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tangerinegod · 4 years

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Hello! I am sorry to bother you but I am a senior getting ready for college this year. I am in the US and I wanted to major in the same thing you did, do you have any possible tips for me? I still haven't even looked for colleges that would be best for animation majors so I figured if you were up to giving out any tips/saying any basic ideas if you wanted to/if you had the time to then maybe I'll have a better idea! I apologise for if I sound weird! I'm tried to word it correctly but I can't 😿

hi!! i’m totally down to share my experiences! someone else also had some questions so i’m going to put them all together in this post haha, hopefully this helps! it’ll get pretty long so apologies ahead of time but art school is a lot to think about so i wanna be as helpful as i can around it, its a lot of time and money. I’m gonna put it all under a read more cus it is really really long!

i wanna start off with the fact that I had the privilege of attending school in a financially stable environment, my parents were/are really supportive so w merit scholarship i only came out with around 20-30k in debt and i also had housing support my entire time in school. they were ok with me focusing on academics so i didn’t hold a retail job unless i was out of school like summer/winter break. Ofc though i regularly take commissions/do merch/cons to try and pay for all bills that arent rent cus i did want to be financially independent where it was possible. I also did try and work during the semester but everytime i did my body would deff start to breakdown from the fact that i didnt wanna compromise schoolwork with jobs.. so just read ahead know this experience is from a student who was able to attend focusing only on school work for most of the time!

the biggest thing is knowing art school is not required to become a professional in either freelancing or industry! there are a huuuge amount of online tools and classes these days that provide the exact same education and for cheaper too. i think it depends on what experience you prefer/can handle/want but it’s definitely possible to make art/animation art your living without higher education. the thing that college will for sure give you though is the ability to meet deadlines, work even when you dont want to, and connections with peers+teachers. i think the connections part is invaluable because you’re basically coming out with a network of people you already know and who know you!

also its good to know if you want to attend/can handle art school! it’s a lot of time and energy and students get burned out really fast. the best piece of advice i got before going was ‘if you draw every single day, even if its for only like 5-10 minutes or a doodle for a whole year you should be fine’ consistency is super key because you’re attending school to draw, and you’ll have to create work for stuff you aren’t excited for at some point or another. burnout is extremely real and the only reason i didn’t experience it was probably because i got super into drawing naruto fanart again inbetween sophomore and junior year! it helped give me something to draw seperated from school which is the only thing i was drawing for since i had entered rip. a heads up id also consider myself a workaholic so i fit in ok with the ‘art school’ environment but it is suuper unhealthy. if you are fantastic at managing your schedule then it’s definitely possible to take care of yourself! freshman year i got 8 hours a sleep a night and only pulled all nighters for some second semester finals at the end. sophomore year + up though i ended up prioritizing hw over sleep and like for sure, definitely shortened my life span. there’s another q down below where i’ll go more into detail but ya, be careful w ur work balance!

another tip especially for animation is knowing for a fact what type of animation you’re looking to go into, and what the school is offering. I didn’t think i’d get into art school at the time so i only applied to two places + decided if i didnt get into either id attend community to get credits out of the way while building portfolio. honestly? i did not do a lot of research LOL but like i did end up having the chance to tour and stuff! just know that each school will have a very different curriculum. The main differences are schools that prioritize 3D (cg animation, cg modeling, ect) and 2D/traditional (hand drawn, ‘oldschool’, digital or traditional based) this is a huge difference so make sure you do research for it! in most cases a 2D/traditional program will also offer 3D since it’s at the forefront of the industry animation wise rn. My school taught 2D but like hand drawn on physical paper 2D, frame by frame. while it was a good experience it’s super outdated because digital tools make it way faster + easier! i’d recommend looking for a program that is digital 2D over traditional 2D.

if after your senior year covid is still affecting campuses in the US to keep them shut down i’d recommend attending a community college to get credits and then transferring into school. one of the negatives is paying money for gened classes when ur not there for them; if you can get them out of the way sooner and cheaper there is absolutely no negative + you could graduate earlier or use the extra time for better work or to work a job!

these are all the general tips i think i’d give on like a broad basis of attending or not to think about? let me know if u have more q’s! someone asked q’s im answering below that go more into personal experiences + work culture so heres those:

- how many hours a week do u spend studying, in class, otherwise making art? like how much of ur life does it consume?

I was basically working on art.... 24/7! since i wasnt working a job at the same time i crammed as many credits as possible into my schedule so on avg i did 18 credit semesters (around 6 classes) art classes go for 6 hours and non art go for 3, so i’d spent around 30-35 hours in class a week! hw wise it varied on the class but combined it would be around 35-50 hours a week... im guessing? on average studio classes would have 8-10 hours of hw, maybe 5 for a light week, and gened classes 5 hours w them all combined. or this was probably how things were before junior year? junior+senior year i had thesis + everything else ontop.. i’d spend around 30-40 hours on thesis a week with other classes ontop of that bc my film was super long cus im a dummy!

- is it hard going to art school n realising that altho u were probably quite talented… so is everyone else? Like. all of a sudden. ur not special and everyone seems as good as u, you know? More generally, how do u deal with comparison?

kinda?? i think instead of the idea of like you vs others it feels more of like a competition at first to be the best. this varies hugely on school culture though; my animation year was really friendly with each other and get along extremely well, so my answer to this is v different than some others who attended different schools. i think that the idea of ‘comparison’ only lasts a portion of the first year because at some point you realize that it’s not a who’s better as much as its a ‘these are my coworkers’ type thing? like healthy competition 100% because we’re all working to improve but i think most of us learned pretty early on that viewing each other as peers going into the same workforce helped a lot. also at some point everyone develops their own style/starts to develop their artistic preferences so there isn’t a way to compare whos 'better’ anymore? i dont think there ever is tbh because style is appealing based off of an individuals preferences. If anything realizing everyone else is also amazing makes you wanna work harder ig? or thats how i felt! it’s inspiring to be surrounded by so many people who create such amazing work.

- is there a lot of workaholic culture? all nighter culture?

100000% there can be a workaholic and all nighter culture. i know people who avoided it and thats honestly fantastic because i fall super easily into that pit. sometimes i’ll pull all nighters on a personal project just because i really want to finish it... i am definitely considered a workaholic all the way through and its not healthy rip... i’d estimate at the worst i was pulling 2-3 all nighters a week and only 4-5 hours of sleep on the nights i didn’t? that was only for one year tho, after that i was like yeah ok this is really bad for my health in the long run LOL so i tried to cut it down to one all nighter a week and around 5-6 hours of sleep the rest of the week! by senior year my decision to cram in full semesters paid off and i was able to consistently get around 7 hours of sleep a night + no all nighters minus finals since my schedule was lighter despite thesis 😭 while there is that culture i don’t think people view it as like a badge of honor or something to be proud of anymore which is good, we mostly view it as a flaw of the art school system and something that needs to be fixed!!

- are you glad u did it? how did u know it was what u wanted?

i am glad i did it! i’m definitely in a limbo right now of if it was worth both my time, money, and my parents money rip but i think with what i got out of it i definitely wouldn’t be as far skill wise or knowledge wise when it comes to the art industry. i would say it was only worth it for be because i had so much support going in though so i was able to focus so much on improving. if i had only been able to put in part of the effort and not make full use of the resources provided i would honestly have a different answer..

i knew it was what i wanted when i realized i really couldn’t see myself pursuing a different profession happily! despite all the bumps and stuff im fully in love with drawing still and feel honored that it’s a field that can provide a living. my second profession choice was to go into culinary school? and third option i think going was into music cus i was also a band kid hehe.

- how do u cope with ur hobby becoming ur job? how do u deal with art going from something u do for fun to something u do on command constantly?

i think seperating work art from personal art is important! in my case im doubling naruto into being personal work so i have something to fall back onto that isn’t work related. its been a hyperfixation for 12+ years? so drawing it at this point is just like personal art imo. some people have hobbies outside of art and only draw for their job! i think after attending classes for so long the idea of hobby turning into job feels extremely natural? also i enjoy doing it so thats a huge plus!

sorry this is SO long but i hope i answered your guys’ questions! if you have more just lmk!

#anon #ask #long post #im so so sorry this is like long as shit #ill literally tell you guys everything though art school should not feel like a mystery esp if ur planning to go into it!#Anonymous

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n0maku · 4 years

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ok what about 60?

Questions from from this post!

60. Which battle was the hardest for you?

So, uh, story time.

No mercy run spoilers.

I did a total of 1 (one) no mercy run, and it was, uh, something. I was definitely a bit guilty while doing it, but for the most part, I just... turned my emotions off?. I mean, I was doing the murder run, I had weighed the options, I had decided to do it, and feeling bad wouldn’t fix anything , yeah?

Got to Undyne, and man, that was pretty exciting. And aggravating. But it was cool! Much better than all the easy grinding. Undyne was the 2nd hardest fight for me, in all of Undertale, no question. I had to try hard for once! I had beaten Asgore in like 4 tries the first time I fought him. It was a challenge, and I could do it and say that I beat her as long as I didn’t give up! Took me 2 hours to beat her- a long time, it was aggravating for sure, but not long enough to make me start seriously considering quitting. (Although, emotionally, Papyrus definitely gave me more pause.)

Now, by the time I got to Sans... well, I was at the end! Finally. I had known what was going to go down-that it was hard, so hard, but it was the coolest part of the game and I was there, and it was almost over. But, to get there? I had too choose over and over and over to do the wrong thing. I mean, the game was screaming stop it! Grinding is boring, it takes forever, the silence and slowed music gives you the chills... and then it throws Undyne at you to try and force you to stop. But I had persisted, and for what? The experience. I wanted to see it all for myself. Man, I knew I could have just watched a let’s play and be done with it, but I didn’t. Seriously, I didn’t have to be doing it at all.

Still, I was in the judgement hall, and boy was I going to get judged. And the judgement? Sans was not happy. And oh man, it kinda sucked to have him be mad! Aside from being partial to his character, being alive while everyone else is dying, dead? Ouch.

..On days like these, kids like you...

Should be Burning in Hell.

Well, I was going through with it, it was exciting, I wanted to see if I could get past him, if I could have the bragging rights that I-

...

I died on the first attack.

As most people do.

Welp, gotta try again!

11 times later, he ran out of funny things to say about the number of times I had died. Aw man, really? Obviously, it became more of a slog without the knowledge of hey, at least I’ll get a new joke after dying. I’m pretty sure that my item stash was less than optimal so I think I went back to buy some more whatevers sometime. I had used some snowball pieces with Undyne, but still had the pie. Tried using the frying pan a few times , too, for the healing bonus, but I just went back to the knife as it was quicker.

I took a shot at him for about an hour each day, and by the third day and hour, well, it was pretty dang aggravating. I could give up- what’s the point- no, I need to- I’ll finish eventually if I just keep trying come ON-

Often, my hands were shaking. My heart was always pounding. Needless to say, twitchier hands did no favors for my survival rate many times.

At some point I was able to chill out a bit and get more focused and less shaky. It helped- adrenaline is only good to a certain point, really.

It was the 6th or 7th hour that I got to his final attack.

Oh man, I died so many times on his last attack. I didn’t even always consistently get to it! It was only like, every couple of tries for a while. And sometimes my health was shot as I had used too many healing items already. I got to the stupid blaster circle thing quite a few times.

About 75 tries in, (I did some estimating calculations afterwards), and somewhere around 7 hours of fighting, I survived his final attack. At this point, I can say that I am nothing if not stubborn- I kept trying and losing for 7 dang hours for little more than the experience and bragging rights. I was so relieved! I finally did it! It was over!

Now, the thing was, I had previously decided to not get to Chara to not get that marker that would, yannow, change the ending bit of a pacifist run a bit. So I wasn’t even going to walk out of the hallway. So really, I could have just quit the game without killing Sans and be done with it.

I killed him and saved over his death for really, nothing more than to finalize it. And that was it. I reset (wiped the files, if I recall correctly- didn’t want any reminders of my murder run) and did a pacifist run again so that would be the last thing that had happened. Might have done yet another paci run at some point, don’t remember it was a long time ago, but that’s where the game is to this day. A pacifist run I did over a year ago. I hope they’re having fun on the surface. They deserve it.

I still think about my murder run sometimes- evidently, I’m still ruminating over my feelings about having done it, or I wouldn’t have written this much.

Still, I got what I wanted out of it- I got the experience. I can remember details about the murder run more accurately than if I had just watched a let’s play, and I have more emotions and thoughts about the characters and Undertale as a whole. I don’t regret it- who knows if I’d still be this much into Undertale without the ride that was doing the no-mercy run myself- but man, it’s a nightmare to think too hard about., that’s for sure. Especially when you really care about the characters and have literally not touched the game for over a year because you care so much about them.

“Let Frisk be happy. Let Frisk live their life.”

And I did.

Of course, now I’m getting the urge to open up my steam copy of Undertale.

I’ve played the other version, so isn’t the steam one a fresh slate? One I could play a pacifist route again on without guilt? Maybe get some dialogue screenshots for my personal use and satisfaction? (I screencapped all the Deltarune dialogue as I went through it, but alas the habit was not there when I did Undertale originally).

I suppose only time will tell.

#nomakuposts #long post #nomakuspeaks #undertale #ask game #by the way #i've done the sans fight online sim a few times after finishing the murder run #and i can do it in about 2-3 tries #i could still do it #been QUITE a while since i even did the sim though #hm #maybe i'll do it again sometime?#i never found a good undyne the undying sim so i have no dang clue about my retained reflexes for THAT #the-stray-snail

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foreverwayward · 5 years

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“Wayward Hearts” Season 2 Chapter 7: Night Shifter

Summary: After the sudden death of John, Sam and Dean, along with Riley, continue their quest for vengeance. As Sam and Riley’s powers continue to grow, the three young hunters find themselves closer to the Yellow-Eyed demon than ever before. The strength within themselves and their loyalty to each other will be tested as they are left to fight their families’ lifelong war alone, unaware that unimaginable evil will lead them to face darkness itself as they carry the weight of their fathers’ legacies.

Masterlist

Word Count: 8,045

Content Warning: language and violence

DISCLAIMER: any words or phrases in bold in the story are not my own and are credited to the writers of Supernatural.

**GIFS ARE NOT MY OWN**

On the live evening news, a brunette news reporter held onto her Channel 8 microphone. She was in front of a group of onlookers as officers tried to clear the scene. Sirens wailed and the flashing colors of blue and red danced on the buildings around them. Other cops had barricaded themselves behind their squad cars with their weapons ready and aimed.

“We're here downtown in front of the City Bank of Milwaukee, and though a short exchange of weapons fire occurred just minutes ago, police and SWAT teams maintain position as we enter the third hour of this intense standoff. Authorities estimate as many as ten hostages are being held inside the bank; no word as yet on the identity of the suspects, or, uh--” The reporter stopped mid-sentence to a commotion coming behind her. “Something's happening. I think they're opening the door. Roger, are you getting this?” she asked her cameraman.

Police and others nearby shouted over each other as the camera refocused to the front door of the bank.

A man emerged from the building, terrified as he was pushed out by someone holding an automatic weapon. “Don’t shoot! Please! Don’t shoot!”

“No, no, no, no, no, don't even think about it! I said get the fuck back!” the voice behind the hostage yelled at the incoming officers.

As the camera zoomed in, there with the hostage and a military-grade gun, was Dean Winchester.

------

Two days prior, Dean, Riley, and Sam sat parked in Baby on a dark suburban street of Milwaukee. It was raining as the hunters went over their research. All three were dressed in suits, posing as federal agents.

A woman who was respectable and loved by family and friends killed a night guard at the jewelers’ where she worked. After stealing everything she could from the shop, the woman went home and committed suicide in her bathtub. There was no motive and nothing that pointed to the dead woman being anything other than an upstanding citizen.

“Alright,” Riley started, looking over her file. “The Milwaukee National Trust was hit about a month ago--same M.O. as the jewelry store and an inside job. Longtime employee as a teller, that was the 'never-in-a-million-years’ type, robbed the bank and then went home to kill himself.”

“So, there’s a pattern,” Dean said with his body shifted in her direction.

“Definitely. Bummer is, cops already took the surveillance video from the jewelry store, so we’re shit outta luck on that one.”

Sam looked out the window at a small house nearby. “Yeah. That’s why we’re here. This guy, Resnick? He was a security guard at the National Trust the night of the heist. The teller beat him unconscious before taking off.”

“Yikes.” Riley closed up her folder and grabbed her blazer to throw it on. “Well, hopefully, this guy can give us more than the jewelers’ did. We got jack to go on right now.”

The three got out of the car and the Impala’s doors squeaked before being slammed shut. Going up the front steps, they all straightened up before knocking on the door.

“Mr. Resnick,” Sam called out. “Ronald Resnick?”

At the large hunter’s request for the man inside, a large floodlight turned on next to the door. Riley and the Winchesters grunted out at the blinding light and covered their eyes.

“Son of a bitch,” Dean groaned.

A younger man, around Dean’s age, came to the screen door. He was of a thicker build with curly hair that met his shoulders. His face was naïve and showed his clearly awkward demeanor.

Riley kept her eye closest to the light slightly closed. “F.B.I., Mr. Resnick.”

Approaching hesitantly, the man nervously demanded, “let me see the badge.”

Sam, Dean, and Riley all pulled out their identification badges from their jacket pockets before planting them on the screen door in almost total unison.

The man inside squinted to read and study their authenticity. “I already gave my statement to the police.”

“Yeah, listen, Ronald, um--” Dean went to put his badge away. “--just some things about your statement we wanted to get some clarification on.”

“...you read it?”

“Sure did.”

“And you’ve come to hear what I have to say?”

Riley could feel the nervousness coming from Mr. Resnick. She knew he felt strongly about what he had seen and was still afraid to share his story. “Of course, Mr. Resnick. That’s why we’re here,” she added gently.

Ronald gave her an awkward, partial smile before nodding and opening the door. “Well, come on in.”

Following him into his home, the three walked through a narrow hallway and then into a cluttered room. The wood-paneled walls were covered in alien photos and conspiracy theory paraphernalia. Strung out maps, newspaper clippings, and random photographs hung above his messy desk.

“None of the cops ever called me back--not after I told them what was really going on. Uh--they all thought I was crazy.” Ronald’s words grew a little faster with a sense of purpose and urgency. “First off, Juan Morales never robbed the Milwaukee National Trust, okay? That, I guarantee. See, me and Juan were friends. He used to come back to the bank on my night shifts, and we'd play cards. I--I was the one that let him in after-hours. But that thing that I let into the bank? Wasn’t Juan. I mean, it had his face, but it wasn't his face. Uh--every detail was perfect but too perfect, you know? Like if a doll maker made it--like I was talking to a big Juan-doll.”

“A ‘Juan-doll’?” Sam asked skeptically.

“Look, this wasn't the only time this happened. Okay?” Ronald handed him a file folder. “There was this jewelry store, too. And the cops, a--and you guys, you just won't see it!”

Sam looked into the folder that was filled with Mr. Resnick’s own research. The complete profile was similar to a the work of a hunter.

“Both crimes were pulled off by the same thing.”

“And what’s that, Mr. Resnick?”

Ronald picked up a copy of a magazine called ‘Fortean Times’ and held it to his chest. The headline at the bottom read: ‘birth of the cyberman’.

“Chinese have been working on 'em for years and the Russians before that. Part men, part machine. Like the Terminator, but the kind that can change itself, make itself look like other people.”

Dean smiled at the man, “like the one from T2.”

“Exactly!” Ronald agreed enthusiastically.

At that same moment, Riley tried to shoot Dean a thought. “Nerd.”

Her boyfriend’s head snapped in her direction at her tease. Dean gave her a playful look of warning and she smirked.

Donald went on. “See, so not just a robot, more of a--a--man-droid.”

Sam’s eyebrow hooked up. “A man-droid?”

Riley stepped closer as the awkward man fumbled over his words. She searched his emotions and could feel how much this meant to him. Ronald whole-heartedly believed what he was selling. Telling him how far off base he was, wouldn’t do anything except hurt him. “Ronald how are you so sure that this is what’s going on?” she humored him.

With a wild and excited smile, he put up a finger asking her to wait. He scurried ‘to grab a V.H.S. tape that was labeled ‘M.N.T. Camera 4 - Juan’.

Quickly, he moved to put it into his television system and pressed fast forward as the hunters sat on his worn, plaid sofa. “Now watch. Watch. Watch him, watch, watch! See, look! Th--th--there it is!” Ronald paused the tape. “You see? He's got the laser eyes.”

On the screen, was Juan. As he faced the camera, there was a light-flare in his eyes.

Riley’s fist clenched immediately realizing it was a shifter as the boys shared a knowing look.

“Cops said it was some kind of reflected light. Some kind of ‘camera flare’. Okay? Ain't no damn camera flare. They say I'm a post-trauma case. So, what? Bank goes and fires me, it don't matter!” Ronald continued his rant even more fired up than before. “The man-droid is--is still out there. The law won't hunt this thing down...I'll do it myself. You see, this thing, it--it--it kills the real person, makes it look like a suicide, then it sorta, like,--morphs into that person. Cases the job for a while until it knows the take is fat, and then it finds its opening. Now, these robberies, they're--they're grouped together.” He gestured to the wall with all of his endless research. “So, I figure the man-droid is holed up somewhere in the middle, underground, maybe. I dunno, maybe that's where it recharges its, uh--man-droid batteries.”

Dean nodded, apparently impressed with how thorough Ronald’s intel was. The theory may have been completely off base, but the work was there.

Trying to force a fake smile, Riley didn’t know what to say. The poor guy had tried so hard to get answers for his friend. All the while, Sam was staring at the man intently, almost in judgment.

“Okay. I want you to listen very carefully,” Sam said calmly as they all stood from the couch. “Because I'm about to tell you the God's honest truth about all of this.” Riley and Dean both waited with curiosity to see what Sam would say. “There's no such thing as man-droids. There's nothing evil or inhuman going on out there. Just people. Nothing else, you understand?”

His partners were almost startled at his response and stood dumbfounded on how to move forward.

“But,” Ronald uttered desperately. “The laser eyes...”

“Just a camera flare, Mr. Resnick. See, I know you don't want to believe this. But your friend Juan robbed the bank and that's it.”

The anger and frustration that was building in Ronald, was enough for Riley to want to help calm him. He was so deeply hurt by how Sam had handled the situation. “Ronald--”

“Get out of my house! Now!” he interrupted in a demand.

------

Riley and the brothers had found their way back to their motel room. It was covered in tacky wall decorations that seemed to be obligatory to wherever they stayed.

“Man, that has got to be the kicker--straight up. I mean, you tell that poor son of a bitch that--what did you say, ‘remand the tapes that he copied? Classified evidence of an ongoing investigation’?” Dean laughed as he sat at the table with a beer. “That's fucked up.”

As Riley walked by, Dean’s hands snaked around her waist and pulled her close to sit her down on his lap.

Taking a sip from Dean’s beer before adding her thoughts, Riley looked over at Sam. “I gotta say, it’s a little scary how good of a Fed you are. The guy did some legit legwork though. Maybe you could have thrown him a bone, or at least been a little gentler with the guy.”

Sam scoffed, turning away from the television he was replaying the video on. “Man-droid?”

“Okay, except for that part,” she chuckled. “But I mean, I liked him.”

“Me too. I mean, he’s not that different from us if you think about it. People think we’re crazy.” Dean’s arms wrapped around Riley’s waist and his chin settled onto her shoulder while she traced outlines of sewers from town blueprints.

“Yeah, except he’s not a hunter, guys,” Sam almost snapped back. “He's just a guy who stumbled onto something real. If he were to go up against this thing he'd get torn apart. Better to stay in the dark and stay alive.” Sam then paused the video where the shifter’s eyes reflect back at him.

Sighing, Riley replied, “I guess so.” Her eyes went up as she saw the flaring eyes on the tape again. “Shapeshifter.”

“God I hate those fucking things,” Dean added in annoyance.

“Oh, and I don’t?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, but one didn’t turn into you and frame you for murder.”

Riley almost slammed the pen down with a scoff. “If we’re having a pissing contest here, remember one of those bastards literally murdered me.”

The brothers looked at each other realizing their mistake.

“Touché,” Dean surrendered.

“Anyway, Ronald was right. It’s like the one we killed in Missouri and it lays low in the sewers.” Sam got up to look at the map as Riley went on. She traced her pen over her marks. “Now, all the heists have been connected. And if you line those up with the sewer main layout, there’s one more bank laid out on that path.”

------

Over their regular clothes, the trio wore blue jumpsuits as a bank security guard led them into the surveillance room. Undercover as technicians, their suits read: ‘Securiserve Guard Service’.

Riley had her hair up with what looked like silver chopsticks.

“You guys usually send three people to deal with a small glitch in the system?” the guard asked curiously.

“Oh--” Sam said through a breathy laugh. “She’s in training. Gotta shadow us on the job.”

Satisfied with that answer, the security guard nodded. “Alright, you guys need anything else?”

Riley smiled. “We’re all set here, sir.”

“Okie-dokie,” he replied as he left the room.

With a chuckle, Dean beamed. “I like him. He says ‘okie-dokie’.”

------

Sam, Riley, and Dean sat in front of the monitors reviewing the bank’s footage. It had been at least a couple of hours of searching for any more eye flares on the camera’s logs.

“Anybody got any popcorn?” Dean jested.

In one of the frames, the security guard that had let them in sat quietly by the front door. When his eyes didn’t reflect, he was officially off the hook.

“Well, looks like mister okie-dokie is...okie-dokie.”

As Riley scanned a different screen, a middle-aged man walked in front of the camera as his eyes flared. She sat up straight as she paused the footage to get a closer look. “Bingo. Got him.”

The brothers leaned over to see as Dean said, “Hello, freak.” The three got up to leave before Sam and Riley could hear Dean utter, “oh shit...”

He was looking at another monitor and they joined him to look. There, locking up the bank with a chain and lock while holding an automatic weapon, was Resnick.

“Hello, Ronald,” Dean commented with a look of discomfort.

With worry and a sigh, Riley muttered his earlier words in agreement. “...oh shit.”

------

The large and polished bank was several stories tall. It was ornately decorated with beautifully designed ceilings and large tile flooring. Slate-colored marble pillars and counter tops were effortlessly woven throughout.

As automatic gunfire came from the main lobby of the bank, the hunters hurried down the halls in its direction.

Dean shook his head and spoke to Sam with snark. “And you said we shouldn’t bring guns.”

“Well, I didn’t know this was gonna happen, Dean.”

“Look,” Riley started as they reared another corner and people fled in their direction. “Whatever we do here, Dean and I do the talking. Because he does not like you Agent Johnson.”

Ronald held a key on a chain up high for everyone to see. His hostages had all gone to the ground by his orders. “There’s only one way in or out of here and I chained it up. So, nobody’s leaving, understand?”

The Winchesters and Riley made it to the lobby as they calmly walked in with their hands slightly raised in surrender.

Resnick’s eyes were large and panicky as sweat fell from his face like bullets.

“Hey, buddy,” Dean called. “Just calm down, okay? Calm down.”

Riley felt dizzy from all the confusion and fear that came from the nervous man.

When he saw the hunters, his mind automatically connected them to the ‘man-droid’ conspiracy theory.

Knowing things were about to escalate, Riley tried to get through to Ronald. “Mr. Resnick--”

“You!” Shaking, he yelled at the three as he pointed his weapon. “Get down! Get on the ground!”

Nodding nervously with an awkward smile, Riley slowly went down to her knees, as did the brothers. “Yeah--no. That’s cool. We can do that. Let’s just not shoot anybody okay? Especially not us.”

“I knew it. As soon as you three left. You ain't FBI! I mean, you are way too pretty to be a federal agent,” Ronald admitted without noticing.

“Aww--” Riley immediately stopped being flattered before looking at Sam. “Wait, did he just compliment me or was that a jab at me being a woman?” Only a second passed before she tilted her head with an accepting look. “Eh--I’m gonna say it was a compliment.”

“Who are you? Who are you working for, huh? The men in black? You working for the man-droid?”

“We’re not working for the man-droid!” Sam replied in annoyance.

Ron continued to shout as he waved the gun around. “You shut up! I ain’t talking to you! I don’t like you!”

Both Riley and Dean turned to Sam with an “I told you so”-look.

“Fair enough.”

Giving an order to one of the hostages, Resnick demanded that a middle-aged man frisk down the hunters for weapons. When the man got to Dean’s boot, the hunter closed his eyes in frustration as a silver knife was pulled from his boot.

Dean gave Ronald a face of innocence as Riley was next. The hostage patted her down clean, but the anxious man with the gun pointed at her hair.

“What about those?” Ronald asked. “Take those out of her hair. They look--‘stabby’.”

The man removed the sticks from Riley’s hair as it fell down onto her shoulders. “Damn, a girl can’t even accessorize anymore?” she asked somewhat grouchily.

They were pure silver sticks; not that sharp, but still something she could easily sneak in undetected.

Sam turned to his partners with a look of irritation.

“What?” Dean challenged. “It’s not like we’re just gonna walk in here naked.”

The hostage handed Resnick the items before the captor took them and dropped them into a deposit box.

“No, no, no, no!” Riley and Dean begged in unison before the weapons clattered inside and they winced.

“Look, Ronald...we know you don’t wanna hurt anyone,” Dean said hoping to appeal to his softer nature. “But that’s exactly what’s gonna happen if you keep waving that cannon around. So, why don’t you let these people go?”

“No! I already told you. If nobody's gonna stop this thing, then I've got to do it myself.”

“Hey, we believe you, okay? That’s why we’re here.” Dean paused before signaling Ronald over. “Come here.” When the captor hesitated, the older Winchester kept his hands up. “Hey, I’m not gonna try anything. You got the gun, boss. You’re calling the shots. I just gotta tell you something.” When Ronald allowed the hunter’s suggestion, he leaned in as Dean whispered, “it’s the bank manager.”

“What?”

"He’s telling the truth, Ronald,” Riley said softly. “Why do you think we’re dressed like this? We’ve been monitoring the cameras. We saw the bank manager...we saw his eyes. It’s him.”

“His laser eyes?” he asked eagerly.

“Yes. Wait--what? No. No, Ronald, we’re running out of time here. If we don’t find him soon, he’s gonna change into someone else and we won’t know who. We’ll be screwed.”

“Why should I trust any of you? You’re a bunch of damn liars!”

Dean slowly stood, still in a state of submission. “Take me.”

With fear in her eyes, Riley sent a thought to Dean. “What the hell are you doing?”

“It’s okay. He's not gonna hurt me.” There was a pause as the hunter waited for Ronald to look less tense. “Take me with you. Take me as a hostage. But we gotta move fast. The longer we stand here, the more time he has to change. You’re not crazy, okay? I believe you. There really is something in this bank.”

“Alright,” Ron relented with a small smile. “You--you come with me. But everyone else gets in the vault.” His voice raised to a shout once again as he waved the weapon.

Gasps and cries came from the other hostages in fear.

------

Further into the bank, Resnick ordered the hostages into the large vault. “Come on! Move! Get in there.” When Dean was the last to follow, Ronald stopped him. “You, lock it up.”

“Everyone, just stay cool, alright?” Dean gave Riley and Sam an apologetic look before closing the vault.

They both sighed as the door slammed and was locked.

“Who was that man?” a woman asked from behind them. She was a teller at the bank with long and curly strawberry-blonde hair with a name tag that read: Sherry.

With a tone of worry, Sam replied, “my brother.”

“Oh,” she swooned. “He is so brave.”

Riley rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, “oh, for fuck’s sake.”

------

With his uniform disguise finally removed, Dean went through the multiple hallways of offices with Ronald in tow.

“So, uh--” Ron stuttered nervously. “That girl you guys are with...is she--is she seeing anybody?”

Dean stopped dead in his tracks and spun to give Ronald a firm look. “Yeah. Me.”

Realizing he had just stepped in it with the large hunter, Resnick cleared his throat. “Oh, yeah that’s--that's great. You two make a beautiful couple,” he chuckled awkwardly.

The two went into the bank manager’s private office and the hunter looked around as Resnick went behind the desk.

With a cry out, he slipped and fell onto his back. He was lying on something wet and slimy that appeared to be flesh-like. Seeing what he had been touching, Ronald began to scream before standing up in a panic.

“What--what the hell is that?”

“Oh great.” Dean walked over to the pile of flesh and knelt to look. “When it changes form, it sheds its skin. So, now it could be anybody.” He sighed. “Alright, let’s get one thing straight, it’s not a man-droid. This thing is a shapeshifter.”

“Shapeshifter?”

“Yeah. I mean, it's human; more or less. Has human drives and in this case, it's money. But it generates its own skin, it can shape it to match someone else's features--you know, taller, shorter, male... And it doesn’t always kill the ones they shift into. I don’t think it really matters to them.” As Dean stood, he searched the desk before finding a letter opener and sighing in relief.

“What’s that for?”

“Remember old werewolf stories? It’s kind of the same thing with these guys. Silver’s the only thing I’ve seen that hurts them.” Dean began to stride out of the room as he flipped the blade in his hand. “Come on, Ronald.”

------

The two headed down a wide corridor as Ron began to chuckle to himself in joy while smiling ear to ear.

Dean looked at him skeptically. “What the hell’s wrong with you? You nuts?”

“That's just it. I'm not nuts. I mean, I was so scared that I was losing my marbles. But this is real! I mean, I---I—I was right! Except for the man-droid thing. Thank you.”

“Yeah, don’t mention it.”

Dean and Ron took only a few more steps forward before the power went out. It went completely dark before a few dim backup lights turned on.

“Dammit. No, no, no, no, no.” Dean looked around with worry. “Shit. They cut the power. Probably their way of saying hi.”

“Who?”

“Cops.”

Ronald’s anxiety grew as he followed his newfound partner onward. “The cops?!”

“Well, you weren't exactly a smooth criminal about this, Ron. I mean, you didn't even secure the security guard. He probably called them.”

“Oh my god. I didn’t--I didn’t even think to--”

Interrupting him, Dean put out a hand asking him to calm down. “Alright, hang on, hang on. Let's just take a breath here for a second. They’ve probably got us surrounded. They've cut the power to the cameras, so there's no way of telling who the shapeshifter is.” The hunter took a deep breath and ran a hand over his face. “It’s not looking good, Ron.”

A clattering noise came from nearby and the two turned towards it. Ron jumped and pointed his rifle.

“Did you hear that?” Dean asked in a hushed voice.

------

Inside the vault, the hostages had tried to make themselves comfortable on the floor while they waited. Sam lightly paced as Riley leaned up against the safety deposit boxes with her arms folded. They had both slipped out of their fake uniforms and had tossed them off to the side.

Shelly, the teller already infatuated with Dean, spoke over Sam’s shoulder. “So, has your brother always been so--” she giggled. “Wonderful? I mean, staring down that gun. And you know the way he played right into that psycho's crazy head, telling him what he wanted to hear. I mean, he's like--” the girl smiled, “a real hero or something.”

“Alright,” Riley interrupted, obviously annoyed. “That’s enough outta you, Strawberry Shortcake. Why don’t you just go have a seat with the others?”

Sam laughed to himself as Riley went back over to him.

The vault door slowly opened as Dean stood in the doorway with a handgun.

Grinning with excitement at the sight of the older brother, Shelly jumped a little. “Oh, my god! You saved us! You saved us!”

“Actually, I got a couple more. Alright, people let’s go, let’s go.”

Staring in puzzlement, Shelly watched as several people were herded inside, including the security guard.

“What are you doing?” she asked brittlely.

“Hey, uh--Sam? Rye? Ronald and I need to talk to you.”

The two followed him out of the vault before Dean closed it and sealed it behind them. They walked away from the sealed room as red and blue lights flashed through the blinds.

“It shed its skin again.”

“Oh fuck...” Riley said pinching her nose. “It could be anyone. It could be up in the halls; hell, it could be in the vault.”

“Great,” Sam replied with a scoff. “You know, Dean, you are wanted by the police. So even if we do find this damn thing--how the hell are we gonna get out of here?”

Dean sighed and shook his head softly. “One problem at a time, little brother. I’m gonna go do a sweep of the whole place, see if we can find any stragglers. Rye, you come with.” Handing her another letter opener he had found, Dean then turned to Sam. “Once we get everyone together, we've got to play a little game of ‘find-the-freak'. Now stay here, make sure Ronald doesn't hurt anybody, okay? Help him manage the situation.”

Sam’s voice raised in outrage. “Help him manage? Are you insane?!”

Alerted by Sam's raised voice, Ronald looked over.

Dean gazed past Sam and gave Ron a grinning thumbs-up. Quietly, he spoke under his breath to his brother. “Look, I know this isn’t going the way we wanted...”

“Understatement!”

“He’s right,” Riley interjected. “If we let the cops in right now, Ron gets arrested, we get arrested, and we’ll probably never catch the shifter. Sammy, I am not about to let that happen.”

The hunters turned to see Resnick in plain view to the cops with his weapon raised as Sam gestured at him in exasperation.

Riley rolled her eyes before whispering firmly. “Ron! What are you doing, man? Get out of the light!”

“Seriously?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, Ron's game plan was a bad plan,” Dean admitted. “I mean, it was a bit of a crazy plan, but right now crazy's the only game in town, okay?” He slapped Sam on the shoulder and took Riley’s hand as the two hurried off to finish their search.

There was an awkward silence as Sam stood there alone with Resnick. “...hi, Ronald,” he said obviously fake and forced. When he got no response but an uncomfortable look, Sam headed back to the vault. He opened the door and looked inside. “I'm going to leave this open--give you guys some fresh air, all right? But no one leaves this vault.”

A nearby phone began to ring and Ronald jumped at the noise. Without thinking, he went to pick it up. “H--hello?” There was a pause as he listened to the other end. “Demands? What do you mean demands? No, no, no--I--I'm not a bank robber.”

Sam looked in his direction and scolded him to hang up.

“--kind of a crime fighter I guess.” Ronald listened to the caller. “No, I’m acting alone.”

In a huff, Sam rushed over to him and slammed the phone back on the hook. “Ronald, the less the cops know, the better.”

In the vault, an older security guard began to yell for help saying he thought he was having a heart attack. The others were shouting that he needed help.

“Great, could be our guy,” Sam sighed. “Go guard the door.” After Sam gave Ronald the order, he picked up the phone to make a call. “Look,” he spoke to the other end of the line. “One of our people could be having heart trouble. You need to send in a paramedic.” There was a pause as Sam listened before shouting. “Just send in a paramedic and don’t try anything else. Please!” Hanging up, Sam ran his hands over his head. He knew they were in trouble.

------

The couple had been actively searching before they found their way into another office. With flashlights in hand, they scanned the area.

“You know,” Riley started. “This would go a lot faster if we split up.”

Dean shook his head and spoke adamantly. “No way. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

When he looked up, there was a ceiling panel slightly askew. “Here,” he said handing her his flashlight. Dean picked up a coat rack nearby and used it to move the panel above them.

As he dislodged it, a naked man’s body fell to the ground.

“Lovely,” Riley added sarcastically.

When Dean turned the body over, they could see it was one of the men in the vault.

“Oh,” she added. “Well, that’s not good.”

------

Dean and Riley had hurried back to Sam and a still jumpy Ronald. Whispering to his little brother, Dean told him that they had found.

When they all looked into the vault, the man that was holding up the aged guard, was the copy. It was the shifter. He was persistent in getting the older man out to get him some help.

Sam went to the weak guard and helped him out of the small space. “It’s alright, sir. We’re gonna get you some help.”

“Yeah, let me help you,” the shifter pressed.

Staying cool as to not let the creature know they were onto him, Sam just shook his head with a calm face. “Nah, it’s all good. I got him.” He began to walk the hostage away towards the lobby.

Dean and Riley kept their gaze locked on the shifter. “Hey,” Dean motioned for him to come their way. “Can we talk to you for a second?”

“Sure, man. You’re the one with the gun.” The shifter walked out of the vault as Riley pulled out her letter opener and stepped forward, ready for a fight.

As soon as he noticed her challenging stare, the creature grabbed Riley by the wrist before hitting her hard and knocking her to the ground.

Dean growled in fury as he charged at the shifter. Punches were exchanged and the Winchester took a good blow to the face that made him stumble.

The disguised creature took his opportunity and fled.

Without any thought, Ronald hurried after it. “Hey! Stop!”

Dean stabilized himself and helped Riley up. “You alright?”

“Son of a bitch!” she gritted. As soon as she was on her feet, she took off in pursuit.

“Riley!” he yelled out as he chased her.

Ronald had followed the shifter into the main lobby. As it went to duck behind a marble counter, Resnick raised his automatic weapon to fire.

Riley and Dean ran in and skid against the tile as they halted to a stop. To their horror, Ron was out in the open again as a laser sight found his back.

“Get down, Ronald!” she shouted.

At the sound of the gunshot through the windows, Dean grabbed Riley with his whole body and threw them down to the ground to hide behind another counter. He balled them up together hoping to shield her from any other shots.

Sam had been on the stairs taking the guard to safety as he watched the terrible scene unfold.

After a second or two, which felt more like unending minutes, they turned to see Ronald. Feathers that had popped out from his puffy vest fluttered to the ground around him as his eyes were wide with shock. He dropped to his knees and then flat onto his stomach, his arm falling into the shadowed area by the couple.

Riley pulled away from Dean and crawled on the floor to where the counter ended. She laid flat on her belly and held Ronald’s hand in both of hers. Their eyes met as she forced her abilities to work.

She focused as much as she could and sent the dying man a feeling of comfort before her voice went into him as his final thought. “I got you, Ron. You did good, buddy. Juan would be proud.”

Ronald’s face softened and a slight curl went up on his lip as he felt peace consume him. The blood in his mouth dripped onto the floor as Riley felt a breeze through her hair. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to feel Ron’s spirit and to let him know he wasn’t parting this world alone.

When she opened her eyes, that small hint of a smile stayed frozen on his face. He was gone.

After leaving the guard at the top of the stairs, Sam fled to his partner’s sides. Riley was still on her front, holding on to Ron.

“Riley,” Dean whispered. “Rye, we gotta go.”

She sniffled before grabbing Ron’s rifle and pushing herself back towards the brothers. Wiping her eyes quickly, she looked at Sam and Dean before giving the older brother the weapon.

Sam handed Dean the chain with the key on it to the outside. “You guys get the guard out, I’m going after the shifter.”

“No,” Riley told him. “I’m coming with you.”

The young Winchester nodded at her request as Dean looked at her with worried eyes. He couldn’t help but think she would be reckless or that history would repeat itself. “Just stay with me.”

Riley put a hand to the side of his face and kissed him gently. “This is something I gotta do. I promise, I’ll be alright.”

Dean squeezed the hand at his face and she and Sam got up to hurry back into the dark hallways. He looked around furtively and with anxiety before making a dash towards the guard.

Holding onto their flashlights, Sam and Riley vigilantly made their way through the darkness.

Sam put his hand out as if asking for the letter opener. She slapped it away and shot him a look of irritation. Anyone watching would have believed they were real siblings as they silently exchanged “give it to me” and “no” through annoyed facial expressions.

Sam scoffed and rolled his eyes as he gave up asking.

As the two came around the next corner, there was the teller, Sherry with another employee. They both froze in terror and put their hands up as the hunter’s flashlights lit them up.

“Please,” Shelly begged. “Don’t hurt us.”

Having already been exasperated with the woman, Riley sighed with frustration. “What the hell are you doing out here? Get your asses back in the vault. It’s not safe!”

The two women’s heels clicked on the tiles as they scurried away.

Sam gazed down at his surrogate sister with a hooked eyebrow.

“What?” she asked. “The girl gets on my nerves.” Riley began to walk on and Sam chuckled to himself as he followed.

------

Holding the guard in front of him and the rifle in his other hand, Dean approached the front door slowly. Outside, several paramedics pulled a stretcher out of an ambulance while the S.W.A.T. team set up on the steps ready to shoot.

Dean stood behind the hostage and spoke gently to him as he guided him forward. “This’ll all be over soon. Everything’s gonna be alright.” He unlocked the door and guided the guard a step outside.

The guard shook in fear as he yelled, “please! Please don’t shoot!”

As the officers began to advance, Dean shouted firmly. “No, no, no, no, no. Don't even think about it!” The hunter looked around at the media frenzy and number of first responders that surrounded them. It was in that moment that Dean truly began to worry if they would be able to get out of there that night.

“Son of a bitch,” Dean whispered before yelling again. “I said get the fuck back! Now!” After a pause ensuring the situation was going according to plan, he told the guard to go.

As the weak man stumbled out, Dean hurried behind the doors and latched them once again. “We are so fucked,” he muttered.

His phone rang and he fumbled to get it out as he answered slightly out of breath. “Sammy?”

“Yeah, it slipped its skin again. This bastard shifts fast--faster than the one from St. Louis.”

“Shit,” Dean hissed as he ran a hand over his head. “God, it's like playing the shell game. It could be anybody. Again.”

“Yeah, I think most of the employees are out of the vault by now.”

“Alright, you search every inch of this place, I'm gonna go round everybody up. And Sam--watch out for Riley,” he added before hanging up.

------

Tired and completely on edge, Dean ushered the hostages back into the vault. He sighed heavily as Sherry was the last one to go in.

She turned to face him. “I thought you were one of the good guys.”

“My name’s Dean,” he told her gently.

Hesitating before she spoke, the teller said, “I’m Sherry.”

“Hi, Sherry. Everything's gonna be all right. This will all be over soon, okay?” Trying to give her one last look of comfort, Dean closed the vault and spun the lock.

Just then, the phone rang. Dean sat his handgun down to answer. “Yeah?” he asked firmly.

“This is Special Agent Victor Henriksen.”

“Yeah, listen, I'm not really in the negotiating mood right now, so--”

The agent interrupted him with obviously no time for his games. “Good. Me neither. It's my job to bring you in. Alive's a bonus, but not necessary.”

“Whoa. Kinda harsh for a Federal Agent, don't you think?”

“Well, you’re not the typical suspect, now are you Dean?”

Horrified that the agent knew his name, Dean stood frozen before Henriksen spoke again.

“I want you, Sam, and Riley out here, unarmed--or we come in. And yes, I know all about Sam and your girl, Riley. Your little brother and the Bonnie to your Clyde.”

Dean smirked at the reference knowing Riley would have loved it too. “Yeah, that part’s true. But how did you even know we were here?”

“Go fuck yourself, that’s how I knew. It’s apparently become my entire job to know you three. I’ve been looking for you for weeks now, Dean. I know about the murder in St. Louis and I know about the Houdini act you pulled in Baltimore. I also know about the desecrations and the thefts. I also know about both your dads.”

“You don’t know shit about our dads,” Dean replied trying to contain his anger at the comment.

“Ex-marine raised his kids on the road, cheap motels, backwoods cabins--real paramilitary survivalist type. I just can't get a handle on what type of whacko he was. White supremacist, Timmy McVeigh, to-may-to, to-mah-to. And then there’s Riley’s old man. Now, that one stumped me a bit. She was raised the same way you and Sam were, but the guy was a mechanic in his earlier years. I’m assuming he was involved in whatever bullshit your own father was.”

“You got no right talking about our dads like that. They were heroes.”

“Yeah. Right. Sure sounds like it. You have one hour to make a decision or we come through those doors full-automatic.” The line went dead as Henrikson hung up on Dean.

The hunter softly pounded the phone into his forehead in irritation before slamming the phone back onto its hook.

------

Sam and Riley were still searching the halls when they saw blood on the floor in front of a closet.

As Sam quickly threw the door open, the half-dressed body of Sherry fell out. Her throat is slit, her face grey and empty.

Riley cringed and felt herself nearly sick at the sight. Blood and gore didn’t affect her in the slightest. Though seeing that woman with her throat cut open by a shifter was enough to bring her back to memories she was still trying to suppress.

She gulped hard as she finally stared down at the body. “Fucking bastard.”

Turning fast on her heels, Riley spun around and began to jog back to the vault. Sam hurried to be at her side.

When they finally reached the vault, Riley steadied her breathing. “We got a problem,” she told Dean.

“Yeah, we got a bit of a problem outside, too.”

“It’s Sherry. The teller.”

Dean made a face of ‘dammit’, before opening up the vault. The scared hostages all flinched and stared back in fear. “Alright, Sherry, we’re gonna let you go.”

“What? Why me?”

“Sign of good faith, okay?” Riley tried not to snark.

Nervously and almost stammering, Sherry stood with the hostages. “I, uh--I think I'd rather stay with the others.”

Riley bit her lip in anger as she struggled to control her rage and walked over to the woman. “I’m afraid we’re gonna have to insist.”

------

Back where Sam and Riley had found the woman’s body, the three guided Sherry to it and shoved her into the room. When she saw the replica of her body, dead on the ground, Sherry began to scream hysterically.

“Is that community theater or are you just naturally that good?” Dean teased.

Riley’s eyes grew slightly dark with hate as she got closer to Sherry. “I’m gonna make sure you never turn into anyone else ever again.”

Sherry screamed and wailed in response.

In that instant, Riley could hear the woman inside. She wasn’t a monster, she was truly just a terrified woman.

But before she could tell Sam, Sherry fell to the ground and fainted. Riley ran a hand through her hair. “Shit.”

Sam looked at her, confounded. “What?”

“It’s not her.”

“Of course, it’s her.”

“No...” she groaned. “She may be annoying as hell, but she’s not a monster. I could hear her thoughts...finally.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake...” Dean uttered under his breath as he went to check the hallways again.

Riley crouched beside the body they had found, perplexed. As she turned to look at Sam, the eyes of the body opened and stared up at her. It was the shapeshifter.

The creature grabbed her by the throat and Riley fought back. With the letter opener in hand, Riley struggled and stabbed at the shifter.

Sherry woke up, terrified once again and screaming. Sam went to her side but then looked back at Riley unsure of what to do.

“Get her out, Sam! Now!” Riley demanded in the scuffle.

With hesitation, Sam complied and took the woman out of the room.

Finally escaping Riley’s grasp, the shifter kneed the hunter in the face sending her onto her back before fleeing. Riley practically growled in anger as she got up to go after it.

Sprinting in its direction, she rounded a corner and the shifter hit her in the face, hard. Riley stumbled and then stood tall. Cracking her neck, she got into a fighting stance and eyed the creature. “Bring it on, bitch.”

She swiped at it with the silver blade and it avoided the attack before retaliating. The two tussled as the monster got in two good head butts.

Riley slashed at her again and the shifter grabbed her wrist and wrenched it up. The hunter grasped ‘Sherry's’ forearm as the monster’s skin slipped off stickily. “Ugh...” she groaned. “Fuckin’ gross.”

Riley kicked her hard and then hit her several times in the face. She grabbed her leg and wrenched it back, shoving her against the wall. They struggled like that for a moment before the hunter managed to ram the silver blade into her chest. The creature groaned and Riley let its body slide to the floor.

Panting from the fight, Riley knelt down to look at the disguised monster to ensure it was dead. It felt so good to see another shapeshifter wasted. And it felt even better that she was the one to do it.

A noise came from nearby and she flinched in its direction.

It was Dean. “Rye, what the fuck happened?”

She chuckled. “Bitch was a fighter.”

Dean crouched beside Riley and looked her over for serious injuries. “You alright?”

“Yeah. I’m good.” She looked at the creature one more time with satisfaction. “I’m good.”

Lights came from around the corner as the S.W.A.T. team stared them down. They panted nervously looking at the officers that had found and cornered them.

------

After the feds and S.W.A.T. team had made their way inside, they cleared each hallway. Along the way, they found the body of the man that had fallen from the ceiling and the body of the Sherry duplicate.

“Sir?” an officer said to Agent Henriksen. “My team said it's secure. They're gone”.

“You tell your team to tear it apart!” the agent shouted. “The ducts, the ceilings, the furnace, everything!”

“I don't think that's necessary.”

“Why the fuck not?”

The officer took Henriksen to a broom closet where other officers had gathered. Inside, there were three men stripped down to their underwear and handcuffed to each other on the floor.

Henriksen’s head fell in defeat and humiliation as he realized the three had gotten away.

------

Three figures in S.W.A.T. armor with weapons had exited the bank and were running up the stairs on the outside of a building. They left the stairs and turned into the deck of a parking garage and walked towards a car--it was the Impala.

As they get into the Chevy, the three in uniform pulled off their helmets and masks. It was Sam, Dean, and Riley. They all were still shaking after having only just barely escaped.

Riley’s hair fell and she brushed a hand through it as they sat in silence.

Their situation was bad and they knew it. The hunters, of course, had experienced their fair share of run-ins with the law, but now the feds were on their tail. How the Winchesters and Riley were going to con their way out of that nightmare, was beyond them.

“We’re so fucked,” Dean admitted.

His partners both nodded their heads minutely.

With nothing left to say, it was time they got out of there. Dean started Baby up and hurried them out of the parking structure. The only way to stay safe for the time being was to get as much distance between them and Milwaukee as they could.

Sam leaned forward and turned on the stereo to beat the uncomfortable quiet. Styx’s song ‘Renegade’ came through the speakers and the brothers and Riley looked at each other, slightly shocked by the odds of it playing. But, as no one spoke up, the song played on as they disappeared down the road.

“Oh, mama, I’m in fear for my life from the long arm of the law. Lawman is pullin' into my runnin', and I'm so far from my home. Oh, mama, I can hear you a-cryin', you're so scared and all alone. Hangman is coming down from the gallows, and I don't have very long...”

------

S2 Chapter 8: Born Under a Bad Sign

SIDE BAR: I LIVE for the love and reblogs, but since big things are happening, maybe don’t put spoilers in the reblog comment section and leave them just in the regular comments lol Love you ALL!

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alongthoselineswrites · 6 years

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#6 “I’m sorry” kiss AND #7 “I’ve missed you” kiss.

I’m trying not to combine very many of these cause I want the practice writing, but these two fit so well together within the prompt, so I put them together

Post series. Pidge’s POV. ~2500 words. Angst with a happy ending. Background Kallura and Hunay.

Pidge sat at the kitchen table, staring intently at the wall in front of her. She wishes she could say that she didn’t know how long she’d been there, but judging by the fact that the sunlight streaming through the window had moved from the floor to the top right corner of the wall, she would estimate it has been at least five hours.

Her stomach rumbles. She wishes she had thought to go out and eat before the cafeteria on the Garrison campus closed. Then she wouldn’t have to cook for herself.

She continues to stare at the wall. Despite her body’s signals, she doesn’t feel like eating.

Pidge wishes Lance was here.

Lance stood on the tarmac, laughing at something with Hunk and Shiro as Pidge approached. Lance turned and saw her, before scooping her up in his arms and twirling her around, a huge smile on his face as he put her down, keeping her in his hold. Pidge smiled back up at him, although less enthusiastically.

“Hey babe. How are you holding up?” Lance asked, leaning down to place a gentle kiss on her lips. Pidge felt her smile grow just a little bit wider.

“I’m holding up okay.” She reached up and kissed him again, “I wish you didn’t have to go, Lance.”

Lance’s expression fell slightly, and he brought a hand up to cup her face. Pidge loved the way the coolness of his ring contrasted with the warmth of his hand.

Pidge looked down at her own hand, silently admiring the way that the light glittered in the diamond placed daintily on her ring finger. She and Lance had been married for almost a year now. It hadn’t always been easy, but it had been worth every minute. She wouldn’t trade him for the world.

She shifted her gaze from the ring on her finger to the small stick lying on the table. She knew Lance would freak out if he knew she had placed it in the same place that they eat, but she couldn’t really bring herself to care. On one end of the stick was a piece of paper that kinda reminded Pidge of a pH test, although the purpose of this paper was slightly different. On the other end was a small screen embedded in the plastic. Two parallel lines were displayed in perfect clarity.

Pidge was pregnant.

“It’s only for two weeks, Pidge. Diplomatic meetings around a couple of neighboring galaxies, and then I’m back home before dinner. I promise.” Lance rationed with her.

“I know, but I wish that Hunk could go instead of you, or I could go instead of Keith, or something. You know Keith isn’t good at these things anyway.”

Lance laughed, “Yeah, but neither are you, my dear. Remember what happened on Yemurill?”

Pidge remembered perfectly well. After a wonderful meal and amicable negotiations thus far, the Yemurillan Prince had gotten a little too tipsy and tried to pull a line on Pidge. Next thing anyone knew, the poor prince was lodged into the wall above the dining room table, hanging upside down with two of his feet shoved in his mouth.

Pidge rolled her eyes, “He totally had that one coming.”

Lance laughed again, throwing his head back and making Pidge’s heart skip a beat. He leaned back in and placed his forehead on Pidge’s. “Fine, I’ll give you that one.” He placed a quick kiss on her nose, “Besides, Keith is the Black Paladin, he’s really kinda needed at these diplomatic meetings and such, which is why he needs his right-hand man to bail him out of all the sticky situations that Marmora blade gets him in.”

Keith called from the other side of the tarmac, “I have ears you know!”

“Stupid Galra ears!” Lance lifted his head and shouted back, since Keith was much too far away to have heard that with human hearing.

Pidge laughed, “Hey, Lance?”

He turned his attention back to her, humming and absentmindedly taking one of her hands in his and bringing it to his mouth, kissing her knuckles while she talked, “Don’t ever talk about Keith when we’re cuddling again.”

Lance paused for a second, before bursting out laughing again, “Alright, Pidge. Whatever you say.”

Unable to stare at the pregnancy test any longer, Pidge got up from the table, and finally began to assess the bodily functions that she had ignored since she took the test earlier this morning. After relieving herself and changing into some less sweaty clothes, she headed into the kitchen to try to find something to eat. She left the test on the kitchen table, and tried to leave it out of her mind.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy to be pregnant. Lance and her had talked extensively on how excited they were to have a family one day. Especially Lance; he was ecstatic about the thought of being a father. It was just the specific circumstances that made her anxious.

She put water on the stove to boil, pulling some linguini out of the pantry. She then hopped up onto the counter and stared at the wall some more. At least this time she had a fresh perspective.

“Take me with you, Lance. I don’t want to be away from you for so long.” Pidge pouted, pulling the puppy-dog eyes out of her box of tricks, knowing full well that after three and a half years of being together, he was mostly immune to them, especially knowing how important these diplomatic meetings were. She knew she was being dramatic and that it was only two weeks, but she couldn’t help it.

“Pidge, you need to stay here. You’ve got to cover my classes for me, remember?” Lance reminded her jokingly.

“As if I could actually teach your classes, Lance. I’m no pilot. What business do I have teaching a piloting class? You should have asked Shiro.”

“You piloted a lion same as me, Pidge. Besides, everyone in my class is scared to death of you. You can just call any of them by any name off the top of your head and they’ll probably pee themselves.”

Pidge giggled softly, before growing serious again. She looked him in the eyes, gripping his shoulders hard, “Lance, I don’t want you to go. I know I’m supposed to be the rational one about this kind of thing, but I have a bad feeling about this.”

Lance cradled her face again, bringing his forehead to hers, obviously trying to bring her comfort in this, “I’m sorry, Pidge. I’ll be back in two weeks.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, telling her everything she needed to know through the kiss.

Pidge heard a hissing sound on the stove, bringing her back to the present. She turned and saw that her water was boiling over. She quickly jumped off of the counter, removing the pot and turning off the stove. She leaned heavily against the counter.

Perhaps she shouldn’t be cooking in this state.

Her goodbye with Lance had been almost three months ago. Four days into their mission, Keith and Lance’s radios had gone inexplicably silent, and they hadn’t come online since. Pidge and Allura had immediately flown out to their last known location, only to find empty space, with nothing in reach for lightyears.

Pidge felt tears start to well up in her eyes, but she refused to cry.

She had worked tirelessly towards tracing their last known signal, but she knew deep down that if they weren’t broadcasting, there was no signal to trace. She had originally thought that the stress of the two paladins going missing had been what had been causing her cycle to be late. But after the third month with nothing, she couldn’t deny the possibility of her being pregnant any longer.

That is what led her to her current situation, sitting alone in her and Lance’s small apartment, alternating between failing at cooking and staring forlorn at the positive pregnancy test on the table. If she truly was pregnant, she’d be well over three months along at this point. She was almost finished with her first trimester and she hadn’t even known she was pregnant.

Even more important, Lance didn’t know she was pregnant. And on the twelfth week of a two-week mission, there was an 89% chance that he would never know she was pregnant.

It was that thought that made the tears fall.

A few days later, and Pidge still hadn’t removed the pregnancy test from the table. She can’t bring herself to touch it again; as if the act of acknowledging it will really make it true. Irrationally, she thought that if she ignored it, everything would go back to the way it was before.

Pidge was attempting once again to cook without burning the food, a task which she was currently having about 14% success after finding out about her pregnancy. She had dropped 21% from where she was after she had found out Lance was missing, which was already far below her usual 63%. Maybe she was just a bad cook.

The phone started ringing.

Knowing that in this frame of mind she wouldn’t have the brain power to cook and talk on the phone, she turned off the stove in order to answer the phone.

“Hello?” She answered, and it was at that point that she realized that she hadn’t spoken in three days. Only cried. Which made her voice thick, scratchy, and barely recognizable.

“Katelyn? Is that you?” Iverson’s voice rang through the receiver.

Pidge cleared her throat before trying again, “Sorry. Yeah, this is Katie.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line, as if Iverson wasn’t quite sure what exactly he wanted to say.

“You’d better come on down to the Garrison for a bit, Hon.”

She waited for more explanation, but when none came, she forced herself to inquire further, “What’s wrong?”

Another pause, this one longer. “It’s Lance… We found them.”

Tears sprang to Pidge’s eyes, and she wasn’t sure yet if she should be relieved or devastated. She tried to ask if they were okay, but all that came out was a squeaky sort of sobbing sound that Pidge was sure she’d be mortified about later.

“They’re all right, Katie. Calm down. They just came onto our radar, and Hunk and Allura already flew out to escort them back. But you should be here.”

She nodded, before realizing that he couldn’t see her, and said, “Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Pidge hastily scrambled to shove shoes onto her feet, before grabbing the first hoodie she could get her hands on, and rushing for the door. When she had turned the handle she stopped, spotting the positive test still lying on the table. On impulse, she decided to grab it, shoving it into her hoodie pocket and fleeing the apartment.

By the time she got to the tarmac, the lions were visible as they came in to land. I should have been here. She realizes when she views the lions coming in with a lack of green among them.

She only dwells on that for a moment however, when the red lion lands right in front of her. As soon as the lion’s head starts dipping towards the ground, Pidge is running. She meets Lance before he’s even gotten both feet on the ground, and almost knocks him off of his feet when she jumps into his arms, holding onto him like a baby koala.

Lance doesn’t comment, only sinks to his knees as Pidge cries in his arms, blubbering about how much she’s missed him and how worried she was, and don’t you ever do that to me ever again Lance McClain.

She felt more than heard Lance laugh, but it sounded watery, and he clung to her just as tightly.

Distantly she was aware of Hunk teasing them, before realizing how shook up they really were and transferring his teasing to Keith and Allura, who had had a similar (although less dramatic) meeting upon exiting their lions. When Keith made a rude gesture, Hunk gave up, going to greet Shay even though he’d only been gone for a matter of minutes. I guess he didn’t want to feel left out.

After not nearly enough time, Lance began to pull out just slightly, only so that he could get one his hands between them to cup her face and bring her eyes to his. Pidge probably looked like a complete wreck, between all the crying she had been doing and the general lack of self-care she had employed since Lance had gone missing.

Lance’s eyes were also red and puffy, and a nasty bruise framed his left temple, but he was here; he was alive.

“I missed you, Pidge. I missed you so much.” He swooped in for a kiss, one which Pidge returned heartily.

Her joy at seeing him again and holding him in her arms manifested itself into uncontrollable laughter, and she soon had to break the kiss and bury her face in his shoulder because she was laughing so hard. Unfortunately, because of her strange emotional spectrum due to the baby in her belly, her laughter still sounded like sobs.

Lance quickly became concerned, asking her what was wrong and if he did something. She started shaking her head, lifting it up to look him in the eyes, so that he could see that she was so unbearably happy. Lance started laughing with her.

When she was finally able to control her laughter, she remembered the test in her pocket. She caught Lance’s attention and pulled the stick out of her pocket, “I have a surprise for you.” She held it in front of his face for him to see.

Lance went slightly cross-eyed for a second, trying to understand what Pidge had whipped in front of his face.

After a couple seconds, comprehension seemed to dawn on him, and he caught her eye.

“Is that…?” He asked hesitantly, not wanting to believe it.

“It is. I’m pregnant!” She exclaimed, catching the attention of the rest of the team nearby.

“When did you find out?” He asked, still wide-eyed in awe, and holding her just a little more cautiously now.

“I just found out a couple days ago, but I’m just over three months along.” By now most of the team had made their way over, wondering what all the commotion was about.

“What’s happening you two?” Shiro asked, and Pidge handed him the test from where she sat on the ground.

“Are you showing yet?” Lance asked softly, sounding like he missed the privacy of a few moments ago.

Pidge paused, realizing that she hadn’t even thought about whether or not she would be showing yet.

“Let’s find out.” She said, and reached down to pull her shirt and hoodie up to reveal her stomach. She could just begin to see the start of a bump forming.

Lance placed his hands reverently over her abdomen, before catching her eye and leaning in for another kiss, tears welling up in his eyes once again, “We’re having a baby, Pidge!”

Pidge looked around at the team surrounding them, and nodded. Yeah, They were having a baby.

#plance #pidgance #flirtyrobot #kissing prompts #alongthoselineswrites #background kallura #background hunay #angst #angst with a happy ending

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blackdragon-sama · 5 years

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my breast reduction experience

i'm back home from the hospital after my reduction and i'd like to share my experience for those interestedalso to vent a bit about my nice-but-also-hella-annoying bed neighbour.

i went in on thursday morning, to get prepped, see the doc and settle into my room i was given the choice to either stay overnight before the surgery, or come in at 7 on friday morningi chose to stay overnight, since i knew it'd be much easier if i could just stay in bed until they wheeled me in for surgery. rather than having to haul my stuff and myself to the hospital with the bus, high on adrenaline and panicwas the right decision, too early in the morning, a nurse woke me and i went to change into the very sexy piece of fishnet they use as panties and the butt-free gown thingi swear, those mesh panties are the worst.but, i got a dose of lorazepam to make up for it, and was wheeled downstairs and into the wake-up room, from which i was wheeled in for the anaesthesia prep.a very nice lady (i don't know if she was an anaesthesiologist or assistant or nurse....) helped me put on the hair net and put an IV into my hand, chatting a little with me, which helped with the anxiety. at this point i was glad for the lorazepam, because i was nervous as fuck, even with it. they didn't make me count or anything, just told me to breathe in all that nice oxygen, and then they told me when they inected the good stuff and - like with the two general anaesthesias i had before - i went under complaining about the pain XDit's like, the last two seconds before you go under, your face, or in one case, arms, get really bad pins-and-needles, and it's one of the grossest feelings ever, but it's literally just a second or two and then you're out. the first thing i remember after coming to, is people coming to my bed and telling me to take breaths, or to breathe in deeper.i had a little trouble with my oxygen levels for a while, but they put an oxygen tube thingie into my nose, with a piece of sponge around it to keep it in place, i also remember telling someone i was feeling nauseous, and i think they gave me some medication for that. i was in no pain at all, just super woozy and confused why it was already around 3 in the afternoon. surgery must've taken WAY longer than 2-4 hours, since they put me under at 7:30, and i came to enough to ask the time at 3 in the afternoon.back in my room i asked for my phone and sent a few typo-heavy drunk texts to my mom and my girlfriend to let them know i was still alivestill no pain, dizziness, overall "just trying to sleep"-iness. a nurse came in some time later, to help me get up and pee. i didn't think i needed to, but she told me they put five liters of whatever (saline, probably) into me during the surgery and after, and i do know that getting up is important after surgeryso, she hooks me under and butt-naked me (surgical bra and mesh panties only. sexy. comfortable. not basically literally ass-naked) shuffles over to the bathroom, nurse carrying the big drainage bottles.i could feel my ears rushing and hearing static the moment i stood, but i managed to sit down and do the deed. on the way back to the bed, i nearly passed out, but nurse and another nurse got me back safely and i could sleep some moreduring the night, i am woken up a few times, by a male nurse who comes to open my bra and check the bandages and palpate my new tiny tiddies for anything bad.it's a bit disorienting to be subjected to someone messing with your boobs when you're more asleep than anything, but the whole staff was super nice and gentle with me, on saturday, post-op day 1, i managed to somehow pull at my right-side drainage and the bitch gave me trouble for the entirety of its stay in my boob, and it's still the more sensitive side >_>my new boobs looked soooo teeny tiny! to be honest, while i was excited, i was also a little scared that they'd become too small, but that feeling came and went, and looking back, i know it was simply the shock of the /difference/. day one was mostly spent entirely in bed, since my circulation was still pretty bad, and getting up gave me big troublesluckily, the nurses all were very very nice and refilled my water bottle for me and helped me get to the bathroom and back, and iirc, in the afternoon, i managed to put on some real panties and a shirt. MUCH better!also, on saturday, my girlfriend came to visit and it was really nice <3as for pain, i wasn't in any mentionable pain, other than that bitch of a drainage tube. that shit hurt like hell, while my boobs themselves almost didn't hurt at alli was, and still am, quite surprised they weren't painful. (given, i was taking ibuprofen 600 3x a day) sore, of course, and tender, and feeling about ready to pop with how taut they were, but not painful, i didn't and don't feel the incisions or the sutures/stitchesi stopped taking any pain meds yesterday, which was post-op day 5, and i only needed one ibu on tuesday) sleeping on my back is lame. and waking up on sunday, i had a major headache, that even the ibuprofen didn't manage to helpi think it was a mix of my neck being overly tense, plus leftover surgery and anesthesia meds that messed with my head (i read that having migraines puts you at a higher risk of post-op headaches) sunday was the day where i started to get lots better. i could get up on my own for the bathroom, and even the little trip down the hall to the water fountain dispenser thingie, and in the afternoon/early evening, i even managed to take the elevator to the ground floor and grab some well-earned sweets from the little shop there. the headache was the biggest discomfort, other than the drainage tube pulling occasionally, and my petty room mate... boy... by that point she was getting SO annoying. she had had surgery the day before me, a procedure to put an expander under the skin of her face, to grow skin to remove a mark from her face (i don't know what it's called, in german, it's a fire's mark, basically a large, deep red/purple mark that's puffy and you're usually born with it)i think she's russian? she had a heavy accent, and the first pieces of conversations i remember clearly were of her complaining about refugees and how they have so many kids only to cash in on social child support money (which is a thing in germany, but, well, for citizens, not for refugees...) i tried half-heartedly explaining that refugees aren't here for shits and giggles, and no, they don't get child support money from the state. they get, if at all, a bare minimum to feed and clothe themselves.... i didn't want to antagonize her, because in my drugged-up, post-surgery state, i was having paranoia she would try suffocating me in my sleep. (which i was aware of was purely my anxiety talking, but, y'know, i didn't want to pick fights either way, and delicate topics are best discussed if you have the opportunity to leave.)next thing i very clearly remember her doing was antagonizing the nurse that wanted to put a new something into her iv. the thing was, the nurse sneezed. into her shoulder. before moving to continue with the tubes. roomie gives her shit about that. how it's unacceptable that she'd sneeze onto the needle and get her germs all over the place, and how that's unprofessional and why she wasn't getting new needles and all that the nurse calmly explained she wasn't sick, it was just a little sneeze and she didn't get anything onto the stuff. discussions ensue. nurse sents me an "is this really happening?!" look, and i just give a helpless grin-shrug, because, yeah, it was happening. nurse was clearly heavily annoyed, but managed to finish putting the iv thing into her before leaving a little louder than necessary.i can understand voicing your concerns about hygiene and your worries. that's good. not good is picking fights with the people taking care of you. like... i caught myself thinking, every single time lady next to me went to complain or whine about something (which she did... /quite/ a lot) that, if i am in a hospital, dependent on the care of the staff, that the LAST thing i want to do is being a bitch to them?i'll do my damndest to be polite at least, friendly whenever i can, so they know i appreciate the help. being nice to your nurse means your nurse will do their best to care for you, and maybe put in a little more effort than absolutely necessary (like offering to fill my water bottle for me) and if someone has to sit me onto the toilet becauce i can't pee by myself, the least they deserve is me not bitching. seriously, the lady was nice enough, overall, but man... she also was entitled and just that special little snowflake kind of person. complaining about her boyfriend not taking the day off work so he'd be available all day to pick her up whenever she was discharged... i understand the thought behind it, but i also understand you can't just leave work just like that. and she was better off than me, mobility-wise, she could've taken a taxi or even public transport (given, i wouldn't have, either) or just waited for him until he could leave work)aaaaaanyway, on monday, headache was getting better, and my surgeon came in to check up on his work, he finally told me how much he removed, and it was WAY more than i expected or he estimated before,he'd told me, he'd remove about a kilo of tissue per side, which seemed a good weight, (i'd weighted them before, and they were about 2 kilos each, according to my kitchen scale XD )and it ended up being 1,4 kilos per side... that's almost 3 kilos! that's, like, two whole chickens! i was pretty shocked, but also excited, because, for the first time i really understood how HUGE my boobs had been. and how reasonable and right my decision was. i have no regrets and even in between never had any, but i had my doubts about the necessity of this whole thing, a lot of the time, i felt like it was a mood, or a phase, something i wanted out of a whim, rather than that i really needed it. it was my idea, and i wanted it, and as such, as a non-essential surgery, i was scared that i was doing something wrong. that it'd end up turning out bad, simply because of my paranoia-driven fear of karmic punishment for wanting something like that without it being unavoidable (like my gallbladder surgery) but hearing how much he'd removed, and given how much is still left, and how i now have an average pair of breasts for a woman of my stature, it took some guilt off me. also, by monday, i was starting to feel the first effects of the weightloss. i could sit up without using my arms (which was still being a bitch, because it'd pull on the damn drainage), like doing a situp, and it was sooo easy!even right now, i'm still too overall sore/tender to really notice a direct difference, but indirectly, it's already so amazing! i'm sitting up straighter without even noticing, i can breathe freely, which is odd, but i keep noticing how free my chest feels, like i'm expecting it to feel tight or heavy, but it isn't,on monday, the drainage tubes were FINALLY removed and it was glorious!i could stay until tuesday, and it was good i got to stay another day, because walking around was, and is, still somewhat tedious.on wednesday, i had a bit of an emotional crash. i guess it's the physical shock of surgery/injury and the medication wearing off, coupled with the relief of being at home and knowing you can relax now, i was dissociating a little, on and off through the day, feeling weepy and alone and all thatbuuuut that went away, too, and today, post-op day 6, i'm still a little tender and weak, but overall, i'm doing pretty fine!i can wash myself on my own, even my hair, and i am in SO much less pain than i expected. like... i was preparing to be out of commission completely for the entirety of the three weeks vacation i took off of work, but if things continue like this, going back in two and a half weeks will be absolutely possible. i catch myself being a little too enthusiastic sometimes, like trying to reach up to open/close my skylight window and getting a little reminder NOT to stretch up my arms all the way. or having to take a break from walking up the stairs and having to sit a couple minutes in the house's staircase on the way up to my appartment (we don't have an elevator)the most uncomfortable thing right now is the itching. the medical bra rubs against the edge of the steri-strips, where my skin is taut and dry and it's leaving mild imprints and it ITCHES and it's driving me insane, but it doesn't hurt, and it doesn't seem to mess with the stitches, so i'm trying not to complain too hard. all things considered, and with how weak and sore i was, right now, as i'm typing this, i'd do it all over again. i don't want to jinx anything, so i won't jubilate, but overall, i'm pleasantly surprised by how well things have been so far. i like my tiny new boobs, and i hate the itching, i love how much longer my torso looks, and i'm looking forward so much to buying beautiful bras and all the pretty swimwear i couldn't before, because it would never fit my boobs....aah <3next week i'll go in to have my stitches removed (they're not the dissolving kind) and i'm a little worried how the scars will hold, but i'm also eager to start using lotions and all the good stuff to help the skin recover i will recommend this procedure to anyone that's considering it, and i'm so happy that the surgery went well and my new boobs look perfect! (if still a little crinkly around the scars XD )

#breast reduction #experience #just me any my last week

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unchartedterritoria · 5 years

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Dangerous (Sam Drake x OC) - Chapter 26

*NEW CHAPTER*

Previous Chapters: Chapter 1 * Chapter 2 * Chapter 3 * Chapter 4 * Chapter 5* Chapter 6 * Chapter 7 * Chapter 8 * Chapter 9 * Chapter 10 * Chapter 11 * Chapter 12 * Chapter 13 * Chapter 14 * Chapter 15 * Chapter 16 * Chapter 17 * Chapter 18 * Chapter 19 * Chapter 20 * Chapter 21 * Chapter 22 * Chapter 23 * Chapter 24 * Chapter 25

As always, you can read the story thus far on A03 HERE

Tags: @jodiereedus22, @shambhalala, @missdictatorme

Reviews and comments are always appreciated!

Summary: Sam and Faith finally get a bead on the location of the Lincoln treasure. Sam finds out Jasper is hot on their heels and finds out in the worst way he ever wanted to.

Faith grabbed Sam by the hand and led him down the populated corridor. The sun was at its apex of the afternoon, sending tourists off the beach and into the gallery for some respite from the overwhelming heat.

The excitement Faith felt radiated off of her and Sam felt as if he was grasping a live wire. The neon colors that had awoken within her when they had first swiped that diary in Springfield had emerged and taken hold of her again. Sam saw suspicious glances in their direction, more of them being garnered by the second as she half ran, dragging him behind her like a bored dad at Disneyland. Seeing this, he pulled her back by his side to slow their pace.

“Slow it down, you got half the place staring at you,” Sam murmured in her ear. Draping an arm across her shoulders, he kept the two of them at a steady pace as the curious faces gradually turned away from them.

The portrait of a solemn, middle-aged Dr. Samuel Mudd hung square on the wall; the man's narrow chin hid behind a scraggly beard, a vast contrast to the baldness of his head.

A printed picture hung next to it, a large hexagon building of dark red brick floating in a vast expanse of bright blue ocean.

Written over the photo display was a story that Faith now knew by heart. The plot to assassinate the head members of the Lincoln government, the failure of Atzerodt and Paine to murder Johnson and Seward. The trial that indited Mudd as a conspirator for setting the broken leg of John Wilkes Boothe.

A black and white photograph of a cement doorway stood out atop the colorful contrast of the print beneath it. A heavy door with a heavy lock stood open in the shot while a small plaque hung above its entryway. The carved words wobbled, but the sign was still legible:

Whoso Entereth Here Leaveth All Hopes Behind

“Mudd's cell,” Faith said in a small voice.

Sam's eyes scanned over the small paragraph underneath.

"It was an inactive fort, so they used it as a military prison. He helped treat prisoners and soldiers while he was here when yellow fever broke out in 1867, that's how the asshole got his goddamn pardon," His voice dropped to a growl. Frustration pulled at his eyebrows, making his eyes seem to go dark.

“Even inactive, it's massive. If it's here in Key West, how the hell did we miss it?”

“That's because it's not in Key West,” Faith told him while she read the fine print at the bottom of the glossy picture, “It's 75 miles west of here in the middle of the Gulf.”

Her heart was racing as fast as the thoughts in her head. This had to be it. She could feel it, and Sam could feel it too.

Sam's mouth began to travel a mile a minute, spewing forth plans, how to get there, how to find his millions and how to spend it.

Faith stared at the portrait of the famed Dr. Mudd.

Sam's words lost meaning for her as she stared into the dark eyes of the painting, reduced to a dull murmur in her ears. The sound disappeared entirely, as heady anger began to form in its void. A swirling eddy of dark thoughts built up a fury within her that she hadn't felt since she was a teenager, the eyes of the portrait fueled the needless fire.

You son of a bitch. Look at everything you've caused.

"Faith." Sam tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to shift her glare towards him instead of the portrait.

“Whoa, hey. What?” He questioned, pulling his hand back quickly.

“Look at everything his caused,” Faith muttered, resuming her stare at the picture of Mudd.

“All he did was fix the guys leg.”

“And that leg belonged to the guy that killed Lincoln.”

“Not his fault, he didn't pull the trigger,” Sam retorted.

“Guilty by association Samuel.”

“Just because history made him out to be a Bad Guy doesn't mean he was a bad guy.”

“You don't know that.”

Sam brought his face close to hers, his tobacco laced breath wafting up Faith's nose.

“Guess what? Neither do you,”

Faith bit the inside of her cheeks, unable to come up with a response. She could only lower her eyes in silence.

“Alright, now, let's go get this thing,” Sam declared and began to stalk down the hall, a sense of purpose in his step, towards the front doors as Faith tried to keep up with his long strides next to him. “It's a fort in the middle of the goddamn ocean so, lucky for us, there can only be so many places to hide it. We'll hit the bar, Ronni should be workin' this afternoon, she's gotta know a guy we can charter a boat from.”

"You think I'll find my answers somewhere in there?" Faith asked. As the days had turned into weeks, her original search for answers about her family had warped into this larger than life treasure hunt. She had allowed herself to get swept up into Sam Drake's world and into Sam himself. What started with dipping a tentative toe in the water turned into a swan dive into a dangerous blue abyss where the warm water churned with excitement and showed no signs of slowing down.

“They're there, and if for some reason they're not, we keep goin' til we get them,” He assured her.

"What if the treasure is there, but my answers aren't?" She asked, giving the sleeve of his t-shirt a gentle tug, bringing him to a stop.

Faith's answers had always been secondary for Sam on this adventure. Finding that treasure was his primary goal from the moment that Nathan had uttered, 'worth a shitload' and he made no qualms about it either. He wanted to be rich; he wanted a find that was all his own. Finding Libertalia was fantastic for Sam, and as much as he enjoyed sharing the adventure and the discovery with his brother, there was that selfish part of him that kept him wanting more just for himself. In his mind, Faith was just this person he was in charge of. Keep her safe and get her home. Sam hadn't counted on the llama loving, personal demons dealing, Depeche Mode dancing Faith Spencer that had emerged from that dark blue dress two months ago and boldly stole his shirt, taking a piece of his heart and a sliver of his soul with her in the process.

So the question gave Sam pause for only a moment.

“Like I said, we keep going until we get them. It'll just be easier with me being a millionaire,” Sam the corner of his mouth raised into a cocky grin.

“We keep going? We?" Faith's heart fluttered in her chest. She had resigned herself to the fact that this crazy chapter, hell it was more like an insane novel, in her life was coming to a close. The Book of Sam Drake would end with a goodbye, and she had steeled herself for it. The possibility of an epilogue to their story hadn't been a hope for her, until now.

“Yeah,” He said softly to Faith, gently taking the tip of her chin between his rough fingers and tilting her head up until her eyes met his.

“We.”

It was a simple word. Short and to the point. Faith found its meaning in Sam's warm hazel eyes where the two letters spoke volumes.

He released her chin and stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his pants.

“I mean, that is, if you can put up with me that long. I've been told once or twice that I can be a real pain in the ass sometimes,” He said with a sigh, his playful charm back front and center, stowing away his emotional side.

“Sounds like a conservative estimate,” Faith rebutted bluntly. Sam scoffed and continued towards the entrance. After a single stride, Faith grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Wait! Hold up!”

"What?" Sam said, trying not to sound too impatient.

“I never saw Robert. Gimme two seconds!” Faith said, already jogging back down the concrete corridor before Sam could protest. He eyed the front doors of the gallery a few feet away and wrapped his fingers around the pack of cigarettes in his pocket.

Might as well have one while I wait, Sam thought and strode casually out through the entrance, positioning himself near the freestanding post ashtray next to the building.

Faith entered the WEIRDLY KEY WEST section of the museum again. This time, the tourist hustle and bustle had thinned out, leaving the exhibit all to herself. She headed towards the small room that held the doll, making sure to avert her eyes from the portrait of Mudd on the wall. For the next few minutes, she just wanted to revel in the quirkiness of something cool.

Faith opened the glass doors to find herself in a small room. The walls told the story of Robert, his origins and his mischiefs in the town, along with a warning: 'Beware! Ask permission of Robert to take his picture. If you don't do this, you do it at your own risk!' Faith smiled and looked towards the right where a giant blackboard stood. A layer of chalk dust coat it, little fingerprints letting the black base show through. A nub of chalk dangled from a string and magnetic metal clips dotted the boards surface, some with small pieces of paper attached. Above it all hung a sign, asking you to 'Leave a Message for Robert!' Faith smiled. Bubbly anticipation welled inside her as she began to formulate already what she wanted to write.

She finally approached the square exhibit case made of glass in the center of the room. Robert the Doll stood on a riser, bringing him to eye level. Faith had seen the Chucky movies, Annabelle and all of their horrid sequels. All of those films had been based on the doll in front of her. She had steeled herself, expecting something sinister looking and found herself to be very wrong.

Robert looked like any other doll in a museum that was made at the turn of the century. He was the size of a small child, dressed in a sailors outfit, complete with cap, and sitting up in a small wooden chair. A fabric casing simply stuffed with straw, his face was basic, and its features merely indented to define them. Small divets dotted the matte brown skin of his face where time had worn it away, giving him the likeness of a child with pockmarks. In the crook of his arm, he held a small stuffed dog with tightly curled tan fur.

Not in the least what Faith had pictured.

“Wow, anticlimactic,” She muttered to herself, studying the quality stitching that held the doll together. “No offense meant, just not at all what I pictured,” Faith apologized, taking a step back and blew out a nervous breath. “I know granting your wishes isn't your area but, if you have any influence, could you please help me find the answers about my family and why we have that Bible? I would really appreciate it.”

“I really like your little doggy by the way,” She added with a lopsided grin.

A large hand suddenly wrapped around her mouth and nose. Sam had done this to her before, which took away the startling feeling she felt the previous times. She began to roll her eyes and froze. The lingering smell of nicotine or the tangy scent of his aftershave wasn't there. Instead, the smell was sweetly astringent, bringing to mind a fruity tequila. It was also coming from a rough cloth pressed between the strange hand and her face.

Faith clawed frantically at the hand, pulling hard, trying to scream as loud as she could. She stomped her feet blindly to make more noise and with the desperate hope of landing a foot of the man behind her but his strong upper body kept her forward. Her brain pleaded and prayed for Sam to hear the commotion. Her eyes searched for something to grab on to when a heavy mist settled in her head. Faith's thoughts became muddled as her limbs grew lead heavy. The noise from her decreasing struggle began to sound hollow. As her brain slowed and her sight darken, Faith saw a translucent reflection of the hand wrapped tight around her middle in Robert's glass case.

The hand was deformed.

Sam checked the time on his phone. Fifteen minutes and two smokes had passed since Faith went to visit her funky doll. He contorted his face in annoyance.

"C'mon honey, it's a doll, we got a lot better things to go look at," He muttered openly to no one. He looked around the lobby of the building which had become eerily quiet as the tourists emptied back out onto the beach. He glanced absentmindedly through the doorway into the grassy courtyard. A meter long iguana dashed across the lawn, fast enough for Sam to register a whizzing by of green hues. Something didn't feel right.

She should be back out here by now, he thought, as goosebumps rippled across the back of his neck. Sam stalked quickly down the hallway, his expression darkened and his heart sped with every tourist he noticed was gone, the hall empty. Seeing the WEIRD KEY WEST sign, he broke into a sprint, calling out Faith's name. Sam strode purposefully through the exhibit.

“Faith?” He called loudly, making a beeline for the tinted window room where the doll was.

“Faith!” Sam shouted as he flung open the glass doors.

Save for the doll in his glass case and the decor on the walls; the room was empty. Sam's eyes scanned the room wildly. The writing on the chalkboard made him stop breathing, stop hearing, stop functioning except to read the words in front of him. Written in chalk, in flowing, perfect script.

I've taken your queen. Your move Mr. Drake. With kindest regards, - J.

#dangerous #My writing #sam drake fanfiction #sam drake x oc #samuel drake x oc #OC X Sam Drake

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jafreitag · 3 years

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Grateful Dead Monthly: Hollywood Sportatorium – Pembroke Pines, FL 5/22/77

On Sunday, May 22, 1977, the Grateful Dead played a concert at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

The Sportatorium was built in 1968 in a then-sparsely-populated and unincorporated area of Broward County southwest of Fort Lauderdale and northwest of Miami. The developers were a couple of guys – Stephen Calder and Norman Johnson – who opened a horse track and later a motorsports track nearby. The plan for the venue sounds like a proto Florida Man’s fever dream. From the Wiki:

Among the plans for the Sportatorium were sports events, ice follies programs, auto and boat shows, and eventually a “Gold Coast State Fair”. The Sportatorium was constructed as a hangar-like facility constructed out of concrete, a steel roof, an asphalt floor, and no air conditioning. Originally designed to seat 18,000 for stage events and 15,000 for arena events, it opened in December 1969 with only 6,000 seats.

“The idea was to have a facility which could have entertainment and events out of weather”, said Bruce Johnson, Norman Johnson’s son, who managed the arena until 1980. At first, it hosted indoor rodeos, indoor motocross events, wrestling, boxing, and some concerts.

According to the Wiki, the first event in the Sportatorium was the 1969 Miami Rock Festival on 12/27-29. The Dead played that Fest on 12/28, but Deadlists indicates that the venue was the International Speedway (the aforementioned motorsports track?), so the Wiki is likely inaccurate. The Sportatorium ultimately did become the premier concert mecca in South Florida, fulfilling the Johnson family promise of something something inside. Here’s a list of who played there in the early/mid-’70s: ELP, Zeppelin, the MC5, Fleetwood Mac, and Spirit in 1971; ABB, Floyd, and Yes in 1972; Uriah Heep, Zappa, Elton John, and Chicago in 1973; Dylan and King Crimson in 1974; the Doobies and Skynyrd in 1975; and the Eagles, ZZ Top, Clapton, and KISS in 1976. Yeah, the ’70s were eclectic and amazing, and dominated by duuudes.

By the late ’80s, the Miami Arena was the main stop for big acts, and the Sportatorium was reduced to booking stale metal bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. (Zero shade: I’m fine with Maiden and Priest, but they were past their primes at that point.) The last show there was on 10/21/88 – some country and western unknowns. In 1992, the land was zoned residential. In 1993 after Hurricane Andrew, the Sportatorium was leveled.

The Dead played there for the first time in 1977. (They returned in ’78, 80, and ’85.) Let’s get to the tour and the show. Caveat: I am a complete ’77 geek. I don’t think that the band played a bad show that entire year, and most of them were exemplary.

The band started the year with a handful of Cali shows – San Bernardino (2/26), Santa Barbara (2/27), Winterland (3/18-20) – before heading to the other coast. By then, the weird/cool segue-happy ’76 approach had been jettisoned for something leaner, setlist-wise. The 1977 template was basically the one that the band would use until 1995: A crowd-pleaser opener or openers; Bobby stuff (sometimes cowboy, sometimes blues, and Dylan in the ’80s-90s) interspersed with Jerry stuff (mostly ballads); a big first-set closer; a big second-set opener; a song or two leading into something sorta jam-able; drums and space; a vaguely-segued, three-to-five-song, crowd-pleaser ender that could/would include Bobby energy and Jerry gravitas; and encore that might be fun. Shit was predictable, but it worked.

In April, the band landed in Philly (4/22), traveled up to Springfield, MA (4/23), traveled back down to Passiac, NJ (4/25-27), camped out for five nights (4/29-30, 5/1, 3-4) at the Palladium in NYC, then jumped from New Haven, CT (5/5) to maybe the best three consecutive nights in their history – Boston (5/7), Ithaca, NY (5/8), and Buffalo (5/9). The tour then wound its way around the eastern half of the country: St. Paul > Chicago > St. Louis > Tuscaloosa, AL > Atlanta > Florida (two places, including the Sportatorium) > Richmond, VA > Baltimore > Hartford, CT. My recitation of that itinerary isn’t gratuitous. Like the setlist architecture, the tour structure was starting to take shape. The only reason that ’77 didn’t become the template for the latter was Mickey’s June 20th car accident, which gave the band a summer break that extended until September.

On a recent road trip, my best friend and I deep-dived into the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast, the “official” podcast from Rhino Records, who owns the vault. The first season was a track-by-track dissection of Workingman’s Dead. The second season was a track-by-track dissection of American Beauty. Those records celebrated 50th birthdays last year. Somewhere in the second season, main talker Jesse Jarnow mentions that touring wasn’t really a thing in the late ’60s and early ’70s. His point, which comes across with great aplomb in an interview with road manager Sam Cutler, is that the Dead had to create the tour concept for themselves before they could draw ‘heads into following them across the country year after year. Anyway, I can’t recommend that podcast highly enough – it’s been fantastic so far, and I’m excited to hear when it goes next. Well worth a listen.

So. 5/22/77. It must be alright if Dick Latvala picked it as the third release in the vault series that bears his name? Yep.

The show starts with a fun Funiculi Funicula wiggle, then drops into a funky The Music Never Stops. Next is a fantastic Sugaree that seems to go on forever. Is it the longest of the tour? No. According to a post on the Dead for a Year blog, there were seven versions of Sugaree in 5/77. (I confirmed that.)The longest is 5/28 (18:43, per Deadlists); the next longest is 5/19 (17:02). The rest, including 5/22, fall into the 13-15 minute range. This one is 15:38, and it doesn’t disappoint. The rest of the first set is a trade off between Bobby and Jerry. El Paso, Peggy-O, Minglewood, Friend of the Devil, Lazy Lightnin’ > Supplication, Ramble on Rose. All excellent. The first set-closing Dancing in the Street is just slightly less great than the Cornell version.

The second set-opening Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower is just slightly less great than the Buffalo version. (Hey, DW. Just checking if you’re awake.) The Samson & Delilah pops, and Donna isn’t a minus, until she is. After a so-so Brown-Eyed Women and an even more so-so Good Lovin’, she’s back to lead Sunrise. Whatever. The Estimated > Eyes ticks all the boxes for me. Estimated is big and round, and Eyes is plenty fast. The segue from Eyes into Wharf Rat is an honest >, noodly and smooth. (Deadlists calls it Space, but it’s better than that.) A short Terrapin and a long Dew ends the set. And Sugar Magnolia is a suitable encore. That’s my take.

Here’s everybody’s favorite Deadhead with his listening notes. Ladies and Gentlemen, Emcee ECM…

When GD archivist, Dick Latvala unearthed a damaged analog tape of 5/22/77, it was probably one of best finds/surprises in Grateful Dead taping history. Of course, the story of Rob Eaton acquiring the Betty Boards of 5/8/77 (among many other shows that were missing from the vault) takes first prize, but most people in the taping community already knew about Cornell from audience tapes that circulated. With 5/22/77, nothing circulated. It was a completely unknown show, which made it’s mystery all the more intriguing. Latvala and crew painstakingly restored the damaged analog tape and released it for all of us to hear as Dick’s Pick Volume 3 in 1995. The show opens with a mind blowing Music > Sugaree combo, the latter being an all-time version. Listen to the way Garcia weaves a hypnotic spider web of notes in Sugaree. Later in the set we get a sizzling Lazy>Supplication and a tender Peggy-O. The set closes with a groove-a-licious version of Dancing In The Street that gives Cornell a run for its money.

In Set 2, we get our faces melted with a spellbinding Slipknot! and a joyous Franklin’s Tower. Eyes of the World starts with a gorgeous lengthy opening jam before the verses and ends with an otherworldly jam that leads into a stunning Wharf Rat. Then we get to the reason why Dick Latvala released this show. It’s one of those magical Grateful Dead moments where everything seems right in the universe. Here, somehow, Wharf Rat finds its way into Terrapin Station WITHOUT the Lady With A Fan section. It’s the only time this ever happened. From there we get another incredibly rare treat: Morning Dew. The last version the band played was at Cornell two weeks before this performance. Dew was only played five times in 1977, and all of the versions are astounding including this one. Also, this is the third of only four performances ever of the TerraDew combo. Wish they would have played it more just as I wish they would have performed the Playin’ Palindrome more often. A legendary Grateful Dead show in the legendary month of May 1977. Time to revisit this Dick’s Picks if you haven’t done so already.

As Ed mentioned, most of this show is an official release, Dick’s Picks #3. (Idk why they opted to include Sunrise over BEW or Sugar Mags.) Here’s the Spotify widget…

And if you’re not on Spotify, or just want the whole show, transport to the Charlie Miller remaster of the soundboard recording HERE.

More soon.

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#IFTTT #WordPress

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dipulb3 · 3 years

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2021 Nissan Kicks makes value a virtue

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/2021-nissan-kicks-makes-value-a-virtue/

2021 Nissan Kicks makes value a virtue

The 2021 Kicks looks sharper than its predecessor.

Steven Ewing/Roadshow

As far as affordable small cars go, you could definitely do worse than the Nissan Kicks. It’s an efficient, feature-rich little thing, and for new car shoppers on a budget, the Kicks is one of the best overall values available today.

Excellent fuel economy

Lots of driver-assistance features

Excellent overall value

Don’t Like

All trims need LED headlights

Interior could use more personality

No all-wheel drive option

The Kicks gets a much-needed glow-up for 2021, with styling that’s way less frumpy than before. It’s a good look, and while I personally prefer the more extroverted designs of competitors like the Kia Soul or Hyundai Venue, I think the Kicks is altogether more refined than the wacky Hyundai Kona or Toyota C-HR. You get 16-inch wheels on the base Kicks S, but SV and SR trims upgrade to larger 17s. My SV test car has the optional black-painted alloys, which cost $495 and would probably look better alongside one of the available two-tone paint schemes — one with a black roof, for example.

The Kicks’ interior plays it down the middle with a no-nonsense design. The controls are exactly where you expect them to be and none of the buttons or stalks feel flimsy. Sure, the doors are lined with hard plastic and the piano black trim around the gear shifter will never, ever look clean, but the stuff you’ll touch most often — the steering wheel, window switches, infotainment controls, etc. — are all nice. I do wish the cup holders weren’t one big rectangle with a partition in the middle, though. Smaller drinks like, oh, I don’t know, a grande vanilla nonfat latte from Starbucks can easily tip over while making a turn. Ask me how I know.

2021 Nissan Kicks packs a lot of features in a small footprint

See all photos

Nissan’s awesome Zero Gravity seats aren’t available in the Kicks, but the cloth chairs in my SV tester are nevertheless comfortable, and they even have an interesting diamond pattern for a little visual flair. You sit high up in the Kicks, too, and the seating position is nice and comfortable for a 5-foot, 8-inch average dude like myself. Plus, this higher seat height gives you a nice, commanding view out the front and side windows — and it’s better for your posture, too.

The back seats are serviceable, but better suited to smaller adults or children, and there’s enough room behind them to schlep a couple of carry-on bags or a shopping cart’s worth of groceries. The Kicks offers 25.3 cubic feet of space with the rear seats upright, which bests the Ford EcoSport, Hyundai Kona and Kia Soul. However, fold the bench flat and you only get 32.3 cubic feet, which is almost half the max capacity of the Soul and worse than the aforementioned Ford and Hyundai. If you need to haul on the regular, the Kicks might not be for you. But since most people will use the hatch without folding the back bench, I’m glad Nissan chose to err on the side of seat-up spaciousness.

The interior looks plain, but it’s quiet and the seats are comfortable.

Steven Ewing/Roadshow

Every Kicks uses the NissanConnect multimedia system, with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto standard. The base Kicks S has a 7-inch touchscreen but the SV and SR use a slightly larger, 8-inch head unit; these upper trims get an additional 7-inch display inside the gauge cluster, too. NissanConnect’s graphics are dated and the menu structure is kind of weird, but it’s easy enough to plug your phone into one of the USB ports and let the Apple or Android software do the heavy lifting. SV and SR trims come with both USB-A and USB-C outlets, by the way.

A huge selling point for the 2021 Kicks is the sheer amount of standard driver-assistance tech. Automatic emergency braking (front and rear), blind-spot monitoring, lane-departure warning, parking sensors and rear cross-traffic alert are standard across the board, even on the base, $20,000 model, and SV and SR trims add adaptive cruise control. No, you can’t get Nissan’s cool ProPilot Assist highway driving assistant, but that’s not a total deal-breaker. You can, however, get a 360-degree camera on this little guy, though it’s only available on the top-level SR.

There isn’t much to get excited about under the hood, but the Kicks’ powertrain is nevertheless adequate and efficient. The 1.6-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine produces 122 horsepower and 114 pound-feet of torque, which sound pretty dismal on paper, but on the road, it’s totally fine. Remember, the Kicks only weighs 2,744 pounds in its heaviest spec, so that engine doesn’t have a ton of car to lug around. The Kicks only comes with front-wheel drive, however, so if you’re looking for a tiny CUV with AWD capabilities, try the Honda HR-V or Mazda CX-3.

SV and SR models get an 8-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Steven Ewing/Roadshow

You can only get the Kicks with a continuously variable transmission. And before you balk at the idea of CVT, don’t forget that Nissan’s been offering this transmission type for years, meaning the company’s had a lot of time to fine-tune its so-called Xtronic setup. Seriously, the Kicks has one of the best CVTs around, quietly operating in the background without the high-revving drone that people tend to associate with these transmissions.

Plus, that CVT helps the Kicks return bangin’ fuel economy. Official EPA ratings aren’t available just yet, but Nissan estimates you’ll see 31 miles per gallon in the city, 36 mpg highway and 33 mpg combined — numbers right in line with what I saw in the real world. That makes the Kicks more efficient than a lot of other small crossovers, beating the Ford EcoSport, Hyundai Venue, Kia Soul and more.

The Kicks handles daily driving duties admirably, and it’s actually pretty fun to drive. The suspension is nicely tuned for both city and highway driving and the brakes are strong with solid pedal feel. The steering is light, just like every other small crossover, but it quickly responds to inputs, and more importantly, the Kicks is easy to maneuver and park. No one is expecting the Kicks to be a thrill, but it’s a perfectly pleasant little runabout. Yeah, it’s pokey, but it might surprise you on a winding road.

These black-painted 17-inch wheels are a $495 option.

Steven Ewing/Roadshow

You can get into a Kicks for as little as $20,595, including $1,095 for destination. The midgrade SV adds a lot of the niceties you’ll actually want, and it starts at a still-affordable $22,395. The loaded SR comes in at $23,035, and its only big-ticket option is the $1,200 Premium Package, which brings the price to $24,235 delivered.

The SV grade should make up the bulk of Kicks sales, but I actually think a loaded SR is the best value. The SR gets you all the best driver-assistance tech and it also comes standard with LED headlights (and foglights). That last bit is especially important — the halogen lamps on my SV test car are so dull that, at one point, I actually pulled over to make sure I had the low-beams on and wasn’t just relying on the running lights (like so many other oblivious Los Angeles drivers). LED headlights are brighter and therefore safer. Why they aren’t standard on every car at this point is kind of beyond me.

It’s hard to beat the Kicks’ overall value.

Steven Ewing/Roadshow

But the loaded SR’s virtues extend beyond illumination. Add the Premium Package and you get heated seats, a heated steering wheel and that premium Bose audio system you’ve probably heard — you know, the one with speakers in the driver’s headrest. Nothing makes an inexpensive car feel premium quite like heated seats and a kickin’ (get it?) stereo. All that and more for less than $25K? I know it’s not always easy to swing a couple thousand extra when you’re on a tight budget, but you’ll also be hard pressed to find this many amenities for this little cash.

The Kicks plays in a super-crowded class, alongside everything from the dumpy Chevrolet Trax to the dumpier Ford EcoSport to attractive and compelling hatchbacks from Korea like the Hyundai Kona, Venue and Kia Soul. Personally, I’d probably go with the Soul if it were my money; the Kia has a better interior and it’s nicer to drive, as well. Even so, the Nissan still offers more features, and it’s more efficient than anything else in its segment. Any way you slice it, the Kicks offers great value and it’s hard to argue with that.

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salzspektrum · 7 years

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✨ 92 Statements ✨

I was tagged by @nightsky7ibra, thanks Lara my gurl <3

RULES: You must answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people.

THE LAST:

1. Drink: peach ice tea, my main hoe (yes I do have shitty teeth btw)

2. Phone call: my mom called me last night and I missed it lol

3. Text message: “a good boi, a loveable boi” (referring to Lara’s cat in a group chat with her)

4. Song you listened to: “Greedy” by Ariana Grande (shouldn’t this change by the end of the post-writing process tho?? since it’s about the last song??)

5. Time you cried: idk?? Surprisingly I didn’t cry at all this week so I probably cried last week or something, I cry a lot ask my roommate

6. Dated someone twice: dating? who is she? idk her

7. Kissed someone and regretted it: I only kissed @immortalpsychocat so far and I don’t regret it *wink*

8. Been cheated on: didn’t happen bc I don’t date

9. Lost someone special: well if this is referring to death then thankfully I didn’t have to experience the death of someone I love, but if this just generally means ‘loss’ then I did lose my best friend like 3/4 years ago idk anymore tbh, but soon after that I befriended @immortalpsychocat so everything’s fine now

10. Been depressed: it’s called depression sharon and the answer is ‘today’

11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: march 4th (my cousin’s birthday party, it was the 3rd time I was drunk and the 2nd time I threw up bc of that lol, I didn’t get drunk since then)

LIST 3 FAVOURITE COLOURS:

12.-14. blue, green, purple (all shades of these colors)

IN THE LAST YEAR, HAVE YOU:

15. Made new friends: Yes! Some people from university, some on tumblr and my most recently made friend is Lara actually

16. Fallen out of love: for that I’d have to actually have been in love with anyone in the first place so the answer is no

17. Laughed until you cried: today when I watched Dan and Phil’s latest sims video lol

18. Found out someone was talking about you: well there was only one person who blogged about me some months ago but they probably stopped doing that lol

19. Met someone who changed you: hmmm I don’t think so tbh

20. Found out who your friends are: yep, they are good eggs

21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: well the only person that I kissed is on my facebook friend list so yes

GENERAL:

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: I don’t have many facebook friends so most of my facebook friends I know from real life (also I kinda hate facebook and use it like once a month for 5 minutes lmao)

23. Do you have any pets: sadly no but catch me getting a dog and a lizard as soon as I’m financially stable

24. Do you want to change your name: I used to want to do that bc people are too dumb to pronounce it properly after I told them how to pronounce it but now I’m fine with it

25. What did you do for your last birthday: literally nothing

26. What time did you wake up: okay look;;;

27. What were you doing at midnight last night: watching my brother sending nsfw fanart to my best friend bc they were having a Troll War, once again, it ended with them teaming up against me bc I snaked on her so they both snaked on me

28. Name something you can’t wait for: “The Winds of Winter is the forthcoming sixth novel in the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin.Martin believes the last two volumes of the series will be big books of 1,500+ manuscript pages each.[1] They will take readers farther north than any of the previous books, and the Others will appear in The Winds of Winter.[2]Martin has refrained from making hard estimates for The Winds of Winter's final release date.[3] In 2014, estimates based on extrapolation of Martin's writing pace predicted the release date sometime between 2015 and 2018.[4][5] In January 2016, Martin confirmed that he had not met a deadline of October 2015 and an end-of-year deadline that he had established with his publisher.[6] In January 2017, Martin announced that he believed that The Winds of Winter will be released "this year", referring to 2017. However, he also noted that he believed the same thing would occur the previous year.” (source)

29. When was the last time you saw your mom: an hour ago

31. What are you listening to right now: “Scream” by Troy Bolton, Highschool Musical 3 Soundtrack ( don’t fucking judge)

32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: I don’t think so

33. Something that is getting on your nerves: L O L

34. Most visited website: youtube,then tumblr

35.-37. “Lost Questions??? (I’m just talking this over exactly as I found it, I also noticed some numbers missing, for example number 30, but idk man lol)” a fitting direct quote from Lara

38. Hair colour: black with some disgusting red streaks bc the hair stylist didn’t cover my entire hair when she dyed it from frikkin red to black

39. Long or short hair: my hair is currently at boob-length

40. Do you have a crush on someone: lol nope

41. What do you like about yourself: I like my eyes, kinda my eyebrow shape, my figure (except that I don’t like that my arms look like noodles), I like my silly humor, my loyalty to my friends and my enthusiasm for the little things

42. Piercings: [file not found]

43. Blood type: I think O- (yeah I’m kinda fucked with this one)

44. Nickname: Jos, Josi, Josuf, etc.

45. Relationship status: single

46. Zodiac: libra

47. Pronouns: she/her

48. Favorite TV show: game of thrones, sadly

49. Tattoos: none, sadly (yet)

50. Right or left handed: left-handed

51. Surgery: once bc I had a cyst and they had to surgically get that shit out of my mouth (it was somewehre in my jaw idk)

52. Piercing: bruh why are you repeating yourself?

53. Sport: lol exercise?? a healthy lifestyle?? what is that??? but if I had to do something regularly it would probably be swimming, tennis or volleyball bc I actually enjoy these activities

55. Vacation: last vacation would be croatia (dubrovnik, specifically), 2 years ago. next vacation will be crete (panormo, specifically) in august and I’M EXCITED BC I WILL BE TAKING MY FIRST FLIGHT SOMEWHERE JESUS FUCK (where did 54 go)

MORE GENERAL:

57. Eating: my mom’s a cook so you can imagine it’s good stuff

58. Drinking: usually non-alcoholic drinks since I don’t really fuck with alcohol if I don’t wanna get drunk (since I don’t really like the taste) soo it’s ice tea or water

59. I’m about to: watch highschool musical 3 after I finish this post lol

61. Waiting for: happiness (wow this got depressing real fast) where’s 60

62. Want: [see answer for question 61] oh and money

63. Get married: maybe idk, depends on if I will really want that in my future and also depends on my partner. if it ends up being a woman and austria doesn’t have same-sex marriage until then, well...but atm idek if I want ANY of that stuff tbh, I’m currently figuring out my sexuality and I’m c o n f u s e d

64. Career: something in the field of sociology, whatever the fuck that’s gonna be. My dream would be working for an NGO, maybe write some books maybe I will become a famous sociologist and people will learn about me lmaooo

WHICH IS BETTER:

65. Hugs or kisses: my only kisses so far were drunken pecks so hugs

66. Lips or eyes: eyes 100%

67. Shorter or taller: I don’t have a preference (same goes for my aesthetic attraction to men and women ajajajajajaj)

68. Older or younger: how about people my age, I don’t really wanna be surrounded by kids and old people all the time tbh (I don’t wanna be surrounded by people in the first place but you know what I mean)

70. Nice arms or nice stomach: it’s just fucken body parts my dude did you purposefully leave out 69 so that I can’t make a kinky joke

72. Hook up or relationship: atm? neither. in general probably relationship. but idk if i actually want any of that ever idkkkkk

73. Troublemaker or hesitant: the most hesitant to ever hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER:

74. Kissed a stranger: no

75. Drank hard liquor: if I choose to drink, I drink the hard stuff bc I wanna get drunk

76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: hmm no I don’t think so

77. Turned someone down: does not-going-to-one-of-his-plays-even-tho-he-invited-me-bc-i’m-not-really-interested-in-him count?

78. Sex on the first date: idk if I want sex or dates or both i d k f a m

79. Broken someone’s heart: lol idk how much the actor dude likes me so maybe

80. Had your heart broken: romantically? no. by someone who used to be my best friend? yes

81. Been arrested: no

82. Cried when someone died: as I said, I didn’t have to experience something like that in my personal life but I did cry when carrie fisher died :(

83. Fallen for a friend: nope

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

84. Yourself: Hah most of the times no, sometimes I do

85. Miracles: I truly don’t know, maybe

86. Love at first sight: no

87. Santa Claus: WHAT SANTA ISN’T REAL??????????

88. Kiss on the first date: hey man you do you, I don’t care

89. Angels: maybe idk

OTHER:

90. Current best friend’s name: Victoria/Vicky, also known as Fake Hoe

91. Eye colour: green-grey-something

92. Favourite movie: Wonder Woman (2017) dir. Patty Jenkins

why exactly 92 questions tho??

Tagging: @immortalpsychocat @metaforkel @carriestreep @stupida-in-arte @starklinqs @bisexuallaurellance @patethenovice @ripley-stark @frogspears @fiftyshadesofnygma @britanniafork @littletinygothamite @winter-came @alius-alia @okayprincess @red-candy-rocks @clexasbellarke @accidentalkate @gaymickrory @hetpiglet

#none of you have to do it obviously #this is insanely long lol #i did it now bc i was kinda bored and now i'm gonna watch hsm3 bye fam :)#i'm basically tagging people that i know from real life/from group chats/or just who are some of my fave mututals #so if u got tagged feel honored or something lol #long post #shut up jos #tag thingy #lol @mututals #i meant mutuals obvs

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nikkiexploreseu · 7 years

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January 15th; Venice, Italy and Rome, Italy

I haven't updated for a few days now as I've been sick and have now gotten off of Contiki so I've been trying to get myself better, but I've posted pictures! After our beautiful castle meal in Slovenia we headed out the next morning to Venice. It was a full day of driving so we had to get up really early, but it gave us plenty of time to catch up on sleep which was nice. When we arrived we had to get a boat over to Venice itself, because there are no vehicles on the island of Venice whatsoever; it's completely pedestrian and water canals. The architecture was exactly what you expect of Italy, all the windows were flat with shutters, all the walkways were pebbled and all the architecture was ancient and glorious. We had a gondola ride through the canals which was not what I'd expected but was still nice. It only went for half an hour, but where we went it looked like a few steps up to the old houses and apartments were under water; an estimated 3000 years is left before the city is completely underwater. I asked why the city was built the way it was rather than with roads and it was to do with escaping their enemies of war at the time as they had not yet discovered boats. There were dozens of gondolas everywhere you looked, with a guy on the back of each rowing them around. After the gondola ride, we had a few hours of free time, so a few of us sourced the number one priority of being in Italy; pizza. And we weren't disappointed. We had a lemoncello shot with lunch, bruschetta that was the size of a pizza in itself and then a prosciutto pizza for main course. After lunch Marisa and I found a little bar and had the best tiramisu I've ever tasted in my life, with a Bolini; an Italian drink that is made of peach purée and champagne. It was incredible, I'm definitely finding out if they make them on the cruise. We wandered and met with the rest in a pub and all drank Bolini's until it was time for the next tour. We went on a wine and dine tour of Venice, where we went to 3 different bars and got to try a different Venezian specialty food and wine at each place. It wasn't like wine tasting in adelaide where you get to try heaps, we only got to try one red and one white at each place, which was fine anyway. Walking around the streets of Venice would be much more crowded in summer, I think going during winter was a good choice because the streets are really narrow and were hard to fit through with traffic from both directions as it was, I can't imagine during the summer. We got told that it's very easy to get lost in Venice, and now I understand why. All the buildings are stories higher than you, and street signs are far and few between; its like being in a maze. In the main square there are pigeons and birds everywhere, and if you stand in the middle of them there are guys that hand you a handful of bird seed without even slightly asking permission and you get flocked. And then you have to pay them. Like what? I didn't really want to get covered in pigeons but I did so that was an experience. There were heaps of little souvenir stores in the main square as well so I bought an Italia jumper because why not, I haven't bought a hoodie yet on this trip. Through the little side streets there were a lot of boutiques and like Gucci stores that were all really expensive, so I don't recommend shopping in Venice, or in Italy in general. We left at 10:30pm to go back to the hostel and were up again at 7:45am to go to my final destination; Rome. It was another full day of driving, we arrived at around 4pm and dropped our bags off with some difficulty before going on a walking tour and to dinner. I learnt really quickly that Italians are rude, and absolutely suck at organisation. We got put in a room which the first time didn't have working keys, and when we had working keys discovered that there were people already occupying said room. So then we got moved from the 1st floor to the 4th floor in an elevator that probably shouldn't have held more than a small child, and was about the size of a toilet cubicle, to then find out that we in fact didn't have a room there either, so we got taken back down to reception and had our bags put into the luggage area and got given free beer to compensate; overall not a bad deal in my opinion but the other girls weren't happy. We also got an upgraded room; we saw real carpet in the hallway and got excited. After that debarkle we headed out on the walking tour which took us to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and the fountain out of angels and demons where Tom Hanks pulls the guy out of the fountain I'll post a picture so you know what I'm talking about; or just google it. It was raining slightly but it wasn't too cold, it was in positives and that was honestly a really exciting moment. Gloves were not necessary for the first time in two weeks. Venice was warm too actually, sunglasses were out! Seeing the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain in person was yet another one of those moments when I realised that photos do nothing any justice whatsoever. I didn't think it would interest me that much, but standing there had a very different effect. I don't understand how thousands of years ago literally thousands like BC level thousands, people, human beings built structures of that scale. Like if you stood 56 of me on top of each other, these buildings are bigger than that. And all the columns are perfectly round and dozens of metres Tall and wide, how do they even exist? The Trevi Fountain isnt even in a featuring position, it's literally all but in the back streets of Rome like WHAT. But the reason for that, is that structures like the well known ones aren't the only ones to their scale; there are buildings throughout all of Rome of the same scale, literally throughout. Rome is entirely ruins with a few hotels and a few McDonalds thrown around. There's random columns like along the side streets and the old gladiator racing strips are just a square in the middle of roads. It looks like so much of it should be a feature but it's not it's just part of the city; it's again, indescribable. We went to dinner and this was the moment that I was at the height of my sickness for the trip, I got light headed and ill and couldn't breathe at all, so I didn't eat much and decided I was going to go straight to bed when we got back. But did I? No. Because it was the last night on Contiki, and I'm an idiot. So I went out drinking with everyone else until 5am, when we had to get up at 7:30am for the Colosseum. WHY NIKKI. GODDAM. Getting up was a struggle and pretty much everyone was still drunk, and one of the guys I've been travelling with lost his metro pass and the tour manager was also still drunk and she had no time to be mothering so everyone was like yeah nah we will see you there, even the people he was travelling with. I felt bad for him so I stayed with him at the train station and we managed to find the right train ticket, the right train and get off at the right stop which was the easy part because it's called 'Colosseo'. We ended up getting there about 40 minutes before the group because they did a walking ruins tour which we agreed neither of us could've handled at that point in the morning anyway, so we gave ourselves a 40 minute colosseum tour before meeting up with everyone else. Again, I feel like I say this too much, but the Colosseum has to be seen to be believed. The outside looks spectacular no doubt but it has absolutely nothing compared to the inside. It is insane. Absolutely insane. Not much if any has been reconstructed at all, it's been left to naturally erode and age over time, which honestly just made it that much more incredible. We walked into the arena and there's an immediate sense of needing to imagine exactly what went on here, you can't help but see it so clearly. We stood on the top level for the best part of half an hour and just stared and took it in, there isn't much else that you can do other than that. We met up with the group and the tour was actually quite shitty, it only went for 15 minutes and didn't really tell us anything that isn't already well known; that the broken half broke in an earthquake, that top seats were reserved for women and slaves and the closest balconies were reserved for priests and important people. One thing I didn't know was how much went on underneath the main floor of the arena. The animals were brought out from under the ground, for effect. The main arena floor is now gone so you can see all the walls where the cages were for the animals, and it was explained how they were hoisted up by slaves pushing the ropes to move and open the trap doors in the arena floors. To be honest I'm glad that we got to the Colosseum first, because we spent about an hour in there whereas the others only spent about 20 minutes. We went to the souvenir shop and I bought a little gladiator helmet, and then because everyone was either drunk or hungover we headed for food. It was bucketing down with rain all afternoon, and i bought an umbrella off of a gypsie for 5€ which was a mistake because of course as soon as the rain touched it the actual handle, not the umbrella, the HANDLE, snapped in half. So that got left on the ground and I actually drove past it about half an hour later in my taxi to my hotel, and I had a bit of a laugh. We got back to the hostel and went to our separate hostels ( those of us that got off in Rome) and met up again at 3pm to do the Vatican. My Hotel was beautiful, it was an air BnB and the guy there was so friendly, it was bit overwhelming to know that I was no longer on an organised tour and had to adult again but the receptionist actually got me a map and taught me how to get everywhere from the hotel which calmed me down a lot. I'm going to say it again, the Vatican was indescribable. I was staying three bus stops from it, THREE, and then just had to walk under an underpass to get to the Vatican square. I picked up in Rome as well that if you walk around with earphones in, the beggars and guys trying to tell you tours and souvenirs don't bother you, so walking around with earphones in even without music is a good way to go. Otherwise they follow you and call out to you until you respond. We did a tour of the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel, both of which I could have spent much more time in and intend to in the future. Leave a good 5 hour window to do the Vatican, because the museums are fascinating, and get an audio guide please for the love of god, it makes it so much more interesting. I was the only one that did and it was the best 7€ I've ever spent. The most amazing thing was seeing ruins and artifacts and tapestries from BC, like yes you learn about the history of BC but standing in front of roman ruins that were actually built BC is just another experience. And not being religious doesn't make a difference, if you know the bible to a reasonable extent then seeing the Vatican is worth doing. There was a hall of tapestries that depicted major events in Jesus' time, that were taught throughout all of my schooling and that i know back to front, the betrayal of his disciples, the last supper, the birth of Jesus, and they were made like 1-2 AD. They were made in the time of Jesus as it is believed, and while it didn't make me Christian or catholic it certainly made me question whether or not some of these events really did exist. Sorry Hughes'. It's very different learning the stories in school and seeing a tapestry woven in the time when it all supposedly happened. Right there in front of you. I will go back to Rome ( technically I have to because I threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain), and when I do an entire day will be dedicated to the Vatican. Contiki has officially ended. To be honest, and don't let this put anyone off of doing a Contiki, but I don't think I'll be doing another one, and if I do it won't be 12 countries in 16 days. Pros: - meeting people - Becoming a literal alcoholic - Seeing the highlights of each country you visit - Having an experienced tour guide - Having people around you that are in the same boat - Seeing a lot in a short amount of time Cons: - the contiki cold. It is NOT a myth, and it WILL NOT go away. - Getting up early every day - Only spending 36 hours in each city, sometimes less. - Not having the time to do everything you want to do - Spending waaaay too much money on alcohol and nice dinners that you wouldnt otherwise spend - Minimal sleep; absolute exhaustion. 16 days was too long, if I were to do it again I would do a week maximum and 2-3 countries. But, in saying all of that I did have an amazing time, meet some amazing people who I'm now going to Switzerland with, and doing a road trip along Australia's east coast with, and I will definitely never forget the experience. I flew back to London last night and am currently sitting on the plane to ICELAND!!!!! I've been super stressed because after being on tour I forgot how to adult a little bit but I'm back on the horse now and ready. Iceland, here we come! Oh and I really need to do some laundry. So Iceland and laundry, here we come! Some memorable things I've learnt so far: - don't be scared to talk to people that you don't know, 99% of the time they're willing to help you. - Don't constantly worry that you're being kidnapped; you're not. - Don't buy premium everything, make do with what you can. I've been blowing my nose with toilet paper for 3 days now, tissues are expensive. - Tipping is ridiculous, but necessary pretty much everywhere except for Australia. - Italians don't line up well; push in. - Polish people don't like you eating in their restaurants, they all stare when you walk in. - Not everyone can speak as much English as you assume, ask everyone you talk to before you talk to them if they speak English, purely by saying "English?" - .Learn how to sleep on transport; once you've got one type down, you've got them all down. Buses, planes, you name it. Buy a neck pillow. - Experiment with food, never stick to what you know when you're travelling. Half of the experience is eating their food. - If something scares you, it generally means that it's good for you. Just do it. - If you have to pay to go to the toilet, hold it. - Napping is a precious skill whilst travelling, learn it and do it whenever you can. - Don't be scared of overseas pharmacies, their products are exactly the same as ours. - Do not be scared to do things that you haven't done before, if you don't know where you're going or what you're doing, just remember that everyone else in the world has done this before, it can't be as hard as you're thinking it is. - Drink lots of water. - Bring lots of Chapstick. - BRING PAW PAW. - Packing a rucksack is easier if you put the cases of stuff on the bottom, and the clothes on the top; they squish better. - In Italy eat as much gelato as humanly possible. - Do NOT pack more than two pairs of shoes, you will not wear sneakers in winter. - Pack less pants and more jumpers; I've been wearing one pair of jeans everyday for 3 weeks, you just change the leggings underneath. - Bring a goddam jacket and don't spend 90€ on one in Amsterdam. - Go to Amsterdam, but don't buy weed stronger than 2 🐾 - They'll try to tell you that Austrian and German are different languages; they're not. - Pack more socks and more underwear than you think you will need...And then some more. - Sometimes in Europe, you can leave without paying the bill. - Sometimes in Europe, you can ride public transport without buying a ticket. - If you go to a thermal bath, pay for the package with a massage. You won't regret it. - Don't be scared of anything, you may think you do, but you don't stand out. You're just another person. - Live with #noregrets.

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starless-chasm · 6 years

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Year-end Book (and Book Blogging) Survey

 It's the last day of December! Before I go all dramatic and revisit my IELTS-ful year, I mean not-so-eventful offline memory lane, I’ll just do some “book business” and answer this year-end literary survey. I’ve seen this posted in my tumblr dash so I guess I’ll answer it. Apologies in advance…I may be publishing a lot of entries today. I'm trying to be productive, but hey, thanks for understanding! :))  1. The Best Book You Read In 2017?  This question is probably one of the pet peeves I will never ever be able to avoid. It never fails to render me speechless every time—not in a good way, obviously—it feels like you're being asked who your favorite son/daughter amongst your kids...no, you can't just do that - so many to choose from! Haha. That said, I have a lot of favorites in different genre.  •The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas •A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas •Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo  2. The Most Disappointing Book or a Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?  The Gentleman's Guide To Vice And Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. I really wish I could like it more just like what people in the internet are saying. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate it, I just don't like it. Runner-up’s Renee Ahdieh’s The Rose and the Dagger. This is the sequel to The Wrath And The Dawn which I truly loved as it's a re-telling of my favorite fairytale of all time: One Thousand And One Nights. I was smitten with Ahdieh's oh-so-surreal work on the first book, but this one’s an exception. There’s just something…off about it.  3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2017?  Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. I first picked up this book last year and only got to read its first chapter. I really don't know why I did it. Haha. Then early this year, I wouldn’t have picked this book back if it solely brandished a regular soulmate formula, but the nerd factor involved in its blurb (and its title, duh!) convinced me to try it one last time. It was amazing, and not just in a geeky kind of way. Also in a flabbergasted oh-my-god-it-shattered-my-heart-but-still-made-me-smile-at-the-end kind of way. Runners-up are: the YA book Turtles All The Way Down by John Green, and The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon.  4. Book you recommended to people most in 2017?  I will never stop recommending The Hate You Give. In fact, I can almost see myself still recommending it in 2018. Also, on top of my list is the poetry book The Princess Saves Herself On This One by Amanda Lovelace and The Wrinkle In Time by Madeliene L'Engle. Oh, and also Sally Thorne's The Hating Game! Because they’re awesome, okay? Just spreading the love, ‘ya know. Same with all of John Green’s. Yeah, I roll like that.  5. Best series you discovered in 2017? Right, I’m going to cheat again because there’s a lot of good series in different genres I discovered this year:  • A Court Of Thorns and Roses trilogy by Sarah J Maas (young adult fantasy, science fiction). •Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo (young adult fantasy, science fiction). •To All The Boys I Loved Before trilogy by Jenny Han (young adult fiction)  6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2017?  Markus Zusak, Sarah J Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Becky Albertalli, Nicola Yoon, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Khaleed Hosseini, Rupi Kaur and Madeleine L'Engle.  7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you? Actually, I have a problem with going out of my comfort zone in terms of reading ever since I can remember. But let's see, I'd like to try reading a lot of biographies next year, then I'll get back to this question.  8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2017?  Hmm, in terms of unputdownability (gads, I love the word), I guess the award’s going to Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows series and Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall (yep, I liked Oliver’s debut novel more than her famed dystopian book). They’re just so gripping!  9. Book you most anticipated in 2018? Puddin' by Julie Murphy. Come on—Murphy's writing another YA story after her debut novel Side Effects May Vary? Who can’t NOT get excited by that? I hope I can get through next year. 10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2017?  Unfortunately, this is not the version I own. I have the American edition, the one with the dominoes on the cover. The Book Thief has a total of 35 editions and I specially adore the UK Adult Edition. I mean, how can you not love this edition? There’s just something about it that really appeals to me. Dancing with Death, even in illustrations, look so morbidly beautiful and poetic. I'm still hoping I can find the UK Edition though. 11. Most memorable character in 2017? Unfair! Just one? If this survey is going to continue having questions like this one, I have no choice but to cheat. Just lemme do it, mkay?  • Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo. • Feyre Acheron and Rhysand from A Court Of Thorns And Roses Trilogy by Sarah J Maas. Well, I specially love Feyre—just the fact that she may be my fictional alter ego if I were to be chucked in the pages of a young-adult fantasy book. She’s feisty, and she believes she can forge her own destiny. She reminds me of myself in so many ways. • Simon Spier from Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda. 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2017?  The Wrath and the Dawn (need I say more?),The Book Thief until I got my hands on this I’ve never enjoyed reading a Death anthropomorph narrating a story that ever exceeded the one in Gaiman’s The Sandman graphic novels).  13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2017?  You wouldn’t be mad if I say it’s one of the books above, right? Haha.  14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2017 to finally read?  The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I should have read this a long time ago!  15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2017?  from Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall: “Most of the time—99 percent of the time—you just don’t know how and why the threads are looped together, and that’s okay. Do a good thing and something bad happens. Do a bad thing and something good happens. Do nothing and everything explodes. And very, very rarely—by some miracle of chance and coincidence, butterflies beating their wings just so and all the threads hanging together for a minute—you get the chance to do the right thing.”  from Markus Zusak, The Book Thief: "I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant." I could add more, but I’ll just leave it at two.  16. Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?  Not counting the ones I repeated more than twice above, I guess I’ll reread Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda before I watch the movie adaptation.  17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.)  Haha! To be honest? Six of Crows duology. There’s a reason why it's my favorite this year. :p I’m always gushing about this duology—sending messages to my friends, fangirling about it online (even joining a contest where I declared my love for one them).  18. One Book You Didn’t Get To Read In 2017 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2018?  The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The God of Small Things by Arundathi Roy, 1Q84 + a bunch of other books by Murakami. There.  19. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2018?  Please refer to question no.9.  20. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2018?  Just read more, learn more, inspire more, and blog more. 

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bryanclaesch · 7 years

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The Top 10 Reasons Why Yang Should Be Your Favorite Character

Hey, everyone.

So to finish up my Top 10 Reasons Why This-Character Should Be Your Favorite series, we have the last member of Team RWBY, our sunny, little dragon, Yang Xiao Long. Once again, I'd like to thank my friend Michaela Roan and RWBY Wonderland admin Blake Belladonna for their help in making this list. If you want to join RWBY Wonderland, click this link: https://www.facebook.com/rwbywonderland/. And, if you guys want to make sure you don't miss the next series of RWBY posts, subscribe to my RWBY mailing list: http://eepurl.com/cWX8Fj. But if you really want to show me the love, support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.con/bryanclaesch.

Alright, then. Let's finish this bitch.

"Yang? Is that you?"

1. "Oh! I'm so proud of my baby sister!"

Yang and Ruby make for interesting siblings. Their proportions are different, their weapons are different, their hair is different, hell, they don't even have the same last name. But despite these differences, Yang still looks out for Ruby with great enthusiasm and she's been doing so for a long time. While we aren't told exactly when, I would estimate that it has been somewhere between 10 to 12 years ago (since Volume 1) when Summer was killed. This effectively cemented Ruby and Yang together as they no longer had a mother to rely on. With Yang being the older and likely feeling guilty for nearly getting the both of them killed, it's apt to say that Yang has practically become a surrogate mother to Ruby.

Something that struck me the other day was that it's never mentioned why Yang thinks it's the best day ever that Ruby gets to go with her to Beacon. Most older siblings would be annoyed if their little brother or sister got moved so far ahead that they ended up going to school together. But not Yang--she's super excited about it. We could assume it's because Yang just has that upbeat of a personality, but it's more likely Yang is relieved that she won't have to leave Ruby behind to fend for herself. I mean, do you remember in Players and Pieces where the Nevermore filled the battlefield with its quills? Do you remember how Yang rushed to help Ruby, and then the tight hug she gave Ruby after Weiss saved her from the Deathstalker? Yang hugs Ruby a lot in Volume 1. Then there's the part in The Shining Beacon where Ruby mentions that Yang used to read to Ruby every night before bed, an activity that is usually performed by a parent.

Another strange thought I had was that because Ruby is so much like Summer and Summer was the only mother Yang ever knew, and so by cherishing Ruby the way she does, Yang is holding onto and cherishing the memory of Summer. No longer able to love her mother, Yang turns to her baby sister and makes sure to love Ruby the way Summer deserved. Hence, Yang becomes the over-doting big sister.

"Please, stop..."

2. "I'm not asking you to stop. Just please, get some rest. Not just for you, but for the people you care about and who care about you."

Monty had an interesting idea behind introducing the characters of RWBY. It was his intention to make them all look like stock, one-dimensional characters, and then as the show went on, to fill them out. Not many writers have the balls to do that since most readers, editors, and publishers won't even give a writer the time to set something up like that. Once they look stock, no one thinks to read on or care about what happens to them in the story.

When we're introduced to Yang, she's supposed to come off as the super extraverted, quintessential party girl. Always looking for fun and always on the move. But Yang is more than that. She deeply cares about her friends and family, and their relationships are very important to her. Remember when she started crying in Destiny when she thought Blake didn't believe her for being attacked by Mercury? Yeah, a skin-deep, party girl wouldn't do that. A party girl also wouldn't have a never-ending search for the mother she never knew. While Yang could have lived her life as she saw fit and think of Raven as dead to her, she doesn't. Yang genuinely cares about her friends and family, and she feels the sting of rejection or disbelief quite deeply. All of which will make Yang and Blake's reunion very interesting to see.

3. "Wait! Yang! Is she alright?"

"Uh... She's uh... She's gonna be alright. I think she's just... I think it's just going to take some time for her to get used to things. She's too strong to let this stop her."

Yang is a strong girl. Physically, but also mentally. She has such a strong will that you could call her stubborn, such as in her fight against Neo. And while Yang did take some time getting used to only having one arm, she didn't let it interfere with her day-to-day to life, and she hated how her incident with Adam left her with PTSD. Not wanting to be pitied or looked after by Tai, she took a chance on the prosthetic arm from Atlas in an attempt to re-forge her life and achieve a degree of normality that was more normal than being without it. Something I've mentioned elsewhere is that a good indication of Yang's inner state is her hair since it's so important to her and her vision of self. When it was tied up, so was she. But when her hair flows freely, that's when she's ready to burn brighter than everyone else.

4. "Yes, Junior. I have several. But instead of 'sweetheart,' you can just call me 'sir!'"

You ever seen Persona 4: The Animation? Do you remember the scene where Yu and Yosuke are sharing a tent with Kanji and he gets irritated with them for thinking he's gay, so he declares he's going to go sleep with the girls since they had more balls than them? Yeah, Yang is one of those girls that Yu referred to when he said, "For some girls, that is true."

Whether you call it balls, confidence, daredeviltry, or brash, Yang isn't afraid of doing what needs to be done in order to achieve her objective. She'll grab a guy by the balls, she'll destroy his club, she openly declares that she'll be turning heads, and she'll put herself at risk to help her friends. Of course, though, if Yang can have fun while doing it, she's going to. Let's not forget how she giggled after being launched off the cliff in The First Step.

Yang's favorite ballet is the Nutcracker.

(Is it true that Barbara actually grabbed Jack's balls once?)

5. "You're Yang Xiao Long. My sunny, little dragon."

Whenever we see Yang, we usually see her smiling and having fun. She's very positive and upbeat, and very few things get to her. In fact, it's unusual to see her bothered by something or even hurting. When she was bested by Neo, lost to Adam, and Blake didn't believe her or worse, ran away, those were all difficult moments for her. She's not one to sweat the small stuff. She can even take a jab thrown her way about her arm and her hair. Yang is emotionally resilient, and she can almost always find a reason to smile.

I need a better system than Print Screen.

6. Bumblebee

Did you honestly think I was talking about the ship? Well, if you read the Top 10 Reasons Why Blake Should Be Your Favorite Character you wouldn't have. (Maybe I'll do a blog post on why I hate the ship so much and why it's actually a terrible idea.)

But, anyway, Yang's got a bike. And bikes are pretty cool. While I may not like bikers for their impetuous attitudes, I find it difficult to squash my desire for a motorcycle. I have fond memories of being a kid and zipping around my neighbor on my bike. What could be better than strapping 1000 CC's of power to that experience. And so, just like with Ruby and scythes, the cool factor of Bumblebee helps make Yang cool(er). And as far as we've seen, she's a safe and responsible driver, but very capable and skilled when the time comes. Which is more than we can say for the Fake AH Crew and their talents on bikes. (To be fair though, most of those blunders are Gavin.)

7. This Porridge Is Too Cold

Just like how Ruby is a great interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood, Yang is a great interpretation of Goldilocks. In fact, I'd say Yang is a huge improvement on the original. For one, she isn't a stupid kid who committed a B&E, raided someone else's food, messed up the ass grooves on their favorite chairs, and then invited herself over for a slumber party. And the only notable thing about Goldilocks was that she was a dumb blonde and a criminal. Yang's neither of those things, and her hair has more meaning to who she is than just a color. Still though, I'd love a direct reference or joke back to Goldilocks in RWBY. The scene where she killed a couple of Ursas isn't enough.

8. "Laugh all you want. I'll be turning heads tomorrow night."

Well, I told you all it was coming, and here it is: Yang is the sexiest member of Team RWBY and possibly the whole show. Which is a bold statement considering Yang has some pretty stiff competition from the likes of Neo and Emerald. Hell, even Glynda has a number of very committed fans. But for me, the victor is Yang, and it's not just because of two very large and obvious reasons. She's got a great ass, too! No, I kid. Although it did look good in the Yellow Trailer. But the reason why I saw Yang is the sexiest character is because she has both a banging body and a fun personality. Everyone wants to have fun and we all prefer to be around pretty things rather than ugly, so that instantly makes Yang a winner across the board. True, my RWBY waifu is probably Weiss and Ruby is the most adorable, but who wouldn't want to at the very least date Yang? It'd be a good time.

Did you know that Monty based Yang's dress off one

Marilyn Monroe wore?

9. Dumbass: I'm a master of Karate! Hi-ya!

Smartass: I'm a master of Ka-chuk.

Dumbass: What's Ka-chuck?

Smartass: *Pulls out a shotgun and pumps it*

The Ember Celica. Who in their right mind would strap a shotgun to a gauntlet? I criticize, but just like combining a rifle with a scythe, it's actually a great idea. It combines a long range weapon with a short range one, and who wouldn't want to attach a shotgun to a gauntlet. I'm pretty sure a lot of people think the hidden blade from Assassin's Creed is one of the coolest things ever, so why not attach a shotgun to a gauntlet? Never mind the fact you're strapping a shotgun's recoil straight to your arm. But, hey, if we're going to get that picky, we're going to have to dismantle every weapon in RWBY. So let's just enjoy the Ember Celica as it is and imagine ourselves punching someone we really don't like with them.

10. "With each hit, she gets stronger. And she uses that energy to fight back. That's what makes her special."

Yang's semblance. The ability to take damage and then dish it back twice as hard. It's a pretty good one. Admittedly, it has some flaws and Yang isn't always strong enough to take the hit, but come on, she's a friggin' Super Saiyan! And what's more, she's a female Super Saiyan. There aren't any of those in DBZ, and if Yang could fire a Kamehameha (my autocorrect recognizes Kamehameha but not saiyan), it'd be the hypest shit. In fact, I'm kind of surprised no one has done any art of Yang using the Kamehameha. (Fan artists! Don't let me down!)

But anyway, we've all had those moments when we get so pissed, we give people that "You're so dead" face and we want the vehemence of our anger to be reflected in how hard we hit them. There'd probably be a lot fewer trolls if that was true. Too bad we aren't all Super Saiyans, but at least Yang is.

"Oh! Looks like Yang is angry. And you wouldn't like her when she's... upset."

And there you have it. The Top 10 Reasons why Blake should be your favorite character. It you guys think I missed any, go ahead and add them in the comments below.

Keep writing, my friends.

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