girlfriend and left you for her! Yes, I admit it! And you know something, I’d do it again! And again! And again! Do you know why? Because you know something about Haru? She is kind, she’s loyal, she’s humble, she’s caring- all for the sake of it! Everything you’re not! And by the way, she’s more of a man and lover than you could EVER be!”

“If I’m so pathetic and disgusting to you,” Yuuki raged. “why did you even bother to show up today?!”

“I don’t know! I’ve made so many mistakes with you, that would just be the latest!”

“Then why don’t you just get the hell out?!”

“MAYBE I WILL!”

“GOOD! Go on back to your poor little rich girl and your snotty, pretentious cafes, and your weekends in Paris and- whatever it is the fuck you two do to each other every night!”

Even before Makoto stormed from the office, slamming the door behind her, as a therapist and professional in general, it was pretty clear to Kentaro Masamura that he’d lost control of the situation completely the second their friend Akira came up- it had been undeniable once the word “bisexual” entered into the conversation.

Having cooled down somewhat, Yuuki sighed tiredly. “Sorry about that, doc.” he said apologetically. “What do I owe you for all the sessions- I kinda think this was a wash.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Kentaro replied.

“Nah, I insist- I subjected you to the oil fire that is my marriage, I’m going to compensate you for it.”

Hmm, an “oil fire.” That was a pretty good way of describing that utter disaster, the therapist conceded to himself. Kentaro Masamura did this job because he genuinely did believe in trying to preserve relationships when possible. Trying to preserve this one however, was not so much rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic- it was more attempting to bail out the ship with a drinking glass- from the bottom of the Atlantic.

#catherine atlus #persona series #persona 5 #yuuki mishima #makoto niijima #post-canon #children of men!verse #my writing #preview

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wynndygoon · 6 years ago

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1st Anniversary!

This will be sort of a recap post encompassing all of what has happened over this first year. So get ready, this will be a long post!

I started this blog shortly after I got my drawing tablet as a means to try and get better at using the damn thing. Needless to say, I think that it has been more than a success and has also been an amazing opportunity to meet all of you amazing people who have gotten invested in Noma and what she is and who she is as a character. And, while this past year hasn’t been perfect, it has been a wondorous experience filled with laughs and new bonds that frankly, I never would have made otherwise. Same goes to me trying out new things such as streaming, downloading Discord, and just flat out putting my art out there in this world for people to see and hopefully fall in love with.

So this whole blog, and the lady we all know and love, Noma, wouldn’t have been here if it weren’t for chance. If you are new or never read the post explaining her past, the short version is: I had a Blaziken that hatched from an Egg in pokemon Black. It was a female, and I named her Noma, and it turned out that she had a bunch of good EV’s and IV’s, so I used her a lot through the game. Well when X and Y came out, I got the launch event Torchic that had better stats than Noma, so in a stupid move, I wonder Traded her away, hoping that someone else would like her just as much as I did. Fast forward a few months before I started this blog, and one of my friends traded me a bunch of pokemon since he didn’t really play much anymore. Long story short, he traded me back Noma. So while I had this idea about starting a pokemon ask blog, I never knew which pokemon i wanted to use, until Noma popped back into my life. As soon as that happened, I knew I had to make her my character.

So next came the design phase, and while I never was amazing at creating characters, I knew that I had to try and make her look unique to stand out from the crowd. And When I say unique, i think I went a bit too overboard with her, but at least we can still tell she is a blaziken, right? Anyways, I knew that I wanted to make her somewhat Tomboy-ish, while still having her be feminine as to not confuse people. I also knew that one easy way to accomplish this was to make her a little more fluffy and poofy, so believe it or not, I started with her hair design and went from there. I knew that if i could nail the hair, then everything would kinda fall into place. So that is why she has just SO MUCH HAIR, because form a design point, it was necessary. Also, making her wear clothes would help her stand out seeing as many poke-ask blogs leave their characters nude. Speaking of which, I am going to address something about Noma right here: SHE DOESN’T HAVE BOOBS ALRIGHT. I know it looks like she does, but since she has so many feathers and is very fluffy, wearing clothes would be difficult. So what she has to do is stuff her chest fluff into her tank tops, and purely because there is so much of it, it lumps up under the shirt. So all the people asking to see Noma’s “Chicken Breasts” ( those were some real asks BTW), sorry, no luck there.

________________________________________________________________

THIS SECTION IS ALL OF MY FAVORITE ASKS AND REDESIGNS OF NOMA

So, now that I have the character created, It’s time to draw her and make a post on here. Im not gonna lie, that first night was nerve wracking. I didn’t have the slightest clue as to what was going to happen, if anyone would see the post, or hell, if anyone would like it.

But here she is, the main attraction in her first appearance on the blog. Happy, inviting, and not nearly as fluffy as what she is now. For some of you newer followers, yes, this is how it all began. Notice that she isn’t as tall, or fluffy, or as vibrant as what you know her as, but yes, this is what everyone saw for a couple of months while I started out. This WAS her design.

So, with this outta the way, it’s time to answer some asks, but to do that, I had to think of her personality. So, I just made her personality be fun. someone who can be sassy, sarcastic, kind, loveable, and genuinely nice. It’s up to you to decide o how well that comes across though.

This ask was: “Why are you such a Boss Ass Blaziken?” and this is where I went into her story in a little more detail and made it feel more like a story rather than a simple explanation of events. It was the first question I got and I had a lot of fun working on it because at least one person took the time out of their day to send me something.

Here is Noma explaining her Favorite Region that she has been to. And this was kind of a first for the blog since we got to see what she looked like below the crop top. And yes, its just a crop top with her chest fluff stuffed into it. Take note how much shorter she was when I started this blog. Like, I never realized this before, but for a blaziken, she was a midget. Also, can we just ignore some of the glaring anatomy issues here? I was still kinda working on her design here.

And here we reach the first Big re-design of Noma. While not much besides her hair changed, this was the part of her life that she started dyeing her hair different colors to make her design more unique. She also has a bit more of a neck and her hands are also more suited to a blaziken’s with the gray part instead of all red like the first post. In this ask, she was answering what her favorite past times are. Out of all the asks that I have done so far back then, THIS was my favorite to work on, just changing up her hair style felt so refreshing and honestly makes her look so much different.

THIS. FREAKING. ASK. this was the one that started a bunch of people to harass me to essentially draw nsfw of Noma. At the time of answering this ask, I was midway through a show called Panty and Stocking, go check it out if you haven’t, it’s hilarious and really good. But the ask was: “What is your favorite hairstyle?” So I decided to have a little fun and I started out just drawing the hair to make the reference to Panty and Stocking, but I thought that nobody would actually catch the reference, so I decided to go big or go home and reference the entire character of Scanty. If only I knew what kind of hell I would have unleashed for the next few months. Despite all of the perverted asks and messages I received, this was an insanely fun ask to draw, and it was also a challenge to try and recreate Scanty, but in a Blaziken form. Also, notice how her hands reverted back to red. I never said I was consistent.

So that slightly NSFW ask was the last actual drawing i posted for quite a while because then, I started college and was so nervous and scared and focused on doing well that i just didn’t have time to draw or play video games because of all the stress. I would literally wake up, go to school, go to work, come home, and sleep. and that was it. My next few posts actually weren’t Noma related, so I won’t cover them.

This was the first ask I had for ASK MAGIC which had Noma’s type change to water for 3 asks. Each of these weren’t all that exciting, but I am including this here because it was a milestone for the blog that NO ONE HAS USED SINCE! HINT HINT.

This wasn’t an ask, just a drawing idea I had for Halloween. She is still rocking her crazy hair with 3 different colors now and frankly, I have no idea what I was thinking giving her a rooster comb AND and ponytail, but hey, it works. SO if you couldn’t tell she went as a rooster for Halloween and her hands also magically changed back to red. But she also dyed her chest fluff in the shape of a heart which was another small design change.

HERE SHE IS THE FIRST MAJOR REDESIGN THAT ACTUALLY CHANGED SOME STUFF ABOUT HER. First of all, she doesn’t have the weird red neck that she had that just made her chest fluff look glued on, her fluff is on the entirety of her neck, and her neck is now longer, giving here a taller appearance. I also changed the look of her chest fluff to look like it surrounds her from behind also, and I changed the fluff on her face here too. Sure they may not be the biggest changes, but they made her a hell of a lot easier to draw and i think made her look better overall too.

This is just a better look of her, and is also my icon. See how she looks less like a midget and more graceful? The re-design was for the greater good.

This ask was SUPER fun: “My last ask was mean, but if you could choose any other type, what would it be”. This was when i could encompass all of what made Noma, Noma. The new redesign looks flawless, and we actually got to see an almost full body drawing of Noma. Glaring anatomy issues aside, I still really think that this was one of my better works of Noma.

I had a Thanskgiving ask set aside to put here, but I am really not too proud of that one, and also because it was during the time when I lost my grandmother, so I’m just going to leave it out so I don’t get too emotional about it.

You think I would have learned my lesson about showing Noma in anything REMOTELY NSFW, but nope, here we have her in her underwear. The ask was: “I am liking this new look!” and yeah, I tried to go for a cheap visual gag, not only in the fact that she isn’t decent, but also in the name of her boxers. American Eagle in the pokemon world would more than likely be Unovan Braviary, like come on, that’s comedy silver at best.

Look at this Eye-sore. I tried to do a candy cane look wit her hair, but I think it fell flat and looks too busy. But the Ask was: “Do you have any jewelry?” While this doesn’t look as good as I hoped it would have, this was certainly a lot of fun to draw.

This was my absolute favorite non-ask post to draw because i used my actual ugly christmas sweater to design hers. I know the perspective is off here, but that is purely because of the angle I took the picture at.

THIS COMIC WAS AN ABSOLUTE BLAST TO DRAW, PLUS IT ALSO INTRODUCED NOMA’S LOVE INTEREST, EM, WHICH IS STILL A PART OF THIS BLOG SO SEND HIM SOME ASKS PLEASE. ALSO I DO NOT OWN EM, HE IS A CHARACTER OF BANANAMUTTBREAD, SO GO GIVE HIM A FOLLOW, HE IS AN AMAZING PERSON.

This was a difficult drawing to do, not because of the characters, but because of the shading and lighting, and yes, I know, its not the best, But I am still very proud of it nonetheless. But, yeah, this is a mash up of Lethal League which is an amazing game and Noma. The reason I chose Candyman to draw, was because he was simple, and because he is a pain in the ass to fight against.

By this point in the blog’s life, I had just bought my dog Bella, and started a new semester at college. With my toughest classes all piled on top of each other, i didn’t have much time to draw, so there wasn’t much to be posted then. However, I did introduce a new character, not a pokemon, but instead a bee character I came up with. Her name is Grain, and she is super cute, so go check out the art i made of her!

With me posting again halfway through last semester, the first ask I got was about Noma’s hairstyle. To be honest, I have no idea what kind of style that is, so let’s just move on.

Oh boy, my first piece i did on stream. This was another small redesign I did just to get back into the swing of redrawing Noma and making sure I could remember how to draw her. also, I tested out a new form of shading that I really like and will probably continue to use from here on out.

#asknoma

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studyaroundthetokki · 7 years ago

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Downsizing the Curated Collection of Stationary Part I... and advice for some folks about what to take & what not to take/get while teaching overseas since apparently I can’t stay on fucking topic

FFS i have way too much stationary. I’m using this as an opportunity to give away/re purpose/get rid of some of the ones I haven’t used. I figure a lot of people have trouble giving this kind of stuff up so I thought I’d post about it today while taking a break. note: this is a really long post and there’s a lot of cussing once I start talking about living in South Korea lol.

I cleaned up a moleskine that I’d used like 3 pages out of and stuck it on my brother’s desk with a nice pen & fountain pen I don’t write very well with but is really nice. I’m filling up a good A4 size zip pouch full of school supplies/journaling stuff for my niece. Anything that looks businessy is going to my mom for her office. I love stationary & pens & studying and all that but this has gone overboard for way too long. I also realized that I need to pair down to what I actually am going to take with me if I’m planning on moving overseas again for a good couple of years (which is the plan). What good do dip pen samples do me in a box? It’s now out where I will use it.

I have numerous boxes but for my birthday I finally settled on getting a few things (it’s not til April but some stuff was almost out of stock on a site that doesn’t get stuff in stock often):

1) One small sturdy travel container for my smaller stationary items (ink cartridges, washi tape, ect). I found a beautiful wood one that would be perfect. I have this weird fascination with small boxes anyway. The one I’m in love with but haven’t ordered is just slightly larger than my instax photos, which is also a reason to grab it. *cough*

2) Limiting notebooks to 1 per subject/project + planner + journal. The rest have got to go. Luckily I have a niece who’s just getting in middle school this year. I can let her mom know to come by and pick up a crapload of stuff (including my well worn Kanken mini.. hopefully she doesn’t mind pink. She’s going through a phase of saying she’s girlie but not *too* girlie with an extra emphasis on this.. though she squeals in delight over baby clothes and my pink stuff so I’m a little inclined to believe this is more to do with her friends than her own tastes).

3) If I haven’t used it in 2 years, it needs to go. With the exception of some of my ink bottles. I have some lovely shades but didn’t have an ink converter until recently again. I actually need to get a 2nd one...This includes old textbooks that are getting moved into sturdy containers instead of keeping them and any books that I don’t *really* love are eventually going to get donated/given away/given to the library (they don’t always take them).

4) Do I *really* use it? I have some pens that I don’t use often. Like my TWSBI Diamond 580AL. It’s a beautiful pen but I don’t use it a lot. However, I’m not giving it up. My Lamy has now been stuck in my younger brother’s room. I used it frequently but I’m not in love with it. I use it because I feel obligated to. I recently gave away one of my favorite fountain pens to my cousin because she has the same issues with pain while writing that I do (we have the same chronic illness). I replaced it with a pen that is on the way. I used that sucker all the time. It was a cheap fountain pen but it wrote better than my 60$ pen. :| I have empty notebooks I”ve been holding onto for years and.. while paper that has aged is really pretty.. if I can’t think of a use for it, it’s going to my niece.

5) Junk notebooks: I think it’s good to have some cheap paper just to doodle or write quick notes or practice sentences or write fuck on 5000 times on a bad day. However, I do not need more than one of these books at a time. *stares at stack of blank cheapo books* Sigh.

6) If you really love it, keep it. There’s a difference between hoarding and keeping something because you genuinely adore it. I have one notebook that is for a *very* specific project. It’s still blank... because I haven’t started the damn project. I have photobooks that I haven’t gotten to. I will probably get rid of the album and instead get a new one since it was just a cheap dollar store book and it doesn’t reflect my personality. I also want a smaller one for my instax pictures which mean a lot to me since they’re one of a kind. This kind of momento stuff is important. My one book is expensive and has beautiful paper. I plan on making it my first “real” translation project for one of my favorite stories (Kiki’s delivery service).

On Packing to Move Overseas: A few personal notes

Back to the topic of sorting with a mind of moving with only two suitcases and a backpack. This is part of why the downsizing is happening. These are more like additional notes rather than guidelines. Just as a reminder to myself in about 12-18 months. Things I need:

1. ONE small pouch of pens/ink/tape/scissors/ect.

2. One book of personal grammar notes. I don’t need the textbooks, but I do need my grammar notes.

3. Whatever textbook I’m currently working on and one notebook to go with it. No more. I do not need the old editions nor 5000 vocab cards. That’s what anki is for.

4. One set of nice stationary. I like to write home. I also like to visit stationary stores. I only need one freaking set to go with me when I move to write people. I didn’t have internet or a phone with rates that I could afford until about 3 months in last time. My mom is not so good with skype (somehow).

5. A tablet. My brand new expensive gaming laptop I got for work & play burned itself out in two months. A good tablet will be fine for just about everything until I can get a PC/phone. Having something portable but with enough functionality that you can use it as more than an mp3 player is important. Google maps saved my ass many times in South Korea, and all the city subway lines had free wifi.. so yeah it was important when I got there to have this sort of thing.

6. A sturdy case for my consoles. I mainly game on a switch and my 3DS. These things are pretty damn portable. Might have to get a new dock at some point but mostly I can just get a wall USB adapter to charge both. This is why I like these consoles, I already have a USB adapter for my 3DS, so I just need the wall plug now that I think about it lol these kinds of things are going to be on sale in most department stores maybe even Daiso I’d think.

7. Sturdy file folder that is non-descript to store copies of all important documents. Leaving this shit lying around your apartment while overseas just randomly.. which I totally did. Is dumb. Important documents includes both emergency and general contacts. Your phone might get stolen so unless you have Nana’s phone # memorized, you might want to get that shit down on paper. Same thing with next of kin, addresses, banking info.. it’s really important to have these and to store them well.

(this post is getting ridiculously long, oh well, that’s why I use “read more” instead of just posting a fucking wall of text like a lot of people do).

8. While we’re at it: clothing items. Deodorant & toothpaste/toothbrush/ect are important enough that you want a month supply but you’re going to find big brands available in large cities. Like they had secret & dove in Korea. It was no big deal (though I think the anti-antiperspirant was weaker). You can find socks. Underwear/bras in western sizes are an issue. Shipping can be a pain in the ass, though someone noted to me that wal-mart ships internationally which is good to know. The climate may sound reasonable but it’s best to prepare for the worst. I heard rainy season and assumed they just meant heavy storms. I grew up in an area with a lot of flooding but I wasn’t worried. Three days in: We took a field trip, I had no umbrella, the water was fucking ankle deep in the street. I had no way of properly drying out for hours. Jeans were not the best choice. The day had started off sunny. I just was not prepared. The humidity is comparable to Mississippi in August. You have been warned. Winter: It wasn’t cold by my normal terms. Hoever, after living there for 5 months by this point, my body was like FK UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. Layer-able clothing is a must. Gloves. Hats. Scarves. A decent jacket. GOOD SHOES. Don’t like hose and your work calls for it? Opaque leggins and socks in the same colour will work wonders for you. Fat as my 260lb ass? Leggings, oversized shirts, a-line skirts, stretch jeans, light t-shirts, camisole tanks under garmets to catch the sweat of simply living in the humidity that you just do not understandholyfuckitslike98%humidityiguessthedevilvacationsinasiaandturnsuptheheat.

*note: if your ass is moving overseas, please make sure to look into the cultural norms for “revealing” clothing. Shout out to busty girls like me, camisol tank tops under everything help with that “i turn anything into a peep show” cleavage problem. Hike that crap up, sew up the elastic bands. they also provide extra support when you’re running up and down those stairs, and help absorb the sweat. you do not understand how bad it is. i am a cleanly person but i’d come home looking like i just got out of a sauna in full snow gear. it’s BAD. Jesus christ this post is getting ridiculous. oh well.

So yeah. Clothing. It’s important. You don’t want to bring 2 years worth of stuff, but just bring some extra variety. I made do off of just a few things. I did not *ever* wear the fancy evening dress I got “just in case” (it was cheap ok?) but I did wear the simple A-line dress I’d got to some formal diners.

GOOD SHOES.

Anyway.. uh.. back to other things besides clothes. lol

WTF # was i on? sec. scrolling up.

9. A decent camera. I’m not talking about for youtubing. The biggest complaint I got from the fam & friend fam was that I didn’t post enough pictures (I posted like 200+ in a year so pfft).. but honestly I wish instead of investing in that computer I’d gotten a better camera. I have a good one now, it’s a nice little point & shoot. I’m not saying you need something that is worth 900$ or more. Just get a legit camera. I also have a HD video camera that I never fucking use. I thought I would, I may in the future (though it’s a little outdated by now I guess? shit records in 1080p so that’s good enough for me, fuck youtube & it’s 4K shit). Anyway, it’s important to document some of it. You’ll want to.

10. A good journal. I don’t even normally keep one, but having a planner and a journal as two separate books is a good thing. Even if you just write down “today sucked Eunji is a racist asshole” (that’s a whole other story) or “broke my leg. i now have 3 months off--that’s better than nothing because having a time frame of when this shit happened is important a few years down the road when your memory starts getting shitty. You don’t have to include what color the flowers were and what type they were in the gift that you got from the guy who’s face you won’t even remember.. but writing down the name of that cafe that had the amazing cake & espresso will bring the taste back in your mouth years later b/c fuckboys be bs but food is life. Taste & Scent & sound memory are real. You won’t regret it if you record that kind of stuff.

11. Last one for now cuz I got shit to do. Invest in good luggage. One good bag that you can actually lug around because you very well may end up pulling that sucker behind you when you’ve got 22 minutes to get cross town and get on that fucking train or you’re going to miss the god damn flight and it’s non refundable. Sobbing in the middle of a train station because you missed your train and you do NOT speak the language very well is uncomfortable for you and everyone around you. Jesus that day sucked.

I strongly suggest something that doesn’t go past mid thigh. + 1 carry on that you can actually lift and a small shoulder bag that fits in the carry on until you are at the airport. If you can’t carry all of it yourself for at least a mile without dying, then you’ve over packed, it’s too big and you’re going to fuck yourself over. Leave enough room in it with the idea that you might be bringing some extra shit back actually that’s another bullet for this list

BONUS: DO NOT GET BUNCHES OF SHIT UNLESS YOUR ASS IS STAYING IN THE COUNTRY LONG TERM. I HAD TO LEAVE SO MUCH SHIT BEHIND AND ENDED UP FORGETTING THE SOUVINERES THAT I WANTED TO KEEP IN THE 24HR GET YOUR ASS OUT NOTICE I GOT FROM MY EMPLOYER WHEN MY CONTRACT WAS UP.

Granted, my dumb ass thought I’d have gotten let go sooner than 5:30 on the last day since every other fucking teacher did. Nope Eunji the Assji decided that I would work from 7-5:30 down to the last fucking minute without so much as a “do you need help getting to the station”. -_-; That was on me. I should have known and prepared better. It didn’t matter that my colleagues got released with time to leave with some dignity and not lugging a 80lb set of luggage 1/2 across Busan.

DO NOT DO THIS TO YOURSELF. Ship stuff home if you have to, even if it costs a lot. Consider how hard it will be to take this stuff to the post office. Do not lug yourself down with a bunch of trinkets. Take photos, write journal entries. Remember that the stuff is just stuff and memories are way more important than stuff. One small box you can fit in your suitcase. Don’t take more than that. Really.

#personal #advice on stationary & travel #lol i go way off topic here

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