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id-never-letyoudown · 3 years

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Uhhhh part two of the rare pair part 1

"Sleep well, Dove?"

"It's too early for your nonsense." Henry complained, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He had not. Slept well, that is. It was the damn nightmares again. They always came this time of year.

Henry had already visited the field. That usually helped things, but not this time.

"Tell me about them."

"Them what?"

"The nightmares." Even though he already knew well enough what they were about. "The men." Wilbur already knew. He's been in Henry's head more times than he could count. He had to make sure he was the right one for the job, after all. He didn't dig through everything in that mess Henry called a mind. His thoughts were constantly all over the place. And why were there so many musicals and chemical compositions in that thing?

Besides, he needed Henry to trust him if this thing was going to work. Something told him digging around that brain of his wouldn't end well.

Henry paused, looking down at his steaming mug of coffee. "They were dear friends of mine. Lovers." He takes a sip, it's more bitter than usual. "I was the cause of their deaths. Though... you already knew that." His eyes flick up to meet Wilbur's over the rim of his mug. "Didn't you?"

"..."

"I knew I could feel something rooting around. You were scoping me out before we even formally met, weren't you?" Henry grins in victory, setting his coffee down with a satisfying 'clack' against the marble counter.

"Aren't you supposed to be pissed?"

"If anything I'm intrigued! Can you read everyone's minds?" He leaned against the counter, head propped in his hand. "Ooo-what else do you know about me? I want the details."

Wilbur snorted, "Course I can. And for the record I don't know everything about you. I stopped looking around after a bit."

"Oh? So I still got some secrets then?" Henry would have thought he'd have long since taken advantage of his abilities. Know him inside and out. "Huh, seems I've pegged you wrong."

"You couldn't peg me at all." He grins.

Henry only shrugged. And something told Wilbur that he didn't get the joke.

Wilbur clears his throat, "Anyway, uh, wanna hear about which of the Monroe brats isn't Gerald's? The answer may shock you." Like a damn click bait article.

Henry's eyes light up, a loud gasp escaping him. "I knew it!" He was always down for gossip. And a scandal like that? It was right up his alley.

Wilbur enjoyed watching the man lose his shit with every little Hatchetfield secret he told him. And there were a lot. He could tell Henry was plenty skeptical of him, but he was getting there. Little by little.

Henry walked into the kitchen to fetch some refreshments for his monthly 'date night' with John and Xander. Used to be bi-monthly. And before that it'd been weekly. Nowadays he found the pair trying to gently nudge him away. And normally it wouldn't have bothered him. But they hadn't started doing this until after he was let go from P.E.I.P. Which made him think.

And think.

And overthink.

He had no problem with leaving the relationship. If they were to simply ask him. But all these hints? He could do without. Xander kept trying to set him up on blind dates. And John was cold. Even when the three of them were intimate. Especially when the three of them were intimate.

It really got him thinking....

His hand barely touches his turtleneck. Was it... no, it couldn't possibly be the scars. John had plenty of his own. Although, baring witness to how Henry got them probably made that very, very different. And there was the nerve damage. And the pain. Which always got worse when there was a storm approaching.

John was his friend. He didn't want him thinking he was responsible for any of that. He should call him-

His phone began ringing, as if on cue. He fetches it from his pocket. Of all the coincidences-

He answers it immediately. "I was just thinking about you, say we really ought to have a chat when you two get here-" his stomach sinks at the reply. "Oh... so, you can't make it then?... No, no. I understand. I hope you two have fun." And he hung up.

He looks at the bottle in his hand. At the neatly set dinner table. At the flowers he picked himself. Apparently the date the three of them made their 'throuple', as the kids called it, official wasn't all that important to them.

Such a shame he had to spend the day alone.

Or... not.

"... Wilbur, how do you like your steak?"

Wilbur was always there, even when he thought he wasn't. He didn't know why he felt comfort in that.

"Who was that?" Xander commented, fixing his tie in the mirror.

"Henry. I was telling him about how we couldn't make... it...." He trailed off when he walked into their bedroom and saw his husband getting dressed. "Where are you going?'

Xander paused, standing up straight. "Couldn't make it next month, right?... You told him next month, right?"

John pressed his lips into a fine line. "Iiiii thought you said-"

"John!" Xander dropped his tie. "Why would I tell you to tell him that we wouldn't be able to make it on the three of us' anniversary?"

"It was a mistake-I'll just call him back real quick." John did not want to face his husband's wrath, he could already feel his eyes melting the back of his skull as he dialed Henry's number. "It's just going straight to voicemail-"

"Get dressed, we're going anyways. And y o u can explain the mix-up."

"Where'd you learn to cook?" Wilbur asked him. Not that he needed to eat. Or had a great sense of taste nowadays. But it was nice to have something to chew on now and again. And it smelled amazing.

"Oh, my aunt. This is all from her recipe book." He seemed rather proud of that fact.

"Well, safe to say those two are missing out."

Henry hums. He's been quiet all through dinner. Still down about being cancelled on with such short notice. "You know what? They are." He stabs his fork a little too forcefully, and sends his mashed potatoes straight in the air. And right smack in his face.

They both pause.

And then Wilbur starts laughing. Which sets Henry into his own fit of giggling.

"Do you hear that?" Xander paused on Henry's doorstep, hearing the laughter coming from inside.

"Doesn't sound like he's alone." John muses, trying to see if he could sneak a peek through one of the windows. He can see Henry fine. But whoever it is he's with is just out of sight.

"John!" Xander whisper shouts, tugging on his husband's sleeve. "You can't just spy on our friend like that!"

"Aren't you curious?" John looks back at Xander.

"I-well-yes! But not enough to spy on him!"

The two continue to bicker quietly, or, they thought they were being quiet.

Wilbur looks over his glass, humming. "You've got guests." The curtains then shut themselves. It was a good thing neither of them could see him. He doubted seeing the former colonel would sit well with either of them. Especially John.

"What-" Henry looks towards the door, face now free of the mess from before. He can hear exactly who it is too. And it both confuses and ticks him off.

"And they know you're not alone. They won't buy it if you say you are." Wilbur stands up, "Gotta make them leave somehow."

Henry wracks his brain for an idea. And seeing as he's well into that bottle of wine, they're not really thought out. "... You can change your appearance, right?"

Wilbur locks eyes with Henry, a grin splitting across his face.

"Just knock."

"You knock-"

Henry opens the door a crack, taking a peek at the two of them. "... I thought you two couldn't make it." He responds plainly, not even greeting them.

"There was a mix-up." Xander explained, elbowing his husband to elaborate.

"I meant to tell you that we wouldn't be able to make it next time." John tells him.

"Well, that's unfortunate." Henry wraps his fingers around the door, glancing back into the house. "Because I ended up taking your advice, Xander. And I think it'd be terribly awkward of me to explain to my date."

Xander is equal parts thrilled and... well, confused. Thrilled because he wanted Henry to have someone to lean on when they weren't around. And confused because Henry had always outright refused whenever Xander brought up mixers or blind dates. "That's wonderful, Hen! Do we know who it is?"

"I ah-well-" Henry blinked, shit. He didn't even know who Wilbur was going to come around that corner looking like-

"Gary Goldstein, attorney at law!" Henry nearly jumped when the man announced himself. His face flushed. He let the door open fully, and there he was. The supposed Gary Goldstein. A faithful rendition, he'd say.

It was an... awkward conversation to say the least. When Henry finally managed to turn the two away he locked the door behind them.

"Whatthefuckwasthat?"

"You didn't tell me w h o to look like! I just chose a rando guy!"

"I... goddamnit." Henry stood there, trying not to laugh at the thoughts that had to be bouncing around in John and Xander's head right about now. "At least you chose someone at least somewhat attractive."

"Yeah, cuz talking non-stop about audits is so attractive." Wilbur runs a hand through his hair, the illusion dropping almost instantly.

Henry smiles, wine getting to his head. "That's much better."

"What?"

"... Hm? Oh, nothing. This was fun. Should do it again sometime."

"You're really going to make an entire plotline-"

"Is that what we're calling our 'reality scheming'?"

"-be quiet, are you really creating an entire plot based off of one thing this Matthews guy said to you?"

".... Yes, of course. Naturally. I'm calling it 'The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'... hm, sure is a mouthful. What do you think?" Henry slides over his tablet to show Wilbur, who doesn't know if he should be impressed or not.

He rolls his eyes, leaning over to get a good look at it. "... You know, I think the big man might actually get a kick out of this."

"Speaking of, am I ever going to meet this 'Wiggley' character?" Henry slides his tablet back, tapping on the screen before resuming his scribbling.

"Depends on how well you perform, Dove-"

"Why do you call me that?" Henry looked up, reading glasses askew. He pulls them off to clean them up, fetching a cloth from his coat pocket.

"What, you don't like it?" Like that'd stop him. Wilbur watches Henry. He can't decide if he likes him better with or without the glasses-

"I just find it odd, is all. I don't mind it." He slides them back on, looking back up at him once again. "You called me that the first time we met-"

"That wasn't the first time we met."

"Excuse me?"

Wilbur is no longer sitting on the table. Henry thinks he's up and left until he finds him sitting in the living room, just barely visible from the kitchen. He gets up and follows him with a huff.

"I watched you for a while, before that day. I saw a lot of things." He chuckles, "Lotta embarrassing things too. But that's not the point." He pops his feet up on the coffee table. "I saw you with that bird a while back. You were talking to it. Thought it was kinda kooky, kinda sweet."

Henry has to think for a while, and then his face softens. "The bird you saw was one I nursed back to health." He sighs, walking up to him and kicking his legs so he's forced to move them. "Get your damn feet off my mahogany." He then walks past him, just to sit on the other end of the couch.

Wilbur scowls. He could kill Henry so easily, doesn't he know that? "How kind."

"It was either that or put it out of its misery." Henry makes himself comfortable, leaning back on the couch.

"I doubt you'd have the guts to do that."

"You don't think I'm capable of mercy killing? That's laughable." Henry eyes him, "Look in my mind and find out. Go on. You have my permission."

Wilbur did. And it hit him all at once. It wasn't that the scene shocked him. He just hadn't been prepared for the rush of emotion.

He saw Henry's hands. Injecting something into an IV drip. Shaking as they did so. And a man. So pale and sickly. Just lying on the bed. But he was smiling. And that's all he could see before Henry pushed him out.

"Promise me something, Wilbur."

He looked at him. So he actually was going to use that damn condition then? "... What?"

"Don't ever underestimate me or think me incapable." He curled up on the couch, looking ready to settle in for some sleep. "Promise me, Wilbur." His eyes weren't leaving him anytime soon.

"... I promise."

Henry seemed satisfied, now closing his eyes. "Alexa, play my Sleep playlist."

As soft music filled the room, Wilbur realized that maybe he bit off more than he could chew. Henry was chosen for a reason. He had to remember that.

He also realized it really didn't take long for Henry to fall asleep. At all. Out like a light.

Wilbur gets up, not even thinking when he takes the professor's glasses off for him. "Dumbass."

#tgwdlm #cridgens #henry hidgens #wilbur cross #professor hidgens #black friday musical

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raeloganthesonic06fangirl · 4 years

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I’d love to hear your critiques on Dangerous Currency! It sure disappointed a lot of people, including myself. Everything felt so rushed, a lot of things weren’t satisfyingly concluded, and it seemed some plot points and devices were pulled out of thin air! And then there’s Darkwing’s infamous line to Negaduck about him not having friends!!!

For collector's sake, I would like to procure a physical copy if only for the reason that this is the [non]canonical resurrection of QuackerJack and as much as I don't much care for the overall drama, I think as a collector trying to gather as much of the little available merch of my fave dude as much as possible, this would be considered a piece to get regardless of any negative opinions I have. 👀

But, let's say some positive things to spice things up a bit:

Panel composition and color pallets are surprisingly solid. There's a good handful of the panels and splash pages I wouldn't mind having an 18x24 poster of with a nice simple black frame just chilling on my wall or something

This has good composition from an artistic standpoint, not gonna lie

The Slime induced mutations are pretty well designed. I can definitely tell what the creative direction was in figuring out how to effectively "upgrade" everyone who got touched by the Slime

As horrifying as QuackerJack's specific transformation is (resurrecting him from a doll's form into a mobile QuackerJack-in-the-box where his entire lower half is now a spring attatched to a wooden box... Like, I'm pretty sure that's going to mess his brain up a bit more in the long run), it's surprisingly on brand.

Liquidator getting water taps as arms with temperature control, you've just given him unlimited power, he's seriously OP and no one ever really takes advantage of that when writing him...

Megavolt just looks so supercharged, like he can knock out the power grid with a sneeze.

And Bushroot looks like flourishing untamed wild plant, like, if he slapped you, you might get a face full of thistle thorns.

The backgrounds and color balances are honestly pretty good and solid, and I just really enjoy the sense of dizzying grand scale world that's currently warping apart by all the chaos, just look at these two pages specifically

The atmosphere is actually well done despite how rushed the story is. I really wish this story had had more time to be developed, because it has some snips of some decent concepts, but I think they should have spent more time in world building before pulling some of those plot points out of nowhere, surely they could have set those in place in a few issues before the crossover began..?

Don't much care for how, despite them making us experience "Toy With Me" and how they made that one bit that we try not to acknowledge as the "official canon" by proxy since the comics were a "continuation"... I don't like how they just dialed QuackerJack back to how he was acting early on in the comics, like, that this entire experience of virtually dying and presumably traumatizing the heck out of his ex-girlfriend (I am not going to let that go, Claire didn't deserve to open her door to see that), and now that he's been brought back from being a glorified taxidermy, he didn't hesitate to jump in on that whole business without maybe questioning why he's breathing with lungs again or maybe take a moment to acknowledge that he's been turned into an actual eldritch abomination

((Also, missed opportunity to shoehorn Claire's involvement somewhere into this mess, like, what's the point of having this character exist if you're going to dump her in the bin after one story? I'd think she'd at least have a few choice words to say about her ex-boyfriend jumping back into the crime life after the stunt he pulled on her porch))

I mean, not a one of the Fearsome is going to be like: "Hey, QuackerJack, man, remember when you kidnapped us and held us hostage against our will like a few months ago and almost got us kill during your rampage against the corporation, like, remember when you terrorized us and we were legit in fear for our safety? Yo, what was that about man, can we talk for a second about boundaries and consideration?"

Also, him working with Negaduck after all that was set up for him having such an aversion to hearing the name, that's just... What? W H A T?

I'm supposed to believe that this is just water under the bridge now?

That QuackerJack wasn't ready to strangle Negaduck if he got a chance?

You're going to just have him fall back into that little lackey routine and be like "Oh, hey, sure boss, whatever you want, tee-hee."

I wanted a multi-page brawl, I really honestly wanted to see QuackerJack coldcock him in the face, just deck him good, one singular suckerpunch to the jaw, stand over him and say: "... Am I mean enough now, Negaduck?"

And then, only then, can I begin to accept a return to status quo.

Heck, just let the whole crew get thier hits. Negaduck was especially mean to everyone in "Just Us Justice Ducks" and "Life, the Negaverse and Everything". Heck, he bailed on them during "Jailbird" too. I just want them to stand up to him for once and not back down at the first glare he gives them.

Disclaimer: I know I sound like I'm particularly salty about Negaduck's treatment of the Fearsome in general, but honestly, he's one of my favorite characters from the original series when I was a kid, especially because he usually had some slapstick downfall by the end of his episodes, which helped balance things out. But the comics really made him cross a line that was a little hard to step back over from, that being, of course, the unwarranted shredding of Mr. Banana Brain for no reason at all. So I just cope by taking the mick out of him, in good fun, of course.

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ryuichirou · 4 years

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do u have any favorite dj artists?

Yeah, a bunch of them! I’ll name a few, but there are definitely more very cool artists that I’m forgetting about right now. These ones are just those who I came to mind first + those whose work I had saved for the occasional appreciation.

Please keep in mind that despite me whining about the characters being OOC all the time, these are also somewhat OOC (some of them are very OOC). I guess their characteristics are simply shifted in a way that we like so I don’t mind is as much, and sometimes the concept/artstyle/everything is just way too good for me to think about how character act.

Another disclaimer: the words “weird” and “messed up” are going to be used a bunch of times, but I mean them as compliments. When it comes to us and djs, the weirder and more messed up they are, the merrier. Here is the list with my little and not helpful summaries:

Atsukunare Kubota (Ereri) – I’d marry her djs if I could lol Her artstyle is so much fun to look at, her ideas are, well, a little weird, but this is why I love them – you’ll never be like “oh right I forgot that I read that”, they’ll be stuck with you forever. And I mean it, it really is the type of stuff where you go “oh I’m not sure if I’m going to like it- woah ok that was fun I’m kind of into it”. I’m so sad she doesn’t post new stuff on pixiv anymore…

Ongre/Onjire/Tamy (Ereri) – another fave when it comes to Ereri djs. Her works are extremely funny and fun to read, some of them radiate such chaotic energy... it’s so enjoyable to watch lol Her Eren is insane, her Levi is grumpy and cute and she always does her best to showcase how feral Eren is and how adorable Levi is. She has good nsfw scenes too!

8205 (Ereri) – this one is very dear to me and very unique. 8205’s work is very interesting, she rewrites everything about the characters – their age, their “role” (for example, in the latest dj Reiner and Bert are Connie’s grandparents), and it still works well somehow?? Sometimes it all feels ridiculous and funny, but it still is very touching and beautiful. And creepy, it’s also creepy from time to time, I love it. I think I’d read those works even if they weren’t SnK djs. There are some nsfw scenes here and there, but not many, unfortunately. Katsu’s note: I’m ready to die for her Eren and for the author’s fashion sense.

Zokugun Porno/Inumoto (Ereri) – their djs are more story-oriented, and their stories are interesting to read. I wouldn’t call them super creepy or dark and heavy per-se, but there is some ehh fleur of tragedy in some of their work. The atmosphere is amazing, I love this type of stuff. These djs also have some nice nsfw scenes, these are amazing too. Oh, and I really like how they work with Eren/Levi dynamic and incorporate it into AUs.

Melomelow/Hyura (Eruri) – our all-time fave. The queen of size difference between Levi and Erwin. Her nsfw scenes are hot af, her Erwin is not ok in a beautiful way, her Levi is… well I was thinking for 5 min but I couldn’t come up with a perfect way to describe him lol, he’s just too good.

Chiruchiru (Eruri) – she has some good depressing djs, some more or less light-hearted ones, but her nsfw scenes are always great (and sometimes it gets weird…). She does Eruri’s size difference justice too, I appreciate her work a lot.

Hakodume/x_hako (Eruri) – I absolutely adore her work. The storyboard, the frame composition, the artstyle itself – it’s gorgeous. Too bad she keeps deleting all of her galleries ;w; Her work is mostly sfw though, but still, very beautiful.

Uchu Kago (Eruri) – I don’t even have words for this one, every time they’re kind enough to share their dj in its entirety on pixiv I cry a little because of how good their Eruris are. Their AUs are very interesting, they has tons of very cool concepts with them, and oh my god THE SIZE DIFFEREEENCEEEEE it murders me every time we read any of their djs.

鼻子 (Eruri) – their works have such a great dark and depressing atmosphere. They’re mostly story-oriented with great and very fitting visuals: dramatic shading, hatching, rough lines, all this stuff makes their djs feel very… unnerving. In a very good way, I love it when djs make me feel uneasy.

Honorable mentions: here are a bunch of great artists who post short comics and art that we really enjoy. It’s mostly comical and sfw, but occasionally there is nsfw stuff too.

Si_tano (Ereri) – this person draws djs too and have a lot of previews on their pixiv page, and I’d commit a rumbling to be able to pay them and read any of those, but they also post a lot of short funny comics about Eren and Levi. They also have a series of sketches with Erewan

Migiri (Ereri AND Eruri!) – this person’s short comics art hilarious, I adore their portrayal of Levi and the fact that they ship both of our fav ships. A lof of their works have “two idiots are madly in love with Levi who is just chillin’ there” dynamic and it’s great.

Zundamochi (Ereri) – we’re in love with this artist’s Eren LOL he’s so moody and clingy and angry, it’s so close to how we see Eren, it’s always a national holiday for us when they post something new. Such a joy. Levi is adorable too

Bubiomaru – they mostly post non-shippy art nowadays, but they have short comics with both Ereri and Eruri. Although their non-shippy art is hilarious too

Koka-tin (Ereri, Eruri, etc) – they mostly post illustrations, but there are some short stories here and there (both sfw and nsfw). Levi-centric, and oh god if their Levi is good. They illustrate his nature and his sexiness perfectly. There are a lot of unexpected ideas, stories and characters’ combinations, their mind amazes me. And the art itself is breathtaking good .

シャケ (Ereri, Eruri, Zevi, etc…) - their Levi is round, soft, smol, tiny, kittenish, everything. And woah they ship him with Zeke!! Well, they ship him with a lot of people, but Zeke is one of them and I’m grateful for that. You most likely won’t like their stuff though, I’m pretty sure about that. You’ll see what I mean when you see their Levi lol

Once again, there are a lot of people that I’m forgetting about or don’t remember well enough to describe their work, since it’s been forever since I’ve reread some of the older djs… But I think that’s enough for now lol

Too bad there are no Zevi djs yet…….sob

#replies

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allegra-writes · 5 years

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Peter Parker NSFW Alphabet

Hi! Could I please please please get a cute and a NSFW alphabet with Peter? Thanks!💕

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

He’s the most tender and thoughtful of lovers. He just loves to lay in bed with you in his arms for hours, just holding you close, and caressing your back or your arms or any part of your body he can reach, really. He could spend entire days and nights like that, just laying next to your naked form, tangling his finger with yours and talking. His pillow talk is the most interesting too, he can talk about everything from quantum physics and the intricacies of how gravity bends space-time to how Brussel’s sprouts are just basically fun sized cabbages.

B = Body part (Their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

He’s not one for vanity and he actually kinda doesn’t like how bulky he’s gotten since that spider bite years ago. But he likes that he it made him strong. He likes being strong to protect you, and even to help you with domestic, ordinary things, like moving your couch up four flight of stairs to your dorm room. And of course, he loves being strong enough be able to carry you and hold you up with just one arm without any effort, to fuck you standing up without needing a wall for support.

His favorite body part of yours are your legs and where they lead: he loves your feet, your calves, your strong thighs, your gorgeous butt and… well, you can guess. He loves having those legs around him, either while he pounds into you, or while he carries you swinging on his webs across New York, or making out with you sitting on the kitchen counter while he stands between them. He just loves how he fits perfectly there, like that’s where he belongs.

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

He loves to mark you, he loves physical manifestations of you being his. But he hates to hurt you, and he refuses to leave lasting marks like hickeys -that, admittedly, are pretty painful because of his super strength- and bruises on purpose, that’s just out of question for him.

So, the alternative he so creatively found, is to mark you with his come. He still loves to come inside you, but pulling out just in time and paint your chest, your belly or your butt in white ribbons just drives him crazy

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He has heightened senses, and his sense of smell is no exception. He has an unconfirmed theory that he can perceive pheromones, at least on some level. Specifically, human pheromones. More specifically, yours.

He thinks that because your perfume drives him insane. Not like the bottled perfume you use when you guys go on dates, but your natural scent. It smells like home. It smells like mate.

It’s just so animalistic, so feral that he would never tell you, but sometimes, when you are away, he buries his face on your pillow or your clothes, and gets himself off like that, solely on the smell of you.

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

While he is not underage, thank you very much, he is young. So he’s had some experience but not a lot.

However, he is a fast learner, and pleasuring you is a fascinating subject for him. He painstakingly catalogs and commits your reactions to memory, and quickly becomes an expert on you and what you like.

F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

As mentioned before, he loves having you wrapped around him, so the lotus, missionary, standing up or up against a wall, anything with a lot of skin on skin contact.

Positions like doggy style, the necklace of Venus, etc, just don’t feel close enough. He wants intimacy, he wants to look at you in the eyes when he makes you fall apart, he wants to bury himself deep into you, he wants as much of you as he can get.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

Not as much goofy as he is playful; he likes to make you smile and he likes to have fun in bed, but it’s sex, it’s not stand up comedy.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

He shaved everything off once. It was itchy and miserable and he’s NOT doing that again. Like, ever.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

Peter Parker wears his heart on his sleeve. The bedroom is not exception. What he feels for you is deep, it’s fiery, it’s all consuming, and it translates into meaningful, intense sex. Even when he fucks you roughly it still is making love, because he loves you and he just can’t hide it or turn it off. Not that you would want him to, anyway.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

His sex drive is quite high, so he masturbates a couple times a day if you are not near or simply not in the mood.

K= Kink (One or more of their kinks)

Don’t let those big brown innocent eyes fool you, he is a kinky bastard.

In real life he respects -and actually loves- your independence, and how powerful and empowered you are. But in bed, his possessive streak is released. He loves to dominate you, call you his own, make you beg. More than once he webbed your hands to the headboard, or tied you up in beautiful, intricate kinbaku or shibari designs using his web.

He also has a huge praise kink, always telling you how beautiful you are, how good you are, how perfect for him. He calls you his Queen. And it goes both ways, because he is such a sucker for you telling him how great he is, how good he feels. It’s not exactly dirty talk, but it’s hot non the less.

L = Location (Favorite places to do the do)

While any place he can get you alone is good enough for a hot make out session, for the actual sex he prefers the bedroom. Or anywhere in your apartment, as long as he can be sure you two are alone and not likely to get interrupted. He’s NOT into exhibitionism or public sex, he can’t stand the risk of someone walking in and accidentally see you like this. He respects you too much for that.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

You are his biggest turn on. Your body, the way you move, the helpless little moans you make when he hits that spot… yeah, he doesn’t need anything else to get him going.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

He won’t ever endanger you or hurt you in anyway. He could never stand to cause you pain. So nothing like breath play, or spanking, etc. Even when he plays with ropes (or webs), he’s always making sure you are ok. Your safety is the most important thing for him.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

He is a giver, his greatest pride is to make you fall apart. Add to that the way the taste of you drives him wild and, well… He could -and have- spend hours between your legs.

He is not as much into receiving it because he’s afraid of loosing control and hurt you by pounding into your mouth too roughly (sometimes having super strength can have disadvantages), but you will convince him of indulging in it every once in a while.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

He can be both, it truly just depends on his mood at the moment.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

He is more of a fan of long marathon sex sessions, he likes to be able to take his time and have his way with you as he pleases. But you both are busy individuals and sometimes, when you have been separated by long periods of time (Like, a week. Hey, it’s a long time for him!), His aching for you get to be too much, and he’ll take you anyway he can. At those times is urgent, and passionate, and frenzied and just so hot!

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

He’s curious, definitely would try anything once, as long as it’s safe for you of course.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

There’s a reason he likes marathon sex, he has the stamina to go for hours, maybe even days. Anything shorter can appease him but won’t fully satiate his hunger for you.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

He’s extremely creative and good at using everyday objects as toys. In his talented hands, an electric toothbrush or a snake venom extractor can become the perfect tool for the most exquisite torture.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He likes to tease you to the point of it being almost unbearable, until you are a moaning, begging mess. Then and only then will he give in to you. And to his own need, because the truth is he wants you just as badly and desperately, he just has slightly better control.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

Peter is a very expressive guy, and it’s no different in bed. He makes the hottest (and horniest) faces during sex, and yes, the hottest sounds too. Starting with little moans and growls at the beginning, as his pleasure increases so does his volume. He can get very loud when he comes, and you always can tell when he is close because he swears a lot.

You love it, because it makes it so easy to know when he likes something, and makes you feel so powerful, even in your more submissive roll, to know it’s you the one that’s making him feel so good, the one he wants so badly that it almost physically hurts.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

He is a great photographer, he has an aesthetic Instagram he is quite proud of. But by far his best work, at least according to him, is the huge collection of pictures he has of you.

Always analogic, he takes the time to develop the film himself, at home. And not just because of his love of old school photography, but because even if most of them are artistic close ups and compositions, some of them are just filthy and unadulterated porn. And in all of them you are very clearly naked.

And he’s a smart guy, he knows just how easily a device or system can be hacked, so there is no way he is taking any chances of exposing you like that by being dumb enough to have any image of you in digital format. No, that’s a show for his eyes only.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

The spider bite that gave him those drool worthy biceps and lickable abs, gave him… other… mouthwatering… assets. Impressive assets.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

To misquote Dr. Banner, that’s Peter’s secret: He always wants you.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

He’s highly energetic so it takes a lot to wear him out. And I mean a lot. But afterwards, he has the most restful sleep, secure in the knowledge that the most important thing in the world to him, is protected and sleeping in his arms.

#peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker imagines #peter parker smut #peter parker x reader smut #peter parker hot #tom holland hot #tom holland imagine

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billyhargrovesbabe · 5 years

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you should see me in a crown | pt. 1

The first part of the series is here, and I’m honestly super excited! I’ve had a lot of fun planning and writing. I’m hoping to update pretty regularly, and I’d love to hear what you guys think. It’s gonna be a slow burn and a longer series. I have about fifteen chapters planned so far, but it might wind up being longer than that depending on how it goes. The first few chapters are written and ready for proofreading, so it shouldn’t be too long a wait. Feel free to comment or message your thoughts or if you want to be added to the tag list!

Warnings: Cursing, mentions of a bad past relationship, but I don’t think much else aside from that

Words: 2,664

intro | pt. 1

The first time Billy Hargrove approached you was practically straight out of a scene from a movie. If there had been a camera on you on that fateful October day, it would’ve been teen heartthrob gold.

The bell for lunch had just rung, and your classmates stampeded through the school in true high school fashion. The wafting smell of Friday pizza from the cafeteria down the hall wasn’t exactly mouth-watering, but it was enough to encourage you to get to your own slice as quickly as possible. You knew your girls would have your slice already waiting for you, used to their captain’s pre-lunch ritual. You were eagerly throwing your textbooks into your locker when it hit you.

The smell of cigarettes, hairspray, and men’s aftershave invaded the pleasant smell of lunch, assaulting your senses. The only thought that crossed your mind: here we go again.

You were no stranger to boys (because really, that’s what all these high-schoolers were despite their obvious thoughts otherwise) trying to approach you. Sometimes they were sweet and shy, sometimes they were blunt and upfront, and sometimes they were just obnoxious and crass. Hell, sometimes they were some bizarre combination of the three. Regardless of their approach, they were always met with the same result: denial served with a side of pitying kindness. It wasn’t that they were all pigs or anything. Sometimes guys you genuinely cared about and appreciated were the ones who approached (and they were always the hardest to turn down). You were just tired of the same old drama. Between the girls on your squad who ran to you for everything (like their pseudo mother hen) and your own... experience during your freshman year, you had suffered through more than your fair share of painfully awkward relationship drama. Besides, you had more to worry about. You had a squad to lead, a school to run, and a college resume to build. The times you were approached tended to be few and far between, so it wasn’t a frequent occurrence anyways.

Guys, in general, seemed to be intimidated by you. You’d think a girl who was smart, funny, kind, feisty, and a student leader would be dream girlfriend material, right? Apparently, that only worked for the heroines in teen romcoms. Once upon a time, it used to frustrate you: now, you welcomed the reprieve. Steve was the only one who could really hold his own, and you two had never been more than friends. All the others were too terrified. Those who weren’t scared off by your reputation and dating history usually backed off when they had to talk to you around your squad. You typically had at least one or two of your girls back you up. Besides, it wasn’t like you had a bunch of spare time to waste on guys. This was the only time of the day you could really be found alone. You enjoyed the quiet solace of stopping by your locker during lunch, especially on Fridays when all the other students in Hawkins rushed to get a slice of the weekly pizza. The hallways were typically bare, and people had learned not to mess with you during your locker breaks. Between cheer practice after school, the many social needs of your squad and demands of being captain, and your rigorous course load (because you were getting into college and as far away from Hawkins as possible), you rarely had time to yourself. And you loved it. You really did. But these precious five minutes at your locker during lunch was the only time you were really able to breathe. They were sacred, and everyone knew that.

So who the fuck was stupid enough to interrupt that?

With a dramatic sigh, you stretched your cheeks into what you hoped was some semblance of a smile (even if it was a painfully fake one). You could sense them, whoever they were, on the other side of your locker door. And they didn’t seem to be budging any time soon. You tried to stall for time, mentally counting down the seconds of freedom you had left.

Ten... You grabbed your calculus book and practically chucked it in your locker.

Nine... You shoved your composition book into your backpack.

Eight... You tucked a stray piece of hair behind your ear.

Seven... You prayed this jackass would take the hint.

Six... No such luck.

Five... You searched both your locker and backpack in vain hope of finding anything else to stall.

Four... You figured you’d have maybe a minute of having to endure some painfully awkward conversation as you secured the lock, zipped your bag, and booked it the fuck out of there.

Three... You mentally double-checked that your fake smile was in place.

Two... You sent up one last Hail Mary they’d take the hint.

One... You took a calming breath.

And your time was up.

You had a sneaking suspicion whoever this was had planned it all out.

The hallways were practically empty, with just one or two stragglers making a futile dash for the cafeteria in the hopes there would be some pizza left. Your breath caught in your throat as your eyes met a pair of beautiful, crystal blue irises. Your fake smile dropped for just a moment as you took in sunshine curls, honeyed skin, plush lips, and slightly freckled cheeks. Your eyes traced over the almost gentle features of his face. His sharp cheekbones, lovely nose, and square jaw were practically begging you to cup his face in your hand. And his body... Damn. Nothing delicate there. You knew your fair share of jocks and hunky boys. But none of them compared to this. He wore a faded jean jacket, and he filled out every inch of it. It was clear he was buff, but you’d bet he was cut too. This blond in front of you was... Well, he was beautiful. You had never met a man (because fuck, but that’s what he was) who left you so thoroughly speechless. And then he had to go and ruin it by opening his mouth.

“Like what ya see, sweetheart? Cause I certainly do.” The lazy drawl matched his lax stance as he leaned against the lockers. He was posing for you, you quickly realized. This was a guy who knew exactly what he was working with, and he wasn’t afraid to shamelessly use it. A chill ran down your spine.

Oh, he had definitely planned it.

Too bad he hadn’t planned for you.

You had more than your fair share of experiences with a guy like that. It wasn’t something you were looking to repeat anytime soon. The smile slid back across your face, a mask you had perfected and an armor you had worked all the chinks out of long ago. You watched, almost bemused, as a flicker of annoyance slid across his face. He knows, a voice whispered in the back of your mind. He knows you’re putting walls up. He can see it.

“Just getting to know a face I’ve never seen before.” Most guys would take the perky tone and sweet grin for the superficial flirting it appeared to be. The diversion you intended for it to come across as. You had a feeling this guy was smarter than that. You upped the bubbly factor, wanting to see how it would affect him (and a small part of you hoped it would annoy him). “You must be new to Hawkins. Welcome!” You had to stifle a giggle as he visibly bristled.

“Not that new,” he mumbled as he released the smooth facade for just a moment. He was clearly upset by the idea you hadn’t heard of him yet (which, of course, was not the case. Everyone and their mother had about the hot new guy with a killer car, but he didn’t need to know that). He managed to recover relatively quickly though. His eyes widened a fraction before that smirk snapped back into place. “Been here nearly four days, sweetheart. And in those four days, I’ve heard you’re the girl who runs the show around here.”

“And what makes you think that?” You figured playing innocent was the best way to go here. As helpful as your girls were in getting the gossip, it never hurt to have a little more info. No matter how high up the ladder you climbed, it was nearly impossible to get a real grip on the rumor mill here at Hawkins. Secrets and lies just tended to have a way of getting out, so no one ever quite knew what the truth was. Sometimes, you even second-guessed what you knew about yourself.

“Well, you’re the only cute (h/c)-haired, mini-skirted spitfire I’ve met so far. And I’ve made it a point to look out for the... feistier girls. Y/n, right?” Interesting. So he was going to keep his cards as close to his chest as you were. The suggestive smirk he sent you and the emphasis on the word feisty weren’t lost on you. You could hazard a guess as to what he really meant. So, the new kid had done his research. This should be fun.

“I’m so embarrassed. Here you are, knowing all about me, and I don’t even know who you are. What’s your name?” Of course, you knew exactly what his name was before he even said it.

“Some girls might call me the man-they’ve-been-waiting-for, but you can call me Billy.” The smile on his face would dazzle any crowd, leave any competition judge putty in his hands, and make the girls on your squad melt at his feet. It was clear this guy trying to work you over. But that was why you were the captain: you weren’t so quick to fall.

“Well, it was nice to meet you, Billy. Hope your first week went well.” And with that abrupt dismissal, you were off. In your years of evading hormonal and horny teenage boys, you had perfected the well-timed retreat. Flirt with them and talk just enough to let them think they’d hooked you, then cut it off quick. You had subtly worked the zipper on your backpack closed during the conversation, so all that was left was to fasten the lock and run. You were only a few steps away before Billy recovered. Impressive. Usually, you could get halfway down the hall as they were left reeling from your attention.

“Y’know, my first week has been fine,” he drawled again as he easily fell into step with you. A slight stab of annoyance tore through your chest. You checked your fake smile. “But it’d be even better if you agreed to show me around this weekend. Since I’m new here and all.” You pretended to consider it. You waited just long enough to make it seem like you weren’t going to turn him down before the words had even left his mouth. You were all about giving new kids a chance, but not when they had interrupted your precious alone time and stood between you and your pizza.

“Sorry, but the squad has practice tomorrow. And then the girls and I have team bonding on Sunday, so I’m all booked for the weekend.” You simpered, throwing a flutter or two of your lashes and a mock pout his way for good measure. You thought you had won that little confrontation until you saw a determined gleam in his eyes.

“I take it you aren’t going to Tina’s Halloween party tomorrow night, then?” Damn. The new boy was already connected enough to cinch an invite to a party? It usually took new kids weeks before they broke into the social scene enough to even hear gossip about the last party. Hawkins might’ve been small, but it was a pretty tight-lipped town when it came to outsiders. This guy must’ve known exactly what he was doing if he had already gotten that far in. And, worst of all, he had you trapped.

After all, you couldn’t exactly lie and say you weren’t going. By now, the two of you were close enough to the cafeteria that there were people around. If you lied, said you weren’t going, and then showed up anyway, it would make you look fake. Two-faced. Bitchy. And you had worked so hard to get your reputation to where it was after the disaster that was your first two years in high school. You were depending on your friendly and kind reputation to get you a student body position next year that would look killer on a college application. You couldn’t run the risk of ruining it because of some gossip about being a bitch to the new kid, who hadn’t even been in town for a week. Besides, that familiar tingling of a guilty conscience seemed to whisper. You barely know the guy. At least give him a chance.

“Silly me,” you forced yourself to giggle for fear of biting the words out instead. You didn’t want to judge him preemptively, but there was something about him that set alarm bells off. “I must’ve forgotten. I can’t believe it’s Halloween already.”

“Honest mistake. I tend to have an effect on girls that leaves them forgetting a lot of things...” He moved to step closer into you, and that was when it hit you. You knew exactly who Billy reminded you of. Eric. Your douchebag of an ex-boyfriend who had left you scarred against relationships. As the blond in front of you leaned over you, you were struck with the flash of an image of green eyes instead of blue. You refused to give ground and carefully tried to breathe. You tried to remind yourself this wasn’t him. Hell, Billy probably didn’t even know the guy existed. He didn’t know what he was doing. He shouldn’t be written off because he reminded you of a monster. But it did send a worrying thought through your mind. You hoped you were wrong, but there was a nagging sense that you couldn’t be too careful. You needed to get away from him, now.

You sent him another falsely sweet smile and quickly scanned the cafeteria over his shoulder. Your eyes desperately searched as you forced yourself to back up a step, feigning butterflies when you were really just trying to buy yourself time. It was Pizza Friday, so he had to be somewhere nearby. He loved Pizza Friday. Nancy told you how he always ditched after class to make sure he got some. Surely he hadn’t wolfed it down that quickly... There. Your eyes landed on the luscious head of hair you had been searching for, and you practically leaped at your chance to escape. You let your eyes flit back to Billy, trying to send him a flirty smile whilst internally panicking.

“Sadly for you, I don’t forget things easily.” You let the words hang in the air, unsure if you meant them as a threat or a promise. If only he knew how true they were. “Guess you just got lucky this time.”

“Oh sweetheart, luck had nothing to do with it.” He stepped in closer again. Your heart had practically crawled up into your throat. You snapped your eyes back to Steve, praying either he or Nancy would somehow sense your distress.

“Y/n!” Steve called, waving you over after catching your eye. Finally, it seemed like someone was up there listening.

“Well, looks like we’ll have to see if lightning strikes twice. Catch you later.” You sidestepped the blond’s advance and, without giving him a chance to respond, made a bee-line for the couple’s table. You had to warn him. You couldn’t be sure, but you had a feeling you knew what the research, the quick invasion of the social scene, and his singling you out immediately meant.

Billy Hargrove was gunning to be king.

And he wouldn’t be the first guy to try and use you to get there.

taglist//

#billy #Billy Hargrove #billy hargrove x reader #billy hargrove headcanon #billy hargrove x you #billy hargrove reader insert #babe's writings #billy hargrove series #billy hargrove reader insert series #stranger things #stranger things reader insert #stranger things x you #stranger things x reader #stranger things billy hargrove #reader insert series #stranger things headcanon #billy hargrove writing

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kenology · 4 years

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i was tagged by @gaycinema to pick my top 14 albums using this site! ty claire 😌 these aren’t really in any order but they ended up kinda color coordinated which is fun

1. twin fantasy (face to face) by car seat headrest / i have this album cover tattooed on my hip so i had to put it first lmao. every single song on this album holds so much significance for me and i constantly feel like im reinterpreting them and growing with them. i love every song individually and i love the story they tell all put together and i will never shut up about this album thank you

2. the sunset tree by the mountain goats / this album has singlehandedly gotten me through some rough Times over the past few years and i’ve named at least two fics after song lyrics from it </3

3. teens of denial by car seat headrest / this one holds less emotional significance/nostalgia for me but i still love all the songs on it and find myself coming back to them again and again and getting obsessed w the songs all over again.

4. blond by frank ocean - one of the greatest queer love/pining albums ever i think. i found “ivy” during a time when i really needed to hear it and know that someone else felt the same way i did, and i ended up falling in love w the whole album.

5. channel orange by frank ocean - do i even have 2 explain this...frank ocean’s lyrics and musical composition or w/e are mindblowing, a couple songs from this album and blond will be lifetime favs i think

6. how to be a human being by glass animals / i found this album during like...junior year of high school? and every song on it is an absolute banger plus listening to it brings back fond memories of listening to it while being insane during stage crew

7. danger days: the true lives of the fabulous killjoys by my chemical romance / my shit since 7th grade. i think i know every word on this album

8. teens of style by car seat headrest / this album has a great mix of songs that are just fun to listen to And songs that hit you directly in the heart. i have also named a fic after this album. this is becoming a theme

9. humanz by gorillaz / if uve listened to this album u know how hard it goes. every song sounds so wildly different b/c they all feature a bunch of different artists and they’re all amazing as standalone songs but somehow they manage to fit together into a beautiful hot mess of an album too

10. (come on feel the) illinoise by sufjan stevens / the predatory wasp of the palisades is out to get us! is on this album. end of story. (also chicago and casimir pulaski day are very very good)

11. be the cowboy by mitski / im gay and i have depression and a complicated relationship with old partners and friends....yeah. also “two slow dancers” inspired an entire fic for me so thank you mitski

12. carrie & lowell by sufjan stevens / i don’t listen to this album very frequently compared to the others on this list -- i love the songs and they hold a lot of meaning for me, but they’re hard to listen to (in a good way). i can play “the only thing” on guitar which is fun too

13. how to: friend, love, freefall by rainbow kitten surprise / this album slam dunks me back into spring of 2019. i can confidently say i’ve listened to this entire album more times than i can count. the songs are just really fun to listen to and they bring back (mostly) good memories.

14. three cheers for sweet revenge by my chemical romance / this is my emotional support 2004 emo album

tagging @jarchiekinz @yukichouji @serpentlady @englishmajorjughead and anyone else who feels like doing it! consider urself tagged

#txt #this was very fun

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insideoutstory · 5 years

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Inside Out → Chapter Twenty-One

summary: The monster hunting trio takes on the Demogorgon. But Christine’s got a mission of her own. word count: 6.3k warnings: violence, firearms, Jonathan being held accountable for his actions, and self harm as depicted in 1x08 “The Upside Down.” Please proceed with caution!

[ masterlist ] [ FF.net ]

If there was one thing Christine had learned from this experience, it was to never underestimate Nancy Wheeler.

Nancy was Christine’s friend. Christine didn’t want to see her get hurt. That was the only reason she was going along with this ludicrous plan. She hadn’t thought there was…an actual plan. Just a bunch of vague ideas and intentions strung together to achieve an outlandish objective: three inexperienced teenagers kill an interdimensional eldritch monster with an unimaginable body count.

But it seemed like Jonathan and Nancy had been busy since the funeral. Not only had they gone out to the woods, but they’d done research on other predators to predict the Demogorgon’s patterns. They’d strategized and gone to the gun store and talked over their outcomes. They were incredibly efficient. While they were setting traps and forging weapons, Christine worked on the singular task they’d given her. All she had to do was screw the bulbs back into the Christmas lights. After that, she just loaded her dad’s shotgun and tried to stay out of their way.

It was a shame they hadn’t given the blood the same consideration.

“Seriously?” Christine asked, turning her nose up at the steak knife Jonathan handed her.

“You got a better idea?”

“A couple. I could go for your nose.”

“Chris,” Nancy sighed. “We are not doing this now.”

Christine unhappily held her tongue. She took the knives out of their hands and marched them to the bathroom.��

“Fine. But I’m sanitizing them first.”

Twenty minutes later they were standing in a circle in the living room. Surrounded by gasoline and nails, bear traps and Christmas lights, it was hard to feel like they weren’t in one of those cheesy horror movies. Christine was still struggling to comprehend how stupid they were being. Hopefully it wouldn’t click until later, when all of this was over.

“Remember,” Jonathan began with a shaky nod.

“Straight into Will’s room,” said Nancy. “And…”

“Don’t step on the trap,” said Christine.

“Wait for the yo-yo to move.”

“Then…” Jonathan held up his lighter, letting the flame lick over his thumb briefly. Then he pocketed it, and held up his knife instead. “Alright. You guys ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Christine said weakly.

Nancy was more confident. “Ready.”

The steak knives glinted in the low light.

“On three,” Jonathan instructed. “One…two…you guys don’t have to do this…”

“Jonathan, stop talking,” Nancy ordered.

“I’m just saying, you don’t have to…”

“Three!”

Jonathan and Nancy both slid their knives across the palms of their hands, hissing as the blades cut deep. Christine gasped and nearly dropped her own in surprise.

“Shit! What the hell are you doing?”

“W-We’re—We’re getting the blood,” Nancy stammered. She looked so shocked by Christine’s response that for the moment she couldn’t feel the pain.

“We said on three,” Jonathan grimaced. “Three, Christine!”

“Well, yeah! I knew we were counting! I didn’t think you assholes would cut your hands! We need those! Jesus…”

Jonathan rolled his eyes at her as she flipped the blade in her hand. She braced herself, then dragged the knife sharply across her shoulder blade. It hurt like a bitch, and she figured they could all use some small stitches. But at least she’d have both hands ready to fight.

The worst part was forcing out the blood. They had to make sure it would be enough to lure the Demogorgon, which meant Jonathan and Nancy squeezing their hands and holding back their cries. Christine tensed her shoulder, trying not to notice the feel of the blood trickling down her arm onto the carpet. Three dark stains were forming beneath them.

For several minutes, they bled and waited in the silence.

“Now what?” Christine asked nervously.

“Now we wait,” answered Nancy.

“Now we wait,” Jonathan repeated. “There’s a first aid kit in the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

He eased the knives out of their hands, heading first to the kitchen. He was almost out of the room when Nancy called after him.

“Jonathan? Just…um…be careful.”

“You too. Be ready.”

Nancy nodded, mustering a smile. She cradled her arm to her chest and grabbed the small pistol she’d been loading earlier. She was so busy checking the bullets that she nearly missed Christine’s pointed look.

“What?” Nancy asked, all too innocently.

Christine held up her hands, busying herself with her shotgun. She wasn’t touching that with a fifty-yard pole. Actually, she might rather the Demogorgon.

When Jonathan returned with the gauze, he made a beeline for Nancy. He ushered her onto the couch, bandaging her hand as gently as he could and comforting her in a hushed voice. Christine did her best not to listen. She sat back in the destroyed armchair, swallowing a quip about making sure the blood from her open wound was really sinking into the upholstery. As the other two whispered, she just grinned incredulously at the ceiling. She was third wheeling a monster-hunting date between Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers. Her life truly could not get any worse.

There was only so much a girl could take.

“Is that too tight?” Nancy asked him as she wrapped his hand.

“N-No,” Jonathan stuttered. “It’s fine. Thanks.”

Christine was staring resolutely at the boarded up wall across from her. She might not be looking, but she could hear their hitched breath as they sat too close to each other on the couch. Later, she would swear it was an involuntary cough she let out to break the silence.

“O-Oh, uh, Chris,” Nancy said, finally remembering that there were other people in the room. “Come here. I’ll um—I’ll patch up your back.”

“Uh, here!” Jonathan sprang to his feet, and offered the end of the couch. “I’ll just…”

It would have been all too easy to make the situation worse. But Christine just smiled tightly, and took the seat. She couldn’t help but feel some satisfaction at the low hiss Jonathan let out upon seeing the armchair. He took one look at her blood stain, and evidently decided to pace instead.

“So,” he said, searching for something to talk about while Nancy worked on her shoulder. “Uh…that’s your dad’s?”

“Yup.” Christine patted the shotgun in her lap. “Hasn’t seen a lot of use.”

“He doesn’t hunt?”

“God, no. It’s mostly just for show. I think he was always hoping to clean it in front of the first guy I brought home. Scare the shit out of him. Guess that didn’t work out.”

“You’ve still got time,” Nancy laughed behind her. “

Maybe. If we make it out of this.”

“Are you sure it works?” Jonathan asked skeptically. “I mean, can you use it?”

“Thanks for the confidence, Byers. Yeah, I know how to use it.”

“Where did you learn how to shoot, anyway?” Nancy asked. “I don’t think you ever told me.”

“Long story short, my dad got invited to a shooting range for a work thing. He couldn’t find a babysitter, so I ended up hanging out with a bunch of middle aged business men and learning to fire a Remington 11-48.”

“Jesus. How old were you?”

“I don’t know. Probably like nine?”

“Wow,” Nancy laughed in disbelief. “And no one thought that was weird?”

“Eh, we were living Texas at the time. Not as weird as you’d think,” Christine disregarded. “Besides, it’s not like I make a habit of messing around with my dad’s gun. I shot a tree once when I failed a math test, but…that’s about it.”

“I don’t know,” said Jonathan lightly. “After this, you might wanna pick up the hobby.”

“Yeah, well. I don’t think I’m the one who needs new hobbies.”

Nancy’s fingers faltered on Christine’s shoulder, and the room stilled.

“Chris…”

“No. Look, I know you two have been through some shit, and we’re not talking about it because he turned out to be useful, but that doesn’t mean it’s not creepy as hell.”

“He apologized, Christine. I don’t know what else…”

“Oh, he apologized to you? That’s nice.”

Jonathan stepped hesitantly into her field of view. He was picking at his fresh bandages, clearly uncomfortable. Christine wished it was bothering him more.

“Christine, I’m…I’m sorry. Really. I know I shouldn’t have taken those pictures.”

“No shit. So why did you do it?”

He didn’t seem to have an answer for that. Even Nancy wasn’t able to come up with an excuse to let him off the hook.

“No?” Christine prompted. “What was it for? Fun? Porn? Blackmail?”

“What? N-No!” Jonathan was spluttering. “Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know. A bunch of pictures of us drinking and smoking and stuff? You tell me, Jonathan. You don’t seem to like us much. Well, most of us.”

“No, look, I—I just…I was out looking for Will, and—and sometimes when you’re working with a camera, you don’t even realize what you’re shooting. You’re so focused on the lighting and composition that you don’t even realize what you’re taking pictures of until later.”

“Wow,” Christine laughed dryly. “That’s some focus you’ve got. To be so obliviously in the zone that you didn’t realize you were taking pictures of teenagers for twenty minutes.”

“Christine, stop,” Nancy scolded. “Do we have to do this now?”

“Why not? We’ve got time to kill, right? Besides, I don’t know why you’re defending him. I mean, he took pictures of you in Steve’s room.”

“Well they’re—they’re gone now. So it doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters! The creep took pictures of you through a guy’s window!”

“Right, I’m a creep,” Jonathan said angrily. “And you’re just Nancy’s super concerned best friend. You know, I don’t think you really get to play that card when you were calling her a slut a couple hours ago.”

“Oh, no! You do not get to tell me what it is to be a good friend!”

“Fine! Next time I’ll just get some spray paint, huh?”

“I had nothing to do with that!”

“Guys, stop it! Seriously!”

“Ha, right. So Tommy just climbed up on the marquee without any of the employees noticing, right? You’re telling me you didn’t turn the other way?”

“No, I didn’t! I was on the phone with the cops because of your stupid pictures!”

“Both of you need to stop!”

Thunk.

All three of them stopped dead. Something was crunching the gravel outside, working its way up the driveway toward the house. Fighting forgotten, Christine already had her shotgun mounted on her shoulder. It was lucky she hadn’t gone for trigger yet, because another bang made everyone jump. The front door rattled with rapid knocks.

“Jonathan? Are you there, man? It’s—It’s Steve! Listen, I just wanna talk!”

“Steve?” Christine repeated incredulously.

Nancy and Jonathan looked just as confused. The knocking continued on the door, until finally Nancy stood up to answer it.

“Don’t!” Jonathan hissed, grabbing her wrist. “What—What if it’s a trap?”

“What?”

“It’s not a trap,” Christine whispered with exasperation. “It’s a Demogorgon, not a parrot. It doesn’t even have a mouth!”

“We don’t know what it can do!”

“Jonathan?” Steve was still pounding on the door. “Really! I’m not here to fight! I just need to talk to you!”

“Why does he want to talk to you?” Nancy asked, looking back at Jonathan.

“I don’t know! Probably to try punching me again!”

“Well, he’s not going anywhere,” Christine hissed in frustration. “And he can’t stay. Someone’s gotta open the door.”

“Okay, I’ll—I’ll go,” said Nancy, ignoring Jonathan’s protests. “Just cover me, okay?”

Christine nodded, notching the shot gun again. She moved against the wall, but kept her gun trained on the front door as Nancy stepped up. They exchanged a nervous look. Silently, they counted to three, and Nancy undid the chain lock.

“Steve, listen to me,” she ordered, right over his rambling. “You need to leave.”

“No, I’m not trying to start anything, okay?”

“I don’t care about that. You need to leave.”

“No, no, no, listen,” he begged, still banging on the door. “I—I—I messed up, okay? I messed—I messed up! Okay? Really. Please. I just want to make things right.”

He was still rambling. Nancy looked over to Christine for help, but all she could do was shrug and jab her gun at the door. Jonathan just waved wildly, miming slamming the door shut. Frustrated, Nancy scrambled for her own excuse.

“Look, Steve, I…”

“Hey, what happened to your hand? Is that blood?”

“Nothing!” Nancy’s arm briefly disappeared into the gap as Steve grabbed for her hand, and she wrenched it back inside. “Noth—It was an accident.”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing!”

“Wait a sec, did he do this to you?”

“No!” The door rocked as Steve tried to push past her, and Nancy tried to shove him back onto the porch. “No! No, Steve!”

“Nancy, let me in!”

With one final thrust, Steve came tumbling into the living room. He looked around wildly, ready to find Jonathan and his bruised knuckles. But he was woefully unprepared for everything else he found. His eyes were still bloodshot and discolored from the fight, which made them look even more panicked as they flicked around the room. Jonathan, the Christmas lights, the reinforced bat, the blood on the floor…

“What is…? What the—holy shit! Ch-Christine? Is that a gun?”

Christine looked down at the shotgun in her hands, the barrel still trained on Steve’s chest. She pointed it quickly at the ground. “Sorry. Hey, Steve.”

“You need to get out of here,” Jonathan ordered, grabbing Steve by his green sweater.

“Whoa, no! What is all…?”

“Listen to me, I am not asking you. I am telling you, get out of here!”

“What is—What is that smell? Is that gasoline?!”

“Steve!” Nancy shouted over the commotion. She raised her own gun and replaced Christine’s aim on Steve’s chest. “Get out!”

“Nancy, stop!”

Jonathan was stumbling out of the way just as Christine was scrambling to her feet. Steve looked between them all hysterically.

“Wait! What? What is going on?”

“Nancy!” Christine leapt for Nancy’s arm. They wrestled, Christine trying desperately to force the gun down while Nancy fought her off. “Stop, Nancy! You could hurt him!”

“He needs to go! You said it! Steve, you have five seconds to get out of here!”

“Or what?!” Christine screeched. “You’ll fucking shoot him?!”

“Okay, is this a joke?” Steve demanded, his hands waving wildly in front of him. “Stop! Put the gun down!”

“I’m doing this for you!”

“Nancy, knock it off!”

“Hold on! Hold on, Nancy! Wait, is this a—What is this?”

“Nancy.”

“Three…”

“No, no, no!”

“Nancy, don’t!”

“Nancy!”

“Two…”

“NANCY!” Jonathan’s bellow finally caught everyone’s attention. “The lights!”

Everyone froze to look up at the ceiling. Somewhere in the midst of the panic, the Christmas lights had begun to flash. The room was lit up in scattered colors, blinding them sporadically with their intensity. Christine could hear the hum of the electricity like a high pitched whine in her ear.

“It’s here,” Jonathan breathed.

He jumped for the bat on the coffee table, and Christine finally freed Nancy’s gun arm. She hoisted her own gun onto her shoulder and readied her finger on the trigger. Pressing her back to Nancy’s, they turned to scan the room.

“Wait, what’s here?” Steve demanded.

“Where is it?” asked Nancy.

“Where is what—whoa! Christine, easy with that!”

“Where is it?” Nancy demanded again.

“I don’t know,” said Jonathan, joining their circle. “I don’t see it!”

“Your mom said the walls, right?” Christine asked. “Look at the walls!”

“Where is what?” Steve screamed. “Hellooo? Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going—…?”

Steve finally got his answer. But not because anyone spoke.

There was a tremendous crash, and all of them ducked as the ceiling cracked dangerously over their heads. Plaster and dust rained down on them, and a sound like tearing flesh ripped through the air. Christine swallowed a scream and squinted up at the ceiling. It was buckling under the weight of something, the last few pieces of spackle held together only by the thick, gooey vines that seemed to have grown underneath them. There was a sickening growl, and a slick, white something burst through the remains of the roof.

Christine did not wait for a better look.

In unison, she and Nancy spun around, shooting once, twice at the thing in the room. It squelched and squealed. Christine couldn’t even tell if they were hitting it or if it didn’t like the noise. Everyone was screaming, but she couldn’t make it out over the ringing in her ears. Someone grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her back toward the hallway.

“Go, go, go!”

All thoughts of a plan flew out of her head. The only words she knew were “run” and “away.” Run away from whatever was breaking through the ceiling, whatever had toppled heavily to the floor, whatever was roaring loud enough to shake the glass windows in their panes.

They ran down the hallway, vaulting over the bear trap and skidding into Will’s room. Jonathan slammed the door shut and they all ran to get into position. Away from the flashing colored lights, it was easier for Christine to concentrate. It was easier to reload the gun, to point it at the door and step away from the pool of gasoline on the floor. She wanted to focus on the yo-yo, but there was still one thing annoying her.

“Oh my God! Oh my God! Je—Jesus! What the hell? What the hell was that?”

“SHUT UP!”

It was the only response Steve got from the three of them before the Demogorgon screeched again on the other side of the door.

Christine and Nancy raised their guns, Jonathan lifting the bat with one hand and the lighter with the other. He flicked it open and waited for the opportune moment. The spare lamps in Will’s room were still flickering dimly. The house creaked as the Demogorgon crept down the hall, that unearthly clicking noise crawling through the door and under Christine’s skin. But the door remained untouched.

“What’s it doing?” Nancy demanded.

Jonathan swallowed thickly. “I don’t know.”

The smiley face on the yo-yo mocked them as they trembled.

The lights stopped flickering.

“Do…Do you hear anything?” asked Nancy.

“No,” breathed Christine. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

“No.” Jonathan shut the lighter, looking around at the lamps. “No flickering, no monster.”

“Monster?” Steve echoed weakly. “Oh shit, man. This…This is crazy.”

Everyone continued to ignore him.

“Should we check?” Nancy asked.

“And then what?” challenged Jonathan. “What if it’s there?”

“Then I shoot it.”

“No, I shoot it,” Christine said firmly.

“Why you?”

“Cause I’ve got the bigger gun.”

No one had anything to say to that. Grudgingly, Nancy let Christine take the lead. Jonathan edged around to the door, his hand hovering over the door handle. He looked back to Christine, and once she nodded, he eased the door open. The creak of wood alone was enough to make her reconsider. But she thought of Barb, of the party, of Will standing up to this thing in the Upside Down for nearly a week. Her grip tightened on the gun, and she stepped out into the hallway.

There was nothing there. Her eyes followed the yo-yo string to the unsprung bear trap on the floor. The carpet was intact. The walls did not have cracks. There was no slime or clicking or monster.

Christine let out a sharp breath. She’s been trying to whistle, but was too nervous to manage it.

Jonathan stepped out behind her, then Nancy and Steve. Those with weapons kept them ready, and they slowly picked their way back down the hall.

The living room was just as empty. A few more pieces of fallen furniture were the only sign that anything had been there at all. The dust and plaster had vanished from the floor, and the ceiling seemed to have healed.

When she was sure the room was clear, Christine hurried over to the corner that had split open. She tested her weight on the broken television and hopped on top. She peered up at the ceiling, looking for any fault or weakness. But it looked completely normal. Even when she jabbed it with the nose of her shotgun, it didn’t give way.

She deflated. “Damn it.”

“What?” Nancy asked with worry.

“Nothing. I just thought, if it was still open, I might be able to...”

“What, go after it?” asked Jonathan. “No. No, Christine, we do this on our turf. This is where the trap is. We can’t charge into the Upside Down.”

“The Upside Down?” Steve echoed. “What’s the Upside Down?”

“No, it’s not that,” Christine said, ignoring him. “But if Will’s in the woods behind your house, I mean...we’re so much closer than the lab...”

“Chrissy, no,” Nancy said resolutely. “What if it closed and you got trapped on the other side?”

“The other side of what? What’s the Upside Down?”

“If it closed, I’d just go to the lab and find the gate.”

“If you could get past the monster,” Jonathan reminded her.

“Which we’re trying to kill right now.”

“Chris, stop,” Nancy begged. “For all we know, killing this thing will shut the gate. You could get stuck on the wrong side forever, and—and I’m not losing you too!”

“This is crazy,” Steve muttered, beginning to pace the edge of the kitchen. “This is—This is actually crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy. This is CRAZY!”

He pounced on the phone, actually managing to press a few buttons before Nancy snatched it out of his hands. She threw it on the floor, hard. The plastic shattered, and Christine had to restrain herself from shooting it for good measure.

“What are you—What are you doing?” Steve demanded “Are you insane?”

“Are you?” Christine challenged. “We can’t call anyone! They could get hurt!”

“What are you talking about?! We could get hurt! We could get killed! We have to call the cops! That thing is—it’s crazy! And…”

“And it’s going to come back,” Nancy snapped. “So you need to leave. Now.”

Steve looked around at the three of them. Nancy, resolute with her pistol in hand. Jonathan, with the bat he’d hammered nails through for a weapon. Christine, standing on top of the broken television with a shotgun aimed at the ceiling. And there stood Steve, shaking like a leaf with his face beaten half to hell. He took one last look at all of them. And then he ran.

“Steve, wait!” Christine jumped to the floor, hurrying after him. “Come back!”

Nancy slammed the front door closed, rounding on Christine. “Christine, this is dangerous.”

“No, I know! But he’s…”

“If he stays here, he’s just going to get hurt. When it comes back then…”

“But it goes after blood!”

“I know that! That’s how we got it here!”

“Steve’s bleeding,” Christine insisted. “Jonathan split his face like a freaking grape! What if the Demogorgon goes after him instead? He can’t be alone!”

Nancy hadn’t considered that. Sadly, she didn’t have time to.

The lights were already starting to flicker again. The room glowed and hummed, and Christine, Nancy and Jonathan scrambled into the middle of the room. Back to back, they rotated, looking up and down and every which way for any tell of the Demogorgon.

“Where is it?” Nancy was murmuring repeatedly. “Where is it?”

“Come on,” Jonathan grumbled. “Come on, you son of a bitch.”

“You see it?”

“No! Where…?”

“Come on! Where are you? Come on!”

“Quiet!”

The lights went out. Jonathan had finally stopped shouting, at first all they could hear was their own breathing. Then—there. There was the clicking sound. But it was all around them, as if it were pulsing through the lights instead of coming from the creature itself. Christine’s head whipped back and forth, searching for the source. Then she looked up, and a trail of slime trickled onto her face.

She screamed.

The Demogorgon roared, and all three of them went flying in different directions. Christine stumbled forward, tripping over the debris on the floor and nearly wiping out. She fumbled with the gun. When she wheeled around, she got her first look at the monster.

It was huge—an understatement. The only reason it fit in the Byers’ house was because it was hunched over, its long limbs folding in on itself at unnatural angles. The skin was pale and slick with slime. It had long arms and legs, knuckled talons at the end of each. There was a protrusion that should have been a head. But there was no face. There were no visible nose or eyes. Just a gaping mouth that unfolded like a lethal blossom, each petal lined with sharp teeth from tip to maw.

Christine dropped to one knee, shooting up to avoid Jonathan and Nancy. She caught the creature in the shoulder, which didn’t seem to do much damage. The Demogorgon squealed and honed in on her. It roared, and bits of spittle flecked her face. Christine screamed back at it, and shot again.

This time, she clipped the edge of its mouth. The Demogorgon gave a gurgling cry and reeled back. Extending to its full height, its neck caught on the Christmas lights. It thrashed, back and forth, pulling real bits of the wall down with the nails. Christine had to dodge the projectiles.

“Chrissy, move!” Nancy screeched. “We have to move!”

Christine made a dash for the other side of the living room, but one of the Demogorgon’s flailing limbs blocked her. She tried again, and this time the coffee table flew in front of her path, splintering against the wall. It clattered to the ground, the pieces stacking on top of the broken TV. Above them, slime was still dripping from the reopened hole in the ceiling.

Across the room, her eyes locked with Jonathan’s. He nodded to her, and then raised his bat.

“Nancy, go! This is for my brother, you bastard!”

There was a sickening squelch as nails tore through the Demogorgon’s flesh. Its scream shook the very foundations of the house. But Christine didn’t have time to look. She took a running jump and vaulted herself off the table, punching through the hole in the ceiling.

If she had to describe it, she would’ve said it was like being ripped apart. As Christine’s head broke the surface in one room, her legs were still weighing her down in the other. She had to tear at the vines to squeeze her arms through. Every piece fell upwards, hitting the floor that was above her head. Gravity was pulling her in two opposite directions, and her confused blood was rushing to her head. She spat out wads of spit and goo, trying to slide her torso further into the Upside Down.

“WILL!”

Her voice echoed and distorted off the filthy walls. It was exactly like the room she’d left, but cold and dark. The same dark vines covered almost every surface, blending with the Christmas lights that stretched out without bulbs. Pale particles floated through the air like dust motes, but large enough to be flower petals. Christine coughed as she breathed them in.

“Will! Will, where are you? We’re—We’re coming! Will, we’re coming!”

She was out to her hips. Half her body through, her weight threatened to send her tumbling onto the floor over her head. She batted her stringy hair out of the way, trying to see if she had a clear fall.

“Will? Will! Answer me!”

“Christine?”

Someone was screaming in the distance, but it wasn’t Will. With all the blood rushing to her ears, she couldn’t even tell what direction it was coming from. It could have been from the portal just as easily as it could have been the woods.

“Will, we’re here!” she screamed, one leg out to her knee. “The living room! Will, hurry!”

“Christine! Christine, is that you?”

“The house! Come to the house! We’re—fuck!”

An ear-piercing scream ripped out of her throat as something closed around her ankle on the other side. It was crushing, and then yanking her back through the hole.

“No! N-No—Will! WILL! H-Help!!”

She planted her elbows on the ceiling, trying to counter gravity. But whatever was pulling her was ten times stronger than she was. Her arms buckled, and no matter how much she clawed at the vines, her slimy arms could not find purchase.

“No! No, no, please! Help me! HELP!”

Christine was ripped back through the portal, gravity grabbing her all at once and dropping her body toward the floor. But her ankle was still held tight in the grip of the Demogorgon. She screamed again, shrieks breaking through her uncontrollable sobs as her leg twisted painfully and almost certainly broke.

The Demogorgon roared, and launched her body across the room. Christmas lights scratched her face and exposed skin, tangling in her limbs and ripping out of the wall as she flew. She slammed into the wall and landed hard. Someone screamed, but she kept her eyes shut tight. The lights hurt too much, and the world around her was an incomprehensible blur of sounds. Most of them were screams, some of them gunshots. She barely understood half of it.

“Christine!”

“Jonathan, move!”

“Go the hell, you son of a bitch!”

“Steve?”

“He’s in the trap!”

“Jonathan, now!”

“Christine?”

“Holy shit…”

“Come on, Chrissy. Shit. Come on.”

“Chrissy, please! Chrissy? Christine!”

Christine groaned, batting away the hands that were touching her face. She was met with sighs of relief, and a watery laugh she would have recognized anywhere.

“Knock it off, Nancy. Did I miss it? Where’s…?”

“It’s gone,” Jonathan assured her. “We got it.”

“Are you sure? It’s…”

“Hey, hey, hey!”

She wasn’t sure which one of them yelled louder as she tried to sit up. More hands than there should have been pushed her back down, and some moved to brush the hair out of her face.

“God, I—I told you not to do that,” Nancy cried in a trembling voice. “I told you not to do that! You could’ve died! That was—That was so stupid!”

“Yeah, well. Since when do I listen to you?”

“Since now. Starting now. We listen to each other.”

“Okay, yeah. Ow. That—That sounds like a pretty good deal.”

“Can you move?” Jonathan asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

There was some shifting, and each one of them grabbed her arms. They moved slowly, trying to limit the amount of times she cried out in pain. Eventually she managed to make it upright. Still, the world was tilting and swimming in front of her.

“O-Okay, hey! Hey, hey, Christine!” A warm voice was whispering in front of her, and she felt something moving back in forth in front of her face. “Come on, Chris, how—how many fingers am I holding up?”

Christine blinked her eyes open. Now she was sure she had a concussion. This was more confusing than the fight.

“Steve? What are you…? You came back?”

“Yeah,” he said weakly. “Yeah, of course I did.”

“Why?”

“Well, I…you know, I uh…cause you told me to. And I’ve gotta do what my lab partner says, otherwise I probably won’t pass physics. I told you I couldn’t survive another class on my own.”

He patted her heavily on the shoulder, making her wince. Nancy quickly ushered him out of the way.

“Chris, I need you to talk to me. What hurts?”

“Um…everything? I’m pretty sure I flew across the room, so…”

“What hurts most?” Jonathan prompted. “Is there anything you can’t move?”

It took a lot of mental work to count her limbs. She wasn’t feeling up to it after being airborne. But she weakly tested her head, arms, and hands, not pausing until she tried her left leg.

“Ah! Fuck!”

“What?” Nancy asked. “W-What is it?”

“My leg,” she breathed through clenched teeth. “Definitely my leg.”

“O-Okay,” Jonathan stammered. “I’ll get you some ice. Don’t move.”

Christine desperately would have liked to snap back that she couldn’t move anywhere, but her head hurt too much to manage it. The pain that had filled her body was starting to ebb, fading in some joints so it could redouble in others. Her head hurt like a bitch, as did her shoulder where she’d slammed into the wall. Her leg felt like it was on fire, and she was too much of a baby to look at it properly. She looked anywhere else instead.

The living room managed to look even messier than it had before. The carpet was singed and burnt, the combusted trail of gasoline leading into the hall. There was white foam where Jonathan had used the fire extinguisher, and the bloody bat lay abandoned by the door.

“Did it work?” she asked Nancy.

“Yeah. Yeah, it did. I shot it a couple more times and then Steve beat it down the hall into the trap. Jonathan lit it up and then…then it disappeared.”

“It vanished?” Christine asked, her blood running cold. “You didn’t see it?”

“No. But I don’t think it’s coming back here. If it’s not dead, it’s majorly injured. It doesn’t have long.”

“Not dead is still not dead. We—We have to call Hopper. We have to—shit, we have to get back to school.”

“School?” Steve repeated disbelievingly. “Forget school, you need a damn hospital.”

“Not until we know,” she insisted. “Not until I know the kids are safe.”

“Okay,” Nancy conceded. “Okay, we’ll—we’ll patch you up and then drive back to the middle school.”

“The middle school? What kids, your brother? I mean—does anyone want to explain what just happened here?”

Christine and Nancy shared a look. His panic might have been funny if the wounds weren’t so fresh—both the figurative and literal. For now, it just made the whole thing seem even worse. Nancy was the one who finally sighed.

“It’s complicated, Steve. And—thank you, seriously, for coming back. But it’s probably best if you just…go home, and never talk about this again.”

Steve didn’t even think about it.

“No. No, I—I ran once, and that’s when I realized I—I’m not putting this behind me. Okay? I’m—I’m not putting you behind me. I meant what I said, Nancy. I messed up. Big time. And if I have to beat the shit out of some—some horror movie monsters that look like…I don’t know, fucked up poinsettias. If that’s what I have to do to make it up to you, then so be it. I’m not going anywhere.”

It looked like Nancy was about to cry. She nodded hastily, and shoved a painful smile up onto her face. Steve looked like he wanted to tuck her hair behind her ears, or rub his hand along her back. But he thought better of it, and placed it back on his knee. Nancy reached over and placed her hand on top of his.

Jonathan saved the moment before anyone could say anything.

“Hey,” he said, holding up an ice pack and some towels. “Give her some air, you guys.”

“Right,” Steve said, getting his feet. “Hang in there, Walcott. You’re a real badass.”

Nancy led him away, only as far as the couch. She spoke to him in a low voice, simple words standing out like “Will,” “Barb,” “missing,” and “dead.” Christine was almost thankful when Jonathan ducked into her line of sight this time.

“Here. For your face.”

He handed her a wet wash cloth. Christine assumed it was for the blood, but the tentative hand she brushed over her cheek disproved the theory. She wasn’t bleeding. She was crying.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, pressing her face into the fabric. “My leg just…really fucking hurts.”

“Yeah, I know. It sucks.”

He turned over his shoulder, glancing fleetingly at the couch. Christine bit her lip hard. She stared determinedly into his chest.

“Shut up, Jonathan. Just fix my leg.”

#ocappreciation #fyeahstrangerthingsocs #stranger things #stranger things oc #stranger things fanfiction #chapters #chapter 21

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abstract-soprano-moved-blog · 7 years

Text

Be More Chill Sky High AU

I saw this textpost here by dear-enjolras-hansen and was inspired to make a bmc sky high au! I remember watching the movie as a kid and loving it. But, yeah, go read the DEH one cause it’s real fun and cute!

Jeremy

Telepathy/Mind control

His mind control powers only came to him in his junior year, and they’re not full brainwashing

Basically he can’t actually force people to do something, but he can place powerful feelings of wanting to do it in the person’s head

His telepathy is full blown though and he can’t turn it on or off

But when he gets flustered or goes through strong emotions other people’s thoughts get jumbled in with his own and he can’t really tell the difference

His telepathy only came in sophomore year so freshman year he was powerless and therefore placed as a sidekick

Even in sophomore year his telepathy was kind of useless in combat so it wasn’t until junior year when his mind control kicked in that he was moved up to hero

He’s always felt really inadequate and weak because of his powers or lack therefore of

The fact that he can hear people’s snide thoughts about him also put a dent in his self esteem

He got called creep a lot because people accused him of purposefully listening in on their thoughts

Once he got moved up to hero people started to like him a lot more though

He initially lets it go to his head and basically abandons Michael and Christine

Buuuut eventually he snaps out of it and realises he’s been a dick

(His guilty pleasure is listening in to Michael think about dorky things like video games and poptarts)

The only time he ever used his mind control outside of combat was to guide people to the right questions during tests

Eventually they fiqured him out and he has to take exams after school now

Realised end of sophomore year he’s in love with Michael

Realises that all of Michael’s thoughts are less bromantic and more romantic

Runs up to Michael last day before spring break and declares his love in the middle of the school hall

They kiss and there’s no voices in his head for a moment

Michael

Sooo everybody thinks it’s going to be technopathy but it’s actually sound manipulation

It’s pretty cool, he can make really good music with it

He can also kind of use it in combat like Coach Boomer

Basically he can use sound waves as a physical force

But he fails to portray that in initiation so he gets put as a sidekick

He isn’t too bothered about it because, hey, he’s got Jeremy

And that girl Christine seems nice

His powers came to him in middle school so he’s basically known since then he wants to go into composing

He spends his free time hanging out with Jeremy and Christine, making music, and researching 90s super heroes and sidekicks

Even though he’s doesn’t become popular until him and Jeremy make up after their fight, ever since first year he’s been hired as the DJ for every major event at school

He writes sappy love songs dedicated to Jeremy and only lets Christine and Chloe listen to them

They’re really good

One day Jeremy finds them and like… Michael basically dies of embarrassment

It’s all good though cause it ends in happy making out

Doesn’t actually really care all that much about superheros or superpowers

He’s more interested in human culture

He’s one of the only kids at their school that doesn’t immediately judge people by their powers

Christine

Shapeshifting

It was actually only a week before the start of her freshman year that her powers came to her

She can shapeshift into any animal or human

But she really hates using her powers for combat so she was placed as a sidekick

This is mostly due to the fact that during initiation she only shapeshifted into a toucan, a bunny, and Lindsey Lohan

She shapeshifts a lot

Christine aint afraid to use her powers basically every ten minutes

She just loves changing randomly into a gecko

She’ll often change herself to look like Jake to confuse people

Jake finds it absolutely hilarious

She also likes to play harmless pranks on people

Like everything’s normal and then BAM elephant in the canteen

One time she changed into a frog and snuck into Chloe’s school bag to surprise her

Needless to say she was almost turned into an icicle by accident

Even though she’s a sidekick and not really in any popular circles, everybody likes her so she’s kind of friends with everybody

She’s really close friends with Jeremy and Michael though so she confides mostly in them and vice versa

She’s super close with Jenna after junior year as well so they have kind of a queer platonic relationship going on

For three years she’s had to hear about Michael’s ‘unrequited’ love for Jeremy and then when they finally got together Jake tells her he’s got a massive crush on Rich

And she’s just like crying to Jenna “Why do people ask me for relationship advice, I’m demiromantic, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing!”

Rich

This boi is pyrokinetic!

His powers came to him during the summer holidays before sophomore year

When he came back he showed off like nobody’s business and they moved him up to hero

He’s popular but everybody is lowkey scared of him

Then one day at a party he has a mental break down due to stress of family life and identity crises and all this shit

And he accidentally burned down Jake’s house and put him and Jake in hospital

After that he was super afraid of using his powers at all and was at risk of being moved down to sidekick again which would absolutely crush his self esteem

It was actually Jeremy that came up to him and sat him down and let him talk out all his emotions

The next day Jeremy took Jake aside and told him how guilty Rich feels

Rich and Jake have a long conversation about it and Jake tells him that just because he messed up once doesn’t mean he should stop using his powers

Rich gets mental health support and starts building up his life again

And all his friends are there to support him as he does

He also realises he’s bi

Makes an appalling amount of fire puns

Has a tiny crush on Jake and ends up going to prom with him

They spend the night together and after that start dating

It’s pretty good

Rich used to bully Jeremy about his powers but now they’re an really good terms

Him and Brooke basically talk to eachother about everything

She just gets him so they have a close platonic relationship

One year they went as a sexy angel and sexy devil for halloween

(Rich was the devil)

Jake

Super speed/Super strength

Immediately put as a hero without having to do initiation because of his parents

Jake’s had his powers since he was like ten so he knows how to use them really well

In school, people with more than one super power are already admired, that’s why Jeremy suddenly became really popular when he realised he could use mind control

But Jake’s just naturally an awesome guy

He’s basically the most popular guy in sky high

He prefers using his super speed more than his super strength but he’s well trained in both

Pretty much set for life since his mums were both well known superheros

He’s following in their footsteps

Already stopped a few small bank robberies

Dated Chloe all throughout freshman year

Broke up with her when he realised he was only with her because they were both the ‘most popular girl/boy in school’

Dated Brooke for a bit in sophomore year and then went on a few dates with Christine in junior year

Drunkenly made out with Jeremy one time during Jeremy’s ‘popular’ phase

Basically he’s hooked up with a bunch of kids at school

Because he’s seen as the ‘golden boy’, he feels a lot of pressure to do well as well as keep up his image to his classmates

Turns to sex and alcohol for stress release

He had a problem and refused to get help but after he almost burned to death and was put in hospital it was kind of like a wake up call for him

He got his shit together and he still regularly goes to AA meetings

Gets an extreme puppy love crush on Rich their senior year

Keeps doing things like lifting up benches or running to catch footballs on the other side of the school to try and impress him

It works out well in the end

Really good friends with Brooke, Chloe and Jenna

They make him carry their shopping bags and sometimes them when they go shopping

Chloe

Ice powers

She’s had her powers since the end of elementary school so she’s really talented with using them

She can kick ass in combat but also uses her powers to create ice sculptures and cool her drinks up in the summer

Put as hero no question

Best at combat in sky high behind Jake

On her way to becoming a great superhero

Is often called ‘Ice Queen’

She likes it and is thinking of using it for her alias

Has to deal with a lot of Elsa jokes

She just freezes people to get them to shut the fuck up about it

Loves to pair up with Rich during training

Watching them spar is spectacular

Her, Brooke, Rich and Jake are all training buddies

In her senior year she becomes basically best friends with Michael

They sit and bitch about people while listening to Michael’s latest composition

After Brooke and Jake broke up Chloe and Brooke started up a ‘friends with benefits thing’

Then Chloe realised she was actually in love with Brooke and wanted to cuddle and kiss her non-sexually

So she puts up a massive ice sculpture outside Brooke’s house one day junior year that says ‘BE MY GIRLFRIEND’

They become a couple

Has been close friends with Jenna since they were kids, and even though she acts like she’s perpetually annoyed by her, Chloe is super overprotective of Jenna

Like she’s overprotective of all her friends (especially Brooke), but like it’s really noticeable with Jenna

Once knocked a guy out for making fun of Jenna being a sidekick

She’s a very angry teen just cause of social and academic pressure, as well as her crippling insecurity

When she’s super angry she’ll storm off to be alone

And just sit and let the things around her slowly be overtaken by frost and ice

Turns lakes into ice rinks in the summer for her and her friends to skate on

Brooke

Flight

Brooke’s had her powers since she was a baby

Her parents had to put an extra secure cage on her cot so that she would stop whizzing around her room at midnight

She also had to be put on a child leash for her toddler years

She loves flying so much

Hardly ever walks anywhere

Just floats around like 3 cm off the ground

Hero

She’s great in combat and is expected to be a superhero in the future

But she has her heart set on being a trainer

The spotlight kind of freaks her out so she’s much happier supporting people instead

Has been pining over Chloe since middle school and when she wakes up to see the ice sculpture in her garden she flies down from her bedroom window and scoops Chloe up superman style and kisses her

When she gets upset she flies up to a really high cloud and just kind of… sits there and cries

She like to fly around with Christine when she’s shapeshifted into a bird

She gets called ‘airhead’ a lot as a joke and even though she laughs along it makes her quite self conscious about her intelligence

She just feels like everybody always only sees her power when they look at her and not her

BFFs with Rich

Even though she’s scared to stand up for herself she’ll protect her friends against bullies

If anybody makes fun of any of her friends she takes their school bag or some other possession and puts it on the roof of the school

And then refuses to get it down for them

Jenna

Technopath

Nobody expected it because everybody forgets the fact that Jenna is actually super smart

She’s super good with any kind of technology, but especially mobile devices

Constantly has her phone with her

Is initially placed as hero in freshman year but she mostly uses her powers to snoop on people’s group chats and the school’s secrets

Cause she could not give less of a shit about being a superhero

She gets moved down to sidekick halfway through freshman year

The only thing she’s worried about is that her popularity is rapidly decreasing

She starts getting left out of loads of shit because being a sidekick means you’re a loser, basically

But she manages to crawl her way back up the social ladder due to her friendships with Chloe, Brooke and Jake

But everybody just completely labels her as a sidekick tagging along behind a group of heroes

So she always just assumes that people are friends with her out of pity or to utilise her power in some way

It takes a lot of time and reassurance from her friends to realise that that isn’t the case

She actually starts to care about her future in like sophomore year and starts to work hard on training with her powers and her grades

End of senior year she gets an offer to work with the government which she takes

Really close friends with Christine

They move in together after high school

They’re quite codependent on each other but not in an unhealthy way

They’re just super close

The lines between a platonic and romantic relationship between them are blurred

Close friends with Chloe and texts her about every piece of gossip she hears

Favourite hobby is hacking into homophobes/transphobes/racists/etc blogs and changing them to look like foot fetish blogs

I may have to write a fic of this… But yeah. BMC Sky High AU

#be more chill #bmc #sky high #sky high au #bmc sky high au #jeremy heere #michael mell #boyf riends #christine canigula #jenna rolan #richard goranski #jake dillinger #richjake #chloe valentine #brooke lohst #pinkberry #cinnabun

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everybodyknows-everybodydies · 7 years

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ALRIGHT I have apparently a lot of things I’ve been tagged in (recently or otherwise) so we are gonna do one big post of those things under the cut here to save your dash (sorry if you’re mobile and the app isn’t doing a read more D:) - stating it now I’m not gonna tag anybody bc I took so long to get around to it oops

10 favorite characters from 10 different fandoms things -Ami Mizuno (Sailor Moon) -Elizabeth Corday (ER) -River Song (DW) -Delilah (Firewatch) -Velma Dinkley (Scooby Doo) -Molly Grue (The Last Unicorn) -Lady Macbeth (Shakespeare) -Yang Xiao Long (RWBY) -Dana Scully (The X-Files) -Tuppence Beresford (Agatha Christie)

Writing Tag 1. How many works in progress do you currently have in progress? “Just” three - Princess and the Goblin AU, a personal project, and an original work about the world’s grumpiest immortal old lady 2. Do you/would you write fanfiction? Yes and yes :P 3. Do you prefer paper books or ebooks? Paper books to own, but for schoolwork I’d much rather use ebooks as they’re a lot easier to search through when writing a paper and needing that one quote. 4. When did you start writing? Age six! We still have the word document from 2003 where I wrote an epic tale about myself helping the Boxcar Children solve a mystery in which my mom was, for some reason, a police officer. 5. Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with? Knight! 6. Where is your favorite place to write? At home, sitting on my bed. That’s where I work best in general; I don’t do well with the distractions of public places. 7. Favorite childhood book? Oh gosh. I was a ridiculously avid reader all through childhood. I don’t know that I could pick a single one, but the Nancy Drew series had me from very early on. 8. Writing for fun or writing for publication? For fun! But in an ideal world there would also be publication in the future lol. 9. Pen and paper or computer? Computer! I used to do pencil and paper when I was in middle school/high school and filled up a few composition notebooks, but I get too easily sidetracked with pencil and paper and tend to end up doodling if I try to use it for writing nowadays. 10. Have you ever taken any writing classes? I have! I did a fiction/poetry combo the summer of 2014 which was very nice, a poetry class fall of 2015, and am currently in another poetry class. One day I’ll get to have my fiction workshopped again! :P 11. What inspires you to write? Lots of things - music, dreams, other people, daydreams...

Last sentence you wrote:

She’d thought maybe she was doing it wrong, and that was why, but she didn’t quite know how to ask.

Top 5-10 songs you listen to: 1. Fire Escape by Love, Robot 2. Cherry Tree by The National 3. I Wish I Was Your Cigarette by K.I.D. 4. Pretty Girl by Hayley Kiyoko 5. Beneath the Brine by The Family Crest

that one tag thing it didn’t have a title sorry Name: Mouse Star sign: Cancer Average hours of sleep: 5-8 depending on the day Lucky number: 7 or 27 based on numbers I like, but the OCD demands repetitions of 12 or 20 so take that as you will Last thing I googled: “panko crumbed turkey schnitzel” because I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT THAT WAS AND I WANTED TO KNOW IF I COULD EAT IT Favorite fictional character: Yes I Have Lots of Those What are you wearing right now: Batman pj pants and a soft green plaid buttonup When did you start this blog: May 2013 :’) please don’t go look at my first posts I was an embarrassing child What do I mostly post: Sailor Moon, Alex Kingston, helpful art things, and lately a lot of middle-of-the-night squawking about Scooby Doo Do I get a lot of asks: on the art blog! not here though lol Why did I choose this URL: River Song + memento mori

another one that doesn’t have a title I think sorry again O N E -name: Audrey || nickname: Mouse || zodiac sign: Cancer -height: 5′2″ || orientation: ace lesbian || ethnicity: white enough to make hiding in laser tag very difficult -favorite fruit: apple || favorite season: winter -favorite book: The Last Unicorn || favorite flower: carnation? -favorite scent: vanilla || favorite animal: cat -coffee, tea, or hot cocoa? no thank you -cats or dogs? cats -dream trip: I go to an abandoned, isolated castle in the middle of a wide-open field of green. no one is around. I am wearing a soft, billowy dress. I run through the halls of the castle to echoing sea shanties. in the tallest tower of the castle I sit and fill up an entire sketchbook and it doesn’t even matter if I mess up on a couple pages because I have brought sticky notes to try that cool thing where you just slap a sticky note over the mistake and keep going. -aesthetic: old empty buildings, soft blankets, girls holding hands, scuffed up knuckles and fingertips, the pages in a sketchbook where marker has bled through in just a few spots to make it look splattered, the smell of old books, antique brass pocketwatches, cold grey skies -favorite band/artist: Anberlin -fictional character I’d date: River Song, Elizabeth Corday, Makoto Kino -Hogwarts house: Ravenclaw T W O -countries I’ve lived in: US, UK I guess now? idk does it count -favorite fandom: uhh... if we’re talking about the fandom itself then Scooby Doo, there’s so little drama and everyone is just super into these goofy kids solving mysteries, it’s great -languages you speak: English, and I’m passable enough in Spanish that I could PROBABLY survive if I were dropped in a Spanish speaking country -favorite film of 2016: I have No Concept of Time and also don’t watch that many movies. did Wonder Woman come out in 2016? that’s like the only movie I’ve been to see in theatres recently. idk I apologize -last article you read: uhh something for class, so something about Gothic feminism -last thing you bought online: a maroon sweatshirt with Scooby’s face on it. I am the coolest adult and 12yo me would be proud. -how would your friends describe you: sweet but a huge dork, very little common sense, means well -how would your enemies describe you: I am always trying my best to not make enemies so?? I don’t know?

questions Nikki asked specifically 1. You spend an entire year in another time and place for the next three years of your life. When/where do you choose and why? THESE KINDS OF QUESTIONS STRESS ME OUT because on the one hand, access to everywhere and everywhen!! BUT ON THE OTHER HAND IF I GO TOO FAR BACK INTO THE PAST I LOSE ACCESS TO THINGS LIKE MEDICINE WHICH I NEED AND POSSIBLY CONTAMINATE THE POPULATION WITH MODERN-DAY GERMS WHILE IF I GO TOO FAR INTO THE FUTURE I GET EXPOSED TO BACTERIA/VIRUSES I HAVE NO IMMUNITY AGAINST. it’s a lose/lose. so... picking close enough to not do too much damage, I’ll spend one year following Agatha Christie around sometime in the 60s, mentor my younger self in 2010, and go through all of 2014 again just so I can go see the Armory production of Macbeth. 2. Okay, be honest: do you put your laundry away immediately, or does it sit somewhere in a pile for entirely too long? IT SITS AT THE END OF MY BED FOR WEEKS YOU DON’T HAVE TO CALL ME OUT LIKE THIS 3. Describe yourself as if you’re in a fic. (Scent, appearance, aura – everything & anything is game.) “She was small and mousy, in the sense that she was a bit skittish of everything and squeaked sometimes when she talked, always too quiet for the ‘real’ grownups. She stepped lightly, and tried to take up as little space as possible, and was almost a ghost for her efforts.” 4. What non-essential thing(s) do you blow the most money on? MARKERS AND BOOKS I am a simple woman with simple desires 5. Did you have extracurricular activities as a child? Any that you wish you’d done? I did ballet and cheer in elementary school for like two years, gymnastics for a bit; journalism in middle school (say hello to the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper y’all); drama in high school - I can’t say that I wish I’d done any more actually 6. You can time travel (or not) and have your portrait done by any artist. Who do you choose? I'm gonna go with El Greco simply because his “Penitent Magdalene” haunts me 7. You’re out in public. You see a cat. How do you react? point at it and say CAAAAAAAT and hope it doesn’t run away 8. What kind of weather do you thrive in, and what can you simply not do? A bit cloudy and 50-60 degrees F is ideal. I cannot abide heat. Anything above 80 degrees is repulsive. 9. Om nom nom, breakfast! What are your favorite breakfast foods? CEREAL AND WAFFLES 10. Do you like running up and/or rolling down hills? ...not particularly... I have a weird thing about heights, and inclines do not really help D:

#I went back TWO WHOLE YEARS in my likes so hopefully I got all of the ones I'd skipped over like a lame-o #anyway #long post #like SUPER DUPER LONG #seriously it's. sad.#Mouse talks!#about me #also #writing tag #I GUESS KIND OF #there's one sentence from the AU I am Never Sharing Anywhere Or Providing Context For #anyway GOOD NIGHT EVERYONE gaoishgweoihg sorry I'm so bad at doing these in a timely fashion #shoutout to Flo for tagging me in stuff like just today so I remembered I had those to do!!#I hope it's okay I did it on the main instead of the art blog since that's the one you tagged D:

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lorrainecparker · 7 years

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After Effects: revisiting feature requests from 2008

June 2008 seems like a long time ago now. Adobe had only just released After Effects CS3 and I was mostly working on a G5 PowerMac. Four gigabytes of RAM seemed like an awful lot. George W Bush was the US President and the Apple iPhone was only 1 year old – a month later in July Apple would release the iPhone 3G, but that was still a secret.

Just a quick reminder about June 2008… After Effects came in a box, the iPhone was at version 1, and the US President was George W Bush.

What Apple did announce in June 2008 was the name of their next operating system – “Snow Leopard”. At the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference a few details trickled out – most significantly, the announcement that Snow Leopard wouldn’t introduce any major new features, but rather focus on performance and “under the hood” improvements.

When I read the various Apple news reports I started to wonder – what if Adobe took the same approach with After Effects? What if the next release skipped any major new features and instead focused on performance and small improvements? I thought it was worth daydreaming about.

Just for fun, I posted the idea on the After Effects email list, and asked for suggestions for minor feature requests that would make everyday work faster and easier. I remember finding the responses interesting, as there were several things I had never thought of. It was a good reminder that After Effects is used by lots of different people in lots of different situations. After a week or two, I compiled the suggestions together and emailed the list to Adobe, and received a thank-you email from Michael Coleran, the After Effects product manager at the time.

It’s not quite 10 years later, but last week Adobe announced the latest releases of their major CC apps, including After Effects. As usual with such a major update, it takes time to go through all the new features and work out what’s new and what’s changed. There are videos to watch, blogs to read, twitter posts to examine and so on. Right now, I’m not even sure what it’s called. Is it After Effects CC 2018? The update appeared on my Windows machine as just After Effects CC…

Whatever the name, how does the latest version of After Effects stack up against the list of feature requests I sent to Adobe almost 10 years ago? Let’s go through the list and see. Bear in mind that this is a list of suggestions from a range of different people, so there’s some overlap and a little ambiguity. I’ve loosely grouped them together according to the part of After Effects they apply to.

Interface:

Moving/dragging interface tabs around can be “undone”

I used to think this looked better than the current After Effects interface. I was wrong. So very, very wrong.

It’s hard to remember, but After Effects didn’t always look the way it did. Adobe gave AE a major interface revamp with version 7, but many users – myself included – initially hated the radical change and resisted the upgrade.

Eventually After Effects CS3 was released which prompted us to upgrade and grapple with the new look and feel, and it really was a big leap from the old floating-windows of After Effects 6.5. But while it now seems 2nd nature, dragging those tabs and palettes around took a bit of getting used to. It was easy to accidentally drag something to a new place, or close a panel you didn’t mean to, or basically just click in the wrong spot and find your workspace layout had become all messed up. Unlike changes to the timeline, these changes to the interface layout couldn’t be fixed with an “undo”.

Nearly ten years later it’s still easy to accidentally mess up your favourite workspace with an errant click, but can you “undo” workspace layout changes in the latest version of After Effects? Still no.

Verdict: Still waiting…

a colour swatch palette

It’s fair to say that we got more than we asked for! The Photoshop swatches palette is on the left, the Kuler panel in After Effects on the right also includes tools to create colour schemes.

In 2008, the majority of the work I was doing involved motion graphics for large corporate clients with strict brand guidelines. Clients generally had a small, rigidly defined colour palette to work from, but After Effects had no way of saving colours for easy and repeated selection, in the way that Photoshop and Illustrator did. With CC 2014, Adobe introduced the Kuler panel, which finally gave users a color swatch panel but also much, much more. While the Kuler panel is above and beyond the expectations of any AE user who just wanted the same swatch panel that Photoshop had, it’s unfortunate that Adobe hid this awesome new feature away in the “Extensions” sub-menu, so many users are probably unaware it’s there.

Verdict: We got it, but they’ve done their best to hide it from us…

colour labels for composition tabs…

After Effects used to be monochrome, but colour – and colour labels – slowly crept in over time. The lower image is from a time where layers could be given a colour label, but not the actual composition.

Using colour labels has become an essential part of my workflow, but if you go back far enough there was a time when the entire AE interface was monochrome. At some point, After Effects included colour labels for layers in a composition, but presumably there was a period where you couldn’t assign a colour label to the composition itself. But AFAIK, compositions have been able to have colour labels for some time now…

Verdict: Yes thanks!

colour labels for effects

…but there’s no way to assign a colour label to an effect. If you don’t use colour labels to organize your projects then this is probably pretty meaningless to you – but to those of us who do, they are an essential organizational tool. The “Select label group” function is one of those powerful workflow features that isn’t immediately obvious but can save an enormous amount of time and frustration. Perhaps a future version of AE will allow individual effects to have colour labels – but so far it’s a no go.

Verdict: No, not yet.

Plugins & Effects:

a list of favourite effects

While After Effects has allowed you to save your own presets for many years, the plugins themselves are always listed in same groups in the “Effects” menu. In the same way that many applications keep a track of recent documents opened, and After Effects keeps a track of recently imported footage, it would be nice to have a list of recently used effects. So far, however, that’s yet to appear.

Verdict: Still waiting…

Make obsolete plugins (eg Basic 3D) an optional install. Weed out older, redundant and inferior plugins. For example- why is there a CC Toner AND a Tritone? Do we still need a fast blur AND a Gaussian blur? The CC Power Pin is much better than the older Corner Pin, the “Hue/Saturation” effect is miles better than the “Colour Balance (HLS)” effect etc

Over the years, Adobe has bought software from other companies (or just bought the company) and also licensed existing plugins from 3rd parties so they come included with the basic install. Along the way, some older plugins have been superseded and others have duplicate functionality. In recent years, Adobe HAVE started to address this issue, by introducing the “Obsolete” menu. And while there is the potential to do more with the way duplicate functions are handled – and they confused a lot of people by changing the Gaussian Blur and Fast Blur effects recently – they seem to at least be aware of the problem. Verdict: Well I guess they’ve made a start.

a button to move a layer to the centre of the composition

While After Effects has had an “align” panel for a long time, it was overhauled with CS 5 and gained the ability to align layers relative to the composition. Technically, to centre a layer you have to click twice – once for the horizontal and once for the vertical axis – but we’ll give Adobe a tick for this one.

Verdict: Yes thanks Adobe!

a button to reset the anchor point of a layer to the centre

a button to add a keyframe from within the effects palette

These requests are perfect examples of the types of workflow enhancements I was looking for, when I made the analogy between Apple’s approach to Snow Leopard and what I thought Adobe could do with After Effects. They sound so simple yet so useful – but so far neither of these features has been added.

Verdict: No, not yet. But check AEscripts…

a histogram in the “curves” effect

A lot of After Effects users – myself included – complained about the “old” curves effect. It wasn’t that great, and when benchmarked against the “levels” effect it was incredibly slow. In a rare move, Adobe publically announced they were going to completely overhaul the Curves effect and even asked for suggestions as to how it could be better. The “new” curves effect is fast, has a great scalable interface, and is generally much easier to use. While it doesn’t have all of the features everyone may have asked for, it’s vastly improved over the old one. I use it every day. But does it have a histogram? No, no it doesn’t…

Verdict: Still waiting… if they haven’t done it now, they’ll probably never do it. I’ll just keep on using the levels effect after the curves effect just for the histogram…

give all plugins a consistent edge crop and blend-with-original option (like the way all Tinderbox plugins do)

Tinderbox was one of the first 3rd party plugins I owned, but they were sadly bought by GenArts and then discontinued (I assume some of the technology made its way into Sapphire, GenArts existing plugin range). One feature that helped make the Tinderbox plugins feel professional was the way every plugin had identical controls to crop edges, resize the layer if needed, and to blend with the original image. While some After Effects plugins have some of these features, it was the consistency across all Tinderbox plugins which helped them feel like a high-end tool.

Compositing options – I love them!

Adobe addressed this with the CC 2014 release – which gave all effects a “compositing option” to fade the strength of the effect, and also the ability to use masks to isolate where an effect was applied to an image.

In CC 2017, Adobe went one step further and now every plugin that references another layer can now be controlled to see the layer either before or after effects have been applied.

Verdict: Yes thank you! The “compositing options” are very powerful and the improvements to compound effects in CC 2017 were an unexpected bonus.

a depth shadow effect (not sure what this means, maybe an extruded shadow, not a drop shadow?)

Remembering that this list is a bunch of suggestions from several people, I’m not actually sure what the person who suggested “depth shadow” really meant. But since After Effects introduced Layer Styles from Photoshop, which offer more options for shadows (as well as bevels and all the other layer style goodness) I’m going to assume that’s what they meant.

Verdict: Well we got layer styles, which are pretty cool. I guess that’s what you meant?

Fonts & Type:

a reset button on the character palette (but please don’t reset the font, it’s annoying)

If you’re jumping between different motion graphics projects, it’s common to be working with many different fonts, and many different character settings. Font size, leading, tracking and so on can be radically different between projects and when changing to another project it can be easy to miss settings in the character palette that should have been adjusted. Maybe (just hypothetically… it happened to a friend of mine) you’ve spent hours working on an awesome typography layout only to realize that all the text is superscript… or faux bold… or set to 110% wide. A quick button to reset the character palette would help avoid these sorts of issues.

While there isn’t a clickable button to reset all of the parameters in the character panel, you can choose reset from the character palette’s contextual menu. I’m not sure if this has always been there, but it’s good to know. The fact that the person who requested this specifically asked for the reset button not to reset the font suggests they knew about the menu option but really, really wanted a button to press.

Verdict: There’s a reset option in the contextual menu, but whoever suggested this really wanted a button.

keyframable text palette parameters

Animating text is one of the core uses for After Effects, and so it stands to reason that the text animation tools are incredibly powerful. The problem is that they are SO powerful that even basic text animation can be complicated, or just plain overwhelming. Common text treatments such as animated tracking require the user to manually add a text animator and potentially deal with selecting ranges and so on. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to animate simple parameters like font size, leading and tracking without having to dive into the world of text animators? To date, Adobe hasn’t agreed.

Verdict: Still waiting…

make the default kerning optical (PLEASE! At least an option in preferences…)

In my experience, optical kerning nearly always looks better.

Verdict: Still waiting…

include fonts with the “collect files” function

Such a common and obvious request, and I can only assume that the reason it hasn’t been done is to do with legal issues surrounding the distribution of fonts. It’s also possible that Adobe’s push to the Creative Cloud TypeKit means they see that as a solution for font problems.

Verdict: Still waiting…

put all fonts used in a project at the top of the font list (as well as in alphabetical order)

Seriously Adobe, frickin’ accountants using frickin’ spreadsheets had it better than us for years!

This is something that Microsoft Office products have done for years, and it’s great. Especially for those of us who spend weeks at a time working with the same font, or sets of fonts, it’s amazing that an application that is used so heavily for text animation has lacked an easy way to identify which fonts are being used in the current project.

Verdict: Hooray! Thanks Adobe, they’ve overhauled fonts and the font menu with the latest release.

Masks

keyframable/ trackable mask axis

While Adobe have continued to add features to masks since it was released, it’s been up to 3rd party scripts to fill various voids and enable new ways to manipulate or work with masks. While there was a time when you could only have one mask per layer, the most recent release of After Effects now provides access to individual path points on a mask through expressions.

Verdict: Yes thanks Adobe! Christmas came early this year.

per-vertex mask feather

This powerful feature was added in CS 6. My own personal observation, however, is that lots of people asked for it but when it finally arrived not so many people actually used it. When you need it, though, it’s invaluable.

Verdict: Yes thanks Adobe! It’s there for when we need it.

Animation

separate X,Y & Z position keyframes

Verdict: Yes thanks Adobe!

adjust and save your own “ease” settings as keyframe assistants

The velocity of keyframes is what gives animation its personality. You could say that the “design” in motion graphics design comes down to velocity curves. While the default “easy ease” helps make animations smoother with the press of a button (I press F9 many time a day…) the default values can make your animations feel a bit generic. Being able to set and save presets for your own favourite “ease” settings would be a huge bonus, and if you have a project where the overall “feel” comes from using specific velocity curve values, it would save lots of tedious clicking and typing.

Verdict: Still waiting…

solids have their colour keyframable without using the fill effect

At first glance this might seem like a flippant request, but remember that this list was made in 2008 and After Effects CS3 was a lot more restrictive than it is now in terms of rendering order and the way compound effects worked (and see above for the compositing options now available). But in 2008 there would have been cases where changing the colour of a solid without having to use an effect would have been very useful. So while it’s clear that this feature hasn’t been implemented, other more significant features to the After Effects rendering pipeline have possibly made this request redundant.

Verdict: Still waiting, but we’ll give Adobe a pass on this one

Preferences

user-defined keyboard shortcuts

With so many apps offering this feature there’s little to add except to note how long it’s taken to arrive. The very latest release, CC 2018, finally brings keyboard mapping to After Effects.

Verdict: Yes thanks Adobe! Christmas came early this year.

adding a preference for the level of detail used by pixelmotion, so you can adjust the quality of time-remapped footage without resorting to using Timewarp.

This is an interesting suggestion, but it will need some explanation. When Adobe licensed the technology behind The Foundry’s “Kronos” plugin and introduced it to After Effects, they also introduced a level of ambiguity and misunderstanding with their terminology. Firstly, there’s the “timewarp” effect, applied to a layer from the effects menu. But there’s also the term “pixelmotion”, which is enabled by cycling through the frame-blending options in the timeline window. Behind the scenes, they’re doing the same thing – you can think of “pixelmotion” as the timewarp effect, but instead of being applied as an effect and being controlled by the parameters in the effects palette, it’s automatically and invisibly enabled by setting the frame-blending button to the appropriate setting.

But as anyone who has ever used pixelmotion/timewarp can tell you – the results aren’t always perfect. But if a layer isn’t rendering quite right with pixelmotion, the next step is to jump into the full-blown timewarp effect and play around with all the parameters. Wouldn’t it be nice and easy if there was a simple way of adjusting some of the pixelmotion settings globally, in the preferences panel, so that the user has a basic level of control over pixel motion. That way, minor artefacts can be fixed without having to change to the timewarp effect.

Verdict: Still waiting…

re-ordering queued items in the render queue when the current render is paused

Once you hit that “render” button, After Effects effectively locks you out of doing anything else until it’s finished. If you have lots of long, intensive compositions queued up then this can mean leaving your machine running for hours, or even overnight. Unfortunately, if your priorities change after you’ve started rendering and you want to change the order that compositions are rendered, you have to stop the whole process in order to be able to move items in the queue. It would save a lot of frustration if you could change the order of queued up renders without having to stop the current one.

Verdict: Still waiting…

saving or locking old render queue information

The render queue isn’t just a blue bar that shows how long you’ve got to watch cats on YouTube before you can get back to work. It’s also a record of what you’ve rendered, where you’ve rendered it to, and when you did it. Looking through the render queue panel can solve the mystery of how to fill in your timesheets, where to find that file you’ve lost, or whether “final final” came before or after “final master fixed”. Being able to save the render queue information or even lock it (locking in file paths for compositions would be very useful) allows this valuable data to be saved for future reference.

Verdict: Still waiting…

overhaul the “Pre-compose” function, at the very least to include options for the behaviors which are currently only available through scripts

If it wasn’t for AEscripts, I would be insane by now…

Pre-composing can be a necessary evil in After Effects, but for such a fundamental workflow tool the options were always limited. With many 3rd party scripts available to add more power and functionality to After Effects’ basic functionality, Adobe added a trim feature to CC 2014, but nothing more. Luckily, there are all sorts of 3rd party scripts out there to help you pre-compose exactly as you want to.

Verdict: Still waiting… best to head over to AEscripts.

an integrated scripting/ expressions environment

Expressions – love them or hate them, they’re essential to many people. But despite their power, you’re still stuck with a simple text box that’s not even easy to resize. If you move up to scripting, at least you have the Adobe ExtendScript toolkit app to help things feel more professional – but it’s hardly integrated with After Effects itself. Many users find expressions and scripting hard enough without being restricted to a tiny text box that has basic problems with copying & pasting text. It could be better…

Verdict: Still waiting for it to be easier to write expressions. The ExtendScript Toolkit is OK for scripters, but not exactly integrated.

3D reflections

Difficult to comment on this one. On one hand, obviously Adobe hasn’t given us 3D reflections inside the After Effects timeline. As After Effects is basically a 2D transformation engine, it’s unlikely they ever will. But they have given us increasingly powerful Cinema 4D integration, and bundled the lite version with the basic AE install. So if you think of Cinema 4D as the solution to this feature request, then Adobe have delivered it with bells on.

Verdict: I’ll just say a big thank you for the Cinema 4D integration.

real time scopes in Synthetic Aperture

Color Finesse is awesome but its integration with After Effects has never felt completely seamless. But the real problem with this request is that it depends on what you mean by “real time”. After Effects isn’t a real-time app, although there’s RAM previews. I do use Colour Finesse a bit and from what I can see, the scopes do update when you play clips within the colour finesse interface – but the playback itself is hardly what you would call real-time. But maybe that in itself is an improvement from 2008. I just don’t know.

However when Adobe released CC 2017 they included Lumetri, a new colour correction tool ported over from Premiere that brings scopes to the regular AE interface. Hooray! I’m going to guess that Lumetri is the future…

Verdict: I don’t know about Colour Finesse, but we got Lumetri. Close enough?

dynamic project structure system, with project folders linked to the file system

This is one of those power-features that makes perfect sense to one group of users, but probably has others scratching their head. Basically, this request means that instead of each user manually organizing their After Effects project by creating and naming folders, importing assets etc etc, After Effects would do this all automatically by copying the folder structure and files from somewhere on your computer. If you’re working on a network drive and someone adds a new folder or a new render on the network, everyone’s After Effects project would automatically (dynamically) update and maintain sync with the master folder. If this sounds useful then let Adobe know, because they haven’t implemented this yet.

Verdict: Still waiting…

And finally…

LAYER GROUPS

Yeah. Ha. Well somehow I’ve written 3,000 words on all these feature requests to date, and I could easily write another 3,000 just on layer groups alone. But let’s just say – they’re still not here. Let’s hope it’s not another 8 years before we finally get them.

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

So it’s approaching ten years since that list was emailed to Adobe and much has changed since then. The integration with Premiere has created entire new workflows for some users, and the integration with Cinema 4D has had – and will continue to have – a major impact on the motion graphics industry. And in 2008 who thought VR would become a thing?

But there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Sometimes, those of us who rely on After Effects every working day don’t need or even want the next big headline feature. We just want a few little tweaks to the sorts of inefficient things that we continue to do every day, to help make our lives easier. And layer groups. We really want them.

I’ll dive into CC 2018 over the next few weeks and no doubt I’ll notice many improvements and new features. But there’s always room to go back to the very basics of how After Effects works and make those little tweaks. Are you listening, Adobe?

The post After Effects: revisiting feature requests from 2008 appeared first on ProVideo Coalition.

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comicteaparty · 6 years

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March 14th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on March 14th, 2019, from 5PM - 7PM PDT. The chat focused on Sketch Dump by Aleks Stock.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Sketch Dump by Aleks Stock~! (https://sketchdump.org/)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

one scene i particularly enjoyed was the scene where its revealed clear as day, no holds bar that Iladyl is a slave. https://sketchdump.org/post/179755402309/sketch-dump-c02p06-i-wanna-hug-iladyl-qaq the way its revealed is so straight forward but so simple really works i think. cause its just treated as a fact of life and that is indeed how it would be for the world.

i also loved the animated shattered screen effect because its both grounded in familiarity yet the way its illustrated kind of gives it that scifi fantasy tech feel that lets you know that nope, definitely not from earth

i also find the scene where Brogod meets Jen to be kind of fascinating. mostly cause i think Brogod is an interesting character since his first inclination is to make contact and help. meanwhile in the "real" world, cause i get the impression of simulation, his brain seems to be kind of exploding. but mostly i like it for the interactions cause its not the first reaction you really expect when meeting some crazy alien entity in a weirdo simulation world of sorts.

khkddn

im not done reading through the archive but i really like the scene in the beginning where the lights are flickering, it looks so cool

RebelVampire

yes i think the lighting effects are pretty cool. especially cause of how its animated because the animation kind of feels like the world is glitching. which fits with the whole world we see jenna in later

ezzy

i also like the beginning scene with the séance. just nice to see the characters fucking around. it really gives you the sense that they've known each other for a while

khkddn

it's a great artstyle overall, love it

ezzy

same!

khkddn

yeah i liked seeing the characters interacting too during the seance, some good moments there(edited)

ezzy

i love any sort of multimedia webcomic but the use of animations is rly good

it makes the world a little more vibrant

RebelVampire

yeah i agree it is really great to see the characters kind of just being them. no life threatening quest. no world to save. just a silly seance thing as an excuse to get together, hang out, maybe get some food later. i think it was a good way to introduce them since it gave more breather time to get to know them.

ezzy

i like the little hints that there's more to the characters, like that dudes scar

RebelVampire

yes or some of the subtle looks passed between certain individuals. it was interesting to see a little back history at play that we dont get to know about yet

ezzy

it really makes you want to read more

khkddn

all caught up now! definitely agree w @RebelVampire about the scene revealing Iladyl is a slave. a few pages prior to that i think lyral says something to the effect of "i stole you" which i didn't understand at first but once it got to that page i was like ohhhh

RebelVampire

haha i kind of suspected from that line but it was one of those lines that makes you go "hmm maybe not"

and then the story said nope, it was the worst thing you could expect

khkddn

harsh, harsh reality

RebelVampire

although im really curious about what gave it away. like i assume the horns or something, but im not sure what about them announced "slave over here everybody"

khkddn

i think it was the horns, since there is a panel focusing on them when those people say to leave the slave alone

maybe the hair color too but idk

RebelVampire

QUESTION 2. At the start of the comic, we’re introduced to a slew of colorful characters. Which of the characters shown so far caught your eye the most? What about that character in particular interests you? Further, which of the character dynamics intrigued you the most? From what has been shown so far, especially of the human cast, what do you make of everyone’s relationship with each other? How do you think this devil summoning ritual began, and why is everyone simultaneously showing up and being grumpy about showing up? What do you make of every character’s choice of sins, and in what ways do you think that might come into play later?

ezzy

i like jake and jen a lot, mostly based off their designs

RebelVampire

while brogod definitely interests me, i think the character who caught my eye the most was Jake. Of all the humans he seemed the most down to earth and cool. that and of all the characters jack couldve called at the beginning, he calls jake. and that really makes me want to know their past relationship history cause who you choose ot call first is pretty revealing.

ezzy

i think there's a lot of things being set up for the future and i'm rly interested in seeing where it's going

obviously these are characters who've known each other for a good while and have their own rituals and inter-relationships

the devil summoning is being done for the sake of ritual rather than anyone (besides jackson) caring about the results

so i guess it will be interesting to see why it worked this time and how it will shake up their relationships now that its worked

RebelVampire

yes, definitely. cause if this doesnt test their friendships, nothing will XD

there definitely is a lot of character stuff being set up though

i think from the opening scene the character im most worried about sin wise is allen. cause allen chose sloth and life and while jake played it off as him just being a millenial, umm, yeah. i mean you dont pick life as a sin for nothing

which since allen is the one with the scar

maybe hes got a serious case of survivors guilt

and survived something horrific

khkddn

im really curious about that scar, since it seems like he makes a bigger deal of it than anyone else

RebelVampire

yeah especially when it really isnt that bad of a scar

so theres gotta be emotional ties to it

and not just vanity

since vanity is a sin and was not the one he picked

ezzy

oooh i didn't make the connection between the scar and the sin he picked

khkddn

if there is a connection, it could go multiple ways. maybe it was a situation where he got the scar through inaction, or maybe something happened to him that made him a more passive person

RebelVampire

that could be too

that would combine it well with sloth

the character dynamic i think i want to know most about is blake and ana. cause of this page https://sketchdump.org/tagged/comic/chrono/page/13

there are so many ways to read that conversation and that look

khkddn

oh that's true, i didn't notice that the first time reading through

ezzy

(can i just say i really like the composition of that page)

RebelVampire

yes, i love the visual flow on this page, the slight animation, and all the shot choices. it was a really good build up for that look

ill also point out blake wrote love as his sin

so that is a blush

khkddn

the was blake is in the second panel vs the last panel are super different. if it's related to why he picked love, then i wonder why he and ana haven't haven't seen each other in a while (based on the "long time no see")

RebelVampire

ok wait. im rereading this and the papers are sin and sacrifice. so love isnt the implied sin but what blake wants to sacrifice

so is it like...ana is his ex hes still in love with but he wants to move on?

khkddn

hm that would explain them not seeing each other

RebelVampire

yes and the awkward response from blake

ezzy

oooh

RebelVampire

if life is allen's sacrifice, then thats even worse tho and stands to reason that hes probably guilty of inaction

QUESTION 3. Within the comic, an “innocent” devil summoning seems to go horrifically wrong. What do you think exactly happened to everyone involved? Why did this summoning go so awry, and why did none of the other attempts before have the same results? How does all this tie into what Brogod was doing regarding summoning and translating? Did Brogod somehow cause what happened to the human gang, or were both sides victims? Also, why was Brogod found unconscious and barely breathing after making contact with Jen? What’s even going on with Jen? Lastly, do you think Brogod is okay and, if so, will Brogod try to make contact again?

I do think Brogod was responsible for why everything went awry. Cause its like he was trying to summon the summoner which probably created an extreme magical paradox

ezzy

my guess is that the two "summonings" happening at the same time is what caused everything to go all whoopsy-fucky

khkddn

i think the previous seances never worked because each time, there wasn't someone like brogod on the other end doing their own seance

it's weird that brogod got all messed up but the humans didn't. maybe it's because there was one of him and seven of them?

RebelVampire

i assume brogod got messed up more from making contact with jen

rather than the seance itself causing it

like had he bailed and said "no lets not talk to this person" he mightve been fine?

ezzy

i think the thing with jen is like... either happenning in his head or he's like projecting his conscious to another plane and thats why he's fountaining blood

RebelVampire

yeah

i got the simulation impression

like brogod was tapping into another world

another world i would not be surprised was purgatory or something

whereas the humans got physically transported

simulation world also cause last i checked human eyes dont glow blue like that

unless jen was secretly a cyborg all along

khkddn

im trying to figure out what jen is saying in the non-translated parts.... too hard >_>

RebelVampire

by process of elimination i believe jen was the one who chose to sacrifice limb, so i hope that thing brogod put on her doesnt have long term consequences

khkddn

sacrificing limb sounds pretty straightforward in terms of making it literal, wouldn't want to pick that one

the only non-translated part i think i understand is the one on this page https://sketchdump.org/tagged/comic/chrono/page/32

p sure she's saying something about his tail

RebelVampire

makes sense

i can read "That's a

but the rest i cant figure out

im really curious why brogod seemed to have all those translation bug things as the thematic colors we keep seeing to represent each character

khkddn

they also flew away into the void (i think they did, he tried to catch them) so im wondering where those lil things went

RebelVampire

i mean the most likely conclusion is to the other characters

considering in the latest page we can confirm emily made contact

and clearly the language barrier would still apply without help

ezzy

yeah, it would be silly to have the characters run around without being able to speak the language

so thats a neat solution

RebelVampire

also interesting. cause magic shenanigans must be at work

i do think brogod is gonna be fine and be back again to figure out wtf is going on. cause i think after he wakes up he might realize he had something to do with it. or hell make contact with jen and gleam info about their situation and go "whoops"

ezzy

im really curious about what's gonna happen lmao

RebelVampire

QUESTION 4. As the comic has only gotten so far, there’s a lot of speculation to be had about the future. Do you think the human gang will ultimately get back to their homes? At the very least, do you think they’ll at least be able to find each other given they all seem to be quite separated? How do you think Iladyl will be involved with the plot considering his friend seemed to have located Emily? Why is the friend interested in involving Iladyl in the first place? Do you think everyone else has made contact with someone like Emily and Jen? On a different note, what about the world interests you the most right now? Finally, in general, what sorts of conflicts, events, or anything else are you hoping to see or think might happen?

so in line with the topic of sin and sacrifice earlier, im really concerned ana is gonna die. cause thats one way to sacrifice love

ezzy

i feel like they'll be separated for a long time and will have to deal with their relationships while being apart and thrust into a new and foreign situation

you know, like college

RebelVampire

yeah i dont think theyll find each other anytime soon. although the characters who know them may find them. like maybe brogod will find Iladyl's friend and they can chat about their alien friends. but i assume the humans are kind of like in pockets where they cant make contact with each other until theyre out in the actual physical world where there isnt a white void everywhere.

ezzy

they'll probably have to reevaluate their relationships under duress and will be different people by the time they see each other again

RebelVampire

yes, definitely. i mean not even their relationships. theyre gonna have to evaluate themselves cause they all seem to be early 20s or younger with exception to jake who seems to be working at a hospital

tho exception in the sense that im not sure what his job is there

ezzy

the description does say 2 teens and a number of young adults

i wanna say five but i cant fucking count

RebelVampire

i assume most of them are around jack's age

again minus jake

cause it really depends on what jake does

cause if hes a nurse or doctor or something hed be a lot older cause med school takes a long ass time

ezzy

if hes a nurse he might be younger i think(edited)

because nursing school doesnt take as long

RebelVampire

true. but tbf jake could also be some sort of genius and did the whole college thing at 10. hes mostly just the wildcard i wont put eggs into the basket

on a different topic, i bet the others are not having as great as time as jenna or emily. cause i will be surprised if they all manage to meet someone who legitimately wants to help them

ezzy

my guess is that theyre all within 4 years of each other

it will be interesting to see if they all have like... a demon counterpart to play off of

RebelVampire

i think thats plausible, just all their demon counterparts might not be the best of ppl. like knowing slaves are a thing in this world makes me think one of them is kind of destined for it

ezzy

yep

RebelVampire

the bit of world im most intrigued by is from this page https://sketchdump.org/post/174655505354/sketch-dump-c01p24-minor-seizure where brogod gets mad about almost damaging the most priceless artifact in the palace. cause i cant decide what hes talking about, although i assume its the lighter. and if so, wtf happened in the world that its the most priceless artifact

alternative could be talking about the computer, but considering technology seems rampant idk

khkddn

it does look like an ordinary lighter, but who knows

(ordinary lighter w blue fire, that is)

ezzy

hmm the computer says something about a gift and lyddal(?) also mentioned a soul gift

maybe its a soul lighter

lladyl lmao

RebelVampire

hmm that could be

but now that tells me why the friend probably wanted to get Iladyl involved

maybe Iladyl's soul gift is something that will help

with emily

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Aleks Stock, as well, for making Sketch Dump. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Aleks Stock’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: https://sketchdump.org/

Aleks Stock’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sketchdump

Sketch Dump’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sketchdumpcomic

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic bookclub #webcomic book club #comic tea party #ctp #sketch dump #aleks stock

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