#i have a few videos too but i have to mute the audio first for privacy reasons

[skyradiant]

Some pictures I took at the zoo the other day.

[yvesdot]

Well, this is new! I watched the entire VMAs (just about) for the first time ever, and here is my official writeup—less so for Dots (certainly not a public-facing project), more for all my friends I want to gossip with. Here’s everything I’m going to be talking about for the next few days that happened at the VMAs, with helpful links to all the available clips.

Before anything happened, Kendrick released a new song on Instagram. This immediately trended alongside the VMAs for the rest of the night.

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Chappell Roan snapped at a photographer on the red carpet. It’s still frankly unclear to me what happened—in the video I’ve seen passed around, you hear a voice in the background say “shut the fuck up,” to which Chappell turns and retorts, “you shut the fuck up!” When they apparently protest, she shuts them down, saying, “not me, bitch!” It’s unclear whether the photographer in question was originally talking to her, or to another photographer, and also whether she was accusing him of saying anything to her. I’m not personally invested in finding out more.

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Eminem opened by performing “Houdini” and “Someone Save Me;” I showed up halfway through with the volume on mute and had no idea why that man was wearing the world’s worst blonde wig. I do think the obvious visual reference to his original VMAs “Slim Shady” performance is genuinely cute. It is unbelievable he still rapped the “If I was to ask for Megan Thee Stallion if she would collab with me / Would I really have a shot at a feat [shot at her feet]?” lines with Megan Thee Stallion hosting.

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Megan was adorable and an excellent host. She is so funny, so genuine, so easy to watch and so good at balancing being personable and competent. Honestly, she and Chappell gave some very similar energy tonight and it made me wonder if they know each other (I am not very aware of Chappell things—yet!) She was also, naturally, exceptionally well-dressed. The crowd absolutely loved her.

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Taylor immediately won the “Best Collaboration” award for Fornite with Post Malone, which began a streak of 7 awards won that night, mostly for that one song, despite the fact that her latest album has been one of her worst-received by fans and critics alike. (This is not a comment on whether the songs on the album are good or not, just on the relative success in comparison with her past work and the reception of other projects nominated. It’s surprising.) Her seven awards were the aforementioned Best Collaboration, Song of Summer, Best Pop, Artist of the Year, Best Direction, Best Editing, and Video of the Year at the end of the night. This ties her with Beyonce for most VMAs ever won. She also claims a number of other records, but I am not going to list all that. 

I will tell you that she opened this acceptance speech with “Waking up this morning in New York on September 11th, I’ve just been thinking about what happened 23 years ago; everyone who lost a loved one and everyone that we lost. That is the most important thing about today and everything that happens tonight falls behind that,” and then continued as if this had been a normal thing to say and/or she had not said it.

I’m still frustrated at the timing of her endorsement of Harris coincidentally last night. It feels too obviously set up to quell rising fan anger and ensure every award she won would be “untainted” by people’s criticisms of her.

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Megan recreated the iconic Britney-with-a-snake look.

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Sabrina Carpenter performed a lovely medley. She opened singing “Please Please Please” (with the “motherfucker!”) on a swing, descended to a couple of audio clips including the iconic Britney line about Titanic from her “Oops! I Did it Again” music video, performed “Taste” with an astronaut and an alien (she did kiss the femalien, though Britney Spears (!) commented she ought to have kissed a girl), and transitioned into “Espresso” with a few dozen astronaut backup dancers. I loved her outfit and especially the lipstick mark on her thigh (!!?!!), and I have to give her credit for doing this insane performance setup in front of both Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, about whom “Taste” was allegedly written.

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Katy Perry accepted the previously-announced Video Vanguard Award and performed a medley of tracks—in order, “Dark Horse,” “E.T.,” new track “I’m His, He’s Mine” featuring Doechii, “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “I Kissed a Girl” (rock version), “Firework,” and “Lifetimes.” You may notice that “Woman’s World” was nowhere on this list. Also, during their performance of “I’m His, He’s Mine,” Katy and Doechii scissored in a possible reference to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s 2021 Grammys performance of W.A.P., and MTV cut directly to Orlando Bloom in a likely reference to the Britney/Madonna/Christina VMAs kiss where they cut to Justin Timberlake.

In my opinion, it was a great performance from the choice of tracks to the aesthetic(s) to her voice. She clearly still has it! However, people audibly booed when her name was announced and several times as she gave her speech, which, side note, opened with ““I did that all too on the first day of my period, if you can believe it!” It didn’t help that she chose to—well, look, here’s the whole thing, bold by me.

Can you believe it? Thank you so much to MTV for believing in my weirdness from day one and for helping artists extend their worlds beyond a song. There are so many things that have to align to have a long and successful career as an artist. There are no decade-long accidents. (a long, meaningful pause, during which people booed) So I would like to acknowledge a few people: my team who have been with me for over 20 years, direct management, and my label Capitol Records.

Trust me, it takes a village of strong people, a lot of healthy discourse, and a lot of group chats. My parents and my family, the deepest roots I know. We don’t always agree, but what a lesson that those disagreements can still be full of love. Thank you to MySpace, Warped Tour, and all the bygone places where I found a voice, identity, and a community so early on. Thank you to the friends that were there when my Jetta was repossessed. My Katy Cats: You stood by me for a lifetime, and the LGBTQ community who I recognize I would not be here without and who show me that you can be both kind and [bleeped out—”cunt”?]. Thank you to Orlando for keeping me grounded, celebrated, and doing the dishes. And lastly for my Daisy [her daughter], the only flowers I’ll ever need.

I’m excited when I look around music today, and I see all the amazing young artists who are operating with confidence, agency, vulnerability and authenticity. I’ve heard a lot of “Do this, don’t say that, wear less, wear more now. Hey, don’t cut your hair.” One of the biggest reasons I’m standing here right now is I learned how to block out all the noise that every single artist in this industry has to constantly fight against, especially women. I just wanna say with my whole heart, do whatever it takes to stay true to yourself and true to your art. Turn off social media, safeguard your mental health, pause, touch grass. And do what you were born to do just like I was born to do this. 143 comes out September 20. I love you!

I probably don’t need to say it, but I find it incredibly upsetting and disappointing that she would frame the criticism of her, which has centered almost entirely on her working with Dr. Luke, someone whom numerous women have accused of being misogynist and generally abusive, as “noise that women artists have to deal with.”

Also, I don’t have video proof of this, but they played a truly bizarre intro to the award where they called her “the queen of camp” and said “she’s a mother and she IS mother” and I don’t know what to do about that. They did play the world’s briefest audio snippet of “Woman’s World” during that.

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Chappell Roan performed “Good Luck Babe” and nothing else, which nonetheless seemed to quiet upset fans whose shows were canceled with little notice last week due to the “scheduling conflict” of Chappell deciding to do the VMAs. I wish the mixing had been better; I could barely hear her voice! But the aesthetic was lovely (very Dorian Electra “Man to Man”) and the set was extremely well-used. She definitely seems unused to performing in this more regimented style, but there’s an infinite amount of time for her to either get comfortable with it or adapt it more to her usual performance method of running all over the stage.

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Tyla won Best Afrobeats for “Water,” obviously. Lil Nas X (presenting the award with Halle) could be heard saying “But we already knew, though, right?” as she approached the stage. She gave the world’s most diplomatic speech which acknowledged that African music is (obviously) more diverse than the label “Afrobeats.”

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Megan delivered an incredible medley performance: “BOA,” a sample of “Wanna Be,” “B.A.S,” a sample of “RATTLE,” “HISS,” and “MAMUSHI”—with a surprise appearance by featured artist Yuki Chiba, in a cool hat! And may I just say, for all-around stage presence, choreography, vocals, delivery, everything, Megan stole the show 100%. And that’s with all the ridiculous censoring she had to do! If you are not into Megan, you need to be, now. She is the moment.

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Benson Boone did a flip (1:29) while performing “Beautiful Things,” a song I found myself hearing for the second time ever. It is apparently the song of the summer to many people. That’s cool! I genuinely had never heard it in my life before this week. He’s clearly an exceptionally talented performer, so let’s see where he goes.

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Sabrina Carpenter won “Song of the Year” for “Espresso” and seemed genuinely shocked, somehow.

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Halsey did an absolutely gorgeous performance of “Ego,” a song I hadn’t heard before but found myself liking. I should get into Halsey!

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Camila, the other half (?) of the Camila-Shawn-Sabrina love triangle, with an album which underperformed (especially in comparison to Sabrina’s), faked out the audience (including her ex and his sometime-other-girl!) by pretending to play “June Gloom,” the closer from the standard edition of the album about why he runs back to her if he really likes Sabrina so much, and then cutting the recording off to actually sing “GODSPEED,” the closer off the deluxe version—and the latest single, dropped only last week. Apparently it’s the first track she wrote for this era, after a breakup with an entirely different ex. Point being, I give her a lot of props for just how much that moment rocked.

I suppose as a professional I ought to say all this is only allegedly what the songs are about. But, you know, we know.

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You know Glorilla rocked the house down. Having seen her in SF, I could tell just how much she’d improved since then, not just in her performing skills generally but in her confidence. You go, Glo.

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Chappell Roan won “Best New Artist” in a moment everyone saw coming a mile away and read her acceptance speech from her diary. She’s so cute!

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Video of the Year went to Taylor and she shouted out “my boyfriend, Travis Kelce,” in her speech. This is not news, but people screamed like it was? She also told people to vote. None of this is really important to me but you need to know that I went to r/GaylorSwift again after several months’ abstention as a result of the way people were talking about it. People chanted Taylor’s name. Also, Megan initially opened the little card upside down, which was adorable.

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Best performances of the night: Katy Perry, Megan Thee Stallion, and Halsey.

Most deserved wins of the night: 

Chappell Roan (Best New Artist)

“Espresso” (Song of the Year)

“Water” (Best Afrobeats)

“Mamushi” (Best Trending Video, though any pick might have been good)

“BOA” (Best Art Direction)

Biggest snubs of the night: 

“Not Like Us” (Song of Summer, “Fortnight”)

“Paparazzi” (VMAs Most Iconic Performance, “Roar” — a case where any other pick would have been better)

Sabrina Carpenter (Artist of the Year, Taylor Swift)

Glorilla & Megan Thee Stallion’s “Wanna Be” (Best Collaboration, “Fortnight”)

Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter (Best Pop, Taylor Swift)

“Too Sweet” (Best Alternative, “Beautiful Things”)

“Von dutch” (Best Cinematography, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”)

“Rush” by Troye Sivan and “greedy” by Tate Mcrae (Best Choreography, “Houdini”)

Additionally, “Espresso” was not nominated for Song of Summer (“Please Please Please” was), and Britney’s “Slave 4 U” was not nominated for VMAs Most Iconic Performance.

Here’s the full list of nominations and wins. 

Here’s my compilation of favorite outfits. Katy Perry wore a QR code tramp stamp which led to preorders for her album.

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Other thoughts:

LISA and Anitta and Rauw Alejandro’s performances were also great! I don’t know that this was the best intro to their songs (my stream was not excellent quality) but I’m glad I stuck around!

Ads for HIV medication and Kamala Harris played throughout the night. There was one ad of Camila’s “I LUV IT” playing while she did insane things and drank Bacardi that almost made me dislike the song.

Charli not being anywhere near this event was criminal. I know she has the Sweat tour to rehearse for (I’m going to see her! AHHHH!!!!) but I really felt her absence. People also expected Taylor and Ariana to perform, and neither of them did—Ariana wasn’t even present! Lady Gaga wasn’t, either, which is a possible reason “Paparazzi” didn’t win Most Iconic VMAs Performance; apparently the VMAs prefer to give awards to artists who are present so they can give a live speech. Meanwhile, they gave Artist of the Year to Taylor Swift for the second year in a row and didn’t air it because she was walking in and out. Make of that what you will.

I successfully predicted the results of 5 awards (Best New Artist: Chappell Roan, Best Afrobeats: Tyla, Best Direction: Fortnight, Best Editing: Fortnight, and Video of the Year: Fortnight). Next year I might just start gambling and put it all on TSwift; it seems an easy victory.

Let me know if you want more of this sort of thing! I've done it for presidential debates in the past, too, though that was Patreon-exclusive. Heck, if I wasn't on hiatus, this might have been, too ^__^

[maria-mga2024mi4016]

Class Activity - Audio recording x video editing

08/07/2024

Today's afternoon class was fun and engaging! Our lectures told us that we had to divide into 4 groups, and individually pick a movie clip under the theme of 'Apocalypse' and with the help of your group members you should recreate the audio/sounds effects/ voice acting for the film clip.

For this assignment, I teamed up with Ayodya, Shiza and Thameena and the 4 of us got to work.

After we did our searching on YouTube and found movie clips to our liking, we headed out of the class to start our audio recording!

We worked on the audio recordings in the following order:

Shiza's audio

Maria's audio (Mine)

Ayodya's audio

Thameena's audio

Shiza's audio: -

Our first thought was to head over to the 8th-floor restroom corridor since it was a closed area that seemed perfect for audio recording. Or so we thought...

Although we managed to complete all the audio recordings, we were disturbed 3 times. (More like our screaming and shouting disturbed the people who just wanted to use the restroom lol. At least we made some good memories! Cheers to that!!!

Below is the link to Shiza's movie clip selection!

We tried our best to synch our recording along with the original video by playing the movie clip on mute from one phone and recording the audio in another phone.

Here is some behind-the-scenes footage! (Thank you Thamee for recording this :D<3)

(When the idea of recording on the 18th floor popped into our heads)

2. Maria's audio :-

While I was searching for the apocalypse movie clip, I found 2 clips that I enjoyed. The first one was from a popular meme where a school kid sings one of Britney Speares' songs and the final selection. Although the previous one was funny, I didn't get much inspiration to record any audio for it. The second clip on the other hand won because there was a lot of sounds involved in the clip. I wanted to challenge myself and see if my friends and I could create much better and funnier audio for the chosen clip.

(Personally, I think we did a good job. I couldn't have done it without my amazing voice actors Shiza and Thameena and my background sound specialist Ayodya!)

Below is the link to my movie clip selection! (0:00 - 1:05)

These are the links to all the audio recordings I used for my final audio edit!

("I just want my dino nuggies TOT" - Thameena Hallaldeen)

(We clearly couldn't take ourselves seriously while all that giggling we made in the background)

3. Ayodya's audio :-

Here comes the time for my favorite audio recording. For Ayodya's clip, we went on full-house production! You have some incredible voice acting from Shiza, Ayodya, and Thameena, sound effects by Ayodya and Thameena, and background music sung by yours truly.

Ayodya wanted the audio to sound emotional just like the original clip, but to also have some comedic elements to it. So, we went along with the 'Alpha/ beta memes' for this one.

Below is the link for Ayodya's chosen film clip!

4. Thameena's audio:-

Thameena's clip wasn't exactly from a movie as such, but it was a recording from a game if I'm not mistaken. This one was a fun and quick recording session since Thameena wanted us to freestyle the audio the way we wanted.

Meme moment: - Our honest reaction after traumatizing everyone on the 8th floor...

(In all seriousness, I would like to apologize to Evelyne for scaring her TOT. I'm too embarrassed to face her ever again.)

The Editing Station: -

After traumatizing the admin staff on the 8th floor and any other people who wanted to use the 18th floor for some peace and quiet during our group's audio recording session, (girls gotta do what girls gotta do ;D) We headed back to class: just in time to get into the editing process!

I edited the new clip audio on cap cut since Premiere Pro would've taken more time to edit on.

Here's a screen shot of my editing work in progress!

The overall editing process was nothing too complicated. I had to make a few cuts to certain bits of the audio, so it stays in synch with what the actors/actresses say.

I've even played around with the volume of the audio. This should be noticeable with the zombie and passenger's screams behind the curtain. You'll notice this when Brad Pitt's character moves closer and closer to the curtain.

I added 'echos' to the individual zombie screams to have the audio synch well with the slow-motion effect in the zombie's attacks.

That's basically it for the editing portion of this activity! Overall, this was such a fun assignment. But I might lose my voice tomorrow after all the screaming I did today. (It was worth it!)

That's a wrap on today's post. Thank you for reading through the entire thing (Maybe you scrolled past till the end. Still...that deserves a thank you to you, fellow reader) and I hope you enjoy my final audio edit for today's class assignment!

[captainmdhridoyhossain-blog]

[ad_1] Hi there this is sumeesh from picks and perfect and i hope that you're having a fantastic day and if not i trust that you're doing your best to make it a beautiful one someone told me not to leave life to the winds of chance and change and i believe in that a thousand Percent anyway if you are a video creator and if you are hearing what i'm about to tell you for the very first time this my friend is going to change your life for the better have you ever come across situations where you have to zoom in and Out of the footage maybe it's a simple talking head video or a b-roll or even a screen capture time to time in tutorials we have to zoom in and out of specific areas to make things clear right but if you work with premiere pro or any other video editing software you already know This my friend is a tedious process you have to keep track of keyframing scaling positioning it is just a mess what if i told you that you could do all of this all the zooming in and out along with motion effects smoothed out eased in and eased out all of this Automatically sounds too good to be true doesn't it but right now there's a plug-in for it that does all of the heavy lifting for you and yes i bought it out of my own pocket when i learned about it a few weeks ago it absolutely knocked my socks off and i was Questioning myself as to why did i spend billions of hours doing it the manual way if you have been a premiere pro user or if you have used any software before this is going to blow your mind too and i can guarantee that it's definitely going to be a life changer so without Any further ado i'm super excited to show this to you let's get started Back in the magical world of premiere pro this time and if you wish to directly follow along i've linked both some sample footages and the plugin in the description and if there are discounts going on at the moment i'll update that too if you are interested so let's get started let us first Understand how this works so i was making this instagram reel on how to remove fence in photoshop and by the way it's on instagram at pixem perfect now let's say i was explaining about going to edit and then content aware film and i need to zoom in there so let's go to That section where we go to edit and then content aware fill so right now we click on edit and then content of fill so just before that i've kept the audio muted so that it doesn't interfere with this audio all right so i need to zoom in on edit so here's What i need to do after you've installed the extension go to window extensions and then drag zoom pro just simply refresh it so that you have the screen preview right over there now here's the magic you can visually tell where to zoom in so i want the zoom to be of 0.3 Seconds and all you got to do is just drag that's it so i want to zoom in this area and if you hold the space bar you can move where you want to zoom in so i'm going to zoom in exactly at this area and leave it done it does everything automatically right Now when you play it watch what happens so i'm going to play that section again for you so here let's play that see it automatically zooms into that area now after that we move to content aware and i'm going to move the camera right there i want to pan it right there or Maybe pan and zoom as well so we're just going to refresh again it's going to already tell you which area is already zoomed in and then you can just drag another area move it to content aware right there in the middle and just leave it done and this is how it looks See see the zoom see the transition it's so easy and you didn't have to do any of the keyframing manually now let's compare it with the traditional manual methods and see what are the problems we face and whether this panel can fix it so here we have another example and this Is from the tutorial where we remove the greens from the face remember we click on the adjustment layer icon and then we choose hue saturation so we need to zoom into that area if we had to do it manually here's what we would have to do

First of all let's say we are going to zoom at this point so we would have to go to effect controls and then create a keyframe both for position and scale and then just scale in and then move into that area and if we don't do it properly there might be that black Gap right over there so we have to just control the size properly okay and then we also have to create a keyframe for the original position as well i almost forgot to do that so let's say i want to start right here i'm going to create Points for both of these right here and just reset it to previous position now you have a zoom in and this is not very exciting and on top of that if you want some motion effects you would have to add some more effects here and it can take a whole lot of time So instead if you were using the panel all you had to do was this let's go to drag zoom pro and let's say i want to zoom in quickly at 0.2 seconds and now let's quickly refresh it so that we have the screen right over there and we don't Want to zoom in that quickly we want to zoom in at just this point now when you drag an area and if you feel that you want to cancel it because if you leave it right now it will zoom into that area if you want to cancel it you can simply Press the escape key as simple as that let's drag in a new one and hold the spacebar to move it around and i want to make it just a little bigger just like this and it sticks to the edge you can choose not to but i usually keep it on we'll get to That later but there's no chance of leaving those gaps around the edge once you release it boom done that's all it took now let's play that section again see how simple that is that's just amazing isn't it and by the way if you felt this is a little quicker you can Always easily increase the duration here also did you notice there's a motion blur effect to it if we scroll a little back have a look there's this motion blur effect also added now you must be wondering once we have zoomed in then what then we can do a variety of things Let's say you want to move to this area of the image simple let's refresh that again it just doesn't show that particular area but the entire thing even though in the main preview you don't have that all you have to do is to just drag a rectangle where you want to Move the camera that's it so i want to zoom in to hue saturation adjustment and it will take the camera there exciting so let's go here so we applied hue saturation and then it easily moves there and of course at any point if you want to zoom out at 100 You just have to click zoom out to 100 you don't have to refresh it it's not necessary it's just to get a preview of the entire footage here that's it if you know here you want to zoom out or zoom into a particular place you don't really Have to refresh it or get a preview just click on zoom out to 100 and i would increase the time to 0.3 let's click on this button and it zooms out as simple as that now let's play this section see the motion blur still there it zooms Out slowly since we chose 0.3 let's say there's a middle section of the image that you want to zoom in for instance when we get to picking this color i want to zoom in on that area so first let's refresh it and if i try to drag a Rectangle right there and try to move it it just snaps into those guides i don't want that to happen i want it to move freely so here's what we do and by the way we accidentally did it no problem to undo it just simply click on undo button Right there controller command z will not work here because there are lots of steps involved but thankfully we have this undo button let's simply go to settings and disable snap to gridlines from enabled let's choose disabled now let's get back to drag and zoom and now When you drag a rectangle you can move it freely wherever you want let's make it a little bigger and move it at the center of the circle right over there the highlighted area and there you go my friend that area is now zoomed in have a look

We move in there and that area is zoomed in to the very middle perfectly now at this point you might have noticed that the zoom in and zoom out are pretty smooth that's because i have set the transition interpolation to ease in and ease out if you do want it to be linear You can choose linear from here that will be a little simple but depending upon the kind of effect you're going for you can choose either of these so let's zoom out with linear to show you the difference so let's say i want to zoom out right over here let's click On zoom out to 100 so this will be a little linear motion instead of eased in and eased out so let's play it you would notice that it's just a very linear motion now let's talk about talking heads like this one from time to time we do need to zoom in and Out sometimes we have different cuts where we have to zoom in and out and here's how to do it and all the time we don't want to be dragging rectangles and every time we want to zoom into the same area it just doesn't make sense to do That manually as well let's say this is another talking head video and at this point where i just move my hand like this i want to zoom in so let's move in right over there at just this point and then open up drag zoom pro by going to window extensions and Drag zoom pro let's stick it right here at the top so this is where we want to zoom in let's first refresh it and it's not going to refresh because we have not selected the clip so let's first select the clip click on refresh and this time We do need the guides assistance so let's go to settings and we do want to enable the grid lines and secondly there's one more thing i wanted to show you there's a parameter called shutter angle and it is simply the motion blur effect that was added in talking head Videos i don't really like that much of a motion blur effect so we're just gonna go ahead with zero zero means no blur it tells right there and 360 has the most blur so let's go with zero now let's get back to dragon zoom tab and now let's drag in a rectangle Have a look it will stick to guides once we start moving it so 110 zoom looks good to me hold the spacebar and move it to the very center and it will just snap to it and release it now once you do that you would notice a very interesting thing first of all Let's have a look at the movement it's pretty good isn't it now i do want the movement to be a little earlier and a little quicker so let's go with 0.15 and we want the movement to be right here all right so let's refresh that we don't Really have to do that and now let's drag in a rectangle 110 zoom and let's move it the very center and there you go my friend and now let's play it perfect now what if you want to apply the same zoom throughout the video it just doesn't make sense to do it again And again by the way if you go to recents all of the recent zooms that you have done will be saved here so if you had zoomed in to the file section or the layer section in a screen capture all of that will be in the reasons so this is The one that we did most recently and if you want to apply it anytime again you just have to click on that let's say here we zoom out to 100 so have a look it zooms out again we want to zoom in so simply click on that Zoom in one not the zoom out one zoom in 110 and it will zoom in again how convenient is that but the next time you open the project this might be gone so we want to save this as a favorite that 110 zoom in you want to just click on The star button right there and zoom in face let's name it this way and every time you want to zoom in that way simply go to favorites and click on zoom in phase i already have one which i actually use in my projects this is the One that i did to demonstrate to you so let's say we zoom out right here by clicking on zoom out to 100 and then we want to zoom in again right here click on zoom in face that's it and it zooms in right there the saved Zooms can also help in a lot

of different ways let's say if it's a screen capture and each area is saved as a preset imagine how convenient that would be so let's say i refreshed right here i have this layer area that i zoomed in at some point in time And i will zoom in like that and it will be saved in recents and i want to save it as a favorite by clicking on this star and just name it layer area okay and then we have let's say let's undo everything and let's say I have one more for the file areas let me decrease the volume so for the file area or the menu bar area let's drag it right over there and let's save this one as the menu bar now anytime you want to zoom into the layer areas just simply go to favorites And click on layer and that area would automatically be zoomed in and at some point you might want to zoom out and then if you want to zoom into the menu bar area simple click on menu bar and it will zoom into that if you do any sort Of video professionally this is hands down a super must-have plug-in and i'm telling you i usually don't say this but i have to say this time if you don't have this plug-in you're definitely missing out by the way if you cannot afford it at the moment i absolutely Understand and you don't have to but when you can this is a must-have i cannot even just put into words how much this has helped me since i got it it's just been three or four videos but it feels like i've saved a lifetime on top there's this guilt that i wasted four Frankenstein years trying to do this manually i really wish i knew about it earlier and by the way if you're somebody who creates tutorials or teaches online why are you still even watching this video you know when i was introduced to this through a random video it was on premiere pro performance Comparison something like that i just paused the video right there went to the website bought it and even started experimenting with it i've linked the plugin in the description with some possible discounts so do go ahead and check that out a special huge massive thank you to camille piccala for Creating this panel this plug-in you my man are a super genius i absolutely am in love with it he also has a youtube channel where he also creates tutorials so do show him some love he absolutely deserves it thank you so much for watching this video i hope this video Helped you and if it did make sure to give us a like and also don't forget to subscribe and not just subscribe ring the bell that you my friend don't miss any other feature tips tricks or tutorials thanks to all of these amazing awesome and super nice people for Supporting this channel on patreon and helping keep pixim perfect free for everybody forever also thanks for making this video possible lets you and i meet again in the next video thank you so much for joining me for this one till then stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating You [ad_2] #STOP #Keyframing #Zoom #Premiere #Pro For More Interesting Article Visit : https://mycyberbase.com/

[casuallyyoa]

HONKAI: STAR RAIL EARLY IMPRESSIONS

WHAT

Honkai: Star Rail is the newest live service game in the HoYoverse, launching globally 26 April 2023. The game is free to play / free to start, a primarily single-player turn-based action RPG available on mobile, PC and PlayStation consoles. It’s part of the larger Honkai series universe, featuring so-called alternate versions of the main universe’s characters. 

We know it’s an alternate Honkai universe because Himeko’s alive.

This early impressions video is brought to you by just under 9 hours worth of gameplay.

SETTINGS

That aside, I like to start with the options and settings. You start off by picking one of four servers, each effectively being an account of their own, broadly speaking. There’s quite a number of little things that Honkai: Star Rail has taken from HoYoverse stablemate, Genshin Impact, so this comes as no surprise.

You don’t get access to the actual settings right away which is somewhat a pet peeve of mine, but I won’t dwell on it too much. The actual options available are the standard swathe of graphics, audio and keybinds on PC, with little to no accessibility options. I suppose considering its overall gameplay, accessibility is less required compared to Genshin, but it would be great for larger developers to start standardizing their availability.

There’s quite the selection of text localization available, while the characters have voices in Chinese, English, Korean and Japanese with separate downloadable voice packs. I got too lazy to get them - even Japanese, despite my self-proclaimed weebery - which… is neither here nor there. Let’s move on.

OPENING HOUR

The first hour basically serves to get you familiar with the basics; of the story and the controls. You get to choose between the Stelle or Caelus forms, the selection of which the game warns cannot be changed later. Shortly after naming them, you become the industry standard mute, amnesiac hero. 

Much like Genshin, Star Rail’s protagonist IS voiced at points but otherwise only ‘speaks’ through dialogue options. I honestly think this is a shame; a decision perhaps meant to more easily facilitate self-insertion. Who am I to speculate, though?

PRESENTATION

Honkai: Star Rail is quite the looker of a game. At first glance, it may appear more muted with the dark backdrop of space and the stars, but it’s hardly lacking in colour - especially when it comes to the design of the playable characters; all interacting with each other in a 3D space. They have their respective, cohesive colour palettes and are button cute; important for marketing. Maybe the enemies do seem kind of boring, though. If you’re really nitpicky, NPC tend to not have mouth flaps even when they’re fully voiced, which might just seem weird.

I feel like the UI and menus could be a little more streamlined as there’s quite a few clicks to go through for upgrades and such, which the devs can consider for later.

Haven’t paid too much attention to the music, but you can get records to listen to select tracks on the phonograph you can find later on. The English dub is pretty good. At its quote-unquote, worst, it’s serviceable. 

My gripe is mostly the fact that there’s no Ultimate animation skip. Skipping story is one thing, but even with 2x speed in battles, be prepared to memorize the few canned lines and animation sequences whenever characters are off being cool and stuff.

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay section will be split into how you interact with the world, and the systems in relation to the characters.

THE WORLD

I briefly mentioned it being a turn-based, action RPG. The turn-based part should be self-explanatory; characters and enemies act in order, visible on the top left of the screen. 

Enemies have a ‘break’ bar which doesn’t make them skip a turn, but does make them vulnerable to damage. You can break enemies by matching character elemental attacks to an enemy’s weakness, where a character without the corresponding advantageous element directly chips away at the enemy HP. 

Status effects exist. Debilitating statuses like Freeze will skip turns, while something like Bleed deals damage over time. Unless otherwise stated, damage over time damages shields before HP. Using skills take up skill points, seen as pips on the bottom right, which you gain simply by attacking. Once a character charges up enough Energy for an Ultimate, they can cast it at any point, though the order of when the Ultimate casts does still depend on when they’re input.

Enemies can be seen walking around on the overworld. It’s possible to run around them which alerts them to your presence. You can start the fight with an advantage by hitting them in their elemental weakness, which you can see as you approach. Furthermore, characters have field ‘Techniques’ which can either aid in exploration or for a pre-emptive attack on foes.

The overworld exploration in Honkai: Star Rail is more limited than the open world of Genshin Impact, more akin to connected instances instead of a seamless plane. For one, you can’t jump. There still are destructible objects, chests to open and puzzles scattered around, among other things. You just don’t need to worry about parkour.

Systems gradually unlock as you raise your Trailblazer level from going through the story and assorted missions. There will be daily missions, a Battle Pass, and repeatable ‘rogue-lite’ mode as the ones I consider major gameplay additions. The ‘rogue-lite’, called Simulated Universe, can be repeated weekly for rewards.

An assortment of currencies and quests serve as the busy work to get you more materials, rewards and the like. Conveniences such as repeatable battles, auto battle and item transmutation all exist. The stamina system recovers at 1 point every 6 minutes.

THE CHARACTERS

How about our colourful cast? As you might expect, they do have voicelines and some story you can read about. They could even send you messages which gets you a pittance of premium currency, like Dan Heng’s ‘dad joke’ message.

I wanted to talk about the character upgrades here too, without overloading the previous segment. To wit, we have:

Their base levels and related Ascensions, where you can also get some gacha tickets at certain Ascensions

Trails which look like a skill tree wherein new passives or skill upgrades can levelled up at unlocked nodes

Light Cones which to me are mechanically more similar to Fate/Grand Order’s Craft Essences to Genshin Impact’s weapons

A 4-Relic system which are like Genshin’s Artifacts

Eidolons aka Genshin’s Constellations by another name

These don’t sound like much, and would certainly be very familiar if you’ve already played Genshin. Doubtless you’re going to be spending plenty of time on the grind for these, though.

GACHA

Ah yes, if you’re going to be a free to start game, there’s gotta be a way to monetize. You have the usual packs and monthly pass for premium currency and assorted resources.

The actual gacha rate is pretty abysmal for Honkai: Star Rail, but at the very least, has a similar pity system to Genshin. The ‘discounted’ beginner pool guarantees at least one 5-star character in 50 pulls, so you could have a better start. Or maybe struggle a little with damage if you get Gepard.

The game has the same system where you have different pools for brand new characters and their associated Light Cone, and a permanent pool. Interestingly, after 300 pulls in the permanent pool, you’re able to obtain an ‘extra’ selectable 5-star ONCE.

C6 Qiqi havers could never. 

STORY

I don’t want to talk too much about the story for a couple of simple reasons:

I’m not familiar with the Honkai universe lore, so things I’m puzzling about could be answered simply by ‘go check the wiki’

As such, I’m not particularly invested and can’t pick up on references, and am just here for the ride

I feel like the story is fairly slow paced in the past 9 hours or so, presumably to pick up once more elements get introduced. 

For the lore hunters, there is a staggering amount of incidental pieces you can find lying around to read, not to mention the trash cans or little secrets you can find by being a dumbass or incredibly persistent person. Whether you enjoy it all, will be personal taste.

CONCLUSION

As an outsider trying out the hottest new game, Honkai: Star Rail is competently made and can certainly be enjoyable. I would think people who have enjoyed HoYoverse’s other titles and or are involved in the Honkai universe in general, would absolutely love this game.

I am merely lukewarm on it as I only have so much time in a day, and another live service game to contend with is something I do not intend to do. As befitting my so-called ‘brand’, I will be a casual here.

By all means, give the game a try and see how much you like it. I am just some guy on the internet with opinions. So go, have fun.

[trustfusion]

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How long can you keep the cities of the world moving? Key Features Redesign your city to keep the traffic flowing, and carefully manage upgrades to meet the changing demands. Build a road network, one road at a time, to create a bustling metropolis. In Mini Motorways, the city’s traffic problems are in your hands.įrom the makers of Mini Metro, Mini Motorways is a game about drawing the roads that drive a growing city. If it is not enabled, please enable it.Īlso if you don't get notification alert sounds, re-verify that you don't accidentally muted the app notification sounds.Have you ever been stuck in traffic and wished you could do something to fix it? Go to your Apps->Mini Motorways->Notifications and check whether notifications enabled or not. Mini Motorways app Notifications are not working properly. If you've video loading problem, please check your internet speed and wifi connectivity. Try to use headphones to find out whether it is an issue with your speakers or with the app. If you don't have enough storage space, it can be blocking the app updates.Īudio / video loading problem with Mini MotorwaysĬheck your phone volume if you have audio problems.

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[quickbanana]

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However, the audio was much too soft to hear without blasting the volume, so I highlighted the track, navigated to Effects > Amplify and then I hit “OK.” The waveform expanded a bit, and it was much easier to hear. I decreased the gain on the recorder so it wouldn’t pick up my breathing or other nearby noises. The recorder that I used to capture the audio did a good job, but the sound was a little soft. (Check out our PremiumBeat library to find the right song for your project.) Often, a bit of background music can make your video more lively and add emotion to what’s happening on-screen. If you want to layer your audio with music, or if you have multiple files, you’ll want to have a track for each one, which makes it easier to edit - you can hit the “Solo” button on the left side of the track to only hear that track and mute the others. When recording, the audio will record on the current track, but you can use “Shift + R” to record on a new track. Importing a file will automatically create a new track. To record, hit the red circle button on the top left-side of the screen or hit “R.” To import, head to File > Import and then find and click on the audio file you want. When you open the software, you’ll start with a new file, and you can import an audio file or hit record.

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If you’ve never worked with a DAW or edited audio in Premiere Pro, here are a few tips to get you started with Audacity.Ĭreate a new stereo track by clicking on Tracks > Add New > Streo Track.įirst, you’ll need to download Audacity, which works on Windows, Mac, and even Linux operating systems. If you really want to step up your videos, first you need to step up your audio - it makes a noticeable difference. Whether you’re editing a podcast, external audio for a video, or a voiceover, Audacity can handle it. (I’ll link to the finished recording in the end.) I’ve been obsessed with mechanical keyboards lately, and the click-clack sounds that my keyboard makes are very satisfying in an ASMR-like way. To test out Audacity, and to show you the ropes, I used a Zoom H1n handheld recorder on a tripod to record the sound of my keyboard and make a working audio file. But don’t be fooled: behind the simple facade lies a sleeping giant with robust features that you can experiment with over time.

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Here are a few tips on getting started.Īudacity is the default software for many multimedia content creators because not only is it free, it’s also relatively easy to use. That’s it! Now go and start your recording in Audacity and don’t worry about noise anymore.Audacity is a free audio recording and editing application with an easy-to-use interface. The “in use” indicator will be On if there is an ongoing recording.ĥ. Turn on Krisp and let it perform its noise cancelling magic. Select the correct microphone in Krisp menu. Hover to the Audio Settings in Audacity and select Krisp MicrophoneĤ.

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Follow the Installation Wizard’s steps to install itģ. It only takes a few steps to install and set up Krisp, after which you can enjoy noiseless recordings in Audacity.Ģ. You can use Krisp app for easy background noise removal in Audacity. How to remove background noise in Audacity? Without further ado, let’s find out how you can remove background noise in Audacity in 5 easy steps. So if you’re looking an easy way to remove background noise in Audacity while recording, then keep reading. Finding a quiet to room to record is not always easy, and editing the audio after you have recorded is another hassle. Noise is one of the most common problems in audio recording.

[moonctzeny]

go there with you [teaser]

pairing: roommate/daddy dom! jaemin x fem! reader

genre: smut

summary: "You'd be lying had you said you didn't pick Jaemin to room with you because of his good looks. You had successfully managed to keep things platonic between you until a mistake and an amateur porn vid would bring you closer than ever. His annoying habits might wanna make you rip his hair out, yet you can think of a couple ways you can be all in his face."

ask me to join the taglist :)

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

Desperate. That’s what you had said in your ad.

You were desperate for a roommate because your landlord is an asshole who raised the rent of a girl he knows damn well is too stiff to become a stripper. You’d take anyone, really, but Jaemin still wasn’t the best candidate. You had a bunch of people that reached out to you. Quiet, kind, soft-spoken; the definition of a perfect roommate for most. A girl who said her only hobby was practicing chess by herself, a guy who was attending culinary school and promised to do all the cooking for the both of you, a girl who just needed a place to crash on the rare days she wasn’t sleeping at her boyfriend’s. They all seemed responsible and likable as well. So why did you settle for the loud talking, late-night gaming, plate scratching man in your kitchen? Just those few occurrences when you mixed up your coffee orders and had to take that first sip of his ‘Namericano’ was good enough of a reason to kick him out for good.

Well first off all, living with someone that looks like Jaemin hardly qualifies as ‘settling’. You were frankly swept off your feet when he came in for your roommate interview, dressed in the plainest of outfits yet looking so effortlessly handsome. He knew he was charming and used it against you, flicking his eyebrows when you asked him about his relationship status (you weren’t really in the mood to find a new naked lady in your living room every morning), running his fingers through his hair whenever he gave you an answer he knew you wouldn’t like.

And also, Jaemin isn’t always bad. On the days he’s not screaming into his headset or high on his caffeine overdose, he’s actually really fun to be around. He agrees to watch your favorite movies and he never steals your snacks, always smells nice, and is a good cuddler as well.

Desperate for him. That’s what you were that night you crossed the line.

He was bugging you for your wireless headphones again, barging into your room uninvited, as always. You just couldn’t understand why he didn’t just buy a pair of his own since he enjoyed working out in them so much.

“I swear to god Jaemin if you empty out their battery again-”

“I won’t! Please, y/n? I tried using mine but I keep getting tangled up in the wires.”

You just wanted that shirtless man out of your room. The results of his workout - or rather the mere warming up for it - were starting to show, sweat pooling on the hollows of his collarbones and fixated over his brows. His abs glistened in the dim lighting of your room, completing the godly image of your friendly neighborhood Apollo. Wasn’t he supposed to be smelly and gross? The light activity only intensified the spicy musk of his body spray.

You sigh and take off your headphones, letting your hair fall freely over your temples again. Searching a bit amongst the mess of cables on your nightstand, you pull out a small charger and throw them both in his direction.

“Just return them when you're done. And remind me to get you a pair of those for Christmas.”

Jaemin’s smile unravels for you gratefully, and you sigh when you finally hear the ‘click’ of your door lock. There was something he had interrupted you from, and unfortunately, you needed your headphones for the job. Guess you’d have to watch porn on mute.

It’d been a while since your last hookup. You’d been seeing that guy you met at one of your electives for a while now, your relationship mostly sexual. Everything was going smoothly, up until the day you decided on inviting him over to your place. Apparently, Jaemin’s definition of ‘being subtle’ was completely different from yours, since offering a drink to your date in your kitchen: 1) half-naked and 2) at 3 in the morning, seemed completely normal to him. You couldn’t really blame the guy for ghosting you after he left. You’d be intimidated too had his roommate been a model strutting in her Victoria’s Secret underwear.

And your little “friend” isn’t the only one affected by your roommate’s obvious good looks. In fact it’s reminded to you constantly during this whole rooming situation, and the way you’re sprung off for Jaemin for simply existing is starting to obscure you from functioning normally at this point.

It was a dumb little 2-minute video, retweeted by your favorite NSFW account. You had indulged yourself in the first few seconds and it became clear to you that this was not something to listen to in the presence of anyone other than yourself. Getting cozy under the duvet of your bed, you dim the lights to your comfort and finally press play.

You could swear the video had audio, too. At first, you thought that maybe the couple was quiet, but the way the man started snapping his hips against his girlfriend later on would make that extremely unlikely. You turn up the volume of the video some more, trying to figure out what’s wrong with your phone’s speakers when you notice the little icon at the top right of your screen.

Your headphones were still connected to your phone via Bluetooth.

[marvelous-harry]

anything older bother H and little sister! maybe a flashback or something? loved the coming out blurb so much

It's Not a Duck! Older brother Harry - Mute!Fem!Reader Words: 1.5k Summary: Harry's doing promo for his first solo album and Nick is gathering questions for him. You decide to ask him one.

-

"Sweetheart, dinner is ready!" Looking up from my laptop, I paused the film I was watching before coming out of my room. Mum smiled from the bottom of the stairs as I looked down at her. It smelled really good and I eagerly hurried down the stairs.

Taking my usual seat next to mum, I grinned at Robin as I saw it was my favorite - spaghetti and meatballs. #Smells good# I signed at mum as she took her seat as well.

"Thank you, let's hope it taste just as good," she replied.

"I'm sure it will, love," Robin spoke up as poured everyone some water. I grabbed the thongs and started serving myself before handing them off to mum.

"I got a very lovely message from Nick Grimshaw today, he says hi," Mum said, smiling as she reached for her fork.

I looked at her curious as I took a big bite.

"Harry's doing an interview with him in a week or so and he is collecting video messages of people asking him questions. Wondered if maybe we'd like to send in one," she explained.

#Cool! You should# I signed. #What you asking?#

Mum shrugged and took a sip of her water. "Not sure yet, you could do one if you want. Send it in with mine," she suggested.

I blushed and shook my head. #No# I signed and quickly went back to eating.

"Well, I'd thought I'd suggest it. We're going to the shops a bit after dinner, do you want to come with us?" Mum asked as she took a bite.

#No, thank you. Finish my movie# I signed.

After dinner was finished and I'd cleaned up and put the dishwasher on, I headed back upstairs to my room and got on the bed. I couldn't get the idea of sending in a video out of my head. I mean, I could just sign the whole thing and edit in my text to talk audio after.

Chewing on my lip as I grabbed the notepad and pen on my nightstand and flipped it over to a blank page. Sighing, I stared at it before throwing it at the end of the bed. It was a stupid idea and it was never going to work.

An hour later I had several scrunched-up pieces of paper all over my bed as I groaned and tried to think of something remotely good and halfway smart to ask him. I was not having much luck.

Sighing, I pulled my laptop over and grabbed the little USB pen Harry had made me promise to protect with my life. Connecting it, I put on my headphones and turned the volume up - sitting back I closed my eyes as I just listened.

Grinning as Woman came on, I listened for the funny noise that was in the intro bit. Sitting up, I bit on my lip as I quickly grabbed the notepad again and started writing my question.

Now all I needed was to film myself asking it. Groaning, I fell back on the bed. I had a few days. I could do this for Harry.

-

"My god, your mum thinks she's on Jools Holland," Nick joked as the video of Anne asking her question wrapped up.

"She was putting on like a bit of a posh accent," Harry grinned as he looked at Nick amused. "Emmm excuse me, emm. What do you think has inspired your style of music?" Harry said as he pitched his voice up and giggle. "Like you don't talk like that," he said in his normal voice while Nick laughed.

"What does she talk like? Harray! Tea's on the table!" Nick asked before they both burst out laughing.

"I don't even remember what the question was. I was too distracted," Harry said as he smiled.

"She wanted to ask something technical cause she thought it would throw you," Nick explained as he glanced over at his computers.

"I think I like the writing part the most and what inspired it, I think I don't, I think it's hard to not have influences from what you grew up listening to. I think that's kind of, I think everyone reacts differently to like different types of music, and then really I think I just. I don't know. I was with like the guys I was writing with and we just wanted to make like what we wanted to listen to and I think that's been the most fun part for me about making the whole album is, it's like a, in the least weird way possible it's my favourite album to listen to at the moment. Like I love listening to it,"

"I think that's how it should be," Nick chimed in.

"Yeah, I think so. If you put out an album that you don't like stand behind and really love then it doesn't go well then you could regret not doing what you wanted to do whereas if nothing happens to it then at least I love it so I think that's kind of what you should do. I think that's been my overall favourite thing is kind of listening to the album and making all the changes. It's been fun to kind of like watch over it all," Harry said as he nodded slightly.

"I think the thing is like you have to, I think a lot of people especially at labels and stuff do separate it and they think because they work in music it's like a broader understanding of music than people who listen but I think we're all just fans music I think,"

"Yeah, exactly," Nick nodded and agreed. "And I think you can tell in if people who write the albums are a fan themselves. Like I feel like Rihanna listens to Rihanna music, you know?"

Harry nodded and hummed. "Yep,"

"Okay. We have one more very special question, so if you would," Nick grinned as he gestured towards the laptop again.

"Alright," Harry said as he swiveled in his chair and tapped the space bar once more. "Another one of my big musical icons," Harry grinned as he saw y/n on the screen.

"Hello Harry," Y/N said seriously before the clip ended and another started, y/n trying her best to look into the camera. "You advocate for treating all living things with kindness so my question is" The clip ended and another shot started, y/n picking at her nails. "Why did you force a duck to be on your album?" y/n cracked and did a smile before the shot ended. She reappeared looking serious again. "How did you even get the duck in the recording booth?" y/n giggled and the shot ended before the video ended with her holding up a piece of paper that said #LabourRightsForDucks.

Harry giggled as he looked back at Nick, bursting out laughing as Nick also held up a piece of paper with the same slogan written on it.

"Well. What do you have to say for yourself?" Nick asked as he wriggled his sign.

"It's not a duck!! It's me!" Harry protested as he grinned. "I promise, it's me. There's just a filter on my voice. There were no ducks in the studio and she knows it," Harry looked over at the camera and wriggled his finger back and forth. "I'm calling you as soon as this is over," he said.

"mmm sure. We'll be right back and joining us is the duck from Harry Styles' debut album," Nick grinned as he pressed for a song to play.

"It's not a duck!" Harry laughed before shaking his head. Taking off the headphones he walked over to where his team was and asked for his phone.

"Thanks for your question. It was really funny. 🦆" he texted before taking a sip of his coffee while his stylist went over his hair and clothes, making sure everything looked perfect.

"Did you really think so? I'm sorry it was a little choppy, I kept having to stop filming 🙈 I tried to get it all in one take but.." Harry smiled as he read the reply.

"Can you send me the video? I want it on my phone. And I didn't even notice. It was perfect," Harry texted back before looking up as Nick called him. "I got to go so we can wrap up. Call you when I'm done. Tell mum and Robin I said hi. Love you," he quickly texted back before handing back his phone and taking his seat.

Looking up from my phone, I smiled as I put my phone down. #He liked it# I signed at mum, feeling quite proud of myself for having managed to record myself speaking and then sending it off.

"Of course he did! I'm so proud of you, sweetheart!" Mum said as she gave me a cuddle before turning back up the sound on the laptop as the song finished playing. I still couldn't believe I'd done it. I couldn't wait till it was over and I could watch it back.

[moxfirefly]

B D J O V for Donnie, Karl and Alcina? (yes I am in love, no I dont have regrets uwu)

My 3 loves? Well why not! And pls enjoy the ficlet styles I’m going to opt for when doing dirty secrets! This is a little long so is going under the cut.

🩸🍷Alcina Dimitrescu🩸🍷

B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and on the other)

A bit of an odd one here but she loves backs, like your actual back. The line of your spine, if you have those back dimples, ufff. She loves the shape of it if you’re on the more curvier side, she loves the skin, and your rolls, and any stretch marks. Just picture that elegant hand of hers ghosting over your back, nails maybe even claws.

On herself, well Alcina is aware of her assets and she’s very aware of her chest, both she’s quite proud of but she’s really proud of her figure over all.

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

There was a pretty seamstress in the village who always was brought up to the castle to help with her dresses. She was a pretty thing in Alcina’s eyes, very much her type. When your making or fixing or measuring a tailor made outfit for a 9ft+ woman well it gets tricky and a little more handsy than usual. Alcina didn’t mind, the seamstress didn’t either. It was interesting following simple commands even if they were asked upon her with nothing but grace and poise.

So as Alcina sat for the 40th time to have something around her neck marked to be fixed, she had to stand between her legs to best approach and see the mistake. Only sitting did she have the best chance at seeing her at a more eye to eye level (well as best as it could be).

She isn’t dumb, she knows curiosity, want and lust like the back of her hand. Sees the nervous swallow of the seamstress whenever hands glide across her chest. The whispered ‘pardon my lady’ when she rests a palm on Alcina’s throat and takes a needle to the neckline with all the gentleness she can muster. Of course it’s the moment to prick her finger, the quiet hiss and scent is enough to alert Alcina and without waiting for her to fuss she takes that bleeding digit and kisses it, tastes the bead of blood, all while looking straight at her. When she still sees lust there, oh does she pull her closer.

One of her maids walks in about twenty minutes later, an array of materials in her arms so she doesn’t quite catch how the Lady of the castle smooths her dress and tries not to laugh, chest heaving a little and legs closing a tad. The maid greets her with her usual honorifics before leaving the requested materials, she notices the seamstress isn’t there and arches a brow at the room. “Lavatory” is all Alcina says before the maid makes a question. She nods but feels something isn’t right with the current picture but still leaves.

Once gone.

The seamstress crawls out from under Alcina’s skirt, mouth shiny, hair disheveled and nice set of teeth marks at her bosom.

It becomes a frequent thing after that.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

It’s not to say she needs to because she sincerely feels she has anybody at her beck and call who is willing ready and able. But on the rare occasion she indulges in some self care, it’s mostly in her luxurious tub. Feeling the warm water, her hair clean and smelling of that weeks chosen fragrance, well it gets her thinking and thinking leads desiring and if there isn’t anybody she’ll handle it. Slow, she loves drawing out her own pleasure, loves to feel that rise but stops before it’s too close. She’ll do that, edge herself a little bit more before biting down on her lip to muffle a more particular louder cry.

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

Both. She lives for giving it and she loves to receive it. She is just, wow, so incredibly good at it, she’s goes about it in such erotic and passionate way and if you’re not looking like you are being possessed by the devil then she up’s her game to make sure that happens. You can squeeze her head with your thighs all you want, she’s built different lol she can handle it. Don’t yank to much on her hair though, claw at her all you want but easy on the do.

She’s had a few inexperienced lovers which she has to guide when they want to go down on her. She’s very particular of what and how she likes it, but she’s patient enough to teach you.

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

I’ll do you one better, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMRSKhUoh/

⚙️Heisenberg⚙️

B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and on the other)

https://hagelpaimon.tumblr.com/post/661063110466158592/i-wonder-wonder-who-ill-pick-hesi-baby-a

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs) shout out to @imthegreenfairy88 for helping me out with this one.

The first few times he indulged in this he was very adamant in keeping it to himself and to himself only (with time and reassurance he chills out) but the first time he tried doing ‘back door’ stuff on himself he was very surprised about how good it fucking felt and every so often he indulged in it. There’s an occasion where he ends up in bed with some tourist, gun to his head he doesn’t remember their name but he sure fucking remember the blow job and fingering combo that they gave him that had him seeing fucking stars. He tensed up at first was about to say something but they crooked their fingers just right and swallowed his cock at the same time and words were out the window along with thoughts.

He was so far gone that it didn’t cross his mind that when he begged for another finger, he gave himself away and if their eyes weren’t indication of how delighted they had been, feeling two more additional fingers really proved the point.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

I mean I’m saying yea, he has to get creative with it sometimes so as to not get bored, but he picks up a few things he enjoys (he is creative after all) he’s definitely ruined his fair share of pillows, loves rutting into them. He has beat off probably in any section of the factory but shower is better for clean up. He for sure has done it outside of the factory, probably relaxing on a chair and if the weather is nice enough, it’s not like anybody is gonna suddenly drop by. He likes a tight closed fist when he’s close but enjoys a teasing touch to start things off, really enjoys grabbing his balls when he does it. Very messy messy boy when he cums.

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

This man blows you like his life depends on it. VERY sloppy but it’s really hot, it’s how eager he is about it and how willing he is to suffocate and or choke on it. He’s told you to sit on his face multiple times at multiple moments of the day. He loves the taste of you, loves feeling suffocated by your thighs. You know what they about big noses too 🥴🥴

As for receiving he likes to dish out what he takes. So expect some rough mouth fucking, he will make you gag, he will make you all teary eyed cause he enjoys it. He’s fine with it without to be honest, he much prefers to be balls deep in you but if you enjoy doing it then expect hip thrusting.

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

Not super loud, but he isn’t mute. He groans and moans but he’s also a talker so expect a lot dirty talk. His voice drops in a way when he’s fucking you that it makes your toes curl. He’s all breathy pants when he’s close. Lots and lots of cuss words.

👾Donnie💜

B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and on the other)

https://hagelpaimon.tumblr.com/post/661063462078889985/b-body-part-their-favourite-body-part-of-theirs

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

He likes the taste of his own cum.

He denies it, really denies it, just says it’s his way of cleaning you up after a nice romp but he really has a way of proving the opposite. Donnie has ‘finished’ on you in every way shape or form. On your stomach, back, face etc you name and each time he has cleaned you up he’s either wiped it up and sucked on his fingers or he’s just full blown licked it off of you.

And there is something so disgustingly erotic about that you haven’t or don’t want to call him out on it. You’ve gone down on his multiple times and he very eager to kiss you after your done. One time you purposefully left some on your chin and lips to see if he’d clean it up first but nah, kissed the heck out of you. His favorite is cumin in you and then going down on you. The first time he did that, it was enough to make your toes curl till they cracked and just as you were about to say something he was yanking another orgasm from you. The combined taste of his and yours release? Fuck now that was his favorite.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

Does it and does it often. He’s not prudish about it, it’s free oxytocin and for a guy who’s convinced he’s never gonna get a shot at being with somebody physically, might as well practice some self love.

Loves visual stimulation but he’s really into audio stimuli. Likes those audios where he feels he’s there with the person or the ones where they give instructions. Donnie is really into edging and if he’s got the time and privacy he can literally edge himself for a couple of hours. Has at times managed hands free orgasms. Has made cock sleeves or basically fleshlights (ah ingenuity), can have his moments where he’s super slow and teasing about it, light strokes and all that. Can also have moments where he basically fucks his fist to the point of making some pretty obscene wet noises. If listening to audios or watching videos he really loves trying to cum at the same time as the person in the vid or audio. Has a bottle of lotion right on the desk but that shit is so cluttered with stuff that nobody has picked up on it and honestly it’s kinda funny.

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

GIVE GIVE GIVE.

Oh my lord is he OBSESSED with giving oral. It’s such a big turn on for him. He just loves how intimate it is, he loves how he’s giving you pleasure in such an intimate position. LOVES over stimulating with his mouth, loves feeling thighs trying to break his head, happy to die down the suffocated in his favorite place, loves feeling a hand at the back of his head and pushing him in further.

He’s not crazy about receiving cause he knows his size is a challenge but he’s not opposed to it, he much rather get a hand job from you.

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

Loud and not afraid about it. He enjoys the fuck out of it and is going to be vocal about it unless it’s adamant to be quiet because people are around. His churrs are really nice, deep but not as baritone as say Raph’s, but they feel and sound so good.

[radioactivepeasant]

Fic Prompts: Transformers Tuesday

Setting: Transformers Prime, 10 years after the movie finale, in an unknown military base.

Starscream has begun to threaten Earth, making demands of its leaders. The agents now known as the Nevada Team are called in, and "negotiations" halt as a young man in a suit strolls up to the video link. Jack Darby is now 26, and experienced with would-be alien invaders.

"Sorry to call you in so early," the general sighs. He glances from the agent to the ambassadors and back. "Scans on this guy came back matching one of the Jasper files. The president's opinion was that if Fowler wasn't available, you were the next best person to deal with this species and their demands."

The agent frowns and scans the tablet he's been handed. "Yeah, I know this guy. I won't lie, there is a chance that we could be in danger, depending on the situation. What kind of demands is he making?"

"See for yourself," the general's secretary sighs as he patches their audio back into the video link.

Starscream has been talking the entire time, either unaware or unbothered by the humans muting their half of the link to talk amongst themselves. He demands the immediate surrender of Earth's major governments, and insists that humans begin to mine energon for his benefit within the next week. Failure to comply with result in an invasion by his army.

Unable to stop himself, Jack lets out a quick little bark of a laugh. "You don't have an army."

Military members mumble in concern about this young man bluntly contradicting the alien terrorist. And for his part, Starscream looks more annoyed that he was interrupted. He leans close to the screen and sneers.

"Oh, I think you'll find that I do."

With a tight smile, nearly a smirk, Jack retorts, "No. You don't. Because if you did, the first thing you would've done is make yet another half-baked attempt on Iacon, not come saber-rattling around organic worlds."

He's seen how Starscream operates time and time again. Ever since losing the respect of his fellow Decepticons, Starscream has been fighting a losing battle, and he hasn't changed that much in ten years. He's highly intelligent, Jack wouldn't say otherwise. But for all his cleverness, Starscream never seems to know how to pick his battles. His overconfidence is probably his greatest weakness, often clashing with his formidable survival instincts.

Starscream is rattled, but tries to play it off. Humans are usually impressed by him, because what few aliens are known to their species are roughly their size. He is a colossus, a pinnacle of technology they can only dream of. But all it takes is one human who has experience with Cybertronians to ruin the illusion of grandeur. Starscream begins trying to work out if he's seen this cocky human before. Starscream flares out his wings in an intimidation display.

"And you don't think," he purrs, making an admirable pretense of calm, "that I may have wanted to remind humans of their place in the universe? You don't know my kind at all, human."

Agent Darby leans back on his heels. He sucks on his teeth and begins to slowly unbutton and roll up his coat sleeves. One by one he folds them back, glancing occasionally up at the screen.

Humans have threat displays, too.

Jack examines his forearms, one bearing the scars of an old energon injury. He meets Starscream's gaze and says with a sardonic smile, "Well, I know you got mugged by MECH and humans stole one of your internal organs."

Starscream sputters, fully caught off guard. How did this human know about MECH stealing his T-cog?! Nobody is supposed to know about that! The last surviving member of that cell met his end on Knockout's dissection table before they'd even left the planet! But wait, Fowler was there that night, wasn't he? Oh, is must be Fowler behind this. Starscream fumes as he thinks about the human agent who so cheerfully defied him, even under torture. But how many humans did Fowler tell?

Jack snaps his fingers as if suddenly remembering something.

"Oh, and you lost a fight to a fifteen year old human."

Starscream's wings drop in shock. Alright, he knows Fowler wasn't there when that brat stole his Apex Armor. Which means that this impertinent human knows the Wrecker's pet. Which probably means he's-

Oh scrap and bother. Nothing ever goes his way.

"What an imagination your species has," Starscream scoffs, desperate to salvage the situation. "Me? Losing to a human child?"

"She beat your aft like hammered tin." Jack's smile is fearsome to behold. "I can give her a call if you're looking for Round Two? I'm sure she's just as eager to put your face in the dirt again."

Starscream feels the last of his confidence shatter as somewhere in the background an intern snickers.

[corvus--rex]

I was working on Here Come the Vultures earlier and suddenly got hit with the need for soft, fluffy, domestic Klance with pregnant Keith. And then he became a streamer without my permission. So this happened. It's not even edited, and I have no idea if it will end up on ao3 or not. Maybe?? Anyway, have the exactly 1.1k scene I came up with at midnight.

Keith had been a fairly popular gaming streamer for a few years by then. He’d started in college, getting his brother’s friend Matt to edit his streams into uploadable videos after the first few disastrous attempts to do it on his own. At that point, it wasn’t just Keith and Matt working on them in between classes anymore. Matt had his own video company by then with Keith as his first professional client. The combination of Keith’s streams and Matt-edited videos meant that he could focus on that full-time by the time he graduated and still leave time for a set number of art commissions per month.

One of the things that had gotten him attention in his earlier days was the fact that he was an Omega who more than kept up with the aggressive Alphas in a variety of gaming genres. He played a fair amount of battle arena games early on, but eventually really only played those when his friends were available. One of his most viewed videos was the night when he and his college friends played drunk Mario Kart. Keith slowly moved away from those games (playing when the whole crew was together not included) instead preferring playthroughs of old and new rpgs, and Societal, a world-building game that had players build their own rpg setting, make npcs, enemies, monsters, bosses, gear, and treasure and then choose a storyline. Once it was finished, the game became playable. Keith would stream the world building, but then leave the finished game for a few weeks before going back to it so it wouldn’t be too fresh in his memory.

The only real exception to his solo gaming was his boyfriend, now mate. Lance, was of course, a part of the full crew, but what had been a once in a while appearance became more frequent over time, eventually becoming a regular thing. They were currently in the middle of Pode, a co-op puzzle game whose main characters were a fallen star and a rock, named Glo and Bulder. It had turned into their thing to snuggle together on the sofa with on Sunday afternoons. While they did stream the game, it wasn’t as popular as the other games Keith played, but it was more for them anyway, and it gave them a chance to connect with some of their younger fans by playing something kid-friendly.

Lance was listening to Keith’s stream of Societal all the way home from work on a Friday afternoon. His mate was building a new game world and letting the chat make the decisions. It was getting more and more ridiculous, and Keith had wondered aloud a couple times about whether or not the end result would even be playable. But he had made his bed with this, and he was going to lie in it, something Lance was going to make sure his mate was doing literally when he got there. Stepping inside, Lance muted the stream, but kept it running, not needing the audio when he had it in real time.

Keith’s voice filtered through from the living room. “A-um-a what? You want the main villain in a futuristic game to be a fairy? …Welp, I did give you guys control over the build, so the main villain is gonna be a fairy I guess.”

Lance snickered to himself. He’d already seen, or rather heard, the rest of the stream up until then. Futuristic setting, with interstellar ships and faster-than-light engines, but no other planets to go to, completely modern dress, Victorian weapons, magic, but only for some characters, and the npcs were the remains of an exploded time machine. Having the main villain a fairy seemed almost normal by that point. Kicking his shoes off, Lance padded through the kitchen and hallway to the living room. Keith was exactly where he’d hoped to find his mate – buried in his nest on the oversized sofa, dedicated gaming laptop open on its stand to keep track of the chat, Societal on their 65” tv, custom red cat ear headphones on, and the console’s controller resting on the Omega’s pregnant belly while he played. He picked up his own headphones from where they were still plugged in and slipped them on, settling in beside Keith. The fairy villain was already nearly done and looked like Edna Mode at 110 with giant, bedazzled, butterfly wings.

“Ok. That happened.” He snuggled into Lance as much as he could, adjusting the controller. “Also, Blue’s just gotten home. You seen any of this?”

“I’ve mostly been listening to it, but yeah. Are you even going to be able to play this?” Lance asked, wrapping an arm around what he could of Keith’s midsection. At seven months it was getting harder but he was not going to let that stop him.

“Well, we’re going to find out. This disaster was the last thing to be done, except for the storyline, but we’ll get to that in a little bit. Alright y’all,” he said, turning his attention back to the stream, “I’m gonna take a break and we’ll see you back here in about an hour.”

Keith reached over to the laptop, ending the stream, pulled his headphones off, and set the controller down, finally able to snuggle into his Alpha. Lance would never say no to cuddly Keith, but he had said that the stream would be back in an hour.

“This is not getting dinner made,” he said.

“Already done,” Keith answered, “Instant Pot is my new best friend.”

Lance snorted, and leaned in, inhaling his mate’s woody, floral-sweet scent. Keith’s Omega sweetness had become more complex with his pregnancy, but there was a new layer to it. It was soft and subtle, herbal and something like…fresh handmade soap? With a start, he realized it was their pup’s scent. They knew their little one was at the stage for his scent glands to finish developing, but Lance hadn’t been expecting it to leech into Keith’s yet. The only thing missing was – there it was. The pup flailed, hard enough to be seen from the outside.

Keith huffed a laugh. “Yeah, he’s been pretty active today. All through the stream, too.”

“I can smell him on you. It’s still pretty subtle, but it’s soft and herbal and kinda like fresh handmade soap.”

“Mm. I can’t wait to meet him.”

“Neither can I.” Lance slid a hand across Keith’s pregnant belly, only to be rewarded with a hard kick. He really couldn’t wait to meet their pup. But dinner and the stream? They could definitely wait a few minutes.

[liquid-luck-00]

When Two Coffee Addicts Unite

Part 1

@maribatmarch-2k21 Day 8: Texting

Ao3 *** Part 2

Okay so this can either be a continuation of Internet Friends or the beginning of something new. But if you want to read this as a continuation of Internet friends then you should know:

The police department is almost as bad as Damocles when dealing with powerful figures. They take the video and audio footage and simply put it in the file. Because at the time Lila still had most or in fact all of the class under her thumb, they all supported Lila’s claim that it was an accident. Lila claims that a sudden dizzy spell struck her, and she fell forwards towards Marinette. And as Mari was already on the edge of the balcony it was an accident. The fact that the file sat in the police department until well after any claim could be valid it wasn’t looked into more. Mari, her friends, and Tim did have backups of the footage, complete records for every interaction with the police, and recorded calls and interactions when dealing with the police. But as they didn’t want to involve the embassy as this would become an international affair they didn’t bother with the case.

That said the police don’t bother with the Miracle Court to avoid work. However, with the Mayor, Medical responders, and the Fire Department all aid the heroes, the police only do the bare minimum.

Marinette’s class has begun to watch Lila, but they didn’t look into her lies because except for this incident it’s just she said she said with occasional ‘injuries’ on Lila. Most of them are wary of Lila but they aren’t converted to Marinette’s side, but there is an increased tolerance between them.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette had just sat back at her seat after eating lunch, while the classroom was still empty. There was still half an hour left. Alix, Kim, Nino, Sabrina, and Max walked in as she sat down.

"Marinette you got the time?" Alix called out. They were on somewhat okay terms since Lila’s claims were a total 180 from the Marinette that they have known for forever.

"30 minutes left." she announced looking of her phone and in turn her missed messages.

Tim:

       Mari

       Mari

       Mari

       Nettie

       Marin

       Bean

       Bug

       Marinette

Marinette:

       What's wrong.

Tim:

       I have back to back meetings starting in 3 hrs. until 5.

       and

Marinette:

       Let me guess haven't slept.

Tim:

       Exactly

       Help me please

Marinette:

 ��     How many reports can you send me?

Tim:

       Quite a few

Marinette:

       Send me what you can.

       Review the rest.

       Take a nap!

       And I'll be a little voice during your meeting.

Tim:

       Thanks, I owe you Bean.

Marinette:

I'II hold you to that.

Tim:

       Sent

Marinette:

       Just make sure you wake up.

Tim:

       I make no promises.

       On second thought I don't want to find out how you are mad

She made it through the 15 minutes of class because Lila was akumatized. Lila had burst into the class followed by Alya, Nino, and Adrien. She claimed Mari cornered her in the bathroom and beat her a few minutes ago, showing everyone the 'bruises' on her arms. Chloe handed something to Sabrina who walked up to Lila.

"Oh, you poor thing," Sabrina consoled, Lila only whimpered. "Here this has a salve that helps bruises." She gently took Lila's wrist and wiped a 'bruise' which disappeared instantly.

"That's amazing what is it called?" Alya commented. "I should get some for Nora."

"Make-up remover." Sabrina and Chloe spoke together.

"Besides." Alix butt in. "Marinette's been here the past half hour and hasn't left."

"What?! How do you know?" Lila cried.

"Cause we've been here the whole time with her." Sabrina commented.

Marinette for her part didn't know or hear the conversation around her.

"Marinette. Marinette. Earth to Marinette," Kim shouted.

"Present!" She jolted practically standing. "Wait," she looked around, "class hasn't started."

"What are you hyper fixated on?" Adrien asked innocently.

"Just some reports, don't think you'd like them too much Kit-Kat."

"Fair," he shrugged sitting next to her. "So how were you in two places at once?"

"I can't," her head tilted to the side confusion clear on her face.

"So, if Mari hasn't left, can't be in two places at once, and your 'bruises' came off with make-up remover. How do you explain that Lila?" Adrien around, the class slowly draining their conclusions. However, Marinette spoke up. "She lied, obviously..." she stated having gone back to the reports.

"Um you said that out loud, Cake Pop, and loud at that."

"Huh?" sure enough when she looked around some were shock still, others typed furiously into their phones.

That was when Mrs. Bustier walked in, fifteen minutes late to the class. Which was also when the bandy contained restraint ended. Lila was akumatized, school let out, and the rest of her night went smoothly.

Tim woke up, and with her help survived his meetings. Some while on patrol she would constantly mute and unmute herself. Luckily, it wasn't more than twice, and they didn't run into anyone. Chat didn’t ask questions, figured it out since she was pouring over Wayne documents earlier. Tim would call her back after the private meetings and ended around 10.

At around 11 Tim text her back.

Tim:

      Thanks Bug you saved me today.

Marinette:

      No problem Draco

      You owe me though.

Tim:

      I remember.

      Go to bed it's like midnight over there!

Marinette:

      Yeah Yeah

Tim:

      Ooh

      Congratulations 2x!

Marinette:

      What???

      Please explain.

      Tim

      Tim

      Timothy

      Timothy Drake-Wayne answer me.

      Dragon please

      Ugh fine I'll sleep.

Which is what she did when he wouldn’t answer her.

She woke up the next morning to two emails from W. E.. The first was for a collaboration between W.E. and MDC for a show featuring Wayne Tech accessories and their new climate fabrics. She immediately responded and accepted. The second was that her class was one of two to be accepted as transfer students to Gotham Academy and intern slots at WE, she forwarded that to her teacher and the school.

Marinette:

      You Gremlin

Tim:

      Like I said congrats

      Oh, I need you to give me three names.

Marinette:

      What for?

Her mind was racing at the possibilities.

Tim:

      You'll find out.

Marinette:

      What’s the other school?

Tim:

      Some Prep school in the UK.

Marinette:

      Give me a Sec.

She opened another contact and typed.

Marinette:

      Hey, did you get a spot in the Wayne/GA internship?

Mystery:

      Yes.

      Why?

Marinette:

      Tell the others we are hitting Gotham with style.

Mystery:

      Very well.

Mari then sent three names to him and smiled. This was going to be fun.

Next

~~~~~~~~~~

Permanent Taglist: @itsmeevie01 @adrestar @miraculouspenta @vixen-uchiha

[oneyeartowrite]

Broken Promise aftermath

Huge thanks to everyone that read broken Promise. I’m a complete sucker for hurt John, and after reading every fic I could get my beady eyes on, I started hurting him myself. 

Here be a little aftermath of Broken Promise with Scott and Virgil. 

If you’re not a little sad after reading this I’ve not done a good job lol

Trigger warning for mentions of torture.

_______________________________________________________

Pain twinged in Scott’s ribs when he turned too sharply. He clutched his side and took a few minutes to ease oxygen back into his lungs. In and out, in and out.

“You should be resting…”

He flashed a look at Virgil, transmitting his annoyance at such a comment. He was resting, he couldn’t rescue anyone with broken ribs and a punctured lung. Virgil came up behind Scott, sat at their dad’s desk, in their dad’s chair, feeling the responsibility of a dad, and the agony of a big brother all bundled together. 

He muted the computer, but he kept the footage playing. He didn’t need the audio, he remembered it word for word. The hood kept a record of his experiments on John, videos, and audio recordings of their brother slowly, and agonizingly losing his mind. Hour upon hours of footage. Scott had watched it all. It replayed in his head when he closed his eyes, every time he slept. He heard his brother’s pained ramblings, his screams, and his cries. 

He stiffened, before Virgil lay a hand on his shoulder, and squeezed. 

“You shouldn’t watch that.”

Virgil didn’t understand. Scott had to watch it. This particular recording he’d watched more than the others. It was the ‘session’ John had forgotten him. For months the hood had him strapped to a machine, electricity zapping through his brain to disintegrate his memories. John had hung on for as long as he could, chanting their names in between electrical surges. 

At first, there had been ten people John was determined to cling onto. 

Scott, Virgil, Gordon, Alan, Grandma, Lady Penelope, Eos, Brain’s, Mum, Dad.

Repeated over and over.

Then one day, he didn’t say dad, then he didn’t say mum and Eos, and it kept going on that way, with John more and more distressed. He knew he was losing people, but he couldn’t stop it from happening. 

Virgil reached over Scott’s shoulder and stopped the footage. It froze on John’s face, eyes scrunched shut, and blood trickling from his nose. 

“I had him, Virg.” Scott slapped his hand to his mouth, ran it up his face, and squeezed his nose. He wasn’t breaking down, not again, not like when he came round on thunderbird two without John beside him. Scott took a deep breath, and the ever-patient Virgil waited, running his comforting hand across Scott’s shoulders.

“I had him, and he didn’t remember me, but he knew me. My arms were around him, I had him, and I let him go.”

“You didn’t let him go. The hood made him let go.”

“That’s the closest we’ve been to him for months. Last time, with Alan, John didn’t respond at all.”

Scott winced, picturing Alan’s broken face afterward. He’d not talked to them for days and slept in John’s room with Eos projecting the stars for him. John hadn’t remembered him, and when he’d tried to hug him, Alan had been shoved away. 

“This time he did. He responded to me. That was our chance.”

“We’ll get another one.”

“What if we don’t.”

Virgil swiveled Scott’s chair around and looked down at his brother. Scott couldn’t meet his eye, he stared at a button on Virgil’s checked shirt, frowning at it. “I have to save him.”

“We will save him.”

“He was in so much pain.”

Virgil sighed forcefully from his nose and looked past Scott to the computer. “He’s always in pain.”

It was true, from what Brains and Eos had pieced together from the footage, and records, there was something inside John’s brain, humming away like a live wire. The hood had the means of increasing the vibrations, making the pain worse, making it all that John was aware of. They had two mountains to climb. The thing in John’s head controlled by the hood, and the memory loss. First, they had to get hold of him, but the hood was being evasive. Blowing up this and that before disappearing in a puff of smoke. 

There had been multiple global hacks—John, Scott suspected—it was only due to Eos they got back control, but the GDF, military bases, satellites, power stations, the Whitehouse, all had their security breeched by a coder. Eos searched the world for John, able to shut him down fast, but not without him stealing details, or causing havoc, or generally proving what he could potentially do. There had been global panic when a missile silo was hacked, and a nuclear bomb had been armed. It got shut down by Eos, but it was close, too close.

Virgil dropped down to a crouch and placed his hands on Scott’s knees. “We’re gonna find him. We’re gonna make him better, and he will remember us.”

“I should have held on tighter.”

Scott’s stomach dropped, and he wiped frantically at his face. He was supposed to be the strong one, unbreakable, but he couldn’t stop the tears, or the trembling of his limbs, or the way he longed to disappear into the ground. 

 Virgil surged at him, wrapping him up in a big hug around the shoulders, being careful of Scott’s ribs. He resisted, not deserving of such a warm, and compassionate hug, but it was Virgil, patient and persistent, and Scott melted into his embrace, stealing comfort where he could.

“Bed,” Virgil said. “You need to rest.”

“I…I will, just let me watch the rest.”

“Scott.”

He swallowed the nails in his throat, croaking his last words. “I will, after, I promise.”

His heart ached with that word. Promise. He’d broken his one to John instantly after making it, but it wasn’t the first one he’d broken to him.

Virgil sighed with a look of concern on his face, but he knew not to push. “In ten minutes, I expect you in bed, if not, I’ll send in grandma.”

Scott smiled weakly. “Deal.”

He waited until Virgil had gone, and the villa was quiet before playing the footage and putting on the audio. John had been repeating Scott’s name over, and over, fighting to keep hold of it. It came out growled, shrill, whimpered, snapped, shouted, every possible tone, John used, but there was panic in his eyes, he was losing his memories no matter how hard he tried.

Then he shuddered, and his turquoise eyes looked directly at the camera above him, and he spoke softly with his bottom lip trembling, and tears running from his bloodshot eyes.

“Scott, I’m sorry.” A fresh line of blood dribbled from John’s nose. “I’ve tried, I’ve really tried.”

There was such helplessness in John’s voice, Scott winced and watched the footage through a pained squint. 

 “I know I’ve forgotten the others, and I thought if I could hang onto you, one day it would lead me back to them, but I can’t picture what you look like,” John sunk his teeth into his bottom lip as he struggled for composure. His eyes flooded with tears, and he took a gasping breath before continuing. “I can’t imagine the sound of your voice, or how you smell, or what it feels like to hug you. I don’t have a single memory of you, of any of them, or...of anything.”

John’s breathing became labored, he panted for it, verging on a panic attack. Scott felt his only breathing change too, burning his lung and ribs. He heaved for breath in time with John, curling his fingers into his palms and blooming blood.

“I don’t know your name anymore. It’s gone.” John spluttered. Tears streaked down his cheeks and gathered on his chin. “You’re all gone. There’s nothing left, nothing.” He shook his head, then there was determination on his face. It scrunched up the top of his nose, and narrowed his eyes. “But if you see this, you must promise me something. “

The first time Scott had watched the footage, he snapped to attention, swearing in his head he’d keep whatever promise John wanted him to make. He promised, without knowing the promise. 

 “Promise me you won’t let the hood use me as a weapon, promise me you’ll stop him no matter what it takes. Even if you have to…”

His words trailed off, but Scott knew where they’d been heading. He shook his head. That promise, he couldn’t keep. He wasn’t killing his little brother. Scott was going to save him, bring him home, and make him better.    

“I don’t know you. I don’t know who I’m.... metaphorically speaking to,” John spluttered, but it wasn’t with pain, or in despair, there was the smallest hint of amusement in the sound, and he smiled, a small smile that looked disturbing with blood on his lips. “But I know I trust you. I know I love you. And I know you keep your promises.”  

 __________________________________________________________

I’m an evil writer, I know, and I’m sorry, John (not really)

Big brother will rescue you one day <3

[thewildwaffle]

Agents of Discord - Part 2

Back by (very) popular demand, here's a continuation of THIS story. I jumped the queue of WIPs to get this done asap, and had fun doing it

*****

"Zerlix," Captain Piulo groaned as she rubbed the rough crest on her head, "this route only has a small handful of moments when this crew doesn't have to be on high alert. Why do you insist on filling those moments with your antics about the humans?"

"My antics?" Zerlix clutched the comm device harder. "Captain, did you not hear the recording? Human John outright admitted that they're all imposters and are going to kill us all! They're going to throw this entire ship into their own special brand of discord! Listen, listen, I'll play it again, here." He reset the audio file and Human John's one-sided conversation from when Zerlix started recording filled the room.

"Enough Zerlix, stop."

Zerlix’s claws scrambled to pause the recording, all the while Captain Piulo and a few other high-ranking officers seated around the meal table watched blankly. One feathered officer kept looking between Zerlix, the captain, and the half-eaten meal in front of them.

Captain Piulo sighed and pulled up a command screen on her comm device. “Let’s clear this up as quickly as we can, shall we?” Her short fingers scrolled through contacts before she found Human John and opened a direct call.

“Human John, could I have you join us at the meal hall as soon as possible?” Zerlix couldn’t hear the human’s response on the other end but assumed it was positive, as the captain then thanked him and closed the call.

The feathered officer finally decided the following awkward silence was an appropriate time to sneak in a few more small bites.

Thankfully, the human in question must have not have moved from the alcove where he’d been plotting everyone’s demise because it didn’t take long before he was walking into view.

As he approached, he patted his chest in the ship’s customary salute. “Captain Piulo, what can I do for you?”

“Human John, please take a seat,” the captain motioned to a spot on the long bench Zerlix was already on. John promptly sat on the other end. Zerlix tried scooting to the farthest part of the bench.

“Zerlix here has some concerns and claims you are planning to ‘sew discord’ and ‘destroy us all’. There’s even a recording of your conversation saying as much.” She nodded to Zerlix who played the recording again, a satisfied grin slowly spreading when the audio ended.

“Do you mind explaining?”

John looked from the captain to Zerlix who was now so far down the bench, they were close to falling off the edge. “Oh, so this is another Zerlix thing. Okay. Uh, yeah. I thought that was weird that you just left like that earlier.” John paused and pulled out the tablet he’d been on earlier in the alcove.

“I’m sorry if you misunderstood, Zerlix. I was talking about an old Earth game. It’s gotten really popular again lately and my friend was trying to get me to join a few rounds. I can show you all a round of the game if you’d like.” He tapped the small tablet’s screen a few times and held it up so everyone could see. “I left the round I was playing with my friends, so I don’t know if they’re done yet, but I can jump into a different room to show you how the game works if you want? It really is just a harmless game, totally for fun and that’s it.”

“If that will set minds at ease,” Captain Piulo nodded and nodded, “Proceed.”

John tapped a few more times and turned around so he could hold the tablet in a way that everyone could see the screen as he played. As the game began, John explained what everyone was doing and the goals everyone was working toward.

It took only about half a moortik before Captain Piulo cut him off. “I think we’ve seen enough. Thank you Human John. You’re excused to return to your rec time.”

“But Captain!” Zerlix protested as the human stood up. “He said he was going to kill! That he was an imposter! That… that… discord and chaos! We’re not safe with them arou-”

“Zerlix, stand down.” The captain’s voice immediately silenced everyone within hearing. She exhaled and brought her voice down as she continued. “I don’t know how much convincing it’s going to take to get to you, but I am nearing the limits of my patience while trying to find out. You overheard Human John talking about a game. Before that, you thought Human Nekpen was challenging you to a duel to the death. This ship has five humans aboard, and despite all your wild accusations, they have never done anything against anyone. We have a little less than half a cycle left before we reach the Chiru Strait.” At the mention of the celestial spacemark, several officers grimaced. It was not the most dangerous part of the route to Senbora 6, but it was pretty close.

Captain Piulo paid no heed and continued, “I will strongly suggest you take that time to visit the medbay.” The captain’s tone indicated what she was saying was more than just a suggestion. “Doctor Fah can fit you in and hopefully start helping you get over this severe paranoia you seem to be experiencing. I need you at full capacity, not hindering yourself because of unwarranted fear from your own crewmates of all things.”

Zerlix sat there, dumbstruck. This was not how this conversation had been expected to go.

“You’re excused, Zerlix. I will let the medbay know to expect you soon.”

***

The medbay was not particularly busy, but Zerlix still had to wait to be seen. Just insult to injury at this point. How did no one else see this? How the frewan had the humans been able to pull cover once again?! It would be almost admirable at this point if it weren’t so flargin’ exasperating! And this time, it had only ended in a blubkus trip to the medbay for the trouble of trying to expose them.

A sudden bump knocked Zerlix out of their silent fuming.

“Oh, sorry about that,” the only other occupant of the small waiting room creaked. Jannoah, a young Toanoaktree scooted the offending barky leg back. Small leaf growths along their shoulders and arms were trembling slightly. “Are you okay? I was just playing a game and I got startled and jumped. I didn’t mean to do that.”

“You’re fine, I’m fine. No harm done,” Zerlix muttered in reply as they readjusted their seat.

The waiting room returned to silent normalcy. Or actually, not silent. Zerlix just had been too deep in fuming thoughts that they hadn’t noticed the sounds coming from the tablet the crewmate held in their branch-like hands. Voices were talking and laughing in conversation. At first, Zerlix thought maybe Jannoah was watching a video or something until they responded to a question one of the disembodied voices asked.

Zerlix sat up a little straighter to see what exactly was going on. Toanoaktrees don’t have great eyesight, so Jannoah didn’t seem to take notice.

Colorful characters were running around the screen in what Zerlix recognized as the “game” Human John had been “playing” earlier. This time, however, the screen was split with another box that had circular pictures and text. A green outline kept moving from one circle to the next as voices changed. What was this?

“Oh hey Zerlix,” Jannoah must have noticed after all, “Have you played this yet? The humans showed me and helped me set up an account. Or well, accounts. One for the game and one for Discord.”

Zerlix froze. There it was again. Discord. The humans were spreading it under the guise of this deceptive, vile game! Dread and vindication pulsed through Zerlix’s veins.

Jannoah frowned and tried to study Zerlix’s expression while still keeping an eye on the game. “Uh, you okay? I didn’t knock you that hard, did I? I’m so sorry.”

A confused voice spoke up from the tablet and the green circle changed places on the screen. “What are you talking about Jannoah?”

“Oh, nothing sorry! I was talking to my crewmate, asking if they’re okay. I’ll mute my mic for a bit. Hold on.” With a quick tap, Jannoah looked back to Zerlix expectantly. “Sorry, I didn’t realize they could hear me on that. Are you okay?”

Zerlix didn’t respond at first, never taking their eyes from the tablet screen. “How are they talking to you? Who are they?”

“Oh,” Jannoah turned the tablet to show the screen better. “Some new friends I met. Well, kind of met. Not in person at least, just online. Human John invited me to join this Discord server and everyone is really nice and invited me to play this game with them.”

Zerlix couldn’t believe what they were hearing. This was so blatant on the humans’ part! How could they be so bold in the open like this with their dastardly plots and still think they were going to get away with it?

Well, they supposed, the humans were getting away with it. That was the problem. Maybe… just maybe a change in tactics was in order. What did Jannoah say earlier? The humans helped ‘set up an account?’ Maybe in order to catch them, Zerlix had to get in closer to the situation.

“Hey,” Zerlix said slowly, “how do I get an ‘account’ on this discord server?”

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 141

Last week I posted a day early because vacation was doing vacation things to my sense of time.... This week I forgot to queue the chapter up because Monday was a work holiday, so I forgot today was Tuesday. *insert facepalm here please*

Thanks on this one go largely to @baelpenrose who rightfully pointed out that one part made very little sense to him and therefore was unlikely to make sense to a reader.  The clarification smoothed things out quite a bit, I think.  Just in case, whoever spots the area I’m talking about gets a cookie as soon as travel restrictions lift.

As always, thanks go also to @the-raven-fae, @charlylimph-blog, and @anotherusrname for completing the corners of my support system. And, a super-duper extra-special to @drinksteawithcake! I don’t know if I am allowed to tell everyone why, but you know why you get the extra-special, and I hope you are having fun!

BWAAAAAHP!   BWAAAAAHP!

“Uhhh?” I squinted in complaint as flailing arms clambered over me. One pair snagged me around my waist to drag me from bed before depositing me shakily on my feet. “What are you - ?”

BWAAAAAHP!  BWAAAAAHP!

Any trace of sleep was shoved out of my system, replaced by sizzling alertness when I realized I was hearing ship-wide alarms.  Shoving myself into the first clothing I grabbed, not even bothering with shoes, I was hot on Conor and Maverick’s heels as we raced out of our quarters and into the corridor. We paused only long enough for both men to kiss me and for “I love yous” to be exchanged before they turned and headed toward the areas indicated on their datascreens, while I hauled ass toward the Archives, ducking and twisting to avoid anyone in my path.

“Forty minutes,” Tyche told me crisply as I basically fell through the door, panting. “The Ark could be invaded and the battle over by the time you make it.”

“I ran….huff….the whole….ugh….way….” I managed to gasp out.  Part of me felt like puking, but I was pretty sure the muscles in my abdomen were too busy to figure out the logistics.

Clicking her tongue, she pulled me up from the floor. “Alistair, make a note to suggest to Xio that Sophia’s quarters be relocated once we have a better idea of when we are dropping into real space.”

I nodded numbly. “And probably… amp up… sensors… give… earlier… warning.”

“Nice outfit, by the way,” she laughed quietly as we finally reached the shelter point within the Archives.

Glancing down, I had to suppress a sigh. The first thing I grabbed to dress myself had apparently been a pair of Conor’s boxer shorts and a very filthy t-shirt that I assumed belonged to Maverick, since Conor’s was usually under coveralls. “At least you can’t say I took my time getting dressed.”

Her shaking head was greeted by faces in various states of wakefulness - this had been a drill, and woke nearly the entire Ark during their sleep interval on Delta shift.  But we weren’t out of the woods, yet: the drill didn’t end until all of Xiomara and Evan’s scenarios played out, including the mock combat and various tests of concealment for the other shelters.  As such, Tyche stood guard over the choke-point into this section, while Alistair had stayed behind at the entrance.

Early on, when the drills started, there had been fifty-fifty odds that the mock-invaders would make it this far, but over the past few weeks, that had narrowed to maybe twenty-percent.  It was still too high a chance in my judgement, and Xiomara clearly agreed as she stepped up training schedules and randomized the timing of the drills. 

Taking a swig of water from a stash of bottles, I queued up my datapad and stood next to Tyche, watching the ‘casualties’ from a point where no one could see over my shoulder to avoid panic, which I would have done in a real situation. “They didn’t find mess hall seven this time,” I murmured.

She glanced at my screen. “Acoustics are still too damned high. She must not be simulating for that this go around.”

One of the decoy locations lit up. “Looks like this time it’s heavy on thermal.” The location in question had been equipped with a cooking surface, triggered to activate when the klaxons that had woken me up went off.  Which Xiomara knew, but did not tell the ‘pirates’ for authenticity.

“How did they get past the combatants this time?” She asked, both curious and slightly worried.

Rolling back the sensor data, I watched it carefully. “Looks like these got in during the initial breaches, multiple points. But the line has held since, that’s good.”

Doing another check toward Alistair’s direction, she didn’t seem to see anything concerning. “How many?”

“Four,” I confirmed.  “Sam’s thermal camouflage is working beautifully, though.”  I couldn’t help but grin, and Tyche snorted at the same time. ‘Thermal camouflage’ was a bit of overkill as a name, but it was working well in every round. Potential access points were equipped with fast-acting environmental simulators - originally designed for temporary habitats on inhospitable moons - modified to release atmosphere like a Terran equatorial rainforest within one minute in an enclosed space.  It was a much more simple and elegant solution than any others we had found for giving combatants defending the Ark an advantage - instead of trying to create technology to make them look colder, make the entire area match human heat signatures.  Boom, instantly blinded enemies.

A tense half-hour later, the ‘all clear’ sounded, queueing grumbling from those who had dozed back off as everyone stood to make their ways back to their quarters. I waited with Alistair and Tyche for everyone else to be accounted for on the way out, and the three of us headed back toward our quarters together.  Alistair peeled off first, living closest to the Archives, and no sooner had my sister and I reached my door than the page sounded for the post-drill meeting.  She waved me off as she answered on her databand, and I did the same as I pushed into my quarters and flopped on the couch. “Councillor Sophia Reid, present, audio only,” I answered. “And no jokes, Pranav… I look like I smell awful.”

“Alistair Worthington, present, audio and video. I can confirm that she does, and she does.”

Laughter filled the comms and the rest of the group leaders and Councillors joined the debrief.  Finally, everyone was present and Xiomara called the meeting to order.  First, the leaders of each shelter reported in, as those usually went the fastest. There were a couple malfunctions in the deployment of the shielding to disguise the entrances and hide heat and electrical signatures, but nothing Huynh’s team couldn’t fix.  Tyche and Alistair made the recommendations around earlier detection and the need to move those sheltering in the  Archives closer as we approached time to drop out of relativistic space. 

Once that was out of the way, it was on to the combat and invasion teams. Overall consensus was that Sam’s trick with the portable environments was a rousing success and would be installed at each point determined to be most likely as a breach, with trigger conditions to be determined later. “I hate to say it,” Michael sighed, “but we also need Charly’s team to crank up the scovilles on the arrows and grenades.” His team had played the ‘invaders’ this go around, equipped with sensors and readouts to simulate the effect our defenses would have on the various species who most commonly were found on pirate vessels.  Evan had worked intensely with Pranav and Derek to ensure that the strategies provided by the readouts were modelled after similar strategies based on which ever species each team member was assigned, to ensure we weren’t accidentally drilling against human tactics.

Michael hated it, but he was strict about his team complying nonetheless.

“Seriously?” I squawked, and I wasn’t the only one. “One of those things accidentally went off in my quarters…. Can confirm, they’re pretty potent.”

“They dissipated too fast against my team, and also the contact element left a lot to be desired. Charly, you may want to consider adding a sticking element.”

“Duly noted,” she chimed in with a yawn, her normal pep doused by being woken up and then the drop in adrenaline post-combat.

“What about the sonic weapons?” Xiomara asked, moving the meeting along.

“Still less effective than Nixe is on her own,” a familiar voice I couldn’t put a name to responded with a sheepish tone.  “How hard would it be to train more people to shatter glass with their voice?”

“Incredibly,” Grey stressed. “It takes a very unique combination of training and the right vocal chords.”

“Then we may need to work on adding a projection component.  The sonic devices can match the pitch, but not the actual tone and direction. They’re very effective given time and especially contact, but we need something more immediately disabling.”

Xiomara groaned. “Are we back to Mariah Carey on this one?” Objections exploded until she muted the comms. “It’s that or opera.” Votes started scrolling up the screen, and I could see Xio nod. “Opera it is.  Let’s find a suitable piece and try using more analogue-style speakers.”

“I still say that death metal would work better,” Arthur suggested as soon as the comms were back on.

“Annnnd we already tested it, I will remind you. The volume works, but the pitches aren’t high enough to hit a broad enough population of species sensitive to sound.” After that nearly-obligatory objection, the meeting continued going through reports from each combat team until finally Xiomara announced the end results. “I have to admit, this was one of our best drills yet. Ten percent casualties of the combatants defending the breaches, only two percent among non-combatants, and the invaders were only able to traverse three decks before they were subdued.” She let the cheers go for a couple seconds before getting everyone’s attention again. “Yes, great job on the improvements, but let me remind everyone - those numbers still leave us below threshold for a healthy genetic population. Engineering teams, make the necessary adjustments with whatever resources are necessary. Shelters Three and Seven, you will start training for armed and unarmed combat with Shelter Fourteen and Combat Team Two daily.  Sophia, your team will coordinate schedules. Any questions?”

There were no arguments, not even a groan or mutter as the meeting was dismissed. Before I could even add the new task to my agenda the next day, I received the notification that Alistair had beaten me to the punch.

Glancing at the time, I wanted to hit something.  I had to be back up and at work in four hours, and the realization weighed me down with exhaustion.  The guys had come in and gone to bed while I was in the debrief, and I could already hear synchronized snoring coming from the bedroom.  Rather than risk waking them with my now-frozen feet, I pulled the quilt off the back of my couch and rolled myself into it.  Only minutes later, a heavy weight oozed across my hip and started purring furiously.

“Yeah, buddy. I agree. We need a nap.”

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