#where did this mega amount of sass go i need it back

[mdhilson20]

personal favourite is how fucking sassy wilson is in Season one.

homeless lady drawings and house and wilson go

“My god is she okay”

as if they didn’t know the answer

#hilson #james wilson #greg house #house md #robert sean leonard #hugh laurie #where did this mega amount of sass go i need it back

[holographicbegonia]

Bro I am so confused.

Okay, Miraculous Season 5 Finale, uhhhhh

SPOILERS AHEAD

————

Mega confusion and discussion spoilers under the cut

I thought it was going really well! There was a lot happening in a little time, but it all seemed to be explained at least a little bit. I literally just finished it so here’s my thought process:

I love me a good ol’ crossover in film and animation when they bring in all the past characters from movies, old episodes, etc. And I thought it was really cool! Bringing the United Heros, Fei, Alice, hehehehehe and

*spongebob voice* hiii lukaa

Luka, Jagged, and Penny become part of the Order of the Guardians? Okay yeah whatever I’m not gonna question it. No I am: LIKE I UNDERSTAND LUKA BUT WHY IS JAGGED DOING MIRAKUNG FU-

it was a cool fight scene. Seeing everyone use their powers and working together was fun!

On the other side of the episode-/ we all got thrown for a LOOP man

Does anyone else think it feels really weird how, Prior to the end of the episode, Adrian had like- two scenes? While, yes, he can’t do much without his miraculous, it was weird not getting an update on him and kagami while they’re in confinement. Also while we’re here, lately all we’ve been talking about is how they’re finally revealing the whole sentimonster thing, and why Adrian responds to every command of his father, YET EVERYTHING HE DOES IN THE BEGINNING HES DIRECTLY DISOBEYING GABRIELS ORDERS?? I’m confused

And the big thing, the miraculous’.

I’m a little surprised you’re even able to unify tikki and plagg considering using them together for a wish summons REALITY BITCH OVER HERE/

Marinette immediately gets her cover blown to Gabriel, same with him. So now, it’s personal. Marinette had a pretty calm reaction to EMILIES BODY (dead? Comatosed? Idk anymore) and caught on pretty quick to what Gabriel wanted- and I thought it was going so well! Marinette talked him down, the boomerang trick was cool, the butterfly miraculous, one of the only og miraculous left, so we should keep it safe, GETS FLUNG INTO WATER// which also, Lyla walks in the Agreste Manor mid-fight, but unless I missed it, isn’t seen until the end with the miraculous. You’re telling me she swam through that green ass basement water and got the miraculous?

I genuinely though Gabriel was gonna fold. After seeing the video on Natalie’s phone. Knock some sense into him that, this isn’t what she wanted. I mean, SURLY they’re not gonna let him do the Big Bang thing this entire show over the course of 8 years has stopped him from doing. Yknow since it’s been explained multiple times over 8. Years. Surly with the amount of destruction it does, and we have new seasons coming, they won’t let him do the thing.

He DOEs THE THING.

Also, side note: the kwamis real form look really really cool but I NEED to see Pollens real form cause ik it’s BEAUTIFUL.

So, Yknow how Sass explained in pretty EASY TERMS to Luka how the wishing works?

Red Pen, Blue Pen.

This entire time we’ve been under the impression that in exchange for bringing back Emilie, everything would change. The people, the earth, everything currently in the world. A completely alternate universe where everything is different, except that Emilie is alive. The whole reason we’ve been rooting for Cat Noir and Ladybug to win, is because Gabriel winning was, morally, wrong. Romantic and sad, yes, but his entire mission was to destroy everything and everyone in his way to get his wife back. People DIED (kinda) Families ruined, worlds changed, and this was all before he made the wish. The whole conflict of the show so far was that yes, we’re rooting for our superheroes, but we also feel bad for Adrian and Gabriel losing Emilie: so we understand where his anger comes from.

This IS THROWN OUT THE DAMN WINDOW. bro idk if I blinked and missed something, if I did, lemme know, but/ everything was fine???? Are you kidding me??? i THINK what they were trying to get past, is that the person making the wish, would also choose what happens? I’m still trying to figure out so heres the possibilities in my brain.

Gabriel wished, and realized he was dying, so he gave his life in return for Emilie. (Unrealistic? Emilie (or her sister) is shown in the end, but if that were true and for some reason everyone remembers the past before the wish, Adrian would be freaking out a bit.)

Gabriel wished, knew he was dying, had his reunion, and gave his life for Natalie. This is why they didn’t have him outright say the wish, and instead have Gimmi read his soul. (While this is a little more realistic, after he saw the video, it leaves a lot of plotholes and issue to figure out.)

Gabriel wished for Emilie, and by pure chance, he was the trade. (Also unrealistic?)

It really depends, Natalie is seen at the end, much more healthy than previously, sitting next to either Emilie or Amelie. If it’s Emilie then there’s a whole issue, because the characters shown still had a memory of the world before? People would notice she’s there, while in comparison, a lot of people didn’t know Natalie was sick.

The end just, ticked me off. Five seasons, the emotional heartache we went thru believing that Gabriel would ruin the whole world, just for something so…anticlimactic? I know they’ve been building up Lyla as a villain much more recently, but completely killing off Gabriel takes out so much conflict out of the still-ongoing show. It’s an event we never thought would actually happen. We were built up to believe everyone and everything in the show would be gone, and that’s why it couldn’t happen. That yes, Gabriel knew the wish would destroy the world, but that he would give the entire universe for his Love, and his son to have his mom again. That’s what made it SAD and ROMANTIC and THEY THREW IT OUT???? Instead we get the same world, where everything kept going on. The destruction from the battle was fixed, Ms. Bustier won the election and changed a lot around Paris. The kids are all hanging out summer-style, Luka gets to stay in Paris (yes!) Adrian and Marinette get their kiss, and everything is good. I believed it was explained to Paris that, Ladybug and Gabriel Agreste worked together to defeat Monarch, and Gabriel died in battle? And yet in this last scene there’s little to no mourning or confused feelings from Adrian. He has the ring scene, but besides that: his father whom he recently has come to hate, because he started to see just how selfish he was to his mission in Paris, was actually cool and killed supervillain so it’s okay. LIKE- YOU CANT JUST DO THAT.

Marinette still remembers what happened, everyone remembers the day before the present. Everyone remembers their Kwamis and their powers. Lyla still had the butterfly miraculous. Ladybug and Cat Noir are…still needed? For something at the end? Is this the bad alternate reality where they defeated Monarch, so they went into retirement and had the ugliest children known to man? ITS JUST CONFUSING.

If we knew that Gabriel’s wish would just sacrifice one thing, we would have been fine with him wishing long ago because we didn’t have empathy for him yet. However, our explanation was Red pen, Blue pen. Not Red beans in exchange for Green Strawberries. Gabriels now death leaves too many open holes.

Is Alliance not a thing now? Is Tsurugi-San off the hook? Does she know what happened? Marinette knows Adrian is a sentimonster now, and in turn, SHOULD HE EVEN BE ALIVE RN? There’s a lot of rules for sentimonsters, but with what’s all happened I’m suprised Adrian still exists? Is Lyla just going to take over as Hawkmoth-Lyla? Is she going to have some big ol wish now, because we as the fandom had too much empathy for Gabriel?

It’s confusing, it’s also 8 am. So I’m going to eat and reread everything I just wrote to try and process. Have a good day everyone and PLEASE Use this to have a discussion on the episodes cause I’d like everything to be a little clearer. Thank you!

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupen chang #miraculous #miraculous finale #recreation #mlb #cat noir #ladybug #gabriel agreste #spoilers #miraculous spoilers #miraculous memes #miraculous fandom #emilie agreste #mlb marinette #adrian agreste #show discussion

[flightfoot]

I'm a little confused. Why do we "gotta" criticize ml characters for stuff they never actually did? Like, sure, it happened in a hypothetical scenario, and would have happened without intervention, but it's not actually part of the canon, and therefore not a part of that character's arc or something they can actually be held accountable for.

Eh, no one's obligated to do so. Had enough of people saying "You've got to hold Adrien accountable for X and acknowledge some terrible thing he's done and how he's slime and doesn't deserve to be Chat Noir!" or "Alya has to be held accountable for daring to put something on her blog without fact checking it first, and having the sheer audacity to question Marinette when she claims that Lila's a liar without backing it up." The amount of times I've had to defend Adrien from anons coming into my inbox and yelling about Syren and how he's supposedly responsible for mass death and blackmailed Ladybug somehow... yeesh. I hate that people have been yelling about it for YEARS with Adrien and Alya and that, especially with Adrien, you must recite all their flaws every time you talk about liking them. That same thing happening with Marinette would be just as irritating.

So yeah, no, if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. It's often more fun to just coo over Marinette and Adrien being sweet or the whole class hanging out together.

What I DO think, however, is that Ephemeral gives information about Marinette's character, about her mindset and thought process. Plus, while Marinette didn't manage to go through with the plan due to outside circumstances, she did still attempt it - she had it all planned out, had Viperion listening in via headset, and even had him start the Second Chance before things went to crap within the main timeline, and she had to abort to deal with the time distortions.

And it is still part of Marinette's character arc. She still made a plan where she lied to her partner about something very fundamental, about something that their trust, their partnership is built on, something that she's been especially keen on reaffirming again and again: not purposely trying to obtain each other's secret identities without consent. And using a convoluted plan to get around any possibility of Chat Noir not complying with what she's asking, by having him give her his identity under false pretenses, seemingly without any thought given to whether it's right to do so. And with how easily and confidently she stood up to Su-Han at the end of the episode, it seems like she wasn't all that stressed about Su-Han flipping out and taking Chat's ring if she didn't do as he asked, either.

It's actually pretty similar to what Gabriel did to Adrien in Mega Leech, with him lying to Adrien about what kind of commercial he was filming (that it was propaganda for the Oxygen Project and not a perfume ad), because that way, Adrien wouldn't have the chance to object. Basically, getting him to do something under false pretenses because if he knew the truth, he may not comply.

She didn't go through with the plan, true, but that's not because of any realization she had about it being wrong to enact, but because they had to deal with time distortions and she realized that something must've gone so badly awry that Sass needed to use his power without a holder, so she needed to change what she was about to do in order to not have it happen again.

#ask #ml fandom salt #miraculous ladybug #ephemeral #ml spoilers #marinette salt #sorry but... yeah...

[zukadiary]

Hoshigumi Small Theaters ~ Spring 2019

I am five entire shows behind on reviews and I hate it!!

But I finally make it to Kansai!! I conveniently managed to see these guys on back to back days upstairs and downstairs in the same building. If nothing else I think I am 500% more educated on Hoshigumi after this trip.

Man from Algiers / Estrellas 2.0

Man from Algiers ticks all the National Tour buttons—old, done many times, ambiguous time period (useful for traveling costume recycling, i.e. why not just use the rainbow sports jackets we need for Estrellas anyway!)—and while I’m not surprised that Coto can make just about anything good, I was a bit surprised at how much I enjoyed the show itself (this was the first time I’d seen it at all, which was a blessing as the surprise ending was my favorite part). 

I can definitely envision it in all its original 70s glory, and it made me wonder if they really just wanted to exploit a West Side Story aesthetic’s swoon-inducing abilities and came up with the plot later; the opening looks and choreography were awfully familiar. Am I saying it didn’t work?

No I am not saying that.

(And the resulting prologue number was really cool).

The story, while dated, was simple and easy to follow, and does a great job of making sure you understand each character’s motivation with minimal info (difficult AND clutch for one-acts). There’s a good summary on the wiki, I’m including spoilers not mentioned there.

Team National Tour is definitely the lighter side of the troupe split, especially with regard to upperclassmen, but I thought Algiers was a good fit for this particular arrangement of members, and everyone really nailed their characters. Most notable: 

Julien is a despicable person, and it’s a testament to Coto’s pure heart and brimming talent that she made him a totally valid protagonist, complete with moments that made my heart lurch a little (when his old friends are bullying him in his cute little chauffeur outfit; how quickly he abandons everything to stand by Sabine when everything goes to hell at the end). 

It was very weird first not to see Aichan in Ocean’s and then to see her hanging out with a percentage of Hoshigumi, but this cast needed her. Her Jacques (albeit very reminiscent of her Bernardo) was a good balance for Coto; they both played unsavory people, but Aichan playing bad has kind of a darker streak that suits the more evil friend well, whereas Coto playing bad still has an undercurrent of goodness that gets you fully on board with his journey to reform.

Otoha Minori as Sabine was a good choice not only for her abs in the gold night club bikini dress, but for her maturity, which lended sincerity to Sabine’s fantasy-level selflessness in her concern for Julien and her desire to watch over him. When she shoots Jacques in her dressing room to get him out of the way so he can’t interfere with Julien’s new life, I was so impressed that it read as an act of sacrifice (however excessive and stupid) purely out of love and desire to see Julien continue to grow and succeed, instead of “look at what I did for you, come back to me!”

Asamizu Ryou played Bollinger, the dude who takes Julien in and grooms him for upper-crust success, opposite not just Coto (her senpai) but Shirotae Natsu (her mega-senpai), and she did it with a surprising amount of gravitas. She’s got that face which definitely helps, but she was a little scary and exuded a lot of authority. Shirotae Natsu was hilarious as the extraordinarily airheaded wife, and her interjections may have even been singlehandedly responsible for keeping the pacing of the show brisk and entertaining. 

Sakuraba Mai played the Bollingers’ daughter Elizabeth. She was detestable, but in the way that indicates a great acting job. She’s at that awkward spot where it looks like she’s getting almost heroine weight roles in small theaters and disappearing in grand theaters. I hope they keep pushing her because she’s very strong.

Number one heartbreaker Kozakura Honoka (voice of an angel!) played blind Annabel, daughter of Kumichou/a very influential duchess. She mostly stays inside alone, and then Julien woos her with the intention of climbing the social/political ladder (while developing feelings for Elizabeth and also really never getting over Sabine). Annabel overhears Julien confessing his feelings to Elizabeth and asks her attendant Andre (Kiwami Shin, in love with Annabel) to let her kill herself. Honoka apparently put an immense amount of time and research into acting blind and it showed. 

Fellow American Sayaka Rin had probably the most lines she’s had yet, in a role formerly held by both Takashio Tomoe and Hyuuga Kaoru <3 

My personal MVPs of this show were Shidou Ryuu and Kiwami Shin, Shidou not even for doing anything particularly spectacular, but just just for having grown so much since I first became aware of her existence via the Koumori shinko 3+ years ago. She’s always going to be on the cute side rather than the devastating side IMO, but she’s developed enough confidence and control in her acting that she’s become a really lovable best friend/brother type; her character’s relationship with Julien and secret-but-obvious admiration of his far superior coolness was really adorable. Andre (Shin) isn’t a super juicy role until the very end, but the way Shin did Andre’s quiet breakdown when Annabel was explaining she didn’t want to live anymore, and then her poise when Andre came out of nowhere and shot Julien just as he and Sabine were trying to run away from shooting Jacques (?!??!) was like, my jaw actually dropped. Granted she’s still super young, but Shin isn’t someone who has thus far impressed me proportionately to the amount they’re pushing her, so this mini breakout was nice to see. 

Estrellas (a revue that I loved!), like all tour revues with less than half the cast and no staircase, felt quite small, at least from the B-seki side box. But in the smallness, normally unseen people get to shine, and there were moments that had me bouncing in my chair. Amato Kanon is going to grow up dangerous (if Tennis Daughter doesn’t just consume all the otokoyaku below 98th); in the opening with everyone else beaming she was smoldering. Aichan and Anru took Kai’s medley (with different songs) and made it a very cute douki thing. Sazanami Reira needs to dance closer to the front more often. Ruri Hanaka (who, bless her heart, cannot sing, at least not like a musumeyaku) somehow snagged Airi’s part in Tonight is What it Means to be Young, and despite the singing, absolutely killed it; that girl can DANCE and she’s got sass and arm muscles for days and a look in her eye like she’ll superglue you to your makeup table if you cross her. 

And boy, Coto looks good in that top position. The talent is really stupid, but on top of that she has such warmth. I’m really excited for her Hoshigumi.

Kamatari

Kamatari accomplished a feat, because admittedly I went in having already biased myself against it; I thought Beni and Airi getting a weird nihonmono for their last small theater was dumb and just about as NOT THEM as you can get.

But I take it back! It was lovely!

For starters it was visually stunning, which feels like the thing you say when you’re trying to convince yourself that you liked a nihonmono you didn’t actually understand a word of... but in this case, it really was just a bonus. The story (summary here) is not actually all that complicated, and the dialogue was even on the friendly side for nihonmono—no weird dialects (beyond what it always takes to decipher Beni), no 12th level keigo. 

Act 1 introduces Kamatari (Beni) and Soga no Iruka (Hanagata Hikaru) meeting as youths in school and developing a friendship, and then takes us, as far as I can tell, fairly historically accurately through the events leading up to and including the Isshi Incident. Act 2 was a little harder for me to follow; but it seems to be just a progression of Kamatari’s struggles living under the new post-incident emperor Naka no Oe (Seocchi), with whom he’d conspired to eliminate Soga no Iruka, and the former empress/Naka no Oe’s mother (Kuracchi), who wants to see Kamatari suffer, because she both loved Iruka and couldn’t side against her son. 

Most of the roles were pretty small so there are fewer standouts, but here they are:

This was the third in a progression of Hoshi shows I saw live (the other two being Another World and Elbe) that really helped cement my respect for Beni and Airi’s brand of chemistry. At the beginning of her top run, I was skeptical about Beni’s ability to generate romantic chemistry with anyone at all (Scarlet Pimpernel didn’t really help me with that, and I haven’t seen anything between that and Another World). They definitely don’t have sizzling hot chemistry, and they don’t have that cute newlywed chemistry either, but I noticed watching Kamatari that in the last few Hoshi things I’ve seen, I’ve found it very easy to believe how deeply Beni loves Airi in whatever world they’re portraying. They have like, comfortable old married couple chemistry (yes, even when they’re playing love at first sight). Their moments in Kamatari were very tender, but in a wholesome “aw, she cooked for him” kind of way. Yoshiko (Airi) also had a lovely part at the end, where the two of them are old, and Kamatari’s health is failing, and they go back to the spot where they met, and she says their life wasn’t always easy, and they suffered, and they struggled, but in the end she can honestly say she had fun, and she’s truly happy. I teared up! It was sweet and meta! That alone convinced me it wasn’t a bad last small theater for them.

Hanagata Hikaru was SO much the star of Act 1 that it had me wondering if this was gonna turn out to be HER taidan present (but then she died and didn’t appear in Act 2 at all). I can’t complain because she kicked ass. I feel like I said this exact thing re: Another World, but Mitsuru is normally about as vanilla as it gets for me, but she blew me away. The pompous genius school kid to the idealistic young man to the uncertainty that comes with the reality of seizing power to the change to tyranny mixed with love for the empress and complicated feelings for his childhood friend all flowed seamlessly.

Not that I’ve watched a ton of Hoshi recently, but this was the best role Tenju Mitsuki has gotten in GOD I can’t even remember how long. Esaka is in service of the (state? empire?) as a historical record keeper, and serves kind of as a narrator as well (along with Itsuki Chihiro). I don’t even know how to describe how she characterized him... he’s odd? Maybe a little off? Regardless, she was brilliant. Watch it.

Arisa Hitomi has that empress energy for sure. I read up on the history of the events afterwards, and the explanation of why she had to give up the throne after witnessing such violence (the idea back then that an empress couldn’t be sullied by such things), and that made the sensitivity with which Kuracchi portrayed her feel even more poignant the more I sat with it afterwards.

This was the first show where to me Seocchi felt like she belonged up there with Beni and Mitsuru. She definitely put some weight behind Naka no Oe and was very princely. NOW I wanna see her tackle a more interesting/challenging (and tbh more Hoshigumi) role from up in this spot. 

All in all now I’m a little sad I won’t be around for God of Stars.

#takarazuka #reviews #hoshigumi #man from algiers #kamatari #am i 東宝組 now 19

[bamby0304]

Made for You- Ch.17

Bamby’s Masterlist Made for You Masterlist

Summary: Dean was yours. You were his. At least that’s what it felt like when you both presented. But then John sent you away, at the ripe age of fifteen. ‘For your own safety,’ that’s what he said. You go about your life, believing what John did was for the best… but all that changes when a certain bloody and wounded Alpha is dropped on your dining room table.

Characters: Omega!Reader and Alpha!OMCs.

A/N: Once again, thank you to the lovely @kittenofdoomage for being the beta for this chapter :):)

Series Taglist is Closed

Warnings: Angst. Pain. Protective!Dean. Smut, but, like, not smutty smut. Explicit language. Thigh riding (she did say she started something with Dean and that kink…). Mentions of Trent (because he deserves a warning label). Self-hate. Self-doubt.

Bamby

“Dean.”

At the sound of you saying his name, Dean jumped into action.

He stood and turned to the open bathroom door where you realised both Hayden and Dan stood, with Sam right behind them. They all looked to you, worry clear in their eyes. Fear. No one had to say the words for you to understand why they looked so concerned. You were on the edge of death, and you doubted that looked pretty.

One look from Dean, and Sam seemed to understand what needed to be done. “I’ll get them out of here.” He nodded to his brother.

Hayden paused for the briefest of moments, looking down at you one last time before he turned on his heels and walked away, Sam not too far behind him. Dan on the other hand, was frozen on the spot.

Dean tried to keep his cool as the other Alpha stayed right where he was. “You being here is making her sick,” he tried to explain.

Tearing his eyes from you, Dan looked Dean right in the eyes. “If she gets worse…”

“She won’t,” Dean assured him. “I’ll take care of her.”

Hesitating just a second more, Dan then turned and left, following the other two Alphas as the three of them walked right out of the cabin. It didn’t take long before you heard the distinct sound of a car leaving, telling you they hadn’t just left the building, but were leaving the property.

It occurred to you then that you hadn’t heard the Impala arrive, but that didn’t really surprise you. Your gagging and coughing in the toilet drowned out most sounds, and your pain made it hard to focus on anything other than your suffering. Now, though, you felt better. Not completely healed, but at least a little better.

Alone now, Dean turned back to you. His eyes were set in determination as he leaned down and reached out for you. “Come on, let’s get you warmed up,” he mumbled as he lifted you into his arms.

You whimpered in pain. His touch might’ve soothed your heat, but everything else still hurt. You were weak and in pain, and being lifted into Dean’s arms shook your nerves in terrible ways.

He grunted, clearly hating that you were in such agony. “Gotta get you in bed.”

Despite the pain of being moved, you melted into his scent. Leather, gunpowder, oak, cloves, and rain. It eased some of your heat, your Omega welcoming the scents. It was exactly what you’d been craving. It’s what was going to help keep you from succumbing to the pain of your heat.

At first, you thought he was going to take you to his old room, but you were surprised to feel him taking the stairs, heading up to the second floor. Clutching at his shirt, you hissed each time his feet hit a step, the vibrations going straight through him and into you.

“I know. But I gotta get you somewhere comfortable. Goddamn place smells too clean. You need familiar scents. Softer, warmer scents,” he explained. “Smells like a damn chemical plant in here.”

There was a paused as he shifted you in his arm so he could open a door, then he was moving again. The smell of your room washed over you, mixing with Dean’s scent. You hummed a little, very lightly, as you relaxed a bit more.

Dean was gentle when he set you on the bed. He made sure his hands never left you as he got to work, doing what he had to in order to help. You let him, your body slack and weak, not fighting as he shed your clothes from your body.

You’d still been dressed in the clothes from nights before. The white shirt and leggings. Although, since that night, you’d been through a lot, and that was evident by how crinkled, wet and dirty your clothes were. You wondered if there were smells on lingering in the material that you could no longer distinguish, but Dean could. Soon after those thoughts passed your mind, Dean growled, low and angered- though not at you, that was certain.

“I can smell him.”

The him he was talking about was obvious. You knew he would have smelt Trent the instant he would’ve been able to smell you. His scent would still be mixed in with yours. But to smell him on your clothes, to be so close to it now… if you had the mental capacity, you would have been amazed at how calm Dean was.

“Won’t let him touch you again, baby,” he promised, leaned down to press a kiss to your shoulder as he slipped your shirt over your head.

You squirmed and frowned, feeling a tug on your gut.

Pausing, he looked down at you, concerned and confused. “What is it?”

“Don’t… don’t call me that,” you somehow managed to speak despite the pain you were in.

The confusion in his frown deepened. “Don’t call you what?”

“Baby,” you croaked. “That’s what he called me. Doesn’t feel right. Don’t want to hear it now. Doesn’t feel-”

“Okay, okay,” he cut you off, nodding, understanding. “I won’t say it.”

With that promise you relaxed. “Thank you.”

“Gonna keep going now, ‘kay? Gotta get you out of these clothes.”

“Okay.” You nodded.

He did as he said he would, working at undressing you. He tried to do it quickly, but softly, knowing you needed to feel his skin on yours, but also understanding that you were in a lot of pain. Once you were bare to him, he didn’t drink in the sight of you like he had during your last heat. This was not about passion, this was about your survival. You needed an Alpha-

No.

You needed Dean, and he was willing to give you that. For now, emotions had to be pushed to the side- as much as they could be in a situation such as the one you were in.

Having finished undressing you, Dean was quick to strip himself. He moved from where he’d been kneeling on the edge of the bed, and stood. The distance between the two of you was short, but it was too much, and with him no longer touching you, you felt the pain build again. He watched with frantic eyes as your face twisted in pain. When the last piece of his clothing hit the floor, he wasted no time.

Climbing onto the bed, he planted himself next to you, reaching out to turn you until you were on your side, facing him. His thigh slipped between your legs, his arms wrapping around your body as you held your head to his chest.

Relief. Your body hummed as his scent wrapped around you, soaked into you, etched itself into your cells. His body against yours warmed your chilled skin, and cooled your heat. The presence calmed you and the Omega inside.

“Take what you need,” he whispered, his lips ghosting over your hair in light kisses. “I’m here, ‘Mega.”

Your body moved on its own as it began to push into him more. The invitation to do whatever you needed had your instincts taking over. With Dean’s thigh between your legs, you pressed down onto it, seeking friction down below. Hips grinding slowly, you found the perfect angle where your clit pressed against him perfectly.

Breathing heavily, moaning lightly, your hand pressed against his chest, fingers spreading, seeking out more skin. You pressed kisses where your fingers could not reach, lips lazily trailing over his chest, over a tattoo you remembered from his rut and your last heat. Your other hand reached down to grab at his side as you tried to pull him close.

Understanding, he did all the work, pressing his body to yours more, shifting so the two of you were angled ever so slightly until you were almost on your back, and he was almost over you. This new position, surprisingly, made your insides hum more. Having him almost caging you against the bed made you feel protected, safe, secure. Dean was never going to let anyone hurt you ever again.

Hips still grinding against his thigh, you were surprised by the flutter of an orgasm that washed over you. It was small, and weak, but so were you. Still, it seemed to do the job. With Dean’s body pressed against you, and a blissful, albeit gentle, climax tingling in your core, you felt a substantial amount of pain ebb away before you drifted off into an easy and much needed sleep.

~~

When you woke up you were only briefly confused, it took a second for you to remember being carried to your room… and to remember who it was that had carried you.

Dean was still there, with you. Somehow, without waking you, he’d managed to get the two of you under your sheets. Now, instead of being on top of you like he had been when you were asleep, he was lying behind you, spooning you, his arms around your waist, his nose gently brushing your neck.

A tug on your gut had you groan in pain. It was nowhere near as bad as it had been the last couple of days, but it was still far from great. Your heat was in full swing, and you weren’t entirely out of danger yet.

“How bad is it?” Dean asked as his face pulled away from your neck.

You glanced over your shoulder at him as best as you could without moving too much. One look, no words, that’s all that was needed for him to understand your thoughts. It was bad… and it was going to get worse.

“Y/N-”

Cutting him off, you sighed as your head turned away from him again, “I know. I know what this means, Dean. I know… I know what I need.”

“You need an Alpha. A permanent Alpha. A mate.”

Despite your pain and predicament, you still managed to build up enough sass to roll your eyes. “Like I said, I know what I need. And I’m ready for it… I want it.”

“Really?” He didn’t sound too confident in your words. One arm moved from around your waist before he brushed the back of his knuckles against your neck and shoulder lightly. The touch made you shudder as he spoke, “Someone has to claim you. Mark you. Knot you. One Alpha. For the rest of your life. One mate. You sure that’s what you want?”

Even though you were no longer facing him, you still glared. “Are you seriously asking me if I would rather die than be claimed?”

“Yes,” he answered honestly. “So far you’ve made it pretty clear that being claimed is the last thing you’d ever want. You don’t want to be owned. Your words, not mine,” he added, the words jabbing at your guilty conscience.

When you responded your voice was a little softer, all the regret you’d been feeling for the last few days coming back up. “People change their minds, Dean.”

He didn’t say anything in return. Instead he let the silence grow… but with the passing time, the aching in your gut only got worse. Before long, you couldn’t hold back a groan as your body curled up in on itself, despite Dean’s hold on you.

Bitting back tears, breathing heavily, you managed to speak once more, “You don’t have to do it. You don’t have to claim me. I wouldn’t blame you for not wanting to after the shit I’ve done. I wouldn’t want to be stuck with someone like me forever. But if someone doesn’t help me through this heat I’m going to die. So, just… just fuck me for the next few days, okay? Just get me through this cycle. Please. I’ll figure everything else out later. I’ll find someone. Just help me now. Please,” you begged, desperate.

You weren’t expecting him to help. You meant it when you said you wouldn’t blame him for not wanting to. It’s not like you deserved to die. But it’s not like you’d been a joy of a person. He didn’t owe you anything. He wasn’t obliged to help you through your heat. He wasn’t obliged to help you with anything.

You were really expecting him to say no. If not no, then maybe a reluctant yes. Instead he said the last thing you ever thought he’d say.

“And what if I want to? What if I want to claim you?”

His question made you freeze. For a second you thought you’d died and gone to heaven. The last few days had given you a lot of time to think- and cry. You’d found your thoughts wandering to Dean more and more often as time went by. When he showed up, when you saw him crouched down behind you in the bathroom, you’d been filled with so much relief. It was in that moment you decided you wanted to be with him. But never had you expected those feelings to be reciprocated.

All you had done, ever since Dean had come back into your life, was push him away, keep him at arm’s length, make things difficult for him. He’d tried getting passed your walls, and all you’d offered was the briefest of glances before you shut him out all over again. So, why in the world would he want to claim you?

Before you could ask, before you could say anything, he was talking again.

“I don’t want you to find someone else. I don’t want there to be anyone else.”

Bamby

#alpha!dean fanfiction #alpha!dean fic #alpha!dean x omega!reader #alpha!dean x omega!you #alpha!dean x omega!y/n #abo #abo dynamics #spn abo #spn a/b/o #a/b/o #a/b/o dynamics #made for you

[theshapeshifter100]

Guess What? I’m Not a Robot Ch5

Summary: Megan gets back from the disastrous meeting, and things get better, then worse. Why is it always worse when interacting with other humans?

Word Count: 2,352

Warnings: Implied anxiety and depression, implied minor panic attack, implied suicidal thoughts, swearing near the end

5.30PM Tuesday 19th October 2038

“Megan! You are back early,” Paul noticed as the door opened. When there was no response he looked out of the kitchen towards the front door, just in time to see Megan slam her bedroom door shut. “Is everything all right?”

Megan’s breath hitched on that question, hand clapping over her mouth. No. No she was not alright. She’d been holding it back the entire journey home, and one question was going to undo it all.

“I’m alright,” she managed to get out. “Everything’s fine.”

There was a pause before Paul responded.

“I have not started on dinner yet. Would you like me to?”

“No, thank you,” Megan wanted to be left alone, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Tch. Can’t even tell an android, something designed to listen to you, to go away

Mega swung her bag off her back and flung it onto her bed, trying to not make her distress obvious.

“Understood,” there was a soft shuffling sound as Paul went back to the kitchen. Megan let out a sigh and got into her sleeping clothes. It was only just half five, but she just felt so tired.

Yet, she spent hours staring at the dark ceiling, trying to hold herself together.

8AM Wednesday 20th October 2038

She had forgotten to set an alarm, but Paul filled that role by knocking on her door at 8AM.

“Are you awake Megan?”

Megan groaned to herself, rolling over to stare at the ceiling. Awake, yes. Willing to get out of bed? Remained to be seen.

Paul didn’t try to get another response, so Megan continued to stare at the ceiling. There would be messages on her phone from Alex, telling her when the next meeting was. She had to watch livestreams and recordings of lectures, work more on her assignment, and finish that commission.

She didn’t want to do any of it.

She also didn’t want to sleep anymore, so what did she want?

Oh yes, everything to stop. Not, necessarily end. Just stop for a while.

Yeah, except that was never going to happen, now was it?

With a heavy sigh Megan got out of bed and shambled out of the room. The Roomba had been set loose, carefully avoiding all obstacles, and Paul was just, standing there, with a completely blank expression. His LED blinking slowly, like the old buffering symbol.

As Megan closed her door the LED solidified and Paul turned to look at her, smile forming.

“Good morning Megan. Would you like breakfast?”

Given that she hadn’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday, Megan knew what the answer was supposed to be. “Yes please.”

It seemed like Paul’s smile grew wider as he went to get started in the kitchen.

Megan followed him in, watching as he pulled out flour, eggs and milk and started mixing them all together. Making a guess as to what he was doing, Megan began looking through the cupboards for the frying pan.

“Bottom cupboard, two doors left from the sink,” intoned Paul, before his LED blinked yellow and he added. “I assume you were looking for the frying pan.”

“Yeah,” Megan followed his directions and pulled the frying pan, co-incidentally also a hand-me-down from the Beckwith’s when the old one had not been up to the task.

She placed it on the hob and Paul, still mixing, reached to one of the overhead cupboards with one hand and pulled out some oil that had probably been lurking in the back for months. He handed it to Megan, who poured a little into the pan and clumsily swung the pan to spread the oil to the edges before placing it back on the hob.

Expertly Paul took hold of the frying pan and poured batter into it, making sure it got the edges before setting it back down and getting a spatula ready for flipping.

Megan got a plate ready as the pancake cooked, Paul calmly flipping it when it was time. Paul didn’t try to talk, and Megan wasn’t going to start a conversation. This was, nice, peaceful.

It was also a little surprising that he was cooking pancakes the European way, although one of the Beckwiths did come from the UK, so that might be why.

Paul placed the freshly cooked pancake on Megan’s plate and got to cooking another one, and kept going until the jug he was using was empty and there was a 6 high pile of thin pancakes on the plate.

“Sugar?” Paul asked, pre-emptively reaching for the cupboard where he had put the sugar.

“Yes please.”

Paul pulled out a bag of sugar and after a moment of consideration and LED flashing, placed the bag on the small dinner table.

Megan carried the plate over as Paul collected cutlery. Once down she used a teaspoon to sprinkle sugar onto the top pancake, and began to eat.

Paul stood nearby, not in the same standby mode she had seen earlier, but still completely still.

“You can sit down if you want,” Megan half mumbled, feeling a lot better now.

Paul paused for a moment, hovering awkwardly, before pulling out the chair on the other side of the table and sitting in it stiffly.

It took a few more minutes of mental back and forth for Megan to talk again.

“Sorry about last night.”

Paul tilted his head slightly, clearly uncertain as to why she was apologising.

“You were probably preparing to make dinner, and I wasted your time,” that barely scratched the surface of what she was sorry for, but she wasn’t sure how to say the rest of it.

“It’s fine. I had not even started yet. You did not waste my time.”

“O-okay. Good,” Megan got another bite of pancake down.

“So what are your plans for today?”

“Sit at my computer. Work.”

“May I suggest grocery shopping? For exercise as well as buying other supplies which you appear to be lacking.”

Megan felt her mouth twitch in a strange half smile. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Your current lifestyle is not healthy, and given your otherwise low maintenance, this seems to be the best way to assist you.”

Megan sighed, better get this over with. She considered giving in and giving Paul her bank details, but that probably wouldn’t deter him.

“Fine. We’ll go when I’m dressed.”

It was tempted after that to just, not get dressed. Although, she didn’t want to deal with Paul potentially asking her about that, so just took her time to get ready.

“It 42 degrees Fahrenheit outside,” Paul said as Megan grabbed her jacket. “You may wish for something warmer.”

“I’ll be fine,” Megan assured, grabbing some plastic bags that were usually left over from takeout.

“Do you not own a thicker jacket?”

“No.”

“I can add that to the shopping list.”

“I don’t have the money for new clothes.”

“If I had known your budget then I would not have made the suggestion. What is the budget?”

Again with android sass. “About, fifteen dollars, or so.”

“Understood.”

The two left the apartment, Megan tapping her pockets every minute or so to definitely make sure that she still had her keys and wallet.

When they left the building the whipped by them, blowing Megan’s red hair across her face. She ignored it in favour of shoving her hands deeper into her coat pocket. Paul hadn’t been wrong; it was freezing! It was only October, why was it so cold?

Paul led the way towards the nearest grocery store, which Megan had never been to in roughly a year of being in the area. She fell into step with the taller android and buried the bottom half of her face in the collar of her jacket, with her shoulders hunched up around her ears.

She’d grown up in suburbia, so the amount of people on the street when she wasn’t catching the bus still caught her off guard.

“Sorry, excuse me,” she muttered into her coat as she tried to dodge everyone. A large chunk of those walking around were androids, so they easily moved out of the way. Humans weren’t quite so good about it, and at one point she walked on the road to avoid bumping into anyone.

Paul quickly realised that Megan wasn’t next to him and stopped, scanning the area as Megan ducked and weaved to get back to him. It wasn’t like he was tallest in the crowd, but he was a decent focal point.

Megan ducked under a pile of boxes an android was carrying and stood next to Paul. Another reason she hated going out, everyone in the city was tall with no concept of personal space.

“Are you okay?” Paul asked.

“Yeah, just, don’t like getting in the way.”

Paul nodded. “Stay close then,” he added, LED flashing yellow for a second before walking again. Despite the obvious difference in stride, Paul kept his pace slow so Megan wouldn’t get caught up in the crowd.

Stupid. You’re a grown adult and need a babysitter to get through a city?

Nineteen is hardly an adult

Old enough to not need an escort

Megan scowled and followed Paul into the warmth of the grocery store.

“Let’s check clearance,” Megan muttered, leading the way this time in the less crowded store. She actually didn’t know where it was, but for now it helped her ego a little bit.

Paul followed her as she found the clearance section, food items covered in little yellow stickers. Mostly tired looking vegetables, microwave meals that would go out of date that day and meat that would have to go in the freezer almost immediately before it spoiled.

Megan scanned it for a moment, realising just out of practice she was at organising meals. Surely she had been better at this when she was a freshmen, right?

“Okay, er. Paul, you’re the food guy, any thoughts?”

Paul’s LED flashed yellow for a few seconds before grabbing some carrots, potatoes and a 500g pack of minced beef.

“I can’t eat all that!” Megan half whispered.

“These will be for multiple meals. If I portion the meat and freeze it individually it will last a lot longer.”

“That, makes sense.”

The two left the clearance section, and ended up picking up butter, jelly and cheese. It seemed like there was a lot of food piling up in the basket, which Paul was carrying. He saw her looking at the basket and also looked, LED going yellow as he scanned.

“We are well within the budget,” he assured. “We should be able to get something unhealthy as well.”

“Since when did you promote unhealthiness?”

“I do not. The occasional unhealthy treat is healthy for the mind.”

“Right...” Megan wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Although, she did grab a pack of own brand chocolate bars that were on a half price promotion. She wasn’t sure whether or not she saw Paul nod approvingly or not.

“Anything else?” Megan asked.

“This should be sufficient for now.”

“Okay,” Megan relaxed a little. This hadn’t been so bad so far. Clearly her nerves were just making things seem worse than they are, like always.

The two joined the queue to pay, and got through fairly swiftly. The only issue that came up was when she had to use her card to pay for stuff, but the cashier was an android so didn’t say anything.

Paul bagged the groceries as she paid and took them off the counter when she was done.

“Thanks Paul,” she said, feeling slightly guilty. She’d never considered how heavy that basket must have gotten.

“Why the fuck are you thanking it?”

Megan froze like a deer in the headlights. She forced herself to put her foot in front of the other, one by one. If she didn’t answer they would leave her alone.

“Hey! I asked you a question!”

Shit! No no no no no no no.

Someone, she didn’t know who as her eyes had found the floor, stepped in front of her.

“Why the fuck are you thanking the tin can? It’s doing what it’s supposed to!”

Megan didn’t answer. Her throat closed up and her brain blue screened.

“Are you even listening to me?” they stepped closer and shoved her in the shoulder, making her stumble back into Paul, who didn’t have a free hand.

“I’m going to have to ask you to stop harassing customers,” intoned the cashier android, which just made the angry person scoff.

“And what are you gonna do about it, tin man?” they challenged, and surprisingly, it was Paul who spoke up.

“I can call the police on charges of harassment and assault. There were multiple Closed Circuit television cameras that have captured what you have done and said.”

“You stay out of this!” snarled the aggressor, but they were appearing more nervous. They glanced at where the security cameras where before looking back at Megan, who hadn’t moved. “Whatever. Waste of fucking time.”

There was one last shove before they left, but Paul stood like a rock so Megan wouldn’t stumble, and she still didn’t move.

Her breathing was loud in her ears and her thoughts were frozen and racing all at once. She needed to move, get away from the people, but her feet just weren’t moving.

“Megan,” someone was saying her name.

“Ma’am, you need to move,” someone else, someone she didn’t recognise.

Some gripped her shoulders and gently steered her away from the checkout.

“Ma’am?”

Megan finally moved on her own, looking up to see one of the security androids leaned over to reach her level, LED blinking yellow.

“I’m fine,” the lie slipped out easily, and it was enough to get them to back off.

She was calming down now, and could feel embarrassment wash over her.

“Let’s go home Paul,” she mumbled, and Paul followed as she left the store. The wind blew bitterly still, but Megan found herself not caring, staying as close to Paul as possible as they went back to the apartment.

Ah, it got better, and then it got worse. Not much to say on this one to be honest, a little domestic chapter with some anxiety thrown in, wooo!

Other Options Flowchart

Go back to sleep

Give Paul Megan's bank details and send him shopping

Tags! @septicart-appreciation @nightmarejim

#Detroit Become Human #Detroit Become Human fanfic #Guess What? I'm Not a Robot #Guess What? I'm Not a Robot Ch5 #TheShapeshifter100

[crystalelemental]

I have gone on record as disliking Gen 6 overall, with XY being my least favorite games until USUM showed up and ruined a perfectly good story.  While most complaints against XY are due to the story being meh, and the ally characters being obnoxious, some of that dislike is in the dex.  There were very few new Pokemon, and a ton of returning Pokemon, which skews things.  Prior to this, most regions had repetition of older Pokemon, but there were enough new Pokemon around that the region felt distinct and unique.  Here, it...kinda doesn't, to me.  It really feels like there need to be more new Pokemon for it to feel entirely distinct.  Which is a shame, because overall it's a really solid dex.

TOP 15: 15) Carbink - Before Diancie, this was a really interesting Pokemon to me. A Rock/Fairy type that had obscene defenses, and had a carbuncle-like appearance?  I'm on board.  Unfortunately, it really doesn't have many tools to help it stand out at all, especially when Diancie arrived and out-performed it in virtually every task.  But it's still a precious child that I adore.

14) Espurr - Espurr is a lot cooler than its evolutions.  While the female form looks pretty nice, the male form isn't my favorite.  The evolutions also have the problem of, once again, the male gets the tools to be good while the female form is not.  Espurr itself, though, is an oddball that I adore. It's an unusual design, but plenty cute in its own right.  I just wish its evolution offered a bit more.

13) Spritzee - This was a Pokemon whose first appearance had me excited.  I really wanted to run a Spritzee, and I couldn't wait to catch one.  A little plague-doctor bird?  That's the coolest!  Unfortunately, its evolution sort of changed the focus to being heavily about perfume and fashion-based.  Aromatisse doesn't stand out to me nearly as much as Spritzee does, and it's kind of a shame.

12) Gogoat line - A lot of this has to do with my Nuzlock run of Y, where Gogoat was a sort of MVP.  For a mono-Grass, having Ground coverage is divine, and it brings a lot of that.  In-game, its stats are also pretty well-rounded, allowing for a lot of damage and recovery via Horn Leech, but also allows it to tank hits really well and retain an acceptable speed tier.  Gogoat is a ton of fun, and I kinda wish it had more tools for competitive play.

11) Dragalge - What an interesting design choice.  A dragon that's made to look like seaweed, hidden within the ocean.  I really love the idea behind that.   Dragon/Poison is also very unique, allowing it to be one of the few Dragons that not only resists Fairy, but hits it back for super-effective damage.  It's a Pokemon that shines in concept of design, and I appreciate that kind of uniqueness.

10) Heliolisk line - Helioptile was a certainty to me when I first played these games.  I knew full well I'd be running one, there was no question.  While Heliolisk is a bit more fierce than its adorable pre-evolution, it still presents as a sleek design that got a surprisingly wide amount of coverage, including Surf of all things.   It's also the weather master, benefiting from Sun, Rain, or Sandstorm depending on what condition you want to abuse.  It's a great Pokemon that I love to run.

9) Aurorus line - Beautiful.  This evolution line is absolutely beautiful, and I adore the aesthetic they offer.  They're a surprisingly downplayed fossil Pokemon as well.  While most tend to be a bit more intimidating, Aurorus is fairly passive-looking.  Its typing leaves a lot to be desired, as do its stats, but its design and presence more than make up for its lack of competitive viability.

8) Trevenant line - Trevenant, while not nearly as cool as Gourgeist, is still a very interesting Pokemon.  Phantump are the spirits of children who were lost in the woods, and Trevenant are the evolved forms that try to snatch children away when they wander in.  It's an interesting cycle of spirits.  Grass/Ghost is also a fun typing we hadn't seen before, and the moves it has access to allow for a fantastic support combo of Will-o-Wisp and Leech Seed.  It even gets Horn Leech and Harvest for even further healing potential.  Trevenant is a fantastic Pokemon that's a ton of fun to use.

7) Sylveon - Another eevee evolution, this time as the new Fairy type.  Sylveon is fun not just because of the usual eevee evolution reasons, but because of its bizarre ribbon feelers.  It's adorable and lovely, but like many fairies we'd get to know, has a bit of a creepy factor to it as well.  If there's anything it did wrong, it's steal everything that Umbreon did, barring Foul Play.  Which...I dunno, is Foul Play even still useful anymore?

6) Vivillon - Much like Staraptor in Gen 4, Vivillon is the best of the regional early-game bugs.  Its design is gorgeous, including a mechanic where its wings will take on an appearance based on location, and its stats, while still terrible, aren't bad for what it is.  Quiver Dance with Compoundeyes and Hurricane allow it to actually deal some real damage, and in-game, having access to Draining Kiss is very valuable, especially early game.  It's a fun Pokemon, and it's nice to have one entry to the early-game bug brigade that's standing out.

5) Florges - What a wonderful creature.  Florges is literally only held back by its lack of any good ability at all.  If it had any decent ability, and mild utility beyond the awful abilities it currently has, it would be unstoppable.   Its speed tier is in a good place for a supportive wall, special defense is so massive you don't even need to really invest in it, and special attack is in a good place for a Fairy that has such good natural coverage with STAB alone.  Plus it's just an elegant and beautiful Pokemon.  Fused with the flower it carried, its body effectively is the stalk of the flower, with a gathering of flowers around its neck.  I love its design, and I love its battle role, and if only they would give it a good ability it would truly be unstoppable.

4) Goodra line - I've talked before about how a lot of Dragon evolution lines are intense and intimidating.  Well, Goodra was something more like Flygon.  A little goofy, sure, but a good friend who is still powerful and a Dragon.  This also kinda began a trend, where a lot of dragons now are designed to be goofy, or at least losing the huge imposing figure or regal look that most before it had.  I, for one, love this adjustment into goofy nonsense being called a dragon.  Please continue to do this forever.

3) Delphox line - I love them all, but Braixen is a clear-cut winner.  I know this probably means I'm a furry, but it's the cutest thing, and the sass it exudes in this form is legendary.  Fennekin itself is just an adorable little fox, and Delphox is what Ninetales should've been: a Fire/Psychic fox.   It even gets to effectively be a witch!  The only downside is that Delphox loses a lot of personality when it evolves from Braixen, going from a sassy fox creature to a more downplayed and serious one.  This change is the only thing holding it back from being at the top.  But on the whole, it's an excellent evolutionary line.

2) Diancie - When its base form was revealed, I already loved it.  A mutation of Carbink that's pink and adorable?  What's not to love?  Then we got wind of stats.  Effectively the same as Carbink, but with way higher offensive presence. Maybe it could have more of a use in Trick room now!  But then, against all odds, we get the unprecedented: a mega evolution.  It suddenly becomes ridiculously fast and strong, and more gorgeous than ever.  Diancie is beautiful and wonderful and I adore everything about this wonderful creature.  It's even got a unique physical rock move that has a real accuracy stat, and a secondary effect that's to die for.  I love how, at the outset, Diancie was set to be the worst of the three mythic legends of gen 6, only to end up with a mega that ranked it easily the best.

1) Gourgeist - What an awesome Pokemon, in every regard.  Beautiful shiny, fantastic design, and a chilling concept.  It wraps prey in its hair arms and sings to them as it drains their life force.  That's terrifying and incredible.  It's also got four forms, including a really small baby child and a giant form as tall as a person.  Each form also has different stat allocations, with bigger forms gaining defense and attack but losing speed.  If there is any singular flaw, it's that it would really love to be specially offensive and make use of Giga Drain, Shadow Ball, and Flamethrower instead of relying on Seed Bomb and Phantom Force as the only real options it has.

BOTTOM 10: 10) Volcanion - I disliked it because it was so optimized, and had bar-none the best unique attack of the three mythical legends.  "Steve, it's the only who who didn't get an extra form and is ranked UU by usage, hasn't it suffered enough?" No.  It has not.

9) Dedenne - I'm generally not that big a fan of the regional rodents, and Dedenne is unfortunately a low-ranked one.  I can't explain it, I just don't really care for it.  Nothing about it stands out all that much aside from its Fairy typing, but after a while, a generation has to do more than rely on adding its newly introduced typing to things already in a formula to feel unique.

8) Pyroar - Something about it just doesn't grab me.  I can't even explain what it is, I just don't really care for the look of it.  Fire/Normal, while interesting, is far from good.  And it's another cat-based Pokemon that just does terribly in competitive. 

7) Hoopa-Unbound - Hoopa is cute.  I like it a lot, and Ghost/Psychic, while odd, is a fun typing that's pretty solid offensively.   Hoopa-Unbound, though... Psychic/Dark, while also good, doesn't feel as great, considering it has no resistances at all.  The change in design does work for it, in that you definitely get the feeling that Hoopa's true form is a monster of a genie that's been sealed away, but the loss of cuteness in favor of what I'm pretty sure is a JoJo Stand isn't as interesting to me.

6) Pangoro line - It's not bad, but it's just...definitely not my aesthetic, you know? I don't care for the punk-type.

5) Doublade - You remember Golbat?  How I disliked it strongly because it made no sense as the middle stage between two interesting end-points?   Same thing here.  From one sword, to two swords, to a sword and shield. How?  How did you do this?  That doesn't make any sense at all.  Get back here and make your full evolution line make sense!

4) Malamar - You'd think Dark/Psychic would be cool.  You'd also think Contrary Superpower would be cool.  Instead, Malamar is basically just a disappointment, with no resistances to anything at all, and no real presence.  Its design is sufficiently interesting, as a borderline eldritch horror, but doesn't quite pass into the territory where it's really creepy.  It's just...middle-of-the-road, in everything it does. 

3) Barbaracle - Its design does nothing for me, and its concept even less.  I really don't understand why it looks like that, and as another Water/Rock type, it faces a lot of competition from things that are more effective than it, and stronger than it.

2) Diggersby - Listen.  I know I've relied on disliking aesthetics to rank things in the bottom 10 for several other lists.  But you need to understand.  This is, quite possibly, the worst design I can think of.   ...second worst.  It's so bad.  It looks so, so bad.  Everything about this is bad.  Why did they make it like this? Between Diggersby being a drunken construction worker or some kind, and Lopunny being a pin-up bunny, I'm starting to wonder if there will ever be just a normal bunny Pokemon.  Maybe that's why I was so excited for the fake fire-starter rabbit...

1) Greninja - I have never felt such unfettered anger about one of the starters getting preferential treatment before.  Let's be honest, every gen does it. Charizard is the favorite of Gen 1, Feraligatr the favorite of gen 2, etc.  But it never hit as hard as it did this time, and if you ask me.  Maybe because nothing has ever been so blatant, or occurred at a time in which a started I loved more than any other was shafted.  Delphox has gotten nothing in its entire life, Chesnaught got a few nice tools but had to work hard for the position it has in life, and Greninja was handed optimized stats, a busted hidden ability that could easily be nerfed in a way that does nothing to Kecleon but stops Greninja from being stupid, and a ridiculous special snowflake extra ability that lets it be even more super fast and strong, and also we changed its priority multi-hit move, a statement which is already obscene, into a special move so it gets to benefit from its main offensive stat instead of having to choose its tools like the rest of the working class.  Fuck this bougie frog asshole, you've never earned anything in your entire damned life. I'm glad Alan won.

#regional pokedex opinions #kalos pokedex

[that-sokovian-bastard]

Mortal Immortal (14/31) - August 14 - Avengers x Reader

Words: 1434 Pairing: Avengers x (f)Reader Characters: Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Happy Hogan, Mentions Pepper Potts Warnings: swearing maybe Chapter Summary: Being stuck in bed is boring, so why not sleep it off if you can't do anything? But of course, your dreams only show memories from your past- this time, how you met Tony Stark. Author’s Note: This and the next few chapters are some of my favorites to have written for this. Did you see my "Flashbacks? Do you mean a one-shot in a series?" post? It was refrencing this and maaaaybe some other chapters as well. I love Tony Stark. The end.

Mortal Immortal Masterlist / Full Masterlist

Ao3 / Wattpad Links

Like yesterday, you were still stuck in bed. Bruce was unable to figure out your health patterns, and needed you to still be calm so he could try his hardest. However, unlike yesterday, you were feeling much weaker. As well as, it was a much busier day, meaning no one really came by to see you. Sure, in the morning Tony stopped by with Peter before they went to work on random things.

You figured if Bruce wanted you to stay in bed and you were feeling worse, maybe a nap would help. The fatigue effects from the Silver Shadow came at random times, so this must have been one of the times. And of course, since Tony was one of the only people you had seen before sleeping, he was clear in your mind.

You smiled wide when you watched the press conference Tony Stark held. "I am Iron Man," He spoke, getting all of the reporters to jump up and shout.

You knew he would amount to big things, and to hear he steered his company away from weapons made you happy. After hearing the death of your dear friend Howard, you knew it would be hard to approach Tony.

You were going to visit him as soon as you heard the Iron Man news, but figured it would be best to give him space. He would be bombarded with news and reporters and everyone trying to get to him, not to mention villains were around every corner. Of course, you take care of the small thieves you catch in whatever city you are in, while it seems Iron Man deals with more world threats. Which is why it would be smarter to join forces with Tony Stark- your powers should be used for something bigger than robbers, you could help Tony protect the entire world.

Finally, after nearly two years, you deemed it time to officially meet Tony. He had been revamping his company, not to mention working on Iron Man. You have been busy as well, traveling around the world working with an undeveloped part of the government.

Tony has passed Stark Industries over to Pepper Potts, and Pepper now has an assistant. "I'm here for an appointment with Tony Stark. My name is (Y/N) (L/N) and I scheduled it a few weeks ago."

The receptionist looked at her computer and nodded. "It seems you do. I'll alert him."

Only a few minutes later you headed up the elevator with a man. "Happy Hogan, correct?" You asked, and he nodded, a little uncomfortable. "Hi, I'm (Y/N) (L/N), it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Of course, you too, Miss (L/N)," The elevator stopped and Happy let you exit before he closed it again. You smiled wide when you saw Tony and walked up to him with as much confidence you could muster up.

You sat down across from Tony and reached out to shake his hand. "Hi, I'm (Y/N) (L/N)," You smiled. "I have an...interesting proposition for you," You told him, unsure how he would respond.

"What do you mean?"

"I, this is going to sound weird, I worked with your father back during the Second World War," You told Tony. He seemed very disbelieving, like you expected. He looked you up and down and furrowed his eyebrows.

"That's impossible. Most of the people who worked with my father back then are much older than you, or dead," Tony retorted. "You barely look twenty-five."

You weren't sure how to explain this, but your sass took over. "See, that's where you're wrong. I'm much older than twenty-five, but thank you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm over 1800 years old, Tony, I'm immortal. Hence how I worked with your father, and how I appear to be merely twenty-five. It's hard to understand, and it's hard to explain. But I didn't come here just because I worked with your father, I wanted to ask about working with you- to defend the world when needed," You rambled on.

Tony sat still, staring at you in disbelief. "Look, this was great. It was a good laugh, but Miss (L/N), I do not have time for silly games. I'll have Happy show you out, thank you for stopping by," Tony ushered you out, not even giving you a chance to explain yourself.

Before you knew it, you were back to standing on the sidewalk with your arms crossed. "Fine- you want proof, proof you'll get," You rolled your eyes. You looked around for anything that could help- coming across a TV playing news, showing Tony in his Iron Man suit, flying. With quick thinking, you mimicked Tony's flight and flew outside to the floor you were previously on. Seeing Tony typing on a computer, you tapped on the glass with a smirk evident on your face.

Tony turned around to have his face turn from frustration to confusion. "What the hell?" He mumbled, and you sarcastically waved. He rushed over to the window and pushed it open for you to allow yourself inside.

"Good thing you did that because I wasn't sure how long I could have held that flight. Strange powers, and all," You shrugged. "Will you listen to me now?"

Tony nodded, actually intrigued now. You began to explain your power, the best way you could. "I can change my age, all right? That's how I look like this, and I can easily turn to be seventy-two," You paused and your age drastically changed, "Like that," And you turned back. You then explained quickly how your power resembles Darwin's theory and you can mimic another's power for a limited amount of time. Tony didn't know what to think, but he was all for working with you.

"I'll be honest, I don't know why you came to me. I don't have a team or anything, it's just me fighting off things when they come my way-"

You shrugged. "I wanted to make myself known. If you ever need help, you can call me. If I need help, can I count on you? We never know what could be coming, so we should start banding together before it's too late- right?" You offered a smile.

Tony was going to reply, but there was a knock at the door that cut him off. "Miss Rushman, not right now."

"This is by request of Pepper, Mr. Stark, it's extremely important," The door pushed open and your face lit up when you saw who walked through.

"Natasha!" You squealed. "It's been years!" You ran over and engulfed her in a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Me? I could be asking you the same thing!" Natasha replied. Tony stood at his desk, watching the interaction with complete confusion washed over his face. She leaned in and whispered to you, just so Tony couldn't hear. "Fury sent me on a mission to investigate him for the program. That's why I'm here," She told you. "And you?"

You looked back at Tony and laughed lightly. "Trying to get him to work with me. I've done so much in this world that I'm almost sure something bad is going to happen before long. I can count on you and Clint to be there right behind me, right?"

"Of course, (Y/N)," Natasha nodded. "Now, I really need to get Mr. Stark to sign these papers for Pepper..." Natasha dragged on and walked over to Tony. "We'll have to catch up later."

Tony signed the papers without a word to "Natalie." He watched carefully as she walked out of the room and said her goodbyes to you. "You know, (Y/N), maybe you should stick around for a while."

Little did Tony know you two would grow to be best friends. You helped him when Aldrich Killian and the Mandarin threatened him, and any petty little problems. You began to work with SHIELD much more when Natasha and Nick Fury confronted Tony about the initiative for the Avengers. You got very involved with SHIELD, much more than Tony did in the beginning, it was something for you to put your focus on. You grew close with Clint and even more so with Natasha.

Tony not believing you was probably the best thing to happen to you.

Finally, the memory-dream faded to black and you fell asleep with no disruptions. Bruce monitored everything, and it was much easier when you were calmer and sleeping. He wasn't worried at first, but was much more worried when you slept nearly all day.

Maybe that's what you needed, though. Maybe you needed rest to bring your health back up.

@heyitskatrina @marvel-at-bucky@majbritsr@usualblogforanunsualblogger@chloesegalle003@221bshrlocked @this-is-moonfairy @wildberry1 @latrombone @fandomtime-123 @the-trashiest-potato @the-scarlet-letter@winterssoldierrs@bands-we-love-you-sel  @chrys-1029@iamtheonewhocares @thatweirdreadergirl@jaderz-mega-yikes@mehrmonga@xcastawayherosx@lexbugz@allertonn@erinella2656 @supernatural-36@bugalouie@marrvelle@captain-purpledino@erinella2656@lovingmytelevision@pinetree111@feelmyroarrrr@cheyennethefangirl@lovemesometimhortons@artisticgamer@messybl0g@stormyfandoms@darkangel1423@eternalanxious@protontippens@sweetdee198@yellow-cucumber2@avengemenugget@umwhatandrea@thesaraaaaahpfan@illuminatithreat3@harleyquinnandscarletwitch @theboredwriter13 @raindancer2004@chloesegalle003  @gryffinclaw-marauder @beefybuffybucky@pillow223 @thepoet1975

#avengers x reader #avengers imagines #avengers imagine #marvel #marvel imagines #marvel imagine #marvel x reader #x reader #imagines #imagine #tony stark #iron man #tony stark imagine #tony stark x reader #iron man x reader #mortal immortal #series

[victorineb]

Fic Recs Mega Post

More fic recs for you fabulous fannibals, this time round there’s rare pairs a-plenty, actual devil Will Graham, and a fabulous Pacific Rim crossover AU

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Volume 1 by @fragile-teacup (fragile-teacup (Mrs_Gene_Hunt)): So what are the chances that Will and Hannibal emerge from the Atlantic with all their issues resolved, finally a stable unit, murder husbands for life? Pretty much none, right? Certainly, in this beautifully-written post-TWotL fic, there is still a massive amount of that typical Hannigram miscommunication, obfuscation and downright stubbornness that keeps our boys from their happy ending. None of which is made better by Hannibal keeping Will sedated while he recovers from his injuries, or by sequestering them in the house of the one person guaranteed to drive Will out of his mind with jealousy… Centred on that dinner hinted at by the post-credits scene in TWotL, this winds the tension between Will and Hannibal (and Bedelia) to a fever pitch, in an absolute riot of bitchiness, resentment and pining. And then busts everything wide open when Will just can’t keep his emotions under wraps any longer…

Tomorrow, More Sun by @shiphitsthefan: Beardogs (Nigel/Lee) is a new pairing for me but it took precisely five paragraphs of this fantastic fic to make me fall in love. For those who aren’t aware, Lee is the Hugh from the infamous “I like bears” gif, and more specifically is an adorable ball of sass and joy who loves wine and is suffering from terminal cancer (but don’t worry, this is very much not an angsty story). Anyway, our tale begins when Lee is suffering from the worst post-chemo effects of his life and, desperate for relief, begs his dealer – a certain formerly very bad man from Bucharest – to drive out in the snow and provide him with a hit. Now, I mentioned the part where Lee likes bears, right? And there’s no-one more bearlike than Nigel – even “New Nigel,” who’s had to reform his ways (a little) as a result of the bullet in his brain landing him in a wheelchair – and Lee is, unsurprisingly, infatuated. There follows a charming and romantic tale of getting high, telling wicked jokes, and maybe, just maybe, falling in love (but definitely getting the best shag of either man’s life).

To Fuel Your Radiance by @fancybedelia (GoldenUsagi): Mischa Lecter should have died. Should have… and did, except that her brother made a deal with the devil. Hannibal’s soul in exchange for Mischa’s life. Some forty years later, the devil pays Hannibal a visit (disguised as a rather handsome, blue-eyed man named Will) in order to see what he’s done with his life. And, as is the Hannigram way, a mutual interest quickly turns to something much more twisted and obsessive. The brilliant thing about this AU is that, despite being a devilishly sexy (literally), self-assured, phenomenally powerful version of himself, Will is still Will. He’s not some malevolent, flamboyant devourer of souls, he’s still conflicted and weighed down by the nature of what he is. Which leaves Hannibal to take up the role of tempter (yes, even to the Devil himself), drawing Will into killing with him (which, admittedly, takes much less effort with this version!) and falling helplessly in love with the beast that emerges.

Ugly by @slashyrogue (nightliferogue): We as a fandom should be immensely grateful to count slashy as one of our number. She turns out a frankly staggering number of AUs and rare pair fics (in addition to her wonderful Hannigram works) and they are all, without exception, imaginative and beautifully written. Recently she’s been writing a lot of Basic Chickens and this, her most recent (at the time of writing) might be the best yet. When Elias finds a strange, black egg in amongst the chickens, his superstitious brothers order him to smash it, fearing it contains a demon. Elias (of course, this is Elias) refuses, and tends to the egg until it hatches, revealing a small, black, winged monster, which Elias decides to keep,  christening it “Ugly.” Which is all well and good until it turns out that Ugly also sometimes takes the form of a man (quickly renamed Adam) whose determined seduction of Elias has worrying, potentially dangerous side-effects. This is Basic Chickens with a brilliant supernatural twist and the story is sexy, sweet, constantly surprising and very, very much worth your time.

Stricken by @crossroadscastiel (peacefrog): So say, instead of landing on the rocks at the bottom of that cliff, Will and Hannibal instead land in a completely different universe, one where everything seems to be the same, except that they’re not dead from their horrifying injuries. Seems like a win, right? Oh, except there’s the little issue of Hannibal suddenly producing slick and the pair of them needing to shag like bunnies every five minutes or they’ll explode. Yep, the boys are not in Baltimore anymore, they’re in an omegaverse, Hannibal’s in heat, and if they can stop knotting each other’s brains out for long enough, they’re going to need to have a serious talk about feelings. Wanna bet how well that turns out? This is such a fun exploration of the omegaverse concept, with our intrepid murder husbands utterly baffled by what’s happening to them and how they can deal with it. It’s also sexy and sweet as hell – if you’re not into a/b/o, give this a shot, I’d be surprised if it doesn’t change your mind.

Ananta by @unicornmagic (canis_m): A what-if fic, with the what-if in question being ‘how might things have gone, had Hannibal not rubber-stamped Will back into the field but instead recommended he receive further treatment. Oh, and asked him on a date while he’s at it.’ Well, in this ‘verse, it means Will stays away from murder scenes while Hannibal takes his place, that Will starts therapy with a certain blonde ice-queen, and Will has to navigate the beginnings of a relationship with Hannibal while contemplating when he should reveal that he’s asexual. This is a beautifully-paced, patiently crafted exploration of the complex relationship between these two characters and the ways in which they fit together with each other unlike with anyone else. Will’s asexuality is written with grace and sensitivity, as the writer explores the other, less obvious intimacies that he and Hannibal share. If you need something lovely in your life, read this.

The Best of All Possible Worlds by @desperatelyseekingcannibals (TigerPrawn): Mortimer (from Hysteria) is one of my favourite Hugh roles, so I’m always delighted when the adorable, slightly bumbly doctor turns up in a fic. And this one is so much fun, pairing Mortimer with Galen from Rogue One (via some timey-wimey shenanigans that land Galen back in ye olde England) and developing a very sweet romance between the two, even as they try to figure out how to get Galen home. These are two of the most decent characters in the madancy back catalogue and they work really wonderfully together, Mortimer’s eager earnestness nicely grounded by Galen’s steadiness. Plus I was very pleasantly surprised by how much chemistry the characters have together – not to put to fine a point on it, but they’re wicked hot XD. The rare pairs phenomenon is truly the gift that keeps on giving and this is one of my favourite ships to come out of it, please do hop on board and prepare to be totally charmed.

A Way to Live by @sugarmaus (Sugarmouse): Hannibal Lecter is in the market for a new slave. He goes through them quickly, always on the lookout for some elusive something that even Hannibal doesn’t seem able to define. When he spots Will Graham in the dealer’s catalogue, he thinks there’s a chance he may have found it, and when he sees the man in the flesh he is almost certain of it. But Hannibal soon learns an important lesson: Never Underestimate Will Graham. And so begins a complex, high-stakes game of shifting identities and hidden desires between master and slave, with Hannibal’s rigid control slipping further and further as he loses himself to his fascination with getting inside Will’s mind. Essentially an AU in which Hannibal can buy and dispose of murder interns instead of influencing them via therapy this is a sharp and intense character study of our darling cannibal. Hannibal’s ennui and loneliness are front and centre here as he both strives to gain control over Will and hopes that he will not be able to. It’s fascinating, compelling, intelligent stuff, with more than a few surprises up its sleeves.

Fais Do-Do by @moku-youbi: Will is on the run. He has lost control and shot a man, and now he’s tasted blood for the first time and Jack Crawford is on his tail. Which is how he winds up staying at The Little Bear Inn, owned by Mischa Lecter and currently being run by her brother while she is unwell. Of course, this is an establishment run by the Lecters, so nothing is quite as it seems and it may not turn out to be the safe haven Will is looking for. Even if Hannibal is unexpectedly easy to talk to (and not too hard on the eyes, either). Then again, Will’s got some secrets of his own, and we all know what happens to people who underestimate Will Graham… This is a really fun trip through some classic horror tropes, stylishly fusing a Hitchcockian vibe with supernatural elements as Will’s paranoia grows in the face of the Lecters’ strange behaviour and the threat of Jack hunting him down. It’s atmospheric, sexy, and thrilling – old-fashioned horror at its very best.

An American Empath in London by @legohanniballecter (MaddyHughes): In this (very slight) Sherlock crossover AU, Jack loans out Will to Scotland Yard in order to aid them in investigating a series of horrific murders involving Tory politicians (seeing as their normal consulting detective recently jumped off a roof…). Except here, Will hasn’t met Hannibal Lecter, not until he sits next to him on the plane to London, that is, though it doesn’t take long for the pair to become intimately acquainted. Yeah, ain’t no slow burn around here, and Will finds himself in a strange city, attempting to deal with a case that frustrates him, a police force that doesn’t understand him, and an intense, overwhelming attraction to a man he barely knows. Not to mention that Hannibal’s up to his usual tricks: murder, manipulation, and winding Will Graham up to see how he goes. Two years in the making, this densely-plotted, highly intelligent case fic also features some seriously intense Hannigram, with its trademark mix of sexual tension, blood and mind games turned up to the nth degree. I highly recommend giving it a shot – once I started, I found it nigh-on impossible to put down!

And Do Abominable Things With Grace by @thedancingwalrus-blog (The_Dancing_Walrus): I love and adore Pacific Rim, let’s get that out of the way. That said, it’s not exactly the subtlest movie ever made and I always kind of wished they’d done more to explore the concept of drifting. Well, wish granted and with Hannigram into the bargain in this fascinating crossover AU. Set sometime in s2, after Will’s mistrial but before his release, things diverge sharply from canon when Beverly and the FBI arrest Hannibal for his crimes. And then leave canon in the fucking dust when the first Kaiju arrives and Will and Hannibal are kidnapped by the government to be used as guinea pigs in the development of drift technology. Of course, it turns out that fusing the consciousnesses of two people like Will and Hannibal – who are pretty much inextricably bonded from their first glance anyway – has some interesting, and not altogether pleasant, side-effects. This is a genuinely stunning piece of work, playing with POVs and levels of consciousness to portray the invasive intimacy of being forcibly mind-melded with another person and written with a lyrical, experimental style that is both effective and highly memorable. It also has one of the most interesting, insightful depictions of the relationship between Hannibal and Will I’ve had the fortune to read – by turns sad, hopeful and endearing, and never less than utterly beautiful.

Caging the Beast by Vulcanmi: How many have us have begged pleaded wondered how things might have gone if Will had called off his Mizumono dinner plans with Jack and Hannibal? In this AU the stupid idiot our intrepid empath does just that, and, having realised that he doesn’t want to live in a world where Hannibal is behind bars, sets about constructing one in which he can tame the beast and put it in a cage of his own. His decision sets everybody on an unfamiliar path but while some things change (no Florentine jaunt for Bedelia this time), others just can’t be avoided (Mason still needs to be someone’s bacon, and Will and Hannibal still dance around each other like a pair of nervous teenagers). Or put off forever, as Will’s growing awareness of the nature of his feelings for Hannibal shows. Many Mizumono fix-its focus on the murder fam running off together and trying to avoid capture. This takes the opposite approach, keeping everybody in Baltimore with the inherent dangers and tensions that involves, extending the game between Will, Hannibal and Jack, even as the former two inch their way towards true Murder Husband status. It’s a fascinating reframing of canon, retaining many elements from s3 but with Will and Hannibal acting as a team and a family. I lost count of the number of times I sighed “If only…” while I was reading this – if you still dream of what could have been that rainy night in Baltimore, this is definitely the fic for you.

Yet Another Hannigram S1 AU (series) by @coloredink: Fans of intense, complex, drawn-out conversations between Will and Hannibal (which is… all of us, right?) will be in heaven with this two-part series set sometime post-Tobias Budge in s1. Both instalments see the boys thrust into close living quarters and exploring the powerful but confusing nature of their relationship. In and built a little house that we could live in, Will takes Hannibal up on the offer of using his vacation house for a week, on one condition: Hannibal comes with him. There follow seven days in which two solitary men begin to realise they might not want to be solitary anymore, and tentatively negotiate how that might work. By contrast, there’s nothing tentative in follow-up a tower to broadcast all our dreams, in which Will and Hannibal have to pretend to live together as a couple in order to draw out a serial killer. The pretence soon gives way to something else, but when you’re the Chesapeake Ripper, deciding you want a boyfriend comes with extra complications… This series is a beautiful riff on some favourite tropes, the second instalment in particular playing on the “fake date” with brilliant results. It also lets us see a charmingly domestic version of Hannigram, investing time and care in building up the relationship without sacrificing the dark and twisted aspects of their story. And really, does it get any better than domestic fluff with a bit of murder on the side? Nah, didn’t think so…

As ever, if there are bad links, or I’ve misattributed anything, let me know and I’ll fix it lickety-split. Happy reading, lovely fannibals!

#fic rec mega post #hannibal fic rec #hannibal #hannigram #rare pairs fic rec #beardogs #basic chickens #rogue hysteria

[laurelkrugerr]

Join Our New Online Workshops On CSS, Accessibility, Performance, And UX

About The Author

Rachel Andrew is not only Editor in Chief of Smashing Magazine, but also a web developer, writer and speaker. She is the author of a number of books, including … More about Rachel Andrew …

Our initial online workshops went so well, we have scheduled many more. Find out how what we learned from those first workshops and what we have coming up over the next two months.

It has been a month since we launched our first online workshop and, to be honest, we really didn’t know whether people would enjoy them — or if we would enjoy running them. It was an experiment, but one we are so glad we jumped into!

I spoke about the experience of taking my workshop online on a recent episode of the Smashing podcast. As a speaker, I had expected it to feel very much like I was presenting into the empty air, with no immediate feedback and expressions to work from. It turned out, however, that in some ways I felt more connected to the group by sharing my knowledge with a bunch of folks who were exactly in the same situation as me — at home trying to make the best of things!

I spoke to Vitaly about how he felt about leading a workshop online, and he also felt that everyone felt more equal, rather than having a teacher up on a podium. He also noted that we were able to see how global our audience is. Online workshops are more accessible to people who can’t travel even in normal times, and seeing everyone at home in their own environment really brought to life that we were working with folks from all around the world.

Vitaly Friedman’s online workshop setup

As a participant, there are definite advantages in attending a workshop from home. You have your own desk and usual setup, and space to spread out. And, given the workshop seating I’ve encountered in the past, most of you probably have a more comfortable chair. You can also rewatch the recording if you want to listen to an explanation again.

All The Details

As we have now formalized our workshop process, I thought I’d share a little more about how these events run. Unlike in-person workshops where we keep you in a room for an eight hour day, we realized than many of you have a lot of other commitments right now. Perhaps you are also homeschooling your children, trying to keep up with work from home, and it’s hard to be sat in front of a screen working all day. So all of our workshops are split over multiple shorter sessions, so check each workshop description for the full details of days and times. We’ve had great feedback from attendees and speakers about this approach.

In addition to the presenter, there is always at least one other member of the team online, to help with any connectivity or other issues that you might have.

With so many conferences around the world being cancelled, I’m grateful to have virtually attended a very informative @smashingconf workshop for the past couple days. Even from home, the learning never stops. pic.twitter.com/K3pbJBNpof

— Gabriel Tan-Chen (@gabrieltanchen) April 15, 2020

Zoom

We’ve chosen Zoom because they turned out to be the best compromise in terms of quality, reliability, and accessibility. You can customize your Zoom setup that works best for you. You can resize the windows of the shared screen and the speaker. You can pop out the chat. Whatever works best for you!

We record each of the sessions for attendees, so if you do miss a session you can catch up later. Or you can go back to check out a detail you want to confirm.

Chat and connect

You can also join us in Slack, to chat during or after the workshop with fellow attendees.

We have also been using collaborative Google docs during the workshops for attendees to write down their own thoughts, resources, tips, and questions. It’s interesting to see people helping each other in those docs as well as posting questions for the Q&A.

A surprising thing for me about the online workshops was that I answered more questions than I do when I teach in-person. Each session has dedicated time for Q&A, and I did not expect to be able to fill 30 minutes, but could have easily been answering questions for longer.

Blown away by all the knowledge I’ve soaked in from @rachelandrew‘s online CSS layout masterclass. Incredible how much you can learn about a thing you thought you already knew just by hearing it explained again. Thanks for organising this @smashingconf #smashingconf

— waz.css (@camila_waz) April 15, 2020

Upcoming workshops

We have an amazing line-up of folk coming to share their wisdom in this online format. There really is something for everyone. Many of the previous workshops sold out, and we have a hard limit on each one, so if you want to be there, please grab a ticket now.

May 7-22, Thu & Fri, 9–11:30 AM PDT Resilient Web Systems with CSS & Sass with Miriam Suzanne.

Join Miriam for a deep-dive into the heart of CSS: how it works, what makes it special, and how we can harness it for resilient and maintainable design systems that scale. This workshop is spread over six days, 2h each day, with a huge amount to learn and take away.

May 12–26, Thu & Fri, 9–11:30 AM PDT Smart Interface Design Patterns with Vitaly Friedman.

You’ll study 100s of hand-picked interface design examples in this one. We’ll be designing interfaces together, starting from accordions, to mega-drop-downs, sliders, feature comparisons, car configurators — all the way to timelines and onboarding. This workshop is spread over five days, 2.5h each day, with a huge amount to learn and take away.

May 28–12, Thu & Fri, 9–11:30 AM PDT Web Performance Masterclass with Harry Roberts.

Over the course of several sessions, we’ll take a journey from the back-end to the front, auditing the performance of real websites. We’ll be plotting data and findings, making it compelling to clients and non-technical stakeholders; drawing up backlogs and hit-lists; hacking on fixes, improvements, and experiments; and learning a whole lot of obscure performance details on the way.

June 11-12, Thu & Fri, 10 AM – 12:30 PM CEST CSS Layout Masterclass with Rachel Andrew.

Over two days learn the key skills you need to learn CSS Layout and put it into practice in your work. A mix of theory and pragmatic advice in terms of how to deal with browser support. This workshop is at an earlier Europe and Asia friendly time, so folk in those places don’t need to concentrate on Grid late at night.

Jun 16-30, Tue & Wed, 9–11:30 AM PDT Front-End Accessibility Masterclass with Marcy Sutton.

By adopting an accessibility mindset and making improvements throughout the design and development process, we can truly make an impact in people’s lives. This workshop will cover how to approach accessibility with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript using modern tools and techniques to eliminate barriers to access in web projects.

Jun 18-26, Thu & Fri, 9–11:30 AM PDT Building Modern HTML Emails with Rémi Parmentier.

Coding HTML emails is a beast of its own with lots of differences from coding web pages. This workshop will make you reconsider everything you know about coding HTML emails and hopefully make you love the craft.

Remote, live, interactive and practical. That’s Smashing Workshops.

Join Us!

We hope you’ll join us at one of the workshops. We’d also love to know which other workshop topics and speakers you would like to see online. Read more about the workshops and sign up here.

(ra, il)

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source http://www.scpie.org/join-our-new-online-workshops-on-css-accessibility-performance-and-ux/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/05/join-our-new-online-workshops-on-css.html

[riichardwilson]

Join Our New Online Workshops On CSS, Accessibility, Performance, And UX

About The Author

Rachel Andrew is not only Editor in Chief of Smashing Magazine, but also a web developer, writer and speaker. She is the author of a number of books, including … More about Rachel Andrew …

Our initial online workshops went so well, we have scheduled many more. Find out how what we learned from those first workshops and what we have coming up over the next two months.

It has been a month since we launched our first online workshop and, to be honest, we really didn’t know whether people would enjoy them — or if we would enjoy running them. It was an experiment, but one we are so glad we jumped into!

I spoke about the experience of taking my workshop online on a recent episode of the Smashing podcast. As a speaker, I had expected it to feel very much like I was presenting into the empty air, with no immediate feedback and expressions to work from. It turned out, however, that in some ways I felt more connected to the group by sharing my knowledge with a bunch of folks who were exactly in the same situation as me — at home trying to make the best of things!

I spoke to Vitaly about how he felt about leading a workshop online, and he also felt that everyone felt more equal, rather than having a teacher up on a podium. He also noted that we were able to see how global our audience is. Online workshops are more accessible to people who can’t travel even in normal times, and seeing everyone at home in their own environment really brought to life that we were working with folks from all around the world.

Vitaly Friedman’s online workshop setup

As a participant, there are definite advantages in attending a workshop from home. You have your own desk and usual setup, and space to spread out. And, given the workshop seating I’ve encountered in the past, most of you probably have a more comfortable chair. You can also rewatch the recording if you want to listen to an explanation again.

All The Details

As we have now formalized our workshop process, I thought I’d share a little more about how these events run. Unlike in-person workshops where we keep you in a room for an eight hour day, we realized than many of you have a lot of other commitments right now. Perhaps you are also homeschooling your children, trying to keep up with work from home, and it’s hard to be sat in front of a screen working all day. So all of our workshops are split over multiple shorter sessions, so check each workshop description for the full details of days and times. We’ve had great feedback from attendees and speakers about this approach.

In addition to the presenter, there is always at least one other member of the team online, to help with any connectivity or other issues that you might have.

With so many conferences around the world being cancelled, I’m grateful to have virtually attended a very informative @smashingconf workshop for the past couple days. Even from home, the learning never stops. pic.twitter.com/K3pbJBNpof

— Gabriel Tan-Chen (@gabrieltanchen) April 15, 2020

Zoom

We’ve chosen Zoom because they turned out to be the best compromise in terms of quality, reliability, and accessibility. You can customize your Zoom setup that works best for you. You can resize the windows of the shared screen and the speaker. You can pop out the chat. Whatever works best for you!

We record each of the sessions for attendees, so if you do miss a session you can catch up later. Or you can go back to check out a detail you want to confirm.

Chat and connect

You can also join us in Slack, to chat during or after the workshop with fellow attendees.

We have also been using collaborative Google docs during the workshops for attendees to write down their own thoughts, resources, tips, and questions. It’s interesting to see people helping each other in those docs as well as posting questions for the Q&A.

A surprising thing for me about the online workshops was that I answered more questions than I do when I teach in-person. Each session has dedicated time for Q&A, and I did not expect to be able to fill 30 minutes, but could have easily been answering questions for longer.

Blown away by all the knowledge I’ve soaked in from @rachelandrew‘s online CSS layout masterclass. Incredible how much you can learn about a thing you thought you already knew just by hearing it explained again. Thanks for organising this @smashingconf #smashingconf

— waz.css (@camila_waz) April 15, 2020

Upcoming workshops

We have an amazing line-up of folk coming to share their wisdom in this online format. There really is something for everyone. Many of the previous workshops sold out, and we have a hard limit on each one, so if you want to be there, please grab a ticket now.

May 7-22, Thu & Fri, 9–11:30 AM PDT Resilient Web Systems with CSS & Sass with Miriam Suzanne.

Join Miriam for a deep-dive into the heart of CSS: how it works, what makes it special, and how we can harness it for resilient and maintainable design systems that scale. This workshop is spread over six days, 2h each day, with a huge amount to learn and take away.

May 12–26, Thu & Fri, 9–11:30 AM PDT Smart Interface Design Patterns with Vitaly Friedman.

You’ll study 100s of hand-picked interface design examples in this one. We’ll be designing interfaces together, starting from accordions, to mega-drop-downs, sliders, feature comparisons, car configurators — all the way to timelines and onboarding. This workshop is spread over five days, 2.5h each day, with a huge amount to learn and take away.

May 28–12, Thu & Fri, 9–11:30 AM PDT Web Performance Masterclass with Harry Roberts.

Over the course of several sessions, we’ll take a journey from the back-end to the front, auditing the performance of real websites. We’ll be plotting data and findings, making it compelling to clients and non-technical stakeholders; drawing up backlogs and hit-lists; hacking on fixes, improvements, and experiments; and learning a whole lot of obscure performance details on the way.

June 11-12, Thu & Fri, 10 AM – 12:30 PM CEST CSS Layout Masterclass with Rachel Andrew.

Over two days learn the key skills you need to learn CSS Layout and put it into practice in your work. A mix of theory and pragmatic advice in terms of how to deal with browser support. This workshop is at an earlier Europe and Asia friendly time, so folk in those places don’t need to concentrate on Grid late at night.

Jun 16-30, Tue & Wed, 9–11:30 AM PDT Front-End Accessibility Masterclass with Marcy Sutton.

By adopting an accessibility mindset and making improvements throughout the design and development process, we can truly make an impact in people’s lives. This workshop will cover how to approach accessibility with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript using modern tools and techniques to eliminate barriers to access in web projects.

Jun 18-26, Thu & Fri, 9–11:30 AM PDT Building Modern HTML Emails with Rémi Parmentier.

Coding HTML emails is a beast of its own with lots of differences from coding web pages. This workshop will make you reconsider everything you know about coding HTML emails and hopefully make you love the craft.

Remote, live, interactive and practical. That’s Smashing Workshops.

Join Us!

We hope you’ll join us at one of the workshops. We’d also love to know which other workshop topics and speakers you would like to see online. Read more about the workshops and sign up here.

(ra, il)

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Join Our New Online Workshops On CSS, Accessibility, Performance, And UX

About The Author

Rachel Andrew is not only Editor in Chief of Smashing Magazine, but also a web developer, writer and speaker. She is the author of a number of books, including … More about Rachel Andrew …

Our initial online workshops went so well, we have scheduled many more. Find out how what we learned from those first workshops and what we have coming up over the next two months.

It has been a month since we launched our first online workshop and, to be honest, we really didn’t know whether people would enjoy them — or if we would enjoy running them. It was an experiment, but one we are so glad we jumped into!

I spoke about the experience of taking my workshop online on a recent episode of the Smashing podcast. As a speaker, I had expected it to feel very much like I was presenting into the empty air, with no immediate feedback and expressions to work from. It turned out, however, that in some ways I felt more connected to the group by sharing my knowledge with a bunch of folks who were exactly in the same situation as me — at home trying to make the best of things!

I spoke to Vitaly about how he felt about leading a workshop online, and he also felt that everyone felt more equal, rather than having a teacher up on a podium. He also noted that we were able to see how global our audience is. Online workshops are more accessible to people who can’t travel even in normal times, and seeing everyone at home in their own environment really brought to life that we were working with folks from all around the world.

Vitaly Friedman’s online workshop setup

As a participant, there are definite advantages in attending a workshop from home. You have your own desk and usual setup, and space to spread out. And, given the workshop seating I’ve encountered in the past, most of you probably have a more comfortable chair. You can also rewatch the recording if you want to listen to an explanation again.

All The Details

As we have now formalized our workshop process, I thought I’d share a little more about how these events run. Unlike in-person workshops where we keep you in a room for an eight hour day, we realized than many of you have a lot of other commitments right now. Perhaps you are also homeschooling your children, trying to keep up with work from home, and it’s hard to be sat in front of a screen working all day. So all of our workshops are split over multiple shorter sessions, so check each workshop description for the full details of days and times. We’ve had great feedback from attendees and speakers about this approach.

In addition to the presenter, there is always at least one other member of the team online, to help with any connectivity or other issues that you might have.

With so many conferences around the world being cancelled, I’m grateful to have virtually attended a very informative @smashingconf workshop for the past couple days. Even from home, the learning never stops. pic.twitter.com/K3pbJBNpof

— Gabriel Tan-Chen (@gabrieltanchen) April 15, 2020

Zoom

We’ve chosen Zoom because they turned out to be the best compromise in terms of quality, reliability, and accessibility. You can customize your Zoom setup that works best for you. You can resize the windows of the shared screen and the speaker. You can pop out the chat. Whatever works best for you!

We record each of the sessions for attendees, so if you do miss a session you can catch up later. Or you can go back to check out a detail you want to confirm.

Chat and connect

You can also join us in Slack, to chat during or after the workshop with fellow attendees.

We have also been using collaborative Google docs during the workshops for attendees to write down their own thoughts, resources, tips, and questions. It’s interesting to see people helping each other in those docs as well as posting questions for the Q&A.

A surprising thing for me about the online workshops was that I answered more questions than I do when I teach in-person. Each session has dedicated time for Q&A, and I did not expect to be able to fill 30 minutes, but could have easily been answering questions for longer.

Blown away by all the knowledge I’ve soaked in from @rachelandrew‘s online CSS layout masterclass. Incredible how much you can learn about a thing you thought you already knew just by hearing it explained again. Thanks for organising this @smashingconf #smashingconf

— waz.css (@camila_waz) April 15, 2020

Upcoming workshops

We have an amazing line-up of folk coming to share their wisdom in this online format. There really is something for everyone. Many of the previous workshops sold out, and we have a hard limit on each one, so if you want to be there, please grab a ticket now.

May 7-22, Thu & Fri, 9–11:30 AM PDT Resilient Web Systems with CSS & Sass with Miriam Suzanne.

Join Miriam for a deep-dive into the heart of CSS: how it works, what makes it special, and how we can harness it for resilient and maintainable design systems that scale. This workshop is spread over six days, 2h each day, with a huge amount to learn and take away.

May 12–26, Thu & Fri, 9–11:30 AM PDT Smart Interface Design Patterns with Vitaly Friedman.

You’ll study 100s of hand-picked interface design examples in this one. We’ll be designing interfaces together, starting from accordions, to mega-drop-downs, sliders, feature comparisons, car configurators — all the way to timelines and onboarding. This workshop is spread over five days, 2.5h each day, with a huge amount to learn and take away.

May 28–12, Thu & Fri, 9–11:30 AM PDT Web Performance Masterclass with Harry Roberts.

Over the course of several sessions, we’ll take a journey from the back-end to the front, auditing the performance of real websites. We’ll be plotting data and findings, making it compelling to clients and non-technical stakeholders; drawing up backlogs and hit-lists; hacking on fixes, improvements, and experiments; and learning a whole lot of obscure performance details on the way.

June 11-12, Thu & Fri, 10 AM – 12:30 PM CEST CSS Layout Masterclass with Rachel Andrew.

Over two days learn the key skills you need to learn CSS Layout and put it into practice in your work. A mix of theory and pragmatic advice in terms of how to deal with browser support. This workshop is at an earlier Europe and Asia friendly time, so folk in those places don’t need to concentrate on Grid late at night.

Jun 16-30, Tue & Wed, 9–11:30 AM PDT Front-End Accessibility Masterclass with Marcy Sutton.

By adopting an accessibility mindset and making improvements throughout the design and development process, we can truly make an impact in people’s lives. This workshop will cover how to approach accessibility with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript using modern tools and techniques to eliminate barriers to access in web projects.

Jun 18-26, Thu & Fri, 9–11:30 AM PDT Building Modern HTML Emails with Rémi Parmentier.

Coding HTML emails is a beast of its own with lots of differences from coding web pages. This workshop will make you reconsider everything you know about coding HTML emails and hopefully make you love the craft.

Remote, live, interactive and practical. That’s Smashing Workshops.

Join Us!

We hope you’ll join us at one of the workshops. We’d also love to know which other workshop topics and speakers you would like to see online. Read more about the workshops and sign up here.

(ra, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/join-our-new-online-workshops-on-css-accessibility-performance-and-ux/