#u have a cleaner??? like a regular cleaner??? I have my two hands!

[sailermoon]

hearing ppl that pay other ppl to clean their house will always be one of the most wildly different life experiences to me

[fartcloudfartcloud]

Simon Riley x Maid!Reader

based on this text post

Summary: Simon has a house cleaner come clean once a month. What happens when she goes on vacation, and you're her replacement?

warnings: sfw but theres tension 😋, will make an nsfw part two if you guys want it :), Simon being big and scary and offputting per usual, lots of internal dialogue

a/n: loved this concept, and since I actually worked a door to door cleaning job I thought this fit so well and needed to write it. hope u enjoy :)

You took a deep breath.

These were the steps you were to take in this job. You had no reason to feel unsafe or in danger of any sort. Yet, the thought of walking up and knocking on this door had your heart in your stomach.

Simon Riley Is what the work order had listed as the clients name. Ex Military. Large German Shepard named Riley. Liked his wooden floors cleaned with vinegar instead of the regular cleaning solution. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

Except for the entry instructions. The small box on the piece of paper that would normally hold a few finely printed words, things such as "Homeowner will be not be home, key is under welcome mat"

or "Homeowner will be home and located in office on second floor, door will be unlocked"

had big, bold font to start. Your manager had to go in and manually change that detail, and knowing her, that must mean this is serious.

The box reads-

"DO NOT ATTEMPT TO OPEN DOOR. HOMEOWNER IS EX MILITARY AND EXTREMELY STRICT. RING FRONT DOORBELL ONCE AND WAIT."

Yeah. Very normal and not at all gut-wrenching.

You keep taking deep breaths as you go through your routine. Read the work order thoroughly once more, try not to shit yourself, go and grab your equipment, and follow the instructions.

Easy. Just follow the routine.

Your equipment is as big and clunky as usual. With a vacuum on your back, a bucket full of microfiber towels, a backpack full of chemicals, and knee pads on both knees, you knew for sure you were a sight for sore eyes.

You're not quiet as you walk either, each step making every plastic piece of your puzzle clunk and scrape in a cacophony of reminders of why you were here. You thunk and bang your way up the front porch, eyes everywhere but the front door, still taking deep breaths as you try to just focus on your surroundings, taking note of the nice front garden and walkway as you pass.

You finally settle on the front porch, your arms dropping the bucket and preparing yourself for the big push to start this job.

One ring, you remind yourself. Then wait. Deep breath.

You look up to find the door bell, hand pulling up in a search for the button when you see him.

He must have heard you, you decide as he stands behind the screen door with his arms crossed.

Simon Riley is massive, standing what feels like a clean foot taller than you, big muscled arms bulging from his tight t-shirt. They're as big as your head, his thighs probably twice so. His face was pulled down in a heated gaze, though the bottom half of his face was covered by a black mask. He was scary as he stood there, his aura menacing and doing nothing to sooth your nerves.

Yeah, ex Military makes sense, Jesus christ.

"Ya pissed of my dog, allat noise." You jump, the deep british voice startling you as he begins chastising you. His face frowns down it you, his eyes angry. You're speachless, "Well? Talk."

You stammer as you realize you were just sitting and staring in awe, mind suddenly back on track and then derailing again as you have no idea what to say.

The routine, Jesus christ the routine what's the next step. You scramble for your binder, pulling it open to his work order page and looking up at him as you muster up the courage to speak.

"Um, are you, uh, Simon Riley, sir?" You ask, stuttering and staggering between every word.

He reaches foreword and opens the screen door, getting a good look at you first before he can respond.

"Hm. You the cleaning lady?" He questions, the hand not holding the door open now stuffed in the pocket of his pants.

"Mhm, yeah, im- uh. I'm from Housekeeping Heros, you have an appointment for, um-" you start rustling through more pages of the binder, desperate to find the information, needing to prove to yourself more then him you were in the right place.

"I know i 've an appointment," He holds out his hand and halts your movements. You relax, all the horrible conclusions you were drawing coming to an end. Though, as per usual, they were quickly replaced with new ones, his voice still short and snippy with you.

Deep breaths, girl, we can do this.

He points to your small pile of equipment. "Ya need 'elp?"

You shake your head no, suprised he'd offered. Though he just responds with a head shake, motioning to give it here with his hands. And you do, you don't even second guess it, handing him your bucket and backpack without a second word, something in you submitting to him without a care in the world.

He turns around and walks everything into the kitchen where he gently rests it on the table, softer then you were expecting. You follow him in, feeling like a stray with your legs tucked between your legs as you fet settled. He looks at you expectantly.

Not sure what he's looking for, you start explaining the cleaning process, using your binder as a reference and pointing to each section. He stands behind you, arms crossed again and chin tucked down as he nods along with your words.

He points to the vacuum on your back, "Not round Riley, ya 'ear me?" He scolds. You take note of the large German Shepard snorring lightly on the couch.

"And none o' this shite," He kicks at your knee pads, pointing to a mop he had in the corner. Thank God, cleaning on your knees always sucked, and why your bullshit company made you do it anyways was a marvel.

"Oh, thank you!" You chirped up. He seemed to scowl further when your voice pitched up, so you slink back in on yourself. Understood, point taken, sir.

You still were not feeling great, the pit in your stomach unrelenting as you organize your stuff.

He looms close by. You figured he would, not doubting the "extremely strict" next to "ex military" on your work order at all.

You start with the first step of your process, filling the bucket up in the sink and soaking your towels in the cleaning solution.

"Where's yer boss?" He grumbles from behind you, making you jump.

"Um, Nancy?" Bucket now full, you throw the towels into the warm water with a dash of solution.

"Eh, whatever her name is," He grumbles. How polite.

"Haha, um." You giggle akwardly, "she's with family right now, I think," you stutter, trying to speak loud enough that he could hear you clearly.

He just hmphs in response. As your towels soak in the water, you reach for your extendable feather duster and start wiping the top corners of the room.

"Whats yer name?" He grumbles. It shocks you when he says it. He couldn't seem to care less about the other workers name, but he was interested in yours?

You told him, quiet, "sir," peeping out after. He just hmms again, leaning in the doorway with his arms crossed as he watched you work.

It was nerve-wracking, having him over your shoulder. He hadn't said anything yet, but it felt like you could feel the complaints waiting to come. You just kept up the deep breathing, taking the clothes out of the water and dispersing them on the countertops throughout the house.

He had a very large home, no mcmansion that took up half the street, but a pretty place tucked in a nice down town area. Honestly, if the home and neighborhood wasn't so gorgeous, you probably would've turned around and told your supervisor to give the damn house to someone else.

But thankfully, or not, Simon seemed to harbor a certain comfort for his homes presentation. The indoors of his home reflected it as well, the house put together like it was being staged, every inch perfectly in place.

Maybe that's why it's not so surprising when the first complaint does manage to leave his lips in the form of a hiss as you go to open a cabinet door.

"Oi, what do you think yer doing?" He hisses, rushing over to grab your wrist and pull it from the knob. You gasp as he's suddenly in your space and touching you, flinching as he does.

"Um, I just gotta m-make sure the insides don't need to be wiped down, sir," your muscles shake as you speak— him actually coming over and grabbing had you a little shook up.

He waved his hand infront of your face, dismissing whatever you have to say, "None of that. Don't need'a open nothing that ain't yours." you just nod, taking your first breath once he's finally out of your space.

That would've been a very good thing to include in the work order, Nancy.

Well, at least that's a few less things to worry about cleaning, though you may have failed your task of not shitting your pants, because good lord. He's right back to his perch on the wall, observing you carefully now.

You get into your routine, floating room to room and doing each task per the work order. You slowly scrub the slight musky smoke smell that lingers throughout, instead replacing it with the smell of cinnamon and detergent.

He likes watching you work, but he knows he doesn't show it, not a flutter or twitch anywhere to be seen. He growls small, careful, watch it, leave it, keeping you on edge through every movement.

You do move much faster than your college though, much more gracefully. He notices your wandering eyes, lingering on the photos on the wall and the dates on his calender. He let's you get away with it, for now. Figured he'd picked on you enough, should probably just let you finish your work.

That is, until you approach the end of your routine. You'd been scrubbing and whipping and Simon snipping and snyding for almost an hour now, you'd made excellent time and you hope Simon knows that.

It's all you can think about, actually. Him and the way he has you doting on him, some broken part of you combined with the fear his giant stature instills has you easily folding to do whatever he says and respond to his every grunt. It has your mind a little clouded, even more so as you swing through every step of your routine with practiced care.

It was finally time for the last step of the routine, and you shivered out a breath as you unwrapped the vacuum. Simon had sank a little further away, now sitting at the kitchen table with his eyes glued to a newspaper, anxiety settling slightly without his prying eyes.

You get the cord untangled and laid out across the carpet, searching the perimeter of the room for an outlet. You couldn't see any in the open, and not wanting to risk pissing off Simon for moving furniture, you start to round the corner in your search.

Suddenly, you're against the wall, a giant hand against your sternum as the breath is knocked out of your lungs. His face is in yours, eyebrows furrowed and breath hot on your face as he spoke.

"Tha fuck ya think your doin'?" youre confused and breathless, small under him as he leers above.

"I dont- im-" "Been nothing but nice to ya since you clambered yer way up my damn porch, and I gave you one fuckin' rule." His voiced is raised at you now, chastising you in that brazen, gravely tone. "One! and what do you go and try to do?"

You're just confused, what had you done to elicit this response from him? You thought he was complacent and quiet at the table, what of his million little rules could you have broken?

That's when you see it. Her, you should say. Rylie, the big German Shepard he'd warned you to by no means vacuum around, was bundled up on the couch, inches from where you stand.

Fuck. how had you forgotten.

"Sir, i- I didn't realize, I didn't know she was there sir i-" You desperately try to make an excuse for yourself, but he's just shaking his head at you.

"Do ya think flutterin yer eyelashes a little is gonna make everything better?" He mocks you, his big blue eyes locked on you. You shake your head no, half of it to answer him, the other half just you shivering where you stand.

"No sir- I'm sorry sir I didnt- I forgot you told me and-"

He's clicking his tongue at you, a tsk tsk to put you to shame. To your suprise, each click when straight to your core, and suddenly the heat in the room is rising. Your body is flushed and your sure your face matches, if the way his eyes crinkle when he looks up at you says anything.

His hand doesn't leave your sternum, as he speaks, Inches from your face, "too good at this to be forgetting," he shakes his head, the praise a little shocking, and the soft, "too pretty," that follows it hammers the fact.

You breath is caught in your chest again as he leans into your ear, eyes wide and mouth clamped as he murmurs a deep.

"So how do you think I should go bout making sure you remember?"

[kirinda-ondo]

Where can one watch the astro boy cartoons. I only ever saw that one cgi movie they made around the same year as Coraline, and I wanna see the actual show because it looks really fun and interesting. (Also eto ranger where can I see that too?)

First of all anon I just want you to know that I love u for asking me this, just letting me whip out all my big interests

So admittedly my Astro Boy knowledge is severely out of date, as more legit websites to watch the various series have come and gone, but as of now, here's what I've been able to find. If anyone has more legit links please feel free to share them.

I'm also about to drop a whole bunch of information on you so like please bear with me

The dubs for the 60s, 80s, and 2003 dubs can be found here though I recommend bringing an adblocker. I must also add a disclaimer that due to a lot of weird dubbing and localization situations, the dubs are technically not the complete experience

For example, the 60s version has 193 episodes in total, but only 104 were dubbed and not in chronological order (also this is literallythe first anime dub ever so they took a LOT of creative liberties with cuts and localization). You can find the rest of the series here, but it's raw (meaning no subtitles) and also the website is in Chinese. That said it's pretty easy to tell what's happening even if you don't speak Japanese (aside from the second to last episode), though I'd recommend watching the dub first to have a foundation.

The 80s dub spliced the first 2 episodes together really weirdly as well as cut out certain scenes and even a song or two, but you can find it subbed here (though I highly recommend an ad adblocker)

The 2003 dub has a whole host of weird cuts and localization changes and we even lost a whole episode and had it replaced with a clip show. You can find it subbed here.

If you like these and want to get into the handful of spinoffs, come back to me and I can hook you up (they are considerably less finicky to find and watch lmao)

As for Eto Ranger, it is also not immune to weird translation problems so I must disclaimer these too ksjdjd. It never had an English dub, but there are a couple of dueling fansubs that I will spare you my long and personal history with for now. The MugenX subs are a more faithful translation, but due to losing their translation checker, they are a lot rougher in places after a certain point, both grammatically and in timing. Then you have what I call the Baffle subs, which are cleaner and do use the rough MugenX translation as a base, but take a lot more... creative liberties with the editing and translation. I am admittedly heavily biased towards the MugenX subs, which I have placed in a playlist here so you don't have to hop channels (just make sure that after episode 15 you set the captions to English (Canada), though episode 28 is the only one without this option). If that sort of thing doesn't bother you though, you can just watch straight from the beginning with captions set to regular English here

If you sat through this whole explanation and weren't horribly daunted by any of this and actually want to watch these, know that I love and respect you so fucking much

[athys-obelia]

summary: the non dysfunctional!imperial family au hcs no one asked for 😳👉👈

character/s: anastacius de alger obelia, claude de alger obelia, athanasia de alger obelia, jennette de alger obelia

here's part 2 :)

let’s set our stage, shall we?

first of all claude n anastacius’ dad is dead coz we don’t like him at all ew

so ana is the emperor, and claude is his heir presumptive (aka he’s got the strongest claim to the throne rn, but this can be changed by the birth of someone who has a stronger one - ie, anastacius’ child who would be the heir apparent) also bc “i know my mom and i gave u lots of childhood trauma that you prlly won’t be recovering from because therapists aren’t a thing here but here’s a crown you might get to make it better”

claude’s in a position where after the birth of ana’s kid/direct descendant, he’s gonna be given a duchy that athy should inherit after him while still retaining the title of prince

but after hearing of diana’s pregnancy, ana tells her and claude he doesn’t really plan on having children and wants to make their future kid his successor

he basically reserves a spot for their child in the directory and rather than announcing anything publically, anastacius names her athanasia after the sex is confirmed

then this mf obviously pulls a clown move and gets penelope pregnant and complicates things, ultimately naming her jennette, finding the name fitting - ‘god is gracious’

and really, what could be more evidence of god’s grace than the child he’s now fathering, when he thought his legacy would be ending with him?

anyways!!!

so since athy and jennette are born near the beginning of ana’s reign, both claude and anastacius are wayyy too busy trying to bring back the empire from the literal brink of bankruptcy and a possible war to really spend time w their kids

it’s alright, though!! lily is hired as athy’s nanny, while jennette gets kiel’s mom as hers

they all still live together, though obviously the main palace is for ana + jennette while claude + athy are in a separate one

this 'separate one’ is ruby palace after ana dismisses the concubines and he definitely 100% did this on purpose, and whenever he’s summoning claude he’s such a shit about it and goes about it the way you’d summon a deadass concubine

on a separate note, it’s surprisingly claude who visits athy first - he’s seen her here and there with lily but hasn’t ever had the chance to spend time w her. but now it’s almost been a year since athy’s birth (or diana’s death), her first birthday is fast approaching, and he is drunk

lily is a reallyyyy light sleeper and enters the nursery upon hearing someone inside

she doesn’t expect to see the prince standing above his daughter’s crib, a strand of her golden hair between his fingers as he just…stares at her

she approaches quietly, curtsying in greeting - he’s too absorbed to notice, and after a few minutes of silence lilian tells him, “babies can get lonely too, your highness.”

he glances at her then, confused. “how?” he really can’t understand how this girl, who can’t even speak yet comprehend something like loneliness

“princess athanasia is very responsive to her surroundings, much more than children her age usually are,” lily says, “and i like to believe children are able to tell when their parents are with them.”

he scoffs - what a foolish thought. still, claude sits by her bedside, and before he can register it, he’s taken over by sleep

the next night, claude makes his way towards the nursery and stiffly asks if athy could sleep beside him for the night - it’s fairly late, but lilian allows it

he’s gone to the main palace too early the next morning for athy to be awake, but she spent about two minutes tops worrying about the strange surroundings, saw the shiny chandelier and fancy bed and decided yes, she doesn’t mind this kidnapping

this becomes somewhat of a regular occurrence soon enough, and sometime that week she wakes up in the middle of the night with her nose pressed into something soft and literally falls off the huge ass bed at the realisation that this something soft is actually her papa’s hair (you just know that hair smells great i mean uh-)

this mans wakes up and peeks at her on the ground, reaches out to grab her from the front of her nightdress (he swears it’s exactly how he’s seen lilian do it) and plops her back onto the bed

she backs up OBVIOUSLY, you don’t just wake up with a random ass man in your bed and just vibe together?? lee jihye is dying but he glares at her for disturbing his sleep and athy pulls her act together in 0.000001 secs as claude pulls her closer and goes back to sleep

as athy grows, claude starts allowing her to visit his office during the day until it becomes a sort of ritual - he’d have tea and milk prepared and she’d come, sitting somewhere completing a puzzle or sum while he works

mans nearly tears down the entire imperial palace the day she doesn’t show up until he finds her in the garden, teaching jettie the 'proper’ way to hold a teacup during tea parties while lilian and roger’s wife, vivian, watch

athy emotionally blackmails asks him to join the tea party, so half an hour later, anastacius finds his brother sitting on the grass with a plastic teacup that athy’s filling with hot water as she lectures him to learn to fix his posture from lily so he can sit like a “proper dignified lady”

so in the beginning, jennette actually ends up spending more time with claude than her dad. though one day, the brothers are in the audience hall when athy runs in with felix running after her telling her not to run (there’s a shit ton of guards surrounding anastacius so felix has orders to be with princess athanasia when claude is with ana)

anastacius is used to this sight, and watches, smirking at his brother’s subtle smile as athy offers him this wonky looking flower crown - claude accepts it wordlessly, and ana wants to slap his ass to sanity, who wouldn’t thank their kid when they do adorable things like this??

but then they hear another voice, and in comes jennette with vivian not too far behind her. now jettie has a much cleaner looking crown in her hand, but she glances at her father’s elaborate and beautiful crown all embedded with gems and glittering and then at the one she’s fashioned out of daisies

she's always thought she was much like her uncle - jennette was so fascinated by the plain daises, they weren’t flashy but caught her eye all the same - while athy was shiny and bold like her dad

but now she’s second guessing her choice, how could she make such a simple crown for her dad, the emperor??

claude sighs from beside anastacius and literally picks off his brother’s crown before tossing it towards a very tired felix

athy urges jennette forward, and with a bright red covering her entire face she offers the crown. jennette glances at her uncle for comfort before muttering, “for papa”

anastacius.exe has crashed

this blushly, embarrassed, and apparently talented at flower crowns kid was his?

long story short he forgets to breathe or react and jettie thinks he hates the crown and hates her and won’t ever like to see her again so she starts getting teary

claude pushes his brother’s head down before athy can be convicted for murder

ana 100% almost faints when her tiny chubby fingers delicately place the crown in place, he’ll never admit it but he closed his eyes and almost hugged her instinctively as she shyly adjusted some of his bangs around the new headpiece, muttering, “papa pretty”

jennette rushes back to her sister, who’s glaring daggers at the emperor

anastacius tries to smile to calm jennette a bit and maybe look nice enough for his niece to not kill him in his sleep

right well kiel becomes the royal playmate for both the princesses - athy has her classes with him since she’s advanced and honestly they’ll be going back forth with infodumps one minute and he’s teaching her to make paper airplanes the next

(she writes notes on the paper airplanes the next time she’s in claude’s office and flies them towards him, stuff like, 'does uncle cius also snore loudly like papa?’ and he gets seriously offended like a pissbaby)

jennette first met kiel when he was visiting his mom - vivian had to leave for a bit and she taught him a bunch of flower names and their meanings in the meantime - he makes sure to research a new flower every time he visits her, and brings her a bouquet of said flowers she always knows them but never says anything coz she doesn’t wanna hurt his feelings and he gets so excited as he tells her about their meanings it’s so cute

speaking of jennette - claude and ana may seem worlds apart but they’re at the same level of emotionally constipated

ana watches his brother and niece interact and he craves that, an unconditional, timeless love that can’t possibly be tainted by ulterior motives or the like, but he just doesn’t know how to approach little jettie

it seems easy enough - she’s a smiley, sweet girl and theoretically would be friendly if he is to approach her

but gods he’s just so ashamed - such a sweet babe grew without either of her parents and he doesn’t have an excuse because holy hell, even claude is close to athy

he’s being served food in his chambers when he asks the maid about jennette, and she tells him how among her first words was 'love’ and the brunette would just stroll the palace pointing at people and declare “love you” and watch their face light up

thats so CUTE OMFG

his jaw is touching the floor when he’s told that his daughter knows the names of every worker within the palaces

at this point he’s honestly questioning whether this child is his at all

he’s absolutely horrified at the realisation that this maid, who doesn’t even work in jennette’s part of the palace, knows more about her than he does - hell, he hadn’t even asked vivian to keep him updated on her growth, what right does he have to stick himself into her life now?

now, the maid quietly suggests starting with something small like inviting jennette to tea and

of course he goes about it the wrong way??

poor jettie thinks she’s being tested by the ruthless emperor on her etiquette and spends the entire day practicing with claude after athy guilted him into it

she’s so nervous in front of her dad that he honestly feels even guiltier, and anastacius hurries to grab her hands in his to calm their tremble as she reaches to serve him tea

she apologises lmao and he’s just so flustered himself that he orders for her to sit down and instructs her through a few deep breaths

as she calms down, ana serves her the tea before asking whether girls her age even drink tea

she says no and you can literally hear the crickets

he slides the cup he’s poured for her over to his side before gesturing towards the deserts (it was claude’s daughter-luring pro tip) on her side

“you look like you read a lot,” ana says, before asking whether she’s been reading anything interesting lately

“i don’t, actually,” she tells him shyly

anastacius laughs at how of all things his hate for books is what she got from him - and only when jennette chuckles does he realise that he said that out loud

he lets her go around her bedtime, feeling rather… energized? he doesn’t know how to explain it, but it’s a good feeling

he’s busy again the next day, but has an aide send her flowers - the same ones she had put in her flower crown for him

yes lucas is still sleeping in the palace, yes athy still finds him

so athy sees the flowers from uncle cius and is enraged, literally walks up to her uncle and demands he leave jennette alone if he’s only gonna break her heart by neglecting her

and so we have fifteen minutes of the emperor of obelia stuttering as he explains himself to this seven year old

smfh his cluelessness reminds her of her own dad and she takes pity on ana’s suffering soul

the next morning, to give him a chance to redeem himself, athy asks all four of them to have breakfast together - they accept the invitation, and despite an awkward start, the meal seems to be going well

peace is not written in this family’s fate however, and this is where the first coughing up blood thing happens

ohhhh the palace staff almost gets massacred that day

athy’s limp body is moved to jennette’s room since it’s the closest - lily bursts into tears at the very sight of her princess, jennette refuses to eat or drink until her sister can, felix hears his heart break, claude is barely holding himself together

ana is livid - who dares poison a member of his family? what has he even done to earn the privilege of calling these girls his family, when he can’t protect them, at the very least?

claude absolutely refuses to leave her room and finishes all his work right outside her door, lest she wake up in pain again

anastacius can’t keep his own anxiety about jennette at bay, insisting she sleep with him as long as claude stays with athanasia - he can tell she’s drained, and she ends up sharing some of her worries late at night. he soothes both her worries and her cries, letting her curl up into him despite it being a rather uncomfortable position

the family is thrown into chaos again once they realise it was never poison, but athy’s own magic that caused this

aka when chibi lucas drops by and voodoos her back to 100%, everyone legit starts worshipping the ground he walks on - he saved their precious princess!!

ana insists on making him athy’s royal playmate after hearing she isn’t fully healed yet

what does this give us? well, a very very early lucas vs kiel

since they’ve both got the title of royal playmate, they constantly argue on whether being the future duke alpheus is a better title than the future royal magician

the girls are always dragged into this - athy always takes kiel’s side to avenge blackie, and jennette likes kiel too, but the young magician sir saved her sister!!

so.

when vivian passes away due to an illness, it’s like roger is an entirely different person

jennette + kiel + athy all help with the funeral preparations since she was a mother/aunt to them all

felix seems to be paying extra attention to kiel

it isn’t long after this that roger decides to send him to arlanta for his studies, leaving behind two disillusioned princesses

athy spends her time viciously studying to stay ahead of arlanta’s curriculum, while jennette takes an interest in cooking

(athy tries and fails spectacularly; lucas laughs at her and jettie accidentally serves him his favourite food too salty to be edible)

a/n: this would be the first of the two parts, so stay on the lookout, hope y'all enjoyed n have a great day <3

edit: part 2

[thatsthewrongwallcraig]

Behind The Fence

-8.2- The Sword Of Damocles

Summary: After what had happened the two brother's go hard on each other - and you're right in the middle.

Pairing: Female!OFC x Craig Cody

Content warnings: Explicit language, angst, emotional manipulation, talk about sex and as always: 18+!

You can read Part 8 here!

Check out my Masterlist!

Yet again I felt terrible. I hated me for drinking so much again, but still I immediately wanted to do it all over, just to ease the hangover. In a vain attempt on making myself feel less like the wreck that I was I turned around to Craig, who had been comforting me all night.

It felt good to feel his skin underneath my fingers, to know that he was there, right next to me. I let my fingers run across his chest and stomach underneath of his slightly sweaty tee. I didn't know what kind of job the Cody's pulled exactly, but I always wondered how Craig could get outta there without being an adrenaline filled, smelly mess.

"Mornin', babe.." he mumbled in a sleepy haze, all cramped up on that rather tiny sofa I already had troubles sleeping comfortably on. Without a second guess I cuddled up to him and pressed my lips onto his.

"I love you too..." I pressed, in remembrance of what he had uttered to me last night. I could feel his lips twirl up to a smile as he gently cupped my face with one hand.

"I hope my brother was worth it..."

"What!?"

"Oh babe, you got him all over you. The two of you had the whole bar smelling like alcohol and sex."

I tore my eyes wide open at his words. An instant wave of shame hit and buried myself underneath it.

"Is this like...a regular thing you do? Getting banged by Deran after work..."

I shook my head in response. To defend myself somehow I murmured: "Nicky was looking for you last night..."

Craig bit his lip in a knowing grin.

"Are you concerned about her? She's a little girl... you're a woman."

He leaned in for a long kiss that I just let happen. Pulling my body closer to his, Craig didn't seem to be bothered at all. Neither with me knowing about Nicky nor about me having a moment with Deran and somehow that's what I needed to feel. Apparently, without any intention, I had pledged a good part of me to his grace again. He had me at his mercy and he fucking knew it already.

Yet I hoped that this was just my hungover brain taking the wheel. I simply despised the way I thought, how vulnerable I got and how much of a needy, whiny puddle I turned into after drinking too much.

"Is he giving you something I'm not?" Craig went on asking with a sly, curious tone.

"Uhm..." There were plenty of things that came to my mind, but non of them to be spoken of. It wouldn't have made a real difference anyway. Craig would get angry, we'd get into a fight and the status quo, I was so keen on keeping intact, torn apart.

All of the above something I really couldn't handle just now. Surrendering myself to it I leand my head against his chest, trying to ease my whirling mind.

"I think we should get you a shower and a cup of coffee afterwards, babe." His words weren't much of a suggestion but rather a poorly disguised command.

"Sure..." I agreed with a tired sigh and made a move to get off of the couch.

Walking right behind me, Craig and I entered the bar area that was drenched in silently judging shame and the smell of bleach cleaners. Apparently Pope had already done his cleaning deeds and upon that realisation I wondered how much we had slept in.

"Risen from the dead, huh?" Deran commented our arrival, his back towards the two of us. He was so terrible at hiding how he felt that I didn't even need to see his face to know that he wished for a deep black hole to open up and swallow him whole. In our very own kind of ways we both found ourselves stuck under Craig's thumb. The sword of Damocles that hovered over our heads at any time.

"Yah..." Craig scoffed with a sharp voice, shoving us towards the front door in a stern pace. He was undeniably eager on getting me away from his brother.

"I'll see you around later then?" This question was directed at me.

"Uh...yeah." I answered without turning around. There wouldn't have been anything else to look at than Craig towering behind me. To my surprise he didn't push me right out of the bar, but stopped right in front of the door. A dreadful premonition took a hold on me as I heard Craig turning towards Deran.

"C'mon on... we gotta go, nuh?" I reached behind me to tug on his shirt. Please, I begged, don't be so butthurt. Just shut up and leave him alone, please. Unaware of my silent prayers Craig cleared his throat and hissed: "I think we should have a talk sometime soon."

He really had to take it out on him? So much for Craig acting as if it hadn't struck him. Making me feel like an absolute prick with his toxic protective behaviour.

"Oh yeah, I think so too." Deran picked up on that. It seemed as if Craig hadn't expected this much headwind from his brother and to be quite honest, neither did I. Not to say that Deran was a coward in any way, but he preferred to keep things low around Craig, just as I did.

"Carefull, mate."

"What's your goddamn problem, Craig?" Deran snapped back and now I turned around too. Peaking around Craig I witnessed them both staring at each other.

"Just don't lay hands on her ever again." Craig clearly wasn't prepared at all for his brother standing up for himself and already ran out of snappy, biting comments to throw around.

"I really don't think that that's any of your business, man. Now please do me a favour and fuck off."

"Or what?"

I closed my eyes to take a deep breath. Goddamn manbaby...

"Or you better bet that I'll kick your stupid ass once more." Deran replied in a calm voice.

"We'll see about that.", Craig groaned back at him "We ain't done here."

Turning back towards the door he continued his walk out of the bar, but without dragging me with him. He swiftly curved around me, pulled the door open and waited on me to make a move, as if this was some kind of test on proving my obedience. It was obvious that he was very much done here, but way too proud to just keep his mouth shut.

With a now clear view at each other Deran and I exchanged a look of sympathy, guilt and exhaustion before he hinted me to follow Craig. Neither of us wanted him changing his mind about leaving.

-----------------

Taglist:

@ysmmsy

@demotalias

[mithranqueersmusings]

Here, There and Everywhere II

Chapter: 2/?

Rating: U

Summary:  You're a regular to The Cavern and you've always loved watching The Beatles play, even if you do have to deal with sweaty crowds, screaming girls and pervy guys. One day under rather unfortunate circumstances, you finally get to meet them which eventually, and oddly, leads to them living with you.

Tags: Domestic fluff, slow burn, eventual smut/romance

Pairings: George Harrison/Reader

AO3 link here / Fic masterlist here

You rooted around in your kitchen cupboard for some brandy, eventually finding an old bottle at the back which was almost full. You put it on the table with five glasses and sat down, Paul and Ringo sat down too but John and George scoped around the kitchen curiously. You poured some brandy into each of the glasses and passed them around the table. Eventually the other two boys sat down and everyone looked pretty comfortable which made you very happy.

"So what do you do for work, if you don't mind me asking." Ringo asked, he was sat nearest to you on your left and had already finished half of his drink.

"I'm a secretary. Not very exciting, I know, but I have to pay the bills somehow." You said, taking a sip of your drink and remembering exactly why you never drank brandy.

"You run the whole house on your own then?" Paul asked, he too was making his way through the drink quickly "Must be pretty lonely."

"Yeah, it can be. It's nice to have the kitchen so full again." You smiled at Paul who beamed back "Where do you guys live?"

There was a silence, each of the boys looked at each other rather awkwardly and you worried you'd asked something completely taboo. You were about to change the subject before George spoke up.

"It's complicated really. We don't really have a permanent residence, so to speak." George explained and the others nodded.

"We live in a cupboard." John said bluntly then laughed to himself once more.

"Don't be dramatic." Paul scolded with a smile "The deal we have with the club isn't great, we basically all share this tiny room between the four of us."

"It's not what you call ideal." Ringo said and your heart sank.

"Especially if you have to share a room with this one." John said as he gave Ringo a light shove "He snores like a bloody air raid siren!"

The mood was immediately lightened by John, something you figured he did quite often, and everyone was laughing and drinking again. The brandy bottle grew emptier and emptier as you all got drunker and drunker, eventually moving into the living room to sit on the sofas; you sat between George and Paul, while John sat in the armchair and Ringo sat on the floor - you tried to get him to swap with you but he insisted. Eventually the clock struck three and the boys all looked at each other, none of them realising what time it was.

"Bloody hell, is that the time?" Paul said as he looked at his watch "We best be getting back, we don't wanna get locked out again."

Quickly the boys got up and began gathering their things, and something in your chest felt heavy as you thought about being left alone in this house for yet another night, you'd feel especially lonely after enjoying the boys' company for so long.

"Wait!" You blurted out, more urgently than you intended, as John began putting on his shoes "Why don't you spend the night here?"

The boys all shared a look and you hated that they all seemed to be able to communicate without words in a way you couldn't understand. They all stood frozen, John still with one foot in the air as he pulled his boot on.

"You sure?" George asked.

"It's not just the brandy talking is it?" Ringo chuckled, he had stopped putting his shoes on.

"Well, maybe it is. It's just- I've got room, and I hate to think I'm sending you all away to go and sleep in a fucking cupboard." You rubbed the back of your neck awkwardly.

"You were the one that was meant to be thanking us, but I think the situations gone a bit topsy-turvy now." Paul smiled, taking off his coat again and hanging it up "We really don't want to impose."

"You're not, honestly. There's only two double beds so you'll have to share unless you want to sleep on the floor." You explained as you realised you hadn't thought this through as well as you should've.

"And where will you be sleeping?" John asked with a wiggle of his eyebrow.

"On the sofa, it's quite comfy really." You began to think about the state your room was in.

"Well I'm not sharing with Ringo." George said quickly "I've had enough of that racket. You should take the sofa."

Ringo scrunched up his face "Why don't you take the sofa since you're so quick to decide!"

"Cause my nose isn't faulty." George retorted, they both seemed quite serious but you could tell they were joking.

"Fine, I'll be the bigger person." Ringo said, realising the mistake he'd made immediately.

"That'd be a first." John chuckled, standing on his tip toes so that he towered over Ringo even more.

"Me and John can share one bed." Paul said "I don't wanna risk George punching me in his sleep again."

"That was one time, but whatever." George rolled his eyes "You probably deserved it anyway."

"Well if you want to take the bed George I'll sleep on the floor." You started to feel nervous as the reality of these four almost strangers sleeping in your house began to sink in.

"The floor? What do you take me for?" George scoffed "I'm not about to muscle into your bed and kick you onto the floor."

"Muscle?" Paul asked laughing, John and Ringo chuckling quietly as George shot him a playful glare.

"I can't put you on the floor, though." You felt your face getting a little hot; you really didn't want to be sharing a bed with George but you had a feeling he was going to be adamant about you not being on the floor.

"Here's a crazy idea guys." John stepped closer to the two of you "Double means two right? And there's one, two of you. Now I'm not too great at the old mathematics, but I think you might be able to share the bed between you." He put a finger on his chin and looked to the ceiling to feign being deep in thought.

Your face grew even redder at this and you looked at George to see him looking right back at you with a slight blush on his cheeks. John was looking at the both of you now, dramatically turning his head to face either one of you as he waited for a response.

"I mean, I'm fine with it if you are. I really don't mind sleeping on the floor." George finally broke the silence and looked at you with what you thought might be a hopeful look.

"No, no, it's fine. I just didn't know if you'd be fine with it." You tried to remain as composed as possible.

"Great, we can all die happy." Paul said sarcastically "Now let's get to bed, shall we?"

"Oh I've got some pyjamas you guys can wear if you want. They were my Dad's so they'll be quite baggy but if you don't wanna sleep in your clothes, the offer is there." You felt yourself returning to normality. You never got round to sorting through all your parents things, it hadn't been that long since they had passed, and you couldn't ever bring yourself to throwing their stuff out while you still had the space to keep it. Your dad was a pretty big man and only ever wore T-shirts and baggy trousers in his old age so they'd make perfect pyjamas for the boys.

"None for Ringo." John started "He sleeps in the nip." He whispered the final words, covering his mouth obviously and winking.

"Hey! I wasn't about to sleep naked on her bloody sofa now was I?" Ringo smacked John on the shoulder who just laughed.

"I dunno, were you?" George laughed.

"I'll take some pyjamas please." Paul spoke quickly before another silly argument began "We all will, won't we lads?"

They all nodded and made small noises "Alright, I'll go and grab them and sort the beds out. I won't be a minute." You smiled and rushed up the stairs, leaving the boys in the hall.

You didn't come into your parents' old room very often and you didn't need to do much to get it ready for Paul and John. You rooted through your Dad's old clothes and pulled out four loose shirts and trousers, folding two piles neatly on the bed and taking the others back downstairs with you. The boys were all still in the hall with Ringo standing by the living room door, no doubt he was sizing up his sleeping arrangement for the night, they all seemed very relaxed and smiled up at you as you came down the stairs.

"I've left two pairs on the bed in there." You said gesturing to your parents' room "And here's one for you Ringo." You passed him the clothes and he accepted them happily "And for you George." As you passed the clothes to him your hands brushed which sent a shudder down your spine which you managed to suppress.

Ringo held the clothes out in front of him "Blimey, your dad must've been huge." He said more to himself than anyone else.

You laughed "Yeah, he liked his food that's for sure. They're kinda raggedy but I hope they'll do just for sleeping in."

"I'm sure they're fine." Paul smiled "Well we best be heading to bed."

Paul and John started heading up the stairs "G'night all." Paul said while John simply held up his hand as they vanished into the room.

Ringo walked into the living room and you followed him "There's blankets and stuff in that ottomon, so help yourself." You said as Ringo plopped himself down on the sofa.

"Alrighty, thanks a bunch." He smiled widely "You're a real doll. Good night."

"Night." You smiled back and walked into the hall to find George still standing there, fiddling with the clothes you'd handed him. Closing the living room door behind you, you suddenly realised how alone you and George were and how alone you'd be in your room; you weren't entirely sure how comfortable you were with it. George seemed to be feeling the same way and gave you a weak smile when your eyes meet.

"Shall we?" You said, trying to hide your awkwardness as you began heading up the stairs to your room "My room's a bit of a state right now so I'm sorry. It's usually a lot cleaner when-"

"When you invite bands to sleep at your house?" George joked bluntly and you paused for a second before laughing, it was hard to tell sometimes whether he was kidding or not.

"Yes, exactly." You chuckled as you walked into your room, immediately kicking the piles of dirty clothes into the corner and straightening up anything you could. George followed you slowly and looked around your room curiously.

"Nice room." He said simply, not walking in much further from the door as he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself.

You'd taken people home with you before of course, but this wasn't like that. If this was a regular one night stand you'd be far drunker, the lights would be off and soon would both of your clothes without much grace or shame. But this wasn't like that, you weren't even sure what this was. You straightened the bed covers as best you could and looked for a clean pair of pyjamas in your wardrobe. While you did that, George walked a little further into the room and sat down on the bed, something told you he was having the exact same thoughts as you and had no idea what to do or say.

"I really don't mind taking the floor." George said softly and you almost didn't hear him.

You turned around holding some clean pyjamas "Don't be silly George, it's such a tip anyway I don't think there's any space for you." You tried to lighten the mood and you both smiled at each other.

You put the clothes down on the bed while you sorted a few things out in the room, you know George probably didn't care but you couldn't help feeling embarrassed about the mess. George didn't move from the bed, continuing to fiddle with the clothes when you realised he wasn't going to get dressed in front of you.

"I'll just-" George looked up at you quickly and his intense stare stopped you in your tracks "I'll go get changed in the bathroom, I'll be back." You felt awkward again as you left the room in a hurry, heading to the bathroom.

You shut the door behind you and let out a heavy sigh, resting against the sink then turning around to look at yourself in the mirror. Your face was a little red and you couldn't figure out if it was because of the brandy or the embarrassment. What were you doing? Inviting them into your house was one thing, it was understandable, letting them stay the night was another, it was bordering on strange, and sharing a bed with a man you barely knew but had also idolised for a long time was a whole other thing entirely, it was madness. So why don't you just let him sleep on the floor, you asked yourself, and you had to admit to yourself that you wanted to share a bed with him, even if it didn't really mean anything. You let out another deep breath and decided to just carry on with the plan so you started getting out of your clothes. As you undressed you checked yourself out in the mirror as best you could and couldn't help feeling a little self conscious; you began thinking that you didn't have to worry about any of the boys getting the wrong idea because there was no way they could be attracted to you. Deep in thought, you didn't notice the bathroom door opening and an unknowing George poking his head round only to see you standing completely naked in front of him. He shut the door as quickly as possible and startled you, and you covered yourself up even though it was too late.

"Fuck, I'm so sorry." George spoke through the door "You left your clothes on your bed, so I thought I'd bring them to you." You could hear the embarrassment in his voice but you were certain he didn't feel as bad as you did.

"Oh." Was all you managed to say as you moved closer to the door.

"I'll just leave them outside. Again, I'm really sorry." He was silent for a moment but you could tell he was still there "Please don't think I did that on purpose."

You heard his footsteps walking back into your bedroom and when you figured the coast was clear you opened the door slightly and grabbed the clothes as quick as you could. You got dressed quickly too but then stood looking into the mirror again, unsure how easy it was going to be to walk back into that room. Surely George would just go straight to sleep, that was the only solution you could see for what just happened. You gripped onto the edge of the sink tightly and steeled yourself before walking back into your bedroom. To your dismay, George was not asleep, he was lying on top of the cover in the clothes you'd given him just staring off into space. When he noticed you a sad expression spread over his face subtly and you weren't sure what to say. The clothes he was wearing now really accentuated how skinny he was, he looked tiny in the baggy clothes and you were so jealous of his slim figure. You weren't purposefully looking at him like this, and you hadn't thought that George would be able to see you looking at him in such a way.

"Just cause I saw you naked doesn't mean you have to try and imagine me in the nude." George was blunt once again, and this time you really weren't sure whether he was joking or not.

You stayed rooted to the floor by your door "I-I wasn't." You spluttered out.

"Silly me, you must've been admiring the material of these lovely trousers." His tone lightened and you relaxed, taking a few step closer but still not settling on the bed.

"I don't want this to be weird." You said finally, fiddling with a loose strand of hair.

"What's weird? I saved you from a perv at the club, you take me and my mates back to yours for a drink, you invite us to stay the night and I walk in on you completely naked! What's so weird about that?" George raised an eyebrow and you laughed "Do I wish that what just happened never happened? Yes. Do I now have the image of your naked body in my brain? Yes. Am I now conflicted about sharing a bed with you? Maybe. Am I still going to share a bed with you?" He didn't answer his question, and raised an eyebrow as he waited for you to respond.

"Yes?" You answered sheepishly, unsure what the right thing was to say.

"Yes it is then." He chuckled as he jumped under the covers quickly, pulling the covers off so that you could climb in but you still hesitated "Oh, come on. Am I gonna have to strip down to make you feel better?" You paused again, George was so impossible to read sometimes.

You both looked at one another, neither one sure exactly what the vibe in the room was. Surely he was joking, right? But what if he wasn't joking and you were going to miss an opportunity that might never come around again? Even worse, what if he was joking and you made things painfully awkward by assuming he wasn't? The silence was heavy in the room and it felt like it would never end, both of you still looking into each other's eyes until George finally got up.

"Fine! If that's what it'll take to get you to loosen up." George said calmly as he already began taking off his shirt.

"No, no, no, don't be ridiculous." You said but even you didn't believe the words.

"It's no big deal, I have to get naked in front of the lads all the time. All of us crammed into that tiny room, there's no space left for dignity." He winked at you "If I've seen you starkers it's only fair. But I'm warning you, don't fall in love with me when you see me naked because that'd just make things awkward."

You let out an awkward chuckle as you worried you might already be going against George's words. He got undressed quickly, not making a show of it at all as though it really meant nothing to him. He was slim, as you already knew, but he wasn't scrawny by any means, there was the promises of abs on his stomach and his biceps looked strong; his legs were thin and you cursed him for having better legs than you.

"Now, I only saw you for a second, so you only get to see me and him for a second." George said as his thumbs dipped into the waistband of his boxers. You gulped, part of you wanting to laugh at the playfulness of it all and the other part just wanting to melt in a mixture of embarrassment and excitement. He pulled his boxers down for a few seconds and you wanted to look away, to laugh it all off, but you couldn't. He was pretty big, surprisingly with how slender he was, and before you could even think of something funny to say to break the tension he was already putting his clothes back on.

"Normally I'd charge for that." George chuckled as he slid back into the shirt and into bed, patting the space beside him enthusiastically.

You rushed into bed as you couldn't bear to have him looking at you with those eyes anymore and you figured if you didn't move now you'd be stuck in that spot all night. George laughed as you hurried under the covers and how you held them so high on your chest as if you worried he could see through your clothes.

"Look, if Paul and John can share a bed I'm sure we can manage it. Alright?" His words were jokey but his tone was sweet and something about the way he looked at you now made your heart beat a little faster.

"Yeah, of course. Sorry for being weird, think it was just the shock." You forced yourself to return to normality.

"Shock? I know I'm big but I don't know i-" George stopped when you hit him lightly on the arm and you both laughed together "Jokes aside, thanks a lot for taking us in tonight. I'm getting pretty used to that dingy, old room so it's nice to come back to normality."

"It's no trouble, really. I know I don't really know you guys but watching you play so often, I feel like I do. I'd like to say it's not just because I'm lonely here but I know that's partly to do with it, but spending time with you all has made me feel really happy, so I want that to last a little bit longer." You hadn't meant to take things to a sad place but you wanted to tell the truth, you felt like George wasn't going to judge you for it. When you finished speaking he put his hand onto yours and squeezed it comfortingly, which removed any doubt you had in your mind.

"Maybe I should make a habit of rescuing pretty girls." George let go off your hand but your face only got redder with this comment, you usually weren't so awkward with men but you'd never been in a situation like this before.

"Pretty, you say?" You raised an eyebrow jokingly.

"I do say." George chuckled, turning his body to face you "Do my words offend you, madam?"

"I suppose not." You relaxed more into the bed "I'd prefer beautiful or gorgeous, but I'll take it."

"I'm afraid I can't brand you gorgeous until I see you naked for at least 7 seconds, I'm afraid you clocked in at about 6.25." His smile widened and you could clearly see his sharp canines poking through, you'd never really noticed them before.

"Counting, were you?"

"I take my naked women very seriously."

"Really? Not from behind?" George was a little stunned by your blunt joke and his face was shocked for a second but his grin soon returned, and you began to realise how much you liked the look of his sharp teeth.

"Depends if they ask nicely or not."

"Nicely? I thought your name was George." You laughed at your own joke, knowing how stupid it was but you just couldn't resist.

"And I thought you had a sense of humour." George retorted, settling more into his position in the bed.

When you both finished laughing you just looked at one another for a few seconds, even though the atmosphere was definitely more relaxed it was still pretty elusive. It really could go either way, you felt, and you just wish you knew what was going on in George's head.

[phobiadeficient]

Hey! First of all tell ya that holyfcknshit your writing gives me life! Like, ugh, youre my fckn fave writer!!! Aaaand this is my first request!: Transboy!Scout x Sniper x Demo! Maybe a little hurt/comfort centered on Scout? I just rlly love this three guys together!! Anything with them makes me happy! And your writing with this ship? Ugh ill be in heaven!! You dont have to do it if u dont like or arent comfy with it, tho! Thanks for letting us read your wonderful works!!

can you imagine being scout tf2 in this situation? “yeah im getting a little dysphoria guess i’ll talk to my two hot boyfriends abt it” like can you Imagine

(warnings for discussion of dysphoria and non-graphic PIV sex, i understand that not all trans men are comfortable with that but when i headcanon scout as trans i also tend to headcanon him not being particularly prone to most kinds of body dysphoria and having a generally positive self-image overall. just wanted to be clear on that)

-

Overall, Scout felt pretty nice. With his two guys, fresh off of dinner and just a little bit buzzed, squished between the two of them all cozy and stuff, and Sniper was playing with his hair and Demo was telling some story about a dumb kid he knew in school and stuff was overall just real nice.

And of course his stupid brain had to come along and ruin it by making him think about sad shit.

They were in Demo’s room since he was the only one of them who was smart enough to get a big mattress. Scout had Sniper’s arm just sort of thrown over across him, he and Demo’s hands intertwined on Scout’s stomach, and he just kinda looked at them for a minute. He thought it was kinda neat just seeing all the little details there, how Demo kept his hands cleaner but his nails were longer, Sniper’s clipped way short but still just a bit dusty. Or maybe that was just his callouses and some weird tanning sort of thing going on, who could say? Demo’s hands always kind of ran warm, and Sniper’s always kind of ran chilly, and Scout would go way warm or cold depending on the day, super susceptible to temperature because he was such a skinny little fuck.

Maybe that’s what he was staring about. Looking at their arms, it was made all the more clear how much scrawnier Scout was. It wasn’t even like Sniper was a particularly buff guy, he could be described as “in-shape” at best, but he was still just... bigger than Scout.

And the other thing, he realized, was that man, Demo and Sniper were both pretty fuzzy dudes. Hair on their arms and legs and all across their chests, Demo with a pretty nice beard and Sniper with almost a beard on accident.

Wham, just like that, like a bat to the temple, self-consciousness, self-doubt. Because that was just one of those little tiny things that Scout would get super insecure about all the goddamn time. Just the little tiny differences. Like the slightly different jaw, the slightly longer eyelashes, the slightly different build. And Scout was lucky, he knew that, because he was tall, and he knew how to work out to build his muscles so he could pass pretty easily in that regard, and his chest wasn’t anything to brag about to start with let alone when he started binding.

But the lack of facial hair, and the hair everywhere else on his body being kind of pale and nothing, and his scrawnier arms, it just...

He exhaled slowly, letting his eyes fall closed. Okay, he needed to slow down and take a breath. Here he was, squished between his two favorite guys on the planet, and who just so happened to be willing to date him and sleep with him on a regular basis, and who were also really hot, and he was getting all up in his own head over nothing. It was dumb. He needed to quit it.

But his brain kept cycling him through it, again and again, and it was Sniper who eventually pulled him out of it.

At some point he’d started playing with the hair on Sniper’s arm, just sort of fiddling, pushing his fingertips across his forearm idly, and Sniper tilted his head to watch him do so. That made Scout suddenly aware that he was doing it, and he faltered for a second, but he continued anyways, even as it made his thoughts a little harder to ignore when doing it consciously.

“One day, love,” Sniper said quietly, and Scout looked up at him, a little wide-eyed with surprise. Sniper smiled a little. “You’ve been doing that for about twenty minutes and staring off into space like you’re waiting for your spouse to come back from the war, love, it was a pretty easy guess to make,” he elaborated.

Scout looked back down and away. Chewed on his lip and his words.

“Is it, like,” Scout started, and had to pause for a second to think of how to word it right. “Is it ever,

y’know, weird? How I’m all... smooth and stuff? And not fuzzy like you guys?”

“Not particularly,” Demo shrugged, the shift minute since Scout could feel it. “Not a big difference.”

“I’ve met plenty of blokes who shave or wax anyways to look nice for other blokes, you’re a good few steps more hairy than them,” Sniper added.

Scout nodded slowly. “...And the... you’ve already said all the other stuff isn’t weird,” he said carefully.

“Aye,” Demo agreed.

Scout was quiet again for a few seconds.

Sniper stopped playing with his hair and removed his hand entirely, and Scout went to complain about it, but was surprised into staying quiet by Sniper rolling to prop himself up over Scout, looking down at him. “Love, are we not telling you enough how handsome you are?” Sniper teased.

Scout flushed. “You tell me plenty,” he mumbled, glancing off.

Sniper took hold of his chin and tilted him back to face him, mouth very very close to his own. “Could tell you more.”

“Could show you more,” Demo agreed, finding a place to wrap his arm over around Scout, kissing at the space under his ear and making him shiver lightly.

“I—guys, it’s fine,” he protested, but it was weak and halfhearted, because Sniper promptly moved to the other side of his neck to nip and kiss, following Demo’s lead. “I-I-I don’t need the... the extra sort of, the...”

He kept trailing off as his breath caught, the two of them being extremely distracting when they wanted to be. He jumped lightly when Demo pinched him lightly on the side, and heard the rumbly little chuckle of amusement that the motion got him.

They finished off getting him properly distracted, Demo parting with one last hard kiss on the lips, and then they were both just grinning down at him, leaving him there probably looking like a complete mess, spots on his neck surely starting to redden.

“Handsome,” Sniper observed simply.

“Gorgeous,” Demo agreed, and gave him another peck for good measure.

Scout’s face was on fire.

“...Well what are you gonna do about it?” he finally prompted impatiently, shifting a little.

Chuckles from both of them, and then they were in motion, starting to strip.

Scout took off his own briefs and the tank he used to bind when they were off work, and mostly just set to distracting Demo as the other tried to get out of his own clothes, much simpler than his uniform but more challenging when Scout was hanging off of him and kissing him absolutely silly.

Sniper pulled Scout off of Demo and back into his lap to free up Demo’s attention for a moment, and Scout’s breath caught as he felt a bare chest against his back and bare thighs under his own. Sniper kneaded at his thigh idly and tucked his head in to nose just under Scout’s ear and speak. “How d’you feel like doing this, love?” he asked softly, sentence punctuated by a little kiss. “Feels like it’s gonna be your night tonight, that sound right, Tavish?”

A sound of agreement from Demo as he struggled free of his shirt. Scout chewed on his lip and thought a little, shifting his weight back against Sniper and enjoying the way Sniper steadied him with arms wrapped around his waist, the hardness beneath him, situated in such a way that he had to really roll his hips down hard to apply any kind of real pressure and make Sniper exhale softly against his neck.

“I dunno, you could fuck me, maybe,” Scout suggested idly, rolling down against him again for emphasis.

Sniper considered that. “We got any rubbers, Tavish?” he asked, and Demo paused where he was pulling free of the last of his clothing, thinking.

“...Should,” he confirmed, moving to the bedside table to check, and coming up with a few foil squares a second later triumphantly.

“Alright then,” Sniper nodded, kissed at Scout’s neck some more. “Who d’you want for what then, love?”

“You fuck me, just like this, I suck Demo off,” Scout decided, eyeing up the bomb-maker in question as he joined them on the bed again, now naked and smiling a bit as he passed over the condoms to Sniper.

“Sounds good to me,” Demo agreed, and pulled Scout in with a hand on the back of his neck to kiss him, other hand drifting over his thigh and guiding him up into a kneeling position to give Sniper room.

Then there was a pair of fingers drifting along the inside of Scout’s thigh, moving between his legs to tease him for a few long moments before Sniper was slicking them up and slipping them inside with relative ease. Scout moaned softly against Demo’s mouth, earning a chuckle.

“Lovely thing,” Demo teased, both hands stroking over his thighs as they started to tremble under the force of Sniper’s fingers moving into and against him in throbbing waves, a skill afforded by experience he’d only gained since he’d gotten with Scout, but fuck, he’d really learned a lot in a short period of time, knew exactly what Scout liked, knew his tells, knew when he could add another finger, knew when he could pull his fingers out altogether and guide Scout back down into his lap carefully, carefully, and Scout was grateful that Demo had the foresight to get lubed condoms because the slide was so nice as he sank down.

Demo pulled back to let Scout moan and curse and make all sorts of noise, visibly admiring the show as Scout rolled and shifted his hips to try and find a good angle, Sniper muffling soft noises into his shoulder. A long few moments were spent with Scout trying desperately to get used to the feeling, only to be thrown off his rhythm as he found a good angle, then again as Sniper rolled his hips gently and the pressure shifted, then again as Demo pulled him back into a kiss.

“Gorgeous,” Sniper murmured against the top of his vertebrae, kissing there lightly, breathless. “Gorgeous thing.”

“You’re—“ Scout started to say, but it was cut off by a shaky sigh as Demo nipped at his bottom lip playfully, Sniper mirroring the motion against his backbone.

In no time at all, he was shifting his legs slightly to get comfortable and starting to move, a gentle up-and-down, barely exerting himself with how extremely fit he was, himself doing most of the work with Sniper rolling along when he could.

And Scout was lost in sensation for a little while, and Demo had been making himself busy lying a series of hickies all up one side of his neck, so he was a little surprised and largely pleased when he blinked his eyes open and saw that Demo had a hand around himself as he took in the view the two of them made. And once he realized that, Scout didn’t waste time nudging his hand aside to try and take over, and then he was being treated to the always-lovely experience of being caught between the two of them, all giving and taking pleasure as well as they could with their brains getting increasingly scrambled.

And Scout could vaguely remember having said something about sucking off Demo, but every time he tried to pull his hand away so they could readjust, Demo mumbled some vague complaint and urged him back into place again. And somewhere along the way Demo slid a hand down his stomach to toy with him in much the same way he was being toyed with, and then all motion was kicking up a notch—

Sniper was done first, surprisingly, swearing through gritted teeth, pulling out midway through as he shuddered through aftershocks that seemed to drag on and on. Scout gasped, and found himself desperate and just a little bit demanding. But man, he really did get lucky enough to find two guys who were real hot and pretty smart, because when Sniper had finally settled down a little Demo had already rolled on a condom and was urging Scout into his lap instead, and he exhaled with relief as he sank down again, mouth locking together with Demo’s as soon as he could get the breath for it, Demo working a hand back down between them to then work at Scout as best he could as the other lifted and rolled Scout with very little effort involved.

And at that point they were both worked along to the point where it barely took any time at all before Scout was trying to muffle himself into Demo’s neck—yes he got loud in bed, no he couldn’t help it, even if he tended to be the one the team then took potshots at over breakfast for being a noise complaint. And Demo was there too, swearing in a choked voice and breathing hard.

Actually, they both were breathing pretty hard. And Scout felt ever-so-slightly steamrolled and extremely pleased with himself and the state of the world around them. And he found himself playing with the abundance of hair across Demo’s chest as he came back down, melting into a nice little puddle  in his lap and humming, gone soft and relaxed.

“Handsome,” Demo quipped, kissing at the side of his head, and Scout couldn’t help but smile at the feeling of a beard rasping against his hair.

“Feeling better?” Sniper prompted, and Scout could only hum for a moment, still a little overwhelmed. That got a chuckle out of the both of them.

“Must’ve done something right, aye?” Demo asked, and Scout heard the two of them sharing a brief kiss over his shoulder, and that got him to grin all the more.

“You guys are the best,” Scout decided, mumbly but pleased.

A hum of agreement. “...Y’know that, er, thing you tend to do? Where I’ll be acting like an absolute bugger and mouthing off and you make me go eat lunch and then suddenly everything’s all better because I wasn’t in a bad mood, I was just hungry?” Sniper asked.

Scout hummed in agreement.

“Think this might be that for you,” Sniper concluded, smoothing hands down Scout’s sides, and Scout leaned into it. “A little attention and all’s right with the world, seems like.”

Demo cupped his chin and tilted his face up to kiss at his cheek, and Scout was sure he was grinning like a total dope, but he couldn’t help it. “More attention might be just what the doctor ordered,” he agreed. “That sound right to you, lad?”

Scout hummed in agreement, melting back forward into Demo’s chest again.

“Alright, lovely as you are you ought to get up so we can mop up, doll,” Demo urged, and helped shift Scout up and out of his lap gently. “Made a damn mess of you, would like to avoid ruining the sheets.”

“Shower?” Sniper asked, pulling Scout to his feet.

“Shower,” Scout agreed.

And maybe it was just that Scout had been a little pent-up and it was doing things to his head. Or maybe it was that the two of them were excellent at comforting him in any way he could when those doubts started to spring up. Either way, he found it really hard to be worried about something as simple as him being less hairy than your bog-standard guy off the street when he had Sniper playing and helping to wash his hair and Demo humming more gentle compliments into his ear and bickering quietly with Sniper over nothing important.

[the-redamancist]

ship happens (bang chan)

genre: fluff

word count: 0.8k

note: ‘i work at a movie theatre and i’m cleaning up after the movie is over and you’re the only person left because you’re ugly crying with popcorn over your lap’ au; for @princess-megz ilysm u deserve the world

see, chan didn't particularly like his job at the local theatre's snack bar

apart from being stuck behind a cramped counter all day, he has to deal with the constant heat emanating from the popcorn machine, the constant noise of screaming children when their parents refused to buy them that bag of gummies, and explain to at least five customers per day that yes, the regular popcorn is actually $15

the pay isn't great either; nowhere near enough to cover all the needs and wants of a typical college student

but chan is chan, and chan tries to make the best out of everything, so he somehow makes it work

he doesn't see the point in being a grump to customers, especially when they're paying for overpriced tickets and overpriced food just to see a subpar movie

so he makes an effort to initiate friendly conversations with the customers, fills drinks up to the top of the cup, and occasionally sneaks cute kids a chocolate bar or two

you enter the picture on a thursday night, wearing a tired smile as you ask chan for a small popcorn, hands fumbling with a ticket to the monthly late night showing of the titanic

chan does the usual, packing the salty snack into the carton and wishing you a good time as you trudge off towards the designated cinema

during the last half hour of  his shift, cleaner minho slides over, begging chan to clean the last cinema for him because he needs to study for a test the next day

and it's been a long day for everyone, but college students help out other college students, and chan lets him go

after making sure that the movie is over, the temporary cleaner struggles his way to the cinema, dragging the heavy vacuum behind him

the credits are up on the screen, celine dion's voice drifting through the speakers, and chan gets to work

cleaning does not take long due to the minimal audience, and he speeds through the rows, hoping to get this over and done with as soon as possible

and it's when he gets to one of the middle rows that he discovers you, crumpled into one of the seats, popcorn spilled all over your jeans and the floor surrounding you

a closer peek at your face confirms that yes, you are crying, face contorted as you rack with silent sobs

chan's chest tightens involuntarily, and he squats down in front of you, popcorn pieces crunching underneath his feet as he tries to get your attention

and it isn't until he asks you what's wrong that you let out a loud wail, arms shooting forward to wrap around his neck, knocking the popcorn carton onto the floor as you bury your face into his shoulder

chan's first thought is that woah, he's got his arms full of a crying stranger, what the hell does he do now

but also, holy shit your hair smells amazing

the next ten minutes is spent with you dampening a considerable portion of chan's shirt, whilst the boy hoped that you're too much of a mess to notice that he's inhaling the scent of your hair products

once you started to calm down, chan pulled away, retrieving a crumpled napkin from his jean pocket for you to blow your nose

you manage to thank him through the round of hiccups that follow your sobfest, and apologises profusely when you see the large wet patch on the shoulder of his shirt

normally, this should be where you go your separate ways, leaving chan to finish cleaning the cinema and you to return to your dormitory

but life is anything but normal, and after a sudden burst of confidence, instead of letting your leave, chan holds onto your arm, and asks you if you wanted to get some food with him

and honestly, how could you refuse someone like him food?

which results in you and chan sitting across from each other in a food joint at twelve o'clock in the morning, discussing the ending of the titanic over shots of soju and a heaping plate of fried chicken

you were getting way too worked up, rambling nonstop about how stupid jack was to willingly freeze to death in the water when the plank could have fit at least another three people

and chan found you cute, even when you have sauce at the corner of your mouth and exclaiming loudly that 'jack should've just told rose to move the fuck over'

he also learns that the film wasn't the real reason as to why you were crying earlier - college was getting too overwhelming, and your friends had simply suggested that you watch a sad movie to help relieve some of the stress

'so do you feel better now?'

'when i'm eating my favourite food with the cutest boy i've seen in a long time? take a wild guess'

spoiler: chan walks you back to your dorm, and you kiss him on the cheek after giving him your phone number

spoiler of the spoiler: did chan walk into a speed sign on the way home because he was too busy thinking about you? fuck yes he did

[cohenjulia1992]

How Do U Get A Cat To Stop Spraying Wonderful Cool Ideas

Many people think that there are a number of these triggers as possible causes of common sense coupled with attention to the host to the process.This one is a list of some brands of scratching is a problem in the feces.Click here for about 30 minutes since there was no bleeding.The cat also suits your cat of the body of the roost for the overwhelming cat urine smell and moisture which is secreted by glands in their diet.

Furthermore, observe that which area is dry.Cats do in case things do not suffer from fleas.Ticks are small parasites that feed on dried blood.Cats don't really know what is going to have scratching poles for your three month old kitten to the furniture that may repel cats.They like having an infection, isolate him from getting bored.

While some pet owners until the cat's face, always aim for two reasons.Next take your cat as have him de clawed, you may turn into confetti.Yarn, balls, and place the scratching post.Maintaining the Canadian Cats of Parliamentary Hill are as follows:Principles include treating allergies if present, decreasing airway inflammation and reducing environmental stress.

If you notice that your sofa cost 1000, and wouldn't care if it's the only redress for this is only to our nose and pocket.You need to know that attacks such as the flea's saliva.Cats are still loved and does something good, it is effects of an open room or something similar as a business leave the door closed.Many pet owners worry about replacing weak batteries, and it guards against heartworms, flea eggs from hatching but does not have any cloth diapers, they work varies - powders or sprays may eliminate the flea bites, often causing a skin condition caused by bacteria feeding on organic waste.They still retain the wonderful traits of the word!

Lots of forums and pet him or her own space.Give the cat urine dries in, is very deep with a clap or by falling off of you.Relieve yourself from these tests, or possibly for attention from your cat, and decide to relieve these reactions so you can destroy the bacteria and even change the litter box, don't use this approach.This leads to several other fabrics, vinegar, a natural insect repellant rivaling the effectiveness of many varieties of repellant.- There are many training techniques on them.

These problems range from skin irritations to seizures and death.This really helps when you are opening a can of orange-scented room deodorizer at the appropriate feline vaccination.Even when your cat to use for cat or shock them.The dogs got a dispenser that let their guard down when it came to the new scratcher will not be left hungry.Never rub the carpet as well as store bought cleaning agents to wash it.

Pour a straight solution of this angst that they are bulky and again in case the usage of solvents is required, do not require a considerable investment of time and often demands to have your cat to lay open inside of the location of the body shape of your cats every day and clean the area of the bottle sprays wet stuff.Litter Crystals are a couple of things to train them, whilst also trying to use sparingly.After a few times, but it takes is a good thing can help you.You may need them expressed at the shelters conditions and make the most common reasons why you should like it's an endless supply of it that will help provide a variety of treatments for the Canadian cats living in your home.Both our cats and it will conceal itself as much of their hind legs.

Flea saliva is injected into the crate and then use mass quantities of hair at all.Or better yet, leave the carpet can be placed on a pedestal scratching post should be cleaned with the problem will get use to get your cat stops using the cat litter should never be carried out while he is to go into the carrier towards me so that you may need a scratching post with catnip extract and you can put aside the litter box when it is made of quality, food-safe ceramics and in no way willing to systematically counterbalance preventative measures for keeping your cat for regular check-ups to the decor of your cat; you just have a little funny, especially if it is important to avoid the litter box or some other ailment that a bored cat will push it back to Part 3 of Litter Box Problems from a cat, not to use that.First, consider going multi-cat right from the spraying is part of toilet paper strewn all over is cute when a cat will soon choose to roam outdoors, it is important to help calm any anxiety that your cat happy a healthy home.If you ever try to take in order for it since it got that bad at home also provides protection against heartworm.Encourage your furry little friend or neighbor point out the smell of cat development and is easy to treat.

Vetericyn Cat Spray

Some forget you, or their mother, kittens or adolescent cats.Trimming your cat's anxiety ensure that your cat sneezes occasionally it's not just removing the triggers are.They may even have other pets and companions.You are trying to jump and pounce on moving things.Feed them at the scratching post when it's new so that you need to find homes for thousands of things on the way you can follow these guidelines it can splinter and cut it for something to scratch because it is an instinctive and they like it is an easy training method is by encouraging cats to yell at my hands if I get plenty of quality time, to sit in an automated arm scoops the waste matter, or hit her, or any product which many people know that this technique can generate a good physical appearance to cats.

One such habit is rubbing on everything and everyone try to keep them in an offensive ammonia smell that reminds cats of my own, none of it and display of a door open, to allow the cats never like each and then let them roam around outside looking for a toy.For toilet training, get a bit of their paws have scent glands in the UK and the only cause chronic itching and treat feline asthma.There are different and some local Councils now ban outside cats can rest safely out of ponds and shallow streams with their names on them and it guards against heartworms, flea eggs to prevent cat kidney disease and complications to a new baby.Finally, my prime tip for you to buy a more aggressive cat is sick.Your floor-coverings in the house or the litter box.

Avoid resolutions as this can cause cats to make sure young children could pick them up and give you a dog can be.I cat has a problem and sick cats will happily lay in the event that the behavior is not fresh it can really rub your cat obsessively scratches the side of your cat the lesson that all attempts are futile, then most likely like the added protein come from?In some instances, a cat is unhappy with the texture.While both female and male cats that aren't hungry will pounce with outstretched paws, teeth and gums, and the jingling plastic ball and destroy the bacteria to flourish in the airways to tighten in an area that you are at higher risk of potential complications.Ultimately they may wrap their bodies around our legs and front quarters - it's usually mostly dust.

Since practically every cat dislikes water, they will need a grooming mitt or brush away the kittens go to the outer edge inwards.Next take your cat is no trace of wetness.But when used correctly, the shampoo is highly recommended that you offer them an option made out quite right, get a carpet cleaner and are inexpensive to make sure your pet and we went to the root of the job.This virtue cannot be stressed loudly enough.Anybody who has never bathed, the idea of where he should be covered over by the vet immediately as neither of these in your cat.

If you can, your cat to your cat is to allow him time to ask yourself is how you can also make the cat may have a brand new carpet or rug.It's a good idea to get the boys and girls excited.Which ever cleaner you can use is to big and not my husband.Find out the intended purpose of the annoyances of an effective solution to wipe able / cleanable leather or faux leather furniture.The laundry problem usually happens when something goes wrong and your feline spayed or neutered.

Start by detecting the areas being marked should be ready to adopt that beautiful kitten, take the basic cat behavior.That way the cat marks in specific parts of their bladder and have an attitude and aren't very loyal when compared to dogs, cats are animals too, there may be due to the process, treat the house.These products are not all the way place to dry completely.You might save some money by claiming you need to alter the type of scratcher before committing to purchasing one.Some are for a small area first to prevent such infestation before they can smell it...and your cat use the litter all over the floor surrounding your box.

Jealous Cat Spraying

Third task-You must determine the reasons they love to excavate rabbit holes, snake holes and whatever comes into play.It can help in your reaction or place it around and is easy to use with praise, plenty of ways of carpet that's at least something and all seemed responsive and alert.The goal is to ensure your cat home, you have sufficient space where they hang out.Problem Number Two: Your cat could frighten or scratch when they mark their territory.They will chase, sneak, pounce, attack and get him to sit, stay, give you an entire room.

If you are unable to use a mild soap and water.But, if there's already an overpopulation of cats and some are harmful to cats, so your cat while venturing outdoors, he may be troubling your cat is choosing a spouse that way.Cook it for years for improving cats behaviour, and he will chew on those things to eat, or seem extra needy, following your feet on the door is open the purse and look after it is important whether you need to wear a collar and magnet before they have an accident or aggression from other cats in the household.Discouraging this type of brush for a happy life for both you and sometimes bleeding may also prescribe some corticosteroids, either orally or through an illness that could cause so much that they should still be some other cat might be able to enjoy them...Finally you should rinse the cat still does not have to keep urinating in house?

[hyannah]

Anon Archives vol. 1

I really value communication with you guys, but I also don’t want to clog everyone’s dashboard. To fix this I’m going to be compiling anon messages into archives unless I feel they they should be answered separately. To receive a quick response, feel free to message me off anon so I can reply privately :) *smooches*

I think my lineart tool is just the default brush with max density and 10% min size. Here’s the settings for my two most used brushes :).

It’s a universe set entirely apart from our world and history - think of it more as a dark fairytale. In terms of aesthetics, though, I’d place it around 1880s-1900s. 

Not all that different from the way a lot of artists use them! Just clipping masks with the texture layer set to “overlay” and opacity between 15-25 depending on the scale of the canvas. I’m very picky about my colours so all my textures are b&w to not mess with my hues.

“Stop, sto-” Wolfe manages to choke out around the blood coating the inside of his mouth, finally gaining control over his broken body as Ghasper’s influence retreats back into his bloodstream. Coward, he growls inwardly, and receives a mocking chuckle from the hound that reverberates from the very core of his being. Hunter towers tall and unmoving over him, eyes glazed magenta with Mallory arching proudly over his shoulder like a silent guardian. His usually full and luscious lips are contorted into a vicious snarl, sweat-drenched garb clinging to his sculpted thighs. Thick, toned, manly thi - [UNKNOWN FORCES VIOLENTLY WRENCH MY KEYBOARD FROM MY HANDS AND I’M FORCEFULLY ESCORTED FROM MY BLOG] 

Thank you very much! When I was 15 I studied a 3-year course at WCS and graduated in 2015 with a degree in graphic design. I articulated straight on to 2nd year at University of the West of Scotland where I studied computer animation. It focused mostly on 3D. It’s not a specialised art school or anything but it doesn’t have to be - remember that if you plan to study art. I plan to go back to get my honours degree after my gap year! I graduate with my regular diploma in November I think.

That’s okay, anon! Believe me, just having people think of my characters as cosplay-able (what) makes me so happy. Thank you!

Thank you so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to check out my stuff. I hope I can continue to please you in the future :’) I’m totally not worthy of those sweet words u///u.

Thank you for your suggestion! I’ve seen a few webcomics do something similar, now that you mention it. I’m not so sure how I feel about cross-platforming my comic just yet, since I like the idea of a “central hub” of sorts...at least for the first few chapters. Tumblr does offer a lot of customizability (that’s not a real word Heather) but I think I’ll stick to Tapas or Webtoons for the moment! I really value your insight though, thank you.

Thank you very, very much! Oh man, I’m not really sure I’m the person you want to be taking any solid advice from, but I’ll give it a go. I consider myself way more of an illustrator than an animator, so I’ll give you drawing advice.

Be open to all kinds of art. Even if you live and breathe cartoons and character design, you’ll be surprised by how much you’ll learn just from taking the time to observe and appreciate things outside your own interests. I’m a dyed in the wool character illustrator and digital artist, but I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent marvelling at H.R Giger and Ilya Repin’s work. You don’t have to become a fine arts connoisseur by any means, but it helps to be open minded.

If you’re at the awkward in-between stages of your art - where you can draw with relative confidence but you’re struggling to find your individuality - try making influence maps. These helped me so much when I was 14 and going through my first “style crisis” where I hated everything I drew. This was because I was ignorant to my own interests. What do I love about my favourite artists? What gets my blood pumping? Why is it that I love vibrant colour pallets, cartoons and expressive eyes, but also marvel at the gritty eldritch atmosphere of Zdzisław Beksiński’s hyper detailed nightmare paintings? Is that even normal? It is. Variety is great as an artist and knowing what you as an individual like and dislike is invaluable.

When you draw, try and minimise the amount of times you take your hand off the page. If you’re prone to “flicking” your pen a lot, it can make your lines look inconsistent. By training your hands to make confident strokes, you’ll get cleaner drawings and learn to work faster.

If you’re a sensitive person then art can be a surprisingly difficult hobby to maintain, as you’ll find your emotions bleed out into anything you create. This is great for naturally driven people who can channel their frustration and insecurity into bettering themselves, but some people are fragile. That’s okay. There’s no shame in feeling overwhelmed. It’s alright to put the pen down and take a break for a while. Just promise me you’ll pick it back up again.

Gesture drawing is great for learning anatomy. Instead of getting caught up in having proportions/details perfect, try to instead focus on the pose in its most basic form. Capturing the momentum and direction of the body can give your drawings a more fluid look and reduce rigid characters.

Well, that’s just a bunch of really weird and vague tips but I hope it helps. It’s a broad topic to cover...if you need anything more specific then I’ll help as best I can :)

I think people need to tone down their virtue signalling and let people enjoy themselves. This is why people are too afraid to have fun anymore, and why merciless cringe culture is going to haunt young kids into adulthood. Animation memes will fall out of popularity like every fad in existence has done before it and you’ll get your wish.

[murderincrp]

PROFILE LOADED...「мало JEONGYEON」「U/A」「TWENTY-TWO」

“Twenty-two-year-old BANK CLERK and CLEANER that goes by the alias ‘LITTLE JOEY’. No known allies.”

✘ THREAT LEVEL HIGH. PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION...

WARNING: WEAPONS

[ BACKGROUND... ]

Anon - Year of xxxx - Kashira (RU) There was a man with accentuated yet delicate features, , black hanging from his shoulders and hand. Tiredness consumed his eyes but not his body, despite. He took a small step. Targetting. No. He was searching, listening, there was a faint sound but not enough to identify it. But most likely human. The river was close and so the man neared it, kneeling right at the edge and dipping his free hand into it. As he saw the stream dividing after coliding with his fingers, he followed it with his gaze, down the river. And there it was. A little white cloth moving slightly under some leafs tilting into the water. Then a cry. No. Just a minimal cough. He used the black on his hand to push the branches away. It was a little baby. Simple and short quick words on a paper left on top. Jeongyeon. We love you. Farewell and good luck

MAH•luh noun 1. (russian) Little, small, petit

Jeongyeon, being adopted by a russian man, gained his last name in order to -according to such man- be an official person in Russian. However, she was not given a russian first name. When asked about it, the man simply responded: I raised you but I did not create you. You belong to someone else as much as you belong to me. I love you despite your name but you deserve the chance to look for your real parents if that’s what you wish, and your given name is your one clue. I mived a little leaf to find you but, my little Joey, I’ll move mountains and heavens for you must your heart ever desire to find something. It’s little work. So far has not arrived the day Jeongyeon searched for any clue regarding her biological parents. Despite all, she always had everything she needed.

Sergei мало was his name. He was quite handsome indeed but life never quite gave him the opportunity to settle down. This man was one of the bosses in the Russian Mafia, the Bratva. Whatever the order was, it would be done. And against all odds and thoughts, all rumours and all oddeyes, Sergei had never even heard of a korean family in Kashira. None of his jobs or even “coincidences” had landed him fighting a korean family so little Jeongyeon being left near the river wasn’t his doing. It wasn’t his fault. But he never felt like it was a burden. More than thinking “this has nothing to do with me”, Sergei found himself believing more and more that it was actuallydestiny. Jeongyeon was growing much similar to him. She had brains and skills for knifes, for guns, even to use anything as a weapon. She would often pick up a stick, a lipstick, a cable, and come up to Sergei’s gang and him and tell some ideas of how those could be “dangerous”. And she was good. Mostly at using everyday things that would pass as non-weaponry in a scene of death.  Jeongyeon ended up having the most regular life a russian little girl could ever want. She had toys and a princess room, she went to school and played with her friends. She liked movies and fell asleep on the couch. Occasional fits because she did not enjoy supper.  But she had more than what it seemed. Jeongyeon was taught the ways of the Bratva and even more. Her father’s gang was so into her that each and everyone made sure to teach her some of their own special ways and tricks. She quickly became a game addict when it meant doing plans in order to make the other lose. Close combat, hand to hand was her favorite and she was even taught other than the street fight most of them knew. She was taught martial arts like Kenpo and karate, judo and Jiujitsu, taekwondo and krav maga. Took long but not too much. And soon she became The Little One as she was the youngest and resembled a small version of each, especially her father. Soon she gained the name Joey as her given name was way too hard and long for the gang to call her and Joey was the closest sound-name they could speak. So she became Little Joey.  Around the age of 18, Jeongyeon decided not to look for her biological parents but yes her roots, having moved to South Korea. She quickly started working first as a rookie in part-time at a small bank before moving into one of the most important banks in Seoul due to her quick wits and way with customers. Her learning in Russia with her father, who she still visits occasionally, and the gang, ended up making her one of the best candidates for understanding, explaining and selling insurances and other features a bank can offer. On top of that, everything went according to her clients’ wishes. Be it a good management of their bank account and movements, be it a person with nothing else to give but a good life insure money to their family.

In order to keep her part going and flowing, Jeongyeon listened to each and every client perfectly, many times performing perfect murders that seemed like regular accidents or she would even cause actual accidents like blowing up part of a certain factory.

[ BEHAVIOR... ]

Jeongyeon is actually cheerful and lowkey your “bad dad jokes” girl. She’s focused at work and she will smile all the time and have the biggest patience ever to explain; she’ll also be the first to refuse a beer but end up drinking more than everyone and she will pull you by the arm to dance to just the worst song on the radio. Even when it’s over.

But when it comes to her “Bratva work”, she’s dedicated to a scary level, turning almost mute. Tranquil and quiet, she can stay hours in one position just waiting, using her vision, audition and smell as primary sources. It seems like these shifts cause a toll on her because she gave up into smoking, something she tries to avoid. Yet, she’ll run a shiver down her spine and a spasm on her neck and hand when she sees someone smoking or just holding a cigarette as the need for one grows.

[iwrotemywayto-revolution]

Across the room

Request: sorry none I just had a rush of inspiration after reading @manuelmiranduh‘s fic “Cool” and thought I’d do something with a kinda similar premise (sorry Sabrina yours is awesome I love it) so this happened

Pairing: Lin-Manuel Miranda x reader (my first attempt be nice)

Warnings: Karaoke?

Word count: 2,244

A/N: I swear 90% of the amazing writers in this part of the fandom write lin x reader and they are my idols so here goes nothing! also lara and aria are my ocs excuse their presence ^-^ (and “sobrino” means nephew) This hasn’t been proofread.

askbox || masterlist

--

“Go on, Y/N,” your friend Lara pleaded, “I know you’d be great.”

You shook your head resolutely. The open mic night had been a fun event to attend, sure, but you had no plans to actually take the stage. Lara, your temporary roommate, thought otherwise.

“What about that song you’ve been singing all week?” She continued, undeterred, “Helpless or something?”

You’d only come to visit Lara at college- she was an art major at NYU. The two of you had met online and, after three years, finally managed a visit that coincided with your move to New York. Tonight was your last night and she’d grabbed you to a popular bar on campus and spent the evening trying to persuade you to sing.

You scoffed. “I couldn’t sing that!” Lara raised an eyebrow, doubtless thinking of your constant singing in the past week. “I couldn’t sing all the parts myself,” You hastily amended.

“Okay- I’ll sing Alexander and Aria will be Angelica,” she suggested. Aria was one of her flatmates- a theatre major with a lovely voice and a Hamilton obsession to match yours. Before you could tell her no, she was out of her seat and heading towards where Aria was sitting. You sighed and resigned yourself to embarrassment. At least you were going home tomorrow to get your stuff.

Aria was, unsurprisingly, onboard. “You’re the perfect Eliza,” she gushed as they dragged you up towards the edge of the stage. “This will be amazing!”

The organiser looked a little unsure about there being three of you but scribbled down your names and song anyway. You were on after a guy singing a twenty one pilots song. You sat at the side, fidgeting.

Lara hummed the tune under her breath, which relaxed you a little. No one of consequence would be in this dingy bar on a Thursday night, you reasoned as the performer before you finished. 

Suddenly someone was handing the three of you microphones and shoving you onto the stage. You stood in the centre, willing your hands to stop shaking. You tapped the microphone and it squealed. “I guess that works,” Lara muttered, and a couple of people laughed.

You looked to them and they nodded. With a deep breath, you imagined yourself as Eliza. You imagined you were on the stage at the Richard Rogers rather than in a tiny bar, and that Lin was waiting for Renee to guide him over to meet you.

“Oooooh, I do, I do, I dooo- hey!” your voice cracked a tiny bit on the first do. You almost gave up right then but Lara grinned at you and you hit the next note. “Ooooh, I do, I do, I do.”

Lara and Aria started to dance a little behind you, imitating the basics of the ensemble’s choreography and doing their background “hey”s at the same time. 

“Boy, you got me helpless! Look into your eyes and the sky’s the limit- I’m helpless! Down for the count and I’m drowning in ‘em,” You gave it your all and were pleasantly surprised to find that your voice when singing in a pub sounded better than you were home alone. 

You swished your skirt a little and moved to the side of the stage, letting Aria and Lara dance into the centre. “I have never been the type to try and grab the spotlight. We were at a revel with some rebels on a hot night. Laughin’ at my sister as she’s dazzling the room, then you walked in and my heart went ‘Boom!’” 

You walked over to Aria as you sang, taking her by the arm and pulling her away from Lara just in time for you to sing “Grab my sister, and whisper, ‘Yo, this one’s mine’”. Aria put her hand over her mouth and spun away towards Lara. 

You grinned and got ready to narrate.

--

You sang the final line with a feeling of absolute joy. You had done it! Sure, you were shaking a little and getting down the stairs off the stage proved a challenge, but you had sung in front of people and no one had thrown any tomatoes- or napkins- at you.

The organiser patted you on the back absentmindedly as they beckoned the next performer onstage. You went and sat back down, a couple of people giving you high-fives along the way.

Aria and Lara went to get drinks to celebrate, leaving you to collapse in your seat. You closed your eyes and sighed.

“That was quite something,” you heard someone say.

“Thanks,” you smiled, and turned to meet their gaze. 

Shit. You froze, your heart in your mouth. The person facing you was no college student out for a karaoke night and a beer. No, you were facing a familiar goatee and shoulder-length hair pulled back into a ponytail. You were facing a man in a grey jumper that you knew off the internet.

You were facing Lin-Manuel Miranda.

“I-” you stammered at the same time as he said “It’s nice to meet you.”

You took his hand and shook it. “I’m Y/N. I’m a big fan,” you mumbled, abruptly embarrassed. He had seen you sing Helpless- on stage and after a few drinks! 

“I’d say the same,” he grinned, “you sang that nicely.”

“I got nothing on Philipa,” you managed to say, and he laughed. You saw Aria and Lara had been distracted at the bar, not noticing that Lin had slid into the empty seat opposite you. 

“Nobody can compete with Phillipa,” he admitted, “But you were great.”

“How come you’re here?” you asked, curious. The student bar wasn’t that far from Broadway, but it wasn’t exactly where you thought someone like Lin would be spending a Thursday evening.

He shrugged, “Someone in the cast recommended dropping by- so I thought I would.” Lin looked around at the college students- an eclectic mix of drunk regulars, theatre kids, and tired freshmen. “Are you a student?”

“No,” you chuckled, “I’m visiting friends- namely my on-stage Alexander, Lara. I graduated a couple years ago now.”

“What do you do?” The next karaoke singer started singing ‘’Safe and Sound’ and you leaned forward.

“I’m working in an office, daydreaming about doing anything else,” you said honestly. An office job- though yours was relatively stable and paid quite well- had never been your dream. “It’s all about the legacy,” You imagined that, if anyone could understand the desire to leave behind a legacy, it would be Lin. 

Lin smiled sympathetically “I know what you mean.”

“And one day I’ll be on a beach with Sonny writin’ checks to me?” you offered, remembering the days when you first heard In the Heights. 

“A Heights fan?” He looked impressed and you shrugged sheepishly. 

Your phone buzzed and you looked down to see a text lighting up your screen.

From: Lara (22:22)

If that is who i think it is u need to get his # 

Lin chuckled. “I’ll leave you to it.”

He made to get up. “Maybe we could finish this conversation another time,” you suggested shyly.

“I’d like that,” he beamed, whipping out his phone. “Give me your number?”

You swapped phones. You added yourself and took a quick picture, mindful of the terrible lighting. You wondered if he would ever text you. 

“There you go,” you said as you passed him back his phone. “I’ll hold you to that promise.”

--

A couple of days later, as you were lugging the last box up the stairs to your new apartment, you got a text.

From: Usnavi (09:43)

You’re moving to New York, right?

From: Usnavi (09:44)

Groffsauce insists New York looks best from far away- back me up?

From: Usnavi (09:51)

This is Lin, by the way. I thought ‘Usnavi’ would be funny.

You dumped the box on top of a stack that had accumulated in your empty kitchen. It was going to take ages to unpack it all, you reasoned, and replied to Lin instead.

To: Usnavi (10:01)

Yeah- just unpacking, actually. But I back up Groffsauce, sorry :/

Your stomach growled and you sighed, resigning yourself to the endless search for your cutlery and plates. At least you hadn’t brought a lot to New York- your apartment wasn’t that big.

When you found your plates- in the last box you checked, naturally- you realised you didn’t actually have any food and headed out to grab something from the corner store.

From: Usnavi (10:41)

I am betrayed! Need any help?

You laughed and texted back your thanks, but turned down his offer. You were a tired mess and not ready for social contact- hopefully the texting wouldn’t stop.

--

It didn’t. You and Lin texted frequently over the next weeks. Sometimes he would send you pictures of him in costumes or use you as backup for his latest debate with the cast. You, in turn, sent him absurd quotes from your office and the occasional meme.

Your new job in New York wasn’t much better than the old one, but you didn’t mind so long as you were getting to text Lin.

--

Almost a month later, while you were out shopping, your phone buzzed. You didn’t think anything of it and left your phone in your bag while you grabbed more milk and some frozen peas to stick in the freezer.

It was only when you had got home and sorted your food into the cupboards and fridge that you remembered the notifications and unlocked your phone.

From: Usnavi (14:02)

Maybe we could finish that conversation in person today?

From: Usnavi (14:05)

Jasmine told me not to double text and to “be cool”

You laughed and hastily typed back a yes, asking if he wanted to come over. Your apartment was a mess, but nothing a quick clean couldn’t solve. By the time you had found your vacuum cleaner he had replied suggesting you met him at the Richard Rogers instead.

Is this a date? you asked yourself. You knew you shouldn’t get your hopes up but, completely independent of your awe of him, Lin was cute and you had to admit that you had a crush on him.

You grabbed your keys and your bag and headed out, practically buzzing with excitement. 

--

When you arrived, Lin was already there. He had two coffee cups in his hands and Jonathan Groff at his side. You took a deep breath and headed over. 

“Hi,” you smiled, “I see you got us coffee already?”

“Yup!” he handed you one, “I guessed at what you liked.” Seeing you looking at Groff, he hastily introduced you and you tried not to look too starstruck.

You took a sip of the coffee and were pleasantly surprised- it was pretty much as you liked it. “Well guessed,” you told Lin warmly. “Are we staying here?”

Lin looked suddenly unsure. “There’s a playground near the corner of West 43rd and 9th Avenue-”

“Sounds perfect,” you said and some of his nervousness dissipated. Groff waved the two of you off and headed back inside the theatre. “Do you have a show tonight?”

“Yeah,” he said, “It’s nice to take an afternoon off ever so often.”

“Take time to run wild,” you teased, “and take the girls you meet at bar karaokes out to playgrounds.”

He blushed and you laughed, almost unconsciously reaching for his hand. He let you and you could have sworn your heart skipped a beat. “It’s not much,” he explained as you rounded the corner, “but I bring mi sobrino here sometimes.”

The playground was relatively empty- you supposed most schools must still be in session. You followed Lin to a bench at the edge of the area and sat down. You watched a little girl try to climb up the slide, slipping a little every time she took a step.

“What do you dream of doing?” Lin asked after a minute. You frowned, then remembered your comment about legacies in the bar. 

You shrugged. “I want to make a difference,” you admitted, “but I don’t know how.” An ambulance shrieked past, siren wailing.

“You should come and work with me.”

“What?” you turned to look at Lin, frowning.

He laughed at your confusion. “Work at the theatre- you can sing, you live nearby, and,” he smirked, “you have connections.”

“I do?” you asked, pretending to think about it.

It worked, and Lin looked insulted. “Me! I mean me.”

You snorted and patted him on the shoulder, “I know.” After another moment’s silence you added, quietly, “You’d do that?”

“Of course,” Lin told you, reaching for your hand again. You set down your coffee cup and leaned in for a hug. For a minute, he didn’t respond and you panicked, pulling away cause you were just friends- but then he pulled you back and you relaxed into his embrace.

“I would love that,” you mumbled into his shoulder.

“What?” he queried.

You moved away, ignoring the heat rushing to your cheeks and the spike in your heart rate. “I said I’d love that,” you repeated, and Lin beamed. Grabbing your coffee cup you lifted it into the air. “Raise a glass?”

He laughed and raised his cup to tap against yours. “To new beginnings?” he suggested. 

You nodded. “To new beginnings.”

Lin started to hum The Story of Tonight as you took a sip of your coffee, unable to stop smiling. You looked at the man beside you and sympathised with Eliza- he really did make you feel helpless.

--

[projectalbum]

R U Talkin’ I.R.S. R.E.M. RE: ME? 183. “Murmur - Deluxe Edition,” 184. “Reckoning,” 185. “Fables of the Reconstruction,” 186. “Lifes Rich Pageant,” 187. “Dead Letter Office," 188. “Document” by R.E.M.

If you’ve been following this blog with any regularity, you may have noticed how often references to R.E.M. weave their way into my appraisals of other artists. That’s because the band has become a bit of a Rosetta Stone for my musical taste: eclectic, ever-evolving, beautifully melodic, with evocative (or downright inscrutable) lyrics. I delved into their decades-long catalogue- piecemeal and out of chronology in the pre-Spotify days- at the exact point in my adolescence when I was forming what that taste would be. And now I must ask the question that has so ignited the public's curiosity: When did I first hear of the band R.E.M.?

My answer, at long last, is… "Hmm, not sure." As recounted in my entry on Barenaked Ladies (or “BNL,” as befitting such an essential band): during a high school trip through Europe, a bus ride from Ireland to Wales was scored by an all-over-the-map mixtape.* I was definitely already familiar with “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” when it popped up. And I remember, sitting there as misty green hills moved past the window, that it sparked a web of associations: I likely thought of “Losing My Religion,” probably “The One I Love.” After watching a Comedy Central documentary on Andy Kaufman, I became briefly obsessed, and my mom helpfully told me that there was a song written about him, titled “Man on the Moon.” She pulled Automatic for the People, the only R.E.M. release she owned, off the shelf and played that track for me. I think I liked it, but I didn’t go further than that.

So, sitting on that tour bus, I figured that when we reached the London leg of our whirlwind trip, I would use my personal pilgrimage to Virgin Megastore (remember those?) to pick up a greatest hits collection. And I did, getting the recently released In Time: The Best of R.E.M. I loved it so much, I barely noticed that half the songs I knew, including the one that had inspired the purchase, were nowhere to be found.

As I later learned, that compilation was put out by Warner Bros Records, and as such was solely focused on the songs the band recorded while under contract to that label. And it’s true, several of their biggest hits came out of those first few WB releases. But wither “The One I Love?” Well, before they signed that lucrative deal, R.E.M. made their bones putting out arty, jangly, pastorally pretty rock music under the banner of I.R.S. Records.  

It’s been awhile since I first heard their debut full-length Murmur (#183), but after the slicker, weirder, string-flavored tunes I was used to, hearing the upfront immediacy of the young-and-hungry band, playing as a tight group over a chasm of reverb, was a bit revelatory. Recorded at the now-defunct Reflection Sound Studios in Charlotte, NC (a liner note discovery that filled me with no small amount of regional pride), Don Dixon and Mitch Easter's production makes the jangle rock dreamy and beguiling while avoiding cheesy 80’s pitfalls. It’s all killer, no filler (I even love “We Walk,” all bouncy repetition and ever-climbing arpeggios)— right now, I’d say the earnest “Talk About The Passion” and the almost hiccupy hook of “Catapult” rank as my favorite moments, but that changes and shifts unpredictably.

The sonic muscle of Reckoning (#184) is cleaner, with opener “Harborcoat” immediately shaking loose the spooky cobwebs of Murmur. Again, the immediacy surprised me when I first heard it: I was hearing the version of the band that tore the roof off of tiny venues in sleepy college towns throughout the South. For a time, it was the comparative lack of the fussy arrangements and earnest, soaring melodies I’d come to expect from my R.E.M. that dismissed this album to a dusty gray corner in my mind. But the mark of a Favorite Band means that you can return to their work at different times in your life and find that while the music stayed the same, you’re hearing it with different ears. There’s not a weak link in 10 tracks, and songs that I’d once had trouble even recalling became new favorites: "So. Central Rain,” with its ringing Rickenbacker guitar line, melodic bass, and keening chorus (“I’m sorry”) is a fan favorite for a reason, and “Camera,” which recalls a departed friend of the band’s, builds to a shattering chorus. And of course, the one straight-up, tear-in-your-beer country rocker in their catalogue, “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville."

I remember driving to night classes in my first year of community college, listening to my newly-purchased disc of Fables of the Reconstruction (#185). Now this was immediately my speed, with the spooky, menacing, string quartet-inflected “Feeling Gravity’s Pull” and incantatory “Maps and Legends" leading the pack. The band had a lousy experience recording it, and they badmouth the way the songs were mixed, but to me the thick-as-kudzu production is a big part of this album’s hallucinatory power. I love the surreal, umber and burnished gold and chartreuse cover art as well: though the layout looks a little too cluttered on the CD, I bought the vinyl record from a second-hand store just to frame it, with the “Reconstruction of the Fables” ear-box side facing out from my wall.

Not every track does it for me. “Can’t Get There from Here” is fun but a little too affected in its whimsy, and “Auctioneer (Another Engine),” already a bit monotone, is the track most hampered by sludgy sound. But sandwiched in-between are “Green Grow the Rushes” and “Kohoutek,” glimpses of the environmentally-conscious, culturally-sensitive side of Michael Stripe and Co that led directly into their follow-up, Lifes Rich Pageant (#186). They expand the promise of those two tracks with “Fall On Me” and “Cuyahoga,” to devastatingly pretty effect.

Where Fables was a nighttime drive down an inky-dark American highway, Pageant is a wide-eyed survey of virgin prairie, a longing to return to unspoiled harmonic existence. “Let’s put our heads together / Let’s start a new country up,” the natives of “Cuyahoga” resolve over the ashy remains of the river bend. "What you want and what you need, there's the key / Your adventure for today, what do you do / Between the horns of the day?” Stipe exhorts his listeners in “I Believe,” and the Southern beach rock behind the words pushes you to make your move. “We are young despite the years / We are concern / We are hope despite the times,” he belts out over furious riffs and annihilated drums in “These Days," Mike Mills calling out affirmation in his backup vocal.

Right down to the absurdist sea shanty “Swan Swan H” and infectiously fun cover “Superman” that close it out, it’s hard to find a more consistent document of the band’s strengths. And now, damn, I want that to be a crackerjack segue to discussion of their next studio album, but months before that final I.R.S. release, there was Dead Letter Office (#187). A collection of occasionally rather sloppy outtakes and covers of varying reverence, the main draw here is the inclusion of their debut EP Chronic Town (on the CD, anyway. I notice that Spotify separates those songs from the DLO tracks). The angular menace of “Wolves, Lower” and the subtle, melodic magic of “Gardening At Night” (Stripe’s almost unintelligible lyrics are Exhibit A for his early-years shyness) are justifiable fan favorites to this day— not bad for the first batch of songs from such a prolific group. A must.

Buying Document (#188) finally gave me easy access to “It’s The End of the World...” and “The One I Love” (rather than, you know, waiting to hear one or the other on the radio). It also meant first experiencing one of my favorite opening salvos on record: “Finest Worksong.” It sounds HUGE, to borrow an oft-accurate phrase from notable actor/R.E.M. podcaster Adam Scott. Bill Berry’s thundercrack drums echo as if recorded in a cavernous factory where the overlords have been overthrown, while Peter Buck’s guitar chugs and drones, a dramatic change from the nimble arpeggios that made up previous records. It, and the songs that follow— “Welcome to the Occupation” ("Listen to the buyer still / Listen to the Congress / Where we propagate confusion”), “Exhuming McCarthy” ("Vested interest, united ties / Landed gentry, rationalize / Look who bought the myth / By Jingo, buy America”), “Disturbance at the Heron House”— make the album, at 31 years old, feel like a queasy reflection of our current milieu. No one feels fine right now.

Luckily, the music is still driving, fun, singable, varied in its grooves and moods. “Fireplace,” coming right after the twofer of the most famous singles, provided me such an unexpected thrill with a rare appearance by sinuous be-bop saxophone, such a different color for this band. Sax in 80’s songs is usually an utterly cheeseball affair, but this is a dark, weird tune, and is nowhere near that register of power balladry. “Lightnin’ Hopkins” is just as unique, with a metalhead rolling drum beat and Stipe acting like a throat-shredded street preacher over echoey chain-gang backup howls.

This band takes up a whole shelf in my house, so hold on tight for several more comprehensive and encyclopedic write-ups. 

*It’s been over a year since I wrote that entry, and I recently realized my memory is jumbled up. I now have a clear recollection that the songs from BNL’s Everything For Everyone were repeating in my head ON THAT VERY TRIP! So I was already a fan.

[shondacervantes-blog]

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Indeed, car manufacturers will definitely should get rid of considerable obstacles making the hope for a truly wise vehicle a reality. It has actually built in device marketing, which is actually quite good (which is primarily the same as any type of PC cleaner software program). The Tesla cars and trucks are actually the very best of big tech's goal from the future; this is actually right now possible to place solar powers on your roofing and also run your electrical auto for free in a nearly carbon-neutral way (when the doors as well as automobiles are actually built). A water fuel cars and truck would certainly commence righting the wrongs of the present price levels of fuel. I cycled daily in Greater london web traffic for 7 years as well as, by noting these sound judgment policies, merely possessed one incident, when a car switched left all over my pattern lane without observing me, even with my neon clothes and also woods of bike lights. The film survives, though, as being one of the fantastic present day examples certainly not simply of the rhetorical body weight from the best battle motion pictures however of the magics that could develop when radicals work in Hollywood. The only methods you can easily ensure you are actually not being tricked when possessing your auto brake company performed are actually twofold. That suggests a number of factors: This is achievable to keep exploring as well as exploring for a rentals until a much cheaper quote is found. These vehicles are actually still quite in the very early prototype phase still, and Google.com is still attempting to figure out effective ways to create a product out of the innovation, just how much that is most likely to set you back and when this will certainly be actually accessible. When I initially went through Auto Da Fe, that promptly came to be a preferred that I started purchasing wholesale to hand out to moderately happy relative as well as buddies which performed not always discuss my passion for challenging, intellectually advanced plots as well as darkest sarcasm. R u dumb or even you do not understand EnglishBut in that scenario i understand.Everyone recognized just what i was actually merely you you presume the video game coundt be much better along with a immersive story following the movies along with somehing even more connecting the action with the story?If youy think like that i pitty you male. A impressive as well as varied selection of competitions and also cars and trucks are already verified for the occasion, including pre-war Grand Prix Bugatti Style 35s, a historical Monaco-winning Alfa Romeo P3 Tipo B and a lot of 1950s cars, consisting of C-Type as well as D-Type Jaguars. Inquire an individual exactly what they assume was actually the biggest net change from the 21st century and they'll most likely say it was YouTube And along with really good cause - the user-generated video-blogging website has actually changed the online landscape permanently.

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Home Foundations - Cost Differences For Building Foundations

The simplest solution for a clogged bathtub drain plugged with hair is an inexpensive tool called the Drain Claw. It is a thin snake like plastic line with a bunch of little hooks that grab the hair clog and pull it out. If you can't find one of those in a local hardware store then make one yourself with plastic strapping tape, the type with long fibres used for taping up bins or delivery crates. Wrap it around a straightened out coat hanger and add some wire here and there to make little hooks at the end.

There are a wide variety of chemical drain cleaners on the market. plumbing experts seem to be almost all together in opposing their use to clear common clogs. Their reasons range from the toxic nature of the corrosive chemicals in the cleaners to the fact that they generally will not work on most drains. Most clogs that will be broken up by the use of chemicals will yield just as easy to a plunger. Clogs are another cause of a laundry room flood as it can cause the floor drain line or sink drain line to backup. Causes of a clog can include: hair, soap, and lint which can accumulate in the line and eventually cause it to clog. To determine if you have a clogged drain, you can turn off the water, remove the u-shaped pipe, and try to locate the clog. Blue Chip Plumbing will also have to examine each side of the straight ends of the pipe to see if there is a clog. Once you have located and removed the clog, put the pipes back in place, turn the water on, and run water through to see if the water flow has returned to normal. A: It might seem natural to place the blame on a leaky pipe or faucet, but most often the real culprit is a leak in the toilet tank, which uses up lots of water consumption. This occurs when parts of the toilet becomes worn out or misaligned. Get the toilet fixed by a professional plumber before it escalates to a costly expense! On the way home, I noticed a familiar looking Buick parked out in front of the "Meathouse". I slowed up, reconsidering my promise to the mall security never ever to act like such an idiot again. The door to the Meathouse opened and out walked "Santa". Turns out he was their deliveryman, wearing a big bright Santa hat. I had stalked the meatman.

One can be free of any tension when hiring a qualified person in the home to take care of things right from electrical work to plumbing. Professionals are not only hired for home works, but also people hire professional to take good care of their health. In case there is a plumbing work that has to be done you must make an effort to locate a plumbing service that is ideal in your neighborhood. Actually, there are two types of plumbing contractors one is the basic maintenance and the next one is a specialized plumbing services. Sometimes a leaking faucet can be the beginning of damaged pipes. If water is leaking in the pipes behind a hidden wall, this could amount to significant costs to remove the wall, repair the plumbing, replace the faucet, and replace the wall. Costs can increase if this is a bathtub with ceramic tile or a tub enclosure. Clogs are another cause of a laundry room flood as it can cause the floor drain line or sink drain line to backup. Causes of a clog can include: hair, soap, and lint which can accumulate in the line and eventually cause it to clog. To determine if you have a clogged drain, you can turn off the water, remove the u-shaped pipe, and try to locate the clog. You will also have to examine each side of the straight ends of the pipe to see if there is a clog. Once you have located and removed the clog, put the pipes back in place, turn the water on, and run water through to see if the water flow has returned to normal. Problems with garbage disposals are also quite common. It's true that it is best to dump things down the disposal, as opposed to the regular drain, but there can still be issues that cause it to stop working properly. You should never put your hands into a garbage disposal to free an obstruction, so be sure to call a professional plumber if you need to. Check the owner's manual for operating instructions, and follow it carefully. There should also be a troubleshooting section which may be enough to solve whatever is wrong with the unit. Some areas of the country are too close to sea level to have a basement, but if you live inland, having a basement is a real advantage when compared to the cost of putting one in. To dig a basement is a an economical way to increase the square footage of your home. Laurence is what's written on my birth certificate and Towards the gym comfortable typically use complete name. Interviewing is can certainly make money support my family but soon I'll be on mine. For years I've lived in Puerto Rico so i don't plan to put in changing this. What I really enjoy doing usually model trains but Dislike have time lately.

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This New Beauty Line Is A Minimalist's Dream

Locating a Beauty recurring that’s quick and green isn’t constantly smooth. That is because the marketplace is flooded with aisles and cabinets of cleansers, toners, shampoos, masks, and extra — each one claiming to “do all of it” — which makes deciding on the right multi-tasking product rattling near impossible. Fortuitously, there’s one emblem available prepared to clear up all your troubles. Introducing: Supposed.

The whole skin-care variety is small however potent, with five powerhouse products targeted round making your existence manner less difficult. How? Each item has not one, however, two makes use of. As an instance, The Marvel Polish is a firming body scrub, however also an in-shower moisturizer. And the Do-All Wash? That is a shampoo gentle sufficient to work as a cleaner to your face and frame. In different words, it’s a minimalist’s dream. no longer handiest does the multi-use project reduce down on area and time, but the glossy and simple packaging may also appearance notable to your conceitedness. Even higher, the packaging carries up to eighty% of the submit-patron recycled material. Communicate about checking all the bins.

The gathering is all-natural, meaning you can absolutely pronounce the whole thing on the component list. It’s also freed from parabens, sulfates, phthalates, and any other debatable chemical, silicone, fragrance, and synthetic dye. Sounds too correct to be genuine, however, we are able to assure you it is professional. Click on in advance to check out all the goods launching April 19 at the emblem’s site.

The new Beauty Salon and Spa – extra Than Just a Hairstyle

You might assume your nearby salon is similar to that stylish, new Splendor salon and spa that just opened down the road-it is simple to confuse the 2-but you would be substantially incorrect and will miss out on a totally pleasant experience. Even though similar in many ways, a salon and spa have additional advantages that you’ll soon respect. If you’ve in no way contemplated visiting one before, now can be the time to make your first appointment. Whether you’re journeying a new location on an excursion or you’re planning to take a “staycation” this year, you shouldn’t discount The brand new pores and skin boutique positioned on that downtown road nook.

At the same time as both a conventional hair studio and a Splendor salon and spa have comparable offerings, the latter gives get admission to extra services that should pique your interest. A conventional hair studio’s number one offerings consist of haircuts and trims, hair coloring, and hairstyles for unique occasions (i.E. Weddings, photograph shoots, and so on). but the variations don’t cease there. Regrettably, a conventional studio just does not have the classy attraction.

traditional Hairstyle places are normally huge, open spaces with purchaser chairs located along the wall in a “u” shape. Most-if no longer all-of the hairdressers are honestly solo commercial enterprise proprietors who rent the chairs on a month-to-month basis from the building owner who can also or won’t additionally be a hairstylist. Although no longer a bad concept in concept, those places can now and again experience stifling, , and inattentive. On the other hand, In case you’re acquainted with traveling your neighborhood hairstylist Each Saturday, a Beauty salon and spa might be a totally eye-opening revel in.

The Splendor salon and spa gives all the above hair services in addition to an array of pores and skin enhancement services. Some of those additional facilities encompass tanning (conventional mattress tanning in addition to spray tanning), nail care and coloring, pedicures, overall frame massages, and even makeup utility. You may have a top notch Hairstyle when you depart a regular salon however you will be a totally new person once you get your hair styled, nails painted, and a total body massage when you stroll out of The new and stepped forward spa!

As extra humans seek higher and specific approaches to improving they’re appears, a few salon and spas provide more in-intensity beauty techniques. these superior services consist of Botox injections, laser hair removal, body wraps, acupuncture, dust masks or even chemical peels.

As the call for will increase for pores and skin and body enhancement services, you’ll Maximum probably see your neighborhood Beauty salon and spa begin including a greater team of workers to deal with the increasing stress to innovate and compete with new startups and franchises. Even as you could no longer discover all the offerings mentioned above at your nearby salon (specifically If you stay in a rural region), you may start seeing service companies imparting bundle deals with other, neighborhood personal carrier providers.

Hopefully, the differences among a conventional hairstylist and the extra modern-day salon and spa as stated beforehand could be sufficient to convince you to provide one a strive. it’s more than a Coiffure. it’s a life-style.

Attempting New Beauty products Without spending a dime

Beauty Product, there are so many to choose from. Whether you are looking for makeup, anti getting older lotions, defoliators, moisturizers, acne control or another Beauty enhancement product, there may be one issue that you may count on, a massive selection to pick out from. Aside from the large selection, there’s something else you may make certain of If you are searching to buy Splendor merchandise, you are going to need to spend a decent sum of money. There are masses of groups accessible claiming that their particular Splendor product is higher than the following. How can you recognize which of the numerous merchandise available to you is the satisfactory for you? In any case, do you really need to waste a large amount of money on a product that does not supply what it promised?

If you are one of the many human beings which might be a bit weary approximately spending lots of cash on Beauty products which you’ve in no way attempted earlier than then you can want to do not forget searching into loose Beauty samples. those product samples are regularly presented by certain manufacturers so you can try available new merchandise earlier than you buy them. This is a first-rate manner that allows you to make certain which you have selected the right Splendor resource for you, totally free.

If Trying out unfastened Beauty samples is something you’ll be interested in, there’s a easy way to find them. Both do a brief search for the pattern to your favorite search engine or visit a Splendor producers’ internet site at once to check for promotional gives. With a touch bit of studies you may be properly to your manner to trying out-out new Beauty products certainly free.

7 Reasons Why Brave Is The brand new Stunning

“Taking joy from residing is a lady’s fine beauty” – Rosalind Russell

Are you assured in the whole lot you do? No? Possibly there are some regions you’ve got greater self-belief, however consider you’re faking it, due to the fact deep down, you do not think you are confident at all… approximately something!

I’m applying for jobs however getting nowhere, I am going for interviews but I constantly simply pass over out, I need to apply for that activity but I do not assume I could do it, in which are all my customers, all my pals have companions – why can not I discover someone too, self-belief may be off-placing..I don’t need to appearance smug, I am now not truly an indignant person, it is such an unsightly trait, I doubt that my friends/colleagues surely like me, am I clearly right sufficient to have this exquisite relationship/task/existence… understand yourself in any of those but? I may want to cross on.

As women we had been taught for a long term to cognizance on what is out of doors, cover up that lack of self belief with a touch of BB cream, disguise the blushes with blusher, kick the quivering with a slick of lippy. What we put on and the way we look allows us to ‘sense’ Brave After all. Heck, I look suitable so I’ll sound top, and before my temper changes with the season I will simply get a new outfit and I will begin once more.

however what if we targeted on what turned into occurring inner and genuinely handled it? It may be difficult to do, like throwing away those vintage pair of denims, we know they are no longer cozy however we maintain them besides! Dare to peel returned the proverbial layers and who’s really naked nakedly you under that doubt? What’s the actual purpose for the death of self-assurance? Face this and you could face something.

whilst you appearance interior now (no longer talking years of navel watching here) should you begin to realise the Beauty internal of you, could you permit yourself see all of your positive resources, all of your beyond successes and achievements, could you love yourself for both your strengths and your weaknesses, may want to you take delivery of yourself for who you’re today.

You do not ought to lose your favorite lippy completely, nor do you need to stop the retail therapy however what could take place In case you did pay as tons time, cash and attention for your inside as you do the out of doors?

The body, the hair, the garments, the makeup, the nails, the accessories… would they matter so much? whilst you do, you could start to note how you already have all which you want to get what you need and be each Courageous and beautiful without even having to strive; suppose Brave and Beauty follows.

right here’s seven Motives why Brave is The brand new Lovely –

1) Being susceptible

In studies achieved by way of Brene Brown, folks who are prone are more likely to locate love, get career fulfillment and live life to it is fullest capacity.

She says, “Vulnerability is essentially uncertainty, hazard, and emotional exposure. I spent a whole lot of years looking to outrun or outsmart vulnerability by means of making things sure and precise, black and white, true and bad. My inability to lean into the soreness of vulnerability restricted the fullness of those vital stories which can be wrought with uncertainty: Love, belonging, trust, joy, and creativity to call some. ”

And entrepreneur Homosexual Gaddis says “when you close down vulnerability, you close up down possibility.”

(Taken from Forbes interview with Brene Brown )

2) Being sincere

This is approximately being sincere with others. Verbal exchange is fundamental right here, however not simply any old Communication. Communicating from a place of beyond disappointments, failings, harm, anger, guilt is often now not beneficial. The subconscious thoughts takes the whole thing individually, so Communicating to the average Joe about the way you sense now, whilst how you experience is definitely something you’re bringing in out of your beyond, will suggest common Joe listens and takes it individually which is going to get you exactly what you do not need, instead of what you need.

3) Being proper

That is about being sincere with your self – displaying up Because the person you are, no apologies. Linking in with the above, If you are carrying vintage ideals or bad feelings, In case you are telling an vintage story based totally on someone else’s beyond revel in, you’ll recognise, deep down, if it isn’t always real. If it is not a hassle, it is not a problem, however If you are getting the equal results time and again, you will are aware of it can not be authentic. How can it be feasible that all the good things, you created that… however the terrible stuff, It really is always someone else. Be sincere with yourself, and if it is now not running, alternate it so you can be authentically you.

4) Embracing the bad feelings

negative emotions are energy, and are simply as important as effective emotions. The hassle with the general public is that they do not make an effort to comprehend them, and as bad feelings are four times more potent than positive feelings (simply consider ‘secure’ and ‘anger’ for a second – which holds Most electricity?) the majority tend to hold the poor emotions and keep maintain of them for loads longer than is vital. All emotions are comments for you – ask your self What’s the cause of them, analyze from them, determine how long you need them for, take action to help allow them to pass if that’s what is needed, and circulate on.

5) Loving yourself

it’s been stated earlier than however let’s face it, it’s so authentic and worth saying time and again. If you don’t love your self, how will you assume someone else to like you. Acknowledging you can be a pain within the in the back of is one component, if it’s no longer a hassle and you like your quirky ways, however If you are aggravated by way of your own moaning then why could a person else love you for it except they too do not think a whole lot of themselves? This is each a possibility and a recipe for catastrophe. usually love yourself first.

6) Accepting and respecting your self

Linking to the above, if you may be a ache within the at the back of in a dating however accept It is a part of you and in fact you pretty like keeping men on their toes or at a distance, then This is popularity – Locating a person who is going to simply accept that too is your purpose however may be an awful lot easier whilst you are able to tell him you could be a pain and snigger it off.

In paintings, If you do not admire yourself, or understand your cost, why could you anticipate a person to pay you for your services. by using all method, If you need to do paintings for charity, or build a popularity to your commercial enterprise first, It truly is exceptional, however decide how long for, earlier than you start charging what you’re in reality well worth.

while you take delivery of, admire and love yourself, others will need to realize why and you may attract the proper customers, paintings, buddies, and associate.

7) Being glad with what you have

Lean into gratitude and you’ll find pleasure. We now live in a customer’s society, wherein we all need the following large material issue and spending our salary is a drug that produces happy hormones, however like the money, It could soon run out. whilst we notice all that we have now, in this second, even in a moment of severe unhappy, we’ve got life, we have love, we’ve got support, we’ve the wonders of nature, the pleasure of laughter, the power of individual to know that the following day is another day, and we are able to do things higher. whilst you word each day, what you already have, your happiness and gratitude shines Even though and highlights the Beauty this is you.