#so chances are the queue might run out before i get my motivation back

[sweetestjade]

Okay so I go throughout my everyday listening to music. I have playlists for EVERYTHING! And it got me wondering how would the boys react to an MC who constantly listens to music?

Lucifer

- I imagine Lucifer generally listens to classical music but I love the idea of him listening to jazz.

- Like big band/swing music

- Okay so for this scenario I imagine MC and Lucifer working on paperwork/school work together

- MC is loosing their mind cuz it’s so quiet and they put on a jazz playlist.

- Lucifer is shocked at first because he’s like what does this human know about jazz?! (✨yk just old people tings✨)

- But he starts to softly hum and tap his foot

- MC notices and queues up a few of their favorite songs and eventually starts to sing

- Lucifer loves the way MC sings along to their favorite songs but doesn’t wanna bring attention to it because he doesn’t want them to stop.

- As MC and him get closer he starts looking forward to their work/music sessions together.

- If MC catches him on a good day that doesn’t have a lot of work sometimes he’ll ask MC to dance 🥺❤️

Mammon

- Okay so I imagine Mammon really likes going on drives. The guy has a whole car in his room...you’re gonna tell me I’m wrong?

- ANYWAYS

- On these drives he likes to bring MC any chance he gets because it’s time with just them and no brothers to ruin it.

- MC really does enjoy these car rides because it reminds them of times in the human world when they would drive around with friends or family and just vibe.

- You best believe that because of this MC has a few car playlist full of vibey songs for any occasion.

- MC is the CEO of “can I have the AUX?”

- Mammon and MC feel like being in their feels? MC’s gotta playlist.

- Need a playlist to listen to while speeding down the highway pretending to be in Fast & Furious?

- You know that one song from Tokyo Drift is on that playlist 😌

- Mammon ADORES MC and their car playlists. Theres never a dull moment, even when they’re in their feels haha

- God(or Diavolo rather??) help you both if Lucifer finds out the amount of times you two have out run the police to Fuck Tha Police by N.W.A (listen i don’t know if there’s police in devildom but imagine it for the scenario 😤)

Leviathan

- Okay so if MC knew anything about tiktok they would have a playlist full of tiktok audios

- Especially the ones on anime TikTok - those are really *chef kiss*

- I imagine that Levi wants to ask MC if he can have a manga or CD back and he over hears her jamming to one of his favorite anime openings

- But the song ends before he gets to MC’s room and THE TikTok song comes on and MC starts singing.

- Is that Touch You from Yarichin Bitch Club?! No it couldn’t be...

- MC let’s out THE MOST PASSIONATE 🎤sawarasenai🥰kimi😸wa⛓shoujo👻na💅no?✨böKù🌸Wâ🧚ÿARiçHiñ🤴BįCChī😾ńO😩oSû🚣Dà🎉YO💦

- Levi gets SO red he feels like he’s gonna get a nosebleed or faint or some cliche anime reaction.

- He can’t bring himself to confront MC after hearing them sing. But he would be lying if he said he didn’t wanna join them lolol

- After that Levi will most definitely invite MC to his room for weekly karaoke or to karaoke bars in town

- Bonus points if MC knows the lyrics to his favorite anime openings/closings

Satan

- You can’t tell me that Satan isn’t punk rock as hell

- HAVE YOU HEARD THE MUSIC TRACK THE DEVS PLAY WHEN THE STAGE IS WRATH?!

- I feel like this is where Lucifer and Satan differ, because Satan was most definitely an angsty, rebellious “teen”

- While his attitude isn’t as bad as it used to be his music taste hasn’t left

- MC has the most PERFECT 90s/2000s emo playlist haha

- But if Satan wanted some of the old stuff rest assured they have some classic rock on there too

- I think Satan would invite MC to his room whenever he felt like pissing Lucifer off to blast rock music thats on MC’s playlist

- This honestly sounds SO OOC but I like to imagine when Satan is with MC he would let loose a little and start singing/dancing along

- And the feeling MC would get when they see Satan singing along to one of their favorite bands?!

- HUBBA HUBBA 🥵

- Satan knows this and lives for their flustered reaction

Asmodeus

- Okay I don’t know if y’all know who Spencer is on tiktok, but he does this thing where he will put on music to make him feel sexy and get all dressed up and just walk towards the camera in slo-mo.

- And do I think Asmo would do that??

- Yes absolutely 😂

- I think Asmo would have a shared playlist with MC called “brb doin hot girl shit”

- Ashnikko is DEFINITELY on this playlist

- But it is just songs that MC and him play when the two wanna feel confident, when you’re both getting ready to go clubbing/partying, or whatever hot people do that they might need music for

- But also I think MC would have a winding down playlist

- This one is played when you’re both doing skin care, or getting ready to take a bath, or just general self care

- This maybe a little OOC but I like to think Asmo would love to hear MC sing the calmer playlist because of how peaceful it makes him feel

- Imagine that after a night of partying and you’re both getting your makeup/party clothes off and putting on face masks and just winding down

- And MC is in the bathroom just gracefully signing while doing whatever self care task they’re doing

- Asmo overhears and just loving/longingly stares at MC from his vanity or wherever he is

- I just think Asmo would appreciate the gentle moments MC and him share along with the rowdy ones 🥺

Beelzebub

- Would LOVE IT that MC listens to so much music

- He’s always at the gym or practice and would love to listen to MC’s playlist when he’s apart from them

- I do think that if MC went to the gym with Beel you two would have a shared playlist called “Gainz😩💪😤” or something goofy like that

- It’s full of high energy songs, that match how hard you two go at the gym(at least how hard Beel goes lol)

- Image that he asked MC to make him a special playlist so that he can listen to it right before his games/matches to motivate him 🥺

- It would remind him to do well for not only for himself, his team, or his brothers, but his lovely MC who he doesn’t ever wanna disappoint

- On the other hand when the two of you cook/bake together and there is music playing I think it would be cute if Beel danced with MC in the kitchen

- MC is the only thing that helps with his hunger, right?

- So image you two are cooking dinner listening to la festin from ratatouille or something similar

- And outta no where he grabs MC from behind, spins them and starts dancing with them

- I’m not saying it’s any good, but he’s trying because he knows how much MC enjoys listening to music and wants to show his appreciation

Belphegor

- Last but not least! Sleepy boi 🥺

- MC has lullabies for daysss

- Or those white noise/rain/ambience sounds

- It’s just a playlist that helps the two of you sleep

- Not that belphie would have issue with that

- At first Belphie kinda shrugged it off and was like “whatever thanks I guess..”

- But on the inside was so soft because omg MC thought to do this for me?!🥺

- Like I said he doesn’t really need it but loves that MC thought these sounds or soft tunes will help him sleep better

- After a while I think he grows to actually need it though so MC has to send him the playlist when they aren’t together

- The playlist not only helps Belphie sleep but I think sometimes Beel would ask for it too as he’s so used to hearing it

- I think the twins favorite thing on the playlist is the rain noises and the random soft instrumental tracks of modern songs

#obey me blog #obey me #obey me headcanons #jades headcanons

[matthewtkachuk]

feel something pt 5 - jj maybank

On the outside, you’re a kook princess with a seemingly perfect life and a perfect family. The expectations are suffocating you, to the point where the only thing you feel is numb. You’re chasing different coping mechanisms in order to feel something. Until a chance encounter with a certain blond pogue you know you’re supposed to hate gives rise to a different kind of feeling.

Warnings: angst, toxic behaviour, poor coping mechanisms, drug usage, mentions of sex, mentions of suicidal ideations (brief), Rafe being a grade a asshole, shitty parents, abuse

Pairings: JJ x reader (eventually), Rafe x reader (slight)

Words: 3.9k

A/N: I have finally delivered more than three lines of JJ content, yall are welcome. Also a little baby bit of angst, but that’s the name of my fic game. I just love Chick sm, protect my small bean 2k20. 

series masterlist

(gif NOT mine - if its urs pls let me know so i can credit!!! found on the google)

You don’t know how Chick knows, but she does.

That night, she crawls into bed with you, desperately seeking your comfort as her worldview crumbles around her. You can relate, you were about her age the first time you realized that most kid’s parents don’t scream at them like they’re the scum of the earth. The major difference being you were the oldest and you didn’t have anyone to comfort you. With that thought in mind, you make a promise to yourself that you will never let Chick feel a quarter of the shit you went through.

You let her curl into you, arms clutching you tightly, head tucked into your shoulder. One hand of yours smooths her hair, the other holding her just as closely. “Sister day tomorrow?” you ask her quietly. Her only response is a slight nodding of her head against your neck, so you ask, “what do you want to do? The whole day is your choice.”

“Surfing and gumbo.” She mumbles and you can’t help but smile. If your baby sister is one thing, it’s predictable.

“Sure thing bub. Bright and early tomorrow,” you warn her, left hand fumbling to grab your phone from under your pillow before setting an alarm for six am.

She’s out like a light, no response to you. You close your eyes tightly, heart breaking for your little sister. You have trouble sleeping that night, every shifting movement and slight sigh that escaped Chick had you on high alert. Add on to that the guilt of the prior night, the warmth you felt when you thought of having Sarah back and the confusion of what was going on between you and JJ… you didn’t sleep for longer than half an hour at a time.

Six am came early that next morning, predictably right when you thought you might finally be falling asleep. Despite your exhaustion, you were looking forward to spending some quality time with your baby sister. You changed quickly in the dark, letting Chick sleep in an extra ten minutes as you flicked through your bathing suits looking for a bikini top that was a little more secure to withstand some choice waves if you caught any.

“Rise and shine, Chick!” You cheerfully shouted, flicking on the light. She groaned and raised the comforter over head, but you laughed and tore it right off the bed. “C’mon you’re the one who wanted to go surfing and you know the morning is the best.”

She grumbled a bit, but quickly darted to her bedroom to change. You met her in the hallway, smiling to yourself when you spotted her wearing the pink and blue rashguard you had gotten her for her birthday. “Alright, let’s go!” you cheered and raced her down the steps, quickly grabbing your keys from the little bowl that sat on the console table in the entranceway.

“And where are the two of you going?” Your mother sat on the front porch swing, sipping on a large cup of what you assumed to be coffee, raising a single eyebrow at your bikini and jean short combo.

“Sister day,” Chick replied before you could, “Surfing and gumbo.”

Your mothers harsh gaze softened upon gazing at her youngest daughter, smiling before waving the both of you off, telling you to have fun. You grinned at Chick and hopped into your jeep, handing her your phone to queue up a spotify playlist. The two of you goofed off and giggled the whole way to the beach, almost as if the events of the past week hadn’t happened at all.

Upon arriving at the beach, you hopped out of the driver seat and quickly took down your boards from the roof rack, handing Chick hers before setting off onto the beach. You had chosen to drive into pogue territory both for the convenience of hitting up the Wreck after and to avoid a certain kook who had made a certain confession. Plus, it was nice to be judged based on your surfing ability (or lack thereof) rather than how expensive your surfboard was.

Entering the water always felt like coming home. From the first toe dip until you were waist-deep in the ocean, it was like your entire body came alive. There was no feeling like it, when you were a kid your dad had joked that you were a mermaid. You used to spend all day in the water, coming out all pruny and honestly slightly dehydrated, but so, so happy. You and Chick paddled side by side into deeper water, and you sat up on your board to let Chick take the first crack at it. You can’t help but giggle when she wipes out approximately five seconds after popping up. She sputters and throws you an offended glance as she resurfaces.

“Let’s see you do better then,” she yelled at you with as much sass as she could muster so early in the morning.

You grinned at her, eyes watching the rolling water waiting for an appropriate wave. Finally spotting one, you started paddling to try and catch the wave before it breaks. Hopping up on your board by pushing your body up and tucking your feet under you, you stood on your board knees bent and arms relaxed, with your torso leaned forward to help balance. You couldn’t help showing off for Chick; angling your board across the wave, you leant into the turn before shifting your body weight to your front foot, letting your board slide down the face of the wave in a tail slide. You heard Chick whoop, cheering you on, causing your grin to widen.

Returning to her, you both floated on your board side by side for a few minutes, watching the waves crest and break. “Alright little Chick, your turn again, unless you want to ride the white water, I won’t judge.” She gave you a look and you just grinned at her again.

She started paddling towards a smaller wave than the one you rode, and you couldn’t help but cheer when she managed to stand on her board and ride the wave straight in. You hooted and hollered with no care in the world, celebrating your baby sister not eating shit. She was laughing on the shore line as you paddled back towards the shore to meet her.

“Not bad tail spin, y/l/n” you looked up to see JJ Maybank staring at you.

“Oh! Uhm, thank you,” you mumbled, suddenly self-conscious as his gaze traced your body.

“That was a pretty bad wipeout earlier, pretty brave of you to ride that wave after that Little y/l/n” he complimented Chick. At least, you think it was a compliment, it was a little back-handed after all.

Chick being Chick just grinned and said thanks.

“Are you goofy foot naturally, or do you just do it because y/n does?” he asked her seriously.

She looked at him in confusion, “Goofy foot?”

“He means which foot you put forward. I lead with my left,” you explained. A look that was suspiciously close to shock briefly flashed on his face, before he recovered and grinned.

“I don’t know, I guess I just copied y/n,” she admitted, face reddening a little.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Little y/l/n, but why don’t you try putting your right foot forward instead and see if that’s more of a natural stance for you.” He advised her. She looked to you, and you just smiled and shrugged at her.

“Alright, watch this you guys!” She shouted and headed back into the water.

You sat down on your towel, watching Chick take JJ’s corrections seriously as she chased a few waves. “Thank you,” you said a little reluctantly to the blond sitting next to you, his eyes trained on your sister.

He broke his gaze to turn his head to you, “’Course, gotta unteach her your bad habits.” You gasped and shoved him playfully. “Just kidding, your technique is basically perfect.”

It was your turn to turn a little red. You weren’t used to compliments without any ulterior motives. “Thanks, but it’s not that good.”

“What are you talking about? You’re amazing out there.” He complimented you again, causing your cheeks to get redder.

“Oh, look at Chick she’s going for that wave,” You pointed out at your sister, hoping to deflect some attention to her.

“She’s a quick learner,” he commented. You smiled, more than a little proud of your sister.

“She gets that from me,” you bragged, and he laughed, throwing his head back. Your mind briefly wondered what it would be like to run your fingers through his wavy hair before you snapped out of it. “You know, I think this is the longest you’ve gone without calling me princess.”

“I could call you princess if you want, princess,” he smirked at you, but you shook your head quickly.

“Y/n is just fine,” you told him as Chick came running at the two of you.

“Did you see that?” She yelled, “that was awesome!” She stuck her board in the sand before launching herself at you. You laughed, catching her on your lap, listening patiently as she babbled on about how amazing that felt. JJ found himself watching you, thinking this was the most expression he had seen you show, with the exception of your high freak out which he tried not to think about in all honesty. Chick seemed to remember JJ was there, turning to him and thanking him profusely before inviting him to the Wreck with the two of you, “We’re going to get gumbo next, you should come with!”

You sputtered, sure that JJ had better things to do than hang out with you and your little sister, “Oh, I’m sure JJ has other pl-“ you started to tell her but he quickly cut you off.

“Nah, I’ve got no where to be, count me in.” He told Chick, smirking at you causing you to roll your eyes slightly.

“Alright alright,” you sighed before pushing Chick off of you, “dry off a bit first I don’t want you dripping all over my seats.”

JJ had no problem sliding into your backseat, sitting in the middle and leaning forward so that his upper body rested against the center console. You found his closeness a little distracting but you would never admit that, so instead you snapped at him and told him to “put on his seatbelt or you would slam on the breaks so hard he would go through the windshield”. He had grinned like he knew the real reason you wanted him to sit back, which only served to irritate you.

You couldn’t help but think what your parents would say if they knew a pogue was sitting in the back seat of the car they bought you. The more you thought about it, you realized you didn’t really care what they thought. JJ had been kind to Chick and you were just returning the favor. That’s it.

“So what is Chick short for?” JJ asks through a mouthful of french fries, several minutes later sitting across from you and your sister at the Wreck.

“Chicken nugget,” you answer gleefully, stealing a fry. You laugh at JJ’s wide eyes, practically seeing the thought bubble over his head as he considers the stupidity of kook names. 

Chick laughs, throwing a fry at you, before responding to JJ, “No it’s not. It’s not short for anything, and it’s not actually my name”

“I came up with it,” you tell him proudly, “Our parents wanted me to be a part of the name decision and let’s just say I was a really creative four year old.”

JJ laughs loudly at that, tipping his chair back on the back two legs. You’re about to tell him off, when Kiara appears out of nowhere to shove his chair back into a regular position. She looks a little confused at seeing JJ hanging out with you and your sister, but she doesn’t look shocked. “I told you not to do that, JJ. It scuffs the floors,” she huffs impatiently at him, before turning to the other side of the table where you sat by chick.

Before she could say anything, you realized this was probably your best opportunity to try and mend the fence you had smashed through with Sarah. “Hey Kie, do you think we could talk?” You asked her timidly. For a second you were afraid she was going to tell you to fuck off, but her eyes flickered towards Chick and she must have thought swearing in front of a thirteen year old wasn’t a good look.

“What about Chick?” Was all she asked, causing you to pull your bottom lip between your teeth as you looked at JJ. The corner of his mouth upturned a little as he shrugged and said he could handle your sister for a few minutes. She threw a French fry at him for that and shooed you and Kie off.

Kie didn’t bother taking off her apron, leading you out to the back alley before turning to you sharply, “You wanted to talk? So talk.”

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry. For how I’ve acted this week and… how I acted before. I’m so sorry that I just followed Sarah instead of trying to stick up for you. It’s just she’s been my best friend since birth and I was scared to lose her, which is really stupid because I ended up losing her anyway-“

“It was really shitty of you,” Kie admitted, looking you in the eye, “I thought we were friends and you dropped me like I was last year’s Gucci or something.”

“I know, and you don’t know how badly I’ve regretted not sticking up for you. You were just like such a good person and such a good friend and I really did you wrong,” you think she’s starting to break a little, her eyes have softened and she’s almost got a smile on her face. “Seriously, Kie, I’m so so sorry –“

Kie cut off your rambling by throwing her arms around you, surprising you completely. “I really missed you.” She pulled back to look at you in the eyes, “but if you ever do me like that again I won’t be so forgiving next time.” You laugh and hug her back tightly, promising her you won’t hurt her again.

“About that stuff you said about your parents…” she awkwardly trails off, but you just shrug a shoulder at her as if to say ‘what are you gonna do’. “Just, I’m sorry and I hope you know you can always come to me if it gets bad like that again.”

“I will,” you promise, before linking arms with her and leading her back to the table where surprisingly JJ hasn’t done anything too stupid in Chick’s presence. The four of you split the French fries on the table, laughing the afternoon away and it all feels… so normal. The empty feeling in your chest is replaced with a feeling of warmth spreading through your bones.

You’re sitting around a fire with the pogues as a boneyard party rages on around you. Despite their initial misgivings about the Kook Princess, and your initial underlying resentment towards them for being good enough for Sarah when you weren’t, they’re nice to you. Welcoming, even. You wouldn’t call it friendship, despite hashing it out with Sarah and Kie, you’re not naïve enough to think a few conversations make you one of them. But the lack of the term princess being spoken aloud is a start.

As you tip your head back and empty the last few drops of your red solo cup, you see Sarah’s eyes flicker to you. She thinks she’s being subtle, but you’ve never known any Cameron, even one with pogue instincts, to be subtle. Sarah is more bull in the china shop than discrete. You know she hasn’t really been drinking tonight, nursing the same cup for over half an hour at this point. You feel a little bad that she’s not enjoying all that a boneyard party has to offer, but there’s another feeling in your chest that you can only describe as “the warm and fuzzies”. Knowing that Sarah is going to do anything she can to show you that she still cares about you is touching.

“I’m gonna go grab a refill, does anyone want?” You offer the group.

“Do you want anyone to go with you?” Sarah asks, she figures she can’t offer to go with you or you might notice her still full cup. You watch her not so subtly look in JJ’s direction, but he’s got his eyes cast out towards the sea, watching the waves crash onto the shore.

“I’ll be fine, Sarah. The keg is just right there,” you point with your now empty cup. “I’ll be right back.”

Carefully navigating the Boneyard is a little difficult in your current state of inebriation, but you reach the keg just fine without any major issues. The major issue shows up just when you’ve finished filling your cup from the keg and stop to take a long sip.

“Really, y/n? A pogue? A fucking pogue?” Rafe Cameron spits at you and glares, “You chose a dirty pogue over me?”

Rolling your eyes, you reply, “What the fuck are you talking about? I didn’t choose anyone?”

“Oh really? Because I saw you y/n. I saw you with him.” He accuses.

“What are you talking about?” You repeat, your annoyance growing with every word that leaves his mouth.

“JJ fucking Maybank. I saw you having lunch with him and Chick.” He all but growls. Oh. That’s what he’s fucking mad about?

“Are you fucking kidding me?” You laugh humourlessly, “I bought him fucking French fries because Chick invited him to lunch after he taught her a few tricks on his surf board. Not that it matters, what I do or don’t do and who I do it with doesn’t fucking concern you!”

He pauses thoughtfully, obviously enjoying the thought that it wasn’t a date, but he can’t stop thinking about the way you were looking at JJ. The way he thought you would look at him. “I thought we had something.” He admits quietly.

“Had something?” You ask incredulously, “What the fuck Rafe, all we had was you giving me fucking cocaine and fucking me a couple of times.” You think you see a flash of guilt, but regular Rafe is back in a second.

“Right, when you let me fuck you the day after you let Topper have you, like the little slut you are.” He answers darkly. Your mouth opens in indignation. Rafe is the fucking worst. His moods are giving you whiplash, yesterday he’s telling you that he cares about you and today he’s calling you a slut? So, yeah fucking your way around Figure Eight – not your proudest moment, but you were fucking spiraling. And you know Rafe isn’t innocent, more hookups than he can probably remember. Fucking hypocrite.

You’re on him in a second, perfectly manicured nail pressed right against his chest as you yell back, “Fuck off Rafe, you have no right to say anything to me, you don’t own me!” You almost can’t control your anger, you’re practically vibrating with it.

“He can’t give you shit, you know that right?” He raises a lone eyebrow at you, taunting you with his smirk.

“I don’t want anything from you or anyone else, got it? Leave me the fuck alone.” You spin on your heel, but he grabs your wrist as you turn to go, and you audibly gasp and wince. He lets go of you immediately, before gently cradling your wrist in his large hand. His face turns red as he takes in the hand sized bruise forming around it, and you can practically feel the anger rolling off him in waves. Rafe’s moods are giving you whiplash – angry to gentle and almost caring and back to angry again.

“Did he do this?” He asks you slowly, dangerously. You resist the urge to snap your wrist back, knowing it will only bring you more pain. You look up at him, confused, so he clarifies, “Did that fucking pogue put his hands on you?” You’re stunned, JJ would never put his hands on you, in anger or otherwise. He’s just being nice to you because he can relate to your struggles with your shitty parents.

“What? No Rafe, calm down JJ didn’t touch me.” You reply, but it’s like he doesn’t hear you.

“I’ll fucking kill him, I swear to God. He put his fucking hands on you?” He lets go of your wrist in order to pull the snapback off his head and run his other hand through his hair.

“JJ. Didn’t. Touch me.” You repeat, slowly and clearly as if you can push the words into his thick, dumb skull. He opens his mouth to retaliate, but you keep going. “The only one who has ever put his hands on me in anger is you Rafe.” You wave your hand over your shoulders that he gripped so tightly they had bruised days ago. His face falls, and he reaches a hand out to you, but you shake your head. “Leave me and my friends alone.”

Maybe friends wasn’t the right word to use, but it rolled off the tongue a lot easier than ‘Sarah, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s friends including your old best friend and the guy he’s jealous of for no reason’. No reason because there’s absolutely nothing going on between you and JJ (although maybe you want it to) and even if there was, it doesn’t have anything to do with Rafe.

You’re holding your wrist to your chest subconsciously as you return to the pogues. Pope notices first, his high level of intelligence also lends itself toward being very observant. He elbows JJ hard, the blond turning his head to give his friend a look that practically screams ‘knock it off’. Pope does it again, before gesturing to you with his eyes.

“What happened?” Sarah asked before anyone else could.

“Nothing, I just had a little run in with your brother,” you murmur, shaking off the pain in your wrist as if to prove that you’re fine.

“What?” JJ asked, quickly standing up but you pushed him back down into a sitting position, wincing at the dull ache that resulted in your wrist.

“I’m fine,” you rolled your eyes, not really sure where this dynamic had come from, “he’s just… persistent.” JJ grumbles something about kicking Rafe’s ass, but you’re pretty sure that’s the default setting for JJ’s thoughts on Rafe.

“He’s a dick,” Pope stated matter of factly. You tapped your red solo cup to his in a cheers motion.

“You won’t hear me disagreeing.”

The rest of the night, you sit there with the pogues mind mulling over a million thoughts at once. Occasionally they try to bring you into the conversation, but you just briefly answer before settling back into your thoughts. You can’t stop thinking about the words your father called you or the feel of his hand striking your face. You also can’t stop thinking about Rafe and his moods and his possessiveness. After his confession, things make a little more sense but you still feel like you’ve got whiplash. Lastly, you think about JJ and how quickly he hopped up off the log to go defend your honour or protect you or whatever. Looking out at the dark horizon, you’re just really, really confused.

You don’t realize that JJ is thinking about you too, watching the way the flame of the fire danced across your face, contemplating the feelings he feels growing towards you.

#jj obx #jj x you #jj x reader #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank #jj maybank x you #jj maybank x y/n #jj x y/n #jj maybank imagine #jj maybank fanfiction #rafe cameron x you #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron imagine #jj maybank angst #jj maybank fluff #diverdcwn writes #feel something

[thesims4blogger]

The Sims 4 Paranormal Stuff: Developer Blog (Part 1)

SimGuruConnor has released part 1 of the Sims 4 Paranormal Developer Blog series.

Hello Simmers! Welcome to a small 2-part Dev Blog about our newest Stuff Pack, Paranormal Stuff! This pack has been an absolute blast to work on, and I’m excited to share what this pack is all about!

I’ll try not to reveal too many spoilers for the pack either, so I’ll keep things somewhat brief. Our topics for today are the new Scared Mood and the Haunted House Lot Type, plus an interview with our Audio Artist too!

Get Scared

Sims can now relish in the mortal dread of the Scared Mood! The Scared Mood affects Sims in a variety of ways, with my personal favorite, the new Scream Incoherently interaction, where a Scared Sim runs up to another Sim to scream their lungs out. This can result in the other Sim calming down the Scared Sim, or resulting in both Sims becoming Scared. This can create a Scared Mood wildfire if you’re not careful!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's okay!

Sims afflicted with the Scared Mood also have trouble communicating with others, the urge to panic-run everywhere, and are slightly more prone to accidents. If no other Sims are around to help calm down a Scared Sim, they might just have to Hide Under The Covers for a while.

But if being Scared just isn’t your Sims style, consider purchasing the new Brave Trait. This Satisfaction Reward Store Trait will rapidly reduce the incoming fear a Sim feels and help Sims regain their composure faster. While no Sim is totally fearless, this trait should help mitigate some of those creepy feelings.

The Scared Mood and the Brave Reward Trait are all base game features coming with the Paranormal Stuff patch on January 21st. Tons of previous Uncomfortable Buffs are now becoming Scared Buffs, such as the “Startled By Ghost” Buff or the “Thalassophobia” Buff from Island Living.

While being Scared might not be a common occurrence in your everyday Sims life, living in a Haunted House is a whole different story…

Happy Haunts

Introducing the Haunted House Lot Type!

The Duplantier Dwelling, created by Doctor Ashley! This “canon” Haunted House will be available in the gallery!

They’re like regular houses, only haunted! Although unassuming during the day, at night, these places get super weird. Your Sims may notice things like flickering lights, pipes rattling, or even creepy dolls staring at them in the corner. All are totally normal occurrences in a Haunted House, but it may take some time for your Sims to adjust to their new surroundings.

Sims living in a Haunted House will also be introduced to floating apparitions known as Specters. They’re cute little critters, but their motives aren’t entirely clear. You can try talking to them, or even offer them presents in hopes of establishing a good rapport. If they like you, they’ll drop special loot for you and your family. If they don’t like you, well, you’ve been warned.

o o o (> ‘ u ‘ )>

Learning to get along with your new ghostly inhabitants is crucial in a Haunted House. Things like botching seances, neglecting Specters, or letting accursed objects invade your house will have a negative impact on its spiritual serenity. There is a delicate art to co-existing with the entities of the house, and thankfully you’ll have an expert on the matter to assist you!

Meet Guidry

Claude René Duplantier Guidry was a seasoned Paranormal Investigator in his previous life, but now he exists to help anyone brave enough to live in a Haunted House! You’ll probably run into him eventually living in a Haunted House, but don’t worry, he’s a nice ghost!

Guidry will gladly offer his wisdom to those who seek it. If you’re confused, alarmed, or slightly uncomfortable by your new haunted surroundings, give Guidry a holler and he might be able to help. He can also offer valuable objects to help your Sims, too; all you need is to reach out!

Still got it.

All Guidry wants in return is to crash at your place for the time being. Sounds like a fair deal, right? But if you’d prefer to fly it solo, you can always disable his nightly visits—he won’t be too upset, maybe.

As mentioned before, Guidry was a Paranormal Investigator before his untimely demise. If he sees potential in you, he can certify you with a Paranormal Investigation License, granting access to the Paranormal Investigation Freelancer Gigs. Only those who are qualified enough can join the ranks of Paranormal Investigators, but more on that next time!

Be Brave!

Living in a Haunted House adds a layer of risk and reward for your Sims, and each successful night yields Reward Store Satisfaction Points for everyone in the Household. Specters can also drop treasure that can also be collected, consumed, or sold to an Oddity Collector. So although your Sims might go through a bit of peril, they’ll thankfully be compensated.

One of my favorite pieces of haunted treasure is the new Sacred Candle. Not only do they look cool, but they also help protect Sims from paranormal influences. Place them around your house to make sure Sims are properly shielded!

A properly protected Sim.

Things like Sacred Candles and performing ceremonies at the Séance Table are integral to keeping your Sims happy in a Haunted House. Without using these paranormal tools, the entities of the house might get a little bossy.

And while it might be in your Sims’ best interest to keep the spirits of the house in check, watching things go horribly wrong in a Haunted House can be just as fun too. So whatever works for you!

Like Tiny Homes, this Lot Type can be toggled on or off at any time. So whether you’re a casual thrillseeker who wants to spend a couple of nights in a Haunted House, or a seasoned Paranormal Expert who wants to take on a new challenge, this Lot Type should offer something for you!

Crosspack Stuff!

Pets get to share the fun too! They especially love the accursed objects that show up!

I think they’re gonna get along great.

As mentioned before, a ton of old Buffs from multiple packs are now being converted to the Scared Mood. I think 70 something Moodlets were converted? Honestly, I lost count. Anything that seemed more appropriate for the Scared Mood was transferred over.

Oh, and you might remember an old Lot Trait from City Living called Haunted. For clarity’s sake, it needed a name change, so now it’s the Spooky Lot Trait. It also benefits from being combined with the new Haunted House Lot Type and will have an increased chance of spawning Ghosts at night. So use both for maximum haunted-ness!

Audibly Frightened

Last but not least, I’d love to turn it over to our Audio Artist for this pack, Briana Billups! She did a killer job bringing Haunted Houses to life! Trust me!

Conor: Can you tell us what an Audio Artist does on The Sims 4?

Briana: Big, broad picture: an audio artist decides what everything in The Sims 4 sounds like. We record, create, and edit sounds to the art and animation of the game. Little, very detailed picture: creating the actual sounds is usually one of the smaller aspects of our job. We are meeting with other departments, like design, animation, and VFX, to understand the overall vision of new game features and how we can fit in sonically. We are meeting with each other to make sure all our new content still keeps the very fun and quirky vibe of the Sims. We come up with new tools and implementation where necessary.

Conor: What sort of things go into the creative process for creating audio?

Briana: Every audio artist/sound designer has their own creative process, but I like to make a “sonic mood board” of sorts. I typically like to have a good idea of what I want something to sound like in my head before I record or edit it, so it’s nice to have sound effects or music to refer to that represents my original inspiration or ideas. When I was in college, I would make Spotify playlists for whatever I was working on. I would listen to them once a day, adding and editing as necessary, so when I actually got to work, I was in the right headspace. Now I’m usually less formal about this sort of stuff, but for this pack, I would refer back to things like Vincent Price’s demonic laugh from Thriller or Casper the Friendly Ghost Cartoons and the looping soundtrack from the queue of a horror ride at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (Ghost Blasters)

Conor: What were you most excited to work on for this pack?

Briana: Definitely all the haunted house sounds! Good sound design is the crux of so many horror movies and video games, so even if we were keeping things more “Casper” and less “Poltergeist,” I still wanted to give a good scare here and there. I actually scared myself one day while playtesting another feature in the game!

Conor: If you had to choose, what is your favorite audio clip you’ve ever added to The Sims 4?

Briana: I would say my favorite SFX were the sports arena loops in EP08: Discover University. When you visit the arena for the soccer/esports match or graduation, you can actually listen to the whole game or ceremony. It was great to craft a whole story from start to finish using just sound. I also snuck in a lot of developer names when writing the scripts for our voice actors.

Thanks, Briana!

More To Come!

That about covers this first foray into the Paranormal Stuff Pack! This pack has been a ton of fun to work on, and watching my Sims flee in terror has been more enjoyable than I’d like to admit.

Next blog, we’ll focus on the Séance Table and developing your Medium skill, as well as the new active freelance career Paranormal Investigator.

Big thanks to the Stuff Pack team for helping this pack come to life, and thank you, Doctor Ashley, for building our featured Haunted House!

Until next time, SimGuruConor

#news #the sims 4 #ts4 #sims 4 #sims 4 paranormal #stuff pack

[lgchunji]

   MERRY CHRISTMAS, LGC MEMBERS!

     merry christmas, lgc members! oops! this time you didn’t just send something to they mods, they also wanted to send something to YOU!! every single mod, below the cut, has something wonderful for you all to hear! (no, this is not the christmas present side event lol)      our mods deserve all the love in the world, but the members all deserve a little extra love too!      happy holidays and everyone have a good new years!

     admin l, writer of @lgcxjun, @lgcmiso, and @lgcnami says:      1) what is your favorite part about being a mod?      making the members happy. when we put out a new event or implement something new in the rp and members are super excited about it, that's what i like the most.      2) what is the most memorable moment from being a mod in lgc thus far?      hmm.. i think it's when we officially opened the rp for reservations and they came flooding. we weren't expecting this. we thought it would take weeks before we get enough reservations to open and were pleasantly surprised when in 48h we had the 10 minimum. we never expected to have over 50 members, either. so this whole experience has been amazing for us      3) what is the best part about lgc members/writers (characters or muns!)      seeing the characters grow right before our eyes, that's the part i love the most. seeing the progression of each and everyone of you all always make us happy. the admods are your biggest supports, i swear to god. i also love how our members aren't scared of giving ideas and participate in the growth and events of the rp! we always love incorporating our mun's ideas      4) anything else you would like to mention?      thank you for being here with us <3

     admin *, writer of @lgcdanbi​, @lgcnathan​, and @lgctaesung​ says:      1) what is your favorite part about being a mod?      oh gosh… i can’t pick just one! honestly, it’s just being able to plan and create stuff for our members with such a fun and dedicated team like the one we have here! we have so much in store for everyone, and we just hope y’all are as excited as we are for the big things to come!      2) what is the most memorable moment from being a mod in lgc thus far?: for me specifically, it had to be my *first* trimester change as the head of graphics. i literally SLAVED lmfao over our Q4 2020 graphics, and it was so nice to see how much everyone enjoyed the roleplay’s makeover. plus, now that we’re getting closer and closer to Q1 2021, i’m both excited yet SUPER nervous about the aesthetics i want to put out for lgc in the new year!      3) what is the best part about lgc members/writers (characters or muns!): character-wise, i can tell everyone is genuinely invested in their muses’ development and careers here. even though idol krps aren’t anything new, it’s such a breath of fresh air to be a part of a group where people want to see success with their muses from the very start to finish. mun-wise, it’s gotta be activity check sunday’s! seeing people’s live reactions to the queue is DEFINITELY the highlight of my week.      4) anything else you would like to mention?: we’re a small team here (but i swear it feels so much bigger!), and we dedicate a lot of our time in running lgc behind the scenes than in writing for our own characters. it can be a bit of a bummer and can definitely take a lot of muse and motivation out of you, but we’re always so appreciative of how considerate and thoughtful our members are of us. we’re not perfect—no one is!—but despite our flaws, it’s so inspiring to see a place (a home?) like lgc last for over a year and still be going on strong. and we can only thank you guys for all of that! so! thank you!

     admin g, writer of @lgchanbyul, @lgcjaesun, and @lgcyumi says:      1) what is your favorite part about being a mod?      i have a strange love for lists and stats, and so i actually really enjoy the administration part of being an admin. honestly, i would be the type of person to start a roleplay just to do the logistics lol. i enjoy helping to keep things neat and orderly, though admin a. has been doing a really great job of making my processes even better. my strong suits are not events or graphics, so i leave those tasks to the rest of the team. i think because of that, we make a really great team, and i just enjoy getting to see the fruits of our labor week after week and seeing people excited over them as well!      2) what is the most memorable moment from being a mod in lgc thus far?      there are many memorable moments, of course, and this might sound silly … but probably when we received our first application that was not from one of our og staff members. frankly, when we started this group, we were fairly certain no one would want to join, especially with so many other great roleplays around, so to have watched it grow over these last 16 months has been pretty incredible!      3) what is the best part about lgc members/writers (characters or muns!)      i wish i could give a special shoutout to each person, but that will quite literally take me a year so i apologize that i’m taking the easy road out. i think the best part about our members is just their willingness to help, whether it be helping others understand the points process, what is needed for an event, or just any of the other logistics that might lead to confusion. it puts a smile on my face to see that teamwork and selflessness exhibited by so many of you. when we mention that we’re stressed, there is never a shortage of eager hands being raised to offer help, and we always appreciate that. i think it’s not easy being a big group, and it can be easy to feel left out, so i just continue to applaud those who really help to make people feel at home!      4) anything else you would like to mention?      2020 has certainly been a wild roller coaster ride, but it’s certainly been made better by getting to write and interact with all of our members. i hope that those i haven’t had a chance to write with yet that i will get to do so soon! thank you all for your continued support and i hope everyone has a happy holidays and a happy new year! may 2021 be a better year for all of us!      thank you also to leaf for organizing this! you’re truly a trooper for putting together this special treat for our members ( and months ago for doing it for the admin staff as well )! always appreciate your thoughtfulness in spending the time to think of others. ❤️

     admin a, writer of @lgcaeri, @lgceunhye, and @lgcsanghyun says:      1) what is your favorite part about being a mod?      my favorite part is seeing people’s reactions to everything we do in lgc and using some of those elements to help build their character or celebrate their accomplishments. a good example of this are the events that have been revealed in the past and reading the reactions and feedbacks encourages us to think more about what kind of events we can make or improve on!      2) what is the most memorable moment from being a mod in lgc thus far?      i’ve only been here for a short period so i can’t quite name a lot, but the one that i can think of on top of my head is during the end of the trimester. it’s usually the busiest time for us for several reasons, but it feels the most rewarding to me personally because behind the scenes, we really try to make sure that everything goes smoothly. add that everyone is so patient during those times and we really appreciate it! i personally want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all of the positive messages and support you have sent to us! it really means a lot to us! ❤️      3) what is the best part about lgc members/writers (characters or muns!)      i mentioned this previously in the one year anniversary post, but i would say it’s the community that has been created and developed over time. it’s gone through a lot and the fact that we’re still active now still shocks me sometimes! aside from that, i would also say reading through the solos and posts that we see on the dash (and yes, we see what is going on 👀). while there is so much that i don’t know about everyone’s muses, sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and see what everyone has been up to lately.

     admin c, writer of @lgcxking​ and @lgcjin​ says:      1) what is your favorite part about being a mod?      for me it’s seeing members get excited about events that we put out, and creating new canons based off them. i don’t think i would be able to keep being an admin if i didn’t feel this sense of wonder and excitement coming from everyone!      2) what is the most memorable moment from being a mod in lgc thus far?      i’ve probably mentioned it way too often by now, but when we created lgc we expected it to die off after a couple weeks/months. we never expected to last so long and it wasn’t easy in the beginning, but after a while, i’d say around october/november, we started welcoming a lot of new muns that have become such an integral part of the rp. the fact that we’d have enough members to form a lot more than one group for each gender is amazing in itself. and the 2020 family concert really had me realize just how far we’ve come! to see all of those muns and muses experiencing it for the first time even though they’ve been in the rp for so long and achieved so much.      3) what is the best part about lgc members/writers (characters or muns!)      i don’t want to name anyone in particular because i’d want to talk about everyone and that’s impossible, but like i mentioned above, it amazes me whenever i see everything that the muses have achieved in a year. i think i realize now just how many events we put out LMAO. some muses are fairly new but are already on future dreams or lgc girls japan, others have begun acting, producing, hosting, etc. i always love to see the very detailed plan everyone has for their characters and even though it might take a while to happen ic, it’s important to set goals! some that might not even happen in a near lgc future, but it gives such life to muses. i also love seeing friendships form, relationships grow, suddenly being on dash and realizing that a muse FINALLY confessed to another, or sometimes just discovering important information through someone else because we can’t possibly read every single thread on dash (i’d love to, though, trust me). there’s a ton of people i haven’t interacted with yet on my muses, and i would sooo love to do it but with the amount of work that goes behind the scenes… let’s just say though that we love every single muse and i’m probably a bigger fan of them than you are!!!!!      4) anything else you would like to mention?      small mention to you, leaf, for doing this! thank you for the love and care you put into these types of projects it’s very cute ;; we really liked getting messages from members last time too. also, to anyone reading this, just know that we’re glad you’ve decided to join us on this legacy journey!!!! why do i feel like i’m ending this too dryly but I LOVE YOU GUYS and thank you for all the support, patience, understanding and time investment <333

     admin y, writer of @lgcjaehwa says:      1) what is your favorite part about being a mod?      i'd say seeing members dropping random appreciation posts and messages would be my favorite part! there were times where i tend to overthink and become a mess. although it may just look like a simple ask, random messages like these really makes my day.      2) what is the most memorable moment from being a mod in lgc thus far?      my first 'project'! its something i planned all by myself and to receive positive feedbacks makes me feel proud of it! i'm usually pessimistic when it comes to myself so this is really a big deal for me. this project is not out yet but will definitely be revealed in the future ;)      3) what is the best part about lgc members/writers (characters or muns!)     the best part is of course the community!! i never expect myself to stick to a rp for this long. there is this saying, 'the muns keep the rp running'. without you guys, lgc will not be where we are today!      4) anything else you would like to mention?      i just want to say that although i'm not close with everyone, i do hope i can get to know more lovely people here! and i thank you guys for staying with us throughout this journey. i'm sure lgc will still continue to stand strongly for the months or even years to come <3

#lgckrp #✧ .・゜゜leaf talks

[dailyadventureprompts]

Do you have any advice to people who want to run dwarf themed campaigns, but aren't married to the idea of dwarves being born with a hammer in their hand? My group is super tired of Tolkien-esque craftsmen who live in caves.

So in order to answer your question, I’m going to do the infuriating thing and go back to the SOURCE of the super tired trope and explain how it got so worn out in the first place before giving my actual response.  

Tolkien CREATED our pop-fantasy image of dwarves back in the Hobbit, and while that image has gone mostly unchanged in the 80 years since the book’s publishing, we’ve generally forgotten the details of what made the dwarves interesting:

The dwarves we meet were once great miners and artisans, with a culture known for its beauty, art, and honor. A great disaster befell them ( though whether this was their king’s madness or the dragon’s devastation, who can say?) and they were forced to flee their homeland, becoming a diaspora that had suffered greatly in their travels, but a few of which had found a minor home once again.  The dwarves hire the main character because they want his help to reclaim the historical artifacts and wealth of their people/symbolically reclaim the glory lost to them.  In the end, the prince of the dwarves and his direct kinsmen die defending their people’s chance at a bright future, cementing the theme that it is people, not things, that we should put our faith in. 

Did you catch that at the end there? The symbolism? the theme? The reason that Tolkien’s dwarves actually have a spark of life about them is that the traits ascribed to them ( craftsmen, treasure loving, traditionalist) have directly to do with their motivations ( loss of stability, wealth, and culture) and the themes of the book itself.  So often, when people criticize tolkienesque /pop-fantasy as just “ the same old cliche orcs and elves and dwarves”, they’re not wrong, because the whole genre decided to copy the AESTHETICS of Tolkien without caring one jot about how the characterization of their races might fit into their theme. This is where we get the ax wielding Scottish vikings who only care about beards, metal, and mead..... they are the IMAGE of a dwarf, there to preserve the fantasy aesthetic more than they are to comment on any of the story’s actual contents. 

If anyone reading this wants to make adventures centered around the “cliche” elements of fantasy, I advise them to look at how they can take the oft brushed aside traits of those cliches and use them to perhaps create a few themes for ongoing stories. 

(Thanks for this question Annon, just for you I’m going to bump a dwarf themed adventure prompt I’ve been working on up the queue) 

#Anonymous #prompt postage #dwarf #tolkien #monsters reimagined #D&amp;D #D&amp;D adventure #Adventure #homebrew #Homebrew Adventure

[sirpoley]

On the Four Table Legs  of Traveller, Leg 4: Random Encounters

In part 1 of this series, I described how Mongoose Traveller's spaceship mortgage rule becomes the drive for adventure and action in a spacefaring sandbox, and the 'autonomous' gameplay loop that follows.

In part 2, I talked about how Traveller's Patron system gives the DM a tool to pull the party out of the 'loop' and into more traditional adventures.

In part 3, I talked about Traveller's unique character creation system, and how it supports the previous two systems, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls that I've seen in play.

In this part, I'll talk about how each of these three systems interacts with, and in fact, relies upon, Traveller's random encounters.

The Many Random Encounters of Traveller

Traveller really takes the concept of random encounters and runs with it. Just in the core rulebook, there are random encounters for…

-          Encounters during space travel (with different sub-tables for travel near a space port, in settled space, wild space, and so on),

-          Encounters on foot in a starport, rural area, and urban area,

-          Encounters with the law (that is, random legal complications tables for accidentally or deliberately breaking laws on strange new worlds)

There are also several 'honorary mention' tables that interact with the random encounter tables, such as:

-          Random asteroid and random salvage tables,

-          Random passenger tables,

-          Random "bounty hunters come to repossess your ship if you didn't pay your mortgage" tables

-          Full random monster generator tables—this one is particularly impressive. When an alien 'animal' is encountered, rather than having hundreds of pages of animals, it seamlessly moves into generating a fully-unique animal on the fly

-          Random patron tables (these are truly in-depth: they generate who your patron is, what you're asked to do, random targets for your mission, and even who the opposition is).

-          A random piracy table (unfortunately buried in the spacecraft chapter, not near the table where pirate encounters are rolled), that provides inspiration for just how the pirates manage to get the jump on the party and what they want.

-          Of course, special mention goes out to the procedural subsector generator which is a full chapter in the book, in which the DM can generate the entire setting for the campaign.

What's impressive about Traveller isn't so much the volume, or even the quality, of the random tables, but how tightly they're tied into each of the other game's systems

Space Encounters

As Traveller is a game primarily about space travel, I'll focus on the Space Encounter table.

Sorry for the janky photo; I don't have the book on pdf. (Traveller Core Rulebook, 2008, p139)

This table is rolled on pretty much whenever the DM feels like it (the rules say: "roll 1d6 every week, day, or hour depending on how busy local space is. On a 6 […] roll d66 on the table below"). Many of these results tie in to subtables (any result of salvage, collision, mining, trade goods, or patron has additional rolls), but the photo above contains the most important part of the space encounter system.

Compare this table to the one from D&D's Manual of the Planes I used as an example in my series on wandering monsters:

Manual of the Planes, 2001. p. 151

Now, obviously, D&D's encounter table here is for an explicitly dangerous place—literally Hell—but the only result you can roll on the table that doesn't ­immediately move to combat is "72: Mercane trading mission." Thus, any time this table is rolled, there is a 99% chance of initiative being rolled.

Traveller's random encounter table marks its "unavoidable" encounters in bold (typically they're ones that immediately start a battle or some kind of dangerous phenomenon like a collision), though "patron" is also on there. There are only 7 results that are bolded this way, and only 6 of them are explicitly dangerous. Some of the non-bold rolls can result in battles as well depending on the party's actions, but there's no assumption of violence.

This is representative of most of Traveller's random encounter tables: they're not, by and large, random battle tables, but universe simulators. Depending on the context of the adventure, this means the random space encounter table could mean one of a number of different things. For example:

-          If the players are pirates, this becomes a random pirate target table. Most of the results are unarmed NPC ships that would be perfect targets for piracy. However, some are police or military vessels that would cause real problems for the party.

-          If the players are blue-collar miners and salvagers, this becomes a random treasure table, where the various derelict, asteroid, and salvage options become possibilities for work.

-          If the players are in trouble (suffering from a medical emergency or a mechanical failure), this becomes a random rescue table, where you get to find out who answers your distress beacon, and what their intentions might be. Additionally, the tables tell you how long it takes for rescue to arrive (for example, in lightly inhabited space, you have a 1-in-6 chance every week that a spaceship shows up. At that point, you're running up against hard limitations of fuel reserves on your ship as to whether life support will give out before rescue arrives)

-          If the players are simple traders, this table is a random flavour table, mostly adding a bit of flavour to the world while only occasionally having major impact on play.

"That's all well and good," you say, "but what does this have to do with tables?"

Encounters and Mortgages

Even with the bank taking most of the party's trade profit, without close attention to random encounters, the 'trade loop' can quickly turn into a 'roll dice and watch numbers grow' game. In a single iteration of the trade system, a lot of random encounters are rolled:

-          A Space Encounter in the origin system while flying to the 100-diameter limit (you can't safely use Traveller's FTL drives within 100-diameters of a planet),

-          A Space Encounter in the destination system while flying to the world from the 100-diameter limit (in the case of a mis-jump, which lands you far from the target world, this can use the more-dangerous less-settled options on the encounter table),

-          A Legal Trouble Encounter check upon docking with the new spaceport,

-          One or more Spaceport Encounter checks while in the spaceport and picking up cargo.

-          One or more Random Passenger rolls if passengers are picked up

That's four or more rolls on random tables just going from one planet to another. This means that what might otherwise seem to be a straightforward (and therefore boring) trading game becomes, in practice, a series of minor adventures and close escapes full of danger. Remember, any time a pirate is encountered, there's a real possibility the players will be forced to jettison their cargo, which typically represents all of their accumulated wealth. The stakes are very high.

These high stakes also provide motivation for your players to accumulate wealth beyond simply keeping the banks off their backs: ship-scale weapon systems are very expensive (in the millions of credits), but even one or two upgrades to a basic ship can give the party a huge leg-up against non-player ships (who usually fly unmodified ships lifted directly from the book).

Encounters and Patrons

Virtually every random encounter table has a one or two entries that result in the party meeting a patron, which, as I described in the second part of this series, are the keys to adventure in Traveller. Math isn't my strong suit, but back-of-the-napkin calculations suggest that around one-in-five trips between worlds will involve a run-in with a patron, and thus the start of a classic-style adventure. Note that while the book does provide tables to generate patrons, it really isn't practical to do this on the fly. What this does mean is that, as DM, when you have a free afternoon or just a couple of hours, you can create and queue up your own patrons in advance and trust that, at some point, the game's procedural universe simulation will put them in front of the party.

Encounters and Character Creation

Traveller’s character creation system is different. So different, in fact, that it can be tempting to cut it out altogether and replace it with something conventional.

The rulebook recommends that, if possible, patrons should be drawn from the PCs' existing contacts and allies. I don't think it explicitly mentions this, but hostile encounters should also often include the PCs' existing enemies and rivals. This ties player characters' backgrounds directly into the action of the game's 'present' timeline. In addition, it's actually much easier as DM to pull out a character that you already have in your rolodex sometimes than come up with a new, characterful pirate captain for each random encounter.

Missing Legs

Unless you really know what you're doing, Traveller runs a serious risk of collapsing if any of these four legs (mortgages/trade, patrons, character creation, and random encounters) is removed or seriously modified. Unfortunately, the game doesn't make this clear in any particular way, which is why my previous DM (who, again, is very good) struggled visibly with his two campaigns.

If you decide mortgages won't be a major aspect of the game, you have to remove or severely nerf the trade rules, or your party will be rolling in cash almost immediately. Because the trade rules are the primary motivation to move around (and thus, roll random encounters), you have to come up with another reason for them to do so. (Note that it's possible, during character creation, to be loaned a Scout Ship without having to pay mortgages on it. As DM, you should consider disallowing this, or at least be aware of the implications if this reward is rolled)

If you decide trading won't be a major aspect of this game, you have to find another way for the party to make money (lots of money) or they simply won't be able to pay their mortgage. You also have to find a reason for them to travel from place to place, or they won't be able to justify the cost of fuel, crew salary, and other expenses. The  game will run serious risk of defaulting to jumping from one patron job to another. This isn't inherently bad, but it's a lot of work for the DM, and, at some point, becomes a railroad of quest-to-quest with no other real alternative. You're also cutting off the party from meaningfully interacting with the spaceship upgrade system—there's pretty much no other way to raise the millions of credits needed to buy extra laser turrets and stuff for their ship.

If you decide patrons won't be a major aspect of the game, you might find that the party never leaves their spaceship. Skills other than those related to trading and spacecraft operation will never be used, most of the equipment chapter and the encounters and danger chapter will be left unread, and those wild and unique planets you spent ages generating before the campaign will go completely unnoticed.

If you decide Traveller's character creation is too unbalanced and ought to be replaced by a point-buy system, you might struggle to weave the players' contacts, rivals, allies, and enemies into the campaign (if they even have those), and you might miss out on having hired NPCs running around on the spaceship. This in turn means that there's many fewer opportunities for roleplaying during travel. Additionally, your players might then operate with the expectation that Traveller will have anything resembling game balance, and, as such, be frustrated by the game's hugely uneven random encounters.

If you decide random encounters won't be a major aspect of the game, you might find that the party never meets a patron, never has the opportunity to engage in piracy, never has any trouble watching their credits climb and climb indefinitely, and never has much motivation to make money (and thus, go on adventures and travel around) beyond paying off their mortgage.

#TravellerRPG #Traveller #FourLegsofTraveller

[hellsfanatic]

Hey so um, I wrote this for school. I don’t really like how rushed the ending is but I had to turn it in and I have absolutely 0 motivation to fix it

—

I rushed to the hospital with Pony, Johnny wasn’t doing well when I left earlier. I knew Johnny would want to see Ponyboy before he died, and I wanted to see him before he died, too. People were yelling at us, probably because we were running through a hospital and pushing past them, but I didn’t care. I had to see Johnny. After what really was too long, we saw the door to his room.

We tried to go in, we had to, but some doctor stepped in front of us. “I’m sorry, boys, but you can’t go in there right now. He’s not in the right condition to see anyone,” the doctor told us.

“We gotta see him,” my voice shook, no, I just demanded it. I wasn’t weak like that. Remembering Two-Bit’s blade, I pulled it out and pointed it towards him. “We’re gonna see him, and if you give me any static you’ll end up on your own operatin’ table.”

He didn’t even flinch. “You can see him, but it’s because you’re friends, not that knife of yours.” It had to be the blade, who would change their mind like that without it?

We went inside Johnny’s hospital room. I’d been in here too much lately. It was silent, too silent, I didn’t like it. Johnny wasn’t moving, either. “Johnnycake?” I asked, my voice wavering as I did. I didn’t get a reply, there wasn’t any noise at all. ‘What if we’re too late?’ I couldn’t help but think.

“Dal?” It was Johnny. Man, did he sound bad. He sounded weak, but at least he was alive. Knowing that alone was a huge win to me, I really thought he had died before I could see him.

I knelt down next to his hospital bed. “Yeah, Johnny. It’s me, and Pony’s here too,” I told him. “The doc said you ain’t doing too good. He said you’re not supposed to see anyone, but we got in. I don’t care what those doctors say, you ain’t dying and that’s that, you got it? I ain’t letting some burns get the best of you,” I rambled. I knew I sounded all over the place, but I was. I also knew I must’ve sounded crazy, acting like I could control his future, saying he wouldn’t die now. Just by looking at the kid I could see how wrong I was, not to mention when he talked it barely made a sound.

“Thanks, Dally, I mean it,” Johnny managed to get out. He groaned in pain, that happened almost any time he tried to move now. I think that’s a big part of why he doesn’t, it hurts. “Hey, Ponyboy, come here,” he instructed. Pony listened and leaned in so he could hear Johnny better. “Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold,” he whispered before closing his eyes and falling into his pillow. He looked dead, I think he was dead.

Pony was crying, I think. Either that or he was really close to it. “Come on, Johnny, don’t die. You can’t die, not now,” my voice sounded like I could be crying. Was I? “Johnny, you’re only sixteen, kid. You know you’re too young, man. You know you shouldn’t have gone back in that church. You know this is too soon to die. Come on, just, just do something, man. Just open your eyes a little, or lift your hand up just a little bit,” I begged. I’ll admit it this time, I was begging. I had to, my closest pal out of all of Tulsa could be dead.

“Dally, it’s no use,” Ponyboy said. “He’s dead and we both know it,” his voice was shaking, too. He kept looking at Johnny, Pony was barely even moving. I knew he was right, Johnny was gone, anyone could see that.

Johnny was gone. He was really dead. As soon as that reality sunk in, I left the room. I started picking up speed until I was running, I didn’t want anyone seeing me. I was crying, and I wasn’t proud of it. I’m not sure where I was going, I just knew I couldn’t stay in the hospital room with Johnny. Well, Johnny’s body, Johnny was gone. I knew that.

I got into the car I brought and started speeding to my part of town. I had my mind on one thing, death. I knew I wanted to die, what else was there to live for? If good people like Johnny couldn’t live, why should I? Johnny should’ve lived, he didn’t deserve to die. The newspapers were right, he was a hero, but if that’s what happens to heroes, why would anyone in their right mind want to be a hero? Plus, if that’s what happens to heroes, what does that mean for hoods like me?

I stopped the car outside of a store, it was part of my plan. I had to say something with how I died. I had to show everyone that hoods can be ruined, too. I’d tell everyone that Greasers cared about people, why else would the toughest one around die because his pal did? I decided I’d rob a store, get chased down for a while by the cops, and then pull out my heater so they’d shoot me. I guess I was saying something that way, too. The cops wouldn’t care that it wasn’t loaded, I knew that they’d jump at the chance to kill me. Their job would be easier if I died, I’m probably half of their problems.

I started to follow the steps I had made. I got inside, but instead of going straight to the counter, I looked at some magazines. I knew if Johnny were alive he would’ve told me not to do this, that it wasn’t worth it. He was a smart kid like that. I had to face it, though. Johnny wasn’t here to tell me it wasn’t worth it, there wasn’t anyone here to stop me.

The guy at the counter, I think he owned the store, I don’t know, started talking to me. I didn’t really care what he was saying, honestly it just sounded like another sound around here. All I knew was that I didn’t want to hear it anymore, I didn’t like it. I was mad, I don’t think I was mad at him, though. That didn’t matter, I projected all of it onto him so I could take it out.

Without thinking, I pulled out my heater and headed for him. “Give me the money,” I demanded. He seemed frozen, so I pressed my gun right up next to his face. “Give me the money,” I repeated, much more firmly this time. I was actually almost yelling. I must’ve gotten to him, because he grabbed all the cash from the drawer and gave it to me.

I was about to run out, but I saw the guys outside. They were calling for me and looking around, but Steve saw me through the window. I heard him call for the rest of them to come over, and they did. They all stood outside, except Darry, he actually came inside. I have to admit, he looked scarier than normal, maybe because he looked even angrier than he usually did.

“I’m sorry if Dally was being a disturbance,” Darry apologized to the man. After that, he turned to me. “Steve said he saw you take his money, Dal. Give it back,” Darry instructed me. I wasn’t sure of what I was doing to begin with, so I hesitantly set all of the bills down on the counter. He took the heater that was shaking in my hand, he must not have wanted me to have it.

I watched as he put it in his pocket. I was starting to fidget from not having it. It didn’t feel safe without it, even if I couldn’t actually shoot anything with it. I thought of the Two-Bit’s blade that was in my back pocket, but I figured if I took it out Darry would take that, too. “Wait, what are you guys doing anyways?” I asked. I was still shaken up from Johnny dying, but I don’t think I told any of them that I was doing anything.

“Ponyboy called from the hospital. Said something about you freaking out after Johnny died and you ran out. He told us you might be doing something you’ll regret, but this doesn’t seem very new,” he answered. I almost forgot I left Pony at the hospital.

Almost as if he were on queue, Pony ran in, seeming out of breath. “Dally,” he panted. “Johnny, he uh, he wants to see you,” he took a break to breath. He was leaning against a shelf for a break. “He didn’t die, Dal. He just passed out, the nurse said it’s stress or something, I don’t know, I wasn’t listening really. He woke back up, he was asking where you went. He said he remembered you asking him not to die. It must’ve gotten through.”

“He’s,” I started, but my thoughts cut me off. I was silent for a little longer, but only a second or two. “He’s alive?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine that Pony was lying, he knew that if he lied to me I’d get him back for it. Plus, if he was lying, he was really good at it, and I don’t think Pony had that in him.

Ponyboy nodded. “Yeah, he’s alive and doing just fine. Just go to the hospital, okay? He keeps asking for you and he seems worried or something.” I didn’t stay around any longer, I just bolted for the car and started to go to the hospital. I was speeding, more than normal, too.

I didn’t stop at any stop signs, so it wasn’t long before I saw the building. I pulled in the parking lot and hopped out almost before I had even parked. I wasn’t thinking about anything like being safe around that car, the only thing I was thinking was that Johnny wasn’t dead. Well, I was thinking two things. That Johnny wasn’t dead, and that he wanted to see me out of all the people.

For the second time today I was pushing past everyone in the hospital. I still didn’t care that they yelled, I didn’t care at all this time. Johnny’s room was right in front of me, but I stopped. ‘What are you doing?’ I asked myself. I actually wasn’t quite sure. I had just done so much to rush myself here, but now I stood in front of the door, staring into what seemed like nothing.

‘Just go in, you’ve seen Johnny before. It doesn’t matter,’ I told myself. ‘He could’ve died, Dallas, and all you did was cry and try to get yourself killed. You can’t face him again. He makes you feel too much. He makes you feel more than a hood should ever feel. It’s not right to talk to him, or even see him. Just leave before you get more attached. Dallas, you can’t care for him. It’s not good for you, you know what happened last time you had someone like this,’ I countered my own thoughts. Still, that last part was reminding me of too much.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a few seconds and took a deep breath, trying to shove all of that down. Before I let myself drown in my thoughts, I walked into Johnny’s room. “Johnny?” I tried to get his attention as I made my way to the side of his bed.

“Dally? Gee, Dal, you had me scared. Pony told me you left after I passed out, he said you seemed real upset. I knew you had your heater on you, too, and I didn’t know what you were goin’ to do. I know you don’t think too much when you’re upset, you just do things, I thought you were going to get yourself into trouble,” Johnny spoke. All I did was listen. “Why’d you go, anyways? I heard you saying all those things about me before I went completely out. I thought you would’ve stayed a little longer like Ponyboy did.”

I sighed. I wasn’t sure how to answer his question. I could tell him the truth about why I left, but then I’d sound crazy and weak. Then I realized, if he does die soon, I’ll feel bad if I don’t tell him. “Well after you died, well after I thought you died, I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t really want to stay around here since it would remind me of you and how I manage to lose just about everything, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I could’ve gone to New York again or something, but I figured it wouldn’t be worth the headache. Plus, I’ll be able to be charged as an adult soon and I get into a lot of trouble in the city. So, I thought the next best thing would be to just die. I didn’t want to be plain, though, so I went to get myself killed. I had a whole plan, I was going to rob a store to get the fuzz after me, then, I was going to act like I’d shoot them, and I’d die from them. I thought they’d shoot me for sure. Actually, they probably would have if I wasn’t stopped before I could even leave the store.”

“Dally,” Johnny paused, “you were going to die just because I wasn’t around anymore?” he asked. There was a brief silence, but I nodded. “Why did you think that made sense?”

I took a second to think about that. “I guess I just thought it’d be fair. If the world would take someone out for helping some kids, like a hero, then why should some no good Greaser be living?” I told him. “Okay, maybe I sort of thought I’d miss you being around. It’s just not the same with the other guys, Johnny. I mean, sure they’re fun to hang around with, but it’s not the same. They’re not like you, man. There’s just something about you, like you get what I’m going through. I don’t know, that probably sounds stupid. I just thought if you were gone I’d really be alone. I mean, I’d still have the gang and Tim, maybe Buck, but you know, I’d still feel alone. Just like I did in New York.”

“Dal, I get where you were coming from, I just, I don’t think you were thinking right. If you died I would be sad, yeah, but I wouldn’t go and kill myself,” Johnny told me. I guess we just don’t think the same. “Dally, tell me, honestly, are you okay?”

I didn’t say anything for a while. What was I even supposed to say to that? Of course I was okay, I was Dallas Winston. Why would he ask anyways? I’m obviously not bothered so it shouldn’t matter. Who asks someone if they’re okay?

“Dallas?” he tried to get my attention again. I focused on him again, I hadn’t even realized that I zoned out. “Will you answer my question? You don’t have to say much, just a yes or no. Dally, if it’s a no you don’t have to be worried. Really, I expect a no. You were about to get yourself killed, Dallas.”

I ran my fingers through my hair. “Maybe I’m not, Johnny, but what’s it matter? I’m tough, so I’ll get over it,” I told him.

“Dally, you know you can’t think like that. Well, I hope you know you can’t think like that. If you aren’t okay you have to tell someone, even just me, like you just did, and you did great with it. I want to help you, Dally, I don’t want you going and getting yourself killed when someone like me dies,” Johnny said. I guess it made me feel a little better to say it, but still, now I seemed weak. Dallas Winston isn’t supposed to be weak.

“Yeah, I know. I just, I don’t know. I guess I always knew that you were the one keeping me here. Even if that was just around Tulsa. I think if you weren’t here or if your parents took care of you I would’ve left almost as soon as I came, but I saw something in you, kid, it reminded me of myself. So I thought I’d stick around, you know, make sure you stayed safe, make sure you ate everyday, watch you grow up and become a good guy,” I explained. “Every time you did something good, man, I’d be proud of you. I guess I was proud that even though you went through so much it was possible to be a good guy.”

Johnny was smiling, and I think I even saw something sparkle in his eyes. “You were proud of me, Dally?”

“Of course I was, kid. Every day,” I answered. “You always did so good in life, I don’t know how you do it. It’s like no matter what happens, you could find something to do and you tried to make it better. You never cared what it was. If you thought it was the right thing to do, you did it.”

“Hey, Dal? You know what would make me real proud?” he asked. It seemed like he had a plan, but I wasn’t sure what. Honestly, if I could do something that could actually make him proud, I would. I wanted him to feel what I did every time he helped someone or tried to make things better. He deserves to know what that’s like.

“What would make you proud, Johnny?”

“If you tried to get help. Even if you just talk to someone in the gang every once in a while. I just think you should get out of the idea that you’re living because I am. When I die, I think you should keep living. It’s really a problem if you’d die because I did. I don’t know if you think it’s a problem or not, but I know it is. So, do you think you can do that? For me?”

I thought for a second. He was right, I knew that. I shouldn’t have been that dependent on his life. I knew that even though it was all just in the heat of the moment, I shouldn’t have gone out in search of dying. I just wasn’t thinking straight. “Yeah, I think I can. I’ll try.”

#the outsiders #fanfic #johnny cade #dallas winston #ponyboy curtis #the outsiders dally #the outsiders ponyboy #the outsiders johnny

[countdowntillseason3]

An Explanation

I believe it's time I explain my sudden disappearance and why the countdown stopped at such an awkward time. For roughly the past 2 or so years I have been running this blog for a bit solely because I somewhat enjoyed doing a silly little countdown for a show I was passionate about. Heck, I made this blog solely because of my fixation for Big Hero 6. But at the moment life has taken a tumble for me, and not because of the normal "I've been busy with school," or "Life is just really hard." Because even though both are true for me, the real reason I stopped abruptly is linked to two things.

1. How I access this blog. When I first set this blog up, I set it up before I knew side-blogs were a thing. As such, this blog is actually an alternative account in a way, meaning I have to log out my main and log back in here. It's annoying to deal with, even with the queueing system.

2. Lack of motivation is also a major factor. My fixation for Big Hero 6 has diminished. It's not that I don't enjoy it, it's just that I'm just not as interested in it as I was before. I'm going to be honest here and say I'm not really into the direction Season 3 is going, and they basically ruined Hardlight and Sirque by having them get incarcerated even though it felt like they clearly were going to have more to them. This is really the largest gripe I have with it, although the 3rd Season can be fun and enjoyable at times, considering I rather like the introduction of Cobra. Plus Supersonic Stu is a nice character, he and Sue kind of fill that void that High Voltage left. But overall, Season 3 is lacking and doesn't give me that motivational drive to continue this countdown that Seasons 1 and 2 had.

To make this clear, I am not ending the countdown. I just lack motivation to do so, but that doesn't mean that motivation won't come back. Provided Season 3 goes in an interesting way and heck, on the chance a Season 4 gets confirmed, I probably might get back into running this blog. But right now is not that time. I thank all my followers to being with me for these 2 years though, and I do hope that once I regain my motivation I may continue to do this. If you still want to contact me or just see what I'm up to, my main is @alonsotigerheart.

Thank you and goodbye for now.

[askaceattorney]

(Pictures in Letter)

Dear Trearoos,

Co-Mod: My preferred method is to group Mod letters together and post them when there’s a large enough number of them (or when it’s been a long time since they were posted), while posting letters to characters from the queue, which takes roughly a month.  You can let us know if you’d rather have us answer either kind of letter at a specific time, of course.

Dear Anonymous,

Co-Mod: It depends -- if we’re talking about the ones who committed murder, I’d go with Ini Miney.  Her motive -- keeping the illusion that she was her deceased sister going -- was one of the most tragic ones I can imagine.  However, if we’re just talking about those involved in crimes, I’d definitely go with Tahrust Inmee.  Sympathizing with someone who was willing to frame Maya for murder (who’s already been through that three times) isn’t easy, but he saw it as the only way to protect his wife and unborn child, even sacrificing his own life in the process.  I doubt if I’d have made the same decision if I were in his situation (and hopefully I’ll never find out), but I do have to admire that level of commitment to one’s family.

Mod Kristoph: Probably Geiru from Spirit of Justice. Simply because of her traumatic problems. Plus, it’s sad to see a cute person like her fall from grace.

Dear skibot99,

Co-Mod: That gag was started here on the blog, with this letter.  Like Phoenix said, American euphemisms go way over her head.

Dear Anonymous,

Co-Mod: I’m with you there.  I’m sure she can take it, but she’s a human being like the rest of us, so let’s treat her with some respect, shall we?

Plus I’m running out of witty retorts for her.

(Previous Letter)

Dear Anonymous,

Co-Mod: Mostly because Mod Maya used them, and she hasn’t been on the blog for a while.  I prefer to stick with the regular-sized 3D sprites.

(Previous Post)

Dear M.,

Co-Mod: What can I say?  Love’s a strange thing, and Ace Attorney’s full of strange people.

Mod Kristoph: You know what they say.

Dear skibot99 again,

Co-Mod: Thanks for your concern, but what’s so horrible about getting the lore wrong every now and then?  When that happens, we just make some quick fixes, then let it go and move on.  No big deal.

Dear Starry,

Co-Mod: Thanks a bunch, and right back at you!

I loved Turnabout Revolution myself, for a number of reasons: it introduced us to Apollo’s father (and his biological father, for a few brief moments), it gave us one of the most clever plot twists in the series (Dhurke being dead and channeled by Maya from the episode’s beginning), and it gave Apollo a chance to become a hero who brings down a cartoonishly evil dictator and serve up some justice, Apollo-style.  Not to mention it pitted two of the series’ most iconic characters against each other in a court of law.

Speaking of which, while I enjoyed seeing the first civil trial in an Ace Attorney game, I felt like it did the same thing as The Stolen Turnabout in T&T -- it starts out being about something other than murder, buuuuut somebody ends up getting killed anyway.  And in this case, it was all because of a selfish politician who didn’t get what he wanted.  I mean, seriously?

I also couldn’t help but wonder how Phoenix got roped into to doing things against his will just to protect Maya again.  True, he’d just rescued her from being convicted of murder, but could he not at least be honest with his most trusted subordinate instead of facing him in court without an explanation?  I might be overthinking it, but it seemed a little far-fetched to me.

The second case was also enjoyable because of how much hinged on it -- the Defiant Dragons’ cause, Dhurke’s reputation, Rayfa’s self-confidence, Nahyuta’s conscience, the fate of a whole nation, etc.  And how could it get any better than an exposing a monarch for the delusional dictator she is?

Not to mention it was the first time Apollo and Phoenix had to do their jobs at gunpoint.  Even after playing through every other game before SoJ, I still wasn’t prepared to see that happen.

But in any case (no pun intended), I thoroughly enjoyed how Turnabout Revolution progressed, and how it brought Apollo’s unofficial trilogy to a satisfying conclusion.

Apart from him being separated from the WAA, that is.  That was just too sad.

And finally, as you may have guessed if you know anything about my thoughts toward Athena, I’m with you all the way on having a little more story for her in a future game.  I understand her playing a smaller part in a game that centers on Apollo’s growth as a lawyer, but the girl’s got some serious potential.

Dear Christianthepupbot,

Co-Mod: You know, that’s a great idea.  Generally speaking, your best bet is to send holiday-themed letters at least 2 months in advance of the holiday.  I wish I could be more specific, but that should guarantee your letter being answered in time for the holiday.  Also, as mentioned above, you can always request that your letter be answered on a specific day, and we’ll try to squeeze it in on that day.

Hey, that means it’s a great time to send Easter-themed letters, doesn’t it?

Dear Vera Long,

Co-Mod: Thanks for letting us know!  It’s a big help knowing which letter is being referenced instead of having to guess.  And thank you for contributing with your letters to the Ace Attorney crew!

Dear Ali S. Fakenamington,

Co-Mod: Nah, that’s a legitimate complaint.  I just decided to answer them all in a row since it’s pretty rare that someone sends that many at once (plus I have to admit I’m kind of partial to those comics).  I’ll spread them out a little next time so we can have some more variety within a single day.  Thanks for asking!

-The Mods

#Trearoos #Anonymous #skibot99 #M. Artin #doveofthedawn #Christianthepupbot #Vera Long #Ali S. Fakenamington #Mod Post #Co Mod #Mod Kristoph

[shadowofthelamp]

Fandom Trades: Tips and Tricks

I’ve been running a secret santa for five years now, and a few people expressed interest in a sort of ‘guide’. It does take some elbow grease to get things up and running, but it’s very rewarding and gets easier as you go. Click the ‘read more’ for some stuff I’ve picked up over the years! It’s a bit general to try and cover anything, but if you have any questions, you can ask! (And if you’ve run one yourself, feel free to add on!)

FAQ: Something that’s a really good idea to have. Here’s the most important stuff on it that would probably be applicable to most trades:

-Basic summary of what the trade will be- some could be fic-only or art-only, or even specific-ship-only. Mine’s general to ‘all sonic sfw content’, but setting guidelines so people know what they’re getting into is a good idea so you won’t have to answer the same question over and over.

-Deadlines. Make them clear. Mine’s easy (Christmas Eve) but depending on what size the gift is expected to be, the time frame can be adjusted. 

-Related, set up rules for if people need to drop out. It happens, so be prepared. (This is why I ask now if people are alright giving a second gift.)

-Any particular rules for your trade- is it sfw or is nsfw acceptable? (In that case, set age limits.) Are there ships that will or won’t be allowed? Is there a punishment for violating the rules or turning things in late, like not being allowed to participate in the trade again?

PROMOTION:

A promo image is a good idea! I’ve been using the same one for a few years that was put together by a friend no longer on tumblr, but images catch people’s eyes faster than a text dump. Make something that’s easy to understand but gets the point across, and the text below should have enough information without overwhelming the casual scroller. 

Space paragraphs often to make it less intimidating. Include links to the FAQ, the sample entry, and the submit box right in the post, as well as a way to contact you- you want things to be as easy as possible for anyone interested. Here’s my promo post.

You also want to start promotion early- I start posting and reblogging my promo a full month before the entry deadline, to give as many people the chance to see it as possible. Any earlier, and they might not care- (who wants to see a Christmas trade post in October when you’re hyped for Halloween?) and any later and you might not get as many participants as you could have. A month-ish is a good time frame. (I also have a tag for the promo post, so people can blacklist it if they aren’t interested and don’t want to see it 15 times.)

SAMPLE ENTRIES:

Also something that’s good to have. Having a template for what you want entries to look like will make sorting easier for you. Here’s mine. It’s a good idea to scout around for other trades to find out what would work for you.

MAKING ASSIGNMENTS:

Next, setting up how to arrange who gets assigned to who. I personally use google spreadsheets. These are the categories I use, feel free to steal them: Username, medium (art, writing, amvs, ect), whether they’ll work with fan characters, what they’d like to receive, what they won’t do (one year I even added ‘if there’s anyone you won’t work with’ so if it’s a fandom with drama, that one might be good), who they’re gifting to, who they’re receiving from, if they’ve submitted their piece yet, if their piece is in the queue, and if they’re alright with doing backup.

I also had a category for if they’ve confirmed they’re still in once assignments were sent out. (Boy, was that one nerve-wracking during the whole tumblr purge debacle of last year- I didn’t know if anybody had just quit tumblr mid-month.)

You will run into people who only want two or three things nobody else wrote on their sheet. If you can’t find even one match, then just put them with someone who had a wide variety on theirs, or who doesn’t have anything on their ‘won’t do’ list. Trying to match with multiple likes is a better bet, though, so encouraging longer lists of what people want makes things easier for you in the long run!

I personally just went in a line- I picked one person, found who they would give a gift to, and then found who THAT person would give a gift to. Rinse and repeat down the list, and it’ll end with everyone paired. I ended up making a closed loop and then sorting the last 8 or so, which was fine. An easy way to check that you didn’t double-classify anyone is control-f and searching names. If their name pops up 3 times, you did it right.

SENDING OUT ASSIGNMENTS:

Just copy-pasting the part of the entry that includes the person’s name and their likes makes this way easier for you over trying to type them out individually. Ask for confirmation that people got their assignments so you don’t have to worry if they missed it.

HOW TO KEEP THINGS ORGANIZED:

My system is this: I’ve mentioned it before, but I utilize a combination of my spreadsheet and the queue function. Let’s say Sally’s making a gift for Jake, Jake’s making a gift for Taylor, and Taylor’s making a gift for Sally. Sally submits her piece of art for Jake. I mark that off on the sheet, so when Taylor submits the gift for Sally, that gift will go in the queue to be posted whenever the deadline is up because she turned hers in already.

This keeps people motivated to complete their parts of the trade, since they won’t get their gifts until they do. If someone drops out, tell the person making the gift for them- if you’re lucky, they can rework what they have for the person that the drop-out was supposed to make something for, but if not, bring in someone who didn’t mind making a second gift. Person making the gift for the dropout can choose if they want to continue making it or not- if it’s mostly done and not a fan-character, they can just post it on their own blog unrelated to the trade. 

It’s also a good idea to have a ‘hub’ where things are posted. If it’s a fic trade, ao3 has a function specifically for this, but I’ve found having things submitted directly to you makes it a million times easier to keep track of who’s finished their pieces, as well as keeping things ‘secret’ until the big day. (People have gotten confused or excited and posted early before.)

If people want to post elsewhere after it’s posted on the main hub, set your own rules- I say it’s fine as long as it links back to the blog and links the giftee, particularly if it involves fancharacters. You make your own judgement.  

BE PATIENT:

This is one that’s very important. Some people don’t check the FAQ, and some people are going to be new, asking questions that you swear you’ve answered before or thought would be obvious. They generally just want to know, so take a deep breath. They don’t know they’re the fifth person to ask that question. Answer politely, or steer them towards the FAQ. (Running the same event year after year, you run into this a lot- they’re just new, be nice!)

Don’t start an event that you expect to have plenty of people participating if you aren’t prepared to hear the same questions a couple of times. Things might get a little annoying- take a step back for a few minutes, cool off, but try to remain professional. You signed up for this. For me, it’s always worth it to see how happy people are about their gifts, but know yourself and your limits- running a themed week where people post art at their own pace is less hassle, so you could try that if you don’t feel up to organizing a full trade! 

If you can have a friend to bounce things off of, that can help too, but don’t use them as just a dumping ground. Tumblr allows multiple ‘mods’ on a blogs, so splitting work can make things easier, particularly if it’s your first run doing something like this. I had a friend who helped me the first few years before leaving tumblr. Be sure you trust the person, though! They’ll be able to edit posts and delete submissions, so if any drama happens, beware. (This never happened to me, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful.)

TAGGING:

Add tags to the submission box. I don’t know why this took me four years to think of, but it saved me a lot of time last year. If it’s a trade that covers an entire fandom and dozens of ships, you can add the shipping tags as they come in, but adding the ten or so most popular character tags helps a lot. If it’s going to involve potentially triggering content, common trigger tags are a good idea too. (A Halloween trade might need this, for example, or one that involves nsfw content.)

PEOPLE TURNING THINGS IN LAST MINUTE:

It’s going to happen. I think one year I was panicking on the 23rd because I only had half the gifts, and all but one had been turned in by the time I went to bed on the 24th. People procrastinate- if you get in most of the gifts ahead of time, you can thank your lucky stars. Try not to stress over it, but feel free to post reminders in the week before/days leading up to the deadline. My family travels around the holidays a lot, and I managed to get everything queued up properly through airport and hotel wifi more than one year, so you’ll be just fine if you try and stay calm.

OTHER/GENERAL:

It’s absolutely worth it, in my opinion- I’ve been doing this for years for a reason. My favorite thing is knowing I’ve done something that made others happy. Going through all the excited responses Christmas morning is equal or above getting presents from my family, because I know it’s on some level because of me facilitating the trade in the first place. I hear over and over this is something people look forward to, and it genuinely warms my heart. 

It might take a few years to get established, but if you find a niche (there was a blog called sonic secret santa, but it hadn’t been updated in years) you might be surprised how fast you can gather people! I like seeing people show up year after year, it’s how I know I’m doing something right.

It is definitely work, and there is stress involved, (especially if people drop out or don’t send in their gifts on time) but the benefits outweigh the negatives, I say. People are generally understanding if there’s a problem, as long as you make it known you’re working on it.

You have to commit to the responsibility if you do this- people who are making gifts are putting their trust in you that you’ll keep things organized and they’ll get something for the gift they’re giving. You can’t guarantee everything will run exactly as planned, but you can be as transparent as possible when you hit a bump- ‘I’m sorry, but your person said they’ll be late because they were having internet problems/personal life issues and is doing their best’ is going to get a lot better of a response than radio silence. Be sympathetic, but be firm on the rules if need be.

I hope this helped a bit, and thanks for reading!

[babeejeon]

Downy

Author note:

Guess who has their semester break?

Meeeee!

I have time, I have inspiration, so here is what comes next…

I just wrote some lovely drabble for kook, I hope you would enjoy it.

Word Count: 1613

-Jungkook fluffy drabble-

After returning from your business trip, first thing you wanted to do is going to grocery shop. Right after your plane landed and you got your luggage. You have nothing in fridge, your shampoo and fabric softener is running out. So, you put your luggage to your car and started to drive to supermarket nearby your house. After parking your car, you enter the supermarket and take a shopping cart.

 Wandering around the racks you put everything which catches your eyes to the cart. You also didn’t forget to put the things in your shopping list.

 You love grocery shopping in a kind of funny way. Working as a project manager in a big company and considering your age you have nothing but a dull life. You love your job, yes you did. But that doesn’t change the fact that it is sometimes too formal, too boring, too dull. You have a lot of responsibilities, you are always in rush, you are so busy. But grocery shopping gives you domestic vibes. Not that you are doing it with your family or boyfriend, actually your family lives in another city and you don’t have a boyfriend. You are doing it all alone but its still peaceful, looking at other people shopping with their loved ones and dreaming same thing for yourself in the future just makes you smile.

 After stuffing your cart with things more than you need, you started to drag your cart towards cash point. At that moment you realized that you forget to get your fabric softener, so you drag your cart towards that section.

When you look at the racks of your favourite softener, you realized there is only one left.

 Weird!

You thought. But since it’s the last, you tried to be fast to grab it.But at the same time another hand grabbed it just like you did. Your eyes meet with the stranger.

 “I grabbed it first!” you both said at the same time. Your eyes went bigger.

 “Look I just came here after 8 hours flight and I need this.” You said impatiently.

 “This is the third store I am visiting. I am sorry but I can’t let you get it.” He said.

 “I can’t understand it. Why on the earth Downy is out of stock all of sudden?” you said annoyed. He averted his eyes from yours.

 “I, ugh..I don’t know but I just need to get this. I am sorry!” he mumbled and quickly grabbed the bottle. He was about to go with it, but you were quick to catch his arm.

 “Hey! Who said you can get it?” you said. His face dropped and he handed the bottle to you.

“You are right, it wouldn’t be so kind of me.” He said and turn his back and left the store. You looked after his back, all like that, dumbfounded.

 I didn’t mean I would get it..

You thought. Taking your shopping cart, you went to cash point and pay them. After bringing what you bought to your car, you grabbed the bottle. Opening its cap, you smelled the soft scent. The boy from grocery store was on your mind and you were feeling bad for it. Grabbing your phone, you searched ‘downy’ on internet.

 ‘Downy sold out in Korea after BTS’ Jungkook mentioned it in his Fancafe chat’

 After reading the article, you searched for the boy. For some reason he seems very familiar. You heard about the band, but you never listened them or something.

 Weird.

You thought. His band members weren’t familiar but he was pretty familiar.

 Anyways, his fans must be crazy. How could they make it sold out? Wait, was the boy from supermarket also his fan? Aw, if yes you would feel bad for taking it.

 ***

When you arrived home, you quickly put the groceries into cupboard and fridge. After that you took a hot shower and took a nap without even drying your hair. Exhaustion took all your body, so you find your self in the arms of sleep.

 When you wake up from your nap you run the washing machine. While putting your fabric softener, he comes to your mind. He was wearing oversized grey hoodie and matching grey sweatpants. His hood was on and he has black mask on his face. He was looking the way too cuddly in that outfit. You couldn’t help but dream how lovely it would be to cuddle him.

 Next few minutes you were staring into ceiling and dreaming. When you come back to your senses you mentally slapped yourself and went to your kitchen to cook some dinner for yourself.

***

You opened your eyes at 8am. Other people have Monday syndrome but you have it for Friday. You have your motivation and goals on Mondays, but you feel so exhausted and reluctant to go work on Fridays. And you definitely don’t feel different on this Friday morning.

 You opened your phone to check the weather forecast and messages.

Wow! Only message I get is from my boss.

You thought when you see only your boss’ name on your messages. Clicking unwillingly to the message, you mentally prepared yourself for what is written in that message.

 “Morning Y/N!

I am sorry for not giving you this break for earlier, but you did great job last weekend in the business trip. You are free today. I know one day break is not too big, but we need you at work too much. So I decided to give it on Friday, your least favourite day in week 🤭🤭🤭  , so you can have three days with the weekend.”

 You reread the message. Because you can’t believe it. Because your boss never gives breaks unless it is too urgent. She even asks the reason several times if someone wants to use their leave for absence.

 You felt extremely happy and decided to have your breakfast in your favourite coffee shop in down street. Quickly taking your shower and getting ready, you left home after fifteen minutes. It was only half past eight in the morning but walking on the street in not-so-formal clothes and not heading to your office, you were more than happy.

 You walked slowly and didn’t forget to examine the people and life around. Every morning you were in too rush that you don’t even realise it’s almost spring.

 ***

 You arrived the coffee shop in ten minutes. There is a little bit queue, so you decided to quickly join it. When it’s finally the turn of the person in front of you, you were eagerly looking at the person. Not that you are a stalker but because you were waiting for him to finish his order so you can order yours. But when you saw his eyes, you felt a very unfamiliar and weird feeling in your stomach.

He looks like the boy from supermarket, the one who loves Downy. You weren’t sure but perhaps it might be him. You were feeling strong desire to talk him, but you just don’t have the courage.

 A few minutes later it was your turn so you ordered quickly and approach to the place where they give your order in a tray. He was waiting there too. You keep glancing at him but when the barista gave your orders before his you had no chance but go to your table.

 You pout while looking at your cupcake. But when someone sit in front of you without asking, your attention goes there.

However, when you see the person you never even expect to sit with you, your eyes went bigger and all of your words disappeared. He giggled and gave you a big smile. He was wearing a mask like the other day, but his smile was obvious from his cheekbones.

 “I thought it would be okay for me to sit with you. Since you were glancing at me in every 2 seconds and I thought you have something to tell me.” He said in a teasing manner.

 You blushed at his words and giggled. You wanted to say something in reply, but nothing comes to your mind.

 “I wanted to ask you if you are his fanboy?” you blurted out. His eyes went bigger in confusion.

 “Whose fanboy?” he asked.

 “Ugh, what was his name? The one who mentioned Downy and caused it to be sold out. I can’t remember his name.” you said.

 “Ah! You mean Jungkook. But why are you asking, you don’t seem like his fan?” he asked.

 “Yes, I am not. I mean I don’t know about them except their name. But I just asked because you looked like you wanted that Downy too much. So, I felt bad when you gave it to me and the after reading the article, I thought you were his fan.” You said.

 “Cute!” he said. This time, you looked at him with confusion. It was his turn to blush.

 “I mean the idea of his fanboy buying Downy. But no, I am not his fan.” He giggled. You smiled at the scene.

 “Would you like to go on a date with me after eating our orders? We can walk around the Han River, maybe we can cycle, too.” He asked out of sudden. You blushed at the thousandth time today at his words.

 “I would love. But why so sudden?” you asked.

 “Because you are cute.” He said.

 END

 PS: Three minutes later when you asked him if he plans to eat his order with his mask, you find out about his little secret and why he is not Jungkook’s fan. He said, it would be so narcissist of him.

#jungkook #jungkook fluff #bts jungkook fluff #bts fluff #bts jungkook #jeon jungkook #fluff #downy fabric softener #downy jungkook #lovely fluff #fluff drable #bts fancafe #masterlist #downy

[nobodies-png]

ORG XIII Bullet point lists win. Instant follow. Have you already done a thing about when you [reader] play with their hair. BC BIH I wana get my fingers on Xaldin's sideburns!

hIS SIDEBURNS ? ?  wHAT AN ICON - okay but a lotta dudes in the org have long hair and oH BOY IM JUST HERE LIKE O O F, loVE ME SOME MEN WITH LONG HAIR

also big soz for the inactivity, i’ve been trying to get a lotta drafts done to fill up the queue and empty the askbox wheeze

Xemnas :

You must have balls of steel if you can ask the s u p e r i o r if you can play with his hair without stuttering - but nonetheless, you manage to do it! And you don’t seem to be in any trouble, considering Xemnas’ intrigued grin. “Go on, then” he’d tell you and you’d just stay there unsure like “Uhhh for real ? right n o w?” He probably gets a kick outta this, seeing how far you’ll go before chickening out (like a c o W A R D).

But you’re way too curious to figure out how the fuck his hair works to back out now. While you occupy yourself unraveling the m y s t e r i e s, he’ll merely watch - maybe chat with you . You know how pretty much everyone has a personal scent ? This guy lives up to his title, cause he’s got none. His hair is also super thin so you feel like you’re just trying to grasp n o t h i n g.

Xigbar :

The first thing he does is nudge your side, jokingly asking you shit like “aren’t we a bit too old for that cutesy shit?” while untying his ponytail and making himself comfortable on your lap. W h a t ? It’s not fair that you’re the only one having fun, right ? You can’t help but just roll your eyes at his smug sneer - maybe you should’ve chosen s o m e o n e else for this.

We know how Xigbar is. He’s not gonna shut the fuck up no matter what you do or how many times you ask him - so you just end up having some s a s s y friendly banter, with you pointing out his grey hairs or giving him ridiculous styles while he pretends to be offended. It’s an overall fun time ! Until he refuses to move from his spot on your lap because he’s “too comfortable there”, that is.

Xaldin :

The chances of him willingly letting you get your way are lower than Demyx’s motivation to work. Unless it’s a life or death situation, he’s not going to let you play with his hair - the trick is to ask him when he’s too busy to actually realize what he just agreed to, catching him by surprise. A promise’s a promise, dude, can’t go back on one !

Unlike many others, he won’t let his hair loose just so you can have the pleasure of playing with it. Xaldin will probably give you like 10 minutes cause he has better things to do than to watch you use his hair as a moustache. If you’re brave enough to go for the sideburns, he’d p a n i c and get slightly flustered cause that shit tickles - but he’d try to endure it until you’re done.

Vexen :

I’m torn between Vexen never noticing whenever someone touches his hair cause it’s suuuper long and he just doesn’t give two fucks about it. Or him being hella aware of it cause LONG LOOSE HAIR IN A LAB IS A DANGER HAZARD AND A CATASTROPHE WAITING TO HAPPEN. So I g u e s s I’ll go with the l a t t e r.

Vexen is used to having his hair toyed with because of Zexion (the boy could be a little r a s c a l when he wanted) so he’s not even surprised when you ask him. Well, okay maybe a little. He’d tell you to do as you please, as long as you don’t distract him from work - in the end, he’d enjoy the feeling of your fingers running through his hair ! Maybe he’ll let you do that more often. Y’know, for s c i e n c e.

Lexaeus :

Lexaeus has no problem letting you play with his hair. His only concern is finding a decent position for you to reach his head, without him having to b r e a k his back bending or you having to do some sick parkour. Once that’s settled, you can do whatever you want while he just silently observes or solves one of his puzzle thingies.

Even though neither of you are talking, the atmosphere it’s pretty pleasant and lighthearted. Sometimes you just call out his name from time to time, to make sure he hasn’t fallen asleep lol. Like Luxord, Lexaeus also thinks this situation is kinda comical - like come on he’s the biggest dude in the Organization and here he is, having his hair played with.

Zexion :

At first he’d be startled and cower away in surprise like “e x c u s e me?? WHAT are you doing ?”. Like he’d gladly let you play with his hair, but he’s not used to people touching him so suddenly - just try to give him a heads up the next time. At first it’ll be awkward, cause he just c a n ‘ t stop fidgeting around, extremely aware of the sudden intimacy and closeness of the situation. No he’s definitely not blushing, get some g l a s s e s.

It might take some time for Zexion to get used to it. Mostly cause he feels so n a k e d with the other half of his face exposed - He’ll have his nose buried in his lexicon to avoid eye contact. I can see him totally warming up to the idea and just letting you mess with his hair while he reads a book outloud for the two of you.

Saix :

If you try to ask for permission, Saix will probably say no, so just go for it and pray that he rolls with it. Surprisingly, he does ! Well, more like he hasn’t bitten your hand off - yet. If he’s in a bad mood, prepare for some q u e s t i o n i n g. A half-assed smart sounding explanation will do the trick. If he’s in a good mood, he’ll let you do your thing as long as you don’t distract him too much.

Most likely to purr or just make barely audible b u t hella cute little noises when you play with his hair (i’m getting Saix Puppy flashbacks now, great) You could probably get away with making little cute braids and he won’t notice at all. Try not to be in his field of vision once he does cause he’ll go b e r s e r k on your ass and take away your hair fiddling privileges.

Axel :

Kinda reluctant. He’d poke fun at your eagerness to play with his hair to cover the fact that he’s KINDA embarrassed about this. Probably will let you have your way but only if you two are alone at the Clock Tower - he doesn’t want Xion or Roxas to try and imitate you if they see you. Like come on, there’s a r e p u t a t i o n here to mantain !

Thanks to the latest KH3 trailers we’ve confirmed that his hair is not just a bunch of deadly spikes stuck with hot glue to his head, but instead it’s S O F  T. So yes, playing with Axel’s hair is f u n - even with that permanent scent of fire and burning wood he emits. He likes to see what kind of new style you can come up with. Manbun ? Pigtails ? Braids ? Valid. He’s partial to the low ponytail and will often wear it around the castle.

Demyx

Will strongly refuse at first - mostly cause he puts a L O T of time and gel ever day to perfectionate …whatever the fuck his hair even is. And he doesn’t want you ruining it ! With enough nagging and puppy eyes, Demyx will eventually give in and let you do whatever you want. Okay but his hair has a w e i r d texture with all the products he uses ?

Your hand will probably get stuck there too, so you better wait until like, he takes a shower to wash it all off. THEN you can just play with that fluffy mane. Demyx looks like a completely different person with his hair down, so he’ll be a bit hesitant, afraid you’ll laugh at him - but then he’d discover that he l o v e s when you play with his hair ! He’d pester you to do that whenever you two hang out cause it’s so relaxing.

Luxord :

His first reaction is to just laugh. Well, y’know not a full blown laugh but like a Polite Amused British Chuckle™. W h a t could you possibly want to play with ? He doesn’t have crazy long hair like most of the members in the Organization so he finds this kinda silly - buuut if you’re up for a quick game, he might just indulge you. Only if you win of course.

…Obviously, he lets you win. But you c a n ‘ t really complain about it cause now you get to play with his hair ! Huzzah ! Luxord is a talker, so he’ll just ramble on and on about how endearing and funny this situation is, joking about how lucky you are to have this privilege and b l a h b l a h. You don’t have to worry cause you’ll soon start to hear his light snores.

Marluxia :

Marluxia takes pride in his hair and overall appearance, so he k n o w s how badly you wanna play with that p i n k fluffy mane. If you’re gentle, he’ll gladly grant you the honour of touching it, enjoying your little surprised gasps and hearing you mutter things like “so fluffy and soft !” under your breath. It doesn’t matter if you’re his S/O, he’ll never tell you his secrets !

But he will give you some unsolicited tips and advice on how to take care of yours cause that’s just how he is. His smug and condescending attitude slowly dissipate as he starts to relax, though. Like the others, he m i g h t start to doze off while you do your thing, but Marluxia will try to keep up his cool façade - brushing you off with the excuse of being busy, with the sleepiest expression on his face.

Larxene :

Y e a h - No. Larxene refuses to be seen without her iconic hairstyle, she’ll let you play with those w e i r d antennae she’s got going on but that’s it. Take it or leave it. You don’t know if this is just normal or if she does it on purpose, but sometimes you feel a little s h o c k whenever you reach out for those two strands of hair. But hey, you’re the only one allowed to get that close to Larxene so, kudos to you.

You c a n, however, play with her hair while she sleeps ! Don’t worry about waking her up, she’s a heavy sleeper. Unless you come in banging pots and shit, she’s not waking up any time soon. Larxene will unconsciously lean into your touch, her face visibly softening while you mess with her thin locks. Just never tell her that you do this or she’ll forbid you from entering her room ever again.

Roxas :

Roxas is c o n f u s e d, he’ll move away on instinct and ask if you were trying to pull a prank on him or if you stuck something to his hair. When you tell him that you just like playing with it because the spikes are fun to touch, he’ll pout and get slightly flustered - but will let you continue anyway. It doesn’t matter how hard you try to mess up his hairstyle, it always returns to it’s original s t a t e. It’s like m a g i c.

Since you started doing that, he’s noticed he has been paying more attention to his hair. Roxas never cared about appearances, but the fact that you like something so specific as his hair pretty much inflates his ego a bit. He’d put a little bit more care into it, spending more time in front of the mirror every morning - lowkey hoping you’d notice.

Xion :

Also confused, but instead of stopping you, Xion would imitate your actions - twirling one of your locks around her finger with an amused smile on her face. After a while she’d innocently ask “what exactly are we doing?” and you’ll have to explain the entire concept to her between laughs.

When you tell her that you like playing with her hair, she’d totally blush and feel a bit self-conscious. What if your hands get tangled in a knot or something ? Did she brush it properly ? Wait - She doesn’t even have to with how short it is ! Maybe she should try letting it grow - But yeah, Xion would l o v e this. She’d sit on your lap or between your legs letting you make little braids and whatever while you two chill and talk during breaks.

#kh headcanons #reader insert #organization xiii #xemnas #xigbar #xaldin #vexen #lexaeus #zexion #saix #axel #demyx #luxord #marluxia #larxene #roxas #xion #sweetsistergingerspice

[anvils-and-dynamite]

Hey, Felix! - A Review of The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat - Guardian Idiot

Viewing the series as a whole, we could say that Twisted Tales is a mixed bag: not only in the sense of “the ratio of good to bad episodes is like a 50/50″, but, since it suffered from too many cooks in the kitchen during its production, we can see episodes taking entirely different directions.

The current plan is to review the three first episodes of the series: these were the very first ones I’ve watched and the ones that made me fall in love with the series, and we’re going to attempt to pinpoint exactly why. At first, I wanted to approach all three at once, but I think it will be better if I tackle them one by one. Still, I’ll keep this video that has all three because it’s got the best quality I could find.

GUARDIAN IDIOT

- 1:09-2:17 - We start not with Felix himself, but with the villain of this episode! And a pretty memorable one to boot! You just can’t go wrong with the morbidity of the meat industry, especially in a setting where animals are sapient.

Highlights of the Butcher’s presentation are:

(1:09-1:17) introduces us to the main subject and the place the villain operates in: a fast food restaurant where people are chowing down burgers in a rather gross and even brutal manner (pay close attention to the background lady)

One of my personal highlights of the Butcher’s presentation is the dialogue with the lady who asked for salad (1:17-1:31). I’m not an expert on comedic timing, but I like how he politely follows her request with “And what kind would you like?”, to prompt her to say “What kind do you have?”, only to deliver that brief, explosive “NONE!”.

Look at his face. He was trying to lead the conversation to that point all along. Whoever was acting his voice was having a blast.

(1:31-2:02) L I S T E N T O M E N O W

Ok we get to the Butcher’s proper musical number, which give us a taste (HAH) of what to expect from Twisted Tales:

Things appearing where they don’t belong (like the beefed-up steer (HAAH) inside the banana)

Objects coming to life (I know, it’s weird to classify meat as an “object”)

And a tinge of the disturbing (animals being turned into pies/sausages yet still singing, a roast pork being fed to a family of pigs)

- 2:02-2:17 Somehow, the Butcher has run out of supplies. I like how the guy spends 5 good seconds pondering until he reaches the conclusion he has to get more meat. The cricket providing the sounds to signal an “empty” room is a nice touch, and so is the Butcher noticing it, picking it up and just chucking it aside like “naah that won’t do”

- 2:18- 2:28 And here he is, the star of the show! I love Felix as a street artist here, and how everyone runs away when he removes the top of his head as a hat to ask for tips. Yes, it could be interpreted as nobody wanting to pony up some pennies for the poor cat, but I really prefer the “body horror” route better (we’ll see a more extreme case of this in a later episode). This, coupled with Felix’s main issue (”Man, am I hungry”), portrays him as someone who tends to get the shorter stick in life, which makes him especially sympathetic to the audience and especially vulnerable to the villain.

- 2:28-3:04 These next scenes are brief, and the purpose of that is to take us to the kicker of the episode: Felix meets Butcher, Butcher lures Felix inside his restaurant/slaughterhouse with the promise of free food.

Seems that the Butcher is making things up as he continues with his plan, at least as I see it when he says “I’ve... got something for you!”. Observe how he looks up, thinking, and then, when he comes up with the rest of the sentence, his face stretches up in a smile and rolls his eyes, denoting his weirdo mannerism. It’s the small details like these what makes this character so fun to watch. And Felix’s enthusiastic “Oh boy!” while the Butcher prepares a cleaver behind his back!

We get some more old school cartoon weirdness with the Butcher sniffing Felix with his elongated eyes, what I assume is a string of meat-related puns (I’m sorry, my hearing is not that good) and some more subtle silliness, such as the Butcher giving Felix the menu in the shape of a playing card.

I really like the Butcher’s joyous glee he takes in murdering innocent animals. You know, the kind of stuff you could really enjoy in fiction. Or maybe it’s just me and my love for cackling, over-the-top maniacs.

-3:04-3:29 So this is the situation: our MC is about to be slaughtered alive by a sentient meat grinder (which by the way it’s a pretty good reflection of our villain’s cruelty). It’s interesting to put Felix in such a helpless situation right at the start of the series, but it’s pretty much done for the purpose to give way to the real meat (HAAAH) of this episode. Felix’s scream for help takes over the whole screen and reaches heaven... 

- 3:29-3:46 ...and a guardian angel apprentice is tasked to help him. I’d like to point out the queue of taller, more muscular, arguably more handsome angels: they are there to contrast with and underline the goofiness of the one Felix gets assigned to (complete with buttwings and straight up falling from heaven hollering). It’s nice to also get a motivation for him (”If I do good, I can get rid of these... training wings”)

We’re mostly focusing on scenes and how they work in these reviews, but I’d like to point out the background for heaven. I like sunset-like gradients that much.

- 3:47-4:16 The eponymous Guardian Idiot presents himself to Felix (not before getting a reminder of the trouble the cat is facing) and tells him he can take him anywhere he wants. This is where you realize the whole Butcher plot’s purpose is to take Felix to wacky places and have mini-adventures in them. Here is also where we can see better that Felix’s guardian angel might be... somewhat incompetent, with his ”Uh-oh, I’m thinking, but I’m not hearing anything!!” bit and him checking on a tourist guide, taking his sweet time while Felix inches closer to the meat grinder. But he finally does his magic and...

- 4:16-5:21 The reveal of Felix being underwater is done like the following: First, Felix takes some time to chill on a hammock and lazily gaze at a fish swimming above him... then he realizes something’s fishy (HAAAAH) and then it zooms out to reveal that he’s on a sunken ship! And he’s not alone: there’s a crew of skeleton pirates who also want to make mincemeat (HAAAAAH) out of him! Look at that wild take Felix does (4:31), that’s another tinge of the disturbing I like so much.

We also get the first instance of Felix using his tail as a tool or a weapon, in this case a sabre to fend himself off the pirates. We get some more lovely cartoon shenanigans as Felix finishes his confrontation with the skelepirates (like the bone unicycle and the gossipy ship figures), but it abruptly ends when Felix gets trapped inside a clam and asks for help again. This, in turn, makes his guardian angel appear again. Felix is not happy at all with his wish and asks him to put him “on dry land”

- 5:21-6:35 “...It sure is dry”. The water joke falls a bit flat to me, and I don’t quite get what’s going on with the snowing log cabin (is it a reference? or just for the sake of randomness?).

And because you can’t be a Toon and not be in the desert without seeing some mirages, here we have Felix suffering from double vision and dancing cacti. I really like the gag of his pupils multiplying because he’s seeing double, as well as the “deserty” version of the can-can.

(5:58-6:19) Is our boy Felix learning from a certain someone or what

Again, Felix gets in another life threatening situation and happens to stumble across his angel again, who is building a sandcastle in the desert. I really like it when Toons engage into casual activities in life-threatening environments. Felix requests to be put somewhere else (not before getting a shot of the vultures chasing him) and...

- 6:35-6:58 We get a short string of sequences of Felix being put in increasingly ludicrous scenarios (seriously, what’s going on with the cult and the clown chase). Fed up, Felix asks the angel to put him back where he was, even if he’s supposed to save him. Reluctantly, the eponymous Guardian Idiot does so, and comes to watch Felix’s fate

- 6:58-7:35 Back to the slaughter house, the guardian angel mourns Felix beforehand, feeling bad that his incompetence did not help him at all. We get a shot of Felix on the edge of death and then the Butcher enters the scene, eager to get some fresh meat for the restaurant. I really like how he notices the “fairy” weeping and straight up goes like “GRANT ME A WISH”. He’s so unfazed, like screw it, awe is for weenies. And yes, the angel is so heartbroken he’s willing to serve the bad guy, but then...

Well, it goes as well as you expect with a wish such as “make me that fattest, greasiest sausage in the world””. Was it incompetence or that the Angel finally realized this is his chance to save Felix? You decide.

- 7:35-7:55 So we get a happy ending with Felix congratulating his guardian angel (”What do you know? You’ve saved me, after all!”) and we even get to see him getting his new wings (airplane wings because of course we gotta crank up the silliness whenever possible). And just in case the villain being turned into a sausage wasn’t disturbing enough for you, as the iris closes out on Felix, he pulls out a burger that might or might not be made out of the Butcher...

And that’s it for now! I’m glad I started this review because it made me notice things I haven’t noticed about my favourite series before, what makes it what it is, and what makes me love it so much. I think the two next episodes follow the same formula, so we’ll check on them sometime. Stay tooned!

#felix the cat #the twisted tales of felix the cat #anvils presents #toon #cartoon review

[ladylilithprime]

Sastiel Creations Challenge | @ladylilithprime

↳ Theme: One More | Prompt: Day

Fluff Bingo Square: Movie Night

=I Did Not Live Until Today=

Read on AO3

MOVIE NIGHT IN the Bunker had been originally instituted by Dean, and the insistence of Sam that everyone in the Bunker, especially a stressed out and overworked teenaged Prophet of the Lord, needed to take regular breaks to relax and unwind before the constant "go, go, go" made them all go crazy. Hunts would occasionally interrupt the ritual, postpone it for a couple of days, but none of them were allowed more than ten days without a mandatory Movie Night. Dean had insisted that Castiel join these movie nights whenever he was around, intent on "educating" the Angel in what he termed the "classics" of cinema. Castiel had confided privately to Sam that, upon viewing these so-called classics, he was gaining more of an understanding of Dean than he was of why the movies were classical, which Sam had assured him was normal.

Movie Night had been weird after the Trials, because Sam would start out watching the movie with Dean and whoever else was there, but suddenly it would be hours later and he wouldn't remember actually watching any of it despite not having moved. In the wake of Crowley showing up in Sam's head with the brothers' code word tripping off his tongue to warn him that he had an angelic passenger who had taken over the driver's seat, Sam figured he knew what had happened and maybe he felt a little tiny flicker of gratitude for Gadreel sparing him having to watch the monkey movies again, but that was drowned out by the overall feelings of shock and betrayal and rage because how could Dean do this to him?!

It was Sam's decision to continue Movie Night even though it was just him and Castiel in the Bunker now. The original purpose of enforcing a break on overworked humans was still valid, even though now the overworked human was only Sam, and the secondary purpose of introducing Castiel to human entertainment was also still in effect, perhaps even more so after Metatron had downloaded a huge selection of American pop culture into Castiel's head without much in the way of context. Without Dean to steer the selection towards action films and neither of them particularly interested in watching mindless violence and gore, plus Sam's increased aversion to psychological horror films, the movies they watched tended to veer more towards musicals. If Castiel suspected that this, too, might be a bit of Sam's rebellion against Dean's stubborn adherence to mullet rock as the only valid music to listen to, well, he didn't call Sam on it and Sam didn't choose to admit anything.

Tonight was another designated Movie Night, not because it had been too long since the last, but because Sam knew that after the failure of the tracking spell with Gadreel's extracted Grace he, at least, needed something where the fate of the world was less dependant on the outcome. In hindsight, queueing up Les Miserábles was probably not the best idea given the overall setting of the movie and the themes of melancholy and grief that pervaded it, but he suspected Castiel would appreciate the other themes of faith and sacrifice and second chances.

He probably should have expected Castiel's analysis of the story's themes to extend to their lives, but somehow it didn't even occur to him until Castiel blindsided him with an abrupt declaration that Jean Valjean reminded him of Sam.

"I'm sorry?" Sam blurted, not sure he had heard the Angel correctly.

"He is a good man who committed criminal acts for a good cause and was harshly punished for it even after his incarceration ended," Castiel explained, gesturing to the screen where Valjean's pay was docked in front of the other workers, who were openly hostile. "It does not matter to these people that his intentions were noble - to feed his family - or that the crime was relatively minor, all they see is the criminal record and discount the good heart of the man who committed it and is stained by that record in the eyes of the society he serves."

"Cas, that's not... I started the Apocalypse!" Sam said, shaking his head. "That's a good bit worse than stealing a loaf of bread and running."

"You killed a demon," Castiel disagreed. "A demon you had been told by everyone around you was responsible for breaking Seals and that killing her would stop things. You were deliberately not told that she was the final Seal and that killing her would release Lucifer because enough angels, myself included, believed that if you knew the truth then you would not have killed her. Yet you do not blame me for lying to you, or for changing my mind and breaking through my conditioning too late to send Dean in time to stop you. Nor do you blame Dean for breaking under Alistair and being the one to break the first Seal which set things in motion. Instead, you continue to allow people, including Dean who should really know better, to cast the blame for things beyond your control onto your shoulders and even take on blame and responsibility where there should be none, forgetting that any penance required for playing a part long ago set out for you has been more than served."

Sam looked away from Castiel's placid, deeply knowing expression, but found he couldn't focus on the screen until a flash of silver catching light drew his attention. "Look, I don't... whatever redemption I might have earned with jumping has to be cancelled out by the things I did after getting out again, especially all the crap I pulled without my soul--"

"Do you think yourself responsible for your soulless self's actions, even though your soul was still in the Cage being subjected to Michael and Lucifer's torments?" Sam frowned a little at the low notes of guilt and sorrow in the Angel's voice and looked over, but Castiel wouldn't meet his eyes, staring instead at the screen as the old priest backed up Valjean's lie of gifted silver and gave over the candlesticks as well. "Hm. Heaven has not treated you nearly so kindly as this priest does..."

"Castiel," Sam started to reach out, but found his courage falter and lowered his hand with a sigh. "I know you didn't leave my soul behind on purpose. I knew it then, too, even with you keeping secrets and never having mentioned it before that moment... sorry, too, about the holy fire."

"There is no apology necessary," Castiel refuted, though Sam thought he looked moderately grateful for it anyway. "You were right to be suspicious of my actions and motives at the time, if not for that specific reason."

"Still..."

"Sam, I assure you, I hold no ill will over your suspicion of me, nor for your actions to try and stop me. If anything, I am deeply grateful for your continued faith in me even after I had gone off the reservation and done you considerable harm." Castiel shook his head. "We are getting away from the main subject, which is that you are not responsible for the actions your body committed without your soul present."

"It was still my body," Sam argued. "My... impulses or whatever, stripped of my inhibitions--"

"Not true," Castiel interrupted. "Stripped of your higher empathic functions and natural moral compass that is your soul, your body behaved with logical precision not unlike how most Angels would act. While that behavior likely seemed heartless or 'dickish' at times, this was in part because of the contrast to your usual compassion and kindness, but you weren't actively malicious or uncontrolled. Everything, including the decision to go to Dean with the suspicion that something was wrong and to ask him to be your moral compass, was meticulously and logically thought out and reasoned for the most optimal outcome. Recall that your soulless self felt that it was for the best that your soul be retrieved and rejoined with your body, and only rejected the plan when the possibility that doing so would kill you was presented."

"Whereupon I promptly tried to kill Bobby! Cas--"

"Sam," Castiel turned fully to face him and glared at him in a way that reminded Sam forcefully of the fact that this was an Angel of the Lord. "You. Are. Not. To. Blame. Your soulless self attempted to kill a man who showed every sign of being ready to kill you by forcefully reuniting your damaged soul with your body. A soul, I must add, which did not deserve the torment inflicted upon it and to which we owed the continued existence of the human race."

"I was just--"

"Cleaning up your mess, so you've said." Castiel was beginning to look frustrated. "But the Apocalypse was not just your mess. It was Dean's, and mine, and Lucifer's, and Michael's, and every angel and demon and human servant of either side who worked towards setting it off earlier than my Father planned. I would even venture to say that it was my Father's fault for refusing to step in when, despite Raphael's delusions, we had very clear evidence from Joshua that He is still alive and close enough to be aware of the situation." The Angel reached forward then and covered the shell-shocked human's nearest hand with his own. "Your soulless self recognized that, and recognized the unfair imbalance, and quite rightly called us out on our lack of respect for you and your sacrifices. Since regaining your soul, Dean's insistence on leaving past transgressions in the past except when it suits him to drag them out as evidence of culpability and questionable judgement has driven your self-confidence down to the point where you have even allowed Dean to make you believe yourself at fault for not looking for a brother and non-human friend whom you had every reason to believe were dead and at peace.

"No more," Castiel said with a fire in his vessel's blue eyes that had nothing to do with his borrowed Grace. "Sam Winchester, you will listen to me and believe this if nothing else: You. Deserve. Respect. And for my part in allowing others to be negligent in giving you that respect, you have my apologies."

For a long moment, Sam could do nothing more than stare at Castiel, stunned speechless and feeling more than a few echoes of the old awe and wonder with which he had first viewed this Angel of the Lord who had saved his big brother from Hell. It seemed impossible to believe, even with Castiel staring into him and all but demanding that he do so. For all he knew, he had fallen asleep on the couch next to Castiel and all of this was somehow some sort of incredibly vivid dream like the ones he tried to pretend he didn't have about the Angel, because if anything stood a chance at making their current arrangement far more awkward than it ever needed to be....

Castiel must have seen something of his thoughts in his expression, because the intensity faded into sadness and then, before Sam could gather his wits enough to try and reassure him, turned to resolve. "I will remind you of this conversation later, so as to establish better credibility."

"Um..." Sam blinked. That was unexpected. "Okay? Thanks? I'll... work on believing you, Cas, I will, I just...."

"Have several years of conditioning for expecting the worst to work around, as well as the more recent problems with maintained perception of reality," Castiel nodded. "I will remind you as often as is necessary of your worth and worthiness."

Sam nodded, more for the lack of any other way to acknowledge Castiel's words than out of agreement or understanding, jumping a little when the music from the television screen picked up in volume. He turned back to the movie, flushing darkly when he realized that they'd completely missed Fantine's entire arc and Valjean's crisis of conscience, and reached for the remote. "Oh, hey, let me--"

"No, it's--" Castiel's grip on Sam's hand tightened, then released with enough abruptness that Sam found himself stopping anyway, turning questioning eyes on Castiel. "I confess that I have been, ah, 'cheating' with this film, as it is one of the stories that Metatron saw fit to share, though not this particular version."

"Should we put on something else?"

"If that is what you prefer. I am enjoying watching it with you regardless."

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask if that was because of Castiel's bizarre comparisons between Sam and Valjean, but he swallowed it back and instead forced himself to settle back into the couch beside Castiel to watch the introduction to the Thénardier family and Cosette. The silence stretched between them as the music played, until--

"Sam? Why is Thénardier's wife making that gesture when she sings that there is 'not much there'?"

Sam swallowed down the urge to choke or laugh, because of course Castiel would ask about that. He cut a sharp glance in the Angel's direction to check if he was being trolled, but Castiel's expression showed only genuine puzzlement. "Uh... Well, I mean, uh... some guys get kinda hung up on penis size, uh, taking the whole 'bigger is better' idea way too seriously and, uh, thinking that bigger size makes them better able to please their partners, which, uh, really isn't true across the board. And, uh, there are a lot of guys who think that having those, um, extra inches is all they need for it to be good for their partner, which also isn't true." He found himself looking at the screen in a gambit to not have to meet Castiel's eyes, and moments later he pointed. "See, she's saying the line again without the gesture. So, uh, the implication is Thénardier falls doubly short of the mark."

"I see," Castiel said, his tone meditative. With his eyes averted, Sam couldn't see the speculative look the Angel sent in his direction, though he definitely heard the pointedly dry tone when Castiel added, "Mrs Thénardier would do better to find a more skilled pizza man."

Sam jerked his head around to stare at Castiel again, but this time the Angel's expression was the same sort of bland that he used when trolling Dean, and so Sam managed to force out a chuckle for the joke before settling in to watch the dynamics between the Thénardiers and Cosette with its very Cinderella vibe. Castiel muttered something about "punching John Winchester again" that made no sense and Sam wasn't sure he wanted to know about anyway, and then made a brief comment about Cosette's dream being similar to many human interpretations of Heaven, but otherwise said nothing until Valjean told Cosette that he was now her father.

"Another parallel," he said. Sam, who had hoped Castiel had forgotten about his weird fixation by this point, blinked in confusion.

"Uh, Cas, I'm pretty sure I haven't gone and adopted any random kids," he pointed out. Really, that seemed more like something Dean would do than him, Dean actually really liked kids and liked the idea of being a dad while Sam... not so much.

"Random, no," Castiel agreed. "You are, however, extraordinarily compassionate. I suspect that, if presented with an orphaned child whose situation required more specialized guardianship than a more normal human fosterage system could provide, you would be an excellent parental figure." He was silent for a moment, pensive and troubled, and then said, softly, "I had never had Nephilim of my own, nor am I likely to do so in the future, but if I did and was unable to care for the child myself, I would ask you."

"Me?" Sam gaped at him. "I mean, why me? Why not Dean?"

"Dean has an unfortunate history of being less than tolerant of supernatural occurrences, of children with powers beyond most human capabilities," Castiel said, shooting an apologetic glance at Sam even before Sam was aware of wincing. "A Nephil would inevitably have powers, and I am a Seraph. Only an Archangel could overpower and suppress the Grace of a Nephil sired by me, and there are no more Archangels available to do so. You have powers of your own and training in using them, albeit with an enhancement method that I would not recommend using with a Nephil, and would be well suited to teaching."

"Cas, my powers--"

"Are yours and yours alone. Azazel may have forcefully activated them on his own schedule and attempted to corrupt them and, through them, you, but he - and Ruby - failed. Your soul is far too pure and good for their hooks to find permanent anchor."

"But... I mean, you... angels... you always warned me against using them...."

"Only because the method with which you were amplifying them - that is, drinking demon blood - was so dangerous to you and the people around you, and training them to full strength properly after first tearing down Azazel's blocks would have taken considerably more time and effort... and, I suspect, those of my superiors actively assisting in bringing about the Apocalypse did not want you learning to use your powers without the addictive crutch of demon blood that could be used to prime your rage and point you at Lilith when the time came."

"So why are you just now telling me this?"

"Well," Castiel glanced away, looking somewhat sheepish. "To be honest, I did not realize that you were unaware that your powers were innate and not actually demonic in origin until I overheard you speaking of them in past tense as if they no longer existed because you were no longer drinking demon blood rather than you simply not using them. Given my clumsy understanding of social nuances and the complex mix of negative emotions you associate with your powers, I erred on the side of caution and did not mention it until our current conversation provided an opening."

Well. That was fair. Even so, Sam couldn't help but stare at Castiel as he attempted to process everything he had learned in such a short amount of time. The fact that the majority of Angels hated him was not new, but the fact that Heaven had actively sabotaged his efforts to be better than the demon blood that tainted him was... also not new, exactly, but Sam had never expected to hear it put so bluntly in conjunction with reassurance that his powers - and, by extension, Sam himself - did not come from a source of evil.

Even more bewildering was the hypothetical child Castiel spoke of and his assertion that Sam, not Dean who had always longed to be a parent, but Sam who had barely ever had anything to do with children even when he had been one, was to be given custody of the hypothetical Nephil if Castiel was incapacitated. The way Castiel had talked about the subject made it clear that he had never had Nephilim himself, and Sam knew that the creation of Nephilim was outlawed, and yet the Angel was sitting there, calm as you please, declaring that if he did ever have a child with a human and needed another parent besides himself and, presumably, the mother, that he would pick Sam. Sam, who was uncomfortable around kids at the best of times, even if he could fake passable competence in an emergency. Sam, who wouldn't trust himself to look after a completely human baby, never mind one that had "phenomenal cosmic powers" at its disposal. Sam who, until earlier when Castiel had declared that "nothing is worth losing you", had thought that Castiel might possibly consider him a friend at best and tolerated him as a reasonably useful asset at worst. Mind-boggling just didn't cover it.

And that wasn't even touching the whole thing with Castiel sounding like he was defending the actions of his soulless self. The subject of Sam's time topside without his soul was something Dean had never hesitated shut down hard, but Castiel had sounded almost... complimentary. Which made no sense, Sam knew, because without his soul he had been a tactless jerk, not--

"Your soulless self recognized that... and quite rightly called us out on our lack of respect for you and your sacrifices."

Sam swallowed against the lump forming in his throat, and again when it refused to be dislodged. Everything he did to help people, to try and make up for the damage he had caused, it never felt like enough. All the centuries spent in the Cage with Michael and Lucifer systematically taking out their rage on him amounted to only a year and a half on Earth, and the tortures blurred together to the point where Sam had long since lost count of how many centuries it had really been, shoving it down and shoving it down, his shaky forays into meditation and reshuffling his mind only managing to build the flimsiest of fences between his conscious mind and that echoing chasm of memory and pain, bits and pieces escaping here and there to scratch along his dreams. Little reminders that he may be out, maybe, but he would never be truly free. It was a truth, cold and logical and inexorable, that Dean refused to acknowledge in either of them, touched by Hell as they both were in different ways, and neither of them coping nearly as well as they wanted the other to believe.

"Stripped of your higher empathic functions and natural moral compass that is your soul, your body behaved with logical precision not unlike how most Angels would act."

The irony of an Angel of the Lord comparing his soulless self to other Angels was not lost on Sam, nor was the way that comparison gave him mixed feelings. All the years of praying, of believing in God and His Angels, having faith that some higher power was watching out for Dean and his Dad when he couldn't, that there was real good in the world to counterbalance all the evil being shoved at him from all sides...

"Sam Winchester, the boy with the demon blood."

...no....

"Nothing is worth losing you."

...but why....

"Sam? Sam, did you hear me?"

"Hm?" Jolted from his contemplating, Sam shot a guilty look first at the screen - how had he missed that much of the movie?! - and then gave Castiel a sheepish smile. "Sorry, Cas. What were you saying?"

"I was asking about Marius's assertion that he is in love with Cosette, when he has only just met her and barely interacted with her at all," Castiel repeated himself after a moment of scrutiny for his friend. "It seems disingenuous, more like the 'love' of the pizza man and the babysitter."

"It's supposed to be love at first sight, Cas," Sam explained, scrubbing a hand down his face. "It's like... when two people who've never interacted before meet, and there's this... connection that forms between them, like they click on a level that is deeper than physical or emotional. A look, a touch of hands... you just know, looking at that person, that this is it. This is the one." He shrugged. "It's talked about in books and movies and stories and songs all the time as this big romantic ideal, a lot like soulmates... uh, cupid-type soulmates, not me and Dean type soulmates."

"Do you not believe in love at first sight?" Castiel asked, tilting his head to the side with that puzzled curiosity that Sam found endearingly familiar.

"I don't disbelieve in it," Sam said, choosing his words carefully. "I mean, being a hunter has taught me that every story has some root in a truth. I just don't necessarily think that it always happens the way the stories make it sound. Like maybe sometimes it's one-sided, or something gets in the way like they live too far apart or one is already married or..." Sam bit his lip before he could continue the thought with mention of angels and humans, because he knew from Castiel that most instances of humans and angels coupling were less about romance and love and more about lust and awkward power imbalances, and the last thing he wanted to bring up right now was the hypothetical Nephil again. "Besides, just because love usually happens more slowly than a couple of seconds doesn't make it any less deep or meaningful or special."

"I see," Castiel hummed, and then, "Sam? How do you know when you're in love?"

...Shit.

"Uh," Sam reached up to rub the back of his neck, only to force his hand back down again when he realised what he was doing. "It's different for everyone, Cas...."

"I am aware," and there was a definite note of impatience in the gravelled voice. "I am asking how you know when you are in love."

"Oh," Sam mumbled. He could feel his face heating up and very nearly prayed that the heat wasn't a visibly obvious blush before he stopped himself; Castiel would probably hear it if he did. "Uh, well... not to sound like a broken record, but it was different for everyone I was... I mean, I felt differently about different people, even though it's all still love."

Castiel made an encouraging noise, and when Sam chanced a look in his direction, the Angel was turned more towards him than the screen, clearly interested and wanting to hear more. Well, okay then. Sam leaned back into the couch and closed his eyes, reaching back into the depths of his memory for the times he was in love or thought he was, shying away from some of the memories like Madison or Sarah or Amelia, and focusing on the deeper ones, the ones that got under his skin and stayed there across the years, even just as scars. There was a pattern there, a set of feelings that overlapped each instance.

"Happiness," he began, because that was the obvious place to start. "When you see the person, you feel happy. Being around them, sitting next to them, holding hands, hugging... full of happiness and joy and peace. You feel happy when they're happy, sad when they're sad, hurt when they're in pain... You want to protect them, even when you know they can protect themselves. You would fight, kill, even die for them, not because they would ever ask it of you, but because losing them is... unthinkable. It's agony. And all the pain is worth it, because seeing them smile is... it's better than Heaven."

"Oh," Castiel breathed. "Yes, that... that makes so much sense now."

There was a shuffling sound, and the couch cushions dipped beneath shifting weight, and then Sam felt one of his hands being enfolded in Castiel's, the skitter of that unfamiliar Grace held tightly leashed beneath his skin tingling just at the edge of Sam's awareness. He opened his eyes and looked at Castiel, who was beaming at him now from much closer than he had been. "Cas...?"

"Sam," Castiel was still smiling, but it was warmer, softer than the brilliant joy of before, more comfortable and... "Thank you for sharing your feelings with me. I was never able to explain myself adequately to my brothers, and so they frequently drew incorrect conclusions that I lacked the necessary frame of reference to refute or correct. Perhaps now I can make them understand."

"Understand?"

"That I am in love with you, Sam Winchester," Castiel squeezed Sam's hand gently. "My world started the day I took your hand. And I would not have it any other way."

"Cas... I...." He couldn't say it. He wanted to, God, did he ever want to say it back, but the words caught in his throat, too used to being choked back after so many years. "Cas...."

"I know. Sam? Will you hold me again? I enjoyed that quite a lot."

"Sure, Cas," Sam shifted, shoving the whirling of his thoughts back and away, and opened his arms. Castiel released his hand and moved closer, pressing the length of his body against Sam's. He let out a soft sigh as Sam brought his arms up to curl around Castiel, settling in a loose embrace that still managed to fully encompass the Angel's smaller physical frame. Together, they turned to watch the movie, wrapped up in each other and the mutual assurance that their feelings, spoken or not, were returned.

"Tomorrow we'll discover what our God in Heaven has in store...."

=End=

#sastiel #sastielcc #sastiel creations challenge #spn fluff bingo #supernatural fic

[ravensandwritings]

Side Hustle: Editing for you!

Who I am: A college graduate who majored in English and graduated with Honors. I have years of working as an acquiring reader for our local lit mag, as well as working as a consultant and teaching writing. I have professionally written and translated curriculum for various academic grant projects, re-written my currently employer's entire email blast scheme and content, and I write a lot of fanfic. I am also currently work as a mod on my first ‘zine, @aizawabowl-zine. 

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+10$/source - If need to read or review at your request to get more familiar, I will do so! A 'source' will be considered one book, or 2 episodes of an anime/show, or one academic source (article, book, video, etc.) You must provide either the source in question, pay for me to get it, or access to a free copy. If you want me to read a 7-volume manga for your piece, you are going to pay $70 and find a way to provide said manga - either scanlations or purchased via Amazon, whichever you want me to review. The $70 is not for me to provide myself with the item, but to pay for my time actively taking time to watch or read from my schedule and use for analysis to help better work with your piece, not for the media itself. FEEL FREE TO ASK ME WHAT I’M FAMILIAR WITH, I’ll be glad to tell you,  cause it’s a super long list.

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TIPS: I will absolutely accept them, thank you for offering. 

Other fees will be applied if the work becomes excessively complex or further requests are made on the piece, and will be levied on the second invoice.

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Your VOLTRON FANFIC! You want me to read and review your 25 page Voltron fic! Lucky for you I'm current to Season 7. Do you need me to get to 8? That's going to be $65 for source due to the length of the season: 13 episodes - on top of $4/page at 25. Due to time to watch the final season, you don't ask for a rush job, and there's no extra research involved. $165 is going to be the base cost. $80 will be due before I even pick up my TV remote and bring up my Netflix queue or look at your work. Within the agreed upon timeframe.

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IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, please contact me either by PM here, twitter @   RavenWhoWrites, or [email protected].

#editing #services offered

[lifeinahole27]

CS ff: “On the Two” (Chapter 1/9) (au)

Summary: He’s one bad trip from ending up in AA, and she’s one performance away from a solid job and moving closer to home. Their paths were unlikely to cross until Camp Hope brought them together. How and why they meet and intertwine is against the odds, and definitely against the rules, but will that really stand in their way? A Dirty Dancing inspired modern au.

Rating: E 

Content Warnings: Borderline alcoholism, very brief mentions of past relationships, mentions of the loss of a limb - this fic is primarily tame but I’ll do my best to tag anything that might need tags. 

Chapter Specific Warnings: Alcohol use, past injury mentions

A/N: Holy. Shit. I’ve finally found a minute to post chapter 1. Hoping to stick to a Thursday schedule for posting, and I can’t wait for you all to see this unfold. 

I have to give shoutouts and love to three very important people to this process. @initiala sent this over a year ago:  look i know you're busy and have a lot of fics, but just hear me out: CS Dirty Dancing AU. So. Now you know who to blame/thanks, like I’ve been doing! To @phiralovesloki for the heaps of emotional support and handholding when I needed it. I can’t imagine my life without you in general, let alone my writing process. And of course, my beta, my dancing expert, my sanity: @captainstudmuffin. Thanks for all you do for me, from proofreading to slapping me into action. I’m sure we’re even on boob punches... for now. 

Catch it on FFN & Ao3!

Welcome to Camp Hope!

About Us

Years ago, Ruth Nolan operated these camp grounds as a haven for children to explore the fruits of the Earth and come into their own. For fifteen years, she oversaw the summers of thousands of children, all in need of the room to grow and eager to learn the skills of the outdoors.

In honor of Ruth’s hard work, we’ve re-opened the camp to those who still want to learn about the wilderness, explore the rich terrain that this coastal Maine property has to offer, and take the classes you’ve maybe not had time to take in the past. It’s not all outdoors, either! Our staff is composed of very talented individuals that are available to teach you almost anything, from dancing to the arts, yoga and fitness routines, as well as anything you’d expect from the average camp of summers past. You’ll enrich your body and mind and connect in ways you never have before!

A summer camp for adults may seem like an outdated or unconventional thing, but here at Camp Hope, we aim to improve the memories you may have of summer camps long past, or make new ones if this is your first time. Plus, now is your chance to try things like zip-lining without getting a consent form signed! There are plenty of perks to trying new things when you’re old enough to decide for yourself.

Please check our FAQs and pricing packages; your stay can be as short as a week or as long as the whole summer. Our accommodations range from your own private cabin to our brand new, hotel-style lodgings. We welcome you, and hope you’ll enjoy your experiences!

Sincerely,

Snow and David Nolan

Owners, Camp Hope Ltd.

-x-

Sifting through the mail on his table, Killian tosses the pamphlet for some kind of camping place into the stack to be thrown away. It joins the myriad of advertisements and coupons that he doesn’t bother to look at or ever use. Besides, if it’s a camp marketed towards adults, it’s likely something religious or a thinly veiled addiction recovery facility, and while he’s probably edging along the lines of alcoholism, he’s damn well not there yet.

There’s roughly a week’s worth of mail here, as it’s been a couple days since he’s even thought to check his mailbox, but he’s sure Liam will be up his arse any day here to go over his finances. If he makes it look like he’s been keeping things in order, Liam is less likely to give him his Worried Brother speech this month.

He sips at his coffee, pausing just a moment to pop two painkillers before resuming his sorting. When he’s hungover, the phantom pain where his left hand should be is stronger, and today is no exception to that. He hasn’t bothered to put on his prosthetic, content instead to leave it off until he has to go into public.

Days like this, though, he has nothing but time to mindlessly sift through his queue and get day-drunk. It’s been ages since Killian can remember going more than two or three days without a drink. That doesn’t stop him from unscrewing the top of his favorite brand of rum when he pours the second cup before he settles in to watch Netflix. He sprawls across the couch, happy as he ever can be to live off the settlement over the accident that cost him his hand.

There’s a bar down the street that he visits when he needs personal interaction, and if he’s lucky there might even be a woman willing to help with even more personal interactions. That’s what last night had been – him in the bar until closing, a brunette that he can’t remember the name of giggling as she pulled him towards her car. A short while later, a cab brought him home, alone, with a little less dignity than he had before.

The sound of a key in the door announces Liam’s arrival before the man himself calls out a greeting, and Killian is minimally glad for the distraction from the road of self-pity and/or loathing that he was about to embark down. He knew there was a good reason to starting his sorting today. He stashes the bottle of rum beneath the coffee table again, running his fingers through his hair real quick to tame it down.

“Ah, you are awake. Excellent. I thought we’d set your bills straight, and maybe head out for some lunch. Breakfast? What meal are you on?”

“Let’s just call it brunch. Eat first, bills second,” Killian declares, sending his spiked coffee one forlorn look as he realizes he’ll have to go get dressed and act like a responsible adult for a few hours. He takes one more gulp before taking the mug to the kitchen to dump it out.

He’s in his room for just over five minutes, using food as a motivator to get him out the door sooner. The shirt is mostly wrinkle free, and he thinks the jeans he slides on are clean, so he’s at least presentable and won’t have to deal with Liam’s tongue-clicking. He makes sure to snag his sunglasses off the entryway table before ushering his brother out the door. Had he taken much longer, Liam surely would’ve declared that the bills looked quick or manageable, and they’d take ‘just a minute more’ to complete. As it is, he can see his piles have been tampered with, straightened and organized to his brother’s preferences, as he glances back on his way out; he timed it just perfectly.

Halfway through eating, Liam takes a sip from his water before placing it back on the table, steepling his fingers as he rests his hands on the table. “I’ve just had a thought,” he says in a way that really gives away that he’s been sitting on this for a while now. “How would you like to get out of town for a while?”

“When? How long?” Killian asks, preoccupied by the task of trapping all the toppings on his sandwich. He hates using his prosthetic to eat, doing his best instead to wrangle the whole thing with his right hand while his left arm stays beneath the table.

“Over the summer? We could make an adventure of it. Maybe go back home, visit the relatives. It’s not like you’re doing anything here. As my own boss, I can afford to take some time off. We go, we live a little, return in the fall as new men. What do you say?”

The prospect of getting out of the city, away from everything that holds painful memories for him, does sound appealing. Spending the whole time with his brother, however, tarnishes it just a touch. It’s not that he doesn’t love his brother, but Liam has a tendency to be… a little overbearing.

Of course, for a long time after Killian’s accident, Liam probably had every right to be. He’d just lost a hand, for fuck’s sake. Coming just after the loss of his fiancée probably didn’t help, either, but Killian was deep in a hole of depression for so long he wasn’t sure he was ever going to see the surface again. Now, he’s not so much depressed as he is resigned to this life, unemployed due to disability, living off the accident settlement, and drinking away his feelings as often as possible without officially becoming an alcoholic.

The thing is, Liam’s overprotective shadowing of Killian’s life is nothing new. He’s been this way for as long as Killian can remember, and since Killian can only half remember a handful of instances with either their mum or their dad, it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibilities that Liam feels more like Killian’s father than his older brother. Still, every bird has to fly the nest sometime.

And Killian did for a bit. He flew, and was so close to having everything he wanted in his life – a job doing a craft he loved, a woman that he intended to marry and grow a family and home with, and still the taste for adventure on the tip of his tongue if he ever chose. But all good things come to an end, in his experience.

First was Milah’s passing. Her brief but destructive illness soaked up all their life savings, leaving Killian with a broken heart and empty pockets. He didn’t care about the money, and why should he? He lost the reason he was saving it in the first place. He could earn it all again, but he’d never have Milah back. And then, shortly after, as he helped wrap up a custom boat build for a wealthy client, something went wrong. He still doesn’t remember exactly what happened, just that one minute he had a left hand, and the next he didn’t; it really was that simple.

“I’ll think about it,” Killian finally says, abandoning the hand-held option for his food and dropping it back into the basket it came in. He stabs at the pieces of it with his fork and considers the offer. He will think about it, too; he’s not just saying so to change the conversation back to footy and traffic patterns. It’s been a long time since he’s gotten away. He’s set for life on a permanent vacation if he so chooses, but a change of scenery would be welcome at this juncture of his life.

The idea marinates all while they finish their meal, and the whole walk back to Killian’s apartment. He’s so hung up on the possibilities involved that he doesn’t even complain as they sit down with his meager stack of bills. He signs when he’s told to do so, with no remarks about the tedium of the task while they work.

By the time the afternoon is wrapping up, Killian has made up his mind. As Liam stamps the last of the bills and puts Killian’s checkbook back where it resides, Killian speaks up. “I’ve thought about your offer to get away for the summer. Might not be such a bad idea, after all.” He keeps his tone light, nonchalant, hoping that Liam won’t catch on that it’s something he might genuinely be excited about for the first time in longer than he can recall.

“Excellent. Leave all the planning to me,” Liam says as he stands and throws the trash into the bin. “I’ll send you a packing list when I’ve finalized the plans and we can meet up again to get everything squared away for a couple months out of town.”

With a shrug, Killian extracts himself from the couch in order to see his brother out since all their business is complete. In his distracted state, he misses the gleeful look on Liam’s face; it’s an expression his brother was infamous for as they were growing up and meant that Killian was about to be served a life-lesson, and he likely wasn’t going to enjoy it very much. But he’s so lost in his thoughts about all the places they may go – both familiar and new – that he bids his brother goodbye and settles back in for his slightly interrupted day of Netflix.

He doesn’t even slip more rum into his glass until after he’s had his dinner.

-x-

Emma Swan is just as much a part of Camp Hope as the camp is part of her. For the last fourteen years, Emma has been making the journey of varying lengths back to the campgrounds; it’s something a lot like flocking home for the summer, and she’s made the trip from right in Storybrooke – the tiny town closest to the camp – and from as far as Tallahassee, all those years ago.

This year, she’s traveling from just outside Boston along with her roommate, Ruby. While the stories of their upbringings are vastly different, Emma and Ruby have been two peas of a pod since Emma’s first trip.

Back then, she was journeying to Camp Hope as part of a foster kid outreach program. It was two glorious weeks that she and twenty-some other foster kids got to go to someplace new, rather than waste away in a group home or get shipped off to bible camp again. She was fourteen, and while some of the crafts and activities were aimed at kids much younger than her, she still sat at the table and made bracelets, tie-dyed a shirt and bandana, and participated in capture the flag with water balloons like it was her first time, but that’s mostly because it was.

At the campfire that night, Ruby plopped down next to her, showing her the “right” way to toast marshmallows and offering to put red streaks in Emma’s hair so they could match.

Emma passed on the streaks, but the next day when Ruby dragged her to a special meeting for future counselors, it was all history from there. More than just finding a way to spend her summers that didn’t involve wallowing in her own loneliness and isolation, Emma met David Nolan during the counselors program. Upon picking up bits and pieces about her, David decided to introduce Emma to his mother. As soon as Ruth met Emma, she was set on bringing her on as a permanent fixture in their lives.

Having previously thought that she’d never find a place that wanted her, a place that wanted someone old by foster standards and jaded beyond reason, Emma was shocked. Not only was she wanted, she was loved. Despite the three year age difference, and the short time they’d been together, David became her best friend and brother, with Ruby a close second.

There was a shared passion of dancing between Emma and Ruby, and when they weren’t raking in the volunteer hours during the summer, they were saving every penny they earned from their respective guardians to take dance lessons one town over. And that’s the way it went until they graduated.

Remembering what happened after graduation always leaves Emma with a pit of shame in her stomach that feels a lot like indigestion, so when she wanders to the kitchen, she pops two antacids before starting up the coffee maker. It used to be worse, but time heals all, even wounds that don’t feel like they’ll ever scab over.

It’s time for their annual trip back, just two days away, and Emma has too much to do to spend her morning in a guilt trip over things that happened in the past. Instead, she wanders down the hallway to get Ruby up. There’s a whole list for her friend to complete today, and she’s pretty sure she’s also battling with a hangover from being out too late the night before.

She knocks, only twisting the knob and entering the room after hearing the faint groan of invitation. “Hey there, champ. Good morning!”

Ruby groans again, struggling to push her eye mask off her face and groping for the pain killers and water on her nightstand. She’s one of those drinkers that’s always considerate to her morning self – something Emma has always been in awe of. “You’re not the morning person, stop sounding so chipper,” Ruby instructs after drinking down half the water. She hauls herself to sit up, patting the edge of her bed for Emma to sit down. “What’s on your Snow-style agenda for the day?”

“I’m going to clean. You’re going to wrap up the sub-let on the studio space. Graham is supposed to be down there around noon, so you’ve got time, but I need you to grab the costumes we’ll need for performance nights.” She leaves Ruby to get herself out of bed, and calls out that she’ll get breakfast started.

“Don’t break the toaster!” Ruby calls from behind door that Emma closes on her way out, and while Ruby can’t see Emma rolling her eyes, she knows her friend will sense it. It was one time.

Leaving for Camp Hope has always been a little tumultuous for them, but after this many years, Emma thinks they’ve gotten a little better at it. There were a few years where they weren’t going back to work camp, and those are the years that make Emma’s heart ache most – more than the year she refuses to think about.

They closed the camp when Ruth’s health suddenly declined the year after the year-that-shall-not-be-named, and Emma and David only made the journey every week to tend the growing weeds and mend the deteriorating buildings the best they could. With Ruby’s help, they were able to keep the camp from falling apart, but the same couldn’t be said for them. Ruth passed the winter after Emma turned twenty, and she lost the closest thing to a mother she’d ever found.

Luckily, they had one more to hold their family unit together. A year after Emma met him, David met Mary Margaret Blanchard, better known to her friends as Snow, and Emma got to witness fairytale levels of Love at First Punch between them. Down the road, the wedding was a bit rushed, so that Ruth could watch her son get married. Years after the quick engagement and marriage saw them going stronger than ever.

For two years, the camp remained closed, but David and Snow, thanks to an off-hand comment from Emma, decided to reopen the beloved summer camp as an experience for adults. It took a whole other year until they could renovate everything up to standards, but it was worth it. The first year they opened again, it was so profitable and the waitlist was so long that they were easily able to expand and enhance the experiences.

Shaking her head, Emma realizes she’s spending way too much time reflecting and not enough time moving. Down the hall, she hears Ruby’s water start up, and knows she has until the time the taps shut off to get that woman some hangover worthy breakfast. Pouring herself a large mug of coffee, she takes three deep, scalding gulps to get herself going.

She’s just plating up some eggs and bacon, snatching a bagel from the toaster so Ruby can construct her own breakfast sandwich when the roommate in question comes ambling into the kitchen.

This is Emma’s favorite version of Ruby. Stripped of her makeup, without a product in the world in her hair post-shower, wearing an old t-shirt and boxers for her pajamas. Her usual persona is an elaborate mask, with the heavy makeup and killer manicure, flirtation just as exposed as her long, lean legs normally are. The short shorts and low-cut tops are standard everywhere but at home. That’s the Ruby that will likely crawl into her car bright and early in a couple days, but today she’s happy to spend time with average Ruby, and she’s happy when she does not break the toaster again. There are small miracles, after all.

When both of them are settled at the breakfast bar with their food, they start talking strategy, both in prep for leaving and for camp itself.

“Are the costumes for the Waltz demo here or at the studio?” Emma asks as she alternates sips of coffee and bites of her pop-tart.

“The studio, I think. I’ll grab them when I meet with Graham and lock up everything else of ours.”

“Good. Don’t sleep with him this time, okay?”

“No promises,” Ruby says, a wicked grin spreading across her lips even as she tries to hide it behind her coffee mug.

At the very least, they might get a deal on the rent again, which is the only consolation Emma can think of. The rest of their day is a whirlwind, with Ruby taking care of the studio and Emma tidying up their apartment. She packs the bulk of their non-perishable foods to take with them, cleaning as she goes, until the whole kitchen is spotless. She also takes the time to write down the instructions and emergency numbers for Aurora, their downstairs neighbor that’s been kind enough to take care of their plants and fish while they’re gone.

It’ll be weeks until either one of them can make it back to the city, if they do at all, but Emma doesn’t mind. While she loves Ruby and living in the city, she gets her own cabin for the summer. They converted one of the old lodges into a dance/yoga studio, located just a short walk along the west trail from the main lodge. Behind said studio, they relocated one of the cabins and refurnished the whole place to act as the dance director’s housing for the summer. Thankfully, Ruby likes to throw herself into a multitude of activities, so she bunks in the staff cabins up the hill and leaves Emma to have her solitude.

Mostly, all that means is that no one will know that she’s in the studio putting in extra hours. Maybe this will be the year she can quit hunting down bail skippers and be able to focus on nothing but dancing. She can always dream, at least.

Ruby stops in only briefly to drop off a case of their costumes and check in, taking the time to change into a date dress and do her hair and make-up. She gives Emma a wink before she leaves and tells her not to wait up, before disappearing in a flurry of stiletto clicks and perfume. She doesn’t get home until late, when Emma is already tucked in her bed hoping to fall asleep. Her friend is humming and heads straight for the shower.

Emma’s not a bit surprised two days later when Ruby announces that Graham decided to pay more than they originally negotiated, and laughs at the wolfish grin on Ruby’s face as they throw their bags into the backseat and boot of the Volkswagen Bug that Emma’s had for years. They’re actually running on time for once, but Emma doesn’t expect that to last long, especially when, after only an hour, Ruby announces that she’s famished and starts calling out the name of food places they pass.

The trip to Storybrooke, on the coast of Maine, is one of Emma’s favorites. The scenic views from Boston onward are ones she’s familiar with, but that still lift her heart. The trip is only four hours if they don’t stop, but with Ruby’s pea-sized bladder, and her bottomless stomach, it’s more likely they’ll get there in five hours… if they’re lucky.

One year, it took them almost twice as long to make the journey because Ruby was chasing down the International Cryptozoology Museum and her cheap-o GPS meant that the museum (which was on the way) eluded them for hours until Emma screeched that they were done looking and if Ruby really wanted to see it, they’d find it on the way home.

They found it on the first try on their return drive, and Ruby bought her the biggest cone of Rocky Road ice cream they could find at a nearby ice cream stand, to make up for the original disaster.

This job that they do, this ability to go up and demo and teach dances to the souls that will wander through the paths of Camp Hope, is only possible because of the popularity of the camp. The first year, Emma and Ruby would switch off every two weeks, with Ruby piling all her lessons into the two weeks she was home and Emma trying to catch ask many bail skips as possible in between her own lessons and classes. When the popularity of the camp became apparent, they were able to rent out their studio space to a few other dance teachers in the area while they took the whole summer to attend to the camp. It helps that David is able to pay them, and pay them well, for their time and energy.

Along the way, Emma has met the heartbroken and the heartbreakers, she’s met dreamers and lovers, she’s taught cynics and optimists, and she’s danced for every person in between. The two of them together have dealt with perverts and assholes, handsy men and women who don’t take “no” for an answer, and people who have gone on to contact them once the summer ends to continue their lessons in the city. It makes it all worth it, these months away from all the comforts of home, to spend their summers in another version of home.

Plus, thanks to an excellent network of friends in Boston, they never want for anything from home if they forget it. It’s all just a PayPal and overnight shipping away, really.

As Ruby climbs back into the car from their third rest stop, this thought comes in handy. “I left my favorite performance shoes by the door,” Emma groans out as her friend seatbelts in and starts the car.

“Good, because I forgot to grab my sleeping pills off my nightstand,” she says, grinning quickly and dropping the sunglasses back onto her nose.

“I’ll text Aurora now.”

With the promise of a package imminently to be sent their way, Emma relaxes as the last of their journey passes by outside the windows. She zones out to the sights, not perking up again until they hit the Storybrooke town limits. They’ll top off the tank and stop in to see Granny for lunch (second or third lunch by Emma’s count) before heading up to the campgrounds. Her car crawls by each familiar sight, and Emma smiles at the simplicity of it all – the never-changing nature of their sleepy little town. While she only officially lived in Storybrooke for three years, it’s still the only place she’s ever called home.

Granny is already outside by the curb when they pull up, and Emma takes a minute to let Ruby climb out of the car to reunite with her grandmother. It’s only after she sees their hug loosen up that she opens her door, languidly stretching as she unfolds herself from the passenger seat. Then it’s her turn for Granny to gather her up and hug her so hard that Emma’s back cracks. She won’t complain, it definitely eases the travel tension to get a hug from Granny. They’re ushered inside the small diner the elderly (and boy, would be lose her shit if Emma said that term out loud) woman has run for the last billion years.

“When should I expect the first package from your neighbor?” Granny asks after their lunches have been set in front of them.

Ruby laughs, not even ashamed of the fact that they’re so predictable that her grandmother knows they’ve already left something behind.

“We’ll be back in town over the weekend to get it,” Emma answers.

“I already saw one of the trucks of shipment head up to the campgrounds,” Granny remarks as she refills Ruby’s coffee cup. “Your brother has been up there for weeks getting everything ready.”

“Please tell me he’s at least eating.”

“Snow has badgered him back home a couple times now to eat and sleep, and she picks up meals on the days they decide to stay up there. Sounds like you’re gonna have a full camp most of the summer.”

“That’s the plan,” Ruby says, beaming before she takes the last bite of her sandwich.

Emma waves them both off when they move to go into the back for more family time. It’s not that she and Ruby don’t get to visit ever, it’s just that the stretch between Christmas and camp time can sometimes feel like much longer. The same itch resides just below her skin – the need to see her brother and sister-in-law so strong that she almost slips away before she’s done eating and leaving Ruby to hitch a ride out later with one of the counselors that lives in town.

Instead, she idly swirls her onion rings through her ketchup, taking her time with making sure every crumb is gone from the plate while she waits. She glances around, waving to the familiar faces in the booths and at the counter beside her, and she grins at the large board already propped near the entrance that loudly welcomes the campers to town. Since the grounds are two miles north of Storybrooke, many will pass through on their way. Some will stay overnight in the bed and breakfast while others will stop for a bite and a fill-up before continuing on to Camp Hope.

Thankfully, the business that the camp brings to the town will mean that the owners of most, if not all, of the establishments will have their pockets lined for months to come, making the onslaught of guests and visitors worth it when the summer ends and they go back to something less than a speck on the map of Maine.

Ruby and Granny are back a short time later, while Emma is idly catching up with a sweet yoga teacher that goes by Tink. The name is fitting of the cherub-faced woman with the perfect curly bun of blonde hair on top of her head. She’s new to the staff, but not to the town, so Emma is happy to listen to her excitement bubble over as she discusses all the classes she’ll be teaching for the next few months.

“A little help?” Ruby asks, and Emma finally glances up to see her friend’s arms laden down with several bags of what Emma assumes are home-cooked meals, prepared in advance and packaged for the crew that’s already working on getting the grounds ready for the summer. She moves around the counter to take a few of the cloth totes, waving farewell to Tink as they head out.

The rest of the afternoon passes quickly; they use the main entrance to deliver the food to Snow, who’s waiting for them beneath the welcome sign when they pull up. Emma hugs her tight before transferring two of the bags to her. They make the short trek down to the main lodge where Emma gets to give her brother his own hug, tight and bracing and full of the warmth she misses when she’s away from him for so long. With lunch delivered, Ruby and Emma head back up to the car to move it to the staff parking.

The lodges they’ll each be staying in are much closer to their hidden lot than they are the main entrance, which works out well when they’re unloading enough luggage for four months, and maybe a kitchen sink or two. It takes them three trips up and down the steps leading to the lot: one to Ruby’s space in the staff lodges, one to Emma’s private lodge, and one to the studio itself.

Emma wastes no time turning on all the lights and stepping up onto the vast wooden floor. There are mirrors lining one wall, floor to ceiling, and another has all the cabinets where they store their costumes and gear. The wall opposite her reflection has windows spaced evenly apart, which she immediately starts working open even as Ruby brings in the last tote of their stuff. The air is a little stagnant, but flipping on the overhead fans will get it moving again.

Ruby drops the last container with their gear, rushing out to choose her space and start unpacking as soon as she can and promising to come back later to help get the studio in order. Emma waves her off, already itching to have the space to herself. Her muscles are practically begging to be warmed up, to take advantage of the wide open space that calls her name.

She knows she needs to clean first; the mirrors and windows all have that faint tinge of grime that comes from a long winter of neglect. The air conditioning unit needs to be tended to, as well, and tested to make sure it’s in working order before the summer starts in full. Then there’s the cleaning and organizing and stocking and… and Emma doesn’t care. She rips open the first bag she finds and pulls out leggings and a sports bra – they’ll do in a pinch. She changes quickly before skipping along the path back to the studio.

It’s only a matter of time before she’s selected something with an upbeat tempo, thankful again for the auxiliary port that allows her to play her own music from the impressive sound system. She sits on the dusty floors for a moment to slip on a beat up pair of practice shoes and lamenting again how she’ll have to turn her focus to cleaning next.

She takes her time stretching, making sure to work out all the kinks from the drive up and getting her muscles and body all warmed up. As soon as she’s on her feet, she’s running through swing patterns that she can do on her own. Through lines of sailor shuffles and slides, she dances using the whole dance studio, going from one end of the spacious floor to the other. She doesn’t get this much room in Boston. She doesn’t get this solitude. She doesn’t get this freedom. Maybe this is the real reason she loves coming back to camp so often, and there’s probably something in her psyche to deal with in those regards but it’s nothing she’s willing to look too closely into.

By the time the playlist switches to something for cooldown, Emma has worked up an impressive sweat. She grabs a towel from the same bin she found her shoes in, wiping down her face and neck before dropping back to the floor for final stretches. Placing the towel on the floor, she stretches out briefly, staring up at the ceiling and watching the fans whirl peacefully above her. This is it. This is home for the next couple months. And nothing will change how happy she is to be here.

With that thought, and a beatific smile, Emma changes back to her tennis shoes and hauls herself off the floor. There’s hours of cleaning ahead of her, after all.

Chapter 2

#cs ff #cs ff au #captain swan ff #cs multichap #sarah writes ff