#the paints a bit scratched and dinged and could use a detailing

[paintprotectionfilmnc]

Does Paint Protection Film Really Work

Are you looking for a way to keep your car looking new for years? Painting and waxing can help, but if you really want to protect your ride from the elements, paint protection film could be the way to go. Paint protection film (also called clear bra or PPF) is a protective coating that has become increasingly popular with car owners in recent years – not just because of its ability to shield the paint job from scratches, dings, and harsh environmental conditions like extreme temperatures and ultraviolet light, but also because it’s affordable compared to some other types of protective coatings. But how effective is this product? Is it worth investing in? Keep reading as we dive into all there is to know about paint protection film!

What is Paint Protection Film and what are its benefits

Paint Protection Film, also known as PPF, is a thermoplastic urethane film that provides an added layer of protection over the exterior of a vehicle's paint job. This type of film is known for its durability against the elements, such as UV rays, dirt, and debris. PPF can help prevent unsightly stone chips, scratches, and fading over time. The benefits of using PPF on your car are numerous. Firstly, it helps maintain the vehicle's resale value by keeping the paint job looking new. Secondly, it can save you money in the long run by avoiding costly repairs and repainting jobs. Finally, PPF is a smart investment for those who value and take pride in their vehicle's appearance. With Paint Protection Film, you can rest assured that your car will have the protection it needs to stay looking pristine for years to come.

How to choose the right paint protection film for your car

Paint protection film is becoming increasingly popular as car owners want to keep their vehicles looking new for a longer period. Choosing the right protection film for your car can be a daunting task considering the variety available in the market. The first thing to consider is the thickness of the film. Thicker films offer better protection against scratches and dings but can be more visible. Clear films are nearly invisible but provide lesser protection against impacts. Next, consider the material of the film. Some films are made from a clear polyurethane material, while others are made from a self-healing material that can repair minor nicks and scratches. It is also important to ensure that the film is compatible with the paint of your car. Professional installation is recommended to ensure proper application and maximize the benefits of the paint protection film in keeping your car looking new.

The different types of paint protection films on the market

When it comes to protecting your vehicle's paint job, there are a variety of options on the market. One option is a paint protection film, which can shield your car from scratches, chips, and other damage. There are several different types of paint protection films to choose from, each with their own benefits. Some are thicker and offer more durable protection, while others are thinner and less noticeable on your car's surface. Some films are designed specifically for certain areas, like hoods or bumpers, while others can cover your entire vehicle. By choosing the right type of paint protection film for your needs, you can keep your car looking like new for years to come.

Steps to install paint protection film on your car

As a responsible car owner, you want to ensure that your vehicle stays looking new for as long as possible. That's where paint protection film comes in. This clear film protects your car's paint from scratches, dings, and other damage that can occur over time. Installing it yourself might seem daunting, but it's actually fairly straightforward. There are a few steps you'll need to follow to get the job done, but with a little bit of patience and attention to detail, you can have your car looking its best in no time. Let's take a closer look at the process of installing paint protection film on your car.

How to clean and maintain the paint protection film

Paint protection film is a great investment to keep your car looking like new for years to come. But, like all things, it needs to be properly cleaned and maintained in order to work effectively. To clean the film, start by rinsing it down with a hose to remove any loose debris. Then, use a microfiber towel and a mild automotive soap to gently wash the film. Avoid using any harsh chemicals or abrasive materials as they can damage the film. Once you have finished washing, rinse the film again with a hose and dry it with a clean microfiber towel. By following these simple steps, you can extend the lifespan of your paint protection film and ensure your car always looks its best.

Pros and cons of using paint protection film

The use of paint protection film has become increasingly popular among car owners. The film serves as a clear, protective layer that shields the vehicle's paint from scratches, chips, and other forms of damage. While the film is a beneficial addition to any car, it does come with its own set of pros and cons. On the positive side, the film can help maintain the appearance of the car and protect the resale value. However, the installation process can be challenging, and some car owners have reported that the film's appearance can be distracting, especially when it comes to maintaining a consistent finish. Ultimately, whether or not to use paint protection film comes down to individual preferences and needs.

Paint protection film is a great way to protect your car and extend its lifespan on the road, but it is important to know how to choose the right kind of paint protection film, how to properly install it, and how to clean and maintain it. With that in mind, understanding both the pros and cons of paint protection film can help you make an informed decision about what type of product best meets your needs. Take some time and research all aspects involved in using paint protection film and you can make sure your car looks good for years to come. If you're ready to start protecting that glossy new paint job, shop around for the perfect fit for your car – then let those professional installers give you that lasting shine!

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Author Description: Atlantic Tint and Wraps is a premier vehicle wrap company, specializing in paint protection film (PPF). With years of experience in paint protection, pinstriping, window tinting, ceramic coatings, and more.

[woodlandenjoyer]

Look at this big beautiful boy

[darkorderaf]

could I request #15 from the small details prompt list for eddie kingston? <3

Yes of course, we love us some Eddie here. Hope you enjoy!!

Pairing: Eddie Kingston x OFC. Prompts: Messy kisses, destroying furniture trying to reach the bed. Rating: A soft M. Warnings/Content: A little spicy, nothing too detailed. Word Count: 654.

(I don’t own gif; credit to allelitewrestlings!)

“Eddie,” she breathed. Her hands tightened around the yellow and black straps of his top to pull him closer to her. The man had an energy about him after his matches and damn, if she didn’t throw herself right into it. “We can’t just--”

She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from moaning too loud. Eddie smiled into the damp skin of her neck, his teeth nibbling a line to the junction between her shoulder and neck. His heavy hands dragged across her abdomen, his thumbs a teasing pressure just under her breasts. He kissed back up her neck again

“Can’t what, doll?” Eddie’s tone tickled along her ear, stirring up heat between her legs. “Huh? Tell me what we can’t do.”

One of her hands slipped from his shirt to drag her nails along the back of his head, down his neck. He groaned into her and reflexively pressed his hips into hers. The elevator button dinged and she was quick to separate herself from him. Smooth herself out. He rubbed a hand over his head and looked down. He understood. They just needed to make it to the room. She politely acknowledged the elderly couple outside the door and shot Eddie a look when he winked at her. He pulled her against him as they walked. His fingers dug into the soft part of her waist and she cursed the layer of her shirt between their skin.

She barely had the door open when Eddie shoved his way in and pulled her inside. Instinctively, her arms wound around his neck. The door rattled in its frame when he pressed her back against it, his mouth on hers and pulling those moans out of her that he didn’t get to hear before. They worked together to get her shirt off and one large, warm hand palmed at her through her bra. She arched her back, her chest against his.

“What was it you were sayin’? That we can’t do?”

“We can’t make the elderly clutch their pearls like that,” she sighed out. She pulled him along behind her and gasped when he picked her up. His hip caught the end table by the couch as they walked. The lamp on it teetered then fell, the shade broken and crooked. The base was completely separated. They stopped and stared. He started to laugh. She did too. “I’ll cover that. What AEW money is for, right?”

It was now. Eddie tugged her mouth back to his, his hand wound in her hair. Their tongues and teeth locked into a harsh, messy dance. His mouth was rough but his hands were soft, squeezing and kneading her as they moved. She moaned into him and he scratched down her neck with his stubble. The wobbly chair at the desk didn’t last and neither did its loose leg. The stock painting on the wall beside the bed looked a little rough around the edges of its frame where it fell. The bedside table had lost its alarm clock somewhere. Eddie was intent to kiss her, mark her, on every surface of the hotel. Wall, counter, table. Anything.

The curtains ripped from where he sucked a hickey into a spot that felt so good, she clawed through the thin fabric. She didn’t know when they finally reached the bed or how much damage they had left in their wake. She didn’t have time to, not with the way Eddie kept her mouth full of his name and her brain empty save for thoughts of him. He had a funny way of doing that every time he got his hands, his mouth, all of him on her. He answered her moans with grunts and filthy words, set that pace they both liked that tested her flexibility and the integrity of the hotel headboard.

And if that broke too, like everything else, it was a problem for the morning.

[himbowashington]

Please, Daddy?

NSFW: Smut Loki x Mobius

It begins quite innocuously, things had been tense between them for a while but something was different about this time they could both feel it, settled into their bones.

Mobius dealt with the feeling by knocking his walking pace up a notch or two forcing Loki, despite being the taller of the two, to struggle behind him. He exhaled deeply trying to clear his mind focus on the variant. Don’t get distracted.

“Slow down!” Loki calls forcing Mobius to face him by stopping his stride. Just as Mobius is about to turn to start walking again, Loki pushes him running for the elevator door which is trying to close. Mobius thinks many things, the chief one of them being, that bastard.

Another thing he notices is that Mobius is faster than he looks, and stronger too, Loki thinks as he hears the older man barreling behind him. He throws himself foward in a way that seems almost reckless even to Loki.

And then everything stops.

He feels rather than sees Mobius slam into his trying to restrain his hands behind his back, pressed up against the wall. There is a quiet struggle between them before Mobius gains the upper hand pushing in hard up against the wall, angry with him, Loki realizes. The feeling is exhilarating.

Maybe it was frustration, or rage, or exhaustion or a mixture of three but regardless something in Mobius, made him lean foward his mouth close to Loki’s ear as he stilly firmly presses the other man to the wall. “Gotcha.” He says simply.

“What’re going to do to me?” he asks in a probing voice. Mobius noticed, but brushes it off as Loki trying to be his typical theatrical self.

“What’re you doing to me?” Mobius retorts roughly shaking the younger man a bit to try and shake him out of it.

The door dings closed.

Loki gasps.

Mobius’ mind reels trying to process the two events. Mobius is angry and overwhelmed with the feeling of betrayal, full of rage. He pushes Loki harder, almost too hard, back against the wall. “You like that?” he taunts, voice lower than loki had ever heard it, gruff, strained.

Loki makes a noise deep in his throat, a whine. “Please, Daddy.”

It’s Mobius’s turn to gasp. He leans his forehead against loki’s shoulder blade “What’d you say?” Mobius says in a startling clear voice. Loki panics. He must have miscalculated somewhere.

Loki starts to collapse in on himself, face beet red in embarrassment. Fuck Fuck Fuck, how to get himself out of this one? He goes for the traditional walk back approach. “This is a mindgame isn’t it, leyfeyson? You think you can move me around like your little puppet but i’m not your dog!” he says in a somehow angrier voice than his earlier one. Loki closes his eyes. “S’ not a game.”Loki says quietly. “ I don’t trust you.”

“You don’t have to.” he replies giving the agent pause. “why?” he says, and loki can’t help but smile, mobius’s curiosity was one of loki’s favorite things about him. “Let me turn around, I’ll show you.” “I’ll kill you if you try anything. i mean it.” Mobius threatens. The agent turns slightly before slamming on the red emergency stop button on the elevator, the cart abruptly stopping and a faint red lighting replacing the LEDS turn on. Loki wants to see the older mans face cast in that red light, study it like a dutch oil painting, but instead he waits. “Not having you get away this time. If you try to fuck me over again.” Mobius says in tired explaination, then begins to step back a pace or so to free Loki slightly from his grip. “Alright, show me.”

loki considers all the ways this could go wrong before deciding to as always do it anyway.

He shifts to facing Mobius, and Mobius scans over him quickly, looking for clues like he was trained. His eyes reach Loki’s pants and then he does a slight double take. Loki’s pants look painfully tight and strained on him, tenting up in a way that left nothing to the imagination. Mobius entire jaw goes stiff for a second, the bone perturbing. He is silent for a moment. “This is a trick.” he says finally, because it feels like one in the same way that people don’t leave there brand new cadillacs running with the keys in them because that’s a trick, it’s a set up, plain and easy.

“No tricks, Ive got my collar on, remember?” Loki retorts and Mobius blinks, because it’s true.

Then the world feels like it’s shifting off its axis for the too of them staring back at one another. “Loki-“ Mobius starts in a pleading voice, a desperate one, Loki thinks as a chills runs up his spine.

“You are handsome. You shouldn’t sell yourself short, you know.” Loki adds suddenly making Mobius freeze.

“The grumpy silver fox thing works for you.” he says and the elder scoffs.

He turns back to face Loki, his eyes getting darker and shaded by the moment.

He takes a step closer. There foreheads almost touch.

“Say it again.” Mobius says breathless.

“Say what?” he asks coyly, reaching up to snake his hands through Mobius’s short grey hair.

“You know what!” Mobius replies quietly, equally parts frustrated and embarrassed by his own addition.

Loki reaches out to pull at his tie, yanking the older man forward.

he leans forward and kisses the other in way that could only be described as lewd before pulling away, panting slightly, the god of mischief smiling back at him with swollen lips and a blush on his cheeks.

“Daddy, please.”

The statement stops the other man’s brain for a moment, short circuiting.

Mobius knows what he’s doing, where normal human life spans were a hundred years at best, Mobius had been around for thousands, and he really had been around, learned all the tricks of the trade, studying them with the same intensity with which he studying every detail about Loki.

He moves foward quickly shucking off parts of Loki’s jumpsuit easily. Loki reaches foward and starts to clumsily undo the other man’s dress shirt. Mobius laughs, in a breathless, panting sort of way that drives Loki insane before collecting both hands in his own to kiss them softly. Loki spreads his fingers out flexing, before tentatively popping one in the older man’s mouth. He sucks on loki’s finger for moment before letting go with a wet pop, still holding the hand in question. “Mobius.” he moans and the older man turns to him gaze sharpened to watch him squirm.

“What is it, baby?” he asks softly, gently, in his comforting voice like it’s the most natural thing in the world for him. He presses kisses to Loki’s palm and forearm. “what, my kitten?” he absolutely purrs, and Loki stops breathing. “If you don’t fuck me right now, I’m going to come standing right here like this.” he says all at once words flowing into to one another. Mobius groans pressing his face into Loki’s neck before dragging his teeth against the soft expanse of skin there.

“Please, Please, No ones coming. There’s no next stop, you pressed the button it’s just us.” he reasons frantically, and that when he hears it for the first time. It takes him a moment to realize what the sound is and even longer to realize it was coming from Mobius, a low growl, deep, vibrating his whole chest cavity in a way that reverberated off Loki’s.

“I shouldn’t.” he says in a voice the sound unconvinced even to himself

Loki shrugs his shoulders rolling his eyes and then drops to his knees.

Mobius takes a pace back, blinking rapidly. “Oh Jesus Christ.” he lets out as he realizes what’s happening. He feels a hand slide up his torso but does nothing to push it away, it settles at his belt buckle, “Fuck,” he lets out as he feels a finger dip between the waistline of his pants to touch skin underneath. “Loki-Loki- you don’t- you don’t have to do this if -“ Mobius pauses, out of breath, his statement strikes him as ridiculous. Without breaking eye contact with him Loki nuzzles forward ever so gently before mouthing wetly over the crotch of the older man’s freshly pressed slacks. Mobius throws his head back so hard, there’s a slight noise made when it connects to the wall behind him. “Jesus christ,” he pants, “Look at me.” Loki commands and Mobius snaps his head back to face Loki, Loki whose mouthing at his dick, Loki, that’s going to blow him. Mobius groans looking away again. It’s too much. “Be a good boy, do what I say. Look at me.” The world now is spinning at even faster dizzying pace, in circles. All Mobius can do is obey. He looks down and Loki does the unthinkable, he looks up at him with green doe eyes, nuzzling the throbbing dick of the man in front of him, and then extends his arm up again dragging it across Mobius’ torso without breaking eye contact. Mobius latches onto the arm like a lifeline. Both breathing hard, the air of the elevator humid and thick. Mobius rests his arms out against the side railing of the elevator. Maybe there is a heaven he thinks for a few moments as he watches a literal god unzip his pants with shaky hands. He must had done something right was the second thought and then he felt Loki reaching down his boxers and begin to jerk him off and he thought nothing but of Loki and blinding hot pleasure. He bucked as he felt the wet mouth accommodate him, licking up the slides, Loki’s mouth was warm, and he instinctively moved a hand to cradle Loki’s face delicately like glass.

“Perhaps another prince” Slvie had said. She was right. Mobius was so gentle and mannerly with him, almost courtly galant, a prince he should be, Loki thought as Mobius very lightly started to shift his hips into the others face, keeping his hand around the jaw that expanded around his cock. Mobius groaned at the thought if it. His cock in loki’s mouth. Loki stared up at him at him in a way that made him feel like he were the only person in the world. “Don’t you need to stop and breathe for a second or something?” he asks ever concerned about loki’s condition at all times.

Loki answers this by speeding up causing Mobius to hiss reaching with both hands to tangle in Loki’s hair. He pulls and scratches at the scalp appreciatively, almost petting him at times. Loki moans around him and suddenly Mobius’ ears were ringing.

Mobius is properly fucking into his mouth now as he’s figured out that the pleasure Loki gets is far worth the danger to him. Loki wants to be loved, to be claimed, Mobius knew that from studying him, the stories of a second best prince and outcast, craving connection. So he had decided to claim him, to let himself fall into the moment. So he did, digging a hand into Loki’s hair with one arm and cradling the face with the other. “Good boy. Good boy.” he repeats thoroughly debatched and desperate. “Fuck, you’re such a fucking good boy aren’t you? Even though you play words games youre thinking about your lips wrapped around my cock, is that what you like? To be my good boy? To suck my cock, baby?“ Mobius’s voiced is more high pitch now, whiney almost. He groans as he feels Loki slow, and eventually let off with another lewd pop. Mobius panted. His eyes never leaving Loki’s as he watches the man kiss the way back up his chest, “Yes, Daddy.” He said in his ear before turning them around to use the pressure of Loki’s back against the wall to ride him. As Mobius turns to realize what he means for them to do two things happen, one Mobius hauls Loki’s tight little doll body up slightly to line himself up with the younger man’s entrance and the thought that there most definitely was a heaven. He pauses a moment looking into the others face, cast in the red light, concerned, careful of him, “Are you sure?” he breathes out and Loki starts to settle him self lower onto Mobius in response. they both gasp when Loki bottoms out, Mobius growls again shaking both of their chest the vibration comforting to Loki. “I’m gonna fuck your brains out, Leyfeyson, think you can handle that?”he asks gruff. “I’m gonna fuck you so good your legs shake for a week and you’ll be sure I introduced myself as daddy and didn’t give you any other names. All you’ll be able to think is Daddy please,” Loki gasps grasping desperately at Mobius’ head. “The fucking mouth on you, christ, I wished have done this sooner.” Loki says, nose to nose with Mobius as he pounding into the other. Mobius takes advantage of the situation by reaching down a giving a heavy stroke to Loki’s leaking dick. Loki moans, head back, where Mobius places kisses and bites, making him squirm even more, pulling at him. “You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful god you’re so fucking tight you’re such a good boy.” He rambles in Loki’s ear. “Daddy please, Daddy please fuck me harder, fuck me harder- yeah like that just- fuck keep going-“ Loki rambled back, reacting to Mobius switching speeds, pumping the others cock deftly driving him wild. Mobius fucks up into Loki as obediently as in any other task, with a tireless dedication and a chase of pleasure, his mouth is slack open, they’re both close, panting bodies slick with sweat. “make me belong to you.” Loki says brokenly and mobius hips stutter he shifts so that he can go deeper into loki getting lost in where one body began and the next ended “Come on fuck me like you mean it.” Loki teases but secretly still hopes for a reaction out out of the older man, which he gets, Mobius starts snapping his hips in a way that must have taken at least a millennia to perfect. “I mean it” he says licking a stripe down Loki’s neck whining. “I fucking love you - I love you.” Loki gripped at the nape of the other man’s neck. “Say it again, please -“ I love you i love- i love you fucking love you - Christ.” Loki came and when he did He kept riding mobius, “i’m yours make me yours, daddy” Mobius came with a cry tensing for a moment.

and so it all really went back to that phrase, the way he’d moan the word out, almost purring like a cat “Please, Daddy?” And how could mobius ever deny him with such a pretty face like loki’s, humans were meant to worship gods, It was natural, Mobius thought as he looked at Loki’s face, peaceful, relaxed.

[another-sonic-blog]

Stages: The Bike

Stages: Acquaintance Pt.2: The Bike (Chapter 3)

ShadAmy (Friends or lovers, you decide)

2k

Previous: https://another-sonic-blog.tumblr.com/post/190028206745/the-cake-shadamy

A/N: I need to start thinking on a title for this story.

.

"A-a-agent Sh-Sh-Shadow?"

"What?"

The agent gulped, "Your, assistance is required at the commander's office."

Shadow nodded and the agent ran away. Shadow didn't mean to scare the guy, but it low-key made him feel good whenever that happened.

He walked throw the corridors he knew very well, all black and although was alright with the choice of colors, something different once in a while would be nice.  

He knocked on the door of the Commander and the automatically opened.

"Take a seat, agent Shadow." The commander said as he pointed at the chair in front of him.

"No, need, just give me the details of the mission and Team Dark will be on its way," Shadow responded as he crossed his arms.

"This is not about Team Dark."

"A solo mission then?"

"No, it's not about a mission." The commander then was fast to turn on the plasma TV that was in his office. An image of a red bird boy appeared on it.

"Do you know this is?" The Commander asked Shadow.

"Never seen him."

"Really? He stated that a month ago you beat him up and left him hanging on a light pole."

Shadow stood quiet as he stared into the Commander's eyes. There was a silence between them until the Commander spoke again.

"Did you beat him? Agent Shadow?"

No response.

"Agent Shadow!"

"I don't know! If I could remember every guy I beat up, I would be a millionaire." Shadow responded.

"Agent Shadow..." The Commander sighed, "You are a millionaire."

"Oh, right."

"Look, this boy is the son of one of the investors of G.U.N., he pays for 7% percent of G.U.N's expenses." The Commander added, "We can't afford to lose him."

"That was a month ago, why is he complaining about it now?" Shadow asked.

"I don't know and I don't care. My apologies, Agent Shadow, but I am required to give you a punishment."

.

.

.

"And that's how Shadow lost his motorcycle."

"Wow, I feel bad for him," Amy said as she looked at her feet. They were currently at Rouge's apartment, getting ready for Amy's dates.

"Well, he kinda deserved it. That will teach him to control himself...He can't just go around punching people." Said Rouge as she cut Amy's hair.

"Yeah but...Shadow really likes his bike, doesn't he?"

"Absolutely, there's nothing or anyone he cares about but that motorcycle of his."

Amy sighed, she remembers making arrangements with the Lucas, the red bird who harassed her a month ago. Lucas agreed to not say anything about Shadow to G.U.N if Amy went on dates with him.

And she agreed, she didn't want to put Shadow in any trouble. However, she couldn't do it any longer. The guy was just a jerk and stupid. It comes to show why no girl would date him unless they were obliged to.

If she only had stated her ground in the beginning, Shadow wouldn't have beat up the guy. He wouldn't have gotten in trouble with G.U.N and he wouldn't lose his bike.

"Come on, honey don't look too sad, it's just Shadow. He will get over it."

But Amy couldn't get over it.

.

It was a Sunday morning and all Shadow wanted to do was sleep. He didn't want to go out of bed, maybe just a little breakfast, but he could order for Chinese take out when he wakes up.

But destiny had other plans for him.

Ding dong.

He was just going to pretend he didn't hear that.

Ding Dong

He didn't hear again.

Ding Dong

Oh for Chaos' sake.

"WHO THE FU-"

Shadow stopped himself as he opened the door and saw the pink hedgehog again. "What do you want?"

"Hey, Shadow! Did I wake you up?"

Shadow looked at her and didn't say anything as he scratched his belly. "What do you think?"

"Sorry," Amy added, "I have a small present for you."

"Is it a cake?"

"No."

"Then I don't want it." Shadow was about to close the door on her but Amy was fast to put her foot between Shadow's entrance and the door.

"It's a bike."

.

"Ta-da!" Amy said as she showed him the motorcycle she got for him. They were outside Shadow's apartment on the parking site.

"This is trash."

"Hey!" Amy said. Alright, she had to admit, the bike was a bit rusty. Flat tire, the paint was worn and maybe the battery didn't work anymore, but it could still work.

"I don't want it, take this out of my parking site."

"Come on Shadow, just give it a small try."

"If I wanted a new bike, I would have bought another one already," Shadow said as he began to walk away.  

"Why haven't you then?"

"Because it's not about the bike itself...it's about the memories I have with it," Shadow responded.

That was something Amy couldn't beat. As far as she knew, and according to what Rouge told her, Shadow has had the same motorcycle for years. She sighed, there was only one thing left to do.

"Sorry, nevermind mind," Amy said as she held the bike by its handle and made it move alongside her. Shadow wasn't going to stop her. He wanted to sleep more and then order take out.

"Where are you going with that?" Shadow sighed defeated.

"Home." Amy was lying, she was actually thinking of going to G.U.N. and ask the Commander to give Shadow give his bike back.

Shadow really wanted to just let her go. To just sleep and forget about his problems. "That bike is trash but...we could make it work, I guess."

Once again, Shadow didn't mean to say that.

.

"Pass me the Dremel,"

"Ok!"

"Give me a pair of pliers."

"Ok!"

"Give me a Hex screw"

"Ok!"

"Screwdriver."

Shadow was working on the Engine of the motorcycle. After the adjustments he made to it, he was sure even this trash was going to work.

"Alright, it should be working now." Shadow added, "I have to admit, you could be pretty useful. I didn't know you knew about mechanics."

"I only know the name of things, I spend some time with Tails once in a while." Amy moved a string of her hair to the side, smiling and a bit proud that someone like Shadow actually recognized her.

"Now, let's paint!" Amy excitedly clapped her hands as she stood up.

"I'll leave you to that then," Shadow stood up as well. They were in the apartment's garage. Every person who lived in the apartment had a personal garage. Of course, Shadow's garage was a full floor garage. Full of cars and motorcycles. Amy had to admit that she felt intimated a bit.

"Wait, no, you have to paint it with me!"

"I don't paint." Shadow felt Amy grab him by his arm and she shook her off immediately. "Don't touch me."

"I won't touch you if you paint with me." Amy keeping touching Shadow but this time in a more annoying manner. She kept poking his arm.

"I am not joking," Shadow grabbed Amy's hand, "You are wrong if you think I am won't punch you just because you are a girl."

Amy looked at Shadow with her green sparkling eyes, she blinked a few times.

Shadow wasn't gonna do it, there was no way he was going to paint. Not now, not ever.

"Fine." He said.

How does she do that?

.

Since Shadow was forced to paint, Amy let him pick whatever color he wanted.

And of course, it was black.

Amy gave it a small touch as she hand-painted Shadow's spiky red logo. It was a bit messy because Amy's hand was shaking as it was her first time doing the logo.

"We are finally done!" Amy said as she smiled at Shadow.

Alright, Shadow had to admit that the bike looked good. The led lights looked perfect with it. The glossy black paint just made the bike look dangerous and the used tires gave it an old look that made Shadow find it amusing.

"Well, thank you, Shadow!" Amy added, "I'll take my leave now."

Shadow noticed that Amy was leaving with the bike, "What do you think you are doing?"

"Leaving with my bike," Amy added, "I thought you said you didn't want it."

At this point, he knew she was playing with him.

"I am kidding, you keep it." Amy smiled as she threw the key at Shadow. He caught them, he noticed that the key had a rose keychain.

Note to himself: Throw that keychain away.

"Alright, goodbye, Shadow." Amy waved as she walked away. "And I am sorry, I couldn't give you something better."

"Just don't come to my house again."

"Deal."

Shadow watched Amy leave as he placed his new bike on a parking spot. One questions still prevailed on his mind,

Why would Amy give him a bike?

.

Shadow and Rouge were at the gym, practicing their martial arts. Rouge was holding the punching bag as Shadow gave it kicks and punches.

"You have been riding the same bike for weeks now. Did you already move on from BB?" Rouge asked as she teasingly joked about Shadow's old bike's name.

"BB and I...are taking a break," Shadow added. "Now, I am down to riding the trash Amy gave me."

"Trash?"

"Yeah an oxidated trash, I fixed up."

Rouge wasn't one to mix her life with work. Especially, if they were at G.U.N. However if Shadow was acting like a jerk, she was going to let him know.

"Oh 'fixed up?" Rouge added, "Just how Amy fixed up so many dates with that red bird boy, who you beat up?"

"What?" Shadow inquired as he kept punching the bag.

"Amy made a deal with the guy. She dates him and he doesn't tell his daddy. His daddy doesn't say anything to G.U.N." Rouge sighed as she felt Shadow kicking the punching bag this time. "Do I have to describe it with dolls? Because I can."

That made a lot of sense actually. He beat up the guy around a month ago and he didn't say anything. The reason behind that was the Amy was dating that guy for a month, just so he wouldn't get in trouble.

"Why did she stop?" Shadow asked.

"Really, Shadow? I just told you that Amy-"

"Why did she stop?!" Shadow said one more time with a loud voice and Rouge looked at him surprised. Shadow wasn't one to lose his cool like that.

"The guy was just a jerk, he would make fun of her, burp all the time and treats everyone like trash!" Rouge felt the punching bang being punched with a greater force. "She did all of that for you and more! She even went and spend all of her savings just to buy that bike you call 'trash'!

Next second, she watched Shadow's hand pierce through the punching bag.

Rouge sighed, she knew Shadow for a long time but sometimes, she just couldn't understand the guy. Rouge went to her gym bag and pulled out keys from it.

"Commander told me you are free from your punishment," Rouge said as she threw Shadow's motorcycle keys at him.

Shadow caught them with one hand since the other one was still caught in the punching bag.

He watched Rouge go out of the gym. Angry, really angry. But her anger couldn't be compared to the one he was feeling.

He was angry with...himself.

There were a lot of questions but one thing was for sure.

He will be using his new bike for a while.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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Next part: https://another-sonic-blog.tumblr.com/post/190338829140/stages-the-team-dark-rose

A/N: I am enjoying writing this. I'll be working on some SilvAmy stuff and then I'll write the next chapter for this!

[writing-anomaly]

Torn

Fandom:  Jojolion

Summary: Yasuho’s life is tearing at the seams. The volatile Rokakaka trade is catching up to them and when Josuke unravels, Yasuho  is pushed to her limit. She’s left more vulnerable than ever as she struggles to protect two men who barely know her.

This a story in which the protected must become the protector.

Chapter 3

Jobin stood by the window as the sun set on the little town of Morioh.

Peering from his bedroom's second-story floor, he looked down upon the bane of his existence.

Josuke Higashikata.

Jobin knew little about his father's reasonings for adopting the younger man, but it had yanked a thread from the elaborate efforts Jobin had put forth toward obtaining the one miracle that could spell the end of the Higashikata curse.

Groaning loudly, the eldest Higashikata son, allowed himself to process the stress he allowed to pile up during his absence from his hometown. The painkillers he took would do little to alleviate the headache that was his current reality, anyway.

Damo Tamaki had been killed...and on the Higashikata estate.

That little detail equated a HUGE problem.

Tamaki had been a gate keeper in regards to the underground trade of the Rokakaka fruit. He was also the man who ultimately held the door wide enough for Jobin to slip through the ranks of a world that detested humans. Not close enough to get his hands on the coveted fruit, of course, but near enough to pick up on some vital information.

That was motivation enough for the eldest Higashikata son to use the family business to money launder for the deadly Rokakaka smuggling ring. There was no official name for the group, Tamaki-san had detested such flagrancy as an act that would draw too much attention. They were simply there for the spoils.

There was much profit to be made from the misfortune of the fortunate. Wealthy men whose affluence couldn't afford them the one thing that mattered; their lives.

And so they made a business of it.

Damo Tamaki, Yotsuyu Yagiyama, and a few more of their kind; Rock people, as they called themselves. They were an anomaly, as far as Jobin was concerned. A species of man thriving within the rock-like state that would've taken his life as a child. A species that by all means and purposes could slip in and out of the human population, without detection. Rock people existed outside the border of human society. No records meant no identity as far as the feds were concerned. Which left minimal means for Rock People way to function effectively within the dominant culture.

Jobin was scouted specifically because of his ties to the Higashikata fruit company and brought onboard to help them integrate into human society.

In a way, Jobin viewed himself as a reaper, though not a particularly grim one. He never took a life, simply found those who were hanging off the edge between this world and the next. Then he pointed them toward Tamaki and his crew.

Transactions were enacted only within their tight-knit circle. The Rokakaka was exchanged in person, cash-in-hand; A quarter million yen for one piece of fruit. All handled under the table by way of the Higashikata Fruit company. What happened thereafter was not his concern.

They'd get their secound chance at a price. Rokakaka had mysterious properties to restore to the body what was loss. He himself had seen a few clients cured from incurable diseases, snatched back from the abyss, and continue their lives vicariously with a bounce on their step that would ware off as another part of their body started to malfunction. A new set of lungs may be paid for with a kidney. The only constant in the use of the illegal fruit was the rule of equivalency. The healing effects of eating the fruit were never without cost, whether paid for by the client's body or that of another.

It was an undeniable parallel to the Higashikata battle against the Rock disease; a cruel fate passed down from parent to child, most commonly the first born son. Its onset, assured by the age of 10, would lead to rapid deterioration in an otherwise healthy body.

Uncrossing his arms, Jobin raised a steady hand to his face, feeling the softness of his skin, remembering a time when its suppleness had stiffened and its texture became hostile as granite.

He subconsciously scratched the deep vertical ravines of his left cheek, residue from a time when his own father had hesitated to make the brazen decision required from past Higashikata patriarchs.

A sacrifice of equivalent exchange.

One life for another.

It wasn't a gift out of love, so much as an expectation; a duty to ensure the success of the next generation and the longevity of the the family bloodline. When his own time had come, Jobin had been none the wiser. A cheerful lad who simply enjoyed spending quality time with his family on a hot summer day. It wasn't until Jobin noticed his own limitations in running around with his friends that he had asked his mother why he was different.

She never lied to him the way his father did.

Protection is what his father called it, when he refused to tell him the whole truth.

He was brought out of his thoughts as his burner phone began to ring for the 7th time in the past hour. It was a cheap prepaid phone he used in order to separate his business from personal affairs. Truthfully, Jobin's contact had been blowing up his phone for the past 3 days, and he wasn't sure he could avoid him much longer. The business trip to New Zealand had allotted him an allaby, but now that he was back in Morioh, the drama was bound to catch up with him.

Hesitantly, he turned from the window to walk to the prepaid phone that had been haphazardly dumped into the tin can on his computer desk. It was full of the paint brushes he used to stimulate his prized stag beatles. There were so many, trying to dig his hand through them would be useless, so he dumped the whole thing on his king-sized bed. Sure enough, the phone blazed even louder after it hit his red cotton sheets.

Picking it up, he fumbled with the closed flip phone, and failed to answer before the ringing stopped.

Part of him felt relief, the other...dread.

Tamaki had been BOSS as far as he was involved.

Jobin did suspect that there was another above him, but he had never gone so deep that he'd brushed shoulders with the individual that Damo Tamaki reported to..

Ding!

He looked at the screen alert that told him a text message had been recieved.

The caller I.D. said unknown.

Sweat began pool at his temples as seeds of anxiety sprout.

He didn't particularly like dealing with the unknown.

He liked it even less when the 'unknown', 'unknowns' came to introduce themselves.

Taking a deep breath, he stilled his shaky hand.

"Ok, 3, 2, 1...." Jobin counted down to the moment that would decide his immediate future.

He flipped the phone open.

Unknown: I scraped up Damo Tamaki's body from Midori street.

Jobin just stared at the screen. Midori street was the road that ran along the east section of the property. After a moment of thought, he replied.

Jobin: When was this?

After several minutes his phone lit up again.

Unknown: Last week. You know somethin'?

Jobin: No, but that explains why he hasn't been answering my calls..

Of course, the eldest Higashikata already knew that the rock gangsta had been murdered. In fact, he was somewhat pleased that he had been. His family clued him in about the deadly situation involving a love interest his younger sister Hato, brought home. Damo Tamaki preyed on her while on the set of one of her modeling gigs; she was the key he used to access the family estate. The 'Rock man' practically melted everyone in the house with his stand Vitamin C, including the maid.

Jobin assumed it was due to Josuke killing Tamaki's right hand, Yotsuyu Yagiyama, after a failed attempt of trapping him on the Higashikata estate.

So Damo Tamaki decided to murder the whole family.

The aftermath was a vicious brawl.

Hato came out on top.

Damo has killed by the same man as his underling.

And the house was still in need of repairs.

Jobin stood up from the edge of the bed when the light in his room began to noticeably dim. Not bothering to recollect his stag beetle brushes, he returned to the window, absorbing the last bit of warmth as the sun sunk lower into the Japanese horizon.

Ding!

The text message he read made his heart pound.

Unknown: I should kill you.

So they knew..

Guilt by proximity. Two deaths at his family home.. how could the smuggling ring not think he had something to do with it.

Jobin felt himself beginning to sweat. His bedroom was suddenly a hot box.

His stand, Speed King's power must of have been activated by his adrenaline.

"What should I say..." he mumbled to himself.

Jobin: Bring it-

The text was deleted as soon as he pressed the last key.

He knew not to pick a fight with a man he could not see. Jobin was a formidable stand user, but he still had no idea how deep the Rokakaka's roots ran within the Rock-human underground. His everlasting headache pulsed even harder when his phone chimed again.

Unknown: But if you were a rat Damo would have killed you himself.

Another chime.

Unknown: As an act of good faith, I require something from you.

Another.

Unknown: Check your car.

Jobin bolted out of his room.

The wood floor panels creaked with every pound of his footsteps as he made it to the hall and down the stairs.

"Sorry!" Jobin yelled, as he nearly ran over the maid, a very startled Nijimura-san, on his way to the garage.

Cold wind from the open garage door and caused his sweat covered body to shiver involuntarily. Who had opened the door? Josuke never used that exit and Nijimura was not forgetful enough to leave it open.

Jobin gauged his surroundings.

There were no footprints or any other indication that someone had broken in.

Aside from the open door, everything was as it should be.

Cautiously, Jobin peered through the window of his golden lamborghini. His fingers pressed against the cool of the glass as he made out a a small pink box in the passenger seat. It was the size of his hand and wrapped like a present with a purple bow to secure it.

Cute. He chuckled dryly.

He opened the car door, and slid in the driver's seat, eyeing the package warily.

The odds of it not being a bomb?

Slim.

But here was no other option. Whoever messaged him knew where he lived and was most likely hanging around to make sure he obeyed.

Speed king manifested as a pulsing translucent heat wave.

It was a gamble considering it was a close range stand. The further he sent his stand, the weaker it's attack became. But scouting out the perimeter was worth the temporary vulnerability. Besides, it was almost undetectable in that form, aside from the unusual rise in temperature.

He needed to determine if he was in immediate danger.

Jobin reclined in his black leather seat, running his nails along the stitching.

His eyes closed as he willed his mind to connect to the vision of his stand.

Speed King scoped the area within a 10km radius.

It was dark, so the colors of the environment were muted by the blue of the night sky, making it harder to differentiate shapes. Jobin instead focused on finding pockets of heat that were not his own. The nocturnal creatures popped from the monotonous environment, appearing in blobs of yellow and orange as his sensor locked on to their body heat. A rat, owl, and a few bugs were all that came into view.

Nothing alarming.

Jobin retracted his stand and focused on his current dilemma.

The 'gift.'

He reached over the cup holder to the passenger side chair and picked up the box.

It was light as a feather.

He shook it, yet nothing rattled inside.

Jobin held his breath and untied the bow.

When he looked into the box he saw a single note.

Kill Kujo Josefumi

Jobin's eyebrows shot up at the unexpected request. It would have made more sense if the note had mentioned his sister Hato or Josuke, since they were the ones responsible for taking down Damo Tamaki.

He flipped paper to look at the back.

Your wife dies

So he was being given two options.

Kill Josefumi or lose his wife.

Jobin should've expected as much. Forgiveness would not be given freely. He was expected to earn his way out of punishment. Admittedly, it was a very mob boss-like course of action. He'd have to take every precaution from this step forward.

"..Kujo Josefumi." Jobin tested the name on his lips and scowled.

He remembered Tamaki had used the name as an alias but he assumed the identity belonged to someone who was already deceased. From what he'd heard, it was customary for rock people to target a particular human in order to absorb their assets and status when they choose to integrate into society. In any case, this was the best possible outcome. With Tamaki out of the way Jobin was one step closer to whoever was holding the reins on the Rokakaka smuggling world.

Murder was not something he aspired to do, but if it meant advancing his efforts in obtaining the Rokakaka, and a cure to the Higashikata curse, then so be it.

His son, Tsurugi depended on it.

The only issue was, "Who is Kujo Josefumi?"

To be continued...

[oldnintendonerd]

Season 3 in full swing - But first... the Pre-Season

Alright, I’ll admit it, I’ve been slacking here. It takes time to write these up, and time is something I have not had as much of as I’d like. We made it to the very end of 2018 in the last blog post, and we had a whopping $103.68 in the game hunting money stash. I’ll tell you what too, it gets even better. One of my first finds of 2019 was at the Goodwill, and it wasn’t even a game, but boy did it help the game hunting money.

A decent condition TU-2 Tuner pedal from Boss. I actually have one of my own and didn’t need one at all, but at TWO BUCKS? I couldn’t pass it up, knowing it’d have to be easily $40 at minimum, without even looking it up. It was a little dusty, and had a few dings and scrapes, but man, these things are tanks. Anyone familiar with this will recognize it as really good condition. I’ve seen them with massive amounts of rust and nearly no paint left and they still work like a charm.

Little before and after for you here:

Sold that son of a bitch for a cool $58.99 on eBay. After listing fee, PayPal fee, and shipping we add $44.06 to the game hunting money, totaling $147.74. A new record high!

That was in early February. Deep winter is terrible for finds, and it wasn’t until late March, on the 22nd, until I found even SOMETHING. A Wii sensor bar for $0.99 at Goodwill. No pics of that, it’s a sensor bar. It’s... yeah. A sensor bar. I needed them though, I have like 6 extra Wiis. Been waiting to get a couple complete systems so I can sell, or mod and sell each one. In any case, totaled $1.06 out the door. We drop to $146.68. Moving on.

March 26th, once again, at the Goodwill. Knocking on Spring cleaning’s door and I spot a blue Dual Shock 2 controller. Sitting in the toys section, not electronics. Not by the video games. In the toys section. This is not the first time this has happened, finding something game related in the toys section. Last time I think it was a few actual PS2 games.

Tiny bit of dust in some of the nooks and crannies, but man is it in good condition. Sticks are 9/10 easy, and buttons are nice and crispy. My new favorite PS2 controller right now. This one set us back $3.99. Or, $4.29 out the door. This takes us to $142.39.

Great find, I only had one DualShock 2 controller when I found this, so really couldn’t have been better timing. Having two again makes the system feel whole again somehow.

Moving into April, we ran across an unusually valuable title. Now I don’t mean it is worth $100 or anything, I just mean it is one that you would liken to be being something along the lines of maybe $5 complete.

Wheel of Fortune for PS3 - Found at Goodwill 04.12.2019

Again, not a hundred dollars but it was still worth $13.95 on Pricecharting. Usually that tells me it is a least worth a play. So I snagged it. This was Goodwill again, so $2.99, and $3.21 out the door. Takes the hunting money down to $139.18.

on 04.15.2019 I hit a flea market. Really not much there, one guy had a completely obliterated Sega Dreamcast I didn’t even look twice at. That was it, other than a guy with a small bag of DS and GBA games. He wanted $30 for the whole bag, and I’d never heard of any title other than this one...

Snagged it for $4 just by itself. It looks like its going for about $12 loose, so I thought that was acceptable. I don’t have a DS to test it on (yet), but cartridges almost never fail really. So fingers crossed this one is fine. Takes us to $135.18.

A couple weeks later, it is still not yet really Yard Sale season. There has been a sprinkling, and by this time I have visited a handful, but with no luck finding anything. The next find is still a thrift store find. I’ll admit I probably paid more for this than I should have, Pricecharting has this one at $5.69 complete. I paid $3.92, which brought it to $4.20 after tax.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception - Found 04.28.2019 at VoA

I don’t mind paying a little more for games when they have been tough to find, or if they are going to my collection. This one is both. The Uncharted series, ever since I found out about it, and that it was generally well received and liked, I’ve been looking for copies. I knew they were cheap and the only time I’ve run across any copies was at GameStop, and they were $4.99, and disc only. I’m like I am not paying $5 plus tax, for a disc only game that is worth pretty much exactly that CIB. I want the box to put on the shelf! So when I saw this in the thrift I grabbed it anyway. Still under retail price, or at least what I’d pay on eBay to have one shipped. Most were around $10, give or take a dollar. So half price? Not bad, and in decent condition.

The $4.20 takes us to $130.98.

Now, we are at least into the current month. I walked into The Salvation Army store on May 9th and spotted this...

A Sega CD. Not easy to find or come by, especially in the box. However, not being a Sega guy (obviously), and because of that, not having looked at prices for Sega CD really ever, let alone recently, I guessed at it being worth about $100 to $120. I thought the condition of the box was a little rough to be asking $69.99, so I left with only the photo on my phone.

Later that evening I looked on eBay sold listings and was a little surprised. Ones without the box were going for what I thought the CIB one would be worth. I posted the shot I snapped above on my Instagram and asked my followers their opinion: Would they have picked it up?

Overwhelmingly... yes, they would have!

So I stopped in the next morning after they opened and asked to look at it. It was indeed CIB, though the box had seen better days. Even the carton inside had a few rips. but it was all there, and still held everything securely. I asked if it had been tested. The guy at the front said yes they test everything they get. I said oh, you guys have a Genesis to hook to this? Could I see it work?

That was met with a blank stare. Another guy that does the testing actually admitted that it was not tested. So I said how about $40 then, since I’m taking a risk here. They said they can’t adjust the price, only the manager can do that. I asked if the manager was in and after a little chasing, they found her and she came up to the front to talk to me. I explained that this is an add-on system, not a stand alone console and it is not tested, I’d like to get it for a little cheaper to account for the risk I’m taking if I buy it. She lowered the price to $49.99.

I bought it.

Everything is there, the extension piece, the adapter, the manual, both RF shields, and the plate used to attach the extension. There was even a game in it!

The disc is VERY rough on Ecco, but it does play. I know this because a co-worker helped me out, gave me his Genesis and it fired right up on the first try, and booted the game with no problems. I tried a few more times just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke, even let it run for a while, and played a bit of it. It did struggle here and there because of the scratches, but otherwise played fine!

Could not be happier. I plan to clean it up a bit, as you can see it does have some dust and grime on it.

But once that’s taken care of I think it will be a great looking Sega CD. I will probably offer it up to Instagram first before trying it on the ‘bay. if anyone is interested please let me know on Instagram, I’m just @oldnintendonerd.

The price isn’t set yet, I am thinking somewhere between about $175 and $200. The last one that sold on ebay went for $300 shipped. better condition box though, so that’s why i’m thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 to $230 shipped. I’m open to opinions if you have them, comment here or DM on IG.

This purchase, after tax was $53.74, taking us down to $77.24. however, this was bought SOLELY to flip. I do not collect for Sega, so this is entirely for profit to help buy more Nintendo stuff. I have no problem with Sega, I do not view it as trash or anything, I just didn’t grow up with it, and my heart belongs to Nintendo. There is only so much room in my home, and in my budget, so it must go.

We’ll call it there for this one, hopefully I’ll have another post up much sooner than every three months or so. Summer months should yield higher finds so I can detail stuff here more often. I hope.

2019.05.29

[paintingdublin]

Kitchen Cabinet Painting Mistakes Dublin Homeowners Should Avoid

Painting cabinets is a project that homeowners can do themselves, but it requires more attention to detail than painting a wall. The key to getting great results is understanding how the process works and ensuring you prepare the cabinets correctly beforehand. If you choose to do it yourself, you might make some mistakes that can be costly, especially if you don’t have ample experience.

Here are some of the common mistakes you should avoid when it comes to kitchen cabinet painting:

Painting Without Priming

Priming is a necessary step when painting cabinets. Primer helps the paint stick to the surface and provides a smooth finish that will make your cabinet drawer pulls pop. You’ll want to prime all surfaces where there is wood or metal touching another surface (such as drawers). You should also prime if you plan on applying a high gloss or low-lustre finish coat over top of your basecoat.

If you have time before painting, let the primer dry for 24 hours before applying the first layer of paint. This gives it time to dry thoroughly and makes sure that your new paint job lasts longer by avoiding any issues with bubbling up due to trapped moisture under layers of paint.

Not Cleaning the Cabinets First

In order to avoid this, you’ll need to ensure that your cabinets are clean and free of dirt, grease and grime. It is also important that you use a good quality cleaner so as not to damage the finish on the cabinets.

Remove all handles, knobs and doors before cleaning them with a soft cloth in order to avoid scratching them or damaging any of their surfaces.

Failing to Fix Any Imperfections Before Kitchen Cabinet Painting

Failing to fix any imperfections in the cabinets first is a common mistake that homeowners make when painting their kitchen cabinets. If you don’t address these imperfections before painting, the paint will show up those flaws and make them even more visible. It’s much easier to fix these imperfections before painting than after—and it might save you from having to repaint entirely!

A few examples of things that could ruin your perfect cabinet colour scheme:

Cracks in the wood or other dings and dents on doors or drawers

Water marks, which are very noticeable once painted over

Coat of Paint is Too Thick

When applying paint, it’s best to apply multiple thin coats rather than one thick coat. A good rule of thumb is to allow each coat to dry completely before applying the next one, which may take several hours or even an entire day depending on the humidity in your home. Applying too heavy of a coat will leave you with drips and sags that make it look like you’re trying to cover up some kind of bad workmanship; but if you apply two or three thin layers, this won’t happen!

Thin coats are easier to apply because they don’t drip as much when being brushed on; plus they dry faster so you can get back out there sooner! And finally, thin coats give you the smoothest finish possible which makes for a much nicer looking surface!

Not Using Painter’s Tape

Use painter’s tape to protect surfaces that will be damaged by paint. Painter’s tape is not a substitute for a brush, but it can prevent small drips from happening and save you hours of cleanup work later on. Make sure to place the tape in a way that makes it easy to remove after painting is finished; if you just slap the tape down, it will be very difficult—or even impossible—to get off without damaging the surface below.

Painting cabinets is a bit different than painting walls. The main difference is that they’re made of wood, which means they’re porous and can absorb paint. Because of this, you’ll have to be careful not to apply your paint too thickly or it will drip down the sides of your cabinets (and make you look like a messy amateur). You also need to make sure that your cabinets are completely dry before applying any kind of topcoat or sealant, otherwise it won’t stick properly and could peel off later on down the road.

In conclusion, painting cabinets can be a huge time-saver if you use the right products, clean everything well beforehand and make sure you don’t skip any steps. It’s also important that you choose paint specifically formulated for kitchen surfaces so that your cabinets will stay in good shape over time. If possible, get an experienced professional to do this job for you so they can ensure their work will last as long as possible.

Are you planning to have your kitchen cabinets painted? Our experienced professional painters can address your queries and concerns. Call us today at 086 608 1817

[imagine-loki]

Rules of Engagement

TITLE: Rules of Engagement

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 1 AUTHOR: lokisgloriouspurpose ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine you’re having a bad day at the Avengers Tower and Loki sends you silly/cute/fluffy pictures/memes to watch you smile from a distance.

RATING: M for eventual smut

 “Detecting high levels of stress”.

“No shit, Jarvis.” I snap, hitting the button in the elevator angrily.

“Can I be of service, Miss Gillespie?”

I sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, Jarvis. You didn’t deserve that. I just want to go to bed and forget this nightmare day.”

The elevator dinged, signaling my stop. As I stepped out, my heel caught in the divider and broke off.

“Fucking perfect. Just fucking perfect.” I cursed.

After scanning my keycard to the lounge, I flung it open so hard it hit the wall.

“Hey! There she is!” Tony said, happy as a clam.

I tried to retain my features but I was pretty sure the snarl was permanent for the time being. I worked the broken heel in my hand, gripping it tightly at times in an effort to work my frustration into something so I wouldn’t put my fist through a wall.

I felt a soft ball of fabric hit my shoulder, and in return, thew the heel at Tony, hearing a glass shatter on the back wall of the bar.

“Really?” “Eat me, Tony.”

I brushed past Thor, hitting his shoulder without offering an apology. I was a literal ball of could-give-a-fuck-less at this point.

“Good heavens, what’s wrong with the Midgardian?”

I didn’t hear any more of the conversation as I stomped to my room, offering back a “I have a name! Learn it!”

Rhodes turned to look at Tony when I was out of eye and ear shot.

“You shouldn’t let her treat you like that?”

“Who, Claire? Nah, she’s harmless. She’s rarely like this so something is really stuck in her craw.”

“I’ll go talk to her.” Bucky offered.

“You know…” Tony stopped, angling his head to hear me stomping and then slam the door to my room so hard, the windows rattled. “Maybe wait…”

 I threw myself onto my bed, trying to hold it together. I knew I was acting childish but I couldn’t help it. I sat up after a few minutes, scratching my head and subsequently running a hand through my hair.

“Tea will be ready momentarily, Miss Gillespie.”

“You’re too good to me Jarvis.”

I spied my headphones hanging on my bedpost. I smiled to myself as thought back to when Tony had given them to me.

It had taken Tony a few tries to get my attention. I sat at my desk, buds in my ears, mouthing the words to a song, when Tony’s face came onto my screen. Pulling out one of the buds, I heard a noise at my door.

“’Hello! Remember me? I’ve been trying to get your attention for 5 minutes!’”

I pointed to the headphone still lingering in my ear.

He didn’t say anything as he walked up to me, some mail in his hands.

He looked to my headphones, picking up the one I’d pulled out of my ear.

“’This is what you listen to your music on?’”

“’Yes?’”

“’Eww.’” He had said, dropping the bud like it was a piece of trash.

“’What’s it to you?’”

“’You’ll destroy your hearing with those. Here,’”

He had pulled out a pair of expensive noise-cancelling headphones, a pair I’d wanted for a while. I took them from him, my mouth hanging open.

“Thank you!”

“Go big or go home, champ.” He’d said, patting me on the back.

A knock sounded at the door, followed by Nat and Wanda bursting in. Nat plopped herself down in front of me before I had any time to react.

“Alright spill. What’s going on?”

“Nat-”

“Claire so help me if you say “nothing” I’m going to punch you.”

Wanda came around the other side, a cup of tea in her hands. I took it when she offered it, thanking her.

“So what has you Hulking out today?” Wanda asked.

“I’m just having a bad day.”

“Vague. Keep going.” Nat pushed.

“Nat, please. I just need some alone ti-”

“Claire, you walked in here stomping around, shattering a glass and putting a nice sized dent in the wall. What is going on?”

“This day has been a nightmare. Traffic was atrocious, I was late to work, passed over for a promotion, soaked by a taxi while walking back from lunch and the heel of my favorite pair broke in the elevator when I got home.”

By now, I was a blubbering mess.

“It’s just been a really bad day.” I squeaked out, trying not to have a full blown meltdown.

Nat and Wanda looked at each other, unsure what to do. They had never seen me like this. Wanda sat down next to me, rubbing my back while Nat brushed the tear-slicked hair off of my face.

A quiet knock gathered all three of our attentions.

“They need you downstairs, Nat.” Bucky said.

I avoided his gaze as he looked to me.

“We need a minute.”

He nodded, jaw clenched and hurrying down to hallway.

“Quickest way to get a man out of your hair.”Nat said with a smirk.

“Don’t say that. I’ll feel worse. I already feel bad enough that I got to this point.”

“Nonsense. Everyone needs a good cry sometimes.” Nat offered.

“And yours is long overdue.” Wanda added.

I had started to feel better, having some of the tension gone through the tears and talking it out. I could already feel the migraine starting.

“Oh, I’m going to have a killer headache from this.”

Wanda got up to get the Excedrin out of my purse to give me.

“Thanks, hon. You guys are the best.”

“We girls gotta stick together. It’s a sausage fest out there.”

We all shared a laugh with Nat and Wanda taking their leave to let me relax. I laid back on my bed while Jarvis played some relaxing music and projecting a planetarium on the ceiling for something I could focus on.

“Sweet baby honey darlin’?” I heard Tony call through the com on my computer.

“Will you accept?” Jarvis asked.

“I guess I’d better. I’ll never hear the end of it if I don’t.”

I sat up as Tony’s face graced the screen. “Good God you look like Hell.”

“Shut up.”

“Meet me in the lounge. You look like you could use a drink.”

I made myself presentable and walked downstairs, treading lightly. Tony had the lights dimmed with soft music playing. I sat at the empty bar, wondering where Tony was when he suddenly popped up and threw a bar towel in my face. It bounced off my face, revealing my unamused face as it fell to the bar.

“Nothing? Ah well.”

He served a drink, taking back the towel to dry off his hands.

“So what’s put a wrinkle in your angel feathers?”

“I’m sorry I broke a glass. I’ll replace it.”

He placed his hands on the bar, straightening his arms as his body went rigid, giving me the “no nonsense” look that he always did when I was evading a question, looking at me from under his eyes.

I sighed. “Fine. I got passed up for a promotion at work by a chick that walks more on her knees than on her feet.”

“Ooo, that’s harsh.” Sam said, walking up to join us.

“I’ve told you to just work here.”

“I think I’d go crazy first.”

“Crazy’s half the fun! Tell you what. I promote you to the title of Queen Bee starting today.”

“Oh no, honey. No one can ever take that title from you.” I said, as a wide smile broke onto his face. I couldn’t stifle the laugh at Tony’s flustered face.

“You’re such a peach.” He said, fist bumping my chin softly.

“Y’all need to just get a room.” Sam said, walking away.

“There’s no need to be jealous! Plenty of Tony to go around!”

I chuckled as I watched Sam walking away, shaking his head. When I turned back, Tony was staring at me with a sincere smile on his face.

“What?”

“There’s my girl.”

I blushed, tucking a stand of hair behind my ear.

“Come on. I’ve got a surprise for you.”

He came around the bar, taking my hand in his. He walked me down to the lab, telling me to close my eyes when we stepped in.

“Jarvis, run Protocol 8, Section 3.”

I heard the whirring of machinery as something opened in the floor, the vibrations from it rattling my feet. After a few minutes of hearing various sounds of opening and lifting, Tony told me to open my eyes. I did and saw an Iron Man suit painted in purple and blue. The suit was a little bit small than his usual one.

“What do you think?” He asked, anticipation thick in his voice.

“It’s awesome! Why the color change?”

“It’s yours.”

It took a minute for his words to register.

“What?!”

“Surprise!” He said, a wide smile on his face, his arms opened wide.

“Tony! My own suit?!”

“Do you like it?”

“I love it!” I said excitedly, enunciating every word

I ran over to it, running my fingers along the metal, taking in every detail I could. When I came back around, I stopped.

“Wait…what do you want?”

He looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“I can’t surprise you with a suit just because?”

“Tony…”

“Close protocol.”

I stepped away as my suit went back into the floor. He walked towards the door, holding it open for me and mentioned for to me to walk with him. He led me further down in the tower that I’d ever been, the hallway eventually opening up into a circle with several reinforced glass cells wrapping around it.

“Our new containment facility.” Tony said, spinning around, his hand aloft in the air, showing it off.

“Is this new? And why is it here?”

“It is new. Just got it finished a few months ago.

“Why is it here?” I asked again.

“You remember the little fiasco a few months ago? Well, we have this room for that reason.”

“Yeah, the asshole God Farki or Larki or whatever the fuck his name is who has made New York an even bigger hell that it already was.”

“It’s Loki, actually.”

I jumped at the voice, my eyes going to a now lit cell at the far end of the circle.

“Like I said. Asshole.”

He smiled like I’d said something funny.

“Nobody asked you, Reindeer Games.”

It clicked then: the suit, the douche wheel God in the cell.

“Tony…no.”

“Furthering the promotion I talked about upstairs, you are now in charge of him.”

“Are you out of your mind? Don’t make me do this.” I pleaded.

Tony turned me to face him, grabbing my shoulders lightly, dragging his hands down to my hands and placed them in his own.

“You’ve done a great job keeping me in check. Plus you’re a man hater so you would be aloof to his charms.”

“I am not a man hater…just you.”

He pursed his lips in a mock kiss. From behind us, I could hear Loki groan in disgust. I walked over to his cell, leaning against the glass, my voice sickly sweet.

“Listen up, Tin Cup. I’ve had quite the day and I will not hesitate to come in there and tear that smirk off your face.”

Loki looked from me to Tony.

“She’ll do it too!” Tony called out behind me.

Loki turned a dark expression to me.

“Oh, this’ll be fun…”

[krispyalpacaduck]

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT - Chapter 1

A/N: I know it’s not canon for all of these characters to appear after The Avengers took place. I’m challenging myself to get out of that canon norm. Enjoy!

Warnings: Language

Rating: M for eventual smut

“Detecting high levels of stress”.

“No shit, Jarvis.” I snap, hitting the button on the elevator angrily.

“Can I be of service, Miss Gillespie?”

I sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, Jarvis. You didn’t deserve that. I just want to go to bed and forget this nightmare day.”

The elevator dinged, signaling my stop. As I stepped out, my heel caught in the divider and broke off.

“Fucking perfect. Just fucking perfect.” I cursed.

After scanning my keycard to the lounge, I flung it open so hard it hit the wall.

“Hey! There she is!” Tony said, happy as a clam.

I tried to retain my features but I was pretty sure the snarl was permanent for the time being. I worked the broken heel in my hand, gripping it tightly at times in an effort to work my frustration into something so I wouldn’t put my fist through a wall.

I felt a soft ball of fabric hit my shoulder, and in return, thew the heel at Tony, hearing a glass shatter on the back wall of the bar.

“Really?” “Eat me, Tony.”

I brushed past Thor, hitting his shoulder without offering an apology. I was a literal ball of could-give-a-fuck-less at this point.

“Good heavens, what’s wrong with the Midgardian?”

I didn’t hear any more of the conversation as I stomped to my room, offering back a “I have a name! Learn it!”

Rhodes turned to look at Tony when I was out of eye and ear shot.

“You shouldn’t let her treat you like that?”

“Who, Claire? Nah, she’s harmless. She’s rarely like this so something is really stuck in her craw.”

“I’ll go talk to her.” Bucky offered.

“You know…” Tony stopped, angling his head to hear me stomping and then slam the door to my room so hard, the windows rattled. “Maybe wait…”

 I threw myself onto my bed, trying to hold it together. I knew I was acting childish but I couldn’t help it. I sat up after a few minutes, scratching my head and subsequently running a hand through my hair.

“Tea will be ready momentarily, Miss Gillespie.”

“You’re too good to me Jarvis.”

I spied my headphones hanging on my bedpost. I smiled to myself as thought back to when Tony had given them to me.

It had taken Tony a few tries to get my attention. I sat at my desk, buds in my ears, mouthing the words to a song, when Tony’s face came onto my screen. Pulling out one of the buds, I heard a noise at my door.

“’Hello! Remember me? I’ve been trying to get your attention for 5 minutes!’”

I pointed to the headphone still lingering in my ear.

He didn’t say anything as he walked up to me, some mail in his hands.

He looked to my headphones, picking up the one I’d pulled out of my ear.

“’This is what you listen to your music on?’”

“’Yes?’”

“’Eww.’” He had said, dropping the bud like it was a piece of trash.

“’What’s it to you?’”

“’You’ll destroy your hearing with those. Here,’”

He had pulled out a pair of expensive noise-cancelling headphones, a pair I’d wanted for a while. I took them from him, my mouth hanging open.

“Thank you!”

“Go big or go home, champ.” He’d said, patting me on the back.

 A knock sounded at the door, followed by Nat and Wanda bursting in. Nat plopped herself down in front of me before I had any time to react.

“Alright spill. What’s going on?”

“Nat-”

“Claire so help me if you say “nothing” I’m going to punch you.”

Wanda came around the other side, a cup of tea in her hands. I took it when she offered it, thanking her.

“So what has you Hulking out today?” Wanda asked.

“I’m just having a bad day.”

“Vague. Keep going.” Nat pushed.

“Nat, please. I just need some alone ti-”

“Claire, you walked in here stomping around, shattering a glass and putting a nice sized dent in the wall. What is going on?”

“This day has been a nightmare. Traffic was atrocious, I was late to work, passed over for a promotion, soaked by a taxi while walking back from lunch and the heel of my favorite pair broke in the elevator when I got home.”

By now, I was a blubbering mess.

“It’s just been a really bad day.” I squeaked out, trying not to have a full blown meltdown.

Nat and Wanda looked at each other, unsure what to do. They had never seen me like this. Wanda sat down next to me, rubbing my back while Nat brushed the tear-slicked hair off of my face.

A quiet knock gathered all three of our attentions.

“They need you downstairs, Nat.” Bucky said.

I avoided his gaze as he looked to me.

“We need a minute.”

He nodded, jaw clenched and hurrying down to hallway.

“Quickest way to get a man out of your hair.”Nat said with a smirk.

“Don’t say that. I’ll feel worse. I already feel bad enough that I got to this point.”

“Nonsense. Everyone needs a good cry sometimes.” Nat offered.

“And yours is long overdue.” Wanda added.

I had started to feel better, having some of the tension gone through the tears and talking it out. I could already feel the migraine starting.

“Oh, I’m going to have a killer headache from this.”

Wanda got up to get the Excedrin out of my purse to give me.

“Thanks, hon. You guys are the best.” “We girls gotta stick together. It’s a sausage fest out there.”

We all shared a laugh with Nat and Wanda taking their leave to let me relax. I laid back on my bed while Jarvis played some relaxing music and projecting a planetarium on the ceiling for something I could focus on.

“Sweet baby honey darlin’?” I heard Tony call through the com on my computer.

“Will you accept?” Jarvis asked.

“I guess I’d better. I’ll never hear the end of it if I don’t.”

I sat up as Tony’s face graced the screen. “Good God you look like Hell.”

“Shut up.”

“Meet me in the lounge. You look like you could use a drink.”

I made myself presentable and walked downstairs, treading lightly. Tony had the lights dimmed with soft music playing. I sat at the empty bar, wondering where Tony was when he suddenly popped up and threw a bar towel in my face. It bounced off my face, revealing my unamused face as it fell to the bar.

“Nothing? Ah well.”

He served a drink, taking back the towel to dry off his hands.

“So what’s put a wrinkle in your angel feathers?”

“I’m sorry I broke a glass. I’ll replace it.”

He placed his hands on the bar, straightening his arms as his body went rigid, giving me the “no nonsense” look that he always did when I was evading a question, looking at me from under his eyes.

I sighed. “Fine. I got passed up for a promotion at work by a chick that walks more on her knees than on her feet.”

“Ooo, that’s harsh.” Sam said, walking up to join us.

“I’ve told you to just work here.”

“I think I’d go crazy first.”

“Crazy’s half the fun! Tell you what. I promote you to the title of Queen Bee starting today.”

“Oh no, honey. No one can ever take that title from you.” I said, as a wide smile broke onto his face. I couldn’t stifle the laugh at Tony’s flustered face.

“You’re such a peach.” He said, fist bumping my chin softly.

“Y’all need to just get a room.” Sam said, walking away.

“There’s no need to be jealous! Plenty of Tony to go around!”

I chuckled as I watched Sam walking away, shaking his head. When I turned back, Tony was staring at me with a sincere smile on his face.

“What?”

“There’s my girl.”

I blushed, tucking a stand of hair behind my ear.

“Come on. I’ve got a surprise for you.”

He came around the bar, taking my hand in his. He walked me down to the lab, telling me to close my eyes when we stepped in.

“Jarvis, run Protocol 8, Section 3.”

I heard the whirring of machinery as something opened in the floor, the vibrations from it rattling my feet. After a few minutes of hearing various sounds of opening and lifting, Tony told me to open my eyes. I did and saw an Iron Man suit painted in purple and blue. The suit was a little bit small than his usual one.

“What do you think?” He asked, anticipation thick in his voice.

“It’s awesome! Why the color change?”

“It’s yours.”

It took a minute for his words to register.

“What?!”

“Surprise!” He said, a wide smile on his face, his arms opened wide.

“Tony! My own suit?!”

“Do you like it?”

“I love it!” I said excitedly, enunciating every word

I ran over to it, running my fingers along the metal, taking in every detail I could. When I came back around, I stopped.

“Wait…what do you want?”

He looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“I can’t surprise you with a suit just because?”

“Tony…”

“Close protocol.”

I stepped away as my suit went back into the floor. He walked towards the door, holding it open for me and mentioned for to me to walk with him. He led me further down in the tower that I’d ever been, the hallway eventually opening up into a circle with several reinforced glass cells wrapping around it.

“Our new containment facility.” Tony said, spinning around, his hand aloft in the air, showing it off.

“Is this new? And why is it here?”

“It is new. Just got it finished a few months ago.

“Why is it here?” I asked again.

“You remember the little fiasco a few months ago? Well, we have this room for that reason.”

“Yeah, the asshole God Farki or Larki or whatever the fuck his name is who has made New York an even bigger hell that it already was.”

“It’s Loki, actually.”

I jumped at the voice, my eyes going to a now lit cell at the far end of the circle.

“Like I said. Asshole.”

He smiled like I’d said something funny.

“Nobody asked you, Reindeer Games.”

It clicked then: the suit, the douche wheel God in the cell.

“Tony…no.”

“Furthering the promotion I talked about upstairs, you are now in charge of him.”

“Are you out of your mind? Don’t make me do this.” I pleaded.

Tony turned me to face him, grabbing my shoulders lightly, dragging his hands down to my hands and placed them in his own.

“You’ve done a great job keeping me in check. Plus you’re a man hater so you would be aloof to his charms.”

“I am not a man hater…just you.”

He pursed his lips in a mock kiss. From behind us, I could hear Loki groan in disgust. I walked over to his cell, leaning against the glass, my voice sickly sweet.

“Listen up, Tin Cup. I’ve had quite the day and I will not hesitate to come in there and tear that smirk off your face.”

Loki looked from me to Tony.

“She’ll do it too!” Tony called out behind me.

Loki turned a dark expression to me.

“Oh, this’ll be fun…”

[floral-and-fine]

What’s Invisible to Others pt.1

Fem! Reader x Sirius Black

A/N: A little idea I had recently. Enjoy!

Summary: The reader is an artist searching for inspiration, and finds it when she spots a shaggy black dog.

Why was this such an issue? You’ve never been without inspiration for this long. 

It had to be a conspiracy organized by the muses themselves! 

Now that you had the means to actually make a living as an artist, you suddenly lost the passion and inspiration to actually create something.

All your ideas were either cliche or failed to invoke the right emotions. They lacked that edge and creativity most of art pieces conveyed.

It also didn’t help that everywhere you turned you reminded you of your current crisis. 

You recently moved into a flat/studio. It was a spacious long room room with big windows. Your bedroom, living area, and studio weren’t exactly defined spaces, they all sort of blurred together. Your couch was covered in sketches and water colors, and the coffee table had random brushes and tools. 

You couldn’t stand it any longer, you had been staring at a blank canvas for hours and all your sketches were crap. 

Suddenly, the room felt too stuffy!

You opened one of the large windows to let in some air. You didn’t have the best view in town. Most of the scenery was worn down buildings and factories.

Now there was a cool breeze coming in.

You leaned against the window frame enjoying how it felt, when something caught your eye. In a small alley across the street, was the mangiest black dog you’d ever seen.

He was so thin and shaggy, but there was also something a little menacing about him, like he was a criminal. 

You couldn’t take your eyes off of him. You wanted to remember every little detail.

You slid on a pair of sandals, and headed out the door. You really didn’t want to lose him before you had the chance to at least sketch him.

In a hurry, you ran down the stairs and then across the street to the small alley way. When you arrived you were out of breath and couldn’t see the dog. Walking down the path you tried to see if you could find him.

‘Clank’

You looked to where the sound came from.

A metal can had fallen over, but back in the shadows the dog emerged.

Being this close to him had you regretting your impulsiveness. What if he wasn’t friendly? Or had rabies?

Why didn’t you bring anything with you like cold cuts to bribe him? Or a bat in case you had to defend yourself?

You gave him a nervous smile, “Hey boy, I’m Y/n.”

The dog watched you closely.

“I was actually looking for you,” you said with a shy smile.

“You see, I live across the street, and I saw from my window,” you pointed to the direction of your building. “I’ve never seen a dog quite like you so I wanted to take a closer look.”

Did his eyes just narrow!? It’s not like he understood you, right? 

“A little suspicious aren’t you?” you sighed. “I would be too, but please don’t attack me… Maybe we can work out a deal?”

You rubbed your forehead, did you really just suggest negotiating to a dog?

“Well here goes nothing…” you muttered, before continuing to talk to the dog.

“I’d like to paint you, just as you are, maybe in exchange I can give a place to stay and some food?" 

The dog slowly approached you, sniffing around you a bit, before heading in the direction you pointed to earlier. 

"Is that a yes?” you asked, following him.

“Welcome to my lovely abode, excuse the mess by the way…” you announced letting the dog into your home.

You decided not to worry about how crazy it was to talk to the dog, and just go with it. And you completely ignored how he seemed to understand everything you were saying.

You opened the fridge, trying to find something to feed him, “I don’t have any dog food, but I’ve got left over Chinese take out?”

You dumped the left overs on a dish and sat them in front of him. The dog didn’t even bother to sniff the food before turning away.

“Don’t tell me you need me to heat it up first?”

The dog looked up at you and wagged his tail a couple of times.

“Unbelievable.”

You put the food in the microwave for a couple of minutes. The oven dinged, and you removed the hot plate and placed it again in front of the dog.

“Happy?”

He wagged his tail in reply and started eating.

While he was eating, you prepared your materials to create some drawings of him.

You directed him where and how to sit. He complied easily enough, actually it was almost too easy, but now was not the time to think about this dogs above average intelligence.

You created sketch after sketch using a variety of materials, a few in charcoal drawings to capture the rich dark tones of his fur. A few in pencil to capture all the small details, especially around the eyes. The ink sketches were your favorites, the ink reflected how striking he was.

After a couple of hours, you had what you needed to start a large painting. But it would have to wait until the morning. If you started now, you would work all night instead if sleeping.

“Nice work, boy” you complimented the dog scratching him behind the ears. “You were better than a lot of the human models I’ve worked with.”

The dog responded happily, panting and cuddling up to.

“Oh who’s a good boy? Huh?”

You continued to pet him.

“You are! Yes you are!”

You started getting ready for bed, taking off your jeans and tee shirt. As you were about to remove the rest of your clothes, you felt like you were being watched.

You looked over at the dog, and noticed his intense stare.

“What?…” you demanded,  “You’re making me very uncomfortable.”

But he didn’t shift his gaze. Weird pervert dog!

"I’m going to finish changing in the bathroom!”

Now that you were dressed in your pajamas, you washed your face and brushed your teeth.

“You can sleep on the couch or in the chair… Doesn’t really matter,” you instructed the dog. 

He hopped onto the couch and curled up.

“Good night." 

You gave a him a quick at on the head, before in getting into bed. 

The next morning you woke up feeling miserable. You felt too weak to hardly stand, your body ached, and your face felt hot.

Forcing yourself out of bed you stumbled to the bathroom. Quickly, you rummaged through the medicine cabinet, only to come up empty handed. You were out of Tylenol and had no cough syrup.

How did you get so sick? It was probably that stray’s fault... He probably had some kind of disease. But when you entered your living space again, you noticed the window was still open. 

You groaned, so the cold night air is the culprit. You felt guilty that you were blaming the dog for it. 

He was still resting. Poor guy looked like he had a hard life.

Using almost all your strength you closed the window. You flopped onto your bed, your hands were ice cold and your face felt like it was on fire. 

Moments later you passed out.

Sirius woke up on the couch, and stretched all four of his legs.

Looking around he spotted you still in bed. It didn’t take him long to notice that something was wrong.

Despite his better judgement, Sirius transformed out of his animagus form, there was nothing he do for you as a dog. You looked so tired and fragile laying there. 

Gently, he placed a hand on your forehead, you were burning up.

From your linen closet he retrieved a wash cloth, and rinsed it in cool water before placing it on your forehead.

Sirius sighed, you needed medicine in order to reduce the fever. He knew that muggles had developed medicines to help treat colds and such.

He searched through your things only to discover that you didn’t have any medication that could help. But he did find some money and clothes that looked like the previously had belonged to a man.

He changed out of his dingy clothing and into the clean ones. Then proceeded to the nearest muggle shop.

Confronted by shelves full of brightly colored bottles and packages, Sirius carefully read about the intended purpose of each one. He finally selected one based on your symptoms. Before checking out he 

When he returned, you were still out cold and the fever remained. Sirius removed the washcloth and wet it again replacing it on your head.

He wasn’t sure what his next course of action should be. The sooner you took the medicine the better, but he was concerned about how you’d react to seeing the real him.

"Hey, wake up,” Sirius spoke quietly, nudging your shoulder.

You blinked a few times still groggy. Looking up at whoever was talking.

What a handsome man with gray eyes you thought to yourself. Then you rolled over, wanting to go back to sleep.

He shook you gently, “Y/n, please wake up.”

“What?” you groaned.

“I’ve brought you some medicine, and-" 

You took the pills out of his hand and the glass of water out of the other. Rapidly, you gulped down the pills and gave him the glass back.

Sirius chuckled to himself, your fever must have been getting worse if it didn’t even register that a stranger was in your house.

In a weak voice you muttered, "please let me sleep now… I’m so tired.”

He smiled, who was he to deny such a request.

Stroking your hair, Sirius helped sooth you back to sleep.

“Go to sleep, Y/n. I’ll be here if you need anything.”

While you slept, Sirius took the chance to explore your home a little more.

For a muggle, he found you to be quite interesting. You’re taste in music was good, and you were in fact a very talented artist. 

That’s what he always appreciated about muggles, when it came to music and art, they constantly worked on trying to create something new and different.

The wizarding world was static in comparison, not changing as much as it should. All the paintings were similar and the style never varied.

As Sirius admired your work, he wondered what your paintings would say or do if they were enchanted by magic.

He had to admit, he was becoming quite comfortable here with you, even if it had only been a day. Sirius smiled to himself, thinking about how spending the rest of his days as your pet would be a large improvement over Azkaban.

[skeleton-closet-writers-blog]

It’s Been Too Long | Jon Jafari(JonTron) x Reader | JonTronShow

Warnings: None.

[Word Count: 1,506]

Author: Moonshine

Description: You and Jon are old friends, and you two finally reconnect and hang out at his apartment for the weekend. I also kept the reader gender neutral so everyone can enjoy :)

Author’s Note: Hey, it’s moonshine! I’m the admin of skeleton-closet-writers! This blog is a host for every fandom in existence; so whatever you want, you can have it! I decided to start dumping my fanfictions on here right away, so here we go. My first one is a JonTron fanfic because there aren’t enough of them out there! I’m sorry it’s short and rushed. I just wanted to get the idea out as quickly as possible. I do better with prompts/requests.

Quick Disclaimer: All of the places, people, personalities, etc are fictitious and is in no way related to real life at all. Also, if you don’t like JonTron, then how the hell did you get here? You might be lost, so uhh, just go back, nothing to see here folks! Anyways, back to the disclaimer: This is a fictional story made for fun. Jon, if you ever come across this fic, I’m sorry. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy!

Your heartbeat quickened as you stood in front of the apartment building. You double check the address, and sigh with relief that it’s the right place. You are a bit nervous for this meetup since you have only been speaking via skype for the past month, catching up with your old friend, Jon Jafari. You both were theater kids together in high school, and after you both graduated, you went off in separate directions. You reminisce on when you saw Jon again for the first time since high school as you walk through the hallway to the elevator. You were on YouTube, and saw in your recommendations a silly review for Birdemic by a channel called JonTronShow. You blinked dumbly when you realized that the guy on the thumbnail was none other than Jon Jafari himself. He has a beard now? You remember thinking to yourself as you eagerly clicked on the video.

You continued to watch his videos until one day, you decided to send him a private message on Twitter. It was a low chance he’d see it, since he has so many followers, but you gave it a go. You simply wrote:

Y/n L/n: Hey, Bird Safari! Long time no see!

You hoped his old nickname would catch his attention. And it certainly did, because later that night, he responded to you with:

Jon Jafari: Y/n!? Holy shit, is that really you? What’re you up to these days?

You smiled at the notification from him, and responded quickly. From that moment on, you two spoke almost everyday, and found that comfort in each other like old times again.

You blink dumbly when the elevator dings, indicating you are now on the floor of Jon’s Apartment. You slowly exhale before lugging your bags down the hallway, scanning the numbers of each door in search of Jon’s place. You remember when you two had your first skype call, and how you both could not stop smiling at each other like idiots. You also consistently made fun of him, saying he still looks like a baby even with the beard, and he noted how you look eerily the same since he last saw you.

When you two talked a few weeks ago, he invited you to stay in his spare room for a weekend so you both can hang out in person. You were incredibly nervous, but gladly accepted the invitation immediately. However, these thoughts of doubt could not leave your mind all week while you were preparing to spend the weekend with your old high school buddy.

You finally approach Jon’s apartment door, and take a deep breath, staring at the painted wood with wide eyes. This is it. You’re going to see your old friend again. You adjust the strap of your bag on your shoulder before knocking on the door.

“I’m coming!” you hear a voice call from inside. You let out the breath you didn’t realise you were holding in before he opens the door. Both of your eyes lock, and he immediately smiles.

“Y/n,” he speaks like he’s out of breath as he says your name. You drop your stuff on the spot, and practically tackle him down with your hug, causing him to laugh. He sluggishly regains his balance before hugging you back.

“I missed you…” Is all you can say as you snuggle into his chest.

“I missed you, too…” Jon says, tightening his grip around you.

After a long moment of silently embracing each other, he finally releases the hug, and you step back to pick up your bag. Jon picks up your other bag and leads you into the apartment.

“Follow me, I’ll show you to your room,” he says, leading you through the hall. He opens a door to his left, and reveals a generic bedroom. Just a simple double bed, dresser, mirror, and desk. Nothing else.

“It’s pretty spacious in here,” you note as you drop your bag at the head of the bed. He places your other bag beside it and rests his hands on his hips.

“Yeah, this used to belong to an old roommate, but he moved out a long time ago.”

“Cool,” you smile, and then start fiddling with the edge of your shirt, not entirely sure what to do with yourself.

“Let me show you the rest of the apartment!” Jon says, gesturing towards the doorway, killing the silence before it got too awkward. You smile and follow him around his home, and he shows you each room in full detail.

“I love your place, Jon. It’s really nice,” you comment after he ends the tour in the living room.

“Thanks,” he replies while scratching his beard. You suddenly notice Jaques, Jon’s green bird who appears in is videos, is in a cage by a few other bird cages.

“I didn’t know you had more than one bird,” You exclaim whilst approaching the bird cages.

“Ah, yeah. Jaques is the one I show in my videos, but I don’t usually show off my other birds,” Jon states while looking at the birds with you. Jon introduces you to each bird, and then you both sit down on the couch.

“So, wanna play a game, or something?” Jon asks shyly.

You smile and nod, looking at his entertaiment area while asking, “Yeah, do you have Mario Kart?”

Jon gorans, and you can’t help but giggle. “We’re not playing that.”

“Why? Because I always crushed you at it?” you smirk at him, and he rolls his eyes at you.

“It’s been a few years since we’ve played together, Y/n. I don’t want to crush your soul if I got better in the past few years…”

“Oh, it’s on, Bird Safari…” you say with your game face on. Jon laughs heartily at the use of his old nickname as he gets up to set up the game.

“Man, I can’t believe I actually missed that god awful nickname,” Jon notes as he plugs in the Nintendo 64 controllers into the console. You laugh, feeling completely comfortable now.

After playing a few races, you both haven’t changed around each other one bit. That also includes you still being the champion of Mario Kart. Jon groans in defeat, dropping his controller on the couch when your character receives the golden cup.

After gloating over your win like a nine year old, you both settle down and decide to watch a movie. Surprisingly, Jon put in your favorite movie, and you can’t help but blush over the fact that he actually remembered your favorite movie. He makes some popcorn, and brings you a cup of your favorite soft drink, along with his own, before starting the film.

You slowly open your eyes, realizing you’ve fallen asleep at some point during the movie. You notice a new movie is playing now, and that you’re not entirely laying on the couch. You’re leaning on Jon’s soft chest, with his arm wrapped around you, keeping you warm and comfy. Your heartbeat picks up its speed when you fully register the situation. You were cuddling into him, and he didn’t say anything? Why didn’t he wake you up! You feel so embarrassed, but you also don’t want to move. For some reason, you don’t want him to know you woke up. Was it out of fear? Or was it because you wanted to stay in his embrace, nestled on his chest forever.

You physically tense up when you feel his hand stroke your arm as he shifts in his seat. He shuts off the movie, and stays absolutely still for a few moments, seemingly holding you tighter than before.

“Y/n? You awake?” Jon whispers. You relax yourself and decide to not respond; pretending to be asleep. He starts to stroke your hair before carefully getting off of the couch. You keep your eyes closed as he picks you up bridal style, and carries you down the hall. He gently places you down on the bed in what you assume is the guest room, and tucks you in. After his hand lifts away from the blanket, you unintentionally reach out for it. Well shit, what the hell am I supposed to do now? He knows I’m awake.

“Y/n?” he whispers, leaning closer to you. You open your eyes slowly, and tug on his arm.

“I’m cold,” you mumble out incoherently, “stay…”

Jon stays quiet for a moment before letting out a soft chuckle.

“You have the blanket.”

“No. You’re warmer,” you mumble out tiredly, “I’m afraid I’ll lose you again, Jon…” you add quieter than before, but he definitely heard it. Jon hesitates until finally, he carefully pulls up the covers and crawls into the bed with you. You instantly cling onto him, and he gently wraps his arm over you. You missed him, his scent, his warmth, his comfort. You had a silly crush on him in high school, but now you know that what you feel has only grown stronger, and you never want to lose him from your grasp ever again.

[samwinlover-blog]

All I Have

Pairing: Sam x Reader  Characters: Death, Dean, Sam, the Reader  Warnings: all the angst, violence, swearing  Word count: 4478 (sorry it’s a little long) Summary: Basically a rewrite of the season 10 finale with a few twists;)  Tag list: @amanda-teaches @myplaceofthingsilove @evyiione @mogaruke @aliensdeservebetter @27bmm @craving-cas @spnfanficpond @amanda-teaches @myplaceofthingsilove@evyiione @mogaruke@aliensdeservebetter@27bmm@craving-cas @spnfanficpond​ @amanda-teaches  @myplaceofthingsilove  @spectaculicious@bambinovak @bambinovak@writingthingsisdifficult@padackles2010 @mamaredd123@milkymilky-cocopuff @iwantthedean@zeppo-in-a-trenchcoat @spntrista @d-s-winchester@just-another-busy-fangirl@winchesterprincessbride@waywardjoy@supernaturalyobsessed@whywhydoyouwantmetosaymyname@sandlee44@fangirl1802@kittenofdoomage @evyiione @winchestersmut@purgatoan@mogaruke @therewillbeblood @megansescape @taste-of-dean@leatherwhiskeycoffeeplaid  @scarlet-soldier-in-an-impala@deathtonormalcy56@wildfirewinchester @notnaturalanahi@jensen-jarpad@impalaimagining@fangirlextraordinaire@itseverythingilike@jesspfly@lovekittykat21@mysteriouslyme81@mrswhozeewhatsis@aiaranradnay@supernatural-jackles@girl-next-door-writes@spnsasha@27bmm@spnfanficpond @amanda-teaches@myplaceofthingsilove@spectaculicious@bambinovak@writingthingsisdifficult@spn-imagines-to-feel@spn-ficfanatic@cleverdame@saxxxology@jensen-jarpad @keepcalmandcarryondean dancingpanda137

A/N: I’m a little rusty on the details of what actually happened so pls b kind + this one’s long so have fun!! Also some of the quotes are directly from the show and therefore not mine:) 

Masterlist Here!

You’d nearly jumped out of your skin when Sam received the call. Loud and clear the caller id read Dean Winchester, but that couldn’t have been possible- Dean had been MIA for days. With the trail of bodies he left behind being your only clues, you and Sam had been desperately searching for the older Winchester. But Dean was smart, he knew how to hide. And even though you knew every alias he used, every motel he preferred and every back road he took- the two of you still couldn’t find him. He’d run from you and his brother when he’d realized the Mark was uncontrollable. It had turned him into something he was not, a killer. And instead of facing it together, Dean had left. He’d ran away and stopped fighting what the Mark was doing to him, he stopped holding back and stopped trying to save himself. Even though he was without the old jawbone that fed his power, he was still unstoppable. You and Sam searched desperately for him, but to no avail. So when you saw his damn name show up on Sam’s phone, your heart had skipped a beat. 

You and the younger Winchester had been sitting in a dingy motel room somewhere outside of Lafayette, Louisiana when Sam had gotten the call. He had instantly leapt to his phone to answer, putting it on speaker so you could hear as well. 

“Dean?” Sam spoke, his breath catching in his throat. 

The long pause that followed lead you to shift closer to him and intertwine his fingers with your own.

But after another few seconds you heard Dean take a throaty breath and reply, “Hey, Sam”

Sam’s hand instantly tightened its grip on your own, it was the first time he’d heard his brother’s voice in days. It was the first time either of you had heard his voice. You felt your throat tighten and your nose begin to sting as the tears came. With hitched breathing you tried to hold them back, but failed. Hot and heavy they slid down your cheeks in silence and you turned your head away from Sam. Dean was as much of an older brother to you as he was to Sam. Ever since the day you’d met, the two of you had been best friends- inseparable in every sense of the word. Nobody could make you laugh quite as easily as Dean could and there was nobody you’d rather get rip roaring drunk with on the weekends. But on top of that, you didn’t open up to anybody, not even Sam sometimes, the way you did to him. Since day one you’d been guarded, that was no secret. But, over time, you found yourself explaining to him things you’d never said aloud before- the dark and twisty parts of yourself even Sam didn’t know. 

“Dean, where are you? (Y/N) and I have been looking for days.” Sam responded, his hoarse voice snapping you back to reality. 

“I texted you the address. You come, only you. It’s time to say goodbye, brother” 

You and Sam looked at each other, neither of you knowing what to do. But before you had the chance to respond, the phone clicked and Dean hung up. Seconds later, Sam’s phone vibrated with a text from Dean, containing an address just like he’d promised. 

“I’m coming with you,” you turned to Sam, voice rising. 

But he just nodded and gave his best impression of a smile back as he said, “I know, you never weren’t”

So the two of you loaded up the Impala- which Dean had miraculously left behind- with all of the weapons you owned. You were ready for anything. 

When Dean had left, it was as if he was running away from his old life. He had left everything behind, including his beloved Impala, and took with him only the clothes on his back, an old bandana he kept constantly wrapped around his hand, and a gun. That was what worried you the most, what told both you and Sam that the Dean you loved was slipping away- the objects he left behind. The pictures and memories he usually carried with him he’d tossed aside as if they were nothing. The real Dean would never have done that, ever. The real Dean put so much value into those pictures and everyday objects that it was absurd. But this wasn’t the real Dean, it was a shell of him- carved out by the Mark and turned into a killer. 

When you drove the Impala up the gravelly driveway of the address Dean had texted, you weren’t at all surprised by the location. It was a run down hispanic restaurant in the middle of nowhere. The sign, reading Casa Bonita, was hanging crookedly to the left. Its, probably once colorful, paint was chipped and peeling off. When your gaze traveled to the front entrance, you found a dinged up screen in place of an actual door. You and Sam exchanged a look before exiting the car and approaching the rundown building before you. The old Dean would have loved a place like this one, which was why you weren’t surprised this was where he wanted to meet. The old Dean would have dragged you and Sam there in the middle of the night to drink together. And when you and the taller Winchester would grumble or complain, he’d dismiss you, claiming it had a hell of a ‘personality’ to it. You smiled at his memory, of who he’d been before the Mark had shattered your lives and left you to pick up the pieces. 

“He expects you to go in there alone. So I’ll wait out here in case anything goes bad- okay?” you turned to Sam and spoke the first words said since you’d left the bunker. 

(Y/N), it’s still Dean deep down. It’s not gonna go bad.” Sam responded, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than you. 

And even though you knew it was complete bullshit, you gave him a sad nod and said, “Okay, but just in case” 

He pursed his lips and furrowed his brows before leaning down to give you a quick kiss on the cheek, and stalk into the restaurant. You waited outside for all of 30 seconds before you heard him call out, “(Y/N), there’s nobody here”

This time you were the one furrowing your brows in confusion as you turned around to stake out the rest of the property. But before you made it two steps, an enormous body blocked your path. Looking up, you saw cunning, green eyes meet your own. Dean. But before you could open your mouth to speak, you were cut off with a vicious blow to the head. You didn’t know what hit you, only felt its impact. And as you slumped to the ground, the last thing you saw before blacking out was Dean standing above you with his arms crossed. The Mark of Cain glowing red and vibrant on his left forearm. 

When you awoke, you found yourself hand cuffed to a table. You were sitting with your legs crossed, chained to the underside of a skinny, round table. Your hands were fastened tightly to the pole connecting this table to the ground. On its underside you saw old gum and various words scribbled in pen- just as grimy as the rest of the restaurant that lay before you. A dusty bar and chipped sets of chairs were decorating the left side of the room, while various booths peppered the right side. Their leathers were dull and worn, no doubt from the countless nights people had sat on them to drink away their unhappiness. Sam and Dean were standing in the center of the room talking to each other and Death himself was behind them. Ever since you saw him the first time, Death had always chilled your bones. There was something about him, some ancient malice and seemed to emulate from him that terrified you. Once you’d had a moment to take in your surroundings, you focused on yourself. Your wrists were already red from where the metal of the handcuffs tightly bit into them. And you also noticed dozens of scrapes decorating your arms and torso- as if you’d been dragged from the pavement outside. Knowing the Mark of Cain, you probably had been. You leaned to your back against the cool wall behind you, but instantly winced. Wriggling around as much as the handcuffs permitted, you spied even more cuts on your back. They ranged from large gashes still pouring out blood to small scratches, but, bleeding or not, they all hurt like hell. 

The pain came in waves. You’d be gritting your teeth and grasping the wall until your knuckles turned white, and then in seconds you’d be slumped on the ground again- breathing in long pants. After a few minutes of this, you focused your attention on the three men standing before you. None of them seemed to notice you were awake, they were too wrapped up in their own conversation. Your head was pounding to the point that you found it hard to understand what they were saying- all you heard were strings of sentences which you had to piece together. Death.. alternate dimension... can’t hurt anybody anymore... Sam has to die. Wait, what? Sam has to die? 

Your head snapped up at the sound of punches landing and saw Sam and Dean at each others throats. There were no pulled punches in this fight though, they were out for blood. Wildly you pulled at the handcuffs, leaving your wrists bloody and raw. You kicked and struggled until your throat was tight and your breaths were coming out in sharp, exasperated pants. But it was no use, you were tied so tightly to the table that you could barely move, much less free yourself. So all you could do was watch, and scream in protest, as Dean beat the shit out of your boyfriend. 

Sam kept looking over at you throughout the fight, a few times he sprinted towards you- probably in an attempt to free you. But every time he’d failed, been dragged back by Dean, and punched again, and again. Minutes later, when you’d utterly lost your voice from screaming, and Sam was a broken and bloody mess on the floor, Dean stopped. He gave you a quick glance before turning to his brother, who was struggling to stand. The look he gave you had no trace of the Dean you knew. His eyes were cold, calculating, and unfeeling. They were starved of the warmth and laughter which usually hugged them so tightly. Those eyes broke your heart. 

You braced yourself as Dean turned towards his brother. You had no idea what he was going to do, so you just sat there in mute terror, shivering and shaking from your crouched position on the floor. Sam was still struggling to stand, and was doubled over in the center of the room, leaning on a chair for support. You had gone numb long before the fight was over, and barely registered the blood running down your wrists or the scratches littering your torso. Your throat burned as you let out a small string of coughs, voice aching from screaming so ferociously. And through all of this, Death hadn’t lifted a finger. He was sitting cross legged in a chair near the back of the room. Utterly disinterested, he was picking at the nachos positioned in his lap. He wasn’t even eating them, just toying at them with a fork. You hated him for caring so little. The two people you loved the most were tearing each other apart and you were forced to watch, helpless on the floor. And he had the god damn nerve to sit there eating nachos. 

“Enough,” Sam’s voice snapped you back to reality and you stopped glaring at Death, still lounging in the corner of the room. You noticed how, even though the both of them were bruised and bloody, Dean stood taller and was almost unaffected by his brother’s punches. 

“Enough,” Sam repeated himself, standing upright with his lip curled back slightly with pain. 

“If this is what you need to do, Dean, do it. But leave her out of it- when I’m gone she walks.” Sam spoke again, this time sinking to his knees. 

Your heart stopped. No, no, no, no, no, what was he doing? 

If Sam truly died, you’d be alone in the world. With no other family and Dean corrupted by the Mark, you’d have nobody else. The Winchesters had been your family for years. You’d hunted and lived alongside them for the better part of your adult life, and had been loving Sam for nearly half that time. And as dangerous and stupid it was to hunt with them, to call them your family, you had never left. No matter how many times they put you at risk or nearly ended the world, it had never crossed your mind. Because for however many times they’d nearly killed you, they’d saved your life twice. Without the two of them, none of it made sense. Monsters, demons, hunting, none of it fit. You’d truly be alone in the world, and you didn’t know if you’d be able to face that. 

“Sam, stop. Dean, no, please stop”, you again tried yelling across the room, your voice raw and guttural. But only Sam met your gaze, Dean didn’t even acknowledge that you were there. The younger Winchester turned his head back to you and, still on his knees, said, “I love you”

Oh no, you felt anger bubbling up to the surface. Your knuckles were turning white from gripping the handcuffs wrapped around your wrists, and you clenched your jaw in an attempt to keep silent. You didn’t want to lash out at him; you knew those few moments could be the last ones you spent together. But the way he said those three words, I love you, it was a goodbye. He had already accepted death, he’d given up. And with that, he’d condemned you to to a lonely, heartbroken life. It was an effort to keep silent, one you surrendered to as you yelled back at him, “Shut up, shut the hell up. Don’t say goodbye to me right now because you’re not leaving” The latter part of your sentence was more of a plea then a statement, and you knew how weak you sounded. You felt tears fall freely down your face, hot and heavy and salty. It was the first time you’d actually cried. Before had been a fit of rage, or blinding panic. But now, the adrenaline had subsided and all that was left in its wake was grief. Grief and terror at the thought of losing him. You’d already lost Dean, that much was clear, you couldn’t lose Sam too. 

But Sam just gave you a sad look, told you he loved you one more time, and turned to his brother. 

“Dean, you’ll never hear me say you’re anything but good.” 

But the older Winchester just shook his head in return and said, his voice low and predatory, “We track evil and kill it, the family business, is that it? Look at the tape, Sam. Evil tracks us. It nukes everything in our vicinity, our family, our friends, it’s time we put a proper name to what we really are and deal with it.”

“Dean you were willing to summon Death to make sure you could never do any more harm. You summoned me because you knew I would do anything to protect you. And you didn’t want (Y/N) to come because, deep down, you didn’t want to have to kill her too. That’s not an evil man. That’s a good man, crying to be heard, searching for some other way.” 

You felt Sam’s voice break as he looked up at his brother. The one he had admired since the day he was born, the one he’d strived to be just like. The one who had taken care of him when John neglected to. Who had remembered his birthday and done his best to keep the dream of Santa Claus alive. Who he’d been to hell and back with and had beaten the devil alongside. His older brother, the one who was now going to look him in the eye and kill him. You saw tears slide down Sam’s cheeks, and saw how hard he was trying to hold them back. 

A silence fell over the room, nobody moved, nobody even breathed. And for a few blissful seconds, you thought Sam had gotten through to him. You pictured the three of you walking out of there and leaving everything behind. Sam would rush over to un-cuff you and Dean would apologize. You’d forgive him and the three of you would head back to the Impala. It would be just like before, Sam and Dean bickering about what to play on the radio and you sitting in between them, shaking your head at how petulant they could be. And it would all be over, you’d have your boyfriend and your best friend back. And it would be done. 

But, with a deep sigh, Dean shattered that dream, “Close your eyes.”

You tried to yell back, to beg Sam to get up and fight. But your breath caught in your throat and all that came out as was a broken cry. You, again, began wildly pulling at the handcuffs, reopening and irritating your wounds from before. But you didn’t care, it was all numbed at this point. Sam was on his knees and Dean had Death’s scythe in his hand. He was going to cut Sam in two, and you were going to have to watch. You felt your body lock up as panic took over, cold beads of sweat running down your arms and chest. Dean’s going to kill him, Dean’s going to kill him, Dean’s going to kill him. 

“Dean,” you wailed, begging him to stop. 

But he just repeated himself, refusing to look down at his brother. His voice faltered and you saw his eyes begin to shine with tears, but it was no use. He would do it if the Mark willed it to be done. 

“Sammy, close your eyes.” 

Sammy, the nick name Dean had given Sam from a young age. The one Sam claimed to hate, but secretly loved. The one you’d taken to calling him from time to time- to his delight. Whenever you did he’d blush and add a Y to the end of your own name, no matter how ridiculous it sounded. Your heart broke at the memory. 

Sam started fishing his hand into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out three photographs. Even if you were blind folded, you would still know what they were. He always kept them on him. One was of his mother, Mary, holding him and Dean as babies. The other was of their father, John, kissing Mary at their old house. You’d only been there once, when- by chance- there was a case in the very same neighborhood. The house had been rebuilt from the ground up, but looked relatively the same. Throughout the entire trip you noticed how both Winchesters locked up and fell silent at mention of their old house, and of their mother. The third one was of you and Dean. You were on his back, hugging him tightly from behind with your legs wrapped around his mid section. Dean was rolling his eyes and giving the camera a lazy smile- beer and the stuffed bear the two of you had just stolen in hand. You remembered that day, it had been perfect. The three of you had just finished a case in Portland, something involving a nest of vamps, and decided to go to the local fair to celebrate. You’d spent the day eating copious amounts of fried food and forcing the Winchesters on every single roller coaster. And when the sun finally sunk into the horizon, you’d taken that photo just outside the fair grounds. For some reason, Sam had kept it, claiming it was of the two most important people to him, and therefore it was special. Everyday since he’d tucked the photo into his jacket pocket and smiled whenever he saw it. 

He spread the three pictures out on the ground in front of Dean’s boots, eyes shining wickedly with tears, and said, “Take these and one day, when you find your way back, let these be your guide. They can help you remember what it was to be good, what it was to love.”

When his voice broke, reality hit you. Like a cold, slap in the face, you realized he was going to die. You realized those were his last words. And you went wild. You screamed at Dean and pulled deliriously at the hand cuffs, not caring if you had to break your hands to free yourself. You fought and kicked at the table you were chained to, all the while pleading Dean to stop. 

“Dean, no!” 

He swung his arms up, scythe in hand. 

“Dean, please!” 

His eyes flickered towards you, and then back to his brother. 

And just as the blade was about to swing down, you screamed- baring your soul for all to hear. 

“He’s all I have!!!!” 

Tears were flowing freely down your face and your throat was tight. You knew, in that moment, that you world was about to be cleaved in two. You stilled at the realization and gave up, your breaths devolving into short pants. You sat back into the wall, pressing it into the cuts and scrapes peppering your back. You didn’t care about the pain, you didn’t even care when you looked down and saw blood pooling below your wrists from tugging the hand cuffs too tight. It was over. It was all over. Sam was all but dead. But just as you stopped hoping for a way out, Dean whirled around and buried the scythe deep inside Death’s chest.  

Both you and Sam let out small gasps as Death literally crumbled apart. You didn’t know how to describe it. It was as if he’d turned to dirt and dust and then blew away. When it was over, there was no trace it had happened- not even a pile of ash on the floor. 

Sam rose from his knees and was at your side in an instant, hugging you and trying to calm you down. But you wouldn’t be calmed. You shook and yelled into his arms, which remained tightly wrapped around you no matter how hard you fought him. 

“You gave up!” You shouted at him, still struggling to be free of his grasp. 

“I-I know, I’m so, sorry” he replied while loosening his grip, the look on his face begged forgiveness. 

And you decided to give it to him, “D-Don’t do that again” 

He was silent for a moment before promising back, “I wont, come here, I love you” He gave a long sigh and hugged you tightly into his chest, running his fingers through your hair- still damp with blood from where Dean had hit you earlier. 

But the sense of security that had settled over the three of you was false. It wasn’t over. Seconds later a flash of what appeared to be lightning rocketed through the ceiling. It traveling through the room before striking Dean’s forearm. You saw him clenching his jaw and gritting his teeth in an effort not to cry out. The Mark flared bright red, peppering the veins surrounding it with a pink afterglow. The light started filling the room, red and bright as hell. Sam pulled you closer and shielded his eyes in your shoulder. You couldn’t see anything, it was all red. Your eyes stung from straining to look at Dean, from struggling to see something, anything, at all. But as soon as it started, it stopped and the ratty bar returned to normal. Sam’s grip on your shoulders loosened and he stalked cautiously over to his brother. Dean was leaning on the chipped table behind him, knuckles white from gripping its edge. He was doubled over in pain and clutching his forearm, where the Mark had previously been. You saw, as he straightened up to examine his arms, that they were bare. Where the Mark had previously been branded, there was nothing but peachy, pink skin. You loosed a breath of relief as the brothers hugged and then turned to you. The adrenaline had dulled and your wrists, arms, chest and back were throbbing. You let out a small cough as the pain coursed through your upper body. 

Your gaze trailed up to Dean, who was standing above you. The look in his eyes told you enough, he couldn’t face what he had done- to you and otherwise. You knew he would blame himself; he probably already did. You knew it would all haunt him, it would chase him from sleep and keep him up at night. Because that was Dean’s MO, self blame. He was so hard on himself, had been since he was a kid. And although he’d never fully opened up about it, you knew it was because of the expectations of him from such a young age. He hadn’t had the privilege of a cushy childhood as you had. In fact, he didn’t have a childhood at all. He hadn’t even had a screwed up one like Sam. He’d grown up the minute Mary was killed by the yellow eyed demon, that you knew to be true. 

But you weren’t ready to forgive him yet, as cruel as that was. So, as he knelt down to unlock the cuffs, you didn’t meet his stare. You continued to avoid his eyes as he started dabbing the blood from your wrists with the sleeve of his shirt. And even as he pulled you up from the ground, you kept your gaze wholly on his brother. You knew it wasn’t his fault, that he’d been corrupted by the Mark and forced to do the things he did. But you could’t get the image out of your mind. Of Sam, on the ground, and Dean standing above him- scythe in hand. Before he’d changed his mind, before he’d decided to cheat death once and for all. You couldn’t shake the look you saw in his eyes, one of cold blooded murderer. You’d forgive him eventually, and Sam would too. And with your life, who knew what type of threat the next day would bring. So you just left it at that, exited the building and faced the future- and the inevitable danger that would accompany it. 

[recurring-polynya]

I haven’t posted any fanfic since April and I am dying, so I dug out this first chapter of this amateur hockey AU fic I started back in my annus mirabilis of 2019, which I am never going to finish. Despite taking place in an ice rink, it was supposed to be a fundamentally summery story and it was 90 degrees here today, so that seems about right.

I’ve always been rather fond of it and I hope you like it, too.

ao3 | ff.net

🏒   💘   ⛸️  

The old rink seemed a lot smaller than the first time Rukia had walked through those doors. Smelled the same though, that astringent tang of bleach and wet rubber with just a note of snack bar french fries. Which was strange, because the Ice Society snack bar didn't offer french fries or soggy pizza or any of the usual things served in the snack bars of the hundreds of ice rinks she'd been in over the last ten years. But everything about Ice Society was weird.

For starters, it was called Ice Society. Presumably it was a shitty pun on "High Society," except that the man who owned the rink was a crusty old ex-Marine with one eye who didn't even know what puns were. It was just a mystery.

Rukia half expected Ol' Man Zaraki's asshole son to still be manning the counter of the pro shop, but an orange-haired teen snored at the register instead. She kicked the front of the counter, and he sat up with a start.

“Huh, wha? Won’t get me this time, old man!’

Rukia cleared her throat.

The kid peered down at her from his perch on a high stool. “Uh, you want a sharpening? I am definitely allowed to use the machine without supervision.”

Rukia raised one eyebrow. “Saw an ad. Rink’s looking for a figure skating instructor for the summer?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” the teen scratched his head.

“I...would like to apply?”

“You got a resume or something?”

Rukia narrowed her eyes at him, but passed it over.

The kid made a very serious face as he looked it over. “First Place Overall, Tri State Championships 2015, mmm, very impressive. First Place Regionals 2016, ah ha ha, very tough competition that year.”

“You don’t know a ding-dang thing about competition figure skating, do you, junior?”

“Nope!” he replied cheerfully. “I don’t have any hiring authority either.” He craned his neck around to check the big clock hanging behind him. “Mr. Manager’s out playing hockey with the delinquents, but he should be done in about ten minutes. If you want to talk to him, you can wait around, or I can give this to him assuming I don’t fall asleep again or forget.”

Rukia didn’t really register the second part of this sentence because her heart gave a little leap at the mention of delinquents. “Ol’ Man Zaraki still teaches the kids from juvie how to play hockey?” she asked.

The teen regarded her curiously. “Naw, his back gives him trouble. His son does it now.” He narrowed his eyes. “S’how I learned, y’know.”

Rukia wagged her eyebrows at him. “No shit. Me, too. I’ll wait.”

She wasn’t sure that Ikkaku would even remember her—it’d been ten years and he’d been a surly teen at the time, not too interested in the shouting, angry kids he was trying to teach wrist shots to. Rukia hoped maybe he’d mellowed out a bit, and might be a little more inclined to hire someone with a soft spot in their heart for his dad, who, seriously, had to be about 900 years old by now.

“I’m gonna go out and watch,” Rukia informed the shop kid, snagging her resume back.

“Suit yourself.” He suddenly seemed to remember something. “Wait, you play hockey? Look, my team is lookin’ for—“

Rukia waved a hand dismissively. “It’s been years. I don’t even own equipment.”

“We sell equipment! You’d get an employee discount!” he shouted after her as she headed into the rink proper.

Rukia recognized the drill the kids were doing. They would skate up the ice, the coach would set them up with a pass, and they would take a shot on goal. Most of the kids could barely shoot the puck, but to be fair, the tiny person in net couldn’t really stop anything, either. Nevertheless, Rukia could hear a steady stream of barked encouragement from the coach under the high pitched babble of shouts and shrieks from the other players. These kids didn’t get a whole lot of encouragement in their lives, and she remembered very well the feeling of teammates shouting her name for the first time.

“Great job, great job, everybody! Give your keeper a high five, and go get changed! Awesome hustle today, Ururu, way to hang in there!”

Rukia leaned against the curve of the rink, watching the little hooligans high-five their coach as they piled off the ice.

“You didn’t suck too much yourself today, old man!” one of them squeaked.

Rukia snorted. Some things never changed.

The coach was taking a moment to help the goalie—who turned out to be a tiny girl with dark hair in pigtails—loosen the buckles on her leg pads, before shooing her into the locker room.

Rukia stood up and prepared to re-introduce herself, when he pulled off his helmet, and instead of Ikkaku’s shaved head, a mass of dark red hair spilled out. Most of it was covered with a sweat-soaked bandana, but she would recognize that ponytail anywhere. The words dried up in Rukia’s mouth and she stood stupidly gawping like a fish. The man, who stood close to 6’4” in his skates, stopped short when he realized there was a tiny woman in his way.

“Ah, ‘scuse me, almost didn’t see you there.” He seemed confused by her lack of movement, speech, or any other discernibly human reactions. And then recognition dawned. “Rukia? ‘Zat you?”

Something about the sound of his voice brought her back to herself. Rukia crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at him. “Hey, Renji.”

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“I’ve seen you around, I think,” Rukia mentioned, poking one of the pucks experimentally with her stick while she waited her turn.

“Family court, prob’ly,” Renji suggested. People were always recognizing him. It was the hair. “You in the foster system, too?”

“Uh, yeah,” she admitted.

“Whadja do to get put in juvie?”

“Jacked a car.”

“You stole a car?”

“It was a 1996 Ford Festiva, so maybe ‘car’ is a little generous. How ‘bout you?”

He fidgeted. “Spray painted a dick on the side of the school.”

Rukia laughed. She had the grating laugh of an old grifter, not a little girl’s laugh at all. “Karakura Middle, lime green? Real attention to detail on the ball hairs?”

“That was me.”

“Nice work.”

Renji felt his cheeks color. He’d never actually gotten a compliment on his graffiti before, let alone from a cute girl who had jacked a goddamn car. “Hey, it’s almost my turn here, and I do not know what I am doing, don’t judge me too rough, okay?”

“I would never.”

“Next!”

Renji launched himself down the ice at top speed. He lost his edge after three paces and landed stomach-down on the ice with a shit-ton of momentum. Ikkaku, barking instructions from the blue line, managed to get one hand on the boards and jump high enough to clear the careening child as he skidded by. Renji bounced off the boards a few times and came to a rest deep in the neutral zone.

“Good hustle, Abarai!” Zaraki boomed.

Rukia was laughing her ass off.

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“Yeah, Zaraki took me in a couple years after you moved away,” Renji explained as they sat in the bleachers drinking kombucha from the snack bar and watching Ichigo, the teen from the pro shop, drive the zamboni repeatedly into the boards. “After I got kicked out of the third or fourth foster family. I’m sorry Ichigo confused you.”

As if on cue, the zam hit the boards particularly hard, thoroughly rattling the glass. Renji stood up and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “That’s it, you’re done!” he bellowed. “Go find Ganju and tell him to finish up!”

“Aw, maaaaan!” Ichigo groaned.

Renji plopped back down again. “So what are you doing back in Karakura?”

“Oh,” Rukia said, suddenly remembering that this wasn’t some dumb nostalgia trip. “I’m doing a summer student research program over at the Seireitei U downstate campus. I saw the rink was advertising for a part-time figure skating instructor, and I thought it might be nice to make a few bucks in my free time. Liked the idea of seeing the old place again.” She smoothed out her rumpled resume, and handed it to him.

"Oh, cool! Yeah, both our figure skating instructors just graduated college and moved away." Renji skimmed her resume for a moment, his eyes widening. “I always knew you were a good skater, but…”

“The man who adopted me was a former Olympian,” Rukia said stiffly. “He saw a lot of potential in me.”

“Looks like he saw right,” Renji shrugged. “You sure you don’t got better things to do than teach some teens how to stomp around the ice backward with their arms sticking straight out for fifteen bucks an hour?”

Rukia shrugged back. “The internship’s only ‘sposed to be 20 hours a week. Not like I know anyone down here anymore.”

“Well, you know me.” He handed her the resume back. “The job’s yours if you want it.”

She blinked at him. "That's it?"

He shrugged. "You want an interview with the old man? He'll be by in a few hours to shout at the HVAC unit."

"Is it broken?"

"It's too scared of him to break, that's what the shouting's for. Anyway, he'll just ask me if I want to hire you and I'll say yes."

"But how do you know I'm any good?"

He gave her a strange look, like he wasn't sure if she was trying to pull one over on him or not. Finally, he said, "What, you want a tryout or something?"

"I just don't think you should make hiring decisions based on nostalgia for someone you played hockey with as Squirts."

"Hey, we played together well into Peewees," he joked. He checked something quickly on his phone. "Ice is free for the next hour and a half. You got skates with you?"

"They're out in the car."

"Go get 'em. Hey, Ganju!" He waved to the stocky man climbing onto the zamboni. "Pull that back into the garage, would ya? I'm gonna use that ice."

When Rukia returned with her skates, Renji already had his back on. Rukia studiously tried to ignore him, setting up cones on the ice. Just as she finished the last knot, he hockey-stopped at the door, throwing a spray of ice in her general direction. She ignored him and stepped out onto the ice. “What would you like to see, Mr. Ice Rink Manager, sir?”

“Well, you need to get warmed up, right? Let’s see some circles.”

“Circles.”

“Yeah. You’re some sort of hotshot, right? Switch off forward and backward.”

Smirking, Rukia took off around the first face-off circle, letting her legs stretch out with each crossover. She switched direction for the second, taking it backwards . She stayed in reverse, and instead of skating around the perimeter of the center circle, she launched herself into a double Lutz. She finished the last two circles normally, and came to a neat stop in the corner.

There was the loud blast of a whistle, and Renji skated up to her. “You sure don’t listen to directions too good,” he frowned.

“I got bored,” she shrugged. “Is that whistle really necessary?”

“Yes. Okay, next, see those cones?”

“I am not blind.”

“Skate around ‘em. Like this.” He made a serpentine gesture with his hand.

“I dunno, they’re pretty close together,” she said skeptically. In fact, you could probably drive a zamboni between the cones.

“Eh, just do your best,” he suggested.

Rukia took off and launched into an elaborate sequence of steps, dancing around cones, skipping from one foot to the other, flipping from forward to backward and back again.

“Yeah, that was pretty good, come back and do it again.”

Rukia executed the exact series of steps on the way back.

“Not very original, are you?”

She put her hands on her hips.

He pointed to a series of hockey sticks he had laid out on the other side of the ice. “Skate up that side of the ice, and jump over the sticks.”

Rukia had done this drill many times as a child, of course she knew you were supposed to hop over them one at a time. That seemed inefficient. Rukia took a long starting run, and shot him a shit-eating grin before launching herself into the air. She had managed to break his grinning shithead act for just a second-- his eyes widened in horror as he realized what she was doing.

Rukia sailed through the air, clearing five of the six sticks. Shit. She danced frantically, trying not to trip over the last one, and managed to clear it with a tiny little bunny hop. She spread her arms wide, and bowed, like she was particularly proud of that last bit, and then skated up to him, looking phenomenally smug.

The jackass still couldn’t manage to look impressed. “Okay, last test. Are you ready?”

“What is it?”

He shot her a toothy grin. “Catch me.”

Renji took off, backwards, tweeting his whistle obnoxiously.

Rukia took off after him, taking big, scooping power strokes.

As soon as she started getting close, he flipped forward, putting on a burst of speed. “You used to be able to catch me a lot quicker’n this!”

He was fast, a lot faster than she had expected. But Rukia was faster. Ducking her head down, she put on the jets. As they neared the corner, she cut inside, and passed him, transitioning to backwards, so she was facing him. “Happy?”

With a mischievous look in his eyes, Renji blew on his whistle, and put on another burst of speed, picking her up under the armpits and holding her straight out in front of him, her feet dangling a foot off the ice.

“What are you doing?!” she howled.

“We’re figure skating now, right? That’s how this works?”

In response, she grabbed the whistle hanging around his neck and blew it as hard as she could.

Laughing his ass off, Renji skidded to a stop, and gently deposited Rukia back on her feet before doubling over with laughter, clutching his stomach.

Rukia tried to look angry and impatient, but to be honest, she couldn’t remember the last time she had horsed around on the ice like that. She could almost hear Byakuya’s droning lecture on the importance of protecting her precious ankles, but she pushed it to the back of her head. He wasn’t here, and she was determined to enjoy the break from his clucking.

Renji looked up, wiping tears from his eyes. “Wow, that’s a stoneface. C’mon, don’t tell me that wasn’t at least a little bit fun?”

She crossed her arms across her chest, and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Maybe a tiny bit.”

“Good. I forgot. If you wanna work here, you gotta like having fun. No fuddy-duddies.”

“I will have you know, I am an expert at having fun!”

He bobbed his head in an exaggerated nod. “I can tell.”

“What kind of test was that, anyway? You just made me run a bunch of hockey drills.”

“You think I know anything about figure skating?” he scoffed. “Look, here’s the real test,” he announced. “Are you available on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, from 6 to 9, and Saturday mornings, 9 to noon?”

“Yes,” Rukia replied.

Renji tipped his head to the side. “Please come work for me, Rukia. You are ridiculously overqualified for this, but the Learn to Skate classes start this week, and if I have to teach them myself, I’ll have to drop my summer course. The pay’s not great, but you get a staff discount at the snack bar and I can give you free ice time between the hours of 2 and 4 am, if you want it. You get a couple teen assistants, real nice kids. I don’t mind if you make them run personal errands for you or whatever. Also, you get to hang out with a bunch of sexy guys, like Ichigo and my pop.”

Rukia snorted through her nose. Had he forgotten that she was the one who came in here, looking for a job? “You sound pretty desperate, maybe I should hold out.”

His shoulders slumped. “Aw, shit. You want me to throw in free skate sharpening, too?”

“‘Zat your Camaro parked out front?” It was a beautiful mid-70’s model, a hood the size of a tennis court, bright red with black racing stripes. Rukia was going to be very disappointed if it turned out to belong to the orange-haired Pro Shop teen.

Renji frowned. “You can’t have my wife. You wouldn’t want her anyway, she only runs a quarter of the time.”

“She’s a looker, though.”

“That is true, I am a man who knows how to wash a car.”

Rukia leaned forward. “I want a ride in her.” It had been a long time since she had ridden in a car where you could feel the rumble of the engine in your bones. Byakuya would shit a brick if he found out she was riding around in something without side-impact airbags.

“Really? That’s it?” Renji asked.

“That’s it.”

“You can drive her if you want.”

Rukia stuck out her hand. “You have a figure skating instructor.”

Renji grabbed it and shook it firmly. “Welcome aboard. You, uh, you wanna go driving right now?”

Rukia’s cheeks colored. “Oh. I gotta… I’m ‘sposed to meet up with my new roommate and I gotta unpack and stuff.”

“No problem,” Renji drawled. “We got all summer, right?”

“Yeah,” Rukia agreed with a grin. “We got all summer.”

🏒   💘   ⛸️  

In case you’re wondering how the rest of this was supposed to go, Ichigo tricks Rukia into joining his awful hockey team, which is made up of a bunch of teens (Keigo, Mizuiro, Tatsuki and Chad), Renji, Ganju and some drunks (Yoruichi and Kuukaku). Rukia makes her assistant figure skating instructors, Orihime and Uryuu join, too, and I think at some point they recruit Toushirou. Rukia and Renji have a fling and keep insisting it is “just for the summer.” There is a romantic skate-sharpening sequence. They make out in the back of Zaraki’s rusty old pick-up truck which Renji had to borrow because the Camaro broke down. At some point, Byakuya shows up and he and Zaraki get in a fight, which they decide to take down and resolve in a hockey shootout with poor Renji in goal, except that Byakuya doesn’t know how to shoot and Zaraki’s back is just really bad and eventually they get tired. Just be glad I moved on to other things.

[evelynmfoye]

Techniques To Help You Find Volkswagen In Lynchburg VA Shopping Success

Volkswagen In Lynchburg VA shopping can be very stressful for the buyer. Given the multitude of choices and financing terms available, it is no wonder many folks get discouraged. This article is packed with practical tips and advice that should help to smooth the car-buying process.

Research the car you have chosen online before making the trip to the dealership. You should only go to a dealership when you are sure about the make and model of the car that you want. Research online to see what brands you want, which are safer and other items dealers will not tell you.

Secure your financing online prior to setting foot in a dealership. Not having this information can cost you a lot of time and energy. The car shopping process will be much easier and faster by having a loan ready.

Prior to setting food on a car lot, figure out your financing. Talk to either a bank or a credit union about it. This yields better rates, and a more educated purchase.

Prior to purchasing a used car, arrange to have an impartial mechanic check it out. If a dealer refuses, shop somewhere else. You want someone who has an impartial opinion and is doing things in your best interest.

Take time to look over the dealer prior to making buying offers. You are sure to have more success in your negotiations if you already know how they typically do business. You need to know how people who own the car feel about it.

When you go shopping for a new Volkswagen, have someone else go with you. Your friend can listen for things you might have missed and they can give you advice if they think you shouldn’t buy the Volkswagen you are looking at. This person could be a spouse, parent, or even a friend.

Ask any seller if you can have a used car examined by a mechanic. If your dealer does not want to do this, turn around and go somewhere else. A good, impartial mechanic can discover problems with the car such as possible water damage or previous collision damage.

Whenever you’re in the market for a Volkswagen in Lynchburg VA, understand that you are going to spend quite a bit of time at the dealership. You don’t want to feel like you’re rushed and commit to a deal you’re not comfortable with. Allowing for an entire afternoon is best. If you have no time left, you can restart the negotiation another day.

Establish a car buying budget before you go to the dealership. Keep to this budget regardless of how much you a cajoled or what financing options you are offered. The dealer is not the one who will be paying for the car for 6 years, you are.

When you look for a car, check out the ones that offer you a lot of good features in the safety category. It is essential to have anti-lock brakes. Also, ensure that the vehicle has ample airbags. Safety is key, as you will spend a great deal of time riding in this Volkswagen.

If you are insecure about your ability to avoid sales pitches by high-pressure salesmen, do not go car shopping alone. A friend can provide relief and reduce the amount of stress that you face. Tell them exactly what you’re looking to buy and how much you have to spend before you go.

If you are the type of person who can’t resist the pressure of buying a Volkswagen, then don’t go shopping by yourself. Ask a friend or family member to come with you and help you make the right decision. Tell your companion your priorities and budget goals in advance of your trip.

If you already drive a nice vehicle, avoid taking that car to the dealership with you. This will end up costing you a lot of money in the long run.

If you own a fairly expensive Volkswagen, avoid driving that Volkswagen to the dealership when you are Volkswagen in Lynchburg VA shopping. The salesman may take one look at your fancy ride and refuse any low-ball offer you make. If you are looking to trade the vehicle in, this does not apply.

Do not limit your choices to just a dealership. You may find out that the car you like is available on a small lot, or through a private seller. You can find a great car at a fantastic price by checking out the classified ads and the online seller sites.

Lynchburg Va

Shopping towards the end of the month is wise. At the end of the month, dealership salesmen are usually trying to fill unmet quotas. With only a few days left in the month, your salesperson might be one sale short of meeting his or her monthly quota. When this happens, you are more likely to get a good deal.

Be sure to always test drive a Volkswagen before buying it. Don’t be so pressed for time that you skip this part. There is nothing that can replace the feeling of driving the Volkswagen in Lynchburg VA. The Volkswagen in Lynchburg VA may not be what it’s cracked up to be, and this is the only way you can find out.

Don’t give any dealer a social security number. Dealers request this information so they can run a credit report on you. If you decide not to purchase there, having your credit run by multiple dealerships can hurt your chances of getting the best deal. Do not provide the dealer with your identification information until after you have agreed on terms.

Rent different cars you like. You can drive it to the country, another city or somewhere else where you’ll get a nice, long drive out of it. Take your family on a road trip. You will get to know whether or not that make and model works well for you and yours. This is an excellent method of getting comfortable with the car prior to making the decision to buy it.

Bring a friend along during the car-buying process — preferably someone who has nothing to gain or lose from your purchase. This person can assist you in making any emotional decisions. Also, they can point out the deficiencies of the car.

Do not be so free in giving out your SSN. Dealerships often want this information early on. If you don’t want to buy there, having multiple dealers do a credit check can harm your chance to get the best deal. Wait until you know you have a deal ironed out before you offer your Social Security number.

Always read before signing. You could be getting in some serious trouble if you’re out there blindly signing money away. Whenever you sign a contract, then legally, you are bound to it. Take a copy of the contract home or have a professional look over it with you if you’re having difficulties. If you can’t, ask for a copy you can look over.

When you are out buying a Volkswagen, take someone with you who does not care whether you buy a Volkswagen or not. They can assist you with preventing mistakes like emotional decisions. Take them along with you during the test drive, and ask them to tell you any negatives they see.

If you feel that you are being intimidated or bullied, make your exit. They may ask you to stay, but don’t. Tell an untruth if necessary. Get away from there as fast as possible. You have so many more desirable alternatives available to you. There is no reason why you should be uncomfortable during the process.

Your trade-in should be kept a secret from the dealer. You shouldn’t let the dealership know you have a Volkswagen to trade unless you’ve established a set price for the Volkswagen in Lynchburg VA you are purchasing. The dealership might adjust the cost of the new Volkswagen based on the fact that you have a Volkswagen to trade in if they know about it beforehand.

Try to avoid overdressing when visiting a dealership. It won’t be easy to tell a salesperson that you need a great rate if you are dressed up in fancy clothes.

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Speak to loved ones about where they’ve bought their cars. Did they have a good experience? Have a conversation about details including post-sales service. You should try a place that has several good recommendations.

Avoid purchasing any used vehicle that is as-is. You’ll regret it afterwards if you do. You should have at least a 60 day warranty in place upon purchase. You will have to pay for any repairs if the Volkswagen breaks down the day after buying it.

You need to know how to finance your car. This lets you know what is in your budget. You’ll also be harder to sway when presented with tempting offers of lower monthly payments or small down payments on a car outside of your price range.

Having read the above tips, you should now be armed with some information that will make car shopping easier. Keep these things in mind as you work your way through each step of the purchasing process. You will be able to find the Volkswagen in Lynchburg VA that makes you happy as well as the financing options to meet your needs.

If you are dealing with a used vehicle, make sure you have a qualified professional look over it before you buy it. This is the best way to find out about mechanical issues or damages caused by wrecks. If there are large issues, then you might want to search for another car. However, if these issues aren’t a big deal, then you may attempt negotiating a lower price.

Learning more concerning new Volkswagen in Lynchburg VA can benefit you immensely. You have found a lot of great things about new Volkswagen in Lynchburg VA right here. If you continue to learn more about new Volkswagen in Lynchburg VA, you’ll find it all coming together in short order.

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Great Ideas For Home Improvement! The desire to live in a home that's both comfortable and beautiful is one that's common to every homeowner. The best way to achieve this is to educate yourself on home imporovement. This piece is a great place to begin the process. New furniture may be costly to purchase. Perhaps you can acquire some quirky pieces from estate sales and thrift shops. If you shop carefully, you will be surprised at what you can find. Some items may need a little fixing up, but with a little elbow grease and time, you could end up with a treasured item in your home. Stained wood is almost always more appealing than painted wood on baseboards. The warmth of stained wood will add value to your home. Stained baseboards will also hide scuffs and dings better than painted wood, and touch-ups to scratches will blend in more easily. There are several colors to choose from so you can match any decor. Use clear plastic boxes to organize items in your garage by type and frequency of use. Label these boxes and ensure they're stackable. This is an affordable and easy way to protect belongings. If you are looking for issues, rotting wood, peeling paint, and water damage are all tip offs that a house has not been properly maintained. However, electrical issues, roof damage, foundation damage and other issues require an inspector to notice. When you invest in proper inspection in advance, you save money on potential repairs in the long run. You can greatly enhance your home's value by adding another bathroom. Consider the usefulness and convenience that a second bath adds to the living situation in the home. Inevitably, two people will need to use the restroom at the same time, after all. Make sure you're working with a legitimate company when doing home improvement. Any company lacking a physical address is not worth your time. Stick with firms with great reputations. You can make window screens yourself if you have hard to fit windows. Frame kits could be cut in any size. Then, it can be attached to the screen through cording by using an inexpensive tool. Certain widows require particular kinds of screens, but, if you desire, you can add on an additional external screen with the use of easy to install adapters. Homes that have a nice view tend to sell for a lot more than similar houses without a view. But remember that any improvements you make to the curb appeal may only increase your viewing pleasure, rather than acting as an investment. Potential buyers may not care for the changes you make and may not want to pay more money for your home. A design philosophy that many people are using is the age-in-place design strategy. Age-in-place is a design philosophy which takes into consideration that homeowners will age during the time they own their home. Age-in-place additions will increase your comfort both now and in the future, whether you are planning to sell your home or not. Chandeliers are a great addition to the entryway in your home. For a small amount of money, you are able to purchase a gorgeous chandelier and make it a focal point in any room. For more brightness, get a lighting fixture with wattage between 200-400. Motion-detecting lights are a valuable option when improving your home. This allows you to actually turn your lights off instead of having them on all night. As soon as something moves in front of the motion lights, they turn on. When it moves away, they turn off. Intruders will be wary of approaching your home, because they know you will be aware of their presence when the lights come on. Tired of looking at that old dresser in the bedroom? You can revitalize your old furniture with sandpaper and some new finish. Not only will it instantly bring an old item back to life, you will have saved all the money you would spend purchasing a replacement. There are many colors of stains from which you can choose. Increase your living area. Consider a playroom, den or living room. This will increase the comfort of your home as well as the value of your home. When you can afford the project, dive in. When completing projects in your kitchen or bathroom don't forget to shut the water off. Working on or near pipes without shutting the water off first is a recipe for disaster. Look for how-to videos for the project you want to do, getting as specific as possible, and including important details like model numbers. You may be amazed by the number of people who have been in your shoes and have decided to share their experiences online. When you watch the video yourself, you can take the help of those who had the problem before you. Take the information from this article to help you begin improving your home. Set aside a little time, gather your supplies and follow the easy instructions here. You're sure to enjoy the task and the resulting feeling of accomplishment.

Successful Tips For Your Next Home Improvement

It makes no difference if you are a newcomer to the world of home improvement or have completed lots of individual projects, because it is sometimes tough to find something interesting to tackle. You'll find in this article some ideas to inspire you and get you ready for the next big challenge.

When doing exterior home improvements, consider your neighborhood. You may be dreaming of a Victorian gingerbread house, but it's going to look ridiculous on a street full of split-level ranches. A home that blends into the neighborhood is going to have a better resale value.

When deciding on which home improvements you are going to do, consider only those that make sense. Having nonsensical improvements such as a sun room without insulation in Michigan, or an uncovered deck in Arizona would make your potential buyer wonder what other odd choices you might have made with the house upkeep. Try to choose projects that go with the surrounding area, and take climate into consideration.

Spackle and then paint holes to get rid of them. Spackle is readily available at your local home improvement or hardware store. Small amounts should suffice, should the holes not be too large. You can even use a pin to apply spackle to a tiny hole. Use a rigid flat surface like the edge of a credit card to wipe off the excess spackle after it dries. Paint over the area. You will be rid of the ugly holes that are in your wall.

Even novices can repair leaky faucets. If you can easily find the leaks, you can save quite a bit of water - and money - each day. The savings you get from this will add up since your water bill will go down.

You don't have to replace your entire lock, you can swap out the cylinder instead. The cylinder is the part of the lock that performs the locking action. If you wish to replace a lock for security, you can simply replace the cylinder. If you just need to upgrade your lock to make the door look fancier or you want more security you should probably replace the whole thing.

Visit open houses or model homes to get some ideas about your home improvement projects. You will get a chance to see how the latest trends in colors and styles look inside a home instead of just in a home center. Lots of model homes are decorated by professionals and include window treatments and custom furniture that can serve as useful examples for your house.

Don't let the contractor try and charge you more to get the work done quickly. There are good reasons your builder wants to finish the work fast. They probably want to rush the jobs to spend time on other jobs. When you're overpaying for the work done, you'll not be pleased with the situation.

Choose a great color scheme for the room you're painting. It's a great idea to use complementary colors within the more formal rooms of your home. Colors that are opposite each other on color wheels are known as complementary colors: yellow and blue, purple and orange, or red and green. This color scheme offers a clear separation of colors and therefore is visually challenging, but highly effective.

Comparable estimates are key when trying to choose a contractor. You need to present each potential contractor with the same detailed list of jobs that make up your overall project. If your project keeps changing, none of the estimates you get will be comparable, so you will not know who is offering the best price.

Don't clutter up your rooms with excessive furnishings. This will make the room seem smaller than it really is. Even if lots of pieces fit your lifestyle, potential buyers like to see a lot of open living space. Fewer pieces of furniture will make the room seem bigger.

You will be astounded by the impact crown molding has on your walls. If you have plain walls, the molding will add a bit of style to them. Crown molding is not very expensive and installation is easy.

If you consider your home to be functional, consider an additional living space. A new living room or den is a great idea. Not only will you be happier with your home, but it will be worth more. When you have money for home improvement, this is a project you should pursue.

Make sure you perform regular maintenance on your septic tank. There are products available to help accelerate decomposition to avoid overfilling your septic tank. When you make plans for home improvements, be sure to avoid messing with the septic tank by accident. You should keep a plan of your home so that you do not damage it.

Even the most experienced home improvement veterans can feel burdened by home improvement projects. This article will provide you will some effective tips to take the stress out of your projects while achieving your home improvement goals.

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