#it's jist that I changed the design a little bit

[nightmun]

We got some more blorbos this time YIPPEE! Got a ton of new lads to show, these ones from SCP! In order we have Bass Cleff, Raiden, Lydia, Abigail, Clark, Strudel, and lastly an au design for Haniel! Gonna see a lot more of these guys so I figured it best to show them sooner than later.

Also for those who are interested, here's some basic info on each of them below the cut!

Bass Cleff:

Bass is an exact clone of Alto Cleff (specifically @lolatulips’ take on him), retaining all of the same powers and memories as the original had to a point. His existence began purely as a joke, a "fun" little experiment by the Gamers Against Weed to see if they could make a copy of one of the most powerful reality benders. Surprisingly, it worked, much to Bass' displeasure. While panic and hatred enveloped his mind when he was first created, it didn't take long for him to chill out and become a lot more docile and laid back, eventually taking up a role working alongside his creators rather than resenting them for eternity. While he does pour a decent amount of his time into GAW, he will wander from time to time to visit the SCP facility or wherever else he cares to see. Unlike the original, Bass is much more laid back and friendly with others, while still retaining a bit of that asshole-ish attitude. Knowing that he's nothing but a mere clone of the original, he's lost a lot of motivation and drive in his life, instead taking up a tired slacker persona and barely functioning when not told directly what to do. He despises his existence with every fiber of his being but can't be bothered to do much about it, so instead he often makes jokes at his own expense to vent those frustrations in a more lighthearted manner.

Raiden Fukumoto:

Raiden began as a normal guy, a laid back yet friendly and optimistic person who always wanted to do the best he could for the world. Unfortunately, he would not remain that way for long, as during a shift at his job, he ended up having an encounter with an anomalous being. This creature, a being of pure electrical energy, attacked Raiden, electrocuting him to a point that should have killed him. Instead, he found himself waking up in the hospital hours later, having miraculously survived. His survival did not come without side affects, however, as it instead resulted in him gaining the ability to generate electricity on his own, a power he could hardly control. He tried his damndest to keep it a secret from those around him, but that failed miserably when an argument with his mother led him to accidentally electrocute her and leave her badly injured, only to be driven out of his home by his father and captured by the SCP facility before he could learn if she was alright. Now he lives in the facility, doing his best to make the most of a shitty situation while trying to get a better handle on the abilities he now possesses.

Lydia Marrs:

Lydia is a normal person who grew up in a pretty small town. From a young age, she struggled a lot socially, being branded as the "weird girl" for her obsession with bugs very early on. That, combined with her energetic nature, led her to often be outcasted among her peers. This reputation followed her through school due to being stuck with the same classmates year after year. Not long after she turned 15, her father got a job at the SCP facility and dragged her along with him. It took a bit of getting used to, especially since her father barely explained anything to her outside of "working at a facility that houses dangerous creatures," but eventually she got the jist of what was up and grew used to being there, seeing the change as a breath of fresh air. Now she tries her best to fit in, still feeling outcasted as one of the few normal kids in the facility but still enjoying being surrounded by all the strange and mysterious things the facility has to offer.

Abigail:

Abigail was a shy kid who struggled a lot to really connect with other people. The only person who really stuck around her was Robin, a classmate of hers at school that went out of her way to be friends with Abigail, something no one else had really done before. While the two mainly hung out during school hours, Abby grew pretty close to Robin over time. However, things took a turn when rumors started to spread that Robin had a crush on her, leading Abby to be relentlessly bullied. That, combined with Robin's sudden disappearance, led her to shut down from others and eventually be transferred out of her school. She was instead sent to live with her parents at the SCP facility where they worked, under the promise that she would stay out of trouble. Now she's trying to adjust to the strange new things around her while becoming closer to an anomaly named Ruby who feels oddly familiar.

Clark:

Clark is part of an alien moth species (created by @pokeart123) who came to Earth on a mission to research local flora and fauna on any and all planets he could access. However, he was met with an unexpectedly hostile greeting, and what was planned to be a relatively short stop turned into an extended stay as he was brought against his will to the SCP facility. Despite his less than ideal circumstances, Clark made the best of the situation, often politely pestering the guards for materials to continue his research on the planet and its ecosystem. His curiosity and understanding of biological matters proved him to potentially be a valuable asset to the facility, so he was eventually promoted as part of the staff to help with research on the anomalies contained within the facility to better understand how they worked and how best to contain them.

Strudel:

Strudel is a creature known as a Harvester (created by @lolatulips), a being programmed to be a mindless machine for ripping the life essence from any living being. Haniel, despite warnings from several of the people around them that these beings were incredibly dangerous, was insistent that they could befriend one of these creatures. So, reluctantly, they were allowed to interact with one, which they began calling Strudel. At first the relationship was tenuous, with Strudel still following it's programmed response to drain the essence from the people around it. This did lead to an incident where staff members had to intervene after Strudel drained Haniel, leaving them stuck in recovery for a bit. But after some more work, Haniel has broken through to them, and now Strudel is more like a scary looking puppy dog who's surprisingly sweet and friendly.

Haniel:

In this version of them, they originally start out as an anomaly that took on the form of a long stretchy hand. Their form was tied to a pocket dimension of their own, referred to as the Void, a seemingly infinite space that they could enter and exit at will through portals of their own creation. Their existence outside of the facility was rather brief, as not long after they appeared from nothing they were captured and brought to the SCP facility, locked in a cell that prevented them from opening portals to anywhere but in their room. They resigned themself to the fate of eternally being locked in this place, wishing they were just a normal person so they’d be let out of this horrid place, only for an anomalous breach to give them an opportunity to flee. But before they did, they came across another escaped anomaly, a small white kitten. The guards seemed hell bent on capturing the little thing for reasons unbeknownst to Haniel, but they knew as soon as it was captured it too would be locked in a cell for all eternity. So in a ditch effort to help the thing, they grabbed it, dragging it into their Void with them. They intended to find a way out with their new little friend, but they instead found themself black in out, only to wake some time later completely changed. Suddenly they found themself in a human form. Leaving the kitten, which they had decided would be called Kit, in the Void for safety, they opened a portal back into the facility looking for help. It was eventually explained to them that Kit was a reality bender, one who changed matter through touch and shifted objects based on the desires of those around it. From then Haniel learned to function as a person, still contained for their portal abilities and still keeping Kit in their void, but eventually allowed to roam and even work on the medical team after good behavior. At some point Kit either gets horribly ill or injured (haven’t decided which or how yet) and Haniel has to absorb Haniel into their mind yo keep them alive, gaining both a brain buddy and a slightly weaker form of Kit’s bending abilities.

Also thanks to anyone who actually reads all of this, it’s a lot but I really appreciate it :D

[lionews]

"Like an event item that can change all your lion/lionesses marking opacity to 100% but like it's a bit pricey so it doesn't clash with a normal opacity changer" i see what the point of it is, but it's unnecessary - it'd only be used if users want their king at 100% opacity on all markings, which a majority of people want them at different opacities as not many designs look nice at 100. It's not a suggestion I would personally support as it seems a little unnecessary, but I understand the jist of it < 3

[melvinhart-13]

LMKsona redesign

Hey LMK fandom :3 some of you probably know me and some probably don't but I wrote the discontinued story "True Inferno"‼️because I didn't like how it was going lolol after discontinuing the story I've been doing my own thing until I watched the latest season and I got back into it :)) sorry to leave you guys hanging on True Inferno but its over.

I'm making new lore for my sona and a better story for him ^^ I just want to show you what I've got so far.

Here's his new look! I love this one more cause it looks more colourful like the actual bird he's based on Fenghuang

He's got his own little peaceful village up in the mountains that he protects and like I said I still am working on his story hahshdh

His old design

Also most of you probably remember that he has an evil counterpart named :

JiuFeng and I'll be redesigning him too. Probably not alot but a change anyways. This is what his first design looked like ( kinda cringe to see my old drawings jsbjsdh )

He is supposed to be the villain in True Inferno but I'm the rewrite I'm gonna make him a good guy with a villain background. Or something... One of the scenes in my head was that he took care of the village while Fenghuang and MK and the others went out to defeat whatever evil MK is facing then. ( Poor guy he's no good with the village kids ) but yeah that's all I have for him.

NOW MY OC‼️

QINGLONG THE AZURE DRAGON OF THE EAST

He is also going to get a redesign. I'm gonna add more dragon like features to him, add some character to his horns and change his fit up a bit. He's not old like his brother's and he'll be find out that Mei is his niece lmfao.

I WOULD SHOW HIS OLD DESIGN BUT I CANT ADD MORE PICTURES HAVDJDG ILL MAKE A PART 2 AND LINK IT HERE OR SOMETHING BUT YEAH THATS THE JIST OF IT :))

THANK YOU FOR READING BYEEE 💛

[shooks-stupid-stuff]

Shook's Weekly OCs: #004

Following up last week's, the 2nd Yurei sister! ALSO with a shiny new design and better story implementation!

Anyways, the facts:

She never actually finished high school, instead choosing to drop out so she could get herself and Sakura a place to live on their own.

She usually can be a bit jumpy and startles easy, but when she's focused/in the zone becomes unflinching and deadly serious.

Her specialty is gardening, but as that isn't exactly a daily service she'll take pretty much any odd-job she can find.

Due to her unfinished education, she often struggles with more book-smarts-oriented tasks; It doesn't help that she's also just not great at math to begin with.

Unlike her little sister, she actually knew their parents; She sometimes thinks that it may be for the best that they aren't around, as guilty as that thought makes her feel.

She loves green tea, leading Sakura to joke she should change her name to Matcha.

She nearly always falls for Sakura's jokes and teasing. She's a bit gullible when it comes to her loved ones.

She loves Sakura with all her heart, and would do basically anything for her little sister.

That's pretty much the jist of her! She is just. A Little Cringefail ckvbnckv-

...sorry again for posting this so late at night, I just. keep forgetting to work on these until the day of haha-

[transformersmr-hq]

Knock Out's magical wand shock prod

This is what KO's primary weapon (roughly) look like. It looks like a kind of spear, but it actually isn't pointy enough to pierce the armorplate. Rather, it is designed to be aimed at the seams or vulnerable parts under the armorplates, where it could deliver much stronger zap to the enemies. Rotary saw does much more damage, as in physical trauma, but it's this simple metal rod that actually matches his fighting style better.

When not in use, the prod takes the form of a handheld multi-phase resonance scanner (aka portable medical scanner). It doesn't actually work, but it's enough to trick anyone into thinking that it's just a broken equipment.

Not many people know that this weapon doesn't generate any electricity. As I mentioned above, it's just a metal rod. It has an amplifier that can make the current stronger, but that's it. It's just a metal stick. Then where does the zzzzzt part come from?

His hands have spark defibrillator installed in them. The de-fib is connected direcrly to his spark, so that it could generate much higher voltage that what's medically allowed. He can just grab anyone and they'd be zapped right away. He can also poke a sensitive electronic equipments with his fingertips and insta-fry them. And yes, they can still be used for medical purposes when he needs to be professional.

[biggsodorcitystories]

Happy birthday, Flying Scotsman!

A very late contribution to Flying Scotsman's 100th birthday celebrations with his design. I might change it going forward slightly, but the jist is there!

A little bit of bio to go with it:

Scott "Flying Scotsman" Gresley is the second legitimate Gresley sibling after Gordon. The third sibling, if you count half-brother Henry, but more on that later.

Scott is the celebrity of the family, being famous all around the world for breaking the 100 miles an hour record. He has travelled to all corners of the world and has been the subject of many books and television programming, rivalled only by his older brother and half-brother. However, he only really considers his hated cousin, Mallard, as a true rival. His relationship with Mallard is similar to the one Gordon has with Spencer, if you were to take the familial bond and replace it with malice. The two loathe one another completely, though Scott and Spencer get along famously.

As for Gordon, Scott actually loves his surviving brother dearly and even looks up to him. He envies his brother's marriage and recent fatherhood, all but worshipping his niece and nephew on his increasingly frequent visits.

Scott makes a great show of being friendly to the other engines on Sodor, the exceptions of Henry and Rebecca.

Scott absolutely resents Henry for the relationship he and Gordon share, despitenot being a 'real' brother. He refuses to acknowledge Henry as a member of his family, even trying to 'correct' Gordon's assertions that he is, and is openly hostile to Henry while being frustrated by the elder's refusal to react. This feeling has made him maliciously friendly to Gordon's wife, James, in the hope of spiting her first husband, even if he always forgets her name.

Scott was the last to acknowledge Rebecca as his niece, but this was not malicious. Scott was very close to Rebecca's mother, his sister, Pretty Polly, and feels her loss keenly. He sees a lot of his sister in her daughter, which was too painful for him to see. Unfortunately, he dealt with this by refusing to look at her and even leaving a room when she walked in for a long time, which hurt Rebecca in turn. Fortunately, Gordon put a stop to it before the damage was irreversible.

[jisungsplatforms]

[Chapter I: Let’s Party!]

Pairing: Producer/Music Major! Han Jisung x Photographer! fem! reader

Genre: NSFW! Smut; non idol au, college au, strangers to lovers

Warnings: strong language, use of alcoholic beverages, drunken antics, ?? jackson wang is throwing a party?? (jk he’s not aljsks. changbin is tho), nothing filthy in this chapter, unfortunately :/ just plot build up

Chapter word count: 2.6k words

Taglist: @hyunjeongins @seungstarss @es-kay-zee @hyunjinsplaything @formidxble @freckledquokka (want to be added? send an ask or a dm! <3)

Haven University; school of the elite. From the academically inclined to the artistically blessed, only those who were gifted with such talents are accepted to augment their potential. The perfect school for the sensational.

...And like every other school with young hormonal adults, also the perfect school for a good fuck.

“Another outstanding submission, Y/n! Keep up the great work!”

You smiled at your photography teacher, Mr. Kim, bowing humbly as you thanked him. You were proud. Praise after praise for your picture taking skills only heightened your motivation to be the best even more. Photography has always been your passion. Ever since you were given your very first camera at the age of 5 years old- which, in retrospect, was actually a toy camera, you already knew that it is something you would want to pursue.

In the middle of your teacher’s praises with another student, the bell rang. “Looks like we ran out of time, folks. Great job again, Seungmin. Everyone, class dismissed,” he said, jokingly using shooing gestures. “Now hurry up and get out of my face, you delinquents. Lunch time awaits. Go replenish your life force.”

You began gathering your belongings, slinging your precious DSLR camera around your neck. “Outstanding submission, young photographer.” You heard someone say. You turned around to see Seungmin grinning at you.

You snort out a laugh. “Thanks. Great job to you too, Seungmo.” Seungmin was about to respond when your instructor’s voice interrupted.

“Oh. Except Y/n. Please stay a little bit after class, for me, dear.” You and Seungmin shared a glance, nodding for him to go ahead without you. He pats your shoulder, bidding you goodbye. You continued packing your things into your bag. As the rest of the students left the room, you walked towards Mr. Kim’s desk, waiting for his word. “Hello, Y/n.”

“Hello, sir. You wanted to talk to me?”

“Ah yes. I wanted to ask you this,” your instructor paused, sitting on his desk. “How much do you love photography?”

You paused, wanting to convey the exact feelings you wanted to express. “Photography is an escape for me,” you answered. “It’s another form of art that helps people convey the emotions and stories people want to tell. Some people express their emotions through music and lyrics, others through paintings, and others through dance. For me, personally, I’m not all that good in any of those aspects, sir. That is why I work so hard when it comes to this class, and in photography in general.” You unconsciously caressed the camera slung around your neck. “And to me, the stories behind a photo is a lot more intimate in a way that I just can’t explain.”

“Because...this is the only way for you to express yourself? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” You nodded. Mr. Kim hummed in thought. “I see.” He stood up and walked to you, placing his warm hands on your shoulder. “I admire you, kid.”

“You...admire me?” You were confused. The teacher admires his student? Isn’t it usually the other way around?

“Oh yeah. Is that hard to believe?”

“Uhm...Kinda, yeah.”

Mr. Kim laughed mirthfully, amused by your bewilderment and doubt. “Well, believe it. You have spunk. Soul. Your work impart emotions I have never seen from my other students before. You’re passionate about what you do, and I like that. You take digital arts very seriously.”

You laughed awkwardly, the amount of praise your instructor was giving you made you happy. “I do, sir. Kinda a shame not a lot of people even consider it an art.”

“Indeed,” he replied, sitting down on his desk. “Which is why I wanted to give you an impromptu assignment. I want to assign you a story telling type of assignment; to write a story using your photography skills, if that makes sense.”

“Hm, yes? I think I get a jist of what you're trying to tell me.”

“Excellent. I just want to use this to monitor your skills, Y/n. You’re a very talented person, the most talented I’ve ever had even. I just want to see how much of that potential you really have so I can help you blossom it into something greater.”

“Oh,” you draw out, somewhat understanding why he picked you. “I see, sir. I’m honored that you’ve picked me.”

“You should,” he joked. “Now, I want you to photograph the following- write or type this down before you forget.” You hastily whipped out your phone from your pocket. “Ready?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. I want you to capture the perfect scenes. Give me something that gives you joy. Something that makes you emotional, good or bad or even both, if you can. Something you fear, and finally, something that you love unconditionally. These are all supposed to be different photos, by the way. Got that?”

You finished typing a few seconds later. “And...got it.”

“Awesome!” he smiled. “Just know that I’ll be giving you only 3 months to complete the assignment. I hope that this isn’t too much to ask of you, but I’m sure someone as ambitious as you doesn’t mind, right?”

“Nope, sir! Everything will be a-okay!”

“I’m glad! Now move along and get to the canteen already. I’m sure you’re just as hungry as I am.”

You giggled, making your way to the door. “Thank you sir! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Oh, finally! There you are! We were starving waiting for you!” You rolled your eyes at Minho, who immediately decided to pick on you the second you entered his field of sight.

“Shut up, you could’ve eaten without me you know?”

“Nah, cause what kind of friends would we be if you ate without you?”

“You just want to steal some of my food, don’t you?”

Minho scoffed and went quiet, prompting Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Jeongin to laugh. “Caught you red-handed, Hyung,” Hyunjin teased, which backfired immediately causing him to chant an apology after Minho gave him a look.

“So why did you take so long, Y/n?” Jeongin asked.

“Oh, Mr. Kim wanted to give me an extra assignment.”

“Extra assignment?” Seungmin questioned. “What for?”

You shrugged, sitting down. “Uh, to test me? I’m not sure but I honestly think that there’s something more behind it. Not in like a bad way, just to clarify. I mean, he did acknowledge that I’m the best in his class after all.”

Seungmin snorted. “I just know you meant that unironically.” You jokingly blew a raspberry at him.

“Of course Y/n is the best!” Hyunjin stuck his chin up. “Let’s be honest, anyone could be the best if they use me as their model!”

“Hey, Hyunjin? You wanna eat this straw?” Minho threatened, making Hyunjin shut up.

“No...?”

“Good. Get off your high horse, prince charming.”

The three of you laughed. “Poor Hyunjin,” Jeongin sympathized sardonically.

“Hyunjin please stick to dancing and uh- not dying,” you said. “I still need you alive for some more upcoming projects.”

“For me too,” said Seungmin. “I might start using you as my model as well.”

Hyunjin fake cried, “Y’all just like me for my looks!”

“I mean, there’s no denying you are incredibly handsome but we like your personality too, Hyunie, don’t worry,” you cheered him up, then turned to Jeongin. “What about you, Yeni? How’re you holding up now that Lix is gone?”

Jeongin gasped. “I miss him! I’m so lonely now, especially when I have theatre! I feel so awkward now that girls swarm up to me instead- and you know I’m a shy boy!”

“Hey! At least you’re more popular now!” Minho laughed.

“Well, now we have no choice but to remember Felix in our hearts,” Seungmin replied.

“I’m not fucking dead. I just switched majors!” the four of you turned to see Felix pouting at you all.

“Well, you’re dead to me!” Jeongin wailed. “Going from a theatre major to a dance major. How could you?!”

Felix chuckled, sitting down between Seungmin and Jeongin. “I’m sorry! You know I’ll still see you though, buddy!”

“Why don’t you just switch to a regular vocal major next semester, Yeni?” you asked.

“Nah. I originally did want to go for just regular vocal studies but, you know, even if I did accidently sign up for the class, I ended up finding something else I wanna do. Plus, theatre is surprisingly fun! You know, find something new that’ll change your life every day.”

“Yup! Especially since they often collab with the dance majors so we get to see each other a lot!” Hyunjin beamed while Minho nodded in acknowledgment.

“Oh, speaking of dancing,” Minho chimed in. “You guys wanna go to a party I was invited to?”

“No,” Seungmin immediately responded.

“No, not you, I knew you would say no. I meant the others.”

Hyunjin nodded, “I was invited to the same party you’re talking about, so yeah.”

“Can’t,” Felix replied. “I’m still getting used to my new major and I still have a few assignments to catch up on.”

Jeongin hummed in agreement. “Same here. We have a play coming up soon and I’m a lead this time, so I gotta stay home to rehearse as much as I can.”

Minho made a stank face, “Aww. Lame.” He turned to you. “What about you, Y/n? You down?”

You thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, sure. Why not?”

“Really?” All 5 boys looked at you incredulously.

“Yeah. I might find some inspiration while I’m there. Besides you know I’ll just be leeching off of Hyunie and Min the whole time.”

Minho and Hyunjin high-fived, cheering a quiet ‘yes!’ Hyunjin giggled. “This is great cause we might need a designated back up driver in case I get drunk and Minho-hyung abandons me!”

“Now that you’ve said that, I might seriously consider that,” Minho grinned. “We’ll pick you up at 8 sharp! Y/n!”

‘8:53pm’ You wanted to go home already.

The boys, true to their word, picked you up at 8:00pm. With little to no traffic- and the fact that Hyunjin actually got ready early so that they wouldn’t be an hour late- the three of you made it to the party around 8:20pm. Even then there were already a lot of people there.

“What the fuck. This house is huge!” you gawked. “Can you even consider this a house still?!”

Hyunjin shrugged. “I’d say this more of a mansion at this point.” All you do mutter a constant chant of ‘what the fuck. what the fuck’ over and over again. “Who’s house is this again, Minho?”

“Changbin’s, remember? Jisung said they’re celebrating in his house,” Minho replied.

“Well this Changbin dude is LOADED,” you mused. Even in the dim lighting, you could see the elegance of the house, which most likely costs more than your entire tuition. “I’d hate to be the one who has to clean up the place.” The boys lead you to the kitchen, helping you avoid the crowd cause, in your words, ‘ew yucky people’. There, they brought you to two men wearing all black, who were hanging out on the island counter. Their names were Changbin- the handsome rich boy who owns the house, the lucky bastard- and Chan- another handsome rich boy with the cutest laugh and dimples, both really sweet and hilarious men, whom you very much enjoyed talking to...

That was the last memory you had before it went downhill.

It took 33 minutes and 4 soju bottles later for Hyunjin to get drunk. Chan and Changbin were back at the booth, manning the song list for the night while Minho was somewhere with some guy in a red beanie doing absolutely nothing, so here you were: stuck babysitting your best friend. “Y/n! Y/n!”

You sighed hearing Hyunjin drunkenly call you. Again. “Yes, Hyunie?”

“I looove you~!” he sang while giving you finger hearts, rocking on the balls of his feet. You sighed again, rubbing your temple.

“Yeah yeah. I know. Love you too.”

“Y/n!” Your left eye twitched. You whipped out your phone from your bra to text Minho.

Me: You bitch.

Help me

Minho ho ho 😼: Hi

No

You glowered. You quickly glanced up to check Hyunjin, who was now sitting on the carpeted floor in front of you, counting his luscious black hair.

Me: He’s-he’s counting his hair… Please get him. It’s like watching a bird repeatedly hitting glass

Minho ho ho 😼: At least he’s not making any trouble now, is he?

He fucking jinxed it. Hyunjin stood up with a shocked look on his face. “What’s wrong, Hyunjin?”

“It’s my favorite song!” he cheered, starting to dance along. You have to admit, even when he’s drunk, he’s still an exceptional dancer. Texting Minho a quick ‘fuck you’. You put your phone back between your breasts to go back to monitoring him, preparing yourself in case you needed to tackle Hyunjin down.

“Heyyy, Y/n!” Minho suddenly draped his arm around your shoulder. Taking your eyes off of Hyunjin, you glared at your lazy, backstabbing friend, shoving his arm off of you.

“Asshole, you’re ten minutes late.”

“Oh I'm not here for Hyunjin. I need your phone.” You look at him audaciously.

“What the- why?”

“My-uh-phone died?” he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. Your eyes briefly flickered towards Minho’s friend, who, in return, looked down bashfully, red faced. Hm. Weird. You rolled your eyes, nonchalantly reaching into your shirt to get your phone. Minho didn’t even hide his grimace. He cringed, “It’s warm...and wet?”

“Shut up. I’m sweating, okay? And I don’t have any pockets on me.”

Minho nodded, going back to his little friend. Before you could scold him, you heard Hyunjin screaming. You turned around to find him running to the front door. Oh shit. You started pushing people to run after him

You groaned in disgust, wanting nothing more than to get the hell out of here. You pushed your way out of the crowd, cringing at the feeling of touching numerous dirty, unknown people. Where in the world is the fucking exit? In the midst of the sweaty, drunken bodies, your eyes met. It was like time had stopped; no one within the vicinity seemed to not have mattered anymore. With just a smirk and a flirty wink from the chubby-cheeked boy in the red beanie, you knew…

...you just had to fuck him

Hold on, Y/n. Your friend might get fucking ran over! You snapped out of it. With a flustered face, you continued shoving your way through, wrangling Minho on the way. “Come on, fucker. You’re helping me. Let’s go,” you sneered while Minho complained.

After 30 minutes of chasing and wrestling, the drunken beast was tamed. The night ended with Minho driving you all home instead while you and Hyunjin cuddled in the backseat against your will. Minho took great pleasure in knowing that he wasn’t Hyunjin’s cuddle buddy, laughing every time you tried unlatching yourself from him, which made the long haired boy cry. Your sadistic friend dropped you home first, apologizing for not being much of a help tonight. “To make it up to you, I have something for you,” he suspiciously said, wiggling his eyebrows, before giving your phone back and driving off.

You relaxed on your bed, happy that you were rid of those dirty, smelly clothes. You grabbed your phone to text Minho. Assuming that the messages app was left on your conversation with him, you started texting, not paying any mind to the fact that the chat was blank.

Me: Thanks for taking me I guess. I didn’t get anything other than unwanted kisses from Hyunjin ew but it’s aight.

Speaking of aight…Do you think you can give me your friend’s number? 👁👁 The one with the red beanie.

Cause sir, not to be nsfw or anything but he is one fine ass man that I’d like to fuck

Almost immediately, the three bubbles appeared. You were surprised that Minho would reply that fast, thinking we was still on the road with Hyunjin. The reply you got, however, made your heart drop.

Min’s hoe: uh...hi? 👋🏻

this is minho’s “fine ass friend with the red beanie” 👁👁

Shitshitshitshit SHIT

[NEXT CHAPTER]

A/n: Sorry no smut in this chapter just plot build up :(( (which i’m a sucker for) and a lot of dialogue. But Trust me. Everything written in this chapter will fall into place with the future chapters. And who know, next chapter might be 🥵

[abusivelittlebunny]

I'm curious about how the knot works. The knot changes something in the omegas? Like the smell or the heat? Can others alphas smells an omega with a knot?

So. A bit of a/b/o biology lesson here.

I definitely am not an expert and I bet there are hundreds of posts explaining this better than I do but the jist of it is this:

Knots are something alphas form on the base of their penis during the last minute of coupling with an omega; it's a kind of a swelling of blood and the size of it is as if you pulled a fat donut over the dick down to the base, but it's still a part of their body. The function of this is to keep the sperm within the confines of the omega's hole, ensuring pregnancy by basically plugging up the inner walls so tightly that no sperm could escape after it's locked inside, swelling too big to comfortably pull out for a while until the knot deflates. These knottings typically last between 10-15 minutes in most fics, as this occurrence is directly derived from wolf mating habits, so there's a factual basis upon which this fictional biology is built upon. So to answer you in short, only alphas have knots, omegas don't, and it's to help with the breeding process! Alphas have seasonal ruts, just like omegas have heats, which is a period of time when their instincts prompt them to find someone to breed, most typically an omega, since their scent is designed to attract Alphas and the reverse is true as well. Ruts and heats last depending on the writer, it could be a week or more or even just a day or until they get a knot. I prefer to make them last a week unless a pregnancy occurs during coupling in which case the heat is cut short from being fertilized, therefore there's no more need for the omega's hormones to scream "breed me, breed me". It's also a debate that in most fics omega men have their assholes slick up and get bred but in some fics omega men are intersex, meaning they have a vagina under their little cocks to breed: I personally prefer to go with the latter option simply on the basis of the logics of childbirth but I don't have particularly strong feelings on the subject. I think I talked about this topic before in one of my 'ask rambles' post so check out the tag and I'm sure you'll find more info if you search up that tag or 'a/b/o' or 'omegaverse'!

So for example: Tommy is an omega who's in heat. His pussy starts slicking up, craving a knot, which alpha Campbell can provide. So during sex, in the minute leading up to Campbell's climax, his knot starts swelling and it starts getting harder to pull in and out until his knot finally swells to its full size inside Tommy's pussy, locking them together as Campbell starts coming (alphas also cum much more during heat and rut than they normally would and they can cum for minutes on end), Tommy's vunt clenching around him and encouraging him to finish inside, as it would be painful and dangerous for the both of them to attempt pulling Campbell's cock out under these conditions. Tommy is ensured to become pregnant from this coupling if they are not using any type of protection. On another occasion, Campbell might go into rut, needing a pussy to breed, which Tommy can provide as an omega. In this occasion, Campbell also forms a knot when he's close to coming inside, but I limit the knot poppings to only rut and heat couplings, otherwise Campbell's cock works as usual. In many fics I see that male omegas can't get pregnant outside of heat which I would deny in my fics; they can get pregnant any time with unprotected vaginal intercourse but there's a 100% guarantee that they definitely will during heats, and they have less of a clear mind then to ask their alphas to pull out in time.

I hope this was helpful!

[captain-sodapop]

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath (jk) for my full critique on 15x18 during this rewatch of mine, and since the episode is so cringe I can barely watch it without looking through my fingers, I'll just do my write-up as I watch it in real time.

The jist? It's one of the worst episodes of the show, and I'm going to explain why - and it's not just because of the Confession.

Under the cut because it's long:

I do want to start with a few pros, just so it doesn't sound as if I'm being completely negative here:

Everything with Jack in this episode is good. AlCal did a great job with Jack the entire time he played him, balancing the parts of him that are a young adult and powerful being and the parts that are a child. His fear, his guilt, his inexperience, his love for his father and his family, and his love for humanity are all felt through his performance, and that includes this episode. His last talk with Cas, the driving scene, and his few interactions with Donna are the highlights of this episode.

The other highlights of this episode - in a sad, twisted way - are Sam and Eileen. We don't get to see her, and therefore we don't get to see them together, but the text messages we see between them, Sam being Eileen's lockscreen, and his palpable love and grief for her is also extremely felt and profound.

The late-night scene between Sam and Dean is nice, but this is another Dean apology that comes a little too late; that comes with a but, and I know Chuck seems to have a strong influence over him, it would have been nice to see him grow in that area.

You'll notice, though, that these two points come down primarily to the performances. While these things were written in - and some of them may have been down to design or direction elements - these are small moments, and because of that, they are not enough to save the episode.

So. Without further ado:

The Thing About Billie

Whether or not you prefer the OG Death or Billie doesn't matter. We know from her introduction in season 11 that Billie is a stickler for order and rules, and that no one gets to bend the rules and escape death just because they want to, and that's the Winchesters' MO. However, when Cas kills her and she gets promoted from reaper to horseman, she gets a sense of the bigger picture and the place Sam and Dean have in it. And while she's an intimidating character because of her job, we have to keep in mind that Death is no more a threat to the Winchesters than anyone else, really, because everyone dies. She just believes that no one should get preferential treatment and that it's important to do one's part to keep things running. She sees Sam and Dean's importance in that, and she softens towards them.

Even for her intimidating presence, Billie is not a particularly malicious character; you can almost describe her as professional. She takes what she does seriously, and she will do what it takes to protect the universe and everyone in it so that they can live out the lives they have. If that means losing one or two people, it's understandable why she can be a bit blasé about a couple of humans who are sometimes incredibly self-important. But she's not evil; she just is. She's just doing her job. Death is inevitable.

"Despair" changes that.

The ball gets rolling in 15x17, with Sam learning that Billie wants things to go back to how they were. That she wants to restore order. She doesn't view this as a malicious thing - she views it as simply doing her job to protect the universe. Now Dean is in a position where he wants Chuck dead, but Sam is not willing to kill Chuck to lose the people they've saved. It's a hard decision, and you can see where both brothers are coming from, but Dean's point gets muddled by his anger and single-mindedness. But, even though Sam is against Billie's plan, he does not present her as evil or even necessarily against them; he does what Sam does, and what he does is look for a way for everyone to get what they want and make it through to the other side. Billie herself is not the enemy yet in 15x17; it doesn't help her going into 15x18, no, but the problem is the plan.

15x18 makes her the villain. Whole-heartedly. She literally begins the episode by saving Jack, and after a season of being presented as wanting to work with the boys and being serious but not malicious, after years of that behavior, and without a hint all season that she has any sort of ulterior motive, she is villainized. And not just villainized, but killed.

It's a very sudden turn of character and events. She suddenly wants to be the one with all the power? The inevitability of death is not the same as wanting to be the most powerful being in the universe. Besides, we learn that it's Chuck - not Billie - who is disappearing people, so she's still not the main problem.

Billie becomes a villain in about ten minutes, and by the end of the episode is killed.

Let's talk about that.

The Bigotry of "Despair"

This is obviously a bigger point and more integral to my critique than what happened to Billie as a character and within the plot. The choices concerning her character and story are questionable from a storytelling perspective considering her history, but it takes a back seat to how the episode treats minorities.

In the episode, everyone except Sam, Dean, Jack, and Chuck die or disappear - "go away", as Chuck puts it. But it's the ones that we actually see happen that contribute to the episode's bigotry.

After another Black person is villainized on this show (think about Gordon Walker all the way back in seasons 2 and 3), the first vanishing/death we see is of Charlie Bradbury's girlfriend Stevie, a Black woman. We don't see her again. Then Eileen, a deaf woman. We don't even get to see her on screen; her disappearance is off-screen, and this is the second time she has been killed off. Then Donna Hanscum - another woman - is a prominent on-screen killing/disappearance. Yes, everyone in the silo is shown disappearing, but her character was more or less brought back to be killed/sent away. Charlie, a lesbian, also gets disappeared during that scene. And then there's Castiel and Billie, and your own reading of Cas will affect how you read that death, but this is definitely another instance of a Black woman being killed on the show, this time after being made a villain.

Every prominent vanishing/death - meaning on-screen, or at least discussed prominently - in this episode effects women, people of color, LGBTQ+ characters, and disabled characters. That is not a good look. In fact, it's inexcusable. The episode was written by Bob Berens, the Wayward Sisters guy, so it feels as if he had positioned himself as this woke ally for women on the show. Looking back on it, though, he killed two women of color - Missouri Mosely, a Black woman, and Kaia Nieves, an Indigenous woman (she does return, but her dreamwalking counterpart is killed) - to tell the Wayward story, so I'm honestly glad he can't have anything to do with it now.

I'm worried people will think I'm stretching with this. "This is a show where everyone dies!" is the flippant defense. But this is a pattern of behavior, even from Berens, and it can't go ignored. I still love the show, but this is something that has to be faced about it. I'm not saying that Berens and the rest of them acted with the intent of being intentionally bigoted because I don't think it's true, but the lack of willingness to recognize that pattern and try to do better seems to all come to a head in this episode. All the same mistakes get made, all the same groups get targeted, and it's exhausting. It's a story where people get traumatized and have bad things happen to them, but who gets showcased as experiencing that trauma to benefit a few white men and their story is important to consider. Even if your read on Cas is gay or bi, he is still a white man benefitting another white man through trauma, and that's just exhausting to see again and again, and ultimately lazy and cruel storytelling.

Cas and The Confession

So...about that confession.

My biggest beef with it is that it's just bad. Watching it feels like a sucker punch. I'm curious what the General Audience thought watching it because it feels like it comes out of left field, even for someone who has been watching the show and been around the fandom for years.

I've said before during this rewatch - and before then - that the Destiel relationship doesn't have as much textual evidence to support it as some might think, and it makes even less sense after how Dean treats Cas and Jack in seasons 14 and 15. It's a bad look for Cas as a father and a character because of Dean's willingness to kill Jack, to not consider him family even though Sam and Cas do. Dean and Cas are not even particularly kind to each other and Dean is often very dismissive of Cas, so it's hard to even think of them as friends. I think the shippers had rose-colored glasses about their relationship by the end of the series. I did my best to watch it as objectively as I could, and it's hard to imagine the two of them becoming romantically involved because of how they treat each other. Sam and Cas are actually much better to each other - Cas even called Sam "morally perfect" in the previous episode. Cas said Jack was his reason for living in 15x15. There is eleven years of Cas going between thinking Dean is worthy of extreme respect and Dean thinking Cas is only good at screwing things up - but they're in the trenches together, so they're family, I guess. Then I think about how the Empty says in 13x04 that Cas wants nothing more than to die for Sam AND Dean. And then with his deal with the Empty, it seems that Cas's moment of true happiness needs to come out of the blue, not something he forces and recognizes. And that was a deal for Jack, his reason for life, which is...a lot!

So it feels odd. It feels out of character for the relationship, out of character for Cas, and it doesn't make sense with Cas's deal and what the Empty said. I don't think Dean would ever reciprocate feelings for Cas because textually I think there is very little evidence to support him having an interest in men (I'm not saying you can't headcanon/argue it, but I don't think there's a whole lot of textual, canonical evidence for it.) So I can buy it being an unrequited love confession - it happens, it's a story that can be handled well in the right hands, and it doesn't mean the characters can't still care for each other even if one has slightly different feelings. But it's not a relationship or feelings I think can be supported outside of fanservice because of the context of the relationship, how they treat each other, and who they are. I mean, when Dean grieves for Cas, it usually seems to have more to do with his failure to save someone than Cas himself, which sucks for Cas.

The scene doesn't seem to add up. Cas cared about the whole world only because of Dean? What? What about the millennia he spent with a crack in his chassis? Naomi reprogramming him time and time again? The deal? To me, it adds up to poor writing and an unwillingness to recognize the text. Dean's tears make sense because the event would be traumatizing and sad (seeing an old friend die), but Jack's grief in the next episode overshadows that, and Sam is the one who's still thinking of him in the finale.

To me, it adds up to poor writing and an unwillingness to recognize the text. I think Berens wanted points with the fandom, but he got clowned on instead. Not only was the timing of it all just weird with the election and everything else going on, but the acting was bad and uneven - Misha gave WAY too much and Jensen gave WAY too little, so their energies just didn't match. The acting is honestly bad. The words sounded like they were out of a soap opera, not like something Cas would say. It ignores Cas as a whole, complex character with multiple relationships and as having existed in rebellion even before he met Dean, so it is an ending that lets his character down. It does a disservice to him because of how it was written, and how poorly it was executed, and it will now and forever be remembered as a total joke.

So that's what makes this episode so disappointing: the weird plot twists, the way it treats Billie, the way it treats minorities, and the way it treats Cas. It's just not great writing. It's just...embarrassing.

And I still can't believe Buckleming saved us by giving us Michael!Adam, God!Jack, and Miracle in the next episode. What the fuck!

[skythealmighty]

A girl in a spider costume zooms through the sky on webs strung from her hand, whooping. A narration cuts in of a sassy teenage girl. 

“All right, let’s get this part over with. I’m not the first, and I’m certainly not the last. Cut to backstory!” she said, then snapped. The scene changed.

The girl, outside her costume, is eating a bagel. She has blond-brown hair in a messy bob, blue-green eyes, and pale skin. She’s wearing simple clothes. “My name is Skye King. In my universe, I’m one of two spider-people, though I’m the only Spider-Girl. Spider-Man is in New York. My business is in Seattle. One day, during summer break, I was bitten by a radioactive spider after my 15th birthday. You get the jist, right? Then I had spider powers, yadda yadda yadda. We’ve all heard it before. Well, the thing is, not really. That spider was from another universe (at least I'm 99% sure).” While she said all that, in the cutscene, a spider bit her on the hand and she threw it outside. “I could tell something was wrong, so I decided to cancel my hangout with my friend the next day, telling her I was sick. I couldn’t have been more wrong, but it was a good call. I absolutely trashed my room that day.” It showed Skye in her room, sticking to the bedcovers and the ceiling and her books. “Needless to say, my parents were kinda, okay super mad. Oh well, small price for a little superpower! I discovered during the next few days that I could create portals with my webs, and the first one led to the universe with the graffiti Spider-Man, Miles Morales.” Another scene showed her fistbumping with Miles, masks down on their spider costumes as they sat on top of a building. “There, I officially got my suit from Aunt May with some help. I wanted a little piece of everyone I met, so I asked Miles to decorate my costume a bit. He got the left arm, and I gotta say, it looked pretty sweet! Over the next week, I visited other universes and added to my suit a little at a time. You name them from Miles’s movie, I’ve probably visited them. Peni Parker (got a robotics upgrade from her), Noir (the guns were cool, but he also got a bit of space on my mask), Gwen (I stole her hoodie idea and went to gymnastics), Peter B. (not much, his suit’s the same as the original), and even Peter Porker (got a cartoon hammer, I love Looney Tunes)! They were all really cool, but my story isn’t about meeting them. Way too cliche, and probably done before, too. This little mini story takes place in the universe where that spider came from. So why don’t we finally get started, now that you know who I am?” The scene returned to Spider-Girl swinging from the Seattle Space Needle. She winked at the camera, and the screen turned black.

Skye yawned, sitting up in bed as her alarm went off. “Hey Google, alarm off,” she said tiredly, getting out of bed and getting dressed off-camera. She ate her breakfast, said hi to her family, packed up her backpack (not forgetting her Spider Suit), and jogged out the door to her bus stop. She napped on the bus until it arrived at school, where she was woken up by her Spidey senses. She got off the bus. “Hello again, Edison High,” she sighed, walking into the cafeteria and sitting down at a table full of older students. The narration starts. “This is my average, everyday high school, Edison High. These are my art club friends, Olivia, Jack, Darth, and.. well, they’re important to me, but maybe not to you. My other friends are Sofia, Haylie, Mitchell, AJ, and Micheal. At my high school, nobody apart from Sofia, AJ, and Haylie know I’m Spider-Girl, even though she’s the main topic of gossip. School’s boring, so I’ma skip it.” 

The scene of a high school day is fast forwarded until the very end, where she goes to the bathroom. “I’ve long since made a secret exit, and most girls don’t check the bathroom mirror, so I get dressed in my onesie there. It’s really not that hard, and I have a drone get my backpack home. That does mean I have to do my homework in class, but I’m pretty smart, so I can do it most of the time.” Skye, in her Spider-Girl suit, exits the stall and opens the mirror like a door, walking inside. She drops her backpack into a carrier drone, then opens a secret door from the inside and webs to the top of the school. “All in all, a pretty normal day. No crime at the moment, so I decided to visit another universe again. I mean, why not?” She spun her web in a circle, creating a portal, which she swung into. “I wanted a little something to add to my outfit. But that day? Fate didn’t like me one bit.” She looked around at the other portals, which had markings on them, the logos of the different Spider-Men she’d met. One of the portals was unmarked, and that was the one she swung into. As soon as she did, she attempted to make another web, but failed. “Aw, what? Talk about bad timing..” the Skye in the scene said, before yelling and slamming into the ground. “I think I’ll stop the narration now, so you can focus on the story.”

The screen was black, but then Skye opened her eyes. In front of her was a rainbow Spider-Man, upside down in front of her. She yelped and scrambled backwards in surprise, bonking her head. “Ow..” she muttered, rubbing her head. She flicked her wrist, trying to spin her web. Nothing happened. “Damnit!” she cursed.

“You okay?” the rainbow Spider-Man asked, letting go of his web (which was unsurprisingly rainbow as well) and landing on the ground. “You hit your head pretty hard.”

Skye grinned under the mask. “I’ve had worse. I mean, when you’re Spider-Girl, you gotta be able to take a few hits, right?” She got up, standing in front of the walking rainbow and looking him up and down. “I like the sugar glider wings,” she complimented. “I bet those come in handy a lot, huh?”

He smiled too (though only shown with the eyes of his mask). “Yeah, they do. So, how’d you get here anyway? Super collider?”

She shook her head. “Nah, got here on my own. Part of my powers include going to other universes, weirdly enough. My webs aren’t working, though,” she flicked her hand for emphasis, “so I’m stuck here for the moment. I don’t think that’ll last for more than a couple days, so no need to worry.”

He sighed in relief. “Good, I’m already taking care of four Spider-Children, so I don’t need more.. why are you looking at me like that?” he asked, after seeing her starstruck expression. 

“There’s more!?” she said, sort of high-pitched. She covered her mouth. “Oops. Um, basically, when I run into another Spider-Person, I want a way of remembering, so I add to my outfit.. I was looking to upgrade mine for a while, so this is perfect!”

He laughed. “Alright, I’ll take you to them. Be warned though, they’re all pretty extra in their own way.” The scene cut to him swinging her up to an apartment, setting her down.

“Thanks for that,” she said, embarrassed. “If I had my webs, I wouldn’t need you to do that, though..”

“Nah, it’s fine!” He took off his mask, grinning. “I don’t mind. I’m Thomas.” He held out his hand.

“Skye,” she said, taking it after pulling her own mask off. “Now if you don’t mind, you got some thread and needles?” He pointed her to a room. “Sweet!” she said, running in. “I’ll be back!”

After a few minutes, she came out with the same sugar glider extensions he had, but they were the bi flag instead of the gay flag. “Ta-daa!”

“Nice,” he nodded in approval. “There’s some spare clothes in the closet if you don’t mind sweats and t-shirts.”

She grinned. “That’s what I usually wear anyway!”

The screen showed a Spongebob ‘one hour later’ cutscene, then showed Thomas and Skye watching a movie. She was wearing a blue t-shirt and purple sweats. There was a knock on the door. “Come in, guys,” Thomas said, not taking his eyes off the movie. Skye, however, looked towards the door to see four different Spider-Men come through. One wore a royal outfit with flowers, hair uncovered, one wore a pink outfit with hearts and a baseball cap, one wore an outfit similar to Gwen’s with a V, and the last one wore a blue outfit that had a tie design on it and four robotic spider legs on his back. Her eyes widened.

“Okay, now I definitely need to update my outfit again!” She grinned, dashing into the room she’d been in before where her suit was. The others looked at her.

“Uh… who was that?” the one in the royal outfit asked, looking perplexed.

“You’ll see,” Thomas answered.

After a half hour, while everyone was on the couch with masks down, she came out with the suit on and mask up. The hoodie was up, and on top of it, there was a gray V like the Gwen lookalike’s mask. One of the legs had pink hearts and red flowers, and the other had the same design as the tie design but only up to below the knee. She was grinning, until she realized something. “Oh, right, I never introduced myself. I’m Skye, Spider-Girl!” she said, pulling her mask down and bowing. 

“Virgil,” said the Gwen lookalike.

“Roman!” introduced the royal one.

“Hi, I’m Patton!” grinned the pink one.

“Salutations, my name is Logan,” said the one in the tie.

“Nice to meet all of you!” said Skye, grinning and sitting down with the rest. 

A timelapse showed the day going by, nothing super interesting. The timelapse stopped at the next day during lunch, because that’s where the action is. Besides, this is supposed to be a short story, so I won’t bore you too much.

Everyone was having pizza. “Mm, they do not make pizza like this in Seattle, let me tell you,” Skye said after finishing her first slice. “I almost wish they did, but then I’d never cook for myself!”

Suddenly, everyone froze, Spidey senses going off. “Oh no, why in the middle of lunch?” Roman groaned, setting down his slice and going into one of the stalls in the corner. Everyone but Skye followed him, her going into the suit touch up room. One by one, they all emerged in their Spider suits. Thomas and his gang swung out, while Skye took a deep breath and glided after them using the addition she’d just added yesterday, since she still couldn’t use her webs. They arrived in Times Square to see the Scorpion causing trouble with the Tinkerer, again. 

“Peter always has to deal with these guys, why don’t they ever quit?” Skye asked, perched next to the others on top of a building. 

“Evil never rests?” Logan offered.

“Nah, these guys are just really annoying,” Thomas sighed. 

They all jumped down, standing in front of either the Tinkerer or the Scorpion. Virgil, Logan, and Skye were in front of the Tinkerer, while Thomas, Patton, and Roman were in front of the Scorpion. “Time to kick some ass!” Skye said, crawling up a building and launching herself at the Tinkerer. Soon after, Virgil and Logan swung at him in turn, Logan knocking the Tinkerer out of his own vehicle and taking control, which he then used to stun the Tinkerer while Virgil tied him up. Thomas swung and glided onto the Scorpion’s face, blinding him. Patton and Roman tied the Scorpion up, then Thomas kicked the Scorpion over and over in the face, temporarily stunning him. As if it was second nature for her, Skye swung using her webs and tied the Scorpion up some more, knowing her webs were stronger than the others’ by nature. As she landed on the ground, she looked at her hands and smiled. “Looks like I can go home now,” she grinned to the others. “Sorry for overstaying my welcome.”

“Nah, you’re fun to hang around with. Come back anytime,” Thomas said, waving goodbye. She nodded and made a portal, swinging through as it closed behind her. She hung in place in the middle of all the universes, making five webs above the top of the portal she just came in from. The middle one was a rainbow spider, and the other four were a gray V, a red rose, a pink heart, and a blue tie. She grinned and swung through the portal labeled ‘home’, swinging above the city. She was lucky it was Saturday, so she didn’t miss any school. But how would she explain it to her parents? She shook her head to clear her thoughts as she spotted a robbery. Good never sleeps, she thought, webbing one of the criminals with a sigh. The scene faded to black.

“Hey, don't get mad, I told you it’d be short. Cut!”

@ask-spiderverse-virgil

[super-neato-spells]

How to make a witchy neon sign

Inspired by this one below, unsure who the owner is

This is how you can make a really cheap neon sign. You can make yours into what ever shape you’d like! I chose a pentagram because that was the easiest for me. I bought a kit from Walmart (this one below)

But you can buy all the stuff inside separately.

The kit includes:

•10 ft of neon wire

•10 ft of aluminum wire

• a battery pack (holds 2 AA batteries)

•zip ties (50 or less I didn’t really count)

•shitty safety scissors

If you do make a pentagram or another circlular design, I’d recommend getting a wooden loop from Walmart or a craft store to make the sign have more structure. But if wire working is your thing then go off!

The kit recommends drawing out your design first, but I kinda just winged it (originally I was going to make the word “witch” but that was extra hard so I changed my mind).

(You can cut the wire with plyers to work with it easier)

Shape the wire into a circle, leaving a little bit of extra wire to wrap around the other part tying it together. Next form the star.

Take a section of wire and make an capital A shape (or an upside down greater than sign). Twist the bottom ends on the circle, and place the pinched part on top of the circle part.

Next take another piece and make a vertical line across the circle. This should form a triangle at the top. Take two more pieces (roughly the same size) and place them horizontally on either side. It should look like a star at this point.

Next, start laying the neon wire on top of the metal one. Do the Star first and start at the top. As you go along, zip tie the neon to the metal wire to get it to take shape. Do this all the way around the star, and then when you reach the starting point again work on the circle. After you’ve secured the neon to the metal, cut of the extra zip tie.

(Note: the battery pack for this kit has three settings, regular, fast flash, slow flash.)

And viola! You’re probably done! I suck at step by step explanation but you maybe get the jist. Overall this took about an hour to do (I was fückin around for 15 minutes pickin a design). The kit had white neon wire inside, but you can find another color to use too! This just looks neat, but have fun witches :)

Lmao look at my shitty example I really can’t 🤣

[skittylover3-vj]

I am currently working on an Aphmau Au atm. This is a placeholder ((aphmau’s design will change)) But here’s the jist. Its kinda an RPG au? Like it works simularly to delta rune, or Persona 5 where there are 2 worlds. One where you fight and one where you improve your relationships with people and like talk and stuff.

 If I do write the au I’ll do like 5 different versions. ((Also Ein Aphmau & Claire are just the potential starter crew. You get ALOT more party members)) All 3 versions will have a VERY different story and a different aphmau.

 In anycase in the first version i’ll be working on ((I’ll just copy paste my amino post

 Here are some sibling headcanons for Aphmau and…Ein in an au were they were raised together ((taking some ideas from https://aminoapps.com/c/aphmauamino/page/user/queenofmelons-einchancultleader-danviscult/x46z_L7iof3aWYBv0Ydg1wX6ZZZX2kplD& https://aminoapps.com/c/aphmauamino/page/user/alice-on-elm-street-teamein/76jn_dXTBfGp5XpJJqGkP6o5eN8qPRlPD )) ((Like Eins parents being missing so he’s raised by sylvanna, and Ein dying aphmaus hair, ect))

- Werewolves don’t exist

-Forever potions don’t exist

- Ultimas don’t exist

- Meifwa don’t exist

- Witches don’t exist

- Ein is overprotective and will fite any boy who tries to court Aphmau.

- Ein & Sylvanna once plotted against Aaron together

.- Ein used to bully aphmau when they were younger but doesn’t really anymore

-Sylvanna put Ein into Aphmau’s life at the age of about 5. Ein was 4 years old at the time. And he had nobody in his family with the money to take care of him. Sylvanna being a saint took him in. Claire came into Aphmau’s life a bit later when she was 7 Claire was 8

- Ein loves photography and has an entire collection of still life photo & landscape photo’s that he scribbled on with crayon

- Aphmau is the stronger then Ein. She had to get tough to keep this boy in line.- Aphmau’s older and loves her baby brother to bits….even if he can be a little bit of a dick sometimes he’s still..her baby brother. But Claire’s the strongest sibling

- Aphmau sometimes gives Ein huggle attacks and he either hates them or severely appreciates them depending on his mood.

- Ein styles aphmau’s hair all the time for her. He loves doing it. Most of the time he does what she likes which is giving it an ombre purple. ((Though he thinks she should get streaks))

- Aphmau is similarly protective over Ein and once threatened both Ein & Aaron to not hurt eachother telling Aaron “If you hurt my baby brother I will beat you to death with your own bloody femurs” and telling Ein “If you hurt my boyfriend I will break your kneecaps”

- Aphmau loves painting Eins face, Claire will never let aphmau paint her face.

- Ein is completely fine with Aphmau painting his face. He wears whatever look she gives him with pride. No matter how stupid it is. If you make fun of it he will DESTROY you for making fun of his little sisters work

- The Ein & Aphmau  rough house sometimes but not very severely. More like playfighting if anything. Claire usually just avoids the fighting or hides

- When they were younger Aphmau would always play the villain while Ein played the hero. Ein was a bratty kid that always wanted to be a hero since he loves being in the spotlight. Claire would be the Damsel in distress. She thoroughly enjoyed playing the princess-

Aphmau sometimes paints Ein’s nails and does his make up. He is her testing dummy. he’s fine with this. As long as he gets to do her make up. Claire Also lets Aphmau do her make up. As long as she follows her instructions

- Aphmau was shitty at being a villain

- Ein got a tattoo (on his butt) and never told Sylvanna about it. She still doesn’t know to this day

- When Ein got his ears pierced & hair dyed without Sylvanna’s permission she almost had a heart attack. She literally felt like the world was ending.  She tried everything in her power to stop him from expressing himself this way but…in the end she couldn’t. She could however course him into not hurting others.- Ein somehow got Sylvanna to be okay with Him and Aphmau dying their hair.

- Ein & Sylvanna talk shit about Aaron behind his back all the time. They also do it in front of his face!

- Ein was the one who got Aphmau into Gaming, Sylvanna had bought him a game console before Aphmau because…he was a boy and Sylvanna didn’t think Aphmau would be interested and Ein loved it. Aphmau would always watch him and try to get Ein to teach her how to play the games he had. He did of course. Aphmau believes if Ein had never gotten her into gaming she would have never met Aaron..this isn’t true of course but. Yeah

-Claire Has that big sister pride. And enjoys being in charge

- Ein’s into photography

- Ein can’t spell for the life of him and is horribly dyslexic

- Aphmau’s entire bloodline has a tendency to get overprotective ((weather it be from jealousy or not. You don’t hurt their children/siblings. Just the ones she’s blood related to though. ))

- Claire likes smooth Jazz and Tea

- Zack has like 20 kids and only knows like 3 of there names. Ein isn’t the first child born from an affair he had and Ein won’t be the last.

-  Claire is one of those babies. ((She’s a canon character watch the fnaf rp. (Also it appears to be an au of Mystreet possibly since Laurence is present in one of Aphmaus photos )))

- Claire hates horror movies, and is absolutely terrified of anthropomorphic animals.

- Claire  has depression and honestly has a hard time getting up in the morning

- Claire often falls for horrible people and has bad tastes in men. She has had her heart broken many times

- Claire had a stillbirth baby in the past. it was a boy. The death of this baby kickstarted her depression

- Aphmau babies Ein sometimes because when he was a little kid he had to be pampered and she can’t get out of that thinking style for the life of her.

- Ein has a therapist he goes to who helps him with his problems. He has medications he has to take to keep him calm and such. Without them he becomes slightly creepier to be around…only slightly- Ein eventually warms up to Aaron over time. alongside Sylvanna

- Ein is a furry and he got a fursuit one day Aphmau is okay with this cause it makes him happy

- Aaron is disturbed by it and Aphmau once called him out for furrsicution. And lectured him for hours on it

- Ein broke Aphmau’s game boy when they were little. It was an accident but still

- Ein gets really passionate about things and has a tendency to obsess. He can get lost in fantasy for hours on end.  He is very obsessive.

- Ein disliked Garroth for a some time….until Garroth took off his shirt. Then he liked him all of a sudden. Aphmau was very weirded out by how fast Eins mind changed.

- Ein sometimes has mini panic attacks when Aphmau goes out on dates.  he realizes he can’t intervene but he can’t help but worry. He knows what monsters are like and he doesn’t want Aphmau to get hurt by one.

- If you break Aphmau’s heart Ein will come for you with an ax , & Claire will post nasty things about you on the internet

- Aphmau is slightly more violent in this au. Ein had some influence on her as a kid. Its not by alot though. She just has very harsh threats

- Ein makes sure Aphmau can protect herself, They have work out days were they get BEEFY!

- Aphmau worries about Eins future constantly and often has nightmares about it. Sylvanna does too sometimes but less.

- Aphmau can be super sweet at some points but suddenly enter drill sargant mode if your acting like a little kid . She uses tough love, and gentle guidance. She uses both when she see’s fit.

- Aphmau paints Eins nails and does his make up sometimes. He enjoys it. it’s fun for him.

—————————————————————————————————

Alright now for some of the things in the Combat world

- Team attacks are possible. You can use special moves with another party member

- Summoning is also possible. But only if your not related ((You’d summon a “Child” like If Aphmau and Aaron did a summon it’d be Alina, If Aphmau and Laurence did a summon it’d be Malachi, If Aphmau and Garroth did a summon it’d be Levin, so on so forth. )) The summon vanishes after the battle. And the summon has the appearance of an adult

 - Ein gains Wolf ears in the combat world and he is very happy about that Very excited

- Aphmau gains bunny ears in this world

- Claire Gets cat ears

- Ein howled and Aphmau was very confused. Just because you gain animal ears doesn’t mean you gain their tendancies. Ein’s just howling cause he wants to be a dog furry.

- Claire has the highest attack, she has low defence though, she Also has HORRIBLE magic attack. She has higher speed then Ein

- Aphmau has medium defense, higher attack then Ein, alot of Sp, and alright magic. Her stats can change and you can improve them manually (She’s the only one you can do this with. The others stats are predetermined ((Unless your counting Armor and stuff)). Aphmau has the highest speed

- Ein Has high magic attack, High defense, but also the lowest attack out of the 3. This does NOT mean he’s weak however.

- Most of Eins attacks are magic ones, Though he does have a few attacking moves. Some being really brutal. But he usually just shoots lasers at you, or little blasts.

 - Aphmau has alot of healing spells, but she also has some fire spells. Her attacks are really fast and Jumpy

-  Claires Attacks are really direct, and they hit hard. She has little to no magic spells, But she does have some…distracting moves. It’s not really magic though but she can drag attention to herself very easily. And lower her enemies stats

And that’s all for now I hope you like the au

[katieleighme-blog]

Onto a better me...

I’m staying at the Moxy Hotel this weekend, just out of Canary Wharf, London. It’s quirky. Strange designs, big connect fours, chess, foosball and extravagant light designs. I like it and would recommend it to you all. 

I’m staying at the Moxy Hotel this weekend, just out of Canary Wharf, London. It’s quirky. Strange designs, big connect fours, chess, foosball and extravagant light designs. I like it and would recommend it to you all.

The only complaints I have is my neighbours were a bit heavy footed this morning, but that is literally it.

I’ve gone through a rollercoaster of emotions the last two months. I have had everything card laid out on the table, many home truths, many complicated situations and many positive outcomes as well as negative.

I have let my fears and insecurities control my every day to day life. I have trouble with not being in control of a situation. As soon as I feel like something is slipping out of my fingers, I panic. I get this massive heavy feeling of anxiety and just simply panic. Until I learned something, something my significant other has been trying to teach me for a very long period of time:

“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.”

This isn’t his quote as such, but he mentioned the jist of it and it’s so right! My reactions define me. How I deal with situations define me, not the situation themselves.

I have never been betrayed or cheated on, and my significant other is passionate about if he’s not happy, or if there was someone else he would leave and he swears his mum’s life on it but, it still is my biggest fear and insecurity is to go through that pain, that hurt, to be betrayed.

It’s not that I feel like I’m not good enough. I would say I’m quite a catch. Pretty with the most amazing eyes, hilarious, a bit of a tomboy into sports, but can still transform in that LBD, high heels... I’m a lady that who can do both. Not to mention, my amazing culinary skills and the fact that I have my head screwed on and I mean, screwed on. Not many people my age are earning what I earn, have what I have and remain humble. It’s all due to my career motivation and what I will do to get to the next step. PS. my banter skills are top notch. 

I’ve realised a few home truths lately, I’ve felt broken in ways I’ve never felt before, over a situation completely innocent deep down but it was the way that I found out that hurt me the most. I am very passionate about loyalty, honesty, and being open... hence the blog, ha! My difficulty is, I see this particular subject, in the quote of the famous Michael Jackson himself (may he rest in peace), “It’s Black, It’s White”, there are no grey areas for me. If you’re not happy, leave. If you’re happy stay.

My insecurities and the fear of infidelity. Not because it’s happened to me, not that I know of, but because I hear it everywhere... Doctor Foster, Patrick Melrose and even in real life stories of the people that have been through it. It angers me. Why can’t people see how I think? I’ve come to terms that everyone processes things differently, see things differently. If a person is going to do something, nothing you can do to stop them. Screaming matches, tears, silent treatments, they’re just going to encourage that person to close up and still carry on with what they’re doing, but behind your back, whether that’s treating themselves to a very expensive watch, the occasional bet or meeting up with a colleague or friend. Things we can sometimes see as not necessary and so we choose to voice our opinion of why we think that’s not right instead of getting a further understanding as to why the person is doing it.

This is what I want to stop, I want to stop the questioning, the second guessing.  I want to be happy again, I want to have fun again, I want to love again, I want to be me again. Something that Tony Robbins mentioned in his blog:

The jackpot is all about creating an opening in the relationship. When you open up, even during the difficult times, when you’re scared and hurt and angry, and choose to say “I love this man or this woman, and I don’t want to cause more pain” – that is when you are really fighting for the relationship.

Kindness is not a fixed trait in a relationship. Think of it rather, as a muscle – something that must be worked on every single day if it is to develop. And when we treat each other with kindness and compassion, we are essentially training each other how we should treat each other.

What I am choosing to take away from the last two months:

Stop confusing imagination with reality

Avoid the Certainty Trap

Give the relationship room to breathe

Stop 'mind reading'

Stop comparing current relationships to past ones

For security: Seek self-assurance

Focus on the good 

I know my demons, my weaknesses. If people want to go around and try and hurt me, go ahead. I’m doing me. They can do them. I’m not letting my insecurities rule me anymore, of course I know this will take time. It just doesn’t go away. It will need a little training, cognitive behavioural therapy but I’ll get there. I know I will, I’m determined to be the old version of me again. For me. Nobody else. For me.

[ghoul--chan]

What was your inspiration for your Saniwa oc?

That’s a tough Question.

Myself mostly i guess... But she kinda became her own person after a while, with a more structured family and personal history. Tho at the start i just doodled her at random during 2016′s inktober, but the main personality was Cute as Shit Little Sister type... but yeah that’s the jist of it. Even I was getting annoyed at how dumb and useless she was in the first run through, she’s still not the smartest but she doesn’t have to be.

Design wise... Shrine Maiden clothing with a Kimono on top of it, I saw some nice looking clothes once in that sort of style and tried emulating it from memory... and later on realised it was not drawn correctly at all, because I did actual research for once. Why she has short hair... I personally like drawing bob cuts on my female characters, but story wise Mizuko had it cut the day before she would start being the saniwa, as a fresh start so to say.

Most of my character start of kind of onenote cliche, but I change them according when I have their stories run through my head. Most of my character just kinda pop up in my head and I roll with it. so saying when inspired me to create them is often hard to say at times. I didn’t want to just have a faceless Saniwa, or Self Insert, so i just made something... even though i did give her some of my quirks... but it helps me write them a bit more.

This is getting way to long so i’ll leave it that this. Just ask me again if you want more info on Mizuko alright?

[freudensteins-monster]

Bella Notte

@cinnaatheart said: Heya! For the promt meme! Enamour me, with either Darcy x Natasha, Darcy x Bucky or Darcy x Sam :D :D up to you what you wanna do ❤️❤️❤️

I defaulted to Wintershock because I don't feel like my Natasha or my Sam are up to snuff. Hope that's okay. Also... it's definitely not a drabble per the original fic prompt post :/

** In this fic, instead of JARVIS or FRIDAY, I have used an AI called TADASHI. During Age of Ultron, when Stark is rebooting his suit's AI following the creation of Vision/loss of JARVIS, Tony is seen to have a number of AI programs on his desk. He picks FRIDAY as his new AI but there was also one called JACOSTA and one called TADASHI. And being the Big Hero 6 fan that I am I really wanted to use that one, not that he's got much of a personality in this fic. :/ Maybe next time. **

Bucky was happy to learn upon waking that the Sokovia Accords had been dissolved, pending a major overhaul, and that Steve and Stark were on speaking terms again (nothing like another alien invasion to get everyone on the same side) but he was still surprised to be invited to join the Avengers at Stark’s upstate facility. It wasn’t until the man himself called and told him ‘to get your ass over there already. Rogers won’t stop sulking,’ and ‘No, we don’t have to talk about it. You’re sorry, I’m less sorry. Let there be no further talk of feelings,’ that Bucky finally agreed to return stateside.

Per an agreement his Wakandan lawyers had made with the UN, and various military bodies around the world, Bucky would be on house arrest at the facility, unable to step outside the boundaries of the property until such time as his prolific assassination record had been sifted through and he was finally cleared of all charges (his lawyers were optimistic and very, very good). Bucky hadn’t minded as he was tired of running, and the glorified prison would be bearable if he got to properly reconnect with Steve, but when he landed the punk was nowhere in sight.

Bucky blinked in the sunlight as he walked down the quinjet ramp, his grey- blue eyes quickly scanning the large hanger for a familiar face.

“Sergeant Barnes?” a female voice called out. Bucky turned and saw a young woman with wavy brown hair and black-rimmed glasses making her way over to him. “Hi, I’m Darcy,” she smiled, offering him her hand. He took it hesitantly, his eyes still darting about to locate Steve. “I’m sorry, Captain Rogers isn’t here right now. The call came in to save the world early this morning, you know how it is,” she rambled apologetically.

“Not really,” Bucky murmured.

“Okay, well,” the girl, Darcy, sighed. “Since my time is the least valuable of anyone here I have been tasked with showing you around,” she said with a hint of bitterness, though not directed at him. “Do you want the full tour or just the CliffNotes version?”

“I don’t wanna waste your time, doll.”

Darcy’s mouth quirked at the outdated endearment as her eyes dropped to the tablet in her hands.

“You’re not,” she assured him. “Stark is. He thinks I ate all his blueberries, so this is my punishment.”

“Did you eat all his blueberries?”

“That’s between me and my legal counsel,” she replied vaguely, a smile playing on her lips. “Speaking of… I’m supposed to go over the terms of your house arrest, but I’m sure you’ve already read this,” she said, holding up the tablet to show him a screens worth of fine print.

“Basically don’t go anywhere and don’t kill anyone.”

“That does seem to be the jist of it,” she nodded, closing the document. “Come on, I’ll show you where the food is,” she said, leading him away from the hanger to the main building. Along the way she described the function of the other buildings and showed him where the Avengers trained. The residential building was definitely designed by Stark, far too sleek and minimalist to feel homey, but he had been welcomed to stay – free of charge – and it was a hell of a lot nicer than most of the places Bucky had ever laid his head, so he wasn’t about to turn his nose up at it.

“So this is the common area, communal kitchen and dining area. Help yourself to anything in the fridge, and let TADASHI know if we’re running low on anything.”

“Who’s Tadashi?”

“TADASHI is an AI that Tony set up for the facility. JARVIS was absorbed into Vision, and FRIDAY has her hands full looking after Tony, so he left TADASHI with us. But he’s just a baby program, he’s still learning and definitely isn’t at JARVIS’s level yet, not that means anything to you, because you never met JARVIS,” she added, waving a hand dismissively. “Hello TADASHI,” she called to the ceiling and Bucky couldn’t help but follow her gaze.

“Hello Miss Lewis,” replied a stilted voice through the ceiling speakers. The voice spoke English with the slightest Japanese accent, but it was most definitely a digital creation.

“Yeah, he’s a little creepy at the moment,” Darcy whispered, seemingly reading his mind. “But don’t worry, before the year is out I’m gonna have him sounding like George Takei.” Before Bucky had a chance to confirm who that was (pop culture knowledge had not been a priority during his time under HYDRA’s thumb) Darcy had turned her attention back to ceiling. “TADASHI, this is Sergeant Barnes. Sergeant Barnes, this is TADASHI.”

“You can call me Bucky,” he advised both of them.

“Welcome Sergeant Barnes. I’m afraid I cannot update your name in my system without an administrator’s assistance.”

“Thank you, TADASHI,” Darcy said to the ceiling before turning her attention back to Bucky. “Don’t bother,” she advised. “Only Tony can update Avenger files, and if you bring his attention to it he’s going to change it to something stupid. Steve’s only just got Tony to get TADASHI to stop calling him ‘Capsicle’.” Bucky smirked. “So, unlike JARVIS and FRIDAY, TADASHI can’t really predict our needs. His main function is to monitor the security systems and the energy readings from the arc reactor that powers everything. He can relay messages across the facility, and if you let him know when we’re out of milk or if you need a new pair of shoes or something, he can place the order you.”

“Amazing,” Bucky murmured as he glanced up at the ceiling, trailing behind Darcy as she continued the tour.

“Down there is a conference room and some offices, Steve and Maria are the only ones who really use those though. And these here are the apartments,” she announced, rattling off the Avengers names, tapping on the doors, as she passed by. “And this is your room,” she said, pushing open the door. “Steve is just across the hall.”

Bucky stepped inside, surveying the generous if bland space, unconsciously noting access points, defensible positions, and decent hiding places for a go bag or weapons cache. Not that he was permitted any weapons outside the firing range, per his agreement.

“Do you live on site?” he asked conversationally, trying to take his mind off the slightly claustrophobic feeling the empty space was giving him.

“Yeah, downstairs on the south corner. Closer to the science building so I don’t have to walk too far after a science bender.”

“What exactly is it you do here?” Bucky asked, his brow creasing in confusion.

“Umm, I’m kind of like the manager of the science department,” she supplied awkwardly, averting her gaze.

“You run the science department?” Bucky asked, her answer surprising him.

“Not really… sort of…” she mumbled, hugging her tablet to her chest.

“You’re what? Twenty? And you’re running the science department of the Avengers facility? That’s pretty damn impressive,” he added sincerely. “How’d you end up here, if you don’t mind me asking?

“I’m twenty-five, first of all, and, um, I actually majored in Political Science,” she winced, expecting further questions, but Bucky just let her talk. “I was interning for Doctor Jane Foster to earn some hard science credits when Thor crash landed – you know Thor, right?”

“Not personally.”

“Yeah, well, he’s amazing, and his arrival kind of revolutionised Jane’s research. I stuck around after I graduated, because where the hell else would I go? I mean, Asgardians, aliens, portals to other worlds… that’s not the sort of thing you can just forget about, you know?”

“Sure…” Bucky nodded. He had always been a bit of a geek, and not even all the time he spent as a science experiment could dull his interest.

“So when Tony asked Jane if she wanted take up some lab space here, I tagged along. I was supposed to be Jane’s assistant but Tony found her a few lab tech’s who actually understood her work, so I focused on the caretaking aspects of the job, because Heimdall knows that Jane and scientists like her can totally forget about basic human needs when they’re in the zone. Before I knew it I was looking after half the building, making sure they all ate regularly, got some shut eye, and socialised with other humans – I couldn’t get them to talk about anything other than science, but I tried,” she smiled. “And then Pepper Potts herself came up just to talk to me about giving me an official job. So now I look after the entire science department and have a few assistants of my own to help me feed and water the scientists. I also work with TADASHI to keep all their research secure, field correspondence from outside parties, and ensure they have all the resources and equipment they need to do their work.”

“That’s… that’s amazing. It sounds like it’s a huge job… and I’m keeping you from it,” he realised, rubbing his hands against the pockets of his jeans self-consciously.

“It’s fine, really,” Darcy waved dismissively.

“No, it’s not. I’m really sorry, Darcy. Please, you can go back to work. I’ll be fine.”

By the look on Darcy’s face she didn’t believe him but she decided to take him at his word and began backing out of the room. She turned back at the doorway, her expression softening as she watched Bucky fidget nervously, unsure what to do with himself in the strange space.

“Hey, did you… Did you want to maybe come with me?”

“To the science building?”

“No, to the moon,” she teased. “Yes, to the science building. I mean, I’ll be pretty busy but you can check out some of the work going on and I can introduce you to some people.”

“Uh, yeah,” Bucky replied bashfully. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

 When Steve and Sam returned to base later that night they trudged wearily to the residential building. Well, Sam trudged. Steve bounded towards it like a puppy, excited to see his friend again.

“Bucky!” he called the moment he stepped into the building. He was about to ask TADASHI to locate him but the smell wafting from the kitchen held his tongue and made his mouth water. “Bucky?”

“Hey punk, took you long enough,” Bucky smirked from his position in front of the stove, stirring something that smelled absolutely delicious.

“Buck… what are you doing?” Steve wondered aloud. “That smells like…”

“Your mom’s stew?” he smiled. “That’s what I was aiming for. I think I remembered the recipe correctly,” he mused.

“What brought this on?” Steve queried, unable to wipe the smile from his face as he pulled Bucky in for a hug.

“Well, I was helping out in the cafeteria, peeling potatoes and what not, when I remembered my mom’s cooking, and your mom’s cooking, and I thought it’d be nice,” Bucky said with a shrug.

“What smells so good?” Sam asked, appearing behind Steve.

“Bucky’s cooking,” Steve answered.

“No kidding. Barnes,” he nodded in greeting.

“Wilson,” Bucky replied, the oven timer distracting him from the urge to start bickering with the man. “That’d be the bread,” he said, pulling the tin out with his metal hand.

“You made bread too?” Sam asked in amazement.

“I had time,” Bucky shrugged again.

“Buck, what were you doing helping out in the cafeteria?” Steve pestered, still not quite getting his head around what he was seeing and smelling.

“Darcy was showing me around the science building, but she was busy so I thought I’d help out her assistants with the lunch run. And I noted that Michel, the chef, was understaffed so when I was finished in the science building I offered my services.”

“That’s… Buck, we don’t expect you to earn your keep, you know. Tony’s not going to kick you out,” Steve assured him.

“Let the man cook!” Sam chided, eying the bowls Bucky was spooning stew into hungrily.

“What was I supposed to do? Wait quietly in my room for you to come back?” Bucky asked irritably, passing a bowl to Steve. “Sit down, punk. Enjoy your meal. You too,” he added, placing a bowl into Sam’s grabby hands.

Bucky cut several slices of bread and placed most of them on the table between the two Avengers, along with a tub of butter. He took the third bowl and two slices of buttered bread and put them on a tray and made to leave the room.

“You’re not going to eat with us?” Steve asked, almost felling Bucky with his puppy dog eyes.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” he promised. “Just going to take this to Darcy.”

“Darcy?” the pair asked, amused smiles playing on their lips.

“Only here a day and you’ve already found yourself a girl,” Steve laughed, shaking his head in disbelief.

“It’s not like that,” Bucky griped, ignoring their teasing. “She’s working late, and it’s my fault; she wasted her morning showing me around. I wanted to apologise… and thank her,” he said, turning to leave the room.

“I’m gonna be best man at your wedding, right?” Steve called after him.

“Make sure there’s an open bar,” Sam added before the pair burst out laughter.

 Bucky dropped off the meal to a very grateful Darcy and then reluctantly returned to the dining room to endure another half hour of mockery while he ate his own dinner. Once Steve and Sam had stopped laughing they called it a night, both in need of a shower and a good night’s sleep. Bucky did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, taking his time as to delay returning to his empty room.

He sat on the end of the bed, deliberating about what to do next. He didn’t want to sleep, not that he was tired, and wasted several minutes inspecting his room from top to bottom. The wardrobe had been stocked with some basics, and when Bucky spied the pair of running shoes in his at the bottom of it he changed into some sweatpants and pulled them on.

 He’d been running laps around the facility for about an hour when he slowed to a jog and made his way back to the residential wing.

“Bucky?”

“Hey, Darcy…” he puffed.

“What are you doing? It’s late.”

“I could ask you the same thing?” he deflected.

“I had work to do. Got caught up and then got a head start on tomorrow. What’s your excuse?” she asked, deliberately putting the spotlight back on him. “You don’t like your room?” she ventured cautiously as they headed into the building.

“It’s nice… but it’s just… It’s too empty, too bland,” he admitted, ducking his head. “It reminds me of every other empty room I’ve been stuck in… just waiting for orders.”

“I’m sorry,” Darcy murmured, rubbing his arm in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. “Just… try and get through tonight and tomorrow you can decorate it however you like, make it a home.”

“With what?” Bucky asked bitterly. “I ain’t got nothing to make it a home, doll.”

“You’ll think of something,” she said soothingly. “And I’ll help you out on the weekend. We can do some online shopping.”

“Don’t put yourself out on my account, doll. You don’t need to go wasting your free time on me too.”

“I want to,” she swore. “Besides, I’m an excellent interior designer,” she declared, throwing open a door that Bucky hadn’t been aware they’d stopped in front of. Darcy walked in and flicked on a light, ushering Bucky inside.

Bucky’s jaw dropped. It was a mess. The unmade bed was a mess of colour, the floor was a mess of clothes, the walls were covered in posters, and books littered every other available surface.

“Well,” Bucky swallowed. “It definitely looks lived in.”

Darcy laughed, “I know, right? Does that mean you’ll let me help?”

Bucky closed his mouth, his shoulders shaking with laughter. “Sure, doll. I’d appreciate it.”

“Alrighty then. Sunday, 11am. You make brunch and I’ll bring Tony’s credit card.”

“It’s a deal,” he smiled, shaking Darcy’s outstretched hand.

He smiled all the way back to his own room, but delayed sleep just that little bit longer by taking a long shower. Eventually he ran out of excuses and lay down on the bed. Immediately he noticed that something wasn’t quite right with his mattress and after a quick search he discovered a housewarming present from Natasha, who was away on a mission in parts unknown; a Glock 26 and an anodized Gerber Mk II knife. Bucky put them back, ensuring they were still in easy reach, and eventually drifted off to sleep.

 Bucky kept himself busy the next day, which was easy between catching up with Steve and helping out in the cafeteria. When the end of the day drew closer Bucky got a bit anxious but then Vision and Wanda returned from their own mission and Bucky decided to make dinner again (lasagne and garlic bread). Afterwards Wanda and Vision excused themselves but Steve and Sam invited him to join them in the common room where they spent a few hours watching movies from Steve’s “things I need to see” list. Eventually they called it a night as well and Bucky reluctantly headed to his room. It was too late to go for a run without looking like a complete weirdo, not to mention worrying Steve, but there was always the gym downstairs, he mused as he reached his door.

He flicked on the light and froze. His plain white bedding had been replaced with a dark blue duvet and light grey sheets, and a silver and grey knitted blanket had been draped over the end. On the wall beside the light switch was a poster from the 1943 Stark Expo, on his bedside table was a framed photograph of him and Steve, and hanging over the bed was a huge photograph of the night sky. He wandered over in a daze, peeling off a folded piece of paper that had been taped to the corner of the frame.

Hey Bucky!

We’re still on for Sunday, I swear, it’s just this was so much more fun than doing a stocktake of lab supplies. :P I hope you like it and I really hope that I didn’t overstep. :(

P.S. Jane printed this out for me. She assures me that this is what the stars looked like the night you were born.

P.P.S. I put your weapons in the top drawer of your bedside table. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to put them back without hurting the mattress, or myself. :P

See you Sunday, if not sooner.

- Darcy

Bucky smiled, turning in a circle to admire the new additions to the room and huge difference they made.

“Uh, TADASHI?” he asked the ceiling, hoping it worked and that he wasn’t just talking to himself.

“Yes Sergeant Barnes?”

“Can you tell Darcy ‘thank you’?”

“Of course, Sergeant Barnes. … … Miss Lewis asked me to tell you, ‘You’re very welcome’.”

 Over the next couple of days Bucky developed a comfortable routine, splitting his time between helping out in the cafeteria and the labs, training with the Avengers, and hanging out with Steve. Sunday came around quickly and Darcy stumbled into the common area in plaid pyjama pants and a band t-shirt, tablet in hand, just as Bucky was plating up a frittata.  

“That smells amazing,” Darcy murmured as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

“If you had a late night, doll, you could’ve slept in. I would have understood.”

“It wasn’t that exactly,” she mumbled, practically worshipping her coffee cup. “My assistants were having trouble getting Jane out of her lab so I went down to try and drag her out. All it took was a promise to split a tub of Ben & Jerry’s and a bottle of wine with her.”

“This is you after half a bottle of wine?” he teased, herding her towards the dining table.

“It might have been a bottle each. Or a bottle and a half, I’m not sure. Shut up,” she whined as Bucky laughed at her. “I’m not hungover. Just… blah.”

He went to sit across from her but Darcy insisted he sit next to her so they could browse websites together. The smell of the frittata drew out the rest of the residents and soon a quiet discussion on desks and armchairs turned into a very loud discussion on the merits of record players and lava lamps. Lava lamps had been Scott’s suggestion, the fledgling superhero had turned up early in morning to steal something from storage - his words - which rubbed Sam the wrong way for some reason and made him determined to win the argument. Bucky couldn’t properly remember the last time he’d had such a great time. He particularly enjoyed the moment when Darcy had almost climbed over him to steal her tablet back from Sam before he ordered a set of overpriced vintage action figures, deeming them utterly essential. Steve had noticed, of course, and broached the subject as they walked to their respective rooms that night.

“So… Darcy’s nice.”

“Shut up.”

 Days turned into weeks and with a fully furnished bedroom the facility was feeling more and more like home. The only thing that made him doubt it was when the Avengers were called out, reminding Bucky that he was still on house arrest and a verdict on his many crimes was still pending.

“The mission shouldn’t take more than a week,” Steve assured him, as they walked out to the quinjet together.

“Yeah, yeah. I ain’t a kid, Steve. Just go already, I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?”

“I swear to God, Steve. I will strap you into that damn plane myself. Go.”

Steve smirked, his eyes looking over Bucky’s shoulder.

“Hey, here comes Darcy. Maybe you can ask her to keep you company while I’m gone,” he teased, hightailing it to one of the waiting quinjets before Bucky punched him in the face with his metal fist.

“…and you’ll email Eric about-”

“The readings from Hawaii. Yes, Jane.”

“And make sure that Dr Walcott calibrates-”

“The thingamabob in Lab 3. Yes, Jane.”

“Oh! And water the plant in my office.”

“Jane, honey, I replaced your dead husk of a plant with a plastic one six months ago.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Jane. When is the last time you remember watering it?”

“Uhh…”

“Exactly. Now, hurry up and get on the plane. Your pilot wanted to leave ten minutes ago and you’re going to hold him up for another fifteen while you do your pre-flight safety check to make sure all your doodads are secure.”

“But it’s important-”

“I know, Jane. Get on the plane, Jane,” Darcy begged, pushing her former boss towards the second quinjet, loaded up with her homemade equipment and two nervous assistants. “Bye Jane!” Darcy waved as the loading ramp closed behind the astrophysicist.

Bucky watched as the first quinjet took off but waited beside Darcy while the second one idled on the lawn. He watched as Darcy’s exasperated expression softened into one of longing and Bucky repressed the urge to reach for her.

“Are you okay, Darcy?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah. Just one of the drawbacks of my new position; I don’t get to go on fieldtrips anymore,” she lamented. “But I don’t miss it, not really,” she said unconvincingly. “Even when we weren’t living out of her van, we were still living on top of each other. My diet consisted of poptarts and coffee, and I threw my back out hauling Jane’s equipment around. And let’s not forget the couple of times I almost died,” she added dramatically.

“But you miss it.”

“Yeah,” Darcy sighed. “I miss the nights when we’d camp out - no beeping machines, no results to record. Just me, Jane, a couple of drinks, and an entire galaxy over our heads. I miss the stars. I mean, out here it’s pretty great, there’s not that much light pollution, but it’s nothing like being out in the desert or Tromsø. Have you ever seen the Northern Lights?”

“A couple of times.” He’d seen them numerous times in fact, travelling in and out of the HYDRA base in Siberia, but he’d never been in a state of mind where he was able to appreciate them. Not that Darcy didn’t need to know that.

“Jane and I got sent to Norway for an ‘urgent consult’ before the Battle of New York, for our own protection or some bullshit. When Thor appeared on the news Jane was angry, worried but angry. And the longer she watched the news the more angry, worried, and determined to get drunk she was. I left her to sleep it off and took a walk outside. There were just all these green lights dancing across the sky. It was so beautiful,” Darcy whispered, gazing up at the sky as if she could still see them despite the sun at her back. It made Bucky’s heart ache. “Anywho,” Darcy muttered, shaking off the daydream as the quinjet engine roared into life. “Back to it, I suppose. See you ‘round, Bucky.”

“See you…”

Bucky wandered back to his room, deep in though. He stood at the end of the bed, glancing up at the stars above it. His mouth curled into a smile as an idea occurred to him.

“TADASHI?”

“Yes, Sergeant Barnes?”

“I need your help with something.”

 Darcy headed back to the residential building at a respectable hour. Without Jane corrupting the other scientists with her obsessive hours shutting down the labs for the night was a lot easier. She was still plagued by nostalgia but Darcy was sure it was nothing a bubble bath and her emergency bottle of tequila couldn’t fix. Until she flicked on her bedroom light and screamed.

“Um… TADASHI?”

“Yes, Miss Lewis?”

“Who the hell has been in my room?” she demanded, glancing about the spotless space like she’d just stepped into the Twilight Zone.

“Sergeant Barnes took the liberty of cleaning your room.”

“Why?!”

“I cannot say. Though he did leave an envelope on your desk.”

Darcy crossed her room, which was so much easier now that the clothes had been cleared from her floor. A quick glance at her wardrobe showed that they had been laundered and hung up. She tore open the envelope and tipped a small remote into the palm of her hand. On the back of it, in Bucky’s precise handwriting, were written the instructions, “Turn off your light and then press me.”

Curious, and more than a little freaked out, Darcy did as she was told. She turned off the lights, pressed the button, and gasped as ribbons of green light were projected onto her ceiling. She moved to the centre of the room, staring up at the dancing lights in complete awe. When her neck began to ache, snapping her out of her reverie, she pulled the duvet off her bed and spread it out on the floor so she could comfortably lie back and enjoy the light show.

“TADASHI?”

“Yes, Miss Lewis?”

“Would you ask Sergeant Barnes to join me?” she smiled.

 The Avengers arrived back at the base six days later in the predawn light. Steve paused outside his apartment, worn out from the mission, but still alert enough to notice that Bucky’s door had been left ajar.

“Buck?” Steve called, peering into the darkness, but no answer came. He flicked on the light and found the room empty and the bed unmade. Steve tamped down the instinct to worry and asked for help. “TADASHI, do you know where Bucky is?”

“Yes, Captain Rogers. He is currently located in Miss Lewis’s rooms.”

“Oh really?” he grinned, flicking off the light and moving across the hall.

“Would you like me to contact him?”

“Nope,” he replied quickly, unable to wipe the smirk off his face. “Definitely not.”

[datslifepodcast]

On my 29th Birthday I set myself a goal of completing 30 challenges before I turned 30 in January 2019.

Ok.

Having set myself a “Bucket List” of things I wanted to have accomplished by the age of 30, I set off with every intention of completing them. Or at the very least having a decent go.

Right.

I’m stalling now.

You may have noticed that, disappointingly, my 30 BY 30 blogs stopped after crossing out only four of my list. I say disappointingly, not because I didn’t tick any more off (because I did) but that the blogs stopped prematurely.

But even more annoyingly, to myself, I didn’t tie up the series of blogs in any shape of form. They kind of just, got away from me.

I was actually writing my fifth blog and got about midway through, but I then had a blank and hit a wall with it. And never came back to it.

I kept saying, I need to do a catch up blog, or some kind of post to explain what’s going on. That never happened.

Now I’m 31. Yes, it’s been over a year since I should have finished 30 lovely blogs of all the cool stuff I had done and how I was a better person for it.

If you were enjoying my blogs, I can only apologise. I still have the lost fifth blog that never got published (or the start of it anyway), so I am going to add it to this blog.

And here it is…

#7 Go Scuba Diving

A few days before my 29th Birthday I conversed with my mum, brother and his girlfriend over dinner about the items I had on my list, one of which was scuba diving. When I saw them on my actual Birthday I was given my present, in the form of a Birthday card, and inside it was… a voucher for a Scuba Diving Lesson!

The Voucher was from the Bouley Bay Dive Centre, and allowed me to buy a ‘Try Scuba Diving’ lesson, designed for complete beginners to ‘give you a taste of the exciting and weightless aquatic environment and for you to learn the basic techniques for using scuba equipment’ – taken from their website.

I didn’t book this until the summer, and in the end I arranged it for 2nd September. I tend to feel the cold, especially in the sea. Ask anyone who has been to the beach with me, I am usually the first one out! So that was why I waited until later in the year, and as it turned out it was a glorious summers day!

I arrived at 10-30 am, expecting to be with a few others, only to find out I was having a one to one session with a man called Waz – I didn’t ask if that was his actual name or not!

I was fitted for a wet suit, goggles and the various equipment that we would be using. But before we did anything else, Waz talked me through the science of scuba diving, which I found to be very interesting.

He explained the effect of going deep under water with balloons.

[AND THIS WAS WHERE I GOT STUCK!]

I wanted to make sure I got the science information correct, so I looked it up online and found a video that didn’t exactly agree to what I had been told. Maybe they were explained differently… but it confused me. By the way, it’s not that confusing, I blame the YouTuber!

Essentially, as you go up and down (beneath the surface) the pressure changes, and you must adjust to equalise the pressure. So going down the pressure increases and, using the balloon analogy, the volume of the balloon decreases. This is why you have to release some air so that the increased pressure doesn’t burst your balloon. Now imagine that’s your lungs. Then, when you come to the surface you must release air as the volume is increasing again and will burst you balloon… I think that is the jist, but even as I write this I am unsure that is totally correct. Maybe someone can inform me in the comments?

The instructor was great in the way he explained it, I just haven’t found anything else as easy to follow. Maybe it’s just me.

Anyway, from what I remember (18 months later) is that after being taught what to do we put on all the gear (yes ALL the gear) and walked down to the end of the pier. For anyone who hasn’t been Scuba Diving, it is very heavy. So getting to the sea is a relief because once you get in it suddenly feels nice and light!

The first thing I remember was how cold it was! After the session, my tutor told me that he gives students lots of things to do at this point to take there mind off the cold. It worked.

Soon enough we were ready to go under. However, every time we went down my ears started hurting. He had taught me all the hand signals for when we were under water, so if I was uncomfortable or in pain I could just signal to go back up.

This happened several times, but was maybe slightly less uncomfortable each time. It felt like it was taking forever though, and after a while decided ‘screw this, let’s just go!’ – not the best advice but I didn’t want my first experience of scuba diving to be going up and down about 10 feet.

And then we began.

There is nothing quite like it. It is just so peaceful. We weren’t that deep (relatively speaking) and to be honest it did not feel that deep, but I believe we were about 40 feet down, which when you think about it is quite a distance below the surface. Looking back I think, what if something had gone wrong, but when you are down there it is the last thing on your mind.

The thing I took from it, more than anything, was how clear my thought process was. I was so relaxed, and so peaceful, yet my thoughts were racing around – but in a good way. I wonder if this is how super intelligent people feel, but all the time.

I can’t remember how long I was under for, but we swam for maybe 5 minutes before we made our way back. There was plenty of fish about, and lots of underwater plant life to see. Just a really unique exprience.

One slightly awkward moment occurred at the end when we got back above the water. My head had popped back up, and I felt pretty confident now it was essentially over, and removed the mouth piece (i’m sure there is a name for this) to take a breath of air.

Almost instantly I found myself pulled back under the water and took on a mouthful of sea water instead. My reaction was, don’t worry, I’m still holding the mouth piece, I can just put it back in my mouth… didn’t work! I tried to breath in but got just more water!

Now, for a very brief moment I was essentially drowning (maybe that’s an over reaction, but I was certainly unable to breath). I reached out for my instructor, trying not to panic, and thankfully he pulled me up a little and enough for me to cough out the water and get a mouthful of air!

Phew.

Apart from that, the experience was wonderful, and if it wasn’t for this 30 BY 30 list I would never have done it.

Which takes me nicely on to the rest of my list. What else did I cross off?

Let’s go through the list:

1 Go Indoor Sky Diving First one ticked off, check out the blog

2 Gain a qualification This one, I did not do. At all. That I am aware off.

3 Volunteer See previous answer.

4 Go on the Starfish Course One of the most beneficial I did, please see the blog.

5 Complete the Jersey Round the Island Walk One of the most challenging, but most satisfying. Once again you can check out the blog. 

6 Learn to play the Spoons Now, this one I attempted. I watched a video online about how to play them (more to it than you might think) and had a go myself. However, to say I can now play the spoons would be wrong!

7 Go Scuba See main part of this blog.

8 Finish writing my novel Ok, this one needs a bit more explanation.

I’ve always enjoyed writing, but purely for pleasure. So I decided, when a break in work commitments allowed, that I would write a book. I can tell you now that this was the reason the blogs stopped. And largely why I didn’t complete my list. If there is was one thing on the list I wanted to do more than anything it was this one. 

So where is the book I hear you ask?

Not finished, is the answer. I completed my second draft, some 80,000 words, but believe me when I say it is SO TIME CONSUMING! Especially when for some reason I took on an 80,000 word story!

Unfortunately for my book, there are still some minor plot holes and things I want to change or improve. It’s a never ending cycle. Alongside that, work commitments picked up again, so it’s currently on hold. Hopefully one day I will be writing a blog to say it’s finished. Watch this space.

9 Join a sports club/league Nope. But I did start playing squash a bit more frequently.

10 Go to a Music Festival An issue with living in Jersey is that Musical Festivals are few and far between. There were two I was interesting in, both didn’t happen that year, and our main festival ‘Jersey Live/Weekender’ was the weekend I was away in Belgium (No. 18 on my list).

11 Learn to make (and then make) Jam YES! I did this and you can ask my family what they thought of it. 

12 Watch a Trilogy of films in one go – back to back Surely this is an easy one? Didn’t happen. Maybe now we are social distancing, thanks to the Coronavirus, that might happen.

13 Learn to play a famous song on piano Not properly. I dabbled here and there.

14 Finish reading the Harry Potter Series (Books 6 and 7) This I did! Actually, pretty good books.

15 Challenge my fear of heights at the Valley Adventure Centre No. Think I asked a few people who weren’t that keen, and it never materialised.

16 Make a YouTube video that gets at least 1,000 views This is an interesting one. Every now and again I find myself saying ‘oh, that was on my list’ or ‘another one ticked off!’ – even if I am now over 30. This is one of them, because the other day I was randomly looking through my uploaded videos on YouTube and noticed a 1 minute clip from the Belgian Grand Prix (No 18 on the list) which had 1.5K views!!

Here’s the link (as proof) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwGu1DeR7U4

17 Learn how to wire a plug No, spoke to my Dad about it, never did it.

18 Attend a major sporting event Top weekend, read the blog and check out the video (No 16 on the list).

19 Build a model of Old Trafford This is the most frustrating one. My brother got this for me as a gift. Not for Christmas, or my Birthday, just one day appeared with it. And that was about 3 years ago! Why have I not built it yet. It’s nothing too technical. It even has a photo of a child on the front!

Part of the reason I haven’t done it was we moved flat last year and I kept saying, maybe I should wait as I don’t want it to get broken during the move…

Again, with social distancing happening now, this is a must to get done!

20 Learn to sew on a button Nope! I may have been shown this when I was younger, and I reckon I could work it out if I really had to. But can’t tick that off.

21 Learn about the history of Jersey I would have liked to have said I could tick this off. Maybe another social distancing one. 

22 Do a live podcast Blame my co-host for this one. Only joking, we have talked about this several time, and again in current social distancing times it has come up again. 

Whilst we are on the podcast, shameless plug? Check out our Series of 10 minute podcasts here: https://play.acast.com/s/datslife/64ffe2c7-5835-4360-8d0e-fb039d6555d1

23 Research my family tree Again, another great one that I did not do!

24 Grow vegetables (that are edible) Ah! I did this, and I took pictures. It was quite a journey. I went to the Garden Centre, bought all the gear, planted my veg and watched it grow. Then we had heavy rain and flooded it all. But I managed to save it and it continued growing and just as it was becoming ready to pick a rat ate everything!!

Well, I assume it was a rat, we saw a rat outside the old flat a few times. All I can say is I hope it didn’t choke….

25 Try yoga / pilates No, but definite potential for indoor Yoga/Pilates from the comfort of my own home. Can’t say I’m that keen to do this one though…

26 Swim a mile in one go Oh wow. Not even close.

27 Create (and make) my own signature dish In some ways, every time I cook it could be classed as a new creation… Another social distancing one. I’m thinking I could make a sub-list of social distancing challenges, but I fear I would probably not finish one that either!

28 Design my own boardgame In my head, I did this. In fact I’ve done this several times and even made some plans. When I wrote this one the aim was to actually have a board game I could play, which I do not. Social distancing list?

29 WILDCARD Still undecided.

30 Throw a 30th Birthday Party And last but not least, YES! It was great, I had close friends and family for a nice meal (no dancing required!) and celebrated turning 30 accordingly. Little did I know at this point that the following weekend I was being flown away to Orlando, Florida as my surprise Birthday present!

And there we are. How many is that? I make it 10 ticked off and a further handful that I started / had the idea in place for, leaving plenty unstarted.

As I eluded to earlier, I still have moments of realisation that I ticked another one off the list, so in some ways the list will continue on forever (or until I finish them all) so probably forever.

What have I learned from this? Easy, that if I don’t really fancy doing something then I won’t do it. No list will force me to something that, at heart, I don’t want to do – even if I think I should or it would do me good.

Maybe that’s a flaw?

I am a glass half full kind of person, and the way I see my list is that I would not have done several of the things I did without the list. Take the Scuba Diving for example, that was a present from my list and once I had a voucher there was no turning back.

If I was a half glass empty kind of person… I would say that was PATHETIC. Not even half? What was the point in even doing a list?

As I said, I’m a glass half full kind of person.

I’m going to leave the WILDCARD as it is. I haven’t got an idea so will wait it out. Part of me is tempted to pick something I have already done, or will do soon, and play it off as a great new idea. But I won’t.

This was a long blog, and if you have read all the way to the end, thank you! I am going to leave my 30 BY 30 list open and keep ticking items off as I go. Hey, maybe I’ll even do some more blogs about some of them…

  30 BY 30 – Ok, let’s do this! On my 29th Birthday I set myself a goal of completing 30 challenges before I turned 30 in January 2019.