#stoytelling

[xarrixii]

Chapter_39 : "The Gray Area"

CW: fighting (physical) previous chapter | beginning | masterlist

/ / / / / | ---

Harlow was more than just concerned.

If it was Liam, he would’ve shown himself by now with some loud dramatic entrance. If it was his mother, it meant that she’d finally figured out she’d been making absent payments for several years and was going to sell Harlow’s one hiding spot off to someone else. And he’d probably get fucked over by being inside.

If it happened to be anyone else, they were trying to break in and steal something.

Harlow took out the pocket knife from one of the shadily installed drawers courtesy of Raiden. It was better to avoid fire here. Just to be safe, he made sure the lighter was accessible from most positions.

The rest of the garage door’s code was finally entered and the shabby metal sheet was lifted just enough for the person to get inside. Then it dropped back down to the concrete. Something slid along the floor. Harlow sat crouched behind the counter.

Confident enough to lock themselves inside with someone completely random.

Then they turned off the light.

Okay.

Harlow shifts uncomfortably before quickly rolling out of the way of the body very obviously vaulting over the counter above his head. A crash into the cabinet doors, one of the wooden panels falling off its hinge.

He could vaguely see with the light from the crack under the garage door. The outline of someone who at least vaguely knew their shit.

The knife ended up being held in warning.

Fire pumped out from the person’s fist, forcing Harlow to dodge and move into the open space that was the rest of the generally spacious garage. Harlow cast the knife aside to some corner to instead wrench the fire from this random, careless, pyrokinetic stranger.

He threw it back at the figure, much to their bemusement.

Some angry mumbling and the person ran at Harlow, forcing him to block one of the punches spewing out fire and grab for their arm to yank them past.

The angry bumble of a person made sure to gain their footing back and instantly throw themselves into close-quarters again, where Harlow got a chance to click open his lighter and start heating it up. Which left him with one hand to weave just out of this person’s reach and behind them, kicking their back into the island counter.

A grunt escaped them with Harlow stepping back carefully over the cord connecting his controller resting on the couch to the game station.

He let out a huff when the figure whipped around, barely fazed, and went to run at him again before Harlow strung up a white spread of fire to block the way to normally walk over the cord.

They saw the white smear and moved to duck under it, effectively tripping on the cord with the controller clattering along the floor. Harlow rushed to find the handle on the garage door, failed, and ran the long way around the couch when he heard the person get up behind him.

The person ended up grabbing onto his wrist with the lighter and wrestling it out of his hand onto the floor halfway across the couch.

Harlow managed to kick them back again. It was really the only move Harlow had ever managed to find useful when sparring with Raiden. It was proving itself right again.

Some scarily familiar laughter erupted out of the person with yet another press forward at Harlow trying to gain any sort of distance.

He froze.

Harlow felt himself getting shoved against the island counter, lost in a trainwreck of thought. He probably would’ve crumpled to the floor if not being held up by the person grabbing hold of him to flatten him on top of the counter.

It hurt. The hand holding him down hurt.

The name wasn’t coming out.

“What, you’re just done now? It was finally getting…” the person went quiet when the flame sparked to life again in their still free hand.

“Rai,” Harlow weakly said.

He was quickly pulled off the counter into a standing hug, slumping into the arms that wrapped around him instead.

Harlow had been tired.

So, so tired.

“Fuck, Urb, that’s my bad. Sorry.” Raiden relaxed out of the hug and walked back to the lightswitch, flicking it on.

Harlow slowly let out a chuckle. “You’re good.”

Raiden crouched down and picked up a box from the floor, inspecting it awkwardly before turning back to Harlow with a sheepish grin. “Uh, happy twenty-three, I guess. I was planning on replacing the game station with this, use a sharpie or something…”

“Two months?” He let out some sick form of laughter. When Raiden shook their head and walked back over, laughing along with, Harlow quickly devolved back into recognizing the stupidity of what had just happened.

“Yeah,” Raiden held out the box to Harlow. “Sorry. I probably should’ve called or something. I’m a fuckin’ idiot, aren’t I?”

“Where…” Harlow decided against an instantaneous interrogation upon seeing Raiden’s stupid fucking smirk. He could do that later. “Nevermind. What the hell is that?”

Raiden’s smirk transformed into a grin. “Daffodils. Well—ones that don’t die.”

Harlow hesitantly took the box and looked at the image on it, little plastic daffodils with a piece count in the top left.

“I do have to go back to my hospital room before anyone finds out. I came down here to trade that for the game station and Flash Fire, didn’t expect you to be here. Write a little note and everything. This sounds weird, but if you’re willing to drive me, the motorcycle I took down here, and that game back I will explain everything.”

“Okay,” Harlow breathed. “But, hospital? Wouldn’t I have heard if someone found you by now? I mean⸺”

Raiden visibly winced. “No one found me. It’s why I turned the lights off, nobody is supposed to know that I’m walking about now unless they’re in the loop and everything, I didn’t really want to risk⸺”

“You said you’d explain on the road. We can talk about something else while we go get the truck?”

They waited a second before rolling their eyes.

“I ended up with a lot of time to think in my cell, thing,” Raiden relented in the driver’s seat, tapping the steering wheel. “Storm ended up making a lot of sense. Apparently the cell block division I was in was just a test for Storm ops, but apparently Nacht hurts a fuck ton, so now they’re refusing to let me do anything until I’m cleared.”

“But you can’t tell anyone that you’re… not imprisoned anymore?” Harlow was trying to focus on everything he was being told. It wasn’t working the greatest.

Raiden let out a playful huff. “Nope. It’d get kinda weird, anyway. I know Cinder’s gonna find out eventually and everything, but if you could not tell anyone for at least a while, it’d do me a big favor. Along with not sharing the whole Storm hospital thing.”

“Right.”

The rest of the ride was kept in silence, stars out in the sky by the time they’d parked in front of what was, in fact, a legitimate-looking hospital.

When the truck stopped, Raiden didn’t immediately hop out. Instead, they looked at Harlow sitting anxiously in the passenger. “Hey I’m, sorry I couldn’t make your birthday any, better. And also that I have to go, and that I threw all of this on you.”

“You’re good, Rai,” Harlow said. “One of my best yet, all be as it may.”

Another few seconds of unspoken words.

“Urb, I think you should join Storm.”

next chapter | masterlist

/ / / / / | --- missing a content warning? let me know

i'm not entirely sure how i'm feeling about this fight scene. this is the last chapter i have backlogged, so i should probably get on writing some more.

also i know the header lost a lot of its details but it feels like a little much in its complete version (which you can find on the masterlist).

any feedback on the fight, positive or negative, is welcome on this post.

taglist: @lychhiker-writes, @madeoforgansandtissues, @fins0up

[michelangelob]

Borromini e Bernini: la sfida alla perfezione visibile online

Il docu film “Borromini e Bernini” che è stato proposto nelle sale a maggio 2023, finalmente è disponibile online. Il lavoro cinematografico racconta la rivoluzione architettonica e il genio solitario del Borromini che cambiò per sempre l’aspetto di Roma attraverso una sfida personale alle convenzioni e ai pregiudizi, con l’umiltà di apprendere dal passato per inventare il futuro, con il…

[teenwolfpackincorrectcaptions]

Stiles: I just don’t get it! Why didn’t Dean get together with Castiel? They had such a good dynamic!

Derek: Yeah

Stiles: The whole development from we-don’t-like-each-other-but-we’ll-still-save-each-other’s-lives to I-would-literally-die-for-you!

Derek: Yeah

Stiles: All the married couple bantering and the eye-fucking!

Derek: Yeah

Stiles: I mean, Dean is clearly bisexual!

Derek: Yeah

Stiles: And okay, Castiel can be a bit grumpy and socially inept, especially when it comes to showing or talking about feelings, but come on!

Derek: Yeah

Stiles: It’s so frustrating! Why can’t Dean see it?

Derek: Dean is a bit oblivious. But it’s okay, Castiel still loves him.

(source)

[socialbunny]

bro its so fucked up but its so funny that angela and lilith’s birthdays are on the same day but they only threw the party for angela and only got one cake and then told lilith to sit out in the living room while they have the party and NOBODY else said anything

[crimson--corvid]

ooc :: Sorry I've been gone for so long! I'm sill battling writer's block. But since some pretty big stuff happened in the RPC here I'm going to make a post regarding it.

I no longer associate my muse (on this account or any others I play) with the-blackened-dove or any of their attached muses. Any canon involving them has been retconned or modified to match new canon.

[smileyfacemojisworld]

EAH questionnaire to get to know each EAH fan better

Fav character from both genders and side, mine is Briar, Dexter, Cerise and Hunter

Character that you look most like, mine is a cross between Briar and Cerise (coincidence?)

Character whose personality you’re most like, mine is Lizzie

Favourite ship, mine is Daring X Cerise

Favourite Special Edition, mine is Dragon Games or Way Too Wonderland

Favourite Webisode, mine is Cerise’s Picnic Panic

Any EAH merch you have, I only have the diary

Whose dorm you want, I want Ramona’s or Maddie’s

What class you would take, I would take Creative Stoytelling

Whose pet you’d rather have, I would have Nevermore

Tag someone?🥺

@eahravenmh, @everafterwhat, @folksyfairy, @zvmz, @mirrornetsblog, @athena-xox, @everafterhighliveaction, @stealeroflemons

[fairykukla]

The Horny Paladin and the Prissy Bard

This is a pair of atypical builds for the character class. Everyone thinks of Paladins as being uptight, right? And Bards are the sluttiest?

Well, I present to you Tiffany and Tilly.

Theophania was stricken ill as a small child. The illness left her crippled, so her parents brought her to the temples of many gods and goddesses to be healed. At the temple of the Goddess of bounty and fertility, the priestesses were able to nurse her back to strength, but warned her that they were unable to restore her fertility, which was destroyed by the sickness. She decided to devote her life to the service of the goddess.

The local temple found her to be an apt pupil and taught her well, but she wasn't interested in becoming a cleric.

The Goddess appeared to Theophania in a dream in the form of a golden rabbit and implored her to go forth and share her bountiful love with the world. The Goddess promised her that if Theophania served her well, she would be rewarded with many children.

Due to the turmoil in the world she thought it best to learn how to defend herself and be a strong arm to those weaker than her. She studied the Arts Martial and became extremely proficient with her Crossbow.

Her Sister Matilda loved music, and stoytelling through song. She sought out the Harpers, bards, storytellers and musicians and learned how to play many instruments. She collected songs, and wrote new songs from the stories she encountered. She was supportive to her sister's training and agreed to become a sparring partner for her. Thusly, she learned about combat and defense.

Theophania, in turn, was her sister's first and best audience. Matilda had sat by her side during her illness and sang comfort to her. As they grew up, she would beg for more stories and songs. Despite being puzzled by the convoluted storylines of the great chivalric romances ("Love triangle? Why didn't they just all go to bed together?") she loved to hear Matilda's voice.

Now, they travel together and bring light to the world wherever they can.

Tilly can capture your attention with a masterful song, but is not interested in sneaking out to the hayloft thank you very much. She dreams about courtly love and elaborate courtships and is genuinely flustered by anyone's advances. Do not grapple with her. She knows joint locks.

Tiffany is adept at swordplay, and genuinely terrifying with her ranged weapon. She'd still rather negotiate. After all, the best way to "defeat" an enemy is to make a new friend, right? She is highly likely to fuck her way out of trouble. Or into. Or into and then out of trouble. "I only do hand-to-hand in bed."

[unityrain24]

Saw your tags about Star Wars, it seems Star Wars stans and modern MCU stans are two peas in a pod. :/

im not entirely sure which tags you were referring to, because i have reblogged several starwars posts with Tags, but honestly, the mcu and starwars really are two peas in a pod. And im honestly surprised there isnt more comradery/comparing between the fandoms

both started out as, while definitely not "high art" or anything, legitimately good enjoyable films, with relatable characters the audience could feel empathy and compassion for, exciting new powers and places, fun and adventurous stories, and more, which instantly became beloved classic that people thought about with nostalgia and pleasantness. And they were and by people who cared and the people who watched them were compelled to care and create communities.

But then both franchises saw a shift, from making films from a passionate and moneymaking point of view, to purely making films from a moneymaking point of view. While star wars saw this happen with the franchise being picked up a few years after to make sequels, the mcu's shift happened more gradually, since there was no time in-between making movies.

now, while i would not consider myself a StarWars Fan, my sister and cousins most definitely were, so i had to watch basically everything in order to keep a conversation with them (not that i didnt enjoy it, i quite liked it and all the lore, it just didnt hold the special place in my heart that thing i consider myself a Fan of do). I've watched the movies, the clone wars series, rebels, the mandalorian, etc all the way through. It's been a while since i was keeping up with everything, so forgive me for not having quite a comprehensive understanding and opions of it as i did say, 3-4 years ago lol.

But the starwars sequels are a lot like the latest phases of the mcu. While i cant remember if they explicitly go against any prestablished canon like the later mcu phases do, they definitely go against the spirit and point/purpose of the original (and even prequel) films.From what i remember, the sequels also had went through several different directers and had direction and script changes and was a whole mess, so even the three films were sort of inconsistent or at the very leat felt oddly-thrown together (<-i may be wrong on the specifics of that its been a while. but it was something along those lines). Also like the later phases of the mcu, they relied a lot on the "nostalgia factor" with not only easter eggs but bringing back old ideas, concepts, plots, even characters, since it "worked so well the first time," when really what the "first time" did was think of new things, present old things in new ways, and tell make art from a place of passion, community, and connection, rather than a "whats the least i can do to make the most money" mindset formula (a point brought up a lot by @therese-lokidottir on many of their recent mcu critiques).

Starwars, unlike the mc, did have a brief period of "redemption" where it looked like the franchise would be saved and given back to the hands of people passionate about starwars, stoytelling, and film, with stuff like the final season of clonewars, the mandalorian, and a few other things. That was a great time to be a starwars fan. I wasn't even a fan, and it was kind of magical for me. But now it seems like they are back of the capitalist art-destroying path, hard. They have been pumping out series after series after series (once again going for the "nostalgia" thing, bringing back the clonewars artstyle, several beloved characters, and more), but it all feels so hollow. The stories feel more like they are just putting in a whole bunch of "wow, thats so shocking" and sewing them together with "hey i loved that character!". The costuming and makeup is absolute trash. The worst by far is hera (an alien character from the animated Rebels series, showing up live-action in Ahsoka). It is hideous. I have seen cosplays of her better than what the actual multi-bullion-dollar corpoation disney with all the best resources put on that screen. The costume looked like it was from spirit halloween, the makeup looked patchy and strange, they left out simple details of her design, and all the colours were Off. Examples:

Hera in Rebels:

Hera Cosplayers (x and x):

Hera in the Ahsoka Series: (it is like. seriously disconcerting to me)

and again, the costuming was not the most pressing point. Its actually relatively low on the list of points of everything bad with current starwars. But its good for a visual example. My sister and my cousins loved starwars. Passionate. Ahsoka was one of my sister's favourite characters. She couldnt even get though a full episode of ashoka. I havent heard anything new of starwars from our cousins, either. And we see eachother relatively often. I havent watched a new starwars thing in like... forever now. And it seems like neither have they. And not because they got sick of starwas, i can tell you that. They got sick of the new starwars being pumped out and shoved down their throats where the only things that resembled what they had loved were twisted into something else. Which, at least in my experience, is far, far worse than if they just ended things ubruptly and unfairly. At least mutilated corpse can rest.

The mcu's decline was, again, more gradual, like boiling a frog. Thor ragnarok is where i would probably pinpoint the beginnings though. I didn't like it at first, because it was out of character, sort of reversed elements of the character's well-developing character arcs , narratively picked on some characters more than others, etc. But, it was still a well-beloved film by many, in-universe explanations for why the characters, arcs, and plots were so different could be plausibly thought up, it was fun and unique, and i could make myself ignore the bad parts and focus on the good and enjoy it for a while. But by the time the loki series came out? There wasnt even any of that anymore. No passion. No community. No love of art. No respect for the previous artists and their art, that the new makers were supposed to honour and continue. While ragnarok's morals of the story could be a little iffy at times (attempting to critique colonialism/imperialism, but falling flat because mocking loki for dismantling it; making jokes at points of the film where it was a little inappropriate), the loki series was straight up horrifying. Perhaps most noteably, fucking. GLORIFYING AND EXCUSING/SYMPATHIZING FASCISM??? and labeling genocide as a "necessary evil?" (though, once again, that was not the only immoral "moral" the series preached). Disgusting. And the MCU is pumping out way more films than starwars, and seem far deeper in the money-lust trenches too.

either way, both are suffering and both are bought by disney (and oddly, both keep giving more and more screentime to the fascist characters. but at least starwars isnt romanticizing it like the mcu is...)

and it hurts so much when something important to you is taken from you, and twisted, and ruined, and its mutilated corpse is hung up on string and paraded around as a puppet before your eyes, and burned into your mind even when you finally tear yourself away. And then swarms of people thinking your ridiculous for caring so much about something so unimportant, and others defending the very monstrosity that did this.

But its not ridiculous or silly or inferior to be attatched to a fictional character or fictional world or fictional story or whatever. They can provide comfort, and ways to explore and understand and even come to terms with yourself (or even others!) (and can be especially important coping mechanism for mentally ill people!). And art is a such an innately human thing, for us to express ourselves, and communal art (like film!) is a tradition across humanity and time!

And with the whole thing with people these days defending/denying what capitalism is doing to art, and denying the notion that art has any influence or effect on "real life"... why are these such absurd concept to you, that you liken to some crazy conspiracy theory? Are you really so blind as to not see it happening before you? Is the blindfold over your eyes really so soft it feels like nothing there? They say a bird who doesnt know its in a cage thinks its free. These people seem to think that drastic, unfair, unjust, immoral, inequal changes and systems are only things of the past. And often, the past doesnt feel real. Dinosaurs and the roman empire and some genocide in some faraway land in some faraway time can at times seem just as unreal as mythical creatures and stories. And even if such terrible things were to happen now, surely theyd be able to see it coming. But things like this dont change in an instant. They are gradual. Like boiling a frog. You dont notice. And even if things arent the worst they can be, and never become the worst they can be, they are still bad. Things arent required to be certified the worst of worst in order for change to be allowed to happen. The worst of the worst isnt even a thing.

Our art is being taken from us. We are being overworked and underpayed. Our whole lives are dictated by how "valuable" we are. Our environments are being polluted and decimated and our planet is becoming more and more inhospitable. Racism and queerphobia and ableism and more are taking lives. And none of those things are at the very worst they can be. They could all be much, much, much worse. But we shouldnt just sit around and be grateful its not worse and do nothing more, nor should we deny anything is wrong at all. If you had cancer youd want to do what you could to get better. If you If broke your leg youd do what you could to make it better. Even if you just accidentally cut your hand or finger while chopping vegetables, youd bandages it up. We always should try to make things better.

We deserve to have our art continue to be art. Just as we deserve all the much more pressing areas of our lives to be better too

Anyways, marvel and starwars really are two peas in a pod. And that pod is with other pods, and the plant those pods share is film. Or perhaps even art as a whole. The mcu and starwars are just really good examples of whats happening right now, because not only does it feel like perhaps its hitting them the most, but also because since they are such large franchises, you can really see and document the progression of whats happening with each instalment.

two peas in a pod :( <3

[equinoxts2]

So... I don't know if I'll come back to blogging about Kulo Sena. I'm back to playing TS2, but it's the solo-RPG spinoff hood that I won't be sharing pics or gameplay from, where I'm testing out some of my new ideas. And since that's just for me, it's making me rethink whether I want to share my KS gameplay on simblr.

My reasons for stepping away include: less pressure on my worldbuilding, stoytelling and landscaping skills; reconnecting with what I actually want to do with the Senaverse rather than what I think will get me likes; not having to pause and take screenshots every five seconds, then spend ages sorting and editing them; not feeling obliged to protect particular sims from bad ROS because I downloaded them from a simblr friend.

Maybe one day I will come back to blogging. Maybe not. But for now, I'm hanging up my screenshot program and just playing for me. I'll still be around to like and comment, but don't expect any gameplay updates. There may, however, be a few zany worldbuilding posts now and again - I keep thirteen scrapbooks and counting, some dating back to 2011, full of inspirational screenshots and gameplay ideas I've collected, and who knows, maybe my ideas on how to use game mechanics in a different way will be useful for someone.

[babblingstacey]

Gerdie the Super Sim

I've found myself not keeping with my storylines and getting stressed out over taking screenshots the past few months - also my computer has been in use for other things so I couldn't play. But I decided to do a chill Super Sim challenge and I've brought back Gerdie to do it. And it worked - I had fun playing this so I'm going to continue. I'm using James Turner's Super Sim tracker (yes, I link to his site a lot, but I really like the tools he has set up).

I thought about using a totally new Sim for it - getting all the infant, toddler, child & teen milestones - but honestly, that didn't sound much fun so...it's Gerdie, since she had a lot of things out the way all ready. With that thought process, I probably could have gone with one of my Globetrotter Sims since they completed a lot already. But honestly? I missed her. I moved her to a completely new save so I don't have to worry about her past story and her skills/traits would carry over. My plan is also to move her to different worlds and build her a new house, since I really like building and I'll get bored if she has to live in the same place all the time.

No idea how much I'll be screenshotting/posting, but since I finished a season, I thought I'd start keeping track here of all of her accomplishments.

Gerdie Visser-Pancakes

Traits: Genius, Loves the Outdoors, Socially Awkward Outgoing, Clumsy, Lactose Intolerant (Had 2 popups if she wanted to change her trait from Socially Awkward to Outgoing so I decided to go with it. I decided that's my rule)

Current Residence: Mt Komerabi

Likes: Idealist Sims, Homebody Sims, Gardening, Black, Purple, Handiness, Cooking, Dancing, Knitting, Skiing, Rock Climbing, Fitness, Photography

Dislikes: Yellow

(I say yes to any new like - except music genres, because they annoy me with the wants. I don't remember why she dislikes yellow and I haven't received any other dislike requests)

Progress under the cut.

End of Summer, year 1

Current Completed Aspirations: Nerd Brain, Mt Komerabi Sightseer. (plus Whiz Kid as a child).

Aspirations In progress: Extreme Sports Enthusiast, Lady of the Knits, Curator, Fabulously Wealthy (passive), Renaissance Sim (passive)

Current Career: Scientist (level 8)

Completed Careers: Scout, Chess Team Member.

Current Completed Skills: Handiness, Logic, Skiing (plus all toddler and several child ones, but I can't find that info)

Very Close to complete: Rock Climbing (level 9), Cooking (level 9), Fitness (level 9)

Reward Traits: Always Welcome, Gym Rat, Observant, Speed Cleaner, Great Stoyteller, Heat Acclimation, Cold Acclimation, Waterproof, Morning Sim, Night Owl, Speed Reader, Strom Chaser, Free Services, Entrepreneurial, Frugal, Independent, Steel Bladder, Carefree, Savant, Brave.

On to fall - need to work on snowboarding before we move - and get that last animal attack to finish the Extreme Sports.

[mint-in-the-moonlight]

reinterpreting Vaermina

as I have written in my previous post on interpreting the daedra, if we want to engage with the daedric princes and worship them without doing a bunch of messed up stuff that daedra worshippers are said to do in Tamriel, we need to find an alternate way to approach the princes.

Vaermina is no different, and is associated with a lot of bad stuff and her worshippers are said to also engage in many harmful acts and that's not something we should be trying to replicate. however, as i have proposed previously, we could engage with the lore and the games as myths and therefore we do not need to literally believe that a deity did certain things or that their worshipper did blood sacrifices (in my interpretation, in the world of Tamriel stories like these are intentionally spread to paint the daedric princes as evil and thus discourage people from worshipping them, but that's just a theory... A GAME THEO- *gunshot*).

Vaermina is associated with dreams and nightmares, as well as evil omens and corruption. She is often believed to be the cause of bad dreams, using them as a torture device or punishment. But if we put all of the bad press aside, we could instead see Vaermina as a deity of sleep, dreams and nightmares, who sometimes communicates through them. From my understanding of the lore, she also seems to be seen as interacting with memories and divination. Thus dreams could be one of the ways that she communicates with the mortal plain and maybe she could also have a relation to prophetic dreams, and for example astral travel and lucid dreaming (all of this is UPG territory btw).

to delve even deeper into my personal UPG, i see Vaermina as being related to many mental themes, and thus we can extend that to for example creativity, concentration or inspiration. More closely tied to her original spheres, she could also be related to naps and regaining energy, or stoytelling, as dreams often have some sort of story, and the subconscious.

that is not to say that Vaermina has to be 100% positive, just as dreams and nightmares can be scary, memory can be fickle and creativity elusive. but we do not need to see the daedric princes as only evil and can find ways to incorporate them into our practice and worship if that is something we wish to do, without feeling some sort of guilt or shame for engaging with deities deemed "evil" in their source material.

[xarrixii]

Chapter_38 : "Long Drive"

CW: previous chapter | beginning | masterlist

/////|

Maybe it was their overconfidence talking.

Alph idly ran their hand along the unfamiliar motorcycle that they’d been given to avoid drawing suspicion with the cars actually under their name. Which, sucked. Alph sort of wanted to just lie back in their truckbed for a while out near some park and think.

The option, as a missing persons, was definitely not available.

So here they were, staring at a traffic light to turn green. Wishing they had more than a smartwatch to talk to.

That was a lie. Nobody knew Alph was even out here right now. If they used the smartwatch, their location would get pinged, they’d be questioned, and they would end up bored in their hospital room again. Throwing a ball at the wall or something.

Something like that.

Alph started up again when the light finally switched. They had one goal, and one goal alone, which was to nab the copy of Flash Fire and their game system from the garage and take it back to their room.

They’d tell Urban later.

Speaking of…

Alph pulled to the side of the road before taking out their phone and waiting the minute or so for it to power on completely to check the date. All they remembered was that someone mentioned it was November. Which meant Alph kept really bad time in their cell.

Really bad time, Alph cringed. Motherfucker.

Alph had missed turkey. Skated four days past it, big exclamation points all over their phone calendar. They could still see the post-it notes probably covering their bedroom wall.

NOVEMBER 27 (!!!!!!!)

URBAN (SUPER IMPORTANT DO NOT FORGET)

Someone honked at Alph as they whizzed by, snapping Alph out of their trance to pocket the phone and start rolling again.

That, sucked. A lot. If not for the no-text no-call stuff, Alph would be all for calling him up. Talking about anything for three hours while the sky turned dark. Falling asleep in the middle of fuck nowhere, going back to normal…

No. Alph shook off the urge to shake their head. Going back to normal isn’t worth it. There are things that need to be done.

Alph had too many things to think about.

Missing Urban’s birthday. Being stuck doing nothing until they were told to do something. Getting to know someone who wasn’t just their uncle. Convincing Urban this was the right thing to do. Getting a game to play during their downtime. Becoming someone actually worthy of A-class pyrokinetics. Missing Urban’s⸺ Oh, fuck it.

Alph would take one detour. One. Something to leave at the garage in place of Flash Fire.

They had money, right?

Yeah. Yeah, the, card. Not their Alph debit card. The R.W. one that they were given a few days ago with the rest of their stuff. Nobody should care too much. It’d probably be more understandable.

It would definitely ping Alph outside of their room, but that was a small price to pay.

Alph had ended up getting a box of those buildable plastic flowers.

They went straight to the garage after, only realizing as they were carrying the box while driving how difficult it would be to bring the game station and the copy of Flash Fire back.

A truck would’ve made this so much easier.

Alph turned the motorcycle off after pulling up next to the garage, hearing the sound effects of a game as they hit one of the electronic lock buttons to put in the code.

The sound effects stopped after Alph pressed the button. They heard the fight music that still played on the pause screen. Raiden fight.

Alph put down the box of plastic flowers yet to be built.

The music turned off.

Who the hell was in their garage?

next chapter | masterlist

/////| missing a content warning? let me know

well well well, be it the return of alph in the present day? ask to be added/removed from the tag list at any time.

almost freaked out because i wasn't able to copy/paste my tags anymore--just separated each phrase with a comma on my doc and pasted it into the tags and worked like a charm.

taglist: @lychhiker-writes, @madeoforgansandtissues, @fins0up

[michelangelob]

Giovanni Stradano: la prima retrospettiva a Palazzo Vecchio in occasione dei 500 anni dalla nascita

Giovanni Stradano, al secolo Jan van der Straet, nacque a Bruges nel 1523, 500 anni fa. Per celebrare l’importante cinquecentenario, Palazzo Vecchio per la prima volta gli dedica una retrospettiva: un omaggio dovuto all’artista fiammingo che molto operò per la città nella quale scelse di vivere fino alla fine dei suoi ottantadue anni. “Giovanni Stradano a Firenze 1523-2023. Le più strane e belle…

[lyr-caelum]

The way you draw Sirius!! He's so cuuuuuute 🥺❤️❤️❤️ Just curious, are you a self-taught artist or are you a professional? Your work is mindblowing - and you say this is your first comic??

hey, thanks! I'm really happy that you like it!

Yes, basically I've been drawing on my own all my life, I studied Film at the university and I spent many years without drawing until I decided to do a master in illustration and 2D animation.

(I still don't dare to animate something Wolfstar but who knows, maybe one day when I have a lot of time I'll do it).

Currently while I work I'm studying storyboarding on my own, because I would love to dedicate myself professionally to draw stories, that's why I started to draw scenes from ATYD, because I needed to reference from written things and practice my character design, as an exercise to improve my visual stoytelling.

I never thought that people would like me drawing ATYD scenes so much and in the end, one thing led to another, and I realized that I would love to see the whole story drawn. So I said, why not? The truth is that I'm learning a lot doing this and I see myself slowly becoming more and more capable of being able to tackle creating my own stories and comics in the future.

I love this story and these characters so much, because I feel that in some way they heal my inner child, and if I can learn, experiment and other people enjoy the process too, it's a win win Right?

[igraine-ohnefurcht]

Avatar Live Action Opinions (ep.1-4)

Yes to all the casting, the Sokka casting still irks me, but the rest: perfection.

Showing the destruction of the air temples wasn't necessary. I'm not mad about it, but it didn't make the genocide clearer than Aang's reaction would have.

I'm okay with Gran Gran doing the speech

Iroh and Zuko are great. Love them and the Zuko actor actually has comedic timing which I was afraid they would take away from the character.

The whole Azula and Ozai introduction...I don't know. Stoytelling wise okay, you probably had to do that and Daniel Dae Kim is an actor you shouldn't hide. I still think it's too early and they could have made the Firelord work as a shadowy figure instead.

Also not sure about "fire nation resistance". The fire nation wants war. They see themselves as superior and so far the live action hasn't shown that. Yes they are victims of propaganda and of this war machine that's in every aspect of their lives, but they are also complicit. Now it seems like they are against their regime but just not powerful or brave enough for the resistance. Did/Do real oppressive regimes have resistances? Sure, but the narrative choice to show these first instead of, idk, normal citizens celebrating Ozai makes the narrative clear that they want to show the fire nation as victims instead of a people complicit in their leaders crimes. It fits what is coming up more and more, like "Germans were victims of Hitler". No, not really. And making Germans seem like that takes away the responsibilty to do better (And yes I know, it's more styled after Imperial Japan). I'm also afraid of what that may change around the narrative. Why doesn't Aang try to find a fire nation resistance group to lear fire bending. Why is Jeong Jeong a bitter recluse instead of a high ranking resistance fighter? We'll see how they work with that.

There is A LOT happening in Omashu. I get why, but be warned.

Jet and the rest? Perfect again!

Danny Pudi <3

SECRET TUNNEL SECRET TUNNEL

Oh Bumi. I forgot he's played by Utkarsh. Love him.

Do I remember the "love is brightest in the dark" wrong or did they just change it?

Leaves from the Vine made me cry again. Zuko and Iroh make me cry. I know, I'm repeating myself but they're perfect.

Yay Teamwork

[the-knight-of-the-stars]

Son of Neptune. First reading thoughts:

— Ok, I actually read this two months ago, but forgot to post it, so this is a short review, beacuse my thoughts are a little scrambled now.

—Let me tell you, when I got on the "Heroes Of Olympus" ride, I thought it would be a diferent story, with totally diferent characters and I was on board with it.

I went expecting AT MAX a cameo from Percy. Imagine my excitement when I saw "Percy" written in the firts chapter.

—I really missed Percy guys.

—And I really hate Juno

—“But be warned, you will sacrifice much! You’ll lose the mark of Achilles. You’ll feel pain, misery, and loss beyond anything you’ve ever known. But you might have a chance to save your old friends and family, to reclaim your old life.” BITCH EXCUSE ME?? JUST LET HIM BE HAPPY.

—Ok but, Camp Jupiter sounds so cool???!! I adore roman architecture, it was a delight to read about the temples, the baths, everything, ughhh. I kind of liked it more than Half-Blood Camp

—Ok, more new characters!

— I adored Hazel and Frank, I'm loving how unique and intereresting all the new characters are.

—My poor Hazel, like are we gonna talk about how she DIED?? In a horrible way??. She was dead for YEARS. And the whole thing with her mother losing her mind and the cursed stones, and all that wtf.

And she is super little too, she is like what, thirteen?? She is still a kid, most of the others are borderline teenagers by now (wicj is still horrible, but like??). She even has like, trauma black outs. Poor girl, I dont think we focused enought on how messed up everything she went through was.

— Also her powers are really cool. Like her power controling gems?? Earthbenders who???

—Frank was amazing too, I kind of guessed his father was Mars, and I love the contrast beacause Frank is adorable.

—All the buildup to his special power being turning into animals was AMAZING. That power is so incredible, I was so excited when the reveal happened.

—I love Percy so much. He takes ONE look at the god of war and is like "I may not remember anything, but I remember you're a bitch."

—Reading Mars claime Frank felt like watching that one kid's dad who was way too intense with anything regarding his child, and would passive-agressively fight with the teachers during school making it akward to anyone because nobody could tell if he did all that for his kid or for himself.

—The only thing Percy remembers is Annabeth HOW ADORABLE IS THAT

—Reyna was cool too, I thought she was a very fun and cool character, I hope we see more of her.

—Octavious was annoying af. He tried to be creepy but I know who you are sir, and what you are is cringe.

— You are telling that, while Groover was traumatized in The Lighting Thief because he had seen so many demigod kids at Camp Half-Blood die before they turned into teenagers, the vast majority of the demigods in Camp Jupiter were just... fine? Thriving? Living their lives?

—Not Nico pleading insanity the second he sees Percy and lying to his face. MY BOY WHAT ARE YOU DOING.

—The whole book it was hurting me that Percy didn't remember anyone or any past adventures.

—Loved Ella, such a fun character.

—AMAZON, is from the AMAZONS?? I... sure why not

—I was not expecting the circe island adventure to come back in any way, ever. It was pretty interesting to see that conflict with Percy, Reyna and her sister.

—Mars gave Frank... a zombie. Yeah, alright.

—It was so cool to see Thatanos, I was excited the whole book and it did not disapoint. I loved how he is potrayed, that aura, his beauty .

—AHA! THEY MENTIONED EROS (or cupid, whatever). SO YOU DO KNOW HE EXISTS, RIORDAN.

—"Death has more in common with love that you might imagine" Oh yes, give that methaphoric stoytelling to me.

—It actually caught me by surprise that death was a recurring theme on this book. Hazel and Frank coming to therms with their experience with mortality, the exploration of grieve, the almost philosophical discussions abut it (some even coming from Mars, wich has even more meaning) On top of the whole mission being to free the literal Death.

It was fascinating to explore characters with these themes, and it made a lot of the scenes between Percy, Frank and Hazel very touching.

—All the final battles were amazing, I enjoyed them a lot.

—Oh right, and Tyson was here! I loved to see him again.

—Okay the thing about Leo looking like Sammy is making my head hurt. Is it goint to turn out he is like his grandson or something?

—The way I screamed when the book ended. JUST WHEN THEY ARE ABOUT TO REUNITE.

—Ok, I've restrained myself from reading the next book for long enough, I'll go read it now.