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I'm Your Wife- Chapter Seven

Javi gif by: @skyshipper Jack gif by: @javier-pena My Masterlist

Pairing: Jack Daniels ‘Agent Whiskey’x Spanish-speaking f!reader and Javier Peña x Spanish-speaking f!reader (Spanish translations are provided.)

Previous Chapter: I'm Your Wife- Chapter Six

Word count: 9.2k+

Chapter summary: It's time for Ángel's surgery and the transplant preparation. Following the procedure, Jack visits his son, providing some closure regarding your marriage.

A/N: This chapter concludes the final installment of the series and stands as my penultimate post on this blog. Next week, hopefully, I'll be sharing one more post—a Din piece—officially wrapping up this blog. I intend to maintain my writing for another two weeks before ultimately closing my account. Thank you to everyone who has supported me!

Rating: 18+ No explicit content, but this is an 18+ page. Warning contains spoilers, but please read if you'd like!!! They are below the cut, but if you don't want to read them, the story starts after the Whiskey bottles. Also, Jack's texts are in bold.

CW: angst is back again, but a happy ending is guaranteed, some science, mentions of surgery, chemotherapy, and stem cell transplant, Jack cannot use an iPhone, Javi and Jack tension, jealousy, pregnancy, divorce, and childhood disease.

Your conversation with Jack three hours ago left you drained and exhausted, and now you're perched on the chair in the corner of your son's hospital room. You're engrossed in watching Ángel and Javi talk about an upcoming soccer game and the probability of their favorite team winning the match when your phone vibrates underneath your thigh. With a subtle shift, you reach for it and once it’s in your hand, you flip it over. Your phone is illuminated with a family picture of you with your husband and son in the background and there’s a message on your Notification Center. 

Jack Daniels: HI. TEXTING YOU FROM MY NEW PHONE.

Another vibration follows, prompting a second message.

Jack Daniels: WHY DID THE TEXT SEND IN UPPERCASE?

The sequence of messages from Jack continues, each notification accompanied by a vibration.

Jack Daniels: HOW DO I TURN THIS OFF?

Jack Daniels: HELP me. Wait, I figured it out. Sorry.

You haven’t clicked on the messages to take you to the chat. Instead, you hold and press, sending him a brief response:

Hi, Jack.

He doesn’t send anything back, and you turn off your phone. As soon as the screen is black, it lights up again.

Jack Daniels: I went to the store and picked up a new phone.

A second later, an image comes through.

You hover over the message once more, and it’s a front selfie Jack took. Well, it’s not quite a full-face selfie. It only captures just beneath his eyes, and his eyes and face are not looking directly at the camera, so you guess he was looking down trying to take a picture of something else.

You’re proven correct when a second picture comes through. This time it’s a box of an iPhone.

There’s a bubble on your text chain, and this time you fully click, opening the message thread with Jack.

Sorry, I don’t know how this phone works. I just didn’t want my phone to fail, and you didn’t have a way to contact me, so I got a new one. Did I miss anything?

You reply back with:

Ángel is already ready to go, we’re just waiting for a room to open up in the OR. Could take hours, though.

How did he take the news?

Very well, actually. Saying he’s excited to go home is an understatement. He sensed that we were worried about his surgery and he kind of gave us a lecture on how important it is to listen to doctors and gave us a small list of the benefits of chemo ports. When we asked him how he knew about the port, he said, and I quote, "some light reading."

Jack doesn’t take long to reply:

Smart boy. He definitely got that from you.

A smile graces your lips at his message, but you decide to shift the conversation:

We never talked about it, but do you want us to tell Ángel that you’re his donor?

Your nerves are on edge, and waiting for Jack’s response heightens your anxiety. Glancing up from your phone, you see Ángel still in deep conversation with Javi. Your phone vibrates again, and you look down at Jack’s response:

No. I don’t want him to want a relationship with me because of the donation. If he wants a relationship with me, I want it to be because he truly wants it, not because he feels any obligation.

You exhale, relieved, and reply:

Okay, we won’t tell him.

Thank you.

A text bubble appears:

How do I send the accent on his name?

Suppressing a laugh, your fingers glide over the keyboard:

Press the letter A for a good two seconds, and a whole lot of options should appear. Click on the third one.

It doesn’t take Jack very long to send a single:

Á

He follows with:

Be honest, does it sound a bit funny when I pronounce his name?

You weigh your options, lie or be honest. You decide to go with the latter:

A little bit.

I remember when you used to make fun of my accent…

Liar. I didn’t make fun of you.

I miss that...

Oh, God, not again.

You’re about to reprimand him when, by some divine intervention, a fist knocks on the door, followed by a man in a polo and khakis. Quickly, you turn your phone off, redirecting your full attention to the man.

You’re about to reprimand him when, by some divine intervention, a fist knocks on the door, followed by a man in a polo and khakis. Quickly, you turn your phone off, redirecting your full attention to the man.

“Hi, I’m Will. I’m with patient transport services, and I’m here to take Ángel down to the OR,” he says.

“Come in,” you invite.

Javi stands up and retrieves your thick to-go bag from underneath the sofa. It's filled with water bottles, a variety of snacks, sweaters, sweatpants, and a few changes of clothes—because, as Javi says, uno nunca sabe (one never knows).

Will walks over to Ángel and looks at his hospital bracelet. He takes out a phone with a bulky blue case and scans the ID barcode. Will asks to no one in particular, “Can you please confirm his full name and date of birth.”

Javi does that for you.

Will nods and types something onto the phone. After a moment, he looks at Ángel, “Hey, little man, how are you doing?”

Ángel smiles, “I’m good, sir. I'm just waiting to get my chemo port. After that, I can get chemo and then a transplant so I can go home.”

Will chuckles, “That's a great plan, buddy. We’ll get you down to the OR, and they’ll take good care of you so you can go home soon. Ready to go to the sixth floor?”

Ángel nods enthusiastically, his eyes filled with trust.

“Great,” Will says, glancing at you and Javi. “If you guys are ready, we can head downstairs.”

Javi, lifting the heavy bag over his shoulder, nods in agreement. He glances at Ángel, a mix of tenderness and concern in his eyes, and then turns to Will.

“He’ll be under anesthesia, right?” Javi asks, his voice a bit gruffer than usual.

Will offers a reassuring smile, “Yes, sir. That's what his chart says.”

Javi nods, visibly swallowing some of his worry. “Okay, let’s get him down there.” He moves to help his son get up from the bed. Will positions the wheelchair closer to Ángel's bed, and together, they carefully lower Ángel onto the wheelchair. You reach for one of the blankets—a gift from your father-in-law—and drape it over Ángel. Will takes the IV wire and secures it on the designated hook at the back of the wheelchair.

"Are we all set?" Will asks.

"Yes," you affirm, and then Will wheels Ángel toward the door. Javi, anticipating the need, beats them to the exit, opens the door, and holds it wide open to let them pass. Stepping into the corridor, Javi instinctively reaches for your hands, intertwining fingers not just for your comfort but for his own solace as well. Together, you trail behind your son as Will expertly steers Ángel's wheelchair through the hallway. 

Descending from the tenth floor via the patient elevators, you and Javi follow Will, who scans his badge to usher you through the double doors into the pre-op room. 

Guiding Ángel to the left side of the room, Will selects a quiet corner and draws back a side of the arctic blue diamond-print curtains, revealing an unoccupied bed. Positioning the wheelchair beside the bed, he assists Ángel in transitioning onto the soft mattress.

"Alright, good luck, buddy. You'll do great in there," Will encourages, raising a fist. Ángel meets it with his own, and as their fists connect, they both playfully mimic the sound of an explosion.

"Thanks, sir," Ángel replies, his voice carrying gratitude. Then, in a quiet and unsure tone, he adds, "I'll see you after?"

Will's smile is reassuring. "Absolutely. I'll be the one taking you back up."

With that, Will takes a step back, giving Ángel some space. He turns to you and your husband, saying, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Peña, Mrs. Peña. Someone should be with you shortly."

"Thanks for everything, Will," you say, watching as Will, with a warm smile, exits and closes the curtain, providing you with some privacy with your son.

With only one chair in the room, Javi insists you take a seat, not wanting you on your feet.

"¿Y tú? (what about you?)" you ask, concern etched in your voice and face. Maybe it's because you went so long without a partner prioritizing you, or because in the time your son has been in the hospital, Javier has really taken care of almost everything. Sometimes you can't help but feel guilty that he always puts your comfort above his own.

"Me paro (I’ll stand)," Javi shrugs his shoulders as if it's the most obvious choice in the world.

"Papi, you can sit here," Ángel offers, patting the mattress.

"Está bien (it's okay), mijo, I can stand for a while," he smiles, loving that his son is always considerate.

"Baja ese bolso (put down that bag), at least," you plead with him.

"I'm good, someone should be here soon," Javi reassures.

"Pero, Javi- (but, Javi-)" You're interrupted when you hear a woman asking if she can come in.

He smirks and whispers, "Ves (see)." Dropping his cocky look, Javi opens the curtain to let the woman in.

"Hello, my name is Dr. Gaddi. I'll be Angel's anesthesiologist. Can I please get a full name and a birthday?"

Your son happily responds to the doctor's requests while she verifies the information on the computer.

"Great, thank you, sweetheart. Mom or Dad, I'll need your signature on the consent forms. If one of you will please follow me," she says.

"I'll go," Javi says, and to your relief, he finally drops the bag from his shoulder.

"It's just straight this way," the anesthesiologist says, motioning past the curtain where the nurse station is in the middle of the big room.

Javier nods and follows the doctor. "Ya vengo mis amores (I’ll be back my loves)," he says with a big smile before closing the curtain.

Once on the other side of the curtain, where you and his son can't see him, he exhales a shaky breath. The fear is there, gnawing at him, although he doesn't want to show it. He wishes he could share it with you, as he normally would, but you're pregnant. The stress is already too much, and he doesn't want it to affect the baby. That thought terrifies him, and he can't risk it. Through the course of your marriage, he's come to understand that sometimes, marriage isn't a perfect fifty-fifty. There are moments when one partner has to carry more, and right now, he knows it's one of those moments. He must bear the fear and shoulder some of yours. While he wants to share these worries with you, a deep-seated commitment to putting family first holds him back. His protective nature takes precedence, always prioritizing his family.

Javier raises his head back up and quickly turns around to follow the doctor, who is waiting for him.

Once he catches up to her, she tells him the forms are for consent of treatment. The doctor reads the online document, informing Javi about the procedure, the benefits, and the risks it entails.

Dr. Gaddi must have seen the look on Javier's face after she listed the risks and the way he nearly crumbled when she said "or death" because she stopped and turned to him.

"But... everything will be okay, right? He’s in good hands?” Javi asks, his voice cracking as if he's on the verge of tears; even speaking those words makes his throat ache, causing a noticeable strain in his voice.

"Sir, I can't make any promises. Every surgery does come with risks, but my team and I have successfully done this procedure multiple times.” 

Javi tries his best to remind himself that everyone in the OR is experienced and has done this procedure before.

"Where do I sign?" he manages to ask, his voice slowly regaining its composure.

While Javi is with Ángel's anesthesiologist, a nurse, and another doctor come in to check on Ángel. He had only managed a short nap, so now, as he rests, you take out your phone and send a text to Jack. 

Hey. We're in the Pre-op area. There's a room in the OR now, and I've met his doctors. As soon as the anesthesiologist comes back, they'll take him.

Jack replies instantly as if he's been sitting by, waiting for his phone to ring:

Thank you for letting me know.

He sends a follow-up: 

His surgery is only supposed to take an hour, right?

That's what the doctors said. I'm sure he won't be in there for too long.

As Javi, Dr. Gaddi, and a nurse approach, you text Jack:

The anesthesiologist will be here soon. I'll send you any updates I get, and I'm going to send you Javi's contact info just in case.

After adding Javi's phone number and hitting send, your husband and the surgical team arrive.

Dr. Gaddi approaches, “Hi, Mom, everything is ready on our end to take the patient to the OR."

“Okay,” you say, rising to your feet. The staff gathers around the bed and begins to move it. Ángel stirs at the movement, calling for you and Javi before opening his eyes.

Javi quickly rushes to your side, closer to your son, and reassures him, "It's okay."

"Oh, am I going to surgery?" Ángel asks.

"Yes, you are, Angel," the nurse responds as he releases the brakes on the left side.

"Oh, okay, yay," Ángel smiles.

The nurse chuckles at his excitement, "You know, not many kids are excited for surgery."

"I'm excited because chemo ports look more comfortable than the IV. It gets in my way when I do, like, anything," Ángel explains with a huff.

"Well, I've heard from other patients that they prefer the port, so hopefully you will too," says Dr. Gaddi as she stands to the side, waiting to wheel Ángel out of the room.

She turns to you and your husband, saying, "You guys can follow us until that red line, and then you'll be taken to the waiting room."

You start feeling more anxious, and Javier senses it. He begins to rub your lower back, his warm hand moving up and down, offering comfort.

"Okay, ready," says the nurse.

With the curtain open, they go through first, and you and Javi are right next to your son’s bed.

You're so hyper-focused on your son that you don't realize you've made it right before the line that you can't cross.

"Love you, Mommy, love you, Daddy," Ángel says, reaching out for your hand.

You take his little hand in yours, and Javi covers both of your hands with his.

"Te amamos más, mi niño (we love you more)," Javi tells him in a soft voice. Everyone can hear the love pouring out of his words.

Ángel knows this and doesn't try to contradict his dad because he knows it would be in vain. Instead, he simply says, "Nos vemos en un ratito (We’ll see each other in a little bit)."

"Okay, mijo," you say, fighting back tears.

The doors open, and Ángel is wheeled in. You think the tears are coming, but when you hear the light sound of your son's laughter, you're able to compose yourself.

"Would you like to be taken to the waiting room now?" a non-surgical nurse asks.

Thirty minutes pass, and you and Javier are seated in the waiting room, the only occupants at the moment. Purple chairs surround you, and you're on a blue seat cushion against the wall, your attention fixed on the TV opposite. It's a modest 35-inch screen designed to keep you informed about the ongoing surgery. Your son's name is displayed in green, and the message changes from ‘Surgery in progress: Incision and Pocket Creation’ to ‘Surgery in progress: Port Implantation.’

"They're placing the port-disk-chamber thingy inside the incision they made on his chest," Javi says matter-of-factly, pointing at the text.

You turn your head toward him, an amused smile playing on your lips. "'Port-disk-chamber thingy'—is that what the doctor said, Jav?"

He bursts out laughing, placing his right hand over his chest, realizing he was mimicking the tone doctors use when imparting information: authoritative. "Casi me cago del miedo (I almost shitted myself from fear) when the doctor told me step by step what they would do, so I don't remember exactly what he said," he chuckles.

Javier's laugh is contagious, and you can't help but laugh too. Your laughter fuels his, and vice versa. The only thing that interrupts your laughter is when you feel the baby kick.

"Ay, me pateó (oh, he kicked me)," you exclaim happily.

Javi instantly stops laughing too and shifts his hand to rest on your bump. As soon as you feel the weight of his hand on your stomach, your son responds with another kick, right where Javi's palm is placed.

A boyish look crosses your husband's face. He always loves feeling the baby kick, reminiscent of the first time he felt his first son kick.

"¿Hola, mijo, ya te despertaste? (Hi, my boy, have you woken up yet?)" he hums softly.

In response, the baby kicks again.

"He loves your voice so much. I swear he only kicks so you could talk to him. A mi no me quiere, nomas le gusta que le cantes y le leas (He doesn’t love me, he just likes it when you sing and read to him),” you huff out in fake annoyance.

"That's not true. The second-born is always the momma's boy. So the baby loves you the most," Javi says.

"And the youngest loves daddy the most, so no," you refute.

"He won't be the youngest for long," he grins suggestively.

You gasp, “ya me embarazaste, sinverguenza! (You already impregnated me!)"

"But if it was scientifically possible..."

"Shut up," you playfully scold him.

With Javi's hand still over your stomach, your son kicks again, this time much lighter.

"He's upset you told me to shut up," his gaze shifts from looking at you to your stomach as if he could see the baby, and he lowers his voice, “¿verdad, mijo? Dile a tu mami que no sea mala conmigo (right, mijo? Tell your mom to stop being mean to me).”

He looks back up at you, "te acuerdas cuando Ángel hizo eso por primera vez? (Do you remember when Ángel did that for the first time?).”

“Jesus Christ, he scared me, and he made you cry,” you laugh, a smile on your face remembering.

"Oh shit! I forgot to update Jack," you realize and scramble to get your phone. As you start typing to let him know what's going on in the OR, you tell Javi, "By the way, I gave him your phone number."

Javier lets out an unenthusiastic and dry, "Yay."

“Mira (look),” he says while you’re still typing. You look up to where Javi is pointing, and the TV changes to Surgery in progress: Catheter Insertion.

You wince, "They're in his vein now."

"The catheter is the tube that delivers the medicine to his body, right?"

"Yeah," you mumble, typing the next update to Jack.

Javi reaches for one of your hands and rubs soothing circles, “Deja de pensar en eso. Él está bien con ellos (stop thinking about it. He’s safe with them).”

He removes his hand and turns his body to the to-go bag. Javi reaches for the zipper and undoes it. He digs in the back, and you see him pull something out. "Do you need a blanket?" he asks, with a large fuzzy blue blanket in his hand and his soft brown eyes looking at you tenderly. Before you can reply, he places it in your lap and goes back to the bag. Javi fights a little and finally tugs a pillow out of the bag, "a pillow?" he asks with the same puppy eyes.

“I- thank you," you accept both items. You put the pillow behind you so you won't rest your back against the hard and cold wall. You take the blue blanket from your lap and extend it to drape it over the both of you.

"¿Tienes hambre? (are you hungry?)" Javi asks adjusting the blanket.

"Sí" 

He goes back to the bag and pulls out some snacks: Goldfish, Chips Ahoy, granola bars, fruit snacks, dry plantain chips, and a pack of assorted nuts.

"Sorry, I don't have any actual food," he looks at what he's offered you and feels guilty at the limited options. Javi gets up quickly, "I can go get you real food. Are you craving anything?"

"Hey," you wrap your fingers around his wrist and grip somewhat tightly. You look up at him and push him to sit back down. "No. I don't want you to leave."

"Okay. I'll stay," he says softly, kissing where your hair and forehead meet.

A knock reverberates in the room, and a nurse comes in. "Hi," she says, closing the door to come closer to you. "Everything went well. There were no complications. They're ready to transfer Ángel to the Post-op room if you guys would like to follow me."

Both of you look relieved at the news, and you feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

"Thank you," you tell her, and Javi can't get any words out. His eyes are watering, and he tries his best to not let them fall.

He starts hurriedly putting away the snacks, just keeping the bag of nuts, while you fold the blanket back up into the neat roll Javi had it in. After the snacks, blanket, and pillow are in the bag again, Javi helps you get up. You send Jack a quick text informing him that everything went well, and you're on your way to see Ángel. Javi puts the bag over his shoulder, and you both follow the nurse to go see your son.

Next morning - Day 1 of Chemo:

Hey, Jack. Ángel is awake and doing well. He asked about having visitors and hoped you would come see him. We explained that it's not possible right now. He understood but wanted to call. Would you like to FaceTime?

That's great. What’s FaceTime?

It's a video call.

Yes. How do I do that?

Instead of texting him back, you initiate a FaceTime call and hand the phone off to Ángel when it starts to ring.

As soon as Jack accepts the call and his face takes over your screen, Ángel's little face lights up. "Mr. Jack!"

Jack's face mirrors Ángel's: a smile so wide, eyes so soft looking at his son.

"I just started chemotherapy," Ángel blurts out just before Jack greets him.

Jack's heart glows watching his son's face. "How are ya feeling?"

"Mmm... I feel okay. Oh! I got the surgery last night, and look at my chemo port." Your son takes one hand off your phone and pulls his hospital gown just enough to show Jack his port. "Look! You can see the bump of the port under my skin. Eww, it looks gross. It's so cool."

Jack laughs, and that makes Ángel move the phone back to his face.

"Does it hurt?" Jack asks.

"Nope. It was a little bit like... sore when I woke up, but it doesn’t hurt now. I had chemo in the morning, and it pinched for a second, but it's wayyy better than the IV."

"It's not a pain to use the restroom, huh?"

"It's easier and faster to go now," his brows pinch in the middle, "I almost peed myself once 'cus I had to wait for the wires to detangle from the bed." Ángel trails off, tilts his head to the side, and squints. "What do you have behind you? Is that a needle?"

Jack turns his head behind to see what his son saw. He had picked up the prescription he needed to be Ángel's donor from the pharmacy the previous night. Jack opened the box out of curiosity and took out a needle to look at, but then he got caught up texting you in the morning and forgot to put the small vial and needle back in the pharmacy bag.

"Umm... yeah?" Jack says uncertainly, not knowing how to explain it to his son. He doesn't want him to know that he's his donor, at least not yet. "That is some medicine I have to take in two days," Jack says, trying to keep it vague.

When the words come out of Jack's mouth, Ángel's eyes show pure concern, "Oh, are you sick?"

"No, buddy," Jack blurts out immediately, "I'm not sick. I'm just takin' them for... to... Just takin' them to stay healthy. They're like vitamins."

"Maybe I should take some so I could be healthy. What's the name of the medicine?"

Jack's heart drops at his son's words. His mind starts spinning, but he takes a deep breath. He'll be healthy soon, he tries to remind himself. "You can't take this one, buddy. It's for adults."

"Oh," he sounds disappointed, but his voice goes back to normal, "Well, that's okay. I can't take vitamins on chemo either way. I think. Vitamins can affect chemo because of cancer cells, but I don't have any so I don't know. I can ask later. How are the horses?"

Donation Day - Day 7 of Chemo:

Jack sat comfortably in a green chair, his right hand extended over a pillow, squeezing a small blue ball as his blood cycled through the machine. Two hours had passed since he settled into the chair. He arrived at the hospital early in the morning with the last dose of his five-day filgrastim prescription, and for the first time, someone other than him administered the injection. Throughout the morning, he had been texting you, checking in on his son, and, though he wouldn't admit it, checking in on you.  Of course, he cared about his son and wanted to know every detail of what he was going through, but this had been the only line of communication he had with you for years, and he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity while you were willing to entertain his conversations. From you, he learned that Ángel's last day of chemo had gone smoothly.

Jack's head spun when he heard a knock against the door. His heart thumped wildly in his chest at the thought of seeing you. When the door opened, a wave of disappointment washed over him. It wasn't you who set foot in the room; it was fucking Javier.

Jack instantly tenses and clears his throat as Javier walks over to him.

"Hi."

"Hi."

Javi crosses his hands over his thick biceps, "How's the donation coming along?"

"It's goin' well. They think in 30 minutes we'll have enough for Ángel," Jack fills Javi in.

"H-how are umm... how are you feeling?" Javi gets the words out, although with much effort. He sounds physically pained asking a simple question to Jack.

"You sound very concerned for my well-being," Jack quips sarcastically.

Not really, Javi wants to say. Instead, he tells Jack, "I’m trying really hard to not hate you.”

It doesn't faze Jack one bit. "Same."

"So just don't do anything to piss me off. More like don't do anything else to piss me off even more," Javi lowers his voice more, "She's my wife; she tells me things. Don't you ever dare call her ‘baby’ again. You're lucky she's not that uncomfortable with ‘sugar’, but if she ever shows one ounce of discomfort, you will stop."

"She never minded all those names before," Jack challenges, glaring at Javi."

Javi smirks, wearing a shit-eating grin as he nonchalantly shrugs. "Yeah, she never did lots of things before me."

Jack is furious. All he sees is red, and just as he begins to rise from his chair to get up, the nurse walks in.

"Oh! A visitor," she exclaims.

"Hello," Javi greets the redheaded nurse in blue scrubs with ducks all over them.

Seeing the nurse enter, Jack comes to his senses and sits back down. Subconsciously, he squeezes the ball so tight in his hands that his knuckles turn white.

"Mr. Daniels, are you okay?" the nurse questions with concern. All she sees is her patient gripping the ball so tightly that his nails are about to rupture through the material. She moves to him and checks his arm to see if there are any signs the needle is causing pain.

Jack's glare tears from Javi and shifts to the nurse. "I'm okay, thank you for checkin’ in on me," he tells her and moves his hand to signal for the nurse to release his arm. "Nothin’ hurts," he smiles up at her.

The nurse understands and checks the progress of the donation. While looking at the machine, she decides to make small talk with her patient and his visitor. "Are you Mr. Daniels' brother?" She turns to ask Javi innocently.

"No," Jack's words drip with disgust.

Javi smiles at how fast Jack denies the nurse's initial thought and says "Not related," under his breath, mumbling, "Thank God."

The nurse doesn't seem to pick up on their animosity and comments, "You two look alike, what a coincidence. Best friends then?"

"No, nothing like that. My wife and I know him, and he's giving our son a gift," Javi says 'our' while looking at Jack.

Suddenly, Ángel crosses their minds, and they both feel some shame for their earlier behavior. They know they can't go on still hating each other because it'll eventually turn into a fight. They just don't know how to set aside their differences.

"I'll call the doctor to get her thoughts, but it looks like we have what we need for the donation," the nurse says, taking note of the blood volume. "In a few hours, one lucky little boy will receive the cells, and he’ll be one step closer to being healthy."

After Jack was hooked up to the machine for two and a half hours, the staff deemed the collection enough and sent the blood bag to the lab to confirm that Jack’s procedure had collected enough stem cells. Four hours later, it was confirmed that there were the desired amount of stem cells, and the team took the cells to Ángel’s room. Due to your son being immunocompromised, he isn't allowed to have visitors other than legal guardians. So, you and Javi update Jack on the transplant.

Day 11 post-transplant:

Remember how I told you he started grafting on the tenth day?

Yes! How his body was accepting the stem cells, and the cells were growing and making new cells.

Mhm. Well, if everything keeps going at the speed it’s been going, Ángel gets to go home in four days!!

Oh, wow! It’s just day 11 after the transplant, and the doctors estimated it wouldn't happen until closer to day 25! Can I go see him then? I know I was cleared to go five days ago, but because I wasn’t feeling well, I didn’t go. My fever’s still here, but I’ll continue to monitor myself.

Sure! You need to be cleared of a fever for 24 hours and have absolutely NO symptoms.

You have my word, sugar.

Day 14 post-transplant:

You're packing all of Ángel's belongings to take home. It's been 14 days since your son's transplant, and he's cleared to go home. You don't know who's happier— you, your husband, or your son. But that doesn't really matter; all that matters is that your family is together. Just as you're collecting your son's toys and getting them ready to shove into the white personal belongings bag, someone knocks on the door. Javi stops placing Ángel's books into a box and hurriedly opens the door. He was expecting the doctor to come in with discharge papers, but it was Jack waiting on the other side.

"Oh, right, you said you'd stop by," Javi remembered.

When you saw Jack standing there not quite stepping inside the room with a red gift bag, you gasped. "Sorry, we forgot you were going to stop by." You turned your neck and saw Ángel reading the book Jack had gifted him, One Hundred Fun Facts About Horses.

"Come in," you usher Jack in. "Mijo," you call, and Ángel looks up from the book he's got his nose buried in.

"Mr. Jack!" Ángel's face lights up like a Christmas tree. He pats a spot in his bed as he tells Jack to sit down next to him. "I want to show you something," Ángel puts the book aside and lowers his shirt to show Jack that the port is gone. "They took my port out!"

Jack almost reaches out and touches his son's scar but settles for examining it with his eyes. "Are you sore?"

"Not really. I'm just excited to go to my house. Did my mom tell you I'm leaving the hospital today?"

"Yeah," Jack chuckles, "she mentioned it. And here I brought you this," he lifts the gift bag onto the bed.

Ángel tears it open and begins to pull the items out. The first gift he reaches is a book, Her Right Foot. "Oh, my God!"

You see the title and direct your question to Jack, "He's wanted that book for a while, how did you know?"

"Really?" Jack's smiling ear to ear. "I just went to the bookstore and thought he'd like that one." His heart feels like it could rip right through his chest because he feels like he knows his son. Jack had browsed many children's books and read the synopsis of every last book. The one he had purchased was the one he felt his son would love, the book his son is currently holding, and Jack was right.

The little boy takes out the next item, which is a box. "A Lego set!" Ángel flips the black box to the front, and he sees that this particular set is one of horses. The horse in the center looked similar to Andor, one of Jack's horses his son loved the most. "Is this an Andalusian?" Ángel looks to Jack, his eyes sparkling."

Jack nods his head, "It is, buddy. It's like a mini Andor."

Ángel seems pleased with Jack's answer and moves on to the last gift. It was another box, but this one was a shoebox. The little boy lifted the top off, and he was met with boots—dark brown leather boots with beautiful and intricate stitching all throughout.

“Is that a longhorn?” Ángel points at the center of the boots. He doesn’t wait for an answer before speaking again, “My grandpa has longhorns on his ranch. Do you have them on your ranch, Mr. Daniels?”

"I don’t have any longhorns, but umm... I have the same boots," Jack looks down at the floor like he’s suddenly interested in the simple pattern of the hospital floor. He wasn’t sure what reaction he expected, but when his son's sweet voice reached his ears, Jack looked up.

"You do?" Ángel was beaming, a smile brighter than the sun. He leaps to move sideways so his legs would hang from the bed. He took his left boot and put it on his baby blue non-slip sock-clothed feet and did the same for the right boot. When both boots are on, he pinches the tip to feel where his toes are. Ángel drops to the floor and begins to walk, showing all three of you his new footwear. 

"How did you get his shoe size?" You're amazed at how they seem to fit perfectly.

"I asked him," Jack nods his head towards your husband, who is smiling broadly, showing his perfect teeth. Javi squats down to Ángel's level and presses his fingers on his son's boot toe box to feel if they're pinching Ángel's feet. "Perfect fit," Javi smiles up at his son, dimple on display, still on the floor.

Once Javi's hands are removed from Ángel's boots, he runs to Jack, "Thank you so much, Mr. Jack," he says, jumping up and down. Ángel runs back to Javi, who is now standing up straight, "¡Papi, quiero una foto! (Daddy, I want a picture!)" Javi complies and takes out his phone from his back pocket.

You turn to Jack, and your voice falls to a whisper, "We're hosting a dinner in a few nights to celebrate Ángel coming home, and we'd love it if you'd join us."

Jack's head reels at the prospect of seeing you and Ángel in a few days, but beneath that excitement, there is fear, "Is your family going to be there?" he asks.

"Yes, and Javi's too."

"It's your family I'm worried about," he confesses, looking into your eyes.

You take in the way his face pales slightly, his eyes widen, and his eyebrows shoot near his hairline. "No. You're more than worried; you look genuinely scared, but you'll be fine."

"'Course I'll be there, Sugar," he says, looking at his son laughing while Javi takes his pictures. If Ángel was a happy and giddy boy before the transplant, Jack now sees how his innocence is amplified now that he's healthy, and Jack can't wait to see more of his son's childhood joy outside the hospital.

"Hey, can I talk with you alone before you leave?" Jack asks you, hoping you'll agree.

"Um, yeah, we can go outside," you agree, noting his urgent tone.

"Javi, Ángel, I'll be back soon. I'm just going to walk Jack out," you say, moving to the door with Jack on your heels.

"Okay, we'll keep packing, amor," Javi tells you, brushing his hand with yours. You lean into your husband for a while until Ángel and Jack say their goodbyes, promising they'll see each other at the dinner.

You and Jack exit the room, and you take him to a little corner further down the hall.

"What did you want to discuss?" you ask resting your back on the wall with brown and cream diamond wallpaper.

Jack's nervous to tell you what he wants: a father-and-son relationship with Ángel. You two never went into detail on how you would tell Ángel the truth about Jack and he's terrified of asking you for something this big so soon after a big weight of stress has been lifted off you. 

"Jack?" 

"Sorry," he clears his throat, "I wanted to talk to you about telling Ángel that I'm his dad- biological."

"Oh," you sound surprised. "Yeah. We didn't really discuss that, did we? I haven't thought about it in so long, I'm sorry. Maybe we can get some pointers from Ángels counselor?" You suggest. "Javi and I thought about making an appointment with a child therapist because of this entire hospital stay. We were hoping to get your opinion on that actually."

It's Jack's turn to be surprised. "I think that's wonderful, Sugar. Thank you for including me in the decision." 

"Of course. I think it would be great if we could get the counselor's opinion on how to best handle the situation. And we too can figure out how this new dynamic would work. For example, medical decisions moving forward. We'll tell Ángel about you and I have no doubt he'll want to have the relationship you want to have with him. We can talk more about the appointment in a few days. We haven't set an exact date for the dinner but it will probably be this upcoming Sunday." 

"I'll clear out my entire schedule," Jack says sincerely 

"We'll have food for you that won't send you into a choking fit," you tease. 

Jack covers his eyes with his hands, "God, 'M so sorry." 

You laugh at his embarrassment, "No, it's okay. I understand the food we serve can take some getting used to."  You continue to tell him about the plans for the dinner that is slowly turning into a party and he just stares at you while you keep talking he gets lost in the moment. He thinks about your laugh and the consideration you still have for him and suddenly Jack blurts out, “I love you."

The smile you had vanishes.

“Jack,” you warn dangerously. “We were doing so good, Jack.” You don't want to—can't see him now, so you close your eyes. The words only needed to be said once for them to threaten tears to spill. "How dare you say those words to me now?” You hiss, your tone now angry but more than anything, filled with frustration and pain. You thought you could handle seeing him, so you open your eyes. "What do you expect me to do with that? I won’t leave Javi if that’s what you’re hoping for.

"S-" Jack opens his mouth, but you cut him off immediately. "No, Jack, let me speak."

"Once, those three words would have made me the happiest person in the world, but now? They’re only causing pain,” you pause, exhaling a shaky breath. “You humiliated me, Jack. Time and time again. Even if I didn’t have Javi, I wouldn’t go back to you.” You sound defeated, your voice carrying the pain of past wounds, and it crushes you to keep thinking about the past.

“I did love you, through everything,” Jack whispers, his eyes searching yours. They are watery and dazed.

“I think…” you run your tongue over your lips and then purse them, “I think you loved me in your own way. But that’s not how I wanted to be loved. During our engagement, and more so during our marriage, I never really felt loved by you. Can you blame me for that if I can count with my fingers the amount of 'I love yous' you gave me?” Your words are like shards of glass, cutting through the air with the sharpness of your pain.

“When you did show me your love, I was so happy, Jack. So happy that I thought, hoped, you would give me more love, so I stayed with you. I longed for the morning you woke up and things would be different, better. Because that’s exactly what happened. You woke up after the night of our engagement, and you were a completely different person, and I couldn't comprehend what I did wrong. I was willing to stay with you forever for the odd chance one day you would feel for me how I felt for you.”

“And I stayed because I always hoped you would go back to your old self. Sometimes there were indications that you were going to become the old Jack. Well, I don’t know if I fooled myself, but sometimes I thought you were happy. Like right before I told you I was pregnant, you had this smile on your face….” Your voice trembles with the weight of those memories.

“Other times I genuinely thought you hated me, and then I thought that’s not possible. ‘Why would he ask me to marry him if he couldn’t stand me?’” 

“Did you always think that?” He sounds sad, a quiet plea for understanding. But your heart, scarred by the past, struggles to find solace in his remorseful gaze.

“Yeah. When… when we were together, it was rare you would look at me in my face. The majority of times you had me face down. How do you think that made me feel? You made me feel used and disposable.” 

“I wanted to be loved by you," you continue, your tone a mix of vulnerability and strength, "and you always made me feel like I was the other woman. Then I decided I should stop trying and let you go.” 

“What changed?” Jack's question hangs in the air. Everything you’ve revealed up to this point has felt like glass shards embedded in his heart. He knows you still have a lot left to say, and it will continue to hurt him, but he owes it to you to hear everything you went through.

“I was at a park one day after you didn’t come home," you recall, emotion tinging your words. "I came across this older man, and he showed me pictures of his family. When he talked about his wife…” you pause, emotion catching up with you. “It was beautiful. And I realized that would never be you. You wouldn’t talk about me that way. Since that day, I took off my rose-colored lenses and thought everything through."

"I thought about your behavior but also about mine. I hated who I was because it sounds ridiculous, but I was jealous of someone who wasn't here anymore. And I swear I never wanted to replace her or erase her from your life, I just wanted you to love me too. I loved you so much; I would've settled for half the love you had for Allison, but you couldn't even give me that. I never told you you couldn't love or mourn Allison. She was your wife, I get that... but I was your wife too, and knowing you would never love me like you did her was slowly killing me.” 

"I thought about one night, which I don't know if you remember," you confess, the vulnerability in your voice palpable. "But one night on her birthday, you got extremely drunk, and you kept slurring your words. I couldn't understand half of what you were saying, but I heard loud and clear when you yelled at me that you didn’t choose to stop loving her; you were forced to. And you said that you would’ve never looked at me otherwise. That you wish she came back and I disappeared… That we s- switched places,” you confess, exposing the scars engraved into your heart, and the pain of that night that is still etched in your memory—a wound that refused to fully heal. You were surprised that you weren't sobbing, because the night he told you those words, you felt your world had ended.

Jack was appalled, his face reflecting the shock and guilt that surged through him as he listened to your words. The heaviness of the past, the pain inflicted, all rushed back to him as a floodgate of memories suddenly opened, each carrying the weight of its own hurt.

"I always felt I was the third person in our marriage. You made me feel things I hated, and maybe even worse, I became someone I didn't recognize. After that day in the park, I was going to ask you for a divorce because I didn't want to be the person you settled for… then I found out I was pregnant. I wanted to give us one last try, and well, you remember what happened after I told you the news,” you say, the bitterness of the past lingering in your words.

"You kept hurting me, and you're smart, Jack. Did you not think I would leave you?" 

Jack exhales, the reminder of his own mistakes heavy on him. "I think I couldn’t let ya go, so a part of me hoped you would leave me if I treated you horribly. Every day I fought with myself to treat you like you deserve, but I wasn’t strong enough to open up to you."

The silence lingers, and Jack takes the opportunity to share a piece of his truth. "The night after I proposed, I had a dream about Allison. She told me I was replacing her, and I dunno, instead of working out through my issues, I took it out on ya.”

“Over a dream? You... you let our relationship go to waste because of a dream,” you say, a mix of disbelief and frustration in your voice. You want to be angry at him because such a trivial thing ruined the chance of happiness, but then you put yourself in his shoes. "Oh, Jack," you add, this time with a tone of understanding and sadness. 

“Have you been to therapy?” you ask him, your tone a mix of curiosity and concern.

“Yeah…” Jack admits with a small, self-deprecating laugh.

“Can I be honest?” you tilt your head, your fingers playing with the collar of your shirt.

He nods.

“I don’t think it helped.”

Jack smiles, a sheepish expression on his face, “If we’re being honest, I went in for two sessions and never saw my shrink again.”

“Well, your therapist probably knew what they were doing,” you playfully scold, but then your voice softens, "Please see a therapist so Ángel can get to know the best version of you. When I knew that Jack, he was amazing, and that's the man I want my son to know."

A sad smile greets Jack's face, "Yes, Sugar."

There's another thing you've always been curious to know but never had the stomach to ask, and this seems to be your window. "Can I ask, did you, um, did you ever sleep with someone else while we were married?"

"God no," the words tumble out of his mouth.

"Well, that's something, I guess," you say, a sense of relief evident in your voice.

"I'm really sorry about everything, sweetheart. I can't believe I ever hurt you. I just miss you so much. I’ve never regretted anything in my life as much as I do not telling you I loved you when we had a chance," Jack confesses, the weight of regret heavy in his words.

"It’s okay, Jack. I’m not your wife anymore, but we had some good times. Sometimes love doesn’t work out how we thought,” you tell Jack, your gaze turning when you hear footsteps that are familiar to you. 

And Jack would forever kick himself for driving you away and not accepting your love. The only piece of solace is that Ángel will have a happy and full life, and you finally got the love you deserved and dreamed of.

Javi starts calling your name, and you answer him so he can walk over to where you are. Once Javi comes into view, he tells you that Ángel’s been discharged and that they're ready to go home.

Jack looks at you once more, his gaze lingering, as if trying to capture every detail to hold onto. He sees the love in your eyes for your husband, a love he once had the chance to cherish but let slip away. It hurts, but at the mention of his son, it gives him the slightest glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, he has learned from his mistakes, and he'll find a way to be a part of your lives, even if it's not in the way he once dreamed. The love of his life and his son are happy and healthy, and that will have to be enough for him.

"Bye, Jack. I'll let you know what time we're having the dinner," you say, while Javi wraps his arms around you—a protective gesture that Jack once held the privilege of doing, but did so sparingly.

"Take care," Javi tells Jack over his shoulder, his voice firm but not unkind. He then leads you to Ángel's room, leaving Jack standing alone in the corridor, grappling with the ache of what could have been.

You both start heading down the hallway, and Javi pauses halfway. His eyes search yours, concern written all over his features. 

"Are you okay?"

"I am now," you lean into him and smile. "Jack and I were talking about when we were married," you begin, and Javi tenses involuntarily.

"Hey, no, you don’t have anything to worry about," you reassure him, cupping his face with both of your hands. "Our talk was more about what went wrong, and the bottom line was that I‘m okay with the fact that he wasn’t the one for me."

Javi takes a deep breath, visibly trying to control the surge of emotions within him. "It’s just- me cae mal ese - (I don’t like that-)” You can't help but chuckle lightly at your husband's choice of words.

"As stupid as it sounds, I wanted to make it work when we were married. I saw it in his eyes, I felt it in his words and actions; he didn’t love me, and I couldn’t stay in a marriage like that. I wanted a life with him... It didn't work out, and it's okay. Everything I dreamed of having, I found it with you. I'm the happiest I've ever been at your side. You’re the love of my life and I love being your wife, don't ever doubt that, okay?" Since the beginning of your relationship, you always repeated your love to Javier, not because he was insecure, but because you knew how it felt to be second place, second best, a consolation prize, and you never wanted Javier to think that you settled for him after Jack.

"Say it again," Javi requests, a genuine smile softening his features as he looks down at you.

"What?" 

“That you’re my wife," Jack wants you to repeat the words that make his heart flutter.

“I’m your wife," you say.

Javi, still reveling in the warmth of the words, spins his finger in a playful circle, silently requesting you to say the words again.

“I’m your wife," you repeat, the pride evident in your tone. You take Javi's hand and begin walking to your son’s room.

"Again," Javi insists, stopping you in your tracks.

“I’m your wife.” 

“Otra vez," he requests, this time in Spanish.

You comply, “Soy tu esposa," you tell him and drag him further down the hall to your son's room.

When Javi playfully asks you to say it once more, this time it's you who stops. “Por dios, Javi, ¿en cuántos lenguajes quieres que te lo diga? (My God, Javi, how many languages do you want me to say it in?)” you feign annoyance.

He shrugs, answering with a mischievous grin, “En todos (in all of them).”

Amused, you grab him by the collar of his blue button-down shirt and bring him to a level where you can whisper into his ear, “Ay, Jav, apenas y hablas español (Oh, Jav, you barely speak Spanish).” You kiss his cheek and pull back, leaving him slightly offended but oddly proud. He had hoped for a different outcome when he saw you pull him down; the glint in your eyes made him believe you were going to kiss him on the lips. But, to his dismay, you chose to tease him instead.

"Take it back!" he demands as you stand right outside the door.

“Si lo dices en español (if you say it in Spanish),” you tease with a grin. Javier contemplates for a moment, and in the brief silence, Ángel's laughter and Dr. Navarro's voice echo from inside the room.

"Please?" Javi implores, wanting to savor one more of those heart-skipping phrases before joining his son. Unable to resist his pleading eyes any longer and mindful of the precious moments with Ángel, you relent.

“I’m your wife.”

END

Extended Note: The end! Thank you, everyone, for your kindness throughout the series. I truly appreciate every interaction 🥹.

As for my departure, I'm unsure whether I should deactivate my account or just private my writing. There's one post I received only positive comments on, especially from people with SPD who found it relatable. Apparently, there's a shortage of such stories, so I'm conflicted. Hopefully, I'll have a definitive decision next week.

I'm planning to post the Din story next Thursday; it's just one part, a sex pollen with Virgin!Din, titled 'Paleta.' I'm a fan of El Alfa, and I recently discovered that a song in his new album was sampled from the one I used for the Din story. It got me thinking about what I had written, and I wanted to share it with y’all before I bow out.

Thank you for reading 🫶🏽!

Taglist: @kchavez666 @ttupelohoneyy @mishasminion360 @ilovetaquitosmmmm @stileslvr @pedrostories

[duketectivecomics]

[ID: An edit by @redroseworks advertising Duke Thomas Week 2023. The background consists of two panel edits of Duke in his Signal costume facing outwardly from the left and right side respectively, and a third Duke in the center in his civilian clothes facing the viewer straight on. There is a dot overlay on these panels and they are broken up into triangular comic panels. The dates and themes for Duke Week are listed in text boxes spread throughout, & are listed in further detail in the post below.]

Once again, it’s

Duke Week 2023!

Further info for this year’s Themes, Rules & Guidelines are under the cut! Be sure to spread the word!

Themes for 2023 (Sept 24th-30th):

Day 1 - Rebellion

From his rough start with Dr. Thompkins, to his rocky team-up with Black Lightning & the Outsiders, Duke’s always been quite the Rebel! Here’s a day to commemorate our Rebellious Rockin’ Robin!

Day 2 - Civilian Life

Duke’s time as a vigilante is full of intrigue & adventure, but what about his time outside of the mask? This day is all about exploring Duke’s civilian identity!

Day 3 - Fav Quote

From his introduction in Batman (2011) all the way up through his more recent appearances in Batman: Urban Legends, there’s plenty of quotes to pull from Duke. But which ones stand out among the crowd? Which ones have resonated the most with you? (And here’s a link to our Duke Reading guide in case you want a refresher!)

Day 4 - What is… Normal? (Meme/Free Day)

A free day for folks to share general Duke work, or of course, memes! This past year I’ve seen an influx as well with more general batfam fans questioning just how ‘normal’ or ‘sane’ our favorite bat is. And to that, I want to invite y’all to come on over and find out!

Day 5 - DnD, Wizards & Knights (oh my!)

One of Duke’s oldest special interests! He’s always been a bit of a fantasy nerd. This day is all about celebrating Duke’s hobbies of fantasy gaming and reading!

Day 6 - We Are Robins (Of the Future)

We’ve celebrated the We Are Robins of the Middletown collective before, but this year we’re predicting where they could go! Duke’s first team will always be an important part of his past, but how could they fit into his future?

Day 7 - Sun vs Moon

And to finish out this year’s Duke Week, we end on another note of duality. Duke’s a bat who operates mainly during the day, and occasionally is called upon at night. The bright sunlight of day may reveal something different about our hero compared to the cool moonlight of night.

Rules & Guidelines:

Tag your posts with “#dukeweek2023” &/or “#duke week 2023” for the event. For Best results use it as one of the first five tags & “@” this blog too. If the work is not reblogged here w/in 24 hrs, feel free to send it directly my way by DMing it to me!

Any medium of fanwork is allowed! Whether it’s fic, art, edits, mixes, meta, or more! In this same vein, multiple works for the same day are also allowed, provided they’re on-theme!

HOWEVER, No NSFW! The character is a minor at this point in canon and we want this week to be as inclusive to fans of all ages as possible.

Fics & ficlets that are posted on tumblr will also need a Read More cut to be up for reblogging. Use the : read more : function (no spaces before the colons) & press enter/return to add a cut to your fic! If linked through Ao3 or other fic websites, no cut is needed. Please provide adequate warnings as they apply to your fic, thank you!

Reposted/stolen art or edits will not be accepted or tolerated.

Got any questions about the event? The ask box is always open! (& remember to reblog & spread the word! Let’s have a GREAT DUKE WEEK!)

[desultory-novice]

Once again, my ask box is so packed that I'm bundling a few of these so I don't have to take up everyone's day/dashboard with posts!

This time:

-The Fate of Mirror Galacta Knight -Traitor Magolor vs Elfilis?! -Kirby from Undertale?! (Silly) -Other Characters Babysitting 10 Kirbys -Magolor and Daroach Thievery Dynamics -A Redemption Arc for Zero?! -The Love-Love Stick is The Best

Anon, your concept that there WAS a Mirror Galacta Knight but that they were defeated - perhaps by Galacta themselves - is awesome!! I think the concept that either one or both Galacta's maybe even has a goal to see the other versions of themselves destroyed, pre- or post-sealing, feels very in character for Gala. Perhaps Gala knows of the Dimensional Mirror and doesn't like the concept of falling prey to it. Perhaps Gala truly does seek power and will only be confident in themselves when they are THE only one. Or perhaps they see what's coming and want to stop themselves from banishment and imprisonment across countless dimensions.

As for Galacta borrowing something in memory of his mirror self.. why not, right?! I think that's very cool! Aeon hero is able to turn their wings black and change his armor. It's not out of the realm of possibility! (Nothing is too fanfiction-y to have as a HC! Because neither headcanons or fanfic is something to be ashamed of! So please, indulge in all the fanfic-y thoughts that you wish!)

As for the last part, I totally believe that Magolor saw or encountered Galacta Knight at some point. (I always thought it would be funny myself if the first time Magolor is made aware of Gala is the Lor recording a snipped of Galacta's battle with Meta Knight in the Meta Knightmare Returns. You know, that easter egg where you can sometimes see the Starcutter in the background when Gala attacks? And so Magolor is going through the logs and notices, "Wait, was that a dimensional rift we just passed by? Whoa! Who's the dude who looks like an angry Kirby fighting Meta Knight?! ...Wait, weren't there legends of someone like that in those old texts?")

--

@a-stardusted-sky

Ahh, thank you so much for the birthday wishes and the nice compliments! I hope you're having a lovely day yourself!

OMG, Traitor Magolor vs Fecto Elfilis in the battle of the big, self-important egos! I can't help but think that even though Magolor ought to have "unlimited power" thanks to the Master Crown, he feels a little limited in creative ways to use that power. Whereas Elfilis would probably have no end of ways to use their dimensional power to ruin Magolor's day! They're both super persistent though, so I imagine neither one would want to give an inch.

As for how Elfilis would react, I imagine those choice words would get even spicier upon seeing Magolor flitting around with the Master Crown. Honestly, if Elfilis has enough of an understanding of the powers made from THEIR power, they could simply toy with Magolor knowing that all they have to do is damage/overload the Crown and then just leave Magolor a gloopy mess.

Is it just me? Sometimes I think of Elfilis as one of those characters that doesn't even have WORDS when they get angry. I think their speech in Lab Discovera was somewhat practiced, and that the capsule had something of a restraining effect on their emotions. Whenever they're free, they're mostly seen roaring and wrathing at people (in contrast to the angelic beauty of their completed form.)

--

@emeraldcoloredwinter

Not that shocking...!

Pictured: A Peaceful Family Reunion?!

(PS: are there still proponents of the theory that Sans is Ness grown up or was that exactly the kind of theory we make fun of Game Theories for now? I'm so out of the loop...!)

...But also, does that make Gaster Dark Matter? Or some other form of Matter? (...Stop! You shouldn't ask questions you aren't remotely equipped to handle the potential response to, Dess...!!)

--

This is a concept that I absolutely love! And it's been explored so little from what I've seen?! There's that one, err, somewhat infamous(?!) animation series which... ah, congrats on them for putting in all that work to get it done, and I won't say anything negative about them including content that appeals to them personally when, from what I've seen, everything manages to stay in the proper rating. Plus, making a full animation series has got to be SUCH an endeavor that you likely need to write/draw what you love to keep yourself motivated/sane in order to finish but...it's not personally for me. ^^

(Reminds me a bit too much of some of the western animation of my childhood that I wasn't too fond of. Aka, the reason I pivoted to watching anime as soon as I had the chance. ^^; )

BUT that aside, I've also seen some cute fanart on Twitter and such of Magolor not babysitting the 10 Kirbys but commenting on them...and then trying to steal one or two of them while no one is looking to keep for the sake of teasing on his own!

But yes, the idea of other caretakers is rich!

I personally think, in an adventure scenario like Mass Attack, Magolor would have a great time "accidentally" misleading the Kirbys into non-lethal traps, just to see how they fare. Marx would absolutely be a pest to the mini Kirbys! I think, when the chips are down, he would defend them (Kirby is HIS to torment, after all!!) but in times of relative peace, he'd probably try to eat a few... just to see...

The Animal Friends are used to backing up Kirby and would step into the role with no problem. I think Rick would love to ferry the tiny Kirbys around, them clinging to his fur. I think Ribbon's reaction to the 10 tiny Kirbys could be very funny, although that probably depends on where you fall on shipping the two of them.

Meta Knight would be another one who would be really fun/zany for different reasons. I think he would initially TRY to be stoic and treat the 10 Kirbys as if they were as reliable on their own as regular Kirby but then the moment something happens to one of them (even if they ARE in fact okay) his stoic facade breaks and he becomes a nervous wreck/helicopter guardian mode!

The Mage Sisters feel like they would cover the whole spectrum of reactions! Francisca wanting to "keep" some for herself. Flamberge wanting to test how strong they are and laughing when they turn out to be only 1/10th the original Kirby's power. Zan being the one who just... can't stop being ~SHOOKETH~ about the whole thing. (And the fact that Flam and Fran won't stop giggling about the minis!)

Dark Meta Knight would probably swoop them up and them drop them on Shadow Kirby to deal with. Susie would probably be a relatively reliable helper, keeping in touch via her tech whenever any trouble shows... in exchange for the rights to merchandise the mini-Kirbys after everything is over. >w<

--

@icedragonlizard

Hee! I got around to reading some of your dynamics posts, by the way! They're really good! (I still have more to read through yet!) But yes! This is super cute! Especially since both their tastes lean toward the collection of the ancient... and dangerous!

It's absolutely one of those things where one or the other will be proudly talking about their latest haul/salvage and the moment they have their eyes turned, the other is walking out the door with it!

Neither means the other any harm, so it doesn't hurt their friendship any. But there is absolutely a twinge of jealousy. 

"H-How did you...?! But... but... I've been looking for that EVERYWHERE!" "Looks like you were looking in the wrong places."

Everyone else is probably relieved by this strange dynamic they've got because it keeps most of the rest of THEIR collections safe!

--

Hmm, you know, I'm not certain that Zero as they are COULD have a redemption arc. They feel too... primordial for that. As if they are nothing more than the incarnation of what they can become, which renders them nil (fufu...) to change.

But Zero 2.... yes. I think there's room there. I think Zero 2 is a lot like Void in that they are searching for identity after their destruction and resultant... rebirth? (Or simply the act of living on in a new form? Zero 2 is such a fascinating mystery!)

But I think about the fact that while Zero's theme is just mystery and weirdness and fight music, Zero 2's theme is so... sad. 

(Btw, I listened to Man on the Internet's Zero 2 with lyrics recently and really liked it. It had this great feeling of... inevitability to it? I'm typically a bit mixed on Kirby boss themes (:cough: I haven't yet found a Marx one I like though I really like some of the lyrical motifs in Itoki Hana's version :cough:) but I liked this one.)

Anyway, as for Zero 2's redemption, I think it would all tie back to the fairies, really. Zero 2 spent pretty much the entire length of the game possessing the Queen of Ripple Star and I'm one of those "you can't really possess someone/be possessed by someone without that having an effect on you. For both the possessor and the possessed."

And whether or not the Queen is one of the heroes of lore, we have reason to believe she is both a being of power and a powerful being for good. (Why else would Dark Matter target Ripple Star FIRST without getting near Popstar? Well, getting their non-existent tail kicked might have something to do with it! XD )

So basically, I imagine that either Zero 2 picked up...something from the Queen or that the Queen might take it upon herself to preserve some form of Zero 2. To give it a chance to redeem itself. Surely, this would wig out certain of the fairies, who still remember their home's invader, and I imagine Zero 2 to be something that would probably have a very hard time understanding the difference between doing good and doing evil - only that one gets praised and one doesn't.

They might never be able to understand. They might never be able to be a friend, or left alone with an innocent creature, as invasion and corruption could be so woven into their nature that they couldn't HELP but hurt it, even though no intention to do harm was there. But through a bond/a deal with the queen, they might be assist in helping other planets that Zero had harmed or at least be stopped from harming anyone else.

...I dunno. It's interesting though!

--

@newthinkerer

I love the Love-Love Stick so much! You're right in that it's so uniquely Kirby's! Not just as an artifact, but as a representation of what Kirby would do when a genki dama's worth of power is sent his way! (Sorry for the random DBZ reference!

That and Dess loves magical girls / maho shoujo shows so the fact that is a really good approximation of a magical transformation wand is also excellent in my book! (Let Kirby Be A Magical Girl!!)

Speaking of the maho shoujo genre... a decent variety of finishing attacks are about "healing" the inner darkness/corruption/violence of their opponent/monster of the week rather than destruction. That Kirby would fight Zero with love in an attempt to heal them/the damage they have done to Popstar... It's all too good!

(The fact that it destroys them and all the Dark Matter too is a bit sad. But Void takes damage from Friend Hearts so...)

I like your idea about Gooey too. Either taken perfectly literal or as a metaphor -- that Gooey couldn't/was afraid to tap into their Dark Matter origins until he was shown enough love and acceptance that it was safe for him, emotionally, to do so.

...But of course, the other best thing about the Love-Love Stick is that Kirby KEEPS IT after the events of Dream Land 3 only to proceed to use it to bap people over the head with it in Star Stacker SNES!! Gryll, you have the honor of being defeated by the same weapon that was used to obliterate Zero. And yet, Gryll totally survived. Gryll strongest last boss canon?!?

[nightmaretour]

(This is the fully screen reader friendly version of the post found here. However I would prefer that you spread and share this one, as this is information that could save anyone's lives and alt text descriptions aren't compatible with all screen readers.)

[ID: The words "September is sepsis awareness month" and a red awareness ribbon on a red background that fades to white at the center. The words "September is" are written in a cursive font, while the word "Sepsis" is in a large, bold font in red below it. "Awareness" is written in a clear font in bold capital letters, and "month" is written in the same font but less bold. These are all stacked vertically. End ID]

With everything going on, it's easy to miss that September is sepsis awareness month. As a sepsis survivor myself, I feel a great responsibility to spread awareness of this greatly underestimated killer.

[ID: An infographic on a background that fades from purple to pink. At the top it reads "World Sepsis Day Infographics" in bold pink text, and below it "World Sepsis Day" in bold black text. There is a black logo in the top right hand corner that looks like a splatter facing to the left, with the words "stop sepsis save lives" stacked vertically to its right. Below that is a lighter coloured box that contains text, with the shape of the world map cut out in the middle to show the gradient behind it.

"September 13th- World Sepsis Day" is written at the top of the light colored box in pink cursive. The rest of the writing is in a plain black font. It reads:

"Sepsis is the final common pathway from most infectious diseases.

Despite being a medical emergency and having direct ties to all other World Health Days, sepsis is still not getting the attention it deserves.

Awareness saves lives.

Learn about sepsis AT

WWW.WORLD-SEPSIS-DAY.ORG"

In the bottom right corner of the box there is a pink circle that fades to white at the center, with the word "Sepsis" written inside it in various black, white and pink fonts.

Below the box is a white logo of a stylised white globe in the bottom left corner with the words "Global Sepsis Alliance" beside it stacked on top of each other in a white font. In the bottom center are the web addresses "www.world-sepsis-day.org" and "www.global-sepsis-alliance.org" in bold white writing. The bottom right corner has the words "September 13 2019" in white stacked on top of each other, with a line separating them from the words "World sepsis day", also stacked vertically. End ID]

Sepsis is a disease that affects around 49 million people worldwide every year, and responsible for around 20% of all global deaths, claiming approximately 11 million lives per year. It's estimated that one person dies of sepsis every 2.8 seconds. Around half of those who survive sepsis are left with physical or cognitive disabilities for the rest of their lives. On top of that, it's the most vulnerable of us that are most likely to develop sepsis.

[ID: An infographic with a purple background that fades to pink, with the words "World Sepsis Day Infographics" in white text, and the "stop sepsis save lives" in white to it's right. Below this is a lighter box. At the top it reads "Risk groups" in bold black text. Below it in smaller text it reads "everybody can get sepsis- certain people are at even higher risk"

Below that are five circles cut out of the lighter box, three on the top row with two underneath. Each has a stylised sillhouette-like image in it corresponding to the text below it. None of the images have facial details.

The first circle has a light skinned woman with black hair wearing a plain white shirt and black leggings. She has a red circle around her torso, where stylised lungs are shown. Below it reads "People with chronic diseases e.g lung, liver, heart"

The second circle contains the same woman with a red crossed out circle around her torso, where a black silhouette of a spleen is shown. Below it reads "people with no spleen"

The third circle contains the woman with a red circle around her torso, which has a red awareness ribbon on it. Below it reads "people with weakened immune systems e.g AIDS, diabetes"

The fourth circle contains a baby with brown skin and dark hair, wearing blue one piece clothing and a white bib with a blue star on it. They are sitting with a light brow teddy bear in one hand and a white and blue patterned blanket in the other. Below it reads "children under 1"

The fifth circle contains an older man with light skin and light grey moustache using a walking stick and wearing semi-formal clothing, with his arm around an older woman with light brown skin and light grey hair, wearing a navy blue dress. Below it reads "Adults over 60"

Below the lighter box in the bottom left corner is the Global Sepsis Alliance logo, and in the center are the web addresses "worldsepsisday.org" and "globalsepsisalliance.org"

end ID]

Despite being one of the global leading causes of death, very few people know much about sepsis or how to spot it, which is what makes it all the more deadly. Sepsis kills approximately 1 in 6 people who contract it, but spotted early, patients with sepsis are around half as likely to die as those who have been allowed to develop into the later stages.

Sepsis is always the result of an existing bacterial, viral, fungal or even parasitic infection, usually due to a serious infection such as pneumonia or meningitis, but it can also be caused by something as small as an infected papercut or bug bite. Almost half of all cases occur in children.

[ID: An infographic with a white background, containing sections of text in boxes. The box in the top right corner is pink, with the words "Sepsis facts" inside. All of the other boxes are light grey with black text, separated by white lines. The box beside the pink one reads:

"Sepsis arises when the body's response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. It may lead to shock, multi-organ failure, and death- especially if not recognised early and treated promptly. Sepsis is the final common pathway to death from most infectious diseases worldwide including viruses such as SARS-CoV-2."

The second row has three boxes. From left to right they read:

"47-50 million cases per year¹"

"At least 11 million deaths per year²"

"1 in 5 deaths worldwide is associated with sepsis³"

The three boxes on the second row read:

"Sepsis is the number 1:

Cause of death in hospitals⁴

Cause of hospital readmissions⁵

Healthcare cost⁶

(e.g. $6.2 billion is spent on sepsis healthcare costs in the US alone)"

"Up to 50% of sepsis survivors suffer from long-term physical and/or psychological effects⁷"

"40% of cases are children under 5⁸"

The third row of three boxes read:

"80% of sepsis cases occur outside of a hospital⁹"

"Sepsis is always caused by an infection such as pneumonia or diarrheal illness¹⁰"

"Sepsis is a medical emergency- if you or someone you know shows signs of sepsis, seek medical care immediately. Every hour counts.¹¹"

Below it is a single box that spans the whole width of the infographic. At the top, it is titled in bold pink writing, "These signs may indicate sepsis:"

The following have each first letter emphasised in a large pink font, spelling out "SEPSIS", with a black and white picture of a woman representing the symptoms behind them.

"Slurred speech

Extreme shuddering or muscle pain/fever

Passing no urine all day

Severe breathlessness

It feels like you're going to die

Skin mottled or discoloured"

Below this are two boxes. The left one reads:

"September 13

You can help

#stop sepsis

and

#save lives

www.worldsepsisday.org"

In the last box, in the bottom right corner:

"references:

¹,²,³,⁸,¹⁰ Rudd et al, https://dol.org/10.1016/50140-6736(19)32989-7

⁴Rhee et al,

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/japanetworkopen/fullarticle/2724768

⁵Torio et al,

https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs//sb204-Most-Expensive-Hospital-Conditions.pdf

⁶Buchman et al,

https://journals.lww.com/ccmjournal/Fulltext/2020/03000/Sepsis_Among_Medicare_Beneficiaries_3_The.4.aspx

⁷Prescott et al,

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nlh.gov/PMC/articles/PMC5839473/

⁹Rhee et al,

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2654187

¹¹Seymour et al,

https://www.nejm/doi/10.1056/NEjMoa1703058

end ID]

But most importantly, it's all about time. If you or someone you know is experiencing any symptoms that you suspect might be sepsis, get to a hospital. It's far better to be wrong and live than it is to be wrong and die. I hope that you will never have to use this information, but if you do, hopefully it will help you to save a life.

[ID: An infographic with a red background and white text. The Sepsis Alliance logo is in the top left corner. It has a red circle shades to look like a dome with the letters "SI" inside it in a stylised font, with the words "Sepsis alliance" in a white times now roman like font. Below it in italics is the slogan "Suspect sepsis. Save lives.

Below this, it says in white lettering "When it comes to sepsis, remember, IT'S ABOUT TIME. Watch for:" the words "it's about time" are in larger, black writing, and have a trademark symbol.

Underneath are the letters "TIME" spelled out with each letter inside a white circle, all connected with a white line. Below each respective letter it reads:

"TEMPERATURE

Higher or lower than normal"

"INFECTION

May have signs or symptoms of an infection"

"MENTAL DECLINE

Confused, sleepy or difficult to rouse"

"EXTREMELY ILL

"I feel like I might die," severe pain or discomfort"

At the bottom of the page in a lighter red stripe it reads "watch for a combination of these symptoms. If you suspect sepsis see a doctor urgently. CALL 911 or go to a hospital and say 'I AM CONCERNED ABOUT SEPSIS.'" The last phrase is in bold black capital letters. End ID]

Sepsis is incredibly time sensitive, even a few hours could be the difference between life and death. If you spot any of the signs in yourself or someone else, do not delay. Seek emergency treatment immediately.

For more information, visit:

Worldsepsisday.org

Global-sepsis-alliance.org

Sepsisresearch.org.uk

[seijuurouxryuu]

Writing Patterns Meme

[Plain text: "Writing Patterns Meme" in big text. /End PT]

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

@ravensilversea thanks for tagging!!!! I'm so sorry I just noticed it today fhdsklfjdsklfjds. Also its been a long time since I wrote/posted anything so here we gooooooo

-

1. There was the smell of blood. - did you kill my mother, father (KHR)

2. To say that the plan was foolproof was a lie. - Cicadas of Summer (Natsume Yuujinchou)

3. One thing about Reborn that everyone knows is that he never rejects a mission. - fire wrapped in spider lilies (KHR)

4. "So..." - espresso and expresso my thirst for you (KHR)

5. The thunder was loud, booming and deafening in the background. - past and present (KHR)

6. Nai compartmentalizes his memories. - folders within boxes within crates (Trigun)

7. Hanako was so young when she lost her papa and mama — so young that she could not remember anything much aside from black and white and lilies. - Blooming Flower (KHR)

8. To Sawada Ieyasu, the world, was dull. - Cypress (KHR)

9. Light was sacred, a blessing bestowed by the heavens, an honour given by the gods. - The last lights were gone, and we lay together in the deep, and drifted away, and all was silent. Such a silence I had never known. (KHR)

10. Shen Jiu expected to be alone forever. - An Unexpected Company (Scum Villain)

-

What have we learned?

[Plain text: "What have we learned?" in medium text. /End PT]

I took the liberty to kill of my 10th post thing on AO3 because it was just my rant corner but like, I want and not want to burn it so ignore me.

HMNNNNNNNNN GOOD QUESTION. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED????

That I really like short opening sentences?? And that maybe I like to start the story with the condition the main character is in???? HmNnNN but its interesting that I love making short sentence opener. I thought I'd prefer long ones but lo and behold. the fact that number 9 title is longer than my first sentence is so funny too.

But I did realized how much I love symbolic titles, even tho 99% of the time I screamed at how to figure out a title and just randomly slap one on. and also I can't believe that I only wrote NINE (9) FICS IN 2023,,,, WHAT THE FUCK ME??? HNGH I swear I wanna write more but brain capacity getting smaller (sobs)

No pressure from me!!! @avidaraku, @adelmortescryche, @honeynet, @seitosokusha and anyone basically. I feel like I'd tag everyone if I could but hahahaha----- //slapped K BYE LOVE YALL

[jjsstars]

tw rarepair week 23: day 7, post-canon kira/derek

|| for @teenwolfrarepairevents event

|| tags: marriage proposal, professor!kira (it’s just background)

It’s whispered at first, in Kira’s ear before she walks out the door to go to her early morning class at the college she’s filling in at. At least for the summer, it means Kira and Derek have less time to see each other and maybe that’s why he uses the extra lovey nickname.

Kira purposefully ignores the “sweetheart” Derek said that morning, knowing how hard pda can be for her partner. But then it keeps happening, going from a whisper to said with a smile, to almost used as much as her name. She loves it, drinks it in every time Derek’s smooth voice lets the word come out.

“I’ll see you tonight sweetheart, wear something classy.” Hale smiles with a kiss to Kira’s cheek as he dashes out of the auditorium she’s speaking at, they have plans tonight and are both giddy about it.

Kira bought a tight little black dress in advance and she knows Derek’s going to be in a suit since he left the card for the dry cleaners out on the coffee table. She swears sometimes he forgets that they live together. Not that Kira minds all the much, she gives her speech to her students, happily telling them to have a good weekend before she’s rushing home.

It doesn’t take Yukimura long to get ready and she even has time to talk to Lydia on the phone about her and Jordan’s plans, they’re staying in, Lydia teasing that whatever Derek has planned for Kira must be good if he’s actually wearing a suit. She laughs along the jokes Martin throws out, with Parrish’s input once he crashes their phone call; until Derek sends a text that he’s downstairs, having gotten ready at Peters so they each had their own time to prepare for the night out.

The dinner they have is nice and fancier than Kira was expecting, she knows Derek has the money and the connections to get them into luxury places, she just wasn’t thinking it’d be tonight. She does her best to look and act the part of someone who’s been here before, someone who’s totally not staring and blown away by each dish that gets brought out. She’s not sure she does it well, Derek doesn’t mention it, only takes her hand and watches her through hooded eyes.

“What’s the special occasion? Not that I’m complaining it’s just- why here? Why tonight?” Their food has been finished for at least fifteen minutes but Derek hasn’t ordered desert, instead he’s got an odd nervous look on his face. Kira hopes she didn’t mess anything up.

“I wanted to talk to you about something.” His tone falls serious, Kira straightens her back and nods. They already live together and have had the kid talk, both deciding that if it happens then it happens but they won’t force it, so Kira isn’t sure what Derek could be getting at.

“What is it?” She asks and prays he doesn’t hear how her heartbeat has sped up just a notch, it’s wishful thinking really, she knows he hears it, Derek doesn’t say anything.

“I want to ask you to marry me.” He says simply and gently places an opened box with a gold ring in it. It’s modest, a thin band with a small K+D engraved into it, Kira’s heart skips a beat. It’s what type of ring she’s wanted since she was a kid and dreamed of marrying a prince, a dream that she knows she’s told Derek at least once, and that he’s heard her describe what type of ring she wanted. She can’t believe he remembered it. She looks up to meet Hales eyes, double checking that she isn’t dreaming, he smiles back in reassurance as though he can read her mind.

“This is the part where you say yes or no.” Kira’s shoulders drop with a laugh, all the tension in her slipping away with Derek’s grin.

“Yes, yes, of course I’ll marry you!” She rushes to assure and in seconds Derek has the ring slipped onto Kira’s left hand. Her heart feels full when she stares down at it, the light hung above their table making the ring gleam, it’s a shine Kira hopes she never has to go a day without seeing.

“I can’t wait to marry you sweetheart.” The grin across Derek’s cheeks is wider than Kira’s ever seen, his eyes glowing a flash of red that makes her own flick orange. She can’t wait to marry him either.

[predoom]

ohoneohone

Saturday, January 14th, 2006 4:14 pm "noones ever been this good for this long" this is everything i am thinking right now with out transition. i apologize for my brains lack of linear thought processing: i hate the way it gets dark so early here this time of year. i guess "seasonal depression" kind of falls under "ADD" and "post tramatic whatever disorder" for me. i feel like its science from the madhatter down the rabbit hole. not too real. but lately i just wake up blue - my only thought is- how soon will the day be over so i can get back into bed. i open my eyes just a tiny bit and blur the numbers on the clock with my eyelashes. every word you say rolls off of my back - the praises and the barbs. i don't hear either, ever. sometimes the tips of my fingers itch from the back of my head- just to get the chance to tear someone to pieces and just barely let them off the hook. i swear to god, i was asleep alone. quick text me an alibi and oh god please don't dust the keyboard for prints. sometimes i stare out of the frosted window and make up stories as people walk by. the bottled blonde, park ave. princess walking whichever dog matches her coat. you know how i could turn your world upsidedown. its not love if a day goes by when you don't think about dropping it. its not the world keeping you on the outside, its you not wanting to be on the inside. everyone wants to be the first. buts its okay to be the second if you understand it better, if you make it look prettier. worn down doesn't even touch this. and theres nothing worse than when someone acts like they have you figured out, when you haven't even figured yourself out. nice boys don't write good stories or sing good songs. and his songs are boring. and his stories are just personal ads set to background music. i found the skeleton key for wedlock but i am holding off on telling her. on telling anyone for that matter. consistent inconsistency. thats all you ever have to remember and you'll do okay with me. dancers are always strippers. and paying their way through college is the BE VE. oh and hey pete do you remember the way the world used to trick you with fifty degrees in january and orange leaves in june? button your jacket tight, don't believe everything you read... don't even believe everything you wrote. i'm tired of always leaving. i'm tired of the way things always/never change. swim upstream until your gills bleed just because thats what genetic encoding commands. there aren't any trophies that are really worth it in the end. they can put you in a box when you are very young, so you'll be a pretty corpse but there are too many pages filled with too many words to lie beside you forever. intelligent design is the last great joke i heard. but honestly, no one will ever stay where i tell them, least of all the years. they keep moving. worlds greatest liar and how do you know i'm not lying when i tell you this right now? and thats coming from the king of one-liners. copy and pasted - long live the away message. kiss the monitor. fast asleep baby. Friday, January 6th, 2006 8:11 pm i am just a hot mess. i woke up to the feeling of myself throwing up today. pretty much put a damper on the entire day. i ate about 50 stomach pills and then threw them all up- it was a pretty color in the toilet. my toungue is black on the top right now. i am pretty sure thats a bad thing. i watched way too much gastinaeu (however you spell it) girls today. i think it made me sicker. it took me awhile to realize that they were mother and daughter and not sisters- but the mom is kinda hot in pissy kind of way. my mom is out of town so there was noone here to take care of me- my brother was around but hes pretty much always bongzilla'd. so i waited for back-up caretakers to arrive- one of them was busy cutting hair and the other has like a "real" job besides being dad.

the best part about vomitting alone in the morning is the way the bathroom tiles feel kinda cool in a pleasant way so i took a nap there for a bit. i want to see hostel tonight but the problem is all the vomitting- see its not that i mind so much its just what if i run into someone in my sicky gear and puke on them?

wow. i am glad i did this update. arent you?

im gonna leave the comments open cause i never do- just write down the first thing that comes into your mind when you see that reply button- heres mine:

i am just a hot mess. (989 Comments |Comment on this) Saturday, December 24th, 2005 9:57 pm blue christmas so i was sitting around this christmas. just kinda getting bummed out looking at the lights outside of shiny houses in my neighborhood and decided that it was time fall out boy gave somethng back. we decided to pick a cause that we feel is often overlooked- education of poor people in africa (specifically ethiopia). we feel like education is one of the most important building blocks in change- so after doing some research we found and organization that we felt really was doing it right: www.a-cet.org - this isn't some glossy amazing press piece it is doing something quietly to make a change- and we loved that. so we decided to put a couple of old and rare FOB and clandestine items up on ebay. here's the deal- if you dont see the link off of a fall out boy site than don't trust that it is us doing it- part two- keep bidding the more we can help the better. and three we will keep adding more items up here for a bit so keep checking back. they are all legitimate and endorsed by FOB and all items will come signed. happy bidding:

a clandestine shirt sample that was never made: http://cgi.ebay.com/never-produced-clandestine-shirt-sample-fall-out-boy_W0QQitemZ4812617551QQcategoryZ52473QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

breakdance not hearts shirt worn on big in 05 awards: http://cgi.ebay.com/clandestine-breakdance-not-hearts-shirt-fall-out-boy_W0QQitemZ4812615104QQcategoryZ52473QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

giant moonman pez dispenser given to nominees at the VMAs http://cgi.ebay.com/giant-VMA-moonman-pez-dispenser_W0QQitemZ4812612435QQcategoryZ52473QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

complete set of take this to your grave trading cards. including rare card: http://cgi.ebay.com/fall-out-boy-trading-card-lot-takethistoyourgrave_W0QQitemZ4812607828QQcategoryZ52473QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

new:

original bleach "i am the dream" shirt clandestine: http://cgi.ebay.com/original-bleach-clandestine-shirt-i-am-the-dream_W0QQitemZ4812798220QQcategoryZ52473QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

original secret order shirt http://cgi.ebay.com/secret-order-of-FOB-shirt-hyper-limited_W0QQitemZ4812800208QQcategoryZ52473QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

alternative press poster signed by entire band http://cgi.ebay.com/alternative-press-poster-fall-out-boy-limited_W0QQitemZ4812796786QQcategoryZ52473QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

spend your xmas cash... Thursday, December 8th, 2005 3:34 am last week i got to hold a baby orangatan (spelled completely wrong).

that was the best moment of my life.

ill try to find a picture.

try to imagine a regular baby, mixed with a puppy, mixed with the song "dont stop believin" by journey. Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005 12:59 am sometimes my own words dont suffice. "i hope that our few remaining friends give up on trying to save us i hope we come up witha fail-safe plot to piss off the dumb few that forgave us i hope the fences we mended fall down beneath their own weight and i hope we hang on past the last exit, i hope its already too late and i hope that the junkyard a few blocks from here someday burns down and i hope the rising black smoke carries me far away and i never come back to this town again. in my life i hope i lie and tell everyone you were a good wife and i hope you die. i hope we both die" Sunday, November 20th, 2005 1:36 pm sometimes its like never started sometimes it like its never gonna end

[bzedan]

[ID: A digital illustration of the Vault Boy condition image from the PipBoy 3000, a glowing green outlined figure on a dark screen with health metre indicators for head, body and each limb. Rather than the regular coverall-clothed guy, the figure is an outline of Garfield. All health indicators are full and he is smiling. Text below him reads "April 2024 - Level 41." End ID.]

A show came out for a game I've thought about 3-7 times every week for the past nine years and I've been completely normal about it. In my birthday month too! It influenced the playlist cover more than the contents, which are all indulgent as should be for a birthday month playlist. A lot of Carly Rae Jepsen this month, thanks to using her song titles as prompts for Storytelling Collective's April Daily Poem challenge (see results here). Two hours and 33 minutes but despite how I love playing with the length I shan't drop a one of these tracks to get to my birthday-day. Close enough, I say!

Related media to some of the songs:

'Two of Hearts' was in my mind thanks to a random video I'd encountered about the "I-I-I-I-I" sample in 'Groove Is in the Heart' by Deee-Lite, summarised over at Laughing Squid.

'Harder' was Medusa's I think birthday month track and had been out on Bandcamp for a bit but finally wended its way to Spotify, allowing me to drop it into a playlist. Their music is always a mood. They also have an At-Cost collection of merch specifically to make things available to more folks, with the option to pay it forward as well.

The way things go I think songs from a playlist I picked up from a Fallout: New Vegas fan artist are in May but heck there's a Nancy Sinatra on here so why not share now, 'Atomic Cocktail' is a very long, vibes-based playlist that is great to have going in the background.

Anyway here's a link to April's playlist on Spotify, with the track list below the cut.

Or embedded if you like that:

'Time to Pretend' - MGMT

'How Does it Feel' - Dizzee Rascal

'Free Animal' - Foreign Air

'Girl Inform Me - 2021 Remaster' - The Shins

'Complex' - Tristen

'Fun But Not Forever' - girlish figure

'Sociopathic Dance Queen' - Amaarae

'Jackie' - Scott Walker

'I Could Be Happy' - Altered Images

'GO! (feat. Karen O)' - Santigold

'Black Sheep' - Kailee Morgue

'Good Luck, Babe!' - Chappell Roan

'Me And My Shadow' - Peggy Lee

'Only A Fool Would Say That' - Steely Dan

'Seabird' - Alessi Brothers

'Thank You (Not So Bad)' - Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike

'Feels Right' - Carly Rae Jepsen

'Two of Hearts' - Stacey Q

'Hey Sorry' - Boy Jr.

'Houdini' - Dua Lipa

'Hard (er)' - Medusa

'i like the way you kiss me' - Artemas

'Really Big Deal' - Jake Shears

'Eye On The Bat' - Palehound

'Sunshine Superman' - Donovan

'Sunset Superman' - Dio

'Godzilla' - Blue Öyster Cult

'Shadow' - Carly Rae Jepsen

'Cute & Cruel (feat. First Aid Kit)' - Tove Lo

'Evil Eyes' - Dio

'Do Right' - Jimmie's Chicken Shack

'Dancehall Queen' - Robyn

'I'm Like A Bird' - Nelly Furtado

'Chemical' - Post Malone

'Juke Box Hero - 2008 Remaster' - Foreigner

'The King of Rock 'N' Roll' - Prefab Sprout

'Call Me Maybe' - Carly Rae Jepsen

'Bury Me With It - Jacknife Lee Remix' - Modest Mouse

'That Life' - Unknown Mortal Orchestra

'Oh to Be in Love - 2018 Remaster' - Kate Bush

'Sideshow' - Nick Lutsko

'Primadonna' - MARINA

'When I Needed You' - Carly Rae Jepsen

'This Hell (feat. CHANMINA - Gyarupi Remix - Spotify Singles)' - Rina Sawayama

[mumza03]

Showfall Media Special Announcement Keynote!

I'm losing it rn there are so many ideas I have for this video, its going to be pretty much split in two (each a diffrent font so if you just want my ideas and no recap go to the italic)

Recap time this is a lot:

starts with a white screen with GEN 1 in the top left corner, then it changes to the showfall logo and a little tune like the last video posted.

Surprise! we get to see the man with the box over his face's face! he says "hello! and welcome to showfall media. for years we have provided endless entertainment for families all around this world."

the video does a TV style glitch but its in red, and over the static are the words "hello?"

the glitch stops and cuts back to box man, "we are more excited then ever to bring our influence to a new frontier, with our new live experience, we have spent months developing, researching, and connecting with this new frontier and we are thrilled with the results."

another static glitch, this time with the message "where is this signal going?"

back to the dude, "with out state of the art, brand new technology, we're giving you! The viewer at home, control of aspects of our show."

mid sentence his head starts to freak out, his face is blurry and it moves unnaturally.

then he's back to normal, "your choice will matter so be sure to make the right one or the effects could be devastating for our hero. Our hero will meet a cast of crazy characters, some of who you may recognize." on his left and right two pictures of men pop up both of their eyes and mouths are blacked out.

this is the guy on the left

and this is the guy on the right

at the bottom of the screen here are the words "Found them!"

he keeps talking, "which are sure to keep things entertaining and unexpe-" here he get cut off.

the screen turns back and theres red writing on it "is this working?" "I don't have much time" "I don't know what's happening" "i don't know what you are"

"It already found him" background turns to a missing poster from last time. This time its much easier to see who is on the poster and its Ranboo.

"it got everyone" "everyone but me" "I have to save them" "I have to stop this"

and now back to box man, "we are so excited to be showing you this world for the first time, which is why we are not limiting it to just one show. that would be such a waste of this opportunity. be sure to join us for this three part viewing experience. starting on may 24th continuing on may 26th, and concluding with our big finally," his face does the glitty thing like earlier in the video, " on may 28th you can only find it on." and thats where he is cut off.

screen goes black for a second, then box man come back on but his face is featureless, theres static, and GEN 1 is back in the top left. then some new text pops up: "GEN 1: the social experament"

May 24

May 26

May 28

6pm EST

your chosen viewpoint: Twitch.tv/Ranboolive

Here is where the video ends.

in the description box is the binary code reading "let the show begin"

Here are my thoughts on how all of this either connects to past videos or posts and what I think this means for "Our Hero" to reuse this phrase from box man. I strongly believe that Show fall is in control of everything happening in the story, they found "them" and are looking for GL!Ranboo right now. I think that the people that were taken are now apart of the cast, or at least for the most part this is the situation. perhaps the two men in the photos above escaped from Showfall with Ran after learning about a horrible thing that Showfall did. probably relevant to this big project being announced. The two of them look kind of like sneeg and charlie to so I think that they might be involved in genloss as well , but im not 1,000 percent sure, but it would be on brand for them. final thoughts would have to be about the word choice of box man, the fact that he kept saying "this frontier" to me implying that our universe/world/timeline/any other way for showfall to not be apart of this place we are in is some where new to them. However that could be written off as frontier of this interactive video formate. i kinda like my first thoughts over this more.

[windwardstar]

tumblr themes and why my eyes hate them 4/4

(just my eyes yada yada the ids are only about the colors and ability to read them and don't contain transcripts because the text isn't important)

Tumblr Theme Snow Bright

[id: tumblr theme snow bright, black text on white on white. end id]

looks like cement and ghost to me, decent enough but also not enough visual color change between posts to feel like there's a break between them. (Although all of these were a million times worse when the icons were GONE since everything was too streamlined and just slipped past without the icons.) (2/2)

[id: tumblr theme snow bright alt text box, white text on black. end id]

dark mode, nope. (0/1)

[id: tumblr theme snow bright messenger. your messages are white text on black, the other person's are black text on light gray, there is a white background. the messenger has a gray shadow to distinguish it from the site background of the same color. end id]

still has dark mode. (0/1)

Tumblr Theme Snow Bright: 2/4

Tumblr Theme Goth Rave

[id: tumblr theme goth rave. electric purple text on gray-black, sidebars have electric blue text with a different electric purple highlight. the site has black background. end id]

if you guess I couldn't read this you're correct. the saturation of these colors is too much. Also darkmode. (0/2)

[id: tumblr theme goth rave alt text box, black text on purple. end id]

at this point my eyes are in so much pain this just kind of wash over me and I have no idea at this point whether or not it'd be readable on it's own. I feel like maybe if the contrast/saturation was at the same level of whatever else I was reading it could be... so maybe like desaturate the purple and I could? (.5/1)

[image: tumblr theme goth rave messenger, your replies are black text on electric magenta, the other person's are electric purple on black. black messenger background. end id]

Both of those options are unreadable for me. (0/1)

Tumblr Theme Goth Rave: 0.5/4 because I gave it a pity point on a maybe for the alt text.

Tumblr Theme Pride

[id: tumblr theme pride, featuring purple text on white posts, a bright pink site background, bright yellow sidebar text and saturated navy blue notifications and highlights. end id]

Ouch. These are the color combinations even people without vision problems say has no readability. This is definitely what Barbie would use though. (0/2)

[id: tumblr theme pride alt with white text on saturated purple background. end id]

still does the darkmode eye strain and light haloes. (0/1)

[id: tumblr theme pride messenger. your replies have black text on bright pink, the other person's are purple text on light gray. white messenger background. end id]

Still a nope. (0/1)

Tumblr Theme Pride: 0/4

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

[padme-amidala]

hi! i love your gifs they're really beautiful! i was wondering if you have any tips/tutorials about advanced gifmaking. ie. typography, blending, etc. also how to find ideas about things to make. (i'm also finnish btw, it's nice to see other finns here!)

hii jen! i’m so sorry i know you sent this ages ago i’m the worst asdsgdgf. but thank youu!! <3 i can definitely give some tips! i’ll list some under the cut in case it gets long lol.

COMING UP WITH IDEAS: - soo i think i do a lot of sets with quotes and lyrics. tbh i’m not really sure how i usually come up with them, they just hit me i guess. :D and honestly i don't think i'm the kind of gifmaker that comes up with exciting new things lol. but here are things i sometimes do! - i have pinterest boards with nice quotes and lyrics i come across. if i have no inspiration i’ll just go through the boards. tumblr also has some nice poetry! - listen to other people’s playlist for characters/shows/ships on spotify.

TYPOGRAPHY: - i just posted some of my favorite fonts here! - for me the biggest thing is making it easily readable!! so no plain (small) white text on even nearly white backgrounds. - i like adding boxes under my text if i feel like it doesn’t pop enough. if the typography is not super intricate i’ll use different blending modes (usually screen, difference, darken) and gradient/color overlays. - drop shadows also help. i use white drop shadows soo much but colorful ones are super nice too especially if the color of the text is more neutral. - i loove using the difference blending mode with gradient or color overlays (as you can probably tell lol it's like all i do). play with different blending modes on the overlays too. the ones i use the most are color and linear light. - typography doesn’t necessarily have to match in every gif!! i feel like i forget this too often but some variation often makes it more interesting imo.

BLENDING: i recently explained a little bit about my blending process here! i can’t really think of anything to add right now.

COLORING: - levels, selective color and color balance are your best friends! - the first thing i do is add levels and curves. i don’t do anything that special with them, just add contrast and brightness. - if the scene is super dark you could also try adding a brightness/contrast adjustment layer and then setting the blending mode to screen. then just adjust the opacity to your liking. - i usually start coloring by upping the vibrance a little bit, then using color balance to make the highlights cooler (or in case of a blue tinted scene i’ll add warmth). - from there it varies a lot depending on the coloring i want to do. usually i’ll add a black and white gradient map with the blending mode soft light. then i drop the opacity to 10-25% depending on the gif. it makes the blacks deeper and gives a soft contrast that i think looks nice. - if the gif has little movement i’ll add a gradient or a solid color to a new empty layer and use the eraser tool to delete the color from faces and everywhere i don't want it. just make the blending mode overlay or color (others could work too) and you have a nicely colored background! - or you could use the brush tool to paint on the layer too.

i’m sure i forgot hings but if you want me to explain something in more detail just let me know, i’d be happy to help!! AND i’ll try to answer asap. again, i’m so sorry about that. i really hope this helped though :))

[your-faves-are-divorced]

Welcome to Your Faves Are Divorced!

This is a "Your fave is" gimmick blog for characters who are divorced! Keep reading for info about the mods, how to submit, and some general rules.

MOD INFO:

Call us Ginkgo!

Any pronouns

Minor

We have a main blog that we'd like to keep separate from this blog. Please don't ask for it!

BLOG/SUBMISSION RULES:

All submissions must be fictional characters! Characters who are played by live actors can be submitted, but not the actors themselves.

We won't be taking any Harry Potter or South Park submissions, period.

Submissions must contain two or more characters. This is a blog about characters who divorced each other.

Submissions must contain the characters' full names and the media(s) they're from.

(EDITED TO ADD) The characters you submit DO NOT have to be canonically divorced! You can do whatever you want forever.

HOW TO SUBMIT:

You can submit characters using our ask box, anonymously or off anon. A submission sentence could look like, "[X character] and [Y character] are divorced," or you could just give the names of the characters.

If the characters don't have official art, we'll just use the logo of the media they're from.

If you have any official art you'd like us to use in the post, please post it or link it in your ask!

And finally, here's the divorce flag we made!

(The bright pinkish-red stripe represents the original love and passion that a marriage might have started out with. The colors slowly becoming lighter in value represents that love slowly starting to fade or change. The big black "X" covering it represents the marriage's end. Hehehe.)

[Header image ID: A GIF with red text on a black background. The first seconds display text that reads, "The_Lovers". Then, the GIF shows the first few stanzas of Eliza Acton's poem "Where, oh ! where, on his restless wing...". The poem's text starts to slowly get corrupted, turning into a bunch of random, jumbled-up text before finally displaying an error message. /end ID]

[Profile picture ID: The blog's "divorce flag". /end ID]

[Divorce flag ID: A 5-striped horizontal flag. The top stripe is a bright pinkish-red. The stripes below it get increasingly lighter and lighter, and the bottom stripe is white. A big black "X" spans the whole flag. /end ID]

[justsome-di]

hi! i love the netflix previews and sc replicas you did for NEUD. i was wondering if there was any specific site or software you used, or if you just did them manually? i have to do something similar for an assignment for an assignment and yours just look so good 😅

Thank you!!! They're really fun to make!

So my answer is not a very good answer. I made them all without spending any money, so there was a lot of work arounds.

I basically found images of Netflix homepages and screenshots templates on Google and used my computer's default gallery editing to crop out the major parts. I saved each component as separate .png files. So, I ended up with a .png file of the back button, the progress bar along the bottom, the trending shows on the preview screen, etc.

These were some of the little parts I carved out of a whole screenshot (you're more than welcome to just download these straight from this post if you want to follow me deranged method).

I used Canva after that. I uploaded pictures for the "show" mostly from unsplash and just kind of cobbled everything together. Canva also had a few good photos for free, but I usually turned to unsplash.

I couldn't make the .png files transparent (I probably could have in gimp) and they had big black backgrounds boxing them in. I worked around this by using darker images as the still from the shows.

You can see in this one from NEUD when I included the back arrow, there's still a black background to it if you look closely. The progress bar at the bottom is also supposed to be transparent, but I figured that no one would really notice it was wrong.

But in this one I did for another project, Angel, I used darker images to hide the black backgrounds.

From there, it's just a lot of messing around with text and finding the right font/style and blacking out the parts of the original screenshots you don't want (I had to lay black rectangles over the original episode titles in the progress bars so that I could lay down my own text)

For the preview screens, it was way more frustrating and time consuming. All of the buttons on the previews were manually put in. The side bar and trending bar were manually put in.

I know that people make templates to do this a lot easier/better in Photoshop. But I don't have access to Photoshop, and I didn't really care so much that I wanted to go through the hassle of buying/installed/learning PS.

It does take me a very long time to do it this way and there are a lot of limitations, but I'm wayy more comfortable using Canva than other softwares like gimp. My background in graphic design is more of "making posters for school events."

[thegempage]

[image description: a looping two-frame gif split in half. The top half is taken up by Stacy from Tales From Riftdale, depicted in a pink hoodie with heart-shaped glasses. Stacy is crying, with one eye hidden behind her wiping away more tears. Dialogue in a box next to her, bordered with a similar pink to her glasses, reads "I mean I guess I'm glad I got you here in time, but this wasn't how I wanted this to go, I was hoping I could..."

The bottom half shows Clairvoyance from Tales From Riftdale, depicted in a Sylph of Light costume with translucent yellow sleeves added on and red glasses with green lenses. He has his hands on either side of his face and looks distressed. Dialogue next to him, bordered in a similar green to his lenses, says "What... I died?"

Both of their mouths are opening and closing, with one person having their mouth closed at a time. end description.]

i'm gonna schedule this so i'll be at work when it posts, but i've been having a good time fucking around with aseprite recently :3 found an old sbart dialogue idea and wanted to try my hand at something with it. definitely a first pass, but a good one for getting the idea on (digital) paper i think!

i still want to go in and add a background, plus the blood on clair's hands and stacy's shirt in my original dialogue that i forgot. i think next time i'm going to start with a bigger canvas instead of sizing up and probably do waist up shots instead of bust up for a more "homestuck feel." possibly with black text on white bg and color-coded frames instead of the color coded text. we'll see!

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

Hey there Miyabi! How do you get such high-res, beautiful, and professional scan quality? What's your process?

Thank you! I certainly don't think I do anything that professional, so glad you have been decieved into thinking that about them! LOL I started doing this scan of the day stuff just to bring better quality to a lot of the older contributions of mine floating around the web. Looking at them on here, the Megaman wikia and other places, they just felt small and dirty. Especially as basic technology had gotten better over the decade or so since I first scanned them. I have 2 different scanners, one of which is a fancier Epson that I bought specifically to scan film slides a year or so ago. Still use it for basic scans from time to time. But honestly, for the settei, I'm still just using my general home HP Envy printer/scanner combo. I always scan at 600 DPI. After that part is done and the bitmap image is scanned to my computer, it's really just doing some heavy touchup. As I have alluded to in some recent posts, some of these sheets will take me an hour to an hour and a half just to clean up, because they have so many artifacts and dotty garbage on them. Settei at auction are mostly just scanned copies themselves after all, so there's a bit of residue to clean up. Ever wonder why sometimes I don't post these at a regular time of day? That's why, I'm still working on touchup before I post (and probably off from work, so I'm not prepping the night before, like when I post at a scheduled time).

Let's use this recent Gauss sheet as an example.

The original scan was pretty messy. Probably can't see it as well in tumblr resize scale, so here's the original scan. But it is dotted all over the place, there's like a smudge line which goes through the whole bottom of the sheet, where the "Final Draft" stamp, character/episode number marking is, and through some of Gauss' headshots as well. You can also probably see some black on the edges, where the sheet comes to an end within my scanner.

The first bit of touchup I usually do is within my image viewer. I use FastStone Image Viewer to help organize and view everything. In there, I will adjust the brightness, contrast, and sometimes the gamma, to get the sheet background a bit lighter and the lines darker.

I just like the number 14. Is it always 14? No. But that's usually my baseline starting point. After that's saved, into the photo editing program of choice we go. I match my brush color to the background white and just paint over all those ugly dots and wipe those black edges away.

Zoom in at 100% to try not to miss those artifacts you don't notice zoomed out. Look at Gauss' speckled fingers. Ugh, cleaning that stuff up is hell. But I do it, so you all can see clean-ish looking art. Do I get everything? No. But I try to at least get the major issues out of the way.

Some things I take liberties on. The shading on his jacket goes outside the lineart. Should I leave it as is for authenticity? Probably. But if I'm cleaning it, I'm gonna clean it all. So you'll see in the finished version I posted, those shading lines are all inside the lineart only.

Some people are jerks and could easily resell these settei just by printing scans and claiming them as original. Another way I try to have a way to differentiate my edits without slapping a watermark on is my editing of the text boxes. See the top left and bottom right of it above Netto? There's almost always some overhang on the originals. I have usually taken the liberty of editing that overlap line off, so that the text box is a clean rectangle where the line stops at each corner, as close as I can take it. It's a dumb, but simple way for me to tell if it's my edit.

Otherwise, that's really it. Just a lot of added effort in touchup, honestly.

Cel scans are a little different, because most of them are too big for either scanner. Especially cels with backgrounds. So many of those involve 2-4 scans and then stitching them all together. Much less touchup that I do to them, but otherwise it's mostly the same. 600 DPI, and some brightness/contrast or slight color saturation adjustments to them, if needed.

And now you know!