#this ended up longer than i expected; i was expecting a 3-4k range but it's fine

[hua-fei-hua]

just my type

Momo had a type. She didn't like that fact, not one little bit. However, after she and her third boyfriend in the span of less than a year fell apart, she was forced to look at her past and find out what was going wrong. She was emotionally mature. She was ready for a relationship. She wanted a relationship. So why wasn't anything working out?

The results of an analysis? Devastating.

Yaoyorozu Momo had a thing for sad boys. Soft, often charismatic, sad boys.

Momo stared at her best friend Kyouka with wide-eyed shock when the news was delivered to her.

"Are you kidding me?" she said, which, of course, only made Kyouka start choking on laughter. "That's depressing! I'm attracted to sadness?"

Kyouka wiped her tears of mirth away and said, "I mean, it checks out to me, Yaomomo. What do you do when someone comes to you to talk about their past?"

"I listen to them," Momo answered, then hesitated. "Am I not supposed to do that?"

Kyouka made a funky face that meant, "ehhh, kind of." "I'm not saying that you're not supposed to do that, my dude, but you also shouldn't have to be these people's therapists after an hour of learning their name."

Momo looked around their empty living room, at a loss for words. "I was never playing at being their therapist," she argued.

"Yes, you were!" Kyouka said, throwing her hands up into the air. "You would listen to them, and coddle them, and give them advice, and tell them you loved them—"

"It is against a therapist's code of ethics to start a relationship with their patient," Momo said. "I'm pretty sure they are not allowed to say, 'I love you,' and so therefore, I was simply being a supportive partner."

"Then why did you guys always fall apart, Yaomomo?" Kyouka asked, aggressively gesturing at the woman in question.

All of Momo's emotional momentum hit a wall, and she bit her lip. She'd already been made to think about this; she wouldn't be having this conversation with Kyouka otherwise. But she didn't like to think about it, not as much as she might like to pretend she did.

"I'd get tired," she said, slowly. And it was true. After a while, she'd start sleeping more.

"Uhuh," said Kyouka, crossing her arms and sitting back. "Because you were expending so much emotional labor on these little twits without friends that you could no longer provide them the service they were using you for, and because they're little twits who've never known what having a friend is like, they took for granted your caring nature and lashed out when you became exhausted and unable to baby them."

Momo puffed her cheeks. As immature a move it was, it made her feel better.

(Kyouka reached over and clapped Momo's cheeks, causing the latter to make some sort of catlike noise of displeasure.)

"Honestly, Momo," Kyouka sighed. She stirred her straw around in her drink for a minute, then flashed a grin. "You sure you don't wanna give me another shot?"

"Kyouka, I love you," Momo said, "but we've tried that already. As Mina would put it, 'and they were roommates' is just not our trope."

"I'm just saying," Kyouka said. She batted her lashes for a minute, then burst into laughter. "Yeah, I getcha. But still, you have to consider the tax benefits."

Momo stood up, her time running low. She had to go to work soon. "Mmm, Kaminari's gonna have to do something else with that ring, then," she said, casually ruffling Kyouka's hair.

Kyouka cackled as she waved goodbye.

~***~

She met him because of her friend Ochako's wedding, Todoroki Shoto. He was one of the groomsmen. She was one of the bridesmaids. For them to hook up, it would have been cliché, wouldn't it?

Well, Momo was pleased to announce that she didn't. Hook up with him, that is. That wasn't saying much, honestly speaking— she wasn't much of a hookup person in the first place— but there really wasn't much to say about her behavior at all that evening: she spent it listening to him talk.

Within an hour of learning each other's names at the rehearsal dinner, he told her about his childhood. About how his father beat his mother until she had a breakdown, and that's where he got his scar. About growing up in a broken household without a mother, a runaway eldest brother, a people-pleasing elder sister, and a distant other brother, and that's why he didn't really know how to talk to people.

And she fell for it. Not romantically (though it felt like it at the time): she fell for it more in the sense that old people fall for email phishing scams. At least, that's how she felt about it after she took a quick bathroom break and realized she was dancing the same dance with Mr. Todoroki that she'd danced with so many sad boys before him.

To all the sad boys I've loved before, she thought to herself as she splashed her face with water, I'll be damned if I fall for this one more.

(It took her a hot second to make that couplet, but it felt right to do so. Maybe it would stick in her head better.)

She returned to her place at the table, feeling a little fresher, a little more determined to escape the fluttering in her chest that came when she looked at Todo— ah, it was happening again.

Wonderful. Lovely. Incredible, even! Momo was so rarely sarcastic, but she did not want to get tangled up with yet another Sad Boy, and sarcasm during moments of romantic frustration was just something she'd picked up from Kyouka during their years as roommates.

She sighed as she sat down. She decided to focus on her dessert while Todoroki stared intently at her, but he didn't say anything.

"Are you okay?" he asked after a minute of awkward silence.

Momo choked on her cake.

Or at least, she pretended to. Hearing his voice made her stomach drop into an abyss and her heart jump after it, and suddenly, her brain was screaming at her to get out. If she didn't, she was going to fall in love, she just knew it, she just knew it, and she wasn't ready for that.

"Sorry," she said, thumping her chest and grabbing her purse. "I need to go."

She fled.

.

.

.

She couldn't relax until she was home again. Then, in her room, Momo took in a long breath. Her chest creaked, and it was hard to let the air go once it was in her lungs, but once it was gone, so was the anxiety. She shook in her seat, feeling small, trembling alone in the dark of a locked room. Kyouka wouldn't be back until after the dinner officially ended, so she just had to wait a little while longer.

Momo flopped backwards onto her pillows, grateful that she could breathe and spending a few solid minutes just appreciating the feeling.

But she couldn't slow down. She kept gulping down air as though she were drowning, the bad feelings entering and exiting and building up in her lungs again until the corners of her eyes stung with unborn tears and her muscles were tense and ah, shit, shit, shit, she was mad.

She rolled over and slammed her fist into her pillow.

Again? Again? This again, again, again? She loved how she could make a promise to herself and break it less than ten minutes later.

She was not going to fall in love with Todoroki Shoto. She wasn't even going to see him again after the wedding. He was just another sad boy, and she was not going to be his manic pixie dream girl, she was not going to be his therapist and solve all his problems.

She sniffled, trying to at least keep her pillowcase clean. (The onset of tears kind of ruined that, though.)

That's what she told herself, but the heartbeat didn't lie.

She avoided him at the wedding.

~***~

Momo knew the day would someday come when Kaminari proposed and she and Kyouka would no longer be roommates, but that didn't mean she had to be ecstatic about it. Moving out was never much fun, especially when you found your long-missing heart in the hands of your new neighbor that you met six months ago at a friend's wedding.

Because of course it would turn out like this. Of course she would sign a year-long lease on a place without checking the neighbors first because who would have thought? Who would have expected? Who would have known that her next-door neighbor was none other than Sad Boy Todoroki Shoto?

She found out when she went out onto her balcony on that first night and he gave her a heart attack with just one word.

"Hey."

Momo jumped so high, she could have cleared the railing on her balcony if she wanted to. Her heart beating in her chest like, bum-badum-badum-badum, she pivoted in the direction of the voice, and the moment she caught sight of his unforgettable half-and-half face, she wished a hole would crumble through the floor and let her fall to her death.

"Uhhh," she said. Her mouth was embarrassingly wide open, and though she was aware of it, she couldn't get her jaw to close no matter how hard she tried. Her cheeks flushed, the burning made worse by the nip of the chilly night air. She wished she could say something, but her brain was a useless buzz of omg omg pretty boy pretty boyyy kiss?? and throw yourself over the railing right now, do it, you coward at the same time.

"I'm sorry."

All at once, Momo stopped. Her brain crashed. She stopped making that weird teakettle sound, and she found herself in control of herself again. She blinked a couple times to figure it out again, met his gaze, and, while her heart started racing again, it didn't hurt this time. It was... refreshingly nice, actually.

"I noticed you ran away from me last time we met, at Midoriya's wedding," her new neighbor Todoroki continued, his voice even and calm. Soothing to her soul, which, in all honesty, really needed some soothing. He never looked away, and neither could she, as she became nearly entranced by his pretty heterochromia. "So, I apologize if I made you uncomfortable with my excessive personal sharing. It's..." he trailed off, bit his lower lip, and looked away, at the floor off to the side, showing her his cheek. "...A bad habit, you could say. My therapist and I are trying to work on it."

Oh, Momo thought, taking control of her thoughts again. He's apologizing. She scratched the spot where her jaw met the base of her neck, reveling in this new feeling of lightness that came to her. And he goes to therapy. Those were two things that set him apart from all the sad boys before him.

"It's—" she paused to swallow down a painful lump in the back of her throat "—okay."

Todoroki briefly glanced at her, then looked down away again.

He was pretty. He was so pretty, it hurt. And he was soft, and gentle, and he apologized to her— that was new to her! That was new to her!! And so was the therapy!!

Her heart lurched forward in her chest as he shook out his head, stretched, and faced her. But, it didn't hurt so bad anymore. It didn't scare her so much anymore.

For the first time in a while, she allowed her feelings to flutter to life again. It felt like she was floating on air by some sort of magic—

"Well, it's getting late," said Todoroki, who yawned. "Goodnight."

—that immediately dissipated, popping her little bubble of romantic fantasy and dropping her unceremoniously to the floor, and she was left standing scramble-brained, watching him plod back into his apartment.

The wind tugged at the tips of her ponytail. Her heart was thudding in her chest.

"Oh," she breathed.

She was in love.

~***~

The problem with being a single person when pretty much all your friends were all in committed relationships was that those friends kept on trying to set you up on dates with their other single friends even though you were perfectly happy not meeting other single people for the purposes of dating.

Still, Kyouka had a way with words.

And by, "a way with words," Momo meant that Kyo said she'd meet her at a particular bench in a particular aquarium one particular evening and then sent her a text ten minutes after the appointed time saying, "Hey! Sorry, I won't be able to make it, but don't worry, you won't be alone~" along with a coy little wink.

Momo stared at the c; on her screen, propping her head up with her elbow and trying to not slam her forehead into the wall from sheer exasperation. She sighed, already coming up with a flurry of excuses to not do this again. It wasn't that she didn't want to go out with anyone— it had been nearly a year since her last breakup, after all. She just… would rather it be someone she knew. She really wasn't interested in meeting new people. For as she hated to admit it, she had her heart set on one person and one alone: her neighbor Todoroki.

Sure, they had been neighbors for a couple weeks now, but nooo, she hadn't gone out of her way to talk to him since that first day. Heck, she couldn't even say she'd ever gone out of her way to speak to him; it was just by coincidence that he caught her out on their balconies.

She just didn't think she should. Maybe it was her traditional upbringing, maybe it was something that spoke to deeper psychological issues, but she just figured that if it was meant to be, it would be. She'd gone out of her way to do things for her previous partners, and they all fell apart for the same reason, so maybe it was just time for her to sit back and wait for someone to come to her for once.

"Yaoyorozu?"

Momo nearly dropped her phone as she leapt off the bench, her heart rate having doubled in the span of half a second. "To-To-To-Todoroki!" she yelped, scrambling to catch her phone before it shattered on the floor. "Wh-wh-what brings— what brings you here?"

Todoroki stared at her, his expression blank, but unjudgmental. "A friend of mine invited me out, but they're kind of a flake."

"Ah," said Momo, relaxing her shoulders and adjusting her purse. "My friend stood me up, too."

Todoroki hummed. He shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced over at the entrance. "You wanna go together anyway?"

Momo blinked at him, and her mouth formed a little 'o'.

If it's meant to be, it will be.

The phrase flashed through her mind again, and she could not deny the fact that, while it did technically reek of friendly interference, he came to her. This could still be the sign she was waiting for, telling her it was meant to be.

A smile tugged at her lips as a childish sort of excitement bloomed in her chest. "Sure," she said, shyly offering him her hand.

He looked at her hand with a blank expression. He didn't take it (though it felt more like he was too awkward to know what to do in the situation) and gestured vaguely in the direction of the entrance.

"Let's go," he said as Momo dropped her hand back down to her side.

She trotted after him, happy as a clam at high tide.

"So," she said, clasping her hands together behind her back as they took in the glowing sight of the fluorescent jellyfish through a window, "who were you going to come with? If I may ask, of course, and it's not too much."

Todoroki shrugged, staring at the jellies as they floated by. "It's not a big deal, what you ask me. I've already told you the worst I have to offer," he said. His face was illuminated by the blue glow of the tank, and Momo found it distracting to a near-dizzying degree. "My old neighbor's name was Kaminari Denki. You moved into his old place, actually, but that's beside the point. He was the one who asked me if I wanted to go to the aquarium with him."

He glanced over at her, and Momo hastily looked away, as though she weren't just staring at him. Her heart was pounding in her chest; her face was burning like her cheeks were made of kindling.

So it was another one of Kyouka's spontaneous blind dates, she thought, though it wasn't as though she were mad about it. It sort of took away from the fate thing, although perhaps the fact that Kyouka and her fiancé had chosen Todoroki at all instead of someone else was the work of many smaller steps of fate all coming together on this one first date to the aquarium.

"What was that?" Todoroki asked.

Momo jumped, startled. "O-oh, did I say that— did I say that out loud?" she stammered.

Todoroki tilted his head at her, either beckoning her to explain or answering 'yes' to her question. She couldn't tell which he meant, so she awkwardly, hastily waved him off and said, "Never mind."

Todoroki shrugged and began to wander away, evidently not the type to push or pry.

(That was nice. And fresh, too. So many things about this man were nice and fresh and new, new, new as the morning dew.)

Momo followed her heart as he moved on to the next exhibit. The tapping of their shoes on the tile floor echoed through the dark hall, her light, quick steps and his slow, nearly-silent ones. It was funny, almost, how he could make his presence nearly undetectable if he wanted, considering how wildly attractive he was. (Attractive in what way? she could hear Kyouka's smug question in her head. Attractive as in, his regular appearance— with his half white, half red hair, different colored eyes, and a bright red splotch of a burn scar— was just so extraordinary, it attracted attention. Obviously.) How did he do it? She wondered.

And then she remembered the type of household he was raised in.

And she said, "I have a thing for sad boys."

"Do you now?" he asked, absently, half mumbling.

She nodded. Her hands began to tremble. Why was she telling him this? The words had simply slipped out unbidden, as though they had decided on their own to be known. "Soft, often charismatic, sad boys."

Todoroki grunted. "Aren't you a bit old to be into boys?" he asked. "You're what, twenty-three? Twenty-four?"

Her face grew hot and she looked away, although she pretended it was because they suddenly walked somewhere bright. "Twenty-three," she said. "And that's not— that is not what I meant!"

Todoroki stopped and stared down the next hall, the kind that was supposed to make you feel like you were underwater, with the glass walls and arched ceiling. He glanced down at her again, making her feel strangely small. She both hated and relished the feeling, like she was sick but enjoying it for some reason.

(Because it was familiar.)

"You shouldn't infantilize your romantic interests," he said. It was a sort of gentle scolding, like he were teaching some child who should have known better. Which, if she were being honest, wasn't entirely unwarranted— she should have known better. She'd just never thought of it that way until he put it into words for her. "If you do, then they can never really be your partner."

Momo stared at the reflection of them in the glass wall. She could see the fish swimming beyond the glass, back and forth with very little concern for the petty concerns of human beings. The warping of their reflections made Todoroki look even taller in comparison to her than he really was, and suddenly, Momo felt stupidly silly for having said anything to him that evening.

(Her heart tightened in her chest.)

"You're right," she said. Because he was.

A shark swam by, distracting her, keeping her from wallowing in her bad thoughts and feelings.

She started moving again, and this time, it was Todoroki who trotted to catch up to her. She didn't say anything to him, for fear of making a fool of herself again, and he wasn't really much of a talker, period, so they walked through the rest of the fish tunnel hall without conversing. It wasn't silent— there were other people there, talking, as smooth jazz played quietly in the background— so it wasn't as awkward as it could have been. In fact, she was actually able to calm herself.

She was fine. She was used to this.

"Sorry," Todoroki mumbled as they started on their way to the next exhibit. "I made you feel bad again, didn't I?"

"No, it's fine!" Momo reflexively said, flinching at the way her voice echoed in the cavernous hall.

(She stole a glance at Todoroki, only to be surprised by the intensity of her stare.)

"You don't have to pretend for my sake," he said. "I won't be upset. It's better to tell the truth anyway, in my opinion. I only lie to people I don't respect, 'cause I don't think they can handle the truth."

Momo looked down at her shoes, her legs running through her walk cycle almost as though they were machines set to autopilot.

"Sorry," she said, because it was easier than saying, 'you're right; you hurt me.' Because it wasn't his fault she was like this, that he didn't know she was like this. And she liked him, and she wanted him to like her back. If she told him, he wouldn't like her.

(Who would want damaged goods, after all?)

"You have nothing to apologize for," he said. "If I did something to hurt you, you need to tell me so that I don't do it again."

Momo tightened her grip on the railing that separated the two of them from a dolphin's skeleton. She felt Todoroki's gaze on her again, and she knew he wasn't trying to pressure her or anything, but the beating of her heart made her feel like she was bleeding from within.

"Please don't stare at me," she whispered. She wished she was ready. She wanted to be ready.

Wordlessly, Todoroki looked away.

Was she ready?

She started walking again, tugging him along by the sleeve of his jacket.

"I wish I could tell you," she said as they wove through the people and the exhibits.

"You don't have to tell me," he replied.

"I wish I could tell you," she repeated, a bit more urgently. "I want you to know. Because I—" Her throat cut off, and her words went on strike.

"You don't owe me anything," Todoroki insisted. He pulled his sleeve out of her fragile grip and caught her by the wrist. "I told you about my past with abuse because I thought you were a trustworthy person. I thought you could handle it, and I felt like talking about it that day."

She turned around to face him. "At a wedding rehearsal dinner?" she asked, incredulous.

"We're at an aquarium; do you really think this is any better of a place to talk about your trauma?" Todoroki shot back, his brow furrowing from his intensity.

They stared at each other for what felt like forever, ignoring the whispers of the people nearby.

"You're right," she said, words clipped.

Todoroki let go of her wrist, looking away as he said, "Sorry."

"Let's go home," she said, adjusting her purse. She looked at him, heart softening at his expression. She rubbed her wrist and said, "It's okay."

He gave her a wary look, one that probably said, "No, it's not; it's really not," so she did her best to smile and say, "I mean it." Because she did. She really did.

She offered him her hand again.

Todoroki looked between her face and her hand several times, anxious concern written all over his face. He reached out to take it— but hesitated.

She took his hand.

~***~

The last person she'd told about her past relationships' failings was Kyouka. Even then, it had been more of an episodic tale, where she'd update Kyouka every time something fresh happened. She'd never really gone over the whole ordeal, for lack of a better word, from start to finish with someone who knew nothing, who didn't know her emotional shorthand.

It was cathartic.

But it was also exhausting, frustrating, and sad.

Exhausting because up until she finished telling Todoroki all the details of the fiasco of her first high school girlfriend an hour into the night, she hadn't realized how much there was to her life, and why she was like this. Everything went so far back, and how much everything after that both built off that experience and shaped her as a person. Everything was connected, and she hadn't even fully realized it because always, when she talked about it, the other person knew at least one part of it. Todoroki didn't always immediately understand her. It was frustrating, and it made her sad. Sad, sad, sadder than all the sad men and women she'd dated in the past, she was pretty sure.

She sighed as she leaned against her balcony railing, exhausted. It had become a ritual of sorts for them at this point, to hang out together on their balconies after the moon came out. They'd stay up late talking— not always about their past, thank goodness. Momo wouldn't know what to do with herself if she turned into one of the very depressing, draining people that, if she had to put it bluntly, made her like this.

Not that Todoroki did to her what she did to them. While he listened to her (obviously), he never coddled her, or gave her advice. Which was a good thing, in her opinion: she'd been coddling herself, letting herself wallow in self-pity for far too long at this point. She wished he told her he loved her, though. Even if it made sense that he didn't.

They weren't a thing, after all.

(She kind of wished they were, though.)

She still enjoyed their time together, getting to know each other. In exchange for her life story, she learned that he made up with his mother before he left high school, and that he sends her money and letters several times a month. She learned that his favorite food was cold soba, because his older sister used to take him to a restaurant that specialized in it when he did a good job. She learned that he had a phase in high school where he'd try to bleach the red out of his hair, although it never entirely worked for one reason or another.

The night sky was littered with little silver pinpricks, twinkling alongside the round, white moon in the sky. A breeze tugged at the tips of her hair and the hem of her shirt, caressed her bare arms and legs. They were enjoying the night together.

"The moon is very beautiful tonight," Todoroki said after a spell.

"Mhmm," Momo hummed. There were so many feelings going on inside her at the moment, she couldn't quite pinpoint what their names were, but they weren't bad feelings. Feelings weren't inherently good or bad, after all, because they weren't actions. She was enjoying them, actually, and maybe, now that he understood her, she could finally say to him what she'd been wanting for a while.

"I think," she said, and suddenly, terror was all up in her throat, trying to cut her off like last time. She swallowed it down, though, for it was just a habit. She wasn't in danger; she could say it. "I think I'm falling in love with you."

Todoroki tilted his head at her, inviting her to go on.

"And," she continued, and her chest started tightening and tightening, so much that she was scared that it would turn into a black hole from which no nice feelings could ever escape again and she would just end up radiating fear and sadness for the rest of her life. She put a hand to her chest, rumpled her shirt, and pretended to pull the fear out from her chest, letting it all go in one long, smooth breath. "That scares me. As you might be able to tell." She laughed, nervous.

There was a long pause. Todoroki shifted his position against the balcony rail, his pajamas softly swishing against the iron bars as the crickets sang their little songs. The night breeze tugged again at Momo's hair, brushed against the back of her neck, and sent chills up her arms and down her spine.

"It's okay," Todoroki said, and suddenly, Momo could breathe easy again. "I was terrified when I started liking Midoriya, too. I didn't know that love wasn't supposed to feel bad."

Momo's head was spinning, but Todoroki kept on talking, his dull, almost monotone voice soothing the sharp fragments of her mind, though she couldn't exactly process what he was saying.

"Wait," she said, and Todoroki stopped. "Midoriya? You mean Midoriya Izuku? Whose wedding rehearsal dinner we met at?"

Todoroki nodded, his expression surprisingly blank and unreadable. "He didn't like me back," he said simply.

"Oh," Momo said. She swallowed, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry."

Todoroki shrugged. "It's okay," he said. "It was in high school anyway."

Momo felt her heart flutter back to life in her chest again. "I see," she said.

"He was the first person I told about my father," Todoroki continued, leaning against the railing and staring up at the sky.

Momo stared as his expression gradually softened, smiling faintly at the moon. It seemed like he had a halo floating above him almost, with the warm, yellow light from inside his apartment lighting him from the back.

"Is that why you felt like talking about it at his wedding?" she asked, leaning into him ever so slightly.

"Who knows?" he answered. He snorted, then blew a lock of hair out of his eyes.

Momo reached out and brushed his bangs out of his eyes, her fingertips just barely grazing his forehead in the process. He turned to her, surprised, his eyes widening by a tiny fraction and shining in the moonlight.

"Oh," he said softly. His breath tickled her nose.

Suddenly, Momo realized just how close their faces were, just how far over her railing she had leaned, and she blushed. "Sorry," she said, fumbling around in an attempt to get back to her own side without falling over.

Todoroki reached out and stabilized her.

For a moment, it felt like time stopped. His hand was warm, the pressure grounding. The breeze was gone, the air perfectly still.

Their eyes met, and Momo swore, if he let go, she wouldn't even fall that far before she started flying.

Slowly, though, she leaned backwards until her feet touched down to earth again, and the weight on her heels drew her back into the real world.

"I love you," she whispered, and this time, the words made something good bloom in her chest.

"What was that?" Todoroki asked.

"I love you," she repeated, louder, riding on the high of the night. She was not afraid. She smiled at him.

For the first time since meeting him, Todoroki's face flushed a dark red. It seemed as if his face would catch fire on its own, if that were at all possible. And he said, "oh." As he was apt to do.

There was a pause. He wouldn't meet her gaze, staring instead down at his hands, drumming anxiously on his balcony rail. Then, he stopped. Took a deep breath, and looked her in the eye.

(Her heart sped up.)

"Step back," he said.

She obeyed, but more out of confusion than anything else. "Huh?"

"I'm not good with words," he explained, climbing onto the railing. "I'm better with actions. Step back again."

She took a few steps back, panicking a little bit. She could see what was coming, but there was— he wasn't being serious about it, right? There was no way— he wouldn't actually, right?

Todoroki leapt over the gap between their balconies, letting out a string of swear words as he skittered to a stop right before he crashed into her. Momo yelped, scampering backwards from surprise.

Todoroki shook himself out, brushed the imaginary dust off his clothes, then took a step towards Momo. "May I?" he asked, a hand hovering just above her cheek.

Momo swallowed. He said some pretty words just now, and while the way he delivered it was more awkward than anything else, he was so close to her at the moment, sending her heart aflutter, her stomach into loops, and her mind into a complete tizzy. "May you… what?" she faintly replied.

She saw his Adam's apple bob. "Show you," he said, his voice low. "My answer, that is."

She could feel the heat radiating out of him, and she was certain he could feel her blush, too. She feared she would sound like a tiny teakettle if she opened her mouth to speak, so she bit her tongue and simply nodded.

Gently, ever so gently, he cupped her cheek in his hand, and tenderly, ever so tenderly, he tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. He closed his eyes and leaned in. Momo's eyelids fluttered shut, and she let out a tiny little wisp of a sigh as softly, ever so softly, Todoroki pressed his lips against hers.

Warmth flooded her chest. She put her hand on his, just to feel if he had it, too. She ended up with his heartbeat just under the palm of her hand, its gentle, rhythmic bum-badum-badum-badum reminding her that they were both alive and real. Regardless of their pasts or how they got there, they made it to each other.

And oh, it was love.

#todomomo #the flower is not a-writing #this ended up longer than i expected; i was expecting a 3-4k range but it's fine #i'll put this up on ao3 and ff.net later i wanna take a nap

[andatsea]

XP-Pen Artist Pro 24 Review

I drew this with an XP-Pen Artist Pro 24, which the team at XP-Pen kindly sent to me for review. I’ve had to opportunity to use this tablet on-and-off over the course of the past several weeks, and while there were a few issues my overall impression is positive.

Unboxing / Contents

Apart from the 24” display tablet itself, the package comes with the usual cabling peripherals, plus some bonus extras. If your machine supports a USB-C connection for display, you’ll only need the one cable (plus the power connection). Otherwise, there’s a HDMI and a USB-C to USB converter included as well.

The extras include: an additional stylus, a one-size-fits-all artist’s glove, and a microfiber cloth.

The container for the stylus twists open to reveal 8 extra stylus nibs. Its cap can also be removed to use as a stylus holder.

Driver (Installation & General Use)

There were a few issues with installation, mostly tied to interactions between the driver, Windows 10 and Windows Ink.

Initially, brush strokes were offset from the stylus’ point of contact with the screen by about 3-4 centimetres when attempting to draw in Photoshop CS6. Random straight strokes also occurred frequently. This same problem did not occur in MS Paint or Photoshop CC 2019. This was fixed by changing the UI scaling setting for the monitor in Windows settings from 125% (which was apparently the default) to 100%.

Initially, brush strokes had no pen pressure in Photoshop CC 2019. Photoshop CS6, on the other hand, did (but suffered from the previous offset problem). This was fixed by turning on the Windows Ink setting in the XP-Pen driver menu. So in other words: CC 2019 needs Windows Ink on to recognise pen pressure, while CS6 didn’t, but was affected by UI scaling.

Interestingly, if Windows Task Manager was in focus and Windows Ink was not enabled in driver settings, stylus input was not recognised at all. There may be other programs that have this issue, but this was the only one I encountered so far.

I will say that I’ve had many problems with Wacom drivers interacting badly with Windows Ink and other things in the past before, so these types of issues are not exclusive to the XP-Pen drivers.

I’m currently using driver version 3.0.5, a beta build that has a lovely UI; it’s clear and laid out well. I did also try version 1.6.4 initially, which was fine — the UI for that version was similar to the layout you find with Wacom drivers.

Apart from the issues during installation that required troubleshooting, I haven’t had many major complaints with the driver in day-to-day use, I do think that there are a few areas for improvement, however.

The driver stops working correctly each time the computer is set to sleep and woken up again. To fix this the driver must be exited from the system tray and then relaunched.

There also doesn’t seem to be a way to bind WIN+SHIFT+ARROW to any of the express keys. WIN+SHIFT+ARROW (left or right arrow) is the Windows shortcut to quickly move a focused window to another monitor, so it’s something I use a lot if I’m on a multi-monitor setup. Unfortunately, attempting to set this shortcut in the express keys menu will simply move the actual driver window over to the other monitor while the custom input is not properly recognised in the text field.

The driver does offer a “switch monitor” option for the express keys that when clicked will transfer your stylus input to another monitor, which is extremely useful.

Screen

At 24” with a 2560x1440p QHD resolution, images are sharp and crisp even when viewed from a close range while drawing. Genuinely, it feels great to paint on based off this aspect alone.

The colour temperature is set to 6500K by default in the the driver settings. I think initially it felt just a touch too saturated, but overall I’m fairly happy with the colour display.

The monitor has touch-sensitive inputs on the top right corner: a -/+ for quickly adjusting the brightness, a menu for further settings, and power. I found myself using these to adjust the brightness throughout the day frequently. The power input requires a few seconds of continued contact from your finger to react, which prevents you from accidentally brushing it and turning the monitor on/off.

The monitor comes with a built-in stand. I found it easy to adjust to different viewing angles and also incredibly sturdy. I had no problems leaning on the monitor while drawing.

The monitor also comes with a pre-applied anti-glare screen protector. I wasn’t bothered by it and it seems to be holding out well after several weeks of use. I think the screen itself definitely needs the additional anti-glare, as being a display tablet means that it’s significantly more reflective than my main display.

Stylus

My first impression of the stylus was that it’s lighter in comparison to the Wacom styluses that I’m used to — there is very little to no weighting on the back end of the stylus, which makes it feel noticeably different when gripped. To be honest, though, I forgot about it when I was actually painting. Still, I would prefer a bit more weighting because I do think it makes the stylus more comfortable to hold overall for long periods of time.

There’s also no eraser nib, but I’ve personally never used those on Wacom tablets (I always use shortcuts to switch between brush and eraser instead) so this was a non-issue for me.

The two shortcut buttons on the side of the stylus sit quite flat to the surface, so I think they would be less likely to bother people who don’t use them. I use them a lot, however, and found that they were still easy to click despite being quite flat.

Unfortunately however I ran into a curious issue with using one of the stylus buttons to activate the eyedropper tool. When the “alt” key is mapped to one of the triggers on the stylus, activation of the eyedropper function in Photoshop (tested in both CS6 and CC 2019) is somewhat unreliable. That is, when the “alt” key is held down, the expected result is that once you tap the stylus on the canvas, a “mouse-click” will be triggered and the eyedropper will activate. While this works perfectly fine if you hold down “alt” from the keyboard (or hold down an “alt” that’s bound to one of the 20 express keys), when you hold “alt” from a stylus trigger I found that tapping quickly with the stylus only seemed to activate the eyedropper about 50% of the time. In order to activate it more reliably, I had to press harder and longer with the stylus, which can become tiring and slowed down my painting process. I also found that frequently, pressing down longer would lock me into the eyedropping function until I clicked the trigger key again.

After submitting feedback about this XP-Pen’s R&D department, I was informed that this issue occurs because the stylus is only able to send one message to the tablet at a time. Pressing “alt” on the stylus and trying to “click” at the same time counts as two messages, which may interact with each other unexpectedly. This is why it sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.

The buttons seem to otherwise work completely fine for any other functions that don’t require the stylus to send two simultaneous messages, so unless you’re like me and like to bind “alt” to a stylus trigger, this won’t affect you.

Pen Pressure & Activation Force

Most current-gen tablets flash a big number for the pen pressure levels as a selling point. Having used tablets with 512, 2k, 4k and 8k levels of pressure sensitivity, I’d say I noticed the biggest difference when switching from 512 to 2k, but in my opinion beyond 2k the change is minimal and has no real impact on the way I draw. The XP-Pen Artist Pro 24 comes with 8192 levels of sensitivty, which is a very big number, but in practical application all I can say is that it works the way I expect it to and I don’t have any complaints regarding the transition between pressure levels on the default linear pressure curve.

More importantly I did notice that the IAF (initial activation force) was not as low as I would have liked. Very light input is not recognised, or only partially recognised before dropping off and on again. In a practical sense this doesn’t actually impact me through most of (perhaps 97%) of the painting process, but it did give me pause once in a while when I wanted to make a really light stroke and had to adjust my method. The drivers for this tablet do come with a pressure curve you can adjust to your preferences, so this can help a little, although after some tests I preferred to leave mine on the default setting.

Summary of Drawing Experience (tl;dr)

I think the mark of a good tool or piece of hardware is that it does not draw attention to itself during the course of its use. An ideal drawing experience allows me to be fully immersed in the act of drawing without having my focus shifted to dealing with the tool. With this in mind the XP-Pen Artist Pro performed very well for the most part, but was held back by a couple of issues.

Pros:

The monitor resolution honestly feels great to look at; the pixel density means that I can basically forget about pixels even with my face positioned closer to the screen.

The parallax between the tip of the stylus and the actual position of input was very minimal and basically not noticeable for me, especially after the simple calibration process offered by the driver.

At normal room temperature (say up to about mid-20’s celsius) the monitor screen stays impressively cool to the touch and I was never bothered by resting my drawing hand on its surface even when painting for long sessions.

The 20 express keys and 2 roller rings are extremely helpful and I actually found myself using all of them, despite initially thinking that I’d only need half of them. The keys are also comfortable and responsive to click (which sounds like it should obviously be so, but having used some Intuos iterations in the past which had some very annoying-to-click express keys, I don’t take this feature for granted anymore).

Cons:

The driver needs to be restarted everytime the computer wakes from sleep in order to work.

Higher IAF was noticeable when very light strokes were desirable. Also, the input will on rare occasions glitch by performing a completely straight max opacity + max brush size stroke. This seemed to happen primarily when I was trying to get light strokes to register. (It didn’t happen often enough to bother me much since it’s just a quick undo, but it did happen enough times that I noticed it.)

The issue with eyedropping using “alt” mapped to a stylus trigger as detailed above. Quite unlucky for someone like me who has over a decade of muscle memory for this particular mapping.

Overall, as I said at the beginning, my impression of the tablet is positive. While I think it has room for improvement when it comes to driver performance and the initial activation force especially, it also has a lot to offer at a highly competitive price point ($900USD at retail), and it would’ve been amazing if something like this had been available to me back when I first started digital painting. As I do enjoy using it for the most part I’ll probably continue to use it on-and-off in future.

#xp-pen #review

[headcans-oneshots-and-stuff]

Masquerade (Moonflower pt.2)

Part 1 - Moonflower Part 3 - Magical/Misery/Massacre

Warning: Harassing, Reader kinda suggest that she wants to have a meaningless One-Night-Stand, I kinda somewhat specified the height of the reader (by saying that you have to put your neck back to look at people over 6ft) so if your a tall boy/girl/dragon/human please just pretend you’re not thank you very much, swearing, again there are Yandere vibes (this time even more), also murder, but only in the Yandere Addition... Word count: 4k (sis snapped again) Summary: When the Riddler keeps ghosting around in your mind you know that you have to do something about it, that you couldn’t keep on harboring feelings for him, so you put on your mask and make your way to find distraction, but sometimes the things we see when we wear masks are not the things we expect... 

Two months. It took not even two months for the mayor to forget the disaster of a Gala that he had organized last, even though it was a rather interesting experience for you, but for a completely different reason, and decide that it would be a great fucking idea to throw a masquerade ball. A MASQUERADE BALL?!? Who, in their right mind, thinks that it's a good idea to throw a ball where the people come in masks and costume-like dresses in a city WHERE MASKED LUNATICS ARE FIGHTING AGAINST OTHER MASKED (slightly less) LUNATICS??? Well, seemingly, it was the man who should, in theory, know best and somehow always proved you that he did, in fact, know just about nothing. So yes, after a long discussion about whether it was a good idea or not and Bruce somehow managing to convince Jason and Dick to come along (the party was only for grown-ups - much to Damian's, who hasn't left your side for longer than he had to ever since the last Gala, dismay), you were sitting in a car driven by one of Wayne Inc's chauffeurs in a deep violet dress that clung to your curves like a cosset, before blossoming into a wide skirt, beside Dick in a black and Jason in a very dark red suit. The fact that they both had worn these suits countless times before already while you had to buy this dress especially for this event pissed you off to no end. And not only that, no, because it was custom for males to wear simpler masks, Jason had a phantom of the opera-like mask, while Dick had decided to try and be funny by wearing a cheap Zorro-mask he had bought in a dollar store. You, on the other hand, looked down at the gold mask that Alfred had had custom made for you. It was incredibly beautiful. It was extremely filigree and looked like a complex mandala of golden wire which formed a fascinating swan over where your right eye would be.

"Are you okay?" Jason's voice from your right ripped you out of your thoughts and you looked up at him beside you. He eyed you somewhat concerned and you just slightly smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, everything fine, I was just lost in thoughts." He nodded unconvinced but turned forward again, not even budging when he felt you carefully leaning against his shoulder like you have done countless times since the two of you officially became siblings. You also felt Dick's eyes on you, but you just held your hand out to him and let him take it. Jason shifted a bit under you and you could've sworn that you heard him sniff at your hair, making you narrow your eyes in confusion. As if to confirm your assumption, he nudged you a bit and asked: "Are you using a new shampoo? Or is that a new perfume?" You had to physically restrain yourself from tensing up, your mind filling with the memories of the little gift the Riddler had left you and about how often you had packed it out again - thinking about what you should do - before putting it back, ever since the night you had found it. "It's a new shampoo, Cass gave it to me: Peonies and gold, not sure how gold is supposed to smell though," you told him truthfully, meeting your brothers' expectation and allowing them to get back to what they were doing, Dick playing on his Phone and Jason reading a pocket novel you had given him earlier this week. But you couldn't get back on your train of thoughts. Like so often these past eight weeks. You had no idea why, but ever since that kiss, the rouge just wouldn't leave your mind for longer than an hour at the time. You just couldn't understand how it had come to this. You didn't know him, he was basically a villain, he had kidnapped you and the kiss was only a distraction... And still... The kiss filled your dreams ever since, the scene just playing on repeat in your head. Maybe it would've been different without his little gift, without you knowing that he was thinking about you too. God, what were you supposed to do? You knew that what you were feeling had to be some weird sort of Stockholm syndrome or something like this, something that would go away after a while, because if not...what would you do if not? You couldn't realistically think that he and you would ever have anything close to a future together. You just had to forget him, so ever since you had seen the invitation for the Gala, you had made a plan. This party would be full of eligible bachelors who would have no idea who you were (or at least not at first), some of them had to be good enough for you to try to forget about your unlucky crush. "We're here," filled the voice of the chauffeur the car and you sat up straight, looking out of the darkened window to see the red carpet and the paparazzi that were taking pictures of the masked celebrities walking towards the city hall. "Here we go," you tightly smiled and put the mask on, securing it with the black ribbon behind your head. The man who had driven the car got out and opened the door, making space for Dick to leave the car and walk forward, greeting the Cameras with his trademark smile. You had agreed earlier that you would leave a minute between every one of you exiting in a cheap attempt to make it less obvious who you were. It was clear that everyone would recognize Jason and Dick by their height and the suits, but you - due to a good mix of make-up, hair styling and the mask - still had hope left that you would get through the evening unrecognized. When Dick had disappeared inside you nodded at Jason and took your chauffeur's hand as he helped you step outside, trying to smoothen the skirt of your dress in the process. Immediately flashes off light filled your eyes and you tried your best not to blink and keep the smile on your face. For a few seconds, you struck a few poses, presenting the beauty that was the dress, before you followed your brother, giving the space up for Jason to do the same.

The inside of the Hall was filled to the brim with people in all kinds of dresses and suits with just about every kind of mask on a face somewhere. Groups of people were scattered around the room and you could see that Dick had already made his way over to a small group of girls who wore matching black dresses with white carnival-like masks. You rolled your eyes, but smiled and turned away to decide what to do next. That was the problem with Galas like these. Even if you knew people, you couldn't be sure where they are or if they were even here, so it was like a college party only days after you moved to a new town. Well, you got through your college parties by drinking so why not give that attempt a shot now too, right? So you sashayed over to the bar that had been constructed on the side opposite of the entrance and gestured the bartender over to you. He nodded and quickly made his way over, taking your order before turning around and getting started on your Old fashioned. "Well, hello beautiful," a dark, hoarse voice rang through your ears from beside you and you turned into the direction it came from, your eyes landing on a man that looked like he was as sure of himself as it could get. He was wearing a metallic-silver suit with a black shirt below it and, even though you yourself wouldn't necessarily go for it if you had to choose, you had to admit that it looked good on him. On his face was a mock-batman-mask and he had a five o'clock shadow that looked just groomed enough to be handsome. He will do, you thought and forced yourself to smile at his cheesy 'not-even' pick-up line. "You don't look too bad yourself," you shrugged and bowed your head slightly in thanks at the bartender who handed you your drink. "Ah, a girl of good taste," he smirked, trying to be smug and funny by not clarifying if he meant the drink or your comment. The physical restrain you had to put yourself through to not roll your eyes almost surprised you and you took a big sip of the drink, hoping it would loosen you up enough to make you look over the comments. You welcomed the burn in your throat but inwardly damned yourself for having a high alcohol tolerance that would make it impossible for you to get drunk from under at least thee drinks. "So," you sighed and leaned against the bar, "What's up with the mask?" "Don't tell anyone, but I'm really Batman and I'm just here undercover," the man said just slightly too serious to make you believed he was joking, bringing whatever attraction you had towards him down. "Does that line ever work?" "You'd be surprised, but you look like the kinda girl who doesn't need a pick-up line for some fun," he winked and came uncomfortably close to you. Welp, so much for that guy... "You know what-" you downed the drink, put it back onto the bar and turned to go, "-I'm not really in the mood for some fun, so if you'll excuse me." That was when you felt a hands on the side of your torso, just inches below your chest, and a sense of Terror filled you. Terror not for you, but for the man that had been foolish enough to touch you without permission in a room with any of your siblings. Your eyes quickly flew through the room, searching for your brothers to find out how long the douchebag had before his arms would be ripped out (figuratively) and you spotted Dick on the dance floor with a girl in a sparkly pink dress, but Jason - even though he should be visible alone by the sheer size of him- wasn't anywhere to be found. "Listen, buddy, you really don't wanna-" "Here you are!" a voice interrupted your warning and both you and the man that was behind you looked to your right to see a tall man, towering over you even more than Jason usually did,  in a sharp, expensive-looking, green suit. He stood out like a sunflower in a field of tulips, not only because of the outfit but because he was the only one in the room who wasn't wearing a mask, and something about him made your breath hitch slightly. He seemed eerily familiar, but you couldn't place his face with anyone you knew. It was like time was frozen while your eyes wandered his body up until you reached his face, having to put your head back a bit, and you took in his neatly dishevelled brown hair that looked like it was always this way, but others would try for hours to replicate it before they ended looking into his blue ones. Suddenly time started again and the sounds of the room, that had been drowned out by your thoughts, came crushing back and you had to slightly shake your head to keep your composure. "I've been searching for you all over, you've promised me a dance remember?" the man smiled and you quickly realized that he just might be your (and with that unknowingly to both of them also your harasser's) saviour. "Oh, right, sorry, I was otherwise occupied, but I have the next dance reserved for you," you played along and removed the Hands on your waist, they had been wandering downwards when the man had realized he was in a tricky situation, stepping forward to take the hand the maskless man was holding out towards you. "You can't just-" the man behind you, that seemed to have snapped out of the trance he had been in, started to shout, but was almost immediately interrupted when your saviour put the hand that wasn't (very gently as you noted) holding yours onto his shoulder. You could see the fabric of the silver suit wrinkle notably under his seemingly forceful grip and the look on the face of the man in said suit twisted in pain confirmed your suspicion that the hold he had on him had to be way harder than necessary, not that you complained. "I think the lady just said that she had the next dance reserved for me, right?" his voice was polite, but even the most social clueless person would be aware of the threatening undertone. Your harasser could only nod before his shoulder was released and he hurried away, trying to hide that he couldn't move his arm properly anymore. When he was completely out of sight your saviour let go of your hand and eyed you as if he was making sure you weren't hurt, before smiling at you with something like fondness. "Thank you for that," you smiled back and smoothed your dress down before holding your hand out again, ignoring that he had let it go only seconds earlier. He looked down at your hand with confusion and you couldn't help but chuckle a bit, not noticing how his eyes seemed to widen and his cheeks seemed to redden just the slightest. "I told you I have the next dance reserved for you and after you saved me that's the least I could do to thank you. Only if you want of course." It was like that flipped a switch inside him because before you could blink you were standing on the dancefloor with the arm that wasn't holding his hand around his neck and his on your waist, high enough to not be sexual, but low enough to not be completely innocent. "So-" the two of you swayed to the rhythm of the classic song playing in the background and you couldn't explain why you felt the urge rise to lean against his chest "-what's up with the lack of the mask?" He slightly tilted his head to the right as if thinking about what to answer, while simultaneously spinning the two of you around. "Maybe this is my mask," he simply stated and you knew it was just supposed to be a humorous comment, but you couldn't shake the feeling like it was more cryptic than you thought, "And I got invited pretty short term and didn't have time to get one." That was more like it.   You giggled and couldn't help but play with the hair on the back of his neck, glad that he didn't seem to react to it. "Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad you're not wearing one because if you had been, I'd be deprived of that face," you smirked slightly and decided to take the initiative. You had no idea what it was about that man, but the two of you dancing so close to each other, his eyes gazing into yours and his hand on your waist, made your heart beat out of your chest, it was like the kiss you had with the Riddler all over again and for the first time in weeks the thought of that kiss disappeared again seconds after it came into your mind and you couldn't help but think that maybe this man was just what you were searching for. For a few seconds, the two of you just looked at each other, your eyes having the conversation that your heart wanted and it was like a bigger power was in control of your bodies when both of you started to lean in for what was supposed to be a kiss if it hadn't been for someone tapping at your shoulder. It was like a spell dispersed and you couldn't help but flinch away, even if all you wanted was to continue what you were doing, not noticing the slightly angered tint that made its way onto your dance partners' face. "Uhm, are you Y/N?" the girl, which you recognized as Dick's companion from earlier, asked you shyly, clearly aware that she had interrupted a situation. "Yeah," you sighed, thinking that this was Dick's attempt at being a protective older brother without actually being at blame. "Your brothers said that they have something to talk to you about, they are waiting outside." You turned to look at the exit to the garden, flashes of memories of being drugged in front of your eyes, before turning to your partner and smiling apologetically, "I'm sorry, I just have to quickly go, but I'll be right back, don't move okay?" He returned the smile, but it didn't seem as genuine as it was earlier and nodded.

When you stepped into the cold night air you couldn't help but sigh at your lack of luck. You looked around and saw your brothers at the outer wall that parted the garden from the street seemingly talking in hushed voices. Jason was the first who noticed you and soon the two of them started walking towards you, the three of you meeting in the middle. "So? What's going on?" you asked worried, recognizing the look in their eyes, the same look they always had when there was an unexpected mission. "Bruce just called, there's a Joker attack a few blogs from here and he needs all the help he can get." "Okay, I'll excuse you if anyone asks where you are and recognizes me," you just shrugged, not sure why they had to meet you outside for that. It was surely not the first time they randomly disappeared during an event and you had to make up excuses. You had expected something more 'serious'. "I'm afraid that this won't be how it'll go tonight-" Jason sighed and petted your head slightly, "-Bruce clearly stated, that he wants you to go home, he already sent the driver. He's still a bit shaken up by what happened last time." "What?" you exclaimed questioningly, "But that-" "No discussion," Dick stopped you and gave you a small peck on your forehead before he and Jason hurried to the gate that would bring them to the ally where they had hidden their costumes beforehand. For a while, you just kept standing there, the cold air crashing down onto your skin and making goosebumps appear. You tried to think of all the ways that you could just get back to what you were doing before, how you could get back to the man that had your heart beat quicker just minutes after having met him, but all your thoughts just went right back to the fact that you couldn't. That you had to leave now. Your thought process was disrupted when you felt something smooth cover your shoulders and arms. A quick look down your body showed you that a familiar green suit jacket had been laid onto you. Swiftly you turned around, hoping your dance partner would stand behind you but there was no sign of him anywhere near. Confusion filled you and you hurried over to the doors leading back inside, thinking that you may see him going back in, but he was nowhere to be seen.   Before you could start to search for him further your chauffeur from earlier caught your attention, waiting for you at the entrance. There was a war being fought inside you, your heart wanting to go back into the crowd and find him, your brain knowing how hopeless the situation was.

One of the side-effects of being raised by Bruce Wayne was that your brain won the fights it had against your heart. That was why, a few minutes later, you were sitting in the car on your way back to Wayne Manor, the jacket still around your shoulders despite the confused look your chauffer had given you. It was basically pooling around you, multiple sizes bigger than you and you couldn't help but relish in the sense of security it gave. You leaned against the backdoor, your forehead against the cool darkened window when you felt something solid pushing against you. A bit perplex you straightened up again and started to tap around until your right hand landed on something that was slightly budging out the right Jacket pocket. Curiously you put your hand into the opening and pulled out its contents. You stared down at the little green, velvet ring box that was laying in your opened hand besides a black business card. Even though you couldn't rip your gaze away from the box, your left hand grabbed for the card and turned it around before you ripped your eyes to it for the fraction of a second before your heart figuratively stopped. The only thing that was printed onto it was the image of a green Questionmark, leaving the origins of the card without any ambiguities. But that means... This Jacket, the man you had danced with, the man you had almost kissed... Well, seemingly almost kissed again... It was him all along, he had saved you and had let you flirt with him right in front of your brothers, without knowing how risky it had been. Your mind was starting to get fogged with all kinds of thoughts, but they all scattered again when you looked back to the box. Your movements were slow as you laid the card down on the seat beside you and opened the velvet cap. Every blood cell in your body stopped moving when you saw the vast Amethyst that was embedded into a ring that looked tiny in comparison with the stone and for the second time that evening it was like you weren't in control of your body as you took the ring out of the case and brought it up into the light to look it over. It had to be extremely expensive, something that even Bruce would think about twice before buying, and it wasn't just that, no, your eyes landed on an engraving on the inside of the ring. For my one and only Moonflower -Ed.

[Yandere Addition]

Trevor Beck's night was far from great. At first, the hot chick he had tried to chat up on the party his dad had dragged him along to had rejected his advances even though she had clearly been interested before and then this creepy dude had grabbed him so hard that he had surely dislocated his shoulder. With pain running through his arm, he decided that this stupid Gala wasn't worth it and called a cab to bring him home. He didn't realize that what happened before was not even close to the worse that would be happening to him this evening, because when he came home, he wasn't alone in his apartment. When he came into his bedroom, there were bags filled with stolen money and jewellery lying on the floor. And when he wanted to call the police upon seeing the letter that was lying on his dresser, a letter written in his handwriting that confessed to his family having had money problems and that he couldn't live without this lifestyle and decided to take matters into his own hand, only to regret what the letter said he'd done, a single shot through the side of his head kept him from following up on that action. Edward was careful as he planted the gun that Trevor had kept in his night shelf for protection into his palm to make sure his fingerprints were on it, before making sure no traces would suggest that he had help with ending his life. He knew that besides the lack of evidence they'd have for it to be murder, the GCPD would be happy enough to have found the one (allegedly) responsible for one of the biggest and unexplained jewellery heists and even if it was suspicious that Trevor had no prior criminal record beside harassment, they wouldn't investigate further. Ed tried to tell himself that he only did this to avoid gaining the attention for the heist, but deep inside he knew that he had many options on how to do that that wouldn't include killing. Deep inside he knew that he had done that because Trevor had dared to touch what was supposed to be his... Had touched his moonflower...

A/N: This was one of - if not the- most requested things I’ve ever had on my blog! Thank you all so so so much! This also inspired me to try my hand at Aesthetics and I’d be happy if you guys would let me know if you like it! And....maybe, if people like it, there’s still some inspiration left for a final part three....who knows? Also, here are the non-anons who requested a second part: @sirkekselord​ @redhildatodd​ @nate-sakura​ And for all of you who are wondering, the Yandere addition at the end is not really relevant to the story and most likely won’t be picked up again, but I just had that thought in my head while writing and thought people might like it.

#Riddler #Riddler x reader #Edward nygma #edward nygma x reader #batfam x reader #dc x reader #batsis #batsis!reader #batfamily #batfamily x reader #bruce wayne #batman #Dick grayson #Nightwing #jason todd #red hood #damian wayne #robin #yandere #yandere!riddler #yandere riddler #yandere x reader #dc yandere #Yandere warning

[falsegoodnight]

hi! not sure if you’ve ever talked about this before, but do you have a specific writing process you follow when you write fics?? i’d love to hear about it if you do :)) love your fics so much!!! (p.s. feel free to ignore this if you don’t want to/don’t feel comfortable talking about it!)

hiiii! first of all, i’m really glad you like my fics! thank you for reading them :) and for my writing process: i think i have talked about it a couple times but i do plan on making a thorough and detailed post describing my writing process but i’m lazy so it keeps getting put off! for now, i’m copy & posting what i said for an old ask where i split it into stages and described how long each one took  (+ new notes!!)

(under the cut because i ramble)

1) idea/brainstorm

i tend to get ideas from other subject matter such as books, tv shows, movies, music, etcetera just like most people but i also get a lot of fic ideas in dreams. those actually tend to be the best ones, in my opinion. and once i get an idea and it won’t leave my brain for a bit, i open up a notebook page or my notes app and write down everything i can about it (the general gist, anything specific i dreamt/wanted, etc). sometimes i’ll even write out a scene if i can’t stop thinking about it. in fact, i’ve based an entire fic around one written scene more than once in the past. 

if i’m super excited, i usually end up blurting out the idea to a friend and there’s just something about explaining an idea to someone else that has you fleshing it out and building upon it and then suddenly you’re even more excited than before--

2) outlining

this actually tends to be a relatively quick stage for me! for the most part, once i get an idea and i get inspired, the story just comes together! there may be gaps but i don’t worry about them yet - i just start my character profiles and a scene list! my outlines tend to be pretty detailed but they can range from around 1k to up to 5k depending on the complexity of the story, characters, and whether any worldbuilding needs to be done. and every story is different - some i just have fleshed out in my head already so i don’t need to work it out on paper (or, on screen, i guess) and others i need to plan out every last detail or else my brain gets too muddled trying to sort everything out. and in my experience: the longer the outline, the longer the fic. 

i’d say typically this takes around a couple hours (for the basic outline) but i always come back to my outline frequently even when drafting, changing and tweaking things or adding/cutting things. outlines are fluid! they’re meant to change and alter with new ideas and different directions :)

[edit: i’m just quickly going to add a:

3.5) research 

this isn’t for every fic but sometimes a story i want to write involves something i don’t have a lot of knowledge/experience for and so i always make sure to research the topic as best as i can in order to portray it as accurately as possible. of course, this is fanfiction and no one is going to grade you on how credible everything is (and they shouldn’t!! this is all for fun!!) but i personally really enjoy the research aspect of writing and getting to learn about things i normally wouldn’t ever get the chance to. i’m currently writing a fic that’s required so much research (i have pages of notes; it’s ridiculous) and i’ve been having a lot of fun with it!! i also want to make a post about this but the main thing i try to do is find experts, whether that be from expert sources or from experts themselves on platforms such as youtube, specific websites, or even reddit and quora. the best way to learn is to learn from someone else who knows it well]

3) drafting

as expected, this stage definitely takes the longest. i’d say my average for writing days (as in, only counting days where i write) is around 2-3k or maybe 4k. on a really good day, i can write 6-8k (edit: haven’t done that in a hot second haha). the biggest streak i’ve had was when i wrote 40k in 4 days (ie: before we knew, which i posted the same day i finished, of course) but that is very uncommon, obviously.

so it all depends on the length of the fic and the type of story for how long drafting takes but i’d say majority of my fics were written either in a week (these are the shorter ones, just to clarify) or in a few weeks depending on length. one of my 50k+ fics was written in exactly 25 days (that sounds a bit like Nanawrimo but it was october) and then on the other hand, a fic that ended up at 30k-ish took me months to write - part of that was just that i wasn’t prioritizing it, but i also just struggled a lot with it.

(edit: so just to elaborate a bit more with challenges that are typically faced in this stage - there’ll be times where i get stuck on a scene or lose motivation and then i typically jump around and move to a different scene that i feel more excited about. that’s what’s so helpful with outlines: they let me switch between different points of the story without getting everything jumbled or creating hordes of plot holes and inconsistencies. for more on things i do to help me write more, i answered this ask a while ago. also if i get stuck plot-wise, then i often consult a fellow writing friend or go back to my outline to work it out) 

4) beta stage

i have two very lovely people who beta for me: @soldouthaz and my friend chelsea who does not have a tumblr :( (edit: she does now!! @kittenlouis :D) i’d say they’re both pretty fast, finishing in a couple days when i need them to! but again, it depends on the fic/length/other circumstances. they’re really good at catching my embarrassing typos and giving me feedback when i ask (edit: i tend to leave questions in the form of comments on google docs if i want specific input or feedback and it’s really helpful) 

honestly i really don’t reread/revise my own work (i actually sort of did for my second blff though since i had the extra time so we’ll see if it pays off!) (edit: i think it did!) but when i go through the edits from sarah and chelsea, i do typically end up skimming scenes and making changes that i deem necessary. i do highly suggest self-editing to anyone else though because it only ever makes the story better, never hurts it. i need to get better at it myself. 

i hope this gives you some sort of idea of my writing process even though it’s sort of a mess. feel free to ask more questions if you want me to extrapolate/elaborate anything. i wish you all the best!

#asks #writing advice #my writing tips #writing

[s4myj0]

Coming Home

Genre: fluff, slight angst, college au, long distance relationship

Pairing: Boyfriend!Donghyuck x fem!reader

Word count: 4k

Synopsis: You and Haechan graduated high school and planned on attending the same university until Haechan got offered a scholarship for the music university in America. You didn’t want to stop him from going and so you started your long distance relationship.

Warnings: this is so so so messy I’m sawry

a/n: Merry Christmas! I actually managed to finish this until Christmas! Here my birthday and another xmas present for @haechaaaaaaanssi​

“Congratulations on your graduation and best wishes for your next adventure!” the principle of your high school says at the end of his speech. So this is it. Your last day in this building, in this high school, with all the people. Now everyone is going their own way, except for you and your boyfriend Donghyuck. You’ve been planning on attending the same university whether it's the same major or not, you didn't care as long as he was there as well. You’ve been looking for your boyfriend for awhile now, until you spotted him with his friends in the corner. You smile to yourself and are going to him.

“Ready for uni?” you utter out as you back hugged him. He turns around with a rather sad expression. “What’s wrong?” you ask as soon as you noticed his gloomy attitude. “You didn’t tell her yet?” Jaemin whispers to Donghyuck, as if you can’t hear him. “Tell me what?”

“Come with me,” Donghyuck says and grabs your arm to drag you out of the hall. He takes a deep breath, so you wait for him to start explaining. "I'm afraid we won't be attending uni together..." he stops for awhile. You feel your world slowly crumbling apart. You can't think of what to expect next. Was he going to break up with you? Before you could say anything to it, he continued. "It's not what you think, it's just...I got a scholarship for the Music University in America. I didn't tell you anything because I wasn't sure if I’m going but I decided just recently that I'll be accepting it.”

You don't know what to say. Everything comes all at once. You take your time to process his words before you answer. "I'm shocked and a little disappointed that you didn't tell me but you should definitely be going! I don't want to be the reason for you staying here and missing such an awesome opportunity," you are afraid to mention the next topic you two should be talking about. And that would be how your relationship will continue. 

He notices your uneasiness and hugs you. "So..." you start off. "What's going to happen to us...?" He will be there for about 4 years. 4 years...will you be able to handle such a long time without him? "We will work this out somehow! We can at least try, right?" Donghyuck asks quite unsure but you flashed him a big smile and nodded.

And so it's been almost two years by now ever since he left for America. He wasn't able to visit Korea even once but you didn't mind, or so you thought. You talked every day whenever it was possible. When you went to sleep, he woke up and whenever you woke up, he was still awake. Even though he wasn't there most of the time, you felt your love for him growing bigger and bigger, day by day every time you see him on your laptop screen or when you hear his voice. However, you missed him. A lot. 

"Go to sleep now. It's late," Donghyuck says when he saw you trying to stay awake for him. "But I want to talk to you more," you pout and he laughs. His laugh, you missed hearing it in real life. You miss everything about him. His voice, his touches, his gentleness, everything. A small tear slips from your eye and it doesn't go unnoticed by your boyfriend. "What's wrong?" He asks in a worried tone. "I just miss you a lot..."

"I miss you, too...I will visit you as soon as possible. I promise!"

You talk for a few mere minutes before he tells you, once again, to go to sleep. You roll around in bed for a little longer since you can't seem to stay still, though without noticing, your eyelids feel heavier and heavier and soon you doze off to sleep.

.•° ✿ °•.

The next morning, you wake up and immediately tap on 'Hyuck❤️' to see the message he sent you. 

"Good morning baby <3 did you sleep well? Call me when you wake up. I want to hear your voice, already missing it and you"

You call him as soon as you read the text. You don't have to wait long for him to pick up. "Morning!" he says in an energetic voice. "Morning," you reply alongside with a chuckle. "Did you sleep well?" Donghyuck asks again and you nod your head. You realize soon that he can't see you and so you answer, "yes, I did. But I would have slept better if you were laying beside me." He snorts at your comment. "So cheesy."

"And yet you still love it."

"Because I love you."

"Who's now the cheesy one?"

While talking to him, you wash and dress up for classes. "I will go now. Call me later, okay? Love you!" You say your last goodbyes before you leave your dorm. On the way, you meet a fellow student. You believe his name was Minhyuk. "Good morning, Y/N!" He calls out for you. You greet him back and you two go to the lecture in silence. To avoid the awkwardness, you try to start a conversation with him. Out of curiosity, you ask him, why he suddenly accompanied you.

"Hm, maybe to be nice? I saw you walking alone several times, so I thought, why not? Making new friends is nice, isn't it?" It is indeed. Since you spent your breaks mostly talking to Donghyuck over the phone, you never got to make a lot of friends. So you give him a try. 

You notice that you two have a lot in common, which make the next few hours even more enjoyable for you. The bell rang, notifying you that recess has started. Just a few seconds later, your phone rings on FaceTime. You excuse yourself and pick up the phone outside. Your screen shows your boyfriend in a slight blur as the connection was not the best, however, he still manages to look extremely good.

“Hyuck, guess what! I made a new friend here,” you tell him excitingly and you could tell that he is happy for you. “Who is she? Tell me more.” 

“It’s actually a he and his name is Minhyuk. He is in the same major as I am and he talked to me first,” Donghyuck’s expression changes drastically and you notice it immediately. “We are just friends Hyuck. I promise!” you say and extend your pinky finger in front of the camera. “I know and I trust you. I just feel jealous that another boy is so close to you while I’m not,” he responds with a pout and a hint of slight anger in his voice.

“Then come home!” You order him to do, half jokingly, half seriously. “You know, that I can’t come back just yet,” he tells you and your heart hurts a little, when he said it. “I know…anyway, remember that you’re the one I love, alright? I have to go now to my next lecture. Bye, I love you!”

“I love you, too”

You hang up the phone and went back inside, Minhyuk already waiting for you. “Ready to go to class?” He questions and you nod. And so you two make your way towards the lecture hall.

Another boring lesson full of yawns coming from everyone except the teacher. Your eyes keep closing until Minhyuk pinches your side playfully. You almost let out a loud shriek but before you could do, you react fast and put a hand on your mouth. You slap him lightly on his thigh for the action he just had done but he only laughs. 

After the day takes an end, you want nothing more than to lay down on your bed and just doze off to sleep. So you are on your way to your dorm with Minhyuk by your side as he decided to accompany you there. And that’s how your everyday routine changed. From then on, Minhyuk accompanied you to university and back to your dorm every single day. You appreciated his actions and not even once you believed there was a second thought behind it, until Donghyuck mentioned it.

It is another Friday evening, meaning you could stay up late with Donghyuck on your laptop screen. As usual, you tell him about your day and you ask him about his. As soon as you mention, what your new friend Minhyuk does everyday, Donghyuck shows more than just jealousy. “I’m telling you, he likes you! I already do not like this guy,” you just roll your eyes at him. “Hyuck, he is just a friend. He doesn’t like me that way. How many times do I have to tell you that?”

“Look, I am a guy and I know a guy’s intentions. Plus, you’re extremely beautiful inside and outside, how would he not like you that way?” Your blood rushes up to your cheeks, creating a slight red tint on your face. “Gosh, how do you always manage to make me blush whenever we’re discussing something?” You shift the camera away from your face so he wouldn’t see that you became a blushing mess. “I also know how you work, baby”

“Anyway, are you coming home for this Christmas?” You ask him as you turn your laptop back to you. You see that he holds a sad expression. You already know what his answer is going to be. “That’s a no, isn’t it?” You don’t have to wait for his response to find out.

“I’m afraid that I can’t come. I’m really sorry,” you assure him that it was alright, though both of you are fully aware of the fact that it was not alright for you. Not being able to physically touch him, talk to him and everything you could do, when he was in front of you, it makes you miss him even more than you already do. It even comes to the point, where it hurts you. 

“It’s okay, Hyuck. Don’t stress too much about it,” even though I really want to see you in person. “I’ll be alright, as long as I can talk to you over phone,” but talking to you in real life would be a thousand times better. “I just want you to do well in your studies, so I’ll be fine, knowing that you’re chasing your dreams,” I’m not fully fine without you here.

“Y/N,” he calls out for you in a stern voice. You hum in response, signaling him to continue talking. “I can see that you’re sad about it. You don’t— no, you can’t hide your feelings from me. Now, please stop crying. It breaks my heart seeing you like this,” you touch your cheeks, only to feel hot tears flowing down. You didn’t even notice that you started crying out of sudden. “I’m sorry,” you whisper quietly, while wiping your tears away.

“We will see each other soon, okay? I promised you after all and I will keep it,” you decided to trust his words and give him a smile. “Yes, we will see each other soon,” you repeat, to make your belief in it even stronger but the empty feeling inside you becomes even bigger as well.

.•° ✿ °•.

It’s been a few months, since you last talked to Donghyuck about him coming home. You thought it was the best for both of you not to discuss it even further. You get up earlier than usual and your first reaction is to look out of your window. There is a beautiful sight in front of you, everything was covered in white. The tree branches, the cars, the street, the houses, everything. Saying that it was just beautiful, was an understatement. 

The first winter snow of this year. It reminds you of your relationship with Donghyuck. He confessed his feelings to you on the first snow day. It was the most romantic moment of your life. The way he carved your name into the snow, with a rose, which was beautifully covered in white, in his hand, and saying the three words you had desired to hear from him. “I like you.”

You smile to yourself as you recalled the memory and just as fate wanted, your phone’s ringtone echoes in the whole room. “Hey!” You greet overly joyful with a big smile on your face. “Someone is very happy today. Did something good happen?” Donghyuck asks from the other line. “Look,” you flip the camera to show him the outside of your window. “Of what reminds you this scenery?”

“Of the day I could finally call you mine”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“It really is…just like you”

It is a Saturday morning, which is why you can talk to him as long as you wanted to. Although it soon takes an end as it is almost night time at his. “Go to sleep now, okay? You have to rest as well,” you tell him as you notice that he struggles to stay awake. “I want to talk to you more,” this phrase was very familiar to you. That’s what you usually say when he tells you to go to bed.

The last few days, you’ve been thinking a lot about your relationship with Donghyuck. Sometimes you don’t know if you want to continue it like this. You know that you love him deeply and you know that he loves you as well but rarely being able to see him makes you doubt your own relationship. As much as you try to push these thoughts away, they come back every time you hang up the phone. 

More weeks pass by and Donghyuck picks up on your behavior. “Is something wrong?” He asks when he called you. You hum a no but it doesn’t convince him. “Tell me”

You sigh and look at him. “Hyuck…I don’t know if I can do that any longer…” you start off. He stares at you with concern in his eyes. “What do you mean?” Your eyes tear up at the thought what you were going to express soon. “Donghyuck, I love you more than anything…but I slowly cannot handle it without you here. I really just want to have you by my side. I thought I’ll be okay with this but apparently I’m not.” He stays quiet for awhile as he doesn’t know what to say.

“I’m sorry it’s not you, it’s…forget it. I’m sorry,” and so you hang up the phone without letting him speak. Was it dumb? Probably but you didn’t know how else to handle it. You don’t hear anything from Donghyuck until it was evening before you went to sleep. He sent you text in which was written, “I’m really sorry. I love you, good night”

You cry the whole night. You regret the words you said to him. You know that it wasn’t his fault. You know that he does everything to come and see you. You know that it was just you feeling lonely. And you strongly know that you do not want to break up with him, so why did you almost cut it off with him? You stop thinking about it as soon as you fall asleep.

The next day, you wake up not to your phone ringing but your doorbell. You lazily stand up and walked towards your front door and open it without checking who it was. “Minhyuk, what are you doing here?” you question as the sight of him was revealed. “I was just wondering if you want to hang out today? I’ve got nothing to do, so…maybe you want to do something?” As naive as you are, you don’t think there was a second thought behind it and so you agree.

He brings you to a café and even pays for your drink. “I could have paid myself, you know?” You chuckle as you take a sip of your coffee. “It’s alright. I invited you so I’m paying!” You shake your head and you two talk more about your plans for the holidays. “I guess I will do nothing. Maybe I will visit my parents but I don’t know about that yet. How about you?” 

You’ve met up with Minhyuk outside of school a lot more than you planned to. He  even helps you with your loneliness without noticing. You still miss Donghyuck a lot but it is now easier to handle. “Thank you Minhyuk for today. I really enjoyed it,” you give him a bright smile, some may think that you two are dating. “You’re very welcome! We have to repeat this soon, alright?” And that’s how your meetups become more frequently.

.•° ✿ °•.

It is the 24th of December and you find yourself rushing to the post office to send Donghyuck his gift to America, so it can arrive on the 25th. With all the stress that was coming towards you the past few weeks, you totally forgot to deliver it to him. Luckily, the post office is open for a certain time today. Unlucky for you, you arrive too late. The doors are already closed when you stand in front of it.

“Ugh, I’m so stupid!” You scold yourself and hit your head. You start going back to your dorm, since you don’t want to stay in the cold and dark any longer. “Hey there,” you turn around as you heard a voice behind you. It was Minhyuk. “Oh hey,” you sound more sad than you wanted to seem. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes…okay no. I don’t know. It’s complicated and I’d rather not talk about it,” and so you are going home, with Minhyuk by your side, in silence. Before you enter your dorm, Minhyuk speaks up again. What he said next was unexpected. “Y/N, I really enjoyed the last few months with you and I want to keep doing that with you, so do you want to go out with me?” You freeze as he finished talking and it takes you awhile to process his words.

Minhyuk steps closer to you, cups your face in his hands and leans in slowly. You don’t have to think twice and push him away. “Minhyuk, I can’t do that. I told you that I have a boyfriend.”

“And where is he now? Y/N, look, you need someone who is with you and can shower you with love because that’s what you deserve! And that boyfriend of yours, I never saw him with you. You looked very depressed the last few days, where was he during that time?” Your anger builds inside of you, when Minhyuk badmouths Donghyuck.

It’s when you fully snap at him. “You don’t know him! Donghyuck might not be physically here but that’s because he is chasing his dream in America and I fully support him with that! Yes, I was sad since I can’t see him on Christmas once again but it doesn’t make him to a bad boyfriend. And I will definitely not cheat on him with you while he’s at overseas. I trust him and he trusts me and I will make sure not to break it.”

“And I will always trust you,” a very familiar voice says from afar. You look to your right and you couldn’t believe your eyes. The person, you’ve been longing for for two years, stands right there in front of you. You blink your tears away and whisper, “Hyuck…” and run towards him. “Hyuck!” Donghyuck holds you tightly as you jump on him to hug him. Your grip seems to have gotten tighter and tighter, you don’t want to let him go.

“You’re here…you’re really here, I’m not dreaming, right?” He caresses your back to prove you that he was indeed standing in front of you and holding you in his arms. “Yes, I’m here. I’m finally here,” you quietly sob in his chest as you hear his voice more clearly. He breaks the hug first to give you a long and passionate kiss on your lips. As you two separate, you pull him in for another kiss and again and again and again. You missed his lips, his touches and him so much, so you had to show him how much you wanted him here with you.

“Sorry buddy, but this girl is taken and I’m the lucky one who can call her mine,” Donghyuck says to Minhyuk as soon as you pulled away. He just scoffs and leaves. You feel bad for him but you can’t help but laugh. “And now back to you,” he starts off. “I told you that he likes you, didn’t I?” You ignore it and started talking yourself.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming home?” You ask the question that was lingering on your mind ever since you saw him. “I wanted to surprise you. Come on, let’s go inside, it’s cold,” and so you two find yourself laying in bed, cuddling under the blanket.

“Wait, I got something for you,” Donghyuck stands up to go to his bag and fishes something out of it. He holds a beautiful wine red case and hands you it. “Open it,” and so you did. You find a necklace in it, a sunflower necklace. You cover your mouth in awe, “Hyuck…it’s so beautiful,” you look closely at it and notice that you can open the sunflower too. “There’s more to it. Open it,” Donghyuck says once again and it encouraged you.

You unlock the pendant and find a picture of Donghyuck and you in it. You gasp at the picture in surprise. He takes the necklace from your hands to put it around your neck. You hold your hair up to help him. “It looks perfect on you. You are perfection,” lots and lots of praises and this time it affected you even more since he was right there and not on your laptop screen. “Wait, I have something for you too,” you grab the box that you put down on your table and hand it to him. “I forgot to send it off but you’re here so I guess it was fate that I was missing the opening hours,” he looks curiously at the box and opens it.

He takes out a photo album with several small things that you owned. “I wanted to give you these so that you will have something from me while you’re in America.” He suddenly kisses you for longer and of course you reciprocate the kiss. “I love it. I really really love it,” he smiles brightly like a sunshine. “How long will you stay?” You ask when you pull away from the short hug that he gave you.

“I will stay for the whole holiday and then go back,” you look at him excitingly, ignoring the fact that he will leave in two weeks again. What matters is that he is here in that exact moment, right beside you. “But I will promise you,” he gains your attention by saying something very interesting. “I have a part time job in America to earn some money. I will visit you as many times as I can,” you gasp as he finished his sentence. “Are you serious? So I will see you more often than just every 2 years?” He nods his head and you embraced him in your arms even tighter than before.

“I promise you. I’m coming home”

#nct #nct 127 #nct dream #lee donghyuck #haechan #nct haechan #nct 127 haechan #nct dream haechan #nct x reader #nct 127 x reader #nct dream x reader #haechan x reader #donghyuck x reader #nct imagines #donghyuck fics #haechan fics #nct 127 fics #nct fics #nct dream fics #fluff #angst #nct fluff #nct angst #nct scenarios #nct dream scenarios #nct 127 scenarios #donghyuck scenarios #haechan scenarios #haechan fluff #haechan angst

[perfeggso]

Noir (yutae)

Week II pt. 2

Tokyo – fall of 1983: Nakamoto Yuta is quickly rising in the ranks of one of Japan’s most notorious yakuza families, and he’s poised to climb even further if he can stop himself from being ruined by the pretty Korean boy who’s shown up out of nowhere.

Chapter 1  |  Chapter 2  |  Chapter 3  |  Chapter 4  |  Chapter 5 |  Chapter 6  |  Chapter 7  |  Chapter 8  |  Masterlist

Glossary of Japanese words

Characters: Yuta x Taeyong + NCT ensemble, Twice J-line (for funsies)

Genres: Gang!AU, angst, smut, fluff, 1980s!AU

Warnings: graphic violence, swearing, minor character death, alcohol use, mentions of drugs, period-typical homophobia, xenophobia, BDSM

Rating: 18+

Length: 4k (will progressively get way longer)

Yuta had a problem: he couldn’t keep his mind off of Taeyong.  He had immediately been taken in by the contrast between the new recruit’s wide eyes and soft expressions and his sharp features and rough background.  However, over the course of a little over a week, Yuta had only found himself slipping farther into dangerous territory that made him question his decision to help Taeyong out by taking him on as a partner.  He questioned himself when Taeyong’s shirts would ride up and expose the soft skin of his lower stomach, or when Yuta would catch his subordinate zoning out with his fingers running over his lips.  These moments sometimes made Yuta feel like a creep, but it was nothing compared to the way most men he grew up with treated women.  Also, he had at least a sneaking suspicion his little infatuation might be reciprocated from the way Taeyong would flush easily at any praise from Yuta, for example, or the few times when Yuta thought he heard a hitch in Taeyong’s breathing when Yuta addressed him seriously or got into his personal space.

Yuta had always needed to be careful – his closest friends among the Inagawa-kai knew he liked men and could not have cared less, but being gay was so stigmatized amongst the yakuza and in Japanese society in general that any inkling of Yuta’s secret had to be vigorously guarded to avoid disaster.  That’s why Hirai Goro had decided years earlier that at twenty-five, Yuta would, for the protection of the family, marry his daughter Momo.  Momo was his best friend since adolescence and was as uninterested in men as Yuta was in women.  It was an ideal arrangement, but one that had to be carefully managed.  That wedding would be in a year.  In the meantime, Yuta had learned to be careful with his encounters, stay in queer-friendly spaces away from work, and read small cues from potential partners since nothing would ever be clearly spelled out for him.  He was rarely wrong, and he thought he would be right again about Taeyong too.

“Yuta-san?” Jaehyun’s voice on the other side of the door rattled Yuta out of another Taeyong-induced stupor and he remembered that he was in his office, leaning over his wooden desk with the Miyazaki file disassembled in front of him.  Even if Yuta hadn’t recognized that warm voice, it could only have been Jaehyun who, as an unofficial member of the operation without a defined position, was one of the few people who didn’t have to address Yuta by his title.

“Douzo, Jaehyun-kun.”  The door slid open and in walked Yuta’s guest, wearing a pinstripe suit and letting his dark hair fall softly over his forehead.  Unlike most of Yuta’s acquaintances, Jaehyun had neither tattoos nor visible scars or disfigurements.  If it weren’t for his parentage, Yuta figured that Jaehyun would have been an innocent and upstanding member of society.  In fact, Yuta wondered why he didn’t stay as far away from his father’s line of work as humanly possible, for his own sake.  But, if Jaehyun did do that then Yuta would be losing the benefit of one of his keenest minds.  Besides, Yuta knew that Jaehyun was branded as suspicious in the outside world by default just by being a conspicuously wealthy zainichi boy, so he might as well lean into it.  

“You look busy,” Jaehyun observed with a smile.

Yuta smiled back and pushed some papers to the far side of his desk, closer to Jaehyun.  “That’s because I’ve been working on something.  What are your thoughts on this?”

Jaehyun sat on the desk – something the average enlisted man would not be permitted to do – and scanned his eyes over what appeared to be paperwork from several banks in Thailand.

“Looks like he’s got offshore accounts,” said Jaehyun, obviously.

“Bingo!”

“Are they illegal?”

Yuta smiled and hummed to himself in satisfaction.  “Those banks are all under current investigation by Interpol for money laundering.  One case has been proven.  And Miyazaki might be a key player.”            

“Congratulations, Shategashira ,” said Jaehyun, pushing himself off the desk, letting out a small laugh once standing.

“What’s so funny?” Yuta challenged.

“Nothing, really,” said Jaehyun. He knew he could get away with saying whatever he wanted.  “But Yuta-san, you launder money all the time.”

“I know that very well, Jaehyun,” explained Yuta, knowing the mild defiance from his friend was nothing serious.  “But it’s expected from people like us.”  Jaehyun scowled slightly, Yuta assumed, at his implication in whatever dirty business the Inagawa-kai did.  “For someone like Miyazaki it’s – it’s a career-ending – no, life ending event since he’ll probably have to go to jail for a year or so and never be hired again.  His reputation will be ruined.  This information could tank Mitsubishi’s stocks for a while too.  He’s supposed to be a reputable businessman, not a gangster.”

“My dad always says that companies are just like gangs;” offered Jaehyun, “the salaryman is just a glorified foot-soldier with a less interesting life and their bosses probably have more blood on their hands than they realize.”

Yuta pulled out a cigarette from the pack in his pocket, placed it in his mouth, and then offered the pack to Jaehyun with the raise of an eyebrow.  Jaehyun took one and as he spoke, Yuta lit their cigarettes.

“That’s why I always listen to your father, Jaehyun, and why you should too,” said Yuta, pausing to take a drag.  “Gwang-suk is the most insightful bastard in this whole operation.”

Jaehyun’s face curled into a thoughtful smile.  “I’ll keep that in mind.  By the way, I know you have proof that these banks are crooked, and that Miyazaki has money in them, but what’s your direct evidence of his wrongdoing?”

��Ah,” Yuta remarked, letting a tumble of smoke fall from his lips.  “That is forthcoming, if you have time to wait a few minutes.”

“Sure.”

After another drag on his cigarette, Jaehyun seemed about to begin a new conversation, his expression contorting into one of active thought, but at that moment, a succinct series of knocks rang out on the other side of the door.  Yuta put his crossed legs up on his desk and leaned back in his leather chair.

“ Douzo.”    

With that, Doyoung, who was wearing slacks, a sweater vest, and an upmarket wristwatch, opened the door with a thin stack of papers under his arm.  His eyes went wide when he saw the cloud of smoke rendering the room in soft focus.  Still, he steeled himself and managed a salute and a greeting of “Shategashira!”

“At ease.”

Doyoung seemed to sigh in relief and wasted no time fanning the space directly before his face and hurrying to the one small outward-facing window in the room to open it.

“My god, you two, this is absurd! How do you breathe?”  Even in disgust, Doyoung’s voice was measured.  To most, the thin, almost delicate, and usually soft-spoken man would have been difficult to pinpoint as a member of the yakuza – especially if he was covering his tattoos which he kept more minimal than most of his friends.  Nevertheless, his intelligence had always been an asset to the family and any doubt of his intensity would be assuaged the minute he lost his temper, or alternately, came at you coolly with a Sten Gun.  Around those close to him though, Doyoung’s vibe was still more nagging grandmother than anything.

“Doyoung,” began Yuta, “tell me you found something good.”

Doyoung made his way back to the desk on the other side of the room, holding his stack of papers up in one hand.  “Tell me you two won’t keel over from lung cancer before I show it to you.”  And with this jest, he let the papers drop to the desk with a smack .  Yuta took one more drag and extinguished his cigarette, partially to appease Doyoung and partially to free his hands.

“All I found was the record of recent wirings, invoices, and transfers for his accounts between Japan and Thailand,” explained Doyoung as Yuta began digging into the papers with Jaehyun sitting in observation.  “It appears that he’s been embezzling money from the company under the guise of a bunch of contractors and business expenses that don’t exist as far as I can tell.  He’s transferred a lot of it, via some of these banks in Thailand, to a specific woman.  You’ll see her information in the paperwork there.  Sometimes she uses different names, but I have reason to believe it’s all one person and that her name is Minatozaki Sana.”

“A mistress, perhaps,” speculated Jaehyun, and Yuta let out a hum of agreement.

Doyoung nodded.  “That would make sense.  I’ll keep on the trail from here and see what else I find; how conclusive the connections are, etc.”

“Good work, Hosa ,"  Yuta praised.  "You’re dismissed if you need to be anywhere.  Do you?”

Doyoung shrugged, planting himself in one of the molded wood chairs across from Yuta and Jaehyun followed suit.  “I’m going on patrol with Johnny in an hour but I’m meeting him here.  Might take a bit of a break.  By the way, where’s Taeyong?”

Yuta had to stop a smile from overtaking his expression at the mention of his partner.  “I don’t need his help and he’d been working so hard, so I gave him some time to himself.  He could be practicing shooting, taking a walk, going to the conbini around the corner, I have no way of knowing.”            

Jaehyun spluttered, for what reason Yuta could only imagine.  He sat forward in his chair, trying to look serious.  “Oi, what is this?  The little prince finds something amusing, does he?”

Jaehyun held his outstretched palm in front of his face and shook his head.  Yuta was a very intimidating person by most standards and was famous for his wit, but even he had moments of insecurity that his friends could exploit for entertainment.  That is, until they got their asses beat for disrespecting a superior.

“No, I promise you, Yuta-san, it’s nothing really.  I’m sorry.  I was just surprised because in the last, what? Almost-week that he’s been with you, you two have been pretty inseparable.  And whenever he isn’t with you, you’re yelling ‘where’s Taeyong? Someone find him now!’”  Jaehyun started to laugh harder at his own impression.  Next to him, Doyoung adjusted his sleeve, watching, and in his calmly matter-of-fact manner stated, “we’re not idiots, Shategashira .  We can tell when you’re distracted, and we can usually guess why.  Jaehyun and I think you have it bad for Taeyong.  We even bet on it with Taeil.”

Yuta found himself in a bit of a shock.  Him?  Distracted?  Was he that obvious about it?

Yuta pawed weakly at a piece of ash and flicked it into his ashtray, but he couldn’t help himself from smirking just a tiny bit.

“Fuck off,” he practically whispered.

“You don’t deny it,” Doyoung observed, and now it was Jaehyun smirking, ready to watch a confession unfold.

The haze still left in the room seemed like protection from the outside world, and Yuta felt his chest filling with boldness.  He didn’t have anything to hide from his friends, anyway.  He only cursed the timing.  Now was not the time for lust nor – god forbid – for romance.

Yuta bit his thumb nail and sighed.  “That’s because you’re not wrong,” he admitted.

Jaehyun and Doyoung exchanged tittering smiles in response.

“Yeah, go ahead and celebrate your victory,” said Yuta, nearly rolling his eyes and allowing his friends to relax and high five each other.

It felt nice to get it off his chest officially, but Yuta also felt a heaviness in his gut as a result of the conversation.  What if this was nothing more than a brief infatuation and he was jumping the gun by talking about it?  What if Taeyong wasn’t interested?  How was he even supposed to go about acting on anything?  He was busy and needed to focus and he tried to avoid hooking up with coworkers.  Fuck it , he thought, he was already distracted .  Yuta finally raised his eyes to meet the gaze of his two friends across from him.  Despite their satisfied smiles he still felt the tight, dead-end sensation of a prisoner.

“You should tell him, Shategashira , if you don’t mind my advice,” said Doyoung.

“I should, hm?” Yuta puzzled. “And how do you propose I do that?”

***

Taeyong’s sleeping face was yet another distraction.  He and Yuta had been sitting in the front of Yuta’s black 1982 Corolla for a couple of hours and it was already approaching three A.M.  Yuta knew Taeyong hadn’t had a completely easy time adjusting to his new life and was hardly sleeping even when he had time to, so when Taeyong’s eyes took on a telltale droopiness an hour ago and their target had yet to come around, Yuta had allowed Taeyong the option to nod off.  It was good for Yuta too, as it gave him the opportunity to gather his thoughts about the sleeping angel next to him.  Maybe Ms. Minatozaki wasn’t coming home that night at all – or maybe she was already asleep and Yuta had gotten bad intel.  Maybe Yuta, who was growing tired himself, could allow himself a moment of weakness and drink in the image of the man beside him.  Still, if the lead was correct and Minatozaki was going to be home soon, he didn’t want to miss her just because he was smitten with a boy he barely knew.

Yuta allowed himself one more moment to take in Taeyong’s serene face, admiring the flicker in his dark lashes, the slope of his sharp jaw into his smooth neck – interrupted only by the press of his Adam’s apple against the skin.  Yuta’s gaze fell on the pitted scar that dug its way like a crater into the flesh next to Taeyong’s right eye.  Yuta had wondered where it came from but never wanted to pry.  Taeyong’s earring twinkled as it caught the reflection of a streetlight.

Yuta couldn’t stop thinking of his earlier conversation with Jaehyun and Doyoung.  He felt almost laid bare by it, and he didn’t know why.  His friends already knew Yuta liked men and he trusted them enough to know they would never challenge his authority.  But still, telling them this felt different somehow.  Perhaps it was because Taeyong was someone who they, too, were getting to know personally; so they could make an offhand comment by accident or worse, pass judgement in ways they never could on Yuta’s anonymous hookups.  Perhaps it was because Yuta felt like he was on the edge of losing control at a time when he needed as much control as possible.  Perhaps it was because he knew nothing good could come from giving into his desires.  Any impropriety could be used against him or Taeyong after all, and he needed to maintain his position in the Inagawa-kai and help Taeyong in the process.  Still, the more time he spent around Taeyong, the more Yuta was sure he wanted to do unspeakable things to him.  At least if Taeyong wasn’t interested, he could go from distracted to morose, and the latter state would be a marginal improvement for his ability to focus.

Yuta had asked how Jaehyun and Doyoung would suggest he approach Taeyong with his attraction.  Jaehyun councelled him to treat the situation as if it were a heteronormative one: as if Yuta were confident and straight and there were no stakes in the interaction.  Besides, said Jaehyun, if you think he’s interested then all those things might as well be true.  Doyoung, on the other hand, decided to play devil’s advocate and suggest that Yuta confront Taeyong with the information that he knows Taeyong is gay (which, again, he didn’t). Once he had Taeyong scared and talking, only then should he reveal his true intentions.  Obviously, neither tactic was a viable option, so Yuta found himself left to his own devices once more.

Yuta sensed motion in his peripheral vision and jolted to attention, watching as a young woman scurried down the sidewalk and up the stairs of the small house he and Taeyong were staking out.

“Oi! Taeyong!” Yuta yelled, hitting his partner in the arm and waking him, wondering to himself if the violence of the action wasn’t partially a means of relieving some pent-up sexual aggression.

Taeyong raised his eyebrows and looked around, bleary.  “Right there!  It’s her.”  Taeyong followed Yuta’s outstretched finger and noticed the woman just in time to see her finish turning her key in the lock and slip inside.

“Oh!” he exclaimed, realizing what was going on.  “Should we go knock on the door or something?”

As they spoke, a few orange lights illuminated the windows of the house.  Yuta shook his head. “No, it’s too late at night and she’d be suspicious.  She’s likely already in a sensitive situation being a millionaire’s mistress.  Besides, we’re only here to confirm her location for when we come back before the meeting.  We want to give her as little time as possible that should could use to inform the Yamaguchi-gumi if it goes wrong.”

“So, mission accomplished?”

Yuta grinned his signature grin; wide and almost unhinged under bright eyes.  “Mission accomplished.”

Taeyong nodded, seeming to suppress a shiver, and turned his head to the house which had returned to its dark quiet.  “I still don’t understand why we can’t just go around to some neighbors to confirm her identity.”

Yuta tutted, hoping maybe to provoke a clearer reaction from Taeyong.  “Too risky,” he explained.  “If we do that what will happen?  They’ll all tell her the next time they see her that the yakuza were asking about her.  We have her I.D. photo; it’s all under control.”  

Taeyong nodded, a contemplative pout settling on his face and sending Yuta’s blood rushing.

“ Shategashira ,” he began, “why’d you take me on this recon mission with you if you were just gonna let me sleep?”

Yuta shrugged.  “It looks good for you if you can prove you accompanied me.  Good for your case so you can gain more freedom.” Yuta cleared his throat.  “Can I drive you home, Taeyong?”

Yuta thought he saw a hint of pink bloom on Taeyong’s cheeks, but it dissipated as quickly as it had appeared.  Taeyong nodded, eyes gluing to the floor mats.

“Thank you, Shategashira .  But if it’s too out of the way –”

“Nonsense,” interrupted Yuta.  “Just tell me where I’m going.”

The dark, tree-lined reprieve of Ms. Minatozaki’s neighborhood eventually opened up into the neon jungle which consisted most of the city.

“Take a right up ahead,” Taeyong directed.

Yuta took the turn and soon the car was rolling by a street famous for its adult businesses.  A love hotel here, a strip club there.  Taeyong made a sound in his throat.

“What is it?” asked Yuta.

“I was just figuring that the girl we were watching for and her Mitsubishi man probably meet up in places like this.”

Yuta wondered what Taeyong was getting at.  “You’re probably not wrong,” he said. “Though I’d imagine they do it in nicer parts of town.”

“It’s kind of despicable, no?” Taeyong asked, seemingly to himself, head leaning sleepily against the window.  “These guys get power and then suddenly they can do whatever they want.  Lie to their wives, launder money, you know?  Keep left.”  Taeyong paused as Yuta followed his direction silently, allowing him to finish his thought.

“I can’t really imagine you guys doing that, with your samurai code of honor and all that.”

Yuta chuckled.  This boy either had Stockholm Syndrome or was purposefully trying to get some kind of result out of his musings.  “Taeyong, you forget we’re career criminals.  Adultery is the tamest thing some yakuza get up to.”    

Taeyong smirked, making Yuta surer the other man was playing him to some end.  His tired brain felt suddenly electrified.

“Whatever,” said Taeyong.  “Just promise you won’t cheat on Momo with some other woman.  I’d lose all respect for you.  I’m the tall apartment on the right up there, by the way.”

Yuta’s whole body went stiff.  This boy .  He decided to be honest with Taeyong – at least to the extent that he could still backtrack at any moment.

“That shouldn’t be difficult for me, Taeyong,” he said, pulling over to the curb.  “I don’t think about women all that much.  Haven’t been with many, either.”

Taeyong didn’t move to get out of the car.  Yuta waited in anticipation, feeling both relieved and like he’d dug himself into a hole.  He watched how Taeyong’s face roiled in thought, expressions materializing and evaporating as quickly as bubbles in a simmering pot.

Taeyong sighed, finally speaking.  “Well have you been with any men, then?  Do you think about men?”

Now it was Yuta’s turn to sigh.  What had he done?  This was so dangerous.  The hopeful look on Taeyong’s face egged him on, but what if it was all a trap?  What if Taeyong’s entire appearance in Yuta’s life was a setup to ensnare him?  He’d barely known him for two weeks.  Yuta could kill people but he couldn’t make a decision in this moment.  What did Doyoung say about confidence, again?  Fuck it.

“I – yes, Taeyong, as a matter of fact, yes.”  Yuta looked straight ahead over the steering wheel, feeling like his center of gravity was stuck somewhere in the seat below him and praying to anything at all for Taeyong to just get out of the car.  Instead, he felt the other man inch minutely closer.

“Do you…do you think about me?”

Shit .  Yuta was not equipped for this.  He was used to spaces where he could be clearer on the rules of engagement – where his work wasn’t so wrapped up in his sexual impulses.  He dared a glance at Taeyong, who’s eyes were blown out in anticipation.  Yes , Yuta thought.  God, he wanted to say yes, but he had some sorting to do in his own mind before he could.  He gripped the steering wheel and steeled his face and voice.

“I don’t think it would do either of us any good for me to answer that question,” he said lowly, and Taeyong drew back.  The look of shame on Taeyong’s face immediately made Yuta want to recant; he was digging himself into a bigger hole.

“I’m trying to protect you, Taeyong, and I think this is the best way to do that,” he tried to clarify.  “I hope you understand.  I appreciate you accompanying me today, but I need you to go inside now so I can go home.  Please.”

Taeyong nodded and turned to open the door with minimal movement, as if trying to take up less space.  Once outside the car he leaned over and said, voice distant with formal intonation, “Good night and good work today, Shategashira .  Thank you for helping me.  I understand, and your secret is safe with me.  Excuse me.”

Yuta watched Taeyong bow and hurry to the front door of his building, disappearing within.  Yuta couldn’t remember the last time he felt this shit, but he kept playing it over and he could envision no clean ending to the scenarios where he and Taeyong gave in to each other.  Yuta started to drive back the way he came, turning the radio on to avoid slipping into the murk of his mind and having an accident or something.  No , he assured himself, you did the right thing .  It would have to be this way between them; it was for the best.            

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[bestgaminglaptop]

Gaming Laptop Buying Guide: Find the Right Rig

With their amazing parts, beautiful plans and premium costs, gaming workstations are an unexpected brute in comparison to run of the mill standard scratch pad. What's more, they should be in the event that you need to play requesting games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Grand Theft Auto V, investigate virtual universes with either the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift and appreciate smooth ongoing interaction on high casing rates. They're likewise an alternate mammoth with regards to configuration, offering suspension with progressively forceful lines and multicolor consoles.

Contingent upon your financial plan, your way of life and the games you need to play, you could wind up spending somewhere in high range on a framework that is probably going to weigh somewhere in the range of 4 and 20 pounds. To locate the correct gaming PC, follow the tips and guidance at https://bestgaminglaptop.in/

Brisk Tips

Try not to purchase a gaming PC for low-end titles like World of Warcraft or Candy Crush. These games can without much of a stretch be bolstered by an incorporated illustrations card.

Maintain a strategic distance from contact screens. They're progressively costly and channel the battery.

17-or 18-inch PCs are normally increasingly incredible, however the least versatile while 13-, 14-and 15-inchers are simpler to convey yet frequently need better quality parts.

Ensure the console is agreeable. In the event that you can, travel to the store and evaluate the console before you purchase.

Jettison the M. On account of Nvidia's 10-arrangement GPUs, versatile chips are a relic of times gone by. These new GPUs are quicker, increasingly incredible and are VR-prepared.

Stay away from workstations with a low-res show (under 1920 x 1080).

Get strong state stockpiling. Put resources into a SSD for quicker game introduces and burden times.

Get a PC with in any event an Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor, a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU and a HDMI 1.3 port on the off chance that you need to have the option to appreciate augmented reality games with an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive.

How Portable Do You Need It?

With regards to gaming frameworks, there are various degrees of compactness, going from "lift with your knees" to "standard PC." Generally, the more remarkable the PC, the less convenient it is.

Insignificant Portability (17 - 18 inches): If you intend to keep your PC in your home and leave it around your work area or simply move it between rooms, a framework with a 17 or 18-inch show like the Alienware 17 ought to be fine. PCs in this size range are generally the most remarkable, on the grounds that they have a lot of space for heat-producing parts. Be that as it may, they're substantial to convey, an extreme fit for most packs and too eager for power to utilize unplugged for long.

Medium Portability (15 inches): If you need to utilize the gaming scratch pad on your lap and haul it around more regularly, think about a 15-inch journal, for example, the OriginPC Eon15-S.These frameworks weigh somewhere in the range of 4.6 and 7.2 pounds while enduring a normal of 5 hours and 50 minutes on a charge.

Best Portability (13 - 14 inches): If you're continually progressing, you'll need to consider 13 or 14-inch workstations like the Razer Blade. Note pads in this size range normally weigh under 5 pounds and will in general have longer battery lives with a normal continuance of 7 hours and 38 minutes. In any case, 13 and 14-inch gaming PCs as a rule don't accompany the most impressive CPU or GPU, in light of the fact that they simply need more space to disseminate such warmth.

Illustrations

The illustrations card or GPU is the cornerstone of your gaming PC. It conveys the pictures on your presentation by handling the information and transmitting the sign to the screen. Because of how distressing this procedure can be when running match-ups, you need a discrete GPU with its own committed memory, called VRAM (video memory).

Despite the fact that there will in general be a more-is-better mantra with gaming PCs, the normal gaming lover ought to approve of 4GB of VRAM. Most of gaming workstations transport with Nvidia GPUs, yet in case you're inclined toward AMD, there are sure brands that permit you to design your framework as needs be.

Useful for Mainstream Gamers

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060: Laptops with 1060 cards can play burdening games like Mass Effect: Andromeda or Witcher 3 without yielding a portion of the cooler visual beautiful sight, including water reflections and common looking hair at 1920 x 1080. You may need to change the settings a piece at 4K, however not all that much. Far and away superior, you can attach your Rift or Vive headset up for a portable fitting and-play VR experience.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050/1050 Ti - A stage beneath the 1060, the GTX 1050 will produce some strong framerates in mid-extend games like Battlefield 1 at humble settings. The 1050 Ti is somewhat increasingly amazing and proficient now and again of supporting Oculus Rift and its different titles. Be that as it may, genuine gamers searching for an elite framework will most likely be baffled.

Better

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070: The center offspring of Nvidia's set-up of cards, the 1070 GPU is additionally VR-prepared and equipped for creating some great edge rates, yet isn't exactly comparable to the 1080. You can expect some genuine smooth designs at 1080p and 4K on the-line-games, for example, Htiman.

No-nonsense Gamers and VR-Ready

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080: This is the card to beat. During our testing, gaming workstations equipped with a 1080 GPU routinely top the classification normal on top of the line games, for example, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Grand Theft Auto V with the enhancements settings and goals turned as far as possible up. What's more, obviously, Nvidia 1080 can without much of a stretch help all your computer generated simulation experiences. Simply be set up to dish out a chunk of change, since 1080s are just found in top of the line frameworks like the Razer Blade Pro or the Acer Predator 17X.

SLI: Since two is superior to one, a few workstations offer two GPUs in Nvidia's Scalable Link Interface (SLI) arrangement. The innovation permits up to four GPUs to cooperate, scaling illustrations execution for better rendering at incredibly high casing rates. A few instances of SLI PCs incorporate the Acer Predator 21 X and the MSI GT83 Titan SLI.

Nvidia Max-Q Design - Nvidia has collaborated with PC makers to make Max-Q, another structure determination which centers around proficiency as opposed to execution. Basically downclocking Nvidia GPUs can put an amazing 1080 GPU into the 0.5-inch thick Asus ROG Zephyrus. With less force being devoured, the framework is delivering less warmth, which implies the fans aren't being utilized so a lot. That implies you get a framework that is cooler and calmer than your normal gaming PC and about as amazing. Max-Q structured GPUs will incorporate the 1060, 1070 and 1080 GPUs.

Show

What's the purpose of having spread smooth edge rates and delightful designs if your note pad's presentation looks like poop? To forestall against this shocking unforeseen development, here are a couple of rules to follow.

Goals: The base goals for any gaming PC is 1920 x 1080 — anything less and you're requesting sloppy illustrations. PCs with QHD (2560 x 1440) or 4K (3840 x 2160) boards are getting progressively mainstream, applauded for their striking subtleties and shading. There are some gamers that depend on 1366 x 768 due to the expanded edge rates, yet I beseech you to cherish yourself more and point somewhat higher.

Contact Screens: Some gaming PCs have begun offering contact screens, which is pleasant in case you will play Candy Crush or Cut the Rope. We've tried an expansive area of touch-screen shows and keeping in mind that they bode well for convertible frameworks or 2-in-1s, this element is superfluous on most gaming PCs.

Matte or Glossy: How would you like your showcases, lustrous or matte? This is more a matter of inclination than all else, yet there are lifelong fans for the two camps. Group Glossy depends on the dynamic hues, however that sparkling surface is truly vulnerable to irritating glare. Enthusiasts of a matte board don't need to stress over diverting reflections, yet a few clients grumble about cleaned out shading and detail.

OLED: Described as the eventual fate of show, an OLED (natural light-discharging diode) board is contained a film of natural exacerbates that produce light when an electric flow is presented. The innovation takes into consideration more slender, more influence proficient boards that convey fantastically rich shading and differentiation. The Alienware 13 R3 OLED is right now the main PC to highlight this innovation.

G-Sync or FreeSync: Several gaming workstations accompany boards that help Nvidia's G-Sync or AMD's FreeSync advances, the two of which are intended to dispose of unattractive graphical tears and ghosting 0n screens going from 1080p to 4K. While 60Hz is the current least revive rate, there are an expanding number of screens that offer 120Hz, which offers considerably quicker rendering without presenting falter.

Sound: Get a Bark as Loud as the Bite

The sound is similarly as significant as the visuals with regards to gaming. Truly, you presumably have a headset that you'll utilize more often than not. Be that as it may, now and then you simply need to let your PC's speakers work. The MSI-restrictive, Nahimic sound programming is one of our top choices since it offers the absolute best encompass sound in the two earphones and speakers. It additionally gives a few convenient presets, Bass Boost and Voice Clarification programming. Alienware's Dell Audio programming is a nearby second, while Dolby Home Theater v4, accessible in Lenovo note pads, balances our main three.

Consoles and Touchpads

Try not to get so hung up on specs that you disregard console quality. You'll be beating on those keys each time you play a game or surf the Web, so you'll need them to feel good and look incredible as well.

CPU and RAM: The Brains of the Operation

In the event that the GPU is the core of a gaming PC, at that point the processor and RAM are the cerebrum and hippocampus. Your PC's processor (CPU) handles everything that doesn't have to do with illustrations, for example, playing out a portion of a game's material science figurings and controlling its non-playable characters. It additionally influences the presentation of the entirety of your non-gaming applications, including your program, OS and efficiency applications. When selecting your CPU and RAM, remember the accompanying tips.

Intel just: You most likely won't discover a gaming PC with an AMD CPU.

Pick in any event sixth Gen Core: The most recent age of Intel CPUs are the chipmaker's seventh Generation "Kaby Lake" arrangement that propelled in late 2016. All Kaby Lake CPUs have model numbers that start with a 7 (ex: Core i5-7200U) while more established, sixth era chips have IDs that start with a 6 (ex: Core i5-6200U).

Center i5 Is Bare Minimum: When you're looking for your new gaming PC, an Intel Core i5 is the slowest CPU you ought to consider. Double center Core i7 models are a little advance up.

Quad-Core Is Ideal: If you're in the market for a Core i7 processor, search for a quad-center chip rather than double center. You'll realize that a chip is double center by taking a gander toward the finish of its model number. Quad-center Core i7 CPUs have postfixes finishing off with HQ or HK. HK chips are the quickest and even permit you to overclock them.

Clock Speed Matters: Keep the check speed at the top of the priority list when choosing a CPU as higher numbers compare to quicker speeds. A 3.4-GHz Core i5 processor will be recognizably quicker than a similar chip with 2.6 GHz. A portion of Intel's new Skylake chips can be overclocked, which means the speed is movable through a program like Intel Extreme Tuning Utility.

8GB Is Enough: Don't make due with any under 8GB of RAM. Getting 16GB is an or more, yet isn't as significant as having a quicker CPU or illustrations chip.

Capacity: SSD or HDD?

Notice

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[lukes-writing]

Prologue: The Last Mission

Project introduction | Next chapter

Word count: 6800 Warnings: Violence, gun violence, head damage, mild language Note: The prologue is longer than an average chapter of this story, so please don’t get discouraged :) The other chapters have a standard length of 3-4K on average.

September 12th, 9:41 PM, the Trinity Gate inhuman enclave

“Holy Hell,” Vlade mutters as he grabs the greasy, sleazy handle of rusty metal door. The damaged, flickering solar-powered lamps illuminate the letters written in black paint - INHUMANS ONLY. The smaller letters below them, sprayed there using a red spray paint, elaborate the message: Pinks will be eaten alive, or some other nasty shit.

An old neon sign, as faulty as the lamps, shines above the door: HERRING’S inhuman pub. Vlade would never voluntarily visit such place. However, now he has an important task to complete and it requires him to enter this nasty place. Vlade started to reconsider his job choice for the hundredth time this week.

He takes a deep breath and steps inside. He is immediately struck by loud trance music and hot, stuffy air. The smell is impossible to describe. Besides alcohol and greasy junk food, there are smells of various unconventional foods and drinks favored by different inhuman races.

Vlade closes the door. The interior is similar to any underground club found at every corner of the human part of the city - gloom interrupted by psychedelic flashing lights from the dance floor, wooden tables of various sizes, a large bar, several casino games and gambling machines.

It is the dwellers of this club that are making Vlade uncomfortable. There are inhumans of all shapes and sizes. About half of them look like humans, maybe except for several oddities. But then, there are straightforward monsters. Vlade passes by some kind of burly creature with gray skin loudly slurping on something which looks and smells like a still full animal stomach.

Just go and never look anyone in the eyes. Vlade carefully seeks the man he’s looking for, avoiding any eye contact. He is scared, even though he is usually the one who invokes respect. He is about two meters tall, with broad shoulders and a muscular figure. His leather jacket, heavy boots, long hair, and stubble completes the image of a guy not worth to be messed with.

Finally, after a nervous walk through the pub, Vlade notices his contact. He is already sitting by the table with a shot of clear liquid in front of him. He is tall and burly just like Vlade, but his head is shaven and the right side of his face is covered by a complex dark tattoo.

Vlade takes a deep breath and gives the man a firm gaze of his dark eyes. “Jaromir?” he asks.

The tattooed man nods and Vlade sits on the chair across from him. “And you must be Vladislav,” he says with a rasping, breathy voice. Vlade also confirms it with a nod.

At that moment, Jaromir reaches under his chair and pulls out an old, sawn-off shotgun. Without hesitation, he points both barrels at Vlade’s face at point-blank range and pulls the trigger.

A loud gunshot echoes through the pub. Several guests apathetically look in the sound’s direction, but they immediately return to their business. They are either too drunk, drugged or careful to poke their nose into someone else’s business. Besides that, violence isn’t an uncommon sight in inhuman enclaves.

“Man, was that really necessary?” Vlade utters, wiping the pellets and soot off his face.

Jaromir grins. “I just had to make sure you’re not a Pink, y’know.”

Vlade raises his eyebrows. “What if I was a human?”

“Then, the Slurpers over there would probably get a free meal,” he gestures towards a group of three naked inhumans hunched up on the floor. They have roughly humanoid shape, pallid skin, gaunt figure and long, scraggy limbs with long fingers on both hands and feet.

They are already looking at the duo with their tiny, dull eyes in their wrinkly, oblong faces. At the end of the muzzle, they have tiny circular mouths lined by needle-like teeth. A thin, flexible tongue keeps emerging from the mouth, making a loud, slurping sound.

As soon as the savage inhumans realize the gunshot killed nobody, they continue sticking their tongues into wide jugs containing animal blood.

Jaromir continues in a different tone. “Sorry about it, but it was the quickest way to make sure you’re really a Fext. I know most of the local Fexti and this is the first time I’ve seen you around.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Vlade replies. “You know, I’m something like a nomad. I’m on the run from The Society, so I have to move often. This is the first time I’ve been at the Trinity Gate enclave.”

Jaromir laughs. “What did you do to deserve the attention of these sons of bitches?”

“A bit of this, a bit of that,” Vlade says. “They call themselves Supernatural law enforcement, but it seems they’re not used to prosecuting Fexti as they tend to be mostly peaceful.” He pulls out his phone and browses it for a moment. Then, he shows Jaromir a page containing his photo:

The Society is looking for VLADISLAV KOVAR

Race: Inhuman / Fext

Prosecuted for: Manslaughter / Heist / Rioting

Eyes: Dark brown / Height: 203 cm / Hair: Light brown / Figure: Slim, muscular

Jaromir smiles and nods in satisfaction. “So it seems you’re a brother who understood what it means to be a Fext. Damn. We have bulletproof skins, great strength, we are almost invulnerable, and yet most of the Fexti choose to sit on their asses or even… cooperate with these suckers.”

“Unbelievable,” Vlade utters. “An inhuman who cooperates with The Society is the worst kind of scum.”

“You tell me,” Jaromir finishes the glass in front of him and waves at the waitress who looks like a human girl in a black cropped top and skirt - Vlade doesn’t know what kind of inhuman she is as many races, including the Fexti, look and act exactly like humans.

“Anything to drink?” the tattooed man asks.

“Just a glass of water,” Vlade replies.

Jaromir raises his eyebrows, but doesn’t say anything. The inhuman girl soon brings the water for Vlade and another shot of clear liquid for his companion. For a moment, the two Fexti just enjoy their drinks and listen to the omnipresent numbing music.

Then, Vlade finally makes the first move. “Okay, now about the ‘friendly talk’ you promised me.”

Jaromir leans towards Vlade in a conspiratorial gesture. “So, I see you are a Fext outlaw. One of these not afraid to use our powers. But how do I know I can trust you?”

Vlade laughs. “Man, do you think I am some kind of Society’s snooper? I’ve already shown you that The Society wants me dead or alive… or anything in between. My family disowned me. I can’t stay in one place for longer than two weeks. I think I no longer want to be alone. I need… guidance.”

“Then guidance is what you can get,” Jaromir smiles.

“So as I understand it, you are a leader of some kind of Fext gang?”

“It can be said like that. We take advantage of the fact we look like humans, so we can freely move, even outside the enclave, unlike our brothers there,” he looks at the hungry Slurpers nearby; the blood in the jug has run out, so the creatures have started to fight each other. “The cops aren’t equipped for robbers with bulletproof skin. And they’re far from discovering the Fexti’s weakness,” Jaromir chuckles.

“Sounds good,” Vlade returns him the smirk. “I’m already kind of tired of endless roaming. I guess you have some sort of hideout, don’t you?”

“You bet we do. I’ll take you there if you want.”

“That means we can seal the deal?”

“Of course. If we gather enough promising Fexti, we can take control over Trinity Gate in no time. With humans and their laughable politics… we, the inhumans, would have taken over the world if that goddamn Society didn’t constantly try to stop us.”

Vlade takes a sip of the water, listening to Jaromir’s words. The older Fext nods in satisfaction as he sees his younger companion holding onto every word he says.

“You know, humans are ridiculous. We, the inhumans, usually don’t have any quarrel with each other even though we come in all shapes and sizes. Look at that fella over there. He is a half fish, yet I just let him live his life. Actually, the Gillscalys are great business partners. Even Herring, this pub’s owner, is a Gillscaly. And humans? They can hate each other to death because of different skin color. Skin color. Do you understand it? And we are the ones who must live in ghettos.”

“You have a point,” Vlade nods.

“We can just wait until the humans destroy themselves,” Jaromir continues. “Or… we can speed it up a little. The humans are defenseless against Fexti. They are so cute and squishy. Actually… if you aren’t scared, we can take it as your initiation. But once you go… you’re in this with us. Understood?”

“Of course. I didn’t expect anything else.”

“Very well, Vladislav. Now listen closely. You probably know about the three territories the United States split into after the second civil war, right? I’d be surprised if you didn’t.”

“The three territories,” Vlade nods. “The Central Confederation, the Republic of Northeast and the Commonwealth of Great Moors. The territories, which perfectly complement each other, are still plagued by skirmishes, riots and sabotages without any hope for uniting any time soon. It’s like the civil war never ended. Do you want to… do something about it?”

“Of course I do,” Jaromir’s eyes flash with zealous malevolence. “If we just assassinate the leaders of all three territories at once, with a bit of luck, we would be able to appoint a Fext in their place. That way, we would basically take control of the former United States… to the favor of inhumans.”

Vlade can hardly contain his excitement. Not because he’s so excited about Jaromir’s plan, but because his mission is successful. Thanks to a tiny microphone hidden in his clothes, The Society already knows about the malicious plans of the rogue Fexti.

Now let’s finally leave this place…

“You look scared, Vladislav. Is something wrong?” Jaromir smiles. “Is it too much for you? You don’t need to take part if you don’t want to, but I would honestly be disappointed. I’d expect something more from a Fext who has a file in The Society’s database.”

“Of course I’m in.”

Jaromir offers Vlade a handshake. However, before their hands can touch, they’re approached by another Fext. “Jaro, before you start planning stuff with this guy, maybe you should know that he works for The Society. Thanks to him, I spent two years in detention.”

Jaromir yanks his hand back and gives Vlade a hateful look. “Is that true?” he barks. “Are you a filthy snitch of The Society? Damn, I knew I should examine new recruits more closely. Your file in The Society’s database… they arranged it for you, right? You sneaky son of a bitch.”

Vlade doesn’t even try to deny it. The Fext who revealed his identity was Karel, a rogue inhuman he arrested two years ago for rioting. Wiccan made a mistake here. The team should’ve made sure there are none of their past cases present in the pub. Now, the Fext convict ruined everything.

“Hey!” Karel shouts with a high-pitched voice. “This long-haired Fext over here is an undercover Enforcer! GET HIM BEFORE HE ESCAPES!”

The members of The Society, or Enforcers, have a mixed reputation among the inhumans. Those who live according to the law are glad the secret association of humans and inhumans with special talent watches over them, ready to punish all offenders. On the other hand, the underground inhuman communities like this usually aren’t fond of having Enforcers this close.

While most inhumans don’t find the presence of an Enforcer worth interrupting their business, a few of them actually stand up and attack him. Vlade turns tail and runs towards the door, but is stopped by a tenacious-looking humanlike inhuman.

Vlade punches him, hoping it’s not a Volatile, an inhuman with acidic body fluids. Luckily, he collapses to the ground with a gasp - a Fext punch is one of the most feared things among those familiar with inhumans. However, this short delay is enough for Jaromir to catch up and attack Vlade from the back.

The Fext Enforcer stumbles forward, but doesn’t fall. He turns around and catches Jaromir’s incoming fist. Vlade strikes back, punching the outlaw in the face; the Fext punch is so powerful it even nullifies the hardness of another Fext’s skin. In other words, two Fexti can get into a fist fight just like humans.

Jaromir curses and spits out blood.

Even though Vlade is a well-trained, skilled Enforcer, he still gulps as he sees two figures appearing behind Jaromir. Two other Fexti. Tall, muscular and good-looking - three main appearance traits of all members of this inhuman race. A man even larger than Jaromir with a butch cut and aggressive, weather-beaten face and a lean, fair-haired woman whose cropped top reveals her stone-hard midriff.

“Oh, geez,” Vlade utters and evaluates his possibilities.

He sees Herring, the pub’s owner, just a few steps away from him. As Jaromir mentioned, Herring is a Gillscaly, a fish-like inhuman with a humanoid figure, shiny scales all over his body, webbed hands, gills on his neck and bulging eyes.

Vlade makes a long step towards the Gillscaly, grabs him and holds him in a chokehold; he smells a faint fishy smell typical for all the Gillscalys. Jaromir and his henchmen step back. Right now, eliminating Vlade is more important for them than Herring’s life, but they also knew that if Herring died, they would have to face the ire of the local habitués. After all, Herring was the one who built this place and established this small community of inhuman outcasts.

“Let me go…!” Herring, dressed in a black shirt, pants and apron with the pub’s logo, gasps with a croaky voice typical for Gillscalys. “Goddamn Enforcers!”

“I don’t want to hurt ya,” Vlade hisses. “Just keep calm and play along.”

Jaromir stops moving, his shotgun aimed at Vlade and his hostage. His henchmen also stay back. The other inhumans stay out of Vlade’s way as they don’t want Herring to get hurt.

That way, Vlade makes his way to the door. He opens it, using his elbow to press the handle. The cold outside air touches him, providing a nice relief from the atmosphere inside the pub. Then, he pushes Herring forward into the pub, turns tail and runs on the street.

“Wiccan! WICCAN!” he shouts. “We have a problem!”

The things got out of hand and now, Vlade will need his team’s support. The original plan was to peacefully gather the intel, then disappear and foil the Fexti’s scheme. But, thanks to Karel, the plan changed. However, Vlade’s team was ready for every eventuality.

“Vlade, right here!” the Fext hears from behind one of the large dustbins. A second later, the leader of Team Menhir shows himself in the electric lighting.

Wiccan Salisbury is not very tall, wiry man in his middle forties with the first signs of wrinkles appearing on his face. However, that’s the only sign of his age. He wears long dreadlocks, a black polo shirt, jeans and a denim jacket. His youth also reflects in tenacious blue eyes and tomboyish smile.

“We have a problem,” Vlade repeats.

“Fexti?” Wiccan asks.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, everyone!” Wiccan shouts. “Start the battleplan ‘To Kill a Fext’. We have been exposed.”

After hearing this call, the remaining human members of the team appear on the street.

First, Vlade notices Ophelia Salisbury, Wiccan’s wife. She is a tall, lean woman with light brown skin. She has hypnotic black eyes, prominent swan neck and long hair tied into a top bun. Her attire consists of a blouse in the color of galaxy purple and a long, hippie-style skirt accompanied by excessive jewelry on her neck, wrists and ears.

Both partners are armed - Wiccan with a carbine rifle with laser sights, Ophelia with a 10mm semi-automatic pistol. Both of these are capable of stopping almost any inhuman, but the Fexti require a different strategy.

Finally, Gerard Skellinger shows up. Slim, average height, in his late twenties, dressed like a cowboy including the hat, long, wavy hair, good-looking face, reckless personality. Gerard enjoys two things - the presence of pretty girls and a good fight with the inhumans. Fortunately for him, he has plenty of both. First because of his looks, second thanks to his job.

They all knew the fifth member of the team, second inhuman besides Vlade, is somewhere around them.

“I hoped Vlade would screw up!” Gerard smirks. “Who we fighting?”

At that moment, Jaromir bursts out through the pub’s door, accompanied by his two Fext henchmen and several other inhumans brave enough to oppose the whole team of Enforcers. The tattooed Fext pauses upon seeing four combat-ready figures, but then just smirks and fires his shotgun. The blast is aimed at Wiccan, but Vlade jumps in front of him like a living shield, pellets ricocheting from his Fext skin.

The Society members take cover behind anything possible - a low wall, a large dustbin, over the corner of a building across from the pub. The armed inhumans open fire and Wiccan and Ophelia return it. Vlade doesn’t have to care about the bullets, so he can just smash them with his powerful fists.

Gerard doesn’t use any firearm. However, he has his faithful set of Artifacts.

During the time spent in South America, Gerard discovered the so-called Mind stones which can resonate with powerful minds and move, even levitate, at its will. Gerard just stole six of them from the local shaman and ran away. At home, he attached various technologies, gadgets and weapons to the stones and started to use them as his “Artifacts”, one for every situation.

Gerard reaches into one of the six pockets on his vest and deploys an Artifact marked with a red diode. He feels the Mind stone inside it connecting with his brain, levitating in the air like a drone. He sends the Artifact towards the group of inhumans, then activates the weapon attached to it - a small, yet powerful laser rifle.

The red beam hits one of the hostile Gillscalys, immediately piercing through the inhuman’s shoulders. The fishman screeches in pain, drops his gun and stumbles back inside the pub. Then, Gerard notices a human-like inhuman with a revolver aiming towards Wiccan’s cover. The beam goes through his head, killing the inhuman on the spot. Moreover, his acidic blood ignites and sets his head ablaze, revealing the inhuman was a Volatile.

Vlade tries hard to fight off the two Fext thugs. The woman is agile, the man is strong. However, Vlade has better training and technique. Jaromir watches it all with his shotgun ready.

“You don’t stand a chance, Enforcer scum,” Jaromir taunts him.

Together, the Team Menhir members manage to reduce the numbers of aggressive inhumans to an acceptable minimum. “Okay, it’s time to deal with these Fexti,” Wiccan utters.

Vlade rushes forward and tackles down the female Fext. Then, he rains several punches on her face. The amount of damage would incapacitate any other being, but the Fexti are far more durable. She just endures Vlade’s attack while trying to fight back.

However, Vlade is a skilled melee combatant and already knows all the dirty tricks. And also how to counter them. He doesn’t let the woman stand up, allowing the others to deal with the male Fext thug.

“Kirlian! Now!” Wiccan commands.

“I’m on it!” a voice sounds, coming seemingly from the neon sign above the door. Then, the sign, attached using two rusty chains, starts to tremble and jump up and down. Shortly, one of the chains breaks. The sign swings like a pendulum and hits the male Fext straight in the face.

The sign shatters and a loud crack of electricity follows. The Fext groans and stumbles backwards. An uneducated person would think this is only a minor, barely appreciable injury, but in fact, the electric crack sealed the Fext’s fate.

“Ouch, that hurt,” the voice still coming from the broken sign says. “Gerard, your turn!”

Gerard leaves his cover and runs towards the Fext, dazed by the attack. Several remaining armed inhumans open fire on him, but Gerard has his own line of defense - an Artifact marked with a yellow light with a gadget which allows it to create force fields. The parapsychological drone hovers around Gerard and deflects incoming bullets using a hi-tech shield which looks like flickering air above a hot highway.

The man draws his weapon - a long two-handed sword with a thin, double-edged blade. With a battle cry, he swings the sword at the Fext who has no hope of deflecting the attack. The blade slices through his skin, muscles, tendons and bone, just like it would do if used at a regular human.

“Sayonara, my friend,” Gerard smirks and steps back.

The Fext’s head disconnects from his shoulders and hits the ground with a tubby thump. The decapitated body makes a few steps towards Gerard, but it soon stumbles and collapses, bleeding from the stump of its neck. The head’s glazed eyes stare at the night sky with an empty expression.

There aren’t many ways how to kill a Fext, but using electricity is one of them. The electric shock burns the layer of flexible, yet stone-hard substance similar to the insects’ chitin exoskeleton growing under their epidermis and on the surface of their bones, responsible for their apparent invincibility. Their body immediately starts to regenerate the layer, but in the meantime, the Fext is vulnerable to physical injuries.

“Good job,” Wiccan says. “One down.”

As soon as the first Fext falls, Jaromir turns tail and runs away. Vlade, still brawling with the Fext woman, notices it. At that moment, he knocks his opponent down with a powerful punch, stands up and starts to pursue the Fext gang leader. “Hey, stay right here!” Vlade shouts. “In the name of The Society!”

Jaromir ignores him and continues running through the narrow backstreet.

The Fext woman recovers from Vlade’s beating and joins the chase.

“Kirlian! Stop her!” Ophelia shouts.

This time, the voice comes from the nearby dustbin: “Understood.” As soon as it starts to talk and move, two nearby Slurpers feasting on some kind of half-rotten carcass run away with startled, throaty sounds. The dustbin falls down and starts to roll toward the running female Fext.

Unaware of the danger, she trips over the dustbin and falls on the ground. She starts to get up, but Gerard already deployed another one of his Artifacts. This time, a sound similar to a dentist drill breaks the silence. The Artifact marked with a black brand has a small buzzsaw attached to the Mind stone.

However, instead of attacking the Fext directly, Gerard guides the Artifact to the rusty lamp illuminating the woman’s laying body. With a loud screech, the saw starts to cut through the pole the lamp is attached to. The blade is small, yet powerful. The job is done within seconds.

The lamp collapses on the Fext’s head like a cut-down tree. Another crack of electricity sounds through the night as the solar-powered lamp shatters on her head, knocking her down again. The Fext woman shoves the fallen lamppost away and makes another attempt to stand up.

However, she is immediately stopped by three gunshots coming from Ophelia’s firearm. The bullets end up in her forehead and the Fext woman collapses again, this time with no chance of recovering.

After hearing the gunshots, Vlade, while still running, turns over his shoulder to see the Fext woman with three holes in her forehead falling on the ground. Good, his team is watching his back. That means he can focus on pursuing Jaromir, running a few meters ahead of him.

The two Fexti run through the inhuman enclave, watching the filthy backstreets slowly change into more decent parts of the inhuman part of the city. The inhuman bystanders observe the chase, preferring to step out of their way. They run through a neat park, the marketplace and a trade district.

The chase is long; the Fexti can run for a long time without getting tired thanks to their massive amounts of stamina. However, Vlade is faster and younger. On a small town square, Jaromir slowly starts to lose his lead. Then, Vlade jumps forward and tackles Jaromir down, chaining into a powerful punch into the outlaw’s face.

The Fexti face each other and circle around like boxers. Jaromir is the one who attacks first and the two end up in a furious fistfight. Vlade is quicker and has better technique, but Jaromir is stronger. Every hit that successfully connects with Vlade’s face blurs the Enforcer’s vision and causes him to stagger.

Vlade responds with quicker jabs and precise strikes from various martial arts. As the fight continues, Vlade starts to get the upper hand. An inhuman in the ranks of The Society is always more than welcome, but Fexti are especially valued for their strength, endurance and stamina. They are intensely trained in martial arts and survival tactics which basically turn them into walking tanks.

Vlade, with a trickle of blood emerging from the corner of his mouth and numerous bruises on his face, finally strikes Jaromir down with a precise hook punch. The outlaw’s right eye can barely open because of the swelling around it. The left eye stares at Vlade with hatred.

“I think it’s a good time to surrender, don’t you think?” Vlade says. “The members of your gang are dead and my teammates will be here in a minute. It’s over.”

Jaromir responds with a condescending smile. “An inhuman… working for The Society. Supporting human supremacy. You can do more than this, kid. If you just let me go now, I’ll forget about you. I’ll move to a different city and I won’t bother you and your team anymore.”

Vlade hesitates. “No,” he says in the end. “My teammates are counting on me.”

“So your allegiance to Pinks is stronger than allegiance to your own kind?”

“I just want both humans and inhumans to live in peace.”

“Locked up in filthy ghettos.”

Vlade lets his guard down - exactly as Jaromir predicted. The outlaw lashes out, thrusting his knee into Vlade’s stomach. Vlade gasps and doubles over. He tries to counterattack, but Jaromir disorients him with a powerful punch before he firmly grabs his shoulders and shoves him away. The younger Fext staggers backward, falling into a shop window of a small general store. The sound of shattering glass wakes up the sleeping residents of the small district. Jaromir lets out a grin as Vlade breaks the strip lights illuminating the window and the sparks land on him.

The Fext skin is, unfortunately for them, a great electricity conductor. Vlade groans in pain as the sparks change into a current engulfing his whole body. He has been struck by electricity several times before and, like always, he feels a strange, empty feeling on his whole body as the skin layer which makes him invincible briefly disappears. He feels weak. So… human.

“Do you adore Pinks so much? Now you are one,” Jaromir smirks. He takes his time as he slowly approaches dazed Vlade. The young Fext just keeps his eyes on his enemy, aware he’s at his mercy now. However, he doesn’t start to beg for mercy. He will keep his Fext dignity until the end.

Vlade hears hasty footsteps on the concrete accompanied by voices. His teammates.

But it seems this is exactly what was Jaromir waiting for.

He raises his shotgun and points it at Vlade’s head with a grin. “This time, it should work better,” he says as he pulls the trigger just as the rest of Team Menhir arrives to witness it.

“VLADE!” Gerard shouts.

“OH NO!” Ophelia screams.

“Shit…” Wiccan utters.

Vlade’s head literally exploded. His blood, brain tissue and bone fragments splatter all over the store - its owner, a Gillscaly, falls on his knees and wails loudly.

The Enforcer’s body collapses, blood gushing from the frayed stump of his neck. Jaromir observes it with a smile, then gives a look to the remaining Enforcers standing nearby, shocked and unable to move. “See? It’s not that hard to get rid of The Society’s scum,” he cackles. “Are you gonna miss your Fext friend? Don’t worry. I’ll send you to him in a minute or two.”

Wiccan and Ophelia are shaken by their teammate and friend’s death, but they don’t lose their temper. Just as their training says. They have been members of The Society for about twenty years already and they have witnessed their teammates dying. It was just a part of their job from time to time.

However, the same can’t be said about Gerard who joined Team Menhir seven years ago after a member of the team was KIA - killed in action. Since then, the team successfully avoided tragedies and the composition of the team stayed at Wiccan, Ophelia, Gerard, Vlade and Kirlian for quite some time.

“You son… son of a bitch!” Gerard screams and rushes towards Jaromir, not minding the warnings of his older teammates. The Fext raises his shotgun again and fires, but Gerard’s shield Artifact is already there to block the pellets. However, Gerard alone can’t stand a chance against a powerful Fext.

At least that’s what Jaromir thought.

Gerard faces Jaromir, who is at least thirty centimeters taller than him, with his sword. The Fext doesn’t need any weapons even though he still has his shotgun. He takes a swing at Gerard with his fist, but the Artifact blocks it, absorbing the energy of the impact. It wobbles in the air, but protects Gerard from Jaromir’s wrath.

Suddenly, Jaromir’s eyes open wide. “What the…?” he whispers.

Gerard smiles. His plan came together.

The man rapidly swings his sword from above, giving all his strength into the strike. The blade splits Jaromir’s head in two and continues until it stops somewhere at the collarbone area. Gerard then pulls out his blood-drenched sword and removes the red fluid from the blade using an elegant swing.

Unlike Vlade, Jaromir doesn’t die immediately - the Fext endurance is still present. He tries to take a few steps forward, but since his brain has been split in two, his legs can’t coordinate their movements and the Fext falls on the ground soon.

Gerard stands above the wriggling body. Instead of showing mercy by finishing off the Fext quickly, he just watches Jaromir’s struggle. His eyes move in opposite directions, both halves of his mouth try to speak - each half seemingly tries to say different words. Blood is pouring from the crevice in Jaromir’s head, but not fast enough to make him bleed to death quickly.

Another Artifact hovers close to the body, marked with blue diode. There are two spikes on the front side of the device, small lightnings flashing between its tips. Gerard guided the electric Artifact to sneak towards Jaromir from behind and electrocute him, making him vulnerable.

“Gerard! Oh God, what have you done?” Wiccan shouts at his teammate with an angry expression in his face. “Did I give you a command to kill him? Damn you! We needed to know if there are more members of his Fext gang hiding somewhere. Now, the chance is gone.”

“He killed Vlade,” Gerard mutters.

Wiccan controls his temper; he remembers Gerard and Vlade became close friends, almost like brothers, and Gerard had to lose control over himself when he saw his friend fall. “I know. But in this job, people die, Gerard. Vlade is the third teammate I lost. I know it’s hard, but such reckless things… you just can’t.”

“Please, Wiccan, you can scold me as much as you want, but do it later,” Gerard says with an emotionless voice. “Now… let’s just leave this place. I guess our job is done here anyway.”

October 14th, 2:23 PM, The Society headquarters at Trinity Gate

The remaining members of Team Menhir gather around the urn containing Vlade’s ashes. The room, called “Hall of Heroes”, holds approximately fifty urns. Fifty Enforcers of The Society who died while serving in Trinity Gate. Every headquarters has its own Hall and some of them hold much more urns since Trinity Gate is one of the newer territories.

The Hall of Heroes is a bright room with marble walls holding numerous shelves made of stone. The urns are placed on the shelves. A big part of the room is still unused, indicating that The Society has still a lot of things ahead - both pleasant and unpleasant.

Vlade’s urn is placed next to the urns of two other Enforcers who served in Team Menhir. Wiccan, Ophelia and Kirlian are the founding members, Gerard and Vlade joined later, after they needed new blood. The first deceased member was a human girl named Tara with pyrokinetic powers who, ironically, died in a fire she started and couldn’t control. After she died, Vlade took her place.

Gerard joined the team after the death of Kazuki who was a Tengu, Asian inhuman resembling a humanoid crow with large wings. Tengus are related to Shriekers, much more common (and more troublesome) feathered inhumans who lost their wings throughout their evolution. Actually, the Shriekers were responsible for Kazuki’s death as one of them used a stolen rocket launcher with heat-seeking missiles to bring the Tengu out of sky.

The team mourns in silence. There seems to be nothing left to say.

“I miss him,” Ophelia finally says while wiping off a tear. “He truly was proof to that cheesy saying that ‘the Fexti have impenetrable skin, but soft heart’. He was… such a great friend.”

“You tell me,” Gerard sighs. “He was like a brother to me.”

“It doesn’t feel good, being the only inhuman in the team,” Kirlian’s voice sounds seemingly from nowhere. “He understood me. Don’t get me wrong, but now I feel… alone.”

“Vlade’s death was a tragedy,” Wiccan speaks. “Both for our team and The Society. He was one of the Fexti who refused to be passive. After I got to know Vlade, I’d personally slap anyone who’d say Fexti are cowards. Vlade was braver than all of us combined.”

“And also, he had the best sense of humor,” Ophelia says. “Remember how we used to sing…”

“Vladislav, baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more,” Gerard sings.

For Ophelia, this silly song parody was the last straw. She bursts into tears, hugging Wiccan tightly.

The man lets his wife calm down. There is one more thing to be discussed and Wiccan needed to weaken the influence of emotions at least as much as possible. “Alright, guys,” he speaks. “Now, when Vlade is gone, we need to discuss the future of Team Menhir.”

The team picked its name after a large monolith located in the Great Moors district of the city. Wiccan, Ophelia, Kirlian, Tara and Kazuki used to meet there, even though it was sometimes hard to keep the Tengu out of everyone’s sight. After Vlade and Gerard joined, they jokingly talked about renaming to “Team Hair” as all of them had long hair, but the name based on their favorite place was just too hard-wired to be changed.

“I doubt we have anything to discuss,” Kirlian says. “We just have to get a new member. That’s how The Society works, like it or not.”

“Members,” Gerard corrects him.

Wiccan raises his eyebrows at him. “What do you mean?”

“I quit,” Gerard says. “You can call me weak, oversensitive, whatever you want, but I just… can’t do it any longer. I’ve always had a feeling that working for The Society is too much for me and now, when I lost my best friend, I’m certain about it. I’m sorry.”

“Gerard… are you sure about this?” Ophelia asks.

The man nods. “The Society changed me for the better. Remember? I started as one of the convicts you were after, but instead of imprisoning me, you decided to make me a part of your team after Kazuki died. I know, I work here for only seven years and I don’t even qualify for the retirement benefits, but I just need to quit.”

“You’ll need to give up your Artifacts. Are you ready for it?” Wiccan says.

“Yeah, whatever. Peace is all I need now.”

Wiccan, Ophelia and Kirlian look at Gerard in silence. They remember when they saw him for the first time. Almost twenty at that time, robbing anything in his sight using his Artifacts. He didn’t give up easily and it was his persistence that impressed the team.

It happens more often that one would think - some of the convicts captured by The Society have a chance to redeem themselves by joining the law enforcement unit. And Gerard had all the requirements to become an Enforcer. Life in The Society changed his life. First for better, now for worse.

Wiccan nods. “Of course. We can’t force you to stay here if you really want to go. You just have to contact the Capital Branch which will officially release you and tell you the conditions. You know, never tell anyone about what you saw and stuff.”

“We’ll miss you, Gerard,” Ophelia hugs him. The man had become something like her son. She was the one who persuaded him to give up the petty criminal life and join The Society. She’d secretly hoped Gerard would lead the team once she and Wiccan retire. But now…

“Should I say it, or…?” Wiccan says.

“Go on,” Ophelia replies. She already knows what her husband is about to say.

Wiccan sighs. “Ophelia, Kirlian, I think we’re in this for too long now. Twenty years while ten is enough to retire officially. I think Team Menhir should be disbanded. Vlade’s death and Gerard’s departure confirmed it for me. The new blood should receive a chance. Trinity Gate needs a new team.”

“I agree,” Ophelia nods. “It’s sad to just… throw away everything we’ve been through. But I also see no point in dragging it out. Initiating the new team will be the last thing we’ll do as The Society members. And then… we’ll finally have some time for ourselves.”

“What about you, Kirlian?” Wiccan asks.

“I can’t say I’m happy about it,” Kirlian’s disembodied voice says, “but it seems I’ve been outvoted.”

“So… okay,” Wiccan doesn’t seem to know what to say. “I officially disband the Team Menhir here and now. We have to announce it to the Capital Branch as soon as possible, before another case breaks loose. ELIPSA will then find and initiate new Enforcers.”

ELIPSA is an agency which belongs to The Society. The acronym means Entries and Locations of Individuals Possessing Special Abilities. This agency keeps track of people with special talents or supernatural abilities and the inhumans who are suitable for the Enforcer career.

Ophelia takes Wiccan’s hand. “I have mixed feelings about this,” she says. “Finally being able to live peacefully… but without the thrill.”

“We deserve it, darling. After twenty years of risking our lives.”

During the following days, Team Menhir is officially disbanded and the remaining members receive the veteran status. Gerard was allowed to leave freely after he handed over his Artifacts to Wiccan. ELIPSA immediately started to seek new Society members near Trinity Gate.

The Society members are carefully chosen by ELIPSA members, veterans with a lot of experience who seek people displaying abilities other people would find unnatural or genius knowledge of a useful subject such as technology or science. The team also has to be balanced, a fair amount of muscles, brains and special abilities. Piecing together a new team isn’t an easy job.

However, after a few days, ELIPSA finally came with the first results.

“Looks promising,” Wiccan says after he took a look at the files of the possible new team members at home. He picked one of them personally and ELIPSA approved his choice.

“Such nostalgia,” Ophelia smiles. “Remember when we were new recruits?”

“Yeah,” Wiccan returns the smile. “Now let’s go to sleep. Tomorrow, I’ll have to deliver this to the Capital Branch.” He points at the wooden casket containing Gerard’s Artifacts. He opens the casket and looks at the devices connected to Mind stones, small parapsychological drones.

Red, blue, yellow, black, purple and green. Each one with different usage.

But then…

“Hold on a second,” Wiccan barks. He closely examines one of the drones, then another. Then he curses so loudly Ophelia shrinks back. “These are fake!” Wiccan announces. “Damn. I was wondering why is Gerard handing them to me without any sorrow!”

“What does that mean?” Ophelia asks.

“Gerard still has the real ones.”

Author’s Note

So that was the first part of the story I’m working on. Sorry if it looked too much like some splatter, the rest of the story is more sophisticated... a little ;) Don’t hesitate to let me know what you did and didn’t like, just hit the Comment button or send me a message. If you want to stay updated, follow @lukes-writing and if you have friends who you think might like this story, let them know!

Thank you for reading!

@notquitenovelist

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[hollandroos]

Blow a kiss, Fire a Gun | Pt.3

Teaser Pt.1 Pt.2 | TOM HOLLAND MOB AU

Do you guys prefer a shorter (2k-2.5k) post ever 2-3 days or a longer post (3-4k) every 4 days?

Words: 2.6K

Summary: You’re arranged to marry Tom Holland, Londons most feared mobster, but it’s never easy. He doesn’t seem to want you and you don’t want anything to do with him.

For the longest time, Tom only knew what it was like to be controlling, demanding and overall cruel. He ran the biggest mob in all of London so the boy didn’t have time for fun. He couldn’t just go bowling with his mates on the weekends or spend the early hours of the morning in a pub, downing unacceptable amounts of alcohol, no matter how much he wanted too in the earlier years. His life consisted of keeping a straight face and keeping everything under control. The only thing he hadn’t had control over was you, and now that he’d met you he doubted you were the type to go ahead and submit to him.

Over the last couple of days, he’d learnt your schedule, he’d worked out typically what time you got out of bed, ate your meals if you ever visited the library etc and he worked out how to dodge you. It wasn’t that. No, he definitely wasn’t a fan of this at all, despite the flirty, confident front he put up. There was something about you but Tom was not prepared to get off of his high horse just yet.

Shutting the lid of his laptop and shoving the pens back in their holder, Tom looked up at his father who had been patiently sitting on the other side of the desk for the last five minutes, waiting for his son to finish whatever important business he was attending.

Tom could easily remember being a kid, sitting behind his father's desk and watching the way his father acted. Taking in exactly how he spoke to his men and dealt with those that did him wrong. He would sometimes sit downstairs eagerly, waiting for his father to finish a meeting so that he could learn all about it, who did them wrong or if any new deals had come up. His parents use to say that Tom was a born leader, always taking the front stand.

But Tom also watched how his father interacted with his family, around Nicki and Dom had tried to teach his son that there was a line between work and family. There was a time and place to be closed off, and there was a time and place to be loving. So he didn’t understand how his son had turned out so stone cold.

“Tom, you have an important event coming up and I was hoping you’d take Y/N” Dom ignored the way his son tensed. “She hasn’t left the house since she came here days ago” He truly did look up to his father, but sometimes he wondered why.

Dom fiddled with one of the objects Tom kept on his desk. Tom favoured his office, it was secluded, a room that he controlled who could come in and out of and one that he preferred to spend most of his days in.

Tom shrugged, wanting to try and end the conversation as quickly as possible but with his father, he knew that this could be as long or as short as he desired. “She can leave anytime she wants.”

“With what, Thomas? A car?” Dom knew he was right, the poor girl didn’t have any sorts of transportation, despite Tom probably owning one or more too many cars. “Take her out, get to know her and who knows, maybe you’ll hit it off”

“What happens then? We live happily ever after like you and mum?” Dom flinched slightly as Tom stood up, smacking his hands down on the desk. “News flash, father, Y/N and I were forced together because of a stupid contract that we couldn’t worm ourselves out of, you and Mom fell in love”

“This girl is really making an impression isn’t she?” The tension in the room was unreal and it made Dom nod because in one way or another, you were getting to Tom. Whether it was frustrating him beyond the point of acceptance or slowly making your way into his heart. “What’s going to happen when we need someone to take over the mob? This job was given to you, Tom. Not Sam or Harry. It’s your job to keep it going, don’t forget that I can replace you with one of them with the snap of my fingers.”      

“We’re not talking about kids-”

“You had years to prepare yourself for this, boy. Years to sleep around and do whatever the hell you wanted but it’s real now, You can either accept her and make this girl a part of your life or pretend that she doesn’t exist, make her just another person under your roof and live a miserable life.” He stopped there, deciding that it was too soon to tell Tom about the other part of the contract.

“I’ll take her to the event, but don’t expect us to be in love by tomorrow… or at all”

“You tell me this now, boy, but I give up a few months and you’ll be on your knees for her”

Tom simply rolled his eyes, taking a sip of the cold coffee he’d had sitting in his office for the last hour and grimaced. He didn’t fall to his knees for anyone. Dom on the other hand, felt elated. It was early days but he could already see his plan working, the same one that’d been years in the making.

“If it isn’t the troublemaker”

You spun around, placing the cereal box down and facing Harrison. He wore a cocky smirk, one that reminded you oddly of Tom. Tom, you hadn’t seen him in days. “Ahh, it’s the sidekick, nice to see you again”

You walked out of the kitchen, heading over to the couch in the living room that only seemed to be bigger than your previous home..“If we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other you may as well call me Harrison”

“We’ll see, I don’t expect to be here for long” You placed a spoon in your bowl and sat next to Harrison on the couch. You looked up to see that he was watching Magic Mike and snickered.

He faced you, pausing the movie. “What? Wanna see the real thing?”

You’d gotten used to his playful banter over the last few days, often brushing past him in the living room that still managed to blow your mind. It was an elegant room with two grey couches, large flat screen tv and a coffee table. There were, of course, a few other accents that you haven't paid too much attention too yet.

“Go for it” You knew it was a joke, this was merely a conversation with a flirty undertone, nothing more, nothing less. It wasn’t hard to tell that Harrison was fit underneath his clothing, the boy was like a walking god.

“I think Tom would snap my neck if I did that, he’s very protective over what’s his”

You stopped your movements, screwing up your face when Harrison labelled you as Tom’s as if you were nothing but an object. Harrison said it as if it were nothing. It made you angry, an emotion that you was far too common at this point. Placing your half-eaten bowl of cereal on the table, you turn towards him.

“I’m not his, I never will be”

Harrison noticed your sudden anger and twisted his eyebrows. “I mean, you are his wife and in his books-”

“His books are irrelevant” The movie was now forgotten as you tried to forget what Harrison had just said.

“Whose books are irrelevant?” A new voice said, both of you looked towards the door to see Tom leaning against it, making Harrison stand up but you stayed seated. Toms' eyes bored into the two of you accusingly and you couldn’t deny the shiver that ran through you. He still frightened you, but still, your walls stayed up.

You asked yourself how much he’d heard, whether or not he actually thought of you as his and if he’d really snap Harrison's neck if he made a move, but still, a remark fell from your lips.

“Does it matter?” Tom found your sarcasm almost inviting, nodding his head at Harrison who got up, giving you a curt nod before walking out, leaving you alone with the same person that you’d been trying to ignore for days, not so unbeknownst to you he’d been dodging you too.

You definitely didn’t hate Harrison, he seemed like a fun person to be around and you could only ask yourself how he got himself situated with Tom.

“What’ve you been up too, princess?” You shrugged, ignoring his gaze. “I have something to ask you”

Your eyes widened, mouth drying up because god he could want anything from you and chances were that he could get it. Who knew that after your antics the other day you’d be straight back at square one, stuttering and flustering under his gaze.

Being alone with Tom wasn’t like how it was three days ago. Then, you wanted to get on his nerves but now, you didn’t want to push your luck.

“I have an event coming up in two days and according to my father, I need a date”

Of course, he needs to play happy families. “Why don’t you ask one of your other women?”

“Sweetpea, you’re my only lady” You rolled your eyes, not falling for his words. He surely had a line of woman at the door, waiting for his instructions and you refused to be one of the ones that’d fall to their knees for him.

“What if I don’t want to go?”

You noticed how the red and black striped shirt hugged his muscles, the shirt tightening whenever he tensed. Tom was surely attractive, beyond that even but he was also terrifying, alarming and sent bundles of nerves down your spine when he so much as glanced at you the wrong way.

“Then you can sit here and moop all you like, I’m not stopping you but I thought you’d like to go out”

Every fibre of your body was screaming at you to say no, to refuse his offer and walk out but there was a part of you that was bored beyond comparison. You missed human interaction, but these people were probably dangerous. You missed having fun and letting go, but would Tom let you let go?

“Aren’t the people there going to be dangerous?” Tom smiled cheekily, knowing that you were debating actually attending with him. “Besides what will I wear? I didn’t exactly get to bring a large range of clothing with me”

“Darling, no one will even think of messing with you considering you’ll stick with me.” The other question was no issue for him. “I can get you a dress in time, don’t stress” He found that amusing, that you thought someone would try and mess with what was his.

You nodded, still unsure if this was the right thing but you needed this, a little time to socialize and get out of the house.

“Where is this event?”

Deciding not to answer that question yet, Tom simply shook his head, already picturing the type of dress he wanted you in. “If you knew, you’d back out and I can’t have that”

Before you could question why he wouldn’t tell you or why that cocky smirk returned to his face, the door opened and a small dog came bounding in, her tongue sticking out of her mouth as she ran to Tom.

Tom seemed delighted to see her, getting down on his knees and petting her head to which you stepped back slowly, thinking that if this was Tom’s dog then was probably anything but nice to strangers.

“Hey sweet pea, I missed you” He coed. “Darling, this is Tessa” Tom watched as your eyes widened and you stepped behind him slowly. It wasn’t that you disliked dogs, no, you were just on edge about dogs that you hadn’t met before.

“Does she bite?” The dog sat in front of Tom instead of bearing its teeth and you relaxed slightly. Quite frankly she was adorable, the little grey Staffy lifted its tail, wagging it back and forth slightly.

“Tessa? Oh god, no,” he laughed, kneeling down to his dog and patting her head. She immediately began licking his face, her tail wagging excitedly as she tried to tackle her owner. “She’s the softest dog you’ll ever meet”

You couldn’t help the giggle that spilled from your lips as he smiled and spoke in a soft baby voice to his dog, but you hid it with a sarcastic comment. “Who knew Tom Holland had a soft spot for dogs, hmm?”

He went from cocky and sarcastic to soft in the span of only a few seconds, all because of a dog?

Tom tensed slightly when he heard your giggle, but he didn’t tense out of fear of being caught in a moment so few close to him ever saw. No, Tom tensed because he’d heard your laugh and liked it. “One dog, princess, I have a soft spot for one dog. She’s the only girl in my life”

The smile fell from your face when he said that, which didn’t go unnoticed by Tom as he continued to play with his dog.

“I thought you said five minutes ago that i was your only lady?” The line was nothing but a joke, a cocky remark but Tom thought otherwise.

“Is someone jealous?”

Scoffing, You get down on your knees, slowly reaching a hand out which the dog sniffed for a moment before plopping her head down, waiting for a pat which you gladly gave her. She seemed to like it too, rolling over and sticking her tongue out of her mouth happily. “Don’t think ahead of yourself, Holland, I still despise you”

Let me know what YOU want to read, I thrive on feedback/ideas

Part 4!

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#tom holland #tom holland imagines #tom holland fanfic #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland blurb #tom holland series #tom holland au #tom holland mob #mob!tom #mob au #prompt #Peter parker #Peter Parker imagines #spiderman #spider-man #harrison osterfield #harrison osterfield imagine #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #fanfiction #marvel #mcu #avengers #tom holland smut #tom holland fluff #tom holland angst

[wineschool-blog]

Cellaring Wine

https://j.mp/3BskLvo Let’s start with a basic idea: what is a wine cellar? It’s a room designed to store wine over a very long period of time. That’s all the room does. You shove a bottle into the room, and ten years later, you have a reasonable chance the wine will still be good. It isn’t a place to entertain friends or even taste wine. It’s a one-function room. If you want a room to celebrate your love of wine, you need a wine-themed playground for adults. That’s really cool, but it’s not a cellar. The room has to control four  variables that can affect the longevity of a bottle of wine: temperaturevibrationlighthumidity The first three are forms of energy that can negatively impact your wine storage. The final variable affects the wine’s cork and label. A well-built cellar will address all four issues. Table of contentsCeller EssentialsHumidityVibrationLightDo You Really Need a Wine Cellar?Wine Cellar in a ClosetWine Cellar IdeasWine Cellar on the CheapWine Cellar DIYWine Cellar DesignPlansDoors Cooling UnitsThe Classic Wine Cooling UnitMy Recommended Wine Cooling UnitMake it EfficientThe Cheap Way to Keep Your Wine CoolWine Cellar RacksStorvinoWine Cellar FloorsWine Cellar Walls and Vapor BarriersThe Wine School’s Cellars Through The Ages Celler Essentials Temperature is the most critical aspect of wine storage. It is also the easiest to accomplish. For long-term storage, temperatures need to be kept between 54  and 59 degrees Fahrenheit, with no more than a 2 percent variation in a 24 hour period. If you plan on storing wine for no more than three years, then a temperature below 75 degrees is fine. Humidity Humidity is harder to regulate, as it varies both regionally and seasonally. The ideal humidity level is 70%, but a range of 50-75% is fine. Under 50% and corks start to dry out within four years, and over 75% and mold become a major issue on wine labels. Vibration An oftentimes ignored problem that can really harm wine over time. A vibration is a form of energy that easily passes through wine. It can come from a heavily trafficked hallway or even trucks passing on a nearby road. The vibration needs to be canceled out. Light Sunlight and much artificial light throw off two things that can destroy wine: heat and ultraviolet radiation. Lighting sources have to be designed in a way that minimizes impact. LED lights are the only way to go. I recommend using motion-activated lights. Do You Really Need a Wine Cellar? If you aren’t planning to lay down the wine for a long time, don’t worry about building a wine cellar. As long as you aren’t abusing your wine, your wine will keep for a few years without being cellared.  You don’t even have to store your wine on its side: the cork won’t start drying out for a few years, anyways. Wine Cellar in a Closet If you want to keep wine for a few years, empty a closet and store your cases of wine there. It’s not sexy, but it’s cheap and does the trick. Your main goal is to keep your wines from getting too hot. The magic number for short-term wine storage is 75 degrees. Over that temperature, you’ll see faster degradation of the wine. A wine that would last ten years won’t last one. Over 80 degrees and the wine will need to be consumed within the week. Over 90 degrees, and you might as well start googling for a good sangria recipe. Pretty Isn’t The Best Way to Store Wine Wine Cellar Ideas Building a wine cellar doesn’t have to be expensive. The original Wine School cellar was in the basement of my apartment building. We didn’t keep wines around longer than a few months, so being stored at 70 degrees didn’t matter. After all, that’s pretty much the temperature it’s stored in at a wine shop. When the school moved to Fairmount Avenue, we needed a larger cellar. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much money, so I built the cellar material liberated from a nearby construction site. It was the craziest looking wine cellar in history, but it did the job. By the time we moved to Rittenhouse, I had developed a 4000 bottle storage facility that didn’t break the bank. Since then, I’ve built three more wine cellars and consulted on dozens more. Wine Cellar on the Cheap The first rule of cheap wine storage is to stop googling pictures of wine cellars. It will just make you upset, so stop! You won’t be ordering custom hardwood wine racks. Mongolian monks won’t carve your cellar door from a millennia-old Cyprus tree. Nope. Home Depot and Amazon Prime are your new best friends. Your new cellar will not earn a spot in Architectural Digest (although one of my student’s wine cellars did end up being featured in the Wine Spectator). Nope. Your room is going to resemble a janitorial closet at the local high school. And that’s a very, very good thing. Wine Cellar DIY Building a new room is often the best option, although retrofitting an existing room is possible. The most cost-effective way of building a wine cellar is doing it yourself. If you can hang drywall, you can build a wine storage room. If not, you’ll have to hire a contractor. The trick is not to tell them that it’s going to be a wine cellar.  If you do, the price will go up. Not because it takes specialized skills, but because they’ll assume you are filthy rich. Hire the contractor for the hard stuff, and finish off the easy stuff –like painting — yourself. The best time to bring in a contractor is when you need other work done to get the best price. They will give you a much better price if there are several jobs to do. If you are re-doing your kitchen, they may even throw in the weird little room you want to be built in the basement for free. Beautiful Isn’t Always Better. Wine Cellar Design How big a cellar do you need? You can hold 1,200 bottles in a 5ft (W) X 10ft (L) x 7 ft (H) wine cellar, which is about 350 cubic square feet of interior. Of course, the smaller the footprint, the more efficient the cellar will be! Plans Smaller is always better. You want a cellar with minimal open space: floor-to-ceiling wine storage and a narrow walkway. Designing wine storage is all about the cubic feet of space you’ll have to keep cool. Space is surprisingly difficult to regulate. An empty cellar –even a perfectly built one– will jump up 3 degrees in temperature as soon as someone walks in and will continue to rise. If a quarter of the space in the cellar is full of wine, the increase is negligible –about  .05 degrees in five minutes. Fluid is a great insulator, so it’s important to keep the cellar filled. When you start planning your cellar, have a reasonable idea of how many bottles you will want to store. Build your cellar plan around that number. Doors The place to start designing a wine cellar is with the door. Unfortunately, it’s the weakest link in the cellar. Most people install a fancy wood or glass door. They look amazing, but they are terrible ideas for a functional wine cellar. You need two things in a wine cellar door: insulation and security. That is why I use prehung steel doors for my wine cellars. These are the type of doors a contractor would use when installing a front door on a house. You can pick one up for a few hundred dollars at your local Home Depot. Cooling Units This is the tough part. Cooling units are expensive, and they will be the one thing that will fail. The Classic Wine Cooling Unit The very best way is to vent cold air into the wine cellar via ductwork. Unfortunately, systems like this are expensive. Most sommeliers claim the gold standard system is the WhisperKOOL Extreme 5000tiR. However, with installation, this can cost upwards of $7K. My Recommended Wine Cooling Unit My preferred unit is the CellarPro 4200VSi with a VC  Duct Kit upgrade. I install the entire unit inside the wine cellar, hanging from the ceiling, with ductwork through the wall in two places. The first pulls filtered air from just outside the wine cellar. I run the other ductwork as far away as possible –another room or even outside– to exhaust the hot air. This system costs about $4k installed and is far superior to the WhisperKool. Make it Efficient Always buy a unit larger than you need by at least 20% no matter what you do. This will increase efficiency, lowering the long-term costs of storing wine. The Cheap Way to Keep Your Wine Cool If you want to go the cheap route, you can use a through-the-wall air conditioner. You’ll need a  powerful model  (over 15,000 BTU) with a remote thermostat. I built it for a friend; I used the Frigidaire FRA156MT1, which cost around $600. Install the AC unit at 4 feet above the floor and vented into a room that is at least 3X the size of the wine cellar. Here’s how to make sure it will keep your cellar at 55 degrees: place the remote outside the wine cellar. Since the remote will always show a higher temperature, the AC will continue to cycle. There is always a chance of losing humidity. Because of that, it’s important to install a humidity sensor, or at least leave a bucket of water in the cellar. Wine Cellar Racks This is where my no-nonsense approach to wine cellars really changes how you design a wine cellar. I do not use traditional wine racks. The ones you buy on Amazon or at Ikea will most likely be made of pine, which will start to rot in the humid environment of the wine cellar. These are the type of wine racks to avoid. Wood wine racks must be built out of mahogany or redwood, and that is an expensive proposition. Over time, they will start to rot. However, that may take over a decade. Storvino My preferred storage is using storvino, which is an extensible system of plastic extruded wine racks. They are efficient, easy to assemble, and easy to reconfigure. I think of them as LEGOS for winos. They are also great to transport wine with: when you attend a wine class, you should notice the black boxes we carry wine in: those are storvino racks. For a 1,200 bottle cellar, you can expect to spend about $4K for your storvino shelving if you purchase them online.  That is a lot of cash, but let’s put that into perspective: retail redwood shelving will cost about the same. However, to be as efficient space-wise as storvino, you would have to purchase custom-sized shelving, which will cost upwards of $5K for a 1200 bottle shelving. Bottom line: If you want an extensible wine cellar that puts function over beauty, then Storvino is a great option. Wine Cellar Floors The cellar floor should accomplish three things: insulate, retain humidity and protect falling bottles.  No matter what the surface of the cellar is, it should be coated with a non-porous sealer. When designing a wine cellar in a basement, I use three coats of epoxy sealer over the cement floor. Use the kind designed for garage floors: it will last a lifetime. I then lay down rubber mats, the kind used in restaurant kitchens. Let’s be honest: you are as much of a clumsy drunk as I am. You are going to drop a few bottles. Wine Cellar Walls and Vapor Barriers The walls are built like any other interior partition. Built with 2X4 lumber and are faced with 1/2″ gypsum board on each side. These are 4 1/2 inch deep walls. You have to make a few adjustments. Insulation is essential. R-15 fiberglass insulation is best, as it will also absorb most vibration. Before you hang the interior gypsum board, line the lumber with  6 mils plastic sheeting. This is your vapor barrier, which is critical to the success of a wine cellar. It retains the humidity in the cellar, prevents the insulation from rotting, and helps keep the wine cellar pressurized. Along with the walls, it’s a good idea also to do the same for the ceiling. Another smart upgrade is to use a green board in the interior. It’s designed for wet spaces.  I also use a vapor barrier primer in the interior;  Benjamin Moore has a perfect latex-based one. The Wine School’s Cellars Through The Ages The Italian section of the Wine School Cellar in 2021 Our current wine cellar is a series of narrow pathways with floor-to-ceiling wine. Motions sensors turn on LED lights as you move through the facility. Its industrial look wasn’t intentional; it’s the byproduct of being a highly efficient wine storage space. Our Upgraded Wine Cellar, circa 2007. .wp-duotone-filter-61255e0599622 img { filter: url( #wp-duotone-filter-61255e0599622 ); } Our second wine cellar was a traditional affair. We ordered our wine racks through a specialty wine company. I loved the design: the narrow spacing of the racks was very efficient and easily organized. However, the wood racks posed a problem. After eight years, the racks started to show cracks near the joints. The BEAST: Our very first wine cellar, circa 2002. Ugly AF, but IT WORKED .wp-duotone-filter-61255e0599694 img { filter: url( #wp-duotone-filter-61255e0599694 ); } Our very first wine cellar was the ugliest thing you have ever seen. This is the only photo in existence. This was built back in 2002 when the school was very young and had no funds to build a wine cellar. The room was built using leftover lumber from a nearby construction site, and the wine racks were from IKEA. While ugly, it held temperature very well and taught two valuable lessons: wine cellars should be efficient and unassuming. Tasting Classes Wine Tasting Cheese Pairing Cocktails Food Pairing Wine Tasting Articles Seven Types of Corkscrews Build a Wine Cellar Know Your Wine Bottle Wine Glass Recommendations Wine Tasting 101 Wine Reviews: The Essential Guide Buying Wine Online Best Wine Shops in Philly By Keith Wallace https://j.mp/3BskLvo

[dipulb3]

LG HU810PW projector review: Powerful color and 4K resolution from 2 lasers

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LG HU810PW projector review: Powerful color and 4K resolution from 2 lasers

The LG HU810PW has lasers. Two of them! Lasers are awesome and I won’t hear anyone say otherwise. In this case the two lasers, aided by a green phosphor, let the 810P create some remarkably lifelike colors and a brilliantly sharp image thanks to its 4K DLP chip. Unfortunately, that DLP chip also creates a mediocre contrast ratio that lets down the 810P compared to the best home theater projectors I’ve reviewed.

Like

Lasers create superb color

Exceedingly bright

Super-sharp 4K detail

Don’t Like

Expensive

Contrast ratio is terrible

Confusing settings

Lip-sync issues

What the 810P does right, it really does right. UltraHD 4K resolution is always welcome in a projector, letting every bit of detail in the video impress the eyes. This projector is also very bright, producing roughly 1,500 lumens. It’s the colors that steal the show, however, with deep vibrant reds, blues, greens and more, all at impressively high levels of brightness.

The downside is that with dark scenes the 810P looks pretty mediocre, saddled by grayish black levels and lack of overall punch. At $3,000 it’s also much more expensive than 4K projectors with better contrast, like the Optoma UHD30. Given the flawed contrast I can’t recommend the LG HU810PW to everyone in this price range, but if you crave brightness, color and detail, it’s tough to beat.

4K, 2 lasers, no lamp 

Native resolution: 3,840×2,160 pixels

HDR-compatible: Yes

4K-compatible: Yes

3D-compatible: No

Lumens spec: 2,700

Zoom: Manual (1.6x)

Lens shift: Manual (horizontal and vertical)

Lamp life (Normal mode): <20,000 hours

The HU810P is both 4K and HDR, and does a better job with HDR than most “HDR” projectors I’ve reviewed recently. That said, it’s important to keep in mind no projector can really do HDR. 

As befitting a higher-end projector, the 810P has both horizontal and vertical lens shift. The zoom is decent as well, at 1.6x. The case is about twice the size of lower-end projectors, and significantly heavier. I was shocked something that’s mostly empty space for bouncing light around weighs over 24 pounds. 

Lasers! Instead of a UHP lamp, like most projectors, the 810P has two lasers, one blue and one red. The blue laser, in addition to creating all the blue light, gets split and sends some of its light to a green phosphor. So not only are the lasers creating all the light you’re seeing, but they’re also creating the color. Traditionally, DLP-based projectors separate these two things, with the lamp creating white light, and then color filters allowing some of that light to pass through to the screen, when needed. Color wheels are inherently inefficient, which is one of the reasons why lasers are great in projectors.

Another benefit is that lasers last a lot longer than UHP lamps. The light source in the 810P is rated for up to 20,000 hours, or about 14 years if you run it 4 hours a night. It also turns on and off far faster than most UHP-based projectors, which is a nice bonus.

If you were thinking lasers needed less cooling, and therefore fewer fans, you’d be mistaken. Generally the 810P is quieter than the small, low-priced DLP projectors. It also has a more ignorable lower pitch to its fan noise. It is not, however, silent. Overall I minded the noise less than on any other home theater projector I’ve reviewed in the last year, but it’s also louder than I expected for $3,000.

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Connections for days

HDMI inputs: 3 (2x 2.1, 1x 2.0)

PC input: No

USB port: 2 (0.5A power)

Digital audio output: 1 (Optical)

Internet/LAN: Wi-FI and LAN

12v trigger: No

RS-232 remote port: No

MHL: No 

Remote: Backlit

I’m generally of the opinion that most projectors only need one HDMI input, since it’s far easier to run one long HDMI cable and switch the sources somewhere else. The three HDMI and two USB inputs on the LG certainly don’t hurt, however, and two of them are HDMI 2.1 with ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) and eARC.

The USB inputs are only rated for 0.5 amp, which might cause problems with some streaming sticks. Yes, the 810P has some built-in streaming apps itself, but for some reason lacks Netflix and HBO. In any case I expect people spending $3,000 on a projector will most likely connect an external streaming device this projector, likely via a soundbar or AV receiver, which eliminates these issues. 

The 810P has one of the strangest remotes I’ve used with a projector. It’s similar to LG’s TVs in that a motion-sensitive cursor appears on screen at the slightest of touches. It ends up being faster to use the traditional joypad and clicking through the menus. 

And you’re going to be clicking through a lot of menus. The 810P has what could conservatively called a metric butt-ton of settings. Submenus upon submenus, endless settings to adjust every aspect of performance, many of them confusing. For example, Adaptive Contrast and Dynamic Contrast are in two different submenus, separate from the regular contrast setting. Feel free to join me down the rabbit hole in the Measurement Notes section at the end of the review. 

One very strange problem you can’t fix with any settings is the most egregious lip-sync delay I’ve seen on a display in a very long time. You can adjust the audio timing in the menu, but this only addresses the projector’s own internal speakers. If you’re using an external speaker system like a soundbar or receiver (and let me be clear you should with any projector) it absolutely must have lip sync adjustment. Otherwise anything you watch will appear cheaply dubbed, with the voices not matching the lips on screen at all. 

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Picture quality comparisons

Since the LG is higher in price than most of the projectors I’ve recently reviewed, finding direct comparisons proved difficult. I settled on two projectors that I think can be used as a framing device for the overall story of the 810P while primarily focusing on how the LG looks. The Optoma is roughly a third of the LG’s price, but is one of the better 4K projectors in that range. The Sony is an older, more expensive model, but one that I’m quite familiar with. Its strengths and weaknesses provided a great counterpoint to the LG. I connected all three via a Monoprice 1×4 distribution amplifier, and viewed them on a 102-inch 1.0-gain screen.

Let me get this out of the way first: The LG’s contrast ratio is bad. Like, really bad. Side by side, the UHD30 at $2,000 less has more depth and looks less washed out, and that projector’s contrast ratio could generously be called “OK.” The first few days I had with the 810P I was constantly reaching for the remote, thinking I’d set the brightness control too high. You just can’t get decent black levels out of it without dropping the entire light output of the projector, which doesn’t actually help the contrast ratio, just makes dimmer. 

This comparison test was the first time in a while I’d watched the Sony, which uses three liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS, or SXRD in Sony parlance) chips, a technology known for its excellent contrast. Here it wasn’t even a competition. The Sony was on another planet compared to the LG. It was like a 100-meter dash against Usain Bolt except he had a head start and was racing me. 

I’m the first one to tell you that contrast ratio is the most important factor of overall picture quality. So you’d think the review would end here. But the LG does just about everything else so well that it can (almost) overcome this serious deficit. 

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

Let’s talk about light output. We’re not at the point that projectors are “bright enough” for most homes. None can truly compete with ambient light, that’s just physics. But being able to watch a movie with some lights on, not having to completely black out a room, that’s useful. Having a bright 100-inch+ image is compelling, to say the least. The image on the Sony is fantastic, as you’d hope for something that, when new, cost several times the LG. It is not, however, what one would call “bright.” Even in its brightest mode, you need a totally dark room to enjoy the Sony. That’s not the case with the LG. 

Those two lasers, plus the phosphor, also let the LG create some impressively rich and vibrant colors. It delvers a wide color gamut in a way that’s extremely difficult for color-wheel-based projectors to do. The BenQ 3550i had excellent color, but it was super dim, compared to its competition. The LG does even better than the 3550i, while being as bright as the brightest projectors I’ve reviewed. That’s an impressive feat, and goes to show how much lasers are the next leap in projector technology that we’ve been hoping for.

Then there’s detail. 4K on a huge screen is what higher resolutions are made for. DLP’s greatest strength is its ability to create an ultra-sharp image with no hint of motion blur. It’s actually the only current technology that lacks motion blur (pour one out for plasma, friends). So every wrinkle, every hair, every blade of grass, it reveals all the fine detail promised with higher resolutions. The UHD30 pretty much matches it in this regard, but the LG seems a little sharper overall. That might be the lens, it might be processing, it might be both, neither of which were great on the Optoma. The Sony, despite being 4K, looks far softer. LCOS still has motion blur, and while black frame insertion helps, that makes the image even dimmer. A tricky trade-off.

So overall the LG HU810PW looks far better than you might expect, given its mediocre contrast ratio. 

Lastly, the LG has an odd artifact that I’ve seen in other laser-based projectors. I want to call it “sparkle” but it’s technically called speckle. It’s like certain pixels are brighter than others. If you’ve ever played with a laser pointer, you might have an idea what this looks like. However, at a normal viewing distance of around 10 feet, it’s hard to notice and after a day or so watching it, I stopped noticing it. Even when I did notice it, it didn’t bother me.

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET

But lasers!

What the 810P gets right, it really gets right. That’s why, after all the issues mentioned above, I still actually like it. When showing content that plays to its strengths it’s capable of a truly gorgeous image. Detail for days together with some of the best color I’ve seen in a projector at any price. It’s just beautiful. 

I was constantly reaching for the remote trying to fix the black level, however. The contrast ratio is flat out poor. LG has done everything they can to mask that fact, but there’s only so much they can do with the Texas Instruments’ DLP tech compared to something like SXRD. TI’s 4K chips seem to be even worse in this regard than their 1080p chips, and that’s a problem since contrast ratio is by far the most important aspect of overall subjective image quality. 

With brighter scenes the 810P is capable of truly gorgeous images. But when the dark scenes arrive, as they always do, making the whole image dimmer by dropping the light output only partially masks the problem. In the end the HU810PW is good, but not great, and at this price I want great. 

Geek Box

Test Result Score Black luminance (0%) 0.418 Poor Peak white luminance (100%) 116.3 Average Derived lumens 1498 Average Avg. grayscale error (10-100%) 10.372 Poor Dark gray error (20%) 6.416 Average Bright gray error (70%) 11.213 Poor Avg. color error 4.934 Average Red error 2.112 Good Green error 0.651 Good Blue error 4.134 Average Cyan error 13.8 Poor Magenta error 4.264 Average Yellow error 4.642 Average Avg. saturations error 5.97 Poor Avg. color checker error 5.6 Poor Input lag (Game mode) 129.3 Good

Measurement notes

I could spend pages upon pages trying to explain what each setting means and which are the best, but this review is long enough already. Here’s the short(ish) version. 

As mentioned earlier, the labyrinthian menus have endless settings. To help, somewhat, there are pop-up tooltips. Sadly these are often less helpful than you’d hope. Many could refer to anything. For instance, the Black Level control reads “Correct contrast and brightness by adjusting black levels.” If this sounds like what on most displays you’d would call the contrast and brightness controls, you would be correct. Except this has three settings and is completely separate from the actual contrast and brightness controls. 

Then there’s the Real Cinema setting, which reads: “Adjust the frame ratio in the same way with the movie and it provides the feeling of the movie theater.” The owner’s manual just explains that it “Provides a cinema-like experience.” So my guess is it shows 24p content at a multiple of 24, which is great! But it should just say so.  

I don’t mean to harp on this, but there are projectors that cost a fraction of the 810P, from significantly smaller companies, that are easier to use and far more polished. For $3,000 I would hope for more of both. I say this as someone who reviews projectors professionally, have done so for nearly 20 years, have had a projector as my main display for nearly that same amount of time and I found all the settings here almost baffling at best, and frustrating at worst. I hope anyone who buys this either loves spending hours on setup, or is willing to pay someone who is.

One other noteworthy issue when attempting to get an accurate picture, the color temperature varies with the iris setting. At lower brightness levels it drifts noticeably blue.

What follows are some of the more important settings, to help you dial in the 810P without too many hours invested. 

Energy Saving: “Minimum” is brightest, which is technically accurate, but confusing. 

Brightness Optimizer>Iris Mode: The presets are just steps you can adjust in the User setting, e.g., Bright Room=10

Brightness Optimizer>Adaptive Contrast: Varies the laser power depending on the brightness of the image. Slightly helps with apparent contrast.

Advanced Controls>Dynamic Contrast: Changes contrast and brightness settings based on content. I left it off. Didn’t seem to help much.

Picture Options>Real Cinema: 24fps content displayed at a multiple of 24. On.

Picture Options>TruMotion: Motion interpolation, aka soap opera effect. Off, of course.

Picture Options>Black Level: My guess this deals with 0-255/16-235 ranges. Leave on Auto unless you have an odd issue with some piece of gear.

On the measurement front, the LG was all over the place. In the Warm color temperature setting, the closest to accurate, the image lacked green with brighter images, and had too much red with darker images. Generally the color points with HD content were accurate, with only cyan drifting blue and magenta drifting slightly red.

Brightness was certainly not an issue. I measured 166 nits, or roughly 1,498 lumens, with HD content. The contrast ratio averaged an abysmal 490:1 across multiple modes and settings. Even with the laser adjusting its brightness to the image, the best dynamic contrast ratio I could get was 2,407:1.

With HDR content it was even brighter, maxing out at a massive 290 nits, or 2,600 lumens in the Brightest picture mode. However, this mode was visibly blue/green and wasn’t worth the trade-off in overall image quality. Still, 2,600 lumens! Impressive.

[componentplanet]

Ryzen 9 5950X and 5900X Review: AMD Unleashes Zen 3 Against Intel’s Last Performance Bastions

Ever since April 2017, AMD has been steadily slicing into Intel’s desktop performance position, both in core counts and per-core performance. After an excellent parry in the form of Coffee Lake, Intel’s overall positioning weakened. The repeated delays afflicting the 10nm process node have kept the company iterating on the same architecture, a situation that won’t change until Rocket Lake arrives late in Q1 2021.

The story thus far (in picture form, anyway).

Up until today, Intel could still argue that it held a leadership position in areas like single-threaded performance and a number of games. Today, that support line has been cut. Zen 3 is now the fastest high-end desktop micro-architecture on the market in every category we test including (broadly) gaming. Intel’s HEDT line can still sometimes compete effectively against AMD CPUs thanks to AVX-512 optimization, but Intel’s consumer hardware still lacks this feature, which arrives with Rocket Lake.

I’m going to cut right to the chase: AMD claimed it would improve IPC by 1.19x. It has. AMD claimed that its new CCX architecture would significantly improve performance in gaming and that we’d see more uplift in titles than would typically be expected in a new CPU architecture, and that’s exactly what we see. While the improvements obviously vary from title to title, the gains across the board are real.

I’ll have more to say about Zen 3 in an upcoming article, but the news-in-brief on the CPU core is this: AMD rearchitected the entire chip, to the point that Zen 3 is effectively a new iteration of the core. Mark Papermaster and other AMD engineers we spoke to were clear about the degree of work that had gone into every aspect of the new chip.

These two slides offer a concise summary of what AMD changed when it went rummaging around in Zen 2 in search of optimizations. Branch predictor bandwidth is higher and AMD claims its zero-bubble technology reduces latency in the event of a mispredict. The execution units now have larger windows, reduced latency on some operations (this is probably not a major factor), and a six-wide dispatch unit, even though the FPU is still limited to retiring four instructions per cycle. According to AMD, the ability to burst up to six instructions produced better overall utilization of available resources. I’ll have more to say about the low-level changes in the not-too-distant future.

The biggest mid-level change to Zen 3 is the shift to an 8-core CCX. AMD also now uses a unified 32MB L3 cache rather than the 2x16MB cache structure it previously employed. The effect of these changes is quite noticeable in certain benchmarks.

Performance Comparisons

We’ve included data on the Core i9-10900K, the Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 9 5900X, and Ryzen 9 5950X. We have only partial results for the Ryzen 9 3950X — with two reviews this morning, I had to make tough choices about which chips I had time to test — but I included it where I could.

The 3900XT-5900X comparison is arguably more useful in any case. Both the 3950X and 5950X are constrained by the ~140W maximum power draw of the AM4 socket, where the 12-core has a bit more room to breathe. For the delta between the XT and the X part, just knock a few percent off the Zen 2 core.

Intel’s Core i9-10900K is the company’s current top-performing consumer desktop CPU, so we’ve included it as well. Intel will next update its desktop CPU family with Cypress Cove, the backported 10nm CPU design implemented on 14nm, arriving at the end of Q1 2021.

All systems tested using Windows 10 2004 patched up to the latest version. GeForce driver 457.09 was used on all three machines, along with a Corsair MP600 and an Nvidia RTX 3080. The Core i9-10900K was tested in an Asus ROG Maximum XII Hero (Wi-Fi), while all of the AMD CPUs were tested in an MSI X570 Godlike motherboard with 32GB of Crucial Ballistix RAM across four DIMMs, and clocked at DDR4-3600.

All of the CPUs we tested were capable of sustaining a DDR4-3600 clock without instability or other problems. As a reminder, AMD is pricing these CPUs somewhat higher than their predecessors, at $550 and $800 respectively. Launch prices on the Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 9 3950X were $500 and $750, so we’ll be watching to see if the chips prove their price/performance ratios.

Performance Results

7Zip

We’ll kick off with 7zip, which used to be a benchmark that AMD and Intel split, with Intel leading in compression and AMD in decompression. In what will become a theme, that’s no longer the case, and the 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X offers nearly double the performance of the Core i9-10900K.

Cinebench R20

In years past, we would see this benchmark divvied up between Intel and AMD, with Intel reliably claiming the single-threaded peak and AMD hoarding multi-threading glory. This arrangement is nearly preserved if you only look at the Core i9-10900K and Ryzen 9 3900XT, but then the 5900X and 5950X arrive and ruin things for everybody.

AMD claims a 1.17x improvement in single-threaded and a 1.16x improvement in multi-threaded at the 12-core point. The gains for the 16-core CPU are much lower in multi-threaded, possibly due to power consumption limitations. The 5950X still pulls off a 1.06x improvement over the Ryzen 3950X in MT and 1.2x in ST.

Indigo Bench

In Indigo bench, we actually see a performance regression between the Ryzen 9 3900XT and Ryzen 9 5900X — I need to re-check this result — but the Ryzen 9 5950X still outperforms all other solutions, beating Intel by nearly 2x in the “Bedroom” scene. You would typically run these workloads on GPUs, but running the render on a CPU gives Ryzen a chance to flex its muscle.

Corona Render 1.3

Corona Render is an Intel-friendly benchmark, as evidenced by the Core i9-10900K’s very strong showing against the Core i9-3900XT. The changes to AMD’s core really help here — the 5900X is now as fast as the Ryzen 9 3950X, while the Ryzen 9 5950X takes just 82 percent as long as the Ryzen 9 3950X to complete the task.

Blender Render Benchmark 2.0.5

We tested Blender v2.9.0 using Blender Render benchmark 2.0.5, in all of the scenes distributed with the application.

The 5900X has an interesting pattern of differences from the Ryzen 9 3900XT — the gap between them isn’t static, but changes with the scene. The 5900X wins every comparison, however. The Core i9-10900K is outperformed both per-core and overall.

NeatBench 5

Neat Video is a video noise remover I’ve been trying to teach myself as part of my video upscaling work / DS9 project. The company also produces NeatBench, which tests the maximum throughput of CPUs and GPUs.

Again, AMD picks up 1.18x generationally from the 3900XT to the 5900X. Since the 3900XT is a bit faster than the 3900X, we can see AMD is landing in the ~1.22x range it told us to expect.

Scaling from the 5900X to the 5950X isn’t very good here. Either the application tops out around 12 threads, or the 5900X is soaking up the power budget with just 24 threads. Overall performance is well above Intel.

Qt Compile

Our Qt compile test is performed in Microsoft Visual Studio 2019. We see significant performance uplift from the 3900XT to the 5900X, with the workload rendering in 83.5 percent the time. Scaling from the 12-core to the 16-core is nowhere near linear, but AMD ekes out an additional 10 percent.

Game Benchmarks

AMD has boldly predicted its own ability to beat Intel in various games and resolutions, and we’re nothing if not obliging.

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation

Ashes kicks things off with wins for AMD at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. While a 5 percent gain from the Ryzen 9 3900XT to the Ryzen 9 5900X isn’t all that large, the fact that we’re seeing a boost at that resolution and Crazy detail levels speaks to some of the benefits AMD is getting from its new core architecture.

Assassin’s Creed: Origins

ACO is a narrow win for the Core i9-10900K, and while the gap is generally within the margin of error, it’s a gap that consistently favors the Intel CPU. AMD makes a few very small improvements here, but not all that much.

Borderlands 3

The 5950X has to do stand-in duty for game performance between the Zen 2 and Zen 3 architectures, but Borderlands 3 appears to be a game that doesn’t benefit from AMD’s new architecture. AMD wins 1080p here, while Intel narrowly takes 4K.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divded

Our Deus Ex testing method uses MSAA, which might as well be a boat anchor as far as its impact on GPU performance. Even the mighty RTX 3080 can’t shake loose any meaningful differences at any resolution.

Far Cry 5

But where Deus Ex failed, Far Cry 5 comes through with shining colors. Performance at 1080p Ultra with HD textures enabled is up a whopping 1.27x. Even 1440p gains 1.19x, and we don’t see things settle down until we hit 4K and become GPU-limited. It’s difficult to predict which games will and won’t benefit from Zen 3’s improvements, but the uplift can be substantial when it happens.

Final Fantasy XV

In Final Fantasy XV, the Ryzen 9 5900X wins 1080p and ties up with the Core i9-10900K at 1440p and 4K, while the Ryzen 9 5950X is a whisper behind. Performance is up about 5 percent over the Ryzen 9 3900XT and a bit more than that over the 3900X — again, not a bad showing in gaming, where CPU-related improvements are hard to come by.

Hitman II

We have two Hitman results to show you, one from each benchmark map.

Again, a nice 1.11x uplift for the Ryzen 9 5900X and 5950X in Miami, though the Mumbai map is much tighter. Intel and AMD each take home one map here. The Ryzen 5000 family doesn’t dispatch Intel in every single title or resolution, but it blows enough holes in Intel’s hegemony to leave the company’s claim to gaming dominance in tatters.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Another massive uplift in SotTR actually puts AMD above Intel by 10fps. Again, the Ryzen 9 5900X maintains a 9 percent uplift over the 3900XT at 1440p, with the game becoming GPU limited at 4K.

Strange Brigade

Strange Brigade is the test we tapped to illustrate performance in the Vulkan API. The result is a dead heat between all four chips.

Warhammer II: Dawn of War

Warhammer II has always been an Intel win, as you can see when comparing the Ryzen 9 3900XT against the Intel Core i9-10900K in the built-in Skaven benchmark. Here, the uplift from Zen 2 to Zen 3 is no less than 1.34x, and again, AMD now wins the benchmark. Warhammer II truly doesn’t like AMD’s Zen, Zen+, or Zen 2 micro-architectures, because the game still picks up an additional 1.08x at 4K. AMD leads Intel in the Skaven benchmark at both 1080p and 1440p before Intel ties things up at 4K.

Add up the game results, and AMD wins six benchmarks, loses three, and ties two. That’s enough to award the company overall leadership of the segment, particularly considering the size of some of AMD’s leaps. The gains often seem to come in games where Ryzen was disadvantaged against Intel to start with, but there are also several instances of AMD outperforming Intel in absolute terms.

Conclusion: AMD Currently Offers Faster Chips and Better Values

The last facet to this conversation, of course, is price. The enthusiast market wasn’t exactly thrilled when AMD announced it would be raising prices. Do the new Ryzen CPUs justify it?

In a word, yes, at least as far as the 5900X is concerned. In Cinebench R20, the 5900X was 1.16x faster than the 3900X and costs 1.1x more. In Corona Render 1.3, using the 5900X cut rendering time by ~1.3x for an additional 10 percent on the sticker price. Gaming is harder to predict, since it varies by title, but if you are a gamer, you’ve got a shot at some very nice performance uplifts provided you’re already using a fairly high-end GPU to start with. This is not to say that we wouldn’t still see uplift on a GTX 1080 or 1080 Ti, but I haven’t evaluated that question and cannot speak to it.

The 5950X is a bit tougher. Price/performance scaling is not expected to be linear at these price points, and the ~1.1x performance improvement the 5950X turns in over the 3950X in multi-threaded code is a worst-case scenario. I’d split the difference and say that the 5900X still offers a better price/performance ratio at a higher absolute price, while the argument for the Ryzen 9 5950X is a bit more situational.

AMD now leads Intel modestly in gaming and hammers it everywhere else, in part because Intel has chosen to keep its CPU per-core pricing relatively high. The Core i9-10900K is currently selling for $488 on Amazon, versus an intended $550 MSRP for the Ryzen 9 5900X. As our benchmarks show, the Ryzen 9 5900X is considerably more than 1.13x faster than the Core i9-10900K.

Intel will have a chance to reclaim its single-threaded throne four months from now, when Rocket Lake launches, but it will not reclaim a leadership position in consumer multi-threaded performance unless it moves HEDT CPU cores into the mainstream market. It’s not even clear if that’s possible given the restrictions of the LGA1200 socket, and we’d probably know if the company was planning anything so massive.

Rocket Lake, we now know, tops out at eight cores, while AMD will continue fielding up to 16 CPU cores in the Ryzen 9 5950X. Even with a 1.2x IPC improvement outside of gaming and, say, a 1.05x improvement specifically in gaming, Intel won’t be in a position to challenge the top of the consumer multi-threaded stack. We have to assume a 1.2 – 1.25x performance uplift to even hold Rocket Lake’s overall performance at eight cores steady against Comet Lake’s 10. Intel has given us no indication that we should expect a 1.4x – 1.5x performance uplift in multi-threading, and that’s what it would take for an eight-core chip to challenge a 12-core CPU like the Ryzen 9 5900X.

Zen 3 is an unparalleled success for AMD. The company has literally redefined what kind of performance is possible within a given desktop power envelope and price point over the past 3.5 years. With this new architecture, AMD expanded its leadership position over Intel in multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads, while surpassing it in gaming overall. Intel still leads in specific titles, but AMD can claim to be leading the industry.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need a nap.

Now Read:

AMD Is Hitting Market Share It Hasn’t Held in a Decade

AMD’s Mark Papermaster Dishes the Goods on Zen 3

AMD Has Scaled Ryzen Faster Than Any Other CPU in the Past 20 Years

from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/computing/316943-ryzen-9-5950x-and-5900x-review from Blogger http://componentplanet.blogspot.com/2020/11/ryzen-9-5950x-and-5900x-review-amd.html

#Ryzen 9 5950X and 5900X Review: AMD Unleashes Zen 3 Against Intel’s Last Performance Bastions