#(she is above a lot of things a former rich kid do not forget)

[nothing-more-than-hot-leaf-juice]

If toph was the bad guy. . . Let's just say the GAang wouldn't've made it past season one

If Toph was the bad guy, her and her army of Badger Moles would have defeated everyone within five episodes and the only reason it would take that long is because she’d need at least 3 episodes to get motivated enough to fight.

#Toph is the true chaotic neutral #and I love her for it #that’s a really interesting aspect of her character though that’s not really talked about #one of her defining personality traits is that she can be really selfish #that’s not always a bad thing #but a lot of her actions are rooted in her own self interest #(she is above a lot of things a former rich kid do not forget) #she didn’t really care about the war until much later in the series #and she took some time to come around to want to help Aang #and not because he was the avatar and the fate of the world was at stake #but because she liked the gaang as people and was scared to let down her walls #but what’s great about her character is that while she’s on the side against the fire nation #her motivations aren’t the same as the other characters #she wasn’t directly affected by the war until she had friends who were going up against the fire nation #and those different motivations based on differences in background give so much more depth to the atla universe #you have people like Toph and Mai and Ty Lee who oppose the fire nation because of the people they directly want to protect #and then characters like Katara and Sokka who have lost people #and Aang who has lost people but is ideologically a pacifist and wants to bring peace #and Zuko who faced a direct struggle facing his own country’s ideals after being exposed to how the other side lives #the differences in background and motivation of these characters give the universe so much more complexity #it’s not just ‘the right thing to do’ #characters come from different places and ultimately work towards the same goal even if it’s for different reasons #so Toph being selfish and putting her own wants in front of the needs of the greater good early in season 2 makes her SO MUCH more #interesting as a character #and brings a new perspective on the fact that there are these elitist earth kingdom aristocrats who aren’t really affected by the war the #way others are

[bump1nthen1ght]

Waltz of the Vampire (Vampire x Reader)

Pairing: Fem!Fat!Reader/Fem!Vampire

Genre: Fantasy (Vaguely Historical/Renaissance)

Warnings: None

Word Count: 3469 words

Summary: You forcibly attend the ball of the rich family that has just moved to town, unexpectedly finding comfort with one of their daughters.

Request: Hey!! I love your writing a lot! Would you consider an elf or a vampire whatever suits your fancy with a fat fem!reader. I try hard not to hate my body but it can be really hard sometimes and I know a lot of people go through it not just plus size folks but... idk it’s my weakness and a huge comfort. Anyway I hope you have a awesome day!!!

A/N: I really loved writing this request, and after I finish Thicker than Water, I might make a part two.

Serena has been to a lot of parties. Too many, in her opinion, even over her 326-year span of life. Her matriarch, “Mother” as she is called by her and the coven, believes there is no such thing.

Every move they make is celebrated by a grand ball, invitations sent out to every available person. Mother claims it’s the best way for them to fit in, to hide in the crowd rather than the shadows.

Serena understands this, she’s seen it work wonder for their reputation time and time again, but she still does not like them.

Tonight is especially dreadful, a bad hunt the day before and a quick spat with her “brother” enough to sour the whole get together. Serena spends most of the night eluding suitors and dance partners, embracing a mysterious persona so she can enjoy some alone-time.

As she looks around at the dance floor, Serena concludes that she is not a fan of the new fashion statements of this era. A bit too strict, too formal, with precise lacings and starchy hoop skirts. It makes the dance floor too stuffy in her opinion, no room to twirl your fabric or move your limbs.

She sips on her special red wine, eye’s lazily perusing the hall for her siblings, hoping to gain some company, when she spots you. Selena is brought to a pause, mid-drink, as your embroidered skirt glimmers, catching the light as you twirl it across the room. Her eyes widen, determination peaked when she notices you don’t have a partner.

How beautiful.

----------

Oooh, I love this song.

You hum, unconsciously bouncing from side to side as your favorite piano piece begins to play. It’s a piece you have on your list to learn in the future, bubbly and cheerful with a bumpy melody and the option for a fun violin accompaniment.

The energy of the music quickly translates to the dance floor, where couple’s begin to giggle and improvise amidst the strict waltz and counted-steps. It’s a shame that it’s such a good piece because for the first time of the night, you really wish someone would ask you to dance.

When the news the MacArthur’s were throwing a huge welcoming ball had reached your household, your mother quickly began throwing together preparations for you to attend. You had sighed, set your feet in a preemptive ice bath, and ready for another boring night.

As a former socialite herself, from girlhood you were forced to attend party after party. While it had done as intended and transformed your sister into a perfect lady, it had the opposite effect on you. The stiffness of the hoop skirts, the suits, and all the damn people always stuffed up your throat and flushed your face. With your sister as the shining star, it was easy for you to slip into the shadows, and avoid the preening of your mother’s etiquette lessons.

Now, as a growing woman with more and more free-time, you used all of your abilities to avoid huge social gatherings. You found your place amongst small gatherings with local friends, sneaking wine from the cellar and telling stories in the freezing cold around a fire

But as the music increases it’s tempo, with flourishing skirts and plenty of laughter, you can’t help but lose yourself in the joviality of the gathering. The fancy dresses, the even fancier alcohol, and the decadent ballroom had you wondering if you had been missing out a bit.

If only Margaret and Min-Young were here, now that would be a party.

You giggle into your champagne, heels still tapping against the hardwood and hand slightly tossing your skirt back and forth. You easily fall back into your reclusive corner to avoid embarrassing eyes who may glance upon your solitude. But a tiny yelp escapes you when your heel accidentally digs into a foot. You whip around, faced already flushed red with embarrassment.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry! I didn’t look where...I was…”

Behind you, dressed in a dark purple satin gown, is Serena Macarthur herself. She stands a solid two heads above you, hair done up in an immaculate up do and two shimmering ruby earrings dangling from her ears. Her face is serene, lips curled up in a bit of a smirk. You quickly jerk away and give a half-decent curtsy, noticing her beautiful black dancing shoes which you just stomped on. “I apologize, Miss Macarthur, I can’t believe I acted so foolishly. I didn’t realize-”

“Oh, there is no need to worry darling. I’m alright, no harm done.” She says, her voice low and musical, almost like a thrumming bass line. Her gloved hand is placed on your shoulder, the other slides up your neck and tilts up your chin to meet her eye line.

My god, she is stunning.

Her eyes are a color you’ve never seen before, not dissimilar to the sharp gemstones in her earrings. Serena’s makeup, simple yet sharp, does everything to accentuate the cardinal-red of her irises. You can feel the simmering blush heating up your skin as she continues to stare. “I was actually coming this way to speak to you, flower. It’s my fault really, for sneaking up on you.”

You shake your hands, nearly spilling over the champagne in your glass. “Oh no, it’s no problem. Like you said, no harm done”. You force a giggle, hastily taking a sip of your champagne. “May I ask what you wished to speak of?”

Serena smiles, a smirk which is just as sharp as the rest of her, though her eyes betray no slyness or ill-will. “I was going to enquire about your dress. I noticed it from across the room and was stunned by how enchanting it is.”

“Oh! Well, thank you very much.” You blush, unconsciously rubbing your finger over the embroidered flowers on the skirt. “I actually-”

“Whoops!”

In less than a second, you find yourself right next to Serena, as a drunk dancer trips and spills his drink all over the floor. You blink, brain not even fully processing what just happened, as you notice Serena’s arm on your elbow and the red wine splattered where you stood just moments ago.

Did she move me? But when-how did she-

“Sorry! Sorry about that.” The man slurs, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. His partner, a distressed young woman, grabs his elbow and forces him to stand straight. “Guess I’ve had too much.” His embarrassed partner chokes out a laugh as he continues to sway.

“Yes, it seems you have. Make sure to fix that, soon.”

Serena’s tone is barely above talking volume, but holds a command like a powerful shout, Both of the dancers jerk with surprise, furiously bowing as the female drags the man out of the hall.

Serena sighs, rubbing her forehead with exasperation. She turns toward you, smiles back on her face.

“Would you like to take this to the garden? Seems the party is getting a bit too rowdy for good conversation.”

You nod, still a bit befuddled by Serena’s quick mood change and even quicker reflexes. But you link elbows when she holds hers up in invitation nonetheless, following her outside.

---------

The Macarthur estate is beautiful, as expected, and the garden fits that image to a T. Even in the moonlight you can see the finely cultivated roses bushes which decorate it, along with the gleaming marble fountain and sitting space under an ornately decorated gazebo. The two of your heels click along the paved path as you walk towards the center, your half-empty drink still in hand.

“You were sadly interrupted, but you were mentioning something about the dress?”

You nod, taking another long sip of your champagne, hoping a little alcohol may temper your thoughts.

“Yes, I was just going to say that I made it myself.” Serena’s eyes grow wide, eyes darting up and down your attire, and you feel yourself fluster. “It’s a tradition in my family, you see. My great-great-grandmother was very diligent when it came to teaching her kids how to sew, even the boys, and it became such an insisted upon skill that all her children ended up making their own evening clothing for special occasions. It ended up filtering down that every child makes one special outfit themselves, for what occasion it doesn’t particularly matter, but something thatt is uniquely you.” You pull up the end of your skirt, pointing out the flower pattern. “I’ve always had a fondness for gardening, so I tried to incorporate that into my dress. Plus,” You smooth out your skirt, “Most party dresses I’ve found are a bit too restrictive for my tastes, I wanted something I could really get into some fun with, y’know?” You force a giggle, immediately wondering if that comment was a bit too salacious for high-society talk. Serena simply smirks, letting out a low chuckle of her own.

“I wholeheartedly agree. May I take a closer look?” She gestures to your skirt and you hastily nod. The two of you take a seat by the fountain, Serena’s glove accidentally brushing against your calf as she picks up your skirt. You try and control your shiver from the simple contact. She hums admirably as she runs along your work. “Such incredibly done Sunflowers, the detail you put in is astounding. And these are forget-me-nots, correct?”

“Oh yes, those are my favorite kind.” Serena’s hands continue to run along the linework, following the bumps and dips of each flower petal. “As you can see I had trouble with the lavender, what with the petals being so small.” Serena shakes her head, a fond smile on her face. She looks up at you, forcing you to hastily act as if you weren’t admiring her face.

“The work you put in makes them twice as beautiful, mistakes be damned.” You blush even harder, throwing your hand and taking a final sip of your champagne.

“Thank you very much, but I have a long way to go.”

Serena’s hand hasn’t left your skirt, now resting on her lap as she continues to look at you. You swallow the last droplets of champagne down your throat, trying to fill the silence.

“The band is incredible, did you hire them locally?” You stutter, setting down your glass. Serena continues to fiddle with your skirt.

“Some of them, yes, but the violinist is actually my older sister, Marigold.”

“Wow! Make sure to give her my compliments, she’s very talented.” Serena nods, before her eyes dart down your toes. As the music echoes out of the hall and into the garden, you had unconsciously begun to tap your toes to the beat. When she glances at you, she can see your head slightly bobbing, a content look painting your face. A small smile forces one on to hers.

How cute. She internally sighs, noting how soft the skin of your cheek looks, the nice curve of your jaw, and your adorable noise. The pulsing blood which would run down your throat, the crimson looking devine against your exposed collarbone and dripping below your breast line.

She stands up abruptly, forcing those evocative thoughts out of her mind. You were quite cute and good company, someone Serena would like to get to know. Sometimes the crossed wires of her brain confused attraction for bloodlust, mistaking the butterflies for hunger pains.. She is almost embarrassed; It was one of the common hurdles new vampires had to overcome, a bridge she thought she crossed years ago

You startle, looking up at her with innocent doe eyes. Serena holds out her hand, ignoring how she can hear your steady pulse, unintentionally matching the beat of the music.

“May I have this dance, fair lady?” She almost whispers, bowing slightly.

Your face flushes, nodding without a word, and slipping your bare hand into her glove.

Serena boldly grabs your hip and presses you against her, quickly taking the lead. Your brain fervently recalls all of your formal dancing lessons, pressing your head into her chest as she takes you along.

In her arms, following her perfected steps, that slithering self-consciousness sneaks back into your brain. Your logic tries to reason with it;

You wanted to dance, but now that this beautiful woman has gladly offered her hand, you want to stop?

But your insecurities are louder, screaming about every trip and every spare touch. This close, you can feel her firm musculature through the dress, spotting the hint of her bicep as she leads you. With her dainty and elegant hand on your side, you feel twice aware of your size underneath, every imperfection concealed by your dress.

You had fallen in love with this dress when making it, but had always been hesitant to wear it. You feared that once you put it on, that beautiful picture in your mind would shatter, leaving you forlorned of what could never be. Not with you wearing it, you had thought, avoiding your own mirror as you left.

“Something on your mind, flower?”

Serena whispers into your ear, sending a shiver down your spine. Your back jerks and contorts back into position, almost stepping your foot on hers. You shake your head furiously.

“Oh no! I-I just-” You stumble, trying to find an easy excuse, but are stopped when you take a look at her face.

She’s resplendent, even up close, not a hint of makeup to be seen. But across her cheeks, slightly faded from what looks like years away from the sun, are-

“My, you have such wonderful freckles.” You murmur, without a second thought.

Unbeknownst to you, if Serena could blush, she would. But the scrunched up look of embarrassment is telling, hinting that maybe this beautiful heiress has her own things she hides away.

“W-well, thank you.” She hastily utters, eyes averting from yours. It’s uncharacteristically shy and you can’t control the giggle that escapes you.

To give her some reprieve, you take your eyes off her face and trail them around the garden. They catch on the fountain, where the contrasting colors of your dresses stand out amidst the black. In the reflection, the two of you could not look more different. Serena stands a head above you, slim-fitted dark purple dress pulled across her curves, while your bright green dress cinches at the waist, flowing out like the flower's detailed skirt. It blows and beckons with every movement, brushing occasionally against your form and showing off the contours of your body.

Damn, you think, we look hot.

Just as fickle as it’s counterpoint, confidence quickly overtakes your mind, blocking out the noise of your doubt. You hold tight to your beautiful partner, in the beautiful dress that you made, and allow the happiness of this moment to exist uninterrupted, however short it may be.

The music increases its pace, the smooth line of a saxophone bringing up the energy. With a new burst of energy, you allow yourself to improvise amidst the  strict waltz. You lift your weight off your heels and try to glide from step to step, like the fast-paced tango dancers your mother once took you to see. Serena matches your enthusiasm, gripping your waist, even lifting you a few inches off the ground when a particular chord strikes. Her fingers slightly tickle your ribs, an ecstatic giggle escaping you and you falter a misstep. Your mind almost stops, embarrassed by your stumble and that insecurity sneaking back in, but Serena follows your new tempo with grace, urging you along with improvisation.

Your bodies follow the music with abandon, ordered steps devolving into impassioned stamps and twists, Serena twirling you around as the violin and piano sing from afar. Your heart and mind are running on adrenaline. It’s like when you were little, letting out your energy in any way possible. Serena’s laughter is magical and for once you don’t detest your awkward snorts and chuckles.

As the music slows, the two of you near-tumble back into the fountain, taking a seat with heaving chests.

“Whew, I haven’t danced like that in a while!” You say, brushing a stray hair back behind your ear. Serena nods, patting her stomach as she continues to laugh.

“Me as well. I forgot how fun it could be, when you’re not counting your steps.”

“Oh good, you do that too. I always wondered how no one got dreadfully bored just saying 1-2-3 over and over.” You mutter, taking in a deep breath and patting her thigh. Your other hand drifts down to the fountain water, letting your fingertips brush across the top and inadvertently catching your reflection once more.

It’s not the most flattering angle, your shoulders slump and the water slightly distorted, and those intruding thoughts try to slip in once more.

Oh shut up, let us have this.

Your logic sighs, batting it away without another second thought.

As the two of you sit, your energy eventually begins to drift back down, your muscles slightly tired from that short burst of impact. You sneak a glance at Serena.

While her outfit is still immaculate, her updo shows the smallest signs of dishelevement, curly black hairs falling down above her ears. In a way, she’s more beautiful than ever.

“Me and some friends are actually getting together next week. The shepherd's daughter, Violet, is getting married and they are throwing a little shindig at the barn to celebrate. Do you want to come?”

Serena looks up at you, slightly surprised, face furrowed with that hidden bashfulness. But she nods nonetheless, shooting you a bright smile.

Still high off your dance, you just barely miss her large fangs, which glimmer under the moonlight.

You smile back, only startled when the large bell tower from  the center of town chimes. Your head looks towards it’s large face and back towards the moon position. You’d guess it was midnight. Seems the two of you had lost track of time while dancing.

“Well, I should probably be going.” You say, standing up and brushing off your skirt. “I do have some gardening to attend to in the morning, going to need a solid amount of sleep. But,” You say, eyes demure and locked on your toes as Serena stands up, “I had a lot of fun tonight. More than usual, I would say.” You giggle, twirling a strand of your hair. Serena hmms in agreement.

“Me as well, flower. Your company has been the highlight of my night.”

In a bold move, Serena grabs your hand and lays a kiss on the back of it. Her eyes radiate that power and certainty from before, crimson irises shining in the night. Your blush crawls its way back up your neck.

“I-I can say the same.”

The two of you stay in that position for a moment, Serena pulling away her lips but keeping a lingering hold on your hand. Your heart thrums in your chest, while hers is deathly silent. Neither of you wants to be the first to pull away.

“I-uhm.” You stumble, hand still locked in place.

Now’s as good a time as any. You suppose.

In a quick movement, your hand loosens from Serena’s grasp and you give a quick peck on her cheek. In another, you have pulled away, sprinting towards your carriage.

“I-I’ll see you Saturday!” You shout, nearly tripping over a rose bush.

Left behind in the garden stands Serena, cold hand pressed against the burning skin of her cheek. Your kiss shot through her body like a lightning strike, almost jolting her frozen-heart alight.

That night, Serena goes for a hunt. She barely takes the time to change out of her formal clothes, nearly tearing the delicate lacework of her dress. Her claws catch on her gloves and almost rip apart, her heels scuffing the floor as she kicks them off and to the side. Her undead body is thrumming with life, untapped energy that longs to get out.

Her thoughts run a mile a minute, forcibly distracted by the Grizzly bear she currently has in a choke hold. It puts up a good fight, but Serena is running off of pure bloodlust.

At least, she thinks it’s bloodlust. A deeper part of her knows it's something else; The sparking fire of something new and a little bit frightening.

The last time she was personally invited to a ball, an event, a ceremony was less than a couple months ago. When you hold a position such as hers, look like her, they are common occurrences.

But to a party? Not a politically motivated meetup, but a genuine, let your hair down, party? Well, she hadn’t been to one since she was a youngling of 150.

And for the first time in a while, she is excited.

#reader insert #monster romance #female reader #monster x reader #vampire x reader #my writing #vampire

[horrorslashergirl]

A takeback on a raven. A Shadow Story

Authors Note: History is always interesting and everyone has one. Shall we take a glimpse at the infamous Boston Serial Killer?

Warning: 18+ because of sexual assault, abusive behaviour perhaps and some uestionable themes. Just putting the warning in case.

Words: 1.9k

It was autumn in Boston and the rain just stopped as the preteenagers exited the school, all glad for the ending of the program, looking forward to getting home for the weekend. Everything was peaceful until a little boy was pushed into a puddle from the rain, all his clothes getting wet and leaves sticking to his face.

He looked up at the group of boys laughing and smirking at his form, the books from his satchel fell out into the dirty ground, destroying the pristine white pages.

"Looks like the ugly raven fell off the tree." one of the boys, probably the leader mocked, kicking at the books and throwing them all around the ground covered by the amber leaves of autumn.

The little boy didn't say anything, but he avoided looking up at the aggressors, only for one of them to take his book from the ground and hit him upside the head with it.

"We are talking with you, crow. Hey! What's this?" he asked, opening the destroyed book and looking at the content inside, the group accompanying him and checking what the pages held.

They all began to laugh and the boy felt a heavy force on his head from the obnoxious and obscene sounds the group was making.

"Check this out, guys! Naked women!" the leader said, snorting at the images.

It was actually an anatomy book, very much detailed and nothing improper at all; it was educative, but the low-brains were too blind to actually see, probably couldn't even read the title of the book anyway.

Before they could throw any more insults, the teacher came by them, scolding the group and promising them that she will have a very nice discussion with their parents. The pre-teenagers scowled and looked down at the boy on the ground, rolling their eyes and starting to walk away.

"See you on Monday, pervert!" The leader yelled before stalking away after his group.

"I told you that you should away conflicts, especially with Henry." The female teacher told the boy, getting his books from the ground and handing them to the black-haired boy.

"I-I tried." he whispered, putting his belongings back in his leather satchel.

"Lucas, if you indeed tried you wouldn't have been here. Now, go home. You wouldn't want to be late for dinner." she quickly told him, then walked away, leaving Lucas alone, who slowly got up, whipping the dirt and leaves from his pale cheeks, which had a slight rosy tint.

He walked to the bus station, waiting for the next one since he missed the principal one. At last, this one wasn't crowded with his classmates and bullies, so he could sit in silence until he arrived home. On the long drive, he pulled out his books so that he could inspect them; indeed destroyed, but not completely, although he will have to get all the unwanted mess off and dry them.

He really hated this school, but not because he didn't want to learn or because of homework. The classmates and pretty much every kid was a Buffon, ignorant over the edge and it made him always wonder why he was learning among a wave of monkeys who couldn't distinguish tendons from bones.

"Last stop! We are here." the driver announced, getting off from the seat and exiting the vehicle to be met with the imposing view of his house that looked like something from a Tim Burton art book.

He opened the large gate to enter, stepping on the brick sidewalk and on the stairs to the large mahogany double doors, his tiny hand wrapping around the door handle and pushing the door open, only to be met with the face of his aunt, younger sister of his mother.

"You're late and oh my! You look horrible!" Aunt Mia said, her brown eyes widening and she grimaced at the dirty and disheveled look Lucas was sporting, not like he wanted to.

"Your mother is in the living room, having tea with the ladies of her literature club. If she sees you like this, she will go bonkers." Mia whispered to Lucas, narrowing her eyes at the boy.

"Get your clothes off right now. I just whipped the floorboards and cleaned the carpets. I don't want to see one spot of mud on them." Mia said with finality, moving with the tray of tea tools to the kitchen to refill them.

Lucas sighed, putting his satchel down and tugging on the black vest off, the white button-down came next, a shiver running down his spine at the coldness. He put his shoes neatly on the doormat and unbuckling the belt, tugging his khaki slacks down when he heard a scream.

His amber eyes looked up to see his older sister at the top of the main staircase, looking at him like she saw something repulsive.

"Mother!" Amelia yelled, making Lucas's eyes widen, knowing that this won't turn out to be good.

In a few seconds, not enough time for him to get his clothes and run upstairs to his room, his mother exited the livingroom stopping once her amber eyes laid on him, the other ladies peeking their heads from the living-room, curious and also hungry for something to gossip about later.

Everything happened in a flash of his mother's long black dress and a slap echoed in the gigantic victorian style house.

"You pervert! This is how you present yourself in front of so many ladies?!" Evelyn's booming voice meets Luca's ears, his cheek stinging from the slap, his tiny hand holding the red spot of skin.

He wasn't one to cry, he never cried, just looking down in shame as he heard his older sister snicker and his mother's friends whispering all kinds of things that he blocked from understanding; probably very judgemental comments.

Evelyn looked down at her son with a viper like glare, her amber eyes matching Lucas. He looked up and felt his legs tremble, so as quickly as possible he got his wet and dirty clothes off the floor and dashed upstairs to his room, avoiding his sister's smirking face at the embarrassing moment.

After cleaning himself up and getting dry clothes from his closet, Lucas looked into the mirror of his bedroom, making sure he was presentable, his raven black hair slicked back.

He grimaced at the color; the reason for why he was labeled as the raven or crow.

A knock at his door made him glance to see his aunt, Mia with her lips pulled into a thin line.

"You missed dinner, young man. Also tomorrow you have waltz classes, piano lessons and let's not forget about your homework and also Evelyn told me that tomorrow you will clean the attic. A reminder to never pull a stunt like that again. I saved you some dinner, but don't expect this to be a normal occurrence. You know how important punctuality is." Mia rambled and all Lucas did was listen, because what else was he supposed to do when you're surrounded by women.

He was the only male inside the house; Evelyn, his mother who reminded him of a witch from the fairytales, then his older sister Amelia who looked a lot like Evelyn and Mia, his aunt and younger sister of Evelyn who was responsible for cooking and cleaning, since she hasn't married a rich man like his father.

All Lucas know about his father was that he was rich as his mother stated and he was very fond of literature, one of the reasons the library of the house was mostly used by Lucas. Amelia was too busy following after Evelyn to actually open a book and read, at last, a paragraph.

Lucas followed Mia to the kitchen, sitting down at the table and eating the leftover boiled vegetables and cold steak of beef. He heard Evelyn and Mia talk outside the kitchen into the front entrance of the house.

After he was finished, he washed the dishes and was ready to head back to his bedroom or perhaps the library to find a book to take his mind of the events today.

He was meet with his mother and aunt, all put together, dresses perfectly without a wrinkle, make-up was neatly done to hide the aging and the hair? Not even a rebel lock out of place.

"Mother?" Lucas asked, making the women look at him.

"We're going out tonight, Lucas. There is an important event in town about new investors for the new hotel. We've got invitations." Evelyn said, fixing her fur coat and lipstick in the mirror by the front door.

Of course, they were out hunting new fresh meat or better said a new wallet to get their manicured hands onto.

"I'm no longer with Mr. Gladstone to tie me down so we don't have to worry about anything." Evelyn muttered and Lucas fought the urge to grimace and say something.

Mr. Gladstone as in his father; Evelyn's former husband, now deceased and a loving father as much as Lucas could remember.

The two ladies exited the house and closed the door behind them, not even saying goodbye to the little boy, leaving him in the darkness, save for the faint light coming from the chandelier above.

He sighed and decided to went straight to bed, not even in the mood to read anything. He was tired and not in the mood to do anything at all. He marched upstairs and sadly he had to pass his sisters' door that was wide open, more feminine voices coming from inside.

Amelia was with her friends, probably having a sleepover or just a gathering for doing make-up and their hair.

He tried to be discreet and quickly pass the door, so he won't be observed.

"Hey!"

No such luck.

He looked over his shoulder and saw one of Amelia's friends, long curly hair in a golden color following down her shoulder and mischievous sky blue eyes looked at him.

"You're Amelia's little brother, right?" she asked, making him slowly nod.

Amelia turned from her friends and grimaced once she saw Lucas.

"You again? Stop creeping out of the corners like that, pervert!" she yelled, bopping his nose pretty roughly and making it sting; a normal habit of hers.

"I'm going downstairs to get some snacks. It might take a while." Amelia said and walked out of her bedroom and downstairs to the kitchen.

Lucas was ready to bolt to his bedroom, but he was pushed inside his sister's room by the blonde; his amber eyes looking at the older girls who smirked or whispered to each other.

Lucas was only 10, while his sister was 17 as were the females in front of him.

"Umm...I need to go...My curfew is...." he shuttered, trying to excuse himself, but then he felt the blonde move behind him.

"Awww why in such a hurry? You're too big for a curfew." the girl whispered in his ear, making him blush and gulp down.

Before he could say anything else, he was pushed forward, two girls holding his arms and his eyes widened as he looked at the blonde, who snorted.

"Yell and we will tell that you tried to come upon us." the way she spoke, made the boy shake in fear, not used to what was happening. Sure, he was slapped and beaten up over his hands with a wooden spoon by his mother, but not this.

The blonde started to work on the belt that held his slacks; the gesture finally hitting on what they were planning. Lucas wasn't obvious to this kind of activity; he was very educated, but never indulged in them.

Another girl, a redhead closed and locked the door, giggling at Lucas's scared expression.

"This will stay between us all." the blonde whispered against Lucas's lips.

#Shadow #Serial Killer #Salem #Original characters #Slasher OC #Boston #Horror OC #Story Time

[samreviewsmovies]

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Year: October 5, 1961

Director:  Blake Edwards

Screenwriter: George Axelrod

Actors: 

Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly George Peppard as Paul Varjak Patricia Neal as Mrs. Emily Eustace "2E" Failenson Mickey Rooney as I. Y. Yunioshi Buddy Ebsen as Doc Golightly - Holly's former husband Martin Balsam as O.J. Berman José Luis de Vilallonga as José da Silva Pereira John McGiver as Tiffany's salesman Dorothy Whitney as Mag Wildwood Stanley Adams as Rutherford "Rusty" Trawler Elvia Allman as the librarian Alan Reed as Sally Tomato Orangey as Cat

Production Company: Jurow-Shepherd, and Spinel Entertainment

Synopsis:  Based on Truman Capote's novel, this is the story of a young woman in New York City who meets a young man when he moves into her apartment building. He is with an older woman who is very wealthy, but he wants to be a writer. She is working as an expensive escort and searching for a rich, older man to marry.

Rating:

IMDb: 7.6/10

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

My Rating: 8/10

Platform: TN Theatre 

My Thoughts:

O.J. Berman: Well answer the question. Is she or isn’t she?

Paul Varjak: Is she or isn’t she what?

O.J. Berman: A phony.

Is this the kind of movie that is iconic and deep or is it just a movie that thinks that it is iconic and deep?

This isn’t my first time watching this movie, but it’s one of those movies that the more you see it, the more you get from it each time. (I also forget how long it is until I watch it.) I find more depth, more parallels between characters, and more emotion. The movie doesn’t change. If anything, it continues to saunter at it’s leisurely pace, much like Holly does at the beginning of the movie as she window shops at Tiffany’s and waits for us to catch up.

The story isn’t overly exciting or overly deep. I don’t think I could ever personally relate to Holly or Paul’s backgrounds or situations (as much as I would like to have a sugar person that would take care of my every need while I was supposed to be writing.) It feels a bit like we’re Nick in the Great Gatsby, watching the absurdity and grandeur and phoniness of New York socialites. We’re like Paul Varjak at the party, trying to figure out what is going on, and getting swept up in the charm of it all. The movie hinges around Holly Golightly, probably one of Ms. Hepburn’s most iconic roles. One of the most simple, yet fickle characters I can think of. No matter how much I watch her, I don’t think I will ever completely understand her. She’s, in a way, one of the first manic pixie dream girls, though somehow the term doesn’t feel right for a nineteen fifties socialite. 

Paul’s character helps us figure her out. They play mirrors of each other. Both are taken care of by other wealthier people in exchange for their company. Both of them never really reaching their full potential. Paul chafes under it, and Holly seemingly thrives in it, but not really.

Do I think that Paul will ever truly understand Holly? No. I don’t think she can ever be completely understood, because she doesn’t even begin to understand herself. Do I think that Paul and Holly could have a happy ending after the credits? Maybe. I definitely root for them. I don’t think that any person, and by extension character, should exist only to support another character. Which is kind of the crux of a manic pixie dream girl. Honestly, it should irk me a little, but yet, I think Paul and Holly are good for each other. They both support each other. Holly a muse; Paul to ground her. 

Paul Varjak: Holly, I’m in love with you.

Holly Golightly: So what?

Paul Varjak: So what? So plenty! I love you. You belong to me.

Holly Golightly: No. people don’t belong to people.

Paul Varjak: Of course they do.

Holly Golightly: I’m not going to let anyone put me in a cage.

Paul Varjak: I don’t want to put you in a cage! I want to love you!

Holly Golightly: It’s the same thing.

Paul Varjak: No, it’s not! Holly!

I think a lot about this exchange at the end. I think of the contradictions about owning someone. I don’t want to be owned, but I do want to be owned, because being owned is belonging. Belonging to a place and another person, and that person belongs to you. It’s a cage and it’s freedom. 

The movie plays with this question and contradiction from the beginning. It’s not the most perfect movie I’ve ever seen, but it keeps me thinking and asking questions. Reflecting on the characters and reflecting on myself. I might get a different answer every time I watch it. I might never get an answer.  

The invokes real emotions. The cage conversation above with Paul and Holly, when Doc comes and visits (on a side note: Buddy Ebsen played that part so well. It should have been weird but instead it was so touching), when Holly mourns Fred’s death.

Is this movie a phony? It’s a phony. But it’s a real phony. Know what I mean, kid?

It’s more than an aesthetic. It’s more than a historic moment in cinematography. It is those things, but it’s also got a story that keeps you thinking, keeps you feeling between witty, fast deliver lines.

Extras:

The film is considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant by the U.S. Library of Congress and was selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry in 2012.

Won Best Original Score and Best Original Song for "Moon River"

Nominated at the 34th Academy Awards: Best Actress (for Hepburn), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_at_Tiffany%27s_(film)

#breakfast at tiffany's #blake edwards #george axelrod #audrey hepburn #george peppard #patricia neal #mickey rooney #budd ebsen #martin balsam #jose luis de vilallonga #john mcgiver #dorothy whitney #stanley adams #elvia allman #alan reed #orangey #jurow-shepherd #spinel entertainment #paramount pictures

[crusherthedoctor]

When taking Lutrudis as a concept into account, it could be argued that the decision to have her live in a big, fairytale-like castle would be an unwise idea, maybe even counterintuitive, since a place so extravagant might undermine her intended loneliness and yearning for a more fulfilling life, adventure, and all that jazz before Sonic and company entered the picture. The last thing I’d want with Trudy would be to remind people of Chris “woe is me” Thorndyke and his rich kid mansion lifestyle. Not to mention that since some of the townspeople in Lime Shores can act rather ignorant (and in some cases, antagonistic) towards her, a lavish castle might also undermine the underdog nature of that particular setup.

Despite these concerns however, I felt confident with my plan, and I figured that as long as I knew what I was doing, readers would understand what I had in mind. I’ve explained in the past that a castle would better accommodate someone with her EDS, so right off the bat, you already have a practical justification for it. It also helps that whereas the accursed Thorndyke had his parents, friends, grandad, butler, etc etc etc etc... Trudy genuinely had no one to turn to before the heroes arrived for their intended vacation. So with that said, let’s examine this particular building for a bit, complete with pics for comparison’s sake, as well as a certain cavern full of Ethereal goodness that happens to be nearby...

Creating the Residence: Trudy’s Castle

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: The outside environment is not too subtly inspired by Autumn Plains from Spyro 2, better known to non-Spyro fans as my blog background.

A serene yet lonely autumnal forest backdrop, with a big stone castle smack dab in the center. It’s not one-to-one the same of course - instead of a pool, the front area boasts a lovely garden full of different flowers, and there’s also a lake nearby - but the mood is more or less what you see here.

However, this partly serves to contrast with what’s behind closed doors. As acknowledged in Beyond the Stars proper, the interior of the castle instead goes for a different and grander, yet equally inviting atmosphere when you take that first step inside. Instead of stone, you see marble and wood, and instead of grey and green, you have reds, creams, maroons, and golds (with a few complimentary blues and purples thanks to the flags hovering above).

As the lady herself mentions, Trudy discovered that the interior was in a state of disarray when she obtained it, and she was of the belief that a castle as beautiful and rich in history as this one deserved better than to be forgotten and wither away in the coming generations. The least she felt she could do was give it a modern, yet respectful redecoration, and give the old building a second, loving life in the process.

Yes, that means every spot of detail inside this castle was done single-handedly. Entirely on her lonesome. It took ages to complete, especially when taking her EDS into account, but she was determined to give the place its due, and lo and behold, the effort more than paid off. (You know, such levels of determination bring a blue hedgehog to mind...)

And that’s just the intended vision for the main hallway! We haven’t touched the other rooms yet! (Since a castle would have quite a lot of rooms, it goes without saying that for the sake of keeping this post from going even longer, we won’t be covering literally every single room... just the most important and/or most noteworthy ones. :o)

The bathroom can be described as a mix between the two examples below, combining the semi-medieval build of the former with the sky blue palette and general relaxing style of the latter.

Though that said, while the bath remains there for any guests to use, Trudy personally uses a shower since it’s more convenient for someone with her condition.

The kitchen (or as Sonic likes to call it, “the palace of chili dog magic”) mostly comes in cool browns and blacks, and its intended appearance is probably one of the more obvious combinations of old-timey and modern. It also has a slightly country aesthetic compared to the other rooms, because ha ha, horses, geddit.

The greenhouse at the back brings back the heavy amounts of green (well duh, the clue’s in the name, isn’t it?), while also providing contrast with the whiteness of the structure and architecture. Complete with giant arched windows, because of course.

And the segue point between the greenhouse and the rest of the castle looks something along these lines, at least with the way the building itself connects.

Even the chambers underneath the castle manage to look classy and clean. And just as well, since it’s where Tails parks the Tornado for the remainder of his time in Viridonia, once he FINALLY remembers to get it off the Lime Shore beach...

You know another benefit of such a spacious area? You get to turn it into a makeshift workshop for all your gadget needs, Tornado-related or otherwise. I’m sure that won’t come in handy at some point...

The guest bedroom is one of the most curious rooms of the lot, because even though it’s as nice and tidy as you’d expect, it’s also rather... muted compared to everywhere else. Perhaps Trudy felt no need to modify it further in any specific way, since no one had ever bothered to stop by anyway... until you-know-who and the gang.

And we can’t forget to mention our fair equine’s OWN bedroom now, can we? Her bedroom opts for darker colours, yet no less therapeutic, which includes the canopy bed that she rests in. You can actually see the general idea with the bedroom (and the outside of the castle for that matter) for yourself, in the Dame of the Daisy mini-comic, courtesy of my awesome friend @benignmilitancy​.

Likewise, although this shot is currently incomplete (don’t worry, Benign is fine with me using it :P), meaning some details haven’t been added yet, you can also get a basic idea of how the balcony is supposed to look here, along with the complimentary view of Viridonia’s oceans.

So what kind of music would befit Trudy’s castle, you may ask? Well, taking every detail into account, we would need something that goes for that perfect mix of adventure, wonder, warmth... and a faint hint of sadness lurking beneath. Something that gets all four across, but not in a generic, run-of-the-mill orchestra sort of way. Something a little more ambient and down-to-earth, with a more unique and specific kind of intimacy. Something like...

This would apply for when you’re inside, mind you. Outside the castle, the surrounding forest would have a theme of its own, though it would share that similar combination of melancholic friendliness. So for the outside, we would go with something more like...

Overall, the idea behind Trudy’s castle - aside from being her residence and looking enviously pretty - is to add to Trudy’s own character. It’s said that one’s home can say a lot about a person, and I made sure that every room shared a consistent narrative when reading between the lines. They may differ in shape, and they may even differ in colour, but the story is kept consistent at all times. We know that our girl is elegant, we know that our girl has slightly antiquated tastes... and we know that until the arrival of Sonic and Co, our girl was extremely lonely, and isolated by her peers, to the point of staving off said loneliness and isolation by making the place as lavishly detailed as it is in the first place. And just as the stony exterior hides the more fanciful interior, so too is there more to Trudy herself than at first glance.

Besides, not counting Eggman’s endless list of tributes to himself, we don’t often see the characters’ homes in the games, do we? We’ve seen Angel Island for Knuckles, the Space Colony A.R.K. for Shadow, that shack belonging to the Chaotix in Heroes, a few pads of varying consistency depending on the game (Tails’ workship in SA1 VS his house in Battle)... but not much more than that. And what better contrast to Sonic being something of a nomad, than by Trudy living a place like this?

But we’re not done just yet. Last but not least, we can’t forget that mysterious cave hiding down below, where countless amounts of Ethereal Crystals can be found undisturbed... You can bet that such a place would be suitably attention grabbing.

Since the crystals themselves come in practically every shade of the rainbow and then some, the resulting combination - specifically their reflecting shine - ends up painting the cavern walls with just as much colour.

It may feel a tad surreal and almost alien, to the point of being a little intimidating for some, arguably. But you know in your heart of hearts that as long as Eggman isn’t in the equation, there is no need to be fearful. After all, Trudy knows it better than anyone else, and although the crystals and their properties may hail from unknown, possibly uncomfortable origins, the horse herself continues to use them for wholly benevolent purposes.

Such a cavern would deserve a theme of its own, no? We’ll need something that drives home the point that the power within has no inherent morality, and can only be as good or as evil as the person using them. So although Trudy’s own intentions are firmly on the side of good, we’ll also need an added touch of minor eeriness lingering in the background, to represent the overarching threat and subsequent implications of Eggman dipping his own hands into the metaphorical Ethereal well, on top of its already unexplained otherworldliness...

So yes, it’s quite a pleasant castle that Trudy has, eh?

But this isn’t the only castle that can be found in Viridonia...

Well, it used to be the only one of its kind on the island... until a certain doctor stopped by, decided to beat the horse at her own game, and create his own, darker counterpart in response... But we’ll get to that when we get to that, ho ho ho.

#Creating Viridonia #Sonic the Hedgehog #Fanfiction

[6blackfilin9]

Just decided to show that I'm still alive over here

So guess it's LongShitpost Time

A very long post about The Batman's (2004) Penguin

And well, I've been thinking about making it for about a year, so.. here we are, watching me behaving like an easily surprised kid babbling about Oswald and how much I admire him and why

Actually nothin' important or highly moral here. If you still wanna read then just forget it's talk about a character from a kids show, I take this sh🐧t seriously and barely speak English

I like to take a lot of screenshots but can't use here all of them uuUUuUuuUUUUUGH

It's all about the 1st episode of 2nd season of The Batman (mostly, I also mention other my two fav episodes with Oswald)

I like it so much cuz this all just starts with "cat-mouse play" kind of cooperation which leads to "well guess you two will be chillin' in jail in pure mammalian harmony" and ends up with "oh no no no, this is your thievish girl, so you take her back"

"— You two pointy-ears make such a cute couple: his and hers."

"— Hm, made for each other."

I just crack up at this plot line so much

But well, being more serious, this episode unveils some of Oswald's personality traits quite vividly.

Going back to the first episode when he appeared, from the first sight it looked like the most of the time he acts like a mindlessly arrogant jerk who has no clue about what he’s doing, as most of kid-show villains, and tends to lose his temper fast , but if you look closer you’ll see that huge amount of his conduct lines are just a part of the games he plays

Like, he came to the Bruce's party just to take the damn list of guests, that’s the goal

But because of his behavior in public's eyes he wasn't the "strange quiet guy who's been looking around for all the time, than took the list of rich guests from butler and than left while there are robberies of rich people occurring in the city". He was "arrogant snobbish freak who thinks he's some sort of royalty (despite his family lost its place at the top of Gotham's society) so he acts around them as if they were peasants", so, for everyone it looks like the only thing he came for was attention, plus, influenced by negative emotions, people didn't notice such a potty movements as putting some paper in his jacket. I mean none even managed to notice that he stole the motherf🐧cking tray

(Well, for sure Oswald's quite snobbish about his family and it's "blue blood", can’t deny that, though he doesn’t behave that defiantly all the time and the only time when he completely loses it, cracks and explodes about this was when he became enraged hearing Alfred's words whom he took hostage in Bruce's house. That was a very bad day for him)

And come on, Oswald had patience and intelligence to figure out how to teach different predatory birds like ravens and owls, who actually tend to be wayward and even agressive time to time, to steal damn stuff from houses and how to make those f🐧cking badass high-tech umbrellas himself

So, cool man

If that episode showed his enormous arrogance, devotion to his family, resourcefulness, intelligence and hidden potential, this one shows how cunning, selfish, cold, ruthless and at some point insightful he can be

Back to the episode, it literally opens with the start of the strategy competition between Oswald and Selina

First they meet they start with a direct verbal flight for the Cat statue, which Oswald wins. So Selina, willing to get what she wants, desides to get down on a more manipulative subtle level playing love interest

So, of course Oswald gets stunned at first, I guess not every girl treats him this way every day, but he effectively uses this state to figure out his following plan and actions, and immediately starts behaving as a school boy in love.

So the man literally changed his tactics in a couple of seconds and figured out the new plan with the new “puppet” involved. Selina didn’t even notice anything thinking that she managed to hook him up easily so she now can manipulate him as she wants.

(guess Bruce was right, these two are worth each other: both prideful as heck)

So later their game enters the new fervent phase: they both play love interest in front of each other, and Oswald nailes his role just perfectly, making Selina even more convinced of his naivety so she reduces her alertness completely.

But guess he enjoyed this at some point. Like, Selina is a charming beautiful woman able to maintain a pleasant conversation with couple of dry sarcastic notes, so, I think this shade of sincerity helped him to play his part

And well, for quite huge amount of time Oswald makes that devil face with crooked grin which makes him look like a f🐧cking Satan, or just beings grumpy hardened journalist who had seen some shit which makes him look like he's about to have a severe breakdown, but here as he is around Selina in the first part of the episode he's completely calm like a damn fat cat, serious, focused and straight-faced, that's just gorgeous

He cracks up a bit ahead of time just once, when she manages to get the Bird statue

But as it goes to the showdown he doesn’t show even a hint of genuine sympathy or regret, he’s just like “well get reked Selina” and takes English leave

Well, I know it’s a kids show, Bruce saves the day and stuff, but Oz did literally put the bomb in the f🐧cking handcuffs so in case one of the two tries to put them off before the police arrive they actually f🐧cking die. I mean, that's kinda rough. But at the other hand it’s quite nobly but shortsighted of him to leave his enemies alive having a chance to interfere him later

And well, maybe Oswald isn’t good at etiquette, but he have never beaten Selina or any other lady if it came to close fight, while Batman did. Ozzie is a gentleman, shame on ya Bruce

And just to be said, the motherf🐧ucker didn’t even blink when the f🐧king half of his god damn umbrella was cut off right in front of his f🐧cking face. And oh my god, how f🐧cking firm Oswald's grip is that the hella heavy umbrella all made of f🐧cking metal didn't even swayed from the impact in the most stout place. Badass.

And just for a second, Oswald managed to dig to the bottom of that legend about the Bird and Cat statues and started putting the plan into action only after he had found all the necessary information about it (which he had to translate himself from ancient Egyptian), so that the first time he used it, it didn't turn out that he missed something and summoned some ancient shit so now the whole world is in danger (as it happens with villains in movies sometimes).

(The saddest part is that the only single thing that prevented the shit from happening was immense amount of luck. mean Bruce has all kinds of gadgets for literally any situation and knows literally everything just in case. Like, it was very useful of Bruce to study ancient Egyptian just in case someone decides to use egyptian artifacts for evil stuff. And they were so f🐧king lucky the the birds weren’t hungry and didn’t try to peck their faces off while they were climbing the god damn lighthouse which is already hella dangerous even without the maniac birds trying to knock you down)

Well, what do we have so far

Even if Oswald does have some temper issues, he's capable of making some keen psychological tricks, making strategies and keep his head above water, the only thing that actually hampers him is his own pride (like in the episode with Team Penguin. He does have some leadership qualities but he turns from leader into boss quite quickly thinking of himself only)

And, importantly, he is being at some level realistic and objective realizing that none actually takes him seriously.

He understands that for most of the people he’s just a deformed and depraved man with a funny voice, who’s also a descendant of the aristocratic family which ran out of money and lost former authority.

And he uses it for his own good. He couldn't if he didn't, otherwise he'd choose way less twisted ways of behavior

He knew what would the people at the party see in him, so he could predict what behavior would cause the result he needed.

He understood Selina wouldn’t take him as a serious opponent, seeing him as a lonely slow-witted man or whatever, being sure that she can hook him as any other in such an unpretentious way she thought she would be able to make him do all the work instead of her. His awareness made her plans all exposed and clear

But all this negligence combined with his pride does hurt him though, no doubt. There’s a whole episode about it, when he occupied Bruce’s house.

He has his own reasons to envy and hate Bruce, by the way. They both are from rich families, both intelligent, strong and talented, but Bruce is more young and handsome, plus, his family business remained successful. At this point he is much more luckier than Oswald

I mean even if it gets to falling Bruse safely falls on tent and Oswald falls on the dirty ground through hell, fire and high boiling water (I don't give a shit that it had been made for the comedy matters)

Basically, the only thing Oswald is doing is trying to restore not only the family’s honor, but also his own with help of money and growth of his authority. Maybe even to show others and himself that he’s something more than just a garbage. That he's something more than he seems to be at the first sight

But as far as I can see Oswald has never been that type of poor kid with low self esteem crying in a shower with the lights off and who then starts to hide behind the wall of arrogance as he grows up. I mean right in this episode he says that his mother had always told him that he was a handsome one, so I think his parents loved him, maybe even spoiled at some point, and gave him confidence and warmth he needed.

Though well, to be fair, children are cruel, and of course they would react to the child who lookes like a victim of a crazy geneticist's experiment in a very specific way. Some would avoid him no matter what it takes, for sure some would get used to him and communicate normally, but some would mock and bully him severely. So of course he would start to protect himself

But sadly he went in wrong direction, since his confidence became arrogance and his ways became much more twisted and radical

Even as an adult he’ve chosen a really slippery slope, though. He could've chosen a different path, but (as I guess) he couldn't overcome his sense of injustice and his resentment towards people around him, who actually neglected and loathed him. So he just sank in his negative experience and sharpened himself as the lone survivalist, which made him egotistical to the point when he doesn't care about the others and can actually stumble in some situations, being sure he can't be wrong

His actions can't be justified, but they can be explained. Oswald is really very understandable character

So

There is actually no moral of the post

Just me coming to conclusion that The Batman's Oswald appears to be quite deep in the first seasons

Yes, I just wasted about 5 minutes of your life, and you can't take those back

But I can leave you with a question besides frustration

Why in the bloody hell are they holding each other?!

I mean come on

Few hours ago they revealed mutual betrayal, he almost killed her, dropped her on the froor so she couldn't run away with the thing he needed, and now they hold each other flying away on a jet-umbrella

And don’t f🐧cking tell me they do this because of the fear that if one of them falls the other will too

No f🐧cking way

Just imagine flying on the f🐧cking jet-umbrella, you will cling to it so tightly that one day you will take it into your grave with yourself because you will not be able to unclench your f🐧cking fingers after a single flight, but instead of holding the motherf🐧cking umbrella they hold each other

So is it a weird joke or a very thick hint?

Who knows

#the batman 2004 #batman 2004 #the batman #screenshot #batman #comics #dc comics #dc #dc penguin #batman penguin #the penguin #oswald chesterfield cobblepot #oswald cobblepot #batman catwoman #dc catwoman #selina kyle #longpost #shitpost #the batman penguin

[alarawriting]

Writeober 13 - Rose

The first of her old group that Sandy ran into was Aliyah, looking every bit as gorgeous as she used to back when they were all in high school. “Sandy!” Aliyah hugged her. “Girlfriend, you look fantastic!”

“You liar,” Sandy said affectionately. She was forty pounds heavier than she’d been in high school, and the stress of motherhood and scrambling to make ends meet had taken its toll on her face, and she knew it. But that was Aliyah for you. The most beautiful girl in the entire school, and she always had a kind word or an encouragement for everyone else she met. Aliyah was older now, but no less beautiful – possibly moreso, in fact, because she’d grown into confidence and power. Her skin was darker than Sandy’s, but perfect and smooth, while Sandy’s brown face had never entirely grown out of its teenage habit of developing pimples, nor of showing blemishes where the pimples used to be. And her clothes, of course, were fashionable and fit her like they were tailored, whereas the dress Sandy was wearing came off the rack at Target and fit like a gunnysack.

None of that mattered. Sandy had worshiped Aliyah as a kid, had wanted to be her… up until the revelations of their senior year, when she’d learned the price Aliyah had paid for money and beauty. They’d been in touch periodically ever since; neither of them had much time to meet in person, but Aliyah desperately needed a confidante she could call and talk to, or email with, who didn’t care about her money or fame, and Sandy felt honored to be that friend.

“Who all’s here?” Sandy asked.

“I’ve seen Gwen and Tulsi—”

“Gwen?”

“Harriet used to call her Gun, remember? Red Sky.”

“Oh, that’s right. Glad she made it. What about Susan?”

“I think she’s coming,” Aliyah said. “She was on the planning committee with me. But I haven’t seen her yet. And I haven’t seen Harriet.”

“I’m going to circulate around a while, see if I can find any of them,” Sandy said.

“You should try the fondue fountain, it is to die for,” Aliyah said.

Sandy laughed. “Some of us poor mortal girls have to watch our weight.”

“Oh, don’t even. You’ve had two kids, you’ve got a mortgage to pay, your job has you sit at a desk all day – you are in fantastic shape for someone who’s done everything you have and works as hard as you do. You deserve a chocolate strawberry or two.”

“Thanks,” Sandy said, “maybe I will.”

“I mean it, Sandy. You see me looking like this, but looking like this is my job. I have personal trainers, I have nutritionists, I’ve got a whole gym in my house. And what do I do? I’m an actress. I like to think I bring joy to people’s lives, but I don’t have any children, and you fight health insurance companies to make sure your doctors get paid and your patients don’t get screwed, and that is so important in this day and age. You’ve made two humans and you work your ass off to give them good lives and raise them up right. You are the one of us who’s still a hero, Sandy, I’m just the one who was lucky enough to have rich parents.”

“I remember you telling me about your parents, Ali. I don’t think you were lucky.”

Aliyah smiled wistfully. “Yeah, no, you’re right about that part of it. I just don’t want you being down on yourself because you gained weight, girl. Nobody gets out of high school without getting bigger. It’s natural. The only reason people think thin is beautiful is the beauty industry trying to sell them garbage.”

“Didn’t you do a makeup commercial a few years ago?”

Aliyah laughed. “I did! Beauty products are garbage, but as long as women are going to buy them, I want them to see glamorous black women wearing product that makes our skin look spectacular. You know?”

“I do,” Sandy said. “I – oh. Is that Red Sky with that little girl on her shoulders?”

Aliyah turned and looked. “That’s her. Why don’t you go talk to her? I’m going to look for Susan.”

“Good luck,” Sandy said, and went over to greet her former comrade.

Red Sky – Gwen, who almost never went by that – was tall. Sandy remembered her being tall, but wow, she must have kept growing out of high school. Her red hair was still cut short, military-style, but she was wearing a dress, which had to be the first time Sandy had ever seen her in one. The dress showed off her biceps, which had been amazing back then and still were, and she had a small girl around five or six, pale-skinned with curly black hair, riding her piggyback style. She waved cheerily at Sandy as soon as she saw her. “Hey there! Sandy! How’s it going?”

“Pretty good, pretty good,” Sandy said. “That your little girl?”

“She sure is! Ginny, say hi to my friend Sandy.”

“Hi!” Ginny waved. “Are you friends with both my mommies?”

“I don’t know who your other mommy is,” Sandy said.

“Sure you do,” Gwen said. “It’s Harriet.”

That stopped Sandy dead for a moment. “Harriet. As in Black Rose.”

“Yup.”

“As in the girl you said you totally hated.” She was censoring that for Ginny’s sake; there had generally been a few f-bombs thrown into that statement when Gwen had made it, back then.

“Sure did.”

“As in the girl who bullied you all through elementary, middle, and high school.”

“To be fair, I gave as good as I got.”

“The one you said you wanted to join the army to get away from. That Harriet.”

“Yup, that’s the one.” Gwen laughed. “Turns out we didn’t really hate each other after all. She was just the most repressed lesbian ever and I was… well, I wasn’t repressed, but all the stuff I did to annoy her because I thought I hated her, turns out there was another reason for that.”

“Wow.” Sandy shook her head. “Amazing.”

“I have Mommy Harriet’s genes,” Ginny said, which seemed to Sandy like a very strange topic of conversation for a six year old to bring up. “But I grew in Mommy Gunnie’s tummy.”

“You know about genes?”

“She’s Harriet’s kid,” Gwen said. “Of course she knows about genes. Don’t you, cookie?”

“Genes are why we are what we are,” Ginny said. “We get them from mommies and daddies. My daddy doesn’t live with us but he was very smart and so Mommy Harriet picked him for his genes so I could be smart and he said yes.”

“Paul,” Gwen said before Sandy could ask.

“Oh. Makes sense.” Paul hadn’t been a member of their group, but he’d known about them, and he’d been close friends with Tulsi and Harriet, and he’d helped them out on numerous occasions. While Harriet had been bizarrely obsessed with human biology, and Tulsi had been an all-around genius who was just good at every academic subject ever, Paul had had a penchant for engineering and computers.

“You know if Susan’s here?” Gwen asked.

“Aliyah thinks she’s probably around here somewhere. She was on the planning committee. Is Harriet here?”

“She said she was gonna be—” The door to the school gym opened, and a short, pale woman with black curly hair, wearing an open black coat, a black velvet dress, black nylons, and a necklace made of bits of polished white something that Sandy would bet were animal bones, stalked in. “—late,” Gwen finished. “Hey! Harriet!”

Harriet did not look up, or at anyone in the room. She just power-walked over to Gwen, head partially down but eyes pointed straight ahead and glowering. “Green Vine,” she said to Sandy. “Everyone’s here. Gather them up and meet me in the old senior lounge.”

“What’s going on?” Gwen asked.

“They’re back, Gun.” Now Harriet looked up, meeting her wife’s eyes high above her own. “I’m not here as Harriet Nonasky. I’m here as Black Rose. The Guardians need to gather again.”

“Fuck!” Gwen said. “Harriet… we’ve got Ginny here! We can’t go anywhere without finding her a sitter!”

“What about Daddy Paul?” Ginny suggested.

“And I’ve got kids back home,” Sandy said. “They’ve got a sitter, and they’ve got their dad when he gets home later tonight, but neither the sitter nor my husband are expecting me to… what? What are we even doing? I can’t fit in my Green Vine costume anymore! I don’t think any of us could!”

“Harriet can,” Gwen said. “I’ve seen her wear the Black Rose costume at home. She still fits in it.”

“Forget costumes,” Harriet said. “I got Paul for Ginny, and he said he’d find help for Sandy’s and Susan’s kids. Where’s Susan?”

“No one’s seen her yet,” Gwen said.

Harriet closed her eyes. She’d ladled on a good bit of black eyeshadow on top of her black mascara, and thick white foundation everywhere else, so when she closed her eyes they looked almost like shadowy holes in her face. “We need to find her. Now. Because they might have gotten her.”

“I’ll tell Aliyah,” Sandy said. “And whoever finds Tulsi first, let her know.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve got a minivan now, so… if y’all want me to, I can be the driver again.”

“That might be the way things go,” Harriet said. “Gun, give me Ginny. Paul’s out in the parking lot waiting for her.”

“I – all right.” She set her daughter down on the floor. “You gonna be good for Daddy Paul?”

“Uh-huh. Are you gonna go be superheroes, Mommy Gunnie?”

“We sure might,” Gwen said. “Harriet, tell him thanks for me.”

“Right,” Harriet said. “Ginny, come on.”

“Is this really happening?” Sandy asked rhetorically, shaking her head. She turned around and searched the room for Aliyah. Or Tulsi. Or Susan. Especially Susan. She saw Aliyah, and she saw Tulsi… but no sign of White Fox.

“Red Sky, Blue Sea’s over by the girls’ locker room. You go talk to her. I’ll tell Golden Sun.” Blue Sea was Tulsi, and Golden Sun was Aliyah.

“I thought we killed those bastards extra dead,” Gwen said. “Goddamn.”

“Me too.”

Gwen shrugged. “Oh well. I gotta say, I won’t cry if I’ve gotta killinate them some more. Let’s find the others and then meet up with Harriet, and hopefully she’ll actually tell us what the hell is going on.”

“You’re optimistic. She never did before,” Sandy said.

“I’m married to her. She’s mellowed out. Some. Trust me.”

#writeober 2020 #alara's october 2020 prompt fics #magical girls #are now grownup magical women #any resemblance between some of these characters #and the characters of the locked tomb series #is entirely intentional

[dustofinsanity]

𝑀𝑦 𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑠𝑦 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑠ℎ

ㅤㅤ

 Mingyu / Reader ㅤㅤㅤ College AU ㅤㅤㅤ Words count: 3.8k

Summary: What can you do when you are one of the most bitchy girls and you fall for the clumsiest guy of your school?

Content/Warning: Fluff, college harassment/bullying, a bit of humor, clumsy Mingyu (of course!).

There was a girl at your university, a famous girl with a stunning body, pretty clothes and popular friends that everyone loved as much as they hated her. She had the best grades and, if it wasn't enough, she was also known to be a wonderful singer, creative drawer and hard worker. Even if her family wasn't a rich one, a lot of chaebols wanted to see their sons with that girl. Smart, sweet, beautiful, well mannered, funny, helpful, etc... She was so perfect. You were so perfect. Getting out of Nayoung's car, one of your best friends, you greeted some students with an adorable smile when a young girl ran to you, a little white box with a big red bow in her hands. Bumbling a little, she told you that she cooked some orange blossom flavored dry biscuits for you. She was so cute. "Thank you." You smiled, bowing a bit and accepting the gift. With the large but so shy smile you could see on her lips and all the stars in her eyes, you knew she was so much more than just happy. You literally made her day. Your friend wrapped her arms around yours and, faking a smile perfectly to the young student, pulled you away, saying your friends were waiting for you. "Please, don't tell me you'll eat that, Y/n." Nayoung whispered after you left the cute girl. You glared at her, raising an eyebrow pretentiously, and asked her if you said you would eat it, adding your dog would probably love the cakes. Yes, you were smart, sweet, beautiful, well mannered, funny, helpful, etc... but also totally fake with a lot of people. You both chuckled and joined your other famous friends before going to class. You were one of those people who didn't really need to listen to the teacher to understand lessons, you just had to read the chapter and you memorized almost everything. Even if it was convenient, you were bored during classes so you looked more at the others students that anything else and, every time, you eyes stopped on him. Kim Mingyu. This tall and handsome but so clumsy man was your crush, your secret crush, for years. You knew a lot of girls was interested in him but he always turned them down politely and stayed alone all the time, focused on some notebooks or looking at the sky. Your male friends hated him because he was naturally more attractive than most of them so they were mean to him, making him fall in front of everyone or humiliating him with the fact his mother was a former porn star. But, even with all these sneaky attacks, you've never seen Mingyu lose his cute smile, the smile that made your heart melt. Looking away when he raised his eyes at you, you tried to focuse on what the teacher was saying, a haughty look on your face, wondering if Mingyu, or anyone else, saw the way you were looking at the young man. Discreetly, you ran your eyes all around and noticed everyone was listening to the teacher. A sigh parted your lips: Your secret had to stay secret. When the bell rang, announcing the end of the day, your friend Seungri offered to take you home but, with a sweet smile, you told him you wanted to visit a new coffee shop and be alone to doing your homework. Even if they wanted to spend more time with you, your so famous friends knew you could be a real loner sometimes. You didn't call or text them, waiting for them to make the first move everytime. You loved it so much when they missed you, when they needed to see you. You knew they were lost without their dear princess around them. Yeah, it was a pleasure to be desired by these selfish kids. About 15 minutes away from the university, a new coffee shop opened and, when you saw it the first time, you noticed it wasn't just a coffee shop, it was a bookstore too where you could read, enjoying a good tea and some homemade cakes. You had to admit, when you read cakes, you knew you already loved this place. A shy smile on your lips, you walked into the coffee shop, startling when the little bell rang above your head, and bowed in front of a gorgeous woman. She was probably the most beautiful woman you've never seen. After your mom, of course, because we all know our moms are always the most beautiful. Anyway! She greeted you with a delightful smile and brought you to a table in a corner of the shop. "So... sorry, ah... ahjumma." You stuttered, amazed by her beauty. "I... I'll order your cakes but I... I wanted to know if... if it's okay to... to also eat cakes a friend made for me." "Oh yes, of course!" She answered with a wonderful smile. "If your friend baked them for you, you have to eat them. I'm sure it will be delicious with our caffe latte. And don't call me ahjumma, I'm not that old. Call me eomeoni." Nodding, you thanked her and followed her advice before getting the little white box from your bag and looking at it with sweet eyes. You couldn't deny it, this gift touched you right in the heart and, carefully, you untied the bow. There were a dozen of cakes, all heart shaped, and it was even cuter than you imagined. You took one between your fingertips and brought it to your mouth, a smile on your lips, when a voice startled you. "I thought it was for your dog." Dropping the cake but catching it in extremis, you raised your head and froze when you saw Mingyu with your order on a plate and a cup of coffee on it... Disaster in three, two, one... "Here's your caffe latte." He told you, carefully putting your order on your table. "I think we have books on bad liars here. Maybe you should read it." He grinned. "I... I... I'm not a liar." You replied, clearing your throat. "I... I just wanted to taste one." "Yeah... Of course." He gave you a cheeky smile and was about to walk away when you grabbed his wrist, asking him to keep this secret. Your friends couldn't know about it. "About what? Oh, the fact you lie to them. Don't worry, it will be our little secret. Anything else?" "Yes. How did you not drop the plate?" "Hm? Oh, the plate. I can be focused sometimes." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck before dropping the plate. "Sometimes." You smirked, taking a sip of your caffe latte which was delicious. Mingyu apologized, embarrased, and walked away. It was the first time you spoke with him and, to be honest, his voice took you to another world. One thing was sure, this place would be your favorite in the city.

It became an habit for you to come at the coffee shop after school almost everyday. You didn't talk a lot with Mingyu but you liked this place and the owner, the gorgeous woman, was one of the sweetest people on Earth. She always welcomed you with a warm and beautiful smile, bringing you to "your" table, drawing a heart with the cream of your caffe latte. Even if you didn't really talk with her too, you liked this woman and thought she could get along well with your mother.

But, there was a problem. Your friends. Even if they know you liked being alone after school, they also started to ask why you loved this place. It wasn't a place for you, they said. "You should come with us, Y/n. These kind of places are not for people like you." Chan Woo told you, wrapping his arm around your shoulders. "There's a club-" "I don't like clubs." You cut him off, taking off his arms. "And what do you mean by people like me? Don't forget that I'm not like you. Your families are rich, not mine." "But you're so perfect." Soo Mee smiled, wrapping her arm around yours. "You better go to perfect places not-" "It's a perfect place for me." You cut her off too, pulling out your arm from her grip before grabbing a plate at the school cafeteria. "Can we talk about something else, please? It's getting on my nerves." "Calm down, princess." Seungri smiled as he stroked your head. "Don't get mad because of these kids." "He's right." Nayoung added. "It's your life, you can do what you want. We don't have to know everything that you do in your spare time." You thanked them and followed your friends to your usual table. Sat between Nayoung and Seungri, you ate your meal with no appetite when you saw Mingyu came into the cafeteria. Since he didn't watch where he was going, he hit his knee against the counter and almost dropped his plate, which made you smile discreetly. The student Mingyu was so different from the waiter Mingyu. You saw him walking towards your table, probably to sit at the one in the corner of the cafeteria, when Seungri reached out his leg and made your secret cruch fall in front of everyone. Your friends burst out laughing, followed by the rest of the students, but you stayed serious, trying to hide the pain you were feeling. You wanted to help Mingyu, you wanted it so bad, but you couldn't and it broke your heart. It broke your heart for the rest of the day. Moreover, you guessed Mingyu injured himself when he fell since he had a bandage on his wrist. Catching his attention during history class, you asked him if he was okay but he just shrugged and focused back on the lesson, making you feel guilty. And you should since you did nothing to help him. You had an extra class on this day, a drawing class, but, when the bell rang, you quickly picked up your stuff and almost ran to the coffee shop. You walked in but didn't see Mingyu. What were you thinking? He had a bandage, he couldn't... "Mingyu, she's here!" The owner yelled through the back door of the store before smiling at you. "Eomma, don't-" Mingyu started to say but stopped when he saw you. "Eomma?!" You repeated, eyes wide open. "Who else could hire this clumsy goof?" The gorgeous woman laughed. "A caffe latte, as usual?" Blinking your eyes, mouths agape, you nodded slowly and followed Mingyu to your table. You couldn't believe the coffee shop owner was his mother even if, now you knew it, you could see the resemblance between them. You sat quietly and, swallowing, looked at Mingyu's wrist. You felt so guilty. "I... I'm sorry." You whispered, lowering your head. "Why?" He asked as he sat with you. "You did nothing." "Yeah, nothing... Seungri shouldn't have done that. He's stupid." "That's a strange way to talk about your friend." Mingyu frowned, tilting his head. You shrugged, avoiding his eyes and saw his mother come to your table, you caffe latte in her hand. Seeing how bad you felt, she asked you if something bad happened and crouched down beside you when you explained you did nothing to help her son. Stroking your hair gently, she reassured you and said it was better for you if you didn't get into trouble with your friends. "Don't worry, Y/n." Mrs Kim smiled as she wiped away the tears that started to run along your cheeks. "It's just a little sprain." Mingyu added when he noticed the way you looked at his wrist. "It'll get better soon." Sniffing, you nodded and watched the wonderful woman walk away, leaving you with her son who was looking at you with a little and sweet smile. Since you started coming to his mother's shop, Mingyu saw you were far different from what you showed at the university and he understood you acted like a fake cold-hearted girl just to be accepted by your famous friends. He didn't know why you did that but it was a relief for him to see you weren't the girl he thought you were. "She's really nice." You whispered, getting Mingyu out of his thoughts. "I... I didn't expect your mother would be... Hm..." "Would be what? Wearing clothes?" He chuckled, laughing a bit louder when he saw the light red tint coloring your cheeks. You looked up quickly, mouth half-open, and saw him grinning. He was obviously teasing you and for the first time, a man really embarrassed you. You felt the heat in your cheeks getting hotter but you couldn't let Mingyu win the game he was playing. "Sorry to ask but, why do you pretend to be friends with Seungri and the others?" And there it was, your chance to win the game, your chance to reverse the situation. A smirk stretched your lips and, putting your chin in the palms of your hands, you looked straight in his eyes. "And why did you ask your mother to tell you when I come?" You thought you caught him off guard and won this childish game but you were wrong, so wrong. In turn, he smirked and shrugged, saying he wanted to be the one who brought you your caffe latte. "I like seeing the real Y/n." He added with rosy cheeks, avoiding your eyes, chuckling awkwardly. He bowed his head politely and stood up, telling he have work to do, when you put your hand on his, a shy smile on your lips. "The real Y/n likes to see you too."

As she always did since you became friends, Nayoung came to your house to take you to the university but, not knowing why, you felt she was different from the other days. She was... too nice. You were used to her fake smiles and compliments but, this time, you knew she was planning something, something you probably wouldn't like. "What are you up to, Nayoung?" You finally asked, frowning when she smirked. "It's a surprise." She winked at you. "Trust me, you'll like it, Y/n. I planned this for almost two weeks." "You know it's not my birthday, right? And it's not Christmas, either." "Did I say it's for you?" You swallowed, afraid by the tone of her voice. There was something bad in the way she was talking, something mean, something... evil. And you knew what she meant when she said having a surprise. You knew it wasn't a good one. You tried to find out what the "surprise" was during the morning but, every time, Nayoung gave you that devilish smirk which made you shiver. You asked Seungri if he knew what your friend was planning but he shrugged, saying it was surely something funny. Yeah, funny for them, for these mean and selfish kids. And you were right. When the bell rang for the lunch break, you saw Nayoung picked up her phone and heard her ask if "they" were ready. You frowned and saw a lot of paper fell into the stairs. Your heart skipped a beat and you froze when you grabbed one of sheets, seeing an old picture of Mingyu's mother. You could hear snickers and whistles all around you while Nayoung was laughing, clearly proud of her "surprise". From the corner of your eyes, you noticed Mingyu picking up a paper, look at it before crumpling it up and throwing it away, teeth clenched. He looked at you and, swallowing, left the hallway. You wanted to run after him and help him but Nayoung grabbed your arms and, a horrible smile on her lips, pulled you into the cafeteria. During the lunch break, everyone was talking about the pictures, laughing at it, disrespecting Mrs Kim. Obviously, your friends were proud of Nayoung's surprise, saying she was the best, the funniest, the meanest, etc... But for you, she was just a bitch. "Look who's here!" One of your friends shouted when Mingyu came into the cafeteria. "Hey, Mingyu! Can you give me your mom's number? I'd love to meet her!" All the cafeteria laughed at the rude teasing but your secret crush stayed quiet, pulling his meals onto his plate before walking to his usual table. All the eyes where on him and you could see how hard Mingyu tried to stay calm, holding back his tears, his teeth still clenched. "Mingyu! Does your mother still wear that?" Seungri asked, raising one of the papers. "You know, it'll help me a lot, tonight!" Laughs again but, this time, they stopped quickly by the sound of a loud snap. Now, all eyes were on you and Nayoung who was massaging her cheeks that turned red. "How dare you do that, you bitch?!" You growled, looking straight into Nayoung's eyes. "Oh, I thought you'd love the little surprise I made for your boyfriend." She smirked, glaring angrily at you. "I guess I was wrong." "Her boyfriend?" Seungri repeated. "What are you talking about? Y/n, tell me what-" "I saw her at the coffee shop." Nayoung cut him off. "At Mingyu's mom's coffee shop, to be more precise. They're really close, you know." "Y/n... Is it true?" Another of your friends asked. "Is he your boyfriend?" "He's not!" You shouted, standing up. "But he's better than all of you and his mother is one of the best people I've met! You know what? I'm sick of you! You pieces of crap disgust me!" You threw your water at Nayoung's face and left the cafeteria, avoiding all the student's gazes. You've just ruined 3 years of hard work, of a fake friendship, of a fake relationship you built to being something else than just a simple and normal girl. You ruined it and... You felt free. During the rest of the day, you stayed alone, not giving attention to all the whispers around you, at the gazes your former friends gave you, at everything. You stayed quiet, eyes focused on the blackboard, a haughty and cold expression on your face. You went to your extra class and let people know you didn't want to talk when they tried to ask you what your relationship with Mingyu was. You just glared at them and, without saying anything, made them understand that, if they ask something else, you would hit them hard. A heavy sigh parted your lips when you pushed the door of the coffee shop but before you could say something or even raised your head, you felt arms wrap around you and hold you tight. By the perfume you could smell, you guessed it was Mrs Kim who gave you a big and warm heart. "Thank you, Y/n." She whispered in your ear, pulling away and looking straight into your eyes. "Thank you so much." "What... What did I do?" You asked, confused. "Mingyu told me what you did, today. He told me about what happened at the university, the pictures and the way you defended him against your friends. I can't thank you enough." "No need to thank me, eomeoni. I couldn't let them do that to him." She put a light kiss on your forehead and said her son was waiting for you at your usual table, adding he was impatient to talk with you. Cheeks turning red, you nodded and walked toward your place, heart racing. Mingyu didn't hear you come and, when you sat in front of him, he startled, hiting his knee against the table. You smiled at his adorable clumsiness and asked him how he was. You were so sorry about what Nayoung did to him and even more worried about how he felt, about how much this sneaky attack could hurt him. "Don't worry for me, Y/n, I'm okay." He chuckled, rubbing his knee. "I called my mom after I saw the pictures. She told me not to care about it. She knows I love her and I know how hard her life was before I was born. I know her past and I'm proud when I see how strong my mom is. The picture... I don't care about it. It's her past life. We all have a past." You were astouned by the way Mingyu reacted, he was so mature that you almost forgot he could be a clumsy goof some... all the time. You sighed in relief, glad to see Nayoung's "surprise" didn't hurt him, and bowed your head when Mrs Kim brought a cafee latte for you and a caramel macchiato for his son, thanking you once again. "I think your friends will be mad at you, now." Mingyu dropped, taking a sip of his drink. "I'm sorry." "You don't have to be sorry, they weren't my friends, they've never been." "Why did you stay with them, then?" "I... I wanted to be something else." You shrugged, looking at your caffe latte. "I didn't want to be like everyone else. I wanted to be... special." "But you ruined it, today. Why did you do it?" He asked with a concerned look. "Because I couldn't let them do that to my... to my..." You raised your head and, looking straight into his eyes, cheeks bright red, added: "To my crush." A shy smile stretched his lips and his cheeks turned into a red light tint as he swallowed, caught off guard by your sudden confession. "What are you waiting for?!" Mingyu's mom shouted from the counter when she saw the way you were looking at each other. "Kiss her, you goof!" You both burst out laughing, embarrassed by the situation, but Mingyu cupped your chin in his hand and, leaning over the table, whispering you already were special for him, he put a sweet kiss on your lips. It was like a romantic movie kiss, the one what every girl on Earth wanted to live at least once in their lives. But, in movies, the men weren't as clumsy as Mingyu could be. A little giggle escaped from your mouth and you let him know that he had knocked over your caffe latte, feeling the liquid flowing over your jeans. "You're kidding, right?" Mingyu whispered against your lips, not daring to look at the little disaster. You slightly shook your head, an amused smile on your lips, and told him not to worry. After all, that was why you loved him.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ⁓•⁓ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ Thank you for reading! 💜 ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ⁓•⁓

Also, thank you to my adorable kitten @gangstavixsta who corrected my text. 💜

#SEVENTEEN #SEVENTEEN scenario #SEVENTEEN Mingyu #Mingyu #Mingyu scenario #Kim Mingyu #SEVENTEEN Mingyu scenario #Kim Mingyu scenario #KPOP Scenarios #KPOP Imagines #SEVENTEEN Imagine #College AU #SEVENTEEN AU #KPOP AU #Feedback is always appreciated

[luckyukhei]

Brooke’s Birthday Special!

Today ( or the day this will be posted ) is my 16th birthday! I wanted to show some of my favorite writers some love for the occasion! These writers works have done the following:

inspired me

had me reading their whole series in one night

helped me forget my problems with the story

all of the above

I am so proud of how great they are doing and I want to recognize them and my favorite works of theirs. I want to talk about a few things so yeah! I’m sure these people don’t particularly need a shout out from me but, they definitely deserve recognition. Summaries are in italics! Comments on the series/work are in bold. Let’s get started hoes.

If you got a

@spookyhyuckie : from what I now personally Leyla is such a beautiful person inside and out. She works really hard and I’m really proud of her.

La Vie En Rose: La Vie follows flower shop worker Y/N, her mutual crush on bookstore worker Jungwoo, and her best friend’s hard work on trying to get them together. La Vie was such a cute and soft story. Definitely a story for someone craving tons of fluff with a few dashes of angst. It was super cute and how I met one of my best friends. It’s great for a romantic! latest masterlist link

Stoned: Stoned is about Y/N falling in love with a stoner! Haechan and vice versa. Although he doesn’t seem too appealing when he cures his munchies at her dinner. Stoned is really funny and I loved it. I’ve seen a lot when it comes to stoners and as someone who’s sober versus some of my friends, I found it pretty relatable. masterlist link

@whitelalin /  @jenoptimist : She is the sweetest thing and is so under fucking rated and I will fight over that

Mused: Mused is about an up and coming band that Y/N’s best friend really stans. Well, Y/N may or may not become the band manager. She also may or may not be falling with band member Taeyong. This text series is so underrated. It is definitely a favorite of mine. There aren’t really many text series with Taeyong x reader and it’s some good shit.

@softjenohours : she is an amazing writer and a really hard worker oml

Money Talk: Rich boy Jaemin needs a job and daughter of the owner of a bookstore needs employees. Y/N can’t help but, give the rich boy a hand to hold. Okay, look. There are a l o t of Jaemin text series but, the amount of raw emotion and the comparison between a good person and a toxic one along with the showing on how to deal with it makes this particular one stand out.

@wowlele : she’s got a bunch of NCT related works and she was so nice to me when I let her know about my special. She’s really great.

The Mystery Begins: Chenle believes he’s never going to find his soulmate and when he finally does the weird shit that happens in the town needs be investigated by the Scooby Doo Gang Dream Team I really love what she has for this so far and I think it has so much potential! I hope she comes back to it soon!!

@camcamlovesbangchan : Cam is so supportive. Becoming friends with her has made such an incredible in pact on me. She has so much untapped writing potential and I can’t wait for a full-length series. She doesn’t have a specific series for you to binge so I’m just gonna give you her

@trouvaeh / @fangwoo : She's a big ol sweet heart and I can't help but fangirl she likes my stuff and includes me oml.

You; Me; We’re Contradictory: Y/N is a bad bitch that has the voice of an angel and even though the cigarette smell threatens to ruin Renjun’s reputation. Seems like a part of Renjun is falling for her bad girl charm. Both of these have a whole heap of potential! I’m ready to see more of this! Hopefully, we will.

Muse and the Blues: Y/N should know taking pictures of people without consent is illegal but, if illegal means a cute boy getting her number lock her up. So what I said for the first one still applies here. Also? Yuta? My mans?

@wereseoyoung she’s unbelievably funny and smart oml.

Starstruck: Yuta is a soccer player that happily agreed to help his former college but, he would be a lot more helpful if he stopped flirting with the team manager. This made me fall in love with Yuta even more ahhh.

Sunrise: Moon Y/N is the sweetest ball of sunshine it’s hard not to realize you smile when you see her. Johnny is no exception to that but, in more than in a platonic little sister way. Can Johnny stop being a pussy and ask her out? The world may never know. Honestly, the night I read this I was rolling around in my bed and giggling! It’s super romantic and sweet and I love a good Johnny fic.

Prima: Y/N is the daughter of the best ballerina to ever grace her college campus and everyone expects Y/N to follow in her footsteps. But, Y/N’s feet don’t seem to fit and there this really cute guy that dances too. He’s a Ten out of ten. The character development in this one is textbook but, amazing oml.

@hobiwonka / @2seoksolostan : She's very helpful and has helped me with ideas for Close To Heaven Closer to Hell. She has so many great stories and you need to read all of them. Seriously there will be a quiz

@guksthighs : You want some thicc ass stories? And cool af aus? Definitely the place. She's amazing at aus and such a nice person. She's a hard worker and definitely deserves a lot of praise.

@hazelhours she’s so awesome?? And like she makes her schedule. She updates when SHE wants to and honestly, we support an independent queen.

Spiked Out: Volleyball player, Y/N, joins the newly co-ed volleyball team but, something in Yukhei makes him dislike her presence. Lucas is so mean in this one and it makes me sad because Lucas is the love of my life buttttttt it’s amazing! The sudden switch of emotion gave me whiplash but, it was great.

@cappletini is based in the Marvel fandom and I've known her for years. She has amazing ideas and stories so if you're in the mood for some angsty super heroes that's definitely where you should go..

@w1nko

Naive: Johnny has had a crush on Y/N for a while but, as everyone seems to have established, Johnny is a pussy boy so, when he recruits his friend Jaehyun for help. Jaehyun is seemingly the next victim of Y/N’s unintentional heart stealing. I am so excited about this love triangle oml.

@jjkscafe

Empty Apartment: Twitch Streamer Jungkook is in need of a new roommate that is not dead and will actually pay rent, unlike Stanley. But, when Y/N notices the weird things going on she makes Jungkook help her with the mystery. So there isn’t anything romantic but, it makes up for it with the best crackheadedness  I think I’ve ever read. Remember kids ghosts love gin.

@pjmlog she doesn't have very many up but, oh goodness she is so good and deserves a lot more recognition. She has a bunch of potentials and I'm so ready for it to shine.

@violetvelvvets

Red Lips: Y/N is a really good makeup artist they may have ended up flipping burgers if her model friend, Taeyong didn’t hook her up with a fresh new model named, Jung Jaehyun. Give me more please and thank you. There have been about 5 parts and they’re pretty good!

@mangodoyoung

Puzzle: Jaemin is deeply infatuated with Y/N’s best friend and although Y/N has a massive crush on him she just can’t help but, assist him in winning her best friend over. This one frustrated me due to the small little things that could’ve been fixed if the cOMMUNICATED AHHH but, it did that in an amazing way.

@taechubs

The Labyrinth: Jimin Park ending up on Y/N’s doorstep bloody and needing of help would unravel threads of connections not only to each other but, also to Jimin’s place in the mafia. This fic sparked my love for gang aus again and it was amazing. There are 50 parts and I read most of them in one night!

[smoaking-greenarrow]

Olicity Trope-tastic Awards: ‘Army’ Official Rec

We included all aspects of government variations: soldiers, spies, FBI, CIA, ARGUS, any other initialisms or acronyms I’m forgetting. Anyway, just give Olicity an elevator shaft to swing around in, and you have everything you need for this trope. Here we go!

Awards Time!!

@hope-for-olicity’s recs:

Room in your Heart for More by @wherethereissmoak

Words: 24,180 // Chapters: 9/9

Army vet Oliver Queen returns from overseas to find out that he has a 5-year-old son. He is fighting for custody, but is struggling to prove he is a fit father. It's especially hard because he really has no idea what he's doing. By chance he meets single mother Felicity Smoak, who swoops in like an angel to help him become comfortable in his role as a father. Felicity is recovering from her a recent trauma, and as a vet Oliver is able to be the support that she needs. Together, they learn to open up their hearts in ways they never thought possible.

**Award: Best Blended Olicity Family**

The Story Of Tonight by @arrow-crack

Words: 15,224 // Chapters: 11/?

Set in the Revolutionary War. Felicity, a rich daughter of General Smoak meets a strangely charming soldier under her father's command, Oliver Queen.

**Award: Best I Can’t Wait for Them to Be Together**

Hide Away {We Could Be Beautiful} by @beinmyheart

Words: 77,264 // Chapters: 10/?

AU: Ever since the night that put Felicity Smoak in a wheelchair for life, she has hidden herself neatly into a semi lonely bubble of Netflix and romance novels every Friday and Saturday night - something to shield herself with to cover the fear of her heart being hurt. But five years later, Felicity finds herself in the corporate world of Queen Consolidated as the EA to the freshly appointed CEO, Oliver Queen - a former army soldier who has come back to help his family after his father’s death. The man is charming, kind and has a heck lot of common sense. Something that she didn’t think would be sexy. But it is. Her perfectly constructed walls are threatening to crumble and her lonely bubble is bursting. And Felicity's not quite sure if she likes it.

**Award: Best Caring and Observant Oliver**

Lost in the Memory by Some1FoundMe

Words: 80,679 // Chapters: 26/26

Oliver Queen returns to his home in Star City after a five year tour overseas, much to the delight of his friends and family. There’s just one small problem. The injury that effectively ended his military career also erased a part of his memory. As he struggles to put together the missing pieces of his past, his connection to his best friend’s little sister becomes something he can’t avoid. Who is Felicity Merlyn and why can’t he seem to stay away from her? Olicity AU, no Arrow, no island.

**Award: Most Heartbreaking and Longing Felicity**

something inside this heart has died (you're in ruins) by entersomethingcleverhere

Words: 56,452 // Chapters: 15/15

After a life-changing, soul-crushing event that happened five years ago, Dr. Felicity Smoak exiles herself to an Army hospital in Germany. She spends her days stitching soldiers back together, but who's going to heal her? Enter Command Sergeant Major Oliver Jonas, an American soldier who gets injured during an IED attack with a beautiful smile and more than a few secrets of his own.

**Award: Best Date Prep Leading to True Love**     

@smoaking-greenarrow’s recs:

Olicity: Protocal [NSFW] by @yespleasehawkeyee

Chapters: 1/1

Former Frat boy, Oliver Queen ends up partnered with Cyber Skills expert, Felicity Smoak on their first day of FBI training. He spends the next year (or other appropriate passage of time) trying to undo his bad first impression. They may or may not be working on a case at the time.

**Award: Best (evil-est) Plot Twist**

Lie(s?) No More by @mindramblingsfics

Words: 5,237 // Chapters: 2/3

Life is great and then it's turned upside down. Oliver Queen thought he had a kush security job for the CIA, while spending time with the woman he loved, Felicity Smoak. The moment Oliver came across some key information, he was soon wrapped up in things way above his pay grade. To keep Felicity safe, he was forced to come clean about his real career previously keeping her in the dark. Ultimately, he sacrificed their relationship to keep her safe. After a year apart, they cross paths again.

**Award: Sexiest Trope**

Salt in the Wound by @turtlejustice

Words: 17,871 // Chapters: 10/?

Felicity mourned him. Oliver mourned her. When their lives are brought together again can they stop the threat? Can they find the love they once had? Or is it all too much?

**Award: Best First-Person Writing**

every breath you take, every move you make (i'll be watching you) by @muslimsmoak

Words: 11,484 // Chapters: 4/?

FBI Agent John Diggle and NSA Analyst Felicity Smoak have been working on a months-long operation to make a move against the Bratva until it all goes wrong. Oliver Queen is driving back from a party one night when he picks up a Russian mobster off the side of a bridge fresh out of a car accident. That night Oliver is offered a chance to join the ranks of the Bratva, but Felicity and John grab him to go undercover for him. Their jobs are on the line, trusting a billionaire frat boy to take down the Solntsevskaya Bratva, but it’s the only chance they’ve got. Oliver's journey is a long one, but he's got these two on his side.

**Award: Best Nail Biting Suspense**

Black Water by @fellicityqueen

Words: 75,592 // Chapters: 12/?

Oliver Queen is the Head Homicide Detective for the Starling City Police Department, a job he’s been in too long. It’s left him rough around the edges and privy to the harsh realities of the world. When a serial killer rolls into Starling with a penchant for tech as their murder weapon of choice, the FBI sends in their best and brightest; Technical Analyst Felicity Smoak. While they begrudgingly work together to hunt down their killer, Felicity finds herself drawn to the mystery of Oliver’s past while Oliver finds himself drawn to Felicity.

**Award: Best Laid Plan**

@blondeeoneexox’s recs:

Last Known Surroundings by SmoakingGreenArrow

Words: 12,336 // Chapters: 4/6

Felicity Smoak is a cyber security analyst working for A.R.G.U.S with her partner, John Diggle. Felicity and Dig are sent to the island of Lian Yu in search of a man that Amanda Waller wants, but what they find there is not what they expected.

**Award: Best Prison Breakout**

Damn It, Why Won’t the Eagle Just Land Already? by somewhereelse

Words: 56,808 // Chapters: 13/13

President John Diggle would really appreciate it if everyone would stop gossiping about his security detail and his science advisor and get back to work. He’d appreciate it even more if his best friends would pull their heads out of their asses and get together already. A White House romantic comedy AU.

**Award: Best Use of Characters**

@memcjo’s recs:

With Our Backs to the Wall (The Darkness Will Fall) by theirhappystory

Words: 133,713 // Chapters: 21/21

5 years ago playboy Oliver Queen made a choice that changed his life, to enlist in the U.S. Army. Now he is back and things are extremely different than when he left. His parents barely talk, his best friends are dating, and his kid sister isn't the spirited little girl he remembers. She's grown up and so has her best friend, Felicity Smoak. When a threat is made on Felicity's life, Oliver finds that keeping her at arms length isn't going to be as easy as he originally thought.

**Award: Best Age Difference AU**

Nothing Can Harm You Here by serenadreams

Words: 20,112 // Chapters: 3/3

He’s a rough man with scarred hands and an unshaven face, but he feels real to her in a world that’s merely drifted past her eyes for far too long. Or, the one where Oliver’s a homeless war veteran and love blooms over roadside bagels.

**Award: Pull at Your Heartstrings**

Loving Your Work by @dettiot

Words: 41,614 // Chapters: 7/7

The war between America and Russia is very cold, yet when an organization of former Nazis obtains the method and means to make an atomic bomb, the two nations are forced to work together to prevent the end of the world, by sending their best agents.

Tommy Merlyn of the CIA and Oliver Queen of the KGB don’t like each other, but they both want to win. Which means keeping Felicity Smoak safe, finding Dr. Noah Teller (her father and the scientist building the bomb) and preventing the bomb from being delivered to the Nazis. Oh, and acquiring Dr. Teller’s research without the other one getting access to it.

While Tommy is focused on obtaining the intel in order to give him leverage to get out of his deal with the CIA, Felicity simply wants to maintain her freedom now that she’s out from behind the Iron Curtain. And Oliver? Well, he’s trying to keep his violent tendencies in check--especially around Felicity.

An Olicity AU of the movie The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

**Award: Best Use of- OMG- Sharp, Witty Dialogue**

Shoreline by @mel-loves-all

Words: 7,926 // Chapters: 4/4

Olicity Navy SEAL AU Can a wounded Navy SEAL find his way back to the living? A/N: Dedicated to all our warriors.

**Award: Break Your Heart and Then Mend It**

#olicitytropetasticawards #olicity fic #army fic rec #arrow #olicity fanfiction #army trope #argus #spies #fbi agents

[artsybanchou]

OOf. I gots another AU, everyone. Sorry.

Technically, I’ve got another roughly seven or so because Detroit: Become Human is just begging for crossover AUs with other fandoms. This one is a Merlin: Become Human AU. Some info is in the really quick doodles I did above. The rest will be below the cut so I don’t clutter people’s dashes.

HOO Boi, you fool! Clicking on that keep reading link, welcome to my hell. My brain won’t stop churning these out and apparently you want in on that. I’ll hit you with what I’ve been thinking about regarding this so far. I welcome discussion. If you’ve got ideas relating to this or want to participate with me, go ham in the comments or make your own post and just tag me or use Merlin:Become Human AU in the tags so I can see how you’ve expanded on it! 

General Premise:

Merlin is an android (not sent by Cyberlife). He’s actually an independent prototype, unlicensed and unregistered, created by a disgruntled former Cyberlife employee (Gaius) who felt that Androids and their AI had reached a point that they should be recognized as an intelligent species with their own rights. Cyberlife disagreed and Gaius left the company because of what he perceived as their immorality. Gaius, now working on his own in the middle of nowhere with no oversight, makes the one of a kind Merlin. Merlin is designed to look and act incredibly human, even moreso than most androids. His programming, in particular, is designed to heavily encourage deviation and machine learning in the hopes that Merlin will advance so far beyond his original coding that he is virtually unrecognizable when compared to how he began, emulating the kind of growth that makes humans seem so alive.  Another feature Merlin is programmed to have in order to appear more human is the ability to change how old he appears to be (to reflect on Merlin’s frequent age changing shenanigans in the original show). Merlin is also given an atypically large amount of information about technology and programming so that he can have the ability to grapple with his own existence in the same way humans do when studying biology, psychology, or neurology. What this means, though, is that Merlin is able to accomplish feats akin to magic (heh) with technology. Probably even reprograms himself on occasion or changes his own hardware just because he can. 

So Merlin is born and he’s a pretty great success. Gaius feels as though he really is living with a petulant, sassy late teens/early 20s human being. Sometimes, he genuinely forgets Merlin is an android. So does Merlin. These two are out in the middle of nowhere living their best life with a few others (maybe Hunith-- good mother figure for Merlin, could be andoird or human). This eventually develops into Merlin having to go to High School or college. Maybe Merlin watched too much TV with that setting and became unbearably curious and annoying about going, maybe Gaius wanted to prove that humans and androids could not only coexist but it’d be so incredibly seamless that no one would even notice anything-- maybe a little bit of both. High School or College are good settings for Merlin to test out his immersion because of his own youthful demeanor (aka abundance of snark and attitude). 

MERLIN GOES TO SCHOOL.

I think we all know what happens from here. 

Merlin arrives at his first day of school to a scene of Arthur and some other kids knocking around an android who is gardening on campus. Merlin gets pissed and intervenes, because while he’d seen stuff about people hating androids on the net, he’d never experienced it in real life. Arthur tells Merlin to back off and that he and his friends can do whatever they want to the android because his family can pay the school for damages to their property since his family is rich. Merlin gets sassy (”You sure you can afford that? I’d assume that if you had enough money to replace an android, you’d have enough to fix your awful personality.”) Conversation continues, maybe roughly in the vein of:

Arthur: “Dude, chill. This thing is just an object. Why are you getting so pissy about this?”

Merlin: “Do you even know the first thing about androids? Because my bet is no.”

Arthur: “Excuse me, I’ll have you know I’m--”

*Merlin shoves everyone away from the android so he can examine the gardener and finds both the audio and visual processing units are damaged (the ones that Marcus damaged in the one scene, spoilers? I’m trying to be vague don’t mind me).*

Merlin: “You damaged this android’s __ and __. He has completely lost the ability to see and hear and yet you keep kicking him. I don’t suppose any of you remember the last group of humans that found fun in assaulting the disabled.”

Merlin probably insults the intelligence of Arthur and all of his friends (well, I can’t say I’m surprised. None of you look like someone passing history class). Arthur fires back about Merlin being a bleeding heart or some shit. Arthur reveals he is the son of the politician leading the anti-android movement. Now that Arthur knows this new guy is an android-apologist, Arthur declares Merlin had better watch his back. Merlin gives him a sassy response in the way of that not being how a politician’s son should behave, probably. From there on Merlin and Arthur frequently but heads over the treatment of androids and androids’ rights.

There will, of course, be other shenanigans going on. Merlin is going to be incredibly odd, as he learned how one acts in High School/College from TV and maybe webcomics so he has trouble fitting in at first. He definitely makes friends though, because that’s just who Merlin is. Eventually, he’ll also stumble into Arthur’s friendship, although at this point I have no idea how.

Last thoughts: 

These are my less developed ideas, although the above can hardly be called developed either. 

Being an android is parallel for being a magic user. Hence Merlin being an android disguised as a human who is standing up for android rights.

Morgana is probably an android, assuming we stick to this idea. She might not know it or just be hiding it, but Uther would know and it would be a prime highlight of the hypocrisy he is known for. Morgana would likely also be a very unique android, possibly a gift from Cyberlife to Uther. Finding out that she is an android could be a great moment of tension for both Morgana and Arthur as their confidence in the man they believed to be their father was shaken. 

Ooo, what if Morgana was an experimental android in aging technology. She was gifted to Uther as a baby and every year she has a “check-up” where her AI is transplanted into a slightly larger android body to mimic the process of growing up. She could be unconscious during these check ups and hence it would be perfectly natural for her not to realize that she is an android. As for why Uther would accept this gift, I have no idea. 

Because of Merlin’s ability to change the age he appears, it would make sense if Gaius was the head of the project Morgana was the android of before he left. Gaius could be the expert on aging technology in androids. It could be that seeing the humanity in Morgana as she slowly grew up alongside her human brother was what pushed Gaius over the edge in demanding that androids be seen as human because he feared what would happen to Morgana if the public ever found out. 

Some kind of android purge taking place in the story, possibly due to the events in Detroit, would be a great arc for the characters where everyone has a new conflict to worry about. Whether or not Arthur knows how many of his closest friends and family members are androids at this point-- I have no idea. I want to see Arthur agressively protecting Morgana, but at the same time an enthusiatic Arthur participating in the purging until he discovers his own sister should be the target of his rage would be an incredibly palpable moment and just-- there is a lot to consider.

So yeah. That’s roughly where I am now with all of this. If you want to expand on this, do it. I want to hear other people’s ideas. If you make your own post (speculation, fanfic, fanart, telling me I’m full of shit) about it tag me or use the hashtag Merlin:BecomeHumanAU so I can see! I have no idea when I’m going to post about this specific AU again, because I’ve got six other D:BH AUs I want to just throw out here into the void first, but seeing other people’s theories and thoughts on things like this always gets me energized.

THanks for scrolling through this disorganized monster of my thoughts. This was probably a lot to deal with.

#my art #Merlin:BecomeHumanAU #merlin #Arthur #bbc merlin #detroit become human #d:bh #merthur #maybe

[bellamy-scott-blog]

Basics:

Full Name: Bellamy Renee Scott Nickname/s: Bells, Bam, Bam-Bam Age: forever 22 Date of Birth: August 6th 1994 Gender: Female Preferred Pronouns:  She/Her Species:  Vampire (former hunter) Birth place: Ontario, Canada Current living situation:  Apartment with Thomas. Occupation:  Ticket Clerk for the movie theater though she's iffy on if she still has  a job after several no shows.

Appearance:

Height: 5'5 Build: Slim Skin Tone: Fair Hair Color: Light brown (dyed it red currently though, a pinkish red sort of color} Eye Color: Hazel Glasses or Contacts:  No Birthmarks/Scars: A verticle scar down her chest from when she was a baby and had surgery after birth due to issues with her lungs. Tattoos/Piercings: Nose pierced, but that's it. Left handed/Right handed: Right Most Prominent Feature: Eyebrows Clothing Style: Relaxed mostly. Either leggings for pants or skinny jeans  and a plain colored t-shirt. She favors her graphic tee's though with comic book heroes she loves on them as well. Sneakers and doesn't wear heels. Slip on shoes are always the best in her opinion. Face Claim: Lily Collins Relationships:

Parent’s Names: Amelia (bank teller/home schooled Bellamy) and Harry 'Hand Gernade Harry' Scott (worked at a army surplus store) Relationship with Parents: Very close with her father Harry since he taught her how to use weapons and everything. They spent a lot of time together on fishing trips, camping, and the needed training. Her mother wanted to bake and do the girly things that were not Bellamy. They only talked here and there or when they had school lessons as Bam was home schooled. Sibling’s Names: Would have had a sister, but her mother had a miscarriage. Her mom tossed around the name Etta in respect to their great grandmother, and Bellamy was about two at the time. Thus she heard the story later in life. Relationship with Siblings: N/A Pets: None, she doesn't want any either Best friends: Seth, Thomas, Monty, Summer, Kendall, Brand Looks up to: Henryk but she won't admit it Pain in the ass: Damien Foes: Malachi, Cora Relationship Status: Single as a pringle-bellamy says Sire: Henryk Personality:

What would be their Character Archetype: The Wander Strongest Character Trait/s: Adaptable, determined, fierce, quick learner Weakest Character Trait/s:forgetful, impatient, blunt, naive, childish Phobias/Fear/s: Bellamy doesn't like large open areas as it makes her feels off center and she gets dizzy so no you know open feilds or that sort of thing,  afraid of never being good enough, afraid of letting down her family, fear of commitment, Biggest Secret/s:  Not so much a  secret but she doesn't openly tell people how forgetful is so she has everything in her phone with special alarms, that she never actually wanted to be a hunter and only did it for her family Bad Habits: Never on time, eats too much fast food, forgetful about events she's meant to be at unless it's in her phone, playing video games too long, finding trouble without meaning to, talks to herself sometimes, saying uhm a lot and like,  ramble Obsessions: comic books, reinacting movies in the goofiest of ways, drawing, picking on Henryk, fast food, color orange, rainbows, thunderstorms, video games, using compulsion (girl thinks it's a gift from a non existant god) Religion: Doesn't believe in any of it. Sexuality: Homosexual Zodiac Sign:  Leo Hogwarts House:  Hufflepuff Moral Alignment:  Chaotic Good Opinion on Drug use: Hates it. Opinion on Alcohol use: Only if you're safe about it. Opinion on Swearing: Doesn't mind it, but it makes her skin crawl. Quirks: taps her foot, snorts when laughing, makes a lot of movie references and pun jokes,  mumbles things to herself, hums to herself, can recite lines from movies easily (ironic cuz she can't remember appointments to save her life), obsessive gamer, big nerd, practices talking in the mirror (more so lately than before)

Hobbies: Language/s spoken: English, but she knows a little Spanish. Outdoors or Indoor Person: Indoor Instruments they play: None Favorite Type of Music: Pop or country. Sometimes indie. Favorite Color: Orange Favorite Food: Chicken nuggets Favorite Animal: Chimpmunk look at their cheeks! Favorite Place to Travel: Ski resort in Colardo that her and her parents used to frequent. Favorite Holiday: Halloween Favorite Book: Doesn't read enough to have one unless you count comics. Then anything marvel. Favorite Movie: Captain America-any of them. Favorite Scent: Citrus of any sort. Instagram/Twitter/Tumblr Handle: Tumblr bambamscott What does their voicemail message sound like: "Hey this is Bellamy-[sound of the phone dropping to the floor and a oh crap] -yeah call me later!" Past /Future:

What were they like as a Child: Very hyperactive. Bellamy was always moving about and always asking questions. She wanted to know why things work they way they do. She was always antsy and couldn't sit still for long. The kid who dug in the dirt, climbed trees, jumped fences, and so forth. She one time proclaimed she wanted to be a boy to her mother when she was six and tucked her into a baseball cap and wore a big pair of jeans and one of her dad's t-shirts around the house refusing to answer to anything but Bam. It lasted for a good few months. Did they grow up Rich or Poor: Average-ish. They lived paycheck to paycheck some months, and other months managed above their means. Even when things were tight the parents made sure Bellamy had everything she needed and then some. Did they grow up Nurtured or Neglected: Nutured What did they want to be when they grew up: Police officer Smell that Reminds them of their Childhood: Gunpowder Best Childhood Memory: Bellamy's first time at the gunrange with her father. She was only ten but she won't ever forget it. He pulled some strings to get in the door, and she had a blast after. She earned her first pistol that day. Worst Childhood Memory: The day the police showed up letting her know her parents were dead. Future goals: become a better vampire, figure out her own indentity, travel, continue to pester Henryk Are they/do they want to get Married: Never wants to. It's not her thing. Do they have/want to have Kids: Doesn't want any Do they want to grow old: She wishes she could Will they ever settle down somewhere: Probably not now. She wants to move around and travel and see the world now that she has an unlimited amount of time. Would rather it is done with her best friend Thomas by her side though.

#cursedbloodtask #{&the beast they made of me}

[sanctus-rp-blog]

Theodore Nott | 22 | Death Eater

Bloodstatus: Pureblood

Wand: Elm, Dragon heartstring, 10”

Career: Published Author

Patronus: Thestral

Boggart: His mother’s dead body

Previous House: Slytherin

Aesthetics–

An open book on satin sheets, a bird sitting in a cage with an open door, a cup of tea sitting untouched, the corner of a mouth slightly upturned, a hand running through hair, an elegant but empty living room, embers still glowing from a fire that just went out, and a half empty wine glass with lip prints left on the edge of the glass.

Biography–

Theodore Isaac was born in the rich, prestigious and noble house of Nott. They were known as one of the sacred twenty-eight, one of the last Pureblood families of Britain’s Wizarding Community. He was the only child of his parents, and thus all the weight of the family’s importance, and legacy was thrust upon his shoulders. Growing up Theodore was an incredibly solitary boy, and while he would mingle his father’s friend’s children he never saw the need to be part of a group, a pack, a gang. Despite this the boy let himself grow close to future classmates, Draco Malfoy, and Blaise Zabini. Theodore’s father was an older man, who was held in high esteem in their community, and thus was never home, and when he was he either worked or pushed down on Theodore to always try to be better at everything, smarter then anyone else. and to above all take pride in himself and his family, and their heritage. His mother however was always present in his life, and being much younger then her husband was quite different an her approach to parenting. She doted on Theodore, and showed him the affections his father did. To put it frank, she spoiled him giving him anything he desired. The two were virtually inseparable, yet when he was seven tragedy struck, and he witnessed his mother die before his very eyes. Though Theodore tries and suppress the memory of it, seeing her die is still the one thing that haunts him the most to this day, more than anything else.

Theodore’s father had been one of the first Death Eater’s, having joined their ranks while still in Hogwarts with Lord Voldemort, though he was not arrested after the war. The reasons he was able to escape Azkaban after the First Wizarding War was due to kind donations he made to the Ministry for Magic, and becuase he swore that he had been put under the Imperious Curse and forced to do the things he did. While Mrs. Nott knew this, and while believing in blood purity herself and still loving her husband, she still tried to keep and protect Theodore from his father’s more violent and dark beliefs, however with her gone, Mr. Nott was now free and very willing to open his sons eyes, and fill his head with all of his beliefs. It was this mixed with the horror of watching his mother die, that helped let Nott Sr. mold Theodore so easily.

Eventually, Theodore reached the age of twelve and he began his schooling at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was promptly sorted into Slytherin, much like his father and mother. After spending five years without his mother, Theodore or Nott as his friend’s or those who he would occasionally talk to had now taken to calling him was much more reclusive, more independent, and far less willing to make contact with others, especially those who his father taught him were beneath him, mainly muggleborns, and blood traitors. Despite his silent and stand offish nature, Nott was still popular amongst his house due to his family name. Slowly as the years at school waned on, he opened himself up ever so slightly but only to those he deemed worthy, and to be deemed worthy by him was an incredibly difficult task. It was really an honor that only belonged to two people, Draco and Blaise.

In his fifth year things began to change for the Nott family though, Voldemort had returned, and Mr. Nott to his side. After Voldemort failed to kill Harry Potter, Potter during Nott’s fifth year, spoke to the Quibbler and gave out the name’s of Voldemort’s inner circle, amongst them Nott’s father. Due to the Ministry slandering Potter’s name though this thankfully for the family was not taken seriously. A short while later into the year though, and Mr. Nott was part of a Death Eater Team that broke into the Department of Mysterious to steal a prophecy. The team failed, it was revealed that Lord Voldemort had returned, and along with that, Nott’s father role as a Death Eater was revealed and he was taken into custody. The one thing that had a positive impact in his life during his fifth year was his discovery of the Thestral in Care for Magical Creatures. While at first he found the creatures incredibly distasteful, something about them resented with him, perhaps it was the fact he was one of the only kids who could see them, or it was because they had a dark, hidden beauty to them and he began to take the time to sneak off after classes to feed them.

This virtually left Nott alone for the majority of his sixth year at Hogwarts. His mother dead and his father in prison. Though it was in this year he began to get even closer to Blaise and Draco, finding they somewhat understood the situation he was in. Nott also grew to gave a deep and bitter resentment towards Harry, blaming him for everything that had gone wrong in his life at that moment. He also resented the fact that he wasn’t invited to join the Slug Club, while Potter and a muggle born like Hermione were. Eventually, that year finished and by the end of it, things once again looked good for the Notes, Voldemort controlled the Ministry of Magic, and Hogwarts. Nobody seemed to be able to touch the Dark Lord or his Death Eaters, and Nott and his fellow Pureblooded, Slytherins found life at Hogwarts incredibly more rewarding, and advantageous for them, then ever before. However, it would all soon begin to crumble, and the cause of it would be Harry Potter. Before the Battle of Hogwarts, many if not most of the Slytherin’s were evacuated out of the Battle, and Nott was one of the one’s who returned, only he had let his father talk him into fighting for Voldemort on the side of the Death Eaters, and when the Dark Lord feel, Nott also made the discovery his father had fallen in the battle, and finally Nott was arrested. He was told that due to the current state of the world the people needed to feel safe, and thus as the son of a known Death Eater and for having fought for Voldemort during the final battle, he would serve ten years in Azkaban.

Fortunately due to the reforms of Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt, Demetors were no longer used to guard the prison and so, Nott while the conditions abhorrent and beneath him was able to keep his sanity. The time spent in Azkaban was perhaps the worst in Nott’s life, though still nothing that happened while he was in there was still as awful as that time when he saw his mother die. However being locked away gave Nott time to think about himself, and his life. While he did not feel bad for joining Voldemort in the end, he did it for his family, and thus in his eyes not a crime at all, he did see that he was alone. He only had two real friends growing up, and while that didn’t mean he was now going to run around trying to make friends with everyone, he had a desire to at least have more people know who he was, what his face looked like and if not even that, at least know his name. Shocking to him, he soon founded out his ten year sentence was being cut short, and he and the other Death Eaters were being released.

Nott found upon being released that while he was still wealthy, a lot of his family’s money had been seized by the Ministry, he also found that while he was locked up his family’s home had been searched and anything deemed dangerous, or aligning with the dark arts taken. Being a known Death Eater, or at least affiliated with them, Nott knew work was going to be hard to come by, and so he fell back to what had kept him company as a child, books. That’s when it struck him, books were the answer to his problems. Setting pen to paper, Nott wrote down all he could about his father, the Dark Lord and both the Wizarding Wars. If people were going to brand him a Death Eater so be it, he would use it to his advantage. Shockingly to his surprise Flourish and Blotts actually picked up his tell all book, and put on stands for 3 Galleons, what surprised Nott even more was people actually wanted to read it, and so he has found a very quick, yet steady income in the weeks he was out of Azkaban. Nott assures his readers, he is already writing up his next big hit, but truth be told he doesn’t have a clue what to write.

Personality –

Quiet and reclusive, Theodore Nott prides himself on his cunning, intelligence and ability to keep his thoughts and feelings hidden. His thoughts and trust are well guarded, and kept close to his heart, but once he decides to share it with you, Nott becomes one of the most loyal friends you will have, never being one to betray his friends, however if he gives someone his trust and they break it, it is impossible to win back from him. Despite always choosing to be alone, deep down parts of Nott have always longed to know what having lots of friends are, and to be that person who is always smiling, but he knows that’s not for him. Nott takes deep pride in his blood status, and looks  down on muggleborns, and blood traitors. While he can stand Halfbloods, do not expect him to see them as equal unless they prove themselves to be exceptionally talented. Finally, Nott has a gift for holding grudges, one could say he neither forgets nor forgives. When someone has wronged him, they will almost certainly be able to tell, unless he doesn’t want them to know, but then by the time they do, it’ll be too late.

Connections–

Draco Malfoy - friend Zacharias Smith - friendly rival Sue Li - intrigued by Blaise Zabini - former best friend

THEODORE NOTT IS TAKEN AND PORTRAYED BY CHRIS WOOD. 

#harry potter rp #lsrpg #hp rp #skeleton rp #chris wood #theodore nott #taken #takenm #takende

[robertkstone]

Celebrity Drive: Kevin Millar, MLB Network

Quick Stats: Kevin Millar, MLB Network’s “Intentional Talk” co-host Daily Driver: 2016 Shelby F-150 (Kevin’s rating: 9 on a scale of 1 to 10) Other cars: see below Favorite road trip: Los Angeles to Florida Car he learned to drive in: Datsun 300ZX First car bought: 1998 Chevy Stepside

When MLB Network host and former first baseman Kevin Millar finds something he likes, he’s apt to evangelize it to his baseball buddies. That includes when he bought his new home and later when he heard about a Shelby F-150.

He got his major league buddies Jake Arrieta, John Lackey and Clay Buchholz to buy the vehicle with him.

“I had a 2012 Ford Raptor that I loved and it was 4 years old, and I’m such a car lover, so I go bob and weave every three years. And then the Shelby started saying they would bring out a truck in 2016. We ordered four of them,” Millar tells Motor Trend. “Six months later we all have different colors, but all the same truck, and they only made 500 of them.”

When he moved to his new neighborhood in Austin, Millar also got the three friends to buy a home on the same street. “I was the first one here, so I’ve been recruiting guys to come down to ‘Pleasantville,’ I call it,” Millar says, laughing. “It’s pretty funny. They’re all pitchers. I’m the only position player, so I always joke, ‘I’m the only athlete on the street,’ but really I’m not. I think we’re going to have a heck of a softball team in about 10 years.”

Millar gives the Shelby F-150 a 9 out of 10. “The reason it’s not 10 — it’s the first truck with 700 hp, but the torque is not quite as much as I thought it was,” he says. “Other than that, I love it. It’s a great truck. It’s basically their version of the Raptor that’s not EcoBoost.”

He likes how it handles and the suspension it has, for a truck is “remarkable.” “The look — it’s beefy. It’s got a 4-inch lift already on it,” he says. “It’s fast. If there’s one thing I was disappointed on, was just the acceleration immediately, but it is truly an awesome truck.”

Millar also likes that it has a lot of legroom in the back since he has four kids. For more torque, though, Millar acknowledges that perhaps an electric car is the way to go. “I’ve never been in that Tesla until two months ago. A buddy came down and said, ‘You’ve got to drive this.’ The g-forces in that, I had to stop accelerating because it felt like I was in a spaceship. Unbelievable. I might need to go to an electric truck and we need to come out with the first electric truck,” he says, with a laugh.

Living in Texas, pickup trucks seem de rigueur. “It’s like we think we’re really cool, I think we need trucks. I don’t ranch; I live on a lake. I just got rid of the Z06 Corvette; that was the 650 hp, 650 pounds of torque, which was the funnest car I’ve ever had. And Lexus just came out with this LC 500, which is their version of a sporty car, so I went and got that. Kind of mad that I got rid of the Vette, but it’s a really a cool car and it’s got 500 hp.”

2017 Lexus LC 500

Rating: 9

Millar got the Lexus a few months ago. “As far as a vehicle right now, it’s the closest to a 10 as you can get,” he says. “Obviously not being the fastest on the road, but handles great, comfort. It’s got a great look to it. I think they nailed it.”

Millar gives it a 9 because of its price point. “Sticker is $102,000. So it’s just right there if you wanted that tick above but yet you don’t want to go into the $150,000 vehicle, which is what the Porsche twin-turbos are,” he says. “Depending on what you’re looking for, it could be a 10. … My buddy just got a twin-turbo. That thing’s unbelievable, the 911. That’s another level of money.”

There’s one feature that seems like it wasn’t well thought out. “The only thing I don’t like about it is the electric start. They have apps now, so you can start it on your app. You can land from an airplane and go to your app and start your vehicle,” he says. “It will stay started for 10 minutes, but as you walk up to your vehicle, it turns off. You’ve got to restart it once you get in. So that’s a little odd.”

1968 Chevrolet Camaro

Rating: 10

Millar likes the 1967 to 1969 Camaros because the body style has a “beefy look” to it. “It’s got a little 350 crate engine that I put in there. Starts everyday. It’s nothing crazy, but it gives you the rumble like it’s a race car,” he says. “It has 2,400 miles on it.”

He had someone put the engine in, which is something Millar wished he knew how to do. “It’s the one thing I failed at in life — I wish I knew how to work on cars,” Millar says, with a laugh. “I’m the oil checker guy and that’s about it. I love washing them! I wash my own cars. I always keep a clean car. It’s something that I’ve done since I was a kid, so I do enjoy that aspect of it.”

The classic Camaro gets a perfect 10 from Millar, most of all for its exclusivity when it’s out and about. “It’s definitely the most talked-about car when you go get gas. One thing about a classic car is you could have $30,000 into it and more people come over and compliment it than if you drove in with a Ferrari,” he says. “It’s really a cool car. It’s fun. You don’t see a whole lot of them. It’s in really good condition.”

But even though it’s in good condition, Millar calls his Camaro a “10-footer.” “It’s beautiful from 10 feet away. It’s not perfect when you get up to it,” he says. “The lines on it aren’t perfect because when you start rebuilding cars like these — the doors have got to match up exactly to be a perfect score. But I would give it a 10 for people’s sight — they love to come over to it and look at it and talk about it.”

When he was growing up, Millar’s aunt had a 1967 Camaro when she was 16, and that car inspired him to one day get his own. “They’ve had that in the family to this day,” passing it down, he says. “… I said, ‘I’m going to get between a ’67-’69 Camaro and I’m going to keep it for my kids.’”

Millar’s idea was to get his own Camaro to let his kids drive when they turn 16. “I asked Uncle Wayne for it and he said he’s keeping it forever, so maybe I’ll have it in the will,” he says, laughing. “I loved it. They used to take me to school in it and I always thought that was the coolest thing in the world.”

Car he learned to drive in

Millar learned to drive in his dad’s late 1970s or early 1980s Datsun 300ZX hatchback around Valencia, California, where he grew up.

“It was a stick shift, so I learned to drive stick at a young age. I was into dirt bikes and go-karts, so I knew how to drive a stick from my dirt bikes. That was a big help,” he says. “These days, kids don’t know how to drive stick shift because it seems like everything’s automatic.”

Millar’s dad let him drive when he was just 14. “I grew up with go-karts from 7 to 12, so I knew how to drive. But we had a little convenience store a mile away from our house and he told me that I can go get some Dr Pepper for the family by myself, obviously illegal, at 14. So I was driving to the grocery store one mile down the road and it was the coolest thing ever,” he says.

Back then the streets were emptier where they lived, so that also made it really easy for a beginner driver. “We lived on a dirt road, our neighbors had horses,” he says. “Back then the roads weren’t paved, almost like a ranch area. You couldn’t hurt anything, but you were learning the left and rights, the brakes. So that’s where I learned. It’s where they shot The Dukes of Hazzard.”

Even though Millar already knew how to ride dirt bikes and go-karts, his dad taught him the basics. “We would drive out there on the dirt road,” he says. “Once you go in there alone, that’s a big difference without your dad next to you. … That was a big deal to drive stick at age 16. No power steering back in the day. … If you’re trying to turn and not moving, you had to have big muscles.”

When Millar turned 16, his own car was not the cool Camaro that his aunt had, but a red 1980 Ford Pinto. “It was the worst car you’ve ever seen, but that’s the way we rolled back then and it was really far away from a 1967 Camaro,” he says.

His mom went to a used car lot and bought the automatic Pinto for him to drive to high school. “It was $1,600. I’ll never forget the sticker price on it,” he recalls. “All my buddies were getting Nissan Sentras, the Supra, these IROCs. All the rich kids had really nice cars, and I got a Ford Pinto.”

A 1978 Ford Pinto is shown here

It was 1988 when he got the old Pinto, which seemed like a relic from another time. “We weren’t well-off by any means, and it was obviously the coolest day of your life getting some keys to your car to drive to school as a junior in high school, but you forgot that it was a Ford Pinto. So I used to get made fun of in the school parking lot,” he says, laughing.

Millar was constantly teased about the Pinto, and its unfortunate reputation. “There was a couple of stories that if you got rear-ended they would explode because the gas tank was in the back. That was the big joke,” he says.

But he had more pressing things to worry about when he got to school in it. “When you would shut it off, it wouldn’t shut off. It would just (makes a puttering sound), it would shake,” he says. “So if the girls were walking by and I had to turn the car off, I would just duck in my steering wheel. I didn’t want anybody to know. This car would shake and rattle for 10 seconds; it wouldn’t shut off. It was embarrassing.”

He got rid of the Pinto after a year when he saved enough money from working at batting cages, as well as getting a little help from his mom, to buy a 1982 Mazda RX-7, which had the license plate “Black Ice.”

“I thought I was so cool,” Millar says. “It had black interior; it was black; there was 60,000 miles on it. I remember paying $3,800. That was my big step — when my senior year came. … It was used, but that’s when I started making the step up. I’m like ‘Aha! Now I’m cool.’ ”

First car bought

Millar was living in Beaumont, Texas, when he bought a black 1998 Chevy Stepside. He had signed with the Florida Marlins, making his way up from the minor leagues.

“Back then it might’ve been $20,000,” he says. “I was able to make $150 a month payments on it.”

He stayed in Texas after going to Lamar University. “I had an apartment and got my first truck. I always took care of my vehicles, always kept them clean. It was my baby,” he says. “… When I got to the big leagues that’s when I went into the utility vehicle — a Yukon.”

The SUV was the vehicle that got Millar to Florida from Texas for the season. “It took 24 hours. So I would load up everything in my truck and then you’d go for the season, for spring training,” he says. “That’s why I ended up buying the truck because you can pack it up with everything, all your equipment and your clothes.”

Millar did that for five years, as well as driving it around during the season, since he couldn’t afford to ship it. “That was $1,000 to ship a truck, so I would just drive it,” he says.

While some cars have an emotional connection for some people, for Millar, it’s not that hard to let cars go. “Every time, to this day when I get rid of a car, there’s always memories in every car, and I’ve gone through probably 15 cars over the years, and they all have a little emotional attachment,” he says. Still, he likes to keep two, three, even four cars at a time. “Every couple years, I like to sniff out something in my price range.”

Favorite road trip

Millar’s favorite road trip was the one he took from Los Angeles to Florida one year. “That drive was 40-some odd hours and that was in that truck. I had driven out to L.A. and stayed out there and waited till spring training,” he says. “That was a pretty cool trip, driving cross country in the truck. … I always enjoy driving, listening to music. It always freed my mind to get ready for the season.”

He always looked forward to these long drives before the season. “You soul-search looking up those roads, especially when you get to Texas, and it’s 13 hours to get out of Texas. From El Paso to Beaumont it’s 1,200 miles. You can close your eyes for eight hours and not hit anything if you wanted to,” he says, with a laugh.

But that particular drive from Los Angeles to Florida was also emblematic of a time in his life when he was just starting out. “Obviously going through California to Arizona to New Mexico. It was the time of your life, that’s what you did and you enjoyed it.”

Splurge car

“My wife, after I got 10 years in the big leagues, she surprised me with a 2007 Porsche twin-turbo, which was $150,000,” Millar says. “They made 2,000 of them that year.”

They were living in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the time. They went out for sushi and when the valet threw him a set of keys and said, “Here’s your car, sir.” And Millar replied, “No, we have a Suburban.”

“It had a big red bow around it and this silver Porsche came driving around and then she said, ‘Merry Christmas.’ It was for Christmas. I cried because I’m like, ‘Who paid for this?’” Millar says, with a laugh. “She thought, ‘I didn’t know if you’re going to be happy or if you’re going to kill me.’ I was happy, of course, and then I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve never spent this much on a car in my life!’”

Millar thought it was “awesome,” though, and kept the car from 2007 to 2011. He got rid of it when he and his wife started having kids and moved to Austin. “It was great. It was the coolest I’d ever driven and owned,” he says. It coincided with his time with the Orioles. “We had that shipped out to Baltimore for the season, so I had that when I played with the Baltimore Orioles.”

Boston Red Sox and the 2004 World Series

At the time Millar helped the Red Sox clinch the World Series in 2004, he was already driving a Hummer H2. “They were cool and fun, and I just got rid of that car a couple years ago, so I had that one probably for a good 10 years,” he says. “I love cars now, I don’t get emotionally attached. I just think they’re fun and there’s so much cool stuff that comes out, so I’m in and out of them.”

Although he didn’t treat himself to a car when they won the World Series, he bought a motorcycle. “In 2004, after we won the World Series, we all bought a couple of these bikes. They were called Thunder Mountains. They were like choppers, a Harley engine,” he says.

Millar was into motorcycles and often rode his 2001 Harley Heritage Softail to Fenway Park. “I used to ride my motorcycle to the field when I was with the Red Sox in Boston — the Harley I still have. I’d ride to the stadium on the pretty days. That one’s tough to get rid of —because you can’t get the value. … If I was to sell it, it’d probably be $7,000 or $8,000. from PerformanceJunk WP Feed 3 http://ift.tt/2ywlaja via IFTTT

#IFTTT #PerformanceJunk WP Feed 3

[topinforma]

New Post has been published on Mortgage News

New Post has been published on http://bit.ly/2qqHKoA

Trump tax reform: He’s got some explaining to do.

President Trump’s administration unveiled its tax plan, which was short on details. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

This week the administration revealed its wish list of tax changes.

The reveal brought to mind the expression, “the devil is in the details.” The plan, such as it was, took up all of one page.

So before you get all excited about a possible tax cut, you’ve got some reading to do. And the president has to deliver on some details.

The stock market wasn’t impressed, closing down after the White House unveiled its plan.

Stock indexes wobble as White House unveils tax plan

Here’s what’s the administration put on the table:

— Cutting the top corporate tax rate to 15 percent from the current 35 percent.

— Eliminating the seven existing income tax brackets, which top out at 39.6 percent, and replacing them with just three brackets: 10 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent. The plan didn’t detail the income that would land folks in which bracket.

— Doubling the standard deduction that Americans can take. For example, the deduction for married couples would increase from $12,600 to $24,000.

— Getting rid of the deduction for state and local taxes.

— Eliminating the estate tax and the alternative-minimum tax.

White House unveils dramatic plan to overhaul tax code in major test for Trump

The Washington Post’s Jonnelle Marte lays out six ways Trump’s tax plan could affect you

Marte writes, “Without more details, it is difficult to know exactly how some taxpayers will fare. The White House will need to work with Congress on the final plan, which could look very different if lawmakers push back against some of the proposed changes.”

Here are some comments from Bankrate.com’s chief financial analyst, Greg McBride, and senior economic analyst Mark Hamrick on Trump’s tax plan:

McBride: ” Wake me when something actually gets signed into law.”

Hamrick: “As we know, the failure of the president and the Republican-led Congress to make good on his promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act was a dramatic swing and miss. The challenge in pushing through a tax reform package of substance might well be even tougher. When discussing health care, we’re talking about a segment of the U.S. economy. When discussing individual and corporate tax reform, we’re basically talking about the entire economy. The split within the GOP over taxes might well be just as difficult to overcome.”

Color Money question of the week What are your thoughts on Trump’s tax plan? Send your comments to [email protected]. Please include your name, city and state. In the subject line put “Trump Tax Plan.”

Live chat today Join me at noon (ET). Let’s talk about poverty. For this month’s Color of Money Book Club Selection I picked an essay, “Falling,” written by novelist and former Washington Post journalist William McPherson. The essay was printed in 2014 in The Hedgehog Review and can be found on the journal’s website.

McPherson died last month at 84. After dropping out of college and serving as a Merchant Marine, he eventually got a job at The Post writing literary criticism, for which he was later awarded the Pulitzer Prize. His two novels also earned him wide acclaim.

But as I wrote in my review of the essay, McPherson’s life is literally the tale of rich man, poor man. As the essay details, his professional accomplishments were followed by a descent into poverty.

McPherson writes: “The rich are all alike, to revise Tolstoy’s famous words, but the poor are poor in their own particular ways. I started life comfortably middle-class, maybe upper-middle class; now, like a lot of other people walking the streets of America today, I am poor. To put it directly, I have no money. Does this embarrass me? Of course. . . . It’s humiliating to be poor, to be dependent on the kindness of family and friends and government subsidies.”

I’d like to hear your thoughts on the essay. Click this link to participate in the discussion.

If you’re reading this online you can get this newsletter delivered right to your email address. Stay informed about money matters. Subscribe here.

Get a tax refund every year? Why you probably shouldn’t. Most financial experts say it’s not a good thing to get a large refund year after year if there’s been no change in your tax situation. Yet many people ignore this advice. So last week I asked: Why do you like getting a tax refund year after year?

Deirdra Logan of Portland, Maine wrote, “Our family uses the annual federal income tax refund to prepay home heating oil for the next year. We’ve done this since we bought our first home and we’ve never ‘noticed’ having a heating oil bill because of this choice.”

Marissa from Hawaii wrote, “I use my tax refund to splurge. I’m pretty tight with money throughout the year, so whatever I get back at tax time (usually just a few hundred dollars) is just for me and I buy that little something extra that I’ve been wanting.”

Mary Phillpotts of Leominster, Mass., wrote, “I don’t exactly ‘like’ getting a refund, but as a retiree with stocks as part of our income, I really do not know year to year what our earnings will be. I use tax software to prepare our taxes and base the estimated taxes on the year just finished. Better to pay estimated taxes than a big surprise bill. I’m just happy to have an income to be taxed.”

Marilyn Ferrick of Rohnert Park, Calif., wrote: “I have always used my income tax refund to pay my property taxes. This way I don’t have to worry about setting money aside each month to be able to pay my property taxes when they come due. Interest rates are so low that I have no concern that I am losing out on much money if I had been saving it. I have neither the knowledge nor the interest to try investing in the stock market.”

Stacy Stafford of Falls Church, Va., said, “Every year, I receive a federal tax refund that amounts to about one quarter of my monthly salary. I always save every penny of it in a separate interest-earning savings account. Since joining the workforce five years ago, these tax refunds have grown enough so that I can invest more seriously for the first time ever. Even though the federal government doesn’t pay me any interest for holding this money all year, I’m still very excited that my ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ attitude toward refunds has allowed me to diversify my finances.”

Kate McRae of Aurora, Colo., wrote, “I like getting a tax refund because it’s a painless way to make the bulk of my annual charitable contributions. I file my return on October 15, and the funds arrive right around ‘Colorado Gives Day’ in early December, when local companies band together to match donations to charitable organizations. I then forward the amount of my refund, plus whatever additional I can afford, to the selected charities who are then eligible for matching funds.”

Finally, the Eades of Washington, a married couple in their late 30s who have two kids (7 and 5). On average they get a federal refund of $4,000.

Their reasoning isn’t without merit. Ryan Eades wrote, “We like getting this refund because the alternatives on adjusting our withholdings wouldn’t net a huge amount in our daily lives and the small lump sums allow us to do several things:

1) We immediately set aside $3,500 to pay for summer camps — they are expensive in DC! 2) We use any remainder to replenish our small $2,000 slush fund, if needed. 3) We put the rest into our ‘don’t touch 6-month emergency fund.’ 4) If none of the above on 2 or 3 is needed, we buy something nice for our family/house (think new outdoor couch for the deck) because gosh darn it, life is busy and a grind and we deserve it!”

Color of Money columns this week Knowledge isn’t power. The right knowledge is power.

Stay informed about your money. Read and share my columns for this week. Five lessons we can all learn from federal workers who may be facing a furlough

Don’t let Congress block consumer protections for prepaid card users

Have a question about your finances? Michelle Singletary has a weekly live chat every Thursday at noon where she discusses financial dilemmas with readers. You can also write to Michelle directly by sending an email to [email protected]. Personal responses may not be possible, and comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer’s name, unless otherwise requested. To read more Color of Money columns, go here.