#the last thing I did on that account was change my name from Jammie to Alastyr

[alastyr-not-alastair]

SINCE I ALREADY STARTED TALKING ABOUT SOME MINOR HEADCANONS

There are magenta and orange steves in my fanfic despite it taking place in the Steve saga universe!! I couldn’t resist adding them in because it was just so interesting to me

Player characters tend to look a bit uncanny to people native to the world because of the fact that player skins aren’t fully made to fit in, they’re made to express themselves. Since they’re custom made it’s often difficult to get skins that WONT look uncanny

Ever wonder how blue Steve’s can’t control ice? Yeah me too, so I made it that each colour has a secondary factor that only a few people get, because genetics or something, it doesn’t mean that they’re more powerful it just means they’re suited for other things as well. This secondary factor usually ends up being the whole ability of the person but on even rarer occasions they can have both the primary and the secondary ability (tldr a blue Steve can have water, or rarer ice, or even rarer water AND ice)

Speaking of that, I figured I might as well go into detail on all the colours and what they can do

(There’s more under the cut)

(A lot more…)

Red Steves

They haven’t really changed much since their power set was pretty solid, they use fire most of the time for their attacks, and their variant is lava. Lava types always seem to burn hotter than fire, and because of their specific power, are able to melt objects to control them. Those who have combined fire and lava usually have issues with control though as they end up with the heat of lava and unpredictability of fire

Also, naturally, they have heat resistance, but overuse does often leave bone deep pain and in extreme cases, small burns

Orange Steves

These guys were added because TSS!Rainbow is (or at least was) a VERY good builder. I wanted to take some of the inspiration from Rainbow Quest and make them creative types, but just having your power be “creativity” seemed lame to me, so I made it matter manipulation. They can very specifically control objects that AREN’T alive, or at least not anymore. This does bring up horrifying implications of controlling the dead but honestly I was just thinking about wood. Besides, I have some other headcanon that will make it so they can’t control the bodies of dead steves.

Their variant ability IS very VERY weak control over living objects, this is often limited to healing small injuries, or large ones if you get enough of them to heal you.

Yellow Steves (ONLY TUMBLR SITE HAS COLOUR FOR THEM?)

Once again, they already had a pretty solid base from Steve saga, and that was speed, they can go super fast if they want

Of course, their variant is lightning (and just electricity in general)

I like to imagine some of them as just giant tazers, zapping people away. This does also make the variant yellows more resistant to things like electric shocks and lightning strikes

Green Steves

They’ve been granted the basic power of plant manipulation, mostly because I don’t really need to explain pre-established powers, it’s pretty self explanatory and you probably shouldn’t be reading these posts I make if you don’t know anything about the Steve saga or that general multiverse

Of course, the secondary power is plant COMMUNICATION. Normally they can only control the plants and nothing else, but sometimes they can TALK to the plants and nothing else

Blue Steves

I’ve already gone into them a little bit earlier so I’ll just rehash what I said. They can control water around a bunch, and their variety is ice. The ice variant have also developed a resistance to cold in general, and have just generally adapted to it

Purple Steves

Sometimes called violet, they possess teleportation. It’s self explanatory, they can teleport an object or being to any place, as long as it’s within that individual steves capability.

Their variant is a pocket dimension. Sometimes the purple steve can create a room size pocket dimension throat can be served as storage, or as hammer space. Sometimes some of them will even just make it into a living space!

Magenta Steves

Another colour yoinked right out of Rainbow Quest, I really liked the idea of magenta Steves having some sort of mild ESP. I imagine them to have empath abilities, being able to sense emotions and inner turmoil fairly well. They can also change these feelings to an extent.

But the variant is where it gets interesting. Instead of being able to sense emotions, they’re able to place suggestions into the minds of others. This is a very minor form of mind control.

Now that those are done, let’s continue on.

Birth and death!

Sex is boring and lame, the Steves reproduce asexually. The parents combine their essence together, draining both of their energy until a new child pops into existence. This process often takes anywhere from 28 days to 4 months

Instead of having to deal with corpses, when Steves pass away they turn into dust and energy given back to the world. This same energy eventually ends up used in new steves, having the life be recycled

Because this energy is recycled, you can have a steve made out of the exact same dust and energy of a different Steve, and have them come out WILDLY different.

Dark Steve has eaten a bug on a dare

Im planning on this being posted on both ao3 and Wattpad for those who are intrigued by my ramblings

My boy my wonderful boy my son I love him so much

This isn’t a scene in my upcoming fanfic (yet) but I couldn’t resist drawing Rainbow Steve when I got hit with the inspiration to write and honestly? I was pretty happy with how the drawing turned out

And of course a bonus baby Rainbow Steve who’s about 5 apples big and got out of the test tube 20 minutes ago

I have so many head canons and beliefs and I must scream

I vaguely remember at some point in one of the Steve series, the younger the Steve the brighter they are, so I naturally thought “baby rainbow…. Pastel……..”

His eyes are supposed to be all the colours but since colouring hates me, it just looks grey instead in this pic

I do believe that his hair ends up brighter once he’s older but as a small child? It’s far more dull. His little sweater should be a colour shifting type thing but I have no clue how I would even draw that so

[a-froger-epic]

Interview with a Queen “groupie”

Cross-posted to AO3. I encourage you to leave any comments you have there.

---

I compiled this interview following a long email exchange with J, a very sweet lady who went to Ealing Art School between 1972 and 1974. She knew all four members of Queen personally and was part of their larger circle of friends.

First off, you may find this hard to believe. I don’t blame you. But I assure you I’m not pulling your leg. As well as the pictures I share in this post, I have seen current pictures of J (which I will not share to protect her privacy). There is no indication as far as I am aware that she isn’t who she says she is.

Nastally, hold up. How exactly did you find this lady?

She found me. It turns out that she has been following my story Dawn of Aquarius for quite some time. The story is set in 1969. A lot of research about the era went into it, because I wanted to portray that time period - and Freddie’s and Roger’s surroundings - as accurately and realistically as I possibly could. That was what drew J in. She tells me it brought back a lot of memories for her. One of the reasons I love DoA so much is the nostalgia, she says, which genuinely means the world to me. Eventually, she talked to me in the comment section. Of course, I freaked out!

And then, I asked her for an interview, to which she replied: I will give it a go, but you must remember that I am 65 and there were great drugs in the 70s, and at 16, away from home, I had a lot!

And so...

Here’s what is IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND when you read this interview.

These are one woman’s 50-year-old memories and subjective impressions. J has been incredibly kind to let me pick her brain, trying to recall everything as best as she can. In her own words:

Just remember that when I answer the questions, it is from a 16-year-old who is 9 years younger than Freddie and a little girl with no family and friends in a strange country trying to fit in. The only reason I was there, was because some hippie thought I had a unique art style.

---

J as a teenager.

[I have edited the interview together from our long, and somewhat messy at times, email exchange. Typos have been fixed and some punctuation added for clarity, but I have not changed anything J has written to me. Again, bear in mind these are personal opinions and impressions.]

So, J, how did you end up at Ealing Art School in 1972 and what was it like?

This was the painting done for the Australian school-leaving certificate.

It placed first and gave me a scholarship. I could pick France, the USA or England. As a dual citizen of the UK, the choice was easy. The scholarship paid for board and fees, so had to be and sell whatever for spending money.

This picture is from the dorm. We all had a 10pm curfew and a very thick rule book that, I am proud to say, I broke every one of them, one by one. The rooms were on the 1st and 2nd floor. We were on the first floor, rooms one side and admin staff the other end. We had two bathrooms for 18 girls. One of them had two baths. The walls were your standard half wall, so it was a given that if you had a bath you run the risk of having a bucket of cold water dropped on you. Downstairs was the kitchen and lounge room.

I want to ask you a few things about life in London in the early 70s, to get a picture of what it was really like. For example, was there alcohol at the music gigs you went to?

If it was a school, church or community hall, no. If it was a pub, yes.

Did you and your friends drink as much then as young people tend to drink now when you all went out?

No, we didn't. I think it had a lot to do with money. We didn't have the disposable income, and it was unheard of to still be living at home with the parents after the age of 20.

Was weed and LSD as big and easily accessible as depictions of the 60s and 70s would have us believe?

The drugs! Got to have drugs. Pot (weed) was easy to grow, very cheap. Used to smoke it in bongs rather than joints, more bang for your buck. Trips [LSD] were cheap, I think. About 2 pounds and you were on the high for over 24 hours with no sleep. My drug of choice was hash. Either the oil or the block. It was a nice high, but you could not function well. But if you listen to the music of the time it really does reflect what it was like, to have a group of friends over for a session. Having said all that the most outlandish and shocking drug I ever saw anyone use was the birth control pill. Didn't you have to hide that stuff away?!

Can you tell us some 70s slang that isn’t really in use anymore? What in the world does “ultra-blagging” mean? (As written in a letter penned by Freddie to his friend Celine in 1969.)

Abso-bloody-lootely!

Man, I thought I was the bees knees to be on a scholarship in London. But that didn't stop me from jigging or having a skive day. They were the days that I blagged my way into a pub, had too many lagers and ended up chundering in the gutter. That was how you knew your night was ace. I would get a right bollocking if anyone found out. It would be a bugger when all that you could find at a car boot sale was chavtastic, but sometimes you could be Jammy Dodger and tickety-boo you find something brilliant. Bob's your uncle. Anyways, I need to see a man about a dog.

[It seems to me that J uses a bit of Australian slang here, like chundering, which makes sense because she is, after all, Australian. She also provided the translation:]

Cheers

J

It would be my honour.

I felt very privileged to be given a scholarship that let me study in England. But being so young and having no family to guide me, it was often tempting to not turn up or give a false excuse for being sick. (I had a lot of food poisoning). These would often happen if the night before I had been drinking beer and ended up vomiting outside the pub. But in my young mind that was a good night. If any of the teachers found me drinking I would be in a lot of trouble. Often I would have to say I was holding it for someone else. Not having much clothes with me, I would buy them second hand from church jumble sales or other students and, yes, Kensington market (the market). Some of the stuff would not be very tasteful or in good condition. But sometimes you would find something that was cheap and in good condition. I will stop this text now as I must go to the toilet.

PS: Ultrablagging sounds very Freddie. Blagging was used, but not ultra, meaning to persuade someone to do something or act better than you are. They were always rock stars.

Sincerely

J

[It was at this point that I realised I was talking to an absolute legend. She also told me then that the majority of her old photographs had sadly been lost when her house was flooded in 1988, including most of the photographs from her stay in London. Noooo! :(]

When you went out to dance, did you have only live music? Were there DJs yet?

You know, that is hard. We did not have a DJ. Sometimes there would be a band. Often we looked for places with a band or the jukebox. I think pubs closed at 10pm and some stayed open to 12 or 1, but public transport stopped at 9. So if you had not arranged a lift then you had to make the last bus. Most of the time we would be heading back to someone's place to get stoned and then crash there. In the morning you would have to work out where you were. When I got back to Australia, the discos were all the rage. They could have been in London too but it was not cool to like disco.

How many people would show up to Queen’s gigs when they played in pubs or at, for example, the Imperial College?

Depending on the location and the night: 10 to 1000!

So how did you first meet the Queen boys?

I was at the pub talking about a band we saw last week when Brian stuck his head into our booth telling us he knew a better one. Thinking about seeing them at the stall... Roger not often, Freddie quite a lot. Often on different stalls, I think that is why I can't remember the name. [The name of the stall. Other sources confirm that Freddie also worked at Alan Muir’s stall, for example, selling shoes.]

How well did you know them?

Just looking at your tumblr account. [she has had a look at my blog, where somebody asked if ‘groupie’ meant she had slept with the band] No, I never slept with the boys. I would not say I was a close friend, but I started at Ealing Art College in ‘72 and moved in the same circles. I loved the music and could be called one of the first groupies. I had to sneak into the pubs because I was 16. Roger always teased me for being so young. They all did seem to be one very large family, not just the band. It was a group of about twenty regulars, both male and female. Everyone knew that Fred was too gay to function. We were all at the gay rights march in London in 1972, had to run after the march. Lots of sharpies [Australian slang: youth gang, thugs] wanting to bash us. Back then I was in every protest that was going, student union rights, even the secretary protest. Just part of the times, stick it to Man or Woman. I left London in ‘74 for Australia, been here ever since and lost track of the boys but have never stopped being a fan.

What do you remember about them? How would you describe their personalities?

Don’t let the trolls hate me, but I did not like Brian. I found him to be rather full of himself. Space was a subject you never brought up around Brian or you would die of old age before he stopped talking. He was always the first to speak and start a conversation and then quickly passed you off to John, who was always tired and shy. Roger was also quite shy at times. He was very self-conscious of his looks, as he felt being pretty, nobody would take him seriously. Fred, well, he was not yet the big star, so I think he was working on his stage persona. When talking to groups at parties, he had the best stories of things that had happened to him or close friends. They were very funny and very descriptive. He was the life of the party. When he had a few to drink or was the centre of attention, he would take a cigarette out of the closest person’s hand and start smoking. Now remember this is the point of view of a 16-year-old girl that was a fish out of water, trying to fit in and not having much worldly experience.

It is said that Freddie and Roger were very stylish. How did they dress in everyday life?

Fred would do his hair and makeup to check the mail. Yes, he was always turned out, but so were a lot of people. Freddie did go over the top with hats, scarfs and jewellery. With Roger, it is a surprise he was able to have kids his jeans were that tight. And his shirts were always open unless he was in a jumper. I think it could have been so that you knew he was male, as it was the start of the unisex clothing. When I travelled out of London I realised it was a London thing. When I got back to Australia everyone thought I was a show-off.

There are some disagreements about how tall especially Freddie was. I know this is a difficult thing to try and remember accurately. But do you remember?

Freddie was taller than me but everyone was. Roger was shorter than Fred, but I never saw Roger in platform shoes. I did meet up with the band by chance at Sydney airport in 1984, said ‘hello’ but they did not remember me, or if they did then they did not say anything and I did not want to be a dork. At that time Fred was the same height as me (5ft 8in/1.72m), Roger was taller than me. It made me think at the time that he had a growth spurt! John was shorter than me and Brian has always been tall. [I have a feeling the platform shoes - or lack thereof - played a vital role here! Although 172cm for Freddie seems likely.]

You said everyone knew Freddie was “too gay to function”. Attitudes towards homosexuality have changed so much that it can be hard for us, now, to fathom what exactly people must have thought of him. Was it more of a joke that he was so camp? Was it something he would have been teased for? Also, he had a girlfriend. Did you ever meet Mary or the other girlfriends?

In 1972 a whole group of us - and I am pretty sure that Fred, Roger, Brian and Tim were there - were in a gay pride march. [Since then, J has found and showed me a picture of a boy she thought was Tim Staffel, and it wasn't, so Tim was most definitely not there. Whether Freddie, Roger and Brian really were there or if J is misremembering, who knows?] Us youth believed you could not choose who you fell in love with and if it was same sex, so what? However, if it was two girls then it was every guy’s duty to change her!

It was also a time that the gayer the guy was, the more the girls were interested. Also, if a guy was gay then you did not have to worry about him and he was a good person to take with you if you were going out drinking. However, the police, parents, teachers and anyone of authority were horrified and treated them badly. I did meet Mary a couple of times at pubs and once after a gig. This is just my opinion, but I found her a bitch. It could be that I was so young. It could be that I was very Australian. It could be that she felt threatened as my accent was a magnet to people around. And the boys (Queen) were no exception. Brian had a cousin in OZ and was always asking questions. I remember that my close group of friends thought that Mary made the perfect girlfriend for Fred as they were as fake as each other. Having said that about them, I often wonder if I would think the same now and if my perceptions were just because she would not give me the time of Day. Chrissy and Jo were a lot of fun.

This was before your time, but I read that Freddie's nickname at Ealing Art School was ‘Freddie Baby’. Any ideas how this came about? His showmanship or maybe personality traits?

I don't think so. There were an older crowd that would talk like that. I think the slang ‘baby’ was a 60’s thing, like groovy baby.

How long, roughly, did Roger and Freddie have their stall? I can't find anywhere when it closed down. What did it actually look like? Was it a sort of wooden stall type of thing? Or an actual room? What were some of the other things people sold at Kensington Market? Mostly clothes or all sorts?

The markets were little divided shops. The back was brick and the walls wood. I have been trying all day to remember the name. [Of the stall.] I think it was something hard to say. More often than not it would be Freddie's dad in the store. It was still open when I left. Roger and Freddie were both in the store on Saturdays and some Sundays. There was a girl, I think Jill, who was in the store more. And during the week it could be anyone. You name it and you could get it at the markets. Second hand or designer clothes, shoes, jewellery, pot and assortments. Hair cuts, food, bric-a-brac.

Wait, wait. What? Freddie’s dad? Really now?

Yeah, it was an older Indian man. so we just assumed it was his father. It was my understanding that he started the stall then the boys would work it as the whole markets were set up for younger people, but if needed he would work there. I don't think the boys would be able to pay the rent on their own. [I have since found out that the stall closed in late 1971, and Freddie continued to work at the Market until '74, for Alan Mair and possibly others. So the stall J witnessed wasn't their original stall - explaining all the different people she saw there - but she had no way of knowing that it wasn't.] They always had incense burning that was very big in the 70s. I still occasionally bring out the sticks, but it does not last like the candles and diffusers of today. If you could get in touch with Robert Daniels, he ran ChaChaDumDum it was the stall across from Freddie. He would know the dates.

[J says it’s this look, in a picture she happened across while looking at my tumblr] Yep, that is the one. It usually means that he does not believe or agree with something that was said and is working out how to respond, or he has lost the plot.

You mentioned Roger seemed shy to you at times. Was he also quite charming? We read a lot about what a chick magnet he was. Was this the impression you had?

My favorite subject! I had a thing for Roger. Everyone has a type and mine is the blue-eyed blond. Now, before you ask, was he brunet? No, he was a mouse/dirty blond. If it was summer he would have blond streaks mostly at the ends. He knew he was pretty and was always dressed in the latest fashion and had the current hairstyle. So, being my type I was constantly watching him. Everyone slept around during that time. I did not notice Roger doing it more or less. 80% of the time he was with Jo. Yes, he was a chick magnet, but he did not do the chasing. He was always very polite to everyone. If it ever looked like there would be any conflict he would be the first to leave it. It was not that he was a coward, just not into conflict. If he saw anyone that needed help he was right there, and often had to have Freddie's back. I never saw him in a fight. He could always talk his way out of things. He was also very patient and would listen for hours to other people talk. However, he would get this vacant look in his eyes at times.

And Freddie would either click his fingers, change the subject or just give up. I don’t think that Brian noticed, and it would be fair game for John, he would see how far he could push it. Roger liked to drink a fair bit and when drunk he would be hanging all over Jo. If she was not there then he missed Jo. If, however, he thought that he or his friends were not being respected, then look out! It was a verbal volcano heading your way. That is what happened to me one time. I was trying to talk with my friends close to where a drunken Roger was and I yelled at him to shut the hell up, you wannabe blond. We/I coped a mouthful back, all in the same sentence, that finished with: Sorry, I didn't realise you were on your rags (period)! I have to have the last word, so I told him the truth: I don’t get them yet! (I was a late starter.) He went so red in the face and called me JB [jail bait] from then.

You also mentioned Roger’s cat Ziggy having kittens. I read about this but never when exactly it was. Do you remember?

I think it was winter ‘73. I remember being cold when he was asking around the pub. [To find homes for the kittens, I gather.]

Is it quite strange reading fictional interpretations of real people you knew? When did you first find out there was Queen fanfic?

No, we used to make up stories about people all the time, a verbal fanfic. Was looking up Adam Lambert and came across the fanfics. Some had me in stitches! Others, like DoA, had me hooked.

Please, allow me to be a little self-indulgent at the end. What's one thing I got totally RIGHT in DoA?

All the Ibex stuff.

What's one thing I got totally WRONG in DoA?

Roger did not have a temper, and I don’t know what the go with his father was, but he would talk about him quite a bit and was always visiting his mum. [Absolutely fair, not only did I change the timeline of Roger’s parents divorce in DoA - for lack of information at the time - but also created a completely fictional narrative around it for the sake of storytelling.]

J, thank you so much for all this, sincerely. Can you tell me a little more about yourself? Are you still an artist?

I don't paint or draw any more. At the age of a 50 the doctors operated on an aneurysm or three, and now my eyesight is very bad, I have no fine motor skills and a tremor. I was married in January 1984 and have just celebrated our 37 year anniversary. I have one daughter who is 30 and two great, although tiring grandkids. A girl, 11, and one boy, 5. I have lived my life as the average middle class Australian with great memories. Talking with you has helped me a lot to remember a time when the world was mine for the taking. When I returned to OZ I started nursing, met my best friend, and we planned that once we graduated we would go back to London to study midwifery. But I fell in love instead.

J's wedding in 1984. As you can see, she found her own blue-eyed blond.

---

Upon request, J has shared some of her past and present artwork with me.

These are from her time at Ealing Art School:

These were done later, back in Australia:

J: Did this just before Christmas as you had inspired me. It did not require fine motor skills!

So there you have it! I hope you found this little glimpse through a 16-year-old girl’s eyes as much of a fascinating read as I did. I urge everybody one more time to remember that J did not have to share any of this, and I think we all owe her a big thank you for delving into her memories. She is likely to see the responses on AO3, so I have comment moderation enabled there as I will not let anybody harass this lovely lady. The tumblr she created is @since72, but she isn’t really an active user and also very new to it all. Again, I can only urge everybody to be respectful.

If you have other burning question for J, feel free to leave them in the comments on AO3. I will either pass them on, or she may want to reply to them herself directly.

[honeybeesiness]

an unholy holiday.

word count: 2k.

slight nsfw warning! dw tho, there’s absolutely no smut and it’s 97% fluff. it’s just the reader being a tiny bit of a thottie ;).

‎

‎

two limited edition sucre frenzy tickets.

The next day was your day with the beloved otaku Leviathan. Based off the kind of person he was, you figured that he would want to watch some anime with you or take you to a convention somewhere in Devildom (or the human world if you’re lucky). Binging the TSL series in the beginning of the year for the quiz against Levi proved beneficial to you (aside from being able to make a pact with him), as after that you became quite invested in the series to the point where you would want to name your pet Henry too. You knew Levi liked how you were fond of the series, because it wasn’t every day where he met someone that shared the same interests as him and didn’t put him down for it. With that being said, you were perfectly content with watching TSL or any other series that Levi chose today.

After breakfast that morning, you had gotten a text from the boy in question, who had not shown up for the meal.

💞weeb husband💞: meet me in my room

💞weeb husband💞: wear ur pajamas

You began to grow excited, as your suspicions were seemingly correct. It seemed like you were quite good at guessing what the boys had planned so far, given how you knew what Beelzebub was planning yesterday as well. Were you a psychic? Maybe you just had really good intuition. Or maybe you just knew the brothers so well that guessing came easy for you. Either way, you were smiling like a madman as you typed out a reply.

You: aight fam, i’ll be there asap

You: want me to wear my tsl jammies

💞weeb husband💞: yes

After his swift reply, you slid your phone into your hoodie and bid the others at the breakfast table a farewell. You headed on back to your room to swap into what you called your “TSL Pajamas”, which was just a worn-looking oversized brown t-shirt with the TSL logo on it along with a pair of comfy grey pajama shorts. After you got dressed, you slid down the hall and knocked on Levi’s door.

“Come in.”

And you did, shutting the door behind you. You grinned giddily at Leviathan (who was situated in his bathtub) before turning your attention to the rest of the room. Surrounding the bathtub that was Leviathan’s bed was a large array of snacks and drinks, most of which were your favorites. You didn’t think Devildom had human food like this, and you wondered if Levi went out of his way to get you these things. You were grateful, and you sent him a cheeky look, also deciding that it would be funny to tease him just a little. Embarrassed Levi was one of your favorite Levis, after all.

“Did you get all of this for me~?” You batted your eyelashes, slowly and sensually bending over to pick up a bottle of banana flavored ramune, which you examined while still being crouched. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see the bluenette’s face flush a scarlet color, and that was enough to satisfy you for the moment. “Thank you.”

“LOL, they’re not all for you, you know!” He squawked, still mildly embarrassed, but soon his face returned to its normal hue. “Believe it or not, there are some foods from the human world that actually taste good!”

You rolled your eyes, picking up a packet of chocolate pocky (a classic) as well as another favorite snack of yours before sauntering over to where Levi was sitting in the bathtub. “What’re we doin’? With all these snacks, I would assume you have something in mind.”

“You and I are going to be having an anime marathon.” He jabbed a finger in the direction of one of his PC monitors whose position he changed so the both of you could watch. “I wanna watch TSL and I don’t listen to normies who say no.”

“No. We literally watch TSL EVERY time I come to hang out here! Let’s try somethin’ new for once.” You said defiantly, earning a huff and a mini pout from the boy in return. You were clearly contradicting what you had thought to yourself earlier, but we don’t talk about that.

“FINE. What do you suggest?” He grumbled, pulling his keyboard closer to his lap so he could bring up his Softbun account. You put one foot into his bathtub and his head immediately shot over to look at you, his expression a little bit wild. “What are you doing?!”

You put another foot in. “Getting comfortable, of course, so scooch over! Your fatass is hogging the tub.”

“Excuse me?!” Levi sounded offended, but he was smiling as he (hesitantly) moved over. You plopped yourself down, hanging your legs over the rim of the tub. It was a small, Levi-sized bathtub, and you eyed the boy as he blushed fervently at your close proximity.

“Hey, have you watched Beast Assassin yet?” You asked, pointing at the series on the monitor in front of you. The show was in Levi’s library, but you couldn’t tell if he watched it or not.

He gave you a look that told you that you had asked a stupid question. “You mean the hit series where the protagonist’s sister gets turned into a beast and the protagonist must go on a journey to find a cure for her? OF COURSE I watched it! What are you, some kind of pleb?”

“NO. Shut the hell your mouth, we’re watching Beast Assassin, but we’re skipping to the part where Airitsu first appears because he’s the best.” You snatched his keyboard off his lap and placed it on yours, reaching your hand over the side of the bathtub to move the mouse (which was placed on the floor next to the bed) over to Beast Assassin.

“What are you saying?! Are you crazy?! We can’t just start on the second episode without watching the first! It’s called “Episode 2“ for a reason!” Levi attempted to take the keyboard away from you, but as soon as he laid his fingers on it, the entire room went pitch black.

You were the first to react. “Eh?? Levi-san, it’s so dark! H-Hold me!” But you, in fact, did not hold onto him. You could hear the boy, scoff, though. “Are we havin’ some sort of blackout? Has this ever happened in Devildom, or—?”

“This is SO unfair,” Levi grumbled to himself, and you felt him move beside you. “Just as I was going to click on the first episode of Beast Assassin!” You aggressively shoved him on the arm for that comment, sending him stumbling out of the bathtub and flat on the floor. Since you couldn’t exactly see him, the only way you could tell that he was on the floor was through the sound of skin hitting the tile that was the floor of Levi’s bedroom. “Hey!”

“What, I didn’t do anything!” You “harumph-ed” and crossed your arms, but you were generally curious as to what Levi was up to. And, as your eyes began to grow used to the dark, you could make out his silhouette approaching his desk where the rest of his monitors sat. “What’cha doin’?”

You watched somewhat blindly as he reached over the screens to the shelves that sat behind the desk, grabbing something that you couldn’t make out. You, too, got out of the bathtub, and you stumbled over to where Leviathan was standing. As he sensed you approaching, he turned away from you and hunched over slightly so you couldn’t see what he was holding. You shoved him again, but much more lightly this time.

“If you don’t stop, I won’t be giving you any of these glowsticks!” Ah, so that was what he was holding.

“Glowsticks? You have glowsticks??” From your spot behind Leviathan, you could spot a faint glow coming from his frontside. He turned around to face you, his face lit up by pink and red glowsticks, but still remaining shrouded by the surrounding darkness. He gave you another incredulous look that told you that you asked a stupid question. “Don’t give me that look! I thought that you used them all at the last concert you went to!”

Leviathan squinted at you. “Bold of you to assume that, since I’ve taken you to all of the concerts I got tickets for in the past year!”

That was something that had completely failed to cross your mind. It’s not that you didn’t remember Levi taking you to all those pop idol concerts before (you did), but you were always more invested in the music and the choreography rather than what the audience was doing or even holding.

“Well, I’m sooooorry that I forgot! It’s just-”

“Enough of your excuses, woman.” Leviathan interrupted you with a flick on your forehead. “An otaku never is without their glowsticks.”

“You can’t say that ‘cause glowsticks aren’t even used for anime! ...Unless it’s of Lyricoids. You like Lyricoids, right? You better. Who’s your favorite?” You reached out your hand to grab at the pink glowstick, hoping to distract the bluenette with your chitchat, but he moved his hands away.

“Of course I do! I like Muka. Her voice is so melodic and graceful, and her songs are so beautiful and meaningful. The settings of her music videos are always so detailed, especially with the backgrounds and how the plot of the song is portrayed through the visuals. Muka also always looks amazing in any outfit since her figure is naturally curvy and mature, and the musicians and animators never fail to make her draw the audience’s eyes. I also really like how—”

“I like the OG queen herself, Riku, thanks for asking.” You interrupted somewhat sarcastically, having another go at trying to acquire one of Levi’s glowsticks. “She’s so bubbly and her voice is so versatile that she can sing and sound nice in literally any genre.”

“I agree, but,” Levi moved the glowsticks out of the way once more. “Muka is—”

There were several knocks on Levi’s door, and both of your heads swiveled in that direction. You also took that moment to swipe up the pink glowstick, and Levi glared at you.

“What if a serial killer busted the lights and is out to kill us.” You mused, scratching your chin. “He’s being awfully polite if he’s knocking on the door, though.”

You were on a roll with your stupid statements today, for Levi gave you another look, this one being much more annoyed. He didn’t bother to correct you, and instead said, “I hope he kills you first because you’re being so annoying.”

Your reply was immediate, and the knocking was heard once more. “Jokes on you, I actually want to die.” Pink glowstick in hand, you marched to the front of the room and opened the door. “Stab me, daddy.”

“...What?”

You blinked several times and held up the glowstick to the person’s face. It was Satan, and you shuffled awkwardly in your spot. “Oops.”

“I’m going to pretend that I didn’t hear that.” Satan surveyed the room, and his stiff posture relaxed— if only a little. “Good, you two aren’t the only ones whose rooms are affected by the blackout.”

You leaned against the doorframe. “This happened to you too?”

Satan nodded. “And the rest of us as well. It is unusual, is it not? This never happened before.”

“Well, I hope it gets fixed soon, because Levi back here,” You jabbed your free thumb in the man’s direction. “is being the biggest prick. He said he actually WANTED me to die! And for what, being annoying? Sheesh, how harsh.”

Satan smiled a little bit, glancing back at Leviathan, who he was only able to see thanks to the glowstick he was holding. Upon hearing your words, Levi marched up and slammed the door shut.

You held up your hands in front of yourself in mock surrender. “Let’s just agree that we’re both being annoying.”

“But YOU’RE the one who’s being annoying!”

“Agree to disagree?”

“...Fine.” ‎‎ ‎‎‎

i have a headcanon where Levi uses crackhead/internet/gen z humor so i decided to incorporate that into the story :”). had a lot of fun writing this!

also, if y’all forgot, Levi legit sleeps in a bathtub 😤.

‎

and yes that is a Sayaka Maizono/Danganronpa reference in the beginning ;)

‎‎‎

Beast Assassin = Demon Slayer. Airitsu = Zenitsu.

Lyricoid = Vocaloid. Muka = Luka Megurine. Riku = Miku Hatsune.

taglist: @wetleafwrites​ ::​ @midnight-moodlet​

[fruits-biscuit]

Thanks for the tag girly @merriberri 💕 💕(sorry it took so long to respond)

Answer 30 questions and tag others:

1. Name/Nickname: Therese, Tee, ‘ auntie TT’ (my nieces :)

2. Gender: female

3. Star sign: Cancer

4. Height: 5’5”

5. Time: 8:32pm

6. Birthday: June 26

7. Favorite bands: Lots of 2000 emo/punk bands lol. Also many many different random indie/folk bands: Judah and the Lion, The Head and the Heart, Joseph, The Paper Kites.

8. Solo artists: Sara Bareilles, Gabe Dixon, Vian Izak, Brenden James, Taylor Swift, Matthew Mole, Lauv, Gabrielle Aplin.. to name a few

9. Song stuck in your head: currently it’s the OP from S4 Attack on Titan lol

10. Last movie you watched: Little Women

11. Last show: My 600lb Life

12: When did you create this blog: Last year (for the beginning of S2 Fruits Basket)

13. What do you post about: it changes with the season but Fruits Basket, Aot, Memes, Anime, Art&Fic, inspo, studyspo

14. Last thing googled: “chapter 116 attack on titan”

15. Other blogs: main blog is Anastasia Musical stan account and I’m too lazy to change it (Peony-pastimes)

16. Do you get asks: do those cute chains that go something like: “send this to someone who brightens your day” Or “send to a blog you like” count?

17. Why you chose your url: I wanted it to match my main blog and the word “plums” is in reference to fruits basket HA!

18. Following: fanart blogs, fic, shipper accounts, Levi Ackerman stans

19. Followers: honestly I don’t know why anyone follows me but I’m happy they do.

20. Average hours of sleep: 8-10

21. Instruments: i wish.

22. What are you wearing: my jammies

23. Dream job: Something that keeps me close to my loved ones and keeps me financially stable. Very boring I know. But probably cause I haven’t thought about it too hard.

24. Dream trip: Europe & beautiful beaches literally anywhere cause I’m happy if there’s water. 25. Favorite food: chicken and rice

26. Nationality: American, (italian)

27: Favorite song: will never get sick of any song off of 1989 or Red (Tswift)

28. Last book read: tough one. Probably when I re-read Hunger Games (book one) last fall.

29. Top three fictional universes you’d like to live in: Any Jane Austen universe (for the intrigue), probably Outlander as well so that I could time travel, and also the Last Kingdom so that I could meet Finan and have a deep convo with Father Beocca haha.

30. Tagging: @softestark @rivetraclub @rivetra-files @kyoruforever @love-them-sohmas @brunettebeanz @interstellix @2daisy2 @2000ymirsfromnow @puddingpiepjm98 would love to see your answers 😇🤍🤍

peony-pastimes

[keulixeutin]

Shades

05. Red Rose

Previously - 04. Pink Heart

“Hey, are you coming over tonight?” [Name] asked. “Maybe,” Sasuke answered uninterestedly. He reached for his thick textbook with its ugly mustard cover, Financial Accounting Reporting and Systems. If the color didn’t make him throw up, the name and subject definitely did.

“What do you mean, ‘maybe?’”

She kicked him lightly under the table; it hit a weird bone in his leg that made everything tingle in a not-so-pleasant way. Sasuke looked up from the bookmarked page and glared at her, but she looked back at him, unfazed. That was probably the only thing he disliked about their newfound friendship. Sure, after the Valentine’s fiasco, they started spending more time together. They were actually in the friends category now, going over each other’s place every day, if not every other day (which allowed him basically unlimited time to oggle her legs and breasts and eye crinkles), but now she was used to his glares and threats and tch’s. How was he ever going to effectively shut her up or satisfy his mean streak now? Ah, yes. “Ow! Asshole, you kicked me way harder!” Sometimes, childish was the only way to go. “Fine, don’t come over,” she muttered. “See if I fucking care.” Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out another notebook, searching for the last set of notes he had written and wondering why he didn’t just label everything instead of trying to mentally assign colors to classes. “I have two tests on Thursday,” he reminded her. “Yeah, and that’s in two days,” she said nonchalantly, waving her hand as though she was dismissing an easily ignorable subject. “You’ve got plenty of time.” He paused in his search to stare at her with a twitching eye. “Oh, come on, you’ve been studying all of this for a week and a half! You cancelled horror movie night! We didn’t get to do our potluck dinner!” “I’ve been busy.” “Ugh, you disgust me.” But she smiled at him in amusement when he massaged the bridge of his nose in reply. “Just bring your study materials over. Or don’t — you live right next door, dude,” she continued. It wasn’t that Sasuke was particularly nervous about his exams or that he hadn’t prepped enough. After all, there was no exaggeration to [Name]’s words; he had been studying for the last week and a half, non-stop. Every spare moment was spent looking over his class notes or scanning the highlighted portions of his textbook, or even rereading chapters and taking new notes. But that was the type of person Sasuke was: he liked to be very thorough. “Come on.” He sighed. A night at her place wouldn’t mean the end of his college career, he supposed. “Fine,” he finally said, and she punched the air and whooped in victory. The rest of the hour was spent in silent studying: [Name] bobbed her head in time to her music as she read her literature, occasionally taking notes on the plot’s events, and Sasuke restarted chapter seventeen’s notes. When [Name] looked up from her reading, she saw that they used up the allotted time they had for the library room, and the two of them packed up their things and left. “Awesome,” [Name] said as they returned the key to the library’s studying room to the front office. “I bought two new movies, and I’ve got my weird pasta leftovers, and my jammies are all clean and ready to be worn — aggh, I can’t wait.” She grinned at him and he rolled his eyes, but he still couldn’t help the small grin forming at the edge of his lips. Her excitement was contagious. They drove home separately; [Name] had arrived first. He could hear her shuffling in her apartment next door as he entered his own. He changed quickly into a t-shirt and sweat pants, and though a part of him said it’d be okay to leave his studying books at home, he still over-packed his backpack and brought it over. He locked his apartment door behind him — always thorough. Of course, [Name]’s was unlocked, and it wasn’t because she knew he was coming over; it was almost always unlocked, especially when she was home. “Oy,” he yelled irritably as he entered. “What have I told you about locking the damn door?” She twisted her body around on the sectional and peered at him from behind thick, blue cushions. “Uh...” She paused. “To do it?” “Yeah,” he said, “so do it.” She grinned cheekily. Sasuke dumped his belongings on the rug, beneath the coffee table, and sat beside her. She had selfishly taken up the chaise part, but that meant he got dibs on the body pillow. When he looked over at the kitchen, he saw a vase of dying roses. “[Name] — ” “Don’t ask; too lazy.” Of course. He turned his attention to the scene in front of him. In the time it had taken him to park his car, walk upstairs, and change clothes, she had already changed into her giant t-shirt and shorts, popped in popcorn and cookies, poured sweet tea in two cups, and tuned into a TV show on Netflix. If she’d just apply herself like that to all her classes... As he settled into the couch, [Name] started a sci-fi show called Firefly. “I thought we were watching a horror movie,” he said. “We were,” she replied, “but Ten-Ten told me this was a really good show. She’s, like, obsessed with it, so I figured what better time to start it than now with my best buddy?” “I came over for horror movies.” “Shut up and eat your popcorn.” Sasuke sighed loudly, inwardly smiling when he saw her glare at him with a twitching eye; he pulled the bowl of popcorn off the coffee table and placed it in between them. Some five minutes later, [Name] got up to get the cookies out of the oven and turn off the lights; minutes after that they sank into the couch, its oversized, too-comfortable cushions trying to absorb them away from reality. By the end of the (surprisingly good) first episode, they were touching head to head, taking turns picking out of the green bowl. He tried not to think about it and kept his eyes steady on the screen. “Not bad,” he said. “Yeah, it’s actually pretty funny,” she agreed. He saw her glance at him, and then she snorted. “You’ve got crumbs on your face, stupid-head.” Sasuke didn’t respond; there wasn’t much to say to that, but he didn’t bother trying to wipe it off. He was still eating after all, but [Name] seemed to have other ideas, as she reached forward to try and brush them off his cheek; her fingers touched too close to his lips. He imagined grabbing her hand and holding it against his face. He imagined kissing her. Interrupting his thoughts, she beamed brightly like a dork and then proceeded to lick the crumbs clean off her fingers. Any romantic, cute scene he could think of was quickly shattered. “You’re a fucking slob.” There was a reason he liked her, hidden beneath her oddity, her quirks, right? He wasn’t crazy, right? Or maybe he actually liked the quirks... He shuddered. “Least you’re clean now,” she said, and then she quickly turned back to the screen. “Shh! Next episode!” Sasuke turned his attention to the show, but couldn’t help looking at her. “[Name] —”

“Shh!” In annoyance, he pulled a strand of her hair. She shouted and hit him, and in retaliation he pulled another strand; a wrestling matched ensued. Maybe he’d try next time.

[harleywords]

The Thrill of Change

Genre - Comedy

Word count: 2468

Synopsis: A businessman becomes addicted to the thrill of making absurd changes to his mundane office life. Hijinks ensue.

Today I did things a little different. I figured I’d be better for it, but it only made things worse. No, not worse… for something to get worse it has to be bad to begin with, and it wasn’t. Bad, I mean. But things change, people change; at least that’s what I’ve heard. People say that all the time, in fact they’ve said it so much throughout history that people almost exclusively use it ironically now. Anyway, I thought I’d give it a try-- that was my first mistake. Actually it was my only mistake, but there were a whole lot of smaller mistakes that fall under that main big one; changing myself. And I dragged my colleagues down with me.

Now, I’m a civilized man. I wear my tie around my neck just like anyone else; or at least, I have done so since that one incident in which someone finally came forward and told me I had been doing it wrong all these years. I appreciate that. If ever I’m doing something incorrectly, I want the right method to be made known to me as soon as possible. I love doing things right. You could say I have a passion for it. Or I would if I ever felt passionately about anything. If I were to be passionate about something, it would be rightness. I think that’s good, which pleases me because I love being good as well. That would be my second passion if only I were capable. Goodness and rightness are very important to me, even if not to the extent of passion. If I saw someone doing something bad and wrong, I wouldn’t stop them. If I were passionate I suppose I would… maybe that’s something I should strive for? It’s too late now, of course; everything’s changed.

It all started a couple of nights ago when I arrived at work only to notice I forgot my tie. I ran to my cubicle, clenching my trench coat at the chest to cover my shameful error, when I suddenly remembered that my backup ties were at the cleaners. It was closed today. I was about to just totally freak out when my good friend and arch nemesis, Cecil, arrived at my small workspace with a glint in his eye.

“I couldn’t help but notice the way you were holding your trench coat.” He smirked. “Any man of mighty brains and impeccable taste in clothing could clearly see that you were hiding something-- or a lack thereof.” He spun a No. 2 pencil between his index finger and thumb, wrist limp and elbow nonchalantly propped against the corner of my cubicle wall. He raised the coffee in his dominant left hand to his lips with a look of better-than-you-ness. At the time I couldn’t recall the term “superiority,” so I won’t use it here in order to stay true to my recollection of these harrowing events which took place recently enough that I can sort of remember what I was thinking at the time they happened. For example, after my thought about his look of better-than-you-ness, I remember not remembering what I had for breakfast and feeling concerned about it. I spent the next few minutes trying to dig around in my brain for the memory of my morning breakage of fast and missed everything he was saying to me during this time. At last I had it-- Chinese takeout. How silly of me to forget; it was a Tuesday, of course I had my Tuesday breakfast Chinese takeout.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked Cecil with a triumphant grin at the flawless recollection of my latest meal. I recalled the moment of panic when I opened my fortune cookie. The delicate slip of paper inside ripped in half with the cookie, and on it were the mangled words; “There are big changes ahead for you.” This meant nothing to me at the time, but now I was beginning to wonder about its significance.

“I said I think I have an extra tie for you to borrow.” Cecil repeated with exasperation. He hated repeating himself. He often faked it to get back at whoever didn’t hear him the first time, for instance; say he had told you: “You have something in your teeth.”

“Come again?” you would respond.

He would then change it to, “Catch the game last night?” And stomp away in a huff of frustration and-- ah yes! Superiority. That’s the word. (Please excuse me, I am still following my train of thought from the other night.) Of course, he would probably never utter the words “catch the game last night.” Cecil’s most loathed phenomenon in the world is that of cliches. He hates cliches. Just hates ‘em.

Anyway, he must have felt the tie thing to be far too important to change in his second go of suggesting I borrow one of his, because he repeated it for me and I graciously accepted his offer.

“You are too kind, too kind.” I shook his hand violently but at the time it was holding a cup of hot coffee which splattered all over my work area and sensitive skin. I didn’t mind, though; I was overjoyed by this solution to my terribly embarrassing problem. “I promise to return it good as new!”

“Good as new?!” the pencil in Cecil’s right hand snapped at the clench of his fist, the two separate pieces falling to the floor in a clatter that to me resembled the cries of a close bond being severed, two kids in love being taken from each other by cruel circumstance. “I have half a mind to retract my offer at that overused phrase, and to punch myself right in the face for saying I have “half a mind” to do something-- but this tie thing is far too important. I’ll get it to you right away.”

I spent the rest of the day in a constant state of anxiety at the thought of having to wear someone else’s tie, but a foreign tie is better than no tie. Then a strange thing happened to me, and I realized the thrill of being anxious all day. It was… exhilarating! The adrenaline rush coursing through me whenever I looked down or caught someone glancing at my chest was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and although it made me feel uncomfortable and sweaty, it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. It was exciting, it was new-- it was change.

I wanted more. I started small; shifting everything on my desk askew so instead of being at right angles they were all tilted towards me, as if they were an audience watching me work. My computer and the long list of monotonous company emails within suddenly became a ferocious lion in the coliseum, and I a gladiator, conquering each reply with a mighty swing of my sword (in this case my sword was my keyboard, just in case my metaphor confused you ((I often have trouble with metaphors))).

Later I added almond milk to my coffee instead of my usual 2%. It was really weird and I didn’t want to imagine how they milked the almonds, but I enjoyed every sip with delight and defiance. At the end of my workday I turned left at my cubicle instead of right to get to the elevator, which was a little stupid in hindsight because my cubicle is at the outer corner of the building near the elevator, so I had to go the long way around… but then I took the stairs! I was washed in the sweat of heros. My knees felt like creaky hinges by the time I completed descending the 36 stories, but it was worth it for the thrill. I felt unstoppable, untouchable.

I jaywalked!

I lived.

I could do anything in the world, and the only person that could stop me was me, and I wasn’t near finished yet. I ran into my co-worker, Trent, on the street opposite that of the office.

“Your hair looks great!” He called out to me.

“Thanks!” I beamed at him. I re-parted it on the other side of my head in the bathroom.

“Hey, a few of us guys that were working late are going out for a beer. You wanna join?”

I suddenly realized that the sun had begun to fall during my trip down the stairs.

“Why, yes!” I would have been home eating my Tuesday frozen burrito with my cat and watching Glee by now. “I would love to join you!” Tonight’s episode was being recorded on the DVR as we spoke. Glee would have to wait.

Trent walked me to his car where we met up with Cecil, two accountants named Murlock and Roy, and some guy I’m not entirely sure works with us or even knows any of us, Norman. Throughout the night I believe everyone was casually throwing out subtle hints to find out who invited him, but no one seemed to show any relation to the large, bald, tattooed man in his impeccably clean wifebeater. That’s okay, though; I always carpool with people I know or am formally introduced to. This was a first, and an exciting one at that.

When we reached the bar, called Beers,  I left my suit jacket in the car. I never take off my suit jacket, not until I’m about to get into my jammies. They have clouds on them.

Everyone shouted “Norman!” when we entered, but anyone I asked wasn’t sure how they knew him. There was even a burger named after him. Fascinating fellow.

The entire event of attending a bar hangout session with friends was new to me, so I had nothing to do differently than usual since there was no usual. As the night wore on I became accustomed to the activity, and my new restless spirit needed something different. I needed more change, more excitement. I needed an outrageous gesture, so I lead the bar in song. No one knew the words, as I just made them up, but I sang it all the way through proudly atop a table. I kicked a pyramid of shot glasses which crashed to the floor and the bartender began to approach me, but I was too clever. The guys were enjoying my display, and followed me as I ran out of the bar. We laughed together on the sidewalk. I put my tie around my head like they do in the movies. Cecil smacked me across the head so hard the tie fell off and he proceeded to put it on himself. He was wearing two ties. He was changing… just like me.

The night was ours. The city was ours! We wandered the streets blind, ready to take on the world. I kicked a rock and it broke a window. I felt bad but I trekked on. We gave money to a homeless man. He spat on my shoes and angrily tweeted about it right before our eyes on his shiny new iPad. The wallpaper was something about a pipe not being a pipe. I was baffled by this but I was determined to continue enjoying myself.

We entered a dimly lit building. I was drawn to it by the purple neon lights framing the windows, but it had some questionable items for sale… by that look on your face I’m assuming you want me to move my story along. I can also tell by the tapping of your foot and exasperated sighs and also by you telling me to get a move on. I understand your signals. People have often said I am very perceptive.

The next couple of nights my new best friends and I followed the same routine; after work we headed to Beers and had Norman burgers. We got rowdy and meandered around the city until we were bored. I stopped feeling the adrenaline rush, and realized changes were becoming routine for me. They weren’t fresh, exciting. I needed to do something huge. I needed to do something drastic.

I needed to bring a giraffe into the office.

Acquiring the beast was surprisingly easy, but getting him up the stairs was the real challenge. Fitting him in my cubicle was a bit of a debacle, but he found a tolerable way to rest his head 7 cubes down. What I realized is… no one cared. No one changed what they were doing. They just pretended not to notice. That’s when I lost faith in my colleagues. Even Cecil, who had begun gossiping at the water cooler and saying things like “lovely weather we’re having” with no bigger reaction than a cringe and a nervous twitch, passed by me hurriedly without making eye contact. My full-grown giraffe was the pink elephant in the room, and people ignored it because it was easier than dealing with the situation. Because hiding behind your massive pile of papers that don’t even seem to have a purpose other than being assigned to you is more convenient than taking a giraffe out of the workplace, let alone bringing him in. I suppose that’s how they’ve dealt with me for all these years.

It’s rough being an antelope in LA, but I’ve always tried my best to blend in with society. Luckily I’m not an antelope in LA. Gotcha goin’ there for a moment, didn’t I? Nah, I was living around the center of Vancouver at the time. I’m not adventurous enough for LA… although now I suppose I am. I will move there! No, no… I promised, no more changes. From now on I’m doing things the right way, the good way. I will be good and right as I was before. Like I said, I am a civilized man, even if I am an antelope. I can restrain myself. I can wear my tie around my neck. I can take the logical route to the elevator, and I can descend it with ease in enough time to make it home for Glee and frozen dinners with my cat. That way I can avoid situations like these, and live the rest of my life the easy way, like I did before. I wouldn’t light any more office buildings ablaze and take refuge in the woods outside Vancouver. If you let me out of here I swear I won’t cause you any more trouble, Officer. Can I call you Off for short? OH can I call you Olaf?! That would be sweeeeet.

Anyway, that’s it I guess. Say, don’t I get one phone call? What do you mean it doesn’t work that way here? Who is in charge of this establishment?

Psh, Animal Control… more like animal dominion, am I right? Or is that just a fancier word for control?

The End.

[jamesginortonblog]

Spoilers after the break

Alex got busted by fiancé Rebecca and it was the day of reckoning in Mumbai. As the series reached its midway point, here’s all the talking points from McMafia's eventful episode four…

The god of Mumbai is no more

It was Breaking Bad, Bollywood-style. After the tip-off from the mysterious Mexican shipping tycoon Antonio Mendez (Caio Blat) in episode three, ambitious young pretender Dilly Mahmood (a raw, swaggering turn from Nawazuddin Siddiqui) was ready to steal a one-tonne drug shipment from under the nose of reigning Indian godfather Benny Chopra (Atul Kale).

We watched the heroin get slid through pipes to bypass the barbed wire fences along the Pakistan border, then get welded into washing machines for transporting. A dirty business indeed. It’d take more than a boil wash to get those moral stains out.

With the help of a nocturnal raid on Benny’s office, his hapless late-working accountant (coldly shot in the head for his trouble) and terrifyingly talented hacker Jay “Jammy” Chohan (Vishwas Kini), Dilly gleaned all the info he needed to pull off an audacious heist. It was knuckle-gnawingly tense as cargo containers were intercepted and fake security passes checked, but he pulled it off and the fateful Srikkanth Steel container was last seen driving off into the Mumbai night.

I found myself rooting for Dilly, despite his mercurial moods that turned on a rupee – quick to slap (or shoot) those who displeased him. The final scene saw some enterprising young urchins take Dilly to Chopra’s corpse, dumped and undignified on a rubbish tip – presumably executed by silently seething Russian mob boss Vadim Kalyagin (Merab Ninidze) for bungling the operation.

“Who’s god now?” snarled Dilly, respectfully closing the dead man’s eyes – before spitting on his corpse and striding off to seize control of his new criminal empire. It was a changing of the gangland guard.

Kleiman put it on Alex’s conscience

Puppet-master politician Semiyon Kleiman (David Strathairn) ensured it was hedge fund manager Alex Godman (James Norton) who gave the heroin heist the go-ahead. After all, the intel had come from his source, he’d transferred the necessary funds and even found the crucial computer hacker.

This seems to be the manipulative strategy of choice in McMafia world. Kleiman had made Alex responsible for Reznik’s death in Prague two episodes ago and now we saw Dilly do likewise with the unlucky accountant.

When Alex gave the nod – a cryptic “Let me know how it goes” down the phone – he crossed a line. He wasn’t just sitting behind a keyboard anymore. His soft banker’s hands had blood on them and it wouldn’t come off in the shower – even if that scene did fulfil the Norton flesh quota for this episode.

Heroic hackers ran the show

How very 21st century. It was two computer hackers who became the key cogs in the global crime machine.

When Godman Capital’s “heavy metal IT guy” Tobe Miller (Joshua James) was mentioned in passing in episode three, we suspected he’d have a bigger role to play. And so it proved. With suspicious sidekick Karin (Kemi-Bo Jacobs) sniffing around his shady global fund, Alex rehired Tobe on a freelance basis to cover his electronic trail.

We enjoyed Alex and Tobe’s wary stand-off becoming a budding friendship. “Fortunately for you, I know as much about financial fraud as you do about cyber-security,” said the sarky IT nerd, shyly avoiding eye contact and sporting a T-shirt by real-life Indonesian hardcore band Burgerkill.

The pair then bickered amusingly over who worked harder, had more friends and the most fun, before Tobe shrugged: “Trust me, in this world, you’re an innocent.” I wouldn’t be so sure anymore.

It was Tobe who recommended chatroom buddy Jammy as the best hacker in India. Dilly soon barged into his Bangalore home for some of his unique brand of persuasion – sweetened by a cricket bat signed by Indian superstar Virat Kohli for Jammy’s cricket-mad son. (A neat echo of this came later, when the slumdogs pointed out Chopra’s cadaver with an altogether scruffier bat.)

Jammy duly did Dilly’s bidding by hacking into a circuitous chain of restaurant booking systems, email inboxes, chocolate vending machines and, ultimately, the wi-fi network at Mumbai Port Authority. “It’s like Pac-Man,” said Dilly with grudging admiration. But will it soon be game over?

Is Rebecca and Alex’s relationship doomed?

Back in London, Karin found that Alex’s new fund wasn’t just password-protected but he was running it solo, with no reports filed to colleagues. Meanwhile, fiancé Rebecca Harper (Juliet Rylance) found his secret second phone.

The two women met up to discuss their worries at the historic and aptly-named Hung, Drawn & Quartered pub in Tower Hill (half a Guinness for Rebecca – a hint that she’s about to fall pregnant, possibly?). Rebecca’s discovery that Alex had also been checking the weather in the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Dubai, Tel Aviv and Geneva confirmed her suspicions and she confronted Alex.

“I invest in emerging markets,” he explained. “I work in these places and so do you.” “But I don’t visit tax havens and offshore sinkholes to launder some corrupt politician’s dirty money,” she retorted, as all her speeches about ethical capitalism came back to bite him.

His insistence that “You’re all I care about” followed episode three’s assertion: “Without you, I have no idea who I am.” For Alex, his relationship with Rebecca maintains his delusion that he’s still got “moral integrity” and is “doing things the right way, without my family’s involvement”. If he loses Rebecca, he might well lose his remaining moral compass too.

He came clean – well, partially – and promised to pull out, now that his business is back on its feet. Yet surely he’s in far too deep to escape now? And has all trust gone between the golden couple?

Prague problems led Vadim to rumble Kleiman

Determined to get his counterfeiting operation back on-track in the Czech capital, Vadim coldly shrugged off the murder in episode three (“A cop? He was a thief, stealing my goods”) and put new nemesis Karel Benes (Karel Roden) under surveillance.

The ex-policeman was too careful, so this proved unfruitful – but FSB insider Ilya Fedorov (Kirill Pirogov) found a way. He had drugs planted on Benes’ wildchild daughter, hacked her phone and piggybacked onto her father’s.

The call log soon revealed that it was Kleiman who was backing Benes’ sabotage of Vadim’s business and that they met in Prague shortly before Reznik “fell” from his apartment balcony. Crucially, Vadim also learnt that Kleiman had “an assistant” with him.

Remember Mendez admonishing Alex for lax security after travelling under his own passport? As Kleiman had warned his new protégé: “It won’t be long until Vadim traces it back to you and me.” The Russians could be coming, like they did for Uncle Boris (David Dencik).

Our hero’s family is falling apart

Since his infidelity was exposed in episode three, Dmitri (Aleksey Serebryakov, who also plays the titular medic in the Russian remake of House MD, fact fans) has been well and truly in the doghouse. Wife Oksana (Maria Shukshina) refused to chink her husband’s glass during the most awkward engagement drinks ever, and later told him: “You and the children are my whole life. You have spat on my soul.” Dmitri was on his knees begging for forgiveness. None was forthcoming.

We’re concerned about Alex’s sister Katya (Faye Marsay) too. She kicked off about the quality of her father’s champagne – cava, how ghastly – before the sound of breaking glass as she rowed with long-suffering boyfriend Femi (Clifford Samuel). Katya also seems to increasingly have the cocaine sniffles.

With all this talk of family being everything – by both Oksana and Alex – could Katya be the way his enemies get to Alex? The business end of the series promises to be explosive

[jade-bellatricus84]

About me!

Okay! Let's do is thing! I was tagged by the wonderful and amazing and hilarious @atarostarling for this beautiful questionaire! So, let's get started, shall we?

Name/Nickname: my given name is Kara and there two nicknames that have stuck Karabear (I was obsessed with the Care Bears as a kid) and Riceball (due to my obsession with Fruits Basket and my apparently stellar Tohru rp abilities)

Gender: Female

Star sign: Virgo

Height: 5 foot nothin' I am quite smol.

Hogwarts house: Slytherin and proud of it~ ;3

Favorite animal: Um...the one that is cute and cuddly? Lol this is tough because I love animals. Though I REEEEEEEAAAAAAALLY like foxes! So I guess we can go with Foxes as my final answer, Alex. (Don't cross the streams, loser.)

Hours of sleep: In my fantasies or in reality? In my fantasies its like...ALWAYS sleeping...iiiiiin reality I get like 2-5 hours per night until the lack of sleep catches up with me and then I crash for like 14 hours. Lol

Dogs or cats: YES! Lol, again, I love animals. I currently have a dog. My beautiful baby Loqi. (For those of you who read my mini fic. Zeus was modeled after my furbaby Loqi.)

Number of blankets: Depends...like where am I sleeping? When I lived in Indiana it was 2 or 3 now that I'm here in South Carolina it's usually 1...and barely that, as in just covering my arms and shoulders.

Dream trip: Oh wow. I would love to just...travel the world! Though the top of my list are the places where Shakespeare grew up, got married, etc. And Japan.

Dream job: Author/Novelist. I LOVE to write. I love books. I love to read. I was the kid who got in trouble in her English/Literature class for reading in class.

Time: 10:56 pm (I think that's EST?)

Birthday: September 17th~

Favorite bands: Panic! At The Disco, Paramore, Black Veil Brides, Evanescense, Baby Metal, Super Junior, SHINee, Boyz II Men, Journey (and a few more but we could be here all night if I listed them all, lol)

Favorite solo artist: Halsey, Adele, Matsushita Yuya, Taeyang, Jay Park, Luke Bryan, Shakira, Selena (Quintanilla), Diego Bonita

Song stuck in my head: Ummmm...I couldn't tell you the name cause it's slipping my mind but it's the opening theme from Black Butler II by GAZETTe

Last movie I watched: Um...I think it was The Dark Tower? With my hubby?

Last show I watched: Black Butler: Book of Circus (it's the third season which I've owned for well over a year and yet has still not seen anything past the 1st disk. Lol)

When did I create my blog: Um...August or September 2017...? I don't remember exactly. Just a few months ago. A good friend of mine sent me a post through fb messenger and I really liked all the content I saw on @inconsistencys page so I made an account to follow and continue reading their posts!

What do I post/reblog: Lol, anything that catches my eye. A lot to do with the FFXV universe...mainly the chocobros. All the ships. A lot of cats. Cute critters. Written a few posts nobody needs. XD

Last thing I googled: Ummm..."song that goes when we touch i can feel we've got a chemistry and when we rock feels just like the devil is riding me" lol I had a song stuck in my head and couldn't remember the artist's name in order to YouTube it so it would evacuate my brain. (It was Under My Skin by Sarah Connor, just in case anyone was wondering. Lol)

Other blogs: Yeah, I apparently have another Tumblr from a few years back but I don't remember the tagg or anything sooooo...xD does that still count? Other than that I have none. ****EDIT**** http://roserozahathaway.tumblr.com IS MY OTHER TUMBLR

Do I get Asks: I have gotten 2. XD I wasn't aware that they were disabled until recently when @atarostarling mentioned it, so now that they are open, please, send me some! Get me involved, please! Lol

Why did I choose my URL: Lol, Jade Bellatricus is actually the name of an original character of mine for an rp I have going with the loverly @silverdriftdragon in Discord. She's a reeeeeeeaaaaal piece of work. Lol, but I love my smol brainchild.

Following: 392 as of now. Lol I'm sure that number with grow to astronomical numbers.

Followers: 22 a significanlt smaller number and, honestly, I was SHOCKED to see it was that large! Thank you to ALLLLL of my followers! You all are amazing, wonderful, LOVELY people and you rock my socks right off!

Lucky number: 4...or 8...or 16...yeah...that one...

Favorite instrument: Wow, um, I really love piano and violin...god help me if they're being played together cause...I'd probably die of blissful peace...I also happen to like flutes, I used to play flute back in the day (lol, you're not old enough to say that, weirdo, stop it! Back in the day is like...10 or 11 years ago) I also love ocarinas, which are technically just ceramic flutes. I'm a total nerd and have a replica of the Ocarina of Time (from The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time in case anyone is unfamiliar.) that I do know how to play, albeit not very well. XD

What am I wearing: lol, that could get extra risqué extra quick. However, I'm wearing an oversized t-shirt (a.k.a. my husband's t-shirt) as my jammies.

Favorite food: xD I'm a foodie, dude, all the food is my favorite. No, seriously though, um, probably my little taco meat and rice concoction. It's literally just taco seasoned meat mixed with rice...sometimes I'll mix in some bacon bits, crushed doritos, and of course shredded cheesies. (It's like the only thing I can cook. Lol)

Nationality: Mutt? No, like, American? But the family has Native American (Cherokee I believe), French, German and Irish in our blood sooo...Yeah, I'm a mutt~ x3 *woof*

Favorite song: Oh, geez, I always hate this question...mainly because I don't have an absolute favorite song? Like, my favorite song changes so many times, based off of how bad or good I'm handling my depression and anxiety...for instance, on my really good days I'd probably say I'm Alive! By BECCA but on not so good days (like today) I'd probably say My Immortal by Evanescense or Broken by Seether feat. Amy Lee.

Last book I read: Oh! It was this lovely autobiography called Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick! I absolutely love it! It's so down to earth and real and my god is it funny! She has a rather dry and somewhat twisted sense of humour, much like my husband and I, so I find it to be pretty funny! It's a great read, seriously, you guys should check it out!

Top three fictional universes I'd like to join: Hmmmm...Definitely FFXV, I would LOVE to chill with the bros. Probably Black Butler, Sebastian Michaelis is a beautiful specimen and I would love to be of use to him in some way, shape, or form *wink, wink* and finally...um...Pretty Little Liars! The Liars are such a close knit group of girls and I really missed out on having close friends like that, so I'd love to hang out with them and just be a normal high school girl for once (lol they don't live normal h.s. lives, goobernuts)

Wow! That was so much fun! Thanks for the tag, @atarostarling, its been a blast! So, now, onto my tags!

@silverdriftdragon @moonraccoon-exe @ardyns-jabberwocky @asuuna @chocoblondie @chocobard @ebony-and-chocobos @flourish-of-steel @icallshotgunn @kaciart and anyone else who wants to join in feel free to tag me as though I tagged you!

[thechocolategarage]

India Or Nicaragua?

December 8, 2017

We are open on Sat 8-1pm, please come by to snag a taste, chat with us and enjoy community! Or come to India (image below) with us! 

Happy Friday all, I have much to get across to you in this holiday newsletter, I am going to highlight the topics as a start, so you can dart to the ones you are most interested in... Here is the list: Tastes and new bars coming in... India (two spots opened up!) Nicaragua (3/31 - 4/7/2018) Holiday Hours (Wed 12/20, Thurs 12/21, Fri 12/22, 5:30-8:30 PM) CLOSED 12/24 - 1/8 2018 Saturdays (9am-1pm staying open) Online beta End of Future Chocolate Saturday Tasting Menu Starting with tomorrow's tastes! As we await the uncertain timing on our next monthly Patric shipment, we thought we would feature some of our favorites: Patric Madagascar 67% Patric Habagascar 67% Patric Salty Sunflower Patric PBJ OMG The first two are such a delicious comparison of what happens to the same base chocolate, when you sprinkle some Habanero infused salt on the back. The flavor changes are subtle but really fun to explore. Come on in and have some tastes! Salty Sunflower is the same base chocolate as The BOSS, with crunchy sunflower seeds on the back. Such a yummy bar, and the closest we will see to the The BOSS going forward, unless Alan decides to make that bar widely for all, rather than the five plus years of making it only for The Chocolate Garage. Finally, the PBJ, a beautiful concoction, using cacao from Madagascar to make a jammy, fruity chocolate that is blended with peanut butter to create a true PBJ sandwich in your mouth! We are waiving the tasting fee, making it a donation for those who would like to take part in the costs, we will have a tip jar out, and you can put in whatever feels juicy and right to you. We also just got in more Charm School Chocolate, as well as Sirene bars, and chances are good that we will get the latest Patric delivery later today too! After I send out this newsletter. So, good time to come in and stock up on holiday gifts, get a gift box selection to open up as an after dinner tasting party with pairings... lots of options for a festive experience with family and friends. INDIA TRIP (Feb 17th-27th, 2018) This trip will be exclusively to the southern part of India, the most relaxed, calm and green part of India. We will mostly be in Kerala (my mom's birthplace and home state) with a brief pop into Tamil Nadu, to see an amazing cacao and coconut farm. If you have always wanted to get an introduction to India, this is the way to do it. We have designed to trip for beginners, we will visit Fort Kochi, one of the most important spice trading posts since the beginning of the common era. The Arabian traders were the first to bring pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, sandalwood and other spices to the Europeans. The rich cultural and religious diversity in southern India, and particularly in Kochi, is fascinating and we will explore how this has impacted this area, in its cuisine, religious and cultural diversity and as a starting point for our delicious dive into Kerala: God's Own Country, as it is called. If you are worried about being overwhelmed by India, this is the place to start. Having been to New Dehli, Bombay and Calcutta, I can assure you that the spots we are hitting are not even close to what traditionally is the India that causes such strong reactions and difficulty. Looking at Kerala and Tamil Nadu through the cacao (and inevitably, the coconut) lens will be a most gentle way to start to see a piece of this subcontinent, in a safe and fascinating way. Please email me if you are interested and I can give you more details and answer any questions or concerns you may have. Deposits are due and these two spots probably won't last long, so please reach out to me. Nicaragua (March 31st - April 7th, 2018) The dates are set, I got so many great ideas from Carlos of Momotombo, this second adventure to Nicaragua will barely repeat anything that we did the first time around. Of course we will visit Momtombo, but in their new factory. And we will also visit Giff, but now we will see his exciting new criollo cacao trees starting to produce and also his vanilla plants! An entirely new cacao and chocolate operation has cropped up in Matagalpa, and so we will visit Meaghan and Oswaldo as well, learning how they are working with local communities in Matagalpa to also produce finished product. Instead of Ometepe, this time we plan to go to Isla Zapatera, where deer run, turtles swim in the rivers (as do small caiman) and wild birds will hold our attention as we wander around old volcanoes, visit Carlos' dad's ranch and eat some of the best traditional Nicaraguan food at the local hotel. This trip is kid friendly, I brought my kids last time (they were 5 and 7) and they will come along again this time, so families can consider this trip too! It is during the PAUSD spring break, so we hope more families will come along. If you have not already emailed us your interest, please email us, as we will soon send out a trip specific email with more details, pricing and a more detailed schedule. EXTRA HOLIDAY HOURS We are going to be open three extra times right before the holiday vacation: please feel free to pop in on any of these three days: Wednesday Dec. 20th: 5:30 -8:30 PM (there may be Tom's delicious eggnog!) Thursday Dec. 21st: 5:30 -8:30 PM Friday Dec. 22nd: 5:30 -8:30 PM CLOSED DECEMBER 24th - JANUARY 8th, 2018   We will be closed for shipping, shopping and all things chocolate related for two weeks over the holidays. We will do inventory, literally and figuratively take stock, and then we will (GOOD NEWS!)  re-open on Saturdays starting Saturday January 13th, 2018. 2018 SATURDAYS OPEN For those of you wondering why we are going back and forth, and remaining open rather than converting directly to online, as I have been saying, we want to make sure to honor your Future Chocolate accounts, and not all of you have come in to convert your accounts into delicious Happy Chocolate, so we are staying open in order to make it more available, for some more months, and we are hoping to try some more creative changes during that time, to see what is possible for the Garage and for our community. We will be running our open hours with a smaller are of staff, so the waits may be longer some Saturdays, but hopefully you will work with us and find patience and understanding. ONLINE BETA Please feel free to use our online platform, it only has bar names and ingredients listed (hover over the bar name) so you need to be familiar with the brands we carry, but soon enough, I will populate the site with some juicy, rich and fun descriptions that should help even the novice choose bars that suit them. IN THIS MOMENT FUTURE CHOCOLATE IS PAST We will always have the memory of Future Chocolate, ok, I will stop the silly past and future references, but part of the changes to The Chocolate Garage have meant not being able to order full batches anymore, so... <boo hoo> no more The BOSS by Patric. Once we finish our current batch of Blood Orange, it will only come back if Alan decides to make it as a regular bar. I think he will, it is so delicious, and The BOSS will be a home run as it was at The Chocolate Garage, everyone loves that bar... but, I am not sure we will keep doing exclusive bars, because we just don't have the buying (selling) power that we used to have. Another change is that we stopped selling new Future Chocolate credit months ago. We are working hard to honor everyone's Future Chocolate accounts, which means I have been doing lots and lots of tastings to keep the cash flow positive, so we can keep bringing in new bars, and keep our selection fresh, even though the revenue is down as you all spend down your credit and we don't get to take in larger Future Chocolate amounts anymore. Inevitably, we also need to stop the perk of Future Chocolate, which is the discounted prices on the bars, so our prices are going to the non-Future Chocolate prices. For those of you who still want to get the bars for a bit less, all of the bars on our website that are above ten dollars are going to be a dollar less online. Since online doesn't require as much labor and high touch, we can offer the bars for a bit less on our website. If you have any adventurous friends who might want to take their kids to Nicaragua, and broaden their horizons with a new culture, see nature and wildlife there, learn about volcanoes and cacao and chocolate, please pass this newsletter on to them, and have them check out our first documentary made after leading our first trip to Nicaragua, to whet their appetite. Getting our kids to experience different ways, different cultures and see how other parts of the world live and love, is one of the greatest gifts you can give. I was lucky to take my first airplane trip to a foreign country starting when I was three months old, and my curiosity and bravery to explore the world and it's people never ends. My life is much richer for it, and having no fear of exploring new places and people is a tool that can serve your kids in everything they do. As our world gets more globalized and interconnected, if you are in a position to have your kid travel, this seems to me like a top priority. If we are going to move our world towards more empathy and love and collaboration on this small planet, we need to teach our kids early. Happy Friday, and see you tomorrow! Sunita

Bean to bar to bonbon tasting of Mirzam Chocolate! If you want to come to India, flying through Dubai is a great way to go, and you can go visit this bean to bar to bonbon maker!

Another beautiful day visiting beautiful Anamalai farm in southern India, with cacao trees nestled in amongst lines and lines of the most elegant coconut trees.