#i like dropping a list of their names in a randomizer and picking 1-3

[minecraftwolfpup]

[the-night-moves-writing]

Savior- Sisterhood (part 1)

Winchesters x Sibling reader (sibling bond ONLY)

Castiel x Winchester Reader (Platonic)

Summary: When Castiel goes off the deep end and becomes god, he finds he still has a soft spot for the smallest winchester

Warnings: angst, reader is mute for a lot of the fic, Descriptions of a panic attack, mentions of John Winchester being a bad father

Characters: John, Castiel x Reader (platonic), Dean x Reader (siblings), and Sam x reader (siblings), very small amount of destiel (you can see it if you squint)

Word count: 1746

A/N: Hi guys! I feel like i might post a little bit more now that i'm back, also there is a part two (and maybe three) in the works for this! i will create a list for you to be able to find all the parts and link it to my masterlist once i get it all set up. Also now i am on A03 and i will link that to my masterlist here in a little bit too. Anyway sorry for the long authors note, heres the fic. <3

I think of ways to turn the tables and fear what happens when they turn, the anger he fills in turn fills me with uncertainty and anxiety. His father passed the hate down the table, passed through graves and passed through cradles. He said he could never turn out like him, he was different. He kept those he wanted to protect at arms length, never fully giving himself the right to feel and to be loved. The one exception to the rule was Sam. Little brother Sammy, his whole reason for continuing on was to take care of Sam and protect him. Then here I came into the picture like a wrecking ball through the perfectly built motel room. 

Left on the doorstep with nothing but a note that read: John i could no longer take care of our child so i give them to you. May they grow to be strong and better than the both of us. There was no name left on the note but my father John Winchester knew who it was from, some random lady in a bar. He never wanted to deal with me so he placed me into Dean's caring arms. Dean was not only my brother and caregiver but also my dad in my eyes. So Dean and Sam became my whole world my entire life, until Sam left us for college. Being only 6 at the time I had a very little understanding of why he left but Dean always just said he left us. So I hunted with Dean and John, well less hunting and more researching for them and learning everything I could about the lore so that I could be helpful to Dean and John and take Sam's place in hunting. 

 Then it was just me and Dean hunting and I learned the basics.  When Dean went to get Sam from college because John had been gone for a few days on a hunting trip i was so angry, how could he leave us and how could Dean still want him back especially when i was 10 and more than capable of helping dean. Then he came back and we were together again and things were good, until Dean died and Sam dropped me off at Bobbys. I was 13 years old and I could hunt with him, I didn't want to be away from both of my brothers. Bobby thought that I needed a car though so he let me rebuild one with him so I rebuilt my sweetheart, I couldn’t call her baby despite me loving the car, a 1965 mustang. A nice little two seater that I had painted green. I used the car to visit where Sam had Dean buried, all the time. Bobby was concerned at how much time I spent at his grave but I couldn't help it. 

I had lost both of my brothers and the only family I had ever had and I was grasping at straws, I lived but it was my spirit that was haunting Bobby's house. I had become basically mute within these past months and Bobby was trying everything to get me to speak again. So when Dean returned out of nowhere I stayed by his side, though it worried Dean how quiet I was. I never left his side though which helped to ease his anxieties and when the entity was following Dean we had bigger things to deal with. I stayed far away from Sam not being able to look in his eyes after being left again. Then we met Castiel. I was very worried and very scared. Somehow Cas picked up on it though and constantly eased my fears, he could tell why i didn't trust Sam and unlike Dean accepted and understood it. Cas easily became a good friend to me because I didn't have to speak with him and he didn't have to try to understand human norms with me. 

Dean and Sam were both worried about this new found friendship between me and the angel but they saw the way that I was opening up. Saw the way I was becoming happy again and they just couldn't interfere. Everything changed when I turned 15 Castiel died and Sam went to hell. Cas came back though like always and when Sam didn't have a soul and Dean was searching for a way to return his, Cas stuck by me cared for me and kept me safe. He answered when I called and he took care of me. He takes care of me and is the only person I can trust. Then I hit 16 and the worst period of my life began, Cas declared himself the new god. The sadness I felt in my chest, crushing my heart.

For the first time in almost 4 years I had something to say 

“Cas STOP!” I said

Everyone turned to stare at me, and Cas turned to walk towards me. He took my hand

 in his and said,

“I am extremely proud of you my very devoted little one” 

His tone borders on threatening and dipping into enjoyment and pride.

He looked between Dean and Sam and myself before he spoke once more

“I expect complete devotion from you all…” he paused for a second, taking a breath before turning to me. The look in his eyes was no longer the soft and comforting look I had grown accustomed to. 

“…you have proven that you will speak for me in what you consider dire situations, so I command you to continue to do so” his gaze softened “ You have always been my favorite, my little one. Please do not give me any reason to punish you.”  

I, not being able to meet his gaze any longer, turned to look at the ground. My favorite person was now gone and there was nothing I could do to bring him back. I could follow him and leave my brothers again, leave my family. Or I could stay and lose the person I'm closest to in the whole world.

I could hear Dean and Sam shouting but I felt like my head was being pushed underwater, I couldn't breathe and I could feel the tears begin to run down my face and splatter on to the floor below. My vision was blurry and it was so loud everything was so loud, my entire life was falling apart and there was nothing I could do about it. I was completely hopeless and useless, I wasn't good enough. Good enough to help Sam and Dean with hunts, or protect them from going to hell, I couldn't do anything. I could feel my breathing quicken and my chest tightening. 

“STOP” Cas’s voice cut clear though the air, he turned from the boys walking towards me. My thoughts, eyes, and breathing were still shaky and unfocused. At some point I had ended up on my knees sobbing.

“Obviously I cannot leave the care of you to these two, my little one, I better take you with me.” He stated, me not hearing him, though it was more a threat to the boys. Dean finally noticed me and ran over and moved to be on his knees, Sam hot on his trail following suit to kneel in front of me.

“Hey hey hey your ok sweetheart, I promise. I got you, deanies here, don't worry.” Dean said, bringing up the nickname I used to call him trying to calm me down. Dean and Sam continued their calming words till my breath returned to normal. Cas was still staring at us from afar. He looked at us for a minute before speaking 

“If you wish for me to let you keep your sister I expect obedience Dean, I do not want to fret over her as i try to rebuild heaven. I could always just take her with me if that would make you more compliant.” His voice booming and loud

“P…. please let me stay” my voice is still shaky and rough not only from the panic attack but from years of not using it.

“This is not a decision for you to make, if i dont think Dean is capable of caring for you then I won't hesitate to bring you with me.” He said to me 

“Remember for almost 4 years I was the only person you spoke to. I know everything about you, and Dean cannot care for you as much as I could, little one.” Castiel’s voice seemed to soften when speaking to me. Dean could no longer take the former angel speaking as if he could not care for HIS siblings any longer.

“I’ve taken care of her my entire life Cas I think I know what I am doing.” He said a little bit pissed and it showed through his voice.

“I am no longer Cas to you Dean, you may refer to me as lord or god but never speak as if you are close to me again.” The statement was heartbreaking for the hunter, who always had a ‘profound bond’ with the angel.

“Another thing you say you have cared for them yet they were mute for four years, and you have caused so much damage to them. Do you really think you can care for them better than I?” Cas asked him completely serious

“I tried Cas you know better than anyone that i tried for almost two years, but i can't MAKE them talk” Dean was full blown angry now. Making me more frightened

“I TOLD YOU TO NOT CALL ME CAS.” Cas said his voice booming off the walls, he brought his hand up to slam Dean into the wall

“Stop, stop, stop please, I���m sorry, I'm so sorry, please just let me stay.” you cried out

“You have no control over my actions, little one. Dean had been given too many warnings, but seeing as you want to stay I will allow it, but believe me I will be doing check ups, and if I believe that you are not being cared for I will not hesitate to take you. You are still only a child who needs to be protected.” Cas said putting Dean down, Sam running to help him, Cas then turned from me to the brothers before speaking one last time.

“Heed my warnings. I am not going to repeat myself.” he said before disappearing, leaving the siblings alone in the warehouse.

[tip-top-cloud-surfer]

Never Have I Ever (Part 2) - Hangman

Pairing: Hangman / Civilian Contractor! Reader (Callsign: Dove)

Length: 3.1k

This work, all my works, and my entire blog are 18+ Only

Warnings: Female Reader with a Callsign, but no Physical Description or Name; Not Necessarily Healthy Decisions/Coping Mechanisms; Shy! Reader; Slow Burn; Coworkers to Friends to Lovers; Oblivious Idiots; Excessive Pining; Suggestive Humor

Summary: Hangman and Dove move into some more awkward topics as they continue Dove's challenge.

Part 1 Part 3 Part 4

Master List

# 13 - Ridden a Motorcycle

Stepping out of her apartment building, Dove paused when she saw Maverick waiting for her instead of Hangman in his truck. 

“Hey, Mav,” she greeted him, raising an eyebrow when he offered her a helmet. 

“Hangman looped me in about your challenge to yourself,” Maverick explained as Dove took the helmet. “And I thought I would offer some help.”

“Thanks, Mav.”

Dove put the helmet on and nervously climbed onto the back of the Kawasaki. Looking around, Dove turned back to Maverick. 

“Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see.”

“That doesn’t really make me feel safe!” Dove yelped as Maverick drove down the road. 

~~~~~

“Why did you have Maverick drive me to Target?” Dove asked Hangman as they walked inside together. “I’m here at least once a week.” 

“We’re stocking up and looking for some inspiration,” Hangman explained, leading the way. 

“Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this trip?” Dove sighed, following behind him. 

They worked clockwise through the store. They spent some time in the food section, picking out a few items for inspiration before moving onto the beauty section. Dove was looking at the hair dye options when Jake dropped a box into the cart. Looking down, Dove raised an eyebrow.

“Are you trying to tell me something, Hangman?” 

“You can wax whatever body part you want. You haven’t ever waxed . . . something before, right?”

“No, I haven’t. And I’ll just leave it there,” Dove replied, turning back to the hair dye options. Picking up two bottles, she showed them to Jake. “Should I do blue or red?” 

“You’re going to dye your hair?” he asked, sounding a bit concerned.

“Just temporary. This stuff is spray-on and it washes off with a shower.” 

“Then red. The blue is too . . .” Jake trailed off, meeting Dove’s gaze. “I don’t want to be rude.” 

“I’ll just get red then,” Dove agreed, placing one bottle in the cart and the other back. 

~~~~~

# 14 - Bought a Pregnancy Test

Jake and Dove slowly walked down the ‘family planning’ aisle. Dove forced herself to stare straight ahead as she and Jake stood side by side in front of the shelves. She leaned forward, grabbing a random pregnancy test before tossing it into the cart. 

Jake didn’t comment on her choice.

~~~~~

# 15 - Bought Condoms

“What size should I buy?” Dove asked Jake.

“What are you talking about?” 

“The condoms.” 

Jake turned to Dove, who refused to meet his gaze. Clearing his throat, he rubbed his cheek, trying to find a way out of the awkward question. 

“Just buy whatever size you’ve bought before.”

“I’ve never bought them before, that’s why I suggested it,” Dove pointed out, causing Jake to clear his throat again.

“Well, just buy a size that one of your exes wore. Just to get it over with.” 

“I don’t remember what sizes they wore,” Dove lied, but not in the way that Jake assumed.   

“Really?”

“Why?” Dove replied defensively. 

“You have an almost perfect memory,” Jake stated calmly, causing Dove to grow sheepish. “How much was your bill at the Hard Deck yesterday?”

“It’s unimportant.” 

But $16.53 kept flashing in her mind. 

“Just pick one.” 

“I’m not going to just pick one. It’ll just go to waste.” 

“Alright, let’s not overcomplicate things,” Jake sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Glancing over at Dove, and causing her to turn away from him quickly, Jake leaned down, grabbed a box, and tossed it into the cart. “There. Done. Let’s move on.” 

“Gladly.” 

They got to the self-checkout area and they were about to start scanning when Dove let out a groan. 

“I forgot to get milk.” 

“I’ll go grab it,” Jake offered, stepping back. 

“Thanks.” 

“Well, you’re buying me condoms,” Jake mused, causing Dove’s cheeks to warm. “I think I can return the favor.” 

Dove nodded and swallowed thickly before going back to her scanning. She moved through the items before she picked up the box of condoms. She had told herself and Jake that she wouldn’t look, but her impulse control wasn’t what it once was these days. 

“That was a bad idea,” she cursed herself, scanning the box and tossing it into her shopping bag. “A dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb idea, Dove.” 

Jake eventually caught up with her and they walked out of the store together. Putting the bag into the back of Jake’s truck, Dove walked around and sat in the passenger seat. Jake placed the milk carton down beside the bag and quickly grabbed the box of condoms and shoved them into his pocket. 

“You just had to open your mouth in front of the condoms,” he scolded himself, closing the trunk. 

~~~~~

# 16 - Bought a Lottery Ticket

“Why are we stopping at a gas station?” Dove asked Jake as he held the door open for her. 

“Well, I assumed that you’ve never bought a lottery ticket before.”

“No, I haven’t,” she admitted quietly. 

Dove walked over to the clerk and bought a random lottery ticket. After grabbing it, Dove and Jake headed back out to the truck. 

“You think you’ll win anything?” Jake asked as he started the truck. 

“No. I'm not usually lucky,” she replied bluntly, tucking the ticket into her purse.

“You never know,” Jake returned, causing Dove to look over at him. “You could get lucky soon.” 

“Maybe,” Dove agreed quietly. 

~~~~~

# 17 - Tried Baby Food

“If anything, this should be the safest food you'll eat all day,” Jake stated, opening the jar of baby food. “And it’s apple flavored, so it should taste just like applesauce.” 

Dove pulled out a spoon and scooped out some baby food. Bringing it to her mouth, she tasted it tentatively for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and nodding.

“Yeah, just like applesauce. It’s weirdly smooth though.”

~~~~~

#18 - Waxed

“If this burns my skin, it’s on your head, Seresin,” Dove warned Jake, applying the wax to her thigh.

They were standing in her bathroom together and Dove had changed into a pair of gym shorts while Jake heated up the wax for her. Holding out her hand, Dove thanked Jake when he handed her the paper strip before placing the paper down on top of the wax. Turning back to him, she gripped the flap, took a breath, and yanked the strip. 

“Fuck!”

“What? What?” 

Dove hopped on one foot and eventually balanced herself on Jake as she looked down to see if her leg was actually on fire or not. Jake held her right hand as Dove poked at the now irritated skin. 

“You still have two legs,” Jake remind Dove, causing her to scoff.

“Why don’t you try some then if it’s not so bad?” 

~~~~~

# 19 - Waxed Someone Else

“Just put it on my leg,” Jake sighed, pulling up his shorts a little more. “Tit for tat.” 

Dove placed a heavy glob on his thigh and spread it around. Picking up another strip of paper, Dove pressed it down onto the wax before looking up at Jake. She grabbed the flap and offered him a smile. 

“You need a countdown, Lieutenant?” 

With how they were situated, Dove was sitting in between Jake’s legs as his leg was resting on the edge of the tub. And the way that she was smiling at him and the way that she let his rank slide off her tongue . . . he forced himself to look up at the ceiling.

“Just pull it.” 

~~~~~

# 20 - Left a Negative Review Online

“You know, I didn’t actually rip your leg off.” 

“Still, we have to warn people. Don’t need anyone else getting skinned alive,” Jake replied, accepting a bag of ice from Dove. “Grab your phone.”

“To take a picture of you being dramatic?”

“No, to write a bad review. That shit’s horrible!” 

“It was only seven dollars. What did you expect?”

“Just write a bad review,” Jake sighed, sitting up as he rested the bag of ice against his red skin. Looking up at Dove, who made no move to grab her phone, he tilted his chin up. “You’ve never written a bad review before have you?” 

“Of course, I have!” Dove protested, folding her arms over her chest. When Jake stared her down, Dove winced and turned away.

“Grab. Your. Phone.” 

Dove sat down beside Jake and pulled up the product that they bought. Glancing over at Jake, she turned back to her phone and typed out a review.

Wax was a bit difficult coming off.

“Even when you’re writing a bad review, you’re being nice,” Jake sighed, causing Dove to sour.

Wax felt like you were ripping your skin off. Leaves an angry red rash behind. And it reduced a big tough naval aviator to tears.

“I didn’t cry!” 

“I could see tears,” Dove replied, laughing as Jake tried to snatch her phone. 

Leaning away from him as he pressed up against her, she held her phone away from him. Managing to hit the post button before he could grab it, Dove turned to Jake, who was a lot closer to her than she was expecting. And Jake, in turn, seemed to realize how far he had leaned over, pretty much pressing Dove against the arm of her couch. 

“Well,” Jake stated awkwardly. He scooched over to the opposite end of the small couch and cleared his throat. “I have a couple more ideas.” 

“Alright,” Dove agreed quietly, slowly sinking back into his seat. 

~~~~~

# 21 - Watched Keeping Up with the Kardashians

“I can feel myself getting dumber,” Dove commented, frowning at the ridiculous scene. 

“You want to switch to something else?” 

“Wait, I want to see how Kim flips out first.”

“So, you like it?”

“You’re the one who had it under their recommendations,” Dove pointed out, popping a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

~~~~~

# 22 - Watched a Horror Movie

“This is more like psychological horror than jump scare horror,” Jake replied as Dove hugged a throw pillow, staring at the screen. 

“That can be worse,” Dove stated quietly. 

“Phoenix liked it.” 

Dove groaned and held the pillow to her face. Jake reached for a handful of popcorn and leaned back in his seat. The movie progressed and Jake could feel Dove getting more and more on edge with the direction that the movie was taking. And when it got to the truly creepy scenes, she winced and hid her face in the pillow. 

“Well, you’re watching half of a horror movie,” Jake commented, earning an indignant look. Rolling her eyes, Dove turned back to the screen out of spite

“You’re such a—” 

The jump scare, of course, flashed onto the screen and Dove jumped a bit. She didn’t scream or anything excessive more than a gasp, but because she had been kneeling, she fell over and landed on his thighs. Jake winced and Dove quickly apologized.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jake assured her, wincing a bit as she slid off of him.

“Do you need more ice?” Dove asked, causing Jake to momentarily panic.

“For what?”

“Your wax burn?” Dove suggested, like it was obvious.

“Oh . . . no, I’m fine.”

~~~~~

# 23 - Pressed Every Button in an Elevator

The elevator bell dinged overhead and Dove grit her teeth together just a little bit more. The doors held open for a moment before closing again.

“If we ever make it to the bottom of the building, Hangman, you have a five second head start before I kill you,” Dove warned him.

“You’re not a very patient person.” 

“For murder, I am,” she replied, shooting him a look.

Jake offered her a smile that had earned him a lot of sharp remarks over the years, but with the way that Dove was glaring at him, the edges of his smile softened. She tried to look menacing, but she only managed to appear about as threatening as a kitten. 

“Where are we going anyways?” Dove sighed, turning back to the door. 

~~~~~

# 24 - Snuck In to See a Movie

“Jake,” Dove hissed to him as he led her in through the side entrance to the theater. “What are you doing? We’re too old for this shit.” 

“No one’s even going to be in here. Come on,” Jake insisted, grabbing her hand and tugging her into the theater closest to the door. “I mean, how many people are going to watch this movie? It’s been out for weeks.”

“I don’t know.” 

“In the middle of the day?”

“If we get kicked out and banned, it’s your fault,” Dove hissed as they took their seats. 

The movie started and after a while, Dove actually relaxed and started to watch it. They walked out together along with three other people and headed out to Jake’s truck.

“That wasn’t too bad for a free movie.” 

“No,” Dove agreed, hopping into his truck. “I mean, Jon Hamm makes every movie better.” 

“You like Jon Hamm?” Jake asked, climbing into the driver’s seat. “Really?”

“What?”

“Isn’t he a little old for you?”

“And a little too famous for me,” Dove scoffed, putting her seatbelt on. 

“Doesn’t he look too much like Cyclone for you?” Jake continued, starting up the truck. Turning quickly to Dove as realization struck him, he asked, “Is that why you’re so nice to Cyclone? Because he looks like Jon Hamm?”

“He’s our boss, of course, I’m nice to him,” Dove snapped, leaning back in her seat. “And besides, Cyclone doesn’t smile.”

“You like a guy who smiles?” 

“I like a guy who actually drives instead of holding me hostage in a parking lot.”

“Picky, picky,” Hangman joked before driving off.

~~~~~

# 25 - Taken a Coin from a Fountain

“Are you kidding me?” Dove hissed to Jake, who shrugged in response.

“Just do it.” 

“No!”

“Why not?”

“It’s wrong, Jake.” 

“What? It’s just a coin. Look, that dime’s barely even in the water. You can scoop it up easily,” Jake insisted, pointing at a coin. 

“Someone made a wish and put it in there. We can’t just take it.” 

“They won’t know.”

“But I’ll know,” Dove replied, causing Jake to groan. 

“Why does it matter so much to you?” 

“Because.” 

“Because why?”

“Well,” Dove sighed, looking away from Jake. “My parents divorced when I was a kid and they always met at the local mall when I would switch parents. And my dad always gave me a coin to make a wish while we waited for my mom and . . .” 

“Shit, I’m so sorry,” Jake stated as Dove turned her back to him. “We don’t have to do it.”

“Even if I was just lying?” 

“Even if . . . you were lying about that?” Jake demanded, causing Dove to smile proudly. 

“Yeah. Well, my parents are divorced, but the rest of it was bullshit.” Nudging him on the arm, she laughed. “But I thought you of all people wouldn’t fall for the whole ‘divorced parents’ sob story.” Smiling to herself, she folded her arms over her chest. “Maybe I’m a better liar than I thought.” 

“So, you’re going to take a coin then?”

“No, it’s still wrong, Jake.” 

“Here, I’ll throw one in and you can pick that one. I don’t mind if you crush my dreams,” Jake offered jokingly, pulling out his wallet. He grabbed a penny and tossed it onto the edge of the pool. “There.”

Dove huffed and looked around before bending over and grabbing the penny quickly from the water. Turning back to Jake, she handed the penny back.

“What did you wish for?”

“That I don’t fall for your little stories again,” Jake muttered, causing Dove to grin. 

“We pulled the coin out, so your wish isn’t going to happen.”

Jake sighed and shook his head, earning a smile and giggle from Dove in return.

~~~~~

# 26 - Committed a Federal Crime

“Jake, this isn’t a crime.” 

“You’re taking my mail. It’s a federal crime, Dove.” 

“You handed me your mail key.” 

“Sneaking into the movie theater, taking a coin from a public fountain, and now you’re stealing mail? Where will it end?” Jake listed dramatically, causing Dove to shush him. 

“Here’s your mail. All two envelopes,” she replied, handing over the key and mail.

“You have to open it.” 

Dove huffed and rolled her eyes, opening one of the envelopes begrudgingly. Pulling out the paper inside, she turned to Jake.

“Did you want to upgrade your WiFi?” she asked sarcastically.

~~~~~

# 27 - Licked a Bar of Soap

“When I said that I could eat, I wasn’t referring to soap,” Dove replied, opening the box. 

“The rest of the squad is coming over soon. I told them to bring food.”

Dove stuck out her tongue and licked the bar of soap before wrinkling her nose and walking off to the bathroom to wash out her mouth. 

“You pick the dumbest ones,” she huffed.

~~~~~

# 28 - Had an Anchovy

“They’re not that bad,” Bob stated, ignoring the disgusted looks from the rest of the people in the room. “What? They’re not.”

“Let me just get this over with. If the taste doesn’t kill me, the smell will,” Dove sighed, grabbing an anchovy from the tin and shoving it into her mouth.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust but swallowed it like a champion and quickly reached for her drink. Sliding the tin over to Bob as she took a few gulps, Dove finished her drink and hiccuped. 

“You can keep the rest, Bob.”

~~~~~

# 29 - Been Given Flowers

“Sorry, I’m late,” Rooster stated, sliding into Jake’s apartment. “Have we voted yet?”

“Not yet,” Phoenix stated, shaking her head. 

“Good.”

Rooster set the grocery bag down on the countertop and turned to Dove, who sighed when she saw the look in his eye. 

“Please don’t tell me that you brought more fish.”

“No, but have you ever been gifted flowers, Dove?”

“Not that I can think of, no. Why?”

Rooster pulled out a small bundle of yellow flowers wrapped in plastic and handed it to Dove. Her eyes widened and she took the small bouquet in her hand, staring down at it curiously. She sniffed the flowers before turning back to Rooster.

“Thanks.”

“Any time,” Rooster replied with a wink before moving to walk around the kitchen island. “Excuse me, Hangman.”

Rooster passed by Jake, completely ignoring his death stare, and grabbed a plate. Phoenix got everyone’s attention while Dove quietly placed the flowers down behind her. 

“Alright, where are we going to go for our team vacation? Vegas? Or the lakehouse that Bob found?”

“Vegas,” Rooster quickly voted. 

“Lakehouse,” Hangman immediately challenged. 

“Something tells me that I should crack open a beer,” Coyote sighed, walking to the fridge.

Part 1 Part 3 Part 4

[gaysindistress]

Here’s a list of things that I feel are canon for our sweet Bucky and no one can convince me otherwise.

1. Bucky’s never used drugs consensually

Now I was going to say he hasn’t done drugs at all but then again Hydra exists. You can’t tell me that they didn’t use drugs in their experiments at some point in time.

Anyways, setting the scene it’s shortly before falcon and the Winter soldier and Bucky is slowly learning how to live for himself.

Enter you; his sweet, beautiful guide to modern society. The two of you met at the grocery store when he was about ready to go full winter soldier on a self checkout machine, but you stepped in and saved both him and the poor machine. It’s late and it’s getting dark so ever the gentleman Bucky walks you to your car. You take his phone and put your number in with a cute contact name of “y/n - the cutie from the store”.

Fast forward two months and the two of you were hanging out, casually seeing each other, seeing where things go. He told you he wanted to take it slow and you respected that. With that being said, you have never been inside of each other’s apartments before. Sure he’s dropped you off at your door and you picked him up from his but you’ve never been inside.

One night when you’re coming home from a date, it starts pouring down raining. You both run to the door laughing and giggling but you insist that he stays until the rain stops because you can’t let him go and ride home on his motorcycle in the rain. It’s not safe and it’s your job as his not quite girlfriend to look out for him.

So he comes in and the first thing he sees are the floating shelves (you built all by yourself) filled with jars of what look like spices. There are also vases but he’s more focused on how many spices you have.

“I didn’t know you liked to cook,” he says as the two of you strip off your wet outer clothes.

“What?” You question back but then you follow his gaze to your wall and you giggle. Of course, this man is thoroughly confused because you have an entire wall of herbs and spices.

You giggle, even harder at his adorable, confused face, and then you tell him that that is in fact flower. Every jar is a different strain of weed and those “vases” are the bongs you’ve collected over the years. But he is not embarrassed, but more shocked because the world of weed is completely different now. He had no idea that any of this existed so naturally, he asks every question you can think of. You, being his guide to modern society, tell him everything he wants to know before he quietly asks if the two of you could get high together. You tell him that if he truly wants to then he has to spend the night because you don’t want him to drive or be alone if anything happens.

This man could not agree faster, because not only is he in your house for the first time but he’s also going to be spending the night with you AND sleeping with you for the first time. Even though he doesn’t show it, he is so giddy and happy on the inside.

Approximately 30 minutes later, you’ve chosen the perfect hybrid that’ll make him feel good but not overwhelm him and picked out the smallest bong so that he doesn’t get too high his first rip. Still you’re nervous about it so you inform him that you'll start the hit and he’ll finish it because “it’s like taking half a hit and you won’t get baked out of your mind right away.”

It’s safe to say that even with all of your precautions, he’s still one with your bed and giggling at the random movie you picked. At some point the two of you have migrated into the middle of the bed and he’s got his arms wrapped around your middle with his head nestled into your stomach.

2. Bucky secretly loves fruity drinks

Get this man a pina colada with a tiny umbrella with some pineapple on it. He will drink that shit U P. It stems from being deprived of fun for so long so he will take any and every chance to order the fruitiest drink on the menu.

3. Bucky loves vaping

He smoked here and there in the 40s but it was nothing more than social smoking. One day when he and Sam were working on the boat, a younger guy started talking to them and pulled out his vape. Sam didn’t even notice but Bucky was so confused???? Homeboy almost asked what the fuck he was doing but then the guy offered it to him and his brain short circuited.

Bucky said no but after that he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He later asked you if you knew anything about the “little thingy that you suck on and smoke comes out.” It took everything in you to not die laughing because he was being so sincere and it was so cute. You told him it was probably a vape and that people don’t smoke cigarettes anymore.

It wasn’t until you guys were out with your friends a few weeks later when one of them pulled theirs out that Bucky had to try it.

You took a puff and could feel his eyes on you so you slowly looked over at him with the vape raised.

“You wanna try?”

He nodded and once again you coached him through it so he didn’t cough up a lung. After that he would only steal others when drinking but slowly it turned into him buying one and then another one and then another one. Eventually he was hooked and it cracks you up to see the Winter Soldier, the White Wolf hitting his vape as he lounges spread eagle on your couch while watching The Office.

[crimsonblackrose]

.

Lia is reading Beowulf

Anthony recommends Animal Farm instead.

Mr. Landry lived next to their elementary school and had chicken coops. They've been in school together since elementary school.

Lia: I miss being friends. Anthony's brain breaking for a moment.

Lia calls Kenny: Strawberry ghost.

Anthony's friend does Tommy's line about how everyone is doing something new.

This actor does a great job of making me hate his character Zack:

All he does is egg Anthony on and put peer pressure on him. Apparently Kenny got like 20 points during gym

Anthony stealing Kenny's clothes is messed up.

Miguel has been stretching since 6 am. 🤣 Tournament's a month away.

Mr. even while drunk never loses his keys somehow misplaces his hachimaki at Carmen's? not buying it.

Don't go where he can't follow. Ooh I forgot he drops a little context. "You know how they make that loaded potato soup."

I think the "i found something in your room I need you to explain" is 1. another invasion of privacy. 2. Anthony why wouldn't you hide a cobra kai hoodie, knowing that they broke into your home and are terrorizing your sister? 3. Why did you even take it home? and 4. I think sadly, the most we've seen Daniel say to Anthony since he was littler and just sort of ignored Daniel or tried to order out his needs.

Anthony you little liar. Well...actually I guess from Anthony's perspective Kenny is giving him a hard time. But it's not on purpose and the way you've been responding to losing at basketball or not having all of Lia's attention is not cool. And you curbing to peer pressure is on you. I'm sorry that your friends suck, but Anthony you managed to go this long making them think you knew karate and couldn't use it because it was a lethal weapon kinda means you should be able to worm your way out of all of this. Kenny's in Cobra Kai because of you.

Messing around and name calling is what your 'friends' are doing to you, not what Kenny is doing to you.

Daniel: Go upstairs, get changed. Anthony: For what? Daniel: Just go upstairs and get changed.

Anthony should've come down in a suit. Because Daniel should've specified working out or something.

Robby listening to Kenny and then figuring out the best way to help him/steer him. "I got kicked out of school and went to juvie, you gotta be smarter than me and your brother" is a very good choice.

I totally see Piper in the background and her friends.

Silver: we all have weaknesses. Tory: Kreese doesn't. Silver: of course he does. Kreese: The hell i do, don't tell them I have any weakness.

each pick a fighter 6 pack of brews to the winner.

Johnny struggling from 'we're hooking up, to not hooking up to sex talk intro....

Johnny nervously just listing off chain restaurants.

Miguel's surprised but not surprised and also judging his mom just a smidge:

Listen sometimes Johnny's got a whole lot of decent balanced stuff in his fridge. It depends on how much self-hatred he's stewing in. When he digs himself out of it he tends to clean up and also his eating habits change.

Miyagi-do does not have wifi

Remember...when Amanda's clue that Kreese was dangerous was that he had weapons on his wall? These weapons? Weapons Daniel also had? And that the kids are now training because the All-Valley included skills competition?

Anthony says the cars, Daniel forgot to put the covers on them, look like a jackson pollock painting (they're covered in bird poop)

I can't believe Daniel's leaving to go to the dealership. Like on the one hand proud of him for finding the balance to do both. Both on the other hand, he's literally leaving a whole bunch of teenagers alone to practice with weapons. Unsupervised by an adult. Daniel, wtf?

Piper flirting with Tory after their sparring. 🤣 Good for her for shooting her shot.

Johnny heard that Silver was giving out dojo merch and sent Devon a eagle fang shirt before her first class.

Random new eagle fang students, we haven't had that in a while. I guess Johnny did manage to scrounge up some new recruits. I do think he should've still taken Moon on she could've done kata for him.

Devon brings up Bloodsport. Johnny is delighted.

omg

Johnny sent her prep work and it was movies and she went above his list:

Devon is a fan of Cynthia Rothrock.

Mitch saw Last Dragon, Johnny is not impressed. 😅 Sorry Mitch.

Devon also drops: best of the best.

Poor Miguel getting side lined again.

Johnny has tied the kids arms to their sides, in case cobra kai pops their shoulder out and they have to fight one handed.

I would like to point out he's talking about cheating and playing dirty and he got this idea because Daniel immobilized his arm with his secret pressure points.

Like I get that Daniel thinks his way is the best way to prep against Silver, but if they'd talked and Daniel had told him of all the Silver moves he knew, Johnny would've built lessons about ways to defend against it. Because he's literally trying to ensure they stay in the game and don't panic if they get injured like he did. Which he's been doing since the beginning by showing pretty much all his students at some point how to get out of a choke-hold.

It also sucks though, now that Johnny has one from Kreese and one from Daniel on that list because Daniel went too far and used the pressure points against him. It's a good lesson but it shouldn't have been inspired the way it was.

Johnny's used literally everything he can think of, ducttape on Mitch, rope on another kid, what looks like bungy cord on another. I dunno I feel like prepping them against cheating is so smart. I think he seran wrapped Bert. 🤣

I would say Johnny being careful with Miguel is probably related to Miguel's injury, but that hair ruffle in front of the class is totally because Johnny's told Miguel he's dating his mom.

One of the kids throws sand in Mitch's eyes. Which ow, and also dangerous. Johnny that could've been accomplished with a blindfold. But use the other senses because you've been blinded, without meaning too defends against one of SIlver's moves, to blind your opponent. For that one Miguel just held a box of sand.

Oh, I don't think having Devon kick all the guys in the balls is the way to go there Johnny. Even if Daniel used a ball-shot move he learned from Mr. Miyagi in TKK2. Miguel you gotta admit, not being in this one is probably for the best.

Johnny should've ensured they were all wearing protective gear first. Which is not...very him. (I'm going to blame netflix here) because while he put the kids in danger and it didn't always seem safe i.e. the junkyard with the dogs. He still ensured they had protective gear when doing stuff like breaking glass.

Like everyone giggling about Silver picking Kenny might make sense, but Silver totally scammed Kreese with his whole double or nothing. He literally knows that Robby's weakness would be his little buddy he's taken under his wing. Which is the whole point of the lesson.

And he proves it when Robby goes woah woah woah are you okay and Kreese has to call pause.

I do like that despite winning Kenny and Robby still do a little fist bump after their fight, like no hard feelings there despite Kenny tricking Robby by feigning injury.

all the ice, at least Johnny got ice for them all.

I dunno Johnny you shouldn't put all the kids but Miguel through the ringer and then say 'champ we've got family dinner'. It's uncool and you should know that it could cause division or seem like you're playing favorites.

Also Johnny just leaves Miguel. Are you seriously leaving Miguel who as far as we know doesn't have his own car or license yet, at an abandoned factory?

The taskrabbit Anthony called is named Artie, whose cat needs hernia surgery so this is his side hustle, and Daniel has tons of Glacier freeze gatorade but no lemon lime.

Daniel I'm surprised you let your credit card or any financial info anywhere near something Anthony has access to after he tried to alexa order something and you struggled to cancel it.

Anthony's response to this is that he knows, which makes me wonder if Daniel and Amanda pay so little attention to him that he feels like he does most things on his own and thus accomplishes everything on his own.

See that works on Sam because she met him but Anthony didn't so he doesn't care.

Mr. Miyagi taught sam the wax on wax off first move. Anthony gets he's a great ma and he taught Daniel karate. And he's heard all the stories and he's sick of it.

Daniel asks if that means he doesn't want to learn how to defend himself or learn skills for life and Anthony responds not if it means cleaning up bird shit to which Daniel rebukes him for language. then essentially says he thought Anthony was mature enough for this and walks away and tells Anthony to just go back to his video games.

Which, Daniel you fucked up here. Anthony never got to meet Mr. Miyagi that he remembered. So he's just hearing the whole family bond about this guy he doesn't know and it's isolating because he's got nothing to draw on to add to it. Anthony knows all the stories, he knows all about Mr. Miyagi, but do you know anything about Anthony beyond video games? Do you even know what video games he likes to play? Because you bought him kitkats from Japan and that's it. You're just not...listening. You're pissed because in your head he disrespected Mr. Miyagi. And didn't listen to the core of it. Which is there is no Miyagi magic for him and instead his whole life he's been living in the shadow of a man he doesn't know and getting teased because he should know the moves.

Also, I think if Johnny was still there, it'd suck because his training is always hard, but that Anthony would enjoy it more.

normally i tend to think whatevers in the middle of the table is the main course, but that's tomato, red onion and avocado and nothing else.

johnny is not good balancing between Miguel and Carmen.

I think what's happening is Johnny is trying so hard to not be Sid that he doesn't know what to do. Carmen literally moves later like she's going to just eat the tomato, onion and avocado as a meal/salad.

The way Anthony immediately starts apologizing for being in the dojo is kinda telling of his not so great relationship with his father. Like he found something that sparked his interest in karate but then immediately panics as soon as Daniel asks what he's doing.

Like Daniel even says he doesn't need to apologize, but Anthony just doesn't seem to know him well enough that he thinks he's doing something wrong.

Is this the pressure point lesson?

Because if it is, what Daniel says related to it is wild.

If it is in fact pressure points then Daniel you've already used it twice, once to save Johnny's life and stop Kreese and once to try and win an argument with Johnny.

I am glad Anthony is talking about how he feels sort of left out because he doesn't have any memories of Mr. Miyagi.

I also feel like this is a long time coming, Daniel needed to have this conversation with Anthony ages ago. A chance to tell him not stories about himself and Mr. Miyagi or Sam and Mr. Miyagi, the stories he knows all about, but you missed telling Anthony about his own story with Mr. Miyagi. "Mr. Miyagi wanted to hold him and as soon as Anthony was in his arms, Anthony kicked him in the face."

Mr. Miyagi apparently just laughed and said Anthony was going to be handful but would also be a protector of the family.

Since when? Also you, not wanting to pressure someone into doing what they don't want to do? Dude. You do that all the time. You tried to pressure all the students into learning just Miyagi-do which broke up the combined dojo.

Junior Prom theme his Hollywood Heights, which feels a bit like phoning it in since they're in LA.

Johnny once again showing up at school. Why if it's decorated for prom is it the middle of the day? Who would put up all those balloons and decorations this early?

Carmen might get pissed that Johnny's taking Miguel out of school to skip history.

Lia has figured out her and Ant's play date: Saturday at a fair at Westwood park and the best part is fried oreos. A bunch of other people including Kenny are going. Lia also has a friend named Jane.

Zach, get a hobby will you?

Kenny using LaPusso against Anthony knowing it's a weakness and luring Anthony and his not friends into a trap in the library. Smart kid. Also I get why he didn't trust the 'let's talk'.

Kenny is doing a great job of taking them all out individually.

One of the kids is named Marcus.

Of course Kenny got caught.

Johnny knows a lot of random facts about Rowdy Roddy Piper (A Canadian wrestler/actor for WWE who it look like wore a kilt)

Johnny says he doesn't know how to do this kind of relationship. And Miguel says that's what happened with robby right, he got scared? And Johnny admits that he got scared.

Johnny felt cheated, everything just made him miss his dad more and he couldn't figure out why everything was happening. His mom did the best she could but well she married sid.

Miguel asks if he ever tried to find him.

Johnny doesn't know what he'd say. But this is something Miguel's relating to.

Johnny also doesn't know where he'd begin looking for him.

Johnny really does have some honesty and reveals a lot about himself when people are willing to listen.

He says he didn't have a male role model until he met Kreese and they both know how that went.

He's trying so hard not to be the people in his life that abandoned him or gave up when he didn't do exactly what they wanted when he knew it was wrong.

He says he can never fix that. 😭

But he doesn't want to make that mistake with Miguel, he just doesn't know what to do or how to do this. he says he clearly doesn't know what the hell he's doing.

omg I'm going to cry, don't you boys start crying. Like damn xolo the tears in your eyes and the shaky laugh.

Some things are going to change, you dating my mom, but there are some things I don't want to change. | Like what?| Like you being my sensei.

I love that Johnny prepared a lesson.

He's going to teach Miguel one of the most badass moves in karate, the flying tornado.

Sam crashing their lesson. 🤣 She skipped school and was like fuck everyone else I do what I want which is sneaking into Eagle Fang.

I do appreciate that Johnny's first question is "Does your dad know you're here". Like he knows Daniel will be pissed and I don't think he'd teach her and lie about it. It's not his style.

The school/principal moved fast. "I've already talked to the other offending students and they will be suspended, so will your son."

He has evidence of Kenny running and being chased by the kids, found the milk tiktok, and evidence of cyberbullying.

Kenny really took care of his bullies.

Terry's reading this book.

Terry's also excited for Kreese's six pack gift to him: Ba Muoi Ba (Vietnamese Beer)

Scovil, from Utah, didn't really bathe, took point and took over leadership when he shouldn't have and stepped on a mindfield and died. Aka Kreese is warning Silver.

Kreese you really brought down the vibes, this guy was the giddiest happiest dude and now he's so sad and quiet and aware something is up.

Terry is right, Kreese you're over-reacting.

It's also uncool for you to pull the cage into this. You're being a dick Kreese, this is mean. Like Kreese you put so much effort into getting Terry to co-sensei with you and then you pull rank, and dredge up the worst memories of Terry's life.

[caltropspress]

RAPS + CRAFTS #31: andrew

1. Introduce yourself. Past projects? Current projects?

I’m andrew. Currently working on sleepingdogs related stuff as always, a project with my guy esh & the isolations from Boston, a project with Brian Ennals, and then I’m producing a few things for some people right now as well. Just dropped a record with Height Keech this July. Earlier in the year I dropped a split with my brother ialive and the second sleepingdogs album. Right at the end of last year I dropped my third self-produced solo, don’t forget me, bluest, Too many past things to name them all - you can get my last solo and the latest sleepingdogs vinyl @ threedollarpistol.bandcamp.com.

2. Where do you write? Do you have a routine time you write? Do you discipline yourself, or just let the words come when they will? Do you typically write on a daily basis?

I write any and everywhere but not really by choice. The mind is always going, and you never know when it’s gonna start putting shit together. I write a lot of stuff in my head when I’m driving and just repeat the lines over and over trying build on it, but mostly trying not to forget. I also write at work a lot when I’m just zoned out building stuff. I’m always writing down bars or couplets throughout the day, but if I get on a roll I’ll step off the floor and duck into the bathroom for a second to finish a thought 'cause I don’t wanna be standing there on my phone too long. Those are probably the two places I write the most, but, as I said, it’s not really confined to any time or place. It all comes in spurts. I’m always writing something down, be it lists of words, phrases and random lines, or full verses. It seems to come in waves for me. I’ll be going crazy for a few months writing seemingly non-stop, then the next few months will pass and I haven’t really written shit as far as songs go, and I’ll think that it’s a wrap for me. Lots of ebbs & flows for sure.

3. What’s your medium—pen and paper, laptop, on your phone? Or do you compose a verse in your head and keep it there until it’s time to record?

These days it’s mostly phone, for sheer convenience. We always have our phones with us, so that just became the medium unfortunately. Up til a few years ago, I didn’t really write anything down. I would just write in my head and go over it out loud til I had it down pat and kept it only there until I laid it down, but over the years my memory seems to have less storage capacity. So, just to be safe, I started writing everything down in my phone. I think this actually maybe even caused me to start writing more because now instead of writing whole verses at a time, I’m constantly just writing down random lines and thoughts to put together more verses & hooks. When it comes to recording though, I really strive to have my verses memorized and read off my phone as little as possible.

4. Do you write in bars, or is it more disorganized than that?

Oh no, so disorganized! Lists of words, phrases, bars, concepts for hooks, any and everything really.

5. How long into writing a verse or a song do you know it’s not working out the way you had in mind? Do you trash the material forever, or do you keep the discarded material to be reworked later?

If I’m writing something and don’t like it within the first fours bars, I gotta trash it and start over. If I get like 10-12 in and I’m not loving it, I’ll just finish it anyway since I didn’t dislike it enough to stop at four. Then I’ll probably come back and cherry pick the good lines for another verse until the verse is just skin & bones and delete the rest if I don’t feel there’s anything more worth repurposing.

6. Have you engaged with any other type of writing, whether presently or in the past? Fiction? Poetry? Playwriting? If so, how has that mode influenced your songwriting?

I’ve written poetry as a much younger man and also started a novel at some point that got shelved indefinitely. Never really plays, but I used to storyboard write & illustrate ideas for music videos. I do design as well, so I used to have fun writing fake ad campaigns for products and foundations for school. And I’m seemingly always making up slogans or jingles for businesses for no reason at all. I dunno I guess I’m just always writing, consciously or unconsciously.

7. How much editing do you do after initially writing a verse/song? Do you labor over verses, working on them over a long period of time, or do you start and finish a piece in a quick burst?

I tend to get in zones and write whole verses and/or songs in one shot, depending on the project. Those verses could be comprised of some of the random lines and word lists compiled over time or completely fresh - you never really know. I definitely edit if I’m on roll, but if there’s a line or two I don’t love I’ll just leave it and come back later and revisit or strengthen it. Sometimes you got a good rhythm and you can kill it by getting caught up on one line that’s bothering you, so I usually will just try to tell myself I’ll come back and I move on.

8. Do you write to a beat, or do you adjust and tweak lyrics to fit a beat?

Both. Sometimes I’m feeling inspired to write and I don’t have beats on deck at the moment, whether my own or someone else’s, so I’ll just write, and later I’ll either make something that feels like the right fit, or hear something in a pack from someone that does and freak it and make necessary adjustments per the beat. Then there’s also some beats that just demand my attention and compel me to start writing immediately.

9. What dictates the direction of your lyrics? Are you led by an idea or topic you have in mind beforehand? Is it stream-of-consciousness? Is what you come up with determined by the constraint of the rhymes?

I think just the way I’m feeling most days. That’s why it’s a lot of dark humor raps and things of that nature. That tends to be the majority of my material but obviously if there’s a specific theme that dictates the bars. I think it can really start from anything, but a lot of the time if I’m messing around in my head at work or driving and I come up with a few good bars that feel like they are good ones to open a verse with, it’ll propel me to keep going. They could be anything - some goofy, funny shit or something dark. I guess again it comes back to the headspace I’m in at that moment.

10. Do you like to experiment with different forms and rhyme schemes, or do you keep your bars free and flexible?

I do, but I’ll be the first to admit I that don’t stray enough from the traditional when it comes to schemes and flows. I do mess with it on my own and try different things and write different ways, but I guess I usually don’t think that they’re strong enough and stick to the more traditional, though I’m definitely trying to break out of that and expand, for sure.

11. What’s a verse you’re particularly proud of, one where you met the vision for what you desire to do with your lyrics?

I really like my verse on “flutes” on the first sleepingdogs album. I dunno it’s one that every time I do it live it just feels satisfying. It’s no real concept; it’s just bars, but it’s one that feels good every time. "living blues" from don’t forget me, bluest is another one. I think maybe just everything about that one makes me feel good - the hook, the verse, the flow, the outro. That was one that I made that when I was done writing I was immediately like, “Yeah, this one is something.”

12. Can you pick a favorite bar of yours and describe the genesis of it?

"And I heard em sayin', 'Yo, why's drew the best? / I’m handin' out bodies like I'm breakin' up the Eucharist (eucha-rest)” from "flutes" as well has always been a fave, though it doesn’t really translate as anything special now that I'm typing it out - haha.

13. Do you feel strongly one way or another about punch-ins? Will you whittle a bar down in order to account for breath control, or are you comfortable punching-in so you don’t have to sacrifice any words?

I definitely write with breath control in mind and definitely prefer to record a verse start to finish. I’ve definitely punched in but not because I wasn’t able to rap the whole verse, but more to make sure I hit certain words stronger than I could if I was doing it all straight through. As long as I can do the verse live and spit it straight, I don’t really care about having to punch because when recording and delivering a product you’re trying to present the best product, so for the sake of that I think it’s okay. So long as you can actually spit the verse, that is. That’s just me, though. I know there’s a lot of different views on this and some people are against it and some people do it obviously with the overlaps and all, but that’s just my take. I don’t particularly care too much about it one way or another.

14. What non-hiphop material do you turn to for inspiration? What non-music has influenced your work recently?

Man, too much. I get inspiration from all kinds of music. All good music makes me want to make music. Lately I been listening to a lot of Lykke Li, Rolling Stones, Heatmiser, Charles Bradley, Lee Moses, Courtney Marie Andrews, Lady Wray - too many to name. Outside of music, reading really inspires me as well. I been reading / listening to a lot this year and it definitely gets me going.

15. Writers are often saddled with self-doubt. Do you struggle to like your own shit, or does it all sound dope to you?

I have flashes of it, but overall I feel like I know when something is dope and when something isn’t working. And when it’s not, then I put it to the side and rework until it is. And if it never gets to where it needs to be, then it doesn’t come out. I feel being honest with yourself and admitting when something isn’t quite there is super important as an artist to make sure you’re putting out quality work, not just everything you put down on the page.

16. Who’s a rapper you listen to with such a distinguishable style that you need to resist the urge to imitate them?

Freeway. Every time I listen to Free I start rapping like him to myself in the car, but that’s where it stays - haha.

17. Do you have an agenda as an artist? Are there overarching concerns you want to communicate to the listener?

I think really just mental health stuff and the will to keep pushing forward. I write a lot of dark stuff laced with humor 'cause I feel it and I need to say it to get it out of my head and try to deal with those thoughts and feelings. And I think that’s important 'cause hopefully it can help people dealing with the same kinds of things and they’re not alone in it. It’s really just one day at a time, as cliche as that is. Just gotta do your best to get through the day, and tomorrow is a fresh start.

RAPS + CRAFTS is a series of questions posed to rappers about their craft and process. It is designed to give respect and credit to their engagement with the art of songwriting. The format is inspired, in part, by Rob McLennan’s 12 or 20 interview series.

Photo credit: Noah Anthony Mezzacappa

[implausiblyjosh]

Let's Play A Terrible Wrestling Video Game, TEW 2020

I've been feeling the call to play TEW 2020 again. This is a text-based pro wrestling management video game that just sucks so much ass. That screen you see above? That is the main window and it cannot be resized. Seriously, I'm fairly certain every menu in this game is just an image file with clickables put over it. Nightmarish.

Anyways, the cool thing is that people make their own mods for this game, either building up entire fictional wrestling universes (the game comes with it's own version of this, the CornellVerse, that has been building and changing with each entry) or mapping out the mod-makers approximation of the real world. Today, we're going to be making a new company using Real World Chronicles 2023, the June 2023 edition.

Anyways, let's start our save!

Now. I'm playing with a larger mod database, which means there's a lot of data to crunch, but like... this hangup happens anytime I play this game unless I'm playing an "organic" save (you start w/ the bare minimum in the database and let the game generate new stuff), but this always freaks me out.

Now we have to pick who we're playing as and folks... this list is a doozy.

Usually what I like to do is start with a created User Avatar (I think that's what this game calls player characters), where I set their stats up basically to the max but I never have them do in-ring work, usually just commentary. I... forgot to do that this time. I don't wanna back out, so I'm just gonna pick someone who is closest to me in age. In this case, I'm playing as Poppy who I guess has worked closely with WWE's NXT brand to make music for them??? She's 28, I'm 29, I've already imposed this rule on us.

The second thing we set is "User Talents". These traits (Negotiating, Motivating, Creativity, Leadership, Diplomacy, and Silver Tongue) will help and hinder us in certain ways, and we will get more points for every X number of shows we run. At the start we have 30 points, along with some template options. Usually I do not care about this and pick Jack of all Trades to get 5 across the board. But let's go full chaotic and do Lucky Dip. This will give every one of our stats a random number, so our total could be higher or lower than the initial 30.

That's... not great? So negotiating is maxxed out, which means we can really have our way in contract negotiations. Diplomacy is also high at 9, which means when incidents happen back stage we should be able to handle them better. Leadership of 5 is basically neutral, and would give us a passive bonus to backstage/locker room morale. Creativity of 3 is less than neutral, and handles Gimmick changes and Heel/Face turns. Silver Tongue at 1 is awful, that handles how we can talk workers into doing angles/matches they may not be jazzed about. Finally, Motivating is at 0 and this means our workers will likely have loads of "off" days. This is 28 points total, so we missed out on 2 points and the spread is bonkers. We cannot reroll this. We must move on.

Next thing we can tinker with is Preferences. This will impact how our matches and promos are rated, which impacts how our shows are rated, which impacts how our audience perceives us, and on and on. There's a lot here, but I keep it on "Standard" from the drop down and also add "Enable Dirt Sheet" since that will tell us what is providing positive or negative impacts on matches and promos. It'll really help us figure out what is or isn't working on our shows!

Now we could start with an already established company (WWE, Impact, AEW, etc) with this, but I always prefer to make my own way in the world. We will start as Unemployed and make our own company!

Here's our start screen. It's... a lot. This will be good to see when new wrestlers get generated, or when other companies go under or let go of people, but for right now we do not care about this. We care about the "Start Own Company" button. And I happened to throw together a logo and a name, so we should be good to set up True Power Wrestling. And it's time for yet another awful menu.

This used to be better and worse in some ways. In the last game, TEW 2016, you used to build your own product based on a handful of different axis ("Mainstream", "Realism", "Comedy", etc.) and how important they were to the types of shows you were putting on so you could fine-tune what you wanted your audience to care about, and what may or may not be fit for television. It was a worse menu, but allowed you some cool options to really make the product you always wanted. In TEW 2020, the devs have effectively laid out that people were "gaming" the product setting system, and there's only so many distinct types of wrestling that exist or could exist, so they've just made a drop-down of all the wrestling products they think are possible. If you have an idea for a product type you think is missing from the game you can ask nicely on the forums and they will maybe add it in a future update.

I'm not gonna go over what each and every product is, but I'm going to use the Family Friendly Pro Wrestling product you see above. In my mind I'm thinking "what if my idealized version of 90s/2000s Cartoon Network had a wrestling show". 70/30 Match and Promo split for TV shows, 85/15 for events, wrestlers are rated 30/70 on in-ring performance vs popularity, and we really want the matches to be family friendly. No high-risk moves, no spinal-impact moves, and "called in the ring" means that our workers will know how long a match needs to go and who's winning, but otherwise no other planning is happening.

Additionally, I'm starting under the "Rock Hard" conditions. This means our company will be barely known, have 0 prestige, and start w/ $2,500 in the bank. We will be changing that dollar amount soon, but I love to play "Backyard to Global" style where we start as complete unknowns and see how popular we can get before I run out of steam.

We have started True Power Wrestling. This will be our actual main screen, as this hellish menu will be how we make changes to our product. But first, let's see what the internet says Poppy's net worth is.

Uhhh I forgot how nightmarish those types of sites are, but the number I'm getting is between $1-3 Mil. I'll say Poppy is putting $1 Million of her own Net Worth into True Power Wrestling.

Now we gotta start looking for workers. Poppy is a Personality, which means she'll talk on-screen and be a personality, but she's not gonna do any in-ring work. She will not take a pile-driver. So we gotta find literally everyone else: Wrestlers, Refs, Announcers, Commentators, Road Agents, & Managers. Let's look at the "Workers" tab.

An overload of information, but! We're only looking for a couple things right now: Psychology, Popularity, if they will work for us, and if they are a good backstage presence. Psychology is just a rating of "can they tell a good wrestling story in the wrestling ring", so that'll be good for our actual show ratings. By clicking "Search" we can narrow down what workers will show up in this tab.

I'm not going to go through every single worker we add this way, but know I'm messing around with these filters to get us workers. When I find a worker who looks like they may be a good fit, I click negotiate and I get this:

Now you gotta make a contract offer. There are handshake deals and written deals, with either of them having the option to be "exclusive" so they can't work elsewhere. I usually try to make the numbers multiples of 10, and a little higher than what the game tells me to give just so the workers are in a good mood. As a backyard promotion, even with $1 Mil at your disposal, there is no way you're going to get exclusive deals this early on so I just make regular written agreements. This way everything is locked in for a set time and the payments don't fluctuate before contract negotiations, and if I let them go before the contract is up they gotta be paid which is just good for these digital workers.

When I do this, I usually make 2 templates at first: 1 Yr Wrestler and 3 Yr Worker. For wrestlers, especially just starting out your company, you don't know who is or isn't gonna work or be Your Guys, ya know? This way they get a year of work in (about 12 shows) and you can get a feel of who you wanna build around. For the 3 Yr, I keep that for Everyone Else. I think of it like superhero comics, ideally even if the writing team changes, there's some aesthetic connections and stability if you keep the pencilers/inkers/colorers the same. My commentary team, my refs, my on-screen personalities, my road agents, they are that aesthetic stability. And it means I don't have to worry about them on top of my wrestlers.

After spending the better part of 15-30 mins looking through the workers I can hire, here are notables: Shane McMahon (dunno what I'm gonna do with him, but it won't be in-ring work), Brian Zane (commentary, I watch this dude's YouTube videos!), and the Da Vinki guys (The Voros Twins! Guess I have to have a tag division for them). Usually what I'll do is grab who I can, about 10-20 wrestlers, 1-2 refs, 1 road agent, 2-3 commentary people, and then wait for the negotiations to come back. From there I can see who has tag partners I didn't hire yet, and see if I missed any other types of workers.

I still have other things to do while I wait. First, let's look at our Title situation.

A normal menu. I'm going to create our Primary title, the True Power Title, and our Secondary title, the Rising Star title. True Power will be our World Heavyweight, the top title everyone has dreams of. Rising Star will be the stepping-stone, our equivalent of a US or Intercontinental title. Might even have it so in-universe the champ of the Rising Star title can vacate their title to make a True Power title match, add a little Money In The Bank flavor.

You can actually purchase a retired title, which is kinda handy! As a backyard promotion, the True Power title only has a prestige of 30. There are some on the market with 45 prestige! But I'll hold off on that, we'll wait to at least have our first year of shows before doing that.

Now... we wait. I don't have any workers, negotiations don't happen the same day, so we gotta move forward. I click those double arrows on the upper left hand side and tell the game to advance a week, for next Monday. The game stops at Wednesday, and we have some updates! The Voros Twins and Brian Zane wanna join in on this, along with about 5 other workers. A ref who I didn't realize was retired rejected us, but this is why we put out so many feelers!

Since we have Zane as a commentator we'll set him for every Event moving forward. We haven't scheduled any yet since we don't have our full roster just yet, but that's okay! We're ready. Let's move forward in time a little more, still aiming for Monday of Week 2, June 2023.

Thursday of Week 1, June 2023 and we get basically everyone else signed on. We've got a ref, we've got a road agent, we've got it all! We don't need a minimum number of wrestlers as we're such a small promotion, but we do need enough to run shows using a Heel/Face split (good guy/bad guy split) and we need at least one of each of those other non-wrestling positions.

I push us forward once more to Monday of Week 2, and we get stopped again. On Friday we sign Shane McMahon. My idea with him is to have him be some type of personality, probably a CEO trying to destroy True Power Wrestling? I dunno, we haven't even done our first show yet.

All this, and we still haven't run a show. And we still won't! I'm tired and don't wanna play anymore today lmao. Next time we'll plan and run our first True Power Wrestling show!

See ya!

[stuffnonsenseandotherthings]

Watch It Or Drop It - A 2024 Drama Challenge

As always, the impending chime of a brand New Year just around the corner is stirring up the age old urge to Sort My Life Out somewhere deep inside me and rekindled the burning flame of No I Really Mean It This Time once more.

So far this has meant deep cleaning my house with a fervour rarely seen outside of the pages of the most fanatic of Cleaning Tiktokers (something which will definitely have faded even before the clock strikes 12), setting up a planning and organisational system so that my life can go smoothly for once (that will probably last until summer after which point I'll be so sun addled I'll stop caring about to-do lists altogether), and forcing myself to confront my mountain of unread books (by placing them accusingly next to my bed so I can wake up and fall asleep to them until the growing sense of guilt forces me to hide them in a cupboard).

No a bad start if I may say so myself. It's not even 2024 yet and things are already looking Sorted.

Joking aside though, while there are, as there usually are, big (potentially life changing) goals that I want to work towards this year and which will take a fair bit of work and/or courage on my part to make happen, there are also smaller ones. Manageable ones. Silly ones. Ones that'll make the whole year just a little bit more fun. For example: clearing my MyDramalist Want-To-Watch list.

Because there are 84 dramas on that list and while some of them haven't aired yet, over two thirds of them are fully complete and sitting patiently, ready for me to watch at my own leisure whenever I want.

And, unfortunately, up until now I've been so over-faced with how many dramas there were waiting for me that I didn't want.

At all.

As in I was actively avoiding watching anything off my Want-To-Watch list.

As you can imagine this has been frustrating because 1) this is the opposite of what a Want-To-Watch it's for (I put the dramas on there for a reason after all) and 2) not very conducive to making the big, scary number go down, quite the opposite in fact.

So I've found myself at a bit of an impasse.

And to break that impasse I have come up with (what I hope is) a foolproof solution (because there is nothing more fool than having to trick yourself into doing something you want to do anyway).

The Watch It Or Drop It Challenge

Rationale:

I have been avoiding watching dramas on my Want-To-Watch list because:

1) I'm feeling overwhelmed with the amount of dramas currently on there and end up feeling time pressured to watch them all.

2) Linked to this, I'm worried about making the "wrong choice" (i.e not enjoying which ever drama I pick and being disappointed about something I was previously excited for, being in the wrong mood for a drama I would have otherwise enjoyed) leading to analysis/choice paralysis where I end up being unable to pick anything at all.

As such I need a system that:

1) Takes aways the element of choice, at least in the initial stages.

2) Removes some of the pressure to enjoy every drama I pick and allows me to celebrate both a "watch" or a "drop".

Rules:

1) Dramas are selected completely at random using a random number picker (this random number picker to be precise, isn't she gorgeous?).

Unless it hasn't aired yet (in which case I obviously can't watch it, I'll do a lot for this challenge but not bend time and physics) I have to give it a go. I can't spin the wheel again. What I get is what I watch (or drop).

2) I watch it or I drop it (self-explanatory, really, given the name of the challenge but it's something my brain clearly needs reinforced otherwise we wouldn't be here in the first place). A drop has just as much "value" as a watch in terms of continuing my learning curve about my drama tastes and there's no shame in not liking something I thought I would enjoy.

3) I can take as long as I need to decide if it's a watch or a drop, the only condition is that if I am watching it, I actually have to be enjoying it. This is not an endurance test or an exercise in how long I can guilt myself into watching something (5 minutes before the end of the final episode is the current record by the way, incase anyone's interested), this is me making sure I...

4) ✨ Have fun ✨ There are many things in life that aren't fun, watching dramas should not be one of those things (although they are allowed to make me so uncontrollably, that I will allow, nay even encourage).

🎉 And there we have it! My own little challenge for 2024 🎉

I'm feeling very pleased with myself but let's see how long I can keep it up, unless something drastic happens I'm planning to start a little early and pick the first drama tomorrow. I'm going to be post the whole challenge here (which dramas get picked, pre-watch thoughts, whether I watched or dropped it and why, etc) for accountability's sake because I know myself well enough to know that if I don't then this whole meticulous plan isn't happening. I also think it could be a nice little momento, if this whole challenge is successful, something to look back on from the time I bravely took on and defeated a list of my own creation.

And so without further ado,

[doctorhelena]

One line, one fic

rules: pick any 10 of your fics, scroll somewhere to the mid point, pick a line, and share it! Then tag 10 people.

I was tagged by @beautifulwhensarcastic and @thesokovianaccords! Thanks, guys!

(I am terrible at decisions. So, I have 45 fics on AO3 right now, and I sampled a random line from the middle of every 4th fic.)

1. Between the Acres of the Rye (Peggy/Steve) 

 “Well, I really would like some of the strawberry tart too,” Steve confessed, and Peggy laughed, leaning forward to kiss him in return, her lips warm and soft against his, their noses brushing, her hair falling like a curtain against his cheek so that it felt, even more than a moment ago, that it was only the two of them in the world.

2. Life, Uncovered (Peggy/Steve)

“Exactly,” Steve said, and Peggy smiled at him in the mirror, then tugged his hand back down to rest on the faint curve of her belly, her skin smooth and warm under his palm. “You really do have a while yet before anyone's going to be able to tell,” he said, into her ear.

3. Comfort and Joy (Peggy/Steve) (this one has 10 chapters so I went to the middle of Chapter 5)

“The fact that you couldn’t find either of us doesn’t mean we disappeared together,” Steve pointed out. “We’re actually not always both in the same place.”

4. The Scandalous Secrets of Spies (Peggy/Steve, minor Edwin/Ana Jarvis)

The illness went through Agent Thompson, both the Jarvises, Mr. Stark, and in the end nearly half of SHIELD headquarters, with only two small consolations: the first being that it was a short-lived, if intense affliction, and the second being that Miss Carter had almost certainly infected McKay as well and, with any luck, his entire organization.

5. Private Displays of Affection (Peggy/Steve)

“You know perfectly well what we were doing in there,” said Peggy, evenly. “We were searching the office for that list of names.” She cleared her throat, colour creeping into her cheeks. “Once we realized the room was bugged, we had to improvise a little.”

6. You Must Have Danced (Peggy/Steve) (this one is a collection of Tumblr ficlets, with 7 chapters, and I went to the middle of chapter 4)

She drew in a shaky breath. “I still haven’t quite forgiven you for not giving us your coordinates,” she said, into his shirt. “Particularly, since, as it turns out, we could have rescued you almost immediately. However,” she pulled back, and their eyes met. “I’m afraid I have found myself quite unable to move on.”

7. A Slight Miscalculation (Peggy/Steve) (this one has 4 chapters, and I went to the middle of chapter 2)

Peggy took Steve’s arm as they walked out the heavy front door into the cold night. “Do you think someone else is after the toxin?” he asked, slowly, contemplating what the coat check girl had said. “Or are there really just that many couples sneaking up to, uh -”

8. It’s Classified (Peggy/Steve) (this one has 2 chapters, and I went to the middle of chapter 1)

“You know, you’re rather good at feeling your way through a situation,” she said, a little hoarsely, once she’d recovered.

9. The Best That We Can Do (Agent Carter, minor Edwin/Ana Jarvis)

Peggy shrugged. “Well, let’s hope he doesn’t know me by sight,” she said, and set about disheveling her hair and removing her jacket. She dug for her tube of Sweet Dreams, applied a coat, then considered and opened the top two buttons of her blouse. Howard’s eyebrows crawled toward his hairline. “Oh, shut up or I’ll kiss you too,” she said, dropping the tube back into her case.

10. Expanding the Agency (Peggy/Steve)

“Good Lord!” said Jarvis, looking mildly horrified. He collected himself and came back to sit in the chair next to her. “I hope you realize that Phillips would be a fool to change his mind because of this. And I am quite certain the man is not a fool.”

I’m tagging @roboticonography, @buckywiththegoodhair86, @teaandatale, @theawkwardterrier, @invidiosa, @eliza49-7190, @behindthelabels, @followingyourbliss, @formerlyir, and @melliabee

[halleyuhm]

~WTW Ghost Gala: Days 1 to 8~

I just found the event and I'm several days back, so I'll try to be brief. I'll be using my WIP The trees don't let you see the forest because I think it's the one I'd like to try for NaNoWriMo and the aesthetics fit with the season.

It tells the story of a young witch cursed with blindness due to a failed spell and her journey to find the way to reverse it, aided by friends, fought by foes, and realizing the might be more important things than getting her sight back. It will be a challenge to write using every sense but vision! I have written the synopsis here, if you are interested. Yeah, I should probably do an official WIP intro.

So there we go, under the cut.

(Divider by @cafekitsune, go check her work out!)

🎃 Pumpkin Carving - You have to kill off a character: Who do you choose?

Right now, without having planned much, I choose Mauve. She's the secret keeper and sooner or later the past catches up with everyone.

🦅Raven - Create a tagline for your WIP

"Things we lose aren't lost: they remain with us, albeit in different shapes".

🔮Crystal Ball - Outline a scene, act or your entire WIP.

Let's just try the first scene so we can compare what I plan with what will later come up:

1. Juniper wakes up and sees nothing. Elowyn is there tending to her wounds. Crying, stress, oops she messed up so bad, she can't be a Sun Sage anymore. But she deserves it, and Mauve, her mentor, lets her know. Periwinkle, the cat, is silently judging June so hard she can feel it.

2. Laurel comes in, distraught because he played a part in the situation (unknowingly??). Maybe he argues with Elowyn and Mauve because of inner guilt + they accuse him. But June crashes against something and they focus on stopping her from falling head-first into a boiling pot.

3. Same scene or after some struggles?? Mauve (or Periwinkle, why not) mentions the Wildfire Hollyhock, the burnt lands, and the town there, but doesn't tell what happened in those cursed places.

4. June wants to go, Laurel joins, and Elowyn is told by Mauve to go with them because she is the BEST. There are obvious reactions. Witchy stuff.

5. I'm bad at this.

🍂Fallen Leaves - Create a playlist for your WIP

Work in progress but here it goes.

🎇Jack o' lantern -Share an interesting fact you found while doing research for your WIP

There is a flower that only blooms after wildfires. The seeds lay dormant under the surface until the soil is burnt and then they sprout. They don't last long, just enough for bees to pollinate them and drop seeds which will stay dormant until they are awakened.

You can read an article here, for example.

🧄Vampire - Tell us where you find inspiration or motivation.

This is what I struggle with the most (along with planning).

Inspiration comes in dreams, random shower thoughts, a single word in an extensive paragraph, Pinterest aesthetics, little things I see in my daily life, name generators (that I never end up picking), and simple things. Like, "Oh, this would be fun to write about."

Motivation uh, comes when my brain hyperfixates on an idea. And reading. Reading lots.

💀Skeleton - Have a favorite plot structure? If not, share how you plot.

I have no idea how I plot. Usually, I start writing and let the story take me where it needs to go (yeah, there's lots of editing later). I get ideas on the go, maybe a whole scene, and I add it to my evergrowing list of ideas waiting for the auspicious moment when it comes into play. Somehow, I managed to be very cohesive, though. And I surprise myself with how everything seems to flow as if I had previously planned it.

🍬Trick or Treat - Set some writing goals and milestones for your WIP.

This crashes a bit with the last answer, but I really really want to be more disciplined and focused. I just want to manage to plot the story and get to the NaNoWriMo final milestone. Let's do it!!

If you've come this far, thank you! You are my hero 💜

[thetruthlsoutthere]

'Dreams' playing into real life

_ yes, that kind of weirdness.

i have express permission from the one who had these dreams, to share them because they involve me. One of the dreams involving me BEFORE they even met me. I don't remember which one it was. I THINK the first one.

Make of them what you will. I am also going to include my thoughts as well.

this dream was where my friend was walking out of school, i think i can remember her mentioning, the school she was in at the time and I had arrived. I don't remember how but perhaps my friend's school was also connected to lower forms of schooling {like a grande kind of school where theres sections for elementary, middle, and high school}

and when i had arrived, i had given her a book that she had left at the place me and my mate {romantic aspect} share. I don't know what this place was: that part was vague. And in this dream, i was either picking up or dropping off my kids - 3 with 1 girl and 2 boys. My friend remembers me calling the girl Lynn. Don't know if this was a first name or a middle name.

((( Note: interesting about the Lynn thing because that is the name of the human mother i have - since for all intents and purposes: my biology, my health, etc, age, indicate i am human BUT if i went into the theory that I am a Gallifreyan/time lady or timeless child with my real self hidden away in a fob/pocket watch/jewelry/object containing my real self then i don't know, lmao))

((DOUBLE NOTE: who is the mate? who is the mate that i am assuming is the other parent to these kids? and what place? lmao. Also kinda curious over what the book was))

______________________________________________________________

2) this dream, my friend had years ago. I know this because at the time, they said that based on the years, I would be 27 or 28 at the time of this 'dream' and i am 27 now. This friend is a few years younger than me. THE DREAM: My friend, i am trying to remember, but she was walking around her neighborhood and further away from it and she ended up running into me and me and her got into talking, hanging out, and i feel like at one point, we were sitting by a pool? And in this dream, she noticed a big ring on my finger. And dream me asked her if she would be coming to the wedding. And at this time, apparently dream me was pregnant. my friend of course said that she would be there. And after that, dream me told her that me and her ought to go and meet up with the Doctor now and then me and her ran and took off.

______________________________________________________________

ENDING THOUGHTS:

who am i marrying? are they the mate from the first dream and they got me pregnant? Is this pregnancy mean i am carrying one of those 3 children, any of the boys or the girl? what wedding? And the meet up with the Doctor with this friend of mine, this assumes that there had already been a meeting and being in each others lives and this current thing was just.. currently meeting up with them. That leads to questions of how long of knowing and the history.

ALSO:

these dreams are just more added to the list of all the countless dreams and signs in my waking reality showing me out right view, hearing, signs and hints of having 3 children with two being boys and 1 being a girl with a name of Lynn - and the possibility of more children. Any of these 'dreams' directly involving the Doctor themself which seemed based on a random person's ask and even vibes on some dreams i have had, that they could be the other parent.

NOW: i am fangirl, don't get me wrong. I love fandoms and ships and fanfictions> But that is not what i am doing here. I literally am just stating from start to finish the things i am willing to share that i experience in my 'dreams' and my waking reality. And i have stated more times than i can count that i always try to thing logically first before going to other conclusions when logical doesnt make the weird things happen. Like i said: make of this what you will.

[acemarkey]

I am interested in your fangan, please enlighten me

OKAY YAY HIIII

it's called phoenix's hope . takes place like ages after the tragedy kinda like drdt !! some dumbass gets the idea to try and recreate team danganronpa and stuff happens , after a few years they get it up and running. the first few seasons flopped but then there was an Interesting Plotline carried through all of the others and caused it to blow up. the seasons always ended quick due to the plot, and this season would be considered the finale !!

i still dont have a full name for the school but i do know that it'll have the word phoenix in it, and that it is a college. it was originally a rebuilt hope's peak, but they changed the name and made it a college instead of a hs

the main character is names haru suzuki !! shes 18 & is the ult lucky student, but she doesnt really have anything going for her. she's not unlucky either, but she will have random bursts of luck or misfortune when it matters most ; shes got a prosthetic leg due to one of those. obviously picked to be put into the college !

everyone is 17-19 except for 1 character who i will talk ab eventually .

im just gonna list the characters now

haruni kai, 17, ultimate tutor, she/her

lizabeth [pending], 17, ultimate veterinarian, she/her

umaiyuu ikan, 19, ultimate mangaka, she/they

xiomara [pending], 19, ultimate dollmaker, she/her

yukine, 18 physically/mentally / 10 chronologically, ultimate doll, they/them

ren ishiyama, 19, ultimate violinist, he/him

rin ishiyama, 19, ultimate violist, she/her

hiroto yamamoto, 18, ultimate vtuber, any pronouns

kyo amano, 17, ultimate assistant, he/him

airi bushida, 19, ultimate hacker, she/her

yuki sora, 17, ultimate [pending !], he/him

koki hotaru, 17, ultimate host, he/him

nyoka makino, 21, ultimate copycat, she/her

miragaru nishise, 18, ultimate [also pending], she/it

jinkahashi maha, 17, ultimate seamstress, he/they (i think) .

-

and there are also ghosts !! previous ultimates who died. only 3 of these characters can see them and you'll never guess who ,

i don't have names but i have ultimates ? translator, skater, knife thrower, costume maker. and a few others who dont have ults yet.

the costume maker is named nichi makino tho, and the translator's surname is amano. smile

uhhhhh i think thats all thats rlly important ?? ill drop more on characters eventually

[sage-advisor-of-gms]

I am like BRAND NEW to this game oh no-

I have. My character. And I don’t understand crap. Do you have any suggestions to help me understand more? Like… Your own knowledge, websites, just ANYTHING?? (If it helps any, she’s a Level 1 Copper Dragonborn Rogue. That’s literally all I have besides her name 😭)

Please and thank you-

Building Character

Today I give a recommendation for visual learning. Then, I will mechanically build a Copper Dragonborn rogue that I have chosen to name Jheri of the Anonximus Clan for D&D 5e. Both might serve as an example of how the mechanics of D&D 5e might work. Let’s begin.

Visual Learning

While there’s plenty of internet guides that will tell you how to Rogue One, I’ll tell you how I learned to play: watching others play the game. I watched Season One of critical roll, got invested in the story, then picked up the mechanics over time.

For visual learning, I would watch the first few episodes of this play through. I haven’t seen it, but I believe it should be a decent visual to see how D&D plays out.

Ability Scores:

Typically I tend to use the list of pre rolled scores, but I believe that rolling the scores out might be better.

To roll for an ability score, I will roll four six sided dice then drop the lowest roll. I will do this six times.

I rolled the following: 12, 14, 12, 15, 16, 9

Now I can begin assigning those scores to Jheri’s Abilities. I would choose to place the 16 in Dexterity, as that is the primary ability that rogues use. Constitution is most likely getting the 14. Constitution determines extra hit points. Strength tends to get the dump score (the score that receives the lowest value because it will be the one least used), so we set that to 9. Wisdom is going to take one of the 12s. That then leaves Intelligence and Charisma. At this point, I would want to consider which play style I would prefer. Should Jheri focus on being a socialite or be more proficient at looking for and disarming traps in dungeons? Today, I’ll choose the latter and place the 15 in Intelligence.

At this point my scores appear as such.

Str: 9 (-1)

Dex: 16 (3)

Con: 14 (2)

Int: 15 (2)

Wis: 12 (1)

Cha: 12 (1)

The numbers in the parentheses are Jheri’s Ability Modifiers. Whenever Jheri has to make a role, she will add in the modifier asked for by said role.

Now I can apply ability score bonuses. In Vanilla D&D 5e, the race of the character determines which abilities get bonuses. For all Dragonborns, they get a +2 to Strength and a +1 to Charisma. This my final adjustments are:

Str: 11 (0)

Dex: 16 (3)

Con: 14 (2)

Int: 15 (2)

Wis: 12 (1)

Cha: 13 (1)

Bonus Note: when playing under a DM, ask them if they allow Tasha’s Caldron Ability Score rule. What this rule does is allow players the freedom to place a +2 and a +1 to an ability each of the of their choosing rather than letting it be predetermined by the character’s race.

Choose a Background:

In building a character, players choose a background. For backgrounds that match the rogue aesthetics, there’s Criminal, Charlatan, and Urchin. However, players can also mix and match backgrounds with classes. For Jheri, she will come from the sailor background. This will give her a proficiency bonus in perception, athletics, navigation tools, and water vehicles. It also gives her a privateer vibe.

Equipment

Characters get equipment from their background and class.

From the sailor background, Jheri gets belaying pin (club), 50 feet of silk rope, a lucky charm such as a rabbit foot or a small stone with a hole in the center (or you may roll for a random trinket on the Trinkets table in chapter 5), a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp

For her class, Jheri can choose from a set list of options from the rogue class or buy gear using the option from Chapter 5 of the players handbook. I’ll use the list:

(a) a rapier or (b) a short-sword (I’ll choose the Rapier) (a) a shortbow and quiver of 20 arrows or (b) a short-sword (I’ll choose the shortbow and quiver of 20 arrows) (a) a burglar's pack, (b) a dungeoneer's pack, or (c) an explorer's pack (I’ll choose an explorer’s pack) Leather armor, two daggers, and thieves' tools

Choosing Class Skills:

In addition to the skills gained from her Sailor Background, Jheri gets to choose four from Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth.

I’m definitely choosing Stealth. I also want Investigation. Acrobatics sounds good as well. Finally, while other player would end with sleight of hand, which is an optimal choice, I’m rounding off the skills with Insight.

Playing Jheri in Combat Encounters

With her stats and equipment, Jheri has an Armor Class of 14 and 10 hit points at level one. What this means is that any attacker has to roll a fourteen or higher to land a blow on Jheri. Mathematically, the enemies that she will face will have a 50% chance to hit her. With ten hit points she will fall unconscious after 2-3 decent hits. Her attack power is her strong point. Under the right circumstances, she can take out an enemy before they can land a blow.

Were I playing Jheri at a table, I would always have her trying to sneak around in hostile territory, as Jheri gets a +5 bonus on her stealth rolls. If Jheri is hidden from the baddies then she gets advantage on her attacks against them. She would also be able to deal extra damage with her sneak attack feature. At level one

Jheri would be careful and rarely start a fight. Instead, she would let a party member engage in conflict then attack the distracted enemies. This would also allow her to inflict sneak attack damage.

I would always start Jheri by using her short-bow to keep distance from her enemies. The ideal range is 16 squares. If she needs to get into melee, I would ensure to use a turn to draw her rapier. I would save her Acid breath for either multiple enemies in a conga line or choir line, or for a big beefy boy.

Playing Jheri in Exploration

Jheri gets +3 to her Perception rolls. While there are other builds that gain a better bonus, it would always be good to have her on the lookout.

Dungeon delving will be her environment to excel in. Assuming that she gets to use her +4 bonus in investigation, Jheri is designed to be a primary candidate for locating and traps or hidden passages. Her thieves tools also allow her to get a +5 in unlocking locks.

Playing Jheri in Roleplay

Jheri could honestly take up any alignment. This design however gears her to have an introverted personality, as I didn’t choose to focus on charisma. She does get a +3 bonus in her insight, which means that she shou always be observant in social situations as she might be able to tell if someone is lying with malicious intentions or if there’s something else to be gained.

[atlanticcanada]

Bedard bedazzles, breaks 5 records as Canada eliminates Slovakia with overtime win

Connor Bedard made one opponent miss.

And another. And another.

The breathtaking 17-year-old then calmly slid the puck home to set off wild celebrations and send his country to the semifinals at the world junior hockey championship.

Bedard scored at 5:17 of overtime on a brilliant, jaw-dropping individual effort Monday as the tournament hosts defeated Slovakia 4-3.

The extraordinary talent deked his way past three Slovaks before backhanding his eighth goal of the event to blow the roof off a red-clad Scotiabank Centre.

"I always want the puck," Bedard said. "It's still hockey, I'm still out there doing what I love. The moment's big. But I've done that same move, I've done the same shot I took a million times in my basement … in practice, by myself on the ice.

"I'm out there playing hockey."

At an absolutely astounding level.

"I'm kind of calling for it," Canadian defenceman Brandt Clarke said of the highlight-reel OT sequence. "But I see him burn the first guy, see him burn the second guy, see him burn the third guy and then go to the backhand on the goalie.

"That was one of the craziest moments I've ever been a part of."

CONNOR BEDARD SENDS CANADA TO THE SEMIS! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/4s06UDY6oX

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 3, 2023

Bedard also scored early in the first — setting four records in the process — before adding an assist on Canada's second goal to establish another national mark.

"It's hard to describe what he means for our team," said goaltender Thomas Milic, who made 24 saves, including a couple huge stops to keep his team alive. "It's almost like he's pressing random buttons on the Xbox controller coming up with some of these dangles. You never know what he's going to do next. He keeps surprising."

"I think (Bedard's) from another world," said Slovak captain Simon Nemec.

Dylan Guenther and Zack Ostapchuk provided the rest of the offence for the Canadians, who will face the United States on Wednesday after the Americans thumped Germany 11-1.

Libor Nemec, with two, and Robert Baco replied for Slovakia, which got 52 stops from Adam Gajan.

"Played a great game," Simon Nemec said. "Best game in the tournament."

Czechia trounced Switzerland 9-1 to set up the other semifinal against Sweden, which beat Finland 3-2.

With Simon Nemec off in the penalty box for a cross-check on Bedard late in the third, Shane Wright hit the crossbar in overtime on a shot that went off Gajan's pad.

Milic then made a terrific glove stop on Servac Petrovsky to keep his team alive before Bedard added his name to Canada's world junior lore.

"I thought it went in," Bedard said of the Petrovsky chance. "I was about to start crying on the bench. That was ridiculous. I was so scared."

The presumptive top pick at the 2023 NHL draft, Bedard opened the scoring just over six minutes into the first on a breakaway after Slovak defenceman Pavol Funtek turned the puck over.

That pushed the centre for the Western Hockey League's Regina Pats past Eric Lindros for top stop on Canada's all-time list with 34 points at the men's under-20 event.

The North Vancouver, B.C., product has also passed Jordan Eberle for the most combined goals at the world juniors by a Canadian with 16.

Canada went up 2-0 on a power play with five minutes gone in the second when Bedard found Othmann, who in turn fed a falling Guenther.

Bedard set a new record for the most points by a Canadian in a single tournament with 21, owns the national mark with 13 assists at a single event, and passed Jaromir Jagr for the most points by a player aged 18 or younger.

"I'm not focused on personal success here," said Bedard, who topped the podium with Canada in the summer. "I want another gold medal … and that's all I want."

The Slovaks came off the mat and responded on a power play of their own when Nemec tipped in a point shot.

Canada restored its two-goal lead just over three minutes later when Ostapchuk fired past Gajan's blocker on a 3-on-1 break.

But Slovakia got back to within one when Peter Repcik showed great patience to find Baco for his second.

Canada hit two posts early in the third period before Milic made an incredible stop on a mad scramble off Adam Sykora, shooting out a pad before Canadian defenceman Tyson Hinds stopped the followup attempt with his glove.

"Incredible atmosphere," Milic said. "Bit of a roller-coaster."

But Nemec scored his second of the game moments later with under nine minutes to go on Milic's doorstep after an icing to make it 3-3.

Bedard had a terrific chance to put Canada ahead late in the third, but Funtek blocked his effort.

In the end, however, the phenom wouldn't be denied.

"That's what he does," Wright said. "Stepped up when he needed to. Big-time player, big-time game."

And the Americans are up next.

"What else is better? What else do you want?" Bedard said of the mouth-watering matchup. "Something that everyone in the country, everyone on the continent is going to be pretty excited about.

"There's no better situation."

There's also no one better than Bedard.

EBERLE TIPS HIS CAP

The Seattle Kraken forward congratulated Bedard on passing him on Canada's goal list in a pre-recorded message.

"You're an unbelievable player to watch," Eberle, a hero at the 2009 tournament, said in a video posted to Hockey Canada's official Twitter account. "I've been following your career since you got drafted to my hometown and playing with the Pats.

"Enjoy the experience."

Connor Bedard @jeberle_7 From one @WHLPats star to another, the #WorldJuniors legend has a personal message of congratulations for the new all-time goal-scoring leader. pic.twitter.com/B2L0cdpIrX

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) January 3, 2023

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2023.  

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/oSWAu6y

[nightowlfandom]

Billy Loomis and Stu Macher X Reader- Jokes on you... (Part 1/2)

ANON ASKS

Hi Miss Night owl :) I have a request to ask of you when u have time . Can you pretty please do a.smut fic with Stu and Bill ; where Y/N is a new student, Stu and Billy was the first to befriend her, But like within a month Y/N ended up being targeted by ghost face , she comes face to face with him and instead of fear , shes just flat out turned on lol.

Can you use 1, 2 , 3 and 5 from your X-Rated list pleaaaaase ❤💖

Shoooooottt, let’s fucking GO!!! Also I hope you don’t mind, I took some creative liberties of my own...hehe. girl I am so fucking sorry I didn’t get to your request earlier. HERE IT IS THO. (All your prompts will come in part 2 when the smut goes down)

1- Look at me when I fuck you!

2- Oh, you’re so cute with my cum in your mouth…don’t spill it, darling…swallow it all.

3- I said FUCKING BEG!

5- Bend over the counter and stick that ass out, baby.

CHECK OUT MY MASTERLIST HERE!!

X RATED PROMPT LIST| NON X RATED PROMPT LIST

Leggo!!

...

“Nice notebook.”

You looked up from what you had been doing to find a slightly greasy looking guy sitting across from you.

“What’s wrong with cute stickers.” you slightly pouted. You thought the little graphic of a cartoon egg relaxing in a bowl of ramen was cute of course next to your sticker of a kitty shooting rainbows out its butt. 

“Nothing at all, it was a compliment.” 

“Oh...thanks.” you looked down. You went back to your business, only for him to keep talking.

“I’ve never seen you around here before.”

You looked up from your notebook again, your face twisting into a slight pout. “I just transferred.” 

“So you’re new?”

“Uh-huh.” you nodded shyly. You looked back down. 

“So you gonna tell me your name?”

“Y/N.” you smiled shyly. 

“Y/N...nice. I’m Billy-”

“AND I’M STU!” A random guy basically fell out the sky, scaring the shit out of you. “You’re pretty cute!”

“Me?..Thank you!” you smiled again.

“Is that a Jason sticker? Holding a cat with a hockey mask? You like scary movies?”

“My mom is a makeup artists for horror movies, so I kinda grew up with them.” you shrugged. 

“Really now? I’m assuming you make figurines out of glitter and pasta?” this Stu character cackled. 

“No!” you whined, hugging your notebook to your chest. “How rude!”

“Oh easy now.” Stu hummed. “It was all in good fun.”

 “Sorry...its just a touchy subject for me.”

“What is? Horror?” Billy asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Yeah...I’ve just...” you trailed off. “I just have a very personal relationship with the genre as a whole.” you stood up. “Bye now.”

Billy watched you as you left.

“How soon you thinkin, man?” Stu nudged Billy.

“...Let’s wait a bit.” Billy watched as you knelt by a couple of weeds and picked a dandelion. “She’s interesting.”

...

“Need some company?” Billy and Stu rushed to your side.

“What’s this?!” Stu slapped a hand over the open page! “Who is this?!”

A very detailed drawn figure of a tall figure was clad completely in black. Well, they’re shirt was fully unbuttoned showing a very impressive physique. The only thing missing was their mask...which you’ve yet to draw.

“Nothing!” you whined. “Gimme!!”

“You’re a pervert aren’t you.” Billy began flipping through your notebook. “Check it out, naked lady.” Billy nudged Stu.

“Nice!~”

“You two wouldn’t understand.” you frowned. “Why can’t beautiful people be murderous! You wouldn’t expect a drop dead gorgeous person to slit throats in their free time.”

“If I didn’t know any better-” Stu began. “I’d say the killer thing turns you on.”

“WHAT!? PFFFT NOOO!!” your voice went way to high for you to be telling the truth.

“Lying is a bad thing for you sweetheart-” Billy hummed. “You probably have fantasies of that type of thing.”

“Even if I did, that’s no business of yours...or yours.” you shifted between the two. 

The duo watched as you walked off, they were both in a fit of laughter.

You had no idea how many times in the past three weeks these two had butt into your lives but they never left you alone. Soon after, Billy and Stu decided it was time...

You were walking home after a late night at a friend’s house. You were trying to rush because it had been thundering too. It was then you felt like you were being followed. A shadow loomed over you which made you turn around. 

‘Nope nope nope!’ you had began speed walking. You knew how this shit went. You weren’t about to become a statistic. Your mom working in horror movies had you having a lot of interesting conversations with the actual killers and monsters acting on the screen.

You kept walking only to notice there was a shadow in front of you now.

“What the-”

You looked behind you then back in front of you. 

TWO- YOU WEREN’T PREPARED FOR TWO! 

Before you could move, the stranger practically snatched you up. 

“I wouldn’t move if I were you-” a strange voice spoke to you.

... 

You fell to the floor with a thud, crawling back until you hit a wall. You were in a basement of some sort. It looked like a nice ass house, but what killer would do his murder from home?? Billy stared at you from under the mask, you didn’t look like the type of girl that was terrified by this situation. 

You were looking around, avoiding his eyes. Usually victims would look him in the eye and plea for their lives. Your wrists were chained in front of your body, making it hard to moved.

“LET ME GO YOU BASTARD!” 

You shouldn’t have even spoken because this Ghostface was angered. He drove his knife into the wall, less than three inches from your head. 

You gasped, but not the type of gasp that someone who was in fear would make. Billy raised an eyebrow (under the mask of course). How strange for a girl to not be scared of him. That was a first. 

“I don’t know what you want but I can assure you I do not have it!” you tried to reason.

 This Ghostface knelt in front of you making a heart with his hands. 

“Charades? I like charades!” your voice went very high. “Heart, love. oh my god you’re gonna rip my heart out!”

“Nuh uh uh~” he sang. He pointed towards you, then to himself, then made the number 3 with his fingers.

“Me and you...Y-you’re gonna stab me three times?” you squeaked. He then tilted his hand under your chin and made you look up. He made the ‘okay’ symbol...then inserted his knife handle through the ‘O’.

“Ooooohhh...oh I get it now.” you laughed nervously. “Oh my...” you began fanning yourself. “What’s wrong with me.” you squeaked. “Y/N you are literally about to die, now is not the time-”

Billy tilted his head to the side as you began cursing yourself. He took note of the way you squeezed your legs together. You looked so pathetic there. You looked up at him for a second, feeling your breath hitch.

“S-so you wanna...do things to me? Wait...where does the number three come from?” you whimpered.

As if someone answered you, another Ghostface walked around the corner. 

“O-okay. One...two.” you moved from each figure. “I don’t understand...”. The second Ghostface neared closer and slowly slipped his hands into yours, turning your finger towards you. “Three.” you squeaked. “Okay.” you shifted in your chains. 

“Let me get this straight...you two kidnapped me...so you two could-”

“That’s right, sweetheart.” the first ghostface finally spoke. “We we’re gonna kill ya but...shit do you look so helpless there.”

“Say what now!”

“Easy now~” the second ghostface trailed knelt down in front of you and traced a gloved finger down your cheek. “It was a compliment.”

“Huh? Y-you said that like someone I know.” you stammered. “Or maybe I’m just hallucinating because why the FUCK aren’t I screaming right now?” you whispered. “No, this isn’t happening, I don’t like this-”

“Lying is a bad thing sweetheart.”

Despite the both of them being voice-changed, there was a familiarity to their voices. 

“You said that like some one I know too-” you whimpered. “Matter of fact you said that almost exactly the same way-”

You didn’t know what was gonna happen, but Lord help you.

(Next part will have....that good shit hehehe)

[baellielurk]

if it aint too late, have for inspiration the tables i used:

For every HALF HOUR* of travel (16 a day) roll a d20. On a roll of 8 or above something from the HAUNTING table finds them. On a roll of 13 or above, COMBAT/PHENOMENA does.

*depends on how often you want them tbh. you can also just pick and choose them

COMBAT/PHENOMENA TABLE (d20 (or d17, more accurately))

1 one revenant guarding the path. IF ATTACKED assumed they are w strahd and fights until destroyed. IF FRIENDLY asks them to convince Horngaard to see some reason.

2 A group (d6+1) of berserkers huntingre a goat

3 An injured berserker, wounded by a winter wolf / the ROC of mt ghakis / Sangzor the giant goat

4 A pack of 1d4+1 winter wolves prowling their territory

5 A 1d4+1 hungry cave bears hunting for food

6 1d2 cannibalistic adventurers cursed to become bodaks by deals with a vestige. The change is bound to happen next night / within the hour (should the party pick them up) / in like 3 minutes

7 A herd of goats grazing on sparse grass

8 A forgotten trinket buried beneath a snowdrift

9 A frozen zombie buried beneath a snowdrift

10 A rockslide that threatens to knock the party down toward the banks of Luna Lake. (DEX save 10 or be pushed 30 minutes off track. if whole party fails, pushed d4 hours off track. DC up to dm, i'd vote 15-18)

11 A carved stone figurine of a maiden tucked into the hollow of an old tree / into a small alcove in the rocky mountain face / between a couple rocks

12 A corpse lies under the snow. d6: 1-2 a wolf, killed by an arrow. | 3-5 random barovian, torn up by wolves | 6 One of the PC's, without their equipment (meant to suggest the actual PC is a fake).

13 A gothic trinket

14 Further between the trees you spot a grave marker: can be knight of the silver dragon, or more of a stone mound / such for the mountain folk. 25% chance there is a zombie in there

15 A strange, ghostly light approaches quickly; as it gets close, the outstretched claws of a specter/ghost make it clear this creature is looking to have you join it in death.

16 You find some bones! (use for foreshadowing other creatures that might have killed whatever's bones this is)

17 A lonesome raven pecks at something on the ground. d6. 1-2 small amber fragment, 3-4 a stuffer wolf. one of the eyes missing. 5-6 an injured toad. as it pecks it again, the toad disappears instead of dying normally. raven disappointed. (toad was a witch's familiar, raven either wereraven or associated w keepers)

18-20 was way too party specific, but depending on how you run the amber temple, could be some amber shards, some stuff reaching out, or a marker left by the order of the silver dragon that advises the party to turn back (see: those danger signs that are like "do you want to die a slow and painful death? if yes, come this way!".)

HAUNTING TABLE (d10) (i suggest you don't use the same ones too often. these are from a bigger list on the dm'sguild but i can't find it atm)

1 Your hand moves to your weapon, and you notice that it is not there. Your eyes dart around, but you do not see it laying anywhere and you do not recall placing it anywhere

2 You feel a tug on the back of your shirt.

3 To your left, you faintly hear your mother’s voice calling your name in a soothing and beckoning manner

4 From behind, you clearly hear someone, speaking slowly and in a deep voice "I know what you did".

5 You find a bloody handprint placed on an object near you. The blood appears fresh and the print is missing the fourth (ring) finger

6 You look down at your hands and they are both thickly covered in bright red blood.

7 You are being watched

8 You see glimpses of large black eyes in most things you see. They look straight at you and they never blink.

9 You hear something heavy drop on the ground with a loud “thud”. It does not appear that any of your other party members have noticed anything

10 Out of the corner of your eye, you see a shadowy face with white eyes staring at you.

quick! My party is about to started headed toward the Amber temple! Pitch some fun encounter ideas!