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britishassistant · 2 years ago

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Had a cute scenario that I may or may not expand myself. Both Vil and Niege invite Reporter!Yuu (And Niege inviting Yuuken too) to a high class movie premiere under the pretense (at least in Vil’s case) that it was an opportunity for exclusive interviews as it’s the first movie where Niege is casted as the villain. With the big boss breathing down their neck from the fit they pulled over Champion, Yuu has to play nice. So nice that they call in for some backup from Uncle Crewel since their normal attire ain’t gonna cut it. Que the flustering and the intentionally blocking as they try to covet the image of a well-dressed Yuu (in a dress, suit, suit dress combination, whatever works) whose just hoping that their collection of idiots don’t barge in any second. Niege is definitely red as an apple with the wombo combo Yuu and Yuuken (There was no way Crewel was going to let Yuuken toddle behind Reporter looking like some common mutt).

Thank you for the ask, dear anon!

Divus Crewel sighs. “We may have to lose some of the skirts.”

Yuuken looks up, stricken. “Oh.”

One of his hands half-heartedly twitches the fabric he’d been gently swishing back and forth. “…is it because it looks bad?”

Divus scoffs. “Don’t be ridiculous, puppy. You’re one of the few people who can pull off a look like this—your body type means that the ballgown looks proportionate to you and your upper body without diminishing or drowning you out. If Yuu or that nervous terrier you work with tried this on, they’d end up looking like a rather unfortunate snowman. Or a meringue.”

“Hey!” Yuu’s head pops out of the dressing room while Yuuken gives a small, bashful smile. “Uncle Divvy, that’s me-ean!”

The supervillain sighs as his nibling wobbles on their red stilettos like a newborn colt. “Oh for The Seven’s sakes— heel-toe, Yuu, heel, toe.”

“I know that!”

“Then why aren’t you doing it?”

Yuuken clears his throat gently, drawing Crewel’s attention back to himself allowing Yuu to collapse onto the nearby couch and begin re-arranging the length of their dress-like waistcoat so it’s not crushed.

“No, the problem here, puppy, isn’t with you.” Crewel sniffs, tugging on the shoulders so the black suit-like upper half settles into place. “It’s with the unruly whelps.”

“Unruly whelps?” Yuuken shoots a confused look at his colleague.

“Poison Queen and his ilk have been known to sabotage any event hosted by or prominently featuring Neige LeBlanche.” Crewel says blithely, turning to fuss with the lapels of Yuu’s cropped suit jacket, brushing invisible specks off the white fabric. “So in your case, we need to take that into account.”

The cameraman in question points at himself wordlessly

“He does tend to rough you up a lot if manages to capture you, Yuuken.” Yuu says, shrugging apologetically. “He takes potshots at you too if you’re there while he’s taking me or doing a scheme or something. Even though I’ve asked him to cut it out several times…”

“Fashion is about pushing the envelope whenever we can.” Crewel says, “But there are certain practicalities we must observe if we don’t want our models and our clothes to be turned into a laughingstock. And you will not be impeded from escaping if that naughty pup attacks by one of my designs.”

“I see.” Yuuken glances down forlornly at the skirt. It’s a gradient, same as Yuu’s waistcoat, starting as a red so dark it’s almost black at the top before blossoming into crimson around the middle and scarlet at the hem. Unlike Yuu’s waistcoat, his skirts are designed to almost resemble flower petals, overlapping and intermixing in a waterfall-like cascade.

He sighs and swishes it back and forth to enjoy it while he can.

“Don’t sulk, pup.” Crewel straightens the white collar of his shirt. “We’re not losing all of them. The topmost layers will stay—we’ll just change the shape somewhat. More curved, less bell. A slit would work well so we can install a catch that you can open to release you if worst comes to worst. A white underskirt, something short enough to run easily in, that would complement the look and mean you’re not escaping in your underwear.”

Yuuken brightens. “Sounds good.”

“Though of course, that means we’ll need to give you higher heels as people will be seeing your footwear.” Divus continues.

“HA.” Yuu proclaims at the unimpressed look on their coworker’s face. “Payback!”

#twisted wonderland #twst #supervillain au #enma yuuken #twst yuuken #divus crewel #twst crewel #dr. d #twst yuu #twisted wonderland yuu #Yuuken likes how ballgowns don’t restrict his thighs #and look super cool when he turns around #he does not like heels because they pinch and are hard to walk on

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rubykgrant · 2 years ago

Photo

(Just gonna combine all the Grimmons wedding stuff I have together~)

They called it “The Red Wedding”. Because it was them. Why wouldn’t they?

Everybody else rolled their eyes at the dorky joke, except for Sarge, who thought it was the absolute most fitting title, and was very proud of his boys for using it (nobody had the heart to tell him otherwise).

Donut was the self-appointed decorator, and he absolutely REFUSED to make everything plain red, or go with half orange and half maroon... he finally came up with an acceptable compromise; a gradient of both, creating a beautiful sunset effect with the colors.

Sarge was naturally Simmons’ best man, and Grif chose Tucker because yes; they were bros, but also if he doesn’t give the guy a specific job to do, Tucker would try to take over and drive everybody bonkers (starting with the inevitable clash he’d have with Donut over creative control).

Kai has decided to call herself the Grand High Queen of all Bridesmaids (they tried to tell her that there isn’t a “bride” here, that title doesn’t work, but she does NOT care). She does a good job making sure her brother, and her soon-to-be brother-in-law, look nice for their big day.

Church was trying to act like he didn’t care THAT much, because Grif and Simmons had basically been married for a decade and then some, who even cares... but damn it all, the mushy romantic vibe was GETTING TO HIM. Carolina and Tex kept catching him looking wistfully at some of the decorations (different pictures propped up on tables, showing Grif and Simmons at different ages, some before they met, and many of them together, mapping out their lives). They playfully teased him, making all kinds of ‘how-adorable’ gestures, causing him to shove them away (but he couldn’t hide his grin).

Caboose looked at the gift table, came to the conclusion that it was NOT arranged correctly, and decided to re-stack and move everything around (at first the others worried he might make something that wasn’t structurally sound... but it actually looked really nice, and easy enough to grab a gift without everything falling down). Lopez joined him, instead moving around vases and floral displays; who says robots don’t understand the art of flower arranging?

Wash was enjoying walking around, looking at the food tables, the area where the ceremony would take place, the dance floor... it was very pretty, yes, but also somehow had calming atmosphere. He talked with the others here and there, and mostly just enjoyed how pleasant this all was. Even the chaos when Sarge thought a gift was some kind of booby-trap sent by an assassin, and Donut freaked-out when one of Simmons’ hair-ties snapped. He stood with his friends, listening to them all bicker and joke, and it was still true; oddly charming, even after all these years.

Locus forces himself to stay away from the walls (or else he’ll fall into his habit of trying to hide in the shadows). He offers to help Tucker move a table, but is shooed away, told to simply go relax... he still has trouble doing that, but Carolina sees him struggling, and being a student of chill herself, comes to his rescue.

Doc made sure to hold Donut and Tucker in check, relaying what they were doing to Grif and Simmons, so the actual wishes of the men who were getting married had a chance to be heard. If the others were too dismissive, O’Malley “helped” by knocking over several chairs, thus giving them a problem to fix that didn’t involve throwing glitter everywhere or playing a mix-CD called “Hot Love’n”.

Although there are several lights all around them through the ceremony, Grif recognizes one particular glow that seems to be hanging out in one of the light fixtures; he smiles in that direction as he finally steps out of his changing room, on his way to walk down the aisle. Simmons is there as well, and in front of all their guests, loved ones and friends from Chorus, the two men walk toward each other.

To match with the whole sunset theme, the vows were exchanged as the sun started to go down... and it was perfect for a whole other reason; the proposal had taken place at sunset. It was hard to escape all the sappy symbolism, for a wedding? You had to go all-out.

Grif and Simmons certainly did just that when they recited their personal vows.

First was Grif, followed by Simmons.

“At first, I thought it was funny to annoy you. Because you’re REALLY cute when you get flustered. So, that’s why I kept on messing with you and teasing you. Then, something changed. You started laughing at my jokes instead of just telling me to shut up. That was when I noticed, you’re REALLY cute when you’re happy. So that’s why I kept trying to get you to loosen up and relax. After a while, I realized that I just thought YOU were cute. All the time. It didn’t matter what you did or what you said, it would be the cutest thing I ever saw in my life, and I HATED myself for getting a stupid crush on my friend. I thought if I ignored it, maybe it would go away, but I COULDN’T ignore it, because YOU never went away. You were always right there with me, and you weren’t just cute anymore. It wasn’t just a crush anymore. I fell in love with you, hard. You became everything I wanted, and I hated myself even more, because I thought you’d never want ME. It just seemed impossible that I could ever have MORE… then, something changed again. You finally made me understand that you loved me, too. Suddenly, everything that I thought was impossible was REAL. It isn’t difficult or scary, it is the easiest thing in the world. I can get what I want without being selfish, because I’m also giving you what YOU want. We both want this, we want each other, and now we HAVE each other. Being together motivates me like nothing else, it makes me want to TRY. Loving you, and being loved by you, brings out the best in me…”

“I spent so much of my life feeling alone. For years, I was trying to get anybody to pay attention to me, trying to make friends, trying to impress people. I was never good enough, and nobody ever wanted me. Then I met YOU. No matter how much I tried to push you away, you wouldn’t budge. You wouldn’t leave me alone, you wouldn’t shut up, you drove me CRAZY… and before I even realized it was happening, you turned into the center of my whole world. You were my first real friend, my BEST friend, and so much more. I thought about you constantly, arguments we had, things that made us laugh, you utterly took over my head. You saw me at my worst, you knew all my faults, every single awkward and embarrassing fact of my life, and you still wanted to be around me. I didn’t understand what a big deal that was. I didn’t understand how important you were, or how special you made me feel. Maybe if I hadn’t been alone for so long, I would have been able to figure out why I wanted to say MORE when we talked, why I wanted to get even closer when we were together, why I wanted to hold you and not let go… but even though it took me too long, I’m glad everything happened with you. I’m glad everything happened BECAUSE of you. I needed you my whole life, and didn’t even know it. I don’t have to worry about not being good enough with you. I can actually feel and safe content, knowing without a doubt that we love each other…”

They kissed. The others cheered. At last, they were married... and for several hours, everybody celebrated this fact.

Simmons was still internally spinning long after all the dancing and laughter was over… he just couldn’t lose that bright and bubbly feeling in his head; he was married now. Grif was his husband. This was going to be their first night together as newly-weds. Tomorrow, they would leave for their honeymoon. He knew all of this was going to happen, he had planned most of it step-by-step, and he’d been very aware of everything all through the evening… but it was still sort of overwhelming. Not surreal, no, everything was incredibly clear and detailed. It was just so MUCH, and he was so HAPPY.

They hadn’t said a word since finally escaping all their friends and family, stumbling away from the party (though at this point, it was winding down), and blushing at all the celebratory calls when people realized the married couple was going up to their room together. They had both practically fallen down in the elevator several times due to extreme giggle-fits, and then tripped as they walked down the hall, because they couldn’t stop trying to kiss each other. Neither man had a single alcoholic drink all day, but they certainly looked and acted drunk, and they knew it, which made it even funnier.

Once inside their room, they fell down on the bed, laughter turning into softer chuckles and hums of joy, and they finally had a chance to just… take a deep breath. Sigh. Look at each other.

The bed wasn’t quite gigantic, but still more than big enough for them both. It had an extra-fluffy comforter, which Grif and Simmons were currently nestled into… they both smiled at each other, their faces soft yet clear in the dimly lit room (Grif had flipped on one light near the door as they came in, but that was it. More than enough to see by, and besides; there was a skylight above them, and although it wasn’t directly over-head, a full moon was up there somewhere).

The room itself was very nice, but not too extravagant, and still small enough to feel cozy. Grif had specifically chosen this hotel for the ceremony and this room for their wedding night because it was big enough to have space for everybody, but not nonsensically expansive (the idea of getting lost trying to find their room was horrible, but knowing their luck, that was exactly the kind of thing that would happen… and then they’d fall into a hell-dimension or something, whatever, weird crap ALWAYS went down when they wandered off, but not this time DAMMIT, it was gonna be a perfect day!). Also, this place wasn’t decorated with a bunch of fake-tourist-beach-themed junk, thank you very much. Grif was Hawaiian, he was getting married in Hawaii, he knew what was up.

Grif had slowly shed some of the outer layers of his suit after the ceremony, the jacket left behind on a chair down stairs, his tie long gone, and shirt un-tucked. Simmons was still all together, but that wasn’t going to last. Grif gently loosened Simmons’ tie for him, and Simmons began undoing his own buttons. They continued like this, switching between doing something for themselves, or helping the other remove a bit of clothing. Simmons sat up, placing his glasses on a table beside their large bed. Grif rolled onto his back, kicked off his shoes, and started wiggling out of his pants. Simmons giggled at the sight, then helped Grif get the job done. Once Grif was finally free of the fancy clothes and able to relax, Simmons took his own pants off (folding them absentmindedly out of habit), and gathered up everything to put out of the way.

Grif re-positioned himself, scooting to the middle of the bed, and held an arm out to Simmons. Smiling, Simmons came back to the bed, sitting with Grif and melting into his arms. They were only in their boxers at this point, able to feel each other’s skin and warmth… familiar and well-known at this point, but they would never get tired of it. They would never not love it.

As the cuddling continued, they realized they hadn’t spoken at ALL since they came in here… and that was kinda funny.

Grif and Simmons ALWAYS talked. Constantly. It was their whole thing. They bickered and bothered each other, they joked and laughed, they had deep and meaningful discussions or stupid and irrelevant conversations. The fact that they could always talk, about ANYTHING, was perhaps the first indication that they were meant to be (but they had unfortunately been too oblivious to see that right away). They never got tired of that, either. It was sort of ironic right now, though… what was there to say? “I love you”? Well, that was very true, but also very obvious. They had said it several times through the day, dozens perhaps. In their vows, Grif and Simmons had gone into more detail about their love, getting all sappy and honest in front of EVERYBODY (but hey- it was a wedding, that’s what you do). They also didn’t need to say what they wanted to do together right now. In fact, they had gotten each other undressed without a word.

Silently, they seemed to agree that they didn’t need to talk right now. They were both full of food and feelings, tired from walking around and dancing, but much to excited to even consider trying to sleep. They just wanted to keep looking at each other, and keep touching each other. They were in no rush, no rush at all…

Simmons pressed his forehead to Grif’s, and began to hold his husband’s hands, stroking them with his own fingers, running his thumb over the knuckles, turning them over to see the palm’s… as if he was looking at them for the first time. Grif was content to let it happen, enjoying the devoted attention. After a moment, Grif made a move of his own, bringing Simmons’ hands up, first kissing the back of the cybernetic one, and then the organic one. Such a silly, old-fashioned romantic gesture would have felt awkward in a different situation with a different person… but this was Simmons.

The man who has listened to Grif ramble on about how he thought Salad Fingers took place in the same world as the movie 9, who has held Grif’s hair back when he threw-up on several occasions, who has seen Grif get repeatedly kicked in the crotch and sent flying clear across a room... and also the same man who has given Grif his own heart to keep Grif alive, who has comforted Grif after dozens of nightmares, who has shared nearly every part of his life with Grif. The man who was now Grif’s HUSBAND. It was just a given that they would be silly together, and by nature, they made each other act stupid. It was impossible to imagine anything that was “too romantic” when it came to Simmons, because they deserved all the romance that existed; they loved each other, in just about all the ways you could love a person. Romance was more than welcome in moments like this. Romance was MADE for moments like this.

Simmons now moved his hands up Grif’s arm’s, traveling over the shoulders, finally going up into Grif’s hair. Simmons’ fingers, both flesh and metal, were so intuitive as they ran across Grif’s scalp, gentle but firm in a way Grif simply adored. Grif leaned forward, tilting his head down and kissed Simmons on the chest, right in the little dip of the collar bone. Simmons let out a long and sweet exhale, and it was music to Grif’s ears. Grif’s hands found their way to Simmons’ back, running up and down, feeling the shoulder-blades, the curve of the spine… and Simmons could feel the warmth of Grif’s touch, how soft his hands were with just barely a little rough edge of callous in certain spots.

They pulled each other closer together, Grif’s face finding his favorite spot in the crook of Simmons’ neck, their chests now pressed close. Grif felt like he was completely wrapped up in Simmons, wanted and loved. Judging from the way Simmons kept pressing multiple little kisses into Grif’s shoulder, Simmons felt the same. They finally leaned away to look at each other again, and Grif felt a sensation building in his chest; it made him shudder… such a white-hot feeling, it burned but didn’t exactly “hurt”, it was pure joy, so bright and strong… as Simmons moved his hands to hold Grif’s face, Grif actually let out a sound (that was thankfully quiet) like a gasp and a whine happening at once.

Simmons seemed to know what was happening and what to do, so he kissed Grif on the mouth, and it was… it was like all their other kisses, somehow, even though those had each been different, like the kiss when Simmons first told Grif how he felt, like all the casual kisses shared while watching TV, but it was also new, and familiar in a way it never had been before… it was everything. The feeling inside Grif’s chest finally had somewhere to go, as Grif did everything he could to somehow kiss his gratitude into Simmons… who, at last, was no longer spinning inside.

He suddenly felt focused and concentrated, everything he wanted was right HERE, nothing else mattered; he was where he belonged. Had he ever thought it was possible to feel this way? To even hope for it? The fact that he would find himself utterly comfortable, knowing without doubt that he was surrounded by affection, able to give it as well as have it returned? Grif could still surprise him at times, doing things that thrilled and excited him, but what really charmed Simmons about their relationship; he could actually relax into it. He didn’t have to worry about being good enough or “earning” the right to be this happy. They loved each other, and now they were married, it was so easy and wonderful to be together. As the kiss continued, Simmons felt warm tears of joy roll down one side of his face (only one eye still watered-up, but he still had that tingling sensation in his cybernetic one).

They both sighed once more, Simmons moving to lay back on the bed, and Grif easily following him. Their legs linked together as their heads sunk into the pillows. They still hadn’t spoken… but Grif was tracing the edge of Simmons’ jaw with his thumb, while Simmons rested his hand on Grif’s chest. Almost like they were playing a game, they could both guess what the other was thinking, all sorts of compliments and endearments shared through expressions and body language. They even knew the sound of their voices so well, they could practically hear each other. It made them giggle again, and they snuggled closer, hugging until it passed.

“Hey Grif…” Simmons finally said, looking him in the eyes.

“Hmm?” Grif made a little curious noise.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“You’re my HUSBAND~” Simmons grinned at him.

Grif choked on his own laughter, burying his face into Simmons’ shoulder.

They would never stop making each other stupid, they would never stop being silly and sappy, they could talk forever or say nothing at all, they would always feel safe and comfortable with each other, they would always find ways to make it feel new and exciting, they would never get tired of how it was when they were together… because they were in love. They were husbands. They were married.

#red vs blue #rvb #grimmons

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ayamturd · 4 years ago

Note

ranboo and lavender grey (#E6E6FA) as the colour!! Idk why, i have synesthesia and i just associate both w each other so much lol, have a great day!!

lavender grey│ranboo

warnings: non, only fluff

pairing: in-game platonic!ranboo

a/n: i loved this pairing but honestly had some trouble figuring out what to write, so i hope you enjoy! (i’m a day late but have a great time zone as well)

also, that’s really cool with your synesthesia and how you imagine ranboo, hopefully i did it justice :))

‘colors’ m.list

Cautiously, you began to group the jars in separate rows and aligned them alongside each other. As you prepped the individual wicks within each separate glass, you could practically feel Ranboo hovering over you.

“Boo, would you knock it off already?” It was truly adorable how invested he was with the project, but you had to be honest and say it was incredibly distracting given his height in the small space.

Ranboo bowed his head in embarrassment and rubbed the back of his head bashfully. “Sorry, y/n. You can’t blame me though, you’ve never let me do one of these with you.” Glancing down at the final arrangement, you nodded satisfied with the order before addressing him again.

“And don’t make me regret letting you do one now.” You tried to squint threateningly up at him, a finger pointed into his chest, yet the facade quickly faded given how pathetic it must have looked and the enthusiasm that overcame you. Clapping excitedly, you maneuvered your way around him and gave the melting wax another stir.

“Ooo, I think we’re about ready!” Turning back to him, you made room for him over the stove.

“Here,” you handed him the spoon and pointed behind him. “Choose the oils you like the best and I’ll add in some flowers to complement it.”

Despite asking if you were sure, to which you rolled your eyes at his reluctance, Ranboo still hesitated as he smelt through each tiny bottle before settling on the lavender-rose. You grinned as he held out the droplet towards you, happy he was able to chose something he liked and was preferably enjoyable (let’s be honest, you didn’t have the highest hopes after making the monstrosity of the ‘POG’ cake.)

“Nice! Now, pour it in slowly so I can add the dried flowers.” Ranboo nodded at your words, a face of determination as he dipped the oils into the mixture while his other hand stirred them in surely and steadily.

Watching him for a moment or so, once you felt certain he could manage on his own, you turned to the nearby wall covered by drying flowers suspended above on the ceiling. Every flower had its place despite how overwhelming the sight of them all could be.

Scanning the small buds and dried flowers, you let out a content hum when spotting the varieties of lavender, grabbing a handful for reassurance.

You returned to Ranboo’s side, peeking from behind his arm to observe the creamy consistency of the wax. Smiling at his progress, you then crushed the stems between your palms before rubbing them in. The off-brand white began to shift as the flowers fell in, a faint tint of light purple coming through.

“It should be good now, so do you want to do the honors and pour them in?” Ranboo’s eyes widened and he sucked in some air with his clenched teeth.

“I don’t know if I deserve such power,” he admitted, an awkward chuckle following after. You only shoved him at the comment. “Just shut up and pour it in already.”

He laughed at your sass and nodded complacently, rubbing his hands against his tiny apron nervously before gripping the handles to lift it.

No matter how anxious he previously felt, Ranboo managed to pour in the wax for each jar cleanly, and you couldn’t help but clap once he finished with a proud cheer. “That was amazing! See, wasn’t it fun?”

Ranboo giggled at his success and gave you a slight grin. “It was, yeah. When will the candles be ready to light?” You patted his shoulders and leaned down to look at them through the glass, the wax already hardening from the bottom with a gradient.

“Maybe a few hours, give or take. Don’t worry though, we’ll definitely have enough to light the whole shop.” You raised your head to see Ranboo already looking down at you, eyes warm and crinkled. “I can’t wait.”

#mcyt x reader #ranboo x reader #ranboo imagines #mcyt imagines #yams' colors

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nm3217-rachelngiam · 2 years ago

Text

Assignment 3: Information Design

Upon receiving the assignment prompt, I knew that I wanted to do something related to drinks in Singapore. Initially, I wanted to center my infographic around Chinese Herbal Tea, as I felt that it was something that was slowly being forgotten by the newer generations of Singaporean-Chinese.

SKETCHING

The sketch above is my very first draft of the infographic. I wanted to showcase some of the common herbs used in herbal tea, as well as popular herbal teas.

Second draft of my Chinese Herbal Tea idea (above)

However, I ultimately decided to change my main topic as I wanted to do something more unique to Singapore. I switched it to a different kind of drink, Kopi (the local term for coffee). With the influx of independent Western coffee shops nowadays, the Kopi culture in Singapore risks being forgotten after several decades.

Featured above is my final draft for the Kopi Culture infographic. Several elements were brought forward from the herbal tea drafts, such as the cup with distorted words, the timeline and ‘How to prepare’ sections.

I tried to play around with the arrangement of the components, and see if there was any way for me to fit in statistics without ruining the aesthetic and overall flow. When compared with the final product, it can be seen that quite a few elements shown here were not included, such as the line graph at the corner. Due to the many iterations between the initial sketch and the final product, the elements were changed a lot in the process.

WIREFRAMES

With a rough idea of what components I wanted and how they would look, I went forward with creating a prototype in Adobe Illustrator. Again, I spent quite a long time deciding the placement of the components. This was primarily because the sizing of the actual component turned out to be slightly different from the draft I made, and thus a lot of rearrangement was needed to fit the sections in nicely. At this point of wireframing, I was not concerned with the typography or colours of the components, but instead focussed more on their layout.

CREATING ASSETS

After deciding on the layout, I moved on to create the graphics that I would be inserting. After getting the shape of the elements, I also applied a few effects on the various objects to give them a more realistic and three dimensional effect.

Firstly, an envelope distort was used to add text on curved or angled surfaces, such as the side of the cups and blocks. This made the objects look more lifelike and less two dimensional.

Distorted text on the coffee cup:

Distorted text on the milk carton and butter stick:

Secondly, a gradient effect was used on some of the curved surfaces to make it look more realistic.

As seen below, the metallic look of the holding can was achieved by applying a black-white gradient. A similar effect was applied on the coffee cup so that it would not look too flat.

As seen above, the metallic look of the holding can was achieved by applying a black-white gradient. A similar effect was applied on the coffee cup (below) so that it would not look too flat.

FIRST PROTOTYPE

After designing all the assets and doing the relevant research, I then pieced together my final prototype for critique, as shown below

Colour Scheme & Typography

For the colour scheme, I decided to go with a light yellowish brown. This complemented the warm colours of coffee, but was also light enough such that all the component scan be seen clearly against it.

Since the infographic was about coffee, I tried to imagine the kind of setting one would drink it in, and the first thing I could think of was neighbourhood uncles sitting at the coffeeshop in the morning, with their cup of kopi and the morning newspaper. Thus, i decided to use a font that resembled that on a newspaper. I chose a serif font, Lucinda Bright, for the typography.

To implement visual hierarchy, I made the headers of each section demibold, as compared to the body paragraphs which were the regular typeface.

Title

I wanted my title to not just be made up of plain text, but to also bring something to the table in terms of graphics. Thus, I decided to distort it to cover the side of a coffee cup, going along with the coffee theme of the infographic. I also made it visibly bigger than any other text on the page, so that it would be the first thing people's attention would be drawn to.

Kopi Lingo: Comparison Infographic

At the upper left corner, I created a comparison table of various Kopi lingo and what they mean. Ordering the different variations of coffee is something I struggle with (and I am sure many others do too), so I thought it would be useful to include. One of my initial ideas was to have a cup for each different drink, and draw the respective ingredients in the cups. However, I scrapped this idea quickly because I decided that it would be a tedious process for readers to have to look through each cup and remember which ingredients the drawings represent. Thus, I eventually went with the current format, which I feel provides a simple and easy way to compare the drinks and identify which one I would want.

How to Make Kopi: How To Infographic

This section explains how Singaporean kopi is made. Admittedly, there is a glaring lack of visuals (will be covered later on), and is too reliant on the text to represent the information.

History of Coffee Consumption: Timeline Infographic

This timeline explores the development of coffee consumption in Singapore, from when the first ‘coffee shop’ was open. Similar to the above section, this timeline is too reliant on text as well.

CRITIQUE COMMENTS

Many suggestions and comments were made during the critique session, and are listed below (along with my respective changes)

Suggestion: Add more graphics to the ‘How To Make Kopi’ section and the timeline. In fact, the timeline can be removed so the How To section can expand and include more visuals.

The timeline was removed, allowing the 'How To Make Kopi' section to expand and take up the entire width of the infographic. Additionally, the text used in this section was reduced, leaving only the bare essentials that help to bring the point across. More drawings were also added, as they are essential in giving the reader a visualisation of how the coffee-making process looks like.

Suggestion: Represent the content in the comparison table using graphics instead of words. For example, more sugar can be represented with more sugar cubes, instead of the word ‘More’. Additionally, the X can be represented with an icon instead of text.

The words were replaced with icons as shown below. Additionally, the initially cream coloured alternate rows have been changed to thin black lines so the white icons stand out more against the darker background.

Suggestion: Remove the outline on the ingredient graphics so they appear more standardized across the infographic. If an outline is needed, use a thinner and lighter color.

The outlines were removed as shown below.

Suggestion: If possible, add a coffee spill to the cup.

A coffee spill was added as shown below.

FINAL PRODUCT

After all the changes, here is my final product (along with the design assets and style guide)!

RESOURCES

Gyllensten, B. (2021). Understanding the Singaporean coffee market. Perfect Daily Grind. https://perfectdailygrind.com/2021/08/understanding-the-singaporean-coffee-market/#:~:text=The%20history%20of%20coffee%20in,to%20get%20through%20the%20day

Falkowitz, M. (2018). Snapshots from Singapore: A Guide to Singaporean Coffee. Serious Eats. https://www.seriouseats.com/snapshots-from-singapore-a-guide-to-singaporean-coffee-kop-how-to-order-how-its-made

Unknown. (2019). Order kopi like a local. Visit Singapore. https://www.visitsingapore.com/editorials/order-kopi-like-a-local/

Yeo, S. (2020). Singapore Kopi Culture. Fresh Cup Magazine. https://www.freshcup.com/singapore-kopi-culture/

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1x20 · 3 years ago

Photo

I was tagged by Gen @endverse to do a "how do you color” tag! So that’s what I did. I tried to arrange them in a pleasing way but oh well.

As you can probably tell I don’t really have a set... style? Which some gifmakers do have. I don’t use PSDs so I mostly end up at a certain coloring by fucking around and finding out. One thing I kinda (but not always) try to keep consistent is a short of pink-ish skin tone because I like the way it looks. Other than that, I use gradient maps a lot! I don’t often use the same ones but I mostly set them to hard light blending and 50% opacity but that’s not a hard and fast rule either.

Anyway. I guess I just gif based on how I’m feeling and what looks nice to me!

I’m tagging anyone who hasn’t done this challenge yet and would like to do it - feel free to tag me in your before and after comparisons if you do one after seeing mine!

#blog #*gifs #sorta i guess?

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romantic-barnes · 4 years ago

Text

unintended | part four

| part four - don’t waste your time or time will waste you |

Pairings: king!bucky x reader | king!steve x twin!sister

Summary: The moment you have come of age, you are being ripped out of the place you call home and into the kingdom of Cydonia ruled by King James, your betrothed. Neither of you pleased with the situation, neither of you being honest. Between fights, snarky remarks and glaring, do you find time to breathe? Is it possible to reconcile or even love one another?

Warnings: slow burn, inaccuracies in term of royal affairs and such,

A/N: i am so so sorry for the delay, but this is pretty long so I hope that makes it ok. this is my entry for @sillyqt 1k writing challenge!! hope you all enjoy!

Dividers by @whimsicalrogers

A few days, that’s all you had until you would officially be the wife of King James and the Queen of Cydonia. There was a part of you that screamed and shouted at you for not enjoying your time unwed. For letting (as they call him) Bucky take your thoughts away from more important things.

The only thing keeping you steady is the fact that your sister would be arriving for the wedding. Her and Steve will attend the ceremony and you can finally have your family together in one place again.

As for today, Bucky has arranged a ride through the woods, but you were sure his mother set it up.

An entourage of guards were riding behind you and Bucky, alongside Sam and Clint. It was the same route you rode through with Clint and you were excited to see the flower field again.

The fresh air bit at your cheeks, leaves rustling above you. Bucky was chatting happily with Sam and Clint looked at you from the corner of his eyes. You knew that he wanted to talk about the ball, about what happened. You were confused.

The trees thinned before you and the flowers peaked through, flowers of every colour. Your chest fell and you breathed through your nose. The scent filling your senses. As soon as you rose through the tall field, sun falling from the sky, slowly, a smile spread across your face.

Bucky came to a stop and a blanket was laid out. You sat next to Clint, reaching forward to pick some flowers and bind them together.

Bucky sat looking at you, sun shining orange and yellow across your figure. You looked peaceful. Flowers laid out before you, eyes fixated on your hands as they connected the different flowers together in your delicate fingers.

You smiled as you finished the flower crown, but instead of putting it atop your head, you turned to Clint placing the flowers on top of his hair. Clint laughed striking poses with the crown making you laugh. You missed it but Bucky couldn’t help but laugh.

You and the others mounted your horses again, taking the cobbled path back to the palace. You were sure that you could never get tired of the sunsets here in Cydonia. For some reason thy are even better than at home.

As the little house came to view a smile broke out on your face, seeing the family out on the front. You saw the girl from a few days ago sitting on the grass. You got off your horse walking towards the house.

You greeted the family, two boys standing off to a distance shyly and with their mouths agape. You were sure that this didn’t happen often, seeing the King so casually riding by. You dismounted your horse, walking up to the little girl. Her smile was unmatched from the first time you’d seen her, the admiration warming your heart.

“When I grow up I want to be a princess!” The little girl exclaimed with excitement.

You smiled, but within you, you were glad that she wasn’t.

You sunk down to your knees, turning the girl around by her shoulders. “You see that?” You pointed to the line of trees cutting the sky, orange and red painting the blue. She nodded her head. “That’s the horizon. Do you know what’s beyond it?” The little girl shook her head ‘no’ and you giggled. “It is your duty to find that out. To ride to the horizons of the world, sail the sea where the sky meets the water, to leave no part undiscovered and to learn what has not yet been learned and protect what needs protecting. To welcome everyone to follow you on your quest who wishes to, and lead them with care and love.”

You turned the girl to face you, tears welling up in your eyes. You ushered to Clint to hand you the flower crown, holding it above her head. “I hereby announce you the princess of the horizon. May you choose your path and widen your horizon.” With that you lowered the flower crown on her head, cheers erupting around you and you bit back the tears threatening to fall. If you could not do it yourself, then you would inspire someone else to do it.

Bucky watched with adoration. He was sure of it, the fact that you tried to give the girl what you don’t have. The freedom to run to the edge of the world with no one chasing after you. To chose your path amongst many and never slow down. Without the heaviness of the crown crushing your weight. Bucky realized that maybe, just maybe you weren’t so different from him, that your dreams sync up in a way.

But there was the tiny problem that you felt nothing for him, you’ve made that very clear Bucky thought.

You rose from your knees, walking to your horse. A tear escaped from yur eyes, but you were quick to catch it. A look back on the family and you saw the girl swirling, a big smile on her face.

Soon. Soon you’ll have Julia to confine in.

While you were wrapped up in preparations for the wedding, Bucky was struggling to wrap his mind around the different sides you’ve shown him. He was trying to puzzle together the pieces to get a clear picture of the woman he’d be married to by tomorrow. The one who he’ll build a family with.

Bucky asked himself if that would be possible though. For the past days he’d had this strange feeling every time he’d seen you. The was you walk, talk or laugh with your family. The way you behaved when you’re parents were around was something he’d not seen ever since you arrived.

He walked through the corridors, his shoes echoing through the space. Servants carrying candles and golden candle sticks for the wedding. He roamed these halls like every other day. Bucky wasn’t nervous when he became King. His father ensured that he was well prepared for the day he would take on the throne.

Bucky reached the oak wood doors of his mother’s chambers. As soon as he stepped into the room, his mother embraced him in a hug, her face bright and glowing. There aren’t a lot of times where Winnifred, the Queen mother, looked this gradient. It was said she had the same expression when Bucky was born, her wedding and Bucky’s coronation.

“My Bucky, I’m so proud of you.” Winnifred beamed with excitement. “I’ve been waiting for this day for, oh god, way too long.” She cupped his cheeks with her gloved hands.

“I know, mother.” Bucky smiled weakly, his mothers face falling. She took his hands and guided him to the velvet sofa.

“What’s wrong?”

Bucky exhaled, scrambling his brain for the right words to say. “Why did you chose Y/n?”

Winnifred stared at Bucky, eyebrows furrowed together. “She’s perfect, that’s why.”

“I don’t understand.” Bucky tilted his head, rubbing circles on the back of her hands to soothe her.

Her face relaxed. “On my search of a suitable wife and Queen, I met a lot of princesses. A lot of them from finer families than you could imagine, ones with more wealth than the last, education from the most knowledgeable men, princesses who have been trained to perfection. I even considered her sister Julia.”

Bucky’s lips parted. The thought of marrying your sister was odd.

“But when I spoke to their father, I knew that Y/n was the only choice for you. Sure, they’re not the finest family, or the richest, but Y/n loves to travel just like you. The people love her because of her nature, the way she presents herself. Her knowledge expands beyond textbooks, she lives with a sort of freedom that reminded me a lot of you, dear.” His mother caressed his cheek.

Bucky was running her words in his head again and again. If only he wasn’t such an asshole the fist time he met her, maybe she would’ve fallen in love with him. His mother had all the right reasons to chose you and his big head got in the way.

“Mother, I made a big mistake.”

Your brain was going a mile per hour. Between trying the dress on and deciding what jewellery to chose, you barely got the chance to breathe. You were so wrapped up in your head, you didn’t even notice your mother walking through the door. With your head hanging low to look at the different necklaces, you examined every stone, getting lost in the different colours of the rainbows.

“You look beautiful, darling.” Pepper spoke quietly behind you and you looked over your shoulder. Pepper held her hands over her chest, glossy eyed.

You wrapped your arms around her, afraid that she might disappear. “Thank you.” You drew back, Pepper’s eyes roaming the dress until her eyes met yours again.

“I’m so glad you’re happy. You are, aren’t you?”

“Yes, yes I am.” You said, but you weren’t sure if it was for your reassurance or hers.

“Good, because I brought a special guest for you.”

You heard the door to your chambers close and as soon as you saw the figure moving towards you, you knew it was Julia.

You let go of our mother, throwing yourself in Julia’s arms. Immediately the forset stared running and your cheeks were wet from tears. You never thought you could miss a person this much. Feeling Julia’s body pressed to yours, the scent of her flowery perfume and the satin of her dress brought a sort of comfort to you like nothing else.

With a shaky sob you pulled apart, taking a good look at your twin. Her hair nicely pinned up, a gold crown sitting atop her head and she already looked like the Queen she would soon be.

“Y/n, you have to idea how much I’ve missed you.” Julia spoke, with teary eyes.

“I’ve missed you more.”

Your mother’s cough interrupted your sweet sisterly moment and you followed her eyes to the person standing at the door.

Steve, the King of Thaumasia, smiling brightly at the two of you, but you were suddenly afraid you had disrespected him by not addressing him first. You lowered yourself in a deep curtsy. “King Steve, I apologise.”

“Princess Y/n, no apology needed, I know you were just as eager to see Julia as she was to see you.” He kissed the back of your hand and upon further inspection, you noticed that he was just as handsome as in the portrait, but he could not compare to Bucky. Wait what? “I heard there will be an archery competition later today?”

Your face lit up as soon as the words left Steve’s mouth. “Yes! I will be participating, of course.” Your smile reached your ears at the thought of it. It is tradition in Cydonia to hold a competition in archery. The winner will choose who will be given the title ‘woman of orchids’. In Cydonia it is a great honour to be chosen, as she will represent the love and fertility of the King and Queen.

“No one will stand a chance!” Julia chimed in, making Steve laugh loudly.

“I look forward to it. Now if you excuse me, I’ll see what Bucky’s been up to.” Steve bowed again before taking his leave.

You changed into a ruby coloured dress made by Natasha’s request and you could tell just by the heaviness that shooting for a target will be a disadvantage for you. The pearls around your neck are a nice addition to the deep red, but not exactly something you would pick for archery.

“Nat, do you think I could wear something less extravagant?” You turned on the spot to look at Natasha.

“No, absolutely not! You look fantastic in this dress and I can’t stand seeing you walk around in those striped dresses any longer.” Nat scrunched her nose, waving her hand in front of her face.

“But I know for a fact that I won’t be able to shoot arrows with this on.” You pointed to the skirt of the dress.

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Shoot arrows? You know you won’t participate, do you?”

Your mouth opened and closed. You knew things were different in different kingdoms, but everyone was allowed to participate in tornaments. “Oh, ok.”

You walked off next to Natasha and Clint to the courtyard. From the distance you could see the masses and Bucky, Julia, Winnifred and your parents to the side. You were just as dolled up as they are, but that would stop you from trying to enter.

As you greeted everyone, you sat next to Bucky on the raised platform on cushioned chairs, overlooking the lawn where ten targets were stood a few feet away. All the participants stood on their designated places, getting ready. Your leg was shaking in anticipation and you glanced over to Clint who stood off to the side. The guests from all kinds of backgrounds stood behind the participates, waiting eagerly with their champagne flutes.

There was just one question in your mind and when you turned to Bucky you blurted it right out. “Can I participate, too?”

Bucky was taken aback by your question, but one look to you and he knew that he couldn’t refuse. He could say to just to annoy her, but Bucky knew that that would be counterproductive to his plan, so without hesitation he ordered one of the participants to step down from the competition and gestured for you to take his place.

He watched as you descended the stairs, walking passt all the men staring at you as if they’ve never seen a woman before. It was amusing to Bucky, seeing you walking so confidently and he enjoyed it. Bucky leaned forward watching as you took the bow in your hands as the tournament started.

As soon as the first few arrows flew towards their targets, you knew nobody else stood a chance. Every round after that you proved to the men next to you that you were the best, hitting bullseye every time no matter how far away it was. With the last bow fired, cutting through the air, you knew you had won, but the faces of the guests were still priceless.

“Congratulations to Princess Y/n!” The words left Sam’s mouth and you turned to look at Bucky, your face hurting from the extensive smiling, but you still lowered yourself to curtsy. Sam came forward handing you a flower crown made of different colours and plants. “You may chose you woman of orchids.”

With a few strides you reached the wooden platform, standing in front of Julia. “I hereby chose you, Princess Julia, to be my woman of orchids.” You lowered the flowers on her head. Julia jumped up, hugging you while the people around you erupted in cheers.

From the corner of your eye you saw Bucky standing, clapping, with the biggest smile you’ve ever seen. You untangled your arms from around your sister and turned to Bucky. Maybe it was his smile, the proud look on his face, or the feeling of victory, but the urge to kiss that smile off his face was unnerving. Your heart hammered in your chest, taking a step forward. Without thinking much, you got on your tiptoes, placing a gentle and light kiss on his cheek. The look on Bucky’s face was worth the heat crawling up your cheeks as he blinked frantically.

Bucky slowly took the crown from his head, placing it on the cushion with distance in his eyes. Maybe you didn’t resent him as much as he thought. Maybe in the middle of all this you saw what he saw, a partner. Bucky couldn’t make a lot of sense of your sudden affection towards him since you’ve been fairly distant since the ball. Maybe it’s all a show.

A knock on his door pulled him out of the trance like stante and as soon as he saw Steve, relieve washed over him. “Steve, good to see you.”

“Yeah, I feel like now more than ever we have less time for each other.” Steve laughed as he hugged Bucky.

“especially since both of us are getting married.” Bucky poured wine in two goblets, offering Steve one.

“Tomorrow is you big day!” Steve beamed as he sat down on one of the velvet chairs opposite Bucky.

Bucky sighted, turning to look at a portrait of his father. “I just with my bride would be excited too.”

“What do you mean?” Steve scrunched his face. “She seemed pretty happy by your side to me.”

“Well, the thing is we had some... issues.” Bucky looked at his friend, finding nothing but confusion, so he explained everything from the start.

“Bucky, I know you’ve had some issues in the past and with your fathers passing ruling became your number one priority, but you have to understand that it’s not her fault. She has to face the same fate as you.”

Bucky looked down in shame, taking a big swig of wine. “I know. I talked to my mother.”

“That’s not enough.” Steve interrupted him. “You have to talk to Y/n, too. Explain the situation and confess your affection. You have affection for her, do you?” Steve grinned.

“I do, yes. But I’m afraid she doesn’t.

“The only way to find that out is by talking to her. Go to her tomorrow first thing in the morning and clear the air.”

Bucky smiled weakly. “Ok, I will.”

It wasn’t like Bucky was afraid to talk to you, he was afraid of what you would say. The feelings that have manifested were scary to him and to have his heart broken by the one he will marry would only mean unhappiness. And Bucky wasn’t ready to have his heart broken again.

[ next ]

#bucky barnes #king!bucky #prince!bucky #royal!bucky #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes x reader fluff #bucky x reader #bucky x you #king!steve #royal!au #king bucky #king bucky x reader #king bucky barnes #clair writes

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darkmindsotome · 4 years ago

Text

Wrapped For Dinner

Fandom: Love 365 Irresistible Mistakes

Pairing: Shunichiro Tachibana x MC

Word count: 3,796

Warning: NSFW Smut

Written by: darkmindsotome

Tagging @voltage-vixen as requested. Prompt #13: Sex under the sun dress

Darkmindsotome Masterlist

---

Wrapped For Dinner

My latest big project at Addison & Rhodes had me working as lead creative. It was long hours and a lot of hard work but in the end, we were able to pull off a pretty fantastic ad campaign that was currently trending and going viral.

To say I was relieved at the response was putting it modestly. Toma had already teased me about the stupid grin on my face creeping him out at work and Natsume had commented on it as well when he dropped off the updated sales figures. I managed to laugh them both off, nothing was going to put a dampener on my good mood. Well, almost nothing…

The phone rang at my desk the caller ID clearly displaying it was from the creative director’s office. I picked up the receiver as I pressed the button to answer. I had palpitations in my chest knowing my boyfriend was calling me during work hours. I wonder if I’ll ever get used to this?

“Creative department, MC speaking.”

“Always so professional.” I could hear Shinichiro’s deep voice as he chuckled. It managed to send tingles rippling through me. “Good work on that last project I just saw the updates. The projections look set to knock the client’s preferred targets out of the park.”

“Thank you, Sir. It means a lot hearing you say that.” My mood and happiness seemed to increase ten-fold being praised by him.

“… Listen about later, I’m going to have to take a rain check. One of the larger clients for the company had a scheduling issue and I was asked by the higher-ups to cover for someone who is still off-site.” Shunichiro’s words were like a bucket of ice water bringing me firmly back to Earth.

“Oh, that’s fine.” I didn’t know what else to say in response, it felt like the wind had been knocked out of me and I rolled my chair a little closer to my desk hoping the computer monitor would hide me from the rest of the department.

“I knew you’d say that. I’ll make arrangements for something soon and make it up to you.” He sounded genuinely sorry but what worried me more than the cancelled date was how tired he sounded.

“You don’t have to worry, work is work. I’ve bailed on you a few times recently too.” I tried to mask my disappointment with a little enthusiasm. I really didn’t want to add to his problems by making him worry about me.

“Well alright if that’s how you really feel. You seriously did a great job this time I’m going to have to work harder to stay ahead.” It was reassuring to hear him accept my response and hear the motivation return to him. I could feel the smile returning to my face just listening to him.

“I’m still nowhere near –”

“I’m going to have to go another call is coming in.” Shunichiro cut me off after an electronic beeping on the line.

“Alright.” I nodded. He was busy and while I had really wanted to see him it couldn’t be helped.

“Mc? I can’t wait to see you.”

The line went dead as I held the receiver to my ear for a few seconds letting his parting words linger.

“Oh, Shun… you really don’t play fair.”

With no new projects that required my immediate attention, I was actually able to leave the office on time for the first time in ages. It was the weekend and the original plan had been to go to Shunichiro’s last night and spend the weekend together.

I looked over at the weekend bag I dragged back from a locker at the train station last night. Takuro had given me a quizzical look when I came back with it, but he was now curled up on top of the bag fast asleep.

Reaching for my phone I shot a quick message to Shunichiro wishing him good luck at work then hopped into the shower. With my hair dry but a towel still wrapped around me, I rifled through my wardrobe looking for clothes. I picked up the summer dress Yuiko had helped me find on our last shopping trip together.

The delicate gradient of pastel shades made the dress look like a dawn sky and the petals spread out around the baseline hem looked like I had kicked up waves of Sakura flowers. It made me feel happy and a change in mood was certainly what I wanted right now.

I hadn’t been very sure about it, after all, it was a wrap-around dress that caused a deep plunge to my neckline. My reaction had made Yuiko laugh as she kept encouraging me to try it on insisting that if it was to go on a date that it was perfect. In the end, I bought it, I wanted to see his reaction but that was not happening today.

Tying the fabric around my waist I checked myself in the mirror and slipped on a pair of kitten heels. Today may not be the day I get to see him but it was still a day off. Plus, I had been working so hard at the office recently I had no groceries in the apartment to make breakfast. Grabbing my purse, I exited my place in search of sustenance.

My parents had always warned me about food shopping on an empty stomach. I really didn’t want to end up carrying a ton of things back with me just because I was thinking with my belly and not my brain. After cutting through the park I came out onto the main road and spotted a familiar sign for McDonald's and went in.

Quickly grabbing a McMuffin and a coffee to go I was just on my way out again when I walked smack into someone. A familiar scent of a particular brand of cigarette, cologne and citrus shampoo filled my senses.

“Whoops! Careful, are you alright?” My eyes followed the arms supporting me. Navy blue suit with grey pinstriped vest and a custom shirt. Finally reaching his face and those deep brown eyes. My mind went blank as I stood there, face to face with Shunichiro. “Wait… MC?”

Clearly, I was not the only one surprised to see my partner. Shunichiro’s eyes looked me over from head to toe as if to check it was really me. I was suddenly very aware of his arms around me and felt a little self-conscious with how he was looking at me. I haven’t done anything different with my usual makeup, maybe its the dress. Does he not like it?

“Morning, late night?” I took half a step back putting a little space between us and the awkward situation.

“Yeah, fast food always tastes better after a late night. If you’re free right now we could eat together.” He shrugged, composed as always. This kind of situation really doesn’t rattle him, I guess that’s something that comes from age and experience.

“Really?”

“Well, it’s up to you. What do you want?” He was clearly holding back laughter I probably sounded or looked childish right now. His playful tone was not lost on me if anything it triggered more of my childish side.

“You have to ask?” I gave him a small glare that made him smile wider.

“Ok, I’ll be right back.”

I found a booth and sat down feeling completely unsure as to what I was now supposed to do. I wasn’t supposed to see him today at all and the fact I now was had thrown me. The look on his face when he recognised me also bugged me a little. While I was lost in thought a second bag was placed next to mine and the cushioned seating at my side pressed lower as Shunichiro sat down.

“I was going to phone you later.” He began talking as he cracked open his bag and began pulling out two McMuffins and a pastry.

“You were?” I looked at his face in profile, he was always handsome but something about this slightly tired look had me thinking back to our time spent together in bed. I reached out for my own bag of food to distract myself from my own lude imagination.

“Mhm,” He filled his mouth with a bite of his breakfast and then sucked hard of the straw for his iced fruit juice. I could have laughed at myself for how I suddenly felt very jealous of a straw, watching his moist lips wrap around it. “After pulling an all-nighter, preparing copies and things for the meeting. The client phoned saying they would have to reschedule again.”

He sighed and leaned back against the booth seating. He was frustrated and tired, you didn’t have to be his girlfriend to see something so plain.

“After you put in all that work!? That’s just too much…” I raised my voice a little allowing the annoyance I felt to at least show even if he wouldn’t.

“It’s a big account and the board members all want to keep it, but when I left the office earlier they were all apologising to me for the extra work.” He gave a wry smile and sucked a bit more on his drink. This was one of the many things I actually loved about this man. His dedication to his craft made him glow in a way that always had me dazzled, it motivated me to keep pushing forward.

“Must be nice to be in demand like that.” I smiled feeling some of my anger subside. He was so talented and respected by everyone in the company. Remembering that a warmth spread through my chest as a wave of affection hit me for the man at my side.

“You are as well you know? I am always getting requests for you to handle accounts personally.” There is a look on his face that even in profile seems to reflect everything I was just feeling about him back at me.

“You’re joking!” I nearly choked on my coffee as my embarrassment caught in my throat. Great work there MC remember to breathe air, not coffee.

“I’m really not.” Shunichiro chuckled at my little outburst making me feel even more childish sitting next to such a well put together man. He had already devoured his pastry and moved on to the rest of his food without me even noticing. “It actually makes me feel very...” He turned his head to look at me the expression painted on his face was not one I saw when working. It was softer but there was an intensity swimming in his eyes that automatically had my core tightening under that gaze. He smiled and then gave my food a nudge closer to me. “Your food is getting cold.”

“Oh!” The spell holding me seemed to break at his prompting. I really wanted to know what he didn’t finish saying, but the timing was now all wrong.

I don’t know if he knew what I was thinking or how he was affecting me. Knowing him he probably had already laid the groundwork for the perfect game plan. He always found a way to get me dancing in the palm of his hand.

“So what do you want to do now?” His question had me confused. It also came right after I had stuffed a big mouthful of McMuffin into my mouth.

“I thought you’d just pulled an all-nighter. Shouldn’t you be heading home to rest?” My words were muffled as I tried to swallow my food and talk at the same time. I probably looked like a hamster, my lack of manners and decorum didn’t faze him at all he simply listened to my garbled gibberish with a soft smile on his face. Ok, that look should be illegal.

“I was but seeing you made me feel much more energised. I’m not so old that one late night is going to stop me from seeing the woman I love. It’s up to you though, I know what I’d prefer.” He was so calm and easy-going. It reminded me that this mature sexy guy was like the smooth jazz music at our favourite bar.

He always did this. No matter what he always said something that was intrinsically tempting in a way you couldn’t possibly refuse then asks what you want to do. It still catches me off guard at times but I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Then will you come shopping with me?” I hadn’t planned on seeing him today so the fact I was right now made me unbelievably happy. It didn’t, however, change the reason behind my leaving my apartment.

“Shopping?” My rather boring request had him look at me in slight wonder. I don’t know if he thought I had offered up something mundane because I was concerned for his exhaustion or what.

“Sorry is that weird?” I cast my eyes down looking at the last bite of my breakfast in my hands shyly.

“No, not at all. What are we shopping for?”

“I…” I fidgeted in my seat. At work, I was organised and usually even at home I was as well. However, being as busy as I had recently meant I had let so many things slide in my personal life that I was getting embarrassed thinking about it all. “I haven’t been home much so I didn’t have any groceries.”

“Well, we can’t have that. If we’re buying food can I make some requests?” Shunichiro didn’t laugh at me or look like he was harshly judging me. I finally look up at him, his face looking a little boyish. I loved that look of innocence on him too.

“Of course!”

After finishing our food, we headed over to one of the larger stores because it had a slightly bigger variety of items.

“So, what do you want to request?” I ask as I pick up a shopping basket from the stack.

“Well lately I’ve been really craving your cooking I would say anything you make is fine but…” Shunichiro trails off looking at the displays. It made me smile thinking this is the first time in a while either of us had been food shopping.

“You want me to make chicken nuggets don’t you?” I end up giggling which earns me a raised eyebrow from him.

“You know me so well.”

“Naturally I am your girlfriend after all.” The words came naturally but with an instant hit of embarrassment. To hide my fluster, I looked away from him as I marched towards the shelves. “I’ll just go find the seasonings you go get the chicken.”

“Anything else?” He was hot on my heels making me little thankful for being able to stay ahead of him.

“Whatever you see you might want to eat.” I stopped in front of the seasoning looking over the array of choices and as I raised my hand to pick one up, I found myself covered from behind. “Shun?”

“In that case do I really have to go over there? I can’t think of anything but how great you would taste right now.” Shunichiro’s low voice and hot breath brushed against my ear as he pressed himself against my back. His hand was on top of my outstretched one, nimble fingers tracing my own while he used his thumb to rub the sensitive skin on the inside of my wrist.

“Shun… we’re in the middle of a store.” I closed my eyes wanting so badly for time to stop or for our location to just magically change. He placed his other hand on my hip sliding towards the wrapped fabric of my waist. His fingers delved into the gap they found and traced over the naked flesh beneath.

“Mmm, pity.” He hummed before removing himself and gracefully swiped the basket from my hand as if nothing had happened at all. “I’ll go get the chicken then.”

“You’re a damn tease, Shunichiro.” I muttered as I finished finding the seasonings and made a move for some frozen items next. With any luck, the freezers might help me cool down.

It was almost a mad dash to get home. I wanted to say it was because of the risk of food spoiling but to be honest that was the last thing on either of our minds.

Our little flirtations had persisted around the entire store, and when I say our flirtations, I mean Shunichiro’s. By the time we were at the checkout, I was trembling so much from his persistent teases that I couldn’t locate my card in my purse easily.

Not wishing to waste valuable time, Shunichiro produced his card and paid for the whole lot. He even picked up all the bags and began walking before I could protest. As we left, I caught one person saying “…such a gentleman.” Oh if only you knew.

Once inside he walked right into my small kitchen and opened the door to the fridge, not caring one bit about unpacking. I watched in shock as the entire bags, including their contents, were unceremoniously wedged inside.

“You know that isn’t good for the food right?”

“And you know right now I couldn’t care less.” His voice was lower than I expected. It was ruff and gravelly instantly reigniting all the tingling hot spots he had kindled during our impromptu shopping date.

He closed the gap between us in the blink of an eye. The strength with which he took me in his arms knocked the air from my lungs and my ability to think right out of my body. He dipped low plying my lips open with his tongue and pushing it deep into my mouth as if he were trying to steal my ability to speak as well.

Experienced hands roamed over the top of my dress pulling on the fabric in all the right places to provide some friction of fabric on flesh, raising the temperature between us.

“Mhm!.... Ah… Shun.” I was panting as he pulled back finally allowing me a few seconds to gain some air.

“I’ve never been so bothered by work. It’s so frustrating our schedules just never match up at the minute.” Even as he spoke he was removing his own clothes. Tossing his jacket and vest behind himself in a flurry of action that had me rubbing my legs together seeing him so desperate.

“I know I felt the same.” I brought my hand up to the buttons on his shirt, slowly tracing them before popping them one by one between my fingers like I was snapping them. My eyes never left his as he unbuckled his leather belt and trousers. “Every time I felt a break in the workload You vanished under a pile of assignments.”

“Seeing you every day at work. So close…” He shuddered at my touch the fire in his eyes lit scorching hot paths through my body.

He gave an almost silent groan as he lunged at me. My back hit the kitchen table as he pinned me down on either side with his strong arms. Hovering over me I could feel the pulsating heat from his body and the weight of his raw animal magnetism that always had me coming back for more.

My legs were forced wide as he brought his leg and hip between them. Alternating rhythms resounded in my body as my heart hammered hard enough to burst and his fingers danced up my inner thigh under my dress before slipping past the fabric barrier covering me.

“Mmm, A-ah—” The pressure filling me was exquisite. I watched his arm and shoulder pump in action with his fingers buried deep inside me as he worked away at my sanity.

“I was so glad to see you today I thought the torture was over but then you had to go and do this to me.”

“Do what? I didn’t do anything?” I was seriously confused. I was focusing on him but I felt like there was something I was missing. He didn’t answer me with words instead he brought his face to my chest burying it between my breasts and pulled on the fabric of my dress with his teeth.

“Are you being coy on purpose? Where did you learn to charm a man like that?” He pulled his fingers free with a smirk watching as I writhed missing his touch while he licked them clean. The next feeling my increasingly befuddled mind registered was the complete fulfilment as we became one.

“Oh, God!” My back arched against the unforgiving table and he placed one hand on my chest pushing me back down while he moved his hips against me.

“Ngh… dammit, you are just so perfect.”

“Shu…ni…chiro…” The pop and grind that was a familiar dance to us had me seeing stars.

“I know baby, I know.” He picked up the pace our bodies becoming slick with sweat as we relentlessly hammered home our mutual desires for each other.

“You awake?”

I slowly opened my eyes finding that I was not exactly where I thought I was. Shunichiro had been sitting on my sofa having a drink. Noticing how I was now conscious he returned to my side in my small little bed.

“Mmm, yeah. Did you carry me to bed?” Clutching the covers over my chest I wriggled closer to him. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders placing my head on his chest in the process.

“Well I did consider leaving you on the kitchen table but I thought you might get cold.” He laughed as he teased me. I was too happily exhausted to care and gave him a pathetically weak slap on his arm. My eyes started to adjust more to being fully awake, finding my alarm clock next to the bed.

“Jeez is that the time I should start making the food.” I freed myself from his hold and had placed one foot outside of the covers only to be pulled back in. “Ah!”

“You could or we could enjoy ourselves a little more. There’s no rush, after all, we have the rest of the weekend together.” He was whispering in my ear and trailing fingers over my now naked form. The tip of his tongue drew a line down my neck to my nape where he suckled on it. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re a sneaky scoundrel.” I smiled knowing this was him. He was sneaky, tricky, devilish, conniving and god help me if I didn’t find every aspect of the man appealing.

“Correction.” He chuckled and I found myself flipped under him. “I’m your sneaky scoundrel, and you’re mine.”

---

#summer of smut #summer of smut writing challenge

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iambloop · 4 years ago

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Monkey Bars

I could never jump across monkey bars as a kid.

My lanky arms allowed me to get across to the second bar without letting the first one go. The trouble was getting to the third one. I could not establish a firm grip on the third bar while holding on to the second - at best, I could brush my fingers against it, the metal burning hot after an afternoon under the summer sun. To get across, I had to take a leap of faith. I’d have to swing, and then, I’d have to let go. There would be a moment between holding on to bar two and grappling bar three, a moment when I would be doing neither of those two things. In that moment, there would be a small chance that I would not make it across, that the metal would slip away from my clammy hands. No, I have never been able to deal with that kind of uncertainty.

The playground is empty this morning. The metal is glistening under the sun, reflecting the morning dew resting on the rusty swings - yellow, red, pink, green, the preschool colour palette with patches of grey where the paint has worn off, and elsewhere, mounds of rust. The weather isn’t particularly chilly but a thin jacket would’ve been nice. I feel my ankles tugging at my calves - cramping from the cold, cramping from the thought of cramping, cramping in anticipation of the gruelling marathon (my first) that they will be running later today.

I started running a few years ago, when I was in college. Avi had suggested it - he was annoyed at the sound of my feet pacing around the house all day. He’d ask me why I kept walking around, and I told him, I couldn’t sit and think. We started with a “eh, okay, let’s give it a shot”, and eventually, we started to enjoy running. So much so that on the weekends, we’d drive to this quiet part of the city and run west on a narrow trail cutting across this dense forest. The trail led to a barren flatland - barren, except for the odd patch of grass here and there, and flat, except for an arrangement of boulders. Provided that the rocks weren’t too hot from the day’s sun, we would climb the boulders and sit at the top. There was the city airport, before which there was a highway, and just before that, the barren flatland with the set of boulders, and on top of them, Avi and I. We would spend those evenings being distant witnesses to the drama of cars scrambling across the highway and the screeching cry of aeroplane engines.

How do you answer when somebody asks, “What are you thinking about?”

The good thing about Avi is that he doesn’t ask those questions. I think he wants to know though.

The bad thing about Avi is that he’s particular, to the point of being obsessive. The good thing is that he’s not one to lose his temper. So when I walk back home with white eggs instead of brown, I expect him to skip eggs and just eat a cheese sandwich.

Instead, he throws a fit about it.

The good thing about Avi is that he’s predictable. The bad part is that despite this, I cannot be certain about his emotional response to the wrong kind of eggs. What nobody tells you about living with another person is that it’s a lot like being married - sometimes, you fight about things that don’t matter because of your inability to fight about things that matter. In this way, Avi reminds me of my mother - after all, they’re the same zodiac sign, born 31 years, 11 months and 8 days apart.

My greatest fear is to end up exactly like my parents. Living with Avi can be a gay recreation of that nightmare.

But the nightmare is not complete yet. When the horror is external, at the very least you can run from it, but how do you run from mirrors? They’re everywhere. My reflection carries a trace of my father - we share a bald spot on the left side of our foreheads and a paunch that’s popping right out (in my defense, I’m not fat - I just have bad posture). Some nights, when I’m doing the dishes after dinner, I feel like carving my nose out of my face and replacing it with the soap soaked sponge - maybe then I’d look less like him. But I talk like him, my mother says. Can I wash his words off my tongue?

Now I taste toothpaste.

When Avi is screaming at me about the eggs, I think about bubble blowers. I imagine our apartment is filled with pink bubbles, bubbles that fall to the ground and rub against the marble. Bubbles and foam that collect in my mouth. Bubbles and foam are choking me now.

Spit.

When Avi is screaming at me about the eggs, my mind is unable to connect eggs and anger - it feels like this is about something more. I think he’s been unhappy, but I’m not really sure. His mother came to live with us for a week last year when we were having a bad phase, and she left her copy of this book about love languages. I read it.

I found out that Avi’s love language is quality time. The last time he seemed really happy was a couple of weeks ago, when we drove down to the bakery and ate croissants there rather than getting them packed for home - he says there’s something about the aroma of the place that makes him feel warm and nostalgic. I really like going there too, but that’s because of this cute girl who works there.

When he stops screaming, I suggest a trip to the bakery. He looks at me silently.

Is he even there anymore? Absence can coexist with physical proximity. My father taught me that.

The thing about living with someone is that eventually, their silence becomes interpretable.

But I’ve always liked the quiet. And so, really, this is an annoyance - it’s not true silence if the tension is palpable. I’d much rather he get it all out at once, but he’s not like that at all. The outburst is a temporary crack in the veneer of his composure - forgotten quickly, instantly, just leaving behind a trace of frustration in the room, like the aroma of burnt sugar that makes my nose all itchy. I feel a sneeze tickling my nasal passage, but it just won’t come out. I wish I could sneeze at will - it’s such a satisfying release.

Instead, I massage my calves and eat a banana.

⁓

Initially, when I started running, it would feel like I was choking on air. The body adapts quickly though. Running is not a mechanically complex task - in essence, you are just putting one foot ahead of the other, one monkey bar after another. But it takes more than just crude stamina to run a marathon - you need a pace that can last the distance. The pace decides not just your movement but your breath too. Too slow or too fast, and running stops being fun. There’s no constant answer to the question of pace either - it has to adapt with the gradient, the weather, and the mood. That adjustment process becomes natural after a certain amount of practice. It is sufficiently natural to me now, so when I hear “go” at the marathon, I start hopping. Within a minute, I’m gliding across the asphalt.

What is the relationship between the mind and the body? It’s impossible for me to sit and think.

At the 7th kilometre mark, I see someone throwing up. Marathons are not for everyone.

This one time, I tried to swing across the second bar to the third one. I fell. I didn’t try after that.

At the 11th kilometre mark, I am more sweat than skin.

I have this memory from my childhood. On winter mornings, my father would drive me to school. It used to be so cold, we’d wrap our hands in gloves, rubbing and blowing to keep them warm. On the route, we would spot an old man. His face was wrinkled, like a raisin - he was significantly old, maybe older than me and my dad put together. He’d be running in just a vest and shorts, with beads of sweat trickling down his face, all trickling across different paths, all headed for his vest.

Maybe one could make salt from his flesh on those winter mornings.

Maybe one could make salt from my flesh right now.

The relationship between the mind and the body is a codependent one.

At the 19th kilometre mark, the sky is no longer blue - it has morphed into a shade of yellow and orange, with the sun resting on the horizon, bleeding streaks of crimson. At this point, I am no longer running. I am my 15 year old self on a beach.

The water is warm from the summer day, and the waves strike against my chest, rising to my chin, then falling back down. I am my 15 year old self, floating in the warm salty ocean of sweat while looking at the most beautiful sunset that I have ever seen. I hear my mother’s terrified shrill cry. She’s standing at the shore, ordering me to not go deeper into the ocean. She doesn’t know how to swim, but I do.

I am my 5 year old self, jumping across monkey bars. I hear the same shrill cry as the metal slips away from my hands. Pothole. I nearly stumble onto the asphalt. I hear the same shrill cry. Fear is my inheritance. Can I abandon it now?

At the 23rd kilometre mark, I feel a strong impulse to leave everything behind and run away.

At the 27th kilometre mark, I am sliding downhill. The sun has set and my sweat has dried. I spread my arms across, and now, I am a bird. I stretch my palm wide - my fingers slice through the breeze, breathing life into the folds of my hands.

The relationship between the mind and the body is a symbiotic one. The thing about running is that it’s the only time when my mind and my body are in sync with each other.

At the 31st kilometre mark, I am wondering why I have never spoken to the girl who works at the bakery.

At the 34th kilometre mark, I am thinking about Avi.

The thing about monkey bars is that there are two ways to get across. You can jump all the way through or climb the top and crawl. My problem is that neither of those work for me.

Sometimes, when Avi talks to me, I get the feeling that we are not speaking the same language. Of course, syntactically and for all meaningful purposes, we speak the same language, but is that sufficient to say it is the same language, when we don’t even understand each other?

Sometimes, I feel like I’m still living with my parents.

You can prepare for every aspect of a marathon except what comes after the 36th kilometre mark.

At the 36th kilometre mark, I am thirsty and 5 minutes past the last water stop on the circuit.

Each metre beyond the 36th kilometre mark is a needle piercing through the rubber sole of my running shoes.

Is feeling thirsty the same as needing water? The ascetic must say no. The runner must say no.

Is feeling thirsty the same as needing water? I am my 14 year old self, my cupped hands pressed against my lips as my mother pours jal into my palm. I was raised on a diet of positive affirmations, of new age spirituality mixed with ancient religion. I am my 14 year old self, a witness to my mother’s pretense - “everything is okay”, she murmurs under her breath.

Sometimes, I feel that she is telling me lies that she does not believe.

Where is the line between instinct and intellect? I know I mustn’t drink more water, but my body is begging for it now. The problem with lines is that I don’t know where to draw them - now I am my 17 year old self watching my mother pace around the house. “Nothing is okay”, she says. Has it ever been okay?

The difficult part is acknowledging that okay and not-okay are not mutually exclusive states of being. The problem is the illusion of danger doesn’t look very different from danger itself.

Is feeling thirsty the same as needing water? The reason I run but don’t pray is because running doesn’t pretend to ascribe greater meaning to deprivation and suffering - it’s just a way of getting across. Marathons don’t pretend to end at the doorstep of some divine reward.

The last thing you want when you’re soaked in sweat is for a pigeon to shit on you. Then you run your hand through your hair and feel something sticky inside it.

The greatest hurdle of a marathon is the 36th kilometre mark. It is your parched throat begging for water. Everything new is uncomfortable, unfamiliar, unknown, uncertain. Everything new is a needle piercing through the rubber sole of my running shoes.

The thing about pain is that it cannot be ignored.

The thing about running marathons is that pain must be ignored.

But what is pain? Pain is a signal in your head. From an evolutionary perspective, pain facilitates survival, but to run a marathon, I have to numb the signal out. I have to ignore it, go on despite it. This requires training. You cannot run a marathon without this. All training is an unlearning of natural instinct.

There is a loud ugly man inside my head, I murmur to myself.

The loud ugly man wants things a certain way - easy, comfortable, familiar, certain.

When I deviate from that, the loud ugly man makes my heart race and my head spin.

The loud ugly man is my father’s absence.

The loud ugly man is my mother’s cry.

The 36th kilometre is my enlightenment. “Everything is okay”, I murmur to myself.

Running is not so different from jumping across monkey bars. Once you figure out how to get from the second to the third, the rest comes naturally. Somewhere between the 36th kilometre mark and the end, I tell myself I’m going to go back to those monkey bars and try to do them all the way this time. Then I remember, that’s not possible anymore - now, my folded feet touch the ground.

⁓

Latch on.

Rubbing my eyes, I gag from the stench of human flesh marinated in salt. I really should’ve showered before sleeping. The fridge has a fresh stock of brown eggs, and the living room has a trail of blood droplets that encircle the sofa.

“I cut myself while clipping my nose hair.”

Swing.

I sit down next to Avi while he’s pressing the ice-wrapped-in-cloth against his nose. His eyes look glassy, like he’s holding in a sneeze. I hope he doesn’t sneeze blood on me.

“Do you want to go to the bakery aaj shaam ko?”

“Chalo.”

— (Artwork by Aditi Gupta)

#short #shortstory #short story #fiction

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dansnaturepictures · 4 years ago

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24th August 2020-Farewell to the cottage and grounds and Dartmeet via Dartmoor mini safari

This morning as the sky couldn’t make up its mind as to if it wanted to carry on raining or not, and the sun eventually came out I took one last walk around the lakes in the grounds of the lovely farm we stayed in a very comfortable and homely cottage on. This rich and beautiful area really being two or three minutes away from the cottage down a hill left me with some battles in the mind in the evenings of our stay we did walk here as our main walk on Friday the day devoted to travelling from Hampshire to Devon for the weekend away and loved it. But on the Saturday and Sunday night the battle was whether to get out there or (with the wi-fi not good enough to upload here) do the valuable processing of my images and writing of these blogs as it would have been impossible to do them all when home and enjoy some relaxing time watching TV. After long days out the allure of the latter two proved too great Saturday and Sunday. There is no doubt this walk around the lakes and up the lane where we took Missy Saturday morning would have been ones we’d have done a few times had we been here for a week. So it left me wanting as I often do on these holidays one last look at this area really so local to where we laid our heads for three nights that was really nice and we got to know quite intimately.

So that I did and it was a lovely little walk around the beautiful area, and it was very similar to the opening walk we had around here on Friday in that I enjoyed seeing flowers particularly foxgloves, rosebay willowherb and the orange ones I saw and photographed on Friday night and we’ve seen everywhere in the south west this weekend great summer flowers as well as some yellow dahlias so a different colour to the ones I have photographed so much at home this year. I also saw some nice little insects and unlike Friday a Common Blue damselfly by the ponds. I also saw a lovely little Wren again today. Wildlife wise Feral Pigeons and Swallows before we left were the only other things I really noticed on a brief walk. I took the first picture in this photoset overlooking a pond on the walk today.

We had a bit of a disaster leaving when the roof box for our luggage on the car’s key section broke so it could not be locked. With the help and advice of some very kind people at the farm we stayed, the postman who happened to come by and in the post office at Bridestowe a local village we managed to arrange a makeshift tie down of the box using some rope ties and some newspaper ties and parcel tape from the post office shop there. We had to be resourceful but this type of thing can be what holidays are all about in a sense. I took in some views of this picturesque village and saw a Woodpigeon, Collated Dove, Jackdaws and House Martins whilst there. Quite an adventure. I took the second picture in this photoset here.

What followed was effectively a safari through the beautiful Dartmoor National Park as it was one of those sunny and rainy days getting a fair amount of each. We took in the stunning and uniquely carved out landscape, I took pictures of it from the car and at a little stop including the third and fourth pictures in this photoset. On the stop we saw some of the hardy Dartmoor ponies of different colours too which was great.

We then arrived at a planned stopover point to have a little walk from, Dartmeet on the banks of the river dart where we’d come in 2015 another very nice river through woods habitat similar to Fingle Bridge where went on Saturday. We walked one way through rain and sun taking in stunning views along the river and were happy to find Dart Valley nature reserve and we walked along there. I took the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth pictures in this photoset of the views walking this way. After lunch in the car park area through sun and rain once more we walked the other way through a heath. More stunning views were on offer here like the ones I took the ninth and tenth pictures in this photoset of and then the walk came alive for wildlife sightings. We saw a Sparrowhawk chasing a Swallow which noisily tried to see it off, when looking at it I noticed a lovely common lizard sat on a little rockface it gave a great view but I was not quite fast enough for a picture. I noticed loads more of the little things of nature on the walk like a lovely spider on a hard to see web that looked as though it was skating in the air to get from bit of heather to heather therefore. Bees and Beautiful Demoiselles as we had seen the other side of the river completed this. Perhaps the stage was stolen though by another of my favourite dragon and damselflies when a Golden-ringed Dragonfly flew along flying right at us and then along we got a cracking view of this. Then a Buzzard a star of our weekend flew over too.

This made a pleasant end to the journey of this weekend away for us taking in some of the key habitat of this weekend that breathtaking river through woods over steep gradients in the land area and the Dartmoor landscape. We took in some more going briefly through Postbridge on the way home significant as a lovely picture hanging in the guest house making it seem so homely was of this. What a fantastic weekend away we have had, some of the best, most enjoyable and memorable times this summer and year for me for relaxing, walking, wildlife watching and photography. As I said we did and saw so much and I loved every minute of it well worth how excited I was for the weekend away beforehand it lived up to it well. We had a fun moment on the way home still in Devon today seeing some lovely Cattle Egrets in a field! A year tick on my birthday at WWT Slimbridge the last time we came to the West Country so this was very nice. In Dorset on the way home we went a different way to when we came we had a smashing view of some adorable Roe Deers on the roadside. When home tonight I photographed a lovely sunflower on the balcony one or a different one as a second grew I couldn’t tell which that I noticed before we came away and another fantastic moth in the house a really unique one.

Wildlife Sightings Summary at Dartmeet: One of my favourite birds the Buzzard, one of my favourite dragonflies the Golden-ringed Dragonfly, one of my favourite damselflies the Beautiful Demoiselle, Swallow, Sparrowhawk, Woodpigeon, Marsh Tit, Common Lizard, spider, bee and wasp.

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gaudeixcc · 5 years ago

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Peloton news. G20 – the Pyrenees

A much more reasonable start to this year’s tour. No crazy-early alarm clocks, just a nice trip to the airport with only hand-luggage and a gently grumbling Macca.

Our favourite plane man had unbeknownst to me fired a very early warning shot regarding our mode of transfer on arrival in France.

At 5.50am, whilst shooting the breeze on my couch, McEvoy had enquired as to whom I’d booked the hire car with. The one which would take us to resort.

‘I dunno….it’s on the App’ sayeth I.

I had a quick look. Whoever the third party was, they had a stunning 6.5 out of 10 rating. Not quite M&S levels of service, granted, but still it’s on a trusted App, we are only using it to transfer, I’ve got insurance, it’s France for fucks sake. It’ll be quiet and I’m a capable and experienced driver…. Well, we’ll come back to that last bit shortly.

We get to Gatwick with ColMac and Drip in tow and await the arrival of HRH.

The first of many 2019 tour errors soon became massively apparent.

We’ve got two gingers on the trip. Fuck. How on earth did that get through the vetting process? I sent my beloved co-chair a text

‘JT, I’m at LGW. We’ve got problems…..’

Before too long Drip and HRH are bonded in conversation which carried over onto the flight. By the time we were at 30,000 feet they were each answering the others questions before they had even been asked. It was like listening to 2 people taking it in turn to read out just the answers on a bunch of Trivial pursuit cards.

Macca whispered to me whilst transfixed by this sight. ‘What’s happening over there?’

‘They are becoming one Macca, they are becoming one’.

By the time we had landed things had progressed further. They were now communicating with eyes closed with just index fingers lightly touching. Silence. Occasionally dripping would meow.

When we got to Toulouse we started the hunt for the hire car counter. The twin gingers (Twinge?) followed gently behind in a glowing orange aura.

Whilst all this was going on, I’d failed to notice that Macca had entered a worrying (and just about controlled) mental meltdown.

‘Where’s the hire car counter…? It’s off-site isn’t it… remote.. we’ll need to get a bus… not even in the terminal…what were they called again?’ he blurted out in staccato perfection.

‘er…. Gold cars’… sounded good to me. What could go wrong when you’ve got Gold in your company name?

Within minutes we were at the Gold counter waiting to be served.

Macca had moved to DefCon level ‘Blind-Frenzy’.

He’d got straight onto his iPhone and had a full list of every negative customer review for Gold cars. I’m in the queue and he’s jabbing the phone at me and saying ‘look’ in a high-pitched squeal, ‘Maureen from Romford….. she’s 97… and this is how they treat our British citizens..!!’

‘They’re going to sell us extra insurance and then steal all our money’.

At this point I was starting to lose my legendary zen-like calm.

Macca connected with his iPhone again and dialled up a quote for a Hertz rental car equivalent.

‘Look, we could have had this one’… and with that, he was gone. Off to the Hertz counter.

I queued quietly on my own. Drip had temporarily disconnected from the Twinge umbilical cord and was trying to locate Macca to gently nudge him toward the exit.

Right, I thought… time to get this car booked and get the hell out of dodge.

My turn came and I presented myself at the counter with my usual finesse. My mouth opened to speak and just as I was about to wish the nice lady a very good morning Macca arrived on my shoulder, phone gripped in fist and launches a barked question at the unsuspecting clerk.

‘WHY DOES YOUR COMPANY HAVE SO MANY BAD REVIEWS?’

‘WHAT DID YOU DO TO MAREEN!?’

Macca was metaphorically wrestled to the ground by airport security and tied to the nearest pillar using clingfilm and then gently tasered… (this was how my mind was dealing with the situation at any rate).

The rest of the mini-peloton looked onward in apathetic bemusement. None of them gave a flying fuck about the arrangements on the basis that if it all went wrong, I’d be the one getting all the shit and would subsequently have to get us out of the hole I’d dug.

3 pairs of peloton eyes would say ‘your name on the form, your fucking problem sunshine’.

Anyhoo… after the drama of the hire car counter (which went perfectly smoothly), we picked up the car (which went perfectly smoothly), and got ourselves in and ready to go (smooth… perfectly).

I then started to drive. Dear fucking god where the hell has my driving ability gone?

I tried to change gear twice with the door handle and got completely befuddled with the clutch before a near impalement with a coach at the very first roundabout.

There was a flurry of uncensored ginger telepathic communication in the back seat which I am sure ended with Drip saying to HRH ‘if he kills us now, I want you to know I love you’.

At one point early on in the journey, I drifted the car toward the right (something I’d done subconsciously, I suspect in an attempt to place my body in the middle of the road).

I had started to edge us toward an 18-wheeler in the next lane. I could see HRH in the rear-view mirror edging in to the middle of the car whilst breathlessly mouthing ‘watch out’.

White-knuckled hands gripped the wheel as I steadied myself. Drip, after further telepathic liaison with HRH suggested we listen to some music. No sooner thought than done, HRH racked up some impressive tune-age on the multi-media and we settled in to our journey to the Pyrenees.

Now this particular hire car was blessed with a behemoth-like engine of 1.0 litres of petrol frugality. Barely enough power to progress much past a standstill. With 70 stone of Peloton meat and gravy aboard, the thing struggled. The useless fucking clutch had zero feel and as the engine generated the mechanical momentum of a spinning 5p piece, so stalling was a regular occurrence.

4 of the 5 car inhabitants saw stalling not as a consequence of a shit car and 5 fat blokes, but more as an aching lack of talent on my part.

Worst was yet to come.

We entered resort and got to within 25 yards of destination when a tricky hill-start was required. Handbrake on, gentle rise of revs, I’ve got this. I’ve got this…..I didn’t have this.

I was about as far from having this as you can get whilst remaining in the same country.

The engine squealed, the clutch slipped, massively. NWA was turned down on Spotify and all we were left with was the stench of burning clutch.

I had a sinking feeling that I’d properly fucked the hire car.

Anyway, announcing your arrival in a plume of melted friction plates is how we rolled in team Gold car.

Greetings aside, quick sit down and then to the job of bicycling.

And so we return to the annual highlights list. A snap-shot of the rides and the riding from this year’s Grande Tour. But before we get to that, some stats.

The Rides

• Day 1. Lac d’estainge. Shortest ride at 32k but 3rd for overall ride gradient. • Day 2. Col des Tentes. A punchy 96k but a bit bleak on arrival at top • Day 3. Tourmalet. 101k. Great ending with really steep gradient for the last few hundred meters. You can see why it’s used on the tour so often. Fairly bleak riding through the town halfway up. Unrelenting 2 hours of climbing at over 8%. Brutal. Sensational ride home though through some beautiful countryside though • Day 4. Col d’Aubisque via Col du Soulor. Probably the ride of the tour in terms of utterly breath-taking scenery. Beautifully ribboned and freshly tarmacked road on the ascent, which I spent all my time on just thinking about the future descent. And then a jaw-dropping ride along a precipitous drop all the way to the top of Aubisque. A hard slog. Particularly on Soulor when a mid-teens ramp halfway up punches you right in the kidneys and jabs you in the eye for good measure. 2nd for overall ride gradient with 2.62% average for the total ride. Ouch • Day 5. Hautacam. Short out and back. 38k. God, that was one punchy climb. Kilometers click past and are either 8,9 or 10%. Felt unending. Overall ride average gradient of 3.1% made this the most climbiest rider per K we did.

The experience and the stories

• Good accommodation at the Pyrenees cycling lodge. Although Mark, our host, was somewhat perturbed to find Twinge v1.0 curled up and asleep at the foot of the front door on day 1. Twinge v2.0 preferred the comfort of the nest • Formal police notices issued for a range of offences including; the leaving of new tour top on the back of the chair overnight….shocking. The public dissing of one of the team whilst he was out on the hill. Police notice issued following a ‘whistleblower’ incident. • Yellow cap went to HRH on his maiden tour, but he was run very close by the impeccably dressed ColMac who, in my view, nailed the best single day performance with his well-judged blue accents matching the tour top perfectly. There was no suggestion of Twinge vote irregularities. Well, none were verbalised at any rate • JT won orange on the fact that he pulled his thumb out of his arse a couple of weeks before tour and did 2 or 3 turbo sessions. Everyone agreed that this sullied the good name of the Orange cap and that perhaps we should remember last year’s benchmark winner when awarding in the future. General shock and disappointment all round. At least one person cried. • The group as a whole consumed 18 complimentary fun-sized Mars each and every day. • I accounted for 17 of the above • Perfect weather • I’m not saying that sharing a room with Macca is like drawing the sleep equivalent of the short straw…….. this year’s tour saw ear-plugs land. At last we can now embrace our favourite flyer like a long-lost brother..snore onward little one, snore onward • Biggest tour disappointment was the e-bike not running out of juice. At least 8 people prayed daily for this to come to pass • I only fell asleep twice this year at the various lunch stops… once in a deck chair next to ColMac whilst holding a pint (which I subsequently spilled on myself)…oddly enough, this incident went completely unobserved. Second time was at the top of Aubisque and lasted a nano-second. Not only was this observed but it was also filmed. Cat-like reflexes of the Pittock

….and so much more besides.

G19, a Grande Tour and huge success. My thanks go to JT for wrangling the accommodation with usual Teutonic efficiency and a huge shout out to Damo for driving all the bikes over there, complaining decidedly little and pandering to many a disorganised cyclist.

However in drawing to a close this year, I’d like to highlight 2 particular tour performances.

Firstly Dripping. The lad has had most of the bones in his body removed and replaced with man-made replicas. He has the back of a 90-year old and the combination of the 2 have meant that any sort of reasonable training regime was nigh-on impossible. He wasn’t ready to perform. At times he could barely walk straight let alone ride. To top it all off he’d had an epidural to release the muscles in his lower back, an injection which effectively puts your muscles to sleep, a consequence of which must undoubtedly seep into the legs one way or another.

Early on Tourmalet, and I mean really early, first 15 mins I reckon, I passed Dripping who was panting and out of the saddle, wrestling his bike reluctantly up an unrelenting climb.

It took me 2 hours. Drip spent an hour on top of that defeating his foe. 3 hours of climbing at over 8% in that condition. I don’t think there was anyone present on this tour who would have had the mental strength to achieve what Dripping achieved. I would have thrown my bike off a cliff having doused it in petrol and set fire to it long before the summit. Amesy wouldn’t have even boarded the plane. Clemo wouldn’t have left the bower.

As pink cap performances go, Dripping knocked it out of the park with gritted determination and practically zero complaining (apart from when our host effectively called him a vagrant for dossing in the hall).

The biggest problem Dripping now faces is going to be awarding the cap next year. He has shocking form in this particular decision-making department. Last time he did the honours he overlooked Damo’s stellar tour and gave it to James, who had pulled his thumb out of his arse and had done 2 or 3 turbo sessions. I swear to god I think I’ve seen JT do the old Obi Wan Kanobi Jedi mind tricks on awards night more than once…’there’s nothing to see here… move along’

In a bold future prediction, the G20 pink cap odds are currently, Damo 3/1 (patience and service of Drip’s woefully cleaned bike), JT 2/1 (Jedi), HRH evens (blood is blood).

Before we finish, time to look at things through a slightly different lens.

A coupla months back, I accompanied JT and his chum Neil (inventor of the petrol engine) on a wee trip to Austria. This was prior to JT putting in his incredible 2-3 turbo sessions I might add.

As the wee-man and and I snuffled and puffed our way up Großglockner we both discussed the possibility of e-bikes on future tours. We saw families of all ages out on bike, often with the older generation right in the mix on their leccy MTB’s.

We loved being out on the bike but could feel the pain of the combination of hurt from lack of preparation, weight and age.

In a universe which sees entropy rule, moving order and structure slowly but inevitably into chaos, time is our enemy. We can fight and push but this ride is one-way only. It’s a big step to make decisions to tackle a harder path just to be able to enjoy the journey, but by chosing to go on tour with an e-bike this year, this is the path Moley chose. And he bloody loved every second of G20. Always smiling. Riding every mile. The e-bike enabled him to continue and properly enjoy the love of cycling in the big country with the boys.

He took a lot of shit for that decision. And indeed, can rightly expect to continue to do so. In fact, we are all still praying the fucker will run out of juice one day! But taking the piss is one thing, I actually think more than one of us looked negatively on the decision to do these rides on an e-bike. Almost as if it were cheating.

Now Moley may have had some assistance enjoying the trip, but he still had to put a shift in. And what else was he to do..? Not go, because he didn’t want to suffer and at some point, or even worse, fail over the 5 days?

Moley is the first person to take an e-bike on tour.

He will not be the last.

I want to ride as long as possible on a normal bike, but fuck me I’ll be e-biking it all the way if it’s a choice between doing or not doing.

Dripping aced pink on G19 with grit and utter determination.

Internally he said ‘fuck this, I’m going no matter what’.

Moley knew he would get a lot of stick for the e-bike choice.

Internally he said ‘fuck this, I’m going no matter what’.

That’s the spirit fellas.

G20, the summit, beckons. Majorca. The weekend of 25th April is looking likely. Gentlemen, clear your diaries. Gaudeix press release and invite to follow shortly.

Do 2 or 3 turbo sessions and a cap is more or less guaranteed.

Ride safely my lil fuckerinos….

Hoppo

#PelotonNews

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selenelavellan · 6 years ago

Text

wishing, hoping, and waiting

A/B/O AU

*awkward shuffling* sometimes I just miss AUs and I need to write something for them ok?

Dirthamen and the Evanuris are @feynites

Selene lets out a long, slow breath as she stares at her reflection in the mirror.

The gown is very fine, with a high halter neckline the tops of which brush gently against her jaw whenever she angles her head downwards. The gradient of it is gentle but striking, switching from a white that matches the curls of her hair until it becomes a deep jet black of feathers trailing along the floor from about halfway down her legs. Her hair has been intricately braided with ravens feathers and obsidian gems and laid over her left shoulder, leaving the long, low dip of the back of the dress open and exposed and only barely covering the curve of her ass.

She is carefully tugging the dip slightly upwards in a vain attempt to gain a bit more modesty when Lord Dirthamen enters the room and her breath leaves her lungs in a rush.

Oh.

His own gown is done in a nearly opposing design. A high collar to frame his face from behind with a low, low dip of his collar that leaves the edges of his hip bones exposed in the front. The fabric is black where hers is white, with a longer train of pale feathers following each slow step he makes. There is a small assortment of jewelry adorning his person; more to mark rank than anything else though she's not sure how he could ever be mistaken for anyone else. His hair has been left long, with only a single hair piece to keep one side from falling in front of his mask, done in the design of a crescent moon.

She swallows, hands wringing slightly while she tries to tear her eyes away from him and finds herself powerless to do so.

It's not like it's news that he's beautiful, she berates herself internally.

But...it's not often it's flaunted like this. His beauty is far more commonly seen in other forms, after all; the way the light curves around his waist when he reaches for a book, the shifting of his features when he is comfortable enough to remove his mask to eat, the way his hair drapes across his desk when he is focused on solving a problem. Hidden moments of charm, like precious, private secrets.

This is a display.

And an unquestionably effective one at that.

She bows her head politely, eyes still unable to leave him as she does.

“Good to see you again,” She greets.

“You, as well,” He manages. It sounds slightly strained, and she frowns.

Is something bothering him?

It has been some time since they attended a party together; their frequency had slowed dramatically after the announcement of their 'courtship' after all.

Which had been the point, of course. He hated those parties and she hated the idea of him being paraded around like some sort of show animal. But this is a party for another event entirely, something Lady Sylaise had deemed important enough to celebrate but Selene had been too distracted by her work to actually read up on. She supposes if it truly matters, someone will mention it.

She isn't planning on actually meeting Lady Sylaise, anyways.

“Are you alright?” She asks, taking a step towards him.

“Yes,” He nods. One of his hands moves into a pocket before pulling out a small, silver mask. “This is for you,”

Selene takes the half mask from him, and up close she can see that it's been patterned to look like a raven spreading its wings wide in flight. She thanks him and carefully arranges it onto her face, activating the enchantment that will keep it in place for the evening.

She smiles, and taps gently on the edge of a wing before leaning forward and gently clinking her mask against his own.

“We match.”

His chest rises and falls (and she tries and fails not to notice how much more prominent such a basic action is in his gown) before his throat bobs and he breathes out a soft “Yes,” that makes her own chest flutter.

Her gaze drops slightly lower and she pulls away with a soft “Oh,” Before she can think better of it, and reaches out to straighten some of the long jeweled chains dangling over his chest. Her fingers brush briefly against the exposed skin as she tugs on the white gold, and the warmth of him brings her back to the situation at hand.

Their courtship.

Their pretend courtship.

She clears her throat and straightens up, awkwardly patting once at the now-correctly-aligned jewelry.

“It was-that is, I mean it was-you've mentioned your sister is a stickler for details and I just...” She lets out a breath. “Sorry. Just...wanted to help.”

“I appreciate it,” He assures her.

The scent of mint and snow begins to rise in the room and Selene shivers under the weight of it-

Before there is a knock at the door.

Ah, she sighs in slight disappointment.

Time for their appearance, then.

Back to playing pretend.

It is always pretend, some part of her mind tries to remind her.

A part that is getting harder and harder to believe, though.

She laces her fingers delicately through his, and offers a reassuring smile.

“Are you ready?”

He nods, hand squeezing hers in acknowledgment.

Then they step through the doors.

Together.

–

It's not a terrible party.

It's almost nice, actually, now that it's not filled entirely with people trying to get into Dirthamens pants.

Not that there aren't still a few people making attempts.

But she spends most of the evening at his side which deters most of the would-be suitors, and when she returns from getting a beverage to find another elf attempting to plaster themselves to him despite the slight curving of his spine she now recognizes as his attempt to politely exit an uncomfortable situation without causing a scene, she just slides her arm around Dirthamens hip and mentions wanting to show him the view from the balcony as she guides him away from the crowd and the noise and into the fresh air of the evening.

Dirthamens shoulders slump slightly in exhaustion once they are out of eye shot of most of the party attendees, and she offers him her drink in case of dehydration.

He doesn't eat as often as he should, she's noticed.

His fingers brush hers as he takes the glass from her hand, mask shifting to sit on top of his head while he takes a long drink.

Selene takes the opportunity to admire his features in the moonlight; they are surprisingly elf-like tonight, and she wonders if its a side-effect of being surrounded by so many people. His jaw is square, and he's only got the one extra eye sitting in the middle of his forehead. She also notes that he is wearing a small amount of makeup, even under the mask. A dark lip and a ring of eyeliner that makes the blue of his eyes pop and his lashes look even longer than they normally do.

“Is something wrong?” Dirthamen asks after she has been staring for likely longer than would be polite.

“What? No,” She answers, back straightening as she smooths out the wrinkles that had formed in her dress while she had relaxed against the railing and stared at her false paramour. “You just look particularly beautiful tonight, is all.”

His face flushes, and she bites on her lip to keep from chuckling at the sudden intensity of it. Without the mask to hide behind, it's surprisingly easy to read him, she finds.

Probably part of the reason he wears it, she supposes.

“You as well,” He returns, glancing off towards the view of the city. “The dress suits you.”

“Thank you-” She starts, breath catching as one of his gloved hands reaches up to tuck a stray curl back behind her ear.

One of her own hands reaches up to catch it before he can pull it away.

They both seem equally shocked by her actions.

“I...” She starts, unsure of where she's really planning on taking the sentence. She's not sure if its an apology, or a confession, or a statement about the weather.

She's just suddenly overcome by the desire for him to keep touching her, in some capacity.

He blinks, one eye at a time, and the flush this time is much more gradual as it sweeps over his features.

“There is no one here to see us,” He reminds her, quietly.

“It's not for them to see,” She responds without thought.

His eyebrows raise, and his throat bobs again.

“I...” She tries again, hand tightening slightly around his. Looking for reassurance, for comfort, for some sort of sign that he feels the same way she does.

A trio of elves bursts out of the doors nearest to them, laughing and stumbling and smelling of an overindulgence of wine.

Selene releases Dirthamens hand, and stares out at the city beneath them.

She lets out a breath.

“We should get back to the party,” She swallows, carefully re-affixing her mask while his own moves back to its usual space.

“Ah, yes,” He agrees, taking note of the trio who don't seem to notice their presence, and are currently preoccupied with disrobing one another in the doorway.

Her index finger links loosely with his own as they re-enter the ballroom.

–

“Earlier...” Dirthamen mentions tentatively once they are back in their room, alone and tired from the events of the party.

“Hm?” Selene asks, yawning slightly as she finally removes her mask, carefully placing it down on one of the tables and idly tracing the outline.

“You appeared to be trying to tell me something.”

Selene blinks, mind hazy in her current exhaustion as she struggles to think of what he might be referring to.

“On the balcony...?” He clarifies.

And Selene feels it click.

“Oh. Uhm,” She takes a deep breath, fingers beginning to untie her braid in an attempt to fight off her nerves. “That was just...”

I wanted to tell you that I'm in love with you, and would like to court you genuinely.

I wanted to tell you how badly I wanted to kiss you on the balcony in the moonlight.

I wanted to take you back into the party and declare my love for you in front of the empire and your family and damn the consequences.

“I just wanted to tell you...”

Obsidian beads start falling to the carpet in quiet droplets.

“that....”

Her fingers catch on a knot in her hair.

“I....”

The material of her gown brushes against her jaw as she pointedly stares down at the ground.

“really....”

Her heart is beating faster in her chest, pounding and pounding in anticipation.

“...like the mask you gave me.”

Coward, she berates herself.

“Ah,” he says, and she thinks she picks up a slight note of disappointment in the air before it is swiftly hidden. “Yes. It seemed an appropriate gift for our current level of courting.”

“Of course,” She nods, swallowing her tongue.

“I am glad you enjoyed it.”

“I'd enjoy any gift you gave to me,” She admits.

His head tilts in consideration. “We have been doing this a bit too long now for flowers and poetry not to raise questions. But it is a sweet sentiment. Thank you for it. You are very kind, to say such things. I apologize for any trouble our false courting may be causing you.”

“I...there's no trouble, Dirthamen,” She laughs, shaking her head in fondness and blabbering on before she can think better of herself, and the familiarity she is speaking to him with. “I would do whatever it took to stay by your side.”

That, at least, seems to have caught him off guard.

Selene can't say she meant to say it aloud, either.

They both stand still and silent for a few moments, in the dim light of their shared room in his Arlathan estate.

“I...am going to go change into my sleep wear,” She finally manages, clearing her throat slightly and retrieving a long, soft undershirt from the wardrobe.

He nods, silent and staring and flushed from the neck down as she excuses herself from the room and enters their bath.

She closes the door.

And then slides down the back of it with a soft groan.

Well....at least the party was nice.

#abo au #dirthalene #i swear i meant to write the next part of treachery au but then i.....really wanted abo au whoops #selene 'i am in love with you and i think you might like me too but if im wrong then im definitely just joking ahahaha'#selene 'i know i just made things awkward so im gonna go get naked instead of dealing with this *finger guns*'#disaster children

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thekillingmoonmoon · 3 years ago

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heyyyooo!

how have you been this week? how was cake and roommate!!

there is something so satisfying about a fattened notebook, and the little crinkle each page turn makes. i'm really bad at marking up notebooks. i feel like i don't want to ruin it with whatever i'm wanting to make notes on. unless it's for school or something, then i don't mind.

to completely judge a book by its cover i'm going to have to agree that hamlet is the one i would position cover-out on a bookshelf! i was gifted a set of books that are supposed to be displayed as a colour gradient but... that's not how i arrange books, so the idea is lost and all the brightly coloured spines are scattered among all the other books in my shelf. oop.

ah i made a note for the philodendron and the jp peace lily for when we get flowers in the spring, thank you! let's also hope the are immune to my vampirism, or perhaps i should consider growing garlic XD

ouuuuuuu i've been thinking about the threads in this xmas au since i read it. one, because i was trying to come up with a name for it (best i could do was 'claus and effect' and i've also tried to come up with some slay/sleigh related pun. it's not working), and two, i got mischievously sentimental while i was trying to think up the funny bits. warning, i'm not funny anymore lol. anyway! holidays with bonten.

for koko, i feel like he wraps the presents himself, all neat creases and tidy edges, minimal amounts of wasted paper, and just the right amount of tape to keep it sealed. and they're neatly arranged into their own little piles like trees, because he refuses to put up the real tree. sanzu sends the screenshot of the biscuit-making but omi hears about it (poor guy has heard eeeeeverything about this breakup), takes his advisory role seriously and says it's xmas, ease up on poor koko. so after some consideration, sanzu does. by sneakily taking a candid photo of koko facing the piles of presents and no hint of holidays in the rest of the room, slapping a cool-toned filter on it, and sending that to her with a single text "all he is for christmas is blue." and because she's done well healing past the hurt, and know how the holidays are for him, she sends him a small tin of the almond horns she'd baked. it's a christmas miracle of a truce between the two, if only for a few weeks. yes, sanzu is occasionally sweet. yes, i am playing favourites.

agreed agreed agreed that ran has already bought the best gifts, both quality and sentimental wise. god i'm such a softie for redrose!ran. i can't make any excuses for menace!sanzu when it comes to the haitanis though, so i'll leave him be for this one. for ran and rindou, i could see them also having a christmas miracle of a truce because at the end of the day, they're still brothers who relied and trusted only each other for the longest time. everyone in bonten breathes a small sigh of relief. (i told you, i got stuck in the xmas haze. the holidaze, if you will). i like your idea of the three mikey moods! his one and only warning that he's moving from dorayaki to murder mode in the meeting is him calmly reaching over and stuffing the untouched part into a mouth.

i'd like a happy medium between really effing dry heat and humid heat. it snowed for a bit over the past few days and i'm just... tired and cranky all the time now, haha x_x and not at all the nice snowy scene i described, just a depressing grey.

since you said proper little pizza oven... i'm imagining the one from back to the future, haha. and about the biscuits, i need to know what happened with them!! what kind of flour did she sub? what was the end result? flat and brittle? i'm one of those people who love reading about recipes and collecting them but never make a habit of consistently making any. (though i am pretty good at making a burnt basque cheesecake, even though it's the easiest thing ever but looks like i've spent more time on it than i actually have XD)

lol okay i'm really glad i'm anon because i'm always really shy about sharing music so... to be a little different i'll name my top song for each year i've had it. for 2021 it's blackpink - lovesick girls, for 2020 it's massive attack - paradise circus, for 2019 it's the midnight - shadows (uppermost remix), for 2018 it's the internet - special affair. no judgement pls! 😁💐

helllo hello!

Cake and roommate was delightful, although the driving was not! I got caught in a cloudburst on the way home and the sillies in front of me didn't have ANY lights on? very scary. but I came home in one piece lol.

This week has mostly been procrastination, I'm afraid - but I will complete what needs to be done... eventually...

i also had the phobia of messing up a nice notebook, until I started using the very boring and ugly school notebooks as bullet journals. And now I have no problem breaking in a notebook with my scribbles. I get very frustrated with my handwriting though, but I feel like everyone has that issue.

Ooo - please share your preferred method of organising books! is it height-based? colour-based? alphabetical? chronological? does it at least make sense? (mine does not, in any way)

'Claus and effect' had me cackling, I'm not gonna lie. Like, suffer the consequences of your actions, Bonten boys! Except you, Ran, you're just too fucking happy to be here.

Koko is 100% the present wrapper - the others try to bribe him to wrap their presents (Koko only does it for Mikey, because Mikey just looks so fucking sad when his mess of wrapping paper and tape falls apart) and Koko will 100% unwrap the presents for you, and FOLD the paper for next year! (my gran did this - thanks Great Depression Era parenting - and I've semi adopted this, if only to decrease the volume of rubbish accumulated at the end of unwrapping. I save bows though)

I'm losing it at Sanzu's very sincere attempts of reconciliation (there's still no ways he's going to be of any assistance to the Haitanis though)I think Sanzu's fairly fond of Koko - they've been together since the very start, and I'm sure Koko has cleaned up a fair bit of Sanzu's messes and funds the drug habit, albeit reluctantly. Sanzu also probably has your number because of the amount of times you've had to come collect a tipsy Koko who keeps mumbling sad things about Inupi and Akane and just generally bringing down the Vibe at the Bonten party.

God bless Takeomi. He's listened to so much. just let him retire. He looked over sanzu's message to you and he just had no idea why sanzu was laughing so hard? Koko is blue? he's sad? why is this funny? Haruchiyo, stop laughing. He's also heard every possible theory under the sun regarding what's going on with the Haitanis. Sanzu is so curious, and just assumes that Takeomi's and Mochi's silence on the matter means they want to listen to his theories. sanzu's even more confused when the Haitanis declare a truce for the holidays - like why are you talking to each other now? don't you hate each other? is the war over? Both of the brothers just look at him blankly - Mikey is finishing his plate of food rapidly - maybe we should switch to a party game...

a side note - nether of the Haitanis can wrap a gift. Bless them, they try, but Ran has settled on paying someone to wrap his presents. It's the inside that counts, right? the fact that he didn't actually stick down the tape doesn't matter, and he knows you understand. Rindou has yet to catch on, although he has recently discovered the power of the Gift Bag (why wrestling wrapping paper when you can just pop it into a bag? genius!) Can one of them PLEASE talk to Sanzu and Takeomi about this though? Takeomi wraps things in fucking newspaper and packing tape, and there's no shortage of times when he's gotten distracted and left his lighter or cigarettes (or once, his whole fucking gun) in your present. Sanzu, just, uh, doesn't wrap anything. It gets handed to you as is, maybe still in the plastic bag he bought it in. But he does buy it himself. So that's a win? Kakucho's presents are charmingly self-wrapped. They're not as perfect as Koko, there are a few crinkly bits and he did eventually give up on wrapping that very weirdly shaped gift and put it in a bag. But everything is done with a lot of love and quiet dedication. Mikey's too. He's actually spent hours in multiple malls looking for the perfect gift (none of them were perfect. He had to get Koko to help him order it) his card is also barely legible, but there's so much thought and care put into his gifts that you can't help but cry tears of joy for our saddest little crime boss. Mochi gives you gift cards, or a card giving you him and his credit card for the day, so that you can spend the day doing whatever you like with him, getting precisely what you want (there have been too many occasions when Mochi has bought things the wrong size or colour and he feels so awful about it)

oo, new music for me to look up! I don't judge music tastes, just vibe with what you love - and then like an evil little music raccoon I will steal your recommendations and add them to my collection >_<

alright, enough Bonten Christmas, else you're going to actually make me like Christmas. I'm sorry to hear about your grey snow days - hopefully you get some decent wintery days soon <3

oh lordy the Back to Future pizza oven... that is a food sin..

as for where the biscuit recipe went wrong... I'm honestly too scared to ask - i think she might have used the wrong flour, but I'm not sure what.

!!!! cheesecake!! is it fairly easy to make?? if so, please drop the recipe!

anyway! thank you for stopping by <3 sending love to you and I hope you have a good end to your week xx

mwah!

#killingmoon answers #killingmoon anons #🐰🌙: 💐 anon

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georgesmithunit19 · 6 years ago

Text

Creating a Recipe Infographic

11.09.18

We were given the task of creating an infographic based on a recipe. We had to create this graphic using absolutely no words, only assets we can make in Adobe Illustrator.

I couldn’t really think of any recipes, so I searched around Google to find something I thought I could make work. I stumbled upon a recipe for a basic burger, I thought it had just enough content where I could make an infographic that wouldn’t be too difficult or look too convoluted. I realised a few hurdles I would need to overcome, like the ingredients - some I thought would prove difficult to create without the aid of words or a more complex image of the particular ingredient. For example, the 3/4 teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper and seasoned bread crumbs. For the most part however, I thought the actual instructions would not pose much difficulty, I had a few ideas already of how I could go about digitising them.

First of all, I opened up Adobe Illustrator, where I started working on the ingredients. I thought a good place to start would be the 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef. I ignored the latter part of the ingredient (”at least 80% lean, a.k.a. 80/20″) because I didn’t think it was necessary enough for the graphic, that and I didn’t have any ideas on how I would make that. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what ground beef looked like, so I looked it up and realised what it was instantly. I thought about how I could make it work, so I decided to go with making a top-down view of it in some kind of packaging. (Future me writing: I’m aware it doesn’t look too much like ground beef, and more like a microwave, as pointed out. This will be addressed at the end.) Anyway, I just made some red squares and elongated them to make them look like strips. I couldn’t have them literally next to each other since then it would just look like one big clump. Next I created an egg. Not much to talk about there really.

Now for the smaller and in some cases, more difficult ingredients. I thought about how to make bread crumbs and ground black pepper (which I had to look up again). I decided to simply make little circles, and arrange them in an orderly fashion (again, this is changed at the end since they look too uniform and neat for what they are). As for the whole 3/4 thing, I just put three of each on one side, separated by a line and then four of each on the other side, just like a fraction, but with little icons instead, which I think works. As for the Worcestershire (phew, thanks auto correct for that one) sauce, I just took the head of the spoon that I made, which are just kind of semi circles with a handle which I created using the pen tool, and duplicated it and changed the colour to brown, since it’s apparently brown, I wouldn’t know, I’ve never had it. Finally for the ingredients, I made some salt, which was easy enough, and then I did pretty much the same thing I did with the smaller ingredients, except this time I made four of them and then just made the top right one look more faded so that you know not to use four, and only three. The last thing I did in this update was create the box which contained the ingredients, which makes them look so much more organised than if they were just on a white background.

This next update includes the process of the creation of the grill. I chose to make a barbecue-looking one so that it was understandable what it was. It’s made up of some rounded elongated squares, some circles and then some lines across the top of the grill which were just duplicated them over and over until I got a nice even-looking amount. The horizontal lines are closer together because of the angle at which they’re being looked at. Just a bit of extra depth I was going for. As for the part about the grill being set to high, I had a couple ideas of what to do, like having the flames get bigger and bigger, though I settled on having it go from a yellow flame to a very red flame, which was supposed to symbolize it getting hotter, which I’m not too sure translated over as well as it did in my head. Then I just added some crosses over the first ones, because they’re wrong, and then for the last one I placed a tick under it. Finally, I made the box behind it a pink colour, just keeping with the warm colours, like with the first box.

Next was what I thought would be the fun part, and it was. I had to create some hands placing each ingredients into the bowl, and somehow I managed to forget probably the most aesthetically pleasing ingredient, the egg. Probably because it was separated by the line which I added, I must have wrote it off as not being an ingredient. Anyway, for the hands, I just made some shapes that looked like eggs actually, then made them a bit longer, and added some lines on them to show that they’re fingers. I added some thumbs and then added another line on the left hand coming from the thumb, to show that one hand is facing one way, and the other, another way. I think I did this part very well, personally. Oh, I also made a bowl, which is just the spoon head again, but bigger. Lastly I added a green background, I’m not sure why, I wanted to keep with the warmer colours, but pretty much every colour merged with the colours already existing in that panel, such as the brown liquid, and the outlines of the hands.

Now I had to show how to actually cook them, which I did by bringing back the grill, without the wheels this time. Then I made the meat by using the rounded square tool again, and added some arrows I made using the pen tool, to demonstrate that you need to flip them over once they’ve cooked on one side for four to six minutes, which I tried to show with the timer thing, I added 6 lines, and then put a line underneath which went from one to four. I think it’s a bit obscure, and you most likely won’t think ‘oh, that means four to six minutes!’ but I couldn’t come up with anything better, especially considering the space I had to work with. Finally, I duplicated the hottest flame from the panel above, and then placed it under the grill. Then I added the pink box, again, from the panel above.

This was the last panel to make, and I had fun making it. It wasn’t anything difficult to portray, though I did ignore the whole “remove from the grill” since I thought that would be common sense. Apologies if you actually followed these instructions and were lost, though I would think that you’d be lost from the get-go since you probably can’t tell what the little circles in the ingredients panel are. Anyway, I made some bread for the four burgers, and arranged them on a plate, created with two elongated ellipses. Then I created some bald heads who seem way too excited to be receiving a plate of burgers. They were fun to make though, I just made an ellipse, then a semicircle coloured white to portray teeth, and then some eyes, with little segments cut out, which I think look good. I duplicated those hands, and made them smaller to make them look like they were the hands of the head in the front. Again, I gave it a green box, to correspond with the one above it.

Final Recipe Infographic, with Tweaks

After I finished this, I decided to make some revisions, since they were pointed out to me, but I also added some of my own tweaks to some parts. Firstly, I’ll talk about the ground beef that I mentioned way earlier. I thought I would make the lines a bit wavy, which I altered by going to object>envelope distort>make with warp. Afterward, I duplicated the packaging that I’d created, and placed it over the top with an opacity of 20%, to make it look as though it had a kind of film over the top of it. To further this, I added some shines on the film, which I think looks really good personally. Though it may still look unrecognisable sadly. Continuing with the ingredients, I made the crumbs and the black pepper more messed up, so that may help with the understanding what exactly they are, though I doubt it. I changed the Worcestershire (thanks again, auto correct) sauce to a slightly lighter brown and added a shine, I sure do like my shines. I think that helped a lot with making it look less like the piece of meat between the bread, and an actual liquid. I did the same with the second panel, where the hands are dropping off all the ingredients. Speaking of, I added that egg that I’d forgotten about, and I think it definitely adds to the whole panel. Finally, I moved the panels around, so that it was like a checkerboard, and the green and pink were opposing instead. I also gave all the boxes some gradients, which may or may not actually look better.

Anyway, I think I was relatively successful in making a distinct infographic which shows you how to make a basic burger. Though I just couldn’t think of better ways of portraying certain things, due to the limit of words and also the space I had available to me.

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snazzy-suit · 6 years ago

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In Which I Am Reunited With Some Pokemon Cards (and not the ones you think)

Gather ‘round boys and girls ‘cause I got a hell of a treat for you today courtesy of a mysterious purchase made back in 1998 (or whenever the hell my parents got it).

So my folks have been downsizing on all the shit they have as they prepare to move from my childhood home and it’s no surprise that they’ve been digging up a bunch of toys and other possessions from my youth. Some get donated, some get thrown out, some get sent to me. The latter is where the fun begins.

My most recent box of nostalgia held a deck of Pokemon cards. No no, not the trading cards--as you would expect--but a 52 card deck with a Pokemon theme. Cool right? They’re in hella good condition too--like they’ve never been used, which isn’t all that surprising considering I was seven at the time--so I’m thinking, “Hey, these could be great for game night! My fellow dorks would appreciate a nice throw back.”

I open the case and shuffle through them.

My god. I...I don’t know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what I beheld in that moment. It was beautiful. It was a travesty. It was like Christmas came early! (You know, if I was actually a fan of the holiday.)

But enough of the tell, it’s time to show.

Okay. We’re off to a great start.

So clearly the image on the left is the back of the card. Nothing wrong with the picture, per say, but the font...hoo-boy. Simple red text with a drop shadow was certainly an odd choice. I’ve seen worse, don’t get me wrong, but...doesn’t this franchise have a pleasing, eye-catching font that is highly recognizable?

Also, why “Pocket Monsters”? Yes, I’m aware that’s what Pokemon stands for, but considering that the vast majority of the brand isn’t labeled as the former (in the west, anyway, where this was purchased) it’s an unusual decision on the manufacturer’s part.

I tried to find this deck online--to learn of its true origin--but the closest thing to it was this listing on ebay. They’re very similar, but have clear differences. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t find the answers I was looking for.

Oh and the picture on the right is just the back design 10/10

This is true art, my friends. Where do we even begin?

Charmander is centered nicely, but Eevee is oddly scaled up so that it’s awkwardly cropped.

Then there’s my favorite part--the text. First of all, it’s not even in English. This product was purchased in the US at a retail chain, not some kiosk peddling knock off/imported merchandise. Why it wasn’t translated is beyond me.

And the font. The font. It’s fucking...default Microsoft Word Jokerman font.

I did a little digging, and it appears that these images were taken and slightly altered from this poster (This was the best quality picture I could find). From what I gathered, this is an official (japanese? thai?) poster, and I just...damn, I forgot how much you could get away with back in the day.

Alright then.

The backgrounds are...well, one is just a solid green, the other two are gradients (not that gradients are necessarily a bad thing, but still), and the fourth (my fave) is two separate images stacked on top of each other: a sold blue base beneath a...starry night sky in the snowy mountains? Hard to say.

Back to the first card. Just so you know, weird cropping appears to be a theme with this deck, so get used to it. Charmander’s tail appears to be missing, though it’s possible that little smidge between the ‘mon and the image border is the elusive appendage, but even if it is, the arrangement is still awkward as hell.

The Christmas themed king of clubs is the only holiday card in the entire deck. Background aside, the picture itself isn’t all that bad, but because it’s the only one of its kind, it really stands out.

There’s a lot to unpack here.

The first two cards are just screen grabs from the show. And of all the possible scenes to choose from...they pick?? Those?? It’s like they randomly paused during an episode and went “Fuck it, these will do”.

Same thing with the next two, except we are gifted with 3 screen grabs per card (ah yes, Venasaur ass and headless Blastoise, my favorite!) and a single image of each Pokemon lazily tossed in.

DID I MENTION THEY’RE ALL HORRIBLY, AWKWARDLY CROPPED?

Because they’re horribly, awkwardly cropped.

But Snazzy Suit!--the three of you reading this cry--surely not all of these cards are of questionable quality? And you would be right! Some are actually quite delightful:

Wow! That’s more like it!

Did they actually make new art for these cards? It’s possible this is just taken from a magazine, or some other source, but it’s definitely an improvement over what we’ve seen so far. It would have been nice if they had made one of these for every Pokemon type, or at least something similar.

Hey! Here’s some cute art! Again, why not more of this?

That iS nOt WHaT i MeAnT

JFC I think we found the inspiration behind The Human Centipede

I could go on, but this post is long enough as it is. My nitpicky ass is just happy this product made its way back into my possession.

Bonus:

#pokemon cards #gen 1 pokemon #pocket monsters #pokemon anime #pikachu #ash #I love these cards I stg #Some of them are so fucking weird #but damn are they great #I still don't know if this is an official product or some bootleg #Either way it's fantastic #long post #story time #52 I choose you #suit speaks

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