#if i do make them a character they’ll get a bug tattoo as well. they won’t be part of the EEG tho. they’ll be a background character

[verdemoth]

Perseverance! Rookie member of the EEG’s field research team. She’s a nerd-jock newbie who wants her idols to like her sooooooooooo bad.

-> Biology major with a particular interest in ecology! And bugs she likes bugs. And really all sorts of fun crawly invertebrates.

-> Perse is no stranger to the EEG headquarters, she’d been coming here for years before her official admission to the team! With two older relatives to shadow, she got to know a lot of the older members during her frequent visits. She greatly admires all of them.

-> She maintains some terrariums to raise and study copepods and amphipods. As well as several potted plants.

-> Perse has the same level of passion discussing a new and as of yet undocumented species as she does showing off the cute little house moth that almost gave Maven a heart attack.

-> She’s a hobbyist photographer with a Leica 1(A) 35mm. She’s into wildlife photography, and though her work isn’t very technically impressive, you don’t need to be an ace at something to have fun with it!

-> Perseverance maintains that she is NOT a nerd like her cousin, Maven, is a nerd.

-> She’s very athletic and energetic. She enjoys a daily jog, and plenty of exercise both indoors and outdoors. She loves going on hiking or full on camping trips with her uncle Phoenix.

-> She and Phoenix are very close. They’ve got a really easygoing and playful dynamic, with plenty of in-jokes built up between them. Phoenix was a constant in her early life, almost a third parent. He’d often visit to play with her and to babysit so her dads could enjoy a free evening every so often. He still dotes on her as much as Perse will let him get away with, but he respects that she values having a more adult relationship now. Still with plenty of fun, of course!

-> Perse and Maven weren’t really around each other as young kids, but became friends as they got a little older. Maven’s scientific leanings led to Perse finding and developing her own passion for study and exploration. Maven and the rest of her family have been nothing but supportive and nurturing, and she’s grateful for it. But she wants to make sure they know she’s not just a little girl anymore, and she’s ready to be the one offering support when needed.

-> She’s more than willing to get her hands dirty and to do ‘boring’, menial work. Especially if it means the people she looks up to see how diligent and cooperative she is :)

-> Perse is very needlessly competitive, though in a lighthearted sort of way. She doesn’t mind taking a loss, because it’s more about the challenge than the winning. It’s about the thrill. But don’t expect her to go easy on a challenger, because she still plays to win. Game night is a disaster

#image #alt text #my art #my characters #char: perseverance #set: eeg #flight rising #flight rising art #named after the Perseverence rover!! #she technically started this because i hatched her FR version to commemorate the rover’s landing #though Tune is the one who prompted me to generate a story #Perse’s tattoos are inspired by the ‘family portrait’ engraved on the real rover!! #also. Perse might have a sibling since there’s a twin rover to Perseverance named uhh Optimism i think? #if i do make them a character they’ll get a bug tattoo as well. they won’t be part of the EEG tho. they’ll be a background character #which is fitting bc the Optimism rover is for testing purposes and stays on earth #not a Spirit/Opportunity situation

[jeanmoreaux]

I liked season 2 of Shadow and Bone, it was entertaining and I made sure to remind myself to separate it from the books. That being said, I felt that some scenes lost their weight due to them being rushed (Kaz vs Pekka, Kaz fighting the Dregs), and I felt that the flashback scene of Kaz on the Reapers Barge was not impactful enough. They couldn’t have had the actor push a couple of dead limbs off himself or turn his head and come face to face with a corpse instead of just touching one body? That would be more impactful AND would save the horror and logistics of the “using Jordie as a life raft” scene.

I don’t generally like how the show has handled Inej’s story. Even in the first season they barely showed her fear of the Menagerie and Heleen, just her rage and anger. From the TV show/story telling perspective, I understand why they killed Heleen, it makes Kaz and Inej’s goals aligned. HOWEVER I wish Inej had gotten revenge on Heleen or we could have seen her get the tattoo cut off rather than tailored away and leaving a faint scar/feather outline to show just how much she wanted to be rid of it. I’ve seen tweets about the Inej episode they have written for the spin-off, written by an Indian woman, which does have me holding out hope they’ll give the story and Amita the space they deserve.

I also hated how they softened Zoya. I know that it’s possible to write a character who is mean and also likeable and they failed to do that. They also barely had her in the season.

My other complaint is that the season was very busy but when you have like 10+ main characters it can get to be a lot. Which sucks because I loved all the performances and the acting was great but I just could not CARE about Alina/Mal/the Darkling. Episode 7 which was mostly about them felt so long because I just didn’t care as much. The crows are more interesting, even my sister who’s never read the books agrees that the crows stories are more interesting. To quote her “enough with the war and Ben Barnes! Go back to the thieves!”

I very much want a Six of Crows spin-off, I don’t care much for a Season 3 (unless that’s all we’ll get) and I don’t mind they took some scenes from the books and made them fit with the context of the show. I think that it will make for a nice parallel between the Kanej graveyard/wound cleaning scene versus a possible similar Crooked Kingdom bathroom scene in a spin-off. I like the changes made because it made sure I wasn’t alway two steps ahead of what was happening and was able to be pleasantly surprised.

gosh, i am so on board with the things you're saying! your citicism is SO valid, and all these things bug me too!!! thank you so much for sharing btw—loved to read your thoughts. i am glad you were entertained by the season as a whole. i was, too; up-until ep4 when it just kind of fell apart for me (mostly as a season of television but also as an adaptation). but even after ep4, i tried to separate the books from the tv show in my mind, and that worked rather well until the last two episodes tbh. it's just.....the last-minute changes they made are so in conflict with what tgt is about and felt very out of left field, so that it was almost to jarring of a change. ((does that make sense??? i feel like if they'd committed to the changes earlier in the season i would have had an easier time not comparing it to tgt...)). and ngl the final made me more critical and re-evalute the earlier episodes in season (mainly because, for me, they miserably failed to build up to the 'twists' in a satisfying way). you're so right about the acting and the crows as well. ((lmao your sister is so real for that comment 😂 give her my love.)) and same, i am much more interested in a soc spin-off than a third season. the direction they seem to be going with the tgt storyline simply doesn't interest me all that much. still, for the casts sake, i hope they're renewed. i haven't read any info on the planned spin-off but they kind of teased the soc storyline at the end so does that mean the spin-off won't cover the ice court plot? and i am so happy to hear they'll (hopefully) dedicate more time to inej and her story in the spin-off. it's what my girl deserves!!! ((wish they would have focused more on her as an individual in sab too, tho...)). whether they only get a third season or a spin-off, i am interested to see what they do from here on out with the crows. frankly, i don't trust that it will be good ((mainly bc i trusted them with sab and look how that turned out lol)) but i am more than ready to be pleasantly surprised!

#hope you're having a wonderful day and a lovely weekend <3 #and thanks again for the ask! #it was a treat to read it! #answer #s&b2 #mish watches sab

[sebille]

uh so my thought on cyberpunk, basically:  Story wise it’s pretty good. There’s plenty of room for a post ending DLC, which is VERY good in my opinion, since the ending felt a bit lackluster to me. The story is nothing ground breaking, but it’s fun and worth experiencing. The characters in the game is what makes experiencing the story go from being a decent experience to being something extremely enjoyable. The side missions were a lot of fun as well. I was happy to see that they included Johnny in most side missions, and not just have him show up in the main quests. V is an amazing main character!!!!! I love them so much. The character creator needs better lighting though, and I wish we’d get customization in the actual world, like tattoo parlors, plastic surgery, piercers, barbers, and HONESTLY? Transmogification. (What’s the point of being a badass merc if you ain’t cute?? Let us CUSTOMIZE OUR CLOTHES!!  It would be SO COOL!! ) I do however wish that we’d get some more romance options, and that the romances had been a bit..more, in general. It felt like once you agreed to be in a relationship with your LI the romances were over, which is an odd choice. ( Give me Takemura/claire/Viktor/Meredith or give me DEATH is what my heart is screaming though. )  I love the look of the game. The aesthetics are ON POINT. Night city truly feels like a futuristic hell hole, and i’m all for it. The map is huge but it feels like there’s a reason for it to be so big. ( I hope that they’ll add some more stuff to the north of the city, though. DLC DLC DLC?? )  If you’re able to play the game with RTX on, i’m so happy for you, because it’s out of this world. I will say that there are many things that we were promised that they didn’t deliver on, like smart AI. NPCs walking around the city feel stupid and more like clutter than people, and the Police/wanted system in the game’s basically not there. It kinda feels like the AI’s functions have all been turned off all together.  Combat is fun, but it also suffers from the AI being absolutely stupid. Some things about it are broken/not very rewarding at all, which is a shame. I played on casual to push the story but with the AI being so stupid I felt no reason to turn the difficulty up, because they’d still be stupid, only with more health.  Bug wise I’ve been extremely lucky. I’ve had some visual bugs, like characters T-posing, things not showing up and things hovering weird. Dialogue has also been a bit weird sometimes, like the audio not playing, or phone calls sounding weird, etc. I also feel that with my beast of a computer with the 3070 graphics card/screen with V-sync I should be getting more than 50 FPS when i’m in the city, but I don’t know if that should be considered a bug.   I’m not gonna give it a rating bc I know nothing about that stuff. This is just me sharing my thoughts on the game since ppl have asked. TL;DR Good game at its core, great story, should allow more customization, need more content w/ side characters, looks good, combat fun, AI stupid af, kinda buggy but not game breaking.  PS. Be nice to the devs, they’re people too. You not liking a fucking video game doesn’t give you the right to show off your shitty personality to them. 

#Agnes plays cp2077 #cyberpunk spoilers #cyberpunk 2077 spoilers #cp2077 spoilers #long post #I GUESS #This is basically me just brain farting for myself

[jawllines]

"Its a bit dark I suppose," she admitted, waving her hand around lamely, "And the ceiling lights are more ominous than comforting at night and it feels more like an evil lair than a cozy bookstore."

His smile only grows bigger, "See? M'not an all gloomy, knife on the wall, grunge monster -- got me soft gooey spots too. Have a few art pieces I think you might like t--"

"Oi, don't get too big for your britches, I don't need an interior designer." She nips him off but he doesn't take any hurt from her words, only getting closer to her and raising the chair, moving it over a good chunk before setting it back down and holding onto it, nodding towards the chair and her face twists in confusion, "What?"

"Get on the seat then," he pats on it, "If you won't use me for my wonderful vision yet, then you can use me for my chair steadying hands."

Y/N's heart warms some, "Yet?" She repeats, plucking another nail out of the box and taking hold of the hammer again.

Harry shrugs, "Got hope you'll come to your senses."

or

Y/N has a bookstore and Harry owns the shop next door

i.

Y/N's had it.

Absolutely had it!

When everyone told Y/N she shouldn't open up a bookstore beside a tattoo parlor, she let their worries float in through one ear and right out the other. She'd figured that they were just worried she was looking into opening up a business and the part of town she was on could be a bit shoddy at sundown, but the rent out for space was cheaper than anywhere else and it was right across from a bakery and café! Who didn't want to go to a bookstore after a nice cupcake and a half decent latte, to pretend they knew the first thing about Ernest Hemmingway in front of their smart friends and ultimately leave with a book that'll sit on their shelf for a total of five hours (they'll come back eventually, asking for a refund, and she could persuade them with a book more suited to them -- it's happened more times than she could count, honestly)? It was the perfect place to start out small, then escalate bigger and bigger. She had total faith in it!

But how was she supposed to do that when there was metal playing top volume at 9AM in the fucking morning?

There was always smoke clouding the outside of her shop, ashes in her flowerbeds, and men with piercings and tattoos all over their faces looming around. It wards people away like bug repellent. . .the days that the parlor is open are the days business can be ridiculously slow, yet the days that they're closed -- well, the door’s bell is chiming so often she questions whether or not she should take it down for her ears sake. It's those days that keep her running both moneywise and physically since she's running it primarily herself. It's those days that let her know that its the gremlins next door that keep people from even trying to come over.

Y/N loved books. She loved the intricate stories, interwoven plot lines, and unique writing styles. She loved being so enveloped within a universe that she's been reading for hours and it's felt like a blip of thirty minutes,  not wanting it to ever end, and endlessly searching to see if there was a sequel (or if there was going to be one). Falling in love with the characters, hating others, rooting for none of them and all of them simultaneously. Being so stressed out that she has to stop herself from reading a few lines ahead to makes sure everything was okay (failing terribly), changing positions about twenty-seven times, reading as she walked to the bathroom to pee and barely wanting to put it down to wash her hands. She loved feeling immersed like she was completely involved in the story, and she knows she's not the only person who feels that way.

So she majored in business, got a loan from the bank, and opened up a bookstore. If she could spend the rest of her life helping people find the book that does that for them, then she would be happy -- it'd always been her dream.

Which is why this was so frustrating -- for them to be so careless around a dream of hers. She'd written several polite letters that she posts up on the door in the morning before they open, but even though they're not still on the door by afternoon, her politeness is being blatantly ignored. It's so frustrating. So absolutely frustrating, that she could scream!

Y/N had tried everything. Had brightened up the storefront with more posters, changing the awning above the doors and windows, added more art and posters, planted more flowers so that looked welcoming and bright even despite the dark, blacked out windows and ashtrays right next door. Nothing could deviate the noticeable decline in sales on the days the tattoo parlor is open as well.

So when she finds more ashes in her hydrangea, she's had just enough. Stomped her way over next door, even though it was about five minutes to open, and shoved her way through the parlor door. She'd never been in here before, so she wasn't quite certain of the layout, but right up front was a small counter with a smooth granite finish atop of it, and a gruff looking man sitting behind it, two large gauges in her ears and a swirly tattoo decorating his forehead. The entire essence of this place was dark; all broody and deep shades of purples, reds, and blacks. Their stores might be connected by one wall but couldn't have appeared more different -- Y/N was trying to lure people in with a muted olive hue, and here they were with a massive knife glistening and dripping with a jam shade of blood painted on their front wall.

"Listen," she began immediately, pointing her finger directly at him and wishing she'd worn something more intimidating like an exaggerated satin lapel Armani suit tailored to fit, but she doubted that would fair well heaving boxes around all day so she had to settle for a worn tee, The Great Wave sketched out on it in black ink, "I know you guys are running a business and I know being rough and rugged is your aesthetic and you were here first! I get that! But I'm running a business too and my business is books and reading and quiet not loud, blaring Black Sabbath at top volume for the whole block to here. And if I find one more cigarette ash in my god damn hydrangeas I'm going to fucking --"

"Hello," a voice rings from behind her, startling her to a jump and she sees the eyes of the man who she'd been yelling at (who seemed rather unfazed) flicker over behind her, "What do we have here? Riktor here cheat on you? The naughty devil can never keep it in his pants."

When Y/N turns around to confront the face, she takes in a deep breath. The guy before her is pretty. . .maybe too pretty to be working here and the only indication of him possibly working here is the shirt he wears that sports the logo and the ink running up and down his arms, plus a tattoo gun that he's polishing with what looks like a scrap piece of cloth, massaging it diligently across the stainless steel tip. . His eyes are a very clear, light green like what one might expect to be the jewels of a mermaids earrings, and lips that didn't even look kind of chewed up -- like he'd never known stress in his life. Two perfect, smooth shades of pink skin to a strawberry milkshake that pullback in a simper, watching her closely and waiting for her next move but her brain had slowed trying to process that a could have been the cute boy next door archetype was for some reason in a very grungy shop such as this.

The words he'd said to her finally set in her head, however, and her brows reset in their irritation, "I'm Y/N and I own the shop next door and --"

"So you're our little book bee? The hydrangeas are beautiful."

She pauses for a moment, taken aback, "Yes," she decides, "Yes, they are beautiful, but they can't be beautiful when there are ashes in them."

The man pouts his lips, own face looking disgruntled by this, "Well that won't do. We've got ashtrays right out front for a reason, but I'll see about moving them to the back and changing the smoking area around there."

"Yeah," she says, maybe a little to forcefully, still geared up for a fight but she was bewildered by the very sudden change in tune. Y/N had kind of been expecting a huge argument and yelling and maybe her storefront to be spray painted, but he was -- this boy was. . .being very suspiciously understanding, "That would. . .that would be good." Her shoulders relax, dropping, "And the music --"

"Far too loud," he nods slowly, raising his hand, "I tell them but they never listen to me. Long as I'm here it'll be down but when I'm gone they crank it right up. However, you have my full permission to come over here and yell at them. Say Harry sent ya, they should put it at a suitable volume."

Y/N's pointing finger lowers slowly, and she wonders if her face conveys how truly alarmed she is that he's being so approachable and considerate. While there is always the possibility that he's doing it to get her off of his back and back to her shop so they can get to work, his face suggests he's being sincere, so she lowers another defensive barrier that she'd boarded up to get herself to come over here. She gives one final nod, "Okay, good -- um -- thank you very much."

"Anytime," he shifts the cloth and tattoo gun to one hand, holding out the other, "Nice t'a finally meet you neighbor."

"Nice to meet you." She took his hand in her own, giving one firm shake before turning on her heel and hot tailing it out of there. Had she been around him any longer, she's sure she would've said something stupid given the chance, because he was way too fucking cute and she was not having that. She doesn't like when talking to someone makes her feel nervous -- Y/N actually makes a point to not feel nervous when she's speaking with someone -- but this boy. Well, fuck sake, she's still a little jittery as she reenters her own store.

She doesn't know if she could ever face him again, actually.

                                                                          .                                .                             .

"You need to find another person to work here," Ayla saddles up on the front counter next to the register, one leg on either side, swinging them back and forth obnoxiously while Y/N was crouched over thumbing through a box of The Devil All the Time's hardbacks. She was counting them because she was fairly sure they'd shorted her by four books which would not have been a problem if hardbacks weren't the price of a limb. Ayla had come over to "help" but as always, her definition of help resorts to chatting with her with one of the bakery cookies held in her hand, watching while Y/N heaved and huffed big boxes of books around, "Get 'em to do all the grunt work and have yourself a latte while you read in the back room."

Y/N rolled her eyes, pausing on 26 to answer her, "M'good by myself for right now," she responded, looking up from the box to set her gaze on Ayla, watching her pick the dirt from beneath her fingernail, "Besides, teaching 'em how to do things the way I want them is such a bother, I'd rather do it myself."

"Still, you gotta be lonely," she shakes her head, "It can get so quiet in here even when there are customers, and y'know too much silence can drive you mad, I read."

She opens her mouth to respond, when a very distinct sound of a guitar riff floods muffled into their ears and her face sets into a deep frown, "How could it be quiet when I've got a shop neighbor who won't turn the music down?" Her voice escalates in sound every word, shaking her head slowly, "Y'know, I thought maybe the owner was actually genuine and really nice, but m'positive he's working today and the music's still blaring! How can they even focus on that going on? Won't the vibrations of the damn soundwaves fuck them over? They've got needles to people's skin, they should be focused."

It'd been a week since she'd gone over there and it was good for a few days; he stuck to his word about the smoking, putting the ashtrays in the back but that didn't really stop the few stragglers who were walking up to the place with a cigarette, so there were still buds on the sidewalk but it definitely had been better. However, the music was still loud and grating and nobody wanted to look at books when there were muffled rumbles of what she's certain is Led Zeppelin shaking her walls.

"They've got amazingly steady hands I heard," Ayla throws one last glance towards the vibrating wall before lulling her gaze back to where Y/N is squatted, "I dated a girl -- remember Rita? She used to be at tattoo artist and her hands were incredibly durable. . .she could go for hours knuckles deep inside me."

Y/N goes back to her counting, her finger on the binding of the book she'd left off on but she couldn't find the number she'd left off on, "I do remember Rita," Y/N murmurs, wracking her brain and tapping at the binding with the tips of her fingers, "She called me Prude Pringle for three weeks 'cos I refused a drunken threesome with you lot."

"A threesome?" Her face skewers, "When was that? Why'd you say no?"

"Back in August. Said no 'cos I was the only sober one and a little birdie once told me she couldn't partake in a threesome because she's too jealous for it."

Ayla nods, leaning back, "Good call -- 've I ever told you-you're a great friend."

Y/N opens her mouth to tell her to say it again but it's in that moment she realized that she definitely lost count and she's almost positive that the music got even louder! So instead of that, she slams her palm down against the bindings, "Fuck sake!" She nearly shouts, shoving herself up from the ground and dusting off her pants, "I'll be right back."

She charges over to the door, "Wait, shouldn't you jus' call and complain?"

Her suggestion is lost in the chime of her door's bell, again wishing she'd worn something more gruff and grungy than what she has but such is life she supposes. So she bursts through their open door in a shirt with a realistic gray octopus sat on a pile of books, surpassing the front desk man -- Riktor -- and heading towards the back, where the music was coming from.  There's a low, throaty voice of someone trying to stop her but she ignores it, coming past the curtain threshold, and there she finds herself with a group of. . .well, of tattoo artists. There's about three hunched over bodies -- one working on adding an additional flower onto an arm's sleeve, another inking what looks like a balloon on someone's hip, and another who's giving an ankle tattoo, what looks like a hammer and a nail. A few other people are just sitting about, on their phones, combing their fingers through their hair, another throwing a whole bottle of water in one go.

All of them ignoring that she'd stormed in. . .all of them listening to music at top volume.

"Excuse me," she tries over the music, and when she barely gets a flicker of a glance, she goes louder, "Excuse me!" Again, there's no response, so she scans the room for the stereo, spotting it in the corner beside a man with black inked all up his neck. She goes for it without thought, twisting and winding around stools and chairs, taking the volume dial and spinning it low. That catches their attention, and the resounding noise of the tattoo gun's needle cuts off completely, "Excuse me," she finally states with a huff, "Could you please keep the volume a little lower? It vibrates the walls when it's up so high."

She gets a lot of blank stares. . .a lot. . .and wordlessly, the man who was sitting beside it leans over and turns it right back up, even louder than it had been before, everyone going back as they had before she'd come through. Y/N is infuriated! She asked so fucking nicely, how the hell could they just ignore that? Was it the octopus shirt?

In the next few moments, she doesn't think. Instead, she turns back towards the stereo, leans down and reaches behind the speaker before yanking the plug from the wall and the music cuts off completely.

When she lifts back up, she deadpans the lot of them.

"Harry sent me." She snaps before walking out, slipping beneath the curtain, sparing a glance at Riktor who has his brows raised and when she pushes through the door, almost running into a body. A body that is very much Harry, who has his fingers curled around the top of two bakery bags, brows furrowed.

"Y/N?" He looks concerned, and she wonders if it's written all over her face that she's irritated, "What's wrong?"

She looks at him, and his stupidly gorgeous eyes, and his way too pretty mouth, and just shakes her head, "Nothing's wrong, I took care of it."

She leaves it at that.

                                                                              .                               .                               .

Y/N feels a little guilty later on. Not entirely guilty, because it felt good to shut it off entirely and she hadn't heard a peep from them otherwise, but guilty enough that she had thought about writing a note suggesting that they just switch the stereo to a wall that they're not sharing, but she stops herself. They'd probably just roll it in a ball and toss it in the trash anyway, so instead of writing a note, she worked on setting up the new display for The Devil of All Time and throws around a few ideas about how to draw people in with a poster or something detailing that this was going to be a movie soon.

Ayla had gone home after praising her for being a badass, leaving Y/N to her thoughts. A good amount of customers flowed in but it was a Monday and Mondays were always pretty slow (business picks up as the week goes on so she'd been expecting as much. So she does some housekeeping and wonders if she should hire someone to at least speak to when she's bored, but the thought of another person in here kind of gives her the willies. This store was her baby. . .her cute little, chubby fingered, drooly, bed wetting baby and the thought of letting a stranger step a foot near her innocent little baby to destroy it with their grubby hands got right under her skin. Y/N's better at working alone, she thinks, and she doesn't know how much she'd fair as a leader if she felt a teensy bit bad about taking initiative yelling at a ton of grungy tattoo artists.

She's suckling on her bottom lip, staring at a blank poster board and figuring she should probably take her little art project home rather than stay here any later than need be, when there's a jingle of her door's bell, and she looks up to see none other than Harry. Harry who looks very. . .very guilty, lips drawn downward, and Y/N opens her mouth to ask what he was doing but he holds one hand up, the other preoccupied with a rolled bag similar to the one from the bakery he'd had earlier in the day, "Before you rip me a new one, I just want to apologize. I had them turn it down all this morning and I leave for lunch and I don't doubt they twisted the knob all the way up again. I told 'em I would take the damn stereo away if they kept it up." He tears the beanie from his hat, combing his fingers through his hair, shaking out the curls, and waving the bag he'd brought,  " So I brought you a piece of Boston Cream Pie. Told 'em they better be nice to you too, 'cos you're our neighbor and they ran off the last cute little boutique we had and. . ." he looks around, gaze fluttering about the room, "S'kinda dark in here, Pet, you should get some more lights -- ooh, do those yellow fairy ones, isn't that what they're called?"

Y/N's head tilts to the side, brows furrowing as she takes the bag from him, "Excuse me?"

"Sorry, sorry, off topic I know,  I just thought this is a college town and y'know how they're suckers for fairy lighting; innocent little things, as soon as they get out they tear 'em down and pretend nothing happened."

Y/N tries not to show on her face that she definitely has fairy lights strung up in her flat, as she responds, "S'fine, um -- yeah, I'll look into that," she shakes her head, placing the bag to the side and unrolling it, reaching in for the pie and the fork, "Sorry about tearing the plug from the wall, hope it didn't short circuit or anything."

His eyes go wide, "No, no! No apologies told you to tell them arseholes I sent ya and that you did." He lowers himself before her familiarly and Y/N's brows raise, not expecting him to go ahead and make himself comfortable but not terribly turned off that he did. Though she was quite. . .taken by him -- enough so that she was sort of dry-mouthed as he stretched his leg out, leaning back and holding himself up with the palm of his hand behind his back. The ripped holes in his blue jeans pucker up, the cuffs of his jeans pinch rolled down to a very clean pair of pink socks and loafers. Once she sees the bottom half of him, she focuses then on the top, seeing him in a worn Pink Floyd shirt and he's just so. . .boyish, she can't get over it. "What're you staring at? Have I got croissant on me face?"

While he reaches up to swipe away at nonexistent crumbs, she shakes her head, "No, no," she reassures him, "No, s'just -- um. . .you don't look much like you'd be a tattoo artist. Or be the boss for that matter," her brows dip in, "Not like that's a bad thing, its just compared to the aesthetic of your parlor you kind of. . .stray from the part."

For a moment she wonders if that was rude but Harry doesn't seem all too bothered by her statement, poking at first his eyebrow and then his lip and nose, "Had a few piercings believe it or not. But I was with a girl a while back who absolutely hated them and I had 'em out so long that the holes closed up." He sighs, waving his hand over his face, "Would've gotten them pierced again but I found people find me much more approachable without them in, so I didn't bother."

Y/N's face skewers, shaking her head as she caps the sharpie she'd been working with, "That's shit," she mutters without thinking, finally popping open the plastic container with the pie, "You shouldn't have changed yourself for a girl's sake. If she really cared for you, then she wouldn't mind the piercings." She's digging the fork into the pie, wondering why it felt so easy to talk to him. . .he had a sort of charming way about him that sucked her in easily -- or maybe it's because she had nobody to talk to for hours on hours, being left with her own thoughts for way too long makes her rather susceptible to speaking without really being prompted to, "I mean, if I was crazy about a guy and he had like. . .like Nirvana's entire discography tattooed on his face, I wouldn't care if it made him happy, y'know? S'a shame thinking the world and all its people are s'pposed to bend at your will." She slips the pie into her mouth, realizing that maybe he didn't technically ask for her input at all, and her heart almost drops to her stomach because the last thing she'd want to do is make enemies with the one person who's on her side, "I'm sorry, that's none of my business."

She looks up expecting him to look pissy, gathering his things to leave, but instead, he's smiling, looking pleasantly surprised, "No, no, don't apologize. Wish I would've had you 'round when it was happening to me, would've done me some good."

And if she's honest. . .maybe she really should hire somebody, because she also (apparently) becomes very pushy and involved in other people's lives because she goes on to ask, "Well, what happened between you two? If you don't mind me asking." She pushes some of the whipped cream off the top of the pie, "I love a good romance story."

Snorting, Harry chuckles, "You're a bloody trip, y'know that? Just sat down and you wanna know all my nitty gritty feelings," He doesn't make any move to leave, "Your blatant and unapologetic interest is refreshing, however, so I'll give you it. I'm more or less an open book but  this "romance" was more like a dark drama -- was the farthest from healthy." He shakes his head, "Would've brought a beer with me if I'd known I'd be getting into it, but basically, I met her when she'd come in for a tattoo on her ankle -- a little boat on her ankle -- and we sort of clicked right off the bat. She gave me her number at the end of the tattoo, kissed my cheek, and I was proper swooning. Everything was really good for a while too, like we would go on these cutesy little dates and then elaborate ones and when we had sex that was nice too but after like the second-month things kind of went to shit."

"She told ya to take out the piercings?" She guesses and he nods, a somber smile starting at his mouth.

"Started there, sure. Told me to take them out because they looked dumb or summat -- made me seem like a brooding teen punk is what she said, but I was so moony-eyed for her I took 'em right out without a second thought. At first, she loved haring what tattoos people got, and then she said I talked about work too much, but when I stopped she accused me of cheating on her instead of going to work. After convincing her I wasn't and I would never, we'd sleep together, cuddle to sleep, wake up in the morning and it'd start all over again. Started feeling like she wanted me to quit work altogether, stay with her at home all the time. . .would suggest it in the morning then cry when I left and blow up my phone all day." He shakes his head, "Won't say I was a saint, 'cos I definitely wasn't. Started ignoring the calls and messages after a while until I finally told her I couldn't do it anymore."

Y/N frowns for him, tutting her tongue, "A right mess. You were right to end things, 'cos if you don't have trust what do you have?"

"It's like I walked in and opened up a Nicholas Sparks book," he jests and she furrows her brows at him, "Like y'know just what to say, huh?"

"I'm very smart," she gives a fake gloat, "S'why I bought a shop next to an incredibly loud tattoo artist's whose customers like ashing in my flowerbeds. I'm full of grand ideas."

The jab makes Harry's lips stretch wide around a grin.

                                                            .                                      .                                    .

If someone had told Y/N while she was in high school, that her job would entail strolling in at seven in the morning, when the sky had just barely mottled a lavender, hazy dawn and wearing her cheap bear slippers -- she'd say they were crazy. Yet there she was, equipped with a box of nails (because they were much cheaper than command hooks), a hammer, and ten boxes of fairy lights so that she could lighten up the essential essence of the store. No matter how much she didn't want to admit that Harry was right about the lighting, he was, and she wasn't dumb enough to pass up an opportunity to make this place feel more home-y.

Harry was. . .interesting, Y/N thought. While she's ambling over the juniper colored rug (one she'd splurged on at the furniture store off main street, wool with a cotton-latex backing -- the man who had sold it to her somehow convinced her it was okay to spend the extra money for it to be 100% real and for a frazzled, newly bank loaned Y/N, she decided that wool was cool), she thinks about the time they'd spent together. He'd stayed a little while after he'd told her the story of him and his ex, waited for her to finish off the pie and reached for the container and stuffed it into the bag he'd brought it in. "As much as I'd love to stay, I really gotta hit the hay. M'right knackered," he'd stretched out his body with a loud, groaning hum and his eyes even watered some with the gratifying burn of it, "You should go get some sleep too since it's only you working here." 

"How'd you know that?"

He'd snorted and rolled his eyes as he gathered his things, "Please, you're the only one I ever see coming in and out of here every morning and night, plus you just spent an hour talking to your obnoxious neighbor like we're old friends," he shook his head, "Need someone to talk to throughout the day or you'll go mad -- thought I could tattoo by meself and now I've got more than five knob heads working for me."

Y/N isn't sure what kind of weird mentor/mentee relationship was beginning to germinate between the two of them but she had no idea how to feel about it. On one hand, it's nice to have because while college does a well enough job of teaching you how to run a business theoretically,  stepping into it on your own was a whole new world. Harry had been through the trials and tribulations of opening a shop, starting something, getting people there, and finding an aesthetic for his own store -- he could help her with some things, she's sure of it, and she knows that if she ever had a problem regarding being an owner, he'd most likely be the first person she sought out for advice. There was something undeniably charming about him, it made it easier to hear his ideas rather than wanting to tell him to shut the hell up and let her run her own store, hence the reason she's here so early hanging up string lights.

On the other hand, she fears he's only buttering her up so she doesn't file some complaint regarding his employees. Did he think she'd really go to the police? Or was last night him trying to feel out what kind of person she was and how far they might be able to push her before she does? She'd like to think that he was a hundred percent innocent in her intentions but she just couldn't ignore the flitters of doubt in her mind. Someone as winsome as he is doesn't not know that they could get what they want if they played their cards right and she wonders if he was pulling out all the stops on her -- bringing her pie, sitting with her on her rug, and entertaining her with a story knowing full well she'd be a sucker for it because, well, she owned a damn bookstore.

Despite all that, he was good company at the very least, and not too terrible on the eyes, so she figures -- even if this is him doing some sly buttering -- she'd let him come around. At least until he started to annoy her.

While Y/N lugs an old kitchen chair from the supply closet, she reckons that she needs to buy something of a small ladder for her endeavors such as this. There were a few stepstools she had placed strategically around the store, but they only went high enough for the bookshelves rather than for above them and along the junction of the ceiling and wall. She slides the chair up against the wall after spotting an outlet and prays that it's not wobbly as she plucks a nail from the box and holds it between her fingers, keeping the hammer secure against her palm as she hoists herself up. A small squeak leaves her in alarm when she thinks the chair is about to tip but the leg had only left the ground a fraction of a millimeter so she was fine for now.

The prospect of someone working for her was continuing to feel more and more like a good' she'd have someone holding the chair steady for her as she finally stopped tricking herself out and slowly pushed herself upward, straightening out her legs and positioning the nail just a few centimeters down from the ceiling. She pinches it loosely with her finger as she taps the blunt end of the hammer against it in gentle taps, seeing no need in wailing on it, especially when she wanted it at a slight incline so the chances of the wires slipping off and her having to get back up on this chair were slimmer.

Once she's finished the first, she's proper proud of herself. Is taking a minute to admire her work when the very sudden and alarming sound of her bell chiming and the sound of her squawking cry as she jumps and clutches onto the wall masks over the intruder, until she looks over and sees none other than Harry himself with wide eyes, "Oh, my bad Love, didn't mean to scare you."

"Could you at least knock?" she groaned, brows furrowed with a hand limply covering her chest, "We're closed, go home."

Harry snorts as he watches her dismount from the chair, catching herself on the wall once again, "Well, I was just coming 'round to open up, and I saw you nailing into the walls while standing on a very wobbly chair in what appears to be slippers and I came to offer my aid, if you'd like it."

"I'm fine," she told him, pushing the loose strands of hair that tickled at her face backward, trying desperately not to stare at him for too long. He looked like he just woke up and it was cute; he had sleep puffy eyes, fluffy, noticeably freshly washed hair pushed back by a pair of unnecessary sunglasses, swamped in a hoodie much too large for him and a yawn stretches his mouth out, "Why are you here so early anyway? Do people get tattoos at seven AM?"

Shaking his head, Harry sets down the sketchbook that she just now realized had been in his hand and a few different pencils, including a pencil sharpener and it only just hits her that Harry must draw and design a lot of that tattoos that he does, "Trying to do a few new designs for the wall but I get too distracted when m'at home, so I come 'round here before it opens. The vibe is. . .like, good for the brain, y'know?" Y/N nods, even though she doesn't know and she watches as he looks from the nail to the hammer on the seat, to the boxes of lights she'd ordered online, and a grin pulls at his mouth, "You took me advice, ey?" He looks proud of himself and Y/N can't decide if it's really cute or really annoying.

"Its a bit dark I suppose," she admitted, waving her hand around lamely, "And the ceiling lights are more ominous than comforting at night and it feels more like an evil lair than a cozy bookstore."

His smile only grows bigger, "See? M'not an all gloomy, knife on the wall, grunge monster -- got me soft gooey spots too. Have a few art pieces I think you might like t--"

"Oi, don't get too big for your britches, I don't need an interior designer." She nips him off but he doesn't take any hurt from her words, only getting closer to her and raising the chair, moving it over a good chunk before setting it back down and holding onto it, nodding towards the chair and her face twists in confusion, "What?"

"Get on the seat then," he pats on it, "If you won't use me for my wonderful vision yet, then you can use me for my chair steadying hands."

Y/N's heart warms some, "Yet?" She repeats, plucking another nail out of the box and taking hold of the hammer again.

Harry shrugs, "Got hope you'll come to your senses."

She gives him a soft shove to his shoulder only to find he's incredibly sturdy and she doesn't know how to feel about that either.

"Just don't stare at my ass, yeah?" She tells him, pushing herself up onto the chair again with no squeak required because the chair doesn't shift.

He gives a mocking, exasperated sigh, "Damn, the only reason I offered my help was so I could objectify you a little eensy bit."

Y/N laughs harder than she should and when she looks down at him, she can noticeably see his ego being stroked, and yeah, he's far too cute right now. She can't tell if she wanted more to coddle him to her chest and shield him from the world, or to be the one who is coddled, but she sweeps the idea of it from her mind just as quickly as it'd come. She wasn't looking to pursue the idea of any crush her mind and heart decided to concoct in an effort to finally do her in. Plus she's got no time for a relationship anyway. When it came to being with someone, she believed that it was something that took time and care -- like gardening almost. Planting the seed was the easiest part, but then you had to tend to it; water it daily, stroke it's petals tenderly, assure it that it's going to blossom so beautifully and once it does, you have to work even harder to not let it wilt.

How could she give the proper love and care to anyone when she's trying to work the garden of her bookstore? Nobody deserved to be second to that of a store when it came to their significant other, and from how mindful, thoughtful, and sweet Harry was. . .well, that wouldn't be fair to him either.

That's to say if he even liked her in the first place.

She shakes her head at herself -- why is she even thinking like that? Probably because he was looking all soft swallowed up in his hoodie and sweatpants, and he's helpful and kind and it's not often you meet boys like that. Usually, there's a catch and she's waiting for Harry's -- for him to be a closeted asshole who's magnanimity only scraped the surface but deep down he was nothing but molten, murderous evil. Maybe he was a homicidal maniac worming his way close to her so he could get her alone, lock her in a cage, and starve her out? Or he'd get her from behind, bludgeon her with a hardcover book just for the irony of it.

But then she looks down, sees that he's watching her hands and not her bum, his gaze flickering to her own before the corner of his lips draw back in a cordial gleam, "Your handy work is top caliber," he remarks, nodding towards where she's left the nail in the wall, "Bet your fingers are strong and skilled from all the page turning."

A huffed laugh comes from her nose, chest puffing out with it.

He couldn't hurt a fly.

                                                          .                                           .                                          .

Y/N needs to hire someone.

She knows she does, and Ayla nor Harry would let her forget it, but she's too proud! Told herself she could start and run a business with no help and had intended to keep it that way, but there was so much that was entailed regarding all of this it was going to drive her up the wall. Like when she's finally gotten taken off hold with Baker & Taylor's helpline to let them know they sent her forty copies of Fifty Shades of Grey and it's predecessors when she most certainly did not, but she has to step away from the phone because someone can't reach a copy of Dean Koontz's latest novel. Or when she's trying to multitask cleaning up someone's spilled coffee off the rug (assuring through a myriad of their apologies that it was fine, it's why she had purchased the industrialized carpet cleaner met for the tracked stains of a Great Mastiff's colossal muddy paws in the first place), setting up an automatic payment for the electricity (which had sparked in price considering the lights lining the walls but with this came more night time visitors so it evened out), and realizing that there were three people waiting patiently in line for her to check them out.

Having at least one other hand would be beneficial, but again, she could only stress how hard it would to find someone she trusted with her snotty nosed baby of a bookstore. Who would she feel comfortable leaving alone if she had to run errands? To run the store when she was home sneezy and feverish? To open up the books and not damage their binding with the box cutter like she'd almost did a handful of times (before specifically requesting they put a protective wrapping over the shipments so she didn't have to play the surgeon game of "let's not nick an artery" book-edition). The only person she could even kind of imagine was Harry of all people, and he was busy running his own thing next door!

She guesses she could put a help wanted sign up front, but she would draft up the application herself, and including a questionnaire seemed necessity at this point. At the very least so she could feel out what kind of person they'd be and whether or not they'd be able to click, or if they would share her intense and immense love for books and reading. If they're to work here, she wants it to be to their enjoyment as much as it's for their paycheck, which is a lot to ask from some people, especially in a college town.

Hiring someone seems worth it until she imagines the first time they manage to do something like knock an entire bookshelf over, and then she thinks she'd rather work around the clock 24/7 than dare let anyone who isn't her do anything ever.

All of this is weighing like two fifty pound dumbbells on her mind as she's sat on the ground, starting a new project rather than actually dealing with the problem at hand. A few weeks ago she had bought a decently large basket but had nothing to do with it so it'd just been sitting collecting dust in the corner of her room until an idea struck her of its purpose. She'd put books in it, sure, but books that are wrapped up all nice and neat, with only a short description of it scrawled out over the paper. There's one thing she's come to learn to be a reader herself, and that is no matter how hard someone might try, they will always judge a book by its cover. The story could be exactly what someone was looking for -- the right amount of suspense or romance, horror or comfort, a plot that would keep you intrigued, and a page-turner that you'll never want to end -- but you could pass it right up because you don't like the fruit bowl on the cover. Y/N reckons that every time you're in a bookstore or in the library, you're bound to pass what could've been your all-time favorite book, just because the cover hadn't had you arsed enough to pick it up.

So she bought all the supplies for it and waited until closing, as always, to set herself up on that green rug. She'd moved the display table on it (strategically moving the books atop of it on the checkout counter) off to the side to give her the maximum amount of space for the thick brown recycled wrapping paper, her four rolls of scotch tape, the bumblebee printed scissors she'd brought from home, and starting with twenty random books she'd plucked off her shelf as to not overwhelm herself.  Y/N had successfully completed three books with a permanent furrow in her brow before she heard the gentle rapping of knuckles on glass, looking up to see Harry's silhouette and his face pressed against the glass, mouthing let me in and point at the knob.

Her mood almost lightens immediately at the sight of him, placing her palms flat on the ground to push herself up on wobbly legs (she'd been sitting cross-legged for at least an hour) and walk to the door, unlocking it with the keys in the deadbolt and twisting the knob. "Jesus, are you ever home?" He questions as he steps in, "When did I help you with the lights? Two weeks ago? Don't think you've left since."

"You're not the only one who gets distracted when you're at home," she responds, relocking the door before retreating to her makeshift craft center in the middle of the floor, "Why wrap books when a bowl of popcorn and endless movies are at my disposal?"

"And the popcorn is far too buttery for you to be doing both," he adds thoughtfully.

Y/N snaps her fingers and points at him, "Bingo," she holds the edge of the paper down with her socked toes as she grabs for the tape dispenser, running the sticky side against the sharp teeth and nicking at the pad of her thumb in the process, "Why're you always wearing a beanie?" She asks him, referring to the olive green knit that's tucked atop his head, "You've got such pretty soft curls, don't hide them."

It takes him back some, she can tell, and she starts to wonder if she should've said it at all but a soft smile worms onto his lips and he manages to look way too cute like that, reaching up to pull at the top of the beanie, letting his hair fall about freely. It wasn't particularly unruly -- just soft brown tufts, that must be killer to run fingers through -- curls sprout around his ears, growing down towards his shoulders. She'd never seen hair like his; it was clear he took care of it and she'd reckon he'd used a hair mask or two, because it appeared healthy and clean, "Thank you," he murmurs sincerely, "Didn't think people much liked them -- get told to get a cut about every other day."

Y/N scoffs, "Well tell 'em to shove it. I like them, they suit you and I don't lie. Only cut your hair if you want to, but if you like it, who gives a rat what people think?" She shakes her head, ridding herself of the frustration building within her at the prospect of someone being rude enough to tell Harry to get a haircut when he clearly likes it long, trying to soothe the way she'd grumbled over by moving on with, "Anyway how was tattoo-ing today? Any fun stories."

Harry settles his keys down on the ground where he soon places his coat after slipping it off his shoulders, leaving it in a heap that he then sits beside, "I would tell you if I didn't think you were deflecting, but I got this aching feeling that there wasn't a furrow in your brow jus' 'cos you were wrapping books."

She wonders how he does that -- he's got an eye for people, she guesses, and she thinks having a secret that you have to keep from him was probably akin to one of the layers of hell. Y/N had never felt so cut open around him; like he'd pried her apart from the inside out, looking inside, knowing everything before she had a chance to even voice it aloud at all if she even knew it herself yet. Hell, she could make a book metaphor but it seemed a little on the nose as she's sat amongst a shit ton of them.

"Hey," he hums, catching her gaze with his own, and he looks so. . .gentle -- concerned and soft and sweet, "Y'know, you can rant and vent to me about stuff, yeah? Owning a business can be rough and not many people know the actual tribulations of it; never see past the whole, "you're your own boss!" aspect of it so I get it." He puts a finger in the air though, "However, if you're about to say something poor on yourself, I'll have you know that you're doing very well thus far from the amount of people leaving here with paper bags full of books, and to come to a college town that's absent of any small, homey little bookstores when they're discovering their comfort in things that are cozy was a well-planed move. You've accomplished so much already and you should definitely be proud of yourself."

A smile tugs at the corner of her mouth, her free hand going to tuck the hair behind her ear, "Thank you," she responds, "That means a lot." And it does! For someone to say that you're doing good when you've started something so much bigger than you -- it feels nice. Like the hug of your favorite sweater, or the way it feels to place your head against a feather filled pillow. Y/N couldn't believe how easily Harry has nearly resorted her to mush, so much so that she nearly forgot her problem at hand, "I just. . .I think I need to hire someone but I don't really want to." She takes the permanent marker from underneath her knee, before writing on the copy of Kathleen Hale's No One Else Can Have You:

Awkward Teenage Disappearing Mystery

Very Creepy

She pushes it off to the side as she continues, "Like, the help would be nice, but then I have to like them, and trust them 'cos this place means so much to me and I've put so much work into it that I can't just let any old stranger come in! And what if it's a college student and they invite their stupid drunk friends over before close? I can just see my lamp being destroyed and then I'd have to scold them, but I'm shit at yelling at anyone, I don't think anybody takes me seriously and its not like I could dox their pay even if I really, really wanted to but I can't fire them either for one little mess up. Like what if they need the money y'know? On those Myer Brigg's type tests I always get stuck on the one where it asks if you'd have trouble firing an employee who was shit at their job but loyal and I had always imagined it really could go either way, but how am I supposed to decide whether or not someone has a job?" Pausing, she knuckles worriedly at her eyes, shaking her head, "But I shouldn't even be thinking about that because I don't even have a fucking employee yet, so. . ."

Once he's certain that she's not going to say anymore, Harry speaks up, "This is the stuff they don't really tell you when you get a business degree, yeah? It's hard. . .working by yourself is hard and working with people is hard, and it sucks trying to find who suits you best as your first employee. My first was Riktor. . .proper hated the bugger," he leans backward on his palms, tilting himself sideways so he could stretch his legs outward, "He had a fouler mouth than mine and I thought he was a prick, if m'honest, but when I saw him do a full sleeve of the most beautiful work I'd ever seen, got a chance to really talk to him, and found out that him n'I have loads in common. You just have to give whoever you hire a chance, pick their brain a little, you'll understand them more as a person so if they do make a mistake it isn't just some mindless bumbling idiot."

A frown tugs at her mouth, "Why do you always know what to say?" She grumbles and he laughs brightly, warm, wiggling down in her gut and fluttering butterfly wings lick and tickle her insides.

"M'bloody smart, s'why," he drops his lid down in a wink, "Now, explain to me what you're doin, so I can help," he tells her, "For the time being, I'm your employee, I work for five cents an hour and require constant affirmation that I'm wrapping correctly."

Harry helps her, even though he's shit at wrapping (they both find this out at the same time) and even though he asks a lot of questions and worms the endings out of her despite how much she both simultaneously loves and loathes ruining books for people. But it was nice -- he was nice -- and it makes her feel quite soft. Softer than she likes to feel in the presence of anyone. . .Y/N prides herself on not losing herself in the thoughts of a relationship, putting herself first in all things, and it can't be seen as selfish because who would she be putting second if she was alone?

But Harry was like a pest. A squirmy little bug that has settled in her, and planted imagery of them going home together rather than leaving each other after this. To continue their conversations. . .laughing and teasing and cuddling and maybe Y/N could be held one night instead of falling asleep buried beneath her covers trying to keep warm.

Though she eventually remembers that she likes having the bed to herself and she'd probably get too sweaty anyway, so she shakes the idea from her brain.

Harry brought her from these thoughts though when he had plucked the last book from her pile, looking at it with brows raised before turning it to face her, "On Dublin Street, ey? This looks pretty saucy," he peers at the back, eyes scanning over the description, immediately lighting up as he reads from it, "Braden Carmichael is used to getting what he wants, and he's determined to get Jocelyn into his bed." He flickers through a lump of pages with his thumb, bending the book backward some as he does, "Didn't know you were into such filth, Pet."

Y/N rolls her eyes, "I haven't read it, but Ayla swears up and down that it's the best thing she's ever read in her life so I figured I'd put it in."

He holds it in his hands, front to back, before digging into his pocket  and pulling out a handful of bills, "I'll buy it off you."

"What?" She tilts her head but he's leaning forward, placing the money into her hand and closing her fingers around it, "Oi -- what're you --"

"Let's start a book club," he remarks decisively, a short nod of his head, "Just you and me. We'll read a few chappies, talk about it, and we'll start with this book right here."

Her mouth falls open, shaking her head, "Harry, I don't even have time to read books that I want to read, much less --"

"Then make time," he cuts her off, shaking his head some, "You love reading, don't you? Don't let what made you start up this store in the first place get swept under the rug. We'll read however many chapters we decide on and meet up for coffee on Sundays to discuss. This will kick it off, then we can move to books that we are actually interested in, but for now, we'll do a tester. Have you got another one around here?"

She doesn't really get a chance to tell him that yes she does, it's on the third shelf over from the desk on the erotica shelf (a cute little sticker labels it), because he's already stood up and ventured it out himself. It was true -- Y/N hadn't been able to read much since she initially got this place up and running, and she missed it terribly but it felt like it would be a chore more than anything some nights. It'd be easier to just turn off her brain than get invested in the stories she grows to love so much. And that's rubbish! Absolute rubbish, because she should be making time for the one thing that has always been her thing. She doesn't want to end up resenting this bookstore or books in general, just because she lost sight for what made her want to do this in the first place.

Y/N wonders aloud why Harry has made a habit of fixing problems she didn't even know she had yet, "I need you to start having problems too," she tells him, half joking, half serious, "Then I can start helping you out and this isn't so one-sided."

Harry grins at her, shaking his head.

"You help me," he responds, "You just don't notice when you are."

                                                                       .                              .                                   .

Y/N doesn't know why she feels so anxious. She and Harry had spent plenty of nights together, sat on her carpet and chatting with one another for hours into the night, pursuing her random projects and brightening up the store. He even stops by during his lunch breaks -- will bring some food for her even, mostly because she rarely leaves for lunch herself and sometimes forgets to pack her own. It had been routine almost, and she'd never felt nervous when he appeared at her door, smiling wide.

But now, when it comes to them meeting at the café to discuss this book though, she feels all types of tense and nervy. Y/N had left twenty minutes early, sucking her bottom lip into her mouth and nibbling on it hard as she made her way to the café. She briefly considered calling Ayla to soothe her nerves, but she knows Ayla would merely gas her up thinking this was a date when it wasn't. So she just tries to shake off her jitters and treat it like she's going to work, only instead of turning right on Grand, she keeps straight along the cobblestone path to the Mud Mugs café she had suggested as their meeting spot.

(It was a cute little nonprofit shop with killer lattes and milkshakes that she's been trying to wheedle the recipes out of one of the baristas for at least a year but he won't budge.)

Once she pulls the door open, she first scans the area for an empty spot for them to go to, before she realizes that Harry was already there, tucked away in a booth in the far corner with a mug of his own and one that's full across from him. Her heart feels full as she walks up to him, letting her purse slip from her shoulder down to the inside of her elbow, and towards her hand with her fingers curling around the straps. Harry looked incredibly pretty, which she is beginning to realize is a trend with him. His shirt is worn and black, light washed blue jeans cuffed at the ankles, and plain white shoes with baby pink socks, a pink beanie that matches it tucked on his head. She wonders if she should ask him to go shopping with her because she's feeling like a walking toddler in her overalls, but when he notices her arrival he grins at her, looking her up and down, "Well, aren't you just the cutest thing?"

Y/N rolls her eyes, taking her seat across from him, "Shut up," she grumbles, before leaning over the table, taking the top of his beanie and pulling it upward, "What'd I say about these, huh?" She settles the mussed curls with her hands, patting it down and rearranging them until they sat less messy on his head, leaving it all soft and washed, "They're cute, let them breathe."

"Okay, okay boss," he pats at his hair, making sure it felt at least partially how he wanted it to, patting at the beanie and slipping it over to the side, "I ordered you a white chocolate latte, but if you want something different I can get that."

"No, no, thank you these are my favorite," she assesses the situation, seeing that he's got the book out, bright post-its stuck out of the pages, his own latte half gone already. His hand is palm down to the table, fingers splayed, showing off the big brassy rings decorating his fingers and she tries not to let her mind wander someplace filthy. Especially when his fingers curl up, knocking on the laminate tabletop decisively before starting.

"Let's get right to it then, what are your thoughts?"

The look he gives her is one that reads I already know what you're going to say but she says it anyway, "I'm just. . . just so confused," she shakes her head, like she's trying to rearrange her thoughts, "Like are they sixteen years old? Why is it so important that he saw her naked?" Her brows furrow, and he's listening carefully like she's making an analytical thought and he's drinking it in, "It's not like he saw her pussy out, he at most saw her tits and they're acting like he walked in with her bent over, cheeks spread an all."

It makes Harry chuckle, "So you don't find it super, completely, totally wild and embarrassing when someone walks in you naked?"

"I mean it's embarrassing but not over two pages embarrassing," she leans back into her seat, "Like back in college, this boy I was kinda friends with kinda just worked together in class with walked in on me while I was changing and all he did was squeal, went back to my living room and we pretended that it didn't happen. Easy as pie."

Harry snaps his fingers, "That's because your guy wasn't a prick, but this Braden character seems like an asshole. I hate him already, the cocky bastard." He shakes his head, "S'like he was created just to be a creepy bloke."

Y/N all but slaps her hand down on the table, "Right! He's liked an Edward Cullen without all the charming vampire bits."

"Crazy thing is, tha's exactly what I was thinking."

They continue on for a little over an hour and its fun -- a whole lot of fun, actually. Y/N wonders why she had even been dreading this in the first place because she should know to trust him by now. He had good ideas and good thoughts and a good everything, really -- or at least that's what it surely felt like. The two of them just fell into things so easily, she was having trouble remembering that they'd only met a month or so ago because the way they moved and spoke in sync almost, was something that could take years for two people to accomplish it. To add on to all of it, he felt like the kind of person where she'd be able to sit in silence with him and not want to crawl out of her skin because of it, which is a very damning feat for most, given Y/N can find reasons to be uncomfortable in almost every situation.

In these moments with him, she wasn't stressed about work, or bills, or anything really, and she could only hope he felt the same.

"This is a blast," Harry had spoken with his vocabulary joking but the meaning behind them sincere, dragging her from her reverie, and apparently dragging the thoughts directly from her head, "We'll keep doing this yeah? And we'll have to hang out other than this too -- the guys at the parlor would love you, I can feel it in my bones." For a moment he pauses, quiet like he's thinking, then remembering, and then suddenly, with a click of his thumb and forefinger the excited gleam on his face when he'd first suggested this appeared, "Come to the club with us this Friday."

Y/N's mouth opens, almost closing but she just barely gets out an, "I -- I don't know Harry, that's not really my um. . .don't think m'very good at clubbing, is the thing. Not really my scene."

"You don't have to be good, you just have to have fun, and I'll be there, so it'll be fun" he informs her, and she thinks he may be hypnotizing her with the soft green gaze of his, feeling as if he'd cracked her open and begun peering into her soul -- his eyes were too damn mesmerizing, she's almost certain that he was something out of a story. Certainly not human, but a mystical being with promises of magic and dust that turns you all shades of pink and purple and the absence of all worries that you could ever think to have. If eyes were windows to the soul, then Harry's soul is all types of alluring and compelling. She had half the mind to wonder if he were a vampire or summat. . .he'd suit the role nicely. "And since you'll be there, then it'll be even more fun."

Though she's uncertain, she doesn't dismiss him right off the bat. Maybe it would be good for her -- she could invite Ayla, who's always complaining how she's no fun anymore. It might be fun even. . .outside of her otherwise natural habitat and she had kind of wondered what Harry was like around his real friends. Not just his weird, work neighbor friend who she's fairly certain he only talks to her because he can spread some of his wisdom that would otherwise be bottled up inside him. They were kind of in the same spot job-wise, so it must be good to relinquish some of the aches and pains he's experiencing with someone who also does, or even just to see that she's doing a little worse off in sorting some stuff out -- he probably finds solace in the fact that he's not at that point in his career anymore.

This makes her worry though -- what if he likes her just as a work friend? She'd definitely had friends like that, where they do better justice in the setting that you met them in, opposed to the outside world. Like that one really good friend in your math class that you would never, ever in your life think to go to the mall with. Or the boy that helps you pass time at your part-time retail job in the mall, where both of you barely bat an eyelash at each other when you pass one another on campus. What if they go out together and he finds that she is much better as just his work friend? Or she finds the same? What if he's a raging asshole in a club and the glorious image of him is crushed to smithereens? The thought of it bums her out.

But then he's looking at her with this tender, warm gaze, words coming from his mouth like little caresses as he says, "Of course, ys don't have to if you don't want to, but know that I'd enjoy your company." He puts his elbow on the table, his hand pressed to his cheek, looking at her in an almost dreamy like manner and she's about a hundred percent sure it's unintentional which is twice as aggravating as it would've been otherwise, "I think we'd have a good time together."

He's got her, "I'll think about it," she responds, which always means yes, and the smile that she tries to suppress must give her away because Harry bursts into a full-blown grin.

"Thank god, I've been wanting to spice these club visits up for a while now," he rolls his eyes, "Can only handle Eliza and Zig's melodramatic blackout breakups so many times before they start becoming humdrum and prosaic -- I'd like to see your reaction to it actually," Harry twists the ring on his middle finger with the pad of his thumb, "And I've kind of been wondering what a clubbing Y/N would be, if m'honest. Can't decide if you'd be the quiet, contemplative author type in the corner people studying or summat or if m'g'na be seein' you on the high tables in one shoe, an obscure song on, singing every word."

Y/N pushes the heels of her palms into her eyes, shaking her head as a distant memory threatens to prickle her brain from a very disappointing night in college junior year, "I was one of them once and it was an ugly night all around," she admits.

"Well, you've got t'a tell me now." He leans in but she shakes her head adamantly.

"Maybe if you get me drunk enough Friday."

                                                                          .                              .                                   .

Y/N is a little drunk.

Not too drunk; she could still walk by herself and she was fairly sure she would remember this night tomorrow morning at the very least, but it was just enough that she felt like she was floating on the tips of her toes spindling through the atmosphere on cloud nine. She was sober enough to be very aware of Harry's presence at her side all night but far gone enough to not overthink it too badly. It was a happy middle that she very seldom got to experience at any given point of her week.

The night had started off well enough-- Harry came around to pick Y/N up, simultaneously complimenting and giggling at her choice of attire (she brought out a different pair of overalls just to humor the both of them, "Let's get drinkin', at this here club, I've got t'a be back at the farm by cock's crow!"), and drove them to his place, where she got to stay all of three seconds because his mate had come to pick them up. She was only able to experience the messy trough of his living room, littered with clothing and soda cans for a moment in which he uttered bashfully,  "I sort of forgot to clean up."  And when she was opening her mouth to tell him it was fine, there was a honk outside.  

A man called Zig picked them up in a car a little worn for wear, with a loud clanking engine that she would have most definitely side eyed zooming down the road had she been walking somewhere, but he was nice enough. He had got out of the car and pulled the back seat forward, waving a dramatic mocking hand in swivels with a bow, "Your chariot awaits you," he'd gruffed out, voice mixed with an indistinct accent (like he might be Danish or Norwegian in root but Y/N didn't know enough about either to decipher it).

"Oh, Zig, m'honored," Harry tuts his tongue, a gentle hand on the small of Y/N's back as he helps her climb in, "It's not a trashcan for once."

Zig's face skewered up like the words stung, "Well, you said the book bee was coming and I figured the last thing she needed was to ride in a messy car," he closes the door when Harry climbs in beside her, helping her yank the seatbelt across her chest and clicking it in before his own, and when Zig opens the car back up on his side, "Especially when she has to spend a night with us max volume music listeners."

Y/N felt herself flush warm, "I'm sorry about that --" she had begun but Zig held his hand up, turning to face her some as he shifted the gear into drive.

"Ah, don't apologize. We were pricks and Harry gave us quite the upbraiding for it too."

This made  Y/N feel both good and bad simultaneously. Good because Harry had been telling the truth, and the fact that he had somewhat had her back before they even got to properly know one another made her feel warm. Bad because that means she was about to go hang out with a handful of people who got yelled at by their friend/boss for listening to their music too loud. What if they all resented her for it? Sure, Zig didn't seem to care but she had worried about everyone else claiming her to be annoying or summat.

She ended up worrying for naught though because everyone proved to be very kind to her, despite their past grievances. When they'd got to the club, her, Harry and Zig were both greeted with an exuberance that she had never encountered before. They had reserved a booth in the far back left of the club, at a sweet spot where the music wasn't overpowering their conversation and there weren't drunk college students clearly underage falling all over them. The lights were muted purple and blue hues, with spots of red that cast down in random spots, and while all of it was colorful and intriguing, Y/N had never felt more out of her element in the beginning. They were all nice enough, poking and prodding at her brain some, figuring out what kind of person she was, and a few times she was even able to make them laugh (whether it be with her or at her she couldn't be sure but she soaked it in none the less and booked on it being with her because she can be damn funny when she wants to be). She'd been sat beside Harry, who was sweet as ever, checking in on her every so often with a firm squeeze to the thigh that sends tingles up her leg.

Y/N hadn't been planning on really getting drunk at first. Had been content with a few drinks until she was on the pleasant side of tipsy -- but it had spiraled fast when Harry had left her side. She'd never felt more like she needed a security blanket more, eyes widening when he is whisked off to the dance floor before he could make it back to their table after using the loo and she realized that she was with a group of people she'd only just met. Zig was still chatting with her but part of her felt it was because he and Eliza (his girlfriend) had just had a nasty little argument in front of everyone and she was the only other person sat beside him. It's when Y/N looks out to the floor and sees Harry either courting or being courted by a brunette in a sparkly slip dress that things take a turn for her.

This feeling began to fatten inside her; like dark black ink staining her insides, the foul taste of jealousy on her tongue. She doesn't know why she feels jealous even -- she thought she'd been doing a semi-decent job reminding herself that they were merely friends and this wasn't anything more than that. That he had invited her so that she could have a good time, not because he had this secret, fiery love for her that he was too fearful to admit aloud and hoped a little liquid courage would push him towards it. This wasn't a book she was reading, this was real life, and boys don't think in real life. Most of them turn a certain age and bulldoze through people in pursuit of finding their person. . .barely any genuine heartfelt men out there that could compare to the likes of any romance novel written.

So she took Zig's offer up on another shot. And then another. And another. By the time Harry had ventured back to the table, absent of his new friend and slipping back into the empty space beside her, she was floating and her insides were warm from the alcohol. Harry seemed a bit drunker himself, grinning wide and loopily at her, "Hi beautiful," he'd hummed amiably, "Are you having fun?"

"Mhm," she nodded to him, "Riktor thinks that whale noises to sleep are very soothin' but I've convinced 'im that blizzard noises are good too." Her brows furrowed with a thought, "Hey, who was supposed to want to be my employee? Didn't you say he'd be here t'night?"

That's when Y/N was introduced to Niall, whose deep Irish accent explained why he didn't even seem touched by the three pints he'd downed in their time there. He had maybe gone a little too in depth as to why he needed a job (he lost his, can't tattoo for shit so Harry's parlor was out of the question, and his girlfriend kicked him out after a messy breakup) but Y/N still asks if he'd fill out an application for her because it was her first time doing this and she wanted to do it by the books and he had agreed, "I look forward to workin' with ya, if ya pick me," he had told her and she decided then that she probably definitely would (but she was also drunk and is just proud of herself for not offering him the job right there).

Throughout the night, Y/N felt that they liked to poke fun at Harry a lot, whom took it lightly but she's beginning to realize more why he wears beanies or is a little blushy face when she compliments him in any way. They can surely rip him one when they want to, from the slow way he talks sometimes like he's tasting his words before he says them, to his favored pink socks in his loafers, and above all, they tease him for his soft, curls. It almost enrages her to some degree, when they tell him he needs to cut it, or that the manbun wasn't "it", and while she knows its just some teasing between friends, she can see even through her drunk brain when Harry stops enjoying the jests and is resorting to soft little smiles and halfhearted chuckles until they finally move on to a different topic.

It's when he's begun fidgeting with his head and asking people if they had an extra hair tie or beanie perhaps that Y/N decides that she's had enough of it. Pushes her mixed drink to the side and pats on Harry's thigh, "Budge up, then," she urged him, "Going to the toilet." Harry slips from the booth but instead of heading off in the direction of the restrooms alone, she grabs him by the wrist, pulling him along with her. He lets out a few confused noises but ultimately letting her lead him with trusting ease. The bathrooms are tucked in a dim lit hallway with predominantly red lighting and for some reason the marbled black floors that they had been on changes to a stain mottled carpet. Instead of taking him into the bathroom, she instead pushes him down some, up against the wall and looking at him seriously.

"Are they hurting your feelings?" She questioned him, talking in an octave higher than she normally would due to the booming speakers on the other side of the wall and he feigned confusion, tilting his head.

"With what?" He asked in return and she rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"You know what," she pushed and he curled within himself, looking down shyly because he did know what and that makes her heart feel like cracking in her chest. She reaches up, cupping his face in an overly affectionate manner before starting a reel of drunken affirmations, using both hands to tilt it up to face her, "D'ya like your hair?" She asks him, and when he does legitimately look confused this time she reiterates, "Do you like it long?" He barely thinks it over for a second, nodding his head gently and she hiccups, "Then don't listen to them. Same goes with your socks or how you speak. They're things that make you, you and if you like them then who gives a rat's ass what they think about it?" Adding a loving cheek pat, she leaves it with one more thought, and another soft hiccup, "They're only teasin' and they're your friends but teasin' can hurt sometimes too. Let 'em know when they're taking it too far, okay?"

Harry stared down at her with a certain look oozed from his eyes. She couldn't place her finger on what it was exactly, but it's the same look he gives her when she spits out a fact to a question that had just popped into his mind, or when she explains in detail the elaborate plots of some of the books she's read. Its soft and carries warmth -- close to adoration or a fondness but she wouldn't want to put herself on a pedestal with that -- and it makes her want to kiss him. Plant one on his sweet, pink pouty mouth and taste the bitterness of the dark liquor he'd thrown back just a few moments prior to her pulling him off.

"Thank you," he leaned forward, pushing their foreheads together for a moment, "Thank you." He repeated again.

The rest of the night, Harry was planted at Y/N's side and decided he seldom wanted to go anywhere without her. They were leaning into one another comfortably, relaxed, still chatting as a part of the group but also their own sector of thought and stories and jokes that made them a mess of eye-watering giggles. When a joints being passed around and Y/N doesn't take a hit with a polite, "I don't do that much anymore," (instead of going into an in-depth discussion on how she'd read a book solely about the lungs front to back and panicked to the point she'd handed the rest of hers off to her college roommate to do as she wished with it), Harry patted her thigh and gave it a small squeeze.

"Good," he'd murmured, just low enough for her to hear, "You're a good girl, yeah? Don't need this stuff," It had resonated deep within her, threatening a shiver down her spine at the slow syrupy way he'd said them and when she laughs a huff through her nose with a small nod, he grins, "Need'a just be me and you more, m'lungs would be aces."

"Your lungs are already aces," Eliza responds (at this point having made amends with Zig), passing the joint to Harry, "You don't inhale any bloody smoke."

Harry declines it this time around (though he had taken a puff earlier on when they first lit it up), in favor of tucking further into her side, "You smell too good to be around these heathens. . .like cupcakes or summat." A laugh leaves her, shaking her head and she wants to tell him no, that he's the one who smells so good. Wants to tell him how his scent is so lovely and so prominent that she thinks about it before bed sometimes, and in the least creepy manner, it soothes her weary mind to sleep -- but the words lock up in her throat. Instead, she only smiles gently and revels in the warmth of him glued next to her.

At some point his fingers had begun to play with strands of her hair (after asking her permission first), marveling at it and speaking to her softly, like he wasn't doing it. Had they been at home somewhere and not in a smoky club she would have filed this way in a book of sweetest moments she's ever had. He's looking at her like she was made of glitter, a soft gaze as he whispers how he thinks she's doing wonderfully with the bookstore and going on an anecdote of how she was handling running a business much better than him in his first few months. He tells her several times in several different ways that she was basically "kickass" and it's just too sweet. Especially when he begins gloating to Zig, Niall, and Eliza that he gets to see her almost every day. "Nice, pretty face," he hums, "I could only wish to have a face like that, yeah?"  She turned, hiding her face some in where his armpit and chest meet, feeling his chest vibrate with a laugh.

By the time everyone was ready to leave, there were a handful of designated drivers, one of which being Riktor who was much sweeter than he had originally seemed. He held her hand, helping her step off the small drop from the booth they'd been in, and guided her and Harry (who had his arms secured around her shoulders) to his car. He drives them both to Harry's and Y/N's too tired and floaty to panic about the fact that she'd brought nothing to sleep in, or how Harry probably only had one bed and not a particularly comfortable looking couch. Would sleeping beside him be so bad though? She doesn't think so. Thinks it might be quite nice to share a bed with him, dipping her nose into the covers and breathing his scent in deeply.

Harry makes a game of getting them inside, running his fingers up her sides in a tickling manner that makes her shriek and scamper ahead of him. He seems to love that though, the drunken stumbling bound of his feet close behind her until she made it to his door and realized that she didn't have the means to get inside before he did. Swinging around she bats away his playful hands, "Fuck off, fuck off!" She laughs and he flashes her a big old grin, turning around to wave at Riktor as he drove off before unlocking the door and letting them in.

This time Y/N gets to look a little bit more at her surroundings. It was a bit messy but not a pigsty, just some tidying could be done to the living room and it'd be good as new she reckons. He's got two lamps on either side of his three seater couch, a beaten plain navy with a small tear in the arm, a shaggy rug that is large enough to cover most of the hardwood flooring, and a small coffee table top of it. His TV is rather large and it looks like he'd been watching something on Netflix but forgot to turn it off when they'd left, its tucked in the corner on an entertainment center diagonal from the couch. Her eyes flicker along his walls -- a large tapestry of dark, intricately woven vines into some atypical design her brain couldn't conceptualize as anything at the moment, a few art pieces that she'd never seen before and upon closer inspection, she sees his name written in the corner of the most beautiful designs.

"Harry," she all but gasps, leaning in, gently touching her fingers to the edge of the frame it was in, tentacles opened up like the petals of a flower, so realistic it looks as if she could reach out and feel the slimy texture of it beneath her fingers, "This is amazing! I -- I've never seen anything like this before."

"Thank you," he murmurs happily, "I only hang up the ones I'm proud of."

She only fawns over his paintings a little more before she ends up following Harry to his bedroom, where he flops down onto the mattress with a umph and slings his arm underneath his head. Y/N shuffled awkwardly on her feet, standing in the doorway, unsure of what she was to do with herself. It's not until his head lulls to face her, that he waves her over, "Hop on in, Pet, don't have a queen size just so you can stare at it."

"You're sure you're okay sharing a bed with me?" She asks him and his face scrunches up.

"Are you a blanket hog?" He inquires seriously and when she shakes her head, then he nods, "Then of course I am. Now get your cute bum over here."

A fire is sparked to life in her veins as she makes her way over to him. The thought of sharing a bed with Harry was something that crossed her mind more than she'd like to admit it did, and she shivers when the intrusive ideas of something more happening in this bed try to swamp her mind filthy. She ambles over to the other side nervously, crawling in beside him, lying atop of the soft down comforter in her overalls, shuffling some to get comfortable. It may be a queen size mattress but she finds that there's very little space between them, especially when Harry flips over onto his side and beckons her to do the same, "So what'd you think of everyone?" He prods, like a teenager at a sleepover, hair splayed out on the white pillow cover, "Did they treat you well?"

Y/N nods quickly, "They were all very nice. I like Zig most I think, he was sweet. Pretty talkative."

A confused look warps Harry's face, "When were you talking with Ziggy? I don't remember that."

"S'when you were off getting courted on the dance floor," she responded, maybe a little too quickly and perhaps with a little too much fire under her bum. She hadn't meant to come off as jealous as she had felt in that moment, but she's almost certain that she did if his telling smirk was anything to go by.

"Oh, Y/N," he murmurs, reaching out for her hand and bringing it to his mouth in a very gentle graze of his lips against her knuckles and she thinks she might have gone slack-jawed as the next words leave him, "You're jealous?"

She opens her mouth to respond but her minds beginning to resort to mush, the words getting lodged, unlodged, and relodged in her throat until she can finally respond with, "I -- I don't know." Because she doesn't. . .she doesn't know because she thinks she likes him but she's been convincing herself that she didn't and it's all just fucked. Fucked because of course, when she wasn't looking for anyone she would find Harry, and fucked because she wants them to be something, and fucked that all of everything is being presented to her right now when her brain is drenched in Absolut and him and his scent and his sea foam eyes and raspberry mouth.

"Don't need t'a be," he assures her quietly, "Only got room in my heart for you, I reckon."

Y/N doesn't intend to lean forward but she does. Scooting so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath leaving his nose unto her upper lip, her vision unfocused as she gets closer to him until her eyes flutter shut and their mouths meet together tenderly. It's innocent and soft. . .the first kiss everyone imagines when they're growing up, she was experiencing (minus the being drunk and having already had her first kiss) here with Harry. She almost didn't want to sully the moment by pursuing it further but her mind renders lustful as she pushes further, scooting herself closer to him, and a whimper muffled against his mouth when his hand, decorated in those beautiful, brassy rings, lies gently on her cheek. Cradling it carefully like she was akin to the frail petals of a flower, and once she deepens it, pushing closer to his body feeling as his fingers slip from her face down the slope of her shoulder, tickling as they skim against her sides and ending at the round of` her hip, where his grip tightens. It stirs something deep in her abdomen when his fingers dig roughly into her flesh, feeling as she pulsates around nothing when he gives her a rough tug closer towards him, urging her leg around his hip and she feels his cock, firming from beneath his zipper and against her.

Harry moans against her mouth before she draws away, feeling lightheaded as air finally gusts back into her lungs, and her eyes flutter open to see that he's staring at her.

"Y/N," he murmurs, a soft snuffle from his nose as he wiggles, "You taste too sweet, you know? Don't know how m'gonna think about anything but your mouth from here on out."

Y/N thinks that will be a problem for her too.

#OKAY I KNOW ITS A LIL SHORTER THAN USUAL I AM SORRY #BUT I WILL BE WRITING A PART 2 #YAHTZEE :D #I HOPE YOU LIKE IT :))) #WOOOO #HARRY SMUT #OKAY #WOO #WRITING

[eldritchsurveys]

862.

1. have you ever gotten soap in your mouth for cursing? do you think that’s right to do to kids who curse?: >> I did get soap in my mouth, but not for cursing; for “talking back” or being “fresh”, mostly. I was (understandably...) too afraid to do anything as brash as curse. I don’t think it’s an appropriate disciplinary measure at all, unless your mission is to confuse and frighten your child into obedience... which, apparently, is a lot of parents’ ultimate goal, it seems.

2. what age do you think is appropriate for kids to start watching horror movies with lots of gore?: >> I really don’t have a solid opinion about this. I tend to skew a little unorthodox on this front, which is probably best left unexplored (fortunately, this is all hypothetical and I’ll never have to address this situation in real life).

3. do you know what the word “polyamorous” means? and did you ever hear that song by breaking benjamin?: >> I know what it means, and I do remember the Breaking Benjamin song.

4. how many bug bites do you currently have?: >> Zero.

5. what’s one word you always have trouble spelling and can’t remember the correct spelling of?: >> I don’t think there’s any word like that. Spelling and phonics is one of my few strong suits.

6. what’s one band that really sucks live?: >> I don’t know, I haven’t seen any that I thought sucked performance-wise (I have seen a few whose music I just didn’t care for, like some opening acts, but that has nothing to do with the quality of their performance).

7. do you go to warped tour? why or why not?: >> I have never been to Warped Tour. I just never got an opportunity to go, or I was never interested, or whatever.

8. do you have any wind chimes outside your house? how many?: >> No. Some neighbours have them, I think.

9. do you know someone who actually had someone give them a bouquet of real roses and one fake one, and tell them they’ll love them until the last one dies?: >> I’ve never even heard of that.

10. which do you like better, firefox or internet explorer?: >> Firefox.

11. who is the most attractive person on your street?: >> ---

12. do you have a flat stomach? would you ever wear a belly shirt to show it off?: >> I no longer have a flat stomach, and you wouldn’t catch me dead in a crop top.

13. which do you prefer on yourself, long or short hair?: >> I like how I look with long hair, but I prefer the low maintenance of short hair. So, I buzz my head, and I wear wigs when I feel like it. Best of both worlds.

14. what about on your preferred sex? long or short?: >> ---

15. with eyebrow piercings, do you prefer the ring or the curved barbell?: >> I have no opinion.

16. have you ever pierced something yourself? why and what was it?: >> Yeah, I pierced my ears a few times. I did it because I wanted to? And also because I couldn’t afford to have them professionally done. I also did it when I was 16 because my father wouldn’t let me get a cartilage piercing, so I pierced my own ear at work one day. (My father eventually noticed because I put the most ridiculously obvious jewelry in it... hold on, I’m going to find a photo of what I’m talking about because like... what did I expect to happen)

looked something like that. I straight up deserved to get caught.

17. would you date someone who was five years older than you?: >> I don’t date, but that wouldn’t be a dealbreaker if I did.

18. i heard of a girl whose boyfriend cheated on her with a 13yearold (he’s 18) and got her pregnant, so she left him. what would you have done if you were in her situation?: >> I... just can’t imagine being in this situation, sorry.

19. how old was the youngest person you ever found attractive? and how old were you?: >> Oh, I don’t know. Probably not much younger than myself; my tastes always skewed older (oftentimes much older).

20. isn’t it annoying when you’re trying to start conversation with someone and all they say is “yup” or “really now” or something like that?: >> Not necessarily, unless they’re usually much more exuberant and participatory than that. Then I’d wonder if something was wrong (and if it was my fault).

21. if you have aim, do you have any linked screen names? how many?: >> ---

22. which of your favorite bands released a new album last?: >> I’m not sure.

23. are you waiting for any bands to release new albums? which ones?: >> No.

24. what’s your favorite store for buying cds and such at?: >> Back in the day when that was my primary mode of listening to music, my favourite music stores were Virgin Megastore and Tower Records. Ah, nostalgia.

25. what’s the point in buying dvds like “girls gone wild” and other porn if you can get tons more online for free?: >> Well, people generally do watch more porn online nowadays, I think. But the benefit of having a DVD is that... you never have to worry about the video being taken down, and you always have it available (so, even if you don’t have internet connection, etc). It’s the same argument for having paper books or movies/shows on DVD, really.

26. if you had to have one drug (illegal ones, like marijuana and cocaine and all of them) right now, what would it be?: >> Well, marijuana is technically legal here (although I think new recreational dispensary openings in this city have been kinda interrupted by the whole pandemic business, so it’s still a bit hard to access for now). The only drugs I’m even interested in anymore (besides maybe a little low-THC weed, just to see) are psychedelics, and I don’t just want to take them casually, I want a tripsitter or a therapist present. So it’s more complicated than just “getting the drug”.

27. would you ever get a sleeve or a half sleeve on your arm (we’re talking about tattoos)?: >> I would love that. I have had the idea to have a tree-rings tattoo down my left arm like the astronaut character in The Fountain for years.

28. do you have a wireless mouse and/or keyboard?: >> No, my keyboard and mouse are both wired, which is logical. Wouldn’t it suck if I was in the middle of a boss fight in FFXIV and the battery in my keyboard or mouse just fuckin died? Yikes.

29. do you think your biological parents love each other?: >> They did not love each other, from my perspective. I don’t even know if my father is capable of loving anyone, the way he fucking acts.

30. do you have callouses on your feet?: >> No.

31. did you see the commercial for that “foot grater” on tv that basically shaves the callouses off of your feet? isn’t that nasty to think about?: >> That is nasty to think about, and I don’t think it’s even necessary. Anything to make a buck, I guess.

31. what’s your favorite color combination (ex. pink and purple)?: >> I don’t know, I like a lot of colour combinations.

32. ever been to watchmovies.net? what do you think of the quality of the movies there?: >> Yeah. I don’t like sites like that because I can never get good subtitles and also they’re always buffering and shit. I can’t put up with that anymore, I paid my dues back in my literally-broke days.

33. what’s one movie you’re dying to see but haven’t had the chance to see yet?: >> Everything on my watchlists across the four streaming services I patronise. I just don’t always have movie-watching energy (or time), so it’s slow going to get through all my watchlists.

34. would you rather live alone in a huge mansion or alone in a small studio apartment?: >> Alone in a small studio apartment. Unless the huge mansion had a staff, because I really can’t fucking imagine keeping a mansion clean and maintained otherwise. But... huge mansions often come with a lot of acreage... and no neighbours... that’d be nice.

35. if you came across child porn on your computer, what would you do?: >> How the fuck would that even happen? Let’s not get silly here.

36. what’s the last computer game you played?: >> Final Fantasy XIV.

37. what’s the name of the street you live on?: >> Eh, let’s not.

38. would you ever dye your entire head blonde?: >> No.

39. what’s the randomest thing you ever heard of someone collecting?: >> I don’t know, most things people collect seem random to me.

40. how often do you use “<3” or “:]”?: >> Rarely.

41. isn’t it annoying how people walk around thinking hollister logo tshirts and ripped jeans are preppy, even though those things would never be allowed in a prepatory school because of the dress code?: >> *stares blankly in “I don’t care”*

42. how do you feel about abortion?: >> I am pro-choice.

43. what’s one thing your grandmother does that you can’t stand?: >> ---

44. did you ever notice how it’s more tragic if a younger person dies than an older person, even if they both died of the same cause?: >> It does seem that way to people, but I don’t see it that way myself. Of course I’d rather die when I’m old than, like, right now, but hey. It be like that.

45. when’s the last time you snuck around, and where did you go?: >> I don’t have to sneak around.

46. how often do you wash your hair?: >> Once a week, provided I remember.

47. do you think the price for a movie ticket is too high these days?: >> Not here, it isn’t. In NYC, it was fucking astronomical.

48. have you ever been to a drive-in movie theater?: >> No. I’d like to one day, that seems fun. But only if I have a convertible, lol.

49. what’s your favorite musical?: >> Phantom of the Opera.

50. what do you think of dr. seuss?: >> I’ve never read him (that I can remember) and I don’t care.

#surveys #survey #random survey

[haveyouseenmymind]

Welcome at Bad Habits

Here it is, my fic for the @thefanficfaerie‘s  a picture is worth a thousand words challenge! 

The moodboard I chose was Bartender, and to be honest, I’m a bit nervous about this, cause I’m not quite sure that I’ve done her beautiful moodboard justice.

But I hope you like the fic and that I’ve not been too mean to poor Jim. ;)

Fandom: Star Trek AOS

Pairing: Jim Kirk x Reader

Rating: T (for language)

Warnings: bit of crude language (there’s the D-word somewhere in there)

Words: 1816

During your shift your fellow bartender Jim needs a rescue from some pushy ladies, and you’re more than willing to help him out.

The day was slowly starting to fade out, as night was taking over and darkness fell over the city. People were either hurrying along the streets to get back home, or talking excitedly to their friends accompanying them on their search for the best place to spend a night full of fun.

Many of them would find their way to Bad Habits, the bar that you were working at, and where you just had started your shift.

So far business was going slowly, only a few people had already come in and ordered their drinks, so that you had enough time at your hands to clean some glasses, watching as a few more customers entered the bar, looking for booths to sit down. 

For now you were content with the silent and peaceful start of the night, but you knew that more people would come later, making you busy with mixing and serving drinks, getting them whatever they wanted.

You liked your job at Bad Habits, felt comfortable with working in the atmosphere of old wooden charm mixed with the excitement of the new and modern. Your favorite was the wall right behind the bar, which held a huge amount of liquors from all over the world, a collection put together by Christopher Pike, the owner of the bar. 

On some days, when he was working right beside you and the others, he would tell stories about each bottle, and how he came in their possession. Those days were well loved among the people, as Chris had quite some fantastic stories to tell, one of his bad habits, as he liked to joke.

Thanks to him, Bad Habits felt more like home than a simple workplace, felt more like working with family than some randomly put together strangers. 

He set great value on both his customers and even more so his employees having a place where they could feel like they belong. 

Truly, the man had spared no expenses to make this a place one wouldn’t be able to forget. And so it was no small wonder that the bar was one of the most popular spots in the city, and you were quite proud of that, as your skills as a bartender added to that.

But you were not the only one who could mix up a mean drink. Your colleagues were just as skilled as you, and everyone had their own speciality.

One of them was Jim Kirk, Mr. Charming himself, chatterbox extraordinaire and master of mixing fruity sins of alcohol.

With his sunny character and friendly attitude, the blond just fit into the role of a bartender as if it was made just for him. He was good at smalltalk, and always had an ear for anyone who needed it.

And he was easy to work with. The two of you had quite the chemistry going on, you worked well together and always found some time to joke with each other. He was a nice guy, genuinely interested in your life and always up for some fun.

At the moment, Jim was busy serving a group of women that had come into the bar a while ago, and it seemed like some of them were already a bit loaded, and now poor Jim had to deal with the consequences of it.

You were watching with a smirk how they were hitting on him, trying to get closer to him, while he was struggling between mixing drinks and politely declining their advances. At times he threw some desperate or annoyed glances at you, and you had to stop yourself from laughing about his misery.

Apparently, you weren’t the only one.

Leonard McCoy, another one of your colleagues and Jim’s best friend, stepped next to you and stared at the suffering blond with unhidden glee.

“So, poor Jimmy needs another rescue? Whose turn is it?”

You smiled at Len, amused at what turn the evening had taken, looking forward to how it would go on from there. 

“It’s mine. Remember last time?”

It wasn’t the first time that Jim had to deal with some persistent admirers. Most of them were harmless though, and so Leonard and you had started a little game. Every time Jim needed some “help”, either you or Len would get him out of the situation, while having some fun and messing around with the blond.

Last time, when it had been Leonard’s turn, he had walked up to to Jim, clasped him on the shoulder and congratulated him that the rash he had was nothing too serious and that his dick wouldn’t shrivel up and fall off.

You didn’t know what had been funnier, Jim turning beat red and sputtering, or the horrified face of the drunk dude that had been bugging Jim all evening.

Sure, it had been quite a bit mean, but Jim could give as good as he got. The next day Leonard had turned up at the bar with bright pink hair, grumbling and muttering curses, while Jim had looked like the cat who got the cream.

Back to presence though, Leonard looked at you disappointed, as this was clearly not what he had wanted to hear.

“Damn it, I had hoped that it was my turn. It’s time I get some revenge on Jim for always stealing my food. I regret the day I gave him my apartment key for emergencies.”

“You can still watch, maybe that’s some small comfort to you. Now what to do?”

You kept watching how Jim dealt with the pushy women, while, you were thinking of a unique story for today’s rescue.

Then, suddenly you had an idea and started to grin. Leonard, who had left you alone with your thoughts to take the order of a couple, just returned and noticed this.

“Looks like you got an idea. I hope it’s good.”

You scoffed at him, annoyed how he could question your brilliance. So far every one of your ideas for a rescue had been quite hilarious.

“Of course it is, just watch me.”

And with that you started to make your way over to Jim, trying to keep down your glee and concentrate on the excitement instead.

When you reached him, he seemed to be relieved as soon as he saw you, but that didn’t last very long, as it was replaced by fear soon after. Jim hadn’t forgotten the other times this had happened, and so he knew what was coming.

But you kept going with your plan, and simply hugged the blond who seemed to have accepted his fate for now.

“Jimmy, congrats old boy, I just heard the good news!”

You parted from him, and had to held back laughing when you saw his confusion. Then you turned towards the women, who didn’t seem too happy that you had interrupted them in their attempts to get into the pants of the good looking bartender.

“You know ladies, his wife just called. She gave birth to a beautiful baby boy today, so our dear Jimmy has something to celebrate today. Though his wife wasn’t too happy about him not being there.”

Then you turned back towards Jim and realized that he had started pouting.

“By the way, does that mean that you won’t elope with Leonard? Oh boy, I don’t want to be the one telling him that. Poor guy already got his things packed and your name tattooed on his ass.”

For more dramatic effect you turned back towards the women, who were eyeing Jim suspiciously now. You leaned in closer to the one sitting right across you, and whispered to her loud enough, so that all the others would be able to listen to it, too.

“Leonard really has it bad for this little heartbreaker. And so does his girlfriend. But oh! He’s not supposed to know this! He’d go mad if he knew! Hopefully he didn’t hear us...”

Not quite done with your act, you leaned back and let out a long sigh, ready for finalizing Jim’s rescue.

“Yeah, our Jimmy is quite busy, aren’t you? But don’t let me interrupt your evening any longer, I’m sure you’ll want to chink glasses with our new dad here.”

Finally done, you left Jim alone and went back to Leonard, who looked as if he would start howling with laughter any minute now.

“You liked that Len? How’s it looking for him now?”

The brunet tried his hardest to calm down, and glanced into the blond’s direction.

“That was brilliant! One of the more sober girls dragged the others away from the bar and over to a booth.”

“Oh good. You should totally go over and check if they need anything. I bet they’ll leave you a big tip just out of sympathy at the end of the night. That should make up for your food.”

“Thanks, I owe you one.”

And with that he left you alone and headed towards the woman. Meanwhile, Jim had left his spot and came over to you, still pouting and not looking too happy.

“You know Y/N, that was quite mean.”

“What, you didn’t want to be rescued?”

Jim sighed and ran a hand through his hair. You started feeling a bit bad for him. Maybe you had overdone it?

“No, I did. But fuck, did you have to be so convincing? Now I feel like a complete ass, and I didn’t even do anything. And I have the strong urge to apologize to Bones.”

He suddenly stopped in the middle of his ramblings, looking at you in horror.

“Oh god, please tell me that he didn’t really get my name tattooed.”

As this was the final straw, you couldn’t hold yourself back any longer and started laughing. Honestly, sometimes Jim was truly too adorable.

It took you a while to get yourself back under control, but in the end you stopped laughing when you saw Jim’s crestfallen face.

“Aww, Jim. I’m sorry. How can I make it up to you?”

He suddenly smirked at you, mischief twinkling in his eyes.

“How about you call my wife and tell her I’m sorry?”

You snorted, relieved that he wasn’t too angry about the prank and was willing to even go on with it.

“Ah, I don’t know Jim. Where do I get you a wife at this time of the day?Nevermind, how about I’ll invite you for dinner instead? Are you free tomorrow? We should both have the day off and I’m dying to go out and have some fun.”

Suddenly, Jim beamed at you, pure delight written all over his face.

“That sounds lovely. It’s a date!”

You were surprised that he had phrased it like that, but you smiled and nodded in agreement. Then you had to turn away, as someone stepped towards the bar to order a drink.

“Welcome at Bad Habits, what’s your poison?”

tags (Strikeouts I can’t tag): @thevalesofanduin @medicatemedrmccoy @toosouthernforspace @reading-in-moonlight @feelmyroarrrr @0dannyphantom0 @eyeofdionysus @bsotstory @neon-green-bra @loststarlight @imoutofmyvulcanmind @fireboltrose7559 @ree923 @str8-jack-it @flaminglupine

Star Trek: @theartofeheheh

If anybody else wants to be added to or removed from my tag list, or has special wishes for being tagged, just let me know. :)

#photothousandwordschallenge #star trek aos #jim kirk x reader #james t. kirk x reader #reader insert

[rndyounghowze]

An Interview With John D. Smitherman (Part 1/2)

By: Ricky Young-Howze

When you first walk up to the Broadway Theatre of Pitman in Pitman, NJ you look like you've gone back in time. Built in 1926 the palatial performance space looks like it should be either the home of flappers and men in suits dancing the Charleston or mothballs and cobwebs. Lovingly looked after by the owner and staff of the BTP (with the addition of all the new technical bells and whistles of a modern theater) this lovely building is the crown jewel of Pitman's downtown. But this wasn't always the case. Just seven years ago the theatre was on a much different path. They were looking for new leadership and they needed someone with a theatre pedigree almost as varied, if not as long as their venue, to take the helm. That just so happens to be the man who came up the stairs into the lobby to meet Dana and me. John D. Smitherman has done a little bit of everything in the theatre almost everywhere. We were graciously given the opportunity to meet with him to talk about his experience as Artistic Director over the past seven years and “My Broadway” his one man show debuting in three weeks.

The one thing I've learned over three years as a reviewer here is that there are two kinds of theatre people in New Jersey: the kind that you can never get to talk to you and the kind that can talk your ear off about anything you would ever want to know about theatre, local gossip, and the last show they saw. John happened to be part of the latter group but very quickly he honed in on one central theme: his tenure as a veteran of the stage and how he brought that experience to bear running a theatre company. The interview that follows took place across from a table in an upstairs rehearsal room down the street from the theater. It has been edited for clarity.

The first thing John talked about was a very personal subject: how his family reacted to him catching the acting bug. We could see him lean into us and this is where the next hour would disappear as he started to tell one story after another.

“I was still living at home during undergrad, my dad other than polite conversation did not talk to me for a solid year after I changed my degree. because you know he was concerned about you know ‘a music degree?!? What the? What are you going to do with that? You know a performance? What are you going to do?’ But then I started working for the local opera company and symphonies and stuff like that. My dad was a purchasing director at Memorial medical center and so I would go by there if I had a rehearsal in town. I would go by and visit him but basically eat free lunch at the hospital because the food was actually good at the cafeteria. And I remember walking in one day and this was after a year of my dad being obviously angry with my decision and a doctor came up to me a [said] ‘Hey aren't you Frank's boy’ I said ‘Yeah’. He goes ‘I hear you're uh doing Pagliacci this weekend.’ And that's how I knew that my dad was talking about it and was happy about it. Because it took me actually doing it. I know that makes sense as a parent…[I mean] I don't know if I want my kids to go into it because it's so much of a difficult and demanding and iffy profession.”

But he never stopped at just acting. Pretty soon he found he liked branching out.

“I always liked doing multiple things. I always liked just singing like in a concert or in a Cabaret type show like this coming up (His upcoming show, My Broadway). But I also liked playing characters. I liked comedy. And I eventually started liking directing and just things like that. A lot of different interests gave me more opportunities because you know the more you do the more you can do.”

This is how he describes an acting career that has taken him from Florida, Philly, the high seas of a cruise ship, and even Manhattan, to a home in Collingswood where he lives with his wife and two boys. Each thing he's done was a new interest that led to a new skill that led him further down the road. Later on he elaborates how he got to Pitman seven years ago. As he was trying to settle down into a nice neighborhood he got a call from a local theater he had never heard of even though it was really close by.

“When I got here it certainly was not like that (the way the theater is run today). When I got here it was basically a community theatre that was just friends family. Like the artistic director’s son was in all of the shows, or the daughter sometimes. And that’s why they brought me in. They wanted to improve the productions and become a professional theatre and so that’s where things went and changed. And the first thing I did was let people in Philadelphia know about the theatre. I didn’t know about it and I lived in Philly for a handful of years. And then we were going to have Asher so we decided to move to Collingswood which is right around the corner so we were there for about a year when they approached me about taking over. Well it started out as performing a show that was very similar to this [My Broadway] and during that it was to take over. And I mean that was the biggest thing. I never heard of it, my wife never heard of this place, and look at this place! Everyone and their brother should know about it.”

Dana chimed in that it seems so crazy that a lot of theater companies in NJ want to isolate themselves from these Metropolises around them. He latched right onto that.

“You draw from them. I remember working an outdoor theater in Beckley, West Virginia (see I told you he's been everywhere! I swore I was the only other person who’d heard of Beckley) , there’s nothing else around it and that was a 1,500 seat outdoor theatre and we were always packed for every show and I was thinking ‘Where are all these people coming from?’ They come in. You can get things from these other cities and Philadelphia is right there. People literally tell me that they prefer coming here because they would rather come here and park for free. They’ll pay that five dollars to come over the bridge but they get to park for free and they have these nice little restaurants and whatever and the shows, well they say they’re the same as at Walnut Street. We’re not. I can say that because our budget is a quarter of what Walnut Street’s budget is, they have a $50,000 dollar budget for the set alone and our entire production will be $50,000 but we try.

After trying as hard as he could to draw from the Philly crowd and let people know about this great area he started to see an effect on the downtown area.

“In the last five or so years I saw this town turn around, nothing against tattoo parlors and thrift stores because I like a good thrift store, but those kinda switched out and became boutiques and restaurants and that’s the sign of a good city that's starting to develop. I saw that happen over these last four or five years.”

But a theater company doesn't live on its audience alone. John had to also get actors into the area.

“I definitely dove right into the Philadelphia Theatre Alliance, which was even bigger than it is now than when I first got into it. They used to do all kinds of things and now they’re just kind of a bulletin board. But I would always put notices about auditions. ‘These are our shows’, ‘The largest professional regional theater in the area’, etc. And the actors slowly and surely started to come to the auditions and they would get cast and those people had the experience of their life and in a production that they were extremely proud of. And so then that person talked to this person and that person came to audition, etc. And after about five or six years, it took a long time, we now have this wonderful reputation and people like to come out here. We don’t pay well in comparison to some of these other theaters but they’re proud to be in the production. It’s something that they know is going to be a fun process. We try to make it as stress free as possible. I’m a fond believer of theater can be stress free as long as your production team is ahead of the game then you don’t have to have these last minute things that happen in tech week.

And the actors he gets can come from all over. But John is quick to emphasize that while they do have a small house that can house actors that come all they way from New York or across the country ninety percent of his casts come from Philadelphia and New Jersey.

That does mean that his most meaningful relationship isn't with the audience One of the biggest responsibilities of the artistic director is to be a mediator between the audience and the production team and even the owner. He’s noticed a key difference between the audiences of today and then dinner theater crowds of yesteryear.

And you'll have to wait until Part 2 to find out what it is. Check in tomorrow. But make sure you get your tickets for his one man show "My Broadway" now!

[silvertip-studio]

hi can u do a fic where theres a cute irish boy that works in a flower store and theres a rly hot muscular guy that works at a tattoo parlor with his sister next-door and they fall in love over mutual bonding over a certain flower (i like bell flowers)

Ok, this is actually Stryker bc she’s been bugging the hell out of me to finally post some of my OCs. So, here’s a random one-shot that I had written of two of my characters!!! Enjoy :)

Flowers made Ruairi happy. They were Mother Nature’s gift to the world, and were able to bring joy and life in even the darkest of places. Not only that, but there were millions of different variations of them, just like there were millions of different variations of people. It was the perfect system. His shop was brightly lit with large glass windows, and different flowers were scattered across the store. While it would appear disorganized to an outsider, he knew where every plant was and had clearly signed it so that shoppers could find what they were looking for.

Right next door to Ruairi’s shop was a very different store. It was a tattoo parlor. It had clean lines, and was perfectly organized. There was a station where two large, leather bound books of tattoo designs were clearly labeled, the walls had tattoo designs hung in cleanly cut, black frames, and there were tattoo chairs in the back or private rooms along the back wall. It was pristine, and Ruairi couldn’t help but say that he admired the organization every time he walked by to get to his car.

Of course, he had never gone in. No, he had no reason to go into a tattoo parlor, even if he admired the owners organization and the general aesthetic of the store. In fact, he had no idea who even owned the parlor, only that there was a super cute, or could he classify him as hot, tattoo artist that worked there everyday.

Ruairi was daydreaming about the brown haired, broad, muscular, blue eyed tattoo artist when his doorbell jingled, signaling the entrance of a customer. When he looked up he smiled brightly at the panicked looking man before him. He was in a pair of skinny jeans and a black t-shirt, his black hair was messy and unbrushed, and his green eyes were wide with fear.

“Hi, how can I help you today?” Ruairi grinned, glad that he never had to worry about getting flowers for a significant other since he owned the store, and since he didn’t have a boyfriend. However, he did sympathize with all of the poor souls who had come to his store in panic over the years.

“Uh, yeah, it’s my girlfriend’s birthday and her present isn’t coming for another two days, so I need something to give her!”

“Ok, does she like flowers? A specific type of flower, maybe?”

“No, not really. When we first started dating I got her flowers and she gave them to her mother.” The man sighed, running a hand through his already messy hair.

“So, then why do you think getting her flowers is a good idea?”

“I don’t know. I’m desperate.” he ran a hand down his face. “She’s going to get home from work in a few hours, and I have nothing.”

“Lemme see what I can do.” Ruairi offered, then began wandering through the packed aisles of flowers. He scanned them, hoping to hear the customer that was trailing him make a noise of triumph when he saw one that his girlfriend might like. When he had walked the majority of his store with only one bouquet even slightly catching the customer’s eye, he turned to the man with a sigh. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I have for someone who doesn’t like flowers.”

“Fuck.” his hands found residence in his hair and pulled. Ruairi watched helplessly as the man all but sank to his knees.

“Does she like tattoos? ‘Cause, there’s a parlor right next door.”

“I mean, yeah, but that’s her brother’s…and she works there. I can’t exactly go get a gift card for her when she already gets the family and employee discount.” he sighed.

“Have you asked her brother what kind of flowers she likes?”

“No, but I’m gonna now.” he turned and left the store without another word. Ruairi shook his head and laughed. It was always crazy watching what people did out of desperation. He was returning to his little counter when he heard his doorbell jingle again. When he turned, the breath was nearly knocked out of him. Beside the black haired man was the tattoo artist that Ruairi had been fawning over for the past year.

“Fuck,” he breathed, “I-I mean hi.” Ruairi raised his hand in a half wave and felt a hot blush rise on his pale, freckled cheeks.

“Hey,” the artist smiled, glancing over at his friend hesitantly before continuing, “I’m Ryan.”

“Oh, I’m Ruairi.” he stepped forward and extended his hand to Ryan, praying that his hands weren’t sweaty. Ryan’s grip was strong, and Ruairi could see the veins of his muscular hands. It was then that Ruairi realized that the tattoo artist wasn’t wearing a sweater, or sweatshirt, or flannel which he usual wore in and out of the shop. No, he was in nothing but a tank top. A tank top that showed off the thickly corded muscles of his arms, back, and shoulders, as well as the tattoos that decorated his upper arms and shoulders. God, how had Ruairi not seen his upper body before?

“Um, yeah, so I’m Matt, by the way.”

Ruairi quickly pulled his hand back from Ryan’s, looking over to Matt who, damn him, was smirking at the two flushed men. “Yeah, so, Ryan, you’re Matt’s girlfriend’s brother, so you should know her favorite type of flower, right?” The red-headed florist scratched at the back of his neck.

“Oh, well, she’s never really been a flower person. No matter what my mother tried, Erin never quite got flower fever, or whatever. No, she always hung out with my dad and I.” Ryan chuckled, his eyes glazing over a bit as he thought back to his childhood alongside his sister.

Ruairi hated to interrupt his reminiscing, but he figured he couldn’t stay away from his shop too long, so he pushed on, “Well, do you wanna walk around with me, and maybe see if I have anything that could possibly fit the bill?”

Ryan nodded, and the two began wandering the store, Matt trailing behind them. Occasionally, Ryan would point out a bouquet with a smile, but most of the time it was about a tattoo he had done and not about Erin. Despite these anecdotes being useless, Ruairi smiled at the brown haired man. It was interesting to learn about how their, oh so different, professions overlapped.

Ruairi was about to lose hope in their mission, when something seemed to catch Ryan’s eye. When he looked at the bouquet that Ryan was reaching for, he was pleased to see that the man had chosen his favorite flowers. So, he took the bellflowers from him, ignoring the way his heart fluttered when his fingers brushed Ryan’s. He quickly rung up and wrapped the flowers, handing them off to Matt with a smile. Then, he turned to Ryan, “So, why bellflowers?”

“Oh, my dad used to always buy them for our mom, and so they were always around the house. I’m hoping they’ll remind her of Dad the same way they remind me of him.” Ryan shrugged, looking at the purple flowers with a fond expression.

“Here, why don’t I throw in an extra bouquet for you? On the house.” Ruairi wasn’t sure where the idea had come from, but it felt like the right thing to say. He definitely knew it was the right thing to say when Ryan’s face lit up with a smile and color flooded his freckled cheeks.

“I couldn’t.” he waved the offer away.

“I insist.” Ruairi was already running off to get the bellflowers, returning through the crowded store to find Matt whispering in Ryan’s ear and laughing. He had to hold back his chuckle when Ryan slapped the taller man on the arm and hissed something back, which only made Matt laugh harder. “Here you go.” Ruairi quickly wrapped the flowers and held them out towards Ryan.

“Ok, but you’ve got a free tattoo whenever you want.”

“One bouquet of flowers is hardly worth the same as a tattoo!” Ruairi protested.

“Well, I guess you’ll just have to keep giving me flowers.” Ryan smiled, then dismissed himself. After all, he couldn’t leave his shop unattended for longer than he already had.

After that, it became typical to find Ryan stopping in at Ruairi’s flower shop to pick up a bouquet of bellflowers and talk for far too long. Each bouquet was proudly displayed on the front desk of his parlor for all to see, not that Ruairi knew since he never visited the tattoo parlor. At least he never visited until one day he barged in with a grand idea.

“I’m gonna take you up on that tattoo!”

Ryan’s head popped up from where he had been studying a drawing a client had sent him. He looked at Ruairi, stunned for a second, before a grin spread across his face. “Finally. What do you want to get?”

“Ok, first lemme explain, ‘cause you’re gonna think it’s weird.” Ruairi said. “They’ve been my favorite flowers for years, and it’s just coincidental that it—“

“What flower is it, Ruairi?”

“Bellflowers.” Ruairi said, flushing red, “They’ve been my favorite flowers since I was little because my favorite color was purple and I thought they looked like bells. I mean of course they look like bells, they’re bell-flowers.” the red-head spoke so fast that Ryan had to strain to keep up, only managing it because of his years listening to Erin speak impossibly fast. Although, the lingering Irish accent put a strain on even Ryan’s skilled ears.

“Hey, dude, it’s totally fine. First of all, I’m not going to judge you for liking flowers, for fucks sake you own a flower shop. Second of all, I noticed when I chose them for Erin that first day that you got really excited about them. So, I kinda already figured they were you favorite.” Ryan soothed, chuckling slightly at the dramatics of the Irish man.

“Oh, ok cool.”

“Also, we can be tattoo buddies!” Ryan laughed, leaving Ruairi to stare at him in confusion. Of course, Ryan picked up on this confusion and explained, “Look, I have a bellflower tattoo too.” He turned his head and moved some of his messy hair out of the way to reveal a small bellflower tattoo right behind his right ear.

Ruairi blushed, staring at the tattoo with a slack jaw. How had he never noticed the tattoo during any of Ryan’s many visits to the flower shop? “I don’t know. Isn’t that weird?”

“Nah, people have matching tattoos by accident all the time. So, what’s the difference?” Ryan waved him off, already standing from the desk and walking over to the leather-bound tattoo design books. “C’mon, I have a few bellflower designs in here from when I got this. Plus my sister, Erin, has one too, so there are a lot of different versions in here from our brainstorming sessions. Trust me, she just couldn’t quite ‘vibe’ with one.”

As he said this, a girl appeared from the back room. Her shoulder length brown hair was braided back, and she was wearing a barely buttoned red flannel and ripped skinny jeans, and her ears were decorated with glinting piercings. “Are you slandering me?”

“What!? Of course not.”

“I totally believe you.” she threw the towel she was holding at his head. Ryan caught it and glowered at her. Watching the sibling’s squabble reminded Ruairi of his sister, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at the fond memories.

“What?” Ryan turned back to him.

“Nothing, you two just remind me of my sister and me.”

“Ah, so you know my struggle as well!” Ryan laughed, throwing the towel back at his sister.

“Struggle my ass!” Erin tossed the towel onto the desk, before joining them at the design books, “Since my loser big bro isn’t going to introduce me, I’m Erin,” she stuck her hand out for him to shake, and he couldn’t help but notice the vast array of rings decorating her fingers. He shook it, noting that she also had a firm grip.

“Ruairi.”

“Ah, flower shop dude, nice.”

“You know me?”

“Of course I know the guy who saved my boyfriend’s dumb ass.” Erin laughed, “Plus Ryan hasn’t—” she was cut off when Ryan jumped up and covered her mouth with his hand. The rest of her words were muffled into his hands. Ruairi looked between the siblings in confusion, positive that he was missing some key part of the conversation. When Ryan removed his hand from Erin’s mouth he hoped to be enlightened, but he was almost cast further into the darkness. “Fuck, ok. So, sensitive.” she poked her brother in the ribs with a teasing smile.

“What?” Ruairi finally asked.

“Oh, nothing, just that I of course know the guy who keeps giving my brother his favorite flowers!” Erin waved her hand at the bellflowers on the desk. Up until that point Ruairi hadn’t noticed the familiar flowers, and when he turned to see them proudly displayed, he gaped. He had never expected Ryan to actually put the flowers anywhere in his store, let alone front and center.

Ryan smacked his sister in the arm, but then turned to Ruairi with a smile. “I mean I told you they’re my favorite flower, and they give the shop a bit of color, so, yeah.” he said, turning away from the florist and scratching the back of his neck. When he turned back he said, “Anyway, let’s get back to your tattoo.”

“Ooh, he’s getting a tattoo?”

“Yeah, Erin, that’s why he’s here. What else would he be doing?”

“Well, he could’ve been visiting his—"

“Don’t you have a client to talk through tattoo care?” Ryan cut her off as he flushed red.  Erin shrugged, but retreated back to the private room nonetheless. Both men stared after Erin, too scared to look back at each other considering the implications of Erin’s comments.

Finally, Ryan broke the silence. “So, bellflower designs. Of course, I’ve got my favorite design behind my ear, but my second favorite, is this one.” he flipped open one of the heavy books to a page that was covered in various pictures of bellflowers. For a second, he scanned the page, then pointed to one of them. It was two bellflowers with their stems overlapping and twisting together to form a heart. “I mean, we can change what the stems do if you want, but yeah.”

“No, no, I love it.”

“Ok, cool.” Ryan noted the design’s number in a notebook, “When do you want to get it done?”

“Oh, um, when are you free?”

“I could do it tomorrow evening, after closing, that way you don’t have to close early.”

“You-You’d do that for me?”

“Yeah of course,” Ryan hesitated, “you’re my friend.”

Ruairi didn’t quite know why, but his spirits drooped a little. However, when Ryan smiled at him, he felt them lift again.

“One, final, but really important question.”

“Shoot.”

“Where do you want it?” Ryan laughed when Ruairi’s mouth fell open. The florist hadn’t thought about that. So, he made a split second decision, and tried his best to pass it off as having been planned.

“On the inside of my forearm, I’m not totally sure which one though,” Ruairi extended his arms and turned them over so that he was baring the area to Ryan. He watched as Ryan shifted into artist mode, studying each arm and then thinking.

“I think I’d go with left arm.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Once they had discussed some of the details of Ruairi getting his first tattoo, Ruairi returned to his flower shop. However, he found it ridiculously hard to focus on caring for both his plants and his customers, instead daydreaming about the man who was going to give him his first tattoo tomorrow.

**********

Ruairi closed down the flower shop in a hurry. He’d spent the whole day in excited anticipation of the evening. When he walked into the tattoo parlor, he was grinning so hard that his cheeks were aching. However, the tattoo artist was nowhere in sight. “Ryan?” It took a few seconds, but Ryan suddenly emerged from a back room that Ruairi had never realized was there.

“Ah! My favorite client!” Ryan smiled brightly at the Irishman, and waved him over to one of the chairs in the back of the shop. It was already set up for Ryan to give him the tattoo. Ruairi seated himself in the chair and discarded his sweater so that he was in nothing but his t-shirt, arm resting on the armrest.  Ryan cleaned off the inside of his forearm with disinfectant. “You ready?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Good to hear.” Ryan brought the needle to Ruairi’s skin and started the long, painful process. Immediately, Ruairi had to grit his teeth against the searing pain lacing through his arm. When he glanced up at Ryan’s face he was immediately comforted. His tongue was sticking through his teeth and his eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. Ruairi couldn’t help but find it endearing. “We can talk if that makes it easier. A lot of people like to talk.”

“Ok, yeah.” Ruairi agreed. However, what he didn’t expect was for them to end up playing twenty questions. He didn’t expect to learn that Ryan’s first kiss was a boy named Alex in freshman year of high school, nor did he expect to tell Ryan that his first kiss was with a boy named Derek in his sophomore year of high school.

When Ryan finished the tattoo, Ruairi still had one question that he was dying to ask. So, once Ryan walked him through taking care of the fresh tattoo, he asked. “Can I see your tattoos?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth he wished he could take them back.  

“Yeah, sure.” Ryan said with a smile, and Ruairi was immediately comforted. “Can I ask why?”

“Oh,” Ruairi blanched, “I don’t know, I was just curious. Just, I don’t know, I’ve never really seen them all and I’m…I don’t know.”

“Whoa, hey, don’t worry, I totally get it. When I got my first tattoo I was super curious about other people’s tattoos too.” Ryan gave him a reassuring smile then pulled his t-shirt over his head. Now, Ruairi could see so much more of Ryan than he had been able to see when he wore the tank top, and Ruairi knew he’d made a mistake in asking. Especially as he stared at the wolf head on Ryan’s left shoulder, then the mountain range on his back, and then the three patterned bands circling his right bicep.

“Wow.”

“You like?” Ryan looked over his shoulder at Ruairi, who was still staring at his tattoos. He smiled, proud to see the awestruck look on Ruairi’s face. When Ruairi saw Ryan smiling at him he nodded, bottom lip caught between his teeth. “Do you want to see some of my other ones?”

“You have more?”

“Hell yeah.” Ryan laughed, turning to face Ruairi and lifting up his left arm to reveal four hearts forming a four leaf clover on his ribs. Then, he lowered his arm and turned it over to reveal a tree that appeared to grow from the inside of his wrist up his forearm. Ruairi couldn’t hold back any longer and reached out his hand, lightly touching the tree. His fingers traced up the trunk and then the branches of the tree. He realized what he was doing and was about to pull his hand away when he felt Ryan’s fingers wrap around his wrist.

“I-I’m sorry, I got distracted and—“

“No, no, it’s perfectly ok, Ruairi,” Ryan whispered, keeping Ruairi’s fingers pressed to his tattoo. Ruairi instinctually stepped closer, head still bent down to look at where his fingers were tracing the tattoo. Suddenly, Ryan’s hand was no longer holding his wrist, but tilting his head up to look at him. Then, Ryan’s lips were pressed to his and Ryan’s hand was in his hair, pulling Ruairi down into the kiss. Ryan pulled away from him, eyes still closed and breaths coming in pants. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.“

“No, Ryan, I’m—it’s…fuck it,” Ruairi surged forward, one hand on Ryan’s cheek as he bent back down to kiss the tattoo artist. His other hand moved up Ryan’s arm to his bare back, pulling him flush against his chest and deepening the kiss. With the reassurance that Ruairi shared his feelings, Ryan pushed Ruairi against the wall of the parlor. Ryan’s hands shifted from Ruairi’s hair to his shoulders, holding him against the wall as his mouth shifted to Ruairi’s jaw, then neck. “Mm, Ryan, fuck,” his hand had moved into Ryan’s hair and he tugged on the strands when Ryan nipped at the sensitive skin of his pulse point, “Not here.”

Ryan finally pulled away from Ruairi just enough to speak, “What?” he asked, resting his head against Ruairi’s collarbone and nuzzling his nose against the base of Ruairi’s throat.

“Come over to my place. We can have dinner, and continue this more comfortably.” Ruairi breathed, pressing a gentle kiss to Ryan’s cheek and trailing his hand down to rest loosely against the side of Ryan’s neck. After a few seconds, Ryan nodded.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Ryan pulled away, then went up on his tiptoes to place a quick, chaste kiss on Ruairi’s lips. Then, he grabbed Ruairi’s hand and dragged him out of the tattoo parlor to Ruairi’s waiting car.

*************

“Somebody got laid!” Erin sung leaning over the front desk of the parlor as Ryan walked in, fifteen minutes late.

“What are you talking about?” Ryan scowled at her.

“Oh, c’mon, you guys weren’t even subtle.” Erin came around to the front of the desk, standing in her brother’s path, “The shirt you forgot in the heat of the moment,” she held up the shirt he had abandoned the night before, “And, oh, what’s this?” she pushed the hood of what she guessed was Ruairi’s sweatshirt off of his head, “Hickeys! You and Ruairi sure had a fun night.”

“Shut the fuck up, Erin.”

“Seriously? Ryan, if you’re going to have a make-out session in the shop at least have the decency to own up to it, or delete the security footage!” she cackled, dancing away from his attempt to smack her.

“Shut up, it’s none of your business.” Ryan grumbled. At that moment Ruairi walked into the parlor, a fresh bouquet of bellflowers in his hand. Erin hid a smirk behind her hand as Ruairi came up behind Ryan, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“I got you fresh flowers, love.”

Ryan blushed, shooting a glare at Erin before turning to face his new boyfriend. “Thanks, babe.” he took the flowers and swapped them out for the old ones that had still been in the vase. When he turned back around, he found that Erin had approached Ruairi.

“So,” Erin started, and Ryan dreaded whatever she was about to ask, “can I see the tattoo?” Ryan sighed with relief and Erin was already looking excitedly at the part of Ruairi’s arm that was covered in a bandage.

“Oh, yeah. Ryan did an amazing job!” Ruairi grinned, peeling away the bandage to expose the fresh looking tattoo to Erin. She smiled, taking in every aspect of the tattoo, from the intricate petals all the way to the heart that the stems formed.

“I love it! And look, we’re tattoo buddies!” She pulled off her purple flannel to show him the ring of bellflowers that circled her bicep. Ruairi noted that, like her brother, she was cut. Erin also had tattoos decorating her arms and shoulders, and he saw the edge of a tattoo peeking out from the back of her racerback. “Ryan, you’re the odd one out!”

“What? But he has a bellflower tattoo too.” Ruairi protested.

“Yeah, but not one on his arm like us!”

“Wow, if it means so much to you, Erin, I can get one on my arm.” Ryan sighed, leaning back against the front desk. “Where would you like me to get it?”

“Ooh, you’re letting me do this!” Erin was shocked, but she quickly transitioned into smiling with glee at her brother, “Sit down! I’m doing this now.”

“Erin, what about actual clients?”

“We don’t have any appointments for a couple of hours!” she argued, “Don’t worry, Ryan, it’s gonna be great!” Erin tugged on his arm, attempting to drag him back to one of the chairs. He resisted, raising his eyebrows at her.

“I think I’ll leave you two to it.” Ruairi began to back away towards the exit, “I have to actually open up my own shop.” he smiled and gave them a half wave.

“Wait!” Ryan broke away from Erin and raced after Ruairi, grabbing his hand and pulling him into his chest. He pressed a quick kiss to Ruairi’s lips, then mumbled against them, “Have lunch with me?”

“Of course.” Ruairi smiled, gave Ryan one last kiss, then left the parlor.

“I ship it.” Erin cooed as soon as the door shut behind Ruairi.

“Fuck off.”

#request #spirit writing #spirit oc #Original Characters #ruairi x ryan #tattoo artist x florist au #tattoos #stryker likes my OCs too much #follower request #sorta #silvertip studio writing #lgbtq character #gay character #bi character #bellflowers #first tattoo #first kiss #sisters can be assholes #i should know i am one :) #anyway enjoy #oc #i know nothing about tattoos sorry

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #91

UPDATE 91: Getting Along

Last time it was revealed the leaders of the Protectorate are in cahoots with Cauldron. Things are shady behind scenes! So what’ll happen now? Will a new arc start? Let’s find out.

Arc 15, ‘Colony’. Hmmm...let’s see, what could this be about...Skitter intends to fight back against Coil, that’s what she said at the end of the interlude two updates ago. I’m having a hard time linking that to the word ‘colony’ in any manner. Perhaps this arc will be preparations for that?

Or it could be related to the people in her territory. That’s what Skitter is doing, she’s demolishing burnt buildings with Heckpuppy and her mutant dogs. It must be quite the spectacle, seeing a dog hurtle itself towards a building like a wrecking ball and tearing it apart in one go. Also, dangerous. Pretty surprising pieces of debris and other assorted objects don’t fly everywhere. The dog is having fun, Heckpuppy is proud, and Skitter is directing her group of henchmen – employees, I mean, to start cleaning up.

There were twenty-two adults and twenty kids.

Kids as in teenagers, I suppose. Otherwise I kind of doubt kids will be of any help to move pieces of wrecked building around. At least Skitter has the common sense not to let any of the teenagers from reaching the power tools available. There shall be no minors brandishing chainsaws as long as Skitter is here!

While Sierra is tasked with keeping an eye on the group, Skitter talks with Heckpuppy. She’s doing Skitter a favor by using her dogs as the demolition crew, all four of them. As reward, there’ll be food! This was a calculated move from Skitter, hoping this will help mend fences with Heckpuppy and making rekindle the budding friendship her betrayal ruined. Iiiii’m going to be pretty skeptical about that. Heckpuppy is the kind of person that’ll hold grudges for a very long time, I say. I don’t think a friendship is possible anymore.

I’d decided on something simple, as that seemed to work best with Bitch.  I imagined that she hadn’t paid a lot of attention to stuff like food as she took hold of her territory.  Odds were good that she’d asked Coil for a lot of easy food she could stuff in her pockets and eat on the go.  She probably wouldn’t pay much attention to stuff like seasonings or variety in courses.

Sounds like her, yup. Besides, one of the few times Heckpuppy and Skitter were on good terms was during the lunch with Greek food, ages ago. Maybe this will make a favorable comparison to those...simpler times? When was anything simple and calm in this story? Worth a try, anyway.

On the way to the Skitter Headquarters, she thinks about her relationship with her teammate so far. It’s hard to describe as anything but rocky, eh?

Her perspective toward me had zig-zagged between a kind of hesitant acceptance and hostility.  We’d met, she’d attacked me.  We’d gone to the bank robbery, and she’d been open and excited, only to do a one-eighty and start shouting at me after misinterpreting something I said.  Two steps forward, one step back.  Until I’d left the group and then been outed as an undercover operative a short while later.  That had been a good solid one-hundred steps back.

The thing with her is that it really is very easy to say something you shouldn’t. From what I have read so far, seems to me the best way to deal with her is keep a couple handy rules in mind:

1: When talking about dogs, never make statements you’re not 100% sure are true.

2: Don’t get too friendly. Don’t ask personal questions. Don’t touch dangerous topics. Don’t let it show you’re walking on eggshells when talking to her.

And even then that’s no guarantee she won’t get angry with you, really.

Recovering from that breach of trust had proven far more difficult than anything that came before.  Not quite impossible, though; I’d apparently proved myself in the recent past, because Bitch was making an effort on her end.  She was here earlier than I’d asked, for one thing, and she hadn’t murdered me when I asked for a hand with some things I couldn’t handle with my own power.

Somehow Skitter is getting in her good graces again, hm? And it was recent. Can’t imagine what it may have been. Perhaps it was her willingness to try to rescue Grue and how she said she’d do the same for any teammate, even Heckpuppy? That’s a possibility, I think. It’s not like there were other options in the recent past, I doubt it was Skitter’s role in getting rid of the miasma, and I doubt it was Skitter kissing her.

Good to know Heckpuppy is making an effort, though! Although I still doubt they’ll be friends, this should be a step towards being good teammates. That’s as good as this can get.

Being in silence during the walk towards the headquarters gives Skitter the time to think about how to talk with her. She doesn’t want to say anything that’ll ruin everything for a few days or weeks.

Hah! She calls it her lair! Okay, lair it’ll be.

Agreeing what to eat is easy, and while Heckpuppy takes her dog to shed its ton of flesh away from the lair – and not giving Mr. Wildbow a chance to give the usual description, thankfully – Skitter studies the lackeys that are here. There are two named Barker and Biter, who, from the sound of this, have powers of some sort.

Barker and Biter gave me something of a George and Lennie vibe, with the smaller guy as the brains of the outfit, the larger one as the big oaf.

I had to google that. According to what I found, they’re the main characters of the book Of Mice and Men, also there’s a movie adaptation.

Isn’t that the guy from CSI New York? I swear that’s the main character from CSI New York. Now every time I imagine Barker I’ll picture him as the main characters from CSI New York. Delightful!

Biter’s description comes first. I’m pretty sure he modelled his appearance according to his name. No way he didn’t, this is anything but subtle.

He stood over six feet in height with a severe underbite exaggerated by a metal bear-trap style band of metal around his lower jaw.  His teeth, I saw, were filed into points.  His costume featured spiked knuckle-dusters and a number of leather straps and belts over his clothes.  Each length of leather was studded with sharp spikes.

So...it’ll be CSI NY and a walking spiky ball. It’s fortunate these two are likely to be very minor characters and therefore won’t appear often, because I won’t be able to take them seriously at all.

Barker was an inch or two shorter than me, his hair and beard cut short enough that there was more skin than hair showing.  His eyes seemed overly large for his face, with heavy lids and folds around them that made him look older than he probably was.  His ‘costume’ consisted of a black sleeveless t-shirt, jeans and tattooing around his mouth.  I’d seen him in something more conventional when Coil had introduced him to us, but now the only sign of his parahuman nature was the faint smoke that curled out of his mouth.  Just going by his lack of bulk and short stature, I thought I might be able to take him in a no-powers fist fight.

I’m not sure what his power is. Unlike Spiky Ball over there, CSI NY didn’t model his “costume” after his namesake. I suspect it may be some sort of smoke-spewing power? The other possibility that comes to mind is fire, but...I’m not really sure.

While Heckpuppy is away, the henchmen come out to play ask Skitter about how she gets along with their boss. To put it simply:

The girl with her arm in a sling spoke up, “She acts like she’s frustrated with us.  And I think we’re frustrated with her.”

It’s going pretty much like anyone would expect. They’re not fond of their boss and I doubt she’s fond of them. The friction must be constant...and if it’s not solved anytime, I think some bad stuff could happen.

At first Skitter doesn’t want to answer because any beef with their boss should be talked with her. As if that’d lead anywhere, Skitter! They’d make her angry pretty much immediately. It takes almost no prodding to get Skitter to relent, so she gives a few tips that do sound basic.

“I can, but it’s going to sound pretty damn basic.  Be honest, be absolutely clear in what you’re saying.  Be obedient, but be assertive.  Don’t let her walk all over you or she will walk all over you.  At the same time, if you think there’s something worth arguing over, be prepared to fight tooth and nail for it, because you’ll be in a weaker position if you fight over it and lose.  Respect her space and her things, and remember that she’s your boss above all else.”

In my opinion, assertiveness really is the best way to deal with her. The difficult part is being assertive without getting on her bad side. There’s this very faint line between those important distinctions, and it’d be so easy to accidentally cross it.

Apparently CSI NY also isn’t happy with the kind of job they’re getting. Cleaning after the dogs? Pah! And also she’s treating those without powers with...more respect? She’s cutting them more slack than to Spiky Ball or to him. I suppose it’s precisely because they don’t have powers, but I’m not sure what’s Heckpuppy’s train of thought here.

Ah, here is CSI NY’s power.

“Whore.”

The puff of smoke that accompanied the word detonated like a small thunder-clap, mere inches from my face.  I flinched, but it hadn’t been intended to harm.  Only to alarm.

His namesake does fit quite well. I wonder if that’s the extent of his power or if he can do something else with it.

As expected, Skitter isn’t amused by the rather crude demonstration. She doesn’t fly into a rage or anything – outwardly – she calmly strikes and uses her baton to hit him in the chin, push him to the wall, and then poured bugs into his mouth. Unpleasant for him, and even more when the capsaicin kicks in! CSI NY can only gag and he can’t even say anything while Skitter tells him doing that kind of thing to Heckpuppy would immediately put him on her bad side, maybe permanently.

“He has,” the boy with the scars on his face spoke.

It’s official, he’ll be cleaning her dogs’ crap forever.

Heckpuppy returns right after that, silently demanding explanations as to why one of her henchmen is currently choking on the floor with bugs on her face. Once the situation was made clear, it was Spiky Ball’s turn to explain what his power is.

“I make parts of myself bigger.”  He pointed to his mouth, then to the fist with the spike-studded knuckle-duster. “Open wide, swing with bigger hands.”

It’s pretty risky to bite a parahuman, I say. That’d leave him vulnerable to attack and he’d be so close anything they do would hurt a lot. Hitting hard with his fists should be a better idea, supposing he’s agile enough to dodge and counter anything the opponent tries.

Those two wouldn’t be useful at all against the Slaughterhouse Nine because their powers would be largely useless or disadvantageous against them, so of course Heckpuppy left them behind. Now that the parahuman henchmen’s basic information was said, it’s time those without powers talk about themselves.

One of them is a veterinary student and she enjoys taking care of the dogs. Points on her boss’ good side, I’d say! And then she mentions she grew up with a couple greyhounds in an apartment. Heckpuppy is tense, and I’m pretty sure it’s because she disapproves how two dogs that need a lot of exercise were kept in an apartment instead of in an open space. Hm. Maybe Skitter should change topics.

She doesn’t change topics. Thankfully, the former vet student defuses the situation by arguing the dogs were happy and they were taking good care of them. I’m relieved this didn’t get worse. Nowadays she wants to get a dog – another greyhound, and she already has her eye set on a specific dog, one Heckpuppy has in her shelter. Of course, that is if Heckpuppy gives her permission to take the dog!

Grudgingly, Bitch said, “Rather they have a proper home than stay with me.”

I could see the girl’s eyes widen in surprise.  “I didn’t- um.  Thank you.”

Aw, nice! This is a step in the right direction—

“If I see him in some cage in a shelter after you’ve taken him home, I’m going to track you down and dismember you,” Bitch growled.

Neeeeeevermind. But it’s nothing out of character for Heckpuppy, of course she’d make a brutal threat when a dog’s wellbeing is on the line. The former vet student accepts it, admitting if that happens she’d deserve it. A step in the right direction! Take notes, CSI NY.

Now that the social intricacies of Heckpuppy with her henchmen have been dealt with, Skitter has to deal with the intricacies with her own employees. Like Charlotte, who is jumpy and nervous to an extent Skitter is worried about. I can imagine so many reasons why she’s spooked, really. Being in this story means your life is a constant whirlwind of tension, and Charlotte’s life has been pretty bad the last few weeks, and also Skitter’s demonstrations of strength and ruthlessness are scary. Nobody can blame her for being spooked.

No time to think about this, Tattletale is coming. Is it time to discuss the strategy on how to tackle the rather difficult task of toppling over your boss? The one with a power that gives him a chance to correct course and ensure everything goes like he wants? I can see this taking two or three arcs.

I took a second to compose myself, alone in the second floor of my lair.  Dealing with people, the sensitive management of Bitch and her underlings, pretending confidence where I didn’t necessarily have it, and thinking of all the little details that would help me convey the image of someone confident and powerful… it was draining.  It meant standing straighter, having the answers, thinking two steps ahead and using intimidation and fear to prevent any argument or insubordination like Barker’s little stunt.  It meant retaliating in excess to any slight or disrespect.

Everyone would expect all that from any supervillain worth their salt, I’d say. Besides, you know what they say: fake it until you make it. It’s draining, but it’s better than...well...looking weak and letting people walk over you. People like Skitter, who are in charge of a territory, can’t afford to be a pushover. There’s a difference between being kind and being lily-livered.

At the same time, I faced a dilemma on the opposite end of things.  I wanted to help people, and I wanted to build friendships with the others.  With the way Bitch sort of mandated that I go the extra mile, it was hard to be nice to her without seeming weak to others.

I think it’s fine as long as Skitter makes clear you can’t walk over her like CSI NY tried to do. She has that covered, so...yeah, she’ll be fine.

Returning downstairs for a moment, Skitter calls Heckpuppy upstairs so she can take a look at the progress she’s making on the costumes for the team, including hers. It’s a jacket, made with spider silk and therefore it’s pretty resistant. I imagine it’ll also give her some protection from things like bites from dogs! Not that the dogs would ever dare to do such a thing to her, but yeah. What’s important is that it’s sturdy. It even has panels of armor.

There are leggings, there’s the jacket – Heckpuppy gives her approval, cutting Skitter short when she was explaining the perks of the jacket. I’m kind of amused by the thought of zippers in the armpits, leaving practicality aside. Sounds kind of outlandish, I don’t remember ever seeing anything like that before!

Next! The mask.

It was, as close as I’d been able to manage, a recreation of what her power did to her dogs in the form of a mask.  Except I’d made it half human and half dog.

That actually sounds pretty cool, if hard to picture! It even sounds like the kind of thing that’d be up Heckpuppy’s alley. This should help repair the friendship even more. Golly, maybe it really will be possible!

“Looks like Brutus,” she said.

I’m pretty sure that’s a positive sign. Good! It was unintentional on Skitter’s part, but I doubt she’ll correct her about this.

Skitter tries to encourage her to say if there were any changes she wanted, Heckpuppy doesn’t say any. She cuts her off rather curtly.

Her refusal was so curt it gave me pause.  I couldn’t tell if she was upset or happy.

She’s wearing it. That’s as good as it gets. If she was upset, she’d be throwing it to the other side of the room. I don’t think she’s happy, but I also don’t think she dislikes any of this.

Perhaps to try to ascertain if this is an attempt to get on her good side, Heckpuppy asks if she did this stuff for the other Undersiders too. Of course she did! This leads to Heckpuppy saying she told Skitter to leave her alone, and therefore the expected reaction was that Skitter wouldn’t do it.

“Why didn’t you listen when I told you to fuck off?”

Two ways I could interpret that question.  “Don’t worry about it.  Look, the hamburgers will be ready soon…” I trailed off.

Better to not risk making her angry, I guess. Trying to dodge this awkward moment, Skitter turns to go downstairs, and Heckpuppy asks what she wants in exchange for all this stuff she’s making. If it’s necessary to put a price to it then perhaps saying it’s a way of saying thanks for her demolition services could work?

“You’re trying to get some favor from me.”

Well, technically she already did, the demolishing buildings part. Skitter insists this is a gift and therefore there are no strings attached, Heckpuppy doesn’t believe it.

“I don’t get many gifts.”

I shrugged. What was I supposed to say to that? I couldn’t help but feel that if I were a little more socially adroit, I’d have had a snappy answer.

And I’m pretty sure a snappy answer would be the wrong thing to say. Skitter insists these are gifts and as the person receiving it she’s free to decide if she wants to wear it or not. She’ll wear it. Acceptance! Everything about this chapter so far has been about people getting along with Heckpuppy, and it’s going well so far! I like this.

When the rest of the Undersiders arrive, they’re also taken upstairs to take a look at their costumes. It’s nothing outstanding, in terms of interest. Skitter is doing a good job making the costumes, everyone is happy about them. Regent and Imp are getting bodysuits instead. Soon Skitter has a short to-do list.

There was more to do: belts, Imp’s scarf, Tattletale’s mask and Bitch’s shirt, not to mention finishing my new mask, and my plans for different masks for our various minions.

Sierra and Charlotte are relatively accommodating, what with being Skitter’s head minions, but I have a hard time believing they’d accept to wear a mask. I suppose the rank and file would be the ones getting them? Skitter is blaming herself for not being able to protect people, after all. She’d want to provide her employees with resistant clothing, at least. I’m sure in the near future she’ll make a hundred bodysuits of many sizes, for as many of her minions as she can.

Shatterbird is still being led around! Hah! She must be seething like crazy.

There’s a brief moment of retrospection about how much they have changed in a short span of time, and then comes the topic of discussion this arc may be all about: fighting Coil. Lisa and Brian already know it, kind of, now it’s time to tell the rest.

Turns out Coil already knows he’s losing the appeal he has over Brian. Brian already has plenty of money saved, and with the current state of the city he doesn’t really need much help to stand on his own two feet. I’m a bit iffy about this all because...wouldn’t the court want to know where the money came from? I hope Brian concocted a good story for that, with proof and stuff that’ll back it up.

It’s up to Alec and Rachel to decide if they’ll help or not. Does Alec like the status quo? What’ll happen if he says he does and therefore won’t cooperate?

“That’s fine,” Lisa said.  “You’d be an asshole and a prick, but we’d work around you.”

That’s quite straightforward. In other words, he’d be isolated and wouldn’t know what they’re doing or how they’d do it. Other than that, it’d be business as normal, he would be alienated only in this particular matter, I think.

While Alec isn’t particularly enthused about any of this nor feels any moral objections about, you know, having led to Dinah’s kidnapping and subsequent situation as Coil’s oracle, he accepts to help because the world’s going to end in a couple years, so whatever! Nobody likes the flippant negativity.

“Why are you guys freaking out?  Because I’m calling you out on your willful blindness?  The world’s gonna end, and I’m okay with that.  Therefore I’m saying I’ll go along with your plan, whatever it is. Why argue with me?”

Nobody can be surprised he’s behaving like this. They know pretty well by now Alec is...a sociopath, was it? The point is that this can’t be a surprise at all.

Now that they have Alec’s support, it’s Rachel’s turn. Will she help? She will! Because she’s very unsatisfied with Coil.

Smarmy bastard conned me.  Promised me I’d be left alone if I joined the group.  That hasn’t happened.

No kidding, she was saddled with a territory and with a lot of people she doesn’t like at all. Pretty much the opposite of being left alone. Of course Rachel would be unsatisfied. That means everyone is joining the plan! Whatever it’ll be! What’ll it be like, Skitter?

There’s nothing concrete. All she knows is that she wants to have her territory by the end of this, because it’ll help the people in it. Freeing Dinah is the target, defeating Coil the way to do it. As to how it’ll be done...well...who knows.

“We’ve got an awfully small window,” Lisa said.  “One and a half weeks, roughly, before Dinah’s power is back online. Once that happens, Coil becomes a thousand times harder to take on.

He’s already hard to take on because of his power. If he gets Dinah back, she’ll be able to tell him he’ll be betrayed and he’ll take measures to avoid that. There’s only one option: defeat Coil in the span of one week, one week and half at most.

...

This is going to be tough, to say the least.

There’s the mayoral elections, the question of whether the city gets condemned-”

“What?” I cut in.

“It’s arguably more expensive to fix the problems here than it is to abandon the city entirely.  Depends on what the consensus is from the President and all the other folks in charge.”

Ah, Tattletale found out. Coil also knows, and he’s waiting for their decision. If the city is condemned then he has no more use for Brockton Bay, he’ll take his operation somewhere else and he’ll abandon any liability. Skitter and Tattletale are included among those he won’t bring. Whoops! Looks like, despite Skitter’s best efforts, he’s not considering her indispensable at all. He’s not going to let go of Dinah in any way.

Also, guess this means Grue is valuable enough to take with him? He did offer Grue more money, after all.

Things are looking pretty difficult. If Coil ever has an inkling of what they’ll be trying to do, then they’re doomed. He’ll take any measures necessary to stop it. If the city gets condemned, then Coil will get moving quickly and they’ll have even less time, so...their hope would be either for the city to not be condemned or for the decision to take longer than a week? I think Legend was saying it was going to happen – like it was a certainty. I think, not sure about it.

Well, even if it’s not condemned, there are many other factors to consider.

“That’s the gist of it.  Even I don’t know what he has planned for his endgame, here.  It’s looking pretty ugly, to be honest.”  Lisa counted off the points on her fingers.  “The Chosen will be gunning for us, Coil’s got a small army of pretty excellent, well-equipped soldiers at his disposal, he’s got some pretty fucking heavy hitters with the Travelers, the heroes are going to be going into overdrive to establish some sort of control and last but not least, he’s Coil.”

All in all, it’ll be very difficult and nobody will have a fun time. But...somehow, after Leviathan and the Slaughterhouse Nine, Coil seems easier to me. I’m not saying Coil is an easy target! Of course he’s extremely difficult to fight against and the slightest mistake will topple their plans! But, you know, Coil isn’t a worldwide threat. It just isn’t going to be the same.

This doesn’t mean I’m not looking forward to this, though. I am! And it’ll be great, I’m sure of it. Can’t wait to read next chapter next time!

Next time: next update

#worm #worm liveblog #webserial #liveblog #webserial liveblog

[purghhappenings]

Any usopp hcs you’d like to share with us?

WOULD I EVER LIKE TO SHARE SOME HC’S WITH YALL

Okay, 

Usopp totally has anxiety(this is canon) but the strawhats all have individual ways of helping him through it(I’m doing my dream strawhat crew in this so buckle up kiddos)

Luffy can kind of just smile and say something like “I believe in you because the future Pirate King would have no less” and Usopp just remembers “that’s right i gotta be strong for luffy and luffy needs me”

Nami is more of a physical affection type where she’ll just set her hand on his back or brush by him either in the heat of battle, afterwards or before and she doesn’t say much and if she does it’ll be “i’m just as scared so i need you by me” and that gives him courage to fight because his BFF is not gonna get hurt if he can help it

Zoro and Sanji like to use a speech of “we’ll do what we do best, so you do what you do best”(Like in Robin’s arc where Sogeking was brought to light and he was worried)

Brook will always cover him and just kind of encourage him with a tune or afterwards he’s great about lifting his spirits by composing songs where Usopp is the hero

Franky is always down to show him a new invention and be like “here you’re the only one who can fire this” and he’ll fire a giant canon and it’s all good

Chopper is first and foremost one of Usopps biggest fans but he’s also a doctor so he’s bound to have smells and blanket forts ready for when words just don’t bring him back but some nice smelling therapy will

Robin will play him up to enemies “oh you may win against me, but not our bravest warrior of the sea, friend to giants and fiercist fighter Usopp.” and Usopp’ll bust in and be like “ya damn right!!” and there’s also her hands that give him a reassuring pat 

Carrot(i know she’s silly but she’s adorable and strong let her stay) Garchu’s the shit out of him and like I said he craves skin to skin so he always has her right there with him and with her affection(especially after a battle where they haven’t seen much of one another)

Jimbei has been a pirate for a long time so he’ll tell Usopp stories about all the brave warriors he’s seen and be like “but you by far are the bravest” he’s also the voice of reason with Usopp when something is really risky and that helps Usopp have just a bit of backup

Marco(let him join or let him be happy or give me death) has also been a pirate with over 1000 brothers at once, he knows anxiety because he was most of the time the most anxious laid back brother in the world

Thatch: marco you alright?

Marco in a deadpan: my heart rate registers as a panic attack

Thatch: ????? Do you need a doctor

Marco: just some god damn peace and quiet

So Marco is an actual pro about reassuring usopp and even helping him in the midsts of battle kind of like Zoro and Sanji, he’ll tell him a sniper shouldn’t fight on the front lines fall back, get to a high place, help us from there and that if he does that he’s the bravest ever to go off on his own and snipe where enemies could still find him

Usopp is canonically the best story teller ever, and Luffy and Chopper love his stories and if they’ve woken up to their own respective reasons and Usopp happens to be awake they’ll beg for a story and get an epic adventure 

Has the steadiest hands in the world so sometimes chopper will ask him and robin for medical help so long as Usopp isn’t panicking but if Chopper can get Usopp in his sniping mind then he’s gucci

Has to know how to do hair cause now he has a lot and often will be seen with Nami and Robin brushing their hair in the morning talking about new methods and better/healthier care

When he meets his dad and his dad is like “you grow your ammunition???” he’s like “beats buying and hand carving it” and Benn and Yassop just get dumb quiet and Shanks and Rockstar lose their shit because “oh my god, you both look like idiots to your child” 

For everyone’s information Usopp would def be an art kid in a modern AU and I read a fic where he’s an aspiring tattoo artist and I am DOWN WITH THAT

He is well versed on poisonous plants and harmful plants(from his island) and a lot of insects so when they’re on islands even though he really hates it sometimes, they bring him along to tell them about various plants and what to stay away from(Chopper and him are unstoppable from medicinal to hazardous to harmless plants and herbs)

I HC Usopp as Bi-Sexual and Demisexual 

Nami and him are BFF’s but he and Luffy are BFF’s as well but they’re different BFF’s with different requirements and it’s like a club

Nami and Usopp can and will trash talk an enemy into the ground(@foxy) 

Zoro said in passing one time “you’re braver and more outgoing, it’s a nice look on you” and Usopp could not stop crying for three hours

He also works out with Nami and Zoro(it’s almost like Zoro is teaching a class at this point) and like with Zoro Nami is not afraid to push them, but Usopp turns the table on her if she tries to skip out 

“If you stop now, you pay us double allowance” and she’ll surpass both of them and they have to pay her to stop

Usopp has studied his crew mates, their weaknesses, strengths, likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc.. and is basically more knowledgeable that Bartolomeo and Bartolomeo would have declared war had Usopp not been a strawhat(he does insist on Usopp’s classes) but Usopp denies and cooly states “A sniper must have the crews back and front, so I must know all!” and everyone thinks that’s just the coolest

After the Two Year time skip everyone constantly touches his new muscles because “jesus christ what did you do the past two years?”ˆ and he doesn’t really have the heart to tell them he was running from giants insects and plants because… that doesn’t sound cool??? but then he hears Sanji’s story and everyone makes fun of Sanji so Usopp tells them and Luffy says cool to the bugs because he’s a nerd but everyone else literally just hugs him and says “you went through real hell” 

Usopp can keep a party going for hours whether it be in song, in story, or in dance like everyone will be passed out but if there are islanders or other pirates still awake, he’s with them and when everyone else wakes up it just keeps going

Is the friend that makes a point to ask all his friends if they’re doing alright. 

Usopp is so underrated as a character and isn’t considered very strong but like, for a normal run of the mill kid who went from lying, scared, under confidant nerd to a guy who admits when he’s scared and works around it and uses his weaknesses as strengths as much as possible he deserves a lot of praise because the Strawhats need him almost as much he needs them

Also if I find anyone shit talking Usopp, it’s 1v1 in a backalley at sunset 

Thank you for the ask!!! I hope you like them(everyone else too) Don’t hesitate to send me more or ask me something else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the Strawhats and it’s been a while and I’ll always love them!!!!!!

#anon ask #usopp #god usopp #The Straw Hat Pirates #strawhats #monkey d. luffy #nami #roronoa zoro #sanji #tony tony chopper #Nico Robin #cyborg franky #soul king brook #jimbei #Marco the Phoenix #bartolomeo #one piece #ask thing #i will always love usopp #i didn't like him as a kid for some reason #but man i wish my kid self could see where he is now #i wonder if i'd like him #please feel free to come ask me more stuff! #i appreciate all of you all the time #Usopp hcs

[lickstynine]

I know it’s a lot, but could you do all the whump questions for Wren and Kit?

well this took about a thousand years. you better like it, you big nerd

~Physical~

1. Do they have any sort of physical condition or mark that impacts their daily life? (chronic disease, deep scar, disability)Kit has CVID, so he’s pretty perpetually sickly. He also has untreated depression that’s part of the cause of his awful drinking habits.Wren has anxiety, asthma, and IBS-D, all of which pretty well hinder his attempts to keep up with and interact with his peers. He can’t really run around and play, and he gets scared super easily, which just makes his IBS worse.

2. What is their pain tolerance? Do they close their eyes and block it out, or go into a full blown panic?Kit can tolerate a fair amount. For the most part, he’s very used to tattoo/piercing pain, but long sessions of linework can overwhelm him. Pain from illness, however, like sore throat/stomachache/headache tends to hurt more and make him more irritable.Wren doesn’t have the best pain tolerance. Pain tends to make him nervous, cause chest pain = asthma attack, and stomach pain = IBS attack. Which (ironically) both often lead to panic attacks.

3. How long do they typically take to recover from illness or injury compared to average?They’re both quite frail and sickly, but Kit especially takes ages to recover.

4. What are the most telltale signs that they’re sick or injured?Kit gets extra bitchy. Like more genuinely mean instead of lighthearted mocking.Wren will be more fussy and sensitive than usual. If he’s around family, he’ll let them know he’s feeling bad, but if he’s at school, he’ll try to tough it out rather than draw attention to himself.

5. What is their response to their friends or loved ones in pain?Depending on the severity, Kit will either tease them, or try (and usually fail) to be helpful.Wren will offer help and comfort as best he can.

~Emotional~

6. How easily do they cry? Is it different alone vs in public?Kit cries more easily than he’d care to admit, but it’d take something serious for him to sob in public. Normally he tries to keep himself together until he can go home and bawl into a bottle of whiskey.Wren is very sensitive, but will do his best not to cry in public. He’ll run off to somewhere like a bathroom or an empty hallway and then just sob. If he’s at home, he’ll seek out Jace or his mom for comfort.

7. Is there any emotion they find difficult to control (anger, sorrow, anxiety)?Kit struggles a lot to keep a handle on his depression. He also still has trouble with the grief from losing his mom.Wren has major issues with his anxiety.

8. Is there a place, name, object, etc. that holds painful memories for them?For Kit, it’s anything to do with his mother, her name, her picture, her old belongings. He also has issues with funerals/cemeteries, because hers was the first funeral he ever attended.Wren is completely terrified of school. He’s had issues with bullying his whole life, and just being surrounded by tons of people and academic pressure all day is awful for him.

9. In a dire situation, are they fight, flight or freeze?Kit would try to fight, but he’s so weak, it really wouldn’t do much. He usually tries to talk his way out of things before they escalate to a physical confrontation.Wren just flees. Or he tries to anyway. He can’t like run super far, cause asthma, but he definitely tries to just gtfo if he sees signs of danger.

10. How stable do they consider themselves? How stable are they really?Kit is a weird one. Most of the time, he considers himself to be pretty decent, but on low days, he’s all too aware of just how much he doesn’t have his shit together. He’s horribly unstable.Wren has, at best, a very tenuous and fragile stability. A gentle sneeze could throw it off. He’s aware that he’s pretty unstable.

~Social~

11. Within their group, where do they fall during emergencies? The leader, the support, the cause of the emergency, etc.?Kit is usually the cause of the emergency. He’s a mess. He does have the finances to help deal with said emergencies, though, which is nice.Wren just tries to help, but isn’t very useful.

12. Do they have someone they trust during their own time of need, or do they prefer to handle it alone?Kit will clam up initially, but if prodded, he’ll accept help. And he definitely needs it.Wren needs so much help. He’ll run right to Jace or Serafina with a problem.

13. Is there a character who often finds themselves worried about your OC?Alistair is always worrying about Kit, though I can’t say I blame him.Jace and Serafina both worry about Wren a lot.

14. What kind of image would they like to portray to their group? How does the group really see them, good and bad?Kit tries to be the suave intellectual. Julius totally sees him that way. Alistair does think he’s smart, but he also knows that Kit is way less chill than he lets on. His less-close friends fall for the ruse completely.Wren doesn’t really have a ‘group,’ the only people he voluntarily interacts with are family, and they know him inside and out.

15. Is there an antagonist or someone who would like to see/make your OC suffer?Violet is still a bit of an issue for Kit, cause they have a lot of the same upper-class acquaintances, who she’s been talking shit about him to. His real problem, though, is his father, who is an actual physical threat with way less decency and restraint than Violet.Wren has lots of issues with people at school. His schoolmates fall into two categories - those that ignore him, and those that actively bully him.

~Spiritual~

16. Do they have any regrets in their life?Kit regrets most of his existence tbh. He feels like he should’ve done something to protect his mother (even though she (probably) died of natural causes, and he was too young to have helped either way. He feels like an idiot and a failure academically because he just kinda gave up on school when he started having memories issues. He thinks he’s too dependent on his father (he definitely is), and should’ve tried to move out and get used to being a functioning adult (he should’ve), but is in no state to do it now. Wren doesn’t really regret much, save for the occasional ill-advised snack that fucks up his tummy. Most of his problems are outside his control, so he’s just kinda trying to cope with them.

17. What is something they dislike about either themselves or the world?Kit hates how spoiled and dependant he is.Wren wishes he weren’t so nervous and awkward.

18. Is there a situation that might make it impossible for them to relax?Kit is always on full alert when his father’s around. He has trouble sleeping sometimes when he knows Reggie is home.Wren cannot handle being out in public. Crowds and strangers freak him out.

19. Are they honest to themselves, or do they ignore feeling hurt or sad?Kit tries to drown all his bad feelings in liquor.Wren is aware of his bad feelings, but doesn’t know how to deal with them.

20. Do they like to be alone with themselves often or surrounded by friends?Kit likes to have people around. Being by himself for too long tends to send him into a depressive spiral.Wren is very introverted, and prefers to spend most of his free time alone.

~Environmental~

21. Does the weather in your setting ever affect their health?Kit is very sensitive to temperature, both heat and cold, so pretty much any weather that isn’t a mild, cloudy day is unpleasant for him.Wren sometimes overheats, because southern California is hot as balls. He also sunburns really easily. He likes gardening in theory, but can’t handle the weather enough to actually get into it.

22. Is their community unsafe for them in any way (violence, pollution, etc.)?Kit’s community is rather toxic socially, what with all the snobbery and shit.Wren’s school community is just awful to him, but he lives in a nice community with nice people.

23. How do they feel about hospital environments?Kit is pretty used to them by now, cause he’s perpetually sickly. He still doesn’t enjoy it.Wren is very nervous around doctors and hospitals.

24. In what season do they typically get sick?Kit gets sick constantly, no matter the season.Wren is worst in the fall and winter, but spring and the pollen fucks with his asthma.

25. How easily do they catch any bug going around?Kit will catch every one. He’d get them twice if it was possible.Wren is fairly sickly too, but not as bad as Kit.

~Occupational~

26. Are there any risks for illness or injury specific to their job?Kit doesn’t work, so no.Wren doesn’t have a job, but he goes to school, and there’s obviously lots of awful kid germs there, as well as violent bullies.

27. Have they overworked themselves into sickness or collapse before?Kit does occasionally. He’s sick so often that he’ll try to brush it off it it’s not serious, but then they’ll get worse cause he’s not taking care of himself.Wren is pretty good about just staying home if he doesn’t feel well in the morning, but if symptoms come on during the day, he’ll try to power through and that never goes well.

28. How sympathetic is their boss when they have to take a day off? Is this a source of comfort or stress for them?Neither of them have a boss, but Wren’s teachers tend to be understanding, since he has a doctor’s note explaining that he’s a sickly fucker.

29. When they do come into work sick, do they strive to remain professional or let everyone know how miserable they are?Kit is a complainer.Wren stays quiet, he doesn’t want the attention.

30. Who do they go to with their problems at work, if anyone?Kit

~Intellectual~

31. What’s one skill or aspect of themselves that they feel self-conscious of?Kit is really displeased with his failing memory. It especially upsets him when he forgets important things like Alistair’s birthday, or what his mother sounded like.

32. Do they push themselves too hard/give up when minor things get difficult? Kit tends to just avoid things he’s not good at. He’s a giver-upper / problem dodger.Wren will try his best no matter what.

33. Have they worried before about never meeting anyone’s expectations, or always having to meet them?Kit has been told he’s inadequate since like the day he popped out of the womb looking frail and feminine. He tries to ignore his father’s expectations, but he’s lowkey pretty insecure.Wren wishes he could fit into the social standards his peers hold him to. (not that their opinions actually matter worth shit)

34. Do they have an interest skill they excel at but are embarrassed of?Kit is very good at the piano, but rarely plays after all his forced childhood recitals. These days, he only really uses the talent to get him laid.Wren is a good singer/pianist, but he’s too shy to ever show anyone.

35. How do they respond to being criticized for their shortcomings? Kit will try to defend himself most of the time, unless he’s hit right in the insecurities. Then he’ll just kinda try not to cry.Wren will just sorta humbly agree until the person goes away and then feel bad.

#whump #illness #injury #angst #whump asks #oc asks #kit #raycraft #wren #astor #tw abuse #tw mental health #tw alchoholism #god idk how to tag this shit #dont-look-so-good

[charmspoint]

I know you said they don't have a concrete story yet, but would you be ok with telling us more about Zan and Ghost? They seem really interesting

Anon you don't know what you unleashed its like past 1am here but I could talk about them forever.

This is gonna be under the cut because nobody has to be subjected to this.

General quick point: Both of these started off as bnha oc's but then reached that point where I was like 'yeah, I want them in their own story' so rn their powers are just powers with no wider context since I aint got that story

I'm gonna start with Zan cuz he's older by creation and my fav oc atm. For him we have TW's of child abuse and neglect, familial death, trauma, drug abuse, depression and anxiety, though I'll be running through this points as quickly and non graphically as I can cuz...I'm not gonna make you read my thesis so it should be fine.

His full legal name is Kazuya Moriyama but he goes by Zan Mori, he's 24. Zan was created to be two things 1. Character design with a fully body tattoo 2. Someone to use a power I came up with but didn't match with a character yet.

Here's that power, yes I have a copy paste off it:

Nightmare fuel is a power that terrorizes everyone, including its user. Zan’s sweat contains a special kind of chemical that when smelled causes mild to severe hallucinations, paranoia and other fear responses by interacting with victims brain chemistry. However, this chemical is only contained in sweat that he produces as a result of fear so, for example if he goes running in the gym, nothing bad will happen. The strength of the power depends on how much Zan himself is afraid and how much sweat he is producing. A weak dose will only result in sense of unease, a feeling of being watched, escalating through general paranoia, with its worst manifestation being complete loss of touch with reality and intense hallucinations. It's odorless and since it’s a chemical can be stored for later use. The last stages of it are very hard to reach because they require for Zan to be at similar levels of severe distress. It affects him as well, often resulting in endless loop of him being afraid, activating his power because of his fear, the power causing more intense fear and so on.

So here is where we start to build.

Zan's backstory hinges on him developing this power very early on in his life, as a result of mutation that his parents were not ready for. Kids get scared of things, a lot, especially when their own power feeds back into that fear. His family quickly spiraled from it, going from trying to figure out how to help him to neglecting him to dying very bloodily in front of him as a result of the constant psychological distress. After that he was cycled through different foster and youth homes with pretty similar result before striking it on his own basically as soon as he could.

Zan's main motivation is to find a way to get rid of his power. He hates it, hates what it represents and how it essentially stripped away his ability to connect with anyone. He doesn't control it, he doesn't activate it, it simply happens to him whenever he gets distressed and as someone with deep seated anxiety caused by that very same power, he gets distressed a lot.

He self-medicates. He self medicates a lot. I don't really have the world planned out but it's very much a world where powers are a new thing and the society just doesn't have systems in place to catch people like Zan. So he basically keeps himself high as much as he can, to numb himself out so he doesn't feel anything so he doesn't get scared so his power doesn't get activated.

When I created Zan, I expected him to be a very jaded, angry, abrasive character and in some ways he is. He's very slow to trust and tends to keep away from people. His first instinct is to mock and insult, he dresses like an emo reject, he's absolutely covered in tattoos, he's a dark humored pessimist and just not the kind of person you want to be around for long. He's also probably one of the most empathic characters I have on the roster atm. He's like, a natural big brother. Any kids younger then him, fuck older than him but awkward and unsure, he's instantly adopting. Fuck everything else, his kids now, he'll make them lunch and make sure they get to school. Zan is more so abrasive out of need than out of actual malice or bad attitude. He does want to be close to people he just knows how that always ends so keeping away is a lot safer. He is genuinely very loving and soft when he lets himself be. He's not great about advice but he's a good listener and the type to throw everything on the backburner to come and help a friend out. He is inherently kind, he just doesn't allow himself to be so very often, unless someone damn well takes a chisel and digs it out of him.

Fun fact time:

He's got a knack for painting and idolizes Van Gogh

He's got a cat named Shikei who he picked up after it got run over by a car, it likes only him and wants to see the rest of humanity burn

Here are his established tattoos, yes I have a copy paste for that too:

Full body tattoo in shape of a jungle of thorns crawling over his entire body, save most of his face. The whole piece is done in eerie, cold colors, with a sudden splash of warmer color here and there, the thorns themselves being colored in misty and muted blues and greens. Over his heart, there is a tattoo of a birds nest, but the nest is breaking apart, suffocated by the thorns clustering around it and breaking into it, its branches drenched in blood, the baby birds in it barely even noticeable. Along the length of his spine and over the width of his hips an ornate cross of st. peter is painted, also crumbling, red spider lilies breaking through the frail rock. His shoulder blades are covered in sunflowers, strikingly bright on the cold surface of the thorns and painted in Van Gogh style. There is a chain of daisies lines across his neck and down to his chest, covering an old scar and a tiny ring of roses over his ring finger. On the nape of his neck, two butterflies are pinned by the thorns, appearing to still be alive and in agony as their bodies are pierced. A silver snake slithers through the thorns on his right arm, though its shade helps it blend in with the color of thorns, it’s body a tiny bit coiled, considering should it strike or not. On the back of his left hand there is a tiny leaf bug, trying to hide amidst the bare thorns and on the outer shell of his ear, mostly hidden from view by his head, is a ladybug, wings spread like it is about to fly away. A swarm of blue butterflies paint the silhouette of his lungs across his skin and two koi fishes circle each other endlessly on his hip. In thorns climbing up and down his neck, there are tiny fireflies, just barely bright enough to be seen. Two thin thorn branches separate themselves from the cluster on his neck and climb across his temples, their thorns appearing to be piercing through his skin and letting blood flow.

The tattoo is still in progress.

This was the brief summary.

Ghost! Ghost is a lot newer than Zan, I only made them at the start of this year so they are a lot less detailed but they hit the ground running. Their tw are mostly prostitution and existentialist feelings but I'm not getting into anything in detail.

Their full name is Ghostown Verb and yes they did name themselves that. They are 27 and their power is Forget me not, as I said previously, as soon as they are out of someone's line of sight, to that person it's like they never existed. The memories of meeting them return as soon as they are back in the field of vision but uhh you can see how it would be super easy to lose a child like that.

Ghost grew up on the street in a kind of do whatever you can when you can how you can attitude. Turns out it's really hard to get help from anyone when they can't remember you as soon as they stop looking at you, which includes but is not limited to social workers, well meaning passerby, police, foster homes and landlords. The name and face for the paperwork doesn't exist and people just find themselves grasping at nothing, feeling like they are forgetting something but not knowing what it is. It works in some ways, shoplifting is a lot easier when you're sure that you can just turn a corner and be safe, but it's mostly just a hassle. Ghost is homeless most of the time and when they were old enough for it their career of choice became prostitution simply because it's pretty much the only job where the customer doesn't need to remember you after they're no longer looking at you and it's not like Ghost has to answer to any boss who would have to either.

They had not had a kind life but they are the let and let live type. They don't stress a lot about things and generally take everything in a fly. They are very extroverted, very loud, very friendly. They form friendships fast because they know they'll lose them fast and same goes with love affairs. They live in the moment because for everyone else the moment is the only place where they exist. Loud fashion, loud words, loud actions, provocative and noticeable, they just want to be seen by people, remembered by people, they want the attention on them even though they know it's useless. Much like Zan they also have no control of their power so all they can do is live with it. At least it doesn't bring anyone any direct harm, they are grateful for that much.

But it does leave them displaced, unanchored. They don't have any support system, no family, no long term friends. The system can't even remember them for long enough to decide it isn't equipped to deal with them. They flitter through peoples lives, there one moment and gone the next. The biggest impact they can hope to have is the nagging feeling of having forgotten something.

It's not like they are exactly sad about it, their main mentality is just not to worry about things they can't change. These are the cards they've been dealt with and play those cards they shall. At the very least they are having fun with their life, doing whatever they want with no one remembering them long enough to stop them.

But it's a lonely existence with no viable human connection. That much does get to them.

Fun facts!

They have a tattoo of a forget-me-not on their shoulder, I haven't decided do they have it before the plot whatever it is starts, or do they get it cuz Zan's influence.

They like to make their own clothes when they can, though having a stable enough place to be for a long enough time is rare.

Their biggest fear is that when they die nobody will remember to look for their body :)

That was a brief rundown of these two! If you made it to the end damn congrats I love you

#anon #oc talk #I CAN TALK A VERY LONG TIME ABOUT MY OCS THIS ISNT EVEN THE DEEP DIVE #it might look like i like ghost less cuz i got way less for them but bls remember that zan is like....fuck like 3-4 years old #probs 3 as he is #4 if we count the thrown away beta design #ghost was born in February this year he's not even a full year old what a baby #ahhhh but anyway thank you for asking im always super excited to talk about my ocs #thank you for letting me geek out!!!! #i am NOT going to spell check all of that rn its almost 3am if i wrote something badly you'll have to live with it #zan mori #ghostown verb #they should have their own tags they deserve it #zan #ghost

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1208

Monday, April 16, 2018

 Today is going to be challenging here in Ottawa. Freezing rain overnight has left thick ice on everything. It's going to take a lot of muscle and time to scrape off any cars parked outside overnight. Penny has been going at hers for half and hour and she still hasn't left for work. I would normally go out and help her but I caught a bad cold and I feel like poop. I probably got the bug on the flight home from Cuba last Tuesday. My immune system let me down this trip.

 Our week at the Brisas Guardalavaca resort in Cuba was near perfect. Beautiful sun every day. I took one of the resort bikes out for a ride on one of the only cloudy mornings, got rained on a little but made it back to the resort unscathed. I donned mask, snorkel and fins every afternoon but one to swim out to look for tropical fish on what remained of the reefs after last year's hurricanes. I'm happy to be home but I wish winter would finally leave the area. Just going to stay in today and try to get better.

 Domino #1 - Gail Simone (writer) David Baldeon (art) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Killer Instinct part 1. It's my lucky day. The merc with the facial tattoo is back on the racks and she's being take care of by a writer and artist team that I like a lot. This story starts off with Neena Thurman's birthday but may end in her death day. If I didn't like this whole issue and the many guest stars so much, that last page guarantees that I will be reading the next issue.

 Immortal Men #1 - Jim Lee, Ryan Benjamin & James Tynion IV (storytellers) Jim Lee & Ryan Benjamin (pencils) Scott Williams & Richard Friend (inks) Jeremiah Skipper & Alex Sinclair (colours) Carlos M. Mangual (letters). The End of Forever part 1. I used to get excited when I saw Jim Lee's name attached to a new project because his art was so fantastic. At least to me it was. His X-Men and Batman stuff made me go "wow". Now I look at his art and feel meh about it. This latest New Age of Heroes book introduces a team of immortals that are brand new to me. None of them made a positive impression. I didn't finish reading the Dark Nights Metal stories and this team ties in to that series so that's probably why I couldn't get into this debut. These Immortal Men will be short-lived.

 Xerxes #1 - Frank Miller (story & art) Alex Sinclair (colours). I really liked 300 when it hit the racks 20 years ago. This new 5-issue mini promises to be just as good. This time the Greeks and the Persians go at each others' throats in 490 BC. I have an interest in ancient history so I'm going to follow this story to see what happens.

 Exiles #1 - Saladin Ahmed (writer) Javier Rodriguez (pencils & colours page 4) Javier Rodriguez (pencils) Jordie Bellaire (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Here we go again with Blink leading a team of heroes to save the multiverse. This first issue introduces two team members and the big bad guy that they'll be facing. I liked this debut. It reminded me of the Unstoppable Wasp book with young Nadia. I really enjoyed Javier's art in Spider-Woman so I'm giving this new book a chance.

 Batman #44 - Tom King (writer) Mikel Janin & Joelle Jones (art) June Chung & Jordie Bellaire (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). I loved the silent scenes where Selina picks out her wedding dress. Those pages are interspersed with flashbacks showing different times in Batman and Catwoman's tumultuous relationship. The lead up to the wedding has been amazing. I'm starting to get a bad feeling about the blessed event however. The "'til death do us part" part may be a nasty surprise that the creative team are going to spring on us. I really hope not.

 Oblivion Song #2 - Robert Kirkman (writer) Lorenzo De Felici (art) Annalisa Leoni (colours) Russ Wooton (letters). Still liking this adventures in monster land series.

 Runaways #8 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Kris Anka (art) Triona Tree Farrell (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Julie Power/Lightspeed is all grown up. I remember reading Louise Simonson and June Brigman's book when it first hit the racks in 1984 and loving the Power Pack kids. I never would have thought that Julie would mature into the woman she is now and would be dating Karolina. Julie's visit to her girlfriend's is interrupted by a surprise villain who wants Victor's head. I was surprised because I thought he was a good guy now.

 Superman #44 - Patrick Gleason & Peter J. Tomasi (writers) Doug Mahnke (pencils) Jaime Mendoza & Doug Mahnke (inks) Wil Quintana (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Bizarroverse part 3. Thank Darkseid this story is over. This climax had more Bizarro characters so the confusion I felt while reading this issue was increased exponentially. Even the sound effects were Bizarro. I hope we get back to normal next issue.

 American Gods: My Ainsel #2 - Neil Gaiman (writer) P. Craig Russell (script & layouts) Scott Hampton (art) Rick Parker (letters). Find out why this arc is called My Ainsel.

 Spider-Man #239 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Oscar Bazaldua (art) Brian Reber (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The Sinister Six deliver their stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier to the buyer. A special guest star team helps Miles to stop the handover. Somebody is going to die I bet.

 Detective Comics #978 - James Tynion IV (writer) Javier Fernandez (art) John Kalisz (colours) Sal Cipriano (letters). The villain tips his hand this issue. I just noticed that all the ad pages were in the back of this book so that reading the story was a lot smoother. I wish every comic book was printed that way.

 Avengers #687 - Mark Waid, Al Ewing & Jim Zub (writers) Paco Medina (pencils) Juan Vlasco (inks) Jesus Aburtov & Frederico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). No Surrender part 13. The Avengers find out what they're involved in as Voyager confesses to her duplicitousness just in time for the bad guy to ratchet up his threat to destroy the planet. The scene between Jarvis and Bruce Banner bodes well for the return of the Hulk.

 Avengers #688 - Mark Waid, Al Ewing & Jim Zub (writers) Kim Jacinto  & Stefano Caselli (art) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). No Surrender part 14. The Avengers need every hero they can assemble to defeat the Challenger after he crowns himself the Grandmaster Prime. It's going to take a lot of sacrifice to save the doomed planet. Who will not survive is the question.

 Old Man Hawkeye #3 - Ethan Sacks (writer) Marco Checchetto (art) Andres Mossa (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Clint is hunting Thunderbolts and Bullseye is hunting Clint. We all know that Clint doesn't die in this story because he still has to go on a road trip with Old Man Logan. I'm curious to see how he survives Bullseye.

 New Mutants #2 - Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Adam Gorham (art) Michael Garland (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). The team gets sent to the Arctic to deal with a giant problem. Meanwhile a new New Mutant makes a surprise appearance on the last page. Maybe Doug Ramsey will show up too.

 Amazing Spider-Man #798 - Dan Slott (writer) Stuart Immonen (pencils) Wade von Grawbadger (inks) Marte Gracia (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Go Down Swinging part 2. I love the design of the new Red Goblin. The sacrifice that Peter has to make to keep himself and everyone he loves safe is huge. Now we'll see if he can come up with a way to beat the Red Goblin without his web shooters.

 Marvel 2 in One #5 - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Valerio Schiti (art) Frank Martin (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Ben and Johnny find themselves in a universe where GalacDoom has eaten everything except Earth. Now he's going to eat it too. Then what? There's nothing left to eat. Not very bright, GalacDoom. Seeing the Silver Surfer and Emma Frost doing the Smallville thing was cool though.

 All-New Wolverine #33 - Tom Taylor (writer) Ramon Rosanas (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Old Woman Laura part 1. We jump into the future where Laura is queen of Madripoor after the good guys win Doom World War. Wait until you see who the POTUS is. Laura has only months to live due to a genetic glitch and one of the items on her bucket list is to kill Victor Von Doom. Someone shows up in the last panel and April 25, when the next issue hits the racks, can't come soon enough for me.

 Astonishing X-Men #10 - Charles Soule (writer) Aco (pencils) David Lorenzo (inks) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). A Man Called X part 4. As much as I liked Aco's art in the Nick Fury mini, I didn't think it suited that spy versus spy story. It's perfect for this reality warping story though. The team tries to save the villagers of Fetters Hill in the Scottish Highlands from the villain Proteus before he can spread his madness even further. I'm interested to see how they do that.

 X-Men Red #3 - Tom Taylor (writer) Mahmud Asrar (art) Ive Svorcina (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The Hate Machine part 3. I don't remember much about the villain Cassandra Nova but it's clear she's one very nasty person in the first three pages. I'm not usually a fan of super hero teams but Tom Taylor writes the All-New Wolverine and Gabby and Laura are on this team so this book stays on my "must read" list.

 Star Wars: Darth Vader #14 - Charles Soule (writer) Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils) Daniele Orlandini (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Burning Seas part 3. Vader is sent to the oceanic planet of Mon Cala to hunt down some surviving Jedi that slipped through the Empire's clutches when Order 66 was executed. The defiant Mon Calamari are thwarting his efforts. Mmm…calamari is yummy.

 Captain America #700 - Mark Waid (writer) Chris Samnee (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). So disappointed that a time paradox was used to beat the bad guy. All that matters to Cap fans is that Steve is back in the "present" and the series continues.

[unescapablebias]

Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens - Episode 1

Okay, so this anime isn't just plotty, it's probably going to require the most attention of all the anime I watch this season too!

So to make things easier for myself, let's rundown the major plot threads currently:

First of all, probably our main main characters are Banba, baseball PI, and Lin, crossdressing hitman. - Banba receives job from police friend to investigate murder of another police who had sent him PLOT-IMPORTANT PHOTO of: Mayor, fake secretary hitman, and dude in background who worked at PLOT-IMPORTANT CLUB. - Lin had just killed background dude because he stole money from the club (since the organisation that controls Lin has ties to the club), was going to kill police friend (though we don't know who wanted it, but probably to do with the club again thanks to the photo) except someone got the jump on him, and would have (tried to) kill Banba except he offers to protect him instead. I am particularly interested in his reasons why, since so far Lin projects an image of being interested in nothing but money, thanks to his TRAGIC BACKSTORY SISTER, so what is he planning that he would try to team up with Banba instead of choosing the easy way and just kill him for the money? Lin certainly doesn't project an air of someone who might exercise caution due to Banba's competency.

Banba's satellites are currently: - mushroom cut hacker, likes spiders? Or just buildings weird bugs (lol pun) - police friend, though I don't know how relevant he is now that he's completed his all important job of bringing the main character into the plot - the ramen stall guy? No idea how relevant he is either, beyond the Hakata reference (and title tie-in) but he knows of hacker kid so maybe he'll become more important than setting later - hair streak pickpocket, who I'm not sure actually belongs in Banba's satellite group. He definitely doesn't seem to have much to do with Banba so far beyond giving him a plot point (and apparently not knowing who the mayor is? Wow), but he does have a separate mini-plot thread set up with Lin, now that he stole Lin's TRAGIC BACKSTORY SISTER PHOTO, so he'll probably be back in some capacity.

Lin's satellites are currently: - baldy and his organisation, who probably have something to do with how/why he's in Hakata beyond just the debt. And I guess the PLOT-IMPORTANT CLUB by association? - his sister, who I'm 99% sure will be more actively involved in the story at some point, whether the anime reaches that point or not. That or dead.

Secondly, and who I had thought was going to be the audience viewpoint character but lol probably not is Saitou, baseball newbie hitman, and also involved in his plotline is the Avengers bar. - Saitou is a recent employee of Redrum Co. Ltd. who is transferred to the Hakata branch and doesn't seem to have killed anyone yet. Will he by the time the show ends? Who knows. He doesn't seem to know anything about anything, and only kind of involved in the plot so far because he's an employee of PLOT-RELEVANT HITMAN CORP and got sent to kill even more vaguely tied to the plot probable-background character, who is such a shit that his neighbour put a hit on him. - Unfortunately, the Avengers bar have the same target as their client is an immigrant (I think) who got beat up by this dude. Unfortunately, unfortunately, the Avengers bar mistakenly believe Saitou to be the target. I expect this part of the plot to intersect with our third party at some point, who are also now on the hunt for the same shitty target due to his connection with the Mayor's even shittier son AND ex(?)-employees of the same PLOT-RELEVANT HITMAN CORP. But there are so many balls in the air right now, who knows which one will land first?

Saitou's satellites are: - white hair dude who was also in the Shinjuku branch, because I remember him from the PVs and the OP/ED theme. My current guess is that he may be sent in to bail out Saitou because boy does that guy need it, but there are so many possibilities at the moment. - Nguyen (probably)! Pineapple hair goatee, who seems kind of nice but is a hitman so...another character who I have no idea how relevant he will be - and also the two higher-ups we see: glasses from Shinjuku branch and affable smile from Hakata branch, though I have even less idea how relevant they'll be. Well, Hakata branch guy might at least become relevant now that Saitou's been captured, but who knows.

The Avengers bar doesn't really have satellites at the moment, beyond their client, but this group consists of: - popped collar bartender, fulfilling the deadly camp quota - pigtails randsel, fulfilling the emotionless loli quota - singlet tattoo, fulfilling the kind bara quota Despite all that, I'm looking forward learning more about them and their motives. They're the closest thing we have (next to Banba) of people working altruistically so far, after all. Though I didn't miss the point that they're working for money (and probably so is Banba even if we didn't see the money change hands - he IS a PI after all)

And having mentioned the third party above, this is our last major group, the more-or-less antagonists with the corrupt mayor being investigated (+ shitty son) and the ex(?)-PLOT-RELEVANT HITMAN CORP employees who have to clean up after them. - So far the mayor hasn't actually done anything except be in a photo that got sent out by a police who dies the next day and give inhumanely shitty advice to his son. Which is a plus for me since what he's done is supposed to be the main plot of the show, probably. - His son has done too much though. Poor ex(?)-employees. Who not only had to dispose of that poor girl, they now have to hunt down all those people in that video and presumably plot-collide with Saitou and the Avengers bar. Or plot-collide with Lin's side through the club connection and the fact that Banba is actively investigating them. Or both.

The mayor's satellite is basically just his son so far, though I guess the ex(?)-employees count as his satellites too. - I have nothing to say about the son beyond he is so shitty I hope someone kills him before the end. So far I prefer Lin because he is good at making it feel satisfying and also he's the only who's killed on screen so far.

But on to the ex(?)-employees, who get a question mark because so far only two have been mentioned to be ex-employees and also I'm not sure how ex- they are. Like, why are they even here they seem to hate this dude (at least his son). - we have the leader eye-patch (who I almost called white fury but that might get confusing because it's just his hair not his race), who doesn't seem to want anything to do with the mayor and definitely doesn't enjoy cleaning up after his son - fake secretary, who is sadly in the wrong industry for moralising and the main reason why I wonder why these people are here (I know leader said they can't defy him but PFFFFT). Is it blackmail? Money? They're gonna double-cross the mayor at some point? Oh please, oh please, oh please. She can even kill the son, though she loses satisfaction points trying to do something dumb like moralise at him when she's a hitman. But I feel for her frustration anyway. - more plot-relevant glasses, who seems to be the information-manipulating role of the group and doesn't do heavy lifting - half russian strangler, who has even less personality than glasses at the moment. I hope we get more from him, though there are so many characters and plot threads involved that I'm not optimistic. I hope he doesn't die.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting all the ethnic minorities (not just the major ones, but all the background characters too) in this anime, and now I feel bad for not expecting them since HAKATA and all. Let's hope I don't regret it.

In conclusion, my biggest question is if that's a wig or not. I don't think so, because he's crossdressing as a hobby, why not grow his hair out. But it's pretty memorable which may not be a good idea as a hitman. On the third hand, being memorable is the whole point of the spider metaphor, so...

#hakata tonkotsu ramens #first episode breakdown

[myotomespace]

50 More Interesting Questions

Rules: fill this out and tag at least one person you’d like to know more about! Or just fill it out! Or don’t! Answer only some of them! Make up your own questions! “What kind of requirement is that”, you ask? A reasonable one! Who am I to tell you what to do? Anything goes!

tagged by @o0w0o :3

i’ll be tagging from the start because i want them to know about me (because i consider you my friends ^^ ) : @dreamsinparadise @mellifluoussanctuary @tentori21 @nikkihime @o0w0o …

if other people want to become my friends too i absolutely don’t mind (i’m just extremly shy i can hardly start conversations lol …) 

it’s long so i’ll put it under the cut (i had to use my laptop for Tumblr to actually accept the lenth…wtf are you doing Tumblr…)

1. What kind of food can’t you stand?: when you find something that looks disgusting and not edible tell me…you can safely count that into the list of food i can’t stand.

2. If you could choose one minor inconvenience to never have to deal with again, what would you pick?: hair…. I’m sure most girls know what i mean because it’s really annoying.

3. Have you got any useless talents?: my lack of talents ?…

4. If you could be really really good at one thing, what would it be?: DRAWING… i wish i could draw … that’ll save me alot of trouble…

5. Name a few people you think are extremely good-looking: from real people none.

6. What was your favorite way to pass the time as a kid?: i don’t remember .w. …

7. What is something you’re proud of?: i don’t think i ever did something that i could be proud of.

8. What’s one character flaw in people that you just can’t tolerate?:empty pretty words… if you don’t mean something then don’t say it !

9. Do you consider yourself to be more of a leader or a follower?:i consider myself the neutral loner… but if i’m forced then … follower leading others is a pain.

10. What kind of student are/were you?:the normal average loner student who sits at the end of the class near the window who doesn’t say or do anything unless the professor decides otherwise.

11. Butterfly effect question! Has there ever been a seemingly minor decision you’ve made (at the time) that ended up having a profound influence on your life?: making friends that clearly are only after me because of what i can offer them and then betraying me and my trust when my period of usefulness has ended… that pushed me to the red line of almost creating a double personality which is still till now in progress…

12. Name your most irrational fear/aversion: I HATE BUGS… I DON’T SCREAM ALL THE TIME WHEN I SEE THEM BUT I CAN’T STAND THEM (i once needed to use my uncle’s bathroom but inside there were 3 FLYING COCKROACHES…. I just got out before even entering)

13. Are there any fictional characters you find especially relatable?: Saizo and Masa… My personality is a mix of parts of theirs… i feel like if i add a bit of yasu into that mix i’ll be fine dealing with anything coming my way…

14. If you drink, what kind of drunk are you? Alternatively, what sort of person are you at parties?:i don’t drink so i guess we’ll never know… and i freaking hate parties… loud noise, loud people, and clearly some people who can’t help interfering or forcing what i don’t want on me.

15. Do you fall in love easily? Or does it usually take a long time for you to trust someone?: i don’t fall in love…and i learned to not trust people… if you want it you have to deserve it.

16. Would you rather have one close friend or 100 casual friends?: one close friend… isn’t that the obvious choice anyway ?

17. Do you consider yourself to be more of a slob or a neat-freak?: in between i think…

18. Describe a place (imaginary or real) that you would find incredibly cozy: that background with the cherry tree we see in Saizo’s routes…

19. Do you have kids? If not, do you want them someday?:i don’t have… i wont have… and i don’t even want to marry… (people around me keep telling me « you have to be like this or that so you can marry » it’s really annoying… well guess what i wont freaking marry you can count on that)

20. What was your favorite book as a child?: i don’t remember .w. …

21. Name one thing you just don’t get what all the hype is about: hmm, depends on my mood… lol

22. Name one thing that you think is tragically underrated: i don’t know… i don’t care about ratings… if i like something than that’s it…

23. If you had to be glued to a person for a month, real or fictional (who you have never met), who would you choose?: that would be SAIZO… but i have a complaint about the duration… i want to be with Saizo all the time, not glued but just with him…

24. What’s something you’d like the chance to do someday?:GOING TO JAPAN !!!

25. Do you typically speak your mind when you have a controversial opinion? Or do generally prefer to not rock the boat?: i don’t speak my mind… i mind my own business.

26. What’s the dumbest fad you’ve been caught up in?:do falling unceremoniously from the stairs of my school count ?… i was in a hurry ok…and the person in front of me just abruptly stopped out of nowhere which made me miss my step… that was so embarrassing omg…

27. What’s something you thought was cool as a kid/adolescent, but now cringe at yourself for?: i don’t know… XD

28. What’s a trait you consider to be very admirable?: acceptance… accepting people as they are…

29. Is there a particular kind of item people always tend to give you as gifts? (For instance, people always get you things with ducks on them because you like ducks, etc.): i never received a gift… so i won’t know

30. Do you speak multiple languages? Which ones?:i do, leaving my mother language out (which i hate for no reason…) i speak French and English… now self-learning japanese when i have free time.

31. Would you rather live in the big city or the countryside?: countryside… i want PEACE AND QUIET.

32. Has there ever been something you were certain you’d hate, but ended up loving?: yes… though i don’t remember what it was exactly._. …

33. Do you mind being the center of attention, or do you prefer the spotlight to be on someone else?: definitely AND ABSOLUTELY NOT !  

34. Favorite holiday?: most of them

35. Are you a more go-with-the-flow type of person, or do you need to have things planned meticulously?: go with the flow xD

36. Is there something you loved so much you wish you could forget it and experience it all over again? (A tv show, book, series–anything.):i don’t want to forget it … but i want to experience it all over again.

37. What hobbies do you have?: OTOME … also cooking sweets which my mother doesn’t let me do…

38. If you could have a superpower, but it was only mildly useful, what ability would you want to have?: INVISIBILITY !! Don’t ask me why… i could spend days telling the reasons…

39. Something people are always surprised to learn about you: i don’t know… even mother doesn’t exactly know me… they only know what i want them to know…

40. Something that took you way too long to figure out: that if i want to survive in my society… i have to be always alone, indifferent and not trusting and to not freaking share my excessive kindness and sensitivity with people… because it hurts so much later…

41. Worst injury you’ve had?: i was once furious because of my professor at that time… after lunch at home father forced me to go cut a watermelon which I didn’t want to do… and because of my anger i ended up cutting deep into the skin between my thumb and index finger of my right hand… it hurt so much… and it took me a month to completely heal…

42. Any morbid fascinations?: i am not answering this

43. Describe your sense of humor:i don’t think i have it… probably sarcasm… but only inside my head.

44. If you had to be born in another era/place, which would you choose?:as long as it’s in slbp world, i don’t care :D

45. Something you are irredeemably bad at:DRAWING… which is annoying because i can’t get my OC drawn D : … and i can’t pay for a commission too TwT… oh well as long as i can imagine it in my head then it’s fine.

46. Something that sucked but you’re glad you went through: changing town every 3 or 4 years since i was a kid… thank god we don’t have to anymore…

47. Would you rather have a really godawful ugly tattoo in a place that is only slightly inconvenient to conceal with clothing (upper arm, thigh, etc.), or the coolest, most beautiful tattoo ever in the middle of your face? (Neither tattoo can be removed or concealed with makeup, and the ugly tattoo will deeply offend anyone who sees it.): both are HELL NO when i want one i’ll get it done where i want it and unless i’m certain it’ll turn out GOOD i’m doing anything… on the other hand i want to stay natural.

48. Are you more of an optimist or a pessimist?: PESSIMIST TO A FAULT…

49. What would be the most flattering compliment someone could give you?: unless you absolutely mean it then don’t even think about saying it… because you are deceiving no one…

50. Something you feel people often misunderstand about you: everything about me… people paint me in the color they want to see me in… not that i actually do something to correct it… if people really want to understand me they’ll figure it out by themselves.

#i really want those who are tagged to read this ... #because outside from these type of things it's almost impossible for me to open up fully #and i actually want the friends i make to knoww about me #oh and Tumblr.... I DIDN'T KNOW YOU HAD A FREAKING LIMIT FOR TEXT LENGH FOR THE MOBILE APP... #i mean #come on really ? #why the hell do you eveen have it #=w="

[fish-nibbler]

Hi :3 Whichever ones you want to do from the 1-91 asks

1:When did you lose your virginity? ..Middle school

2: Rough sex or soft sex? Hmm... Maybe a mix of both. I mean.. *cough* rough..

3: Do you have any unusual kinks/fetishes? Ooooh yes XD

4: Weirdest place you’ve had sex? 

5: Favourite sex position?

6: Do you like to be dominant or submissive? PFF Submissive 100% of the time

7: Have you ever had any one night stands? 

8: Sex on the bed, couch or the floor? Well.. I mean you’ve got more room on the bed and the floor isn’t comfortable sooooo

9: Have you ever had sex in a public place? 

10: Have you ever been caught masturbating? not YET HA

11: What does your favourite sexy underwear look like? Ohhhh oHHHHH ok!! I’m actually really upset bc these are kinda old and the lace is fucking destroyed from washing them. But I have these really cute blue and green zebra patterned underwear and they are so SOFT AND I LOVE THEM BUT.. but the lace is all fucked up and I can’t buy them anymore ;-;

12: How often do you have sex? Well.. People don’t like me and physically I’m not attractive so I don’t have sex with people.. But masturbating HAA

13: Is there anybody right now you’d like to have sex with? ...maybe (but they’ll never know who they are XD)

14: Do you prefer giving or receiving oral sex? Hmmmmmm I dunno.. 

15: Most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you during sex? It’s not really embarrassing.. just painful.

16: A song you’d listen to during hard/rough/kinky sex? 

17: A song you’d listen to during soft/slow/passionate sex? wait... do people actually like listening to music while having sex?

18: Are you into dressing up for sex? I mean.. sure.. if my partner would be into it

19: Would you prefer sex in the bath or sex in the shower? I’ve never done either of those O-o

20: If you could have sex with anyone right now, who would it be? 

21: Have you ever had a threesome? If not, would you? No but I mean... eh why not try?

22: Do you/would you use sex toys? I don’t.. But I’ve been *cough cough* maybe looking at one just for me to use since ppl don’t like me.. so

23: Have you ever sent someone a dirty text/picture? Picture? No. Text? yes

24: Would you have sex with your best friend? pFFF I don’t think her and I could take it seriously even if we wanted to

25: Is there anything you do after sex? (for example, smoke, eat, drink) I like cuddles...

26: Something that will never fail to get you horny? Oh GOD TEASING IS THE DEATH OF ME(and there’s one person out there who knows where all my sensitive spots are >.> )

27: Early morning sex or late night sex? Why not both?

28: Favourite body part on the opposite sex? ew

29: Favourite body part on the same sex? eyes 

30: Something that you have hidden in your room that you don’t want anyone to find: It’s not really sexual... so?

31: Weirdest sexual act some has performed [or tried to perform] on/with you:

32: Have you ever tasted yourself? [If no, would you?] [If yes, what did you think?]

33: Is it ever okay to not use a condom: NO... I mean.. Unless your trying for a child or I guess your in a gay/lesbian relationship? I mean.. unless your trying you should always wear a condom

34: A food that you would like to use during a sexual experience: uuuuhhhHHHHHHH WHHY

35: Worst possible time to get horny: *groan* At school

36: Do you like it when your sexual partner moans? Mmhm!

37: How much fapping is too much fapping:

38: Best sexual complement you ever got: Uh... Someone told me once that my nickname, Liz, is a sexy name... Does that count?

39: Favorite foreplay activities:

40: What do you wear to bed? Usually what any normal person would wear to bed? But sometimes I just wear underwear

41: When was the first time you masturbated: Uhh... Last week.. I think?

42: Do you have any nude/masturbating pictures/video of yourself? No

43: Have you ever/when was the last time you had sex outside? I’ve never done that XD Too many bugs >.

44: Have/would you ever have sex in public? I don’t think I’m brave enough for that

45: Have/would you ever had a threesome? 

46: What is one random object you’ve used to masturbate?

47: Do you watch gay/lesbian porn? why/why not?

48: Do you like oral sex? (why/why not)

49: How do you feel about tattoos on someone you are interested in? I don’t mind them.. I think tattoos are a pretty cool way to express yourself - as long as you don’t regret them later in life tattoos are fine. I actually want to get a couple

50: How would you feel about taking someones virginity?

51: Is there any food you would NOT recommend using during a sexual encounter? Uh... I’ve never used food but you know.. I would assume a.. a ghost pepper? I don’t think that would be a good idea

52: Would you rather be a pornstar or a prostitute? Ooooo.. Hmm.. A pornstar. Being a pornstar makes sure you stay healthy and there’s a much lower change of getting STDs

53: Do you watch porn? 

54: Have you ever been called a freak? Why? mmhm. for a kink 

55: Do you feel comfortable going “commando”?

56: Would you have a problem with going down on someone if they hadn’t shaved their pubic hair? Well.. I mean I never even learned how to shave so..

57: If you could give yourself head, would you?

58: Booty or Boobs? Why not both ;3c

59: Have you ever cheated on someone? (Why?) Fuck no. Why would I?

60: If you were the other sex for a day, what are five things you would do? Be president.

61: have you ever watched someone masturbate? No

62: has anyone ever watched you masturbate? Nada

63. Have you ever had an erection and someone noticed? 

64. What is your method of masturbation? (ie. toys, clitorial, prostate) 

65. What is your bra/penis size? I... shit I actually don’t know my bra size XDD

66. What is the strangest thing you have ever put up your vagina/anus?

67. When was the last time you masturbated?

68. When was the last time you had sex? ...middle school - i don’t like talking about it cause it wasn’t exactly wanted.. so

69. When was the last time you watched porn?

70. Have you ever bought a sex toy? If so, which one did you buy last? First sex toy? If not, which one do you plan on buying when you do?

71. Guys:Circumsized?

72. Which not-genital part of your body do you like being touched?

73. Which genital part of your body do you like being touched?

74. Girls:Are you able to achieve orgasm just through breast stimulation?

75. Have you anonymously sent a sexual ask to someone on tumblr? Nope

76. When was the last time you have had a wet dream? Pff I don’t remember..

77. Which wet dream was your favorite?

78. Is there a friend you would willingly have sex with? maybe

79. Is there a celebrity/character you would willingly have sex with?

80. Favorite sexual position?

81. Do you like being called a slut or whore in bed? eh.. I have to be in a certain mood for that..

82. Are you into any BDSM? mhm

83. Have you ever wanted to have sex with someone but knew you couldnt for any reason? Why?

84. Do you like dirty talk? I can’t.. But I like when people talk like that to me..

85. Are you loud or quiet during sex? Masturbation? I try to stay quiet

86. Have you ever been inturrepted during sex or masturbation? Who/what?

87. What kind of porn do you like to watch?

88. Have you ever confessed to someone that you got an erection over them? What about masturbated to them? 

89. Have you ever masturbated because your sexual partner wasn’t there when you needed them? I’ve never had a partner long enough.. heh..

90. Have you ever had a one night stand? Do you still keep in contact with them?

91. Have you ever had a friends with benefits? Are they still beneficial? nope