#i'm going to go live in this sweater regardless of the weather

[astra-terrapin]

“It’s no use!”

I made myself a Silver hoodie, and I am now one of the happiest people on earth!

I had so much fun with this project. I have wanted a Sonic hoodie forever, but all the ones I found either sucked, would not ship to anywhere near me, or were only for little kids. Well, I know how to sew so I made it happen for myself!

This design is something I came up with myself, using elements from Silver’s character design and one of the game elements from Sonic ‘06. I also wanted to make it like something I feel like he might wear. This is a super exciting thing for me because this is the first time I’ve made one of my own designs come to life! I will never get rid of this thing, and it might have to be buried with me! The many hours of tedious math, color matching/dyeing, hardcore struggling, running out of materials, and adding a couple extra elements on a whim, all of it was absolutely worth it! It’s one of the most comfortable things I own, and I am so proud of myself! I ended up using this design for a Silver cosplay, which I will show off after I fix the stuff that fell apart at the convention. RIP my boots.

Anyways, I tend to be a more art-centered blog, so here’s a doodle of Silver wearing it too! I’ll do a better drawing later. I just really wanted to show this off!

[applesontheground]

RIRI!!!!!! I’m so excited to request something from you!! Our freaky bendy boy’s been on my mind since watching Malignant, and I know this concept has been mentioned, so I wondered…. Perhaps some phone sex with Gabriel? Him guiding reader, coaxing and teasing and instructing them with that voice? I trust you with the finer details 💜 Thank you friend, MWAH

ACE! YOU'RE GONNA BE MY FIRST GABRIEL FIC!! HOW ABOUT IT!!

this is the first of what i hope to be more installments of this dude -- and of course, the start of the final portion of my remaining requests finishing up. i'm really fascinated with this bendy boy and the bendy body he shares with his poor sister lol! that being said, we love and appreciate both in this house as we always do with horror sibs. thanks for being patient, hope the wait was worth it!!

the lost art of keeping a secret ⚕️

NSFW | Word Count: 1,916 | Gabriel May x GN Reader contains DUBCON, phone sex (or at least, a subspecies of it), guided masturbation, themes of stalking/a very paranormal means of voyeurism, he is...not nice about said guided masturbation, degradation 🎼: x, x

It was a stint of faulty wiring. That was well and normal when you decided to find a home in an overworked city full of overworked people.

Stepping off the elevator, there was a faint drum of thunder from outside. Another storm passing over brought the urge to hide out, knees growing heavy as you walked down the hall, pulling your rain-resistant coat even tighter around your collarbone. You donned a scratchy sweater underneath, and it still didn’t feel like enough.

There were two people in the corridor, a neighbor from across the way and the maintenance employee working on one of the faulty lights. It wasn’t a particular bother to you, but still nice to see it noticed and taken care of. The gentle buzz of a radio sat by your feet, a moment of unity while you fumbled for your keys in their presence.

“Hello,” Your neighbor then cleared her throat, “I-I need to ask, but were we too loud last night?”

You paused, a cold hand still grasping your keys as you stared at your door. It was the first time you two were speaking after almost a year of living across from each other, truly registering and matching the voice to the face as you turned around. You shook your head and replied, “Not at all. How come?”

She huffed, “Oh, no reason. This is my younger sister’s place, and we just got a little too giggly at an ungodly hour.” She grimaced, but when you laughed the idea off, she finally let herself breathe a sigh of relief. “I was just hoping we weren’t total menaces.”

“Not at all.” You then assured her, and pointed out, “I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to your sister, actually, regardless of you two being menaces.” She smiled a little bigger, and you then held your hand out to her. “[Y/N]. I’m at work until late anyways, so you can really be as loud as you want at night.”

She chuckled, shaking your hand. “Madison. Nice to meet you, [Y/N].” She gestured to the door behind her and added, “I’ll tell her to come say hi some time. It’s not like her to be a stranger.”

A sharp drop in the garble coming from the radio had both of you snap your heads to look towards the maintenance worker. He looked back at the both of you, brow furrowing as a walrus-looking mustache twitched. He then turned down to stare at the device, hands busy with the light overhead.

“Weather must be causing an interference,” He mumbled, turning back with his arms outstretched up to fenagle with the faulty light. Madison didn’t find that nearly as good of an answer as you did, her expression tight as you two bid farewell and head to your separate apartments.

After an agonizing day, you took solace in some breathable lounging clothes and a comforter on your sofa, curled up with your phone and the radio on a shelf above your head turned to a lulling volume, something you could fall asleep to the sound of should exhaustion fall over your tired disposition.

“Where…are you…going?”

“I…know you’re here…”

You reached up above your head, beginning to change the station and figuring some strange local program was coming through the music. It was an older system, after all, and even though you weren’t actively listening, something about letting another person pick the songs was appealing to the exhaustion, an urge to ignore most of what wasn’t in front of your eyes.

Just as your arm trailed back down, finding its shelter under the blanket and your eyes glued to the doomscroll through your phone, the radio whispered again through a light rock song – almost as though it was attempting to talk over it.

“Don’t ignore me, [Y/N]. I want an answer.”

Your eyes snapped up, staring into the open area between the countertop that separated your living room from the kitchen. Immediate bargaining came through, wondering just how common your name was, how likely it would be spoken on the air.

“I’m talking to you.”

Turning around now, half up in your seat and furrowing your brow at the radio, an uncertain prick in your chest made you glance to your windows, fogged by the warmth facing the rainy cold outside. You were higher up in the building, meaning unless someone was peering from a distance, there was no way to be seen.

“I’m not out there, [Y/N]. It's right here.” You practically felt your blood pressure spike that time, your breath growing shallow as you slowly looked up at your radio. “The sickness is well with you.”

The voice, fading between clear and garbled, was a roll over gravel. Still, you sat at the edge of the sofa now, unnerved before you could find any sort of interest in it. The static purred for a beat, and then the voice asked, “Do you like the neighbors?”

Your heart somehow fell further into the pit of your body, pressed against your spine in a metaphorical sense as you forced another breath through a tight chest. Your eyes glanced towards the front door you had walked through not even an hour ago.

“If you don’t like her, you can talk to me instead.” He was slow to word himself, as though the voice was thinking of the opportunity he was now offering. You quickly reached to turn the radio off before a scorching heat from the knob made your hand shoot back, baring your teeth.

“Don’t.”

You felt the lights flicker over your head again, now half off the couch with feet on the floor. Hand pressed into your leg, feeling the sharp pain and wondering if it had actually burned you.

“Dare.”

“You.”

Breath picked up, the TV now flicking on and off, the same news station it had been on showing first but with each heartbeat-paced switch a different channel revealed itself.

It was silent after the last word, all power shut off except for the radio. Disgust and that same avoidance was now holding you by the throat, burning through your chest as you tried to take a deep breath. You looked around again, and the voice threatened, “Now, I have a request for you, and there’s a worthy prize at the end.”

Keeping a blank expression, you only caved when he revealed his intentions: “Madison’s life.”

You sputtered, looking down at your phone tangled in the blanket. Was he terrorizing your neighbors across the hall, too? Suddenly, Intentions to leave and check on the power throughout your building bubbled up, but then the voice asked you almost in a patronizing sigh, “And what will you tell the police if they come?”

“Where the hell…?” You stammered under your breath, once again looking around wildly, “That someone on the radio told you to touch yourself?”

“…Touch myself?” You echoed, glaring at the radio and feeling dumb for doing so, no face to meet the bewilderment you knew was painting your countenance. “I’m getting too far ahead.” He chided to himself, but quickly regained a searing tone, “Listen closely, and follow my directions. Madison will face something unfortunate if you don't. Then, you will be next.”

Heat washed over your face, and you glared at the empty air in front of you. “I’m not-“

“Manage it.”

"Fucking nooo-"

“You fucking will.” He insisted, a lightbulb suddenly snapping out of thin air. Disintegrating down onto the coffee table across from your legs. Another beat, weighing your options.

You hesitantly reached for your bottoms. Dread crept up your stomach fast, and it only drew you out more into a state of disbelief when you had asked if you could close the drapes, and he complied.

“I just need one eye, and a light on you.” He then muttered, and you almost swore he was laughing to notice you were once again shuddering off the knowledge of being watched. A hand trembled below your stomach. You stuck a daunted, rather cold finger inside, [another worming into your cunt/the other hand gripping your shaft], but he then winced at the sight, “Slower...”

Utterly debilitating, especially when ordered by that voice. He worked through you despite your initial dread, and the rhythm was soon felt, even followed albeit still halfhearted. Your head lolled a bit, but you kept glancing away from the act, still wondering where he was watching from.

The voice would growl in a mutter to himself when there was some sort of indication you were jumping the gun, now feeling that familiar burn you tumbled into something desperate for this release the further the comforter slipped down your bare legs, spreading from pleasure that somehow was relaxing despite the situation. Sweat was starting to form against your thighs. The fact it was all you, him being the voice that merely directed, drove you forwards and farther down this rabbit hole.

How long could you keep up with it? Fatigue from the day made you strain to keep your pace, the heat of pleasure shot over your core and across your stomach and chest.

“[Y/N], I said slow.” Snapping to some sort of reality, you eased up more from the fact you were asked to than any urge that now sat taut like a chained, angry dog. Almost frozen, and once again glancing towards the window or any way there could be a possibility someone was watching.

The TV snapped on, a blizzard of static as you almost [removed your fingers/unclenched your cock]. A vague shape of shoulders, a head came through; it was clearer if you squinted, but each gentle breath in made it hard to keep your focus. Muscles in your groin clenched as the voice spoke again.

“Look at me, [Y/N]. I'm far closer to you than you think.”

Fear made your [hand(s)] move again, and you clenched your teeth. It’d be foolish to speak to whatever this person was, and your shoulders even rolled a bit in a jolt between [pumps up into your vagina/strokes against the hot skin of your dick] to make sure you were awake.

"Like a fine-tuned instrument. Far better than I thought you would be." He observed, a tilt in his head sending tendrils of dark hair off his shoulders. They almost seemed to jut forward unnaturally when you really looked at it, more like shoulder blades than flat surfaces.

It was like they were put on backwards.

It was a short observation, the high once again coming up as you found a perfect spot to keep rubbing against yourself. This power in an unaroused context was still toxic, asphyxiating to anything you needed tonight when it came to companionship.

The release rushed through when he took a deep breath, the groan crackling over static and making you lurch forward. A sharp orgasm, stifled from fear and causing it to slather over nerves in an ache rather than any sort of satisfaction had made your head stop lying back, front and center as you let a single pathetic whine out.

"So soon, so messy," He noted, and you crumpled against your lap as the power fell to dark once more, the TV shut off, and there was just the rain spattering against window panes hiding you from the rest of the world.

The radio still working, tickling you with its interference fighting against all law of nature and surrounding outages, was what brought you back from an orgasm.

"And so, very far."

[trulybetty]

Sunday Week in Review XI

This week's header is dedicated to @legendary-pink-dot for the idea of Dieter being his own 80s sitcom 😝💕

Is everyone okay this morning? Have we all recovered from last night? Do we need to hydrate, grab a snack (not that kind of snack) and recoup? Any welfare checks we need to send out? Phew 🫠

It's been a slog to get through this week, and I didn't get to as much reading as I wanted, which you'll see below. These daily prompts have been taking up more time than I expected and work has picked up (rude). But I'm also realising as I read through people's weekly round-ups, that I've missed a lot this week that I haven't seen come across my dash.

So if you've posted something this week (fanfic, thots or anything else) and you'd like to share it - feel free to drop it in my DM's or as an Asks!

T R U L Y  U P D A T E S . . .

oct' x 15 - first wine (sequins!joel x reader)

oct' x 16 - flying kites (frankie x reader)

oct' x 17 - whispers (chiffon!dieter x bryony)

oct' x 18 - picking apples (sequins!joel x reader)

oct' x 19 - ghosts (dieter x f!reader)

oct' x 20 - sweater weather (chiffon!dieter x bryony)

oct' x 21 - acorns (tim rockford x f!reader)

birthdays, besties & bravos (celebrating the lovely @wildemaven)

W H A T  I  R E A D . . .

A Safe Haven | Chapter 9 (Joel) (Check TW’s) by @joelsgreys This was the update I've been so patiently waiting for and it did not disappoint! This is a fantastic series that I never thought I'd get so emotionally invested in - but that's how good Vee is! This is always one of my top recommendations when suggesting Joel fanfics to read!

Working Title | Chapter 14 (Dieter) by @rhoorl Another great update for Dieter and Belle - I'm rooting for these two from the sidelines and I'm exciting to see how things play out for them!

Delta Landscaping | Chapter 8 (Triple Frontier + Pedro Characters) by @rhoorl Okay, there's not one, but two Pedro Character appearances this week and I'm trying to figure out how I can move to Mule Falls Court like yesterday - because it's all going down over there and I highly recommend this be added to your reading if you haven't read it yet. A Month of Sundays (Various) by @gnpwdrnwhiskey I'm living for all of these prompts and I can't choose one or two because they've all been soooo good!

M E M O R A B L E  P O S T S . . .

I'm on edge as @for-a-longlongtime shares more of their WIP that is Peña x Rockford x Reader, with that line up you know it's going to be good!

Self Care with Dieter & Jett (@morallyinept) - this week it's emotions and highlights some important stuff!

More Dieter and his hippo table shenanigans delivered by @i-love-movies to @gnpwdrnwhiskey, this made my week 🤣

B R O U G H T  T H E  J O Y . . .

Bit of a personal one, but we got to do a little Halloween festive trip out yesterday with the little Truly's. Something you're not always able to do when you have a child with extra needs, as events such as these can be a bit overwhelming for a multitude of reasons. So when we're able to attend ones that are specially catered for families like ours, it's always a special occasion - even if it does make you realise how unfit you are wrangling two kids 🤣 Also, keeping on brand, Baby Truly adored all the Halloween decor and was waving and saying hello to her minions the props.

Watched the new Goosebumps on Disney+ not expecting much, and I actually enjoyed it. Little Betty would have been all over this as a kid.

Also, watched my annual viewing of Practical Magic, which thanks to the wonders of the digital age I own to stream to my heart's content regardless of the season.

T H I S  W E E K ' S  J A M . . .

Back in my Matchbox Twenty feels this week 💛 - this one has been in heavy rotation while writing!

Hope everyone has had a great week! Here's to a new week ahead! Hopefully, if Pedro makes another appearance we'll all be ready for it, or at least recovered by then! 😝🫠

Happy Sunday all! ☀️💛

[cthrnschumacher]

I'm Yours - CH. 1 Sparks

Y/N POV

As you awoke from your slumber, you had an instinct that today would be different. You weren't sure whether this would be good or bad, but you took your chance. As you lay in bed pondering over this for a few minutes, you took ahold of your phone on the nightstand. Tapping the screen and unlocking the device, you looked at the forecast and checked the train time for your commute into the city. Once you finally let the information sink into your still, sleepy mind, you moved on to notifications about your graduate studies. You are currently a month into your Master's degree. So far, things have been moving alarmingly quickly, but you love every second of it. The material you were reading and the discussions in your courses are nowhere close to the ones in your bachelor's degree. Along with the work that you were doing on campus, you feel that things are coming together for your ultimate aspiration in applying and hopefully attending law school. You can see that dream happening the more you are engrossed in your academic work and research.

Finally mustering up the courage to get out of bed, gently opening your room door and tip-toeing down the corridor, making sure to stay as quiet as possible. You still lived at home with your family. Most graduates in your program are living independently. Still, you decided that living with your family is best since it will relieve you financially (and we all know law school is expensive, so you save where you can). As you enter the washroom, turn on the water to shower and ensure it's the perfect temperature. Once you strip off your PJs, consisting of plaid pj bottoms and an oversized t-shirt, the water is scorching hot for showering. Lathering with a floral body wash and getting your naturally curly hair soaked to apply some product and style it for the day.

Once you are done, you wrap yourself in a towel, brush your teeth and head back to your room. You put on some music to jam out to as you prepare for the day. Since it is October, the weather is not as warm as September but not cold enough that you need a full winter coat. So you pick out a black pair of straight-cut jeans with a lovely mustard yellow knitted sweater that you roll up the sleeves to cuff them. Now that you have picked your outfit, you fix your hair. Since you just showered, your curly hair is damp enough to have product raked through it. You apply a curl cream and rake it to ensure it is spread evenly, and you do the same for the mousse and the gel. Once that is done, you let your hair air dry and get dressed. Now that it is all done, the last thing you do is apply a bit of eyeliner, mascara and brow gel. It is a simple make-up look but long-lasting since you will be in front of colleagues, faculty and students all day. You grab your packed bag prepped since last night, turn off the music playing, and exit your room.

Most of your family is awake as you go downstairs and into the kitchen. Your parents are making coffee, and as they do so, you take your turn raiding the fridge to pack your lunch and snacks for a long day ahead of you. It wasn't anything special, just a chicken club sandwich and a blueberry muffin. Everyone is exchanging their day and how busy it will be. You chime in as well, telling them that you will have class from 1-3pm, assist in an undergraduate course from 3-4pm, and attend a lecture from 6-8pm. You didn't tell them you were excited about the lecture because they didn't need to know that much, but you were. The lecture is on the diversity within Formula 1 through different industry sectors. The guest lecture will be from one of the major teams. You have guessed who the team would be because of the University you were attending, but you still weren't entirely sure. The professor who organized the lecture would not give any details about who the team would be, and you know it wouldn't be too packed since it's an evening lecture. Now, regardless, you were still interested and couldn't wait. You wanted to work in F1 for as long as you could remember, not through engineering or social media but working on contracts, commercial agreements, and other things that involved legality within motorsport. You noticed the time, as you were in your own world, that you had to head out the door to catch the train; you are lucky that you lived only a 10-minute walk from the train station, so you weren't in no rush. Slipping on your Adidas all-stars, then zipping up your black puffer vest and putting on your backpack, you head to the door, hollering goodbye to everyone. The weather was nice, breezy and sunny, requiring you to pull your sunglasses from your backpack.

As you arrive at the train station, tap your transit card to pay the fare and head towards the platform. It is not crowded for a Wednesday, which is a little relief because packed trains are the worst. You always time your exit from home perfectly to the train's arrival because you never have to wait that long on the platform to board. Once you board the train, you pick a seat on the top level since it is a mandatory quiet zone; you pull out your noise-cancelling headphones and turn on the same playlist you were listening to. You were in a romanticizing life mood, so you played a little bit of music that emulated that from artists like Sufjan Stevens, Banners, Coldplay, OneRepublic, Stephen Sanchez, and more of those that fit within the vibe. The train ride is roughly an hour, so you also pull out your laptop and review the notes you made for your course and material for the undergraduate lecture you are helping with. You saved everything as you finished checking the messages and adding a few more points. You started to pack away your laptop when you arrived in the city to take a connecting subway to your University. Getting on the subway only took 10 minutes until you needed to get off and exit from the underground and enter the Graduate Department of Social Justice.

You enter your given office and set up to get some work done. It was easy that you had a job on campus since the times were flexible to your studies and provided the ability to complete tasks at home. The work you were doing is assisting your department's equity committee in working towards improving the overall diversity and making each department more equitable. You check in with your supervisor to update them on your research for the committee and see where to pivot. Since nothing needed to be changed, the meeting was short, allowing you to continue your work without interruptions. This fills up most of your time until 12:30pm, when you realize your stomach is growling for something to eat and decide it is time for lunch. Pulling the sandwich out of your bag, you take the time to review your notes and pre-order an iced hazelnut latte from the Starbucks closest to the lecture hall of your course. Once you are done eating, you pack up your belongings and head to Starbucks to pick up your iced latte. Putting on your headphones and ensuring you didn't forget anything since you won't return until tomorrow. Out the door, you go and head to Starbucks. It is mid-day, the sun shining and feeling warm in contrast to the slight breeze. The sun's warmth felt nice on your olive skin, and you felt energized without the coffee from that moment, but you knew the coffee would be a saving grace during the lecture. As you attain the iced liquid gold, you walk down the block to the lecture hall, a 5-minute from Starbucks. You take your time since they do not begin the lecture until 10 minutes after the hour.

You enter the building with the lecture hall and walk towards the specific room. You go to your usual seat, set the coffee down, and set up your laptop. Soon, the time flies in the lecture and discussion you are having among your peers, and the three-hour lecture always feels like it is barely enough to unpack the dense readings the professor assigns. But seeing how everyone interprets and unpacks the lessons is always astonishing. Once you are done packing up, you go to the next lecture hall to help with the undergraduate course. In this case, you are just helping lead the discussion and ensure the students understand the course material, as a teaching assistant would do. Helping out in tutorials was constantly engaging; these were the parts of lectures you enjoyed. Sure, the professor lectures the material, and we can ask questions. Still, during the tutorials, you allow the students to contextualize and discuss their thoughts, hoping they learn how these concepts are practiced. By the time tutorials were done, I stayed back in case students had questions. They didn't; looking down at your wristwatch, you know you have 2 hours to kill.

You took the chance to pack up your things and put on your headphones, wanting to mentally prepare yourself for the lecture that is happening soon. Being the little academic you are, you decide to go to the building where they have the lecture. Having the chance to scope out a good spot to sit in and take the opportunity to get some more work done before you can have your undivided attention on the guest lecturer. You felt your stomach grumble and pulled out the muffin on the way since it was a 10-minute walk. You know the way to the building, so you took time attending to your work emails on your phone. The day in the life of a university/graduate student, always on the move, you love being busy but sometimes just wish your end goal was getting nearer. You take the chance occasionally to look up and ensure that you don't bump into other people on the sidewalk and not miss the building where the lecture is held. Once you arrive, you immediately know exactly which room you heading to. Since you had class in this lecture hall, you know exactly where to go and that this building is usually not busy. But what you don't expect is to collide into what feels like a wall and fall backwards, landing straight on your ass. Blaming the noise-cancelling headphones and being too engrossed in your phone. Before even removing the headphones, instantly apologize to whoever you bumped into. But what you weren't prepared for was who it would be. The instant recognition made you blush a crimson red; the CEO and Team Principle of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team, Toto Wolff, kneeled before you, his chocolate brown eyes laced with worry.

"Are you okay? My deepest apologies; I did not mean to bump into you. I hope you are okay; let me help you up." He grabbed your phone that had fallen out of your hand and gave you a hand to help you up. You took his hand and dusted yourself off a bit from the fall. "I'm okay; if anything, I should apologize. I bumped into you and didn't bother to look up from my phone!" Giving him a reassuring smile lets him know you are genuinely okay. "Let me introduce myself; I'm Toto Wolff. Who might you be, so I can apologize sincerely," his Austrian accent showed while sticking out his hand to introduce himself again. He truly felt bad, and you shook his hand, "I'm Y/N, and again, no need to apologize; I should have been paying more attention." "Nonsense; you're a student and probably taking every chance you get to study and cramming for some sort of assessment." His wit was like none other. He then noticed the muffin on the floor, and you went to pick it up and throw it out. It was perfect timing that your stomach had to alert the world that you were hungry. "Again, I do apologize, Y/N. Please let me offer to get you another muffin, coffee or something to eat?" "No, no, it's okay; I truly wasn't that hungry," and again, your stomach grumbles further. He notices, "I insist; there is a coffee shop around the corner; I was just about to grab something before this lecture I was about to give; I am assuming that is why you are in this building?" He has a slight glimmer in his eyes, hoping you are attending. To concede to that look, you finally tell him. "Funny you ask, yes I am here to see you guest lecture, and since you keep insisting and I am assuming with no intention of stopping, let's grab that coffee." The slight curl in his lips forms a smirk since you caught him in his little act, or he's feeling guilty for bumping into him, but you give him the benefit of the doubt and tag along. After all, he is a prominent figure in Formula 1, and to say you grab coffee with someone like Toto Wolff, so you take your chance.

He led the way out of the building and onto the street. The walk to the coffee shop was silent; neither of you seemed to have the courage to speak up, but the silence didn't feel awkward. The place was no more than ten minutes up the street from the lecture hall. The day was winding down, as the roads weren't littered with people. The same could be said for the coffee shop. It was scarce of the usual hustle and bustle. As you approach the coffee shop, before you can even grab the handle, Toto, with a quicker step, takes hold of the handle to open the door and allow you to enter first. Thanking him, you proceeded to make your way to the counter to order your drinks. Taking the chance to look at the menu, getting lost in the number of options, you finally register that Toto is speaking and pulling you from your train of thought.

"What are you thinking of getting? I can order it here. Will you find a place for us to sit?" "Ahh, I'll get a latte with a double shot of espresso with two sugars…..but like you don't have to, I can get it for myself." I hope he lets you pay for your drink separately. "Nonsense, I bumped into you; the least I can do is get you a coffee, and clearly, with a lot of caffeine in it." Clearly trying to lighten the mood and taking note of the amount of caffeine in your drink, you conceded and let him order the drink for you while you pick a seat in the back corner of the shop. Taking off your backpack and vest and settling in the chair, you took another opportunity to look at your email and student course site to see if any of the professors or students had any inquiries. You didn't even notice Toto sitting across from you until you put your phone away, and the man just smiled at you.

"Ohh, I'm sorry, I didn't even notice that you sat down; you should have said something," your face slowly turning a little flush from the embarrassment of being distracted by your device to not even notice his presence. "I totally understand; you're a student, after all, and please stop apologizing; you did nothing wrong. And I was just admiring how focused you can get." He was genuinely trying to show you sympathy. He wasn't wrong that your student was so busy, let alone your schedule and the amount on your plate, making you blush. It tends to happen often, especially since that's how your interaction with him started. "Tell me a bit about your education; what are you studying?" He said this, getting a little more comfortable in the seat across from yours, sitting with his legs crossed at the ankles, as he does in most of these interviews, with hands clasped on his lap, giving you his undivided attention. "Well, I started at this University with my bachelor of arts, double majoring in criminology and political science. After graduating last year, I didn't feel fully prepared to apply to law school, so I decided to get my Master's degree in social justice. It's a nice combination of the content I was learning in my undergrad that it felt natural." His facial expression showed a little astonishment, with his one eyebrow arching to hear your accomplishments and aspirations. "That's quite impressive; I would have thought you just started your degree. Again, congrats on finishing one, starting the other and the long road ahead of you." Blushing a little from the comment, sure, a lot of people tell you that is an insane amount of studying and the number of years you had, but he understands that is required in this day and age. "Thank you. I know I still have a long way to go, but I am also in no rush to get there." And I am honest about that: I was in no rush to get into law school; I knew the process of studying for the LSAT is a battle in and of itself, so I wanted to make sure I grasped everything. I think Toto knew that, too; he is also guest lecturing and successful in his domain.

Shifting a little in his seat, you can tell he is thinking his words carefully before he asks, "What made you want to attend my lecture? You are clearly a beautiful young woman who must have a nightlife more worthy than sitting and listening to this lecture?" Damn, just damn. And you couldn't help but notice the little smirk on Toto's face. He caught you off guard, and you couldn't help but turn red, and he made you do a lot of it today. Attempting not to make the silence go on for much longer, "Haha umm, no, I barely have a nightlife with studying, the amount of reading I'm required to do, the TAing for a course and the jobs I have on campus. I am a fan of F1 and wanted to hear how a team diversifies the organization one step at a time. It is truly an interest of mine and a topic covered in several of my courses, so why not…..you know." You were rambling at this point, you could tell, so you went silent and hoping that satisfied his curiosity. And by the looks of it, the answer was decent. I felt like two could play at this, so I thought, why not ask him something since, at this point, it feels like you're under interrogation. "What made you want to guest lecture in this? This is unusual for a topic you lecture in, other than the times you talk about the success and downfall of your team."

As if it was perfect timing, your order of drinks and apparently baked goods was brought to the table. The latte was set in front of you, and what looked like an espresso with a bit of milk was placed in front of Toto, with the scones in the center. "If you don't mind, I also got you a scone since I made you drop your muffin earlier." "Ohh, you didn't have to, really." "No, I insist, plus you need to eat; I can't have you hungry in my lecture." Attempting to avoid blushing and eye contact since you already know he will have a smirk on his face, you take a sip of your latte; it feels good to have the caffeine in you, making you focus and not get carried away with his remarks."Back to your question, since you might be thinking that I was avoiding it, for years and from personal experience, motorsports is quite polarizing regarding the type of people that work in the sport. And I, along with Lewis and the organization, want to allow people from all walks of life to come and share the same passion while working towards being a winning team. Now, to your comment on Mercedes's downfall, we will be back on top, but like I say to the press, we are happy to make these mistakes to learn from them." Contented with his answer, he took a scone from the plate in front, broke off a piece, popped it into his mouth, and followed it with a sip of his coffee. You can sense the PR voice coming out in the end since it must be a question he gets often. Either you poked a nerve, or it was one of the generic answers he typically gives; you couldn't tell. But you dropped it instantly and followed a similar action: drinking your latte and grabbing the plate with the scone. A satisfied look comes on Toto's face, taking hold of the scone and eating it. Food in your stomach felt good, so you were slightly grateful that he had bought you the scone.

Toto looked up at you, not wanting to rush the bite you took of the scone, and took this as an opportunity to ask another question and give you time to think, "With no nightlife, do you have any hobbies of interest outside of the amount of reading and studying?" Considering you respond, "Well if I'm not studying, which is most of the day, I either watch TV like any normal person. I usually head to the gym or take long bike rides when I'm not feeling lazy. I like keeping active, so walking, biking, strength training, and sometimes kyakayaking and swimming are my simple pleasures. They also let me blow off steam when I felt really stressed before those activities. Partaking in martial arts was my favourite way of getting fit." "I wouldn't think someone like you was in martial arts. you are quite petite, and I'm only saying that because I bumped into you and fell to the ground." He had a little smirk since he was partially true, based on today's current events, but he tilted his head slightly, ready to hear your response. You could tell he was trying to elicit a reaction and see how you would react. But it wasn't in a sizing me up manner; it was more so to see my genuine interest in the sport.

"Well, you were lucky catching me off guard, so a point to you. But on that, I earned a black belt and trained 6 times a week for 10 years straight. It's been a few years since I stopped training for the sport because University became a full-time job. Still, I miss learning new techniques and being in a sparring ring with another opponent. I was quite fierce and aggressive when needed. I guess it was the perks of being only 5"2 and one of only a few females who partook in the sport. Most boys and men wouldn't want to fight because they were too aggressive, but I liked using their moves against them and being tactical."

"Like drivers have a signature move. Did you have one since you mentioned sparring in a ring?" You laughed a little at the questions because he knows every athlete as a signature move in their own sport, "I did, actually, and I've made several opponents furious when using it because it would knock them on their ass, literally. The move is called the rope-a-dope. As I am in the ring, bouncing around on the ball of my feet, I try to let my opponent attack me as much as they can; not only does it tire them out, but they have to sort of lung at me. Depending on how long I want to string them out, it usually lasts 2-3 times at most 4. On their final attack and when their midsection is open, I jump-side kick or reverse side-kick the person in the gut region, earning several points, a groan in pain and making them fall to their ass."

Finishing the little rant about your previous sport, following it with a sip of the latte, you notice Toto have a queasy look on his face while slightly clutching his stomach. "Remind me not to piss you off then." "Hahah…. It's okay; I haven't trained in years, so I'll be super rusty and fall on my ass." I try to ease him a bit. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that I was aggressive, but he doesn't even know half how aggressive I used to be and the nicknames I got. But it's not like I will meet him again to see the whole or more about him.

Toto takes the chance during this little silence as I sip and take more bites of the scone to look at his watch for the time, and I do the same. I didn't even notice the time fly so fast, and it was 5:30pm, so we only had half an hour left until his guest lecture started. He looked at me and said, "I know this is a little presumptuous to ask even though we just met, and I enjoyed talking to you, but would you like to have dinner with me tonight after the lecture?"

This man has made you blush countless times today and continues to do so even more. You were still stunned and couldn't formulate any words or a clear thought for someone who writes for a living. Taking you out of your shock, "Y/N?" Finally, looking directly into his chocolate-brown eyes, I said, "Yes, I would love that!" It is as if Toto was holding his breath, waiting for your response, because he finally exhaled and looked relieved. However, he still had his wicked smile plastered on his face, noticeably enjoying that he would spend more time with you.

At this point, you both get ready to leave the coffee shop and head back to the lecture hall for Toto to give his lecture. But you still couldn't believe that you were spending more time with him; you kept pinching yourself on the way back to the hall to make sure you weren't in an alternate universe, but you weren't. Before going down the corridor to the lecture, he pulls you aside by the waist, assuring that no one can see the both of you. His body is so close to yours, his large hands still around your waist, feeling his hot breath on your lips. "I really enjoyed talking to you over coffee, come right back here once the lecture is done, and we will head to dinner together." We both linger there for a few minutes, his eyes darting from your eyes to your lips and then backing up as if he wants to kiss you. His touch makes you leave your mouth slightly gapped as if you ask him to lean down. But he smirked and moved to your ear, feeling his breath on it; he said, "Now go on. I'll see you in the lecture, and pay attention. I'll be watching."

[1800duckhotline]

salice glance, stillness, canvas, outerwear, roots, wardrobe, hair, favorite, change

oc asks: character design edition

SO MUCH SALICE.. this is definitely gonna get long but salice fans rejoice.

glance: At first glance, what stands out most about your OC’s appearance? What’s their distinguishing feature?

The real question probably is what doesn't stand out about her to most people? ASDFHGFDKS. At least to me. I think Salice purposefully presents herself to the world in a way that wants to leave an impact in other's mind and (not to toot my own horn) but I think she's able to do this (I mean, not like on the internet, but in the world she lives in at least). But I think what really makes her stand out somewhat is mostly like, at face-value, her stature?

Because picture this, if you didn't know and I didn't say it all the time, one could guess Salice is at least over 170cm tall. But she isn't, and I think that can leave someone at least amused/surprised not because being short is inherently comedic, but because she (purposefully) is really really masculine, and gives the air of an imposing masculine figure. Coupled with how people tend to assume all women who are gender non-conforming must be tall, I think it was a fun choice to make her not even that short, but just kind of average height. I think her eyebrows are also pretty striking, because they're permanently stuck in that "frown" which can be turned up in whatever expression depending on everything else going on in the face.

stillness: How does your OC act while still? Are they fidgety? Do they have any common gestures or tics? Does their clothing affect how they hold themselves while at rest?

Salice is the kind of person who can't really stay still but she tries for the sake of appearances. At most she will look at her wristwatch, or tap her foot if she's getting impatient. Alternatively she will cross her arms to amp up the "my patience is thinning" aura. This tends to be more or less the same regardless of how she dresses but she is definitely more "composed" when she's dressed up formally for work, while she's looser in her free time. But she always looks pissed off and like you are wasting her time by making her wait like that.

canvas: Does your OC have any scars, piercings, tattoos, or other markings? Do they display or cover them up at all?

Oooh she has a good quantity of both scars and tattoos! Scars come from all sorts of things. She has scars from magic rituals she committed to when she was a teenager on her forearms (part of her initiation and 'graudation' in the witch coven she was part of at the time) as well as scars from bar fights, scuffles, and street fights gone wrong all over her body. I'm not sure if it counts as a scar but she has a chipped right incisor from a bar fight she got into when she was in her 20s. Most other scars are from knives and scratches around her arms and torso area.

As for tattoos Salice has had traditional Croatian tattoos on her arms and forearms since she was 12, done on her by her grandmother Dragica at the time. The tattoos were usually done by the elder women of previous generations on the younger prepubescent children, and they were used to express identity as well warding off evils - they can also represent things like familial bonds and love. Salice is extremely proud of these tattoos even as an adult. She has a larger tattoo on her nape-upper back area she got in her early 30s as a way to feel "reconnected" to her culture. As you might expect, Salice has little to no care about what people think of her appearance, so she doesn't bother trying to cover up her scars nor her tattoos.

Salice as of current doesn't have any other piercings beside usual earring holes. She used to have more piercings when she was in university and going through her punk phase.

outerwear: What’s your OC’s outerwear situation? Jacket, sweater, cloak? What sort of weather do they deal with most and how do they protect themselves?

Since Salice is located in Brighton, UK, the weather she usually deals with is... meh-ish. It is definitely no mediterranean summer over there, even if there's still sea. But typically she will have layered fits, she never goes out without a jacket, even during summer. She likes having pockets where to put her things in (purses? what purses? bags? phssst!).

It always depends on the context. During workdays she dresses up to a T with her perfectly-ironed suit and tie looks, while during her free days she leans on "casual chic", with a bit of a wannabe-rebel streak to her, since she wants to separate her work and free time drastically. She'll even go as far as doing her hair differently for said different occasions - slicked back if formal, messy and rough if casual.

roots: Is your OC’s look inspired by any specific style of clothing or fashion trend? What are the roots and/or inspiration for their look?

Salice's looks have evolved a lot during the years, it's hard to pinpoint her specific inspirations because through her life she goes through many as well... in her adult self she mostly follow a yuppie aesthetic by trying to look as flawlessly expensive as possible since she's trying to uphold a (toxic) standard of masculinity she feels is fit for her job as a lawyer. This bleeds into how she ends up trying to look completely different in her free time as mentioned above, because she misses how free it felt to be punk and young (despite being pretty fake about it, she used to be genuinely more punk in uni).

However she also takes a lot of inspiration (and so do I) from LGBT Leather culture because she canonically worked in a BDSM dungeon to make some money on the side while she was still in university - she wasn't a sex worker but she came in contact with many such mistresses and doms whose style really influenced her own, especially the leather gay scene always hit close to home for her, but in her adult years she never found the time to actually put that influence somewhere because she represses that kind of side of herself a lot.

Uh, since I'm bad with words, the pinterest board might help a little but also not probably. There is 100% suggestive/sexual stuff in it so be warned lmao

wardrobe: How big is your character’s wardrobe? Do they wear things threadbare, or can they afford new clothes often? Are they any good at mending and repairing their own clothing?

Salice is kind of stinky rich with her occupation being as fruituous as it is, but at the same time she was raised by poor common people in the 60s and 70s. She grew up very frugal and by that logic, she's extremely greedy and tends not to spend more money than she has to, especially on outfits - she was taught by her mom and dad how to mend & repair her clothing when necessary and still does it to this day unless it's necessary that a tailor gets their hands on it.

That said when she does buy, she buys luxury because she knows she can affort it and how the more expensive something is the more it will last (not true for all things nowadays but keep in mind she lives in 1993 as an adult). She also did make-do with a lot of outfits during uni though, frequently buying second hand due to not having a lot of money for herself, as well as having hand-me-downs from her dad. So I guess her wardrobe isn't extravagantly big but what she does have is very expensive save from a few things or two.

hair: How does your OC wear their hair? Does it have some kind of meaning?

In coherence with her masculine style she also tends to keep her hair short as an adult but she used to have it much longer just until she was 25. Growing up conflicted about what was feminine and what wasn't, Salice let her hair grow because her mom expected it of her (and eventually Ceciljia gave up on this when Salice became independent), until she had her punk phase where she shaved her head entirely after trying to rock a mohawk for a few years.

She usually has it slicked back in professional environments, shiny with gel, while letting it loose and wild in casual settings. Her hair is also kind of wavy but it's hard to see when her hair is that short. Also, I usually draw her with near-black roots and body hair for no particular realistic reason other than I like the contrast with her hair color.

favorite: Does your OC have a favorite article of clothing or accessory? What is it? What’s the meaning behind it? Do they wear it all the time or do they wear it sparingly to keep it safe?

I would probably say a sweater she got as a hand-me-down from her dad. Her dad used to be a sailor so it wasn't unusual for them to wear sweaters when approaching waters in the winter. This sweater was made by her grandmother on her father's side who she never met, as she died before she was born, but her dad let Salice have it before she expatriated to the UK for university. Salice rarely wears it and only does so at home, during winter.

change: Has your OC ever drastically changed their appearance? Significant haircuts, big tattoos, complete wardrobe swap, etc? Why? How do they feel about the change?

As I've mentioned plenty times by now, Salice used to have a "punk" phase in university (which admittedly was kind of poser of her, since she was still a law student and was too 'scared' to really sync with the punk subculture's ideologies) so she used to look much more alternative including with DIY piercings and a modest mohawk as well as scrappy clothes she put together herself, since she had to work simultaneously 2 jobs to keep herself afloat. Once it was time to graduate, Salice thought it was stupid to try and keep sticking around a subculture she kept feeling uneasy in - realizing she wasn't faithful enough to the ideals to be punk. In a sense she regrets it as an adult, but at the time, she's so capitalism-brained that she feels ultimately it was the only good choice she could make at the time.

What she owned of that time in terms of clothes she still mostly owns, but never wears it unless she wants to go out... that said, if it fits, because at the time she used to be a real lanky kid. Salice got buff later on after she landed her first few successful cases as an official lawyer (so like, 29-30 ish?), and with how buff she got, a lot of things she used to wear don't fit anymore...

[thegracelessfaceless]

🔥Summer Time Sal Fisher Extravaganza!🔥

(Contains HCs + a short imagine sequence)

Cw: mentions of sickness due to overheating, vomit mention

When it comes to seasons, autumn and winter are definitely Sal's favorites

He loves all the warm, cozy stuff, good food, and especially the cool to frigid weather.

Autumn and winter Sally are Sal in his natural state, with the oversized sweaters, jeans, fingerless gloves with hoodie and earmuffs

But this post isn't about Sal in winter and fall

Here's some sweet wintertime Sal stuff if you're looking for that

But it's practically July, and we're all kind of burning up, aren't we?

So, yeah, Sally isn't a fan of summer.

He starts getting cranky around the middle of spring, just when it's starting to warm up

His prosthetic is so hot, physically and aesthetically.

It's thick, at least a good quarter of an inch, and either fiberglass or a thick polymer plastic, but definitely not something as soft as medical grade silicone.

Also, it's not just smooth inside like a normal mask would be

There's gonna be all sorts of supporting ridges and padding where Sal needs support to the parts of his face that had the most damage

As well as the tissue Sal shoves up in the right cheek area to help tamp down his drool situation

Needless to say, going around with a thick layer on your face, in summer, with your breath constantly bouncing back in your face because your prosthetics designer gave your mask a coin slot for a mouth... It would make for a bad time.

Those nose holes only provide so much ventilation and I speak this from experience

So to beat the heat, Sal sheds his oversized sweaters and flannels and jeans for cooler clothes, but sticks with his prosthetic

In my DR, Sal didn't like going out without his prosthetic until after his prison stint, where he came to terms with his appearance. Now he only wears it on bad pain days and around kids so he doesnt scare them

But in his teens and early twenties, Sal was much more shy

Since he didn't feel comfortable without his prosthetic, he tried to relieve the heat with clothes that help him stay as cool as possible when in public

I'm talking tank tops and board shorts, band shirts that he's cut the sleeves off of (and sometimes a good portion of the sides too) and cargo shorts, kilts, skirts that Ash lets him borrow, if it keeps him cool, he's wearing it

When Sal is home, or at Larry's, it becomes more a matter of Sal appreciating feeling air in his skin period, whether it's his face or his body

On super hot days you can catch him in only jeans, pajama pants, or his boxers (but only in his room)

Products used by Sal to lessen his sweaty misery during the hot months: baby powder, athletic powder, chalk powder, corn starch, deodorant, antiperspirant, dryer sheets, vapor rub (the menthol makes him think he's cooler than he really is)

If you drop in at Larry's while Sal's there, any summer between 1993 to 1999, you will find them shirtless and gaming or sunken into bean bags surrounded by instruments, sweaty from exchanging licks on the guitar or bass

Their shirts can always be found in the living room, tossed on the couch like they took their shirts off like you would your jacket upon arriving home

Neither Sal or Larry tolerate high heat levels well, though Larry fares better than Sal

Some of the meds Sal takes make him more sensitive to heat and sunlight

So if Sal gets too hot, he starts getting sick at his stomach and a headache. If ignored, his body will decide to start vomiting, which Sal hates, so he feels even worse and eventually has to go home and lie down for a while.

Sal tries to avoid going outside if the heat levels go above 95°

Due to his scarring, his sweat glands got a little messed up, so some work, some don't. Regardless it means he can't cool off the way the body is intended to

However his only exception is to go swimming

Larry discovered this the summer after Sal came to Nockfell...

It was a sweltering July afternoon, around three when the day was at it's hottest. The AC at Addison's was on the fritz, and Larry and Sal were laying like dead flies on the kitchen floor of Larry's apartment. The basement apartment was cooler than Sal's up on the fourth floor, but not by much.

"You wanna go to the lake, dude?" Larry asked as he shifted his body so it was touching fresh, cool tile instead of the body heated tile he had previously been occupying.

"I dunno, Larry" Sal said from his spot on the floor only feet away, "It's hot as hell. Everyone's gonna be there. And I'm already having to dry my prosthetic out from the sweat, so I can't wear it."

So Larry went about describing this spot that he knew about, a pretty deep creek that split off from Wendigo Lake.

"Not a lot of people know about it, dude. My dad used to take me there when I was a kid... There's a swinging rope (:3)."

Finally, between the unbearable heat, which was ever pressing down on Sal as he did the same as Larry and repositioned himself on a new stretch of cool tile, and Larry's descriptions of this forest oasis, Sally relented, "Okay. We'll go. But I'm not walking."

"Of course, dude" Larry said, getting up to ask Lisa to drive them. He remembered the last time Sal had overheated. They had tried to walk clear across town to a new record shop and Larry had ended up having to carry Sal home, thrown over his shoulder. It wouldn't have been so bad, but about halfway there, Sal had puked down his back

Lisa happily drove them. The boys had been laying around for days, and she was happy for the excuse to get them outside.

The heat got better once Larry and Sal got under the canopy of the trees surrounding Wendigo Lake. Larry led Sal straight to it, no loss of direction at all, even though there was no trail. Sal did have a little struggle at the end, there was a hill that was just too steep for Sal's shorter legs to climb. There were rocks interspersed up the hill, which Larry climbed easily. To his credit, Sal tried, trying to stretch from one rock to the next, but they were spaced too far apart.

So Larry ended up giving him a hand and hauling Sal up the hill from where he was perched. They were more than a little sweaty in their swim shorts and shirts, and getting a little cranky. But as Sal stood from climbing up the last bit of hill, he looked down at the view that was now unblocked.

Sal had been seeing glimpses of a creek that, in his opinion, seemed too dried up to swim in. They might be lucky to get their ankles wet, he had thought. But before him, he saw that the creek widened here, and looked pretty deep, the water dark and the bottom concealed. There was a tree next to them, large and sprawling and it shaded the area. A thick rope was tied to a low hanging branch and a set of bicycle handlebars had been tied to it, for maximum grip.

A tree had fallen in the creek at some point and the water covered it except for the ends of gnarly looking roots which stuck up at one end. A part of its long trunk was visible in the water towards the center. Beyond the tree, there was an area that had been cleared enough for lounging on the shore and in one space, sunbathing.

"Well?" Larry asked, "What do you-"

And Sal was already sprinting past Larry, catching the rope as he passed and swinging into the water, coming up a few seconds later with a victorious whoop.

Larry blinked for a second. Besides fights, he'd never seen Sal move so fast. He looked to the left where Sal had been standing and only found his shirt, shoes, socks, and towel. He smiled to himself as he bent to collect his friends things and carried them to the little cove the forest made. Once there, Larry's shirt, towel and shoes joined Sal's in a little pile off to the side. Then he returned to the hill and flung himself into the water, not even using the rope, letting out a Tarzan yell as he speared through the air.

And that's how Larry learned that Sal absolutely loves all things water.

They were there until well after dark, which worked out because they were able to walk back home in relative safety from the heat at that point.

Yes, Sal will swim all day if you let him

Sal really likes diving and being completely submerged

The feeling of near weightlessness that water gives Sal on his face, head and neck is a huge relief, and he takes full advantage of it

In the summer months, Sal and the gang spent a lot of time at the lake, either where everyone else swims, but mostly at Larry's secret spot

Sal was never taught to swim btw

His body has just always known how

He'd only ever been swimming twice before Larry took him to his cove, and those times were at the pool

So when Sal swims, it's not like he's swimming and diving like a professional athlete or anything

He can doggy paddle, long stroke, and mermaid dive

But it works for him, he can swim like hell and hold his breath forever

It's actually kind of beautiful seeing Sal underwater

His hair swirls around his head and face like seaweed, the bubbles decorate the ridges of his scars and his smile is absolutely radiant

[sigynpenniman]

Julian Bashir Playlist Time!!

Apple Music playlist (if you're a heathen and subscribe to apple music like me) here

I know that there's plenty of people making playlists, but I really feel like this is an under-utilized brand of fan content. Instead of attempting to create a list of songs that Julian would listen to, or a playlist of songs which were all lyrically directly applicable (though there certainly some of those in here) regardless of genre, I tried to create something which captured, above all, his vibes instead, by choosing songs that balance at least somewhat relevant lyrical content with the energy or feel that I associate with the character. What it means matters, but not as much as how it makes you feel. That said, I signed up for apple music and read a TON of those overwrought iTunes store album review descriptions while I was making this, so I have a whole lot to say about all my choices here. In depth explanation of my symbolism and methodology behind each song under the keep reading. (I love tumblr. I want to write 1,000 words of analysis about why I picked songs to represent Julian Bashir and some of you are gonna read it. This is where I get to pretend to be one of those iTunes music writers. I feel joy.)

Good Morning - Two Door Cinema Club TDCC's Gameshow is high on my favorite albums of all time list for nebulous reasons I myself don't really understand. It was this album, though not this song (but one that will pop up later) that actually inspired me to make this playlist to begin with, as for some reason, from the color scheme of the album cover, to the overall vibe, to the ever-present references to illness, injury, surgery and healers in the lyrics, the whole thing feels inescapably Julian to me. And with an opening like I'm a sinner/I'm the victim/I'm an alien when I'm myself/I'm a healer/I'm a fixer/I'm a present danger to my health/I'm so strong/Doing what I'm supposed to do/ There's something wrong/With somebody like me, it's hard NOT to think about Julian when you hear this song, and I can't think of a better way to start this off.

Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood I think there's a joke somewhere about bisexual people all liking Sweater Weather, and yeah, I resemble that remark. Sweater Weather is just good. You'll notice there's a sort of chill-indie-alt-electronic thing going here, and that is very much the vibe I'm sticking with. Sweater Weather slots in beautifully, both sonically and thematically. As the singer looks to warm and protect the person he's with from the cold, you can't help but feel a loving coziness coming off of this one. It always makes me feel cozy, at least, so it's here.

Gooey - Glass Animals I have nothing to analyze here because the artists themselves have said that the lyrics of this song have no meaning, they're just meant to capture a vibe, and capture it they do. Close your eyes and ride the vibes of this one. The energy is right, I love it, it belongs here.

Blue - Mika I could probably write a couple hundred words on Blue alone, in any context. This might be my beloved Mika's magnum Opus. Opening the song with the inherently counterintuitive lyric Blue is a feminine color, Mika manages to pack it ALL into this 3 minute song: questions about gender; concepts of sadness, joy, and their intersections; of the perception of melancholy as a flaw and loving people despite, or maybe because of, those "flaws" and anything else about them; a powerful first person reassurance that made me start weeping in my car the first time I heard it; just the phrase "why are humans cruel to you." And oh boy, ARE there questions of gender. Why is blue NOT considered a feminine color? Is that a good thing, a bad thing? In 3 minutes of artful poetry, Mika manages to wrap up sadness, love, joy, pain, the feminine that exists within the masculine and the masculine that exists within the feminine, in the simple color of blue and then, in one lyric, validates it all. And on a much simpler and more obvious note, this is in fact all a philosophic musing on the symbolic meaning of the color we see Julian wearing almost all the time (when he's not in uniform, almost all his civvies are also shades of blue.) I feel like this is one of those songs that's hard to analyze because it does what music and poetry does best - communicate something that cannot be communicated any other way. With these broad themes of loving others around the things they can't love about themselves, you can decide for yourself if this one is coming FROM Julian or directed AT him, either works. I find myself struggling for exactly the words to explain this one, but listen to it; you'll understand.

Little Dark Age - MGMT Another choice with no obvious lyrical relevance, but the tonal fit was just too good to pass up. The vibes pass.

The City - The 1975 This song is one of several present because it leans on medical symbolism to get its point across, though I would be lying if I said I fully understood what that point was. But the entire second verse, apparently about the song's subject suffering from some kind of illness and reassuring him that the next one's the M.D./You'll be feeling just fine, seems somehow to transmit the discomfort of illness directly to the listener. I don't know how or why, but the effectiveness of the empathy the second half of this song elicits, in me at least, puts it squarely in the "odd medical vibes" category.

Surgery - Two Door Cinema Club THIS is the song that inspired this whole playlist, mostly because of its title and general vibe. Another example (of many) of medical/anatomical references in this album (another of the songs is called Fever, etc), this song just feels like Julian to me.

The Other Side Of Paradise - Glass Animals I really like Glass Animals. That is probably becoming obvious. Aside from its delightfully cohesive vibes, this song opens with what's simultaneously the slyest and most brazen gay lyric I have heard on the radio recently, as the male singer says When I was young and stupid my love left to be a rock and roll star/HE told me... The song seems to be about a man whose male lover left him in pursuit of fame and fortune, and eventually ends up with a woman, leaving the singer behind. It's got simultaneously subtle and obvious gay themes, it's got confused love affairs, it's got so much bisexual energy. I cannot think of anything that could be more Julian.

Sit Next To Me - Foster The People Kind of like Sweater Weather, this whole song is built around a rather cute and sweet "sit next to me," and you can't help but feel a bit warm and cozy when you listen to it. I think it pairs with sweater weather well, and slides in with the rest of the picks very nicely.

Nothing Better - The Postal Service (the original band of the lead singer of Death Cab For Cutie) Another example of heavy surgical symbolism, the very first lyric of this song is Will someone please call a surgeon. This is actually a duet, and the singers speak of their real hearts to represent their emotional ones. Something about Your heart won't heal right if you keep tearing out the sutures always gets me and always will. And it vibes good. It vibes so, so good.

&Run - Sir Sly Sir Sly's &Run is my favorite song for driving too fast. It does an amazing job of musical onomatopoeia, talking about running while making you want to run. It's a song about running out of plans and running as far as you can instead, which is all very "I'm illegal by definition so I went to the farthest possible reaches of space." And like everything else here, it just feels good. It's also one of the only highlights here that I can actually see Julian listening to.

Cosmic Love - Florence and the Machine It's no coincidence that it seems like most of us who are invested in Julian Bashir are some flavor of genderqueer, be it trans, nonbinary, questioning, or something else entirely - the man's got a Gender with a capital G, and there's a whole lot going on in there. Between the words that were written for him on the page, and the words that were actually spoken, and the way he carries himself, Julian always seems caught between the white, western, and frequently toxic masculinity that the writers often seemed to want to imbue him with, and the very different, racially and culturally distinct masculinity Sid actually brought. But there's an undeniable element of the feminine in Julian too, at least by a traditional definition. The presence of this part of him at all, much less the fact that, in-universe, it's the more traditionally "feminine" parts of himself - the caregiving and nurturing aspects - that Julian seems proudest of or to like most about himself, is a large part of what makes his character so interesting, at least to me. So there was no way I was getting out of this without acknowledging that somehow, and I can't think of a better way to acknowledge a complicated relationship with the feminine side of one's own gender than with this world's own Celtic divine feminine, Florence Welch. I can't think of any better artist, at least that I know of, to represent femininity as a nonspecific ethereal goddess-concept. I basically spun the wheel of Florence here, as anything would have worked, but Cosmic Love felt very appropriate for a character who does in fact live in space. There could even be some Garashir in here, I think.

Dream Sweet In Sea Major - ミラクルミュージカル, or Miracle Musical, a sister act made up of members of Tally Hall I also couldn't leave off without acknowledging Julian's affection for classic lounge music, especially since it's the only thing about his taste in music that we actually know. But instead of tacking on some rat pack, instead I'm polishing this off with the incredibly chaotic and somehow also perfectly cohesive and calm Dream Sweet in Sea Major. It's got all of the vibes of a lounge singer but gone completely off the rails, which just seems perfect somehow. And it's also a very nice feeling to be left with, so it seems only right to put it at the end.

and if you've read all of this, I love you. Y'all didn't know I was this into music did you. but I am. oh boy. I AM.

[dex-xe]

I’ve made Spotify playlists inspired by each of the ghosts and I’ve made these little written pieces to talk about them. if you wanna read them, please go ahead - if not then enjoy the music!!

This is Thomas' playlist:

If anyone actually reads these let me know, cause they take quite a while to write and while I will finish all of them cause I'm a perfectionist and want them all to be consistent but if anyone actually enjoys these let me know??

Friday I’m In Love - The Cure

This doesn’t really need an explanation, Robert Smith just “really speaks” to him. I think any love song probably speaks to Thomas to some degree but I’m glad he likes it.

I Should Be So Lucky - Kylie Minogue

He loves it so much he stole it. Genuinely that’s one of my favourite scenes when he performs it for Alison just because I love his little *hides face* “please send correspondence to Miss Minogue!”

You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

We all know Thomas love a lovey pop song so like old Taylor Swift. He would dance to that over and over on repeat. He’d also appreciate the beauty of a modern love story like he does in Friends. Like the holding up the cards through the window in the music video would also remind him of Love Actually which he also loves.

Daydream Believer - The Monkees

This is Thomas’ world and we’re all just living in it. Daydreaming about Alison while not being able to do anything.

Girls Like You - Vitamin String Quartet

I said this with Kitty but it also applies to Thomas: the Bridgerton soundtrack fits nicely. Thomas would’ve been a teenager or have just come of age when Bridgerton was set so the balls and the season and everything would be the ultimate dream of Thomas who clearly loves things like that.

Venus As A Boy - Björk

Yes, this song is probably about just good sex but I also like to interpret it as being about the beauty of a man and the idea of feminine beauty (Venus) in the body of a man which I think is very Thomas who is obviously very in touch with the feminine side of beauty.

Dancing Queen - ABBA


Thomas king of dancing at Button House, his little dances to The Cure and at the party are just so fucking cute?? King behaviour.

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart - Elton John & Kiki Dee

Self-explanatory but like love at first sight and everything.

Take A Chance On Me - ABBA

Do you reckon Thomas will ever clock that Alison truly doesn’t feel the same?? Cause she’s obviously not gonna take a chance on him and like she obviously shouldn’t cause Mike is 100000% better for her XD (not just because he’s alive…) but like will he ever properly clock that??

Creep - Radiohead

Ngl Thomas I adore you but you’re a creep, you’re a weirdo. I guess because he’s dead it doesn’t really matter that much that he’s thirsting over Alison but imagine being Alison. You’re living in this big old house with your incredibly loving and devoted husband and there’s just some dead guy in the corner like “i love you more than he does”. Thomas mate consider the consequences of your actions XD

Ever Fallen in Love (With Somebody You Shouldn’t’ve) - Buzzcocks

Self explanatory but like, I’ve just said imagine being Alison but on the other hand imagine being Thomas. You’ve been living in this big old house for literally two centuries when all of a sudden it’s invaded by a beautiful woman (Alison, my beloved) but you’re dead and literally can’t do anything about your feelings. Painful. So yeah, I don’t blame Thomas for a lot of his stuff cause like I know what it’s like to fall for someone you can’t have, it hurts, man.

Line Without a Hook - Ricky Montgomery

“She’s a - she’s a lady, and I am just a boy” I feel like the way Thomas loves Alison is like a little boy crush cause Thomas died young and inexperienced in the field of love despite literally obsessing over the concept of love in his poetry. He doesn’t understand the complexity of love as is shown when he’s like to Alison “leave him, kill yourself, marry me” or something like that like he really doesn’t understand love despite loving it. He’s not too far away from Kitty in that respect I guess, they both have quite childish, fairytale-like views of love.

I Think We’re Alone Now - Tiffany

“Alone at last” Thomas get the fuck outta the bath, man!! But yeah, this gives me 90s girls sleepover vibes like little whispered secrets in the dark and honestly I fully love that.

Can’t Help Falling in Love - Elvis Presley

Again one of the reasons I don’t entirely blame Thomas for his love for Alison is because often you really can’t help it.

You Can’t Hurry Love - The Supremes

Significantly better than the Phil Collins cover which seems to get more play?? But yeah just a great song, nothing really to say.

Boys Don’t Cry - The Cure

“As an English boy, you’re encouraged not to show your emotions” - Robert Smith. Thomas is very much the rejection of that and very over expressional of his emotions which tbh is way more healthy. Thank you Thomas, boys do in fact cry (if they don’t then good lord I guess I’m no longer a boy XD)

Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry For Loverboy) - Scritti Politti

“Don't feel sorry for lover boy, he wants the world to love him, then he goes and spoils it all for love”.

This Charming Man - The Smiths

(This is one of the first songs I ever remember hearing, not relevant but it’s true) The idea of rejecting “alpha-masculinity” is I think super interesting and very telling for Thomas, like he rejects the idea of traditional masculinity but he does it by attacking those who embody that form of masculinity. Like calling men ‘philistines’ (it took me so long to figure out the spelling of that) for embodying traditional masculinity and I just find that super interesting. It’s like the idea of women supporting women and the rejection of the ‘pick-me’ girl and the ‘not like other girls’ girl in favour of supporting everyone regardless of what type of femininity or otherwise they choose to employ, one day hopefully Thomas will catch that idea and apply it to other men.

Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood

Bi Thomas, that’s my reasoning. XD Nah it’s just a great song

My Melancholy Blues - Queen

Thomas’ sulking is genuinely just iconic like his sighing place and like when he gets interrupted in his sulking is the start of so many iconic lines.

[keltonwrites]

I'm not sure if that's a good thing

“Well you’re definitely the first.” This past week, we screened-in the eastern facing porch on the side of the cabin. The porch slopes to the South, with the brick-on-dirt floor crumbling in that direction as well until it reaches uneven slabs of stone acting as steps down to the “yard” below. A mixed material retaining wall wraps beneath the steps to the south facing garage, holding up one corner of the narrow deck on the front of the house. The deck, in the heat of a high altitude summer, droops off the house like it’s daydreaming about the winter snow’s embrace. It’s safe to sit on, though I would not recommend leaning on the railing.

The side porch takes the brunt of the wind. Our wooden rocking chairs have been rocked some 20 feet into the yard more than once in the two months we lived here. In the myriad of threats we heard about the weather, most people included the wind. We all know how I feel about this ongoing weather intimidation tactic. I asked, “what speed are the gusts?” “Oh, they get up to 70 miles per hour on some days.” This was the first quantifiable piece of weather information someone had offered — an actual number we could react to with data and our historical personal experiences of various weather events. And our reaction was: uhhhh…. OK???? Look, I get it. No one’s preaching the skin benefits of -20 degree wind gusts at 70 mph, building snow drifts against your house in the span of minutes that Cooper could die in. I am not going to pretend that’s pleasant. But 70 mph? Any wind I’ve driven faster than does not intimidate me. I used to rally the horses at 12 years old in winds over 70mph to get them in the barn before the latest tornado whipped through. I helped shutter the resort in the BVI as the Category 5 hurricane rolled in. Even in Topanga, 70 mile per hour gusts were not uncommon in Santa Ana events. We had our single pane windows shatter more than once from debris in the wind. We taped cardboard up and went to sleep. That “70 mph” was all I needed to hear to confirm our next project: we were going to build a catio for these cats, and we were going to do it on the pre-existing porch structure to save time and money. We spent a week framing out the structure. We had to carve into the logs of the house to embed the wood supports for the framing.

And from there, every piece of wood was custom carved and cut to fit around the existing timber supports. The existing porch was so wildly uneven that there are gaps between each piece of old wood and the new framing. Our plan is to mix all the wood chips from the project with mortar/chinking and stuff the gaps — a good solution for the log cabin look. We built a plywood pony wall up to 28 inches from the interior of the porch, which gives a height of ~4-5ft from the exterior ground below. It’s capped with a 2x6” railing for even the fluffiest of cats to find a perch. The exterior will be wrapped with corrugated metal that we’ll quick-age to match the metal that wraps the bottom of the cabin. On the interior of the porch, we’ll use shiplap to hide the framing.

The screens themselves can withstand winds up to 120 mph, but to-be-determined if they can hold the weight of a growing maniac cat who has already tried to climb them. In the event the screens succumb to cat (or wind or snow or neighbor judgment) we’ll reinforce with metal mesh. We’re going to maintain this screen porch regardless of what the screen is. We had the pleasure of running into one of our more industrious neighbors the other day, and Ben asked him, “hey we’re building a screen porch. Is this a terrible idea?” He laughed. “Well you’re definitely the first.” But he liked it. Great way to diminish wind into the house. Simple way to regulate the temperature with massive south-facing windows. And indeed a practical outdoor safe haven for cats in predator territory. Just because you’re the first doesn’t mean you’re foolish — just foolhardy. There’s plenty of that here. This town has the typical mountain town’s truncated version of a colonizers’ history: “established 1881.” But it was plenty established prior to that by the Uncompahgre Band of the Ute Nation, removed by the U.S. Army on September 7, 1881, nearly 140 years ago. The government relocated the Uncompahgre Ute People to Utah, and one year after the Ute were forcibly removed from their ancestral land, San Miguel County split off from Ouray County and was made its own political subdivision in the newly-formed State of Colorado. In 1879, the ore-laden valley already had 50 people living in it, with a new narrow gauge railway only 2 miles away. By 1885, it was a town of 200 people. There was a hotel, a couple saloons, a pool hall. Winters were treacherous; the valley was and is prone to avalanches. But where there’s gold, there’s gumption. The power needed to run the stamp mill to process ore drove innovation. Timber was scarce at such high elevations, so a wood powered steam mill wouldn’t cut it. But the San Miguel River just a few miles down from the mine looked promising. Thus began the development and construction of the Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant. It was a hit. In fact, it was so successful that the Ames Plant led to the adoption of alternating currents at Niagara Falls and eventually to being adopted worldwide as a viable power solution. The plant remains, but the gold rush obviously didn’t. By 1940, the U.S. Census declared this little town I call home as tied for the lowest population in the country: 2 people. By 1960, it was one of four incorporated towns in the U.S. with no residents. But the joke was on the Census — the town’s single resident was just out of town the day the census came through. 1960 population: 1. By 1980 the population grew to 38, 69 in 1990, and about 180 now. (Plus 51 dogs according to the town’s website.) With modern amenities, it’s easier to be here. Studded snow tires, satellite internet, solar panels, instant coffee. No matter the hardships, there’s the reality of the present. In the 1880s, as the town boomed, the Ouray Times declared, “it will be at no distant day a far more pretentious town than it is now.” That day hasn’t exactly arrived, but I guess it depends on what you consider pretentious. I don’t think the town claims any airs of excellence beyond what’s true. In fact, the town hardly claims anything at all. There’s no sign indicating it’s even here. There’s just the old side and the new side. The new side, the Eastern half, was drawn out in the early 1990s, some 100 years later, and is separated from the Old Town by an avalanche zone—preserved open space for hiking in the summer, preserved open space for surviving in the winter. The town forbids short-term rentals, no one has a fence, dogs roam free, and all the houses have that cabin look to them. A boulder nests in a grove near a trailhead in the center of town with a plaque paying respect to the Utes who called this valley home. There’s no industry here. No businesses allowed. If you want a $7 latte, you can drive the 14 miles required to get it, assuming there’s not an avalanche blocking your path. You can, however, buy a pink lemonade in a

solo cup at the permanent lemonade stand run by the local feral child mafia. Crystals (rocks) can be purchased for an additional cost. We bought one, hoping to buy favor at the same time. The town plan has a few guiding principles, and it’s all in the name of preservation. We must preserve: 1 - the quiet atmosphere 2 - the rustic character 3 - the natural setting

And finally: 4 - protect the health and wellbeing of the people here No snowmobiles, no ATVs, no drones. In fact, the only sign of the outside world here are the passers-through. When you take the dirt road through town to the end, you enter National Forest, and you can hike over the pass saddle at nearly 12,000 feet before descending down the other side into Silverton. The pass road climbs rutted through an aspen forest before scaling across a scree field and then lurching over to the other side. Every day, it seems like 30 or so Texans and Arizonans in lifted and loud Jeeps with unused mods climb over this mountain in the comfort of their air conditioning, simply to drive down the other side. You could hike it, ride it, run it, and ski it, but they don’t. They rev their engines, kicking up dust in a town of feral children and roaming dogs, staring at us instead of waving. I’ve lived here for two months and look how salty I am. I’ll fit in yet. But today, there is a temperature that whispers of perfect trails and the dwindling of ogglers driving 35 in a 15. It’s already snowed in the mountains we see from our kitchen. Today, like a dedication to the Septembers of our youth, you can feel a chill in the air. A temperature akin to pencils and sweaters and reinventing yourself. A temperature that doesn’t exactly sing “screen porch” but could if you had the right slippers on. That’s what I did this morning: put my slippers on and sat there in the cool mountain morning air, thinking about the cemetery behind our house, about the Ute tribe, about the miners, about the mailman who died on Christmas in 1875 on the pass, about the 5 people who died in avalanches here just last year, about the people in their cars on their phones driving through, and all the people who’s very first question to us was, “so are you gonna live here part-time or full-time?” Maybe it will be a hard place to live. But at least we’ll have a screen porch.

Every week I'm writing about moving to log cabin in a small town at 10,000 feet. Subscribe here for free: tinyletter.com/keltonwrites

[sleepylixie]

Ooooh we love to see it! Character developement as they say hahaha.

Comfort outfit? My baggy-ish college sweater and sweatpants. Really works cause it's cold here for most of the year.

GNFKKD I can guarantee nothingggggggg. Especially since I don't know what anything else would be, plot, setting, anything. Half of my blog is gonna be some sort of magical skz this is not what I intendeeeeed 😣

No this was from months ago leave me alone 😜. It was because of the part where he crouches down and Chan jumps over him. So that but Chan is coming to save him and Minho gets up to have his back. I specified that it was either he's been stabbed and is being a reckless idiot or he was saved by armour. So much ✨ potential ✨ for that angst oooooooops.

Ooh! I want to relearn dances mainly but Voices is on my to learn list (once I finish the choreo I created for the song. Am I bragging a bit cause I'm actually proud of myself for that? Yeah 😶)

Yeah there was a lot of stuff on my dash this morning whoooooooooo buddy. I don't care too much about the ranking stuff but uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the filming Jeongin crying thing does wanna make me commit some crimes ngl 🙂

-🖌 (you're gonna have to read more your answer again 🥴 wowie)

College sweater and trackies sound like the most comfy outfit for cold weather omg- it's super humid where i live, and i still insist on living in skinny jeans coz it's what i vibe best in 🤡 especially coz my uni is one of the stupid trash ones that does 'dress coding' like we're high school children lol (literally, us girls can't go out with skirts that are above the knee, even if we're wearing stockings underneath)

Half of your blog being Magical SKZ sounds fucking GLORIOUS OKAY- I'D KNOW, coz my blog is 60 percent some form of high fantasy mindfuckery too, and I LOVE IT 💅🏼🥴 I can write, idk, siren! Jisung and nobody would bat an eye at that 😂😂😂😂 so i absolutely and whole heartedly endorse high fantasy SKZ blogs and stories 🤩

"✨potential✨ for angst" now THAT'S WHAT I LIKE TO HEAR 🤩🤩🤩🤩 I can see the whole sequence play out the way you explained it HUUUUUU goosebumps 😩 being a reckless idiot but saved by armour PHEW - can't have handsome mortals like him dying mid story 😬😂😂😂

YOU'RE A WHOLE PRO OMG- You made choreography FOR A LITERALL SONG That's it you're cemented as a pro Dancer in my books 😤😤😤 damn s traight you should be bragging, i wouldn't know how to behave if i were as talented as you!!! Voices is such a beautiful song ugh😩❤️

About Kingdom- i really don't want to endorse anything about it and Mnet but the performances are way too good. So i just watch the full versions when they come out on YT, that's all i can stomach.

I hate how they used SKZ's down moments as clickbait though. Uncalled for, but it's a cruelly effective marketing scheme especially in a visual industry like Kpop. Shitty behaviour regardless.

[self-shipping-hell]

F/O's

I'm not going to block or hate you if we share an F/O. In fact, I don't mind sharing as long as you tag your posts related to that character. I'll do the same in turn, that way we can share without intersecting.

Active F/O=⭐️

⭐️🔥Sharky Boshaw [Far Cry 5]

(Self Ship: My Knight in Flaming Armor)

🐔Shane [Stardew Valley]

(Self Ship: Sweater Weather)

🦋Emily [Corpse Bride]

(Self Ship: My butterfly)

💉Herbert West [Reanimator]

(Self ship: Meatball of Science)

🚲Olivia Octavius [Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse]

(Self ship: Living for Livvie)

🎭Rodney Skinner [The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]

(Self Ship: At Least Our Love is Visible)

💪Sheeva [Mortal Kombat 11]

(Self Ship: The Perfect Hugs)

🌌Mantis [Marvel Cinematic Universe]

(Self Ship: My Fire Was Fate with You)

🐀Plotzo [Meow Wolf]

(Self Ship: Vermin Vying)

🔍Touta Matsuda [Death Note]

(Self Ship: To You From Me)

👁 Commander Peepers [Wander Over Yonder]

(Self Ship: Got My Eye on You)

🚗 Dan [Dan Vs]

(Self ship: Your Good Luck Charm)

🪲Shino Aburame [Naruto]

(Self Ship: The reason is you)

I have platonic and familial Fictional Others as well, but you probably were only concerned with knowing the romantic ones. They'll be showing up regardless, but they're usually not the ones in the spotlight.