#Quad Screening Test | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sapphire-writes · 11 months

Text

Thin Ice (modern!HOTD)

pairing: Aegon x Reader & Cregan Stark x Reader

summary: The end of the fall semester is a week away! One game left before winter break, and you decide to send Aegon a message.

rating: 18+ (detailed warning below the cut)

series masterlist

previous chapter ~ Ch. 7: Superstitious ~ next chapter

warnings: p in v, choking, thigh riding, angst, spanking, hair pulling, language

note: hope you enjoy this chapter! don't hate me too much for the angst you know I can't help myself!!

dividers by @firefly-graphics

“I have to go home,” Helaena tells you, dropping her bag and joining you and Sara on the blanket you’ve laid out on the quad.

Sara lowers her sunglasses. The days have turned significantly colder with the end of the semester looming, but today the sun had decided to show itself, leading to many students skipping their afternoon classes to sunbathe on the quad.

“What are you talking about?” Sara asks, eyebrows furrowing together with confusion.

“There’s still a week left before winter break!” you exclaim, motioning to the books you held in your lap.

Finals season. Finals season was killer.

Aegon had passed his midterms. He’d sent you an appreciative text that sent you spiraling and then hadn’t texted you since. It had been a couple of weeks. You were sure he’d reach out, especially after his annoyance at you avoiding him.

But he hadn’t.

You wished it wasn’t eating away at you, but it was. Even when you hung out with Cregan, went on several more dates to dinner, the movies, and ice cream. Your mind constantly wandered back to Aegon.

Bastard.

“My dad’s getting worse,” Helaena admitted, crossing her legs as she sat.

You and Sara exchanged a pained glance. You knew Helaena’s father wasn’t doing well, his health had been steadily declining the past few years. He seemed to be pretty stable the past year, Helaena hadn’t shared any updates.

Aegon hadn’t shared anything with you.

Not that he needed to. What were you even? Friends? Classmates? Lovers? You cringed internally at the thought.

“I wanted to stay for Egg’s last game before winter break,” Helaena said, shaking her head,

“But..I don’t know. I just have a feeling.”

“What kind of feeling?” Sara probed.

Helaena pursed her lips, eyebrows knitting together. She looked past you and Sara as though seeing something far away that the both of you could not see.

“Just like…it may be sooner than I thought,” she tells you both, “and I want to be able to say goodbye.”

“What about Aegon?” you blurt out, unable to stop yourself.

Helaena glances at you, but there’s no suspicion in her eyes even as she takes in the blush blooming on your cheeks.

“He’s in the family group chat,” she tells you, “He sees Mom’s texts. I can’t corral all my brothers, they can come if they want to.”

You nod, pulling your eyes away from her gaze.

“Has he mentioned something?” she asks.

“What?” you answer, “To me? Why would he mention something to me?”

Sara grimaces at the defensiveness of your tone. You can feel sweat beading on the back of your neck.

“You’re his tutor, aren’t you?” she questions.

“We sort of stopped that.”

“Oh,” Helaena says, picking at a loose thread on her jeans, “That’s a shame.”

“Is it?” you ask, “Aegon wasn’t super serious.”

“He was really proud of his midterm, look,” Helaena says grabbing her phone.

She turns the screen to you and you’re greeted by a selfie of Aegon holding the blue test packet up next to his grinning face. His eyes are crinkled with how hard he’s smiling, and his finger points to the B- written in red on the top corner. You can’t stop the smile that tugs at the corner of your lips or the way your heart begins to beat furiously in your chest as you stare at Helaena’s phone.

“He worked really hard,” you tell Helaena, “But my tutoring days are over.”

“Maybe Lydia will help him,” Helaena muses, swiping through her notifications.

You tilt your head, curiosity gnawing at your insides.

“Lydia?” you ask, trying to keep your tone neutral.

Sara flicks her gaze toward you, raising an eyebrow. Helaena hums, still scrolling through her phone. Sara bites her lip, fighting a laugh before making a curious face.

“Are they dating, Hel?” Sara asks, and you widen your eyes at her.

Sara merely shrugs.

“Um, well Egg doesn’t really date, but they’ve been spending a lot of time together since formal,” Helaena tells her, finally glancing up from her phone, “Why do you ask?”

“I’m curious about all the hot men on campus,” Sara says, smiling.

“Gross,” Helaena answers, “Shouldn’t you only be concerned about Jace?”

“I’m very concerned about Jace,” Sara says, placing a hand over her heart, “Concerned about his gorgeous, thick, co-”

“Enough!” Helaena interrupts, covering her ears.

Sara snickers and you rise from the blanket, gathering your things.

“Where are you going?” Sara asks, watching you pack your bag.

“Class.”

You head out, leaving your friends on the quad without saying another word, stomach churning at the thought of Aegon and Lydia.

You don’t see Aegon as you’re sitting with Sara in the bleachers before the game. Both of you are clad in Cregan and Jace’s jerseys.

It’s tradition, the last game before winter break, the end of the first half of the season.

“You’re dating the goalie, you wear his jersey,” Brandon Karstark had told you.

“Silly superstition,” Arryx argued.

“It’s not like she’s his girlfriend,” Reese Bolton had said.

It was true. You and Cregan had been on several dates and made out in his car, but you hadn’t gone any further. In any way.

“Doesn’t matter,” John Umber told his friend, “She still has to wear it.”

I see you at another game in his jersey, I’m fucking you in it.

When the team comes onto the ice, the crowd roars, the sound of cheers almost deafening. You watch the team do a lap around the ice, Cregan sparing you a wave, and the flash of a smile, Jace close on his tail. You spot Aegon, he’s hard to miss, at least to you.

I see you at another game in his jersey, I’m fucking you in it.

His threat lingers in your mind, sending an ache between your thighs. When he looks up at the stands, his violet eyes meet yours. You cross your arms over your chest, trying to make sure your face doesn’t give away any of the mixed emotions you’re feeling.

Aegon drags his eyes down your face to your chest, drinking in the outfit you’re wearing. You dressed it up, the jersey falling right to the middle of your thighs completely covering the biker shorts you paired underneath. Fishnet tights decorate the rest of your legs and Aegon’s gaze hungrily follows the pattern down to your ankles.

As he brings his eyes back up to meet yours, you can feel your cheeks burning. Aegon grins, showing all his perfect, pearly white teeth, cocking his head to the side. No words are exchanged between you, but you understand what that look conveys.

You fucked around, you’re about to find out.

Naturally, after the team wins they head to the hockey house. You’d hoped to cling to Cregan at the party to avoid Aegon, but your plan came crashing down in the last five minutes of the game. A fight broke out on the ice leading to a broken nose and Cregan headed to the ER.

He insisted you not wait around for him.

“These things take hours,” he told you, voice muffled from the soaked rag pressed against his face, “Seriously, not the first time not the last. Don’t waste your night in the ER.”

So you ended up clinging to Sara instead, effectively cockblocking your best friend to her dismay.

“Where are you going?” you ask Sara, as she heads upstairs.

“I’m just running to Jace’s room, will you chill?” she tells you, “Aegon is nowhere to be found. You’re good.”

“Sara,” you begin, but trail off.

What are you supposed to say? Aegon threatened to fuck you, and you went and poked the bear?

“Relax,” Sara tells you, “I’m going to grab my coat, grab Jace, and then we can go back to the apartment.”

“Promise?” you ask.

“Give me five minutes,” she says and disappears upstairs.

Five minutes go by.

Then ten.

Then fifteen.

You text her several times. Nothing.

“This fucking whore,” you mutter, heading up the stairs.

You’re not sure which room is Jace’s. Last time you were in the hockey house you were wasted before you passed out in Aegon’s bed. You try the first door. Locked. You bang on it for a moment, hearing only giggles, none of which sound like Sara. You move down the hall.

An empty room, a bathroom, two girls who throw a shoe at you when you interrupt their rendezvous. And then a silver-haired boy, sat on a small couch next to his bed, violet eyes meeting yours when you open the door.

Aegon.

Shit.

“Hey bunny,” he says casually, closing the book on his lap, and tossing it onto a side table.

He leans back, arms spread over the back of the couch. He’s freshly showered, hair still slick with water, droplets falling onto the white t-shirt he wears. He grins at you, eyes falling to Cregan’s jersey you’re still wearing.

“I’m looking for Sara,” you tell him, going to close the door.

“Funny you should say that,” he says, standing suddenly.

You frown, trying to avoid glancing down, instead focusing on the dark black of his pupils.

“Why?” you ask.

Aegon walks toward you, slowly, like a lion stalking its prey. He makes his way in front of you, reaching behind you and pressing the door shut. He’s so close you can feel his breath on your cheek, feel the warmth from his chest.

“I think she’s preoccupied,” he tells you, grimacing.

“Do you and Jace have telepathically communicate?” you ask, frustrated, “Seriously? Why is he so okay with your scheming?”

“He’s my bro,” Aegon says, feigning offense.

You roll your eyes.

“Where are they?” you ask.

“Don’t interrupt their fuc-”

“I don’t care if he’s balls deep Egg!” you say loudly, “Where are they?”

“Your apartment, jeez,” he says, laughing at the groan you release, “They left out the back.”

“I’m going to kill her,” you tell him.

“Don’t be mad, bunny,” he says, reaching for your hand.

Aegon laces his fingers through yours, watching them for a moment before bringing his eyes back to your face.

“Don’t look at me like that,” you tell him, but you don’t pull your hand away.

“Like what?” he asks, swaying slightly.

“Like you’re going to fuck me,” you tell him, “Not happening.”

Aegon sinks his teeth into his lower lip.

“If you didn’t want me to fuck you,” he begins, “Why did you wear that?”

Your face flushes as he motions to the jersey.

“I was very clear,” he tells you, “And you’re a very smart girl.”

You swallow as he brings his hand to the collar of the jersey, rubbing the material between the pads of his fingers.

“You just trying to be a tease, bunny?” Aegon asks, eyes roaming down your figure, “Cause you look fucking amazing. You know how hard I was on the ice?”

Your breathing has turned shallow, coming out in short pants.

“You wanna feel how hard you make me?” he asks softly, bringing your hand to his crotch.

You can feel him, hard and wanting, straining against the jeans he’s wearing. Your lips part slightly as he rocks his hips against your hand.

“You want to go?” Aegon asks, “This is your chance.”

He rocks against you again, pressing himself against your hand. You can already feel the heat pooling between your thighs, the dull ache beginning. You stare at him and swallow the lump forming in your throat.

“I don’t want to go,” you breathe and Aegon smiles.

He looks up at you as he begins to sink to his knees. He places a kiss on your stomach, down the tops of your thighs, on your knees, before parting your legs. He drags down your biker shorts, throwing them to a corner of his room.

“I’m going to tear these off with my fucking teeth,” Aegon murmurs, mouthing the fabric of your fishnets, swirling his tongue along the smooth skin of your inner thighs.

You squirm against his mouth as he presses a kiss to your barely clothed core. You grab a fistful of his hair, yanking him away from you suddenly. Aegon looks up at you, the picture of perfection, an angel on his knees for you.

“Get up,” you tell him, and he moves to his feet, his hands never leaving your thighs, traveling over the swell of your hips, up your ribs.

You move his hands off of you, pushing a hand against his chest to push him down onto the couch. He sits, head tilted back watching you as you straddle his lap. Aegon wraps his hands around your waist and you remove them once more.

“No,” you tell him, holding his hands above his head.

You know you must be blushing furiously, you’ve never been this domineering in bed before. Aegon looks up at you as you grind yourself against him, feeling him grow harder beneath you. His jaw is slack, violet eyes are blown black with lust, never leaving your face with every roll of your hips.

You tilt your head to the side. Fake it till you make it, that’s what Sara says. Pretend you’re confident.

“Why should you get to touch me?” you taunt, wetting your lips.

Aegon’s eyes widen slightly, surprised by your sudden dominance. He smirks, a small laugh leaving his perfect lips.

“Oh, you’re so gonna get it,” Aegon says softly, fire in his violet eyes.

He doesn’t stop you though, doesn’t twist his wrists from your grasp.

“No, I don’t think so,” you tell him, “I don’t share with anyone. Got it?”

“There’s no one else,” Aegon answers immediately, “No one but you.”

You tilt your head to the side, a smirk sliding onto your face.

“You’d lie to my face?” you tease, “I know you’ve been seeing Lydia, Hel told me.”

“I’m not seeing Lydia,” Aegon tells you, “Well, I’m not anymore.”

You narrow your eyes at him.

“What about you, hypocrite?” Aegon asks, tilting his chin up at you, “Still walking Cregan like a dog, I see.”

Then he tugs his wrists free, snaking a hand around the back of your neck, pulling you closer so his lips ghost the shell of your ear.

“He fuck you like I do?” he murmurs, pressing a hot kiss below your ear.

Your eyes flutter shut as his free hand moves to grab your ass.

“He make you cum as hard as I do?” he asks, kissing a trail down your neck.

You wet your lips, fingers tangling in his hair pulling him closer.

“Yeah, he does,” you breathe and you can feel Aegon smile against you.

“Fucking dirty little liar,” he says, pressing your lips against his.

The kiss is hungry and desperate; Aegon’s hand holds your neck so you couldn’t move away even if you wanted to. Not that you want to. When Aegon kisses you, you want him to consume you completely.

He slips you almost completely off his lap, so you’re straddling his thigh. Your eyes widen as he presses you down against him.

“C’mon ride it,” he tells you, “I know you know how.”

You meet his eyes and he grins. He fucking knew. Of course, he did.

You roll your hips against him, just like that first night at the hockey house. His hands cup your ass, squeezing and kneading the soft flesh as you grind against him.

“Just like that, there’s my good girl,” he purrs, dragging a hand up your back.

You whimper as he wraps his hand around your throat, squeezing just enough for your air supply to be deliciously depleted. The friction is perfect as his jean-clad thigh presses against your warm center, every roll of your hips sending sparks of pleasure dancing throughout your body.

“You gonna cum? Or do you need an audience like last time?” he teases, referencing the party.

“Fuuuck,” you choke, as Aegon tightens his grip and your curse turns into a high-pitched keen as your orgasm floods through you.

Aegon releases your throat, picking you up and standing, moving to throw you on the bed. He roughly turns you onto your hands and knees. You push onto your forearms as Aegon’s hands move near your center, tearing through the fabric of your fishnets.

“I liked those!” you hiss, feeling him move the lace of your thong out of the way.

You hear him chuckle darkly, hear the zipper of his pants and feel the tip of his fat cock sliding through your slick folds.

“You’ll like this more,” he tells you, “Promise, bunny.”

Then he’s sinking into you and every witty retort you can think of slips from your head. Aegon rocks his hips against yours and your hands clutch the comforter seeking purchase. You grit your teeth, trying to not give him the satisfaction of a moan.

“Oooh, you are mad at me, huh?” Aegon teases, delivering a harsh thrust.

You bite the inside of your cheek, falling from your forearms, cheek pressing against the bed as Aegon continues to pound into you, bringing a hand down to slap your ass. The mark stings and Aegon rubs his hand over it before delivering another blow.

A whimper escapes your lips when he angles his hips just right, the head of his cock bullying into your sweet spot. Your eyes nearly roll back into your head when he leans forward, focusing on the spot he’s located.

“C’mon tell me how good it feels,” Aegon says, snapping his hips.

He brings his hand to the back of your head, pulling you up by your hair.

“Tell me,” he whispers in your ear.

“Fuck,” you moan, unable to help yourself.

“Touch that pretty little clit, right now,” he demands, and you bring your hand between your legs.

You rub nice slow circles around your aching clit, fingertips brushing against Aegon’s cock each time it slides in and out.

“There’s my good girl,” Aegon croons, “Even when she’s mad she listens so well.”

Gods there’s something about his voice, something about the way he talks you through it, it has your back arching, moans and whines spilling from your lips as you’re thrown over the edge once more, cunt spasming around his cock.

Aegon slows his thrusts as you cum, still painfully erect as he pulls out, tapping the side of your ass. You turn around, laying on your back, panting as you look up at him.

He holds his tongue between his teeth, eyes falling to your chest.

“Take that fucking thing off,” he tells you and you move the jersey over your head.

“And that,” he says motioning to your bra.

That lands on the floor as well, leaving you in your ruined fishnets and thong. Aegon climbs on top of you, dragging his mouth across your breasts, stopping to roll your nipples between his teeth and tug on them harshly.

He continues to worship your body with his mouth before he slides himself back into your warm, tight center. You lock your legs around his waist, raising your hips to meet his thrusts.

“Do I fuck better than him?” Aegon asks, “Tell me.”

You meet his eyes then, and you know your facade has faded. Aegon smiles then, showing all his teeth.

“You haven’t even fucked him, have you?” Aegon asks.

You don’t answer, trying to capture his lips in a kiss. Aegon turns his head from your needy lips.

“You are my good girl,” Aegon tells you, sending fire pooling in your belly.

“Yes,” you whimper, “Yes, I am.”

Aegon kisses you then as a reward, slow and sensual as he thrusts deeply into you. He’s so deep inside you, your denials from earlier spill past your lips.

“You fuck me so well,” you whimper, “No one could fuck me like you.”

You know you might regret the confession, but you can’t find it in you to care at the moment.

“I know baby, love fucking you,” he murmurs against your mouth, “God this pussy, fucking made for me.”

“Fuck yes yes right there-!” you whine as he presses himself into you.

Tears blur your vision as your legs begin to tremble with the promise of your third release.

“Oh god, oh fuck-” you squeak as your third orgasm rips through you, Aegon never slowing his merciless pace all the while.

“So fucking good,” Aegon moans as your pussy clenches, milking his cock until you feel him twitching inside you, the warmth of his release painting your inner walls.

He kisses you slowly and passionately, with his cock still nestled deep inside of you. As he pulls out of your warmth he keeps his arms around you, dragging you to lay across his chest. Your breathing returns to normal, your limbs feeling like jelly as you listen to the steady drumming of his heartbeat.

“You can’t have it both ways, you know,” you tell him, not looking into his eyes.

You expect to feel him tense beneath you, to tell you to stop being jealous. Or dramatic. Or not as easygoing as other situationships. Something Jason would say. Something Jason had said to you.

“You can’t get mad at me for seeing Cregan and then go screw Lydia Tyrell,” you continue, nervously chewing on your lip.

You feel Aegon’s hand on the back of your head, smoothing your hair.

“I know,” he tells you, chest rumbling, “I just wanted to see you sweat a little.”

You lift your face, resting your chin on his chest to look at him. He glances down at you, a sly smile on his face.

“What?” he asks.

“You’re not seeing Lydia?” you ask, heart beating erratically.

Aegon shakes his head and you whack him on the chest.

“Ow!” he says, wincing.

“You’re such a dick!” you tell him and he rolls until he’s on top of you.

He presses his lips to yours and the rude words slip from your mind as his tongue caresses your bottom lip. Aegon presses his body against yours, the weight of him against you bringing a fresh way of arousal to your center.

“I’d like to be seeing you,” he murmurs against your mouth.

Your fingers tangle in his hair as he nips your lower lip, eager for him to sheath himself within you once more.

“Helaena is going to kill us,” you tell him, kissing him back nonetheless.

“We don’t have to tell her,” he murmurs between kisses.

You freeze suddenly, pulling your lips from his.

A secret. You’re going to be a secret. That’s almost worse. Shame twists in your gut, and Aegon senses a shift in your mood as you rise, slipping Cregan’s jersey back over your head and your biker shorts back on.

Aegon sits up slightly, cocking his head.

“What?” he asks, but you shake your head.

“Nothing,” you tell him, running a hand through your hair, “I just have to go.”

“Now?” Aegon asks, his voice breaking into a whine, “Y/N, stay with me-”

“No I have to go,” you insist, grabbing your shoes.

Your tights are ruined, hanging on you in tattered pieces but you don’t care. You need to get out, need to leave before the tears blurring your vision spill over.

Aegon’s brow creases, he stands up taking the bedsheet with him, clutching it against his stomach to cover himself.

“Y/N what did I do?” Aegon asks, concern lacing his tone.

You sigh, hand on the door before forcing a smile on your face and turning to him.

“Nothing. You’re just being Aegon,” you tell him, “Forgot who you were for a minute, it’s all good.”

Pain flashes across his features for a moment and a tear escapes your eye. You wipe it away furiously before pulling his bedroom door open.

“I’ll see you around,” you call, not looking back as the dam within you breaks.

You hurry down the stairs and out of the hockey house into the cold night air, hurrying down the quiet streets of your college campus eager to get back to your apartment.

You can’t help but cry, cursing as you pass a group of drunk girls who stop when they see you, insisting you tell them what’s wrong. Finally, you make it home, walking into your dark apartment. You’re greeted by Baela on your couch, who rises as you enter.

“Y/N-” she says, biting her lip.

“Bae? What's wrong?” you ask.

“Helaena called…her dad…” Bae starts, tears falling, “He passed away tonight.”

Your heart nearly stops beating. You dig mindlessly into your purse for your phone, hands shaking.

8 missed calls.

She tried calling you. For the past hour or so. The entire time you were with Aegon. Guilt pours through your limbs and you’re sobbing earnestly now, Baela holding you against her. There’s one more missed call, more recently, just about ten minutes ago.

Aegon.

note: I hope you enjoyed my loves! Again, don't hate me too much for the angst I truly cannot help myself!

Thin Ice Tag List:

@padfooteyes, @nina2697, @julieeba, @darkenchantress, @heavenly1927, @fan-goddess, @possiblyafangirl, @n4tforlife, @serving-targaryen-realness, @bubblyabs, @cicaspair418, @jamespotterismydaddy, @tssf-imagines, @platonichug, @tosiaf, @skikikikiikhhjuuh, @rwdkarla, @partypoison00 @moira-strangle-me-please @clairacassidy, @sh4dowrav3n, @okfashionista, @kravitzwhore, @queenofshinigamis, @misspendragon, @marytargaryen, @dope-trope-105, @imarimon, @whoisalexa, @oneeyedvisenya, @valeskafics, @aemondsmoon, @doublesparrows, @namelesslosers, @fidelias @imarimon @trifoliumviridi

bold means I could not tag for some reason!

drop a comment to be added to this series taglist

522 notes · View notes

luci-in-trenchcoats · 8 months

Text

Imagine…Meeting Dean In College

Pairing: college student!Dean x reader

________

“Hey,” said the guy who’d been sat at the table next to you for the better part of an hour. You lifted your head away from your paper, giving him a quick smile. “Would you watch my stuff while I run to the bathroom?”

“No problem,” you said.

“Thanks,” he said, heading down past the rest of the tables and around the corner. You went back to your computer, typing out your quote. Only a moment passed before you saw a tall guy in a hoodie head over to the empty table beside you. He stared at the open laptop and pile of books, glancing around.

It took him less than a second to grab it, sending you to your feet.

“Hey!” you shouted at him. He dropped the computer on the table and took off running. You opened the computer back up, the thing seeming to be working okay. A minute later the guy it belonged to came back around the corner with a curious smile.

“Everything okay?” he asked as you sat back down in your chair.

“Yeah. Some guy tried to take it. He dropped it on the table but it looks alright,” you said.

“That must be the guy dealing with campus police around the corner,” he chuckled. “Well thanks for scaring him off. I owe you one.”

“You’re a TA in Greek Mythology?” you asked, nodding at the screen. He smirked, sitting and leaning back in his chair.

“Let me guess. You got stuck with Stuber over Hunflest for a professor,” he said.

“Everybody said it’s an easy A.”

“Unless you get Stuber and he’s a hardass,” he said. “You looking for test answers?”

“No I’d never ask that. I just...I need help on this paper. A lot of help,” you said.

“Give me half an hour to finish my grading and then we can take a look.”

Two Weeks Later

“How’d you do?” grinned Dean when you caught up with him on the quad after your classes were done for the day.

“You are looking at the only person in the class that got an A,” you said, tilting your chin up.

“Oh, someone’s a smartie pants,” he chuckled.

“I owe you one. You helped me with that paper all weekend,” you said.

“You saved my computer if I recall. Don’t owe me anything,” he said.

“Come on. I owe you a little.”

“Alright. You can have dinner with me tonight then,” he said. “Like a date.”

“Like a date or an actual date?”

“Depends on how nervous I am in the moment,” he said, flashing you a wink before walking past. “I’ll pick you up at your apartment at eight?”

“You’re gonna pull that and not call this a date?” you said with a smile back at him.

“Wear a dress?” he asked.

“We going somewhere fancy?”

“No. Just think you look pretty in your fall dresses you wear,” he said. His cheeks were the slightest touch pink and you walked over to him, giving him a peck on the cheek.

“See you tonight Dean.”

“See you real soon sweetheart.”

________

#supernatural #spn #dean x reader #dean winchester #supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester x reader #dean #winchester #dean spn

368 notes · View notes

dojunie · 9 months

Text

MESSENGER, HRJ [PT 8: SHH!]

➥ PART 8 OF MESSENGER; a small smau about a stranger, a whole lot of animal pics, and a relationship you would never have expected to come from texting a random number written on a public bathroom mirror.

➥ WC: 3.4K

[PREVIOUS PART] [INFO/MASTERLIST] [NEXT PART]

a/n: double update AGAIN bc i took forever to update 🤠

current tl: @matchahyuck @theboyz-jacob @hoeshi17 @neoteez01 @hibernatinghamster @luvvsnae @shwizhies @skynightgalaxy @ihrtnyu @kunvibing @liliansun @txpxwxk @is4b3ll3s @rxnexxi @rum-gone-why @she-is-dreaming @chenfleur @haedgaff @twogyuu @jeongintwt @rinrinslovebot

RENJUN HAS NEVER WANTED TO STRANGLE SOMEONE MORE THAN HE DOES RIGHT NOW.

There were almost tangible beams of heat drilling into the side of Donghyuck’s head as Renjun glared at him from across the table, while the man in question smiled and flirted and chatted with his girlfriend like absolutely nothing was amiss. Birds were chirping. The sun was shining. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, and students were wandering around in the quad outside without a care in the world—

—And yet, he still felt like he was seconds away from being executed.

Had Renjun’s mind not already been obliterated from the test he’d just taken in his last class, he might’ve been more suspicious of Donghyuck’s text. Because Lee Donghyuck? Asking him if he was free to study? On a Friday?

However, a few hours of studying simply didn’t sound too bad after just barely escaping English Lit with his average intact, which meant he didn’t smell the blood in the water until it was too late— when he’d stumbled upon the rather quiet corner that Donghyuck told him to head towards instead of their usual spot on the first floor. (And this should have been another clue, as Hyuck has only ever wanted to study near the vending machines on the rare occasions Renjun could convince him to open a book, but like any normal human being, he wasn’t thinking that this random change in scenery would lead to this.)

He rounded the corner, saw Donghyuck, saw Doyeon, and then saw you, and instantly felt like he'd just walked into the universe's idea of cruel joke.

Why? Well. Because the only logical solution after realizing how badly he'd fucked up by not immediately telling you who he was after the volleyball game— the double life he’d accidentally started by being too embarrassed to tell you in fear of… everything, really— had been to just... never see you again.

As stupid as it sounds, like some plot from a teen movie, it was the only thing he could think to do that wouldn't make things worse.

Renjun would quicker die than tell you this, but he'd gotten used to you. He'd grown familiar with always having you in his head, accustomed to your endless exclamations, used to how his mood would shift for the better every time your message bubble appeared on his screen— and the idea of losing you because of something so stupid made his stomach squirm like nothing he'd ever felt before. To keep you in his life as Duckboy he'd have to stay out of your way as Renjun, and if those were the stakes then he'd take his chances.

He'd just avoid you like the plague. That was fine. He could do that.

(Since he's never seen you in real life before this week, it probably won't even be that hard, he thought. Right?)

Right.

Hence the reason his heart just about exploded in his chest when he saw you sitting in this library seat.

A few minutes have passed since then, original panic ebbing into tightly-wound stress as the seconds ticked by with you not even a foot away from him.

He initially thought that if he just acted really serious about studying, you might keep your distance. If he glued his nose to his textbook and said nothing, pretended you weren’t there, entirely at the expense of looking like an uptight dork but hopefully putting you off from wanting anything to do with him— he might get out of this unscathed.

He felt you looking at him. He’d even caught you nearly say something to him once, watching you open your mouth out of the corner of his eye, before you thought better of it and slouched back down in your seat, frowning.

For a while it worked. But as he honestly should’ve known about you by now, if your messages were anything to go by— your curiosity could only be so subdued.

“What course is that for?”

You leaned into Renjun’s side of the table.

He tore his eyes away from the textbook he wasn’t focusing on to look at you, and is wholly embarrassed by how easily his indifferent facade cracks.

The worst part of it all is knowing that if he wasn't such a coward, you might've been halfway to being friends by now. Maybe this would have been it. But instead he set himself up for this: You, sitting at his side, asking him questions and talking to him and entwining yourself further and further into his space with the obvious intent of getting to know him better, without the slightest idea that you already knew him. You know where he was born. You know his hobbies, his favorite animals and least favorite foods; you know about the difficulties he has with brother, and because it’s easier to tell things to strangers on the internet, you know things about him that not even his own family knows.

Except you don’t really feel like a stranger to him anymore.

“I can’t recognize like half the words on that page. This is math, right?”

“Applied Statistics,” he replied feebly.

There were some things that couldn't be translated through a phone, though. Like the clear lilt of your voice without the tin of a receiver. How much you seem to fidget; biting pen caps, tapping the table with your fingers, bouncing the balls of your feet against the carpeted floor. Your lack of respect for personal space. He’s hit by a blast of your shampoo or perfume (Honey, like you told him you put in your tea? Vanilla?) as you bow your head closer to oogle at his side of the table.

“Have you ever seen the Davinci Code?" you asked. "All that equation gibberish that was floating around the Mona Lisa in that really, really, ridiculously long monologue scene near the beginning?”

He has never seen the Davinci Code. He nods anyway.

“This looks like that. You actually understand this stuff?”

“It’s an advanced course,” Donghyuck cut in suddenly. Both you and Renjun turn to look at him; you in interest, he, with irritation hastily returning. “You have to take a test to even get a chance to take that class because it counts for like, three math credits, instead of the one like the rest of us losers have to contend with. Renjun here is pretty smart, you know?”

Fuck off, he wanted to bite— but then you hummed and nodded beside him like this made sense, and he temporarily forgot his venom.

“Probably why I haven’t seen you around,” you told him casually. “I don’t tend to attract people with more than two brain cells to rub together, if not already obvious by my friendship with these two.”

Doyeon gasped and reached across the table to swat at you, and you flung yourself closer to Renjun to get out of her reach. You’re giggling brightly as you begin to bicker with her, the same laugh that’s been swirling around in his mind since that night you called him— and again, his irritation slips away at the familiar sound. Though, instead of it being recouped by the slushy feeling he usually got when he thought about your laugh— he’s struck by even more guilt.

The only reason Renjun already knows what you sound like is because you called Duckboy that night.

The reason he’s so sure he’s smelling honey and vanilla is because you told Duckboy that those were your favorite scents.

The reason he knows that math isn’t your strong suit isn’t because you just told Renjun that you find it hard— it’s because you told Duckboy a few days ago that you flunked two math courses in your freshman year, and that it really knocked the wind out of your sails. It was something you told him in sincerity, the first time he’d ever noticed a waver in your usually boisterously confident persona and the sheepish way you brought him a little closer; how Renjun had to fight to keep from grinning when you got flustered afterwards and made him promise not to make fun of you for it.

‘I only tell people that I really trust about that,’ you’d texted him later, ‘So don’t go around making me regret it!!!’

And now he was repaying your sincerity by lying straight to your face. If that wasn’t grounds for regret, he didn’t know what was.

His stomach was in knots by the time he was snapped out of it, to the sound of Donghyuck’s muffled wailing. Muffled because Doyeon’s hand is clamped over his mouth, the girlfriend in question staring at him, wide eyed, as if he’s just done something awfully stupid— and judging by the pinched look on your face as Renjun chanced a glance at you, he might not have been too far off.

“Kim Doyeon,” you whispered, betrayed.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry— Shit, I thought you were kidding! Was your little phone-rendezvous seriously supposed to be a secret?”

What? Renjun lost the plot. He has no idea where the conversation has gone. Donghyuck manages to wrangle Doyeon’s hands from his mouth, enough for him to gasp a needed breath, and then out comes a howl that echoes throughout the high ceilings of the SNU Technical Library.

“You have a cyber-boyfriend?”

Turns out that the corner that Donghyuck picked for his study session was not nearly as secluded and confined and soundproof as you all thought. Ten seconds later and you were being run out of the library by the little, hawkish, very red in the face floor attendant. Twenty seconds later, poor Renjun has somehow ended up saddled with Donghyuck’s bag as you and Doyeon chase him around the front steps of the building, shouting obscenities over his lack of decorum— and another twenty seconds later the four of you are walking back to the dormitory block, Donghyuck’s ears pinched pink and the conversation having shifted back to normalcy.

You hadn’t really been planning to study today. You honestly hadn’t been planning to do much of anything really, besides vedge out in your dorm room with a bag of frozen peas on your ribs (courtesy of Duckboy’s quick thinking, though you’d never tell him that) since only two short days have passed since the game and you were still plenty sore.

But Doyeon, in her text, had offhandedly mentioned that this Renjun guy would be coming, and your sudden openness to cracking open a book surprised the both of you. She, because the last time you willingly agreed to study with her and Donghyuck was… Never, and you because you weren’t expecting the mere idea of seeing Hyuck’s friend again to make studying sound like less like torture.

You’d be lying if you said your mind hasn’t run across him since the game. Nothing nefarious, of course. Just vague curiosity. Interest. Mostly around how, with a face as cute as his, it was possible you’d never noticed him around campus before; or just why the hell he’d been acting so weird when you met. Plus other innocent questions, like what he got up to in his free time if he was allegedly as reclusive as Donghyuck had joked. Like if he read books. Or played an instrument.

Or if he had a girlfriend.

(You know. Completely harmless things like that.)

Then he’d appeared in the library corner a little bit after you’d gotten there, looking properly studious in his little denim jacket, books huffed up under his arm and bag slung over his shoulder— but also just as stiff and sickly as he’d been upon seeing you a few nights ago.

It was like your mere presence put him on edge but you had no idea why, and this little study session confirmed that it wasn’t just a first-meeting-jitters thing. He didn’t seem to relax for a single second back there at the study table, and pondering the list of possibilities began to drive you a little crazy.

(Did you smell bad? It couldn’t be. You’d showered before you left your room, and even spritzed an extra burst of your honey chamomile perfume since you knew you’d be in close proximity to him today. Were you too pushy? Hopefully not— you’d been trying your damnedest to be on good behavior, only asking the most mundane of questions to hold yourself back from voicing any thought that grazed your brain like you usually did with potential friends; and he’d been responding in kind. He wasn’t weird around girls, since he seemed to talk to Doyeon just fine— So what’s the deal?)

You didn’t get any closer to answering that question like you’d hoped you would before the session was over, but that was no matter. All today had done was cement in your brain that, whether he was just a natural introvert or if it really was something about you that ticked him the odd way— you’d die before you gave up on figuring it out.

Maybe a little dramatic. But that’s just how much you hated being left in the dark.

After Donghyuck had gotten you all kicked out of the library (and you’d socked him good for the ‘cyber-boyfriend’ comment), the consensus had been to just call it quits on studying for the day. Fine with you. You didn’t mind an hour to kill before practice, anyway.

You’ve ended up beside Renjun again as the four of you wandered down the path that led you back to student housing. Hyuck and Doyeon were a few steps ahead, mumbling about something you weren’t quite close enough to hear, until Doyeon cursed.

“Of course I would remember now,” she whined. It was only when she stopped to turn, eyebrows knit as she found your face, that you even realized she was talking to you. “Statistics. Statistics. That’s what I was forgetting to tell you in the library. I got a text from Guyeon a few hours ago complaining about a pop quiz that her statistics professor set on her this morning, and I remembered you two were taking the same course but on different days— the whole reason I even asked you if you were free to study with us today was to tell you that so you could prepare.”

“Statistics?” you echoed. “Like… Stats 204? Professor Yubin’s Stats 204?”

She winced, damning confirmation, and when it finally hit you almost gasped aloud. You have a pop quiz tomorrow?

“So?” Donghyuck asked. “Just study for it tonight? Aren’t you free for the rest of the day?”

“No, dipshit,” you hissed, dread steadily rising, “Considering that your girlfriend is the captain of the team, you should already know that Doyeon and I have practice in an hour that doesn’t end until six! Not to mention that studying doesn’t really help when you barely understand the material in the first place—”

“Aren’t his quizzes pretty short though?” Renjun asked quietly.

It was obvious that he wasn’t expecting any of you to hear him, from the way he froze when all three of your heads whirled in his direction, but you did. You heard him loud and clear.

“What was that?” you asked quickly. His face seemed to pale three shades at the sudden intensity of your stare.

“Have you… Taken? Statistics 204 before?”

“Uh—I… Yes? But it was in freshman year, I mean, it was a while ago—”

“But you took it,” Donghyuck interrupted, voice suddenly very, very pointed. You glanced at him. Hyuck’s face was now the perfect picture of interest, a carefully neat and somehow still nefarious grin tugging at his lips. “Right, Jun? And like I said, Y/N, Renjun here is a real star when it comes to numbers. Did I already tell you he has a 4.0 too? That he was a tutor last year?”

Your eyes widened further. He was a tutor? He was that smart?

Foolishly you asked in what subject, knowing the answer wouldn’t sway your sudden bubbling desperation either way, but you felt it right to ask— and Donghyuck’s smile only widened further.

“Math.”

“I stopped tutoring though,” Renjun blurted quickly, as if only now realizing where this was going, and you turned back to him to catch his expression morphing into clear alarm. “I only did it for a few months because the STEM board asked me to fill in a spot, I’m not any authority or anything—”

“The school asked you to tutor people?”

“I feel like that should make you a very big authority,” Doyeon chimed. “Maybe the biggest authority, actually.”

“Well shit,” Donghyuck said cheerily. “And aren’t you free for the rest of the day, Renjun? Isn’t that just the craziest coincidence that Y/N could use a study buddy tonight?”

And for the first time in the very short amount of hours you’ve known this guy, as Renjun whirled to look at Donghyuck, you saw a cast on his face that wasn’t vague discomfort or straight up horror. It was a look you didn’t even know Renjun’s face could make— and the pure, burning disdain written all over his features was enough to snap you out of your blind hope.

His expression couldn’t be any clearer; Renjun did not want to be volunteered.

Which… duh, you suppose in hindsight. If he couldn’t even sit next to you in the library without looking like he was waiting to exploded, then what type of torture would it be to study with you alone? Sure, you were desperate for any chance to not fail this quiz, but the last thing you wanted to do was force the guy into your space when he obviously wasn’t too sure about you yet. Ideally, you wanted to win him over naturally. Not through Donghyuck’s odd meddling.

Before Donhyuck could say anything and make it worse, you shook your head and forced as big a smile as you could manage.

“That’s alright,” you said, casually waving a dismissive hand, “I got it. I, uh… I have another friend who can help me out, anyway— I’d hate to spring something on someone so last minute!”

You felt Doyeon’s pointed eyes on the side of your face, narrowed in obvious disbelief— because you were lying through your teeth and she knew that you had no friends who were taking Stat 204 this semester, much less any who’d ever volunteer to help you study on a Friday night— but instead of acknowledging her suspicion, you avoided her gaze altogether and restarted the walk back to the dorms.

“What?” Hyuck whined belatedly. He stared at you as if he couldn’t believe whatever he was scheming didn’t work. “But— But Renjun is literally—”

“Forget it,” you interrupted. “I have no interest in taking up his night with the hell that is reversed variables. Doyeon and I have to be at practice soon and I still want to eat, so can we get a move on?”

This thankfully seemed to be the end of the conversation, even if Donghyuck was huffing and puffing the whole way back to the dorms; Doyeon next to you now since your sudden speed walking had shifted you to the front. You knew she had things to say about all of that but you kept your eyes forward. (It wasn’t like she wasn’t going to have an entire afternoon to interrogate you in the gym during practice, anyway. God.)

The two boys paused on the pathway as you and Doyeon branched off towards your own building, Donghyuck making all sorts of crying noises and loud declarations of love as Doyeon walked on and tried to look annoyed about it (clearly failing, if the pink in her ears was anything to go by), while Renjun just stared off after you like the entire weight of the world was on his shoulders.

Almost as if realizing he was being odd again he rebooted, blinking it out of his eyes and nodding you goodbye in proper quiet fashion, you couldn’t find it in yourself to be too off put by it.

(Mostly because his lip pulled into the tiniest smile as he waved, and the sight of it was cute enough to make you forget. What can you say? You’re a simple girl.)

If it turned out that there really was a reason for how curious he was being, you were sure you’d figure it out soon enough. You were rather good and sleuthing out secrets— and Renjun was the most intriguing puzzle you’d come across in a long time.

[PREVIOUS PART] [INFO/MASTERLIST] [NEXT PART]

106 notes · View notes

whirligig-girl · 1 year

Photo

Etheria’s moons to dubious scale. The second from the right, the blue & purple one, is about the same size compared to Etheria as the Moon is compared to the Earth.

Probably the first thing I noticed when I watched She-Ra and the Princesses of Power was all the damn moons. I’d seen screenshots and clips of the show taking place on a space ship, so I figured “Brightmoon” was literally the name of a moon. But nope--the Starship Darla wouldn’t make her appearance until much later. Anyway. Despite the unrealistic appearance of the moons in the show, I resolved to Figure Out How They Work Eventually. Here’s some thoughts so far.

I’m unwilling to trust most of these sizes because of perspective effects and because it’s a cartoon. I think probably they’re all smaller than it seems. Obviously the “real” spacing is completely different than in the drawing.

If this image is taken with a telescope, or even a telephoto lens from sufficiently far away, then the original image scale could correspond to the scale of the actual planets.

we only have actual depth information for ONE moon--the blue and purple one in front of Etheria, which means its actual scale relative to Etheria is probably smaller than in the image.

each other moon could be either very large and distant or very small and near to the camera, but the way it looks in some scenes moving towards Etheria suggest that the moons are depicted not much farther or closer from the camera than Etheria itself, so I think taking these as roughly to-scale can serve as a starting point for figuring the rest out.

My progress so far in figuring out how to fit 11 large moons into orbit around one Earthlike planet:

this is only five. Four ceres in a near 1:2:4:8 resonance (such that triple conjunctions are possible, but rare), with that pink moon represented as a Mars-mass world, orbiting about once per month. If I move the Mars out much more, it might not be stable accounting for solar tides. (Etheria does have a sun? right? it’s not entirely clear to me. Does it have a different sun in Despondos than in the Universe? like, Despondos has Just One Sun? Is Despondos’ cosmic background lighting up half the sky? Or did the Etherian Sun come along for the ride through the portals, off-screen? I’m making the assumption that even if there is no real Sun in Despondos, the moon system pre-dated Etheria’s stranding, so it’s still constrained by solar tides.

anyway. the five there. I think I can add more. the Mars can support subsatellites, which I think should be allowed, and I think I can fit in some smaller asteroid-sized moons in low orbits in between the resonant friend quad.

I’m not even close to understanding their geology, yet. I need to have a grasp on their basic physical properties first. But I’m guessing magic and technology are both relevant. One of the three moons of enchantment clearly had cloud banding, not impact craters. it could be terraformed--even if the first one’s tech that terraformed it is gone, perhaps it could still carry an atmosphere for the ~thousand years or so the first ones have been gone?

I wonder if the moons were early test beds for first ones to test magic/tech integration on a planetary scale. (which leads to the dark question of “was there a Heart of the Moon Project?”)

Certainly if the first ones were spacefarers they would have had some infrastructure on the moons.

#SPOP #She-Ra #Etheria #moons #read this post in Entrapta's voice #she-ra spoilers #Etheria doesnt have astronomers anymore but i figure there's still a field of study called something like Lunology--study of the moons.#(and heliophysics if there's a Sun)#(and maybe some kind of cosmology? despondos lacks other stars and planets but it's not actually empty. look at all that nebulosity!)

49 notes · View notes

nixielinghui · 7 months

Text

Who: Unknown. When: Saturday, May 6th - 11PM. Where: The Chapel.

It's a miracle, the fact that she'd begun digging through her tote bag in search of something else entirely, the contents dumped onto the ground only for the notification on the illuminated phone screen to catch her attention. Texts are a rarity, the few people who have their number well aware that it was hardly a good way to reach them, pale eyes scanning over the text before flashing to the time. 10:57 PM. Another miracle in that she'd been relaxing in the cool grass of the quad, that she'd been able to merely give the space around a quick glance before slipping across the way, testing the chapel's doors and slipping inside. It's only when the door creaks open a second time that she suddenly rises from where she'd been lying on a pew, attempting to seek out the face lingering in the dark. "G? Greer?" Half the face they're expecting to see in that instant. "Or is this code for God because the all knowing thing is pretty impressive but you're going to have to do better to make me a true believer."

@ogden-narrator

#• “i like depth” → INTERACTIONS •

10 notes · View notes

liaromancewriter · 2 years

Text

Doubts

Premise: Harsh words from a patient has Cassie questioning her abilities as a doctor.

Book: Open Heart Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Cassie Valentine) Rating/Category: Teen. Angsty Fluff Words: 1,255

A/N: I’m reading Book 1 again and got inspired by the scene with Remy in chapter 7. Submission for @choicesjuly2022challenge Day 11 “empowered”

The night sky was bright from the city lights haloing above high-rise and low-rise structures—a mix of old and new and everything in between—casting long shadows on the dark waters of the Charles River.

Rather than her usual route around the Commons, Cassie Valentine ran the four-mile track along the riverfront. The soles of her running shoes hardly made a sound as they slapped against the ground, music blasting in her ears, legs pumping and lungs burning from the punishing speed she set.

Boston wasn’t New York, but there were pockets of the city where late night hustle and bustle could be found if one knew where to look for it. And that’s what she wanted tonight. To escape; find an open yet busy space where she could lose herself for a while and forget the last few hours.

“How can I get out there and just surf with this hanging over me? How can I do anything normally? You’ve ruined my life!”

No matter how fast she ran she couldn’t shake off Remy’s harsh words. Or forget the angry look on his face as he blasted her for running a genetic test that he hadn’t wanted in the first place. She could have let him live in blissful ignorance. Enjoy the time he had left in peace. Instead, she’d shattered the illusion of normalcy.

What made her think that she knew what was best for a stranger, she thought to herself. Her M.D. was barely six months old, and she hadn’t been a doctor quite as long. Just because her medical hero thought she was developing the kind of observational skills he valued didn’t mean anything in the real world with real patients.

“The art of observation…of reading people…it’s critical to our work as diagnosticians. You’ve already begun to understand that.”

Well, Dr. Ramsey had been wrong. She understood nothing. She was an imposter who was playing doctor. Remy had seen right through her and soon everyone would as well.

The rational part of her knew she had the potential to be a good doctor, but the emotional fallout from today was blinding her to what was and what could be.

No matter how hard she pushed herself, the run wasn’t having the desired effect as her thoughts continued to spiral out of control. Running was her salvation, where she could find clarity. But not today.

Knowing it was pointless—and dangerous—to keep pushing her body like this, Cassie checked behind her for other runners and slowed down when she realized she’d left them all miles back.

She stepped off the path and quickly bent over, taking shallow breaths to bring her heartrate down to a more reasonable pace. When that didn’t help, she sipped water and took three deep breaths, forcing herself to dampen the adrenaline of her mad dash.

Placing one foot on a bench, she stretched aching muscles and massaged her quads and hamstrings, first one leg and then the other. She used the simple exercises to center her mind but knew it for a delaying tactic.

There was only one person who could make her see clearly when she was this conflicted and thinking so she unlocked her phone.

Cassie stared at the words on the screen, memories flooding back of serious-faced doctors—so many specialists—X-rays and MRIs, the diagnosis that had changed her life. She remembered that lost feeling, the uncertainty of a future she couldn’t see, and then eventually the hopefulness that came with time and clarity of purpose.

Max was right. She did know how it felt to be a patient. To have doctors that didn’t listen or who dismissed feelings unless they were about the pain scale. Wasn’t that what had driven her in med school to be the kind of doctor that stood for her patients? Make them feel heard? Important and worthy of the best care?

She might have failed Remy today, but maybe it wasn’t too late. If he would let her, she could find a way to help him come to terms with a disease that was decades in the making.

Feeling settled than she had all evening, Cassie closed her eyes, took a deep breath and counted to three. An important lesson she’d learnt only recently, but already one she knew would be valuable for the rest of her residency if not beyond.

She started the long run back home but this time she found the calm she’d been denied earlier.

The next morning, she got off the T and walked towards Edenbrook with an empowering sense of self-worth that hadn’t been there when she’d left the previous evening. Taking a detour, she ducked into Derry’s, the coffee shop Dr. Ramsey had introduced her to and got in line to order.

“Are you going to make me regret letting you tag along, Rookie?”

She glanced over her shoulder at the familiar voice, catching a smirk on Ethan Ramsey’s full lips. As it had all other times before, she felt her heart skip at the sight of him; those laser blue eyes and artfully styled dark hair with a single, rebellious lock of hair that flopped sideways across his forehead.

“Maybe,” she teased with a quick grin. “Are you going to share more erroneous opinions if I do?”

He scoffed at the reminder of her rejection of his observations of her, but his quick smile showed he wasn’t offended.

The line moved and she shuffled forward. “One Espresso Romano and…” She stopped to observe him, considering, and then turned back to the barista. “A Cortado, please. Both to go.”

He tapped his index finger against his lips and then nodded at the barista, who had glanced over at her regular customer for confirmation.

“What’s a Cortado?” he asked, nonchalance, as they moved down the bar to wait for their drinks.

Cassie didn’t let her smile show but knew she’d stumped him. He might know coffee, but she had been to some of the best coffee houses in Europe.

“You might know it as Garoto in Portugal or noisette in France,” she explained. “It’s basically an espresso cut with a small amount of warm milk to reduce the acidity, topped with micro foam.”

He regarded her warily. “And what made you think I would enjoy it?”

“My superior observational skills,” she quipped.

To her surprise he rolled his eyes before he caught himself and frowned instead, clearing his throat awkwardly.

The barista called their order and Cassie handed him his drink. She watched him take a sip and waited for a reaction.

“Well?” she asked expectantly when he capped the paper cup and started to walk away.

“I’ll see you at work, Dr. Valentine.” And then he was gone.

Cassie rushed to the glass windows of the café, feeling immense satisfaction when she watched the pleasure spread across his face as he took a long pull of the drink in his cup, and then another, while he waited for the cross light to change.

Turning away before he caught her spying, she sat down on the nearest chair and absently drank her own coffee. For some reason, she felt more confident and assured now than she had while getting ready for work and psyching herself for the check-in with Remy.

Dr. Ramsey had liked her coffee recommendation. Even if he’d been too stubborn to say so.

Well, she was tenacious too and before the end of intern year she would make sure he knew exactly who he was dealing with.

All Fics & Edits: @potionsprefect @trappedinfanfiction @bex-la-get @mysticalgalaxysstuff @genevievemd @choicesaddict5 @jerzwriter @rookiemartin @schnitzelbutterfingers @vi-writes-stuff @coffeeheartaddict2 @quixoticdreamer16 @dorisz @zahrachoices @lucy-268 @a-crepusculo @jamespotterthefirst @ofmischiefandmedicine @headoverheelsforramsey @takemyopenheart @gryffindordaughterofathena @queencarb @crazy-loca-blog @natureblooms24

Ethan & Cassie only: @custaroonie @lady-calypso

@choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

#ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey x mc #open heart #open heart choices #open heart fanfics #open heart fanfiction #playchoices #playchoices fanfics #ethan x mc #choices fic writers creations #cfwc fics of the week #ethan ramsey x cassie valentine

70 notes · View notes

lachesine · 8 months

Text

@whatisrugbyeven i know of a site but it's a decrepit blogspot where you need to be on desktop to exploit the wacky coding to check things out easily (if not, there is a youtube & i will link that too)

Laneyards has been my go-to for everything except the hexagonal stitch (he doesn't have a tutorial on it) and while he does have a youtube, the blog is set up to be monumentally more convenient to browse

except it's broken, so the convenience is hidden

you may notice when you first open the website that a bunch of thumbnails scroll across the screen before being hidden behind the landing page

there is no link to the thumbnails page. i will show you the workaround

click "square stitch"

it'll bring up a window and open up the hidden thumbnails page

from there use the X to close the window and browse the different projects

they're sorted roughly from bottom to top by complexity (number of gimp laces) and clicking on each project will open that pop-up window. the older ones have a bit of on-page instruction. unfortunately, the videos are all image links to youtube, not even embedded youtube videos

anyways, he has a tutorial for the quad stitch and tornado stitch (which are just the 4 lace versions of the box/square and barrel/circle) which are the ones i followed

and honestly if you do want to make scoubi/boondoggles i strongly recommend the pepperell rexlace variety pack (which Laneyards recommends as well) caveat that when mine arrived the packaging was different than depicted, but the gimp was the same

but the quality of the rexlace gimp has been LEAGUES better than the offbrand gimp i picked up at the craft store. the rexlace doesn't unlace itself if you look at it funny, while the cheap stuff does, constantly

i'll still use the cheap stuff to test out stuff - hence why the tornado sucked - but for example the hexagonal one i made for my keyring was all pepperell rexlace and it went beautifully

the rexlace variety pack comes with some lanyard clips, but very clearly not enough if you plan to spam smaller projects like i do. if you also want to buy rings so that every boondoggle is keychain-able, i bought 10mm jump rings while at the craft store - they're for jewelry but they're just plain metal rings that you can put on the lace before you start, and (i think) 12mm split rings. these are the keychain loop rings

anyways here's Laneyards' youtube, still the most reliable no-nonsense boondoggle youtuber

Megan Morris has a couple of interesting 4-lace stitches that Laneyards doesn't but she is, unfortunately, a youtuber

LanYarD has some stuff as well (including the hexagon stitch if you don't want to trial and error it) but most of the videos are for projects that are EXTREMELY ambitious

12/19/2023: I stumbled upon scoubidous.eu which is an incredibly complete site for tutorials... but it's in french. but also, the site features plenty of diagrams. you can probably find stuff by clicking around even if you dont translate the page

#zee.txt #zeecraft #boondoggle #scoubidou #rexlace #this ended up basically a getting started tutorial

3 notes · View notes

skyboxeye · 11 months

Text

Capturing the ambience of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory's settings offer excellent audiovisual detail in accordance with its gameplay focused on shadows and sound. The Xbox/PC version in particular features beautiful shaders and countless sound design flourishes on each map.

Capturing Footage

SCCT contains hidden console commands that we can use to control the camera and HUD. In typical Unreal Engine fashion, we can bind these commands to inputs of our choosing. Navigate to C:\ProgramData\Ubisoft\Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory\Profiles[your profile name] and open [your profile name].ini. From there I recommend binding at least the following:

Invisible 1 - Become invisible to enemies.

fly - Fly, with collision, using WASD. Press 4 and 5 to change elevation.

ghost - Fly without collision (aka noclip).

walk - Disable fly and noclip.

disablehud - Turns off the HUD. Press again to re-enable. Note that certain in-game actions won't work unless the HUD is shown.

freecam - Control the camera with WASD. Note that you're still controlling Sam, however. Scroll to adjust speed. Press again to revert to the default camera.

fixecam - Freeze the camera in place. Press again to disable.

We can combine the above commands to get both Sam and the camera into a good position. For example: A.) put Sam's back to wall, limiting his mobility, and use freecam or B.) fly Sam into the desired camera position, enable fixecam, enable walk mode, and then move Sam off-screen.

You'll need to re-enable invisibility whenever you load a new mission.

Optimizing Graphics

To increase shadow map resolution, follow the instructions on PCGamingWiki. If you wish to customize your FOV, the page also has steps for that. For in-game settings, I prefer to disable HDR while maxing out the remaining settings - but this is a stylistic choice, so do whatever you think looks best!

Extracting Sounds

We have a couple of options for different types of sounds. DecUbiSnd can pull WAVs and OGGs out of the game's SS0 and LS0 stream archives. Ambient streams come in pairs of stereo assets, which together represent a "quad" surround sound asset. Be sure to set their frequency to 32kHz before extraction.

We can also decode MAPS.SM0 using vgmstream. The vgmstream foobar2000 component is handy for browsing, but it unfortunately retains vgmstream's default of looping decoded sounds twice. Ultimately we'll use the vgmstream CLI to render a particular sound, e.g.:

vgmstream-cli.exe -i "F:\SteamClient\steamapps\common\Splintercell Chaos Theory\Data\Sounds\MAPS.SM0" -s 7832 -o "D:\Ambience\SCCT\nishin\golf-commentary.wav"

Identifying Sounds

We can inspect the game's UNS dumps to get an idea of which sounds are played on each map. For example: Data\Maps\01_Lighthouse_sound.uns.

Keep in mind the Unreal Engine allows sounds to be played back at varying speeds in-game. It's a good idea to ear-test that extracted assets match your expected pitch.

Putting it all together

Render your ambient and positional sound effects alongside your captured footage.

youtube

#splinter cell #chaos theory #ambience #modding #Youtube

2 notes · View notes

forlinx · 1 year

Text

Introduction to RK3588

What is RK3588?

RK3588 is a universal SoC with ARM architecture, which integrates quad-core Cortex-A76 (large core) and quad-core Cortex-A55(small core). Equipped with G610 MP4 GPU, which can run complex graphics processing smoothly. Embedded 3D GPU makes RK3588 fully compatible with OpenGLES 1.1, 2.0 and 3.2, OpenCL up to 2.2 and Vulkan1.2. A special 2D hardware engine with MMU will maximize display performance and provide smooth operation. And a 6 TOPs NPU empowers various AI scenarios, providing possibilities for local offline AI computing in complex scenarios, complex video stream analysis, and other applications. Built-in a variety of powerful embedded hardware engines, support 8K@60fps H.265 and VP9 decoders, 8K@30fps H.264 decoders and 4K@60fps AV1 decoders; support 8K@30fps H.264 and H.265 encoder, high-quality JPEG encoder/decoder, dedicated image pre-processor and post-processor.

RK3588 also introduces a new generation of fully hardware-based ISP (Image Signal Processor) with a maximum of 48 million pixels, implementing many algorithm accelerators, such as HDR, 3A, LSC, 3DNR, 2DNR, sharpening, dehaze, fisheye correction, gamma Correction, etc., have a wide range of applications in graphics post-processing. RK3588 integrates Rockchip's new generation NPU, which can support INT4/INT8/INT16/FP16 hybrid computing. Its strong compatibility can easily convert network models based on a series of frameworks such as TensorFlow / MXNet / PyTorch / Caffe. RK3588 has a high-performance 4-channel external memory interface (LPDDR4/LPDDR4X/LPDDR5), capable of supporting demanding memory bandwidth.

RK3588 Block Diagram

Advantages of RK3588?

Computing: RK3588 integrates quad-core Cortex-A76 and quad-core Cortex-A55, G610 MP4 graphics processor, and a separate NEON coprocessor. Integrating the third-generation NPU self-developed by Rockchip, computing power 6TOPS, which can meet the computing power requirements of most artificial intelligence models.

Vision: support multi-camera input, ISP3.0, high-quality audio;

Display: support multi-screen display, 8K high-quality, 3D display, etc.;

Video processing: support 8k video and multiple 4k codecs;

Communication: support multiple high-speed interfaces such as PCIe2.0 and PCIe3.0, USB3.0, and Gigabit Ethernet;

Operating system: Android 12 is supported. Linux and Ubuntu will be developed in succession;

FET3588-C SoM based on Rockchip RK3588

Forlinx FET3588-C SoM inherits all advantages of RK3588. The following introduces it from structure and hardware design.

1. Structure:

The SoM size is 50mm x 68mm, smaller than most RK3588 SoMs on market;

100pin ultra-thin connector is used to connect SoM and carrier board. The combined height of connectors is 1.5mm, which greatly reduces the thickness of SoM; four mounting holes with a diameter of 2.2mm are reserved at the four corners of SoM. The product is used in a vibration environment can install fixing screws to improve the reliability of product connections.

2. Hardware Design:

FET3568-C SoM uses 12V power supply. A higher power supply voltage can increase the upper limit of power supply and reduce line loss. Ensure that the Forlinx’s SoM can run stably for a long time at full load. The power supply adopts RK single PMIC solution, which supports dynamic frequency modulation.

FET3568-C SoM uses 4 pieces of 100pin connectors, with a total of 400 pins; all the functions that can be extracted from processor are all extracted, and ground loop pins of high-speed signal are sufficient, and power supply and loop pins are sufficient to ensure signal integrity and power integrity.

The default memory configuration of FET3568-C SoM supports 4GB/8GB (up to 32GB) LPDDR4/LPDDR4X-4266; default storage configuration supports 32GB/64GB (larger storage is optional) eMMC; Each interface signal and power supply of SoM and carrier board have been strictly tested to ensure that the signal quality is good and the power wave is within specified range.

PCB layout: Forlinx uses top layer-GND-POWER-bottom layer to ensure the continuity and stability of signals.

RK3588 SoM hardware design Guide

FET3588-C SoM has integrated power supply and storage circuit in a small module. The required external circuit is very simple. A minimal system only needs power supply and startup configuration to run, as shown in the figure below:

The minimum system includes SoM power supply, system flashing circuit, and debugging serial port circuit. The minimum system schematic diagram can be found in "OK3588-C_Hardware Manual". However, in general, it is recommended to connect some external devices, such as debugging serial port, otherwise user cannot judge whether system is started. After completing these, on this basis, add the functions required by user according to default interface definition of RK3588 SoM provided by Forlinx.

RK3588 Carrier Board Hardware Design Guide

The interface resources derived from Forlinx embedded OK3588-C development board are very rich, which provides great convenience for customers' development and testing. Moreover, OK3588-C development board has passed rigorous tests and can provide stable performance support for customers' high-end applications.

In order to facilitate user's secondary development, Forlinx provides RK3588 hardware design guidelines to annotate the problems that may be encountered during design process of RK3588. We want to help users make the research and development process simpler and more efficient, and make customers' products smarter and more stable. Due to the large amount of content, only a few guidelines for interface design are listed here. For details, you can contact us online to obtain "OK3588-C_Hardware Manual" (Click to Inquiry)

#rk3588 #som #Linux #android #artificial intelligence #ubuntu #development board

1 note · View note