#oh this finally uploaded it took like 20 minutes for tumblr to post it

[concorp]

final(?) dream. memories being erased.

[goron-king-darunia]

Eggtober 12 Avocado Toast (Featuring Tomato and, of course, Fried Egg.) Clip Studio Paint, Gouache Brush, Dry Gouache Brush, Airbrush (for the barely visible bread texture) and Freckle Pen (for the pepper.) 20 colors, 1 hour 30 minutes. Took a little longer on this one because I spent an inordinate amount of time lovingly rendering the tomato that I knew no one was going to get to see in the final product. (Don’t worry, I saved it to another layer since @quezify said last time that he appreciated the peek behind the curtain.) This was another request by a friend. I must say, I wake up every day excited to choose an egg from the many options I have available and just... have fun putting it down on (digital) paper. I’ve got some yammering about that, but since I’m already going to post a “behind the scenes” under the cut, I’ll shove the musings down there too. As always, big thanks to the Egg Master Supreme, @quezify​ for organizing this. It’s wonderful to see so many people getting into art again or branching out and drawing eggs for the first time, all because one zany dude said to Tumblr “You know what? Let’s paint eggs for a month.” And enough of us said “Hell yeah” that I get to see so many different styles and mediums. Loving every moment of it!

(Art first, because LOOK AT THOSE TOMATOES! I love how they came out, I want to shove them in my mouth! AAAH!) Now for the rambling musings. I’m starting to get really comfortable with the gouache brush, a tool which I previously never used, and I’m also getting more comfortable with art in general. My usual process from childhood, when I did much more art, was to slap down pencil work on real life sheets of paper, line it in pen or photograph/scan it and upload it to my computer to line with the pen tool, and then just do everything with pen for bright, solid colors. Most of my other techniques were one off flukes, like the fire I did in my icon’s background. And my newer process, as an adult who just started learning Clip Studio Paint, was fairly similar. (I just started with CSP recently because it came free with my newest tablet and my old standard, Photoshop Elements [I dunno the version, 7 maybe?], was too old and would resize on my new rig so all the buttons were SO GODDAMN SMALL it was a pain to use.) The only difference is that, as an adult who’s home more often than not, I skipped the paper. Sketch, linework with the pen tool, then color under the line art with pen. Or, for a certain other project, I color under the line art with the watercolor brush. I’ve always wanted to try gouache because I’ve seen it worked with IRL and it’s got such pretty results! Opaque like acrylics and oils but flows like watercolor. I suppose it never occurred to me to look for it in the toolset. The last time I even used brushes meant to represent real media before CSP was when Corel Painter was a thing and I had it with my very first drawing tablet. And even then I didn’t use it often. I mostly used the watercolors because that was my favored medium IRL. But I quickly started to prefer Photoshop Elements which also came with my first tablet. And slowly I stopped using anything resembling traditional mediums. But I figured, hey, Eggtober is already a time for me to learn some new tricks and get some practice in, watercolor will look too translucent and it has a paper texture to it that I’m not sure I want. Let’s see if this thing has Gouache. And it did. And now it’s my favorite brush. The way it blends naturally, the ease of pressure controls so the opacity is easy to alter stroke by stroke. It feels like laying down real paints. Once I got used to how it behaved it just... clicked. So yeah, now that I know how to work with it and now that I had the brain explosion necessary to figure out my new process of laying down the darkest colors first and working my way up, it was all too easy to go “Oh. I like laying down these colors. And instead of trying to predict where I’m going to put the avocado, I’m just going to draw the full tomatoes for fun and practice and then figure out the avocado slice placement.” And then I spent roughly 45 minutes just... adding detail to tomatoes. Because it was a genuine joy and I was smiling the whole time and I could just look at those juicy tomatoes forever. So yeah, I know I say it every time, but I for real owe quezify everything for giving me a reason to pick up a new tool and learn and just have fun with it. Kicking my depression’s ass, my ADHD’s ass, my artblock’s ass, and my (lack of) motivation’s ass, all with the power of “Egg fun, draw egg.”

[queenofthelanternfish]

Disclaimer: Tumblr sucks, but this chapter doesn’t. Honestly my favorite chapter so far, no joke. I will be the one posting my gf @anesther’s fics in order to have them in the tags, so hopefully you all can read and enjoy as well!

-

AN: Gonna have my girlfriend upload my stuff now and then because tumblr really, really hates giving my posts a chance in the tags. It took me all day, with wrist pain and being busy, but I got it up dang it.

Title: Interfaces

Characters: Entrapta, Hordak, features Glimmer and Adora

Pairing: Entrapdak

Rating: T (for some sensuality)

Read on AO3 for the love of god.

                                                          Spa Day

“Welcome to Mystacore!” Glimmer says, arm stretching out in a grand sweeping motion. “Well, Mystacore Number Two. We haven’t thought of a name yet.”

Hordak stares at the pink and purple valances strewn around the building, hedges and trees neatly trimmed. The first thing he thinks is that the place smells sickeningly sweet, almost cloying. The paradise remained primarily in the clouds, though a small group of people had decided to head earthbound to create a sector that was adjacent to Bright Moon. Glimmer, being the niece of Castaspella, had been more than excited to overlook the project. And even more excited to bring people who had yet to experience the beauty and zen of Mystacorian performance.

“We finally got the renovations complete for the soaking tubs,” Glimmer continues. “It took a while to find underground hot springs, but we managed to get it together. There is also a new area we’re trying out where we give out massages.”

Entrapta looks around, curious. She approaches a smooth marble column, sliding her hand down its surface, “How long has this been going on?”

“Once Horde Prime was defeated, I wanted to bring calm to Etheria, and nothing says peace like Mystacore! My dad also wanted to spend more time in Mystacore and Bright Moon, so we compromised by bringing him a little piece of home from each place.”

“Wow, you’ve really outdone yourself, Glimmer,” Adora states.

“Thank you, but it wasn’t just me. My aunt helped a lot to put it together— Where’s Entrapta?”

Adora and she look at Hordak, who keeps his usual frown.

“She always does that,” Adora sighs.

“Okay, should we look for her?” Glimmer asks.

“She will arrive when she likes,” Hordak says, walking forward, leaving them behind.

“Right, of course,” Glimmer agrees, transporting next to him. “I can lead you to one of our relaxation facilities.”

Adora shouts, “I’m going to head to a different room!”

Glimmer waves goodbye, keeping pace with Hordak.

Hordak doesn’t protest as she points out the various needs that can be taken care of. The defeat of Horde Prime led to an odd but solid relationship with Queen Glimmer. In the years since, there hasn’t been a single battle between his kind and the Etherians, who have adopted the former in a truce that is proving to be positive. With Horde Prime’s technology, and the reemergence of Etheria to the rest of the universe, there have been advancements toward space travel and forming alliances with neighboring planets. His brothers have taken quite well to Etherian life, and he had noted several of them waiting in the foyer, and even aided in the construction of Mystacore Number Two.

She really should name it better.

“Here we are,” Glimmer announces. Opening polished double doors, she reveals several massage tables, freshly changed with clean linen. The room is artificially lit, with large sources of it coming from a tall ceiling. “This is the aromatherapy room, if you’d like to begin here.”

Hordak scans the area, hesitating.

“Not a big fan of smells?”

“It’s not that, there’s merely a lot of them.”

Glimmer gestures toward a table, “Would you like to give it a try?”

“...I’m not sure…”

“Well, that’s okay!” Glimmer tells him. “We have plenty of other rooms for you to try out.”

Hordak is led through another set of doors. This hallway shines soft lavender with hibiscus accents. He doesn’t even step into the room before his nose wrinkles in disgust.

Glimmer takes one look and opts to head down to the left, “Why don’t we go this way?”

“What was in that room?”

“Our manicure and pedicure salon. I thought maybe that would be good, considering how long your claws can get.”

“I take care of that myself.”

“Oh, well, I guess that makes sense, since they look really, um… sharp?”

Hordak looks at his hands, “They don’t grow longer than this.”

“I see. Well, manicures are out!” Glimmer looks up at him, “Would you like to see our electrolysis treatment?”

Hordak raises a brow at her.

“Heh, right, stupid question. Let’s keep going, shall we?”

                                                              -

“Entrapta? Where’d you go?” Adora asks. There has got to be an easier way to keep track of someone who isn’t even five feet tall, has hair that extends 20 feet when she likes, and is brightly colored purple. “Are you in the vents? I don’t even know how that could be—there aren’t any.”

Adora walks along the pilasters, letting her mind wander as she searches. It’s been a good while since Horde Prime was beaten. While everyone seems to have moved on, she can’t help but be a little wary when Hordak makes his presence known. She doesn’t hate him, but she, as Bow had eloquently put it once, ‘has major trust issues.’

She doesn’t think he will go against them, and the rest of his kind have settled into Etherian life very well. Their acclimation has been nothing short of surprising.

Maybe she needs to look at it as the simple fact that there isn’t anything to worry about. That there isn’t a reason for her to access She-Ra.

She can be Adora.

“What are you doing?”

“Agh!” she yelps, jumping away.

Entrapta lowers herself from the ceiling, “You started spacing out.”

“What? I was looking for you.”

“You were, but then you were just standing here for a few minutes. Did you find something interesting on the floor?” Entrapta asks, pushing her aside to look at the spot. “Hmm, doesn’t seem to have anything.”

“There isn’t anything on the floor. I was just looking for you.”

“That’s nice of you! Would you happen to know how they manage to get the pipes threaded into the walls? I’ve been trying to find a way to note how this place is structured, but I haven’t found an entrance.”

“I’m not sure where that would be either,” Adora replies.

“That’s okay! I’m sure I can find one—or make one without compromising the integrity of the building.”

“Entrapta, can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“How has Hordak been taking to Etherian life?”

“Oh, he’s been great! He’s had a lot more free time with me to work on all kinds of new inventions! He’s been putting together this new kind of robot with me, but I can’t tell you too much about it!” Entrapta shifts close, whispering. “It’s a secret!”

“What kind of robot?” Adora asks, anxiety forming.

“Can’t tell you! Hordak and I are going to be working on it a while longer, and it’s going to be so cool!”

Before Adora can say anything, Entrapta looks up at the ceiling, “Oh, I think that might be a good spot to try for an opening.”

In one movement, she ascends, leaving Adora confused.

What kind of robot?

It’s probably not anything.

Adora sighs, wondering if she’s being paranoid. That’s not something she’s been able to fully shake off. Maybe she should find Glimmer. She’s bound to be done with Hordak by now.

                                                                 -

Hordak has never been more stressed in his entire life.

“You have to relax.”

“I… I don’t think I can,” Hordak says, trying not to shake.

“I promise if you relax, you won’t be feeling, uh, whatever it is you’re feeling.”

“Is this supposed to be how it works?”

“Yes, acupuncture is supposed to be like this. Although, it would help if you relax.”

“I don’t believe telling me to relax over and over is going to make that happen,” Hordak hisses. With an irritated grunt, he stands up from the lounging chair. He turns to the acupuncturist, “Get these off me at once!”

Glimmer groans, “Hordak, I promise if you just let things be, you wouldn’t be upset!”

She has been trying all day to be a good host. This was supposed to be a calm afternoon, but he seems so resistant. Absolutely stubborn! She had an easier time with Adora, and she had been going a little nuts. But Hordak has a determination to be as unreasonable as possible when it comes to treatment.

Frowning, she walks up to him, “We went to a lot of places already—the deep tissue massage, hot stone massage, facials, scrubs. You just don’t seem to care for anything.”

Hordak opens his jaw, moving it up and down, side to side. Patting his cheeks, he looks at her, “Well, you’ve had me go around everywhere, and there is simply nothing I want.”

“There’s always a place people can go to let their hair down. Ooh, do you want a hair wash?”

“No, again, I do that myself,” Hordak says.

Glimmer shakes her head, “Of course. You do everything yourself.”

He suddenly lets out a sharp hiss, pain shooting up his arm.

She looks at his fingers, the rest covered by a robe, “Are you okay?”

“It’s nothing. Just a nerve…” Hordak holds up a hand. “Don’t try to throw me in the wayward arms of a masseuse. I would simply like to rest.”

Glimmer’s brows furrow in thought. Perhaps she has been looking at this all wrong. There were so many new additions to Mystacore’s already impressive spa treatments, that she had been excited to unveil them all to Hordak and Entrapta—even if the latter has been gone this entire time—that she didn’t stop to consider that she might have been pushing him into something he doesn’t care for. Over the past few years, she learned he’s someone who doesn’t need or desire a lot, especially if they’re material possessions or experiences. “You know, I have one last room for you, and I think this one will click.”

Hordak sighs deeply, more exhausted than when he arrived. He nods, “Very well. Lead the way.”

Hopeful about this one, Glimmer allows him to pass through a singular door. The hallway gleams silver and blue, the temperature a little cooler by a few degrees. Hordak smells nothing out of the ordinary. His ears twitch at the sound of running water, and he catches the scent of it before coming to a room full of steam.

Hordak looks around the vicinity, the fog obscuring his vision to a good enough amount to ensure privacy, even if wearing clothes designed for soaking were available.

Glimmer smiles at him, “Here is the sauna-including-soaking-tubs! I wasn’t sure whether to bring you here because it doesn’t seem like something you’d be into. And people are usually around, but I think this could work.”

He dips his hand into nearby water, clear where the water doesn’t froth from the small waterfall; the heat radiates from his fingers upward.

“This will do,” Hordak says.

“Yes!” Glimmer shouts, enthused.

He looks at her, smirking, “It only took you all day to find something suitable.”

“Well, you’re one tough customer. But I think you’ll enjoy it here. And no one’s around. I’ll grab you something to change into.”

Soon, Hordak is dressed in breathable clothes, and Glimmer takes her leave.

Slipping into the hot water, Hordak allows a contented sigh to leave his lips. He sinks down into the water until its surface touches his chin. The sensation is akin to pleasure. The liquid moves about his muscles, steam shifting in front of his eyes when he breathes. His head tips forward, circulation steadily increasing. The numbness in his arm begins to recede, heat blissfully wrapping around his limbs.

Hordak submerges completely under the water, eyes closing lightly. There is no air, yet he can breathe. There is no sound, yet there is thrumming in his ears. The warmth permeates through, and a stirring reminiscent of serenity blooms in his chest, in his mind. He curls in on himself, the closest to childhood quiet he will understand.

Emerging from the water, droplets moving down his frame, Hordak’s shoulders droop, a lazy smile on his face. Relaxed.

“Hi!” Entrapta says, coming down.

“Hello,” Hordak replies, easing further. Wearing similar attire, she glides into the water, swimming up to him. She allows her hair to be loose, free from its pigtails, its natural weight drags it down to the bottom, fanning out under the water. Swimming up to his side, she places her arms on his shoulder. “Did you have fun exploring?”

“I did! I was following you every now and then, it wasn’t hard to do that, but I did try to find an opening into the building to look through its pipes, wires, pumps. It was all very interesting!”

“Did you succeed?”

“No! I had to make an opening myself. It’s very discreet, they’ll never knooow,” Entrapta says in a hushed tone.

“I know. You’re very good at being sneaky,” Hordak says, smiling at her.

“Adora was talking to me about you,” Entrapta tells him, leaning upon his shoulder.

“Oh? Why is that?” Hordak asks, resting against the stone. “I think she believes you’re not to be trusted still,” Entrapta informs. Pushing up on him, she brushes a dark blue tendril from his forehead. “I would’ve explained it to her, but I didn’t find it necessary.”

“A wise choice. It cannot be helped. Adora has no reason to extend any sort of olive branch in my direction, even if it has been a couple of years.”

Entrapta flicks some water with her fingers, “She will eventually come around.”

“That’s up to her. And even then, I don’t need to be accepted by everyone during the remainder of my time here.”

“Glimmer is pretty sweet to you!”

“Yes, she is,” Hordak says. He formed an odd kinship with her after the Rebellion regained control of Etheria. “She treats me well.”

“Hey! Look!” Entrapta shouts. Sinking down til her mouth is under, she blows air with her mouth, bubbles rising and popping at the top.

Hordak lowers himself to the water at the same level. And blows bubbles in turn.

Entrapta laughs in manic glee, splashing him as she claps her hands. Hordak shoves water in her direction, making her chortle harder. She squeals when he breaks into a wide, red grin, chasing her around the tub’s perimeter. Grabbing her, Entrapta flops against him, “Oh no, you caught me!”

He nips her ear, breathing onto it, “I did indeed.” He trails his mouth down her neck, making her gasp. Pressing it gently along her throat, he feels her body arch into him. Her arms wrap around his shoulders, moaning into him.

He withdraws, lightly kissing her cheek, “You have to wait.”

“Ooh, you’re such a tease!” Entrapta says, clinging to him. “You’re going to make me wait until we’re back at the lair.”

“Of course. I highly doubt we want anyone rushing in here when I make you scream.”

Entrapta laughs, looking up at him, “But think of the thrill of being caught!”

“Maybe next time. When we go to Glimmer’s castle.”

Their cackles ring around them, echoing above the water.

                                                              -

Glimmer shudders.

Adora looks at her, “What is it?”

“I don’t know. Got a weird feeling outta nowhere.”

“Probably nothing,” Adora says, continuing to eat her meal.

“Yeah, likely nothing.”

                                                              -

Entrapta looks at Glimmer, “Thank you for having us!”

Glimmer nods at the couple, “No problem! Thank you for choosing Mystacore Number Two for all your spa needs!”

“You really should change the name,” Entrapta says.

“And perhaps hire a concierge,” Hordak adds.

“We had one. But we had to fire them for taking up too much time relaxing instead of working.”

“Who was it?”

“Double Trouble.”

“Ah,” Entrapta and Hordak say simultaneously.

“Well, thanks for having us!” Entrapta says.

“Entrapta, hang on,” Adora walks over. “Can we talk over there, for a minute?”

“Sure,” She agrees.

Heading off a few feet, Adora begins, “I wanted to ask how you were doing, but you left really quickly.”

“I’m doing wonderful! Everything has been going smoothly at the lair.”

“What was the robot you mentioned?”

Entrapta waves a hand, “Silly, I told you I can’t talk about it just yet.”

“Not even a hint?” Adora pleads.

Entrapta gives her a gracious smile, patting her head with a lock of purple, “If it makes you feel better, it’s nothing you need to be worried about.”

“I’m not worried.”

“You’re quite a paranoid person, you know that?”

“I’m not that paranoid.”

Entrapta grins at her, “It’s not a bad thing, Adora! When we’re done, I’ll have you look at it!”

Adora sighs. She smiles back, “Alright. I’ll wait until then.”

Glimmer watches them interact for a moment before turning to Hordak, “Did you enjoy your soak?”

“I did,” Hordak answers. He clears his throat. “Thank you.”

“Sure! It’s what spa people do.”

“No, I mean, thank you… for taking the time to help me…”

Glimmer, touched, smiles at him, “Aww, you’re welcome. I’m glad you had fun!”

“Yes, I did enjoy myself,” Hordak admits.

Grinning at this accomplishment, she finds Adora walking back toward her, and Entrapta to Hordak. Bidding goodbyes, she waves at them as they leave.

“Hordak’s changed a lot, huh?” Glimmer says, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, I guess he has.”

Glimmer looks at Adora, “He actually thanked me for a good time! I feel like I can take on any customer!”

“You know you’re a queen, not a spa-day-host-person, right?” Adora asks, smirking at her.

“I can be both,” she declares, before heading inside.

Adora nods. Maybe she does need to be more considerate about the changes people have made. She had forgiven Catra, and there had been much more bad blood between them. If her friends say that Hordak is alright, then she’ll trust them instead of her doubts.

Maybe a soak will alleviate her head from all this thinking.

[yakumtsaki]

Alright you guys, sorry for the delay, I’ve had to restart this post 20 fucking times because my changes weren’t being saved in the draft and then I kept getting the ‘upload failed’ error. In case you don’t remember wtf is going on you might wanna re-read the last update (I certainly had to) which is apparently from JUNE 2018. Jfc I suck so hard. Now this was gonna be really long but tumblr wouldn’t post it so I’m breaking it up in 3 parts, part 2 to be posted tomorrow. For those that don’t feel like reading back, general recap of the last couple updates:

Jojo cheated on Wyatt with Max Flexor and my solution to that marital crisis was to adopt our first dog ever, a puppy hilariously named Maxx.

The puppy grew up to be an asshole and is constantly beating up the cats, who have turned into giant pussies (no pun intended) and are losing every fight to him despite the fact they’re named after Mortal Kombat characters. They’re a fucking disgrace to Alegra’s/Victor’s/Ronroneo’s memory and I haven’t settled on a cat heir yet because they both suck.

Jojo is perma miserable, I don’t even remember how much money away from his 100k LTW, and still not a werewolf despite my pathologically persistent attempts to make him friends with the wolf.

Fucking useless Wyatt didn’t get promoted while Komei was alive providing us with his 100 townie friends, we spent 20 updates befriending every rando that crossed our lot to secure his promotion, and then finally on the day he was supposed to become Captain Hero, Wyatt got, of course, fired and is now on track to take longer to complete his literal career based LTW than Komei took to get 6 pets on the top of their careers.

Absolutely everyone hates noogie addict Shajar, she got a Kylo Ren makeover, and we still don’t know what her sexual orientation is thanks to her ridiculous fitness/fatness turn ons and cleanliness turn off.

Golden child/10 nice points freakshow Cyneswith grew up, rolled romance with the most disturbing turn-ons/offs possible (grey hair/mechanical & charisma turn off) and the 20 simultaneous lovers LTW.

Wulf grew up into a kid, got an Amadeus makeover, is officially a Wyatt clone and the only member of this family I don’t completely hate yet.

Now I’d like to begin the first Union post in more than a year by requesting you do me a solid and lower your expectations for this thing as far down as humanly possible. Like really try to recreate the Jules Verne classic “Journey to the Center of the Earth” with your expectations here, because my brain is so fucking fried that there’s a 20% chance I randomly start citing sources at some point during this post. This grad school crap has seriously been the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever. And speaking of bad trade deals, let’s get this update rolling with the man, the myth, the legend, the husband who managed to make Komei look like a dreamboat in comparison..

..Wyatt fucking Union, née Monif. It’s been a long time, but I’m not gonna lie to you Wyatt, not nearly long enough. Looking good man, just one small question, where the fuck are your eyebrows?

-You àccidéntally deléted thém, imbécilé, et I cannôt exprèss my irritatiόn prόperly becausé I hàve non eyebrôws!

Did your selective French accent get thicker this past year or is it just me?

-It géts thickér whén je suis distrésséd, givé moi mon eyebrôws bàcc!!!

No can do, brother. Actually can do, but I think the Mona Lisa look is working for you, and more importantly I still hate you, so I’m just gonna hardcore ignore you for the rest of this post if that’s ok. Talk to me when you finally get promoted, aka never the way this shit is going.

-Non! NON! MON EYEBROWS!

It’s been lovely catching up.

Jojό I mean Jojo, goddammit Wyatt, is spending most of his time building robots in the mausoleum (sweet hipster band name alert)..

..giving financial advice in Shajar’s room (inb4 what’s the difference between the mausoleum and Shajar’s room)..

..building evil snowmen alone in the middle of the night, like all mentally healthy middle aged men with 3 kids are wont to do..

..and getting the piss harassed out of him by the cat ghosts in the bathroom (sweet hipster band name alert #2). How is this like the fourth time this happens in the exact same spot, will you just stop autonomously cleaning the bathroom after midnight? It’s obviously where the cats hang out, give it the fuck up already.

-I’m actively TRYING TO DIE you absolute moron, what does a guy have to do to get killed around here?

Yea can’t say that I blame you but not happening, you can commit suicide by Ghost Alegra after the kids fuck off to college, ok? I promise.

-Oh like you promised me being heir was a route worth pursuing??

Um obviously you too need to go back and re-read your own life story, because I spent the entirety of our “““cherished””” time together telling you heirship is a shitty gig at generation 2. And then to top it off you went and married Wyatt to ensure maximum shittiness, so there you go, fucking enjoy. God I am so sick of both of you losers and we’re only 5 pics in. Let’s check in with your spawn, I’m sure they can’t possibly be more annoying than their parents-

-oh right, I forgot, this is the generation with 10/10/9 active points where the party never stops. Cyneswith are you somehow twerking to classical music?

-How else am I gonna attract all those hot senior citizens per my grey hair turn on and 20 lovers LTW?

Ok great yea I see how this is gonna go, you’re trying to entice people into voting you for heir based on how torturous playing this fucked up LTW is gonna be for me, well forget it, my readers are intellectuals and completely above such petty entertainment. (istg mofos, don’t even think about it, i already did Komei’s 5 pets career shit, i will burn this place to the ground if you saddle me with Cyneswith banging the elderly for 30 years)

-No need to worry your stupid little head, I will beat Cyneswith for HEIR just like I beat her HAIR up daily! HAHA!

Shajar no offense but you’re a fucking war crime of a sim, nearly everyone who’s ever met you hates you including your parents, and the fact that you’re the alternative here is really not helping my situation in any way. Also how the fuck are you gonna be heir when the only thing you seem to be attracted to is giving noogies, you’re like one week away from college and I still don’t even know if you’re str8 or gay or bi or w/e the fuck you are. You have Jojo’s personality combined with..

..yes exactly, DANIEL’S SOCIAL ABILITIES. I mean I was joking with the whole ‘Shajar’s the spawn of Satan’ thing, but this combo of traits was clearly drawn up in Hell’s boardroom.

ANYWAY. It’s a snowy Sunday morning, and anyone who has been a teen knows what that means:

Time to go clubbing! Man I remember being like 15, waking up on a freezing Sunday morning and my mom making me a cup of hot chocolate before I drove off to the club. Those were the days.

-Uh, Shaj, when did you learn how to drive?

-Don’t be stupid, Cyneswith, people don’t need to ‘learn’ how to drive.

-They absolutely do, actually.

-Well what can I tell you, the dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.

-Here we are, safe and sound! Celebratory noogie!

-YOU RAN OVER 9 PEOPLE

-How many times to I have to explain this to you, Apartment Life townies are not people.

Can’t argue with that logic. Let’s just go in and find out what Shajar’s sexual orientation is once and for all so I can spend the rest of this update aggressively promoting Wulf’s candidacy.

Now I consider ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ one of the dumbest sayings there is, but even I have to concede that this particular picture truly is worth a thousand words. Quick poll, what is more horrifying, Shajar’s literal Joker face or Cyneswith, whom I’ve never seen read a book ever, autonomously pulling one out in the middle of the dance floor, in what I can only assume is an attempt to attract old perverts with the schoolgirl routine?

And I know what some of you are thinking, you’re like ‘bro, you’re just reaching to make a bad joke bro, Cyneswith is just a sweet nice introvert and not like other girls, she doesn’t feel comfortable in the club’, well to that let me reply with another picture that is worth a thousand words:

Yea that’s right, on the first minute of our first time out WE RUN INTO THAT ONE ELDER TOWNIE THAT HAS WRINKLE MAKE UP ON. GODDAMMIT CYNESWITH

Do you guys remember how Jojo was obsessed with Stephen Tinker as a teen? Are you seeing the connection here?? Those kids have literally inherited the worst possible traits from both their parents turned up to 11, it’s fucking unreal.  

Right after I get over Wrinkle’s presence I turn around and what do I see, those 2, who have never had a non-noogie physical interaction, autonomously doing the family kiss thing. I didn’t even catch it on time because I was loling irl, we came out here so these assholes can find age-appropriate partners, and instead they’re kissing each other. Seems about right with this family, and clearly Striped Scarf’s dumb ass ships it.

-They look so much alike, it’s meant to be!

Yes, and they even share the same last name! Talk about written in the stars.

Thankfully Abhijeet is here to save us from incest by perving on Cyneswith. GTFO ABHIJEET. Anyone like ‘bro townies just autonomously come to greet your sims on community lots regardless of age, stop calling them perverts’, see you in about 5 pics down.  

I try to have Shajar chat up Striped Scarf and suffice it to say Shaj ~stole her heart~ and presumably put it on this stick to wave around.

NO. CYNESWITH NO. I’m seriously having déjà vu of all the times I was like ‘NO. JOJO NO’, jfc.

Shajar is unsurprisingly exhibiting no interest in socializing with anyone around her, instead she’s trying every activity this terribly lit place has to offer, and she looks demented while doing it:

I’m feeling a primal urge to photoshop Darth Vader’s melted helmet on the bowling ball here, someone please remind me to do it for the heir vote photoshoot.

-HA. SUCK IT DENISE JACQUET

That’s Denise Jacquet?! I can’t tell who anyone is for shit anymore. The default replacements are a scourge upon premade brands, I’m getting rid of them pronto. Speaking of scourges, where the hell is your sister?

-Who cares?

I wanna say ‘me’ but we both know that’s a lie.

Oh ok, THERE SHE IS.

-So you see Cyneswith, just because something is technically ‘illegal’, doesn’t mean it’s morally wrong-

Yea yea fascinating stuff, now get out of the hot tub or I will fucking neuter you, I don’t know if a eunuch mod already exists for medieval games but I will make one if it doesn’t.

Here, Cyneswith, drink some water, have a nice G-rated convo with your sister about violins and stop pissing me off. 

-First of all this is straight vodka.

Great.

-Secondly Shajar is talking about Mozart’s coprophilia.

-I sure am.

Amazing. Well, I guess it’s at times like these when you need to look inside your heart and truly ask yourself, what did you expect from Jojo’s children.

ABHIJEET ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME DID YOU EVEN HEAR ME TALK ABOUT CASTRATION

-Ha, I went home and put on my most elderly-looking formal wear!

-I hate to see you go but I love to watch you leave Ab <3

CYNESWITH SHUT UP. I can’t believe you people are actually making me miss Gunther’s teenage whoring, at least he kept it age appropriate.

-Is some random lady pressing her breasts against my head?

She most certainly is, Shajar, because it is now crystal clear that this bowling alley doubles as the site of annual perv townie convention and we walked right into it-

-and it’s also clear we have serious issues and are enjoying ourselves. Shaj I legit don’t know what to tell you, this is the first time you get along with someone right away and it just had to be the adult with the bad haircut and the flasher’s trench coat???

-You’re damn right it did.

Alright then, I’m officially going to nope out of this situation, safe in the knowledge you’re a noogiesexual and nothing will actually happen with this freak, so I’ll focus on Cyneswith instead who is much more of a loose canon. 

Here Cyn, talk to this guy, who I’m 90% sure is the same guy your father rejected in favor of stalking Stephen Tinker when he was your age.

-Ohhhh, he’s dreamy!

Omg really?? Halleluj-

-oh never mind, you were of course referring to adult ass Brandon Lillard. I do like that our townies have recurring roles each generation, we should make rejecting Blondie a rite of passage in this family. We should also officially gtfo because this is happening:

-Um, now that I’m looking at you in harsher lighting, it’s gonna be a no from me dawg. 

Oh, thank the fucking lord.

-Let’s celebrate the fact we didn’t get hopelessly obsessed with any adults here by doing the traditional Dance of Normality!

-We beat Dad’s genes, we beat Dad’s genes!

-We’re normal!

Yes, and we’re definitely showing it. Can we please leave now so I can make sure I’ve uninstalled Inteenminator and turn off free will? 

-Nop! Venue change!

-Got-out-of-the-car celebratory noogie!

-Made-it-to-the-door celebratory noogie!

Shajar you unironically have a noogie addiction, I’m not kidding in the slightest, you need to see a doctor.

Great, great, not another teen in sight and to top it off Denise followed us here to ensure maximum elder presence. I feel comfortable officially declaring this day a complete waste of time.

God, the vintage pink dress and the pink alcohol combo is some straight up current era Taylor Swift nonsense. That’s it, we’re outta here, back home where no one is lurking, waiting to strike at us-

-SOPHIE NOOOOOOOOOOOO💔💔💔💔💔

-The Lord is my shepherd.

NO HE ISN’T EVERYONE KNOWS YOU CAN’T HERD CATS PLEASE DON’T DIE

-Nop, I’m over it. Goodbye heathens, it’s been nice, hope you don’t find your paradise. 

UGH SOPHIE, my beloved Westboro lunatic, the last gangsta generation 1 cat we had.. I can’t believe you’re gone and all I’m left with is stupid Goro and D’vorah who can’t even beat up the fucking dog. This is truly painful.

Yes, pets, I agree, Kaylynn is completely to blame for Sophie dying of old age. The time has now come to decide on a cat heir-

-and since Goro ran away like a little bitch after Sophie’s death despite the fact he didn’t even like her, he’s automatically disqualified and will be going off to live on Melody and Daniel’s farm once returned to us. Congratulations to D’vorah I guess, on being the least terrible of two terrible options. 

On the topic of terrible heir options, Cyn has non-stop wants to go on dates and have her first kiss and all that crap, and since our Sunday morning clubbing was a bust we invite over the matchmaker.

-Hello there young Union, I see your house has been upgraded since I was last here.

Oh right we haven’t required your services since Daniel was a teen and we lived in a trailer, well we are flush with cash now!

-Hopefully your payment reflects that.

It will!! Just please give us someone good, I can’t deal with single teen Cyn for one more second.

-Oh my, what a beautiful BLANK PIECE OF PAPER.

WHAT!? NO THAT’S 5K IT’S JUST A SNOW GLITCH 

-What do I look like to you, a money thawing service?

Does such a service.. exist??

-It does not, so I have to go home and use a hairdryer on this!

Just come inside and we’ll give you non-frozen money!

-No, no, you’ll get what you paid for..

-Have a magical time!

...

.........

......................

Lakshmi this was so fucking evil that I almost want to age you down and see if you and Shajar hit it off. 

-As if, the whole neighborhood knows what you did to Komei.

Helped him achieve his insane 6-pets-career LTW?

-Turned him into a servant while your sim was lounging around all day!

Oh yea I did do that. But Wyatt was also a townie and he does literally nothing, Jojo is the servant now!

-Only because Wyatt is too fucking stupid to do things! Word has gotten out, no townie will ever marry in this family again unless they’re brain dead, so it’s Wyatts only for you from now on, sister!

Well this has been a complete fucking disaster. It was great seeing you again, Lakshmi, thanks for the dream date with the adult farting machine, 5k well-spent.

Pretty sure it was you bro, and yes, how about we don’t do that again.

Wyatt has brought over Amanda from work! (Aka Victoria’s only friend and subsequent lesbian lover, who is really pretty and is definitely getting married in at some point, preferably after the brown hair genes have been weakened so we can go back to being gingers.)  

-Wow Shajar, your grandmother, God rest her soul, mentioned you were her favorite and now I can see why! Loving the Kylo Ren look!

-Is someone being genuinely nice to me?! What is happening?

-Yes, please stop being nice to her, Amanda, we don’t want her getting used to it.

Jojo istg.

-Cyneswith dear, tell Amanda all about how much money your grandmother left you so she can stop being nice to Shajar. 

-Soooo much money, Miss Amanda!

-Ah, what a polite child I’ve single-handedly raised.

-Now, Cyneswith, you really need to get back on the dating scene so you have ample time to find the perfect spouse and continue our line, since you’re clearly the only one of my children that is remotely heir material. 

-Dad, Shajar and Wulf are right next to you.

-Oh they are? I’m wearing my special contact lenses that make those disappointments invisible to me, but even better, they need to hear this. Shajar is a noogiesexual and thus incapable of reproduction, and Wulf is not even a Union, I mean have you seen that kid? Wyatt reproduced by himself like the amoeba he is. Now, your grandmother-

-YOU MENTIONED ME 3 TIMES AND HERE I AM

OH FUCK VICTORIA, deleting the default replacements gave you base game hair!!!!

-That’s the part you’re scared by, not my Beetlejuicesque entrance?

There’s literally nothing scarier than your ghost sporting this haircut for all eternity, I’m re-downloading that default immediately. 

-Oh mom, so good to see you! Let me just hug my beloved child, Shijer-

-Shajar, dad.

-SHAJAR, let me hug Shajar, like I do all the time. 

-I’m glad to see you’re not picking favorites among your children like I did, the way I treated David-

-Daniel, mom.

-DANIEL, is the one thing I’ve truly been regretting in the afterlife. That and not skinning Marisa Bendett alive when I had the chance. 

-Well, as you can see by Shajar’s totally normal and not at all shocked reaction to my hug, I am a wonderful, fair, and emotionally available father. 

(Bruh this freaked me out so much when it happened, I mean I KNOW it’s an animation glitch but I was convinced my sims had become sentient for a good while after)

-Is your grandmother’s ghost still on the premises?

-Yup. 

-When will this nightmare end, paying attention to you is the worst. 

-Ok she’s gone.

-FINALLY. Now it’s back to the crypt for you, and don’t you dare go complain to her urn!

-Ah, Stephen, Stephen, my life is crap and I can’t even🎵

And with the knowledge you have composed a theme song for Stephen Tinker, part 1 of the Union comeback update is concluded. Will Shajar’s sexual orientation reveal itself? Will Cyneswith find true love? Will Jojo become a werewolf? Will Wulf continue to be the only dignified member of this family? Will D’vorah have kittens? Will Wyatt do literally anything worth mentioning? Tune in for parts 2 & 3 to find out, unfollow button on the upper right corner for those who need it. 

[welcome--to--my--little--world]

A magical encounter

Summary: Your best friend Dean needs your help with a very… unusual problem. Of course you try to help your buddy out, but things don’t quite go as planned.

Pairing: Dean x Cas

Warnings: this is a crackfic

Word count: 1192

A/N: So, this is the first fanfic I’ve ever written in English and it’s the first piece of writing I uploaded to Tumblr, so please don’t be too harsh on me. This crackfic is based on a very weird dream I had a while ago. I can’t believe I’m actually posting this. It’s terrible… but well, maybe it makes someone smile. Enjoy!

You were a hunter. A very good one too. Known throughout the country for your skill and bravery. You’ve seen it all and fought it all - vampires, werewolves, ghosts… even dragons and gods. 

But nothing could’ve prepared you for what was about to happen this sunny Tuesday afternoon. You were just sitting in your room, relaxing and daydreaming, when your phone rang and the familiar tones of ‘Highway to Hell’ pulled you back into reality. You grabbed your phone from the table, looked at who was calling and clicked on the 'accept call’ button. It was your best friend Dean. But before you could even say hello, he was already yelling into the phone. His voice sounded like he was near crying. You prepared yourself for the worst. 

“Y/N, something terrible happened this morning! I need your help, or else I might die! This is a catastrophe… Oh my God, this can’t be true!" 

Yep, that sounded like a worst case scenario. 

"Dean, you need to calm down and tell me what happened! I can only help you if you tell me!" 

There was a long silence before Dean spoke again. He was hesitant and obviously had trouble finding the right words to describe his problem. 

"So umm, I don’t really know how to explain this…" 

"Come on Dean, just tell me!" 

"Okay, well… this morning… I don’t know how this happened, but my heterosexuality ran away into the woods…" 

You couldn’t help but laugh uncontrollably. 

"What’s so funny about that? This is a real problem and I don’t know how this will affect my life! Maybe it’s dangerous?!" 

"I don’t see how losing your heterosexuality could be dangerous, but I will try my best to help you.” You were trying to hold back your laughter. “Just mail me the coordinates where you lost it." 

"Okay, will do. Thanks for your help, Y/N, I really don’t know what I’d do without you. Call me if you have news!" 

"No problem, I’ll try my best as always." 

You hung up and started packing your bag with everything you needed. A few minutes later your phone buzzed when Dean mailed you the coordinates. The said woods weren’t that far away, so it only took you 20 minutes to get there. You parked your car and followed the path into the woods for a while before deciding to leave it. You felt your phone buzz in your pocket again. And again. And again. All messages were from Dean and as you read them it became crystal clear how the absence of his heterosexuality affected him. You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help smiling at the messages he sent you. 

~ Damn, have you ever noticed how pretty Cas is? How can someone be this beautiful? ❤😍 

~ His eyes are such a pretty shade of blue, just like the ocean. And his dark unruly hair makes me so wild. And his pink lips look so soft, I just wanna grab his face in my hands and kiss him. 

~ Y/N, I think I might have a crush on him… 

Maybe the loss of his heterosexuality wasn’t so bad after all. But you promised to help him, so you continued your search. Hour after hour went by and you didn’t find anything. You were close to giving up when suddenly you heard a whimper. You followed the sound and then you found it - Dean’s heterosexuality. It was a small purple creature, ugly and weak-looking. Actually, it was worse. The thing looked like it was dying. You knelt down and started talking to the creature soothingly. 

"Hey little guy, why did you run away? You want to come home with me and go back to Dean? " 

Now the creature started crying uncontrollably. Great. You reached out to pet the crippled purple creature gently. The moment you touched it, it shot up and ran away while screaming "I will never go back to him! Never! Never! He’s killing me!”

Well, that was definitely something, you thought to yourself. You considered your options and decided to try your luck again tomorrow. 

Halfway back to your car you were surprised by a soft light getting closer and closer. You held your knife tight, ready to fight whatever was coming towards you. When the mysterious light was right in front of you, you could finally see what it was and your tension faded away. It was a llama unicorn! It was the prettiest you’ve ever seen. Its fur was in pastel colours - pink, purple and blue stripes made the creature look so beautiful in the soft light it was emitting. And it was sparkling too! Then the llama unicorn proceeded to speak: 

“I’m the llama unicorn of bisexuality! I am Dean’s new patron and will take good care of him! I will make his dreams come true as long as he lets me. Bring me to him now!" 

All you could do was stare at the creature in awe. This was definitely without question the weirdest and coolest thing that has ever happened to you. You took the llama unicorn with you and called Dean to come and meet you. When you finally got back to your car, Sam and Dean were already waiting for you. They were just as surprised about the creature as you had been when you first saw it.

The llama unicorn now explained everything to Dean, which just left him in a really confused expression. He just wanted to get his fucking heterosexuality back, and not talk to some fluffy speaking animal thing. 

"Dean, you won’t need your heterosexuality anymore! You have to embrace who you really are!”, the animal clarified. “Please, let me show you!" 

Dean looked even more confused than before. 

Suddenly there was a familiar rustle of feathers. Sam, Dean and you turned around in perfect sync. What you saw was Castiel, in all his beauty, big black wings spread wide. 

Dean just whispered a quick "Oh wow” to himself before slowly approaching Cas and lifting a hand to gently stroke his cheek. 

“Cas, I love you. I love you so much. I always did." 

"Oh Dean, I love you too! More than anything!" 

They looked into each other’s eyes, smiling sweetly at one another before leaning in for a passionate kiss. Dean couldn’t keep his hands to himself and ran them up and down Cas’ body, and Cas rested his hand on the back of Dean’s head. 

You and Sam were leaning against the Impala, watching and applauding them from the distance. The llama unicorn of bisexuality disappeared as quickly as it came, and you were just joyful that Cas and Dean were happily together now. 

When Cas, Dean and Sam finally drove back to the bunker, you decided to go with them to celebrate. All of you were happy now, and after all the bottles were empty, everyone went to their rooms. 

All night, the sweet moans of Cas and Dean echoed through the bunker. Once you could even hear Cas growl "Yeah you sexy bitch, you like it!" 

And so everyone lived on happily ever after. 

[echodrops]

The Promises I Made (2018)

For the past twelve years, I’ve spent every New Year’s Eve compiling a list of fifty promises I intend to keep or fulfill over the next twelve months. The results have been truly amazing, and I have kept some promises I never thought I could. Although this year was really, really bad, oh lord... This year, for New Year’s, there will be a new set of promises for to me keep, but here are the old ones, for review!

 The Promises I Made (2018 edition)

1) I will be less anxious at work and not let passing comments from students or passive rudeness get under my skin as much. Status: Somewhat kept; I feel like I wasn’t as upset by students being rude this year as last year, but then again that might just be because I had better students. XD

2) I will be more proactive about my responsibilities for the college newspaper committee so we can make a great product. Status: Uhh… Can I count this as kept if the newspaper committee was put on hold due to decisions from the higher administration, so I didn’t have to be proactive about these responsibilities?

3) I will actually visit Mexico, not just accidentally take a wrong turn and end up there... Status: Broken. You know how some people like live next door to a restaurant for years but somehow never get around to trying it? Yeah that’s me, with the entire country of Mexico. Like, I literally live less than a mile from the border… I really should just go get lunch one day or something…

4) I will actually decorate my office with all the stuff I have had sitting around at my house for months. Status: Actually kept. I don’t feel like the decorating is really done in the office, but the decorations are no longer cluttering up my actual home instead of the office!

5) I will be better about focusing so that I can grade quickly and feel less overwhelmed throughout the course of the semester. Status: You know, it’s hard to say whether or not I did grade more quickly because spring semester I took on a really annoying class schedule and it screwed me over hard. I feel like I was a little faster this year, but I felt more overwhelmed than ever.

6) I will get the scratch on my Camaro buffed a bit to clear up the parts that can be cleared. Status: I just… didn’t do this. Broken.

7) I will repair the mortar on the fence outside the Utah house and seal the bricks on the window sills. Status: Somewhat kept/broken. I fixed the mortar on the fence outside but did not seal the windowsill bricks.

8) I will finish at least 26 books over the course of this year. Status: Look man. If my promise had been “Finish 26 fanfics longer than 100,000 words,” I would have blown this promise out of the water. But as it stands, I think I only made it to 10-ish printed books. I’m naughty. 9) I will retrim the grape vine at the Utah house and also spray/get someone to spray to kill the wasps. Status: Broken. I don’t know why I thought it would be smart to make a promise about trimming the grape vine, since that’s something you do in fall… when I’m not even in Utah… Hrmmmm… 10) I will get the mail man to stop delivering the wrong mail to my box because I’m getting ten times more mail for other people than for myself. Status: I had so many opportunities to do this, and I just didn’t. RIP.

11) I will have the fire escape window installed on the Utah house to make it legal to rent. Status: Broken. That’s a lotta money fam.

12) I will update Home and a Half at least four times (and no more double posts, just be chill Yehn, be chill for once…) Status: WOW. I was so, so optimistic, wasn’t I? 13) I will actually build all the furniture I bought for the Texas house and never assembled. Status: Mostly kept? I think there’s like one more thing I haven’t assembled (the spare futon), but up to this point I haven’t needed it, so...

14) I will actually watch Stranger Things since everyone keeps nagging me about it. Status: Broken. I just didn’t do this at all.

15) I will go to a dentist and get this annoying wisdom tooth removed and also see what can be done for my front tooth that got pushed out of alignment by said wisdom tooth. This really needs to happen ‘cause the partially erupted tooth is killing me. D; Status: Wisdom tooth is still hurting me… I am the worst at taking care of myself… 2019… the year of self-care?

16) I will take a road trip with my friend Karen like we’ve been talking about for a while. Status: Actually did this! Finally something completely kept. It was a great trip too.  

17) I will continue to serve as the video game club’s faculty sponsor. Status: I was too busy… T_T Broken.

18) I will lower my credit card debt by at least $2000. Moving is so expensive. T_T Status: I ended up having major set-backs this year in the form of having to pay out of pocket for a new windshield in my car and also my Playstation flat out dying on me, so this goal did not get satisfied. But now that my car is completely paid off (hell yeah!), I’ll finally be able to start making big payments on this sucker.

19) I will have ALL my lesson plans planned out in advance for Fall 2018 so that I can just chill next fall. Status: YO THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. There were still some instances of needing to fix things, but overall I did actually have all the lessons done in advance, and that was probably the only reason I survived fall at all lol.

20) I will finish painting the living room in the Utah house, finally. Status: I… forgot I even made this promise. Yikes.

21) I will be better about walking my dog because I have been slacking lately. Status: I wanted to be better, but every fucking time I go to walk my dog, the neighbor’s Chihuahua runs through their fence and tries to attack my dog, so literally every walk becomes a nightmare and there were a lot of days when I just didn’t want to deal with that stress… :/

22) I will finish a game other than FFXIV this year. Man, so many games have been piling up… Status: I couldn’t even find time to play FFXIV this year, let alone another game… 23) I will write a new, original short story. Status: I… did not write like at all this year. 2018 was just really hard for me. T_T

24) I will get my black glasses fixed this year, finally. Status: Uh… Kept… I think? At least I think this promise was referring to the damage to the frames of my black glasses, which I did get fixed. But now the lens has a scratch… V_V

25) I will attend more professional development/on-campus events and trainings to bolster my evaluation. Status: Eh, kept? I’m signed up for a conference and did some extra training thing that I can throw on the sheet, so I’m calling it good.

26) I will ink and color at least the one drawing of Yehn’zi that I finished sketching a while ago and did absolutely nothing with. Status: A whole lot of nope on this one.

27) I will really finish moving in to my Texas house, no more “I’ll fish out the clothes from the Space Bag when I need them but never actually hang them up.” Status: I’m counting this as kept, since the only thing that didn’t happen is that I never took the plastic wrap off the top of my nightstand, but like… hey that’s a really convenient way to avoid water spots so…

28) I will volunteer at a non-profit organization to fulfill my “service to the community” work requirement. I mean, I will volunteer from the goodness of my heart… yeah… Status: Shitttt this didn’t happen and it really needed to… Oh dear…

29) I will level ALL my classes to 70 in Stormblood. Status: This also did not happen. No time to play.

30) I will reach 1000 followers on tumblr. You should follow me. I’m only marginally a waste of time and space. Status: Kept and exceeded! I’m at like… 1540-ish right now I believe.

31) I will find a salon so I can get my hair dyed consistently instead of looking like a shabby blob half way through each semester. Status: Well, the good news is that my hair color fades so nicely that one of my students actually asked if the strawberry blonde was my natural color. But uh… no… it’s not… so…

32) I will find some way to pay back my coworker for all the incredibly nice things she has done for me already. Status: I mean, I took her out to lunch a lot but I don’t know if I really managed to feel “equal” on the debts I owe her for helping me out.

33) I will see an Anhinga (it’s a kind of bird!) in Texas. Status: Kept! The very first time I went looking for it, I found it, so score.

34) I will win Camp NaNoWriMo this year (because November might never be a possibility for me again, given how much grading I seem to end up doing during that month). T_T Status: Broken. Again, I wrote almost nothing this year. Too much stress. T_T

35) I will scout for new neighborhoods to move to with better internet access and closer to my work. Status: Kept. It’s still a bit too early for me to be looking for specific places, but I have a better sense of where I’ll be aiming for when I do go to buy something.

36) I will try to get better at Spanish, possibly by using my DuoLingo app more. Status: …Broken.

37) I will buy sod for the front part of the Utah house so that my house actually looks decent from the curb. Status: I COULD HAVE… But I didn’t.

38) I will be more proactive about commenting, reccing, and reblogging content I appreciate online because I find so many wonderful things but I rarely say as much about them as I should. Status: I think I was worse about this than last year. I miss the days when I didn’t feel like every five minutes taken to myself was stealing from my work responsibilities…

39) I will actually use my Instagram account to upload my photography somewhere public. Status: I forgot I made this promise too. Oops…

40) I will go dolphin-watching in the Gulf. Status: Somewhat kept? I mean… I stood on the pier… And saw dolphins in the Gulf. That counts, right???

41) I will clear all the photos and videos off my phone and camera SD cards because they are overflowing. Status: Kept but now they’re just sitting on the hard drive unsorted and in a confusing jumble of unnamed folders...

42) I will update my calendar with important dates—holidays, birthdays, etc.—and be productive about sending cards and well-wishes. Status: Broken, just totally broken.

43) I will complete my series of posts about Yato/Hiyori. Really. Status: >___> One day…

44) I will not work later than 10pm on any given work night. I can’t keep running myself ragged. I need to brake sometimes. Status: HA. I was really hopeful. More broken promises…

45) I will explore some new places/cities in Texas that I have not been before. Status: I… did not do this. I had a chance to do this and I didn’t. D;

46) I will get a gardener for the Texas house because the lawn is basically unmanageable by myself. Status: Kept. Because… the lawn really was unmanageable by myself so…

47) I will clean out the fridge more often. No expired milk or ancient leftovers this year please… Status: >_____> Ooopppssss.

48) I will get some sort of watering system set up so that the lawn at the Texas house isn’t a total disaster anymore. Status: Somewhat kept. I did buy hoses and sprinklers to water the lawn but mostly it’s just been raining a lot and that made the grass greener on its own.

49) I will help make one of the super complicated cookies from the new cookie cookbook I bought for Karen. Status: Actually kept! We learned much about the workings of cookie guns.

50) I will keep these promises. Status: Ouch, this one hurts a little.

Totals Kept promises: 12 Broken promises: 29 Somewhat kept/broken promises: 9

Y I K E S ™. I thought last year was crazy and was so hopeful for this year… I had NO IDEA how hard this last year was going to be. So many broken promises; I feel so guiltyyyyy. DDDD; Although I’m still at the same job and not planning on dramatically swapping entire career fields again, things are still in the process of settling and there’s still SO much more I feel like I need to work on. 2018 was the year of being constantly overwhelmed. Unfortunately, 2019 doesn’t seem like it’s going to be much calmer because I’m still working on designing classes and getting my lessons ironed out, but I at least no longer feel like I’m at rock bottom… So, I’m cautiously, very cautiously, feeling the tiniest bit optimistic?

  Let’s do this, 2019! The new set of promises will be up by tomorrow.

[reasonsforshipping]

Reasons why I think people ship Syndisparklez part 2:

Part 1 here

1. Reactions to the first kiss:

- Jordan’s reaction included noises that sound like he didn’t think he’d like it and then it was surprisingly pleasing (at 15:05, the link already has the time built in): https://youtu.be/4MooEz_scbU?t=15m5s

Also here’s the excerpt: http://communitymc.tumblr.com/post/141797412040/were-you-sober-when-you-kissed-tom

Another important thing is that Jordan said he wasn’t drunk, which made us realize that it was a lot more consensual then we thought in the first place (yes, there were posts talking about how the whole thing was problematic and people wrote fics about how Jordan was so drunk he couldn’t even stand up. So knowing he was fairly sober made me and a lot of people feel much better about the whole situation). Also Tom said he didn’t have a hangover, which made us believe he wasn’t really drunk either (https://youtu.be/B4Dm6pqd5Kc?t=3m46s - at 3:46).

- Tom’s reaction was that he really liked it: http://communitymc.tumblr.com/post/142711271111/did-i-enjoy-kissing-jordan

2. New York:

- Unfortunately those who missed the livestream probably won’t ever see all the Syndisparklez moments that happened that night. The audio was terrible (I mean seriously, the organizers of the event were really unprofessional) so Jordan decided not to upload his stream even though he had better audio than Tom. 

Tom did upload his: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MqO_NHAN4c (there’s also a part 1 that’s only 24 minutes long cause his stream crashed, I don’t remember if there are Syndisparklez moments in there, you’re welcome to check), but just beware of really bad audio quality, you can barely hear him and Jordan even less. The bummer is that on Jordan’s stream you could hear both of them but he didn’t upload it. If anyone recorded the stream that night, could you please let us know?

- But there’s one screenshot I took at the end (which isn’t on Tom’s stream but was on Jordan’s) where Tom couldn’t hold back any longer and tickled Jordan’s shoulder:

Screenshots of the tickle that smorescake took (at least I think so; it was posted on their blog): http://communitymc.tumblr.com/post/143027807783/smorescake-i-dont-know-what-to-say

- Tom’s vlog of the day they spent together at New York is full of Syndisparklez stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZexIlKh5RZs&t=382s

Video highlights of the vlog:

Look at his pants, they’re ridiculous: http://communitymc.tumblr.com/post/143069785835/look-at-his-pants-theyre-ridiculous

This is the most romantic walk to the toilet: http://communitymc.tumblr.com/post/143069962394/this-is-the-most-romantic-walk-to-the-toilet

Other highlights: 

 I love you to pieces: Tom: Jordan listen, listen, listen alright? I love you to pieces... Jordan: By the way... Tom: No green shorts, but... *zooms in on Jordan’s ‘shoes’* Jordan: What are thoooose? Tom: *What* *are* those*? I’m not even doing the ‘what are those’. I’m genuinely asking. Are they loafers? Jordan: I don’t know what you call them. Tom: Loafers. You’re a loaf of bread.

Tom searching desperately for Jordan cause he loses sight of him for a second.

Tom zooming in way too close on Jordan’s face quite a few times.

3. Conventions in June 2016:

- Tom texted Jordan while drunk asking him to loan his house for a party (2:27): https://youtu.be/V7YsgJKkT1Y?t=2m27s

Tom: Hey, if I did ever do it I’d give you buttery nipples all night long. Jordan: Mmmmm, oh that’s... Tom: In a sexual term. Jordan: That’s more tempting.

- He asked Jordan to give him a return kiss and looked really bummed out when Jordan backed out and walked away (6:14): https://youtu.be/xuuvBLRwg6Q?t=6m14s

Excerpt instead of whole video: http://communitymc.tumblr.com/post/146461823225/do-i-get-a-kiss-now-you-gotta-return-the-favour

Tom: sneaks up behind Jordan with his phone recording so Jordan sees the phone right in front of his face before he sees Tom Jordan: Oh! Hi! Tom: laughs Jordan: That was abrupt. Tom: Do I get a kiss now? turns his cheek to Jordan You gotta return the favor. taps his cheek Jordan: stares at the camera awkwardly Tom: Jor... looking dejected Person behind camera: Ooh, ooh... Jordan: opens mouth as if to say something, still looking really awkward, then closes his mouth and backs right out of the frame and walks away Tom: walks forward looking really sad

4. Pokemon GO:

- Highlights from the Pokemon GO adventures that Jordan and Tom had with their friends:

Jordan doing eyebrow gestures at Tom and puckering his lips and you can hear Tom responding back with a kiss: https://ineharnia.tumblr.com/post/147657733426/communitymc-meet-jordans-biggest-fan-tom Video (9:59): https://youtu.be/suNVh6SGbQE?t=9m59s

Tom loves hugging Jordan from behind. He did it in New York as well as here (4:35): https://youtu.be/UfH94UT8VPI?t=4m35s

Tom buying a panda head and kissing Jordan: http://communitymc.tumblr.com/post/147706639809/what-the-heck-tom Video (5:27): https://youtu.be/Lde1WsIQLHI?t=5m27s

Tom keeps making sexual jokes and movements at Jordan or in Jordan’s vicinity (for instance humping the air when Jordan introduces him at the beginning of his video - https://youtu.be/bB6GAw_qWSU - or showing him how to move his hand so the Pokemon GO app thinks you’re walking faster that basically looks like he’s jerking off - https://youtu.be/UfH94UT8VPI?t=11m32s at 11:32)

Jordan seducing Tom by ‘deepthroating’ a pocky (which is a flavored sticks American snack thing): https://ineharnia.tumblr.com/post/147799910481/teddyowl-bbs-jordan-looking-at-tom-while-eating Video (11:09): https://youtu.be/oiqnz2fd9Kw?t=11m9s

5. THE SECOND KISS:

Tom comes back to Los Angeles and Jordan stars in two of his vlogs. In them they both act like boyfriends.

Highlights from the first video (https://youtu.be/Ri59_jeVwNo):

Tom: (sees Mclaren) Oh my gosh Jordan you fucking sexual man! Tom: Can I have your baby? Jordan: Um if you want... Tom: Can I have your baby? Jordan: I know a lot of... Tom: Dude we've already been shipped. We've already been shipped! Jordan: A lot of people on tumblr would love that. Tom: Yeah, can we have babies then? (Jordan: ye, yeah) Can I have your babies (Jordan: yeah) and can this (points at Mclaren) be my, be my present to be your husband? (Jordan grins and nods: yeah) Miniladd: Can I be in the background to make weird faces again? Tom: God you shit! (I think? I didn't hear it well) (conversation copied from my post on my main blog: https://ineharnia.tumblr.com/post/156368985946/from-toms-video-happy-birthday-surprise)

They act soft around each other.

Jordan grinning when Tom points the camera at him and then laughing in happiness at the grin: https://ineharnia.tumblr.com/post/156550993956/this-is-my-first-gif

Tom has visible hickeys at the end of the video:

Highlights from the second video (https://youtu.be/36U_dqRgQj0?t=9m49s - 9:49, before that he goes iceskating with other people):

Tom teaches Jordan how to pour champagne properly.

Jordan wooing Tom and Tom getting jealous of Rosanna: https://ineharnia.tumblr.com/post/156623477116/jacksepticeyeliner-woo-them-jordan-from-x 

Tom gets a head massage from the other woman (don’t know her name) and Jeff’s like ‘I’ll do the other parts of your body’ and Tom instantly takes that as a proposal for sex instead of thinking he’ll do his back or something.

THE KISS: https://ineharnia.tumblr.com/post/156613061406/jacksepticeyeliner-kiss-20-from-x-is-it-just

Jordan looked even more relaxed than before if that’s even possible. The kiss didn’t seem to faze him at all after the initial surprise.

They all get in the pool and Tom has finally officially seen Jordan’s chest (in part 1 I show Tom asking Jordan if he has a hairy chest).

Tom sticks his foot in Jordan’s face.

Bonus stuff:

- Twitter since December:

‘Get a cleaner side shave and I’d fuck you (no homo)’ - https://twitter.com/CaptainSparklez/status/809852523481706497

‘You look like Dwayne Johnson’ - https://twitter.com/CaptainSparklez/status/810164150294970368

‘I’d love to skeet with you’ - https://twitter.com/CaptainSparklez/status/816402931666731008

‘Will gladly compare dick sizes’ - https://twitter.com/CaptainSparklez/status/819390353547534337

‘Thanks bae’ - https://twitter.com/CaptainSparklez/status/821625510493061121

‘Date night *smirk*’ - https://twitter.com/CaptainSparklez/status/823792024159600640

*kisses pp better* - https://twitter.com/CaptainSparklez/status/829502423945277440

pp kissing ship support - https://twitter.com/CaptainSparklez/status/829549890736762880

‘Will you be my valentine?’ - https://twitter.com/CaptainSparklez/status/831562841639444480

- Tom feeling Jordan’s abs: http://communitymc.tumblr.com/post/139819733580/tom-feeling-jordans-abs-enough-said

- Tom kissing other men (plus being extremely flirty and making gay jokes - not the homophobic kind - throughout the videos):

https://youtu.be/HWutpsDEkVU?t=17m16s

https://youtu.be/zGfhLFxx-zA?t=5m58s

Also here’s a playlist I made of all the Syndisparklez vlogs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLefkFsq32NceWkxW_efhhyzOHcemOU1nd

[artgirllullaby]

Chapter 10: After Confession

ARE YOU READY FOR EA BOMB?! 8D

I wanted to upload this earlier, but due to some troubles I decided to wait until the 3 chapter were ready so I could avoid not having it completely checked out to post :3

Huge thanks to @dreamilydeepestobject, @scarletsunrise14, @allancutrim, @emmahamburger, @jlizza1997, @doyouevenlookatthename, @sparkly-eyed-dork, @manifisto42, @skjccla27, @damlittleunicorn, @im-still-waiting-for-it, @hurtbyme, @valentine1604, @banannah-h, @aliyaperez, @cartooniste2z, @lovelyponycom, @heavybond56, @goldenjokster27, @nachov196, @xphilesculder, @jafet-ceballos, @potatothedog33, @officallytrash, @zenfinshu33, @mrevaunit42, @fluffyoceangirl, @grayhalls-imagination, @littlelemon-ade, @theonealwayswatching, @articstics, @ladyxgilex, @laineluvsowls, @secretlyinthestars and @geekingout1228  for the comments, reviews, likes and favs! They are lovely <3

Huge thanks to @mrevaunit42 for beta-reading this for English corrections, you’re the best! :3

So, now, you may want to grab tissues, popcorn, chocolate, hold your feels and be ready for it.

And most important: Enjoy!

PS: To those who thought this was ending... *snorts* You know nothing, Jon Snow.

Chapters: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20

You can read Ever After at Ao3 | FF.net | DeviantArt and on Tumblr, feel free to go read where it pleases you the most :)

Chapter 10: After Confession

It felt like he was the last man on Earth. No scratch that, he felt the only man in the universe. Really, Marco felt that way in every part of his own being, like the whole universe disappeared and there was just him… and her.

Always her.

He didn’t have a first thought, but that was because the information itself was so heavy, deep and important that there was no space in his mind to get any thoughts about it, only to keep thinking of the words and his best friend in front of him.

“I love you, Marco.”

Those words were so simple, but also too much complicated for his mind get to any conclusion from it on the first moment; he just stood there, looking at Star with a blank face and trying to make his brain go back to work so he could dissolve it all.

And Star? She was freaking out.

She broke him, didn’t she? Normally in a situation like this, he would laugh and say something like “I love you too, bestie”, but now? He was there like he was one of his games and it was loading the saved data. And for heavens, it was taking so long and it was so slow! Her heart was racing like a train with no breaks and his silence definitely didn’t help at all. She confessed without thinking!

This was not how she thought it would happen after Ponyhead and Angie convinced her, to tell the truth.

“Star you must tell him!” Ponyhead exclaimed from the mirror.

The princess went back there frowning. “No, I don’t have to.” She took off her dress to put the other one since she already took a bath.

“Then what?” Her friend snapped. “You’ll live the rest of your life wondering how he is, if he felt the same, what would have been his answer?”

“Things changed, Ponyhead,” Star said, pulling the dress up on her shoulders. “I won’t get Marco along this war menace we have on Mewni.”

“He should be the one to decide either to get into it or not.”

“I’m the princess, it’s up to me.”

“He loves you, Star!”

“He has a girlfriend. Marco doesn’t love me in that way.”

“If I know my son, I say he may do.”

Star looked at her and blushed when she saw Mrs. Diaz closing the door and walking in her direction. “Mama Diaz!”

“I know, Star.” The woman said with a reassuring smile, turning her around to help her to close the dress “I have always known. I also know you and Marco had that fight because one of you did something regarding this matter.”

Star pouted and looked away “How everyone knows my secrets?”

The woman smiled, adjusting the princes's dress. “You two are too transparent and oblivious, dear.”

“You should get prepared in these situations when you get the Crown,” Ponyhead observed. “Hello, Mrs. Diaz, by the way.”

“Oh, my apologies!” Mrs. Diaz said bowing slightly to the princess in the reflection “It’s my pleasure to see you, Flying Princess Ponyhead.”

The other rolled her eyes “No need for formalities.”

Mrs. Diaz turned to Star again, looking up and down her dress to see if there were any imperfections; after that, she took a chair and gestured to the princess sit down, grabbed a brush to make up her hair.

Star tried to object “You don’t have to…”

“I want to.” Mama Diaz replied brushing the blond strands. “This may be the last time I’ll ever do the hair of a girl.” Star nodded, agreeing to the wish of the woman. “I agree with your friend, you should tell Marco.”

She sighed. “And say what? That I love him like I never did before, that I’ll leave to never come back and he won’t even know or the part that there may be a war in Mewni soon?”

“Everything” The woman replied. “Marco deserves to know it all just as the rest of us.”

“See?!” Ponyhead exclaimed from the mirror. “Star this may be the one and last time you have with him… Wouldn’t be better to have everything clear?”

“I want to tell him I’m leaving… But I can’t say anything else.” Star sighed while her eyes went to the floor without moving her head.

“Star…” Mama Diaz stopped brushing her hair to hold her shoulders while looking at her eyes in the mirror’s reflection “I raised no fool. Marco loves you, but only he can say if he’ll let himself go or choose to be safe.”

“But…”

“B-fly” Ponyhead called her. “You never know what may come of it. Marco may be the answer to the threat, and you may be happy either he agrees or not, if he loves you or not. You’ll have answers instead of wonders.”

Star looked to both women, then at the ground as Mrs. Diaz went back into brushing her hair. She didn’t want to admit, but they were right. She could at least try… Even if she was about to mess up, Marco would forget her anyway; he would forget the confession and go on with his life just as she would do. It couldn’t hurt and it couldn’t be so bad.

Both women smiled when Star gave a sigh and said her final decision “Ok. I’ll do it.”

This was definitely not part of the plan! This was not how she thought it would go! She was sure if anyone got into her mind, her little Star mind-insiders would be running everywhere, all the alarms buzzing, papers flying, screams, fire on the walls and someone screaming at the speakers “Mayday! Mayday! She just confessed! I repeat! She just confessed! This is not a drill! Repeat: This is not a drill! Everyone get desperate and be ready to bury yourselves in shame and embarrassment!!!”

Even if on the outside, all Star did was smile like a nervous fool that didn’t know any other face to make to pretend she wasn’t internally screaming.

She just told Marco she was in love with him! There was no way she could make out of that! Star had told him she loved him before, but all those times it was like a brother or best friend. Love in the way she said meant a whole new thing that she surely wasn’t ready to face the consequences of this! If she was ready, her mind wouldn’t have all these thoughts per minute and she would know what to do with the fact he gone silent…

The silent like “Marco.exe stopped working, please reinstall the software.”

“Ha ha…” She tried to laugh it off, but she got no response from him. “I mean… I… We… You…” How you make the words out to make a phrase and speak again? “I… Really do.”

Oh well, what it’s done it’s done. So just jump on it, right?

“I don’t know when or why, all I know is that I have these feelings for you and I like them. I like to feel secure and safe, but also into adventures and fun things. And I know I shouldn’t have because we’re besties and that’s all, I know but I can’t help it! You’re my best friend, but also so much more…”

She was rambling. Like a lot, but she couldn’t stop anymore, her pacing from one side to another begun and, could a crazy guy summon a meteor to fall on her and save from this embarrassing moment?!

Wait, that was Marco’s game story, nevermind.

Star didn’t even know what was getting out of her mouth; she just kept it on and on, getting everything out her system. All the times she felt like getting him to herself, to kiss him, to be the one in his heart.

“I didn’t plan this!” She said at some point. “This is not supposed to be how I told you this or the other thing, but it slipped ok? I just needed to tell you, but it doesn’t mean you have to be with me or anything, even because…”

“Star?”

She looked up at him; he finally found his voice, his mind working again. He didn’t listen to anything she said after her confession, but he could tell she was freaking out. Her hair looked like it never has been up minutes ago on how much she was moving it and pulling on her fingers, even so, she looked beautiful.

He wished things were simple as that. Her statement was something serious and a lot more complicated on both of them.

“Yes?” She hesitantly replied.

“I am with Jackie.” His voice wavered and died out while to reassuring her that fact.

His stomach hurt like a troll had punched it when he saw her shoulders flopping down and her eyes averted from him, her hands holding the Wand tightly close to her chest.

“I know that…” She nodded. “I know, but…”

“But what?” Marco asked annoyed.

“I needed to tell you this because I wouldn’t have another chance and I wouldn’t be able to move on without knowing your answer.”

“My answer?” He inquired raising his eyebrows annoyed, “What kind of answer you were expecting?!”

“I don’t know, ok? I just needed one!”

“What do you expect me to answer?!” Marco replied raising his voice “Do you expect me to break up her or something like that? This isn’t a movie, Star!”

She raised her voice just the same amount as him. “No! I didn’t expect anything from you! I didn’t even plan on saying all this!”

“Is this why you were acting weird these weeks?”

Star put a strand of hair behind her ear. “Kinda. It’s way more than this…”

Marco let an annoyed laugh escape his lips “So you have been lying this whole time; Kingdom issues, princess duties, and pheromones? Why all that?”

“There were no lies!” Star snapped “Mewni has a situation there and I am the only one able to solve it; I have duties to accomplish and then I found out these feelings for you and it didn’t help anything!”

Marco pointed to himself as he raised his voice again “So now it’s my fault? I tried to talk about it with you! You were the one always running away from this, you never told me anything and now you expect me to be fine with it?”

“I was the one always running away?!” Star said in disbelief “Ok, so let’s talk about when you avoided talking about the times you wanted to kiss me.”

He frowned at her “We talked about this already.”

“You talked!” She replied, “I tried to listen and understand, but I can’t!”

Why was all of this happening? This isn’t how she figured out to be, she never fought it would happen like this. At the best scenario, she thought he would talk to Jackie and maybe (just maybe) he would be with her. Jackie even said she would be ok as long they talked it out with her, that the final choice was Marco.

And it was true. It was in Marco’s hands if he would keep it up with Jackie or try it out with her… It always has been.

On the worst scenario, they would be awkward and Marco would still be with Jackie, a bit more distant, but still friends. After a time it would be fine again, she would be able to move on and so would he; they would still being a best friend for life…

But now everything was a mess. Things were falling into an abyss, a black hole that led to a void that there was no taking back. They were hurting each other with everything they were saying; she knew that, she felt it hurting on her skin and heart.

But even so, they couldn’t stop it.

“You were the one that begun this mess when you asked me to kiss you!” Marco exclaimed.

“I ever said anything like that!”

“You did!” Marco exclaimed pointing at her. “On the first time it happened, you said it was pheromones and now you say it’s my fault!”

“Because I thought ‘this is a pheromone thing, it's fine’, but then you said you wanted to kiss me. The pheromones wouldn’t allow you to think about it, only to react! It changed everything because if you thought that it’s because you feel it too, even if just a little!”

She was nearly screaming at him. Something inside her was twisting, pushing into this situation, but also telling her to stop. They were wrecking each other right now; she could feel they would break into something and destroy it completely. It could be their friendship, their love.

It could be her.

“Why do I have to feel anything?!” Marco screamed back at her “Because of a prophecy? A Moon thing? I’m not obligated! You’re from another dimension why do you think this would even be possible?!”

Her chest felt heavy suddenly, stinging coldly through her whole body. There was no shield for her and no way to get prepared for what is was coming. It was scary and she knew it would hurt.

And again, there was nothing she could do about it.

“You’re a freaking magical princess while I’m just an Earth boy!” Marco kept screaming. “There’s no way this is going to work, this can’t even happen! You should go back to your castle and magical kingdom while I stay here as it should be. I have to stay where I belong and you should go back to where you always had belonged!” He shouted back.

Marco was looking at the ground between them, so he didn’t see her taking steps back to get a safe distance from him; like she could escape the pain his words were causing her. Star couldn’t feel or see it too; the hearts on her cheeks losing their colors, fading until they were a light shade of gray. Like a ghost of what it once was.

“Maybe it’s better to everyone, maybe you shouldn’t have come to Earth at all!”

There is was. The something the train would hit and destroy to pieces; with no way to return to what it once was. And she was right…

She was the one breaking.

A hand cupped her lips, trying to keep the sobs to herself together with a scream of the suddenly unbearable pain she felt smashing her being. She was hurt enough, this humiliation wasn’t needed, those words weren’t needed. It hurt all at once, the pain, the agony, the humiliation, the fight, the words, the rejection…

And suddenly, as fast, hurtful and painful as it had been, it was gone.

Star couldn’t feel anything more. No agony, no pain, no hurts, no sounds, no cold, no air, nothing. Everything had been taken away as if the pain was so great that she stopped feeling it in order to survive that. She couldn’t hear anything, but an empty hum through her ears and the slow beats of her own heart. Everything was a blur of black and white for a moment, silence and void were all she could feel for that moment.

She blinked a few times and everything was normal again; well, almost. The princess could hear her surroundings again, the colors had come back and so did her perfect vision, but she still couldn’t feel anything. Star looked at the Wand on her hands, white knuckles from the force she held the Wand like it would be the one thing to save her.

Then she realized it was her escape boat, she could use to go away from there.

Falling for him was sweet and wonderful, but now she had hit the ground and it broke her. It hurt so much… It was enough. Star wanted to wake up, she wanted to take it back, she wanted to get away from him…

Star wanted to go home.

“Marco…” She called without looking at him.

Whatever it happened while she had that little breakdown, it calmed Marco. Star noticed she could hear again; he was rambling something, but the princess couldn’t comprehend. Once she had said his name, he got silent to hear what she was about to say.

“I’m leaving.”

He sighed, clearly exhausted from the heated fight they just had. Marco scratched his neck and looked at the sky. “Ok. Maybe it’s better for us to chill out and talk later”

“No.”

She gave her back to him, extending the Wand ahead of her, the wind waved through the blond strands and dress-skirt gracefully; the portal ahead of her glowed and obligated him to close his eyes briefly because of the light.

Star took a last glance at him, head up, a tear escaping without her noticing. His eyes widened and the look he gave her it was like he was in pain by her miserable state, eyes pitiful for her. She didn’t need that look either. She was tired of all the drama, angst, tears and pain from those weeks.

Suddenly her cheeks went numb, but she couldn’t care less.

“Goodbye, Marco.”

Thus, without any further ado, she got into the portal and went home.

Can you guys believe my tea was actually nicknamed TEArs?! Absurd *drinks TEArs* 

I know things look bad, but trust me, it will be fine... one day... soon... or late... maybe... No Spoilers.

See you in the next soon :D

(song 1 / song 2)

>>>>>>>>>>>> Chapter 11: After Shattering >>>>>>>>>>>>

[opepin]

february: week one

jan30: i was so sleep-deprived. i only had 5 hours of sleep and i dozed off twice today. it was a really slow morning, but i got to meet another new hire! he now sits next to me at the developer table -- he took dave’s spot so that they could be together. i miss looking over to see what dave is up to but now we don’t get that annoying echo when we’re on the same calls haha. cole is super nice and talkative and i love talking to him! i got to know the dev team a bit more too because they were interacting with both me and him. anyway, i listened in on a call and then worked on finishing up my project. i ate lunch while listening to the ridiculous news on trump and what he’s been doing. idk man, idk. then i went back to work and it got pretty busy. it’s always nice catching up with phil because i know he’ll think of things for me to do. i also set up imessage and troubleshooted my devices to see if everything is connected properly. so i spent the morning messaging kevin as well.

cole and john devised a plan to see if cole could just take the sim card out of his at&t work phone and put it in his android. i would like that too but i think it’s too late for me because i chose verizon. we’ll see what happens! i went down with dave and cole and then walked to south station to get back home. kevin got home early because fitbit had a meeting about their cutbacks. kevin is thankfully not laid off. i’m so grateful. i talked with my mom on the phone for a bit and then watched some youtube videos while kevin prepped lunch for tomorrow. while the meat marinaded, we watched supernatural and ate leftover noodles for dinner. i ended up falling asleep after while kevin cooked all the parts for onigirazu. i got up, paid bills for my mom and did some money management. then i helped him assemble some for lunch. they’re so nice looking! hehe. then he washed some dishes while i exercised and then i washed the rest of the dishes, showered, and went to sleep before 1 am. i was so tired. i’m happy i got in about 45 minutes of exercise at least.

jan31: lol i accidentally deleted my previous tumblr post that i wrote yesterday :( i am poo. anyway, i got a good amount of sleep. i woke up before my alarm though? i guess 6-7 hours is a good amount of sleep for me. i got on the train at 8:30 am but i got to work at like 9:20 am because my train was delayed. charles was in front of me and rushing to work and when we reached the elevators, we met up with dave, john, and cole as well. everyone was late today lol. i got myself ready with tea and then started my day. it was a pretty busy morning. i had two meetings and one of them was an t7 bi-weekly meet up with everyone. i introduced myself and i got a few linkedin requests and skype contact requests after. it was nice. before that, i caught up with phil and continued working on templates in ux360. during the meeting, the hoodlum dev team switched desks inside the office for john LOL. it was ridiculous. john’s old table is now behind me and it is wrecked. x__x; the dev team is so funny. i got to talk a bit with kien in the morning and learn more about him. what a cool guy.

i had some technical difficulties with skype after the meeting so i rq’d and then walked over to south station to meet up with saad and vivian to give vivian her night guard that she left at my apartment. it was nice seeing saad again too! we’ve seen each other so much and we’ll all see each other again in april! i’m so excited. saad was about to get a burrito from a terrible booth in south station but i saved both of them and led them to the food trucks outside. i left them after vivian got her food because i had a meeting at 1:30 pm. i made it just in time and ate my lunch during the meeting. then i went back to work and was really into it until the end of the day. i talked to charles for a bit on skype (oh, i kind of fixed my skype problem) and talked to cole for a bit as well. i walked to the train station with cole and then went home to kevin (: he worked from home today and got me rose milk tea from oh my tea~ hehe he’s the best. <3 i talked to vivian on the phone for a bit right after i got home. i love my lo gong too <3

he cooked dinner and then we watched supernatural. he assembled more onigirazu during the second episode that we watched. then he washed dishes and went to game while i organized my internet stuffs. then i exercised, showered, and hit the hay. oh, btw my tumblr is now reactivated! they didn’t tell me why it was deactivated? but they apologized and gave it back? idk haha. it’s been a long two weeks without tumblr. good thing i kept writing these in a draft in gmail ahha.

01: oh hum...i got to work on time and only four of us were in the office today. it was a nice and quiet day. i got to talk with a client today and they saw the templates that phil and i worked on for them (: woot. that felt good. they were really impressed with how we did it and how it looked. i booked a couple’s massage appointment at chinatown pain relief during lunch so i hope that works out! i’m excited for our next trip. phil is a great supervisor because he keeps giving me things to do. it never stops and i don’t want it to haha. i did get off a bit early today because i want things to do tomorrow morning and phil wasn’t able to get back to me until after 5 pm (the end of my work day). the train was not as packed as it is at 5:30 pm. it was nice getting back early and opening my package from uniqlo! i skyped with vivian for a bit to show her my haul and i think she may be ordering from there too now hahaha. i got 3 button up “flannel” shirts and a nice fine wool sweater. hehe.

then i caught up on some errands while watching youtube videos. i finally got to edit vivian and my couple’s yoga video and also edit my favorite picture from our “post-workout photoshoot.” LOL. kevin came back from climbing a lot later than i thought he would and we had a miscommunication about cooking dinner and whatnot so then after uploading the video on to facebook, i cut up our mustard greens, kevin microwaved the leftovers, and we ate while watching supernatural. then i made my lunch (more onigirazu) while watching whatever was left of the episode. we had an argument about just time management and i feel like kevin doesn’t really understand how his schedule affects mine and that if he comes home late, then i’m thrown off as well. i guess i won’t be eating dinner with him (less time with him) when he goes climbing so there’s that. idk. i exercised and then showered and went to sleep. i couldn’t wash my hair like i initially wanted to because of my backed up schedule so i guess i hope my hair isn’t super grody tomorrow. it’ll be the 4th night of not washing it and only using dry shampoo. yay -__-” i still need to set up my 401k stuff too. ugh. so much for coming home early and relaxing.

02: lol i stayed in bed 10 minutes longer than i was supposed to. so i rushed a bit to get out of the house on time. i made it before 9:15 am so it’s cool. :) i had a lot of meetings today so it was a very scatterbrained day? all the dev people were here today so it was a party. it’s so quiet without them. i got to talk a lot more to stephen and cole today. they’re such nice and funny guys. i took a late lunch in order to get the most out of the meetings i had and then i went straight into working on our master template and it took the entire day. i still have a good amount of things to work on for that. phil taught me how to bill hours today so that’s good. i’m gonna hate allocating hours to projects though because there are a lot of terms and things i need to learn for that (like what should i bill to). stephen told us about kane’s donuts, which is apparently right across the street from us :O so then dave, cole, and i walked over after work and then we saw that it was closed so we’ll try again in the morning maybe sometime next week. i think it’ll be a cute valentine’s day treat for the office (: i really want to do something for everyone.

so kevin is mad at me but i met up with him at the train. i actually had a very nice walk and talk to the train with cole. he’ll be my train buddy probs for now. his dev life is way different from mine. all the dev team gets to work from home on wednesdays and fridays T_T much jelly ahha. anyway, kevin didn’t notice or didn’t care that i didn’t have anything to hold on to. so i got reaaaal pissed because even if he is mad, that’s not the right way to treat anyone! so when we got home, i just got out of there, got the mail, and headed to the tech room. i talked with vivian about it lol and i calmed down while doing productive things on my laptop. hehe lo gong is the best haha. she knows what i’m thinking :P

i got back, watched youtube videos, and then kevin told me dinner was ready so we ate together while watching supernatural. he calmed down quite a bit and after the episode, we talked and decided on a schedule for when he’s out climbing. then we spent time with each other and i told him more stuff about my job and etc. then i exercised, washed my hair (finally), and then headed to sleep. today felt like a friday but it’s only actually a thursday.

03: it was just gonna be me and jim at the office today LOL. dave wasn’t feeling well and he worked from home. i stopped by kane’s donuts in the morning to try them out and i got a honey dipped donut and a kronut filled with caramel. they’re pretty pricey: $3-4 each. they were worth it though. the honey dipped one is super soft T^T the kronut would have tasted better without the filling. i took pictures and sent them to cole to mock him and his dev days off. LOL. then i got to work. i had the room all to myself because jim has his own office. i was heads down on creating templates and then working on a client project. i did manage to watch the most recent episode of jane the virgin while working. beth came in today and we got to meet her in person. she’s our IT person and she’s super cute! she told me that dave usually works from home, which is odd because he’s been in the office almost every day ever since i got here. hmmm. maybe there’s still a possibility for wfh at least once a week? i do enjoy working in the office space though. i feel like fridays would be a good day to wfh. anyway, i got what i needed to do to get done. phil and i troubleshooted some things and then i met kevin at south station. he again had to rush for the train but they were pretty empty today. we actually got to sit down and talk.

we ate the rest of the donuts (i only ate about half of each) while watching supernatural and then we ordered food from this japanese restaurant called sake. i got a long snake maki and a sunshine roll, which i will never get again. they didn’t have anything crunchy in them and that made me sad. kevin got a crunchy roll, which was the cheapest and best tasting out of all three of them. we watched more supernatural and then kevin went to game and i tried figuring out how to sign back into my adp account and i gave up. i’ll call customer service. i want to change the amount i contribute T^T then i followed a 50-minute zumba video, which wasn’t actually 50 minutes because he recorded breaks and also, two of his songs were muted...sigh. so then i did some hip hop cardio and finished up with a dance cardio video from popsugar. then i showered and drank tea and went to sleep at around 2 am. zzzzz. it’s the weekend! 

04: we woke up at 12 pm and kevin made us dumplings with egg mcmuffins (: then i updated my website with resume and cv information and kevin gamed for a bit. then we drove to the mfa for their lunar new year free admission day! lol i got irritated because kevin always does the opposite thing of what i tell him to do (i told him to park outside of the museum and he parked in the garage). it was the same price but grrr lol. we got in fairly quickly, looked at asian art, went into the gift shop and bought old fashioned lemon drops and two framed prints for the apartment. one of them was a monet and the other was a still life of food. :P then we walked through european art and american art until we hit the oak rooms and i was in love! they are life-sized thorne rooms basically T_T <3 we headed back to the gift shop and didn’t get anything. we saw this colorstrology book and i bought that on amazon after our trip. i wanted kevin to take a full body pic of me so we found this amazing plate installation and then i got irritated again because kevin is just really bad at it. i thought he would be better because of practice in the orchard but eh. it’s okay -- he’s just not the type of person to take touristy pictures anywhere. he said that he’d practice though LOL.

we drove back and then ate leftovers as our “snack.” kevin decided not to go climbing; there was a car accident so traffic was backed up. so we made oyakodon together! it was fun :3 we ate dinner while watching supernatural and then he went to game and i cleaned up and started working out. i did a popsugar 45 min 500 calorie burn routine. it was alright? not sure it burned 500 calories but it was fun and i saved it. then kevin went to climb and i just chilled and relaxed and took a nice long shower haha. i cleaned the kitchen and then kevin got back and showered. i got really sleepy at like 12:30 am so i got into bed and eventually slept at 1 or 1:30 am after doing some online window shopping.

05: i got up at 10 am when my alarm rang :O i felt awake and pretty congested. i felt a bit sick or i was experiencing seasonal allergies or something. x__x; i left kevin in the bed LOL and i ate cereal. then i woke him up and i cleaned the bathroom while he made us pancakes :3 i also vacuumed the bathroom so he would have a bit less house work to do because he was still cooking. we ate the pancakes and then he did his chores. i started the laundry, watched some youtube videos and ordered some bombas socks online! kevin gamed for a bit and then we planned our meals for the week and after i folded the laundry, and put the sheets in the dryer, we headed out to do some grocery shopping. we went to kam man and then tried getting bubble tea but oh my tea was closed T__T it’s closed until wednesday!!! it was heart breaking.

then we hit up bj’s and got bulk items and some bomb af snyder’s honey mustard and onion pretzel bites T^T omg those are my favorite savory snack. they’re sooo bad for you though. we snacked on them all the way back home. then we put away the groceries and kevin prepped the bulgogi. then i microwaved oyakodon for dinner. we watched supernatural and then kevin showered, i prepped all the veggies and the egg. then kevin cooked the meat and we moved all the ingredients to the table and assembled kimbap while watching more supernatural. mine are so ugly now compared to his. why?! ahha. we packed our lunches, cleaned up, and i exercised for a bit to try and beat this sickness out of me. i took an allegra earlier and it didn’t help. exercising helped me breathe through both of my nostrils but the hot shower didn’t do anything. i hopped into bed at 12 am and fell asleep at around 12:40 am...