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liliesoftherain · 4 years

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YouTube Challenge!

Request: Ok so I’ve been watching a lot of youtube couples (not the cringey ones lol) and I reallyyy wanted a head canon for maybe bakugou, shoto, and kiri with a s/o who is a youtuber, and they shoot a couple video like those “my boyfriend rates my outfits” or “chapstick challenge” videos. Could the prompts (42)“(58)(18) Also boys to be pro heroes already...if that’s ok.

A/N: I hope you enjoy this hun, @pletopliito and also as each one is written it gets shorter and shorter lol IM SO SORRY

Prompts: 18. “Have you lost your damn mind?” 43. “Why don’t you kiss me already?” 58. “Are you flirting with me?”

Pairing: Katsuki Bakugou x Reader, Eijiro Kirishima x Reader, Shoto Todoroki x Reader

Katsuki Bakugou!:

“Hey guys, QueenExplosion here! And I have a surprise! Drumroll… It’s King Explosion, as a guest!”

You excitedly pulled your boyfriend into the chair next to you, laughing as he grumbled about the name.

“Right, right! Sorry Mr. Pro Hero, I meant Ground Zero is joining me today!”

“Against my will, might I add.”

You smacked his arm without looking for the snide comment,

But knowing your boyfriend,

This video was bound to be full of them

“Alright, so today I look a little bare don’t I? That’s because this hunk is going to be doing my makeup.”

“Get ready to look like shit.”

“ANYWAAAAYS, let’s just jump right in, yeah? So I have all my makeup set out on the desk here, I’m not telling him what does what-”

“Like I need to know, this shit isn’t rocket science.”

“And it’s his job to make my look as fine as I always do.”

You watched as Katsuki faced you, grabbing a random brush and your highlighter.

“This is like the base coat for your foundation crap, right.”

He huffed to himself as you stifled a laughter, side eyeing the camera

He brushed it all over your face before picking up your stick foundation,

“Now this just kinda goes.. Fucking everywhere.”

He narrowed his eyes in concentration and you thought he was adorable,

“What are you doing Katsu?”

“You put dots all over your face. So that, stupid.”

He grabbed the beauty blender and you were shocked to try to see him dab it all over your face

He lightly grabbed your neck to maneuver your position,

Making it easier to blend in the makeup

“Do you think I need this much makeup?”

“No.”

“Awhhh-”

“You need a fucking crap ton.”

You smacked his arm again at the rude comment,

But you knew he was kidding with the way he was smirking

“Now that your face is done or whatever the hell, guess it’s the eyes.”

He picked up one of your newer palets and your heart skipped a beat,

“Oh man I just got this… Don’t mess it up please.”

“Yea, yea shut up.”

“I’m serious Katsuki-”

“Shitty woman I won’t mess it up. Now quit talking so I can make your eyes fucking pretty.”

“Haha okayy~”

He grabbed a small brush and opened your eyeshadow pallet,

Staring intently at the colors

“What are you glaring so hard for? Just pick one, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“You use these two the most. Let’s mix them.”

“Wait, what-”

You watched with wide eyes as he dipped the brush into one color,

Roughly grabbing the powder onto the brush before-

“Have you lost your damn mind, KATSUKI!”

“EH!? WHAT!”

You watched as he selected another color,

Lighter than the first,

Blending them together on the pallet instead of on your eye

LIKE HOW A REGULAR HUMAN BEING DID IT

“YOU CAN’T JUST MIX THEM THERE, YOU RUIN THE COLOR!”

“HA? YOU BLEND SHIT ALL THE TIME!?”

“ON MY EYES DUMBASS!”

“So.. Like this?”

He brought the brush up to your cheek and smeared the makeup all over

“Whoops. Missed.”

“Katsukii!”

Laughing and whining you tried to push him away but he kept sneaking makeup all over your face,

Grabbing your hands and holding them so you couldn’t stop his onslaught

It was all fun and games till you heard a crash,

Looking down you saw your pallet on the ground,

Face down

“... Bakugou Katsuki…”

At the tone of your voice he stopped,

Looking down to where he saw you gaze on your fallen makeup.

“Oh fuck.”

Let’s just say that video ended with a bunch of cut scenes until you said goodbye,

Smiling face full of misused makeup and Katsuki with a smug look on his face,

Even if he did have matching makeup stains where you wiped your cheek against his.

“Fellas, if you’re asked to try this, just don’t-”

“Ignore him!! Thanks for the stopping by and watching the explosion duo! See you guys soon! ”

Eijiro Kirishima!:

“Hi beautiful people, and welcome back to my channel! It’s your host, RockkStarr here with my own, rock star- Red Riot! And today we are going to be doing the Chubby Bunny challenge!”

“Yosh!! I’m hyped up to eat some delicious sweets, oh, and the marshmallows too.”

Winking at the camera Eijiro pulled you in close,

You laughed and tried to squirm away as he left playful bites along your shoulder

“Oh stop! If you guys are unfamiliar with the challenge, it’s a winner-loser game-”

“That I’ll definitely win.”

“That you win by seeing how many marshmallows you can fit in your mouth while still being able to say, ‘chubby bunny’!”

“Oh then I’ll definitely lose, you see these cheeks? Made for this.”

“Owiee!”

Eijiro laughed as you swatted his hand away while he pinched your cute cheek.

“Let’s get onto the marshmallows!”

“YOSH!”

The first few times didn’t go so well since he kept eating them,

“Ei babe you gotta keep it in your mouth!”

“That’s what she-”

After a few more failed attempts you were both up to five, and you both could still talk pretty clearly,

But Kirishima was not making this easy for you,

“What was that??”

“You heard me!!”

You covered your mouth as you tried to hold back laughter,

Making it even harder to do so as you saw your boyfriend's cheeks puffed out so wide,

With a pursed smile to make him look funnier

“Say it again!”

“CHUBBY BUNNY!!”

After another 4 more you were getting to the limit,

Eijirou was tearing up in laughter about how cute you looked with puffed cheeks,

And every time you opened your mouth to talk they would almost fall out,

“Why don’t you just kiss me already?”

He teased with an almost clear voice,

You rolled your eyes at his smugness but did it anyways,

As soon as your lips touched you couldn’t hold back the giggles,

Spitting out wet marshmallows all over your boyfriend you began dying of laughter,

His shocked and disgusted face made you laugh even harder as his own came out of his mouth

“THAT WAS SO GROSS BABE!”

“AHHHH I’M SORRY!”

You both ended the video,

Your chin slick with drool and Eijiro covered in soggy marshmallows,

But you were both smiling and laughing nonetheless

“Thanks for tuning in! See you beauties next time, RockkStarr-”

“And Red Riot!”

“OUT!”

Shoto Todoroki!:

“Hello friends, it’s me, IceeBaby! Don’t be alarmed, I know it may be hard to recognize me behind all this Gucci-”

“That’s a store brand tee-shirt, don’t lie.”

“Aaaaaand I’m here with my ice ice baby, Shoto! Thanksforruiningtheintro.”

“Anything for you, love.”

“Thanks babe.. today we are going to have a fashion show of sorts. I'll be trying on my closet for you all to see, and he is taking time out of his busy day to rate them for me!”

“She looks good in anything, so you’re going to get 10/10s everytime.”

“Oh my gosh. Are you flirting with me?”

“I most definitely am.”

“You do know I am dating a top pro hero right?”

“What is he going to do?”

You giggle as Shoto pulls you onto his lap from, squeezing you tight while he did.

“He can try all he wants but he can't have you back.”

“You’re such a dork-Oh no!! You’ll wrinkle my clothes, let me go!”

“Wrinkled or not this outfit is still a 10 for me.”

You wiggled out of his hold, messing his hair up as you stood.

You tried on a few different outfits, explaining where you got them and why you liked them so much.

“Oh and this shirt-”

“Is my favorite actually.”

“Ohh?? Why is that?”

“This is the shirt you were wearing when we went on our first date.”

Your jaw dropped and Shoto swears there were hearts in your eyes,

“Shoto.. You remember that?”

“Why wouldn’t I? It was one of the best days of my life, you were wearing that shirt and that one pair of jeans that makes your ass look fat-”

“aahhhHHHHHHH! you know about my butt enhancing jeans!?”

“Well, then I didn’t but I know which ones they are now.”

“Kya, you’re so embarrassing~!”

“You were the one wearing them, trying to impress me.”

“Well of course! I was on a date with an up and coming hero, who has tons of pretty heroes who could snatch you from me.”

You pouted looking away from him,

He once again pulled you onto his lap,

“No one is more beautiful than you. I want no one else.”

You looked over to the camera with a smug smile,

“Hear that? Sorry thirsty guys and gals, this man is all mine!”

“Thirsty??”

“Uh yeah, you know how many people thirst over you?”

“Do you know how many thirst over you?”

“Not as many as you, sweetie pie.”

“Whatever you say love, in that case,”

Shoto glared at the camera, shielding you with his body,

“You thirsty people cannot have her either.”

“KYAAA SHOTO-KUN HOW EMBARRASSING!!~~”

You look up at the camera the best you could, a big smile on your face,

“That’s it for today’s video! Go find other people to thirst over!! But I really hoped you enjoyed this! Comment down below if you’d like more content like this! Thanks a bunchies friends! Icy Hot 1 and 2 reporting for outro! Bye!”

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 4 years

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Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt.14

Hunk drove a very hyper Pidge home. Letting her mix flavours had been a bad idea, Pidge talking the whole drive home so fast that Lance was surprised she was managing to drink her slushies in between her words. Promising his best buddy he’d fill him in the following morning, Lance felt a little awkward as he let him and Keith into his empty house. His beloved bronco wasn’t back yet, Shiro extremely lucky Lance didn’t have his phone number to hound him about taking care of his baby girl. Hovering at the base of the stairs, both men stood their awkwardly. Lance feeling weird as he knew he needed to say something, but wasn’t sure what that something was. Playing it safe, he opted for an apology. Keith’s life had been thrown in turmoil, just like Lance’s, and the man clearly missed his brother, something Lance couldn’t make better for him. Maybe if they’d met when in college, he and Keith could have been friends. Keith’s anger clearly stemmed from trauma, his repeated fixation on thinking he’d been turned very clearly said that. Lance had the feeling is had something to do with whatever happened to Shiro’s partner, but he wasn’t in the position to pry.

“Hey. I’m sorry we dragged you out. I know I was kind of a pushy, and you can probably put that down to my people pleasing personality, but I hope some part of tonight was enjoyable. It’s no easy, or fun, being on the outside, but Hunk and Pidge are good people. I’m not just using them to blend in, it was never like that. They’re both special to me. I know we’re like strangers and it’s awkward as hell living together, but I think after tonight I like you a little more than I did. I don’t think you’re a fundamentally bad person, and I’m not going to push you to talk to me. I guess what I want to say is, that I swear on Blue I’m not in the habit of hurting people. That doesn’t mean much coming from a vampire, because honestly, most of us are huuuuuuge douche canoes. But as long as you’re under my roof, I’m going to treat you like an actual human being, and not as “Keith the hunter”. I don’t know how many times I can apologise for being what I am, but I’m too much of a coward to off myself. I thinking part of my emotional growth was stunted from being turned... and, well, yeah. I’ll let you head to bed or whatever. If you can’t sleep, help yourself to whatever. I would prefer you stay out of my office for the sake of my clients, but I know you can get in there anyway... yeah... anyway, I’m headed up to bed... I’ll see you in the morning”

Lance’s undead heart leapt when Keith opened his mouth, only to fall when Keith closed his mouth and looked away. He’d probably said too much again. He was trying so damn hard, and he wasn’t exactly sure why it even mattered. Until Shiro came back, both he and Keith were left in limbo... Lance still kind of hoped that Shiro leaving Keith with him meant the older hunter wasn’t about to come for his head in the middle of the night, and that some time apart would make it easy for Shiro to see his brother was very much the human idiot he’d always been.

“How old are you?”

Lance nearly dropped the remnants of his slushy in surprise. Strawberry hadn’t been the smartest choice. Pidge had teased him about looking like a vampire for having red around his lips, and all over his teeth. Honesty was best when dealing with people in trauma

“I’m 44. In human years”

“Okay”

That was it. The limit of Keith��s vocabulary for the night. The hunter trudging towards his room, leaving Lance to walk up the stairs to his own. Stripping down and changing for bed, Blue let out a rumbled purr as she came running into his room and leapt up onto his bed to wait for him. He really must look like the lamest vampire Keith had ever met. Just a lonely vampire and his cat, living in the middle of nowhere. It was a good thing Lance didn’t mind being lame.

Lance’s dreams were horrible. He’d woken half a dozen times unable to escape the feelings flowing through his body. His teeth hurt, cutting into his lip as he huddled against his bedhead. He felt flushed with fever, arm aching as if he’d broken it. The skin had healed over the wound, but it itched so badly Lance wanted to scratch until it bled. Shivering and sick, he’d fallen back to sleep around dawn, waking with a throat feeling as though clogged with his death soil. Blue hadn’t left him, though that might not have been her choice given the door to his bedroom was closed, instead of slightly open so Blue could come and go as she pleased.

Showering only made Lance feel worse, he couldn’t get the temperature to cooperate and nearly tore the tap handle off it’s fitting trying. He ended up feeling like soggy cardboard, all wet and useless, as he towelled off and peered in the least cracked slither of mirror left. Today was definitely a day for make up. No amount of blood was going to bring back colour into his dulled skin. Being the youngest, he’d spent many a time as his older sister Rachel’s model. Mami had beaten her arse red on more than one occasion when Rachel had tried using nail polish as eyeshadow... his sister not the most skilled person to be giving anyone a make over, but his other sister Veronica had grown out of all of that kind of thing by the time Rachel had gotten old enough to be right into all frilly girly things, leaving Lance to be her victim repeatedly. After he’d turned, all of that had stopped. Initially his Papi would gently send everyone away from him, until his Mami took him by the ear and reminded him that though different, Lance was still their baby boy. When he’d been older his Papi apologised, but he never knew how good a vampire‘s memory was, that those days still stayed with Lance no matter how many years had passed. Today was not the day to be looking like a movie extra in a budget film, his whole face felt choked as he smeared his foundation on, before giving his lips a quick coat of waterproof lipstick, though humans had never really got the recipe for that right. Continuing his morning routine, he dressed as nicely as he could shirt wise, then opted for sweats on the bottom. It wasn’t like his conference call was going to be worried about his lack of proper attire when his shirt looked professional enough.

Coming downstairs, Lance darted through to his office, teeth aching all over again as he opened a bag of blood, messily drinking down the contents like he hadn’t been fed for days. Coran had said to expect a low, but this was nearing ridiculous. He wasn’t in any fit condition to entertain Keith with half hearted fighting, let alone provide legal representation to the clients trusting him in. Spilling blood across his laptop came as the final straw, Lance sinking to the floor where he balled himself under his desk, to scared to call Coran, and too scared to sit up and human. Instead he remained hidden there until his laptop started to ring, letting him know he’d spent a good three hours wallowing rather pathetically.

Before the family court, the matter took all of 15 minutes. Lance speaking smoothly, as he bounced his left leg, hands digging into his sweats hard enough that his nails had ripped through. Things would have been different if he’d known he could jump in his car and straight up to Platt, instead of this horrible feeling like he was a prisoner in his own home. The little voice in his head mocked him for not being able to pick up his phone and call Coran, paranoid over how Keith would act if Coran came running because he couldn’t keep his shit together. He didn’t want to die. Not while his Mami still lived. He didn’t want to break her heart, or prove the rest of his siblings right. He didn’t want Coran to be hurt, not that he thought Keith had the power to take Coran down... it was just... sometimes words left a wound that even the deepest blade was left dull in comparison. Keith was lashing out, hitting that target without aiming, like being caught in a spray of bullets. Coran didn’t deserve that with all the good for Lance and those like him. For Keith’s sake, Lance needed to keep all this shit secret. The hunter had signed up for his head, not his sob story.

Leaving the office, Lance headed into the kitchen. Keith at the kitchen bench trying to figure out the coffee machine. Dropping the pod in his hands, the hunter picked it back up without saying anything, but he didn’t need to. Lance knew how weak and pathetic he was, he could see it reflected in Keith’s brilliant eyes. Wordlessly he went to the cupboard, pulling out a can of wet food for Blue, Keith taking half a step away from him as he did. It stung. The not so covert action rubbed him the wrong way, not that he’d say so out loud. Pulling the ring tab back, Lance stubbed his toe on the counter as he reached for Blue’s dish. The act bringing tears to his eyes as he finally broke. Sinking down to the floor, he was showing Keith the most shameful side of him that he humanly could.

“Do you take sugar in your coffee?”

The question hung in the air, Lance’s face hidden behind his hands as he wept.

“Lance, do you take sugar in your coffee?”

Keith had said his name. Without any malice or prompting... he didn’t understand why

“I take three usually”

Why was Keith talking to him?

“Shiro says it too many, but I like three. You seem more like a one person”

“A one person”. Keith, who didn’t even think of him as human, was there in his kitchen calling him a person

“Am I really so useless that you’re wasting time on me?”

Lance regretted the harsh tone in his words. Wiping at his teary eyes, he looked up at the hunter to find him looking down on him

“Well you’re practically an animal, but... I think maybe I don’t hate you as much as I should”

Laughter bubbled up, Lance not blaming Keith for stepping back as his tears turned to laughter

“You can go fuck yourself if you’re going to be like that”

Lance’s laughter sobered, the vampire sniffling loudly. Okay. Keith was acting “Keithy” again, he could understand that

“One. Two if Pidge and Hunk are here”

Keith took a moment before a silent “oh” of realisation formed on his lips, turning back to the coffee machine as he tried to fit the pod in properly

“I... I have nightmares too”

Lance cringed. Asleep he hadn’t been able to consciously hold back. Keith had probably heard him screaming the house down, now taking pity on his undead arse

“I heard you calling for someone... friends or something. You we’re really fucking loud”

“I’m sorry”

“Who were they?”

“People who don’t matter”

They didn’t matter but that didn’t mean they weren’t always on his mind

“Nyma and Rolo?”

Lance shuddered at their names. They’d parted so long ago that it didn’t feel fair he should be forced to remember them

“People you don’t want to meet”

“I gathered from your screams. Are they the ones who turned you? Or were they friends?”

“I don’t want to talk about it”

“You say vampires never forget, does that mean you remember what happened with them?”

Lance shook his head quickly

“I don’t want to talk about it”

“So they sired you?”

Lance put his hands over his ears

“Shut up”

“If they did...”

“Shut up! Just shut the fuck up!”

Screaming in anger, Lance hated Keith in that moment for pushing. Nyma and Rolo had been his friends. The keyword being “had”. He was allowed to have things he didn’t want to talk about. Those two were in his past, not is future. Letting his head dropped back, it smacked against the cupboard without enough force to be satisfying. He wanted to hurt. He wanted to break something. He wanted to tear himself out of his own skin. Nudged with Keith’s foot, he shot a look of rage up at Keith, the hunter holding out a cup of coffee

“Drink this. Shiro said he won’t be back for a while, but he was sending someone out to watch over you until he could be”

“I don’t need watching over”

Taking the coffee cup, the handle snapped before Keith had let go completely. Pulling the mug back, the hunter cut his hand on the protruding porcelain at the bottom. Hit by the smell of Keith’s blood, Lance felt all his senses come alive with the need to feed. Both their eyes widened as they met, both in fear over the situation. Keith feared Lance was about to maul him, as Lance feared how good Keith’s blood smelt.

Lance did the only thing he could do. He ran. Keith left staring as he bolted from the kitchen, his hand snapping through the bottom of the staircase railing as the grabbed it to use his momentum to get up his stairs just that little bit faster, tripping in his rush, but pushing himself on faster in the same heartbeat. Reaching his room, he slammed the door behind him, dragging his dresser over to barricade himself in. He hadn’t needed his phone in the office, so left it up on its charge station. Snatching up the device, he copped a glance of his reflection, disgusted at the sight of himself. His hands shook as he unlocked the device, calling the only number he could, Coran. With first ring, he found he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t run to Coran for help. He couldn’t tell him there was something still wrong with him. His phone thrown in disgust where the force shattered the device on impact, and dented the floorboard it’d hit. He didn’t know what to do, but he did know he was a mistake.

#once bitten twice stupid #ashratherose

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elfiesink · 5 years

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Test Chapter: Teach Them Fear

Reader’s had a hard life but doesn’t exactly strike an imposing figure. Ashe is going to teach them how to put the fear of god into a man.

A Test chapter, tell me what you think. If you like it it’ll go up on ao3 and I’ll continue it.

You spent a lot of time with mud caked somewhere on you. In your hair. Under your nails. Soaking into your skin. As much as you wanted to be mud-free at all times it wasn’t practical. The world was a dirty, filthy place and that often left you stuck coated with earth and grease. It sucked. It sucked but you couldn’t change it so you didn’t bother. You didn’t have the time or energy to dedicate to getting upset over another shitty thing about this world that you couldn’t fix. You just had to keep going. Had to move forward.

The rain made this easier though. The air was clogged with fog so thick you could barely see the filth covering you let alone another human being. Which meant they also couldn’t see you. Couldn’t see you crouching near a chain link fence with a pair of wirecutters. Couldn’t see you snapping open a hole just big enough for you to crawl through. You got more mud smeared into your clothes but you didn’t care at this point. What was more dirt. What was more sin. You were what you were and there was no amount of soap and water capable of changing that.

And that was fine. It really was.

You had been watching this place for a while. A warehouse owned by a group of people even worse than you were. Rotten creatures. There were none of them outside but that was little surprise. Heaven forbid they get tough enough to stand a little sky water. It might make their beards soggy or worse, get into their socks. You could really feel for them. You would leave a blanket for them if you had one. But you wouldn’t have shit unless you could get out of here alive.

The warehouse seemed quiet. You pressed your ear against the cold metal door and heard nothing. Looked under the door and could see no shifting of shadows in the dim light. You jiggled the handle and when it didn’t open you got to work with your locksmithing tools. Stolen, like everything else. But it was a real teach a man to fish situation. You could’ve sold them and bought yourself a couple of sandwiches but wasn’t it a far better idea to pay for the ability to open a dozen other scores. How many shady motel rooms had you managed to settle in because you’d picked locks just like this one? You were in with a little patience and a twist of your wrist.

It was quiet. There hadn’t been many guards in all the nights you’d spent watching this place, but there was literally no one here tonight. It was dead silent. A horrible decision for a storage building but hey, you didn’t know anything about running a business. You only knew about security measures to get around them. And even then your best bets were places like this. Too cheap and unappealing for anyone but you to rob. Items were arranged haphazardly on shitty rusted shelves. Hell. Items were propping up the shitty rusted shelves. Wet and molded boxes bulging at the sides from the stress of holding it all up. The lights were dim when they worked, the bulbs covered in dead insects and grease. Most of them didn’t work. Most of them were dark, most of them were busted. They didn’t seem to care about fixing broken lightbulbs. Or fixing the leaking hole in the roof. Or fixing the cracks in the concrete floor, warning signs of a failing foundation. Or fixing anything at all.

Worked for you. Left them wide open for you to take whatever it was that you wanted. You headed for the cleanest shelves first. Boxes of computer parts and other electronics. Most of it too heavy to be worth your while but a few boxes of high-end phones made their way into your bag. You could sell those at a couple of pawn-shops. Maybe even a game store if it was late enough at night and the manager didn’t care. There were omnic parts and you could get a good dollar if you could get those to the right person but they were huge and your only vehicle was you. A shame. A real shame. Transportation was going to have to be your next buy. Or steal. If you could get something that wasn’t chipped or locked down. Maybe you would take a look in the parking lot when you were done. If they didn’t care for their goods maybe they wouldn’t care for their cares either. You’d never hotwired before but, there was a first time for everything.

You’d managed to scavenge quite a few useful things from the shelves. A gun and ammo. Talk about one hell of a score. Weapons were expensive and most people kept them under watch. It was careless to leave them in the middle of a shelf like they were just as important as some old engine parts. Not that it was the best gun, and not that you knew it worked for sure. But you could get it fixed if it didn’t. It was having it that was important. Holding it in your hand made you feel safer than you’d felt in weeks. You could get away with a whole lot more now. A car part could buy you a sandwich. A gun could get you the car.

It took you too long to hear the sounds of fighting. Thuds, crashing, and a loud echoing gunshot. You panicked and tried to load the gun while you scrambled for the exit. You were careless and someone must have heard-

There was a rifle barrel against the side of your face. It was not cold. They were always described as cold, weren’t they? Cold, hard metal. But that was assuming they hadn’t just been fired. Like the gun had just been sitting around waiting just for you. This barrel was warm. So you wouldn’t be the first person they shot tonight. And definitely not the first person they’ve shot, ever. Even if you finished loading the gun and tried to turn it on them you would be way too slow. All you could do is slowly turn to stare at the woman pointing the gun at you. You weren’t expecting the snow white hair, pristine and perfectly styled. Or the bright, piercing red eyes. You were expecting the smug smile though. She did get the drop on you after all. Not that it was very hard. You weren’t paying attention. You weren’t listening. You got ahead of yourself and let yourself get way too into picking stuff up like you were at the fucking grocery store. This is what happened when you fucked up. There were consequences and this time, the consequences were very attractive. Just your luck.

“You alone?”

“Yes.”

“How’d ya get in?”

“Lockpicks.”

“You’re quiet.”

You were? Maybe. But not quiet enough. She noticed you, and she noticed you while she was busy shooting up whoever just died. It was frustrating and disappointing but you didn’t have time to dwell on any of that. The woman slowly lowered her rifle and reached out to grip your jaw, lifting your head up.

“Want to stop bein’ alone?”

“What.”

She let go and stepped back, motioning to the people filing in behind her. Some human, some omnic, all wearing the same leather vest. So they were, organized. Very organized. But that meant they knew what they were doing. Why would they want some dirt covered fuck off the street, so to speak. All she knew about you was that you were in desperate need of a bath and that you couldn’t load a gun very quickly. But she just smiled, and leaned towards you, and prodded you in the chest with her rifle.

“You look like you could use a family. And what do you know, we have space we’re lookin’ to fill. The guys here were jokes but if you could prey on them well. What could you do with a little help?” She lowered the rifle and offered her hand.

And it was weird. It was suspicious. You were literally no one with nothing. But you were, no one. With nothing. And you were so, so fucking tired. You were tired of being covered in mud, tired of sleeping in the dirt, tired of watching your shoulder. How much worse could your life get? How could this possibly go wrong in any way that mattered. Yeah, maybe you got shot. But if maybe you’d sleep in a bed first. Maybe you would get arrested. What a surprise. What a shock. You, getting arrested. Who would have guessed. When you were at rock bottom even the sharp glass-covered boulder looked like it was a step up. You had nothing to lose. So you shook her hand.

“Good. Name’s Ashe. Welcome to the Deadlock Gang.”

“Wait like. The Deadlock Gang?” The ones that got so big it forced Overwatch to come after them and that still didn’t help? They got smacked on the wrist at worse and that definitely wasn’t because Overwatch didn’t try to fuck them up. Ashe smiled, tossed an arm over your shoulder, and guided you out of the warehouse with a laugh.

“Yeah. The Deadlock Gang. Our, family.”

Family huh? That was an interesting way to put it. You didn’t know if you would feel the same way about a group of strangers who technically recruited you at gunpoint, but at least she seemed friendly. They all did, laughing as they piled onto a truck, setting you in the middle of the group, drinks tossed around in between wads of cash. You smiled hesitantly. You could give family a try.

#Ashe x Reader #gender neutral reader #test chapter

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straykatfish · 4 years

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Aerial perspective has nothing to do with dangling from a hang glider to make sketches. It’s about how tone and saturation bleed away with distance. Take a look at Turner’s Woman with a Tambourine (1840-50) – everything, including definition, loses substance and becomes less tangible as it retreats into the far distance.

Image from Bridgeman Education. Accessed 25 May 2020.

This exercise is aimed at developing that skill, using tone, saturation, and definition to indicate distance rather than, as in the previous exercise, explicit lines.

I had picked up a piece of wood while out exploring nooks and crannies in my garden that, until recently, only the wildlife knew about. It’s wonderfully plank-shaped with whatever aspect ratio a plank generally has, and after I’d cleaned it up a bit and removed a couple of lethal-looking screws, it revealed some interesting lines and shapes.

My brain made a deserted beach of it. Rocks on the edge of the water, the coastline fading away up towards the left with low hills or dunes building into that corner. The whole image is sepia and the sky a kind of burnt orange.

So, having not-so-subtly established a cognitive bias for the result so far:

I had no idea how acrylics and this untreated wood would behave but I assumed it would be very absorbent and that washes would sink into it, leaving only a hint of colour so I used this by building layers of wash to lighten, saturate, de-saturate, darken, and illuminate various areas as the developing image seemed to require. I used Payne’s Grey, Naples Yellow, titanium white, and burnt sienna.

While the result feels a little end-of-the-pier and in reality it is something of a cheap shot, taking less than an hour to produce, I’m actually quite pleased at how this seascape has rendered itself. I can even see a fairly convincing and completely unintentional wave. Totally fictitious and born of a plank. #PlankArt.

For something a little less populist, I thought I’d try my hand at the painting I’ve been calling Men in Hats, which is actually by Caspar David Freidrich who calls it Evening Landscape with Two Men (1830-1835). I’ve seen it before in passing but this time found it in a book I’m intending to review by Norbert Wolf (2107), a lovely little condensed trot through western landscape painting from Dieric Bouts the Elder’s 1465 St Christopher to David Hockney’s 1980 Nichols Canyon. My aim is to use the structure which nicely illustrates aerial perspective, but to interpret it so that it is less copy than ‘after’.

I had intended to subvert the original by using a different support and chose Duck Cotton because I had thought Bouts’s was on panel. It isn’t, it’s on canvas. I do like the challenge of a support like this though; it makes me use paint differently and that’s always interesting. I have prepared with transparent gesso a piece of support of non-standard dimensions but which fits just inside the edges of the A1 mount board to which it is stapled. It has folds and wrinkles in it so I may need to iron it when it’s dry. In the meantime I’ll make some sketches of the original, which is tiny at 10 x 12 1/4″. Scaling up will be another challenge.

Looking at the painting from images on screen, I can see a lot more detail in the dark foreground than is evident in the book. This makes the painting even more interesting – the men seem to be at the end of a footpath, or maybe it’s just exposed rock, at a high elevation with no sign of civilisation in the landscape stretching out beneath and beyond them. Who are they and what are they doing there? How far did they walk to reach that point? And what are those hats about? They add drama to the men’s silhouettes for sure; the whole composition would be a lesser thing entirely, in my view, without those horizontals sitting like the tops of two capital Ts. Wolf describes the painting as romantic and sentimental which is about as far from my interpretation as it’s possible to get, that being closer to an alien landscape than something cuddly and heart string pulling. Maybe this is my way in.

Today I’ve been making a few very quick sketches to see what I could pull out of the shapes in the original painting. the T shape interests me but didn’t really amount to much in a landscape which is what this exercise is primarily about. The first is, predictably, quite tight but by the second the flat tops and triangular necks (collars, I think) became more of a unit and the cloaks less defined.

Here on the left, I tried making them much smaller, almost symbolic, but then got distracted by the only topic of the day, COVID, and turned them into miscellaneous keyworkers before going back to the T idea.

On the left, making a less pronounced T, then giving it a kind of viral wrap led to bottles of hand sanitisers and on the right, there they are surrounded by dead virus that had been scrubby foliage in the original) with a landscape full of live virus in the air as well as on the ground symbolising the huge job still to be done to eradicate this disease.

My intention in the painting is not to make these bottles the main feature by giving them shape and labels beyond the silhouette, nor to make the virus explicit either, rather to use the shapes to glue the landscape together in a way that makes a more subtle statement. These may be famous last words but for better for worse, that painting will end up here!

I ironed it in situ, it being stapled to the card. Fortunately for me, the crease falls at the exact point I want one of the key horizontals. I wonder if wetting it first then stapling it (with more staples) would solve the problem. Not too wet, obviously, or that would make the card soggy and ineffective.

This is a foundation wash, a ‘dirty’ mix of titanium white, payne’s grey, and burnt sienna, with rather more of the grey towards the bottom. Already, I like the roughness of this and the way some of the colour disappears into the support.

This feels like progress. I need to add some light to the horizon, tone down but also define the mid ground, and add dark detail to the foreground. The mushroom cloud top right is where I forgot where my margins were, not a further commentary on the trouble we’re in. At least I hope not.

A few more wash layers, highlights subsequently muted, and some detail in the foreground using payne’s grey and alizarin crimson placed where the foliage is in the original but which I’m going to subtly re-cast as the corona virus. In the imaging material we see of this virus, it’s always ridiculously and disarmingly beautiful. Do I go down that route or give it what it deserves, something dull and insignificant as we all hope it will be in due course?

Meanwhile, I wonder if I’ve met the requirements of the task which is to portray aerial perspective using reduced focus, colour saturation, and temperature?Maybe not quite yet – some muting towards the horizon wouldn’t go amiss. But I think focus, saturation and temperature do indicate distance, especially with the sharpening up of the outlines around the bottles. I’ve also made a hard outline around the prominence(?) the two men in the original are standing on where Bouts has foliage to reflect more the 21st than the 19th century. I think that actually gives it a slightly surreal appearance and harks back to one of my earlier ideas of an alien landscape.

Not sure about the foliage in the foreground. I’d used titanium white to make marks I could wash with various muted colours to reflect the image of the virus, moving from its actual shape through small flowers to tumbleweed, which could reflect its eventual irrelevance but might be a commentary on how quickly some seem to have forgotten it lethal nature. It looks a bit cartoon-ish at the moment so I need to slap some pigment on down there to mute the white. The rest I’m leaving alone – thin wash moving to heavier pigment top to bottom.

Unless I’ve uploaded an older photo, this still needs some muting. Details though, I quite like these details:

I’ve had to mute so much that I may have lost the foreground detail. I won’t use white next time, also I’ll iron the canvas before I start so there isn’t a crease in the middle. The one on the left though is helpfully describing linear perspective along with the line beneath it. Done, I think. Again, the feel of canvas and the behaviour of paint on its surface gives rise to a very different way of approaching a painting. This time I’ve used washes much more and avoided my usual blocky style. That feels useful. I’ve also, I believe, made a copy of an existing work my own by bending it to current circumstances.

Wolf, N. 2017. Landscape Painting. Taschen Basic Art Series 2.0. Evening Landscape with Two Men is described and illustrated on pp 60-61.

Post script: my Men in Hats turns out to be a group called Men Without Hats whose claim to fame is a track called The Safety Dance, and if ever we needed that … It’s on YouTube here.

Part 4, project 2, exercise 2 – aerial perspective Aerial perspective has nothing to do with dangling from a hang glider to make sketches. It's about how tone and saturation bleed away with distance.

#aerial perspective #Caspar David Freidrich #evening landscape with two men #exercise 2 #Part 4 #project 2

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kristablogs · 4 years

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What you need to know when hiking with kids

If you can show your kids how to love and care for nature, all that extra prepping will be more than worth it. (Greg Rosenke / Unsplash/)

Hiking with kids can be tough. They get worn out, throw tantrums, feel bored, and discover poison ivy with unparalleled dexterity. They require constant supervision. But they also develop new skills, satisfy their endless curiosity, and experience independence when they spend time outdoors. For many, that’s more than reason enough to hit the trails with young ones.

But heading into the wild with children requires a bit more planning and preparation than setting off on your own. Don’t let that deter you. This season, follow these guidelines to start a hiking ritual that the whole family can enjoy.

Suit up

This may not come as a surprise, but the best way to prepare for hiking with kids is to make sure everyone has the right clothing and gear. “Set them up for success,” says Amelia Mayer, mother of five and founder of outdoor parenting blog Tales of a Mountain Mama. And success starts with a solid foundation: sturdy, closed-toed shoes. Children especially should have shoes that fit well, are comfortable, and will protect their toes from rocks and stings. Bonus points if they’re also waterproof so your kiddos can stomp in puddles or shallow creeks without fear of soggy socks. Skimp on this vital piece of footwear and you’ll pay for it when you start hearing complaints about blisters or sore feet before you even get to the trailhead.

Beyond boots, dress your kids in layers—just as you would yourself—so you can adjust for changing temperatures and conditions. Synthetic fabrics are usually the best as they dry quickly, which means they won’t stay wet for long if you happen upon a lake or stream and the kids want to play in the water. And don’t forget the accessories: hats, sunglasses, and scarves all protect sensitive skin from the elements.

Your comfort matters, too. If you’ll be using slings or child carriers on your hikes, test them out and break them in around the house before you head outdoors. That way you’ll be able to adjust your gear beforehand to ensure it’s comfortable and so your little ones will have an opportunity to get used to it.

Be prepared

When it’s time to pack up, you’ll need to make sure backpacks are stocked and you and the children are prepared for a day (or at least a few hours) outdoors. “Snacks. Snacks are key,” Mayer says. In fact, she recommends special treats that your kids only get when they’re hiking, which makes the activity something they’ll look forward to.

It’s just as important to make sure everyone has plenty of water and is sipping regularly. Check in once in a while to ask when was the last time they took a big gulp. Bring along survival tools like emergency whistles, plus sunscreen and bug repellent, too. And if there’s a real little one in your crew, let them bring their favorite stuffed animal if it makes them feel better about getting outside to hike. Even better, if your children are older than three, Mayer recommends getting them their own small backpack so they can carry their own snacks and supplies, which creates a sense of ownership and pride.

Have a destination in mind

Choosing an interesting destination will get your kids excited. You might even have to keep up with them. ( Greg Rosenke / Unsplash/)

Like many adults, children are often goal-oriented, meaning they like to have a mission or a destination before they start out on a trek. Simply pointing out a lake or a viewpoint on a map can give them an incentive to keep going when they start to feel tired and a sense of accomplishment when they arrive. Plan to have lunch or a snack there, too, so the kids can rest and recharge before starting the hike out.

Lakes aren’t your kid’s thing? Tailor your hikes to what they’re interested in. “One of the biggest things is knowing what kids like,” says Linda Veress, a spokesperson for Yellowstone National Park. If they like waterfalls, geothermal activity, or rocks, look for trails that involve those elements. They’ll be more likely to get excited about an excursion if they know there’s something they’re interested in up ahead. Just make sure to leave everything as it was when you arrived, a good Leave No Trace principle.

Keep them safe

Once you get outside, safety should be your main priority. That starts with packing a well-stocked first aid kit, even for short day hikes. Scraped knees and bumped heads can happen anywhere and can cut a trip short if you don’t have the tools to manage them. Bandages, children’s ibuprofen, and bite and sting relief are just a few things you should always keep on hand.

It’s also important to keep an extra-close eye on children when near potentially dangerous natural features such as cliffs, lakes, waterfalls, and active geothermal areas like those in Yellowstone. Make sure kids know to stay close to you and on the trail at all times.

Ensure they know how to react to wildlife, too. Last year at Yellowstone, a 9-year-old girl was one of many who crept too close to a bison near Old Faithful. When the animal got irritated, it charged, made contact with the girl, and threw her in the air. Terrifying situations like these are why Veress insists that everyone, especially children, should stay at least 25 yards away from animals like bison, elk, and deer and 100 yards away from bears and wolves. You should also teach kids not to yell or throw things at wildlife, but to treat them with respect, maintain a safe distance, and never feed wild animals, including birds and squirrels. And when in territories where bears, moose, mountain lions or other predatory creatures live, keep children within arms reach.

Be ready to improvise

If the little ones start getting antsy before you reach your goal, don’t panic. “It’s OK to stop and reevaluate or distract,” Mayer says. Take a few minutes to explore a cave, build a dam, follow some tracks—whatever interests your child and re-energizes them for the hike. Carry on when they’re ready, but know that sometimes plans will have to change. Occasionally, hikes are too hard, too long, or kids are just too tired. It’s alright to call it a day and head back to the car.

That said, keep your child’s abilities in mind when considering a trail. Know what they are capable of and plan accordingly. It’s difficult for kids to enjoy time outdoors if the trail is too hard. “Tailor the right hike to the right kid,” Veress says.

Make it a learning experience

Give your kids the time to enjoy the challenges of the trail. (Simon Rae / Unsplash/)

Some kids may need more than snacks and the promise of playtime in a cool stream to keep them entertained on the trail. In that case, Veress recommends fostering a sense of learning and adventure. Bring pocketed vests to stuff with little treasures like fallen leaves (but make sure to leave behind larger items for other kids to discover), magnifying glasses, their own snacks, or discovery kits that will help them identify insects or plants. Buy or print out nature bingo sheets and play as you hike, looking for animal tracks, types of trees, or colorful flowers.

And don’t be afraid to slow down to let children explore. “Let them stop and examine that bug, climb that stump, and let their imaginations run wild. They live in a different world than adults and it's wondrous to be able to share it with them,” Veress says. “Sometimes adults get too focused on getting from point A to point B and lose focus on the journey.”

National parks make learning outdoors easy with age-appropriate activity books available in visitor centers, many of which offer an opportunity to learn about the park while earning a junior ranger badge, an extra incentive for hitting the trail. “It gives them a purpose,” Veress says. National parks, as well as many state parks, also offer ranger programs with hands-on education so kids and adults can learn about everything from rock formations to native wildlife. So if you’re visiting, check the program schedule in advance or at a visitor center and schedule your outings around guided hikes or programs.

Create incentives

We mentioned how setting goals can encourage kids to forge ahead, but sometimes you’ve got to get a little more basic. Sometimes that means bribing young children with Skittles during a long hike like Veress did when her kids were young. And sometimes that means promising a treat after the hike is over. Mayer recommends rewarding intrepid explorers with ice cream or a fun post-hike activity like swimming so they have one more reason to keep a positive attitude and shoot for the finish line. “I’m not above bribing,” Mayer says. “Sometimes kids need a little incentive.”

Hiking with other families or letting your kids invite a friend along is also a great idea, Mayer says, especially if your family is new to outdoor activities. The presence of other kids can create positive peer pressure that encourages children to keep pushing forward and challenging one another.

Get outside

“Kids need the challenge of the outdoors,” Mayer says. Time outside provides an active environment for learning where kids can experience self-confidence and self-awareness while they’re introduced to new challenges. But it’s often easier said than done. “We believe parenting outside is easier, but it can seem hard at first to get out the door,” Mayer says.

It may take time to make it the new normal, so start small. Even 15 minutes outside makes a difference. Going hiking early in your child’s life will cue them in that hiking is simply what you do as a family, but if it’s too late for that, focus on making each outing a family experience—something the whole clan does together. Stay positive and encouraging, and even if they fight you the first few times, stick with it and you’ll be a family that hikes together on the regular.

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scootoaster · 4 years

Text

What you need to know when hiking with kids

If you can show your kids how to love and care for nature, all that extra prepping will be more than worth it. (Greg Rosenke / Unsplash/)

Suit up

Be prepared

Have a destination in mind

Choosing an interesting destination will get your kids excited. You might even have to keep up with them. ( Greg Rosenke / Unsplash/)

Keep them safe

Be ready to improvise

Make it a learning experience

Give your kids the time to enjoy the challenges of the trail. (Simon Rae / Unsplash/)

Create incentives

Get outside

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