#i only know photoshop aHA

[fangirltothefullest]

I want to tell the young people about what floppy disks are and why computers needed them and I'm from the 90s so I'm missing info on what came before it but from what I do know:

These bad boys are floppy disks in various sizes:

The plastic square is the outer casing and protects the small little disk inside that actually stores the data. Typically these would have like a built in fuzzy thing to keep dist off the disk.

When we think of computers, we think of zillions of codes working together so fluidly and quickly and they're able to operate tons of processes at once but a when computers were more new, they could only handle so much code at a time! Ye old computers were huge and clunky and could only tackle so much processing.

Think of them like babies- programmers could do tons with computers but the computers themselves could only store so much data!

And in fact we still use SD (storage disk) cards for computers and phones the same purpose.

That's where a floppy disk comes in! The computer would have a disk drive which would run whatever program was on the disk when you inserted it. That way you didn't clog your processing computer with code it couldn't handle.

You could also store files on the floppy disk so they didn't take up computer processing space.

Eventually we got much better at figuring out how to store data and instead of putting it on a tiny disk we made the disks bigger and CD ROMs were used for the same purpose.

Eventually when we got better at making storage smaller and easier to integrate, things like floppy disks and CD Roms wrre deemed no longer needed.l and their disk reader were omitted from most computers and laptops which is a shame!

Downloading apps is easy but you used to be able to own an actual physical copy of the thing you purchased so if your computer crashed and you couldn't get it back and had to buy a new one, you wouldn't have to pay for the program again, you'd already have a copy!

We used to have a photoshop disk that came with its own verification key and you could put it onto any computer you wanted with thw activation key with absolutely no subscription needed. One payment and your tool is yours permanently!

Likewise we can play our dvds from my old Toshiba because it still has a DVD and CD reader and the ancient 90s Dell can play old PC games because it has a CDRom reader!

Sometimes progress is great but the physical nature of the floppy disks and CD and DVDs are highly missed in today's digital based and gatekept society!

So anyways that's what floppy disks are.

Now when an old person glares at you youngins and says ha! Bet you dont know what this is! You can say why thats a floppy disk!

And if they say aha! But what's it for?

You can say IT WAS AN OLS VERSION OF STORING DATA AND PROGRAMS THE COMPUTER COULDN'T STORE ON ITS OWN BEFORE COMPUTWRS GOT FASTER ANS HAD BETTER STORAGE.

They will be so mad and so impressed.

[cartoonistcoop]

ShortBox Comics Member Interview: Seosamh Dáire

Throughout the month of October, the Cartoonist Cooperative will be sharing interviews with members of the Co-op who have a new comic available at the ShortBox Comics Fair 2024! 

NOTE: The Cartoonist Cooperative is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way formally connected with ShortBox.  

Today’s spotlight is Seosamh Dáire ( @saint_vagrant ) and their new comic for ShortBox, THE SOLAR SYSTEM.

We’d love it if you could introduce yourself and tell us about your background in comics.

Seosamh Dáire: Hey thanks for having me! I’m Seosamh Dáire, aka Joe (him/sé.) i have a BFA in Illustration, but more importantly I made a 200-page comic when I was 13 about fantasy angels, and after all that work, dropped it unceremoniously when I realised it wasn’t gay enough. So i’ve been filling the void ever since. Ironically, part of filling the void necessitates making comics about holes, like mine and my partner Anka’s ongoing sci-fi story SUPERPOSE. Recently I was part of the Ignatz-nominated HOME anthology, a collection of autobiographical comics about being of or in Ireland. My work is largely targeted toward mature readers, and last year I made the short 18+ comics TERESIAN for the Noah’s Ark anthology and OSHA VIOLATION (just for fun) and contributed illustrations to the BOOK OF SHADOWS anthologies.

I’ve been making little comics for most of my life, but now i make bigger comics. SUPERPOSE launched in 2016 so even if the clock started at that moment, I’ve been at it for a minute.

Tell us more about your new comic?

SD: Told in a little over 100 black and white pages, THE SOLAR SYSTEM is a trans/anti-military/sci-fi comic set in four timelines. There is Jack, equal parts soldier and experiment, and his mother and father, at odds with what they have made. He meets Nour, a displaced prodigy sniper, an intended footnote in the list of consequences of his parents’ work. With Jack as a vassal and Nour a resistance soldier, they find each other on opposite sides every time in a fight over the control of a superweapon, whose detonation puts the timelines into motion.

Tell us about your creative process; how did you develop this comic and what are the steps you took to bring it to the final stage?

SD: As with most of my work, I got smacked over the head with the frying pan of an idea and immediately went for it. There were some loose concepts floating around prior, but my acceptance to the fair gave me an excuse to solidify it. I wrote (plotted out, scripted) three different versions—I like each one tremendously. THE SOLAR SYSTEM is the third pass, and actually incorporates aspects of that process in the story itself by way of distinct but interconnected parts. the format also took a lot of concentration, as it’s all interwoven, and while not linear, i wanted each next thing to unfold naturally from the last.

The development of the story held all my focus, whereas art was less of a concern since I didn’t expect to draw in a different style, but rather make myself comfortable with a different level of finish, and confined myself to only a couple select tools to accomplish this. It’s the first comic I’ve made using Clip Studio, drawn straight into it without using anything other than a few modified brushes. Then I finished (text/dialogue, any extra painting or effects) in Photoshop.

I value the time I spend fleshing out each character regardless of how much they feature—how they move and how talk, their idiosyncrasies, are all so vivid to me and finding a way to make that as real to a reader as it is to me is part of the fun. I love challenging myself with “what if?” or “if x then y” and making connections that way, heightening the significance between elements, editing and cutting them together to build to each “aha, there it is” moment; I know it when I see it! Ultimately, even if the themes and ideas of the work aren’t identifiable at first, I care most about conveying emotion and that telling a story. Seeing a stranger cry and not knowing why can still stir you all the same. I do think the comic reveals more upon each return, though…

My comic did require a fair amount of research, which is something for which I enjoy any excuse to do. Starting off broadly helps me narrow with more intentionality, although it can get a bit overwhelming—there really is always more to know, and it takes me some time to find a solid place to settle. For reading, I revisited old and new writing/listening from Irish socialists as well as that in the Caucasus, and destabilisation by American interests, also referred to some surreal papers on combat tactics by American colonels which is unsettling stuff, but endlessly interesting.

I owe much inspiration to the IRA, PFLP, YPG/PKK, and Soviet partisans, among many others. 

Do you have any creative rituals or routines to prepare yourself to make comics?

SD: As much as I seek out new resources, I return to the things I’ve always loved. It reminds me what drives me—I’m very emotionally, creatively satisfied even just by select moments within a larger work, such that I get something new out of the experience every time even if it doesn’t directly apply to the project. I rewatched Into The West, The Manchurian Candidate (2004 version), the Escaflowne film, Spriggan, Solaris, I watched Heat… and then rewatched the ending of Heat. Obsession is my ritual, really.

Read the rest of the interview HERE! And dont forget to check out the Shortbox Comics Fair to support these lovely creators!!

[discoduck492]

𝐹𝒶𝒸𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒯𝒾𝓂𝑜𝓉𝒽𝓎 𝐻𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃. ⚖️💎

If you are coming across this post & you are not aware, in 2017 the former best friend of pop artist; 'Melanie Martinez' came out with her story, claiming that Melanie had assaulted her during a sleepover. This was big news at the time and left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. It all eventually got swept under the carpet with the help of a plethora of false information to create a situation where the public simply didn't know who or what to believe.

Honestly, I'm not a huge 'Crybaby' (as Melanie's fans are often referred to) at all, although I enjoyed some of Melanie Martinez's earlier songs. In fact, I'm not even overly interested in pop culture- but this situation really struck a chord with me. I guess I see myself in Timothy a bit as a survivor of similar circumstances. I've seen a lot of misinformation floating around, and I thought I'd make a lil master-post to clear things up. It appears that a lot of the people who are recycling misinformation & rooting stubbornly for Melanie's innocence are very young and just want to protect the image they hold of their idol, which I empathise with.

To those young fans- if you truly believe Melanie is innocent, there is absolutely no need to create fake screenshots, attack Timothy or anything of that nature. She doesn't need fans to embellish the story to protect her. Her innocence would speak for itself, & honestly it would help Melanie more if her fans portrayed themselves as levelheaded rather than brutish bullies, taking sides like it is a sports game. This situation is delicate, and has everything to do with nuance and sensitivity.

Let's get into it..

1. 'Timothy admitted to lying in 2017 !!?'

This was one of the many rumours spread by die-hard fans. There was a photoshopped Instagram story screenshot spread around online where there is a- horribly written might I add- 'confession' from Timothy. As rumours do- especially when para-social, blindly passionate fans are involved- these false screenshots spread like wildfire.

Note the incorrect formatting of the time of posting in the false screenshot. Instagram has always formatted story post times as eg. '9m' or '9h'. Never 9min. Beyond that, the writing/grammar etc reads very childish, when Timothy typically demonstrates a more eloquent writing ability. Not sure how these kinds of things were believed at the time; but my best guess is because a lot of the fanbase was very young at the time (12-18 mostly).

2. 'didn't Timothy accuse multiple other celebrities of the same thing!?'

No. This was another persistent rumour circulating at the time that was, similarly to the former rumour, entirely fabricated. I doubt Timothy Heller even has connections to Billie Eilish, Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift or any of the other names that have been floating around. There is absolutely no evidence of Timothy ever making these claims, it's just young impressionable fans parroting one another.

This one is incredibly strange- there isn't even any kind of evidence of Timothy saying this, let alone false evidence. It seems that somehow, obsessive Melanie fans saw the following Timothy tweets and spun a completely ridiculous lie using the names she mentioned. Timothy never once claimed to be assaulted by anyone other than Melanie.

These tweets are actually quite protective and sweet in nature, she is speaking her mind noticing how Billie Eilish who was only 16 at the time was very unprotected in the industry; surrounding herself with grown men, etc. and it was incredibly overlooked due to her celebrity status.

3. 'Timothy messed up the date! Aha! Proof she lied!'

Timothy did indeed fumble the date back in 2017. She explains in her recent video that the reason for this was that she was going off of a photo she remembered taking the day after the event, and unfortunately the photo appeared twice in her camera roll thus confusing the date (it's possible she took a screenshot of the photo later on or something along that vein).

Fans noticed that on the date Timothy gave mistakenly; Melanie was on tour in a different state & fans naively ran with this as proof of a lie.

The truth is, Timothy messing up the date is completely irrelevant. It would be a point of suspicion if Melanie had entirely denied they were ever together, but this isn't the case. It was confirmed by Melanie that this sleepover & the night in question did happen. It was also confirmed by Melanie, that on this night they did have sexual interactions. The date is totally unimportant.

I find it very strange how in image 1- Melanie admits that the night in question happened ie. the infamous 'she never said no to what we chose to do together'. This line of course sounds... convoluted at best, fairly sinister at worst.

However in image 2, Melanie states she 'thanks her 'fans who took the time to research the timeline, analyze past instagram photos, and question the story being told, which reveal her false statements'. This is incredibly strange, as she is implying that fans pointing out the date mix up proves her innocence; yet simultaneously admits that the event happened. Very inconsistent.

4. 'Why doesn't she take it to court rather than TikTok? Clearly she is after fame.'

In the midst of the aftermath of Timothy Heller's recent TikTok video where she resurfaces and speaks on her story again; a lot of people are questioning why she has not taken this to court. For some this is a way of saying 'this is a personal, delicate issue that is bound to get messy and explosive online & not the public's issue' which is an understandable perspective; but for others what they mean is 'she didn't take it to court, that must mean she's not serious about this therefore it is a lie'.

Unfortunately, legal justice is incredibly unlikely with a case like this, and I'm sure Timothy is aware of that.

There is (thankfully for Timothy's sake) no video evidence, no audio recordings- even if some sort of physical test of touch, fluid, etc. was performed, this only proves sex- not assault; and Melanie doesn't deny that they had sex. It also happened years ago, and as time goes on these things become harder and harder to prove.

Timothy likely feels that the best she can do is attempt to speak out and attain some form of social justice. Not only is the legal system feeble and tricky- it's also that Melanie has a disproportionate amount of money to work with. For Timothy, taking this to court would likely be a financially poor & fruitless decision.

Timothy also has stated in the past in this livestream @ 4:11 'I don't want to go to the police because I don't want Melanie to go to jail.'

So, there is also this understandable element where she still cares for Melanie on some level. She has no desire to punish Melanie herself, her coming out had more to do with owning her OWN story and liberating herself with the truth.

5. 'Isn't it suspicious that Timothy only seems to come out with this when Melanie is at a high in her career?'

A common point fans bring up is that Timothy seems to come out with her story at 'peaks' in Melanie's career. I don't have much to flesh out about this one since honestly this point is more of a personal opinion type of thing. Yes, Melanie is on her worldwide 'Trilogies' tour, but her album; 'Portals' came out a year ago.

I honestly feel like people would be throwing out this stale argument no matter when Timothy resurfaced. Whether it was during the anticipation of Portals, when Portals released, in the months after release- hell, during the K-12 era even. I just think this point is very.. empty.

That being said, if you would consider right now a high in her career, this honestly makes a lot of sense. Timothy was driven off of the internet by pure malice the first time she came out with this information- it makes sense that now that Melanie is bigger, she wants to reinforce, 'hey, don't forget about me, don't forget about my story & what I went through'.

6. 'She remained friends with Melanie, dressed up as Melanie, agreed to play a fun sex game with Melanie'

None of these things point to her lying, and in fact are very plainly consistent with Timothy's story from the get go. Timothy always maintained the fact that for some time after the event occurred, it was hard to admit to herself that what happened was assault. Having that realisation took time, reflection & concerned reactions from friends when she would jokingly explain what happened. Therefore she stayed friends with Melanie & in her inner circle. As for the sex game... irrelevant. You can play a fun 'goofy' sex game with a friend but not intend to actually have sex with them.

7. 'Timothy Heller is Jealous & only wants Melanie's Fame & to Further Her own Music Career!'

This one is possibly the strangest of them all, yet seemingly the most prevalent take from hardcore fans.

First of all- being famous for being assaulted by a famous person, does not translate to personal fame in other endeavours outside of a minority of people who have eyes on the situation idly clicking on things out of sheer curiosity. 'Oh, this is 'the girl who was assaulted by Melanie Martinez's' music!'.

It is known that often, speaking up hinders people's careers which is why many in the industry & in life in general stay silent. This is exactly what happened to Timothy Heller- she was bullied, doxxed, threatened, stalked and harassed into hiding; not only doing wonders I'm sure for her mental health; but also putting her potential music career to a complete halt for some time.

Timothy has absolutely nothing to gain from coming out. Truly nothing. Not money, not fame in her personal endeavours, nothing but the possibility of justice on a social level; combined with the risk of further social ridicule & threat to her physical safety. She is putting herself on the line to double down on her story. After all she went through after coming forward the first time, she is completely willing to die on this hill so to speak. That shocked me...

In 2017, though even my younger self was appalled by the way fans were handling the situation and treating Timothy; it really did feel more like a 'he said, she said' situation. However, now after the fact of her making that video, the emotion in her voice, her never straying form the initial story; Melanie's inconsistencies...

I believe her.

& if you don't... touché; it's true that none of us were there. Though I feel that picture is quite clear when all of the misinformation is cleared away; which was the intention of this post.

8. Note that Melanie's tendency to be sexually coercive has been Reiterated by people other than Timothy

Melanie's former stylist, Madeleine Carina came out on Twitter not long after Timothy with the following statement:

“Something similar (not r*pe) happened w/ me and Mel. She begged me over and over again to sleep with her n I finally gave in. She wore me down. I said yes. But it was not the same with Timothy. I will support @timothyheller till the end.”

While Madeleine herself clarifies that she didn't consider her situation assault as she did eventually say yes; it does shed light on this kind of behaviour being a pattern for Melanie.

//

Some closing thoughts: reviewing all of this information, I think there's a strong chance that Melanie herself genuinely doesn't believe that she crossed a line & has a sort of cognitive dissonance about it. There is room for all sorts of shades of grey when it comes to understanding human emotions & intentions, but this wouldn't negate the way this occurrence affected Timothy either way. I read somewhere 'If Timothy wasn't a victim before, she definitely is now considering the way she's been treated all these years'.

Thankyou for reading, & I hope this shed some light on things ✌🏼🤍🤍

[stinkrascal]

get to know me sims edition tag thingie ! tysm for the tag @rebouks <3

1. What’s your favourite sims death? ummmm getting eaten by a cowplant tbh. gets me every time

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? maxis match hair, preferably the kind with the hair strands, and then alpha everything else

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? when im doing gameplay then no, but if im taking screenshots for my stories then their weights dont really change bc i dont play w them anyways so they dont change much. so i guess the answer is still no

4. Do you use move objects? always!!

5. Favorite mod? probably slice of life? idk i think its so fun!! i also like mccc for the utility but thats a boring answer so sol wins

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? ive basically always torrented ts4 so i got the eps when they first came out and idk which one i played first. but the first one i bought on an origin account was cats and dogs!

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? like alive!!

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? breanna!! caspian!! vaughn!! i like them all can that be my answer

9. Have you made a simself? yeah!

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? lazy, goofball, geek

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color? the white/blonde color!!!!

12. Favorite EA hair? that one hair that came with the luxury stuff pack that was vlad's hairstyle for like 3 years before i changed it.

this one!!!

13. Favorite life stage? young adult duh. thats why i have vampires so they can stay young and pretty forever

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? both duh!! it's all fun for me :D

15. Are you a CC creator? no but i can make simple recolors and adjustments to meshes if i need to! id love to learn how to make meshes from scratch. i really wanna make my own trees for story stuff but i dont really know how to start that. but one day!!

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? all my mutuals of course :)

17. What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4) honestly probably 4 because even if the gameplay is lackluster, w all my mods its pretty fun and i always gravitate to it. i think ts3 was the first game i ever played from the series and its great too. i played ts2 about a year ago and it is also fun but its too ugly for me so i never wanna play it lol. and i never played ts1!

18. Do you have any sims merch? no

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? yes but all the videos are unlisted, you can only access them through my tumblr. i just upload random silly things and tutorials sometimes, but i havent uploaded in years. im still gonna make an updated editing tutorial vid i promise aha

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? i think my sims are more blushy now, and they have more skin details and textures since i use alpha skins now. but besides that not much

21. What’s your Origin ID? actually its stinkrascal but i dont use it for ts4. i just have my dragon age games on it ha

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator? umm idk!

23. How long have you had a simblr? since 2017 :) but i made this blog in 2019

24. How do you edit your pictures? photoshop 2022! i promiseeeee im gonna make an updated editing tutorial one day

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? i want horses, fairies, and a new city world like san myshuno! besides those things im pretty happy w what we have

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? growing together or werewolves! obviously i like vampires too!! oh or island living that ones great too. idk i like a lot of them

im gonna tag @gothoffspring @woohooincoffin @itsmariejanel @pxltown @omgkayplays @lucidicer @barbieaiden @void-imp and anyone else who wants to do this!! <3

[blu3b3rryj4mp1r3]

how do you do your sparkly gifs? they are so cute!

thank you!! (I think someone asked a similar question in an ask I haven't awnsered yet but I'll awnser this now 🤔💗:) so first I take a mlp episode & clip the moment I want to make a gif of (usually export as mp4 just 'cause I think it's easiest) (I use shotcut) then I:

open the clip in photoshop, put a pretty gradient over the the clip, set the blend mode to linear light and adjust the opacity

then put a matching solid colour over that and set the blend mode to hue & render/export the mp4 clip

throw some glitter on it! ✨✨✨✨ (I usually go to giphy and type in glitter/sparkle/snow/stars or something like that + transparent) throw it in a video track over the clip and adjust the size/position of the gifs and copy paste it like a billion times so it's the same length as the clip, perhaps adjust the blend mode of the track to screen or something (I use shotcut for this as well)

export the clip again :D

open a new project in shotcut and drag the clip with glitter on it in ♡ then I use a rgb shift filter and adjust it how I want, then export again (still as mp4 because if you export as gif animation in shotcut the file size will be ginormous for some reason)

go over to ezgif.com and convert the video to gif (yessss I know I could use photoshop for that but that's way to slow and I'm impaicaint)

post on tumblr! or bring it back into shotcut and put a song over it or something (but in that case I'd skip the conversion & just use the mp4 since it's higher quality)

so that's pretty much it! ^^🔮💖🔮💖🔮

I came up with it because I was making a slowed version of becoming popular and I wanted the video to look cool so I meesed around with it in photoshop and made it like all purple and then at first I made it look like an old vhs tape by adding noise and stuff but then I was like nah I already did that with the flawless song videos I want to do something different and then I was like hm when you put too much reverb on stuff it kinda reminds me a bit of snow globes because it sounds kinda spacey and all jingle bell like and when snow falls in snow globes it falls like... slowly! or something so it fits! and I was like hm if I put glitter over this it'd look kinda like snow! 🌨 so I did that and I thought it looked pretty but it felt like something was missing and then I thought about the "you're a toy maker's creation trapped inside a crystal ball" lyric from pinkie's bard ('cause crystal ball & snow globes are kinda the same thing almost in a way I think) and crystal stuff is pretty!! (and reminded me of rarity so it fit her song well 💎💎💎💎💎) how do I make this look crystal-y & as if it's inside a crystal snow globe thing?? 🤔 and then I was like AHA! the rgb shift thing that I had almost used for the vhs effect! THAT looked kinda like crystal!! and then I put it on the video and I thought wow! this is pretty cool isn't it?! 🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮

p.s. sorry for rambling incoherently and overusing a bunch of words but I was just really excited to talk about this and I don't feel like proofreading and correcting today 😅😊

♡ sfw interaction only ♡

[voicefromthecorner]

32. Conductor Battle #1

Original Song: Cabinet Battle #1

Neku and his friends confront the Conductor, Megumi Kitaniji, on their way to facing the Composer, but he has a few tricks up his sleeve.

You know, in hindsight, I don’t think I enjoyed photoshopping these little displays together all that much. Still, it had its moments, like customising that laughing possessed Shiki sprite, which looks incredibly cursed up close.

This song is one that I keep kicking myself for not thinking to do from the start. It’s such an obvious fit that tackles a fairly important event and even has a corresponding second song that I already used for the second similar event yet for some reason it never occurred to me until after I’d done all the others. Washington On Your Side at least had a broad range of potential applications and I was considering using it exclusively for Reaper characters at one point but this one was a no-brainer that proved I have no brain.

First Song: Neku Sakuraba

Previous Song: The Composer On Your Side

Next Song: Hurricane

Index

Transcript:

[HANEKOMA] Ladies and gentlemen, you coulda been anywhere in the world tonight, but you’re here with us in the Shibuya River. Are you ready for a Conductor showdown???

The issue on the table: Neku and his friends’ plan to usurp the role of Composer and bring everyone back to life. Megumi, he has the floor now.

[MEGUMI] The Composer’s concern is mankind’s happiness. He stands for that ideal; He wouldn’t settle for less Of His noble care, He declares how to lead ‘em You dare to think you’d fare? You can’t beat ‘em

[REAPERS] Oww!

[MEGUMI] But you children forget Your plan would have you freely pay off every debt Now, place your bets as to whom that benefits: The egotists in power where you intend to sit

[BEAT] Not true!

[MEGUMI] Ooh, if the shoe fits, wear it You serve only yourselves— Why don’t you just declare it? Fools! To think you’d gain from His Game? You can’t beat Him; you’re not even on the same plane

The Composer is driven by boundless love He redeems. You just seek a higher view from above The self-centred toll for such absolute control Is a short-sighted goal that serves the sole few and not the whole

A droll waste of time, Soul on the line To even meet One so divine would be far over the line The Composer is the shepherd of humanity’s future Imagine what would happen if it was left to you butchers

[HANEKOMA (REAPERS)] Thank you, Conductor Kitaniji (That's my Conductor!) Rebellious Ex-Players, their response

[BEAT] Yo Shades. Those words o’ yours sure sounded pretty Welcome to the real world, we’re fixin’ a broke city Yo you wanna join us, or stay chillin’ Makin’ whoever do your biddin’ like some second-rate villain?

[SHIKI] If we save Rhyme from death, the time we spent Just trying to get home is finally all ours to own How are we not so owed? I was victoriously made a loan After all we fought for? The Composer should get overthrown

[NEKU] He says the word and you roll over. Hey Rover! Your master’s will is making us all stand still “Driven by boundless love, He redeems.” Yeah, keep rolling We know what he’s actually controlling.

[BEAT] An’ anotha’ thing, Mr. Age of “Enlightningment” Don’t lectcha' us about the Game: you didn’t fight in it! You think I’m scared a’ you, man? We almost died in those zones While you were here getting high on your own

[NEKU] Conductor Megumi, why can’t you see what you’re doing? Can’t see through me—without the Composer who would you be? Composer, he's too long unopposed, sir, we're his disposers Anyone'd be better than that mind-controlling poser

[BEAT] We gon’ take him down in two hits Hey, turn around, bend over, I’ll show you Where my shoe fits

[MEGUMI] You see? That self-serving rubbish is the root of all pain! You will be made to submit to the Composer's will. Observe!

[SHIKI] Argh!

[NEKU] Shiki!

[MEGUMI] Now we play for keeps

[MEGUMI/SHIKI] Now we play for keeps

[MEGUMI] Aha-ha-ha ha!

[MEGUMI/SHIKI] The Composer has to rebuild Shibuya and now we play for keeps

[MEGUMI] Such a blunder sometimes it makes me wonder why I even bring the thunder

[SHIKI] Why he even brings the thunder…

[BEAT] You gotta get ya head in the game!

[NEKU] I’m sorry, but how, when Shiki's free will has been claimed?

[BEAT] Yo man, girl be tryin'a kill us, we got no choice

[NEKU] So we let our friend get used to speak with this guy's voice?

[BEAT] What can we do?

[NEKU] First, we'll see this through. Let's take out Shades!

[MEGUMI] Ugh, I see now why he picked you...

[NEKU] We beat Shades but Shiki's still fighting, that’s a nonstarter

[BEAT] Winning was easy, yo, but saving her’s harder Forgive me Shiki, but...

[NEKU] Don't! We need to destroy that pin!

[BEAT] Behind you, stupid! Look out for them dolls!

[NEKU] Argh! What just happened?

Beat and Shiki are out cold; that red skull pin's been played. How could Hanekoma use us in this way!?

So…

One last fight, and then it’s over. Now it’s just me and the Composer

[leviiackrman]

Do you have any advice on figuring out photoshop and templates? I’m new to all of this and I’m really struggling :(((((

Oh gosh I’m so sorry anon, life’s been so chaotic that I completely forgot about your ask! But I am here now to help :)

I will say off the bat that I’m v much a trial and error kinda gal/look things up on YouTube lmao so I’m self taught in pretty much everything I know with photoshop (aside from a few helpful tips while at uni) so I’ll try and list some things that I find quick and easy to use when editing:

Templates in general tend to come pretty organised with layers names etc so it’s easier to navigate, but I also always recommend NAMING YOUR LAYERS!!! It saves SO much time and even grouping them into relevant sections (groups) can really help navigate the layers panel (especially when you get to 200+ layers like me lmao)

I always edit the resolution of my documents when creating them to be at least 100px (pixels) because then the final design is higher quality! That being said; that’ll depend on your computers RAM capacity and how much of it is used by photoshop - my desktop has A LOT of RAM cus it was custom built, but laptops etc have a lot less (otherwise it’ll make the app glitch and crash essentially)

I use the magic wand tool religiously lmao - it may not be the most perfect outline but if I’m gonna edit the image more afterwards, just getting the background out the way first helps a lot! (Using the layer effect drop down will also give you options of ‘multiply’, ‘screen’ and ‘overlay’ plus a bunch more to add effects to your layers, but a quick way of removing a white bg from a layer is to use ‘screen’ and it’ll auto remove it! Careful tho cus sometimes it removes TOO MUCH of the image aha)

If that tool doesn’t work for you then the ‘colour select’ option in one of the drop downs will do the same thing but will select every bit of colour on the document that you select - ie if you click on the white background, it’ll also pick up every other bit of white on the document so keep that in mind (I apologise that I’m not more specific, I’m writing this on my phone and haven’t got photoshop open)

For text layers, I ALWAYS turn off the ‘hyphenate’ tick box in the text box settings! Hyphenate is more for professional documentation/printed work, so for template edits and personal use I always turn it off cus it makes it look weird imo (the text box settings will open up on the right when you click on your text, so just scroll down a little until you get to the paragraph settings and there’ll be a little ‘…’ to show more options and it’ll be in there!)

CLIPPING MASKS ARE A LIFE SAVER!! On your layers panel, if you have a shape drawn out (ie a square for example) and you add an image/colour layer/literally any kind of layer on top and move the mouse to the line between the 2 layers and click ALT, it’ll add the clipping mask so the layer on top is only visible within the shape underneath! Works for filter layers as well as images in general etc PLUS they stack!

For templates specifically it’s a lot of fiddling until things sit nicely with one another for me, but one thing I use often is PSD filter packs that you can download! Lots are on tumblr and deviantart etc but you should always credit who you use, unless you make them yourself! They help tie a design together so all the colours match!

I also like using the ‘blending mode’ options on the layers panel. So when you right click a layer - it’ll give you the ‘blending mode’ option at the top and that allows you to add shadows/gradients/texture and a bunch of other stuff to that specific layer!! Including ‘stroke’ outlines around the edge of your layer!

I ALWAYS save my PSD files separate to the final product in case I wanna edit them, and I will export any final designs as an image!! For highest quality in your exports use PNGs!! JPEGs reduce the quality SO much so always go with PNGs but if you don’t want a transparent background, make sure you untick ‘transparent’ in the export window!

There’s plenty more tools to use on photoshop, but I recommend just creating a blank document, adding a bit of text and an image and just playing around with it!! You’ll discover so many new ways of doing things and ways that suit you!

If you ever want more specific advice for something then pls ask! I have 8+ years of experience and a graphic design degree so I like to think I know some things haha!

I hope that helps🤍

[nijiironokoi]

Huangdi for @fauxrishi​‘s TS4 Bachelorette!

Information under the cut because I got carried away.

Huangdi Luo, the Hidden Dragon Painter Aspiration || Goofball , Genius, Loves the Outdoors  26, Male (he/him)

The Kunlun Kingdom is far to the southeast, and is home to extensive rivers and flourishing trade ports. While it’s grip on southern waters is unrivaled, it is looking to expand trade relations with more countries in the west.  Denmark’s invitation for potential matchmaking couldn’t have come at a better time. The ruling Empress Tian, send word that her younger and only brother would be happy to attend.  Without asking of course.  The growing the kingdom’s strength takes first priority for her.   

Huandi would normally request his sister not to involve him in her trade diplomacy, but he has to admit that the picture of the pretty brunette the messenger showed him caught his eye... 

... ... ...

- Ever since Huandi was born he’s been a little bit of a playful trickster, painting fake doors in the castle, greeting public officials with an orange smile in his mouth, and putting frogs in places where frogs shouldn’t be.  However as he grew older, he has had to take on more and more responsibility in the kingdom’s affairs.  Meaning less time for elaborate pranks, but the occasional bag of air on the state official’s chairs still surfaces from time to time.

-  Despite hailing from a long line of magical elves, Huandi actually doesn’t have much magic power.   The most he can do is sense other auras around him, but that’s it.  This lack of magic is a small insecurity within him, but he hasn’t yet encountered a situation where it truly bothered him.

- Just because Huandi is known as a prankster, doesn’t mean you should underestimate his ability to be a prince and strong leader.  Since he does not have magical powers, he poured himself into his daily studies in order to prove himself worthy of his role.  He strength lies in forming strategies of all kinds.  In fact, plans for improving the infrastructure and state of the kingdom are the only reason the council puts up with his jokes in all honesty.

- Huandi hates wearing his royal garments and will most likely be seen in western style clothes that some travelers wear as they pass through the city, much to his sister’s disapproval. 

 - Every now and he escapes the city, most likely without anyone knowing, to the enchanted mountains and forests in his land to paint and destress from busy castle life.  Painting is a hobby he continued from childhood, and he believes it important to help immortalize his feelings and surroundings at that very moment. 

-  He is a formidable martial artist and spear/staff wielder, but can’t sail a ship!  A surprising fact, considering the vast bodies of water near and in his kingdom.

 - He has a snaggletooth! 

[sleeperswakewriting]

fire alarm

Thank you to @nicolanoodles for the prompt: “the fire alarm went off at 3 am and now the cute guy from the flat next door is standing next to me in his underwear AU”

AO3

Rating: G

Pairing: Levi x Petra

Petra groaned and rubbed her eyes as she slid into her slippers. Not again…She thought, throwing on her robe and grabbing her phone. She padded to her front door with not nearly as much haste as she probably should have, but she was tired. For the third time this week, her building’s fire alarm had gone off, and each time had been a false alarm. Something related to a new system, is what management told everyone, but it still didn’t make up for the fact that this was now the third night this week that she had woken up at 3 AM. By the time the firetrucks were called and the all clear was given, she barely fell back asleep before waking up at a prompt 5:30 AM to get ready for work. 

Her coworkers and students commented on her ragged appearance, which made her all the more frustrated since she was usually known for her sunny disposition, but even she had her limits, and she was someone who valued her sleep. It didn’t help that she recently moved into the building so she had nearly another year before her lease was up, and she was so sure that this apartment would be the perfect fit for her modest salary and being a single woman. 

Skirting down the stairs, Petra noticed her neighbors also lazily making their way back down, each of them with the same annoyed and dazed look. Petra knew most of the people on her floor, an elderly couple three doors down, a single mom and son across from her, and a young couple with an adorable Pomeranian that she often saw in the afternoons when she returned from work. There were a couple neighbors unaccounted for, and Petra assumed that their schedules never aligned, but she never had any noise complaints, which was the plus side to her floor. 

The summer breeze hit her as she made her way onto the grass, the moistness catching her fluffy slippers and she grumbled, wondering if the apartment complex would reimburse her for physical and emotional damage. If anything, her students will be suffering tomorrow since Ms. Ral had been at the end of her rope all week, and one more student on the red zone would take away Friday’s movie afternoon. Clearly, lack of sleep made her heartless, but at this point she didn’t care, she wanted to get back into her bed. 

Petra pulled up her Snapchat to show her friends that yet again, she would be in a bad mood all day. As she raised her phone to the apartment complex to snap a picture of the screeching disaster, she immediately noticed a man standing a few feet in front of her in his underwear. Well, his black boxer’s to be exact. He had flip flops on, and he wore a scowl equal to the people around him. His eyes focused in on her, and his grimace darkened. 

They made eye contact and Petra yelped, immediately turning around and slapping her phone to the side of her leg and out of sight. Oh my god, he must think I’m such a perv. Don’t turn around, Petra. Even if he is hot and has a six pack, you were not taking a picture of him in his underwear!

“Oi,” a man said, tapping her shoulder, and she went hot. 

Slowly turning around to meet her judgement, Petra went crimson as the man in the boxers stood in front of her. He was glaring (as he should, Petra thought) and pointed to her phone in her hand. He was only a few inches taller than her, maybe a just bit older too, with grey eyes and an undercut.  

“What the hell?” He asked, and Petra found it very hard to breathe. The last time she was this close to a near naked man was her ex-boyfriend, and that was someone she knew very well. This was a stranger! A very sexy, are-his-muscles-photoshopped stranger. 

Petra took a step back, squishing further into wet grass and she stuttered, “I-I wasn’t taking a picture of you. I was just taking a Snapchat to show my friends to complain. I would show you, but you know, Snapchat.” 

The main raised an eyebrow, not buying her story, and she groaned. “I promise I’m not a pervert. You’re really attractive, but I’m not the type to snap pictures of random guys.”

He raised his eyebrows even further, the annoyance disappearing and his expression softened to something closer to amusement. 

Realizing what she just said, hung over from lack of sleep, Petra clamped her mouth shut and took a deep sigh. 

“Let me start over. Hi, my name is Petra. I live in 34C.” She extended her hand, hoping to get into the stranger’s good graces before he reported her for harassment. 

The man shook her hand. “Levi. 34B.” 

God, could this day get any worse? He was her freaking neighbor too?! One of the nameless ones that apparently worked opposite hours. Feeling lightheaded, Petra released his hand and stared at the ground in embarrassment.

Seemingly uncomfortable with their silence, Levi coughed. “This shit sucks,” he said, pointing his thumb at the firetrucks that started to pour in. They were a good 100 feet away from the building, but the noise was enough to give her a headache. 

“Yeah,” Petra agreed lamely, her silk robe suddenly feeling too tight. 

“How long have you been living here?” He asked. 

“Just two months, I got a job in the area over the summer. You?”

“A year.”

“Oh, so are these things common? I’ve been meaning to ask around but I’m always so tired when they go off, but I’m not sure how much longer I can take it.” 

“Not really, but it’s still fucking annoying. Not like we have work or anything,” he mumbled sarcastically, running his fingers through his hair. 

Since the conversation had mellowed out and he didn’t seem as agitated at her, she allowed herself to peek at him, admiring his muscular features. Maybe he was a personal trainer? Or in the military? 

“I know, right? I have to deal with so many brats in the morning, this week has been killing me,” she commiserated. 

Levi seemed to smirk as she spoke, and she amended, “Not that I don’t like my students or anything! They can be a handful, but I usually really do like them when I’m not sleep deprived.” 

“You’re a teacher?” 

She nodded enthusiastically, “Third grade.”

“Wow,” he replied sincerely. “I couldn’t do that, too much noise.” 

“What do you do?” She asked, feeling braver. 

He crossed his arms, and Petra swallowed as the action highlighted his chest and biceps. “I’m a lawyer.” 

“Oh! Like defense attorney stuff?”

“Child welfare,” he replied, looking to the side, and Petra’s heart melted. Hot and chivalrous? She had to tell Nanaba about him later. 

“That’s amazing!” She said enthusiastically, nearly forgetting about his unclothed state, and she stepped closer to him. His eyes widened as the side of her robe brushed against his stomach, and she caught herself, giggling. 

“Aha, sorry!” She pulled the straps tighter against her. “Can I ask why you’re in your underwear?” Don’t look near his groin, Petra. Don’t try to guess how big—

“I was asleep,” Levi deadpanned, as if it were obvious. Petra looked around them, wondering if anyone else was in a similar state of disarray, but most people were in their robes or threw on a jacket to cover themselves up. Seemingly, as if Levi could read her mind, “I never know if one of these things are real or not, so I just gun for it. I guess I should know by now, but it’s a pretty knee jerk reaction.” 

“Do you want my robe?” She asked suddenly, feeling bad for him and maybe he was feeling self-conscious. 

“Hell no. I’d rather be like this than be caught dead in your pink lingerie.” 

Petra blushed furiously. “It is not lingerie! It’s a robe!” 

He nodded, and with a teasing lilt to his tone, “Sure. With a v-neck cut out to show off your cleavage. Just a robe.”

She looked down at herself for the first time since putting on the ensemble, and she grew hotter noticing the lacy and thin tank top she was wearing. It was obvious to anyone looking at her up close that she wasn’t wearing a bra, and her sleep shorts cut off before her robe, making her look pants-less. 

“Do you want to sit in my car and make out until the trucks leave?” 

“W-What?!” Petra gaped, and she looked up to see Levi’s face lined in amusement, holding up his car keys. 

“I’m kidding. I was actually going to sit in there before I saw you taking a picture of me. We’ve already seen each other half naked, so it isn’t too weird to sit in a car together.” 

Not seeing how her night could get any more embarrassing, Petra nodded and found herself following Levi to his car in the adjacent lot. Maybe I should call out of work tomorrow…

“For the record, I definitely was not taking a photo of you.” 

“I wouldn’t mind if you did, though.” He said, opening the door to his black sports car, and Petra’s heart thrummed in her chest, inhaling the leather. 

Maybe the fire alarm going off wasn’t so bad. 

[blusthings]

75. Kisses Meant To Distract The Other Person From Whatever They Were Intently Doing with Pricefield

She’s never seen Max so absorbed into work like this.

The brunette had seated herself on the dinner table, her laptop in front of her. She’d surrounded herself with many Chinese takeaways and other food like a half-eaten pizza and some potato chips. A few forgotten coffee mugs sat to her right and a single energy drink to her left. It was a mess, and Chloe knows since her old room was one. But this? This was on a whole new level especially for Max because she knew how much she loved to keep her place tidy.

To be fair, Max wasn’t being Max lately. Work piled up like a mountain on her shoulders this month, one photo-shoot after the other and often times she had to edit a lot of her shots for the costumers to be happy. So, she’d waste away all day on her laptop editing on Photoshop because ‘This man wants he wedding photos by tomorrow and he won’t take no for an answer!!’. Chloe had told her many times to tell him to fuck off, but Max’s boss offered her a neat promotion if she got that done since that particular costumer is ‘high priority’.

Even now, watching her from across the living room, Chloe can tell she’s tired. Hours of endless work had drained all the pretty colors from her face, stole the light from her eyes and rendered her exhausted beyond anything.

And she missed her. She missed her so much she was frustrated.

Chloe sighed and put aside the Nintendo switch controller, she’d lost the level anyway from staring too long at her girlfriend. She got up and stretched, popping a few joints before she walked towards Max who kept clicking away at the picture, adjusting the hue or contrast or whatever shutterbug terminology she used.

The bluenette hugged her girlfriend from the back, she felt Max jump a little as she snapped out of her train of thoughts before sighing and leaning back into her touch.

“Are you done yet?” Chloe mumbled, burying her face into the warmth of Max’s neck, feeling her pulse quicken against her nose.

Max chuckled, nuzzling her nose against Chloe’s scalp. The smell of ash and axe intermingling with the scent of their raspberry shampoo. She took in a lungful, trying to engrave the unique scent into the back of her mind because she’d almost forgotten.

“I’m so sorry babe, I promise I’ll get it done I just need a few more-“ a yawn interrupted her midsentence, she sighed against Chloe’s head, feeling her eyelids growing heavy.

“What you need is sleep.” Chloe replied, “and a break too. You need to go out. When was the last time you saw the sun you lil cave-dweller?” She snickered.

Max groaned, “But I’m so close! I can’t stop now!”

“We’ll get some sleep first, then tomorrow I’ll take us on a cruise ‘round San Fran and we’ll have the time of our fucking lives. And then you go back to that dude’s ugly ass wedding pics.”

Max’s fruitful laugh rang pleasantly in her ears, it’s been a while since she’d seen her genuinely laugh like this. It boasted a sense of pride in her heart to know she’s the only one who can get Max to smile even when she’s tired.

“They’re not ugly! They’re… Mediocre.” Max replied.

“Sis? Have you seen his suit? Wait a second I fucking know you’ve got that pic somewhere.” Chloe smirked, she reached her hand over Max’s on the mouse and kept scrolling through the file while Max’s pleas for her to stop blended with her giggles.

“Aha! Bingo!” Chloe grinned and opened the picture.

It was true. The groom in question in a pale grey suit with a yellow vest and white t-shirt. A yellow fucking vest of all the colors! And to top it all off his grey bowtie had yellow spots too. He had his hands in his pocket looking like he was damn proud of himself as if he’s quirky or eccentric.

“Ugly ass yellow-grey suit. Who does that, Max?” Chloe chuckled.

“Well, at least his bride looks happy. Guess that’s what matters right?” Max grinned. “Seriously, Chloe, just a couple more pics.”

Chloe sighed, but her eyes had an all too familiar look in them. The kind of eyes she gives Max when she’s up to mischief. But Max didn’t think about it too much, she just continued with her work.

That is until she felt Chloe’s hot breath against her ear, kissing her temple, down to her jawline where she nibbled at the skin there. Max’s heart started thrashing about in her chest, her attention started to fizzle out. “What’re you doing?” She mumbled.

“Hm?” Chloe asked in mock innocence, “Nothing.”

Max could feel her smirk against her neck, a sigh escaped her lips when Chloe found the pulse point on her neck. She knew that was where Max is most sensitive, the minx.

“T-That doesn’t seem like nothing to me,” Max chuckled nervously. “Seriously Chloe I’ve got work to do.”

“Then work.” Chloe snorted, “Don’t let me distract you.”

Max tried focusing on anything but Chloe peppering her neck with kisses before pressing her mouth to it and running her tongue against it. She winced, trying to keep her breathing under control as she tilted her head to the side giving Chloe more access and the punk gladly gave her more. Fuck, how did she forget about Chloe’s tongue piercing? The solid metal a delicious contrast to the warm hot kisses Chloe left on her throat.

Max sighed, her resolve dissolving slowly as Chloe kissed the corner of her lips then pulled back with a smug grin; seeing how Max was chasing after her lips by leaning forward a little. Though despite knowing how quite worked up Max was getting, she softly locked lips with her, letting out an amused chuckle and the displeased noise Max let out.

“You’re such a tease.” Max growled wearily.

“I thought you had work?” Chloe cocked an eyebrow, her sideway smirk only adding to Max’s dismay. She knew exactly what an exhausted, touch-starved hipster looked like, and that was Max at the moment.

“Fine then, two can play this game.” Max turned back to her laptop, clicking away with a cute grumble.

Chloe stifled a laughter; she knew her girlfriend’s resolve would break down any moment. All she needed was a gentle push. So, she leaned down again and claimed Max’s lips in a heated kiss, all tongue and teeth and it took Max by surprise because she heard her sharp intake of breath followed by a shaky exhale.

Fuck, Max couldn’t help but lean towards Chloe’s touch, wanting. But her eyes flickered back and forth between Chloe and her laptop. That was when Chloe gently bit down her lower lip and pulled and holy shit, fuck it! Max laced her fingers through Chloe’s hair and pulled her deeper. She rose quickly and grabbed Chloe by the hoodie, pulling her in for another kiss, trying to force shut her triumphant chuckle.

“Damn, Max, what happened to work shit?” Chloe joked as she felt Max gently push her backwards towards the bedroom.

The brunette only snorted, “That can wait.”

“That’s my girl.” Chloe smirked.

[t-lostinworlds]

Leaked (Shawn Mendes)

A/N: Remember the post I made about an angst idea? And how I wanted it to hurt bad? Welp, here it is. I am so sorry in advance and nope, there won’t be any part 2 to this one. Hope you guys still like it aha x

Summary: Shawn's nude got leaked. What's the catch? He wasn't alone in it. The other catch? It wasn't with you.

Warnings: Angst, cheating, A bit dark, and typos, issa lot.

Word Count: 1.8k+

Masterlist in Bio

-:-:-:-:-

Your grip on the device was tight, but you don't know if it was from the anger and pain, or if it was because it's the only thing you could hold on to for you not to lose yourself from the actual reality.

It was dark, horrible, and evil inside your head. But it was nothing compared to the constant stabbing you felt in your heart.

You were crying but you also wanted to laugh. Laugh at how foolish you've been to believe that you were the only one in his life. Because you definitely weren't, judging by the photos that were staring right at you, displayed on the cracked screen of your phone.

Shawn Mendes has broke the internet once again, but not for a good reason this time.

It was only two photos but it was enough to kill you from the inside out. It was just enough to murder your soul and feed the demons that have been living inside your brain.

The first one was of him, kneeling on the edge of the bed, looking straight at the camera with lust filled eyes, bottom lip caught between his teeth and a smirk that shows he was having a great time. His hair a mess with body trickled with sweat, buff, broad and completely naked in all his hard glory. It was a tasteful sight, if only it didn't have another woman's leg hooked around his waist.

The second one was of her, bend over the bed, ass cheeks in full view. You can see his pelvis along with his abs, pressed up against her skin but the one thing that makes it hurt even more was the hand, grip hard on her hips, swallow tattoo glaring at you, taunting you.

You've told yourself over and over that it was Photoshopped. A very good edit by someone who has immense talent, and to the public world, it would've been so easy to say just that. To just debunk the whole thing and say it wasn't him.

But you knew better.

You know it was real because his tattoo, yes, it was one thing but it is also very easy to fake. The girl's tattoo however, the one just on the small of her back? You knew who that belonged to. You knew who the girl was and that just makes things more inhumanly excruciating.

Another thing you tried to tell yourself was that, it was old. Taken way before you two were together, but you can easily say that, that is a lie too. It was a Polaroid photo, the time and date just on the bottom right was screaming at you. Telling you just how much of a fool you've been because it was taken just a week ago. 7 fucking days ago.

When you were in his condo, hugging his pillow and engulfed in his hoodie to help you sleep at night. While he went straight to LA, right after tour to do who knows what. Well clearly, now you know exactly what–or rather who–he was doing there.

The sound of the front door unlocking almost felt like a gun shot. It made you jump in your skin, body trembling as you braced yourself of what's to come.

"Honey I'm home!" Shawn called out, the endearment that once made your heart flutter only now made disgust crawl inside you. The words leaving a bitter taste in your mouth that you just want to hurl.

"Living room!" You managed to choke out, hands on your lap as you sit completely still, eyes on the phone making the droplets of tears gather on the screen.

Footsteps were all you're listening to, not being able to look up at the demon who now stood right in front, the sound of his keys rattling and then being placed on the counter ringing in your ears. "What's wrong?"

You let out a sarcastic laugh, head shaking in pure disbelief at him trying to pretend he has no clue what's going on. Slowly, you willed yourself to look up, tear-filled eyes staring right at him—the boy who you once trusted with your life and loved with all your heart—as you hissed.

"Cut the bullshit Shawn."

You wanted to punch that frown on his face. The sheer look of sorrow crossing his features only made you angrier because the fucking guts of him. He knew what he did. He knew so fucking well what the consequences of his actions were going to be. But he's still fucking done it now did he?

When he stayed quiet you stood up and took a step forward, turning the phone in your hand to face him, to make him see what you've been staring at for the past hour. The way he looked away was already an answer to you, eyes casted on the ground as he refuses to glance at the distasteful photos that were now out there for the world to pry on.

"Do you know whose nudes these are Shawn?" You questioned in the calmest voice you could muster, a scary contrast to the fire that's been waiting to explode inside of you.

"Of course you do. You're the one who's in them and you took them." You let out a fake laugh, your heart pounding against your chest as Shawn only said the only words he could think of.

"Honey I can explain—"

"Explain fucking what!? How you cheated on me? With none other than the girl who you said you didn't have feeling for anymore? The girl who you told me not to fucking worry about?! Then please do explain the things that I already know Shawn! Please help my stupidity!" You screamed. Your hold on the phone was getting tighter that it was starting to tear at your skin, but you felt too angry to care. The rage inside of you was working like morphine for the physical pain, but never helping to ease the emotional hurt that he was causing.

Nothing can make you feel any less hurt than one thing, one last resort, but you're stronger than that. You won't give up to the darkness in your brain. You owe that to yourself.

"I ended things with her after that night. I promise I haven't spoken to her since." Shawn was almost to his knees to beg, tears welling up his eyes but you could no longer look at him with nothing but pure disgust and betrayal. You weren't going to fall for that look anymore, you weren't going to give in to your weaknesses that composes nothing but him. You were slowly closing yourself off for the greater good, for yourself.

"That still doesn't change the fact that you fucked her while we were still together you asshole!" The words tasted vile against your tongue, speaking the words that's been in your head out loud is always too painful to the point that you just want your heart to be gone.

After all, you can't suffer from a broken heart if you don't have one.

"I know and that's the most disgusting things that I've ever done but I ended it with her. I don't want her, I only want you." It took everything in your will-power not to chuck the phone straight at him. His words were only making things worse because they were coated with lies. The words of a man who has nothing more to say because he knew he already had no fight in this. He already knows it was over the moment he shoved his dick inside another, it's just a matter of when he'll get caught.

And now he has been caught and he has no excuse left. Everything was crumbling into dust and he can do nothing more than just watch it all go down.

"Since how long?" You whispered, voice in the verge of breaking just at the thought of all the nights he's been in someone else's bed instead of yours.

"Honey please—"

"Tell me since when Shawn!" You sobbed, hands tugging at your hair as you waited for him to spit it out, to just say how long he's been betraying you after all this time.

"A couple months ago." Shawn muttered in pure defeat. The guilt inside him was spreading like a disease as he stared at the girl who gave him nothing but pure love, all broken.

You nodded solemnly, phone slipping out of your hands and landing with a thud on the floor, the sound echoing around the cold and dark place, almost serving as a symbol of the way your heart broke and was now lying lifeless on the ground, not a single beat heard from it anymore.

Your bottom lip was caught between your teeth as you tried to hold back your sobs but your eyes, your eyes were enough to tell the whole world how hurt you were. The insufferable pain was clear in your orbs that no amount of pretending could hide it even in the slightest.

"I let you kiss me, fuck I let you touch me you disgusting asshole! All while your hands have touched another woman's body. How fucking dare you tell me you loved me and you go around doing this! You are evil Shawn!" You clenched your fists tight, the thought just bloodcurdling that you just want to tear out your skin, every inch that he's touched, you want nothing of it. Every trace of his lips, you just want to scrub it off of you even if it hurts, you'd bear the pain as you want nothing more than every ounce of the feeling of him gone.

"I'm so sorry Y/N. I am so so sorry." Shawn whole weight collapsed on the floor as he landed on his knees. Endless tears ran down his face as he tried to reach for you, but you avoided his touch like its poison. The fear and pain that flashed across your features at the mere sight of him wanting to be near you was a big swing at his heart.

"I'm sorry too Shawn. I'm so sorry for trusting you with my heart in the first place." The sound of utter regret in your voice was a stab to his heart. The look on your face, the raw agony and misery coating your once joyful and glowing features, was a twist of the knife.

But when he heard the front door shut followed by nothing but the eerie silence of his whole condo, that was when Shawn knew he just lost everything he could've needed and ever wanted in his life.

Because with just one leak, everything in his life was completely destroyed and there was no other person to blame but him.

-:-:-:-:-

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[dontasktheradiodemon]

Bullet Wound

Follow-up to this discussion with Angel. They ended up doing the surgery in Angel’s room instead of the bar because SOMEBODY forgot that was where we agreed to meet. (It’s me I’m somebody.)

Alastor

Knock knock knock, guess who. It's Doctor Alastor and Nurse Hentai, here with their trademark "surgery with a smile" service.

Angel

He opened the door with one of his tertiary hands. The couple others were busy pressing a pink-stained... _something_ to his shoulder.

" Oh nonono, I ain't drunk enough fa THIS, YET. " Angel knocked back the remainder of whiskey left in the bottle he had before trudging to his minifridge for another. " Is Hentai, uh, gonna hurt? He slimy or some shit? How drunk I gotta be? " His eyes were beginning to lose focus.

Alastor

Alastor's gaze landed on the pink stain. Aha. There was the wound, no doubt. "It'll hurt about as much as you'd expect for something the width of a coffee stirrer to squeeze into a wound and yank a bullet out. I can dull your ability to feel around the injury."

Alastor tilted his head to peer into the minifridge, checking to see how good Angel's stash was. "I think you're quite drunk enough already! Unless you want to sleep the next two weeks." He held up the one bit of surgical equipment he'd visibly brought with him: a bottle of Everclear. "But I'd planned to use this to clean the wound."

Angel

" Oh, ya can?? " he responded with uncharacteristically dulled excitement, " Thank _fuck!_ I would'a gone fa a hit but, uh, _Bolivian Ma'chin' Powder's_ all OUT. An' I gotta... uh, show. Even if just ta say I can't work so I can get my standa'd issue ass kickin' an' come back. "

Angel then stumbled to his chair, flipping it around so he could lean forward off the back. " Just... go nuts. Fuck th' rug. I could get a Daddy ta get me a new one if it gets fucked up. Uh... youse can use th' bench if ya need to. "

Alastor

"What, sending a self-E of the bullet wound isn't a good enough doctor's note?" Alastor tutted.

He unscrewed the bottle; for the moment, he was still standing so he could remain taller than Angel. "Now, this IS going to sting—but I've got to clean you off before I can numb the area. I'd warn you to bite the bullet but—hah—we'll have to fish it out before you can do that, won't we!" And here comes the sting.

Angel

" Nah... he's gonna think I photoshopped it... " he groaned with a reach for a throw pillow to scream into.  He would've laughed a little more whole-heartedly if not for the anticipated _agony_ that tensed him so hard he could've bit off his own tongue.

" _UGH THIS IS WHAT I FUCKIN' GET!_ " he muffled into the plush pink, now growing darker from the entrance wound, " Why's good shit gotta HURT so bad? It's so fuckin' _DUMB._ " Angel smothered a few more whines and hisses before getting a handle on his breathing again. " ... Can ya do the numbin' thin', yet...? "

Alastor

Ignore the studio audience laughing at your pain, it's nothing personal.

Alastor lightly brushed off what few drops of fresh blood the alcohol hadn't washed from Angel's fur. "Now I can!" He decided owing a small favor to a prince was worth it so he didn't have to drag a miniature apothecary out of his trunk, looked around for a pen or marker—ah, of course, makeup everywhere—and grabbed a tube of black lipstick. "You don't happen to have any bad blood with Prince Gaap, do you?"

Angel

Angel groaned, metaphorically biting his tongue to hold back any amount of quips or name-calling he would've fired at the hip for the sake of not pissing off the demon that was about to start poking around in him.

" Prince a who? " he asked with an instantly regrettable twist to see what Alastor was doing, " I ain't ever known any _legitimate_ royalty... I don' think... "

Alastor

"Then I'll take that as a no." He scrawled Gaap's sigil on Angel's shoulder around the wound—not his most artistic work, given how fuzzy his canvas was, but Alastor was on good enough terms with enough nobles that they wouldn't nitpick tiny errors in his work. "Now, this will make the area around your wound feel temporarily hale and hearty—but it's only a feeling. You're still just as damaged. Don't jump up and do cartwheels." He finished the double circle around the sigil and the lines started to glow green. Good. "Working yet?"

Angel

Angel took a deep breath as the nerves began to cease fire until finally, he no longer felt the need to scream or cry. Well enough to turn his head, he gave himself a peek in the mirror.

" Yeah... like I wanna do cartwheels, " Angel giggled, " Tell Prince Gaap I said thanks ~ " _An' ask him if he's single,_ he chuckled to himself as he stretched his limbs more comfortably about his chair. " Ya gonna stir me like a cup a coffee, now? " he joked.

Alastor

"I'll pass on your gratitude! Just don't tell him you owe him one if you happen to cross paths with him, he'll take it literally and then we'll both be paying him for the anesthesia."

Alastor huffed. "Once I clean the wound a little more. I don't know if you've noticed, but you've got quite a lot of fur around it." He looked around for some sort of towel that wasn't completely soaked in blood, poured a little more alcohol in it, and finally sat on the bench as he started carefully cleaning the wound itself while trying to avoid disrupting the sigil.

"You don't strike me as the type to get shot in the back," he mused. "What happened here—somebody take you by surprise?"

Angel

" Oh, he's _that_ type, " he commented, deciding on whether or not he should offer a razor. He was already going to be getting a temporary bald spot. May as well...

" If ya needa clear it some, there's clippers off th' side a the mirro- " Angel's arms and legs tightened around the chair as he sank his chin _deep_ into the pillow. _When_ was the last time...? Without the sting to distract him, all there was to focus on was the touch and it made his head swim. He didn't know how to process it, so he reverted to his go-to distraction. " _Funny how I still ended up on th' twink ma'ket cove'ed in all this peach fuzz, ah?_ "

He chuckled bitterly as his eyes swept to the ceiling. " Yeah... somethin' like that... Was a _surprise,_ alright... "

Alastor

"Most nobles are. Out of the ones that bargain with humans, anyway." He grabbed the clippers and very carefully started clearing a patch around the entry wound. "You know, between you being called one and *me* being called one, I'm beginning to think that 'twink' doesn't actually mean anything."

Alastor leaned around Angel's side to give him a vicious grin. "So, tell me about this surprise! You didn't think I was doing this without hoping to get a little entertainment in return!"

Angel

" _It means ya never get ta eat **shit,** that's what it means-!_ " he grumbled.

Then a sudden **gasp.** How the hell he manged to scare him despite being the forefront of his attention was beyond him. " _Fuckin'-_ " he groaned with a turn of his head in the opposite direction, " Was an ex... an angry one... That dramatic enough fa you? "

His claws clenched his skin as he tried to replicate the buzz of the razor into his brain. Sure would be nice if he could uncap his skull and do some doodling in _there._

Alastor

"... *Does it.*" There was a little bit of info Alastor was going to file away and never let go of.

"An ex! Oh, yes, *quite* dramatic enough! What did you do to *him?* That is to say—" One freshly alcohol-soaked claw brushed dangerously close to prying into the wound, "—was this earned, or an overreaction?"

Angel

" Earned. Def'nitely earned. Uh... " Angel pondered. He'd already vague-blogged about the incident. Any opportunity to avoid any scandal was already blown.

" She. I let her 'and it to me. It was th' _least_ I could do. "

Alastor

"*She!* That brings up some questions, doesn't it?" He dropped his impromptu wash cloth on his lap and said, "Now, as much as I'd relish prying this story out of you one detail at a time, unfortunately I won't be free to talk for a bit." He summoned up his cane. "Ready to have an alien abomination pry a bullet out of your back?"

Angel

Angel braced himself. Salt in the wound felt well deserved to him. Even if subconsciously, he'd allow every opportunity to pay for what he did to her. Being pried through by an alien abomination, sitting through a mortifying interview, and being shot point blank was a good enough start.

" Wouldn't be the _first_ time I 'ad tentacles in me ~ " he replied cheekily with a thumbs up, " Just don' let 'im get _too_ carried away, yeah ~ ? "

Alastor

"Oh, I plan to guarantee he won't!" A dark blot, small as an ink stain, opened in the air between them, and a single thin tendril wiggled out. "But while I'm giving him instructions, I won't be listening to closely to you. So!" He swung his cane around in front of Angel. "Take Mic here and let him know if you need me to stop, would you?"

Angel

" _Plan_ ta guarantee...? " He snorted, then crimson eyes flickered. He'd voluntarily _hand_ him that thing? " Yeah, ok ~ " Angel wiped off his bloody fingers and gently took the rod. " Can't feel a thin'- " _Liar._ " -so prolly won't need to. "

" Heyyy, Mic-y, how ya doin' ~ ? " he asked sweetly, turning the instrument about and inspecting him curiously. " Al give ya routine polishin'? Ya just, chill in th' other dimension 'til he calls ya? " Like a set of keys given to a toddler, he was sufficiently distracted.

Alastor

"Oh, I can't complain! It's not allowed in my contract!" The cane rolled its eye. "Naaah, who needs polishing? When I poof off, the dirt doesn't come with me!" It gave Angel a wry look. "Or d'you got another reason for asking how often Al *polishes his cane?* Eh?" Mic's humor was somewhat lowbrow compared to Alastor's usual standards. Usually Alastor would scold it for getting saucy. But right then, Alastor's brain wasn't entirely present.

He couldn't actually give his tentacled "friend" orders, per se. They were too different, too alien for normal person-to-person communication. What Alastor COULD do was broadcast a signal that let him slip into a fragment of a tentacle's mind and pilot it directly; but when he was doing so, when he was making sense of the world as the alien beast saw it, he wasn't exactly able to, say, process language.

If Angel happened to turn around, he'd see that Alastor's eyes had gone blank and filled with static. But he probably shouldn't turn around, since that was when Alastor managed to seize control of the noodle-thin tentacle that had wriggled through and fed the tip of it into the wound.

Angel

" Hehehe! I getcha, I  getcha. Talk back get smacked, ah? " Angel couldn't can more giggles, but he did feel the need to do some scolding in Alastor's place. At least, as much as he _assumed_ he should.

" Buh-BUH! Shouldn't ya know better than ta be talkin' deer dick? At least, _more than me_? Ta at least keep it in th' context a dick seasoned up real nice on a silver platter? " He snickered deviously, remembering certain debaucheries he'd engaged in both before and after death. " I _like_ ya, though! Wonder how much fun ya'd be _outta_ contract ~ "

Gently tapping the deep red surface of the back with a pristinely manicured claw, Angel had a sudden urge to seize an opportunity he might not get later. " Hey... can ya do that radio thin' ta _my_ voice? "

Alastor

"You can't have slapstick without the stick! And what'm I if not a stick? You ain't gettin' me outta contract, though. That's not how it works."

(Alastor, meanwhile, has slithered the tentacle in deep enough to reach the bullet. Pardon the weird feeling as it wraps around the intrusion, and then prods briefly past the bullet to make sure it didn't penetrated Angel's lung. Whole new can of worms if it did.)

"No can do! You wanna get your voice broadcast outta the radio, sure, I'm the Mic for the job, long as Alastor's authorizing the broadcast. But if you wanna GET the radio voice? Uh-uh. Only way to sound like the Radio Demon is to BE the Radio Demon."

Angel

An eye twitched as he took a breath and felt that internal pinch. Sans the pain of one, the sensation reminded him of an air bubble he'd have to spend several minutes patting out until he could finally take a deeper breath again. He shallowed his lungs and stayed still as he could with a held breath until the tendril retreated. A deep, testing sigh of relief, then he shook his head with a glance to the mirror. Alastor sure was getting _busy._ He trusted he was in good hands.

" Nah, I don't wanna do _that._ Just wanna give ya singin' a lil' try. Not _everyday_ ya passed off t' another demon, am I right? Specially not a _talented_ one like yours truly ~ " Angel pouted and pursed his brows. " C'mon ~ Just this once! I promise I'll _do ya right ~_ "

Alastor

"Ya wanna sing, then sing! But I can't give you the voice any more than I can give you deer antlers. It ain't transferrable. It's *his.*"

And there was the bullet being slowly dragged backwards out of the wound it had caused. Carefully. But they probably weren't going to completely avoid doing a little extra damage.

Angel

" 'Tis almost th' season, Sweetie, I can give _m'self_ antle's if I wanted to ~ " He then rolled his eyes and relented, followed by some sensational weirdness in his shoulder cavity. Checking in wasn't his first instinct. It was, of course, to _play._ He'd never nail Alastor's southern belle, so he let his register drop as he casually snapped and tapped his own beat with Mic dramatically in hand. ( At least, theatrically as he could while being an obedient patient. )

https://youtu.be/eAiMOTlUVv4

Alastor

Bullet retrieved. Alastor's eyes snapped back to normal as the tentacle withdrew into its portal, dropping the bullet as it did. He caught it, but waited until the end of the song to speak up. "Not bad." He held the bullet over Angel's shoulder. "Do you want this little troublemaker?"

Angel

" Hehe! _Thanks ~ !_ " Angel took the bullet in a free hand to inspect it for shatter. Thankfully, it was all in one piece. Hentai wouldn't have to do any further digging. " What I owe ya? This thin' gonna last 'til it heals, or should I get ready ta go Vicodin huntin' _now?_ " he asked with an experimental roll of his shoulder and another check in the mirror.

Alastor

"Go Vicodin hunting. And also bandage it up, change the bandage twice daily, check for infection, et cetera et cetera." He stood, stretched, and his cane poofed out of Angel's hand and into his own. "As for what you owe me... Give me the rest of the story about this ex of yours and if I think it's interesting enough, we'll call it square."

Angel

" ... Ya ain't gonna be reco'din' it, are ya? " he asked solemnly, " Ah fuck whatever... " Angel threw himself into mercy and rummaged around his drawers for bandages.

" I 'ad a squeeze t' get the Outfit off m'back, " he began, " Drew it out as long as I could but uh, _women's_ a pretty hot topic wit' th' boys. Older I got... y'know. _Family._ They's wantin' _kids._ Big ol' fuckin'... Italian _famiglia_ ta' keep th' bootleg business goin'. "

Was it the pain of the memory or the pressure of the wrapping? Angel was thankful for it. He even dabbed at himself a bit forcefully to override any involuntary bodily response to the whole ordeal.

Alastor

"You have my solemn vow that I won't start recording." That wasn't a promise that he wasn't already recording.

Alastor could guess where this story was going; his grin widened in anticipatory schadenfreude. "Go on."

Angel

As Alastor's grin widened, Angel's eyes narrowed. He tucked his bandage and leaned back against his vanity.

" She's was _-IS-_ like you. I was about as inta her as she was inta anyone else. At least, when I wasn't mistakin' 'er fa a guy. We's was dumb kids, grew up t'gether in the same mafia network. We knew th' game an' we knew we 'ad ta play it. So we _made a deal._ "

" I broke it in, uh... 1944. "

Alastor

Now there was a twist Alastor hadn't been expecting. He'd anticipated a young bride doe-eyed with love and a young groom miserably trying to pretend it was reciprocated. But a mutual ruse was far more interesting.

And far more relatable. It wasn't very far off from his own parents' arrangement—except that theirs hadn't involved the Mafia.

"Let me guess. Get handcuffed together, play the happy couple in front of the family, ignore each other at home? Something like that?" And the one point that actually concerned him—"Were children involved?"

Angel

" No. We were very close, very convincin'. She was m' best frien'. Like Cherri, I didn' deserve 'er. E'ryone thought we was wildin' in the sack, but it never happened. No sex, no kids, just... two murderin' peas in a pod playin' th' most convincin' game a pretend... 'til I couldn't anymo'e. "

" _Could_ say we 'ad kids involved, though _THEM_ fuckin' wild childs could 'ardly bc counted. They was lil' monste's from the Forty-Two. Loved 'em like m'own. Some's prolly down 'ere. "

Alastor

Good—if they'd gotten offspring involved, that would have just been distasteful. Outside children that Angel actually liked were a different matter entirely.

"So, what did the grand breakdown look like? A big blowout fight and a demand for a divorce? No—Catholic, I presume—attempted murder?" He cocked an eyebrow. "*Successful* murder?"

Angel

Angel actually bursted a laugh. " Nope! Wasn't really... a _single thin-_ ok, it was, but uh, said _breakdown_ was less of a _single act_ an' more of a... "

His eyes searched the air for dates, encounters. It didn't help he didn't remember most of it, but he shrugged thinking that was enough indication in itself.

" _Buncha dragged out climaxes_ fa th' next... three years a so. Then I died an' left 'er ta face th' music all 'er own. Hence... " He then tapped at his shoulder and shrugged as if violence was the logical answer to beginning to level a half century-long grudge.

" She's workin' fa Rosie now. Keepin' th' fucks off 'er turf. I was one a them, " he snickered.

Alastor

Well that was the least subtle euphemism Alastor had ever heard. "You mean the prenuptial agreement for your marriage of convenience didn't include provisions for you to sleep around?" Alastor shook his head in exaggerated disappointment. "I can forgive her for the lapse—it takes multiple lessons to learn that you sexual people aren't exaggerating when you say the allure of sex is irresistible—but *you* ought to have known better!"

But never mind that, there was a personal connection now. "Well, it's a small underworld after all! If she's working for Rosie, then *I* might know her! What's her name—down here, I mean?"

Angel

" That was fa show! " he burst defensively, " We was bound by nothin' but laws an' laws is fake! " Angel pouted with a quadruple arm cross. He hadn't even _intended_ that innuendo as much as he meant to convey the feeling of being constantly at the edge of your seat for years. That'd drive _any_ sane person wild.

" She didn't _care_ who I fucked with! If ya ask _me,_ it's her _own fuckin' fault_ I went off th' 'andle because she had ta fuckin' PLAY WINGMAN AT THE MENAGERIE! "

He ignored Alastor's question of her identity at the moment. He was much too offended and much too defensive to let any shaming go unchecked, untouched by the oblivion of his violent self-assurance.

Alastor

Alastor laughed at the outburst. "Well, if she didn't care who you were crawling under the covers with, then what in the world is it you did in '44 that constituted such a great break from your 'agreement'? You didn't try to kill her, by mutual agreement you weren't cheating—what's left? Beatings? Framing her for infidelity? Eloping with a rival don's son?"

Angel

He clamped his jaw shut, gritting gold grinding into a horrid sound that soundtracked his anger. Angel didn't want to tell him any more than Alastor was surely not going to be letting it go. Should he just lie? Was that better than letting this asshole in on what was arguably _the_ most defining moment of his life?

" I already told you. I died. I left her alone when we were supposed to get through the fucking SHITSHOW together. '44 was just the year I _started..._ dying. "

Alastor

Alastor was silent for a moment as he processed that—and Angel's atypically somber tone at the announcement—and then, at last, said, "Some betrayal. Most people can't help dying—even the people who do it to themselves." Well, it didn't make for an exciting conclusion to the story—he could vaguely imagine the drama and trauma of the story in action, but the retelling left most of it out.

Still—a sham marriage in the middle of mobster family politics; it was a good enough story. "But, very well! Consider your surgery paid for. And I suppose if the two of you think that was reason enough for her to shoot you—HA!"

Alastor suddenly slapped Angel's shoulder. (By sheer luck, at least it was the uninjured shoulder.) "Have you ever heard that joke? 'My ex-wife still misses me—but her aim's getting better!'" Studio audience laughter. "I guess she doesn't miss you!"

Sometimes Alastor kills himself.

Angel

He _almost_ wished he had slapped his injured shoulder, just so he'd have a more solid reason to hit him back. Nonetheless, he managed to dodge _that_ bullet so Angel figured he could call it a day. A day to start dealing opioids.

" Yeah. She didn't miss, alright. " The corner of his mouth could only twitch. He wasn't consciously _stifling_ a smile, but his every deep-seated instinct to self-destruct at the slightest brush with self-awareness took more effort than he had to deal.

" Bel. La Donna. Like th' poison. She's like yay high an' redder than ya fuckin' mop before ya treatment. A spider. Like me. "

Alastor

"Oh, come now, that was funny and you know it."

Alastor's eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh! *Bel!* Yes, we're acquainted! Not *well*, but well enough we'd be obligated to say hello if we passed on the street. My, my, it really *is* a small underworld."

Angel

" Aw _fuck,_ " he groaned, " Best _keep_ it that way. This place is already starting to feel like Double Hell. Last thin' I need's YOU TWO tag-teamin' me... "

Angel then lazily fished for his phone and hit up a dealer. " I'm gonna head out fa meds. Youse- " He hesitated. " ... gonna need anythin'? I'll replace ya everclear. "

Alastor

"Don't you worry! We don't talk much. Anyway, if she's gone this long without spreading the news around Rosie's inner circle that her ex-husband is Hell's biggest porn star, I doubt she has any interest in discussing it now."

He shook his head; he got the story behind the bullet, he had his payment. "It wasn't my bottle, I got it for this."

Angel

" Heh heh... that's the funny thin', " he confessed, " _She ain't known I was goin' by Angel Dust until t'day._ " He picked up a jacket and shrugged through the sleeves. " She always knew how ta cover my tracks. I _don't know_ how generous she's gonna be _now,_ but... here's hopin' she's satisfied with gettin' me penetrated by an alien named Hentai. "

He snickered, returning some to his usual self. " Thanks anyways. Ya didn't have t' be helpin' me out. "

Alastor

"And what's she going to do if she doesn't feel generous? Tell people that the famed porn star Angel Dust married a beard when he was alive? I hardly think that would cause a scandal down here!"

He waved off the thanks. "I'm perpetually bored and bullet wounds are almost always interesting."

Angel

" Oh you'd be surprised ~ Though. I don't think she's the type. Prolly just shoot me again fa hidin' from 'er all these years. "

He snickered and shot Alastor some fingerguns. " If she does, I'll let her hit somethin' interestin' fa ya ~ "

Alastor

Alastor tilted his head thoughtfully. “Yes, that... does sound like her.” He didn’t know a lot about Bel, but he knew THAT. How had Angel described himself and her, murderous peas in a pod or something of the sort? “See if you can’t persuade her to avoid the lungs and the bowels. Those are a pain to deal with. For me. But I imagine they’d also be a pain on the receiving end!”

Angel

" _The heart it is then ~_ " he sang with a wink, landing a heavy hand upon Alastor's shoulder on his way towards the door, " If ya see 'er aroun', be good ta her, ah? I should be back in time fa late dinner. "

Alastor

"A classic! How symbolic."

He gave Angel a farewell nod as he headed out himself. "I'll set aside some leftovers for you." *Never get to eat shit,* his ass. Not on his watch.

[animelle]

answered asks under the read more, because i have so many and i don’t want to spam the dashboard!

anonymous asked: how many nook miles do you have saved? how often do you go to mystery islands? when can I trade bells for nook miles?

I have roughly 40k right now? I have amiibo cards so I go to the islands mostly for materials rather than villagers. But once you’ve gotten past the main story and got your terraforming the nook miles will be much easier to farm, because there will be much less to spend them on! You can trade nook miles for bells (500 for 3k bells, not worth it imo), but not the other way around unless you buy them off other players in the community.

anonymous asked: Hi! Same anon that wondered how to take photos, does that thing cost money? Like dont you need to subsribe to Nintendo something to be able to share on social medias? Hope you understand my question!

You can always get a microSD and adapter, if you don’t have one you’ll have to get one but they aren’t too expensive. Most of them come with the reader as well, and if you plan on taking a lot of photos you’ll want the microSD. For posting to twitter/facebook I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to use it without the online service? But I actually am not sure about that. As far as I know the online service is for playing their games online and also getting access to a database of retro games, not sure if it locks you from posting to social media or not!

anonymous asked: Hi hi! I’m wondering how you make your AC gifs please? I wanna learn how to make my own! (: Thanks so much!

I use photoshop cs5e and have quite a lengthy process to making my gifs. I’ve been giffing for years and used to run a tv show blog where I giffed all sorts of tv shows, and I’ve learned a lot from doing that. I honestly have no clue how to use anything other than photoshop, as I’ve used it for over a decade and self taught myself most of what I know. So if you don’t have that program I won’t be much help aha

here is a photoshop tumblr you can check out!

anonymous asked: do you have a specific place/pattern you put your trees in? Fruit trees and hardwood trees? Or do you keep them random?

Depends on the aesthetic of the area I’m working on! Mostly I like to have a bit of a mix of the cedar and hardwood trees! I like to try and group my fruit trees in orchards, simply because it’s easier to harvest them. Right now I have all my non-native fruit trees together so that all the others are just my native fruit. But later I’ll definitely have to organize them better! I also like to make sure the fruit trees are placed so that you can actually harvest the fruit (by the town plaza I found was a bad placement for them, unless you’re going for the aesthetic).

anonymous asked:  if a villager is moving out from someones town and you come and pick them up and you have 10 villagers will it let you kick someone out? or is it only with amiibos and the campsite like new leaf?

You have to have 9 or less and an open unsold plot in order to invite someone to live on your island from someone else’s island. You can only kickout using the amiibo feature or using a regular camper from the campsite (note: with the random camper they will choose at random who they will replace, so save first, and quickly exit to home menu if it’s someone you don’t want to lose).

[whogivesacup]

@dragonskxn​

the audience GASPS as the bare lear is revealed onscreen. whatever they were expecting from this contest, they sure as hell didn��t expect this. surely this had to be illegal; not that they gave a fuck, but what would their judge do about it? collectively, they stare at the back of his seemingly impassive head, braced for a potential blistering critique of the young and vindictive contestant’s shocking act--

[Please note I don’t actually condone Nero’s actions here, he’s just a dick.]

      “AHAHAHAHAHAHA! HE HAS A MICROPENIS! AHA--HAHAHAHAHA!!!”

enabled by their shit ass judge, the audience erupts into perhaps their cruelest cackles yet. nero howls uncontrollably into the microphone for five whole minutes before wiping the tears from his eyes and delivering his verdict.

      “lady, i don’t know how you got those pics, but frankly, i don’t care. this is the sort of shit i’m here for, and i didn’t even know it until i saw it onscreen. lear was already exposed to be a fraud and a cheat at the pokémon masters league, and now he’s been exposed again. not only do you get the +10 bonus for roasting an authority figure, your ending--for the ‘adherence to theme’ part of your scoring--nails you an Instant. Fifty. Points.

      “moving on to the presentation half of your appeal, i loved it. i loved all of it. i have to admit, i was rolling my eyes in advance at the people who would use this type of thing to go after their exes because honestly i just want to make them get over it, but you’re a special case in which i don’t want to tell you to shut the hell up about how sad you are. in the words of the galarians--” he puts on the most overdone galarian accent that he can--“posh. splendid. you have my utmost sympathies. i have but one complaint: do make it longer next time, as the rather truncated duration of the appeal left me altogether salty as fuck. perhaps include an extended jibe about the most recent pokémon masters league, and about how he lost his title in grand fashion at the hands of his challengers, hmhm~”

switches back to his normal voice.

      “if i’m correct, the 43 points i give you in this category allow you to unseat jessilina, our current frontrunner. hey, jess, how’s it feel to lose the only first place lead you’ve ever had in your life?”

and there they go again, the audience setting off the next round of competition with laughter in gales.

TOTAL: 103 POINTS

[Annalise’s hair photoshopped onto the meme done courtesy of her mun.]

[flannelfloofsart]

Pierrot: What’s your favorite fashion trend? Rodeo clown: Do you have any pets? (Yes, I know you have Tiger. Yes, I want you to talk about him still.) Lunette: What is your favorite time of day (n why)? Juggle: What’s one skill you wish you could learn? Bells: What’s one/some of your favorite sounds? Circus clown: Are you/were you ever a theatre kid? Seltzer: If you were a fruit flavor, what would you be?

Pierrot: Uhhhh letterman jackets, big colorful hoodies, FLANNELS, socks with stripes, idk what else but those are the only ones!

Rodeo Clown: aaa I had Tiger since..let’s say 2015 or 16? He was just a little baby,,,I really wanted to name him Lord Business but pff it didn’t stick with my family so we went with Tiger! Out of everyone else, he loves me the most, sleeping where I sleep and always purring when I’m around. Now he lives with my grandma (who lives close do dw!) so I get to visit time along with her other cats~

he still only purrs when I’m around~

Lunette: I honestly don’t know? Possible morning (7am-ish) I prefer that since it shows that I have more time to do what I what rather than afternoon and night.

Juggle: Animation.....I tried to do it many times but it only really taught us how to do photoshop rather than actual animating. I want to make my main story Multiplayers an animated show!!

Bells:...….um...….aha.....a deep, beastly voice.....hbghfbg,,, it’s one of my favorite things to hear~

Circus clown: Yes! in 2017-2018 I was a very important theater kid with a group of nice kids, I was shy but I grew to be more open with acting~ A shame I had to move before I could spend my last year of high school in theatre.....I miss my drama teacher...she was lovely!

Seltzer: uhhh Cherry lime...Sweet n tangy with cute colors~

I apologize for not being so active on here so I’m just answering these questions from time to time! (Ty once again River~)

[letsperaltiago]

you’ve stole my heart and made it your own |Jake x Amy|

Dearest, @amystiago <3

I am indeed your secret valentine 2019 and it with immense pleasure that I present to my gift: a Jake x Amy oneshot (and mood board lol) specially written for this occasion and you! “You’re a hot little piece” like 4-drink Amy would say and I’d also like to add that you’re “Cool cool cool cool cool cool”. I hope you have the loveliest Valentine’s day and like the famous Charles Boyle said: “I hope you like it, but if you don’t I will kILL MYSELF.” 

also I looked up SO MANY super cheesy baby and like father/daughter-songs in order to find a title, so it got ver very emotional but yanno anything for you, my love! 

Lots of love and hugs and happiness from me!

xx your not so secret anymore valentine

((btw Sorry for the ugly ass baby photoshop but i couldn’t help myself aha. anyways))

word count: 3.2k

FEBRUARY 14TH, 2021

If you were to ask Amy Santiago just a year ago what the best sound in the world was, she would’ve more than likely replied that it was either the rumble of her developing label maker or just pure, calm silence on a Sunday morning. In no world could she ever deny that she indeed still enjoyed these very specific sounds, yet these days there was something she loved even more. Something else.

As if on cue, a loud high-pitched wail cut through the bedroom’s until then silence. Automatically and actually on cue - it took no longer than one night of being a parent to learn it by heart - Amy turned over and away from where she’d been snuggled into her husband’s warm chest.

“Don’t get up,” a tired mumble from her husband caught her in the act, making her freeze on the spot and throw a glance over her shoulder. Just as she probably did, Jake looked tired; his head was still smushed into his pillow and allowed his messy morning-curls to dance across its white cotton cover. Though they weren’t yet open - his brain more than often awake before the rest of him - she could easily tell that her husband’s eyes were tired. Not just an ‘I hate getting up before 12 on a Sunday’-kind of tired, but more an ‘I hate getting up before 12 on a Sunday since I woke up twice during the night to check on my crying daughter’-kind of tired. There nothing, not even the exhaustion she felt, that could hold back a small smile.

“I have to. Marcy needs me.” In the midst of pushing herself off and away from the comfort of the mattress, Amy felt her husband’s familiar arms grab her waist before tumbling to a rest in his arms.

“I need you too,” his tired grumble against her ear still caused a shiver to this day. A peck, trying to convince her to stay, followed behind. In vain though it was very tempting to give in. 

“Jake-“

A heavy sigh caused his chest to push against her back, implicitly letting her know that he knew she was right. “I know… But stay in bed, okay? I’ll get her.”

Not that she wanted to object to this but before she even had the chance, it was Jake’s turn to push himself away from his spouse and roll out of bed. Amy secretly loved that their 3-month old daughter was pretty much the only thing that could get him out of bed this fast. It seemed like such a drastic contrast to the nervous Jake that one year ago had freaked out wondering if he could live up to the big role that was a father’s. Not that Amy blamed him for these specific feelings, since they rooted in something so complex and difficult as Jake’s own dad being mostly absent and a scum for most of his son’s childhood. Even considering this - history, feelings, uncertainty - she never actually doubter her husband; not for a second. From the way his eyes had both lit and teared upon in response to her announcement of the pregnancy, Amy had always been sure of one thing and this still applied today: Jake Peralta loved his daughter more than anything else in the world, and handled it with as much humbleness, patience and love as possible after only 3 months of experience. It was safe to say that Amy was beyond proud.

“Hey, Marcipan,” the sound of her husband’s cooing voice as he rounded the corner of their bed snapped Amy out of her thoughts and back into reality. In front of her, by the bassinet placed against the wall parallel to her side of the bed, Jake appeared wearing only his boxers and a ‘Die Hard’ t-shirt which was at least a size or two to big for him. He swiftly reached out to switch on a tiny night light, which sat on the wall above the little one’s bed.

“Stop calling her that,” Amy chuckled tiredly as he leaned down over the bassinet to carefully pick up the little human, before cradling her in his arms and turning back around to face his wife. Gosh, Amy would never get tired of the sight of it. Maybe also why she happened to have at least a 1000 new photos on her phone proving just this point alone. Thank goodness Terry had advised her to upgrade her amount cloud storage. “She’s gonna grow up thinking she’s an almond-confection.”

Jake had to chuckle even and shoot a though his daughter was still letting it be known that she wanted some kind of attention by whimpering in his arms, “Are you denying the fact that my daughter is sweet enough to eat?”

Rolling her eyes and shaking her head was not uncommon in the Peralta-Santiago household and so this comment would not slip by as unnoticed either. “That’s not what I meant. And your daughter? Says the guy who said, and I quote, “Before sunrise she’s your daughter” just a few days ago.”

“Hey! I thought it would be really cool to quote Mufasa, okay? He was a great dad.”

Another roll of the eyes seemed appropriate. “Worth it?”

Amy might’ve been sarcastic, but Jake totally beamed with joy at the thought of the dark 4 AM-wake last week, where he’d delivered the iconic line when his daughter had woken them up with a fuzzy sounds and small whimpers.

FLASHBACK — PREVIOUS WEEK

Amy had immediately reacted at the sound like set to autopilot. Hoping that it was just a one of daughter’s short ‘fuzzy moments’, where she’d fuzz around for a few moments before eventually falling back to sleep without further complaints, Amy decided to stay put where she was currently resting with her upper body on top of her husband’s rising and falling chest. One of his arms was protectively wrapped slouched around across her back whilst the other was stretched out to the side across the empty part of the mattress.

Silence did not ensue the fuzz though, but instead a loud wail-turned-cry. Amy loved her daughter to pieces, but exhausted could not describe what the mother felt after having woken up just an hour ago to feed.

“Jake…” The name barely came out as an actual word and more in the resemblance of an animalistic sound. Emphasising that she wished to stay where she was, Amy scooted herself in deeper into his chest.

“Hmmm…” His mumble let her know that he was definitely in deeper sleep than her.

“Marcy s’wake.” It might’ve seemed like just an obvious statement from her part, which it to some extent was, but also more importantly a hint.

“Hmm ’know.”

After another few seconds of not moving, neither of them, Amy figured she had to vocalise her intentions. “Check on her… Please…”

“Before sunrise she’s your daughter.” Jake didn’t have to open his eyes to know that this had caught his wife’s attention - fully awake or not - and definitely wasn’t pleased with the timing of his Disney-reference. The always quirky and bantering aspect of their relationship definitely hadn’t dissolved because of Marcy, but there was now a sense of time and place that needed to be considered: a pitch dark February morning at 4 AM was not an exception and Jake knew.

“Jake…” Though she wasn’t in on the joke, Amy’s mumble definitely sounded like the one of a displeased lioness, which was kinda hot to Jake but then again: time and place.

“Yeah.” Well-knowing that it was only fair that he got up for this one, very aware of all the hard mommy-hours Amy put in these days even though taking care of Marcy was very equally balanced between the two of them, Jake lazily leaned down to peck his wife’s forehead before gently slipping out from beneath her. “Show me going.”

“Thank you. I love you.”

END OF FLASHBACK

“Though I do not stand by what the quote stands for, I do not regret saying it.”

Marcy’s cries grew louder - completely drowning out everything else - letting her parents know that enough was enough. Actually so much that her cries turned in to straight up howling. Jake’s attention was immediately redirected back to his daughter, concern showing on his face as he kissed her forehead and made his way over to Amy.

“Don’t cry, baby. Daddy’s right here. You hungry?”

Having already propped herself up onto her elbow, Amy pushed away the duvet to welcome her crying daughter into her arms before carefully placing her on the mattress by her chest. “Hey now, Marce. We’re gonna settle that hungry tummy. Just give mommy a second.” Duty called and Amy skilfully pulled up her NYPD-shirt to reveal the nethermost breast before cradling the soft back of her daughter’s head in order to lead her. Behind her, she could feel the mattress dipping under the weight of her husband as he got back under their shared duvet meanwhile a fuzzy Marcy’s head was uncontrollably and unsuccessfully rummaging the area around her mother’s nipple only growing more and more angry; the crying growing more desperate.

“Marcy,” the mother softly cooed as she tried to guide her daughter to where she needed to be. “It’s right there, baby. No need to get angry.”

Jake could only scoot in close to his wife’s back, watching the scene unfold in front of him with dreamy eyes. This - the same exact thing - had happened countless time by now since a 3-month old ate a billion times a day. Yet Jake’s chest never ceased to burst every time he watched his amazing wife take her time with their little one. It seemed banal but it was truly one of his favourite things ever. Nothing or no one else could compare these days.

As a contrast as strong as night and day, the family bedroom was suddenly drenched in complete silence; cries replaced by the gentle slurps and sound of Marcy sucking. A sigh of relief and calmness coming from the very bottom of Amy’s chest seemed heavily appropriate.

“She finally found it,” chuckled Jake, placing an arm around his wife’s chest to hold her while he stroked his daughter’s feet with hands that made the tiny vessel of life seem even smaller. Some would maybe call it banal but to Jake there was nothing more amazing that this. This right here. His best friend and wife quietly breastfeeding their daughter. He still remembered the first time he experienced and felt that slight clench of bliss in his chest oh so clearly.

FLASHBACK - NOVEMBER 10TH, 2020

Overwhelmed was probably the most suiting word as Jake planted a long, tender kiss to his wife’s sweaty forehead to accompany his hand which was holding her firmly while a loud wailing engulfed the room. The wail belonged to his probably not more than 1 minute old daughter: Marcia Santiago-Peralta. The little bean he’d been talking to through Amy’s womb was now a whole, tiny, living human. She was here.

“I’m so proud of you,” his voice was strained with tears just like his eyes as he spoke those words into his wife’s forehead, meaning every syllable more than anything else he’d ever previously said. He always knew that his wife was a total badass - even before they’d started dating - but tonight was the most solid proof. No one needed to tell him that he’d never be able to do what she’d just done. “You’re amazing. I love you so much, Ames.”

Though not letting go of her hand, Jake pulled back to look down at his obviously exhausted by also glowing, always stunning teary-eyed wife and now mom. Her chest was still heaving in attempt to catch up with the breathing she’d completely lost to the last 10 hours of screaming, groaning, crying and pushing - sometimes all of those simultaneously. Not going to lie, Jake had to admit that he’d been rather emotionally unstable during those 10 hours. On the other hand he did managed to keep it inside and be over the top attentive, calm and collected on the outside for Amy’s sake.

“I love you so much too, babe,” she let go of his hand in order to reach up and cup then stroke his cheek with her trembling thumb. Her body was still in an incoherent state of both exhaustion and adrenaline rushing through her, but none of that seemed to matter anymore. Nothing else. “She’s here.”

Brighter, even brighter than when she agreed to marry him, Jake smiled and gave off a weak nod. This woman was indeed his sun and his moon, his everything, and now together they’d created a little star. The feeling seemed beyond words.

“Here she comes.” The voice immediately caused both parents’ heads to snap out of their moment and in the direction of the smiling nurse who walked towards them with their crying daughter. Looking back it seemed rather morbid, but right in that moment there was no sound more beautiful than those cries. Next thing he knew Marcia was resting stomach down on her mother’s chest. Amy’s hands immediately and instinctively wrapped theirselves around her - one supporting her bottom as the other carefully held and stroked her head - before leaving down to kiss the soft top.

“Hi, baby,” she addressed the little human calmly through the loud crying in an attempt to soothe both Marcy and herself. “No need to cry. Mommy is here and she loves you so so much.”

Jake carefully leaned down, resting a hand on his daughter’s back before carefully pecking the spot Amy had previously kissed. “Welcome, Marcy,” he sniffed, trying to compose himself before continuing to speak, ”I’m your daddy.”

Another few beats of cries, tears and loving words mingled in the room before the same nurse who’d brought them Marcy politely interrupted them. “I think it’s time for you to feed her, Amy. She’s probably hungry and it’ll also calm her down.”

Amy listened carefully, looking up at the nurse from her sitting position in her bed with attentive doe-eyes as the process was briefly explained to her. Jake’s hand was on her shoulder know, gently rubbing it as he felt his wife tense when the nurse told her to go ahead and push up her shirt. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Hey,” he pecked the shell reassuringly. “You’ll do fine, Ames. The worst is behind us. I’m right here.”

After randomly choosing a side and pushing up the shirt, too focused to actually vocally answer and instead just nodding, Amy carefully - as if she was handling fine china - placed their daughter horizontally against her chest and followed the nurses instruction. Marcy was still crying hysterically, squirming discontentedly when Amy cupped the back of her head, holding it still and guiding it towards the bare nipple which she was told to stabilise with her free hand. All at once it seemed overwhelming and clumsy to Amy, especially when the baby kept crying and missing the goal. But Jake could only sit in his chair, which he’d pulled as close to the bed as possible, and stare with admiration.

The need to cry definitely didn’t grow smaller. “Shh shh, Marcy. It’s okay, baby. I’m trying to help you,” Amy cooed.

Suddenly a contrasting silence engulfed the room. Wide smiles grew on both of the new parents’ faces. “Jake! She’s sucking! She got it!” Amy chuckled with relief, once again teary eyed as she snapped her head in the direction of her already looking husband.

Slowly as to not interrupt Jake reached across the edge of the bed to stroke his daughter’s head. She’d only been around for a couple of minutes but somehow Jake couldn’t get enough of her. He just wanted to touch and hold her forvever. “She’s brilliant...” Then he turned his gaze towards his wife who couldn’t stop looking down at what was happening right there in her arms.

She must’ve noticed because suddenly she tore her eyes away from her daughter to instead look at her husband. A fond silence and stare was shared between the two, lasting for who knows how long, before Jake decided to finish his sentence. “Brilliant just like her mom.”

END OF FLASHBACK

“Yeah,” Amy’s voice clearly smiled. After making sure her daughter was indeed properly installed and comfortable, the mother allowed her arm and head to lie back down onto the pillow, yet still keeping her hand on the back of the baby’s head. Her fingers, including both her engagement and wedding ring, softly stroked the soft skin and feathery, tiny hairs. A beat of a moment later Amy could feel her husband settling down behind her properly, keeping her close, and gently placing his head on top of hers. Together in silence they took in the miracle in front of them. Nothing better than this little miracle of life had ever been given to them. The quiet suckling went on, working as a calming sound machine for the tired parents whose eyelids were heavy as yet they couldn’t get themselves to close them just yet. Amy felt a press of lips against the side of her neck.

“Happy Valentine’s day. I love you so much,” followed behind, soaking into the skin of his wife’s neck in the form of a muffled promise. “Not just today, but also all the days before and all the days forever after.”

Shivers of pure love and happiness went through Amy’s entire body.

“I love you too. So very much…”

Without bothering their daughter, Amy emphasised her response by twisting her back to the side to look at Jake. Meeting her halfway, their lips met in a soft, chaste kiss that contain all the love in the world. Not only for each other, but for their daughter and family as well. When pulling back, Jake took a moment to take in his wife’s tired but nonetheless always beautiful features. His eyes reflected the light from the still switched on night light, only emphasising the stars of adoration that already shined within them.

“We’ve obviously had other priorities lately, so I haven’t had the time to plan anything this year… But if you’re up for it I’d be more than willing to work something out?” Jake spoke, carefully keeping his voice at a reasonable level. While he did love his daughter more than anything, he also loved ‘mommy and daddy-time’, which was basically only an option when their little one was either asleep or eating. Or both. It was all about seizing the little moment before it was too late.

A beat of a paused let him know that she was thinking, only to be interrupted by her daughter’s mouth slipping off her mother’s nipple. Small whimpers of frustration immediately began to grow. Luckily the mother’s hand was quick to lead her daughter back on track, silencing her once again. Amy smiled to herself in content then twisted her neck to somewhat face her husband again.

“Jake… It’s okay. I’m completely content with this. I don’t need anything else today or any day ever. This is the perfect Valentine’s day. Thank you.”