#looking at this again as i add the IDs i think i made the darkness angled the wrong way lol

[just-a-lonelypenguin]

a tiny little zine inspired by @koddlet’s how-to! (i love your zines, they’re so fun and inspiring!) i first just folded it out of a sticky note for fun and put it in my pocket thinking “i’ll fill this in later when i have an idea” and then i looked outside and it was so. fucken dark. and here we are :) i really loved treating it as an exercise in “draw whatever comes to mind, let it be as shitty as possible, just try something” — drawing isn’t something i think of as my strong suit but little doodles sure are fun!

[kadwrites]

the shelby charm | T.S

previous part | next part

or check out the series masterlist

summary ; tommy demonstrates his charm on an unsuspecting girl.

warnings ; idk bad writing? arranged marriage trope, soft!tommy bc hes so babygirl idc,

a/n ; let me know what you guys think! and im so glad you guys are liking this series <3 i genuinely didnt even think id write a second part but here we are ig

-

"she what?" madeline asks with a gasp , her jaw is dropped.fiona froze mid-sip with her eyes wide open

"i know!" you nod , leaning in closer with your arms resting on the dining table. your eyes are wide, and you're laughing, still in disbelief of what happened.

it was around 8 in the morning, madeline and fiona dropped by early, they were too curious and excited to wait any longer.

celest is pacing around the table, with her 1 year old daughter rose , in her arms as she bounces her, shaking her head as if she can't believe it happened. you already told her the whole story, but she's still somehow taken aback

your parents are still asleep, the house is lit by the warm morning sunlight,  the scent of tea and toasted bread wafts around the house.

"she said ya cornered 'er? really?" madeline repeats what you said

"what else did she say to 'im?" fiona asks with a raised brow, she leans in closer as well

"i don't know , he didn't tell me anything besides that" you mutter, taking a bite of your slightly burned toast

"and he drove ya home?" fiona wiggles her brows at you 

"aye , he did. because that aunt of his left me stranded in that fucking office."

"she probably did that on purpose." celest adds with a laugh

"of course she fucking did" you say with a sigh

"he insisted on driving ya home aye?" celest teases , she sits on the table with you, bouncing rose on her lap.

"what kind of man would let a defenseless woman walk alone in the dark streets of birmingham" you resent that it made you feel giddy, you really did. it was just a polite gesture, you tell yourself.

"and what did he say to 'er afterwards?" fiona looks at you intently, too invested in the story to tease you.

"so that woman walks in yeah, and she walks straight to 'im. at that point she hadn't even said a word to me. and asks 'im to sign a fucking paper or something" you tuck a strand behind your ear and bringing your chair closer to the table. "and he says oh so y've met my fiancee ?"

at your words, everyone squeals  and giggles 

"would you shut up? it wasn't like that." you say with a whine, covering your face slightly 

"why else would he say that then?"

"to make 'er jealous? i dont know" you furrow your brows, taking another bite of toast 

"he did it to let 'er know what 'er place is" celest nods as she speaks, her daughter watches all of you , babbling as if adding to the conversation.

"anyways" you wave a dismissive hand "she said that she did and then he tells 'er that i'll be visiting the office often and he'd like 'er make me feel welcomed when hes not around"  you hold back a small smile that threatened to escape you.

it's childish, really. you didn't know the man, hell only a week ago, you hated the sound of his name.

all of them giggle and squeal, again. as if they were school girls

"i bet she cried 'erself to sleep that night" fiona snorts a laugh, sipping her tea 

"did you ask 'im if he's sleeping with 'er?" madeline chimes in

"i did, and he said he wasn't" you shrugged, leaning back on the chair

"and do ya believe 'im?" celest asks, not in a mocking or sarcastic way. she's genuinely curious 

"i think i do?" you sigh, then lick your lips "he seemed honest enough i guess? he hardly seems like the kind of man that would give two fucks if he hurt my feelings so i doubt he'd lie about it for my sake"

"but isn't he a bit of a whore?" fiona's draw together as she looks at celest then back at you 

"he is but what im saying is i don't think there's any reason for 'im to lie, its not like we're in love or anything" you rest your chin on you hand, 

"ask polly" celest is still holding her daughter, feeding her small pieces of bread "that woman knows everything" she mutters 

"and say what? hello mrs gray, would ya please tell me if your nephew is fucking his secretary?"

before any one else could talk , a knock on the door makes all of you go quiet , you looked at celest and clicked your tongue "ya just had to say 'er name didn't ya?"

alas , when you opened the door it wasn't polly gray's smirk that greeted you , but the icy blue eyes of her nephew.

"thomas" you're almost dumbfounded, your mouth slightly opened, you blink a couple of times. 

"y/n."

his voice was slightly deeper than you remember, or maybe it was the trance that made it seem that way.

"what are you doing here?" you tilt your head.

behind you, fiona and madeline are trying to snag a peek, you can hear their muttering but you hope he doesn't 

"i would like ya to come by the office today,"

"why?" you stare at him, he's standing on your doorstep, in his suit, coat, and infamous hat.

"there are some things we need to go over."

you then realize that he's been standing on your doorstep, you step back, opening the door "im sorry, come in."

you hear the footsteps of madeline and fiona they scurry up the stairs, celest hides in the kitchen

you walk him back to the living room, and he sits down on the sofa "ya had company over?"

you look back at the dining table, then at him

"sort of."

"who?"

"some friends"

he humms and nods, still looking at you, but that tension is broken when you hear the sound of rose babbling, you look down and shes crawling on the floor.

she probably escaped while celest was too busy eavesdropping 

he looks at her as well , "who's baby is this?"

you bend down to pick her up, and she giggles "she's rose, my sisters daughter."

you just smile at her, as she stares back at tommy then back at you, as if asking you who that man is

he stands up, his finger grazes her cheek "she looks a lot like you."

you humm, looking at her "because i look like celest"

"may i?" he asks you as he looks at her

you hesitate, rose is a fussy baby. "she's really fussy."

"i'll give 'er back if she cries."

you let him pick her up, and he just stares back at her for a while before you see his dimples peek through. "i think shes too shocked to even cry" he mumbles 

you watch, you're both amused and mesmerized "me and 'er both."

he looks at you "what? i thought ya knew that i 'ave a son."

"i did, but i didn't know you were the baby carrying kind of dad."

"i carry 'im whenever i can."

whenever i can , you forgot how much his work probably takes away. from him and his son.

he's so gentle with her though, as she looks at him inquisitively, curiously grabbing onto his coat. he takes off the hat and drops it on the sofa, so she wouldn't cut herself.

"can you hold 'er while i go change?"

"i think i can manage, just don't be too long" 

you hurry and go up the stairs, so she wouldn't notice your absence and cry. and at the top of the stairs, you're greeted with the faces of fiona and madeline as they try to hold back their squeals 

"shhhh!!" you put a finger against your lips and push them into your room 

they start silently squealing, if there is such a thing "he is such a dish."

"oh my god, oh my god"

"did ya see 'im holding rose? that was such a domestic moment between you two, i bet youre already falling for 'im aye?" fiona is almost vibrating with excitement 

"shut up." you mutter as you change your clothes "im tired of this family's surprise visits." you turn to the vanity, fixing your hair, putting on some makeup.

"look at 'er, rushing to look good for 'er fiance" fiona teases 

"or maybe it's for that pesky secretary? to show 'er that he's 'yours' ?" madeline wiggles her brows

"when i said that the novel you two read was ruining you, this is what i meant" you mumble as you put your lipstick down, and grabbing a pair of pearl earrings, they'll probably do.

you grab a coat from the closet and walk out ,ignoring the teasing noises of your friends. you hear rose's laugh and you just smile instinctively as you make your way down. when you reach the doorway, you see him throwing her in the air, not too high though just enough to get her to laugh.

"ah i see y've won 'er over." you walk closer, standing before him "so this is the shelby charm , then?"

a soft smile takes over his lips "she's easily impressed."

you reach for her, and he gives her back to you. 

"ya can go to the car now, i'll just go put 'er in the crib."

he nods , taking his hat and putting it back on as he walks out of the house.

"you can come out now!" you call for celest and she rushes out of the kitchen and grabs her daughter 

"what's with the smile?" she asks you with a knowing look 

"what ? can't i smile without you lot thinking im in love with 'im now?" you turn around and walk to the door, putting your shoes on. you didn't even know you were still smiling.

celest just lets out a laugh, as she bounces rose

"say what ya want, i know ya better than ya think i do."

you glare at her before leaving the house and walking to the car, you see him leaning against it before walking and opening the passenger door for you.

you get in the car, and a moment later he does too, and you pray to whoever is looking over you that this car ride won't be awkward.

-

@tardisloverz , @optimisticsandwichgladiator , @theshelbyslimited , @illuminwtesz

[goomyloid]

What was your process for making the Noelle amv, if you don't mind sharing?

hii! im not sure how eloquently or clearly ill be able to explain it but i definitely have some pictures you can look at!

(the video)

i actually got the idea while i was away on a trip with very limited wifi -- it wasn't Trust Me that i got an AMV idea for first, but instead it was one of 4syu's other songs, There's Nobody. for such a happy sounding song it really made me so sad, to the point where if i tried to sing it to myself id get choked up by the chorus LMAO. it was baddd

but basically i was rapidly trying to find both songs on spotify so i could listen to them offline, and it only took me a few loops of Trust Me and thinking about the original MV to make me go "ohhhh. how can i make this about noelle." And so i did .

i was thinking about doing a storyboard, but in the past, i've found that doing storyboards for animations/AMVs lowkey... kills my motivation altogether... SAD... but i saw the whole video so clearly in my head, and i didnt want to make the same mistake i made before... so i went right to doing quick sketches (while still on my trip...) just so i could get the ideas out of my head

i was torn on what to do with my style at the time, whether i wanted to make it more similar to the original video, or to her canon appearance, or to MY style and how i draw her. i think it kind of ended up as an amalgamation of all three...? at the very least, her light world color palette definitely was more bland and desaturated, like i purposefully wasn't trying to do anything special with her colors.

after that point, and getting maybe a few of the actual drawings done, my motivation crashed again, and i left it all to marinate for nearly a week. it was baking, guys, it wasn't abandoned, listen to me, why are you throwing tomatoes at me,

i had up to about the "I dreamed about that again" animation done and stopped, and it wasn't until i decided to sit down and start editing it anyway that i really got in my groove again. i got all my little assets into a workable state so i could really try to sit down and make the video come to life and all

the really fun part was honestly working on the desktop backgrounds. i really wanted to limit colorpicking from the original video as much as possible, but i decided that making look as similar as possible to the original could help with the contrast i wanted to add later.

i drew these two backgrounds first. i was hoping i could somehow fit the bunker into the second one, but decided to do something different anyway. the second one's ui didn't actually change until later in the editing process.

drawing THESE were fun especially, and im happy with how they came out. i think the dark world icons are really cute still. one thing i really did know i wanted to do from the beginning was to turn the soul/undertale icon into the deltarune one.

i was worried if the shift from the Windows Field Background to the dark world would be too sudden, like you would just blink and suddenly it was all different, but i think it ended up all right...?

the not so fun part was drawing all the different boxes, lmao. it go really tedious by the end, so i tried to reuse as many of the same ones as i could.

a lot of copy-pasting and tracing rectangles for sure.

i also had to make sure the animations didnt Suck. i brute forced those things and used every last braincell i had in order to make those pictures move bros

fun fact. ive never animated hair like this before. or in any complex manner really. i had to use sooo much brain here... heres how it started vs. how it ended up

had my animator gf hype me up thru the whole thing... i was having a great time based on the filenames alone

aaaand then ummmm i edited it. i learned after effects like 1 month ago. never touched it before. i learned it for internship purposes and then used my newfound powers for evil it seems

i split the whole thing up into multiple compositions of course, but i probably could have split things up more... im sorry for having 84 layers on comp 3 its not my fault

editing a video in 12 fps was a fun change though -- very easy for my brain to go frame-by-frame, and yet still some of the timing ended up being off... tis the goomy way

like i said before, i started editing when i barely had half the drawings done, but seeing it all start to be in motion really pushed me to finish it up. and i mean Really. like i finished the whole thing maybe 48 hours after i first started editing.

and...i think that's it? i do a lot of discord art streaming to friends lately but i kinda kept this one more under wraps compared to usual, i think i just wanted to surprise everyone... look guys i remembered how to make a video! and it's three minutes! waow

sorry if this is way more than you asked for LMAO

also, the AMV hit 5k views on youtube today! ive never had a video do well like that so quickly! thank you!!

[aloneatpeace]

  𝙰𝙿𝙾𝙲𝙰𝙻𝚈𝙿𝚃𝙸𝙲 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳

         MR. JANSON '10'

.→✒️:★: ͜͡✿͜͡ →. Sorry for the long wait guys. I hope you're having a good time wherever you are and have fun reading.

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The sound of gun firing wake you all up with jin’s hands still in yours the guards assure everyone inside the guards shoot down the what you could hear and see understand is people who affected by the flare.

Once you all made inside the building the door closes, there people inside walking around guns strapped and working.

You’re all then pushed into a room making everyone yell in protest the room id dark and the door closed behind you.

Someone latch on to you “hey whoever is touch me back off” their arms wrapping around your waist, head on your shoulders.

“it’s your jimin” a giggle soon coming from him when he feels your hands on top his.

Seokjin sigh “jimin leave the girl alone. HEY! who kicked me? who was it?”

Taehyung wince “sorry I thought you’re jimin”

“Wait! do you guys’ smell that??” yoongi asks

“it’s the sweat and tears” hoseok answers

Yoongi sniffs again “no its something sweet…. Like food”

Theo who stumbling around finds the switch and turning on his mouth falls open at the variety of food on long table.

Your stomach grumble when you see the food, you push jimin away making him give you offended look when you directly make your way towards the food the boys also run towards the food devouring everything, they get their hands on.

The feasting ends with an ultimate food fight with jin screaming at everyone who throw the foods yoongi had pocketed few tangerines sneakily.

Now you all lay down or sitting down “the thing, the creatures back there is the people who affected by the virus isn’t it?” jimin asks

“The women ava, called them cranks. The flare is the virus what caused them to be like this. She experiments on us to find a cure” Theo explains

Your jaw clenches “maybe as scientist her method is right but it’s wrong to experimenting on immune kids”

“Scientist scares me” jimin said shivering.

“People without morals” yoongi adds

“The name is fitting. wicked” hoseok join in.

The door opens and a man came up with a smile on his face “you guys doing alright? Sorry about all that fuss. We had ourself a bit of swarm.” He is an older looking guy wearing turtle neck paired with jacket.

“Who are you?” yoongi asks

The guys still have smile on his face despite yoongi cold demeaner “I’m the reason you’re all alive. It’s my intention to keep you that way. Now come with me. We’ll get you kids squared away.”

Yoongi and hoseok take the lead as the rest of you follow them, jimin and taehyung on each side.

“You can call me Mr. Janson. I run this place. For us it is a sanctuary, safe from the horrors of the outside world. You all should think of it as a way station. Kind if home between homes.”

“That mean you’re taking us home?” hoseok asks

 “A home of sorts.” He turns to glance back before continuing “sadly there wouldn’t much left of whatever you came from. But we do have a place for you. A refuge, outside the scorch, where WICKED will never find you again. How does that sound?”

The guys exchange a wary look suspicious of the guy “why are you helping us?” yoongi question the man.

“Let just say the world out there is in rather precarious situation. We’re all hanging on by a very thin thread. The fact that you kids can survive the flare virus makes you the best chance of humanity’s continued survival. Unfortunately, it also makes you a target, as no doubt by now you’re noticed. Behind this door lies the beginning of your new lives. First thing first let’s do something about that smell”

He door that he had opened stretched out into that of a similar hallway making you hesitant.

After shower you were given new clothes and taken to a lab, they had hoseok run in treadmill while checking his heart rate Mr. Janson had taken Theo to have a talk.

 All of their blood was collected, yoongi and jin plainly refused to get anything else checked or done to their body. Jimin sits beside you in the bed chatting up. A few smiles he was able to get from you.

“I don’t like this” yoongi starts his voice low only jin could hear him.

“Yeah. But we don’t have choice” jin sighs

“Yeah, we do. We can get out here” taehyung voice chime in hoseok just behind him.

“You saw what is out there. We can’t go out without their help”

Hoseok crosses his arms frowning at jin words “Yes, we can. All we need some guns and food. We can maybe ask them or steal form them”

“I know, you guys feel like you can’t trust someone but we don’t have a choice in this one” jin softly said.

Yoongi shakes his head “why didn’t they come to the glade though, they had armor and everything need fight the griever they could have saved all of us, they could have saved…Namjoon…jungkook. “

A heavy silence falls over them, no one says anything the silence was broken when jimin come in “you guys alright?”

“Yeah, why are you alone? Where is she?” jin is the first one to speak up.

“A lady doc came in, and she kicked me out, so she can check on her.” he answers. They see the doctor draw the curtains and your figure hidden behind it from their view.

“Hey, guys come along with me” A new voice said from behind them.

You doctor is getting done with your examination when Janson came in with apologetic face.

“May I speak a word with her? it won’t take too long” he said looking at the doc she nods and step out the space.

“I’m sorry for interpreting. But I was hoping we wight get a moment to chat in private, before you can be with your friends again.”

You say nothing allowing him to continue “what do you remember about WICKED? You’re not in trouble. We’re just having conversation. I’m just trying to understand”

 “Understand what?”

“Whose side are you on?”

Looking upwards you sit little straight “I remember I used to work for WICKED. I don’t know why I even work with them. I remember that they sent me into the maze. I remember watching the boys die in front of me, I couldn’t even help them in any way. I’m on their side, I am with them”

Janson mind drift to plan B when you concluded your words with firm voice eyes intensely staring at him.

“Do you remember anything else anyone else?” the question was strange in some way making you frown.

“Theo, I only remember him. We used to work with the WICKED”

“Interesting, you say you work for WICKED, but they sent you into the maze. Why would they send you?’.”

“I don’t know. maybe you should’ve asked them before you killed them all.”

He lips curls up in smile “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Enjoy the rest of your stay.”

When Janson steps out, he sends a knowing look to the doctor she nods in understanding. The women step in with a smile “alright one last shot and you’re out of here”

“I thought we’re done. What is this for?” under your watch full eyes you see her getting a needle and unlabeled vial from the closed tray.

“it’s just a shot to keep your hormones balance, after that you can join them” she said with smile ready to inject.

The hesitation lingers but you let her insert the needle into your arms.

The boys wait for you to come back while chatting with the other boys its crazy to think that they were not the only maze and you are not the only girl to exist.

 But yoongi is disturbed to say the least, if the guys saved the other maze why didn’t they come to save them. they could have saved everyone in their maze when they killed the wicked.

Yoongi does not trust the man at all, something about the Janson guy screams evil.

“Good evening gentlemen, ladies” speak of the devil, yoongi eyes narrowed at male who just entered.

“You all know how this works, if you hear your name called, please rise in an orderly fashion, join my colleagues behind me where they will escort you to the eastern wing. Your new lives are about to begin.”

 With a scattered applause they smile at Jason’s words, one by one the names get called.

“Don’t get discouraged. If I could take more, I would. there’s always tomorrow. Your time will come.” Janson closes the clipboard and starts to stride out.

“Where are they going?” hoseok voices.

“Far from here.” The boy said with a sad face and turns around “lucky bastards “

“Some kind of farm. A safe place. They can only take in couple of people at the time.

Jimin glancing around waiting for you frowns when he you don’t show up, but something else catch his eyes.

He says your name out loud making the boys at the table turns to them, “isn’t that the doctor who checking her? where is she now?”

the boys see the doctor walking with tow guards and also looking down few times as if she is checking something.

They stood up quickly, yoongi treads faster calling the doctor while jimin yells your name asking where you are.

They were stopped before they could get out.

“We just wanna ask about our friend” seokjin calmly declared.

“Your friend is fine; she is properly being taken care of off” the guard answered.

“Is she okey?” jimin asks worriedly while yoongi glare at the man suspecting something. 

“She is fine.” yoongi says but he doesn't believe it himself for some reason.

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Janson enters the room with an iPad and he is welcomed with enraged eyes shooting death glare at the man, Janson smug smile irritating as always.

“How are you feeling now…

 Namjoon?”

Namjoon who is now sitting in a cell with a surgical knife in his hand covered in blood beside him lay dead body of guards and the doctors.

“Oh, you know just thinking about how I should kill you” he grins darkly.

When he got taken by the griever, he thought that was his end, but it wasn’t. he was straight delivered to the WICKED. they had transferred him because of Ava Paige decision as they realized you and the other might escape the maze rather soon. And they were right you all did.

Then it was decided that Namjoon will memory would be erased and then he would send back to maze again. He waited and pretended to be weak, helpless until he was nursed to his health. When the day process came, he let his pent-up anger lose resulting in bloody massacre, he knows that he’s valuable that they can’t shot him an advantage that he used to survive but he also knows that he can’t keep this act for long as well.

“Well, sorry to disappoint you but that not going to happen any soon. What is going to happen is that you would come with me, and we will send you back to the maze”

Namjoon scoff “what makes you think that, I would listen to you” 

“Because we have her” Janson flips the iPad and Namjoon heart drop to his stomach when she sees you laying on the bed with iv attached. “Well not just her, we have everyone here” he swipes the screen and see yoongi, jimin, taehyung, hoseok and seokjin and other Gladers walking in line with a guard showing them a way to their room.

Jungkook?

“Oh, you must be confused about jungkook. Well, he got shot”

What? how did that happened? He’s lying. All they do is lie.

Namjoon feels like he’s about cry at same time he’s going to murder someone his train of thought cut off when Janson speak again.

“He was dead practically but we were able to save his life. Right now, he’s in the same room as her”

Namjoon finally breathes out a relief breathe, his legs feel shakey hands too. The heart beating out of his chest slowing ever so slightly nonetheless he calms down a bit.

“Throw the weapon away, and cooperate we will let you see her. you know Ava wants her back this might your last chance.” With that Janson slowly step out the room.

Namjoon, know he doesn’t have any other choice, he lets the bloody surgical knife fall and with Shakey legs he steps out and when he steps out, he sees Janson with guards and the lady doc that he tried to kill when she was trying to wipe his memories. the women hands grip her coat when she sees his hatred glare.

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“I could get used to this” Winston said laying on comfy bed.

Yoongi frown sitting down at the bed the sound of locking doors unsettles him further. When the time to sleep yoongi lies awake unable to shut his eyes and mind.

The rattling sounds making him sit up looking around a whisper from under reach his ears

“Down here.” Looking under the bed yoongi see a boy the only they talked about Harris crawling in the vent. “Come on follow me.”

“What?” he whispers with his eyebrow raised in confusion when he gets no answer, he follows him down the vent.

“Hurry this way. Come on”

“Wait a second. what the hell are we doing” yoongi hiss.

“Come on, we’re gonna miss it.”

Yoongi finally catches up to Aris and sees him look down through the opening of the vent he motions yoongi to come closer “watch”

After a few seconds yoongi hears footsteps and the doctor who had been taking care of you come into his vision with a medical carrier rolling behind her. she swipes the ID and open the door to a room yoongi watches various carrier rolled into the room.

“What the hell was that?”

“They bring in new ones every night like clockwork”

“You know what they do with them?” yoongi asks him with dread filling his mind

“I don’t know. this is as far as I’ve ever gotten. The vents don’t even go into the section. But once they go through that door, they don’t come back out.” Aris hesitate for a moment “ I don’t think anybody ever leaves this place come on. We’ve gotta go before somebody notice we are gone.”

“Why did you show me this?” yoongi asks the lingering question before they depart.

“Because maybe the others will listen to you. there is something weird going around here. And I know you think so too “Aris answer yoongi look down the vent again Aris bites his lips thinking whether he tell him what he saw “And your friend the girl, she not in her room, I crawl past their section but she’s known where to be found”

Yoongi eyes widen in fear and confusion “what do you mean?”

“I think she might be somewhere like this” Aris meekly said seeing the males glare even though he knows it’s not directed at him but your situation.

Aris turns and crawl back yoongi break out of his trance “what your name?”

“Aris” with that Aris leave quickly leaving yoongi with a storm in his mind.

Yoongi returns back to his bed successfully without waking anyone up, laying in his bed his mind race with questions. Where are you? what is going on here exactly? Were you hurt? Did they do something to you. yoongi think he should keep the new your current unknow situation to him if he tells that his it would only end in chaos nothing good will come out of it. he should think smartly about what he should do next.  

On the next day its again the time Janson calling out the selected boys and girls names, yoongi eyes fixed on the male with fiercely. The group was sitting silent unknown to what going on yoongi’s mind, everyone was startled when he gets fast pacing after Janson and the people, they watch yoongi nonchalantly try to blend in behind the called people but is stopped by the guard.

“Hang on. You weren’t called.”

“I know, I’m just gonna be a second” he tries to move but again was pushed a little away by the guard.

“This is a restricted area, kid.”  Behind the boys get up and walk towards yoongi when they see him get pushed around by the guards. 

“I just wanna see my friend. Can you let me through?”

The guard jab a finger against his chest “get your ass back in that chair” yoongi turns and see his friends just few steps away he quickly turns and try to run past the guard. They push him hard making yoongi angered he push the guard back yelling.

“Why won’t you let me see her?” the boys gather around yoongi holding him back just then Janson comes running.

“Yoongi, I thought we could trust each other.” Janson put his hands on yoongi shoulder “you know we’re all on the same team here”

“Are we?”

Janson lips pressed into thin line not liking the way yoongi eyes started down at him “get them to their bung”

The guard pushed them into their bung seokjin turns to yoongi “what the hell yoongi! Are you out of your mind?” jin hands wildly move as he speaks.

“Did you think they are gonna let you through?” hoseok asks crossing his arms

Yoongi shakes his head taking out the ID “Nah, of course I didn’t”

“What is going on?” jimin asks

“I don’t know but I’m going to find out be prepared for anything” the boys share confused glance “I need you guys to trust me on this, okey. Please you have to trust me”

Taehyung nod first “We do” he glances among his friends, and they slowly nod making yoongi sigh in relief.

Series masterlist

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@elliott-calls @cerulean1riz

[parkerdoeswriting]

Walking Back Home

(Peter Parker x GN Reader)

category: fluff (?) oneshot

summary: Spider-Man has been making sure no one bothers you on your walks home. 

warnings: kinda stalking??? but not stalking stalking (Peter is your best friend and has no other intentions then admiring his crush from afar and making sure you get home safely

word count: 961

A/N: wrote this with TASM!Peter in mind, but works for any which one i guess

It’s dark outside the streets of NYC as you pass streetlights and closed shops. You had been studying with Peter all day and were now walking home. It was quite a cold night, shivering in your thin zip up hoodie as you made your way. Your eyes darted around to make sure there weren’t any individuals following you, your hands clutching onto the straps of your backpack. 

You swear you can hear a quiet THWIP behind you, causing you to look around again for the cause of the noise. That’s when you see a dart of a familiar red and blue suit in the corner of your eye, the suit of an individual that’s been “secretly” following you all week long. You roll your eyes, knowing that the individual is quite relatively harmless, the protector of New York’s citizens. You’ve grown to like him, which is weird considering he doesn’t have an actual face. 

Without thinking, you swing into the nearest alleyway, ducking behind a garbage can, hatching a plan so you can have a talk with the infamous Spiderman. 

To your satisfaction, he had looked into the alleyway from up above and hadn’t seen you, causing him to land in the alleyway and wonder where you went. He looks around for you, turning his back on where you were hidden. 

You swiftly grab a textbook from your bag, using it as a defense against the stranger in the alley. You tiptoe towards the figure, textbook armed, ready to strike. The man swings around quickly, almost like he’d known you’d do that, using his webs to disarm you.

“Woah woah woah” he puts his hands up as if to surrender to you. 

“Who are you?!” you shout at him, spooked from his webs. 

“S-Spiderman!” he replies, staying calm. 

“Why do you keep following me?” your brows furrow as you speak.

“Uh I- I don’t know what you mean” he tries to act nonchalant, his hand going up to scratch his neck. 

“All week you’ve followed me when I’m walking outside, don’t act like you haven’t!” you huff, crossing your arms. 

“Fine… fine! I have been following you” he says nervously. 

“Why?!” you exclaim.

“Because I- I like you and I want to make sure you’re safe” he confesses, stumbling over his words. 

Your eyes widen as you feel the heat rushing to your face, his confession shocking you to your core. The Spiderman likes- you? You stare at him in disbelief, your mouth hanging open.

“Anyways- this is awkward” Spiderman adds, laughing awkwardly, backing away slightly. 

“You… you like- me?” You say slowly, making sure you fully understood what he said. 

He nods slowly, fidgeting a bit as he waits for response. 

“Why?” you cock your eyebrow, taking a step forward. 

“Well ah- you’re cool and very- nice looking and-” he stops his sentence, nervously scratching his neck again.

You feel yourself smiling uncontrollably, looking down at your feet. 

“Sorry, this is probably really weird, having Spider-Man confessing this to you” he laughs softly. 

“I kinda like you too” you blurt out, blushing softly. 

Now it’s Spider-Man’s turn to look shocked, or as much shocked someone with a mask covering their face can look. 

“Don’t act like that, you’re gonna make me nervous” you frown playfully. 

He laughs again, rocking back and forth on his feet as he looks at you. 

“Nice” he replies nervously, giving me a thumbs up. 

“Nice?” Now it’s your turn to laugh, rubbing your face with your hands as you do. 

“I mean- uh” he stumbles, trying to find words. 

Your phone rings in your pocket, your hand dishes it out so you can look at the caller id. 

It’s your mum. 

“Shit” you curse under your breath, answering the phone as you notice it’s past the time you said you’d be home. 

“Hi mum” you say with the sweetest voice you can muster, staring into Spider-Man’s comically wide eyes. 

“Where are you? Are you okay?” she asks nervously on the other line. 

“Yes yes, sorry, me and Pete got caught up in studying” you respond. 

You can see Spiderman head perk up when you say this, but you don’t pay it much mind. 

“Okay, please hurry up okay?” she says. 

“Mhm, see you soon” you smile into your phone, kissing the speaker before hanging up. 

You and him awkwardly exchange glances for a while, smiling softly. 

“Um, if you want, I can swing you home?” He suggests, stepping close towards you. 

“If you don’t mind!!” You respond eagerly, pulling up your address on your phone, showing him. 

He nods eagerly as his arm snakes around your waist, your hands subconsciously wrapping around his neck. 

“Hang on, it’s my first time doing this” he says, aiming his arm up. 

“What do you mean it’s your f-!” you begin to say, getting interrupted by your scream as he shoots up. 

You instinctively grasp onto his neck tighter, burying your face into the crook of his neck. Internally screaming as your stomach does flips, you can feel Spider-Man’s arm wrapping tighter around your waist protectively. 

After a few minutes of swinging, you both carefully land in another alleyway around your house. You take a deep breath as your feet finally touch the ground, making eye contact with Spider-Man once again. 

“Thanks” you smile, holding onto your backpack straps. 

“No problem” he says, rubbing his neck again. 

You look towards the opening on the alley way before looking back to him, giving him a swift kiss on his masked cheek before heading for the exit. 

“Find me soon!” You shout back at him, waving as you disappear into the night. 

As you vanish from sight, he rips off his mask. Spiderman smiles widely, or rather, Peter Parker smiles widely.

[spadescrewcoining]

[ID: Four flags with the same stripe width of Thick, Thin, Thinner, Thin, Thick, Thin, Thinner, Thin, Thick.

The first flags stripes are Mint, Dark Grey, Light blue, Dark Grey, Light blue then mirrored. It has two sets of four white hexagons one in the top left one in the bottom right. It has a simplistic clipboard and pen in the center in Greyish blue.

The second flags is nearlt identical to the first but the hexagons have moved to the top right and bottom left of the flag and the center icon is two grey bandaids in a cross shape.

The third flags stripes are Dark red, Dark Grey, Light Red, Dark Grey, Light Red then mirrored. It has the same two sets of hexagons as the first flag with a bloody scapel in the middle.

The forth is nearly the same as the third with the hexagons moved same as the second flag and the Dark Grey stripes have been changed to a light red-brown. End ID]

Experimental Attraction: An attraction that described the desire to do some form of experimentation on another similar to studial attraction but instead of idily studying and learning from a distance to change another to see how they react to strange stimulus

Subject Attraction: An attraction that describes the desire to be experimented on by another to be changed and altered, to be the Experimenters subject of fascination

Flag meaning: I honestly just associate those colors with medical institutions and the middle stripes resemble a medical mask while unnecessary for all experiments kind of fun the hexagons another thing I associate with science and another way to differentiate if the flag is for the Experimenter or Subject

Surgiment Attraction: Surgical Experimental Attraction

A: Desire to add or remove body parts

B: See what they can survive without

C: Turn them into something else

And probably more just some examples

Surgect Attraction: Surgical Subject Attraction desire to have your physical form surgically changed/experimented on by another

Flag meaning: Mostly just made it more gorey to fit how messy surgical experimentation can be but the changed stripes on the Subject are to look more like scars

I have wanted to coin this for months now and was going to change the flags up a bit at suggestion of @redacted-coiner but simply never got around to it but I want to share it and get it out into the world

Again while similar to Studial attraction of being a more "scientific" attraction it's more akin to a scientist and a lab rat than someone videoing behaviors of a lion in the wild

1: These terms do not support doing any experiments on another without consent

2: These terms do not support doing any experiment on another that could lead to mental, physical or other harm to another person

3: You find a nonharmful, consentual way to do something? Have fun

4: We are traumaendo this term was originally thought of for our Medic tf2 and SCP-049 fictives and our very likely to exist octive if you are antiendo make your own term

I think I planned at some point to make one for subjecting someone to extreme isolation but if it's not out in a week anyone can grab it

@tertiary-attraction-archive

[mxiaogod]

— 13. [TERCEIRA] MIKASA ACKERMAN AU X FEM! AFAB READER

Warnings : OLDER MIKASA! Infidelity, lap dance, masturbation, gun play, drinking, NSFW (DNI IF YOU AREN’T 18+)

A/N: I'd fist fight that bitch eren for this mf.

— Your phone rings for the third time, buzzing on your pillow beside your head as you watch your husband get ready for work, you catch a glimpse of the caller ID, Mikasa, sending a pleasurable zap down the length of your spine. Your husband was an influential person, and bodyguards were not new to you, you had gone through a lot of them before your husband deemed you were relevant enough to assign you one of the Ackermans, the finest in their league.

"Who's calling you? " He inquires, and you respond, "Book club, I was scheduled to go today but I'm feeling under the weather," with a sickeningly sweet grin. You weren’t supposed to be in contact with her, you both signed an NCA, your husband was the only one who got to make calls.

You answer the phone on the third ring, "It's your day off today," you say low, your voice tinged with feigned displeasure. You turn your back on your spouse, facing the other side of the room, enough to allow you privacy for your conversation. "I'm aware," she responded.

“Why do you keep calling?” You hushed, “Hm, why do you keep answering?” She retorted with a low laugh and you blanked.

“Come on, are you really going to put me off again? You get like this every time.” She said, her voice strained and annoyed. “We both know you’re going to cave in for me, every fucking time.” She adds.

“Stop-” Before you could process a response, she spoke again. “Your husband is in the room with you, isn’t he?”

"Yes." You kept your response brief. "I'm guessing you told him it was book club? " She chuckled at your revelation, before you heard shuffling around, and she said, "I'll do the talking then? I feel like reminiscing today, shall we? " You didn't get the chance to disagree because she continued speaking.

"Do you realize how much I miss you? " She stops and takes a deep breath. "I'll never forget the third day of working for you, baby." You sat up on the bed, phone buried between your ears and shoulders.

You hum as a response as you pick the scab on your nails. “It happened so fast, don't you remember? You snuck off on me, went to a club and I found you, I always will.”

“After I found you, you looked so- carefree, so I sat down with you and played three rounds of black jack with you, I kept winning and in exchange you gave me a lap dance.” You hear ice clink against a glass, she’s drinking, you figured. “The most unforgettable and expensive lap dance of my life.” You remembered, vividly even, she was going to take it easy on you and make you win, but after you had tipsily offered her a lap dance as a joke, she made it her life goal to win against you.

"Do you want a lap dance from me? " You mumbled tipsily, giggling like a schoolgirl. Mikasa glanced at you, resting on the velvet sofa of the vip area, you thanked your husband for the ridiculous panty dropper uniforms your body guards wore, tailored suits and ties, her combat boots seeming mismatched against the red carpeted flooring of the club, inked skin protruding out of her unbuttoned dress shirt and rolled up sleeves.

"Sure" she played off, pretending she was cool but on the inside, she never realized winning black jack by card counting could feel so rewarding.

You placed your pointer finger on the side of your lips, thinking. “Oh! But it’s going to cost you.” you exclaimed, and she scoffed, a smirk painting her lips.

“I don’t know sweet girl, seems a little unfair to me, considering you owe me 500 dollars after losing.”

“But I’ll take your offer.” She said, lithe fingers loosening her tie, her short dark hair messily framing her face after losing her mind searching for you. Pouty lips so kissable as she wets them with her tongue, silver glinting against the mundane lights.

The already sensual music helped you figure the flow of your body, a satin dress a tad bit short for your milky thighs tested Mikasa’s self control. She was a very patient woman, but you, you were her doom, her divinity.

You grinded on her lap, kissed her neck even and pulled away taking a lungful of oxygen away from her. You swayed your body along to the music that made Mikasa snap. You were so beautiful, the epitome of her downfall.

She lost three grand that night, all because you were so demanding, but she was willing to give you any money you wanted for your dance to last as long as she wanted before giving in to her desires.

You were bare, laying on the cold glass center table in no time, pierced tongue flicking against your clit, the cold ball enhancing the pleasure of her pointed tongue bringing tears to your eyes. Dulcet moans bouncing against the velvet walls, your warm palm clutching a bundle of her hair, the pull making her hiss. 

She stands up, running her gaze from your face, before dropping her head down and sucking your nipples until they’re so swollen and drenched with her saliva, your lip is caught between your teeth, red and inviting.

She untucks the gun from her waistband, before placing the cold barrel on the under of your jaw and your eyes immediately widen.

“No fingers for you yeah? Only my gun, this is for running away from me, bad girls don’t deserve my fingers.” The cold barrel dragging along the center of your body, to your sternum down to your navel, before making contact with your swollen clit. 

Drenched in your own fluid, the contrast of the cold barrel and the searing pleasure on your clit made you gasp, and pull away, but Mikasa’s free arm was wrapped around the plush of your thigh, preventing you from running away.

“Shh” She cooes, as she lubricates the muzzle with your wetness, dripping down and webbing on your skin, onto the glass table.

“Gonna fuck this pussy until s’ the shape of my gun.”

She retells the entire ordeal exactly how it went down, from the scent you were wearing, down to  the brand of your clothing and heels.

You'd already transferred to the guest room, swiftly sliding your chemise up your breast and shoving your hand down your lace underwear, fingers feverishly pressing on your clit, but it was pointless; Mikasa was the only one who could do it, not even your husband.

It was as if she had branded you, as if she owned you. You were untouchable while under Mikasa Ackerman's care, and that made you feel privileged and treasured.

Your tiny gasps engulfs Mikasa’s ears as she takes a long drag of her cigarette, “Aw baby, are you touching yourself? Let me hear it.” She urges, and you let your moans escape freely, it’s like she can feel your hot pants of breaths ghosting the shell of her ears.

“Come on love, you can do it, yeah? Make yourself come for me.” And you circle your clit even faster, one finger entering the warmth of your pussy. Mikasa swore she could get to you in three minutes tops despite being far away from you, the squelches of your pussy resounding against the speaker of her phone was like a piece of meat on a stick, taunting her.

“Du klingst so schön.” She mutters, voice raspy and low, it sends pleasure straight down your clit making you bite down on the lace hem of your chemise, back arching as you cum, making your brain fuzzy and warm, toes digging on the linen of the bed.

“Good girl, there we go.”

“The thought of your body makes my brain blank, meine Liebe. No thoughts, only desire and the pain of waiting.”

You gasp, chest caving in and out you can almost feel it collapsing from the euphoria. You loved the thrill of the rush with Mikasa, it makes you feel at liberty, so unfettered.

“I’ll see you again, on Wednesday, until then, use one of your bitch girls to pleasure you or something." You pant out, voice barely above whisper despite your moans earlier, your cheeks painted crimson by the act you had just committed. 

"Or something" she breaths.

"'None of them are you, so none of them matters." She whispers under her breath, your heart thudding, you hold a hand out to it, as if it's going to stop it from beating too fast and loud until Mikasa could hear it.

You digress.

“And stop calling me, we’re going to get caught, if you do, I’ll block you, and change numbers.” you follow up. “Are you threatening me?” She asks, humor intertwining with her raspy voice. 

“That isn’t a threat, it’s a promise, Ackerman.” You reply, fighting back a smile on your face, you knew you were too boneless to do that to her.

“Don’t bother blocking my number princess.”

She pauses for a minute, silence deafening, replacing the sound of her voice with ringing against your ear.

“We both know you’ll always answer on the third ring.” Terceira.

[seirindono]

How do you happen to do your shading id you don't mind sharing? Its so subtle and soft that you can't tell its there but it really helps highlight the characters

Phew, finally got some time on my hand to answer this one! It's a fairly simple/fast process so I figured I'd make a tuto once I'd get started on the shading for the next part, and here we are!

Alright so, we've got the panel (lazy screenshots cuz I'll never finish this if I have to export everytime ahah)

The advantage of digital art is that I don't have to think about color harmonies right from the start, I can always add filters and fiddle with the hues at any stage, so I just apply base colors at first and draw the background (it will help me build up a palette for the shadows later).

Okay, now the fun really begins. First I need to know which direction my shadows are likely to go and what atmosphere I want for the panel (which element I want to highlight? palette idea? etc). A sketch is enough to establish your intentions. Sometimes I'll mess up the lighting but it's okay to cheat if it looks coherent enough xD

(Patreons exclusive, shhh)

Now to create palette and apply the said shadows. I have a hand made one for TMS, but I had to make a special one for Ebott since there's a lot bg and kinda heavier atmosphere (I'll prbly have to make one for each part frow now on too hm). It's mostly made up of blues and greens (no black or greys here, but it can be fun to use in other styles! Purple too, so have fun!)

(My configuration - Produit=multiply?)

There, cast shadows (clothes, faces, folds, etc.) are roughly in place and looking sharp! Maybe a little bit too sharp actually... Let's smooth all that up

I use an airbrush eraser to soften a few shadows. Not necessarily all of them or the whole shape, you have to find the right balance of soft/sharp.

Now to spice things up a bit-

On a layer linked to the shadow layer, I add a lighter color that matches my light source or the environnement. Here it's a light blue, but in part VII I used a lot of orange (sun)! It makes the shadow much richer and the whole palette more vibrant!

(Again, you don't have to do it on all of them)

(not sure if you can see it lol but there's orange!)

And last but not least: Global shadow and filters (? never had to name or translate it bwahaha)

It's a lot of fiddling to achieve a result where the character looks more or less rooted in the background (=blue layers and filters to harmonize colors) and where I draw the last shadows. They're often the biggest ones (=on Axe's body+ leaf/tree shadows etc.).

You can use the techniques I've described above, or just go for it, it's completely freewheeling from here, ahem. Just make sure to step back regularly to see where you're at and stop.

(You can also add lights layers and spots if it's too dark but in this example, I use the base color as a light layer + their skulls are such a bright white already xD )

A bit of blur and ta-da~

Pretty easy, right?

[navstuffs]

The Lady in Red

Pairing: Ada Wong x GN!Reader

Summary: The Lady in Red asks you to dance. Based on the song "The Lady in Red" by Chris de Burgh.

Warnings tags: reader has low self-esteem, shy and nervous!reader (so self-indulgent, id tremble in front of this woman), angsty-ish, ada being ada

Author's Notes: IT IS ADA WONG DAY! to celebrate i decided to post this very special fic with her song on her day. enjoy!!

"The lady in red is dancing with me, (...) There's nobody here It's just you and me It's where I want to be But I hardly know this beauty by my side I'll never forget the way you look tonight"

(Chris de Burgh - The Lady in Red)

She enters through the doors at precisely 9:35 p.m. She might be able to enter unnoticed, but all eyes are on her as she takes off her coat, revealing a red dress today. You wonder why that color means so much to her, but you are (again) too nervous to even glance in her direction. You don't want to be considered a perverted, like all the other guys who tried to flirt with her.

She always wears red: either a social shirt, a dress, or a jacket, the Lady in Red makes justice to her nickname. The only other color you saw her wear was black, always with some sort of red in her outfit.

She sits alone by her usual stool, three down from yours, as the bartender places the regular tall glass of Martini in front of her. She has no company; Lady in Red is always alone when she appears. You always expect some sort of model boyfriend or girlfriend to appear and stop your curiosity or any chance you could consider having, but Lady in Red is always alone. Not in the sense of loneliness (like you), but alone by choice. You watched her as weeks passed, man after man denied a dance, a phone number, and even a "hello." You don't think badly of her, obviously not, some men could be real jerks.

You sigh, turning your attention to the drink in front of you. There is a loud group of men at your side, celebrating some sort of office party, who seem to ignore your presence. You were never that interesting where people would glance twice at you. A commotion starts behind you when another man joins the group, to which they call the boss, and in the excitement, one guy accidentally bumps against your back.

"Sorry." He says after ignoring you completely.

You shake your head, unaware of the person joining your side. You quickly look to see the Lady in Red placing her cup near you as she sits down. You gulp, looking around as some sort of joke or prank.

"You wouldn't mind if I sit over here, would you?" Her voice is smooth as she turns to look at you. She was even prettier up close, with soft porcelain skin and lip gloss on her pink lips. Short, straight hair parted to one side, dark as the night without stars. Your mouth opens and closes a few times before clearing your throat.

"Not at all. Not really expecting anyone, anyway." You add, wanting to hit yourself in the head. She smiles, satisfied, before taking a small sip of her drink.

"Having a rough night?"

"Does it look that obvious?"

"Just a little." She jokes, and you nod, defeated. The day you come to the bar exhausted, looking at your worst, is when the Lady in Red joins you. Perfect.

"I promise you I don't look like this every day." You defend yourself, which is a lie "Just most of the time."

"I see."

"Not all of us can look insanely pretty and perfect all the time, you know?" Your flirtatious joke doesn't go unnoticed as she smiles back, reassuring it is all good.

"My condolences to them. And to you." She raises her cup, taking another sip. You toast back, laughing. So, besides looking extremely beautiful and charming, she had a sense of humor.

The loud group at your side decides to go to the dance floor. You don't notice as Lady in Red's eyes follow them. She then asks a question that would have made you spill your drink if you had any in your mouth.

"Would you like to dance?"

You freeze, looking at her face for any sight of a joke. There is none. She seems serious, waiting for your answer. You look at the improvised small dance floor, almost packed with drunk men, and look back at her. You better answer before she runs out of patience, you think, nodding in response.

All eyes are on you as Ada leads you to the dance floor. You can't believe your luck. You probably will look ridiculous with her, tired and awful, as Lady in Red looks perfect at your side, not one single hair out of place, dress hugging all her curves. It almost seems wrong someone so stunning like her dancing with someone so, so like you.

"I must warn you: I don't dance."

"Good. I don't either." Lady in Red closes the distance between your body, getting awfully close. The song is a happy beat, and the drunk men don't seem to care about your presence. Good. You do your best to avoid stepping on Ada's feet as she dances flawlessly to the music.

When the song ends, and another slower ballad starts playing, you begin to leave the dance floor back to your stool, but Lady in Red stops you, her hand in your arm.

"You don't have to leave just yet. If you don't want to." She whispers near your ear, bringing goosebumps to your body. You don't want to leave: get as close as possible to The Lady in Red. You want to bury your head on your neck, hiding yourself from the world. Have your hands travel her body; feel her against your skin. You want to be intimate, fall in love with Lady in Red, and hope she falls in love with you back. Even if it was just for that night.

For someone who said she couldn't dance, you are thankful Lady in Red is there leading you, or else you would have hit against a chair or someone else. You are close now enough to feel her warm breath against her skin. Close to see how brown were her eyes, her lips parted. You want to ask her why she chose you over all the other people. There must be someone as unique as her in that place, and you weren't that one.

The magical moment is broken when one of the drunk guys spills his beer over your back, wetting your shirt. You let go of Lady in Red, startled. At least, it didn't seem no beer was spilled on her.

"Shit. I'm sorry about that. I guess I will go to the bathroom to try to clean up."

"I will be waiting for you." She answers, smiling as a promise. You smile back, feeling flustered like a teenager again. As you walk toward the bathroom, you look at her again, still standing in the middle of the dance floor, her eyes locked in your direction.

Like a damn illusion. 

After using some paper to dry most of your back, you look at yourself in the mirror: you look terrible, and you have no idea why Lady in Red took interest in you. But no time for self-pity. You throw water in your face, fixing yourself the best you can. If she had found any interest in you, she probably had a good reason for it.

She isn't on the dance floor when you return from the bathroom. Fair enough, you think, she probably didn't want to stay around the drunk men. You look toward her usual seat at the bar counter, but she isn't there. You walk quickly, searching for her at the occupied tables. Maybe she found someone attractive, though she is nowhere to be seen. You even attempt to go outside, but it would make you look like a creep. If she had left, she probably had a good reason for it.

You fall into your stool, convinced your magical moment is over. It was nice to feel important for a few moments while it lasted. As you look down, a napkin is neatly folded under your cup. You unfold, finding her handwriting.

"Really enjoyed dancing with you, handsome. Hope to see you again sometime. - Ada"

Ada.

Ada.

The Lady in Red had a name, and it was Ada. You look around as if Ada will appear magically at your side again, and you will throw yourself into her arms, dumb and in love.

But you had a name. And a note. You place it in your pocket, being careful to not damage it, a secret kept well from the entire world. Only you and Ada knew about this.

You couldn't wait to see Ada again.

-x-

Ada Wong watches from the outside as you sit on your stool, back from the bathroom. She plays with a badge - your badge - in her hands, spinning. She should have left already since she was done with her mission, but something kept her there. Curiosity, maybe?

Ada watches as you unfold her note. Ada didn't know why she even left it there. Ada had been observing you for weeks, waiting for a chance to steal your badge. After tonight, she really didn't need you anymore. But as you turned to leave for the bathroom (after she picked the badge from your pocket) and smiled, she felt strange. Maybe you would follow her outside after she left, worried something happened. So that's why Ada left the note. You open a smile as you finish reading, again, that foolish smile.

A big and genuine smile.

You look toward the glass window, and Ada hides more against the corner, worried you might see her. But you don't, too focused on folding that note back carefully into your pocket.

Ada already observed too much. She leaves with one last good look in your direction, placing your badge into her pocket. Maybe, one day, you two would see each other again. And maybe, just maybe, Ada Wong would give you another dance.

[unhetalia]

More than 1 note on a post? I'm gonna take that as people being interested! The follow up of my first character headcanon post - this time for England and Russia aka my America love interests.

England:

Can be described as one word: sharp. Sharp jawline, sharp eyes, thin mouth. He has an eyebrow piercing - he rarely wears it nowadays, but he made the piercing with magic so it's always there. He has an eyebrow slit from a scar he got from a battle with a magical creature that never healed. All the other nations are fascinated with it because scars are so rare among their kind (and also because with how England's eyebrows are, it's very eye catching). Attractive in a rough and tumble way - he's very popular with a subset of the female population who initially peg him for a bad boy no matter how far behind him those days are. (France always jokes he's got the face of a delinquent). Physically 30s, ID says 33.

Tailored three piece suits and oxfords are his regular wardrobe for work, like a proper gentleman.

Dirty, light blonde hair (a bit like this), and D37 green-coloured eyes. While he's very hygienic, he doesn't take care of himself beyond doing things for hygiene, so he tends to have rough, calloused hands and his skin isn't particularly soft, though he has the Nation-blessed clear skin.

Very little body fat, lean muscle. He's 180cm (or 5'10), and is therefore 2cm shorter than America, which infuriates Arthur. A lot of scars from magical battles - he has more scars than any other Nation. Has kept up sword fighting and martial arts, and unfortunately has a temper that means he gets into a lot of brawls. Physicality is very important to him, which comes from some more old-fashioned Nation values that younger Nations don't tend to have (more on this later).

Arthur dressed down = replacing the three piece suit with a dress shirt paired with a sweater vest. Or a long, dark coat. He generally tends to prefer blacks, greys, browns. It's rumoured (according to France) that his fashion sense is to stop young women from hitting on him, thinking he's some kind of bad boy. Also why he's cut down on smoking in public. Poor guy.

Russia:

If England is rough and tumble handsome, Russia is prince handsome - really on as opposite ends of a person's 'type scale' as you can possibly get. He's got a strong jaw and fuller lips, soft eyes. Many a six yer old have tugged on their mother's clothes, pointed at him and told their mum there's a prince, and many a mum have rewarded their six year old for pointing him out. Physically 30s, ID says 31.

Whatever he wears always tends to be hidden by a coat and his scarf.

White blonde hair (close to... this colour). His eyes are undeniably violet. Once again the polar opposite of Arthur, his skin is soft and smooth, looking very much like he's never worked a day in his life - but if the metaphor that I was going for is that England's power is in the way he's hardened from work and hardship, and maintains strength and power through sheer will, Russia's strength is in his impenetrability, in the way even years of holding swords or guns never shows in his body.

I've run out of words, so Russia's body type is the second or last one in this image, depending on if he's at war or in peace times. Minor differences between them, generally. Broad shoulders, thick waist, thick everything. No abs, just. Solidly built. Also, he's 6'7, and wears the kind of boots that make him taller (not on purpose - he just needs sturdy, waterproof boots, and those tend to add height.

[mmoxie]

things i did over my vacation:

wrote about ten pages of fiction (been too long since i actually did anything)

got loremaster in the new wow expansion, did literally every quest and got geared for the upcoming raids

watched jackpot, which is a true 8/10 action comedy, they actually had fight choreography and the dialogue wasn't too quippy- it was a little teehee self-aware millennial but id be lying if i said it wasnt mostly accurate

watched borderlands, because i have to, because nobody is going to give this film the post mortem it deserves

that film was slop. slime. dreck. ass.

and what's genuinely saddening is that if you look real close, you can see some stuff from before it lost its R rating and Eli Roth said "well, i guess we'll make back the adult fan crowd with kid tickets," and added 400,000 lines of jack black talking through a toilet paper tube about how much everyone sucks and how much he has to shit

and when i say "some stuff," i'm talking like... props you can tell were lovingly crafted. some costuming that's truly excellent. i really hate that lilith is using a vladof infinity instead of like a maliwan crux or something- it's not just about "oh she'd use an elemental weapon," it's that an elemental weapon would add much-needed color, excitement, and unpredictability to the Shitty Underground Fights in the Dark that keep happening

also they say phasewalking by name but she never does it, it would have been a beautiful R-rated gore laugh moment to have her fucking telefrag a bandit

she firehawks, it's deeply uncool, and the villain is fucking... atlas.

handsome jack was right there and you made up a guy for faceless old fucking atlas? and then recast Big Dipshit In A Robot Suit General Knoxx to be some lady on a hoverboard with bad hair. come on.

also at one point kevin hart fires down a tunnel and murders oncoming enemies one by one. very heroic. very inspiring stuff for the crowd that thinks fish in a barrel sounds too intense

anyway i also chilled real good great vacation will do again

[doom-nerdo-666]

( Reposting from r/Doom) Perhaps a big reason why anyone would want a campaign with an ARC soldier

One reason could be just exploring a gameplay formula like Eternal's with new ideas for weapons, enemies, stuff since i even wrote a bunch of ideas i think could work if there's an expansion etc.

But another might be because of Doom's premise and how it changed since 2016.

It went from "UAC soldier that has to clean up the mess they started" to now there being stuff about the Sentinels.

It's why i compare Doom to Planet of the Apes in a sense the setting changed a bit more than most people realize but the new stuff is good while D3/Tim Burton's Apes movie are both seen as "technically closer to the OG premise but not as liked".

Doom as a series can work with changes like these because:

It's a setting that wasn't always taken seriously.

The old games are still getting modded to this day and with lots of good stuff.

The new stuff is good.

But it's also said the Sentinels are inspired by medieval stuff in Army of Darkness, when at the same time, that could've lead to Doomguy go back in time to medieval Europe if things were different.

I have some theories on why the Night Sentinel exist.

Could've been for Quake

Specially since Quake always had knights and the Ranger looks like a barbarian viking.

But there's always cases of Doom and Quake overlapping and how one was always viewed as the other "but in 3D".

A response/overcorrection to the cancelled Doom 4

The cancelled Doom 4 would've been about a "resistance" army on Earth fighting demons and from what you see in concept art and footage, it looks a bit "unexciting" for a supposed heavy metal series.

So maybe the idea of tech knights with energy swords was done to make Doom "more badass" because the alternative seemed boring.

When at the same time, they could've always thought of a buff dude out of the UAC simply being cool and make Earth locations take notes from Build Engine games.

It seems like what people expected out of a modern "Hell on Earth" could be seen in fanart and mods, but that leads to another point

Things that could've been part of Doom as a series are instead part of its "fanon"

You could say Doom fans were already "expanding the Doomverse" specially the classic version when looking at some fanart, some attempts at "remasters" and all those Realm667 assets.

People theorize that id themselves take inspiration from mods but put ideas like a fire themed Baron under a new art style and lore.

Not the same as exploring what could be more of the classic art style or formula (otherwise, maybe Romero could've been allowed to share more stuff).

This means The Dark Ages being Sentinel focused means they won't show stuff like Doomguy having a flashback to beating up his superior like it's mentioned in D1's manual: That would require forgetting what you set up for UAC in 2016 and imagine exactly what could suit the aesthetic of D1. Otherwise, look at the D2 skin and compare it to the D2 box art. Even the QC armor based off classic Doom doesn't seem that different, despite using the box art as a ref instead of Adrian's model.

Again, this can be justified with the notion that "Doom's setting is a mess lol" but it also depends on where it comes from, when the reboot games made by people not involved in the originals are the ones focusing on lore and worldbuilding.

Lots of Doom fan content feels like an alt timeline where the series stayed a bit more consistent and certain wishes or ideas are realized.

Even the D64 official release might owe its existence to fan ports, since the lead dev of a popular fan port worked on the official one.

But it's also not like we'll have any of Andrew Hulshult's remixes of classic Doom songs being owned by id.

The versatility of Doom's premise

I always view Doom's premise as a blank canvas where you can add a lot as long as it's "Doomy enough", hence why i think a lore could limit certain opportunities that could be cool.

In general, 2016 and Eternal introduced ideas that could've been done differently in a new game or something.

It's also why it's cool to look at cut content or concept art: As in, these ideas deserve to be revisited and be used in something.

It's also worth noting how Doom went through different looks, leading to questions like "what if Sentinels or Mayks were in other games but different?".

UAC wasn't always "gray base on orange Mars" since you used to have a "terraformed" Phobos with blue carpets and a weird low tech aesthetic.

And Hell had a variety of looks and themes, somehow they weren't really explored later on.

For a series with a seemingly limited setting, the idea of reinterpretating something seems fun and it's even seen in some fan works like fanmade redesigns.

Sometimes, you even wonder what it'd be if the Sentinels didn't exist: Would you make the Slayer like a UAC super soldier program? Would you just have everything be either weird UAC tech or demonic artifacts? Would Marauders be medieval knights from Earth? Because if any of those happened, i can't imagine someone going "what if there was a world of knights with tech and cool mechs?" due to everyone getting used to UAC and Hell in that scenario.

But this is also why i think it's cool if each setting/theme has their version of an object or item: We even see a Sentinel take on the Plasma Rifle, so imagine their take on medikits.

(also why people didn't like Eternal having glowy videogame pickups, when the life pickup could've been some artifact)

I guess people would like an ARC soldier campaign just to balance things out: If we can pilot a mech dragon, we could've piloted a UAC military helicopter.

But you need to make that seem cool and fun.

Speaking of "reinterpretations", i even think of "alternate lores".

What if the Sentinels existed in Earth's medieval ages and were forgotten by time until UAC archeologists discovered their demons?

What if they were descendents of some of Earth's survivors who colonized a planet similar to Earth and suddenly developed better tech and went with a medieval inspired culture?

What if Doomguy was still a UAC guy but the Doomslayer is a transformation/form he has where his UAC tech/armor is turned into Sentinel stuff and he gets more powerfull even with some limits like time?

Maybe these ideas are less cool but seem like examples to what can make Doom interesting.

I always thought different Doom's could coexist: At some point, have a Slayer type game and a different kind of Doom both being made, even if one is a spin-off.

[charliechaotic]

hii this is smth for me but i hope anyone would like- I have zero clue how to write batfam or gotham stuff, so please dear gods give me advice if possible <3 (my only reference is tumblr writing prompts, reaction videos, and the Dark Matter fic lmao- this is uh. basically the concept is my oc ending up in Gotham- So far thats all this is gonna be, but I hope you enjoy <:):

When Wren awakes, it is in pain. Agony agony agony agoNY AGONY AGONY-

It feels like he's drowning. Burning? Both? His memory feels so fuzzy. Where is he? ..What happened?

Everything goes dark again.

When Wren awakes again, he finds himself laying on a rooftop, staring up at the night sky- cast over with a deep pollution unfamiliar to him. It was a rare night in Relsia to not be able to see the stars.

He is quick to sit up, coughing up nothing but his own breath, tears welling in his eyes as he takes back in the memory of the feeling.

That color. So vivid in his mind, surrounding him- it matched that of his eyes, should he not have had the flakes of gold in them. It unsettles him to think about.

His body aches as he pushes himself up, hugging his well worn hoodie close- when had it gotten so torn up? It looked like he'd been in some big fight while wearing it, but he cant quite pull the memory up. He tries to keep himself steady, shortening his staff to use as a support. He has to work out where he is, despite the pain gnawing at him. Had he used his power too much? It felt like he'd been torn apart and pit together a million times.

He brushes his hair back with his hands, fixing his glasses on his face. "Id almost kill to see Merc right now."

He finds himself speaking aloud, discomforted by the silence around him. Maybe he could get himself to the Northeast end of the city and stop by. He had promised to stop by sometime soon. He made no promises he wouldn't be in incredible pain. If he could make it that far across the city, anyway. He manages to get himself to about two rooftops away from his starting point before the aching starts to bring him down. He needs to rest, unfortunately. Maybe he can find somewhere alright in the streets below- he can't seem to recognize the area. It looks worse than the worst part of Relsia he's seen in his life. He studies the streets below, trying to work out a normal way to climb down and get a look around- maybe he could sneak a ride on a bus or something. He's willing to risk getting attacked on one today. He sways ever slightly as he thinks, before a voice startles him out of it.

"Hey, buddy. Could you step away from the edge for me?"

He flinches at the sound, immediately turning his gaze to the voice, glaring with distrust at the source- making eye contact with a man around his height, but with a lot more muscle. He appears to be wearing a costume- some kind of 'super suit' probably. His outfit is mostly black, he exception being the streaks of blue- one being centered on his chest. If he were able to think any clearer, he'd say it looked like the way you add birds in the background of paintings in fourth grade. He'd find it a little amusing if he couldn't hear his heart pounding in his chest, still glaring.

The man raises his arms a bit, giving a reassuring smile.

"Hey, its okay. My name is Nightwing. Are you alright?"

Wren feels the mans gaze flick between his hair and eyes, taking a slight step back- further towards the ledge.

"Your name means nothing. I dont know who you are."

His voice comes out in a sharper tone than he intends, his words distorted in a way that almost sounds like a glitchy phone call, on top of the buzz of a voice modulator. He seems a bit surprised by his own voice, a hand reaching up to his throat out of confusion.

uhhhh thats the end lmao- i genuinely Just wrote this so uhm. hope someone sees it? and enjoys? <:) you can probably see some obvious inspiration from Dark Matter, which I completely accept drbrh- I really liked the concept! though how Wren got in the pit water is VERY different heheh

[ghostfalls137]

rick and morty 6/10 spoilers / talk

i think like... a lot of this season was talking to the viewers as morty. Havent seen many people mention this aspect to it so I wanted to ramble lol I feel like most of season 6 was just set up yeah... people were saying how inconsistent the show was getting, and they decided to REALLY DRIVE IN CONSISTENCY bringing up old bits like sleepy gary and the butter robot. just a lot of the writers having fun yet also driving forward each character, as each character got their own ep this season directly, to add them all back to relevancy a bit more bc the show does, revolve around rick and morty. so it did that a little less this season

im all over the place here sorry lol I still need to recover from this last college semester lmao

ok so the main point i wanted to make, was in 'story train 2' aka the uh. the episode with Campbell that harmon DEFINITELY wrote. there's a point where rick points at the camera but is talking to morty and he was like 'youre what matters' to the camera aka the viewers. and the last scene in 6/10 reminded me of THAT. his ramble that he always does, the rick and morty 100 years rant, it was the writers talking to us, the viewers.

you wanted this. you wanted the dark backstory, you wanted the serialization and the focus on other character arcs. you wanted to see rick change. and here, now you get it all! you get what you wanted despite the warnings. idk I was baked when I saw the ep, I've gotta do a season rewatch and then a series rewatch again to trace it, but it felt DIRECT. that scene was the writers talking to the viewers. a lot of the season was, really? with the story cycle episode and jerrys internet famous arc 'when they start looking for shit to hate you for that's how you know you made it' yeah that feels like a harmon line for sure. i know there was a lot of internal conflict of what they wanted the show to be, but they seem pleased with what they settled on. this year alone harmon and roiland said that the show could easily go on for 1000 episodes. if one arc gets finished, if one UNIVERSE gets finished, they've created a setup that they can exhaust forever. they always wanted to be like the simpsons and tbh I hope they get a long run

but im VERY VERY excited theyre taking this turn, story wise, writers aside. its honestly the best way they've could have gone, I remember seeing the reveals and being like :] cus yeah. we got rick developing. we got rick regressing! we got to see more of the other characters, id say we got very nice storylines as well. i enjoyed it all a lot and I am very scared-excited for season 7. its interesting to see how many mixed reviews they get and how much bad writing criticism when I can literally trace their thought process for it... as this season showed rick trying to improve and grain mortys trust and respect, the writers were saying the same to the viewers. in a similar sense, as rick showed morty that he would always be rick and to watch what you wish for, the writers were doing the same. no more silly random adventures, were going full canon and you wanted this.

[glowbloom]

sims get to know me tag!

thank you for the tag @jonquilyst @aurorangen & @seokolat 🥰

1. what’s your favourite sims death? pufferfish!

2. alpha cc or maxis match? maxis match! i used to be maxis mix and may go back, but for now mm!

3. do you cheat when your sims gain weight? maybe minor tweaks but nothing major.

4. do you use move objects? yes! always!

5. favorite mod? mccc and ui cheats are the classic 2. probably also the more kisses mod adds so many cute animations.

6. first expansion/game/stuff pack you got? whatever came out first! get to work? or outdoor retreat? i can’t remember now haha

7. do you pronounce “live mode” like alive or living? always living

8. who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? hmmmm to be fair i’m pretty happy with gabriel & makenzie’s little one 👀

9. have you made a simself? once! it looked nothing like me lol

10. what sim traits do you give yourself? foodie, clumsy and perfectionist. for 5 i would add cat lover and loyal.

11. which is your favorite ea hair color? i’m quite boring probs the dark brown haha

12. favorite ea hair? i only really use cc hairs tbh. but i do really like that laundry day(?) hair with the claw clip?

13. favorite life stage? i do love infants… but i think still has to be ya now with university too.

14. are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? definitely gameplay, i like decorating but suck at building. i do love cas too.

15. are you a cc creator? nope!

16. do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? i did when i used to blog in 2017 but now i’m new again and just having fun posting for myself hehe

17. what’s your favorite game? sims 4! sims 3 was my first game but i do think despite its flaws sims 4 is my favourite.

18. do you have any sims merch? no.

19. do you have a youtube for sims? no.

20. how has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? my sims defo used to have quite large eyes lol think i’ve improved. and yeah less alpha eyes and clothes

21. what’s your origin id? there’s nothing to see on my gallery, not sure what it is probs one of my personal usernames

22. who’s your favorite cc creator? too many creators i use to choose

23. how long have you had a simblr? this simblr is a few months old now since infants came out. i posted consistently back in 2017-2019 before.

24. how do you edit your pictures? i just use gshade and maybe paint to add the moodlets 😂 i used to spend hours using photoshop actions and manually blurring bgs on a macbook back in 2017, now i’m just posting for fun with no pressure!

25. what expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? i actually love island living for the world, it’s so pretty. i also really love growing together for the milestones.

26. what expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? i would love pack refreshes of ones like get to work, outdoor retreat. as for new content, i’m not sure - but not horses 😭

i am not sure who to tag as i am late to post this! so pls if u want to do this, say i tagged you 🩷

[lit-works]

Spider-Man : A City in Darkness

Finale

I sit there, perched atop a 20-story skyscraper, looking north at the city. No one would know that just a few hours ago this island metropolis was plunged into blackness by some madman, a madman who would likely do it again. A madman with a colossal grudge against me, Spider-Man.

The question is, which madman? I've made more than my fair share of enemies in my career, some of them incredibly powerful. Doc Ock. Hobgoblin. Doomsie, the Frightful Four, Vulture–the list goes on and on, a fact that is not the least bit reassuring. Electro is on the loose as well, but Electro has rarely ever used underlings. He usually teams up with another super-powered felon when he isn't going solo.

Somehow, though, everything ties together; the springing of Electro, the blackout, the electrical equipment theft, the writing in the sky…it all adds up to one thing : someone really doesn't like me.

Well, I can sit on my brains and worry, or I can go out and get to thr bottom of this. I think getting to the bottom of this is the better choice of the teoz but where do I start?

Captain Patricia Amber Nash, commander of the PEGASUS security team assigned to delivering Electro to his parole hearing, sits alone in an office in the justice building. In front of her are reams of paper. She is carefully ignoring the papers and staring at the ceiling, leaning her wooden chair back on its hind legs. She might be deep in thought or just daydreaming.

Hanging upside down, I tap on the window. The sudden noise catches her by surprise, and it is only by grabbing the table that she avoids pitching over onto the floor. As it is, she scattered papers across the office.

Rising from the table, she stomped to the window I was hanging outside of with as much decorum as she could muster. Through the insulated glass she mouthed the words, "what the hell do you want?" She doesn't look pleased.

"Dinner and a movie?" I shout back, loud enough to be heard through the glass. "But I'll settle for some info? How about letting me in before someone sees me out here and calls the cops?"

She looks at me for a long moment, as if weighing the options. Then she unlatches the pane and opens it. "Come in then," she says. "And make it quick. It's getting cold out there."

"Do you know how much paperwork there is for an escaped criminal?" She asks, stopping to pick up the scattered papers.

"No, but if you hum a few bars I'll pick it up." I say.

She shoots me a glare that says, 'dont mess with me; it's been a bad day'.

"What do you want now?" She asks, trying to reorganize the papers and then giving it up as a lost cause.

"How about if I get your runaway electric company back?" I ask.

"Given a choice, id rather take a week off in Jamaica, but it woukd nake things easier," she says, picking up one official-looking form and quoting: 'If said incident involved metahuman individuals, please designate on a separate form the nature, identity, and abilities displayed by said individual(s) and their bearing on the incident.' "can you imagine what it would be like if the Avengers came by to help? At least they have this stuff on reprinted forms." She looks up at me. "Right. Information. What do you want?"

"Well," I say, "the last time we met you were loudly handling the cleanup from that little kidnapping, so we didn't have too much time to chat. And I walked right into the middle of that half-painted picture, so I have no real idea why you were there in thr middle of Manhattan in the first place, unless it's standard procedure to ship dangerous criminals through the heart of the city in the early evening. So, why don't you take it from the top and don't leave out any whys and what-fors."

Captain Nash begins to explain. She and her team were to escort Electro from his cell to a specially prepared holding area for his parole hearing tomorrow morning. While in transit, the team was ambushed by four individuals carrying electrical discharge guns. They opened fire as one, overturning the armored car transporting Electro and blowing open the rear doors. They pinned down the PEGASUS troops while two of the team went in and pulled Electro from the wreck. Electro was heavily sedated, additionally restrained with an insulated straightjacket.

Two of the men headed down the alleyway with the bundled Electro while their comrades kept Nash's troops pinned down with their shock-zookas. By the time I arrived on the scene and free their fire, the others had apparently already escaped out the other side of the alley, but not before leaving an explosive package in the sewers, which according to record, public works is citing as the cause of the blackout.

"Anyone see the goons leave with Electro?" I ask.

"We performed a building-to-building search on the side of the alley with the NYPD, but it turned up nothing. They've vanished completely." She replies.

"How about the goons I fought?"

"Resting comfortably," she says, stretching to relieve a neck cramp. "They were checked out for prior arrests, but they're small fry. They've been keeping pretty mum, but what we did get before their lawyers told them to shut up is that Electro was the prize of their operation, not the boss."

I nod and she continues, "The outfits look like those of HYDRA but are only imitation, According to a source at SHIELD. Talking to the people at SHIELD, by the way, was like pulling teeth; they know HYDRA is up to something, but they don't think they're connected to this kidnapping."

"So that leaves us with the question of where they went?"

"Maybe the earth swallowed them?" Says Nash.

I smile beneath my mask. "Maybe it did, at that. I'm going to go check out the crime scene. Maybe I'll find something else. Thanks, and I owe you a dinner and a movie." I head for the window.

As I dive out into the night air, Nash shouts after me, "how about you just bring me back a pizza? JI'll be here all night! And close the window next time, there's a draft!"

Electro!

I swing out into the night.

Electro's the key to the entire operation. Whoever stole the equipment was probably in cahoots with the master of electricity and busted him out only when everything was already in place.

If Electro is working with another super-powered baddie, there may be an Intel leak in the PEGASUS security. That thought may have occurred to Captain Nash already.

I retrace my path to where the Project PEGASUS troopers were blasting it out with Electro's mysterious allies earlier in the evening. The ruined armored car has already been pulled from the street, and traffic is flowing normally (for NY, anyways) past the alleyway.

The alleyway itself is no longer empty as I remembered it. The bureau of public works has set up a generator and equipment to clear away the debris kicked up by the explosion and make repairs. Signs warning : 'Men Working' are at both ends of the alley. I land atop one of the buildings overlooking the alley. The alleyway is singed darkly from the blast, more so toward the end where the PEGASUS troopers were fighting.

What if the purpose of the blast was to wipe out any traces of pursuit…if the men ledt behind were abandoned? Then that explosion might be more than just a poor going-away gift.

I swing down the alleyway itself.

"Hey!" Says one of the workers, looking up. "It's that spider-guy!"

"Spider-Man!" I correct him, spinning through the air and landing in front of the workers–three guys apparently on a coffee and pastry break. The speaker nods, a second workman looks surprised, while the third simply bits into an oozing jelly-filled donut. "How's work going?" I ask.

"Real mess down there," says the first worker, apparently the spokesperson for the group. "Looks like they had enough explosives down there to whole the block to the moon and back!" He chuckles at some private joke.

"Then I need your professional opinion," I say, leaning back against the generator. "If someone was down there a minute or two before the explosion, could that person have survived?"

"Hmmm," the union rep rubbed his jaw. "I dunno, man, it's not likely. He'd have to move very fast or it'd be zoom…bang!"--the spokesman claps his hands together and thrn motions to the heavens. His two fellow workmen grunt in agreement. "The passage is blocked and clogged in both directions, and it's gonna take a while to dig a clear path through."

The sewers are closed off by fallen debris, and anyone down there might have been caught in the blast.

The valuable human labor resource flashes his light around the wreckage left underground by the blast. There is a thick smell of something smoldering, and the workman shouts to be heard over the steady din of water running over shattered concrete.

"The main part of the blast is this way," says the worker, making his point by panning the lught over the mess of obliterated concrete that almost fills the passageway. "The other way"--he flashes the light to the area behind me–"is almost as bad, and it leads to a dead end, according to the city plans."

"Such an option." As I glance forward and back at the equally dismal-looking stretches of alleyway.

"Mind if I lend you a hand?" I ask, reaching toward the debris blocking the sewer.

"Don't mind if you do," says the workman. "I'll hold the light."

The debris is not as tightly packed as I first thought, and I quickly dig my way through to the other side of the rockfall. The ceiling holds, as well, and my companion follows me, flashing the light around as soon as I reach the other side.

The other side of the rockfall looks just like a New York sewer. The slime on the concrete appears to remain undisturbed after at least a few generations, and nothing is out of place.

"Blast," I say, my voice echoing down into the depths of the pipes.

"You were expecting something else maybe?" Asks my new friend.

"Some kind of clue. I had a hunch Electro escapes down here. There's another blocked passage behind us?"

"Yeah, but it leads to a dead end."

The map the workmen have of the sewers shows a dead end on the other side of the passage. Which means that Public Works may just decide to forget about digging it out. A perfect way for someone to cover their tracks.

I start digging through the slime-covered rock filling the passageway. The laborer shine his light as I use my spider-enhanced strength to lift and burrow.

I am about halfway through the second blockage, and feel (relatively) fresh air on my face, when my Spider-Sense gives off a sharp warning buzz. Bits of plaster and stone rain down around me. The passage's ceilings are dangerously unstable, and the whole street is about to drop on our heads!

Thinking quickly, I brace the sagging rock above me with both hands, and call down to the worker who accompanied me.

"Quick," I shout, my voice carrying down the sewers. "Get me something to brace this wall with!"

The light that has been shining on my digging flickers and turns away, and I am left in the darkness for a moment. I hear the drip of fetid water and the shout of the worker to his fellow workmen. My arms are beginning to tire, but if I let go, the entire street could cavr in.

After a short eternity, the light returns, with the workmen behind it. "Here ya go, Spider-buddy." The spokesperson says, placing a large device next to me. "One handy-dandy sewer jack, at your service." He turns a crank at one end of the tool and it expands against the floor and ceiling, taking the weight off of my aching shoulders.

"That was close," I say, and in that same inatant, I notice the workman's light flashing down the passage that has been fully opened by the shift.

"That's funny," he says. "The sewer is supposed to end fifteen feet from here."

Instead, the sewer continues down into the darkness. Along the concrete floor of this unknown sewer, the algae and moss have been pushed aside, leaving a clear path into the depths of the city.

'Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly'. Or is it, 'said the Electro, to the Spider-Man'?

I dig out my spider-beacon from my belt, but the workman who has been helping hands me his flashlight.

"That itty-bitty candle ain't gonna cut it if you're going in that direction," he says. "Take this one. It's halogen beam will illuminate a hundred yards down here. It's also shockproof, so you can beat the crocagators with it."

I take the flashlight, saying "thanks…er…"

"Ed. Name's Ed." Says the worker, giving a toothed grin.

A sewer work named Ed. Only in New York. I tell Ed and his buddies that if they don't hear from me or see.me in two hours, they should go to the police with what they know. With that, I head down the path.

Off to see the wizard. Or the doctor. Or whoever.

I reach a corner that carries me out of sight of the repairmen, so I turn and wave, and am gone.

The path through the slime is uncomfortably smooth, clean, and recent in origin. I've gone about a mile underground before I realized what would cause it to be that way: a ground effects vehicle, or hovercraft, traveling on a cushion of air. That cushion would push up the slime and debris as it passed.

I hear a chittering to my right, and swing my light to reveal a large rat, sitting on a pipe. The rat holds motionless for a moment, then squeals and bounds away.

Yuck. The last thing I want to do is meet up with the everyday run-of-the-mill vermin while I'm hunting down a real rat.

The sewer passage widens and crosses a wider sewer, this one carrying a stream of darker water. The path of the blasted algae disappears at the edge and reappears on the other side, about 20 feet away, and then disappears down the tunnel.

Ceiling's too low to leap. The walls are slicker than Jameson on payday. But I think it's climb or swim. I don't think they have a limo service down here.

The walls are covered with a thick gooey slime, as is the ceiling. As I reach the apex of the vault, I hit a patch of moss that must have been what prinitive man used for Teflon.

Choosing my way carefully, I make my path through the slippery muck to the other side. At that moment, I think I see movement in the water: probably another rat or something. Ahead there is a flash of light other than my own, dimming my flashlight. I check out the light at the end of the tunnel. With my luck, it will be an oncoming train.

The glow intensifies until I'm standing in front of a pair of massive doors illuminated by a single powerful light. The trail through the slime ends here. To the right of the doors is a parked hovercraft with a wide bed, suitable for carrying spools of wire.

No welcome mat, though, and I bet this place isn't listed with Triple A, either, looks like I'll have to break in.

I approach the huge metal doors. Something is rotten in the state of New York. Huge metal doors. Hmm….

I dig out a spare metal cartridge of web-fluid and toss it at the doors. The intensity of the flash upon connection momentarily blinds me.

Makes sense. Electro, electrical supplies, huge conductive metal doors. Put it all together and now it spells T-R-A-P. Now, how to get through it without becoming a bag of spider flavored bacon-bits.

I see the hovercraft and smile beneath my mask.

Using a good deal of my noninsulative webbing, I create a battering ram at the front of the hovercraft parked outside. Another two minutes and ai have hot-wired the vehicle and am backing it away from the entrance.

I back up to where the trail crosses the stream, then throw the hovercraft into high speed. The air whistles past me as the vehicle bears down on the doors.

"Cowabunga!" I shout in a loud surfer accent, jumping off the hovercraft at the last possible moment.

The craft slams into the electrified double doors at full tilt. Sparks dance off the webbing protecting the front of the craft. The door gives way with a bone-shuddering crash, and the way is clear.

Score one for Yankee ingenuity. I walk through the now-open passageway.

My feet pad across the concrete, and I notice the area is lit, though not well lit. A single light every twenty feet shines dimly, giving the impression of a coal mine.

Suddenly, the passageway widens into a larger, dark room. I see nothing and hear only an electronic hum of whirring and clicking, and I am reaching for my spider-beacon when lights come on and I see that I'm surrounded!

The lights come on suddenly, blinding me for an instant before revealing a cavernous chamber with a single entrance at the far side of the room. And before me stand five of my greatest foes!

Electro is there, blocking the far exit. Above him hovers the Vulture, beating his long mechanical wings to stay in place. Sandman, who has the ability to convert his body into sand, is to my right. To my left is Kraven the Hunter, holding a net, and behind the criminal sportsman is Mysterio, master of illusion.

Five of the Sinister Six. "What's up, fellas?" I ask a loud.

The five move toward me without a sound.

"Lemme guess," I jab. "It's International Pick-On Spidey Day. Ya know, when I was trying to figure out who was behind this mess, I never figured it would be a committee of chumps."

My foes are strangely silent as they move in. Best to hit them before they all converge. I can reach any of them. Who should I take down first?

There's no way these five could have gotten back together, even to kill me. That indicates a hoax, and Mysterio is the criminal master of such illusion.

I bound effortlessly over Kraven, and land feet-first on Mysterio's glowing fishbowl helmet. The helmet cracks and shatters under the force of my blow, revealing a maze of wires and circuits beneath. The form of Mysterio crumples to the ground, but not before violently shocking me.

I stand for a moment, looking at the shattered remains of Mysterio as the vicious voltage courses through my body. Robot, and wired to shock on destruction. How many of the others as well?

The others are still moving toward me. Picking myself up, I run to the far exit, where there is a switch and a metal door.

I pull the switch down, and the low-register clicking and buzzing of machinery in the room fades. I look back at my remaining foes, and they are frozen in position.

Dumb robots, I knew the Sinister Six couldn't have staged a reunion bash, even to bash Spidey. These little playthings were obviously guards for the main gates, and the switch allows someone from this end to shut them down so personnel can go in and out. Simple, once you know it. Pull the plug and the toys wind down.

The metal door hums and rises to the ceiling. Five down and it's obvious now who the sixth is.

I pass into the next corridor.

"Ta-Ta, Troopies," I wave back at the inanimate robots. "Time to reveal the puppeteer."

This passage is similar to the last one, dimly lit. At the end I can see through an open door and into a brightly lit room. From my far station, I can see some machinery. The smell of ozone is strong in the air. The walls of this passage are lined with wooden doors, and these are shut and have bars in the windows.

I am halfway down the hallway when a low voice says, "wait!" In a hushed tone. I see a hand wave at me from the bars.

"Doctor Jefferson, I presume?" I say, looking at the psychiatrist captive in the cell. It all fits together now–with five of the Sinister Six being used as lackeys, the sixth must be the head honcho. He must have put another robot in his cell to avoid suspicion.

The bespectacled man nods and puts a finger to his lips. He hands me a note.

The note reads : 'He can hear but cannot see us. He has captured Electro and is using him to power a weapon to destroy you. There is a trap at the end of the corridor. Look up. Don't hurt him.'

I look up and see a ventilator grill above me. I nod to him and, trying to make as little noise as possible, rip his lock out of the door. The complete, I give him an A-OK hand sign.

Trusting that Jefferson is honest and the events aren't monitored, I rip out the grillwork and crawl into the ducts. After about five minutes of crawling I reach another grill. Looking out, I see an incredible sight.

It could best be described as an electrical elephant! It is a huge, almost obscene machine, occupying most of the room. At it's core is Electro, glowing like a supernova star and apparently in pain. At it's crown, riding the elephant, is Doctor Octopus awaiting my appearance at the doorway. The "trunk" of the elephant, the barrel of the weapon, which is probably what did the skywriting is pointed at the doorway.

Definitely the work of a disturbed mind. I look at my foe as I work the grillwork off the vent. At least I'm out of the line of fire.

"Where is he…?" Hisses the Doctor, his mechanical arms adjusting power levels and turning dials on the huge machine. "Why hasn't he appeared?"

"Sorry, Ock!" I shout, leaping from my hiding place. "I had to use the service entrance."

I leapt out onto the machine where the beam could not reach me.

As I land on the machinery, sparks spread out from my fingertips. I feel a tingle akin to my Spider-Sense, but otherwise the massive machine does no damage. Atop it, the madman who has been trying for most of the evening to kill me is watching me, stock still.

Ok, hero, now what? I spy Ock's arms beginning to writhe along the machine toward me. Attack? Talk to him? Free Electro (who really looks like he's suffering)? Sabotage the machinery? He's had me on my heels and on the run all evening, now it's my turn! Think!

First things first. I scrabble across the machine's sides to where Electro is held prisoner. The master of electricity howls soundlessly on the inside of a glass prison. Above me, Octopus is starting to react. I see Doc's metallic arms reach toward me.

The bowl is designed for Electro's powers, not my spider-enhanced abilities. It shatters with a crash and a bolt of lightning erupts from the prison. I am dlung violently backwards and topple off the side of the machine.

"OCTAVIUS!!" Comes an inhuman shout from the sphere. "YOU HAVE USED ME, OCTAVIUS! YOU HAVE HURT ME!! NOW I SHALL HAVE VENGEANCE!! I NEED MY REVENGE!"

Electro emerges from his cage shining like a bright white beacon, throwing everything around me into shadow. Ignoring me completely, Electro moves up the sides of the machine towards Doc Ock.

Ock is read as well, two of his mechanical arms grabbing nets and weapons, while the other pair extend, carrying his body high above his opponent. Electro grasps one metallic arm, and a yellow glow pulsates and courses up the arm to the mad doctor. Octopus howls and stutters in pain.

Uh-oh. The genie is out the bottle. The pair are locked in a deadly embrace. The machinery they are fighting on is breaking, falling apart.

I bound out of the chamber just as the machine starts to smoke and the ceiling caved in. The walls and floors are buckling as I run at top speed out of the complex, only stopping to grab Dr.Jefferson, the imprisoned psychiatrist and bound out. Behind me is the cacophonous roar of explosions.

From the sewer I make my way to the surface. There is one last explosion, this one reaching the surface (an abandoned garbage dump) and spreading light (and garbage) into the sky.

"You think they…" the doctor starts to ask, faltering.

"Survived?" I finish for him. "Don't know. Their kind always has a way of turning up. For now, one more bad guy plan has gone smash, leaving us and the City of New York to pick up the pieces."

The pair of us watch the fire and listen for the approaching sirens as the police come to investigate. I have saved the city, once again.