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quasarzt · 19 days

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Been thinking more about roleswap as of late (I really want to write a fanfic of the time trampoline malfunctioning as a way to crossover AUs with canon, and I want roleswap zach and canon aviva to meet so bad because that friendship breakup has GOT to hurt worse after seeing what could’ve been. the things they could’ve accomplished)

BUT THATS BESIDES THE POINT. HERE’S MESSY SKETCHES. Meet the Varmint Crew!

Here’s their Pinterest Board! very much a WIP lmao, you can find my other stuff too on my account if you stalk me

I’ve got a lot to say about design choices/etc under the cut!

Everyone with a suit is someone who wears one! Tried to resemble canon. Also because Zach is paranoid that Aviva is after his tech, so making more suits for the team tends to stress him out. I’ll make another post for the villains (also sorry the bros won’t be villains in my version of this au. mostly bc again, they’re real guys. and i don’t want them to be mean to animals. they’ll basically be the same as in canon, but just doing their own thing. working mostly with the fictional characters here!! Basically think of the Kratt Bros doing Kratt’s Creatures/Zaboomafoo instead of Wild Kratts. Which if you think about a roleswap, they went from main characters to side characters).

Zach: Zach’s skin shade, freckles, and hair come from his kid design! And the color of his sweater comes from Toodles. I color shifted the pants to be more of a grey hue, instead of one with a bit of purple in it (mostly because Aviva is going to have the purple motif in this). Basically a Zach who actually goes out into the sun! He’s a very anxious yet excited individual, studying the brains of the animals and making breakthroughs in science with it. Similar to canon Aviva but keeping that mind aspect from canon Zach as well, so I chose for him to be interested in neuroscience, using that as a base (plus chemistry knowledge) to create the information needed for the suits. He still studies DNA, just has the added brain studies for animals! He’s discovered a few animal friends who had brain tumors and has found a way to help slow/stop the process. I decided to go with chips instead of discs because I wanted to incorporate that V design into the paws, for Varmint Crew. They operate in the same way as canon suits do. Although I wanted to make their suits a bit more animalistic, not in any bad sort of way, just more accurate to the animals in a way they aren’t just fursuits LMAO. He is inspired by both canon Aviva and Chris.

Donita: I decided to go with a safari type of vibe with her! She wanted to match with Zach, as both of them are the dedicated field agents for the team (she shoves Dabio onto the field with them sometimes too, the kid needs the experience). She makes all the uniforms and helps Zach out with the design choices when it comes to the powered suits. She’s been in the field working with birds for a while, finding their beauty to be very inspiring for her artwork. I decided she would take on the role as Martin and Koki, as she’s very excitable as well, and is very well versed in talking to others. With the help of Dabio and Paisley, she sets up events where they can work with the Varmint Kids and do informative animal showings. Her colors were a bit icky to me, but I’m sticking with them for now. Colors were picked from her canon design. She does most of the naming of animals! She doesn’t think Zach’s very creative (he has a habit of naming things their latin names). Wears just gemstone earrings to not interfere with her work, although I see her wearing feather earrings too!

Dabio: He used to model before he joined the crew, upset by the animal use in the fashion industry. He’s the youngest on the team, but is just as passionate about what he does as the others. Donita has fully taken him under her wing, and has been showing him the ropes. He’s the first of the crew to get a creature power suit outside of the two main prototypes. This helps Zach out tremendously because now he can be an observer to help get out any bugs in the suits systems. He helps with communications, but more often than not, is the one who’s doing the documenting of information. He’s a photographer for the crew, and also works as a cinematographer, and has helped produce animal documentaries for the Varmint Crew. He also has a safari aesthetic, following in Donita’s footsteps and never giving up for his eye for fashion. He’s a field agent occasionally. His suit color is teal/turquoise, reminiscent of his shirt color and Donita’s earrings, this is just a color I’ve always associated with him.

Gourmand: The crews dedicated chef and animal nutritionist! With his knowledge of health, he’s the crews designated nurse/medic as well. His vast knowledge of how to find animals in the field, especially with his great sense of smell, has helped the crew tremendously when saving animals. He also likes to sing, and often sings random jazzy songs while he bakes animal themed pastries and meals inspired by the region/animal of the day. He often helps out injured animals, and is put on baby animal duty the most. I just hue shifted his pants to a more vibrant green, and then made it so his shirt wasn’t all the way white. He just wears a regular polo for now, with the logo of the Varmint Crew on his left breast pocket. He is a very joyous and boisterous team member, and is often the crews pick-me-up when the others are stressed from work. His suit color if he ever agrees to wearing a suit (he’s like Jimmy in that regard), will be a sage green, like his eye color. Yes he is Zach’s cousin in my AU. This is because of my headcanon that they’re related in some way because of the fact they both have the same voice actor (Zachary Bennett). Because of this, Zach and Gourmand are going to be related, hence why they’re cousins!

Paisley: An environmental architect and conservationist! She mostly travels with the crew to understand animals better and what their needs are to produce the best possible habitats for them. She’s the fourth one on the team to get a suit, initially it was going to rex, but he urged her to get out there in the wild to see the creature world for herself. She’s a bit of a germaphobe, but otherwise understands that her job is going to be messy, and she has to deal with that. She’s very passionate about what she does, and she wants to help the world, and the world for animals alike. She knows deforestation is detrimental to the planet, so she wants to find and explore ways to make green architecture that both supports people and animals lives. She works with water ways and forests alike, studying them and how they operate in the grand scheme of things. Her colors were color picked from her canon outfit, and her suit color is a light purplish gray that borders on white.

Rex: The crews pilot and mechanic/engineer. He is often operating most of the heavy machinery, and is the one who fixes most of the broken equipment. He takes on the role of Koki, as well as canon Rex. The garage of the ship is his place of work. Zach and him often work together, and Paisley often drops off blueprints for habitats she has in mind on his desk, which always ends up in a massive pile. Eventually gets a suit as well, Zach just has to make another. His suit color will be orange. I kept his vest look with an orange sweater vest, and now he wears a yellow baseball hat (mostly to hide his receding hairline at the ripe age of 25). He’s the second youngest in the group. Him and Dabio get along great, and tend to pair up if Paisley or Donita don’t nab them first. Basically rex flies the ship (Thinking Terrator or something. It’s not the Tortuga, but the Varmint Crew version of that, perhaps a flying beetle? idk yet. this is a WIP). He also does most of the repairs, this lets Zach have enough time to focus on his projects instead of being stuck taking care of things that can be done by someone else. However anything dealing with the suits is purely to be operated and meddled by Zach.

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improbable-implosions · 2 months

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This particular mend turned out to be MUCH more complex, involved, and fussy than I really ever expected it to be at the outset. That said, after all the work where I focused on taking my time to get things just so, I found out that I'm quite capable of handling larger projects like this!

First up, here, before starting, my partner Razz and I sat down, and went through our clothes with a careful eye. More and more of her pants in particular were in need of little fixes here and there, and I figured rather than going about it all piecemeal and in no particular order, not accomplishing the fixing of clothes she needs, we put them together into an order of "most wanted fixes" to "least pressing fixes".

Once I had all that info, I settled in with a measuring tape, and got to identifying all the mends that needed to happen. For every piece that was more than, say, a few inches of rip, or of a shape that standard embroidery wouldn't cut it for a fix, I cut out a piece of patch fabric, with the intention of making use of these patches by doing sashiko mends.

Step 1: pin the hem of the patch down, initially hoping to run it through the sewing machine to have a nice hem! Sure, it was kinda fussy doing the quarter inch hems, since I hadn't really done this before, but it's not _too_ bad in hindsight!

Step 2: Realize that the sewing machine foot you have on hand got mixed up with a family member's in a move, and begrudgingly realize you have to re-pin the hemmed patch directly to the jeans being mended. Grumble, grumble! Oh well, at least this light blue thread is going to be really cute on the jeans, so there's that.

Step 3: stitch down the patch to the fabric, blissfully unaware that this big of a patch which interacts with the main seams four times like this is going to be a huge pain later!

Step 4: with some clever use of tape and bumping the laptop brightness, make a tracing of the segaihana pattern onto the dissolvable backing. (I did realize later, mind you, that I could have just used something small and circular to draw this manually, but the tracing worked out just fine, so we take those!)

Step 5: get stitching, following the pattern on the backing! I get about this far before two things happen: first off, the sewing machine foot returned from family-home purgatory, and secondly, I realize that pushing this needle over and over with my bare hands is REALLY wearing out not only the muscles in my hands, but also thoroughly frustrating my skin, in the process.

So, as a little test of the sewing machine, I made this little palm thimble! the loop of thread on the left there loops around my middle finger, and then the denim takes the brunt of pushing the needle, instead of my poor fingies!

So, over the course of a few days, with a LOT of help from the palm thimble (some pieces even getting done on stream, go check out the vods: https://youtu.be/oeytUetT2Z0 and https://youtu.be/u6k-Yr4Vjn0) we get the first (major) panel done! Might not be super visible in these shots, but there is in fact a second piece to be stitched here!

So, after yet more tracing (which took a good bit more fuss, since I had to align it with the previous panel!) we find ourselves at step 6: do the second batch of stitching! Overall, I actually really enjoyed the way this piece came together, the segaihana pattern is super pretty to look at. Plus, I learned a LOT in doing this one, the big thing being, if you're going to have trouble on both sides of a thigh of a pair of jeans, even if the damage is spread evenly on either side, break the patches up along the main seam. Sewing through the many layers of that denim is particularly taxing, especially when I'm struggling to nail the positioning of the stitches to carry on a nice pattern!

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choiceofgames · 2 months

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Author Interview

https://www.choiceofgames.com/2024/07/new-author-interview-drew-morrison-bootlegger-moonshine-empire/

I think this is your first time writing interactive fiction, but you’re rather an accomplished playwright, I gather. Tell me a little about your background and what brought you to Choice of Games.

I started writing for theater in middle school, and got my Masters in Playwriting at the University of New Mexico. Dialogue has always been my favorite part of writing, and theater offers such a great way to get together with friends and tell a story. I worked for a devised theater company in Albuquerque for about five years, and I really got attached to the camaraderie that develops around putting up a play, especially when it’s done without a lot of financial resources. It means everybody learns different tasks, and shifts around with each show: sometimes you’re a writer, sometimes an actor, director, technician, or shadow-puppeteer. The whole thing ends up being this wonderful process of collaborative problem solving: How do we make what we want to make with what we have? Those limitations spark more interesting ideas than the ones you’d have if you could just pay problems away.

I was introduced to Choice of Games by a friend who had worked for the company as a cover artist. I’d never written anything like this before, and it was a steep learning curve, but the Choice of Games forum and community is such a vibrant scene of supportive people that it’s been really exciting to work on. As a writer, it’s so easy to get sucked into the lonely process of submitting to distant strangers and contests, rarely getting any feedback on your work. The opportunity to have people engaged and willing to respond to your drafts is an invaluable resource, which was my favorite part of working in theater.

What did you find most challenging about the game design and using ChoiceScript to craft a narrative?

Pretty much everything? I was so proud the day I finally submitted a full draft that you could play through from beginning to end that it’s fueled me through the whole editing process since. Having finished a CoG game now, it’s amazing how many tips and tricks you pick up along the way that would change how you approach writing another game.

There were a lot of really fun challenges purely at the level of the prose. For one, second-person/present tense is such a fun, propulsive voice to write in. As someone who didn’t grow up with tabletop roleplaying games, it’s a relatively new voice for me.

Also, as a playwright, my plays are often structured around reveals and buried secrets. When lights come up on a play, we don’t know the people on stage, and revelations about their pasts, motives, relationships, and shared histories are part of what fuels the drama.

In an interactive fiction novel, the reveal isn’t as useful, because it will only work for the first playthrough. This completely changes the notion of suspense as a storytelling technique–a returning player has already seen behind the curtain. Plus, in the main character’s case, the player needs to know (and decide) all major backstory decisions from the outset, so that they can make informed decisions. This was really fun for me; as a writer I couldn’t rely on old tricks. It feels like I usually write as someone watching from the audience, and this was like going on stage and whispering in the main character’s ear.

Bootlegger is set during such an interesting period in American history. What about the period, and about Prohibition in general do you think modern readers may not know about?

The intersection of coffee and alcohol is really interesting to me. Part of the reason people drank so much pre-Prohibition was because alcohol was one of the only reliably safe ways to drink water. It would be much lower alcohol content than we associate with booze today, but people would drink the entire day. Coffee and tea were new forms of safe ways to drink water, so people went from being mildly drunk all the time to sober and caffeinated. The intellectual and political ramifications of that are massive.

The period is great for anecdotes, and I love all the methods people came up with to get away with drinking. Speakeasies would install levers that, when pulled in the case of a raid, would dump their entire liquor display down a hidden chute, shattering the bottles and draining the booze. Alcohol had been determined to have no health benefits, but during Prohibition that suddenly changed: whiskey could be gotten legally with a prescription for all sorts of maladies.

For me, it’s also a really interesting time of how people respond to a ban. For many, Prohibition was an attempt to stop some truly devastating habits, such as poor workers and farmers blowing their full paychecks on the way home, before even getting to their families. You can see how the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League could see alcohol and the people who sold it as criminal enterprises. At the same time, the complete ban on it meant that many people saw a market, and exploited it ruthlessly. With Bootlegger, I wanted to explore the sudden emergence of a new market that’s illegal, lucrative, and slightly absurd; something that was legal a few short years ago is now a violent, thriving industry.

Do you have a favorite NPC, one you enjoyed writing most?

I’ve never written any kind of gangster story, so writing Capaldi was a lot of fun. Writing a villain in general is a lot of fun, actually, but especially in this case, since Capaldi can be a villain or an ally depending on the play-through. That type of character, alternately frightening and endearing, is so rich and prevalent in gangster movies, and I like that in interactive fiction you might only see someone’s worst side when you’re on their worst side, which is just a terrible place to be. I think one reason we get into stories like The Godfather is because we see two sides of people, while the other characters in the story only see one: loving family member, terrifying murderer. It seems impossible that they can be one person.

If you were transported to the world of Bootlegger, what kind of underground shenanigans would you be best at? Distilling, smuggling, or imbibing?

I think I’d be good at distilling. I know I’d be terrible at being in charge of an operation, I have neither the economic wherewithal or ruthlessness. But I was a barista for a long time, so I think I’d be good at tending a still. I don’t think Prohibition had much of a “craft rotgut” scene, but I imagine I’d be able to get to the point of describing the flavor notes to my customers, which could maybe help me work my way up to get the kind of clients who could afford to care about the quality of their whiskey during Prohibition. But I’m also too trusting, so I’d be very easy to rip off. So, if I could find my way into an operation run by someone like Sam in Bootlegger, who takes care of their own, I’d make a very good worker.

Do you have a favorite tipple or are you a teetotaler?

I do love the occasional bourbon or an old fashioned, but generally I stick with beer.

What else are you working on/working on next, writing-wise?

I’m currently getting my Masters in Political Science, so I’m writing several essays, mainly focusing on the global impact of the film industry. I recently had a staged reading of a new play, Wildlife, which focuses on the illegal wildlife trade, as part of an ongoing project for my classes focusing on climate change. I am also working on an audio drama, called Ambrosia’s Big Break, with the hopes of releasing it in podcast format. Over the process of revising Bootlegger, I’ve had more ideas about things I’d like to do in this medium, so I’ve started to sketch out ideas for another interactive novel. This one would take an interconnected series of science fiction stories I wrote, and adapt them into one big world for the player. It’s one of those narratives that I’ve been attached to for years, but haven’t found the proper form for yet.

#choiceofgames #choice of games #interactive fiction #booknerdlife #books #interactivefiction #bootleggers #new book #new author #fantasy

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jujumin-translates · 1 month

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[A3!] ★ Main Story | Act 14 - DREAM CATCHER | Episode 33 - Sign of a New Generation

Tenma: I thought you said you weren’t interested in theater. Why the sudden change of heart?

Ibuki: To put it simply… Your guys’ play was soooo interesting!

Kumon: Huh?

Ibuki: I stumbled across a stream by accident and didn’t think that theater was that interesting, but I was like so completely wrong.

Ibuki: I was so surprised and totally drawn in by the impact of seeing it live.

Ibuki: So I thought if just doing that was that much fun, I wanna try doing it for myself.

Ibuki: From now on, I wanna entertain people not just as an influencer, but as an actor too.

Ibuki: Plus I used to think that theater troupes were all just annoying to be a part of, but after seeing Summer Troupe, IDK if that’s true anymore.

Ibuki: …So that’s why I came to this guy here. He said he was looking to form a troupe, so I thought why not do it with him?

Towa: …Yeah!

Yuki: You sure changed your mind fast.

Ibuki: Spending time debating is a waste of time. So from now on, I’m totally locked in!

Towa: I’m glad to be working with you all!

Kumon: Y-Yeah, same here!

Muku: Glad to be working with you!

Misumi: I hope you enjoy theater~!

Tenma: Theater is a lot more interesting once you actually start doing it, so be prepared.

Sakuya: Welcome to the world of theater!

Izumi: It really was a surprise out of nowhere, but I’m glad you found a troupe member, Towa-kun.

Kazunari: Congrats on member numero uno~.

Towa: Thank you so much!

Towa: But there’s only two of us now, so we’ve got two more to go before we can actually start anything…

Ibuki: Huh? For real?

Sakuya: Maybe you guys can talk about gathering more troupe members from now on? It’s gotta be a little more reassuring knowing you’re not alone now, right?

Towa: Yeah!

Izumi: Alright, you two should eat too. We’ve got lots of fries just for you, Ibuki-kun.

Ibuki: Wooo! Potatoes! Don’t mind if I do!

Towa: We’ve still got a long way to go, but… We’ve taken a step forward.

Sakuya: Good luck!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Tenma: Is it time?

Misumi: One minute left until it updates…

Yuki: Looks like a lot of people are trying to access it again.

Kazunari: They’re probably getting ready to come up with a counter-plan.

Izumi: Kamikizaka-san sure does know what he’s doing.

Kumon: Ah, it updated!

Misumi: MANKAI Company is…

Kazunari: 20th!

Kumon: WOOHOO! We went up even more than we did last time!

Muku: Thank goodness…!

Tenma: Now it’s time for us to pass the baton on. Well, still wish we could’ve gotten our rank higher.

Yuki: The top of the rankings has pretty much been taken over by the well-known theater companies, so it probably won’t be as easy to move up in the rankings from now on.

Izumi: We moved up ten places this time, which is still quite an accomplishment!

Misumi: Let’s celebrate today~!

Izumi: (If we keep on improving our rank like this, even just a little, we should be able to make it to the New Fleur Award…!)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

*Punch*

Vulgar Young Man: --Ughh!

???: That hurt? It hurt, didn’t it? Right?

Vulgar Young Man: --I-I’m sorry…

???: Good job.

Vulgar Young Man: --Gh.

*Phone is taken out of pocket*

???: …Communication completed.

*Notification*

???: …

[ ⇠ Previous Part ]

• • •

Notes:

(1) In Japanese, the title of this episode actually contains of homonym of Ibuki’s name, so the title can kind of be thought of as being “Ibuki of a New Generation” too.

#a3!#a3! translation #tenma sumeragi #yuki rurikawa #muku sakisaka #misumi ikaruga #kazunari miyoshi #kumon hyodo #ibuki dozono #towa ichinoe #sakuya sakuma #// and done !!#act 15 will be coming to you shortly

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jawritter · 2 years

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My Brother’s Keeper

Chapter 2

Summary: Y/N, Sam’s roommate, so far have a pretty good thing going. Both work and function around one another well. What happens when his big brother comes down for the holidays with his mysterious past, mixed with Sam’s own mysterious previous life? Can Y/N and the grumpy older brother find a way to get along? Or will it be a not so happy holidays at the Winchester house?

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Plus Sized!Reader x Sam

Word Count: 2682

Prompt: Reunion

Written for: @spnchristmasbingo

Rating: Mature (because of future chapters, this story is 18 + only, and not fit for minor consumption.)

Warnings: Angst, self-hating reader. Brief mentions of past bullying.

A/N: This is the first Christmas fic I have written in a long time! You guys will get this one real time, and I hope to finish it before New Years! Fingers crossed! Anyways, This fic is unbeta’d, so all mistakes are my won! Feedback is golden! My work is 18+ only! No minors! Thanks so much for reading!

Main Masterlist

Y/N leaned heavily against the entryway that separated the mostly open floor plan of the kitchen and dining room with a heavy sigh. Off somewhere in the background, the TV played in the corner now instead of Pandora, having received an update on her phone about a possible upcoming snow storm she thought it best to see what the actual news might have to say. With their house guest with them, they might need some extra supplies to see them through the holidays, especially if Dean ends up having to stay longer because of the weather. Still, she wasn’t even really paying attention to it right now. All she could think about was the metal note that she made to herself to assign, Sam as well as herself, daily chores so that it didn’t get that bad again.

She was exhausted, but she did have to admit that she felt accomplished. If a stranger looked around at this place, they might think that Sam and Y/N might actually have their life together, instead of the custerfuck of work and barely meeting at the dinner table most days. Which, she guessed, was the point of spending the whole day cleaning for some guy that all she could do was pray that he wouldn’t be a giant dick bag and was at least as descent of a guy as Sam had portrayed him to be. From the one picture she’d seen of him, he looked like every big bag of dicks that she went to high school with that did nothing but gain gratification of some sort by making her life a living hell.

Shaking herself, she pushed herself off of the wall, and made her way over to the TV to turn it off, her anxiety was really too high to deal with any sound, and besides, Dean would probably be there any moment. It was too late to go and fix herself up, so she settled on making her way into the kitchen to go and fix herself, and Dean some coffee if he wanted it. It was fucking cold out, and honestly, if he didn’t drink Coffee for some reason, she had no problem finishing the pot for herself.

She was trying her best to trust Sam, and not judge Dean before the man even pulled up in the driveway, because as Sam’s friend, she felt that she at least owed Dean the benefit of the doubt. If Dean had practically raised Sam, and Sam had turned out to be as nice of a guy as he was, that surely had to count for something, and besides, never judge a book by its cover. At least, that’s what she kept retorting to herself as she bustled around the kitchen making coffee.

She hated this side of herself. This anxious, self-conscious, insecure mess that she was. It wasn’t as if it were bad enough, she didn’t really have all that much going for her in the looks department, but years of bullying through high school and collage had left their mark into adulthood, and even though she was damn near 32 years old now, and all those guys that harassed her shouldn’t have held any importance to her life now she still carried the baggage. It had affected her so much that she’d only had one real boyfriend, and it turned out that he was just using her to get a position at the company she’d been a secretary for at the time. She had thought at the time, he was the one, so needless to say, she hadn’t exactly had all that great of a track record with men… well ever.

She had just pressed brew on the coffee machine, when a loud knock sounded at the front door, jolting her back from her traumatic past to an equally unsettling reality. Dean was here.

“You’re an adult for fucks sakes Y/N get it together, he’s not here to spend time with you, he doesn’t care that you’re here, he’s just here to see Sam, that’s all,” she whispered to herself as she forced her sock clad feet to shuffle along the freshly mopped hardwood floor towards the front door, and the impressive shadow of the man that stood through the window.

This must have been what Scrooge felt like every time it was time for a new ghost to come calling.

Another loud knock sounded at the door, and she took a deep breath before reaching out and opening it to reveal the greenest eyes she’d ever seen, sat in a stern, but somehow boyishly freckle dusted face and military cut. He was even more handsome than she’d seen in the pictures, with the years of lines around his eyes that barely peeked back at her, but she assumed if he were to smile, or even laugh, it would make them even more defined, and himself somehow even more beautiful.

Sam didn't mention the fact that his brother was some walking version of a Greek God!

“Hey, uhm… I don’t know if I have the right house,” Dean said, clearing his throat and fuck if his deep voice didn’t make fucking chill bumps rise up on her arms that she quickly crossed. “I’m Dean Winchester, I’m looking for my brother Sam Winchester’s house?”

She didn't miss the way his eyes traveled over her body as he spoke, and she automatically took a self-conscious step back.

"You, uhm, you got the right house," Y/N stuttered. "I'm Y/N, Sam's roommate, he told me you were coming."

She took a step back so that Dean could come inside, but he froze at the door with an old, green duffle bag over his shoulder, and a somewhat cautious look on his face.

"Listen, I hope it's okay, but I brought my dog with me. I don't like leaving him behind when I travel," Dean confessed before looking over his shoulder to whistled for a medium sized, shaggily adorable dog to come trotting dutifully to his incredibly attractive owner's side.

"Oh," Y/N blinked in surprise. "I'm sure Sam doesn't mind. Come on in, it's freezing out there."

This time, Dean stepped inside, sidestepping Y/N in the threshold of the door with a glance as he looked cautiously around the freshly cleaned house, while Y/N closed the door tightly behind him.

"So, uhm… Do I just take the couch or…?" Dean questioned as Y/N turned around to face her, his four-legged friend already trotting off in the kitchen to lay under the kitchen table.

"No," Y/N quickly corrected. "Sam has the guest room just down the hallway there across from my room all set up for you," she blurted out quickly, then regretted the overshare immediately. Like Dean really gave two fucks that the guest room was across from her room.

"Uhh, cool," he said, giving another clear of his throat. She wondered if she was irritating him, and that's why he kept doing that. God he was so hard to read!

"Miracle, come on boy," he called over his shoulder with a whistle and a quick pat of his leg.

His companion wasted no time in scurrying to his feet and following his owner to the guest room Y/N had indicated, but Y/N really saw none of that, because she was too stuck on the broadness of the man. He was tall, admittedly not as tall as Sam, maybe he would be had he not been adorably bow legged, but honestly, it was the shoulder to waist ratio that had her dumb founded on the spot as they disappeared, and the guest room door closed behind him, shaking her from the drooling mess that this man suddenly made her become.

“Fuck Y/N! Get it together!” Y/N angrily whispered to herself. Her own behavior towards this man made her cheeks flush red with embarrassment. She honestly never acted this way towards any man in her life! The behavior was completely out of character for her. It wasn’t something she did, ogle after attractive men. Honestly, she usually hid from them, not wanting to fall victim to what would surely be hateful remarks, and disgusted stares.

“But in all fairness, you’ve never encountered Adonis walking in the flesh before either have you?” The not so subtle little voice whispered inside her head where her continuous once was, and honestly, she made a reminder to mentally kick herself later as the aroma of warm coffee filtered into the living room where she was still standing, making her feet travel towards the inviting odor, which she guessed was better than standing in the middle of the floor like an idiot.

She couldn’t help the inescapable feeling that this Christmas for her might be the worst one yet.

She was so steeped in her own self-loathing, that she did not hear her abnormally attractive house guest wonder into the kitchen where she was as she made her cup of coffee, until the deep clearing of his voice made her jump as she turned around to be astounded once more as if it were the first time by the same astonishing green eyes.

“Do you mind if I—” he stated unsure, gesturing at the coffee maker behind her right shoulder, and Y/N quickly scurried out of his way.

“Oh, sure, of course, make yourself at home,” she blubbered out maybe a little too quickly, but he was nice enough to not call her out on her awkwardness, and she appreciated the effort. It’s not like he had to be nice to her. She was just the roommate after all.

She moved herself over to the small kitchen table that they had in the corner of the old kitchen setting, and settled herself down with her cup of coffee, because to be honest, he made her feel a little weak in the knees, and that scared the hell out of her.

Dean made quick work of pouring himself a large, black cup of coffee, and came to sit down across from her at the table, which nearly made her fall out of her seat at the sheer shock that he was sitting anywhere near her at all.

“So,” he stated as he took a long swig of the hot liquid from his glass as if they had been old buddies for years that needed to catch up, and not complete strangers that they were. “How did you meet Sammy, he’s pretty tight lipped when it comes to shit. He doesn’t tell me anything anymore. I didn’t even know you existed until a week ago.”

Y/N blushed deeply, forcing herself to look away from Dean, even though she really didn’t want to. Honestly, she could stare for hours at the man and never get bored.

“We uhm… We met through work actually. I was a secretary at the firm he’d just started to work at a few years back,” she admitted, and she felt the air in the room shift dramatically, making her eyes drift back up to Dean’s stare, which had suddenly turned hard. Cold even.

“You mean the two of you have been together for years, and he hadn’t even bothered to mention anything at all about it to me,” he questioned, and the thick rumble of his voice made her shrink down a little in her chair, but the surprise that he thought that that Sam and herself where ‘together’, was something she hadn’t expected, nor did she understand.

“What? No, We’re not, ya know, ‘together’ like that,” she corrected quickly. “We’re just friends. Sam did know a lot of people when he moved down here, and we worked a lot together while he was at the firm I was working at. I didn’t move in here until Covid layoff took a toll on the office I was still at about six months ago, and Sam let me move in here when I lost my apartment, other than that, we’re just friends.”

Dean slouched a little in his seat, almost like a kicked dog or someone that had overstepped and was regretting it.

“I’m sorry,” he said after a moment. “I assumed you were— Look, Sam and I have had our share of communication troubles in the past, and when he called me to see if I wanted to come down for Christmas this year, I assumed he’d at least be here, and I thought this was his coward ass way of trying to tell me he had a girlfriend or something, because when Sam gets a girlfriend, well, let’s just say I don’t hear from him after that.”

She made a mental note to kick Sam’s ass when he got home. She knew that Dean was telling the truth, and honestly, she’d experienced Sam’s lack of communication herself, as well as lived through a few girlfriends, she knew what it felt like to be ignored, but never on the level Dean seemed to have experienced.

“Wait,” she said after a moment’s thought, “I thought that he said YOU were the one that wanted to come down and see him because of your roommate and a girl or something like that?” she questioned, and Dean snorted in disgust as took a drink from his mug in front of him.

“That what he told you?” he questioned, shaking his head. “Well sweetheart, I don’t have a roommate, and he is the one who called me and apparently couldn’t even have the decency to take time off work to be here when I got here.”

“I’m sorry, I told him the same thing, you know, that you are coming to see him, not sit here with me,” she stood a little too harshly maybe, and but she was irritated, not with Dean, but Sam.

“I’m sorry,” Dean apologized again, and she hated that she made him feel that he had to keep apologizing to her. None of this was his fault, it was Sam’s. “I shouldn’t have dumped all that on you. My issues with my little brother shouldn’t be something you’ve been dragged into. Besides, I don’t mind spending time with you, honestly, I would have just been alone for Christmas anyway, besides Miracle that is.”

Three things stung her in that sentence. First, she was better than being alone with a dog, noted. Second, Sam is gonna have some serious ass kissing to do, because she had a feeling that this man that had put so much of his life into raising him had spent way too much time alone. Third, the look on his handsome face didn’t belong there. It just didn’t. He was too handsome to look that alone, that down, she knew that feeling well. But people like him, they were never alone. Pretty people always had people around them. Didn’t they?

Miracle trotted into the kitchen to sit dutifully by his master’s side, and she smiled as she looked down at the light sandy colored, adorable creature.

“Is he a service dog?” she questioned, attempting to lighten the mood. Dean smiled down at his friend, reaching to scratch him behind his floppy ear.

“No, but I honestly never thought about it. He’d make a good one.”

Just then, the front door opened and closed loudly, announcing the younger Winchester’s return.

“Well sweetheart, are you ready for the Winchester’s happy family Christmas reunion?” Dean announced sarcastically.

Y/N snorted into her cup. Honestly, she was liking Dean a little too much for her liking, and she was pretty mad at Sam, so whatever he said to Sam, she was probably gonna side with him. Roommate be damned.

“It’s feeling like a warm family sitcom already,” she jests, and Dean tossed his head back to laugh a full body laugh that she so desperately wanted to see more of. God he was gorgeous when he laughed.

“Some twisted version of Christmas with the Fockers maybe,” he agreed, as he stood to go face his baby brother for the first time in what was probably years…

Chapter 3 HERE!!!

Forever:

@demongirl1996

@as-lost-as-sams-shoe

@jensenslady79

@spnwoman

@stoneyggirl2

@unabashed-lover-of-fictional-men

@stixnstripesworld

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@lyss-dw79

@magssteenkamp

@lemondropirwin

@squirrelnotsam

@hobby27

@spnbaby-67

@mrsjenniferwinchester

@defenderrosetyler

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@vicmc624

@busy-bee-angel-misska

@justanotherwinchester

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@lyarr24

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@dean-winchesters-gardian-angel

@flamencodiva

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@donnaintx

@maliburenee

@the-family-business67

@agirlwithdemonblood

@captainsoldiergirl

@twinkleinadiamondsky

Jensen and Dean’s Babes

@deans-baby-momma

@impalaslytherin

@perpetualabsurdity

@msmarvelouswinchester

@akshi8278

@love-jackles

@irmcpar

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#my brother's keeper #spnchristmasbingo #spnchristmasbingo2022 #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester x you #dean winchester series #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester fanfic #dean winchester x plus sized reader #dean winchester x pluse sized you #dean x reader #dean x you #x reader inserts #jawritter #jensen ackles #spn fanfiction #spn fanfic #spn series

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lunarspiral1127 · 9 months

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What If....? season 2, episode 4. Due to the holidays kicking my butt to exhaustion, this is gonna be one post. *SPOILERS*

So, Tony really did end up in Sakaar after he went through the wormhole in the Avengers movie. I'm surprised the Grandmaster became a fan of him when it's been days. I guess it's because it was one human who took down the Chitauri.

Instead of gladiator fights, it's racing. The whole race scenes were cool, and it reminded me of a mix of Speed Racer and Mad Max in space dialed up a few notches.

Was not expecting a dynamic with Tony and Korg, but it works. Plus, them teaming up with Valkyrie was cool too. Speaking of which, I'm glad she's not capturing people to give to the Grandmaster in this universe. They still have her be king of Sakaar, which I guess it makes sense cause she unintentionally melted the Grandmaster and Tony needs to get back home. These three work great as a team and I'm glad they got along in this episode.

Another thing I appreciate about this episode, is that it didn't do Tony dirty. He wasn't humiliated or disrespected, he showed what he was capable of and he was really cool. I mean a big Iron Man suit that can turn into a car and can be boosted with his arc reactor? That's pretty sick. Plus, he stands up against Gamora while convincing her to be her own person, and when he's being framed as being a bad guy, he proves it wrong to the Grandmaster and beats him. This version of Tony Stark is awesome.

And, after all that, Tony still helps Gamora take down Thanos, which I was surprised it was that easy. Just catch him off guard and hit him with the melting stick. The look on his face, though. Like he was like "seriously?" 😆

Speaking of Thanos, this guy's getting killed a lot. Twice in Endgame, killed in the Illuminati universe in Multiverse of Madness, wiped out in Strange Supreme's universe, turned into a zombie, sliced in half by Ultron-Vision, killed by Ronan offscreen, and now melting stick. This guy has now died more times than Tony (6 deaths) and Vision (5 deaths)!

However, this was supposed to show how this Gamora came to be and is the same Gamora that was chosen by Uatu to be the Guardians of the Multiverse. And, she was fine in this, I haven't seen much of why she was picked in the first place. Yeah, she killed Thanos, but Tony accomplished so much in that universe and was the one who helped her even when she was trying to kill him. He was the main character, she was a supporting character, maybe even a side supporting character. So why wasn't he picked by Uatu instead?! He would've been a great help to the team too. That's just the one thing that's been bugging me about this episode. Aside from that, it was good to me.

So, tomorrow will be the continuation of Captain Carter universe. Why? Well, season one finale left a cliffhanger ending of her and Natasha finding the Hydra Stomper which is setting up that universe's version of The Winter Soldier. So, we kinda gotta follow up on that. That and the MCU loves to show more of Captain Carter, cause I heard that she's gonna be more of a main character in this series like last time. I could be wrong though.

#what if #what if...?#what if season 2 #episode 4 #episode four #what if series #what if spoilers #disney plus #disney+#marvel cinematic universe #mcu

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milkmoomshroom · 2 months

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Milk & Cookies: Prevailing Against Procrastination

Have you found yourself mindlessly scrolling through social media? Have you begun to bed rot? Are you doing anything but learning your target language? Well, same. I am here to pull us all out of this mess and get us back on track. In this post we're going to learn the steps to prevailing against procrastination. 갗이 해볼까요? 가자! (Shall we go? Let's go!)

Step 1: Assess the Damage

First we must ask ourselves the following question: How long have we been avoiding our responsibilities? Here, your goals/plans should be your guidelines when answering these questions. For example:

My Goal: Finish HTSK Unit 1 by August 1, 2024. Where I should be: Lesson 21 Where I am: Lesson 13

As you can see, based on the goal I set in the beginning of July, I am far behind schedule. A lot of times, we see this huge gap and it scares us. So instead of trying jump the gap, we avoid it (procrastinate) and allow it to widen. The bad news is this leads to an endless cycle that only makes us feel bad about ourselves and our abilities.

The good news? We don't have to jump the gap!

Step 2: Review and Revise

Okay, so yeah, we procrastinated a little bit a lot a bit. What now?

It's time for plan 2.0! Or plan 1.5...

Sometimes when we procrastinate, we can slightly adjust how much work we do per day and still accomplish our goals. Maybe you're behind only two days, so you do double the work for the next two days to come. Perfect!

However, maybe you're in a situation where you'd have to quadruple the amount of work you have to get done. So instead, like me, you may have to adjust the goal itself. That's okay, it happens sometimes!

Before we revise the goal, we need to understand what went wrong. Did we bite off more than we could chew? Did the language learning routine become monotonous? Were we just plain lazy? Whatever the reason is, make sure to be honest with yourself.

For me, I tend to get bursts of interest in something and then drop it a couple weeks later. Plus, I am lazy. The main material I work with (HTSK) is loaded with information which I love. But it can take me a while to work through it all and my attention span drains itself. To fix this, I'll have two shorter sessions per day to break the lesson up and I will extend the goal deadline.

Method: Two study sessions per day (following the Pomodoro method) Deadline: August 8, 2024 (1 week extension)

Step 3: Stick With It

The only way to tell if something works is to stick with it. The best way to make something a habit is to keep doing it. Test out the new methods and goals you've set for yourself. Accomplish what you wished to accomplish. Then reevaluate what worked and what didn't.

I may make a post later on motivation methods but really the only thing you need is self-discipline.

Here's to trying again y'all! 화이팅! (fighting)

한 입 먹을래요? (Wanna bite?):

#milkandcookies #korean #langblr #language study #languages #language learning #korean learning #language blog #korean langblr #korean practice #procrastination #goals #language goals

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chromatic-lamina · 1 year

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hi there!

I always see you commenting on OP chapters and analyzing them, which makes it a great joy for me to read some without the typical op fans hate.

Anyhow, I would like to ask for your thoughts on Law's current situation and his rule in the future #spoilers

I personally don't think his rule is over yet, Oda went out of his way to declare Law's new goal, which many ppl said after dressrosa he is irrelevant?

besides, Law isn't a rival to Luffy, if anything he's an ally, so there is no point in tossing him out of the story like he did with Kidd - which is a shame and lazy writing honestly - But I don't like to use '' he's a D too'' argument either, because:

a) Ace, b) not every D is essential to the plot.

I can't predict what Oda gonna do with him in the future, maybe join Luffy again ( the fan in me talking) or join Crocodile and the others (stampede foreshadowing ?)cuz law doesn't seem to care who he works with as long as his goals are accomplished.

I just feel like Oda wanted so bad to get rid of his crew and focus on him - and bepo cuz he's cute- it seems like a pattern that Oda is doing every time Law is on screen.

P.S. I'm sick of people saying law gonna die, like, what's the point of him dying, they've been on it for years lol.

I hope this massage isn't too much

thank you !

Hi Nonny,

Thank you! Wow—that's quite an ask! (I don't mind). My answer will probably not be that long (haha) and obviously I'm not Oda, so everything is speculation. I'm not answering in any particularly order, but

I don't think Kid has been cast aside. He might not be a contender for the One Piece any more, but Oda put a lot of work into his character too, making it one of the main subplots of Wano, and a lot of work into his design, and Kid and Law appeared on two of the volume covers for the Wano arc, so I think he's temporarily disposed, but I think we'll see him again (plus he named all of Kid's crew?). Killer as well, having appeared on that colour spread with the first hand men of major players (Shiryu is there as well; but I do think that King and Katakuri might not be playing roles).

2. I think the D. should be focused on, actually. All of the Ds, in that, perhaps the Poneglyphs the Hearts carried did survive in their own possession (wishful thinking!), and the crew themselves. I've written elsewhere that I think that Oda gave them a marine animal theme, and named them after marine animals (some of which can dive very deep) for a purpose (I call them National Geographic Hearts). However, this is more a head canon for my creative purposes, and I do cede that Oda separates Law from his crew on the regular, cos' 20 characters plus 10 characters + 1 is far too many for a storyline to maintain cohesion, and it's Luffy's story.

3. Okay, this is a spoiler for my fanfiction, Bioluminescent Hearts: BUT, what if through marine animal shapeshifting devices, ALL Hearts & Law & Bepo end up on Elbaf, which, according to Artur at Library of Ohara, is not too far from Winner Island (I'll put a visual below). The poneglyphs survive, somehow (actually, might have them wrapped in seal skin. Might edit that into my story!) ie: one of the crew always kept them on their body, nearby, etc.

Saul (a D.) recognises Law because he follows the news and Robin's life, and takes in both the Hearts and "returns" the poneglyphs to Law. (Also, probably knew a young Rosinante). From there???

4. I doubt Oda is gonna take that path. But that's my alternative path. Law will probably hook up with Luffy and I don't mind Kid doing that either. I don't

want Law to do it as an extra Straw Hat though, or as a (relation)ship or as a subordinate to Luffy. Robin and Law will still be able to pursue their wish to seek out true history through their interest in the Void Century, Will of D. etc., and Saul will help fill in the blanks if this path is taken.

I believe the Kid and Heart crews will still play a support role to Luffy, but it will be sketched into the background. I believe that Killer will also have a role (like Bepo). Possibly the next best-known Hearts and Kid pirates might appear. Again, I don't think it will be that detailed.

5. What I started to say above but didn't, is that I think that all Ds are essential to the plot, especially now that we've discovered that Saul is alive, and Ace's death obviously drives the story, as do Law's parents' death, but Law isn't going to die because he's a D or pursuit of knowledge about being a D, etc., or for any other reason imo.

I don't think that Oda would want anything to overshadow Luffy's story at this point of the narrative, and killing Law off would do that. The angst train is strong, though, anon! So let people have their hand-wringing. It can be fun.

Also, I totally understand the deeper tragedy of losing a home/house (and in Japanese, Law refers to his crew as うち uchi , which is a word for home, when they meet the Straw hats on Zou), BUT I feel that Oda will not kill off the Hearts, and even if they're captured, I don't think the focus will strongly be on them (time constraints).

But, it will be cool if the hook up with Koby again in Hachinosu, etc. (there is that sub-story too!), considering the role they must've played in the Rocky Port Incident. Law too.

The Polar Tang was destroyed. And I love her. And I loved the Victoria Punk too, but through writing about the Polar Tang, probably had a deeper attachment to the submarine. However, the Hearts and the Kid Pirates are pirates, and part of the game is plunder, attack, destruction. Law got lucky (or had the skill and resources) with destroying the factories at Punk Hazard (and destroying the island and navy resources), and unlucky this time. He didn't invite the attack, and was up against an emperor and his crew, but Smoker, Caesar, etc. didn't invite the attacks (whether justified or not) on their person, peoples and possessions either. I'm not saying the attacks carry equal moral weight (which, Oda does a very good job of asking us to question), but pointing out the world they all inhabit.

One of Law's hobbies is apparently wandering, and he was the wandering monk in Wano (komusō). I think part of this might be cos he has been seeking a purpose, and that it's also tied to a fear of putting roots down, because they continually get usurped, but maybe it's also just part of his nature.

I think that he's learnt by now just how resilient he is and that he can come back and also that he won't betray the faith—and recognises the love—that love has had in him (I'm in the minority there, but I think the novel supports me, and various statements Law makes elsehwere).

Anyway, did I answer anything? Probably not. And absolutely NO shade on the interpretations anyone else has, and I find if I get frustrated with fandom takes I usually just stay clear of that platform, that tag, that topic for a while! Law lives, don't worry. If he dies, I'm wrong, and I'll eat Law's hat once I wrest it from Blackbeard' grip. However, I do also cede the symbolism of him losing his hat. 3rd time is the charm/death knell?

PS: I don't really want him to join up with Croco and the boys, but Oda has a way of endearing me to any premise he's come up with, so basically, I'll wait and see what unfolds. Too, great metas on this topic over at @purplehairedwonder — for chapter 1081, but I also really liked their meta on chapter 1079. @ninhaoma-ya's chapter analyses are great too, and I enjoy @roydeezed 's write-ups. I don't read anything as closely as these guys do!

#one piece #trafalgar law #heart pirates #one piece meta #opmeta #chapter 1081 speculation #chapter 1081 spoilers #will of d #egghead arc #egghead arc spoilers #long post #chromameta #chromalami #chroma muesli

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sareinadale · 2 months

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a very late sharing but . . .

last month ( june 2024 ), i went to watch 4 amazing shows in germany and the netherlands. at least 3 were frozen and 1 was tanz der vampire.

it was supposed to be 3 shows, but my friend and i had a last-minute decision to watch die eiskönigin on my last day in hamburg so that's why we watched 4 shows in total.

i had the best time of my life for this trip!!

MAINLY the reason i worked hard to make this trip a reality was because i reaaaaally wanted to see bob ( who plays main cast prince hans for frozen hamburg ) and LET ME TELL YOU ohhhh it was such a joy to see his performance TWICE + waited for him after the show to talk and take a picture.

OFC i stammered and i straight up told him how speechless i am except for how amazing it was to see him perform etc. and my friend told him i came all the way from malaysia just to watch him AND at that point i think he thinks it was lowkey crazy of me to do that cause he asked "that's insane, wow! how long was your flight?" and i said 12-13 hours give or take. and he was like "pls tell me you have other activities to do while staying here in hamburg" but i was spacing out cause i was over the moon and embarrassed after that. but my friend told him that we're seeing places in hamburg and later in the netherlands to watch the dutch production so he was like "ah okay, cool 👍".

no one really prepares you for how surreal it is meeting your favorite person / celeb / actor 😭 and he was so sweet and down to earth that at one point i felt it wasn't right to come up to him and ask for a picture because i didn't have one JUST with him. like the fact that i met him twice was a blessing on its own, and i was veeeery torn from being that crazy and disrespectful fan versus "i'd rather say thank you and move on so he can have his space".

WHICH i think, was the ultimate right decision because at the end of the day, they're still an average people with a job who deserves every ounce of respect and decency with their personal time.

ANYWAY i'll never forget how magical it was seeing him perform, his FUCKING VOCALS, impeccable height and form, all that little gestures which noooo one really paid attention to except if you're delusional enough ( the amount of times i DIED gushing on the inside seeing his scenes with anna even though im not a hanna stan ). my favorite scene / gesture was when he signals to anna to CLIMB up to him during LIAOD and i GRABBED my friend's hands cause I NOTICEDDDD THAT !!!! ( it helps when our seat was the second front row, so i was already at a close-up there 👀 ).

when i tell you i literally had my eyes on him at EVERY SCENE he's in!!!! aahhhhhhh, i am blessed ✨️ and OH, his evil laugh after betraying anna? YES KING I SUPPORT YOU.

and ofc, hearing PRINZ HANS AUS DEM SÜDEN plus his reprise???! UGHHH, please take my money again!!! and LASS JETZT LOSS BY BOTH JANNEKE AND WILLEMJIN??? MINDBLOWING. PHENOMENAL. SHOWSTOPPER!!

zum ersten mal, liebe sie öffnen tür, gefährlich wenn man träumt & monster !!! ahhhh, music to my ears 💕

also ALSO i met willemijn and abla after the second ( impromptu ) show AND just like what i said in the beginning to bob, i told them hearing du bist alles was EVERYTHING to me and it's vastly different than hearing it on youtube. they are gooooorgeous gorgeous women and i felt accomplished after taking a picture with them ( even though i was freezing ).

i met jan who plays main cast olaf and aaaaaa he's basically the human version of olaf!! very lovely to talk to him and took a picture with him as well 💕

for tanz der vampire, my friend chose the seats where the actors will interact with the audience and i was ✨️ charmed ✨️ by them ; one scene happened when one of the vampires swept his cloak and nearly covered me underneath, and another scene happened when one of them TAPPED my shoulder — i felt so special looool.

there were a few of my favorite songs in there, but finally hearing them live ( totale finsternis and got ist tott ) was CHEFS KISS 💋

anyways, hearing frozen in dutch was a totally different experience in itself. it was great, and the actors really gave it their all, i think ( imho ), i prefer the german version. maaaaybe because i've been hearing their version for almost a year AND studying german A1, so i've been using it as one of my listening practices 🥲👌

nevertheless, my heart remains full even after more than a month. while my heart aches to return there ( especially hamburg ), i'm hopeful that i can make it happen again and watch frozen german in stuttgart next ( FINGERS CROSSED ).

#long rant #sareinadale #die eiskönigin das musical #tanz der vampire #frozen hamburg #frozen netherlands #frozen musical #frozen

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mythgrippa-blog · 1 year

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Day 0 - rebooting

Hello, call me Mythgrippa! Nice to meet you, the name comes from two fascinations I have, myths and Marcus Agrippa (my favorite Roman). I am currently doing my final year of computer science and I've done a lot, I'll list them out in a different blog post but it was a lot a lot and I'm left with only one semester which I'm quite excited about.

However, I think I must have overworked myself to get to this point, like I'm truly exhausted all the time, can't really focus on my work and having constant feelings of stress and anxiety, I used to be a stallion programmer but I can barely write a few lines of code and not feeling mentally overwhelmed.

This morning, like in the night I woke up to go to the bathroom and couldn't go back to sleep so I went online and got a bit too curious and searched up why I'm like this and found an online blog post which explained all the symptoms I've been experiencing with pin point accuracy.

I'm mentally exhausted, it makes sense because I'm always thinking about whatever school work I have and trying to get good grades, sleeping deep into the night trying to get work done. My performance has been declining, I still get work done but my quality isn't what it used to be. I've also been neglecting self care and not going outside, my skin is starting to show, I'm black by the way and my tone has started feeling... spotty? I don't know, I don't like it. My self confidence has kind of diminished because of it so there's that as well.

So, I still have a lot of work to do, like a software project for school that I'm the leader of, so I have to be the technical lead and also the semester hasn't started yet so I've to prepare for that as well. These are my stressors. I've to stop this mental daemon from running all the time.

To accomplish this, the article I read suggested these 11 solutions

Eliminate the stressors

My stressors would be mostly work, I can't just simply eliminate it because I have to finish this semester, and its not something I can set aside, plus my software project with my group isn't going so well so we gotta work our butts off for that

Work-life balance

Alright, this is part I get because I honestly don't have a life. The closet life I have is the friends I hang out with at school when on break and also the tennis games we go to, but I've mostly been a work person. So, for starters I need a life!!! But where to start... maybe I should start. Perhaps restricting myself to working up to 6 hours or less per day?

I could play video games or watch movies, I mean... hm... I'll try out the other games and watch more TV, I haven't been reading any of my novels or play board games. I'm off Twitter and Reddit, I don't like scrolling mindlessly for hours.

Damn it!! I remember that one of my friends has my board games, no matter I'll just play on ipad, hopefully there are good apps in the app store. I'll see what my other friends have to say. Well I'll see what I will do

Clear your space

I suppose this means I should rid of what doesn't kindle joy, I'm in recess at the moment and I'm back home, I don't have a room of my own so I sleep in my little brother's room (which used to be mine before I moved to uni), the spare that I usually sleep in is occupied by one of my older brothers. This room is a mess and I really can't do much about it other than tidy some stuff but the way things are laid out is just so annoying, so much wasted space. But this isn't my room anymore so I can't really do anything major plus my energy is down the drain.

Schedule (and take) regular breaks

I should take breaks when working, I used to study using Pomodoro and it was quite effective I won't lie but I've lost some of my discipline, at least partly attributed to the main reason I'm writing this in the first place.

How did I go so many semesters without taking regular breaks, not even like five minutes, I'm really a mad lad. I'll try to take at least 5 minutes off per hour, that should make it easier, but what constitutes a break? Doing nothing? I suppose that works

Get outside

In terms of this, I try to go outside but the weather is just so cold, but the sun does feel good but I'm the type of person who likes dark and gloomy weather accompanied by rain and thunder storms, I just really like that, the rain drops crashing onto the roof or window, the warm clothing I get to wear!! Oh my goodness, it feels like a mental refresher because I naturally feel easy and relaxed when there's rain. But I'll try to go out, perhaps a jog every now and then?

Do something new

Something new... well I could really try that, I used to go to the gym but school got so hectic I had to cancel my membership but I think I'll go back since I believe the hardest semester has concluded (last semester was the hardest honestly and I'm glad I made it out alive).

I'll try out other types of sports because I want to regain my stamina and activeness, my right leg though... its fine I'll be fine, I'll buy better shoes and sports gear. I'll try to be healthier, eat my fruits daily, and drink plenty of water.

That's a lot of stuff, how will I manage though? I'll figure it out but at least the idea is there

Reduce screen time

I mean... even though its the start of recess and I'm done with my old modules and the new ones haven't started yet, I'm still checking my emails and notifications, I do have the group project, and I'm doing Computer Science, I need a computer to science god damn it, how am I supposed to reduce that. I'll let this one slide. Because I can't really digitally detox... I'm not ready for that or even see the need to, but I can reduce the amount of time I spend on my phone, no phone time between 10PM and 7AM, that worked before in the past. But as for computer time, yeah I can't really reduce that.

Find positive ways to distract yourself

I used to have this bad habit I'm still recovering, I tricked myself into thinking it could help get the "edge off", I regret it and I'm glad I'm not that person, incase you're wondering its not drugs or weed or alcohol or any bad substances... I've never done any of that, and NO I DON'T VAPE. I'm as a clean as they get, but there's always been something I've been struggling with for almost four years now but I think I've finally learnt to let it go for the better.

You could say it was a negative distraction for myself, but no more of that I just need a positive way to distract myself, perhaps calling up an old friend? I haven't spoken to a number of people, I am messaging someone but they're not a regular person I talk to because of odd response times but I'm one of those people who'll reply as soon as they see your message no matter how long you take because I get people have stuff to do or don't feel like replying at times, its completely normal.

Perhaps I'll start playing games again? But that can get out of hand pretty quickly, actually... having coffee with my best friend can work? Yeah, there are plenty, I'll just ask her (oh yeah, a bit of a rant but I'm a guy, my best friend is a girl so yeah that can be a thing, why don't people get it! Guys and Girls don't have to date to have fun, goodness I hate my class mates, for CS nerds they're sure talkative, they're nice people but JEEEEZ). I'll ask her if I want to be distracted, or my other friends as well

Take care of yourself

I need to eat nourishing food, I ate a lot of KFC and boy it ain't good for ya, but it helps fill me up but I'll try to be better than that and eat better. I'll start eating from this restaurant I frequent they sell some delicious and nourishing food. I'll also try to sleep by 10 and wake by 7, that should be plenty of rest yeah? I will drink water every day, trust me I'm a water freak.

Focus on what you can control

I can't really do everything, so I should be able to tell others what to do, I am group leader after all. I'll see what I can do and what should be done, I'll delegate and try to organize more. So, that the objective is very clear. I'm not a stallion anymore, I can't code for hours on end like I used to, but luckily there's capable members in my group so I'll delegate the work to them and do my group leader duties.

Talk to a coach or therapist

Well that lists everything, I wrote so much without realizing it, this was all in one sitting so I'm impressed with myself. I always did enjoy writing stories, I'm not as creative anymore but when it comes to stuff like this, I have like 3 filled up diaries.

If you made it this far, I'm so impressed with you, thank you for taking an interest and reading my first public blog (I've written so many private ones that I'll never release because I'm so embarrassed plus its useless and uninteresting, like unfinished stories, other diary attempts, blah blah)

Well thanks again you and I'll see you in the next one

#student #computer science #cybersecurity #mental health #self care #self improvement #software design #software engineer

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thewrongexecution · 2 years

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it is Time. for Fashion.

I have been working on this project. for months. and it is finally. still incomplete on several technicalities but good enough for now. I'm very proud of what I've managed to accomplish. Please enjoy looking at my beautiful child,

Millennia Crowe.

(...Wait, what do you mean "30 image limit?" Uh, gimme a minute to edit these together. This post is gonna be long.)

Gunbreaker

The truest self. The most Millennia of all Millennias. Confident without being cocky, ornate without being gaudy. Black longcoat with silver and gold trim, splash of white for flair, and the Iconic Hat (TM). Very proud of the gauntlets (gold trim to match the coat) and boots (fur lining to match the collar).

That jacket was actually what inspired this whole project. I'd picked up every job and had outfits for each role by then, but the Jacket was a perfect match to The Hat... and Gunbreaker exclusive. Could I get all the rest their own unique look, that looked just as good?

Judge for yourself.

Warrior

Millie's first job. I'd tried Lancer on a different character, but was frustrated by how fragile they were; starting as a tank was partly to alleviate that concern, and partly to skip ahead in dungeon queues. And then I just. never stopped tanking, lmao.

Most of these outfits start from the chestpiece, and this one's no exception. The boots and pants went through a few revisions, but I think the heavy-plate look works well. Those elbow spikes still bother me a little, though; might rework those sometime.

Paladin

Here's our first what-I-call-military-formal outfit; you'll see them recur pretty often. While the jacket is suited to the valiant protector identity, Lenny also likes to antagonize Fray; wearing this outfit while in nominal service to the ruler of a corrupt, unjust society is one of her little jokes.

A lot of coats seem to me to just cut off abruptly in the front, so I was very proud to get those pants with the faux-hem. Shoulda tried for a better shot of the shield, but in most poses it obscures the rest of the outfit. Which is what it's supposed to do, I guess...

Dark Knight

The traditional look was actually too broody for my tastes; I've instead opted for the look of someone who walked halfway around the world without stopping to rest to find you and kick your ass. Postman's Creed (Evil)-type beat. Using the Forgiven's chestpiece is also another one of those fun little jokes.

Not many of these deviate from The Hat, but a more intimidating look that hides the identity just feels right, here.

White Mage

Gridanian jobs tend to lean more outdoorsy. Here, the fur lining evokes White Mage's traditional frills without leaning too far towards femme. Proud I found matching boots.

These days, Millennia gets chills if he channels light aether too much. It's a psychosomatic reaction, mostly, but the extra insulation helps all the same.

Technically incomplete, but the Rose Couverte takes slightly more grinding than I was willing to put in at the time. The hunt for perfection remains never-ending... But it's good to still have something to aim for.

Scholar

My current main! White Mage was my first healer, but I value the ability to preempt damage that Scholar provides. Nothing better than seeing a raidwide fail to touch the party's actual health. Your "real flame" ain't shit, bud.

(...A-hem. Right. Fashion.)

I wasn't sold on the ribbons at first, but military-formal longcoats with gold trim win out every time. Plus, it matches the book. Kinda funny that my two favorite classes still use these specific chestpieces, under the circumstances. What can I say? The li'l lady does good work.

Astrologian

Another victory for pants that look like shirts: that white bit with the triangles? Not part of the chestpiece! There's no good shot of it here, but the boots also have star ornaments that match the ones on the coat.

This one was fun to figure out the staging for. Originally, I was cropping these shots down, but didn't like how inconsistent the sizing was. Had to redo half of them, but I'd figured out proper lighting by then, so it worked out.

Sage

Once, Millie had a daydream of an admiral leading a fleet through the sea of stars, and feverishly assembled this getup in response.

Strange how things work out sometimes. The Manusya/Bonewicca gear was a mainstay of outfits past, but this is the only one in which the gloves survive. On the other hand, I might never have known the Raincoat's fashion potential if I'd never gone to the aquarium.

(Shoutouts to the Eorzean Museum Network, whose passion for elaborate digital projects, despite the conclusions you might draw from this post, far eclipses my own.)

Monk

This outfit originally belonged to Samurai, but I felt the simpler design drew better attention to those fists. Includes matching heavy metal boots, to amp the impact of kicks.

Dragoon

Another outfit where I was aiming for military-formal before I stumbled ass-backwards into this chestpiece while browsing the PvP gear. It just somehow incidentally went with all the other pieces I already had. Still hardly believe it.

Ninja

Nondescript traveler. Dressed well, but unmemorably. Safe to ignore.

I'm not actually that big a fan of the whole mystical wizard direction that Ninja takes; this outfit is meant to evoke its origins in Rogue. I even had Generic Dagger as a weapon for a while- anything with a proper hilt guard just doesn't feel right- but these shortblades better represent Millennia's actual threat level.

Might change the boots for something softer-soled sometime, but I like the way they flow into the pants.

Samurai

Used to have a cyberpunk getup that I was very proud to have assembled, but the vibes never hit quite right. I got very lucky with this year's Heavensturn reward. Also features the #55 boots, another staple of outfits past. Black and gold and so on, you know.

Reaper

I saw the scythe and I saw the chest and I knew I had a winner. I wish the skirt was a little less ornate? But it's like, the only one Reaper can wear that also has pants. So many opportunities for your dress to fly up in these latest dungeons...

Shoutouts to every DRK main with the same chestpiece, and the one Reaper I saw with the same getup but in white. I am shaking your collective hands.

Bard

Leaned into the outdoorsman/hunter look for this one. I debated waiting until Valentione's ended to pose in the amphitheatre, but fame is a mantle ill-tailored to Minnie; she'd rather perform for friends than crowds. Not that I've. ever actually used the performance feature...

Machinist

It may look silly when using flamethrower, but there's no real alternative to the platonic ideal of [Gun]. I'm sure you're all shocked to see another military-formal kit as well.

Sometimes it bothers me that so many of these just use Normal Black Glove, but you don't really need anything fancier if the sleeves and cuffs are good on their own.

Dancer

It is. so hard. to find Dancer-y outfits that actually cover the body. Very satisfied when this one came together.

Having second thoughts on the boots, but most other options were pointier than I liked. Not trying to evoke Waluigi, y'know?

Black Mage

Refined and elegant and big metal boots. Another little joke. Very lucky they released that hat; a surprising number of these pieces only came out within the last few weeks. The Appointed flatcap is fine- you've seen it in a couple outfits already- but the puffier look vibes better in general, I think.

Those gloves were the last piece I got before I considered this project complete enough to show off. They took three days to drop.

Worth it.

Summoner

I wanted a heavier look for Ifrit's melee skills and a draconic vibe overall. The Radiant's chest was my first pick, but ended up too monochrome; this still ticks all the boxes and pairs well with the Archfiend gauntlets.

Gonna need a new outfit if Oracle becomes real, though.

Red Mage

Took me a while to settle on this chestpiece. Used to have a lightly-armored look which had a scarf I rather liked, but there kept being too much brown leather for my tastes. This way, though, I can draw narrative connections to Alisaie. Inspiring and being inspired in turn, kinda deal.

Disciple of the Hand

If not for the utility belt, this would make for a perfect casual outfit. And the gloves, but those're on purpose.

Lenny's more keen on the intricate, high-detail work of alchemy and goldsmithing than the blunt routine of armorsmithing and the like. However, the armorsmithing guild has excellent staging, so that's whatcha get.

Someday, I plan to assemble unique outfits for each Disciple of Hand and Land, but for now I am literally out of glamour plates. Desperately hoping they add more by the time 7.0 rolls around.

Disciple of the Land

Did you know? The Disciples of Hand and Land share the base animations of the Paladin! I've exploited that for the action shot. Please do not chop wood one-handed unless you know what you're doing.

I think at this point the outfit speaks for itself, but that coat serves as a good reminder of how expensive this whole endeavor was. Must've cost about a million gil on its own, and that's with the relative discount of buying the materials and crafting it myself! Let alone all the jet-black dye I still haven't bought. I used to have savings in the seven digits...

Blue Mage

Didn't think I'd forgot, didja?

This one's a little special. Millennia uses the guise of Azuro as an escape from the pressures of being World's Savior; this outfit is deliberately gaudier than the others to better create a separate sense of identity.

Sometimes I wonder if using an Allagan outfit on a Meracydian job is in poor taste, but it's already being exploited for bloodsport, so...

...Uh. Azuro?

Whatcha... Whatcha doin' there, bud?

?????

Thank you for reading.

#you will Look at Millennia or there will be Consequences (i'll cry)#millennia #ffxiv #gpose #undescribed #condolences if the readmore fails. this post is Big.#my own wardrobe may be done for now but I'm adequately overconfident to offer my aid to anyone trying to Fashion for themselves #hit me up if you wanna

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peterlorres21stcentury · 2 years

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The 2004 USO Show Disaster

I hope nobody minds if I tell dumb rambling stories from my past, but this actually does have something to do with Peter's movies, so bear with me.

"Poor devils..."

Casablanca is a sheer screenwriting accomplishment and delight, and it will always be linked in my mind with a certain time in high school, when I was in a media class studying World War II era films and communications. I was thrilled about it because it's one of my favorite historical eras, plus I had watched a lot of these movies already. I'm sure my peers appreciated seeing 17-year-old me being a giant nerd. (I remember editing some clips of the Three Stooges and Charlie Chaplin for a separate project that year, and laughing as I played it for the class… but no one else laughed. Not a single person. I'm still incredibly disappointed in them).

Our final project was to put together a USO-style show for the parents and families of everyone in our class. We had three main groups: film, radio, and stage. I was in the film group. My first idea was to recut Casablanca into a 10-15 minute short film, something that would hit all the story beats and high points while remaining true to the style of a real 1940s Hollywood preview. That was, until I found out that the stage group scooped us, and they had already signed up to perform scenes from the Casablanca stage play "Everybody Comes to Rick's."

"Is that so... parasitic?"

I was told to pick another war movie so I went with Alfred Hitchcock's "Saboteur." Mostly because I already had a VHS copy of it, and it's a gripping film. If I had to do it again, I might choose "Passage to Marseille," but I think my classmates were already sick of me chattering about Peter Lorre at every opportunity, and had likely considered abandoning me in the nearest storm drain.

So we all worked on our projects for several weeks, and the night of the USO show finally came. All the parents were there. Some people even dressed up for it. And I have to say, just from my seat in the audience after I presented my project… it was a big flop. Including my own film recut. The sound levels were way too quiet and I had no way to fix it, even after trying my hardest to up the gain. But at least I presented something vaguely interesting (thank you, Hitchcock). All the other groups stank. And that's not me being mean; they seriously had no idea what they were doing. The worst was hearing two students in the radio group absolutely butcher Abbott and Costello's "Who's On First" routine with no sense of comedic timing whatsoever. And they forgot some of their lines. I think I actually sank down in my chair to try and escape the secondhand shame.

As for the stage group performing "Everybody Comes to Rick's," well... tell me, if you had fifteen minutes to present some scenes from the play, which ones would you pick to preserve a sense of the story? The introduction of Rick and Ugarte to kick off the plot with the letters of transit? An emotional scene between Rick and Lois (Ilsa), perhaps? The scene where everyone in the café sings down the Nazis with "La Marseillaise?" Well, we didn't get any of those. Instead the group chose almost every filler scene in the play, with all the other minor characters that nobody remembers, and performed those instead. A… bold choice.

Look, I get that we were all stupid teenagers who didn't know anything, except I did kinda know something about media from this time period, and it bugged me to see that no one else took it seriously. Am I still salty about it almost 20 years later? You bet.

#casablanca #ugarte #peter lorre #tales from my horrible past

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cllnsllvn · 10 months

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Recovering from jetlag - Auckland Week 1

Tuesday, November 28

This photo was the only photo I took all day (with the exception of a screenshot of an audio book that was automatically returned so that I could remember where I left off). Nothing real was accomplished this day. I did plenty of administrative things in the AirBnb and drank lots of tea. I applied for an IRD number (tax identification number), a bank account, and a bunch of jobs. I was so exhausted - the jet lag really took me out! I took an ill-advised nap at 4 PM and woke up in time to find dinner. For a while, I was just eating take aways, because I was very much still in vacation mode. Plus, I think its hard to buy groceries and cook for yourself when you don't know where your next stop is and how you plan to get there. I got takeaway from this place called Bowl'd, and I got a buy one get one free Mexican Fiesta Bowl. I figured this was a harmless purchase, but for some reason, all of the rice was brown rice. Let me tell you, brown rice does not belong in a Mexican rice bowl!

Wednesday, November 29

Before arriving in NZ, I had posted on a Facebook group for Working Holiday Visa holders that I would be arriving at the end of November. Through that post, I met Meg, an Ohioan who was arriving the week before me! We chatted on and off, and Meg gave me tips about getting through the airport, overcoming jet lag, getting the IRD number and bank account, and more.

We decided to go to the Auckland Art Gallery, which has free admission. We saw a couple of very cool exhibits, including a sneak peek of a fashion exhibit that will be on display soon. The last picture above is a series of political caricatures, and the top right is the view of the Sky Tower on the walk there!

Thursday, November 30

Today, I explored Mt Eden Village, which is essentially the main business street in Mt Eden. It was a nice walk from the AirBnb, just up the road. The thing that has been most interesting to me while walking around Auckland is the way the storefronts look. I’m sure it’s unremarkable to many, but it is notable to me!

Every business has a sort of covered flat awning/bump out that has their business name on the outside and hanging down perpendicularly. You can sort of see it in the top picture above? I don't know if it'll make sense to anyone else. Anyway, at the end of my walk, I stumbled upon a Dunkin' in the Auckland wild! The best part was that it shared a lot with a Mobil gas station. A classic MA sighting! Then, I stopped by an independent bookshop and snagged a picture of the staircase leading up to the staff area, as well as a few book recommendations!

Friday, December 1

Mom sent me to NZ with a portable version of the advent chain, which started today! Day 1 was to hang the garland that she also sent with me. She made it from old Christmas cards (I can only assume, I didn't actually ask)!

Today, I went to a virtual training for a job I did not end up accepting. It was a street fundraising job that allowed for traveling all around the North Island. The issue was that it was too much work for what I'm looking for. Yes, you get to travel around the North Island, but how much can you really see when you are working Monday through Friday 10-6 and every other Saturday 10-6, plus (unpaid) travel days on Sunday. But I did treat myself to a nice croissant and a flat white, so it makes up for it. I move out of the AirBnb tomorrow, on to the YMCA hostel in central Auckland!

#New Zealand #travel #Auckland #North Island #airbnb #hostel #working holiday visa #working holiday

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