#ANSWER: i picked out the favorite things/only things i remembered from his various costumes because i dont give a shit | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dokoni-mo · 3 years

Text

Where Is My Friend || Platonic! Izuku Midoriya x Reader

Summary: You and Izuku walk home together.

SFW // angst to light fluff

Word Count: 1915

WARNINGS: swearing, crying, all might slander, allusions to su*cide, otherwise none

A/N: i hate all might as a teacher. sometimes i just wanna reach through the screen and punch him for the things he tells izuku to do. this is why i made this.

Izuku was late again that day, and this time you were more disappointed than mad.

With each student that passed by you and through the gates, you grew more and more irritated. You were trying to hide your annoyed expression by burying it in your phone, scrolling mindlessly through the various apps you had downloaded. Every now and again, you would check through your messages again, double and triple checking that you hadn't somehow missed a text from Izuku.

Every time, there was nothing.

Your brow furrowed when you checked it for the fifth time, forcing you to let out a silent frustrated sigh.

Izu, are you ready to go?

I'm out front

Are you still coming?

Hellloooo??? Where are you???

You promised, Izuku.

All of these messages, and no reply.

This wasn't a new occurrence. Every single day it was like this, and you would oftentimes just go home alone in silence. Izuku would always call and text to apologize to you afterwards, though.

At first you would pick up the phone. But, it slowly became less and less, to eventually nothing at all.

You were angry for a long time, but it all eventually boiled down into a soft, quiet frustration. You wondered to yourself a lot why you even bothered trying anymore. Those thoughts eventually drifted off into memories of middle school, and that quiet, timid, nerdy boy that you made your best friend.

You wondered where that boy went.

You looked up from your phone and looked at the campus around you. The area was bathed in an orange light, giving everything a warm and cozy glow. It was a beautiful spring afternoon, one that you would unfortunately most likely spend alone. Looking back down at your phone, you checked the time. It was getting somewhat late, and you knew your parents would start to worry about you if you didn't head back soon.

Five more minutes. You would give him five more minutes.

Letting out another sigh through your nose, you continued to scroll through your apps, not paying too close attention to what you were seeing. Every other second, you would peer up at the top of the screen, hoping to see the familiar bar of a notification up there.

None ever came.

A handful of photos and news articles later, and you decided to call it a quits. It had been more than five minutes, and there was still no sign of Izuku. Not one single thing.

Fuck it. You were going home.

Clicking your phone to sleep and putting it in your jacket pocket, you squared your backpack on your shoulders and stepped down the stairs of the front entrance, staring ahead at the gate with a blank expression.

Going to U.A. was you and his dream as kids. You remembered how the two of you would draw pictures of your hero costumes together, how you would spend hours of the phone coming up with the ideal schedule the two of you would have and what classes you would take.

Where did all that go? All those late nights? All those days the two of you got bullied? All those times you would tell Bakugou to fuck off when he was mean to Izuku? All the times Izuku told you to be nicer to Kacchan?

Was it all for nothing?

Were you just a memory now?

Were you not good enough to be his friend anymore?

All because of his new quirk?

It's not fair.

Not fair.

Not fai-

"Y/N!" you heard a voice from behind you shout, along with the rapid tapping of shoes against concrete.

It was him.

You stopped in your tracks and turned around, looking at him with a somewhat surprised expression. His green hair was the usual mess, and he was somewhat sweatier than normal. He ran quickly to catch up with you, breathing heavily once he was by your side.

You looked down at him in silence, your face unchanging.

"I'm-I'm so sorry I'm late!" He exclaimed, getting better control over his breathing, "I-I was just taking off my costume after hero training today and one of the teachers wanted to talk to me after and I-"

"It's getting late." You said, cutting him off, "We should get going."

You started to walk towards the gate again, and Izuku stared at you with a somewhat confused expression.

"Right..." he responded quietly, following by your side.

The two of you walked in silence for a good, long while. Izuku would keep looking at you to try and grab your attention, but you ignored him every time. You kept your gaze trained on your feet on the sidewalk, his red shoes in your peripheral.

You didn't want to talk. You just wanted to go home.

Go home and never talk to anyone again.

Izuku tried giving you one of his bright, warm smiles, but you ignored that too. As much as you didn't want to admit it, Izuku didn't smile the same anymore. There was something always behind his smile, something that you couldn't quite figure out.

The two of you used to share everything together, and now he was doing nothing but keeping secrets from you. You were quick to notice this, and you began to do your own digging.

You were observant, you always had been.

What you saw, you knew no one would believe you, though.

You just kept it to yourself, leaving it to rot deep inside you and plant its seeds of bad.

It was eating you alive, and you were angry.

"It's uhh..." Izuku said next to you, "It's a pretty day outside, isn't it?"

You said nothing and just kept staring down at your feet.

"It was a fun day at school too, huh?"

Nothing.

"What class did you like most?" I really liked Mr. Aizawa's today. I like it when he tells stories about his time at U.A."

Nothing.

"I also really liked All Might's cla-"

"Don't."

Izuku was definitely taken aback by your sudden, harsh response, his smile instantly fading away and his brows arching downwards.

"What... (Y/N), wh-what do you mean-"

You stopped walking abruptly, giving Izuku a glare through your lashes.

"Do not mention that man."

Izuku stopped walking too, looking at you with confusion and a touch of shock.

"You mean All Might? (Y/N), why? I thought you loved him as much as I-"

"I don't fucking love him anymore, Izuku!" you snapped, "But how would you know, huh? HOW?"

"(Y/N), what are you saying?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Izuku!" you threw your backpack off your shoulders, the extra weight only adding to your fury, "Even before we got into this shitty fucking school, you've done nothing but fucking blow me off and ignore me! I try to call, you don't answer. I try to text, you don't answer. I go over to your fucking house looking for you, and you're not there either! Do you have any clue how fucking lonely that makes me feel?! Knowing my best friend, my ONLY friend, wants nothing to do with me?!"

Izuku slid off his backpack too, his expression now more worried than anything, "(Y/N), I wasn't trying to ignore you. I-I just-"

"Just what Izuku. Just where have you been, hm? Tell me."

The green haired boy's gaze fell to the ground.

"I... I can't."

You raised your hands up and let them drop to your sides, a laugh of disbelief bubbling out of your throat.

"Fine, I'll finish it for you. You've been hanging out with fucking All Might, haven't you?"

Izuku's gaze shot back up to you, his eyes wide. He opened his mouth to say something, but you cut him off.

"Ah- don't even goddamn try. I know you have been, Izuku. Do you think I'm fucking stupid? Do you think I'm fucking naieve? I fucking see how you two talk to each other. How you have lunch with him every goddamned fucking day. How he always focuses on you during training. How he keeps you after school."

Izuku just simply looked at you in silence, trying to process what to say.

You felt tears welling up in your eyes, but you decided to continue anyway, "And I know, I know he's been putting shit in your head. Not letting you think for yourself, telling you that it's okay to hurt yourself. How it's noble and honorable to be bedridden for fucking weeks to save people. How you should never prioritize yourself. Well goddamn it it's WRONG Izuku! It's fucking wrong! It's wrong to tell a kid that. It's wrong to take him away from his friends. It's wrong to have fucking favorites!"

You were full on crying now, and probably looked completely out of your goddamned mind.

You didn't care.

"He was my hero too, Izuku!" you continued on, hot tears pouring down your face, "But more importantly you were my hero! You were the only person in that shitty fucking middle school that I could confide in. You were the only friend I had, and that fucking bitch took you from me! Every day I go home and beg for my friend to come back to me. I don't give a single fuck what that old man says, I need my friend back! I'm so tired of it! I'm tired of feeling like nothing, like no one wants to be around me anymore! I'm t-tired, I'm... I...."

Unable to keep yourself together anymore, you fell onto your knees and sat back on your ankles, wiping your face on the back of your hands and wrists as you sobbed.

"I just... I miss you, Izuku."

You broke down again after that, crying there on the ground for a good minute. This was probably embarrassing the hell out of you, but you didn't care anymore. You didn't care about anything anymore. You were certain that Izuku would want nothing to do with you anymore. You just both dissed him and his number one idol.

There was no hope for you and him now.

After sitting there for a good minute bawling your eyes out, Izuku gently knelt down in front of you. You could feel his big, green eyes on your face, but you didn't look up at him. From your blurred vision, you couldn't tell how he was looking at you, but you figured it couldn't be good.

You were wrong.

Suddenly and without warning, you felt two strong arms wrap around your fame, your head being pulled into a chest covered with a uniform shirt and tie. Your cries softening, you were quick to realize who they all belonged to.

Izuku.

"(Y/N)," he said, his voice soft but firm, "I didn't know you felt that way. You are my best friend, too. I didn't mean to forget about you. I was never trying to make you feel that way."

Izuku hugged you tighter, resting his chin on the top of your head.

"From now on, I promise I'll always make time for you. You're my hero too, (Y/N). Without you with me in middle school, I... I would have..."

You didn't need to hear him finish for you to connect the dots.

After along moment of fleeting, renowned silence, you wrapped your arms around the boy, holding him tight against you.

You vowed to yourself then and there, that you would never ever let him go again.

#bnha x reader #bnha x y/n #bnha x you #mha x reader #mha x y/n #mha x you #izuku x y/n #izuku x reader #izuku x you #izuku midoria x reader #izuku midoriya x reader

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justanotherlifeff · 4 years

Note

If you're not comfortable with this, it's okay to skip. Aizawa has feelings for an "old soul" type of student in her last year at UA (so they're 18), but doesn't want to act on it for obvious reasons. She's had a crush on him since day 1 but respects him too much and doesn't want to get him in trouble. He shadows her on her first real mission and she gets hit with a quirk that makes her horny af, and is a poison that can only be expelled via lots of sex, so he has to "help" her or she'll die.

Urges

Hehehehe guess who's also 18 and a simp for Aizawa sensei? 😏😏😏

Warning: NSFW, Smut, age gap, Teacher-Student stuff

Guilty was one way to put how Aizawa felt when he found himself checking you out yet again in class. You were the embodiment of perfection. You were smart, matured, quiet, you liked cats as much as he did, and ofcourse, you were the mom friend to all the rowdy students in his god forsaken class. Yes, that exactly was the only thing holding him back (besides the huge age gap). You were his student. Sure, you weren’t one of the big 3 in your class like Mirio, Nejire and Tamaki because your quirk wasn’t as strong as theirs. However, you were infact the one in class to get top grades in tests. Infact, you even helped Aizawa grade papers since you somehow understood the barely legible handwriting of some of the people in this class. You were this little ball of sunshine, bringing a bento for the students who always forgot to bring any, keeping everyone out of trouble, tutoring anyone who you felt was having a hard time studying... Hell, it seemed like your schoolbag had everything that a person could need in it. Anyone forgot a pen? Ask (Y/N). Anyone forgot their umbrella? Ask (Y/N). Anyone forgot to even bring themselves to school? ASK (Y/N) CAUSE SHE'LL PERSONALLY TAKE THEIR NOTES HOME AND GIVE THEM A LECTURE ABOUT MISSING CLASS unless they are sick. In that case, she'll take a bento full of healthy food. The entire class saw (Y/N) as this motherly figure who pretty much dealt with their problems on a daily basis with a smile. Aside from your extreme maturity, you were extremely creative beyond your age. When Present Mic was struggling to make the class read basic Shakespeare, you were already quoting Jane Austen's pride and prejudice, something that was not even in the syllabus. Needless to say, you shared various intellectual conversations with Aizawa while the two of you graded papers as the grumpy man also happened to have an interest on literature. While your friends went out to do random shit together, you were the one staying back home because ofcourse, messing around in random amusement parks wasn’t your thing. You liked staying in the background like an adult, watching the kids have their fun and guiding them. Could you really blame Aizawa for falling in love with you?

Then again, you were his student. That made all the perfects imperfections because he shouldn’t be looking at you this way. Little did he know that his feelings weren’t one sided. You had a crush on your teacher ever since you stepped into UA. Did you feel guilty about it? Yes, yes you did. Did you ever think of confessing to him? No, no you didn't. You were okay with loving him from a distance because you knew that you would only create trouble for him if you were to come out about your feelings. However, you couldn’t help but show that you cared through certain gestures. You'd go out of your way to help him grade papers so that he would get a few extra hours of sleep. Every morning, you'd buy an extra cup of coffee or his favorite jello drink for him on your to school just to make his day more tolerable. You never expected him to return your feelings, however. He was your teacher after all. This was wrong after all.

Things were going fine to be honest. Both of you admired eachother from afar, knowing that confessing wouldn’t lead to anything good either way. That was until you were sent on a mission for your work studies. Your employer was busy with a different mission and your quirk was compatible against the villain you had to capture which is why, you were sent alone, much to Aizawa's displeasure. It wasn’t that he didn't believe in you because he did. He knew that you were strong but you were still a student. You didn’t have the experience that a pro hero had and they didn't even consider the fact that there may be unprecedented situations. Hence, he found himself staring at you more than often, trying to memorize every inch of you visible to him so that if something goes wrong he'd atleast... No. Nothing was going to go wrong. Not when he had something to do about it.

Hence, after class was over, Aizawa found himself following you discreetly, making sure that you didn't notice him. Aizawa was excellent at hiding his presence since that was the type of hero he was, which is why, you had no clue that he was following you. You followed the plan laid out by your employer flawlessly and almost caught the villain until a second party decided to show up. Aizawa recognized the other villain from his hiding spot. She had been wanted for quite long time however, before Aizawa got out of his hiding place to aid you, the villain had already used her quirk on you. Now that Aizawa had to choose between going after the escaping villains or checking on you, he did the latter since that's what a doting teacher who totally didn't have feelings for a certain student would do.

You were panting on the ground, your hands gripping the fabric of your hero costume near your thighs tightly as you were avoiding Aizawa's gaze. "(L/N), are you alright? How do you feel?" Aizawa asked you, worried. You tried to answer to him but you only managed to let out a patheric whimper. Only if you could stop how horny his voice was making you... Your whimper suddenly reminded the erasure hero of the certain villain's quirk. Cupping your face with one hand to make you look at him, he met with an extremely flushed expression from you along with lust blown eyes. The view before him did nothing but create a certain straining inside his pants. The villain's quirk made people horny, he recalled. Not having sex would make their body overheat and cause a complete organ failure, he remembered.

"S-sensei... I can't... I'm sorry..." you half whimpered half moaned as you hugged your teacher, desperate for any form of touch at this point. You couldn’t help it. His musky scent was way, way morr prominent to you now and your body was betraying your mind relentlessly. "Shhh (L/N)... It's gonna be alright. We need to get out of this alley first though..." Aizawa muttered, a small amount of pink dusting his cheeks. He was at loss on what he should do at this point. He knew that there was no other way out of it without you having sex at some point. Was he okay with you doing the deed with someone else all while he was aware of it? A selfish part of him told him that no, he wasn’t okay with it. Honestly, this was the perfect opportunity for him to get a taste of you. If things got out, he could tell everyone that he did it to save you. If you didn't return his feelings, this would be that one chance at ravishing you.

Shouta Aizawa was a good teacher and an honourable man at most parts. However, he didn’t hesitate in being selfish when his actions clearly wouldn’t hurt anyone. Which is why, he took you to his home. On his way, in the cab he hired, he explained the quirk of the villain to you. You tried staying normal as you constantly held hid hand, squeezing tightly as your horniness only increased drastically. By the time you reached his home, your legs were shaking and you could barely walk. Aizawa helped you walk into his apartment, avoiding picking you up since that would look awkward in public. By the time you were in his living room, your legs completely gave out as you were engulfed by his scent, the feeling of his touch messing you up.

"Sensei... I'm sorry.. Please... I can't take this anymore... Help me please...." you whimpered into his chest, hiding your embarassed face from him as the two of you sat on the ground. You knew things would never be the same between you and your beloved teacher anymore. Hell, he'll probably hate you for this. You were scared. Very scared. On the other hand, Aizawa was turned on beyond belief. Your soft whimpers, ragged breathe was just as good as he had imagined for months and more. He couldn't keep his hands off you any longer. He didn't intend to either. "I'm sorry, (L/N). I'll help you. I know you probably wouldn’t want me in normal circumstances but you don't have to talk to me again if this ends up making things awkward for you." Aizawa muttered to you soothingly before kissing you, making you lose all control as soft moans elicted from your mouth into his. Your clothes were taken off skillfully and fast as Aizawa touched your twitching groins. A rather loud moan escaped your mouth at that making Aizawa smirk. 'How cute...' he thought as he proceeded to enter a finger into your sopping pussy. However, your reaction to that was not quite expected. You flinched and held him tightly, biting your lips. He immediately took his finger out only to find blood coating it.

"You're a virgin?" Aizawa asked with a grimace. You were always popular among the class thanks to your maturity and he assumed that you had some experience. "Yeah... I've been waiting..." you gasped at the lack of his fingers. "I'm sorry, (L/N). I wish I could avoid this because this must be something very special to you and..." Aizawa was contemplating his decisions but you stopped him with a teary smile. "I was waiting for you... Please take me... I'm so happy now..." you told him, surprising him. These mere words made him feel as if his entire body was on fire as he kissed you furiously, gently easing his fingers back into you, waiting for you to adjust. His passionate kiss distracted you from the pain as he made you sit on his lap comfortably while you wrapped your hands around his neck. Just when you started bucking your hips towards his hands, he started pumping his finger in and out of you, adding an extra finger with time and stretching you out as fast as possible so that he could move to the main event.

"Let's take this to the bedroom shall we, (Y/N)?" Aizawa asked you with a lazy smirk as he looked at your disheveled self. You already had an orgasm from his fingering since he surprisingly was rather skillful in this department. You only gave him a lustful gaze as he picked you up only to place you on his bed moments later. "I need you... Please sensei..." you whispered to him, making him harder than he had ever been in his entire life. "God you're so cute..." Aizawa hissed as he unbuckled his pants only to reveal his huge length, precum dripping from the tip. Taking a box of condoms from the drawer of the bedside table and putting the condom on hurriedly, Aizawa positioned himself over your entrance as he rubbed his length on you a few times making you squirm before entering you in one go making you yelp in pleasure and pain. He tried his best to stay still, letting you adjust to his length but damn it was hard since your insides were squeezing him so deliciously, almost making him lose his sanity. However, Aizawa was a patient man and he would never hurt you. Just as you began to move around under him, trying to grind against him, he started moving. While Aizawa was a patient man, the way your pussy made him feel could break even the most patient man in the world. Hence, Aizawa just couldn’t help it but pound into you for dear life. While it hurted you slightly at the begining, in a few moments, you started to enjoy it just as much as he did. Your legs were wrapped around his hips as you marked his shoulders with your nails while you moaned loudly much to Aizawa's delight. A string of incoherent words escaped your mouth including something similar to "please sensei" and "more", which only increased Aizawa's determination on pleasuring you. His mission to make you a blabbering mess was infact successful since at the end of it all, you just went through your third orgasm for the day, you were drooling as your eyes were rolled back. You could barely speak as you moaned loudly, not aware of how loud you were being. At this point, Aizawa was chasing his own orgasm and he had to say, your state infront of him made sure that he was close, very close.

When Aizawa finally had his orgasm, he could say that this was the best sex he ever had in his entire life. Your overstimulated body laid under him, completely exhausted and panting while he laid beside you trying to catch his own breathe. That's when it all hit him like a brick. He fucked his student. Someone who probably told him that she was waiting for him only because of the effects of the quirk. What if you regretted it now? How could he show his face to you again? As if you were reading his mind, he felt you cuddle up to him with a shy smile on your face. Wrapping an arm around you, Aizawa asked with a stoic expression, hiding the insecurities inside him, "(Y/N), did you mean it when you told me that you were waiting for me?". It seemed as if the question made you even shyer than you were already as you hid your face on his chest and he didn't know what to make of it. "I had a crush on you ever since you stepped into the classroom for the first time in my first year and it only grew. I never told you because I didn't want to be a bother or get you in trouble. I understand if you don't return my feelings." you answered, your voice sounding rather sad. "(Y/N), I feel the same way. The only problem is, you're my student. Would you be okay with me taking you out after you graduate?" Aizawa asked you in a soft tone. You looked up at him, surprise and adoration lacing your face. "I... Ofcourse sensei..." you answered with a blush. "It's Shouta for you when we're alone, kitten. Except maybe in bed cause you look absolutely sinful when you're calling me 'sensei' " Aizawa smirked at you making you blush and hide your face on his chest yet again.

"Shouta? Remember when you asked me out?" you asked your husband as you looked at the album in your hand as you sat on his lap on a rainy afternoon. "Hmm... We had good sex that day..." Aizawa muttered lazily as he took a sip from the cup of coffee in his hand. "Huh? That's all you remember?" you pouted. How could he not remember the extremely romantic cuddling session afterwards? "Mhhm... Would it be weird if I said that it was kinda hot that you were my student back then?" he asked with a lazy smirk. It was both of your day off and somehow, the weather was extremely romantic at the same time. That was until your husband decided to act like a pervert and ruin the mood.

"You really are a perverted old man you know..."

"And yet you still love me, kitten"

[Author's note: Guess I kinda went overboard huh...👀. Alright, so I REALLY appreciate long asks with more description cause they are SO FUN TO WRITE cause they give me a better idea on how to write the fic. This was my most favorite ask so far tbh]

#bnha aizawa #aizawa shouta #aizawa smut #aizawa × reader #aizawa x you #shouta aizawa x reader #mha shouta #bnha shouta aizawa

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tonystarkbingo · 3 years

Photo

3 Prompt Summaries Game

reunions, masks, body worship - suggested by @polizwrites

@polizwrites - Now that Rhodey was full time military, Tony hadn’t seen him in months. They made plans to meet up in Key West during Fantasy Fest — wearing masks (and very little else), they could finally indulge their own fantasy of being a couple in public.

@psychiccatpanda - Rhodey took the kids trick-or-treating on his own because Tony had been called away on business again. When they get back, Tony's home and has set the place up for a Halloween party for the kids and their friends. When the kids' friends go home and the lights go down, Rhodey takes his time welcoming his husband home.

@somesortofitalianroast - It was 5 years since Steve Rogers had last seen Bucky Barnes, when Barnes left in the middle of the night after they had sex for the first time, leaving the country the next day for a lucrative job, and Steve heartbroken. It had been several years since Steve had thought of Barnes, though he’d recognize the man anywhere, even behind a domino mask at a masquerade ball. Just seeing Barnes made his blood boil, and he wanted to charge across the ballroom, slap the man silly, and then worship every inch of the man’s body. Too bad he was at the ball with clients and there was no way he could do that without losing a very important contract.

@darthbloodorange - (ShrunkyClunks) - He waits in the shadows of an old warehouse, a mask obscuring his identity. No one could know he was here; not only would his reputation be tarnished, but that of the Avengers as their leader. But there was something about the dark assassin that drew him in. Barnes treated him like no other in this world. Treasured him, possessed him, worshipped him. Not like a hero as the world did, but as a man and lover.

Keep reading for lots more!

cookies, mermaid, dancing - suggested by @somesortofitalianroast

@somesortofitalianroast - Darcy didn’t bake for the Avengers all the time, and she never made her mermaid cookies, since they were complicated and she needed to pay attention to the details when icing them with fancy icing. So it was a big deal when she made them, the sort of thing that made you want to dance in the kitchen.

@gavilansblog - Luca AU where Tony introduces mer-people Steve and Bucky to cookies and dancing

@deehellcat - Morgan's eighth birthday party featured a mermaid theme, cookies with sparkly decorations, and dancing.

@psychiccatpanda - Bucky Barnes never dreamed he'd ever be put in charge of kids. Who'd want the Winter Soldier for a babysitter? But this little girl - Tony Stark's little girl - stared up at him, waiting for a reply.

He was pretty sure the last time he'd been this nervous was when he came back to the States after Wakanda. "Yeah, we can do that. Sounds like fun."

Which was how he found himself not-quite elbows deep in blue-green frosting for the ocean reef cookies they had baked (that he had baked) while Morgan spun around the kitchen dancing in her mermaid costume.

@lbibliophile-mcu - Tony looks at the tray of raw cookies in dismay. Whoever had designed the mermaid cookie cutter clearly had no concept of the baking skill of the average parent.

He had managed to press out all the pictures without causing more damage than the occasional lost arm or misshapen head (and a couple of 'defective' cookies are always required for taste-testing straight out of the oven). But the process of transferring the cookies from the bench to the tray had caused the raw dough to stretch and fold and tear; leaving figures better described as some sort of vaguely-humanoid aquatic eldritch horror...

Impatient, Morgan clambers onto her stool and gasps in delight. "Look, Daddy! The mermaids are dancing!"

@darthbloodorange - (Thundershield) - Thor set out on his boat to the middle of the lake. A smile on his face and a song on his lips. People feared the lake and the creatures that dwelled within. He didn't see why. Peering over the edge of the boat, he watched the mermaids dance. His eyes drawn to one in particular; the blond with the silvery-blue tail. He unwraps the cookies and sets them on the edge of his boat, hoping to draw the merman close again.

picnic, dragon, promises - suggested by @psychiccatpanda

@deehellcat - Steve and Bucky slip away from the village every chance they get to spend time together. Their favorite place to picnic is perilously close to a rumored dragon's lair, but they dare it for its beauty. imagine their surprise when one night as they stargaze and promise forever to each other, a dark shadow flies overhead then lands nearby. It's the legendary dragon, who greets them and offers to witness their solemn vows. (spoiler alert, the dragon is Tony, and I'm not sure what his relationship to them would end up being.)

@psychiccatpanda - Tony hated picnics. He'd been on so many for photo shoots with his mom and Howard, then for Stark Industries, and the occasional summer charity event. Picnics sucked. There was either too much sun or not enough, not to mention bugs, screaming kids, or other couples making out.

"You promised, Tony," the love of his life reminded him. "And I got you a surprise." The surprise was a kite in the shape of a dragon. Suddenly, the day was looking better.

@somesortofitalianroast - Steve was walking to a picnic on the beach when he found a baby dragon, abandoned on the side of the road. He picked it up, intending to take it to the local fantasy animal shelter, but as soon as he touched it, he knew he would never be able to let it go. Which is why he was standing on the dunes, murmuring promises to the dragon in his arms.

@rebelmeg - pepper sighed. "tony, you promised you were gonna stop doing that." pointedly looking away from her, the red and gold dragon roughly the size of a large dog pointedly opened his mouth, and stuffed the donut hooked on his claw inside. puffs of smoke emitted from his nostrils and he chuckled in a rough, growly way when a sandwich in a baggie smacked him in the back of the head.

"we're never going on a picnic when you're shifted again, this is ridiculous."

@darthbloodorange - (Stucky, Fantasy AU) - Steve walks up to the den of the dragon; his once best friend and lover. Baskets of meat in hand, and his heart weighted heavily in his chest. He'd kept his promise for over 70 years, and he wasn't about to break it now. "Bucky, it's me. I know you remember me. You're in there somewhere, I feel it," he says in his elvish tongue. Within the den comes a mighty roar, seeming to shake the very core of the mountain. But Steve is not dissuaded.

bread, defenestration, jingle - suggested by @rebelmeg

@rebelmeg - standing at the window and very calmly eating her sandwich, natasha watched as clint climbed out of the bushes underneath and went streaking for the street, where an ice cream truck was driving past. the second he'd heard the jingly song, the idiot had flung his own sandwich in the air and literally dove out the window. wondering if he'd realize he didn't have any money on him, nat smirked.

@psychiccatpanda - (WinterIronHawk implied) To be fair, Clint had not thought about 'costume integrity' or the fact that the Christmas elf pajamas did not count for much in the way of bodily protection. On the other hand, though, he'd just been planning on eating as much of the freshly baked panettone bread as Bucky let him get away with while they waited for Tony to get home. Getting thrown through the window of Tony's Malibu house by some Hydra experiment had not been on his radar at all. (Not Bucky - to be completely clear, he was cute and Clint didn't think mean things about people who baked him a nigh-endless quantity of sweets.) At least he managed to keep the hat with its little bell that jingled cheerfully as Clint sailed through the air.

@darthbloodorange - Stony (probably a 5+1 fic) - Tony frowns as the familiar jingle of his phone drew him away from kneading his sourdough. He groans when he sees who it was that was calling. He nearly doesn't answer, but Barnes almost never calls, so curiosity gets the better of him. "Stark," the man greets, voice as gruff as ever. "What do you want?" he grumbles. "Arm's acting up again. Accidently threw your husband out a window. He's hanging on about the 26th floor? Thought you should know." "Damn it!" Tony cries, armour assembling around him quickly. He wishes this was the first time Barnes' arm had thrown an Avenger out the window... but it wasn't.

@lbibliophile-mcu - Tony likes bread as much as the next guy, but he is this close to swearing off the stuff entirely. He tenses as Clint moves behind him, his humming looping into yet another round of the jingle for the local bakery. He snaps. "Clint! If I hear another note I swear I will throw you out this window! And not send the suit after you." Clint grins, opens his mouth and... shuts it again. Silent.

Werewolves, Gardening, Hurt/Comfort - suggested by @darthbloodorange

@somesortofitalianroast - (preserum!steve/werewolf!bucky) When he moved into the house, Steve was looking forward to growing a garden, with a large vegetable patch, all the herbs, and some flowers for the colors. He wasn’t expecting to get overheated. He certainly wasn’t expecting the werewolf to bound out of the woods to take care of him. He’d think he imagined the entire thing, except the werewolf stuck around. Still taking care of him.

@tehroserose - Steve and Tony had retreated into the woods. Obadiah had taken over Tony's birthright, and Hydra had encroached on Steve's home of Brooklyn. They met there, and lived off their wits. Tony did most of the smithing for the various exiles, while Steve gardened vegetables that were rare and valuable. They were content, and while they wished they could save their homelands, there was no real hope of doing so. No hope until one night, when Steve was doing one last check of the garden before going to sleep, he found a big, bleeding wolf.

@rebelmeg - "right here, honey," pepper pointed to a spot in the dirt, and tony padded over, pawing at the spot a few times before starting to dig. "yep, that's enough." she stopped him when the hole was deep enough, then held out a hand for the flower morgan had cupped in her hands, cradling the ball of roots and dirt with care. "see, now it's perfect! you wanna take a ride on daddy now, morgan? i think he's getting bored with gardening."

"yeah!" morgan jumped up with a shout, and scrambled up onto the werewolf's back with no problems. "go, daddy, go!" with a woof, tony took off at a run, morgan holding tight to his fur as she giggled, and pepper smiled as she watched them. tony hated going through a transformation during the full moon, the pain of it pretty extreme, but they'd found a lot of ways to make up for it.

@psychiccatpanda - Tony had avoided Barnes since Steve had brought him to the compound. The werewolf had done the same. Howard hadn't had anything good to say about weres in general, but everyone knew wolves were the worst. It was part of the reason that part of the Avengers had been politely asked to leave Wakanda. Opening the door to his patio, Tony caught the shine of eyes and Barnes scrambled back from what he'd been doing. Tony scanned the patio and only saw a trowel, some loose dirt, and a flat of plants - wolfsbane. "Doesn't that stuff give you blisters or something?" Tony asked, knowing that it was probably true. "How about you come in and wash your hands and tell me what you're up to."

@darthbloodorange - (Ults Stony) - After Steve is infected with Lycanthropy, Tony took him to one of his parents' houses out in the country. Everyone expected Steve would get over it, given time, as he did with the vampirism. But the lycanthropy sticks, appearing to have fused with the serum. While SHIELD's scientists look into a cure, Tony stays with Steve. Growing bored of the overly-manicured, emptiness that was the green fields surrounding the country house, Steve takes up gardening as his current mission. Tony watches, completely enthralled, as Steve slowly transforms the area around the house.

letter, basket, book - suggested by @rebelmeg

@jamesbuckystark - Someone left a basket on Tony's doorstep containing a book, a map, and a magnifying glass. Inside the book was a letter dated 1942. He's curious to find out what this means

@tehroserose - Morgan put down the letter. It was the last one. Her father had written her one for every birthday and potential special occasion. This one was for when she became a mother. She couldn't have them hidden away, they were on a basket on her dresser in her room, but that didn't make them any less bittersweet. He left her behind. To save the world, but he had left her.

She went to sit in the rocking chair next to her child's crib and began to read the children's story her mother had allowed all those years ago. "Iron Man and the End of Thanos". Any children she had would know their grandfather.

@somesortofitalianroast - When Bucky decided to become a librarian, he thought it would give him access to all the books all the time, in exchange for maybe some shelving. He didn’t realize how much work went into collections development and management, nor how much time was spent looking books up for patrons on their own system when asked if the library had a particular book. Boring and frustrating. He just had to stick it out until he paid off the worst of his student loans. Until the day the letter arrived on his desk, sitting next to a gift basket from a local fancy food store. A letter letting him know that the gift basket was from his secret admirer.

@jacarandabanyan - After waking from the ice, Steve took to reading voraciously to catch up on what he'd missed. Despite Tony's offers, he never did come around to a screen reader, though, and instead opted to keep a pile of books on his bedside table. When the pile of books got too big, he had a whicker basket to put the overflow in.

Tony feels like the two of them can't have a conversation outside the heat of battle without devolving into arguments and personal attacks, so he takes to slipping notes into Steve's books. Over time, the notes get longer and longer, until it would be more proper to call them letters than notes.

@rebelmeg - tiny!tony is digging through a basket of new books the jarvises got him, a mix of kids books and textbooks and novels. as he digs, one of the books falls open, and out falls an envelope. the letter inside seems to be written in code... but he's also pretty sure that's his mama's handwriting. a grin spreading across his face, he sits down next to the basket and starts working out the code.

@darthbloodorange - (Stucky? Witch/Fantasy AU?) - Steve sits in his chair by the window and opens his favourite book. With careful hands, he pulls out the letter from his mother, which he'd been using as a bookmark, and carries on where he'd left off. Library, his familiar, jumps from her basket into his lap and curls up, butting her head against his hands. Despite the warmth and happiness he felt here, it wasn't complete. A part will always be missing until Bucky returns.

@psychiccatpanda - Whoever had suggested they stay at this rickety, 'quaint' seaside hotel had apparently never seen any island murder movies ever, Tony thought with disgust. The wood floors creaked and the building made weird noises at night. Combined with the crashing waves, it was not what Tony called relaxing. Somebody knocked and Tony assumed it was the room service snack he'd ordered. Instead, he found a basket with a book tucked inside. Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.

"That's not ominous," Tony muttered to himself, flipping through the pages. Then he saw the letter tucked inside.

#tonystarkbingoflash2021 #tsbflash2021 #tsb discord party #3 prompt summaries #party game

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starry-seongmin · 4 years

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The Birthday He Didn’t Expect - Daniel Kim

a/n: i’ll be writing a second part to this which will be combined with a request i received because it fits perfectly with this little fic dedicated to out precious and multi-talented maknae Daniel - Mia

Daniel didn't show it...or at least he tried not to but it was obvious. The young boy was upset and low-key hurt that none of his friends would be able to make it for his birthday.

He understood that some had prior engagements and that some were visiting their families but the feeling of his heart plummeting couldn't be helped.

As the clock struck midnight, his phone started flooding with messages and notifications, wishing him a happy birthday and warm wishes. He was no doubt grateful, as his friends surprised him with a group call to make up for not being there in person.

After the call which extended to almost two hours, one by one his hyungs bid him one last wish and a good bye before logging off for the night.

Putting his phone to charge, he settled under his sheets, getting into a comfortable position. His eyes fell on a picture frame hanging across the room and a soft smile graced his lips.

A bunch of boys were smiling back at him, Daniel standing in between Jay and Seon, leaning on Sunoo's head. The faces and the memories hit him with a wave of nostalgia and despite the warmth that radiated off the picture, the young boy's heart felt empty.

"Happy Birthday...to me...", his hoarse voice echoed within the walls of his room.

Singing the birthday song to himself dolefully, he turned to his side, all snuggled up and gradually gave into his sleep, feeling strangely alone except for the moon peeking through his window to keep the birthday boy company.

As afternoon crept in, Daniel was woken from his deep slumber by none other than a warm smile and an affectionate kiss from his dear mother and of course, free hugs from her.

Receiving a gift and an amazing breakfast to start his day, he felt somewhat better than last night.

As a mother's instincts do, his mother was quickly able to detect something was bothering her precious son.

"What's wrong, dear?", her gentle and comforting voice broke the silence. Daniel shook his head, a sad smile on his baby features. "Nothing, just kind of sad that no one can make it today".

Her heart broke, seeing Daniel trying to keep a strong and stable front. Her hand reached across the table and ruffled his hair, dropping down to caress his cheek.

"I'm sure they wanted to spend your birthday with you, dear. There's always next year, no?", she tried to comfort him.He only nodded in return, finishing the last of his breakfast. "You're right, mom", he smiled bravely. "There's always next year".

Later in the day, Daniel found himself watching baby panda videos while feasting on the home made chocolate cake his mother surprised him with. His mother was at her job after promising to come home early to spend the rest of his birthday.

A knock on the door interrupted him from watching a baby panda rolling among the leaves. Not expecting company or anyone or that matter, the young boy went over to answer the door, mind racking to remember if his mother mentioned anyone dropping by in her absence.

crouching down to be eye-level with the people, he did a double take when he spotted an enlarged face with the widest smile and crinkled eyes. Pulling the door open, he was met by one of his friends who launched himself on the surprised boy, singing the birthday song at the top of his melodious voice.

After the initial shock of the ambush was over with and the both of them were now standing, Daniel closed the door and stared at a jittery Sunoo who was literally buzzing with excitement and energy. “I thought you were busy!! What are you doing here??”, the younger of the two expressed his shock but feeling ecstatic that he won’t be alone for his birthday.

“I did a rain check with my sister and she was very understanding. She says happy birthday to you!”, Sunoo replied, clapping his hands. “Go and get dressed!” he cried, pushing Daniel towards his room. “I have everything planned for today and it will be my gift for you so hurry!!” he ordered a perplexed Daniel who knew better than to resist.

10 minutes later, the now hyperactive teen runs downstairs, skipping three steps at a time. Not finding Sunoo where he left him, he looks in the kitchen to be greeted with a sight he was frankly not surprised to see. Sunoo was wolfing down a large slice of the chocolate cake, thoroughly enjoying it from the animated reactions and noises of satisfaction he let out.

“Hyung, where are we going?”, Daniel asked, signalling his presence as he walks over to him and joins him to finish the slice Sunoo generously cut for himself. “We’re going to the festival..you know the one at the park?”, he replied, his face stuffed. Daniel let out a soft ‘oh’ once he understood what Sunoo tried to say.

An eventful walk to the bus stop filled with laughter and a bus ride later, the two boys entered the park's premises which was bustling with families, friends and even tourists making the place seem exuberant and alive.

Upon entering, they each received a flyer from someone with today's events listed down alongside the time and the part of the park where it was taking place.

Daniel's eyes immediately landed on the dog show which was apparently currently taking place in the left corner of the park. Sunoo, it seemed, had the same idea as he let out a gasp. "Let's check it out before it's too late!", he exclaimed and grabbed Daniel's hand.

Before Daniel could react, he was jerked forward as Sunoo ran towards their destination with only one thing in mind. Doggos.

Good boys and girls of all shapes and sizes with their floppity ears and little paw paws and tails wagging nineteen to the dozen. "Eternal happiness is drawing near!! I can feel it!!", Sunoo cried in exaggeration, hyping up Daniel as they both dodged the crowd and excusing themselves if they bumped into someone.

When they finally ended up at their destination, they were met by a large podium like stage decorated with colourful banners and balloons and on stop of that stage were a dozen or so dogs and puppies of all shapes, sizes and breeds wearing costumes and accessories to stand out.

Sunoo let out a squeal of excitement and Daniel couldn’t help but exclaim with joy, both of their eyes shining at the wonderful sight. Just then, the announcer commenced the ‘talent show’ and the owners with their little canine companions gathered there began to wow the audience and the judges with the various tricks they had prepared.

During the showcase, Sunoo’s and Daniel’s cheers were the loudest alongside the little kids who got more louder thanks to Sunoo and Daniel, and their exaggerated comments. Daniel’s heart swelled with happiness whenever his eyes fell on Sunoo. He was truly grateful and blessed to have a friend like him in his life and at that moment, he vowed to himself to be the bestest friend Sunoo will ever have.

After the show ended, the owners and their pets awarded, the two boys didn’t hesitate to ask the owners permission to play with the dogs and take pictures. A little boy was watching the dogs with a hesitant smile on his face and keeping his distant. Daniel noticed the boy’s hesitance and beckoned him over. The little boy waddled over to him, holding on to his mother’s hand and hiding behind her.

“Are you scared?”, Daniel spoke softly and the boy only nodded in return. “He’s also very shy but adores animals”, the mother explained. “Do you want to pet him?”, Daniel asked, lifting the brown pup he was holding. At the boy’s positive response, Daniel walked over to them and got on his knees to be at eye level with the toddler.

Reassuring the kid with his gentle and calming voice apparently did wonders as the boy was encouraged and assured that nothing will happen to him whilst his mother and Daniel were there. The small hand finally reached out and hesitantly touched the head of the small dog and the cautious pats slowly turned to loving and carefree ones as the boy slowly but definitely got accustomed.

The mother gave a grateful smile to Daniel who seemed proud and content with himself to be of help and make a kid’s day. Both boys were now playing with the small animal and having the time of their lives when Sunoo’s voice called out to Daniel, telling him that they have to check out other things at the festival.

When completely assured by the mother that she can handle from now on wards, he bid one last final good bye to the both of them and even exchanged a high five with the little boy before joining Sunoo who clapped his back. “I’m hungry...there’s this stall with live barbecue”, he exclaimed, hand rubbing his stomach.

“Is Sunoo hyung going to treat me today? It is my birthday after all”, Daniel whined and played along with his hyung’s aegyo. “Of course I am!”, Sunoo exclaimed, offended at Daniel doubting him in the first place. The birthday boy let out a giggle and clapped his hands, placing them on Sunoo’s shoulder as the both of them ran in search of the particular food stall.

Even though only one of his friends was able to make it for his birthday, Daniel felt elated and truly blessed to have someone like Sunoo in his life as the both of them laughed and the shorter one announced a surprise race to the stall which was now in view before picking up speed. Not wanting to lose and give bragging rights to Sunoo, Daniel put his long legs to use and soon ran past Sunoo, waving him along the way as he finally reached the crowded food stall, jumping in victory as Sunoo finally reached him with a playful pout.

It was surely one of his best birthdays all thanks to his favorite hyung.

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ahsnewsupdates · 3 years

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Exclusive Interview with Xander Smith: ‘AHS’ Concept Artist!

Xander Smith, the über skilled and talented concept artist who worked on four seasons of American Horror Story (Hotel, Roanoke, Cult, Apocalypse), was generous enough to answer some of our burning questions about the designs that he created for the show!

Throughout this interview, we will attach images of Xander’s work that pertain to the questions asked. You can check out his full, expansive portfolio by clicking here.

Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview! How did your involvement with American Horror Story begin? Were you a fan of the show beforehand?

Thanks, it's one of my favorite projects to have been a part of, so happy to talk about AHS!

I've loved the genre of horror my whole life, to me it's the one genre that you can push all emotions to their limits, and explore the human experience on a much deeper level than other genres. I think this accounts for some of the greatest stories being so horrific in nature: because it's innately human. This also accounts for the genre having the most lame movies too, haha, because it prompts storytellers to try to push boundaries, and oftentimes there's no reason to push a boundary if there's nothing substantive behind it. I think with American Horror Story though, that's not the case. It's deep, it's intricate, and it's very culturally significant.

I had seen the first season on television, and I remember thinking beforehand, 'this is going to be lame, you can't go as deep with TV as you can with an R rated film...' man was I wrong. It pushed boundaries and asked dark, human questions, all while staying relevant and mysterious. I never once thought that they were holding back due to it being on television.

As for the beginnings of my involvement with the franchise, that actually starts with my parent's love of genre films. When I was a kid they would take me to conventions, like Comic-Con, to learn more about film making and meet the cast and crews of various films. That's where my love of design came from. When I was in college, my Dad met Heather Langenkamp at a horror convention, and told her about my pursuit of concept art when I was going to school in Los Angeles. Heather was really kind, and said that when I graduate, I should send her my portfolio; her and her husband, David Anderson, own the legendary special FX studio, AFX. When I graduated in 2014 I did exactly that, they loved my work, and they hired me to work on American Horror Story: Hotel which would come out later that year. Since then, they've hired me to work on the next 3 seasons, I've also been hired by 20th Century Fox on 2 seasons, and by legendary Costume Designer Lou Eyrich for 2 seasons. I'm very fortunate and always have a blast working with the diverse teams that bring AHS to life.

Starting with American Horror Story: Hotel, you were part of the design process for the Addiction Demon [see above]. Can you talk about that? It was such an obscene being, but at the same time so true to form for the show.

Ah yes, the lovely Addiction Demon. That's one hell of a design to have worked on, ha.

I read that part of the script with David Anderson at AFX Studio, as they would be building the prosthetics, and the infamous 'drilldo'. He looked at me and just, 'alright, do your thing, make it horrific.' And that's what I did. I've seen people in the throes of addiction, and actually lost a good friend in my teen years to drug addiction, so when designing the Demon, I wanted it to be really visceral, painful to even look at. In the script, the Demon rapes a character, and as horrific of a concept as that is, I knew that it's one of those concepts that fits with AHS; pushing the limits, but for a good reason. That's exactly what addiction is: you think it's going to be like great consensual sex when it starts, but quickly the Addiction Demon materializes and it has its way with you whether you like it or not. Truly disgusting, but that's what I thought the design should encompass. So I sketched about 20 different versions, and 1 of those versions stuck, and we decided to take that one further. I sculpted the final design in Zbrush, and that's the concept that Ryan Murphy picked. The brilliant team at AFX brought it to life, and that's the demon you see in the show.

You also produced fantastic concept artwork for Lady Gaga’s character’s chain mail glove [see above], alongside costume designer Lou Eyrich and designer Michael Schmidt. How did that design develop? Was it fun designing for Gaga?

Thanks! Yes that might actually be my favorite piece I worked on. Lou Eyrich and Michael Schmidt were awesome, I think we came up with an iconic piece that's uniquely elegant and fit for a horror queen. It was very motivating knowing that it would be worn by Gaga, so as I was translating Michael's sketch, I wanted to maintain a balance of stylishness and darkness, something that both Lady Gaga and American Horror Story is known for. It was incredible to see it in the posters. Definitely a highlight for me.

Moving on to American Horror Story: Roanoke, you produced terrifyingly good concept art for another one of the show’s iconic villains, the Piggyman entity [see above]. Since that same figure was also featured in the first season, did you look back for inspiration?

Great question, because for Piggyman I was back at AFX Studio, working on the design with David Anderson, and we certainly had a lot of the same inspiration and ideas on how to do the design justice for such a horrific piece. There was a lot of shocking content surrounding him, like pig fetuses and butchery, and we just went all out on letting the character bathe in so much debauchery. It was also really fascinating to be designing while their FX team was sculpting the prosthetics (the production schedule was very intense), and I got to see sculptor Glen Eisner working on the pig head and stomach pieces in clay, only a few days after I had worked on the concept art. Incredible process.

On the same season you collaborated quite closely with the makeup department to design concept art for some of the season’s makeup looks, including illustrations for Kathy Bates’ and Finn Wittrock’s characters [see above]. Wittrock played incestuous hillbilly Jether Polk and the final product was quite frightening. How did that process go?

Also a really fun process, I got to meet some of the actors as they came in for face castings, while I was deforming their faces in the concept art- I almost felt guilty! We pulled a lot of inspiration from medical journals relating to birth defects, and we stayed pretty close to reality, as we saw fit for the Roanoke season. I was also busy terrorizing Kathy Bates image while designing what the character's demise would look like. Since there are a lot of complicated practical effects involved in the gory scenes, we spent time illustrating what the wounds would look like ahead of time. By the end of it, I had like 2 full pages of various gory ways Kathy Bates could meet her end that we presented to production, and they chose one of the most horrific ways that fit with the script (of course). Hopefully Kathy is used to it after so many years as a horror icon!

Arguably your most prolific designs for the show were for season seven, Cult. You produced some stunning concept art for the clown masks and general appearance [see above], some of which weren’t seen in the show but absolutely should’ve been. They look slightly ‘mechanical’. What was Ryan Murphy’s pitch there?

Completely agree, I really love the final designs. Unfortunately, for as much art as I did for this season, none of my designs fit the script well enough, I just couldn't hit the mark, and so my work did not make it to production. It happens, and that's why there are many artists on a project! I appreciate you saying they should have been in the show though! I think I focussed too much on the clown/mask angle, and less on the political/cultish angle, which is where the magic of that script was. In true American Horror Story form, it is a cultural commentary on the times, and I feel I was not paying as much attention as I could have. That being said though, I had a blast working with the crew at AFX Studio again, and we worked on a lot of pieces that at least helped move production forward. Sometimes it's useful to see a design that's not quite right, just to move the production in the right direction.

The last season you worked on was of course the crossover season, Apocalypse, for which you designed the Outpost Three hazmat suits [see above]. The plague doctor influences in those designs was a stroke of genius. How was it blending dystopia with 17th century Europe? Also, were you aware that Apocalypse was the crossover season when you started work on it?

I think I got my mojo back on this season, since not only were my illustrations on those hazmat suits finalized for the script, but I was also able to do some of the 3D modeling for the Plague Doctor masks that were 3D printed and worn by the cast as props in the show. That was a really rewarding experience, and I was working under Lou Eyrich again who is the genius behind the blend of dystopia and 17th Century Europe that characterizes Apocalypse. We did probably about 50 different sketches of those suits, and explored such a wide variety of directions and blends of dated technologies, medieval influences, hazmat suits, and gas masks. When we had a solid direction, I did a tighter illustration of a generic suit that could be worn by any one of those characters (one of the keys to the design was that they could be worn by several different body types, as per the script), and then did a final piece that showed Kathy Bates wearing the mask. I'm really pleased to have come up with the idea of the 'plastic plague doctor' design, and thrilled to see it on screen.

I wasn't aware that it was the crossover season either, I wasn't given that part of the script, but that let me watch the revelation in real time with the rest of the world!

Lastly, would you like to design for American Horror Story again in the future? What is your “dream theme” that you’d like the show to explore?

Absolutely I would love to return some day and help flesh out some new designs. Some of the later seasons have been less concept-heavy, but I've also had to pass on the work as I've been involved in other projects, and of course have been busy helping found my current company, Aliza Technologies.

But you never know what the future holds!

As for a 'dream theme', that's such a good question because I feel there are so many interesting directions the show could take. They've built such a rich world where stories can take place across a range of time periods and genres, and that's a real gift to horror fans. One of the elements I really love about AHS is that when it delves into the supernatural, it does it in a really measured way. I've always found ghost stories to be a little bland and heavy-handed, but since AHS is so nuanced in its supernatural material, especially in season 1, I think it would be really interesting to see them go the heavy handed way, lead the audience down a super super-natural route for half a season, and then absolutely pull the rig from underneath them halfway through, and have a natural explanation for all the 'supernatural' elements. It would be a complete mind-f**k, like 'wait, there were no ghosts at all??' and have that realization be even more horrifying. I'm no writer, but I think a concept like that could be really interesting... Also set the mystery across several different generations so that the supernatural explanation is more appropriate for an older generation, and is busted open by the modern take. Image what the flashback reveals could look like, and imagine the types of 'ghosts' I could illustrate...

Thanks for the questions, now I'm off to do some script-writing myself...

(Also, special mention to Eryn Krueger Mekash and Mike Mekash who designed the makeup looks!)

Xander’s links:

Official Website: https://www.xandersmithdesign.com/

ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/xandersmith

Behance: https://www.behance.net/XanderSmithDesign

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xandersmith_design/

#xander smith #ahs #american horror story #art #concept art

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musubiblog · 3 years

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It all started in Qingqing city, China.

An illuminating baby was born

Since then, powers have been discovered.

Before we knew it, paranormal became normal and dreams became reality.

Now with 80% of the world's population having a special trait, it's a superhuman society. In this chaotic world, the job that everyone dreamed of came into light.

•••••••••••••••

Somewhere in Miyagi Japan, near the coastal area. Four kids playing tags in the park while using their own quirks.The passers-by stared at the scene with interest when they saw how beautiful these generation quirks are. One girl has Fairy like wings, glitters fall from her body as she floats, she look like she came out from a fairytale book with a quirk like hers. A boy placed both hands in the ground and seeds started sprouting from his area.

(E/c) hues watch in awe at the scene in front of her, eyes wide open with dilated pupils and lips slightly parted when she saw another kid's hand glowed. Even watching from a far, their quirks are indeed beautiful. As she kept staring longer, she felt something inside of her. Envy, she wondered what its like having a quirk of her own, maybe she'll join the fun instead of watching,she'll have more friends and people would praise her.

Mouth corners turned down looking at the kids her age with a sad expression. She felt like tearing up but before it could fell in her cheeks, a bright voice called out her name.

"(y/n)!" She turned to the right to see her older brother by 3 years running towards her. "I was looking all over for you! Mom will kick me in the butt if she found out I lost you-" The older boy said while catching his breathe. From the looks of it, he went to check the whole park to find her. "What are you doing here?"

The 4 year old didn't respond, instead she turned back to where she was looking at a second ago. The older boy's eyebrow furrowed in confusion and turned to check whats gotten his sister's interest. His gaze then travels back to the girl beside her, he knew that her sister felt sad about this, He knew just by looking at her eyes.

"Geez why are they using their quirks here, they're not suppose to use it in public anyway" he sigh, closing his eyes and scratching the back of his neck. "What a show off" he scoff. He then grab his sisters attention by grabbing her hands gently, smiling he said "lets get out of here, okay?" The little girl only nods before walking besides him.

The 7 year old took her to a none occupied place in the park, (y/n) observe that it's an abandoned playground surrounded by old trees, the slides and seesaw is slightly rusted and ivy plants surrounds it. She look at her brother with confusion, demanding him to tell her why of all place.

"Don't give me that look sis, this place will help take your mind off things" he said while walking towards the sand box, sitting on it without hesitation "Join me, it's safe, no insects are gonna crawl on you" he reassures her.

(Y/n) only nods and sat beside her brother. The place was peaceful, the sound of nature surrounds them and the air was cooling, tall trees shielding them from the sunlight. Turning to her brother and ask "Is this you're favorite part of the park?"

"Hmm? Oh this, nah. I just found it today while I was looking for you" he said, the girl only let out a soft 'oh' and start looking around. There's another silent, it's not awkward but she's eager to have a conversation with her brother.

"Did you want to have a quirk Toru nii-san?" Toru smiled at her question, as if he knew that she'll ask him that. "Well, I mean...every kids have dreamed about it" he started. "So I would say my answer is yes, but I'm pass my quirk manifesting age already and I'm not depress about it" He said. Being quirkless isn't a big deal for Toru, he knew that being born in a quirkless family has a 95% percent of not getting a quirk.

"I'm at the age of 4 nii-san, and I haven't gotten my quirk yet..." The girl look down and grip her the hem of her skirt tightly "What if I'm quirkless?"

Toru didn't want to say something that could possibly hurt her feelings like 'Yes, your going to be quirkless forever like me' but he didn't want to sugar coat as well. He doesnt give false hope, knowing that its impossible for their genes to manifest one.

Instead he asked "Hey, what makes you want to own a quirk (y/n)?"

"Well, I think they make people look cool and powerful and strong! They are treated different from the quirkless, they get praise and have lots of friends! Also, they can be a real hero like from the comic books and save peoples life!" She excitedly exclaimed, Toru can see her eyes sparkling as she rambling cutely aboyt whats great about having quirk.

"And what's makes you the quirkless people is any different?" This question got (y/n) off guard. "Umm...it's because they're the opposite of that?" She said unsure of how she'll respond.

"No silly, quirkless people can be those things to" This cause (y/n) to tilt her head. Toru smiled because of her cuteness and gave her head pats.

"Just because we're quirkless doesnt mean we're powerless, we can be just as cool as them, we dont need quirks to impress them and we can definitely make many friends. Those who thinks being quirkless suck and should be treated wrongly are the low minded person who thinks highly of themselves. Also, you don't need capes and costume to be a hero, you just need to care" He explained.

"Didn't you say you wanted to be a hero as well?" Toru blinked twice at the question. "Ha!? I never said that. I said I want to be more than that" smiling widely with pride. "I want to be someone who help the hero instead, just like dad!"

(Y/n) tilted her head "like dad?" Toru nods spreading his arms "Yup! I want to be a scientist slash inventor like him, he makes really good weapon and gadgets that helps the hero with their mission!"

Toru's mood always change when he talks about his interest, he likes talking about machines and experimenting, he's also obsess with aliens and would like to meet one someday and experiment it.

"And if its possible, I can make an iron suit built for battle that can turn quirkless people into heroes" Toru said. The little girl smiled widely, imaginary glitters surrounds her as she looked at him with astonishment.

"That's cool Toru nii-san! You're going to be an amazing scientist when you grow up!" Her soft voice said with excitement, head pushed forward. The brother blushed a little from the praise, smiling shyly and scratching his nape.

The little girl suddenly stood from the ground, one arm placed on her hips and the other one is raised in the raise, looking down at his brother. "If you're going to follow Dad's footstep then I'll follow Mom's. I can be a doctor that saves patience life like a hero without a cape would do!

"That's great (y/n), mom will be so happy when she hears this." Toru smiled at the sight of her happy sister. He loves seeing her this happy since he deeply cares for her and doesnt want to see her sad"See, you don't need a quirk to save and help other people, just do you and you'll be great. Now, always smile more okay? You're fifth birthday is coming closer" He said standing up, patting the dirt away from his body.

"Mm! And I want (f/f) ( = Favorite flavor) cake! And Pizza and Pasta for my birthday please! Ooh and (f/f) Ice cream too!" The 4 year old girl started listing various of foods that she wanted for her birthday. Toru held out a hand "sure, lets go home and tell Mom, I bet their looking for us now"

The girl held his brothers hand and continued their conversation while walking.

•••••••••••••

(y/n)'s special day had finally come, her eyes shining with excitement seeing her favorite foods placed on the table. Standing in the chair because she's too short for the tall table, mouth watering at the sight of the beautiful decorated(f/f) cake with five candles above it.

She extend her little fingers about to ruin the icing, hoping to get a little taste but was stopped by her mother holding a lighter. "Now now, we have to wait for your father to arrive, birthday girl"

She pouted at the older female, she then received a gentle pinch in her cheek, "you're so cute sweetie, I cant believe my little (y/n) is growing up" Her mother Akari said sweetly almost tearing up at the thought of her daughter growing up.

More guest continued to come inside their house, greeting the birthday girl and giving their presents. The girl didn't recognize half of the guest, since they're only a co-workers of her parents. Her other relatives also came and cousins that she have never met before. She invited her classmates but only five to seven came, she didn't really care who attended. She only cares about the foods and the gift.

She continued observing the guest who we're being entertained by her mother until a hand covered her eyes, The one who's covering her eyes didn't spoke a word but guessing by their action,they wanted her to guess who it is.

She smiled because she already knew who it was from the beginning "Toru nii-san I know it's you!" Finally, the hand covering her eyes was remove.

"Aww, how did you know?"

"Of all the guest here, you're the only one who would do that" She said.

"Hehe" Toru only let out a short laugh before remembering something "Oh yeah, here is my present for you" he pick up the well wrapped birthday present from the ground and hand it to the birthday girl who gladly accept it.

"I sacrificed my money from not buying tools to buy you a present, it's not that special I guess- you have a lot of it in your room so-" He stop when he saw (y/n) already tearing up the perfectly wrapped present.

"Wha-what are you doing! You're not suppose to open that yet, a-a-atleast do it somewhere without me" He panicked but quickly calm down at the girl's face.

She stared at the present with sparkling eyes, smiling happily at her brothers gift. "It's the latest Crimson riot action figure and its a limited addition! Omg, and it have a holographic projector too!" She pressed on the button and showed a hologram of one of Crimson riot's interview.

The two siblings watched the interviewer asking the hero a question about experiencing fear as a hero, The girl listened attentively as Crimson reveals that he isn't a hero that simply never experiences fear, noting that when he enters into a battle against super villains, he does fear for his life.

"Woah, He's so cool! Crimson Riot is so cool! His word can inspire a lot of people who's having trouble facing their fears" She continued praising her all time favorite hero, she would have easily chosen All might the number one hero like everyone does but her heart is set on another, and likes manly people like Crimson Riot.

"Thank you so much nii-san! I'll treasure this!" She jump on her brother and wrapped her arms around the boys waist tightly, the boy wasn't prepared for a surprise hug, almost falling out of balance, but was supported by stepping one foot backward.

"You're welcome (y/n)" His smiled sweetly hugging back his sister. They stayed like this for a while before releasing when they heard a familiar deep voice from the door.

"Where's my birthday girl!?" The two siblings faces lit up when they saw their dad. He just came back from work after 2 months just to attend his daughters birthday.

The girl ran towards the older male and Toru followed. Their father, Kozu kneeled down his daughter's level and hug her tightly but make sure she can breathe. "I miss you sweetie" he kiss her forehead. "Hehe, I miss you too Dad" (y/n) giggled.

Kozu look up to see his son standing next to them, he ruffled his hair too hard causing the boy to complaint "Ah Dad! Stop it, you're ruining my hair" Kozu only laugh at his son's reaction. "Sorry sorry, I miss you too much, I cant help my self" he said standing up.

"Honey you're late" The older male perks up to see his lovely wife walking towards them. "Better late than never" he said, while grabbing his wife's waist and kissing her all over her face and whispering sweet nothings to her ear.

The two siblings only watch in disgust. "Ew! Stop it Daddy, Im the birthday girl, I'm the one who should get all the affection"

"We have guests here, you should be ashame of yourself!" The boy crossed his arms and looks away from the couple.

Their parents laugh at their reaction, the kids aren't use to them being all cuddly but like to tease them to see their cute reactions.

The (L/n) family, A family of four. Their parents is known at their town for having a successful job. Kozu who works at the I-island as a scientist and inventor and Akari who's a professional doctor, a surgeon in fact. Have two kids named (y/n) and an inspiring scientist named Toru, despite being quirkless they are happy without it.

The family lives in a coastal area, the beach is only a 5 minute walk from their house. They're like living in their own private forest because their surrounded by large trees and small hills. They prefer living with the nature than the other neighborhoods.

"Lets light up the candles so we can start eating" Akari said pulling out the lighter from her pocket. The four went to the table and guest gathered around it.

(Y/n) who is now five years old stood at the chair once again. As soon as her mother lit up the candle, they all sang the birthday song.

She bobs her head up and down waiting patiently for the song to finish.

"Happy birthday to you~" Her family and the guest cheers once the song finished.

"C'mon sis, make a wish and blow your candle" Toru whispered.

A wish? She haven't thought about that. She close her eyes and thought carefully, Opening her eyes she wished silently in her head

'Even if I'm quirkless, I wish to experience exciting adventures and be like Crimson Riot, no matter how scary the situation he's in. He'll face it!

••••••••••••••••

2 years later, In Miyagi Japan. A six- year-old female and a nine-year-old male is having trouble getting home because of a heavy rain. The sky is covered in black clouds making the area dark enough troubling the two from seeing the path to their home, the rain falls in crazy chaotic drop, their whole body soak in water making the umbrella useless at this point.

"Toru nii-san, I'm cold" (Y/n) said, hugging her shivering form with one arm while the other hand is holding the umbrella with struggle. Toru quickly held his sister close to him as they walk.

"We are almost there (y/n). Hold on" he tried to comfort her, clicking his tongue he said "Tch, No one said anything about rain storm" The weather reporter said it himself that today is going to be a sunny day, but somehow his report gave a false information.

But this isn't the first time it happened. There's no sign of rain coming but suddenly water started pouring down, strong winds came from nowhere. Somehow the weather became fuck up.

"Ah! The umbrella's broken" Toru look at the broken umbrella in frustration. The downside of living in a forest like area.

They decided to stop and stood under a large trees, it has a lot strong branches and leaves so it shielded them from the rain. "Why did we only decided to stop now?" (y/n) deadpanned waiting for her brother to respond.

After a minute of silence, they laugh at each other. "I dont know, you're the one who's eager to go home" He said out loud.

"Cause I dont want to get stuck in the rain! I want to go home and shower and eat Mom's hot delicious soup" She said while imagining herself eating the soup in her pajama, watching the rain pour down on their window. This only cause her stomach to growl hungrily. "Yep I want to go home~" She whined. "What do you think is happening with our weather system here, it happened 3 times all ready"

"I don't know, but I'm sure the researcher and hero's is dealing with it" Toru said, while fixing his umbrella.

"It must be someone with a weather quirk or something" she muttered and Toru only hum in respond. He was too busy fixing the umbrella he didnt bother replying with words.

"Or the world is about to end because the weather is all mess up" She said.

"The world isn't going to end (y/n) dont think that far ahead, I still have to achieved my dream of becoming a scientist and marry a beautiful woman" He said. Few moments later of being drenched in water, shivering. A voice yelled out their names.

"Toru! (Y/n) where are you?!" The voice of their Dad was heard in the distance. This cause them to yell as well. "Dad,Were over here! Come get us!"

••••••••••••••••••

Akari walked back and forth, worriedly thinking if her children is safe out in the rain, The rain poured down without any warnings. She send her husband to look for them in the woods, her mother instinct said that they're stuck out there.

She stopped walking when hearing a familiar tune on the TV, She walk closer to the television seeing the commercial is over, the news was on the screen again.

"This just in, there have been reports about strange looking creatures across the whole world-"

"What?"

The door opened and Kazu and two kids stepped inside the room soaking wet, leaving the wet umbrella outside and taking the kids bag from their back, he went and grab two large towels and wrapped it around the kids.

"Go find your Mom, she'll warm you up" He said. The two nod before walking down the halls to the livingroom to find their mother. Getting closer to the living room, she heard the sound of the tv and saw her mothers figure watching the Tv.

Running towards her she said "Mom! Mom! Can I have chicken soup for dinner-" she stop in her track when she saw her mothers unreadable expression, her eyes was focus in the screen. Standing on her spot like she had seen something frightening.

"Mom, what happened?" Toru asked beside her. Akari came back to reality when she heard his son's voice. She let out a relief sigh and ran closer to the both of them, "Thank goodness you're both safe, BUT your all wet! Quick go take a shower before you catch a cold" she said, rubbing (y/n)'s hair with her towel.

"What did the news say Mom?" Toru asked with curiosity. "Well its-" she was interrupted by the Tv.

"These Monsters like creatures are spotted roaming in all places, in the water, land and air. It had said to be attacking humans and eating crops, it appears these strange looking creatures have quirks. Many believe it's a doing of a villains, The scientists and pro heroes are still finding out more plausible excuse for such sightings. For now, these creatures are believe to be a threat to humans"

In the screen, they showed pictures of the creatures some are blurred and not taken properly. She look closely to see a dark purple creature with roundish body is standing in between the trees, its eyes glowed red and its appear it has a wide creepy smile.

Another photo was shown. A picture of a narrowed street with more monsters standing in the corner, Bunch of photos is shown in the screen and (Y/n) notice that they're in different shape and sizes. Their backs facing the camera, staring in disbelief she saw a walking blue turtle.

The last photo, is located in a farm with pumpkins that was being eaten by a bunch of rat however if you look closely it doesn't look like a normal rat.

"If they're going to show pics, they should have given us a more clear picture than a blurred one, who knows it might be photoshopped or

An illusion from someones quirk" Her brother complained. Only to be shushed by their mother "This is serious Toru! These creatures might be real and...dangerous!"

"If I wasn't in a short break from work, I would have get to the bottom of this" Her father said.

(Y/n) watched with interest when a video footage is played. A video of a thunderstorm, and something was flying above it. She cant distinguish what its look like but base on it's silhouette of a bird like creature, its wings and tail are a mass of spiky feathers and A large crest of spiked feathers surrounds its head.

What happened in the video was something unexpected, the creature flaps it wings and releases electricity that cause thunderstorm. "W-woah It did that?! Scary" Her brother exclaimed.

Scary? She didn't feel frightened at all, in fact she watch the video in awe. Her hearts beating with excitement when she saw a bird surround by sparks and the thunderstorm makes it even more cooler. She felt like she was watching her favorite hero except it's different. She felt interested in this monster like creatures.

'Creatures with quirks....sugoi!"

She was about to tell her brother what she feels but then a female news caster stop her from doing so.

"The Pro heroes is going to deal with these monster like creatures for now we all advise everyone to stay indoors specially childrens and be alert of your surroundings until further notice, I repeat stay indoors specially childrens and be alert of your surroundings until further no-"

The Tv suddenly black out, the light and other electronics as well. There was a power outage due to the raging storm.

I decided to post only ONE chapter of my Bnha x Reader x Pokemon crossover, I will let you know that this story is only available at Wattpad, but I dont mind sharing one of the chapter here.

MY POKEHERO written by HenceVy

#bnhaxpokemon #bnha x reader #pokemon x reader #bnha fanfiction #todoroki #midoroya #xreader #anime x reader

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fleckcmscott · 4 years

Text

Watch What Happens - Chapter 5

Chapter links: 1, 2, 3, 4

Summary: Arthur, an aspiring comedian, has struggled to find normalcy and compassion his entire life. Y/N, a hard-working paralegal and transplant to Gotham, has just been put on a case for the Wayne Foundation. When they meet, unexpected sparks fly.

Chapter warning: Swearing, Angst

Words: 3,235

The week hadn't been kinder than most. Arthur's mother continued to badger him into mailing letters to Thomas Wayne, which he always did, though it was starting to frustrate him. He’d gotten notice the fee for heating the apartment was going up due to record oil prices. And he'd been fired.

It was a harsh coincidence that his biggest failure had been at the place he loved to perform the best. He'd been singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" with the children at the hospital, moving along to the upbeat music. They were having fun; even the staff had been smiling. It had been one of those rare times that he'd felt good. But he'd lost himself in the dance, as he tended to do, and made a mistake.

He'd taken to carrying the .38 regularly for protection. Feeling less vulnerable was nice for a change. And Randall had been right: no one had known he had a gun.

The pistol had sat safely tucked in his waistband. But Arthur spun a little too eagerly, stomped his foot a little too hard. The pistol had fallen through his pant leg and onto the floor.

His head had whipped around at the sound of metal hitting the linoleum. Faking a cry, he’d lunged towards the weapon, giving it a slight kick. Maybe if he retrieved it foolishly, the nurses would think it was part of his act. He had grabbed it and shoved it in the lab coat he wore over his Carnival costume of a yellow vest and patched brown pants. Nervous giggles escaped him as he put a finger over his mouth, gently shushing the children. Thank god he hadn't had a laugh attack.

Now he sat on the subway, large prop-bag by his side, still in make-up and costume. He hadn't even removed his wig. The train car was quiet, with only a woman reading a book and a middle-aged lady nearby. Staring into nothing, he remembered his conversation with Hoyt.

Someone from the hospital had called before he'd gotten to a pay phone. The despair he'd experienced when begging for his job still sat heavy in his chest. Hoyt had called him a liar. Arthur had lied. Hoyt hadn't believed Arthur before when he'd said he'd been jumped - why would he believe he was carrying the gun for self-defense?

And Randall... Randall had told Hoyt that Arthur had tried to buy the gun off him. It became clear to Arthur, then, that the gift, the kind gesture that had meant so much, had been the trick he'd originally suspected. He'd been an idiot to take the weapon. He hadn't even wanted it. He wasn't sure what hurt more: losing his job or being the fall guy.

It didn't matter, anyway. He shouldn't have brought that gun to the children's hospital. He was such a screw-up. It was difficult, how hard it was for him to make the right decisions sometimes. How could he be so good at taking care of his mother and so terrible at caring for himself? All he could do at the moment was sit and contemplate what went down.

The train came to a stop and three men in business attire walked in. Their volume and obnoxiousness made it clear they were drunk. A woman ran in after them and headed to the back left corner. She dropped onto the seat and took a folder out of her canvas bag. After a few seconds of watching her, Arthur realized it was Y/N. The corners of his lips turned up slightly. She had headphones on; he wondered what she was listening to. He wanted to go to her, but the men were in the way.

The shorter of the three men sat, eating fries out of the greasy paper bag he held. The other two friends continued to stand and talk.

"I'm telling you. She wanted my number. We should have just stayed." the man without a suit jacket said.

The taller man scoffed. "You're dreaming, man. She wasn't interested - at all."

"Did you see how close we were dancing?" the first man replied as the train began to move. "She was in love!" He started shimmying, badly, as he hung onto the pole grip

Arthur watched them closely, admiring their confidence. Maybe some of it would rub off on him.

The sitting guy held the paper bag out to the woman with the book. "Hey, do you want some fries?" When she didn't respond, he wiggled it at her. "Hello? I'm talking to you. Hey."

The woman looked up, answering politely. "No, thank you."

Confusion came across Arthur's face. Wasn't offering a woman a bite to eat a normal thing to do? He'd offered Y/N his favorite donut and she'd responded well. Maybe the woman wasn't hungry.

The dancing man sat next to the fry guy. "Don't ignore him, " he intoned, gesturing to his friend. "He's being nice to you."

French fries landed in the woman's hair as the men started throwing them at her. It was then Arthur understood the men's offerings were not kindly meant. They were like what Randall had done to him - selfish and ugly.

The woman looked to Arthur, obviously wanting him to intervene. He found he couldn't do more than look at her in sympathy. Even as he did that, he felt like a coward. Part of him wanted to speak up, but he was filled with unease. As his discomfort grew, he felt his body tense up, his throat begin to tickle. He shook his head lightly, turning away. Not now.

Not now, please...

Loud, throaty laughter burst out of him. He felt the eyes of everyone stare at him. Wincing, he covered his mouth in desperation. He took a deep breath and lowered his hand, seeming to get his fit under control. But then his body betrayed him again, and more involuntary gales escaped.

The woman with the book got up and left the train car. Arthur didn't dare to give Y/N more than a glance. She was watching him and the men, taking her headphones off.

"Hey, asshole. What's so fucking funny?" he heard the tall guy yell at him.

Arthur's guffaws came even louder through his fingers. He lowered his hand to his stomach, willing his diaphragm to calm itself. He waved in their direction, trying to dismiss his outburst.

The men moved towards him. The tall one was singing, swinging from strap to strap as he got closer. Arthur could only choke out, "Please. Stop."

He felt his eyes tear up as they passed over Y/N, then down to the floor. He curled away as his laughter continued. The two times they'd met, he'd been able to hide himself from her. Now she was going to see him as the weak freak he was. She'd hate him. He'd lose her kindness. The same way he lost everything.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. He hadn't spoken up out of fear of unwanted attention, and now his condition was making him a show. The gun in his waistband felt heavy against his abdomen. He felt like turning it on himself.

The feeling of warmth against his arm caused him to still. He screwed his eyes shut against the blows he knew were incoming.

"Come with me to the next car." Y/N's voice surprised him.

Arthur couldn't bring himself to face her, but, out of the corner of his eye, he could see she was standing between himself and the men. He wondered if it was all a dream. But it couldn't be. His affliction never struck him in those. No. This was real. And Y/N was tugging at his sleeve.

Still bent with laughter, he stood and grabbed his bag. He walked in front of her. The door to the next car seemed so distant.

"Hey," he heard the tall man yell. "What are you, lady, a clownfucker?"

Anger bloomed in Arthur’s chest. She was being insulted because of him. Shouldn't he be rescuing her? That's how it went in every film he'd seen. He stopped, starting to spin, wanting to go back and cold cock the guy. Before he could, though, Y/N gently pushed him forward. Reaching the door, he opened it, then passed through the second door and entered the next car.

It was empty, thankfully. And the men hadn't cared enough to follow them. He dropped his bag to the floor. Various items spilled out of it when it tipped over. Slumping down on a nearby seat, he leaned forward, elbows on his knees. A confusing mix of consolation and shame coursed through him. "I'm-" he coughed, laughter finally subsiding. "I'm sorry."

She was standing some distance away, further than she had the other times they'd met. That wasn't lost on him. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"I - I have a condition." Fishing around in his inner vest pocket, he retrieved a laminated card that explained his laughter and held it out to her. He didn't know how he kept his hand from shaking. She'd know the truth now. Frustrated and sweating under his wig, he ripped it off and reached to shove it in his bag.

Y/N was suddenly crouched in front of him. "Arthur?"

Stilling, it dawned on him that she hadn't recognized him in costume. He'd given himself away. "Yes," he said, defeated. He lifted his gaze to her.

She was looking at him so...affectionately. There was empathy there, a little sadness. But a gentle smile was on her lips. He wished he could be sure of what it meant. She handed his card back to him, then started to pick up the props that had fallen out of his bag.

Relief she hadn't run away, and was seemingly glad to be around him, settled in his body. It was foreign. He watched her pick up the magic wand that had rolled a couple feet away. When she handed it to him, Arthur felt the urge to pull her into his arms. He settled for squatting next to her to help her pick up instead.

"You must have had a show tonight," she said. "How'd it go?"

That snapped him back to reality. He snorted humorlessly, shaking his head. "It went great."

"I'm sorry I missed it."

"It was at the children's hospital." He shut his eyes, remembering giving back the lab coat and his Dr. Arthur name tag. Anxiety crept back into his body. "It was nice." Slowly, he stood and brought his hand to the side of his face, fingertips smudging his make-up. "I'm sorry you had to see me like this. I understand if you don't want to talk to me anymore."

There was an awkward silence before Y/N chuckled. His eyes narrowed. Was she laughing at him? "Because you're dressed as a clown? Don't be ridiculous." The train slowed and she straightened, adjusting the bag on her shoulder. "This is my stop. Come on."

He picked up his bag and followed her to the doors, standing beside her. Once the train stopped, he followed her onto the platform. His steps slowed, doubt refusing to leave his head. "No." His earnestness felt disgraceful. "Because of my condition."

Y/N stopped and looked at him. "Arthur, it's fine." She continued along, then. "Let's go up. It smells like piss down here."

He blinked as she hurried up the nearby stairs and turned to wait for him at the top. Her silhouette against the background of streetlights and steam loaned him the strength to get his legs working. His pace quickened, a grin daring to spread across his face at the prospect of walking with her again.

When he caught up with her, he touched his ribs, sore from his earlier laughter. "If you didn't know who I was, why did you help me?"

She started going down the sidewalk at a slow but steady pace. "You were in trouble."

Guilt assuaged him at the slight disappointment he felt. He'd wanted to believe she'd helped him because he was Arthur, not because he was some defenseless stranger on the subway. Straining, he fought that negative thought back. He didn't want to taint whatever they had with that. He should be glad she seemed to be a good person; he'd try to be.

Her continued answer warmed him, though. "I wouldn't have told anyone else this was my stop. Or invited them along." She flashed him a grin. "Know how I recognized you?"

A painted eyebrow lifted. "How?" he asked

"Your nice hair." She chuckled. "That's actually how I referred to you before I knew your name. 'Good hair, Tan jacket.'"

He made a face, looking away from her. Was she flirting with him or trying to cheer him up? Maybe she had a thing for weirdos. He'd happily be that weirdo. His hands raked through his unruly curls, trying to come up with a good reply. "Glad I took the wig off."

"Me, too," she said.

Arthur's head was spinning. He'd had a great gig, lost his job, been rescued by Y/N. What a fucking day. He reached up and squeezed his left shoulder. Yes, he was still here. She was still next to him. A breath he hadn't known he was holding escaped him.

At the next corner, Y/N stopped. "This is my street." She leaned in slightly, lowering her voice. "I don't want to be pushy. You're a grown man. But are you gonna be all right on the way home? I mean, I could call a cab. It's a long walk, you don't have a coat, I-"

"I'll be fine," he said, gently but firmly. "Don’t worry about me."

Smiling wryly, she pointed at his prop-bag. "You could always take out anyone who bothered you with that." She rummaged around in her purse and held out a piece of paper to him. "Here. Just...call me tomorrow? The earlier the better. And let me know you made it." She continued as he took the it, his fingers brushing against hers. "It'll make me feel better."

He studied the business card intensely before putting it in his vest pocket. "Okay. Thank you. I- I don't know what to say."

She shrugged. "Just say you're alive. That won't be too hard, right?" She nudged him with her elbow.

That wasn't what he had meant, but her smile was infectious, and for once he didn't mind being misunderstood. "Yeah."

Y/N started off down the street, walking backwards. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. Get home safe."

Arthur nodded and watched her turn to head the other way, standing there until she was out of sight. He patted his vest pocket and started to run home, in a hurry to get her card in a safe place.

~~~~~

Despite his firing, Arthur had had a busy morning. He'd dropped off the rent check, confirmed his upcoming appointment with the Department of Health, and gone to HaHa's to pack up his locker.

That last one had stung, but was surprisingly less stressful than he'd assumed it would be. He'd been able to avoid Hoyt, which was a rare stroke of luck. Arthur hadn't been sure if he would burst into tears, laugh, and beg for his job back, or punch him in the throat. His former co-workers either greeted or ignored him, as usual. There hadn't been many questions. When the Chippendale behind him joked about Arthur killing himself, he knew they were glad to be rid of him. Gary had shown sympathy, though, and it hadn't been fake like Randall's.

Arthur was fairly proud of how he'd revealed the pistol belonged to Randall. Then "punched out" by knocking the clock off the wall. Then ruined the sign telling everyone to smile. Sometimes pettiness was the only fuel to get through the day.

Now at home, Arthur was turning the business card Y/N had given him over and over in his hand. His knee bounced as he leaned back against the kitchen counter, smoking, running his thumb over the embossed name on the card-stock. It seemed like an easy thing, picking up the phone and calling a woman. When he daydreamed about it, it was. And he longed to. But, despite Y/N's demand that he call her, he hadn't worked up the nerve to do it.

Walking with her after the train had felt...normal, like what he wished for himself, when so few other aspects of his life did. Her smile, her friendliness - they hadn't disappeared despite his laughter or the taunting he'd been on the receiving end of. None of it had seemed to bother her. And she'd returned his card. They were usually discarded by those he gave them to. She'd looked into his eyes as she'd handed it back. His chest ached at the memory.

She was the kindest woman he'd met, the only one who hadn't talked to him because it was her job, but because she saw him. And here he was, letting his insecurities fritter away his chance to talk to her again.

It was already early afternoon. He muttered to himself and rubbed at his forehead. "'Hi, Y/N.' 'Hi, is Y/N there?' 'This is Arthur. Is Y/N available?'" He swallowed hard. Should he ask her out? He couldn't afford much, but he had a few dollars in his wallet. The thought of being in her presence again made his stomach flip.

Before his doubts could claw him back down, he pushed himself off the counter, picked up the receiver, and jabbed her office number into the phone. He puffed on his cigarette, willing himself not to hang up as it rang on the other end.

"Shaw & Associates. How can I help you?"

The calmness in his words concealed the force he put into being able to speak. "Is this Y/N?"

"Arthur!" The smile in her voice reached through the line and grabbed him. "I'm glad to hear from you." Her tone softened. "When I didn't hear from you this morning, I was afraid I'd have to hunt you down."

He braced himself on the wall next to the phone, relief washing over him. This time, he was fairly certain she was flirting. A unfamiliar thrill went through him, thinking of how to flirt back. "Maybe you're talking with a ghost?" he attempted. Y/N snorted lightly. He closed his eyes, pushing the next words out. "I want to repay you for last night and was wondering -"

"You don't owe me anything," she interrupted.

"- if you like pie?" he continued without stopping.

There were a few seconds of silence before her answer. "I love pie."

He smiled widely. "Okay. I have an appointment in your area tomorrow. In your office area. It's at three."

Her response came quicker than he expected. "Meet me outside my building at one? The address is on the card."

He nodded to himself. "Yeah. Okay. That sounds good."

Y/N's gentle reply caused him to blush as he savored the sound of her voice. "I'm looking forward to it. See you then."

The receiver stayed in his hand until it began bleating at him. He slowly put it back in its cradle. Laughter started, genuine laughter, as he took a long drag off his cigarette.

What the hell was he going to wear?

Tag list (Let me know if you want to be added!): @harmonioussolve@clowndaddyfleck @stephieraptorr

#arthur fleck #arthur fleck x reader #arthur fleck x female reader #arthur fleck fanfic #arthur fleck x ofc #joker 2019 #watchwhathappens

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forever-your-soldat · 5 years

Text

If You See Her

At the end of the day, we don’t know the person unless they show us who’s beneath the mask.

Picture is not mine.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2: After meeting the mysterious new girl, Natasha can’t help herself. She loves pretty things. And with how Wanda, and everyone else, seemed to take a liking to the girl, she’s going to struggle on how to go about it if the other does decide to befriend her.

It had been two days since Pepper’s birthday. Two days since they’ve met Y/n. Natasha acted around like normal. The occasional flirting and lingering touches with random people, but surprisingly, Wanda would find Natasha coming back to their apartment but chose not to say anything about it.

It’s only been a few days, so she doesn’t jump to anything. Instead, she focuses on her own things. “Hey, what did you and Y/n talk about, back at the restaurant?” Natasha’s voice suddenly reached her ears as she looked up from her laptop.

“What?” The brunette asked, momentarily forgetting what they had talked about and Natasha raises a brow at her when she exited her room. “Before she left? I was waiting for you guys to finish talking so we could go home, remember?”

Realization dawns on her and a smile suddenly brightened up her features at the memory. “Oh, yeah! She had to go to work that time. She said that she had to meet with the director for a play she’s joining.” Wanda answered as she continued to type something on her laptop.

“Why’d you ask?”

Nat hums lightly before she shakes her head. “No reason. I was wondering what was taking you so long, but I forgot because I was too sleepy.” Wanda seemed to buy the lie as she nodded her head. “Well, I asked her if I’d be able to see it and she told me she would say try, but who knows? We just met, really.” She commented offhandedly.

That seemed to catch Nat’s attention as she walked over to the island and leaned against it. “What’s the play about?”

Wanda shrugged lightly. “I have no idea. It’s not like we talk to each other on a regular basis, Nat.” She then shut her laptop and pushed it away so she can rest her elbow on the island and placed her chin on her hand. “Why the sudden interest?” She inquired, brow raised in a curious look and Natasha kept her expression neutral.

“I’m just curious is all. It’s not everyday we meet a person who clicks that well with all of us at the same day and time.” The redhead pointed out then grabbed a cookie from their jar. Since Wanda loved to cook, baking came in afterwards so they had snacks in jars and containers.

“Nat, I know you. It’s not just nothing when you see a pretty girl.” Wanda sighed, exasperated as she rubbed the bridge of her nose and Natasha mocked offense. “Hey, I don’t just go after pretty faces.” She retorted and Wanda gave her a deadpan look.

“Well, while you go and busy yourself today, I’m going to head out.” She announced after a while and grabbed her coat, wallet, and phone before heading out the door. “Don’t wait up for me!”

Wanda rolled her eyes before she reopened her laptop then started to do her work again.

~~~~~~~~~~~

During Natasha’s walk, she was entering detective mode. She wanted to search about the things Y/n does, her likes and dislikes, hobbies, favorite past time. Tony was able to do it, then it wouldn’t be a problem for her. But she remembers, she doesn’t know her last name.

Quickly going into Pepper’s account, she scanned through her friends and she was quick to type up Y/n’s name before a picture of the h/c popped up on her phone screen.

Perfect.

Soon enough, there were various tabs with the girl’s info on them. To say she was impressed was an understatement. Y/n had various achievements than she had thought. And the channel Pepper mentioned had a bigger fandom and support than Y/n made it seem to be.

By the time she arrived at the theater, Natasha already knew the basics of Y/n’s life, but of course, she wouldn’t be saying anything. She only needed that to set her plans into action.

There was only one theater near the restaurant that night and Natasha could only hope that it was the right one. It would be too much of a hassle if she had to go check the other places. The only thing she needed aside from locating Y/n’s whereabouts was how to actually get closer to her.

Too busy with her eyes on her phone, Natasha failed to see the person standing in front of her. “Oh!” She stepped back after colliding with a body and her eyes clashed with the same e/c she saw at the dinner. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” She quickly slid her phone into her pocket and slipped on a smile.

“That’s fine. Lucky, you weren’t near the road.” The girl chuckled as she gave Natasha a once over. “If my memory serves me right, you’re Natasha?” The redhead grinned as she tilted her head a bit. “Oh, I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else.” She replied and the other let out a hum.

“Is that so? I could have sworn that you’re the same beautiful woman I saw at Pepper’s dinner. I don’t think I could mistake a face like that with anyone else.” Natasha could have sworn she felt her heart flutter at that, but she merely smirked. “You think I’m beautiful?” She teased and Y/n sent her one back.

“I’m pretty sure I said that Natasha is beautiful and you said that wasn’t you.” A laugh came spilling from both their lips before Y/n shook her head. “Seriously though. What are you doing here?” She asked and Natasha looked around before she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I was bored and had nothing to do. So, I took a walk and thought of doing something spontaneous.”

Y/n nodded her head at that. “Ah, well, not all of us have much free time.” She chuckled and Natasha looked at her. “What about you? Why are you here?” Y/n pointed to the building and smiled. “I’m currently working here. But I stepped out for a breather since we’re on break.” She explained and Natasha’s smile widened.

Bingo.

“So...” She started while staring at the building. “What’s it like there, with the whole rehearsal, costumes, and all the acting?” Y/n took a while to answer before she simply gave a small lift of her shoulders before letting them sink back down. “It’s fun. The adrenaline is really great to use, especially when you’re in the spotlight.” She pursed her lips and Natasha stared at her profile.

She knew there was something underneath all that. “You get nervous? Even when this isn’t the first time for you on stage?” She asked, slightly surprised and Y/n smiled sheepishly.

“Well, to tell you the truth, I’m always scared before stepping up on stage. But there’s always this thrill of being in front of all those people, all hung up on every word the actors say.” She expressed with a contented look on her face. “It’s also fun because no one knows who they are. Not unless they actually get to know the actors, then they’ll be surprised by how different they are on and off stage.”

Natasha seemed surprised by the revelation, but she felt even more interested. She loved when girls were able to render her speechless. She loved when women had a way with words, that they aren’t just a pretty face.

“Will you be fine if I wanted to get to know you before the character?” The smirk that crept up Y/n lips caused her excitement to grow. “How about I let you see both?” Seeing the confusion on the redhead’s face, Y/n offered her hand and gestured inside. “Come on.”

Who was Natasha to pass up the opportunity she needed? Grasping Y/n’s hand in hers, she let the latter lead her inside and she quickly took in the amount of people going about, all busy with their own departments.

“Y/n, I know I said we had a break but how on earth do you just randomly pick a woman off the street?” A man teased when he spotted the two. Judging from his appearance, Natasha figured this man was the director.

Y/n snorted before shaking her head. “Relax Tyler. She’s a friend and we happened to see each other when I was outside. Her name is Natasha, by the way.” The man waved a hand dismissively and Y/n laughed before turning to Natasha. “We’ll be starting rehearsals again in a few minutes. Why don’t you watch and criticize me after?” She asked and Natasha raised a brow. “And have the opportunity to bruise your ego? I would love to.”

Y/n rolled her eyes before she jogged back to the stage where a woman walked up to her and began talking to her about the script. “I haven’t heard about a Natasha for as long as I’ve met the kid.” Tyler commented as he flipped through the script and she looked over. “What are you to her?” He asked without looking at her.

Natasha hummed in reply as she watched Y/n go about on stage. “We’re friends. We met last Thursday at a mutual friend’s birthday.”

“Pepper Potts?”

She nodded and the man made a small sound of acknowledgement. “Since you’re new, that means you haven’t seen her on the stage?” He guessed and Natasha casually crossed her arms while leaning back against the plush seat. “Be ready for a show then.” He mused before finally calling the actors for the scene.

In actuality, Natasha wasn’t really one for plays. She didn’t seem to find interest on watching people act. She was more into dancing. It didn’t involve talking so she never bothered with plays. The ones that they did in school, she would always sneak out or just sleep through them. “This is the last scene for the day.” As soon as Tyler yelled ‘action’, she saw the way Y/n facial expression shifted again, much like in the earlier scenes. She watched intently, listening to all the things the woman said that she found herself seated on the edge of her seat.

“But how could you love a simple man, such as myself?” At the beginning, Natasha was confused why the lead male role was played by a girl, but she shrugged the thought off. Who gave a fuck if they were both girls?

Y/n watched as the other woman fixed her boot, her eyes soft as she carefully reached down and her hand landed gently on the blonde’s cheek, causing her to look up in wonder while Y/n smiled at her. “You may be a simple man, but that does not mean you are to be deprived of love.” Her voice was gentle as she kept eye contact with the blonde and she slowly rose up to her feet and Y/n had to tilt her head up a bit since the girl was a few inches taller than her.

The blonde’s face held sorrow as she held the hand pressed against her cheek. “I cannot help but do so, knowing that the woman I long to be with will be in the arms of someone else. Someone undeserving of her... someone who does not love her.” By then, both their foreheads were pressed against each others and Natasha gripped the armrest tightly, her body tense.

Y/n’s eyes flickered before her hand slipped from the blonde’s then landed on her chest, her fingers barely touching above her heart and the blonde’s breath hitched but no one heard it since they didn’t have any mics on them at the moment. “Then you follow your heart, love. At the end of it all, it matters not who she marries but the home of where her heart lives.”

Their faces were mere inches away. If Y/n just tilted her head, their lips would brush against each other. Natasha’s eyes narrowed at that but everyone seemed so absorbed in what was transpiring, though some of the actors were confused and one of them cleared their throat. “It’s not the kiss scene yet.” He told them and the pair quickly broke away, finally breaking character.

The blonde had a light blush coating her cheeks, as did Y/n but she kept a smile on her face while the director nodded his head. “I’m sorry. I got a bit lost with the flow.” The blonde apologized while rubbing the back of her neck. “That means Y/n was doing her job.” Tyler grinned proudly before he shook his head. “Alright. That’s it for today. Good job, everyone! I’ll see you all on Monday!”

Finally, everyone was ready to go home. Natasha didn’t even realize that it was already dark out. She had missed a text from Wanda asking where she was and if she would be eating back at the apartment. She sent a quick no and added that she was with a friend before she went to look at Y/n, who just finished talking to the blonde from earlier then came walking up to her.

“So, how was it?” Y/n asked, running her fingers through her hair and ruffling it up a bit, making Natasha bite her lip before shaking her head and a smile slipped on her face. “Okay, I have nothing to say to hurt your ego.” She teased and Y/n grinned widely. “I’m glad you found it interesting.” She then glanced at the time then looked at Natasha. “Will you be heading home now or do you have time joining me for dinner?”

Of course she had time.

The pair had gone to a diner that was somewhere near Central Park. Lucky for them, there wasn’t that much people inside so they managed to grab a booth and had a peaceful environment around them. There was a jukebox in the corner of the joint and some movie posters on the walls.

While waiting for their food, the two had just gone to talk about whatever came to mind until Natasha brought up the rehearsal. “I mean, you weren’t kidding when you said you loved having people hung up on everything you say. You were amazing up there.” She decided to leave out the blonde, not wanting to remember her after the rather intimate moment on stage.

Y/n giggled while she took a sip of her drink. “Thank you for the compliment but I never said that I was the one doing that.” There was a playful and teasing grin on her face and Natasha just found her even more attractive. “You said it was fun when actors did it. From what I remember, you’re the actress here.” Natasha shot back with a grin of her own. “You have that effect, too.”

Natasha saw as a glint appeared in Y/n’s eyes and she leaned closer. “Do I?” Somehow Natasha found herself lost in those pools of e/c as she leaned in without realizing and Y/n stared back at her, index finger lightly gliding over her own lower lip and Natasha’s gaze lowered to them and she wanted to badly feel her lips on her own.

But before she could do anything, Y/n leaned back with a smirk displayed on her face and Natasha snapped out of her reverie just as the food arrived. “It’s good to know that I have that effect on people.” Y/n’s voice cut through her thoughts and a grin spread on Natasha’s face.

She was going to enjoy this challenge.

“Nat?”

The call of her name caused both women to look up and the person looked at Y/n in surprise. “Y/n?”

The woman grinned happily before waving a hand. “Hey Wanda. It’s been a while.” She told her as the girl walked closer. “What are you doing here?” Natasha questioned.

Wanda glanced at her friend, who was already staring at her. “I got too lazy to cook today so I decided to go out instead.” She replied before turning back to Y/n, whose smile remained on her face before she scooted over and patted the space next to her. “Why don’t you join us? Our food just got here.”

The brunette gave her a small smile and sat across Natasha, who still kept an blank look on her face before she forced a smile when Y/n spoke up. “I didn’t know that you cooked.” She said impressed and Wanda looked away from Natasha to smile at the girl. “I had to learn at a young age. Plus, I love cooking for people.” She gushed and Y/n couldn’t help but find it cute as Wanda continued to talk about her love for cooking.

All the while, Natasha couldn’t help but think of how her friend had unintentionally ruined her plans for the night.

@highlandxcoo

@lesbian-x-blackwidow

#avengers x reader #avengers #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #wanda maximoff #wanda x reader #carol danvers #carol x reader #carol danvers x reader #wanda maximoff x reader #black widow #scarlet witch #captain marvel #au #x reader #reader insert #wlw #marvel

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beautcous · 4 years

Text

Thread 01 (Halloween)

Halloween was a day Sydney absolutely enjoyed, not just because she had more clients demanding her services for their costumes but also because she loved the festivities that came with it. When she heard that this festival would be this year’s Stonehill celebration it was safe to say her excitement grew tenfold. She had just finished carving her pumpkin and was about to go search for her friends who were all scattered around the beach when she heard a group of girls let out such piercing screams which she was sure effectively shattered her ear drums. Sydney looked around to see what the commotion was all about but she didn’t see much only seeing a rather large crowd gather around a tall figure. A figure she was too far to recognize until she began walking closer in the direction of where the crowd was gathered.

By now she was about a few feet away when she realized the cause of the commotion, or rather who. Out of all the people she would have expected, she did not expect Ezra Meyer to make himself known at the event. The brunette could feel her heart rate pick up just a bit at the sight of him in the flesh, she’d only ever seen him on screens and magazines. She really wanted to go over to where he was and seeing him up close but the crowd surround him discouraged her. Any other time, she would have approached him but given what he had happened two weeks when her tweet going viral and then it being discovered and read aloud by the actor on television stopped her from going anywhere near him. Of course, there was chance he didn’t even remember it or her, after all the man probably got millions of thirst tweets from women all around. Or at least she had hoped he wouldn’t recognize her. Before she could make up her mind, she felt a figure ram right into causing a gasp to leave her lips. It was when she looked up did she see a drunken male stumbling and Sydney caught him before he fell over her.

The man snapped out of his daze a moment later when his eyes landed on Sydney and a rather creepy smile appeared on his face. His eyes raking over her small frame in what best could be described as a leer. Sydney rolled her eyes, stepping back when the man finally stood up right and she was about to walk away when the man took a hold of her arm. “Where you going honey? Stay and keep me company, it’s not everyday I bump into a pretty face like yours.” Her brows rose but she shot the man a annoyed look as she attempted to free her arm. Did he honestly think that would work? “Not interested.” She told him flatly, who did not know how to take a hint. “Come on, don’t be like that. I can show you a good time.” The man then stepped closer, his hand around her tightening a bit that had her wince at the grip. “Didn’t you hear me, I’m no interested, let me go or you’ll have a pissed off boyfriend to deal with. Pointedly looking at her male friend who was not too far but had not seen her yet, but that did nothing to deter this asshole.

It was a rather normal activity for Ezra; signing autographs for his adoring fans. He didn’t see the point in whining about it, not when the fans was the reason why he had such a successful career. They made him rich, and he couldn’t be happier to be in this situation. One thing he wished he didn’t have to deal with was the screaming. He never understood why some people would get so excited over another human being. That had never been him. He liked the band Red Hot Chill Peppers, and yet, would anyone ever see him screaming for them like a deranged lunatic? Hell no. That was just lame and he had too much pride to do something so ridiculous. Did he think he was above others in this aspect, no. Only because he believed that people should be free to express themselves. He wasn’t going to be a part of the pack though. Then again, that might be why he was who he was.

Ezra didn’t just stumble into wealth and fame. He’d been doing this ever since he was an infant. He started with baby commercials. You know, like in Gerber. Except he did it for a very popular brand of Formula. Then, as he aged, he started in on acting. The parts kept rolling in, and for the longest time he was being casted as a teenager, staring and co-staring in a bunch of teen rom-coms. He could blame that on his baby face. It was both a blessing and a curse. Once he reached the age of twenty-eight however, he pressed his manager into giving him more adult roles. That was when he was given the staring role in a Sci-Fi Trilogy. After just one movie, his popularity soared. Not that he wasn’t known before, he just got way more popular now. He would admit that his popularity came with a lot of clauses however. For example; it seemed like he couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized now. Everywhere he went, people knew him. It got so bad that he had to start wearing baseball caps and hoodies if he didn’t want the attention.

After what felt like hours of signing autographs and smiling while the fans took photos with him, he was finally done. His cheeks hurt–from all that smiling–and he was beyond exhausted. As he stepped down from the makeshift stage, intending to make his way back to his car with the two bodyguards that were in charge of his care; he heard a commotion, or rather a woman’s voice trying to ward someone away. Feeling the draw to see what was going on, he made his way over there–security pushing the throngs of adoring fans out of his way. What he saw, had him reacting before anyone could stop him. Grabbing the clearly drunken male by the collar, he moved him aside and said, “She said, she’s not interested, or are you hard of hearing?” His brows furrowed as he glared at the intoxicated man;–judging by the stench of alcohol permeating from his pore–after which the bodyguards took him away. Ezra then put his attention on the lithe brunette, who’s face seemed all too familiar. Where had he seen her before? He wondered, yet instead of dwelling on the matter, he chose to focus on whether or not she had been hurt. “Are you okay, Miss? He didn’t hurt you, did he?” He spoke to her gently, not wanting to scare her even further.

Sydney recalled the very first time she’d see him on television and she had no idea what it was but she could feel this pull towards him. Why such was the case, she had no clue. Since then on, the brunette had followed all of his work tuning in each time his show was on and then to the various other projects he had accomplished in his career. Perhaps her most favorite thing to watch was his on screen interviews, and she had to admit the man definitely had a good sense of humor. Sydney had no clue what it was about Ezra that was so riveting but she couldn’t deny her curiously or her intrigue towards the actor. Of course, there was also the fact that he was perhaps the most handsome man she’d ever seen. Unfortunately, any nerve she may have gathered to approach him now went right out the window thanks to the embarrassing tweet she had posted. There was absolutely no way she’d risk him knowing who she was, she supposed it didn’t matter since she had decided against meeting him anyway. Disappointment pooling in her stomach but she quickly squashed it as she began hunting down her friends.

She had only taken a few steps when a drunken idiot stopped her path and came onto her quite aggressively and for a moment a spike of fear washed through her. Normally, she knew how to handle men who didn’t know how to take no for an answer. This bastard was about twice her size and had her arm in an iron grip that each she attempted to tug it loose, his hand only tightened in response causing her to wince at the pressure. Her empty threat that her boyfriend was around had done nothing to deter the man who leered down at her. Sydney then attempted to shove him with her free arm but he barely budged and just as his arm was about to snake around her waist, she saw a hand grab the bastard off her and freeing her arm. She hoped she didn’t look as scared as she had felt in those brief moments but her racing heart didn’t slow because it was then she finally caught the face of her savior. Ezra Meyer. She had to fight to keep the shock off her features but she supposed her fear was doing an excellent job of masking her shock. It took her a few seconds to finally get her brain to work as she realized she was just staring at him while he inquired about her well-being.

Thanks to the incident moments before, it seemed to place her fear of being recognized behind her more so when he stared at her only with concern. Hearing the gentleness in his voice did ease her earlier fear a bit, and she nodded. “I’m fine. A little bruise but nothing that won’t heal.” She said her hand covering the red finger prints the man’s grip had left. Sydney then cleared her throat and gave the actor a small grateful smile, “I can’t thank you enough for showing up when you did. I owe you one, can I buy you a drink or something?” She paused then, realizing how that sounded, “I’m not hitting on you by the way..” Feeling need to add that bit in case he got the wrong idea.

Ezra had never done this; went out of his way to help someone in distress. Not that he was a selfish individual. It just never happened to him before. Now that he was standing before the lithe woman, who’s face still looked all too familiar, he couldn’t help but feel a draw to her. He couldn’t pinpoint where he’d met her before, yet he knew that he’d seen that beautiful face. Her features were distinctive; from those full ruby red lips, cute nose, eyelashes that went on forever, right down to her dark thick brows; he swore he’d seen all of that before. She couldn’t be someone who was loose of morals, the types who would sleep with celebrities, could she? Again, not that he did that often, though he did have his weak moments. What man in their right mind could resist a beautiful woman anyway? No one. Unless they were not into women, which he totally was. He plundered into the recesses of his mind, trying his best to find out if he could remember her face, but it was no use. He had nothing. Just as well. He obviously didn’t need the answer that badly. Otherwise he would have recognized her by now.

He’d just about to forget about it when she spoke. She was saying that she was fine, but judging by how fast she made the remark, he doubted that she truly was. “You sure?” He asked, needing for some reason that was unknown to him to make sure that she was indeed truly alright. “No need to thank me,” he shook his head, a friendly smile appearing on his features for her, “I would’ve done this for anyone.” Really? Nah, he didn’t think so. She just so happened to be lucky that he was around–with a security team. He didn’t regret it however. There was also the added bonus that she was beautiful. Okay, when he initially helped her, he wasn’t checking her out. He was doing what he should be doing, which was be a good Samaritan. Her beauty was simply an added bonus. “You don’t have to buy me a drink.” He added. It was her next statement that made him realize who he was talking to. “You’re her! That girl on twitter…” The words trailed off as he thought about the tweet of him that had gone viral. He didn’t remember what she said word for word, but it definitely had a lot to do with her undying love for him. “–So you have a crush on me, huh?” He queried, his hues dancing with mirth. “I don’t blame you. I’d have a crush on me too, if I were you…” And just because he was feeling playful, he shot the brunette a wink.

Out of all the people she could have imagined coming to her rescue, never did she think it would be Ezra. But then again she supposed she never imagined she’d even run into actor so maybe today was just a strange a day. If Sydney thought Ezra was beautiful on the screen then he was even more breathtaking in real life. As she stood watching him get rid of the creep who had grabbed her, her green hues studied his sharp features, her heart pounding from her incident withe the drunk man and now because she stood just about a feet or so away from the man she admired so much. Perhaps that was putting it too lightly, no, she was a devoted follower of the actor because it was not a big leap to assume that Sydney was absolutely bewitched by him. She realized just how pathetic her thoughts were regarding this man considering she barely knew him, but it still didn’t stop the thoughts that formed in her mind towards Ezra. There was something so compelling about the man that did nothing to ease her affection for the man.

So, despite her reassurance she still heard him confirm if indeed she was fine, Sydney dropped her hand and nodded. “Yes, really, thanks to you.” She told him sincerely just as she heard his next remark which had a smile curve her ruby red lips, her eyes alight and she didn’t know why but that comment pleased her quite a lot. “My hero.” She remarked jokingly, of course, hoping she wouldn’t say something so stupid in her nervousness. The make-up artist was really good with poker face which is why she hoped her nervousness at his mere presence wasn’t so evident on her features. Her relief of him not knowing was short-lived. It was his next words that shocked her a bit, green eyes widening slightly when Ezra had indeed recognized her from her tweet. It was perhaps that moment that Sydney wished the ground would open and swallow her whole. Or a massive wave would come over to the shore and take her with it, anything was better than standing here with a shocked look on her face as Ezra called her out on her embarrassing tweet she’d done on impulse. Her lips parted but no words came out as she tried to compose her features which she did a minute or so later, but she found herself looking away not quite finding the nerve to answer him. Sydney wasn’t sure how this would go because she never expected to him to find her tweet let alone run into him. However, what she hadn’t been expecting was the remark that followed after, the cocky tone in which he had delivered them and she wondered if he was mocking her until she met his gaze and saw the mirth gleaming in his eyes and then the wink. The brunette didn’t know what it was but that cocky remark irked her a bit, dare she say also disappointed her. Brow raised at him she spoke, “I’m still in shock that you read it and remembered exactly who tweeted it. And I wouldn’t say a crush, it was just a silly little thing..” Sydney told him neutrally, “Cocky aren’t you though?” She supposed it’s not so surprising, he was an celebrity after all. “And here I thought you were a bit more humble than that.” Her words a bit blunt, “I’m sure you get millions of tweets like those everyday.”

Perhaps teasing the brunette about her tweet wasn’t the classiest thing Ezra could’ve done. He should’ve been more of a gentleman, and yet, he was still human and things like subtly and being decent sometimes just slip past him. It wasn’t his intention to hurt her or be an ass, it was more of his way to lighten the mood a little. It might’ve rubbed her the wrong way though. Not that he could blame her for her reaction. He was being a total dick. He deserved nothing less. Her response had a smile stretching upon his features. Lithe in frame she might be, but there was something else that made her stand out; the woman had gumption. He actually admired that in her. Her question had him smirking, the memory of the very unfortunate tweet coming to the forefront of his mind. He could still remember it clearly, not word for word, but the icon of the person who’d made the tweet. Ezra remembered being mesmerized for a moment, feeling that it was too good to be true. Someone as beautiful as she was couldn’t possibly have a crush on him. He should be the one who should be holding those feelings, and not her.

One thing he would admit as he stood here, gazing down on her mesmerizing hazel hues, she looked even more beautiful in person than she did on that photo. Especially with ire burning within her irises, he swore he could stand here and just stare at her. Her remark had him blinking his eyes and focusing on her words instead of her pretty face. “I didn’t remember,” he admitted, his head shaking, the cocky smirk still holding its place, “what I do remember is your face. Those eyebrows of yours. How could anyone miss it?” Did that sound like a compliment or an insult? He meant well by it, yet he did have the tendency to stick his foot in his mouth, especially when it came to being around someone he might like. Not that he liked her or anything. Of course not… That would be ridiculous. “Cocky? I wouldn’t say that I was. I’d call it excessive confidence.” He stated this while shooting her a wink. Okay, this was getting weird. Why was he acting like this? “Hey, if I wasn’t humble, I wouldn’t have rescued you just now.” The words sprang forward rather quickly much to his surprise. And technically, he didn’t do much, he simply grabbed the guy by his collar and pulled him away. The rest was done by his security team. He didn’t miss the sharpness of her tongue. Clearly, she wasn’t amused by his behavior, and to be honest, neither was he. He didn’t even understand why he felt the need to act this way. This wasn’t like him at all. “Not from someone as beautiful as you.” He told her, this time he was being earnest. Never had he seen anyone so breathtaking, and he was in the entertainment industry…

It wasn’t that his approach had been horrible but a part of her surprise came from the fact that she hadn’t expected the man to make such an arrogant remark. Nor had she expected him to hit on her right after rescuing her, she just wasn’t used to such attention from a man of his stature. Men like him didn’t hit on women like her which is not to say that Sydney believed herself to be unattractive, she was aware of how attractive she was and was told so by both genders. It was just that she didn’t deem herself to be someone that would be hit on by a man who had no doubt been with stunning models and actresses in the entertainment industry. However, she wasn’t a complete twat to deny that she was flattered that Ezra seemed to notice her, whether he was sincere or not, that remained to be seen. Perhaps the silver lining in this was that Ezra while incredibly cocky, didn’t seem like the rude and snobby types that she had dealt with on set who looked down upon others that weren’t to their social standing. Her initial hesitance to approach him just minutes before he rescued her was because she was a bit afraid that he’d be exactly the rude type.

Ezra’s constant stare did unnerve her mostly because her body reacted very strongly to his piercing gaze. She almost guilty for the way she responding to his gaze because she was dating Lucia, a woman whom Sydney was incredibly attracted to and genuinely liked that she felt as she was doing something wrong by being attracted to this man. Well, it didn’t matter because as much as she admired him she had no intentions of dating him or anything. She’d met Ezra by chance and perhaps this would be the last time she’d ever see him and that might explain her body’s reaction. She simply was not used to being in the presence of an attractive man let alone being hit on by one. “Oh god, not you too..” She muttered under her breath, but of course he’d notice her eyebrows the one thing she despised about herself as a young girl because of the attention it drew, attention she also did not care for. “See, I can’t tell if your insulting me or complimenting.” She remarked pulling his leg for embarrassing her for a moment. However, that didn’t stop the brief amusement that flickered across her hazel hues nor did it stop the reluctant soft laughter that bubbled from within. She was amused by the words but she still wasn’t impressed, but then again Sydney wasn’t easily impressed by a pretty face and a few charming words. “You have a slick answer for everything don’t you?” Before shaking her head softly, and meeting his gaze, “Well, I would say rescuing me would make you a good Samaritan but I’m grateful nonetheless also thank your bodyguards for me.” His latter words however had her freeze for a moment, her gaze snapping over to him and dare she say he looked a bit nervous? Much to her dismay, butterflies swan at the pit of her stomach but she shook of the feeling of flattery and something else that rushed through her briefly. “Well….thank you.” Sydney then cleared her throat, tearing her gaze away to look over his shoulder, “Though I wouldn’t say that’s entirely true. I’ll be honest I’m not sure what you’re trying to gain by all the compliments. I do feel like I should clear up something, I don’t have a crush on you. That tweet was just a mindless thought, with that said, I do however think you’re extremely talented in your work.” Now that bit was the truth, she enjoyed watching Ezra on screen no one could deny that.

Ezra would never dare insult a woman, especially not one that was as bewitching as she was. It wasn’t just her beauty either, it was everything about her. From the bold tweet that he read right down to the way she wasn’t afraid to talk back to him. Most ordinary people, women especially, would gawk at him, and react as though he walked on water. Not this one. She knew exactly how to put him in his place, and maybe it sounded weird to others, but he admired that about her. The urge to get to know the spunky beauty was almost overwhelming, and normally he would be a little smoother in his delivery, yet with her, everything that came out sounded wrong, as though he was trying too hard, or worse yet, as if he’d never been around a beautiful woman before. He had. Of course, he did. However, none of them made him feel this need; the pull to want a little more, to get to know how her mind ticked. He’d been drawn to her even before he ever laid eyes on her personally–thanks to her mishap on Twitter. Now that she was here, there was no way he was going to allow her to slip through his grasp. One way or another, he would see her again; preferably on a date setting. For some, he might be too sure of himself, or even cocky, but that was just how Ezra’s mind worked. He didn’t give up, especially when he wanted something. He would chase after it until what he sought after was finally his.

A sheepish smile formed across his features, and he let out a chuckle at her remark. Despite knowing that he shouldn’t have noticed, he did. Perhaps she was a little self conscious about her eyebrows, which she honestly shouldn’t. They were beautiful, just like the owner. Her eyes were what drew him in to begin with. He almost felt as though her irises were trying to tell him something. What. He didn’t know, but he knew that he wasn’t going to stop until he unearth the reason behind the draw he felt for the woman. “Yes, me too.” He told her, the gentle smile still displayed for her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it as an insult. You have very beautiful brows, and eyes.” He finally explained, not wanting her to think that he was teasing her, because he truly meant to compliment her. Though he felt like an idiot for his faux pas earlier, at least he’d tried to make amends, therefore, he wasn’t that big of a tool. Well, at least he didn’t think so. When she called him slick, he had to laugh it off–nervously. God, what was this woman doing to him? He was Ezra Meyer, he didn’t get nervous… “I don’t have a slick answer. Sometimes, my tongue gets away with itself.” He tried to reason, though he didn’t know why he even felt the need to do so, he simply felt that he had to. Odd. “No, I was here so I helped. I’ll let my guys know that you’re grateful for their help.” He smiled at her as he spoke those words, his head tilting a little as he saw her reaction changing. Ezra might not have been an expert, but he could’ve sworn he saw her blush. She looked radiant like that, and he wanted to see a little more of that blush. “Really? So are you telling me that you do this to other actors as well, tweet that you have a crush on them even though you don’t?” He clicked his tongue afterwards, and then continued, “It doesn’t sound that you’re telling me the truth here, but thank you for the compliment. I’m proud of my work, and it’s good to know that others enjoy my acting as well.” He was mostly joking around, trying to make fun of the situation, and he hoped that she caught that by the way he was smiling down at her.

This entire exchange she was having with Ezra seemed so surreal because celebrities weren’t supposed to be like this. Especially not handsome men like Ezra, they were not supposed to stand around and give this much attention to a normal person they just happen to run into by accident. This was perhaps what threw her off for a bit, more so when he outright complimented her and then point the one thing he liked but she was very self-conscious of. Perhaps what puzzled her more was the way he kept gazing at her, as if he were waiting for something but what she didn’t know. She would never vocalize her attraction to him but she wouldn’t so dense as to deny it to herself. Then a smile curved his lips and Sydney found herself watching the brief action with utter fascination before she realized what she was doing and snapped out of it. Her heart still running ahead of her as she tried to calm it, keeping her features composed she spoke, but she was sure her cheeks definitely gave her blush. “Thank you, but why I do have a feeling you say this to a lot of girls?” Referring to eyes compliment he bestowed upon her. “If you are tying to hit on me, I can tell you right now I’m not interested.” Her words weren’t harsh, rather they were a matter-of-factly. An amused smile curved her own lips when he admitted to letting his mouth get the best of him, the sheepish look on his features made him look…normal. “Hmm, you could have fooled me. Especially with the crush comment you delivered oh so cockily a few moments go. But I suppose with a face like yours, you’re used to a different response from women.”

Ezra had caught her there, and she wished the group would open and swallow her whole once more because the man made an excellent point. Sydney didn’t go around sending tweets to other male celebrities she admired, at least two the kind she had sent to this actor. The brunette could feel her face heat up once more and she cursed at herself for being so affected by this man whom she barely knew and had no interest in pursuing. But as she stood and continued to indulge him, Sydney felt that familiar pull towards him as she did every time she saw him on screen. “I guess you’ll never know, won’t you?” She paused giving him an easy shrug, “Maybe I do, would you be offended?” She asked madly curious and raising a brow at him but of course she didn’t except an answer more than she was trying to take the spotlight off her. “Even if i’m not being truthful, it doesn’t matter, now does it?” She didn’t give him time to reflect on that before giving him a small smile, “You should be proud, I think I speak for a lot of people when I say we enjoying watching you.” She could see the humor in his eyes as she stared back at him, “If you don’t mind me asking, what brings you by here among us?” Gesturing towards the festivals.

It was rather astonishing to hear her conclusion of him. Of course Ezra wasn’t at all surprised that she would think of him as nothing but a player; he did came onto to her strongly. He wasn’t at all however. Although, he was friendly, he mostly liked keeping his personal life private; and it wasn’t because he had a hoard of women waiting in the wings to date him either. He just liked to keep certain things private. Hence the reason why there had been no sightings of him out on dates. He preferred it that way. Plus, if he was being honest, he never did understand why people would believe that he had a reputation of being a player; that was far from the truth. In the past year, he’d only been on one date and even then, it was more of a friendly get together. He didn’t see the point in dating anyone when he should be waiting to meet his soulmate. Besides, work kept him busy enough, he didn’t need to be in a relationship to fill a void that he never felt. Although now that he was standing before this beauty, he wondered that maybe she could be his other half. It might be possible seeing as he was so drawn to her. “I don’t say it to all the girls. Only you.” Which wasn’t a lie. He didn’t make a habit of hitting on women, he was just drawn to her. Seeing her sweetly smiling at him, he couldn’t stop himself from wanting to get to know her even more. The need was intense; the pull too strong for him to deny. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to sound cocky. If I may be so bold…” He paused then, stepping an inch closer, eyes locking with hers. “–I find you refreshing.”

There was a change to her demeanor, and he could’ve sworn that she’d blushed. A part of him felt bad for possibly embarrassing her, but a bigger part of him was rather glad to see that he could silence her. It was only an added bonus to be able to gaze upon her while she thought of her next retort. His brows rose then, a half a smile forming on his lips for her sassy response. “I could investigate, you know. It’s not that hard.” He returned, though he kept his tone light to make sure she knew that he was joking. “It matters to me. I like feeling special.” There was no way she couldn’t tell that he was freely flirting with her now, even someone who was daft could tell by how he was smiling at her. If that wasn’t enough, he couldn’t seem to stop staring at her either. His gaze was stuck on her beautiful face the whole time; mesmerized that someone so gorgeous was in his presence, bantering back and forth with him. “Thanks. That’s why I do what I do.” This part made him feel a little awkward, though he loved his job, he didn’t do it for the fans, he did it for himself, because he enjoyed it. It boggles his mind still that people actually enjoyed his craft. “I was signing autographs. It makes it easier to do it in Stonehill seeing as I live here.” He answered her question without hesitation. “What about you? Are you here for the festivities or did you come to see me?” The last question made him chuckle, it also spoke of his intent; that he was simply joking around with her.

Sydney knew she making far too many assumptions considering she barely ever spotted Ezra with many women. If he was with them, he was one the few who was skilled at keeping his life private in that sense. Sydney almost hated how curious she was to know what sort of history he had with women but she also quickly chided herself because she had no business or the right to even wonder such a thing. Yes, she had a bit of a ridiculous crush on him but that hardly translated into feelings for interest not when she was dating a lovely woman herself. So when she had somewhat accused him of saying the same words to other women, her green hues had no missed his slight look of surprise. Still, despite her best efforts that compliment coming from Ezra who’d seen his fair share of gorgers women made her smile nonetheless. “You don’t, hmm, is that right?” She asked quirking a brow as her eyes gleamed and why she was standing around and flirting? with him, the brunette had no idea. Her eyes were still trained on him, mostly in a curious manner as if he were a puzzle she was trying to piece together. It was then noticed him taking a step closer whilst he spoke, and she felt her breath catch when their eyes locked. She was stunned to see that intense look in his piercing eyes that almost left her breathless. Partly hating herself for reacting the way she was just because he happened to flirt with her a bit. But his words had sent her heart into yet another frenzy that she couldn’t think of one witty remark to make that was her usual response to this sort of thing when she was flustered. “You’ve been bold since the moment you approached me.” She managed to slip out, her lips twitching a bit, “And you don’t strike me as the type to be…uncertain.” His voice softer than he had been just minutes ago.

Sydney could stand there and continue to deny it to herself but whether she liked it or not, she felt completely drawn to him. She only wished she knew why she was, she’d met dozens of celebrities she was fond of but none of them had her reacting this way as she was towards Ezra. However, for once she was stunned into silence by his words and a part of her wondered if this was all a figment of her imagination. But the way her body was responding and her heart was pounding, she knew this was very much real, that Ezra was in fact hitting on her. Worse of it, Sydney was liking it much to her dismay. If she had any doubts of his intention, well, they were all clear now as she felt the weight of his gaze on her and he refused to look away with let her more flustered. Her lips curved into an amused smile at his quick response, “You could but that would be very ungentlemanly of you, unless you aren’t a gentlemen?” She trailed off forgetting for a moment she wasn’t supposed to be flirting back with him. She knew he was jesting from his tone, before she laughed at his next words. “Ezra, you’re a hot shot actor with billions of fan. How much more special could you want to feel? I’m just one fan among throngs of them and one you barely know and came across by accident.” She explained with a slight shrug, “I’m sure your fans make you feel special every day. Ignoring how conceited you sound right there.”She let him see her amused smile so he’d see she was also pulling his leg in return. She nodded, “I’m sure thats not the only reason why you do it. You love it, don’t you? Acting, stepping into different roles that challenge you. You look like sometimes you forget there are cameras surrounding you.” She murmured mostly to herself that she wasn’t sure if he’d heard that. “That it does, you sure seemed to make the kids happy.” Gesturing to the several kids that walked by and stared at Ezra which had Sydney smiling before she heard his latter words and shook her head. Her nose pinching up a bit, “As I thought, you are far too arrogant for your own good. I should tell you, I didn’t know you’d be here so you can imagine my surprise and then my embarrassment when you recognized me.” But Sydney laughed along with him. “It’s been….interesting chatting with you….”

Ezra had never allowed himself to let go like this. Although he’d dated in the past, his affections were not freely given. It was as though there was something pulling him back and telling him that the women in his past were nothing but people he could have fun with. There was no bigger plans written in the horizon for them. Sydney was different however. The draw he felt for her was so strong, he was nearly rendered speechless by it. It made him wonder then, if maybe she was his destiny; his other half. He wasn’t a cynic, and believed in soulmates; even if he wasn’t actively searching for his, he knew that he would someday cross paths with the person who was born to complete him. He simply had faith that it would happen. “No, I don’t. You’re just special.” He reiterated, his hues still lingering with hers, hoping that she could sense his sincerity. Perhaps the bold way he came on to her was a tell. It might be his own subconscious telling him that he might’ve found his match, because he honestly had never been this way with anyone. “I know I have been, and I should apologize, but at the same time, I don’t think I should be.” He returned, his voice clear and concise, not allowing room for Sydney to mistake his intention. His body language, the way he spoke, everything screamed that he liked her. “A human being is allowed to be unsure of things. On the other hand, I’m very sure of how I feel.” Feeling bold for some odd reason, he reached out and tucked back the hair that was flowing in the wind.

Ezra’s fingers lightly grazed Sydney’s skin as he pulled his hand back, and even with such a slight action, he could feel her softness marking him, daring him to touch her once more. It was as if she was a Siren, leading him to his doom, even though he didn’t feel the least bit worried that she would be his downfall. If anything, she could probably make him shine even brighter. “Lucky for you, I am a gentleman, otherwise I might just snoop around to find out more about you.” He could still do that, hire a private investigator to unearth the mysteries about her life that he wanted answers to. But he wasn’t going to go down that route. If he was going to find out about her, he would have to do it the old fashioned way, by asking her. “Do I actually have billions of fans? I don’t think so. I guess I must be greedy when it comes to you.–Just so you know, I don’t believe in accidents. Destiny, now that I believe in. Perhaps this is just Destiny’s way to tell me something…us something.” He tilted his head down a little, allowing his face to inch even closer to the beauty. God, he was definitely smitten by her. If only he could convince her to go out with him, that would make him even happier. “I don’t pay attention to them all that much. You however, I could pay attention to for a long time.” He returned with a shrug, now biting on his bottom lip a little as he continued to gaze upon her beautiful features. “I do what I can. Signing autographs is part of the job, right? Without them,” he nodded at the hoards of children and people in general, “I wouldn’t have a job.”He wasn’t delusional enough to believe that he could do this without help, and made sure to always show his appreciation in any way he could. “I do love it. I wouldn’t be doing it for so long if I didn’t love acting. It’s like you said, I get to act out different characters. It’s really interesting.” He agreed with her assessment wholeheartedly. Acting might be mere entertainment for some, but for him, it was art, a way to express his creativity, and he was glad that Sydney understood that. “What? Me arrogant?” He gasped, feigning surprise, “I could never behave that way. I always want to be charming with you.–It’s been interesting to meet me? Is that your way of saying that you want me to get out of your face?” The thought of having to leave her so soon left a hole in his heart. He didn’t want to have to do that, but if he must, he might as well ask the question that has been itching to come out. “Would it be bold of me to ask for your phone number?” He sounded unsure as he posed the question, afraid that she might tell him no.

It had been such a long time since someone had complimented her so well, whether Ezra was serious or not was another thing it didn’t change the fact that she liked what she heard from him. Which made her feel a bit naive because his attentions were fleeting right now she might have caught his eye but she was nothing more than a passing fancy. Maybe he was curious but how long would she be able to hold his interest? Not for very long, not when there was a sea of fascinating people right in the entertainment industry. It was what made it easy for her to humor him while he flirted, sure she flirted back but not to the extent that he seemed to be. So, then why in the world was her heart racing? She chalked it up to being star-struck but this man certainly had an uncanny ability to make a woman feel so special. She tried not to focus on the way his eyes lingered on her, oh, he was really good at this. “No, I don’t think you’d be sorry neither should you be. Nothing wrong with being bold.” She told him sincerely, there was no rule against it. It was his next words that caused her to move her gaze to him, silently watching as he stepped closer and brushed her hair back. “How you feel. How do you feel anything? You just met me.” She countered, wanting to move back from his rather intriguing touch but somehow her body would not move.

His touch had been light but god she had felt the sparks of it across her entire cheek, causing it to tingle. God, she had to resist the urge to shut her eyes and lean into his touch but her embarrassment stopped her from doing anything. Sydney cleared her throat but still her feet would not move to step away from him and she felt the heat of his body slowly transfer over to her. Tucking her own hair back she met his gaze once more, ensuring her features remained neutral lest he see her flurry of emotions. Her eyes widened slightly at his confession, lips parting once more but no sound came. It took her a split second to realize he was jesting but her heart hammered once more against her chest. “Lucky for me indeed.” she murmured not quite sure what to say to that before she heard him continue and remained silent because for once her witty remarks were failing her. She’d never been in situation like this nor was she used so such attentions from anyone, let alone Ezra. “I didn’t know you believed in all of that. Its charming though, and it a bit strange hearing it from you just as strange hearing you say you want my attention.” She would be lying if she said she did, because when it came down she believed in no such thing. She believed their encounter to be nothing more than a coincidence. She wasn’t a cynic per say but she was not a romantic either but somehow she sensed Ezra was which made her admire him even more for some inexplicable reason. Why that little appealed to her, she did not know. “I don’t know what its trying to tell us, other than coincidences happen on occasion. As for paying attention to me, I really wish you don’t.” She told matter of factly, meeting her gaze to show him just how serious she was of her words. She felt like a bitch for sure, but Sydney wanted no such attention for this man mostly because she hated how she was responding to it. How drawn she was to him and it scared her beyond belief. It scared her because if he wanted to, he could easily make her do as he asked. She could not allow that.

Sydney nodded when he began speaking about how much he loved his work, she could see that passion in his eyes for what he did and it make her like him even more. Whereas people went into the business for fame, Ezra didn’t and she had so much respect for people like him. She respected people who respected that art of acting that it was so much more than looking pretty on a camera and the fame that came with it. it was why it was such a pleasure watching on screen, because Ezra put his soul into his characters. “Your cocky but your also very humble, I guess I was a bit wrong about you.” She admitted, “It really is, and I can tell how you love it. I wish other actors had the same sort of passion as you do for your work.” She blurted out without really thinking it threw, “I mean, if only people looked at acting the way you did.” She quickly amended. A laugh left her lips at his innocent look and she gave him a amused look in return, “Arrogant but yes your charming, Ezra. I bet you make ladies fall in love with you left and right.” She teased before a chuckle left her yet again. She smiled at him secretly, not giving anything away, “Interesting, amongst other things.” Letting him make of that what he would. “I don’t mean to be rude but my friends will be looking for me” She then showed him her phone that was blown with text messages form said friends. “I can’t keep them waiting.” Then he asked her for her number and Sydney stared at him a bit confused, but this man was determined if not anything. “Yes, it would be but you don’t shy away from bold. I’m not sure thats a good idea, you seem to want something from me. I don’t know what exactly but I’m sure I can’t give it to you regardless….”

When Ezra woke up this morning, he didn’t know what the day was going to be like. He went about his daily routine; working out at his home gym, having breakfast, going about the day as if it was any other Halloween. His life consisted of work and more work. He hadn’t had a day off since forever, and he was fine with it; happy even. What he didn’t expect was for all of this to happen. Everyday, he would think about some crazy occurrence that had come to pass and today of all days, he remembered the tweet that Sydney had made; the one that made him take notice of her. He could still feel the regret bearing down on him for not having contact her back then. He had wanted to, but didn’t dare go against the advice of his manager. After all, he had an image to protect; at least that was the argument his manager made. He’d decided then that he needed to put the incident in the past and not think about the brunette with the striking eyes. That’s what he remembered calling her when he gazed upon her profile photo. Little did he know that their destinies was about to intertwine. Some call it coincidence, but Ezra knew better. Their meeting was Faith’s way of saying that she was supposed to be in his life; though he didn’t know in what capacity… Still, the idea of her being his other half lingered within the depths of his conscience. He couldn’t be sure of it until he kissed her–and he would kiss her someday, he was sure of it. His gaze drifted down to her full lips, his desire to kiss her was so strong, it took his breath away. Before he could allow himself to foolishly pull her in for a kiss, her forced himself to focus on the conversation or at least try to.

“I didn’t think so either. I think you might like me better because I’m bold.” Ezra responded, a cheeky grin feature upon his face. Her question didn’t even phase him, he’d never been so sure of anything in his life. There was just something about being around Sydney that felt right. “Sometimes, when you know, you just know…” He remarked rather cryptically; he didn’t have to know her to feel the way he felt. His feelings were just there. Could this be love at first sight? He wasn’t so sure if he believed that notion. Lust at first sight, sure… Everyone has experienced that, but this wasn’t like that. He didn’t want her physically, or at least not just her body–he wasn’t a eunuch, he had sexual needs too. This went beyond anything physical. He needed to know her, every fiber of his being was yelling at him not to let her go. His hues took her in once again, taking in her lithe figure and the way she’d cleared her throat. Could it be that he wasn’t the only one feeling this pull? Did she feel the sizzle of the slight touch he’d accidentally bestowed upon her? He wasn’t bold enough to believe in such a thing, and yet, once again, his mind wondered if maybe he’d been right all along, that she truly was his intended other half. “Come on, you can’t really call this a coincidence. What is the likelihood of you getting saved by the actor you so publicly say you have a crush on?” A brow arched as the question left him, though he really didn’t need the answer. “As for paying attention to you… I can’t help myself. It’s only fair after you’ve declared your undying love for me.” God, he sounded like such a jackass here, he knew that, but instead of apologizing, he shot her a wink and smiled. She’d already thought he was cocky, so why not just continue with the role, right?

Ezra’s grin turned into a full on genuine smile when he heard her complimenting him. It felt right to hear those words coming from her, as if her appreciation meant the world to him. And the funny part about all this was, he never needed anyone’s approval before this. He’d gone into acting because he simply love it, not because he needed people to love him. That wasn’t important, and yet, hearing Sydney’s compliment sounded like the sweetest of symphonies. It was an odd feeling, one he wanted to feel over and over if given the chance. “Thanks. I like to surprise people every once in a while. I suppose it’s not always bad to be cocky as long as there’s a humble side to a person.” He added on to her remark, still smiling brightly for her. “Some people get into acting for the wrong reasons. Those are the ones that get into trouble.” It was true, the ones that only wanted fame tended to get into drugs or whatever shit that would bring them to a downward spiral. It was rather sad really. “I don’t know about women falling in love with me. Most of them just care about me because I’m an actor or because they think I’m hot or whatever.” He waved a hand around to dismiss the topic; he didn’t want women to lust after him or fall for him for the wrong reasons, he would rather not have the attention. Again, he felt discomfort creeping into his heart when she made an excuse to leave, he wanted her to give him her phone number, but Sydney was resisting his request. He knew then not to push it, even if it pained him to walk away from her not knowing if he would ever see her again. “I’m not going to push for it. I’m sure we’ll see each other again.” He was more than certain of that, he didn’t want to sound cocky, but there was no way they would’ve met like this if he wasn’t fated to be in her life in some way. “You should go meet up your friends before they really blow up your phone with their text messages.” He encouraged, smiling down at the lithe framed woman.When one of his bodyguards gestured that it was time for him to leave, he let out a sigh and addressed Sydney once more. “That’s my queue to leave. You take care of yourself, Sydney. I’ll see you again soon.” Then, because he couldn’t stop himself, he took her hand and pressed a kiss on the back of it. “Till next time.” He hummed, gently released said hand and backed away from her. With a smile on his face, he headed back to his car with security surrounding him, already looking forward to his next meeting with the brunette with the striking eyes.

#sezra01 #ezra x sydney

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daggerzine · 4 years

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Sohrab Habibion from SAVAK (and Obits, Edsel, etc.) fills in the gaps.

I first noticed the name Sohrab Habibion in the Sub Pop band Obits nearly a decade ago. He’d then gotten in touch with me a few years back when he sent me the last Savak record, Beg Your Pardon (the band’s 3rd). I did some backtracking and realized he was in the old DC post hardcore band Edsel, whose music I enjoyed. We got to talking and I realized this guy’s had a pretty interesting career and I needed to find out more. He was more than agreeable to an interview on the DAGGER site. Oh and dig this....he recently he began posting some videos that he took of shows in the DC area in the mid-80’s, which is discussed below. Let’s all thank our lucky stars that someone was there with a video camera at shows back then.

Back to SAVAK, they have recently released their fourth full-length, Rotting Teeth in the Horses Mouth (on the Ernest Jenning Record Co label, like the last few) and it’s a terrific record. The kind of post-punk that’s not afraid to pOp! and vice versa. So needless to say Sohrab had plenty to talk about. Let’s take a trip both down memory lane and back to the future as well.

Sohrab.... always pushin’ the hair products.

Did you grow up in the DC area? If not how did you end up there?

I moved to the suburbs of DC in 1979. My mom and I drove through Hurricane David from my grandfather’s house in Leonia, New Jersey to Annandale, Virginia with all of our possessions in the back of a Chevy Chevette. We had just left Iran because of the Revolution and, after a short stay in Bergen County to gather ourselves and do some research, my parents decided that we would resettle in the DC area.

Do you remember what the first record you ever bought was? First concert?

First record: It was a cassette of Love for Sale by Boney M. Actually maybe that was a gift from a friend. Either way I think of it as my first-owned album. I quickly had the lyrics to “Ma Baker” memorized and never gave a second thought to just how weird the cassette cover art was. If you’re not familiar, perhaps imagine an S&M dungeon version of Ohio Players? As a 7-year-old I think it just didn’t register. More interesting is that the producer, Frank Farian, was also the guy behind Milli Vanilli. If you’re up for it, I recommend doing some Googling about Mr. Farian, who was born Franz Reuther just after the start of World War II in a German valley settlement once known as the “Town of Leather.” It’s good stuff, I promise.

First concert: A friend’s older sister drove us to the old 9:30 Club to see one of the club’s 3 Bands for 3 Bucks nights. I remember feeling pretty excited about being in a part of town I didn’t know and seeing all kinds of people I didn’t ordinarily see. This was probably 1983 or 1984 so it was heavy on the New Wave look. In the basement of 9:30, once you’d squeezed down the narrow flight of stairs, there were bathrooms as well as a small counter that sold records and tapes. I bought The Halloween Cassette—a WGNS comp with Gray Matter, United Mutation, Velvet Monkeys, Malefice, Bloody Mannequin Orchestra and others—and the Minor Threat record that compiles the first two 7”s. On our drive home the DJ on WHFS played the song “Minor Threat,” which we literally had in our hands, and the whole thing felt tremendously serendipitous.

During his tryout with the Washington Bullets (Elvin Hayes beat him out).

At what age did you pick up the guitar?

One night my mom came home from a school fundraising auction with an acoustic guitar that she’d won in the raffle. I actually think it might be the only time anyone in my family has ever won a raffle. I was 13 or 14 and discovering that I was not as good of a baseball player as I’d hoped or wanted to be and the guitar felt more connected to my interests, so I started to teach myself chords and rudimentary scales. It wasn’t long before I was able to get an electric guitar and make a complete mess of sound in neighborhood basements with friends.

How old were you when the punk rock bug bit you?

Thirteen, I think. I’m pretty sure it was 7th grade. I didn’t know a lot about rock music. Having spent a chunk of my early life in Iran, I missed the boat on a lot of big, American rock’n’roll moments. I was 9 when I was first exposed to KISS by neighbors who were also in the Boy Scouts and so I kind of lumped all that costuming together and the whole thing seemed silly. Special badges and membership cards and various allegiances you were supposed to declare. I felt disengaged from a lot of things in the suburban culture around me, so punk made sense upon its arrival. It took some time to sort things out, like what made the Dead Kennedys good and The Exploited bad, but once that initial door opened, I never turned back. If anything it just opened additional doors to other subcultures and underground movements and marginalized artists and thinkers. Punk helped me recognize that my sympathies will always be with the disenfranchised, the unheralded, the amateur, the wandering tinkerer.

How and when did Edsel get together?

I met Nick Pelliocciotto and Geoff Sanoff (who wouldn’t be in Edsel for a few years) at a Government Issue show at the Hung Jury Pub. Nick and I briefly played in a band with Jim Spellman (Velocity Girl, High Back Chairs, Foxhall Stacks), but that fizzled out. So Nick and I were looking for a bass player when we saw Steve Ward play a cover of “White Rabbit” at a high school talent show. Nick and I agreed that Steve looked cool (he really did) and, when we ran into him in the parking lot, he passed our test by answering that his favorite DC band was Happy Go Licky. We started practicing in the basement of the house Nick, Jim Spellman and I lived in off Reno Road in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of DC. We didn’t know what we were doing. Nick played me a bunch of records I had never heard before and we would talk about various details in the music. He made me aware of the way certain things interacted, like the bass guitar and the kick drum. I’d never considered that. I was also unfamiliar with singing in a band, so was starting from scratch. A lot of it began as rhythmic sing-song-speak-howling that could be heard somewhat above the volume of the band. I’ll never forget recording our first demo at Inner Ear with Michael Hampton. When it came time for me to do the vocals we were all surprised by what they sounded like and Michael nicely said, “Why don’t we call it a day and you go home and work on some melodies that we can record tomorrow.” Ha! When Nick and I got back to the house we listened to a bunch of albums to get ideas for vocal melodies. The one that resonated with me was Midnight Oil’s 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and it helped me understand how you could take a simple line and move it around with chord changes. I didn’t figure out what phrasing was for some time to come, but that was the start. Thank you Michael, Nick and Peter Garrett.

How/when did you end up in NYC?

Well, it’s a circuitous story, but . . . Edsel toured a lot between 1993 and 1995. So much so that I moved back into my parents’ basement to avoid paying rent for a place I wasn’t going to be spending any time in. My folks are lovely and it was a fine arrangement, but I missed having an apartment of my own. On tour in Chicago I was presented with the opportunity of a cheap living situation in a city that I liked, so I moved there. I had this fantasy that the band could keep it together while being in 3 different cities—Geoff had moved to NYC and the two Steve’s were in DC. Not a chance. I had a good year in Chicago, working at the Empty Bottle and playing with different local musicians, but Edsel basically succumbed to inertia and I decided to move back to DC to make a solo record. My parents had a cabin in the Shenandoah Valley and I went there for a period of time with my 4-track and the hopes of discovering whatever my version of Leonard Cohen and Brian Eno might be. That didn’t happen, but I learned a lot about recording myself and making mistakes and stumbling on things I liked that I hadn’t intended. Around this point I got a call from Michael Hampton, who’d moved to New York City a few years earlier. He said his neighbor in the West Village had moved out and he wondered if I might want to take the apartment. I was feeling pretty untethered and the idea of giving Manhattan a shot was exciting, so in November 1997 I packed up my books and CDs and headed up here. I’ve since crossed the bridge over to Brooklyn, but have no plans of leaving. I love this city and all of its flaws.

How about Obits? I know Alexis was in Edsel….had you known Rick already?

Alexis played in Edsel for a few reunion shows we did in 2013, but he wasn’t in the original lineup of the group. I first met Alexis in 1985 when Lünch Meat, his band, played with Kids For Cash, my band, at my local community center. He and I also share a birthday and a similar sense of humor, so when he joined Obits after the departure of Scott Gursky, our original drummer, it was an effortless transition. I’d also played with Alexis in Girls Against Boys on a 2002 European tour that Eli couldn’t do. I was Fake Eli and got to play bass on some of my favorite GvsB tunes, which was a blast. Alexis has a humorous diary from that tour: http://www.gvsb.com/euro_diary/index.html

Here’s an excerpt just so you know it’s worth the clicks:

“scott has determined that we should get rid of all the equipment and excess drummers and bass players and just travel with a painted sheet (we in the biz call this a scrim). that way he could have a band painted on it and just cut out the head of the singer and stick his own head through. this would reduce overhead and be a whole lot less of a hassle than having squabbling bass players and drummers with no IQ whatsoever.”

Rick and I met at an art show of his in the summer of ‘99. In fact, in looking to clarify the year I came across this email I sent to a friend:

“Last night my friend Hiroshi took me to an opening of his friend Rick Froberg’s work in some unknown Lower East Side apartment/gallery. I was shocked at how incredible his stuff was. His etchings like Goya’s, his prints like a German expressionist and his paintings like a weird amalgam of Raymond Pettibon and Norman Rockwell. But everything was very original despite its familiarity. He gave me one of his prints and I actually ended up buying one of his paintings. I’m really excited about it.”

Funny thing is that on that European GvsB tour I was wearing a Hot Snakes shirt. Little could I have guessed that I’d be in a band with Alexis and Rick 10 years later. Or maybe I could’ve? Our behavior and patterns are probably more predictable than I’d like to admit.

Anyway, long and short of it is after meeting Rick we started hanging out and as Hot Snakes was winding down in the early aughts he proposed we get together and strum our guitars. We had a good time and kept at it until things started to take shape. Fast forward a bit and our friend Speck browbeat Rick into playing with her band, Orphan, at Cake Shop. That was early 2008 and the internet did us a favor by sharing a bootleg recording of our gig, which led us to signing with Sub Pop. Seems just as weird now as it did then, but so it goes! The band was a hoot to be in and we had a grand time, particularly touring. The trips we made to Europe, Australia, Japan and Brazil were fantastic. I never thought I’d be able to do that playing scrappy rock’n’roll music. All the people that we met, the local specialties that we ate and drank . . . and drank . . . and then ate some more. Unforgettable. Until I forget them. Then I’ll refer to the documentation.

Obits.....always ready to rumble (notice the switchblade comb in Froberg’s pocket).

Tell me about the end of Obits and the beginning of Savak? Who came up with the name?

The end of Obits was a little unexpected. At least the timing of it. All bands end, so it wasn’t surprising in that regard, but we had a French tour planned and had been offered some East Coast dates with Mudhoney, so it was a bummer not to be able to do those. But it had been a cold and miserable winter and Rick had some family stuff to marshal, so it felt best to call it, which is what we did on April 1st, 2015. The April Fool’s part wasn’t intentional, but I liked that it happened that way, what with being in a band often feeling like a cosmic joke anyway. But we’re all still good friends and very much in touch with each other. Funny thing is we’d actually written a fourth record with two drummers, as Matt Schulz had started playing with us as well (we did one show with both Alexis and Matt, which was fun), so on my hard drive somewhere are the demos and jams for that, including covers of “The In-Crowd” (https://youtu.be/KYbwk26mYJA) and Beasts of Bourbon’s “I Don't Care About Nothing Anymore.” (https://youtu.be/IpWi4OxhJXY)

Towards the end of Obits I’d started getting together with other friends to make noise. I was playing with Greg Simpson and Matt Schulz, doing instrumental versions of Hooterville Trolley and Shadows tunes, and separately with Michael Jaworski and Benjamin Van Dyke, just bashing out riffs. I asked all involved if they would want to combine the two and everyone was into it. The nice thing was Michael and I got to write with two different drummers, which opened up new ideas, and for a band that was just getting the swing of our internal vocabulary, it helped jumpstart the mojo.

I can’t remember at what point we were talking about band names, but when Viet Cong couldn’t take the heat for their name and decided to change it I made a joke about calling our group SAVAK. Then the more I thought about it the more I liked it and the group was on board, so we ran with it. The Iranian side of my family was a bit perplexed and bemused, but they all understood that this was a rock’n’roll outfit and not some creepy tribute to the former secret police in Iran. I’ve come to appreciate how that type of band name is a good litmus test. With a moniker like SAVAK you can see who actually knows anything about global political history, but more importantly you immediately know that anyone who takes issue with it isn’t likely to be interested in or even be familiar with punk rock or underground culture. So that person’s opinion on the subject doesn’t hold weight for me and I’ll attempt to redirect to a different subject that could be entertaining to chat about, like food or wine or bicycle maintenance or John le Carré books or, I dunno, HTML/CSS?

Savak has been recording pretty consistently…how did the new record come together so quickly? Who came up with the title?

Michael Jaworski, the other guitarist, singer and co-songwriter, came up with the title of Rotting Teeth in the Horse’s Mouth. Apparently it appeared to him in a dream and, well, I just liked the way it sounded. Both in that it reminded me of the DK’s classic Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables and as a play on the idiom “hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth,” since the current mouth we hear more often than is good for anyone’s mental health has enough proverbial rotting teeth to fill the mouth of a giant armadillo.

We worked on the album over a period of months. Sometimes we would get together with Matt Schulz, our drummer, and hammer stuff out. Other times either Michael or I would start something at home and build it from there. The main thing was to keep it feeling like a band had cut it together live, regardless of how accurate that may be on any given song. We started with 16 tunes, ditched 2 of them that weren’t as developed, and recorded the remaining 14. Then we picked the 10 that sounded the most cohesive for the album and the others will come out as singles later in the year. We spent many intensely focused hours editing, overdubbing and trying to really hone in on what each tune needed. I like discreet events in music and subtle details that may not make themselves evident for a few listens. A keyboard that only appears in the second verse or a backing vocal that’s buried deep in the right channel of the outro or a flanged cymbal crash at the top of the chorus. Stuff that doesn’t have to happen in the live version but makes the recording a little richer without being overbearing.

SAVAK, just before diving in.

In Savak, re; the songwriting process, is it both you and Michael together or do you write independently?

There’s always a collaborative element. We each add or edit the other’s songs to some degree. That’s one of the things I really like about our partnership. We actively try to keep our egos out of the way. And while we may not share the exact same taste about every little thing, we trust each other’s sensibility. I think that willingness to let go of our own ideas makes them more interesting and strengthens the working relationship.

Tell us about working with Arto Lindsay?

Rick Froberg was employed as an illustrator at a web-based, digital media shop in SoHo called Funny Garbage and he helped get me a gig making music for cartoons and video games they were producing for companies like Cartoon Network. I had access to a recording studio on a floor above our office which was run by an incredibly talented musician/producer named Andres Levin. One day ‘Dre asked if I could work on a session with a friend of his for a gallery installation. It seemed interesting, so I agreed. The guy showed up with two pillow cases that he wanted to put on his arms and flap wildly in front of a mic. His idea was to pitch the pillow case recording down a few octaves and add a lot of reverb so it would sound like a giant bird was flying. I don’t remember if he was pleased with the results, but we had a blast trying, and it turned out that fella was Arto Lindsay. He got in touch with me soon after about recording his next album. I was direct about the fact that while I was brisk with the ProTools and could run sessions efficiently, I was not a real engineer who knew about microphone placement and how to apply compression, etc. He said that was fine and arranged to rent a recording rig for his apartment and we got straight to work with Melvin Gibbs, who is Arto’s writing partner, co-producer, and bass player. We made Invoke in 2002 and two years later we made Salt, once again doing the whole thing in his Chelsea living room. Arto’s a wonderful guy, as is Melvin, and we had a terrific time together. I also learned a lot. He has such a deep knowledge of avante garde music and art and a whole world of Brazilian culture that he can tap into. And Melvin is an incredible musician, so getting to see how he approached assembling Arto’s ideas was fascinating. He was also forgiving with the fact that a punker like me was trying to edit Brazilian rhythms when I was having an impossible time even identifying the first beat of the groove. There was a lot of, “Please just tell me where the ONE is.” Arto knows a wide array of people and the process of making a record with him was very much about getting it done, but not at the expense of the vibe, so if someone dropped by you’d just have to roll with it. Sometimes that person would bring their instrument and overdub on a song or two, so I had to figure out how to be flexible about the recording process to make sure it was gonna be smooth for all involved, regardless of if it was a violin player or a guy doing a percussion track using a cardboard box. I ended up calling Geoff Sanoff for advice quite a bit—to the point where Arto would joke, “Is it time to call Geoff?” Ha! But he knew the deal going in, so all was fine. The experience of making those records was great and I got to meet some interesting folks. Also my appreciation of Brazilian music completely exploded. An unexpected and super cool project with Arto, Debbie Harry and Mikhail Baryshnikov also came from that. Another side note: when we were recording Invoke there was a song which Arto wanted to get Animal Collective involved in. This was 2001 and they were still more of a record store employee kind of band, but Arto had a couple of their CDs (Spirit They’re Gone Spirit They’ve Vanished and Danse Manatee, I think) and was really into them. We arranged to go into Stratosphere Sound, the studio that was owned by Adam Schlesinger, Andy Chase, and James Iha, where Geoff Sanoff worked, and do the session there. They had an interesting way of working—they would manipulate all of the instruments, including live drums, and have everything run through their PA and then have Geoff mic the PA speakers. So the final thing was this gauzy, mushy, blur that was like a sonic paste. They totally knew what they were doing and I was particularly impressed with Noah/Panda Bear as a musician.

Speaking of legends, how did you begin collaborating with Michael Hampton?

First we should be clear that we’re not discussing “Magic” Mike Hampton AKA Michael “Kidd Funkadelic” Hampton. According to Discogs, the Michael Hampton I know is “Michael Hampton (3)” of Brief Weeds fame. He’s a few years older than me so I missed his days in SOA and The Faith, but I was a fan and saw him in Embrace and One Last Wish. I attended American University in DC and ran into him on campus, told him I also played guitar and suggested that we “jam sometime.” Knowing him now this detail cracks me up because I’m positive I freaked him out and that he was horrified by the idea of “jamming” with an arbitrary, long-haired frosh. Some time after Edsel started we asked Michael to help produce our demo, as we were clueless about the studio. And when he was in Manifesto our bands played together and we got to be better friends. After he moved to New York, it was he and his wife, Monica, who encouraged me to move here. They also introduced me to my wife. And for the last 15 or so years we’ve worked together on soundtracks for indie films, documentaries and commercials. I can’t recall how that collaboration first started, but I love working with Michael. He’s got a quick wit, so there’s lots of yucks involved, but he also has a remarkable knack for music composition and knows how to layer ideas for perfect cinematic effect. As a guitar player he remains one of my favorites. Michael’s distilled Bob Andrews from Gen X and Captain Sensible and George Harrison and all these choice rock’n’roll and punk players into something distinctly his own.

Somewhere in Madrid, Spain (Spain Radio Nacional)

Tell us your top 10 desert island discs?

That’s tough. I’d like to ensure a bunch of different moods are covered, so let’s see . . . how about:

Hamza El Din - Music Of Nubia

Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - Éthiopiques 21: Piano Solo

Mark Hollis - s/t

Skip James - Today!

Charles Mingus - The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady

Mission Of Burma - Vs.

The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers

Television - Marquee Moon

The Velvet Underground - s/t

Wire - 154

Who are some of your favorite current bands?

Bed Wettin' Bad Boys, Cable Ties, Contractions, FACS, Gotobeds, Grey Hairs, Hammered Hulls, Hot Snakes, Light Beams, METZ, Mint Mile, Modern Nature, Patois Counselors, Pays P., Rattle, Skull Practitioners, Slum of Legs, Sunwatchers, Tanning Bats, TK Echo, The Unit Ama.

I know I’m forgetting stuff. There’s a ton of excellent music being made right now.

What’s next for Savak? Once the lockdown is over will you guys tour?

It’s hard to be certain about anything these days, but I do know we’re eager to play once the Javel water has cleared. My hope is that we reschedule our UK tour as well as the shows we had on deck with Archers of Loaf. We were also trying to coordinate a Japanese tour, which we’d love to do, so I’ll add that to the list.

In the meantime we have a couple of non-album singles coming out later in the year.

I love making music, so whatever form it needs to take to make it work given our circumstances I’m fine with. Wanna jam on our phones? Hit me up!

SAVAK’s new one- Rotting Teeth in The Horses Mouth

BONUS QUESTION: Tell us about all of those shows you recorded in the 80’s and have been putting up on the Dischord page? Great stuff!

Thanks! My mom bought me a Sony Betacam in 1985. I honestly had no inclination towards videotaping anything prior to this, but I think she may have thought it was a positive thing for a teenager to get involved in instead of playing Atari or hanging out at the Orange Julius at the mall or whatever. So I had this camera and I started taping what I was doing, which was basically going to shows. I didn’t think much about it and I never watched the tapes afterwards, so just slowly built up a collection of recordings that sat in a box at my parents’ house for years. It wasn’t until James Schneider started working on what eventually became the Punk the Capital movie that the tapes were unearthed. Then Scott Crawford wanted to use them for Salad Days and had the genius idea of getting Dave Grohl’s production company to digitize them, as they wanted footage for that Sonic Highways show. So at Scott’s suggestion I sheepishly asked if it was something they could do and they immediately said yes. I was pretty stunned by their generosity. The tapes themselves are now part of the Punk Archive in the DC Public Library, which is both cool and hilarious. The idea of random stuff I videotaped when I was 15 being part of an institutional archive is pretty absurd. Now that I’ve got this extra pandemic time to spend in front of my computer, I’ve been editing down each set, adjusting the light balance so the footage is less murky and also remastering the audio so they sound better. The timing of the Dischord Records Fan Page on Facebook is fortuitous, as it provides a reasonably eager audience for what might have otherwise just been a few additional gigs of server space being cooled in a Google data center in Moncks Corner, South Carolina.

“Who you callin’ a low life?”

www.savakband.com

www.savak.bandcamp.com

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magewriter · 4 years

Text

Thunder and Lightning

Kalex Week Day 1: General AU

Sunday, 11/17

I own nothing.

Words: 2,462

----------

Alex twitched and groaned, trying to turn over so she was no longer lying on whatever was poking her in the back.

“Alex! Don’t move, okay?” That was Kara. Why was Kara sad? Or scared? Worried? “Caitlin! J’onn! Lena! She’s waking up!” Why was she calling for the others? Why were the others even here?

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Alex felt Kara’s hand brushing back hair from her face.

That didn’t make any sense. She had just shorn her hair on that side. Her hair tended to grow quickly, but not that quick. Tiredly (why was she so tired?), she blinked open her eyes. The lighting was dim, most of the glow coming from Kara’s sunbed in the corner.

They were at the DEO.

Why were they at the DEO? How were they at the DEO? She had been in Central City for a conference. She and Lena were both going to be speaking at it, Lena more than her. Alex had gone ahead of them because someone had tried to set up an assassination attempt (really, at this point, people should know better). Kara and Lena were waiting for Alex’s ‘all clear’ before arriving. The pair had been in Star City visiting Oliver and Felicity, oohing over little Mia.

Alex knew this, because both of them had been sending her texts containing pictures of the little girl in various outfits. This including miniature versions of several onesies modeled after hero costumes, made mostly by Winn in order for them to be accurate.

“Kara?” She managed to croak out, reaching for her. What was going on?

“It’s okay Alex, you’re going to be alright zhao.” Kara turned to see who hand entered.

Caitlin and Lena were tied, Lena allowing the other woman to enter first to check Alex’s vitals. She made her way to Kara’s side, wrapping one arm around the blonde’s waist and laying a hand over the pair tangled together on the edge of the bed.

“You gave us both a scare Alex,” Lena told her. “Don’t ever do this again.”

Alex coughed. “What even happened?” Kara broke away to get her some water. She helped her sip it while Caitlin finished what she was doing.

Caitlin frowned. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I was in Central City for the conference,” Alex began, feeling better now that her mouth wasn’t so dry and the tiredness was fading. “I’d just sent Vas back with the wannabe assassin and my report.” She frowned, trying to remember. “I was…phone. I was on my phone looking at the new pictures you two,” she sent a stern look at her lover and their shared best friend, “had just sent me. You really dressed Mia in a miniature DEO uniform? How on any Earth did Oliver let you do that? Where did you even get it?”

Lena snickered. “Winn and Cisco both missed their calling in Fashion. And Felicity was the one to convince, but after the mini-Green Arrow outfit she was sold.” Considering the size of the smile on Oliver’s face in the picture of the two of them in the matching outfits, Felicity had been hard pressed to deny the other outfits.

“…Do I even want to know?” Alex looked at Caitlin. The woman was shaking her head.

“Those pictures are never going to see the light of day outside of this group,” she assured her patient. “Their antics aside, what else do you remember?”

That was a loaded question that Alex wasn’t certain she knew the answer to.

“I’m not sure,” Alex admitted slowly. “I don’t…what happened?”

“There was a second particle accelerator explosion at the hotel,” Caitlin explained. “A much smaller one, but it caused a lot of damage to the hotel and surrounding area. Barry’s been chasing down new metas since then, as well as the pair of scientists who are responsible.”

“They did it on purpose, although we’re not entirely sure as to why.” Lena took up the explanation. “I did discover that my brother was funding them from prison,” her smile was vicious, “that stream of revenue has now been stopped.”

“Which of us was the target?” Alex asked, shifting so the ties on her gown were no longer digging into her.

“Any of us, all of us,” Lena shrugged. Her brother wanted her dead. He wanted her two protectors dead almost as badly as he did her. He had proven several times over that he didn’t care about collateral damage. “Does it really matter at this point?”

“It doesn’t,” Kara asserted. “All that matters is that it didn’t work. Alex is fine, right?”

“Well…” Caitlin hesitated. It was highly unnerving to have all three of them staring at her. “We’ll need to run a few tests, but-”

“I’m a meta,” Alex cut her off. “Just how long have I been unconscious?” The longer she was awake, the better she was feeling. She was also starving.

“Four months,” Lena answered when it appeared the other two weren’t going to say anything. Kara looked distressed just thinking about it. There had been a few moments where they had honestly believed Alex would never awaken.

“Four…four months?” Alex stared at her. “No wonder I’m hungry.”

Kara giggled, taking that statement as the okay to do as she had wanted since carrying Alex out of the wreckage. She hugged her lover to her tightly, heedless of the tubes and wires. Alex winched, but returned the embrace.

“Great, now there’s going to be two bottomless pits.” Lena teased good-naturedly.

“You should be alright, but start with simple things.” Caitlin warned her. She disconnected the machines that were no longer needed. She had been around enough meta-humans and super-powered people to know the signs.

“Right, any ideas what my power might be?” Alex had read over enough of the reports from Starr Labs to know that different powers had different markers, although some were similar. A few were a little hard to determine, such as the mental based powers. Alex didn’t feel all that different.

“Not yet,” Caitlin replied. “We’ve been more concerned over the other injuries you sustained.”

“Which are all healed,” Kara said. “The head injury was the worst,” her lip wobbled as she held back tears, “and your heart stopped twice during surgery when they had to go in and repair some internal damage and remove the shrapnel from your back.” She had needed to keep reminding herself that Alex was in one piece. Her human was still alive and breathing.

Lena motioned for Caitlin to follow her out the door so they could leave the two alone. Kara didn’t care if they were there or not, but Alex would. The stubborn woman refused to remove herself from the impression that she had to be strong in front of everyone all the time. Lena had the same tendency, so she couldn’t exactly fault her friend for it. They would have it out later. Right now, Kara needed her more.

Kara had the decency to wait until the others were out of the room before climbing into bed with her lover. Alex shifted to the side so there was more room, but she needn’t have bothered. Kara picked her up so she was in her lap, curled into her chest.

“I was so scared Alex.” She whispered. She couldn’t even ask Alex not to do this again because it wasn’t anything they could control. Neither of them could give up this life, not when what they did was something that felt like what they were meant to do.

“I know,” Alex understood that kind of fear all too well every single time Kara ended up beneath the sun lamps for more than minor injuries. “I know, and I’m sorry.”

“No, Alex, you don’t have anything to apologize for.” Kara nuzzled her face against Alex’s hair. “Lena’s already ordering food, and then I’ll go get your favorite.”

“The food truck in Chicago?” Alex sighed, already imagining dripping cheese and perfectly grilled ham between toasted bread and topped with sautéed onions and peppers.

“Of course,” Kara reluctantly let her go. “Wanna shower?”

“Are you saying I stink?” Alex laughed as Kara backtracked and babbled before frowning at her. Kara stopped after a moment, pouting. “Come on, let me shower before the food gets here. I’d like to be in some real clothes.”

“Right!” Alex squealed as Kara levitated off the bed to bring them to a standing position. Alex remained ensconced in her arms, despite the protest that she could walk.

Kara walked them to the small bathroom attached to the room. The shower stall was tiny, big enough for only a single occupant on purpose. Even so, Kara remained in the room as Alex showed.

Alex blinked as time seemed to slow for a brief moment, seeing each individual drop of water as it fell before returning to normal. Blinking again, she reached to steady herself against the wall. Perhaps she wasn’t as well as she felt.

“Alex?” Kara sounded strange, word drawn out as if she were speaking incredibly slowly.

“Kara?” Alex reached out, trying to find the blonde. “Kara, I think-”

“Alex!”

Alex stumbled to a stop before striking the wall. She was completely dry, despite the fact that the shower was still running and she had just stepped out of it. She was shaking.

What the hell?

“Hey, I got you,” Kara wrapped a towel around her, not really knowing what else to do. “I guess we know what your power is now.”

“Kara, what just happened?” She hated when her body did things she didn’t want it to. She had trained hard to be as in control of it as humanly possible.

“You’re a speedster.”

------------

Much, much later that night they were in their apartment. It hadn’t changed much in the four months she had been in the Medbay.

It was comforting, that bit of familiarity.

She had lost four months of her life. Now she had super-speed.

It was far from a fair tradeoff. She would much rather have those four months back.

She had missed Kara’s birthday. Lena’s Birthday. Her and Kara’s second anniversary.

Alex had been planning to propose then.

What the hell was she meant to so with super-speed?

Barry had already offered to help her learn to use her powers. Alex had already agreed to it, although she would be on the watch for any tricks. She had heard about how Oliver had ‘helped’ when Barry had first gained his speed, just as she had heard how Barry had gotten revenge after another meta had temporarily switched Barry’s speed with Oliver’s talent with a bow.

Not that Kara would allow any such thing to happen. In fact, Kara was as adamant about being a part of Alex’s training as Alex had been about Kara’s in the first place.

“You’re over thinking this,” Kara muttered softly. “You’re alive. You’re faster than me now.” She giggled. “And you can’t tease me anymore about my food intake!”

Alex groaned. “Remind me to talk to J’onn about a food stipend, else we’ll need to live at the DEO.” She had matched Kara in sheer amount of food eaten for the first time since the alien had come to live with the Danvers.

“Lena already thought of it,” Kara said. “We have the best best friend, especially when she gets to thwart her mother.”

“…dare I ask what the two of you have gotten up to?”

“Well…” Kara buried her face into Alex’s neck for a moment.

“Oh god…what did you two do?” Alex fought her grin. There was a reason they worked as a trio, elsewise the one left out tended to have to get the pair out of a mess.

“I mean…crank calls, a few bashed up bases, some re-stolen funds donated to charities that needed it, a few trick programs that’ll send their servers crashing at different points…not much.”

Alex was shaking in laughter. “You two crank called…and J’onn let you get away with it?”

“Well…I mean…” Kara giggled. “Some of the others helped. J’onn may have made a few suggestions.”

“No way!” Alex denied.

“Okay, he may also have given all of those involved a very stern lecture about not messing around like unscrupulous teenagers.” Kara admitted. “Lena quoted something from Doctor Who back at him.”

That sounded more like the man who had become the adopted father of their rag-tag group. It was very much something Lena would do in response to being lectured. Alex would bet she might even know which quote it was.

She turned over so she could wrap her arms around Kara. “Winn isn’t allowed to design my suit. I’ve seen some of what he wanted to dress you in, remember?”

Kara giggled. “Yes, I do. Breakfast says Lena already has something by tomorrow.”

Alex thought about it. “Pancakes if you’re right, French toast if you aren’t.”

“Deal,” Kara agreed, “now sleep.”

--------------------

Kara had not been wrong. Lena did have something ready for Alex.

“Oh, Alex it’s perfect!” Kara danced around her, taking it in.

It was very much like Barry’s suit, built to withstand the extreme speeds Alex would be running at. It was mainly blue, a shade darker than Kara’s own suit. Where Barry’s suit had gold, the same red as Kara’s cape traced seams and edges in contrast to the blue. On the left shoulder, like a badge of honor, rested the El crest. The emblem on Alex’s chest was a thin, ragged lighting bot split into tree prongs in red.

“How does it feel?” Lena eyed her work critically, trying to find any flaws.

“Good, comfortable,” Alex fidgeted. “Tighter than what I’m used to.” She spun around. “No cape?”

“If you could fly, I would have added a cape.” Lena typed something into her tablet. “It’s tight because loose fabric would create drag.”

“She’s right,” Kara nodded. “Why do you think I drop the cape if I have to use my speed on the ground? It’s great in the air, not so much for running.”

Alex nodded. It made sense. Most of the heroes they knew who had capes did very little (if any) ground maneuvering. “Ok, now what?”

“Now you need a new codename,” Lena looked up, smirk firmly in place. “I figured you would rather come up with one yourself before Cat Grant gives you one.”

Alex eyed her warily. “Why can’t I just keep Agent? We can just add speed or something to it.”

“Agent Speed,” Kara shook her head. “Nope. That’s almost as bad as The Blur.”

“I was thinking Lightning,” Lena announced. She nodded to the scorch mark on the wall. “Fitting, since you mastered that particular trick so quickly.”

Alex looked down at her gloved hands. “Lightning…I like it.”

#kalex #kalex fanfic #kalexweek #kalex week 2019 #day 1

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tonystarkficrecs · 5 years

Note

Hey, i hate to bother you again, but have you seen endgame yet? Also do you have any really happy fics?

I have!! I’ll be doing my best to avoid spoiling anything for anyone and I’ll make another post about it, but if/when I rec any fics containing Endgame spoilers, I’ll be using the tags #endgame and #endgame spoilers.

I’m putting the recs under a cut because this list grew really huge really fast (19 fics!!). They’re the happiest, fluffiest ones I can remember reading (and if that’s not enough, check out the fluff tag for more!).

The (Not So) Great Pretender by RayShippouUchiha

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Words: 19,585

Pairing: James “Bucky” Barnes/Tony Stark

Completed: Yes

“What,” Tony says softly but with a great depth of feeling, “the actual fuck just happened?”

“I believe, Sir,” JARVIS pipes up from the phone in his pocket, an unnecessary amount of what sounds like glee in his voice, “that you’ve once again managed to maintain your closely guarded secret identity. Truly your subterfuge skills know no bounds.“

“You’re an asshole J,” Tony mutters back as he reaches up to rub at his temple. He either has a headache coming on or a blood clot. At this point he’s honestly not sure which he’d prefer.

“I did learn from the best, Sir,” JARVIS tells him sunnily.

i babysat god and he stabbed me with a fork by surveycorpsjean

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Words: 11,395

Pairing: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange

Completed: Yes

If these two idiots don’t sort out their shit real soon, Loki is going to stab everyone in this room and then himself.

What I Need I Just Don’t Have by gyzym

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Words: 2,199

Pairing: James Rhodes/Tony Stark

Complete: Yes

If you want this choice position, have a cheery disposition. (Or: Tony needs an assistant. Rhodey needs a break.)

Phil Coulson’s Case Files of the Toasterverse by scifigrl47

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Words: 287,890 (series)

Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark (+various other pairings)

Completed: No (most works in series completed)

Short stories from the Toasterverse, because the author gets panicky writing long form stories built around plot and has to finish something in order to function.

Phil has problems with these people. So does the Author.

Late Nights and Bare Bottoms by Shi_Toyu

★ ★ ★ ★

Words: 1,947

Pairing: James “Bucky” Barnes/Tony Stark

Completed: Yes

Tony stared down at the gingerbread cookies that’d been placed on the edge of the work station. It’d been the smell that’d drawn him out of his tunnel vision. He didn’t normally smell gingerbread in the middle of August. He blinked hazily, but the plate of cookies didn’t disappear. They were still warm, too, when he picked one up and bit into it.

God, and delicious. He moaned and stuffed the rest of the cookie into his mouth, already reaching for another one.

“You like them.”

Tony nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Bucky’s voice, but in a flat tone. The super soldier loomed behind his chair, hair a tangled mess and face completely blank. He was dressed in Clint’s ‘I love to rub my meat’ apron and what appeared to be nothing else.

“Uhhh… yes?”

don’t know why it took me so long to see by goodmorningbeloved

★ ★ ★ ★

Words: 11,209

Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Completed: Yes

“Oh, watch this,” Natasha says, propping her chin against her knuckles and turning a sweet gaze on him. “Tony, what’s it like dating a superhero?”

Tony bristles in irritation. “We’re not dating,” he snaps. “Captain America probably thinks he can get into anyone’s pants just ‘cause he’s got a mask, costume, and reputation, but not me, buddy. That shield? Gotta be overcompensating for something.” He adds, a bit petulantly, “Oh, and all that blue? Definitely more Steve’s color than his.”

-In which Tony is a genius in all matters except recognizing his boyfriend past a mask.

No, He’s Your Son by orphan_account

★ ★ ★ ★

Words: 1,420

Pairing: Gen (pre Tony Stark/Stephen Strange)

Completed: Yes

peter, on the phone: dad i forgot my homework can you drop it off in the seminar hall it’s empty don’t worry

strange: ok

strange, walking out of a portal into a hall filled with students:

peter, loudly: EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM OWES ME FIVE DOLLARS I TOLD YOU MY DAD WAS A WIZA-

may the fourth by irnan

★ ★ ★ ★

Words: 1,762

Pairing: Gen

Completed: Yes

So there’s this project Tony has been working on since he was ten years old which is only marginally less awesome than the specs for the TARDIS he totally could have built if Fury would’ve just let him had the Tesseract for a couple hours longer.

Peter Parker’s Step-By-Step Guide to Get These Two Dumbasses to Kiss Already by everythingsace

★ ★ ★ ★

Words: 3,781

Pairing: James Rhodes/Tony Stark

Complete: Yes

Rhodes was on the floor, his legs pulled up beside him, and Mr. Stark was kneeling down beside him, asking questions and checking if he was okay.With the biggest heart-eyes he’d ever seen.Peter’s jaw dropped as he stared, his eyes turning to Rhodes, only to realize that he had the doe eyes, too. Not quite as bad and obvious, but holy shit.Holy shit.

Tony Stark is the Alyssa Milano by Akira_of_the_Twilight

★ ★ ★

Words: 1,388

Pairing: Peter Quill/Tony Stark

Complete: Yes

Prompt: Starkquill where somehow Drax was the first one to notice that Tony and Peter were into each other, but he’s been around humans for a while now and he understands that if you tell them things directly they’ll just do the opposite and ruin everything for everyone, so he’s going to get them together using… metaphors

“Kidnapped, enjoys space, likes your music, and can dance,” Drax listed off.

Peter grinned. “Yeah, pretty cool dude. I might actually miss him by the time we get him back to Earth.”

For a man who had been in search of a partner for as long as Drax had known him, Drax was surprised that Peter was unable to see his perfect match right before him.

Earthlings could be quite stupid sometimes.

Rocket Science by marsmaywander and orbingarrow

★ ★ ★ ★

Words: 12,094

Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark

Completed: Yes

Sleep-deprived and under-caffeinated, grad student Tony falls asleep in a conveniently empty classroom and wakes up in the middle of Bruce’s Physics 101 course. After seeing a groggy Tony fumble a simple question, actual-student Bucky offers to tutor him. In a moment of “oh no; he’s cute” panic, Tony takes him up on it. Now, in addition to his already complicated life, Tony has to figure out the answer to the incredibly messy question: “How do you look like you’re failing the class, when you literally wrote the book?”

i stole the keys to this guy by kellifer_fic

★ ★ ★ ★

Words: 6,007

Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Completed: Yes

Where it was Nick Fury’s idea, but he didn’t mean it like that.

The Tongues of Men and Angels by copperbadge

★ ★ ★ ★

Words: 2,369

Pairing: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark

Completed: Yes

Extremis has a few unexpected benefits.

Pint-Sized Parker by flyingonfeatherlesswings

★ ★ ★

Words: 3,636

Pairing: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange

Completed: Yes

Tony is called away from a meeting to deal with a now toddler-aged Peter Parker, who went snooping around in Stephen Strange’s spells.

carpool introductions by sapphirestark

★ ★ ★

Words: 2,401

Pairing: Gen

Completed: Yes

“It’s - it’s nice to meet you too, Colonel Rhodes, sir. I’m Peter. Uh, Parker.”

“I heard.” Rhodey smiled. Well, teenage Tony had certainly never been this polite. “Just call me Rhodey, kid.”

“O-okay, Rhodey.” Peter’s timid smile transformed into a grin. Rhodey decided he would definitely rub that in Clint’s face the next time he claimed Rhodey wasn’t good with kids.

“Are you kidding me?” Tony interrupted from the driver’s seat. “He’s Rhodey after two minutes and you’re still calling me ’Mr Stark’?”

Angry Genius White Noise by copperbadge

★ ★ ★

Words: 520

Pairing: Tony Stark/Pepper Potts

Complete: Yes

One of Pepper’s favorite activities after a long day is putting on sci-fi movies and watching Tony dissect their bad science. He’ll happily spend two hours curled up against her and ranting about the flawed central plan in Armageddon and how REALLY, HE HOPES AN ASTEROID HEADS FOR EARTH, HE’LL SHOW HOLLYWOOD HOW TO REALISTICALLY AVOID AN EXTINCTION-LEVEL EVENT, DAMMIT. Pepper finds it oddly relaxing, like angry genius white noise. Add in Bruce, and she could sell tickets.

The More You Know by Nokomis

★ ★ ★

Words: 2,457

Pairing: Gen

Completed: Yes

Peter’s first post-mission Avengers hang out goes about as well as one would expect.

home is where the science is by IntrovertedOwl

★ ★ ★

Words: 2,566

Pairing: Gen

Completed: Yes

Tony wasn’t jealous.

The very idea was ridiculous. Laughable. Absurd.

In fact, he was pleased.

Yes, that’s what he was. Pleased. And a little smug.

But the Best of Men by lusilly

★ ★ ★

Words: 2,113

Pairing: Gen

Completed: Yes

In which Tony introduces a fifteen-year-old boy to Steve, and Steve is touched that Tony would introduce him to his son.

(Except he’s not Tony’s son, he’s the newest Avenger, and Tony’s just completely oblivious to how parental he’s become.)

#fic rec list #fanfic #marvel #avengers #tony stark #fluff #tony/happiness

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rockynfriends · 4 years

Text

Tricky Treat

(This is a commissioned story from the fantastic @incaseofart, just in time for the spooky season! Hope you all enjoy -- we have another post coming out later today so don’t touch that dial ;)

Two voices shout in unison “HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN!”

“Alright, alright, hang on a moment. Before we leave, we need to establish some ground rules.”

“That’s right. Fugue and I want to make sure no one does anything that puts them in danger.”

“But Rocky -- you said that Halloween was a dangerous season!”

“I SAID that it was a season of intrigue and danger. I also said that it was a good reminder to be aware of your surroundings and not let yourself into situations with unnecessary risks.”

Fugue smirks as he listens to his friend talk about the merits of avoiding risk and describe the other ‘ground rules,’ thinking about the many and various ways in which Rocky has personified unnecessary risk.

“What? You don’t agree with me?” asks the latter, looking at Fugue with a coy grin.

“You know that when it comes to reducing danger I’m always in favor,” replies the Ampharos with a shake of his head. “I just never thought I’d hear YOU telling someone else.”

Rocky scratches his head and chuckles. “Well, a year ago neither of us expected me to be taking my little brother trick-or-treating either.”

“Like my costume?” asks Pizzicato gleefully.

Rocky smiles. “Absolutely. It’s very fitting, sweetie.”

“If he’s not careful he’ll end up being another dad friend,” Fugue thinks to himself as the younger mons grab their baskets.

“Ready to go, everyone?” Rocky asks.

“What about Cynthia and Deneb and Cassie?” asks the Azurill quickly, apparently noticing their absence for the first time.

“They’re gonna stay home and watch Arsenic and Old Lace. It’s one of Cass’s favorites – apparently they’re in it, though they’ve never told me where,” Rocky replies with a shrug and a smile.

Fugue stifles a chuckle at this. “I imagine Deneb will get a real kick out of that one. It’s the one with Boris Karloff and the psycho great-aunts right?”

“Psycho what?” Riley tilts his head.

“I’ll explain later,” Rocky replies. “For now, let’s get some candy.”

This is met with cheers from all sides.

“Now then,” Fugue begins, as they make their way to the first house, “Is there a reason you wanted to help chaperone instead of look for candy yourself, Rocky?”

“Uh, well…to be honest, I liked the idea of watching Riley more than getting extra treats for myself. He’s my brother and I wanted to just be there for him, I suppose. I’d like him to have a normal Halloween. No monsters, no villains, just candy and family and friends.”

“That makes sense. You’re pretty good at this big-brother stuff.”

“Ha, thanks. I’m learning that apparently it means being the responsible one, which used to be Cynthia’s job, but now I find myself trying to stop her from getting him into mischief! She loves him to death, honestly. Personally I think--”

He pauses as they stop at the first house.

“Uh, Fugue? Has this place always been…creepy?”

It’s a fair question. The building seems to loom over them with its spiked tower in the center leaning slightly forward and a dimly lit porch.

“Let’s uh, skip this—” but before Fugue can finish, Pizzicato has smacked the door several times with her tail.

“Ding-dong ditch?” asks Rocky nervously.

Fugue nods. “Normally I’d say no but let’s—”

He’s interrupted by a hissing sound, and then the air fills with smoke.

“Uh…what’s happening?” Riley says with a mixture of confusion and nervousness in his voice.

“Welcome travelerssss…” replies a voice with an unusual tone. “You’ve found my housssse of secretssss.”

“Great,” Fugue mutters. “Weird neighbor. Probably just pranking would be candy getters. Alright, then, thank you for the excitement but we have to go now.”

“Ssssooo ssssooon?” asks a Seviper, appearing in the doorway through the smoke. “Sssssurely you’re here for Halloween treatsssss!”

Riley looks at Seviper skeptically. “Yeah, without the smoke and scary expression, thanks.”

“Jussst sssstaying in the sssspirit of the ssseasssson,” laughs the Pokémon, “I like to keep trick-or-treaterssss on their toessss.”

“You don’t have toes though,” says Pizzicato innocently.

“True, ssssmall one,” replies Seviper with a chuckles.

“We appreciate your time, but I just remembered something important,” Rocky says. “We have to go get it. Sorry to disturb you.”

“Yeah…you’re creepy,” Riley chimes in.

Seviper laughs again. “Yesss…but that’ssss the point of Halloween, issss it not?”

A moment later, the Pokémon vanishes. Fugue shakes his head.

“Come along, then, onwards to—” his sentence is cut off when turning around makes him aware the group is now suddenly IN the house despite never making an effort to cross the threshold.

“Okay…” he frowns. “Rocky, any thoughts?”

“I’m thinking we just went straight to the trick part,” replies the Pikachu, looking around the large foyer into which they seem to have been transported.

“How do we get out?” asks Pizzicato. “We haven’t even gotten any candy yet!”

“I like her,” says the voice of the snake, though the direction from which it comes is no longer clear. “If you can find your way through thissss place, there will be a very big treat. Your firsssst clue issss to figure out which of you issss the odd one out.”

“Odd…one out?” Riley frowns.

“That’s me!” Pizzicato giggles. “I’m water and you’re all electric!”

Rocky nods slowly. “That sounds about right.”

Fugue shakes his head. “Yes, but there’s another interpretation. All of you are mouse Pokémon, and I am not. So it might be me too.”

Riley shakes his head. “It’s Rocky.”

Everyone looks at him surprised.

“Why me?” asks the Pikachu.

“You’re the only Pokémon that can use a move normal Pikachu can’t. I’ve seen you do it.”

Fugue pauses for a moment, then agrees. “That’s a good thought, Riley.”

“Indeed it isssss,” comes the hissing voice of the snake. “Up ahead there are doorssss with your facessss on them. Pick the door that you think hassss the ansssswer.”

Sure enough, a variety of doors appear out of the smoke.

“How did he get our faces…?” Fugue begins, but is interrupted by Riley marching to the door and throwing it open – only to nearly be tackled by Rocky.

“Careful!” the Pikachu nearly shouts. “Let’s at least see if we can figure out what is going on in there!”

So saying, he peers into the door…and a light comes on, revealing a wooden staircase leading downwards into a darkly-lit basement.

“Good choice, Riley,” the snakey voice says. “You’re on the right track.”

Fugue shakes his head. “Me first. I can light the place up.” The orb on his tail glows bright, showing the whole room – inside there appears to be a Rube Goldberg machine of sorts.

“What does this thing do?” asks Pizzicato as the rest of the troop follows Fugue downstairs.

“I dunno, but I want to find out!” Riley says excitedly. “After all, this is the right door.”

Rocky pauses. “How do you know?”

“Because it was your face, Rocky. I haven’t gone wrong by following you yet!”

The Pikachu is not expecting this reply, and sniffs slightly to hold back sudden happy tears.

“Well, how do we trigger it, do you think?”

Fugue looks it over. “I think that’s our next obstacle to clear. Figuring it out, I mean.”

No one notices that Pizzicato has wandered up to a small bowl and hopped inside. A moment later, it lifts into the air, taking her with it.

“Whee!” she shouts, much to everyone’s dismay.

“Pizzicato!” Fugue cries, but the machine continues to whir to life.

Her weight counters another weight, thereby knocking a lever over. It smacks into a cup with dice, which roll across a drum of some sort, which lets out a sound that fills the room and causes the plunger below it to pump once or twice, pulling a block of wood down a pipe and letting another ball roll down a ramp until it smacks a plank, which seesaws into the wall, knocking it down.

“All that effort just to open a door?” Rocky frowns.

“Sssssometimessss it’sss about making ssssure the participantssss are paying clossssse attention,” says the voice. “The next room will require ssssome extra thought. Better sssstay alert! Sssso far the young onessss have been more obsssservant. Can the adultssss catch up?”

The others exchange a look before Fugue reaches up and picks Pizzicato out of the bowl.

Rocky shakes his head. “This feels like a sort of game, but what kind of prize is there for winning?”

No answer comes, and Fugue shrugs. “All I know is that the kids seem to be having fun.”

“Yeah, but I’m missing out on candy,” Riley pouts a bit as they enter the next room. Suddenly carnival music plays and they find themselves surrounded by mirrors on each side.

“Did it suddenly get hot in here?” asks Rocky, shuddering.

“Who knowssss thissss ssssong?” calls the Seviper with a hissing laugh. “You’ll find your exit in the rhythm!”

“I don’t know this song,” Riley shakes his head.

“Me neither,” Pizzicato chimes in.

Rocky shrugs. “I’m lost, personally. Any ideas, Fugue?”

The Ampharos pauses. “Hold on a moment…I think…I think I’ve heard it before…”

“Holding on” proves to be a somewhat difficult task, as it only continues to get hotter in the room. It’s not long before everyone’s sweating.

“Fugue, no rush, but uh, if you have any ideas, we’d love to hear them,” Rocky says in a dry whisper.

The Ampharos’s eyes are determined – and suddenly they look inspired. He claps twice, stamps his right foot, then spins a somewhat clumsy circle – and the room almost instantly cools down as the mirrors fall away to reveal another door.

Pizzicato cheers. “I knew you’d figure it out!”

Rocky tilts his head. “What was the song?”

Fugue smiles, shaking his head. “Someone I care very much about sang it to me when I was younger. We had a dance we used to practice for it too. You know, like kids like to do? What you saw just now was part of it – it took me a while because I hadn’t heard it in years. I haven’t the faintest clue how Seviper knows it.”

“Sssome ssssecretsss ssstay that way,” replies the hissing Pokémon. “But you’ve done well. Can you ssssolve my lasssst puzzle? It’sssss a real doozy.”

“Last puzzle?” Pizzicato frowns. “I was hoping there were a few more.”

The others all give her a “you’ve gotta be kidding me” look, but only Riley says it out loud.

“Sure it’s fun but we’re missing out on all the treats!”

“Come on,” Rocky shrugs. “The more we stand here, the longer we’ll be missing out whatever’s out there.”

The group makes their way into what appears to be a great dancing hall, with portraits of Pokémon clad in formal, almost Victorian style attire, hung on the walls. It’s not long before they recognize their own faces in some of them.

“Hey that’s…” Fugue has to stifle a laugh as he notices Deneb, wearing a frilly collar and a somewhat dour expression. “I uh…I wonder what the puzzle here is supposed to be.”

“Hey, isn’t that your trainer?” Riley asks, pointing to another painting.

Fugue nods, perhaps even more baffled. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but that puffy wig actually looks pretty good on her. How did they get her likeness, though?”

Before they can discuss it further, the snake interrupts, suddenly appearing in another burst of smoke.

“You’ve sssspeculated plenty. It’ssss time for the main event! If you can bessst me in a fight, then I sssshall releasssse you!”

Rocky frowns. “Well…that’s sort of disappointing. I had hoped you planned a real mind-bender, not just a throwdown.”

“Ah, but you ssssee,” laughs the snake. “I will not be battling you directly. I have insssstead devisssed a battle of the witsss unlike any other!”

Another puff of smoke fills the room, and before them stands a perfect facsimile of Cynthia!

“What the heck?” Riley practically shouts.

“Don’t worry,” she laughs. “Your challenge isss to determine what move you have that could bessst counter an attack I ussse. If you win, then you will try another opponent, then another, before the tessst endsss.”

“So it’s a simulated battle,” Fugue thinks. “Well, I don’t have everyone’s movesets memorized just yet but—”

“I do,” Pizzicato says happily.

“Then it fallsss on you to determine the bessst courssse of action,” smiles the Eevee with her strange enunciation still in full force. “I trussst the othersss will not regret having you in charge!”

“Uh, Fugue? Are we floating?” Rocky asks calmly, but with a certain tremor in his voice.

“Quite suddenly, yes. Except Pizzicato,” mutters Fugue. “I guess the final test really is all hers.”

“The adultsss never quite caught up, did they?” laughs their Halloween host. “Nonethelessss, here’ssss the firssst tessst! Cynthia approachessss and ussesss ssswift! What do you do?”

“Riley! Use Protect!” Pizzicato says with confidence. Riley complies, though a moment later he looks quite confused.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” Rocky says.

“Uhhhh, neither did I?” he replies.

There’s another puff of smoke, and this time it’s Deneb facing them off. As if to remain in character, this time the Pokémon does not speak, instead presenting them with a Psychic attack.

“Fugue, try Rock Throw!” The Ampharos does so, but his confusion is even more evident.

“Um, I can’t…actually do that,” he whispers. “I think Pizzicato doesn’t actually know what I can do.”

“Well now’s not the time to correct her,” Rocky says quickly. “We’ve KINDA got to rely on her so—”

He’s interrupted by the sudden appearance of Cassiopeia where Deneb was.

“Crap,” Riley mutters, only to quickly apologize when Rocky gives him a look.

“Here’sss a Ssshadow Ball!” they declare, only to have Pizzicato immediately say “Rocky! Bug Bite!”

For a moment the older trio all exchange a look of despair – but then Rocky stirs, looking as lost as he possibly can, and executes the move with perfect precision.

“Okay….” Fugue says, scratching his head. “I assume this means we win?”

As if to answer his question, Seviper reappears and smiles. “Well done, travelerssss. You’ve defeated my obssstaclessss and proven your ssskill. I presssent you with your reward.”

A golden plastic card appears in front of each Pokémon and Seviper vanishes, revealing the exit just ahead.

“What’s this?” Pizzicato asks plaintively, apparently bummed that the game has ended.

“Well, it’s…10,000 poke worth of candy – or rather, a gift card for that – for each of us,” Rocky says with a half-stunned expression.

“Candy? You mean that weird snake gave us free candy? And we get to pick it out?” Riley asks quickly.

“That is…indeed the case,” Fugue says, scratching his head again, this time with a smile.

“Wow! What a prize! Hey, can we play again?” Riley wonders out loud.

“I had fun too! I don’t even need another prize!” Pizzicato adds, only for both of them to find themselves half carried to the exits and into the night.

______

“That was pretty fun, Cassiopeia. I didn’t know you were such a prankster!” laughs Cynthia as they make their way home.

“I believe Halloween is an opportunity to enjoy the chance to give others a bit of excitement. I couldn’t have pulled it off without your help. Your portrayal of a Sevipers’ accent is quite convincing, Cynthia.”

“Ha, well, Deneb here had it the hardest, but she still pulled it off wonderfully!”

The fusion Ampharos grins and wobbles with delight, nodding in agreement.

“So they’ll probably need to go do more trick-or-treating, and tell us their story when we get home. In the meantime, shall we actually go watch Arsenic and Old Lace?”

“Sounds like a plan to me. I’ll pop the popcorn!” Cynthia grins.

So, having finished their own trick, they make their way home to enjoy their treats.

#pokemon #halloween #fugue #rocky #pizzicato #riley #cassiopeia #cynthia #deneb #short story #have a great one all!

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fadelikeaflower · 6 years

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Cosplay (コスプレ) Origin!

Where it all began?

In the 1970's a new thing started to gain traction among Japanese college students where they dressed up as manga and anime characters. They were as avid for comics and cartoons as America was at that time. So, when they attended manga and anime conventions (schools and festivals included) they were going in their favorite characters, thus, expressing their fandom.

In 1975 Comic Market (Comiket) launched. This help creates a rendezvous for publishing and self-publish comics. It is here and in this atmosphere that what the later will become cosplay started to thrive and blossom. The name for this concept was: kasou (仮想). The problem was that the term could not capture what was actually happening as it was the equivalent of "Masquerade" from the west which would make you think of something in terms of old fashion or maybe even noble (why not?!?). Terms like Costume, Costume Shows, Kasou Show or Hero Play were all over the place. As it is normal in almost any language combination of multiple words in shorter ones are possible and "Cosplay" was, after some different choices the most obvious one and the one that stood up. The term portmanteau meaning 'costume' and 'play'. Seemed like a match and it was.

The debut

So, in June 1983 the article about Takahashi's cosplay debuted in My Anime as seen above. It was related to fans that were at the Comiket convention in Tokyo. It contained cosplayers that captures superheroes like Kamen Rider, Techno Police 21C and other heroes like the ones from Lupin III (not seen it yet by myself. I have seen other anime). There were sexy female cosplayers then as they are now. They are very popular as you might know about it since you are reading this article.

Now, on the question of why we dress as different characters in public or private lives that is something interesting and it depends from one person to another.

Costume play as kids (dress-up)

When we are kids we want to dress as a prince/princesses or various fairy tale creatures or, why not, animals. Once you put that "cape" or costume as a kid then you are INSTANTLY transported in a magic land where most things are possible and, fear not, there is no evil. Our brain actually creates the rules on the fly and makes us feel wonderful and loved and at that moment we know everything is possible. While we play, without knowing, our brain actually learns from physical movement (running around believing you are a unicorn or whatever), social interaction (usually we play with other kids in the story) and emotionally (we learn about feelings). Dressing up also makes our brain access our memories and set of initial rules which govern certain aspects of life. A dragon will fly and spit fire...while a unicorn will not spitfire. The brain processes all kind of information to make our own reality based on what it knows. It simply takes that information and arranges it to make sense of it in a play. There are multiple benefits and I won't be using this article to write about that but the idea is that while we play (as kids) we have only benefits. It is important to let kids roam free with their imagination.

Cosplay as adults (Public)

Now, why do we "cosplay" as adults (in public or not)? It has to do with the same basic principles as we do when we are children. We want to feel good and we do when, for a brief period we forget about the broken pipe, next payment, due invoices and other stuff like that. When you put that costume on you no longer think of those worldly things. Now you are someone else and the brain can relax from the weight of the real world problems and just focus on something else. Like stay in the character (do you remember when you talked the pavement and you were not supposed to step on the lines? Relaxing, isn't it? that is the same here), see if other brakes them. Smile a lot when people realize who you cosplay at and all that. This is what usually happens in the public. Is just the brain trying to ignore the problems for a while? So to sum it up Cosplay is because the ADULT in you WANTS to have fun and PLAY around. And that is wonderful. You should let the child in you play as much as possible.

It is like Civil War re-enactors only that, to me, seems more fun because it lets everyone be whatever they want to be for that brief period.

Cosplay as adults (Private)

Now, why do we play or costume play in our private rooms? Well, because of the same reasons mostly. You want to have fun and do something different once in a while. If you want to be a cat (for ladies...actually...for men too, why not), a princess or why not (usually in private people tend to be something more forbidden by society or frown upon) a prostitute you can be that. There are actually people out there that play the whole scene where he picks her up and takes her to his apartment/house/hotel/etc. And all these are ok because, as I said it before in my real life many times what you and your partner enjoy is not sick or whatever as long as it affects only you too. So, if you want to be something in your private life or in your private story be that someone.

Question answered?

I hope I answered your request, Anonymous!

Anonymous said:

Hello Ms. Dya. I am a fan of your dancing (which seems to be now downplayed if not self-censored), but it is nice to see what's in the brain behind the rhythmic, sensual beauty that you may very well be. Well, in response to your latest post, I would like to know more about cosplay and the desire to live out certain fantasies through temporarily becoming someone other than their default outward persona. Not necessarily for a comic convention, but maybe in public than their private lives.

Love, Dya!

#answer #cosplay #costume play #why #why we cosplay #dress-up #dress up #fun #wonderful #first article on request

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creaturebloom · 6 years

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this is a 65 question ask meme and im the bitch that’s filling it all out at once to waste time

1. Do you ever doubt the existence of others than you? oh yeah definitely, but it’s usually the other way around where everyone else is real and i am not

2. On a scale of 1-5, how afraid of the dark are you? idk like a 2.5 i guess

3. The person you would never want to meet? i mean. i don’t know ??? how can i know who i don’t want to meet until i have met them and decided they’re the worst

4. What is your favorite word? akimbo

5. If you were a type of tree, what would you be? i would WANT to be a weeping willow, but in all honesty i’d probably be a birch or some type of maple

6. When you looked in the mirror this morning what was the first thing you thought? i honestly cannot recall

7. What shirt are you wearing? a grey pajama shirt

8. What do you label yourself as? the skeleton god

9. Bright room or dark room? i mean if we’re talking the absolute brightest room vs the absolute darkest, i suppose i would pick brightest.

10. What were you doing at midnight last night? for once i was actually asleep

11. Favorite age you’ve been so far? god probably like 8 years old was good

12. Who told you they loved you last? my dad

13. Your worst enemy? it me

14. What is your current desktop picture? it’s a landscape in the style of like miyazaki movie backgrounds

15. Do you like someone? romantically ? no

16. The last song you listened to? poison vine - noah gundersen

17. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up? just like physically destroy one person ???? idk man. like the consequences of this would probably be too far reaching for me to even fathom. do i get caught ?? does it spark paranoia worldwide ? a string of copy-cat murders ? could i live with myself knowing i killed a human being ?

18. Who would you really like to just punch in the face? nazis

19. If anyone could be your slave for a day, who would it be and what would they have to do? idk like. the idea of a slave that has to do stuff for me for a day is kind of wild. if i can like, make a billionaire my slave and then force them to redistribute their wealth then i’d do that

20. What is your best physical attribute? (showing said attribute is optional) my bones !! i can’t show them to you though, not yet

21. If you were the opposite sex for one day, what would you look like and what would you do? i guess the opposite of nonbinary is SUPER binary so i’d be like half man half woman and i’d look exactly like a halloween costume

22. Do you have a secret talent? If yes, what is it? no, all of my talents are pretty out in the open

23. What is one unique thing you’re afraid of? one unique thing ??? i don’t think anyone really has unique fears. if you dig deep enough they all sort of boil down to the same few things in the end. i guess the most strange fear i have is that spiders will be in my slippers, and so i do not own or wear slippers.

24. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your disposal. oh shit ok. idk all the ingredients but one time i ate a vegetarian bahn mi in chicago and it was like the most heavenly sandwich i’ve ever had. i want that again. endlessly.

25. You just found $100! How are you going to spend it? honestly at this very moment in time i would buy groceries, and also maybe a pad of watercolor paper

26. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, but you have to leave immediately. Where are you going to go? oof, leave immediately ??? that limits my choices bc i don’t have a passport. i guess i’d go to like. god idk oregon ? colorado ??? the pacific northwest somewhere.

27. An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. “Be brand-specific” it says. Man! What are you gonna say about that? Even if you don’t drink booze there’s something you can figure out… so what’s it gonna be? wait what am i supposed to figure out if i don’t drink booze ??? like if my plan was to sell it, i’d have to get a liquor license, and that’s a can of worms i don’t care to open. i think i would ask the angel if instead i can get a lifetime supply of, like, that good bahn mi sandwich i was talking about a few questions up.

28. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place? no nerds allowed

29. What is your favorite expletive? i’m pretty partial to fuck, but honesly yikes is what i say most often even though that’s not a swear word. petition to make yikes a swear word.

30. Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the one thing you’re going to save from that blazing inferno? hey so one time there was actually the threat of a fire in my house and despite all these questions no one does anything like that. i put on my shoes, grabbed my phone, sunglasses and water bottle because they were all immediately available as i was exiting the house. so as much as i’d love to grab my box of treasures and keepsakes, i absolutely would not and i know this about myself now.

31. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be? yikes. i can see the appeal of this for a lot of people, but for myself it’s just uhhh not feasible. i’d always wonder what i erased, and at some point i would uncover the truth. i wouldn’t like to live with that kind of mystery going on.

32. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit… you can move to anywhere else in the world! oh thank god. i’m moving to a colder climate with universal healthcare.

33. The Celestial Gates Of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn’t think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person/etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back? okay i would strike a deal here and let’s say i can bring back two pets instead of one person and in this case i would bring back rusty (family golden retriever), and also kohji (brother’s shepherd mix). i’d like to say i’d bring back my cat, but i have two cats now and i know my brother would really like his dog back.

34. What was your last dream about? i don’t really remember, tbh. i’ve been having a lot of weird dreams tho

35. Are you a good….[insert anything you’d like here]? yes i am a VERY good [something]

36. Have you ever been admitted to the hospital? yes ! it was terrifying and i’d never like to do it again thanks

37. Have you ever built a snowman? no, somehow this was never presented to me as an option any time i’ve been around snow

38. What is the color of your socks? buddy i’ve not worn socks in months. but also generally they are striped with various colors.

39. What type of music do you like? gay stuff

40. Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets? sunrises

41. What is your favorite milkshake flavor? chocolate

42. What football team do you support? oh i sure don’t

43. Do you have any scars? yes, many

44. What do you want to be when you graduate? considering that i am no longer in school, the answer is that i want to do whatever i feel like doing at any given moment

45. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? i suppose i’d cure my mental illness (which i’m working on, so, this will happen)

46. Are you reliable? oh, no. no thanks. i absolutely am but i hate feeling obligated so i always choose to not put myself in situations where someone needs to rely on me for anything

47. If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be? i guess i’d ask if they’re happy

48. Do you hold grudges? i mean. i don’t forget things ........ but i am capable of forgiving people

49. If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature, what new animal would you create? nope ! i’ve seen movies, i know what horror that can cause

50. What is the most unusual conversation you’ve ever had? one time my sister and i were talking to our aunt, and we could not for the life of us figure out if she was trying to GIVE or SELL us some rabbit fur coats she had ......... it’s been over a decade and we still do not know which it was

51. Are you a good liar? yes

52. How long could you go without talking? several million years

53. What has been you worst haircut/style? sorry my hair is indestructible and because of the natural texture it looks great no matter what. i’m blessed and i know it.

54. Have you ever baked your own cake? what kind of person doesn’t bake their own cake ????? rich people i guess

55. Can you do any accents other than your own? yes ! but not very well

56. What do you like on your toast? butter, and occasionally cinnamon sugar

57. What is the last thing you drew a picture of? some cool clouds

58. What would be you dream car? a honda prelude with the pop-up lights

59. Do you sing in the shower? Or do anything unusual in the shower? Explain. i do sing in the shower sometimes, but not loudly

60. Do you believe in aliens? absolutely

61. Do you often read your horoscope? almost every day, but i do my full birth-chart horoscope so that it’s accurate, and not like horoscopes from the newspaper

62. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet? n

63. Which is cooler: dinosaurs or dragons? i mean are they not the same thing. tell me a dinosaur and a dragon are not basically the same things.

64. What do you think about babies? yeah they’re alright. i never want to be in charge of one but i’m alright with them

65. Freebie! Ask anything interesting you can think of. i guess the most interesting thing i can think to ask myself is which tarot decks i have, and i will tell you. i have the prisma visions tarot (which is amazing), and also the shadowscapes deck (beautiful!), and also a deck of runes that i made myself with a sharpie on a pack of pepsi branded playing cards

#about mai #i guess this used up like thirty minutes of my time

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