#most of my favorites are 45 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes. if it's too short (like less than 20 minutes) i'll skip it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gothprentiss · 2 years

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people keep talking about how avatar had no cultural impact which i think is largely just a result of how media production and consumption are weirdly stratified, so that the fact that most people don't think about avatar regularly somehow outweighs the way that avatar was surely a bellwether for groaningly long cgi-heavy blockbusters, but that's just a side point. the main point is that every time i see that claim i'm like fuck me i may truly be the person who experienced avatar the most.

let me explain.

avatar 1 is the movie i have seen the most in my life. not by choice but because my dad is the dad variant which is moth-to-flame obsessed with the Phenomenon Of Technology and had a lobe of his brain dedicated to wanting to see avatar before the movie was even a twinkle in james cameron's beady eye. so when it came out on dvd in the late spring of 2010, my dad rented it from the library and set about to watch it, with his family.

one relevant fact here is that i grew up without any tv access. cable, network, whatever-- i literally don't know what it is we didn't have. the library dvd rentals were my closest brush with new and ongoing media that wasn't an extremely paltry collection of disney videos and focus on the family style christian children's movies. so whatever we got from the library i was watching, 100%, regardless of how much it sucked or how impenetrable it was. this despite the fact that, second relevant fact here, i'd already seen avatar-- my best friend and i saw it in theaters in 3d and thought it was dope or whatever, we were 13, the bit where everyone's linking up their hair tentacles was kind of weird, the big cat was metal, everyone was roasting it for being a rip off of pocahontas but with big space dinosaurs. in other words, i was ready to be like, apparently, everyone else on this god damn planet who saw it once and was like yeah, sure, whatever, and moved on with their lives.

but i've already told you how this ends, which is not with me getting to be normal.

the central conflict of this already too long story is that my mother's sleep schedule adjusts whenever she's sat down in front of a tv-- something about the blue light sets her on a 30 minute sleep timer. obviously this was a problem for a 2.5 hour movie. over the course of a week we managed to wrangle her sleep timer so that she made it about 45 minutes to an hour, before she'd promptly fall asleep and snore at a decibel level that implied conscious maliciousness.

my dad was undaunted! we rewatched the beginning over and over, i'd say about ten times over two weeks, until finally we just gave up on her and powered through the whole thing.

now, you might be saying, that's not that many times, i've watched my favorite movie well over ten times, maybe you just lack commitment to film, and i am so glad to tell you this story does not end here. my mother was also undaunted! and my dad had hyped up the movie to such an extent-- recall, again, he's a technology dad, and this was also a welcome and blessed break in the middle of a deeply cursed phase where he listened to french electronica and LMFAO for months on end-- that she was just as determined to see it to its close as he'd been.

so we resumed our lurching progress through the movie, again kneecapped by my mother's sleep schedule. my father and i had gotten out of the human colonies on pandora into the cgi marvels of na'vi land, but we were grounded again. i had suggested, back in the aught watchcount, that we could simply make note of where we'd stopped watching and resume there the next night, but my dad's avatar hype train had a weird purism car and he insisted that the True Experience was watching it beginning to end. i considered abandoning ship at this point, but i wasn't allowed to close my door and my parents watch movies at astounding volumes, so it wasn't like i was going to not be experiencing the movie.

this went on for weeks. i believe the library charged $2/day for new movie rentals, and capped their rentals at a week, no doubt in an effort to disincentivize this precise kind of rat brained behavior. but freezing my dad's library account until he returned the dvd wasn't going to have any meaningful impact: there was no space to want other dvds or books during the great avatar consumption. i believe we genuinely had the dvd out for a whole month, and during that time had it on every night that my parents weren't working late. if you remember the post about the kid who could just close their eyes and "play shrek" because they'd seen it so much, there was a period of my middle school life where i could do that with the first half to two thirds of avatar. the bit where sigourney weaver goes "hey marine, catch!" to jake sully is actually embedded in my mind because it was typically when my mother's deviated septum kicked up a fuss.

this isn't a great story, you know, it's just something that happened. i think we genuinely watched avatar, at least the first half, over twenty times, but it never occurred to me to keep count. long-term, somehow this month-long avatar fugue state didn't work as some sort of contemporary variation on the clockwork orange ludovico technique. my dad went back to tecktonik, my mother's sleep schedule regularized, and we finally could use the library again. i'd nearly forgotten about it (the Avatar Effect) until we started getting news stories about the sequels a couple of years ago, which i naturally sent to my dad. it turns out he does not remember his brief and consuming obsession with avatar, and thought i was just a fan of the movie. he is going through life without the weird sensation of being kicked in the brain by every avatar fact he encounters, such as the fact that the giant avatar shaman animatronic at disneyworld is the most expensive animatronic they've ever done and is yet another Feat of Technology, or how na'vi is an actual created language, or how there are FOUR avatar sequels slated, ensuring that the 2020s will be marked by the consistent presence of james cameron's giant blue space kitty movie and ever-evolving heights of discourse. his memory of 2010 is smooth and serene and unmarked by the single greatest film incident of my entire life.

#sorry this is long i just feel INSANE every time i recall this fact #me? i'm avatar georg

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nightroo · 1 year

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Today's drawing workshop exersices

Basically we were suppose to combine all of what we learned in the previous lessons, to draw from real life photos.

For the first one, he gave us 1 hour, which felt too short and I didnt really manage to finish it (like you can see in the water), but neither did anyone else so its fine lol

Second one was 30 minutes, and I actually finished early because I used to do those in 5 minutes back in highschool. Weirdly enough its my favorite one, because I love the harsh shadows.

Third was 45 minutes, which I also didnt exactly finish but tbh I was so done at that point lol. The top of the trees is where ypu can see that the most.

This was really good, and made me think that I need to do more architecture studies, since I have trouble drawing buildings from imagination.

#original art #traditional art #art studies #uni work #sketches #can you call them sketches if they took an hour?#eh whatever #also i had my first adobe illustrator class today #and considering ive never touched anything close to that #i was doing pretty good #the teacher said im quick lol

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lastchancevillagegreen · 2 years

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Monday, 27 June 2022:

The Gold Experience Prince (billed as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince) (Legacy/ NPG) (released 2022, original album and promo was released in 1995)

For Record Store Day (Part 2) which took place on 18 June, a smattering of albums were released and none were more anticipated by me than this album by Prince (yes, he technically wasn’t called that then, but I’m calling him Prince here because that is how I refer to him in my day to day activities and whenever I talk about any of his albums). I’ve not played on an actual Record Store Day in eons. The idea of getting up at some ungodly hour and then driving another hour to either Champaign, Bloomington or another 40 minutes to Springfield is so unappealing that I just take my chances and buy things either after 12 noon on Saturdays or a few days after. This year that cost me a copy of Live Seeds by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, but since I have that album on CD (in the cardboard box with the hardback book of photos) I didn’t really need it. The thing about RSD is that you don’t need any of this nutty stuff. Some of it is very cool, but most is redundant so I never really get worked up.

This year knowing The Gold Experience was coming out on vinyl I knew I had to have this. This is one of my all-time favorite Prince albums and truly one of his very best works. I figured everyone would a copy so I decided to awaken at 5:00 and be on the road by 6:00 and be in a city that has record stores by 7:00. That wouldn’t get me a very good spot in line and probably wouldn’t get me a Prince album. So when I looked on the RSD site and they informed fans that there were over 14 thousand copes I decided not to even bother getting out of bed on RSD. I’d find one, so why waste the gasoline?

The morning of RSD, I awoke early (i generally get to bed around 1:00 and am up around 5:30, I don’t get or need much sleep) and I thought I’d go out of town somewhere, why not? I thought I’d better check online and see what prices this is going for. It was 5:45 a.m. and I hit up discogs to discover an American dealer already selling a copy and the price wasn’t what I expected. The guy was asking $35 so I wasted zero time, bought the album and it wasn’t even 6:00 in the morning! I checked the site later in the day and this particular dealer was offering another album of what I just bought, but the price had incrementally increased. I’ve seen dealers do this in the past.

The album arrived in today’s mail and it is a replica of the promotional two LP version that was originally released in 1995 in this rather sparse packaging which does recall a promo (or a bootleg). The interesting thing is that this is a three sided album but rather than do an etching (there were some in the late 90s) Warner Brothers at the time offer up a series of remixes of I Know You. That’s an interesting offer to fill out Side 4 and I think it beats the heck out of an etching. NPG Records and Legacy opted to replicate this and release it first for Record Store Day.

Above you saw the album cover and the back of the album. Below check out close ups (as close as I could get because they are affixed to the album cover and the reflective shrink wrap is over them save for the first one I show.

The second sticker is found on the back jacket. It includes an essay by music critic Jim Walsh (someone who isn’t David Fricke). Here it s close up:

This album is pressed on “Gold” vinyl (but looks more like urine after too much Vitamin B12). Here is what it looks like. The second photo is taken outside on my back deck. Yes, you can see my hand ad my camera. Normally I wouldn’t post such a photo but I want people to understand I do not use an iPhone but instead an actual camera. Yes, it is digital of course.

And I close out showing all four labels for this 2 LP set.

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thelonesgroup · 2 years

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7 Mindful Tips for Finding More Time In Your Day

Every one of us has the same 1,440 minutes in our day, right?

So why is it that some people seem to get so much more done?

They have found the secret to finding more time!

"GROAN! Denise, you aren't going to tell me that I have to wake up at 4 in the morning, are you? If so, I am out!"

NO! This article isn't going to delve into surviving on less sleep or getting up at 4:00 in the morning; instead, we are going to focus on time mindfulness as a way that you can find more minutes in your day.

Sounds like a buzzword, right? Everyone is into being "mindful" and "present" these days. Bear with me as we are going to talk about developing mindfulness on how you spend your 1,440 minutes per day in order to increase your efficiency and to help you find you more time to do the things you really want.

In fact, I would be surprised if you weren't able to find at least 60 full minutes every day using my time mindfulness techniques outlined below. Let's dive in!

#1 Morning Mindfulness

Unless you are one of those people who wakes up and heads to the gym immediately, most mornings can be prime time to waste time. The first step is to determine how much time you really need to get out the door every morning if you put your mind to it. I mean really - from waking up, taking a shower, getting dressed, hair, breakfast, how much time do you really need? Let's say if push came to shove, you could be up and out the door in 45 minutes. If most mornings you give yourself an hour-and-a-half, then where is that extra 45 minutes going? That is 3% of your minutes right there spent on what: checking your phone, taking extra time with the cup of coffee, standing under the hot water? Arguably, these things that might take your stress level down, but maybe there are things you could do on your drive instead to accomplish the same thing.

#2 Morning Treat Mindfulness

Uh oh. It's 10:30 AM. Do you have a hankering for a coffee pick-me-up or a mid-morning snack? If you grab the keys and head out the door, think twice! Even if your favorite spot is just down the street, then by the time you get in line, pay, and get back to work, you have likely just spent 15 minutes! Is there a way to tighten that up by bringing something comparable from home or using an electric kettle? It may not be what you really want, but maybe your daily habit can move to a weekly habit and a substitute is found for the other days. Your wallet will thank you too!

#3 Lunch Mindfulness

The same practice applies as the previous section. If you are going out and foraging for lunch every day, that is a big time waster! I plan my lunches for the week each weekend and pre-make them so I don't waste time visiting the store multiple times. Then, in the morning, it is grab-and-go! Super simple. I probably save an hour-and-a-half every week by pre-planning and it is way healthier than anything that can be ordered in a drive-through.

#4 Distraction Mindfulness

Do you find yourself checking the news, social media, your personal email, or watching videos throughout the day? For the next week, allow your natural habits to occur, but take note of how many minutes you are distracted. Five minutes every hour for an 8-hour day can add up to a whopping 40-minutes of time that could be better-spent as focused time.

You can still give yourself a break now and then - even twice a day for 10 minutes beats five minutes an hour!

#5 TV/Streaming Mindfulness

Where or where does the time go? It used to be that there were a few shows we watched, we got around 25 new episodes per year, and we would wait at least a week but often more in-between. Now, with streaming, you can easily consume multiple episodes per night and even stream a whole season within a matter of days. That equates to massive time wasting!

For this category, I do suggest giving yourself a TV/Streaming time budget-per-week and then tracking to make sure you are on track. It is easy to spend three hours per night in front of the TV or your computer streaming. Three hours per night = 12.5% of your total available minutes every day. Whoa! At the end of your life, would you be proud of the fact that you utilized 12.5% of your time watching TV in exchange for:

Spending quality time with your friends and family?

Gaining new experiences?

Learning a new hobby or enjoying the ones you already have?

Or working a little extra to earn some extra money for those bucket-list trips?

Every choice you make in terms of your time gets you closer or further away from your -personal, business, and life goals. Are you spending your time in a goal-oriented way?

Now that we have gotten general personal habits out of the way, it is time to focus on the way you work to see if you can gain some more minutes there!

#6 Task Efficiency Mindfulness

If you have to do a CMA, are you better to do it in the morning, afternoon, or evening? If you are going to make phone calls to past clients, are you better to do that at your brokerage, at home, or in the car? Have you ever started a project and stared at the computer screen, not knowing where to begin, but the next morning you woke up and knew exactly what you had to do? Have to deal with an email that might turn into a legal nightmare?

Knowing the ideal time of day and conditions to take on certain activities is key in learning how to be more efficient with your time. For the next week, pay attention to your attitude and the way you adapt to taking on certain tasks. You should be able to immediately tell if you are in the headspace to do something or not. Evaluate each task as hard, neutral, or easy. By the end of the week, what did you learn about how you are naturally-inclined to handle tasks?

#7 Productivity Mindfulness

While you are keeping your task efficiency top of mind, also note your overall productivity level. Your overall productivity level is affected by your sleep, how you are feeling, emotional things that are going on in your life, your pain level or how uncomfortable you are, hormones, etcetera. During the day, rate your productivity level in the morning, after lunch, around 5:00, and before bed for a week on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most productive you have ever been and 1 being almost asleep. Are there any consistencies in your days? Are mornings great for you or do they lag behind your evenings? Understanding how you operate is also important to finding when you are most efficient and can save time.

Remember, if you are working at only 50% capacity, a task that would take you an hour if you are feeling super-productive will likely take you at least 30 additional minutes. Therefore, if you want to do things in less time, you need to think of yourself like an athlete and make sure you are working as close to 100% as possible by getting quality sleep, hydrating, not eating things that make you sleepy, working in an ideal environment in terms of energy, light, and noise, and minimizing your distractions.

No, you don't need to wake up at 4:00 in the morning to be more productive and gain more minutes. The first step is being more productive and mindful of how you are spending the time you already have.

Spend the next week being mindful and I would love for you to share what you learned and how many minutes you gained with these exercises!

All this month, we are talking about creating business balance in Club Zebra!

JOIN CLUB ZEBRA FOR FREE!

Member benefits include: - Denise Live every Tuesday morning at 9:00 am - - Market Survival Guide first and third Tuesdays at Noon - - Full access to loads of Technology and Business-Building tools in the Vault - - Articles for your clients and infographics to post on social media -

Follow Denise on Facebook

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By Denise Lones CSP, M.I.R.M., CDEI - The founding partner of The Lones Group, Denise Lones, brings nearly three decades of experience in the real estate industry. With agent/broker coaching, expertise in branding, lead generation, strategic marketing, business analysis, new home project planning, product development, Denise is nationally recognized as the source for all things real estate. With a passion for improvement, Denise has helped thousands of real estate agents, brokers, and managers build their business to unprecedented levels of success, while helping them maintain balance and quality of life.

#mindfulness #stress #time management #task management #work life balance #avoiding burn-out #burnout #productivity #zebra report #awareness #real estate #real estate coach #Denise Lones #The Lones Group

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daegall · 3 years

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Coming home

pairing: long distance boyfriend! Donghyuck x reader

genre: fluff

warnings: uuuuuhhhh swearing?

word count: 1.6 k words

a/n: YOOOO A CONVENIENCE STORE JUST OPENED UP NEXT TO MY GRANDPAS PLACE NO LITERALLY ITS RIGHT NEXT DOOR WATCH ME COME BACK HOME WITH A TON OF ICE CREAM 😎😎 also tell me what you think of this, it's a bit different from my usual writing :) (Sungchan blurb coming out tomorrow for knet-bakery’s nostalgic melodies event!! Please look forward to it <33)

AAANNNNNNDDD HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BEST LEADER TY TRACK!!!!!!!!!!!! KING DESERVES THE WHOLE WORLDDDD <3333

networks: @neoturtles @knet-bakery @kokonomi

🎶: coming home - nct u

5 months. 5 months without Donghyuck. 5 months without his touch, his warm embraces, his soft voice, his teasing remarks. 5 months of yearning for his featherlight touch, boyish grin, spontaneity, his reassurance and sincerity.

5 days until he arrives. 5 more days until you will be with him, 5 more days until you can love him.

Your eyes stay on the calendar for much longer than intended, calculating every single moment until the date hits Friday, waiting for the hour hands to move in the clock. For once in your life, you wish time would go faster.

The movie in front of you is basically useless, it’s his favorite Christmas movie. You can’t stand a second watching it without waiting for time to tick by or constantly thinking of him.

Your foot taps rapidly on the ground, teeth finding themselves chewing and gnawing at your lower lip yet once again. Friday, when will you come?

It’s felt too long without him, his arms wrapping around your body, his lips pressing softly against your burning skin, his hair softly tickling your nose, you’re becoming anxious.

5 days, just 5 days.

——————🌻——————

5 hours. Just 5 more hours.

5 hours until you can whisper how much you missed him, 5 hours until you can finally get shitty convenience store noodles with him, until you can freeze the shit out of your brains with the cold slushies.

You slip on your sweater quickly, bouncing out of bed after the sudden spontaneous decision to get to the airport early. It’s only 3 in the afternoon, the flight lands at 8, and not to mention the baggage pick up and all that other things, that's bound to be another 40 minutes.

You stop yourself before you could lock the door to your apartment, cursing and taking the key out from the keyhole. It’s too early. You don’t want to wait too desperately for him 2 hours before he even arrives.

‘2 hours.’ You tell yourself, ‘you can go in 2 hours.’

5 hours of impatience and anticipation is a lot harder to handle that 5 hours of a normal day.

What can you do in 5 hours? Surely, you could call Donghyuck, text him, send him a video or photo, anything.

Your head swarms more and more with thoughts of your distant significant other, the image of him printed permanently in your mind for you to cherish and enjoy while he’s gone.

5 months, he didn’t change that much, right? He never fell for someone else, right? There’s no way.

There’s a sudden swing in your mood, from frantic and yearning, to worried and doubtful, 5 months could really affect one.

——————🌻——————

5 minutes, god you’re literally shaking in anticipation. 5 minutes until you know you cry, 5 minutes until you’re in his embrace, 5 minutes until you can kiss his most likely chapped lips.

You decided to stay home, after you promised Donghyuck you would wait at home for him after he quickly texted you before the flight landed.

You’re unaware that in 5 minutes, the person you’ve longed most is coming through the front door, in 5 minutes you’ll be able to hold him and kiss him and finally be with him.

Maybe you should take a nap? Eat a snack? Clean the house?

4 minutes.

You slump into the couch, scrunching your face up in frustration. It’s been too long since you’ve been with Donghyuck. Without a fucking screen separating you apart.

There’s a hole in your chest, you can feel it, its dark and empty and swirling with eagerness. It’s eager for something, you know exactly what.

It’s waiting for Donghyuck’s love to come and fill up that void, to complete yourself.

Waiting for your better half.

3 minutes.

You can’t pay attention to the movie. What’s the point of watching a Christmas movie when it’s by yourself? Your eyes trail to the window next to the couch, where the snow falls ever so gracefully, covering the ground in a beautiful white.

Usually, you would always wish to go outside and play in the snow, but you have nothing but impatience in your body as you wait for your lover to come through the doors and welcome you in a hug.

2 minutes.

Is he stuck in traffic? Was there no taxi left?

1 minute.

You’re sure there were many taxis left, didn’t you book one for him? Did you forget? Oh no, did you?

50 seconds.

You curse at yourself and stand up abruptly, reaching over to the lamp table next to the couch to grasp at the keys.

45 seconds.

Dashing to the door, you are unaware of the figure behind it, hauling his heavy luggage up the stairs with such speed as well.

30 seconds.

You’re grabbing your puffy coat from the coat hanger, your heart clenching at the empty spot next to it, where Donghyuck’s coat will be hung.

It only urges you further to quicken up and get to the airport on time.

25 seconds.

But that’s nearly impossible, will all the snow and traffic, halfway there and he could already be waiting for you at home.

20 seconds.

It doesn’t stop you, you still have the large urge to see him come out the gate yourself, be reassured that he is here, he’s going to stay.

15 seconds.

Donghyuck huffs and wipes at the cold sweat on the back of his neck, when did the stairs suddenly become longer? Was it always that hard to get up?

10.

Your long distance boyfriend faces the door, the familiar wooden, authentic door he hasn’t seen in too long for his liking. This is it.

You’re right behind that door, stopping in your tracks to question if your actions are worth it.

Just wait, you tell yourself. He will come.

But greed takes over. It’s taking over your hand that is reaching for the door knob and twisting the cold metal to open the door.

Strangely, there is a weight causing the knob to twist easier, which is weird, the knob has always been a bit rusty and hard to twist open.

Donghyuck thinks the same thing, wondering if you finally fixed it with some oil or changed it.

Even at the smallest opening of the door, the cold gush of wind pushes in and blows against your warm skin, goosebumps being the result of such action.

As the door opens wider, you spot a familiar black luggage, the brown coat you bought as a birthday present for your boyfriend, and what’s best, is your boyfriend himself, whose expressions change as well as yours when he sees you as well.

In the span of a single second, Donghyuck is barging in and swooping you up in his arms, the snow from his coat falling between your own jacket and slipping into your neck and shoulders.

The cold is nothing compared to the nostalgic warmth of Donghyuck’s arms you missed oh so much, his skin burning against yours as you bury your face in the side of his neck.

You’ve grown a few inches, Donghyuck notices, because you only have to tiptoe to reach his shoulder. He can’t help but notice the smallest, most simplest things. Like how the living room has changed a little bit, just a few more pots of plants here and there, the tv playing his favorite Christmas movie, his hoodie he left for you sitting on the couch, he notices every little thing, and instantly adores all of them.

You also notice everything too, the way his shoulders have grown broader, the hairs on the back of his neck that grew longer, heck, even his new shoes he was sure you wouldn’t notice.

One thing that doesn’t change, you notice as you pull away slightly to look into Donghyuck’s eyes, is the love in them. The warmness and adoration pooling in them. The sparkle that they hold.

What also is pooling in his eyes are tears, happy tears, at the sight of you smiling oh so brightly just for him, all for him to cherish.

“Fuck, you don’t even know how much I missed you,” he breathes out, sighing at the feeling of your fingers softly carding through his snowy hair.

A soft smile adorns your lips, your lips Donghyuck has longed for so long, your lips he still longs to kiss.

And so he does. He plunges forward to take your lips passionately between his, the feeling of them crashing together sending his heart into a frenzy. Donghyuck’s mind is blank, only you in it, your hands lightly tugging at his hair, the smooth skin of your neck as he pulls you closer, your heart beating against his. He’s finally home.

Donghyuck attempts to dive back in and chase your lips when you pull away, but is stopped by your fingers pressing against his lips and your soft laughter filling the air.

A pout creases his lips, as you pat his cheek and kiss chastely on his red nose, “Go take a shower, you’re gonna catch a cold.”

He indeed catches a small cold that evening, dramatizing the fact that he’s cold, begging for cuddles and for you to feed him, but you’ve simply missed him too much to complain.

What would you even complain about? It’s almost Christmas, he’s home, and he’s going to stay. He will be the one helping you decorate the tree, he’s the one throwing snow at you, he’s the one setting the mistletoe up just as an excuse to kiss you.

He is everything you’ve ever wanted, he is your home.

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frankiekatt · 3 years

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My Ghost (Part 1)

Characters: Denki Kaminari

Notes: Ghost AUs fuel my soul so I had to write one myself. This will be a 3 part series!

Warnings: Mentions of death!

Words: 4K

Synopsis: Denki knew deep down any outcome would just lead to disaster and sorrow. After all, he was a dead man who never aged and who could never leave this house. And you - you were the complete opposite. You were a living, breathing girl with your whole life ahead of you.

Being alone in a brand new house with all its creaks and groans was definitely not your idea of a perfect summer. If you had gotten a choice in the matter, you would have gladly followed your two best friends to Costa Rica, or went vacationing with your father to Greece, or visited your grandmother in Hong Kong. Anything but being stuck home alone in a brand new house that didn’t even have all of your furniture in it yet.

But sadly, your mother had finally decided to get married to her long-time boyfriend, and the two of them had made the exciting decision to honeymoon in America all summer. Which meant that you would be cat-sitting for your new step-father’s tabby, Charles, in the new family house. All summer. All by yourself.

The house that your mother and new step-father had moved the three of you into was a two-story brick building with 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a small library on the second floor. The real estate agent that had sold your family the house had explained that no one had lived in this house for over 30 years, due to a death taking place in the upstairs attic, which creeped you out a bit, but your parents were quick to put down a down-payment on the house due to the unusually low price.

Now, for the next three months, this house would be a constant for you. That, and the black and grey tabby you were now responsible for.

Though, there was one more thing that would be in your presence for the remainder of the summer. You were not yet aware of the blonde boy’s presence in your house, but he was very aware of yours.

The very first day you and your family had moved in, Denki was completely smitten with you. He hadn’t seen a girl in this house that wasn’t over the age of 45 and trying to sell this place in well over 30 years. And definitely not a girl this cute.

He watched you explore the house, following behind you as you went from room to room, admiring the paintings his mother had hung on the walls years ago or inspecting the oak cabinets in the kitchen with a curious look in your pretty eyes.

Denki adored you. He watched every night as you and your two parents unpacked boxes in every room. He watched every night as you decorated your room - which was once his - with posters and drawings and hung up your clothes in the small closet on the right side of your room. On the third day, while you were downstairs with your mother, Denki decided to look through all the clothes you had hung up the night before. Most of the articles of clothing were sweaters and hoodies with a couple dresses and skirts here and there.

That’s how you dressed normally, Denki observed. Always in a hoodie or sweater with shorts or jeans. Denki thought it was odd at first, as it was the beginning of June and the sun was scorching. But the more Denki watched you, the more he found you absolutely adorable.

Denki hadn’t felt the touch of another human being since the day he died in his attic, and seeing you walk around his house each day, bundled up in big hoodies and sweaters, made him want to touch you more than anything. You just looked so soft. On the fourth night, after you had already gone to bed, Denki decided he was going to touch you. Just a little, just on your cheek. Nothing too creepy or too serious to wake you up.

You looked so pretty when you were sleeping. Your eyes were closed, which meant they couldn’t hold that annoyed look you seemed to perpetually have whenever your parents would talk about leaving for the summer. Your brows were rested, no longer drawn together in irritation. You looked completely and utterly peaceful.

Denki reached out towards your face, hand shaking like a leaf. He hadn’t touched another human in so long, and here you were, right in front of him, unconscious, vulnerable, smooth and soft. Denki had forgotten what human flesh felt like, so when he brushed the back of his fingers against your cold cheek, he almost jumped away.

Almost.

You felt like spring to him; growth, new beginnings, blossoming, life. You felt like everything Denki had been longing for for over thirty years - hell, even before then. He had only touched you with two fingers, and he already felt like fate had pulled him into its eventful little game. It was frightening to him, how many emotions were drifting in and out of his chest all at once.

He didn’t know you. The only thing he knew about you was your name and he only learned that four days ago. And yet, he here was, standing in his - your- bedroom, watching you sleep, falling in love with everything about you.

You stirred slightly at his touch, which made Denki jerk away. He quickly made himself invisible to the human eye once more and stepped away from your bedside before your eyes opened slowly.

Your room was unusually chilly. You got cold fairly easily, so you often kept the temperature of your room higher than normal, but now it felt like someone had left your window open during a frigid winter night. Sitting up, you pulled the large red hooding off the side of your headboard and slipped it over your t-shirt. Why is it so fucking cold?

Your bedside clock read 3:33am, which meant you only had a couple hours until your mother and step-father left for their 7am flight. Soon, you would be all alone in this house, in a new town, with no one to keep you company other than the fluffy grey cat that was currently sleeping at the foot of your bed. You were now wide awake and freezing cold, so you saw no point in trying to fall back asleep for a measly few hours, so you decided to explore the one room in this house you hadn’t quite gotten to see yet; the library.

The library was exactly as the real estate agent had said it was; completely untouched since the last family moved out. It was a small room, filled with one desk in the center, and two wide bookshelves attached to each wall. There were papers and notebooks littering the mahogany desk, as well as envelopes and wax stamps. The room smelt of dust and pine and was colder than your bedroom had been a couple minutes ago. Still, you ventured into the dark room, stopping by the large desk to turn on the small lamp that sat at its edge.

Light filled the room, showing off the rows upon rows of books that decorated the large brown bookshelves. Some books were very old, such as ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’, and some were not so old, such as a couple of Louis Duncan novels. Some of the books, as you saw, you had read, and most of them you had not. You spotted one of your favorite novels on the south wall bookshelf, and shuffled towards it to look over the dusty cover. Before you could grab the spine of the book, however, something caught your eye.

Something very human-like, and it was definitely not one of your parents.

He was only visible for half a second before he seemed to just cease to exist before your eyes. In that half a second though, you were apple to make out spiky blond hair, and piercing yellow eyes that were staring directly at you.

A scream rose in your throat, but you were able to choke it down before it could escape and wake everyone up. There was no one else in the room but you. You whipped your head around, scanning every corner of the room for the blonde boy who had just been right by your side moments ago, gazing at you. But there was nothing. No mysterious boy in the library, or out in the hall. Maybe the lack of a full night’s rest had you seeing things. Yes, that had to be it.

But Denki knew the truth. He had gotten distracted by you for not even a second, and had managed to make himself visible to you. He knew the second your eyes had widened in fear, that you had spotted him. Denki’s heart leaped out of his chest as he quickly made himself invisible and backed away from you. You were now looking around frantically, terror written all over your face. In the midst of back away from you quietly, Denki accidentally bumped into the large wooden desk, sending papers flying to the floor.

The sound of a thud and the fact that papers were now drifting downwards as if someone had picked up a stack and threw them on the floor had you second guessing if you were just imagining things.

No fucking way, you thought. You weren’t exactly a non-believer of the supernatural, but you had never in your life imagined that you would encounter anything non-human. The thought of it almost made you laugh as you stood frozen in fear. This was just ridiculous. Okay, so maybe you had thought you had seen a boy standing next to you and the next second he was gone, and maybe something made a loud noise and a stack of papers coincidentally fell to the floor. That did not mean that there was a ghost or a demon or some kind of invisible man in your house. Did it?

Denki decided to let you know it did, in fact, mean that. Making himself invisible to the human eye for four days straight had drained him of almost all of his energy, and you had already seen him and heard him twice. So, fuck it.

The scream that you had been keeping bay for the last 60 seconds had finally decided to rip free. There was the blonde boy again - standing right in front of you. A minute ago, he had been more translucent and blurry, but now you could see him clearly. This thing you were seeing was a tall blonde boy with yellow eyes, wearing all black. He was cute. But he was also someone who could disappear and reappear in a matter of seconds, and that was not what normal cute boys do.

You were screaming and backing yourself up against the wall, trying desperately to make yourself as small as possible so this magical invisible blonde boy would leave you alone.

“No! Shh! Stop, it’s okay, everything is okay! Please stop screaming!”

The fact that the blonde boy was now speaking to you, made you even more afraid. You inhaled deeply, preparing to let out another scream, hoping one of your parents would wake up and come save you, but the blonde boy lurched forward and clamped a hand down on your mouth before you could make another sound.

“Please,” he pleaded. “Please don’t scream. I’m not going to hurt you, I swear.”

His golden eyes were boring into yours, begging you to stay quiet. The urge to scream slowly dissipated as you realized this boy’s body was pressed against yours - this incredibly cute boy was pressing himself against you.

“I’m gonna take my hand away, okay?” The boy whispered. His eyes were just as wide as yours.

You nodded slowly at him, which prompted the blonde boy to let his hand slip away from your lips, inch by inch. Once your mouth was completely free, Denki took a step back to allow you to catch your breath.

“Alright, so, you probably have some questions.” He chuckled nervously.

Without meeting his gaze, you pushed yourself off the wall and nodded. Uh, yeah I have questions. Why are you in my house? How are you in my house? What exactly are you?

“Well,” he started slowly, “My name’s Denki. I, um, I used to live here.”

“Live here? So, what, you're mad I’m in your house or something and you’ve come to magically take it back or something?”

He shook his head and focused his gaze on his feet. “No, that’s not it. I kind of still live here, just not by my choice.”

What the blonde boy - Denki - said, seemed to ignite a memory in the back of your mind. The real estate agent had told you and your family that there had been a death in the house over 30 years ago - a boy who got electrocuted in the attic. The fact that Denki could make himself visible and invisible at will, clicked everything into place.

“Oh my god,” you whispered. “Y-your d-dead.” Your hands were now trembling.

Denki looked up at that moment. His eyes were sad and bleak, which almost made you feel bad for stating the obvious.

“That’s right,” Denki lamented. “I’m dead.”

* * *

You spent the next three and a half hours cautiously speaking to Denki, processing the fact that you were conversing with a ghost in the creepy library of your new home.

Denki explained to you that he had died on November 11th, 1989, in the attic of this house when he attempted to set up a couple extension cords for his tv he liked to play video games on during a storm, and ended up electrocuting himself. Denki didn’t seem too upset describing the day he died to you, but he did start to shed tears when he choked out how he had to watch his parents fall apart in the halls of this house over his death. He cried as he remembered how they finalized the divorce a year after his death, and put the house up for sale. Denki weeped when he looked back on the day when his eternal loneliness began. When his parents left him in this big, cold house all alone. Dead and lonely.

Once he was finished telling his story, he quickly wiped his tears away and smiled as brightly as he could at you, trying to hide his sorrow. “So,” he drawled. “What about you? What’s your story?”

You felt silly, sitting on the floor of the library, telling a dead boy the story of how your parents split when you were 12 due to an affair your mother was having with her now-husband, and how your dad decided to travel the world instead of wallowing in his heart break. You told Denki that living with your mother and her new boyfriend who had ruined your parents’ marriage was hard at first, but gradually became easier the more you realized what a nice guy your mother’s now-husband was. He was awkward around you, but always polite, and he seemed to be infatuated with your mother. Though you hated to admit it, you saw love between your mother and her boyfriend that you never saw between your mother and your father.

Denki reached out to hold your hands in his when your voice began to waver when speaking of your mother and father. It was a hard topic to talk about for you, but Denki’s cool hands gave you comfort.

You both shared stories of your childhoods, your favorite memories, what you both were like when you were younger. As 6 ‘o cock rolled around, you had forgotten that you were chatting and laughing with the ghost of an 18 year old boy. It was a strangely nice feeling. You had just discovered that ghosts were real, and now you were making friends with one. Denki was nice and funny and his infectious laugh had managed to pull a smile from you numerous times throughout the three hours you sat talking to him about anything and everything.

While Denki was rattling on about his favorite foods and how much he missed eating them, a thought popped into your head. “Denki,” you started, “have you been watching us for the past four days?”

Denki blinked at you before grinning and nodding furiously. “Yep! The way you dance while folding laundry is super cute by the way!” His favorite thing to do at night was watching you blast music from your phone and dance around your room while folding fresh laundry.

A slight blush coated your cheeks. “So, did you...see everything I did then?”

Oh. That.

Denki instantly knew what you were referring to. On the third night of staying in your new house, you had waited till both of your parents had gone to bed before locking your bedroom door and slipping into bed. Denki had been sitting in your computer chair at that time, leisurely watching you go about your room for the past half hour. The moment you had fallen into your bed though, made Denki shoot to his feet with a tomato red face.

You had slipped your delicate hand into the waistband of your night shorts. It had been several weeks since you had had a chance to release any of your stress in any type of form, and tonight you were alone, horny, and frustrated. Your small fingers were now stuffed inside your cunt, moving in and out in an attempt to relieve yourself, and Denki was unable to look away. He knew he shouldn’t be watching this - watching you - but he couldn’t make himself leave, couldn’t make himself respect your privacy.

You looked so helpless and so cute sprawled out on your bed, hand moving around in your shorts, your wet lips letting out soft little mewls. Denki felt utterly disgusting as he slipped his own hand into the waistband of his jeans to knead himself at the sight of you. He wanted more than anything to make himself known to you, to touch you, to tell you he had practically fallen in love with you the first time he saw you and you should let him pleasure you instead.

Denki had to settle for fucking his fist to the sound of your moans, unfortunately. He could almost imagine how wet and tight and how good you would feel around him. He hoped someday soon, he would get to be the one forcing moans out of your mouth instead of your own fingers. He hoped soon, he would be able to kiss your neck as he fucked into you, reaching his high. He really, really hoped that he would be able to release inside you, stuffing you full of his cum, of his passion, of his love.

Denki’s face flushed at your revelation. He had just revealed himself to you, and had managed to get you to stay and talk to him for hours - he did not want to ruin it by admitting to violating your privacy in the worst way possible.

“I know you watched me that night,” you said, barely above a whisper. “I-I think I heard you. H-heard you moaning.”

Denki didn’t think his face could reach a higher temperature. He wanted to say something - anything - but was completely stuck watching you stutter and blush, his own mouth glued shut.

“I thought I was just imagining it, that I was fantasizing about something like that. But I wasn’t, was I? It was you in my room that night. Watching me.”

Your voice wasn’t the least bit defensive, nor was there any trace of accusation on your face. Shouldn’t you be angry at him? Shouldn’t you be yelling at him in embarrassment? Calling him a pervert?

But you weren’t. You looked flustered for sure, but not like you felt violated in any way. In fact, the thought of Denki watching you touching yourself - touching himself at the sight of you - made you feel good. Denki was extremely attractive to you, and it was thrilling to know that he thought the same of you.

“I-I’m sorry, Y/N.” This was humiliating. What if you never wanted to talk to him again because of this? What would he do then? “I never meant to do that sort of thing! I j-just, I don’t know, you looked so pretty and I had already come to like you so much that I just-”

Watching Denki fumble with his words in an effort to not upset you was almost laughable. You didn’t want nor need an apology from him. You liked that he had watched you. That he had touched himself to you.

That’s why you were now kissing him. He had begun to stutter and raise his voice so much that the only way you saw fit to quiet him was to press your lips against his. His lips were smooth and full and cold to the touch just like his hands were. Your sudden intrusion shocked Denki so much that he almost forgot to kiss you back. He hadn’t kissed anyone since he was 12 years old, and even then, the girl who kissed him was only acting on a dare and had laughed in his face before running away after taking his first kiss. Now, he had you pressed against him, your lips dancing upon his in the gentlest way possible.

When he began to reciprocate the kiss, Denki could have sworn he saw ‘the light’ everyone talked about seeing when they died. It was beautiful and warm and exciting and it was all you. You slipped an arm around his neck to tug him closer and deepen the kiss, which incited a soft groan from Denki’s throat. Breathing had become a distant memory for the both of you; all that mattered in that moment was claiming each other’s lips.

“Y/N,” your mother called from downstairs. You both jumped away from each other at your mother’s voice, panting heavily, lips swollen.

“What, mom?” Why did she have to be awake now?

“We’re leaving in a few minutes, sweetie! Please come down here!”

For fucks sake. You knew you should go down there and bid her farewell. She would be gone for three months, after all. But Denki’s presence made everything else in your life seem so small. You had only just met him, only kissed him once, and now it felt like he was invading your mind and making a permanent home in your brain. “Alright! I’m coming!”

You turned back towards Denki who had a goofy grin on his face. “So you do like me back?”

You scoffed, letting your hair fall in front of your face to hide the redness that was blossoming across it. “Shut up. You’re just kind of cute. That’s all” A complete lie.

Denki leaned forward and took your chin in his hand, forcing you to look him in the eye. “Well,” he said, “I like you. And I want to do that again, if that’s okay?”

A slight smile found its way on your lips. You were about to take him up on his offer before your mother shouted back up at you to hurry down. Denki smiled at you and said, “Go, before she comes up here and catches you making out with a ghost.”

Tearing yourself away from him was surprisingly hard. You felt compelled to stay with Denki like that, centimeters apart, lingering in your own little bubble. But he was right. Your mother was starting to sound agitated. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

Denki nodded at you encouragingly, and watched as you rushed out of the room and down the stairs. His smile quickly fell from his lips once you were gone.

You had kissed him. And he had kissed you back. Denki wasn’t sure what this meant, but he was secretly hoping it would continue.

Though, even with that hope, Denki knew deep down any outcome would just lead to disaster and sorrow. After all, he was a dead man who never aged and who could never leave this house. And you - you were the complete opposite. You were a living, breathing girl with your whole life ahead of you.

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paint-lady · 3 years

Text

Vamptober 2021 Reflection Week 1

Heres your TLDR folks: I do spooky vampire drawings its fun I have a kofi see you next week

Hiya! For those of you that follow me, you may remember that last inktober I did a weekly reflection on each piece I do. I highly encourage any artist participating in any monthly art challenge to do this for 3 big reasons.

The task of 31 drawings can feel overwhelming- and breaking it down weekly feels much more manageable.

It encourages you to praise and reward yourself for getting this far. I and many of my artist friends are exceptionally critical of ourselves, and these reflections force you to be positive about your own work. Through these challenges I always see tremendous growth in my skills.

If you want to be critical about your work- you can find patterns easier by looking at a collection rather than each individual piece.

The secret 4th reason is that I get to spam your dash with vampire art AGAIN. >:)

I presented myself with a challenge for all of these pieces- to do them all in under 1 hr and 30 minutes. This doesn’t count the amount of time I spend conceptualizing and researching, but I don’t let myself spend too much time on that either. Not that I can. I work about 30-36 hours a week and am attempting to draw a comic at the same time. There aren’t a lot of hours in the day. This time limit challenge was simultaneously to force myself to get looser and trust my instincts AND make sure I clock in on time. Secondly, I aim to do all of these digitally. By hand has dry times. In 2020, if I wanted to spend 4 hours waiting for a piece to dry- I could. Can’t this year. Additionally, I know Clip Studio fairly well, but by no means do I consider myself an expert. By doing this digitally, I am going to improve my literacy with this program.

So, without delay, lets take a look at what I’ve done so far!

Vamptober Day 1: Fangs Out!

1 HR 20 MIN

I am really happy with this piece for a multitude of reasons. The composition is well balanced, drawing your eyes down center to the text, then up to the pearly whites. The hands are so simple, I just went to town with the digital dry ink brush. The nails are so shiny, I love them. There’s this sense of someone else controlling and going to grab them--thats not the smiler’s claws.

I am critical about my shading in some places- namely the tongue. I think it looks phallic. I should have erased it and drawn the other fang. Also, the vein work is a bit too controlled for my liking. I should have taken more time to vary the widths of the veins- so it looks more like the effects of diablerie than cracked porcelain.

Vamptober Day 2: Sweet Embrace

1 HR 10 MIN

To quote a successful local manga artist I met in a comic shop, “Just vibe. Just draw the fun vibes. If you aren’t having fun, what is even the point?” So I did just that.

I definitely was inspired by some of those romance mangas I was eyeing on the shelves of that comic shop. I am really happy with her hair, it looks like it curls so effortlessly. Additionally, it look like it has weight. Hair is heavy. How her hair drapes over her shoulder or across her face feels very accurate. I like how I used the dry ink brush to end the piece, hiding the shadows of their shirt with a “hey this is the end of the drawing.” My favorite quick detail is her hand, gently playing with their hair. I think I could have made it a little bigger, but It was enlightening that I just drew it- and didnt spend 15 minutes looking for a reference or oddly angling my own hand to see how it would look.

I think I needed to be a bit more careful with my layers. The grey from her clip layer is showing between curls, blocking the textured background. That is a small enough fix I should have taken the couple minutes to do it.

Vamptober Day 3: Where The Undead Gather

1 HR 45 MIN

THINBLOOD SAFEHOUSE THINBLOOD SAFEHOUSE THINBLOOD SAFEHOUSE!

Most of you know I’ve been tossing this idea around- perhaps in my vampire posts or on my rp blog as Hazel. But actually visualizing it has proven quite a challenge. Last year I wasn’t even up to the task- I couldn’t capture it the way I wanted to and ended up posting Hazel’s jacket instead.

But this... this feels right. Its cramped. It’s absolutely drenched in saturated red light, hiding any stains and drips. Bright red, like a fucking target. Hiding plain sight has so many advantages... but once you are spotted its game over.

I really feel like I managed to get loose as you look into the background. It feels like the right level of lack of detail. I am very proud of the neon light up top, its the alchemical symbol for thinbloods. The text is also very good, it has the right textures for the atmosphere I’ve created. The side shave with the mark is subtle enough that it is noticed after your eye has glanced around the entire piece. I think there is only one note I’d give myself. I which I had done the bricks a little better. With the neon light illuminating the arch so vibrantly, I should have spent a little more time highlighting textures and perspective.

Vamptober Day 4: Elysium Fashion

2 HOURS

Ever just know you have a masterpiece concept and you know exactly how you want to do it? Thats how I felt about this piece. When I read through the prompts, I considered doing some haute couture fashion... and then it hit me. That line my storyteller used on me to understand the nature of Elysium. Its a place to see and be seen... its a chance to make a statement. And a thinblood walking in with the mark they branded her with on full display- as they commanded her. How dare she walk without shame. How dare she not lower herself to us. CHEFS KISS

My only note for myself is that I need to be careful with compositions. I borrowed a lot of elements from a full page piece from a Catwoman comic for this. And although I have made it my own and am not aiming to monetize this piece, there is a part of me that knows to be cautious with what I claim is mine. I am capable of replicating work without tracing, yet I look at this and see that the lines are still too similar. I do believe that if I let myself continue working on this overnight (I stopped at like 1 am oops) that this would be less of an issue- as I would have continued to add details and textures to my background characters.

Vamptober Day 5: The Very First Bite

1 HR 9 MIN

I streamed this drawing with a friend and it was wonderfully fun. I am really happy with the sense of motion from the ink in the background with the splashes of blood drops. I think I did a good job with the proportions and subtle highlights on black ink. The soft eraser on a separate layer is a godsend.

The parts I am critical about are in two places. The head of the vampire feels a bit too big. Namely the side shave. I think if I had worked the airbrush there and shortened how far the shave goes, the head wouldn’t feel as cartooned and a bit more proportioned. The other spot is where the victim’s hand is going. I definitely knew this when i was drawing- but I couldn’t find a way to properly incorporate it. I commend myself to making my shading consistent to hide this- but i really wish I could’ve gotten that part to feel less “wait...where’d her hand go?”

Vamptober Day 6: Undead Love

1 HR 3 MINUTES

HAZEL AND LISA MY BELOVEDS

I based this piece off of what I drew in 2019 from my first ever chronicle. One of the most striking scenes I have ever played with Hazel was with her girlfriend, Lisa. That night Lisa agreed to drink some of Hazel’s vitae for her to tell her...everything. There’s poison under the layers of comfort.

When I had first drawn this piece, I noticed a lot of odd proportions. Hazel’s head was oddly shaped, Lisa’s arms were weirdly long for her body shape. In this piece, I have mostly remedied those errors. However, there is something about the piece having these sketchy mistakes left in that feels right. Theres a softness to the original sketch that I managed to keep with the updated version- although it feels different. The original definitely looks like they are cuddling after having sex- not just had the most intense discussion about continuing their relationship despite all the trouble they know is going to head their way. Not that they didn’t have sex after this discussion but details. I think I managed to retain their relaxed expressions, though I wish I could have incorporated a bit more detail about the influence of the blood into the piece.

Vamptober Day 7: The Hideout

1 HR 45 MIN

For some reason, I wanted to paint this. I started messing around with the water color brushes and before I knew it, there was color on the page. I think i did a good job capturing the atmosphere of this moment. My friend commented, [paraphrasing here] “Its exactly what I like about VTM, its a layer over our world. It doesn’t take much to peel back the layer and see the story within it.” The last thing you see is the person calling at the bottom right- and you don’t know if thats good or bad for the person watching the sky. I let my viewer form their own story of what is happening here.

I think I had a hard time with the lighting. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how intense of a yellow-green i needed to place on objects and scenery. Ultimately, I returned to the just vibe rules.

Week 1 Reflection:

So that’s 7 pieces. WOO! I did it! While bumping myself up to a full time position AND writing a comic. AND doing commissions. And am somewhat being social...

There’s a part of me that is like when do I mess up and fall behind?

And I’m wrestling on why that feels like such a failure to me. I’ve put so much on my plate, it would not be surprising to fall behind. And is it so bad? Its okay, life is like that. Things come up. I am still trying to wrestle my own brain on I don’t have to do it all. I think giving myself that time limit has extremely helped. if I didn’t have that self discipline, I definitely could have spent hours and hours on each piece and felt overwhelmed. I think being extremely strict with myself about my vitamin and food intake as we head into seasonal depression time is helping. I am very good at hiding the big Sad tm with tons and tons of tasks. The sad can’t get me if I’m constantly busy. I am hoping that as I continue, I will be more at peace with this, and feel less anxious about this inevitable fuck up. Because....what if I manage to pull it off? I know I can. I know I can.

Completely switching gears here and back to technical shit, I notice how much I am utilizing the Dry Ink Brush, the Rough water color brush, and my Tapered Ink Liner. Nothing wrong with finding what works, I am just surprised that this is becoming my go-to tool set after a year of swearing by the “For Effect” Line (it just autocorrects curves). I am noticing how I like to frame things with a lot of rough brush strokes. Some are images I find on open source sites like pixabay, some are my own creations I’ve saved to a personal library of stock images. Right now, I feel as if I am at a crossroads of style. There’s a part that likes the rigid structure, and a part that is absolutely vibing with being lose and unstructured. I can’t wait to see what else I create and how my digital style evolves.

Thank you for reading and supporting through this entire thing! Now here comes the shameless self promotion. If you like my work and want to support me- I have a Ko-Fi! No pressure to donate though! Supporting me can be reblogging my art, sharing it with your friends, or leaving outrageous comments in the tags. I read every single one and cherish it! Thank you all!

Lets have a Fangtastic Week 2 to Vamptober!

#vamptober #vamptober 2021 #stephanie's sketchbook #my art #reflection #long post #inktober #okay to reblog #ko-fi link

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skellebonez · 3 years

Note

You like soulmate aus? 44 with a soulmate au where there are countdown timers for important events and if you concentrate you can see the lifespan of your romantic and platonic soulmates except immortals. MK realizes he can see Red Son's life countdown and he only has 1 year left

ANON I WANT YOU TO KNOW THIS WAS THE SADDEST PROMPT I HAVE EVER BEEN GIVEN AND I HAD TO TAKE IT OUT OF THE WAIT LIST TO FILL IT ASAP. Just. Damn. You came for my heart and crushed it. @kitkat1003 you helped make this sadder so I wanna make sure you see this.

WARNING: I mean, look at the prompt. It's gonna be a depressing read regardless. Read the tags for a major spoiler if you want to know about the end in advance.

The Lunar New Year special is mentioned in passing but NO SPOILERS.

Why are you still awake?

MK never made it a point to concentrate and look at his soulmate timers unless he really felt he had to, tempting as it may have been. Especially not their life countdown timers. The colors one saw differed from from viewer to viewer, some people even saw only one color in varying shades, and no one knew why the colors were chosen the way they were for each individual. But to MK the timers were a whole swath of colors.

It was easy with Mei, her platonic bond with his allowing him to see the bright green (green for all platonic bonds, not just Mei) countdowns to major events (some bad but usually good, like a major race being announced or taking part in a game tournament spontaneously). The familial blue bond he had with Pigsy and Tang went much the same, as well as Sandy's own platonic bond. He didn't learn that immortal beings had their own color, brilliant gold tinted in whatever the proper bond was until he met Sun Wukong, his gold-green timer slowly changing into a gold-blue bond of family found.

It wasn't until Red Son that MK realized his romantic bonds were a brilliant red (which, in retrospect, could have been seen as funny), shining brilliant and bright and almost blinding him when he caught sight of him properly from far above him (and it nearly made him fall before Wukong forced him to, the traitor). He'd mistaken it for some kind of antagonistic bond before he learned that that was also a type of platonic soulmate. So that was something he shoved deep deep deeeeeep down inside to think about later, especially since a lot of people now a days rarely went after their first romantic soulmate and instead waited for a platonic to change in time.

He never told anyone.

It also wasn't until he tested concentrating on timers with Wukong, for fun and out of sheer curiosity if he really was super immortal, that he realized that immortal's life countdown timer just looked like a mass of rapidly changing numbers screaming in confusion and he decided to never do that again.

Until... the Lunar New Year celebration.

He was curious, scared, and Red Son was there and he let his curiosity get the better of him. He wanted to see if Red was still immortal and if his timer did the same thing.

361 days, 17 hours, 8 minutes, and 42 seconds.

That couldn't have been right.

He tried again.

361 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes, and 30 seconds.

And again.

361 days, 16 hours, 56 minutes, and 45 seconds.

And one last time, after everything was over.

361 days, 12 hours, 1 minute, 29 seconds.

Red Son... had less than a year left to live. Red Son, The Boy Sage Prince, the one who almost defeated Sun Wukong on his journey and eternal thorn in his side... was going to die.

MK hadn't ever really imagined that he could die. He had believed that Red Son was immortal, and maybe he still was. There were ways to kill immortals who weren't all powerful Monkey Kings. But he'd always imagined that, maybe, eventually, they could possibly at least work things out and get to know each other eventually after what happened with WBS.

Now he was plagued with the thought 'what if I'm the one who kills him' and he couldn't handle that so he made up his mind then and there and before Red Son could leave he grabbed him by his jacket collar in front of everyone and changed that thought to 'fuck it' and kissed him and pulled away and looked DBK in the eye and announced "I've known Red is my romantic soulmate since day 1 and I am not wasting anymore time with stupid feuds".

Apparently that was just enough to startle the other man into not attacking and to send Sun Wukong into a frenzy of cackling "I KNEW IT"s.

Red Son turned as red as his jacket on his cheeks and just looked at MK in awe. They had-

361 days, 10 hours, 2 minutes, 16 seconds.

Red hadn't left his parents, not immediately, but the sudden relationship that have been revealed between the successor to the Monkey King and the son of the Demon Bull King had forced everything to a standstill. DBK wanted revenge, PIF wanted her husband to be happy, Sun Wukong wanted to be retired, and all three of them were too stubborn to not insist the two men court each other anyway because tradition dictated that when a romantic soulmate pair revealed their bond no one could force them apart.

352 days, 14 hours, 34 minutes, 18 seconds.

MK felt back constantly checking Red Son's timer, but he didn't want to waste a single second. They had less than a year. He'd seen just how smart and resourceful and, as much as he didn't want to admit it at first, protective and caring for the people he had grown close to he was.

By the end of the month they had moved into Red Son's apartment (he had an apartment?).

322 days, 2 hours, 28 minutes, 50 seconds.

MK learned that Red Son was a fantastic chef, on par with Pigsy even. His food was spicy but over time he learned that MK would suffer through food that was hurting him just to try his food and make it less so. Just for him.

315 days, 2 hours, 45 minutes, 34 seconds.

They kissed for the second time well after they had moved in together. Despite rushing into this they had both been too nervous and flustered to do more than hold hands and sleep side by side in different blankets.

They started sharing a blanket by month 2.

292 days, 8 hours, 1 minute, 12 seconds.

DBK was still pissed at Wukong. No one thought his grudge would ever fully disappear. But he and PIF had stopped attacking. For now. For their son. The best thing they had ever done for him was let him be with his soulmate without fighting.

MK never felt more guilty than when he realized he was never going to tell them. He tried once, after they moved in. After he had truly fallen in love with Red Son. He'd cried too hard to get the words out and PIF had looked torn between telling him to leave and comforting him before she put a shockingly gentle hand on his shoulder.

He could never tell them.

267 days, 18 hours, 59 minutes, 2 seconds.

Red got along amazingly well with Mei and Sandy. The three of them together were a mechanical nightmare for anyone on their bad side and the most amazing team for anyone they made anything for. Red was also the new favorite among Sandy's cats. No one was surprised.

He and Red ended up adopting a little one eyed kitten they found outside Pigsy's Noodles. They named her Bao-Bao. They loved her.

245 days, 7 hours, 29 minutes, 34 seconds.

Naturally nothing was going to be calm for the Monkie Kid. Eventually demons far and wide came to attack either him or the city. The only difference was that, now, he had Red Son by his side.

Every time Red took a hit MK felt no fear. He knew that would not be the hit that killed his soulmate. His soulmate had-

208 days, 19 hours, 78 minutes, 21 seconds.

Red and Tang were fast friends. Red and Mei and Sandy were faster. It had taken longer for Pigsy but he came around fast enough.

Sun Wukong, though. Even after 5 months he was still slightly tense and terse and short with Red. But he had been coming around, slowly. Just like with everyone else, Wukong was hard pressed to open up to anyone who wasn't MK.

They visited Flower Fruit Mountain from time to time, and it was one day when Red had wandered off to enjoy the scenery at MK and Wukong had heard the pained screech of a small monkey in the distance.

When they saw Red calming the little one down, tending to it's wound as best he could, MK saw Wukong properly smile at him for the first time. Soon they had-

157 days, 22 hours, 28 minutes, 59 seconds.

There were still fights. DBK and Sun Wukong didn't get along. But things were better.

There were family game nights. Red and Pigsy and Wukong cooked together. Bao-Bao had grown into a beautiful Tortoise Shell cat (with tortitude included). Everyone promised to try to get along and things were going well. Red Son and MK were truly in love, it seemed. At least MK was. He was certain Red was as well.

That's why MK asked him to marry him that night.

Red said yes.

140 days, 19 hours, 34 minutes, 34 seconds.

Was 7 months too fast? Yes. Did MK care? No. Did anyone object?

Only the demons that showed up to fight. They were taken care of quickly. DBK was not entirely happy about how fast things were but for his only son it seemed he would not allow anything to ruin the day.

He'd changed over the 7 months. Not entirely, not enough for MK to completely forgive him for everything since he had awoken. But seeing him punch a demon into the stratosphere for Red Son was a pretty good marker of how much he was trying.

6 days, 37 hours, 8 minutes, 12 seconds.

Everything was amazing for those few months together. They fought demons. They kissed. They spent time with their family. No longer two families but one family.

Then Macaque came back.

MK had thought he was gone for good, he had been so quiet. But apparently he was planning something the whole time.

Something to kill an immortal.

That was when MK learned he was immortal. And wasn't that ironic?

Macaque had meant to stab him. MK didn't move in time.

Red Son jumped in front of him and there was red.

Macaque wasn't seen again after what MK did to him.

They bandaged the small wound in Red Son's shoulder. They would find a way to fix this. They had to. MK knew what would kill Red Son now, it wasn't that he wasn't immortal it was whatever poison had been meant for him. He knew people had beaten death clocks before.

He had to try.

5 days, 12 hours, 29 minutes, 56 seconds.

5 days, 12 hours, 29 minutes, 55 seconds.

5 days, 12 hours,. 29 minutes, 54 seconds.

That was what MK saw when Red Son coughed up blood for the first time.

4 days, 1 hour, 12 minutes, 13 seconds.

Sun Wukong found out where Macaque had gotten the poison.

There was no cure.

Red coughed more red and MK screamed at the Monkey King to look again. Do something. Anything. Anything...

They didn't see him or DBK for over 2 days.

1 day, 17 hours, 34 minutes, 14 seconds.

1 day, 17 hours, 34 minutes, 13 seconds.

MK watched the countdown timer tick down.

"Why are you still awake?" Red Son had asked him as he held his head in his lap.

"I don't want to miss any more seconds with you," MK answered softly.

"Am I going to... die?" Red Son asked softly.

"Not if Monkey King does what I know he can do," MK answered again. "I know he'll be back soon. I know it. I-"

"MK! MK I'M BACK!" Sun Wukong yelled through the apartment, bursting into their room looking disheveled and like he hadn't stopped moving since he left. But smiling. DBK looked much the same as he came through the door behind him.

"I think we found something!"

1 day, 17 hours, 32 minutes, 2 seconds.

MK prayed that Sun Wukong was right. He was Sun Wukong. He had to be.

1 day, 17 hours, 32 minutes... 3 seconds.

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scuttling · 3 years

Text

Disclosure

Fandom: Criminal Minds Pairing: Aaron Hotchner/Latina OFC Sophie Cortes Word Count: 3,436 Tags: Flirting, Kissing, Fluff, Established relationship, The team finds out Summary: Sophie and Aaron take the next step in their relationship, and that means it’s time to tell the team. Collection: Sophie Cortes timeline, 1 year-1 year 3 Months at the BAU (See Masterlist for reading order) Link to A03 or read below! The team is in the briefing room, going over a grisly triple homicide in Maine, when Sophie hears the four words she’s been dreading: “Wheels up in 30.” Aaron stands and buttons his jacket, and she looks at her watch.

It’s 3:45, which just plain sucks; in one hour and fifteen minutes and she would have been free to go home, throw on some comfy clothes, have dinner with her boyfriend and cuddle up with a movie, but now they’re heading to New England, which means at least two days of secrecy instead.

The rest of the team files out of the room, and she’s practically out the door too when she hears Aaron murmur, “Raincheck?” He’s right behind her, his body a solid line of heat she can feel, and she smiles, turns to walk backward out the door. It's not the first time their plans have been ruined, and it certainly won't be the last.

“Absolutely. In the meantime, we have work to do.”

When they land, Sophie and Aaron are the lucky pair who get to hang back to work on the board, and they are pinning up crime scene photos and witness statements when she turns to look at him, just because. He’s been unfairly handsome today, probably because their plans were ruined and she can’t just kiss him whenever she wants to.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you how good you look in that gray suit,” she murmurs, even though the nearest cop is well over ten feet away.

He looks over at her with a mostly blank face, but she can read him well enough, knows he isn’t opposed to hearing more; it’s definitely not his indulgent, ‘don’t you ever behave?’ face, or his stern ‘now is not the time’ face, which is good. They’re not in the field, not discussing theories, just tacking pages to the cork board, alone, so a little sexy talk is harmless, right?

“Of course, you look good in everything, from suits to running shorts to pajamas to just the sheets,” she tells him, low, purposefully returning her eyes to the board, “but there’s something about the gray suit that really does it for me. Makes your hair look darker, your eyes pop, something.”

“Thank you.” She does glance over then, loves to see him when he’s processing a compliment, and his brow is furrowed as expected. God, what a good look. She’s literally stupid for this man. “I thought I noticed you looking at me more than usual today.”

“I wasn’t even sure that was possible,” she teases, and when he meets her eyes they share a soft smile. “You’re my favorite thing in any room; it's hard not to look.”

“You’re my favorite thing in any room, too. I’m just a little more discreet.” He’s sweet, so unbelievably sweet… but they can’t do sweet right now, will have to save it for later, so she opts for spicy instead.

“Hmm, discreet?” She steps closer to him just to see what he’ll do; when his spine goes rigid and he pauses, breathing in the scent of her shampoo, she grins. “Meet me in the janitor's closet in five minutes and I’ll show you discreet, Agent.” He wets his lips, and she thinks he might actually be thinking about doing it when Prentiss pops her head into the conference room.

“Hey, do you guys have a copy of the coroner’s report for Shelley Smith? I can’t find mine.” Sophie sighs lightly and Aaron smirks just for her before grabbing a copy and handing it over.

Foiled again.

Over a working dinner of Chinese takeout, the team is poring through archived files, trying to make a connection between the most recent case and some crimes that happened in the 90s, and Sophie notices that Aaron is unfocused. He’s been reading the same page for the last four minutes, he took far too long to respond to a question Reid asked, and he called an officer by the wrong name, which is almost a mortal sin in the Hotchner handbook. She can’t figure out why he’s unfocused, though, and when she tries, the only possibility she comes up with is that maybe he wasn’t as alright with her previous flirting as he’d seemed. Sure, he was smiling, sweet, but maybe that was just to cover up his discomfort?

She knows how important rules are to him, and they set boundaries about work for a reason. If she broke a boundary of his, however innocently, she won’t forgive herself easily. She makes a plan to go to his room when they get back to the hotel, to ask if what she said bothered him; she really hopes that’s not the case, because she’s never seen him so preoccupied, would hate to be the reason he’s upset. At just past midnight, there is a soft knock on Aaron’s door, and he is more than happy to see Sophie on the other side of it, brandishing two minibar bottles of whisky and a vending machine bag of salt and vinegar chips. “You up for a late night snack?” she asks, and he smiles, enamored, swings the door open wide so she can enter the room. She curls up in one of the chairs around the table, legs folded underneath her, and tears the foil packet so it’s like a makeshift plate; he grabs two plastic cups and the little bucket of ice he went after earlier, plus a Coke from the fridge, and takes the chair across from her with a sigh.

“This is just what I needed,” he tells her, plucking a few ice cubes and dropping them into her cup, then doing the same for his. He twists open the bottles and dumps them in, and she tops them off with a bit of fizzy Coke, and it feels very right, almost homey, in a way hotel rooms never are. He takes her hand when she sets down the can, and her eyes soften as she looks up at him. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. No better way to end a long day than salt, fat, and booze.” She crunches on a chip, pushing the pile toward him, and he kisses her knuckles.

“You were just what I needed,” he clarifies, though he does take a sip of his drink, and she mirrors him. “Snacks much appreciated, but not required.”

“Maybe I’m wrong, but I got the vibe you were a little off today, and being off always requires snacks.” They take turns munching on the chips, silent for a couple minutes but for their crunching, and eventually she squeezes his hand. “You want to talk about what’s had you in your head all evening?”

“It’s nothing, really, I’ve just been… thinking.” She licks her lips a little nervously, dusts the salt off of her fingertips, and covers their hands with hers, leaning forward a little.

“Aaron, if you’re having second thoughts about us because of how I was flirting with you at the precinct, I’m sorry. We were working a case, and even if we were alone, and we weren’t actively working, I know that not following the rules could get you into trouble. I really am sorry.” He studies her for a moment, goes back over her words, and then stands from his chair, walking over to her side, never letting go of her hands. He kneels in front of her, and he knows his eyes are soft, because his heart is soft, too.

“I’m not having second thoughts about anything. That was harmless, at the precinct, I…” He sighs softly, not used to being at a loss for words, but if anyone could do this to him, it’s her. “I’m in love with you.”

She inhales sharply, like she can’t believe it, leans closer to him like she heard wrong. Her voice is a little shaky. “What?”

“I’ve been in my head today thinking about how badly I wanted to make dinner with you tonight, to curl up and watch a movie, and how I hate that our plans were ruined, even though I clearly know that this case is important, that this is our job. I know that, but I couldn’t help feeling for the first time in a long time that I was truly missing out on something by hopping on a plane in the middle of the afternoon.” He drops her hands only to cradle her face, and he shifts to press a soft, slow kiss to her lips. “I love you, Sophie.”

She responds by wrapping her arms around him and kissing him equally as soft, as sweet, several delicious presses of her mouth against his; when they break apart minutes later, she hugs him tightly, soft fingers in his hair. “I love you. I want to grin like an idiot every time you talk, and I love looking at your very similar facial expressions to try to decipher what’s going on in your mind, and I’m just… so in love with you.” They kiss again, a little less sweet, and they separate panting. “I wish I could stay with you tonight.”

“I know, I’m sorry it happened this way. I would have planned a more romantic evening, if I’d known I was going to say that,” he admits, nodding at the half-eaten chips and empty liquor bottles. She huffs a laugh.

“I don’t know about you, but this feels pretty romantic to me already.” She kisses him softly, smiles at the end of it. “Everything is special when it’s you.”

His heart is just… melted, and he feels so much tenderness, affection, for her that he doesn’t want her to leave, never wants the night to end. They both know it has to, though, and they finish their snack, and he walks her to the door, kissing her soft and slow.

“Something to think about,” he murmurs, hesitant to break the spell of happiness it feels like they’re under. “We should probably tell the team. I know we had agreed to wait until we got to know each other better, spend time as a couple, and I think we’ve done that. Do you?” She nods, smiling softly.

“Yeah, I think it’s time.” She pulls him close for a hug, wraps her arms around him. “I’m nervous. Are you nervous?”

“I try to always prepare for the unknown, but I have a good feeling about our team. I think that, once they hear what we’ve done to give ourselves some separation, they’ll be okay with it.” The corners of her lips turn up, and she looks to him like there is nowhere she’d rather be than in his arms.

“Have I told you lately how happy I am that we got together? I feel like I haven’t. But I am so, so happy, Aaron.” They meet for a kiss, and he has half a mind to keep her in his room all night, propriety be damned.

“I’m so happy, too. And I’ll be even happier when we’re back in Virginia, and we’re laying on your couch watching tv, and you touch me with your frankly freezing cold feet…”

“I can’t help it! My body gets hot but my feet get cold. It’s something you’re going to have to get used to,” she says with a grin, “now that you’re in love with me.”

He grins back, because he really, really is. “Sorry to call this meeting so abruptly; it shouldn’t take long,” Aaron says a few days later, standing with his hands on the back of his usual chair. The team is gathered in the briefing room, with the exception of Garcia, and Sophie focuses on her breathing, resolutely does not think of everything that could go wrong here today. This is their team, these are their friends. They’ll understand.

“Is everything okay?” Prentiss asks, face concerned, and he relaxes his posture, looks to the door.

“Everything’s okay, it’s not bad news. We just have to wait for Garcia.”

“Sorry guys,” the tech murmurs a moment later as she bustles in, and everyone greets her warmly. When she’s seated, Aaron straightens up, prepares to address the room. She wonders if he’s as nervous as she is; he doesn’t look it, but then again, he never does.

“Okay. As you know, the bureau’s policy on fraternization is that a supervisory agent cannot be in a relationship with a subordinate unless they are in different units, or unless the subordinate reports to another supervisory agent.”

“That's Section C, Line 5 under Fraternization in the Code of Conduct,” Reid supplies, and Sophie shoots him a smile, can’t help it.

“Is there a reason we’re going over this? Has someone done something wrong?” JJ asks, leaning forward in her chair, and Morgan does the opposite, leaning back and crossing his arms.

“Last time I checked, none of us were dating you or Rossi.” She can see Reid turn his head in her direction out of the corner of her eye, is instantly curious about what that means—but there’s plenty of time to interrogate him later. For now, she focuses on Aaron.

“That’s why we’re here. Sophie and I would like to inform you that we are in a relationship. She had been reporting to Gideon for a short period of time before he left, and then to Strauss in the interim. She will be reporting to Rossi starting today. Things in the field won’t change.” The team remains altogether silent, and Sophie feels her heart rate pick up, stomach a ball of nerves. “I’m sure you all have questions, concerns, and I’m happy to address them at this time. If you’d feel better discussing this privately, we can do that too, with Rossi or Strauss present as well, if preferred.”

More silence, and she's officially a nervous wreck. If someone is uncomfortable with their relationship, she’ll have to transfer out of the BAU. She would do it, to be with Aaron, but she really hopes she doesn’t have to.

“How long have you been together?” Prentiss asks, and she can’t help but wonder if they noticed something, some way he might have favored her that they didn’t realize, that could ruin everything.

“We’ve been seeing each other for about two months.”

“I knew it!” JJ says, and Garcia looks over at her in surprise.

“You did? How?”

“I had a feeling. It was never anything glaringly obvious, just little things here and there. He’d touch her, casually, in a way he doesn’t do with other people. Or she’d say something when he was around, and it seemed like it had another meaning.”

“Okay, Miss Not-a-Profiler,” Prentiss teases, and Reid leans forward to address JJ.

“You didn’t know,” Reid says, and his conviction surprises Sophie. “If you knew, everyone would have known. I knew.”

“How did you know?” Morgan asks, and Reid shrugs.

“I saw them kissing.”

That’s news to her. She looks at Aaron, then Reid, and Garcia looks shocked.

“You saw them kissing? When?”

“When we went to Virginia Beach. The second day, when they both wore blue? We were at that bar, and they were out on the balcony kissing.” Damn. They’re really bad at hiding things. She’s honestly surprised they made it two months without being found out—but then, she guesses, they didn’t, really.

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“It was obviously a private moment between them. I figured when they were ready for us to know, they would tell us. And they did.” Sophie stands, keeping a few feet of distance between herself and Aaron.

“So... you guys are all okay with this? No one wants me to transfer, or anything?”

“Transfer? No, you can’t transfer,” Reid says in alarm, and JJ pats him on the shoulder.

“She’s not going anywhere. We’re absolutely fine with it, right guys?” Prentiss and Garcia share their agreement, but Morgan looks like he’s working on a tough math problem, eyes squinting.

“Wait, so—Hotch is the guy? The… the glow guy?” Sophie is confused for a moment, and then she remembers their earlier conversation, grins.

“Yes, Hotch is the guy.” Morgan looks between them like he’s seeing a whole new side of Aaron, and Sophie scoffs lightly. “You’re the one who was trying to get me to admit my feelings for him on vacation, you can’t be that surprised.”

“I thought you moved on. I never would have guessed that you two were seeing each other.”

That makes her smile, like maybe they weren’t completely obvious about everything.

“Does this mean you’re going to start sharing a room when we travel?” Reid asks, and Aaron crosses his arms, thoughtful.

“I think that would still be frowned upon by the bureau.”

“Well I only speak for myself, but if you happened to end up in the same room, I wouldn’t care. As long as I don’t have to hear it,” Morgan adds, and Sophie could hug him, really.

“I wouldn’t care either,” Prentiss agrees easily, and JJ nods.

“I wear headphones to bed,” Reid adds, perky, and Sophie laughs, shakes her head.

“Great. Well if that’s your way of giving us your blessing, guys, thank you. It means a lot.”

There are a few more questions, and then Aaron dismisses them. Sophie is very happy with how well it went, and judging by the look on his face, he is too.

“Can I talk to you?” JJ asks in an aside when they file out of the briefing room, and Sophie nods, afraid that maybe their good luck really wasn’t so good after all. The two women walk into JJ’s office, and she closes the door.

“If you’re uncomfortable at all, JJ—”

She all but tackles Sophie in a crushing hug, forcing the breath out of her lungs for more than one reason.

“I really did have a feeling you two were together,” she says when she pulls away. “You were always teasing him, and he started smiling more.” Her face softens, and she grins, bounces on the balls of her feet. “You’re in love with Hotch!”

“Yes I am,” she replies with a grin of her own. “It feels good that you know. We wanted you guys to know, but it was important to us that we spend some time getting to know each other better first, and then when Gideon left the timing wasn’t right.”

“No, of course. I know we can be all up in each other’s business, and you two deserved some time without that. I’m glad you waited.” She exhales, leans back against her desk, and looks up with a thoughtful smirk. “So what is it like?”

“Oh no, I'm not getting into that,” she answers, palms up. “We’re just any two people dating, don’t make it weird.”

“But it’s Hotch. I feel like he has one setting, and it’s… impassive.”

“He has many settings, they just belong to me now. Sorry,” she says, teasing, and they head for the door. A couple hours later, Sophie and Aaron are on their lunch break, together, because that’s something they can do now; they sat and ate and laughed at his desk, and with the extra few minutes, they’re kissing on his couch.

There have to be some perks to being the boss, after all.

Sophie hums into the kiss, taking his face in her hands to deepen it. When she pulls back, just slightly, she’s panting, warm breath on his lips. “If I’d known disclosing our relationship to the team was going to make you this affectionate, I would have done it much sooner.”

“I’m always affectionate. When I can be,” he murmurs, leaning in for a quick kiss.

“This is different, though. We’re still at work. It’s naughty.” He pulls her in for another kiss, softer, slower, and she hums. “Your lips feel even better now that everyone knows you’re mine,” she whispers, and his next kiss is harder, passionate; nothing drives him quite as crazy as when they call each other mine.

The timer on her phone goes off, signaling the end of their lunch hour, and she sighs. “Well that was wonderful. I guess it will hold me over until tonight,” she teases, and he presses his lips to her forehead before they stand.

“It was wonderful. Good luck down there,” he says as he opens the door, can see the team standing around the bullpen awkwardly like they’re waiting for her. “Oh wait, one more thing.” He takes her chin between his fingers and tilts it up for a featherlight brush of lips, fully aware that their team can see them, too. “I love you.” She smiles, beautiful, brilliant.

“I love you too.”

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner fanfic #aaron hotchner x original female character #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds #latina female character #aaron hotchner/original female character

38 notes · View notes

foryouthegays · 3 years

Text

also if anyone wants me to transcribe a clip pls send an ask :) or find something :)

good laugh times: 00:40:10, 00:44:44, 00:54:30, 00:55:47 00:58:37

sellout timer: 00:30:40, 01:26:00

other things: (00:10:00 biiiiiig stretch!!!) (00:39:55 that was the most ‘skeppy tried to troll me but i trolled him first’ scream ive heard in a while a;lskdjfadl) (01:23:00 TECHNOSNEEZE TECHNOSNEEZE)

summary:

Technoblade starts the stream and finds an infinity room (a room covered in white item frames and backed with glowstone or sea lanterns, making it look like there is just Void and no end) covering his house. he removes the grief and continues his intro. While waiting for Tommy to join his VC, he finds a Zombie villager, cures it, and reads donations.

Techno and Tommy go to New L’manburg and fix one of Technos propaganda posters. They find Fundy and Ranboo and tell them that if Techno gets his sword back, he’ll help them fight the wither he’s going to spawn. He spawns the wither and runs around while Ranboo and Fundy try to kill it. He doesn’t get his sword back until a few minutes into the battle. Ranboo gives him both his sword and his axe after the Wither is killed by Punz and Fundy.

Fundy gets the Wither Star, and Techno decides that it’s rightfully owned by him. Tommy and Techno start torturing Fundy into giving them the Star. After Techno gets the star back, Tommy starts trying to get his disks back. Techno tells Tommy he’s going too far, and Fundy starts crying, and eventually dies.

Tommy and Techno start to move back to their house, and Tommy gets distracted with the idea of blowing up the community house. Techno convinces him otherwise, and eventually comes clean with his intentions and goals to destroy L’manburg. He asks Tommy to join him, and Tommy accepts.

They go to the wolf army and breed the dogs. While underground, they’re almost caught, but they run away before anyone can catch them.

Techno and Tommy talk about an eventual SBI meetup, make a beacon, and then end the stream.

loud startin the stream today!!!!! :D!!!!!! 10 sec in

oh hes actually loud today this is great his voice gets so nice when hes louder

00:00:30 ‘i’ve made a severe and continuous lapse in judgement” s;ladjfkald

00:00:50 diD HE MAKE AN INFINITY ROOM OR???? IS HE JUST????? WH AT???

oH MY GOD IT IS AN INFINITY ROOM AKSDFJALSDF IS THAT IN THE ACTUAL SMP OR????

aa;lskdfjasd someone mADE AN INFINITY ROOM A;LSDKFJASDF WHO????

00:03:00 i love how even minecraft g o d s cant remember fence gate/fence crafting recipes akdjhfald

00:04:45 ‘gUYS DON’T STAY IN SCHOOL!!!’ ‘n- no you should stay in school’ yeah, sure techno ‘collage dropout’ blade

00:05:17 ‘tommy, is this your credit card? let me read the numbers aloud, tommy’ -technos impression of tommys mom

zombie villager pog!

LISTEN TO HOW HE SAYS CONVENIENT AT 5:45 AHHH I LOVE HIM

00:07:35 why does,,,why does techno say disorientating instead of disorienting??? he says disorientating and i just,,,,,techno,,,,techno thats not the American way of saying it. also i didnt capitalize american bc of Being A Country i did it bc of Emphasis a;lksdfal

he stretch!!!!!! ten mins in

techno ate breakfast pog!!!! 00:10:30

13:00 a;lksdjfal

---

STOP MAKING TECHNO GOOD AT CHESS IN GAME HES SAID SEVERAL TIMES THAT HE IS NOT I AM GOING TO SCREAM more proof: 00:14:40 also he calls the chess board ‘the map’ and im akjsdfhkljasd

00:15:40 “i don’t think that dumb people become Minecraft youtubers, I think it’s that being a Minecraft youtuber makes you dumber.”

00:15:50 ‘i was a smart child, I was doing well in school--I mean I wasn’t doing my homework or anything but I was doing well on the tests,” a;lsdkfja

“it do be doing that” -technoblade 2021

WHY DOES HE JUST RANDOMLY KNOW CHESS OPENING NAMES IM SICK OF HIM WHY IS HE LIKE THIS I HATE IT HERE AALSDKFJASF 00:17:45 its so funny he just reads wikipedia for fun and also same

‘YOURE TALKING SOUNDS’ -tommyinnit, 19:40

00:20:05 ‘tommy, tommy, you’re speaking words, but the only universal language is sounds.’

00:23:24 “we’re going to go threaten....some certain government agents...in minecraft, since I know the FBI is listenin in on my phone right now [techno gets further from his mic and some thuds can be heard] let me just toss that over there...there we go, now they can only listen through my laptop”

00:32:17 mmmm technoyell

fundy n ranboo!!!! 00:33:50

god could u imagine knowing that technos doin a plot stream nd he joins ur call w tommy and they just???? start talking abt the canonical status of ants and new york????? such is the life of ranboo nd fundy a;lksdfjals

WITHER POG WITHER POG WITHER POG WITHER POG 00:39:20

00:39:55 how does he make that sound im crying

HE LAUGH!!!!!!

a;lkdsfjasd ranboo bullying time 00:44:00

god could u imagine being a fan of the dream smp, joining and ur surrounded by all these people uve looked up too, and then they start bulling you?? such is the life of ranboo

torture time!!! 00:46:15, its to get back the star :D

00:50:45 its lowkey terrifying how techno calls torturing fundy to tears ‘the good times’ and laughs while tommy interrogates him. i love it, but also im scared of him. still an apologist. he needs his stuff back!

also like,,,,,techno telling tommy he went too far? terrifying. if techno says you went too far, thats saying something

HE LAUGH!!!!

HE LAUGH AGAIN!!!

my favorite part of techno tommy interactions is how technoll say like, a metaphor or smthin nd tommy just,,,,,,,, ‘yeAHHH BITCH’ its so funny. a good example is 00:56:00:

techno: if you want to make an omlette, you’ve gotta break a few eggs

tommy: yeaaahhhh!! break eggs and bitch!

techno: ....what?

its so funny to me ak;dfjlasjf

and like, their rambles are COMPLETELY different. techno does most of his hopping around in his head and talks about it once he’s figured out what he should do, and tommy just says things out loud without thinking its hilarious

and like, in game, techno is a LOT more calculated than people think. when tommy tries to get techno to blow up the community house, techno has to rein him back in because ‘i’m all for violence, but we need a plan.’ and ‘how would blowing up the community house get your discs back??’ he’s a lot more organized than most of his teammates nd i love it

but like,,,sometimes techno just Says things and its great. 00:57:20 ‘the only dirt we have on dream is his dirt shack, amirite? [claps] gottem. he’s homeless!! eyyyy. lmao.’

00:58:20 is good. also skyblock is canon now.

01:06:50 SBI MEETUP SBI MEETUP

also ‘i dont know about smiling, but’ a;ldkfjadls;fjasf

i love tommy nd techno just kinda vibing

01:16:30 ‘mmmm audience retention rate....mmmm ants’ aldkfja this stream is so dumb i love it

dID TECHNO USE THEY/THEM FOR ERET AT 01:20:55 OR WAS THAT A GENERAL ‘EVERYONE ELSE’ THEY

1:23:00ish TECHNOSNEEZE

A;LSDKFJAS LIKE AN HOUR AFTER GETTING HIS SWORD BACK HE REALZIES HE HAS IT BACK HES SUCH A NERD 01:24:45

he sounds V tired rn a;lsdkfjkasdf

STREAM TOMORROW TOO??? P O G

#stream post

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