#i really need to get a proper editing program again at some point

[foxesonstilts]

hello franzivo crew pls enjoy these mix covers i ended up not using because they were too sad :)

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

TBB S3- some thoughts that've been on my mind

Hello friends, I've had some thoughts on some plot elements on S3 for a while and some ideas on how they could've been tweaked to work better. There's already been so much discourse; I just wanted to add my own perspective because the potential was there. And again, I wanted to see if these ideas could've worked well within the rest of the story without significant rewrites. (This is my brain trying to make sense of everything I felt missed the mark).

I also have more Tech thoughts because man, I'll never get over how he was handled.

Edit: btw, NOTHING will ever stop me from loving this show or these characters. I still think TBB is amazing and has peak SW content. I just sometimes ponder certain choices made.

Crosshair's Hand: I concur with everyone that the infamous hand chop really didn't make any sense narratively. My perspective on Crosshair's important shot wouldn't have changed if he had his hand. Crosshair overcame because he had support from his family, not because he suddenly could shoot 100% accurately again. From a shock value POV (and just straight up whump angle), the hand chop works. But that adds nothing to the narrative or significance to the characters. Crosshair could've gotten hurt in any other number of ways and the story wouldn't really change. CX-2 and his comrades still had our favorite sniper at their mercy. Crosshair was in deep trouble no matter what.

Personally, I wouldn't have taken the hand. But if we HAD to keep that part in, the only way it really would've worked was if CX-2 was either Tech or had a stronger relationship to Crosshair in general. While I think everyone would still agree the hand chop really wasn't really needed, the scene would've had a stronger impact. Another thing would to have a stronger reaction to it in general. Crosshair might be high on adrenaline, but the fact that he barely reacts to it makes the whole thing feel like it was done for shock value only. Which I'm sure wasn't the writers' initial idea. This man just went through a traumatic amputation. The least they could've done was give him a scene where he says something about it to one of his brothers.

CX-2: The whole CX subplot needed some more substance in general, but for now let's focus on our main man, CX-2. I was more under the impression that he was Crosshair's shadow than Tech, but either way, they just needed to give him more to do. Technically, he did fulfill his purpose within the story: he successfully delivered Omega to Hemlock. Then, he just dips until the finale. I think had they built up more of rivalry between him and Crosshair, there would've been more emotional weight. He gets skewered by Hunter and that's it. He cuts off Crosshair's hand because... he's petty? But Hemlock would just replace Crosshair's hand anyway. (Again, the hand chop wasn't necessary).

I don't know if it would fix anything without doing major rewrites, but I think having Crosshair and CX-2 face off again in "Point of No Return" would've helped. For example, Crosshair tries to hold him off to let Omega escape. Omega, seeing her brother in peril (as well as everyone else), chooses to give herself up. Crosshair could still chase after them to fire the tracker. I don't know if this would've helped, I'm just throwing ideas out here. At the end of the day, having CX-2 as a more established character in terms of his relationship to Crosshair would've given the entire subplot a huge boost. He is the ghost of Crosshair's future. A ghost of a permanent future. Not only that, but he was a brother turned into a monster. They didn't need to go out of there way to give him an entire episode, but some more scenes dedicated to the CX program overall would've been nice.

Tech: I already talked about my frustrations enough so I won't rehash them. However, I will share what's been on my mind concerning him and that's the why. Why didn't we get proper closure that we got for Kanan? Heck, Maul got more closure than Tech did. I almost cried watching House of the Dragon S2 premiere when one of the main characters was shown still mourning a death from S1. Tech never got any of that. So, why didn't he? I've asked myself that question plenty of times. The reasons I came up with are: time jump, soldiers, and priorities. But let's be honest, they're not the strongest reasons and don't excuse the poor handling of a beloved character. Tech deserved better period.

5 months is a quite a bit of time. For some people, 5 months is enough time to grieve. For others, it's barely time at all. Given their upbringing, Echo, Hunter, and Wrecker tried to carry on. Omega, meanwhile, doesn't come from that perspective. She reacts strongly. And with her circumstances on Tantiss, she wouldn’t really have the time to grieve properly. Crosshair adds it to the list of things he feels guilty about (that's the implication I'm getting).

Because they're all soldiers except Omega, the hug it out and cry method wasn't something we were gonna get realistically.

Their priorities also have changed too in those 5 months. Hemlock became an even more terrifying threat. He had Omega. He had Crosshair. I think in Hunter's mind, he was so focused on getting Omega back and keeping her safe that it kept him from really acknowledging Tech's death. Wrecker kinda follows along with Hunter. Crosshair is the only person who really acknowledges the true pain of losing Tech but it's only when he's pushed to his most vulnerable. I honestly expected Omega to say something about it as well. Nope.

In conclusion: everyone got so tied up in escaping Hemlock and saving Omega that they refused to acknowledge Tech?

I mean, I guess that kinda makes sense. But it doesn't make the situation any better. To make it better (other than straight up reviving him), we'd need an episode or at least an entire scene in at least one episode to talk about it. Have the characters open up or have a moment to sit and just process that it's been that long. Crosshair going "CF99 died with Tech" doesn't count. Heck, Crosshair is the one really struggling here. He'd benefit most from having good cry and hugs. Problem is, when I look back, I don't know which episode could fit a "Tech closure" scene. The best options would be "The Return," "Bad Territory," or "The Harbinger." But other plot elements kinda take over and it would require significant rewrites in order to make the Tech stuff work without feeling shoehorned in.

Ok, rant over.

[slowestlap]

i have to shoot my shot and ask - HOW on earth do you make your gifs so crisp. they're so clean its literally out of this world!!!!!! when your gifs are on my dash i almost always know its you just by the QUALITY of the gif. help a girl out!!!

Hii! Thank you!! <3 I'm happy with the way my giffing process now goes but it's taken years and a few different fandoms and stumbling upon good tutorials which is why i decided to make one of my own too.

I still love figuring out new things to try and hopefully you can get some new tips to your process from me too. Under the cut is a long af post about gif making, focusing on some basic stuff and sharpening/coloring tips.

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WAY TOO LONG INTRO

Before i get to the photoshop part, the base stuff is super important: You can't turn a very bad video into great gifs since there's only so much photoshop can do BUT you can turn a good video into great gifs. So, obviously the original video quality matters a lot.

I religiously stand by the correct tumblr size dimensions (see example, the numbers mean the width. Height doesn't really matter). However in 3 column sets i’ll sacrifice that one pixel and would make them all 177px. The empty space between gifs in 2 column sets is 4px, in 3 column sets it's 4px + 4px.

Since tumblr can only properly handle 540 gif pixels in the same row, sets with two wide gifs side by side can be laggy to scroll by. So for example, 268px gif will not be as sharp as 540px gif (if you click on it to see it bigger), since it legit has only half of the pixels, but if you plan to post 2 gifs in the same row, the 268px will look better on the dash in the gif set since it’s correctly sized for the best dash result.

I download videos when i can (dl is always better than screen recording), so that's youtube, instagram/twitter etc. Streaming sites/broadcasts i have to screen record and i use OBS to do it. It's the best i've tried for hq recording. I record with 60fps and use display capture. OBS is a heavy program, as is photoshop, so a good enough computer is also super important imo. I used to make gifs with a laptop of 4gb ram/128gb emmc and lost my mind after all the crashing and spent 1k€ on a new one. Basically, have as much performance as you can afford, and editing experience will be much much more pleasant. Of course gifs can be done with an average computer too, it'll just likely be slower and clumsier and you need more patience 😫

Also, i've gotten rid of the urge to be the first to post a gif set when new content drops. I'm not the fastest, i always do every coloring from the scratch. I save to drafts to see how it looks like on mobile, i go back to ps to correct the things that don't look right (too dark/bright, too green/yellow/red, too slow/fast), i make the changes, then save to drafts again and then post. I'd rather post a set i'm happy with than to post quickly knowing i could've made it look better with just a bit more time. (It'd bother me and i'd go back and re-color for my own peace of mind 😅) And i just wanna say it's totally fine when people make gifs of the same stuff!! The more the merrier, no need to think only the first to gif something somehow now has the rights to that moment. I just never get the best result if i try to hurry, so i’ve stopped trying to get my sets out asap. I’ll post when i’ll post.

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SHARPENING

All these words and i haven't even gotten to the point yet 🫣 But fine tuning the details won't work if they don't have a proper base at first. Which!!! Finally brings us to your question:

I'm not sure if the order really matters but the main steps i do in this order: once the layers have been converted to video timeline and video timeline is converted into a smart object -> smart sharpen -> crop -> resize -> coloring

I like to sharpen things first, to me it makes sense to do it before resizing because after resizing you've already lost some pixels, so feels better to sharpen when you still have all the original pixels.

All the above steps (sharpening, cropping, resizing) will affect how the gif looks, so i do the coloring as the very last thing so i can better see how the end result will look.

To me sharpening and coloring go hand in hand, and you use both of them to get the best result. Sharpening obviously does what it says but good coloring will help to make the gif look cleaner and smoother too.

Finally, examples!! The key to a sharp result in my process is 2 sharpening layers. The main layer and the second layer.

Enjoy looking at judgy max f i giffed last year and chose to use as an example here. The source video quality was 1080px and i screen recorded with OBS.

I use photoshop CC2019 so cannot guarantee that these will work the same way in other ps versions. As always, it's about fuckin around and findin out 🙏🏻

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1. Example with resizing done, but no sharpening or coloring (blurry and ungood)

2. Example with resizing and main sharpening layer (already much better)

3. Example with second sharpening layer included (more depth, dark spots are darker, almost too strong of an effect but coloring will fix that)

4. Example with all of the above + coloring (the final result)

5. The final result as a gif

And how did we get that result?

Main sharpening layer settings (yes, it’s in finnish but i think the options are in the same place in every language):

Because the sharpening is quite heavy, I double click on this thingy (red circle) in the layers panel to lower the opacity to 50-70%

The middle layer is gaussian blur, which i’ve set to 0,2.

So basically i intentionally oversharpen the gif and use the opacity function and blur to soften the effect. Dumb or smart, who knows not me, but it’s working for me so i’m rolling with it.

The top layer is the second sharpening layer. A godsend trick i’ve learned along the way: (the difference between the example photos 2 and 3 above)

(I've created an action, so i just gotta push one button and it'll run thru these sharpening settings, ie. i don't have to manually click thru these every time, saves crazy amount of time)

Wasn't sure at which point i'll mention this so i'm just putting it here: when saving the gif for web, i almost always use adaptive and diffusion.

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COLORING

I’m not gonna go thru every coloring thing in my process since this is already so long hsdkfjdkjgkd but i’ll give some info on what i usually do and some tips i've found helpful.

My style is quite natural and i prefer colder tones. I hateeeee overly green/yellow/red skintones that are caused by bad lighting so I always try to correct that. The below stuff is more or less what i did to color that example gif too. (Everything is down to preference, these are just the way i like to color)

My most commonly used coloring layers:

Curves. Utilize the eye dropper tools, pick white eye dropper and click on a white spot on the gif (not pure white tho since it won’t do anything) and it will turn that spot to 100% white and correct the other colors at the same time. Black eye dropper will turn a dark spot you picked to 100% black. It can be super effective, just try a spot, undo, try another spot, undo, until you find what looks good. If you like the result but it’s too strong, lower the layer opacity. And of course you can just simply drag the curve up and get brightness that way. There are times when the eye droppers won't work nicely but it's always worth a try.

Levels. Works similarly to curves, they are basically the more efficient brightness/contrast combo.

Color balance. No gif of mine has been made in the last 3 years without dragging the blue in the midtones to the right. I also often drag the green to magnetas side. 

B&W gradient map. I set the blending mode to soft light and lower the layer opacity. Gives the gif a bit more depth and pop to the dark/light parts.

If the dark parts in your gif are too dark, for example details around eyes look messy but you don't want to lower the contrast, then try adding light colored gradient map (light yellow-white or light blue-white etc) and set it to soft light and play with opacity. It will give light and brightness to the gif without making things blinding and not losing much contrast.

Photo filter. I’m almost always going for cold blue and 10-20 setting. (Orange filters can give a nice effect too, if you want to bring some warmness to the gif.)

Vibrance. Always adding at least a little bit, helps colors to pop and makes skintones look nicer.

Selective coloring. Just drag them sliders to left and right to see what works, that’s really the best advice i can give. If you want reds to pop, go to red and play around. If you think the white spots are a bit blinding, go to white and then slide the bottom one (black) to the right. If you want some more contrast, go to neutral and slide the bottom one (black) to the right. Same with black (black).

Also, i don't like to do too much with one layer. I tend to do different colors with different selective coloring layers, so if needed i can lower the opacity and it will only affect that one color. Also it's handy to duplicate layers if you really want a certain color to pop, one layer often isn't enough in that case so duplicate it and if it's too strong then play around with opacity.

(Left image below). If you want to correct overly yellow/green skintones, go to yellow and you can try these settings. Then lower the layer opacity to see what looks good. 

(Right image). If you struggle getting rid of very red tones, you can use hue/saturation layer, go to red and just drag the middle slider to the left. (This is also a good tip with POC, when you think their skintone is overly orange/red but you are afraid of white washing. This setting will usually correct the orange and red tone without taking the dark/black color away.)

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THE END

Wheew this is what happens when you give me an opprtunity to talk about giffing 😅 I hope it was easy to follow, feel free to ask if i was unclear about something!! And hopefully you got to learn something new. 

Also these are obviously just my way of doing things, not the Only Correct way, do whatever you like and enjoy and don’t worry too much if other people do things differently. Most important thing is to have fun creating 🫡

[hmcbook]

Like you, I’ve been making music videos in my head for quite some time now and it has come to a point where I simply need to materialize them! But the difference between us is that there’s actual content I can use, but I don’t know how to make videos 😭😂. And since you’ve mentioned you make fanvids, would you mind saying which programs you use (or any good tutorials that you know) please? I really appreciate it :) xoxo

Idk any tutorials, but I can give some tips from my own experiences:

Use a proper program, not anything on your phone or things like windows live movie maker, but Proper editing program. It takes a while to get the hang of it but I promise it'll be worth it and actually it will make things much easier in the end!

I use Movie studio platinum 13. Programs like this cost money (mine cost 80€ but it's been so WORTH IT ive used it for 10 years now) but I think you could also (illegally) download them for free. Just be careful and research a safe way to do this🙏

The clips and music I use for my videos are either downloaded from youtube, or ripped from the DVDs I own (with a seperate program, winx dvd ripper). Now my pirating game is trash so I can't advise you on this but I know almost all content in the world is probably available to download in high quality from somewhere, if you know how to pirate. I sadly don't😭 again, research this bc you can get your laptop fucked up if you're not safe with this!

Start with something simple, just to get to know how the editing program works. It can take a while to understand it so just be patient and try different things! The special effects are fun but more important than that is the actual video clips and their timing with the music. I'd say start with short and simple videos and go on from there.

The best motivator is a good idea that you have a vision about, not just something that you'd think would be popular/trendy. Do something you actually like and wanna see and feel inspired about

And most importantly. Have fun! Making fanvids is literally one of the best things I know in this life. It's so much fun and I hope you'll find a way to make your own!:)

[propheteka]

Sketchbook and You

If you’ve been following me for a bit (or you take a read through the descriptions over on my Art Blog), you’ve probably noticed the name of a few non-standard art programs. This is about one of them!

Things I want to get out of the way before the break:

No, I’m not here to sell you on the program. I’ll simply tell you what I like/dislike from my years of using it.

Yes, I’ll help you with some stuff that might come in handy if you decide to take the plunge.

And now… Here's a long-time user’s perspective on Sketchbook.

So! Sketchbook… it's been around for a while. I bought my 1st copy way back in the day for my (at the time) brand new 2nd Gen iPod Touch! It was great for doing quick sketches on the go. The thing I liked about it over the other popular paint program – Colors! - was the Pencil brush. Not surprising that a guy who primarily draws on paper would go for the brush most like the main tool he uses but hey? I’m basic like that.

For me, a solid feeling pencil was the difference between me drawing on my iPod or sticking to my physical notepad.

Back then, it was still owned by AutoDesk and went by SketchBook Express, SketchBook Mobile Express and SketchBook Pro. Each had their own quirks with the Express series being their “Free" versions. Over on the desktop side, they had things like the Copic Edition – a free program that allowed you to try use the official Copic marker colors in your pics. That would get walked over to SketchBook Pro later on and remain 'till the Sketchbook crew split off from AutoDesk in June of 2021.

Alrighty… With all of that history out of the way, To the Point!

Yes, I enjoy using Sketchbook. It’s the way I draw on my devices when I'm not using a mouse in Illustrator or doing basic stuff in Fireworks. It's super simple and good for what I need. No triple deep menus of things it can do that you need proper classes to learn to take full advantage of. Since it’s always had a mobile version (maybe that was it’s original platform), the menus are simple and easy to hide. You can import, export and build your own brushes from scratch. In the version that released closest to this writing (the October 2022 release), they even added something close to what was lost during their split from AutoDesk – a really neat color feature. Although it (currently) lacks the Copics from before, it makes up for that in both the ability to select colors and import, export and build whole color books.

Does this mean I’m recommending it? Not really.

I dig it, sure… but those used to neat things like the ability to save out timelapse videos from your desktop files or native 3D models or even just being able to add text will find it lacking. The formats it uses – TIFFs and PSDs - are fine for some. I personally like to work in PNG so I have to be careful to save out my layers individually or the whole thing will be flattened. Same goes with saving things in general. Like with any program, you need to be sure you’re saving things in the right file. I’ve noticed my copies of SB tend to remember the last file name used, auto filling the field. If I’m going too fast, I face a real risk saving over an older project.

The only thing I can recommend is to try before you buy.

How does one do that when the program is a one-time-fee dealie? Well… before the split, AutoDesk made the last version of SBPro free for everyone. I don’t normally do this ‘cause it’s a bit of a dick move and links will change as time goes one but I’ll drop a link to it and the archived page for the Much older Copic Edition in the next bit. Just understand that, for as good as Sketchbook is and for as long as it has been around, it’s kind of starting from scratch again with their newfound independence.

That’s about all I have to say about the subject. All in all, I enjoy using Sketchbook and have found it worth the price over the years. If You want to give the program the best shot it can, here’s some links that might help you along the way:

Sketchbook – The main site. Gets you the latest versions and a little more.

Extras Page – Like the name suggests, this has extras. Stuff like downloadable brush sets and some color books.

SketchBook Pro Free Brush Mega Set – Thanks to the hard work of a redditor, this is the best way to get damn near every free brush set that was offered by AutoDesk over the years.

AutoDesk SketchBook ver 8.7.1 – A link to the last edition they released before the split. It is free and comes with access to all the stuff the old Pro version did (Copics, perspective grids, other non-standard stuff I can’t remember). You can still import/export/build brushes with this.

SketchBook Copic Edition – What it says on the tin. This old version allows you the (at the time) new feature of the official Copic color book… and not much else if I remember right. It predates a lot of improvements. I don’t even remember if you could import brushes. It’s the least sketchy way to try out the basics of Sketchbook before you decide on jumping in completely.

If this helped you make a decision, I’m both shocked and amazed. Personally, I’d give one of the older copies a shot if they’ll run on your gear (That Copic one is OLD). Between the simple interface that knows when to get out of the way to the newer features they Just introduced, I think it’s worth it if only to try it.

[iraprince]

hello! do you have any advice for switching from traditional art to digital? (i recently ran out of supplies so im relegated to my computer lol) i hope youre having a good day!

i sure do!

first off i really recommend clip studio paint, but i also recommend u wait for it to go on sale. it goes 50% off a few times a year, so imo it’s worth waiting, but it also is usually on sale for only a few days so u have to stay on top of it. they usually announce on twitter etc. the tools don’t make the artist and obviously it doesn’t Really matter what program u end up settling on, i’ve just been really pleased with CSP and i wanted to recommend it

second: nothing that u can do with digital art programs/tools is cheating and it took me way too long to really internalize + understand that. copy-pasting stuff instead of redrawing it, using symmetry rulers, using transform/ctrl+T to stretch or squash slightly off anatomy instead of starting over -- when i was first getting into digital i A. didn’t know u could do this stuff and B. felt weirdly guilty doing it once i figured it out, as if i was a worse artist for using the tools that are literally built into the software or that it was lazy or dishonest to do so. that, it turns out, is bullshit. any drawing is just a constant series of decision-making and a lot of digital tools just help u make or retract or edit those decisions faster than traditional does. it’s not better or worse, it’s just different, and it’s worth ur time to figure out which of those differences are the most convenient and useful. this stuff exists for a reason! use it! save ur wrists and ur patience and ur time!

figure out file organization early, because it’s something u don’t have to deal with irt traditional art and so it probably won’t come naturally, but it also makes ur life harder to have a desktop swarming with wip files that are all titled “kjsrhrfgdhgj.psd” or whatever. some ppl sort into folders by date; for me it works better to sort by content (i.e. i have folders for tvrn stuff, patreon stuff, different fandoms, dnd/ttrpg stuff, “misc ocs” for characters i don’t draw much and “misc fandoms” for one-off fanart that doesn’t merit its own folder, etc etc; this is what makes it easiest for me to find stuff, but ur system might end up different.) i admittedly still name my files keysmashes if it’s personal stuff rather than work/commissions, but at least it’s all sorted into a category where i can quickly find it again anyway

also, u can hybridize traditional and digital! i frequently like my traditional pencil lines better than what i can do digitally, so i often scan them in, turn them into lineart, and color digitally (here’s a tutorial on how i prep that). but even if u don’t have a scanner, a carefully taken phone photo with high contrast can still be used the same way. i tend to lay my sketchbook flat on the floor in front of a window, squat down and hold my phone as level as i can while i’m taking the pic, and then i blast it in my phone’s built in gallery editor (highlights/shadows and contrast) before sending it to myself and doing the same thing w tone curve/levels in csp. it’s not perfect, but it’s presentable, and it can be a good way to ease urself in if ur feeling frustrated w the learning curve on digital draftsmanship.

oh, and this tip is really small but it’s ended up being rly helpful for me: resist the urge to zoom in way past 100% scale view just bc u can. if there are times where u absolutely need to, sure, whatever, but there’s no point in regularly tweaking tiny things pixel by pixel at 250% zoom bc nobody who looks at ur art is gonna see that and ur just bloating ur own time spent on things and creating unnecessary stress for urself!! if 100% zoom doesn’t give u the control u want, that may just mean u need to work larger to begin with.

set up a comfortable workspace with a Good chair. look up proper posture and try to stick to it. i know we’re all gay and it sucks to sit in a chair properly but otherwise ur gonna hurt urself. take even more frequent breaks than u do when drawing traditionally! screen bad!

also, if ur tablet has a way to calibrate pressure, try that out. a lot of them are set in a way where you have to press really hard to get full line width and over time it can really seriously strain ur wrist; u can’t manually set pressure in traditional tools (besides like. using softer lead i guess lmfao) but u can with tablet pens and u should try it, bc if u can use a lighter touch overall it really goes a long way towards preventing injury in the long term.

this is all the stuff that came to mind immediately; i’m sure there are tons of basics i haven’t covered, depending on how much of a transition this is for u, but there are a lot of tutorials out there written by ppl more patient and more educationally-oriented than myself so you’d be doing a better service to urself seeking those out than if i were to try to clumsily emulate them lol. good luck + have fun!

[echo-three-one]

Good Day!

As I told earlier, I finished my Soap x Reader Fic and yeah here it is.

I suck at titles and that shows.

Midnight Coffee Rush

John MacTavish x Female Reader

Warnings : Smut. Read at your own Risk or whatever.

Cross-posting to AO3 later 😳

THUD!

You softly slam your head on the desk as you stare blankly at the blinking cursor on your laptop. An article is due next week and you haven't really started on anything yet. Your editor keeps on calling you earlier today on how she can't work on last minute submissions. You assured her that yours won't need that much editing and she trusts you with that, but still, a deadlines a deadline.

Scanning your empty apartment room for ideas, you decide it's best if you take this ordeal outside and look for open places to work on. Coincidentally, the local café "John's brew" happens to open for 24 hours starting today. You feel uneasy at the name of the shop but that won't stop you from your goals today.

After a chilly midnight walk across the streets of your city, you finally make it to the shop, it looks like it can compete with the local Starbucks as its outer layout gives off the same vibe.

You push open the glass doors and the bell chimes from above you, this made the barista at the counter turn his head and greet you with a friendly smile. "Welcome to John's Brew!"

You stand just across the counter as you look up to view what the store has to offer while the barista waits patiently for your order. You order some fancy named coffee, wanting to try out why it has a star next to it's name as the barista, who now you know goes by the name "Gary" based on his name tag, explains that it's their best selling and unique blend coffee. He then passionately tells you how the coffee you chose is created by the owner of the shop and judging by the tone of his voice, he's excited for you to try it for the first time.

"Thanks Gary, here's my card." you reach out for your card and he cheerfully accepts it.

"What name should this go by, Ms. L/N?" he asks readying his marker.

"Just Y/N." you say. Gary raises his eyebrows in confusion.

"Sorry, I'm sure I heard that name somewhere." he dismisses his thoughts and writes your name on the cup.

"We'll you're a barista, I'm sure you've heard a lot of names in your line of work." you jokingly reply. It made him laugh as he gives your card back and you make your way to the corner of the room.

The music is soothing and the ambience is more than enough to keep you going, you pull out your laptop as you start typing ideas for your article.

Gary took the liberty of delivering you your drink saying "You looked very focused" and "There isn't that much customers anyway" and you smiled at the service he's done. He stays for a while insisting that he wants to witness your initial reaction as soon as you taste the coffee. So you slowly blow off the heat and took your first sip.

Your eyebrows raised and your cheeks blushed as the warm beverage tickles your tastebuds a wave of nostalgia brings shivers down your spine.

***

"So, what do you think of this?" A shirtless man with a signature mohawk and scar on his left eye approaches you just as you get up of bed. You remember smiling at the view, his deep blue eyes pierce through yours as he excitedly offers a cup of coffee he claims to mix himself.

"Mmm! This tastes, well... something even I can't describe! It's good? delicious? heavenly maybe?" You giggle as he inches closer to you crawling up the bed and reaching on your face for a kiss, blindly reaching for the cup and putting in on the bedside table.

"Not even the words from your thesaurus can't describe?" He whispers as he pulls the kiss away, eyebrows wiggling. Your heart melts at the sight of him.

"I'll tell you the perfect word when I find it." You giggle as you reach for his face and pull him to yours, as he softly crashes his body on you, rolling around the bed.

***

"Maam?" Gary taps your shoulder and you immediately flinch and turn to him.

"I'm sorry." you laugh nervously.

"It felt like you had a good time going on with that drink. We're having a contest as to which word best describes it. If you want to submit your word, I'll leave this pen and sticky note on your table." he cheerfully explains as the door chimes, making him rush back to his counter.

Shit. You thought to yourself. Of course it had to taste the same, even the name of the shop checks out. Your heart starts to thump louder and louder as you put the pieces together, you convince yourself it's just the coffee, but then again the evidences never lie. John's Brew, that exact taste, no word yet to describe it.

You flinched as you turn to the heavy door slam to your left, just by the counter. A man, walks out of it wearing a very fit long sleeve tucked into business pants, you assume it's the manager. Then again, you see him scratching his head, which happens to have a rather unique haircut. A mohawk. Holy Shit.

***

'Congratulations Ms. Y/N L/N! You have been accepted on the writer program. Please report tomorrow for your orientation.'

The text read just as you wake up. Your face lit up in excitement as you squealed like a kid. Your life would change for the better.

A very wet John MacTavish popped out of the bathroom, his face was full of worry as he quickly wrapped himself with a towel.

"What's wrong?! Something out to get ya?" He asked, a bar of soap on is arms ready to throw to the intruder.

"I just got accepted!" you squealed excitedly at him, hugged him thight not minding how wet he was. He slowly wrapped his arms around you and you felt that you're the only one excited about this news.

"Congrats. But what about your life here? What about me?" he muttered, his facial expressions dropped.

"I'm sure we'll work it out? It isn't that far, right?"

"I'm sure we'll work it out"

"Not now John, I have articles due."

"I'm too exhausted for today, John"

"I'm sorry. I fell asleep."

***

The loud growl of your stomach shocked you back to reality. Come to think of it, it's already 2 in the morning and you're almost through with your article. A muffin won't be that much of a distraction. You turn to the counter and see John catering to a lady on a bright red dress. She probably came from a club and now trying to sober up with a coffee. You pretend to type on your keyboard but secretly view the event from the corner of your eye. They are laughing and he escorted her as she is walking tipsily to the sofa. They exchange some words you barely make out and can't help but feel rage bubbling inside you. But then again, you don't have the slightest audacity to do so. You slowly ignored him while focusing on your job. You left his messages on read and calls on voicemail. You feel guilt rushing through you. Out of impulsive emotions, you quickly decide to finish the article home as you grab your laptop and coffee and rush to the exit.

"Ma'am! You left your sticky note." John's voice echoes across the shop. This made the few notable customers look at the both of us in curiosity.

You slowly turn back to him leaning on the counter, his elbows resting on the counter looking at you, he knows what he's up to. You remember telling him to stop flexing his biceps in front of you in public. It's kind of an inside joke for the two of you and he seems to remember it all too well.

"Your word. For the contest." he points out to the bulletin board of sticky notes on the other side of the hall.

"I... can't think of anything yet..." you stammer as you exit the door, walking as fast as you can away from him.

"Y/N, wait!" he quickly grabs your arm. You almost expect that he'd do this even after all those times.

"John I-" you quicky turn to him, hot tears start forming on your eyes as he pulls you close to his warm embrace.

"Yeah. You've been very busy... I know." He mutters as you sniffle on his chest, smelling his musk that never changed even after all these months.

"Congratulations on your most recent award, you know. Article of the month, and the month before that and that one time you wrote about the wildlife in Africa..." he trails off while rubbing your back as more tears fell from your eyes. He'd been watching your career grow, even after all this time. It somehow feels you don't deserve him. And you believe you really don't.

Pulling away, you looked at him with a smile.

"I'm sorry..." you croak.

"Why are you sorry, Y/N? You met someone else out there?" he asks. Then again, you both didn't really have a proper conclusion to your relationship. You initially felt like you were slowly drifting away from each other as your careers grew, but here he is, having the same sparkle in his eyes as when you last saw each other.

"No... but, it's been very long and I have been ignoring you... breaking my promi-" He suddenly pulls you close and kisses your lips, you deny him at first but you slowly grip his arms and let him have access to your mouth.

Longing is the only feeling you both feel right now as you slowly kiss back and respond to his mouth. His kiss gives you assurance that even after all this time he yearns for you to come back, his assurance that you did what you had to do to get where you are now even at the cost of completely shutting him out. But of course you weren't, you also long for him every single day, but life has to keep going, and you believed that he'd found someone else after all those times. But this moment made you feel wrong about him, and it's now your chance to get things right between the two of you.

"You know, I always assumed you're still my girlfriend." he smirks. He is true though, there was neither a formal nor informal break up effort on both sides, just indifference due to many reasons.

"Well, I assumed you looked for someone else... and I'm to shy to ask how things have been..." you croak, trying not to cry again. You realize your stupidity once more, but he wipes off your tear with his thumb and lifts your chin up to look at him.

"You still owe me a word, you know." he jokes as he walks you back to the cafe, arm wrapped around your shoulder. As soon as you both enter the door, Gary greets his boss while mopping the floor.

"You were right boss, she is pretty!" The barista smiles and gives John a thumbs up to which he replies,

"Guess I'll be back in my office doing paperwork, Gary. You take charge here okay?"

"Yes, Captain!" he jokingly salutes and continues his work.

"You done with that article?" he asks, a tone of concern in his voice.

"Almost.." you reply shyly. You still can't digest everything that happened so far, but your heart keeps on thumping and your mind's been trying to scream something to you.

"You know, I could use some company while I do some paperwork..." the trails off, the tone in his voice shifted into something you felt excited about. Something along those words mixed with that accent sends flutters across your insides.

"If you'd want me to..." you reply as he opens his office door letting you in. It was a small office a sofa just beside the door, two chairs infront of a large office desk filled with scattered papers, ledgers and journals. He quickly folds his laptop and puts it in his bag as you take off your coat, admiring the view. Plaques, certificates and awards plaster across the walls, along with pictures of his staff calendar schedules and some other things scribbled across the whiteboard. He offers his hand and you give him your coat, only to be pinned to the door.

"God, I missed you so fucking much." He breathes as you stare at his cold blue eyes blazing with desire, you know full well where this is going and you have no objections. You wished for this to happen as soon as your plane touched the city.

Unable to form any words, you quickly pucker your lips, signaling him to move closer and kiss you. Now that you're both alone, his kisses felt much more intimate, needier and his tongue explored every possible area he could. You hear the door lock itself and his hand slowly caresses your ass through the tight jeans you're wearing, pressing himself so you could feel the tension growing beneath his slacks. You slowly slide your hand through it and earned yourself a chuckle from him, as he moves his lips below your ear and around your neck, hearing each smack of his lip and sniff of his nose.

You let out a soft moan as you feel overwhelmed on what he does to your body, you couldn't focus on what's going on, your hands rubbing his hard crotch, his hands softly caressing your ass or his mouth doing wonders around your neck. He continues to do this until your pants and whines become erratic and fast and stops just at the right time for you to catch your breath.

You open your eyes to him, who seems to be enjoying your reunion, a sexy smirk across his face. You let out a smile whist still panting, and he seems to like what he sees, letting a soft chuckle.

"I remember that look on you. You're up to something.." He recalls as you push him to the sofa to his side, straddling on his crotch as you unbutton his long sleeves.

He grunts as soon as he plops on the sofa and groans as soon as you slowly wiggle your ass on top of him. You could clearly see the building frustration in his face as well as in his jeans.

You quickly undone seven buttons as he quickly tosses it somewhere and viewed his muscular physique as you sit on him. He became hairier and you find it very sexy, trailing your hand down his body, all while staring at him as seductive as you can. He smiles at the gesture as you slowly unbutton your shirt, never breaking eye contact, until he can't resist anymore and got up from the sofa. He lifts you down and you stand on the floor as he works your way to slide off your jeans. He quickly buried his face on your pussy as soon as he sees it and devours it like a hungry wolf. He never dissappoints as the feeling made you shudder, grabbing onto what's left of his hair in excitement. This goes on up until you softly pull his head out and move to unbuckle his belt, sliding his slacks all the way down as his cock springs free as soon as you take his boxers off.

You stare at him as you slowly jerk your hand around his cock, his eyes almost in a trance, as you teasingly kiss the tip, which was slowly oozing of precum. He grabs your hair and tucks it behind your ear as you slowly swallow his cock, giving him a blowjob that you've always imagined of giving him when you meet again. You're tongue slowly swirling around his length, feeling every vein and skin around it. You countinued mixing it up with your hand and mouth until he groans in anticipation and pulls you out of him.

He slowly gets up and shoves all his paperwork away from his desk and carries you to it, spreading your legs as he slowly pushes his tip on your opening.

You whimper at the first entrance, it felt different than usual, maybe because it's been quite a while since you to have done it, but that didn't stop the both of you from continuing. His eyes mesmerize you as he slowly picks up his rhythm, you can see his chest muscles bounce as he thrusts himself deep in you. He slowly rubs the upper area of your pussy as he thrusts, giving you a sensation that makes you wanna scream in pleasure. But given the circumstances, you only let out small gasps and whimpers. However, his grunts and moans are also getting louder, so you decide to let loose and follow his volume.

"Fuck." You whimper as he continues his fast pace as evidenced by the loud slapping noises. He quickly flips you to the desk and continues to fuck you from behind. Each thrust felt like the desk is inching closer to the wall, you didn't protest as you loved the sensation, how your walls clench as his warm cock slides in and out of you. You feel his motions change and you know full well what that means, you moan softly signaling him thay you're also almost there as he makes his final thrusts and shoots his warm load inside you, feeling the rush of his cum drip as he pulls his cock out.

He pulls you up and reaches for a kiss, a long yet intimate one as you both use the language of kiss to assure that you'll still be the same way no matter how distant it may be.

"See you after my shift?" he murmurs as he puts on his clothes, now all wrinkly and messy.

"Yes." you smile reaching for another kiss.

After preparing to go home, you quickly grab a pen and wrote the word you describe the drink, plaster it on the board and make your way out of the café.

[last-necromancer]

((Soon this blog will be switching to my new AU where their stories will change but since there are still many asks about their past I want to put their backstory out. Here is a complete 'speedrun' of their past until the 'present'. Hope this will answer all your questions~ ))

James and Ari backstory:

- Jameson was born on another Hyperion station but his family moved to Helios when J was very young to remember that, Ember was born when J was 4 years old

- J spend 4 years in the special program due to his behavior problems. So he joined the first-grade class 4 years old than others.

- Ari was born on Eden-6, father Sebastian - hunter, mother Maria - cook in their family restaurant. They moved to Helios with their restaurant when they got the chance and few other hunter families working in the restaurant moved with them. Mr. Serino was visiting Eden-6 to hunt regularly selling food to rich and to provide to their restaurant

- Ari had to take care of herself a lot, her parents insisted on her to be strong and independent from a young age. Creating a big feel of loneliness in her from an early age

- Both Ari and J entered the same class, teachers knew about J’s troubles so they sit him with the calmest kid in class. That’s how J ended up sitting next to Ari and how they met

- J annoyed Ari and they fought a lot daily. They eventually bond over the fighting and became best friends. Ari was helping J passing school a lot and often came over to Blacks to help J with homework and learning. Due to their close bond of them, J and Ari form a very sibling-like relationship and started calling each other sis/bro

- When Ember got older she showed huge intelligence and talent for explosives and complex machinery. Unlike J she kept on studying aiming to make weapons for Hyperion

- Ari and J’s high school years were again spent in the same class. J had a crush on one of the most popular girl in school which lead him to his doom. He got invited by her on a sleepover with her friends. The entire thing was staged to get him there and made fun of him. Their fun took a very dark turn. J managed to escape but he never told anyone what happened there that night

- Since the incident, J became very hostile towards women and started seeking attention from males. His behavior was worse than ever and he barely finished high school without getting kicked out. J got in a major fight with his parents to the point they kicked him out. J and Ari moved in together

- Ari worked at game shop building computers and J started selling drugs to provide enough money so they can live on their own. Ari started going on hunts with her father to learn how to hunt and to earn some money on top of her job.

- J started taking the drugs instead of selling them, the dealers told him to pay or they will get the money other ways. Again J told no one about this and didn’t pay since he had no money to do so. The dealers ended up killing his parents and taking all their money. They left J a message that they are even now

- Everyone thought it was a basic robbery, no one knew about the money J owned them and J never told anyone his parents were killed because of him. Poor Ember tried to understand why would anyone pick her parents while J could not look her in the eyes

- Unable to come with the fact his parents died because of him J overdose himself in an attempt to kill himself. In his high state J wandered into Helios labs. The docs there knew he will die so they decided to try their experiment on him to not let this free test subject just go unused. No one survived the experiment, they took him as a joke knowing twig like him will never make it. But the drugs that infected his body over a long time of using them made the acid experiment successful

-  Ari went to find J right after finding he is missing. Asking people if they saw him, they told her the labs took him in. Knowing no one leaves those labs alive Ari went for Ember to form a plan how to get him out fast. Ember went to steal a ship, Ari recorded a message for her parents that they will flee to Eden-6 where they will all met. Ari took her father‘s gun shooting guards and lab workers to get to J fast. Despite J’s horrible state of acid pouring out of him, they managed to get away from the labs

-  They all get into the stolen ship and fly away. None of them knew how to drive it so they crashed on Pandora. They left all their belonging and Echos on Helios so no way to call help. They started wondering on Pandora trying to survive by raiding and stealing from small bandit camps

-  Mr. Serino went to Eden-6 hoping to find them there but they never came. Stayed there since then still waiting and searching for his daughter and her friends. Never losing hope despite his wife not believing Ari is still alive

-  Ari and J blend ‘well‘ and were good at surviving but Ember was too scared and innocent for it. Eventually she tried to help only to step on mine trap and lose both her legs. Hyperion declared all three of them as criminals, if they ever get close to Hyperion again they will be arrested. Seriously wounded Ember and exhausted Ari made J decide they need to join a bigger group. COV was the only one accepting almost anyone as long as you swear to be loyal so they went there

-  J used his showman skills and charisma to get into the liking of many higher COV parts, making his way to Troy. He got Troy’s attention with his skills so Troy take him as his right hand and both girls to live and work for COV. Ember was meant to be working in workshops and Ari at the kitchen.

-  Ember’s health was slowly getting worse every day, J plead Troy to take her to safety, promising his life and infinite loyalty in exchange. Troy sent an echo to Maliwan that an important Hyperion engineer is on Pandora willing to work for them. Maliwan came for Ember and took her with them, offering Ari to come too but she stayed on Pandora with J

-  J did as he promised and did everything to show his loyalty. Troy refused to trust him for so long despite J being so protective and caring for him. Whenever anyone tried to call Troy sick again got it bad from him. J tried to befriend him many times but Troy was so deaf to it. Troy started trusting J after many times J risked his life for him, after J proved to listen to orders no matter what, slowly over time they started becoming friends. Both boys bond over their manipulative and smart tactics slowly becoming even closer

-  Helios crashed and with it Ari’s hopes are gone. Her mother was dead since she never left the station, it was sure she died there. She doesn’t know her dad is still waiting for her so she believes she lost everything. She stopped coming out of the cathedral and never hunt again out of depression whenever she sees the ruins of Helios or remembers that hunting is the trade of her family that she lost.

-  The whole time Ari wasn’t so happy as a cook but she wasn’t one to really complain since working outside of the cathedral was way WAY worse. J pressured Troy to make her an editor since she would fit the position. Troy listened to his advisor and give Ari a place in his editing team. This made her a very high rank in the cult and give her even better living conditions.

-  Very often Ari was coming to work late just to sleep longer and then working to late hours. Troy caught her there once and they finally had their first proper chat. They meet up there sometimes and they always chat a lil bit making Troy feel she can be his friend…

[theshadowedqueen82]

Wandavision Ep 4

I have no people in my house to scream about this with and thus I shall be liveblogging my watching experience. Spoilers ahead, please only read once you’ve watched the episode!

oh? are we finally acknowledging the fact that the snap would have drastically changed the world? looking at that trauma now are we?

I already miss the Wandavision intro. superior to the marvel one by FAR

SWORD HQ looks like a train station. Or the JLA hall from young Justice

they went thru the effort to remove the security clearance from everybody who was dusted haha

my girl Monica getting some recognition in the house! Yes appreciate her!

hmm so SWORD was around before the snap? Working before IW on a space program? It makes sense that their funding was slashed and the program stopped but this could have Implications for world tech

The more I see Monica the more I love her? “I was the only choice” “I wasn’t going to say it” QUEEN

LET HER GO TO SPACE COWARDS

she does not need more time! Like any proper Marvel character she does her grieving through fighting aliens!

THE MAGIC TRICK COP FROM ANT MAN AND THE WASP

this witness seems VERY protected if even their family has forgotten them

“No such place!” Wish I had the confidence of this guy standing in front of the Westview sign proclaiming it doesn’t exist

the helicopter! now we’re getting somewhere

“Careful Rambeau!” don’t worry she comes from a long line of experts in touching weird energy fields

DARCY MY GIRL

astrophysics? a step up from poly sci I congratulate you!

“Dr Lewis” you tell him girl wow I’m proud of her she’s done so well

as an actual astrophysics student I Will be judging the science

Interesting using microwaves. This probably indicates that she does most of her work with radiowaves. Astrophysics is very familiar with all EMR but as far as I’m aware more spectral analysis is done with radiowaves than microwaves, but they’re right next to each other so easy for her to recognize

Analog system of delivering a television signal over radio waves! It’s legit although a little weird they didn’t mention radio waves by name

hello mr beekeeper. methinks this mission will not go as planned

So sitcom laugh tracks sound pretty creepy in a military base

oh I know this show! This is a good episode

...technically all radiation dates back to the Big Bang that’s not important information

the universe knows that this sitcom is literally all we want from the world

so are the credit names all in universe characters who are important? Or is that a massive fourth wall break?

fandom levels of analysis happening here

Hey! It looks like they got more episodes than we did! release the tapes marvel. where’s the missing wandavision eps

unsure why they made Darcy an astrophysicist at this point. She appears to be tracking down people and doing stuff with wavelength emission which there are regular physicists who do that stuff too? astrophysics is more for stuff like, yknow STARS. of the non television sort

So they’re also getting the commercial breaks? I hope they’re analyzing the heck out of those with a therapist as well as scientists

how long has this poor man been crawling through the sewers?

They’re all as invested as I am in watching Wanda and Vision be cute, this makes me very happy

“you want any” HE THOUGHT SHE MEANT BABIES I’M DYING

wow they’re really not getting any of the same creepy stuff we get huh? dang that editing

full anti Mr Rogers moment here

so this is the first time we’ve seen Wanda using her powers in the form of red lightning again isn’t it?

Also like. Full sympathy for Monica but I cannot help but cheer for Wanda. You go girl, one woman neighborhood watch, evict that outsider

she just wants to be happy with her family guys! Just leave her alone!

OH GOSH OH NO THE IW FLASHBACKS ARE HERE

well it is final. This couple will kill me. Wanda’s literally keeping Vision alive through the power of sheer will and created an AU to keep him safe and give them a place where they can be happy

“It’s all Wanda.” Yeah that’s right, this is what happens when your most powerful Avenger is given literally the worst hand of cards ever and no therapy!

Also can’t believe it’s canon that Wanda’s a better writer than all of Marvel

Wanda and Vision and Billy and Tommy on the couch together! A happy perfect family!

Final thoughts: although I enjoyed getting to see Monica and Darcy and Jimmy I cannot help but be sad Wanda and Vision did not get as much screen time (heh)

I am torn between wanting SWORD to rescue the missing town and just. letting Wanda live her life geez people

Also is the beekeeper gone? what happened to him? Did he get shot back into the sewers? Is this why the time period keeps changing?

Stay tuned for next Friday I guess as we receive more answers and questions! I love this show

[criquette-was-here]

Long Awaited Replies

Hello everyone! It’s been awhile since my last activity here. Stuff’s just got real last few months and I am now experiencing some heavy RLS which makes the future of the whole Feverfew project quite uncertain. I’m very annoyed by the fact I have to move the release date over and over again, but, fingers crossed, I’ll be able to manage to make it this year. But before I post any updates, I need to answer my inbox!

@landgraabsims​ said:

feverfew is absolutely gorgeous!! is it inspired by any real-life places or towns? i live in england and it reminds me of a few in-the-middle-of-nowhere villages i've visited c:

Thanks @landgraabsims​! Yes, Feverfew is based on British countryside aesthetics without any towns or villages in particular. It has a bit of everything, really. It’s a fantasy place after all. But I do use a lot of real life references for making landmarks for it.

Anonymous said:

any idea of the date of release for feverwood? just redownloaded sims 2 and im in loveee

Hey Anon! I’m glad you like it! I really hope to make it happen this year.

Anonymous said:

i would die (or pay) for zagoskin omg it looks like TS3

Oh, thank you, Anon!

@katzengirl​ said:

Hello Criquette! I don't have a challenge or a question or a request. I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate the things you've shared with us! I hope you're having a good day.

Hello Kristina! That is so sweet, thank you ^___^ I hope you’re doing fine too!

Anonymous said:

Hi there, Criquette. Been having fun with your Rural Charm set and the Better Lighting.  Ran into one small problem with the RC. One of the narrow curves picks up the texture from a road section with a crosswalk, so that looks a bit odd (30degree inner?).  And a question - is there a Better Lighting for the Iron Bracket street lamp with the seasons banner?  Thought the iron bracket would work, but it's not. Anywho, Thank You for ALL the work you put into making our hoods look fantastic!

Hey Anon! Thanks! Depending on the road DR you’re using, there can be some  texture issues here and there since Rural Charm is optimised for road texture without any markings (apart from the broken white line). As for the Iron light post with a banner – no. I’ve only made 2 Maxis’ base game lamp posts.

Anonymous said:

It's amazing how this one game embraces so many different types of players. I'm planning to create my very own nh from scratch, and I'd be a liar not to recognize how your game pics inspired me to the task (not to mention your ever impressive work of hood deco cc throughout these years). For all that, as much as I'm just another anon, thank you, sincerely. But that left me wondering: do you also/still play with the other ts2 game modes or they no longer interest you?

Oh, that is so kind, Anon. Thank you! Yes, I do love to actually play the game. I enjoy building/decorating lots as much as live mode. In fact, I often get carried away during playtest sessions and just keep playing in lot mode and that’s why there are lots like ‘The Tower Inn’ or ‘The Moose & Beaver’ or sims like Tilda Phidbach, WHT-FC28 servo and their field lab.

Anonymous said:

Criquette, do you know something about this project? thesims1master tumblr (the idea is to make the game look like the beta version. I ask, because I liked it so much, but I haven't been able to find the person behind it and I'm very curious to see more or download it, as well as his world, which I've been waiting for since last year lol)

Hey Anon! Oh, I don’t think I know anything about this project, no. But it looks rather interesting!

@forever-evenfall​ said:

Hey Criquette! I just downloaded your Lighting Remedy (because I only just realised I needed to change the txt file and not just download it lol) and when I placed your lighting text in the program files, the lighting itself worked, but the terrain itself was flashing red. Do you know what I did wrong? I literally don’t think I can play without the fix lol. I am using UC and I placed it in the Fun With Pets/SP9/TSData/Res/Lights folder. Should I have put it somewhere else?

Hello Eve! I might be wrong, but isn’t it Mansions & Gardens SP that stands for UC? Anyway, flashing red terrain is really weird consequence for just replacing a txt file. Neighborhood terrain doesn’t have any dynamic light. It has a light map instead which comes with Lighting remedy too. If you only just replace the lighting txt file without putting LR light map into your ‘Downloads’ folder, the only issue you should get would by unsynchronized light directions for hood decos and the terrain itself.

Anonymous said:

I'm having a problem: not all the decorations I put in the neighborhood are showing up in simulation mode, even with the fade off and the long-range vision on. I think there is some code that I need to add to the game files to make all the decorations appear. But I can't find how to do this: c Can you help me?

Hello Anon! Basically, there’s only one type of hood deco that isn’t showing up in lot mode and that is neighborhood effects. All the decals, flowers, fields, all the animated stuff (except for texture animation, e.g. Maxis’ marquee sign) is not showing up in lot mode. There’s nothing we can do about it. Yet. If you think that there’s a proper hood deco that isn’t showing up in lot mode, please PM me with some screenshots and we could try to sort it out.

Anonymous said:

Hello--Anon who asked about additional pieces for the Rural Charm set--I see now, thank you for explaining about the floating intersections.  Is there anything you recommend then, to add on to existing roads? Otherwise, thanks for taking the time to explain.

Hello Anon! Oh, you’re most welcome. There is a tedious way to replace a texture on the existing tile of the real road, to make in into intersection so that it would connect better visually with decorative road pieces. But that takes time. What you have to do is to determine the tile you want to edit using technique described in this tutorial and then you have to change the texture name in the corresponding line. The texture names for the intersections (their index name parts) can be found in any road DR beforehand.

@sunradersimblr​ said:

Hi, I'm just wondering if you've ever done hood deco of a highway rest stop like the type we see in the U.S. along interstates and state highways, just a green space, usually, with toilet facilities and a place for a picnic and parking lot? I need one for a story and thought I'd check with you. Thanks for all the great work you share! 

Hello Sunrader! That would be really nice addition for the highway set, but I haven’t made it. Thought it’s quite possible to make something similar if you use ‘One side exit piece’ from the motorway set and add some picnic tables, umbrellas and benches using street tables & benches set. There’s also many 4t2 deco conversions for toilets and other small size decos that would help to create a decent resting stop.

@nataliepop​ said:

Hi there Criquette! There's a new game called Townscaper which I think you'd like. The architecture has an English aesthetic and you build cities or towns but it all starts on an ocean. It's in early access, so I hope by the time it officially releases they add boats and piers. Look it up on Steam or Youtube. I saw it via someone who usually does Cities Skylines videos. Btw, have you ever played that? Also, apart from sims what else do you enjoy playing? Anyway, hope you are having a good day!

Hey Natpop! Thanks for a lovely game suggestion! I’ve checked it out and it looks really fun. Can’t say I’d play it though XD All my free time (which I don’t have atm) is reserved for simming hood deco making working on Feverfew ^^

Anonymous said:

hey~ i love all of your stuff, you're so talented (๑♡⌓♡๑) i wanted to ask, do you think you'll ever release feverfew's sc4 map? 

Thank you Anon! That’s very kind. I’m not sure if there’s any point in releasing SC4 map I used for Feverfew because it’s completely differs from the way it looks now. The road layout is different, there’s no canal, no islands on the river, hills are different, etc. It has been heavily terraformed and edited during development process. I’d recommend just to wait till the Feverfew neigborhood release.

Anonymous said:

Hi! Do you have any idea of when Feverfew will be released? :) 

Hey Anon! It will be released this year, hopefully!

Anonymous said:

Hello :D Is it possible to get your linden trees as lot objects in build/garden section? I love them and they beautify my neighborhood but could really use an option to select them on lots too :)

Hello Anon! Yes, that’s possible, though I can’t say if I could make it myself. What I can say though, is that there’s a linden trees redux coming soon. It would make linden trees look better and highly optimised so that it would only take 4,5 Mb instead of 60 Mb without any losses in texture quality and resolution. 

[purplesurveys]

1192

Have you ever tried a colorful macaroon? Maybe you mean macarons? I’ve never seen a macaroon with food coloring before.

Do you say macaroon or macaron? It depends on what I’m referring to because they’re two different kinds of food.

Do you know what a macaroon is? Yes, they taste terrible.

Would you rather go to Paris or London? Both sound a bit too boring of a trip for me tbh, I’d rather go to other European cities.

Which national flag do you like the best? I’m not that into flags to have a favorite...I like how Nepal’s has a unique shape, though.

Name 3 celebrities people say you look like. Lucy Hale, Anna Akana, and a local celebrity you wouldn’t know about.

^Do you agree? I never saw myself looking like Anna but that’s actually the most common one I get, so I just might not know my face all that well. The only one that’s agreeable enough with me is the last celebrity I mentioned.

Do you know anyone who looks like Taylor Swift? No, especially not on this side of the planet.

Have you ever been betrayed by a best friend? Yes but that was like back in the fifth grade. I’ve been very selective of my friends ever since.

What color is the sweatshirt that you wear the most? Black.

Do you have a mirror in your room? No. I don’t really feel as if I need it.

What was the last thing you painted? I last painted on a paint-by-numbers kit, but it’s been a while since I took up the hobby. I want to get back around to it someday, but proably not any time soon as I find it a tad bit time-consuming.

Do you correct grammatical errors online? Not other people’s, but yeah I edit my posts whenever I catch a typo or grammar error. I also edit survey questions if they aren’t in proper grammar, just so other people who’d want to take the same survey won’t have to deal with it and point it out anymore.

What’s the last thing you made out of clay? I’ve only done pottery once, and that time I was taught how to make a vase. I wasn’t able to see the end result though since they still had to bake it and everything, and I was only staying in that town for a few days.

Do you go for days without washing your hair? No, I absolutely hate that feeling. My hair starts getting itchy after a day or so of not washing it and it feels irritating, so I feel the need to shower everyday.

When is the last time you had scrambled eggs and bacon? Maybe around a week ago? It’s something my parents make regularly for breakfast, alongside other local breakfast dishes.

Do you like bacon bits on your salad? I don’t really eat salad but sure, I’ll take some bacon in mine.

What is your favorite salad dressing? See above.

What is your favorite kind of soup? Not a big soup person either. I suppose I’m most enthusiastic about miso soup, if anything.

Do you eat a lot of soup? Not at all. I don’t think I ever purposely ordered it at a restaurant either; I only consume soup if it already comes as a freebie with my order.

Do you collect Mason jars to use for crafts? Nope, was never a hobby of mine. This reminds me that I have a mason jar filled with date receipts and love notes on tiny Post-Its from my last relationship, though...I literally can’t remember if I’ve since thrown it out, but I also haven’t seen it in a while...hm. I guess I’ll try looking for it later today and throw it away if I do find it still lying around in my room.

What’s a trend that you never caught on to? Remember when I said streetwear like, literally a month ago? Lmaoooooo I’m into it now. That’s why I’ll just skip over this question HAHAHAHA I always end up being obsessed with the things I swear off in the beginning :((((

What’s a trend that you haven’t caught on to yet, but you want to? Vlogging? It’d be nice to make a video or two of my own.

Do you type fast? Very. My co-workers recently started sharing this typing speed website that we’re all free to try out and so far I’m the official reigning champion haha. No one has beaten my WPM record yet.

Did you learn to type through a computer program for kids? Yes. I never adopted the ‘standard’ finger practice though; I type only with my index and middle fingers.

How many years were you homeschooled? I was never homeschooled.

If applicable, what’s a youtuber you would love to collab with? Louise Pentland.

Do you think you’re successful in life? Not quite there yet, but I’m comfortable with the way I’m working towards it for now. It’s nice to be doing things that I know will lead to something in the future.

What color is the tree outside your window? If you mean the leaves, then green.

What color is your rug, if you have one? (not carpet, rug) I don’t have one in my room but the main one we have in the living room is brown.

What do you take for pain? I take a Biogesic pill for headaches. If I get muscle sores/strains, I rub Katinko on the spots that hurt.

Which pharmacy do you use? I never need to go to those but I can always take a drive to the nearby Mercury Drug.

Do you reapply nail polish when it starts to chip? I don’t wear nail polish at all.

What is this month’s calendar picture? I don’t use a calendar.

What was the last thing you ate? Sushiiiiiiiii. I made a very impulsive and rash decision to buy THREE ORDERS of sushi yesterday. I hadn’t eaten all day and I also had a crappy at work, and my clouded judgment thought buying 24 pieces of maki was the way to go. I’m still in the stage of trying to convince myself I deserved it anyway.

What are your favorite things to put in tea? I don’t drink tea tea, but when I buy milk tea I always go for chocolate flavors. I also don’t like pearls in my milk tea.

Do you wish the Unicorn Frappuccino was a regular drink at Starbucks? I never go for customized drinks, so I don’t care at all about this.

Is there a coffee shop in your town that’s better than Starbucks? Possibly, but I may not have checked it out yet. For now, I like buying from Starbucks.

Do you frequent any coffee shops? Back in college I used to alternate between Starbucks and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf; I’d go several times a week to either because coffee shops were the best place to study at.

What’s your favorite Lisa Frank character? I was never aware that there were characters lol. I thought it was only her.

Which Disney character looks the most like you? Raya for sure, but before her, I felt a big connection with Moana.

Did you go to Disney World or Disneyland as a kid? No, I haven’t gotten to go yet. It would be nice if my first time could also already be a trip with my own kid in the future :)

Do you live with a demon? Talk about creepy question lol. No.

Who has the best personality on youtube? Who cares? < I mean, same. I’m sure they all put up a show to some extent - I don’ think anyone would ever know the answer to this...but personally, those whose personalities I find really endearing would beeeeee Grace Helbig, Kelsey Impicciche, Kelsey Darragh, and Andrew Ilnyckyj.

What are some of your goals for this year? Stay employed, be better at my job, collect more BTS albums.

Does it feel like spring yet? We don’t have spring, so I don’t know what that would feel like.

What do you do to celebrate Earth Day? I don’t wait until April 22 to do something for the planet.

How do you celebrate Easter? I don’t.

Have you ridden your bike yet this year? I can’t ride bikes, haaaaa.

What does your bike look like? The family bike has some blue and grey on it. Not that I ever practice riding it.

What is your favorite place that you’ve lived? I like the house that we live in now. I like that we have a rooftop and that we don’t live with extended family.

Do you shop at Aeropostale? No, and I’m not sure we have Aeropostale shops here. The only reason we ever got Aeropostale items of clothing in the past was because relatives living in the States would occasionally bring home a box of pasalubong for us here in the Philippines.

What’s the last thing you wore from Aeropostale? Idk, probably a shirt. Have you ever been to a church that just wanted your money? Aren’t all churches like that? < Can agree and can confirm. My local parish has been undergoing a ridiculously extravagant renovation for years now and the thing is that the renovation is meant to be so fucking fancy they clearly can’t afford it, so they’ve been pooling money from churchgoers for years now as well. When we could still physically attend mass I used to keep myself from laughing everytime one of the church staff would come up on the podium and ask for money again.

Who is someone you are struggling to forgive, if applicable? I don’t struggle to forgive. I just don’t forgive. If someone does me wrong I just do my best to block them out of my memories, get into the mindset that they never existed, and live peacefully from there.

Have you ever had someone try to intentionally bully you to suicide? I don’t think so, at least not intentionally. My mom always did it unintentionally though, especially in my tween and teen years. She was always very harsh with her words and actions (she still is, but we don’t butt heads as often anymore). I didn’t have a very good emotional foundation mainly thanks to her and I had to claw my own way to get to be the much more stable self I am today.

What’s your favorite type of cereal? Sweet ones.

Who are your favorite kids that you’ve babysat? I never babysat kids outside of younger relatives.

Who is your favorite cousin? My eldest cousin from my mom’s side. I’ve always viewed him more as a brother than a cousin since we did live under the same roof for nearly a decade before my family moved to our own home.

Does one side of your family live in another state? My family is spread out everywhere, dude. I have relatives living in another town, another city, another province, another region, another island, another country. Idk about cultures but that’s generally how Filipino families are to begin with.

What states did your parents grow up in? I’m not saying that.

Do you want kids? If yes, how many? It would be nice. I just don’t know if I’ll ever be able to find someone I would want to marry and have a family with. It definitely seems bleak, but then again I’m 23 lmao. I’m not in a hurry.

What’s a craft that you’ve seen online that you don’t think will work? Most of the shit that that 5 Minute Crafts channel or whatever they’re called puts out.

What, if anything, are you severely allergic to? Grass.

Have you ever had an allergic reaction to an insect? Nopes.

How do you react to bee stings? I’ve never been stung and I hope that never happens to me.

Is there a good hospital where you live? I’m not so sure; I don’t take trips to the hospital frequently.

What’s your favorite kind of tea to drink in the spring? I never drink tea. Never been my...cup of tea? Hahahaha.

What are your favorite biblical names for girls? Elizabeth and Eden.

…for boys? Luke, Noah, Jacob, Seth.

What color nail polish do you usually wear in the spring? Again, I never put on nail polish.

What’s your favorite color that you’ve dyed your hair? I haven’t tried dyeing my hair either :( It’s something I want to explore, though.

Do you ever eat ice cream in the winter? We don’t have winter but yeah, I’m not opposed to having ice cream when the climate is on the cooler side.

How often do you wash your sheets? Every month or so.

What was the name of the biggest bully in your high school? No one got away with pulling that kind of shit in my old school.

^Did everyone hate her/him? -

^Were you his/her target? -

[r00en]

Still Good Chapter 4.

Small talk over dinner turned to a heavy topic as the great All Might gets a bit of perspective he's never seen before as he comes to terms with his feelings no matter what they might be. All Might finds out the price normal hero’s pay every day to make the world a brighter place...and he’s not sure he likes it. 

All Might x Reader (OC) 

Warning: Mentions of gore and blood. It only get’s worse from here folks! Oh...did you think this was gonna be a cute rom-com filled with sooches and wuv? NU! I make you WORK for that love! (Edited, added a line or two and fixed a bunch of mistakes that were glaring)

The lull of light dinner conversation mixed with the quiet muttering of the T.V behind them was soothing in a way. There was so few pauses that Toshi could let his mind focus on the topics at hand or things she pointed out on the program over his fluttering heart and twitching nerves. He wasn't so surprised that she was a decent cook. As bland as his food needed to be she picked a rather mild meat rub before cooking his chicken and even finished it off with a few minuets of baking to give it more of a texture over the rubbery feel it had when boiled. He had to admit it was a nice change of pace and tasted great. So much so that Toshi found himself hoping she would make it for him again. Bento boxes every day in a goofy All Might style bento with a little note from her would be the literal definition of heaven. He watched as she happily shoveled some meat in her mouth, catching the happy little hum of enjoyment she let out. A bit childish, not at all proper but Toshi wouldn't change her for the world. Her puffy cheeks filled with food and utterly thrilled expression over something so simple was adding to the atmosphere. Could he ask to stay the night? Make up some kind of excuse like his side hurt or it was too late for the trains. If he pretended to be in pain she might kiss his side again and his guts gave a thrilled twist as the image of her in the kitchen burst through the mental wall he was trying to keep it contained behind. 

"Sore wa hendesu!!"

The loud shout from the TV knocked him out of his day dreaming causing Toshi to fumble with his rice bowl for a second. He was caught by a dumb game show host. Shooting a glare in it's direction for good measure he gave a heavy sigh and started eating the end of his meal. "These shows are so weird, I still can't keep up with them. But the talk shows are nice it helps me get a bit more of a feel for professional conversation." The little nurse was covered up to her shoulders in the kotatsu blanket, looking happy and content as she wanted for him to finish his food. This sort of set up was strange to Toshi. Often when you would invite someone to dinner it was a bit more of a occasion, treating that person like a respected guest with constant conversation and offerings of snacks and drinks. This was so casual and seemed more like something married couples would do every night. Sit around and watch T.V and eat their cheap dinners only mildly chatting. No, this was far better. "Damn it Toshi stop thinking like that! This is a common dinner gathering with a friend! This is surely how they do it in the states. Stop getting your weird hopes up" 

His eye cast down to the end of his rice. He had eaten far more than he expected himself too given how nervous he felt. He hand't felt 'full' in a long time. If that was indeed what he was feeling. Full, happy and relaxed. That was until she stretched and stood up from her spot. Her work skirt getting caught from her odd position and holding just a bit too high up her milky thigh giving him a beautiful look of the creamy skin that was normally hidden from view. Blood dripped from between his teeth and he snapped his head away to sputter something she thankfully ignored this time around. 

"All done? I can start to clean up if you want to finish watching. You can tell me more about that kid you're training yeah? You said he knew about my work back in the states?" 

Toshi gave a sort nod, trying to stack his bowls carefully to make the work easier for her. "Yes, thank you! The food was wonderful! I had no idea you were not only a brilliant nurse and hero but you really can cook too." The flush that painted her cheeks was a wonderful reward for his mild complement and Toshi made it a point to do that more often. Constantly if possible. The way she wiggled on the spot and twisted some hair around her fingers, trying to look anywhere but at him with her flustered expression was quiet possibly the cutest thing he had ever seen! Oh he would do it again for sure. Next chance he got. 

She scuttled off quickly with a muttered thank you followed by a string of excuses and reasons why she was in fact NOT a good cook at all, facts Toshi ignored as he turned the TV down to listen to her as she set about cleaning their dishes. "So this kid, Midoriya was it?" 

"Oh yes right. Young Midoriya shows great promise. That young man is set to do great things..." His voice trailed off as he looked at his own clenched fist. So frail and skinny now it was so important to All Might to train that boy as quickly as possible. His time was limited and he was growing weaker day by day. The thought clawed at the back of his mind and forced a slight twitch in his jaw. Every day was one day less and soon he would have to live like this. A normal, weaker than average citizen who couldn't save people. Couldn't be the symbol he spent his whole life trying to be. Was this really all he had left in the coming days? Once Midoriya was ready and the torch was passed what would he even do with himself? A washed up old has-been hero who could hardly take care of himself. Hell he was here pressing the new nurse just because of a little pain in his side. Was this really what he had become? 

A small plastic object was thrust into his view causing Toshi to perk up and snap his head towards her and what ever she was wiggling in his face. That sweet smile greeting him as it always did, her hair let down now that all the work and dinner was done but she kept on that cute little apron and he felt his heart swell from gloom to joy. Was it her quirk? Could she radiate some type of joy through close contact? How quickly she was able to rip him out of his self loathing and into a peaceful quiet. "You can't have sweets normally right? I picked up these flavors honey sticks just in case." One small stick hung between her lips as she blinked down at him. "Non-processed should be better right?" 

He gave a soft nod and brushed his fingers against her's again as he took her offering. He thought he caught her little tremble at the contact but brushed it off as a chill from the sudden unexpected feeling of his colder boney fingers against her far warmer....far softer ones. She took the time to think about his needs and cater to them so diligently he was starting to feel like some unnecessary burden who selfishly pushed himself into her life, and for what? Just so he could get all warm and fuzzy seeing her smile? He must not have been hiding his own personal disdain well enough as that same soft hand he brushed seconds ago came down sharply on the top of his head. "H-hey! What-" "You keep getting this look on your face. I don't like it so cut it out." She was so blunt. That dead stare she gave telling him this was not up for debate. "A-ah...sorry I didn't notice I was making one. Didn't mean to upset you or-gah HEY!" Another swift chop and now his head was really starting to hurt. 

"A quit with the apologizing alright. We're friends arn't we? If something on your mind you should say it don't sit there and sulk. That's what friends do for each other." The sudden finger thrust in his face had him lean back and staring crossed at her hand. "Besides what good am I as not only your friend but the new up and coming nurse at the great UA high if I can't even mend the spirit and heart of a fellow employee! I'll be an absolute failure! I'll never be able to show my face to grandma again she'll scold me for sure!" Her speech was so dramatic and heartfelt Toshi couldn't stop the slight twitch of his lips that broke quickly out into a smile. Sitting forward he leaned on his elbows and let his head hang. "Cut right to the point don't you kid-" He chose to ignore the delighted look on her face at the return of his nickname but only just. "And you're pretty good at picking up on others emotions, that's a good quality to have in a school nurse. Better yet one at UA. Those kids are the future hero's, they carry a lot of weight on their young shoulders and I bet a lot of them will need all the emotional help they can get as well as physical. I have no doubt you'll be a great asset to the school from this point on." He had meant it to be some kind of compliment. Trying to match her emotional speed in this conversation but the look on her face now told him he fell short. She was scowling? 

After a few seconds of silence between them he moved and rubbed the back of his neck nervously "...I say something wrong? You don't-" "You're trying to deflect the conversation Toshinori...." Shit he was caught. She was far better than he gave her credit for. The sudden feel of her hand wrapped around his resting one caused him to jump and nearly fall back from the table. "Come on. Somethings bothering you. You're normally all kinds of jumpy and odd but ever since the kitchen you've been so quiet." Her eyes looked so worried but a different worried that Toshi was only ever used to seeing on her. Worry that went deeper than his scar and title. Worry for Toshinori Yagi on a personal level he hadn't felt in years. But he couldn't just open up to her like this, burden her with more than necessary or more than he already had. Almost instinctively he turned his hand so he could grip hers. Any other circumstance and his heart would be fighting it's way up his throat but he was being tactful here. A common sense misdirection. "It was something Young Midoriya said today. He knew you from your hero work back in the states. You went by Paladin back then right?" She seemed to relax a bit "He...mentioned the way you used to fight and I just can't get it out of my head. What kind of hero agency sends someone like you out on the front lines to be a punching bag for the rest of the fully capable hero's out there? Let you get hurt in their place....it didn't sit right and ever since Young Midoriya brought it up again it's been eating away at me. Knowing you were hurt so badly so often...." His hand squeezed her's tight, tighter than perhaps he should have given the small wince she gave in response but she didn't pull away. Only returned the pressure and placed her other hand over his. 

"But it's the exact same thing they did to you." Toshi's head snapped up. What could that possibly mean?! He was the worlds greatest hero, no one could touch him in his prime. He wasn't some striking dummy set out on the streets to take hits he was saving people. "That sounds dumb let me explain. Here in Japan the only reason things are the way they are now is because of you. Sure all the other heros take care of minor crimes that pop up from time to time but you are the whole reason this society works the way it does. You take punches every single day in all different sorts of ways to keep people safe and thriving. No one stops to ask if you're okay, no one gives you a break or time off. For the past twenty years you have been the symbol the world needed you to be....but you were just an object of hope to cling to. A punching back for the worlds problems day in and day out but you did it with a smile. You never asked for anything in return and used your powers to help everyone else around you regardless of the sacrifices you had to make to do it." His side twitched slightly, as if affirming her words. "And you wanted to do it. Use that power in any way you could. Even now the only thing your mind is screaming is for you to help me, even if I don't really need saving. You view it as in injustice that you need to right. Our views on it may be different but I wanted to us my power to help people just like you. Every single use of it needed to go to that cause because otherwise what good is it to just let it sit there and do nothing? If I'm not helping someone with my quirk, even if that help is buying time for the right hero to do the job then what point is there to having it at all? Besides the best look on a villains face is the one they get when their punches just don't work! 

Toshi...I need you to understand how normal heros really think. Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if I was there to take that hit for you....if someone could protect you for once rather than you always having to shelter us. I don't want to only rely on the symbol of peace, I want him to rely on me now! Even if it's just making him food and listening to his problems."

She was so passionate and god damn it was she smart. Ripped that morality right out from under him. He desperately wanted to save someone who didn't need to be saved, from a path they both walked. And she wanted more than anything now to be his hero. Putting herself out there for him here and now made his heart swell. 

Her hands were shaking slightly and he worried more than anything that this wasn't the whole picture but he wasn't going to push her. Not now. "While I might not have your power I needed to do this for the people I cared about. Without me so many others would have gotten hurt and many could have died. I can come back from those hits....they can't. Even if it's minor...even if it's scary how can I call myself a hero if I don't do everything I can to help?" She grinned up at him, that shining in her eyes was so hopeful and bright that he found himself starting slack jawed at her for a moment. "How else can I Go Beyond?!" 

This was the moment in every sappy romance movie he had ever seen where the hero wrapped his arms around the girl and kissed her until she was out of breath. Held her like he would never let go and showered her with love and adoration. But Toshi was stuck to his seat. Only able to hold her hands and smile right back at her. "You keep on surprising me kid. But you know, I'll never stop worrying about you. It's kinda my job. Even if I'm like this I don't really know any other way to be." 

The small laugh that pulled from her warmed his heart but it chilled just as quickly when she let his hands slip from hers to stand. "That's my line you dork. I'm the school nurse after all." As she passed him she let her fingers run over his wild hair and he leaned into the touch like it was second nature and watched her move into the kitchen. Damn it this wasn't good. His heart was thudding so hard he could feel it through his chest. In a few short minuets she had cemented herself as the most kind, beautiful and intelligent woman he had ever met. And cutest, he added as she stumbled out with a few more honey stick and a goofy grin chatting about something else she saw on TV to break the tension and lighten the mood. It was all white noise to him right now. She wasn't his friend. This wasn't a normal relationship with a colleague. This wasn't how he acted with Aizawa, Kayama or Yamada. Hell not even Dave. He couldn't remember a time where he just wanted to be near someone so desperately it hurt. 

Time came at last, and to Toshi dismay, that he had to head home. He wanted her to make a fuss and demand he spend the night, not that his nerves would allow him to do anything but stare awkwardly at the ceiling all night long let alone make any sort of romantic move. No, he would first try and talk to her without having a heart attack. Baby steps. She did whine a bit, rolling back from under the blanket and pouting when he insisted on catching the last train home. It was rather late. "I'll see you at UA tomorrow anyway. We need to go over plans for the entrance exam next week so don't look so down alright?" He wouldn't admit he liked that she looked so bummed out. Made his heart do a little flip that she wanted to spend as much time with him as he did her. That was a good start, knowing she wasn't forcing herself to stand him. 

"Yeah yeah....Grandma reminded me like six times today. I have alarms set I won't oversleep this time." They both chuckled as he slipped his shoes on and stood in the doorway. "H-hey uh...if you wanna get up a bit earlier we can grab some coffee on the way to work..." 

She looked at him with those wide eyes and gave a tilt of her head "Hm? You wanna go to work together?" Toshi stepped back and waved his hands frantically "Y-yeah I mean if you wanted! Only if that's not too weird! I figured you liked coffee given all the mugs you have around the kitchen....it's fine if you want to sleep in I understand don't push yourself." Geez what a stupid idea. This was the second time he asked to see her outside of work and he felt like a total creep. "I would love that." You're nearly fifty years old Toshinori this is unacceptable behavior, you should be ashamed of yourself. Pushing a young girl like this to constantly meet up, someones gonna call the police. "Just text me when you wanna meet up and I'll reset my alarms." Then again it's just coffee....it's not like you asked her out on a date. Was this a date back in the states...not like I dated there either but maybe it is. "Hey Toshi." Way to blow it, first the kitchen now this- a rough jab to his forehead had him fall back against the apartments railing. "You gotta work on your inner turmoil. I would love to get coffee tomorrow morning. Just text me when you want to meet up okay?" He was stuck standing dumbfounded, holding his foehead all slack jawed and flustered. "Y-yeah? Yeah...alright I'll text you." He muttered watching as she grinned behind the closing door until it clicked shut. Yelling out a 'Go home Toshi!' as she sensed he was still standing like an idiot on the balcony. It took him a few more seconds to right himself and step away from her door with one more glance at the apartment that belonged to his crush. He could say that now, be honest with himself, no matter how red in the face it made him as he nearly ran down the steps as if that would distance him from the utter embarrassment. 

As Toshi sat on the nearly empty train he found himself staring down at his phone. He wanted to wait at least a bit to text her not wanting to come off any more desperate than he already felt. While he killed time he tapped in her hero name in the search bar. He was surprises to find more than a fair share of hits everything from interviews to caught footage of fights. With a shaking finger he clicked on the first one listed. 'Paladin vs Iron Fist' at least her name was kinda cleaver. But what ever mild enjoyment he got from her hero name was quickly sucked out of him as he watched his poor little nurse get bashed in by a massive man possibly his own size. Not only that but he had; as his name implied fists of Iron that he had no issue using against the tiny girl.

She was quick on her feet at the very least. Dodging some of his slower telegraphed attacks, and he was sloppy and slow. A small time criminal who was used to just beating his way past opponents it seemed. Clearly not used to them getting back up. She took two heavy hits to the jaw and one uppercut that sent her flying upward leaving her open to a sudden massive barrage of punches to the stomach and chest. The force of it knocked her back into a wall that gave way with the power of it. Even he would be winded after something like that. The camera zoomed in as close as it could from their distance and Toshi was horrified to see the pool of blood slowly spreading from in impact site. Only her twitching legs visible behind and under the rubble. More blood that he was comfortable seeing coming from anyone. No one could get up from that...she must have been a mangled mess of bone. But slowly those feet moved in and some of the broken building was pushed away as she climbed out. Wiping her jaw from the small dribble of blood that still lingered. She was otherwise fine. Scraped up and winded, glowing that faint green of her quirk but otherwise no worse for ware. She was even grinning as she righted herself and gave a little stretch. "Think you can even me out big guy? Never feels right to only have one side punched you know?" As if she suddenly noticed the camera she turned and gave a thumbs up, what an All Might move. "Don't try this at home kids! You might not get up so quick!" The villain was back on her in a second shoving her body back into the rubble with a horrible crack and the sound she made turned his insides in knots. 

So it did hurt....every hit she took hurt as if she were a normal human. Every broken bone, every rip or scrape she could feel it all. And this villain was beating her into the ground with no mercy! His hands were shaking, gripping his phone so tightly he saw the screen suddenly crack and snapped him from the sudden rush of boiling anger that threatened to spill over. His phone still worked just fine he noted as he stared at his grim reflection in it's damaged surface. The hero's had figured out a plan by that point and someone was pulling him off her as he switched his phone off. She did that every single day with a smile on her face. Just like All Might. And people adored her for it if the comments and commentary were anything to go by. The person filming even said they didn't feel worried as long as she was on the scene. That did nothing for that burning hate he felt in the pit of his stomach. His hand clutched over his mouth as he sat in silence for the rest of the ride. 

Never again. No one would ever hurt her again. 

[kyotakumrau]

2019.09.13

VERY rough notes from TRill MUsic radio program with Toshiya as a SUPER SUDDEN guest.

DJs are Joe Yokomizo and Yumenoyua

.

In the beginning they actually commented on how sudden this visit is and that Toshiya doesn't appear often on a radio.

They talked about the new artist photo:

Toshiya : Everyone decides their outfits etc by themselves, Kyo didn't want to show his face.

♪人間を被る

They talk again about the artist photo - it's so dark it's hard to understand who is who

T: すみません・sorry! (they all laugh)

Tweets from fans commenting how handsome he is, his fitness, diet. Toshiya replies that he eats properly.

Joe asks him about going grocery shopping and Toshiya talks about buying side dishes at the supermarket, he also buys discounted food (like any other normal person XP)

Other DJ summarizes band's history and they talk about the start of the band in 1997. All other members are from Kansai besides Toshiya who's from Nagano.

Toshiya explains they met in Tokyo. He was friends with a different band person and was invited to do a joint concert (2man) with Kyo's band. He thought that Kyo will definitely succeed. When he heard that Kyo's band disbanded and his band was planning to do that as well he decided to talk to Kyo.

Kyo apparently said :おれもしゃべりたかったねん・I wanted to talk to you too (Toshiya's imitation of Kyo was so sweet😂).

He says that indie times were a long time ago, now it's just a story, fun talk, even if then it was hard.

Next topic is free time - toshiya on his days off does what he likes, namely designing clothes. He draws his ideas, chooses materials; it takes time to make sample, fix problems, but he enjoys it.

It's a single but it's 10min long.

Toshiya comments that for a single it's their longest one; releasing singles is becoming more and more difficult and confusing, what's the point? (from a music market industry view point). When releasing a single there's more tough parts to think about compared to albums (including catchy parts etc).

Each time they struggle making decisions about singles.

He was sorry again for the length of the single😂

When asked if it's hard to play such long songs live? He said its fun.

Recording also took long this time.

Kyo wanted to do long song but it didn't go smoothly??

Is it connected to the last album?

Toshiya: it's different for every member, but for me it's connected to as the last song from the album.

♪the world of mercy radio edit

Which part is important according to you?

Toshiya says thinking about the flow of the song, how it will progress. They have quite few longer songs, but they always have to think about the flow, consider performing it live etc.

They always want to make something that doesn't exist yet, something better.

They talk about Toshiya's roots:

Toshiya got interested in music thanks to his mother liking music and listening to music on TV, her favorite was Julie (Sawada Kenji).

(Toshiya sings his songs in karaoke??😂)

Next they talk about performing live. Toshiya gets very nervous before every performance.

Among their 30 singles what does he remember best?

Toshiya: at the start being produced by Yoshiki.

He won't share his impression of Yoshiki so he doesn't need to quit music😂

(as in godfather Yoshiki could finish him if he overstepped😂)

His reason to start a band was BOOWY, Buck-Tick, LUNA SEA (there was one more band listed I didn't catch).

The bassists he respects the most are Taiji from X and J from LUNA SEA.

Back to the indie times topic. Toshiya first did a band in Nagano, then came to Tokyo. He was basically so poor he didn't have money for food or a proper place to live. He survived thanks to 天使ちゃん・an angel. His dream at that point was to be able to feed himself・食えるようなりたい

Then they talk about their first budokan, how they made it there. Tommy-san did impossible come true, they talk about Tommy and Joe laughs: it was Toshiya who laughed (not me)!'😂

They talk that at that time ppl with make up in bands where scary (in a cool sense). When Toshiya met Tommy and checked his past band, he had to double check it's the same person😂

This radio program is the first time Toshiya talked about being so poor during indie times. He had no time to work part time because of band activities, but there was no money from music.

♪Toshiya announces the next song by Julie, 'a song that my mother liked very much!'

"I never thought I will be listening to Julie during a program with dir" - fan comment😂

Joe asks about the upcoming tour, everything is ready, rehearsal finished, setlists ready (one of the reasons Toshiya was staying only first 30 minutes was that he wants to rests before the start of the tour).

Toshiya is looking forward to the food he can try during the tour in Japan. But he's not good with spicy food and can't really drink now, in the past he used to drink after shows but gradually stopped.

Joe gives a long speech about how great are DIR's shows❤

Next he comments: And you have tour abroad in winter... do you not rest???!

Toshiya: I'm grateful we have a chance to play abroad.

Can you share some memories from touring abroad?

Toshiya explains that when they played in Germany, at Rock am Ring for the first time, after their performance he was walking up by the stage and he saw Metallica was watching them, they complimented their show. And asked about Kyo bleeding from his mouth 'is your vocalist okay????'

😶

How about foreign food?

Toshiya: it's not good, I don't like pizza, in the US pizza is huge but not tasty at all.

When touring abroad they want cup ramen and yakisoba and will fight over any they get (from fans etc) among themselves🔥😂 it will turn into violent bloody fights😂

CUPMEN

Any plans after you finish the tour in Europe?

Toshiya: there're already things decided, so please look forward to the announcements.

They 'fight/do their best on stage' (fan tweet) Toshiya's joke: We only don't fight on stage, after the show we fight over ramen xD

Yakisoba/smell stays on the bus, you know what was eaten immediately.

They talk about the playing at concerts, 3~4 kg lost during the show, sweat it out

Joe: Are you masochists?!・君たちはドM？！

Which place he's looking forward to visit?

Toshiya: each place, but I don't think I've been to Morioka, so I'm looking forward to going there (and food there!).

What about playing in Nagano again?

Toshiya replies that playing in his hometown is too embarrassing so he always refuses, he doesn't want any special treatment like 'welcome home Toshiya!' 😂

They talk about taking care of himself after shows: going back straight to hotel and having water, taking care of his throat.

When the other DJ comments they are busy with so many shows Toahiya replies that comparing to their schedule in the past now it's not so tough.

Joe reads fan's comment on twitter about the white stuff kyo used to make to spit - when Toahiya saw him mixing the stuff in the backstage he thought he looked very happy 😂

And then came more praises from Joe about DIR shows: 人生変わります・ they will change your life.

♪Ranunculus

Toshiya left, but DJs talked a bit more about Dir, but my hand refused to cooperate anymore😅

[harianadimples]

Highlight of My Life

Warning: none 3.0k+: fluff, university!au (harry is a fashion design major; y/n is an english major)

| – | – | – |

“So, what’s so special about this new collection? Don’t you already have like three of her highlighters at home?” Harry asks, sounding genuinely curious and interested.

“New shades. I love the formula. I’m wearing hustla baby on my cheeks today, see,” she says as she tilts her cheek for Harry who nods intently. “I like that one, it’s like subtle. Makes me look like a glazed donut. I love glazed donuts,” he trails off.

“It’s my every day, go-to, I want to blind everyone I encounter on campus, highlighter,” she laughs. “I’ve hit pan on that one I might get the mini of it. It comes with a mini gloss bomb you can have so you can stop stealing mine.”

“Thanks. There’s that highlighter I really liked, the one you put on my eyes before,” Harry says.

“Trophy wife?”

“Yeah, but no, I was thinking of the pink one?”

Confusion sticks to them both. They stare at each other for a while, combining both their sleep-deprived braincells together to figure out what Harry was talking about.

“Highlight of My Life”

or

The one where Fenty Beauty is launching a new highlighter collection and the Sephora downtown is doing an event for it where the first hundred people get a goodie bag so Y/N makes Harry wake up at 6 a.m. for its 10 a.m. opening. The things Harry does for the person he loves.

-:-:-:-

“Remind me why you had me wake up at six in the morning and drive you all the way downtown on my off day?”

Harry’s tone is chastising, which was amusing to Y/N when they were pulling out of their shared apartment, but now that they’ve been sat in the car for a while and it’s probably the fiftieth time he’s asked, she’s a little annoyed. Still, she can’t fully commit to being annoyed by Harry for too long. As she looks up from her phone, turning to Harry who’s looking at her expectantly for an answer, his tired eyes sunken in by his interrupted sleep and his mouth looking all pink and plushy, she finds herself completely endeared by his prettiness and quickly lets it go.

Harry gulps down the rest of his coffee, chasing the dryness of the caffeinated beverage with more gulps from her water. He’s watching her, and can tell from how her eyes momentarily dart to the right of her, that she’s thinking of something witty to say.

“Cause you love me,” Y/N pouts in a sweet, singsongy voice, the voice he’s more than aware that she uses when she’s playfully manipulating him into doing something she wants, such as, waking up at six in the morning to drive her downtown.

Harry’s eyes quickly express how nonsensensical her response is though she still finds him endearing, which makes her press her thumb over his puffed, water-filled cheeks. “And,” she continues, “because Rihanna is launching a new highlighter collection and the Sephora downtown is holding an event for it. If you’re within the first hundred people there you get a goodie bag.”

“Will Rihanna be there?” Harry asks. His question resonates through a single monotone note.

“No, I think it’s just the store doing something for the collection launch. She does proper parties for influencers and celebrity friends ahead of releases too but, there’s no way we’d get invited to one any time soon,” she sighs.

“When’s the store opening?” Harry asks, glancing at the time on the dashboard. “We’ve been here since eight-twenty.”

“Ten,” Y/N sighs as she glances at her phone again. “At least we got here early enough before a line started. We can eat while we wait.” She gestures to their breakfast: two large coffees and a sandwich to share between them because $7.99 for an ‘Artisan’ sandwich sounded almost blasphemous for the two uni students.

“When you see someone approaching the front, forming some kind of line, let me know,” she says as Harry nods, taking a bite from the sandwich as he looks to the front of the car.

“So, what’s so special about this new collection? Don’t you already have like three of her highlighters at home?” Harry asks, sounding genuinely curious and interested.

“New shades. I love the formula. I’m wearing hustla baby on my cheeks today, see,” she says as she tilts her cheek for Harry who nods intently. “I like that one, it’s like subtle. Makes me look like a glazed donut. I love glazed donuts,” he trails off.

“It’s my every day, go-to, I want to blind everyone I encounter on campus, highlighter,” she laughs. “I’ve hit pan on that one I might get the mini of it. It comes with a mini gloss bomb you can have so you can stop stealing mine.”

“Thanks. There’s that highlighter I really liked, the one you put on my eyes before,” Harry says.

“Trophy wife?”

“Yeah, but no, I was thinking of the pink one?”

Confusion sticks to them both. They stare at each other for a while, combining both their sleep-deprived braincells together to figure out what Harry was talking about.

“Oh, Wattabrat!” Y/N says with realization.

“Watt-a-brat. Yeah that one. I just love the name. She’s brilliant with the shade names,” he says. “If I could I’d name a shade Styles.”

“Just Styles?” Y/N raises an eyebrow at her boyfriend who nods thoughtfully. “Yeah it’s not product-specific and it’s kind of a great name, don’t ya think?”

“Well, I think the word Styles existed long before you did,” she says, laughing, “but it’s very on-brand for you to name something after you if you ever consider expanding your fashion brand into more business ventures. But you should call the full collection itself ‘Styles’. It’d be like when a musician releases a self-titled album. And the songs in this case would be the shade names, and they can be named after things important to you or whatever you think sounds cool.”

Harry nods thoughtfully, staring at the cup as Y/N drinks from her coffee. He waits until it’s far enough from her face to take it from her and drink from it as well. She takes it back before he’s even done, smiling as she playfully pushes his outstretched hand away. He sighs and takes their sandwich and bites into it.

“Did you finish the paper for Rockwell’s class?” Y/N asks him.

“Yeah, I stayed up until one writing it. Haven’t gotten a chance to edit it yet, I planned on doing it later, but… maybe you could look at it first?” Harry figures he might as well ask, otherwise what’s the point in having a girlfriend who majors in English literature.

“Sure,” Y/N nods, frowning sympathetically as she hands him her coffee. She recalls the night before, going to bed before him while he sat at their kitchen island hunched over his laptop. The screen, even at its lowest level, still bright enough to cast a silhouette on his figure. She remembers not hearing him come in, but feeling the bed dip all of a sudden as he indiscreetly fell into bed, throwing his leg (and cold feet) over her legs while his arm draped over her middle.

Y/N could tell Harry’s been stressed lately because of midterms. She figures it’s especially difficult since it’s their final year and naturally everything is that more stress inducing. There’s few areas here and there where Y/N can lend her assistance and support since she’s in a different program.

Harry is in the fashion design program so he hardly has any courses in the English program, but they happen to be taking The Language of Love, Sex and Gender english course this semester and are in the same class. Despite them both being natural creatives this is her comfort zone and where she naturally shines. Harry used to have a habit of over-saturating his brand descriptions with hyperbolic terms and (sometimes) useless jargon that wouldn’t captivate the eye of a prospective consumer. She does nothing but read and write for her english courses, and occasionally prepares presentations or paragraphs for class discussions, so, if she can help Harry in any way, it’s helping him with his writing. She merely helps him rephrase his thoughts from a different perspective she felt would be more hard-hitting. In return, he gives her style advice and occassionally styles her himself (he has an eye for pieces that suit her and flatter which are her weaker qualities). Harry swears that her dedication to an oversized sweater of his that she wears nearly every day with a pair of boots is the bane of his existence.

They had met in the School of Fashion Design building at the end of their second year.

A mutual friend of theirs in the photography program had included several images of her in a pop-up exhibition held by several students from the program, and she was invited to attend. Harry had come as well and was with a girl he’d been seeing for a while. Harry wouldn’t be able to tell you the name of the girl he’d been seeing, because he swears that the moment he saw Y/N he’d fallen in love. She’d come in a Guy Fieri type collared shirt that was about five-sizes too big, and black platform shoes.

‘I liked that you didn’t give a fuck,’ Harry once explained when she had asked him why he became interested in her after they became friends.

Yet she remembers that he often teased her for her sense of style, taunting her for her lack of pants (she wears bike shorts underneath) or the lack of change to her silhouette (what, she likes it, why change it), but now she relays the same comments in a self-deprecating way. Somewhere between then and now their sense of humour had evolved, as did their relationship. Her style for one thing has evolved, but she’s still dedicated to her brand of oversized clothing for their comfort and Harry hardly teases her except for when he needs a lead-in to ask her to fuck him.

‘I don’t remember ever making fun of you for never wearing pants when you wear my clothes out,’ Harry would say, but his words held as much truth as a ‘my truth’ post-scandal video.

It never actually bothered her, because she knew from being friends with Harry for a while that his humour tended to lean on ignoring the obvious and being heavily sarcastic. Like the time she was nervous about showing him her work and had him read a poem she wrote in her senior year of high school which won her an award, and he told her it was ‘terrible’ and that she should consider dropping out.

‘I couldn’t write this good until this year, I swear,’ Harry had scoffed.

‘This well…’ she had corrected him.

Their dynamic was pretty much set in stone that day too. Y/N tended to be the one riddled with self-doubt and low self-esteem from her overthinking, overly intuitive brain making her second guess a lot of things, while Harry brings out what it’s true in what she believes about herself by ignoring the obvious, making her think for herself; a surprisingly productive way to get her to remember her worth and talent. And sometimes, when he’s being too cocky, she’ll knock him down a peg.

But clearly their dynamic has evolved as well, because she finds herself being the one to remind Harry ‘who the fuck he is’ (as Harry fondly says when he’s in this position trying to uplift her) and Harry’s humour has spread to her as well. She doesn’t spare any opportunities to tell Harry that she loves him, and to remind him that she’s only with him because ‘one day he’ll be a fashion designer for socialites and the Hollywood elite, and she’ll take her one connection and run with it straight into Keanu Reeves’ arms’ (obviously she’s only kidding…unless…).

In the one class they share the midterm is a take-home exam in the form of an essay question. Harry’s a decent writer, having been cordially assisted by Y/N before they were dating until now, to better himself and tweak his style to be less robotic and more human. He really shouldn’t be worried about doing poorly on the paper, but his fashion design senior project is part of his requirement to graduate and has drained him of most of his creative energy, making it difficult to piece together intellectual thoughts into a riveting paper.

His brain must look like a prune by now. He mustered whatever was left and squeezed it onto that horrendous paper. He just knows it’s horrendous. He didn’t have the heart or energy to re-read it, opting instead to get some sleep, forget about it for the day, then return to it in the afternoon.

Of course now he’s here in the car, having been woken up at six in the morning by his overly perky girlfriend cutting off his air supply, yammering on about some makeup thing. All cynicism aside, it’s making for a reasonable distraction for not working on his paper. He’d still prefer to be at home, asleep, cuddling his girl, but he figures any way he spends time with her is good enough. He hardly sees her during the day given that they’re not in the same program, but he sees her every night which is not among his list of complaints.

Realistically, she could have come downtown alone, but Harry and her both knew how much she hated commuting. It seemed really important for Y/N to be here, who Harry knew was also dealing with her own slew of stressful days full of due dates and expectations, so he caved.

‘Makeup is just really therapeutic to me. When I do my skincare and do my makeup, I’m kind of meditating at the same time. When I see the finished product I feel confident and ready to take on the day… once I get my iced coffee, of course,’ Y/N explained to him once when he’d asked her about her interest in it.

He knows most of that was true though he recalls one time, finding her in their bathroom, sitting in their sink, sobbing while doing her makeup, blending her tears into her skin. It was quite the picture for Harry to see, and he’d taken off her makeup for her (against her insistence that she was fine and needed to finish getting ready) since it’d been ruined anyway, and decided that that day would be a mental-health day for her and brought her back to bed.

He re-did her skincare for her, sitting next to her body as she told him what products to use and in what order. He used mostly the length of his fingers and finger tips to work the products into her skin because his hands were much too large for her face and he was afraid of messing something up.

It somehow became a tradition for them to have a self-care day, pampering themselves with skin care, a bottle of white champagne and take-out from their favourite restaurant after one of them has a breakdown.

Harry reckons he’s due for one, but nothing has come up to push him over the edge yet. Sometimes, before he could exhaust his brain into that state, Y/N would figure out some way to save him from himself, reminding him who the fuck he is.

“Hey,” Harry hears Y/N speak. He looks up, humming thoughtfully as he meets her gaze. Her cheek rests on the seat as she speaks, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Harry smiles, as he kisses her. “Even though you woke me up at an ungodly hour.”

“Heeey,” she pouts, “you better keep that same energy with our baby.”

“You’re having my baby?” Harry’s mouth suddenly dries, and he must look foolish with his eyes bugging out the way they are, because what–.

“Oh– I was kidding!” Y/N quickly shakes her head as Harry shuts his eyes for a moment. “Y/N,” he mumbles, drawing out each syllable of her name.

“I’m sorry,” she giggles, trailing off, “it was a joke.”

“Please. I was about to have a full on breakdown,” Harry mutters.

“You don’t want a baby with me?” She asks candidly, looking at Harry who hasn’t opened his eyes. She wonders if he’s fallen asleep because he isn’t moving. She pokes his face to make sure. “Harry, don’t you wanna put a baby in me? You say that every time we have sex,” she teases him as Harry snorts through his nose, which her finger takes most of the damage from.

Harry’s eyes flutter open again at the sound of Y/N’s squealing as she wipes her hand on his leg. He laughs at the reaction he receives from her which brings that adorable angry pout on her face.

“Obviously the objective still stands, just not right now. I also, for a second, believed you had the audacity to tell me you’re pregnant while we’re waiting for Sephora to open because you wanted to be early for a Fenty Beauty goodie bag,” Harry says as Y/N continues to pout, though her brief frustration subsides, making her look more like a puppy yearning to be pet, so he kisses her pout figuring that’s close enough.

“Don’t worry, you’ll know I’m having your baby because I’m literally the worst at keeping secrets from you, or maybe you just know me too well,” Y/N says thoughtfully as she looks at Harry.

“I think the growing bump will give it away, but okay, that too,” Harry says.

“We won’t be apart like this once we graduate. You’ll have no excuse to avoid me, so you won’t miss the moment I find out I’m pregnant the way you missed me learning that I got that internship I was trying for,” Y/N laughs.

“I was stuck in traffic, and you’re much too impatient!” Harry shakes his head. “Whatever, we still celebrated that night though.”

“And the next morning,” Y/N hums.

“Hey, I think they’re here for the event,” Harry points towards a group of three, all of them wearing full-glam which sets of Y/N’s fight or flight response. Harry sees her entire demeanour change as she quickly grabs her water and stuffs it into her bag before kissing Harry goodbye. “I’ll go wait in line for us. You go ahead and get some more sleep and I’ll call or text you,” Y/N tells him in one breath before shutting the door.

He chuckles as he watches her run like Bambi ahead of the group, taking her place at the front of the line that formed once the three others stood with her. She throws him two thumbs up and a toothy grin, clearly proud of herself for being the first in line. It’s highly amusing to Harry to see her so excited, but mostly he’s happy to see her so happy.

| – | – | – |

Hello, thank you for reading ! I’m a huge supporter of the idea of Harry wearing makeup, from soft-glam to highly conceptual Louvre worthy looks, so this was written out of that love of mine and my wish to one day beat Harry’s face the house down boots. I was also inspired by my literal desire to buy more makeup, but can’t, because I have loans to pay back, bills to pay 💀 

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this one ♡

+ masterlist

[muffinlance]

Deleted Scenes: A Jet Night in Ba Sing Se

Cleaning up my outline, and found these very early notes from a version of the story where the guards hauled off Jet for their Stray Cat Rescue Program, too. Be warned: I do not capitalize things properly in my notes, it’s just a thing, sssh don’t worry about it.

Scene 1: Jet Gets a Job (It’s Stalking Li)

Takes place directly after Li and Jet both get “hired”. Smellerbee confronts Jet on where he’s been all night.

Jet: I, uh, actually got a job. with the guard.

Smellerbee: that's great! how much does it pay?

Jet: uh… it's an unpaid internship. 

Smellerbee: ...well, at least you won't be stalking Li all day. ...Jet.

Scene 2: The Where-Do-War-Children-Come-From Talk

Takes place after Jet goes off on Li about his obvious Fire Nation looks one too many times, and the Captain drags them into a conference room for The Talk. Note that the Captain didn’t really have a set personality when I was scribbling this down. My notes also don’t believe in proper punctuation.

Li: why do I have to be a part of this

Captain: your uncle seems like the kind of man to let you learn from life experience

Li: so?

Captain: do know where babies come from, Li?

Li: of course! 

Captain: *”please elaborate” gesture*

Li: you visit a whore and nine months later or whenever you're back in port she tries to shake you down. that's why if you don't have a preference, you should always choose a guy.

Jet: holy shit

Li: and when you get married your wife can have babies too

Jet: holy. shit. 

Li: what?

Jet: no wonder ashmakers leave war children everywhere

Li: I'm not a--

Jet: you know what? I'll let that slide for tonight. this is too good to ruin. Captain, Talk away.

Scene 3: The Talk, Sexual Harassment Edition

Takes places after Zuko starts hiding spark rocks in his pockets because JET WON’T STOP STEALING THEM, and how is he supposed to make tea for the station if he doesn’t have spark rocks. Jet realizes the new hiding place and tries to get them; Captain walks in on Jet pocket-groping all over a shouting Zuko. They’re dragged back in the conference room. Captain brings out the diagrams and the pointing stick again, because you know there were diagrams and a pointing stick last Talk. 

Captain: some of these areas may be familiar from our last talk—

Li: why do I need to be here?

Captain: you need to know your rights, Li

Li: He was just after my spark rocks!

Captain: *returns to pointing at the diagram, unimpressed*

Jet: *snickering* his spark rocks

[scribbles97]

Left Behind -- Chapter 10

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13

Read On Ao3

@gumnut-logic again, thankees for all your help with this as always and my constant poking :D <3 

The sun was setting somewhere on the distant skyline, bathing the balcony in a gold glow and warming Lucy’s skin as she reclined back on the lounger. It was good to get out in the fresh air, or at least the open air. Being in the city still tasted wrong and foreign after the purity of the Island. 

Part of her wished she was there now, able to talk to Sally face to face rather than across the bluish tint of the hologram. 

“The clinical records got emailed across,” Sally was confirming as Lucy watched the horizon, “I’m not concerned about Tanusha’s after care, but Kyrano may need a longer term program.”

Lucy snorted and shook her head, knowing that Kyrano had a different plan for his recovery. The man had been saying as much since that morning, not even twenty-four hours after his injury and he had been planning where he would be off to next. 

“He says he’s not coming back to the Island yet. That he wants to get away from things and get back to a proper balance.”

Across the comm Sally shrugged, “It’s what he did after Onaha died, are you surprised that this is any different?”

The older woman had a point, still Kyrano was taking Jeff’s disappearance personally, like he was the one to blame despite them all knowing better. Anger and frustration had taken over the usually calm man’s personality leaving him a shadow of his former self. Lucy knew the time away in Malaysia would be what he needed, a chance to reset himself and find that balance once more. 

“I worry he’ll go after his brother again.” She admitted quietly, “That if I let him go and something happens to him, it will be down to me for letting him go.”

“Would Lee go with him?” Sally suggested, nodding in quiet agreement, “I know he isn’t the most like Kyrano, but maybe it’s what they both could do with?”

She hadn’t considered it, and at the initial suggestion could have scoffed at the idea of her brother going along to some quiet reflective sanctuary. 

Lee was still uptight though, snapping at everything and everyone, maybe some space away from home and a chance to grieve away from his family was just what he needed. 

“He snapped at Val for talking a certain way today,” Sally added, “Luce, he hasn’t been this bad since Val’s accident. I tried talking to him but he just won’t have any of it, sooner or later something is going to give.”

She sighed and nodded, not sure she was quite up to the task herself, “Do you think you could suggest it?” She asked hopefully, “Test the water? Being out here and getting ready for the passing out on Saturday… I wouldn’t say I was in the best place to bring it up.”

“Of course dear, I’ll get onto it later.” Sally smiled, briefly before her face fell to concern, “How are things coming together for the parade? Scott said something about there only being a small number this year?”

Lucy shrugged, the final details had been discussed on another call earlier in the day. It wasn’t something she had been looking forward to in the last few weeks. Passing out was Jeff’s department, the big brain behind IR, the one to give the speech and award the badges to their newest team members. He had always made a point of writing the speech himself, tweaking and altering it right up until the moment before he gave it, always going to her for suggestions. This one was meant to be even more special. 

This one a father was meant to present the badge to his eldest son. 

Instead it would be Lucy herself, the one that had always been happily, quiet in the background. She would still be just as honoured and proud to present the badge to Scott, but both would know who was meant to give the salute that day. 

“I think a few dropped for various reasons,” she murmured, “The recruitment and training team are looking through it, they mentioned something about the change in the GDF recruitment a few years ago being part of it.”

“Nothing to be over concerned about then?” Sally nodded, “The GDF recruitment was always a fallback for those that dropped out. You and I both know it.”

Lucy had to smile, “Jeff always said, ridiculously high achievers only. Should have put that on the prospectus.”

“We can’t exactly trust anyone else with what we do,” Sally sighed, “It’s a hard business.”

She only had to think about the last few weeks to be able to agree.

“Is everything in place there to transfer lead command to Beta crew?” She asked, knowing Sally had the art of communications down to a T, even if it weren’t her preferred field.

“All organised,” Sally nodded with a smile, “The three of us will be at Roca to meet you on the day.”

“...isn’t exactly a good time to tell her-- shit.”

She turned at Virgil’s voice as he hesitated in the doorway to the balcony, raising an eyebrow at him in question.

“I’ll call you back, Sally.” She murmured, not taking her gaze from her dark haired son as he turned to head back inside.

“Virgil.” She called after him, “Out here please.”

His shoulders fell and she was sure she could hear the curses in his head out loud.

“I’ll talk to you later, Alice.”

Swinging her legs around on the lounger, she sat up and patted the cushion next to her, “Come sit kiddo.”

His sigh was heavy as he sunk down next to her, rolling his eyes as he did so.

“How’s Alice?”

His shrug was non committal, all too hopeful that he could brush her off and escape the conversation. 

“She’s fine, was just filling me in on what I’ve missed this week.”

Lucy didn’t buy it. She had never gotten a chance to catch up with him after the alleged night filled with school work she had thought he had been on top of. Virgil was diligent in his studies, he had a schedule she knew he kept to with slots in the day spaced for food and relaxation. 

There definitely wasn’t any night time studying on that schedule. The young man valued sleep too much.

“I thought she wasn’t the type of girl to keep you up at all hours of the night,” She nodded, “So what’s been stopping you from sleeping?”

He shrugged again, avoiding her as she tilted her head to look at him. It wasn’t like him to be so distant from her, so unwilling to discuss anything especially when something was clearly bothering him. 

She wondered if it was grief that was keeping him up at night. 

“I just want to help, kid,” She murmured, reaching out to take his hand, “If anything’s too much for you, you can tell me. If college is too hard, or you’re just not cop--”

He shook his head, a small smile gracing his mouth as he looked across to her, “It’s not that Mom.”

Holding his gaze, she frowned hard at him. If it wasn’t college and it wasn’t grief, she wasn’t sure where to go next. He didn’t have any romantic partners that she was aware of.

Unless…

“You haven’t fallen out with Alice have you?”

He looked away suddenly, shaking his head in a dead giveaway, “No, not really.”

Like his father, Virgil had always been a terrible liar. 

Lucy was glad she’d had a chance to catch up on some of the IR reports handed over to her that week.

“You know she’s been offered a place on the next intake of engineers?”

His nod was quick as he pursed his lips, “She’d mentioned that she had applied. Wasn’t sure she’d got on it yet.”

Lucy shrugged, “I got sent through the prospective successful applicants, the academic board are just waiting on me to sign them off.”

The way his eyes snapped up to her, quick and wide and full of a sudden panic she hadn’t expected. 

Oh. 

“I only had chance to look at the astronauts and engineers this morning,” She told him, pretending not to watch his reaction, “They’re always the shortest lists.”

It was a lie, she always went for the Basic Training list first, eager to complete the most thorough of checks on those that hope to one day work in the field as an IR operative. 

He sifted next to her, so clearly uncomfortable and not at his usual ease. It didn’t take much guess work to try and figure out just what had him so pent up.

Tilting her head she eyes him, “Any idea who might have applied for the basic training program? The board said there was a good selection this year.”

He still wouldn’t look at her as he shrugged, hands fiddling with the seam of the cushion. 

“Please don’t be mad.”

She was quick to shake her head, mad was anything but the issue. When she had been presented with the list of thirty-eight students that had the qualifications to join IR, only one had been flagged up as undergoing further investigations before being offered a place on the course. 

Augustus Taylor. 

It was only that she had seen Virgil’s newly cropped hair the previous evening that had allowed her to place the man in the ID photo. Cleverly photoshopped, chin more rounded, eye colour just off in the wrong tone of brown, and so subtle that the initial team hadn’t caught on to the edited image.

“I’m not mad Kiddo,” She frowned, reaching out to his arm, “I mean… I want to know why, but I’m not mad.”

He sighed and leant into her touch, hesitating for a long moment before he shook his head and everything came tumbling out, “I didn’t want it to be on the basis of who I am. Just because I’m a Tracy I shouldn’t have automatic rights to get onto the program, especially if…” 

He trailed off suddenly, pulling away as he sat straight again, eyes going to the deepening orange glow on the horizon. 

“If?” Lucy prompted gently, slipping her arm around his broad shoulders. 

Sniffing, he shook his head, “I wasn’t sure I’d be good enough for the tests to get in. I didn’t want to disappoint you if I screwed them up.”

She had more faith in him than that. All her boys had a certain degree of common sense, of logic and Virgil the most caring nature of them all. Maybe she was biased, but she knew he needn’t have worried.

“You really think any of you boys could disappoint me?”

He swallowed as he shrugged, “Scott gets his badge next week.”

Lucy shrugged in return, “And what has that got to do with you getting on to the program? Have I not told you before? You are not your brothers. You are entitled to your own path in life with your own successes and failures that are of no comparison to anyone else's.”

Looking down, he nodded, cheeks a deepening colour of read as he smiled a little, ‘Yeah, I remember.”

She turned to him, taking both of his hands in hers and waiting until she knew she had his full attention. He needed to hear her words for exactly what they were, without them being filtered through the doubt that had clearly settled in his mind. 

“If this is what you want to do, then you go for it son. If you change your mind or it goes wrong or it’s harder than you anticipated nobody is going to be disappointed. You do this for you, okay?”

Taking him in her arms as he sniffled again, she hugged him tight, “We’ll always be proud of you kid, don’t forget that.”