#mach's process gifs

[downtherabbitholewithlucy]

The Process:

The Product:

[bisexual-horror-fan]

"The Test." Part One. Sugar Daddy AU. Poly!Ghostface X FEM! AFAB! Sugar Baby Reader.

Okay! OKAY! SO! Do you all remember this, from Kinky/Do-Over-December back in the day? A Stu Macher sugar daddy AU I was fucking around with? This is set in that AU again, in said fic, I mentioned a little beach house weekend getaway with some breaking and entering Ghostface role play, this? Is that! Fully realized, or at least, partially realized for now. This thing is long, I have been working on it on and off for over a fucking YEAR! I started it shortly after I met Matt and Skeet last summer at fan expo, (can you guess why I was feeling inspired?) So because this is so long, (12.6K as of right now) I figured, why not break it up into two parts? And if you guys like it a lot, I might do some more! This is meant to be a three day weekend and this thing when it is done will be just the first night technically, so hit me up and let me know what you think!

PART TWO NOW HERE!

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Rating. Explict. Length. 7.6K. Billy Loomis/Stu Mach/Sugar Baby FEM! AFAB! Reader. She/Her Pronouns. Warnings: Age Gap. Sugar Daddy/Sugar Baby Relationship. Sex Work Is Real Work. We Respect Sex Work. Talk Of Sex. Vaginal Fingering. Talk Of Threesome. Extreme Role Play. Mask Kink. Breaking And Entering. Masturbation. Chase. Predetor/Prey. Stalking. Voyeurism. Restrained Reader. Knife Kink. Dirty Talk. Threatening And Possessive Behavior.

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Initially, it wasn’t something you put much stock into. I mean, it was one of those things that sounded too good to be true, you make a profile, you meet up with men, if you click, and they like you, they pay you to spend time with you. They take you out on dates, and buy you things and sure, they fuck you, but still you could do that? Get paid money to be good company, attractive and a great sexual partner? You think you could at least attempt it. So you figured why not, after some serious online research and looking into other people who had been successful at sugaring you decided to give it a go. You find one of these sites, you spend a good two days on your profile before it goes live and then, you wait. 

When you got your first message, it was honestly pretty exciting, even though you never ended up meeting with said first person, it got you more sure about the process. After some more interest, you end up starting it in earnest. 

You meet up in a public location, the first meeting is always feeling each other out, the next one, if there is one, is getting to know each other better, and then the next is talking about expectations on both sides. You have some real duds here and there, but over time you cultivate some good and regular clients, you make friends on your sites of choice as well as while working, a lot of the guys who look for girls like you tend to keep similar company. Regularly you go to parties or work events or the like and come across another girl just like you and begin to form relationships with them, some becoming good friends because they got it, understood what you went through because they were in it themselves. 

The guys you saw were overall good, you didn’t even have a sexual relationship with all of them, not everyone who seeks out girls in your line of work even want that, a lot just want company, to be heard, or to have someone to show off, and you made for very good arm candy.

You’d been doing good, barely had to do any regular work, still had a part-time job, but most of your lifestyle was paid for by the guys who you saw and entertained and the quality of your life had improved massively at that. You had experience and a good reputation, so when a regular client dropped off, as they sometimes do, he moved too far to be able to continue to see you as he liked, you needed someone to fill the gap. In no particular rush, still fairly comfortable, you were able to be picky about who you accepted into your life. When you got the message from him, it wasn’t this huge defining moment, it was plain and perfectly average, but aren’t most things that end up being fantastic? 

After some regular chatting back and forth together, you and he agree to a meeting, lunch out at one of your favourite spots for testing out a new potential client. 

To say that your life totally changed after that lunch would be incorrect. It was more of a slow burn. Stu Macher was significantly older than you, attractive, had some job pertaining to finance, runs in the family apparently, and had money to toss around. You are not the first girl he’d had in an arrangement like this but, he told you, he has some particular qualities he is looking for in a long term set up. He was up front and honest, he wanted to see you more, he liked you, thought you and he got along well, and you thought the same, but he wanted to test you out. 

“Test me out how?” You asked, and he said, “Like we see each other for a few months and see how it goes, if this can be what I’ve been looking for.”

Interesting. You appreciate his candour if nothing else, you can get behind someone who is explicit and clear about what they want, especially in this respect. “Can I ask what it is that you are looking for?” 

He has this smile that is dripping in undeniable charm before he speaks, “No need to rush, right? Let’s have some fun and not stress.” You assumed that is what will tell him if this, and by extension you, are “right.” 

You could do that, could be fun and easy and go with the flow. What did you have to lose?

Stu is a fun guy, he works hard and is desperate to have a good time and de-stress, you take that want seriously and he takes notice. You do all manner of things together, mostly he plans dates, but you suggest some once you get more comfortable, and he likes that, it not being all up to him, more of a joint effort after a certain point. You clean up amazingly well, he can bring you to any event he wants to, and you slot right in. As for the physical aspect, you didn’t rush into it, but once you got there, it was kind of hard to stop. It became a very frequent thing, you did not mind at all, especially because it led to a slow shift, Stu wanted you around more and more, other clients got in the way of that. 

It was the afternoon, you’d been with Stu since the previous evening, you were trying to leave because you had to go get ready for an event someone else was taking you out to, and he didn’t want you to go. You were sat on the edge of the bed, trying to get your boots on, getting the rest of your outfit back on thus far had been a total fight, he was currently holding you. Arms were loose around your neck as he was leaning into you, “Come on, stay. Let me take you out to that dinner spot you like, the one that we hit up last month, the rooftop place that does the pasta thing-” 

You cut him off with a grin and a laugh, “Stu, I can’t, I have to go. I’ve already stayed way later than I was supposed to but I gotta go home, shower, change…” His arms had slipped down, hands rest on your arms near your elbows, he was laying some kisses along your neck, and you let out a groan with a roll of your eyes, “Knock it off.” You try to let the smile drop off your face as you complain, but you fail.

“I don’t know why you have to go.” He sighed, sounded like he was pouting, his head leaning against yours, and you tell him as you zip up your left boot, “Because I have other people to see.”

“See, that is what I mean! I don't know why you have to see anyone else.” 

You shake his arms off of you and stand up, you turn to see him, sheets are pooled around his hips, and he is shirtless looking up at you. It is a sight that is all too welcome, one you seriously wish you didn’t have to leave. Instead of telling him that, you say, “They help pay for my life, this is my job.”

It is true. Stu had become such a regular that in combination with him and your other clients you were able to quit that shitty part-time job, able to do this full-time. The past couple of months with him were great, you felt good about shifting gears to doing this all the time, thankful he was able to help make it happen.

He looks thoughtful, something is weighing on him, it is as if you can see him turning over the thought on his mind and as you are collecting your bag and coat he says, “What if I gave you more money?”

“What?”

You glance at him over your shoulder, and he says with a shrug, effectively repeating himself, “What if I give you more money? Then you wouldn’t have to go, could stay here with me.” 

Your eyebrows raise as you deadpan, “Stu, please. Don’t joke about that.”

“Who says I’m joking? Does it look like I’m joking?” He asked, and you respond, “You are grinning like you do when you are joking.” 

“What can I say? I just look better with a smile on my face.” You had to agree, but you don’t verbalize it. He speaks again before you can, “I mean it, though. What if I give you more, then you can have more time for me.”

Was he for real? “It would take like a lot more.”

“I have a lot more to give.” He challenged. Searching his eyes, you could tell he meant it. You said, “I need time to think on it.”

His reply is immediate. “Why?” 

You bite the inside of your cheek, you don’t want to offend but you and he could be open, honest, and you appreciated that about your set-up, so in the interest of continuing it, you told him, “Because like you said this is meant to be a more casual thing right? You are testing me out, I don’t wanna burn bridges with great clients I copped before you came into the picture if you are gonna leave soon. What am I supposed to do if you bail out?”

It’s tense for a moment. You are staring at him, and he is staring back. It was true, what were you meant to do if he leaves? You could seriously struggle until you build up a good clientele base again. 

“You trust me so much.” He teases, the tone is light and affectionate, and you let your shoulders fall back down, happy he didn’t take serious offence to what you said, “Stu, I do, but seriously, this isn’t a choice that can be made quickly, give me some time to really think on it?”  

“No, no, you’re right. You are just being careful, it’s smart, responsible. I respect you for it.” His smile drops, he says it earnestly, and you believe him as he adds, “Think it over.”

You walk to him, bag over your shoulder, coat folded over your arm, your hand comes out and cups the side of his face, you lean down and kiss him. You linger in it, he lets it be what it is, doesn’t take the opportunity to try and entice you back into his bed, even though if he tried hard enough, he probably could. 

Once you pull back, you tell him, “I will.” You leave him slowly, fingers caressing him, your thumb passing over his cheekbone as you go. “See you Stu.” 

You didn’t bring it up the next time you saw him and neither did he, you think he was waiting you out, seeing when you’d say something. You think about it the whole time, but you just aren’t sure if it is right. Things aren’t weird between you both, if anything, it gets even better and so you at last initiate the conversation, or rather, you are going to, but he starts a different one with you first. 

“Are you busy on Sunday morning?” It was Thursday, you were having lunch, you tell him honestly, “As of right now, no. Why?” 

“I was thinking we could go out to brunch. There’s someone I want to introduce you to.” 

He’d introduced you to lots of people, but usually it was when bumping into someone while out and about or at a party or some other thing he dragged you to. You had never been asked to some specific date to meet a particular person. You asked, “Oh, and who’s that?” 

You had heard a lot about Billy Loomis. Stu had told you a ton about him, shared old stories and made frequent mentions of the times they hung out over the past months you’ve been in Mr.Macher’s life, he even showed you some pictures. One evening a month into your arrangement, he showed you a picture from back when they were in high school. You take it from his fingers with a grin as you exclaim, “Oh my God! So you’ve just always been hot, huh?” 

You don’t comment on it at the time, but you thought his lifetime best friend who was sitting next to him on the fountain in the photograph was pretty hot too. When Stu posed the idea of you meeting him? You jumped at the opportunity, a passive thought at the back of your mind wondering if he aged as well as Stu had. 

It is quarter to eleven o’clock when you stride into the place with Stu. You have your hand on his arm, and you are caught up in something he is saying, looking up at him until you see his gaze catch something, original thought and sentence abandoned as his grin widens and calls out, “Hey man!” 

You follow where he is looking and eyes fall on who is unmistakably who you are here to see, yeah he was of course older than he was in the picture that you saw but no doubt it was him. He gets up as you both approach, a polite gesture and one that isn’t necessary, but the fact he did is telling, it resonates. You like that. 

He is also very obviously checking you out, you also like that. 

Seeing how Stu interacted with him first hand is a total treat. The greeting and how they touch shows a friendly familiarity, both leaning into the hug like it was the most natural thing either of them had ever done. You knew they were still in touch and spent time together regularly but witnessing it all in real time is a different story. They get along well, a clear history and investment between them both. He asked you questions and genuinely listened, seemed interested, he also responded to your questions too.

“When did you and Stu meet?” 

“He didn’t tell you?” He asked with a smile, and Stu cuts in, “She never asked!”

“What am I gonna do with you, man?” He sighs the sigh of the world-weary and put upon yet still with a smile on his face he next imparts, “Let me tell you how it happened since he apparently won’t.” 

They’d known each other since they were kids, well before high school, longer than you’d anticipated, lifetime best friends indeed. You thought it was nice, a friends forever kind of deal, the fact they’ve remained close so far into adulthood and still made time for each other was honestly kind of touching. The conversation even went into some stories of their friendship while they were growing up, excited recollections shared over crêpes, eggs benny, coffee and fresh fruit juice.

It was a good time, you were glad you agreed to come, and after you ate but before the check you excused yourself to the bathroom. 

As soon as you were out of earshot, Stu was staring at his friend as he asked, “Soooo?”

Billy looked away from your retreating form, and more in particular your ass, and instead back across the table to Stu, “Soooo what?”

He scoffs with a roll of his eyes, “So, what do you think of her?”

“Oh she’s great. I totally get what you mean when you’ve been talking about her, funny, cute, lively, a real good time.” He admits with a half shrug and Stu sighed, “But?”

It hangs for a moment before the response comes, “But I dunno if she is right for what we want to do.” 

“There it is, I fucking knew it!” A light hit of his hand on the table that made the dirty plates jostle slightly, a quiet rattle before he goes in on Billy. “Why isn’t she good enough?” Stu is leaning forward on his crossed arms as he presses, and Billy says, “It’s a serious thing, man, it isn’t for just anyone.”

“You think I don’t know that? I wouldn’t bring her if I didn’t think she was right. I’ve been seeing her for months and really, Billy, she is something else.” Stu insists, and Billy sighs, “So you keep saying.”

Lowering his voice next, he responds with,“You helped pick her out, remember? You liked her first, and I put in the effort to do this.” 

“Don’t act like it’s a chore, you and I both know you don’t hate the selection process or the ‘trying them out’ either. You’d be seeking out these kinds of arrangements even without my hand in it, this is just a bonus for us both, one that doesn’t need to be rushed into either.” Billy told him and Stu said, “I am not saying that at all, of course I like it dude, and I am not rushing this, I am just saying, what do we have to lose by trying this and by you trusting me?”

The small staring contest across the table lasts less than a tense silence filled minute before Billy speaks, seemingly surprised, “Shit, you really do think she’s right.”

“Duh, that’s what I’ve been saying. Listen to me, I’ve been careful, I’ve played, pushed the boundaries and I think she is the best we could ever hope for so.” The pause isn’t long, but it doesn’t need to be before the real question is posed. “Can I ask?” 

When you came back to the table, the brunch lasted less than twenty more minutes before the bill was paid and you and Stu parted ways from Billy. Warm goodbyes and waves, and promises to do this again sometime soon. 

Naturally, on the way back to his place he is asking what you thought of it all, and you admitted that you thought Billy was cool, enjoyed getting to know him and were looking forward to next time. That real question was asked with you spread out on his couch, him leaning over you, hand between your legs and two fingers curling just right inside you, his mouth lifts off your neck as he asks, “What are your feelings on the topic of threesomes?”

An indulgent smile crosses your face, a deep breath as you ask, “Was this what pushed you to introduce me to him today?”

Another flex of his fingers makes it hard to breathe normally, and he says, “Answer the question.” 

You nod shakily and tell him your stance on threesomes over the wet sound of his fingers working in and out of you, “Pro. Very, very pro.”

That answer was just what he wanted to hear, but it didn’t end there. “You’d be into it then, hm? You wanna fuck my best friend?” 

You were helpless to do anything else but moan your consent as you clenched around his fingers. “Yeah, you want it. Want to get split open from both ends, totally used.”

It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact that you completely agreed with. You did. The more he talked about it, the better it sounded. More words shared, more dirty talk, hopeful ideas posed, and you were clearly eating every last bit of it up. Soon enough your legs were around his hips and he was as deep as could be, hands on your back and asking low in your ear, “We were thinking next weekend, you’d like that?” 

Holy shit, yes you would. 

It wasn’t just a threesome he, or rather, they wanted, it was a little more complex than that. He outlined what he wanted in full, when you weren’t actively fucking, and it was so clear, so precise, it was impressive. Clearly, they both had wanted it for a long while, he seems very excited when telling you about it, and it got you excited, the whole thing sounded so hot, you readily agreed, you trusted him, the plan was made. 

You could hardly contain your excitement for the next week, but soon enough you are in your rented car, driving yourself to where you’d been instructed to for this weekend’s plan. The drive is a good one, relaxing, it’s summer and mid-morning, the radio is playing and you are feeling good.

Upon arrival and getting out, you place your sunglasses on top of your head, staring up at the multi-level beach house you’d be residing in for the next three days, it’s massive for only one person and stunning, well maintained. Bags gotten from the back, you don’t waste time on the driveway and make your way inside. The outside didn’t even do it justice, looks even better inside, big windows, lots of natural light, the living room is comfortable, the kitchen is gorgeous, the back patio looks like the perfect place to have lunch later. 

You scope out the rest of the place, drop your bags in the bedroom upstairs, and you spend the rest of the day however you like. A trip into the nearby town, you get some good food, plan out what you are going to make for dinner, when you are back you have that lunch on the patio and the rest of your afternoon? After you change, you head down to the beach and spend it in the water and on the sand, relaxing with some music and a book. 

It’s hours and hours later. 

Dinner was fantastic, you’d made one of your favourites, indulged in dessert and drew a bath that you soaked in for a long time before finally pulling yourself out of it. Fluffy robe around yourself, you make your way back to the bedroom and take advantage of your very relaxed state at the moment, you hadn’t even bothered to tie the robe up, flopping back onto the bed. The robe was open, mostly just looped around your shoulders at this point, one hand slipping down your body and intent on working up a sweat, adding to the moisture on your already damp skin. 

You put on a very good show. 

They’d let you arrive first, but had been casually watching from afar for a while. They didn’t tell you when they’d arrive, they’d showed up when you had been cleaning up from lunch and then got changed for the beach. The pair had brought their bags in while you were in the water, hid them in the basement before really watching you, too far down the beach for you to recognize them, looking like just two average beach goers. This was fun, the casual stalking, the clear thought and intention, building anticipation for later that night. 

Stu opens the cooler upon his friends’ prompting, passing him the cold can, “How long have we wanted to do this?”

Billy exhaled as he accepted the beer, “Fuck man, years, don’t ask me how many, but years.”

A small beat before Stu asks, “Think it will live up to it?” 

“I’m trying to keep my expectations…” He hums as he cracks open the can, he takes a sip, leaves Stu hanging before finally saying, “-Realistic.”

“Come on, don’t act like you aren’t excited.” Stu nudged him before opening up his own can and Billy shifted in his comfortable beach chair, he was half hard watching you coming back out of the water, totally unaware of them. He was excited, really excited but again, talking about it and experiencing it are different, he isn’t trying to get his hopes up too high. 

“I’m into it, I swear, just again I dunno how it’s all gonna pan out.” 

“Your lack of faith is staggering.” Stu deadpans and Billy proceeds to defend himself, a gesture of his hands trying to communicate his point more strongly, “Listen, I am being open, I’m just not convinced.”

Receiving a harsh look, Stu’s mouth a flat unimpressed line is what makes Billy add on, “Yet.” 

Billy’s smile makes Stu smile too, and he says, “I’ll make you eat those words.” 

A small shake of his head as he brings up his drink for another sip,“I honestly hope you do.” 

The conversation on the beach was hours ago, their own shared meal eaten outside in the dark, hidden, watching you through the window as you sat at the table and indulged in what you made. After that, while you were bathing, they busied themselves with getting geared up in the garage, they’d stowed the outfits there earlier and had let themselves in through the side door. 

The excitement permeates the space between the pair. 

There is no talking at this moment, but both are thinking so loud, it was as if they were having a full-blown conversation, memories of previous times and feelings of exhilaration over what new stories to recall could be made tonight. Boot laces tied tightly, and robes over street clothes, masks on making breathing sound so much deeper and gloves pulled onto hands, over itchy fingers desperate to do all manner of depravity. 

It starts the way they always wanted it to, the only way that it should, with a phone call. 

Your phone on is on the nightstand, and it rings, your head lolls back, a look over, nose scrunching up wondering who is calling at this time. You roll onto your stomach, you scoop up your phone with one hand before rolling back over, you look at the screen, unknown number, but you shrug and answer it anyway, what have you got to lose? You swipe and bring the phone down to your ear and say, “Hello?”

You hear a laugh, small and a tad surprised, before the greeting is returned, “Hello there.” 

Curious, now why would the person on the other end be laughing? It prompts you to ask, “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing, don’t worry about it.” Interesting, you ask, “Sorry, so, uh who is this?”

“Awfully inquisitive, aren’t you?” He asks, and you ask in turn, your hand that wasn't holding the phone is up in front of your face, you are looking at it as you speak, “Am I?”

“All you’ve said so far are questions, from greeting to now, can’t it just be enough that I am a…Curious party.” You spread your fingers, they are still wet from your earlier activities. You are still soaked, aching, throbbing, thighs rub together restlessly as you ask further, “A curious party?”

“Yeah, just someone looking for some good conversation on a lonely Friday night, desperate for someone interesting to talk to, and you seem very, very interesting.” 

You spread your fingers again, watch the creamy strings of arousal break apart from the action, you ask, “Really? I seem that interesting that I am your best option to spend your time with on a Friday evening?” 

“What’s wrong with that?” Whoever he was asked, your hand comes down without thought, you suck the mess from your fingers, the taste is tangy and salty, thoroughly you, delightful. You pull your fingers back out of your mouth as you respond wetly into the phone, “Nothing terminal, it’s just a tad…”

You swallow it down and then finish your thought, “Pathetic.”

The voice sounds almost offended on the other end, shocked as he asks, “Pathetic?”

“Just a little! Like you don’t have a hot date or plans to see a movie, you are just, what? Cold calling strangers in hopes of someone to talk to? Kinda screams pathetic.” You are smiling, damp fingertips linger on your bottom lip and the voice speaks, once again curious as if still in disbelief over your assertion, “I’m pathetic?”

You roll your eyes and say, “Half-pathetic, is that better? C’mon, don’t get hung up on it, we were having fun, weren’t we?”

“Seems you were having more fun before I called.” He bites, and it’s your turn to laugh, “What makes you say that?” 

The question was genuine, how did he have any idea what you were up to before he called?

You got your answer very quickly, “As much as I am enjoying this conversation, I think you were enjoying having those fingers buried in that pretty little cunt a Hell of a lot more than this back and forth we are having at the moment.”

Heart drops, stomach tightens and your thighs still, hand dropping from your mouth, silence overtakes, how the fuck did he know that? 

It’s heavy for a moment until he breaks the quiet, “Oh you got nothing to say to that? Now who’s pathetic?” 

Your mouth opens and closes, tongue runs nervously over your lips as you try to find the words to respond, attempting to conjure up an adequate response but none springs to mind fast enough because he cuts in again, he sounds a mix between dangerously venomous and utterly amused, “You really are struggling! Did your brain leak outta your skull, hmm? No blood flow between the ears, it seems, it’s all pooled between your legs.” 

You sit up, mouth having fully fallen open, the words trying to soak into your grey matter as you bite back, “I have a brain!” 

The response from the receiver is sharper in tone than the edge of a fucking knife. “Act like it.” 

Holy fucking shit. 

You still have not spoken, so he continues to, “Because right now, you just seem totally fucking brain-dead, can’t even string a single sentence together. Is your mind elsewhere? Do you want to keep putting on a show for me instead?-”

He can see you. He has to, how else would he know what you have been up to, he is fucking talking, again,  “-I bet you do. Go on, go ahead, get those fingers back in that tight looking little hole, I’m waiting.”

You were not about to do this, were you? There was no fucking way that you would give in so easily, no you weren’t about to start masturbating for this freak on the phone, you were going to do something far more productive, track the son of a bitch. You are sitting up, looking around, the still wet hand closing your robe over your chest while your other hand held the phone to your ear. 

Get your body covered, get up off the bed, make sure the doors are locked, make it, so this freak can’t get in, go, go, go- his voice cuts through your train of thought once more, “Oh you are so cute! You are not going to find me that easily.” 

He might be right, but that doesn’t mean you were going to give up that easily, you are out of bed, robe is closed, and you are across the room, hand on the door knob, you twist, pull, the door opens, and it is revealed that you are in fact not actually alone in this beach house. 

“Surprise!” 

A tall figure clad in black hooded robes, a bleached bone white mask staring down at you, black eyes and mouth twisted open in a permanent scream, it makes you want to do that yourself. 

Instead, what you do is react quicker than you ever thought you could, you drop the phone, your hand comes up, and you move, slamming the door closed, one hand on the wood and the other still braced on the knob moves, you click the lock closed. Backing up, hands held up, bare foot brushing against the discarded cell abandoned on the floor as if on a cue the phone starting ringing when you made contact with it again, you jumped and vowed not to answer it. The pounding on the door is loud and incessant, he’s strong, he can get in here if he really wants to, and it sounds like he really fucking wants to. You think fast, you look around the room and make a choice that you can’t stay in here, you have a place you can go, but it’s risky, you have to be careful. 

You turn on your heel and move, abandon the door and still ringing phone and as you leave both sounds gets a little quieter, you enter into the ensuite bathroom, you close its door and lock it too before you hurry to the window. Cinching the robe’s belt tighter around your waist, you double knot it, and then you open the window, the breeze rolls in, fresh air on your face feels nice, soothing and calming, a slight balm to your currently frayed nerves and overactive mind, the smell of sea salt is strong. 

Fingers deftly roll your sleeves up, folding them, so they rest around your elbows, and then you set to your plan, you start to climb out the window. This place had a slanted roof, at a small angle, one you’d have to be cautious walking on, but you could walk on it all the same. You were going to hold on for dear life and make your way to the guest bedroom window, creep in quietly and then be able to hopefully get downstairs and out, away from this freak who wants to do God knows what to you. 

Doing this barefoot, is it smart or stupid? You find you can’t decide as you carefully step on the rough tiling, you have one hand on the top of the windowsill, and soon you are out into the open air, you keep one hand up, and slowly you start to move, hand braced on the roof, fingers passing over as you shuffle and move. You feel like a bit of a cliché’ as you keep thinking, “Don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t look down-” 

You manage to make it after about a minute of mindful manoeuvring, your hand grips onto the window’s ledge and your other hand forces the window open, thank the Lord it wasn’t locked. The want to throw yourself inside is immense, but you have to be careful, instead you ease yourself in, ears strain to listen, you don’t hear the pounding, did he give up? You have to check. You creep to the door and peek out down the hallway towards the bedroom you’d been staying in, the door is open, and he is nowhere to be found, shit. 

No point in lingering, you have to make a move, or he will find you, quick and quiet feet carry you through the door and to the top of the stairs, your hand grips the railing, and you are about to start your descent when your periphery catches it, a flash of black fabric. Your heart seizes, and you swallow thickly, stomach dropping you don’t wait to confirm it, sure your mind might be playing tricks on you in your heightened state of terror, but why risk it? 

Down you go. 

You think that outside is best, try to make it down the dark beach under the cover of the night to the next beach house, ask for help, the robe you wore is white and not exactly the best for sneaking around, “Beggars can’t be choosers-” you muse as you pad down the hallway and towards the kitchen. You make your way through and were headed to the doors at the back leading out to the patio, so close, you’d be outside again and could hopefully make your escape. 

You have sincere hope. 

That same hope was short-lived. It died when the door swung open before you could reach it, when that same figure from earlier in that same outfit stepped inside. Tall and imposing, the air carried in from outside smelt like the beach usually does, salt tinges the air, you can hear the faint crash of the waves outside. The fragile and glass like pane of your now clearly false sense of security, that bubble of unearned cocky confidence that you could do this, get out, unscathed? It burst, popped, lays shattered at your feet that were currently trying to go backwards again. You don’t turn, try to back up as the one your eyes are locked on is advancing, the door had been closed, it’s too quiet, black boots on tile as he approaches, and you back up into something solid, firm, warm. Eyes look up, head tips back, a second figure, another mask, ah yes, of course. 

There are two of them, after all. 

No chance to move, hands settle slowly on your shoulders, a squeeze that is firm and felt through the plush material of the robe. The feeling of another hand on you makes your head snap back down, leather clad fingers trace down your chin and neck, “You did better than I thought you would. You mighta got away with it if it was just him, if I wasn’t outside watching, I saw your little stunt on the roof. Impressive honestly, real brave.”

His hand is moving lower, fingers dipping into the split in the front of your robe and something in you snaps, you don’t want to give in or give up yet, so you, once again, move. You pushed, both hands land on his chest, and you shove him backwards, the action is fast, it catches him off guard, perhaps he was a little too confident himself, assuming his accomplice having his hands on you would root you to the spot in fear alone. It is not enough, the other man’s grip was loose and with an elbow thrown back right after, catching him in the stomach you are off the second his hands slip away. 

You go to the left and try to pick up the pace as fast as you possibly can, you can still make it out of this intact, but you didn’t account for a few things. The floors are tile transitioning to hardwood, you are barefoot and sweating from fear and adrenaline, and how far they can reach, the minor moment it takes to recover after partially slipping is more than enough to give them the edge they require. 

You had made it a whole five pathetic steps before the hand is locked firmly onto your arm and yanking you back, hitting into the solid wall of his chest. You feel the touch of cool plastic from the mask he wore on the side of your face as he breathes out, “Aweee, too fucking bad.” 

The grip is unyielding as you are moved against your will, dragged towards the kitchen table, you struggle the whole way even though it is futile, helpless to the point it pulls a laugh out of them. 

“Such a try-hard!” Croons the one hauling you over hardwood, your toes barely skimming the smooth surface as you try to kick and wriggle away, “It’s adorable.” Calls the other, you can hear his smile behind the mask, following behind at a leisurely pace. 

Soon you are right in front of the table, and you are turned, ass pressed against the corner, there are hands-on your wrists, holding your hands behind your back, the grip painfully tight by the figure behind you. Yet you don’t give in, not bothered by the unusual angle of the edge of the table that between you and him. The table is heavy and thick wood, even the smallest part of it combined with his hands make your continued attempt once again laughable, no way you can have enough strength or leverage to budge the piece of furniture. You are still struggling, but the other one steps forward, his hands lock onto your shoulders. “Knock it off.”

Held by them, the multiple points of contact, the support of the table, you are thoroughly fucked. The bright flame of hope of escape inside of you dims, but the part of you that is acutely aware that this is a game, that under these masks are the men you know, one who you trust immensely, Stu, and the other his best friend Billy, and that thought? Instead, makes arousal spark in terrors place. You can truly allow yourself to feel everything, can give yourself over and into the game they set up.

“Seriously, you’ve lost. Accept it honey.” The last word is spoken with a particular spine-chilling bite that allows a tinge of fear to remain, you let it fuel the want further. 

You were just in this position. Your eyes flick over the few feet where you were bracketed by them both, totally boxed in, you had not been able to get away, no match for them. One hand is off your shoulder, the leather clad hand is gripping your face, it makes your eyes snap back to the mask staring you down. “Your eyes should always be on us, understood?”

Which one was this? You thought you’d be able to tell because of all your experience with Stu, but you really cannot nail it down, you are intimately familiar with Stu’s touch and his voice, but they sound different, not at all familiar. Not in a bad way, the voice they’ve adopted somehow is more than working for you, deeper, smooth yet still rough around the edges; the timbre of it resonates deep within, makes you think if pressed to bone it could vibrate you from the inside out, shake what makes you, you from your very body, separate spirit from flesh.

You’d have to ask later how they were doing it. 

Right now, you respond to what he said, a small nod as you confess, “I understand.”

“Good.” He all but purrs as his hand pats your cheek, condescendingly. 

“Ready for us to start having some real fun? Make that lame little conversation we had on the phone seem dull in comparison?” The one behind questioned and the one in front seemed all too enthusiastic. 

“God yes.” Came the response, “Watching her on the beach earlier was a total tease and I could barely get a good look at her in bed, I need to see this body up close.” 

No chance to react to the knowledge they were watching you on the beach, they probably were stalking you all fucking day without you even realizing it. Hands grip and your robe is pulled open and pushed down, your arms are locked to your sides by how the material bunches and sits, your tits fully out and on display. 

“Look at her.” Gloved hands are on you, touching you, palming your chest, groping, thumbs pass over your nipples lightly making you inhale a hair harder. You feel the mask on your bared shoulder, the assailant behind you also taking in the view and the slow, easy touches of leather encased fingers on delicate flesh.

“She’s not made of glass, you won’t break her.” The encouragement makes the treatment get rougher, a pinch of the sensitive peaks makes you tense momentarily from the jolt of pain. 

They take notice. Amusement is back as the one currently rolling your nipples between his thumbs and forefingers says, “Oh, we are gonna be a lot rougher than that, but, don’t worry, you can take it.” 

As if to punctuate what he said and prove he can make good on his promise, one hand abandons toying with you and smacks your breast. The pain is different, sharper, it gets a bigger reaction, you squirm, body bows, and he hits again, another rock of your body, another hit lands. You exhale sharply, and you can feel the energy between the pair, it’s light and giddy. 

“Can’t wait to see all the reactions we can pull outta her. Get her on the table.” 

“In a minute.” Calls the one behind you. He lets go of your wrists, confident you are too distracted to do much of anything in the midst of your tit torture session. He unties the robe’s belt around your waist and pulls it behind, using it to bind your wrists, he twists and twines it, wraps it around, knots it tightly, with the thick material still bunched around your elbows, your arms are effectively useless. 

“There.” The one behind says before he hooks his fingers in the expert knots and pulls hard, your back hits the table, your tied hands rest in the small of your back, your weight on top of them will make them fall asleep you are sure of it as you groan. Between them both, you are adjusted, your head is hanging off the edge of the table, legs half hanging off the other side. You are exposed totally now, the robe is barely on and has fallen to the sides, neck, chest, stomach and lower all bare.

One of the chairs next to your head is pulled out, leg raises, black boot on the seat of the chair in plain view of you, and you watch as the knife on the ankle holster is removed. The knife is large, you’ve seen it before, in a movie once, the name flashes through your mind, bowie sounds correct. 

His boot moves, swings down, connects with the floor again and in a swift movement you feel the edge of cold steel against your throat. Your eyes go wide, a harsh swallow and the knife is held closer, if you attempted this action again you are sure that your skin would break, and you would bleed, a frightfully exciting concept. 

“This here is what we like to call incentive.” He all but purrs and the one at the other end of the table, currently standing between your legs, pipes up, “That’s a big word, you might want to spell it out.” 

A shared laugh, “Good point.” The flat of the blade taps, and he expounds, “This is here to make sure that you do every filthy, fucked up thing that crosses our minds, understood?” 

You had no option but to comply, to play nice and play the part of the good pliant fuck doll. 

The next move couldn’t be clearer to you. Eyes flick up and meet his hidden behind that mask, you tilt your chin up, holding your head with confidence, leaning into the blade, not shying away, not fearful and asked, “What’s first?”

[backtothefanfiction]

Super Dad | Dad!Peter Imagine

Summary: Peter fell asleep working on the kids science homework.

Length: Short

Warnings: none, this is mostly fluff

A/N: Just another one of those quick imagines before I sleep.

They had come home with the assignment on Friday. They had exited the school and run straight into your arms all giggles and smiles, sheets of paper in their tiny hands, blowing in the late autumn breeze.

“What have you got there bug?” You asked as your youngest waved the piece of paper, too large for her hands, towards your face.

“It’s science week next week!” She squealed excited, little fists punching the air once you’d taken the piece of paper from her.

“Each grade has an assigned topic.” Your eldest added as she handed over her own assignment to you.

“Well, it looks like we are going to be having a very busy weekend.”

Anna, your youngest’s, project was a model solar system. Your older daughter, Maria, had to do a project on renewable energy. She insisted that she wanted to make a working water mill, but her Father (knowing he’d end up being the one to do most of, if not all of the work anyway) insisted she make a wind mill.

Safe to say Peter had been right. The girls gave up on their projects halfway through the Saturday and with a trip to Aunt May’s planned on Sunday afternoon, your Sunday night had been relegated to finishing off the girls projects, ready for the following morning.

You had put the girls to bed before returning to help finish painting the tiny paper mache planets for Anna’s solar system. You turned the TV on with the volume low, the sounds of Friends re-runs acting as background noise as you both did the work.

You couldn’t help but get fixated every now and again on your husband’s concentration face. The way he squinted his eyes and quirked his lip. Every now and again he’d lift his glasses slightly and survey his work. When he got the motor mechanism for the windmill working he looked so proud of himself and it made your chest swell.

“Right, that’s the last planet painted.” You announced as you placed the cocktail stick attached to it in a piece of foam to be left to dry.

You grabbed your mug and took a sip of your drink. When you placed it back down you realised just how covered in paint you had become as sticky paint finger prints covered the once white mug. “I think I’m gonna go take a bath and salvage what’s left of my weekend.” You announce as you get up.

“Huh?” Peter says as he suddenly pulls his focus away from the job at hand, now that you’re standing. “Uh, yeah, okay.” He quickly follows as his delay in processing your words finally catches up with itself.

You smile as you give him a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t be too much longer with that.” You say giving him a quick kiss before you leave the room.

You end up spending nearly an hour in the bath and then another half an hour after that pampering yourself with a full facial before climbing into your pyjamas and reading for a little bit. When it’s near midnight and Peter still hasn’t started making his way to bed, you reluctantly get yourself out from under the nice warm covers to look for him.

When you make it back out to the main area of your apartment his head is resting on his arm on the dining room table. Both projects are completed in front of him. They look perfect, your girls are going to be so happy when they see them.

“Hey.” You say softly as you shake him awake.

“Hnngggg.” He groans as he slowly rouses.

“Hey super dad.” You coo quietly to him.

“Hey.” He says back sleepily,

“You know, I think our bed is much more comfortable than the dining room table.” You say softly.

“But then who would protect my masterpieces.” He jokes.

“Come on Spider Boy, I think they’ll survive the night just being in our apartment.”

“You promise.” He continues to sleepily play along.

“I promise.” You say holding your pinky out to him and he lazily hooks it with his own. “Okay, come on.” You say helping him up and escorting him to bed.

The following morning there’s a squeal and a crash that makes the two of you race from your bed. When you get out to the dining table where your youngest now lies in a heap on the floor, surrounded by her project, rubbing at her knee, you know you’ve been too presumptuous.

“Survive the night, eh” you hear your husband mutter beside you before he’s bending down to attend to his little girl.

“Hey bug, what happened?” Peter says gently but you know from his tone of voice he’s trying with all his might not to be irritated by the fact his hard work last night has been damaged already.

“I went to grab it so I could look at it and I slipped.”

“It’s okay.” You say as you begin to pick up the pieces of the solar system to be put back together.

“Well, are you okay?” Peter checks in with her,

“Yeah, I just hit my knee.” She replies.

“Do you need Daddy to kiss it better?”

Peter feels you kick him in the side gently. He knows how much of an affect that word has on you and he fights to hold in his grin so he can keep tending to his daughter instead.

“No. It’s okay. I’ve got it.” She says before getting up to come and join you as you sit at the table and start glueing the planets back into place.

“Come on bug, how about some breakfast.” Peter encourages her towards the kitchen and away from you and the project before she does it any more harm.

When he brings you over a bowl of your favourite cereal moments later you hear him say, “Bet you’re wishing you’d left me to sleep on the dining room table to protect them now, eh?”

“Hey, I said they’d survive the night and they did.” You smile up at him. “Technically nothing happened to them until the morning, after the sun was up.” You wise crack back.

“Yeah?” He jokes,

“Yeah!” You sass back.

“Well I’m sure you would have felt differently if it was you who had done 80% of the work.”

“Hey, I painted the planets.” You reply with mock offence.

“Fine.” He concedes with a sigh. “75%.”

“Thank you very much.” You smile at him in response before there’s a cry of “Daaadd.” From the kitchen.

“That’s my queue.” He smiles.

“That’s your queue.” You smile back as he leans in for a kiss.

“Oh and don’t think I don’t remember you calling me super Dad last night.” You roll your eyes at his own ego, “I’m gonna be using that for a long time.”

“Yeah, yeah:” you say waving him off. But it’s true. Peter is a super dad and you couldn’t be more happy to have him forever by your side.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale’s Top 10: Anime abilities/powers/ Techniques I want in real life

Rules.

1. It has to be from an anime. It can’t be from a manga with no anime adaption. If the manga has an anime adaptation BUT hasn’t gotten to that part where the power has been animated. It doesn’t count. Video games count as long as they have an anime adaption/counterpart

2. I will be give access to everything needed to make the technique/power/ability to work. Example: If I need Ki to do a technique, I will have enough to use it.

3. One per anime.

4. I will try to change up the abilities but there may be some similarities.

_________________________________________________________

10. Zoom (Dragonquest: The adventure’s of Dai)

Now for the uninitiated with Dragon quest and this anime, you might be thinking. What the f*** is zoom?

Well it’s basically the fusion of Flight and teleportation.

Using magic the user can picture a place in their mind, and if there isn’t some sort of magic barrier preventing them from leaving, or a roof. They can ‘Zoom’ / Teleport there almost instantly.

There is a variant of it called Telezoom, allowing the user to basically fly around. I love the ability because it makes it so I don’t have to choose between flight or teleportation. I can choose both. As long as I focus I can use it, also it takes very little magic to use (in the games it’s zero, but in the anime it’s a bit). It’s basically the near perfect spell. But the only downside is I can’t be indoors to use the teleport part. But I can still fly.

9. Koro’s Super speed (Assassination Classroom)

Yes there are other characters that are faster. Mach 20 doesn’t even seem that fast in terms of speed.

But I specifically said Koro’s sensei’s speed for 1 purpose. His speed isn’t just foot speed. It’s reaction speed, flight speed, even cognitive speed. He’s able to read, write, process, craft and move at Mach 20 to put it into perspective. 20x the speed of sound. That’s 15,345.4 miles per hour. 22,506.6 feet per second. Basically 4 miles in a second.

He’s so fast he can create after images of himself without issue. Plus if I have his speed, while I won’t have his tentacles, I will have rather dexterous hands and feet. I can travel to Japan in a half hour.

So yea, that reflex speed and cognitive speed would be amazing.

8. Conqueror’s Haki (One Piece)

Now you’re probably thinking, WHY this Haki? Why not observation Haki? Or why not a devil fruit that’s OP. Well my inquisitive individual. Allow me to explain

Conqueror’s Haki or Haoshoku Haki is a rare form of Haki that lets the user Exert their will power as a weapon. Just having it means you are incredible leader and harbor a grand ambition. It’s not something that is given.

But let’s start with the basics, the most basic form can cause a pulse of will power that can knock out anyone with a lesser will. Which is pretty dope. And it won’t hurt anyone you consider an ally.

Conqueror’s Haki can be so strong it can destroy buildings, crush ships, obliterate Islands just from clashes of Conqueror’s Haki can cause the sky to split. It can even be shot miles away at a target if you know they are there. As a way to scare them

What’s more, users of this brand of Haki can coat their bodies like armorment Haki making physical attacks stronger, bodies more durable. It also increases your mental resistances. You can also block people from trying to predict the future with Haki.

Main reason I want it, is because it’s badass.

7. Shadow Clone Jutsu (Naruto)

The best jutsu to have in real life. Letting the user make copies of himself. Sure, Teleportation and Flight are cool. Sure super speed can make is appear as if you are everywhere at once, but clones with your mental acuity and can act on your will are the best. It is better than others because you don’t need to worry about them being turned against you, and one hit can make em poof.

But the main thing with shadow clones is that you can use them to learn something. You just need to poof them after and ALL the experience they gained is yours. It’s super overpowered.

I would have loved this power in college. Take a 5 classes at the same time slot and have copies in each.

I won’t even need 1000’s of clones. Just 5 would be perfect. Heck even making one is fine.

6. Eyes of the Lord (Record of Ragnarok)

Imagine you watch someone do a cool trick on a skateboard and think “Wow that’s cool wish I could do that.”

Now imagine you went over, took the skateboard and performed that exact same trick EXACTLY as that person did.

That’s the power of the Eyes of the Lord.

Taking humans ability to take something and copy it perfectly.

Now I know what you’re thinking? “Why not SHARIGAN ? You can do that and more!” Well to you I say. Watch more anime beside Naruto. Because this ability is so much more than that.

These eyes are so capable, they can process stuff that happen INSTANTANEOUSLY, and your body reacts just as quickly.

Zeus used an attack that was said to be instant, and Adam not only reacted to it, he copied it and used it against him BEFORE he even finished the attack!

Now it’s said it doesn’t just copy techniques, but skills as well.

I can watch someone draw and be able to draw at that level. I could see someone program a complex algorithm and be able to type it up easily and even figure out before he finishes what it’s output would be.

This power is the ultimate copy cat power. Any skill, any technique, anything I see, I will be able to replicate it. Even if it seems physically impossible for me to do.

Now there is a downside, overuse would take a toll on the user, but at the same time… I won’t be using it to such extremes that Adam did. So I will be fine.

5. Rewind (my hero academia)

Is this the most overpowered quirk in the series? No, but it’s up there.

Eri’s power can revert anything biological to a previous state.

You could theoretically rewind someone to non-existence. But that’s not the reason I would want it.

My main reason is theoretical immortality.

So long as I’m alive I can use the quirk, and as long as the thing is alive, I can impact it.

Imagine someone you know gets cancer. One use of the quirk and suddenly they no longer have cancer and are as strong as they were at their peak. Broken leg, instant fix to before it broke. Bullet wound? How about we rewind to before you got shot. And the best part is it stays that way.

The only downside is that Eri is young and can’t control the quirk well. I’d hone it to perfection. I would be able to stay in my physical prime until I got bored. And not just me. Anyone I care about. It’s just that easy.

4. Heaven’s Door (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure)

Let me introduce to you the most broken stand in all of Jojo’s.

Yes, even more broken then Gold experience Requiem or Wonder of U. Or even Made in Heaven.

I say this because this stand could make you IMMUNE to them.

How? Simply use the ability to write in yourself that you are immune, or get the user at the jump to tell them their ability can’t target them. Now the only argument is that requiem could reverse it but my theory is that the requiem only works to give an ability the user needs at the time. But that’s speculation.

ANYWAY, even if it wasn’t as good, it is still the best ability. Mind wipe, hypnotic suggestions positive and negative. You can write that you speak Italian and BAM! You speak Italian. The only reason it’s not seen as broken is because Rohan doesn’t use it right. You can remove or read memories. It even works on ghosts.

It is the best self improvement tool. And it can help others too.

3. Spiral Power (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)

Row Row Fight the Power!

The most OP energy power in anime.

Allow me to explain,

The only thing the user needs is Double helix DNA, and they can access spiral power.

To put it simply, Spiral power is Evolution.

Spiral Power has both infinite potential and applications - it has been known to regenerate and grow new parts on machines to a universal and multiversal scale, and even create tunnels through space-time.

Spiral power even allows for Physical growth and improvement. Showing intellectual growth, and showing how in seven years the human race went from cave dwellers to capable of space travel. Plus lordgenome was able to live for 1000+ years after discovering its power and was able to FIGHT a mech in his human form! He said his robot was holding him back so catch these hands

Spiral power is shown to be strong enough to REVIVE the dead! Kamina was resurrected using it briefly. But it’s only Simon and Leeron that reject it as bringing back the dead would only stop things moving forward.

Spiral power allowed a mole rat to evolve into a human. Spiral power allowed the group to fight a GALAXY SIZED evil being that was so strong he could manipulate all the energy of their universe to fight against them.

Spiral powers only downside is that apparently there is something called the spiral nemesis. Which is said to be the apocalypse because apparently too much spiral power is a bad thing. But I call bs. Besides if it existed IRL our society would be a type 4 civilization in a matter of years. (Look it up if you don’t know what that means)

I guess another downside is you have to constantly push logic to the curve to do the impossible. But I can live with that

2. All Fiction (Medaka Box)

Allow me to introduce to you, the most broken ability in all of Anime. Kumagawa Misogi’s (ALL FICTION)

Now what does this ability do?

It allows you to make something into nothing.

What does that mean?

Let’s say you shot me in the heart. Killing me. I decided nope, that didn’t happen. And I get right back up, no bullet in my chest. And you are standing there wondering Wtf just happened.

But that’s not all. Let’s say I got sick of the color blue. I can just decide Blue doesn’t exist anymore. Done. It’s over. All things that are blue changed color to reflect the fact blue doesn’t exist.

I can erase anything I want. I could erase people from existence, I could erase time. Allowing me to move instantly.

But to put it simply, it’s a minus ability that allows the user to reject reality.

The only reason the guy using it isn’t an overpowered king of everything is because he is in his own words “AN INFINITE LOSER”

The biggest downside is that All fiction, once something is erased, it can’t be brought back unless the user has another skill to counter the effect. And that’s the only reason I can’t put this at number 1. If I had the combination of All fiction and Non fiction. It would be nearly perfect.

1. Magic Materialization feat Namekian Dragon clan (Dragonball Z)

I know what you’re all thinking. Why this power? You had reality manipulating powers? You had teleportation? Why would you pick something so mundane?

Well I direct you to the (Feat Namekian Dragon clan)

Nameks can use magic to create anything they imagine. Including Dragonballs. While it says they need to be dragon clan. Id say that’s an easy pick.

I can create dragon balls, and then use the dragon balls however I please. I could wish to be stronger. I could wish for the powers of previous abilities listed. I can upgrade my dragon just by adding water.

The Namekian dragon balls have no limit on resurrections and amount of people by end of Z. In the manga they’ve even been show to grant the user the power to be the strongest in the universe!

Basically the power to wish for nearly anything. Easy number 1

[fizzyginfizz]

If you don’t mind me asking, how goes the next chapter for Quidditch is for Losers? Can’t wait for the next chapter!!

Aww, I don't mind you asking at all - love that you asked! I can't wait for it either. I wish I'd write faster.

The next chapter is titled "Never Ever Ever" and it transitions Ginny's story back to Hogwarts during the PoA timeline. However (I'm sorry- I can't - Don't hate me) I'm not planning to post any new chapters until I've completely finished writing that whole 10-12 chapter arc.

Lots of reasons for holding off, but if I were reading this instead of writing it, I'd want the next chapters on a weekly schedule without having to wait too long between each one. Ginny doesn't have a broom to work through her highs and lows and I do not want to risk getting stuck and stranding her (or you) at a low for months on end. At least in this pause she's found a streak of sunshine.

But the next three chapters are pretty much written. This week the plan is to finish editing "Never Ever Ever" and send to beta - while heartening for me, it's nothing to get super-excited about because the beta read invariably results in more revising. Sometimes it feels like I don't "write" words as much as I paper mache them- strips of verbal layers, trimmed and glued phrases and thoughts, adding and smoothing over and over and over until each chapter sort of comes close to what I imagined. It's not a clean process, certainly not a linear one, but it's how I do it and I can't predict how many drafts each chapter will take.

But I am making progress! I did bog down for awhile but I'm gaining momentum again. Wrote this morning. Will write this evening. I'm happy to report Ginny's internal monologue is flowing and I should probably stop typing now before I accidentally dish detailed spoilers.

Thank you, sincerely, for the ask - it makes me want to write faster. I'm excited for you to read what's coming up.

Quidditch is for Losers

[daveandjako-blog]

Hello! Many are now at confusion, yes... Foxy in what form it was - no longer exists, it will be redone in a new way. But in order not to throw away the finished parts, after I spent a lot of time on them, I decided to pay tribute and make the one who actually inspired me - Philomela a mechanical bird.

I will immediately warn you that some of the art or drawings are NOT mine and are used only for an example and a general understanding of what I am doing.

More recently, I discovered an expensive, but very effective method. Paper paste (or papier mache) - is finely cut paper impregnated with a water-based adhesive and then kneaded until a homogeneous mass is obtained.

This paste can be used to fill cavities, molds - after hot drying (in my case on a table lamp), this mixture becomes so hard that I can now process it with a file.

What I did with this hand, before this, clamp it between a vise and start processing part of the joint with a file. I did this trying to make a strong connection between the parts. I inserted the spire, made both holes and covered it completely with paste, let it dry a little, took out the spire and left it to dry completely.

After I processed each part of the arm and slightly improved the connecting part (later I also covered it with paste and dried it), I got a very strong connection.

Now I'm looking for fill shapes to speed up the creation of models and parts for them.

There is a figure less than 20 cm in size, you want to make it close to the original, even parts of it... and you do it.

I couldn’t make the details identical, I had to cheat and simplify, but keep the same functionality.

Instead of a separate movable part to which part of the retractable leg is attached, it has become part of the entire leg.

* First, I made the main part itself, a tube with a cutout and a moving part.

* I picked up a tube of a suitable diameter, made a cut along, substituted a half of a thin tube from the side and fixed it. Repeated the same on the other side.

* Part of the leg slides along the edges of these tubes, at the bottom the edges of these tubes are clogged, and thanks to the cutout in the leg, part of the leg bends and the movable part slides up along the tubes.

I couldn't do it without papier mache! Important parts are made using this technique.

These are the details of the knee. I decided to slightly deviate from the original and try something new.

Was it necessary? No. Why I did this? Because I can.

Half of the gear as the base for the knee and the small gear moves with the tilt of the leg.

On the left - this is what I could limit myself to, and on the right - this is what I ended up with:

Here is a little more detail, it has a very complex mechanism in the reed. I decided to do something similar but not quite, in view of the complexity of the detail itself.

That's how I started to gradually create this mechanism:

And finally, what the leg itself looks like (so far without a foot)

This is all I can show for now. Yes, I rarely make posts, it's still my hobby, I don't get paid for it)

There is not always time for this, I had an operation last month and put a prosthesis on the hip joint, but everything is already fine with me and so far I walk with crutches.

Thanks everyone and see you soon!

[judgeanon]

Plastic Skies - Model 6: Saab Draken

Been a while, huh? To be completely honest, it hasn’t actually been that long since the last model, but I held up on writing this until after Christmas for no particular reason.

For those who haven’t seen these, this is my ongoing journal of getting back into building aircraft model kits, a hobby that I tried out for a couple of years when I was a kid but never really got into. And that’s part of why this particular one is at least a little important.

I like the Saab Draken quite a bit. Developed right after WWII as a supersonic fighter-interceptor and built in the early years of the Cold War, the Draken was able to reach speeds of Mach 2 and is also the first aircraft capable of doing the Cobra Maneuver, one of those aviation things that looks like someone hacked real life:

(It’s kinda funny that the plane’s name, “Draken”, can mean either “Dragon” or “Kite”)

I also love its general shape, its double delta wings and wide body making it look more like a starfighter than an airplane. But the main reason why I like the Draken is because it was one of the first model kits my brother built when we were kids. Which makes it one of the very first model kits I’d ever seen. So when I went looking for a 1/72 scale kit to finally move away from the tiny 1/144′s that I’d been focusing so much on, this very generously-priced Draken caught my eye right away. It was pretty much the same price as the Tomcat and Flanker, plus it gave me an opportunity to pait camouflage again, so after a quick trip to a new shop it was mine.

I was happy to see that I had all the tools I needed for this build except for some blue paint. The shop I bought it from didn’t have it, so I took at as an opportunity to go to another one and also pick up a few extras I’d been looking at. Namely, a can of brush cleaner and a rotating platform with elevated hooks to paint smaller parts which I... actually didn’t get much use out of and kinda regret. But it might be useful someday!

The build itself was surprisingly pleasant. After all these models, I’m happy to see I’ve grown an eye for getting the pieces properly glued and balanced, so no more crooked tailfins or wings. Or, well, not as crooked as in previous attempts.

I’m also pretty happy with the paintjob I gave this old gal. It’s a bit thicker than in the reference pictures, but the extra space and a bit more care when thinning the paints made it so the brush strokes aren’t quite as visible as in other models, which was my main goal here. Also, getting the silver stripes required a bit of masking tape use which also went a lot better than other times.

Likewise, I’m pleased with how the landing gears came out. The frontal one is still a bit crooked and the gates aren’t exactly right to the original plane, but the improvement is there. Which is always one of the most encouraging things with any hobby or activity: watching you get better at it. Overall, I was having a nice, relaxing time with my Draken, watching it quickly take shape while also enjoying the process. Painting in particular was really fun and rewarding. It didn’t escape my attention that I was, in a way, one-upping my brother. He never painted his Draken, after all. Although while I was working on this, I did unlock a very, veeery vague memory of one of us attempting to paint at least one kit and being very disappointed at the results. I can’t remember which one of us or what kit but the image was still there, hazy in my mind. I should ask him someday.

So yeah, a good time was had by all rrright up until the decals came out. Turns out Mistercraft’s decals are somehow both tough and fragile. Even after dunking them a long time in water, the only thing that could get them out of the sheet were my fingers, which imediately opened up a whole can of problems which you can already see in the pic above if you look closely enough.

The decal mishaps meant two things: first, that I decided to skip on the big yellow dragon/swordfish decal that would’ve otherwise covered most of the plane’s fuselage. And two, that I was gonna have to weather at least a bit of it to give it a worn-out look. If only to justify the busted up decals.

The weathering job ended up being once of the nicest parts of the model somehow. Thanks to the extra surface to work with, I was able to really fine-tune the sludge wash into something that looks pretty good to my eye. I didn’t do the same for the top of the plane, though that’s mostly because I’m saving up to buy some proper panel liners that will most likely give me a much better look than anything this wash could do.

Speaking of the top, one thing I did for this Draken that I haven’t done for any other plane so far was paint the canopy. I took an extremely fine brush to it, and while it was pretty intimidating at first, I was able to get it painted pretty alright and without having to clean it or use thinners. It’s still a bit gooey and that’s my fault for not using masking tape, but for a first experience, it was still quite nice.

After that, all that was left was give it a couple coats of matte varnish, and the Draken was ready. The combination of a decent enough paintjob and the nostalgic value meant I was quick to show it off to everyone and their dog, who were pretty impressed with it. So the jump up in scale ended up being a real success, in more than one ways. Not only did it serve me a sweet slice of circularity and was a mostly comfortable build: the best part of making this Draken was the confidence it left me with.

I know I’m not a huge pro and I’m sure I’m reaching the ceiling of my personal skills and/or the level of detail I care to get into, but if this is as good as I can make a model, I feel pretty satisfied. Content. And more importantly, I finally feel ready to tackle the Final Boss of this whole endeavor. The model that I desperately want to Get Right. The model that will be, if everything goes well, the first thing I build in 2023.

I’m very, very excited for it.

[mstand]

Appendage Process

Unfortunately I was unable to find my process photos for this project. Instead I have found stock images that show the process I took.

First, I began by breaking my sketch into the shapes i needed to make.

Second, I used chickenwire to make the shapes I sketched. I did this by bending, folding, and twisting the chickenwire in order to get it into the shape I wanted.

Third, Now that the armature was made with the chicken wire, It was time to mix the paper mache paste. The paper mache paste was a mixture of water and all purpose flour. The consistency of paste i preferred to work with was like pancake batter to make are i could cover the strips of paper evenly.

Fourth, It was time to start applying paper to the armature. I began with strips pf brown paper bags. this type of paper is stronger creating for a strong shell on the appendage.

Fifth, Once there was two layers of the brown paper bags covering the structure, I then used newspaper to add another two layers. The layers of newspaper gave it a smother more consistent finish.

Sixth, Now that the paper mache was hardened i could now begin th process of adding a veneer to the appendage. I chose to use air condition ducts and aluminum tape as the base materials for my veneer.

Seventh, I used tin snips to cute the ducts into pieces to create patchwork look. My vision was a very industrial look.

Eighth, To adhere the metal pieces to the appendage I used hot glue and sometimes the aluminum tape for parts I couldn't get to with the hot glue gun.

Ninth, I added some more air conditioning parts to finish off the industrial look. I used a flex duct to cover the cylindrical part of the appendage my arm was meant to go inside. and at the end of it i used a vent connector to act as the part that connects my body to the appendage.

Finally, The piece is complete and ready to wear in different environments for the next step in the project.

[livefreeforfun]

Sonic Frontiers Review: Aptly Crossing a New Frontier.

Sonic Frontiers is the latest 3D platforming game to be released in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, following the releases of Sonic Forces, Sonic Colors Ultimate (SCU), and Sonic Origins, their previous three 3D platforming titles. Forces, SCU, and Origins’ releases were met with a lot of criticism due to not meeting the fanbase’s expectations for a variety of reasons, so in the days before Frontiers’ released, I was excited but chose to keep a healthy level of skepticism just in case the game wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Suffice to say, the hype for the game was extremely well earned, as I had an absolute blast playing through Frontiers. To help me get all my points across as to why I like this game so much, I’ll be dividing this review into two parts: the gameplay segment and the story segment. I’m doing this for two reasons: the first being that I believe both need to be talked about separately so I can really dive deep into what makes them so good, and the other is so that people who only want a gameplay review aren’t spoiled on some of the more major plot points of the game. With that being said, here are my thoughts on Sonic Frontiers!

Future Updates

As I was in the process of putting this review together, Sonic Team revealed that over the course of 2023, the game would be getting a series of 3 free updates, and the last of those updates would contain a story update involving more playable characters, showing pictures of Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Obviously, this is massive and very exciting, but since it’s not out I can’t exactly factor any of what’s coming in updates into this review. Hopefully if I have the time and remember to do so, I’ll make an addendum to this review or separate posts going over each update. Anyways, NOW this review can start!

Gameplay

Sonic Frontiers sets out to tackle a new style of gameplay it calls Open Zone gameplay. Sonic Frontiers takes place on a series of islands, with each island being an open zone. As soon as you unlock the island, you’re able to go anywhere on the island right from the start, defeating minibosses and collecting Memory Tokens wherever you please, but more on that in a moment. The zones are fairly big in size, giving you plenty to explore at Sonic’s mach speeds and never really feeling cramped.

While exploring the islands, Sonic will be able to find rails, springs, and other such platforming obstacles that you’d find in your typical Sonic level. These will lead Sonic into short platforming segments, and by completing them he can earn Memory Tokens, which are essential to completing the game. Think of them as bite-sized levels. They’re typically pretty fun, though some of them lock you into playing in 2D, which kind of defeats the point of an open zone, but outside of that I enjoy these small chunks of platforming.

Memory Tokens are used not only to progress the story, but also to have smaller, more bite-sized interactions with other characters. Engaging with characters doesn’t take away any Memory Tokens from you, so if you have enough to initiate a conversation, go have a chat with them! However, every island has a different type of Memory Token, meaning that tokens you collect on the first island won’t help your progress on the second. Sometimes collecting the tokens felt like a pain, but I enjoyed the experience of exploring the islands regardless.

Scattered around the island are various puzzles that, as a reward, give you seeds. These seeds can be taken to an NPC to increase your attack or defense, depending on the type of seed you have. While I’m sure it isn’t necessary to raise your stats, I’d highly recommend doing so, as some enemies towards the end of the game are quite difficult.

The Cyloop is Sonic’s main new ability in this game and it’s used for puzzle solving and combat. The Cyloop is essential to solving many puzzles in the game, and using it on enemies can put Sonic in an advantageous position during combat. Simply drawing a circle will give you rings and drawing an infinity symbol will give you infinite boost in the open zones!

Exploration in this game is a breath of fresh air for the franchise, helping to break up the monotony of just playing level after level after level. I keep finding myself thinking of how cool previous games in the franchise, namely Forces, could have been if they had tried a similar Open Zone system. I hope the development team behind future Sonic games try and implement Open Zone gameplay into their future games, as I had a blast with it in Frontiers.

There is one more ability that Sonic has to use to help him explore, and that’s the Dropdash. I think it’s really cool that it’s in this game, even though I don't think it contributes a ton as I rarely found myself using it. The one oddity about it though is how it handles speed: the Dropdash uses momentum similar to how the classic games do, as in when you go down a slope, you gain speed, and when you go up a slope, you lose speed. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a complaint! It’s fun to roll down various hills to see how much speed can be built up. But if they’ve implemented that kind of design for the Dropdash, why can’t the whole game play this way? Why limit it to exclusively the Dropdash? I know that this is definitely more of a nitpick but as soon as I noticed it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Shifting focus more on combat now, inhabiting the islands are many strange looking robots for Sonic to take on with his myriad of new combat abilities, and by defeating them he can earn skill points to unlock more abilities. The only ability essential to beating the game is the Cyloop, but the others can help speed up combat in very flashy manners so long as you know how to combo them together properly.

The combos in this game are incredibly stylish and perfectly fitting of the blue blur, it’s always a blast to experiment with linking different skills together against different enemies. You can tell that the developers really put a lot of thought into making these skills and their effort certainly were not in vain.

One skill you don’t need any skill points to unlock is the ability to Parry. Parrying lets you deflect any enemies attack right back at them and counter with a flurry of your own. While having the ability is nice, it has a very noticeable flaw: you can hold your parry for as long as you want. In my opinion, this does ultimately take away from the combat as it means that as long as you hold your parry, you’re not in any real danger. Holding it in midair also causes Sonic to awkwardly float which, while funny, definitely looks just a little strange.

While exploring the islands you’ll encounter named opponents that serve as minibosses, one such example being found in the gif above, named Ninja. Being minibosses, they’re naturally tougher than the generic enemies Sonic will run across in the open zones, but defeating them is essential, as they drop Portal Gears. The bosses come in many different shapes and sizes and will attack Sonic in many different ways, so you should be ready for anything. These can range anywhere from incredibly fun to just a slog to fight (looking at you, Tank).

Overall, the combat in this game is incredibly flashy and fun, and I hope we see more combat like this in the future. There are a few key areas where it can be improved, such as the aforementioned issues with the parry and some of the less enjoyable minibosses, but ultimately it’s a very well done system that I hope makes a return in future games.

Oh yeah Big’s fishing is also fun and the theme that plays is an absolute vibe, easily the most important part of the game.

Story

Alright, story time. If you don’t want to get spoiled about the story, now’s the time to leave. The story of Sonic Frontiers is 100% best experienced blind and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. I’ll also be omitting gifs from this section as well.

So I’m just gonna pad this out a little bit in case someone scrolls a little too far on accident.

Ok, still here? Cool, I’ll just dive right in then.

The story of Sonic Frontiers is, without question, the best story we’ve gotten since SA2 or Unleashed. The characters are written absolutely incredibly in a setting filled with unique mystery that culminates into some of the biggest lore developments the series has ever gotten. I genuinely believe that this is the best that these characters have ever been depicted, and the addition of Sage to the cast of characters is one of the biggest Ws the franchise could have possibly gotten.

The dynamic between Sage and Eggman is one of the best parts of the story by far and it really spices up Eggman’s characters, something that he’s been needing for a long, long time. You can really feel the connection the two of them have together, from the way Eggman talks about her in his memos to his scenes at the end of the game. Watching Eggman look up at the falling stars, hoping to see his AI, his daughter, return to the planet and watching him realize that she’s not coming back almost made me  genuinely cry. Then watching him work to restore her in the final scene after the credits and seemingly succeeding was such a good moment for the doctor. I hope Sage comes back for future games, it’d be such a shame if she didn’t.

The Ancients not only being from space, but bringing the Chaos Emeralds with them from their homeworld and being the ancestors of Chaos is an interesting development to the lore, and I’m excited to see if they go anywhere else with it. The Ancients being related to Chaos was pretty obvious by just looking at their appearance, but them bringing the emeralds from outer space was a development I definitely was not expecting. They’re still a very mysterious civilization that we may never learn more about, but what we do know about them is absolutely fascinating. They did so well with integrating the Ancients into Sonic’s World.

Unfortunately, this is where the story admittedly falls apart a little bit. The End is interesting, to say the least. I don’t think it’s ever made clear whether it’s a god or a mortal, but what we do know is that it’s powerful enough to destroy the Ancients’ home. Then it follows them to Sonic’s World and forces them to trap it inside an entire digital dimension showing that despite how advanced their technology is, they couldn’t even kill it, which makes this thing feel menacing. So with the reveal of The End being the villain, I was really hoping that the boss battle would be the best we’ve ever gotten. It was… not that. The boss battle itself was unfortunately a let-down, which was a massive shame because Frontiers’ has absolutely incredible bosses at the end of each island. There’s a lot in game that points to The End being rushed, such as Sonic’s speech to the Ancients he gives just before the fight itself, and the instruction screen telling you to fight with the Titans, plural. It seems like they really wanted to do more with The End but for whatever reason couldn’t, which is a big shame. It’s definitely not enough to sour the whole story for me, just a bit of a let down.

Sonic Frontiers’ story heavily relies on the mystery of the Starfall Islands, and it uses said mysteries to craft an absolutely incredible story only held back by the gameplay of its final boss. This is the type of story I hope we get to see more of from Sonic games in the future.

Final Rating

If I had to rate the game on a scale of 1-10, I’d give it a very solid 7. The team behind the game’s development very clearly listened to what people wanted from the franchise and gave it to us, and while it’s not perfect by any means, it’s 100% a step in the right direction. If the development team behind Sonic Frontiers keeps giving us games of this quality, I'm sure that the future of the franchise is a very bright one.

[laylaart]

Final Week

Tuesday 13th December

In this session we hung our materials lab pieces in the fashion we had planned to. We aimed to hang the sheets either side of the bike wheel canvas. In order to hang up the pieces safely in the dark space, we had to have ladder training. This was a quick training session in which we learned safe ways to appropriately use ladders. This meant we were all able to use the ladders to put up and construct our final piece. After putting up all the hanging pieces we were able to map the video for the bike wheel canvas. This took time as we had to perfectly position both the canvas and the video. The video mapping itself however, didn't take too long as we had experimented with it previously and completed the tutorial on the projection mapping programme. After the pieces had been put up we began taking photos that captured the outcome in the best way. We had some trouble with the lighting in the dark space, but we found out the correct levels of different shades eventually, and so could use plain white lights that showed the painted pieces clearly, and also the blue lighting which captured the neon paint in the best way. We were able to successfully capture a variety of videos and images that showcased our outcome in the way that we had hoped.

Friday 16th December

This was the final, in studio, session of semester one. In this session we were presenting our research, explaining our process and showing our final outcomes from the past few weeks. It was an interesting session listening through everyones experience and seeing their outcomes. There was a huge range of interesting outcomes like; simulations, interactive installations, AI, paper mache, VR and more. Despite being nervous, the presentation ran fairly smoothly. I think that the mini presentations we've done and all the collaborative work so far definitely helped in ensuring we were comfortable to present in the end. Though it was for a longer period of time it was still useful to know that we had done similar tasks before and so had that experience.

[machidielontheway]

Here i will be telling you the very detailed minutiae as well as every thought that ever crossed my mind while doing the first installement of the twinganes au edits !

I’m going to begin with the 3rd improved screencap, cause it’s my favourite. See you guys under the read more =>

This one is my favourite for two reasons : one, it’s the screencap i use everytime i want to color pick the pal’s clothes or skin, and they’re all together, under the sun, and it’s the Beginning. And i like that very much. Secondly, this was the “easiest” one, the one who made me feel like i was making progress and giving me back a little of motivation when i felt blocked with the others. I only save as a pic when i stop working on a piece for the day - that way i can see the advancement and it makes me feel happy cause it’s not static !

finding Ryou’s base wasn’t too difficult, as in i plopped a few of them in the pic until i tried this one and saw that it was working really well indeed. I at first thought it would be more interesting to put him at Hunk’s side - Ryou falling back in the habit of working with his brother to herd young cadets. But then i thought about it for .32 seconds more and thought ‘yeah, as if Ryou would get more than a meter away from Shiro after getting him back’.

i had to move all the pals to make place for Ryou, and while they’re originally mostly in a single line, the way i replaced them makes them a bit more on three different levels (ryou’s on the farthest one, he’s not directly flushed to shiro. i hope it’s kinda visible)

idk about you guys but the most time i spend on a piece the more chance i end up Loving the most inconsequential detail. ryou ? yeah, he’s cute, he’s good. but have you seen that ridge ??? (last time it was clouds.) the one where Lance’s head used to be. i should have blurred it a bit to go with the blur background, but i found it just so well done i didn’t have the heart to change it.

GODDAMN. FUCKING. JACKET !!!!!!

(that’s all you need to know if you don’t want more details on how i spend two literal hours on the opening of shiro’s ryou’s jacket)

Hand ? hand. but hand ?? or hAnD??? in the end i actually used one of hunk’s hand in another screencap. Thanks hunk for giving me a hand :)

you can see the multiverse where ryou’s haircut nearly looked another way, but i had already commited in another fanart and i just LIKE IT ok even if i draw it in a way that could be more attractive.

Before and After :

If you’re thinking ryou looks like he’s thinking ‘goddamnit shiro please chill i just got u back can you wait five MINUTES before getting into an Adventure :tm:’ well you’d be very right. Alternatively, you can hear ryou’s cat activation noise about him seeing shiro all tensed up.

And now let’s go to... the First One. (i mean, if i remember well ? guys, i began this like, nine months ago. i have done nothing else but like, two sketchs since then. talk about a slow drawer)

Fun fact, i have a list of like, twenty folders with different “scenes”. screencaps. Scenescaps ? I decided to use those four cause they felt both like the most emblematic of “finding shiro” to me and the most recognisable.

While fishing for good screencaps to use in general, i found this one of shiro in ep 1 and it was just absolutely perfect. I didn’t need to even search for another one. Hurray ! (in hindsight im still a bith :/ about the perspective/lenght of his arm and hand but like... u learn to pic your battles)

i only photoshopped ryou’s butt by like, three pixels (so the bottom of the jacket would look ok). otherwise, let’s thanks the OG artists

lightning ? shadows ? what ever do you mean ??

can you see on the jacket where i was a total dumbass and used the reference i FLIPPED to the details... until i saw a version non-flipped and had to redraw the back tan line. those moment your brain is in total balance between ‘haha funny drawing thing !’ and ‘FCK’

i had planned to keep og shiro’s pants but then in the 3rd edit i gave him kuron’s pants and it was good and i was already so far gone, ok, i just wanted the pics to look REAL. devil’s in the details and all that stuff

u know that ‘artist things’ post going around with the one going like “68% opacity ?? or 69% ???” it is so me. soooo me.

lbh this one is the boring one. But also very important cause it introduce the character !

Before and After :

Now onto the Second One, also named “Operation : make Ryou pretty” :

This is not very visible because i did not include the screencaps i took of the different possibilities i tried, but there are quite a few of them. Ryou’s hair was quite hard to get down, but mostly his face - i needed him to be pretty here (for no other reason that i wanted to). And while the og screencap of shiro i used had an actual head on a body, it just wasn’t how i wanted ryou to look like. More than a few times i thought ‘what if i stopped trying and just settled on the original face, aren’t i just losing time ?’ but im glad i forged forward like the stubborn mule i am cause i’m very pleased with the end result !

Look, like i said, you have to pick your battles, and you have a quota of squirmishes and full out war for each piece, and by this i mean i spent so long finding a cap with the right angle for ryou that you better believe when he needed a hand i just took the first one available - yes, shiro’s hand. (ok, i DID try another thing but in the right angle the fingers were the wrong way around so i just copied pasted fingers after fingers to recreate a hand with the thumb on the GOOD side and then it just didn’t look as simple&true as shiro’s one so i used shiro.

i think the funnier part of this one was actually filling the holes in some sort of “connect the dots” !

Fryoukenstein ! at one point in my search of the Most Prettiest Face i superimposed three different caps of face trying to get the good bits together. you can see it a bit quickly in frame 3 above but believe me, it was a riot (until i scratched all of it and used another cap).

can you believe shiro’s is supported by the two people who loves him most ?? makes me emotional

ryou is squatting/bending to get shiro’s arm over him, as shiro he has quite a bit of height on keith. but the hair was already so close to cutting it out of the frame, so :/

i made ryou’s temple strands very flat and ridiculous, but BATTLE. PICK’EM. (better finished than perfect !!) (say i, after m o n t h s)

Before and After :

And last but not the least, the Fourth One !

I did it after all the others were nearly done/on the finishing touches, so it’s quite recent (three weeks ?) and by this time i knew my process more and it was easier to be a bit uuuh more productive on it. mostly i went at it a bit like, ‘fuck it it’s the last one i just want to post’ with enough of love for the journey that i was happy. Again,hesitated a lot for the caps : here you can see the first batch of possibilities. Heavily hesitated between a very pretty kuron and CUTE BABY garrison shiro, but the “which one is more dorky” won out in the end.

i did not try much for the overall perspective/imbrication of ryou in the existing cap. the mood of the fourth one is ‘good enough’. it could have been cool to add one of his hand on hunk’s back, or something like that. but nope !

 i’m still very happy about how the hair turned out : i didn’t agonise about it for hours, and i think it does look good and contextual ! (i just... need to decide one and for all about the size and length and placement of the temple strands)

i hesitated between taking the one where kuron has the same scrunched up face as shiro for a “they’re brothers !! with in this case same response to the same stimuli  cause they’re so close !”, but it was a bit too the same, and did not merge too well with the og cap. and in the end, shiro is still using his responses from the arena in case of surprise-danger, not his childhood ones

(keith is squinting cause he took ryou’s scrunchie in the eye when it flew out of ryou’s hair with all the movements)

Before and After :

Tadaa ! now i go to sleep. if you have questions or wondering please ask i would be delighted to exteriorise !!

Credits : i used the help of this post for how to do screencaps especially for Voltron, and it was a very big help, i recommend it if you wanna give it a go !

And as always, all screencaps used thanks to the incredible work of Bentfire !

[xleeleeboox]

Eddie Munson headcannons!!

Warnings: Some cussing, insecurity, at home piercings, dares, Eddie being a lil cute a lil gross a lil weird

686 words

——————

* goes into the changing room with you

* When you go shopping, he looks at all the things you’ve picked up or liked and picks something out to buy later to surprise you

* Literally saved up as much money as he can to spoil you, and ends up spending all his money even if you haven’t asked for a single thing

* Does not regret it

* But he did get a real job to make more money to take you out in more dates

* He’s actually really insecure in the relationship and he’s actually a little shy

* His favorite flavors are cherry and grape

* Hates watermelon flavor unless it’s sour

* Goddamn he loves him some sour fucking candy he loooooves it like destroys his mouth because of it

* Isn’t a big fan of chocolate (or so he says)

* Is not a picky eater usually, but if it’s even a little weird, he won’t eat it

* Unless it’s processed then he’s eating it

* Doesn’t like going into nicer restaurants only likes diners and stuff

* But for you, every once in a while he save up s lot of money to take you out somewhere nice

* He has to go shopping for nicer clothes because he just has his metal and casual clothes

* Cannot iron, cannot cook, cannot bake, cannot sew, can’t fix a leaky pipe, but damn he sure can fix your car

* Has eaten a cicada shell for a dare

* Gareth told you that and Eddie just smiled proudly at you

* He shows you off as much as he can, but in the beginning of the relationship he was worried about what people would think of you for being with him, again being insecure

* But you have shown him many many times that you do not care, he shows you off now

* But every once in a while he keeps it more on the down low around certain people because he knows they can be brutal

* Really likes the color yellow, like a light yellow because it reminds him of you but it doesn’t match his “aesthetic” so he never wears it

* The only not dark outfit he has that he likes is a pair of really light blue acid wash jeans and a cut up white t shirt

* You go feral for it, respectfully because fuck he’s hot ya know

* He has tried to paper mache things for a D&D set but failed miserably

* No night lights but this fucker sleeps with the blinds partially open

* Loves snails??

* You beg him to let you do his makeup and he pretends to hate it but he actually loves when you do his makeup because you do well and he gets to be close to you

* Loooooves to shower with you, I mean loves it’s his favorite thing ever

* Only pulls his hair back into a ponytail or bun with your scrunchies

* Hates iced coffee, in fact he’s the kind to drink it black or black with a looot of sugar

* Made you help him pierce his own earlobe at home lmao you did pretty good

* He tries to make you as many gifts as he can because he just loves doing it, but when you make him something, for some reason it always blows him away and it’s like a pea on a string

* Pictures of you and his friends are probably taped up all over his room

* None of his clothes are in his closet or dressers, he has the ‘depression chair’ iykyk

* Let you tied a bow in his hair ONE TIME at school and hellfire never let it go, Chrissy never let it go, you never let it go because you made him flower crowns after that

* Loves getting you flowers, it’s ones of his favorite things to do, when he sees one that he think you’ll like the colors of and it’s the flowers you like, get gets it and there doesn’t even need to be a reason

* You can tease him as much as he teases you and he ain’t gonna say a thing about it

* Alright I have to stop bc I’ve got more comin

——————

[imaginexmeintheuniverse]

Too Hot

Day 2: Todoroki Shouto - Being somewhere you’re not supposed to be + “It’s too hot”

Pairing: Todoroki Shouto x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 1045

A/N: This takes place during the saving Bakugou arc and the reader has an endo/exothermic quirk wherein they absorb/emit thermal energy with the side effect of overheating and possibly fainting

Masterlist | Kicking Off 2022 OTP Challenge

After successfully evading those drunk creeps who so generously offered for you and Momo to drink with ‘a real man’ without having your cover totally blown, Todoroki has been absolutely glued to your side. If that narrow path was already barely walkable to begin with, he made it even harder to get through by stopping and asking you every two seconds if you were okay.

Normally, you might be more thankful that your enemy-turned-close-friend is being so protective of you in spite of his usually aloof nature, but right now you feel suffocated— both figuratively and literally. It was also a little embarrassing. Did he not think you could handle yourself? Not only was his behavior strange, but he was smothering you in a way he never had before and after the umpteenth time of him protectively ushering you behind him with one arm, you’d had enough.

“Shouto, enough!” you whisper-yell into his ear, not wanting to involve the whole team into it. “It was a mouse!”

“We still have to be careful,” he says simply, which only infuriates you more. But now isn’t the right time to hash it out, so you decide to wait until it is.

That right time never does come as everything after that unfolds at Mach 5: finding the hideout, the heroes taking over, and next thing you know, you’re absentmindedly clinging to Todoroki while watching the showdown between All Might and One For All on the big screen.

Now in the aftermath of it all, you realize that you were probably crushing his left hand and your quirk is causing you to overheat. Your grip loosens and in comes the dizziness. Todoroki notices you clutching your head and asks you once again if you’re okay. When you give an unclear nod-slash-shake, his hand tightens around yours as he leads you away from the crowd and into an alleyway.

“Shouto, w-we need to— B-Bakugou—”

“It’s okay, the others are escorting him back—”

“W-We shouldn’t b-be here— we’ll get caught—”

“Don’t worry about any of that,” he tells you, placing hands on your shoulders in an attempt to help you steady yourself. “It’s okay, just breathe, and tell me what’s—”

“I-It’s too hot…” you manage to mutter out, but still feel like if you lift your head too high, you might pass out as though you were the one to experience the United States of Smash.

He’s quick to act silently, bringing up his right hand to the back of your neck. Feeling his activated quirk brings you instant relief.

“It’s okay, you can go,” he urges you to release your built up heat, and you do so.

You slowly start to release all the thermal energy you’ve absorbed with Todoroki’s hand keeping you grounded. Ironically enough, the emission process leaves your heart feeling warm.

You finally let your eyes meet his letting him know you’re good and you suddenly remember tonight’s events.

“Todoroki…”

“I told you to call me Shouto,” he reminds you, recalling when the two of you called a truce, and he asked you to call him Shouto to mark your new friendship.

“Shouto,” you begin with heat once again rising to your cheeks at the use of his first name. What happened tonight?”

“Well, we went to rescue Bakugou, and—”

“I’m not talking about that,” you stop him and he raises his eyebrows. Was he that oblivious in his own out-of-character behavior? “I’m talking about you being embarrassingly overprotective!” You can’t contain yourself anymore. “Do you not trust me to handle myself or contribute like everyone else? Look, I know I’m not as smart as Momo or as strong as—”

“That’s not it.” His hand that was still on your neck keeping you cool tenses up.

“Then… why?”

“I didn’t want what happened to Bakugou to happen to you too.”

You shake your head in response because the answer still doesn’t fully explain.

“And after those creeps—”

“You’ve never been like this before, Shouto,” you cut him off, looking him dead in the eye in a way that lets him know to cut the shit. “Tell me the truth.”

“Because I love you,” he breathes out so quietly, you think you might have misheard, before he starts speaking increasingly louder. “When Bakugou got taken, I wasn’t anywhere near you— a-and if anything happens to you I-I wouldn’t know what to do with myself!”

His explanation leaves you breathless.

“Did you just say…”

Of course you’re attracted to him, but you had never allowed yourself to think of him as a romantic prospect because, well… he’s Todoroki Shouto, the half-hot-half-cold prodigal son of the number two hero and one of the most hopeful prospects of UA, and you’re… you’re just you. Despite being promised that you had incredible potential, you barely got in and could barely keep up with the rest of your class in the first semester. What good was incredible potential if you had such poor control over such a volatile quirk? Sure, Midoriya struggled too, but his unbelievable intelligence was at a level you couldn’t get close to.

“Did you just say that you love me?”

He nods silently.

So he really— wait. Although you’ve grown to ‘speak Shouto’ as your friends put it, you can’t bring yourself to understand whether he’s telling you that he loves you in the sense that he cares about you a lot because you’re close friends, or if he loves you as in, in love with you.

You can feel the heat start to emit from yourself once again as you settle on what is probably the most risky and irrational way to confirm his feelings. Pushing yourself up onto the tips of your toes, you don’t break eye contact with him until your eyes close when your lips meet his. Keeping it short, you pull away with your face burning in humiliation and refuse to meet his eyes again.

That is until his icy hand slides to the side of your face and he uses his thumb to nudge your head upwards where an irresistible magnetic force brings you to face his heterochromatic eyes.

“Does this mean you love me too?” Shouto asks you, looking calm despite his voice betraying him.

“Yes, Shouto, I love you too.”

🔥 BONUS ❄️

You and Shouto jog back to catch up to you friends, hand in hand, your left holding his right. The two of you are greeted by four open jaws and double the amount of eyes staring at your linked hands.

“Who cares!” Bakugou shouts, “I was LITERALLY KIDNAPPED!!”

[uncpanda]

Glitter

Pairing: Barry Allen X Fem!Reader 

Prompt: Why is there glitter everywhere? 

He assures you that he can handle it, “Babe, I save the world on the regular. I can handle the kids by myself for a weekend.” 

You want to scoff, but can’t, because your husband is a VERY involved father. And despite saving the world and fighting bad guys he makes it a point to be at every soccer game, every softball game, and every dance recital, but he can still be a little spacy sometimes. 

So you pack while Barry stands there and takes notes on reminders for everything that needs to be done that weekend; practices, team snacks, grocery shopping (there’s a list on the fridge), and don’t forget about Nora’s science project. The excited look he gets in his eye, nearly has you throwing everything out of the suitcase and back into their appropriate places. 

He just laughs, finishes packing for you, and starts steering you towards the door. You drag your feet a little bit, especially when you pass by your kids on the couch. All three of your girls are together: Nora is in the big armchair with her book, Imogen is drawing at the coffee table, and Hazel is having a tea party with her stuffed animals. 

There’s a pang in your heart, because you’ve never left all three for a whole weekend before, and you sort of freeze as you process that thought. Barry is the one who drags you out of it. His arms wrap around your middle, and his chin settles on your shoulder, “We’ll be fine. You deserve a weekend out with the girls, and I promise to not set anything on fire.”

“But you know where the fire extinguisher is, just in case right?” 

He grins and places a kiss on the patch of skin between your neck and your shirt, “Yep.” He squeezes you one more time before saying, “Girls! Come say bye to Mama.” 

Hazel, who’s four, makes a mad sprint towards you. She’s in some sort of warrior dress up, all while rocking a tiara. You pick her up and squeeze her to you tight before peppering her still chubby cheeks with kisses. Barry steals her away as Imogen, who’s seven, and Nora, who’s eleven come over. You get warm hugs from both of them, and stoop down to kiss their foreheads. 

And just like that, they’re gone. You sigh, that’s the problem of kids growing up you suppose, but that’s okay because you still have your baby. You turn around to get one last bit of love from her only to find Barry’s arms empty. He grins knowingly, “I hid her away until you’re gone.” 

You don’t have time to argue, because a car honks, and you know that Caitlin and Iris. You kiss your husband one more time, and you grin because this time it’s him who isn’t letting go. “I’m going to miss you, you know that right?” 

“I’ll miss you too flash.” 

You spend the weekend at a hotel on the beach. You use the time to hit the spa, relax in the ocean, and catch up on your reading. There’s also more than a little bit of girl talk. And you’re happy to find that all your worries about Barry and the kids disappear. You get the occasional check in text, and good night phone call, and you’re good to go. 

By the end of the weekend though, you’re ready to be home. You miss your girls, and you miss your husband. Which is why, when you walk in the door with a bag of souvenirs, you’re shocked by what you see. 95% of the house is fine, with one exception: your kitchen. It looks like a tornado has blown through it. With Barry and the girls at the center of it all. They’re all dressed in lab coats and safety goggles, and when you enter you barely get a glance. The only exception is Nora who quickly passes you your own safety gear. 

You lean forward to inspect the paper mache volcano. You stare for several seconds and lean over to Barry and whisper, “Nothing is happening.”

His lips twitch, “You’re more impatient than the girls. “Where do you think they get it from?” 

He huffs out a small laugh, and a moment later you hear a loud pop, and feel something sprinkle on top of your head. You spare a quick second to smile at your cheering girls and then you look up and see something sprinkling down and then your gaze snaps to look at your husband, “Why is glitter scattering all over my house?” 

He’s all smiles, “Glitter volcano. It was Nora’s idea.” 

“Glitter volcano?” 

“Yeah. I think it will really separate her from the rest of the contestants?” 

“And who’s going to separate all this glitter from my house . . . and us for that matter?” 

It takes a second for it to hit him, “I didn’t think about that.” 

“Obviously.” 

“I’ll take care of it.” 

Before you can blink a blur is rushing around, and you can hear your girls giggle as they disappear one by one. Barry’s back a second later, “Nora and Imogen are in the kids bathroom, and Hazel is in ours. Can you supervise the kids while I clean up here and stop the infestation.” 

You smile, “Sure thing.” 

Before you know it he has you in his arms, with your legs around his waist, “I missed you, you know that?” 

You lean down and peck his lips, “Missed you too hun.” It was good to be home. 

[buckybarnesss]

part 3 of my magnum opus lindsay monroe, trauma, grief and putting the mess in messer

this covers season 4 and if you are tired of me roasting this season than you may wanna skip this.

part 1  part 2

part three: look how they massacred my boy

so i don’t really care for season 4. don’t get me wrong, there are some really solid episodes but on the whole season 4 just doesn’t land for me. the second life plot line was cringey in 2007 and now in 2021 it’s age is showing. suspect x was kind of cool and i wish they’d spent more time on her rather than the second life nonsense. i would've personally liked to have scrapped the second life aspect of the plot all together and focus on suspect x herself or have the cabbie killer be a season-long arc. that would’ve gone a long way in fleshing out his motives and we could’ve had the tension in the city permeating throughout the season, coming to a fever pitch in those final few episodes. 

the 333 killer/stalker plot is -- just. sigh. it’s okay. i preferred mac’s storyline with reed but i always like when the writers bring claire up and drew needed to leave stella alone. stella didn’t deserve to be dragged into that nonsense.

granted some of the lackluster feel of the season could be blamed on the 2007 writer’s strike that truncated the season but the real reason season 4 bothers me is what they did to danny and by extension lindsay. 

to talk about lindsay in season 4 you have to talk about danny. from season 4 onwards danny and lindsay do not really get separate plots. particularly lindsay.

now for some spicy takes.

in season 4 lindsay takes a backseat in terms of character focus as her Big Trauma™ is now mostly resolved. she becomes a more reactive character as the focus switches to danny and the pair switch their roles from the previous season. though i don’t think it was handled nearly as well. danny has his turn being the trauma piñata and instead of the reward being candy it was infidelity. surprise!

i still think it’s bad writing. for two characters that are supposed to be a couple so little time is given to developing them, you know, as a couple. they get a few playful moments early in the season like with the condom spray in can you hear me now?, their excitement over processing the car in you only die once and their little argument over the batmobile or the mach 5 being better. in commuted sentences we get sassy lindsay with the improvised sling shot and danny being sensitive about his love handles. boo is also a good episode for their dynamic but not really for where they stand in their relationship outside of work. 

it’s all shot to hell by mid-season however as the writers came in like a wrecking ball. 

i don’t think it’s necessarily a bad plot line to have danny struggle and backslide and for that to cause issues between him and lindsay. in the end, that’s the approach they took anyway. 

however, i do believe if they’d shown a little bit more of danny and lindsay being in a relationship it would’ve gone a long way to highlight the rift that developed between them later on so when she hits him in the metaphorical solar plexus in right next door it would’ve hit even harder. 

showing danny and lindsay being a couple also would’ve given more depth to danny’s feelings about lindsay considering how much of a backslide his character takes. throughout the season lindsay’s feelings seem more evident than danny’s but from season 3 we know danny straight up pined for lindsay. i think he’s just not as demonstrative and there’s a case to make that his relationship with lindsay is the first serious relationship danny has ever had. 

as it stands the audience is left with the impression that despite everything we have seen since lindsay’s introduction they had an undefined relationship.

danny doesn’t make it out unscathed as a character this season. in my opinion, the writers took a character that was sympathetic and moved him right into complete douchebag territory that appears to have a thing for vulnerable women. it’s not a great look. 

i don’t really think there was a lot of consideration put into the plot other than drama for the sake of drama. jacqueline pinol deserved so much better. when i found out she played rio morales in marvel’s spider-man i actually gasped because she’s amazing in that and it retroactively made me more angry at the writers.

while him sleeping with rikki does the job to illustrate danny’s downward spiral we were already seeing that. it took a turn from danny struggling with grief and guilt over ruben’s death into danny actively ruining his own life and putting his career on the line. rikki’s involvement should’ve ended in all in the family.

after her stealing danny’s gun i think it would’ve made a lot more sense for her to decide to move then with her having realized she needs a fresh start and the support of her family. 

the whole thing really took danny’s trait of impulsiveness to new levels. 

for a good chunk of the audience there was also a sense of betrayal. not many people are criminalists, or have experienced a violent crime or had someone they care about be a victim of a violent crime but a lot of people have been cheated on. it inspires a really visceral reaction.

i remember the aftermath of right next door. to say not very many people liked it would be an understatement. i know people who stopped watching the show because of it. the danny/lindsay shippers were upset, the anti-lindsay coalition was upset because it made danny out to be a cheating scumbag. 

to have built the relationship up between danny and lindsay so much to the point where they were the couple of the series only to have danny cheat on her was a choice. like how was this the same guy that flew to montana on a whim just to support her? 

i think the plot line still would’ve worked without him sleeping with rikki. it would’ve created a better parallel to season 3 and would’ve made reconciliation easier to swallow. 

the writers seemed to be aware that it was a bad call very quickly as they had rikki tell danny it was a mistake in personal foul and danny had been spending the past few episodes trying to reconnect with lindsay. by season 5 they were fully prepared to jettison that aspect of the plot entirely and pretend it didn’t happen.

i don’t even want to entertain what nonsense they would’ve pulled if not for the writer’s strike and anna’s second pregnancy. truly bullets were dodged.

the worst aspect to me is that they never confirm if lindsay knew. the only mention of this incident is in the box in season 5 where danny is telling the harris’s his entire life story. he says to them that he thinks lindsay knew but we never find out if that’s true. while lindsay does get to say her piece in right next door rightfully telling danny about his ass it’s only about him pushing her away and leaving her feeling like she has lost her best friend and how she’ll try to fall out of love with him. nothing about him being an absolute asshat and sleeping with another woman. 

danny’s affair with rikki coupled with mac’s kiss with quinn that they reveal happened while he was still married to claire gave me the impression something was going on in the writer’s room that year. 

the only other allusion to danny’s brief affair is in season 8’s officer involved when adler accuses danny of having an affair with cooper. that whole episode is an on the job redux and meant to highlight danny’s growth as a person but he’s the only one who knows what he did with rikki. so adler laying that accusation out is throwing one of his worst mistakes in his face but he’s the only one who knows that. it’s why he gets so damn defensive but that’s a discussion for that season.

when you get to the bones of it season 4 makes me feel like this:

now that i’ve aired most of my grievances with season 4’s treatment of lindsay and danny let me actually get into some analysis regarding lindsay. 

the first thing that anyone will notice is lindsay cut her hair. girl is going with a fresh start after all that emotional turmoil in season 3. new hair, new boyfriend and a return to her more bubbly personality. 

i will forever mourn lindsay’s iconic curls but i never had an issue with her shorter hair. I always suspected anna cut it because she had young children at the time. toddlers and babies are grabby goblins. maybe the texture of her hair changed. or she just wanted a change. whatever the reason behind it was, she looked cute.

she’s also downright giddy in the first episode. she razzes adam about being late for work “i hear denny’s is looking for socially awkward scientists” and she is delighted to demonstrate the condom spray to danny and hawkes. she even throws in a “boom” which is adorable. 

lindsay is back and better than ever and even more importantly: she’s happy.

it’s just a shame the happiness doesn’t last long.

there’s this little moment between danny and lindsay in the deep where lindsay tries to express her feelings about what happened to hawkes and how danny saved him. she tells danny about being scared and worried, how she felt helpless watching. she even tries to praise him but danny’s entire being is ‘no thoughts, just vibes’. he downplays the event and sort of dismisses it. 

i do understand that danny may not feel as though he deserves any praise about saving hawkes because that’s his friend and of course he’d help him. he does also downplay it at the end when hawkes tries to thank him as well. danny may just feel uncomfortable with the situation and doesn’t want the attention. 

it’s just that given lindsay history with being helpless while people around her get hurt one might be a little more, i don’t know, comforting about it?

throughout the scene she just has this fond little smile on her face but i facepalm every time because i think it shows that there’s already something of an emotional disconnect between them pretty early in the season. they’re not on the same page at all because they don’t know how to communicate effectively with each other at this point in their relationship.

i cannot tell you how much it stresses me the fuck out. miscommunication is truly the ultimate villain in so many pieces of media.

you only die once is a good episode for lindsay. a nerd in her natural habitat. nature has restored it’s balance.

boo is a lindsay episode. despite season 4 not touching on lindsay’s trauma from the diner shooting there’s something of a parallel between rose duncan and lindsay. it’s not a perfect parallel but the main point is that rose duncan like lindsay survived a horrific event that left people they cared about dead. in the hospital rose says that she saw a monster and oof that hits hard. especially since in the lying game lindsay refers to katums as a monster. 

lindsay is also so sweet and gentle to rose bringing the girl a stuffed dog which implies that she and danny stopped somewhere to get her a gift. maybe just the hospital gift shop but maybe a local drug store. it just highlights that lindsay can empathize with rose’s situation and wants to comfort her.

do i think it was a purposeful parallel? not really. see again how i feel about the csi ny writers. truly a love/hate relationship. 

commuted sentences is one of those episodes i referred to earlier as being solid in this season. the episode is one of the few times that danny and lindsay are playful and familiar with each other in a way that indicates intimacy.

the “right through the love handles” bit. she’s very amused by herself the entire time. not to mention it shows off her smarts as she makes that improvised sling shot to help them find the bullet that killed their victim. danny asks if she shot at squirrels in montana and she gives such a sassy response by saying that she shot at boys.

just another moment that makes the back half of season 4 frustrating and sad. 

i believe there’s something worth analyzing about danny and the plotline of the killer pretending to be the victim’s boyfriend in buzzkill but that’s a post for another day.

child’s play. 

i have written multiple posts about the writer’s decision to have danny sleep with rikki. i just wrote like 1k words already in this essay about it. i have very strong feelings on the subject and i’m not shy about it. i’m gonna die mad about it.

buckle up buttercups.

i will stand by the idea that i don’t believe danny’s spiral is a bad thing. this is a transitional arc for danny. he has to grow and growth isn’t always pretty, it’s not always linear and sometimes you have to go back before you can move forward. ruben sandoval’s death served as the catalyst for this growth.

so no i don’t think it was entirely a bad plot line.

the death of ruben sandoval is nothing short of tragic and naturally it would affect danny profoundly. no one argues that.

danny’s real issue in this arc is his selfishness and inability to think outside of himself. the man is impulsive, brash and oftentimes short-sighted. when those all come together it’s a mix that’s rife for bad decision making. 

danny doesn’t cope with his grief and guilt over ruben’s death in a healthy manner. he latches onto rikki due to his guilt and they use each other to try to numb the pain. it’s not healthy for either of them.

while one could compare danny and lindsay’s behaviors in their respective arcs there’s a lot to contrast. while lindsay did push danny away, she also didn’t give him the pretense of a romantic relationship. both of them isolate and are uncommunicative about their problems with each other. 

all in the family is wild. danny spends most of the episode missing in action and it’s lindsay who not only covers for him but asks don to go look for him. 

rikki steals danny’s service weapon and danny wants to protect her. which okay, okay, i understand, but it’s not a good decision. rikki needs help. like, real professional help for her grief not whatever this is. flack, in my opinion, was very restrained when confronting danny about it.

though, yes, there’s a nice parallel later in season 6 when danny goes searching for don when don is in his own grief spiral 

the logical conclusion to make is that flack told lindsay about the incident because at this point i very highly doubt danny would. like i said, this is not a bad plot line so far. it’s not difficult to sympathize with both danny and rikki while recognizing the bad decisions both are making.

watching danny and lindsay work a case together in playing with matches contrasts so much with the last time they did in commuted sentences. during that case they were playful and bantered while here it’s all business.

which makes it a bit more painful when in the next episode doa for a day when he forgot lindsay’s birthday. especially with the lame ass excuses he gives her. how hurtful that must’ve been to have your significant other forget your birthday. especially since danny and lindsay were friends well before they got involved romantically. it’s just all the more indicative that danny is a goddamn mess.

sure, he’s going through a rough time but he’s also not letting lindsay in on that emotional turmoil. though lindsay herself admitted she isn’t sure how to help danny through his grief and guilt because while she has intimate experience with those two emotions it’s from the inside rather than the outside. 

it’s important though that she tries even if it’s imperfect. danny makes the choice to not accept it and keep her at arm’s length, then blowing her off and lying to her. 

now we arrive at the offending episode right next door. it’s a shame i have such vitriol towards it because the plot of the episode isn’t bad.

we could go around all day asking the question: did lindsay know or not that danny cheated on her with rikki? 

there’s never a real answer as nothing is confirmed and while it irritates me that lindsay technically never finds out i do think this face says a lot. lndsay is not a stupid woman and she’s a detective. 

this is the face of a woman who is completely over his shit.

danny attempts to act nonchalant as though nothing is wrong between them and lindsay is just very done at this point.

like lindsay last season danny puts up a good front of trying to project that everything is fine when really he is in utter shambles.

lindsay gives him her rightfully earned speech and it’s just so heartbreaking because the audience watched her fall for him over two seasons despite the hardships only for it to end up here.

her telling him that she’d fallen in love with him and had to figure out how to let it go is the emotional turning point for danny. he’s slapped in the face with the consequences of his actions. danny has always been impulsive and doesn’t always think things through. hell he even tells rikki he doesn’t care and he just wants the pain to stop. right here he’s really hit with that his decisions don’t affect just him and he hadn’t spared one thought for how what he was doing would affect his relationship with lindsay. 

i admire lindsay i really do. she showed serious restraint and fortitude. i would’ve been one, crying and two, yelling while crying. 

it’s this moment i’m actually reminded of ‘til death do us part way back in season 1 when mac teases danny about falling in love. danny tells mac to not even joke about it and whoops my dude.

now he’s reaping what he sowed. he had something real with lindsay and he all but lit the match to have it blow up in his face. 

the face of a man who realized he very much fucked up.

later he does actually apologize and says they need to talk but they’re interrupted. thus starts danny’s quest over the next few episodes to try to actually get lindsay to have a conversation with him that isn’t about work.

lindsay is just a masterclass throughout the whole thing. during this whole arc lindsay is reacting to danny’s behavior and decisions and the audience definitely knows exactly how she feels. her rebuffing danny’s attempts to get her to talk are justified. 

like water for murder gives us the awkward moment in the lab where there’s a glimmer of their old banter when they quote jaws at each other and he suggests they rent it but that leads lindsay to revert to one of her favorite coping mechanisms: avoidance. i don’t blame her though. it must be very emotionally raw. however, it does cause her to leave evidence unattended which is witnessed by quinn shelby who is doing the lab audit. when mac confronts her about what happened he’s actually very kind about it. i believe she may have preferred he just yell at her over the kindness as she’s embarrassed and she just responds that it was stupid to get involved with a coworker. when she walks away clearly trying not to show how upset she is.

mac’s right in that she puts up a good front but you can still see her vulnerability. i just want to hug her.

admissions is a great episode. one of the best from season 4. lindsay is lovely here and is prominent to the case but this episode was more ensemble and focused on untangling the murder only for that surprise of an ending. #gerraddidnothingwrong

personal foul is the last episode of the season that gives major focus to the danny and lindsay ongoing drama. i have a love/hate relationship with this episode because it’s one of those episodes where the writers don’t handle fat people well at all. 

danny is desperate to talk to lindsay the entire episode and she’s very understandably hesitant to do so. 

she does however despite everything give a little smile to danny’s stupid joke “peanuts! popcorn! poison!”

oh lindsay. i feel for you girl. she loves him but she can’t love him because of him. that may or may not be a taylor swift lyric reference but you know what i won’t admit to anything.

when danny calls lindsay at the end of the episode he says “maybe there’s a lot of things i understand now”. it appears he has finally done some self-reflection on what he’s done, why he did it and how he hurt lindsay and himself in the process. it’s a step in the right direction of danny taking responsibility for his actions and growing as a person. 

throughout the arc danny only focused on his pain and how to make it better. I don’t really believe he took into consideration the needs of either rikki or lindsay. at a certain point it wasn’t even about ruben anymore. 

at the end of personal foul danny is left alone to reflect on his own selfishness. lindsay is trying to let him go due to him breaking her heart and rikki leaves. it’s a classic case of not knowing what you had till it’s gone. he has to come to terms with the possibility that lindsay may not forgive him and even if she does she may not want a relationship with him anymore. i believe he was sincere when he told her that he misses her. in the end, danny stares at ruben’s memorial program -- the real tragedy that got lost in all this is that an innocent kid died.  

i feel it’s pretty evident there was supposed to be a bit more to this plot line and there’s definitely inconsistency but due to the writer’s strike this is what we were left with. 

it has it’s good points but you may as well call me lot’s wife because i remain a pillar of salt. 

an aside here: i want the context of the picture lindsay is using as for danny’s contact because what a goof.

actual footage of me watching this entire season:

[theofficersacademy]

For better or worse, your leads had been founded in truth, and each location to which a team had been deployed had harbored something amiss. You don’t know if you have more answers than you started with, but your meddling ought to have delivered a blow to the hidden force that seeks war with the church... Or so you hope. Only time will tell.

Each team returns to Garreg Mach in one piece, but to know now that the enemy can be lurking right beneath your very nose... 

                           Perhaps you had played right into their hands.

                                                                      — Fantom Loews, end.

Closing Procedures (please read carefully!)

The events of Fantom Loews are now over! You are free to continue any events threads for as long as you wish, but you may not start any new ones. Posts made after this closing announcement will also not count toward the grand prize requirement.

Discord

All event channels will be closed on February 10th, so save what you want from them before then.

Prizes and How to Get Them

PARTICIPATION PRIZE.

All muses entering the event automatically received the participation prize described in this post. Please message the masterlist if you did not already claim it at the beginning.

Please send the masterlist an ask to claim your Grand Prize during the allotted days for your team (see below).

GRAND PRIZE.

This prize package will be awarded to any muse who reached a minimum of 10 IC event posts.

Knowledge Gem: A special gemstone that grants a drop of knowledge to the user. (One free skill point towards the user’s skill of choice.)

Two event-limited prizes from this list here. (Your muse must have the corresponding rank to claim.)

And the Mask from your corresponding investigation: Theatre Mask: This memento from Enbarr grants a moderate boost to crit rate. Monster Mask: This memento from Fhirdiad grants a moderate boost to attack. Colombina Mask: This memento from Merceus grants a moderate boost to defense. Volto Mask: This memento from Derdriu grants a moderate boost to speed.

SCHEDULE.

2/3-2/4: Team Fhirdiad participation and grand prize claims. 2/5-2/6: Team Merceus participation and grand prize claims. 2/7-2/8: Team Derdriu participation and grand prize claims. 2/9-2/10: Team Enbarr participation and grand prize claims.

1) The submission period is from 12:00AM EST the first day to 11:59PM EST the second day. We at least need to receive it during this time frame. Use the clock in the Masterlist’s sidebar to doublecheck the date and time if you are not sure.

2) Team submission periods are only for muses within those teams. If you have a muse in Enbarr, you can only submit your Enbarr muse’s claims during the Enbarr period. You cannot sneak in your second muse in Merceus during that time. Untimely submissions will be deleted without comment, and we consider this message your warning.

3) During the Participation and Grand Prize claims period, we will also process skill claims if you are getting your personal skill or ranking up from the Grand Prize skill point. Please combine these into one message, this helps us out!

4) If you miss the period to submit your Participation or Grand Prize, you forfeit these prizes. Do not procrastinate.

5) If you miss the initial period to rank up after an activity point, or if you claim your grand prize but forget to rank up with the skill point, you’re fine! However, please wait until 2/11 before sending in these claims.

As always, please feel free to ask any questions!

- The House Leaders