#i have a few original things in my files that i haven't really looked at in a while too

[therulerofallpotatos]

I’m seriously considering setting up something to write original works as a second job online. Idk if I’d get a patreon or make a side blog here or what, but the general idea would be to take requests and set up payments. I don’t know if anyone would be interested and it’s a bit intimidating figuring out the details of setting it up. Ideally, people could send in requests and I’d be able to write something within a reasonable amount of time.

[leftneb]

There is Something Seriously Wrong with this Logo..... Chapter Two

So. Lots of you have seen this post by my dear partner ( @lailau7904 ) in which the Williams F1 design team get absolutely torn to bits. In the case you haven't read it yet I highly recommend you do because a) it's really fucking funny and b) it makes what I'm about to tell you even funnier. Though you don't have to, this post touches on entirely different things still regarding this one goddamn logo.

The original post starts like this:

Innocent enough, we made an assumption in good faith that the logo displayed on the Wikipedia page would be the same one as the official version used by Williams. Buckle the fuck up because I'm about to tell you why that was the worst mistake we could have made.

Please. Please I beg of you keep reading this took YEARS off our lifespans. Like the original post was fun and all but it was merely the top of the iceberg. If this were an hbomberguy video this would be the part where he reveals that the background was a greenscreen the whole time. More below the cut!!! :333

The Truth

Already after only a few hours after hitting "post" on the dissection, people started pointing out to us that we'd missed an absolutely crucial detail on the Wikimedia page we got the logo from, pay careful attention:

See THIS?

Yeah this means that that image is not, and never was, the official logo of Williams. All along it had been the work of a Wikipedia user by the name of Juanchocarbonero. Here you can even see the (admittedly painful) history of the file as provided by Wikimedia, this image was uploaded all the way back in 2016, it even underwent an update when the team changed their colour scheme to a lighter blue without getting fucking fixed.

But to me the absolutely most painful part about this page is the "File Usage" section. Which gives you a quick preview of just how deep the goddamn disease that is this piece of graphic design sin really spreads.

And just to clarify: the official version of the logo used by Williams on merch etc is perfectly fine. It's a nice piece of graphic design. I still quite like it. But the story doesn't end there. Not even close.

Consequences

When you look up "williams logo" on Google the image provided by Wikimedia the very first result that pops up, if you're looking for a high-quality .png of this logo that, logically, is what you'll end up using. And I mean, why wouldn't you? What reason do you have not to use it? As long as you don't look to close (oops) it's a perfectly fine, high-definition, clean and transparent image of the logo! No shit people are going to use it!

But this raises a question: Why IS it the most widespread version of the logo? That's fucking weird isn't it? Surely if the actual logo used on ex.: the official Williams F1 website (which, again, is perfectly fucking fine) was available they would've just used that, right?

Now. Small problem. If you want you can go ahead and open whatever search engine you use, if you do that I'm gonna need you to type in "Williams logo" into the search bar, and just try finding a picture that is

of the actual official logo (you can tell the bootleg from the real thing by checking if the middle segment of the W has spiky ends or flat ones. We're looking for flat ones here)

high quality (no pixels or blurring visible to the naked eye)

a transparent png (none of that chequered background bullshit)

NOT a logo with any words (such as: Williams or Racing) visible in it. those don't count.

If you didn't feel like doing any of that, I'll just tell you the answer: you fucking can't. Nothing like that EXISTS. The closest I could get are these two, both of which are mid to ass quality, so they don't count either.

No sensible individual is going to scroll google search results for 5 minutes straight just so they can use a 200x200 image, especially when they think a perfect alternative is right there.

I even found several recoloured versions of the diseased logo, including one as a sticker on Redbubble! Fuck me that's a horrible sight!

The Search

Because I wrote the previous paragrahps after we'd figured out exactly what had happened, you might be under the impression that by this point in trying to answer the question "Why the fuck is that image on Wikipedia instead of, idk, the real fucking thing?" we'd at least established the existence of said "real Williams F1 logo". You'd be wrong, because for somewhere around 24 hours after we'd made the initial, horrifying discovery of just how fucked the Wikipedia version is, we genuinely could not tell if that was the official logo or not.

The ones displayed on their website weren't at all downloadable or even copyable, a non-ass quality of the damn thing just didn't seem to exist anywhere, so we didn't dare draw any conclusions. And we were still foolishly operating on the assumption that Wikipedia wouldn't just lie to us. (this is why your teachers hate it when you use it a source btw. like this is the ONE time it's actually been reasonable)

So, in the hopes of finding the offical Williams Racing logo, the non-scuffed one because clearly it exists, somewhere, we consulted an expert on Intellectual Property: my mother!

What this "consultation" actually roughly looked like was: we went on a walk and I started rambling about the Situation from Last Night before she cut me off and pulled up the website of the World Intellectual Property Organisation, aka the place they store all the Copyright information of like, everything.

BEHOLD:

(pictured; THE ACTUAL FUCKING LOGO I CANNOT BELIEVE IT'S EXISTED THIS WHOLE TIME)

Link to the actual real official legal document because goddamn this rabbithole just kept getting deeper so I like, have that now.

For refence, here is the official copyrighted version and the Wikimedia file overlayed on top of each other. As you can tell, it's disgusting. It's a poor, eyeballed imitation at best.

The copyrighted logo is horrifically low quality because, guess what, that image also isn't downloadable or copyable from the page. I really really cannot blame Juanchocarbonero for uploading his own version to Wikimedia because there legitimately does not exist a version of this logo that is freely available to the public. Like that goddamn abomiation is all we have. It's the effort that counts I guess.

My mother suggested that a possible reason for this could be avoiding the production of knockoff merch, or at least making it recognisable in case it is sold. Think about it, when your logo Doesn't Exist online, no one can use it without a license! It's kind of genius! I'm also about 99% sure they didn't orchestrate it so, it was good luck I guess?

interlude: How the FUCK does Copyright even work

I did immediately think to myself "we should REALLY fix the wikipedia version, like, stat" because I cannot in good conscience have this information available to me and not do anything with it, for the good of the people. However, this poses an issue: was the logo really not scuffed on purpose? Could it be that that version uploaded to Wikipedia isn't a 1:1 of the official logo because of copyrighting issues? To find out I had to look deeper, by comparing the official, website-available logos of various other F1 teams I came to conclusion that: [........................]

Yeah so I wrote that paragraph before actually checking for refences, but even after probably an hour of trying very hard to make sense of the copyright documents and copyright law in general we could not make sense of any of it. According to my mother (again, the closest we have to an expert, like she actually works with copyright in the context of companies but she's not specifically an IP expert. just to clarify) it's actually a lot worse for Wikipedia to have a falsified version of the Williams logo, than it would be to use the copyrighted version. This is because they're spreading misinformation by pretending that's the actual logo. And yet.

According to the Copyright Tag (the one on the top) in the Licensing section of the Wikimedia page for the thing pretending to be the Williams F1 logo, it's fine to use it because just a bunch of shapes. The thing is however, that it says that for pretty much every F1 team's logo, most of which are sourced straight from the official website. So this doesn't really mean anything tbh. According to our local expert (still my mother) it's fucking confusing. So I've decided to leave that at that.

update October 20th: as far as the Wikimedia pages on copyrighting tell me, uploading the official logo could, potentially, get me into serious legal trouble with Williams because of copyright laws. Which is still confusing because as said, every other team's logo is sitting uncontested on their respective Wikipedia pages. So basically we still don't know.

Okay. Backtrack. We forgot to ask something very important:

HOW?

HOW does one fuck up a perfectly fine logo THAT BAD.

WHY does one make their own scuffed tracejob and HOW does it end up like THAT. Clearly something must have gone horrifically wrong for it to end up like that.

I have a theory as to what might have happened:

It was either drawn or painted by hand, for a physical paintjob it's actually sort of impressively precise, but still objectively fucked. For a while I outright refused to believe that it could have been done in a digital program with the types of mistakes that were made, but you'll see this theory (partially) disproven later on so I retract it for now.

Operating on the assumption that it wasn't done digitally, a likely theory could be one involving a picture of scan of the paintjob. If the picture was taken at an angle or the logo itself was on a curved surface that COULD potentially explain the weird sort of slide everything has to it.

From then the picture might have been inserted into a digital art program, and the area of the logo might have been automatically selected using the magic wand tool, which could explain the weird growth at the top and that odd rounded off corner.

We also drew the conclusion that the file itself had been "tampered with" (aka cropped manually) by a human, because no computer would generate a resolution of 3356x2543 (you can that this is the original resolution on the Wikimedia page)

WAIT HOLD ON IS THAT IT?

The question of how the Fuck this guy managed to mess up the logo, and even more specifically why some edges were fine and some weren't (ant colony looking thing on the top left) bothered us so much that I at one point started just looking up "WIlliams logo" with the results filtered down to pre-2017 in an attempt to find when exactly the messed up logo was created. As if that would be any help.

Now what I definitely didn't expect to find was THIS

ENHANCE

Yes, you're seeing it right, THAT is the original 'Williams logo with the fucked up arm angles and lenghts'. Which PROVES that, contrary to our previous belief, Juancocarbonero was NOT the origin of the mistakes. Instead it was [checks notes] a DeviantArt user by the name of Nerdkid56?

The original DeviantArt post, which as of 9:47pm CET on the 13th of October 2024 I am about 90% sure is the actual first appearanace of the scuffed logo, is from May of 2015, which lines up well with the original upload date of the fucked up logo onto Wikipedia (November 2016). At the time that DeviantArt post was almost the only source for the logo.

And in the case you needed any convincing that those two logos are the same, here they are overlayed. You may notice that it's one shape (excluding the rounded corner which isn't visible at this resolution.)

This discovery is essential to understanding why the current scuffed version is the way it is. You might remember our confusion about the way some edges are fine while some are attempting to leave the image, the whole thing is a weird Frankensteinian amalgamation of vectors and magic wand mistakes. With this knowledge we can now assume that the mistakes happened in 2 layers:

Nerdkid56: likely just eyeballed the proportions. I'd guess he drew one arm before the other and flipped it around without really checking the angles. Also didn't give a shit about whether the arms lined up with the base or not. Legitimately bad design made in a digital program.

Juancocarbonero: why he used the scuffed W logo instead of the normal ones that were also perfectly accessible by 1 goddamn Google search is a mistery. HOW he even got access to it is another question I do not think we'll have answers to. And I've already explained some of the things we think may be responsible for the uneveness and bumps. Point is he fucked it up even more.

My theory for why Juanchocarbonero used the scuffed version instead of any other available picture goes like this: it was the only png he could find. Practically every other search result for "Williams Logo" that predates 2017 is a jpeg or absolute ass quality (sometimes both for good measure) so, despite it's flaws, Nedkid56's trace of it could have been the best option available at the time (the quality is actually very very good since it's a vector image, and I guess our friend Juanchocarbonero doesn't have an eye for design considering he didn't notice uhm, everything that is wrong with that model.)

Conclusion

The only way to right these wrongs is to go back, to the very beggining of this saga. Wikipedia. Williams I'm so sorry for what you've had to endure. I know what I have to do now. When I eventually make a proper vector image of the official logo and upload it to Wikimedia it'll all be over. And I WILL do it (but not rn this has already robbed me of like 3 whole days of my life. soon)

All of this is, admittedly inconsequental, but also absolutely fucking hilarious. Like imagine. you. one single guy, you make ONE mistake in a silly little "tracing this logo" project because you couldn't be arsed to check the angles of a silly little W. And some other guy, who you likely don't even know, over a whole ass year later, takes your flawed piece of design, makes it even worse somehow and uploads it to a site from which your little tiny innocent mistake becomes the most widespread version of a logo used by an actual real company worth over 700 Million US Dollars. HOW. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN. WHY HAS NO ONE FIXED THIS??? IT'S BEEN 9 YEARS

Just to give you a final look on just how widespread this plague is, here are some examples of media the fucked up version of the logo is featured in:

this Mr V's Garage video (the original reason we started this conversation in the first place)

the thumbnails of these two videos by Tommo, this one by FP1Will, and this one by RicksF1Addiction

such an amount of random places. likely fanmerch and fanart, and like, pretty much any place someone wanted to use the logo. it's everywhere. if you've ever had the Williams logo displayed in anything you've made I can guarantee you 99.9% chance you used the fucked version

and late thank you to everyone ( @bumblewyn @mid-nighttiger @vro0m @lemonsgovroom @mikraas @leclerced fucking hell I kept needing to add people to this list because compiling all of this took absurdly long) who pointed out our misconception in the reblogs of the original post and contributed to us actually looking into this further. and sorry to everyone for accidentally spreading misinformation lmao (it's too funny not to have been worth it tho) (ALSO it's not really our fault is it)

and to keep the tradition of ending on a live discord reaction:

[quasi-normalcy]

Which Star Trek series should you start with?

The Original Series: Advantages: + The one that started it all + Has some sophisticated and socially conscious science fiction that has held up exceptionally well + The lead characters all have really good chemistry and fun to see play off of one another + It's what most people probably think of when you say Star Trek (together with TNG) Disadvantages: - It can feel very dated and kind of sexist, particularly in its treatment of women - The sci-fi and social commentary may have held up, but damn it, the special effects really haven't - When TOS is bad, it's really, really bad.

The Animated Series: Advantages: + Basically just more TOS. Disadvantages: - Basically just more TOS, but substituting extremely cheap animation for bad special effects

The Next Generation: Advantages: + Probably the most popular one at this point + The crew is full of interesting characters and they're fun to spend time with + Just really smart people solving Space Mysteries + Socialist space utopia + Geordi-And-Data! + Lots of cool sci-fi concepts and social commentary + It's what most people probably think of when you say Star Trek (together with TOS) Disadvantages: - Although not in the same way as TOS, it can feel dated at times, particularly in terms of its treatment of women and it's near complete refusal to acknowledge queerness - Without wanting to bias viewer opinion, the first season is widely considered to be pretty bad - The series makes no bones about the fact that the socialist space utopia is better than every other society that has ever existed and will reiterate this point over and over again

Deep Space Nine: Advantages: + The most popular Trek series on Tumblr + Has a complete story arc, as well as arcs for all of its characters, including the extremely minor ones + Plain, simple, Garak. The humble tailor. + Garashir, if you're into that + Seriously has a really sophisticated treatment of things like post-colonial politics, anthropology, worldbuilding, and the horrors of warfare + Just the characters in general + Is the only Star Trek prior to the 2010s to even look meaningfully at queer representation Disadvantages: - Has an absolutely massive inferiority complex with respect to TNG and this drives a few poor writing decisions that seemingly exist just to poke the Socialist Space Utopia in its eye - Introduces a space religion and then just slowly turns it into Christianity with the numbers filed off - Seems to think that sexual harassment is just a quirky eccentricity - There's no women in its writers' room, and frankly it shows

Voyager: Advantages: + Probably the clearest instance of found family in space + Lots of really good episodes + Lots of fun new characters + Strong female role models + "Set a course...for home." Disadvantages: - Continuity? I never knew her! - Probably about 90% of Trek's reputation for technobabble comes from this one series - Even less queerness than TNG. - Only like...3 characters actually get arcs. - The first few seasons lean very hard into bullshit fake "Native American" spiritualism with one of the characters - How do these guys have warp drive but can't find any water?

Enterprise: Advantages: + Chronologically the first series + 90% less technobabble + The only series to plausibly frame our heroes as astronauts...on some kind of...star trek. + Still has probably the best production values of any series + Makes alien cultures of the week feel somehow richer and deeper than other series + Faith of the Heart is good, fuck you. Disadvantages: - Oh my god, the decon scenes - Seriously, if you've ever wondered what a "sexy" series written by a 14 year old boy who's only ever seen a bit of scrambled softcore porn on late-night cable would be like, this is the show for you - Somehow feels more sexist and racist than the show from the '60s - Seriously, the POC characters mostly exist to fill seats on the bridge; the women constantly have to undress themselves - Hellooooo, Bush II-era political analogies - Scott Bakula is a good actor but you wouldn't know it from this series - In season 3, they add a tambourine beat to Faith of the Heart and ruin it

Discovery: Advantages: + Noticed the lack of queer characters in the first 50 years of Star Trek canon and decided to make up for lost time + Seriously, the "Bury Your Gays" tally for this series is like...negative two + Just incredible representation in general + Some really good science fiction plots, particularly in later series + Some really fun, memorable characters + It's still running, so it has an active fandom on Tumblr Disadvantages: - Makes Elon Musk out to be one of the great visionary geniuses of history - Not really representative of Star Trek as a whole - The series swerves wildly in tone because of constant, behind-the-scenes churn in the writers' room - Offputtingly grimdark first season - Let's be honest, none of the season-long arcs have actually had satisfying conclusions - Half the cast feels like it's just there for exposition and to be killed for cheap drama

Picard: Advantages: + Has the best dramatic acting of any Star Trek series by a fair margin + Has the best musical score of any Star Trek series + Introduces a whole crew of fascinating new characters + Introduces all kinds of fascinating transhumanist concepts + AGNES. JURATI. Disadvantages: - You know all of those fascinating new characters that I mentioned? Yeah, it unceremoniously gets rid of all of them to bring back the old TNG gang. - You know that all of those fascinating transhumanist concepts that I mentioned? Yeah, it gets rid of those too so that to give us some generic action - Oh my god, someone teach the set designers to operate a fucking light switch - Grimdark - Nossssstalgia - Each season is basically unrelated to every other season - Depends so heavily on TNG that its final season is basically unwatchable if you haven't already seen a 30-year-old TV series

Lower Decks: Advantages: + It has probably the most efficient storytelling that I've ever seen; seriously, it's incredible how much it can fit into a half hour episode + It has a bunch of delightful, archetypical characters you get to know and love + You like hanging out with these people + The ship is kind of crap and you will learn to love it that way. + Basically a sitcom version of TNG. + Has a big fandom on Tumblr Disadvantages: - The art style is pretty Rick & Morty-ish - It takes most of its first season to really strike a good balance between being a sitcom and being a Star Trek series - The main character, Mariner, is kind of unlikable for the first season or so (she gets better) - Lots of callbacks to other series (though always either incidental or clearly explained) - Given that it's the first Star Trek sitcom, the comedy is honestly kinda the weakest part? Subjective I know.

Prodigy: Advantages: + Absolutely gorgeous to look at; the most visually stunning Star Trek by quite a ways + Lots of fun new characters on a cool ship + Gives you clear on-boarding notes to the Star Trek franchise if you're watching it for the first time + Can be watched on its own, but also works as a direct sequel to Voyager and a prequel to Picard (making both of them retoractively better, in fact) + Kind of like the Clone Wars or Rebels of the Star Trek universe, I guess? + Found family in space! The next generation! + Soon to be running on Netflix, so if you already have a Netflix subscription, you don't need to pay for another service + Written for a younger audience. Not necessarily an advantage, but nice if you happen to like family friendly animation or YA. Disadvantages: - *sigh* You basically need to pirate it. Thanks, Paramount. - Has a second season that we may or may not ever actually get to see even through piracy. Thanks, Paramount. - Isn't airing on the same streaming service as all of the other ones. Thanks, Paramount

Strange New Worlds: Advantages: + Basically what the original series would be if it were released today, rather than 57 years ago; all of the cool, socially consciousness sci-fi adventure, none of the weird 60s sexism + Fun, awesome characters you get to like spending time with right away + Incredible visuals + Nifty sci-fi concepts, mostly without the 90s-style technobabble Disadvantages: - A huge cast with only ten episodes a season, so many of them feel underdeveloped - Unfortunately, a bunch of its characters are younger versions of the characters from The Original Series, and they hog most of the spotlight; and the characters whose futures aren't locked in stone are kind of treated as disposable - In general, it needs to spend less time being a prequel, and more time being its own thing - "What if Starfleet ran into the Xenomorphs from Alien?" "Well, they'd probably kill them." "Okay, let's spend several episodes on this."

[sims3fiend]

Sims3SettingsSetter thing

OLD POST REALLY SORRY IF YOU BOOKMARKED THIS I'M DUMB LMAO

NEW: https://www.tumblr.com/sims3fiend/764382296987025408/sims-3-settings-setter?source=share

---

Was bored ripping my hair out trying to do optimizations so I made this instead of anything actually worthwhile. For now it's mostly just a novelty. Rushing it out as I'm at work 4x12hrs starting tomorrow :)

This is a ALPHA IT SHOULD BE SAFE BUT IT MIGHT ALSO NOT BE. Speedwriting this post as I've gotta go sleepy.

Ignore the strange names for things i-it's an alpha.

Simsfileshare

To use, have an ASI loader like this or maybe this and shove it into the folder where the sims 3 exe is. Press insert to toggle

What it does:

Renderer Flags:

This was the original idea and what this was solely going to be. I found a function that set things like wireframe and other renderer things, so I made a script for it.

Some useful things it can do are turning drop shadows off, which is nice for reshade as it lets you do a better looking AO. Some people might find the pips, scene boxes, etc. useful but idk. Some of it is neat to look at I guess.

Game Values:

Just the one for now, max lots, it's still effected by the weird range/frustum cull thing that effects shadows, so outside of that range extra lots wont load. These are going to be static values that can be edited ingame. There's a few other ones I've found like ObjectSizeCullFactor but I need to properly test them. I'll also add some informational ones that can't be changed like loaded object count, etc.

Game Config:

This is where things went off the rails…

I'm hooking two functions here to grab and set boolean and string config values directly as they're called in memory, which is important as some are overridden or altered, or aren't listed in the files at all (ForceHighLODObjects my beloved). Currently it lists mostly everything in the SGR file and some ini settings. The boolean stuff is a pretty sure bet, the strings might be overwritten elsewhere idk. Please keep in mind that some of these settings can be very damaging to your game and sanity, do not use ones you don't recognize on a save you love.

To enable the config overwrite, tick the box next to it and hit save. They won't do anything unless the box is checked.

I'll be adding tunables (like LightingCommon) into the list… eventually. Currently they're a little… weirdly/interestingly/uniquely written in the decomp'd functions I've been looking at, so I haven't been able to get their values. There's probably a really simple way of doing all of this in one of the dlls or packages or something but idk. If you know lmk.

I'll also probably try and find the in memory location of some of them, so they can be changed ingame without the need to restart.

Issues:

If you have any problems/info please message me either on discord(fleshtexture) or tumblr ! Keep in mind it's still an ALPHA (or whatever) and I haven't really tested it that extensively.

Known problems:

Config sorting is yucky

Code looks yucky, weird names for things, don't look until I rewrite!

There was a freezing issue due to how I was hooking d3d9 but I think I fixed it? Idk I've never used imgui before.

[ahgasegotarmy116]

Do it for Him | There's No Escaping Him | Jeon Jungkook

Summary: Jungkook shows what happens when you disrespect him. Pairing: Daughter in law reader x Father in Law Jungkook (Yändere) Word Count: 2.5k Warnings: Sex (I'm too lazy to put in specifics lmao), Explicit language and Yädere relationship a/n: Based off of a few asks so this is the origin story of that dress that Jungkook loves…

Series Masterlist

3 years ago...

"What are you doing here?" I ask holding the door open while balancing my daughter on my hip. "Hi baby how are you?" Jungkook coos and scoops her up out of my arms and ignoring me completely, walking them both over to her room with her babbling to him all the way.

I hate days like this. 

Where he feels like he can just show up unannounced and act as though we're some happy family together when my husband isn't here. "What do you want?" I ask once I've come to the doorway and see Jungkook and my daughter playing around on the floor.

"I just wanted to come over and spend some time with my daughter, and spend some time with her mommy too" he says looking up at me with a devious glint in his eye. "You can spend time with her but you need to leave when you're done" I say and walk off to get some food ready for her.

I go back into her room a bit later and scoop her up off the floor and take her into the kitchen without bothering to take note of Jungkook's protests. "What are you doing?" he asks trailing behind me. "Giving her some food. She eats a snack around this time of day" I say putting her down in her high chair.

"Where's the nanny?" he asks looking around to see if he can spot her anywhere. "I gave her the afternoon off. She'll be back later" I respond and put some cut up pieces of bananas on the tray and she immediately grabs one and puts it in her mouth.

"I thought she didn't like bananas" he says, looking at her with a slightly confused expression. "Babies can try out foods and not like it the first time but then love it the second and at this point she loves bananas" I answer while gazing at her lovingly, fixing the little butterfly clip I put in her hair this morning.

"But I know you didn't just come here to talk about her though so what do you want?" I ask, turning around and facing him, an uninterested expression on my face. "I want you love" he says taking a few steps towards me and grabs ahold of my hand.

"You told me that once she was born you would leave me alone" I say ripping my hand out of his grasp and taking a few steps away from my daughter so she won't hear this conversation. She's only two but you never really know what they'll remember when they grow up.

"I changed my mind" he says following me. "That wasn't part of the deal" I say in a hushed tone, glancing back over to her before bringing my attention back to him. "What deal angel? To my knowledge we haven't written up anything that states I have to abide by any rules" he says playfully. "Jungkook stop, we've already been through this once and it shouldn't have happened in the first place" I say trying to get him to come to his senses.

"Once wasn't enough for me love. There are so many things that I've been wanting to do to you ever since our last time together. I've tried to hold back but I can't anymore" he says trying to come closer but I make sure to maintain a good distance between us which leaves him stopping in his tracks.

"You're going to have to hold back because I'm not yours and you don't get to waltz up into my home and expect me to give into you just because you 'want me'. I never wanted to see you again after what we did but I have to tolerate you to keep up appearances. I'm sorry if I've made you think otherwise but that isn't going to happen again" I finish and make moves to walk back to my daughter.

"You sure about that?" he asks leaving me now halting my movements, knowing what that tone of voice means. "I'm sure my son would hate to come home with the task of having to file for a divorce after being gone for such a long time. Leaving you with absolutely nothing and taking our daughter away from you" he taunts making known that he's trapped me and I can't do anything to defend myself.

"You wouldn't dare" I say turning back around to face him, my eyes prickling with tears, now knowing the true consequence of my actions have only just begun.

"I'll text you the address. Tell the nanny you're going out for the night and you won't be back until tomorrow. Oh, you'll be receiving a package in an hour or so. Wear that" he finishes and goes up to my daughter and coos at her a bit, telling her goodbye and placing a kiss on the top of her head before walking back over to me to kiss me but I turn my face to the side leaving him placing a kiss on my cheek instead.

"See you tonight" he whispers in my ear, his breath fanning over my neck and places a kiss on it before leaving. "Bye angel" he says, his lips still ghosting against is.

"Leave" I say pushing him away but he doesn't budge in the slightest leaving me having to walk away first and going back to check on her.

He chuckles a bit at my reaction and slowly makes his way over toward the door, closing it silently behind him.

"What am I going to do?" I question and watch as my daughter plays around with the leftover food in her tray before picking her up and holding her close while unshed tears start streaming down my face.

~~~~~

Walking into the lobby donning a trench coat to cover up the ridiculous outfit Jungkook had gotten me I walk towards the elevators and press the number for the designated floor, seeing that he's booked the penthouse suite.

As the doors open I walk out and look around to see if I can find him but at first glance it seems as if he's nowhere to be found.

"You're early" he whispers in my ear making me jump and place my hand over my chest.

He brings a glass of wine around for me to grab and I accept it willingly, knowing I'm going to need every bit of it to help keep my anger at bay.

"I figured it was best to not keep you waiting" I say after taking a large gulp of my wine. "Slow down angel, we've got all night" he says refilling my glass nonetheless. "I would prefer if we got whatever you wanted over with as soon as possible" I say, walking around, trying to figure out where a bedroom might be in this place.

"Oh we're not using the bedroom tonight" he says taking hold of my wrist. "What do you mean?" I ask, knowing he has something else in mind but wanting him to voice it so I can mentally prepare myself.

"Why don't you take that coat off for me so I can see how pretty you look" he say and takes a few steps back so he can take in my full form.

I take a deep breath and open it little by little, hating the lust in his eyes that continues to darken with every growing inch of bare skin he sees. 

Dropping the coat and letting it pool around my feet he's left with the sight of me in a scantily clad silk dress that leaves little to the imagination.

"Just as I thought, you're even more gorgeous with the figure you've developed from giving birth to our daughter" he says walking over to me and taking notice of my wider hips and larger breasts. "Just stop talking" I say and decide to close the distance between us and pull him in, hating this waiting game.

He kisses me immediately and sets a faster pace, making me let out a little moan, surprised by the passion he has behind it. He holds my jaw in place and keeps our lips locked leaving me having to push him away to come up for air.

"I've missed this" he says pulling me closer to him, kissing me and walking us over to the kitchen.

He lifts me up and has me sit down on the cold counter making me take in a sharp breath at the contact. "I've been dreaming about fucking you on this counter as soon as you walked in" he growls not bothering to give me a chance to respond and instead opting to run his hand along my upper thigh and brushes his finger against my core.

"You're so obedient showing up here in this dress and now I find out that you have nothing underneath it. Look" he says pulling his fingers away, clearly wet with my arousal. "Seems like your body wants to obey me as well" I glare at him and he decides to stop talking and instead ops to get on his knees and pulls me closer to the edge of the counter.

"I've been wanting to taste you all day and it seems like this pretty little cunt wants the same thing" he says watching as I clench around nothing. He blows on it making me close my legs from the sensation of the cool air but he pulls them apart even wider than they had been before.

"Not so fast pretty. You can't run away from me already when we haven't even started" he taunts and starts to place kisses on my inner thigh, sucking a bit in an effort to leave a mark. "Don't" I say but my breath quickly hitches once he licks a long strip along my center making me automatically grab his hair to keep him close on impulse.

"No marks I know, I couldn't resist. Trust it will fade before he gets back" he says placing a kiss on the small mark he had made before going back in, making my breath hitch. "Lean back a bit" he says, getting me at a better angle so he has more access. "Good girl" he says rubbing his nose against my clit.

I push him closer needing more and he chuckles at my reaction. "Look at you, so needy yet you always swear that you don't want me". Standing up he starts to loosen his belt and take off his slacks bringing me closer to the edge again and runs him finger all along my cunt to gather up some of my arousal and uses it while he pumps himself a few times before trying to put it in. 

"Stop" I say before he has a chance to get any closer. "I'm not having another baby with you" I say looking up at him, waiting to catch his gaze. He takes a deep breath and fishes his wallet out to find a condom and holds it between two fingers. "Happy?" he says and rolls his eyes while opening the packet. 

"I would be happier if I was at home with my daughter instead of here fucking my father in law so no, I'm not happy" I say, voicing my true feelings. "You really shouldn't have said that" he chuckles under his breath before lining himself up and shoving himself inside of me. 

"Fuck!" I groan out, caught off by the burn of not being prepped. "Stop being such a fucking brat and enjoy it angel. No one is watching so there's no need to keep up appearances with me" he says brushing away one of the tears that had fell from the pain. 

"I'm not keeping up appearances with you because I fucking despise you" I say trying to breath through this so I can get my body to loosen up. It's no use though since he decides to pull almost all the way out and shoves back inside me. 

"I thought I told you to watch your mouth. If you want to act like a brat then I can fuck you like a brat. All. Night. Long" he threatens, punctuating every word with a harsh thrust to prove his point. 

I decide not to respond so I can end this pain soon and receive the pleasure he loves to give me since that's the only thing I get out of this. "Staying quiet will do you no good either, you know better than that" he says making soft eye contact with me before kissing me softly, giving me a false sense of security before he starts thrusting into me at a rough pace. 

"You'll speak when spoken to you understand?" he says and pulls me off the counter and wraps my leg around his waist before leaning my back against the wall and fucking at a different angle making me moan out at the intensity. "Yes" I choke out, feeling overwhelmed by the pace of his thrusts and his demeanor that is a new side to him I haven't seen. 

He shows me no mercy that night, fucking me on the table, on the couch, on the coffee table and anywhere else he could possibly think of until my body is spent. 

"You learned your lesson?" he says after pulling out for the last time and dragging his finger up and down my slit, not letting up on the overstimulating. "Yes, fuck. Please stop" I beg through sobs and thankfully he ends this torture that felt never ending. 

"Get some rest Angel, I'll see you again soon" he says after leaving me lying on the ground as that was the last place we finished. 

Once he's all dressed again he takes the room card in between two fingers just like he had done with the condom before and places it on the kitchen counter. "Don't worry about checking out in the morning. I booked the room for two nights so leave whenever you're ready" he finishes and walks out and into the elevator without bothering to give me a second glance. 

After taking a few deep breaths to calm my rapid heart beat I get up and limp over to the bathroom, turning on the shower and sitting with my back facing the stream of hot water pelting against my skin. 

Letting myself fall apart I'm left sobbing and curled up in a ball.' How can he be this cruel? Why can't he just leave me alone? I don't understand why he keeps on doing this to me.' Those are the thoughts that plague my mind as I try to regain some sense of reality.

My reality is a nightmare and there's no way I'm making it out of this dream without hurting everyone. I don't think I'm strong enough to see the look on their faces and I'm not sure if I ever will be. I need to do what's best for my family and at this point with the way he's acting there's no way out...

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[skyfallscotland]

Some updates since the last summary post. I didn't go to the convention on Sunday, but @caitm1 did and she said the workers told her that Rebecca's wrist swelled up from the amount of signatures she was doing (already, one day in!) and she had it taped up.

Rebecca also mentioned last night (Monday) at the second event I attended that she'd had a vestibular migraine just before and couldn't walk in a straight line a few hours ago, so I mean, I felt like I wanted to mention that first because as a chronically ill girlie I know how fucking hard it must be and I don't think a lot of fans appreciate what she does for us and how much she puts her body through.

Her signings this weekend were free and even though we paid for a ticket on Monday night, if you bought the ticket with the pre-signed book, that was at cost. $20 for a signed paperback. So yeah, just...I know it's a business, but she does a lot, ok. Don't be unappreciative of the extra mile.

Now, I recorded both Saturday's panel and Monday night's, I'm trying to figure out how to post it, but no website wants to cooperate with such a big file, so stand by, or like...help if you know tech things 💀

If you haven't seen my post with what we learned from Saturday's, it's here. Below is a summary of what we've learnt since then.

Bombshell alert: @caitm1 tells me that on Sunday, Rebecca said one of her original ideas for the end of Iron Flame was for Violet to become venin and not Xaden. *crickets* let's just take a moment here together... 😨

Honestly, I'm all for it, I low key feel like I would have liked that better, it would have been so good, but alas, we have venin-Xaden now, so we have to deal 🥲

Now, about Monday. A lot of the questions asked and things spoken about were the same as Saturday. The host picked the fan questions she asked and didn't really pick much that was plot or character related. She didn't pick any of mine and yes, I'm still mad about it. WHAT ARE THEIR NAMES

Here's the quotes, questions and tidbits I found interesting:

• Her editor for Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, is the head of Red Tower, so she's the publisher. I did not know this. I don't think I've seen this in practice before? She's also involved with the Amazon series because of this.

• "I'm not afraid of hurting you." That we already knew. 💀

• "Because we knew what had the television series when I was in edits, so we had to write out a synopsis and when I first thought it would be five books, I immediately sent the synopsis to my editor, who, you know, we sent it to Amazon because we needed to tell them; this is the definitive vision for the story. I can tell you, in Onyx Storm, I've already deviated from like...who I thought would pass in that book, as opposed to...I've already deviated some from that."

Sorry, what? Who was meant to die? My money is, as always, on Rhi or Garrick. You know I have thoughts/feelings about that. Look, if I've learned anything this weekend it's that someone important is going to die, a lot of people are going to die, ok? She's very frank about death and the realities of war and if you're worried about your favourite side characters for the next few books, well...you should be.

• She loves writing Ridoc. @yanny-77 no chance to ask about bodoc, sorry! 😂

• On Xaden and people's perception of him: "It's always funny because I always hear...he gets compared to Rhysand a lot? Xaden's like twenty-two at the beginning of Fourth Wing; Rhysand's like what? Five hundred? Ok, twenty-two, so it's very much like—it is a college. It's a college romance and that first love."

• She was surprised at how much people loved Aaric, given how little he's on-page.

• She also defended Dain again 🥳💗 #DainApologistsClub

• She expanded a little more on Jack. So perhaps what she meant on Saturday about his reasons, was simply that his reason will be touched upon in OS, but it's clear. "Jack's motivations are clear-cut, which makes him so easy to write. He's such an example of the hunger for power and what happens when you aren't selected for the power you think you deserve, which is one of the themes of Fourth Wing. So Jack's an easy character, he's straight-on."

• Are there any easter eggs that you put in the first two books that you don't think were caught by fans? "Violet's second signet! I totally thought it was obvious. Um, I did, to the point where my editor was like 'hey, we should probably put a line in here' and I was like dude no, people will catch it." Y'all know my thoughts on that so I'll stay quite over here in my corner.

Someone asked "what is it then?" and she replied, "no, no, no, now we're having fun with this, now."

• The hardest scene for her to write in Fourth Wing was the battle scene, because it was her first fantasy and so her first one. She wrote it and her editor said no, it has to be a little longer than this.

"So that was really hard for me to write, especially because in the moment she loses Liam, she has to get up and go. And I'm used to being able to give my characters this moment to grieve, this moment to take the news, this moment to absorb it and really feel it. And it's hard to get the reader to really feel that emotion when death is coming straight for you. So that was really difficult. And I was crying."

ME TOO, TBH

• If she was to describe Onyx Storm in two Taylor Swift songs, it would be Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? & So It Goes.

• If Empyrean was written in interconnected stand alones, she would have already jumped to Rhi or Imogen.

• Her favourite sections are the epigraphs that she writes above the chapter headings. "It's my most valuable real estate, the fact that you guys skip over them sometimes, I'm like—I'm wicked funny in there, ok?"

• If Violet and Xaden visited Australia, what would they do for fun? "I'd say go visit places they can't catch on fire. I guess they could find a beach." @empyrean-thrones there you go, we're on point! 😂

And that's about it! Happy theorising! 💗

It was a wild weekend, but so worth it. I was in my feelings a lot. I hope you guys get a chance to meet her or hear her speak in person one day, too 🫶

[roxtron]

Day 5: Rabbit, Reclaim

AGJGDFJF FINALLY IT'S DAY 5 SO I CAN POST THIS

For some reason everytime i draw him he looks so young because i'm accidentally overcorrecting since i'm used to drawing older characters. So unfortunately he looks way younger than i meant him to lol, whoops.

But wait there's more- AHAHAHA

While I did initially plan this for GGY week I eventually got the idea to use this as an excuse to draw other GGY designs, soo..

(Not sure why tumblr formatted it that way with 1 of them big but it doesn't matter lol)

I've been wanting to do this for a while, I put the tags of each person next to their design but ofc I'm still gonna tag them in the post itself so you can see their art for yourself if you haven't already. But I enjoyed each of these in their own ways so if you don't mind I think I'm gonna type a bit of text next to them..

@chipistrate This was one of the first I drew out of these, the design was pretty fun to draw but sorry if I messed up a few details, it was a bit difficult lol. The mask and goggles are really fun to draw and they make for a cool design, along with all the glowing blue. (and yes, I tried to subtly include the heelies lol)

@lunzi0 This was the first fursuit one I did lol. I adore the little stars in the design, they personalize it so well and make it really unique. I wanna try this design again since I feel like the other ones show my improvement a bit better, but I hope you can appreciate the effort I put in on my first attempt <3

@carouselrabbit This one was really fun to draw, I absolutely love the eye shape/lashes, it stands out and I always love drawing eyes with a bit of eyeliner lol, the daycare theme legwarmers is a cool nod to the balloon boy arcade machine being connected to them, and was just a fun addition in general lol, I like the style of legwarmers what can I say, fnaf changed my fashion sense a bit. also the subtle paraells to freddy's design is a nice way to connect a bit to gregory himself.

@puhpandas I can't remember if I talked about this design last time I drew it but, overall I'm really happy with how this came out, it's such an indicator of improvement since I started drawing this and I'm glad I was able to draw it better than last time lol. All the patchwork and similarities to Vanny's suit work really well, and the rabbit you chose to base it off of was a good fit, the colors make it a bit more difficult to shade for but i like detail lol, hope you like it too :)

@dykevanny I knew I wanted to do this since I started but I wasn't sure if I'd have time, and I'm glad I did! I hope you don't mind I combined aspects from the first design I saw and the second one you replied to my ask with, I liked the big purple sleeves lol. (I just realized after doing all the shading I forgot to include the oil splatter on his jacket, sorry!) It was definitely a bit difficult due to the head shape being so different but.. fluffy. i love drawing fluff. And the glowing swirl on the goggles, the shape of the ears, I love a lot about this design. :D

I have a hard time with writing compliments but I wanted to get some of those thoughts out, some of the things I like about these designs apply to multiple lol. I adore every one of these designs but I find it hard to put into words what I enjoy about them, hope the original creators are happy with these. <3

I also kept the ggys without as much lighting effects on a separate file, I felt like I should add them since they're a bit brighter lol, makes them look different.

Okay now that I've gotten all that- Sorry this post is so long! I didn't think it'd end up taking up so much space lol. Buut.. working on this drawing and thinking about it and potential context behind it gave me an au idea for it, but I'll put it under the cut since I understand most people probably won't care and just wanna see the drawings lol.

Idk if I'm confident enough to write for it but I'll give a bit of a summary.. I'll keep it under the cut for people who aren't interested and just wanna see the art though lol.

After the main events of SB and Ruin, now that the mimic's been set free, Cassie's taken control of by what's left of Vanny, using her as a new host. But with Cassie being the only human left alive down there, after being reawakened, Dr. Rabbit has nowhere left to go but back to his old host.

Vanessa, Freddy, and Gregory hadn't gone back to the Pizzaplex after ruin, but they were trying to figure out a plan to get Cassie back safely. One night after Freddy and Gregory disappear, Vanessa leaves to go find them. As dangerous as the pizzaplex is, it's her best guess for where they might've gone. She doesn't want to think about what could've happened to them, in denial for the worst case scenario. She tries to keep herself calm by telling herself they probably just left to go back for Cassie, maybe they didn't want her stopping them.. but deep down she knows it can't be that simple. She knows something's off, even if she's not ready to admit it.

When returning to the pizzaplex, she brought along her own V.A.N.N.I. mask, though unlike the one Cassie used, it was clear of the mimic's influence. After all, she was going to need some way to travel through potential blocked routes.

By the time she found Gregory, she'd still been wearing the mask, seeing him down the end of a dark hallway. He looked confused, afraid, his mind was a wreck of conflicting emotions. She started rushing towards him, happy to see him okay, until he finally spoke.

"You need to get out of here."

She stepped back, taking off the mask, only to be faced with the worst case scenario.

It was a wreck, covered in stains and tears, but it was still recognizable. He was wearing that old suit again.

As he waved, she could see Freddy's claws peeking out from the doorway, as the two stepped closer towards her.

So, she did what he told her to do, and started running. She could hear a faint voice coming from the mask, and put it back on before finding somewhere she could hide.

It was his voice again, telling her which way to go.

I guess that was the dramatic way to summarize the main idea behind it, lol. Basically Gregory and Dr. Rabbit work the way Sun and Moon work in Ruin, whichever one is in control in the real world, the other is left behind in the AR world. Or at least that's my interpretation of how they worked, considering Sun was always in mask-on scenes and moon was mask-off. I'm not too sure where the plot might go from there, and maybe I'll consider writing for it, I dunno. I've never wrote fanfic before because I get deadly afraid of writing them out of character lol, but maybe?? I have ideas for scenes and premise and stuff but I don't know if I have the confidence to write it.

But anyway! That was just more of a fun side-idea I came up with while working on this, if you read this far thanks, hope you enjoyed :)

here's some silly little lineless doodles as a reward for making it to the end hehe

now that's what I call an art dump

@ggyweek2024

[halfagonyandhope]

ignite the stars │ch. 22

first chapter (x); previous chapter (x)

Satine Kryze is an internationally-recognized scholar in genocide studies who recently resigned from the Department of State over her concerns regarding the agency's ethics. Ben Kenobi is a tenured professor at Georgetown University studying the use of religion to justify military conflicts. Once high school sweethearts, the two haven't spoken since parting ways for university. That is, until Satine accepts a research fellowship - at Georgetown.

---

Satine doesn’t end up sleeping at all that night. Once she explains her plan to Ben, he doesn’t sleep, either.

The next morning, they make their way to the Palais de Chaillot, a modern building at the top of a hill with a prominent view of the Eiffel Tower from its front terrace. Over three-quarters of a century ago, in 1948, the Genocide Convention had been signed within its walls.

And now, Satine will deliver her keynote address on the same stage that the Convention was signed.

They have to show identification to get inside the building, such is the number of attendees expected to be present. They go through security and are brought to an annex room adjacent to the main auditorium. Satine hands her flashdrive to the IT point of contact, and Ben squeezes her hand.

Satine wipes the sweat from her other hand on her skirt. She’s wearing her favorite business formal attire, a navy suit dress that she’d been saving money for over the past few months. Ben has assured her that she looks stunning. But she has more important things to worry about than the trifle of looks.

The IT point of contact hands Satine a PowerPoint remote. Then she and Ben are left to stand beside each other in silence, listening to the sound of people filing into the auditorium next door.

Ben kisses her jaw. “You’re ready,” he whispers.

She nods. “I know.”

And then she’s being guided to the edge of the stage, where she hears the final part of her introduction, and suddenly there’s a polite but overwhelming round of applause at her name.

Satine takes the stage.

It’s bright - almost too bright. Satine can’t really make out the audience, but she can imagine what the room looks like. She’s seen the pictures, of course, of the original signing of the Convention. She’s on the narrow stage at the front of the room, a room with rows and rows of seats and even balconies.

Satine takes a breath as the applause stops, and she smiles.

“Thank you very much for the kind introduction,” she says. “I’d also like to introduce myself. Professionally, I’m known as Satine Kryze. But I was born Sabira Ekić. When I sought asylum in Norway, my school counselors suggested Westernizing my first name to help me better acclimate among my peers, to make me stick out less. Later, I was eventually adopted by a Norwegian family, whose last name I took.”

She pauses.

“You see, I was born in Bosnia, and I’m a survivor of the genocide there.”

She dives into her history. She dives into Bosnia’s history, sparing no details of the violence that took place there.

As she moves through the slide deck, she doesn’t stutter. She doesn’t forget her words. She’s practiced this so many times that she could give this talk in a dream - or even without a night’s sleep.

So she weaves this story, her story, in her third language. And she describes her research in vague terms, the general nature of the book she’s writing. She highlights the work of other scholars. 

And then finally, as she draws her speech to a close, she quotes Asajj.

She discusses the importance of remembering genocide, of teaching about it, of making sure the survivors and victims are not forgotten. “Because if we forget,” Satine says, “then we are complicit. And that is the importance of continuing to study genocide.” She pauses. “Thank you.”

There is another round of applause, and Satine smiles graciously. There. She’d done it. 

She’d followed the script.

And as she steps out of the spotlight and into the shadows, she clicks the PowerPoint remote again, and the video she’d recorded last night - with Ben's help - begins to play.

Satine moves out of the auditorium. Ben grabs her hand and pulls her, leading her throughout the Palais de Chaillot. He walks briskly, and she matches his strides step for step. And with each step, they leave the danger behind.

The narration of the video plays in Satine’s mind as they escape.

In November of 2023, I was fired from my job at the United States Department of State after my research indicated that the American government was perpetrating genocide in armed conflicts abroad. My report of my findings was redacted and denied clearance for publication.

Satine and Ben clear the doors to the building, and he flags down a taxi. His eyes scan the throngs of tourists, keeping a look out for anyone who might be following them, trying to prevent their flight.

When I started my current position at Georgetown University, I was stalked, psychologically harassed, and physically assaulted by a man named Derren Malek, a member of Secretary of State Palpatine’s circle of advisors. I believe Malek had been assigned a Visiting Scholar position at my place of work so that he could keep Palpatine informed of my movements - to make sure I didn't reveal the true findings of my research.

Satine imagines the accompanying images now flashing up on the screen, showing the bloody book, her bloodstained blouse, and the bruises on her arms.

I reported this assault to the Georgetown University Police, and to the Georgetown University Title IX office. I received no follow-up from either regarding my case.

Ben pulls Satine into the taxi, and he gives the driver an address.

Malek was eventually fired. But the threats against me remained. The chair of my department, Dooku Serenno, himself once a graduate student of Secretary Palpatine, made clear that if I did not give this speech the way that the Secretary wanted me to, I would face personal and professional consequences. I realized the Secretary was influencing the results of my citizenship exams, both of which I failed. And yesterday, another of the Secretary’s advisory council, General Greeves, informed me that going off-script in my speech would mean my fiancé would be barred from traveling to visit me in Norway while I was barred from returning Stateside to see him.

The taxi takes off, roughly following the Seine. Satine closes her eyes, knowing that the video is now likely showing Jim Quigon’s notes.

These notes of interviews with former State Department employees - now considered persona non grata by the United States and living in Russia - detail the history of monetary compensation that Secretary Palpatine has received for inciting violence in certain regions of the world, including the region in which I concluded genocide is taking place. He has a history of silencing whistleblowers.

Satine concentrates on Ben’s hand in hers as the taxi moves them closer to their destination.

That is the importance of continuing to study genocide. If we forget, if we look the other way - then we are complicit.

Oh, what Satine would give to be a fly on the wall in that auditorium now, as her video ends.

The taxi pulls up to the Norwegian Embassy. Ben hands the driver some cash, and he pulls Satine out. A Norwegian Embassy security officer is already waiting for them, just as Satine had arranged. He checks their passports, signals for the gate to be opened, and then he rushes them indoors.

As the door closes behind them, Satine turns to the officer and addresses him in Norwegian. The words are unnecesary but she can't keep them from tumbling out.

“I’m Satine Kryze, and I’m a Norwegian citizen. My fiancé would like to declare asylum, and I'm in need of protection from political persecution.”

---

It’s chaos for a few hours after their arrival.

Satine, being a Norwegian citizen, is granted immediate protection. As she’d predicted, the Norwegian officials quickly determine her actions as a whistleblower have made her a target for persecution by the American government.

Ben’s case will take longer to decide given his American citizenship. However, Satine knows the similarities in their cases will likely mean he will also be given protection: his part in exposing the corruption had been as important as hers, after all.

There is paperwork - mounds and mounds of it - to fill out. They are shown to an office not currently being used, and Ben commandeers the desk. Satine helps Ben when she can, but mostly she ends up fielding phone calls. 

Her parents are the first.

“Are you okay?” her mother, Anette, immediately asks in Norwegian. “Where are you?”

Satine takes a deep breath, responding in the same language. “I’m fine. I’m at the Norwegian Embassy in Paris. With Ben.”

She hadn’t yet told them about reconnecting with Ben, or about their engagement, and she realizes she’s probably just given her father a heart attack. She grimaces.

“Ben?” says Peter, her father. “Is that the name of the boy you dated in high school? What’s he doing there?”

Satine sighs. This is going to take a while.

So she explains, and tries to answer her parents’ questions as best she can.

“Are you coming back to Norway, then?” asks Anette.

“I don’t know,” says Satine.

“You can’t exactly go back to the U.S. right now,” points out Peter. “You’re all over the international news. It can’t be safe for you to return there.”

Satine ponders this. Without a television, she’d been blissfully unaware of the impact her speech had had. She’s not really looking forward to finding out.

“I’ll keep you updated,” says Satine. “I’ll make sure I call you before I leave, wherever I end up going next.”

They say their goodbyes, and Satine ends the call.

“They remember me, huh?”

Satine whirls around to find Ben watching her.

“I may not understand Norwegian, but I could understand your father’s tone.”

Satine leans against the desk. “My parents know very well that you were a better influence on me than I was on you during high school. They don’t blame you for this.”

Her phone rings again.

“It’s Breha,” says Satine, and she accepts the call. “Hi,” she says cautiously.

“Oh my god, Satine - tell me you’re alright!”

And Satine repeats the conversation she’d had with her parents, this time in English. 

Eventually, after swearing a few times, Breha says, “So how long will you be in the embassy? A few days?”

“We don’t know,” Satine admits. “It depends on how quickly authorities iron things out, and - obviously - what happens Stateside.”

“Did you check out of your hotel room? Do you have clothes and necessities?”

Satine drops into an armchair on the other side of the desk. “We didn’t think that far ahead, no.”

“I’m on it,” says Breha. “Bail has a friend in Paris. I’ll get their name to the embassy so they can come and get your hotel room keys and then grab your items and bring them back to you.”

Satine stares up at the ceiling, blinking furiously, suddenly more emotional than she can explain. “Thank you, Breha.”

Breha breathes in deeply. “All of us here should be thanking you,” Breha says. “Palpatine had made it clear he wanted to stay on as SecState if the next administration was amenable. Last week, he made a comment about potentially running for president in a future cycle.”

Satine knows this, of course. It’s one of the reasons she’d decided to speak up.

Breha continues. “Bail said they just ordered an emergency meeting of the National Security Council. He’s headed to Capitol Hill himself because they’re calling an emergency meeting for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. You stirred up some shit.”

Satine drops her head into her hand. “I’d argue shit was already stirred up. I just broadcast it.”

“I mean, fair,” says Breha. “It’s good chaos, Satine. Also..."

She trails off, as though giving Satine time to prepare herself for what she's about to say.

"Bail's hearing whispers that this is big enough to get you a Nobel Peace Prize." Breha takes a deep breath. "I don't think he's wrong. Can you imagine? What a full circle moment for the Norwegian committee to be able to consider one of their own as a nominee. You'd be the first Norwegian to win in over a century."

Satine suddenly realizes she has a headache. She massages her temple as Breha continues.

"I know you know this already, but I’m proud of you. So is Bail. Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

Satine nods and says goodbye, still looking at the floor. She fills Ben in on the plan to get their things back from the hotel, and then she begins to look through her growing list of unread text messages.

As she’s responding to a text from Asajj, she receives an incoming call from Anakin. Sending the text to Asajj, she then accepts Anakin’s call.

“Hey, Satine. Do anything fun today in Paris?”

Satine’s laugh sounds a bit like a sob.

“Padma and I want to know if there’s anything we can do. You hanging in there? How’s Ben?”

She feels a warm weight on her shoulder - Ben’s hand. She looks up at him, and he takes the phone from her. Satine lets herself fall back into the chair, the exhaustion seeping deep into her bones.

“Anakin,” he says. “I’ve never been so pleased to hear your voice.”

And he fills Anakin in on what is happening and what they expect will happen. As he speaks, Satine’s eyelids grow heavy, too heavy, and she rests her head against the back of the chair.

She closes her eyes.

---

When she wakes, evening has fallen.

Ben has placed his jacket over her torso. Satine blinks, looking around. Bail’s friend had evidently already arrived and left - Satine’s and Ben’s travel bags sit by the office door. And Ben sits at the desk, eating a sandwich.

“Are you hungry?” he asks, noticing that she’s awake. “I ordered delivery.”

“Didn’t know they delivered to embassies,” says Satine. “But I’m glad they do.”

He hands her a toasted sandwich.

"It's not a Parisian delicacy," says Ben, still eating. "But it was the first place to agree to deliver here."

For all Satine cares, the sandwich might be the most delicious thing Satine has ever eaten.

“What have I missed?” Satine asks, taking another bite.

“They set an impeachment hearing for SecState,” says Ben. “Scheduled for end of October. It’s unlikely he’ll remain at State long enough for that to even take place, however. It sounds like POTUS asked for his resignation. Scuttlebutt is that if he doesn’t resign, he’ll be sacked.”

Satine takes another bite, and then another. She doesn’t trust herself to speak.

“A number of women are coming forward with stories about Malek. Enough women with enough evidence to get him arrested. He’s being held without bail.”

Satine finishes the sandwich, still ravenous. Ben hands her the other half of his, and she begins to eat this, too.

“Serenno has been placed on leave. Windu is acting chair. He called me earlier - he doesn’t seem to think Serenno will be back, so they're shuffling around classes to make sure everything is covered." He combs a hand through his hair, now more messy than Satine has ever seen it. "And General Greeves was stopped by French authorities when he tried to leave the country. He’s being held by the French until everyone can work out where he needs to go next, but his consultancy with State has apparently been terminated.”

Ben stands up and walks over to Satine, kneeling in front of her.

“So it’s over?” she asks weakly.

He takes her hands in his.

He nods. “It’s over,” he confirms.

Satine leans toward him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. His arms wrap around her torso, hands splaying over her back.

“There are some details that still need to be worked out,” Ben murmurs, “but there are talks of giving us some security until all this blows over. Breha and Bail, as well as Anakin and Padma, have both offered up spare rooms in their homes. As you know, the security they have as members of Congress…it’ll be sufficient to keep you safe.”

“We can go home?” Satine whispers, clinging to him.

Ben laughs. “Why don’t we give it a few days first, hmm? Let the dust settle.”

He pulls back, his gaze soft, so that he can look her in the eyes.

“I love you,” he says.

It’s the first time he’s said the words to her - at least, when he’s known she’s been awake - even though Satine knows he’s been dying to say them since they were eighteen.

“I know," she whispers. And then - "I love you, too,” she says.

She pulls him in for another embrace.

She feels him hum against her.

“Since you said we had a few days,” Satine says.

Ben hums again, indicating he is listening.

“Have you ever been to Norway?”

[sjsmith56]

Answers - A Private Man, Chapter 8

Summary: Bucky gets a warning from a surprising source. Tracey officially makes the decision to move in with Bucky and Rebecca.

Length: 4.2K

Characters: Bucky, Rebecca, Tracey, Matt Murdock, John Walker

Warnings: Bucky feeling paranoid (with reason).

Author notes: This story was originally written around the time of the Thunderbolts movie announcement. For the purposes of this story pretend not to have much of an idea of the purpose of the team (even less than what we know now). I'm not familiar enough with the comic book story of that group but Marvel doesn't really seem to be following that anyways.  I can tell you that the threat of Ross and Fontaine will hang over Bucky, Tracey, and Rebecca by appearing in future chapters.  Since this book already doesn't follow canon, in that it deviates from Falcon and the Winter Soldier storyline (Bucky living with his sister in Brooklyn) it may just deviate from putting him in the Thunderbolts.  You'll just have to keep reading to find out for sure.

<<Chapter 7

Tracey came for dinner that Monday evening and they all sat outside after in the warm evening, under the glow of the fairy lights, listening to a mixture of crooners and instrumentals from the 1940s through to current day.  Bucky brought up Tracey moving in with them and Rebecca agreed that she would like that. 

"I'll clear out some of the basement," said Bucky.  "We can make room for Tracey's things down there then go through everything and sell what we don't want to keep.  Does that sound alright to both of you?"

"We could have a yard sale," said Rebecca.  "I'm sure I have some old things down there that would sell.  What do they call it now ... retro or vintage furniture?"

"I couldn't ask you to do that," insisted Tracey.  "It is your house."

"And Bucky's," stated Rebecca.  "If it's in the basement I likely haven't used it for years.  Better it go to someone who will use it and enjoy it.  We can put the money towards something else, like a new roof or something."

"What's wrong with the roof?" he asked.  "I was just up there a few weeks ago.  It looked alright."

"It was just an example," replied his sister, rolling her eyes a little bit.  "You never know what will come up.  You'll bring Alley Cat with you, won't you Tracey?"

"Absolutely," she replied.  They were all quiet for a moment.  "Did you hear from Matt Murdock?"

"Yeah, they still won't give him an answer," said Bucky.  "I've been thinking of phoning Colonel Rhodes.  He's still with the Department of Defence, and has been trying to get the Avengers formally reinstated.  He might be able to find out if it's the Army that filed an objection."

The others thought that was a good idea.  When it was bedtime for Rebecca, Bucky carried her into the bathroom, where Tracey helped her then dressed her for bed.  He carried her to bed, read her another bedtime story from the book that Tracey bought them then tucked Rebecca in before kissing her goodnight.  Out in the hallway he put his arms around Tracey.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to stay but I think you want an uninterrupted sleep tonight," he smiled.  "I could do with a proper sleep myself."

"Is my fatigue that obvious?" she asked, jokingly.  "You don't mind, do you?  We could make plans for me to stay over Friday and Saturday, as long as you don't mind if I bring Alley Cat with me.  I hate imposing on my neighbour to look after him.  He tends to use it as an excuse to ask me out."

Bucky's eyebrows raised.  "I have competition?" Pulling Tracey closer, he kissed her sensuously, while running his hands down her back.  "Do I have anything to worry about?"

She shook her head slowly while looking him in the eye.  "He's rather creepy but he does try to be helpful.  So, I'm safe to give my notice to vacate my apartment at the end of next month?"

"Uh huh," he replied.  "How big is your bed?"

"Queen size, bigger than yours," she said, with a smile.  "We could always buy a king size.  I think it would fit in that room."

"Queen size is good enough for a while," answered Bucky.  "Don't want to have too far to reach for you."

They kissed again and Bucky walked her out to her car, kissed her once more, then watched from the street as she drove into the night. 

"Nice looking girlfriend," said a man's voice and Bucky turned towards it, seeing a man leaning against the light post and smoking a cigarette.

"Do I know you?" asked Bucky, his senses alerted.

"Just stopped for a smoke," said the man.  "Didn't want to interrupt you kissing your girlfriend."

Even in the dark Bucky could see the tells for someone lying.  "You live near here?" he asked.

"Next street over.  My wife thinks I've quit smoking so I walk around the block and have it over here."

"Funny, I've never noticed you before," replied Bucky.

"That's because you usually take off at this time," said the man, a little too casually.  "Figured you work night shift or something."

"No, you misunderstand me," said Bucky, standing square to the man.  "I mean I'm an observant guy and I've never seen you walking around this neighbourhood, never smelled anyone smoking the type of cigarette you're smoking.  So, either you're lying about being a neighbour, or this is your first time watching my house.  Which is it?"

The man smirked.  "Wow, you're paranoid," he replied, then he threw his cigarette down onto the sidewalk and crushed it under his shoe.  "I guess I'm going home.  You have a nice night."

Bucky watched as the man walked away, making sure he was out of sight before he picked up the crushed cigarette with his left hand.  He brought it into the house and laid it on a tissue.  Then he placed a phone call.

"Matt? It's Bucky.  I just caught a strange guy outside on the sidewalk smoking.  He says he lives in the neighbourhood but I've never seen him and I don't know many guys living in Brooklyn smoking a Japanese brand."  Bucky was silent for a moment.  "Okay, I'll put it in a plastic bag.  I'm not being paranoid but everything about this guy made my senses alert, you know?"

He said goodbye and pulled a sandwich bag out of the pantry, then picked up the butt and put it inside the bag.  After he turned off the lights he looked out the window cutout on the door, making sure he was in the shadow.  A few minutes after he started looking the man came back, leaned against the lamp post, lit up another cigarette, then watched the house.  Stepping away slowly, Bucky looked at the plastic bag in his hand and went into the bathroom.  He pulled out the box of Rebecca's adult diapers and placed the bag in the bottom, sliding it in between a couple of them.  Then he changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt, picked up a pillow from his bed and came out to the living room, lying on the couch.  Pulling a throw blanket on top he laid there watching the door until he fell asleep.

He was awakened during the night by sounds outside.  Looking through the cutout window he couldn't see anything but did notice several intact cigarettes scattered on the road, visible in the streetlight's glow.  For about 15 minutes he watched but he didn't notice any movement and eventually returned to the couch, falling asleep quickly. 

His phone woke him up at 5:45 am and he opened the door to get the newspaper, left on the front sidewalk.  The cigarettes were all gone but he noticed several drops of blood that seemed to lead away from the house.  Kneeling down to get a better look at the blood he saw an intact cigarette under a bush on their neighbour's property.  Extending his left hand he picked it up, confirming it as the same brand as the crushed one from the previous night.  There was also a faint scent of aftershave, something that he had smelled before but he couldn't place where.

"Interesting," he said out loud, then looked all around but he was alone on the street. 

Returning to the house he started up the coffee, put the intact cigarette in another sandwich bag, and made his breakfast.  Sitting at the table when it was ready he ate and read the newspaper.  It contained much the same news as it always did except for a couple of things that caught his eye.  The first was a news article about a masked vigilante taking on certain elements of the criminal underworld.  Police were reluctant to call him a criminal himself as he had often deposited individuals onto the front steps of certain precincts with a note detailing their crimes.  The second article that got his attention was buried deep in one of the sections announcing the appointment of a new CIA director.  Her name was Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and it had her picture.  He recognized her as John Walker's employer, and as someone who had apparently tried to have Clint Barton killed by Yelena Belova, according to Sam.

He texted a note about the second news article to Foggy Nelson, wondering if Fontaine might be the one who filed an objection.   After finishing his breakfast he got dressed, retrieved the crushed and intact cigarettes, put them in his jacket pocket, and waited for Kalyna to arrive for her shift of looking after Rebecca.  As soon as she did he headed towards the docks, clocked in, and met with the other supervisors to go over the ships expected to dock that day, their manifests, and which crews would be assigned to which ships.  It was a busy day broken only by the sight of Matt Murdock waiting for Bucky as he came out of the security gate to grab some lunch at a nearby café.  His appearance was expected as he wanted to "see" the crushed cigarette Bucky picked up the night before. 

"Hi," said Bucky, noticing some cuts and bruises on Matt's face.  "What happened to you?"

A small grimace flickered across the lawyer's face. 

"Walked into some low hanging branches," he replied.  "Really did a number on my face."

Bucky hummed.  "You want something to eat?" he asked.  "My treat."

"Thanks, just coffee," said Matt.  "You go ahead."

They sat at a table and Bucky ordered coffee for both of them plus a double order of a club sandwich and fries for himself.  While they waited he pulled out the two baggies and put the one with the crushed butt in Matt's hands.

Murdock opened it and smelled the tobacco.

"It does smell different," he commented. "Was that the clue that something was up?"

"Partially," said Bucky.  "In my previous occupation I did a lot of surveillance, watching people.  Got to read them very well.  He had tells that he was lying.  The cigarettes were odd for a westerner to smoke unless he had spent time working in Japan especially with the Yakuza as each clan has their favourite brand.  Don't ask me how I know that.  He came back after I sent him on his way.  Then during the night I heard what sounded like a scuffle.  He was gone but his cigarettes were scattered.  When I got up in the morning they were gone as well except for this single one that was under a bush.  There were blood drops on the sidewalk as well as a faint scent of aftershave in the air, similar to what you're wearing."

He placed the second bag in Murdock's hand then watched him intently, noting his reaction.  A small smile crossed the lawyers's lips.

"Busted," he said in a voice so low that only Bucky would hear him.

"You're him," said Bucky, in an equally low voice.  "Your secret's safe with me, although I'm curious how a blind man's senses are on extreme overdrive.  Did he tell you anything?"

"Hired by untraceable text.  Money transferred from a secret account.  He was only to watch you, not interact.  I think they're trying to establish your routine so they can take you at some point."

"Strange this happens just as the CIA gets a new director," stated Bucky.  "Sometimes a coincidence isn't."

"My thoughts also," said Murdock, taking a sip.  "Watch your back.  They might try something with your sister or Tracey."

"She's moving in," stated Bucky.  "I can handle anyone that comes at me here or in transit but if they threaten Rebecca or Tracey I'll likely go overboard."

"Understood," said Murdock, finishing his coffee and preparing to leave.

"Matt," said Bucky.  "Come to me if you get hurt.  I have unique field medical experience.  There are ways to speed up healing.  I have your six if it comes to that."

"I appreciate the offer," said the lawyer and he extended his hand.

Bucky shook it.  His food was delivered a minute later and he enjoyed every last bite.

Friday

The crew of dockworkers under Bucky's supervision finished unloading the cargo ship just before quitting time. He still had some paperwork to finish up and returned to the office to do it.  By the time he was done the place was deserted, as the night crew were yet to arrive.  Once they came on it would get busy while they began organizing the shipping containers to load the ship for the return journey across the Atlantic.  As he signed off on the last of his paperwork Bucky stretched and stopped at the dock manager's office.

"I'm off, Rick," he said to the burly man who would stay for another couple of hours finishing his own paperwork.

"Nice work this week, Buck," he said.  "I'm glad to have you on as a supervisor.  The crew respects you.  How different is it from when you worked here in the 30s and 40s?"

"Well, we didn't have the nice forklifts then," said Bucky.  "It was a lot more back breaking.  We had cranes but not these heavy duty ones that can pick up an entire shipping container.  Everything was on pallets.  Still the same goal; get it loaded and unloaded as quickly as possible."

Rick smirked then wished Bucky a good weekend.  He went to his locker, put his jacket on and checked his phone.  Tracey was already over at the house.  He smiled, considering himself a lucky man, then texted that he was just leaving and would be there shortly.  Waving at the security guard he left the secure part of the dock facility and began the walk home.  An SUV at the side of the road drew his attention to the presence of an individual in it and he slowed up, his curiosity heightened.  The person in the driver's seat got out and turned to face him.

"Get in, I'll give you a ride home," said John Walker, the last person he expected to see waiting for him.  "We need to talk."

"No offence, John, but there's been some weird shit going on for a while," replied Bucky.  "You'll have to forgive me for not trusting you."

The man sighed.  "I get it.  You have my word I'm taking you straight home."

Bucky took a moment to consider and made the decision to go with Walker.  He got into the front seat and buckled himself in.

"So, what do we need to talk about?" asked Bucky.

"The people who ordered your arrest, for starters," said Walker.  "I had nothing to do with it.  As far as I'm concerned you've paid your debt to society and deserve to be left alone but I'm in a minority."

"Fontaine was behind it?" asked Bucky.

"It was her great idea," said Walker, sarcastically.  "But she is being pushed by someone else.  Thaddeus Ross."

Bucky's lip curled.  "Why does he want me arrested?  I was pardoned by the President himself.  Can't he leave well enough alone?"

"You don't understand," said Walker.  "They don't want you in prison.  They want you working for them and they want you to do for them what you did for HYDRA."

Bucky didn't know what to say as he was suddenly very angry.  It took a few minutes for him to get his emotions under control.  "I don't kill."

"I told them," stated Walker.  "Said you're not the Winter Soldier anymore.  Ross just laughed.  Said once a killer, always a killer."

"So why are you telling me this?" asked Bucky.  "It's not like we're good friends or anything."

"No, but I do owe you something," he replied as he pulled up in front of Bucky's house.  "I never should have taken the serum.  I thought it would make it easier to do what I do but it's so easy to lose control and I'm terrified I'll do to someone what I did to that Flag Smasher, as much as I felt justified at the time.  I never realized why you kept yourself restrained.  I get it now.  You do it so you don't become a monster.  I was cocky when they gave me the shield but I didn't deserve it.  Sam was Steve Roger's choice and I know why.  He's a much more honourable man than I'll ever be."  He took a frustrated breath before continuing.  "They're still considering their options to force you to work for them.  Expect them to get dirty.  At some point they may ask me to come after you and I won't have much choice to say no.  They know things about me, things I did in the heat of battle.  It's why I still work for Val."

Bucky nodded in understanding at this unloading of emotions coming out of Walker.  "They have you over a barrel, in other words.  I appreciate the heads up, John.  I do.  But I won't be forced into killing again, for no one.  Do they know you're here, talking to me?"

"Sort of.  I said I could probably convince you but I just said that so I could warn you.  I'll tell them you turned me down, which you did.  Whatever they ask me to do personally, I won't hurt your sister or your girlfriend.  I won't cross that line but it doesn't mean they won't find someone who will.  Watch your back and tell Sam to watch his.  They're also the ones behind the campaign to defund the Avengers."

Walker stuck his hand out and Bucky looked at it for a moment then shook it.  It took guts for John Walker to tell him this to his face.  Perhaps their cooperation against the Flag Smashers in New York had changed him enough to try to walk a straighter path.  Regardless, he had answers now and with answers perhaps he could find the right ammunition to fight Ross and Fontaine.  He got out and Walker raised a hand to his forehead before driving off.  Bucky watched him until he was out of sight.  The door to the house opened, revealing Tracey waiting for him.  God, she was beautiful; his own angel.  He felt a warmth deep in his core at the thought of them in bed later. 

"Who was that?" she asked.

"John Walker," he replied, debating at first whether he should tell her more.  "I'll tell the rest inside.  You and Rebecca both need to hear what he told me.  I'm going to get Sam, Matt and Colonel Rhodes on the phone as well.  We may have a fight on our hands."

Ten minutes later he finished telling them everything Walker told him.  No one said anything then Matt's voice came over the phone speaker.

"Well, I guess we need to do some deep digging.  There has to be something these two have done that we can use against them."

"I don't know," said Rhodes.  "Ross was Secretary of State for President Ellis.  That's a lot of political power and he would have been thoroughly vetted before being offered the position."

"That's true, but he was also in charge of the super soldier project involving Bruce Banner, right?" said Matt.  "I've done some homework already as I wondered if he was behind your payout being delayed.  What if he made overtures to HYDRA at that time to get their intel?  He might have even known about you, Bucky.  One of my sources speculated that SHIELD was able to unthaw Steve Rogers successfully because they had access to how HYDRA took you out of cryostasis without mentioning you by name."  Bucky breathed heavily when he heard that but didn't respond.  "Let me do some digging.  There has to be someone somewhere who knows something."

"Try Helmut Zemo," said Bucky.  "He's the one who framed me but he also decrypted more HYDRA files than anyone.  You might have a hard time getting hold of him as he's in the Raft now.  His right hand man is an old guy named Oeznik.  As for Val, she's not clean, I know that much.  I wouldn't be surprised if she blackmailed her way into her position."

"She was married to a guy named Everett Ross," said Rhodes.  "Had him arrested recently but he was "kidnapped" on his way into custody.  Rumour has it that the Wakandans have him."

"I'm not sure he'll help either," said Bucky.  "He was the Deputy Commander of the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre when I was taken into custody.  Sharon Carter worked for him and she helped us.  Maybe she knows something."

There was silence until Rhodes spoke.  "Buck, she's dropped out of sight.  In fact, she might be one of the targets that the CIA wants eliminated.   There's a rumour she's back in Madripoor."

"I can go there," offered Sam.  "But it would be dangerous for me."

"I could go with you," said Bucky, an offer that was met with a resounding no from both Rhodes and Matt.

"If you try to leave the country you'll just give Fontaine and Ross fuel to take you into custody," said Matt.  "You need to keep doing what you've done for the past year.  Go to work, look after your family, and stay out of trouble as much as possible."

Everyone agreed with that plan and Bucky accepted their reasoning.  For a man who had been an asset used to track down and kill HYDRA's enemies he felt somewhat helpless but he also knew that he was walking a very public tightrope.  Ross and Fontaine had resources to take him down and the last thing he needed to do was make it easy for them.  After the others hung up he sat back on the couch with his arm on the back of the sofa. 

"So how was your day?" he asked Rebecca and Tracey in an understated tone.

Rebecca had a gleam in her eye while Tracey went to the bedroom.  She came out with a walker, positioning it in front of the older woman.  Grasping the handles Rebecca raised herself and walked around the coffee table towards Bucky.  Slowly she turned around then sat down next to him, looking at him triumphantly.

"After my physiotherapy session yesterday Melinda put in for a walker," she said.  "It was delivered today, during Marie's visit.  She was so excited that she showed me herself how to use it.  She's trying to expedite that ramp."

Smiling, he put his arm around Rebecca's shoulders.  It was gratifying to see her walking.  Having mobility would help her feel better and less helpless.  There was a meow sound and Alley Cat suddenly jumped up onto the couch, settling down on Rebecca's lap.

"You brought him," said Bucky to Tracey.

"I guess he was exploring the house while we were on the phone," she said.  "I put his litter box in the basement.  You did a good job clearing space for my things.  I could add some things to the yard sale."

"You don't have to sell your stuff," said Bucky.

"I'm going to be part of the household, aren't I?" she asked, with a soft smile. 

"Yes, you are," answered Rebecca firmly, reaching across Bucky to grasp Tracey's hand.  "You can add whatever you want to it.  We're in this together now."

Bucky put his arms out to both sides and drew both women in close, kissing each of them on the sides of their heads.  Rebecca getting stronger and Tracey moving in were both important milestones for him.  The year before he first met Tracey had been hard and while he had no regrets about devoting his life to taking care of his sister the commitment had taken its toll on him emotionally and socially.  Just having another person to share even part of the load was a big weight off of his shoulders.  In many ways, it was close to the life he someday envisioned for himself before he went to war.  A home, a wife and family, perhaps looking after his parents as they aged.  So much had been denied to him and now it seemed he was finally getting that life, bit by precious bit.  There was no way he was going to give that up for the likes of Fontaine and Ross.

Part 9>>

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[drgairyuki]

KNY Dorohedoro AU: WILDSIDE concept

Got this idea stuck in my head while I was doing some fast binge reading KNY fics -*in a whispered tone* mainly the ones with Demon Tanjiro- and doing other things that may or may not be related to KNY recently before when this AU just pop into my mind out of no where and I don't remember how it came to be so IDK, probably around while I was watching this video, but i'm pretty sure it was before that... maybe it was from thinking of other potential KNY au ideas rolling around in my skull while binge internet reading. And just this video lead me to give me just a enough motivation for me to post this Fusion Fic AU prompt here... amongst the pile of other Au ideas laying around in my files that will probably never see the light of day.

So the Dorohedoro-inspired idea & basic plot of this AU and prompt behind it is that it's kinda basically loosely Dorohedoro (as in the broadest of senses) but with KNY characters and probably some OCs that are thrown in too along with some other shits & stuff (there's a reason why it is called a Fusion Fic in TV Tropes terms): So one of our two or maybe more main characters is a scary-looking due to resembling like an actual Oni but actually is really nice if you know him amnesic demon/oni named/called Taiyouoni [太陽{たいよう}鬼{おに}] (who is technically an amnesic Tanjiro... yet he is not at the same time... It'sComplicatedIfYouHaven'tReadDorohedoroYet) -along with other potential names that I've thought up for him maybe like; Tanoni [炭{たん}鬼{おに}], Giki [曦{ギ}鬼{キ}], and/or Tanjioni [炭{たん}治{じ}鬼{おに}], among a few I could find and/or think up on, depending on which one you liked- who, alongside his pal and partner-in-crime-on-the-job accompanying him, Inosuke Hashibira (they would have a similar platonic relationship to Sam and Max. Also, I choose him bc he's my most favorite character in the series and was the one who introduced me to the series), are freelance Demon Slayers/Oni Slayers (since in the original japanese manga, the demons were called oni for a reason) together and is trying to search & find the demon/oni -or at least the culprit- who was responsible of transforming him into a demon/oni with a bunch of strange abilities that make him weird even by demon/oni standards like having the immunity of/being immune to the sun that made him the prime target for other demons/onis for instance -amongst the plethora of his other harmless-for-roughly-around-half-of-them but roughly-as-strange abilities- and leaving him unable to remember who he was before he was transformed into what he is now in the first place (hint: While he does exist in this AU, Muzan didn't transformed him despite him being the obvious culprit. As I said, it's complicated if you haven't read Dorohedoro yet), with the setting being something like a combination of 1920s Japan & America -including the elements of the time period like 1920s cities especially the American-influenced ones and gangsters/mafia- with a pitch & dash of both late 1910s & early 1930s and dieselpunk combined with elements of steampunk thrown in together along with some elements of other fantasy & scifi tropes too being mixed in as well. And probably other neat ideas from KNY fandom maybe being thrown in too.

For the mental imagine of Taiyouoni's character design with what he would looks like, I based his design & appearance on Goshinki from Inuyasha:

But probably with extra details, like- IDK... his body being absolutely covered in keloid scars from top to toe, kinda like ShinGoji's keloid scar-like red scales from Shin Godzilla.

So... yeah. Face of a thug is definitely at play here.

He would probably be also wearing a set of all-covering clothing over his body, including a gas mask -perhaps one with a long muzzle in order to fit his snout- for his face if he's outside, especially in a town &/or a city and during the daytime, with these random pics that I took from google imagines and probably other sites that I will might list here for references.

And he would probably later wear one of Sakonji's fox masks if he ever gets the chance to meet him in person properly, probably after clearing up the confusion from the Demon Slaying Corp toward him & his "unique" nature and managing to convince them & get through some of their thicker heads that no he's not dangerous nor would eat humans and yes he's genuinely harmless.

Not to hide he need to hide from the sun mind you since he's already immune to it, but for practical and pragmatic reasonings because.... a big purple scar-covered demon/oni would definitely be an eyesore to see.

Admittingly, the ideas including especially the design & appearance behind Taiyouoni influence this AU prompt. But you do got to admit, it's a cool concept to think and drawl on about.

[britt-kageryuu]

The stream is focused on Donnie showing off his Bo Staff skills, he was tempted to bring out his Tech Bo, but stuck to just turning on an AR overlay that simulates the features of his Tech Bo.

His model is in loose purple pants, a black tank top, his mask tails have studs in Ace colors and a couple space charms, he has on combat boots with purple laces. His tail when seen has a few bands on it that keep shifting colors with the LEDs in the room.

Donnie was taking a break to talk to chat and answer questions as they come in, while Shelldon and River move some stuff for a demonstration Donnie had planned later in the stream.

"Hmm, I see some of you are asking if we Dungeons & Dragons, well many an attempt has been made to play, but like many have faced... Scheduling is D&Ds greatest Boss. So we haven't been able to play. Traditionally Speaking of course!" Donnie with a flourish walks close to the camera with his phone out, "Behold! A custom D&D messenger App!"

The screen of his phone shows a Title Screen that reads 'D&D Chat App. BETA PHASE Vers. 4.10.18.1' with a cycling set of simplified drawings of different class types on smartphones. Donnie taps on the screen and after a few seconds goes to a menu that reads out select session with each 'File' having a start date, a class and level. And a couple have a 'New Message' notification on them.

"This is a game that as you can see is in BETA, it simplifies D&D down, and we do actions over texts, like the online version, but it's condensed to be more basic, and we don't all need to have the app open to play." Donnie says this as he opens a file with new messages, it's apparently one called 'Purple Reptile Club' and it's alerting him to take his turn. "To the others helping with the testing, the big up and downside to this is, that the next actions can take Seconds or Days to complete because it all depends on the others in the game to actually check in and make their move. But this is why it's still more in closed BETA."

He reads over chat as some questions are flying by, taking a drink while looking at what they're saying.

Donnie catches one question to answer, "Yes, I am aware that it loses alot of the story telling elements this way, but you do what you can to accommodate the needs of the Party. Plus if we get a bit lost it's not to hard to Back Read. Though there is a feature to summarize the story so far, but it's still a bit buggy, Red used it the other day, and it gave him the summary for a different game being played be the tech team." Donnie puts his phone down, and goes back to were he was standing originally.

"Now, let's put that talk to the side, and I can show you some newer moves that I learned from my dear Papa." Donnie then uses his Bo to pick up a bucket by the handle on each end. Before calling out to his Robot children to start tossing something.

The next few minutes are filled with Donnie maneuvering the staff with buckets around to catch all the items being thrown at him. With accompanying sounds of the items hitting the inside of the buckets.

The audience was amazed watching him then toss the buckets into the air, and catcha them right before they hit the ground.

All while holding an air of confidence, and a slight smirk on his face.

Some screenshots are taken, and practically traded around on the Discord, and the Fan Forums.

----------------

Masterpost

I don't know if this app idea is an actual thing, but I wanted to come up with why my turtles haven't mentioned D&D if at all. Because they really don't have much free time to actually play, and the App idea sounded like it would work or make sense.

Then just say it's a closed BETA thing. Or something.

[memorizingthedigitsofpi]

hi! i'm sorry in advance for bothering you, and i might be confusing you for someone else, but didn't you used to make ao3 site skins? if you're comfortable answering, what happened?

Hey, no worries.

I did indeed make site skins for AO3. Sometimes I still start new ones (although I haven't completed any of them).

What happened is hard to explain in a way that will make a lot of sense. At the time I just thought I was pissed, but upon reflection I realized that I'd been emotionally triggered and that was what caused my outsized reaction and deleting the skins I had posted.

I used to run a pan-fandom, AO3-centric advice blog and doing so exposed me to a lot of drama about AO3. On many, many occasions over the years, someone would lose their shit over something that was happening. It would be seen by enough people that it became a huge group of people freaking out instead of one person. The AO3 volunteers would have to put out a fire, and I would do my best to understand the situation and explain it in a way that wasn't "the world is on fire" about it and by doing so, hopefully reduce the number of emails that Support or PAC or whoever had to deal with.

One such event happened a few months ago. Something about tags, I don't even remember really. I wrote a post explaining. Someone replied. I replied to that reply. And my words ended up on Reddit or Twitter or Tiktok or god knows where and they were used as a reason to make the volunteers' lives worse.

Ordinarily, this would be annoying or frustrating or angering but unfortunately for me, it ended up being a trigger I didn't know I had. I knew that I was overreacting, but I didn't know why. So I put all of my site skins into a Collection and set it as unrevealed. If fandom hated AO3 that much, they couldn't be all that interested in making it pretty, right? And I certainly wasn't interested in sharing with a bunch of assholes.

I probably would have taken them out of that Collection by now, except within a couple of days of me putting them in there, someone decided to rock up into one of my fics and tell me that I shouldn't gatekeep them. I still remember that word, "gatekeep." Words mean things and that word doesn't mean "put your AO3 site skin code into an unrevealed collection."

Since I was still in my compromised emotional state, I decided that I didn't want to have to deal with that kind of bullshit and I just deleted all of them.

I've since gone back to the most popular tumblr posts and edited the original posts to add the code under a readmore cut, so if you're looking for one it's likely already available that way. If not, AO3 sends you a file when you delete a work so I've still got all of the code in my email somewhere. I can hook you up with whichever one you're looking for.

[kuwdora]

Naked Vid Draft - VID OUTLINE: Losing My Religion (The Witcher Netflix, season 3. Ensemble & Ciri.)

My next installment of my Naked Vid Draft vidding process series: my fanvid outline.

This post is meant to show how I've (mostly) learned how to outline fanvids over the years and how I think about song choice for some vid projects. I used to do this kind of outline for every single vid and write it down in a text file and keep it in my folder to review whenever I opened the project. These days I just do all of this in my head now unless I find myself struggling mid-way through a project.

You can listen along or just skip below to read the lyrics and my notes to learn about how I see/hear/feel my vid in my head already. I haven't rewatched most of season 3 since the summer. I haven’t even created the project file or started making any clips for this yet. This vid lives in my head and in these notes. All things are subject change once I start vidding but for now this is what it is as I get my start on this project. I've chosen Bellsaint's cover of Losing My Religion for this vid which I'll explain in more detail under the cut.

By reading through the lyrics and my notes, hopefully you’ll also be able to see how I’m structuring the vid. Maybe you'll see the vid in a different way if you come back to watch a completed draft.

I’ve put the lyrics and all my line notes below the cut since this post is already quite long. And also this would count as spoilers for my upcoming vid. (This post is also accountability so I can keep my excitement up and start working on this vid!)

Some vid projects I go into it having a vague emotion or theme or even just a few clips that I know I want to use and that’s really it. Sometimes I barely remember any key visuals, just my “!!! I LOVE THEM!!” Feelings about the character. I just dive into the movie or episodes and I’m just throwing visuals down on the timeline and seeing what sticks. It’s just me having a good time fucking around with the characters feelings or the show’s visuals and it doesn’t really matter how it comes together or what I was thinking before I started it. Usually turns into something by the end.

Other vids, particularly my witcher vids, I have more specific ideas going into the project right down to clip choices and visual climaxes. Because everything Witcher-related is still the top of my fannish obsessions and always on my mind in some way. Dominates my fannish feeds and reading and discussing and etc etc. I have specific things I want to squee and think about with TWN and that ends up in my vids.

Reminder: this is a season 3 only vid so I will only be pulling visuals from season 3.

Song choice/vid concept origins/process notes:

I’ve been making single-season character study vids for Yennefer and Ciri and Fringilla since 2021. I’ve appreciated a specific female vocalist/singer-songwriter with Halsey and Claire Guerrero for the vibes and the lyrics. It’s a musical motif I hadn’t really intended on falling into so thoroughly for the show. But it feels good and right and I enjoy making TWN vids with that music. So it was pretty natural for me to want to vid season 3 again with that vibe/atmosphere in mind.

I really loved season 3 of TWN. What I was really excited to see was how all the events of Thanedd would come together, the Family of Destiny, and I was so excited to see this chapter of Ciri’s journey begin when she’s separated from everyone.

So it’s exciting to have this concept for a season 3 vid. I want it to be very Ensemble but also Ciri. I want to look at the struggle, at the pain, at the grief, and mayhem of Thanedd. While also being able to highlight some of the lovely moments between Ciri, Geralt, Yennefer on the run. And Jaskier also showing up to do his best to help protect Ciri and help Geralt and Yen.

REM’s Losing My Religion has lyrics and a mood that is really perfect for this. I don’t even remember how I circled around to this song, only that I did. I've always been more of a lyric-driven vidder and I love to dig in and think about lyrical associations and emotional beats on certain verses.

I’ve really gotten into vidding musical covers over the years. I find covers to be a really interesting way to take the familiar song and put a new spin on it. A way to add some layers to a fanvid and emphasize certain vibes/atmosphere. Transformative remix art. :)

I found this incredible cover by Bellsaint of Losing My Religion. Not only did I fall so hard for the arrangement and the female vocalist, she ended up sounding similar to what I liked about Halsey and Claire Guerrero that I used for my Yen and Ciri and Fringilla vids. Yummy musical motif. I don’t have thoughts or fleshed out ideas yet for all the lyrics and instrumentals. Like I said before usually once I start clipping and adding things to the timeline, I discover how shots from the season that relate to the emotions/themes/characters will fit into place on the timeline. It’s a fun time.

This vid is ultimately going to be about the grief and struggle and pain of Family of Destiny and how it all falls apart leaving Ciri standing in the rubble. With those those climactic events of Thanedd. Ciri and Falka and The Rats.

This will be a fluid POV. We’re starting with Geralt, moving onto Yen, then Yen and Geralt, then Jaskier, then our Thanedd villains and ultimately Ciri. Everyone is losing their religion.

Pardon the formatting. I've always just slapped lyrics down and write notes next to the line, nothing fancy.

VID OUTLINE: Losing My Religion TWN Season 3: Ensemble + Ciri. LYRICS + VID NOTES

[0:00] Geralt POV in verse 1

Oh life, it's bigger [Geralt with Ciri on the ferry, Geralt sad eyes about the weight Ciri carries] It's bigger than you [Ciri Child of the Elder Blood/ Tor Lara, Everyone wants Ciri?] And you are not me [Geralt sad/exhausted, maybe on the ferry or another safe house?] The lengths that I will go to [Geralt rushing to save Ciri, maybe in the belletyn labyrinth maze] The distance in your eyes [many choices for Ciri haunted eyes, still thinking of Ciri on Ferry looking out at the water] Oh no, I've said too much [Geralt talking to Ciri in Sherrwarrdfijifjs maybe] I've said enough [also a play on TWN Geralt not being talky philosopher/ but also more Geralt sad eyes when he’s trying to keep Ciri safe]

[0:31] Yen POV verse 2

That's me in the corner [fucking TWN putting Yen in the corner, inverting Dear Friend Letter writing, Yen being shut out of the safe houses] That's me in the spotlight [Yen trying to teach Ciri magic and/or Yen and Ciri at market to get portal to aretuza and Yen saving Ciri? Or Yen at Thanedd in the Spotlight. Spotlight of nascent motherhood though..hmm..] Losing my religion [Ciri being mad/frustrated/irritated at Yen, i.e. when Yen pulls her away from applegat blabbing about her visions. Or maybe Yen at Thanedd?] Trying to keep up with you [Yen and Ciri antagonisms at the bathhouse? / Ciri and Yen on the run at the market after killing guy in Keira’s portal shop] And I don't know if I can do it [That One Shot where Yen walks away from Ciri at the bathhouse, Looking Pained] Oh no, I've said too much [Yen snapping at Ciri/ maybe when Ciri blabbing to applegat, or another instance?] I haven't said enough [Yen beautiful face of grief at trying to do right by Ciri]

[1:01] Yen and Geralt POV. Previous two POVs were more about themselves and focused on Ciri. This section of lyrics makes me think of Yen and Geralt about each other - as well as Ciri. And the vocals are kind of layered in the song, it sounds like two voices. It makes me think of all the quiet tenderness of Yennefer and Geralt had in this season.

I thought that I heard you laughing [Yen and Geralt watching Ciri dance at belletyn] I thought that I heard you sing [Yen and Ciri on the lake ice skating, Geralt watching them, maybe also Ciri and Geralt piggyback ride. Trying to sing = Ciri trying to do magic and/or trying to be a normal girl with a family.] I think I thought I saw you try [Yennefer and Geralt looking at each other !!!!!!!!! Trying!!!! To do their best! when they’re camping near Sherwrararrward and belletyn and in the forest on the way to Aretuza.]

[1:16-1:27] Foreshadow/Transition. There’s an ominous ‘oooooh’ with the ominous music in the background here for these 11 seconds. Maybe Ciri and Jaskier watching Yen and Geralt in the woods? Or: will try to bridge a Ciri clip from previous verse to Foreshadow Ciri in the desert, ‘thought I saw you try’ try to do magic.. Trying to summon magic and getting all the visions of Fire and Death. Transition from Ciri + fire/power to vision!Jaskier’s horrific death, then cut to:]

[1:28] Jaskier POV

Every whisper [whispers=secrets, lies and subterfuge. Also: Jaskier rubbing his fingers while in the carriage with Philippa and Radovid. Whisper=small action, Jaskier pain/fire/Rience, and/or from Ciri Vision. What Jaskier will do to protect Ciri, implied heartache/what will he lose along the way.] Of every waking hour [Philippa getting in Jaskier’s face? Keeping him on his toes.] I'm choosing my confessions [Jaskier going to Radovid, Jaskier face of pain and empathy and/or Jaskier singing?] Trying to keep an eye on you [Jaskier and Ciri in the cottage] Like a hurt, lost and blinded fool, fool [Jaskier/radovid kiss, Jaskier looking hurt/betrayed morning after] Oh no, I've said too much [Jaskier singing Ciri to sleep? Jaskier worry morning after when she’s gone? Jaskier’s woogity face when talking to Radovid?] I've said enough [Jaskier’s resolve? Jaskier eyessss.]

[3:35] Thanedd POVs: Philippa, Dijkstra, Vilgefortz.

Consider this [Philippa bending Geralt’s ear about taking sides at Thanedd] Consider this, the hint of the century [Vilgefortz + Geralt + paintings, or walking. Vilgefortz epic stakes. Staff.] Consider this, the slip [I’ve always heard ‘the slave’ instead of ‘the slip’ which has made me stuck on Geralt as a slave to his neutrality, whacking the shit out of Dijkstra and breaking his knee] That brought me to my knees, failed [Dijkstra owtchies howling in pain] What if all these fantasies come [Vilgefortz letting scoia’tael invade? Or Redanian soldiers grabbing Geralt? ?? something] Flailing around [Vilgefortz staff + Geralt. Ciri Beach Running Thanedd falling apart/ ring of fire/but also I’ve done that exact layering/transparency before in previous season 3 vids but hmmmm…something.] Now I've said too much [Vilgefortz beach. Maybe staff thumps to the percussion here, beat beat beat Geralt beat, Geralt losing his neutrality religion, Geralt bleed, Vilgefortz smirk, but maybe Vilgefortz in Tor Lara with Ciri watching Ciri touch the monolith? always circle back to Ciri..... To help transition to:]

[2:29] Ciri POV - Ciri on the run / Ciri in the desert here. Layering Past Ciri with all the memories of Geralt and Yen and Jaskier with the pain she’s experiencing in the desert alone and she’s losing her mind seeing her mother and grandmother. MAYBE also layer in Vilgefortz’ mind warping False Ciri?? Who is Ciri? It’s all just a dream.]

I thought that I heard you laughing [Ciri having dinner with Family of Destiny? / more Ciri/Family - maybe a flash of Desert Falka Vision?] I thought that I heard you sing [More Ciri focusing on Yen and Geralt Trying to Do Their Best. Ciri and Yen in the market? Maybe another layer of Hooded Cloaked Falka?] I think I thought I saw you try [Ciri Family Feels/ action of Tor Lara? Yen and Geralt trying to protect Ciri?] [maybe this is a Falka POV verse?????]

But that was just a dream [Ciri walking at night - blue desert, overlays with Family of Destiny] That was just a dream [Ciri/Family transition/layering Ciri getting dragged on the ground by bounty hunters, or when she’s tied up in the tavern]

[3:09] Ciri POV That's me in the corner [Ciri in the darkened tavern vision with Falka] That's me in the spotlight [Ciri being circled by no-hood Falka] Losing my religion [Ciri + fire magic + visions + visions of death + Falka?] Trying to keep up with you [Ciri fighting alongside The Rats in the tavern? Falka’s fire and fury and rage in her expression in the tavern.] And I don't know if I can do it [Ciri to Falka in the darkened tavern] Oh no, I've said too much [Ciri stabbing the guy / Ciri dissociating to become someone she needs to be to survive] I haven't said enough [Ciri’s face after she kills the guy / tells the Rats her name is Falka]

Messy vid outline is messy, sometimes specific and sometimes ambiguous. Likely to change or have happy accidents along the way.

[tj-dragonblade]

Fic Talk

Tagged by @seiya-starsniper @dsudis and @valeriianz - thanks! This is a fun new set of questions I haven't seen circulating before!

How many wips do you have currently? …Uhhhhh. Ahaha. Let me go calculate just a minute. Okay. There are 13 wips that are proper individual files with varying probabilities of actually getting finished. There are three additional individual files that are not proper wips, just notes/synopsis of ideas I've had and would like to write. Then there is the original 'Scribs' file that I originally started jotting notes in with ten more 'wips' that may or may not ever be finished, plus three more of the notes/synopsis-level ideas, and a handful of one-line or song-title ideas.

Which one are you finding the hardest to finish? Why do you think that is? Any of the older ones, honestly, entirely for lack of focus. I am hoping to force myself into giving at least one of them the attention it needs for a bingo square. Because when I make myself focus on one, make myself buckle down and work on it, I can usually make it happen. I can do it for Fluffbruary; therefore I can do it elsewhere too. But there is always some new idea coming along that is very distracting and then there's the problem of Which Do I Want to Work On? and getting a burst of idea for this one and then a few lines of inspiration for that one and I wind up with far too much time spent re-reading all of them and, if I'm lucky, adding a line or two to a handful of them.

What does it usually look like when inspiration strikes for you? Obsessively typing away at my phone, frequently (and unfortunately) when I'm meant to be working. Trying to capture as much of the momentum as possible while it's there.

Do you curate playlists for each fic or is your process different? No. I have a couple different playlists of 'Dreamling Vibes' that I will sometimes put on, but nothing really fic specific. But chances are if a song is part of the springboard for the fic, I have put it on repeat at least half the time I was writing. 'Bus Stop' broke into my top 25 most played songs while writing its fic, for the record.

Do you go balls to the wall and write as you go or are you more organised? There is very little about my process that can be called organized. I write whatever's coming to me and make notes about things I wanted to do that I didn't get written out yet so I don't forget the next time I come back to it. It's frequently non-linear. I'm easily distracted by shiny new ideas. I count it a feat worth celebrating when I actually get something finished and posted.

Tagging, no obligation, tag me into your already-existing posts etc: @chaosheadspace @staroftheendless @teejaystumbles @the-apocrypha @kydrogendragon

[technicallyswagpizza]

BARNACLESS BAY CAW FILES by technicallyswagpizza

"A storm swept through the island, it ravaged for what felt like weeks and it was so fierce it completely erased part of the island! Now there is nothing else left but sand! And it's everywhere! Even in my ears!"

I always liked the idea of a remote farm type island where the folks living there still haven't heard about Gangam Style or paywalled CC, but I felt that the original Barnacle Bay is just too dysfunctional to play. It has good bones and I really wanted to make it work, but after chipping away at it on and off for almost a year I have come to a point that now whenever I open it in CAW I just don't know what to do with it and feel like I should go play in the traffic instead. Maybe I will finish it one day, but since I'm just sitting on these files I figured perhaps someone else wants to give it a go and make it your own. Change it completely, keep it as it is, share it, lock it in your basement, you do what you got to do to tame it.

These are the CAW files only, I have not play tested the world as it is very much work in progress thus there is no point releasing it in the state it is.

CHANGELOG

Standalone world, it will not replace Barnacle Bay.

A good chunk of the map is gone, I also ran the coastal parts of the map through World Machine to make it feel more realistic, thus all the sand everywhere.

Deleted a fair few lots completely.

Emptied majority of the lots, however I left some of the original lots in because I had a plan, but I forgot what it was.

Reduced the amount of spawners, there's at least one or two each rather than 3-5.

Added and removed some roads.

Replaced all the palm trees with Red Oaks from Ambitions exp.

Added shrubs around the fields

// There's not THAT much to do, but things you may want to fix:

Bumpy ridiculous roads (-᷅_-᷄๑)

Sort out the mess I made with the town centre layout

Double check routing, I'm fairly sure I started working on that but it's been so long I can't remember if I finished it completely.

None of the lots have addresses.

Waterfall looks ok in CAW but in game uh, idk. It looks like farts.

What you need: Maybe the original Barnacle Bay? I'm not sure, if you don't have it then the random CAW items/remaining lots that got stuff in them will get replaced by something else. I'm not sure if there are any BB items left though... I did swap the bridge and idk beachy barrier thing with something else. I don't remember which expansion they came from though. I'M REALLY GOOD AT THIS I PROMISE (.﹒︣︿﹒︣.)

DOWNLOAD // MIRROR

Let me know if the CAW files do not work, I don't think I have ever shared my raw CAW projects before so yeah. I included all the terrain paint .dds texture files just in case you want to paint stuff.

[fae-iii]

It's that time again! What's your favorite game you played this year?

Choosing favorites is so HARD! Looking over my Switch Year in Review and just now realizing Night in the Woods is a game I played last year, leaving this year kinda bereft of games with stories that really impacted me. So, what did I play?

Kicking off with the Pokemon block, this was my first year playing through Pokemon Colosseum! I liked it a fair amount, but there are some big flaws in it. I liked the double battles and the added challenge of battling opponents with a similar level to you, but it would maybe have been a quality of life change to heal you after battles since money is too infrequent to be spending on too many healing items, so I ended up walking all the way to the nearest healing machine (which was often quite a ways away) after every battle or two.

As someone who plays pokemon mainly for the collecting funny little critters and for which minutiae of pokemon battling is an intimidating ordeal, I've been ever so slowly getting more used to it and I might even enjoy it a bit now! Speaking of battles: Colosseum's creature game is on point! I love the exaggerated way the monsters wiggle around!!! YES!!!!! It almost makes it forgivable how time-wasty each battle can feel. Orre is a really cool place and

I still have the disc sitting in my gamecube and I need to clean up a bit with the post game, I'd really like to purify all the pokemon and tackle Mt. Battle to receive Ho-Oh this year; if I can get around to it.

On the topic of gen 3 pokemon: This year was also time completing Pokemon Emerald! When I initially started playing it a few years ago after buying a used copy, I was into pokemon glitches and oversights and stuff and I tried searching for a save where shiny pokemon appear on an early frame after turning the game on. I did manage to get the intro Zigzagoon to appear shiny, but I got bored of that and thus also lost motivation to keep playing the game until I would get interest in looking again.

That never happened and I decided to cut my losses and finally start playing the game casually- tho I might eventually do some glitches that'll get me access some event pokemon.

It's a cool game; definitely the definitive game compared to Ruby and Sapphire. Though I can't really say it was a necessary revamp with enough in it for me that sets it apart to make it worth it over it's predecessors. Like Colosseum, I still need to go back and complete a few post-game things like finding the Regis and Latias... maybe I also wanna play around with the Battle Fronties, but I don't really care for it honestly.

Uhh, also played gen 1 pokemon games at least 3 more times. I finally unlocked Dodrio tower in pokemon stadium, so that gave me the energy to play pokemon yellow, which is my least favorite of the original gen 1 games. Just not as many cool glitches in the game and the monster sprites compared to R/G/B are just not as expressive and unique (though I have warmed up to them quite a bit since starting to do my own sprites).

Got really stuck in yellow when my save file kept getting deleted and the resolution that I eventually landed on after replacing the battery with higher-quality one's and re-flowing the soldering in the cartridge was that the jury-rigged way that the power cords in the basement where I have the N64 set-up was causing some sort of power flow issue that messed with the cart. The basement now has proper electrical wiring and I haven't had the issue again (also less of a fire hazard)!

I also started playing a copy of pokemon Green!! I guess I just wanted... to see the original sprites in action? Idk, man; gen 1 pokemon is a comfort game to me, I don't need to spice it up particularly for me to enjoy it, lol!

Also played more Pokemon Violet. I'm burnt out on it at the moment, but its fun hunting some shinies as events pop up on occasion and I'm sure I'll probably get super into pokemon again (uhhh, compared to my usual level of being super into pokemon), and fill in some gaps in my collection and more shiny hunting and stuff. Still gotta get the few alpha pokemon I'm missing in PLA... Now that I've been talking about it, I kinda wanna return soon...

OK, before I get to newer games, let's go back to the GameBoy: I bought Catrap/Pitman (The American cart is called Catrap, the Japanese version is called Pitman and is cheaper and that's the one I got, identical games with no dialog, so it just didn't make sense to get the one with the cuter name) and it's a very cute Gameboy puzzle game where you push boxes and bump ghouls. Few unique graphics, but the graphics that are there are very strong and cute!! I haven't gone all the way through and I'm not huge into puzzles, so I can't judge on that merit, but it's a neat little game!

Trip World is also an impressive looking gameboy game, this time with more graphics. It's prohibitively expensive to get an original copy, so I was happy to grab a copy of the re-released Trip World DX on the Switch for a fraction of the price. I played it in the original monochrome palette and it's a very impressive looking gameboy game! Iirc, it felt a little frustrating to play at parts and it's not very long, but very cool experience.

Finally got around to playing the Super Mario RPG Remake!!!!!! I owned (stole from a cousin) the Nintendo Power guide for it as a kid and it was a seminal piece of reading for me (also after having a dalliance with like half of the game on an emulator a decade ago), so I'm glad to have finally completed the game!! Not big into RPG's (pokemon and probably a dozen other games excepting), so I played on easy, but it was a fun experience; the game's characters and enemies have a lot of character to it in a similar way that gen 1 pokemon has character, imo.

Very happy that Nintendo has decided to make good Zelda games again with Echoes of Wisdom :^). OK, Breath of the Wild and it's sequel just weren't for me and that's OK. There are plenty of good games out there and it's cool that they've curated themselves out of my backlog by being bad :^). I was really worried that Echoes of Wisdom was gonna take a lot of inspiration from them (you, know, ":^)") and I'm glad that it seems only the horrific menu style seems to have been retained and I never had to do any of the cooking or wandering around seeing nothing that interested me.

Echoes were really novel, but there were a lot of redundant ones and it was easy to get caught searching all through the menu for the few unique niche ones needed to solve a puzzle. Idk if I prefer that style over the usual sword gameplay- but I enjoyed it well enough! Story and themes didn't feel like much compared to the best of Zelda games, but it was OK. Ultimately'll leave it to hindsight to see if it ages well in our mind. Right now the view is: it was pretty great and definitely worth a playthrough!

Finally finished playing Luigi's Mansion 3. I really enjoyed solving puzzles throughout the mansion and I rarely felt like they were too obtuse to figure out. Best Luigi's Mansion yet, imo and i hope they free him soon so that maybe we can have a Luigi's Mansion 4 ;-;.

Getting kinda tired of writing and it shows... Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a good game that made me cry for some reason during the Piranha plants on parade segment and I don't know why and I haven't finished the game quite yet, but it's a quality platformer and very good!!!!

I played through I wanna say 3/4's of Deadly Premonition: Origins for Switch before I got a very entertaining, but unfortunately gamebreaking bug where I managed to get forced through a wall to skip a boss in the section of the game where you play as Emily and not the usual main character, York. The game just never changed me back to him and unfortunately Women cannot open file cabinets and a critical piece of evidence is in one and I cannot continue.

It was a very technically flawed, but pretty... fun in a janky ps2 game kinda definition of fun way. The story is goofy and engaging and takes a lot of inspiration from Twin Peaks and a few things don't age well from the 00's that are maybe forgivable because of the developer's more recent works and then maybe slightly less forgivable because of the developers even more recent works...

Maybe I'll start over from the beginning to experience it all myself sometime, but otherwise I know how it ends from watching the Two Best Friends Play let's play years ago, so I'm not in a big hurry. I consider "irreparably soft-locked" as a kind of complete.

Cavern of Dreams was really good!!!!!! Augh, I think I wrote about it elsewhere in slightly more depth, but it's a very good playground platformer with graphics that are inspired by N64 games and I'm a big fan and I wish I had more to say, but it's just really solid and just the right length and you'd have to play it yourself or listen to a more competent reviewer to really understand!!

Right now, I'm playing through Iconoclasts. I'm liking it! I'll probably have more to say next year or whenever I feel like writing about it... next year.

I think that's everything. Woof, that was actually quite a bit now that I've written it all down, and yet I still hunger to play video games more next year!