#I've posted this before but it was a scan of a print in a book; this file is SO much higher quality!

[daguerreotyping]

Unknown Photographer, Two Young Men, c. 1850

#I've posted this before but it was a scan of a print in a book; this file is SO much higher quality! #please note however that I've edited for contrast—click link to see original at Met Museum site #19th century #1800s #1850s #19th century fashion #men's fashion #historical fashion #fashion history #early photography #19th century photography #daguerreotype #gay interest

[cloudcountry]

music notes of the heart

Genre/Tropes: Study dates but its unestablished relationship? Floyd is flirting with you LMAO + Slow Dancing!!

Summary: Your tutor for musicology may not be other people's first choice, but he's yours.

Author's Comments: inspired by this tumblr post!! we truly do need more intelligent floyd content and i've already written for jade's dorky goofy silly side so many times sigh. also seriously, do not ask about the slow dancing merpeople rituals. you can infer. LMAO (@tinyletterz i hope you dont mind me tagging you but i was thinking of you when i wrote this bc yk. Floyd Leech. C:)

~~~~~

You set your books down on the table tucked in the corner of the library and sit down, shifting anxiously as you await your tutor. The smell of old papers and the sound of scratching pens from a few bookshelves away does nothing to dispel your nerves. If Ace and Deuce could see just who you’d asked for help, they surely would have yelled at you for hours and wrung out your neck in frustration.

It’s not like anyone else held the same passion for musicology, though. Besides, Floyd Leech wasn’t that bad once you got to know him.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, you think as he waltzes into the library, a lazy smirk on his face and his hands shoved into his pockets. His back is hunched slightly as he looks around the library, eyes scanning over each face with an almost predatory grin. You raise your arms and wave him over, trying not to make much noise to avoid being yelled at by the crabby librarian.

Floyd does not share that sentiment.

“Shrimpy!” he yells (honestly you don’t think he’s capable of yelling any louder) and bounces over to you.

He sweeps you into his arms in the blink of an eye, cackling madly as he nuzzles you. The librarian shoots the two of you a glare, and you shrink into his chest with shame. You’ll have to apologize to him later.

“Were ya trying to hide from me?” he breathes, sharp teeth on display as he grins down at your bundled-up form, “You know I’d sniff you out, right?”

“I wasn’t.” you protest, but it falls on deaf ears and Floyd squeezes you closer. His nose brushes against your cheek and he borderline snuggles you and you’re glad you’ve picked a table in the corner because if you were any closer to the center everyone would be staring.

“Alright Shrimpy,” he murmurs, setting you down in your chair with two quick taps on your head, “Ya said you needed my help with musicology?”

“I didn’t know who else to ask.” you say, sliding your textbook over to him with a furrowed brow, “You’re the best in that class and I can’t seem to grasp any of it.”

Floyd sits down next to you and leans in close, so close that you can smell the cologne on his clothing. You let him read through the notes you made on the sheet of lined paper you used to mark your page, gnawing at your lower lip self-consciously. You know you aren’t the best at this subject but it’s Floyd’s best, and you don’t want him to think you’re stupid.

He seems to be able to read minds because Floyd looks over at you with a pout.

“Shrimpy, I’d tell ya if you were stupid. So quit worrying.” Floyd scolds, snatching your hand up and squeezing it as he intertwines your fingers, “The fun thing about musicology is that you can analyze and learn from any angle ya want!”

“Freer subjects are harder to work with, though.” you confess, “I’m not sure how to go about...figuring something out when it doesn’t have structure.”

Floyd sticks his tongue out and blows a raspberry as if to say “Boo, Shrimpy. Now you do sound stupid.” You can almost hear his voice.

“Just pick something and we can start from there. What kind of music do ya like?” he bumps you with his shoulder, a huge grin on his face, “Ya gotta have something.”

You answer him, and he makes an “ah-ha!” noise. He mumbles a page number and flicks through the textbook before coming to a stop at a chapter that goes into that exact type of music. There are music scores printed on the right page and some kind of tree diagram on the left one. You stare at the words incredulously, already lost.

“Come on now, Shrimpy. Work that tiny little brain of yours.” Floyd teases, jabbing your temple with a giggle, “I know you can do it.”

You swat his hand away and wiggle your hand out of his hold, feeling a foreign heat creep up on your cheeks. Floyd giggles again as if he knows, and leans in even closer to you.

“Hey Shrimpy.” he whispers, eyes gleaming in the corner of your vision, “I changed my mind, let’s ditch the reading. I’m getting bored. What are ya gonna do about that, huh?”

You’re not sure you can do anything honestly, but you expected him to leave pretty early on in your study session anyway. It’s a miracle you got him to agree in the first place.

“Oh, you can leave.” you offer him a quick smile and turn back to your textbook, pouring over the words, “I didn’t expect you to stay the whole time- Woah!”

You’re swept out of your chair but the second time that day, and your body thumps against Floyd’s. He stares at you with a cheerful grin as he takes your hands and places them on his arms. You jump a bit when his lanky arms wrap around your waist, but when he starts swaying slowly you get the idea.

“Let’s try something else, yeah?” he snickers, “Can you tell me why people slow dance?”

“Um...to feel emotional closeness?” you say, eyes glued to his rumpled purple shirt so you don’t have to look him in the eye.

“Bingo.” he chuckles, “Merpeople also have dances like this.”

You’re tempted to ask what those dances are for, but you don’t. Floyd sweeps you around and your feet lift off the floor for a second, but you don’t feel like you’re going to fall. Floyd squeezes you a bit tighter as he guides you, somehow avoiding any tables and chairs and bookcases with master precision.

“I didn’t know you could slow dance.” you whisper, “I thought you were more of a fast paced dancer.”

“Meh. Normally.” he shrugs, “But I like dancing like this with ya. It’s fun.”

Your heart flutters.

“Can ya tell me anything else about it?” he hums, lifting his arm and spinning you around. Your breath catches in your throat as he dips you, the arm carefully holding up your waist your only support.

“Um...” you stumble over your words, grasping for any thoughts as you stare into his eyes, “Uh, it’s- um, slow dancing brings people physically closer too? Because you can feel their movement and everything-”

“Good little Shrimpy.” he giggles, hoisting you back up and resuming his more soothing swaying, “See? You’re doing good. I told ya you’d figure it out.”

Did he? You don’t even remember.

“I think I need more instruction.” you mumble, eyes darting away once again.

Floyd laughs loudly at that, but this time you don’t care when the librarian shushes you.

#auburn's fics <3 #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland #twst x reader #disney twst x reader #floyd leech x reader #floyd fluff #floyd leech is a silly guy #floyd x reader #floyd leech fluff #uhhh i dont rlly know if this counts as intelligent floyd? #I HOPE IT DOES..... #I GOT SIDETRACKED #uhhhh its fluffy and thats what matters #BYE NOW LMAO

[politemagic]

dabbling in writing a little bit of slasher iii👀 it's not much, but i've had this idea for months and figured it's about time i did something with it. written while listening to deadrose by unprocessed. not necessary but it's currently topping my slasher iii song list

632 words

Time had muddled in their brain, they had no idea how long it had been since he’d disappeared from their sight, but they knew they were running out of time regardless. The rope binding their limbs had been tied with expert hands. As they struggled against their bonds, the rope’s grip only tightened, the fibers rubbing their wrists and ankles raw until it began to turn pink with their blood. Their eyes frantically searched the room for anything that might help them escape, but they found little that could be of assistance. 

The room he imprisoned them in was almost entirely bare, save for a pile of discarded, bloody clothing heaped into the corner and the black journal the masked man always carried with him. When he left the room, the journal had fallen from his pocket, haphazardly forgotten by the door.

Their curious nature overtook them as they scooted across the grimy floor, nudging the cover open with their toe. Their blood ran ice cold as a pair of vibrant blue eyes stared back at them from the first page. A photograph of a handsome man was paperclipped to the page, partially obscuring what they knew were the events of the final hours of that man’s life. They felt bile creep up their throat as their eyes scanned across the page.

17:43 He believes crying will help him, that his tears will compel me to release him. It’s pathetic, really. I thought he would be stronger. But the tears make his eyes look so pretty, maybe I’ll keep him a little longer.

The horrors of the first page had done nothing to prepare them for the next, as they found those same vibrant blue eyes staring back at them, cold and devoid of life. They tried not to stare too long at dark red blood oozing from the gaping wound in his throat. The pages that followed were all the same format: a photograph of some poor unfortunate soul accompanied by a horrifically detailed account of their final moments, followed by another photo of their corpse. On some pages, he had even smeared blood across the page in vaguely artistic patterns. 

As they flipped the final page, they bit down on their lip to stifle their scream as their own face smiled back from this book of horrors. Despite his poor attempt to crop the image before printing it, they could tell it was a screenshot from their Instagram, a photo they had posted in a moment of self-confidence. A photo that this deranged man would use to remember them by, a juxtaposition for the horrific photo they knew would occupy the next page soon enough.

The door creaked open, and they lifted their gaze from the photo to meet his darkened eyes, crinkled from the grin he hid beneath his mask.

“I see you’ve found my scrapbook,” The smile in his voice told them that he had always intended to drop the journal, that he wanted them to read it, to see what was in store for them. 

He crouched before them, plucking the journal off the floor and thumbing through the pages before returning to the image of the blue-eyed man. He stroked the image tenderly with his index finger before turning it around to once again display the image of his lifeless corpse.

“He’s still my favorite, I think. But you… I believe you’ll be a close second,” His other hand gently traced the contours of their jaw. “You’re going to be my masterpiece, darling.”

He stood then, chuckling to himself as he tucked the book underneath his arm and spun on his heels, striding back out the door as they crumpled to the ground, terrified of what other sick games he might be playing with them.

#i can't look at this too long or it will never see the light of day so this is only kind of edited she's straight off the dome #is it a little more serial killer-y than slasher-y? maybe. am i gonna do anything about it? nah #i'm just obsessed with him wanting to remember his victims and be able to relive the things he did to them. idk man. idk. #he said “my therapist thought it would be good for me to start journaling!” #slasher iii you make me positively insane. you are sick and twisted and deranged and i desire you carnally. #anyway i have so many random slasher iii headcanons and i want to write them all but also this is def out of my wheelhouse #really don't know how i feel about it but i'm practicing! and that's good! that's how we learn and improve! #sleep token iii #slasher iii #sleep token fanfiction #em's stcu

[madhattersez]

I finally got my hands on something I've been looking for (for a reasonable price) since I was just a lowly little level 12 hornball - A "Marvel Swimsuit Special!"

This is the second issue in the series (though the third book of its kind), and it was released in 1993 when... times were different.

The coolest thing about them (other than the totally radical '90s hunkeroos and baberinos in general) is the amount of really talented artists that submitted pieces - So many industry-leading folks putting their spin on the self-aware, low-brow, tongue-in-cheek project.

This first image was by Joe Jusko, a super popular cover artist at the time. I remember his Conan covers the most.

I'll eventually scan the whole thing in high quality, but for now, I'll take some preview pics to show you some of my favorite and/or goofiest pages:

Here is Domino, looking like we might need to race her to a Dermatology appointment. She's apparently tacky enough to wear a swimsuit with a domino print on it.

And check out Cable in the back - Sun's out, cyberbun out! He's ready to catch some waves on a totally-worth-the-money-and-production-time rocket-powered machine gun surfboard.

I really appreciate this artist's commitment to all the "Liefeld pouches" here. I hope they're waterproof, or all those Tic Tacs inside 'em are gonna get ruined. :(

Penciling by Chris Batista, ink by Hector Collazo, coloring by Mark McNaab.

Let's kick off the "after the jump" part properly with this glorious image of Pip. Because this is certainly what people bought this book for.

It just so happens that this fuzzy little asshole narrates the entire issue, so he's to blame for the inherently sexist captions on all the pictures.

Jesus Christ, he's got two big toes on each foot.

Pencilking by Darick Robertson, ink by Andrew Pepoy, coloring by Tom Smith.

I love me some Cloak and Dagger.

Tandy looks as gorgeous as ever. Surely she owns stock in boobie tape by now.

Tyrone, however, is getting so much sand stuck to him right now... I don't think he digs being used as a beach blanket. I'm... not even sure he's ever had to wash his cloak before today! Yikes. He's all like:

Penciling by Joe Madureira, ink by Terry Austin, and coloring by Gregory Wright.

I can't stop laughing at how much Thunderstrike looks exactly like the Genetic Freak, Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner in this picture:

The work is entirely by Lou Harrison. It may not surprise you to learn he's also a Fantasy artist.

I've always had a thing for Silver Sable, and this page is just fantastic.

That being said, my favorite part is Sandman sitting there, looking like a dope, shaped like a sand castle. Which, while it seems silly, was probably the most challenging and detailed thing I've ever seen him do with his powers. Worth it for the shot, I suppose!

Line work and ink by Steven Butler, a favorite of mine. He did penciling for the "Silver Sable and the Wild Pack" series (which got me attached), but he's also known for designing the Scarlet Spider suit. Coloring by Gregory Wright.

If you thought I wasn't going to Morb out on this post, you were undead wrong.

Just look at that ridiculous batpackage. Also... Is he really serving a cape over a leather jacket, but with absolutely no pants? Damn, dude.

Penciling by Gary Barker, ink by Jimmy Palmiotti, coloring by Tom Smith.

I can spot Adam Hughes' work a mile away, wow. I guess I didn't realize he was doing work for Marvel this far back.

A fierce-as-ever, short-haired Natasha who looks like she got slammed so hard against a rocky wall that it cracked, got up, emptied out the rest of her clip, and still had enough time and energy to pose during a reload.

Black Widow, bay-bayyy. ♫

Oh my god, Ghost Rider is just so naughty. Wearing nothing but his birthday bones.

This scene just looks like it smells awful.

Artwork by Tristan Shane.

Shulkie in a metal bikini (function over fashion?), bursting out of the lava from an active volcano. You wanna talk "hot tub?" Sure, this gets a feature.

Penciling and ink by cover artist Steve Geiger, coloring by Paul... Mounts.

Deezamn, Bishop. Never seen guy looking so buff before.

Instead of just Bishop, this looks like Hank McCoy and Bishop had a child together. Does he have any other mode than "arm vein p-pop?"

Penciling by Dwayne Turner, ink by Mark Farmer, coloring by Gregory Wright.

Ah, one of the more famous '90s Psylocke images that wasn't done by Jim Lee.

This centerfold was used in lots of comic store ads for several years after this issue came out. I remember seeing posters in the shops themselves. Trading cards of this picture are one of the most costly to collect.

It's beautiful, and the colors/lighting/shading are all fantastic.

Penciling and ink by the wonderful Art Thibert, creator of the Raft max security prison and inker of some of the most iconic X-title covers.

Coloring by Paul Mounts, who did the coloring in hundreds and hundreds of just Marvel comics alone - I didn't mention that earlier because I was snickering at his name earlier in the She-Hulk feature. My bad.

Well, this wouldn't be Tumblr without a cat picture, yeah? Or a catgirl picture, I suppose.

This is the most adorable scene in the book. Just Tigra innocently taking a cuddle nap with some... um... wow, I don't know what the fuck those things are. Snuggle up anyway!

Penciling and ink by Amanda Conner, coloring by Gregory Wright.

Huh. Of all the characters in this book, I really didn't expect to see Dr. Cooper... Either which way, the swimsuit under the detective get-up is pretty choice, honestly.

This is, of course, another Adam Hughes line art joint. Ink by Mark Farmer, coloring by Gregory Wright (who did a lot of these, huh?).

What's this? A parody ad that you'd more expect to see in an issue of "What The--?!" that only '80s kids will understand? Yup, totally.

This was in the back of the book and doesn't fit the theme at all, but it gets a mention because of the weird inclusion and also to stall time until I had the final image ready, because I needed time to prepare...

THIS.

This is the one.

How could I not end this little "show and tell" without this beauty right here?

Here, we have remorseless killer Frank Castle flexing his best end-of-catwalk pose in front of a... wrestling match between a bunch of lady demon dinosaurs battling... for his affection? To tip him American cash? Or maybe all those hearts come from their love of beating each other up? I'm not here to judge.

And then there's a sign for 75 cent hotdogs, but it's been covered with another sign for... $20 tooth brushes? What in the shit is going on here?

There is one thing I do know, though. The artist wants you to think that The Punisher has at least $2.75 worth of hotdog under that massive crotch skull.

#marvel swimsuit special #marvel comics #marvel #rare comics #rare #swimwear #comic book art #rogue #cable #cloak & dagger #she hulk #the punisher #tigra #psylocke #ghost rider #bishop #black widow #morbius #silver sable #big poppa pump

[all-hallows-street]

Guess whose financial mistake arrived early...

I will give more in depth looks later (I have to work to afford such questionable purchases), but a quick individual review of what I got:

Neil Demon Plushy

Not a plush toys collector at all; my closest reference is the IKEA shark. He is heavier than he looks, very sturdy (?) if that makes sense. Doesn't seem like he will deform any time soon. The details are adorable and I don't see any glaring defects.

All Saints Street Hoodie

Surprisingly large for me. I was worried they only had one size made for the Chinese market. I'm 1.7m (5 foot 7) tall for reference and this is still a bit too big for me. Will likely get too small for anyone over 6 feet tall. The quality is good! Very soft. Velvet interior. I don't know much about shirt stamping, but since it's not in the fabric I'm guessing the stamp might start to crack after multiple washes.

All Saints Street Vol. 1-3 Collection

Now this is something I can talk about more. The sleeve was unfortunately damaged in shipping and the books have very minor damage in the spine and vol 2 has a minor case of dog ears. The quality of the paper is great! It is color paper, not glossy one you see in comic book issues, but it's thicker than the black and white you see in manga. Would still make sure to have a dehumidifier if your storing place is not dry. I've already experienced book wrapping and it's painful.

Each volume contains around 80 chapters with one extra chapter not on bilibili. They also contain a message from Lingzi and WSJ's editor, plus all character bios even for ones we never got one (Enrique, Eduardo ans Anthony). And if a Weibo post is correct some might have been updated from the ones online (Axel grew 1 cm in the book bio).

Of course later I'll look over everything to see if there are any significan changes to make a note of. Also it came with this lol.

I have the Alice in Wonderland art somewhere, I'll post it later as well.

All Saints Street Anniversary Playing Cards

The playing card decks from the 6th and the 7th anniversary. As you can see I haven't opened the 7th, but I got the 6th a while ago on AliExpress so I expect them to be similar.

This is something else I can review more in depth, coming from a family that loves playing poker. The quality of the prints is beautiful, however I keep them in the box all the time because the quality of the cards itself is not good!

The cards feel like store bought cardboard; good playing cards are made out of cardboard, but this deck doesn't have the same treatment. They are so fragile, even by just handling them to get the face cards I've already made slight damage to the edges. I wouldn't play any game with them, much less shuffle them. I don't even want to imagine how much they will bend. Also the Crystal card came with damage (the small white spot on the edge) from the store. Pain.

Anyways. I'll frame the face cards because they are so pretty and I want to keep them in the best condition... I don't know what I will do with the rest of the 36 cards. Maybe practice magic tricks? Lol. Before all this I've been working on how to scan all the face cards and post them, but it's been more difficult than expected. If you have ever tried to digitize prints you will know. Once I have them, I'll post them alongside high quality scans.

When it comes to my review of PandaBuy... On one hand it was an excellent service and experience. On the other... I don't even want to reveal how much the shipping was. I wouldn't recommend anyone else do it unless you are stupid with your money (like me), even then

I would advice to do your own research. PandaBuy and all agents to buy from China are definitely better when you buy in bulk. My package was 'only' 2kg. Many people buy over 10kg to make it worth it. I'm already committed so if new volumes come out I will buy them, and maybe also get counterfeit Gucci shoes or something since that's what most people use this agents for...

That's all for now. Feel free to reply or send any questions you have.

#all saints street #wan sheng jie #1031 万圣街 #merch #personal #manhua

[onigiriforears]

Hello Onigiri!

Do you have a website recommendation on buying books, Manga and light novels from Japan? I am currently addicted to Blue Lock, and wanting to buy their novels.... And at the same time, I want to buy some reading materials (especially focusing on grammar).

Thanks in advance!!! (^o^)

Hi @haku2naomi420 ! <3 I'm a huge fan of your blog and I enjoy the kanji posts! Sorry this answer took so long!

Kinokuniya USA Online

I normally buy my physical copies of manga or Seitokai bookclub books from Kinokuniya USA online. Though Kinokuniya is a Japanese company, it does have some locations in other countries. I don't live near a physical location, but I am able to order through their website. > CON: Their shipping prices are ridiculous unless you reach the min amount of free shipping. CON: They hold your entire order if a single thing isn't available yet...I've had orders take weeks longer than expected before because a single item wasn't ready yet. > PRO: You can send inquiries about books that you may not be able to find on their website, as they might be able to order it for you anyways. PRO: They sell an assortment of things in English, Japanese, and Chinese including textbooks, cookbooks, magazines, stationery, anime merch, etc. (They didn't specify if it was Mandarin or Cantonese :,) )

OMGJapan

I've ordered my N2 日本語総まとめ workbook series from them before I knew that Kinokuniya had an online store for America. The website has various textbook series alongside snacks, stationery, and graded readers. They even have textbooks for business Japanese

CDJapan

They have an array of everything! I can't remember if I've personally ordered from here when I was younger, but there are a lot of people in our server who recommend this is as well.

Amazon Japan (or Amazon [home country]) and eBay

Yes, the true evils...sometimes people are selling their used copies on there or the publishers of certain books are also posting their stores on there.

cmoa.jp

*🙋‍♀️I'm a hardcore cmoa user! They have digital copies of manga, light novels, webnovels and copies of novels on here as well. They also have some great deals and offer a ton of free manga and coupons.

@chouhatsumimi Also has a very helpful post on how to use honto.jp

I haven't used this, but @chouhatsumimi does as well as other people in our server!

bookwalker.jp

I haven't used this site, but many others have! They are also ebook sellers.

Verasia.eu

This site has been recommended by our European server members. The website also boasts itself as the ideal shop for Japanese learners.

The infamous Z-library (lmao) for out of print things

Surprisingly, a book that Kinokuniya told me they couldn't acquire because it was out of print was available on Z-Library...somebody was willing to destroy their copy to scan and upload it on there.

If there's also a specific grammar book or series that you're looking for, message me because I might be able to find it somewhere online! (Or I might already have it.)

Shameless plug: starting Apr 2023, the Seitokai Server will be reading かがみの孤城 if anyone is interested

#onigiri replies #onigiri answers #haku2naomi420 #sorry this is so late #asks #thanks for sending me an ask #replies #resources #websites #reading resources

[the-grimsqueaker]

Hi! I saw your post about the tickets. I’m really sorry that happened. I have a bad habit of offering potential solutions rather than empathy when empathy is what is needed, so please feel free to ignore this.

May I suggest that along with calling the box office, you have screenshots available of the money coming out of your bank account on your bank app, the confirmation email, screenshots from the website of the seating charts with your seats circled, and a nice picture or digital scan of your ID to prove who you are legally. Make sure you mention the address you would have sent the tickets to and the email address you used in the ordering process. Offer to email all of this to the box office. Actually get the email draft ready with all of these screenshots and details and be ready to just input any email they give you and click send. The more information you have the better, not just because it may help them track down your tickets, but also because it shows that you are willing to try and are a real person, as well as because it gives you a plan of action, which is super helpful for high anxiety situations such as this. Remember to ask for Will-call.

Even if you don’t get tickets ahead of time, if you are able, show up at the concert venue and give them your confirmation receipt at the door. They might not let you in, but they might send you to the correct humans that will actually be able to help you.

If all else fails, make different plans for you and your mom. Don’t let the day be a waste! You have a hotel room, so turn it into a spa day by going to the nearest store and picking up some fancy lotions or face masks and nail polish. Maybe go out and do a scavenger hunt where you challenge each other to find things like “a shoe that would never fit a human” or “a vinyl record of an artist with pun on it” don’t go back to the hotel until you’ve crossed off everything on your list.

I’m sorry if that was a weird or unhelpful message to receive from a stranger. Feel free to ignore this. ❤️

Hey, thank you, I actually genuinely appreciate this.

I was freaking out 6 hours ago, but I have since had a couple of hours sleep (got woken up by the world's loudest and clunkiest air-conditioner) and I have a plan of action to call the box office at 9am and find out exactly what they need from me. I've got my confirmation email up on my phone already so I don't have to find it again, and I've got all my I.D on me and stuff. Hopefully they can either print my tickets at the venue or send them digitally (preferably the first option).

I booked these tickets a year ago, and there were no follow up reminders, and I vaguely remember something about "you will receive your tickets one month before the event" (which I did not) which is dumb why not just send them when they're paid for? Or better yet have the "this email is not your ticket" section of the email be at the tippy top of the email, instead of "you're in!" Followed by my seat information. Which looks suspiciously like a ticket!!

When Pink was last in my city my mum was supposed to come with me and she got the flu the day of the concert and couldn't make it. She'll be devastated if she misses out again just because I'm a moron, particularly after the shitshow of the last couple of years with her getting cancer and going through treatment and beating it and everything.

Like at minimum she might just never speak to me again.

[film-in-my-soul]

TDJ arranged marriage AU where Yohan is an alpha and Gaon is an omega

(I want you to know that 1.) this was supposed to be 2k max and is in fact actually 8k and 2.) that I've gone through about four different endings before giving up and concluding it the way I have. I'm sure it's not exactly what you were looking for, but I hope you like it regardless.)

(Also, I said I'd post it today and there's still 25 minutes left in today so it counts.)

Rated T for mentions of heat and very brief mention of sex, no actual sex though.

Ga-on had assumed the worst day of his life was finding his father dead. Or maybe being informed the day following, still mourning, that his mother had joined him. Somehow, impossibly, it isn't.

Ga-on's worst day is when he's pulled aside while heading to the library by a grim-faced Min Jung-ho.

In a move to lighten the suddenly heavy mood, Ga-on laughs, awkward as he's deposited in the other man's office, the door locking behind them.

"If Soo-hyun is spreading rumors again-" Ga-on attempts a joke, but Jung-ho, expression notably thunderous now, holds out a stack of papers for him to take, and Ga-on's words die on his lips. His brow furrows, curious, but he takes them from his mentor's hands.

At first, as he scans the cover page, Ga-on is confused. Jung-ho has handed him a Marriage Summons, and for a brief moment, he thinks it's a test, a silent "have you been reading those law books I sneak you?" except there's no way he'd be so… so strict. So much so that he still hasn't said anything. And then Ga-on glances down the page and sees his name, printed in finely done script under the section noted 'Omega Spouse.'

His blood goes ice cold, and the papers almost fall from his fingers as they go slack.

Ga-on looks up at Jung-ho, lips suddenly quivering. It must be the shock pushing adrenaline to every vein it can reach.

"What-"

"Your parents." Jung-ho cuts him off, response sharp, and then breathes a heavy sigh, a hand going up to his face to rub at his frown.

Ga-on feels like the world is suddenly narrowing down, shrinking around him. When his knees finally start to give, Ga-on is just thankful there's a chair nearby for him to collapse in.

"But, how- this…" Ga-on lifts the stack of papers and lets it drop, spilling apart across the table he's next to. He can't get enough air into his lungs, and his breathing picks up speed. "My parents?" There's an almost hysterical edge to his tone, and though he knows Min Jung-ho can't smell it, Beta that he is, Ga-on's scent is careening sharply into something sour and panicked.

Jung-ho sits across from him, seemingly more put together than before, at least hiding the anger better in the wake of Ga-on's reaction.

"I know it must be a shock, and you know that if I could have prevented it, I would have never let you see the documents in the first place."

Ga-on feels sick.

He nods, even as he struggles not to run from the building, the papers, everything.

"It was put in place by your parent when you presented, it seems. I can't get complete documents as I'm no longer your legal guardian, so I only know the barest of details. The registry they went through had a waiting period. If the enrolled Omega reaches twenty-seven and is still unmarried or unbounded, they're placed into the eligibility pool."

 Ga-on knows that the man is only trying to comfort him, but it hardly helps.

He'd been twelve when he presented as Omega, and his parents had probably been worried, then swindled with the promise of a handsome bride dowery if he was matched off to a wealthy Alpha. Because they had died, taking this life-altering arrangement with them was not something anyone could control. And now… now Ga-on had received a Marriage Summons, one Min Jung-oh could not get him out of.

In hindsight, outside of himself, Ga-on knows that the situation is unsurprising. Omega laws are only now taking a foothold in government. From a young age, he'd been his parents' property in all sense of the word. They'd signed him away like collateral, and now he was the property of the registry. Or, more accurately, he's the property of whoever had just put his name on the papers.

Ga-on is numb. The thought of feeling what his emotions are doing is exhausting.

"Do you…" his voice catches, and he raises shaking hands to organize the papers back into a single stack, trying to focus on the physical sensation as he works to get his breathing and scent back under control. He doesn't need any Alphas coming to sniff around and get ideas. "Do you know who it is?"

When Ga-on looks back up to Jung-ho, that visceral anger is back.

Ga-on didn't even need him to say the words to have his answer.

A week later, Ga-on meets his husband for the first time.

He's in the best suit he could rent on his law clerk's salary and walking in calculated steps down the aisle of the small, private chapel he'd been instructed to arrive at for the ceremony. From the corner of his eye, he can see Soo-hyun, Min Jung-ho, and Oh Jin-joo (the female Alpha he works directly under and considers a friend) sitting in the pews to the left. All but Jin-joo look uneasy.

Eventually, Ga-on makes it to where the aisle ends, leading to a small raised platform with three steps. A hand comes into his field of view as he starts the brief ascent, making him pause. Ga-on follows the offering with his eyes until he meets a not wholly unfamiliar face.

Kang Yo-han, though not working in the same district as Ga-on, is renowned enough through the law circles he passes by while running errands for Jin-joo that he's seen those dark eyes and sharp jawline a scant few times but can still recognize them.

He's looking at Ga-on with a neutral expression, hand not wavering even though Ga-on hasn't moved for a few seconds too long. Eventually, clearing his throat, Ga-on takes it, if only to maintain the appearance of respecting someone "above" his secondary gender and, more importantly, his station. 

Yo-han's palm is large, roughly calloused, and much warmer than Ga-on's. It's only until he gets to the top of the three steps that they're touching, Yo-han loosening his grip, letting Ga-on's fingers slide away.

When Ga-on's in his place, the officiant instructs them to face one another, and Ga-on does as he's asked, tensing only slightly now that his friends are no longer in sight. Instead, he's given a better picture of Yo-han, dressed impeccably in what can only be a designer label, hair slicked back. From off to the right, Ga-on also notes another group of three sat in the opposite pews.

Yo-han's wedding party.

There's a woman, back uncomfortably straight and wearing an expression one might find at a funeral instead of a bonding ceremony. Beside her is a man, also just as stone-faced but with a notable edge of boredom in how his eyes refuse to stay in one place. He looks close to Ga-on's age, if he had to guess, maybe a bit older. Then, at the very end of the pew, a wheelchair folded next to her is a young girl. She has the most severe expression of them all. Open hostility.

He's distracted by how her mouth curves down so harshly that he almost misses his queue to offer his hands back to Yo-han so that the whole ordeal can be underway.

It's a big spectacle, even though the audience is small, the faint shutter of a camera sounding off in the distance, the hired reporter having enough decency not to be seen even if he can be heard.

Ga-on does his best not to let any of his disquiet show.

They exchange rings and pre-scripted vows. The officiant drones on, but thankfully only for an acceptable amount of time, about the auspicious and fate-intended joining of Alpha and Omega, before announcing them wed.

When he instructs Yo-han to "kiss his spouse," Ga-on almost rips himself away from the two men. It's only his shock and Yo-han's hands tightening as if expecting the reaction that keeps him firmly rooted.

No one moves for a beat, but then Yo-han's mouth curves into a subtle smirk that sets Ga-on on edge, and the older man lifts a hand, the one with their wedding band on full display, and cups Ga-on's cheek. When he leans forward, Ga-on can't stop his eyes from squeezing shut, only doing the bare minimum to stop his expression from pinching into a wince as he feels a puff of hot breath across his lips. Then their mouths brush, and Yo-han just holds them there, lips touching only a faint amount.

When Ga-on hears the clicking of the camera again, he realizes what Yo-han is doing, and while a part of him is grateful, the Alpha's hand blocking their "kiss" from the photographer, he's also reminded sharply that this is a farce.

"It's a political move." Min Jung-ho had told him the same day he'd handed Ga-on the Marriage Summons. "He's at the age where an Alpha should already be having children, and if he wants to look favorable to the court constitutes, he needs to play the part. That involves finding an Omega spouse."

It hadn't eased Ga-on, but the knowledge that there might be some… duties he could skirt had been a small comfort.

The ceremony ends with little fanfare, and Ga-on is escorted out of the chapel arm in arm with Yo-han, smiling, small and polite, but tight around the edges when a hoard of paparazzi greet them as they step into the setting afternoon sun. Yo-han doesn't let them linger there too long and ushers him into a black SUV from the line of four that are waiting.

The rest of the night is oddly uneventful. They go to a private dinner, Soo-hyun and Jin-joo arriving shortly after he and Yo-han but no Min Jung-ho. Yo-han, his husband, also only has two of his parties show up. The stern-looking woman and the teenager rolled in on her wheelchair, appearing less angry now but still not close to pleasant in the slightest.

Ga-on learns that she is Kang Elijah, Yo-han's niece.

Over the next few weeks, Ga-on learns much more than that. Mostly about Kang Yo-han. 

He learns the most essential thing about Yo-han first. He is one of the most antagonistic men Ga-on has ever met. It's not in the "I'm an Alpha, you'll stay in your place" kind of way, either. He's challenging, and he wants Ga-on to push back, almost so much that Ga-on believes there's a part of him that's craving for a fight. Ga-on has never got so easily riled up before in his life, and when he retreats back to his bedroom after an argument, he feels he's lost; there's almost a satisfaction in having it happen.

As an omega, there are very few instances he is allowed to openly indulge in more hostile behaviors.

Ga-on also learns the more sordid details of the Kang's history. He learns that his face is a distorted mirror of Yo-han's dead brother and that Elijah, though she has no proof, blames Yo-han for the death of her father and mother. He also learns about the scars on Yo-han's back, overtaken by new ones, burns mended over in some grotesque mask of healing, and how he'd gotten them. The imprint of a belt buckle is now only in Yo-han's memory.

Mostly terrified but defiant, he also learns the weight of Yo-han's hand around his throat. The choking pressure of the collar his fingers make.

Ga-on learns the boundaries of how he's allowed to bite back, what words are just on the edge of too cruel, and which ones trapeze right over it into the most dangerous territory. Ga-on doesn't notably hold any ill feelings to the punishment he'd earned for careless speech and reckless accusations.

He's gotten comfortable in the strange freedom the Kang household has presented. He's not allowed out yet, the media storm, as much as he can see, is still ridiculous, and regardless of how Yo-han has instructed him to "stay inside, Kim Ga-on," he wouldn't want to leave anyway.

It's a relief to know that Min Jung-ho had been correct, that his marriage to Yo-han appears to be strictly political, but still… it doesn't ease the way he feels caged into the large manor, often only with Elijah, Ms. Ji, and Butler to keep him company. When his husband is home, Ga-on only sees him when traveling from his room to the kitchen, cutting through the study. He hardly even pays Ga-on attention.

It should be a blessing, but Ga-on has always been too curious, too wondering, and having the weight of Yo-han around him while only having scratched the surface of the man he's meant to spend the rest of his life with is practically torture.

Ga-on is a married Omega; he has appearances to keep, even if he's close to pulling his hair out. He's not allowed to work, not by any rule that Yo-han has directly set for him, but because it would undermine his Alpha's propriety and raise far too many questions. Eventually, even as he's able to coerce Elijah into discussions about her interests, the books she's reading, and the classes she takes, Ga-on gets bored.

It's particularly bad one afternoon. Ms. Ji is out with Elijah on a shopping trip, Soo-hyun is working on a case (so Ga-on can't goad her into facetiming him), and Yo-han, he's been overseeing a particularly long court case, gone from sun up to well past sundown. Over the last week, Ga-on can count the times he's caught a flash of him on a single hand.

He's going stir-crazy.

Then, as Ga-on is pacing the study for the fifth time, he catches an open folder on Yo-han's desk. He glances at the case number at the top right corner and knows he should leave it alone. He can't help himself. Aside from the books, the food, and the main floor closets, Ga-on is not meant to touch things in the house. But he's been so bored.

Sitting down in Yo-han's desk chair, two things hit him at once, the buttery feeling of the leather armrests, well worn against his fingers, and the scent. Ga-on has always been more sensitive to smells, even for an Omega, and Yo-han, at least when he's inside the manor, always carries around the fragrance of rich pipe tobacco and sharp orange peels. The few times he's bumped into Yo-han, almost literally, as the other man is coming home from the office, there's only a lingering trace of those two aromas, still trapped by Yo-han's expensive scent blockers. Ga-on, whose own scent has always been on the lighter side, hadn't bothered to bring his own when he'd packed up his apartment. Yo-han had never commented on the lotus and rainwater smell, so Ga-on hadn't bothered asking him for any.

Now that Ga-on is at the desk, nothing is stopping him from opening up the court document and pouring over the contents. It's from Yo-han's most recent case if the dates are anything to go by. From what he understands, he's looking at a defendant's initial testimony and the outline of his defense. Ga-on, reading over the lines, without context over the entire proceedings, feels reference numbers and case examples slide to the forefront of his brain.

Working as a clerk for Jin-joo at Min Jung-ho's private practice had allowed Ga-on opportunities few Omegas could say they've had. He was never allowed in the courtroom, and he couldn't take out documents without his supervisors along with him, so, Ga-on had taken to honing his skills. With an ability to memorize case codes or rulings, he could be more efficient with his work, and no one could say he was some token around the office.

He gets through the folder twice, and Ga-on can't help himself. He finds a blank piece of paper and picks the cheapest fountain pen to write with. After fifteen minutes, he filled up half the sheet with case numbers and law citations. When he's about to fold it up and take it with him, thankful for the minor distraction, the front door slams open, and Elijah's voice is shouting for him to come help drag in some of her shopping, Ms. Ji struggling into view, both arms laden with bags. She makes no verbal comment about him sitting at Yo-han's desk, but Ga-on doesn't want to raise any questions and races to help them get the rest of the items.

He forgets the list of references between aiding Elijah in hanging up her new purchases and being treated to a fashion show.

Yo-han returns home as Ga-on is heading to the bath for a long soak; they pass each other in the hall and acknowledge one another with polite tips of their heads.

When Ga-on is done, roughly an hour later, feeling fresh and relaxed, ready for bed, something is waiting on top of the book he's been working through on his bedside table.

He freezes. It's the paper from Yo-han's desk.

Ga-on is under no impression he'd be able to trick Yo-han into thinking he hadn't been near the desk. He could at least, without the evidence of the reference sheet, pretend that he'd maybe only needed to make a note for himself or had been looking for something and was checking Yo-han's workspace.

Ga-on no longer has that lie to use.

He picks up the evidence of his overstepping and wonders if it's a silent threat, an "I want you to know that I know" sort of thing, but then… then Ga-on realizes that there's red ink and neatly scratched handwriting next to his own. Some of his law codes are crossed out, the case numbers circled, and little notes branch off from each correction. They range from "this wouldn't be relevant," "not specific enough to use compellingly," and "attorneys could use to strengthen their own case." 

Ga-on sits on the bed, the paper held carefully between his fingers.

Some might see the corrections as reprimands, the whole slashes of red as small digs at his intelligence. Ga-on sees past it. If Yo-han were trying to make him feel like a fool, he'd have sooner just crumpled up the whole sheet and left it on top of the trash for Ga-on to see. He would not have taken the time to go through each reference Ga-on's brain could pull up and make notations on them. Yo-han is not mocking Ga-on. He's doing what he always seems to be.

Yo-han is challenging him.

A part of Ga-on, as he's staring at the adjustments, absorbing them, and reworking his understanding of the court case in his head, is almost… happy.

The following day, when he gets up early and cooks breakfast for the first time since coming to the Kang house, he tells himself it's because he's tired of eating takeaway and ready-made meals. No other reason.

Elijah is the first one down, and she doesn't comment other than "I don't like Korean food," as though Ga-on would have forgotten the many times he's heard the phrase while placing orders for the two of them.

"I know," he says, lifting the warmer tray lid to reveal the french toast, sausage, eggs, and toast he's prepared. 

Elijah fills her plate, and something warm unfurls in Ga-on's chest as he helps her. Yo-han steps in a short while later, looking soft in the way that drives Ga-on a little to distraction. He casts a glance at the spread of food, and Elijah, now glaring up at him, cheeks stuffed with syrup-covered bread.

"Giving in to your spousely calling?" Yo-han doesn't say it with heat, just a sloping smirk as he grabs a plate for himself. It makes Ga-on cheeks heat in a mix of anger and embarrassment, and he scowls, finally taking food for himself.

He tries not to let his mood sour as he huffs out an, "it's just breakfast, Yo-han." They've never sat down as a trio before, and he doesn't want to let his husband's ill-considered jab ruin it.

The reception to the meal, for the two Kangs at least, is better than Ga-on had hoped, and after that breakfast, he finds himself in the kitchen more often than not, able to put his cooking skills to use. Elijah had asked him about it a few dinners later, and he'd held back tears when he explained that after his parents had died, Ga-on didn't want to burden his guardians and took to taking care of himself in all the ways he could. He just found cooking to be the nicest, and it was something he could share.

He'd caught Yo-han's scent that night from the hall leading into the study, and when he'd slipped into the room, the other man at his desk, they both pretended that the older hadn't heard his confession. Especially not as he placed a late meal on Yo-han's open folders.

Ga-on continues to live in the Kang mansion, and he continues to learn things about his new household and the occupants who live there. It becomes a little less burdensome, a little nicer even.

He also continues to play the notes game with Yo-han, neither bringing attention to it as Ga-on leaves pieces of hastily scrawled paper, and Yo-han provides corrections. Sometimes the other man will even leave stacks of case presidents that have nothing to do with his active rulings, and Ga-on feels gentle pressure behind his ribs with every page he pours over.

The first time Ga-on realizes he might be in real trouble in regards to Kang Yo-han is when he wakes up in the middle of the night, sweat pooling into the dip of his clavicle, sheets clinging to his neck and hands even though the nights have grown more chilling as the year winds down.

Ga-on knows what's going on right away. He can feel the fever starting to burn in his veins. He's got a little time, he believes, before the pain will come. Before, everything will go sharp and hot. When a desperate part of his brain will only want relief in its basest form.

Ga-on is lucky. The worst of his heats, the parts where he loses time, only last a few days. Everything else is just a week of cramping, uncomfortable dampness everywhere, and an insatiable need to reorganize his living space and nest. He's also on a yearly cycle to ensure he is not developing any fertility issues. The rest of his monthly heats are held off by medication that, thankfully, Yo-han hadn't seen any need to question or exercise his spousal privilege to prevent Ga-on from taking. Where he is not lucky, it would seem, is that his heat had arrived a week before it was meant to.

If Ga-on had been paying attention, he probably would have noticed it. Perhaps the stress of the afternoon before had triggered the early heat.

The reins Yo-han had kept him tightly under were loosening, and now, so long as K, Mr. Ji, or (begrudgingly for the Alpha) Soo-hyun was with him, Ga-on no longer has to keep himself to the grounds of the manor. He'd still been worried about the media, anyone and everyone looking for the best scoop on what Omega had caught the famous chief Judge Kang's eyes and had only taken to short walks in the neighborhood the first few days of freedom.

That day, he'd ventured into town to get lunch for himself and Elijah. Soo-hyun had said she'd meet him and Ga-on, foolishly, figured he'd be safe with the short distance by himself.

He was wrong.

The journalist had cornered him the second he was about to enter the restaurant, and Ga-on had immediately felt panic rise as an unfamiliar Alpha grabbed at his wrist. It had been a shocking display of disregard for a married Omega's space, and Ga-on's scent had immediately sharped. The reporter had his fair share of reactions like that, clearly, and hadn't reeled away as an Alpha typically might at the fear response.

It wasn't until Soo-hyun was hauling the man away, cursing up a storm, and flashing her badge, that Ga-on even realized he'd been crying, constant anxious tremors running up and down his spine. When she'd dropped him back off at the mansion, helping him to put the lunch, now a little cold, on the counter, Ga-on had only waited for her to close the front door behind herself before he'd raced to the shower to scrub the scent and sensation of another Alpha's touch away. There had only been a little shame in his expression when he'd taken Yo-han's discarded day robe off the back of his study chair and inhaled the now comfortable scent of the other man, willing his body to relax.

He was under no impression when Yo-han returned home later that the man didn't know what had happened. His general air had been irritated, more so than usual. Ga-on was only thankful he hadn't said anything, just stared a second longer than needed at his now rumbled piece of clothing while Ga-on lounged across the couch, reading a recommendation from Elijah.

Ga-on had pretended, when Yo-han had left the room, trailing his hand across the back of the couch, and thus, through some of Ga-on's hair, as he left the room, that it didn't curl something tight and clenching in his stomach.

He's staring at the damned robe now, still where he left it, a bead of sweat rolling down his temple and contemplating snatching it up. Ga-on is already feeling the itch to go back to his room, to pull every piece of fabric he has onto his bed and make the best nest he can… surly Yo-han wouldn't mind if he added a couple of extra bits and bobs… just for the few days that Ga-on needs them…

Ga-on swallows down that impulse and continues on his way into the kitchen. He'd been heading there since the first minor cramp had woken him up. He needs water and a bit of food. The thought of imposing on anyone in the home while he's going through this unexpected heat doesn't sit well with him, so he figures he can take care of the prep work while his limbs are still functioning.

Apparently, it's an incorrect assumption that he has more time than less because he's just gotten four water bottles tucked under his arm and across his chest when his vision doubles, and he falls to the ground with a wet gasp, legs spasming.

Fuck.

He doesn't know how long he waits on the cold tiled ground for the trembling to stop, but eventually, he can get into a kneeling position, collecting the dropped bottles with twitching fingers.

Gaon takes a breath through his nose and freezes just as a palm, feeling almost like ice on his feverish skin, settles over the back of his neck. He doesn't know how he'd missed the heady tang of citrus and tobacco of Yo-han's scent, but it's all over him now, like a cloud that forces his bones to rattle with how hard he clenches his muscles to stop a whine from escaping.

He wonders, between one suddenly shaky exhale and the next, if it's simply the traces of Yo-han all over the mansion that's taken his typical amount of preheat control and thrown it out the window.

"I thought you had a few more weeks before your heat?" Yo-han's voice is a rumble, and Ga-on wants to let himself drop back to where he knows the other man is kneeling to feel the vibrations of his low tone across his back. Instead, he nods and forces himself to stand, Yo-han's hand not leaving his skin.

"Stress, I think-" he has to swallow and shake his head to clear his eyes, "from earlier… probably triggered it early." It's the only explanation he has. Still, close behind him, Yo-han hums in understanding. Ga-on keeps his head ducked, pointedly not looking at Yo-han as he moves back towards his room. He doesn't technically need the food. Water should hold him for a couple of days, and he suddenly needs to get behind a closed door and away from his husband before he does something downright embarrassing.

Like, ask him to bend Ga-on over the nearest surface so that the growing ache between his legs can be satiated...

Ga-on's body has other ideas, however, because he gets a couple of steps away from Yo-han, just enough that the man's hand finally falls away, and his knees go jelly weak again. Yo-han must see them falter because he comes up behind Ga-on and wraps a strong arm around his middle right as they give up on him.

Ga-on can't stop the sound this time, and he feels Yo-han, now draped over him, freeze momentarily before he's pulling Ga-on upright. Ga-on can tell now that they're pressed so closely together. Yo-han isn't wearing a shirt.

There's a beat of silence, and Ga-on gulps for air, sunk back into the icy heat of Yo-han's chest.

"Ga-on…" Yo-han's voice is a whisper, and the younger has never heard him sound like this. The hand Yo-han has on Ga-on's hip tightens just a bit. "If you need it, if you want it, I can help with…" he trails off, and Ga-on can't stop the whole body shiver at the simple implication of what Yo-han is offering. He's never made illusions or suggestions towards Ga-on in this nature before, never hinting at being willing to be physically intimate with him. There's been nothing more than a graze of his fingers on what skin Ga-on allowed to be uncovered, but it would be a blatant lie if Ga-on had never thought of an instance where the Alpha might. Especially over the last few weeks as they've grown more comfortable around one another, more open.

Still, even as his insides twist and his skin burns, intensity rising, a crack of something sharp pains his chest at the idea of it happening only because it's the heat. It's just the heat, and that's… there's something almost devastating about it when Ga-on's brain spirals into its vulnerable state.

He shakes his head, eyes clenched shut even as he lets himself fall harder against Yo-han's body.

"Not, n- ah," another cramp makes him bite at his mouth. "Not like this," and there's his own implication in those words. If it weren't for the situation, for the biological needs of his secondary gender, he'd, perhaps, want the kind of help Yo-han is offering. Ga-on knows the other man is smart enough to catch it as well, and he doesn't know if, later, Yo-han will decide to bring it up in one of their regular verbal sparring matches, and blaming the slip on the heat will work.

It doesn't matter because the cramps are getting closer together, and it will start blurring, and Ga-on needs to get back to his room to build his nest if he wants even a bit of comfort in his more coherent moments. Yo-han seems to realize this as well, because a moment later, Ga-on is lifted from the ground by two strong arms, and he can't even make a sound of surprise past the way all his breath leaves his lungs, fingers helpless do to anything but hold on to his water bottles for dear life.

Yo-han carries him easily, and Ga-on, head dizzy, indulges his baser need and tucks his nose against the crook of Yo-han's throat for as long as it takes the older man to genty deposit him onto his bed. It's a struggle, holding on to his higher functions enough not to launch himself back towards Yo-han when he steps away, taking the bottles from Ga-on's hands to set them on the side table.

Ga-on stares through half-lidded eyes, breathing heavily, as Yo-han leaves the room. He questions, distantly, why the other man leaves his door open when, just as Ga-on is forcing himself up, the cramps now a low rolling he can manage, Yo-han is stepping back through the entryway, a bundle of sheets in his arms. He sets them down at the edge of Ga-on's bed and steps away. From beneath his sleep-tussled fringe, he's watching Ga-on with something heavy in his expression, but there's a softness there too, and it just makes Ga-on feel weaker.

"It's not much, but it should help." They're probably Yo-han's blankets, dosed in his pheromones from use and bodily contact. Ga-on can't help the way he reaches for them, that itch back in his hands to start nesting immediately while he still can. He's only a bit self-conscious with the swiftness of giving in to his urges, but when he looks back to the Alpha, Yo-han doesn't smirk like Ga-on thinks he should be. He knows how the other man gets when it's clear that Ga-on is at his mercy, but the seriousness of this situation seems to have left what humor can be had somewhere far away.

They share another moment of silence when another cramp hits Ga-on more strongly than the others before, and he cries out softly, doubling over to press his face into Yo-han's offered bedding.

He thinks he hears the other man say something about having Ms. Ji bring food later, but by the time Ga-on has himself under control again, his bedroom door is closed, and his husband is gone.

Somehow Ga-on can't choose what's worse. The fact he's alone, or how badly he wants Yo-han to have not left in the first place.

His heat only lasts three days until he can function again with only mild misery, scent managed, and brain operating on mostly all cylinders.

When Yo-han hands him a warm plate of food as he shuffles into the kitchen, they don't speak about that first night. They don't for the next few days either, and it's almost like the whole proposition and answer were a fever dream. Ga-on buries the unrest in his heart and lets it fade until they return to some semblance of normal.

The only difference between them that Ga-on is conscious of is Yo-han feels closer now, his presence always just to his side, and Ga-on can't be sure if he's not just more attuned to Yo-han's scent, the distant warmth of him, or if the man is simply orbiting closer than before.

Ten days after Gaon's heat, Yo-han comes to him.

He's on the sofa, watching a video compilation of funny animals Soo-hyun had sent him when he feels the other man's approach.

Ga-on looks up at him, and Yo-han says nothing. They stare at each other for a long, almost uncomfortable beat until Ga-on, confused, locks his phone and sits up to address the other man.

Yo-han, hands in his pockets, dressed in one of his immaculate suits, but notably better quality than the ones he wears to the office simply gestures for him to follow with a smirk and a crook of his finger. Still baffled by this unusual behavior, Ga-on is powerless to do anything else.

When Yo-han deposits him in the master bedroom's lavish walk-in closet and starts holding up jackets for him, he finds his voice.

"What exactly are you doing?"

Yo-han, seemingly having chosen the first portion of an outfit, laying the dark red, nearly brown jacket over Ga-on's shoulder, moves to pick out a tie. Ga-on feels that now-familiar frustration starts to bubble up. Somehow, he'd thought they were over childish games like this, where Yo-han intentionally tries to get Ga-on wrongfooted.

"Yo-han-"

"We're going out. There's an event I'm needed at, and you're coming with me."

From there, despite Ga-on's weak protestations, he's dressed up in the most expensive, finest outfit he's ever worn, the clothing only a tad ill-fitting, as Yo-han is a bit wider, more solid than Ga-on is. They're relatively the same height, however, so the pants he's practically bullied into fit him well enough. They're about to head out the door, Elijah staring at them unsubtly, before Yo-han halts them.

Ga-on, already nervous with the lack of information and suddenness of this entire charade, is about to ask him what is holding them up now? When Yo-han sweeps forward into Ga-on's space in a way, he's done all but twice.

Immediately, Ga-on feels himself get hot, a speedy flush crawling up to his cheeks. He has to fight the urge to tip his head in welcome or shrink back in surprise. Instead, his body freezes, lips parting slightly as Yo-han brings up a hand, slowly, to the side of Ga-on's throat, index and middle fingers pressing just off the side of his pulse before they're sliding down, feather-light to his-

Ga-on snaps a hand up to Yo-han's wrist, stopping him.

Yo-han, for the immediacy of Ga-on's reaction, doesn't seem all that surprised; hell, if Ga-on trusted himself to read his husband, he'd assumed the other man was amused. Yo-han gently extracts himself from Ga-on's grip but notably doesn't step away from him. Instead, he holds out his fingers for Ga-on to inspect. There's translucent wetness to them, already seeming to dry.

Oh.

Scent blocker.

Ga-on is still indigent because it's clear that Yo-han had wanted him to react to his teasing, but he also feels silly. He wouldn't have… Yo-han wouldn't touch him like that without meaning it, not in the privacy of the manor, at least. Not without the heat giving pretense. He shouldn't have gotten so worked up. Especially not when he has a sneaking suspicion that they will have to be quite close for whatever this publicity stunt is.

Holding out his hand, Ga-on takes a half-step backward just to feel like he can breathe again.

"I can do it myself." Yo-han's raised eyebrow questions that, but he relents and passes the small tube of expensive scent blocker Ga-on had failed to notice. He finishes applying it in the car, pretending he can't still feel the fading pressure of Yo-han's fingers.

When they do arrive, pulling up to a mansion somehow even more massive than Yo-han's, Ga-on feels once again, like those months ago pulling up to the chapel, entirely out of his depth. He's suddenly very thankful for the scent blockers on his glands and Yo-han's possessive hand against his lower back.

Ga-on finds out later, as the night worsens, that he's even more thankful for the chemical blocking out every possible scent response his body makes.

At first, it's discomfort, easily hidden with a polite smile, then it's disgust, there are too many hands on him, and he has to fight from jerking away from every brush of the fingers. Finally, it's anger. It makes rage boil up in his blood when the elites laugh like it's funny, how Ga-on is being paraded around, how he balks at their deeply invasive questions, how they grab for his collar to see what a mating bite from the honorable Judge Kang looks like. When Yo-han finally comes to rescue him, it's with babying words, little jabs at him, how he's so sorry to the others that his "little omega is still a bit too shy for the public."

Yo-han "saves" him from them, but only so that he can drag Ga-on into his side and trail the tip of his nose across the exposed skin of his throat. It's only the hand, practically bruising at his hip, that forces Ga-on to take it, this agonizing and deeply embarrassing display. The only satisfaction it brings is that the crowd seems to blush and scatter, the way they snicker behind their hands; however, as they leave, practically cooing at Ga-on, who is just one sharp line of tension, makes him broil.

He's dragged back to the car only a handful of minutes later, and to save himself from causing an accident, Ga-on lets himself simmer, staring daggers out the window and knowing that Yo-han can feel the anger rolling off him.

The second they're back within the safety of the mansion walls, Ga-on gives a cursory look to make sure that Elijah isn't in the study before he's turning, sharp, on his heel to face Yo-han, who, judging by his proximity and posture, was waiting for him to do just that.

"How dare you," Ga-on starts, feeling like there's fire running in his veins, making his eyes burn. He's never been so thoroughly embarrassed in his entire life. Being an Omega is nothing new to him, and he understands that others will always find him falling short. However, the sheer lack of respect for him, the power displayed, and Yo-han's attitude makes Ga-on want to choke on the inferiority every person who hasn't known him has tried shoving down his throat.

He'd thought, perhaps, Yo-han had understood.

He tells his husband as much, the anger leaking out of him the longer he goes on, yelling his throat horse, while Yo-han stays still, eyes hardly blinking, maybe not even listening.

Eventually, he's worn himself down, throwing a few week punches at Yo-han's shoulder. His husband takes the two hits, and then when Ga-on practically slumps, shoulders sagging, and head tilted down, he steps a little closer. Ga-on doesn't have the energy to shuffle away. He's the one who's itching for a fight this time, a battle, blood, something, but Yo-han gives him nothing.

"Are you done?" It's not asked meanly, but Ga-on can almost summon up a glare. Instead, he nods his head, fists curled so tightly that he's sure his nails will leave crescent imprints for at least a little while. Yo-han sighs, probably as done with Ga-on's antics as Ga-on is done with his. "I'm sorry."

Ga-on bites out a half-hearted "bullshit" before he's even actually registering the fact that Yo-han is apologizing.

Almost hesitant, a hand comes to cup the underside of Ga-on's chin, tipping his stubborn head back until his and Yo-han's eyes meet.

"I am sorry for the lengths I had to take Ga-on, but I will not apologize for having to do them." So it's only a half-apology, then? Ga-on feels the heat licking behind his ribs again and is ready to sneer, but Yo-han isn't done, and his eyes go hard around the edges. "Do you suppose, if I hadn't stepped in, done something a little untoward, they would have listened to your protestations and walked away?" The hand on Ga-on's face goes stiff, just as Ga-on does. Because angry as he is (though less so now that he's done yelling and back in the relative comfort of home), he knows, deep down under his resentment, that Yo-han is correct. Without the Alpha stepping in to dissuade further inappropriate action, Ga-on would have been easily walked over. He still detests the fact he'd been placed in a situation that almost demanded attention in the first place. Ga-on had known as well, however, that it was inevitable, and at least now, he could be prepared for the future.

When he sighs, almost like he's relenting to Yo-han's point, Yo-han's hand goes soft again and then carefully moves up to cup Ga-on's cheek, a couple of his fingers sliding between the now loose locks of his hair. Ga-on does his best not to shiver at the sensation, suddenly aware of how close they're standing. Proximity they hadn't had since his heat…

"You could have warned me," Ga-on says weakly, attempting to draw his own attention elsewhere than the other man's warm skin, his scent starting to finally break down the blockers.

Yo-han, like he can read Ga-on's mind, smirks just a little, but it's still strangely gentle.

He doesn't step away. Instead, he goes to speak again, stroking his thumb in lazy circles over Ga-on's cheekbone.

"In this house, you can act as you like, live as you like, but out there, under the eyes of the Korean elite, those who will doubt you based on unfounded and fundamentally incorrect assumptions, you have a part to play Kim Ga-on. As much as it might pain you to do so." There's an initial thought of "and whose fault is that?" But Ga-on presses it down, old anger that he's worked past because… well… all the limitations aside, he has a relatively good life with the Kangs and arguably more freedom in a place Ga-on could never have thought he'd get them. Still, he can't help himself.

"Because of your reputation?" Ga-on doesn't like half answers, and Yo-han always speaks in riddles, making Ga-on work for conclusions he could easily offer up. Asking "obvious" questions is the only way to ensure he understands the twists and turns of Yo-han's brain.

That smirk deepens, and Yo-han moves his hand further back into Ga-on's hair, scratching lightly at his scalp. It's the most intimate they've been with each other, and Ga-on wonders as a tremble runs down his spine, and his eyes threaten to close if Yo-han is doing this as his genuine apology, offering a sincere touch to wipe away the false one of an hour ago.

"Partially, but more so for your own well-being. If they think you're too strong, they'll try to chain you down, but if they think you're weak, a mere trophy Omega for a spouse, they'll leave you alone. They'll indeed gossip, spit venom and stupidy into the air to make you feel useless, but," Yo-han comes even closer into Ga-on's space, there's hardly half a foot between them. Ga-on can feel his eyes going a bit crossed, trying to maintain contact with Yo-han's. "It's more important that they assume you're useless than know you're anything but."

Ga-on doesn't know when the rest of the agitation in his blood swam away and became something else, the lingering want that's been building between him and the other man for a few weeks at least, but it's back and roaring in his ears. He swallows it down, though, even when Ga-on knows Yo-han can see it. It's not a challenge if he gives in, and… that's what they both crave, isn't it?

"Am I?" Ga-on asks, swallowing dryly.

"Hmm?" Yo-han's questioning sound is a rumble that Ga-on can almost feel.

"Useful?"

He's not fishing for compliments, not really. But he needs Yo-han to say this. It's not because Ga-on desires to be used. He already has been by this man; that was the marriage, but this would be… more. Anyone can be a doll in a little glass house for everyone else to gawk at. That's not what Yo-han is asking him to be, telling him he is. Ga-on needs to be sure.

"You aren't stupid, Ga-on." That's not the point, and Ga-on knows that Yo-han knows this.

He's not stupid, either.

Yo-han must register the way Ga-on's expression pinches at the corners, the atmosphere threatening to shift into something unfavorable by his lack of acknowledgment.

"The most useful piece on my chess board," Yo-han says like he's half joking, and it makes Ga-on snort, the previous building tension falling away, and he nods, pressing once into the palm curled against his head before stepping away. He's gotten the answers he needs tonight, the exhaustion rearing its ugly head again, but there's satisfaction too. He's more at peace now that he's sure.

Yo-han doesn't seem to begrudge his pulling away. They're tipping closer to whatever inevitable end is waiting for them, but they're not on the precipice yet.

When Ga-on is about to pivot into his bedroom, being dropped off by Yo-han at the top of the stairs, he can't help himself as he turns back to address his husband.

"And what does that make you?" He sees a small flash of confusion in Yo-han's expression. "On the chess board? Are you a piece, too, or just the chess master?" Ga-on waits, leaning against his doorframe while Yo-han thinks of his answer.

"The bishop," the older man decides, and the signature self-assured tip of his lips isn't as sharp as usual, leading Ga-on to infer the seriousness of his choice. Yo-han enters his own room, leaving Ga-on to piece together what he means.

Yo-han is right. Ga-on is smart.

He figures it out between hanging up his borrowed suit coat and starting the shower.

The answer leaves a mirrored smile on his own lips.

Ga-on doesn't know where they stand in the grand chess match of the world, but within the walls of the Kang manor, he's more steady on his feet, and he understands his place here.

It's not beneath Yo-han. It's beside him.

(Authors Note: The queen is the strongest chess piece on a chess board, and the bishop is the one that protects it.)

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Thank you for reading

#gahan #lawful husbands #the devil judge #tdj #kim gaon #kang yohan #prompt fill #kdrama prompt fill

[artvinyl]

Uncovered: 75 Dollar Bill - Power Failures

The shortlisted album artworks have been announced for our annual art prize Best Art Vinyl 2023. We now begin to delve into the creative process behind some of the 50 nominees. First up is 75 Dollar Bill's re-release of Power Failures for the first time on vinyl. We were lucky enough to catch up with the band's guitarist and album cover designer Che Chen.

Che Chen founded 75 Dollar Bill in 2011 with percussionist Rick Brown. He tells us, "I wanted to be a painter before I wanted to be a musician, so the visual aesthetic of the band has always been really important to me. I've done the artwork for all of our physical and digital releases, and many of our posters and fliers too."

Che Chen flyer design work for 75 Dollar Bill

Che Chen explains, "Power Failures first came out as a digital release on Bandcamp in July of 2020. It was our first pandemic summer, Trump was still president (hopefully for the last time!) and George Floyd had been murdered by Minneapolis Police Officers earlier that summer. There were protests everywhere, against police violence, institutional racism, wage inequality for essential workers, etc. The title of the record was very much a response to all of this, the way the pandemic exposed the failures of the state on all these different fronts."

The use of text-based artwork has in fact been a consistent theme for the artist, he told us, "Text has always been central to the visual language of the band, and many of our record covers feature text as the only "image" in the designs. This approach made sense to me for Power Failures, since the title was very evocative of everything that was going on, but also open-ended enough that I didn't want to add an image that might get in the way of whatever associations someone looking at those words might have. I wanted to push the idea of a text only image a bit by using the typography to create a pattern (of W's in this case) which is only broken by the album title. The digital album just had the single square image as its artwork, so when Karl Records in Berlin offered to make a vinyl edition of the album as a gatefold double album, we got to expand the art significantly. I repeated this process on the back cover with the band name and changed the background colour. The  LP centre labels refer back to the font and colour schemes of the front and back cover. I should also mention that the beautiful inside layout was done by Roland Küffner at Karl who did a fantastic job."

We asked Che Chen about the techniques he uses for his artworks, he explained, "The fonts I've used in most of my designs are actually from industrial moveable rubber stamp type. I've scanned physical prints of each set, several versions so that there are multiple versions of each character with slightly different imperfections, etc. I like the physical character of these fonts, how each impression is unique. For our first LP, Wooden Bag, Rick and I actually hand stamped the covers for the entire first edition using this rubber stamp type, but these days I mostly do the type setting on the computer."

Chen Chen got into music as a teenager in the suburbs of Washington DC in the 1990s when the post-hardcore scene around Dischord Records was thriving. The DIY ethos of bands taking control of their own production, from running their own labels and booking their own tours, to playing protests and benefits for local causes and working the door at their own shows, was and is still a big inspiration to him.

He tells us, "I've tried to carry those ideals on in my own work as best I can. Doing the art and the design for music projects I am involved with (and occasionally for friends) feels like an obvious extension of this. I love bands and labels that have a strong visual aesthetic and also really respect when artists are resourceful and can make striking designs using sometimes limited means. Sun Ra's home made jackets covers for his Saturn Records LPs and Harry Partch's Gate 5 Records are both examples of this for me."

Taken from the 'Sun Ra: Art on Saturn' Book - The Album Cover Art of Sun Ra's Saturn Label

U.S. Highball |Gate 5 Records, Issue No. 6 (First pressing, inscribed to Amos Vogel in 1960) Hardcover – January 1, 1956

Che continues, "Lisa Alvarado’s screen printed album covers for the Natural Information Society records and her paintings that hang while they play (she plays harmonium in the group too) are another perfect fusion of visual and musical aesthetics to me."

Mandatory Reality by Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society. Artwork by Lisa Alvarado

Power Failures by 75 Dollar Bill on Karl Records is shortlisted for the Best Art Vinyl 2023 Award. Artwork by Che Chen.

#bestartvinyl2023 #record cover art #record frame #75 dollar bill #album artwork #contemporary art #art and design #best art vinyl #flip frame

[linesonscreens]

Bonus! - A Trip Through The Des Moines Register and Tribune With Peanuts (1957)

So I've been reading a book called “Only What's Necessary: Charles M Schulz and the Art of Peanuts”. It's basically a bunch of stuff from the Charles M Schulz Museum including comics, toys, original art and promotional material that got scanned in with a bit of commentary/explanation added for some of it. It's a fantastic book and I highly recommend it if any of that sounds interesting to you. It's available on Amazon HERE.

Anyways, While reading it I came across this cool promotional comic for the Des Moines Register drawn in 1957 by a man named Bob Davenport. I found it to be a pretty interesting peek into how newspapers were produced in a time before computers and figured that maybe some of you might also appreciate it.

Let's dive in!

Page 1

Charlie Brown: Free at last! We have escaped reality itself and shall no longer be bound to that monochromatic prison!

Some guy: Hi Charlie Brown! Want to tour a 1950's newspaper building?

Charlie Brown: Hell yes I do!

Page 2

I love that they're bragging about the speed of their elevators.

Page 3

I want to explore the photography labyrinth.

Page 4

This stuff here is particularly interesting to me. We take for granted just now much more efficient computers have made the printing process.

Page 5

In case you were wondering what this stuff actually looked like:

*EDIT: To be clear, these are not actually pictures of the Des Moines Register. Just newspaper equipment from around that time.

Page 6

The one thing that bugs me about this comic is that for some reason they decided to have Lucy be the mature one of the two.

Also, I literally just now noticed that that top panel is different from the one in the book for some reason. Some of the departments on page 3 and the first panel of page 5 also seem to be different from their online versions. I guess they did a revision at some point?

Bonus: Please notice this very good Charlie Brown drawing.

Page 7

Morgan Freeman voice: “It was not here to stay”

Though to the DMR's credit it still seems to be alive and kicking.

Page 8

Charlie Brown: Incredible! I'm going to get myself a newspaper job right now so that I too can be a part of this noble profession!

Later:

And that's the whole thing! Apologies for the questionable quality. The only version of this that I've been able to find online was scanned in 2007 by this guy. If you click the link be sure to read the comments because a couple of Bob Davenport's family members apparently responded to the blog post providing additional information.

Here's hoping that someday somebody does a better quality scan because it's a neat little piece of comics history that deserves be be kept around in a readable format.

Hope you all enjoyed it!

#I was tempted to wait until we got to 1957 and post this then but I do NOT have the executive function for that level of planning. #peanuts #charlie brown #lucy #The Des Moines Register #comic strips #comics #peanuts comics #charles schulz

[solradguy]

SOLRADGUY SCANLATION GUIDE

LAST UPDATED: MAY 8, 2023 //

THIS GUIDE IS REDUNDANT AND WILL NO LONGER BE UPDATED. Please refer to the other guide for updated scans/translation posts: https://solradguy.tumblr.com/post/701138089295364096/comprehensive-guide-to-unofficial-guilty-gear

It has come to my attention that my blog is a sort of go-to for Guilty Gear scans. Unfortunately, my blog is a cluttered hovel. Here is what I've worked on, what I'm going to work on, and what I do not have the material with which to work on.

Wanna look at Daisuke's stuff without thinking about it? Forget about the rest of this post and click this link.

Some stuff before the juicy bits: Yes, the Brisket <3 meme started here. My Japanese is self taught so I'm probably making a bunch of mistakes but I go back and polish up old translations regularly. These scans/translations are done as a hobby. I've been doing this since I started Begin sometime around December 2021. Real life stuff has priority so the deadline for everything here is "when I get to it."

THERE IS A FULL LIST OF ALL THE GUILTY GEAR FAN TRANSLATIONS IN ITS OWN POST OVER HERE: [THIS IS A LINK]

WHAT I'VE WORKED ON //

🔥 Guilty Gear Begin - Light novel. The current earliest point in the lore.

English translation: Tumblr - Archive.org Art scans: Tumblr

🔥 Artworks of Guilty Gear X 2000-2007 - Art book collecting (most) of Daisuke's work going from GGX through to Isuka. Does not have anything from Overture, despite it being in production around the time this book was published.

Tumblr tag - Archive.org

🔥 Guilty Gear 2 -Overture- Material Collection - Art book for Overture. I will not be scanning this whole book, but I did scan the main illustrations, story illustrations, and translated the main illustration captions plus the 8 stories.

Illustration index: Tumblr - Neocities Story index (English) - Tumblr - Neocities Archive.org (.PDF + uncompressed scans)

🔥 Guilty Gear Xrd (Revelator) Visual Book - Small art book included in the special edition release of XrdRev in Europe and Japan. This is a scan of the European book, which is in English (mostly). These scans were done by @birthdaytrain and I only compiled it into a .PDF for Archive.

Archive.org

🔥Channel 3 Records Guilty Gear: Missing Link Vinyl Art and Interview Book - A 2LP that came with a short booklet containing some ML era GG art and a brief interview with Daisuke himself. I did not rip the music from the records for this archive.

Archive.org

🔥Dengeki PlayStation F, Volume 10 (October 13, 1995) - Volume 19 of the Japanese gaming magazine, Dengeki PlayStation. Has an article on what appears to be the first printed appearance of any sort of Guilty Gear 1 material. Very early prototype stuff in this.

English: Archive.org

🔥Dengeki PlayStation F2, April Special Issue, Volume 19 ( April 10, 1996) - Volume 19 of the Japanese gaming magazine, Dengeki PlayStation. Has an article on an early build of GG Missing Link. This issue also has articles for Final Fantasy 7, Tekken 2, Street Fighter Zero, Darkstalkers, and a lot more.

Full magazine scans: Archive.org Guilty Gear article English translation: Archive.org - Neocities

🔥Magic In Your Eyes (Japanese, BL doujinshi, SFW, 32p) - Sol/Ky doujinshi from 2004 by Rima Setsura. Its plot revolves around cooking, shenanigans, and amazing facial expressions; overall very lighthearted. A lot of the rest of the cast also make appearances. Google Docs has been placing images with a slight white border along the top and left sides of the page lately. I'll update this .PDF once I fix it. Will eventually be translated.

Neocities (.PDF)

🔥Guilty Gear X (vol.1) and X Plus 4koma Kings (DNA Media Comics) - Two different 4koma manga volumes. These are 4-panel funny strips.

GGX Vol. 1 - Archive.org GGX Plus - Archive.org

WHAT I'M GOING TO WORK ON //

In no particular order:

Lightning the Argent - Light novel focused on Ky. Japanese manuscript compiled (thanks, Volcanic). Needs translated.

The Butterfly & Her Gale - Light novel focused on Chipp. JP manuscript compiled. Needs translated. (Someone's working on this, I think)

Guilty Gear Comics Anthology (Missing Link manga) - Translation in progress

Ohzora Comics' GG Isuka manga (unless someone beats me to it)

Dengeki Playstation F Volume 10, October 13, 1995 - Guilty Gear Missing Link announcement issue, basically. Has a bunch of rare art in it + character bios with information that got retconned in the game's actual release 3 years later. Rare as all hell. Currently working on a translation.

DON'T HAVE THIS STUFF, BUT WANT IT //

All of the manga that aren't the four X/XX Anthology volumes, the Missing Link manga, or the GGX and GGX Plus 4koma manga.

SOCIAL MEDIA //

Other people had the solradguy handle outside of Tumblr before I started using it so if you see another Sol Radguy out there that isn't listed here, it isn't me.

Archive.org: Daemonis

Twitter: junkyarddogmk69 NSFW/18+

Reddit: u/junkyarddogmk2

Scans-only Tumblr: @junkyarddogmkii

Neocities: solradguy (looks best on desktop)

Discord: Ask. I am Sol Radguy there though.

Ko-fi: Somnivagrious - I will always do scanlations for free, but if you like what I'm doing you can toss me a few bucks if you want. Anything donated because of Guilty Gear will go back into it through new art books or Japanese study materials. Please specify that's what your donation's for if that's how you want it to be used.

Email: junkyarddogmkii [at] gmail.com

FAQ //

Can I use scans/translations for stuff?: You can use them for any personal/non-commercial projects like icons, banners, blog themes, etc. Credit is nice, but not required. 

How long does stuff take?: Begin took about 6 months exactly, Artworks of GGX took a little over 8 months, the Overture short stories take 1-2 entire days, so like maybe 8-15 hours of work.

How long have you been into Guilty Gear?: I heard Holy Orders from GGXX in 2013 and was fully consumed by the disease when I watched my friend play Strive in August 2021.

WHAT ABOUT BLAZBLUE? //

I don't go to Blazblue but maybe one day after I run out of Guilty Gear stuff or my brain finally melts and pours out of my eyes from Google Doc radiation exposure I'll get around to it. My buddy @smellpelt made a compilation post of the work Daisuke did for Blazblue though, over here.

#textpost #guilty gear #long post

[summer-at-peel]

I worked a couple more days after my post last week. The first day, I started off the day by adding more books to the book inventory system I made. Through the process, I have learned a lot more about ISBNs than I ever expected to. I have also learned that not every book's information is complete, or even correct, in Google's books database, so we will definitely have some work ahead making sure everything is correct. However, it's provided an excellent start and saved us having to enter a ton of data manually.

Then, I used the scanner I set up last week to scan a zine my partner Cam made. I still need to work on cleaning up the scans to reprint it, but it's been great to work with professional-grade equipment rather than a basic home scanner. The level of quality I was able to get is honestly kind of absurd.

Later that night, we had our monthly collage night, but we also did a Polaroid transfer demo. The person demonstrating the process used a Polaroid of Cam and I that I printed from my phone using the Polaroid Lab.

Basically, you remove the protective plastic top, soak the Polaroid in hot water until the emulsion detaches from the back, then transfer that into cool water and carefully spread it out over a sheet of paper. I was shocked by how simple the process was in concept...

... and less shocked by how difficult it was in practice. Above is my one attempt, and below is Cam's two attempts. The emulsion layer is easy to damage and hard to get to stay in place. The most frustrating part is when one side would be in place but would then get messed up trying to smooth out the rest of the image. Black and white is even more frustrating, because it is harder to peel off the protective layer and the backing tends to flake instead of come off in one piece. I'm definitely going to try this process again and see what I can make with it, though! The event ended up running later than we planned because everyone was so engaged with what they were working on.

The next day was pretty slow, and I had to leave early for an appointment. However, I did learn to add products to our online Squarespace store. I added some books I had unpacked and inventoried the previous day, grabbing images and descriptions from the publisher and making sure to categorize them properly on our site.

Today so far has been more book inventorying, but we are approaching the end of that process! Once that's done, we will be able to import the data to our payment system to speed up checkout and make sure inventory levels of books are properly tracked.

I've only got a couple more days this week before I'm out of town next week to visit Cam's family. I'm hoping to finish the inventory before I leave.

[whizpurr]

No thats ok! thanks. I just wanna let u know that i wasnt saying youre doing wrong or judging u i was just wondering if i could use the photos u editted.. to profit off of it? is that bad? idk whats ur thoughts and opinions? i think u should profit on it as well!! much love

Aw I appreciate that. This is gonna be long. And i dont feel like adding kaomoji! (๑•́o•̀๑)

I'm not sure how you could profit? I suppose you could make collages with images i have shared, as I have done, and properly credit the artists or brand etc of the edits within the collage...but even then I am against the selling of collage art like that since the artists within it don't ever properly get paid for their contributions. I think collages are fun to make and pretty to look at and share for free use but shouldnt be sold...but plenty of people do it on etsy and other art websites, heck people have made galleries with these types of collages. I dont think its right though. I post my collages for free as well and would never sell them. Other things people do with pngs of others works for profit that I find wrong is make knockoff physical stickers or products with the images on them and sell them. I have joked about taking my pngs and printing off your own sandylion stickers since people sell them on ebay for wayyyy too much but that suggestion is for your own personal use and not for selling or profiting. Selling them would once again be wrong in my opinion, but again, people do it, there are entire websites that do this.

That all being said, like I've said before, I can't stop anyone from using these edits however they want so you can do you but I dont condone profiting by selling others works which I will not do and have not done.

Which brings me to the next point of me "profiting", which tbh I dont deserve for editing and sharing images. I originally said I won't ever enable tips as I dont believe its right as its not my art, and I still somewhat believe this, also tumblrs tip system is shady... but I have broken my rule and linked my paypal before since I have become a sahm and also shared my child's baby registry. I removed paypal and never got a donation anyway but still I felt guilty even sharing it for voluntary tips bc of my personal reasoning before but I have returned my child's wishlist, because I would be using any donations for him anyway, and before he was born a couple people were so kind on his registry and he still loves his little fox toy and goodnight moon book gifted to him by kind people here and I realized if people want to continue to share their kindness with my family as I have shared images I like with them I will happily accept that and how is it different from me sharing his registry with friends and family for gifting? Is it bad I've used the reach this blog gave me to accept a present for my baby from kind people with similar interests? To put in perspective I have 11,600 followers and 3 have gifted me(all my sons baby registry before he was born) in 6 years. I'm not beg posting for donations or demanding payment for pngs bc again this blog is for fun and a scrapbook collection to share with others.

I realized plenty of other tumblr bloggers ask for tips and donations for posting others art, or just running a blog where they reblog other people, post memes they didn't make, tweets they didn't make, pinterest links, weheartit links, Spotify music, etc. You could easily profit that way, you could just reblog or repost my posts you like the most and enable tipping on your blog or ask for donations and profit. People on here run art "curation" blogs, scan artbooks, share others Flickr posts, share snippets from old magazines or newspapers, share eBay or etsy links to listings or crafts that aren't theirs, or make tv/movie/videogame/anime gifs and then have tip and donation buttons just for sharing others works, products or resharing things from the met art museum or fashion history websites etc etc. And there's even the good handful of meme blogs and viral animal video and image blogs who blatantly spam links to Chinese knockoff overpriced items/stores in between memes and animal posts who get a cut for selling and advertising these storefronts.

I realized why shouldn't I just have my sons registry available if anyone wants to voluntarily gift? Everyone else has no problem asking for more when they also have blogs dedicated to posting others works. Is this profiting? Maybe??? Thats all the potential profit I will allow from this blog though and I dont consider it profit as much as people just being nice? Maybe I'm wrong and hypocritical for that but I dont really think so when I have seen people ask for actual money and donations on tumblr simply for existing. I'm not here selling stolen art, I don't claim the original work is mine, and anyone who wants to contribute $1 to a copy of chicka chicka boom boom for my baby isn't being held at gunpoint or guilted or told they have to in exchange for transparent images.

[aviatrix-ash]

Thank you so much for uploading your scans !!!!!!! I love all the lil details added in the Complete Almanac & was always bummed I couldn't find any of it except in bits & pieces; I'm looking forward to the final pdf & thoroughly enjoying your posted pages in the meantime !!!!!!

Always happy to share! I'm happy you're enjoying em too, it hass been quite a challenge to get them scanned + editing (still in progress) but well worth it. I've been wanting to digitize the complete thing for ages so I can keep a copy on my ipad for art ref when work's got me away from home for a long time. I thought, hey might as well share it too since the book's been out of print a long time.

Might be another day or 2 before I can get them all cleaned up & organized tho, I was aiming for late tomorrow but I got called into work :'D

[notfknapplicable]

I mean that my dreams last night were so upsetting and disturbing that I went into the stacks and found a book of essays on Lovecraft and picked out the most horrifying images in it and scanned them at 300dpi, then printed copies to post in my bedroom and behind my desk. I am turning to cosmic horrors so I can scrub my brain clean. I've already decided that I'm gonna watch Nekromantik 2 tonight before bed. I'd rather dream about that.

#tales from scumbag city #horror #HP Lovecraft #awwwwww the horrors!

[crealityk13dprinter]

Modern Futurist: Promising Technologies and Strategies

If you had asked me in the future, say in 1990, what lay ahead, I could have told you something different than I would in 2023. It develops as the reality of what will happen. The bulk of futurists will be mistaken moving forward if you hold their predictions against them. People frequently make references to or have conversations regarding the predictions made by Hugo Wells in his book about what is to come. Despite the fact that the majority of them didn't, many of them did as expected. I've come to terms with the fact that we're in for a celebration that will essentially be just out of reach. As a result, I'll strive today for the future that is physically impossible to achieve. Several breakthroughs that will impact society are what I'll be talking about; I'll also let you know how I feel about the outcome. If it's not too much bother, please be aware that any predictions given are merely evaluations; they are not predictions of reality; rather, they are conjectures. They aren't even really the stage after a gas. They are only gases, which is merely a generalization. Until further notice, they are essentially conjectures that may eventually develop into theories.

The 3D printing and scanning industries will continuously advance. I tested over 20 various 3D scanners, and I can confidently declare that today's technology is far superior to that of a few years ago when it comes to 3D scanning. As technology advances, so do 3D printers. The 3D printing market has exploded in terms of capacity. I can use a laser to create something out of wood or metal, and 3D printers let you add plastic or perform laser etching. Finding out how to perform 3D filtering is something I've been working on. By using 3D filtering, I can examine actual goods and then print them on a 3D printer. The next invention to go off will be 5G. With 5G, that being the case, and in the event that you are sufficiently fortunate to be in some of the great data transmission 5G regions and the company you use supports them, you'll discover that having a conversation and connecting to the Web with one more device through your phone is simple and successful. The fact of biological effect is my final expectation for the near future in this futurist mix post. Green things are definitely in store!

Value: $509

Flexible Build Plate

Hands-free Auto Leveling

Impressive speed

Auxiliary Cooling Fan in Chamber

Overview:

Among fans of 3D printing, the new Creality model has drawn a lot of attention. The speed of the Creality K1 High Speed 3D Printer is one of its key characteristics that has generated the greatest curiosity. Smooth printouts are transmitted at speeds up to 600 mm/s, which is many times faster than a typical 3D printer. K1 delivers a boot-up fast help and is assembled and calibrated before shipment. Simply start printing the moment your K1 arrives. Give K1 a tap, and it will independently test the extruder, heatbed, camera (at your discretion), fan, evening out, and other items. Any deviation noticed will influence the presentation. Clients can proceed in this manner without incident. It works well with many textiles and is tacky and heat-safe. The model base is clear and smooth due to the lightly frozen surface. Flexible for quick print evacuation. Look at the 3D Printers Online Store, if you're more interested in purchasing a quick machine. I should clarify that my theories about the future go beyond conjecture. They are, in fact, valid deductions. Yet, they are not theories. Even if I live in a fantasy world where I wish they were, reality makes it clear they are not. I really do believe that the future will be bright because of the glare from solar-powered exhibitions, not because the majority of the world's developing species have effectively been wiped off by environmental change.