#important project everyone!! this has been in the works for several weeks now and i’m so excited to finally have everything set up for it

[this-is-krikkit]

no more boops? have a fic instead!

rating: Mature relationships: Erwin Smith/Mike Zacharias, Levi Ackerman/Hange Zoë

summary: Teleworking at Erwin's place grants Mike a front row seat to his boss honoring a stupid dare. Let's be honest, though: it has other perks.

additional tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Office, slightly kinky, Light BDSM, very light actually most of it is only mentioned, Based on a Tumblr Post, i gave Nanaba a family name for the narrative, i also gave her a couple heart attacks. also for the narrative!, Tumblr Prompt, Mike and Hange both wearing their boyfriends' shirts Challenge: complete, Office Romance

inspired by:

enjoy!!

“To conclude this meeting and another productive week, I’d like to have everyone’s attention for a few of our most pressing matters.”

Oh, he’s going to do it now, Mike realizes.

For the hundredth time in the last hour and a half, he has to check that both his microphone and camera are offline. He’s not usually so easily spooked about these things, but it’s one thing to want your privacy during a meeting with twenty people and the company’s CEO himself making a presentation, and it’s another to have to hide the fact that you’re teleworking from said CEO’s penthouse apartment every Friday because you’ve been secretly —Mike’s decided that drunkenly confessing to Nanaba a few weeks back doesn’t count— fucking each other for months now against all company guidelines.

He almost feels sorry for not warning his friend Hange, the only one besides Erwin and a few less highly ranked colleagues who’s currently got their camera on —and who is probably unaware of that fact, seeing how their crumpled shirt is hanging open as far as he can see— for what’s about to happen, but he couldn’t do that without giving himself away.

“I’m going to need Business Development, Sales and Marketing to work together closely on the Titan project next quarter. Zoë, Ackerman and Zacharias, as respective heads of these divisions, I’ll require that you regularly meet and update me directly on this matter. It’s a great challenge, but I have no doubt your BDSM task force, as I’ve labeled it, will tackle it under the deadline I stipulated earlier.”

It’s probably unnoticeable to everyone else with his camera so high on his laptop’s screen, but Mike knows he didn’t imagine the way Erwin’s eyes just settled on him, all the way over where he’s lounging on the comfy couch in his boss’ home office, when he said the acronym Mike dared him to place. Knowing this was coming does little to stop Mike’s shock at hearing the awfully casual way he enunciated those letters, and it’s physically painful to have to contain his hilarity —Erwin’s microphone is definitely still on and it’s not that big a room— when he glances back down and sees Erwin actually put it into bold, huge characters onto an otherwise blank slide.

His eyes catch movement on his screen then, and he realizes that some screens that were previously showing faces have suddenly gone dark.

His friend Hange's, however, hasn’t. In fact, they’re currently losing their mind over what just happened, and they’re definitely unaware of their camera being on if the image of them picking up their laptop and running into another room before settling it down in front of Levi as they hurriedly gesture at —Mike’s guessing since their microphone is still thankfully muted— Erwin’s scandalous slide is anything to go by.

It’s not unusual for Hange and Levi, two of the most important people in this company and annoyingly close friends —who, in Mike’s opinion, are two close idiots who really are in love with each other and should get together already— to be spending teleworking days together.

But something is… off in this picture.

Then Mike realizes, now that he’s seen them standing, that Hange’s shirt’s probably been hanging open because it’s obviously several sizes too small. And, before Levi’s eyes comically widen and he extends his arm towards their camera to turn their tiny window black as well, it finally clicks in Mike’s brain.

That wasn’t just Levi.

That was Levi and his naked torso, sculpted by the endless hours he spends in the same gym Mike trains at, and covered in hickeys.

Mike steals a glance at Erwin, but his boss is now calmly calling the end of the meeting, his usual poker face on although there’s no way in hell he didn’t notice what just transpired.

Before he can think of addressing it out loud as Erwin turns his computer off and stands from his chair, Mike’s phone chimes with Nanaba’s special ringtone. He sighs and picks up, knowing making his best friend wait after these very interesting last few minutes isn’t the best idea.

“Mike, what the fuck?” She starts, and Mike rolls his eyes as he rethinks of the countless times she’s threatened him with days long HR seminars about his swearing. “You and Eyebrows did this on purpose, didn’t you? Hange’s freaking out so bad right now!”

She’s being so loud the sound of her voice carries way further than Mike’s phone speaker, and Erwin mouthes the nickname back at him with obvious amusement, now close enough to sit with him on the couch.

“Well, first of all, I didn’t know their camera would be on,” he says, trying not to sound as defensive as the guilt he feels about his other friend’s distress wants him to. “And besides, it serves them right for not telling me they're finally hooking up with Levi! Did you know and forget to tell me by any chance?"

Mike shares a glance with Erwin at that, who shakes his head condescendingly at his outrage —and if Mike wasn’t almost sure his boss had figured his two friends out before they all just got accidental proof of their relationship, now he is— and extends one arm over the back of the couch to scoot even closer to Mike’s lap, before casually starting to leave feather light kisses along his neck.

“You do not have a fucking leg to stand on here, Mister Secret CEO Boyfriend,” Nanaba scolds over the phone, making Mike freeze at the unexpected title, even as the pressure of Erwin’s lips only increases against his sensitive skin. “Which, by the way, I know this was his idea and not yours, you’re not twisted enough to come up with something like this. And I know I said I wanted to make friends with the big boss now that you two are doing the horizontal tango, but I’m not so sure it’s a good idea after—

“That’s alright, Miss Fischer,” Erwin interrupts, taking advantage of the speechless state his hickeys have left Mike into, sounding way too unbothered for their current predicament. “I’m not here to make friends anyway.”

There’s a sudden squeal followed by the muffled sound of Nanaba possibly trying to catch her phone before it falls from her grip.

“Erw— Mister Smith? Oh my God. Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Sir, Mike never said… I mean, had no idea you could overhear—”

“It’s alright,” Erwin says again, pausing to nibble at the skin over Mike’s collarbone, who’s trying to glare at him even though he knows it’s a lost cause. “I’ll see you Monday, Miss Fischer. Have a restful weekend.”

“Yes, Sir. Sorry again. I’ll see you on Monday, Sir.”

Erwin takes the phone away before she’s even done and throws it behind him on the cushions, not bothering to check that the call effectively cut —although Mike’s sure it did, because Nanaba sounded absolutely terrified.

“You just terrorized your HR Director,” he tries, still panting from Erwin’s most recent attention to his neck.

“I know,” Erwin singsongs like he just got praised instead of scolded, nipping along Mike’s jaw playfully now.

“Did you do it because of the nickname, or because I told you she had a crush on me back when we started at the company?”

Erwin chuckles, his breath fanning over Mike’s overheated skin in the process, and draws back far enough to look him in the eyes.

“Come on, I don’t hold such childish grudges,” he says smoothly, predatory smile firmly in place.

Mike bites back his own smile, and tries to keep his face neutral.

“You know I’m aware that you’re lying, right?”

Erwin only grins wider and lets his hand travel along his torso, down his abdomen, and finally cups him briefly over his pants, tearing a hiss out of him that effectively ruins his attempt to appear unimpressed.

“And you know I’m aware of how much that turns you on, right?” he asks in his ear.

"Fuck. Kiss me,” Mike orders.

He doesn’t often use this tone of voice, but you'd need to be blind not to notice the surprising effect it has on such an authoritative figure as Erwin Smith.

But his boss still isn’t one to give up control that easily, as assure the previous times they’ve been together in bed —or this couch, his kitchen, his bathroom... even under his on site desk one memorable time— combined with the way their lips fight for dominance the second they connect and the rough hands that immediately begin tearing at his clothes —well, at Erwin’s shirt that he borrowed today, actually, so Mike really couldn’t care less about the buttons sent flying around the room right now.

Mike lets out a gasp as Erwin pushes him firmly onto his back and trails his hands over the skin he’s just uncovered. His fingers find Mike’s nipples and pinch them, reaching that perfect line between pain and pleasure right away as Mike curses as much as he blesses how well Erwin’s come to know his body in only a few months of casual —is it still casual? Erwin didn’t exactly react to Nanaba calling him Mike’s boyfriend earlier— sex encounters.

The edges of his mind are already getting fuzzy, but Mike doesn’t let himself completely fall under Erwin’s spell yet.

One of his hands cups the back of Erwin’s head and adjusts the angle with enough force to bury his face in his neck, tickling his skin with the facial hair he knows Erwin finds irresistible and unexpectedly biting down, hard. It’s definitely going to leave a bruise; but for one, it’s low enough that Erwin will be able to hide whatever faded mark is left after the weekend under a high collar shirt; and this move is one of Erwin’s weaknesses that’s never failed before.

It doesn’t disappoint now, either, and Erwin moans loudly and goes slack enough at the sudden teeth impact to let Mike switch their position and land on top of him instead.

“You really shouldn’t lie to me, Mister Smith,” he growls as he settles on top of him, rotating his hips so his ass rubs against the hardening erection in Erwin’s pants even as he brings one hand to wrap his around his throat. 

He spreads his fingers around his airway, teasing gently before he starts squeezing.

“Wait,” Erwin chokes out suddenly.

Mike lets go of his neck at once, dropping the act and cupping his cheek instead.

“Red?” he asks, searching Erwin’s eyes for signs of pain.

He tried to erase the surprise from his voice but knows he only partially succeeded —choking is certainly not where they’ve ever drawn the line before. Then again, if that’s what Erwin needs right now, of course he’ll stop.

“No, of course not,” Erwin says, dismissing his concerns with a scoff. “But don’t you want your assignment first?”

“Oh. Well, sure, but why… I mean, what is it, do you think I’m going to fuck your brains out so hard you won’t remember when I’m done with you?” he teases, grinding against him again.

“Actually, yes,” Erwin breathes through a tender smile.

There’s no trace of humor in his tone or on his face now, and Mike is split between a surge of white hot arousal at knowing his lover genuinely thinks that highly of him, and near-overwhelming affection for the sometimes disarmingly honest, always unpredictable, and forever complicated man he’s currently pinning down on expensive leather they’re about to ruin.

“Alright,” he concedes, putting both hands on each side of Erwin’s head and stilling his movements. “What inappropriate word do you charge me to use in workplace conversation next week, Sir?”

Erwin curls his index to coax Mike closer. He follows the order and leans over him until Erwin’s able to take his lower lip between his teeth and suck on it, and Mike’s groan lingers even after he’s let go with a loud pop.

“C.B.T,” Erwin enunciates.

Mike closes his mouth and swallows. Hard.

Erwin smirks up at him, his clever hands using the distraction to unbutton and unzip Mike’s pants in one fluid movement.

[outsidethebeautybox]

How It Started: Part 1: The Fan Art

A little less than a year ago I started working on a webcomic with an aspiring comic creator from the Philippines.

I’d already released several chapters of my serialized web novel “Damsel in the Red Dress” at that time, and as we worked together on our comic project, this artist was reading my novel. 

For those who don’t know (which is probably everyone) my novel is about a Mexican-Navajo painter from Baltimore, Maryland. 

She’s a short, brown-skinned, Hispanic queen just like me, and one of the things that I love so much about this novel is how it gives me an opportunity to represent a different kind of beauty. My female lead is a heroine who (beautifully) lives outside the “beauty box” of cultural norms and beauty standards.

But, unfortunately, some people don’t care about representation as much as I do.

I’d been working with this artist for a few weeks when she decided that she wanted to do a ‘fanart’ of my novel’s heroine. I was both flattered and elated, and readily approved the idea. 

The artist asked me for a description of the character (so she wouldn’t have to go back through the whole book and piece the description together herself.) 

The summary I sent her was brief, but crystal clear in terms of color: The character had black hair and cinnamon brown skin.

So imagine my bafflement when, a few days later, the artist posted her “fanart” on Instagram and claimed that it was a drawing of my character.

The drawing she posted had the complexion of a Disney princess. I don’t mean Moana, Tiana or the new version of “The Little Mermaid.” She was Cinderella, Aurora, Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” white, and that baffled me and made my heart sink.

To be fair, the artist made two versions of the fan art. One of the versions had the cinnamon brown complexion I had described, and the other was fair skinned. 

I don’t mind people “reimagining” characters. The problem is, the fair-skinned version is the one that was put on the first slide. The brown-skinned version, the accurate version, ‘won’ second place, and the light-skinned version hadn’t been labeled an ‘AU’ or ‘Reimagining'.’

When I asked the artist why she did this she just said that she liked the light-skinned version better.

Sadly, brown and black girls have been swallowing similar sentiments for time out of mind, and honestly, it makes me so mad I could spit.

Maybe, after all this time, I should be over being bothered by this. 

Maybe, but I’m not, so that brings us here.

First of all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having fair skin or making fair skinned characters. Fair skin is every bit as beautiful as dark skin. But my character is not fair-skinned, and people of all complexions deserve to be represented in the media.

In my opinion, it is absolutely unacceptable to light-wash or bleach anyone’s skin, even if that “someone” is just a character.

In my opinion, media is one of the most influential things in the world. Even when we don’t care about politics or the news, we watch television, we read comics and we watch commercials (whether we like it or not.) Media, especially fiction, has the power to influence our thoughts and cultural ideals, and that’s why it’s so important that we use it to promote equity and love.

Hence, this blog “Outside the Beauty Box.”

This is a place where we can learn about and discuss the realities of colorism, light-washing, skinny-washing and all other toxic beauty standards promoted through the media. 

BUT, it’s also a place where we can encourage each other, promoting self love and diversity-positivity.

This is a place to learn about art, music, stories, (and more) that people are using to promote this message that I am so ravenously passionate about: 

“The bodies we were born with are BEAUTIFUL.”

There is no surgery, injection, device, accessory, or beauty product on planet earth that could make you more wonderful or loveable than you are right now.

So let’s get to sharing the love shall we?

Let’s start with an introduction! Leave a comment and tell me what country you’re from. What are beauty standards like on your part of the globe?

I’m also planning to do some interview type essays/articles on this blog, so if you have a story you would like to share about your beauty experience feel free to DM me and I’ll interview you. 

People from anywhere in the world are welcome (and encouraged) to share their stories. This is a home for everyone of every color (except green.)

Whether you’re detailing the reality of toxic beauty standards in your country or explaining how you came to love the skin you're in, both stories are equally needed outside the beauty box.

Come sit with us. We see the world through rainbow tinted glasses. 

For now, have a lovely day, beautiful people!

[rgr-pop]

if i was a normal level of unwell right now i’d be baking a loaf of bread. i don’t want to have to leave the house tomorrow and i can’t bring myself to go to this stupid womens meeting. i have been so clear that i can’t do non constructive meetings that don’t specifically need me right now because i’m worn so thin, but if i don’t come on my sunday off i’ll lose credibility and these other orgs won’t work on the abortion fund projects. it feels like it’s always all on me to defend the value of doing repro work— and sometimes that’s okay and as you know i’m stepping up to work on this structural problem. but the problem is that if i show any signs of fragility—or god forbid say, “i need my sunday to myself this week,” or even worse, “my pet snail is dying and it’s going to impact my productivity for a week,” what i will be told is, well, you don’t have the capacity to sustain this work, so we’re going to stop working on it.

and the problem isn’t exactly that i’m the only one doing it (right now for example i have a street outreach brigade pamphleting hash bash lol in ann arbor, a political research crew prepping for the leg piece, a new Posting partnership planned for soon, the fundraiser ask is being made by someone else, plus some workings in a second chapter… look at me defending the work to you!), but we don’t have quite everyone with ownership over the project yet (which you build to) and, as i’ve said, everyone is depending all their willingness to not put up walls around this on whether or not i personally look energized and perfect and like i know everything every time they see me. meanwhile i want only one thing all the time (to kill myself). and i can’t be in this position because i’m not doing great. but i’m an ill and severely mentally ill person who can—i know—do a couple hours a week of organizing most weeks. and i believe you can build effective campaigns that bring in more people and build capacity and bolster people’s belief in the power working collectively for 2-10 hours a week can have to change people’s lives and make them feel mostly better rather than mostly worse. it’s important to me to hold that line. but i personally can’t survive being scolded by social workers (anarchists) and sociopaths (postleninists and social movement strategists) not to mention the regular misogynists who I HAVE TO PRESENT THIS TO IN A WEEK HOPING THAT THEY DONT DO SOMETHING MEAN TO SCARY TO ME IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!!

anyway the thing is that i’m so fragile that i don’t see a way where this consciousness raising or whatever meeting doesn’t ruin my mood for the next few days, because every single one so far has been so bad it has edged on a traumatic experience. and i have to deal with that on top of everything else i have in my life (snail dying, baby, ANTS, being solely responsible for housework and most bills, feeding myself on no money, medical appointments, all my loved ones in crisis due to being poor women, eclipse???, my union, eating disorder, chronic pain, SNAIL DYING). and if you were a loser wannabe social worker you might say “it sounds like you don’t have capacity to organize” and, WRONG. i don’t have the capacity to waste two hours of my life + the bus travel on a consciousness raising meeting where someone tells me what’s wrong about me. and i disagree with the relational organizing (or even post bernie labor type) partisans a who say, that’s where the organizing happens. i disagree and i have a different theory of how this works (i may be inventing a caucus lol). and most importantly i think that i personally am more like a majority of working class women than i’m different. the main thing that makes me most different from other working class women is how much time i commit to communism. i want to change this!!!

today i need to work on things but i’m focused on my snail and the feelings around this. i’m having a hard time feeding myself. i don’t think crying on a saturday with my dying pet snail while managing mental illness during an eclipse makes me someone who can’t organize and i do NOT think getting psychologically torn to shreds by a social worker in training or a social movement strategist trying to force me to do drugs at a retreat is going to make me a better organizer.

j invited us over after the meeting and i’m overcome with guilt about coming empty handed. i miss him. i saw him in passing at the last meeting. he makes me happy and feel better. i don’t think i should be with him because i worry all i can do is complain. and he will be reminded why everyone hates me et cetera. but after i saw him that day when i wanted to die he reached out right after and said do you guys want to come over for dinner.

i can’t do the dishes. i made sniva a carrot. she got up to eat it. her trapdoor is so withered but i don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go on reddit to think about it. i want her to live six more days. i genuinely don’t know whether i’m neglecting her or should let it be. i am almost sure there is nothing i can do to fix her trapdoor. i’m going to do a small water change/replacement tonight if i can be upright enough. that’s it!! im as good as murdering her

[ana-chronista]

🖤💉✈️⭐️🌺 please? :)

Thank you for the asks!

🖤 favorite hobbies outside of your blog Writing is a big one (of course), as is reading. Tolkien and Terry Pratchett are both favourites of mine, and more recently I’ve been reading a few books by Emily St. John Mandel and would definitely recommend them! I’ve been gaming for years, especially RPGs. I’m currently getting started on another playthrough of Stardew Valley (because really you’re never done with that game and this is my ��evil’ playthrough) and trying out the Final Fantasy VII remake. I’d like to get back into jewellery making, it’s been a while since I’ve had the time (and space!) for it but it’s nice to do something creative that’s a bit different. 💉do you have tattoos and/or piercings A couple of ear piercings. No tattoos (yet? Never say never!) but mainly because I haven’t ever been able to decide on one particular design to stick to! ✈️ favorite place you’ve travelled New Zealand! I travelled around both islands for a few weeks several years ago and absolutely loved it. A couple of things I’d recommend:

The Waitomo Cave on the North Island is very famous, but my favourite of the three around there was actually the Ruakuri Cave; we had a guide who had worked on the excavations and was really passionate about the subject, so it was really interesting. You can also go black water rafting through it!

Obviously lots of Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit related tours are on offer, and as a Tolkien fan I enjoyed that. Of all of it though, the Weta Workshop near Wellington where the props etc. were made was the best, and it’s fascinating to see how all these special effects are achieved for TV/film even if you’re not big on Tolkien as they cover a lot of different projects.

The penguin sanctuary at Dunedin, especially learning about the inter-penguin dramas going on!

Overall though just a really lovely place to visit – it’s a beautiful country and everyone seemed very friendly and laidback (at least compared to where I come from, so it was a good change of pace).

The other two are a bit longer so I placed them under a cut...

⭐️ what is one of your biggest accomplishments? Why is it so important to you? I was the first person in my family to go to uni. Lots of people have that same achievement, but for me personally it meant so much because I’d worked so hard for it and still had really strong doubts I’d ever manage it. I definitely wouldn’t be the same person today without it because of the self-confidence it gave me, and for me personally it was definitely one of the best things I’ve ever done. 🌺 what is the best gift someone has ever given you and why is it so important This is very random, and something very normal, but a towel turban. It was a Christmas present from my SO a few years ago – we’d been together all of five minutes, and what do you buy for someone when you’re still getting to know them? I hadn’t actually seen these before but after a conversation about why I always wrapped my hair in a heavy towel after a shower, my SO went and researched and found one for me as a surprise. It was just something really lovely and thoughtful because I could use it every day, and especially because it came from someone who’s never had long hair nor had anyone in their family with long hair to know about it beforehand. I’m now on towel turban number 3, all gifted by my SO, and still referred to as “the best thing I ever bought you.”

[pointofreturn]

professor's pet, pt. 3

The next semester, I signed up for the professor’s literature class. Several of my friends were in the class. We were loud and silly and everyone was trying to impress each other with their opinions on the texts the professor built his career on. But he had that special ability to make us feel comfortable enough to be our weird, nerdy selves. The class was a real-life Dead Poet’s Society, at least for the few weeks we were together.

He seemed unable to hide his focus on me. If I leaned my head over to rest, he’d lean into my ear to ask if I was okay instead of listening to the student speaking. During a guest lecturer’s speech, I got up to excuse myself and he followed just after, prompting an intimate moment translucent to the entire class, pressing to make sure I was okay. He gave me a box of Thin Mints and walked me out to the parking lot late when no one else was around and my car smelled like weed. He always held the door for me and never failed to provide a chivalrous hand to help me. One day, I remind him about something he forgot to send me, and he earnestly promised to be better to me, better for me. Surely, he’s naturally a gentleman, and all of these happenings are little things that happened to every other woman he had eyes for, but there was a slow flame burning between us.

And I’m not the only one who felt it.

Two of my friends approached me and asked what was going on between us. I don’t say that anything is, but I don’t say that anything isn’t either.

“I knew it! He treats you differently. It’s really noticeable.”

“I’ve never seen him act that way with anyone. I can’t even get him to answer an email.”

I wished I’d been more willing to see the warning signs. But as always, I was intoxicated with his obsession with me. I couldn’t help but continue to provide the temptation, continue playing the chess game.

Just before spring break, I borrowed an expensive book of his for a prospective project. It was March 2020. COVID destroyed the world overnight. I stayed in Florida and he went back to the Midwest. We didn’t see each other for two years.

Yet, we kept in touch, even though there was no reason. He remembered texted me each year on my birthday and Thanksgiving and even early on Christmas morning when the last thing on his mind should be a student. I have a distinct memory of him saying he didn’t do things like that because he too often forgot. We talked occasionally about my thesis and Ph.D. applications.

He started texting me late at night. But no boundaries were crossed, yet.

We talked about seeing each other when he came back. I decided to stay at Another University for another degree, hopeful I’ll be able to establish a long-term career and finally achieve job stability. I take classes and teach online, staying concerned and vigilant about COVID long after the rest of the world decided to leave it behind.

During the time the professor and I were separated, I met my friend Jane. We quickly became close, she moved to Florida, and we started hanging out regularly.

*

In the spring, the professor returns.

I still work remotely, but Jane sees the professor often. She tells me they talk about how wonderful I am, and how we should hang out with her and her husband. I told her nothing about the seemingly endless slow burn.

She comes over to my house one night, gushing.

“Isn’t he so cute? And single? I almost can’t believe it…”

“Yeah, he’s a mystery! No denying that.”

Jane pauses, lighting another cigarette and sipping on a condensed glass of wine.

“Have I told you I’m in an open relationship?”

I’m caught off guard; I don’t expect this.

“Oh…that’s interesting!”

“Yeah—our rules are ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ unless it’s important or an emergency.”

“And that’s worked for you?” I already knew it hadn’t, or it wouldn’t forever.

“Oh yeah! Being open makes the marriage so much better.” She has that devil look in her eyes. “I’ve had a few boyfriends since we’ve been married. And now, I might have my sights set on a new one…”

“______?” His name burns on my tongue. I’ve always hated saying it.

“Of course! If I can ever figure him out. I think he’s flirting back at me, but I can’t tell if that’s just his personality.”

I smile, not really wanting to continue the conversation but trying to look unbothered.

“What is it?” she drags the cigarette stub. “I can tell there’s something you want to say.”

At this moment, I trust her, I think she’s my friend.

And in a lapse of judgment, I tell her about our flame.

I explain the situation to her with as much ration as I can. And that’s what it is—a situation between a student and professor quickly nearing sticky territory. I tell her the situation is confusing for me and there’s something unexplainable about the connection. I tell her I can’t deny my attraction to him and I’m not sure where this will ever end up.

“Hmm,” she says after I finish. She holds herself in that way I’m unsure of. “Well, I wouldn’t take him too seriously.” She finally puts out the cigarette, burnt through the filter.

“But I’m still gonna try to fuck him anyway.”

I should have known at this moment to cut her off.

[ledenews]

Mt. Zion Cemetery Caretakers Anxious for Restoration to Begin

Charles Yocke was told by a friend a “mudslide” had taken place at his beloved Mt. Zion Cemetery, but what he discovered the morning of April 3rd was an outright avalanche of mud. Every single day since the volunteer caretaker has been navigating an unpaved path he hopes leads to a complete restoration, but he’s frustrated he still doesn’t know when the project will begin. “Pat Henry lives at the top of the hill and he called him early that morning and told me, ‘Looks like you have a mudslide in the cemetery.’ ‘OK,’ I thought, ‘I’d better go see what I have to shovel up.’ Well, that’s not what I saw when I came up here,” Yocke recalled. “I only live the down the road, so I jumped into my truck, and I drove up here. As soon as I got close enough, I saw it and said, ‘Holy sh!t!’ “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know who to call,” he said. “I knew I had to get the word out and I knew I had to get the place locked up. No way could I let anyone on the grounds, and the graveyard is still closed today. That’s when I contacted some media and they reported what happened.” The dirt is dry now at the Mount Zion Cemetery in Wheeling, but a massive amount of work needs to be performed before the graveyard is fully restored. W.Va. Gov. Jim Justice has since dropped off $2 million that the Bel-O-Mar Regional Council will administer; thousands of dollars in donations have been recorded by the Wheeling Mt. Zion Cemetery Corporation volunteer Paula Stein, and an endowment fund finances the landscaping upkeep. Last week, 11 counties in West Virginia – including Ohio County – were designated federal disaster areas so the counties now qualify for federal relief dollars to repair damages caused by the double-flood natural disaster. But. “Everything so far has been happening really fast, but when will the actual work get done? When will the work begin? I don’t know those answers when our families ask,” Yocke admitted. “We want to get this done as soon as possible, but I don’t even know if we’ll get it started this year. I hope so … it’s only May. “I know how important this cemetery is to our families, and I know this whole community is supporting us, so for everyone involved I sure hope everyone can get this moving along,” he said. “I keep asking people when we can get started and they have explained that there’s a lot to get straight before we can get moving. That’s frustrating for everyone.” Mount Zion remains closed to visitors today, but they can take pause in the A-frame chapel located near the entrance. Piece by Piece The avalanche originated near the top of the hill near Incline Avenue in the Mozart area, and Yocke estimates as many as 125 grave markers were affected by the rolling mud. Many of those stones, though, were assembled when initially placed, but now they are scattered, buried, and in pieces. Many of the graves also were decorated by family, and those items – flower vases, picture frames, and other items – will need sorted once movement of the massive amount of dirt begins and the restoration process is launched.    “Until the project begins, we won’t know how many monuments were involved, but we do know several of them were made in parts so we’ll have to see what needs to be cleaned and put back together,” Yocke said. “I’m sure we’ll make new footers for each of the stones, but it has to be surveyed first to make sure we’re putting everything back where it belongs. “There are some photos, and we know there’s technology that can help, too, but we may need some help from the families because we hope they’ll remember best where they visited their loved ones,” he said. “But we have to get there first. The cemetery has to be closed off right now for safety reasons, and as soon as people can enter safely, we’ll open it up again.” W.Va. Del. Shawn Fluharty (D-5) was one of the first state lawmakers to contact Yocke once the disaster took place, and last week he collected the names of the American veterans laid to rest at Mount Zion so he can register the project for additional funding. He explained the $2 million contributed by the state will be administered by the Bel-O-Mar Regional Council, a state-created organization that fosters cooperation with community and economic development. Yocke and W.Va. Del. Shawn Fluharty surveyed the damage last week when the lawmaker visited to collect the names of the more than 400 American veterans laid to rest at Mount Zion. “Since a lot of the funding for the repairs is coming from the state of West Virginia, there will be input from state officials about contractors and some things like that, but this work, I doubt, will be performed by employees of the state,” Fluharty explained. “There will be guidance, and help when it’s needed during this process, and I’m sure the folks from Bel-O-Mar will be keeping track of the progress. “At the end of all of this, I am positive we’ll have some kind of event because fixing this damage in a historic cemetery like this is a pretty big deal,” he said. “There are more than 400 American veterans who have been laid to rest here, and those families will be part of everything.” Fluharty also is confident additional dollars will be received thanks to the natural disaster designation. “Federal funding is another piece to this, but I am encouraged more dollars will be available for what needs to be done here,” Fluharty explained. “When I was informed of this slide, I immediately contacted Sen. (Joe) Manchin’s office because I knew he was traveling to Wheeling on a separate matter. He met with us and told us what needed to happen, and those things have happened so we can apply for more help. “The documents that Charles gave me included the names of the American soldiers who were interred here,” he said. “They will be honored.” Meanwhile, Yocke and Stein not-so-patiently await a start date. “Everyone wants this project to get done the right way, and I know that’s going to take a little time to get things in order,” Yocke said. “Sure, it’s frustrating. It’s real frustrating. People who want to visit the cemetery are getting frustrated, too, and that’s understandable. “A lot of them thought as soon as we got the ($2 million) someone would be up on the hill fixing it by now, and I get that,” he added. “There’s the mud we have to deal with, but there’s a lot more that needs done to fix it for good, too. Honestly, I’d hate to see what another serious rain would do.” Yocke and Paula Stein have been the only volunteers caring for Mount Zion Cemetery for nearly 10 years. Read the full article

[rootvegetableboy]

cm dev log #4 - february 2024

happy march! i can’t believe this is already my 4th dev log… that means i’ve been working on this game for one third of a year…

i know in the january log i said i wanted to tackle gameplay, and i guess i did a little of that, but it ended up being mostly an art/asset creation month. towards the 3rd week of february my wrist started to hurt, so i’ve slowed down a little bit since then. thankfully, i still have some cool art to show off!

[start image description: 3 variations on the same bookshelf sprite: one with all empty shelves, one neatly packed with different encyclopedia-like sets, and one with mostly unrelated books tending more towards leaning against one another or being stacked horizontally. end image description.]

[start image description: a very zoomed-out view of a basic environment, cliffs overlooking water. the player character is extremely small in comparison. end image description.]

[start image description: a view of an indoor environment with brick walls, four tables, and several of the previously-described bookshelf assets. end image description.]

the thing about art/asset creation, i’ve noticed, is that it’s generally a bit more of a convoluted process than coding… when i want to code something into the game, it’s more a matter of figuring out how to code it → and then coding it. (and then fixing it if i need…) art is different, though, because a lot of the things i draw end up going through several different iterations before i settle on what i want them to look like. i’m still not entirely sold on some of the basic structures i have in place for myself, but it’s still been really satisfying to slowly start to build up these areas. even just the bookshelves and tables have added a lot of depth & feeling i think ^_^

aside from art, i also made a few minor coding tweaks. i added a little bit to the enemy AI: now enemies will only chase you if you come within a set distance, and if you leave this distance, they will walk slowly back to their spawn point. (basically “running away from and/or avoiding everything you encounter” is now a viable strategy.) the sounds that accompany a character speaking are now a little more fluid re: keeping pace with the text, and i adjusted the depth & drawing code for the player character so her weapons are drawn over other objects (such as tables and bookshelves) as opposed to underneath.

i’ve been having a bit of trouble classifying february as a ”productive month” in my mind, but i know how important it is to keep slowly chipping away at long-term projects like this, so i’m happy at least i have stuff to share with you all! in march i want to really hone in on building some more tools for myself: my close friend stevie suggested whipping up something with Twine when i expressed having difficulty keeping track of characters/plot threads, which is such a genius idea. it’s not something that is easily “shown off” but is definitely sorely needed for me at this point in development, if for no other reason than just keeping me sane...

as always, i really appreciate everyone who has been keeping up with the process! it's always super encouraging to receive feedback and hear people ask about how it's all going. i will see you all in april... springtime approaches :)

[fanficcrossoversfeedmysoul]

I’m imagining all the Fentons didn’t actually arrive at the same time. Oh no, that would require earlier communication and this is not a family that communicates well.

Sorry, that’s harsh.

Let’s rephrase that. They didn’t arrive at the same time because they didn’t actually know all the others were going to be there. After all, this is a family that respects privacy and doesn’t pry.

(Which may or may not be a nice way of saying that the parents are always too hyperfixated on their projects to ask any questions even when it’s questions they should be asking, like if their children are injured after the latest big ghost fight. Plus Dan, Danny, and Danni are still so used to keeping secrets that sometimes they forget they don’t have to anymore, at least not from their family. And while Jazz did used to be pretty nosy and in everyone’s business, she’s been busy with her new job lately.)

Which brings us to this moment now, where Danni is proudly introducing her family after running into them in the halls. 

The three founders of the justice league have thoughts. Many, many thoughts.

Why did Jazz get left out of the ‘Dan, Danny, Danni’ naming scheme? Did that ever get confusing at their house? Did the parents simply run out of ideas for names?

But no! There’s more important things to consider! 

How did they not realize that these various individuals were connected? 

The three knew the Fenton parents were coming to sign paperwork for Danni. After all, she is a young sidekick and Wonder Woman invited them for a reason. It’s important to keep guardians involved whenever possible with their youngest heroes.

And perhaps Wonder Woman should’ve recognized the similarities between her young sidekick and Phantom. Or at the very least, she aught to have recognized the shit eating grin Danni wore when she claimed she only looked similar to the hero Phantom because she idolized him. Really. That’s all.

She had wondered why Danni couldn’t stop snickering that day, just a few weeks ago when wonder woman decided to take the ghost girl on as a sidekick.

Now she is realizing how much of a chaos gremlin her new sidekick is going to be.

Superman, on the other hand, only has eyes for the Fenton parents. Because he’s worked with Danny quite a bit, enough so that Phantom has shared more with him about his life than he has with any other of the heroes. Superman might well be one of the only heroes that is even aware of Phantom has family in modern day times and isn’t some ancient being. In fact, he’s almost gotten used to the alarming casual comments the ghostly hero makes on a daily basis.

Almost, but not really.

These are the parents were so negligent with their lab safety that Phantom’s food gets contaminated by ectoplasm and often comes to life? The parents that used to shoot at him on a frequent basis, not knowing his alter ego? The parents that didn’t even realize their son had died in their lab?

Sure, Superman knows that he’s missing much of the context. Perhaps it isn’t as bad as Phantom’s random offhand comments about fighting reanimated food or dodging blaster blasts from the home security system made it sound. Perhaps it’s fine. 

Still, Superman is struggling very hard to not punch said parents right now.

Batman, on the other hand, is staring in a way that implies he’s piecing together a million little parts of a puzzle and doesn’t like the final picture. He’s also worked with Phantom several times now and while he knows that his colleague has a human side, he doesn’t know too much about it. Sure, he’s wanted to pry and dig up all those secrets… But he’s been trying to be better about that on the advice of the watchtower’s new therapist.

Besides, Constantine has been very insistent that prying into the ghost king’s secrets could easily be seen as a major offense, enough to start a war.

So Batman has left it alone, as much as the mystery of the seemingly eternal teen itches at him.

But now, staring at Jazz, the watchtower’s newest therapist, he wonders how he didn’t realize. After all, he knew that Jazz had several siblings. When doing his background research, he even thought that Danny looked oddly familiar. He had not realized that Danny was Phantom, however, not until he heard Wonder Woman’s new sidekick introduce Phantom as such.

Forget ‘invasion of privacy’ and ‘if you want your teammates to trust you, perhaps you can exercise trust towards them in return’ and even ‘if you start a bloody war by pissing off the king of the infinite realms then I’m not helping you fix it’.

Batman is never slacking on his investigative research again.

Though that leads to a much more important matter… he and the others had thought Phantom to be a rather ancient hero, for all that the ghost looked like a teen. After all, Phantom appears in several ancient historical depictions.

But now, hearing that Phantom is Danny, the younger brother of Jazz…

Did they need to have the Fentons sign the ‘we’re aware of what our underage child is doing and we promise we have tried to stop their extremely dangerous ventures into hero work but they keep doing it anyways so they’ll be safer if they learn and train and work with experienced heroes’ paperwork for Phantom also?

One of the good things you can learn about the Fenton family, is that they liked and respected each other's privacy, they don't pry or engage to other family members business, unless it's something dangerous and life threatening.

But sometimes that is also the main reason, why they are so out of touch within family matters, and why the six of them are currently standing infront of each other in one of the hallways of the watchtower, flabbergasted and confused while pointing at each other.

Maddie, The scientist: Jack dear, were you aware of our kids working here?

Jack, The engineer: Nope, But I'm know realizing why they needed our signatures!

Jazz, The therapist: I'm not paid enough for this.

Danny, The hero: Ancients, Wraith you became a Sidekick?

Dani, The sidekick: I got kidnapped by Wonder woman, while travelling who am I to reject her?

Dan, The villain: Well there's goes my plan on destroying the watchtower

[letarasstuff]

Ranting

(A/N): This was requested by an anon, I hope you like it :)

Summary: In the middle of midterms, Spencer's daughter has enough and for the first time in her life, she rants to the team

Warnings: one swear word, school, school stress, mental breakdown, shitty friends, a bit of angst (but there is fluff to balance that out), weird grammatical sentences that are according to google correct

Wordcount: 2.3k

✨Masterlist✨ _____________________________ As a teenager, Spencer was pretty closed off. But this had several reasons, like being a child (or moreover a teen prodigy) at college and getting his first Ph.D, or that he hadn’t had a safety net of people he could have gone to. So as he became a father himself, he tried everything possible to assure his own daughter that her feelings and thoughts are always welcome and valid.

Unfortunately (Y/N) herself has developed the same habit starting high school and ever since Spencer can’t do anything to get her to open up to him. It’s not like they don’t have a good relationship, they have one of the strongest father-daughter bonds the BAU has ever witnessed. The girl simply has other ways to cope with her feelings and how to act them out in the safety of her own four walls. Her father learned to accept it, knowing that he can’t and won’t force her to talk to him.

So what follows now not only shocked Spencer. But also his work family.

It’s the time every teen in high school dreads: Midterms.

A word a teacher can mutter and a shiver goes through the rows of students in the classroom. Or at least it feels like it to (Y/N). She takes her school work very seriously. In her mind every single grade determines her future.

The rational part in her knows that the grades in her sophomore year doesn’t matter. That they are even long forgotten when she graduates. There is just so much pressure on her. But it isn’t coming from her father.

Spencer is pretty laid-back regarding school. He knows his daughter is trying her best and that it’s just the tenth grade and not the end of the world. School is not everything life has to offer, especially he has to know it as a scholar and profiler flying through the country in a jet back and forth.

It’s (Y/N)’s classmates, who pressure her to get good grades.

“We depend on you and your notes”, Tyler exclaims as he jogs next to her through the busy hallway. “Ty, I know. But I don’t have the time to get them done for all of you to understand by tomorrow. They are still a mess that only I know to see through. I still have to finish my history project and I go to my Dad’s work this afternoon, which means I won’t get much done and I still have to do the homework I got today before sorting my notes for the test in two days.”

At her locker, the boy still doesn’t let go of the subject. “Do you want to say that our grades don’t matter as much as yours? Because this would be a true selfish statement.” Maybe it is the lack of sleep, because she pulled three all-nighters in two weeks, or the fact that she is slowly getting fed up being treated like an unpaid private teacher, but (Y/N) can’t stop her sassy answer. “Tyler, you wouldn't even know how to tell apart your ass from your head if it weren’t for me and my help in biology. You wouldn’t even know how to spell selfish if I didn’t let you copy my answers in spelling tests in elementary school.”

Done with the day and her friend’s shit, she slams the door of her locker shut and leaves a flabbergasted boy behind. Half an hour later the teenager enters the bullpen with her visitor badge clipped to the pocket of her sweater.

On the way there she was fuming. The audacity of her friends. It’s not only Tyler, who tried to get her notes of a unit, she was the only one listening, even though the teacher said loud and clear that this will be important for midterms. A few other friends out of the group she usually hangs out with texted her the same question of when her notes will be given to them. Understandably, (Y/N) comes into the office in the worst mood anyone from the team ever saw, including her own father.

“Hey Sweetheart”, he tries to greet her with a hug. Even though both of them are not big on touch, they are extra affectionate with people they are close to.

To everybody’s surprise, the girl takes a step back, effectively avoiding his open arms. “Hey”, she grumbles out before taking a seat in the chair already waiting for her. Nobody is allowed to sit in this one, except for her. Not even Derek has ever put his butt on this one, knowing the sacredness of it.

Without sparing anyone another glance, (Y/N) gets the needed stuff for that history project out and continues working on it. The team resorts to throwing a questiongly look to Spencer, who shrugs his shoulders with a look of despair. So everyone resumes their work without even daring to say a word.

The general silence is occasionally broken by an unnerved sigh leaving the teenager’s lips. “Is the conference room occupied?” She asks, her voice clearly showing how annoyed she is. Her father shakes his head. “No, not that I know of. Do you need help with your school work?” This is obviously the wrong thing to say. “Do I look like a baby? I don’t need anyone to help with that, I have been going to school for ten years now, I think I can handle this project as perfectly fine as I did since day one. It’s just your keyboard typing that will be the reason for my first grey hairs if I don’t get out of here soon.”

Quickly (Y/N) gathers her stuff and storms off into the conference room. Immediately the team crowds her father’s desk. “What happened?” “Who hurt her?” “Go, talk to her!”

“Guys, I don’t know what’s going on. I’m at the same loss as all of you. The only thing I know is that (Y/N) is under pressure, because it’s midterms. But judging by the way she reacted, I don’t want to go near her. It’s safer to try to defuse a bomb than talk to her in that mood. Last time I saw something similar, her favorite show was declared finished, got a revival and then didn’t get one and nobody mentioned it again. She was so mad, I think it took three years of her life.” A silence of uncertainty spreads through the room.

“What about we give her some room until she calms down?” JJ suggests, being unsure herself how to deal with a teenage girl. But the rest agrees and goes back to filling out their paperwork.

This continues for about 20 minutes, till a loud bang and a frustrated scream is heard followed by “DON’T THEY WANT TO GET IT OR ARE THEY JUST STUPID?!” Alerted by that, seven people (yes, even Dave and Aaron leave their offices, while Penelope was already in the bullpen) storm into the round table room only to see a more than outraged (Y/N).

“Sweetheart”, Spencer speaks to her in the gentlest voice they ever heard from him and slowly moves towards his daughter, “What’s going on?”

Her response is delayed by several deep breaths she has to take in order to be able to talk without seething. “ALL OF MY SO CALLED FRIENDS ARE ASKING ME FOR MY NOTES, like do I look like a personal tutor? And when I tell them that I got a life, a life outside of school and grades, because otherwise I go completely bananas, just like all of you say, they get mad. Now they act like I’m the most selfish person in the whole world. I’m so done, can’t they understand that they are old enough to take care of their own stuff? I’m not responsible for them, their grades or anything regarding their lives. Otherwise I would be the mother of at least four toddlers and one baby and at the age of sixteen I’m not ready for that kind of responsibility. I know friends are there for eachother, and I really don’t mind helping them from time to time. But what they are doing is terror. Terror.

“Oh and don’t get me started on their tormention if I get something lower than an A-. Then they suddenly transform into geniuses, like they suddenly know everything possible. Of course, I’m the dumb one. I should have studied more.

“I am under an insane amount of pressure, because I know they rely on me, but enough is enough. I tell them that if anyone asks me for anything school related again and they act like I owe them an answer, I’ll cut off all ties to all of them. What am I, a roboter just there for their needs, without some of my own?”

After her long rant, (Y/N) takes a couple more breaths. It’s pretty much the only sound right now, because the team is stunned. None of them heard her talking, no ranting, like that. Not even her Spencer has seen her like that.

Realizing what she just said, the teenager fidgets nervously with her hands. “I’m, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, you know, blow up like that. I, I really don’t know where this came from.” Nervously she scratches the back of her head. It really wasn’t her intention to let it out like that. Her plan was just to come home tonight and deal in the confinement of her own four walls with all of her feelings. It’s easier to be honest to yourself when you are alone than having an audience watching you losing it.

Suddenly (Y/N) finds herself engulfed in a massive bear hug. “Oh, my sweet sweet summerchild. You needed to rant to us and I’m so happy you did. Even though your uhm, friends, sound like big douchebags, we can help you sort something out”, Penelope tells her while keeping her arms around the teen.

“Just like lil mama said, we are here for you, Baby Reid. Don’t ever be afraid to tell us something, may it even be as small as you having stubbed your toe.” Morgan ruffles her hair and gives her a reassuring smile.

Just like them everybody shows her their support, be it encouraging words or affectionately gestures. Rossi invites her to a calm and quiet dinner at his mansion, cooking class included. Hotch assures her that she will get through this rough patch, with or without these fake people. JJ suggests (Y/N) comes over to her home and she can participate in a family game night at their home.

When it’s Emily’s turn, she makes sure to get her message loud and clear by looking the teen in the eyes (not as deep as it sounds, because some people make an intense stare really uncomfortable): “If those kids give you a hard time again, tell me. I’ll pay them a visit in classic protective godmother fashion, because nobody traits MY godchild like this. Just give me their names and I’ll handle the rest.” Obviously she doesn’t say this aloud in front of everyone, else Hotch will have her head, knowing she goes through with her threats. Instead she whispers it into the teen’s ear. Still, it makes (Y/N) smile, having such a strong support net.

Sensing the family’s need for time of their own to talk about the whole situation, the team leaves the room. Spencer gestures to her to take a seat after moving two chairs opposite each other. He wants her not to feel trapped.

“Do you still want to talk about it? It doesn’t have to be now, we can do it tonight, tomorrow, in a week or in a month. Just, please don’t shut me out. I know it’s difficult to be a teenager, especially in times like these. But it won’t do you any good keeping all of this for yourself. Today you took it out through anger. How will it look next time?

I don’t want to pressure you into talking. We don’t need to. We can find other coping mechanisms. We can try and reduce your stress. Anything. But we both know that this is not the right way.” While speaking, he takes his daughter’s hand, making her look up to him.

(Y/N) nods. Her eyes fill with tears. “I just can’t keep going like this.” She whispers, feeling all the stress, pressure and the intensity of the last few weeks crashing down on her. Quickly Spencer gathers her in his arms, letting her cry in his embrace.

After calming down, she looks up to her father with bloodshot eyes. “We can talk tonight. But I need you to do me a favor.” “Anything”, he assures her, stroking a hand along her back. “I, uhm, I need a new phone. I may or may not have thrown mine against the wall after getting a text from Tyler.”

Spencer looks at the crooked cell laying on the floor, the screen cracked. “I think we can get that sorted”, he tells her with a smile and gives her a kiss on the forehead.

The two of them leave the office earlier, having many things to talk about and many problems to solve. But with the help of her family (Y/N) gets through this, a time where people unfortunately only like her for her smarts and not being herself.

Taglist:

All works:

@dindjarinsspouse @big-galaxy-chaos @jswessie187 @kneelforloki

Criminal Minds:

@averyhotchner @mggsprettygirl @herecomesthewriterwitch @ash19871962 @ellyhotchner

[fatal-error-blog]

FATAL_ERROR COMIC AND CONTENT WILL RETURN JANUARY 2022!

TL;DR at the end~ Hey folks! I’m so sorry I’ve been absent from the blog and from the discord for such a long time. I mentioned that I was taking a break back in…oh geez, May? And that break has gone on for much longer than I expected XD Long story short, I am very okay! This has just been an exceptionally busy year, and I’ve had to rearrange my priorities a bit to navigate it all.

To be absolutely honest, I’ve just been burnt out. Not from just the comic, but from a lot of things outside the blog. And if you’ve ever been burnt out, then you know that it kinda doesn’t matter how passionate or excited you are to work on your projects - you just keep hitting a wall that doesn’t really let you progress. Unfortunately I hit that wall, haha. So I’ve been taking the time to recover from it. Legitimately, this blog post took several weeks longer than I wanted it to, just because I was trying to gather enough will to draw a cute little drawing to go along with it. Eventually I figured that it needed to go up without it.

It sucks to have to admit that I needed to step away from the comic, the blog, and the discord. It’s hard to admit to myself that I was having a hard time balancing everything and that despite being excited about where the comic was headed, I just physically and mentally had to take a break. It feels really bad to have a lot of fun ideas about what I want next for the story, for all the side comics and the graphic novel and just not be able to act on them because something within me is just tired and needs a minute before continuing. It sucks to disappoint everyone who’s come to love this story and is also just as excited to see what happens next.

I think deep down I’ve always been scared that I’d give up on the Fatal_Error comic, which is why I was hesitant to step away from it to take care of other things that had to be taken care of. But I think I know now that completing this story is so important to me that I could never give up on it. But I do know that I need to give myself time to get some other things in my life in order, so that I can get through the block and come back to the comic ready to keep moving forward. So I hope you’ll be patient with me and rejoin me when the comic starts back up in January 2022. I don’t want to bore ya’ll with details, but probably the biggest thing I’ve got going on outside of this blog is trying to advance my career. I work in game development (QA Tester, been that way for a few years) and I’m more than ready to move up in the development pipeline. So I’ve been dedicating a lot lot lot of my time trying to work on those skills and apply for jobs. It’s very time consuming, haha. And mentally taxing. So I’ve been using this time (and I’ll be using the rest of the year) to work on some indie projects, beef up my portfolio, and hopefully get hired for a better job than I have now. I can’t express how much that’s gonna relieve a lot of stress for me, and less stress = more energy to spend on the Fatal_Error comic.

I do still plan to stream working on these projects, it’s (probably) not gonna involve Fatal haha but there is a lot of art involved and me bumbling around trying to program which should be entertaining to some extent, so if that’s something you’re interested in I’ll mention whenever I’m planning on streaming and you’re more than welcome to pop in and see what all the fuss is about.

As for discord, I’m never really far ^_^ I keep discord open all the time, and even if I don’t post or do much in the discord, I’m always nearby to check in and available to talk if ya’ll need me. I’ll try to be more involved though <3

I think that’s the major stuff? I really am looking forward to hopping back into Fatal’s story once things calm down on my end. It’s been a really wonderful source of comfort and expression for me and I love where the story is going, and I love getting to share it with ya’ll. I’m sorry for making you all wait so long for what comes next, but as always, I sincerely hope that once we get there, it’ll be worth the wait. Thank you for your patience, your kindness, and your enthusiasm. I’ll be around (and catching up on the inbox, messages, etc haha), but in terms of the comic, I’ll see ya’ll in January 2022 <3

Stay determined! I know I will be ^_^ <3 Xedra

TL;DR:

Is the comic over?/Is the blog dead? Nope! Just on pause until January 2022. What about the volume 2 of the graphic novel? Also on pause! I’m hoping to open preorders in March/April 2022. Are you okay? Yup! Thank you for asking, and I’m sorry for making you worry. What are you going to be doing in the meantime? I’m going to be working on some game development projects. I’m working on applying for jobs and I need stuff for my portfolio, and I also want to make sure I have something to do after Fatal_Error is finished ^_^ Are you still gonna stream? Yup! It’ll probably be non-Fatal_Error stuff but you’re more than welcome to watch me work! I’ll make a post about it when I have the times and stuff sorted out. Are you gonna be back on discord? Slowly, but yup. I’ll kinda chill in the background if you need me. You gonna play Deltarune Chapter 2? HEcK YEAH MY DUDE

[osmpalliumduo]

Dream smp actor au my beloved

First season

Dream is a very famous actor, his movies got recognition very quickly regardless of being a pretty new actor, the most popular out of all of his movies being “Manhunt” an action movie that has a lot of improv and fighting scenes

After his second movie of Manhunt he decided that along side with some of his close friends and co-workers to start a tv-show called the Dream smp

It took a really long while to get all the actors for the first season, a lot of planning and getting people to work on sets and props

Some of the actors Dream got to participate were his close friends Sapnap and George who were in the cast of his last movies “Manhunt”

Tommyinnit was a kid Dream found in a small community of actors called “Hypixel: Sky Block series” he went ahead and literally snatched him from that serie and added him as one of the main leads of the storyline of his serie

Tubbo was kind of a addition out of the blue, Tommy after joining the cast decided to take Tubbo with him, a fellow friend and co-worker in the Hypixel series. Dream didn’t had a problem with it after realizing that both kids were insanely talented

Wilbur was, in Dream’s words, the best addition to the cast he could had ever imagined, Wilbur had been in the past in several other popular shows like “SMP Live” and “SMP Earth”

Wilbur not only did an excellent work as an actor but also added so much into the story, helping Dream several times with the storyline and script, eventually becoming a co-writer of the script over all season one

Making the serie itself was hard, but getting everything together and editing was a whole lot of work

But the most difficult thing was actually acting, the thing was that the whole cast of the serie got along so well, that when it was the time to actually act, getting in character was kinda impossible

Even for Dream was difficult to get in character

The whole war declaration took at least five shots because Dream kept breaking character or Sapnap kept wheezing

Eret’s betrayal was one of the last scenes to be recorded because it was just really really hard for the cast to actually act hurt or not joke between lines

The Tommy vs Dream duel was so funny to the cast, even more when Tommy was done with makeup and he literally had an arrow inserted in his stomach

So many memes, so many

The L’manberg era was one of the most difficult to act and write, the cast being new and not used to the whole atmosphere

But when the election and pogtopia era hit in, it was much more easy for the actors to take everything much more serious

Jschlatt and Technoblade were added to the cast and it was insane for everyone, both actors being really close friends of Wilbur because of their old projects together (SMP Live, SMP Earth, etc)

The election arc was, described by the whole cast, as one of the best parts of the whole season

Quackity would pull this insane improvs moments between shots and everyone would just have to run with it, getting a lot of extra but very cool scenes

Tommy and Tubbo would just pull the strangest faces in shots whenever they knew that the camara focus wasn’t in them just to try to make each other laugh

Niki and Awesamdude would sneak food into the set all the time, bags of chips, coffee, chocolate, sometimes even cake

Wilbur, Schlatt and Quackity had this whole competition between them where they would literally live inside the set and whoever stayed the longest would win 100 dlls

The pogtopia era was more easy to record, but much harder to act

Wilbur had lots of trouble being actually mean to Tommy and overall acting as an antagonist

When recording sometimes he would just stop and ask Tommy if he was okay and make sure to let all of the cast know he didn’t meant what he was saying

Tubbo Schlatt and Quackity had overall a very good time recording, most of the time laughing after hard scenes and joking around

Not Schlatt and Techno collectively suffering cus they got at least three hours of makeup prep because of tusks and horns 😭✋

The pogtopia set was one of the hardest to archive, this one having legit stares and buttons on the walls

Tubbo and Wilbur fell down those stares at least five times, Techno almost convinced Dream to use a harness on set

Technoblade revealing the vault full of weapons and stuff for the revolution was such a difficult scene to make because everyone kept messing around with the cool props

Schlatts death was easy to act, as soon as he died he made a peace sign and screamed “I’m outta here!” And proceed to walk out of the set😐

Moving on, Philza’s addition to the last episode of the season was something most of the cast wasn’t aware of, most of the reactions (besides Philza and Wilbur) being completely genuine

Philza is known for his famous serie called Hardcore and a couple of appearances on others people’s series

The end of the season was something hard to do, people had to use harnesses and when explosions occurred they had to be literally thrown into the air getting a lot of genuine screams

Tommy was supposed to be the president of L’manberg but he decided to pass the power to Tubbo in a moment of improv, Dream and Wilbur liked that scene a whole lots

The cast made Wilbur a funeral party after the last shot, lot of people got drunk while Phil just took care of the minors and made sure they didn’t get in trouble <3

Second season

The second season was something that all the fandom awaited eagerly, wanting to see what had happened with L’manberg and the beloved characters, so Dream and Wilbur made sure to make everything perfect, everything connecting points on the story

Ranboo was one of the new additions, a new actor that worked on his own going from place to place, the well known place like Hypixel, Bedwars (Invited by Purpled) and in his own side of TikTok

Dream found out about him and decided to add him just on a go, he of course wasn’t ready for the big impact the boy would have in the story at all

Now, Ranboo is one in the suffering gang, every morning having to spend hours in makeup along side with Tubbo (horns) Wilbur (ghost) and Tommy (exile appearance)

By the way, Ranboo’s storyline was supposed to be separated from the whole L’manberg and Exile story, but Tommy and Tubbo liked him a lot so decided to add him on their storylines

Tommy was supposed to burn down George’s house alone, but the same day they were recording he asked Dream to add Ranboo. And Tubbo decided to make Ranboo his minutes man out of the blue with simple improv and Ranboo went along with it

Oh, talking about Exile

If the cast thought Pogtopia had been hard to act??? Wait for the Exile arc

Literal pain, for literally everyone involved

Tommy is a lil shit but it was legitimately difficult for Dream to be actually that villain and manipulate and ahg, pain

Tubbo and Tommy had so much trouble recording the whole fight scene at the wall, it took at least three days to get the shot right because Tommy and Tubbo couldn’t stop breaking character or laughing

Oh yeah, it was difficult to this kids to stay away from each other, they were so used to working together that it was legitimately difficult to not be together

Which caused for Tommy and Tubbo to sneak into eachother sets and try to chat and just vibe together which would end up with Ranboo dragging Tommy away from Tubbos set and Quackity doing as well with Tubbo

New L’manberg was nice to record, Tubbo tells when he is asked about it, it was a really nice change for the dynamics, including Ranboo and Fundy more, tho he missed Tommy dearly during the recordings

At the very end of exile, one of the last shots, most exactly when Dream has to blow up Tommys stuff, he accidentally tripped with one of the props and ended up breaking a leg

The recording went straight to Twitter where people lost their shit over the scene, mostly because Dream tried to continue the scene with improv but Tommy lost his shit and they had to take the whole shot again after Dream got checked up

Technos execution was planned to happen really early in the season but Techno kept forgetting that he had to get on set so they had to move it slightly at the end, the end of exile and the execution hitting at the same time

The butcher army cast had the idea of the bloody aprons, Dream had this whole thing were they would have this really cool uniforms but they just went “nah, bloody aprons”

Ranboo was supposed to have one as well but he tried to use his character’s morals to get out of it, he succeeded, no bloody apron for Ranboo :)

The whole execution scene at Technos house was so funny to record, things without effects are extremely hilarious

Quackity kept messing up his lines, Tubbo kept falling and tripping when he had to run, Ranboo just didn’t knew what to do, Fundy kept blocking “hits” that he was supposed to take

Techno just wanted to be finished already, he was so tired 🥲

Moving on, the whole death scene where Techno uses the totem of undying was mostly made with editing, the anvil was a green square made out of foam, and the totem was just a green stick

Really funny without effects, really badass after editing

Moving on! Tommy living in a hole was literally not planned, Tommy was supposed to try and hide inside Technos room but he said fuck that and made the team make another entire set for something that would last tops a week 😐

Techno and Tommy had a blast doing the whole “Welcome Home Theseus”. The scene was taken perfectly the first shot because the both of them were so excited for that scene

Finally Tommy can leave the suffering makeup gang cuz his character is healthier now 😌✌️Techno is now taking his place suffering in makeup prep because of his scars and tusks

The day of the Festival was so important to the storyline so everyone was extremely nervous before recording, but it was okay, the whole episode came out really well

Tommy and Techno had to use green capes between the invisible shots and it was just hilarious for everyone on set

Tubbo accidentally forgot his speech and had to improvise in front of all the crew

Dream fell at least twice when he was “building” the walls around L’manberg again

Tubbo and Tommy kept laughing or apologizing to eachother while in the fighting scene

Tubbo accidentally slipped and the disc Mellohi accidentally broke when he was about to give it to Dream 😬

The whole Doomsday deal was something really really hard

A lot of what happened was made with editing so most of what happened on set was just green screens and sounds out of computers to let the actors know what was happening

Technos dogs were actually from a fan! This fan had this whole adoption establishment and decided to let the cast use em for the recording! They even got a tour :)

Technos and Tommy’s whole exchange during doomsday is supposed to be heartbreaking and sad to watch, but Techno and Tommy have such a good relationship that they just, kept laughing, Tommy kept making faces and Techno’s voice wasn’t genuine while saying his lines

Ghostbur’s exchange with Phil almost didnt happened because Wilbur kept refusing to spend five hours in makeup prep lmfao

The whole cast did sang the L’manberg anthem after it was blown up, even Dream and Techno. The clip of the cast just singing will forever stay in Twitter

The aftermath of doomsday was a good change of things, much more calm recording sessions for at least a few weeks

Snowchester was something that Tubbo came up with as pure improv, he liked the idea of some kind of retirement place so he decided to add it after doomsday

Ranboo moving in with Phil and Techno was complete improv as well from Phil’s and Techno’s part, Ranboo literally had no idea what was happening when Phil invited him to live with em

Ranboo literally got snatched lmao

Endgame or the final disk war was surely something

The prop team had to make bout four new sets in the matter of a week, the most hard one to make being the mountain one

Tommy and Tubbo knew that the whole episode would be hard to record but they were still extremely hyped just because they got to record together again as besties

Makeup time at the end was about eight hours, Tommy suffered a lot while Tubbo was just used to it at this point

THE WHOLE PRISON SCENE WHERE ALL THE SERVER GOES THROUGH THE PORTAL??? PAIN.

Everyone is lost, no one knows when to cross, people are missing armor, no one knows where the fuck George is, Punz keeps breaking his sword accidentally, everything is falling apart

Quackity wanted to play a prank on the cast by appearing shirtless in the super intense scene but everyone was so tired of recording that Quackity was actually shirtless in the final shot

Dream stayed in his obsidian box at least half an hour because Tommy kept messing up his lines

At the end of the season, where Dream is finally taken to prison Wilbur makes his appearance to Tubbos and Tommys surprise

Their reactions were genuine because only Dream and Wilbur knew that part of the script

Overall, the end of the season was amazing and the fandom went insane with it

Extra stuff <3

Nobody knows if Skeppy and Bad are actually dating or not, it is a mystery for everyone

Most of the pets used in set were borrowed from fans :)

The Drista saga are used as comedic relief or filler episodes, Drista being actually Dream’s lil sister who insisted in wanting to appear in the show as a god

Michael is actually Technos little brother who went to the set a couple of times cus Techno was babysitting him. He made his way into some of Ranboos and Tubbos shots, after that they decided to adopt him and make Michael canon just cus they liked the kid a lot

Dream decided to give Karl the chance to have a spin off of the show called Tales of the smp after realizing his talent at storytelling. Karl had the possibility to get new actors for the serie but he decided to use the same cast and just make them act differently, the fandom loved it

Wilbur and Tommy had this cool idea between them and after a while of writing and planning they decided to start their own show called the “Origins SMP” featuring some of their friends from other shows, not only the Dream smp

[thanks for reading lol, I think I got slightly carried away]

[sturchling]

Hey I was wondering if you could do a fan fiction where Lila and marinette were actually best friends but were faking to see who were good friends or not. If you do , do it pls take your time I don’t want to rush you

Also look at the taco I made

Sorry this took so long! I know you said not to rush, but still! Thanks for being patient! Hope you like it, and that is a interesting looking taco. Definitely different from my family's style of taco! Hope you enjoy the story!

Marinette had been attending a creative arts summer program for several years. The program was based out of London and kids from all over Europe would attend for different styles of creative arts. Marinette's grandmother would always make sure to be in London during the month of this program and Marinette would stay with her while the program was happening. Marinette often found herself excited for this one month away from Paris. Sure she loved being with her parents and friends, but it was nice to get away to a place nobody knew you for a while. She never even told her class where she went for that one month out of the summer. It was great.

---------------------

Marinette made a lot of friends at the program, but she loved to hang out with Lila. She was studying theater at the program while Marinette studied fashion design. Lila was always so fun to hang out with, and they would spend hours just working on their different projects. Marinette working on her newest design, while Lila refined her monologues. Marinette was always amazed by Lila's acting. Its like she became a completely different person with each new piece Lila was practicing. It was very impressive.

------------------

Over the last few years, Marinette was starting to feel as though her friends in Paris weren't real friends. She started to notice how they only really wanted to hang out when they needed her to design or bake something. And they would often ask for things last minute, not thinking about Marinette's schedule, or even offering to pay for the supplies. Marinette didn't want to think that of her classmates, but it was getting difficult to ignore. Especially this year, because the amount of requests they had made had nearly tripled. Marinette was thrilled when it was time to head to her summer program and she could get away from Paris for a while.

------------------

Lila noticed pretty quickly that Marinette seemed different this year. She seemed more down, and more quiet then previous years. "Marinette? Is something wrong? You seem quiet..." Marinette snapped out of her trance and looked up at Lila. "Sorry Lila, I'm alright.." Lila put down her script, and sat down next to Marinette. "Come on Marinette. I can tell when you are lying. There is a reason I am in the acting program and you aren't." That got Marinette to laugh a little and for a moment she was just the happy Marinette that Lila knew. But the smile quickly faded. "Ok, I'll tell you." Marinette told Lila everything. How the class had been treating her and all of her doubts. "I just don't know if they really think of me as a friend, or if they are just using me. And I don't want to ask, because if they do think of me as a friend, I could offend them by asking. I just don't know what to do!" Lila thought for a moment, unsure of how to help her friend. She went home to think about it for the night, when her mother gave her the best news.

-----------------

The next day, Lila rushed to Marinette and told her the news. "What? Your mom said you guys are moving to Paris for a year? That's awesome!" Lila was smiling, happy to see Marinette smiling. "And, best of all, we can fix these doubts. I can pretend to be the world's worst liar. I'll try and trick the class into believing my lies, and if they fall for it, then I will try to convince them to ditch you in exchange for favors and VIP treatment. If they ditch you, then they weren't really your friends and you will know for sure. If they don't, then they really care about you and you won't have to worry anymore." Marinette agreed to the plan, and they started to plan out all the little details and the lies Lila would use on the class. By the time the program was over for the summer and Marinette returned to Paris, they had a perfect plan. All that was left was to wait for school to start.

-----------------

The school year had started, and Lila had just arrived. She wasted no time and started to wow the students with all of her 'amazing achievements'. Soon the whole school was fawning over her, with hardly any effort on Lila's part. Lila was thankfully in Mrs. Bustier's class, so that would make the plan much easier. Just as they discussed, Marinette spent most of the next few weeks trying to tell everyone that Lila was lying to them, to see if they would believe Lila or Marinette. When Marinette first voiced her concerns this past summer, Lila was sure her friend was just overthinking things. Sure the class was obviously inconsiderate from what Marinette had told Lila, but she was sure the class really thought of Marinette as a friend.

-------------------

Oh, how quickly Lila was proven wrong. It only took a few weeks for the entire class to very clearly side with Lila. They told Marinette that she was just jealous of Lila and that Lila wasn't lying. While Lila's hope for the class was diminishing with each passing day, she clung to the hope that maybe the class was just gullible, but would stick with Marinette when it mattered. Now that the class had obviously decided to believe Lila, the two girls moved to the next stage of the plan. Lila started to tell the class that Marinette was harassing and bullying her. She offered the class no proof of these claims, just told them it happened. And to Lila's surprise, the class instantly believed her and dumped Marinette immediately. They isolated Marinette and nobody would talk to her. All because Lila said so.

-----------------

Lila was truly horrified. She couldn't believe that Marinette's class ditched her like that. After talking it over with Marinette, they decided on one more test. Just to be sure that the class had truly sided with Lila for her 'connections and favors'. Lila was going to 'apologize' and reveal to the class that she had been lying and she didn't know all these people. But that was the only lie she would reveal. She would stick by what she said about Marinette bullying her. Would the class continue to defend Lila against a bully? Would they apologize to Marinette for believing a liar? Or would they instantly go back to Marinette like nothing happened?

--------------------

The next day, Lila made the reveal. She told the class she lied about her celebrity connections, made a tearful and sincere apology, said that she had just thought no one would like her so she made herself seem more important to help make friends, but made it clear that Marinette was bullying her. "I am really sorry! I was just scared about moving to a new country and was desperate to make friends. But Marinette figured it out and has been so mean to me ever since, so I was afraid how you guys would react if I told you. But you guys have been so nice, I really hope we can stay friends and I will do anything to make it up to you guys!" The class' reaction was instant. They instantly turned their backs on Lila and made her the class outcast. While that is bad, if they had apologized to Marinette, that would have made it kind of ok. But instead, they just started talking to Marinette again. They tried to act like nothing happened and they hadn't ditched Marinette for a liar. Like they hadn't believed a girl they hardly knew over their 'close friend'. Like they hadn't thought the worst in Marinette just because of Lila. That was the final straw for Marinette. It was clear to her that the class didn't really think of her as a friend. Or at the very least, they didn't treat her like a friend. And Marinette was done with it.

-----------------

Marinette decided to leave Dupont behind completely. She and Lila revealed their real plan to the class and left the school for good. She switched to a different school in the city that had a fantastic arts program. With her portfolio, the school quickly accepted her. Marinette was in her new school by Monday. Lila switched with her, and the two girls spent the rest of Lila's year in Paris having a great time at their new school. When it was time for Lila to leave, Marinette saw her and her mother to the airport, promising to see Lila at the summer program in two weeks. As she got back to the bakery one day, right before she left for London, she saw the class standing outside. They tried to apologize and ask to be friends again, but Marinette shut that down fast. "No. I am not coming back to Dupont, and we aren't friends anymore. It isn't just about Lila. Lila just made it clear that we haven't been friends for a very long time. I am happy at my new school. I have found real friends, that treat me like a friend would. And its all thanks to my real best friend, Lila. Now, please go. I have to pack for the summer." With that, Marinette went inside and closed the door on her old fake friends.

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Pride Shana! 🏳️‍🌈 I love all your fics - so dealers choice!

Liz is eleven the first time she goes to take out the trash and finds Michael Guerin digging through their dumpster.

He takes off running as soon as he sees her and she's too surprised to call out after him.

He glares at her in school the next day but she pretends like she doesn't notice. That night, she leaves a carton of still warm food on top of the dumpster and just hopes that he's coming back for it. If nothing else, he doesn't glare at her in class anymore.

This goes on for a week before her father catches on to what she's doing. She tells him the truth when he asks, and his face goes very adult and serious and he gently says to her that he'll handle taking out the trash from now on.

Two days later he's cleaning out the tiny room he uses for an office and moving a twin bed into there and the day after that Michael shows up to their dinner table with narrow distrustful eyes and a trashbag full of clothes.

They can't foster him legally, considering her parents, but as long as his on paper foster parents can continue to collect a check without any fuss they don't care where he is. So Michael stays.

Liz sits next to him at dinner and walks with him to the bus stop and teaches him how to brush his hair and his teeth the right way, just like her mama and papa taught her, because he does it but not right and he doesn't say anything to her but he brushes his teeth longer and uses a comb on his wet hair and lets their shoulders knock against one another while they make their way to the bus stop.

Mama doesn't seem to have much of an opinion about this boy in her house. Liz is more grateful about that than she is disappointed.

Rosa pretends not to like him for about three days, which is when Liz starts crying because she doesn't their homework and it makes her papa sad when she asks so she just doesn't ask anymore and Rosa hates school but she's patting her back trying to make everything okay when Michael sits next to her and slowly, haltingly explains all things that don't make sense to her until they do.

Rosa gives in after that, after Michael made her stop crying when she couldn't, and starts complaining about having two little siblings annoying her all the time. She ends up being so busy keeping up with their antics that she stops trying to spy on their mother whenever she leaves, which seems like a good thing.

"I'm probably older than you," Liz tells him, "so that makes you our little brother."

"Probably doesn't count," he protests, but he's smiling too.

Liz is the one to notice first, to figure it out, and by the time Michael gives in and confesses that he's an alien - a real one, not like their parents - she already knows. Hearing that Max and Isobel are too does come as more of a surprise.

Michael starts putting Ortecho as his last name on all his schoolwork and no one stops him. Liz and Michael become nearly as close as Max and Isobel, who make themselves a near permanent fixture in the diner once Liz knows the truth.

Liz starts teasing Michael about having a crush on her best friend Alex in high school. (Both Alex and Michael worry about being gay at different times, but Papa already has practice with that ever since Maria and Rosa started dating). He shoots right back about Max having a crush on her, which is a suitably distracting thought that she forgets to annoy him for the next several months and finds out they're dating when she walks into her brother's room to find him sucking face with Alex, which she really didn't need to see.

Kyle is a jerk for about a year, so she dumps him and starts dating Max. Then he and Alex become friends again and he's way less of jerk and she has several small crises about it up until she notices Kyle and Max are giving each other the kind of looks that Michael and Alex used to and she solves her problem but just deciding that she and Max should date Kyle. Several people tell her that it'll never work, but she graduates with two boyfriends who are dating each other and her, which is very fun for her because she loves proving other people wrong.

Rosa splits her time working between the diner and the Pony with Maria and Mimi. She and her brother and all their friends commit to going to college in at least the same tri-state area, and all of them drift back to Roswell slowly. She and Kyle get jobs at the same hospital while Max works on his novel and jokes about being a kept man, even though he was the one working the most to pay their bills while Kyle was in medical school and Liz was in graduate school.

Alex and Michael get engaged, surprising no one, while Michael pursues his career in agricultural science. Alex starts discovering some worrying things about his father, which makes him sign up for the air force to dig deeper against everyone's protests. Isobel and Gregory start dating, surprising no one, although she and Michael start making a lot of jokes about Manes men that make Alex and Gregory turn interesting shades of red.

Maria and Rosa buy the Pony and then take a trip to Vegas where they drunkenly elope all in the same weekend. Papa is pulled between furious and elated and gives Alex and Michael a twenty minute long lecture about having a proper wedding.

Alex find out about Caufield and works with Gregory and everyone to free all the aliens and shut the project down. Alex manages to do that while getting his father court martialed for running an illegal operation and not releasing the aliens to live amongst society as the Caufield operation was ordered to do fifty years ago. Several very important people are quietly court martialed when this comes to light.

They meet Nora who tells them all the truth of their home planet and why the left. She and several other aliens go to the dessert and take care of Jones and a man called Noah, who she says never should have been on the ship in the first place.

Liz successfully sponsors her father so he attends Alex and Michael's wedding as an American citizen. He and Nora sit side by side and watch their son get married to the man he loves.

[jonquilyst]

Very Important Update for The Runaway; Please Read

Hi everyone~!

I know the title looks serious but rest assured everything is fine, but because of life happenings I have decided to make this announcement. 💜 This is a wall of text so I apologize.

To get to the point, I am deciding that after all episodes for Chapter 6 are posted (which will happen on March 27), The Runaway will be taking a break. 

(Details below the cut)

Since January I have been very busy with college and I’ve been having several issues at my job, so my buffer for the story has been concerningly low as of late. Last week was my spring break, so I attempted to build on to my buffer in attempt to solve this, but even after making posts almost every day on my time off, I wasn’t able to get my buffer back to what it once was.

Now I’m back to school and I anticipate these last two months of the semester are going to be very busy as I’m working on multiple large projects that will require a lot of my attention. 

As much as I don’t want to do this, I really need to step away from The Runaway for a little bit so I can focus on my schoolwork as well as rebuild my buffer and to further flesh out the upcoming plot of my story (and to just have a break in general).

For the first month and a half of posting The Runaway, I actually posted episodes every day, which I honestly regret as it was too frequent from the very beginning and ate up my buffer so fast. So, I was thinking of having The Runaway resume at the time Chapter 7 (or episode 189) would come out as if I have been posting every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this entire time. 

That would mean that The Runaway would return on May 29.

Yea, I know that sounds like a long time, but I think that would give me enough time to take a breather and sort things out both irl things and with the story. My last day of school is May 9 so if my summer schedule permits and I have a buffer I might start posting earlier, but for now, consider that the date The Runaway will return.

So, what will happen in the meantime?

I will remain active! I was actually thinking of posting some relaxed, casual gameplay. I’ve been wanting to share a challenge I created with you all and with the new infants out this would be a perfect time to start it! (When I would start it would depend on mods getting updated and such, so stay tuned)

Thank you all for reading my story and I apologize if this isn’t the news you wanted to hear. But now that posts will pausing for a little while, this will be a great time to go back and reread/catch up!!! (I know 188 episodes is a loooot of content lol)

[ticketstomydaydreams]

HOME

(All We Have: Part One)

Part Two

Colson x Female Reader

Summary: You and Colson are close friends and he invites you to move in to his house while you work on his record together

Word count: 1,580

Feels: Friendship Fluff for now

Warnings: Alcohol consumption, cursing, mentions of feeling depressed

Companion playlist:

Machine Gun Kelly - Home

Sia - Dressed in Black 

The Beatles - With a Little Help from My Friends

A/N: Throughout the series there will be changes to the timing of real life events like the pandemic, the release of certain songs etc. There's certain things I want to incorporate into the series, like particular events in MGKs life and lyrics from songs, so some stuff will get moved around to fit in to the story ✌️

______

It had been a long evening working in Colson’s home studio, The Boulevard, with him and the gang on the upcoming Tickets to my Downfall album. To say your schedule was busy was an understatement, but Colson had insisted you get involved with the new material after the success of your work together on Hotel Diablo.

Composing music was your main gig, you had an ear for melody and your passion for writing meant you always had lyrics swirling around your head. You had a penchant for dark and melancholy lyrics, finding music to be a source of therapy for you. It was something you and Colson had instantly bonded over. He'd bugged you to list some of the stuff you'd written that he'd know and you had gained his professional respect immediately.

He always kept a close eye on your work, ever the supportive friend and had laid claim to your piece ‘Glass House’ as soon as he'd heard it.

______

2019

You were sitting crossed legged on the sofa in your lounge, gently strumming your guitar and gazing off into space and mumbling to yourself, as you worked out some lyrics in your head. Colson was lying on the floor by your feet, scrolling through his phone with earphones in, a blunt in his hand that he occasionally passed up to you. This was a common set up, you found it easier to write in the peace and quiet and Colson has gradually started hanging out at your place more when he needed to focus on his own writing.

"All alone in the glass house, lie awake til the sun's out, pink sky when you come down…"

"Throw me in the damn flames, Bury me in gold chains, throw me in the damn flames…"

You'd started singing out loud, occasionally stopping to scribble down lyrics and make adjustments, not noticing that Colson had removed his earbuds to listen to you

" Dude, that's hard, like, beautiful… " His comment made you jump slightly, you hadn't seen him propping himself up on his elbows, watching you intently "Sing that last bit again"

You blushed slightly, his opinion was always important to you, and started singing. He muttered to himself as you did, then pointed at you "Again!"

Letting out a little laugh and rolling your eyes, you sang again

"Throw me in the damn flames, bury me in gold chains, throw me in the damn flames"

Colson's voice met yours at the end of the line, rapping softly "I'm waiting on the rain to come and wash it all away"

You locked eyes, smiling and he sat upright. "Dude, Im'a need that hook! That spoke to me right there, I've think got something for it that I've been stuck on"

He looked so excited, your heart did a little flip. You'd seen that writing this album had taken it out of him, he'd been digging deep and really going through it emotionally. You could tell it was going to be raw and special from what you'd heard already.

He sat forward and moved the guitar from your lap so he could lean his arms on your knees and looked up at you shooting you puppy dog eyes with those baby blues "Pretty please Y/N"

You laughed and ruffled his hair, "Anything for you Col" Honestly, it'd be an honour to be part of such a personal project, you thought

He wrapped his arms round you and squeezed,

"You're a legend, kid. Get a sample recorded and send it to me!" He grabbed your guitar off the sofa and whipped back around, strumming a few chords as he carried on talking with his back to you, leaning against the sofa "This is gonna be fire, you always just hit the nail on the head, I swear it's like you're in my head sometimes"

You smiled, seeing the wave of motivation that had struck your friend. You felt so lucky to have a friend who was not only so inspiring, but one who 'got it', who understood that music was a form of release. Someone who recognised that it was important to feel these things, rather than encourage you to push dark thoughts away with toxic positivity.

He’d pushed to use your original samples on his record, but as much as you loved writing and singing, you were a behind the scenes kind of gal which had always suited you just fine. Naomi, a mutual friend of you both, came onboard to record them with him. A decision that turned out to be golden… 'Death in my Pocket' would be born not long after, with Naomi doing your lyrics such beautiful justice yet again, perfectly pairing with Colson's emotional rapping.

______

From then on Colson had kept you close to his recording. You'd been helping here and there with composition and notation, but your production skills were what was taking centre stage during the most recent sessions. You had a long list of projects you were working through, leaving you chained to your equipment most days and nights anyway so throwing more music into your workload didn't seem like much of a big deal. In all honesty, the chaos of Colson’s studio and the revolving door of personalities that were in and out constantly, made it one of the most fun places to be. You loved what you did for a living and it never really felt like work Even though the guys were a real handful at times, you kind of enjoyed being the studio 'Mami' as they often affectionately referred to you

Everything had wrapped up for the evening and the guys had migrated back into the house. You could hear from the raucous that the drinks must have started flowing freely. You were saving your work and packing up your stuff when Colson bursts back into the studio and throws himself in a chair, spinning it around with his arms in the air.

"You staying for drinks Y/N?" he grins at you, clearly hyper and in party mode

You let out a big sigh "Urgh, I'd love to but I have an early start tomorrow. I finally managed to get an apartment viewing. I swear I've looked at a hundred places now, they get snapped up so quickly.. I've only got a few weeks left on my lease as well"

“Ah, that sucks kid” Colson empathises, spinning his chair again before an idea strikes him “Wait! Why don’t you move in here for a bit until you find a place? The guest room is pretty much your room anyway, the amount you crash here”

You laugh “This is true, that mattress is so much better than mine! Aw Col, that would honestly be so helpful, the stress of finding a place when I’m this busy is killing me. I don't know… You sure the guys won’t mind?”

Colson scoffs “Why would they mind? You practically live here anyway” he teases “I’m sure they’ll be just as stoked as I am at the thought of you joining the madhouse for a while”

Before you have a chance to respond, he stands up and throws his arms around you, squashing you into him tightly “That’s it decided Roomie. Another song in the bag and a new housemate, plenty to celebrate tonight!”

Wriggling out of his tight grasp, you laugh and in a deep voice shout “let’s goooooo” mocking his signature catchphrase. He flips you his middle finger and says “Kitchen, now”

Once you’re in the kitchen, Colson heads to get you a drink and grabs one himself. Appearing back at your side, he passes you your beer and then shouts out to the rest of the group,

“YO, meet our latest housemate, Y/N is moving in. LET’S FUCKING GOOOOO”

Everyone in the kitchen lets out a big cheer, clearly pleased as he said they would be. Colson bends down and picks you up, swinging you around in a circle, spilling your drinks all over the both of you as you shout his name in mock annoyance, between giggles.

“I hope you know what you’re letting yourself in for” Rook laughs, clinking his drink against your now empty beer bottle once your feet are back on the floor

“It’ll be good to have another pair of hands around here, looking after you lot” Ashleigh chimes in, laughing and slapping Slim away as he pulls her hood up over her head, covering her eyes

It had been 5 years since you'd made the decision to move to LA, barely knowing a soul. You'd worked several jobs, jumped from place to place, worked your ass off to catch your break in the music business, sometimes feeling like the grind would never get you anywhere.

There had been times where you felt like you couldn't carry on, aching from trying to keep pace. The dream had felt like it was turning into a nightmare, as you tried to make ends meet, feeling so lonely in this enormous city.. but eventually you'd made these amazing friends who made you feel so safe and loved.

Now, there were times you had to pinch yourself just to make sure it was all real.

As you shake off some of the beer that's dripping from your hands, you look around the kitchen. Taking in the crazy, loveable bunch before you, your new housemates, you are filled with gratitude. You finally felt like you were exactly where you were supposed to be…

Home.

______

❌❌ Lace up!

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Happy new episode day everyone! 🎉🎉🎉

I wanted to get this out before the episode goes live and I’m hopin o can get everyone else done this week so I can then do a more general costume post for the episode looking at all the characters rather than individual focus! I’m sorry it’s ended up as an Uber long post! As always thanks to all the gif makers who’s gifs I’ve shamelessly stolen to make my mountain of text look prettier and show my points!

As ever this is a continuation of my costume metas which you can read here, here, here and here.

I’m going to look at Christopher in two separate parts - firstly the suit shopping scene because I have a suit Goldilocks theory (and this is partly because kids only wear suits at certain events - not in more day to day and work scenarios like adults!)

- his old suit that he wore to his mother’s funeral is too small.

- new suit he’s trying in to please his fathers girlfriend is too big and doesn’t fit properly (telling that he’s tried on several).

- the next time we see Chris in a suit I expect it to fit him perfectly (Manifesting at Buddies wedding 🤣)

- These suits are a literal metaphor for where Chris is mentally and emotionally and his costuming is important because he’s a character we don’t really often see away from Eddie or Buck.

I’m not saying the old suit is too small because he doesn’t still love his mom, because he absolutely does and he always will, but she can never come back into the picture. We as humans continue to grow and develop and change even, and especially, when we loose someone close to us (I speak from personal experience here - I lost my mum at 18 - I will always love her and she will always be a part of me, but I know I’m a different person than I would’ve been because she is no longer a physical presence in my life providing support and guidance - I wonder if she’d be able to recognise the me I am now.) Chris may not be cognisant of this yet, because he’s still a child, but to us as the audience the suit is a physical representation of his personal growth as well as his physical growth as a child, the fact it doesn’t fit properly shows us he’s not yet there.

The suit shop suit is also showing us, the audience, Christopher’s opinion on Eddieana as a couple - it doesn’t fit and he is manifestly uncomfortable! The only other time we’ve seen him act out in any way when Eddie told him in s4 that he was dating Ana and this suit is a continuation of that.

- an ill fitting suit and it’s interesting that it’s grey - he won’t be the focus of the scene even though other aspects of the mise en scene initially pull you that way (that it’s supposed to be Chris they’re shopping for, shop assistant and everyone are focused on him - except the camera and sound etc) - an aside to say I love the use of mirrors and both Eddie and Chris being seen in reflection - the representation of not being one’s true self (911 uses this concept really effectively- think Bobby getting back into the dating game in s1 and all the times the mirrors on the fire trucks or mirror reflections have been used!) - they are both trying to make the other happy by projecting what they think the other needs - neithers reflection looks comfortable in that moment even though they’re trying - an indication that they’ve not spoken with each other about it, they’re just following along with a projected image!

On to the rest of Christopher’s outfits!

we have no real idea how he felt about the break up - because we haven’t been shown his reaction, but we can make some assumptions based on his clothing. This season Chris has had some different outfit choices from previous seasons and they reflect what I’ve previously said about Buck being in smart and patterned shirts around Taylor. I should also add that the outfits Chris has worn in previous seasons are really interesting in relation to how his personality is developing into a blend of Eddie, Shannon and Buck (I might do an entire post on this alone when I get some time!!) Chris has had 5 scenes thus far and they all reflect his comfort levels (and also to a subconscious extent his fathers) especially related to Ana and Eddie - hard to get a read on anyone else because he’s not really been around anyone else yet.

Green poisonous creatures tee - aside from the rather obvious poisonous creatures, the shirt is green - not quite the army green of Eddie’s, but it’s in that tonal area - he’s going into battle for his dad - the brighter shade is also interesting because it sits in the spectrum between the subtle shades of Eddie (reflecting his quieter more stoic personality) and the brighter tones of Bucks clothing (again reflective of Bucks more outwardly loud personality) - perhaps, and I might be reading more into this than is there, but it’s something I would’ve done, (and the costume designer will have been involved in season arcing conversations so will know where Buddie is headed at this point - lucky Alyana!!) as a way of showing that Chris’s personality is becoming a blend of both Eddie and Bucks - that Chris is prepared to be a it louder when he needs to be - that Chris is the one that drops the info to the Dr about the shooting holds this theory up and it’s his way of fighting for his dad and getting him both some support and for Eddie to acknowledge he needs some help - that it’s being instigated by chris is an important and wonderful thing because Eddie will always do stuff to make sure his son is ok so for them to signal chris is willing to do the same is just amazing and shows the father son bond and all through a t-shirt, never doubt that designers do thing intentionally (even if it’s to play with the audience’s minds). 😍

When Chris and Ana visit the firehouse we see Chris in a pretty formal outfit for a 10 year old considering it’s also a heatwave (we’ve seen Chris in shirts before, he does wear them fairly frequently. When around Ana he never wore t-shirts in previous seasons which makes the green tee from above the exception and the reason why is obvious!). Again the shirt is slightly over sized, but it’s also patterned - the pink and blue check which from a distance reads as a purply red colour and is pretty busy, this all matches what I’ve said previously about Bucks shirts indicating his discomfort around Taylor - formal = not comfortable - putting up a front or presenting an ideal, and the pattern = disordered thinking and lack of mental comfort. All of this is signalling that Chris is not happy being left with Ana so he’s putting up a front. We know if he’s been with Carla he’d have been much more casually dressed - we’ve seen it in previous series, which is why this outfit was so important and jarring!

I can never never never get enough of this hug btw!!

I can’t find a Gif so you’ll have to take my word for it or go watch the (cringe fest of Ana) scene again. Chris’s yellow shirt is an acid almost neon yellow - it’s super bright - the brightest thing in the whole scene by a long way and it’s meant to draw our eye - it’s as much a signpost for us as it is for Eddie - Chris is the way out of the darkness, he is Eddie’s guiding light, a route out of the mental darkness that has preceded, the blackout (which is a metaphor for most of the main characters internal turbulence at this time) and in some ways ties in with the green shirt from the hospital (I wish I could fully see the design on it to see if it revealed more).

We’ve seen Chris in yellow a couple of times, and they’ve been important.

the tsunami - which cemented his bond with Buck, separate from Eddie.

Also at Mays graduation party - where we saw Buck stepping into a fatherly role (mays message board) and cementing the Buckley-diaz family dynamic (that this is happening at a time when we now know Eddie is changing/ has changed his will makes it even more pertinent!).

The blue tee Chris is wearing bed is super interesting to me - this is one of the few times we’ve seen him in a single colour t-shirt (especially when he’s in pyjamas!). Normally Chris is either wearing multi colour tees (such as the striped ones we’ve seen him in previously), patterned pyjamas, or t-shirts that have logos on them. In fact (off the top of my head) the only instance prior to this I can remember Chris wearing a single colour t-shirt is when Eddie comes home from the hospital (and fun fact it was a mini Henley in army green!). There could be several reasons for this - blue is considered a calming colour and Eddie is seeking the calming comfort of his son, he’s not in need of guidance at this point in time (the universe doesn’t need to scream at the moment for more than one reason) so there is no graphic logo (as an aside we don’t even see the solar system mobile in this scene!) also the fact that it’s what I term a ‘jewel’ shade (which is the colour spectrum they tend to put Buck in fyi,) is designed to re-emphasise the importance of Christopher to Eddie - the importance of family.

I can’t wait to see what Chris is wearing in future episodes, his costumes are always so interesting and I’m expecting a return to graphic tees and colour ways that match both Eddie and Buck at different times! I’m definitely going to have to run a closer look at his outfits since S2 in more detail, especially around when he is and isn’t wearing stripes because I have a theory about 911 characters in stripes, but I need to check it holds up I’ve just not had the time to look at it yet!! And one other thing I need - Eddie in yellow, to support another theory I have (and the yellow from the crossover doesn’t count even though it made him look so pretty 😍)