#thankfully i have had them blocked for some time and I recommend you do the same

[still-searching-for-something]

I like to imagine @gryficowa had an a Polish ancestor who was obsessed with barging into Jewish ghettos and spaces and being as loud, obnoxious, and antisemitic as they could be, and all the Polish Jews in those days would roll their eyes and remember That Specific Goy because that one was especially annoying. Like Rolff Stone-Fist spending his nights being loud and drunk in the Grey Quarter lmao. There's something amusing to me about the idea that @gryficowa could be following in their ancestor's footsteps and Jews have been rolling their eyes at their stupidity for generations

[hananoami]

Xavier's Directional Orbit: Light - Stage 130 Clear + Vod

I realize this post clear write up is hella long over due, but July was such a busy month for me between balancing irl schedules and processing those Illusio Requests (which were more time sensitive). Nevertheless, for record keeping, Xavier and I cleared his Directional Orbit: Light - Stage 130 on July 22nd!

Some important information to know before challenging Xavier's Stage 130 is that you will need two teams. Team 01's protofield Stellactrum is 5-Emerald and 1-Pearl. Team 02's Protofield Stellactrum is 5-Amber and 1-Ruby.

By having a ’perfect match’ with the Protofield Stellactrum you will receive additional attribute bonuses (for every color you match increase DMG boost 5.0% and DMG reduction 5.0% up to 30.0%), as well as the ability to shatter two protofield shields in a single strike.

For this stage I opted to match the colors for each team. The bonuses of having a perfect match was more optimal rather than me trying to brute force it. I also decided to use Xavier's Lumiere companion for both fights; more about that below.

Looking back at this stage I'm pretty sure my first few run was with Lightseeker Companion in the first half. I actually had difficulty grouping up the 4 wanderers together since none of them seem to want to be near each other in order for me to utilize Luminescence Blade's Active skill for cleave damage. This is why I opted to use Lumiere companion instead of Lightseeker here; I needed his control abilities.

My advice is to focus on the Carmine Talons first and then eliminate the Elysian Lacertus. Kindly overlook my messy game play, but in my clear vod you can see that I can have the Elysian Lacertus come to me instead of jumping all over the place while I focused on the Talons. Having Lumiere's Support Skill, Lunar Vortex, made it easier for me get all the wanderers grouped up together while we did AoE damage. It was such a close fight, but thankfully my Ardent Oath came up in time.

For the second half of the fight, I don't want to say it was a joke but... Lumiere really is the best. His Passive Skill, Moonfall, is so broken when combined with Moonchaser's Active Skill, Moontide. That's why, if you have R2 Lumiere, having 2-Expedited Energy Boost beta protocores on Lumiere is BiS is highly recommended. If you don't have Lumiere ranked up I would still equip 1-Expedited Energy boost with 1-Oath Recovery Boost beta protocore at 11% in order to use Ardent Oath twice.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Unfortunately, I don't have screenshots of my stat attributes or have any recollection of which protocores I used for this fight. I'm also unable to recreate those stats I used for this fight because I've upgraded his memories and protocores since then.

EDIT: HUZZAH~! I FOUND THE MISSING SCREENSHOTS. They have been included along with any other information I could pull from them below.

So we'll just go off with what information I do have from my clear vod. If anyone has any questions or concerns about this particular stage I would be happy to help!

TEAM 01

Companion: Xavier's Lumiere [ DPS | Burst | Control ] Weapon: Moonchaser (guns) [ DPS | Sustained | Single-target ] Attribute Bonus For each matched stellactrum, increases DMG Boost 5.0% (currently increased: 30.0%) and DMG Reduction 5.0% (currently increased 30.0%). ♡ Affinity Bonus: 104 (Xavier’s Protective Skill) When you take a fatal blow, Xavier teleports to you, blocks a hit, and counter attacks. Enemies will be knocked back. [ HP xxx || DEF xx || ATK xx ] Pair Bonus [MN] - Starting Effect: increases team DMG by 8%, and reduces team DMG taken by 8%. The Enemy [Moonstruck] is extended by 3 seconds. - Duo Rank 1: boosts Ardent Oath charge by 20%. [Moonlight] will attach 1 stack of [Phasing Moon] to the enemy, increasing DMG dealt by 25%.

5☆ LIGHTSEEKING SHADOWREND (emerald/solar) Lv 80/awakened rank 1 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ LIGHTSEEKING OBSESSION (emerald/solar) Lv 80/awakened rank 3 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ 21 DAYS (emerald/lunar) Lv 70 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ ROMANTIC AFTERNOON (emerald/lunar) LV 70 rank 1 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ FLUFFY TRAP (emerald/lunar) Lv 73 rank 2 using xx SSR protocores

4☆ BEST WISHES (pearl/lunar) Lv 60 rank 3 using xx SSR protocores

TEAM 02

Companion: Xavier's Lumiere [ DPS | Burst | Control ] Weapon: Moonchaser (guns) [ DPS | Sustained | Single-target ] Attribute Bonus For each matched stellactrum, increases DMG Boost 5.0% (currently increased: 30.0%) and DMG Reduction 5.0% (currently increased 30.0%). ♡ Affinity Bonus: 104 (Xavier’s Protective Skill) When you take a fatal blow, Xavier teleports to you, blocks a hit, and counter attacks. Enemies will be knocked back. [ HP xxx || DEF xx || ATK xx ] Pair Bonus [MN] - Starting Effect: increases team DMG by 8%, and reduces team DMG taken by 8%. The Enemy [Moonstruck] is extended by 3 seconds. -- Duo Rank 1: boosts Ardent Oath charge by 20%. [Moonlight] will attach 1 stack of [Phasing Moon] to the enemy, increasing DMG dealt by 25%. -- Duo Rank 2: increases Energy Charge cap by 1. When [Moonlight] is activated, the cooldown time of your Active and Resonance Skill is reduced by 0.5 seconds, and a small amount of energy charge is restored. -- Duo Rank 3: increases team DMG by 8%. When your Active Skill or Charged Attack hits a target with [Moonstruck], [Moonlight] will be activated, boosting CRIT DMG by 30%.

5☆ MIDNIGHT WHISPERS (amber/solar) Lv 80/awakened rank 3 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ MIDNIGHT RAINFALL (amber/solar) Lv 80/awakened rank 3 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ TENDER NIGHT (amber/lunar) Lv 70 rank 1 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ HEARTSTRING SYMPHONY (amber/lunar) Lv 70 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ FAINT SENSATION (amber/lunar) Lv 60 using xx SSR protocores

5☆ UNIQUE AFTERTASTE (ruby/lunar) Lv 80/awakened rank 3 using xx SSR protocores

signal boosting: @hunters-association

[vonpharma]

w[h]ip wednesday: blocked by sicktember edition

welcome to whip wednesday! did you know the sicktember mods blocked me despite me being an avid fan of theirs for years, contributing 60 works and over 190k words, and hyping up their event in my social circles the whole time? i still do not know why this happened! i am pretty sure it's because i posted some very lukewarm critique about how the event was being run, on my personal blog where they had to go digging to find it.

i'm obviously heartbroken and pretty stressed about that but i've got a whole spreadsheet of planning done and a shit ton of fills ready to go so whatever. highly recommend not supporting the event this year or for the foreseeable future (there's talks of a new mod. if you're reading this, wanna unblock me?) because i'm starting to think the event runners might just be mean!

do, however, lavish me with praise. i will be writing sickfic until the end of the fucking universe, and when the new sickfic event makes their grand debut i will be kissing their feet.

here's some franmaya from my day 4!

With a confirmation of their reservation—curious, Franziska’s twisting expression seems to say, why would one need a reservation for a botanical garden?—the single employee standing stationary heaves the lock off the gates. They part as if heralding the arrival of something far grander than two young prodigies celebrating an anniversary—not even a proper one, something far more juvenile. Still, Maya feels nothing short of royal as she’s entering the sprawling, lush grounds—and the wonder sewn into every square of Franziska’s face tells her she’s not alone.

“Maya,” Franziska says, wandering toward the boundless stretch of camellia bushes, “what did you… the whole place is…”

“Empty?” Maya grins. “Yeah, happy anniversary, babe. Go wild.”

And Franziska looks at her like she’s hung the stars. How long Maya has waited for that look.

Because Franziska is rich. Loaded, even. There was so little you could buy for the woman who could buy herself anything, especially on Maya’s comparatively meager income. Her only saving grace was in the fact that Franziska was a workaholic to a fault who rarely thought of leisure, or pleasure, or earthly desires—so much so that the religious acolyte from the mountain commune was somehow less detached from those pleasures than she. Maya couldn’t often pay, but she could conceptualize.

This time, though. A year’s worth of saving, and planning, and praying… and finally, with all her ducks in a line, Maya was able to find a gift befitting of the wonderful creature who’d allowed her a space in their shared life. A few hours in the moonlight, wandering around the emerald sprawl of the biggest botanical garden in all of SoCal, with no one to bother them but the bugs chirping in the thicket.

A Franziskan paradise. A perfect night. Or it would be, if not for…

Another muffled sneeze escapes into the collar of her winter jacket, and it takes all of Maya’s willpower not to groan in sore irritation on the tail end of it. They’re starting to hurt, now, barreling through her with little regard for the shredded state of her throat or the date with the pretty girl she is currently trying to go on. It’s been relentless ever since last night, and Maya had hoped and prayed to Mystic Ami herself that she not be sick on her two-year anniversary that she’d spent ages arranging. As fate would have it, though, even Mystic Ami could not cure the common cold.

(Despite what the dusty tomes buried in the archives back home said….)

Luckily, even overdoting Franziska seems far too distracted right about now to notice that’s what’s happening. If this were any other situation, Maya’s sure Franziska’s searing blues would lock onto her like a vulture that’s just spotted a bloating corpse. Thankfully, the flowers are very distracting.

“It’s all…” Franziska is powerwalking from bush to bush in an erratic, excitable zigzag. “Maya Fey, is this whole garden nothing but camellias?”

“I dunno babe,” Maya sniffles once, twice, “you’re the expert. You tell me.”

Coming to a slow halt, Franziska allows herself to look out across the expanse—flowers as far as the eye can see, still in full bloom despite the bite of winter. In all colours, in all sizes, lit only by the far-off insomnia of the city, the moonlight peeking through the cloudy skies.

“I just—” Franziska turns back to Maya, glowing brightest of all, “—can’t believe the variety here, look at all this…”

Maya wanders closer to her side, feeling sunlit despite the chills that are quickly growing harder to ignore. Franziska kneels down to graze a gloved thumb across a velvety red petal, and Maya squats far less elegantly beside her, tilting her head awkwardly back in an attempt to keep her nose from running. 

“I can’t believe it,” Franziska marvels, “Maya, this is quite literally a historical specimen. You’ve brought me to the home of the oldest camellia in all of Southern California.”

“Yo, for real?” Maya stares at the flower, completely unremarkable to her own untrained eye. “Did this bitch know the dinosaurs?”

“No, nothing like that…” Franziska chuckles, continuing to cradle the flower in her hands as though it is the most precious thing in the world. “They’re Asian in origin. This one in particular is one of a kind, having traveled here from Japan in the 1800s.”

“Woah. Just like me for real.”

As she says it, Maya presses her cheek against Franziska’s own, that brand of endearing obnoxiousness that the two of them loved so much. Their hair bunches and tangles in between them, but Franziska leans into her beloved rather than away.

“I didn’t know winter flowers were a thing,” Maya lies, prompting her girlfriend to spring back to her feet, gesticulating vastly and passionately with her arms. 

“Oh, they’re some of the loveliest flowers in existence!” God, she’s so cute when she’s infodumping. “Camellias are some of my favourite of all, in fact I’d even heard of the breadth of this collection of them before coming to the states! It’s comprehensive reputation is largely the work of a single German botanist who traveled here in 1878, so naturally I was already in the know…”

Ever the savant, she carries on. Maya thinks she could listen to a phonebook being read, so long as it was drenched in Franziska’s wonderful, captivating, rounded accent.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Hi! I have kind of a double situation going on with my sex(?) life right now and I was looking for a little bit of advice? I'm 22 and I'm a virgin, but I've felt a lot more comfortable with like acting sexually than I previously did (I had my first kiss literally a year ago and have made out with a couple of guys since then and gave my ex handjobs)and I like physically want to have sex but I feel like there's a mental block? Like I'll put myself in a situation where I feel like I'll definitely do something, like going over to some guy's house on the first date, but whenever they actually ask me to do anything I just like panic and say no? And thankfully these guys have all respected that, except for one who was pushing pretty hard, but it's just disappointing and frustrating. Part 2 of the problem is the only person I've even like kissed since the beginning of the semester is my ex-boyfriend, who screwed me over so incredibly hard when we broke up but is seemingly the only person who I feel comfortable with in that way even though all my friends hate him and I don't particularly trust him as a person. I know this is reading as more like a rant than a question but basically I just wanted to know if you had any tips for getting over that in-the-moment panic and/or if you think it might be a better idea to like keep putting myself out there and get more comfortable or just like take a boys break?

hi anon,

okay. listen.

there are all kinds of things where "do it scared" is good advice. sex is not one of them!!!

if the idea of having sex is making you panic, just take that shit off the table. there's a huuuuuuge difference between physically wanting to have sex and actually being in a place where that's something that feels safe and comfortable for you. bodies want all kinds of stupid shit regardless of whether it's actually a good idea. my body has days where it wants to stay in bed forever jacking off and eating nothing but peanut butter cups, but I'm gonna feel like hot dog shit if I do that so I don't because my brain that's capable of rational thought and making good decisions actually gets to make that call, not my body.

you don't have quit boys completely, but I would recommend setting the expectation right out of the gate that sex isn't going to be an option. one thing that my wife found effective when he was on the dread dating apps was just putting that he was asexual upfront in his bio, which meant that people he was talking to would (hopefully) not be expecting sex to happen.

the other great thing about managing expectations like that is that you can change your mind at literally any time, like if sex starts to sound Not Terrifying, and let the person (or people) in question know that you've changed your mind. but the best way to get to that point might be taking away the expectation of sex happening at all, to avoid any sense of pressure and let you reach that point in your own time.

if setting that boundary sounds like something you don't want to do, then yes! it is time to take a break from boys and focus on literally anything else!

[destinyislandwanderer]

hey sup! hope you're doing well so, i wanna start writing smut, and i've already got what i wanna do in mind but ideas alone aren't much. so do you have any writing advices? Dos and ONTs for example, or tools to correct my mistakes (since english isn't my first language), vocabulary i should learn etc

Thanks for reaching out! I think it’s awesome you want to write smut, despite the challenge of writing in a second language. I can’t say I’m the best smut writer out there, but I have quantity (if not quality) on my side lol, so here’s what’s helped me.

I started off by reading a lot of smut, and it increased my confidence to see people writing all kinds of niche and bizarre kinks (and see people were reading it too). People love their smut, so if you have any hesitance about writing out your fantasies for stranger on the internet, at least be comforted by knowing someone else will for sure read it and appreciate it. Even if they don’t, I hope at least you will have had fun writing it. One of my dear writer friends once wrote a smut about flatworm sex, so the sky is truly the limit.

I think the biggest stumbling block I had in the beginning was being afraid people would think my smut was weird and cringey, because when you write smut, you are really putting your sexual fantasies out there for the world to consume (and I think the best smut is completely unhinged and unguarded, going straight from your imagination to the page). I do cringe at my older smut writing, so expect that you probably will too, but that’s no reason not to get started.

I reached out to a friend who also speaks English as a second language (and writes a ton of smut), and she recommended this guide for useful vocabulary.

I don’t know how helpful this response was, but I guess I feel like the thing holding most people back from writing anything is believing they aren’t qualified, don’t know how, or are worried people will ridicule their efforts (writing in a second language is another beast to add to the list of challenges). In my estimation, there is no right or wrong way to do it. There are just different styles, and some people will like your style and some people won’t. Thankfully the people who don’t have dozens of other fanfics to choose from, so you don’t have to worry about them.

Of course, the only way to know if you can or can’t is to do it. Thankfully there’s no moderator on AO3 monitoring content for perfect diction, spelling or grammar (if there were, I’d be so fucked), so if you do your best and put it out there, anyone worth a damn will just be glad that someone took their free time to make more smut, and, like I said, the people of AO3 love their smut!

I’m not sure if I answered the question 🙈 I think my writing advice could be summed up as “yes, do it.” No matter the reasons not to, just go for it! I believe in you!

[ian-loves-fanfiction]

Well

I finally finished I See You, Sundrop! by @shirajellyfish

Slight spoily warning!

It is 1:14 in the morning as I write this (editing about a day later) and I have my first day of my senior year of high school tomorrow, but I just had to get all of my thoughts out while they were fresh.

I have never, never hyperfixated on a fanfic so hard. I've never read 400k+ words of a single fic in under a week. Somehow I managed to do that and have time to draw fanart (something I'm pretty sure I've only done once before for a fic, actually) and do my irl life shit.

How, you may ask? By continuously staying up into the wee hours of the morning :D (like 4-6am type shit, don't recommend it even if I think it was personally worth it).

I think I was so hyperfixated on the fic that I honestly didn't absorb the emotions like I should have? I felt things, surprise, excitement, a Sense of Impending Doom (/hj), but I don't think I really felt them.

I was probably a little more dissociated while reading than I usually am lol. I was so absorbed that some things barely registered. I am 100% going to have to re-read everything.

At one point I worried the fic wouldn't have a happy ending. Doesn't have the "angst with a happy ending" tag afaik and it got much worse before it got better. Saw a comment on one of the end notes and was reassured thankfully TvT. I'm very happy everyone is ok.

Love how the after ending note basically boiled down to "everyone is fine and Felix finally got some sleep" lol.

This fic was just. So good. Riley is such a dynamic character, so awesome and so cool. I really want to headcanon them as autistic (some of their behaviors just. They just. It's hard to explain, but if you're autistic too I bet you probably felt it, just a lil. They got the vibes /hj) but I know some authors can be kinda iffy about people headcanoning their OCs (which I get).

It was really cool to see an honest to goodness nonbinary character, a full character and not a self insert or y/n (no shade, I love y/n stories too). It was just cool to see a complete OC, and I love that it was all platonic, even if Sundrop did catch a little bit of feelings.

Honestly I relate so much to that, as someone who gains and loses crushes pretty fast. I'm happy it stayed platonic though and Sunny wasn't hurt or stuck pining or something silly. Plus his absolute embarrassment and mortification at his slip up was pretty funny. Might try to draw it, if I have any left over motivation (the bottom of this post sure is interesting hint hint).

Update as I'm editing this about a day later: I can't stop thinking about this fic. It was just so good! I already want to re-read it but I know I should give it at least a little time so I don't burn myself out. This fic was probably the best story I've ever read. Period. Even better than the published books I've read.

Honestly without spoiling any more than I already have, read it. If you like the DCA, read it. If you like cool nonbinary characters and great platonic relationships, read it. If you like a plot that sneaks up on you before hitting you in the feels like a truck, read. It. Do it. It's sososo worth it, I promise you.

If anyone has some good fics to read (completed preferred but actively updated ones work too) PLEASE FEED ME. Now that I'm done with ISYS I am desperate for more DCA fics. I've read so many and I n e e d m o r e.

Bonus fanart to celebrate my completion I guess(?), embarrassed Sun boy!

I guess I just really like drawing embarrassed boyos. Sorry if it looks weird, I've never drawn a pose like this before :P

Shira if you're reading this, thank you. Your fic was just fantastic. Also thank you for helping me get out of my art block! I had it for the whole month of ArtFight (sadge) but I'm so happy to have some motivation again. Thank you.

[speedofsoundsketches]

I like you’re shadow and jolt comic giving me insperstion to create my own comic with my oc and shadow tbh I pictured my oc and shadow doing the same as shadow and jolt which is giving me courage to do my own comic with them fancomic obviously but do you have any tips on how development of a comic would work how long did it take for you to plan the comic

I've been working on this comic for about five years this coming November. From the start of developing the story to when the first comics were posted, it was about a three or four month long period of early development.

To be honest, I'm never NOT developing the comic. Each update is sort of treated as a self-contained session and while I have a plan of how everything connects, you don't really know how it'll actually work out until you're making the pages themselves and piecing the puzzle pieces together to make it all coherent. If you go to my Patreon, you'll see all the raw, first drafts of my comics and how much they changed in the final pages.

The following are my personal tips but I highly recommend also reading this post by the creator of Lackadaisy on the same subject. I followed her example for my work a lot and thankfully she's open about her secrets. :)

Tip #1: Know what your End Goal is for your comic

A lot of eager hopefuls start with a strong passion for their stories and it seems clear in your head how it will pan out. Over time, your interest starts to dwindle, passion is replaced with procrastination, writer's block occurs and you wonder why this thing you loved so much has become a total chore.

This is often due to not knowing the overall POINT to making your comic at all. What's the theme? The message? What do you and your audience GET out of it?

Shadow and Jolt has a clear progression and ending in mind that all relates to the Themes and Messages I want to impart to my readers. Try dissecting your favorite Sonic stories (or any story in general) and analyze why you like them and what made them impactful to you. Determine their themes and messages then observe how each part of the story, character arcs and such were written to serve them. What were the creators trying to tell you or make you experience?

That's the difference between a story with intention versus one that's confused or directionless. Because even during writer's block, if you know what message you're trying to tell, it gives you a lighthouse to paddle towards and keep you from getting lost in the ocean of vague notions.

Tip #2: Script It Out!

Before I ever drew a single comic for Shadow and Jolt, the first thing I did to help me develop a more solid plan was to write scripts. Some were fully realized with dialogue and action sequences. Others were outlines to help me see the full picture from beginning to end.

I've written over 30 different scripts. Many are just a few pages each but some are about 50+ pages.

And guess what? Every single one of them STINK.

These are not my best work because they don't need to be. They're meant for playing around with character dialogues, motivations, relationships and manner of speech. If a script resonates with me enough, I'll try doing a draft of it in comic form to see how it feels on paper and continue tweaking things from there. It was such a horribly cliche story at first but it's ok because to determine what's wrong, I need to see it actually in front of me and not as some ethereal mess of images in my mind.

Tip #3: Gather, Research and Conceptualize

I cannot stress enough how much doing this has helped with this project.

References I used included the games I liked the most, their production history, interviews with Sonic Team, compiled images/inspirations I found around the internet, etc. I used all this material to strengthen the ideas I had so I could start drawing concepts.

Characters, vehicles, environments.... everything and anything gets concepts. Lots of sketches, sometimes with color. I've possibly gone through almost 10+ sketchbooks for just Shadow and Jolt alone. There were a lot of things that needed testing and fleshing out, especially because it's such a big project. (and I'm just one little ol' me ;-;)

From the beginning, the plan was that Shadow and Jolt would be based on the games so my research was spent digging into the entire timeline and reminding myself of what the games are about and how to capture their essence as close as I can. I'm not sure what setting you plan to base this story on but you'll have a different set of research to do if you plan to include things from something else like Archie, Boom or whatever.

Tip #4: BEWARE SCOPE CREEP

In game development, teams start by deciding on the full scope of the project and settle on what's going to be in the game. The team makes projections on how long it'll take to complete it, set deadlines and then move to act on it.

A few weeks into production, maybe you decide to add a new animated action for the main character. Maybe then you add in a new weapon that will require another full move set to program and animate. Maybe you want to add a new character that you came up with during lunch. Maybe you have a whole extra side quest that adds a whole new plot point that adds even MORE characters who all have unique functions and animations you'll have to make-

See how quickly that can happen? That's scope creep. You start adding way more than was initially planned, thus it ends up extending the time it takes to actually finish the project.

Obviously, it's less dire than a product meant for sale but the lessons are the same. With any changes you make, be mindful of how that's going to effect you getting the story done and if it even really adds anything to your End Goal.

Remember, you only have so much energy in a given day to dedicate to your comic. Manage it wisely!

Tip #5: Live life!

This is a bit of an odd one maybe but for me at least, it's super valuable.

I've mentioned in previous posts how real world experiences helped inspire my comic. Part of what makes Sonic's world feel so lived in is the dedication the team put into making each level feel that way! Sonic Unleashed is maybe the best example of this point. I feel that Sonic was made by people who not only wanted to make a fun game series but who use it to celebrate the actual act of adventure. Living life, seeing new sights, meeting new people, eating unique cuisine, you catch my drift!

Some of my best ideas came from having a lived experience. You won't be able to write authentic stories staying in a bubble of your own making. Outside of my fancomic, I like going on long walks, exploring places or simply hanging out with my friends. So my final suggestion for you is to live a full life and be inspired by it! Nothing beats reality anyway. :)

[linklethehistorian]

I'm curious about 4. and 16. for the choose violence ask!

Sure thing! Since you didn’t specify a fandom, let’s go through them all. ^-^

Under the cut for both length and spoilers for some of the fandoms. lol Proceed with caution as always.

4. what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

Bungou Stray Dogs fandom: Well, I’ve blocked about seven different people in this fandom, actually; for the first five, it was because they were a group of five haters who, by their own self-admission, instead of blocking or avoiding me for the sake of their own mental health when they found my content uncomfortable, continued to keep me unblocked and even actively seek out my page just so they could get angry/upset and then send me harassment in asks and/or vague post about how much they hated me.

Personally, I didn’t care all that much about the vagueposting; as I’ve said in the past, I actually kind of find hate motivational and fueling for my creative fire from time to time, but it was clear that it was getting very unhealthy for them, and since they hadn’t the sense to do it themselves, I simply blocked them from my own end so that they couldn’t see me anymore.

For one of the other two, they just had the worst fucking takes in the world, and their content kept somehow getting recommended to me as being “based on my likes” despite that I had never liked anything similar (or even anything from them), and since I found it to be headache-inducingly bad — and not even in an entertaining way, either — I simply blocked them.

And for the last one, they actually used to be a friend of mine, but they unfortunately seemed to have fallen down into a toxic rabbit hole since our last interaction years ago, and eventually came back and started accusing a close friend (and me, purely by association) of terrible shit for absolutely no reason, so I blocked them. I really do wish them well and that they come back around to their senses someday and realize the error of throwing accusations around simply because you’re still bitter over a breakup, but seeing as that’s unlikely, I’ll spare myself the trouble and just keep them blocked.

Legend of Zelda fandom: I said in a previous post where I listed out answers to all of the questions for this fandom that I’ve never blocked anyone in the Zelda fandom for fandom-related reasons, and that’s true, but I did block someone in this fandom once, for other reasons.

It’s a little bit of a long story, but to put it simply, there was this guy who had been stalking my now ex-girlfriend (mtf, tho she hadn’t come out as trans yet at the time while we were in the relationship) and had created a sock puppet account on a large Zelda forum we were on in order to find out information about me.

The story actually runs a lot deeper than just being a cut-and-dried “oh, he was a creepy stalker who had bad intent” situation — there’s a lot of nuance involved that would take quite a while to dig into and explain — but as I don’t really feel like getting into the whole tale right now, I’ll just leave it at that even tho the guy came clean to me out of guilt shortly after creating the account, it was my ex’s firm insistence that I block him, and so I did as she asked with it. And that was that.

Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel fandom: I’ve never blocked anyone from this fandom, but God has it been tempting sometimes… Thankfully, I don’t follow any blogs that make me feel like that, but if someone’s annoying ass bad takes ever start continually appearing on my recommended like they did with BSD, believe you me I’mma start blocking faster than the speed of light.

Other fandoms: I’ve never blocked anyone in any other fandoms, actually, and I can’t say I really have any active reason to at the moment, as most of them seem chill enough to not be an active and rampant threat unless you go looking for them.

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Bungou Stray Dogs fandom: … sighs …We’re really doing this, aren’t we? Okay. Listen, I want to start this out by saying that I am a huge advocate for AUs and personal canons and ships and whatever else out there in the fictional world that you can imagine — go ham, have fun with it.

That being said, I will never in my life understand the appeal a very specific portion of the fandom finds in the concept that Arthur Rimbaud/Randou is as equally cold, unhinged, and detached as Paul Verlaine — often to the point where people genuinely allow that AU headcanon to skew their view of canon and convince themselves that it is such, when nothing could be farther from the truth (and the truth is actually far more unique, deep, and interesting).

Although the block button has largely solved this issue for me these days, my eyes have unfortunately already seen far too many posts of people talking about how a large majority of the fandom “gets Arthur wrong” because they don’t make him and Paul into this unhinged, cold-hearted assassin duo, and frankly, it’s just bullshit.

You can enjoy and/or ignore whatever the fuck you want in a series for your own personal canon and AUs, but don’t delude yourself and lie to others about official canon in the process because you’re pissy that the uppermost levels of official canon don’t represent certain characters the way you’ve imagined them in your head.

For one thing, if everyone around you is supposedly the issue, and even the uppermost levels of official canon themselves in their original language are supposedly the issue….then I hate to say it, but the only person or thing in need of a reality check is probably you.

Arthur was never an assassin; these people out there who are acting like “oh, Arthur being a spy means he must be cold-blooded and must have committed as many murders as Paul has” are insane; despite what certain stories in media will tell you, being a spy does not necessarily have to ever involve murder, and even if it did, Paul could have easily been the one doing the murdering. Is Arthur 100% innocent? Are his hands 100% clean of blood? No! But canonically, the only 1,000% confirmed act of physical harm he has ever committed was the attempted murder of Dazai and Chuuya, and even then he showed significant hesitation, and only committed to doing that so as to both save Paul and to avoid potentially harming significantly more people should assassins have been sent after him. Is it probable he may have killed people during the faked Arahabaki incident? Yes. Is it probable he may have either directly or indirectly killed at least a small number people while either working as a spy or as a mafioso? Yes. But is it confirmed? No. There is nothing at all that directly, explicitly confirms he himself has ever killed anyone at his own hands. It is likely that he has, but unless it is ever directly stated that he did, it is still technically not canon and thus 100% up for interpretation based on what you would like to believe about him. Until we know otherwise, he could have killed as few or as many people as you so desire.

However, what is not up for interpretation when it comes to official canon is that if these murders did occur, they were absolutely not done in cold blood. True canon — the original JP light novel(s), and, second to that in the canon hierarchy, the original JP Stage Plays — have gone far out of their way to express that Arthur is the farthest thing from a cold, emotionless killer. Despite how some would like to believe, Paul is not his “one exception”; Arthur cares about the lives of literally everyone and feels deep, intense remorse and hesitance over the idea of harm coming to literally everyone. If you think this man is “cold-hearted”, you have not read the actual canon — you have either watched an adaptation that took some massive liberties and not looked past that, or you have made up a story in your head based on what you would have preferred, and you refuse to accept the validity of anything that disagrees with it.

…Anyhow, yes…while people can absolutely make him such in AUs and personal canon if that’s what they enjoy, it makes me extremely annoyed when people conflate that with canon, and I will never be able to truly understand the appeal of it in general. The idea of two characters who are just “absolutely unhinged, cold blooded assassins who care only about each other” is, in my opinion, far less interesting than, and even downright insulting to, the deep characters that both he and Paul are, and the great narrative foil that the emotional, shy, sensitive, openly caring, and much more mercy-minded and life-valuing Arthur makes to the admittedly unhinged and cold-blooded (but still very much deeper than fandom treats him) Paul.

People can like what they like, but man, it is definitely not for me, and I feel like if that’s the dynamic you’re really looking for, there must be better characters out there to do it with.

Legend of Zelda fandom: See [here].

Doctor Who fandom: I’m sure there is something, but I honestly can’t think of it at this moment in time. Most of what’s enjoyed even vaguely popularly in this massive fandom is…pretty alright by me, honestly? Or at least understandable.

Ace Attorney fandom: Honestly, I have more to say on what this fandom doesn’t like than what it does, so we’ll skip over this one for now. If I think of something later, I’ll amend it.

Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel fandom: The idea that Stolas is a bad father and an equally bad person to Stella. Also that everyone in Hell must be bad in some way.

Final Fantasy fandom: …Final Fantasy VIII. Don’t get me wrong — I don’t think it’s a bad game by any means, or even a bad Final Fantasy game; I just don’t think that comparatively to some of the actually (in my opinion) amazing games that get way more shit from than they deserve, it’s really that much to write home about.

I think that it had a ton of great ideas going for it, but that a lot of those ideas got lost along the way in the quest to explore other ones — which ultimately led to the vast majority of them just barely getting touched on at all. And, of course, there’s a big major plothole where the main character gets absolutely fatally impaled by the main antagonist and then it just…basically doesn’t even get addressed at all? Also, all of the main characters sharing the exact same backstory and then just having conveniently forgotten about it was…deeply underwhelming and felt a bit lazy, to be honest.

And…yeah… I liked some of the characters a ton, and I enjoyed some of the plot points, but I definitely can’t understand why it’s hailed as being so great compared to certain others that are just…objectively actually more solid and well-written.

Pikmin fandom: I wanted to try to be as absolutely thorough as possible in listing out any of the series that I love and have actively participated in the fandom of (whether that be going out of my way to interact with fan content for it or making my own, or both), but honestly, I haven’t been around the fandom of this one quite enough to know if there are any popular takes or favorites out there that I’d strongly disagree with, or of which I’d particularly question the appeal.

Xenoblade Chronicles fandom: I know this is probably going to piss off a lot of people out there, but honestly, both Xenoblade 2 and Xenoblade 3 — but for opposite reasons, and with the DLC games notwithstanding for both of them, as I have few complaints with either of those.

I understand why people love Xenoblade 2 as a story on the whole — even if I think the first five chapters are largely very weak with only a few highlights and far too much filler and have terrible pacing — because the last five chapters just make every bit of the initial drudgery worthwhile, but I what I cannot and will never understand are the people who think the gameplay is somehow anywhere even close to good — much less god tier. Genuinely, there are not a lot of games I would call worse and less user friendly gameplay-wise in the modern era than Xenoblade 2; as a matter of fact, there is so much wrong with it that I can’t even begin to unpack all of the problems here, except to try to just lump it all together and put it very simply by saying that a fully paid-for, full price game absolutely should not entirely rely upon you having good luck in an absurdly rigged, file-dependant rng pity-system-granting uncheatable gacha system in order to progress the main plot, and even still make you sit through hours waiting for the skills to unlock on those characters that you have to be lucky enough to get good RNG assigned to your file to even get a halfway decent chance to get through further, still absurdly rigged RNG.

Normally, I would say how good a game is or isn’t is just a matter of personal opinion and what one is looking for, but legitimately, if you see no problem with this game’s gameplay and view it as something that should be defended, then you either got the best possible RNG in the world and played the game at such an absurdly slow pace that you somehow never even encountered one instance where skill unlocking slowed you down from progressing the plot, or you are just the biggest simp in the world for this game and you’re lying because you just can’t stand the idea of not defending every single aspect of this game even if you know for a fact that part of it is awful and inexcusable.

And as Xenoblade 3, that game has the opposite problem; whereas Xenoblade 2 had an overall amazing story the farther you progress with terrible gameplay, Xenoblade 3 has overall amazing gameplay with a (for the franchise) absolutely weak story that just completely drops the ball at the end. Thankfully, just as Torna: The Golden Country largely improved on the gameplay of Xenoblade 2 with its release, Future Redeemed largely improves and even fixes and, dare I say redeems, the story of Xenoblade 3 (even if it does make it feel a bit redundant in some aspects)…but…that doesn’t excuse the game being weak initially to begin with compared to its predecessors, and I truly can’t understand what all the hype for it was before the DLC released, as at the time I only found it a massive disappointment in all of the worst ways considering its series’ strong reputation for cut-above storytelling and incredible foreshadowing.

Also…in regards to Xenoblade 1…I don’t understand the appeal of Shulk and Melia as a mutually required ship — I’m sorry; if you love it, that’s 100% valid and I hope you have fun with it, but like…I just see zero romantic chemistry between them on Shulk’s side; I honestly see more chemistry potential between Fiora and Melia and that isn’t even canon on any level. I really think Melia is just best narratively having a one-sided interest in Shulk; anything else has always just felt forced to me.

Pokémon fandom: This is one of those fandoms where I have more of a problem with the dislikes than the likes, but I guess as with most games, I don’t really see the appeal of a truly open world; Scarlet and Violet pulled it off alright, but it wasn’t entirely open, and even then it had the typical issues of limiting storytelling ability through lack of any linearity at many points. I know many people are going to say “oh, but Pokémon has very rarely had a super deep story; it’s pretty much only a select few of the middle and more recent gens that did this”, and that may be true, but…why should we have to go back from that?

People use this excuse with many older games that have had a long series — that because their first iterations “weren’t that deep”, it’s somehow the natural and most acceptable course of action to go back to those roots, even if they’ve come very far from that over the years, and to me it’s just absurd. It’s like saying that we should go back to using outhouses because that is the purest form of using a bathroom and it was the way bathrooms were always meant and intended to be used; as we get more advanced in technology, we are naturally going to progress and do more that once could only have been a dream to us before. All old games weren’t necessarily lacking story because they “didn’t want to do anything more”, but because they didn’t have those capabilities. 2D games weren’t all 2D because no one wanted them to ever be seen in 3D, but because 3D wasn’t possible yet.

I will never understand the desire to backtrack on progress made simply because “that’s how it was back in the day”.

…Also, as far as the anime, I get that the idea of Ash growing up would’ve been cool and all, but like…I seriously don’t understand why it’s that big of a deal to people. Ash staying in a form that’s iconic is hardly surprising or beyond understanding, and really I would’ve cared more to see Ash grow emotionally from all of his journeys than physically, but eh. To each their own.

Super Mario fandom: The OoC situation that happened with Princess Peach at the end of Super Mario Odyssey. Straight up, I will say that I’ve never played the game, but from what I have heard (and please do correct me if I’m wrong!!!), Peach straight up rejects both Bowser and Mario from marrying her at the end, and like…for some reason everyone thinks this is some cool girl power moment instead of realizing that this, while maybe a cool message had it been any other character with any other two pushy suitors, is…actually deeply out of character for her.

It wouldn’t be so incredibly OoC if it weren’t for the fact that in all previous Mario games, Peach has been explicitly in love with Mario and very, very happy to be with him and be very romantic with him every time he’s rescued her, and he’s always been a gentleman to her, too, so like…the whole thing just sounds really off to me and I’m not sure why not many people are bothered by this like I am.

Maybe I just don’t have the context everyone else does. I don’t know.

Persona fandom: …Persona 5; don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoyed the story of this one quite a bit and I think it had great foreshadowing, but like…at least comparatively to 3, I don’t know why it seems to be “the baby” of the fandom. As a story, 3 is just so much more compelling and emotionally high stakes, with a lot more actual deaths and consequences and, frankly, more interesting twists and characters on the whole, and that’s all I’m going to say on that…for now.

Persona 5 was…pretty alright; Persona 3 was stellar.

Makai Ouji fandom: Pretty much the same situation as Pikmin here; while I’ve technically been in this fandom for at least 7 or 8 years, I…don’t really have enough active interaction with the greater fandom to know if there are any popular opinions or ideas I’d disagree with.

There are some fandoms that I just…don’t really have the drive to engage with that much outside of the source material, and this is one of them. Sometimes you feel called to engage with and observe the larger fan base and its creations, and sometimes you just don’t; this is one of the latter times.

Person of Interest fandom: I’m just gonna say it — Shoot. I know it’s canon, but honestly, that pairing felt so fucking forced — and I don’t mean forced as in “oh, they need to stop shoving gay relationships down our throats” like you’d expect to hear from some bigot or something, I mean forced as in they weren’t compatible, there was no chemistry, and literally no strong lead-up to the relationship whatsoever. One day the Machine was just like “oh I predict a possible timeline where you two get together” and then suddenly that one hypothetical possible scenario was enough for them to actually get together after an eternity of hating each other and torturing each other and literally trying to kill each other.

I think the pairing sucks and it felt terribly shoehorned at the very end of the show, when there were a million better options out there for the both of them, and then within like two episodes they killed one of them off anyway.

If anyone reading this likes it, then good on you, but personally I will just never understand the appeal of it.

Code Vein fandom: Honestly, the same situation as Pikmin and Makai Ouji here. I love the game dearly and I definitely consider myself a member of the fandom, but also I’ve never truly interacted with the rest of the fandom enough longterm to pick up on any grievances I might normally have about it; what little I have seen of the fandom, they’re very nice and chill people who really enjoy character creation mode, and pretty much that’s all I know of them.

Five Nights at Freddy’s fandom: Damn, I guess this is how I come out about being this one after years of silence, huh…

Oh well… I’m sure there are actually many things I could be talking about here if I put my mind to it lol, but I’ll probably just go with the fact that wayyyy too many people are comfortable and content with just writing off Gregory as evil or cold-blooded, when Ruin made it pretty damn clear that the Mimic was the one who made Cassie take the plunge in the elevator, and not him.

This fandom has a lot of wildly incorrect theories, though.

…Also, I don’t really understand the appeal of wanting to fuck the animatronics, but meh, maybe they’re just not humanoid enough for me. *shrugs* I like my anthropomorphic animals to have a massive dash of humanoidness to them and these guys just…don’t. Also they’re inherently super spooky and I’m not usually about that life.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE fandom: Dude, we’re seriously a fandom of like literally 5 people across the entire internet; we ain’t big enough of a fandom to have problems amongst ourselves about popular takes. A take from one single person could be considered popular here. …But really, we all seem pretty cool from what I’ve seen.

Fringe fandom: I don’t usually actively engage in this one’s large-scale fandom, either, but when I have…I can’t say I’ve ever seen a take I disagreed with, really; at least not one that’s stood out to me, so…yeah. It’s all good, I guess.

Nier Replicant/Automata fandom: Honestly, we have the same situation here as Pikmin, Makai Ouji, Code Vein, and Fringe. I have no idea about the favoritism or the takes because I don’t really hang out in this fandom in my spare time all that much.

I’m sure there are things I’d take issue with if I searched enough, but what little I’ve seen of it is fine.

Other fandoms: Since I’m sure I’m forgetting quite a few and/or don’t consider myself a big/long/active enough fan to list them here, I’ll just lump all the rest into this category and say, obviously if I have had any interactions that I’ve learned fandom takes or favorites I’ve disagreed with from, they didn’t make a big enough impression to end up on this list, so all things considered, they must not be super bad to me — probably.

—

Aaaand that’s all of them! Thanks for the ask and happy reading!

[go-go-devil]

My friend @silenthillmutual tagged me to answer some fic writer's ask game questions, so without further ado...

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

17 as of right now.

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

181,115

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Hylics, but I've dabbled in several different fandoms. I've also written for the band Ghost, Pathologic, Knock-Knock, created the Neverending Nightmares tag on AO3 which still only contains the 3 fics I wrote for it, and am currently writing an epic novel-length Dark Souls fanfic!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1) Outcasts in an Overcast - 109

2) Dedusmuln Uncharted: The Hunt for the Paper Cup - 78

3) Molding A Legacy - 61

4) The Moon is Down - 60

5) Chaos Inverted - 51

Basically most of my Hylics fics lol 🌙 🎸🌯

5. Do you respond to comments?

I always try to respond to every comment I get since it's not often that I get any. There were a few that ended up slipping through the cracks of my memory, and to those I'm sorry since it now feels kinda weird to respond to a comment written years ago, but mostly if you see a comment that I haven't answered it most likely means I've already responded to the person on another social media site.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Definitely a tie between The Moon is Down and Chaos Inverted, but frankly that's to be expected since Gibby's such a doomed character. Out of all the blorbos I had to write Shakespearean levels of angst for it somehow ended up being the clay alien who's head looks like an orange and/or zoopals plate XD

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Ironically it's a Pathologic fic I wrote two years ago called Like A Fire Melting Us Down. Basically a hurt/comfort fluff fic featuring Murky and Daniil bonding over both being autistic. It's probably the only fic I've written fic I've written that has a definitively happy ending, as in there's no room for darker speculation for the future or anything like that.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully no. If anyone out there doesn't like my fics they've done good not to harass me about it.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

No.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

The only crossovers I've written thus far both involve the game Knock-Knock; either the Lodger interacting with Thomas Smith from Neverending Nightmares or Daniil Dankovsky from Pathologic.

The latter comes from the fic Intruder, which I'm most proud of of all the crossovers I've done so far, yet I'm kinda surprised no one else has attempted this themselves or entertained the idea of my fic since Knock-Knock was what inspired Pathologic: The Marble Nest to begin with. I guess it's true that there are only 12 Western Knock-Knock fans left on the internet...

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Also thankful this hasn't happened yet.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but if anyone wants to please let me know. I'd be more than happy for my stories to cross language barriers!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

One time my fellow Hylics fic veteran bombcollar wrote a story called Dedusmuln's Dossier, which is all about Dedusmuln documenting all of the enemies in Hylics 2, and which I contributed two pieces of writing for The Hand of Moodbleen and Carassius! It's an awesome fic I recommend any Hylics fan check out, and I had some good fun thinking of what I wanted them to say about these two uniquely annoying enemies.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Goddammit I don't fucking know lmao. I don't take shipping as seriously as other people do. For now I'll say Burakhovsky for all the beautiful art I've seen for it, the Hylics crew being in a queerplatonic polycule and, just to throw an insane curve ball at everyone in the room, Siegmeyer/Domhnall ;-)

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I'm gonna finish 'em all one day. I will not leave my children to rot in the pits of Writer's Block Hell...

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've been told by many people that they tend to really love the way I write dialogue for each of the characters I work with, original or already created. I'm also a lover of environmental descriptions and am always trying to build upon and improve in that aspect into my works.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Probably fight scenes since I've had so little practice, and due to a lot of the books I read not really having that many. I'm hoping To The Accursed can help me improve on that front, since Dark Souls is so heavily combat-oriented.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I haven't gone farther than using singular words in other languages as of right now. That's something I'm definitely gonna need to step up on later down the line, particularly since there will be Dark Souls characters I'll be writing soon who will be speaking some sentences in Latin and Welsh respectively.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The Swedish metal band Ghost! It was a story called For A Divine Cause which was about Papa Emeritus Primo realizing he suffers stage fright right before he's supposed to start touring for the first album, and thus summons his younger brother Terzo to help shape him up into being a good front man.

It's without question the worst of my fics from a writing and technical perspective, but it was the first one I ever wrote so that's kinda to be expected. I am pleasantly surprised it has so many kudos and bookmarks after all these years!

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Honestly, I'm think I'm gonna have to make it a tie between Dedusmuln Uncharted and Chaos Inverted.

The first is the fic where I truly started getting more creative in my writing (and is my first full made podfic which I'm even more proud of!), while the latter was sooooo much fun to write and gave me the confidence to write novellas. The Hylics fandom has been so supportive of my work, and I thank you all for being the best fandom experience I've ever had <3

That was fun! I'll tag @bombcollar, @pinkiepiebones, and @brainshock-alpha for this one ✏️✨

[fbwzoo]

Hiiii

I know you guys recently adopted a fearful dog, Emma, and I had a few questions. I dunno if you heard about it, but about 200 (well, less than that but some had litters) rough and smooth coat collies were rescued from a hoarder in Illinois.

We adopted one, he's about a year or so old and he's pretty good about things. He has no issues with us touching him or holding his legs, paws, ears, etc. or looking in his mouth, and he's getting used to us petting him and even cuddles with us.

But do you have any tips for getting him used to... Everything else? Any sort of strange object or noise makes him lose his mind. He constantly barks at cars (he's only ever lived out in the country), he's terrified of things like water bottles, boxes, etc.

Our other dog, a smooth collie who's 2 years old and actually came from a reputable breeder, is also really snippy with him. He snarls at him constantly, if Blackjack does something to upset him he'll snarl at him and then get up and FOLLOW him, continuing to snarl at him. Thankfully Jack does not care even remotely about this.

It's not total aggression or anything, they still play with each other and chase each other around, I think it's just that Max isn't used to being woken up from his naps and he's grumpy lol.

Do you have any tips for helping Blackjack be less fearful, and getting Max to stop being a grumpy turd? Do you think putting Max upstairs in his crate for longer naptimes would help? If you don't know how to deal with Max that's totally fine, I was just wondering since you guys have introduced dogs to each other before and might have dealt with them being grumps.

I love seeing updates on Emma and I'm so happy she's doing well with you guys <3 I love the videos of her and Spring zooming around in the yard.

Here's a picture of the snooty boys, this is the first day we had Blackjack home and he was brave enough to come cuddle with me. Jack is the one on the couch and Maxwell is the one oozing out of his bed

Hello!!

Thank you for adopting Blackjack & giving him such a comfy couch for naps!! He's adorable, and so is Max!

The biggest advice I've gotten, from everyone I've talked to, has been Go Slow. I'm not sure how long you've had Jack, but seeing that the case was just in August last year, I'm guessing not too long. It often takes a rescue dog a while to settle in regardless of their circumstances, and one who's not been exposed to much or has been in iffy circumstances may take much, much longer. It's best to take more time and not push rather than go too quickly with something and cause a relapse.

That's great that he's doing so well with touching and handling from the humans! That's a big step and helps a lot with daily care. Since he sounds like he's being reactive to most other new things, I would do what you can to limit the things that trigger the reactivity - you may need to block windows, stick to just yard time instead of walks, or maybe walks very early or late, or designating a Safe Room where you avoid bringing in things he reacts to so he can relax. Not permanently, but for the time being while he tries to adjust to big changes & so you can slowly start work on desensitization to different things.

Two major recommendations - get a no-aversives trainer experienced with fearful dogs to work with your family & both dogs. I'm extremely new to dog training, but everything I've read and been told is that aversive training added to fear will make things much worse very quickly. You want someone who can help you figure out a good method and schedule to desensitize Jack to his fears slowly & carefully, without further overwhelming him. It may very well take months to address the reactivity and help him learn new ways of managing his responses.

A good trainer will also be able to help with managing Max and both dogs to keep things more peaceful. While it's great that Jack has just been ignoring Max's aggression, it's still definitely a big concern, especially that Max will follow & try to continue the behavior. I have literally no experience in this area other than some reading, so really really stress getting a good trainer. I worry that as Jack settles in more & matures, he may stop tolerating Max trying to pick a fight & then you'll have a Problem. It would be best to try and prevent this kind of situation until you can get someone to help you with it so it doesn't escalate.

My second recommendation - it might be worth talking to your vet and see what they think about medication for Jack. Without seeing him or knowing how often he's reacting, what kind of state he's in most of the day, etc, I don't know if it would be a good call for him or not, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Anxiety meds may help him relax a little so he can focus better and actually learn.

Also, this is no substitute for the above suggestions, but I found this Facebook group for owners of fearful dogs & have been really happy with it! They stress the same approach as my trainers that are experienced with fearful dogs, which is very reassuring. And it's just really nice to see other people who are in similar boats with their dogs, celebrating little things that are actually huge milestones, etc.

[beyourownanchor6]

Yeah. And sometimes real life becomes chaotic and we don't have time for online.

Yeah absolutely. Supernatural is another one. Started out real strong and by the end was very bad lmao. One that was never given a real chance (weirdly enough because of 9/11) was Miracles. It was this show about this questioning priest investigating unexplained phenomena. It had an underlying theme of "is god real or did we make him up?" And some horror vibes sometimes. It was really good.

Nice! I haven't picked a favorite yet, i'm waiting for the franchise to be over. And dudette, YES, i love haunting of hill house! Did you see the sequel, haunting of bly manor? Oh i understand. I'm the same way with clowns. I didn't use to be afraid of clowns when I was a kid, but then something happened in my teenage years (whatever it was I blocked it) and I just... became terrified of them.

To me it's not so much the getting it out, it's more that i'm terrified of needles & faint at the sight of my own blood (other people's blood is fine). And yeah. My mom is also getting a blood test, so it works well. Oh i always peel my sunburns. Drives my mom crazy. But yeah try not to peel it. I know it's hard but peeling it is dangerous. Omh 12 piercings in your ears? That's so cool! I wanna get my nipple pierced, but i can't afford it. Also my eyebrow.

Oh me too. This week was wild. I hope you enjoy your weekend too my dear friend!

yes exactly! i’ve also not had a big urge to be online lately, which is odd but nice in a weird way 😅

mmm supernatural. hard agree there lol. i loveeee the first seasons. i’ve rewatched those multiple times or just certain episodes. the last 5 seasons or so, hard to remember bc they all blend together at this point lol, were…something. i’ll forever be bitter with how they ended it. oh interesting. i don’t think i ever even heard of that show lol. guessing 911 came in and took all the audience?

i’m definitely excited to see the last installment! hill house terrifies me but i’ve watched it multiple times lol. i did see bly manor, and idk seems like maybe it was just me, but it just didn’t do it for me. it felt very slow and just didn’t have as capturing of a storyline as hill house?? i had also seen the movie based on the same story and wasnt impressed with that either. oof i hope you never have to remember whatever it was. i don’t think anything happened to me involving clowns, i’ve just always been terrified of them.

yea that makes sense! i also hate needles, unless it’s for piercings or tattoos 😂, and the blood freaks me out too. it’s just a no for me lol. it’s *almost* done peeling thankfully. i’m so over it lol. one is an industrial so it’s technically two piercings, but yea 12 altogether lol. i definitely recommend the eyebrow! i’m loving mine so much. can’t wait for it to heal so i can buy different jewelry.

i did thanks! it was my bday weekend 🎉 hope your weekend was good as well my friend!

[187days]

Day Twenty-Five

I woke up tired today, which is a very Monday thing to have happen, but I rallied. Thankfully, it was a pretty easy teaching day.

My ninth graders are in the middle of Culture Projects, so I was just helping as needed, making sure everyone was either on task or taking breaks appropriately. I was pretty happy about how most students used their class time, and that's awesome because this is a week that's usually really tough. There's a big fair going on over in Maine, a lot of kids make the trip, so they're overtired and sugar high pretty much all week. I guess they rallied today, too!

Oh, and I actually had the best advisory block I've had yet. On Mondays, before we do flex scheduling for the remainder of the week, we do activities designed to build skills like teamwork and communication. This time, they got into groups, and one person in each group covered their eyes; the other people had to verbally guide them towards an object- my tape dispenser- that I'd placed somewhere in the room. The students thought that was pretty fun, and they actually asked to do multiple rounds. So we did!

In APGOV, we ate mini-cupcakes (when the government almost shuts down, you eat something that's almost cake) and discussed the state of the government as of today. Then I lectured on the federal system, explaining what the Constitution says about the divisions between the state and national government. Now that we've established what it is, we get into how and why it's changed over time, so they're researching some relevant SCOTUS rulings for homework. More on that next time.

I stayed late to do some grading (revised current events, other work students made up), draft a letter of recommendation for one of the GOV kids, contact the local political party chairs, other things I've been meaning to do. The Principal saw me as he was walking by, and stopped in to see how I was doing. I admitted that the number of students I have (because of the half block classes) is making this year more challenging than last, even with my light speed grading abilities. I have a long term solution, which is having three Global Studies teachers instead of two (we can do it with our current levels of staffing, just have to move some stuff around), but I don't have a short term one. The Principal said he's planning a meeting with of all the ninth grade teachers, though, to see what we can come up with.

Funny thing: one of the things my college teammates and I learned from our coach was to thank people in positions of authority and/or people with expertise after speaking with them. So I've always said thank you to The Principal at the end of our conversations, and, to this day, I think it catches him off guard. Northern New England's not exactly big on formal etiquette, you know? I'm sure Coach would be pleased to know that's still drilled into my head, though.

Oh, and a cool thing: the new English teacher, whose name is Mr. C, got a warm welcome over the PA by the students doing morning announcements. I thought that was nice of them to do that since he missed the welcome everyone else got at the start of the year.

[destinylordoffreaks]

Here is batch 1 of my art of iris Hau’oli 

As mentioned in my re-blog of her doll, her original design comes from a unnecessarily edgy, alternate future just exactly the kind of things a 14 year old, who grew up on the 2003 ninja turtles and watch Transformers the movie on repeat has a kid would write you know 

So about the color choices I made with the original design they’re questionable right worst part is I remember making this design and thinking to myself, it’s a post apocalyptic future  clothing Options are going to be limited, and nothing is going to match and I took that concept to heart the second picture is also from that same unnecessarily, edgy future it’s actually part of a whole piece that I can only describe has being as some sort of movie poster, but I hated the rest of it so much that I cropped it out 

After that, we have the beach photo that was also pictured featured in Benjamins pictures because it’s a giant group photo. I think this is probably the first possibly the second design of her outside of the post apocalyptic feature. 

I’m gonna level with you I don’t know if the third or fourth picture came first one of them is her first design has a character in the normal timeline instead of the crazy  future. One big problem with both of them is that they were both were made using a drawing bases, and I had no idea how to appropriately draw characters to proportion, so Iris seems to tower over everyone else, despite the fact that Iris is the shortest member of the cast, thankfully I eventually figured that out

Next up, we have Chibi iris, I actually attempted to make chibi designs for all of my characters at that point, but I didn’t like the way most of them turned out. Iris I didn’t mind though, so here she is. 

Than we have a Disney princess like design, which had been inspired by a dress up game on a website called azaleas dolls if I remember correctly, it’s like heroin creator or something like I’ll have to see if I can find it. Unfortunately, this was back when l flash player was a thing, so it doesn’t work anymore unless you have a browser that can run flash might be on flashpoint though I haven’t looked, I run it through the browser that Azalea dolls recommended, which is called y8 browser or something that you downloaded your computer so I still played all the time. I actually have irises original design I made her on said doll creator, so if you guys want I can post that and maybe even an updated version but you guys will have to actually comment and tell me to do it

After that, we have a picture of featuring Iris‘s family her mom pua, her older brother kekoa, and her older sister Maylea  Iris is the baby  although he is it depicted in this picture I think because I hadn’t decided to stick him in the store yet I was also has a stepdad named Craig irises biological dad had been a Navy doctor, who retired from the Navy, and became a first responder who ultimately passed away when Iris was 11 and her mom remarried when she was 13 to Craig Craig is actually a really sweet guy. I was just dislikes him on the principle that he’s not her dad she does eventually come around though

And finally, we have a group photo of Iris and the rest of the Yuki’s friends. Remember that picture back in Benjamin stuff where him and his family are all dressed up nicely. Well this was supposed to be the other half of that picture, like it was supposed to be two parts but I hated it so much. I never colored it I just left it like this and moved on to something else  like I should apologize to Sorin, for whatever I did to his eyes, and to Pete, for not connecting his face to the rest of his body 

Now that I remembered that you can put blocks of text in between photos. I have to go back and edit all of my ones for Benjamin so that they flow better instead of just being a giant block of pictures followed by a giant block a text.

that’s all for now. 



[i-still-wear-hair-clips]

Sketch Time - A Magical Musician

The Piece

“You’re the only one here not wearing headphones.”

“I don’t need any distractions to study.”

“I wouldn’t call music a distraction. The rhythm is a reminder that even if you’re standing still, life will keep moving on around you, so you’d better work hard. There’s no guarantees you won’t be left behind.”

“Listen, I already mentioned this but I’m trying to study. And I prefer to do so without distractions.”

“Okay, okay. I can see you’re very busy.”

Were they really drawn to me that day just because I wasn’t wearing headphones? Or had they known all along how empty I was?

I had gone to the park to study because my homelife was too chaotic. My parents and siblings were constantly arguing with each over something trivial like the dinner menu. The dog made a habit of nudging me with its cold, wet nose to let it outside, refill the water bowl, or just to scratch its head for a while. When things finally got quiet later in the evening, a new debate would begin over what to put on the TV, and inevitably, with my siblings’ tastes, it would be something loud and obnoxious.

If I had any chance of getting through my online courses, I needed to find some place serene, I had thought. Maybe the library was the more obvious choice, but I found myself at the park. It was only a couple blocks away and there were plenty of benches with shade.

People were milling about as always, going on runs and bike rides, playing sports in the grass, or lounging in the shade. And that stranger had been right; nearly everyone was wearing headphones of some sort. There were DJ-style heavy hitters, tiny white earbuds, or cords leading from cell phones into tangles of hair and disappearing.

I may have been the only human being unplugged, despite having a laptop balanced on my knees. Rightly so, I figured. With my life being as hectic and noisy as it was, I certainly didn’t need music to remind me that l could be left behind.

My sleepy hometown seemed more like an obstacle than a gift, a place where progress could not be made. Everything was “Old Fashioned” this or “Traditional” that. Tourists thought it was charming to be able to eat at “Gramma’s Café” or “Pop’s Country Store.” The locals were kind enough but boring, often quick to propel the rumor mill to entertain themselves. If any of them knew how to access any website outside of Facebook and their own email, the world might really be in trouble. Thankfully, most barely knew how to text their grandchildren.

If I didn’t want to be caught up in the doldrums of “old country livin’,” I needed to stay focused. Bass pounding in my ears wouldn’t help me pass any of my data analysis classes, and due to a lack of funds, I really needed glowing recommendations from all of my professors if I ever wanted to see a real dorm room.

After Writing

After writing this, I realized I had totally missed the point of the prompt. Rather than focusing on the magic of music, I focused in on the lens of someone completely disenchanted. At the same time, this is just the beginning, and I think our music eschewing character here would benefit greatly from a little magic.

If I Continued Writing

If I continued writing this idea out, the main character would soon bump into the musician again, or at least feel the effects of their music. I thought it would be fun to make the musician look really cool, maybe a nonbinary character with a funky asymmetrical haircut and a leather jacket. That's what sprung to mind at least!

[shinescape]

Not as Planned

Dog Hybrid Yunho x Reader

Requested!

note: yes he gives off golden retriever energy but after much convincing by mimi, samoyed fits him as well. also, trying to get the gears working again and this is quite late but anon i hope you like how this turns out. Other hybrids stories can be found here. Enjoy the read!

You watched as Yunho parked his car in one of the parking spaces and jogged over to where it was with a big grin plastered on your face. You had a list of ideas with you and can’t wait to share it with him. This would be your third date considering how the previous ones were mostly at his or your place to which you didn’t want to count them as an official one. 

Everything was planned out and the only thing you had to do was share it with him and enjoy the rest of the date together. You were so immersed in your thoughts that the car door wouldn't budge was what got you back to reality. Yunho was out of the car as well and smiled at you happily. “I was thinking we could walk around town today. Is that okay with you?” That was definitely not what you had in mind. He raised both his brows, waiting for you to say something. 

“Uh sure, we can walk.” 

“Cool!”  

Both of you walked hand in hand as he excitedly looked around the blocks of buildings. Your place was in the heart of the city and it was understandable that he wanted to walk but the negative thoughts started to bubble inside your head. What if my outfit smelled like smoke? Or it suddenly rains?! Yunho is sensitive to scent, he might not want to go on another date anymore…

You clearly weren’t paying attention but when your boyfriend tugged on your hand, the thoughts vanished in an instant. Eyes locked on his eager ones and you felt bad for having such thoughts earlier. “You must be hungry, do you mind if I bring you to one of my favourite restaurants?”

You shook your head and watched as he beamed at your approval. The choker - necklace as you prefer to call it, flashed a bright yellow as if mimicking Yunho’s current emotion. The streets were busy like any Saturday and you wondered if he liked it this way then your usual indoor dates. He seemed in his element and unknowingly your lips curled upwards at the sight. “We’re here!” 

Paws n Pies caught your line of sight before he excitedly pulled you in a fairly crowded eatery. Thankfully there was a seat for the both of you and once seated, you started to read out the menu. Yunho recommended a few of his favourite dishes which were literally a whole page and you had a difficult time as everything looked delectable.

You were looking around and noticed the servers had cat ears on their heads and thought it was cute, fitting for the concept until Yunho told you those were their real ears. He chuckled at the way your eyes bulged out and nodded in advance before you could ask him again if they were indeed real.

“It looks like those cat cafes right? But everyone who works here are cat hybrids except for the kitchen staff.” You didn’t want to make it obvious but couldn’t help stare at their ears and almost gasped when you caught them twitching.

“Baby, is it that surprising?”

“I mean, I’ve never seen you do that before.”

You felt so embarrassed for some reason but the sight of so many hybrids in one area really was new to you. “And I didn’t know it was possible to bring out a part of your hybrid form like that.”  Right then your orders came and again you tried not to look at the waiter’s pair of ears but he noticed and smiled back at you. “It’s okay, I’m used to it.”

The laugh coming from the opposite side of the table made you want to hide even more. Yunho caught you frowning at him and leaned over to pat your head. “It's alright, the more you know right? See, I can do it too.” You gasped when his fluffy ears appeared on his head all of a sudden. Seeing how you brightened up as you munched away, Yunho felt relieved that only then he finally started to eat. 

You completely forgot about the plan that you had come up days before the date and instead followed along with your boyfriend. He seemed to know a lot of hidden spots that held so many interesting shops and photo worthy walls and alleys that you didn’t even know existed. Stopping by various shops around the area, you had no idea how you ended up in an arcade, shooting down zombies with Yunho. 

Both of you were so immersed in the game that passersby got shocked when you squealed in happiness all the while Yunho was pointing the gun up in the air as if he really won a real match. The second level started and it got harder to keep up but everything turned so intense that you wanted to continue on. “Yun, I'm going to get more tokens. Be right back” 

“But your character is still alive!” He watched as you jogged over to the counter and something else caught his eyes at that moment. He walked over to the paper that fell from your pocket, completely abandoning the ongoing game. His brows furrowed upon reading what was written on it. 

The way Yunho was acting once you were home didn’t go unnoticed by you. He went to the bathroom and came back cleaning up after your dinner. There was no misunderstanding at all.

In fact, you had to admit it was the best date you ever had. But after sharing a strawberry parfait and heading back home, he was quiet. You had the chance to catch a glimpse of his collar and it was a light hue of blue mixed with the neutral colour, white. You started to wonder what he felt.

He came back after cleaning everything up and sat at the other end of the couch which weirded you out. Yunho’s not the type to even let air get in between your bodies, so him being so far away surprised you. You called him but he didn’t budge and watched the show playing on the television as if it was nothing. “Yun, are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?” 

You moved closer to his side and peaked at his face. It was totally unreadable, he had that calm expression he always wears and the fact he can control his emotions so well upsets you sometimes. He patted your thigh without saying anything back and that definitely didn’t make you feel any better. “You’ve been quiet since we had that parfait.” 

The commercials showed up and he had no choice but to confront you. “Do you have anything to tell me?” He calmly asked. You tried to think of anything that you have missed but none seemed to show up in your line of thoughts. You shook your head at him until you saw a folded paper between his fingers. “You had everything planned out, why didn’t you tell me?” 

You tried taking the paper away but he kept them back in his pants pocket. “It was just a list.” He frowned at your answer. “You know that you can always talk to me right? I feel so guilty for dragging you around today.” 

“No, don’t say that. I really had fun today and seeing you enjoying the date is much more important to me than anything really.” You saw the moment of relief in his eyes and gathered his hands in yours, placing light kisses on each of them. “Also, let me just-” 

“B-baby, what are you doing?” he panicked when you leaned over to unclasped his collar and placed it on the coffee table. “We’re home Yun, you don't have to wear it.” 

Feeling as if a weight was lifted off, he pulled you on his lap and nuzzled his face in the crook of your neck. The plans you had before didn’t matter anymore and his guilt washed away with your beautiful smile. Nothing matters when you have each other to make up for the shortcomings. 

“You know what happens if I don’t wear it right?” You grumbled before pressing your lips on his to shut him up. 

“It doesn’t matter. Like I said, we’re home.” 

[reveluving]

sweet spot ; andy barber x reader

summary: Andy learns more about you through your connection with the Wilson’s.

warnings: fluff (slow burn)

a/n: hi this series is still alive, I just have issues like time, writer’s block & laziness,,, not proofread too so my apologies for any mistakes!

˚ · . series m.list

˚ · . gorgeous rose divider by the amazing @firefly-graphics​

‘anyone would pay for these treats any day. no, he was not saying that because of his own feelings,’ ;  

It's been two months since you last spoke to Andy and you don't know if you should be glad or disappointed. Glad, because you're able to suppress your feelings (and inappropriate thoughts) for the man but disappointed, because seems like 'next time' progressively seemed more like an empty promise.

Sure, you were able to bid him goodbye or at the very least, the smallest talk whenever he was free enough to pick Jacob up from school. Worst of all, you could feel his gaze whenever you walked away, and on more than one occasion, too! As weeks become months, though, you thought you were too hopeful for your own good.

Until now.

Saturday rolled around and Andy had just dropped Jacob off at the Wilson's. Thankfully, Sam was able to talk it out with Andy.

'Relax man, I'll keep a close eye on them. You, on the other hand, should go check out the area. Feel free to stop by Sarah's bakery, it's not usually busy at this time,'

Thus, that's where he's heading to. The drive didn't take long, though Andy did take his time mapping any area that he hasn't covered before. A couple of retail stores, including a Japanese convenience store that he thought Jacob might like to check out.

Not long after his little survey around town, he finally reached the Wilson's family business.

'Home of the best Louisiana-style sweets in town!'

Tempting.

He took a look at the interior from the window, silently approving the homey decor and mouth-watering pastries in the display counter. Sam wasn’t lying when he mentioned the lack of traffic before lunchtime. In fact, it was deserted. If it wasn’t for the ‘open’ sign hanging on the door, he would’ve turned back. He could only hope this wasn’t a prank of Sam’s before making his way in, prompting a soft 'ding' from the entrance.

"I'll be with you in a minute!" Sarah called from the kitchen, unaware of the man her best friend’s been gushing about since you first met him. He didn’t think much of it, opting to take a closer look at the treats before him until he heard a familiar voice at the other end of the room.

“Y’know, the least you can do is help me with these cookies,”

“Don’t be such a baby, you can handle two little trays,” Sarah snorted before exiting the kitchen, smiling at the newcomer, “Hey there! Sorry 'bout that. Kinda short of hands today but I’m so glad it’s not peak hours,” She sighed before clasping her hands, “Now, what can I do for you?" She squinted her eyes, "Though, excuse me for my boldness but I don’t think I’ve seen you before,”

“Well, I guess you could say I'm a first-timer,” He smiled politely, “Your brother told me you make good coffee here,”

“Oh!” Sarah snapped her fingers, “Barber, right? Sam's told me all about you,” She paused, realizing the situation, "Well, not just Sam," She ignored the questioning look on his face with a cheeky smile, "You’ve come to the right place. Anything caught your eye?”

Andy eyed the list of best-selling drinks on the menu board behind her, “I'd like a cappuccino, please,"

“A cup of 'ccino and… any sweets?” He pondered for a second.

“Mind giving me some recommendations?”

“Not at all!” She moved away from the cashier and pointed at some of the displays, “Today’s pies are pecan and cherry. Or if you’re feeling a little fancy, we have pralines to go with your drink,” She cocked her head to the empty spot labelled ‘chocolate chip cookies’, “There’s the classic, too but we’ve only finished baking it. Speaking of,” She turned her attention to the kitchen door, prompting her new customer to do the same, “How’re the cookies back there?”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” You groaned, leaning against the door to open it while holding a tray of fresh cookies in both hands, “Just give me a-"

It was amazing how you didn’t drop the tray at the sight of Andy standing in front of the counter. You didn’t even have to look at Sarah to know she was enjoying this moment. She was literally the first person you told after your first encounter with him at the gym, thinking she was the best candidate to hear it all. Only to have the colour drained from your face when she came to you, saying that Andy's a new colleague of Sam's.

“Andy!” You suddenly felt underdressed — a white cami dress. Perfect for the afternoon but now? You wished you brought that one cardigan with you, "Uh, fancy seeing you here!"

"I could say the same about you," He looked down at the floor, hiding the lil' smile on his face, "Colour me surprised, though. You're not in your tracksuit,"

Sarah stifled a laugh — she could see you rolling your eyes without even having to look at you. Sam would always act surprised whenever he'd bump into you outside the school premise in anything but a sportswear.

"Ha-ha, no wonder you and Sam are officemates," You arranged the cookies orderly, not having the guts to look him in the eye, "I have other clothes too, y'know?"

"Thankfully," You gawked at your friend's jab at your fashion sense. She leaned over the counter to 'whisper' to Andy, "I'd be worried if that one white tracksuit was the only thing she owned,"

You pouted, feeling betrayed that your best friend and your 'crush' were making fun of you. Andy found it amusing how you mouthed a 'fuck you' at Sarah, who seemed unfazed but rather entertained to see you bashful in front of the man you've been gushing about.

"You two know each other?" Andy asked, pointing between you and Sarah.

"She's teaching my boys," Ah, makes sense, "She teaching your kid, too?"

"Jacob," He nodded, "Same class, right?" You wordlessly nodded when he turned to you for confirmation, "Small world,"

"Well, Reve Road is a small neighbourhood," You chuckled, remembering each and every time you'd bump into a student or their parents around here, "If you know the Wilson's, there's a high chance you'll know this café,"

"And if your kid goes to Reve High, there's a high chance you'll know Ms (L/N) here," You narrowed your eyes when Sarah butted in, and smoothly, at that.

You've never seen her like this before.

Did she have an ulterior motive?

Who knows?

"Now," She straightened up, "You two can catch up and whatnot but first," She pointed at the freshly baked cookies, "Is that a yes?"

Well, you made it, didn't you?

"Two, please,"

"There you are," Sarah's sudden appearance jolted you out of your thoughts. You took the chance to flee to the storeroom with the excuse of 'the espresso machine's running low' when Andy began paying up for his order. Now, you're just hiding in here till who knows when, "Why’re you hiding in here?"

"You know exactly why,"

"You're right, I'm sorry," Her smugness told you she was anything but, "I can't help myself! I've never seen this side of you,"

"And that is?"

Did you really want to know the answer?

"Well," She drawled and acted like she was thinking, "Like a schoolgirl?"

She turned around, ignoring the deadly glare by taking a bag of coffee beans before throwing it at you.

"Here," You swiftly caught the bag, shooting her a confused look, "You did say the machine's running low on beans, and you were right. Sooo… have fun!" She ran out of the room before you could even have a say in it. You gave up — even if you stopped her, she had other things to do whereas you were pretty much done.

Except for Andy's coffee, that is.

You tried not to tear the bag in your hands from your crumpling habit, taking the last few seconds you have to pull yourself together before brisk walking back to the counter.

But, all that pep talk became useless when the first thing you were greeted with was Andy himself. He wasn't far from the counter, meaning his seating was the closest to the espresso machine.

Great!

You thought in utter horror.

"Everything okay back there?" His eyes darted between your face and the bag of coffee beans.

"Mhm!" You could only pray you wouldn't make a fool out of yourself by forgetting how to make a simple cup, "Had a tough time looking for these in the storeroom,"

Andy watched how you skillfully worked the machine, topping it all off with the serene atmosphere despite being the only customer at the moment.

"Seems like you and the Wilson's go back a long way," He piped up but his eyes were still focused on the extracting process.

"You're not wrong," You reminisced, "I used to work as the barista here, for a few months before getting an offer to teach in school. That was like, what, two years ago? Now, I'm just helping out whenever I have the chance," You shook your head slowly, "Man, time flies real fast when you're having fun,"

Andy hid the melancholy in his heart by chuckling with you. He wished he could say the same about himself for the past two years. Everything went fast for him, too, but not in a good way.

At all.

"What about you?" His eyes met yours, like, really met, finding an unexplainable comfort in your concerns, "How are you finding the neighbourhood?"

"Pretty good," More than good, actually, "Peaceful, lots of stores nearby, nice neighbours too. I'm just glad Jake's doing well so far," Silence took over, other than the constant drips from the machine, "He… is doing okay, right?"

"Of course," You didn't hesitate — partially to lessen his sudden worry but you weren't kidding about Jacob. Quiet, sure, but a fast learner, in both his classes and his managing role, "I'd say he's catching up real quick, considering how he's never learned our syllabus before. But, he's a little more open with the basketball team,"

"How so?" He patiently waited, seeing that you’ve finished preparing his cappuccino and straightened up in his seat when you're coming over to serve it.

"His friends. Other than AJ, I see that he's really close to the Maximoff twins. Good boys," You carefully placed his cup next to the basket of cookies, "So, I'd say he's doing more than okay,"

"That's good," You gave yourself a pat on the back for successfully reassuring him without needing to lie.

But, you took the risk of asking the next question.

"Things didn't go too well at your old place?" You could only hope you weren't overstepping any boundaries.

"You could say that," He replied curtly and though he didn't seem apprehensive, you didn't want to push your luck. He seemed like a man who didn't take snoopiness too lightly, either.

At least you knew your assumptions were right.

"Well, whatever the reasons are, I'm glad you two are doing well now," You didn't have to elaborate, not when Andy himself found it endearing to hear it from you.

"I'm glad too," You caught him whispering under his breath. Fearing for the awkwardness that could kick in anytime soon, you motioned to the cookies in front of him.

"Are the cookies good?" He appreciated your efforts to keep the conversation going and nodded.

"Very," He finished the half-eaten cookie, leaving him with just one, "My compliments to the chef,"

"Ah, well, you know the Wilson's," He could tell you were hiding something, only for both of you to jump at the voice behind you.

"Her recipe, by the way," Sarah's head was peeking out of the kitchen door just to place a tray of pralines on a random spot before disappearing yet again.

"This is your recipe?" He questioned you, funnily enough, through a mouthful. Andy shouldn't have been surprised after hearing your little history with the business' family, and yet he was.

"Yeah…" You twiddle your thumbs, feeling small under his interest, "Call it a contribution?" In reality, those cookies were one of the store's bestsellers but you never liked taking all the credit. Humble, is where it's at, after all.

"They're really good," He repeated. Other than trying to woo you, they were actually to his liking. Not too sweet, crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside, "I might buy some for the boys later,"

"I mean, you don't have to pay, y'know? Since it's Sarah's own sons, plus yours," You tilted your head.

"Call it a contribution," He repeated your words, plus, anyone would pay for these treats any day.

No, he was not saying that because of his own feelings.

The next hour went smoothly, with you suggesting to him the best restaurants in town and which neighbour to watch out for. Sarah, too, joined in from time to time, thankfully without trying to put you in the spotlight anymore.

Unbeknownst to you, it was because she had pretty much succeeded in the job.

Soon, the café was getting busier as lunch hour was rolling around. Families, especially, and not wanting to overwhelm you with entertaining both him and the customers, plus, Jacob's message that he and AJ had completed their work, he decided to take his leave.

"Thank you for the coffee, and the cookies, of course," He thanked you as soon as you were free from an order, "I'll see you around?"

No phone numbers. Not appropriate.

Or just not yet.

"You know where to find me," You smiled softly before rushing off to the storeroom for more sugar. Begrudgingly.

Man, he hated to see you go but loved to watch you leave.

Especially in that dress.

Seeing how Sarah was standing behind the register without any customers, Andy swooped in to purchase the cookies.

But, he didn't have the time to say a word when Sarah slid him a filled-up paper bag.

"Our treat," She raised her hand, knowing he was going to protest, "Ah-ah! It's free of charge and that's that. There's a separate bag in there for you and Jacob," With that, she left him with his thoughts and cookies to attend to the customer by the display counter.

Andy accepted the gift hesitantly, mentally thanking both you and Sarah before exiting the café and off to the Wilson's.

He couldn't help but smile throughout the drive, finding whatever that happened for the past couple of hours very… enjoyable? He learned a lot about you but at the same time, more questions began popping up and no doubt if whatever you and him had continued, you'd be learning about him too.

It was only a matter of time, is all.

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