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aclowntiny · 6 months

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Task Failed Successfully- Hyunjin x GN!Reader

Word Count: 2.6K | Friends to Lovers, College AU | Warnings: none really, very slight alcohol mentions but Reader doesn’t explicitly drink, one small swear

In all honesty, you were thankful for that tiny little art class with that temporary professor who moved universities the following semester. You were thankful even though you felt like those new brush types you were made to use irreversibly brought down the quality of the one portrait you painted- paint was a difficult, sometimes fickle medium anyway. Even though sometimes it felt like that class so few people had heard of was but a fever dream, it was more than worth it to you since you wouldn’t have met Hyunjin otherwise.

Your tablemate was a gifted painter, humble as he was toward every compliment paid him. The joke you two shared was that he could have taught the class, but art was Hyunjin’s major and he was truly eager to soak up every piece of knowledge his seniors had for him- even if he disregarded it sometimes to prove a point. Art types, you know. You remained more of a rule-follower, but you guys shared one of your famous stingingly enthusiastic high-fives for it. High-fives came so naturally to you two, neither of you had to look anymore. Hence why Hyunjin’s friend Minho described you two’s ‘creepy eye contact’.

Hyunjin was what you called a hopeless romantic. Many of the gorgeous children of his brush were roses, couples from movies that had become his muses. You teased him, called him the type of guy who must have had a ring already in his nightstand just waiting.

“Easy,” he shot back, “or are you trying so hard to get rid of me?”

“No, of course not,” you shook your head and mirrored his grin, “who’s going to buy my drinks at the campus café if I marry you off too soon?”

“Oh,” he elbowed you, “so that’s why you keep me around, huh? Bold of you to assume I’m going with you.”

Giggling, you shouldered your backpack and kept on down the posh brick walkway that marked the campus rose garden. Hyunjin kept by your side the whole walk past the waving blooms and right to the student center where the little restaurants and cafés were.

“Alright, fine, but only if you take bowling with me next semester.”

Your campus had a bowling alley and its own ‘sports’ course set there, a class that filled up quickly with students eager to get credits for fun, even if they sucked, because how do you fail bowling?

“Oh, no,” you placed your hand over your heart, eyes rolling away from him dramatically, “truly a fate worse than death.”

“You’re welcome.”

“What’s that supposed to be?”

Hyunjin was peering at your canvas, tracing the latest line you’d smeared across it with his head tilted and eyes darting. He looked like a curious cat.

“Why, what does it look like?”

“Oh, no,” he shook his tilted head, “this is the ultimate trap. I say the wrong thing and it looks terrible. Not falling for that one bit.” He punctuated his statement with an enunciated pronouncement of your name and a finger booping your nose.

“Well, I’ll give you a hint, it’s going to be a landscape.”

“Ooh! The beach! It’s the beach, huh? I should have known you were painting the sea again!” Straightening up, he clapped and pointed in excitement, having gone from cat to puppy in three seconds flat. That was one of your favorite things about him.

“Guess I’m predictable,” you replied jokingly, giving him a smile, “it is the beach. Well, sort of. At my family’s little spot there was this pier that would silhouette perfectly in the sunset, the water trapped on the sand reflecting it as an inverse on the ground. All the orange melting into blue- the sky geld more colors than the sea! It was like setting foot into another world.”

“Wow,” Hyunjin breathed, “and you say you’re not much of an artist. If I had half the way with words you do, it’d be over for everyone.”

“Well, then we’ll have to take over the world together.”

“Sounds good to me. Dictatorships sound lonely anyway.”

With that nature of his, it was only a matter of time. Hyunjin’s art spoke volumes about his subconscious, so it was no surprise when he started telling you about a blind date a friend of his was setting him up on.

“So I guess he sits by her in his fashion design class…”

“Ooh,” you muse. Sounds up his alley.

“And she’s been looking for a date for a while, so he told her ‘I have this art major friend’ and the rest was history.”

How was it so easy for some people? Though then again, volunteering your friends was a considerably different task than asking someone out, especially if your friends were as hot as Hyunjin. Not that you thought about that often. It was just a sort of objective appreciation thing, like straight guys talking about Ryan Reynolds. Yeah.

“So besides being single and taking a fashion design class with Felix, what’s her deal? Did he give you any detail?”

“She’s twenty-one. A bit of a partier, but sounds like nothing I can’t handle.”

At that, you suppressed a snort. Hyunjin was an E type, but the last thing he was was a partier. Getting a few drinks with his eight-person friend group or attending a wine and paint night was as crazy as he ever got. For being such an amazing dancer, he never hit the club and you were fine with that. All the noise and crowds could be sort of anxiety-inducing. Call you a child after heart, but you’d take the nights you two had painted the arcade red over going out dancing with strangers.

Enough about that, though. Pulling your jacket a bit tighter about your chest, you shook your head as if to dissipate a cartoon thought cloud. “So, where are you taking her, then?”

Hyunjin smiled, a bit…nervously? “We’re just meeting at the bar-and-grill across the way here, nothing fancy.”

“Hiding that side until a few nights in, huh?” You nudged him, chest feeling like it expanded at the way his smile opened up, relaxed.

“She’s a fashion major, she’s going to be way more pretentious than me.”

“I dunno, Mr. Windows to the Soul,” you kept teasing, this time with the name of his last assignment sketch of a pair of eyes.

“Not my last minute title,” he waved a hand before playfully grabbing yours and swinging it back to your side, “next time I’ll just use a drama quote like you did. Really show how serious I take the assignment.”

“Hey!” You protested, shoving his hand away in mock offense.

“Gotcha,” he grinned.

Hopefully Miss Fashion could handle him as well as you could.

Forwarding a picture of your pet that your parents had sent you earlier in the day, you texted Hyunjin ‘Good luck!’. Too robotic? You hoped not, because by whatever cosmic dice roll the vibes had just been off all day, clouds rolling across the atmosphere of your mind and obscuring any small good that came your way. If you seemed off, he would worry, and he didn’t need to carry anything unnecessary into his evening.

Hyunjin 🐹: Thank you 👍🏻 heading to the bar now! Hope we both have a fun evening 😁

You shook your head as your phone’s backlight illuminated your face an artificial blue-white. Hyunjin was too sweet for his own good.

Me: I’m just having a night in lol so have fun for both of us!

Squirreling your phone back into your hoodie’s front pocket, you wiggled a bit deeper into the garment and sighed. It wasn’t that you wanted his blind date to go badly or anything…so why weren’t you feeling the excitement you led on in your text?

It was about forty minutes later, just about seven-thirty, when your phone buzzed again. Reaching into your pocket with one hand, you paused the video you’d been watching with the other. The first word you registered was Hyunjin’s name, the little hamster emoji you’d given his contact because they didn’t make a ferret for some reason.

Hyunjin 🐹: She never showed.

Just three words, but that message alone was enough to have you kicking your blankets off and feeling your hand curl into a fist. You barely bothered beyond a perfunctory check and touch-up of yourself in the mirror before you had your keys in your hand, all but stomping out the door of your dorm suite.

How dare she! How dare Whatever-Her-Name stand him up! Guys like Hyunjin didn’t grow on trees, and whatever planet she was on where she thought she could do better than your friend, it wasn’t much like Earth. Had Felix’s words been cause of any caution, set forth any reservation? It sure hadn’t sounded like it from Hyunjin’s recounting.

Me: Stay there, I’m coming to get you.

Hyunjin 🐹: You don’t have to do that. She just forgot, apparently. She was already out with friends when I texted a follow-up thirty minutes into sitting here.

Swallowing down some very uncouth nicknames, you sent one more message before starting your car.

Me: I know I don’t have to, but I want to. Not cool 😕

Metaphorical red clouded your vision, forcing reminders from the greatly-diminished level fraction of your brain to slow down, keep a vigilant eye upon the dim road still. This was the kind of thing you read about in ridiculous website articles about ‘Top Ten Dating Nightmares’ or saw on a corny sitcom, not a real-life thing. Petty, sure, but you wondered how many assignments Party Girl had ‘forgotten’ in her college career.

After what felt like much longer than a twelve-minute drive you were pulling into the bar-and-grill, where a serendipitous front-row parking space was just opening up. Swiping the black SUV’s former resting place, you parked and took a short, forceful walk through the doors. It didn’t take long to find Hyunjin as he sat blank-faced in a red leather stool beneath the bar’s wine-tinted neon, chin in his hand and cocktail in front of him. The lights splashing the place perfectly mirrored the literary light of your fervor, spurring you on… and inspiring your next piece for class, but that was beside the point.

“Hey,” Hyunjin greeted you in a deadpan, giving you a halfhearted wave.

“I- I- I cannot believe her!” You spluttered, forgetting yourself as you grabbed Hyunjin’s hand and practically yanked him out of his seat. “But it doesn’t matter- we are not giving her the power to ruin our evening.”

When it became ‘our’ evening who knew, but such did not even occur to you until much later. Only one thing was on your mind, after all.

“Come on. Let’s forget all about that and have some fun at least.”

No resistance from Hyunjin- he simply followed you out the door, chuckling and sarcastically thanking you for making sure he’d paid for his drink.

Stopping right before the doors, you cocked a brow. “Had you?”

“Yes.”

“Look at you- picture of integrity,” you remarked, disappearing back out from the reddish glow into cool night air, the feeling of your friend’s hand in yours a warm tether.

Soon the two of you were bathed in a much different light, the brighter-and much cheerier in your opinion-blinking of the arcade. Your spot. Fiddling sheepishly with your hoodie strings, you bid Hyunjin pick a game since you’d paid.

He chose air hockey. Good man. Whirs and rampant clicks drowned out the echoing thoughts you both were surely having, brought forth shaky, then stronger and stronger smiles. He won. You pretended to be upset before relenting with an infamous no-look high-five, secretly happy he got the victory.

“You paid and you lost!” Hyunjin urged, waving a hand as if to usher you deeper into the colorful madness. “Pick the next one!”

“Alright, basketball!” You agreed, following the wave down to the hoop-shooting game.

With a swipe of your card, you were off, tossing with the best of your aim and protesting the snickering at your side when you proverbially ate it. Like a Jedi sense, you leaned to the left right as Hyunjin made to nudge you, something he’d done on your last trip too, and vowed your revenge.

In a way, you got it, because you won that game. Playing clean, you reminded him.

Neither of you brought up the evening’s previous half for several games, truly successful in your endeavor of distracting yourselves. It rose to your mind a few times, mostly when the sight of his smile drew one from you. No longer were your eyes framed crimson, though- rather all you felt was gladness at your move, satisfaction like the last piece had tumbled into a puzzle.

It was after the roulette spin that the subject of your un-ruined evening was broached. Your head had swiveled in search of the next expense of credits when his voice at your side had you turning back.

“Hey,” he’d said, and when you faced him again he tugged at the hem of his jean jacket and glanced up to your eyes and back down, “this means a lot to me.”

Your gaze softened into his, chest leapt at the sudden heartfelt words. “Of course. I told you, no reason to let the evening be ruined.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, scratching sheepishly at the back of his neck, “but I guess what I really mean is I realized something when we came here. When Felix told me about the blind date, I just jumped at the chance without thinking. Well, we see where that got me.” He gave a short, sardonic chuckle. “Now, though, I’ve been thinking. Everything just feels right like this with you and I. You’re the one I’d rather be with.”

You gaped. “Like, date?”

“What happened to inverse worlds reflected on sand?” Hyunjin teased, giving you one of those infamous smirks of his.

“I wasn’t exactly surprised out of my mind talking about the old bay pier,” you shot back, though your expression was anything but intimidating, a smile no part of you could fight spreading across it in place of any pout or death glare you normally would have attempted.

And there he was, smiling back with a hopeful look in his eyes that had your heartbeat stuttering. “So, we going to unpack ‘surprised out of my mind’ or nah?”

“Nah,” you shook your head beneath the whirlwind of thoughts and thrumming of heartbeats, all your vision’s red faded to the rosy glow of something you never thought you would let yourself give into, “I’m just going to surprise you out of your mind.”

Ryan Reynolds, your ass. It blew your mind someone could pass over a person as amazing as your classmate, someone who could translate their heart into the most amazing things and feel like home in physical presence too. An open conduit for all the teasing banter that never went too far. Well, no matter- the floodgates had been opened, and with no further warning you surged forward to shut out every centimeter of air between Hyunjin’s lips and yours, smiling and resisting the urge to shake your head at- well, everything. Your arcade light fireworks lighting up the insides of your fluttering eyelids, the way his fingers found the curves of your cheekbones, tracing them like he was plotting his next painting.

Maybe both of you were hopeless romantics.

#stray kids #stray kids imagines #stray kids reactions #stray kids x reader #stray kids scenarios #stray kids x gender neutral reader #hyunjin #hyunjin x gender neutral reader #gender neutral reader #friends to lovers #college au

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i-am-church-the-cat · 1 month

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you can always go home again (or for the first time)

This is my fic for the Andi Mack gift exchange! This is for @paracosmicat, I'm so sorry that it's late, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Summary: She ruffles his hair as she leads the way back through the apartment. It’s small and crowded with trinkets, books and shoes, basketballs and art projects, and something that must have exploded from the kitchen. Three more people are waiting for them in the living room, less than T.J. expected from the level of noise he’d heard. “Hey guys, this is T.J., the dude I was telling you about,” Jonah introduces him to the group at large and he offers a small wave. “T.J., this is Andi, Cyrus, and Marty.” WC: 2674 Pairing: Gen mostly, but with pre-relationship Tyrus and minor Amris Tags: College AU, First Meetings, T.J. POV, Amber and T.J. are siblings Rating: Teen

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He knew it was saving him money, but sometimes living with his sister and her girlfriend could be really annoying. T.J. had been trapped in his room for ages, Amber and Iris having fought and made up over the past several hours, both things he would rather not be witness to. At this rate, he was going to be locked in here until graduation.

Jonah

Hey man, you looking to hang tonight?

Something like relief passes through T.J. when he gets the message. He and Jonah aren’t the closest of friends, yet. They hadn’t gotten along when Jonah was dating his sister - between the compulsory heterosexuality and Jonah’s constant avoidance of anything even hinting at romantic in nature, it had been hell from start to finish - but since they were both studying kinesiology, they’d tried to be friendly. Today, that work had finally paid off.

T.J.

Yeah man, what were you thinking?

Jonah

Some of my friends are holding a get together at their apartment, just a small thing. You wanna come?

Another noise came from the living room. T.J. didn’t want to know if it was a yell or a moan.

T.J.

Send me the address, im omw

Since the path to the front door was locked, T.J. used the fire escape by his window. It dropped him right next to the motorcycle he probably shouldn’t be parking in the back alley. But hey, it hadn’t been stolen yet, and it made for a very quick getaway. T.J. set his phone to give him voice directions to the address Jonah texts him and then he’s off.

The apartment building is nice, an artist-y co-op on the west side of town. T.J. heads up to the third floor after texting Jonah again for the apartment number - Beck wasn’t always the most aware person. Both the bike ride and the jog up the steps do a lot for getting T.J. in a better headspace than he was in earlier.

He hears the apartment before he sees it. Jonah said it was just a small get together, but from the noise coming through the door, T.J. has some serious doubts. He considers bailing before remembering what’s going on at his own apartment and knocking on the door.

Surprisingly, it’s not Jonah who answers. It’s a girl with tight braids and wearing a Utah Jazz jersey. She looks like someone he should know, but it slips his mind. She looks him over and must find him wanting because her expression is thoroughly unimpressed.

“Can I help you?”

“Um, hi,” T.J. says, trying for a smile and probably failing short. “I’m looking for-”

“Oh, Buffy is that T.J.?” A thankfully familiar voice comes from inside the apartment. Jonah Beck pops his head around the girl - Buffy’s - shoulder and flashes his big signature smile. “Teej, glad you could make it! Come in, come in.”

“Just inviting people into my home now, Beck?” Buffy asks, clearly not amused, but she steps aside with a nod to T.J. He nods back, figuring it’s the best course of action, and he’s rewarded with Buffy’s expression going a little less intense and a little more accepting.

“Oh, yeah, sorry Buffy.” Jonah’s apologetic grin is too cute for anyone, even Buffy, to hold a grudge against. She ruffles his hair as she leads the way back through the apartment. It’s small and crowded with trinkets, books and shoes, basketballs and art projects, and something that must have exploded from the kitchen. Three more people are waiting for them in the living room, less than T.J. expected from the level of noise he’d heard.

“Hey guys, this is T.J., the dude I was telling you about,” Jonah introduces him to the group at large and he offers a small wave. “T.J., this is Andi, Cyrus, and Marty.”

T.J. opens his mouth to greet the group but the guy he’d thought looked familiar beats him to it. Marty hops up, big grin on his face as he offers up his hand for T.J. to slap.

“Hey, Kippen right? Aren’t you the new freshman starter for the basketball team?”

T.J. grins but can’t help the flush that takes his face. He’s proud of himself, yeah, but he finds it’s not always the best to introduce himself with his sporting career. It hasn’t always worked out the best in the past, which was mainly his fault to be fair. He hadn’t been a nice person on the court when he was younger.

“Yeah, I remember you from tryouts. You’ve got a great three-pointer, man.”

“Oh god, Jonah don’t tell me you brought another jock,” whines the other girl in the apartment, an Asian girl with short hair and paint on her t-shirt. “Now Cyrus and I are outnumbered 2-to-1.”

“I also invited Walker and Libby, but they both had things,” Jonah tries to defend himself, flopping down on the floor and grabbing a handful of popcorn from that half-empty bowl on teh coffee table. “It’s not my fault T.J.’s the only one free enough to join us.”

“I’m not totally sure if that’s an insult or not,” T.J. admits, looking around for space to sit. Andi and Buffy are sitting on the couch, Marty going back to sit in the third seat. Jonah’s on the floor. The only seat left is the loveseat, next to the only person here who’s voice T.J. hasn’t heard yet.

“Hi,” he greets, moving towards the other boy. “I’m T.J. Can I sit?”

The brown-haired boy has big eyes that seem to suck all the air out of the room. Either someone just started hitting a bass drum, or T.J. could hear his heartbeat in his ears. Soft freckles dusted the boy’s nose and his pink lips had teeth indentations in them, as if he’d been biting them only seconds before. Those same lips lift into a smile, crinkly his Bambi eyes at the edges.

“Sure,” the angel fairy boy said. “I’m Cyrus.”

“T.J.,” he mumbles, sitting down on the cushion. The other boy’s eyes fill with mirth.

“You said that already.”

“Right.” T.J. blinks, wondering it this is what deer felt when they get stuck in headlights. “Sorry.”

Cyrus is clearly laughing at him but he has the decency not to show it. Instead, he leans forward and grabs something off of the pile of snacks on the coffee table.

“Muffin? It’s chocolate chocolate chip.”

“Oh.” T.J. looks down at the muffin in surprise. It’s big and rich and somehow exactly what T.J. needs. His stomach growls in appreciation as he takes the treat in gentle hands. “Thank you, these are actually my favorite.”

Cyrus’s eyes twinkle. “Mine, too,” he says, grabbing another one and holding it out to cheers against T.J.’s own. T.J.’s grin is huge at the simple gesture.

“So, T.J.” The voice draws the two out of the little bubble they had gotten sucked in so quickly. T.J. turns to Buffy while his fingers tear off a bit of muffin and pop it in his mouth. “What do the T and the J stand for?”

He snorts, used to this line of questioning. T.J. leans back in his seat, one arm going across the back of the couch. He doesn’t the notice the way Cyrus looks at the arm in surprise, face going slightly red.

“Sorry, but that’s highly privileged information. Only four people on Earth know it.”

Marty leans forward with eager eyes. “Is it really that bad?”

T.J.’s face and voice are deadpan when he says, “Worse.”

“Amber told me it changes every month,” Jonah says from his spot on the floor.

“Oh wait, are you Amber’s brother?” Andi says, eyes going wide in recognition. Shoot. If she knows his sister this could either be really bad or… nah, just really bad. His sister’s kind of a dick.

“Yeah, younger, by two years.”

“How come we never met you when she and Jonah were dating?” Buffy asks. The way she’s looking at him is different now but T.J. can’t tell if it’s better or worse. “We met Iris.”

“And she was so nice, though obviously in love with Amber,” Cyrus says. This gets sounds of affirmation from all except Jonah who shrugs.

“I never saw it.”

“You never see it,” Andi, Buffy, and Cyrus all chorus back at him, different levels of fondness or exasperation. T.J. wonders what the story is there. Though, if it’s anything like the one he heard from Amber, he can probably guess.

“They’re actually dating now,” T.J. says, hoping to steer the conversation away from his and Amber’s relationship. He loves his sister, and even likes her these days, but that wasn’t always the truth. “They were roommates and finally admitted their feelings. When Iris moved out of her room, they had an extra, so I moved into their place when I went to college.”

Andi is nodding. “That’s smart. Cyrus, Buffy, and I all the split the rent here and we’re still eating mostly junk food we get on sale.”

“The stipend they give us on sports scholarship is not enough,” Buffy sighs and T.J. can commiserate with that. He holds up his half-eaten muffin in a toast.

“Hey, at least you and Cyrus are on scholarship,” Andi pouts. “Liberal arts college is the worst financial decision I’ve ever made.”

“But it’ll all even out when you’re a world famous artist and we can fly out to France to see your new art gallery in the Louvre,” Cyrus encourages in a way that feels more sincere than most.

“Yeah, and you can represent Jonah when he gets sued for what he’s done to his apartment,” Marty snickers.

Jonah kicks up a fuss and the others fall into bickering over something T.J. clearly does not have enough information on. Instead, he turns his attention back to Cyrus, where it had been threatening to float all evening.

“You’re going to college to be a lawyer?” He asks, taking a bite of his muffin. Cyrus turns to him as if surprised to be T.J.’s focus once again.

“Yeah! A civil rights lawyer, though, not a defense attorney.”

“That’s really cool.” He hoped he sounded as sincere as Cyrus had earlier, cause it’s true. T.J. wished he had a career path that was at least half as good for the world as Cyrus’s. He was only studying kinesiology because it’s what a bunch of student athletes did and his parents wanted him to have something to fall back on. He wasn’t going to be changing the world anytime soon.

Cyrus shrugs and blushes, ducking his head. He’s clearly not used to taking compliments which is a shame because they’re filling T.J.’s head like helium in a balloon. One poke and they’ll all come spilling out.

“Yeah, well, it was either that or become a psychologist. All four of my parents are psychologists.”

“Four?”

“Mom, dad, step-mom, and step-dad,” Cyrus says with a shrug. This topic of conversation he’s far too used to. “You know how it goes.”

“Nah, actually,” T.J. glances away for a second before back to Cyrus. “My parents are the kind that should’ve split up but never did. It kind of left a bad mark on Amber and I’s relationship with them, and each other.”

Cyrus looks up at him curiously. He’s curled towards him, leaning against the back of the loveseat and subsequently propping his head up on T.J.’s arm. The weight is nice, grounding.

“Is that why we’ve never met you before?”

“Yeah,” T.J. admits. It feels safer to tell Cyrus here, where they’re practically alone, instead of to the whole group. “I left to live with my grandparents in high school. The distance helped Amber and I a lot.”

“I’m glad.” Cyrus smiles up at him. “I don’t have any siblings but Buffy and Andi are basically like my sisters. We’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember.”

T.J. smiles, feelings bittersweet. “I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone like that.”

Cyrus considers him quietly. His face is serious and strangely more confident than it had been when their conversation began. “You should.”

They fall into silence then, just observing each other, gathering their thoughts and basking in the feeling their bubble had created. T.J. was still impressed by how quickly Cyrus had sucked him in. There was just something about the young man that felt authentic and calming, like everything was going to be okay. It’s a feeling T.J. has rarely ever felt in his life.

“You know, you’re weirdly easy to talk to.”

Cyrus smiles, teasing. “It’s the four therapists as parents. You get used to listening.”

Cyrus and T.J. don’t have an opportunity to be quiet together for the rest of the night. Once the other’s finished bickering, they drew the two into a game of Trivial Pursuit, and then Truth or Dare, and then Charades, which T.J. and Buffy weirdly dominated at, to Marty and Jonah’s chagrin. By the end of the night, T.J. was exhausted but happy. He’d left the house to escape the private going ons of his sister and her girlfriend and ended up meeting people he’d never believe he felt so at home with. The way they opened up and welcomed him in felt amazing, like nothing he’d ever experienced.

“It’s a great feeling, right?” Marty had said, halfway through the night, when they’d both stepped into the kitchen to grab a drink. “Andi, Buffy, and Cyrus have always been this trio. It should feel like an impenetrable wall to cross but they always open up and offer space to anyone who needs it. Jonah and I in middle school, Walker and Libby in high school, and now you.”

T.J. had blinked in surprise, looking back out to the living room. The three roommates were doing weird poses, trying to convince the others they were real formations used in yoga, or just trying to make the other two laugh. He watches with a warm feeling in his stomach as Cyrus laughs so much he topples out of the position he was in, sprawling across the carpeted floor.

“Can it really be that easy?”

Marty had shrugged and given him a welcoming smile. A beckoning smile. “Only if you let it be.”

And T.J. was going to let it be. He wasn’t going to question the new familiarity between himself and these people. He was just going to accept it and holds on as long as he could. By the time he left, he had four new numbers in his phone. When he got home, there was a text from one of them.

Buffy the Basketball Slayer

You better ask Cyrus out soon

He’s not known for making the first move and I can not handle three months of pining

Hop on it Kippen

T.J. grinned. He sent back a thumbs up emoji before pulling down the fire escape. He stumbles through his window and onto his bed, feeling dazed from both the climb and the night he had.

“Hvae fun?” Amber asks from the open doorway. That had definitely been closed when he left, but T.J.’s proud of the fact he didn’t startle at her sudden appearance.

“Yeah.” He knows he’s grinning like a madman but he just can’t help it.

“Good,” his sister says. She ruffles his hair, blonde matching her own. “Good night, little bro.”

“Night,” he calls as she exits the room. He sits up a little to make his next words heard. “Good night to you, too, Iris!”

There’s a pause, then, “Good night, T.J.! Sweet dreams!”

And well. There’s no doubt that they will be.

#andi mack #tyrus #tj kippen #cyrus goodman #buffy driscoll #marty from the party #jonah beck #amber #iris #my fic #my writing #andi mack gift exchange 2024

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slocumjoe · 1 year

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How the Companions would decorate their homes

...and how I would lose my goddamn mind wrestling with Tumblr's formatting nightmare hellworld.

sorry to anon who requested this, I deleted your ask while fighting for my life :[

Cait; The punkest of punk design; whatever the hell makes her happy. Would take interest in things she previously never cared much for, like music, or tinkering, or model making. So, you'll have posters and vinyls of her favorite bands and artists everywhere, tools and materials strewn about flat surfaces. Lots of reds and plaid/flannel. Likes big couches you can sprawl out on and thickly-knit, chunky blankets. Think of pop art with darker colors, chaotic patterns. Loves warm, bright lighting, dim areas remind her of the Combat Zone. Her spaces are messy, but freeing and charismatic. Her style is best described as rocker college dorm room. Reminiscent of Chloe Price's room, but more mature and with less teen melodrama. Would have lots of candles. Has a statement shelf with feature lighting for unique alcohol bottles.

Codsworth; Post-modern. Modern is medium-toned, neutral colored, and somewhat minimalist. Post-modern likes colors, soft shapes, having art as part of the house itself. Bright wood paneling, one-line artwork wallpaper, multiple colors in one room. It's very birds of paradise in color pallet. Brown suede couches are a classic. Lots of plants. It's inspired by 1950s, but with bouncier aesthetics, where 1950s can feel stiff. Codsworth wouldn't want anything too out there, though. Dani Dazey is kinda close to what he'd enjoy, but tone down the amount of color, go less crazy with the decals. But otherwise, bright colors, patterns, textures—that's the vibe. Just a less plastic 1950s, and it doesn't have the Great Depression's fingerprints all over it. I would have said something Colonial, or classic British, but I didn't want to think exclusively about his accent. Codsworth is chipper, he's friendly, he invites people over. Something fun, welcoming, and optimistic is up his alley.

Danse; However he got the house/apartment, it would stay that way. Danse does not provide for himself like that. It wouldn't be until he made friends that his residence would have personality. Nick gets him an orange-patterned bedspread that's a lot more neon than it looked in the store. Cait gets him a retro CD player and wall-mounted CD case displays. Preston and Deacon team up to repaint everything minty green and install walnut wood paneling. The furniture is gone the next day, replaced with lodge-style log-and-leather. Everyone pitches in something different, something from their own tastes. As a result, Danse's space would be a constant visual reminder that he's loved, and gaudy as fuck. Nothing matches. The colors are everywhere. Textures? A nightmare. You could kill Ty Pennington with this house. There's a giant mural of cats having mimosas and he isn't sure how or when it got there. Loves it, but...who...why...

Curie; I really struggled with Curie. I first went with French Provincial, then French Farmhouse, French Country, Rustic Glam, Scandinavian, Flemish, bauhaus, pastel bauhaus...I felt like I was trying to convince myself of everything. Nothing fit her. Eventually I settled on girly vintage. The thing with vintage is that technically, 'vintage' has like 70 years of vastly different styles. So...you get a little bit of Victorian-esque, a little bit of art deco, Hollywood Regency...imagine a really nice Barbie dollhouse. That's the vibe, just make everything blues, greens, and purples instead of pink. Curie has a bit of an older grandma vibe. Floral quilts, Wedgwood china dishware and cabinets, antique paintings. I imagine she'd repaint or reupholster her furniture, if not get it new. Definitely has white or blue painted furniture, rather than open wood. Ornate vanity, seashell wallscone lighting, embroidered curtains, kidney desks, corner cupboards...Curie's style is elegant, a little outdated, cherubic, and somewhat saccharine. Would have naturalistic wallpaper with flora and fauna.

Deacon; Like Danse's, but intentional. He's extremely fond of furniture made to look like other things. Mushroom ottomans. Fried egg light switches. Wall-mounted shelving/hangers that are open, grabbing hands. Toucan table lamps. Surrealist thrifter in style. Goes to yard sales, estate sales, those sales put by storage unit owners when a tenant doesn't pay. Grabs the weirdest shit he finds. A McDonalds sign from Thailand. A taxidermied rabbit. A Bigfoot track mold. His walls are never the same color or wallpaper. The kitchen is mint green, the living room is pink and orange, his bedroom is black and blue. Maximalist. There's a story behind every item in his space and good luck figuring out which are true. The least chaotic room is the bedroom, decorated simply with space/star aesthetics. Most chaotic? The empty hallway filled with wall-phones. Only one of them is real. The others go off only when the real one does. He won't tell you this before housesitting.

Gage; You'd think it'd be a Male Living Space. No. Gage is a mean, old, materialistic [sexuality redacted] man. He has tastes. He has standards. Will act like it's a Male Living Space keep up appearances, but his place is probably one of the more expensive. It's fine, money isn't an issue for him. Favors greens, yellows, browns, lots of swampy colors. Steals streetsigns and hangs them up. Weaved and leather furniture, linens, animal pelts, mounts. Worn teak wood, cream walls, travertine floors. If this sounds luxurious, consider that Gage lives here. Unclean. Has no bed frame, only a mass of sheets and pillows. The most pristine places in his house are the coffee maker's counter, and the spaces for his pet lizard, who roams freely like a small dog. The lizard is the only thing keeping him from smoking indoors. So many fucking books everywhere, all dog-eared to death. Has stolen something from every party he's ever been to. Keeps them on display. Has a worrying amount of wedding cake toppers.

Hancock; Psychedelic culture-nerd hippie meets a grizzled ex-starlet who moonlights as a show girl. Think Whimsigoth, without the victorian influence and a lot more drippy shapes. All light sources are lava lamps. Conversation pit that you could meet God in. Many colors, most of them moody and 'sleepy'. Stereo system through the entire space. Paints on his walls whenever he's feeling creative/high, they're constantly changing. Has to scrape off the paint every so often. Collects movie memorabilia, particularly horror movies. Has masks, outfits, props. His kitchen/dining room is unintentionally Japanese-eqsue in style, in that the table is low, and you sit on beanbags. Really not into dealing with chairs in the morning. Hancock's ideal furniture is made of moldable jelly, him being a cat in spirit. His office is a complete divorce from the other rooms. It's entirely 1700s luxury Colonial in style. Dark mahogany woodwork, deep reds and blues, a (electric) chandelier. Big library.

MacCready; Eclectic. This style is defined by maximilism, mismatched everything, lots of tchotchkes. The core tenent of it is that it takes whatever looks good from other styles. It's magpie core. It's how the gremlin thief in your DnD campaign would style a home. So, lots of different kinds of fabrics, many shelves for trinkets, posters of all kinds on the wall. You ever make a wall with just the posters, signs, etc in your settlements? That's what he does. In canon, MacCready likes midnight blue and leopard print, but I can see olive greens as well. Very messy and busy. Raw wood furniture seems like it would be a good fit for him. Would have a big entertainment center, very nerdy space. I think Rodrick Heffley's and Eddie Munson's bedrooms are a good way of getting an idea. Kind of basementy, kind of glamrock. He's 22, what do you want from him? Very much "baby's first place." Duncan's room would be more child-friendly, lighter colors and softer furniture. His drawings always get hung up wherever there's space.

Nick; Also struggled with this one...I didn't want to just make him Victorian/Gothic, that felt too obvious. But...it's obvious because it's correct. It just is. His name is Valentine. He has a neon pink sign with hearts on it. This man is modern Victorian meets dingy alleyway in a Hollywood noir film. So, we're looking at victorian settees and woodwork (which is when the walls are carved all fancy, by the by), lots of dark colors, leathers, a fireplace to stare into broodily with a glass of whiskey. We'll also need a bit of industrial to blend the Modern Victorian and Urban Night vibes, so some dark brick/stone, perhaps? Or industrial light fixtures. In terms of materials, the aforementioned leather, but also velvet and dasask fabrics, marble, and rosewood, possibly treated to bring out the red, or be made darker. This space is mostly dark and black, with pops of pink, purple, and blues. Would definitely need an LED indirect lighting for mood setting. It's not as dark like X6-88's home, though, it's more intimate and warm. Heavier emphasis on coziness and inviting auras. Nick's home is an older queer man's home, so obviously it's a little extra, a little theatrical. Has a sweet cocktail bar setup, will make you a martini while you unveil your tragic backstory.

Piper; Also eclectic, but brighter and with some intellectualism. So, more vintage, but bolder and more assertive than Curie's vintage. The best thing I can do it point you towards Arianna Danielson's blog, and ask that you imagine most of those pinks to be darker, or just red. Similarly, Dani Klaric and Tay Beep Boop's viral design. That vibe of confidence, a little bit of feminine rebelliousness, and generally just spunky. A crucial item would be book paper lighting shades. It clashes but Piper would be into it. I imagine she'd want the place to be fun for Nat, satisfy that little girl urge for Maximum Colors. Piper would have a messy as hell writing room, papers everywhere, red-string corkboards, coffee cups. Collection of vintage newspapers, lots of plushy rugs and pillows, probably has weird little knickknacks hidden about. The type to have rubber ducks in her fridge and refuse to elaborate. Don't question the writing process.

Preston; Walnut, shiplap, rattan, navy blue. Reeves Connally put me on this combination and now I'm spreading the propaganda. People have feelings on rattan but it deserves more respect, just like Preston. His style is best described as hygge with a beachy edge. Hygge is all about neutrals, extremely soft and squishy fabrics and furniture, warm ambient lighting, and worn wood. Fairy lights everywhere. Cozycore, really. Blue and shiplap walls, walnut flooring, rattan furniture. Blues + white + sandy + rich brown. Best combo. Fucking fight me. Chunky wool blankets, velvet for more decorative cloths, like drapery or the fabric of the seat cushions. For decor, you're looking at handdrawn maps, paper light fixtures/shades, plants kept in colored glass vases, nature photography, a reading nook filled with historical fiction and textbooks. I can also see hanging greenery. Preston's space is refreshing, energizing, but not bombastic. I imagine he has a kitchen island with stools, but no dining table.

X6-88; Dark modernist, hands down. Crucial item is the Zaha Hadid moon sofa, in black. Steel, concrete, and sparingly, brass/brassy wood. Blacks, greys, and with the brass, an inoffensive pop of color. It's a minimalist style that, when darkened, takes inspiration from Gothic and industrial styles, but doesn't lean into them. Also has some futurism elements. X6-88's home is clean, elegant, sharp. It's designed to not be overstimulating, like the Institute's stark white plastic and fluorescent lighting is. LED indirect lighting + metal-caged hanging lights, velvet and taffeta fabrics, glass tables. There is no better kitchen for him then the Modern Kitchen 2020 from Burak LACFI on Behance. For the bathroom, Anna Kolos' work, also on Behance. His bedspread, the Ithaca Sateen set from Sleep by Sānti. I spent three years designing this man's home for a 40k word fanfic and I will hear no opposition.

#fo4 #fallout 4 #paladin danse #preston garvey #piper wright #nick valentine #companions react #x6-88 #robert joseph maccready #porter gage #codsworth

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taffybuns · 6 months

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Hi Taffybuns! Thank you for being you and artist that has passion to make. My brother told me that he bought two shirts out of it and he loved it, i was surprised you were the artist drew design! (the pokemon ones!)

Though I am curious and i hope you'll able to respond, do you have advice to make my art for merchandise in the future? I don't mind if you want to simplified explaination, a tumblr posts, or dropping a youtube link video; since you're busy with conventions.

I'm picky when it comes youtube art videos that are always give me the vibes of elitism, clickbait videos or others. You're the first artist I wanted to ask, so i hope it's fine if you can reply or not.

Sending my best regards to you. Take care and love your art as always. (I hope i can buy your pokemon hawaiin shirt!)

hello! thanks so much for the sweet message!!

apologies for the confusion, though! the pokemon shirts arent mine! i share a joint storefront with my friend and tablemate, you can view all his designs here! we have our store bio set to say we are two artists, but it's hard to see on the shopee site format, haha. i'll pass this message along to him, and i hope you can buy his shirts in the future too, they're very well made! i'm glad your brother enjoys them!

(if anyone is reading this, he also has them listed internationally on Etsy! my items aren't here though, sorry!!)

i assume you're PH based aswell if your brother got our shirts, so i'm gonna link some resources and basic advice under the cut-

i'd be glad to help where i can, though my basic advice is to just start.. i began selling merch with dann (friend who made the pokemon shirts) when we were just classmates in college, and we started at small anime events selling small prints with our table falling apart hahajkfghjk.. but even back then everyone was so friendly, so it was very encouraging !! the art community is very sweet and there is a lot of support for you !!

first, you'll want to find your market! this will determine what conventions you want to apply to and what kind of merch you want to make. do you want to make fanart, or original art? are you doing mostly stickers, tote bags, or anime merch? or do you just want to sell online?

second, what is your budget for merch production? starting out is expensive, personally my funds always circulate between profit and spending on restocks again. this will determine what kind of merch you can make, and then you expand later! i started out with only stickers and art prints, then keychains, and then bags and t-shirts later on!

if you're into original art, some events i recommend for beginners are Patrons of the Arts, Buzzart, Komiket. they have regular events throughout the year. if you're into stickers, there's Stickercon and Sticky Expo!

if you're into fan art, you can try ozinefest (sales are slower but table cost is cheaper), or if you have enough money, split for cosplay ph events

of course these aren't the only events, though they're the ones i regularly attend! if you have a more specialized market, there are dedicated cons like philifur, the grand lason, pokecon, etc. for all of these events you'll either have to keep your eyes peeled for table openings on their pages (rare), or email them to be added to their mailing list so you'll be told when they're open

if you don't have any suppliers yet, you can apply to join Artist Alley Group Order on facebook ! people regularly post about suppliers for all kinds of merchandise that you can look up. if you want any recommendations you can message me off-anon!

as for the merchandise itself, this varies person to person. my market is more obscure fanart that other people don't sell, and cutesy original art! i sell big illustrations as prints, though other people report on having a hard time selling prints. it depends on the content and art style. you'll have to experiment and see, or look around other shops to see what sells! visiting art markets yourself is also a huge help, to see the market, make friends in the artph community, and support artists!

i'd recommend starting out with stickers and prints- they're the cheapest to produce, and people often buy stickers because of their low price at cons. when you get more familiar with the market you can try going onto more expensive things to reproduce!

again if you want details, let me know! this is very vague and general advice, if u have any specific questions i'll do my best if i'm not busy! don't be afraid to surf thru some videos too, a lot are very helpful n not too elitist!

gl and take care aswell anon!

#ask #anon

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koorminii · 2 years

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HYUNEATER’S ARCHIVE!

a collection of all my fics and drabbles!

KEY:

❦ smut | ✿ fluff | ↯ angst | ✤ personal fav

disclaimer (!) none of this content is intended to promote unprotected sexual practices or the security of not getting pregnant/not contracting STD. please don’t take this as your comprehensive sex education. all facts and events are fictitious. the written scenes do not represent any real person nor do they plan to steal/falsify their identity. any coincidence with names and places is pure artistic creation by and for entertainment.

SERIES | OT8 FICS

COLLEGESLUTS.COM | ❦✿↯ | total wc: 17.1k

A crude name for an even cruder site, and the self-proclaimed bane of your existence. Made by thirsty sophomores when you were in freshman year, it’s something that’s stuck like glue in the minds of the student body. No one can resist a quick click, seeing your peers showing off their sexual fantasies for others to enjoy, posting their sexual escapades for others to see— except for you who’s hated the site since you first knew about it. Still, a year later, you’re vying for it to get shut down. Well they can’t have that, can they? They’re just gonna have to convince you the site isn’t all that bad.

WUS GOOD/CURIOUS | ❦✿ | 2.8k

It’s sloppy, messy as ever as spit slicks your chin and you huff into his mouth, stepping backwards and tripping over the edge of the couch. You hate fucking on leather but Chan loves it. His hand trails down past the hem of your skirt and along your bare skin, feather light touches that leave goosebumps in their wake and send a shiver up your spine.

driving with chan (drabble) | ❦ | 0.7k

GOLD RUSH | ❦✿↯ | 10.6k ✤

“I don’t like that anyone would die to feel your touch, everybody wants you, everybody wonders what it would be like to love you.” Or, a lot of people love chan but he only loves you. He just wishes you could see that.

— nothing yet!

RELAX WITH ME ❦✿ | 3.4k ✤

It’s your turn to make noises now, it seems, because Hyunjin drags a moan out of you so loud that you’re worried the neighbours have heard. Your cheeks are red for a whole new reason now, and the fact that Hyunjin is yanking at the collar of your dress doesn’t help. You let him, you don’t care, you want to give Hyunjin everything, anything.

TEAR YOU APART ❦ | 1.7k

Hyunjin is wild. Unpredictable in the way he can’t help himself when it comes to you. He can’t help how ragingly desperate he is for your touch, for your presence.

IDEA 686 | CSC installment | ❦↯ | 17k

There are three things you hate more than anything: 1. Your english Lit. professor, 2. Frat parties, and last but most definitely not least, 3. CollegeSluts.com and their founders. There are three things Hyunjin hates more than anything: 1. College, 2. Back alley blowjobs, and 3. The frustrating desire to fuck you silly.

INHALE, (EXHALE) ❦✿↯ | 8.6k

tired of hearing your whining day after day, early-morning Saturday chores become Jisung’s new norm. however, when reprieve comes in the form of one ridiculously lacy pair of panties and things get risqué, Jisung finds himself enjoying his chores more than ever, and when you find out what exactly he’s doing every Saturday morning do you accept it? or rather— what are you gonna do about it?

— nothing yet!

— est. 190722

#hyuneater #masterlist #stray kids

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sealhaus · 6 months

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YALL I DID AN ARTIST MARKET!!!!!

My college does student artists alleys at events every so often and I got a chance to do one this semester!!!

I sold some Shen merch, made some money, did some trades, and now the lead animator of helluva boss owns one of my prints.

#artist market #artist alley #kung fu panda #lord shen #digital illustration #stickers #art for sale #she played my claw machine and bought some whale bones #yipppeeee

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ritz-writes · 8 months

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please please please please I know nothing I’m oblivious who are these funky little lads that are apparently Bruce Waynes kids

Was going thru my drafts and realized I never answered this ask im so sorry!!

I started writing a HUGEEEE thing explaining as much as I could (ended up being over 4k) but I felt that was a bit much so ill just explain the basics on the bat kids. Just a long paragraph for each. Keep in mind that canon changes a lot and there are different comics and shows and version of the characters. Ill just explain what I know the most

Dick Grayson: First Robin. Now goes by Nightwing. Was a spy in one comic and went by Grayson but we don’t like that one that much. Also got amnesia at one point and went by Ric. We hate Ric, don’t bring him up. Was part of the flying graysons in Haley’s Circus with his parents but they were killed by Tony Zucco during a performance (their line broke). Bruce was in the crowd and made Dick is ward. Dick was 8 at the time. When he was 18 he had a fight with bruce and moved to Bludhaven. Thats where he became Nightwing. Hes the oldest kid

Jason Todd: Second Robin. Goes by Red Hood. He lived in Crime Alley by himself (father was in prison (later died) and mom overdosed). Wanted to make some cash so tried to steal the wheels of the batmobile. Bruce was honestly impressed and took him in. Dick was a bit upset at first (bruce give jason robin without asking. In most comics robin was a nickname dicks mom called him) but eventually warmed up to jason. I could go on a whole rant about how jason wasnt the angry robin most ppl say, but I wont. Bruce thinks he killed someone and benches him. Jason finds out his mom isnt his bio mom. His bio mom is in Ethipoia and he goes to find her. She sells him out to joker. Joker tortures him with a crowbar and leaves him in a building that explodes (also kills the bio mom). Talia al Ghul (daughter of Ra’s al Ghul. Hes the leader of the League of Assassins) brings him back to life via lazarus pit. Jasons story is very long so ill just say he comes back angry, tries to get bruce to kill joker, almost kills tim (hes next), kinda becomes the head crime lord in crime alley, and is hella hella protective of the kids and working girls in crime alley. Hes also a book nerd. Wanted to be an english major before he died. He and batwoman (mentioned in honorably mentions below) use guns. Sometimes he uses rubber bullets, sometimes he deosnt. In his newest reboot he uses a crowbar and has a different outfit. Not a fan of it. in some versions he doesnt work with the batfam, in others he rejoins them. i like the latter more.

Tim Drake: Third Robin. Currently goes by Red Robin. (yes like the restaurant. Yes its a running joke in the fandom) The smart robin. Smarter than batman in some universes (most imo). Figured out batmans identity by himself when he was like 8-9. when jason dies bruce doesn’t pull his punches at all and tim is like “he needs a robin.” tries to get dick to come back, but he says no. so tim basically forces himself into bruces life as robin until bruce relents. Tim has a hella messed up storyline that I don’t know very well. Jason tries to kill him, Damian tries to kill him (hes next), theres one story line where bruce is lost in time and tim is the only one who doesn’t think hes dead. Lots of stuff happens. Bascially all his friends die, his parents die, he loses his spleen- its a mess. Hes also the ceo of wayne enterprise in some comics. We also joke that hes an immortal 17 yr old cuz hes almost always 17 in the comics. Tim is bi and has a boyfriend named Bernard (I ship him more with kon tho)

Damian Wayne: Fourth Robin. Trained as an assassin since birth. He’s bruces bio son. Son of talia and bruce. Becomes robin when hes 9 I think. In one story, the bruce lost in time one, dick just gives robin to damian cuz “he needs it.” damian was very…. Murdery at first. Has a sword. Very talented artist. Very very smart. Can take advanced college courses at like age 7. smart boy. He has the most character devleopment in my opinion. Calls himself “the blood son.” is best friends with superman’s son, Jon.

Stephanie Brown: Steph. Goes by Spoiler now. is kinda Robin 3.5. or 2.5 idk when in the timeline she was robin, but she was robin for like 2 weeks before getting fired. Idk much about her. Her father is Cluemaster (villain). Isn’t adopted by bruce, but is his kid nonetheless. She and tim dated at one point.

Cassandra Cain: Cass. Goes by Orphan or Black Bat, depending on the comic. Was raised to be a weapon by her father. Idk his name. Her mother is Lady Shiva, another world class assassin. Cass was taught to not speak cuz “weapons don’t have feelings.” she knows sign and when bruce takes her in he helps her find her voice. In some versions she can speak, in others she just says one or two words at a time, and in some she just uses sign. Shes other than jason (by like 2 months) but younger than dick. Not sure if shes adopted or not.

Duke Thomas: Goes by Signal. I know the least about him. Also not adopted. His parents were jokerized (got posioned with joker gas and kinda went insane.) He’s a meta apparently? I learned that recently. Has photokenesis: ability to absorb, redistribute, and manipulate both light and darkness. Is the daytime hero I think.

Barbara Gordon: Used to be Batgirl, is now Oracle. (in some version steph and cass were batgirl at one point) Not adopted by bruce. Shes Commissioner Gordon’s daughter. Very very smart. Very very badass. Is the guy in the chair for the batfam. Joker shot her in her spine when breaking into her apartment and paralyzed her. But she can still kick hella ass in that wheelchair. She and dick used to date.

Honorable mentions: Kate Kane, Batwoman. She’s Bruce’s cousin. Lucas Fox, Batwing. Lucius Fox’s son. Selina Kyle, Catwoman. She and bruce r kinda sorta in a relationship. Its complicated sometimes. Kate Kelly, Robin. Shes in a separate universe I believe. Don’t know much about her at all. She uses a slingshot.

And of course, Alfred Pennyworth. We love alfred. He has guns hidden around the manor in canon. Bruce doesn’t like guns. Alfred knows this and says “youll never find all of them.” hes sassy and we stan.

And those r the main members of the batfam! Sorry this took so long to answer. It comepletely slipped my mind. I probably forgot a few details, but oh well.

#ritz answers #asks #shower-man #i love that jasons is the longest #hes the most misunderstood #i have written essays about him /hj #like legit #hes my fav #sorry again for forgetting about this </3

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byfurries4furries · 11 months

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Remember the Flowers (Sci-Fi Visual Novel)

So most visual novels I've talked about on this blog have been from Echo Project, a development studio that is famous in the furry visual novel scene for making some of the most acclaimed VNs in the furry fandom and for actually completing some of them. Remember the Flowers isn't made by them though. Its creator, primary writer, and artist are all Jericho. The only connection it has to Echo Project is that its music is done by Anthemics, who's a regular OST composer for Echo Project games like Arches, Khemia, Interea, and a few tracks on the Smoke Room. Because of that, the soundtrack to this VN is really stellar, as most of Anthemics' work is.

Now I will warn you that it is really hard to not spoil this game as the story contains two really major twists that precede some of the best parts of the entire game. I will try though. With that out of the way, the game starts with the protagonist having a nightmare before waking up in the middle of class. He's a college student who's sort of coasting by on his journey to become a doctor. After correcting his teacher on his lesson after he was caught napping in class, he soon gets dismissed and makes some plans for a date with his boyfriend before taking a nap in his dorm room. When he wakes up, he's in the middle of a dark alley with long white hair, a bloody headwound, medical scrubs, and the inability to remember basic details about himself. Fortunately, he's found by Cooper, whose job it is to find humans like the protagonist and take them to a safe haven called Resoom where he can get help once he's safe. It's only now that you find out this world the protagonist is waking up in is a futuristic scifi dystopian world, unlike the more or less regular modern setting the story started in, but with some characters who are anthropomorphic characters, because furry.

Now before I threaten to spoil the game, let's go over some positives. The biggest one I have is the serialization. One problem a lot of unfinished visual novels have is that they have a hard time finding a place to pause the story before the next update. Arches does this pretty well while 9:22 does this really poorly. Remember the Flowers, thankfully, not only has chapters that begin and end in pretty good places but it also has groups of chapters called "Arcs". Each Arc could be a visual novel in its own right and it makes RtF feel like a compilation of a VN series rather than one long VN. This is especially good because the creator is not working on this game as their main job, so they can't afford to do frequent releases. However, the structure makes it so you can just read to the end of the last completed arc and be satisfied with waiting until the next arc is completed. Each arc is bookended by a major twist or a major character revelation that sets the new status quo of the next arc. The first arc is definitely the weakest one, as the only major character besides the protagonist is Cooper and it provides a lot more mysteries than answers. However, the second one is my favorite, but the third and so far last completed one is really a great contender if not for the fact there's not a lot to do except hang out, but the character exploration is really fantastically done.

Now for other positives, the protagonist, Cyrus, is probably the most well-written human protagonist in a furry VN. Human protagonists have a very terrible reputation in furry VNs for being extremely bland player-insert characters whose self-identity is so non-existent that you usually get to pick their names. It's such a negative stereotype in fact that Furry VN databases usually include "Human Protagonist" as a tag to filter out. Even Adastra falls into this trap to an extent. But Cyrus is not a bland character. For a few things, he's asexual and has a pre-established boyfriend, childhood friends, and his own career path and interests. Although he still has about as much personality as Marco in Adastra at the beginning of the game, as the plot progresses and he finds out more about himself and the world around him, he slowly has more and more personality and development to his character and the fact he sorta fills the role of a player-insert early on makes the dramatic beats hit that much harder, because then the progression to what he's like later on makes so much more sense, because you can't help but imagine that if you were in his place, you would probably end up the exact same way. This is exemplified in the text. In the first arc, he's just wide-eyed and curious. In the second, he's maintaining a much more critical outlook, trying to assess everyone he meets and every piece of information he gets carefully. In the third, he's robotic and describes everything very matter-of-factly. He feels like he's talking in the third-person for how bluntly he describes everything. But he does start to get back in touch with his humanity as the arc goes on. However, in the fourth arc, while he's almost back to his old self, there's a distinct lack of self-regard or care for his own well-being. And each step from the beginning of the game to the last update feels natural.

Now I did make it clear that the first arc has some problems. It's unfortunately very slow and not a lot happens. Most of it is used for some broader establishing information, but the actual plot is boringly simple. Cyrus goes home with Cooper and spends a day or two at his house, he then goes with Cooper to get some supplies, and they hop on a train to the pickup spot. Until the arc-ending twist, that's most of what happens. And because Cooper and Cyrus are the only major characters of that arc, there's not a lot of dynamic to play off of and because Cooper is very secretive, there's also not a lot of information to find out. In the second arc, you get introduced to 4 major characters, 3 of which have their own dynamics with each other who are also a lot less stingy with information and a lot more open about their backgrounds and who they are. And any information they do withold, they make sure to explain why they are witholding it and that in itself can give you something to mull over, or it can inform their characters, such as Axel who withholds the absolute minimum information he's been commanded to, Ring who is very stingy with what he reveals and rarely reveals basic information except on accident, and Rose who barely conceals any information if she can manage to remember it. Also, they do reveal most of what they are witholding anyways by the end of the arc. So by contrast, the 2nd and 3rd arcs are very entertaining and well-paced even if it does get a little slice-of-life-ish by the third arc. I wouldn't recommend skipping the first arc though. It still has its moments and there's a lot of important information in it you can't miss.

I'd say Remember the Flowers is definitely a great visual novel even in its unfinished state, especially since it's more like a game series anyways. I highly recommend it and I would do that even for first time players. If you want your first furry visual novel to not feel like a dating sim, then RtF is a really good choice. I would recommend it over Adastra only to people who really don't need visual novels to be completed to like them. With that said, until next time, keep on yiffing

Links

itch.io

#furry game #furry media #furry visual novel #visual novel #furry #remember the flowers #jericho #bf4f

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ahiddenpath · 9 months

Text

Otakon 2023

Lil ramblin' about the con beneath the cut! But above the cut, my spoils!

I haven't been to a con since NYC Comicon in 2015, so this was a ride!

Amazing Stuff:

-Meeting @citrus-cactus at the Digimon redubbed movies screening! It was so amazing to meet her after being in the same online community for... Like... God, who even knows, like ten years?!?!?! And she is so lovely!

-THE DIGIMON REDUBBED MOVIES SCREENING!!! More on that here!

-My haul above! A sweet lil Kou-chan figure and a Luna plush from the dealer's room and an artbook from Shouri and a Sonic keychain from the artist's alley!

Not my fave stuff and neutral observations:

For reference, I went to Otakon all three days from roughly age 14 straight through college?? Well, in college it would have been Sat/Sun only. After that, I guess I didn't go that often, but any comparisons I make are to that time period (roughly 2003-2011 ish).

The DC convention center as a venue:

-The convention center was easy to get to from the Metro!

-The building was much bigger and better able to handle the crowd than the Baltimore Convention Center.

-There was. NO SIGNAGE. WHATSOEVER. For ANYTHING. Absolutely horrendous. What there WERE were volunteers/employees who bellowed directly into your face to... Do the things you were already doing. Or to... Walk the other way around the pillar. Because the other side leads into the faerie realm or some shit, idek.

-The guide books used to have maps, schedules, opening and closure times, etc. There was a map in this guidebook, but the opening and closing times for different parts of the cons and the event schedule were not printed. Meaning I had to use my phone to know, for example, when and where the Digimon screening event was... And there was poor reception the dealer's room in the lowest level.

Although the event schedule site couldn't load, I was blessed that some of Citrus' discord messages were getting through. She alerted me that the screening room was filling up and told me the room number (bless!!!! Thank!!!).

The con compared to ones I remember:

-I was shocked that there was a digimon panel and two separate Digimon screenings in one day? And the Digimon movie redub screening event was full to capacity- I missed the first film because I was next in line at the shut door D: So, like, Digimon is alive, and I saw two Daisuke cosplays, a Ken cosplay, and someone with a Patamon plush attached to their baseball cap. Patahat! There wasn't much merch. Citrus spotted the main place offering digimerch and sent me there (I got the Kou figure there). She also saw the lone Digimon fanart in Artist's Alley, and we found someone who made baby stage plushes. Another dealer's room place had some vintage plushies of the digimon that looked... like they had been through... some stuff.

Basically, Digimon seems to still be very much alive in terms of audience interest, but not so much the merch and fan art. I don't know what to make of that.

-The con seemed a lot less lively than the ones I remember. I only saw a few interesting cosplays (like the kind where you go, how did they even do that?!). My husband pointed out that the hall is far larger, however, and that the cosplay folks have tons of photo studio rooms to go to. They were likely there.

-The extra space was deeply appreciated (compared to what I'm used to from the Baltimore days), but... Okay, so the Dealer's Room provided empty space. Every aisle had an end area to "pull over in," whether it's for a water or food break, a photo op, or to wait for your bud to make a purchase.

PEOPLE STILL STOPPED DEAD DIRECTLY IN THE MAIN THROUGHWAY. WHY. WOULD YOU DO THAT. PLEASE I AM BEGGING-

My husband says I'm dreaming if I think the provided empty space will stop people from doing that, lol!

-DEMON SLAYER. EVERYTHING IS DEMON SLAYER. THERE IS NOTHING BUT DEMON SLAYER. Look, I enjoy Demon Slayer too, but good gracious, it's clearly the Naruto of the 2020s in terms of popularity.

-I learned who Rem is. Good God there were a lot of Rem figures.

-Looking at my purchases, I bought for three "classic" IPs and supported an artist I've followed for a long time. No new stuff. And I'd say the merch overall was about half "vintage" stuff and half newer stuff. Lots of Sailor Moon, DBZ, Pokemon, etc.

General Con Hardships:

-So a friend suggested to me recently that I might have sensory issues. I balked, because jfc have you seen my list of issues, please don't suggest another, I beg, I am full up, can I have some less sir.

Uh basically she mentioned how much she used to love going to the movies and I said, "I don't go anymore, I can't understand the voice audio." And she was like- Okay so it's true that some movies don't mix sound properly and can't be understood well, but if it's all movies... Um, babe, I think that's an auditory processing issue.

She suggested I get ear plugs, and god DAMN I wish I had them at the con.

Riding in the metro in tunnels? The whoosing and clanking hurt. Volunteers absolutely bellowing in your face at the con? Look, I guess it's their job, but please I am going to cry if you scream in my face like that. People playing music at the loudest volume in the dealer's room and hallways? Why, why would you do that. Someone was walking around playing an ocarina on the way to the dealer's room, so I was stuck with her for about 10-15 min, and I genuinely wanted to lock the damn thing in her backpack on a timer somehow, lmao. Look, ocarinas are easy enough to get the correct note out of, but they are difficult to control tonally. That high-pitched, harsh PHWEEEE noise clawed at my ears.

Of course, you can't control other people. The best I can do is accommodate myself to suit the place I'm going, which means... The damned ear plugs.

Apparently sensory issues and anxiety go hand-in-hand, as of course people feel stressed if the signals around them aren't being processed in the "typical" way, causing strain.

So... The con was exhausting and just... Difficult. But! I'm really glad I went! And I'll just buy the gd earplugs, here's what was recommended to me.

Also, PS: I found a piece of rare digimon merch that was way out of my budget at a dealer's room stand. But when I came home and looked it up, I found it for 35% less (which, at this price point, was a lot). AND NOW I HAVE AN ABSOLUTE TREASURE ON THE WAY AND I CANNOT WAIT TO SHOW YOU! Also, honestly check the retail on stuff in the dealer's room before you buy, this must be why there's no reception down there-

I am ready to not attend a con until next year! But to also go next year! Maybe I'll meet more of my online pals!!!! :D

#hidden's life

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devilmaychub · 10 months

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Is there something you've dreamed of doing for a long time?

And why haven't you done it?

Getting back into art. Buying a drawing tablet and experimenting and learning new techniques. I went to college for art. But at the time digital art via tablets weren’t quite accessible.The iPhone was new, there wasn’t such thing as an ipad, and tablets only connected to a pc and were very expensive and most of the time it looked like ms paint.

I’ve gone to many cons, and I always loved artist alley. I love seeing all the fan made merch people make. I’d love to design and make enamel pins. Draw art and make merch for the things I wanna see. Media and franchises that I like that doesn’t usually get a lot of merch ya know? I want all that!

I have ideas of making street wear and clothing for fat alt nerds like me. I know we’re out there and they’re mad too that they don’t have cool merch that fits them! Like I can’t even wear shirts from my favorite bands. I wanna solve that, I have a great eye for graphic designs and clothing. I’m sick of seeing big and tall stores making us look like a Hawaiian vacation dad or a frumpy incel with cargo shorts or a 90’s R&B singer.

I haven’t done it just because although tablets are more reasonably priced they are still out of my budget at the moment. I’m busy a lot with work but id make time for it.

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shootingstarrae · 6 months

Text

Getting personal here:

I never went to anime cons as a teen. Partially because they were expensive, partially because I had no one to go with, but also because it wasn’t “cool”. I was already seen as a weirdo, I didn’t need to make that reputation worse. The reputation anime itself had at the time wasn’t great, but anime cons themselves? Either you were a deviant for going or something bad would happen to you there. At least, that was my impression.

That changed during my freshman year of college, when I went to Tekko. I saw the joy and love for the same things that I enjoyed and it was like nothing I had ever experienced. I wanted more, but something closer to home.

A few years later, my partner and I went to Colossalcon for a day. That was overwhelming, but fun. We went to Colossalcon a couple more years and, while fun, I never really felt like I could be myself. At the time, I didn’t really know to what extent that meant.

In 2016, we went to Ohayocon for a day, mostly because I couldn’t afford to go for a whole weekend. It was different. The panels were unique. When we left, I said to my partner “we should go next year for the whole weekend”. And we did. It was one of the greatest con experiences of my life. We had fun meeting special guests, everyone was really friendly*. In the Artist Alley, I remember lots of queer flag themed art. This wasn’t anything unique - lots of anime cons I had been to at this point had pride art. But this was the first time I remember seeing the ace flag included. I bought my first ace pride sticker at this con. I felt truly seen. I felt like I could authentically be myself. Even if that meant be anxious, be upset. There was space for me.

From that point on, my partner and I would plan to go to Ohayocon every year. And every year was better than the last. It was memories, both inside and outside the con, that we will cherish forever.

Even in 2021, before the vaccines were widely available, Ohayocon was there in a digital form. It wasn’t the exact same, for sure, but it made a cold, isolating weekend in January 2021 a little bit easier.

We haven’t made it since. We’ve really missed it and have thought about going each year. But, due to COVID, those early weeks in January are tricky. Cases are usually up due to holiday travels and, with my asthma, we haven’t felt comfortable enough to go.

So it breaks my heart to say NOhayocon. But now I have learned about the abusive practices that have been used on senior leadership. I have also learned how senior leadership have tried to change this, and so far no changes have been made. I can’t in good conscience go to a con that is hurting people who have spent their unpaid time and energy to make it a special con to me.

If you are going, please consider that there is a boycott going on and most of the senior leadership who made Ohayocon what it was will be gone.

*Except for one person in an Ohayocon staff shirt who I asked a question about where lining up for an autograph session was. She got really rude and aggressive with me and honestly, made me cry. But there was a calm down area that I went to to recompose myself. And that was the worst experience I ever had in all the years that I went.

#NOhayocon #Ohayocon #I know this is a dead site #and anyone who would care is probably not on here anymore #but I had to get my thoughts out #this con means so much to me #and it sucks to see questionable leadership decisions lead it to the path of destruction

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danny-and-hisshadow · 3 months

Text

Current project:

Danny as the mall grinch

Plot- Danny normally dislikes Christmas ( the over played Christmas music, the fighting over weather or not Santa is real or not, the over commercialization of Christmas in general) , it's his thing to hate Christmas.

Danny's a broke college student living in Gotham, and he's not going to ask anyone for money or a handout,he has pride . Rent was due soon, so he started looking for a seasonal job.

he finds a job he would like after a few long hours, mall Grinch. He would get to act like the Grinch he is all day AND get paid to do it? And all he has to do is pretend to be the Grinch for little kids and adults who like the 'how the Grinch stole Christmas' movie? Sign him up.

Unknown to Danny a few independent scrooges have eyes on the mall he will be working at. A big charity event is going to take place in the giant mall with a professional Santa. And charities mean money, a certain clown decides to crash the event early by replacing the mall Santa.

Meanwhile something happened to the scarecrow, it's like he's been possessed by something.

Locations - a fake giant Gotham mall I made up

Possibly featuring a abandoned mall from the Arkham games.( Might have scarecrow go there)

Characters -

Danny - mall Grinch

Joker - ' replacement ' mall santa

Scarecrow - possessed by krampus

Gary , an original character I made up,

he is a man who works in the mall,

he put up a advertisement online looking for someone to be a mall grinch,

he was the one who wanted the mall Grinch to be the live action movie Grinch.

He is a make up artist and is the one to put Danny in his costume every day and personally pays Danny his money

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

(The mall Grinch Job ,it's a real job listing online in real life too, very nice to know,I looked it up and in south Carolina there were a few listings for one)

I originally was thinking about using toyman in this, have toys running around the mall terrorizing everyone trapped in the mall, just so I could have another excuse to let Danny as the Grinch go through the mall destroying weaponized Christmas toys and saving children.

but was really indecisive about it so I made a poll asking about it, I already had joker in the fic,so I asked if I should bring in toyman or scarecrow, and etc.

It was really close but scarecrow won

He wouldn't be scarecrow without his mask but here is Jonathan crane in the middle of going through a transformation into a krampus , the krampus didn't have a physical body so tried to take Jonathan crane's body, but Jonathan crane is the scarecrow,and scarecrow instead trapped the krampus in his mind, stealing the krampus 's power for himself, though he has to exert a lot of will power to stay in control. He is hiding out as his body changes but he is still making plans during it.

Other plans I have in mind for the story is Danny going around mildly defacing Christmas decorations, sabotaging Christmas music, and other things to improve moral.

Possibly Danny exploring the mall so to know his way around later in the story,only for that knowledge to be rendered useless after a point,lol.

I don't plan for Batman to show up, seeing as I planned on Bruce Wayne attending the charity event I had planned for the story , so robin might not show up either 😁

Red Hood would be in crime alley taking care of it

Night wing is in bludhaven

, I plan on researching other batfamily members before I try writing them into my story.

To stay motivated I try drawing stuff

#danny as the mall grinch #damny as the grinch #mall grinch danny #Grinch Danny #i draw the grinch better than butch Hartman

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gaymikelesbianel · 2 years

Note

HERE'S SOME OLDER PARTY HEADCANONS TO BLESS UR ASKS.

(this is in a alternate dimension where el doesn't sacrifice herself to close the gate to the upside down LMAO 😭)

1: LUMAX

Lucas is a BASKETBALL COACH (argue with the WALL) and Max is his hot MILF wife and she's probably a hockey (or soccer, or volleyball or even baseball) coach for the same school he coaches at (I literally don't really even know why but I just FEEL the energy with her yk?) and they both live in CALIFORNIA together and NOBODY can change my mind. (P.S THEY ALSO HAVE TWO KIDS)

2: EL.

El works at a HAIR SALON. (argue with ur mother on this one look Ik she's gonna die in season 5 but LET ME BE HAPPY FOR ONCE, LET ME LIVE MY FANTASY) and she's literally the NICEST barber EVER and she's rlly good at her job and she lives in a apartment in Chicago or New York or some city and she has TWO CATS called MITTENS and DAISY and they are literally like her children, like she'd commit ATROCITIES for those Cats. she has a CRUSH on her neighbor called Stephanie and she literally CANNOT get the courage up to talk to her, she loves fashion, and she has a CURATED jewelry collection. but she has such a GRANDMA sense of style yk? like after El experiments with her style and everything it is STRAIGHT to the the Long knitted cardigans and Long maxi skirts and her hand knitted crochet hats and scarves and flowy long sleeve dresses.

also El hand-knitted STOCKINGS for Max and Lucas on Christmas Eve and she also made little booties for Lucas and Max's Kids and it was the most ADORABLE thing EVER I swear to GOD- 😭

3: DUZIE.

Dustin is a full-fledged SCIENTIST, he's your odd and quirky college lab professor who's a little bizarre sometimes but is actually pretty cool and funny, him and Suzie teach at the same college (AWWW) and they actually have a lot of kids (don't ask me why those are just the vibes) and they are literally all like Dustin which annoys Suzie but in like a fondness kinda way, all of his kids are eccentric and really bright, and yk that Dad thing where they hold their kids upside down by the legs and spin them around the air like a monkey? yeah Dustin does that and it totally freaks Suzie out LMAO, their Family is literally so LOVING and PERFECT and SWEET that it makes me wanna CRY 😭 😭 😭 DUZIE IS THE BEST FR.

WAIT SHUT UP I JUST REALIZED.

BECAUSE SUZIE IS MARRIED TO DUSTIN THAT WOULD MAKE HER-

✨SUZIE HENDERSON✨

SHUT UPPPPPPPP 😭😭😭

AND LIKE-

DUSTINS FAMILY WOULD BE THE ✨HENDERSON FAMILY✨

UGHHHHHH SHUT UP THEY ARE LITERALLY SO PERFECT 🤧😭

(I wish I could write about Byler but I have SO MANY THOUGHTS ON THEM THAT I'D EXCEED THE CHARACTER LIMIT)

(whatever I'll just simplify it ig 😭)

4: BYLER

Byler get's married (I really do feel as if they would want to get married) Byler are literally the best uncles, Mike is a WRITER (and no he's not a fucking bowling alley worker my boy deserves BETTER than that) like he writes Fantasy Books and shit and Will is still a Artist and a REALLY GOOD ONE at that, and I don't care WHERE they live AS LONG AS IT'S NOT HAWKINS. like I literally couldn't bear to see them STILL LIVING in that hell-hole 😭 also we literally all know that Mike is SHIT at cooking and Will is GREAT at it.

5: THE PARTY IN GENERAL

The Party visits each other every sholiday and they have a jolly good time 😊

THAT'S IT HOPE U ENJOYED THEM BYLERS WEDDING IS NEXT.

OH MY GOD I LOVED THIS SO MUCH THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART AND IM SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG FOR ME TO ANSWER😭

i completely see the vision for duzie omg especially dustin that’s so cute jfjejfjejd and YES MIKE BEING A WRITER! YES!

el having a crush on her neighbor stephanie is so cute jdjejdj pls you need to write aged up fan fics of all members of the party it’s so cute😭

PLEASE DO SEND THE BYLER WEDDING ILL TRY MY BEST TO NOT TAKE AS LONG TO ANSWER😭😭 <3

#el #el hopper #mike wheeler #will byers #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #suzie stranger things #duzie #lumax #byler #lesbian el #el is a lesbian #the party #stranger things

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rickie-the-storyteller · 6 months

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Happy WBW! What are the coffee shops like in your world? Or what are the coffee shop equivalents? Are they bustling? Overpriced? Are they decrept or college-kid only territory? If you wanna get into it, feel free to add on your characters' interactions, feelings, or orders!

Here's an interesting one...

My main story (Steph's Crew) is set in a real place (fictional London in 2010), so I suppose the answers here would be similar to real-life coffee places lol.

There was a wide range of coffee shops catering to different tastes and preferences. Let's take a look at some of them, and explore the way my characters might feel about them...

High-End Specialty Cafes:

These spots irl are known for offering a selection of single-origin brews and meticulously crafted drinks. The prices tend to be higher, attracting coffee aficionados and those who appreciate a carefully made cup.

This place would likely be less popular with the crew since they're all pretty young and would prefer to get their coffee from a cheaper spot. They'd probably acknowledge the good quality of the drinks from places like this, though.

Bustling Hipster Joints:

These coffee shops are popular among the younger crowd, typically college students and young professionals. In other words, right up the crew's alley lol.

They have a trendy, rustic vibe with exposed brick walls, cosy seating, and indie music playing in the background. The atmosphere is lively and often bustling with people working on laptops, socialising, or simply enjoying a cup of coffee.

Artistic Bohemian Spots:

These cafes often double as art galleries or performance spaces. They're slightly more offbeat, attracting a creative crowd and hosting open mic nights or art exhibitions. The decor might be eclectic, with mismatched furniture and colourful murals.

Bret would love these lol. He's the creative one in the group, and he has a passion for art. I could see him taking El to places like these...

Quaint Traditional Cafes:

These places exude a more classic charm, attracting a mix of locals and tourists. They might have a more refined or vintage aesthetic, with wooden furniture, soft lighting, and a relaxed ambience. It's a spot where people come to unwind, read, or have casual conversations.

El would be particularly into the vibe of this kind of place. She's into the more simple, straightforward and traditional stuff... probably due to the way she was raised.

Hidden Gems:

There are also tons of fun little hidden gems in the city - small and obscure coffee shops that the group might discover together. These places offered unique coffee blends and were not too expensive, making them perfect for their diverse tastes.

This is a fun one since it is a minor plot point in book 1! Bret and El have this tradition where they walk each other home and get "lost" along the way... discovering new parts of the city and all. That's how they find their favourite spots, including their favourite record shop. It's also how they met Stevie.

Here's what their go-to drink orders might be:

Stephanie:

Vanilla latte - she'd likely enjoy something both sweet and has a strong coffee flavour, reflecting her dynamic personality. The smoothness of the latte with a touch of sweetness matches her charismatic yet layered character. Plus, it's a simple, straightforward order.

A venti iced caramel macchiato with extra caramel drizzle - she loves the indulgence and complexity of this drink. The sweetness of the caramel and the kick of caffeine are just a nice combination, and again, fits her personality quite well.

Caramel Frappuccino - these just look really good to me lol. Never had one myself, but I think Steph would be into them.

Iced Caramel Macchiato - another thing that looks/sounds nice haha.

Bret:

Double shot espresso or a simple black coffee - he would likely prefer a strong, no-nonsense drink that wakes him up and gives him a jolt of energy. He's straightforward and doesn't fuss over elaborate flavours in the same way that Steph likely would.

A black coffee (Americano) - yet another simple but strong choice that suits his vibe quite nicely.

Elise:

Chamomile tea with a dash of honey- she really appreciates simplicity and comfort. Fits her personality, too... calming, soft and sweet all at once.

Plain cappuccino - simple straightforward order that gets the job done.

Chai Latte - these are really nice... I just think El would really like these. It reflects her understated yet warm nature.

Dylan:

Americano - similar to Bret's reasoning before. He's straightforward and doesn't fuss over elaborate drink options. He'd like a strong, no-nonsense drink choice that wakes him up and gives him a jolt of energy.

Flat White - the perfect balance between bold coffee and a hint of sweetness

A large iced mocha with extra whipped cream - something that's both indulgent and energetic, mirroring his outgoing and active nature. The mocha provides a mix of chocolate and coffee, and the whipped cream adds a touch of sweetness!

Alice:

Mocha - she likes the comforting blend of coffee and chocolate for a touch of sweetness.

A flat white with a side of carrot cake - straightforward but still sophisticated, just like her (very all over the place, but still has a touch of class lol). Carrot cake is also a guilty pleasure of hers.

Vanilla Latte - if she's not feeling in the mood for a mocha, she'd likely go for this instead.

#rickie-the-storyteller #writerblr #steph's crew #asks

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