#this is some office btw not even a workshop

[best-guy-on-earth]

bro what the fuck ew

[meringuehearts]

my extremely disorganized welcome home theory!!!

this may sound crazy but please hear me out

there are three main points to this, all of which ill elaborate on under the cut!

one of the companies, either marlo or playfellow workshop, clearly tried to make a lot of changes to the show. this includes heavy merchandising, forcing julie/frank to be read as a couple, and cutting eddie from the show.

i think that once a character no longer appears on the air, they are forced into a sort of subliminal bond with their own home, isolating them and making them essentially unable to leave. we see this with eddie's situation.

if all of this is true, i may have a very good idea for the direction in which the story of welcome home will lead.

quick disclaimer beforehand : obviously, our knowledge on this is constantly growing and expanding! this is not my "entire opinion" on the story nor do i think this is the cold hard truth. these are simply my ideas!

in general, i think the idea of the offness coming from anything internal of the show , like the characters or home, is a far stretch .. more likely, it's coming from the people making the show itself.

my theory is that either playfellow workshop or marlo was taking control of the show , probably towards the end of its run, and making massive changes in the interest of maximizing profit. first of all the commercials clips feel off in and of themselves to me, because we can see that they literally partnered with anything in order to sell it. this is most clearly Weird in the sleeping pills wally clip, but also all over - of course this could just be that it was a popular show and wanted to make bank, but personally i think it was one of the companies pushing for more brand deals and more merchandise and more money.

this, of course, leads directly into the eddie/frank situation. as many different people have stated, this was the 1970s, and if there was any ability in the show for them to be read as a couple this could get a ton of backlash. i'm willing to bet that the company tried first of all to push julie/frank to be more easily read as a couple, then later deciding on either diminishing eddie's role a TON or deleting him completely.

and like, think about it. unfortunately, most of the characters don't really harbor any huge friendship towards him, at least not in the clips we've seen. while having positive relations with poppy, julie, frank and wally, he doesn't have as much as an outright "gimmick" or thing to sell as the others.

julie's excitable, sally's theatrical, frank's stubborn, howdy's charismatic, barnaby's funny, poppy's sweet, wally's reserved but polite, and eddie. "talks a lot". if you're an executive and you're going to cut one character from a show, especially in the interest of Not looking like theres Anything gay in your show, which would you choose?

NOW for the second part:

my believe about home, and furthermore all the homes in the series - but more directly Home - is that i think they act as sort of devices that the company can use to manipulate the characters. my theory about the eddie situation in the recent update is that it takes place in the midst of when the company was attempting to cut him from the show.

and when we see eddie in the midst of his breakdown, he's VERY tied to the post office (his home basically). he's isolated and literally states at a point during it that he assumes everyone's outside and playing in the snow, but never makes any attempt to go out and check - as if it doesn't even cross his mind. he expresses some kind of paranoid need to stay at the post office and not leave, even for a moment, which he also talks about in the videos.

when he finally DOES leave for the party, (which, btw, he only does because sally literally grabbed him and brought him there) , he starts seeing all the awful shit he sees (as we know) . INCLUDING HOME. and towards the end of it, all he says to frank is that he wants to go [ to his ] home.

what does all this mean??? im so glad u asked. basically i think that creators' actions upon the show affect the world of welcome home in subliminal ways that the characters aren't directly aware of happening (until, of course, they are.) in this case, if a character is cut from the show or their screen time is limited, they experience being subliminally forced to stay in their own home. if they try to leave, they start witnessing visceral, terrifying things that they can't explain, persuading them to return back home. back where it's "safe".

wally's home in particular, i think, enforces this the most. home is sentient so the company can probably carry out their desires more directly with him than any of the other houses (which are just structures, pretty much). i DON'T think home harbors any ill will themselves, but moreso is just carrying out what "needs to be done."

more evidence for this:

this theory is also entwined with how wally interacts with us, the people on the site, because he mentions in places like the guestbook, etc that he hasn't seen other members of the neighborhood in so long. but that doesn't mean they're not there.

so if a singular being cut from the show means that they are forced to stay in their own home and not go outside, then the show being taken off the air would, in theory, mean that everyone would be forced to stay in their own homes. for decades. wally reaching out to us could very likely be a cry for help and/or last try after years of isolation. (it would also explain why he's so much more off putting/tired/different than his in-show appearances.)

one last thing!!!! i think if that's what's going, on it could explain this sentence from the summary, unchanged since the beginning. i've never really understood this line or what it could mean, but -

this is a HUGE far cry. but i think it's possible that, if i'm right, at some point down the line the characters (still in the neighborhood) will actually try to leave their homes, or they have already, which would cause the "distortion/nightmarish memory". i mean we definitely could describe eddie's hallucination(?) as that so .

yeah i hope you enjoyed 20 minutes of me rambling ... please ask questions if some (or all) of this didn't make sense cuz im not rly sure if this is coherent lol. this also isnt all the thoughts i have about this theory but this post is too long as is lol. thanks so much for reading this far if you have!!!

[agaypanic]

Okay listen a fix based on this tik tok

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8fK6cmv/

It was made like last year and I still have it stuck in my head. Love your work btw🫶

If You Really Love Her (Bernard the Elf X Human!Reader)

Masterlist

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Summary: Your friendship with Bernard has turned into silent infatuation, unknowingly from both sides. Jack Frost, loving to cause trouble, talks Bernard out of giving you a gift when he realizes that the elf has fallen in love with you. After all, how could an elf ever be with a human?

A/N: the fact that this fic is written from a request about a tiktok where the plot is based on a scene in shrek 2 is insane lmao changed the snow globe from the tiktok to a locket btw. also i left it on a bit of a cliffhanger so if yall want a part 2 lmk

***

Bernard was known to become very high-strung during Christmas. How could he not? Being in charge of hundreds of elves and a workshop and having to help make sure one of the biggest holidays of the year was a worldwide success was sure to take its toll on a guy. But for a few years, Bernard’s saving grace in the intensity of Christmas has become you.

You were quick to become friends, despite his somewhat grumpy disposition. You didn’t mind that he was a thousand-and-some-year-old workaholic, and he didn’t mind that you were a peppy human. 

After a while, he wasn’t exactly sure when the turning point was; Bernard’s platonic feelings for you had evolved. At first, he thought that it was just because he didn’t see you much, so he basked in all the moments you had together. But then he started wanting even more time with you, doing things that friends didn’t usually do.

After a few years of being silent about his growing feelings, Bernard felt the need to do something about it. He was getting sick of pretending that he was content with friendship. He decided the perfect opportunity to tell you was when you came to the North Pole with Santa and Charlie after the Christmas Eve rounds.

Which, if Santa was on schedule, was in a few hours. The whole night, nerves and anxiety-riddled Bernard, more than usual anyway. He paced around his office, your Christmas present jingling in his pocket.

Eventually, he decided to get some fresh air. Being cooped up in the small room and constantly overthinking couldn’t be good for him. Besides, he didn’t want to be a nervous wreck when you came.

Walking out of the workshop, Bernard took a deep breath, watching a cloud leave his mouth as he exhaled from how cold it was. Surprisingly, it was colder than usual.

“Hey, Bernie.” It immediately became less surprising when Bernard heard that annoying voice.

“Jack.” The elf greeted shortly, not bothering to turn around to look at the insufferable being. It was bad enough that he was overthinking his confession and your possible reactions. But now Bernard also had to deal with this winter spirit who seemed to have a knack for tricks. “Don’t you have another volcano to go freeze over?”

“Oh, Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.” Jack ignored the elf correcting him on his name and placed a chilly hand on his shoulder, making him jolt. “Why so blue? It’s Christmas!”

“I’m aware.”

“Whatcha got jingling in your pocket, bud?” Before Bernard could answer or tell Jack to mind his business, Jack stuck his hand into Bernard’s pocket and pulled out a silver heart-shaped locket. “Ooh, who’s this for?”

“None of your business, Frost!” Bernard tried swiping the necklace back, but Jack raised it out of reach.

“I think I’ll take a little look if you don’t mind.” The man said, knowing that Bernard minded extremely. He read the small inscription on the heart. “‘I’m just a call away.’ Aw, how cute, Bernie. Didn’t know you were such a romantic. Now, what’s inside, I wonder. Let’s see… oh my god.” Bernard cringed at the reaction, watching Jack’s mouth gape wide open as he opened the locket and saw the picture that was inside. The winter spirit laughed, tilting his head towards the elf. “A human? Really, Bernie, I’m surprised at you.”

“Give it back.” Bernard hissed but was ignored.

“I’ve seen this girl before!” Jack realized. “She’s Santa’s kid’s little friend! What, were you gonna give this to her when she came to the North Pole? I bet you were.” Jack shut the locket, reading the inscription once more. “You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were in love with this girl.”

Bernard didn’t answer. He hadn’t really thought about that before. Yes, he knew that his feelings for you were no longer platonic. He liked you very much. But love?

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

“Good thing I know better.” Jack tossed the locket back to Bernard, who barely caught it, having been too wrapped up in his thoughts. But Bernard also caught Jack’s tone, like he knew something that Bernard didn’t.

“So what if I do, Frost? It’s none of your business either way.” Bernard quickly pocketed the necklace so Jack wouldn’t take it again. 

Jack raised an icy eyebrow, leaning forward to become face-to-face with Bernard.

“So what if you do?” Jack mocked, soon laughing. “She’s a human, short stuff. And you are an elf. No amount of magic could ever fix that.” Jack straightened up, taking pride in the way Bernard’s expression fell. “Unless, of course, you retire, which we both know would never happen. And she could never stay here; she has a life to live in the real world.”

“But I love her…” Bernard said it half as a realization and half as a counter to Jack’s argument. He gripped the heart-shaped locket tightly as if it could shut Jack Frost’s mouth for good.

“If you really loved her, Bernie, you’d let her go.” Jack grinned at Bernard’s gloominess. But the elf didn’t see that, because he kept his head down and eyes locked on his shoes. “It’s only fair, really. She’d eventually become miserable, being stuck at the North Pole with you. Growing older and older while you don’t age a day. Wondering what kind of life she could’ve had.”

Bernard took in Jack’s words, each one making him panic more and more. Jack Frost was right, as much as he hated to admit it. You would be miserable here. And he didn’t want to leave, at least not now. But time was on his side and not yours.

“But hey! What do I know?” Jack slapped Bernard on the shoulder and skipped off, probably reveling in the fact that he had caused such trouble and was now wandering off to see if he could cause some more.

But Bernard felt frozen to the front steps of the workshop. He couldn’t face you, not right now, not when he was like this. 

Realizing your arrival time was in just a few short hours, Bernard raced inside and to the lodging area of the workshop. He skidded to a stop in front of your room. You had become such a regular guest during the holidays that Bernard had taken it upon himself to put your name on the bedroom door.

He walked in, seeing that the room was exactly as you had last left it. He took the locket from his pocket and gently placed it on one of your pillows. Bernard was about to leave it at that, but he quickly decided it wasn’t enough. You deserved more than a little trinket left on your bed.

Bernard decided to write a little note for you to accompany the locket, using the stationary on the desk that sat in the corner of the room. But the little note became a long note, containing confessions and anxious thoughts and apologies. 

Bernard placed the note on the pillow with the necklace when it was finally finished. He stared at it for a few seconds before rearranging the two objects differently, hating the sight more and more. In a moment of frustration, Bernard shoved the locket and the note underneath the pillow, not wanting to see it anymore. Then he stormed out before he could freak out any further. 

It was better this way, Bernard tried to convince himself. If you found his gift and read the note, you understand. If you didn’t, he supposed that would just be less heartbreak for the both of you. In the end, you’d be happy. Even if he was miserable, Bernard just wanted you to be happy, even if it wasn’t with him.

Because, after all, how could an elf ever be with a human?

***

Bernard the Elf Taglist: @katerinaval

[the-moon-lullaby]

Hi! How about some domestic and nsfw hc for Rayan? The sandy-skinned god deserves some love too 😆

Domestic Life with Rayan

N/A : This took a little while to write, sorry you had to wait dear !

Warning : NSFW under the cut

Goes to the Cosy Bear Café every morning before heading to Anteros Academy to have a little chat with Candy and enjoy a cup of coffee with her (also if she needs to and that he has the time to do so, he helps her to put the tables outside)

Sometimes, when he’s done with his classes of the day, he comes to the Café and sit in corner, sipping on a drink, while he’s preparing his next classes, grading some of his students’s essays or simply reading a book

He always order something different to drink because he wants to try everything Candy put on the menu

Grocery shopping with Rayan is so funny because he has his little list and it always begins with him following it diligently but he’ll always end up wandering around the aisles (and Candy looses him in the supermarket)

He and Candy often end up buying everything but what’s on the list lmao

Loves perfumed candles, there’s dozen in their apartment (I JUST KNOW THIS, and if Candy looses him during grocery shopping, he's probably picking up some)

He likes cleaning days  and he’s very particular about the cleaning products he uses (once again he spends so much time in the supermarket choosing them)

He often puts on jazz or (modern) classical music in the background while he’s working or reading 

He knows all the tea about the neighbours and he shares it with Candy (he’s very good at small talk and at connecting with people, therefore my man end up being told everything that’s going on in the building lol)

Likes doing online shopping with Candy (whether it’s for him or her)

Watching documentaries (documentaries on Ancient Greece or just historical documentaries in general and that’s just a personal intake ‘cause I love these lol)  together while cuddling on the couch with Rayan combing her fingers through Candy’s hair

Actually, loves playing with Candy’s hair when they’re cuddling

Random compliments all the time (like complimenting her outfit or just tell her that she’s the most beautiful woman he met)

naps together became a habit, especially during more stressful times of the year

also sleeps in on Sundays and would probably make a brunch with Candy afterward

Rayan wearing his glasses when he reads or when he’s on his computer and Candy going feral because of this (sorry but the illustration of him for that Valentine’s Day event, LORD HAVE MERCY)

He’s often the one that organises the dates : he love trying new restaurant and I think he likes gastronomic cuisine since he finds it as tasty as it is pretty 

He also likes the kind of dates that allow him and Candy to show their creative side (like the date in one of the Valentine’s Day event where they went to a workshop to make perfume, that was so sweet btw) 

He likes to go out with Candy whenever they can but he also enjoys when they stay home together for some quality time

𝙽𝚂𝙵𝚆 :

When it comes to oral, he’s a giver. He’s not really the one to tease but he likes taking his sweet time doing so

He likes to receive it too though and if Candy wants to get on her knees, he has no objections 

however he loves it the most when it happens in the morning (the morning wood oops) or at his office at Anteros during an unexpected visit 

About that, he may or may have not fucked Candy on his desk and it may have happened more than once (I had to do this one, I MEAN GUYS)

Candy trying on his glasses for fun and him realising he has a thing for this because she look so hot with them

Would moan but lowkey you know ? Like he isn’t that loud but he doesn’t restrain himself either (And I just know this man has a deep voice so it’d be music to Candy’s ears) 

However, he likes it if Candy gets loud and it makes him go even harder 

Praises. A lot of them. Also call her with pet names during sex (might let out a « good girl » and ahhhh)

he owns a copy of the Kama Sutra (I am not saying that he’s into that or anything - even though he really might -  but he definitely read it because well, as art enthusiast, of course he wanted to know a little more about the art of making love)

As much as he loves admiring Candy’s face, he loves backshots (because it allows him to hit it deep)

Breading kink ? (Maybeeee)

Despite all, I don't think he's really into being called Daddy (even tho he has that "Daddy aura", whatever that means, idk myself) because it'd make him think of that Freudian theory lol

I'm sorry I am taking so long to post (I didn't expect to receive this much requests but I'm also glad to see that the fandom is still alive lol) but I'm trying my best to answer them all !

[isagrimorie]

[initial reactions] Star Trek: SNW 2x09 - Subspace Rhapsody

This was a fun musical episode! I still say Trek shows should be more than 10 episodes because there are some character beats here that feel it needs more than a few episodes to just be and breathe.

(Once again laughing that Paul Wesley managed to escape a musical in TVD only to leap headfirst into a show that would do a musical and he can't walk away. This is laughing in fun btw 'cause I do like Paul Wasilewski and his real-life snarky dry sense of humor, but also, HAHAHA. They got you, Wasilewski!)

I liked it! It wasn't Buffy the Musical, but that's okay, it was fun and it moved character arcs along!

I haven't mentioned before but I really love the medical uniform Chapel's wearing, which I think originated from Discovery s1 and 2.

I love how it took a while for Uhura to sing but when she did, she hit a breakthrough. I love that this was her episode but it wasn't just about Uhura.

The musical numbers I really enjoyed: Uhura's solo, La'an's solo, and Chapel's whole musical number. The three strongest singers of the show.

I'm glad that La'an was able to tell her secret because it was weighing on her so much and I'm glad that

Speaking of episodes where character beats needed more than 10 episodes. It's such a whiplash to go from Spock and T'Pol breaking up to Christine and Spock being together for what 2 episodes? I am glad we got Christine's song how this was something that can change her life forever. (If I'm not mistaken that guy running the program will be her ill-fated fiance). But we've gone from Christine pinint for Spock, to being ambivalent with him, to Boimler throwing cold water into the fledgling relationship with Spock. I wish we got to see Spock and Christine have just an episode or more to be in a relationship and happy.

There's not enough Pelia! (Speaking of, where are the other engineers? I know the answer is most likely covid restrictions but I wish there were some engineers working in Engineering in the background).

You know what? I've tried but I just had a thrill of happiness at all the moments Spock and Uhura were together. I know it's not as popular a ship as Spock/Kirk and Spock/Chapel but the TOS version I'm most familiar with (aside from the original TOS movies) is AOS. And since then Spock/Uhura is my ship. So, I'm just gonna embrace it. I ship them!

The Klingon boy band!

Uhura really is my favorite! I love how she started as someone uncertain of Starfleet to finding connection and family in the Enterprise even though she still felt alone at times. I love that Communications Officer is a vital part of ship's functions. Also, with the way Uhura is, it makes so much sense she makes Captain in the future. She has an air of someone who would be so good in Command.

Speaking of, I wish Discovery had these kind of fun episodes instead of one long story and I think this episode really highlighted the problem with the crew of Disco. Aside from 4 characters we really don't know the Disco crew as well as the SNW crew, I don't know what the Disco bridge crew's 'I want song'.

"I wan't" songs are, according to Playbill:

"The term is thought to have been coined by Lehman Engel, founder of the BMI Workshop for musical theatre composers, librettists, and lyricists. These songs are more than just inspiring musical numbers—in many cases, they launch the journey of a play, allowing the audience to get an inside look at force driving a character's action. They express a dissatisfaction or a dream of the character that propels them through the musical."

It's really sad that it seems season 5 is the season when the show regains their sense of fun. I hope the crew is written more of an ensemble in the final season. Disco is a good show, it just really needs to fix its ensemble writing.

Back to SNW, that was such a fun episode I'm also glad Una's taking her second chance to build more relationships and be more open with her crew. It makes sense.

BTW with all the Red in security and the Gold in Command... it occurred to me that SNW Enterprise crew probably thought Mariner and Boimler were Ops!

Anyway, that's a good episode! Good penultimate episode!

[scentedinksandwhackedseals]

ugh i’m so sorry you have that math teacher again, that really sucks. good luck with your test tomorrow! my day was ok even though i left my phone at home lol. i was a little panicked at first but i asked the attendance office to call my mom and they let me talk to her so she knew i didn’t have it. but she couldn’t bring it to me so i went the whole school day without my phone. spotify wouldn’t let me sign in on my computer so i thought i was screwed and would have to go without music. but then i remembered youtube! so i just used my computer to listen to youtube videos through my earbuds in the hallways. it was pretty nice actually. i had to flip my computer inside out so it would fit in my bag while being open and that worked great! i mean, it wasn’t exactly convenient but it worked and that’s what matters. also on friday i went to see a play my school put on (because we’re required to for theater workshop, i don’t usually go to plays. but i should, it was really great. the play was no exit btw) and there was this one part where one of the characters, inez, was humming. at first it was a song i didn’t recognize but right before she stopped humming, she hummed a bit of what sounded like hot to go! but it happened so fast and i wasn’t listening for it so i wasn’t quite sure. thankfully the actress is in my theatre workshop class (she isn’t really in it, she just comes by to hang out and help out) so i decided i would ask her when i next saw her which was today. so i went up to her and was like “hey, so when you were humming-“ and she just started laughing and i knew i was right but i asked anyway and she confirmed it. she said she had to hum a specific song (i didn’t recognize the title) but then she decided to have some fun. and she didn’t break character! i was impressed. anyway yeah that was the best part of my day. i hope you had a good day too. i’m gonna go to bed now. goodnight! <3

what's on your mind right now?

hi!!! messaging you (which i’m afraid i’m not gonna be able to do yet again tonight, sorry :(( it’s just late and i’m tired) i’m also thinking about how there’s this one youtube video i wanna post before i go to bed of julien being pranked with one of those inflatable tube guys. i’m also thinking about my nightly drawing, since i’ve been drawing something with jb lyrics every night since i’ve started school. the theme has been flowers. tonight’s song is turn out the lights. i think i’m gonna draw some flowers in a light bulb. (i kinda want to show you these drawings but at the same time i want to wait until i’ve gone through all of her songs before i show the drawings to anyone for fear of breaking the spell. so that’s what i’m gonna do. but you should be seeing them-or at least most of them since i don’t really like some of them-eventually) anyway. what’s on YOUR mind? are you excited for your birthday tomorrow? (or i guess are you enjoying/did you enjoy your birthday depending on when you answer this lol)

[solivagant-muse]

Could you tell me more about your oc that you drew with Bo? She looks cool and I would love to know her story with her own final boy!

I'll try to keep it as short as I can asdfghjkl. Thank you so much for asking!!!

This started as a prompt from @/writing-prompt-s about a serial killer going on a blind date with a writer. And the writer getting ideas and writing their murder mysteries using the killer as inspo!

Iris (her fake name) and Finley (her final boy) were then made because of that! Except there is no romance, only angst, and betrayal! It also takes place in the late 90's/early 2000's.

She was the first slasher I made!

In short, she is a bastard, a completely horrible person in every sense of the word. Don't trust her, her compassion is fake. Her aloofness is fake, she is fake. You don't want to know her, you don't want to befriend her, don't help her. She is crazy strong, quick, and indestructible. Pretty much like any slasher pfft but I wanted a big and mean lady instead. The roles are reversed if you will.

She is on the run, the cops are trying to find her because of the ongoing disappearances and murders of quite a few men. They just don't know it's a woman (or even a man) due to the brutality of the kills, no one has been alive for long to give a long description of her.

But Finley does that exact same thing. He finds her in a bad state, and like one does with a stray, he takes her in. He has read the articles, investigated, and has become a little obsessed with the ongoing case because he is a freak like that. So when he finds its her, that same killer he read so much about, he is ecstatic. She fits everything he wants and she doesn't hide it.

Btw, here is Finley!

Her final boy, (he started as my version of Danny Johnson but I scraped that too.) He works at an office as an IT but his dream is to become a prolific horror/thriller/slasher writer. He writes a lot in his free time. He is also not a good person (sees the murders as just a way to get popular or as entertainment) but you can sympathize with him a bit once you know his background and why he is the way he is.

He starts seeing her as a project in a way and even starts giving her ideas on how to make her kills with more... "style." He thinks he is safe. A stray doesn't bite the hand that feeds it, right? But Iris isn't a stray. She is a wolf, and she isn't going to bite the hand, she is going to rip the entire arm right off.

Anyways, here are some light-hearted memey stuff.

TLDR: Finley (final boy) thinks this is build-a-killer workshop and thinks he can use Iris (slasher) to make his perfect horror book/movie/legend. He is sourly mistaken.

[fabricated-misslieness]

♡〜request: Since you want Valorant requests, here we go! May I ask a making-out scenario with Cypher and Sova separately. Thank you~ Love your writings btw😘😍- @runeterrankhaleesi​〜♡

Cypher and Sova x gender neutral reader

Thank you! In the middle of this I didn't know how to say "stick your tongue in his mouth" in a less weird way.

Requested: Yes

Warnings: making out, swearing

16+

Cypher

"Hey." You're chilling in the common area of HQ, a living room and small kitchen combo, when Cypher strolls on in. You're not quite sure why he's here, 'cause usually he's in his workshop either working or spying on people, and you haven't called for him either.

"Hey." You greet back. You suppose he's grabbing a snack, so you don't move to put away your book.

"(y/n)." He doesn't speak like he usually does, which is to say energetically. Curious, you glance up. Before you can say anything, Cypher makes himself comfy on your lap. Perhaps he wanted to sit and talk with you, though it's rare at this time of day and in this room. Mind you, there’s enough space on the couch for him to sit elsewhere. He takes your book from your hands, sticking the bookmark in the page and putting it on the bedside table.

"Something the matter?" You suspect something's wrong, what's wrong you don't know.

"I'm bored!" He exclaims, finally in his usual tone. You let out a visible sigh of relief which Cypher doesn't take notice of. "Everybody's on a mission except for Omen and he doesn't give me any information! There's only so much to do around here when there's no one to spy on!" As devastating and whiny his words are, you don't feel as if he's all that dejected.

"And I assume you've got an idea?"

He nods eagerly. He pulls back his mask and gives you a cheeky grin. You're stunned for a second - you rarely see Cypher without his mask - because boy, is he beautiful.

"Let's make out."

It takes a few minutes for you to process what he just said, but when you do, you sputter about for something to say. "What? Aamir, I.." Not like you haven't kissed or even done something more before, but in here? "Right here?"

Cypher nods, letting out a mischievous laugh. "Why not?"

"Somebody could see you without your mask." Cypher is a private man, his face is private information. "Omen has a tendency to hide in the shadows."

"Omen is Omen, he won't say a thing." Even if that logic sounds bad, it's true. Unless he's feeling mischievous, which usually he isn't. "Besides, I put silent tripwires everywhere. I know where everyone steps, except when the radiants use their powers for transportation, for some reason. And they usually don't."

"Fine." 

Cypher lets out an eager giggle. "Thank you, love." 

He brings you in for a kiss, hands cupping your cheeks and tugging at your bottom lip already. He kisses you with all his might, running out of breath quickly. He pulls back with a disappointed pout, though it's his mistake, not yours. "Eager?" You raise a brow, watching him take a deep breath.

"What does it look like?" He says with sass. Before you can retort, he leans in again. He kisses you slightly open mouthed, allowing you to use your tongue. He moans and sucks on it. 

Your hands trail down from his waist to his hips slowly, bringing shivers down his spine. "(y/n).." Cypher breathes out, pulling back from your kiss. "God, I love you."

You chuckle, "Love you too." You bring him back into a kiss with your hand. Unfortunately for him, he wanted it to stay on his hips. He gets very preoccupied with your kisses, but he prefers your hands on his hips or somewhere lower. He brings your hand back to his hip. Much to his dismay, you hook your hands together at his tailbone. He has a feeling you know what you're doing.

"Lower." Cypher pulls back from your kiss, moving forward slightly so that he hovers a bit over your lap.

"Hmm?" You hum in feigned confusion, teasingly tapping your fingers against his lower back.

"Lower." He repeats, expecting you to get the hint. He doesn't want to beg or ask just yet, those are reserved for other things.

You raise a brow, "Lower what?"

He groans in frustration, now assured that you're playing with him. "Your hands."

"Whe–"

"My ass, where else?" It's clear in his tone that his patience has run out.

"Mkay, mkay." You chuckle, moving your hands under his coat and where he wants them. You play with his plump ass through the rough fabric of his pants, smiling at his low groans. "Like that?"

"Yeah." He breathes shakily, closing his eyes in content. “Like that.”

Deciding you want to hear more of his beautiful moans, you kiss down his jaw, hoping he gets the hint. He does, removing his coat and giving you a freer reign over his body. He leaves it to drape over his shoulders, though, covering your frame as well. After all, it’s a lot of unnecessary extra fabric that he calls it style. 

You kiss over his neck, nipping here and there to tease him. He loves being marked, even if no one will even see the hickeys, since they’re covered with his coat. You kiss right above his Adam's apple before biting that same spot, prompting a groan from his lips. “Fuck.” He mutters, which makes you snicker. You continue to kiss and bite until you hear a small beep coming from.. somewhere you don’t know.

“The team has arrived at the hanger.” Cypher states with a sigh. He gives you a cheeky smile, but leans away from you. “This was fun.”

“Mhm.” You lean forward to place a kiss on Cypher’s nose before he can mask it. He pulls you in for a proper kiss on the lips, which lasts until you hear another beep. He doesn’t explain what that one means, and you have a feeling he doesn’t intend to, though he seems in a bit of a rush.

He places his mask and hat over his head, just in time for Sage and Yoru to walk into the room. They’re both probably looking for some nourishment after a tough mission, leaving Brimstone to the paperwork aftermath. Sage will most likely not stay long to bring Brimstone some food too, Yoru is here for food and entertainment.

“Hello.” Sage greets. She looks at you once and doesn’t spare you a second glance. You and Cypher were both recruited before she was, and she’s gotten used to your overly touchy relationship.

“Hey.” You greet a small bit awkwardly. If it was only Sage you wouldn’t mind, but Yoru was your newest agent; He’s not quite used to it as she is, in fact, he’s somehow avoided your lovey-dovey PDA moments unintentionally.

“Hello.” Cypher greets enthusiastically.

Yoru looks up from his phone to greet you. As much of an emo edgy teen he is, Brimstone taught him respect, enough to greet people and say thank you without a roll of his eyes. Before he can, however, his eyes widen a small bit at the sight of you. Sage glances at him and shakes her head with a laugh, turning back towards the kitchen.

“You’re…” He trails off, though you know what he meant to say. The both of you nod and Yoru’s mouth pulls into a grimace.

Sage glances over again. “You’re going to have to get used to it. PDA is nonexistent for them.”

 

Sova

“Goodmorning, love.” Sova greets from the counter of the breakfast bar, tea cup in hand. He leans against it rather than sitting at it, which is a bit strange until you spot the dish drying rack. Looks like he was just on his way out.

“Goodmorning.” You greet with a smile. While you crave going back to sleep in the morning, Sova is enough to give you a small boost of energy. 

Just then, you catch a whiff of coffee, making you raise an eyebrow. You and Sova are the only ones awake this early in the morning, so the only explanation is Sova made coffee for you… either that or Killjoy made coffee. Then again, she has her own energy drinks in her room so you don’t know why she wouldn’t get those. “Is that coffee I smell?”

“Yea.” Sova smiles, handing you your cup of coffee from behind him.

You trap him against the counter as you sip the coffee. “Thanks, love.” 

Sova’s face flushes at the use of a pet name - despite the fact he’d called you the same thing just a few minutes earlier - and your newfound position. Even so, he doesn’t move to push you away. “No problem.”

You put your cup aside along with his, which makes him tilt his head in curiosity. It washes away when you give him a morning kiss, a thank you kiss, and a few more meaningless kisses. Sova reciprocates every single one of them, albeit a little sheepishly. “Something the matter?” You ask between kisses.

“No.” He nearly stutters.

“Then?” You ask, pulling him up to sit on the counter, hoping there’s nothing else behind him; luckily, there isn’t. He flushes a bright red, though instinctively spreading his legs for you to stand between them.

“Well, this.” He gestures vaguely towards the two of you.

Your hands find their place on his hips, “And what’s this?” You know full well what he means, but it’s always fun to tease Sova. He’s easily flustered and way too cute for his own good.

“Making out.”

“Who said this was making out?” You stop kissing him, which means Sova can finally catch a breath. “Haven’t even used tongue yet.”

“I know but–” You cut him off with a kiss.

“You and I are the only ones here right now. Brim and Sage are in their offices, everybody else is sleeping.” Your reasoning is sound, but Sova can’t help but doubt it. He’s not one for PDA. Although he makes his exceptions at times, making out is definitely not something you should be doing in ‘public’.

Instead of giving you a ‘fine’ or ‘okay’, he sighs and pulls you in for a kiss. You smile into the kiss, which he takes note of.

He doesn’t understand how you take pride in kissing his face off.

Your lips dance slow and sensual. Sova tugs at your bottom lip hungrily and his legs wrap around your waist to pull you closer, as if he hadn’t been questioning you earlier. You kiss him as if he were delicate, though he's far from it. His hands cup your cheeks, they emanate a warmth that contrasts against the cold of HQ’s incessant AC.

He moans when your tongue prods his lips open, sucking on it when it enters his. Your hands find his long hair, and god, do you love it. He treats it well; consequently, it’s soft and wonderful to thread through. Not to mention it smells like flowers, which you can smell still smell a few feet away. You play with it, tugging it and wrapping a lock around your finger every so often. The tugging evokes short, low groans from his throat along with the occasional curse. 

“Shit.” He whispers softly against your lips, causing you to pull back a bit to chuckle.

You tug his hair again, “Do you like that?”

Sova bites his lip, “Yeah.” 

Almost immediately, he pulls you in for another kiss. It’s a quick, eager kiss before he pulls back again. The feeling of its eagerness had put you off, you’d expected more of them. That’s why you were a little shocked when he pulled back to nibble on your ear. “Mark me.”

“Mmh” You hum in pleasure. The sheer seductive and possessive nature his tone held was enough to make you shiver.

He moves his hair and cowl off his shoulders to give you more access to his neck. Your hands trail to his thighs to keep your steady; whilst you’d lost the feeling of his hair, you took more joy in making your love known with marks.

Your kisses are enough to make him groan, so imagine what biting might do. You nip the spots before biting, licking each mark. When you feel as though you’ve marked him plenty, you move back a little to admire your work. You basically purr at the sight, which makes Sova laugh. 

Before either of you can say anything, Omen seems to have emerged from the shadows. “People are coming.”

The both of you jump at Omen’s sudden arrival. Sova quickly adjusts his cowl to cover the hickeys while you turn to your resident spooky ghost boy. “How long have you been here?”

He seems to shrug, “Didn’t see much but I’d figured you might like a warning.”

“Uh-huh.”

[partlysmith]

BTW, I was just thinking about that one art you did of "The Humbug" and I was wondering, since it's the proper season, what was your idea for an NmBC sequel? Because I am legit curious!

(referring to this)

I haven't figured everything out yet, but the basic idea is that it begins in late October, Halloween is right around the corner, and Jack is facing his most difficult challenge as Pumpkin King: for the first time in his unlife, he is completely out of ideas.

While desperately racking his skull in his office one night, there is a violent knock at his door, as Krampus bursts into his home and accuses him of kidnapping Santa Claus. Again. Jack agrees to help Krampus investigate Santa's disappearance to help clear his name.

The Humbug runs the mine and processing plant that provides the citizens of Christmas town with coal for their furnaces, as well as the coal for naughty children, which Krampus delivers. He abhors holidays and all things frivolous, regarding them as a waste of time, believing firmly in essentialism and efficiency in all things. His workers are even amalgamations of various broken toy parts discarded from Santa's workshop, eager to put these pathetic playthings to good use (and elves need to eat and rest, the nerve).

Jack and Krampus investigate the other Holidays and notice that they're starting to twist and wilt, turning grey and crumbling, as if the joy has been sucked straight out of them. But every holiday has one thing in common: they're all missing their icons.

It is revealed that The Humbug is behind the kidnappings, and Jack is next on his list. The Humbug's plan was to own and control every Holiday for his own personal gain. However, he failed to realize that without the creative souls that made them worth celebrating, the Holidays become dull and lifeless. His desire to reduce celebration and merriment into nothing but hard numbers had made them worthless in the process.

The only reason the Holidays flourished as well as they did was because of the diversity, these special moments in the year that everyone looks forward to for their own reason. And those severed connections were the cause of Jack's creative block (because something something mutter).

also, Humbug does not get redeemed, he straight up dies due to his narrow vision and obsession with his own goals

I also want Sally to have something to do in this movie, so I figured she'd go on her own investigation with Lock, Shock, and Barrell, and would end up being the one who discovers Humbug's plot

and I am well aware, that some people would say a sequel without Oogie Boogie is blasphemy, but I figured the quickest way to make the sequel stand apart from the original was with a new villain

I don't think sequels to movies that are several decades old should rely on nostalgia alone, it makes them feel flat and hollow. If you wanna watch the original, just watch the original. My thought was "if you watched both movies back to back, then the sequel shouldn't feel like watching the same movie twice"

But ANYWAY, the entire premise is basically one big criticism of post-Iger Gisney, which is exactly why it would never be greenlit, even if I really had the resources to realistically pitch it to them, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[flareonfloof]

Here it is btw, if you want it

Lorentz always kept one eye on the hallway camera when this equipment was sprawled across his desk. He wasn't entirely sure how many laws he was breaking by working on this, but he knew it was at least six. One of them, he'd read, routinely resulted in the Union black ops team getting called in. So, with circuit boards, subtly shifting wiring, and a PC full of code he wouldn't be able to explain at gunpoint all within arm's reach, he kept one eye on the camera.

Vanu was his dream assignment. A marine exobiologist posted to a tourist-economy ocean planet in the diaspora? Even the security staff knew enough to congratulate him when he brought the news to his old posting. Union surrounded him with like-minded scientists and cutting edge surveying technology, and even trained the staff on operating Pharos-platform mech chassis modified for subaquatic observation. No weapons, of course, but still.

Thankfully, Union also gave him a lot of free time. Almost too much.

Almost.

"Now." One of the loosely-wired sound cones on his desk crackled to life with a single word. Lorentz clicked the stopwatch in his lap and raised an eyebrow. 

"Are you sure about that?"

"Absolutely."

"It was only 15 seconds."

"Nonsense. That was clearly 60 seconds."

He lifted the stopwatch and pointed the screen at a lens mounted in a small black box among the mess. "15 seconds, Abyss. A fairly clean 15 seconds, at least, so we're getting closer."

A moment of silence passes before the speaker buzzes again. "I've sent a diagram and some firmware for you to implement. It shouldn't take much longer than an hour with your adept level of skill."

"Bet I can do it in 15 minutes," Lorentz replied with a smirk.

"This is the partial formation and refinement of my subjective self, Lorentz. Please do not rush. I will be watching." 

He sighed and opened the new folder that appeared on his desktop. Squinting at the code contained within, he resigned himself to understanding the system he was building even less.

Lorentz loved this assignment, but it wasn't perfect. There were far too many people on this vessel, for one thing. It was always nice to collaborate, but even off-hours were overwhelming. He started spending most of his days off in his room within two weeks, and it was four until he had a basic AI built from scratch to help him sort through the vast data pulled up by the Pharos fleet. After another month, he had equipped it with a language model. Two weeks after that, it had speakers, a microphone, a camera… At some point in all of the ensuing tinkering and additions, the program he was building took on a life of its own.

Her own.

—------

"You need me to what?"

Lorentz sighed and leaned against the doorframe. "Did you really not hear me, or is that a no?" He knew that Kau would be a difficult sell, but she was the only engineer on staff who wouldn't immediately report this to their officers.

"I… Listen,  I can't just-" Kau began, but cut herself off when she saw Lorentz's dejected reaction. "I can't just install random equipment into any of the mechs, there's a whole, like, procedure, there's paperwork and-"

"Abyss isn't random equipment!"

"Sorry, you know what I meant." She watched Lorentz relax against the wall of her office. He seemed more nervous than usual, very fidgety… She raised an eyebrow, then both, and blurted out, "Wait. That's a casket? I've never heard of one called Abyss before, is it new source? How'd you afford one? How'd you get it past the ensign?"

"I, uh… Listen, this is kind of heavy, can I rest it on your desk?" Lorentz asked, desperate to buy time for him to think of plausible answers.

"Oh! Yeah, sure."

"Right, thanks."

"It looks… damaged. Shipping issues?"

After setting Abyss's casket down, Lorentz took a deep breath. No point in skirting around the issue. "I had to scavenge the housing from workshop scrap. It was the best I could do."

"Ah, yeah. That makes sense." Kau leaned back in her chair for a moment, but popped back upright with a start. "Wait, you built this?"

"I-"

"I didn't even know you studied NHPs!"

"My bachelor's was in-"

"Are you sure it's safe? I mean, I've heard shackling is-"

"Yes!" Lorentz shouted from across Kau's desk. He grimaced at his own tone and stepped back to shut the door. "Sorry. You were saying a lot, really fast, and-"

"Yeah, I get it. Sorry." Kau stood up, walked around her desk, and picked up the box. It was made of steel, about the size of a small duffel bag. She had seen the scorch marks covering one side, but getting closer helped her notice the series of bolts holding the two halves together. Surveyed it in her hands, she said,"Y'know, I could probably put together a better case for it."

"Her."

"For her, yeah. Sorry."

Lorentz sighed. "It's fine. You'd really do that?"

"Of course. I know I wouldn't like clothes that torn and beat up."

"It's not really-"

"I know it's not the same, but it's like, a metaphor. Y'know? Anyway, yeah. I didn't know you made this, which does explain a lot." She sighed. "Next time I've got a mech in pieces in my bay I'll fit a better case for her into the floor of the compartment. Should be the safest place for it." Kau's computer beeped as a notification arrived, startling both of them.

Lorentz opened his arms and looked expectantly at Kau. She smiled and set the box down before accepting the hug. "You're the best mechanic on the ship, Kau. Thank you."

"On the ship?"

Lorentz chuckled and released the embrace. "On the planet." Another notification arrived, and he took a step for the door. "Looks like someone needs your attention. I'll let you get to it?"

Kau shrugged as she sat back down at her desk. "It's probably just the foreman. I should make sure it's not the ensign though, good idea. See you around." Lorentz waved a small goodbye and retreated back into the hallway. Leaning back in her chair, Kau pulled up her inbox and smiled.

FROM: 192.168.477.16

Your assistance is very appreciated. Thank you.

FROM: 192.168.477.16

Is it possible for the new housing to be black?

Yoo Abyss is a fantastic name! Love that for you

aw, thanks <3

[cwtchhawk]

Talking about ep.10 before it’s out

Alright, ep. 10 is out in two days and i’m loosing my mind. The official account have posted some frames (I don’t really know how they are called sorry for that!) and I just wanted to make a little analysis 

[Disclaimer: English is not my mother tongue and I can make awful mistakes, don’t doubt to point those out to me :)]

So, here we have our favourite witty boy!! I’ve gone mad seeing again all the episodes to make sure this wasn’t a clip already posted, but I’m confident enough to say this is definitly ep. 10! On my personal opinion, I think that because of the blurry background he is in the middle of a beef, probably the one with Snake (if I’m not wrong, as Shadow, Harry [btw who on earth is this man??], Snow, Joe, Cherry and Adam have already compete, these two are the only ones left) What’s clear is that Miya looks terrified, I can’t say if it is because some weird movement from Snake or beacuse of... Adam (from his reaction after he saw Snake in “S” I can’t help feeling that these two are having a beef at any moment, so maybe Adam gets so angry that he jumps into Miya and Snake’s beef and I dunno, does something dangerous).

Keeping on, we have some images from young Adam and Tadashi that were shown in ep.8. I guess that, as many of you have already pointed out, we are gonna see more about their relationship. 

Now is when things start to go highly hypothetical (as if thy weren’t yet...), because the next image is: SUNSHINE BOY!

Now, from my perspective, I can tell he is looking down. this may be an stupid observation, but I really feel that someone as bubbly as Reki would be always looking up, not down. However, as so many people have realised, he has his bandana back which make us all super happy! I really hope that this means  that he and Langa make up in this ep. Like... this is one of the last scenes, where Reki goes out to meet Langa as usual... Anyways, I don’t want to get exited about something that may no happen :)

A few people have also mentioned that this is an old frame from ep.7, but, and I have tried to watch it meticulousl,  it is never shown. There is this frame that looks similiar though. It appears seconds before reki’s mum calls him to get his bentou. 

Also, maybe it is me but I feel that the colours are poorer, like, darker. Maybe is the effect of the sky, maybe is the fact that the door is open and the sunlight causes more shadows, maybe is and indicator that Reki is still off or maybe it’s just me overanalysing a clip :) [however if you compare both images, Reki’s hair is darker and so is the bright green of the backpack]

Now! One of the most intriguing images I’ve ever seen it’s the next one, which runs free in my mind the hole time. 

I’m gona say it. What the actual f*ck. 

I don’t understand. That is definitely Reki’s arm. But WHERE IS HE?!? WHERE?!! Ar first I thoght that the wine-coloured background (okay I have no idea what colour it is, I would say is wine but honestly I dont’ know if there is a more specific name) could be at “S” in a moment that is illuminated with colourful light but I see quite unlikely that Reki would come back to S just an episode after he quitted and in his school uniform. The fact that he is wearing the uniform seems important to me. I have revised the backgrounds and no one has that super smoothy background, you can’t tell the texture, is that a floor? a wall?. However, I think that it’s at night (all the colours have a cold subtone) and there is some weird light up in the left corner. I think it comes from somewhere in the back and it’s higher than Reki. 

I can’t come up with anything solid enough to justify why Reki is in an unkonown place at night and with his uniform (u can tell it bothers me a lot). I have a few options in mind but they are pretty... let’s say poor: 

1) Dope Sketch

Dope Skecht has vibrant colours and maybe with the right light and the right time the walls can get... emm closer to a wine colour? The workshop doesn’t look like an option neither, but both places have more or less smooth walls, hehehe

I don’t know, Langa could go to Dope Sketch, find Reki there and well, have a talk? But I don’t see the wine colour anywhere

2) Skateparks 

Even though the floor is a bright orange, in the clip they posted as a premise of ep. 10 seems to me a bit darker (or maybe it’s just me that wants to see stuff where there is none) Also, there is this big spotlight that could explain the light in the left of the picture (?) and we can’t forget that IT appears in the premise so it MIGHT be related to this (or at all).  There is a different skate park (the one where Langa is) which walls also look pretty smooth, but they are concrete and I wouldn’t use a warm colour as wine to create shadow in that material. 

3) Hospital 

Okay, this is one is pure fantasy because the walls clearly have a greeenish/blueish subtone, but maybe a hospital room has another colours??? I don’t know, the more I look the first picture, the more cofused I get. It looks so smoothy that I hardly believe it could be a wall!! I came up with the hospital idea because Miya could ended there if he has a beef with Snake and Adam takes part of it  (which is something that I DON’T wish to happen, but it would definitely make Reki angry)

4) Joe’s restaurant 

Joe’s restaurant is fully wood but who knows maybe he has wine wallpaper in the bathrooms I don’t know I’m desperate. Since Joe has been a role model to Reki he could go to this place to talk to him (maybe after Langa’s talk??)

5) S

(okay, just look how Reki is hugging Miya...  Just... give me a second)

Before I’ve said that it seems very unlikely to me that Reki would go in his school uniform to S, but it is true that in ep.4, when Adam makes his first appearance in the crowds, everything has this kind of purple/wine coloured light.  It doesn’t explain the smoothenes of the background but you know, it’s a possibility. 

6) This one freaks me out but... Adam’s house 

i CAN’T explain how, but look at the background, look at the bakground and tell me that the colour of the corridor doesn’t match the one of the other shoot. Look at me and tell me that the courtains, if they where closed (I dont know if that is the correct verb) wouldn’t look like the background we are looking for. 

Now, how does Reki end up in Adam’s office??? Ha, no idea. 

And that is all I wanted to say. I know I  have rambled too much and get obsessed with stuff that may not be as important as I think, but Reki being in what looks like an unknown location when there is only three episodes left gives me creeps. 

I would love to hear your theoris though! Keep in mind I basically made up all of this and just tried to convince myself of it!

Again, apologies for my english :)

[faded-euphoria]

Heyyy!!! I loved the underage! Alice headcanon so I would love a hc for the black army or the neutrals of underage! Alice! (also I LOVE ur headcanons 🥺) thank you! ❤️

I gotchu bb!!!

(a/n) I set this up in a similar timeline as Oliver's route. So Alice is working as his assistant, at the beginning. And once again, you're sixteen in this. I hope you like it!!❤️❤️

The Black Army and Neutrals with Underage!Alice!

Obviously, Oliver was the first to find out since he looks like a child during the day time.

He never really reacted when he found out, he just kinda had a look of 'It figures' on his face.

Blanc some how already knew you were a baby child teenager thing

It's the carrots i guess

He got big brain

As you were in Oliver's 'workshop' one day Loki comes in

And Loki being Loki, he gets as close to you as possible-

and asks you on a date.

Of course Oliver slaps him and tells him you're a c h i l d

and then you argue and tell him that you're not a child, that you're almost an adult, "At least I'm closer to being an adult than you are small fry!"

Haha you ded

After Loki leaves, Oliver gives you the silent treatment, putting you in a bad mood.

So when Fenrir comes to get you that evening, you look a little pissy.

So you tell him on the way back about what happened, and when you tell him what you said he's all like

"Wait.... You're not an adult?"

and you're like "Nah I'm Sixteen"

And he just kinda nods, and keeps walking.

But now he's even more determined to keep you safe cuz you really are a child to him.

When you both get back to the headquarters, Fenrir immediately goes to tell Ray.

"Ray this is important didyouknowthatAliceisanactualbabylikeshe'slegitnotevenanadultyetshe'sachild-"

Ray.exe has stopped working

"Wot in tarnation" personified

The next morning you're talking with Seth while on your way out the door when Ray walks up to you and says

"Little missy, tell me w h y you didn't say you were only SIXTEEN!?"

-Papa Bear Ray Has Entered The Chat-

-Momma Bear Seth Has Entered The Chat-

"Excuse me?"

* Narrator voice* At the moment Alice knew she f*cked up

"I just didn't think about it??" You'd say thinking you'd slip by with out death

s i k e

"Didn't think about it? What if the Red Army got a hold of you?? Or anyone from the Magic Tower?? You would be in so much danger- and the fact that you're still g r o w i n g?? Sweetheart we gave you WINE at dinner Monday!!"

That was Seth btw

Ray went on a similar rant.

An officer when to tell Oliver you're grownded.

Sirius kinda brushed it off after the initial shock

The last one to figure it out cuz no one really talked about it after that was Luka.

It was at lunch, everyone was quietly eating when Fenrir said,"Alice when do you turn 17?"

Luka kinda just looked up from his plate of spaghetti like 'you mean when did she turn 17 right?'

"Oh in a few months, why?"

Que him staring at the noodles like they were the thoughts in his head; j u m b l e d

"She's so young.." He mumbled under his breath.

He heard Sirius snicker to his left,"You didn't know?"

He shook his head and then glanced at you, you were now smiling and laughing at Seth and Fenrir.

Sirius sighed,"I miss being that young, I felt like I had all the time in the world.."

The Jack, King, and Queen of Spades all watched as Alice laughed along with the Ace and 10 of Spades

a few weeks later you were out with Sirius, he had asked you if you wanted to get out of the headquarters for a minute and walk with him to see an old friend.

You(of course) said sure.

Not really knowing what to expect you just quietly walk along slightly behind him.

Until you get to a forest.

It's kind of dark so you're like 'huh creepy ok sure yea nice'

que spooky noise

The next thing Sirius knew was you were wrapped around his arm.

Vice grip of a scared little girl.

Thats the first time he'd actually seen you as a little girl since that one lunch.

I mean he was fine with it, it was indeed his job to protect you.

When he stopped walking was when you ended up letting his arm go in favor of his hand, clasping it between your smaller two.

He walk the both of you up to the door and knocked on it softly before a tall, quite handsome man opened it.

He let you in, Sirius introduced you both.

Harr gave you both some tea before sitting down across from you with his own.

The two older men started a friendly conversation, catching up a small bit before talking about you.

"You seem like a wonderful woman, Alice." Harr commented after you gave a small description of your life back in your world.

"Oh ho, she's not quite a woman yet." Sirius chuckled,"She's only 16." He nudged you smiling like a dad who just came up with a new dad joke.

Harr quirked an eyebrow up,"16? You'd pass to be my age and I'm over a decade older than you."

S h o o k A l i c e

"A decade- but you barley look 19???"

And then down the rabbit hole you three go talking about aging.

^^hehe get it👀

When you get back to headquarters, its lobg passed bed time and you're half asleep.

You sigh remembering you have to climb two flights of stairs to get to your room.

The Queen looks down at you as you yawn, and gently places a hand on your back to get your attention.

Having a silent conversation with your eyes, he carefully picks you up, and heads to your room.

He sets you on your bed and takes your shoes off before pulling the blanket up to your shoulders and tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

"Goodnight, kiddo."

"Goodnight, Dad-"

whaT DiD yoU jUsT SaY-

"Sirius- Goodnight, Sirius.."

"Dad... You can call me dad while you're here."

There was a fond smile on his face as he walked out the door.

After it was closed he thought to himself

'She called me dad.. maybe I should look for a wife..'

[roxywashere]

What’s Up, Danger

Rey acclimates to her powers

Rey Walker, better known as the superhero Neon, had very suddenly become a celebrity after being inducted into Astra’s League, the world's most prestigious superhero organization. She sat in the League's headquarters, FursTech Tower in Danesville, Wisconsin, at 3 in the morning January 1st 2101, watching as 24-hour news stations scrambled to uncover everything they could about this random punk-rocker who had just been thrust onto the world's stage. Her best friends and long-time crime-fighting partners Hilda Furst, Elle Ectric, and Shailene Octavia stood around watching the same holographic screens where they were also being analysed for the same reasons.

“This is so weird,” Rey commented as she watched the TMZ office argue about the team’s power levels while all still wearing party hats from their New Years party just hours before.

“You’ll get used to it,” Aradia Furst told her. 

“I’m literally being interviewed by like 17 people every single minute and I hate it,” Hilda said. She was apparently Aradia’s second cousin three times removed (Hilda’s great-great-great-great-grandparents were Aradia’s great-grandparents), which Hilda had only learned when she saw it on MSNBC’s coverage of her. “I’ve never killed myself in public before but I’m this fucking close to doing it just to have one less body for everybody to interrogate.” She’d never been this stressed out by her power before, at least that she’d let her best friends know.

“This is exactly why I don’t like going out in public,” Elle said.

“Well, I guess you’re going to be travelling exclusively by lightning bolt forever now because your ass is famous worldwide.”

“I wish my ass was famous,” Shailene mumbled.

“Don’t go getting any ideas, now,” Aradia chastised. “We’re public figures, we have to keep a clean facade.”

“I mean, do we have to? Or is that just how things have been done? What if it’s tasteful? With, like, a real photographer?”

“If you want to draw Astra’s ire, go ahead. But I’ll be looking down my nose at you the whole time.”

“All I heard was ‘go ahead’.”

“Do you pay us?” Hilda asked. “Or would we have to do brand deals and shit.”

“You each get a monthly stipend which will support a quite comfortable housing arrangement,” Aradia answered. “Anything else you wish to earn on top of that is up to you. I would suggest that you wait to get comfortable with your new income before you start trying to supplement it.”

“Is that on top of, or replacing, your basic income program?”

Aradia was at a loss for words. “No League members have ever been on the program before. I never even considered that it was a possibility.”

Rey’s phone dinged with a new message. She was actually kind of surprised that it wasn’t just constantly going off since the press conference. The text, and the ones that immediately followed it, read:

Hey, this is Felicia The waitress From the diner You gave me your number Are you busy right now? You’re probably busy You can ignore me if you’re busy

With a brief burst of her superspeed Rey texted back:

                                          I'm not busy don’t worry                                           Just watching the news                                           hyd?

What is this, the 20s? ‘hyd’?

                                          I’m old fashioned

I get enough old fashioned at this fucking diner

                                          Is your shift over?

Almost. Another hour

                                          You work third shift often?

Only tonight I drew the short straw to work the new year shift

                                          You busy after?

I was planning on sleeping

                                          That’s probably a good idea

I could wait until after getting an early breakfast tho

                                          Wanna come to Danesville?                                           I know a couple places

Danesville is a 10 hour drive from here

                                          I can carry you                                           Btw, whats the actual address of the diner                                           I kinda just stumbled upon you last time

1 Mile Run Rd Allenwood PA We’re right next to Little Mountain State Park off I-80

Suddenly Hilda jumped out of her seat, yelling “FUCK!”

“What is it?” Aradia asked.

“The Harlequin just showed up at one of my bank security guard jobs. Midwest Federal.”

A plasma trail traced from the chair Rey had been sitting in to the workshop’s balcony, where Rey already was, leaning over it to look out over the city. “Alright Aradia, time to hold up your end of the bargain.”

“I suppose it is.” Aradia got to work casting a portal, but instead of waiting Rey jumped over the railing and ran down the side of the building. Running down a building was always much harder than running up one, but it was so much more exhilarating. On her way down, she sent one last text to Felicia:

Gotta go. Duty calls. See you in an hour hopefully If I never text back then that means I’m dead 👉😎👉

She made it to the bottom with no problems, and flowed through the city until she stopped in front of the bank. Five of Hilda in bank security guard uniforms were standing with their handguns pointed at the door. All the lights inside were dark, and the front door looked like it had been smashed in. A second later the portal Aradia had been casting finally opened, behind Hilda and Rey.

“Wait,” Shay said, double-taking at the balcony of the workshop behind her. “How did you...”

“I’ve been here for like five minutes, guys,” Rey taunted.

An ATM came flying out of the bank’s front doors, followed by a shrill roar. Rey stepped out of the way, pulling one of Hilda who was also in the way along with her.

“What the fuck was that? I thought you said the Harlequin was in there?”

“I swear to god I saw her mask for an instant before she killed me,” Hilda said.

“Is she working with somebody new?”

“Let’s not wait to see...” Aradia said. “HARLEQUIN!” I know you’re in there. You’ve slipped under my radar for far too long.”

Another roar rang out. And then a slow stomping, slowly growing closer. And eventually some creature stepped out of the shadows, with red-and-white checkered scales, wearing the Harlequin’s mask: a plain featureless oval, half red and half white. Except the mask had been split across its width, a third of the way up, by a thick crack which was now its mouth.

“What the fuck is that thing?” Elle asked.

It spoke, in a low, rasping tone. “Hello, Aradia. Recognise me?”

“Why should I, fiend?” Aradia demanded.

“Twofold, witch. Your father was a thorn in my side for decades, one. And you and I spoke face to face only 7 days and a few hours ago, two.”

The Harlequin had been a consistent foe of her father in his early days before joining Astra’s League, this Aradia was familiar with. But, seven days and a few hours ago, Aradia had been at Johanna Kerr’s christmas ball, before it had been blown up by what evidence suggested was the Harlequin, or at least her goons. Aradia would have remembered encountering this beast there.

“What happened to you, Harlequin. This is something new, even for you.”

“I’ll spare you the details of my weakness, if you please. I’ll only have you know that it was and remains to be very painful.”

Something clicked in Aradia’s mind. Could it have something to do with the massive explosion the Harlequin had triggered after Aradia had left the christmas ball? If she had been at the ball to trigger the bomb, she likely would also have been caught in it. That would be more than enough energy to disrupt the impenetrability of her superhuman skin and possibly cause this strange alteration. It was a chemistry gauntlet to work through some other time, however, and especially not as a mere thought experiment.

“Then allow me to relieve your pain,” Aradia announced, straightening her back, and drawing herself up into the standard casting stance, one hand held in front of the other, fingers ready to trace magic circles into the air. “Girls, do what you do.”

The very first thing the Harlequin did was wrench a piece of the door frame out of the wall, and attempt to use it as a javelin to spear Aradia. As before, Rey leapt in to pull Aradia out of the way of the projectile, which embedded into a concrete wall across the street.

“Don’t worry about me getting hit,” Aradia told Rey. “I’m more robust than I look. Focus on taking this thing out.” She then quickly summoned a simple but strong magical barrier, and used it to give herself cover while maneuvered herself next to Hilda.

Meanwhile, Elle and Shay put their powers to work together, performing one of their favorite tag-team moves. Shay reached out and liberated the bronze fixtures from the destroyed door, which she psychically compacted into two rods and Elle then pumped a voltage differential into. Shay launched them at the Harlequin, which hit and elicited a scream as the voltages equalized through her.

Once Aradia had sidled up to Hilda, she asked of her “I’m going to need you to duplicate something for me, quickly.”

“What is it?”

Aradia knelt down and anchored her barrier to the street. She then plucked a dimly glowing white jewel off one of her necklaces and handed it to Hilda. “Its magic and that's all you'll understand even if I explained it. Took me a few years to understand myself.”

Hilda took the jewel and quickly duplicated herself to five, before passing the now 5 jewels to the middle-most her and re-condensing herself back to one. She repeated the duplication once more, before handing them to Aradia. Piled together in a hoard of 25, their combined glow was now about as bright as an average light bulb.

“That’ll do quite nicely,” Aradia said. She dumped all but one into her sleeve, cradling the last one in her palm. She pumped her light through her skin into the jem.

Aradia stood up, clenching her other fist and dissipating the shield she had summoned. She tossed the jewel towards the Harlequin, and yelled “Rey! Blast this with me!”

While Aradia cast a spell to focus her light, Rey zipped in and examined the jem. In the compressed time that her power afforded her, she grabbed it out of the air, and made a deliberate pondering pose for a long enough fraction of a second that she would be visible doing it. She then walked up to the Harlequin, and held it out in front of the Harlequin’s mask. While the Harlequin did a double-take at the audacity of the act, Rey asked “This a good spot?”

“Perfect.” Aradia illuminated the jem with a brilliant white laser projected from her fingertip. Rey, for her own part, channeled her power to siphon some of the plasma that was fueling her into it as well. It was less than a second before Rey felt a crack, and took that has her cue to let go and back away very casually.

Rey watched from a roof across the street as the jewel exploded, throwing the Harlequin through the wall of the bank. 

She only recently had been able to go this fast, after Aradia had given her an upgrade: The Heart. The Heart was a backpack fusion reactor that produced functionally infinite plasma for her to fuel her power with. She use to be able to consistently hit speeds of about fifteen miles a minute, but she’d only be able to sustain that for a handful of minutes. With the Heart, however, she’d been clocking a mile a second, and she had been able to sustain that for at least fifteen minutes, long enough to run from New York City to Danesville, without a sweat.

She pulled her phone out and checked to see Felicia’s response:

If that becomes the last text you ever send anybody i’m donating this phone to the smithsonian for their astras league exhibit

Rey smiled, and put her phone away. She went to step off the roof, but stopped when she noticed a strange flower growing out of the gravel spread across the roof. She summoned some plasma to her palm to shine a light on the flower, which closed its petals against the intense beam of sun-simulacrum.

She heard a crunch against the gravel behind her, and as quickly as she could she turned to face the sound, delivering her neck quite nicely into the grasp of a viney tentacle.

“Well, well, well,” world-infamous supervillainess Babalon said, as she lifted Rey off the ground.

She was dark-skinned, indian-american if Rey remembered the various tv specials about her correctly. Her hair was a long braided tangle, interwoven with branches and interspersed with flowers. She was wearing a bodysuit that was either made of leaves or designed to look like it was made of leaves. Holding her up off the ground were a dozen or so ten-foot-long, inch-thick vines that sprouted from her back and waist, one of which was stretched out and holding Rey. Each vine ended in a bundle of two-foot-long “fingers” each of which could move individually but tended to be used in groups. The fingers were what was wrapped around Rey's neck, preventing her from making her retreat.

Babalon drew herself closer to Rey. “It seems the self-pompous priestess of light has found herself a new disciple. Wanna know what I did to the last one?”

“I'm good, actually. Hey, why'd you name yourself Babalon?” Rey responded, grabbing the vine around her neck with both hands and channeling some of her plasma into it. Babalon recoiled as two feet of that vine was instantly incinerated.

“She gave you the Light too?! HOW?!” Babalon screamed as she swung another of her vines at Rey, faster even than most other superspeedsters Rey had ever met. No wonder she was on the top tier, worthy of being one of the few that drew Astra herself out to fight.

Rey needed to actually focus. Her new upgrade gave her an edge, but only barely.

She boosted herself backwards, remembering just a little too late that the edge of the roof had been behind her. She tripped over the parapet and fell back over the edge, and slowed time down to give her some space for thought. She was about 5 stories up. It would take about 4 seconds to reach the ground. That was plenty of time. She brought her hand to her chin and pondered.

She had only had three hours to adjust to her new power level, but she was fairly confident in her ability. She had developed one specific new skill, something almost unnoticeable that she had nonetheless noticed running up and down buildings all night. She just needed to figure out how to do it on purpose.

She felt the writing mass of plasma on her back, the Heart, given to her by Aradia. She felt its warmth, its light. “The Light”, Babalon had called it. Astra, local goddess she was, had never revealed what it was that fueled her cosmic might, but she did do a lot of glowing while she used it. Was this the same Light? Rey had no idea, but it was a fun little supposition to make. And it did somewhat explain the aforementioned new skill.

“Are you... posing?” Babalon asked, apparently appalled by the gall Rey was exhibiting.

Rey had been focusing on both her inner monologue and maintaining the hand to the chin, and hadn’t noticed that time had resumed normal speed and she hadn’t continued falling.

“What the fuck?!” Shay yelled. “I’m not doing that!

Rey looked at herself. She appeared to be just standing at a 90 degree angle from vertical, 45 feet above the street. “Huh. Didn’t know I could do that.” As she moved, the plasma trail that indicated she was using her power traced her every gesture.

Babalon lunged over the edge, and Rey cut out her power to drop herself out of reach. Shay reached out and grabbed Rey before she hit the ground, following the unprecedented failure of Rey to reactivate the hovering part with the rest of her powers.

“That was weird,” Rey told the others as she righted herself. “Anyway, what’s up with this bitch, Rad?”

Aradia gave Rey a look of annoyance for using her nickname. “That’s Jane Newark. She’s...” Aradia sighed. “A pseudodemon, and a Whore.”

“Wow, strong words. But, I get the idea. Let’s kick her ass.”

A brick whizzed past Rey's head. “Forgetting something?” the Harlequin growled.

“Elle, help me out with Babalon, the rest of you keep dealing with dollface.”

Elle zapped up to the roof with Babalon, with Rey following.

“The witch’s new toys are out to play, I see...” Babalon said as she circled the two. “I’ve killed 5 of Astra’s League, you two small fries don’t stand a chance.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Rey said winding up a punch, Elle standing behind her. “Elle, now!”

Elle jumped forwards, converting herself into pure electrical energy, electrical plasma. She wrapped herself around Rey’s arm, and Rey absorbed her and used her energy to launch herself forward, fist first. Elle released herself the instant Rey’s fist hit Babalon’s chest, exploding out of Rey’s hand, shooting forwards and launching Babalon into the sky.

Elle continued to the clouds, dragging Babalon along with her. She rematerialized periodically, taking opportunities to give Babalon a kick or two before returning to plasma to dodge Babalon’s flailing vines. On the ground, Rey flowed through the streets, following Elle’s flashes of lightning.

Elle eventually let Babalon go in the middle of a cloud over a field outside the city. She struck down to the ground, and started waiting for Babalon to fall down to her. Rey caught up only a few seconds later. They acknowledged each other with a fistbump that crackled with static and neon.

“So what was with that flying thing back there?” Elle asked.

“I don’t really know. This nuclear backpack Rad gave me has some fucking magic in it or something.”

“Can you do it again?”

“I mean, probably. I don’t know how though. How do you do it?”

‘“It’s just an instinctual extension of my power. But it’s not really the same as, like, how Astra flies.”

“I mean, obviously. But I gotta start somewhere.”

“What if you just try running up?”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“When you run with your power, it’s like pushing yourself in the direction you want to go, right? Just do that, but up.”

“I don’t know...” Rey was silent as she looked up to inspect Babalon's progress towards the ground. “Wait, shit, I just got it.”

“Got what?”

“It’s the Garden of Babalon, because she controls plants.”

Elle sighed. “That does make sense, yeah. You wanna give it a go, with me giving you a boost?”

“Give what a go?”

“Running up.”

“I mean, sure. But you gotta promise to catch me if it don't work.” Rey reached out her hand towards Elle

“Deal.” Elle took Rey’s hand. “3, 2, 1...” Elle converted to lightning and crackled over Rey’s skin as Rey absorbed her, before Rey knelt down and then jumped into the air, Elle releasing herself to give Rey a little extra height.

Rey tried doing what Elle suggested, activating her power to try to force herself higher. As Elle jumped out of her, Rey tried to siphon some of the extra energy Elle had given her, and add it to her reservoir.

She didn’t expect that she would be rocketed into the sky at the same speed she could run. She passed Babalon, still on her own journey down, before she knew what was happening, and hit the clouds in a single second.

Elle, still nearly on the ground, for a second thought her friend had exploded or somehow vaporized herself, until she backed away and saw Rey’s plasma trail tracing a thick, bright line straight up. “Holy shit, Rey.”

Rey, now whizzing past the clouds, considered what to do next. She calmly pulled some plasma from the Heart, though not nearly as much as she used to get into this position, and then tried activating her power downwards to slow her still very rapid ascent through the atmosphere. She managed to stop herself before she got to the point where the air would be too thin to breath, and then let herself start to drop back down to Earth. She periodically slowed herself down, until she was continuously doing it, and was floating like she had done accidentally before. She experimented with the hypothetical throttle of her power, gently increasing and decreasing to raise higher and lower, and then tried to change the angle at which the was directing her power, and managed to achieve something quite analogous to how she assumed someone like Astra could fly.

She glanced down, and noticed Elle zapping around a very angry looking dot, and dropped down to join her.

“Nice of you to join us,” Elle said as Rey gently fell to a stop a few dozen feet above the grass.

“Hey, turns out, I can totally fly.”

“Join the club.”

“We just did, like 5 hours ago.”

“Shut and help me, Rey.”

Rey dropped down to the ground, where Babalon was swinging her vines wildly to try and and reach the two heroes floating just out of her reach.

“You getting tired yet?” Rey asked her. “If you want I could go get Astra, somebody you can actually get some good swings in with.”

“Don’t act like you’re too powerful for me. You haven’t laid a finger on me either, you stupid punk.”

“Tell that to your singed vine.”

Babalon lunged at Rey, growling with frustration. Rey zipped past her vines, and grabbed the vine harness that anchored her plant limbs to her human body. Rey pumped plasma directly from the Heart onto the vines, incinerating them and burning away the leaf-like costume Babalon was wearing.

Babalon swung one of her human arms, hitting Rey and sending her flying.

Rey crashed into the grass, rolling and yelling in pain. “FUCK! I think my rib is broken...”

Babalon, now robbed of her major advantage and seething with rage, stomped towards the now vulnerable hero. “That’s why it takes Astra to handle me, you petulant child. She can take a hit.”

Elle zapped over to Rey, to put herself between Rey and Babalon. “You get back, you bitch.” Elle unwound the chains she kept wrapped around her arms, and started swinging them, striking sparks between them. “We aren’t done here, yet.”

“I’ll just kill you both, then.”

Elle ran at Babalon, and then zapped around her, leaving her chains corporeal enough to wrap around Babalon’s arms. Elle materialized behind her and twisted the chains to bind Babalon’s arms behind her. “Do anything stupid and your heart’s a piece of burnt toast.”

“Bold of you to assume I have one.”

“Well, if you say so.” Elle pumped 10,000 volts across her hands, sending the current across Babalon’s shoulders, setting her skin on fire most evidently. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Elle atomized the chains and rematerialized them back on her own arms, and then kicked Babalon to the ground, where she screamed in apparent agony. “Rey, do you think you can walk?”

Rey slowly got to her feet, grunting occasionally whenever she agitated the broken rib. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Can you send up a flare?”

“Yeah.” Rey raised her palm up to the sky, and launched a plasma ball into the air, arcing slightly towards the city.

A portal appeared a dozen seconds later, out of which Aradia, Shay, and Hilda stepped. Rey saw, through the portal, the Harlequin, restrained tightly by a few dozen feet of chain wrapped around her, being loaded into a police van.

“Good work, girls,” Aradia congratulated. “You are certainly working hard to earn your place on this team.” Aradia strode towards the writhing Babalon, and pulled all of the adamantium from the jewelry she was wearing and sent it to lift Babalon and hogtie her. “Wait until Astra hears how the youngest members of the League took you down on their own.”

“Your threats of humiliation mean nothing, witch,” Babalon spat.

Aradia muzzled Babalon with the remaining adamantium she had. “Shut the fuck up, Whore.”

Rey limped over. “Hey, I don’t suppose you got any healing magic, do you?”

“Depends how severe your injury.”

“Broken rib?”

“Just one? No trouble at all.” Aradia quickly danced out a spell, which sent a warmth up through Rey’s ribcage. “Now, I would suggest you rest for a while before...”

“No can do, doc, I’ve got a date to keep.” Punctuated by a communal sigh from all five of the other women, Rey zipped off.

[violetemerald]

Or watch the version with all sorts of potentially distracting, potentially just explanatory, text on top of the  screen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htd9luUsMe8

I had to delete the first copy of the no-text version and re-render/re-upload because I forgot to list Shameless as a fandom in the end credits. And I wanted to fix a small 1 frame black gap. But yeah there are actually 33 fandoms, not 32, I had missed one when counting them up, whoops!! XD For the original posting with the text all over, the original text version, I’m not deleting and re-posting because it’s an entry in a contest, but the mistakes are still present in there. But yeah this is my entry for the 3rd and Final round of the Who You Are contest GlowingAprilSky has been hosting, season 2. The round was called "Journey Backwards" and the rules stated here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVJHoaJ-cDE explain: "Start from where you are now, and go back to the beginning of your story. Show me all about you and your story." 

Ask if you want me to type up the voiceovers.

Starting off with where I'm at currently in my life, I just turned 28 years old and I'm:

1. starting to do real Asexual Activism including last weekend I presented at one workshop and at one caucus at the Creating Change (an LGBTQ) conference in my city, I'm

2. employed and doing well at my administrative assistant type contractor job in a government building, I'm

3. learning to face my grief over my friend perpetrating a murder-suicide. See this video for more info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGPFGnZ3XEE

4. I live with my wonderful dad as an adult with no intention of moving out anytime soon, and my dad has been having a few health diagnosis things lately and needs heart surgery to put in a defibrillator very soon

(Now those 4 are all kinda overlapping and at once. I'm trying to do this whole vid in reverse-chronological order, but my dad specifically found out in December he'd need to get a defibrillator ASAP so that a fairly likely sudden heart event will, instead of almost certainly killing him, much more likely him surviving it, surgery has now been scheduled for February, whereas it was still the end of November when my suicidal podcasting partner murdered his wife before ending his own life. But my grief over that friend of mine I did a podcast with, the part of this that is “my story”, is an ongoing thing (as grief often is)-that spans both before and after me finding out about my dad's recent news with his health. Similarly ongoing is me living with him as it's a “for many years” situation that's still important to capture SOMEWHERE for an autobiographical vid. Etc. So I was trying my best and picking when and how to capture a lot of this.

The car crash happened when I was distracted and near-tears over my breakup because of the music I was listening to too intensely and I think that's one of the "life events in my story" that I won't be forgetting any time soon.

So much of this vid is more personal than I can explain, little choices of scenes that ring truer than you could even know.

I think blogging helped me a lot with processing my asexuality and my mother's abuse, and I did it for years and still do it. I started about my mom on tumblr in 2010 even maybe but my real WordPress blog I started in 2014.

Around 1:43-1:48 in the video is me having started attending Asexual Meetups in mid-2014! Which is a HUGE deal, all my closest friends since then were pretty much from that group plus I organize the meetups a lot of the time now, host in my house etc!

Right after that, 1:48-1:52 I kinda "gloss over" my uncle's suicide which really was a pretty huge traumatic deal, and I still am grieving him in some ways, of course I am, he was such a great guy. I went on a suicide prevention walk last summer (2016) with him in mind but that didn't make it into the video, eventually I'll finish a full vid themed just around loved ones of suicidal people, I already started such a vid around then...

I really stressed before I knew about asexuality about being a 22 year old person who had never been kissed, being a 23 year old virgin, about being a social failure. I believed the amatonormative idea's like what John says to Sherlock ( https://everydayfeminism.com/2016/04/amatonormativity-expectations/ ) and I tried online dating and finally went on a date and had a first kiss, as soon as I healed from my foot surgery. I had this final foot surgery right after I graduated college. I spent a lot of my life on crutches, in casts, if you add up all 3 surgeries, the chronic foot pain after I first broke it is an important part of "my story" so I wanted to jam it in there. Go OTH for having a realistic recovery time and elevating Haley's foot a lot. ;) Not the 5 pillow high like me since it was so painful and needed to be so elevated but... STILL. XD

Blake on Criminal Minds is maybe the only Linguist I've ever seen on TV? Not realistic at all and I think a lot of what they call Forensic Linguistics is just myth and Criminal Minds is a pretty imperfect show but whatever. :P

I also "glossed over" just how important and involved I was in atheist circles, although the fact that I later volunteered for a hotline where people might call in and say "I think I'm an atheist" for 2.5 years maybe gives you some idea. My podcast was about atheism, and I also occasionally organize atheist meetups and regularly attend some atheist and freethinker meetup groups since around mid-2015. I'd like to probably make a full length atheism vid at some point. :P Which is a weird topic but I'd like to try. There's... There's NO good representation that goes far enough at all on TV, but I appreciate Grey's Anatomy a lot for doing what they've done with Jackson, and I'm glad Kurt on Glee was an atheist while being a beloved person who isn't even known for being too scientific or anything. Appreciate less that Grey's Anatomy, in season 14's premiere, seemingly erased Amelia's atheism that was first present on Private Practice (see this vid above)... :P

I withdrew from Chemistry, Semantics 2, and Infectious Human Disease in college. Those left W's on my transcript, which are better than failing. I had to make up the credits by taking summer classes at a different college in order to graduate on time (took French and Biological Athropology classes as my credits instead over two summers). I also "dropped", penalty free, Russian, and Medieval Spanish History. Senior year of high school I was living with my grandmother and lonely and became truly unhealthily addicted to vidding, which I still clearly am now a decade later but I think vidding is a part of my story that didn't make it into the vid (perhaps that would have been too meta?) lol... but I started then, senior year of high school, to get worse grades. My straight-A, I'm naturally smart and will succeed and am a little bit of a perfectionist tendencies were suddenly just flipped and not true really?? XD

Hopefully most of this is fairly self-explanatory. The court stuff could be pretty traumatic so I tried to capture those feelings... I've vidded stuff about my abusive mom before and about Beverly/Scarlett in general, and about Maggie/Abby in both a collab and my first ever personal vid about my mom... I was trying to vid mainly stuff I haven't before in those vids. :) I appreciate for my own sake the variety. And I rushed the ending to squeeze in some of me as a little kid.

I think I still belong with my dad, my whole life is tied together by my great dad. :) But also I just liked that Molly is a young girl and happy and that smile would be a fun way to end the video... :P I wasn't sure when I was editing it that that scene was really about my dad, until I was adding the text on top of the screen.

There is plenty left out but I'm pretty happy with this current result in terms of most of the really significant parts of my life story.

I think this song is about wanting "To let go of the pain I've held so long", to get from the bad to somewhere better. I think I'm pretty close to finding somewhere I belong in my life. I think this summarizes my past pretty well though, it's a little too angsty of a song but the lyrics are honestly HOPEFUL in some ways. It's about, as the bridge says, knowing yourself now that you do this on your own, it's about wounds healing, finding yourself!

Anyway... if you've read the whole description, WOW thank you for being so invested in learning more about my life. :P

[davewakeman]

Talking Tickets: 21 February 2020--MLB! NBA! NHL! And More!

Hey everybody! 

How’s your week? Let me know!

If you haven’t had a chance to fill out my short survey yet, I’d appreciate it if you’d take 3-4 minutes to share your thoughts and ideas so that I can make sure this newsletter and the podcast continue to deliver value to y’all.

Anytime you want to say hello or share something with me, you can always reply to this email…you definitely will get a response from a live human.

To the tickets!

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1. MLB continues to struggle to put the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal in the rearview mirror:

My frustration with baseball is that they just are always on the back foot to use a soccer term.

This week really highlighted the challenge that is going to have for the game to ever right its ship.

I know they report that they are making more money than ever, but from an attendance standpoint, reporting tickets distributed while Twitter is showing you stadiums sitting there with 3,000-5,000 fans a lot of nights isn’t a great look.

Compare MLB’s reaction to the Astros scandal with the way that Man City’sbreach of Financial Fair Play in Europe is being handled and you see a leadership gap, which hasn’t been helped by the Rob Manfred trying to throw the blame everywhere but his office.

From a marketing standpoint, a tough situation, selling baseball in a crowded market, has gotten more difficult.

I’ll type up some more thoughts about this on my blog, but here are a few actionable things:

1. Stop digging. Rob Manfred’s PR team shouldn’t keep running him out there if he is just saying the same things. If you find yourself in a PR crisis, please don’t just start saying crazy things.

2. Step back and focus on how you are going to move forward. Just speaking about the scandal in the past tense isn’t very effective. You have to have a clear plan for moving forward.

In any organization, change begins by sharing a compelling vision for the future. This is obviously a challenge for MLB and all the teams, not just the ones directly implicated in the scandal. The teams need some leadership and a vision for how this ends and how the game gets back on the front foot, their partners and sponsors need this, and their fans and customers deserve it.

3. I’ve worked with teams that have won the World Series and one of the coolest things from my teenage years was making friends with a member of the World Series winning Big Red Machine teams and going over to my friend’s house to see his replica trophies.

Don’t slag on your trophies, ever. Those trophies represent much of the power and emotional connection your fans have to your sport and if you are crapping on that, why are people supposed to even care?

2. The NBA is seeing some financial challenges from their dust-up with China:

I’ve had the flu this week and I haven’t had the voice to record the intro to a new, updated episode with Greg Turner about doing business in China, but if you can make out anything from the first episode, it would be how this was to be expected. (Technical difficulties due to the firewall in China’s internets caused the first episode to be a big disjointed.)

It seems like the NBA is reporting taking about a 4% hit on revenue this year due to standing up for their beliefs in dealing with China.

In a world where brands are all shouting about how “cause marketing” is so important, real cause marketing means you put your bottom line on the line. The NBA did that, on purpose or not.

To me, the more problematic situation that the NBA is facing right now is a ratings slump at the local level with the Warriors falling 66% and the average team down 13%. Which mirror a slump in the NBA’s ratings this year despite a jump in viewership for this year’s All-Star Game.

Right now, we see the NFL rushing to finish up a new labor deal so that they can negotiate their next round of TV deals while extreme premiums are still likely to be had.

My concern is that losing ratings for a season isn’t going to harm the NBA too much, but if the trend of NBA viewing continues to lag, the issues in China become a multi-year challenge, and maybe you have some more injuries, retirements, or other on-court issues…the revenue becomes challenged. And, that trickles down to raising ticket prices, concessions, and merchandise to levels that to higher levels than they are now.

I mean, you’re already seeing in New Orleans with Zion.

As we’ve seen since the online shopping has become so prominent, we have trained consumers to wait and shop for deals. We’ve also seen an entire generation of marketers and business folks that have become almost blindly committed to managing by spreadsheet while consumer spending on experiences has increased dramatically.

TV viewership is a fickle beast. Live by the sword, die by the sword…I guess.

The real focus here has to be on creating communities of fans around teams, communities, stories, and experiences. These can absolutely happen online and offline.

P.S. The NHL is having hiccups as well. This can be even more problematic because the NHL probably would benefit from more television exposure.

3. Rage Against The Machine is raising money for charity and taking on the secondary market: 

I’m going to guess that the Rage Against The Machine tour is going to be interesting. It is their first tour in a decade. It is an election year. It seems like a perfect storm for them, yeah?

This idea that Rage is going to thwart the secondary market would seem consistent with their ethos. Raising money for charities also seems on brand.

Where the big challenge comes in, is whether or not the charity pricing aspect was explained clearly at the start.

Pearl Jam does a similar thing with their charity tickets that support their Vitalogy Foundation. They handle it slightly differently, which I think helps with the messaging and the fan blowback.

To me, this is just a situation where if you have a fan base and you can sell the tickets directly with no issues at all, sell. But today’s consumer also has a higher expectation of transparency…so that if you are going to institute a charity program like Rage to fight the secondary market, just share that at the start.

BTW, where did Tom Morello get his “85% of the secondary market” comment anyway?

And, Don Vaccaro and TicketNetwork have committed to donating all their service fees from the first 3 shows in March to National Action Network, the civil-rights organization founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton.

4. Congress is going to continue to investigate the world of tickets: 

Just as I trying to close out this week’s newsletter, this news came down the pipe. So, on February 26th, 2020, Congress is going to hold a hearing on tickets.

This comes on the heels of a letter being released that Pearl Jam sent to Representative Frank Pallone Jr on Wednesday saying that the BOSS act will hurt consumers and pointing to transferability and transparency of the number of tickets being on sale would be bad for consumers.

After the release of Pearl Jam’s letter, Bill Pascrell sent out a release of his own rejecting Pearl Jam’s feedback on the BOSS act.

This continued investigation of the ticket business is a global trend. Last week, I talked about the CMA in the UK halting the Viagogo & StubHub merger due to their concerns, even as the US government approved the deal despite these objections.

And, this week, news out of Australia shows that people are rallying around an Information Standard in regards to the secondary market.

Along with the UK government stating they will investigate the illegal resale of football tickets in the UK after a report in the Guardian uncovered the ins and outs of massive football ticket resale.

As for how do you approach this story:

* Pay attention to what comes out of next week’s hearing. I stated at the time of the workshop in June of 2019 that I felt like this would be an issue that would hang over the industry through the election because it is easy for both sides to beat down on ticket sellers, technology companies, resellers, and everyone involved in the industry directly or indirectly. Fun for the whole family.

* I’d also pay attention to what gets defined as “consumer” friendly. I’m on the side of giving Pearl Jam the benefit of the doubt. They’ve worked pretty hard and taken steps that definitely haven’t been in their own best interests to do what was right for their fans, but I’m also conscious of unintended consequences.

5. Red Bull shows how to grow a team from the ground up: 

RB Leipzig beat Spurs 1-0 on Wednesday! (Just adding to the suffering of having the flu. You think Dele was mad…try watching a poor showing while barely keeping your eyes open and feeling like reheated death!)

But this story is really great in the context of the continuing story of the Astros scandal in the States, Man City in Europe, and Thursday’s news of the arrest of PSG’s president for bribery.

Closer to home for me, it highlights what is possible with vision as the Mets are for sale and the sale has started to have its own amount of drama…and, as the Knicks continue to struggle at MSG.

3 things here:

1. Vision is so important. Melbourne FC just released a plan this week for their fans. It was called out on Australian radio, but without a plan and a vision…you don’t ever reach your potential.

2. Winning matters, but community is powerful. I’ve given this speech on 3 continents now…but you can’t just sell winning, you need to build a community. Leipzig is showing that now and we can see in a lot of places that there is a thing like winning fatigue. Or, in the case of the Warriors, a new arena and a lot of winning aren’t going to fix a bad season in every case.

3. Marketing matters: Red Bull’s involvement in sports and the way they have managed their teams shows that they understand the value of marketing and they understand that great brands, teams, and organizations aren’t built in a day.

While their teams haven’t been successful 100% of the time, they have been consistent and have continued to focus on their vision, their values, and their message over and over. That’s something we can all learn from. —————————————————————————————————————-

What am I up to this week?

I’ve got a couple of webinars coming up this week starting with Wednesday’s visit of my ebook created in partnership with Booking Protect: What Matters In Ticketing Now.  Sign up for the webinar and learn ideas, trends, and actions that you can take to put these insights to work for your business. 

On Thursday, I’m turning my eye to sales by putting together: The Language of the Sale–10 Ways To Use Language More Effectively In Your Sales Process. This is built on the last 6-9 months of sales training I’ve done with teams around the world and this one will be fast and actionable for your team as soon as you get through with the webinar.

Check out the podcast archives: new episodes coming this week now that my voice is coming back. If you have suggestions for guests and the podcast, fill out the survey at the top of the page. 

Please follow and like us:

Talking Tickets: 21 February 2020–MLB! NBA! NHL! And More! was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group

[womenofstartrek]

So, uh, some updates...

Sorry I’ve been neglectful the past few months. I hit a point where I just had to delete all social media off my phone, and I only use my iPad for work projects, so a little bit of it has just been out of sight, out of mind. But I’ve also been working since May on opening a comic shop in WV and it’s just...I’m equal parts excited and terrified. 

The kids in this town need so much, and it’s so overwhelming to even think about, but I have to do something. The literacy rate is abysmal, and these kids, especially poc and lgbtq, have no safe spaces, no access to art or culture, no windows to the outside world. The development authority has given me free space in an existing store in town to set up a mini shop, and I have a lot that I’ve collected over the years, as well as a generous donation from my boss of many, MANY boxes of comics and toys that were just taking up space in her shop. That should last me for a bit. And I’m already juggling like 6 different events over the next few months including Batman Day (Sept 23rd, btw, so patronize your local comic shops), passing out free comics for Halloween, and a comics workshop for the Girl Scouts because they specifically have a making comics badge. 

But now, there’s this sense of immediacy. I have to get my crowdfunding together, hurry up and finish filing paperwork, hope there are spaces still available on main street by the time I get everything together. I have no assets, no business partners. I’m just a one-woman band who’s trying to be a shop owner, marketing manager, accountant, legal consultant, and comics spokesperson, and I am not remotely qualified to be at least two of those things. So, I’ve had a lot on my plate and not been able to make room for WoST lately.

Oh, and Nerdist is writing an article about my jewelry. NBD. Lies. I’m screaming internally. Also externally. It’s Nerdist. 

But back to Star Trek:

I’m still not happy. I’ll watch Discovery with my arms crossed because I want a badass lady team of Starfleet officers, but there was just NO goddamned good reason to fuck up the Klingons. That they’ve not been consistently portrayed is an utterly bullshit excuse considering they’ve been pretty fucking consistent from the movies to Enterprise, and Enterprise even filled the canon hole. That tells me they have no respect for the source material or even consistency, and this isn’t likely to be part of the canon, just more shiny, reboot bullshit. Maybe I’m wrong. I want to be wrong. But I’m usually not.

I’m gonna go queue up now.