#i personally have never taken my own car onto a ferry or bought my own tickets

[oflgtfol]

why the fuck ISNT there a bridge to shelter island actually. its like two feet away from mainland long island. i think mostly rich people live on shelter island so you’d think maybe it’d he like nimby shit. but surely it is not uncommon for shelter island residents to have jobs on mainland long island and i feel like having to take a fucking ferry as part of your daily commute to work would surely be annoying as all hell regardless of how much you want to gatekeep your rich nimby neighborhood

[svtskneecaps]

in the rain

Yoon Jeonghan x (gender neutral) reader

Words: 3k

nothing says summer like spending hours upon hours in a car together. at least nothing’s boring with jeonghan

day 6 of a tct summer collection

(my masterlist)

There’s something about road trips, intoxicating and refreshing and energizing and addicting. There’s something about the ideal of cruising down the highway as the scenery flashes past quicker than you can see, rolling over the hills and saying hello to the horizon at the peaks.

And so what if the RV is old and can’t quite hold at 65 mph on any incline above 20 degrees, and so what if there are two beds and an air mattress for the five of you to split, and so what if Jeonghan blew half his meal budget on cheez its and peanut butter and Mingyu bought more noodles and meat and ingredients than you can fit in the cabinets for meals you probably can’t make on the RV stove, and Minghao brought wine and ritz crackers and Chan showed up with eight pounds of candy and about as much instant ramen, and so what if you almost ran out of gas in the dead space between towns and every time you turn things fall off shelves and counters and leave those in the back scrambling to make sure nothing breaks? Road trips are about the adventure (“Shut up, Jeonghan, they are!”) and a trip without complications is just driving next to cows, and what’s so special about that?

Jeonghan’s limbs had reportedly started to atrophy behind the wheel (“I’m petrifying into a tree, we have to switch out!”), so he’d pulled into a rest stop to allow time for everyone to stretch their legs in a way that wasn’t probably illegal. This particular rest stop, you notice, has several dinosaur statues lined up by the picnic tables, and there’s only one other group there, a rowdy family ferrying food to and from a camper parked nearby.

The younger three, naturally, gravitate directly for the dinosaurs, yelling, “Chan, it’s Chan!” (with the exception of Chan himself, who seemed split between joining the joke or pretending he didn’t know them). Mingyu swings himself onto the tallest of the brontosauri with infuriating ease.

“It’s not fair,” you complain, struggling to climb on while using the baby stegosaurus statue as a step. “He should be struggling the most! He doesn’t know how to use those limbs!”

Mingyu sticks his tongue out at you, scooting away. “Yes I do!”

“He’d make a good gas station balloon,” Minghao notes, a slight smirk on his face. Mingyu flips around to make a face at him too, but Minghao just raises the camera hanging around his neck and snaps a picture, his smile only growing.

Jeonghan eventually steps in and supports your foot so you can crawl onto the dinosaur’s back. By the time you pull him up behind you, the other three have finished with the brontosaurus and wandered over to the T-Rex.

“I can’t believe it, he’s not even going to take a picture.” You click your tongue. “What do we keep that kid around for?”

“Wine, mostly,” Jeonghan says.

You sigh. “He does have pretty good taste.” You take out your phone. “Well, who needs him anyway?”

It takes a little bit of maneuvering to get the dinosaur’s face in with both of yours. The sculptor made the dino’s face just a touch too tall for an easy photo op, but you manage. Jeonghan’s breath is hot on your neck as he presses against you, and you pretend it isn’t making your hair stand up.

And then the picture is taken and he slides off the side of the dinosaur, heading over to the T-Rex.

You stay on the brontosaurus for a moment, watching him laugh at Mingyu trying to lift Chan onto the dinosaur’s shoulders (his whole face lights up and his head goes back; he never laughs long but you can’t look away).

Then you go inside.

He comes up next to you while you’re watching the screen with the weather forecast, tracking the green blob of the storm swirling over the roads.

“What’s the verdict?” he asks.

“We’re gonna be driving into it,” you say, surveying it. “From what I can tell, it’s just rain, so we should be fine.”

“Should?”

You shrug. “If I say anything definitive I’m going to jinx it.” You keep your eyes on the map. “If it gets too bad we can find a spot to pull off the highway and wait for it to blow over.”

“We can’t just wait it out?”

“We’re running late as it is, I don’t know if we have that kind of time. Jihoon’s gonna be ticked if we don’t show and I refuse to get on his bad side.”

“Aw, he’s all talk.”

“I’ve heard Mingyu bring up the story of his guitar more times than I can count, I’d rather not get my own the first time I meet him in person.”

He snickers, and you glace to the side to see him looking at you. You turn your gaze back to the forecast and pretend your heartbeat is normal.

“Well, if he tries anything I’ll tell him the story of my old friends who crashed and died driving in a rainstorm,” Jeonghan says.

“You had friends who died?”

“Nope,” he says cheerfully, “but Jihoon can’t prove that.” He leans his head on your shoulder. “And I’d rather my answer not change because of some rainstorm, okay?”

“No worries,” you say, reaching over to run your fingers through his hair. “Quick but careful, that’s my motto. Nobody’s dying on this road trip.”

Death is not a good road trip adventure.

The clouds break as you follow the highway across the wide flat ranching fields. In seconds, the curvature of the earth’s horizon is masked by a curtain of rain. You flick on the headlights and slow down, sitting farther up in your seat as though that will let you see into the distance.

“Lucky this isn’t road trip season,” you say. You haven’t seen another car on the road for at least an hour.

“Yeah,” he echoes. “Lucky.”

His face is barely reflected in the window, distorting with each sweep of the wipers. You chance a glance. His knuckles are white on the armrest as he stares out the windshield.

“This is nothing,” you say. “It’s a baby storm. Did I ever tell you about the time I delivered pizzas during a hurricane?”

“Did they give you hazard pay?”

“Only like two bucks. Can you believe it?” You click your tongue. “Fuck Pizza Hut, am I right?”

He huffs something like a laugh, so you keep going. “Got a twenty dollar tip from this one guy who looked like he was in the middle of an intense dnd game, and I mean intense. Either that or it was a Lord of the Rings marathon, man looked like Gandalf.”

“But was it a good Gandalf?”

“I mean, I was convinced.”

“That’s not saying much, you were convinced by that kid in a hulk mask too.”

You gasp in mock outrage. “If I weren’t driving I’d smack you,” you threaten. “And he had the hands and bodysuit, too, he was the real deal! You couldn’t tell either!”

He actually snickers, but doesn’t argue. You’d both fought over the privilege of handing candy to the child, that last fall.

“And anyway, that wasn’t even the weirdest delivery I made that night.”

“I guess that makes sense, only the crazies call for a pizza in a hurricane.” His reflection in the window smiles, and even though you’re driving you dare to chance a glance; his face is lit up with a smile, his hand relaxed on the armrest. “Who was the weirdest?”

“Weird but wholesome, it was this older gentleman who spent like three minutes searching his wallet, I mean thank god he had a covered porch or I would’ve gotten even more soaked. His wife gave me these plums for a tip; I looked them up and it turns out they’re actually illegal, it was wild.”

He clicks his tongue. “You got tipped in illegal plums and you didn’t even share them with me?”

“This was before I met you guys. Those plums were long gone by the time I was in a spot to share them with you.” The pounding rain has died down enough that you feel confident enough to peel your hand away from the wheel to pat his thigh. “Don’t worry, if I get tipped in any other illegal foods I’ll be sure to share.”

He swats your hand away, but he’s laughing.

It’s still raining when you pull into the campground, but not pouring. A pleasant sprinkle, really. Jeonghan still complains about it as he and the others try to give you directions to back into the spot. Most of the directions conflict, and based on the way Minghao keeps shaking his head at the others, you probably could’ve been backed into the spot 30 minutes ago if not for-- well, whatever competition is going on behind you. Oh well.

By the time you finally throw the camper into park and get the awning pushed out, Mingyu has already gotten the portable grill out of the cabinet and set up outside, although he’s having trouble with the lighter. The RV is always stocked with six or seven of the stick lighters, but they’re pretty much guaranteed to be on their last dregs no matter when you try to use them. He’s already halfway through the collection, his brow furrowed in concentration as he pulls the spark trigger over and over, the flame only catching for a few seconds.

Jeonghan skips over, calling your name. “Come on,” he all but whines, “let’s go explore!”

“Weren’t you the one who was just complaining about how wet you were getting?” You glance out at the picnic table, which is still getting rained on even as Minghao and Chan struggle to drag it under cover.

“That was just because you were all safe and dry in the RV.” He wraps his arms around you and rubs his dripping hair against your shirt.

“Rude!” you yelp, pushing him away, but you’re laughing, and so is he. You huff, crossing your arms. “Well I was going to, until you started using me as your towel.”

“Well you’re all wet now, you can get a little more wet!”

There’s a barely a damp spot on your shoulder, but he’s got a shit eating expression and even that lights up his face.

“Oh no,” you say, “I’m soaked.”

He grins and takes you by the arm, dragging you fully into the rain. “We’ll be back in an hour,” he calls.

“Text me if you find the bathrooms,” Chan hollers back.

There’s a surprising amount of other campers parked around. A few have adults sitting on folding chairs, outside under an awning, cans in their hands. They wave cheerfully as you pass.

“That’s probably the bathroom,” you note, pointing at the building. It’s so dirty on the outside that you wonder if maybe it would be better in the long run to just take turns in the RV’s shower; most outdoor bathrooms like this are pretty gross inside.

“I’ll text Channie.” Jeonghan takes out his phone, bowing his head to block the screen and types out the message. You giggle watching his wet fingers slip across the screen. He bats distractedly in your general direction, finally managing to land a hit only once the message is sent, his phone in his pocket once again.

You find a playground at the bend in the road, where it doubles back to wind around to the exit. Jeonghan shouts, “Race you!” and takes off across the slick grass.

“False start!” you yell back, and even though he has way too much of a lead for you to catch up, you still take off after him. You see his foot slip out from underneath him once or twice, but the speed of his run keeps him from falling entirely. It makes for a funny picture either way, and you find yourself slipping as you laugh.

He seizes one of the swings, all but launching himself into the air. You skirt around his feet, ducking under his hand as he reaches out, as though to pat your head on the way by. There’s a puddle of water in the swing, but you’re already soaked from the rain that patters steadily onto your head, so what’s a little more?

Still, you wipe it off before you sit down.

Within moments, you’ve caught up to his altitude, the height of each swing leaving you floating at the peak before gravity takes over, jolting you onto the seat again.

“You’re better than I thought,” he says, flying past you, going forward as you swing back.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Your head follows him as you swing by again.

“Nothing.” You hear the grin in his voice.

“I’ll have you know, I was the swingset champion in every school and every camp I ever went to.”

“How many schools did you go to that had a swingset?”

“Sir that is entirely beside the point.”

His laugh rings out. “Right, right, of course.” Rain hits your face as you swing forward (or maybe your face hits the rain?). “I suppose that means you’ve gone all the way around the top bar before?”

“Of course,” you say. “And I nailed a kid in the head with a paper airplane from the peak of a jump off the swing.”

That seems to pique his interest. “Yeah? How many times did you manage that?”

“Once, and then they sent me to the office bc the kid started crying, but it was a good once.”

“If I gave you my shoe, would you be able to throw it to me from the swing?”

You almost slip off the swing. “Jeonghan I’m not going to throw a shoe at your head!”

“Not at my head! Just, to me. Like a gentle toss, so I can catch it and no one receives any bodily harm on the road trip.”

You breathe out. That makes more sense. Bodily harm is not a good road trip adventure.

He digs his feet into the trenches below the swing to stop his momentum, stumbling forward across the playground. He tosses a couple woodchips at you when you giggle, before slipping his shoe off.

“Dude, you’re gonna get your foot all muddy and then what?”

He yanks off his sock. “Then you’ll have to carry me to the RV sink.”

“Or I’ll hose you down in the yard; I saw a couple spigots on the way over and those bitches are icy cold.”

He wipes the shoe in the grass before lining up the shot, planting his foot on the ground. “Alright, catch!”

He misses.

When you’re done laughing at him, he tosses it again, this time actually managing to get it to you, even though it lands kind of wildly against your lap. You lean back for a few good swings, regaining the altitude you lost from the distraction of the catch and the laughter.

“Ready?”

Your first throw goes wild. The second nails him in the chest. The third he actually manages to catch.

By the tenth you’ve graduated to trick shots. He leaned over the playground equipment nearby and caught it. He tossed it to you from under his leg, and you caught it. You threw it over the bar and under the bar and with your nondominant hand and backwards and he caught it again and again.

“Alright, time for the jump.” You adjust your grip on the swing.

“You’re sure this is safe?”

“Of course it is.” You gesture for him to toss you the shoe, which he does. No trick shots that time. “I’ve done it before, remember?”

He looks oddly worried as he resumes his position on the ground a short distance away.

“Relax babe,” you say, “I got this.”

He straightens up at the nickname, a smile flashing across his face. “Alright,” he says, rubbing his hands together. “Whenever you’re ready, babe.”

(you like when he calls you that)

You take two swings, building up the momentum. He takes two steps, eyes focused on you.

You let go.

The shoe leaves your hand, and your feet hit the ground, and then the woodchips slide and your balance is lost and your hands slam into the ground too.

He calls your name.

You huff out a breath, and then another, processing.

“Are you okay?” His hand is on your shoulder, and his eyes dart over you as he checks for injuries.

“Totally fine,” you say. “Did you catch the shoe?”

He huffs, half exasperated and half amused. “That’s your priority?”

“Listen dude, I didn’t just make the sickest trickshot of the year just for you to drop the shoe cause I broke my ankle.”

He shoves your shoulder and you clutch it like he’s wounded you, dropping to the ground with a grin.

“Of course I caught it,” he says. “I would’ve caught you too but you jumped the wrong way.”

You scoff. “Alright, that’ll be the next trick shot.”

For a second you think he might actually be considering it, but his phone rings. He answers, listening for a few seconds before moving it away.

“Mingyu got the grill working,” he says to you. “Chan added helpfully from the background that if we’re done kissing we can come back for food.”

You raise your eyebrow. “We’re kissing?”

He shrugs. “If you want.”

He says it flippantly, but his eyes trail over your lips.

You stand up, helping him up after. Your hands linger. He’s still looking, and you find your eyes drifting too.

You lean in, quickly, before you can change your mind, and press a soft kiss against the corner of his mouth. He freezes, and then pulls you close, a real kiss this time. It’s like a fire exploding, and the chill of the rain is forgotten. You can hear a faint “Ew!” from the phone still held in Jeonghan’s hand, and you feel him smirk against your mouth.

You break apart, staring.

And then you take off like a shot across the grass. “Race you!”

You hear his footsteps chasing after you. “Hey, no fair! I’ve only got one shoe!”

Throwing your head back, you laugh, the rain slamming into your face.

(like a call and response, his laughter reaches your ears. it sounds like a sunrise)

[draco-malfoy-imagines]

Title: I promise Warnings: Fluff, Slight cussing Rating: PG-13 Word count: 1,852 Y/H/H - your Hogwarts house Y/N - your name Y/B/F - your best friend Y/C/H - your color hair Y/F/S - your favorite snack Y/F/N - your full name Hey guys!! So this is my first imagine back and I hope you like it! I might be a little rusty but hopefully it still satisfies your Draco needs! I also want to apologize for the user who sent in this request so long ago via direct message for only responding now. Better late than never? I love all of you to bits and hope you enjoy this read!  -s

“I wanna go to forever 21!!!” You said in a whiney voice to Draco who was terrified of the muggle world. “what are you so scared of anyways the people are the same as wizards just without magic…and they use pens instead of quills.” “I just don’t understand why we have to go. Why can't you just buy clothes at a wizard store like everyone else?” You pondered this question, of course you knew why, you wanted jeans that actually fit you and showed off your figure but Draco would just retort with some excuse for not going. “Fine whatever I’ll go by myself.” You said throwing your arms up in the air hoping the guilt trip would work. You swiftly turned and began to head to the Y/H/H common room, “fine” you heard a low voice say in a tone indicating he’d given up, “I’ll go Y/N” you sported a smug smile as you faced him once again, “tomorrow. Noon, meet me in the great hall, no robes.” You gave him a quick kiss then continued on your way, proud of yourself for manipulating the master manipulator. The next day you slipped on your jeans, a plain gray v neck and a pair of converse. Draco always found it odd when you wore jeans or leggings, he was only ever used to seeing girls in high class dresses like his mother, but you preferred a more ordinary look. You walked to the great hall just as the loud chime from the clock signaled it was 12 o’clock. Draco sat at the Slytherin table chatting with Crabbe and Goyle who openly despised you, now probably more than ever. Draco was wearing a full on black suit complete with cuff links and a tie. “You are not wearing that” you said as you walked up, “you look Like a spoiled rich brat especially to muggles.” “whats wrong with this!” He snapped “I think I look good personally.” “never said you didn’t, go and change into the black jeans and white tee shirt I bought you when I visited my parents.”. He didn’t answer audibly but slunk out of his seat and made his way to the dormitories to change, as you waited you took a seat at the Y/H/H table next to Y/B/F. After fifteen or so minutes Draco walked back in wearing the clothes you’d bought him and he looked damn good if you say so yourself. It showed off his personality quite well with the slight bad boy aesthetic going on, you gave yourself a silent pat on the back for your choices. You giddily strode over to him and took his hand, overjoyed to finally get to show him the world you’d grown up in. “You look like an utter twat!” You heard Crabbe holler as you left the great hall to the front entrance of the school, you merely put your middle finger up over your shoulder and continued walking out. Professor Dumbledore gave you an approving nod as you walked by, he’d always supported you and Draco and praised you for saving him from becoming his father or worse, which is why he’d helped get you the go ahead to apparate on weekends between 11am and 9 pm from the ministry. You walked with Draco to the front lawn then turned to him “you ready” you gleefully asked him with a grin plastered on your face, “as ready as I'll ever be” you nodded and you apparated to the leaky caldron in London where no one would find two people appearing out of nothing suspicious. As your feet touched the ground everything came into view and you couldn’t help but be proud, last time you apparated you landed on a flight of stairs and promptly fell down them. “Lets get goin’! We can't waste daylight boy!” You practically yelled as you led him out the door and onto the streets of London which he’d only ever been on briefly. “ok so I want to go to forever 21, the London Eye and a grocery store to get snacks I’ve been missing!” “o-ok” Draco replied hesitantly, clearly feeling overwhelmed. You stepped in front of him and placed a soft reassuring kiss on his lips, “You'll be ok, just put your wand in your coat pocket, muggles are staring because you look like a loon with a stick” he let out a slight chuckle and tucked his wand into a pocket. You headed towards the London Eye which Draco was amazed by, asking questions that sounded silly to someone who’d been exposed to this world their whole life such as“how do those stay up there without magic?”, “why aren’t these people scared?” and “how did they build this without levitating?” As you stood in line you answered all his questions trying to not go too in depth and prompt even more. When you arrived at the front you asked for your own cart and luckily the line wasn’t too long and through gridded teeth the plump man running it waved you on. As you went around the ferris wheel you pointed out the sights to Draco and he stared in wonderment like a small child. When you stopped at the top his knees lurched, “why’d we stop?” He asked with a glimmer of fear in his eyes, “so the man can load the other cars, I promise its ok.” He nodded slowly and you jumped up “lets take a picture!” You excitedly exclaimed, you took out your phone and ushered him over, he’d of course seen your cell phone before but it still baffled him, he just had stopped asking questions. You took a selfie, you both smiling into the camera with the London skyline in the back, and then one of you kissing although your Y/C/H hair got in the way and had to be brushed behind your ear more than once. When you arrived back at the bottom Draco was grinning ear to ear, “We have to do that again sometime!” He exclaimed, you let out a small giggle and nodded to continue your day in the city. You stopped at forever 21 where you tried on too many clothes and bought too many as Draco sat with the other boyfriends looking bored out of their minds. Then went to the nearest grocery store to pick up your favorite treats you’d missed so dearly, chips, instant noodles, Y/F/S/ and more. The sky was beginning to darken signaling you needed to head back to the castle. You stuffed everything you’d bought into your bag that you’d charmed to fit everything, you didn’t want other people seeing you had special privileges of course, and took Draco’s hand back to the leaky caldron which was now only populated with a few witches and wizards. You turned to him ready to apparate when he grabbed your hand, “wait, I know Crabbe and Goyle make fun of me and us but I truly had a great time today and they should be jealous. I have the best girl out there, I love you Y/F/N, and no one could ever change that.” You quickly hugged him catching him off guard as he’d been looking at the floor. “i love you too Draco, thank you” you whispered in his ear, he snuggled his head into your neck and then broke away to kiss you. Draco scarcely said I love you even though you’d been together quite some time, after all his whole life he’d been taught to suppress his emotions. After the kiss and all the butterflies in your tummy had stopped flying around you apparated back to Hogwarts. Almost as soon as you arrived back Draco’s owl dropped a letter to him. He looked at it with a puzzled expression on his face, “what is it?” You asked him, “a Howler.. from my father” he responded dully his platinum hair falling in his eyes. “Come with me, I know a place no one will hear it and we can open it together” you proposed taking his hand, “No. I don’t want you hearing what he’s going to say about you and your world. I know my mother loves you and supports us but my father doesn’t feel the same.” you knew he was right and you probably didn’t want to hear what his father was going to say but you had to be there for him and you knew it. “I'll be ok,  come on”, You took his hand and lead him to a far corner of the castle that Y/H/H had long time used when they needed a break from people in general. “Go stand around the corner, I want to do this alone”, You nodded and did as he said standing around the corner your back against an icy cold stone wall as you sunk to the floor. You listened intently and heard Draco take a deep breath before the ruffling of paper that indicated he was opening it. “ Draco Lucius Malfoy I cannot believe you entered the muggle world, and with that mudblood girlfriend of yours” Lucius screamed out of the letter, “You’re lucky I don’t pull you out of school and forbid you from seeing her, if it were up to me I would but your damn mum won’t allow me as she’s taken some kind of twisted liking to this girl. Y/N is corrupting you can’t you see! Muggles are the scum of the Earth and she comes from them, her parents are them. I cannot control your actions but I can disapprove and hate you for them. I will be ceasing all contact with you. I’m sure your dirty mother won’t though. Goodbye my traitor son” you then heard the sound of the letter ripping itself to shreds and rushed in to hug Draco who had a cold stone expression on his face. “I’m sorry Draco, if we need to stop seeing each other or anything we can” you said through tears, “I know how important your family is and if my fami-“ Draco cut you off pulling you in front of him so you were looking in his gray eyes, “Y/N stop.” He said in an unexpectedly calm tone, “You're my family now. I never liked my fathers plan for me anyways, I still have my mother too. I love you and don’t ever think my judge-mental father could change that.” He slowly reached in his pocket and retrieved a small gold band with 3 perfectly cut diamonds protruding from it. “i snuck out while you were shopping and bought this, its not much but its a promise ring, to truly show you how much you mean to me, I was going to wait fo-“ now it was your turn to cut him off, you kissed him hard and fast through tears that were now falling for a different reason. “I love you Draco Lucius Malfoy” you said when you broke away, “don’t you ever forget that”. He slowly picked up your left hand and placed the delicate ring on your finger, “I promise” he whispered.    

[jayne-hecate-writer]

A whole new me-ish...

Dear friends, it has been so long and I have become a new person! Well, no, not really. I'm still me. I still have a filthy mouth and a foul mind, but writing has taken a back seat to the other things I have started creating.

Since the Covid lock down I have been experimenting with model making and painting, taking a particular interest in lighting said models with LEDs, better known among us nerds as Light Emitting Diodes. LEDs come in many shapes and sizes, plus they produce a very good variety colours, they also draw relatively little power and finally, they can be run from a watch battery. As you can see, there is lots to like with LEDs, but there is a downside, to them if you want to use a lot, for a start you need to use more power than you get from a watch battery. Connecting LEDs to a larger battery pack or power supply is a great way to pop them completely, or build them up into a slowly failing system. The way to avoid doing this is to use a resistor, to reduce current flow into the LED and prevent it burning out. Calculating the value of resisters is fairly simple, but I have to reply on the resistors I can salvage from the various pieces of broken equipment I have access to. In this case, I was able to scavenge the resisters and LEDs from the three broken printers I had in my stocks of trash electronics.

Now speaking of F**king printers, I made a discovery while taking apart my failed Cannon printer/scanner. It had a reservoir inside where the ink got dumped during use. Basically, it had a series of tubes that took the ink from the head and dumped it into a wads of cotton wool at the back of the machine, that made the inside of the printer case absolutely filthy with wasted ink. The two HP printers I dismantled, did not have this system and it led me to wonder, was this the cause of the constant need to replace ink in the Canon? Was it really continuously pumping horrifically expensive ink into the waste bin? If this was the case, what a terribly wasteful system and I can confirm that having seen this system, I will never buy a Canon printer again. I am sure that it had another purpose, other than to rapidly waste ink, but it was a terrible system in which a brand new ink cartridge lasted less than a week.

My model projects started fairly simply, with a small Hotwheels car that I found and then painted, as reported in a previous blog post on here. The second model was a scratch built Star Wars Pod Racer, made from recycled bubble bath bottles, hand sanitiser bottles and bottle tops. Again I fitted different coloured LEDs to resemble engine glow and the strange energy binding that holds the jet engines together. I made the base from scrap wood and cardboard and added stones and pebbles from the garden, all covered with a Papier-mâché and baking soda. The paint was acrylic from the local cheap shop and it is surprisingly good.

From here I moved onto another hotwheels car, this time with a zombie theme and full LED lights. I went on-line and found an inch tall figure from the TV show Walking Dead, who was a character called Daryl. In the show he wore a lot of black leather black leather according to the photos I found on line and in this case, used a large kitchen cleaver. With model railway grass and another twig from the garden to look like a felled tree, the scene was set and I was very proud of this creation. So much so in fact, that I gifted it to a very dear friend of mine who like me loves a good zombie movie.

The next project was a repair and build for a Snap On Tools branded toy break down truck that my lovely wife had been given along with a set of Snap On sockets she bought when she was working as a motorcycle mechanic. Over the years, the truck had been played with by children, dropped into toy boxes and it was looking really rather second hand. The wing mirrors, door handles, rear facing lights and both cranes needed repairing or replacing and I sculpted the replacements parts from superglue and baking soda or from lumps of solder, all of which I carved with files and a scalpel. The broken parts were repaired and finally the truck was stripped down to the component parts and thoroughly cleaned, before being put back together. Once the truck was finished, it really needed a place to sit, so I designed a garage from the 1950s for it to sit in, with an old style petrol pump and a couple of oil barrels.

The petrol pump was a 1/24 scale resin model kit purchased on line and the rest of the garage was built using recycled cardboard and lollypop sticks. I used a series of garden stones and then a tub of sand brought back from Bermuda by a close family friend, some time ago. The sand was a lovely pink colour, made up crushed coral and shells. It is perfect for modelling because it is not the boring granular sand of my local beach, which is gritty, fine and easily wind blown sand. By this time I was experimenting with colour washes, applied to painted base coats. The depth of the colour achieved is just lovely and the lighting effects really bring out the glow of the paint. With the garage finished, a few Easter egg details were added that only the most observant nerd will notice. But there was still a large hole in the model that needed to be filled somehow. Dearest wifey went web browsing found a scale model of a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle and it fitted perfectly into the gap, to be illuminated by a soft white LED. Once finished, I could not have been more pleased than when Wifey took the model and plugged it in. Oh yes, this time I had used a PSU or power supply unit with a timer circuit to run the LEDs as a night light in our hallway to the bathroom. Given how many of  the LEDs I had used to light the garage forecourt, the shop window and parking bay, mains power was really the only option. On this occasion, I purchased a set of pre-wired LEDs that already had a resister fitted in series with the LED, meaning that it is safe to run them on the mains power.

My next model was a Motorcycle diorama, a classic Kawasaki Zephyr, a model kit found on e-Bay that was then imported from Japan. The kit was perfectly formed, it was hard to believe that they had been moulded from plastic, however the detail was so fine, my old eyes needed a magnifying glass to see them clearly for paint or glue. Once the bike was fully assembled, I built a small ten centimetre squared street scene, with a graffiti covered wall and a drink machine for the bike to sit with. The Pepsi dispensing machine was purchased from e-Bay yet again, for just a few pennies and it is beautifully printed onto photo-paper, meaning that the finished model when assembled is exquisite. The nearly completed model once again needed something else and I was at a loss of what to do. Yet the thought of lights never strays far from my mind and I designed a street lamp with an orange glow to look like an old sodium lamp. My childhood was spent in the gloom of sodium lamps, both here and abroad, when catching ferries at four in the morning to travel across Europe. The lamppost was made from a sliver of scrap wood and some tissue paper to give it a concrete like texture, with two orange LEDs secreted in the head. Once finished, I was not overly happy with the result, but by that time, it was too late to go back. The lighting effect was really nice though, but the weathering and fake litter were really effective additions, making it look like the bike was parked on double yellow lines in a very run down city street.

This led (snigger) me into my most recent model, another Star Wars inspired diorama, this time in 1/18 scale, with Hasbro Clone Trooper action figures and an old, rather broken Maisto motorbike. Normally, Star Wars has little to do with motorcycles, but while filming the Obi Wan Kenobi series, Ewan McGreggor was photographed during a break, sitting on his own motorcycle reading a copy of a motorcycle newspaper, while in his full Obi Wan costume. This was all the inspiration I needed and I found that the broken motorcycle model was just the right size for the action figures. Once again, I devised a plan, found the LEDs and used the parts from my destroyed printers. I even managed to use the scanner light head, at first using a variable resistor to adjust the glow. Sadly I over ran the strip and the LEDs burned out. Luckily I had a spare to play with and used a recovered resistor to run it instead. This has the opposite problem to the variable resistor which had too little resistance, being too high a resistance to allow a full glow from the strip of LEDs. I gave one of the Clone Troopers a bong made to look like it was made from the leg of a battle droid, with a flickering orange resister to show the burning spice in the bowl. The other clone was given a spray can of bright blue spray paint, modelled from plastic scraps and superglue. Again, once the model scenery was constructed, I really enjoyed the weathering and dirtying of the street. The washes have made all of the plastic parts look like rusted metal girders or filthy litter soiled streets or heavily corroded chemical pipes. I absolutely love the process of weathering, taking something shiny, well painted and nice looking and turning it into something filthy, damaged and rusted, with just a few washes of colour and stain.

So this is what I have been doing, as well as writing the occasional short story for a Christmas book release, editing the writing club book in time for another Christmas release and even working on the sequel to my first novel, Letitia. So how does this make me a new person? Well, I have finally embraced the fact that I am an artist and I absolutely love playing with paint. I may not be able to draw particularly well and I certainly cannot sculpt in clay or stone, but I can build and paint model scenes scratch build my own kits from trash to compliment the model kits or other parts acquired else where. I have to be honest, it is all such fun.

[yutalatte]

Autumn With NCT 127

AN: Now that it’s September, it’s starting to turn fall where I live. And that means that things are dying, my favorite colors are back in style, baggy clothes are acceptable once again and I’m feeling sentimental. So I hope you like this. 

If you want me to add other members, just let me know.

Johnny

Johnny seems like such a road trip person to me. It doesn’t even matter where the destination is. He’d hold your hand and you’d sing songs at the top of your lungs. Maybe you’d drive through the mountains where the roads are winding and nerve-wracking, but the view at the end makes it so worth it. Or on the other hand, he might drive you to the downtown of whatever city you were in and you’d wander around the stores for awhile, gazing at the decorations lining the windows before returning to the car to find another destination. Ultimately, as long as the two of you were together, you’d go anywhere. Fall brought out the adventure in the two of you and when you weren’t focussed on the road or whatever attraction you’d just reached, you’d spend your time falling in love. On nights when it was raining and you were both too tired to go any further, you’d stop at a hotel and spend the night wrapped up in each other. Seeing the world with the love of your life was all either of you had ever wanted. 

Taeil

I feel like Taeil would love to go shopping at different stores with you. Not necessarily to buy anything, but just to be out in the fall. You would get coffees and look at all of the holiday decorations as they were put up little by little throughout the season. You’d go shop for Halloween costumes together and try on cute scarves and beanies. It would turn into your own personal fashion show that would result in unstoppable laughter. His hand would stay intertwined with yours, both inside his coat pocket to prevent them from getting too cold. He’d steal quick, affectionate glances at you, finding it unbearably cute that your nose and cheeks were turning pink because of the cold. If your face ever got too cold, he’d put his warm hands on your cheeks and give you sweet eskimo kisses. At the end of the day, you’d both be worn out from your antics and just fall asleep on the couch together.

Taeyong

Taeyong would love for the two of you to dress up together for Halloween. You’d pass out candy to the children in the neighborhood and Taeyong’s face would just light up whenever one of them came up to you two in the cutest costume gawking at how their favorite superhero (or whoever you decided to dress up as) was real. You would both finish off what was left of the candy (not much) while watching reruns of the Harry Potter movies. On the cold November nights after Halloween, you sat behind Taeyong, your head rested on his shoulder and your arms around his waist, while he wrote new music. It helped him to have you there for support and if he ever seemed to be getting too worked up over a certain line in the chorus or anything else, you’d be there to pull him away and just love on him until he was no longer stressed. Though at that point, he was too consumed with kissing you to worry about going back to writing.

Yuta

Listen, Yuta is such a soft boyfriend. He just wants to do all the cute couple things with you and he just wants to be cuddly and sweet and make you happy (I’m going to cry, I love Yuta so much, pls send help). Get ready to have a horror movie marathon because he just wants you to hide in his arms for seven hours straight (and also just completely forget about the movie and makeout with him). But of course, this is immediately followed by a Halloweentown movie marathon because they’re fall classics and also great movies to remove all the scary thoughts. Yuta would take you to a pumpkin patch so that the two of you could go on a hay ride, and sit by a bonfire, and pick out your own pumpkin to carve back at home. You two would probably end up adopting a puppy within a week of fall beginning because you’re both dangerously impulsive, but also because how cute would it be to take walks in the park with your cute doggo, wearing matching scarves and snuggling while watching your puppy play in the leaves ?? (I need a moment.)

Doyoung

In bed. All day. Doyoung loves being a homebody on most days, but now that the weather is becoming colder and flu season is starting up, he has more excuses reasons as to why he just can’t make it to that sporting event or why he can’t go out with some friends (“I just don’t want to get you all sick, I’m thinking of what’s best for you.” *taeyong rolling his eyes excessively and you giggling in the background*). So, every moment that he can spend at home, in pajamas, with you, he does. You’ve already had five movie marathons in one month and despite your constant pleading to go get groceries and make some healthy, homemade food, Doyoung refuses and just continues to order takeout. But it’s not just because he doesn’t feel like leaving the house. It’s because he genuinely wants to spend all of these moments with you. He wants to be as close to you as possible. His arms are always wrapped around you and of course, you reciprocate all of the affection. Neither of you has ever felt so content.

Jaehyun

I think Jaehyun would be up for whatever you wanted to do, as long as at the end of the day you were both safe and warm in each other’s arms. You’d lounge around in one of his sweatshirts (and a scarf that he learned how to knit for you at some point), while he cooked a warm meal for the both of you. You would spend a few nights at a local fair riding the ferris wheel and snuggling to fight off the cold. You would get hot chocolates that inevitably caused one of you to have whipped cream on your nose. There wouldn’t be much to say in these moments, your adoring gazes spoke for themselves. At one point you tried to tag along to a bonfire with a few other members, but their relentless teasing about how sickly in love the two of you were made that a one-time event. When the end of the day came, Jaehyun would softly sing you to sleep, only pausing to kiss your nose and forehead.

Winwin

There’s just so many adventures to be had. You know that one coffee shop that looks cute, but you’ve never been to because you have trust issues with coffee made outside of your own brewer or Starbucks? Sicheng would take you there. (And it’s actually some of the best coffee you’ve ever had.) He would take you to all of the fall festivals that are held each year and you’d have a whole wall of polaroids that you’d bought at each event. The both of you would be experts on the different ciders and foods that were set out at different booths. Whenever you’d get too cold, he would wrap you up in coats and scarves and just giggle contently at the bundled mess that you are. He would glow under the warm street lights and sometimes the two of you would just be caught up staring at each other and smiling. For the two of you, fall is a time to make special memories and to do all the things that you don’t do otherwise.

Mark 

Mark is such an energetic ball of fluff. There’s just so much he wants to do and see with you and his determinedness to do them knows no bounds. For the past two years, the two of you have participated (and won) in a pumpkin carving contest. Mark still holds the record for the most bobbed apples in under a minute. He most definitely has taken you to every music and arts festival within close distance and you now may need him to help you put some more shelves up because the amount of fair souvenirs he’s won for you have taken up all the space you have. Also, I would bet money that he’s tried to hand knit you a scarf just because he’s a cutie. (Someone pls give him best boyfriend award.) He would love to decorate for fall with you and to decorate sweets together. He would love seeing you get bundled up to go somewhere and would just giggle uncontrollably at how cute you were. Of course, he himself didn’t dress warm enough, so he’d end up zipped inside of your oversized coat to stay warm, the two of you looking like a two-headed amalgamation as you walked down the street, but at least you were both warm and happy. There would never be a dull moment with him and when both of you were beyond worn out, you’d just sit in front of the TV with bowls of Halloween candy watching old horror movies. Then Taeyong would walk in and have to hold back tears because his baby Mark is growing up so fast (lol someone stop me)

Haechan

While fall is a wonderful time for many reasons, it also includes the start of a new school year. So, you and this baby sunshine suffer through exams together, but don’t worry, there’s still so many happy times. Part of Haechan’s personality is just bringing joy to every situation so he would make sure that you made the most of the fall season in light of your studies. You would spend hours at coffee shops together laughing until your sides hurt. You’d go to haunted houses together and it would always end with the two of you clutching onto one another. He would never let you slip into a study slump, always making sure that you were eating enough and keeping you from getting too stressed (which usually involves giving up one of his sweaters for you). You’d return the favor and it would bring you closer together each day. You’d spend late nights talking on the phone about anything from why this history project was specifically designed to make you suffer to sweet confessions of adoration.