#(because believe it or not - sometimes a smaller hoop looks better!)

[mynameisnotfiveweenies]

You've always been beautiful | Katsuki Bakugou x Chubby!Reader

Summary: After a bad date, Bakugou comforts you

Being in love was hard. Being in love with Katsuki Bakugou was even harder.

We went to middle school together and he was an ass. He thought because he had an amazing quirk that made him better than everyone else, I didn't like that. Izuku is my best friend and a target for bullies. I would take no shit. I stood up for Izuku many times, using my water quirk to counteract Bakugou's explosions. He turned a nasty shade of red whenever I did that.

Izuku learnt how to stand up for himself in UA and developed into an amazing hero so I wasn't needed as much to fight off the bullies, which meant me and Bakugou became nothing but classmates. That was until I began to fall for him.

It was easy, natural. I first started noticing him, like really noticing. The way he would train in class, the way his back muscles would tense under his costume when we would be in class, everything. I didn't tell anyone. There was no way he would like me or even find me attractive, so I kept it to myself.

It was around the middle of third year, when I had turned eighteen, that I started dating. I was on the usual apps and met a few people from there, most of them nice, some neutral and one guy a complete dick.

This one guy, lets call him Pete, was an asshole. I have always been big. Despite the training and the diet, I was big. It rarely bothered me and it never effected my training. I was happy with the way I looked.

I dressed in a maxi length, bodycon dress that clung to my hips, ass and my belly. I wore a cropped denim jacket to keep the cold out. I felt confident and wore light makeup and hoop earrings.

I came down from my dorm room and passed the living room, where everyone was having a movie night. I couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed and my cheeks heated up.

Mina was the first to notice me as I tried to sneak passed and wolf whistled. "Damn mama!"

The whole class turned then and the whistling continued.

I couldn't help but glance at Bakugou. He did not whistle but he eyes were fixed on me. I placed my hands in front of my belly and walked quickly to the door, wanting to escape his gaze.

"Shut up!" I exclaimed as I opened the door.

"Use protection!" I heard Mina shout and I giggled out the door.

We agreed to meet at a restaurant. I turned up ten minutes late and found him siting near the window.

"Hey!" I greeted and he looked up.

He looked at me with wide eyes as I sat down.

That's when I knew, he didn't think I was going to be big.

My pictures did not hide anything, I showed everything as I had enough of being turned down because of my weight. He seemed to expect someone smaller.

The first red flag was when I ordered.

"I'll have a burger please." I shut the menu and handed it to the waitress with a smile.

"Really?" He said, his eyebrow turned up.

"Yeah?"

He didn't reply but his eyes were wide, I held my tongue.

The food was really good but he barely spoke. He kept glancing at me.

We ended the date and I couldn't wait to get out. I knew he wasn't interested and made me split the bill.

We were outside, he was waiting for a taxi. I said, "Thanks for the date."

He scoffed, putting a cigeratte between his teeth. "Well, you should really warn your dates you're fat in the future, by the way."

Despite everything, it stung.

"Yeah?" I said, my anger building. "Well you should warn your dates you're a short asshole, by the way."

I turned on my heel and walked away. My anger made me walk fast until I got closer to the dorms and I began to cry.

It was stupid. I liked how I looked but the comments were hard sometimes. I had been told my whole life that unless I lost weight, no one would ever love me. I believed for a long time. I tried everything, every diet you can think of. I starved myself, made myself sick but this is it. I am just big. I train everyday and eat well to be a hero for fucks sake, I am not unhealthy. But, a small part of me still believed that.

I made it to the dorms and sat down on the porch steps, sobbing.

I kept crying until I heard the front door open, I wiped my tears as quickly as I could. I looked up and saw Bakugou standing there, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Can you cry any louder?" He said before sitting next to me, sighing.

I chuckled humourlessly, wiping my eyes. "Sorry."

He looked at me curiously, "What no 'fuck off'?"

I shook my head, "Not in the mood to fight tonight Bakugou."

He stayed quiet for a bit before, "Does this have something to do with your date?"

I looked over at him for a minute. "Do you really wanna hear about it?"

He nodded, serious. Weird.

"Well, the guy was obviously expecting someone who looked very different from me." My throat caught and I breathed evenly. "He barely spoke and kept just...glancing. I ordered a burger and he was all like 'really?' You know? Insinuating I should eat a salad or something."

Bakugou scoffed, his face contoured in familiar anger.

"I ignored it and carried the conversation. At the end, I said thank you and you know what he said?"

I looked over at Bakugou, tears in my eyes. He inclined his head. I looked away.

"He said, 'next time you should warn your dates your fat'. Like the way I am and the way I look should come with a warning label...its not like I hide it, all my pictures you can see I'm big."

We stayed quiet for a while and I silently cried.

"Y/N..." Bakugou began and I looked over. He didn't look angry now, he looked murderous. "I hope you know you deserve a lot better than that asshole."

I began to speak and he cut off me off. "Just because your big doesn't mean your unattractive. If anything, you're even more attractive for it."

I stayed silent, taking it all in. It was strange, hearing Bakugou be so nice to me.

"You've always been beautiful, even when we were kids. Don't let one asshole make you this upset."

My stomach clenched as he spoke, taking in his words. Oh my god. I couldn't believe it.

I looked at him, my mouth parted slightly. "You mean it?"

He looked forward, refusing to meet my eyes but nodded.

I grinned, leant forward and kissed his cheek lightly. He tensed up but I stood up before he could say anything. He looked up at me, a slight pink to his cheeks that made my stomach erupt with butterflies.

"You're beautiful too, Katsuki." I said and then quickly escaped back into the dorms.

The look on his face, rosey cheeks and lips parted made me burst with hope. Maybe, just maybe, my crush on him is reciprocated.

A/N: I really enjoyed writing this! As a big girl myself I love writing this kind of thing, send in your requests!

#katsuki bakugou #fluff #katsuki x reader #katsuki bakugou x reader #mha self insert #mha #bakugou x fem!reader #bakugou x reader #mha x chubby reader #chubby reader #bakugou x chubby!reader

[the-headbop-wraith]

3 _ 47  A Goodbye Letter

 Kingsman Mechanics didn’t usually pick out supplies with smaller distributors, but occasionally Arthur would roll around to collect some of the less essential equipment which had a habit of wearing out. Sometimes it was worth it to spurge a buck if the use was versatile enough, while other equipment had components that wore out regularly and it required periodic maintenance. Other assets he did like to snag spur of the moment, typically for his personal work such as on his arm, or when he needed inspiration for new gear that was hitting the market.

 It was always such an outlet to head out of town and browse the techno shop, supplied with quality parts and computer components for modest prices. One division of the shop displayed aisles of industrial shelving, with test gadgets up top for casual shoppers. Other portions of the store dedicated inventory to domestic living, or industrial distribution. It was likewise one of the nearest shops that carried valued craft supplies for largescale modeling, such as welding and do-it-yourself engineering. For Arthur’s needs, he was aiming for some new soldering parts to boost the efficiency in a refurbished arm.

 There were advantages to a custom made mechanical arm. Dealing with corroded bolts and nuts or working with a stubborn, over twisted bolt was not the issue it used to be. However, it wasn’t a real arm, some of the angles he used to twist into for reaching sections of a car was now troublesome, and his false arm had limits different to a limb of flesh and blood. The circuits and servos didn’t mend on their own over time, if something inside the arm ceased altogether the whole arm crapped out. He couldn’t call for ten and give the arm a chance to heal, anything that needed fixing Arthur did so in his spare time. To avoid those complications, rotors and gears required maintenance; the harder the work, the more frequent the checkups. Circuits burnt out due to overuse – sometimes it overheated – wiring frayed of came loose from the excessive movement and prolonged abuse.

 And dear gods, did he abuse his arm.

 He moved down the large lane, checking his phone and comparing the listing to the names and brands of spooled wires in bins. A metal with a higher heat tolerance was more expensive, but it would endure more hours. However, he needed to construct a better housing for the circuit line to prevent the insulation getting snagged. One of the first arms he built, he totally forgot to factor in gravity and momentum; the wires were not secured like they should’ve been and the model was short lived. He didn’t even make it through the first (return to) paranormal case, they didn’t even arrive to the destination before the thing died.

 With a shudder, he tossed the elected spool into his basket. Within, some large crates of craft metal for repairing cosmetic areas of the shop. Some lowkey cheapy materials he bought offhand, rather order wholesale. Some test gear to burn through before reaching out to large distributors for orders.

 Next, he ventured to the aisle for hosing and insulation components. A new building line for storing energy for the battery would extend the functionality of his arm. The only thing he could do while resting was recharge the internal battery, big whoop.

 On his way to the aisle, Arthur dithered and gave his space a brief examination. The creeping sensation that someone was watching, or someone followed him. It was no mistake, he knew that sensation better than a burn. No way this was paranoia. Never would he attribute his instincts to paranoia.

 For now, he played it cool. It was more to the hope that being out in public would deter something malicious, but he wouldn’t let on about his suspicions. Once he reached the parking zone, he’d have to be on his—

 In his ruminations, Arthur almost didn’t react in time to avoid the basket that eased out into his path. However, his reflexes remained uncontested, and he managed to swerve despite his gimp arm.

 “Holy crepes! I’m so sorry, excuse—” He shut up, and mayhap his face drained of what little color it had. In his path stood….

 MAMMA PEPPER!

 The stern face, the tight shoulders, the imposing aura. Arthur purposefully avoided the Pepper Paradiso, the whole Pepper Bushel – save one vengeful spook – nononononononononononononononononononoNO! Why is she here? He avoided all the grocery stores in all their small town, save for the few times he had to go out and pick up foodstuffs because his Uncle was too sick or swamped with work, whatever – he couldn’t let Uncle Lance go out, even if he insisted he was fine – she couldn’t be here, not in the sacred mechanics haven. The last frontier of casual shopping, and freedom from the accusing eye. This was inconceivable!

 Arthur opened his mouth, but words abandoned him. His throat generated an eerie whine. “Ack.”

 “Arthur,” Mamma Pepper spoke, voice icy, but somehow heated and thick. “I haven’t seen you in some time. You and Vivi, don’t come by anymore. Do you?”

 Any shape or form of human vocalization was beyond Arthur. He clenched his jaw, choked back a swallow, and tried for a syllable. “Uh.”

 “Are you all right? Should I leave you?” She pulled the basket backwards, though there was plenty of room for Arthur to move onward.

 “No,” squeaked Arthur. “Uh… it’s all right. I mean, I’m fine. It’s okay.” He took a breath. Without a word, Mamma Pepper stood, rigid and impassive. “Yeah. It’s fine. Um, Vivi… she uh, she—” He stalled when Mamma Pepper raised a hand.

 “I see. I didn’t mean to intrude.” She tightened her grip on the basket. “I try not to push, but I also don’t want you both believing you are not welcome. You are always… welcomed at the Pepper Paradiso. Does it help when I remind you?” She peaked one critical eye at Arthur.

 He nodded. “It… yes. I appreciate the offer.” He glanced aside, then, checked the supplies in the basket. Industrial Gas Connectors, among other parts and pieces from gauges to replacement dials. “How’s the restaurant doing?” Mamma Pepper seemed to frown. Seemed to. And sighed.

 “Business as usual.”

 “I didn’t mean the business,” Arthur interjected. “I was talking about your equipment. I meant to call and ask, if you… needed some maintenance work? I could come by sometime. I can bring, eh… Vivi. She’d like to come by too, I think. I’d have to ask. She’s been, um…” reflexively, he reached over to grip at his metal wrist, “been doing, erm… well. Yeah. I wanted to ask….” He stalled.

 Mamma Pepper’s stare became harder, more critical. But there was an underlying softness he could scarcely discern.

  __

 For the past month Lewis spent the bulk of his time at Vivi’s apartment, while she was out at work or checking in with Arthur during days off. Though she recognized Lewis wouldn’t remain the whole time locked away or secluded from the world, he left notes when he was jamming off and for how long he intended to be. Where he went remained a mystery, which she was not super eager to inquire about but she did remain curious. She was more apt in reading his nonverbal cues and perhaps a little underestimated in her abilities, given her experience with paranormal creatures.

 Today was one of the first times she hauled Lewis out, though he was foremost invited to change up his ‘routine’, whatever that consisted of. For a bit, he pretended to give the offer some thought – while he hovered midair looking pretty relaxed. It wasn’t a huge surprise that he went along, not that he had a schedule or anything to keep on task with. Aside from shopping runs, a task reserved for the evening, with funds set out for his personal use, and having no real needs of his own. He spent the money on making sure Vivi was well stocked, so poor-poor Mystery wouldn’t have to watch his partner drink those awful canned teas.

 This day was not one to be in any particular place, with an established time to return on. It was a rare day to get out there and go nowhere, spend time in each other’s company.

 And Vivi felt like she was getting to know a Lewis better. She wasn’t certain which Lewis she was becoming more aware of, since there was a difference between Lewis Pepper when he was living, and the Lewis postmortem – if she was to put it indelicately. There were not enough notebooks and folders in the Box which gave her insight into Lewis Pepper, not enough pictures to rekindle memories stolen from the pools of reflection. It didn’t matter so much that she remembered who he was, but that she knew who he is. It bothered her that she lost what once was, and might never be able to take it back.

 A braided crown of stems and flowers alit on Vivi’s head. She took it down and gave the hoop shape a brief scrutiny.

 “Not my best flower crown,” Lewis admitted. “But not a lot of flowers ‘round here.” He held a short stem between his teeth, and gave a comical southern draw.

 “Is it imbued with special, mystical properties?” She turned the crown over and over. Lewis’ voice hitched, as he cackled.

 “No, Vii. Not everything needs special secret magic to make it special.” He grinned. “It’s an old fashioned, unremarkable, flower crown.”

 Vivi set the crown back upon her head. “Plants always have a charm about them, through the winter they endure. I don’t know what it is. The dormancy, the anticipation of reawakening post a harsh and relentless season, something previously viewed as unsightly, reviving, blooming. Hmm… I hope we can have a snowfall before the cold ends.”

 Lewis shrugged. He leaned back against the tree they sat beneath, shaded from the sun by the thin branches brimming with miniscule buds. “One more snow fall wouldn’t be too bad, though I always love the colors of spring. I’m eager for the return of some color.”

 Across the open field of the park, Mystery darted by like a bullet. As if a vengeful spirit was snapping at his tail. Like he was racing his own shadow.

 Vivi reclined back and rested her head on his thigh. “Hey.”

 “Hmm?”

 “When you leave your notes? Do you actually go out somewhere, or… do you sometimes rest too?” she pondered. “I get this feeling you’re not gone completely. Like you’re still there, but unresponsive. Resting?”

 Lewis reached a hand up and scratched at his cheek. “Uh, perceptive much? Sometimes I am a little weary and can’t fully manifest, like the way you… know. Since I can’t just be, I don’t want you to worry. Other times, I’ll find my way to the van. It… is a place where I feel at peace. Dunno why that is.”

 Vivi pulled her hands up and folded them over her middle. “Hanging around with the living still overwhelming?”

 “It’s a lot of energy to deal with. I can’t really escape it.” Vivi smirked.

 “And how’s the van coming along?”

 Lewis wheezed, “Slowly.”

 Vivi tilted her head back further and gazed into the rich azure sky. “What about you? Not that it matters right now, but you’re not casting a shadow. That only happens when somethings on your mind, or you’ve pushed yourself a little too much.”

 Lewis reached over and tucked back a loose hair under the woven crown. “That’s nothing to worry about, I’ve been more active than usual. I guess it’s not so noticeable when we’re doing the travel gig, and you’re focused not on me.” He offered a sly waggle of his brow above the sunglasses, and Vivi responded by squinting back suspiciously. “Mi queria, don’t worry so much. If I thought something was off, you’d be the first person I’d go to.”

 Vivi scoffed. “You better, buster.”

 Mystery sprinted over and gave pause, long enough to tumble down beside Vivi and roll in the scraggily grass. “Mystery!” The wily hound snatched the crown from her head and took off, his yapping suspiciously rebounding like cackling laughter. “You give that back!” Vivi flew up, scrambling to get on her feet. Lewis was up immediately, skiing forward.

 “Oh! I absolutely will catch you! Don’t you doubt it!”

 The ears and hair on Mystery shot up, and he was off faster than a beam of light. Lewis dove after the dog, zigzagging in wild patterns and grabbing at thin air upon every duck and slide Mystery pulled. The grass beneath Lewis’ heels scorched upon every twist; try as he might though, the pup was unattainable.

 Before Vivi could fully devote herself to the chase, the muffled hum of her phone went off. She almost went ahead and left the phone beneath the tree, tucked away safely in the backpack, but decided better and picked it up. “Arthur?”

 “Hey,” replied through the phone.

 “Didn’t expect a call from you. Is everything okay?” She spun around and watched as Mystery made a wide turn, with Lewis hot on his tail. Literally. When Lewis spied Vivi on the phone, he abruptly broke out of his glide and jogged over. “Hmm?”

 “What was that? Is Lew there?”

 “Yeaahhh… Lew’s here.” She grinned up at the aforementioned specter. Lewis’ appearance flashed and shimmered, he set his hands on his vest and tugged. “Arthur says hi.”

 “Tell him… hey, back for me?”

 “Lew says Hay.” Arthur laughed. That was a good sound.

 “I was callin’ to see if you were busy tonight, I have something I wanna ask.”

 Vivi stepped back into the shade and leaned on the tree. “You can’t ask right now, over the phone?” Mystery padded around the side of the tree, lil crown looped over one ear.

 “It’s ahh… a lil complicated, to talk about. Actually, you and Lew both.” Arthur didn’t sound super fortified himself, but his words came through. “Would Lew be willing to come by? If not, that’s okay too. It’s up to him. But he can come by too, I could talk to him.”

 Vivi looked over to Lewis and hit the mute button on her phone. “He wants to see you.”

 “I got that.” Lewis’ appearance dimmed, the burning eye behind the sunglasses glistened in the shifting fractures of his projected appearance. For a moment, Vivi thought he would vanish or lose his grip.

 “You can say no,” she affirmed. “You don’t have to give a reason. He’ll understand.”

 Lewis snatched her hand before she could work at the phone screen. “No, espera. I’d like to see Artie.”

 “You sure?” You and he… you think you’re up for it?”

 “Yeah.” Lewis took the little stalk of grass from his mouth and tossed it. “If he’s cool, I’d be down for a visit.”

 Vivi unmuted her phone. “Hey Art, you still there?” Arthur replied with a hum. Some background noise came through his side, it sounded like traffic or machinery. “What would be a good time for us to swing by?”

 “Around seven, a little after,” he offered. “I’m running some errands, so no rush. You don’t sleep, do you?”

 “Mmm,” Vivi mocked contemplated. “It’s not in my schedule.” A sound akin to static emitted, and she took it as Lewis best attempt at clearing his throat. “Sounds good.” She wondered briefly, but dismissed the thoughts. “We’ll see you then.” She clicked off the phone and made certain it was closed out.

 To Lewis, “He sounded tense and anxious. I didn’t want to ask.”

 Lewis went over and took the crown off Mystery’s head, and set it back on Vivi’s blue hair. “If there’s a problem, I can duck out. Not that I mind a meet, some nonbusiness would be a nice change.”

 Vivi peered at him quizzically. “I don’t think there should be. He’s put a lot of work at the shop, and that helps. But we’ll see.” She began walking, with Mystery picking up the pace by her side and Lewis at her shoulder. “Anywhere else you wanna roll by and check out?” She fitted her hand into Lewis’ and gripped his fingers.

 In a flash of embers, Lewis lost his very convincing living appearance and stood frozen mid stride. At least the park for the time sat empty.

 Vivi stiffened. “Fuck!”

 __

 Another crate of supplies went into the back of the work truck on loan. The parts and materials sat on high value, even the copper was an easy swipe if some lowlife happened by and recognized the glossy hull. With all the valuables packed into the front seats, Arthur shut and locked up.

 Paths of sidewalk wound around the patches of desert xeriscape and clumps of cactus, cutting the sidewalk and parking zone into jagged portions. An expansive patio rolled out from the building entrance, fitted with a wide awning and short fence to divide the patio from the walkway. A few tables sat, awaiting company on the chilly day.

 Arthur moved through the opening of the fence, his gaze taking in faces, his apprehension spiked higher. He didn’t see any familiar faces, but that didn’t reassure him. It was chilly, and his metal arm shifted in the sling; the only arm covered at this time. It would be best to leave, this wasn’t a good idea. He’d call, apologize. She’d understand. He hoped she’d understand. He took a step back. On the thoroughfare traffic picked up, though none of the vehicles cruising by slowed or pulled into the parking lane. Not yet. But soon….

 The entrance to the café swept open and a familiar face glided out. Arthur grimaced, but hadn’t given his legs the memo to relocate. That would’ve been hella rude.

 “I’m glad you could make it.”

 Arthur put a hand to the low top of the fence at his side, but reframed from leaning. He was certain if he did anything but stand, he’d collapse.

 “Yeah. I had a,” he stammered, struggling to collect his words, “a last pickup. Have you been waiting long?”

 Mamma Pepper stood stock still, statuesque. “Not long at all. It’s chilly outside, I have a table waiting.” It sounded almost like she was inviting him into her own restaurant, though Arthur wasn’t sure why this out of the way café.

 He checked the area over before stepping forward. One foot, then the other, steady. “This place. It’s new.”

 “I assisted the owner’s in getting set up,” Mamma Pepper supplied. She held the door for Arthur, until he ventured in of his own pace. “Sometimes my family offers taste testing, and vice versa.”

 Arthur concealed the little twinge that ran through his spine. “Awesome.” The interior was not splendid or over done, but simplistic with a homey charm. At the furthest side of the room, logs crackled and churned within a brick fireplace. From the ceiling, rustic lanterns hung. The dim light competed with the sparse interior tables, and the little candles flickering. One table at the furthest wall harbored a mug of steaming liquid.

 “Take your time, if you choose to order,” Mamma Pepper spoke. “There’s no rush.” She left him and weaved around the tables, until she reached her target. She pulled a chair out, and then took her seat at the table across from the vacant chair. A blatant invitation, if he ever saw one.

 Despite a line, Arthur went ahead and made an order. After the barista took his name, he ventured over to the location Mamma Pepper claimed. She was sipping at the beverage. “I never gave that sorta theme much thought,” he admitted. “They offer some interesting… mixes.” Concoctions sounded rude.

 Mamma Pepper nodded and hummed. “Coffee and tea blends, with traditional staples. I wanted to tell you about it sooner, but I didn’t want to intrude.”

 “Ah.”

 “How have you been?” She squinted one eye at Arthur. “I expect well.”

 “Y-yeah. We… uh, Vii and I, we’re still at it.” He rubbed the back of his head with the heel of his palm. “Doing investigations. Y’know that.”

 “Nothing stops that girl.” A hint of a smile graced Mamma Pepper’s face. “I’m glad to hear.”

 The barista brought by Arthur’s beverage, exchanged conversation on how the two were doing, and left. It was a joy to focus on something else, if even briefly.

 “What did you get?”

 Arthur gave the warm liquid a try. “One of the trademark Hy-blends.” He wasn’t a stranger to abominable tea and coffee concoctions, or anything to spark his brain and keep his eyes open on the longest of long roads between towns. But this was really good, the appropriate balance of strength to mellow, with perhaps too much cream making it thick like ice-cream. But good nonetheless. It wouldn’t keep his heart beating, but it was flavorful.

 His mind worked to bring forth the questions, to inquire about how a family went on in the absence of a loved one. How did one approach the topic, and when was it an appropriate time? There was no reason to approach that at all, no reason to drag it forward if he could avoid it. He sipped his beverage, trying his darndest not to quake.

 “You have a way with the machinery,” Mamma Pepper went on, through the absence of substance. “The equipment gets fixed – mind you – everything works without hitch, but it’s not the same. I can’t put my finger on what’s different. Your help was appreciated.”

 Arthur slunk down in his seat a bit. “Yeah. Mn, sorry ‘bout that. Not, uh….”

 “Arthur,” she stated, firmly. “I’m not disappointed. I’m trying to explain that we missed you. We missed Arthur, not Arthur the mechanic. Just… Arthur.” She sipped at her drink.

 “Oh, right.” He looked around at the dimly lit space, the steady stream of customers. “Have you helped other restaurants get opened up? It’s pretty sweet, nothing like the Pepper Paradiso. Er, it’s more… rustic, I guess?”

 Their exchange seemed to fall into place after that, with Mamma Pepper going lightly over a few changes at the Pepper Paradiso. The two caught up on how they were getting along, while skittering aside from the topic involving Vivi. Arthur wasn’t certain how to approach that grape vine, but Mamma Pepper’s questions were careful. It almost felt normal, like he wasn’t cowering under some terrible weight and suffocating. He could breath a little easier, his replies coming with minimal hitch – when he didn’t think about the now. She did admit her family kept up to date with Uncle Lance, which surprised him. Lance never let on he stayed in touch with the Peppers, though given his Uncle’s pokey (though prying) it was a little obvious.

 As the minutes ticked by, Arthur did become comfortable with a topic delving into how Vivi was keeping. He didn’t want to elaborate a whole lot, but he wanted to assure Mamma Pepper that in the least, the blue-headed investigator sleuth had asked about the family. He wasn’t sure where to go from there, but Mamma Pepper filled in the blanks. She offered cheerful accounts of how the girls were growing so fast, what grade they were in now, and the mischief. It was all good conversation, pleasant and cathartic about the little things. Mostly mundane, and some entertaining and exciting. And when Arthur talked about the hamster he adopted, and built prosthetic wheels for, Mamma Pepper even smiled.

 __

  It was a little after six and the sun was in full set, when Vivi biked her way up the sidewalk beside Kingsman Mechanics. With her trotted the Mystery, prancing like a gazelle and very undog-like, but who was paying attention? Staff hadn’t cleared out completely, though the garages had long been shuttered and locked; barring the entitled customer from trying to get a simple (two hour) fix done on their car at the last minute. Vivi coasted up the empty carport and set her bike beside one of the sign poles for reserved parking, and latched the chain. Then, went over to the entry door and knocked. While she waited, Mystery turned his nose down and gave the area a brief scout.

 “I know you can open the door, but I’m not keen on sneaking in.” As per usual, she wore one of the work backpacks, and in the side pocket sat a snug flashlight.

 To Mystery, “You can run off for a bit, if you need. I think we’ll be fine.” This time, she gave the doorbell a buzz.

 Mystery raised his head and gave Vivi one of his, “give me a break,” looks. He trotted back over.

 In due time a wobbly, hazy form swelled beyond the dim barrier of the door. The door unlatched and opened; Uncle Lance stood there, somewhat surprised. “Aye, hey Vivi. Mystery.” He nodded to the dog as he padded by, welcoming himself in without prompt. “Arthur expectin’ yu?”

 “Yeah,” she gasped. Upon entry, Uncle Lance secured the door behind them and pocketed the keys. “We’re a bit early… I had a few stops to make. Is he not in?” She fell in step behind Lance as he led the way, through the dark passage. Most the lights through the main workshop remained off, only the soft lamps offering radiance, enough to keep people from stumbling into each other or getting lost.

 “Naw, been out all day.” Lance rolled his shoulders and stretched up one arm, gripping at the socket. “I should replace both arms,” he muttered. When he lowered that arm, he checked his watch. He didn’t wear a watch. “Not too worried. Ceptin’, I don’t have a ride out of ‘ere.”

 Vivi couldn’t help but set a hand over her face and stifle the snicker. It was usually her or Arthur winding up stranded due to shared vehicles, if her bike was not available (though Arthur would first eat a healthbar than ride her bike). Now, it was Uncle Lance’s turn.

 “I’m so sorry about that.”

 Mystery yapped. It was a distant reply, given that he was now patrolling the work garage.

 “Can’t be helped. I’m just glad whatever nonsense yu get involved with, you came out safe.”

 Vivi grimaced and bit her lip. “Yes, very glad. It could’ve been bad.” Unbeknownst to Vivi, the flashlight flickered sporadically, until it sputtered and went out entirely. Crackling webs of fuchsia detached and dispersed off through the murky air.

 Lance swung away from heading toward the office and gestured. “Something up with that flashlight?”

 “Huh?” Vivi twisted herself in order to view the aforementioned electric torch. “Uhh?”

 “I seein’ you haul that there thing around.” He tugged on his beard, in thought. “Well, not lately…. You’re not planning on doin’ no spook snoopin with Arthur? Ya’ll are on break from that job-work, eh? A vacation, ain’t it called?” He fixed Vivi with a ferocious, accusing glare – the shadow around his eyes intensifying to the tenth power. “Ain’t it, girl?”

 Vivi sweated. How was it possible for someone so opposite of tall, to be so imposing. “N-no, Uncle. We… I swear….”

 “I pay Arthur to do one of two things.” Uncle Lance counted them off on his fingers. “Work. An’ Rest. Ya got that!”

 Vivi grabbed at her scarf. Oh sweet mother of gods, Lance looked set to unite with his rifle. “No! Absolutely NOT! Er, I… it needs to be looked over. I forgot to hand it over to Arthur, it was my fault! I was careless!” Lance’s features became more relaxed, and she risked a breathy exhale. Crisis averted.

 “Ah. Groovy.” He pivoted and began walking, saying over his shoulder, “Call me when he gets in. And if you need somethin’, there’s chicken wings in the fridge.”

 Vivi waved after him. “Kay! Thank you!” And then raced off, shooting into the corridor and charging up the stairs. Down the hall, the door to Arthur’s work room awaited ajar, and she barreled in.

 A flash of embers all but blinded her. The rose-tinted blaze faded out leaving a hard, burnt fragrance throughout the room. “Lewis! Again?” She wobbled aside when Mystery shoved his way in through the doorway. “How does this keep happening?!”

 “I thought you were Uncle Lance!” came the disembodied retort, somewhat crackly.

 Vivi shut the door and checked the corkboard with the pinned schematics. “Why didn’t you wait then?” None of them were burnt, which was good.

 “I got bored.” In a fuchsia surge of flames, Lewis shape reappeared. A skull and death suit, and then a fizzing surge of embers swirled about the skull and fitted the spirit with cheeks and a jaw, a living memory. “And… I kind of wanted to check the place out.”

 Vivi studied Lewis for a moment, but said nothing. That was fast, though he hadn’t shed the death suit yet. “Okay. I’ll send Art a text, let him know we’re here. Make sure we don’t surprise him.” She set the backpack on the couch and rummaged through it. Mystery hopped up onto the cushions and curled up, his eyes tracking Vivi’s work. Up until she pulled up the laptop and her phone. “Aw. No power.”

 She and Mystery turned their eyes to Lewis.

 The spirit glanced aside and tugged at his tie. “You did ask earlier, didn’t you?”

 Vivi pointed to her little phone. “There is a battery in here. It has only so much power.” Mystery growled and yipped.

 “Be thankful your apartment covers utility costs.”

 Vivi grumbled under her breath as she rooted around her backpack for the charger. “I forgot it. I know better.” Mystery bounced off the couch, within seconds he was back with Arthur’s charger clamped in his teeth. “Thank you. I probably have to hook up my laptop too.” She tsked, this was cumbersome and she knew better.

 “I’m sorry!” Lewis swiped off the embers crackling at his vest and shirt sleeves, the same way someone would straighten out wrinkles.

 “No you’re not,” Vivi snapped. “You shouldn’t be. It’s not your fault.” Thankfully, she never took the laptops charger out of the backpack; let alone disconnected it. She hooked it up to a surge bar and plopped down on the couch once more. Lewis sat down beside her.

 “Watcha lookin’ up?”

 “Emails. There better not be emails in my damn emails.” She went through the mail icon and sighed. “Of course, it’s from Duet.”

 “Joy o joys.”

 “A list of assets for review.” She closed out the email. “I’ll look at those later.” She pulled up a new tab, and began researching how to stop spirits from syphoning battery life on the Paranormal Corner site.

 “Maybe… I should go for a bit.” Lewis glided out of his seat, up until Vivi caught the tail end of his vest and hauled him back down. “Or not….”

 “Atta boy.”

#mystery skulls #mystery skulls fanfiction #mystery skulls fanfic #msa fanfiction #msa fanfic #mystery skulls lewis #mystery skulls mamma pepper #mystery skulls vivi #mystery skulls lance #mystery skulls mystery #mystery skulls arthur #mystery skulls ghost

[vincentbriggs]

I'd love to hear more about the learning curve with your new embroidery frame. I've been considering possibly investing in one myself eventually and I'd love to hear what you think the pros and cons are.

Sure! I haven’t had it for long, but here’s everything I can think of so far.

Pros:

Very good for big projects, as it hold the fabric neatly and there’s none of the awkward scrunching and pinning of huge edge bits that I found myself doing when I did big things in a small hoop. My frame can hold things up to a meter wide, so it’s big enough to accommodate any project I foresee myself doing.

It spares one the terrible hand cramps you get if you hold an embroidery hoop for too long.

Much much better for working on silk taffeta or other crisp fabrics because it doesn’t leave any creases like a hoop can. It also spares your work the potential damage of being squished in a hoop. (Those cheap wooden ones can be splintery and rough.)

Some stuff (like metal embroidery) can only be done in a frame because a hoop would horribly, irreparably mangle it. I intend to try metal embroidery sometime in the next year or so, so I’m very excited about this!

No need to constantly take the work in and out of a hoop, and your tension is much more even. There’s some fussing with the tension when you first lace your fabric in, but after that you only need to move the rollers along occasionally to get to the next section. 

It probably won’t get dirty either, like stuff in a hoop can when you handle it constantly. I put a thin white cotton dropcloth over it when I’m not working on it to make sure no dust and dirt gets on it.

You can use both hands if you want! I’m gradually getting the hang of this, and it seems to be more efficient. Passing the needle back and fourth between both hands saves you the time of moving your arm between the front and back all the time. Dominant hand goes underneath, since it knows what it’s doing and needs less supervision.

Cons: 

It’s huge, and therefore takes up rather a lot of space. The rollers on mine are 1 meter wide and the frame itself extends a further 11cm on either side of them. I’m about to move out of my parents house and into a small apartment, so we’ll see how that goes. This frame (and all my other sewing stuff) is very high priority and definitely coming, but my workspace will likely be cramped. However, I know smaller frames exist, including tabletop ones, so it depends on what you need for your particular sort of work.

Being huge, it can’t be taken on public transportation, into waiting rooms, or any of those other boring situations that are so good for embroidery. 

Nowhere to rest your arm, so I’m going to have to build up some embroidery muscles.

It wobbles a bit if you nudge it - hardly surprising as a wooden frame would need to be very chunky in order to not do this. I find if I gently brace one or both wrists against the rollers it keeps it steady. I presume squishing it in between two other pieces of furniture would help too, and will keep that in mind when moving stuff into my new room.

Rather more awkward to look at the underside of your work. I can tie off my threads without looking at the underside, but I like to bury the tails under the stitching on the backside before I cut them off, so I twist myself around to look at the underside while doing that. I think one could discreetly do this on the front side though.

It’s expensive but, as you say, it’s an investment.

Edit: hwaemelec suggested resting it on two trestles, which would make it easy to lift up to see the bottom, give you a place to rest your arm, and most likely stop the wobbling! Nice! I must do this and report back.

All things considered, I think the pros far outweigh the cons and am very very glad I invested in this frame. I think it’s an excellent fit for what I’ll be doing with it, which is large pieces of embroidery for 18th century menswear. Mostly on crisp silk, and with silk or metal threads.

I got the frame from this etsy seller (There was only one listed when I bought it, and now it’s back, so I’m assuming she just keeps one in stock at a time) but I believe this is the manufacturers site.

#vampirecatprince #ask #embroidery

[strange-destinations]

could you do the fic commentary thing for 'time & twinford' and 'something else that makes this tune complete'? :D

I’m going to do ‘something else’ here, and maybe if I have the mental energy I’ll do ‘time and twinford’ a bit later (since that one’s a long one whoo boy). Is there any particular scene for that fic that you maybe want me to do...? it might be a bit easier that way.

something else that makes this tune complete commentary and rambling under the cut!

It hadn’t even been intentional.They had been sitting around in Irving’s office in the White Rabbit, talkingabout everything and nothing – just two not-so-normal friends on a dangerousplanet spending time together over a not-too-great bottle of wine – and at somepoint, Benny had mentioned old Earth music and Irving had got up to open up oneof the cabinets to reveal the genuine-looking ancient antique record playerthat he had apparently been keeping for this exact moment.

I really, reallylove the idea of them just sitting around some nights and chilling – trying toget to know each other properly, since there’s a lot about each other that theydon’t know yet.

Brax is just pretentious enough to have an ancient record player hidden in his office, just waiting for the right moment to use it. Change my mind.

“Atmosphere,” he explained,picking out a record from a smaller shelf below it, and positioning itcarefully on the device.

Benny leaned back in her chair.“Or maybe you’re just finding an excuse to show off again.”

“Or maybe it’s that, yes,” heallowed, and brought the needle down. The faint static of the turning recordscratched cheerfully for a second or two, and then the sweet strains of jazzpiano echoed through the room, quickly followed by the crooning of a woman’slow, smooth voice.

I love Ella Fitzgerald. Like, a lot. So this is probably just me projecting onto characters (again)but I really feel like she’d be a singer that both Brax and Benny would enjoyand listen to. I toyed briefly with the idea of using the Isley Brothersinstead (because Benny canonically loves them a lot) but ultimately I decidedthat the Isley Brothers was more of a her-and-Seven thing, and that herrelationship with Brax needed to be somewhat removed from anything she sharedwith his brother. If that makes sense?

The song in question is Paper Moon, of course – my favorite version.

“Ah, dear old Ella,” Benny saidfondly, smiling. She took a sip of wine. “You know, the Doctor took me to seeher once?”

And despite what I said in the previous note, the Doctormanages to make an appearance anyway. Damn that guy.

For once, Irving didn’t seemannoyed at the mention of his brother. He just checked the needle on the recordplayer to make sure it was in place, and then came around the desk to sit nextto her again. “As did I. A remarkable woman. 1967, I believe. Her and DukeEllington, live at –”

“– live at Jazz àJuan ,” said Benny, eyebrows raising.

Okay, so my favorite jazz recording of all time is this one – which wasrecorded at the event I reference. I love the song anyway, mainly because it’sa wonderfully catchy jazz standard that isn’tabout love for once, but – this recording in particular? It’s so good, guys. It’s just pure,unadulterated joy and wonderfullyskilful improv, and Ella and Duke areclearly having so much fun doing it – you can hear them laughing and occasionallymissing notes and all the rest, and that somehow makes it so much better. I can’timagine what it would have been like to witness live.

There was silence for a second,broken only by the sound of Ella Fitzgerald’s sweet, clear voice.

“You were there?” Irving asked,genuinely surprised by this revelation.

“We must have both been,” Bennysaid. “Huh – that must have been before I even knew you existed. Smalluniverse.”

“Indeed.” Irving leaned on onearm of the chair. “I’m sorry I missed you, then.”

Someday I will write the fic of them accidentally bumping intoeach other in the dark at a jazz concert, and having a delightful littleconversation then that neither of them remember later for various reasons. Thisday is not today, or probably anytime soon. And even if that didn’t happen – I reallyjust like the idea of them both being at the same concert without realizing? It’sa nice sort of symmetry.

“It would’ve been a different sortof first meeting,” Benny agreed. They listened to the music in comfortablesilence for a while, and then she placed the glass on the desk, and stood,extending a hand to her friend. “C’mon.”

Benny is slightly drunk. Justkind of tipsy. She wouldn’t be suggesting this otherwise.

He looked up at her, unimpressed.“Bernice –”

“I can’t dance alone.” Shewiggled her fingers in his direction. “You put on the music. You should’ve seenthis coming.”

Reluctantly, he stood, settinghis drink aside. “I suppose I must have.”

Benny took his arm, and he loopedhis fingers around her other hand, and together they fumbled their way into aslow, clumsy pseudo-swing in which she stepped on his feet twice before finallygetting the hang of it. It wasn’t anything very complicated, but it felt right.

I – aaaaah I wantto comment on this, but I really can’t think of anything to say.

“Have we danced before?” Irvingasked, maybe sensing the familiarity about the way she was holding herself.

“With you? No,” Benny said,although she knew that wasn’t really what he was asking. He frowned slightly ather, a faint downwards curl of the lips, and she sighed and relented, steppingsideways to avoid colliding with a chair. “Once or twice. Mainly at some ofyour – at some of his parties. Never for very long,” sheadded, thoughtfully. “I’m clumsy as all hell on the dance floor.”

I’m nearly certain that they’ve danced in canon – maybe inone of the anthologies set on the Collection? It feels like the sort of thingthat they would end up doing at one of Collection!Brax’s charity balls or whatever.It was almost certainly a lot more formal and rigid than this – a lot lessrelaxed on so many levels.

Come to think of it, I would have loved do some sort ofjuxtaposition here between Collection Brax & Bernice – immaculate fancydress, prestigious ballroom, lots of important people from across the galaxythere for the Collection, and a strict dancing style set to rigid music – vs LegionIrving and Benny – weekend clothes, back room of the pub they own, just themand their family, bopping around to jazz music while laughing like nerds. Butas it turned out, I only ended up writing that second bit.

The first bit only exists in my imagination, I guess.

“We’re the same person,” hereminded her, although he didn’t sound too happy about it.

She stopped dancing for a second– bringing them swirling to a stop in the middle of the room – and looked up athim; looked at him properly. He was nearly an entire foot taller than her –always had been. His face was familiar. It was the face of the man who hadensnared her, stood by her, killed her husband, betrayed her; died right beforeher eyes. And yet he was none of those things. He was different, here and now –it was sometimes hard to remember, but it was important. He cared. Not justabout her – about all of them, and that was really more than she could say forthat other version of him.

“No,” she said. “You aren’t.”

This pretty much speaks for itself, to be honest.

There was definitely some affection between Collection Braxand Benny, but it took an entirely different form than what it is here. Like Isaid before – it was far more strained, and there was always thatemployer-employee relationship over the top of it – not to mention all the shitthat Brax got up to behind and not-so-behind the scenes.

She clasped her hand properly inhis, and he smiled, tentatively but genuinely, and put a hand on her back, andas the last strains of Paper Moon faded out, they danced likeit had been choreographed – like they had done it a million times before. Asthey twirled to a halt again, Benny squeezed Irving’s hand, and he squeezedback, and she grinned and leaned in to hug him. Incredibly, he hugged back -long fingers spreading out evenly over her back, leaning down to meet her. Sheopened her mouth, about to say something, but then –

Have I mentioned lately that Benny is so much shorter than Brax, in my head? I feel like I haven’t,actually. And that’s a tragedy. Massive height differences make friendships so much better, guys.  

Flash. The most brilliant, warmlight, filling her up inside so absolutely that she couldn’t imagine how shehad ever lived without it –

– and then something changed.

They are both completely, absolutely at ease with each otherhere – although neither of them is probably prepared to admit it. That’s theonly way that this fusion could have ever happened in the first place.

Tall – ridiculously tall, infact. Excellent. Dark hair still – only makes sense, really; a bit messier thanthey would have liked, but can’t be helped. One single hoop earring – well,that’s new! ( For you, maybe. ) ( I never said I objected. )( Well, good, because – )

Okay, so, two things. Two - the appearance of their fusion isa bit shaky in my head, and that’s why I haven’t described it all that muchhere, and also haven’t drawn them yet. And two – the thing about fusions (atleast, in my head) is that if the two-or-more people involved in them arein-tune enough, they will end up being perfectlyfused – so much so that you really can’t tell where one ends and the otherbegins. (Resist the urge to make a Scherzojoke, etc, etc.)

The only reason that they have a brief little internal backand forth here is (I seem to recall?) because the fusion is still kind of ‘settling’,so to speak – things are falling into place. When they fuse again later, there’sno internal conversation because they’ve fallen completely into sync and there’sno need for any dialogue between them – they’ve become one person.

Wait.

Wait, wait, wait –

They looked down at their clothes– a curious mix of Irving’s carefully curated, immaculately tailored suit; andBenny’s somewhat less-than-immaculate casual clothes.

I can’t wait until I figure out what this actually lookslike.

“Oh, Goddess,” they said, eyeswidening, and then, “dear Rassilon – we didn’t. But – we did.What? How? I – how!? ”

In retrospect, this particular line of dialogue doesn’t makesense – at this point in her timeline, Benny no longer swears by the Goddess(whiiiich I forgot whoops) and with Time War in mind – although I’m still nottoo sure where Legion falls with Brax? Nobody really does, though – it’sunlikely he swears by Rassilon either. I don’t know, guys.  

The record was still playing.Ella was still singing – something different, more unfamiliar. They frowned,shook their head, and paced quickly across their – across Irving’s office andpaused, briefly delighted, when they noticed how long their stride had become,and then – “no, this is an emergency –” and they took theneedle off the record player, rendering the room silent, and resumed pacingagain.

Surprisingly – or maybe not-so-surprisingly – one of thisfusion’s quirks is a tendency to get randomly distracted by tiny things, andthen immediately kicking themselves into getting focused again. I like to thinkof this as Benny going off on a tangent and Irving going “Benny. Rambling.” – orsometimes the inverse. But it’s all internal, of course.

“We’re all right with this?” theyasked themselves aloud, because talking to themselves felt like a very them thingto do, and then they answered it with a, “yes, I think so,” and a, “good,excellent,” in response to that, and then they swivelled on their heel so theycould press their hands against their - Irving’s - no, their desk.

Another quirk of theirs: both Benny and Brax talk aloud tothemselves on occasion – which is just one of those things that comes withexisting in an audio-only medium, really! It’s only right that their fusionshould take that to the next level – holding elaborate conversations andarguments with themselves near-constantly.

“All right,” they said, “I’m herenow - this is me, so - I need a name. Right? Yes.”

They froze in place, becoming asstill as a statue in less than an instant, and thought for a moment.

I had this really good mental image of the fusion being ableto just straight-up freeze in  place whennecessary – and being able to do that uncannilywell. This is a combination of Brax’s ‘stands so still you think he’s astatue’ thing and Benny’s well-honed ability to freeze at the slightest soundof something extremely dangerous and growly in the tunnel/hallway/forest/etcbehind her.

I also feel like I introduced these three things a bit tooquickly? The pacing of this story is honestly Majorly Off.

“The Art-chaeologist,” they saidsuddenly, and then grinned, and then scowled, and almost immediately unfused –Benny and Irving being both practically thrown across the room in oppositedirections – Irving ending up in an undignified pile somewhere near his desk,and Benny hurtling the other way – knocking a chair askew enough that itactually broke into two, and landing face-down in the carpet.

“ No ,” said Irvinginstantly, picking himself up off the ground. He was still scowling.

The first concept for this fic that I had was this exact scene.It’s not quite as funny as it was inmy head when I first thought it up, but it comes pretty close, I hope.

Benny just laughed, turning overso she was facing him. “Come on – it’s perfect. You know it is.”

“No, no, no. Fusionis a unique and remarkable ability of my people that has been developed andperfected over our many centuries of existence. It is more-or-less sacred. Iabsolutely point-blank refuse to be the title of our –” and here he paused,like he was almost unsure of himself, before continuing right on, “ – our fusion besomething as commonplace and undignified as…” His face twisted unpleasantly.“…a pun .”

Brax, your Time Lord is showing!

But he’s right. ‘The Art-caheologist’ is a bit too undignifiedto suit them, unfortunately. If it were any other characters, I would have justrolled with it, but Brax – Brax isn’t standing for this nonsense.

“All right, all right,” Bennysaid, leaning back and rolling her eyes. “Killjoy.”

A moment passed.

“If we wanted to be extremelypedantic about naming conventions and so on,” said Irving slowly, and a tinysmile found its way onto his face, “…an acceptable name for us – them – wouldbe ‘Irverfield’.”

Now it was Benny’s turn to scowl.“If you do that, we’re never fusing again.”

About naming – these were the only two names I could come upwith for the fusion. And, regrettably, neither of them really seem to fit properly– hence, them both instantly shutting the other down. I’m still really unsureabout what to call the fusion – if anybody has any ideas at all please contact me.

He lost the smile, too. “Yes.About that.”

She was about to make anotherjoke, but then she caught the stricken look on his face. “I’m guessing youweren’t expecting that.”

“No. You were?”

“I – “ She made a so-so motionwith a hand. “I mean, I knew that it could happen – the Doctorand all, you know – but like I said – we’ve danced a few times, and it neverhappened before, so it didn’t really cross my mind until it happened, and thenI went, oh, right .”  It wasn’t like she hadn’t done itbefore. Travelling with the Doctor tended to expand your horizons in very unexpectedways.

I left it intentionally vague here because I wasn’t entirelysure if Benny would have fused with the Doctor at any point. (It’s implied shedid, but I didn’t want to outright say it just in case Rae (or me) wanted to dosomething different with the AU.)

“I see,” he said, and didn’telaborate.

She looped her arms around herknees, peering over at him. It didn’t look like either of them were planning ongetting up yet, and she was content to just sit on one side of the office forthe moment – he looked like he needed the space. “Everything okay?”

“I didn’t even think humans andTime Lords could fuse,” he said quietly.

She blinked. For once, she was inthe relatively unique position of knowing something about Gallifreyans thatIrving didn’t, and she wasn’t sure if she liked it. “Huh. Really?” The Doctorhad never mentioned anything like this – fusion prejudice, or whatever. But itsounded about right. “One of those things that Time Lords frowned upon, huh?”

He just nodded.

I.. feel like I should say something here, but I’m not sosure how to put it? In essence, I took the whole xenophobia thing that the TimeLords have in canon and tried to recontextualize it in this universe – and whatI ended up coming with

“That must have been prettyshocking for you, then,” she realized, and then leaned forward. “I... haveabsolutely no idea if this is a personal question for you lot or not, but –when was the last time?”

I feel like it would bekind of a personal question, but Brax doesn’t really mind. It’s kind of alongthe lines of asking when you last had sex, or went to the dentist, or touched aplant.

“That I fused?” A kind of twistedsmile. “Nearly a century, I’d say.”

Benny puffed out her cheeks,surprised but trying not to show it outwardly. “Ouch. Been a while, then.”

“That’s putting it lightly.” Hepicked at the carpeted floor absently with his fingers. “And before you ask, itwas no-one of consequence. Rather an impersonal affair, really. Not worthspeaking about – certainly not enjoyable.”

it was narvin

Benny winced. “I’m sorry aboutthat.”

Irving glanced up, surprised.“Don’t be. It was, like I said, quite a while ago.”

“Still.” She pressed her lipstogether, and then said, “hopefully this was a bit better, than.”

“Oh, it was ,”Irving replied without even pausing to think about it. He didn’t exactly smile,but his expression became lighter and his eyes crinkled up around the edges.“You’re a remarkable woman, Bernice Summerfield.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” shereturned, mouth quirking upwards, and for a second or two there was justcomfortable silence between then.

I love them I love them I love them

And then Irving stood up.

“One more time?” he offered, witha sort of half-smile, stretching out a hand to her. “Only if you want to, ofcourse, but –” he hesitated, and then admitted, “it’s been a very long timesince I’ve had the chance to do this with anyone at all –”

Benny accepted the hand withouthesitation, cutting him off.

He took a breath, and then setoff into a direction in a pattern that turned out to be a waltz. The first fewsteps were more than a little awkward – this time, it was Irving’s turn to stepon her feet – but then they settled into the rhythm of things.

“No music?” she asked.

Irving smiled properly, and thenhummed, briefly, and sang, in a surprisingly clear, strong voice, “ itdon’t mean a thing – ”

I often wonder if Brax can sing – canonically, I mean. Myheart says yes, absolutely, but thething is, I don’t know if he would.He’s a bit of a showoff – but I don’t really know if he’s quite that brand of showoff, you know?

She got it instantly. “– ifyou ain’t got that swing, ” she joined in, voice not quite as clear ashis, but still in-tune; and they twirled in a tight but neat spiral, movingaround the tiny space of the office. The waltz turned into a quick two-stepkind of rhythmic jive,

“ Doo-wah, doo-wah,doo-wah, doo-wah, doo-wah – ”

There is something that’s just really delightful aboutsinging with a friend unaccompanied, especially if the singing in question was completelyunplanned. Ditto goes for dancing.

This song is the same one I referenced earlier – the Duke& Ella version that I linked above, that they both saw without realizing theother was there.

They started off singingtogether, but then Benny started laughing at the delightful absurdity of thesituation, and Irving chuckled, and although they were both still trying tokeep going, they didn’t end up getting much further than that. And as it turnedout, it didn’t really matter – because as Irving, still chuckling, pulled Bennyinto a loose twirl, the room flared with light again, and when it cleared –

– well, they had either bothvanished entirely, or were both still remarkably pleasant, depending on whichtheories of being you subscribed to, personally. But either way, the personthat was left alone in the room was hugging themselves and still laughing.

UGH Freudian slip – I meant to say ‘present’, not ‘pleasant’.Oh well.

Semi-deliberate reference to the Steven Universe Stevonnie fusionepisodes here. I always loved that image of the camera panning up as they twirlaround, hugging themselves, looking just superhappy.

“Aha!” they said, straighteningup with a wide smile on their face. “I’m back – excellent. ”

And then there was a considerablepause as they realized that neither they nor the two people that made up theirwhole had any idea what to do next. They hadn’t thought that far ahead.

This is mainly because I didn’t think this far ahead either.

“Well, then,” they said, slowly.“I suppose I should... hm.”

There was a knock at the door,and then it opened almost immediately, revealing Peter, who apparently hadn’tbothered to wait for a response before entering. He was looking at a clipboard,and so hadn’t actually noticed the fact that Benny and Irving no longertechnically as separate entities. “Irving, Jack needs you to sign for that newshipment of shot glasses.”

I have no idea how bars are supposed to function. Is that obvious?I thought for like five minutes about what sort of thing Peter would need Brax tosign for and the best I could come up with was shot glasses which is kind of pathetic tbh.

“I’ll get right onto it,” theysaid automatically, reaching for the clipboard. “Here, let me –”

Peter frowned. “You sound weird.Are you-?”

And then he looked up at them,and he dropped the clipboard, and let out a brief, very un-Peter-like shriek.

They backed away from himimmediately, raising their hands defensively. “Peter, listen – we – I –”

“Dear god whatdid the two of you do, ” Peter panicked, backing up againstthe wall. “Is this some time travel thing? Did you both try to travel to thesame spot at the same time and get horribly meshed together, or –”

“Hey – I hardly think I’m ‘horrible’ –”

“– is thispermanent?” Peter pretty much screamed at them. “I can’t handle thisif it is! I already have terrible family issues already, what the hell amI supposed to call you if you’re two people at once –”

Peter is freaking out because he can’t take having anotherweird pseudo-parental figure in his life – he’s had too many of those anyway,and the only thing that could get weirder than his mum and his…… uncle???? fusingat this point is the Doctor turning upsuddenly to get in on the fucked up family issue fun.

“ Don’t worry this wasintentional,” they yelled back. “Kind of! Absolutely! Definitely! Andit’s not permanent, we can probably unfuse if we just – um– ”

“That does not inspireconfidence!”

“Peter?!” Ruth hollered from downthe hallway, and there was the sound of running footsteps for a few seconds,before she burst into the room. “I heard a scream – oh my god! ”she added, staring. “How - just. How? ”

They were beginning to come tothe fascinating conclusion that, based on the surge of immense affection thatthey felt whenever a new person entered the room, both of of the people theywere made of cared a lot more about the residents of the White Rabbit than theytended to show outwardly. Which, in the case of Benny, who pretty much wore herheart on her sleeve; was more than a little impressive.

I need to write more Legion!fic – and actually while I’m here talking about this, let me just mentionthis real quick – a particular duo I want to see interacting more is Irving andRuth, because as far as I can remember they get literally no substantialinteractions in canon at all. Andhonestly I think there could be something really soft and adorable there? Ijust don’t quite know what it is yet.

“Hello. Yes.” They cleared theirthroat. “Let’s see – I am the fusion of your two friends; this was absolutelymeant to happen, maybe; they are both perfectly fine and rather enjoyingthemselves, and I prefer to go by ‘they’ and ‘them’ rather than any explicitlygendered pronouns. Is there anything else?”

A note on the fusion’s speech/etc – I had a super difficulttime trying to figure out how to mesh Benny and Brax’s particular ways ofspeaking. I think I ended up writing them a bit too much Brax-wise than I wouldhave liked. I ended up going for ‘Brax’s diction/phrasing, with Benny’s slangand terms/occasional phrasing thrown in’.

Ruth stared, and then blinked,and then stared again. “Okay. Wow. Um, I’m gonna need amoment.”

They nodded, and then lookedaround the room, taking stock of what was going on. They were taller thanusual. One chair was broken. Peter was now standing in the corner, face pressedto the wall. He appeared to be having a small breakdown. Ruth had her eyesclosed, and was apparently thinking hard.

All in all, it wasn’t the worst waythis particular situation could have gone down.

“Hi, Irving,” said Jack, walkinginto the disaster and immediately making things a million times worse. “Hi,Benny.”

I love Jack, a lot. I feel like he’s that one person in yourPhilosophy & Ethics class who always chimes in with the statement orwhatever that makes the professor just stare at them blankly for a full tenseconds before their brain manages to reboot.

“Hello, Jack,” they said, with atiny, awkward wave in his direction. “Although, I suppose – technicallyspeaking – I’m not either of them anymore? It’s complicated. And, speaking ofthat, I’m now accepting suggestions for potential names for myself. So pleasefeel free to submit them now, at your convenience.”

Jack nodded, thought for half asecond, and then said, “the Art-chaeologist.”

They smiled pleasantly, and thensaid, “Jack, you’re fired.”

“Worth it,” he said, nodding.

Benny cares more about siding against Jack than she does arguingfor that (amazing, wonderful) pun, apparently!

..I don’t actually have any further notes for the rest ofthe fic (or maybe I’m just tired), but I should mention before I sign off fornow that the Legion family is very important to me.

Sorry for taking so long with this :D

#fic commentary #kitty rambles #bernice summerfield #irving braxiatel #my fic #team: you're my best friend #tompkins-square-ditmas

[peachyfic]

Win or Win - Youngjae

January 1st. Jackson

January 2nd. Youngjae

The next day you were still drunken with the sweet moments from the date with Jackson, so it was hard for you to focus on your next date. Your best friend told you that Youngjae is waiting for you in an arcade at 2 o’clock. You were, of course, excited, but it was hard to get Jackson out of your head. If you would have had the chance to chose, you would have gone on another date with Jackson for sure. 

Your feet were hurting a little bit so you didn’t mind that this day’s date won’t be too active. You dressed up in comfortable clothes, but not too warm ones, as you were spending the whole afternoon inside. 

When you arrived at first you were not sure who to look for. Youngjae didn’t tell a lot of information about himself so you just cluelessly looked at all the boys standing outside of the arcade. But then suddenly a boy started to run towards you. He was wearing dark skinny jeans, sneakers, a hoodie with a long trench coat. He definitely looked stylish for an arcade date. 

“Y/n?” He asked and you nodded. His face was not as manly as Jackson’s but there was something charming about him as well. You noticed the small mole under his eye which made his appearance even cuter. “Nice to mee you, I’m Youngjae.”

“Nice to meet you, Youngjae,” you said as you shook hands. 

“We should go inside, it’s a bit cold here,” he said and you followed him in. He said hi to a couple of people in there, which made it seem like he had been to this arcade a lot of times. 

“Wow, this place looks super cool,” you said as you looked around the huge place with dozens of different gaming machines and all the neon lights brightening up the dark, windowless place. 

“This is one of my favorite spots in the city, so I’m glad you like it,” he said and you smiled shyly. “Do you want to try the basketball game?” He asked and you nodded.

“Actually I think I’m good with this,” you said and he looked at you curiously. 

“Okay, should we bet? The loser buys milk for the winner,” he replied with a smile. 

“Okay then get your wallet ready, mister,” you said daringly which surprised even yourself with. 

“Wow, you have a lot of confidence, I love that,” he laughed and his laugh was loud and contagious. 

You started the game and actually, you got quite a few balls in the hoop. Youngjae kept on cheering for you even though your win might mean a loss for his wallet. 

“I’m really good at this,” you concluded as you looked at your score. “Now it’s your turn but don’t go easy on me.” 

“It’s not my intention. I like winning,” he winked at you but then he started to laugh in his embarrassment. You guessed he wasn’t used to dating and flirting that much, in which you related to him. 

“Go Youngjae!” You cheered on him which made him blush and giggle even more. But once he got the ball in his hands, his attention was on the hoop only. He put on a focused look and didn’t even pay attention to his surroundings. As if he changed personalities. And of course, in the end, his score was higher than yours. 

“But you don’t have to buy me milk though, if I let you, then that’s not really nice of me,” he looked concerned when you were looking for your wallet in your bag. 

“It was our deal but hey you can buy food in the next round,” you shrugged and he nodded in agreement. 

“I kind of want to try something else,” Youngjae said as he looked around the first floor of the arcade. There were mostly claw machines and the basketball game you just played with. There was also a lounge area where people sat down to drink and eat some snacks in-between games. On the second floor, the sign said there are more machines and games to challenge players in. But before you headed upstairs for more fun, you got tempted by the claw machines. 

“Hey, Youngjae, what if we both have five tryouts on the machine and the one who doesn’t get a plush has to buy the food,” you suggested and Youngjae’s eyes brightened up.

“Great idea y/n, which machine do you want to try?” He asked and you looked at all the machines lined up with what kind of content they had inside. Then you saw a Pokemon one and pointed it at it like an excited kid. Youngjae approved your choice. 

“I want to get the Eevee,” you said while eyeing the figure in the corner of the machine. 

“Okay and my aim is Snorlax. It looks cute and also kind of easy to get out,” Youngjae said with a shrug, acting like as if it’s not a big deal for him.

“We will see Choi Youngjae,” you said with a confident smile which made him chuckle but also he felt challenged by your behavior. 

For the next thirty minutes, the two of you kept on struggling with the machine. You took turns in trying to get the plush that each of you chose. Even though Youngjae was so sure about getting the Snorlax easily, he progressed even less in getting the character out than you did. Both of you started to lose your cool and started yelling with the poor machine. Especially Youngjae lost his mind as by the end he just slid down on the floor and couldn’t stop laughing at both of your’s misery. And then neither of you succeeded. 

“Great, so we are not going to eat lunch,” you sighed and Youngjae patted your shoulder. 

“I’m on a diet anyways but if you are hungry I can buy you something,” he said and you shook your head. 

“Why are you on a diet though?” You asked him and for a moment he felt embarrassed as he avoided your eyes. 

“Well... since I have a job where I have to have a lot of public appearances, I can’t look that overweighted,” he replied but he seemed like as if he wants to avoid the topic. 

“Oh come on, what kind of overweight you are talking about? Youngjae you look great. You are handsome, you don’t have anything to worry about and diet. Dieting is the worst. I mean of course sometimes it’s good to eat healthier and taking care of yourself, but skipping meals is never a good option,” you explained to him and he listened to your words. 

“Thank you y/n, that’s really nice of you to say that,” he smiled shyly and you put your hand on his shoulder. 

“I mean it though, so please, eat with me. We can share the money,” you suggested and he nodded. 

“But first we should go up and look at some other games,” he pointed at the stairs and you followed him to the second floor. There were even more people there and a lot more machines. But Youngjae’s eyes stopped on something else instead.

“What do you think about this?” He asked as he stood next to the air hockey table. 

“Well, I never tried this before but why not,” you said and he showed you how to play the game. He stood beside you on your side of the table and he held on to your hand while showing off some movements you could do while playing the game. His hand was a bit sweaty, probably because he was nervous to be close to you. But otherwise his hand was smooth and he smelled really nice. It was comfortable to be next to him so close. 

After he let go of your hand, you could see it better that his ears were red like a tomato. He quickly walked over to the other side and you started to play against each other. You had fun during the game but at one point the puck flew out of the table, hitting Youngjae on his thigh. You rushed over to him telling him endless apologies while he was rubbing the spot where he got hit. 

“Thank God it wasn’t your sensitive area,” you said to him in which at first he looked at you with a shocked expression then he burst out into a loud laugh. “Oh my, I can’t believe I said that out loud,” you held your head and Youngjae kept on laughing at your reaction.

“Well, thanks for this laugh, it doesn’t hurt anymore. But you are absolutely right, this was a better spot,” he nodded. “So what do you want to play next?”

“Hm, I was thinking more about something that doesn’t involve sports for now. I feel exhausted after these two games and the claw machine misery,” you said and Youngjae got into deep thoughts. 

“Let’s walk around and see what options do we have,” he said and you started to explore more the arcade. It was surprisingly even bigger than it looked on the outside. There were some hidden corners with smaller machines. Occasionally you spotted some workers who took out coins from machines or cleaned some after they had been used for a while. 

Your attention was on a couple who were playing darts and they kept loudly laughing at each other. They both seemed to be pretty bad at the game but they for sure had fun. But then Youngjae gasped loudly and your attention got back to him. 

“Coin karaoke!” He exclaimed. Youngjae rushed to the small booth dragging you along. 

“Wait, I don’t think this is a good idea. If you hear me sing, I don’t think you will ever want to meet me again,” you protested but Youngjae didn’t listen to you. 

He stepped inside the tiny booth which squeezed you both in, the two of you standing next to each other closely. 

“I love to sing and people say I have a good voice, so if we do it together it might not be that scary for you,” Youngjae suggested.

“Okay, support me with this,” you sighed but Youngjae shouted ‘fighting’ to raise your spirit. He looked at the options while he fished out 500 won from his pocket. 

“What do you think about Bolbbalgan4′s Galaxy?” He asked. 

“Oh, great choice.” You replied while Youngjae handed you a mic. 

“Take a deep breath and don’t stress. We are not on stage,” he told you with a reassuring smile and you did as he said. 

The song started and Youngjae began to sing. You joined him once you felt more confident and it made you feel at ease when he smiled at you while singing. His voice was powerful but soothing.  

“You see, this was so fun!” He said once you finished singing couple more songs. The two of you were heading downstairs to grab something to eat. 

“Well only because you are a superstar singer,” you answered, which made him chuckle in his embarrassment. 

“There is a convenience store next door, do you want to go there and eat?” He asked, changing the subject. 

“That sounds good to me,” you finally arrived outside of the arcade and the fresh air made your head feel better. But when you turned around, you saw that Youngjae had a confused face. 

“Before we go, I should go and use the restroom. There might be a line, so please wait for me here,” he said and he looked nervous for a second before he disappeared. It was definitely suspicious as usually in the men’s restroom there isn’t a line. 

He definitely made you wait for like ten minutes and you started to get cold. Your mind was spinning with confusion and anger starting to pile up, but then Youngjae stepped outside while his arms were behind his back. 

“What are you up to?” You asked him with suspicion but also with a smile on your face. Youngjae kept on giggling until he revealed the Eevee that you tried to get out so hard from the claw machine. “I can’t believe you!” 

“Sorry it took me so long, I hope you were not too cold in the meantime,” he said while handing you the plush. In your happiness, you almost jumped into his arms while you hugged him tightly, with the Eevee between the two of you.

After that, the three of you walked to the convenience store next door and had some ramen to finish off the great day. Youngjae walked you to the bus stop and said goodbye to you with a warm hug. He almost left you there, but then he quickly ran back to you to ask for your number. He tripped a little and almost fell on you, but in the end, he was able to get his balance back. With a shaking hand he typed in your number then he said goodbye again. 

When you got home, you really couldn’t wait to be in bed as you felt exhausted. After you washed up and checked your phone, you fell asleep while smiling softly and hugging the Eevee tight. While you were already deep in your sleep, Youngjae texted you as he could barely fall asleep, still thinking about your day and how much fun he had. ‘I hope we can have another round in which you win and I pay you back with food ^^~ Sleep tight, Eevee will protect you~’

January 3d. BamBam

#youngjae #choi youngjae #got7 #youngjae imagines #youngjae au #youngjae scenario #got7 au #got7 scenario #got7 imagines

[emilhamil]

This is my guide to getting started with embroidery!

{part 1} {part 2} {part 3}

Hello everyone, this guide is based on how I do my embroidery. Some of my methods aren’t perfect but they work for me and hopefully they’ll work for you.

This will be done in three parts: equipment, execution, and bonus tips.

This first part will help you get everything ready before you start. (this is quite a lost post under the cut and I'm not even sure it works on mobile lol)

Choosing the right thread.

a. These are pearl cotton skeins’ and most craft stores sell them. You can also get stranded cotton in a skein too. Pearl cotton is one strand and is quite glossy. Stranded cotton usually comes in six parts that can be divided if wanted; it also tends to be less glossy. Skeins’ are good for beginners because you can choose whatever colours you like and they are quite inexpensive. (usually £1 or less. You can get 100 skeins’ on eBay for about £5).

b. These are pearl cotton spools. They are glossy and one strand which can’t be separated. These are better for bigger projects or if you are going to be using a lot of the same colour. Usually it’s good to get one in black because it comes in handy for outlines. (these cost about £2 each but cheaper when buying in bulk online).

c. This is the stranded cotton I bought and I’ve put them onto cardboard spools. Stranded cot to can be separated into six strands, or kept as one thick strand. I usually use two at a time but its your choice. This is useful for detail work and smaller areas. (again these are about £1 each + the cost of the spool which is about £3 for 50 and are completely optional).

Scissors

a. Household scissors work just fine if you don’t want to/ aren’t able to get a hold of embroidery scissors. One word of advice though, the smaller the slightly better, just gives you more control. However, all scissors are capable of cutting thread. 

b. Embroidery scissors are made specifically for embroidery duh! This basically means they are smaller and have thinner blades and they are quite sharp. They are quite precise if you want to cut the thread close to the fabric. (the cheapest pair I found were about £3).

c. I don’t actually know what these are called?? Shears?? They cut quite precisely and are spring loaded so you just pinch and cut. They get the job done so what’s to worry about?

Embroidery Hoop

a. The good ol’ classic wooden hoop. This is the cheapest option. I would recommend beginners getting a 6″ hoop, its a decent size to work with. Getting the fabric tension can be bit trickier but it isn’t that hard so don’t worry. 

b. The official name for these is Flexi-hoop. In my opinion they are best for getting the fabric tension pretty good each time. They are also quite cheap and durable.

c. These plastic hoops are often colourful and I think they are meant for displaying work? I really have no idea how to use them properly so maybe avoid this type if you are an absolute beginner? This is just my opinion though.

Fabric

I like using an unbleached medium weight calico for my pieces. I know Ikea sells unbleached calico for £2 a metre so its quite cheap, and craft stores should also sell it quite cheap. Amazon also has a few options but sometimes the delivery can take a while.

You can however use any fabric you like. There is only one major thing I can think of when choosing your fabric, and that’s non - stretch fabric! (you can embroider onto stretchy fabrics but you will need a stabiliser and it’s best to wait until you are more comfortable with embroidering. We can discuss this when the time comes).

If you can’t get any calico, you can recycle things around the house. Like a tea towel, pillowcase, or canvas bags.

Misc. Tools

a. Embroidery needles. These needles are short and narrow which means you can get more detailed work. They can be trickier to thread however. BUT you can use pretty much any needle ( I mostly use that big one). You can go to a store and choose some needles that you like the look of. I do have a technique for threading them that I will include in part 3.

b. Pins. You don’t really need these unless you want to add some appliqué to your work. We can go over this when we have the basics down.

c. Big needle. This kind of needle is mostly needed for bullion knots and other fancy stitches. I however break the rules and I pretty much use this all the time. But I believe that it’s all personal preference.

d. Stitch picker. Comes in handy for picking the stitches out if you’ve made a mistake or changed your mind about what you’ve just embroidered.

e. Dressmaking pencil. These are usually quite chalky and used to transfer a design onto fabric. You can use a normal pencil if you plan to cover it up with stitches anyway.

f. Water erasable pen. Used to draw a design onto the fabric and instantly disappears under water. (always test it on a scrap of fabric first).

g. Another water erasable pen. The same as f. just a different style.

In summary:

Most of these items are quite cheap. But there are ways to get these things if you can’t afford them. For example you can ask family, if you have any grandparents they might have some sewing supplies. Second hand stores often have some good finds. You can always compromise some things like using a biro instead of a water erasable pen, it doesn’t really matter. You don’t really need an embroidery hoop but it really helps, without it you will need to take super extra care when working.

Finally, I really believe that everyone has their own ways of doing things. This guide is how I do things and I’m sure there are people who will disagree with what I’ve said, but it works for me. You might take a while to find your flow, but when you find something that works for you, keep going with it y’know? You’ll get there and I’ll try and help where I can.

I hope this has helped warm you up and maybe answered any queries you might have had? The next lesson will be embroidering a design from start to finish. I have made a stag beetle design so I hope that’s ok.

#long post #embroidery #fibre art #sewing #crafts #embroidery hoop #scissors #needles #pens #how to #tutorial #guide #helpful #hope this helps #reference #ref

[toomanysurveys9]

Are you independent or dependent? I am definitely both. But I feel like I’m starting to become more independent.

If you could put your life into a category, where would it go? I feel like this would be easier to answer if you gave a list of categories. I don’t know what kind of insight you’re looking for. <<< Yeah, I have no idea how to answer this. <<< Ditto.

How many animals do you have? Sooo. We have two dogs, one cat, and four rats. However, I have a total of six rats until I can get the bigger cage for the four I am keeping. My grandpa is taking two. My sister has a dog. My mom has a dog and a cat.

Are you popular? I have never been popular, and that hasn’t changed as an adult.

What time were you born? It was early evening I think? But I could be way off.

Have you had any candy this week? I have. My mom went a little crazy buying Halloween candy.

Are you more afraid of tornadoes or hurricanes? Tornadoes are more common around where I live, although I haven’t really had to deal with that devastation personally. I worry about family and a close friend that live in the south more since they do have hurricanes.

Do you like those nerd glasses? I’m not sure what this means.

Have you ever been in a fist fight? I’ve play wrestled, and that got intense on occasion, but that’s about it.

What color is your house? Light blue. Jacob wants to paint it dark brown.

When was the last time you saw a rainbow? It’s been awhile.

Have you ever ate a crayon? Not that I can recall, but it’s possible when I was a lot younger.

Ever rode in a helicopter? I don’t think so.

Do you like rabbits? Not as much as rats or ferrets, but yes.

Do you like mushrooms? Occasionally.

“It’s like you step into the room and just press play” What was the last movie you cried at? What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I forgot about the miscarriage storyline and it destroyed me.

What ice cream flavor best describes your personality? Chocolate because it’s my least favorite. Ha.

Would you rather work for a small or large company? I definitely prefer working for a smaller company. You’re not just a number... they actually see you as a person.

Where’s your favorite place to buy clothes? I usually just go to Walmart. I don’t know that I have a favorite since it’s the only place I go really.

How many languages do you speak? Just English.

What was the worst movie you’ve ever seen? I did not enjoy the paranormal or purge movies.

What video game have you played the most? Probably Mario Party.

What was your favorite TV show as a child? I really liked Invader Zim. Rugrats. Lizzie McGuire. Kim Possible. The Proud Family. Phil of the Future.

What’s your favorite sport? None. I’m not a huge fan of sports.

If you were given a brand new yacht, what would you name it? I don’t really know.

Do you believe there’s life on other planets? Not like E.T. but probably.

What was the worst place you ever traveled to? I don’t really know. There hasn’t been anywhere I haven’t really liked.

What is one thing you’re really bad at? Lately.. parenting. I’m getting frustrated because I’m not just parenting my kids, but my little sisters too.

Do you believe in angels? No.

Would you rather be a famous actor or musician? Musician.

“where have you been all my life?” If you could have invented one thing, what would it have been? Stuffed animals. They’re cute and fluffy.

What’s your favorite exercise workout? The treadmill.

What’s your favorite thing to do? I love spending time with my kiddos. And I really enjoy roadtrips and traveling. Reading, although I don’t get to do it enough.

What did you do for your 17th birthday? Hung out with Jacob and family. Nothing too much.

Does your local Wal Mart have benches in them to rest? Yeah.

Was your favorite stuffed animal really a teddy bear growing up? I tended to prefer dogs.

If your house was haunted, what would you do? If I believed in that... I don’t know.

Are you crazy in love currently? I wouldn’t say so.

Are you good at swimming? I’m okay. Not as good as Jacob.

What’s worse: Slow internet or slow walkers? Slow internet. I can’t handle it. Lol.

What is the rudest thing a guy has ever done to you? Use me.

Do you sleep with the sheets tucked in or out? Out.

What do you do to fall asleep faster? I usually just play on my phone until I pass out.

Do you carry a bottle of water wherever you go? Sometimes, but not often enough..

Ae you afraid that one day you might get cancer? I’m terrified of that. I’m not totally convinced I don’t currently have it. My brain is fun.

“Letters to Juliet” Are you a fast or slow walker? Fast-ish.

Do you usually have to wear a belt with your pants? I don’t wear belts.

Does it bother you when people’s underwear hangs out? It’s mostly whatever.

Are you usually the person to try new things with your hair? Just fun colors usually.

When’s your birthday? September 1.

Do you own a bobble-head toy? Nope.

What color was the towel you used to dry off with today after a shower? I haven’t showered yet. It’s on my to do list.

Has anyone ever walked you home? Yeah.

Have you ever liked someone and they were taken? Yup.

When was the last time you went fishing? This past summer.

True or false: You’ve read the book Lord of the Flies? False.

Have you heard of the band Yellowcard? Yeah.

Have you ever seen the show Teen Wolf? I have seen bits and pieces but wasn’t into it.

Do you have any quotes, lyrics etc on your walls? I have a Nightmare Before Christmas clock made out of a record and it has a quote. Are you a fan of Star Wars? Yeah.

“Our parents never let us cross the street, but we did it anyway” Has anyone ever told you that you have nice hair? Yeah.

What brand of camera do you own? Canon Rebel T7.

Is there something you’re not looking forward to? Leaving my kids for the weekend to go to GA for a wedding.

Have you ever read the book Thirteen Reasons Why? Yeah.

Do you wear white pants? Noooo.

When was the last time you were really angry? Not too long ago because I was working on school and kids weren’t listening.

Have you ever made a 3 pointer in a basketball game? I doubt it.

Do you think you look better with your hair up or down? It’s hella short right now so doesn’t matter.

Do you warm up before you hardcore exercise? No.

Do you want a pair of Converse shoes? I have some.

Are you more of a studs or hoops type of person when it comes to earrings? Studs.

How many shirts do you have of your favorite band? None.

Turn on the TV. What channel are you on? I’m in a different room.

Have you ever wore a tie before? No.

What did you have for breakfast this morning? Honey nut cheerios.

“For the Krusty Krab” Are you good at art? I wish, but no.

How many times have you read your favorite book? A lot.

Name one thing that you really hate. Abusive people.

Have you ever tried walking on stilts? Nope.

Is there a war that you find interesting? World War 2.

Would you rather live in the city or country? I think it’d be better for us if we lived more in the country.

Do you think $7 is too much for a movie ticket? They’re more than that, which is why we don’t really go.

Would you like to be a newscast person? Nooo.

Do you like word searches, coloring or crosswords better? Word searches and sometimes coloring. But I don’t have patience for adult coloring books.

Close your eyes and press a random key on the keyboard. f

How many William’s do you know? A few.

What time did you wake up this morning? I don’t know. I woke up several times.

Do you enjoy crutches? Never used them.

What’s better: Snapple or Arizona tea? I like the Arizona juices.

Make a word out of the word: Dinosaur. Sand.

“she said I love this song, I’ve heard it before” When you were younger, did you play with legos? Yeah. Loved them.

Do you like Trix cereal? Not anymore.

Do you get nervous easily? Ugh. Yes.

How long is your Facebook password? Ha.

Do you like the movie Mean Girls? I do.

How do you want your wedding to be? I’m already married.

Have you seen the movie or show Catfish? I’ve seen bits and pieces of the show.

Do you hate it when you arrive to something early? I’d rather be early than late.

Have you ever been on Omegle? Not that I remember.

Are you still in love with one of your exes? NOOO.

Do you think it’s attractive when guys wear beanies? Depends on the guy.

What’s something that makes you feel shy in public? Being in public. Lol.

Do you like the shows on MTV? I guess so, yeah.

If you could go back and relive one day, what day? I couldn’t pick one. It’d be a toss up between when Wyatt or Eliana was born, but probably when Eliana was born because Wyatt was already here too.

What’s one word you hate to be called? Bitch.

#survey #surveys #personal #question #questions #random

[prepare4trouble]

Star Wars Rebels fanfic - Late Nights (2/2)

Little By Little Masterpost

part 1

Ezra watched Zeb as he leaned forward over his plate, closed his eyes and took a slow breath in, savoring the scent of the waffles.  Zeb waved a hand above the plate, encouraging the smell to rise to fill his nostrils, and smiled like it was the most wonderful thing he had ever experienced.  Ezra leaned forward too, and took a sniff himself.  They smelled okay, but eating them would be better.  He picked one up; it was still so warm it burnt his fingers.  He shifted it in his grip, waiting for it to cool a little, then bit into it, tearing at it with his teeth.  He kept the remainder in his hand as he chewed and swallowed.

Zeb watched, then shook his head critically.  “You’re doing it wrong,” he said.

That made no sense.  There was no wrong way to eat.  Well, as long as you ended up with the food in your mouth, there was no wrong way to eat.  Ezra bit his waffle again, taking a smaller bite this time, just in case that was the problem.

Zeb rolled his eyes and picked up the bottle of syrup.  He had placed it on the table before he had served up the waffles, positioning it carefully in its usual place, to the top left of his plate.  The triangular waffles were stacked artfully on the plate, one on top of another, but misaligned so that when he poured the syrup into the centre of the top waffle, it cascaded down all the sides in thin trickles and pooled in the bottom.  Zeb looked down at his handiwork, and smiled in a very satisfied way.

“Wow,” Ezra said.  Zeb looked up, surprised at the interruption to his ritual.  “I knew you liked these, but I mean, you really like them, don’t you?”

“They’re pretty good,” Zeb told him, with a shrug.  “Nothing like the ones we used to have back on Lasan though.  When you bit into them, they had this kind of a crunch to them that you just don’t seem to be able to get anywhere else.  They were firmer, too; had more substance to them.  And bigger, obviously.  These are barely two bites, even for you.  They smell almost identical though.”

Ezra looked at the waffle appraisingly.  It would have to be two really big bites, but he thought he could manage it.  He wasn’t going to try it; he didn’t think Zeb would appreciate the attempt.

Zeb didn’t talk about his homeworld often, but Ezra knew it was a difficult subject for him.  He couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to lose everything like that.  His own meager losses paled in comparison to the enormity of an entire world; a people.  “You must really miss it,” he said quietly.

Zeb combined a nod and a shrug into some kind of dismissive gesture of agreement.  “The waffles?” he asked, deliberately misunderstanding.  “Yeah, but these are a decent substitute.”

Ezra let the subject drop, there was no point explaining what he had meant, especially not when he was sure that Zeb already knew.  Ezra had become an expert at dodging a subject recently, and he recognized it when he saw it in others.

Zeb reached for his fork.  Holding it carefully in his large hands, he used the edge to cut one of the corners from the triangular waffle.  Syrup spilled from the round indentations onto his plate.  He speared the piece of waffle with his fork, ran it through the syrup on his plate, and put it in his mouth.  He licked his lips, and smiled, like suddenly all was right with the world.

Ezra poured a blob of syrup on the side of his own plate, dipped his waffle and took another bite.  

“So,” Zeb said.  He broke off another chunk of waffle and put it in his mouth.  “Go on then.”

Ezra frowned.  The waffle was reaching the stage where it had cooled enough to begin to crisp up just slightly at the edges.  He took a bite without syrup this time, savoring the crunch as his teeth bit into the thing.  He wondered if they were more like the ones Zeb was used to, at that stage of the cooling process.

“What?” he asked.

“That was the deal.  I give you waffles, you tell me what happened today.”

Actually, he had said that.  Ezra had forgotten the second part of the deal, focussing only on the food.

“What makes you think something happened?” he asked.

Zeb sighed.  He speared the final piece of his first waffle with his fork, dragged it around the edge of his plate soaking up stray syrup and leaving a sticky smear in its wake.  He ate it, licked his lips, and looked at Ezra expectantly, waiting.  He didn’t answer the question.

“Nothing happened,” Ezra told him.

Zeb got to work on his second waffle, chopping off the first corner and watching as syrup spilled onto his plate again.

“Really,” Ezra insisted.  He wasn’t even lying.  The more he thought over the events of the day — and he had done little else since he had left Kanan’s quarters after their first official lesson — the more he realized that really, nothing had changed.

He wasn’t any more grounded than he had been yesterday, just because he knew now what he needed to do to get back on missions.  He wasn’t losing his sight any faster just because Kanan had started to tell him some of what he needed to expect.  He was in exactly the same position now as he had been at the start of the day.  A better one, in fact, because now he had some more information.

It wasn’t information that he particularly wanted, of course, but he recognized that they were things he needed to know.

Zeb scoffed as he popped another piece of waffle into his mouth.  “So you expect me to believe that absolutely nothing happened today; you just spent the whole day sitting in a corner not talking to anybody?”

“No, obviously not.” Ezra sighed as he tried to think of the best way to explain.  “It’s just, you’re thinking something bad happened and…” he stopped.  He didn’t mean to; it was as though his throat closed up against his will, refusing to allow any more words to pass through.  Tears pricked the corners of his eyes and his lips curled as he tried to force himself not to cry.

He didn’t need to cry.  He had no reason to; nothing had happened, nothing had changed.

He put down his last bite of waffle, raised a hand to cover his mouth and forced out a cough in the futile hope that it would cover the shapes his face was making as he tried to stave off the embarrassing display.  He was lying; something had happened, it was happening, and it was going to keep happening until…

Until it was done.

Until that day came when Hera accepted that he didn’t need those appointments with Noisi anymore.

There was going to be an upside to losing his sight after all…

He wasn’t going to say that, though.  Even though Zeb would probably be pleased to hear another attempt at a joke, he just wasn’t in the mood; he didn’t want to talk about Noisi right now.  Or ever, if he could help it.

Of course, he wasn’t really in the mood to talk about anything, but it didn’t look like he was going to be able to get away with that.  He was going to have to say something, so he decided to go with the truth, or a version of it.

He took a deep breath and tried to force the tremble out of his voice.  “Hera told me what I need to do to get back on missions,” he said carefully.

Zeb didn’t answer immediately.  Ezra stared down at his plate, listening to the sound of chewing from the other side of the table.  Finally, when he dragged his gaze up to see Zeb’s reaction, Zeb was looking at him, his eyes full of concern and understanding.  Ezra scowled.

“She tricked me,” he said.  No, she hadn’t, it had just felt that way at the time.  He sighed and shook his head.  “No, she didn’t, but I thought she was going to tell me I was back, then it turned out I have to jump through a bunch of hoops to even have a chance at maybe getting back on missions, and do you want know the worst part?”

Zeb didn’t reply, but he didn’t say no.

“They didn't even agree on it.  Kanan and Hera, I mean.  Hera just went ahead and made all these stupid decisions, and she didn’t even bother to find out what Kanan thought about it first.  How is that fair? If they can’t even agree…”

“Why should they agree?” Zeb asked.

Ezra stopped, mid thought, and stared at him.  “Because…” he said, “because Hera’s in charge of the crew, but Kanan’s in charge of…” of him? Of the Jedi? Of knowing about being blind? “Other stuff,” he finished.

Zeb nodded.  He put down his fork, his plate empty.  “Eat your waffles,” he said.  “They’re not as good cold.”

Ezra looked down at his plate where two whole waffles and a piece of a third were waiting.  They were fine cold, actually.  But warm was good too.  He picked up the last piece of his first one and shoved it in his mouth.

Zeb nodded, satisfied.  “Hera’s in charge, period,” he said.  “You don’t know this because you’ve never been in command.  I don’t mean leading a mission, I’m talking about running a squadron, having to make all the decisions.  She’s responsible for every man and woman in Phoenix Squadron.  If something goes wrong, it’s on her; she has to live with it.  Eat another waffle.”

Ezra blinked, momentarily confused by the sudden change of subject, but picked up a second waffle, dipped it in his syrup, and bit into it.  

“A leader has to do what’s best for the mission, and sometimes that means making unpopular decisions.  It wouldn’t have mattered if Kanan agreed or not, it’s up to her.  If she wants to run things by someone else who might have different ideas, or who knows more about something, that’s fine, but she’s not obligated to do that.”

Ezra tried to reply around a mouthful of waffle, and realized why Zeb had been so insistent that he eat.  “I know that…” he started to say.

“Yeah, you think you do, but until you’ve had to make those kinds of decisions, you don’t really know,” Zeb told him.  “I had to make some pretty unpopular decisions myself, back when.  It’s not nice, nobody likes it.  But it’s the right thing to do.” He paused, glanced down at his empty plate, and then looked across the table at Ezra.  “Don’t take this the wrong way, kid, but I’m with Hera on this one.”

Ezra finally swallowed the chunk of dry waffle.  “You don’t even know what she said,” he protested.

“It doesn’t matter.  That’s how a command structure works.  But if she said you’re not ready yet, she’s right; you’re not.”

Ezra folded his arms and stared across the table at Zeb, not sure what to say to that.

“I don’t mean that how it sounds,” Zeb added.  “You’re not supposed to be ready, not yet.  Nobody could be.”

“Great, thanks,” Ezra said dejectedly.  He picked up the syrup again, and this time poured it directly onto his remaining waffle, letting it pool in the round holes until it spilled over the edge onto the plate.  He picked up his fork and speared the saturated waffle, raised the whole thing to his mouth, and took a large bite.

Zeb frowned as he watched.  “So, these hoops you say you have to jump through,” he said.  “What are they?”

Ezra took another large bite to buy himself some time while he decided how to explain.   He lowered the remaining piece of waffle, still speared on his fork, to the plate and slowly dragged it in a circle around the edge, smearing syrup behind it.

“She gave me a choice,” he said.  “I can either start being more honest, see the med droid regularly and have a contingency plan for anything that might go wrong on missions, or I can learn how to do everything I can now, but without seeing.”

Zeb nodded thoughtfully.  Ezra lifted the final piece of waffle, dripping excess syrup, to his mouth and ate it slowly.

“So,” Zeb said finally.  “You’re going with the second option?”

Ezra stared at him, surprised.  “Yeah, actually.  How did you know?”

“It makes sense.  I mean, you’re going to have to be able to do that eventually anyway, right? You might as well get started now; doing something else instead might work for a short time, but sooner or later you’ll, well… you know.”

And he did.  Zeb was right, and that was basically the same thing that Ezra had said himself, but hearing it coming from someone else, that almost casual acceptance of what was going to happen… It felt strange.   “Hera thinks I should do the other thing,” he said.  “Kanan too.  And Sabine, I think.”

“Well, I’ll try not to be offended that you’ve talked to everyone but me about this.”

Ezra grinned.  “Not everyone; I haven’t spoken to Chopper,” he said.  “I mean, he probably knows already, but I haven’t told him.  Anyway, you’re the only person who’s given me waffles, or who’s agreed with me.” Not about Hera making the decision on her own, but Zeb made a good point there.  “You really think I’m doing the right thing?”

Zeb shrugged.  “I don’t think there’s any way to know for sure,” he said.  “Not until you try it and find out how it goes.  But if you want to cover all your bases, do both.  You can’t spend every moment learning from Kanan, and I don’t imagine you’d want to, so why not try the other things Hera suggested too? Who knows, you might find it helpful.”

“Going to see Noisi?” Ezra pulled a face.  “That droid needs a full personality transplant, and it’s not like he can do anything to help, so what’s the point?”

He was rehashing old arguments now, the same ones he had used with Hera earlier in the day, and it wasn’t going to make any difference, especially because Zeb didn’t have any say in the decision.

“Because Hera told you to, and she’s in charge of deciding when you’re back on duty.  You want to get back on duty, so…” Zeb tailed off, leaving the thought hanging in the air.

Ezra sighed deeply.  Zeb was right.

“Or just do what it sounds like you were going to do anyway, forget the other stuff and learn how to do what Kanan does.  But you know, being prepared to deal with whatever comes at you isn’t a bad thing, it’s something we should all be doing anyway, and don’t take this the wrong way, but there’s a lot more you’re going to have to think about going forward.”

Unless, of course, he learned how to do everything without seeing.

No, actually, even then.  People he met were going to notice, and he was going to have to think about how he would deal with that.  Even if he could reach Kanan’s level of awareness, he was still going to run into things that he just couldn’t do, because he knew that Kanan did.  When that happened, he would need to know what to do about it.

“Yeah, I guess,” he muttered, then reached out an index finger and drew a line in the syrup pooling in the center of his plate.  He brought it to his mouth and licked it away.  He considered licking the plate, but that might be a step too far with Zeb sitting right there opposite him.  Instead, he ran his finger across the plate again, in a zig-zag line this time.

“So that was the whole thing?” Zeb asked.  “I’m getting the impression there’s more to it than that.”

“More to what? To what Hera said? No, that was about it.”

Zeb shook his head, then copied Ezra by dipping his own finger in the syrup left on his plate.  “More to what’s bothering you.  More to what happened today.”

Right.  Well, he wasn’t wrong, but Ezra didn’t really want to get into the whole list of difficult truths Kanan had told him.  He didn’t even want to think about them right now.  Suddenly, he felt very tired, and he wondered what time it was.  It hadn’t exactly been early when he had crept into their quarters.

He raised a hand to his mouth to stifle a yawn.  “There’s not much more to it,” he said.  “After Hera, I went to talk to Kanan.”

“Went to tell him what Hera had said?” Zeb caught the yawn, and Ezra watched him cover his own mouth with his whole arm and then blink heavily.

Ezra shook his head.  “No, I thought he already knew,” he said.  “I wanted to start some real lessons, what we’ve been doing so far’s been kinda…” non-existent.  “Anyway, I guess I took him by surprise, since he didn’t actually know any of this was happening, and he’d just gotten out of the shower, and Hera beat me there, but he did tell me some stuff, and it was…” he stopped again, took a deep breath that turned into another yawn, “…truthful,” he said quietly.

He watched as Zeb’s frown of incomprehension turned into understanding, and looked away, not wanting to see pity in his eyes.

“Which I guess is a good thing, but at the time it just felt…”

“Cruel.”

Ezra blinked, and looked back up at Zeb, surprised at the vehemence in his tone.

“Kanan of all people should know how not to handle this.  Want me to talk to him?”

“What?” Ezra shook his head.  “No.  It wasn’t like that.  It was stuff I want… needed to know.” He leaned forward, resting his head in his hands as he continued to turn it from side to side in denial of Zeb’s misunderstanding.  “It’s fine, it just wasn’t great timing, but that was my own fault.  And it wasn’t as bad as you’re thinking.”

Zeb sighed.  “Okay, kid.  Your call; you were there, not me.  But I remember what Kanan was like back when you first came back from Malachor, and if this is dragging up those memories for him — and how could it not be? — just make sure you don’t let him scare you.”

“Any more than I already am, you mean?” Ezra said, the words slipping out before he could stop them.

“Yeah.  Exactly.  You want more waffles? I’m sure I saw another pack at the back of the cabinet.”

Ezra smiled and shook his head.  “You still won’t admit you have your own supply.”

“That’s right, because I don’t.  You want some, or not?”

“No.” Ezra shook his head and stuffed another yawn.  “I should probably get to bed.”

He reached for his plate to clear it away, but Zeb stopped him with a hand on his arm.  “I’ll do it,” he said.  “There’s a special technique for destroying the evidence of midnight waffles.  One day I might even teach you.”

Ezra pushed his plate a little closer to Zeb, and shook his head.  “Better leave it a while, I’m going to have enough to learn for the time being.”

#little by little #star wars rebels #swr fanfic #ezra bridger #garazeb orrelios #space waffles

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[eclair]

Some random thoughts about art and making a living

I should be working but I might have sounded offensive to someone without meaning to. Social media is indeed sometimes a hard place to interact, especially when character count is a limit.

In any case, certain things that frustrate me in my country in terms of performing arts:

* To be a book gigs as a performer, you have to be the most ideal looking as you can and be skilled too. Age can also factor in. Weight factors in. Nobody would believe that I can dance with a hula hoop with how I look. I was able to book some hoop dance gigs in the past when I was in my relatively leaner days. But I’ve gotten rejected because I was too old, too short, too fat, etc for a certain gig. And I was also told that getting me booked for gigs is a challenge because, well, looks and I don’t dance as well as many other people. * Call times can be shitty af. You have to be early but you are not given the space to practice in. You have so little space to change clothes in, do your make up, etc. And you’re running out of time.  * Some will want to book a gig at the very last minute. Or almost the very last minute. Or they book you early but give you so many additional details at the last minute. If you’re doing a performance gig by yourself or if you were doing this full time and your group has a lot of set performances - it wouldn’t be as troublesome. But a lot of my friends and I haven’t really been full time when this happened. Granted that it was a bit doable, tracking this is a bit hard. And yes, the client should have informed us of all the specs as soon as they can in order to coordinate a big group quicker. Maybe it was also inexperience on our end, partly, but still. That’s a bit hard. * The client sometimes wouldn’t understand why there are additional fees or why rates are higher for certain things. Isn’t a performance the same, regardless? Not really, since some performances require special props, etc.  Sometimes you even need one more person to come along as a safety but usually clients would only pay for the performers so you might have to take turns as safeties for each other. * Performers are not always respected. Just because you wear something a bit sexy, you get hit on by some people or treated differently. And it’s just so awkward but you take it as part of the job. Because you can move your body a certain way, it doesn’t mean consent for people to harass you or ask you out. When I was in a gig in a big posh place, we were reminded to not take drinks offered, etc while we were working. Just to avoid any untoward incidents is important.

* Sometimes you don’t even get a talent fee for appearing on tv. Even if they invite you etc, they just give you exposure, a decent meal and a ride home. That’s it.

And when it comes to graphic arts:

* People don’t expect to pay you so much. To be honest, market research on pricing and stuff is hard. It’s like how low can you go versus how high quality can you get when it comes to getting physical merchandise made. And factoring in the time you spend on the artwork itself.

* If someone commissions you to do something, you also end up looking at market prices and how much people generally charge. It’s not like you want to be dirt cheap to get your work out there. But it usually feels like it. Imagine seeing an artist friend sell framed artworks but wouldn’t be willing to pay you a particular amount for yours hurts a lot but I’ve seen it, I’ve felt it. It sucks so much. Or you have friends who are amazing, they open their commissions and their price is honestly so low but they’re also comparing it with other existing prices. You wanna pay them more and sometimes they feel too shy to take your money because they feel they don’t deserve it even when they do. There are also artists who are aware they of their value but they get frustrated because the market cannot see this because of other artists who have undervalued their work.

* Some people have the right connections, the right timing and the market is oversaturated with a lot of artists as it is. Because the market is tiny and there are just so many artists as it is, sometimes if you were able to get there early, people remember you a lot and you could get their attention more. Or if there’s something totally unique about your art and your timing is right, then people would also remember you quite a lot and might flock to you for your style.  

In general:

* The economy sucks and we can all feel it. But yeah, our current local scene doesn’t seem friendly to artists in making them transition into making art for a living. No matter how much a lot of artists I know and love are trying, I personally know a bunch of them who either have day jobs or have other side businesses or small jobs here and there.

* People need to get educated about the value of art. As artists, we could say no when people undervalue us when they ask our rate sheets and negotiate for much lower fees. That is a way to let people know that we value ourselves too. 

* Should artists never ever do things for free? I think artists can do things for free. But it should be something that they strongly believe that they’re ok with doing for free, and it shouldn’t be something that they’d be coerced into at all. They have a choice. If that’s a cause they want to champion, or an event they strongly feel about - why not? 

* We should all get into our heads that artists also need to feed themselves, nourish themselves. If we can’t afford their art, maybe we have friends who do. We could refer these artists to other people who can help support their art. In a way, we could be helping them too, albeit indirectly. 

* If we find an artwork that we like, but cannot afford at the time we find it, we can save up for it. We can follow the artist on their social media and watch out for prints instead of the original piece until we can possibly afford them. I don’t know if there’s an etiquette to negotiating prices for artwork, but really, I don’t want to negotiate lower pricing for an artwork. It feels so awkward. When it comes to commissioned pieces, I get it why some people prefer smaller sized not so complex works because they’re more affordable, or just the right size for their room, etc. But yeah, it feels so weird to negotiate down a price since it feels like putting a low value to the time and effort that has already been made for a piece. If you cannot afford the specific piece you asked about, you could also check their commission rates. If there is a size of artwork + style that you can afford to commission, why not go for that? It will be unique and it will be just for you.

* But also note when commissioning an artist that you might have to think about the details because revisions take time and effort. Usually the artists are transparent about their process. If the thumbnail/study/rough sketch they show you is not quite how you envision the piece, think about it harder and try to describe the details in such a way that they could picture it better. Hopefully this will save you both time and it will be more specific, so this might help make the piece. Artists would usually also mention their terms regarding the number of studies/thumbnails they can make, and also the number of revisions. Please make sure to remember those details and don’t be rude to artists when things are within those terms.

* I know some people have had bad experience/s with commissioning artists too. But please don’t think that all artists are the same. Instead, use that as a way to learn and maybe someday that could help you when discussing the details of a commissioned piece, as well as possible terms before finalizing it. Most artists I’ve met seem to be amenable to discussing details so just open the topic if needed.

* Making art for a living is a valid thing. In this country, it seems that it’s not.  And that’s why I have friends who don’t do it for a living. Or if they do, it’s not full time. Or if they do it full time, they’ve sacrificed a lot. Either they’re young enough to take a risk or something. But really, most people I know seem to do this on the side because of the unstable nature of it. It’s just that we can hope to make a difference by making sure artist friends don’t just get exposure but also get paid for this. If someone’s art has helped you get through the day, if they made you smile, if they made you feel things, why not show it in a tangible way like buying their art, promoting their art, etc? At some point, we’re going to have to do things to also help artists feel they are valued too and if we can start today, let’s do it. Ok?

/steps away now that I am able to explain my thoughts on the matter without a limit to character count

#art #some art discourse

[christinegphillips]

Manifestation And The Law Of Attraction

What is manifestation and how does it work with the law of attraction? Many people poop on the idea of manifesting the things you want in life and how the law of attraction and the Universe work but I can tell you it does work and I will give you lots of examples below on why and how it has worked in my life.

If you adopt some of the principles I suggest below then you too can also manifest the life of your dreams too, it sounds kinda crazy right but believe me when you swing from worrying about life to taking control of it, everything changes dramatically. So check out my top tips below on manifesting your ideal life.

Manifestation – Photo by Alexas Fotos from Pexels

My Top Tips On Making Manifestation Work For You

You have to see it to believe it – In life you have to envision what your life would look like in the future and not what it looks like now. If you look at your life now as a comparison it will be such a massive jump to get to where you want to be that you will consume yourself with thoughts of unworthiness. So whether you use a vision board, mediation or whatever method, you have to visualize the ideal life at every opportunity you get. Take some quiet time within the day and think about what you want your life to look like, lying by a pool, living in your dream house, driving your dream car, having family barbecues or whatever floats your boat. But the first step to manifestation is visualizing what you want.

Believe that you can do it – We are all capable of great things if we are given the opportunity and have the right attitude and education to chase our dreams. If you are consistent in heading towards your goals or the things that you are manifesting then the law of attraction does kick in and help you along the way. Have you ever thought to yourself, I am never going to be able to do this? Think of a time when you thought that something was so out of reach you would never obtain it. Did you get there? Yes, did you feel great? Yes of course you did and it is this combination of having a dream, going for it and getting it that is the real meaning of life.

Trust yourself and don’t be scared – Chasing your dreams can be scary at times but when you learn to control these emotions for the better then you can overcome those scary feelings. Do you remember when you were a child and you thought there was a monster in the room? What did you do to convince yourself there was no monster so you could sleep again? You probably counted sheep or thought good thoughts or you could even envisage yourself as being a monster killer and slay all the one’s that came along. This is about trusting your thoughts as they are only thoughts and putting all the bad thoughts to the back of your mind. During your manifestation time, think and feel yourself achieving your goals, think I can do this, I am great, I am worthy and see yourself crossing the finish line with the trophy.

Follow other successful people – A long time ago no one ever thought that you could run a 4 minute mile, but after Roger Bannister did this, everyone followed. This is because it changed their belief system so that they could see that this was achieve able after all. So if you are manifesting things in your life, look up other people on YouTube or groups and see how they have been successful.

Stay consistent – Rome wasn’t built in a day so they say, so expecting to manifest big things in your life does take some time. So stay consistent with the messages you are giving to the universe and do not let any negativity get in your way. In my experience concentrating on exactly what you want in your manifesting sessions takes roughly 3 to 6mths to come through. As an example my ex left me for no reason whatsoever and I was left devastated as she left with my little daughter who I adored. Now I don’t like being on my own and love the company of others. So I sat in my conservatory one night looking out into the sky and I wrote down exactly what I wanted in my new partner. I wanted someone who was caring, kind, loving, loves kids, 5.5 or taller, slim, loves the gym, funny and a bit like Wonder Women (because I was watching the film later one :-)). I placed this piece of paper by my bed and read it every night to remind myself that this time I wouldn’t accept anyone and they had to be able to do all of the above. I joined a dating site and met a few people which just were not right for me whatsoever. Then out of the blue I got a message from Caren and we met up. Well two things strange happened. One was that she was everything that I wished for and more. Two was that she carried a Wonder Women keyring around with her on her car keys. How weird is that. So manifestation does work you just have to stay consistent with it.

Concentrate on one thing at a time – If you are anything like me you probably want lots of things to happen in your life all at once and we can get a bit greedy at times. So when you are manifesting think clearly about one thing and what your life will look like once you obtain it. How will you feel, what value will it add to your life.

Be as specific as you can – Don’t just manifest that you want more money, think about how much money you need, what it is needed for, what value it will bring, when you need it by and concentrate on how you will feel when you get it. I have manifested money on lots of occasions, now it isn’t that I won the lottery or anything like that. But money has come in the form of bonuses, tax rebates, loans and all sorts in order to buy the cars I have wanted and the houses I have wanted. I must confirm this position with you though as above, you have to know what you want for the Universe to present these opportunities to you.

Recognize when you are receiving your gifts – The importance of manifestation is that you actually recognize when that gift has been bestowed upon you. It might not be exactly what you were looking for but could be something very similar, or smaller, or larger than you were expecting. This is where being clear on what you want helps to recognize when it comes.

Live a positive life – When you are in a positive mood great things tend to happen, people want to talk to you, you work harder so promotions happen quicker, your kids behave better. When you are in a bad mood however things tend to follow that route and everything falls apart. It is really important even with negative emotions that you capture these and see the positive that it brings too.

Never give up – Sometimes when we get knocked down in life it is hard to bounce back. See every failure and every negative thing as a learning curve. If you adopt the nature that shit does happen you won’t be as scared when things do go wrong you will just put a plan together on how you can turn things around. So as soon as something bad happens start your manifestation routine again to get things moving in a positive direction.

Frequently asked questions about manifestation

What does manifestation mean spiritually? – I tend to stay away from the spiritual piece of this as a lot of people think it is too weird and stupid to accept. The theory however is that the universe will deliver what you want and that we are all just vibrations in a magnetic world. There are positive and negative vibrations and which ever state you are in is what you attract. This could also be looked at as being common sense also, because if you put in the work, stay positive, be kind, help others, give love then life will reward you for your actions. Whereas if you do nothing but complain and think life owes you something then you will never obtain the things you want in life. So whatever way you look at it, manifestation is a great practice anyway to visualize what you want in life and then work hard towards obtaining it. You can manifest big things or little things but seeing it in your own mind definitely helps you to win the race.

What does it mean to manifest something? – Sportsmen do this all the time when they are having an off season. They will often use manifestation to envisage themselves shooting hoops, or scoring goals. It puts your mind into a positive state of influence and when you can envisage yourself doing something then you are half way there to success already. The alternative is to sit there and think darn it I am rubbish, I can’t shoot for toffee and then consequently you convince yourself of this and that is exactly what your mind thinks and then works appropriately to make you fail.

Does manifestation really work? – Yes and absolutely. It is a way of training your mind to be in a positive state of being, to see yourself in the life you want, the position you want and your mind will always act accordingly. If you think negative things expect a negative outcome, if you think positive things expect a positive outcome. Even when positive things do not work out your mind will then work out how to correct it next time but it will happen. When you have a defeatist attitude expect defeat.

How do you manifest something? – You have to close your eyes and dream about what you want. Be exact in what you are asking for, the value it will add to your life and others, who and what will benefit and concentrate on visualizing it daily in your life. See yourself in the position you want to be and smile at yourself seeing your dreams come true. Above all stay consistent with your asking until it presents itself to you.

So there you go my top tips on manifestation and I want you to understand that it does work when you apply it properly and my life has been awful at times. However using manifestation practices I have everything that I have ever wanted in life, sometimes though those things do not make you happy, happiness comes from within.

If you would like to learn more and improve your life on a daily basis, then please do join me on my transformation program where I go through everything that I have done to turn my life around. It doesn’t cost anything and you can find it at https://changeyourlifeforever.co.uk

Wishing you all the very best in your future. Best wishes Scott

Manifestation And The Law Of Attraction published first on https://changeurlifeforever.blogspot.com/

#personal development #positivity #self help #confidence #law of attraction

[gardenpeony71-blog]

Ask Sam Mailbag: 01.18.19

After watching the Lakers game and reviewing box score from the loss to the Nuggets I see a team with no go-to guy and no special playmaker who can score and get others shots and make them better, no defense, no shooting. Where do we go from here with this team?

Craig Chandler

Sam: Hey, what about how difficult it is to do one of these Ask Sam columns on a nine-game losing streak? Anyone thinking about me! So, how about looking at it this way: There's no great way to consider what's been going on with the Bulls lately other than to reassure you that,

The sun'll come out Tomorrow Bet your bottom dollar That tomorrow There'll be sun Just thinkin' about Tomorrow Clears away the cobwebs And the sorrow 'Til there's none When I'm stuck a with day That's gray, And lonely Carrying a nine-game losing streak and feeling eek! I just stick out my chin And Grin, And Say, Oh My The sun'll come out Tomorrow So ya gotta hang on 'Til tomorrow Come what may Tomorrow, tomorrow maybe they'll win tomorrow You're always A day Away

Quvenzhané Wallis with an assist from Sam Smith

I do not profess to be a NBA coach evaluator but it seems to me this team is not playing up to its potential. There certainly appears to be enough talent on this team to accidently win a game once in a while. The players seem upset about this especially after the Denver loss. I think it is not too early to judge Coach Boylen. From afar it seems this team is not responding to his coaching. My question is while I am a full fan of Paxson, I wonder why not name Boylen interim as most teams do instead of giving him a two year contract?

Dwayne Corry

Sam: I need to straighten at least that out. Jim Boylen did not get an extension. He was on an assistant coaching contract through the 2019-20 season matched with Fred Hoiberg, which is standard. When an assistant is promoted to head coach whether called interim or not it is routine for the assistant to be given a slight bump in salary—same as Larry Drew in Cleveland—for the additional duties and responsibilities. Boylen got that as soon as he acceded to the job as does every coach in that situation. He was already under contract through the end of next season and still is with the appropriate addition for being asked to do more as would be with any of us in most any job. I don't disagree with the absence of an interim title because your statement to the players should be we are serious and this isn't a substitute teacher, so put away your spit balls and whoopee cushions (what? they don't do that anymore?).

OK, it doesn't look like it sometimes, but a Western Conference trip in the midst of trades, injuries and reworking a playing system in the middle of the season isn't exactly a stable time. The Bulls say after every season everyone is evaluated and I assume that will be the situation again. But Boylen also has not had a training camp or a chance to hire his own staff or much consultation about personnel. Tough to judge.

I know you don't pay too much attention to college hoops, what are your thoughts about Zion? I know a guy who knows a guy that says he may not be worth a long term investment due to his style of play and weight... his knees may not hold up. I personally think he may be a tweener... he may be too short for a power forward and he may be slow/ heavy for small forward. Great athlete and great college player, but I don't see him being close to a superstar in the NBA. if we end up with him, where does he play? Can he play small forward? We already have 2 guys at power forward in Markannen and Carter.

Joe Dobrzynski

Sam: If he's as good as many suggest, then he plays wherever he wants. True, I don't watch much college ball—lately the NBA ball I have been watching has been bad enough—but I have ventured to a Duke game on occasion and see some flaws, like shooting, though I have yet to give him a physical. A lot of top picks don't work out. It happens. No matter what the NBA GMs say now, everyone wanted Greg Oden and not Kevin Durant. The kid looks like he could be a star, and, especially for the Bulls that's what they lack. I like Markkanen and LaVine a lot, and believe if you get them a star to attract some attention instead of all of it going to them they will be much better. Maybe the Duke kid does fade out. Who knows. Remember Brandon Roy who went from Rookie of the Year surprise to high school coach? But the draft is about taking a chance on a star. There are no guarantees. He looks to be the biggest star in this draft. I'd have no hesitation. And imagine if I were actually watching.

Can your remember NBA players from former generations who seemed way too athletic and powerful for their body to handle the rigorous of the league longterm? D-Rose comes to mind, Zion scares me, Larry Johnson? Jordan and Lebron do not really qualify to me, they are exceptional athletes as well, but their bodies did not seem as freakish as Zion's and Rose's jump, stop and acceleration ability was off the charts.

Sven Ruppert

Sam: Injuries are bad luck; Zion would be good luck.

Pundits everywhere, including those attached to the Bulls, are all salivating over Zion Williamson - and the Bulls are fast amassing a record that could make ZW a possibility in the next draft. My question is - in terms of fitting in with the Bulls - is Zion more of a short 4 on a team that seems all "4ed-up", or more of an oversized 3 who will have trouble guarding smaller, quicker players at that position? (a Jabari Parker with less range?). I know he's a talent, but who sits when he takes the floor and is he a Boylen-kind-of-guy?

Dennis Novak

Sam: I can see where the fan interest is going. As I suggested, I'm fairly confident he's Boylen's type of guy. It's not that difficult to fall in love with someone special.

What a great job the Nets have done so far this year. After arguably the worst NBA trade ever in 2014 it appeared the Nets would take a decade to recover. They traded away their draft picks for 2014, 2016 and 2018. In addition Boston got to swap picks with them in 2017. Success didn't seem possible until they could finally get their draft picks from 2019 going forward. The playoffs, maybe in 2024. Halfway through the season and they are 23-23 after winning an amazing game against the Rockets. The GM, coach and team are to be congratulated. The are an incredibly resilient bunch of unrecognizable and discarded players. Treveon Graham, Joe Harris, Rodeons Kurucs, Jarret Allen and D'Angelo Russell were their starting lineup against the Rockets. Against the Rockets they were down by 14 with a few minutes to go in regulation and tied it. In overtime, they were down by 6 with about a minute to go and won it. They help define resilience. This team finally has their own 1st round pick this year and chose winning to tanking. They have skipped the tank to build a winning culture. Kudos to a really great team. Can you make your magic now happen for the Bulls?

Bruce Roberts

Sam: Well, it has been my philosophy in avoiding the indignity and fraud of losing on purpose because losing makes you a loser. I fear it is occurring with the Bulls to some extent, though I am facing some ambivalence considering the two months lost to injuries and the coaching change and the hole so deep that perhaps it might be best for the rest of this season to not try so hard. Though I wince when I even think about it. The losing model guarantees you nothing, and I agree, good for the Nets for putting a very nice team together. But their problem with some good trades—and I still count the Jimmy Butler one good for the Bulls—is that they have yet to have that transcendent star and are last in the league in attendance. Maybe in free agency this summer? Winning is a curious thing. It only seems understandable when you examine the successful teams. But that is the best team I've enjoyed from Brooklyn since the '56 Dodgers.

After reading your take on Jabari Parker being back in the rotation after their loss to the Lakers, it made me think back to when you've said you're not a fan of his demeanor towards the media. Too terse, always on the defensive, etc with Zach Lavine being basically the polar opposite. That said, It made me wonder who have been some of your favorite players to speak to over the years?

Nicholas Hill

Sam: First regarding Jabari; his attitude and demeanor were awful when he came to the Bulls. Why, I never could figure. All everyone said was he was different, but not evil. Actually, since the benching, which wasn't a great idea, and in the return he's been much better. The point wasn't so much he wasn't cooperative. There were plenty of guys to talk to who are terrific people; but it was the way he was answering simple questions with defiant, one word answers. It's mire an insult to people at their jobs, failing to give respect to someone's job. Jabari never once was asked back then an unfair or even probing question. Anyway, he's been fine lately, if not detailed. All just about everyone in media really asks for is simple decency.

The truth is there are so, so many really good people in the NBA, kids who came from difficult backgrounds who are grateful for the opportunity, friendly, savvy and eager to help. Some of my favorites over the years for being open, outgoing, helpful and friendly were Elton Brand, Larry Bird, Steve Kerr, Magic Johnson, Phil Jackson, Joe Dumars, Kyle Korver, Jerry West, Jordan (pre-championships), Isiah Thomas, Johnny Kerr, Joe Caldwell, Chet Walker, Horace Grant, Charles Barkley, Mack Calvin, Wayne Embry, Brent Barry, Grant Hill, Bill Cartwright, Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose and too many more I'll regret leaving out.

I really don't have an opinion on Boylan yet as a coach, but I have read "experts" opinions on the internet which feel the Bulls young talent is not developing since he took over (They were all hurt under Hoiberg so nothing to really compare). Do you feel there is acceptable growth in the Bulls players as individuals and as a group under the watch?

Jason Doll

Sam: I know from being a parent we shouldn't monitor growth by the week or month. I know it's different in sports, and there have been some setbacks the last month or so. But let's be real, as it were. It's a month with a new coach, players off injuries having lost their preseason and yadda, yadda. I know no one likes hearing it and a losing streak headed to the bottom of the league and a succession of blowout losses is depressing. We saw plenty of good things from LaVine pretty much until the coaching change and plenty from Markkanen, who came back strong against the Nuggets. The glimpse showed you he has a lot of stuff. Carter is that tough guy the Bulls always talk about. The Bulls talk about growth, too, but I assume they mean over a season and not a losing streak. We should know a lot more by summer when the Bulls make Williamson player/coach/primary stockholder and the new team logo.

The Wolves (while not amazing) have twice as many wins as the Bulls while playing in the Western conference. Meanwhile, the Bulls are actually worse this year. If the future success of the Bulls (drafting Zion) has nothing to do with the assets/players acquired in the Butler trade doesn't that mean GarPax lost that transaction?

Matthew Ruth

Sam: Curious way of looking at that. Though I am going to Williamson's Hall of Fame enshrinement in September. I think the Bulls would make that deal again, and I'm fairly sure the Timberwolves would not, and certainly not Thibodeau, which probably would mean he still was working there. I'm still on board for LaVine, Markkanen and Dunn for Covington and Saric.

I'm interested to see what happens the rest of this season. Apparently, Boylen will be gradually introducing more pace. Let's see how Dunn plays as that happens.I think he's a very solid player and that he can play faster than we've seen. But can he see the court well & drop dimes on the run? Can he take more 3's and still make a good % of them? It's hard to assess his fit into an offense they aren't really running yet. Hopefully, we'll know enough after 39 more games to make a sound decision. For that matter, if we draft a point guard it can still be a competition for the starting job. Dunn would be an awfully strong player to have coming off the bench. The great teams have player like that – who might start elsewhere – on their benches. Why not us? But from the Nuggets game there's no doubt in my mind now that the tank is on. Boylen's comments are a dead give-away. Yes, it's "a season of discovery"… yet another one. Anyway, I'm giving the game ball to RoLo – 17 & 6 in 19 min. on 8-10 shooting plus some nice intangibles. Everybody else mostly stunk.

Art Alenik

Sam: When the season started the No. 1 question on most lists was Kris Dunn, and I think it still is. The Denver game was disappointing—yes, in many respects—the way Dunn made a point after the Lakers game of apologizing, which I didn't think was necessary as bad games happen, but then didn't do much again. End of bad trip, altitude, a team making 20 threes. It may have looked worse than it was. Dunn has had some very effective games, and his numbers are respectable at 12.5 and 6.5 coming off missing two months. But I'm still having difficulty figuring out what he exactly is in this era of high scoring, hot shooting point guards.

I don't think sixth man is a horrible thing, though many NBA players, like Parker, have disagreed. It seems like a nice way to make a living. Having a guy like Dunn coming in as a combo guard may be the stuff of an excellent team. I don't think the Bulls have fully made up their minds on Dunn and it's hard to get a read from Dunn about how he'd deal with such a competition and situation because he is so guarded. Hey, he's a guard in case you missed that one. I get it. He's only played a bit more than a month, so it's not so much the tank as many of the the questions don't have answer yet.

Who is Zach Lavine as a ball player or are you still waiting to see? He is having a good statistical year and the team is not winning. I see a talented offensive player with an innate ability to score and on the defensive end someone who will not be a difference maker. Will he be more than a great scorer? Is it fair to start the Jamal Crawford comparisons and if that's the career he has, is it good enough for the Bulls to continue to keep him on their rebuilding roster? If he continues to put up just under 24, 4, and 4, will there be serious suitors on the trade market? Is he the person the Bulls should be building a team around or will his need to have the ball on the offensive end, hinder the progression of young players?

Tim Koncel

Sam: I don't think it's either you're Michael Jordan or James Harden or you're Shaun Livingston. I like Zach as a player a lot. Many don't like him as much as I do. I don't worry about the defensive component as much since James Harden seems to have done OK without it. Yes, Harden is a build around, and maybe Zach isn't quite that player, but he makes tough shots, takes tough shots, can get to the basket and is a good shooter and great athlete. Who are the Bulls to say that's not good enough for them? Enough with these Shaquille Harrisons and David Nwabas who compete like crazy. That's not the NBA. Maybe it's the NBA bench, but they're in every draft. In the second round. Zach has a chance to be a star, and those are the players the Bulls need to be accumulating. Zach has flaws, but this is his first full season back after his ACL and has never started more than 47 games in an NBA season at 23 years old. I think the Bulls these days are pushing him toward too much two-point play, and he's a willing player trying to do what is asked. My guess is he's not so sure it's what's best. But he's trying to be a good teammate and professional. The Bulls could do a lot worse. And have. More often than not, someone else's spouse or date isn't exactly who they seem from your vantage.

Its not so much the recent turmoil that has made me anxious about the rebuild it's just that even on a "good" night (not getting blown out at Utah on 2nd if back to back), the way the bulls are losing - take 9 more shots shoot a decent percentage but make 9 fewer 3s - is troubling given both the analytics or really, math (you can score more counting by 3s) and trends in the nba. In other words - isn't the urgent need drafting or signing guys who either can hit the 3 or have potential to be good 3 point shooters. I suppose if valentine can come back he would fit that description.

Guy Danilowitz

Sam: I'm fairly sure that's obvious to them as well. Yes, they could use some Valentine, and Holiday made threes (in streaks). I'd look at it as a larger issue if this were the final version of the team. I've mentioned the need for a wing player who can make plays off the dribble and shoot, a backup big man, preferably a defensive seven footer to tag team with Wendell Carter Jr., perhaps a point guard and, certainly, shooting. I'm not sure how the team sees it, but I can see Carter, Lauri Markkanen and Zach LaVine as core players going forward. There may be others, but they're still on audition regarding play or salary. There's another high draft pick coming and a big money free agent or two this summer. Probably not one of the top two, but I believe a good player and maybe two. I don't see Markkanen or LaVine yet as that No. 1 option to build around, so they have to show as well, and they still are very young. Can you get a No. 1 in the draft? Maybe. If not in free agency, what about an ensemble and a lead like Dirk Nowitzki, who was good enough to be the best player on a title team and several close. Markkanen could be that good. If this were Year 4 I'd be more worried. There are a lot of moves still to make.

The Bulls now reportedly refuse to buy out lopez if he cant be dealt knowing he is going to the Warriors. Will garpax throw away a couple million over this fight and not buy him out since he obviously has zero trade value? Or is he the head of the "leadership council" so someone we need to play out his contract? Maybe we can do lopez a favor a favor, give him his entire salary in a buyout so we can get another extended run of felicio playing 20-30 minutes a night....need to see how his development is coming along again....or just burn that money too with asiks and jabaris and cam paynes and play carter jr 48 minutes a night?

Jake Henry

Sam: OK, you’re frustrated and needed to lash out and vent. I’ll wait a bit. OK, ready? Carter was almost out for six weeks, it seemed the other day, so what was the hurry to offload Lopez? And then he was. The Bulls late Friday said Carter actually could miss two to three months after further reevaluations of his injury by hand specialists when the team returned to Chicago. And so now perhaps surgery. Another bad break in a broken season. But more than that this is a larger issue for the NBA that it won’t face; it’s another rich get richer, and the Bulls aren’t rich now. What some top teams apparently are doing—I can’t say I know for sure the Warriors are among them—is telling agents to get their players released or bought out for a small amount and they’ll bring them in on a minimum to give them some money back and then they can add playoff money and maybe be on a title team and their team gets nothing because these teams won’t trade because they are waiting for the buyouts.

So a team like the Bulls trying to get something for a player like Lopez or Jabari Parker gets shut out and the team like maybe the Warriors or Celtics or Raptors or Rockets gets to pick up a player without giving up anything. The NBA has said it wants to level the playing field for all teams and open up trade opportunities, but this buyout period inhibits trades and discriminates most against losing teams like the Bulls trying to add a player or draft pick. The NBA should eliminate the buyout fraud period because it helps just the few top teams, and the Bulls are right to say they won’t grant a buyout because it is being used against them by the top teams to help hold them down. It baffles me why anyone would be mad at the Bulls other than maybe Lopez’ family. And since when are fans upset because the Bulls won’t be able to make more money? Talk about entering Bizarro world.

With your comments on how sloppy Gobert was and with what should be a realization that, against the better 7 foot centers, Wendell Carter may always be overmatched, I have to respond to a comment you made a couple of weeks ago regarding a player who is truly a top 3 center in the league, Nikola Jokic.

After watching him destroy Portland with a 40/10/8 performance, I think that you need to make an effort to actually watch a few Nuggets games so you can make a more informed assessment. In doing so, he totally outplayed the guy who should be the Bulls starting center, Jusuf Nurkic, who is averaging 15.2/10.2/1.36Blks in just 27 minutes per game. Jokic 19.7/10.2/7.6 with a career .356 3PT% is far more valuable to his team than any other center including Embiid. His 21 career triple doubles in 270 games places him second all time behind Wilt's 78 which, if he stays healthy until he is 30, he will eclipse.

Peggy Flynn

Sam: So why would the Bulls want Nurkic if Markkanen actually played as well as Jokic Thursday? And as one correspondent from above mentioned, it was game ball for Lopez playing against Jokic. Jokic is terrific. Yes, I did see the Nuggets play. And, unfortunately, up close Thursday. They're pretty good; if they think they are contenders, Golden State straightened that out earlier in the week. But they've built a very good team; good for them. Yes, I know, the snarky Nurkic thing is the Bulls deal to move up in the draft to take Doug McDermott. The Nuggets took Nurkic, whom they traded for Plumlee, and Gary Harris. They obviously did better, but it's only fair to judge at the time. And I know not a single Bulls fan ever wrote me asking that the Bulls please draft Nurkic. And moving up in the draft from outside the lottery to inside the lottery is always viewed as a coup and was that night. What's so great about Nos. 16 and 19? Like to have those picks again this season instead of a lottery pick? The Bulls were at least aggressive in search of talent. It didn't work out. It happens in the draft a lot. But it made sense. I still can't figure out why Doug can't make more shots.

Anyway, as for Jokic, he's really good. I agreed that. All I believed, and I still do, is he's not an MVP candidate and maybe a top 20 NBA player. Which is very good. The Bulls would like to have a top 20 player. But he's still not even been in one playoff game in his career and has been playing pro ball five or six years. It takes actually being on the winning team in one playoff game before I make someone a top 10 player and MVP candidate. He's having a terrific season. I'd still like a look at his games this spring. Get back to me then. I can be persuaded.

While I used to enjoy the three-point shot I've come to dislike them over the past five years or so as the league as gone so heavily towards them. I don't so much mind that the big man has been de-emphasized, though I wasn't rooting for that either. The NBA has always been my favorite sport/league to watch as it has the best athletes in the world, and because they're not wearing helmets or padding, you can really see that athleticism displayed every game. All the three-point shooting has reduced the number of times per game that players are attacking the hoop and thus displaying their otherworldly natural talents. Of course they still do so some, but now it seems the top goal is to draw contact and a foul and actually attempting to make the shot is just a bonus. Much like baseball has become too much about home run, strikeout or walk, basketball is too much three point shot or free throws. I may be a bit hyperbolic but the emphasis on efficiency in sports - which I understand makes sense in terms of impacting winning - is making them less aesthetically pleasing and thus less fun to watch.

Steph Curry is great and fun to watch, but in terms of his natural athletic and physical talents, where do you think he'd have stacked up in the NBA of the 80s and 90s?

Cameron Watkins

Sam: I feel like the sergeant driving the car in the MASH movie who was always grumbling, "Damn Army" about the behavior of the crazy doctors. Damn Analytics! Again! But relax, not nearly as bad as baseball. I always say great players would be great in any generation and it goes backward as well. Curry wouldn't have the freedom to roam like he does, and some coach would bench him for shooting way out there. Back then they made you throw it inside or sit down no matter how many you made in practice. But Curry is much more clever with the drive than just his shooting. He would be a player like Cleveland's Mark Price, who was a small man and great shooter and one of the best pick and roll guards I ever saw. At least before Steve Nash. Price was a great shooter and multiple all-NBA player and would have been many more if not for injuries. But playing with a seven footer in an era of great centers, his major responsibility was to make his center look better than him. That would have been the difference for Curry, who would have been an All-Star, and better than his dad, who could shoot about as well, but couldn't dribble.

What is Boylen doing with these rotations? We leaves the starters in deep each game, evidenced by the game against the Nuggets when Lavine, Dunn, and Markkanen were all on the court with 6:30 left in the 4th down 35. Also, in the beginning of the 3rd, (which is when most teams go on their run) Boylen usually keeps the starters in for the first 8 minutes with no subs, allowing the Bulls to get blown out. The lineup of Dunn, Lavine, Hutch, Markkanen, and Carter is -29 in terms of point differential. This is not something that should be happening with the talent. It's time to stop allowing the starters to continue to make mistakes and let the rest of the bench contribute, as they have recently outplayed the opponent's bench

Adam Richard

Sam: Venting, also? I've gotten plenty today. I'm not sure you want to see Selden, Harrison, Felicio and Blakeney against Denver's starters. I'm not getting as much mail asking for them to play more as much as you you may think.

Source: https://www.nba.com/bulls/news/ask-sam-mailbag-011819

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

[bates--boy]

“No, you have to twist it-- you have to twist it sideways!”

The voices carried through the stairwell before Peter and Timo even turned the corner. There were many guesses as to what was causing the hoopla, and the sight they came upon when they ascended the stairs to Peter’s level confirmed at least two that he could see so far.

“No, your left-- left! What the hell does left mean to you, Magnus?”

It was a rare phenomenon to hear Berwald raise his voice, and why wouldn’t he? The couch was wrenched tight in the doorway; he and Magnus were both red-faced and sweating, even in the cool, airy space and their jackets slung on the railings; the younger two who elected to stay here and continue helping, Emil and Viktor, sat on the boxes they carried up the stairs and pressed their phones to their noses, looking like they were two seconds away from turning on their Teenage Angst and start a whinging marathon. Even the pets were getting restless, with Jack pawing at his carrier’s mesh door and Neptune squawking at Y-Front from across the stair landing (but not his sweet Raspixx, the little darling who’s practicing the most patience of them all and chilling in her polyglass case like the good girl she was).

“Left would make it more stuck, you asshole!” Magnus huffed as he wiggled the couch and tried to shove it in more. 

“As opposed to now?” Berwald jerked the piece of furniture to attempt to get it into another angle. It did not budge, and Berwald rested his head on the armrest and groaned. 

Timo and Peter squeezed themselves into the only empty patch available and sat the bags of various takeouts on the floor, in a far corner out of the way from the mishap. 

“...So, what’s all this?” Peter asked, rubbing his hands together and looking towards Emil. 

“They got the couch stuck in the door--”

Berwald’s head shot up from the armrest. “Magnus got the couch stuck!”

“Uh huh. Anyways, it’s been like this since a few minutes after you guys left, we can’t get anything else in because of it, and now it’s about to be a third world war in here.” 

“Why didn’t you guys bring in more boxes before trying to shove in the couch?” Timo asked.

Erland shrugged. “Uncle Magnus was on some nonsense about doing the harder stuff first so they wouldn’t get too tired like carrying all the boxes would make them. He insisted on it, so…” his nose twitched. “What did you guys get? I’m starving.”

“Some pizza, some Asian stuff, some pastries.” Timo shrugged. “You know, pig-out stuff.”

Behind Berwald, Lukas floated into view, nothing but his eyes upward visible; it was likely he had to stand on his toes to achieve just that. He tilted his head to peer through the small open space above the couch. “Okay, fixed that light in the-- Still at it, hm?”

“It’s really wedged in there tight!” Magnus grunted while putting his weight into the couch. “Oh! Hey, don’t you have some spell or--”

“No.”

Magnus, too, pressed his face into the plush cushioning of the couch. He let out a muffled whine and lifted his head. “Whyyy?”

“Besides either ruining the integrity of this house and putting our nephew, and a lot of families living here, in danger, or ruining a good couch based on how the beings blessing me with the power feel? Uhm… so you’d learn your lesson, I supposed.”

Magnus planted his face back into the armrest, slumping and groaning into the fabric. Peter rolled his eyes and grinned, coming up next to Magnus and putting his hands on the couch to find some purchase.

“Alright, then, let’s just get this thing out of the way before the food gets too cold. Uncle Lukas, you help Papa in there. Daddy and I will help Uncle Magnus. Emil and Erland, you two press the stuffing in as we go.”

--

Of course, “easier said than done” applied here. Too many times, the group almost erupted into screaming matches for the proper way to shove the couch inside, and they had to stop too many times when they heard the threshold creak or when either of the teens had their fingers trapped. 

But difficult doesn't mean impossible! Eventually, they did get the couch in, dumped face down into a plush, cushion-less tent to the side so there’d be enough room for everyone to sprawl out on the floor and relax their sore muscles and nerves. Lukas busied himself with administering cold spells to teens’ aforementioned injured hands, wizardry that he allowed himself to partake in. Peter, himself, still darted in and out of the apartment, carrying in the pets who were getting fussy in their holdings.

“Peter,” Tino huffed, “The next time you move, please find a place with a bigger doorway.”

“Or get a smaller sofa.” Erland flexed his fingers through the ice rings formed around the joints. 

“Mn, noted.” With the animals inside, Peter paused to redo his ponytail and gaze around the room. “So, who’s ready to eat?”

They all mustered enough energy to raise their hands. Peter chuckled as he, with the help of Lukas, carried the food inside. They urged the rest to clear some space for the banquet, and made a professional-looking spread on what Peter was sure was a previously-cleaned floor (he had to take the realtor’s word for it). Wielding paper plates and plastic forks, the group attacked the food, to the dismay of the yowling cat and squawking gull who had to take in whiffs of the food but not tastes. The high sodium and bursting flavors renewed the life behind everyone’s eyes. The room filled with overlapping conversation, though not one of them thought to ask for a food item to be passed around instead of leaning over everything and everyone to get to it. Magnus discovered an efficient mode of eating, consisting of dumping a forkful of lo mein into a large slice of pizza, rolling that slice, and eating it like a wrap. Not everyone was wholly disgusted.

With no trace of the takeout left, the men and teens settled in, rubbing their bloated bellies, holding in belches, or groaning as the sodium and grease settled heavily in their stomachs. The cat was still mewling in the background, so Peter forced himself to his feet to release Jack from the cage. The chubby creature ambled over to the empty cartons, sniffing and licking at the carnage. 

Timo watched the cute little dickens, then gazed around the cluttered living room. “I have to say, Peter, I really love this new place of yours, already!”

“Yeah, it’s about damn time you moved out of that dump,” Magnus chuckled. He sensed the glare from Lukas and coughed. “Oh, come on, like it wasn’t true…! Sorry.”

From where he lay sprawled on the floor and staring up at the ceiling, Emil asked, “How did you even afford this place, anyway?” He turned to Berwald. “Being a secretary in a city hall doesn’t pay that much in Sweden, does it?”

“Peter isn’t a secretary, anymore,” Timo chimed in. He raised a brow at his son. “What is it you do again? I know part of it is animal care, but aren’t you dancing, too?”

Peter sighed while retaking his spot on the floor, the food in his stomach jostling too much, and nodded. “I’ve been performing in the aquarium. Choreography and whatnot with th whales and dolphins. I even moved up to aerial silks and hoops!”

Emil lifted his head from the floor. “Aerial silks?”

“Yeah, it’s this sort of acrobatic dance where you… You know what?” He pulled his phone out and did a quick YouTube search. “It’s better if I show you.”

He turned the screen into the circle, playing when the rest had scooted closer.

The video was from the Karlstad Animal Conservatory channel. The video was of the performers. It was their latest one, and on the screen stood Peter, glittering in his red and gold swim leotard, waving to the cheering crowd. Dolphins leaping out of the water, circling the silks hanging in the center. Peter and his fellow swimmers dive into the pool and begin their choreography, a fiery, lively number that had Peter swinging and diving, swinging and diving.

“Oh, I love this!” Timo clapped when the video ended. “I swear, the next time I’m here, I will come to one of your shows!”

Berwald had his own phone out, opening the browser. “Where do you get tickets?”

Peter waved the question away. “Naaah, family of workers get in free. Just show up, ask for me, and I’ll let you in. Although, you will need to sign up for the aquarium performance newsletter to get show dates.”

“Geez, Peter, is there ever a time you don’t sound like a salesperson?” Erland scoffed. 

Timo glared at him. “Erland, don’t be rude! Be happy for your brother!”

Erland shrugged. “I’m just saying: give it a rest sometimes.”

“Or, you can get on my level, upgrade that pile of sticks of yours.”

“Don’t you two start!” Timo pointed at them both, Erland fuming to the point of a cherry-red face, Peter smirking and raising a challenging eyebrow. “We’re too tired and too full for this.”

“Hmph, fine.” Erland threw up his hands and lied back down. “Whatever.”

Magnus, ignoring the kerfuffle, had Peter’s phone in his hand, scrolling through the videos on the conservatory’s channel, picking one to play. “Wow, I can’t believe it. My nephew the, what was it? Aerial silks! My boy’s an aerial silks dancer. You really are a circus act, ain’t ya?”

“Shut up.” But Peter was grinning, something in his chest glowing with pride at the awe on Magnus’s face as he watched one of the performances, Lukas even leaning in to watch from Magnus’s shoulder. 

“So, what now, Peter?” Berwald asked. “What’s your next big move?”

Peter sighed, looking around his new place, absentmindedly scratching the head of Jack who took refuge on his lap. He bobbed his shoulders. “A lot.”

#life thus far ( story ) #droid noodles ( writing ) #haaa the ending sucked but i was on this for a couple weeks and i just stopped caring #also wooooow I am way behind on my timeline?? #by this time Peter has already been in his new condo for over a year #oops

[ksbolt11]

Writing challenge day 12-17

ALRIGHT I’M BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER! Okay maybe not better than ever but I am moved into my new place and have internet! Whew sorry for the hiatus but I was just so exhausted every day from packing and moving. So I’m just going to catch up with all the days in one blog because I’m lazy and don’t want to create a new post each day. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Day 12: What are 10 positive affirmations that I love about myself?

Well, call me a big dumb dumb because I had to look up the definition of affirmation... I was pretty accurate with my guess but I think the wording of this question is throwing me off. But I think I get it. Also, I’m cutting it to 5 because I have a lot of writing to do. 

1. I am always trying my best to eat healthy whenever I can.

2. I treat people with the same level of respect and kindness when I meet them

3. I am happiest when I am around animals.

4. I am a great listener for whoever needs it.

5. I am good at making people laugh and it makes me happy when I do so.

Day 13: Do I live life with integrity?

I like to think I live life with being as honest and having good moral principles. I think the moral principles part is probably judged differently depending on who you talk to. My morals are probably different than my neighbors. But honesty is pretty universal and I think it is something I should work on. *gasp* Does this mean Kenna is dishonest?! No, I just think I should say something more often when someone is being dishonest. Speaking out about other peoples dishonesty comes off as snitching to some and it is a hard line to walk. I find myself turning the other way more often than speaking out about something that isn’t the best thing to be turning my back on, but at least I am acknowledging it. Something to work on. It also depends on what the situation is since I feel more inclined to say something about “bigger” issues but should work on speaking out on “smaller” things.

Day 14: What do I believe is possible for me to achieve in this lifetime?

The cheesy answer is whatever I put my mind to and am willing to work for. But in reality, some things are just not attainable no matter how hard you work. Is that pessimistic or realistic? I’m not sure. I think I can find my dream career, or at least I freaking hope so but I don’t even know what that career would be yet. I think I could travel a lot and experience new cultures. In my lifetime I think owning a house isn’t possible, or at least I can’t imagine it now because I just don’t know where I would want to settle down at. I can’t really think of anything else honestly I am getting super tired from my day at work today...

Day 15: What would be my ideal life?

Wow, these all could be super long answers but I just am losing energy and motivation fast. Let's see, I would want to live somewhere not too hot and not too cold with a few pets to keep me company. I would be married eventually and go on epic travel adventures with them as often as I could. I don’t really care to have kids but will teach my nephew and niece to be amazing people and teach them to be kind to people and the earth. Of course, my ideal life would have me being happy so I would like to keep doing all the hobbies that make me so; painting, hula hooping, snowboarding, learning, yoga, going to festivals and other awesome things.

Day 16: What mistakes in life have I learned from that I choose to never make again?

DO NOT STAY WITH A PARTNER BECAUSE YOU FEEL BAD ABOUT BREAKING UP. I am a nice person and take into consideration other people’s emotions and reactions but this should not dictate how I live my life. My last relationship should have ended way sooner but I was afraid of how he would feel and react to it. Um, I honestly can’t think of any more off of the top of my head but I know there are more. I have made a lot of mistakes but we are only human and it is bound to happen. Just learn from it.

Finally today’s challenge! Day 17: What positive unique qualities do I possess?

I can think of a bunch of positive qualities but I am not so sure that they are unique. I am terribly kind but I know a bunch of people who are too. I don’t know guys, I sneeze when I eat dark chocolate sometimes but is that positive? Well, who cares if they are unique I’ll just name a few positive qualities that I love and if other people have them then that is okay by me. I think I learn things pretty quickly and am able to apply my new knowledge well. I am able to make people laugh and smile. I give great hugs (wait this sounds like a dating profile now whoops). I can drive a manual car which seems to be a rare skill nowadays. I am a great listener and can do so without giving input if that is what the speaker needs. I am an excellent nap taker, I actually tend to sleep better in a nap than I do in a normal night sleep. I wish it was reversed but something about a nap just feels so good and I fall asleep so fast. Most people already know I love animals. I’m not sure what else to say but there is always more good qualities to think of I’m sure.

It’s hard to write a lot and think deeply about these challenges because there were so many I had to catch up on so I apologize for the limited content and lack of depth but at least I am caught up.

#30 day challenge #my first blog #so many days #catch up #my bad #I hate being behind #tomorrow will be better

[cervanteskinney4-blog]

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