#widget is a dork

[sunset-peril]

Ashes Remain - Chapter Eight - Together and Stronger

~~~~

It was Professor Means. It had always been Professor Means.

He took the bribes.

He encouraged the forged evidence.

He murdered Professor Courte.

It was all him. 

He’d gone after her too. Had Apollo not been on the ball, had the Themis seniors not been willing, he would have won. 

It wasn’t his final casualty though. She was hit once more while leaving the courtroom. A loyalist student of his went after her. At first it was just verbal, hurling insults about her hypocritical actions, how dare she as a psychopath deem anyone else unfit for the legal world.

Simon had tried to defend her, but Fulbright electrocuted her beloved uncle to keep him in line. 

When the loyalist began showing signs that physical harm might come to Athena, Apollo socked her in the jaw. The bailiff allowed it. 

Before the threat could stand back up, Apollo escorted Athena out of the courtroom with the help of two bailiffs from adjoining courtrooms. She was frightened, but not a hair on her had been harmed.

Trucy thought Apollo decking someone was the coolest thing ever. Apollo was remiss about it, correcting in that ‘let’s not discuss this further’ tone of his that it was only done in defense and he’d weighed all other options before raising his fist. Much later on, Prosecutor Blackquill would commend him for not being afraid to defend her from violence, but the prosecutor was already back in his cell for the day. 

Apollo hadn’t let go of her until she was back on her air mattress in the extra room of the Wright Anything Agency. Normally, the office door was unlocked during business hours. After Athena was nearly assaulted in the courthouse; however, the door was instantly locked after the party returned. 

It was honestly a miracle they still attended the last night of the festival.  

~~~~

“T-Thena! You came!”

“Of course, Junie! I wouldn’t miss your performance for the world!”

“But the attack earlier-!”

“ ¡No hay problema! One freak accident is nothing.” She flashed a peace sign. “Tonight is being held in Professor Courte’s memory, so I suspect no rabid crazies!” 

Apollo shot her an exasperated look. “Today was more than ‘one freak accident,’ Athena. You could have died. How can you seriously go on like nothing happened?”

Of course, he knew the likely answer for his question. 

“Hey, it’s the heroic psycho. You really are crazy, to return here knowing there could be people out for your head.”

Robin ran up and smacked her blue-clad companion. “Hugh! Rude! We’re glad you’re here, Athena. And that you’re okay! Same to you, Apollo!”

“As we saw today, there are some who took Professor Means’ teachings to heart. Just because he is no longer in the classroom does not mean his ideology dies overnight. I hope you’ll join us in continuing to fight that darkness, Thena.”

“You really mean it, Junie?”

“Of course.” The metal on Athena’s shoulder seemed dimmer under Junie’s smile. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I should go get ready.” 

“Knock ‘em dead, Junie!”

“We’ll be cheering, Juniper.” Apollo flashed a huge grin.

“Yeaaahh!! C’mon, Hugh, let’s go!” 

“Looks like it’s just us. At least until Trucy decides she wants to boardwalk.”

“Heh, looks like it.”

“Are you okay? After… you know everything that happened today. So much of it was an attack on you specifically.” 

“Yeah! Yeah, I’m just fine!”

“You’re hiding something, Thena.”

“Oh, okay fi-” She blinked twice before staring at him and smirking. “Did you just call me Thena?”

“Oh! Did it? My bad.”

Oh, gosh, he was blushing. As endearing as a blush typically is, it was remarkably funny. He was so adorable! He- ….uh oh. 

“Athena? Are you sure you’re okay? You just stopped.” 

“I, uh,”

“Polly! Yay, we found Polly! And Athena!”

“Good work, Fraulein Wright!” 

Ah yes, just the two people Apollo was expecting to show up at some point in the night.

“Ah, pardon us, Herr Forehead, for interrupting your alone time with Fraulein Cykes.”

“A-Alone time?! What do you mean by that?”

Klavier practically erupted into laughter. “Why, Herr Forehead, you and the fraulein are simply overtaken by the most passionate blush! You should see your faces right now.”

“I-It’s an adrenaline response, Prosecutor Gavin…” 

Wow. Her face was red. Almost redder than her hair. But that didn’t mean Gavin was correct. Some people just blush easily. Athena with her more expressive personality seemed to be one of them. 

And what he was suggesting! A scandal with his co-worker?! Who wouldn’t blush at that?

Well, Prosecutor Blackquill probably, but he's beside the point. 

“And what about you, Herr Forehead? Surely you’re not going to suggest a mere adrenaline response are you, ja ?”

No. Not in the way Athena was experiencing anyway. 

“Don’t you have a concert, Gavin?”

 “Ah, haven’t you learned anything from court? Forcing a premature end to discussion only makes another more suspicious!” 

“Come on, Polly. There’s nothing to be scared of. Prosecutor Gavin’s just having some fun with you and Athena.” 

“He really does seem uncomfortable though.” Athena took a few steps towards Gavin and stared up into his eyes. 

“Ah, Fraulein , how in tune you are with him.” 

“I-It’s not that. I can hear his inner voice. Much like I hear yours. For bearing no ill will against him, why do you badger Apollo with almost malicious intent?”

“Polly almost blew him up during a trial last year. Gavin makes fun of him as payback.” 

“You are just as perceptive as Blackquill said. He spoke with an utter fondness of you, one I’ve never seen in such black of a heart.”

She finally had to look away, if only to hide her own heart crying out loud enough for anyone to hear. “We… share a history.” 

“Ah. You both seem… touchy about questioning.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll leave it be.”

“Thank you, Gavin.” 

“Athena! Did you see the game where you whack giant frogs?! It’s so cool!” 

“I haven’t. But I’d guess you want to show me, huh?”

“Yes!”

“How about you, Apollo? Are you coming to see the whack-a-frog?”

He chuckled and flashed that big grin. “Sure. I could use a few good wacks to clear the day out.”

Trucy pounded her fists and leaned closer to him, grinning expectedly. “Better than socking meanies, Polly?!” 

“I thought we agreed not to talk about that.”

“What? The ever-small Herr Forehead threw punches? I think I need to hear this story.”

“No. No you don’t.”

“Oh, yes. Yes, he does! It was just after the trial! This lady who was super loyal to Professor Means-”

~~~~

The crowd was now gathering around the stage in anticipation for the concert. Mr. Wright had joined them at the whack-a-frog while Hugh and Robin had only recently returned to the party. 

Gavin and Juniper were on stage, her dressed as Lamiroir for the second-ever performance of The Guitar’s Serenade . 

He remembered the only other performance of the song well. Gavin’s guitar combusted, an Interpol agent was shot by a band member… It was a very very big mess that took a very very long time to clean up. That trial was when his career finally took a turn for the better, and he kept the song as his work ringtone to remind him of that fact. 

He hoped today would be Athena’s Turnabout Serenade, but just based on the day alone it seemed she was just as lost and frightened as he was when Kristoph was arrested. It would be a long time before she would ever feel free… if freedom was even available for her.

She wasn’t in a cell, no, waiting for her hanging day alongside Prosecutor Blackquill. However, this seemed almost worse. She was humiliated every single second she walked anywhere with those cuffs on her arm. She was on her own kind of death row, one that no one seemed to understand. He didn’t know how much longer she had, that was her secret to keep if she wanted, but if she already knew her injury was fatal… she likely had been given an estimate.

Yet here she stood: that happy, bouncy Athena who tilted shimmering eyes to the stage as Juniper sent a warm glance over them. Tensing in childlike excitement at the first notes of guitar, then closing her eyes to breathe in the melody. She's not wasting away in prison or losing her breaths at the hospital. She's here and, for this moment, she's okay. Better than okay. She's Athena Cykes, and she's fine! 

Sugar, Sugar…

O that night, in your embrace

He saw it in her. She was no longer afraid of her ears. She was no longer afraid of those cuffs made from re-fired bullets.

When you stole away the keys

my heart held on to so tight.

She was beautiful, and life was just as it should be for her. It couldn’t last, but at least she has a moment. 

Pleasure, Pleasure…

But a fleeting melody  

He’d looked for too long, her eyes fluttered back open in confusion, then looked up at him. Their eyes locked, which he didn’t expect, and he realized just how deep hers were now that he perceived them and them alone.  

It wraps itself around me,

And now through the air I fly.

She raised a hand to her hair and began to fiddle with it, breaking their eye contact before smiling and looking back into his.

Woh… Woh… 

His Chords of Steel dried up the longer he looked at her, until he was certain they’d snap from becoming too dry.

Burning on in my heart. Fire.  

Her eyes showed the same. Good, this was shared. 

Burn my love away. All away.

She took a few steps closer, then leaned into his chest. Her eyes were twitching, growing ever tense as she registered whatever this was. 

Like a bullet of love. Fire. 

Without thinking, he brushed his hand through her hair for her. Just above her ear she side-hopped onto his foot and squeaked. It must be her injury.

Take my life away. All away. 

He slipped his hand down to the hair past her head and twirled his fingers there, he felt her hand gently against his chest. 

 Guitar, Guitar…

He felt her lips for just a wisp of time.

Up together to the sky.

Now, it was just her smiling softly. Her cheeks were a precious rose. And that’s when he realized. “Athena…” He pressed his nose against hers.

“Call me ‘Thena,’ please.”

~~~~

“Did what I think happened really happen?” They were at Eldoon’s now, just the two of them. He was pressing his finger so hard into his head, it might have left a bruise.

“We kissed… at a high school festival…”

“Yep, that’s what I thought.” 

“I-uh…”

“Yeah… well… It’s-uh-nice to know you feel the same way about me.” He was scrubbing the back of his neck again. For a person who’s power lied in sight, why was he so bad with his own tells.

Widget flashed yellow under the stars. “I-Well-R-Really?” Her index finger was in his face. “A-Apollo Justice! How long have you felt this way about me?”

“I…I really couldn’t tell you that.” 

“Ah… well I guess it doesn’t matter too much… Here we are.” 

“Yeah, here we are…”

“So… what are we going to do… with-” She spun her hand between the both of them.

“Well, we are coworkers… so I think we need to discuss this with Mr. Wright tomorrow…”

“Yes… that will give me some time to ask Simon…”

“Simon?” She still hadn’t given his Chords of Steel back. “As in, Blackquill?”

“Yes. I… know I don’t look it but… I’m a Blackquill. His niece.”

“Ah. That actually makes a lot of sense.” 

“It does?”

“His bird doesn’t hurt you. Even when he’s pretending to attack us, the bird never gets as close to you as it does to Mr. Wright or I. That alone would suggest you’re important to Prosecutor Blackquill.” 

“Mama disowned me after I came back. He’s… all I have.”

“Wow… I’m so sorry…”

“No one’s been the same since Simon went to jail…” 

“You… want a hug?” Almost instantly, he had her curled up against his shoulder.

“Plus… Taka isn’t stupid. He’s not going to bite a food source.”

“Ah, you have bird bribes.”

“By express permission. Not everyone gets to feed him, you know.” 

“Of course…” Scrubbing the neck again… “So, uh, little obvious at this point but…” 

“Of course, I want you, Apollo. If Mr. Wright and Simon approve.” She started doing that ‘gimme gimme’ wave of hers. “Now, c’mere you!” 

And so went his real first kiss with Athena. He was expecting some elder citizen to jeer for them to find privacy as soon as she clambered onto him. Thankfully for the mood, People Park was silent. 

This one’s mine! Widget declared with a big fat grin on his little robot face instantly after Athena pulled away and flopped triumphantly on his lap. 

He gently curled her head closer against his chest. “I’m yours, tiger.”  

[strifetime]

i updated my phone and the watermark came back on my custom icons o(-( the workaround that the x icon changer provides doesn't work eitherrrrr

[iheartgod175]

Common Ground

Two scientists gushing/bragging about their mechanic girlfriends. Nothing to see here, I promise. XD

So, uh…yeah. This idea kind of came out of nowhere. @mooshieblue’s recent comment on that Walden/Widget picture kinda got me back into my other favorite brains and brawn ship. And once the idea for this came up, it would not leave me alone, not even to write yesterday. Needless to say, my creativity has come back full force! ^^

Only thing I don’t like is how the colors for both Zeeter and Widget; I finished their colors at work, and I had to use the markers I had available. AND I SCREWED UP WIDGET’S COLOR ARGH 😖No Widgets were harmed in the making of this picture, I swear. XD Ah, well. If I do a redo in the future, I’ll be sure to fix it. Either way, I had a lot of fun with this one, honestly, especially with their expressions. I had too much fun making Multo a romantic dork, while Walden’s a bit more subdued.

Walden would totally brag about Widget’s accomplishments, hence his somewhat smug expression here. One headcanon I have with Walden is that he appreciates the small things a lot, because details mean a lot to him. He’d totally be gushing over something that Widget did for him which to outsiders would be incredibly minor, but means the world to him. He thinks fondly of Widget, and while not as showy in his affections towards her as Multo is towards Zeeter, there’s no doubt that if possible, he’d spend as much time with her as he could. And while sometimes their approaches can cause them to butt heads, he loves how Widget can both bring him out of his comfort zone and appreciate the quiet moments with him.

Multo’s a huge romantic dork, so naturally anything having to do with Zeeter makes him a gushing mess. He thinks fondly of her, and would undoubtedly drop kick the world just to see her smile. He’d also go on about her accomplishments, but also compliment her, too, noting how proud or beautiful she looked to him when she did said thing. From talking about her accomplishments to complimenting her, he doesn’t hold back about his affection for her. Their personalities are way more drastic than Walden and Widget’s, but their common ground, appreciation for their differences and matched wits are what drew them to each other.

Both of them have lists of things that their girlfriends like/dislike. Because they’re scientists and pay attention to that rather than everything else. Oh, and because I said so. XD

The only thing not pictured here is Widget being touched by this, and Zeeter being so embarrassed that she wants to run for the hills (but trust me, she’s secretly happy) XD

Enjoy!

[feralferretxp]

Some self-indulgent art of Widget and Bang hanging out. Seeing these two goofy dorks being silly and chilling together just warms my heart <3

[ofdreamsanddoodles]

Hi, avid fanquill fan here, the concept of Simon being actually such a dork that he looks at Uendo and goes “Woagh… he is perfect… no flaws whatsoever…I better hang out with him.” And they regularly meet up for a straight year and Simon has no idea until the day Athena clocks Uendo as a system within 20 minutes of knowing them, is, unreasonably hilarious.

Simon complains and claims Athena had an advantage because she already basically is one herself because of Widget, and Athena goes “WHAT?”

ALSO. ALSO. DIDN’T SIMON NOT SEE AURA WAS OBVIOUSLY GAY FOR METIS?

This man walked in on Owen several times and went “Oop, sorry.” And either walked away or helped him get to his room cause he just assumed he was childlike when drunk

you're half right about that! i went back & looked through my aa liveblog tag, because i remembered taking a picture of it

so, aura thought she made her feelings clear, but simon either forgot about it, or was dense enough to think it didn't matter in the trial she put on. either way, both very powerful social blunders.

anyway, i think simon is particularly hilarious because all the funniest stuff happens offscreen which means he comes across as an incredibly stiff person who just happens to enjoy comedy skits but i know he's just as stupid as everyone else in the game. uendo & simon go out for lunch one day & uendo is like "haha, sorry i'm so quiet today" bc he's dissociating slightly & simon, who was busy zoning out solely bc he thinks uendo is cute (also like the ptsd or whatever), is like "oh no don't worry, you're fine."

i think if someone brought up that uendo zoned out a lot outside of rakugo simon would just get all huffy & be like "well of course the mind of an artist works differently than ours, do you know how CLEVER you have to be to be a rakugoka? the wit involved???" later he tries to explain this to them & kisegawa is just like "oh i get it. you thought this was hot people behavior." (obviously aside from the meeting owen stuff & whatnot)

[muses-and-odd-fashion]

"Well I was thinking of an explosive- wait who what?-"

Widget was immediately snapped out of her engineering thought and gave Wool a surprised look

"wh- OPEN UP WITH THAT FIRST, I COULD HAVE JUST COMPLETELY GLAZED OVER THAT"

He laughed loudly, playfully flicking her snoot

“I was wondering if you’d notice, dork!”

[likesunsetorange]

they’re so adorable I could scream! Mikasa being shy when it comes to the most mundane things and Eren’s stupid smile at the end!!!!

She sends him the pic and he makes it his homescreen <3 not his lock bc he wouldn’t live that down with her

she’s so used to being mean to him she doesn’t know how to be vulnerable with him so she comes off all shy!! and eren isn’t used to it so he’s just a fucking dork about it lol

AND SO REAL ANON!!! that or he adds it as a little widget so he can see it all the time <3

[infinite-melancholy]

“What have you done today?”

Put the pro in procrastination!

Everyone else will probably think it’s crap, but I like it & it’s my phone so…

[phoenix-fire67]

So I went a little crazy with the whole update with widgets and icons lol this is my personal Pokeballs theme page.

[bimshwel]

A completely unprovoked drawing of Widget [the] Tenrec, a character of kayla-na, who presumably knows a lot more about machinery than I do on account of my not carrying a wrench around. it has been suggested to me that Widget may at this moment be searching for the wrench and I cannot provide immediate evidence to the contrary.

[evandorkin]

DORK HC Collection Intro  

The one thing that needs to get done so we can get this book wrapped up. I’ve done three versions -- two of which I’ve drawn most of -- and hated them all. This panel’s all I’m using. I think. 

Needs to get done, it’s not a huge deal, the kind of thing you toss off in a day or two, not months. But I’m hitching in the worst way, not finding the words, not letting go. Latest draft looks like it’ll be the one, though, so, back to the drawing board. 

[bugeyedetective]

An official streaming release of my second-favorite Kamen Rider!!! Yeah, I know my avatar is of them, so it’s weird that they’re second.  Because I’m a physicist myself, Kamen Rider Build just edges ahead for me.  But I don’t want to change my avatar.  Also, I still have just about all of Double’s toys, but by Build I was trying to conserve money.

What I love about this show, and a lot about the Heisei Riders is that the monsters aren’t just monsters; they’re real people with the power to turn into monsters.  Shotaro needs to solve the case on an emotional, personal level before suiting up to release the finisher.

Shotaro’s a huge dork who’s trying to live up to the expectation of his dead mentor.  He wants to be “hard-boiled” like detectives written by raymond chandler, but he can’t quite make it.  Thankfully he’s got a human wikipedia to help him out.

Personally, I love what the requisite female sidekick, Akiko, brings to the show.  She’s a little annoying, yeah, but she serves to undercut his attempts to be hard-boiled.  Without her, we wouldn’t be seeing reality, we’d just be seeing Shotaro’s dream-world where he’s actually a cool guy.  So she adds a lot to the show.  A lot of people find her very annoying, but I would argue with them stringently that the character undergoes more growth than anyone, subtle steps though they may be.  (Also I’m a fan of the legs, but I suppose by now I’m a little too old to be saying that about her as she was in a show from over a decade ago)

There’s an underlying theme about Kamen Riders that a crossover event at the end of Wizard brought to attention.  Riders and their monsters always have the same power source.  It’s not about the power itself, or the nature of that power, but how you use it.  Double/W highlights that better than the previous decade’s worth of shows because both heroes and villains use Gaia Memories.  W’s memories are refined to have less ill effects, but are weaker, which is why he needs to use two.  But the two types of widgets are still fundamentally the same.

Another theme of the show is summed up by an insert song that appears halfway through the story: Nobody’s Perfect.  Shotaro probably couldn’t do all of the things he does without the help of Phillip, Akiko, or others.  But that’s okay; We’re all imperfect.  It’s completely fine to rely on someone else for help, because they’ll also rely on you.

I could go on and on about how much I love this show, even more than I have just now, but I won’t.  I was about to talk about how much I love the contrasts that the Secondary Rider brings to the table, but we’re entering spoiler territory.

Instead I encourage you to check it out for yourself.

[askaceattorney]

Dear...Binary Code User,

You don’t have to send your message in that form because Widget’s a robot.  He can understand human speech!

Here, I’ll demonstrate.  I’ll just translate all this to English, and then...

...

-Athena Cykes

[jenneferofjengaberg]

undefined

I know my blog hasn’t been active for a few days, I was sick (NOT Covid), so hopefully normal posting will return soon, but in the meantime I made myself a new Desktop Setup. Pride is coming up, so it’s in Bi Flag colors! Yeah, I’m a dork! Anyways, here’s the links to everything I used to make this.

Static preview here.

Wallpaper

I used rainmeter, a desktop customization and system monitoring tool for everything else. You can download different skins/widgets for rainmeter or make your own to make it look pretty much however you want. The following are the skins I used to make this desktop.

Omnimo 10 BY fediaFedia - Almost all the little squares with data on them are from this suite.

RetrOcOlOr BY HipHopium - The date, time, visualizer, and the now playing skin. I modified the date & time skin because it normally includes the weather, which is currently broken.

Elegante 2.0 By JosephB2000 - The notes skin. The Omnimo suite includes a notes skin, but I like this one better.

Amatical BY HipHopium - The quote skin. I use this skin in all my setups and I’ve heavily modified it.

Userpic Self-Portrait - I got this a few weeks ago from a tag meme on here. It’s cute, and my gf says it really does look like me, so I’ve been using it as my Windows userpic.

Cursor Night Diamond v3.0 | Amethyst Purple BY BlooGuy (Free Version)

Start Button - It’s in this pack of cutesy start orbs anyways. I use Classic Shell to apply it.

[fatechica]

NaNoWriMo - The Mileven Edition, Day 1

Ugh, I wish NaNoWriMo had a kick ass way or widget to directly share my progress, but THEY DONT.

Guess I’m stuck posting my progress in a text post like a dork.

So, without further ado....

Daily total: 1776 words (109 words over daily target)

Overall total: 1776/50000

Not as much as I was hoping for (today was busy), but I’m not done for the day yet. I’m gonna head into bed and write in my notebook for a while, so I’ll figure out how to add that word count to today’s total in the morning or I’ll just attach it to tomorrow’s totals. Is that breaking the rules? Maybe. Do I care? N O P E.

insert idowhatiwant.gif

[thingstotellthem]

last night i started crying for the first time in two months. two of my friends tried to help and i didnt want to tell them why because i was scared they’d react how you do when i feel bad. but eventually i told widget and he sat and talked to me for about an hour. and every time he said something kind i started crying harder. how is it that some dork i met online cares about me more than my own mom? and how come you continue to tell me you care? you got someone to lie to my shrink to avoid cps.