#WHEN will i stop buying fan merch i dunno | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wander-over-the-words · 2 years

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Random silly question..what’s it like in the UK? 😃

It’s. nice? I mean I like it lmao. I’ve never had any plans to move elsewhere in the world (or in the country really) cause I’m perfectly happy where I am.

But UH to be more specific! I can’t speak for the entire UK, obviously, but the part where I live is. satisfyingly in the middle of ‘in the city’ and ‘in the country’. It’s ‘in the city’ enough that anything we could really need isn’t at all far - got the essentials like schools, a hospital, a GP, fire station, entire streets of shops, even got a goddamn crematorium, and then the more entertaining stuff like parks, cinema, bowling alley/arcade, takeaway places, all that sort of stuff, and they’re all a short distance away. But it’s also out of the city enough that there’s just. space y’know? We don’t get the hustle and bustle of traffic, there’s tons of room for especially dog owners to take their pets cause all the parks are massive, and nothing really. happens around here, heh. I hear the occasional shouting from people in the street (either happy drunk shouting or loud argument shouting; I won’t try and claim everybody around here is super chill or ‘we all know each other’ or anything like that), but we rarely ever have anything ‘big’ happen around here.

Not to mention, where I live is just easy to be in. It’s not uncommon to go out and for there to be next to nobody else in the street. Easy to navigate and find things you need. Lots of buses have routes through the place, so, hey, if riding on the trademark double decker buses is at all an appeal of being in England to you, well *gestures to the bus stop* there they are lmao

It’s worth mentioning that London is. ehhhh nrgnrng. Like I do get why people go there, especially since it’s the Big Guy in terms of locations in England, but personally? Meh. London’s just very…busy. Everything’s expensive, it’s noisy, it can be a BITCH to navigate, and - in my opinion - it just feels…claustrophobic. Not to mention, London at night is like. borderline dangerous ngnrgnr. I don’t mean to discourage anyone from going, but London just ain’t for me, personally

HOWEVER, there are still locations in London that are pretty cool. If you go there for anything, go there for the theatres. I won’t lie to you; I dunno how it is elsewhere, but theatres in London are known for being aahhhh pricey, especially when it comes to stuff you can buy in there (eat before you go, and bring water), but there’s lots of cool theatres in London and they sell awesome merch for the plays you go and see (my favourite hoodie is the one my mama bought me when she went to see Wicked with her sister). The Globe and the O2 are obviously big names amongst them (and are cool af; I’ve been to both), but my favourites are the Hammersmith Apollo and the Shaftesbury Theatre. Have some good memories of those places.

(Special mention to the Shaftesbury for having a pop culture shop around the corner from it that has. fuckin anything comic book fans could ever need like holy shit. Has an entire floor dedicated to printed comic books and another dedicated to the merch. I could’ve spent hours in there if Mum and I didn’t have a musical to go and see)

And as much a reputation as the River Thames has (because, yes, the water isn’t great; people are trying to work on it), it really is nice to just sit and chill by it, and there’re plenty of places in London to do that. One of my favourite memories with my friends is when we sat on a small hill by the Thames after going to the Tate Modern (art museum), ate pizza and just talked for ages. Was a very calm time.

But, hey, if more ‘touristy’ things appeal to you, you can always listen to Big Ben once they finish up fixing everything in the tower (Big Ben, by the by, is the bell; Elizabeth Tower is the clock tower it’s in) or go on the London Eye or into the Shard. If you’re scared of heights, ahhhhh don’t go on the London Eye or into the Shard nrgnng

Weather-wise: obviously, we have a reputation for it being very. rainy in England, but honestly? It’s not that bad. If anything, it’s just cloudy more often than most, but it’s not like we frequently have the ‘dark storm clouds’ or anything like that. Still bright out. And maybe it’s because I’ve lived here all my life, but the weather is perfect for a guy who in a game of Would You Rather would say he prefers to be cold than hot because yeah England is rarely hot. It’s why those heatwaves took us the fuck out.

Our summers - not counting the most recent one - can be pretty bad by our own standards, but they’re manageable, and nice to people who look forward to em. Winters are pretty harsh when it comes to temperature; we used to get pretty deep snow when I was a kid, but nowadays we more often get just. slush and ice and sometimes hail. The wind can get pretty bad some years too - we’ve had it knock down trees and one time it destroyed the fence between us and our neighbours. But, again, it’s all manageable. Floods are really the only natural disaster we get, and even then, I’ve never experienced one; we don’t get earthquakes and we’ve had like two hurricanes in the last three decades or so (which lemme tell you, for someone with a fear of natural disasters, is fuckin great).

The part of England where I live is, unfortunately, one of those that doesn’t really get stars. I’m lucky if I look up and see the smallest lil dots of stars at night, but I still enjoy the atmosphere that nighttime around here gives me. It’s cool and quiet. Most noise you'll hear is maybe the odd get-together in a neighbour's garden, and even that's the soft beat of whatever music they're playing and the distant chatter. Can sometimes hear owls hooting from the park nearby. There’s something very comforting about the glow from a bus at night, when it’s opening its doors to let people on.

But, uh, yeah! That’s what it’s like in my neck of the woods, at least c: We definitely have our problems over here (*SIDE EYES OUR GOVERNMENT REAL HARD*), but I’ve honestly never rly wanted to live elsewhere. Maybe it is just because I’ve been here since I was born, but it really is just kinda. perfect for me, y’know? c:

#answering #reply #long post #sorry for the length I got a little rambly lmao #There are places in England that are rly pretty and such #but this is just my neck of the woods c:

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delicrieux · 3 years

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☆ﾐ 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚊𝚢 “𝚘𝚑”

PART 10: BIG DICK IS BACK IN TOWN

y/n is back in brooklyn for the holidays. thinking that a stream will make her feel less homesick for cali, she starts working on her famously titled hentai.free.srv. what was supposed to be a relaxing stream turns into a special delivery about two hours in.

─── corpse husband x reader ─── soc. media + written fiction! ─── word count: 2.2k ─── ❥ req: Here's one... You know those apps for delivery like Domino's or whatnot... What if reader is streaming Among Us with Corpse, and reader mentions they're hungry and Corpse offers to order them food, and readers like no no it's fine... Then there's delivery at the door (Corpse ordered beforehand)

author’s note: fucky format is also back in town baby!!! also if you find any mistakes - no u didnt <3 thank u everyone for enjoying this story sm i literally cant believe how feral yall going strawberry cow was a nuclear explosion im still recovering tbh. got an ask a while ago and decided to incorporate it into myso. happy holidays everyone! myso will continue on monday!

ultimate masterlist. ҉ myso masterlist ҉ previous. ҉ next.

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Indeed, being soft on any social media platform was the biggest disgrace and needed to be eliminated post haste. Moreover, it was a slippery slope - once you start flooding your timeline with cute imagery and heart emojis, what will stop you from posting inspirational Facebook quotes? Disgusting. If Rae were here, she would chide you (not you thinking about her as if she’s dead or something). For once in your life, you feel like you deserve it.

Alas, you hope this little chaos you’ve caused is enough to throw everyone off. The stans, especially. You know the hashtags, you’ve seen ARMY scourging for info online with the same fervor and ruthlessness 1 Direction fans hacked airport security cameras just to spy on the boys. If you had any dirty secrets online, they are out to the public now - thankfully, besides the Harry Styles stan account (with edits and all), you have nothing. Though, now that you think about it, exposed nudes would have been better than your Punk!Harry edit receiving almost a million views. God, your life’s a fucking mess.

Your fans aren’t the only ones out for info - you, too, are trying to decipher Rae’s message. Code: Barbecue Sauce. The two of you had come up with it roughly two years ago, around the same time when you promised that if you didn’t find significant others by the time you’re 40, you’ll just marry each other. It was one of the many rules found in your friendship codex. Barbecue Sauce signifies information - an exchange of information. And depending on how it ends or begins (”So I’m sitting there” alludes to Rae, “On my titties” alludes to you), secret data on that person is given away, usually free of charge.

But why? And to whom did Rae give away what? You had pestered her mercilessly and even sent some voice messages where you were crying. You were only crying because of a video of a grandpa smiling you saw on TikTok, but you are a snake, and so you put those tears to good use. If streaming doesn’t work out, you’ll just become an actress. Hollywood would love you. Your PR firm sure as fuck wouldn’t, though.

Rae was having none of it. She said you’ll figure it out eventually. Told you to channel your superior puzzle skills. You were quick to remind her that you can barely count to ten without having an aneurysm. Oddly serious, she admitted that she worries for you sometimes. Why only sometimes?! you demanded. She merely sighed. uttering under her breath something that sounded closely to “Boke.”

You leave her for barely a week and she’s already neck deep in the gay volleyball anime, hoodie and cardboard cutout and everything. Your life is falling apart.

But Brooklyn is nice. It had snowed when you stepped off of the plane. Thousands of snowflakes sprinkling into your hair, dotting your cheeks and nose. You missed this sight back in Cali. You missed your parents, too.

Home cooked meals, old sweaters, your old room and about 40GB worth of old high school pictures on your computer. You went through them all one night. Some were stomach churning, cringe inducing nightmares. You were especially fond of those. Texted some of your friends that were still in Brooklyn, met up, decided to bake. Bad idea, Rae was the resident chef back in Cali. Besides laughing till your stomach hurt, and almost burning down your kitchen, nothing all that significant happened. Somewhere down the line, at about 3 am, half-way through a cheesy rom-com you had the overwhelming urge to text Corpse.

That’s where the problems really started. God, you missed California, missed being in the same timezone with a guy you hadn’t even met yet, how embarrassing is that?! You missed skating around and taking pictures of the beach in the setting sun, sending it to him, silently wishing he was with you to admire the view.

You really want to call him. And to hang out with him. But for some reason, the thought of that springs up immediate anxiety and you shy away from asking. Him sending you cute good morning texts doesn’t help, either. Maybe it’s better he doesn’t know that you’re a blushing, stuttering mess each time you read “baby”.

Late evening. Your stream is already set up, people are slowly trickling in and you greet them with a grin and a soft “Hello! Hi hi!”. You did your best to make your room a perfectly chaotic backdrop - led lights, an embarrassing amount of anime merch and plushies. You always try to balance out your weeb side by dressing hot as fuck for your streams - today’s inspiration just so happens to be egirls. Mostly because you watched one too many egirl make-up tutorials on TikTok, and also because you’ve been listening to Corpse’s song all day.

Yeah, no, who are you kidding, you dressed up this way because you were hoping Corpse was watching your stream. You didn’t forget your cat headphones, either. You know he likes them. You want to make him suffer. Perhaps then, finally, he will ask you out, so you wouldn’t have to.

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“I feel like,” You start when you put away your phone, staring idly at the chat, “I feel like I need a new name for you guys. Calling you guys after two years of streaming is just... weird, no? I also don’t respect men so I don’t want to call you guys. Like, so many creator’s have, like, a name for their fans. Uhm, Cody Ko has the chodesters, Kurtis Conner has, uh, folks? Kurtis Town? Citizens! Markiplier has mommy issues--” You can’t help snorting, “So, I’ve been, like, thinking - I know, shocking! - so I was thinking I’m gonna name you cockroaches. Because you’re grimy little shits impossible to kill. And also then I can use the legendary Minaj meme ROACHES!”

Your stream enthusiastically echoes ROACHES, making the chat swim. Yes, if anyone would enjoy such a name, it would be your audience. You’re as equally proud as you are disturbed.

“Well, anyway.” Leaning back into your chair, you throw your arms out with a bright grin, “Big dick is back in town, baby! If you noticed the backdrops different, it’s cuz I’m in Brooklyn now. Don’t ask me when I will return to Always Sunny, I don’t plan that far ahead.”

While Minecraft boots up, you decide to answer a few questions.

r u dating sykkuno?

You want to smack your head into the keyboard, but as it is, you can’t exactly afford a new one, so you refrain, “No, Sykkuno and I are not dating, we are just good friends. Uhm, I’m not sure how much I’ll have to repeat this, but, we really aren’t, so if the roaches could chill - Oh my God, that sounds so stupid, I love it - uh, yeah, if the roaches could chill that’d be great.”

the roaches lmao sounds like we’re a sports team

“Oh shit, yeah it does, uh-- maybe I can make like, jerseys or something. That’d be cool, I think.”

how disappointed are your parents with the way your life turned out?

“My parents are actually not disappointed at all!” You say with a cute little smile, “Uhm, they’re both really proud, actually. They’re glad I found something I love doing and made a job outta it. Dad finds my Youtube videos endearing. Yes, they watch pretty much all of my videos, unless I explicitly tell them not to. And yeah, with all the fucks and thirsting for anime characters. Uhm, it was very embarrassing at first, but I mean, after a while, shame just...doesn’t exist anymore, I guess? Funny thing about my parents, actually, when they watch my videos-” You eye catches a comment, “Oh! No, they only watch my Youtube videos. They don’t know how to use Twitter, thank God. Uhm, anyway-- when they hear a name they don’t know, like, I dunno, Dabi, or something, they google--” You’re grinning by now, eyes crinkling, giggling softly, “--who that is, and buy me like, merch and stuff. It’s really cute.

can i be adopted by ur parents plz

will you and corpse ever collab?!

You were about to answer, though the man of the hour himself decides to do it for you.

Corpse_Husband: yes.

Okay, not to say your heart skipped a beat, but it totally did. With a pleased smile, you nod, like one of those bobble head toys sold at the dollar store. The motion is oddly reminiscent of Sykkuno’s own nod. Perhaps you had picked it up from him. The chat seems to notice.

pack it up, sykkuno

More questions pile about this mysterious collab you and Corpse are planning. Yeah, you’d like to hear more about it, too, since he single highhandedly decided one was happening right now. Corpse remains silent. Fine, keep your secrets.

“Okay, guys, oh, I mean, roaches, Oh my God--” You’re covering your mouth, giggling, “-calling all roaches, calling all roaches, calm down. Everyone grab a snack and a blanket I’m turning up the music volume so we can all chill. Entering chill zone. Entering chill zone. Roaches, prepare.”

we are prepared

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An hour or so passes and you grow hungry. It shows with the amount of cakes you had baked in your server. Currently, you find yourself throwing eggs at the wall of one of the renovated houses, your face scrunched in concentration and slight frustration. 24 of the 50 eggs have been wasted. “What’s a girl gotta do to get some chicks around here?” you had uttered under your breath, until, finally, a screech - the egg finally spawns a mob. Your mouth falls open, “Aww, look!” You approach it, so small, walking in zigzags beside you, “It’s a baby chicken! Die, bitch.” The baby chicken is no more as you swing your bedazzled (you have mods) diamond sword. You’re cackling by the time the dust settles.

y/n is a child murderer

“Roaches,” You address your fan-base, spurring another fit of laughter - you can’t get over the name, “I think I’m like, forgetting that eating in Minecraft won’t actually make less hungry in real life.”

take a break and go eat queen <3

“Fuck no, we starve and die like men. Now I actually really need another chicken.”

Another twenty minutes trickle by and you’re trying to lure back a panda from the jungle when there’s a knock on your bedroom’s door. Whipping your head to the side, you slide down your headphones. At the same time, your mom pokes her head through the ajar door, “MOM!” You scream, “Get OUT of my room I’m playing Minecraft!” But your yell has no actual bite to it, as you don’t manage to hide your smile. Your mom laughs, doing some sort of sign language and motioning for you to follow her with her head. That or it’s some sort of performative dance.

“I’m live right now,” You tell her, pointing at your screen. She knows this already, though, “do you want to say hi?”

The roaches spam the chat with friendly hellos. You mom, quite impatient now, waves you over.

“Sorry, roaches, mom needs something. Be back in a bit!”

Stopping the stream, you rush out of your seat and pleased she slinks into the hallway. “What’s this about?”

“Your pizza came.”

“My what now?” You echo, confused.

“Domino’s. You ordered pizza?”

“What? No? I was busy with the stream, I never--”

Thankfully, you had managed to grab your phone from your room before you exited. You almost choke on spit once you read the messages.

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You decide that it’ll be impossible to stream after experiencing what you had just experienced. You tweet out a quick apology to the roaches (God, that fucking name) and say that you had a breakdown but you’re okay. That is as a close to the truth as you managed to muster. It’s a sad sight, chewing and crying; your mom winced when she saw your state - disheveled hair and rundown eyeliner and everything. “D’aww,” She had muttered, caressing the top of your head, “don’t cry my little raccoon.”

If anyone was ever to ask you where did your chaotic nature come from, you’d answer with my mom. To make yourself feel better, you took a selfie - duck face and peace sign and the horrible 2000′s angle. Sent it to Rae.

looking hot, her message read.

thanks, was all you replied with.

You couldn’t just leave things as they were. Once you calmed down, you wanted to text Corpse, but how would you follow up the ungodly caps lock and screeching? Impossible. An idea sprung to mind, one that was brave. Taking the first step.

Instead of sending a text, you sent a voice memo.

“Thank you for the pizza, it was delicious.”

You voice still sounded a bit raspy. His reply was instant. Your heart skipped a beat. He sent a voice memo back.

“Glad you liked it, baby.”

He was going to be the death of you.

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tags (in italics is those i couldn’t tag! make sure all’s ok w your settings!) : @littlebabysandboxburritos - @fairywriter-oracle - @tsukishimawh0re - @ofstarsanddreams - @bbecc-a - @annshit - @leahh19 - @letsloveimagines - @bellomi-clarke - @wineandionysus - @guiltydols - @onephootinfrontoftheother - @liamakorn - @thirstyfangirl - @lilysdaydreams - @pan-ini - @mxqicshxp - @tanchosanke - @yoshinorecommends - @flightsandfantasy - @liljennyx3 - @slashersdream - @unknown-and-invisible - @sinister-sleep - @fivedicksinatrenchcoat - @mercury–moon - @peterparkerspjsuit - @unstableye - @simonsbluee - @shinyshimaagain - @ppopty - @siriuslystupid - @crapimahuman - @ofthedewthesunlight - @mythicalamphitrite - @artsyally - @corpsesimpp - @corpsewhitetee - @corpse-husbandsimp - @hyp-oh-critical - @roses-and-grasses - @rhyrhy462 - @sparklylandflaplawyer - @charbkgo - @airwaveee - @creativedogs - @kaitlyn2907 - @loxbbg - @afuckingunicornn - @fleurmoon - @yeolliedokai - @truly-dionysus - @multi-fandom-central707

more tags are in the comments bcs tumblr only allows me to tag 50 people max 💙

#corpse husband #corpse #corpse husband x reader #corpse x reader #corpse husband imagine #corpse social media au #corpse husband fanfic #social media au #corpse husband x y/n #corpse x y/n #corpse husband fic #reader #xreader #imagine #imagines #myso #make you say oh

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purplesurveys · 3 years

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1256

surveys by taco-tuesdays

What steps would you take in order to track down a thief? Not too far, honestly. I accept things pretty easily so if I’ve processed that I’ve been robbed, I am most likely to just let it go. I’ll feel like shit, of course, but I would just let it go and scold myself for failing to be attentive.

What is something that one of your family member collects? My mom used to collect printed table napkins from different restaurants, but obivously she hasn’t been able to continue that for the past year and a half. My dad and brother used to collect magazines but both stopped a few years ago.

What would you do if you were able to have lunch with the queen? The journalist in me will probably just ask her questions about her everyday life, how she spends it, what she’s into and what she’s not into these days.

If you got to create a new flavor of ice cream, what would it be? This is a little hard considering there are a lot of small businesses out there already getting creative and quirky with ice cream flavors so it’s just hard to tell if a certain flavor has already been invented or not. One thing I haven’t seen, though, is curry. I’d buy a pint of that in an instant.

What are some questions that you would ask your favorite celebrity? His latest vlog finds. He once shared a video of this smaller content creator, so I’m guessing that’s what he likes doing in his spare time and I’m sure he would have a bunch of other just as interesting recommendations.

If you were able to set up a stand, what would you sell? Street food.

Would you like to go deep sea diving? Why or why not? Yeah. I’m always willing to try daring, not-the-safest-thing-in-the-world activities haha.

What would life be like if you lived on a cloud? The realist in me just wants to say I’d plummet straight to the ground.

What would you find at the top of a magic beanstalk? Idk, my creativity can’t be bothered to be challenged.

What is one food you would not want to have rain down from the sky? Durian. It would hurt and stink like shit.

Which animal's characteristics are similar to your own personality? I don’t really assign sets of personalities to animals.

If you were in a department store, which aisle would you check out first? I personally still go for the toys/video games section first HAHAHA

What are some of your hobbies? They include going to museums, exploring new food and restaurants, traveling to different cities and countries, and reading about history.

You've opened a store that only sells purple items - what do you sell? BTS merch hahahahah duhhhh

What is something important that you've lost, and did you ever find it? I lost a rosary that came straight from the Vatican. No, I never found it again. I feel bad about it not because it’s a religious object, but because it came from my grandma.

Have you ever moved to a new school before? If so, how did it feel? I mean, I had to change schools when I was moving up from high school to college, but I’ve never changed schools within the same chapter of my studies, like in the middle of elementary or high school. But to answer the question, it had been a very liberating and empowering experience. I hated the rules in my Catholic school and there were so many elements from that place that made me hide so much about myself. The fact that I could wear shorts and curse and attend rallies and cut class and make my own class schedules in college felt incredibly freeing and satisfying.

What would've happened if Cinderella never went to the ball? See magic beanstalk question.

If you had one day to do anything at all, what would you choose? I would drive to Tagaytay and find a cozy restaurant and eaaaaatttt awaaaayyyy.

What are a few of your favorite songs? I really really like Singularity by V, Over the Hills by Hayley Williams, and So Far Away by Agust D and Suran.

Have you ever legitimately forgotten to do homework? All the time. I never wrote down homework.

If you were a witch, what kind of a spell would you cast? On who? I don’t care about casting spells on people. I just want my cravings to show up in the snap of a finger hahaha. Can that be part of a witch’s scope of work? Kjdgfhsdfskjfhs

Do you enjoy autumn leaves or spring flowers more? Why? I wouldn’t know. I experience neither over here.

What is your favorite sport to play? What about watch? Table tennis. Favorite to watch would be either tennis or pro wrestling.

Have you ever gone on a cruise before? To where? Yeah. It was an East Asian cruise so I traveled to Shanghai, Jeju, and Fukuoka.

What would you do if you were invisible for a day? Probably go to the bigger houses in the village and see how fancy they get.

Depending on where you live, why might a day of school get canceled? Typhoon, floods. A lot of places are incredibly prone to flooding, so as long as it’s been raining super hard the chances for a class suspension will get high.

What types of transportation do you think we will see in the future? I dunno. It seems like we’re at that point where everything is in the process of being invented or perfected already.

What were some of your toys you always played with when you were little? I liked kitchen sets and anything with lots of buttons, so like toy telephones or cash registers.

If you were a movie star, what would a day in your life be like? I have no clue apart from the fact that I’m just glad I would assumedly have more than enough money to buy whatever I’m craving whenever I want hahaha.

If you invented a time machine, what year would you like to go to, and why? Realistically I wouldn’t change a thing; but if I had to answer this question I’d go back to 2016 and never ask out Gab a second time, so that the next four years wouldn’t end up being such a waste of my time.

What is your favorite holiday and why? I don’t have one. I’m not a big holiday ~celebrator.

What is something that you like to do while on vacation? Try food I’ve never tried before. The more unconventional or obscure, the better.

If you could meet any fictional character from a book, who would it be? Eh, don’t really have anyone in mind.

What are some common places that people tour when they come to your city? There’s the waterfalls in the upper part of the city – I’m just not sure if it’s still a popular spot but it certainly was when I was a kid. There’s also an art museum that I’m certain is a lot more frequented now.

What's one food that you did not enjoy as a child, but do as an adult? Curry.

How would having no electricity affect your daily routine? I wouldn’t be able to attend work, at least not for the whole day. It would also feel a lot warmer without the electric fan, which would in turn make me cranky.

If you had one wish, what would it be? A renovated room with a dedicated corner for all my merch.

Say someone gives you a magic sweater. What happens when you wear it? Idk.

If you built a new city, how would you convince people to move there? I wouldn’t.

What is one of your favorite movies? Why is it one of your favorites? Two for the Road. It has Audrey Hepburn, it’s a realistic rom-com, and the chemistry between the two leads is superb.

If you were given a certain amount of time to live, would you want to know? Yeah for sure, I would want to know in a heartbeat.

What would you do if you were able to stop time? I don’t know what I would do, but that would be a nice...opportunity, I guess? to experiment with or try out certain decisions and see how well or unwell they would work out to be. So that when time resumes, I’d know better on how to best handle a situation.

Do you think that long distance relationships would be for you? I wouldn’t actively go for it, but I’m not shutting down the possibility either.

Is there a popular social media platform that you don't have an account for? I have one for all the main ones, I think. Even Instagram, I made an account not too long ago to finally join the platform.

How old were you when you found out about Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc? I never knew the Easter Bunny was a thing until I started taking these surveys at like 14. I never really believed in Santa either, and the only figure I was super disappointed to learn that it didn’t exist was the tooth fairy.

Who is your favorite Disney Princess? Rapunzel.

Which freaks you out more - clowns or porcelain dolls? Porcelain dolls. They look more innocent, which somehow makes them creepier.

What was the last mistake that you learned from? Hm, just a minor work thing that would be too complicated to explain here.

Do you prefer "regular pencils" or mechanical ones? Why? Regular. I always break off the tips of mechanical pencils.

What is one little-known music artist you'd recommend? Andi made me listen to The Drums recently and I’ve been loving their sound so far; they would be perfect on a road trip. I’ve only listened to one album, though.

What is your favorite Pixar film? Toy Story!

Who was the last person to send you any sort of message on social media? Angela sent me a video meme.

Where were you on September 11th, 2001? I don’t know...probably already being put to bed. Either way I wasn’t fully conscious yet as I had only been 3 and living on the other side of the planet.

Name your favorite green vegetable. Broccoli, spinach, bell peppers, or asparagus. IDK I love veggies hahahaha

Could you handle a friends with benefits type of situation? Not for me. I’m not even into sex.

Do you prefer using a brush or a comb on your hair? Comb.

What's your favorite flavor of potato chips? SALTED EGG. I’m obsessed; I had like five bags this week alone.

Would you rather build a snowman or a snow fort? Why? I dunno; I’ve never tried making either.

At what age do you believe children should begin having screen time? I’m not too sure at this point, but I do know I don’t plan on being too strict with my kids. I’d let them watch stuff on an iPad from like age 3 or 4, but one thing I would change from how I was raised is putting a limit on their screen time, maybe half an hour to an hour a day.

If you had to give a speech, what would it be on? I’d be down for any topic as long as I was given ample time to research, honestly. I like public speaking.

#survey #surveys

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marikaaajoy · 4 years

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my relationship with digital art and how BNHA salvaged it

I just wanted to let out my thoughts but I can only do it here :>

This might be a downer for some people but I’d like to share it with people here. BNHA means the world to me and this is why.

I first started drawing when I was 7 years old in 2006

I think it’s ugly now, but 7 year old me remembered being so proud of this because this is a drawing of my stepfather. This is the only drawing I have that was from my childhood. I think the aim here is to draw in anime style BUT I didn’t even watch anime back then. I had a classmate who loves anime and she taught me to draw in school. Drawing became a favorite hobby immediately after that.

Then it was 2013 and I was 14 years old. Drawing is still my favorite thing to do besides being on the computer. I love anime at this point too. My parents bought an iPad for the whole family, but I was almost always the one using it. I discovered an app called ArtStudio and thought “Wow, I can draw without making a mess and with only my fingers” because I was always too lazy to take out my drawing materials and clean up afterwards.

These were my first digital drawings. The pirate one was the very first. I got obsessed real fast. I can color so easily, undo any mistake, layers are a blessing too. There was just so much more freedom. I always sucked at coloring in traditional art and I didn’t like the mess (idk my hands get so messy traditionally)

The next year, it was 2014, I was 15. My birthday is in a couple of months and I knew my parents were planning to buy me something pricey (I think it was a laptop) so I approached them and asked if they could just buy the Wacom Bamboo as a present which was cheaper anyway and I even explained how it works to them and how it would allow me to draw on the computer instead of the iPad. I tried really hard to be convincing. I would have prepared a powerpoint presentation if I had to.

They did give me the wacom as a present. They even gave it to me months before my birthday so I could use it already. I thought I was the luckiest teen in the world with my parents.

These are a collection of my favorite works from 2014 to 2016. The middle one was my second drawing using wacom and Paint Tool SAI. I was a part of a lot of fandoms in those years lol

It gets downhill from there :/

April 2016, my mom and I moved to Japan, while my stepfather and siblings stay in my country. It was tough. For someone who is obsessed with anime, you’d think I’d be thrilled to live in Japan.

I was. Though only at the first few months. It’s not the same as it’s portrayed in anime (I should’ve known but I used to be blinded by anime). It was just lonely. The language barrier sucked and then lots of financial and family issues until my parents split. I got my first boyfriend too and I thought I was blessed by the nicest boy, but the relationship became extremely toxic but I didn’t have it in me to walk away.

All the shit that happened affected me mentally and emotionally. My biggest outlet which was digital drawing, was also out of the question because I did not have a computer/laptop when we moved to Japan. We left it in our home for my stepfather and siblings, even the iPad. I have my wacom with me, but no computer/laptop to use it with. I couldn’t draw.

I tried though. I used my phone to draw, but it wasn’t the same. Then the life problems got piled up, things got worse, and I just lost motivation in anything. Literally anything. From 2016 to 2019, I stopped watching anime, I dropped out of all the fandoms I’m in, I stopped watching my favorite TV series or movies, and I stopped drawing. I even got a bit disconnected with my friends who lived in my country (we talk regularly online). My family was broken so I gave all my attention to my toxic relationship as well which made everything worse too lol

I didn’t draw besides from a few scribbles and the drawings above. I did try digital art on my phone a couple of times again and even posted them on my IG, but they weren’t any good. Eventually, I got mentally and emotionally drained and dropped out of senior high school. I just stayed home for almost a year, leeching off of my mom. I felt even more worthless and my life had no direction at this point. Nothing mattered anymore.

April 2019 or so I think, my (ex)bf bought me a laptop. He says it’s a gift, but I think the real reason was to make up for something horrible that he did (which is stupid because money /gifts won’t resolve anything). I have a laptop. I can draw again, but I didn’t. I didn’t care, I wasn’t interested in drawing anymore anyway.

Welp. June 2019, I went back to my country. My (ex) bf stayed in Japan. The distance helped me end the relationship and my friends were there (they always were) to help put me back together along with two trips to therapy. I went back to finish my senior high school in my own country this time. That said, I have to stay in my country for school (but I was happy because I didn’t wanna go back to Japan yet when the breakup was still fresh and with going back to school, my life has a direction again.)

It was weird. I remember just being sorta lost and confused because I used to put my time, effort and everything into my previous toxic relationship, which was now gone. I was free and I had so much free time that I didn’t know what to do with it. I got so used to doing nothing and being nothing.

This is where BNHA enters.

Dunno when it started, but I started seeing Bakugou frequently online. It’s usually just Bakugou. I knew who he was because my friend suggested BNHA to me back in late 2018 I think but I didn’t watch it since I’ve lost interest in everything at that point in my life.

But ye I thought he hot af but I still didn’t watch BNHA.

But then for some reason he REALLY kept appearing in my social medias and it was really frequent. The last straw was when I saw a pic of him in UA’s gym uniform and thought “damn boi aight imma watch bnha for u” (y’all gotta admit he looks good in those colors with his combat boots XD )

I watched BNHA. Fell in love with Iida along the way. Then I switched to Tokoyami (but Shoji was hot too so aaaaa), but then angry emotionally-constipated sea urchin head caught my heart again. But oof. BakuDeku moments really made me feel some type of way I haven’t felt since I moved to Japan. It felt new but nostalgic. I fell hard in that ship.

I started obsessing. From memes to posts to fanfictions to buying merch to filling my room with BNHA posters. I realized I was reverting to my old self from the time I was still happy and it was thanks to BNHA (and the good people who helped me through the worst too)

Shit I wanted to draw BNHA, I thought.

I mean, I have a laptop, I still have my wacom and drawing softwares. I could totally draw digitally again if I wanted to.

But guess what

I can’t :c

My hand physically cannot draw. My drawings don’t look the way I want them too. 3 years of not drawing really destroyed any skill I had. I was back to square one.

September (yeah they’re ugly, I laughed at it). If you’re wondering why I drew on paper, it’s because, for some reason, I really CANNOT draw digitally. I mean it. I can barely sketch digitally at this point. The lines and shapes just doesn’t come to life. They’re just scribbles. But somehow, I can kinda draw on paper with a ballpoint pen. But yeah, that was the best I could do at this point in my life

After that, I still tried to draw, to regain my old art style, but it didn’t happen... It just doesn’t look or feel the same. Drawing used to be fun. But during this phase, it felt like my ugly drawings were just mocking me (probably was just too emo that time lol)

Weirdly, around a week or two I think, after my half-assed attempts at drawing, I managed to draw digitally somehow o.o

I did a Midoriya and Todoroki drawing like this too. It was my first post here on Tumblr I think. The annoying part here is that I cannot draw digitally unless I draw on paper first, take a pic, and then trace the lineart. I couldn’t draw directly on the computer. Granted, drawing on paper and drawing on digital is very different for me in the first place anyway. But it was still a pain. And it still looked like shit. I can only draw stiff poses :/ it seems like my brain decided to delete all data about anatomy and posture and backgrounds. My lineart here is even messy af. It still really not the same as my old style.

By 2020, I think I got my old art style back. On March, I made this. This took me 27 total of hrs to make.

Right now, I think it’s not bad, but back in March, I was disappointed with the result. This is when I finally broke down crying because it didn’t look good enough and I hated that it took me 27 hrs to draw “bullshit.” I was angry at myself for losing interest in drawing for 3 years when I could’ve used that time to improve. I had to start all over again and it still didn’t look good. (Current me thinks that the drawing above is alright. I was just a lot harsher to myself back then. Used to have a lot of issues but I’m doing great now)

I cried myself to sleep that night. Woke up wanting to cry again. I wallowed in sadness for a couple of days. Eventually told my friends what’s up. Got some pep talk. Even talked to my sister (she’s great, she always hypes me up with my stuff and sometimes I think she’s my biggest fan with how she appreciates my drawings and I’m really grateful for that).

My world turned a 180 and I was weirdly positive after all that crying because brain chemicals and shit. I had a revelation. If I hate how my art style looked so much, then I should have been putting effort in changing my art style, not trying to regain my old art style (that I don’t like anymore)

I researched a lot. I analyzed different art styles and anatomy again. I did everything I could think of to find a style that works for me. I might have even neglected school for a bit to focus on digital art lmao

After all that work, I posted a fanart of middle school BakuDeku in their classroom. I love that fanart so much even if I probably have better ones by now because that was the first fanart I made that I felt like I could be proud of and it was the first one I made in my new art style. It was a milestone for me.

March 2020, I moved back to Japan and without the toxic relationship, I’m a lot positive now. Happy. I’m myself again after the previous bad years. I’m still continuously learning though, trying to improve, but at least, now, I found my own art style :) I really suck at interacting with people online, but I’m always grateful for the support everyone has been giving my fanarts. I’m happy when my content makes people happy.

This is why BNHA is important to me. The series is great alone, but it’s not just that to me. BNHA is so much more. It’s what made me find the passion to create again, only this time, it’s focused on drawing (I used to write, but now I just draw, but maybe I’ll write again for BNHA).

My family is supportive with my love for BNHA, but I think they don’t know the deeper reason why I love it. Sure, I was fine living on with nothing much going on in my life. I’ll finish school, get a job, work until I die or something. It was okay. It was the way of life. But BNHA gave my life color again. I wasn’t just blindly going through life anymore. I have something to look forward to everyday now. BNHA even became a bridge to other things. Ever since then, I’m a lot more open to people, to try new things, to explore and not just live through life and waste away. I got better at leaving my comfort zone. I’ve never been happier in my life :D

Thank you for supporting my fanarts. Thank you so much for giving me a chance to express myself through BNHA. I hope to make more content in the future and improve even more :)

#plus ultra #<3 #personal

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d-l-dare · 3 years

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“Hello Jenny”

Obsession is an unhealthy thing that affects a good portion of the world's population. We see something from afar that draws us nearer, making us think about it. Forcing some of us to have going a stream of thought about it that grows stronger and stronger the more you try to stop thinking about it. Eventually, you give yourself over to it, a subject that it has free reign to twist and turn as it sees fit. Until finally, the obsession causes your mind to snap.

The sun shone bright through the car windshield, causing me to squint and my mom to drop her sun visor. She and I were enjoying a nice, warm summer's day out and about, exploring all the yard sales and garage sales this town had to offer. We lived in a small town, so nearly every yard sale was right next to each other. We'd recently walked away from one place where the entire neighborhood had a sale going out front for nearly two straight blocks.

After a few hours of looking through all the yard sales this town had to offer, we both decided we were exhausted and agreed, one more.

We went to this small white house that had a few cheap, white folding tables up with varying things on it, including a stack of t-shirts. Of course the shirts were the first things I went to. I wasn't necessarily into fashion, in fact I was the kind of girl to rock a shirt and a pair of jeans over anything fancy and tight. The reason I went to look through the shirts was because I'm a massive fan of this character called 'Hello Jenny'.

Hello Jenny is a Japanese, white dog that a guy with a long and hard to pronounce name, created to help his sick daughter feel better nearly forty years ago. The dog has since created massive fan groups that collect as much rare merchandise as possible. One of the rarest items is a 'Hello Jenny' t-shirt. That's the biggest reason I'd go with my mom to basically any place that sells people's old belongings. Yard sales and thrift stores mainly.

I knew I'd be happy having any piece of merch from 'Hello Jenny', but a shirt would be my jackpot. There's that reason, and there was something, some kind of unexplainable force that drew me over to the pile of shirts. I sifted through a couple different shirts until about five shirts in, I found something that nearly made me freak out with excitement. You guessed it, a 'Hello Jenny' shirt. This one was white with her posing in the back seat of a car with her dog friends driving.

I grabbed the shirt and ran up to my mom, begging her to buy it for me. "How much is it?" she asked, picking up a book and flipping through its musty, yellow pages.

"Five dollars." I replied.

"I dunno, that's kinda expensive." she sat the book back down and pick up a picture book.

"But mom," I started. "This shirt could be worth a fortune online!"

She rolled her eyes before agreeing to buy it. I thanked her, jumping up and down with excitement.

*** Not too long after I got home, I threw the shirt in the washer. I'm sure the previous owners might have washed it before they put it out, but you can never be too careful.

When the shirt was done in the dryer, I ironed it carefully and grabbed a frame that one of my bigger 'Helping Sirens' boy band poster was in and dumped out the poster. I can just tack it back up on the wall. I folded up my shirt delicately so that it would fit in the frame, and I replaced the glass and hung it up on my wall, just over my television.

Met with exhaustion from the rough day I've had out in the sun, I decided to sit down on my chair and turn on my tv. I hope there's something good on to watch.

*** I must have fallen asleep, for when I awoke the television was turned off. What was it that woke me up? My room was dimly lit by the colored LED lights I had placed around nearly every corner of my room around the ceiling.

I heard a faint ringing sound, like a doorbell ringing but constant. At first, I was convinced that I was hallucinating the sound. After all, I had just been awoken from a deep sleep. What drew me away from that theory was that as I got up from my chair, the sound grew slightly louder. Loud enough I could tell the exact direction it was coming from. Above my television. There's only one thing it could be coming from, but that was impossible.

Without realizing it, my arms had already reached up to the frame and brought it down slowly to the ground. When I took it out of its frame, the noise stopped. I looked down at the shirt, mesmerized by the clean, bright white color. How the thick black outline remained perfectly intact, even with its age. I had to wear it.

I took off the shirt I was wearing and carefully slipped on the shirt. The shirt smelled of the delightful flowery smell of being freshly pulled from the dryer. The shirt fit perfectly. It felt so soft and snug to my body, I didn't want to take it off.

*** "So, your daughter has been missing since last night?" asked the officer, standing outside our house.

"Yes. She spent the entire day cleaning and obsessing over this shirt she bought yesterday."

"Is it the same shirt that you found on the ground beside her bed?" he asked.

"It is. It just doesn't make any sense to me why it would be there. And where did my daughter go?"

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dyscrasia-eucrasia · 4 years

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Part 1

Next>>

"Hey, uh, so we're Bacchus," the lead singer said, leaning into the microphone. Immediately, Angel doubted the rumors he'd heard. No way this guy was related to Marius. He had none of Marius' charisma. He hunched his shoulders, spoke softly, and stumbled over his words. His long hair looked like it hadn't been washed in a day or two, and he had a ratty goat beard. He wore an Iron Maiden shirt that, even under the bar's shitty stage lights, looked extremely faded.

Sure, he was wearing fuzzy pants and a pair of curled ram's horns that looked especially realistic, but that just made him seem even more like a weak imitation. It was like he'd chosen curled horns specifically to throw people off the fact that he was riding on Marius' coat tails.

The drummer looked even more out of place. She was a sturdy-looking woman, with long blonde hair cut into blunt bangs. She hadn't even dressed the part of a member of a heavy metal band, wearing an anime t-shirt and jeans.

And that was it for the band. No bass player, no keyboardist. Just drums and a guitar.

Angel leaned back against the bar, thinking to himself that this was gonna suck.

The lead singer looked back at the drummer and nodded. She counted off on her sticks and the crowd got a little quieter.

And then the entire bar was hit by a wall of sound. The drums were wild and frenetic, some of the best Angel had ever heard. But they paled in comparison to the guitar. The lead singer was absolutely shredding it, going faster and harder than anyone Angel had ever seen live. The bar erupted into cheering, and a scuffle of moshing started down by the stage.

Then the singer opened his mouth and began to sing, and Angel felt like he would've been knocked over if he weren't leaning against the bar. The singer's voice was a deep baritone that reverberated across the venue. Angel wasn't even hearing it, but feeling it rattle his sternum.

The singer finished a verse and launched into a wild guitar solo, his hair flying around him as he banged his head to the beat. The awkwardness of his introduction melted away, and he became a commanding figure on the stage, despite how slim and gangly he was.

He straightened again, grabbing the mic, and launched into a harsh growl that came up from his chest. The crowd went absolutely wild, and Angel's head began to spin. It was like he was drunk, but also like he was horny, but also like he wanted to grab someone's head and smash it into a brick wall. He could see down in the mosh pit that elbows were flying, faces were getting bloody, and no one seemed to care.

The band went through an entire set, but time had stopped meaning anything at some point and all the songs bled together. Angel could pick out some of the lyrics, things about gods and monsters and heroes. It was messy and violent, but at the same time somehow painfully erotic, and the audience was hooked on every line.

Then, suddenly, it was over. "Thank you," the singer shouted into the mic, "like I said, we're Bacchus, thanks to Rattlesnake for having us open for them, they're great guys. We'll be up by the bar for the rest of the night, come buy a shirt or buy us a beer or something, ya fuckin' animals."

That was right, they weren't even the headliner act. The rest of the bar screamed in excitement for Rattlesnake, but for Angel, it was like a spell had broken. All the awe and energy he'd felt was sapped away in an instant, the minute the band left the stage. Who the fuck even cared about Rattlesnake, anyways?

He could see now why there were rumors that the lead singer of Bacchus was related to Marius. Marius' style was different, more polished, more theatrical, but they had the same sort of resonance to their voice, and similar guitar work. Not like they were copycats of one another, more like they came from the same musical family.

Angel slumped onto a bar stool, exhausted. He hadn't even joined the pit - it would look pretty bad, showing up for work with bruises - but he still felt like he'd been beat within an inch of his life.

He was just thinking about leaving when he looked over and saw the band's lead singer - he was hard to miss, towering over even the biggest of guys - down at the end of the bar, ordering. Based on the way the crowd had reacted to him, Angel would've assumed he'd be swarmed by fans, but he was pretty much alone. A quick scan of the crowd showed that the drummer was sitting at a merch table, chatting with someone, but her side of the table was a ghost town, while a large knot of people were in line for the Rattlesnake side.

Angel had never actually approached any musicians after shows. It just seemed too needy, too parasocial. He was approached by enough weirdoes after work himself to not want to put someone else in that position. But the lead singer was magnetic. Angel couldn't understand how he wasn't surrounded by people begging for his attention.

He got down off his barstool and made his way over to the singer.

"Hey!" He shouted at the bartender above the noise. "Whatever he's having, I'll pay for it," he pointed at the singer. "And give me one, too."

The singer looked genuinely surprised by the gesture. "Hey, thanks dude," he shouted.

"Great set," Angel shouted back. "I'm Angel, by the way."

"Demie," the singer replied, holding out a hand. Now that Angel was right next to him, he realized just how big Demie was. He was built like a twig, but he stood at least 6'6", if not taller, and his hand was like a shovel. It completely enveloped Angel's when he shook it.

"What was the name of that third song you played?" Angel shouted. "That really fast one?"

"That one's called 'Wrath of Mars," Demie hollered back.

"It's really good," Angel shouted.

"Thanks. I wrote it for my brother, actually."

"Your brother wouldn't be Marius, would he?" Angel shouted as the bartender put two pints on the bar in front of them. Mars, Marius. Angel felt like he was connecting the dots.

"Uh… yeah, actually," Demie said. His skin was dark - not tanned, but more of a deep olive - but Angel thought he saw his cheeks go a little red.

There was an explosion of shouting from down by the stage as Rattlesnake took the stage.

"These guys any good?" Angel shouted, pointing a thumb over his shoulder to the band.

"Yeah, I mean, if you like country-metal fusion," Demie shouted back.

"Sounds weird."

"It is."

The band started up with some twangy guitar that sounded like something out of a spaghetti western. It wasn't really doing it for Angel. They didn't sound nearly as good as Bacchus had.

"Hey, uh," he put a hand on Demie's shoulder, standing on his toes to be closer to his ear. "You wanna go outside for a while? I'd love to hear more about your band."

Demie gave him a quizzical, 'you serious?' kind of look. He glanced over to the merch booth. His drummer was pretty much alone, messing around on an old smartphone.

"Yeah, sure," he said, grabbing his beer first.

"So you're really related to Marius, huh?" Angel said as they stepped out of the bar into the cool spring evening.

"Yeah, he's my older brother," Demie replied.

"So… what, is this like, some kind of sibling rivalry? Your brother made it big so now you're trying to catch up?"

"Fuck no," Demie muttered as he took a swig of beer. "Nah, Mar taught me how to play the guitar. We used to all be one band, me, him, and Elaine. We all got the offer to sign with Maggot Records but I backed out at the last minute, and Elaine wouldn't agree to move out West and go on tour without me."

"So, Elaine… that's your drummer?"

"Yeah."

"Is she like… your girlfriend…?"

"What? Fuck, no, she's my roommate. We've been friends since we were like ten, she's like a sister."

"Sorry, sorry," Angel laughed.

"S'cool," Demie said, continuing to drink.

"So… I know you said it wasn't a sibling rivalry, but I gotta admit… I think you two are actually better than Marius."

A crease formed between Demie's eyebrows, but otherwise his face was static. On stage, while singing, he'd been overcome with energy and emotion, but off stage he came off as extremely stoic. Had Angel met him in any other context, he never would've guessed he was a singer, his voice was so monotonous.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of your brother. That's the whole reason I came out to this show, I'd been hearing rumors that you were related to him for months. But he's really… Marilyn Manson, y'know? Really focused on the aesthetic. He's a good musician, but you've got the better voice and better guitar skills."

"Thanks," Demie said, shifting his feet awkwardly. Angel couldn't help but look down at them and wonder. He'd seen those goat-feet high heels before, and they looked uncomfortable as hell. He had to give Demie props for wearing them even after he got off stage. That was dedication.

"Hey, don't take this the wrong way," Demie said, "but you really don't seem like the kinda person who'd like our music."

"What does someone who likes your music seem like?" Angel asked.

"I dunno, like… all those Viking looking motherfuckers."

"No offense, but you don't really look that much like a Viking yourself."

Demie snorted. "Fuck no, I'm Greek. I fuckin' hate all that Nordic shit, like half of them are Nazis. And their mythology fucking sucks."

"Y'know, I thought I made out something about Odysseus in one of your songs," Angel said.

"Yeah, it's only like… the invention of Western literature, or whatever," Demie said, then drained his pint glass.

"No, it's cool. I liked it. Most metal bands sing about Satan or their D&D groups, it's cool to hear something different. I mean, I expected you to sing about Satan, but…"

"Nah, man, Christians fucking took Satan from the Greeks. They had to find a way to get all these Pagans to stop believing in their Gods, so they made Pan into Satan. They took Hades from us, too. Like the Jews, they don't even have an afterlife, that was all the Christians trying to absorb Greco-Roman Paganism."

"Wow. I didn't know that. I mean, I'm Vietnamese, so I know about Christianity and colonialism, but I didn't know about the Greeks. That's wild."

Demie opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a shout coming from the door.

"Jesus Christ, there you are!" The stoutly drummer, Elaine, had popped her head out the door. "I got work in the morning, we gotta get shit into the van and hit the road. Come help me with the drum set."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Demie groaned. He turned back to Angel. "Nice talkin' to you, man."

"Yeah, a pleasure. Hey -- you wanna exchange numbers? You're a cool dude, maybe we could hang out sometime."

"Oh. Uh… I don't actually got a cellphone, I just got a shitty landline. And I live way out in the sticks, like an hour away."

"Hey, no, that's cool, no pressure--"

"Actually, uh…" Demie looked over his shoulder and cupped his hands around his mouth. "HEY! ELAINE! YOU GOT A PEN?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"Toss it over here!"

Elaine grumbled something inaudible but fished a pen out of her jeans pocket and tossed it to Demie. He caught it out of the air and gestured for Angel's hand.

"I know people hate using the actual phone, but if you wanna call, feel free," he said, scribbling a set of digits on the back of Angel's hand. "Nice meeting you, man."

With that, he turned and headed back towards the door, his goat shoes clicking on the concrete patio.

Weird guy, Angel thought. He'd never really met anyone like him. But a few things were obvious - he was talented, he was interesting, and he was definitely gay. And that was enough for Angel to want to keep talking to him.

#writers on tumblr #writing #original fiction #original characters #gay fiction #lgbt fiction #w:demie and angel #wright's writing

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bangtan-sonyeonddaeng · 5 years

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Pending Requests

Here is my list of pending requests! I will cross them off once they are completed and you can search my tumblr page for the tag “request” to see when it will be posted <3. I update this daily so if you don’t see yours here by the end of the day that means I didn’t get it.

(after these are done I will be on an indefinite writing hiatus so I am not taking any new requests. Any that are sent to my inbox will be deleted)

Anon requested: I have a request idea, um,so in my native language when we want to say Oops we say Oppa 😂 so I've always wandered how the boys will react if reader makes any small mistake and says that around them (to add to the weirdness - she's older than some of them 😂) idk I think something funny may come out of this

Anon requested: If you're still doing requests, this one is a bit strange but I read your "when a pregnant fan attends their fan meet" reaction and I loved it, it was something different and I do like to read different things. So anyways, I wanted to know if you'd do a reaction to a fan going into labor and giving birth at a fan meet or concert. As I said, its a bit strange but its something that has never been done before and its something that I would like to see.

Anon requested: Can you do types of kisses with Yoongi too? ☺ If you're not too tired of the idea 😄 the Jimin one was sooooo cute 🥰

Anon requested: can i request a reaction post for BTS OT7 where the reader has a panic attack/emotional breakdown and his/her service dog notice it first before him and quick to calm the reader down and ask for the member’s help? so they both end up comforting the reader and just fluffy fluffy 🥺 thank you for your hard work and don’t overwork yourself!! love uu

Anon requested: a jk scenario where he has been distant and his female s/o feels like he might not love her anymore, so she "prepares" for the moment when he brakes up with her? A little angsty but with a happy ending 🥺 Its okay if you cant, dont worry 💕

Anon requesteD: So you know how some people find Tae intimidating? I believe it's bc he's so beautiful and, well, to me he looks perfect. So how about the reader feeling the same way? They think Tae is perfect and waay out of their league and act too shy around him. He finds out somehow and tries to change that bc he really likes them. Also, give them a happy end 😊💜

Onetwoyoongi requested: A reaction where the boys find out their s/o is a raver?? Like they're looking at future outfits or they buy new things for an upcoming rave plz and thank you!! I love ur reactions so much 💗

Anon requested: would you be able to write a BTS reaction to their crush being asexual and she's worried about starting a relationship with them, even though she also has a crush on them, because she thinks they would definitely want sex? (I used 'she' to make the request clearer but please feel free to use gender neutral pronouns!)

Anon requested: where the reader like meets BTS but doesn't want to make a scene so just pretends everything's cool... totally forgetting they're wearing some merch? And then gets all flustered when called out playfully by a member bc they just didn't want to stress them out on downtime? I crave some cute platonic/friends BTS content please?

Anon requested: Can you do prompts 23. “ You weren’t there... why weren’t you there?” 24.“I needed you! I needed you!” With Jimin with a happy ending bc We don’t like seeing Jiminie sad

Anon requested: Got7 Reaction request for you because they are barely requested ;-; Can you do a reaction where they have been kind of distant and their s/o thinks they don’t love them anymore? Thank youuuu :)

Anon requested: my job is sort of frowned upon by my friends for some reason. I’m a party princess where I dress up as a Disney character and surprise kids and all that. I was wondering if you could do a BTS reaction to their s/o being a party princess

Anon requested: AU Jimin & female junior at college who has a huge crush on him like every other person😝(not for looks though) but she isn't taking to the idea of relationship for she is unexperienced & she is way too flustered around him to even look at him(Can't like for face if u don't look at it😝)She is perfectionist, dedicated student & likes the same about him. He feels she doesn't like him a lot as she communicates well with others.

Anon requested: I'd like to request for a prompt 37 with Tae~ If you are occupied with other stuff I'd understand. No issues~ Take care~

prompt: “I want someone I can melt around. I want someone who melts around me too…I don’t want this standoffish, unromantic love that you’re offering. I want more than that.”

Anon requested: a Drabble with Yoongi where he for once is the one to drag you of your room form working too much ? I’ve been up all nights these past weeks after getting this gig , too worried I’ll mess up & when I tried to confined , I got a quit or stop complaining as a response.

Rainyflowerruins requested: I wanted to ask for request BTS reactions when their s/o (who is also a popular idol) surprisingly comes to visit them after the concert while both of them are on tour. Thanks 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

anon requested: Can u do the types of kisses thing that u did for mark but this time with Jimin?

Anon requested: Could I request a bts reactions to someone who can shred a guitar? I have yet to see anything like that

Anon requested: Hey, I was wondering if I could get a wolf au! Where bts sees the reader in the woods and they'reb(bts) in a pack and you get scared because you think they're a real wolf pack that will eat you. I dunno if this is clear enough, but don't feel pressured to do this. Love your blog! 💜

Anon requested: 2 prompts: 74 & 1 with JK! (Atleast 74 if only one~) Could you keep the character as a nuna though for JK if possible. If requests are closed then np! Haha! Thanks again Katie! And take care okayy! 1. “Have you ever kissed anyone before?” 74. “I didn’t take you for the settling down type.”

Anon requested: A reaction for jhope with a s/o that has short/buzzed hair.

Anon requested: Can u make a scenario for Jackson wang, where u want a second kid, but he’s scared to do it and get u pregnant because of ur experience with the first one (u were throwing up constantly, u were in pain all the time, u couldn’t sleep at night at all, some days u couldn’t walk etc.) thx!

Anon requested: a oneshot with yoongi where he's a heir prince but he's tired of all his royalty responsibilities and just want to enjoy his youth as long he can. so one of his escapes from palace he finds reader who's a just commoner and following the cliche line yoongi gets enchanted for her. thank you ♥

Anon requested: a reaction where BTS’ female s/o keeps making headlines because she’s a wealthy and successful businesswoman/ceo that remains humble at all times? Thank you!

Anon requested: a request of BTS reaction to their relationship getting exposed by dispatch while they are on tour and their s/o is still in Korea? Thank you?

tata anon requested: Daechwita Yoongi AU: Peasant/lost heir yoongi is attempting to run his coup and gets captured and it seems like hes gonna die at the hands of his brother BUT he doesnt ofc you end up reunited

#pending requests

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saltywithsarcasm · 5 years

Text

Chapter 4 of Really Passionate Fans has been posted!

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to skip school today?” Akira asks, sitting beside her biological father in the backseat of his car as one of his men drove. “Won’t I get into trouble with mom?”

“Don’t worry about your mom, she already knows and already informed the school that you will be having a sick day.” Her father smiles, reaching down to pick up a bag and hands it to her. “I found this for you the other day, figured you’d like it.”

Akira pauses, looking at the bag in her lap before opening it to see a bundled up shirt inside; She pulls it out and holds it out, it was a Present Mic shirt.

It’s yellow with black font that read; Put your hands up with Present Mic underneath it.

“I-Thank you, dad.” She smiles then looks back to her father. “Isn’t it weird though? You buying Hero merchandise?”

“Me buying my baby girl something she likes? Not at all.” He chuckles, turning his to glance out the window.

“But...you’re a...” Akira lowers the shirt to her lap, staring at him; It was kind of odd, her dad buying hero merch although he was a villain himself.

“I’m your father is what I am.”

“...Thank you, dad.” She smiles, pulling the shirt on over her other shirt and holds it out to look at it. She reaches over to hug his arm. “I love it.”

“I’m glad you do.” He wraps his arm around his daughter in a half hug. “So how’s mom been doing?”

“Mm.” Akira frowns, sitting up and sees a spider crawling down her father’s neck, her own moving in her hair. “Mom is okay, I guess.”

“How’s that drunk idiot of hers? Has he been treating you right?” He asks, turning towards her. “Do I need to have a talk with him?”

“No...”

“He hasn’t hit you or your mom again, has he?” Her father asks seriously, taking one of her hands.

“No, he hasn’t...I normally just go to my room after I get back from work.”

Her dad huffs.

“Dad, I wish I could live with you.”

“You know I would love for you to come and live with me but my line of work is too dangerous for you.” He explains as the car stops at a red light, he sighs. “How about this...you’re 17, old enough to have your own apartment; Why don’t we find you one to rent?”

“But I only work at a small store.”

“I know, I’ll pay the rent for you to live there but...you have to keep your grades up, understand?”

“Really?” Akira looks at him with a surprised look in her eyes, perking up when he nods. “Oh my gosh, dad; thank you!”

“I’ll come visit when I can but I want you staying out of trouble.” He pets her head when she hugs him. “It’s probably for the best to get you out of that house, I really don’t like that man your mothers married to.”

“I honestly don’t think mom does either, they kind of just put up with each other at this point.” Akira twirls her hair as she mutters this, briefly glancing out the window only to see a hero fighting another villain farther down the street; Not just any hero but All Might. “Dad!”

She turns to face the window in a mixture of awe and fear for her father.

“Should we take a different route, sir?” The man driving asks, last thing they need was for the number on hero to spot them.

“Take us to the business district so I can take my daughter shopping for her new apartment.” Her father says, eyeing the fight as the driver takes a turn to drive in the opposite direction.

“...Have you ever fought All Might?” Akira asks, turning in her seat to watch the hero fight and hears her father laugh.

“Oh no, never; I’m a bad guy, not brainless.” He shakes his head, glancing over his shoulder to look out the back window with his daughter. “Nah, he’s one hero I’d like to never meet.”

“I’d like to meet him.” Akira turns around and glances down at her shirt, smiling. “I got to meet Present Mic a few months ago at work, I was so happy and it was right after having to deal with this really entitled woman; Him and Eraserhead defended me though.”

“Eraserhead, huh?” Her father raises a brow, the name seem to perk his interest. “I know him, he’s been giving some of my boys a hard time down by the docks.”

Akira lowers her head, trying to hide her face from her father.

“Yeah...he’s a really cool hero too.” She says, peeking at him from the corner of her eyes. He’s shaking his head and rubbing his eyes; Must be hard being a villain and your daughter just happens to be a hero fan girl.

“Is there any hero you don’t like?” He jokes, resting his head against his hand.

“Endeavor, he’s kind of scary.” She mumbles, shivering; He’s so cold and intimidating, he’s probably the last hero she‘s want to run into by accident. “I saw him once on my way to school talking to Hawks, he seemed really annoyed with him.”

“Nice to know that even the hero community has it’s drama.” He chuckles, getting out of the car after the driver parks it. She gets out after him, circles the car with her ita bag with Present Mic charms and buttons on it.

“Speaking of drama...” She follows behind him as he lights up a cigarette. “There’s this guy in one of my groups...he’s kind of weird.”

“What do you mean by that?” He asks, puffing our smoke as she pulls out her phone and pulls up the user’s profile.

“He’s a Mic fan too but...I dunno, he’s gives me red flags.” She says, scrolling through his blog to show her father some of the photos of Mic he took. “I think he’s a stalker.”

“Celebrities have stalkers all the time, sweetheart.” He tells her, patting her head.

“But this guy is really creepy, posts weird fantasies about him-“

“Some people are just weird, Akira.” Her father says, flicking his cigarette and stops right outside of a store to stomp it out. “But you gotta remember that Mic is a pro hero and he can take care of himself, don’t worry about it. Block and report him if he’s bothering you, alright?”

“Alright.” She tries to smile but it falls when he turns from her to go into the store. Akira couldn’t shake the feeling of there’s something wrong with this guy, something bad...but her dad is right, Mic is a pro hero after all...

Doesn’t mean she’s going to stop worrying.

#stalker au #saltywithsarcasm

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lokilickedme · 6 years

Text

Okay so I promised a bunch of pics from ScotFest 2018, and I’ve been stuck posting from my phone for the last two days so - sorry for the delay, but here we go with the good stuff. It’s long, but stay with me, you’re gonna enjoy this mad trip.

First, let me say this.

FUUUUUCCCCCCCKK. I knew I was gonna be having McClary flashbacks the whole time but it started out ridiculous and just got worse as the day went on.

The moment we pulled up the first thing that stepped into view was a dude in an anarchy tee shirt with a kilt and Docs and long black hair strutting down the sidewalk. If Chem!Tom was Scottish...oh wait a sec, didn’t he say at some point that he was a bit, on his mother’s side? Works for me. So anyway, we arrive at ScotFest and walk the long way to the shuttle bus pick-up with a bunch of kilted guys and an elderly couple dressed in ancient clan clothing (they looked awesome). And before we even get off the bus at the festival grounds, we’re blasted with bagpipe music as a full regalia marching pipe band parades past the entrance. Something smells REALLY.GOOD. and off to the left of the entrance is a field where two Mol-pups are chasing sheep around while their shepherd whistles commands loud enough to split your head open. Yep, McClary flashbacks, right off the bat. And big Scottish athletes are throwing things that don’t look like they were meant to be thrown, though the biggest and most impressive athletes on the field are the females who are using pitchforks to hurl big bags of sand backwards over their shoulders over a bar that’s about 20 feet above their heads. Big is looking at me like “What the hell, mom??” so I tell him the ancient Scots were farmers and they made games and competitions out of their farm chores. He’s like “No, I mean why are you breathing so hard?”

No comment. Did I mention that the females were really impressive? Good start to the day.

So we move on past the games into the main festival area and everywhere are man-knees. I’ve never really paid much attention to man-knees before, but to be honest they’re kinda...hot. I don’t even know why. And there were so many of them...hundreds and hundreds of man-knees on open display, it’s almost like I shouldn’t be looking but they’re RIGHT THERE all over the damn place and I feel like a pervert scamming peeks. And calves. Man calves. Not normally a fan, but there were some good ones on display.

The first thing we did was hit the tribal music tent and it was over for me before it even got good and started...because on the stage inside the tribal music tent was THIS Scottish god:

Don’t worry, the picture quality will get better. So we settle in to enjoy the music and this guy is eating up the stage and spanking the shit out of that drum, and then he starts blowing on a flippin’ didgeridoo (yeah, a nine foot long Australian horn, don’t ask me why but omg that man’s lung power was making the ground rumble under our feet and all I could think was how that skill might carry over, if you know what I mean).

Suddenly I’m really interested in nine foot horns.

A really cool thing about hitting the afternoon shows was the fact that you could go right up to the side of the stage and nobody cared. So I did.

Physically painful, let me tell ya. I could just almost look up his skirt.

That horn is vibrating the ground where I’m standing and I’m actually relieved when he switches back to the drum because all that vibration has shifted my panties about two inches to the left and it’s getting uncomfortable. The drum isn’t much better though, and neither is the view from where I’m standing - he’s a big stout bull and I’m three feet away from him while he beats that drum to a whimpering death. I could reach out and tickle his bare knee if I felt like getting divorced.

So I go back and sit with my guys again and he starts doing this:

KNEES. I mentioned man-knees before, didn’t I? Well here, have a pair. I’ll post a video later of what he did to this poor little drum, and to his own thick neck - because I can’t even describe it, and you know words are my thing. He played his freaking adam’s apple or something, I don’t even know.

There were actually two other musicians on the stage with him, but I sort of forgot they were there.

There were also lots of adorable father/son kilted combos present - and yep, a bagpiper rounds out the onstage trio. But again...man knees. The ones on the left specifically.

So the show ends after a lot of insane drumming, war cries, didgeridoo blowing, bagpiping, and a really nasty little ditty about a girl who’s been touched so much she’s smooth as a stairway bannister (followed by an anthem to an unhealthy relationship that proclaimed “I’d rather be drunk a thousand years than be sober one minute with you”). Nice, guys.

As soon as their set is over we leave the tent to go wander around, but most everyone else stays because it is as hot as the freaking surface of the sun on this day and the tent is like an oasis on Mars - which means when the band comes out to let the next band hit the stage, we’re pretty much alone outside with the bull and his two stagemates (sorry backup drummer and bagpiper, you guys were awesome and I loved you but didgeridoo guy vibrated my panties two inches to the left, you know how it is).

Anyway, we’re outside at the merch tent and Husband is buying something and I look up and nearly slam bodily into this:

Drummer/didgeridoo guy. I vaguely recall yelling to Husband during the deafening noise of the show that he looked like Aquaman, and when I end up face to face with him it’s confirmed. I think it’s the cranky eyebrow.

I also get to ogle the piper’s bagpipes up close and personal, which was hard to do as didgeridoo guy - whose name is CJ - is standing right behind me while I ooh and ahh over this weird thing, and he’s laughing at me for reasons unknown:

Maybe it was the stupid comment I made about squeezing the bag?

And then the three of them pose for a pic:

Goobers. At this point Little walks up to them and they all sort of huddle around him and start laughing (Little has light-blindness and has to wear special shades outside so he was half blind and I think he rammed right into the guy with the hat), so I hand my phone to Husband and go to get him. When I get close, didgeridoo guy puts an arm the size of a tree trunk around me and hugs me up next to him while the other two are tickling Little. Husband starts snapping pics with my phone, but no, I’m not sharing them because 1) my face, 2) Little’s face, 3) shellshock at being touched by this stud ox without having initiated it myself, and 4) the look on my face clearly says MY PANTIES ARE CROOKED AND HIS SWEAT IS SOAKING THROUGH MY SHIRT AND PHEROMONES PEOPLE OMG PHEROMONES I’M IN PAIN HELP I MAY BE PREGNANT

Yeah, he was drenched in sweat from jumping all over that damn stage schlepping a drum that probably weighed more than me. My hand was on his back and it came away soaked. You can consider that a euphemism if you want, it works both ways.

Also - red boots. Urgh. And then he goes like this:

Boy was solid as a whiskey barrel, let me tell you. We came back later to listen to another band and he was out there again, and the girls from the face painting tent had lured him over and braided his hair. He looked flippin cute. And by cute I mean Jesus Wept.

So before this turns into an exclusive didgeridoo guy fest (too late, yeah I know) let’s move along to this fine specimen that I found at the blacksmith tent:

Ladies and gentlemen, meet King McClary’s work kilt.

Dude was nice from the front too:

Definitely an Auchinleck, for those of you familiar with The McClary Chronicles. Check out the tattoo. And he was making maille battle armor, which I got to touch. It didn’t shift my panties quite as hard as the drums did, but there was definitely a quiver.

This guy was at the tent next door to the armor tent, making I dunno, bong pipes or something and he was hilarious:

And then there was this guy, listening to ballads in the historical folk music tent and looking all angsty and authentic, like his love just died of a fever and his crop failed so he joined a ships’ crew to find his fortune in a faraway land but the damn boat sank fifteen feet from shore and now he’s just fucking stuck in Scotland and contemplating becoming a villain:

And he was glaring at my child, I don’t know why. Prissy prick. I was hoping to see his dick but he was so anal he tucked his kilt under his ass from the front. Definitely a villain.

After a couple of teary ballads about wailing winds and failed crops or whatever, I dunno, I wasn’t listening because I was too involved in trying to see Prissy Prick’s ballsack, we wander over to the Highland Dance competition and walk in on this:

We’re in there for all of about twelve seconds before Big starts giggling, then Little starts giggling, then I start giggling. We promptly leave the Highland Dance competition tent, because these girls really worked hard and I don’t want to get arrested for being a dick.

We go watch the Mol-pups chase the sheep around, because nobody cares if you disrupt the proceedings in the middle of a field full of sheep.

And then we watch some more of the Highland Games, in which guys threw stuff while making the best faces I’ve seen since that time Husband wanted to try setting the mirror next to the bed:

Yeah, we giggled.

After that we went back to listen to some more music, because damn. Scottish rock is da bomb. Heard a punk band that Husband immediately fell in love with, so I guess we’re evensies on the lusting after Scottish musicians thing now:

Dude on the bagpipes grinned like that through the whole set, I think he was puffing something out of one of those tubes.

And then we walked out into the big freaking middle of about four billion of these:

Noisy effers. And they don’t stop for anybody - we literally had to jump out of the way because when they paused in front of us, they went into this formation thing and backed up right into where we were standing. Had to grab Little and yank him up off the ground before he was trampled by some dude wearing a dress and giving an octopus a blow job.

Turned to look at a woman sitting next to us a little later and watched her pull a dagger out of her sock and shine it on her kilt like she was getting ready to go assassinate someone in the crowd. We left soon after, so I didn’t get to see it go down. I hope it wasn’t the didgeridoo player, he was cute AF.

All in all it was an 11/12 day, marred only by the outrageous heat and the fact that I’ve been off my supplements and medications for a week in prep for surgery on Tuesday, so I was exhausted and my blood’s gone back to being water again. We didn’t stay as long as we would have otherwise, but we had fun and experienced a lot of weirdness - I ate haggis on accident, Husband sat down with a plate and I thought it was meatloaf (it was good and I didn’t die, so bonus) - and I got to spend the day surrounded by all the clans that tried to assassinate Thomas The Fucking Marauder.

We’ll be going again next year. Husband is a descendant of one of the border clans, so he’s heavy into this...and of course you all know what my connection is to it :)

Let me leave you with a picture of a guy about to bullrush a scarecrow. I don’t know why, I didn’t ask. Scotland’s weird, ya’ll.

#ScotFest 2018 #long post

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franeridart · 6 years

Note

Do you care for any of the dekusquad?

I care for most if not all hero-related characters in bnha! But if with care you mean if any dekusquad member is between my favorite characters/if I care enough about any of them to draw them more than once every blue moon, then my Todoroki tag might tip you off, there lol

Anon said:Will you ever draw Bakukamikiri again? I rlly loved how you did them!!

Thank you!!! And I think I will, though I don’t have any project to do so in the near future, sorry!

Anon said:Soo KyouHaba day (6/16) is coming up and was wondering if you could do some seijoh next gen stuff. Yahaba is often forgot about a and Kyoutani isn’t really included in a lot of Aoba Johsai stuff. Feel free to not do anything just suggesting something

Aw sorry anon but I don’t have the time to do day-themed stuff right now! KyoHaba is currently the hq ship I’m most likely to draw for, though, since they’re the only ones I’m still reading fics for! So I don’t think any will come around 6/16, but I don’t exclude I might draw them anyway in the near future! :D

Anon said:Omg your taking part in a zine!! I’m so excited! And it’s a BakuSquad one too! Ik I’m definitely going to be buying it when pre-orders open up!

I’m taking part in TWO zines, actually!! Both the @takemyhandzine and the @sixthwheelzine !!!!! I’ll be making comics for both, and if you do decide to buy either I really hope you’ll like them!!!!

Anon said:whats a zine?

In general, a zine is an amatorially published magazine! Specifically tho here we’re talking about fanzines, so magazines put together and published by fans for other fans! The ones I’m taking part in are both about kiribaku, and will include both fanart (fancomics included) and fanfics! Depending on how much you wish to spend on it, you can also buy a bundle with fanmade merch too, and the Sixth Wheel zine is gonna have a pdf version too, in case you’d prefer to buy it like that! They’re super cool projects I’m insanely happy I got invited to take part in!!!!

Anon said:Your art style is so pretty and I love to see your amazing bnha drawing on my dash

There is literally no way I could ever stop being into d gray man ever and I’m also still following hq’s manga, yes! I dunno if and when I’ll draw for either fandom next, tho, sorry! ;^;

Anon said:Everytime you draw kiribaku I gain 1 life,,,,, tysm I love ur art SM ur such an inspiration,,,💖💖💖

Oh my g o d s thank you so much ;^;

Anon said:Your Kiridragon is the cutest, I love him and want Katsuki to protect him forever. Thank you for sharing that last story with us!!! (Ps. Can we expect more Kiridragon adventures in the future? *puppy eyes*)

Thank you for liking him!!!!!! And if you’re talking about the fantasy AU in general, I’ll 100% for sure draw more for it! If you’re talking about them as kids tho I can’t say for sure - I definitely want to, tho, right now!! ;^;

Anon said:As a suggestion, could you maybe do Kiri*Deku, whether it be romantic, platonic, or misinterpreted by Bakugou and he takes Kirishima because that’s his sunshine boy thank you very much, get your own

Aw anon sorry but krdk is…………. really not my thing, so I don’t take suggestions for it ;-; I might end up doodling them in the future anyway since I have in the past, but that’s only gonna be if I find an idea I really really really wanna draw, I’m sorry

Anon said:Just wanted to say that I love your art and I just went through a majority of your blog. But I noticed you used to draw erasermic but haven’t recently and I was wondering if you still ship it??? It’s okay if you don’t or if you just haven’t gotten the inspiration recently, I’m just curious. Anyways, keep doing what you do and being amazing

Thank youuuu!!!!! And I’ve actually always drawn erasermic super sporadically! They’re one of my main ships in the fandom honestly, but since they’re sorta hard to draw for me I rarely end up drawing them? I do still love them with all my heart tho! You can expect to see more of them in the future, for sure ;u;

Anon said:I came for my kiribaku fix (it HAD to be him I’m dying all over again) but. God ur art always blows me tf away ur so good and skilled and ur improvement in like… everything inspires me SO much so bless u and I hope u have a WONDERFUL day

I’m so glad I can inspire anyone, oh my g o o o o o o d ;O; thank you so so much!!!!

Anon said:Wow your dragon kiribaku art is so cute! Will there be a sequel!

Not for the immediately after, for now! Since Horikoshi is yet to give me the official design for Kiri’s mom //sob - but as I said up there I do want to draw more with them as kids in the fantasy AU, so maybe, yeah!!!

Anon said:I absolutely love EVERY SINGLE facial expression that Bakugou makes in your Fantasy Babies comic strip. He’s such an unapologetic little shit.

THANK YOU!!!!! I was mostly trying to convey the fact that he’s too young to think about the consequences of his actions before doing stuff like calling the rage of a dragon mom upon his city l m a o glad you liked him!!! :D

Anon said:The way you draw the baby bois has me weak 💖💕❤️💗💞💓💝 That baby dragon Kiri 💯💯💯💖💖💖😊😊😊

Thank you so muuuuuucccchhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:EYYYYY! Love your art, the newest comic made me laugh so hard that I almost chocked to death :D (Jk, I just couldn’t breathe normally) God bless youuuuuuuuuu

I’m SUPER HAPPY it made you laugh!!!!!! heck!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;^;

Anon said:You content makes my heart go doki doki doki doki doki

THANK!!!! YOU!!!!! SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:the way you draw wings is so cool, i love it. your art is just amazing in ggeneral to be honest, like akjdjkhdlkdl

AAAAHHHHHHHH I’M HAPPY YOU LIKE THEM I have so much fun drawing them, honestly!!!

Anon said:I love the fact that mina and kiri are cannonically childhood friends (middle school counts as childhood right??) Like I love their friendship so much and they both deserve the world.

Real, they’re adorable and I wish Horikoshi would actually have them interact a bit more in the manga, since as for now their scenes together are pretty much non-existent aside from their backstory ;^;

Anon said:THEY ANIMATED IT!!! THE HAND GRAB!!! IT’S IN MOVING COLOUR!!!

HELL YES I DIED IT’S BEEN NEARLY A WEEK AND I’M STILL DYING WHAT A BEAUTIFUL TIME TO BE ALIVE

Anon said:You with your beautiful beautiful art and Chonideno with her beautiful beautiful writing about Kiri and Bakugou makes my heart so happy and warm and just… Thank you for existing and love Kiribaku! I don’t know, your art makes me so happy

Ohhhhhhhhhhh boy what an honor to be put at the same level as mag ;^; I love her and her writing so much, honestly !!!!!! thank you so so much for the compliment, anon!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:Kirishima braiding his hair while he talks is both adorable and relatable. Thank you for that.

I’m!!!! mostly happy you caught it hahahaha thank you !!!!!!

Anon said:Hey. You seem insecure but your art is great. What kind of color scheme do you see for Hawks?

Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I honestly don’t like thinking about stuff I think Hori will give me in canon soon enough? But out of instincts I mostly imagined him in shades of brown, I think - typical birds of prey and/or aviator colors, you know!

Anon said:I love ur drawings but i also love reading ur tag. They re so funny sometimes

lmao that’s good too!! As long as I can make people enjoy a couple of moments of their time I don’t really mind how I do it hahaha

Anon said:your art is beautiful anfndfnd

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:Hello fran, just wanted to say i’ve been here for a long long time (since the h/q times :‘o) and today i was thinking about some of your old art and if you remember, you had a soulmates au for b/n/h/a that was super good and i really loved so i wanted to tell you!! You as an artist have such an impact on me and that au is my fave of yours!! ;0; have the nicest day ever!! -soulmates anon (4 future ref!!!)

OH MAN I’m so happy to hear you still remember that one?? It was such a fun experiment to play around with, I’m glad you liked it this much!!!! Thank you for telling me omg !!!!! ;^;

Anon said:Hi, so where did you go to watch Haikyuu (I’m assuming probably Crunchyroll but ya never know) and where might I find the dubbed version?

Aw anon sorry I don’t watch the dubbed version! Since I’m Italian, I don’t really have much use for the English dubs haha I’m pretty sure you can find it on kissanime, tho!

Anon said:could you briefly go through the process of making and completing one of your comics? I wanted to start some short bnha comics but idk where to start, thank you!

Sorry this took me an age to answer - I have answered this question a while back, I think it might be in my art tips tag! But to go through it fast, my process is something like

find a line or an exchange I want to deliver, or a topic I want discussed (usually happens randomly as I’m doing other things)

spend a million years just staring at a wall or at my ceiling or anything else as I build a whole scene in my mind to have the lines or topic take the form of an actual comic (might take two minutes, might take a month)

draw a rough sketch of the whole comic - I do this with all panels (and pages, when I separate a comic in pages) on the same canvas, so that I can look at the whole scene all together and get a good sense of the general flow of the storytelling. This process includes cutting panels, moving panels around, reshaping panels, trying different poses and angles for the same panels to find the right one, writing and deleting and re-writing lines till I’m sure the wording is what I’m going for*

line the panels - I mean the actual panels, the straight lines delimitating the panel, I line them all first and put them on a separate layer

line the people!! All the characters in every panel are lined in this stage

line the backgrounds! In case there are backgrounds and the comic is meant to stay in black and white, if not then color the backgrounds! (I always start coloring from the backgrounds cause they’re the boring parts and if I leave them for last I never do them ever #rip)

in case of black and white comics, we fill in flat, gray-scale colors at this point (or, as I’ve lately started doing, I only put down shadows and leave it at that). If it’s in colors, we color the people!

Write down the dialogue!! *at this point we change a lot of the dialogue again because enough time has passed since I sketched it that I changed my mind on everything, don’t be like me

you’re done!

All of it is done on one single canvas, unless it’s a comic with separate paneled pages in which case they’re all done on their own canvas but still drawn all together. That’s about it, hope it was at least a little bit useful!

Anon said:Hi! I just wanted to thank you for your art, especially your KiriBaku. I was exactly in the same situation than Bakugou in the post tagged “bakugou being blunt about his feelings” (except we are 2 girls) , so I used it to confess to her. She said yes! X3

OH MY GOD I’m so super happy to hear that!!!!! Congrats on your gf, anon!!!!!! *throws hearts at u*

#fran answers #im back to not answering asks i mean to draw for #if you never see those asks answered #im sorry im a f disaster #anyway about that first ask!!! todoroki is actually one of my main faves!!!!#i don't have enough ideas for him but if i did i'd always be drawing him t b h #oh also #art tips #cause there's something like that in this #tho it's just more or less my comic making process #which can be summed in 'think about something for a million years!!!' and then 'rush through it in half a day!!!!!!'#im #such an organized person am i n o t #:)))))))))))))))#anonymous

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finn-nelson-for-the-win · 6 years

Text

Before the World Stops Turning: Pt. 10

Hello my lovelies! Alas, after about 2 long months, this story has finally reached its conclusion. I’m beyond excited for you all to see how the events of this chapter unfold, so without further ado…

Everything I’ve written can be found right here!

I hope you enjoy this chapter! (Keep an eye out for my final additional notes/random commentary about this chapter and the story overall at the end beneath the tags!)

***

Finn sat with his back against the wall of the venue distractedly watching the stage crew and members of the different bands performing tonight as they unpacked equipment and instruments from the back of one of the white vans in the parking lot in front of him.

Despite Finn’s apparent confidence when it came to actually performing on stage in front of large crowds of people, the hours leading up to each show left Finn a nervous wreck and when it got bad enough, he had a tendency to chain-smoke to help calm some of his pre-show jitters.

Finn lit up his fourth consecutive cigarette since he managed to break away from the rest of the band after they arrived at the venue in Danny’s van and pulled the small, leather-bound notebook from the pocket of his jacket that was draped over one of his legs.

When Finn was inspired, he always found that song lyrics and writing music came naturally to him; however, this summer he has been suffering from the worst case of writer's block he had ever experienced. As he read over the most recent lyric idea he had come up with after more difficulty that he would care to admit, Finn tried to draw inspiration for a new song or find a way to make that line fit with one of the various other songs he started but would likely never be able to finish.

We may be young and making dumb mistakes,

But we’re still learning the reasons why.

Just living life before the worlds stops turning…

Finn snapped his head upright and looked up from his notebook when he heard the rear door to the venue swing open and he saw Archie and Chop exit and walk along the wall of the building before sinking down to the sidewalk on either side of where Finn was sitting.

“Where are Alex and Danny?” Finn asked as he closed the leather notebook and returned it to the pocket of his leather jacket before flicking his cigarette butt into the small pile forming on the ground in front of him.

“Sound checking the instruments to make sure everything is sounding good. They sent us out to check on you because they said that you’ve been in a mood all day”

“I’m fine, Arch. Just amazed that the whole summer is basically over...it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be.”

“You did write and record a lot of music though! That’s really good, mate!” Chop said with a wide smile and reassuring nod.

“Yeah, I guess so…” Finn trailed off as he began examining his fingernails closely to give him something else to focus on.

Chop leaned over and pat Finn on the back as a comforting gesture before standing up from his seated position and walking back into the venue through the door beside them.

“Have you heard from Rae at all this summer?” Archie asked quietly to help fill the silence that was hanging in the air between him and Finn.

“No...ever since I lost my phone and had to get a new one with a new number, I didn’t have my contacts saved or anything so she didn’t have my new number and I didn’t know her number to reach out to her instead…”

“What about on social media? Did she try to reach out to you at all on there?”

“She might’ve, but it’s not like I would have even been able to see any messages she sent. After I lost my phone, my social media account got locked and I’ve been emailing support back and forth for the last month trying to get access of my account again, but nothing they’ve recommended has worked so far,” Finn explained with a mildly annoyed huff.

“Wow...that’s awful. I’m sorry, Finn.”

“S’alright,” Finn replied with a shrug and a sad smile.

“She might show up tonight, ya know? Both her and her mate seemed to be fans of our music...and from what I’ve seen and heard, Rae certainly seems to be quite the fan of you too”

“Hah! That’s unlikely...even if she did like me before this summer, she probably thinks I’ve been ignoring her texts and messages for the last month, which does not bode well for me at all if I’m trying to get her to like me back”

“You never know…” Archie added with a smirk which caused Finn to roll his eyes and chuckle lightly in response.

Finn looked up when he heard the distinct sounds of Chop’s laughter as he walked back out of the venue followed by Danny and Alex.

“Oi, are you two going to just sit around and chat all day or can you get off your arses and actually help the rest of us get set up for the show tonight?” Alex joked as the three of them walked past Finn and Archie towards where their band van was parked.

Archie quickly stood up and extended a hand to help Finn stand as well and the pair hurried towards the band’s van to help the others carry boxes of CDs and merchandise they were going to be selling at their merch table after the show. Even after unpacking and organizing the contents of their boxes on the table that they would be selling their items at after their performance, the combined effort of all five of them was more than enough to help them finish what they needed to do prior to the show in record time.

Since they had a significant amount of time to waste prior to when the doors for the show opened and they had to get ready to go on stage, the entire band decided to walk to a small shop down the road from the venue they were performing at to buy some drinks and snacks.

As they made their way back to the venue with their chosen sodas, bottles of water, and bags of crisps or candies Finn noticed that in that short time a significant amount of people had gathered in a line that wrapped around the venue leading to the entrance. Alex began walking ahead of the others and sprinted over to someone that was standing towards the middle of the line of concert goers waiting for the doors of the venue to be opened.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite physical therapy student! How is the ankle doing, Izzie?”

Finn overheard what Alex said as he walked nearer and looked over at them just in time to lock eyes with Rae, who looked just as surprised to see Finn as he was to see her. Finn did not break eye contact with Rae for a few long moments until Archie nudged his side with his elbow and Finn broke his stare to lift a hand and wave at Rae tentatively.

Rae returned the wave and gave Finn a quick smile before turning away from him to resume the conversation she had been having with her mate before Alex had interrupted.

Finn remained quiet as he kept walking and he soon noticed that Alex had caught back up with them as they entered the venue through the back entrance.

“Uhm, hey…” Finn began hesitantly as he tried to think of the best way to initiate this conversation, “so what was all that about and how do you know Rae’s mate, Izzie, so well?”

“She’s my first physical therapy student that I’ve had since I took the job full-time this summer!” Alex replied with a scoff as if to imply that the answer should have been obvious.

“Really? Why is she in physical therapy?” Archie asked before Finn had the chance to ask the same question.

“She got pretty badly injured during a dance performance at the end of the semester. It was actually the reason why she and Rae weren’t at our last show!”

“Our show back in May? What do you mean?” Finn asked with a look of confusion obvious on his face.

“Yeah! Izzie told me that Rae refused to leave her alone and she sat by her side in the hospital for hours while they examined her injury. She got injured the same day as our show, so the two of them had to miss it.”

“And you know all of this because..?” Archie asked as he rejoined their conversation.

“Izzie and I talk a lot about during our sessions,” Alex shrugged in reply.

Finn’s initial confusion had passed and as Alex’s words started to sink in, a sudden realization caused a wave of annoyance to wash over Finn.

“Hmmm, I see...And not once in the last two months have you thought to tell me that you have a decently close friendship with the best mate of the girl that I’ve been losing my mind over for the entire summer...Am I understanding this whole situation correctly, Alex?”

“I dunno, mate...I didn’t think about it, I guess.”

Finn nodded silently and walked away to join Chop and Danny where they were currently sitting beside the stage and watching the concert goers shuffle into the venue and fill the crowd in front of the stage.

“Look, Finn...it wasn’t like I didn’t try to figure out what happened. I know that Rae is special to you mate, but Izzie and I both thought it would be best for you two to work it out yourselves. I really am sorry that I didn’t tell you about all this sooner. Are we alright, buddy?”

The joking tone that was almost always present in Alex’s voice was absent for the first time that Finn could recall and as he looked up at his band mate, it was not hard to see the sincerity of his apology.

“Yeah, mate, we’re alright,�� Finn reached up and clapped Alex on the shoulder before continuing with a small chuckle, “but you’re paying for the first round of drinks after the show tonight!”

Alex chuckled and groaned jokingly as the rest of the lads cheered in celebration.

“So Finnley...are my eyes deceiving me or is that your girl, Rae, standing in the crowd right now?” Chop asked with an eyebrow wiggle.

“Er, no...that’s her. I just—well, I just don’t know how to make things right with her or if she even tried to reach me at all in the last two months...I don’t see why she would’ve…”

“Rae texted and messaged you a lot in the beginning of summer, or so Izzie told me. I don’t think she knows that you lost your phone, so I can only imagine what this all seemed like for her...” Alex replied.

“Fuck,” Finn muttered under his breath as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, “I fucked up.”

“Well...sure things didn’t go as planned, but it wasn’t exactly your fault, Finn,” Archie replied in an effort to stop his mate from blaming himself too much.

“I really need to unfuck things up between Rae and me, huh?” Finn asked and he received a chorus of mumbles agreeing with him and nods from his band mates.

Finn stood up abruptly from the equipment case he had been sitting on, knowing that he needed to talk to Rae but with no real plan of how he should go about doing that, but he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him.

“Actually, as much as you would like to fix things with Rae right now, we first need to get warmed up. We do have a show to play, after all, and we go on stage in 15 minutes…” Danny said as he glanced down at the watch on his wrist.

Finn’s face fell slightly and he took a step back to lean against the equipment case he had been sitting on.

“Alright, don’t looks so sad Finney boy...This is fine! First we play the most kickass show of the summer, and then you can unfuck everything up and get your girl” Chop replied triumphantly, earning a small smile and a nod from Finn.

***

The music playing through the speakers of the venue between band sets came to a stop and the stage lighting shifted to signify that the next band that was scheduled to play was supposed to take the stage.

Finn trailed behind Danny alongside Alex and Archie as they walked on stage and found their respective positions on the stage. Finn scanned the crowd casually as he pulled the strap of his guitar over his head and adjusted it to sit comfortably on his shoulder.

Oh shit! There she is…

Finn could clearly see Rae and Izzie standing a short distance away from the stage on the side of the crowd closest to where Archie stood. When Chop finally walked on stage, the crowd went crazy and they immediately launched into performing one of their older songs that was always a crowd favorite.

“How’s it going ladies and gentlemen?” Chop called loudly into the microphone after their first song ended, “I see a few familiar faces in the crowd out there, but in case ya don’t know who we are, we’re a band that goes by the name ‘Kings and Queens’ and we’re here to blow your minds with some fucking amazing tunes! How does that sound to you all?”

The crowd erupted in cheers and applause and they transitioned right into the next song in their set. Despite Finn’s mind being focused on their performance enough to not make obvious mistakes, no matter how hard he tried to focus on what he was doing, his attempts were in vain and he found himself unable to stop looking at where he knew Rae was standing in the crowd.

After a few songs, Chop began talking to the audience when Finn grabbed the water bottle that was on the side of the stage beside the speaker closest to where Finn was standing. When Finn opened the water bottle and took a long drink from it, he saw Izzie lean over to Rae and whisper something in her ear out of his peripheral vision. At nearly the same time, Rae and Finn looked over at each other and Rae gave him a tight-lipped smile before turning around and navigating her way out of the crowd with Izzie trailing closely behind.

Fuck! They’re about to leave and I didn’t even get my chance to talk to Rae!

“Okay our next song is actually a song that our handsome guitarist here, Finn, wrote after he met a very special girl that came into his life unexpectedly and from the first time he saw her she rocked his world and turned his whole life upside down…”

Chop gestured to Finn—who had been watching Rae and Izzie leave the crowd until he heard his mate mention his name—which made him smile sheepishly and run a hand through the back of his hair in embarrassment, thus earning loud cheers from nearly every person in the audience.

“She really does make Finn do and say some pretty stupid shit, but what can I say? You’re intoxicating, babe!”

The crowd was still cheering loudly, but when Finn looked out into the crowd to find Rae, there was no indication that she was anywhere in sight.

“I know you’re out there in the crowd somewhere right now, baby girl, so hopefully you’re listening and you can see and hear how much of an effect you’ve had on our Finney boy here...this is our new song called ‘Alcohol or Love’...”

EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD STARTS TO BLUR,

NO ONE LEFT IN THE ROOM NOW BUT HER

JUST TAKE MY HAND BABE, JUST TAKE MY HAND

After playing their final few songs of their set, Finn and the rest of the band began to leave the stage after closing their set much in the same way that they close every show they play.

“I need to find Rae,” Finn said to no one in particular as soon as he was off stage and already putting his guitar away in its case as the others took their time leaving the stage.

Finn walked in the direction that he last saw Rae and Izzie walking away in during their set, but after looking for them for long enough that the next band had already taken the stage and was well into their set, Finn knew that there was no use in keeping up the search.

Well, I guess I missed my chance...if Rae really left, she definitely long gone by now…

Finn walked over to the merch table where Danny and Alex were currently selling CDs to a group of teenage girls that immediately asked for a picture and an autograph as soon as they saw him approaching.

When the small group of fans left and the other two at the table resumed their previous conversation, Finn looked around the venue and saw Chop and Archie near the stage on the opposite side of the venue. Finn furrowed his eyebrows in confusion when he saw the pair stop briefly and walk towards an area beside the stage that was out of Finn’s line of sight, but before long he saw Archie walking in the direction of the table where Finn was still sitting.

“Have you had the chance to talk to Rae yet?” Archie asked as he took a seat on the large equipment box behind their merch table where Finn was seated as well.

“No...I saw her walk away during our set and I tried to find her afterward but I think she might have left the show early…”

“I wouldn’t be so sure…”

“What do ya mean, Arch?”

“Oh, nothing...”

Finn looked over at Archie skeptically, but when he knew that Archie was not going to elaborate any further on the subject at this time, he simply shrugged and returned to selling CDs and chatting with the occasional fan of their band that stopped by their table to meet them.

When the show finally ended and the fans in the crowd began to disperse to buy merchandise and talk to the band members that were willing to meet fans, Archie stood from the equipment case and stretched before turning to face the others.

“Hey Alex, Danny...do you think you two can hold down the fort here at the merch table for a little while? Finn and I are needed elsewhere right now. I’ll be back in a little while and I’ll bring Chop with me too…”

“Yeah, of course!”

“We’ll be fine...go do what you gotta do…”

Danny and Alex replied before Alex leaned over and shoved Finn’s shoulder to coax him into standing up. Finn was still confused about what was going on, but he decided to follow where Archie was leading him nonetheless.

“Where are you taking me, Arch?”

“You’ll see…”

“Archie…”

“It’s fine, Finn...don’t worry about it!”

“Archibald!”

“Oh just shut up and follow me! I know you’ll be thanking me for this later…”

Finn begrudgingly followed Archie to the same area beside the stage where he had seen Archie and Chop stop a bit over an hour prior to this. Finn looked around this area off to one side of the concert venue where the stage lights were still shining and there were crews unplugging all the equipment on the stage and looked at Archie expectantly as he waited for Archie to explain why he brought him here.

“Okay, so Finn...now don’t get mad, but we knew that you wanted to make things right with Rae. But we also know how terrible with words you can be, and being in her presence certainly does not do you any favors.”

“What did you do, Arch?”

“Well, Chop and I crossed paths with Rae and her mate after our set and we decided that it was our responsibility as your best mates to help you unfuck up this whole situation...so Chop is over there explaining to Rae that you lost your phone and have been basically dead to the world in terms of you online presence due to a simple drunk night with the lads gone wrong...we couldn’t stand to think that she thought you were ignoring her, so we set the record straight and Chop has probably been talking her ear off for the last hour, so as long as you’re ready now, I think now is your chance to go talk to Rae!”

Archie grabbed Finn by the shoulders and spun him around to so he could see Izzie, Chop, and Rae a short distance away talking and laughing.

Rae looked up and locked eyes with Finn across the short distance separating them for a moment before giving him a wide grin and playfully rolling her eyes in response to something Chop must have said.

Before Finn could even fully register that he was moving on his own volition, he had closed the space between him and the others and he stood mere steps away from Rae, Izzie, and Chop.

“Hey, uhm...how’s it going, Rae?” Finn said hesitantly when he noticed a break in their previous conversation.

“Pretty good! And yourself, Finn?” She replied with a bright smile.

“Good too, I suppose…”

“Well Izzie, as riveting as this conversation is, I think it would be best if we left these two love birds alone, yeah?” Chop joked before gesturing for Izzie to follow him toward where Archie was still standing nearby.

“You got this mate…” Chop muttered as he clapped Finn on the shoulder with one hand before turning towards Rae and leaning in close to speak to her quietly, “Be gentle with my Finney boy, alright love?”

Chop pulled away and give the pair a smirk before walking away to join Izzie and Archie as they walked out of Finn’s line of sight to a different area of the venue.

“So…” Finn began hesitantly as he shifted his weight from one foot to another.

“So...you really lost your phone?” Rae asked with her eyebrow quirked.

“Yup”

“...in the middle of a bar fight?” Finn tried to gauge Rae’s tone when she asked this question, but he was unable to decide if she seemed impressed or disbelieving.

“Uh, yeah...sort of…” Finn mumbled before breaking eye contact with Rae to stare at the floor sheepishly.

“But Chop tells me that you were just standing up to some twats that harassed Archie?”

“Yeah, that part’s true too…”

“Huh…” Rae paused briefly and Finn looked up at Rae through his fringe to see her facial expressions when he saw a smile spread across her face, “That was really sweet of you.”

Finn returned the smile and a comfortable silence settled between them as a few moments passed before Finn gathered his thoughts enough to decide what he wanted to say.

“Rae, I—I swear that I really did want to talk to you and keep in touch this summer, but with losing my phone I basically got cut off from all forms of communication. And I only just found out that Alex has been seeing Izzie regularly for physical therapy sessions. If I had known sooner, I would have…”

“Don’t worry about it, Finn. I’ve know that he was her physical therapist for a couple of weeks now, but I figured if you wanted to talk to me, you would’ve found a way, so I didn’t try to use him as a middleman or anything.”

“Well still, I’m really glad to see that you made it out to the show tonight,”

“I’m glad Izzie and I decided to come out tonight too...I’m also glad that I was here to see you perform the new song you apparently wrote this summer that Chop was talking so much about.” Rae added with a smirk.

“Oh, yeah...that...he was exaggerating a bit, I assure you, but uh...I sort of thought you had left during our set because I saw you and Izzie walking out of the crowd and I was almost afraid that I had missed my only chance to make things right with you”

“Oh! Yeah, we were too close to the stage and it was really crowded and Izzie didn’t want to get stepped on by someone since her foot isn’t completely healed yet, so we found a little area next to the wall to stand by and still watch the performances.”

“That makes sense, I suppose,”

“Yup!” Rae popped the “p” at the end of the word as she reached forward to grab the black permanent marker that was sticking out of Finn’s shirt pocket, which caused Finn to cock his head to the side in confusion.

Rae grabbed Finn’s hand and brought it closer to her before turning his palm to face her as she used the marker to scrawl something across his hand.

“My phone number...I’m writing it on your hand so you can put it into your new phone. That way you won’t be able to use that as an excuse not the text me,” Rae said in response to the quirked eyebrow and look of confusion Finn was giving her.

“I’m putting your number in my phone right now!” Finn said as he hurriedly pulled his phone from the back pocket of his jeans and entered her phone number in as a new contact.

“So…” Finn said again when there is a break in the conversation.

“So...I have a bit of a request, if it’s not too much trouble…”

“What can I do for you, girl?”

“Well at the first concert I saw you perform at I got a picture with everyone except for you...and I wanted to see if I could get a picture with just you this time to make up for it, you know?”

“But of course, m’dear!” Finn replied with a grin before pulling his phone back out of his pocket, “Hey, mate! Can you please take a quick photo for us?”

The stage crew member that was currently packing up all of the equipment and wires that were still in a mess on the stage looked up when he realized that Finn was talking to him and he happily agreed and grabbed the cell phone from Finn while Finn and Rae prepared to take the picture.

“Alright...on the count of three say ‘cheese’!” the crew member said once he had brought up the camera on Finn’s cell phone.

Finn wrapped an arm around Rae and draped that hand gently over her shoulder, intentionally putting as little space between them as he possibly could while still respecting her personal space.

“Three”

Rae moved slightly closer to Finn until there was very little space between them as they waited for the photo to be taken.

“Two”

Finn looked over at Rae out of the corner of his eyes and he could clearly see the genuine smile lighting up her face and he knew that her smile went much deeper than just for the purposes of the picture.

“One”

A sudden burst of confidence came over Finn and as soon as the stage crew member taking the photo said “cheese” aloud to signal that he was taking the picture, Finn leaned over to gently press his lips to Rae’s cheek.

Rae pulled back after the photo was taken to stare at Finn, her jaw dropped in surprise, as a warm pink blush began spreading over her cheeks.

“What the fresh hell was that, Finn?”

“I dunno...you had to wait four months to get a proper photo with me, so I figured I might as well make it worth your while…”

“You cheeky bastard!” Rae added with a chuckle as she shook her head side to side in disbelief.

“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done that without asking you first. I didn’t mean to—”

Before Finn could finish his statement, Rae closed the distance between her and Finn again and crashed her lips against his, effectively shutting him up and ending his rambling.

Though the kiss came as a surprise to him, as soon as Finn registered what was happening, he started to return the tender kiss, but he soon felt Rae smile against his lips as she pulled away and ended the kiss almost as suddenly as she started it.

“I, uh...that was...I mean...wow! Er, do you want to maybe go and get a drink with me right now?” Finn finally managed to stutter out as he continued to struggle to regain his train of thought after the unexpected kiss with Rae.

“I’d like that”

Rae reached for Finn’s hand and interlocked their fingers together before she turned to face him, “Lead the way, Finn!”

Finn and Rae walk hand-in-hand towards the exit of the concert venue—attempting to ignore the cheers and wolf whistles from the other members of Kings and Queens and Izzie who was sitting with them behind the band’s merch table—and Finn could not wipe the blissed out grin off his face even if he tried to.

THE END :)

@arathewallflower @eveerez @tinakegg @hey1tskat1e @lurkernolonger @milllott @nutinanutshell @i-dream-of-emus @milymargot @vivammfd @bitchesbecrazy89 @mallyallyandra @kneekeyta @tothetardissterek

A/N: Yay! We finally made it to the end of this story. I don't really have too much to say in terms of author's notes for this chapter, but what's one of my posts without a bit of rambling and nonsense at the end, you know? Hahaha I just wanted to start by thanking all of you for reading this story, first and foremost, but also for letting me know what you all think of the story as it progressed and just in general for being so supportive and amazingly sweet whenever I post a new chapter. As 2017 draws to a close, I've started looking back on my year and realizing how much my life has changed over the last year, mostly for the worse. One good thing that did happen was that I rediscovered my love of writing and it's been a great outlet for me when things have been especially tough, so I have each and every one of you guys that follow me and read my writing to thank for that. ^_^ I know I promised 3 new chapters/fics this week, but I've been really busy with all that's going on in my life and the holidays, BUT as of right now I'm thinking all 3 things I wanted to post should be up on or before Christmas...idk, we'll see... Until next time: Stay awesome, my friends! :D

#Before the World Stops Turning #part 10 #mmfd #mmfd fanfic #my mad fat diary #my mad fat diary fanfiction #My writing #Finn-Nelson-for-the-win

29 notes · View notes

bcdaily · 7 years

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Thoughts on the LWYMMD video? Brilliant or petty? Even though I'm not a fan of her music, over the years I've wavered from respecting her as a good role model for young women and a feminist to also seeing some valid arguments for it being "white feminism" and her being phony. As a feminist, the hyper-criticism of her every move annoys the hell out of me, regardless of her faults. You always have well thought out opinions and I know you're a fan, so I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Well, I think there’s a lot of questions in here–because I super separate the ideas about the video/song vs. respecting her as a role model/feminist vs. being a phony. So I’ll just blather for awhile and see what sticks, hm? *grin*

(Also, under the cut, BECAUSE I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS WHO KNEW?)

In terms of LWYMMD–I don’t think brilliant or petty really applies, though I’m closer to the former than the latter. I actually disliked the song more before the video was released and Taylor flipped her hand in showing that the song is meant to be satirical and tongue-in-cheek, not a direct callout rant. I thought the video was funny and clever, addressing the past year’s shenanigans with pointed humor, both about them and (maybe especially) herself…which is likely the best way she could have addressed it. But that does open up the real question of…did she even HAVE to address it?

I think while this was ultimately a song about her life and how her identity is narrated and corrupted and whatnot, the general public was of course always going to see it as a Kanye/Kim/Katy/whoever song. Taylor doesn’t downplay that. She takes advantage of it. It was a marketing ploy she was banking on, which I don’t think anyone is going to deny. So I am left asking…necessary? Had she released new music ignoring all the drama of this year, just focusing on the music, would a single be any less scrutinized and picked apart? I’m not sure. Most of me thinks likely not–she would’ve been plowed with accusations of, “Oh, so it’s fine to address things in music when you’re the victim, but here when you’re less-than, you stay silent?” Which is an equally wrong interpretation of Taylor and her music as a whole, but no less of a prevailing narrative where she’s concerned. So I don’t think she’s gained any ground there. I can’t pick a true side on it. Whether it was necessary to come out with a single like this or not, it’s what she did, and I think it’s the best way she could have addressed it if she was going to address it at all.

LWYMMD is fun. It’s catchy. It’s not new–even in terms of a satirical delve into her public persona, “Blank Space” did it first and–I would argue–infinitely better, both in terms of music and message. So if asking, “Is this one of Taylor’s great hits?” Psh, no. Not even close. But I see what she did and I understand it, so I’ll let her have it. The song gets stuck in my head, LOLed real hard at the video, and I’m not mad about it. So it’s doing it’s job, right? RIGHT.

OKAY NEXT QUESTION:

I’m of the firm mind that questions like the ones asked above about LWYMMD and questions about Taylor as a role model/feminist/phony are two very different things. And I think there’s two super important things to note about Taylor straight off:

1) She’s been doing this since she was 16. She was young. She is growing and learning as we’re all growing and learning, and the expectation that she is–or ANYONE is–going to be a perfectly enlighten, socially conscious, feminist icon from womb to tomb, every day of her life…that’s not real. For ANYONE that’s not real, much less someone who, yes, has spent her most formative years in a place of EXTREME PRIVILEGE…but roll with me. She’s human. She’s learning. We can SEE that. Let’s welcome the progress, and let her learn to fix what’s still broken. If we’re going to make her a line graph of personal enlightenment, I’d say hers is still on the slow but steady incline. I respect the hell out of that.

2) SHE. IS. A. BUSINESS.

I separate these two things out because I think it’s really really important to acknowledge both sides. I personally think Taylor is a great role model for young girls. She is smart, strong, and successful. She dominates in her music. She is a fantastic songwriter, an extremely talented business woman, and I think has very much come to learn that what she says and does matters. Does that mean she’s always perfect? No. Is she speaking out or advocating about everything you think she ought to be? Nope. Is the TS Brand™ universal to all women? Nahhhh. But I do think she’s getting better. She seems to be working to get better, constantly and consistently. That’s something to acknowledge.

That being said…she is a business. And with that comes innate, possibly unstoppable hurdles in terms of her not exploiting the privileges she has. She is a very wealthy, heteronormative, conventionally attractive, white female. Her core fangroup finds themselves usually within the venn diagram of these same intersecting attributes. It’s why she can do things like set up a (ohgod) reward system based on buying her merch to merely get access to tickets to her shows. It’s why she can make mistakes, or stay silent on issues, or spend three years fighting a sexual assault legal battle, without much backlash on herself or have it affect her life. ALL of these are privileges she has, and because she is a BUSINESS, I think whatever Taylor may think on a personal level about any of these things, the privileged Business side gets just as much say. And that’s not going to stop any time soon.

That, I do think, is where the white feminism comes in. In that natural conflict between Taylor the Person, Learning vs. Taylor the Brand, Selling. I’m…hardpressed to see if that will ever go away. But I think in the past few years, she’s been trying to juggle that better. And again, I respect her for that.

I don’t personally see that conflict as phony. I see it as human. One that everyone deals with. She’s just doing it with everyone watching Every Little Thing She Does, for better or worse.

Oh my god, now I’m tired. I wrote too much. But basically, I love Taylor. I think she is stellar and talented and so so smart, and growing and frightfully imperfect in the same way that a million other young women these days are. Lord knows I am. So I get that. And I’m willing to see where it goes.

Will any of this make sense come morning? Lol, dunno. Hope it makes sense now. I’m sleepy.

#bee talks taylor #Anonymous

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acecorvid · 7 years

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Almost Not Really [Spideypool fic]

ssree said: Spideypool: Peter gets a Deadpool hoodie. And it's the awesomest, comfiest hoodie ever, and he isn't giving it up no matter what people say about Deadpool.

prompts are open again!

"Woah! Dude!” Harry stopped in front of him, eyes wide and alarmed, staring at Peter like he wasn’t wearing pants.

Peter looked down. He was wearing pants. Awesome. “What?”

“The sweater.”

This morning his limited edition Deadpool hoodie had arrived in the mail. Limited edition for several reasons most of which involved Deadpool being somewhat of a criminal and not entirely popular with the majority of citizens or other heros. Peter, however, thought this was the comfiest damn sweater he’d ever worn in his life. It was quality fabric, Wade had definitely found the right people to sell his design - which looked amazing. It was the perfect shade of red, the Deadpool logo was part of the shirt instead of this stuck on crap that would eventually peel off, and there were thumb holes.

“It is. The. Best. Hoodie.”

Harry narrowed his eyes, looking Peter up and down once more. “Are you sure you’re ready to go to class wearing that? He’s not exactly… Yeah, y’know what,” Harry pulled out his phone, “I’ll just film it. It’s fine.”

Thus began a day of Peter responding to comments like:

“You know he’s a criminal, right?”

“It’s criminal how comfy this hoodie is.”

And:

“He’s killed people.”

“This sweater is killing me with how soft it is.”

And, of course:

“Spider-Man’s a better hero than Deadpool.”

“... True. But have you touched this hoodie to feel how much better it is than any hero? No hero is this soft. Scientifically speaking.”

For every comment he received, Peter had a comeback and Harry had a camera phone pointed in their face. He was going to upload it on youtube and then maybe Deadpool would see that he had at least one fan willing to buy his merch and defend him. Peter rolled his eyes. Wade would be thrilled.

“You do know,” Harry started and Peter squared his shoulder, “not that I’m dissing Deadpool or anything put your guard down, Parker. But if it’s the softness that’s making you wear it, you can get hoodies just as soft that don’t have a villain on it.”

“Deadpool’s not a villain, he’s a… a… an anti-hero.”

“Okay. But there are other hoodies.”

Peter wrapped his arms around his body, “But this is my hoodie.”

Harry blinked, put his phone down, and leaned over Peter’s desk. “You have a crush on Deadpool.”

Peter snorted and Harry grinned as if he had new information, something he could torment and blackmail him with - in a friendly way. Except Peter offered up a grin of his own, “Well duh.”

Instantly Harry deflated a little. “You were supposed to deny it.”

“Nah, it’s obvious. Also, he’s hot.”

“No one’s seen him without the mask.”

Technically speaking, someone had. He couldn’t be wearing a mask at all times and he wasn’t born with it on. There were people in the world that knew what Deadpool actually looked like. Peter was one of those people. He’d seen his face when he was Spider-Man and Wade got his ass handed to him - not by Peter, although Peter was fairly certain he could take him. Most of Wade’s costume got destroyed, including the mask. True, Wade wouldn’t be on the cover of a magazine any time soon but he was still attractive.

Peter shrugged, “I think his muscles speak for themselves.”

“You’re weird, Parker.”

“Very true, Osborn.”

Two hours later Peter got a string of text messages from Wade. They were a mix of unintelligible gibberish, completely unrelated and unusual emojis, and an unnecessary amount of capslock; but all of them could be traced back to Harry’s youtube video and exactly how proud and flattered Wade was that Peter was wearing his merch. There were a lot of exclamation marks.

***

“You know, I never thought about it before today when Harry brought it up… but I think Wade’s insecure about his face. I mean, I know he is. He insults himself all the time. The man is nothing if not self-deprecating. But he’s only ever shown me his face that one time and that was entirely on accident. Do you think I should do something? Tell him or show him or… I dunno… text him in emoji that I think his face is fine. More than fine. He’s hot. Seriously, he is a very attractive man and I am one hundred percent here for his face no matter how scarred it is. He thinks he’s ugly but that is a good face. We haven’t even kissed without our masks on. Oh frack, I haven’t even shown him my face. That’s bad, isn’t it? Gwen? Gwen, are you listening?”

Gwen lifted her headphones slightly off one ear, “Sorry, what was all that?”

Peter shot a small web in her direction, missing on purpose even though he’d love to web those headphones right off her head sometimes. “Stop being a little shit, Gwen.”

"Are you gonna stop wearing your boyfriend’s sweater on patrol?”

“No.”

“Then eat shit, Parker.”

Peter pouted under his mask, slouching on the roof they had been sitting on for the past twenty minutes. Nothing was happening in the city tonight. “You’ve gotten more attitude since you came back from that alternate universe.”

“Technically, I never came back. I was never here before, I was always there. Now I’m here. For the first time.”

He shot a web at her face this time but she caught it in her hand.

“Also, every version of me has attitude. Deal with it.”

She had him there.

“Now, go and tell your dumb almost-not-really-boyfriend that he has an almost-not-really-pretty face. I’ll handle patrol tonight, it’s boring anyway.”

“Aw, I knew you were listening.”

“You’re a pest, Parker.”

“And you’re the best, Gwen!” Peter jumped up and kissed her on the head through his mask before swinging away in the direction of Wade’s apartment.

***

Wade’s window was open when he got there, like it had been the last couple times Peter had visited. It was probably always open. The merc wasn’t exactly one for home security that wasn’t himself holding a sword or gun. Peter knocked anyway.

“Hey, Wade! You home?” He crawled inside, stepping lightly because he was never sure what he would find on Wade’s floor. Glass, blood, a severed limb, dozens of pancakes, bullets. The possibilities were endless.

No answer.

Peter checked his phone. Wade hadn’t sent him a text letting him know that he had a mission or anything. Normally he informed Peter when he was going to be away for a while.

“hey at ur place, can we talk?”

He sent the message and flopped down on the couch, thankfully not covered in guns this time, and played the waiting game.

Wade stumbled in through the apartment door fifteen minutes later wearing civilian clothes and holding a shopping bag. Under the hood of his black hoodie, however, he was wearing the Deadpool mask. Peter’s heart sank a little. He’d been out on the streets, buying whatever it was in the bag, and he put his mask back on to see Peter.

“Spidey! Hey! Keep being pretty right there on that couch, that hoodie looks fabulous on you. No really, the stuff of Vanity Fair and Cosmo - not Teen Vogue though, you are not Tom Holland. Little tyke is adorable but I’m thinking more Andrew Garfield, something for the college years. I’m gonna be right back, don’t move.”

Peter watched as Wade disappeared into his bedroom leaving the front door wide open. “What the…”

Normally, the crashing and banging wouldn’t be concerning. Nor would the excessive amount of swearing. But today, after whatever that was. Peter was a little worried. “Wade? Are you okay?”

“Go fuck a duck! How are you even stuck there?”

“Um…” Peter cautiously made his way over to the bedroom door but before he could knock, the door flew open. Wade stood there, clearly out of breathe underneath his mask, still wearing his jeans but his generic black hoodie had been replaced with a rather vibrant and detailed Spider-Man hoodie. “Wow.”

“Now we match!”

“You’re such a dork!” Peter was laughing as he wrapped his arms around Wade’s shoulder and tugged him close. “A very, very cute dork.”

“Really, Petey. I don’t think you understand that ‘ground up hamburger meat’ is the most accurate of all descriptions.”

“And I don’t think you understand that I think you’re hot.”

“But-”

“Yes, your butt is also hot. Stop fishing for compliments. Please take off your mask.”

Wade was silent, no doubt mulling this over. Confidence was something Wade had an overabundance of and, combined with his recklessness, that made it difficult to view Wade was someone with insecurities. A man without fear couldn’t be afraid of what people thought of him. That was a load of crap.

“You don’t have to.” The silence was killing him and he didn’t want to pressure Wade into anything he was uncomfortable with, no matter how desperately he wanted to see his face again. “I get it. But, when you’re ready, I’d like to-”

“Take it off.”

“Huh?”

“The mask. Show me yours and I’ll show you mine.”

Oh right. “Crap! I totally forgot this is why I came here! Yeah, duh.” He didn’t want to back away from Wade, but he did so he could reach up and tugged his mask off. His hair had to be a mess, sticking up in some places and patted down in others, but that didn’t matter. They were taking things further in their almost-relationship and that made him smile hard enough to distract Wade from the hair, he hoped.

“Well shit, I was right. L’uomo Vogue cover page right there.”

“Wade.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Wade hauled his own mask off. Less of a reveal since Peter had already seen him without his mask off but that was in dimmer lighting, during a fight, and Wade went to great lengths to not look at him directly. Now they were staring at each other in a well lit doorway.

“That makes two of us. Completely right.”

“Hamburger meat.” Wade nodded but Peter didn’t let him get very far with that thought process. He leaned back in, grabbing Wade by the front of his Spider-Man hoodie and tugged him close. Finally, he got to press his lips up against Wade’s without their masks in the way. Chapstick was definitely in order.

He sighed against his lips when Wade returned the kiss, pushing Peter back against the wall. Wade had a thing for pinning him against things that Peter was going to explore in the future, perhaps in an alleyway; but for now, he was quite content in kissing him.

Wade’s hands wrapped around him, gripping the back of Peter’s hoodie as he deepened the kiss. Peter was starting to have trouble breathing when Wade suddenly pulled away. “Wha-”

“Holy crap this sweater is comfy!”

Peter wasn’t even mad. “It really is.”

“They need to make a Spider-Man one. Right now. I like this one but I would wear this all day under my suit. It would look weird and I’d get some laughs, but I would commit. These are my muscles, they’re a little squishy but I assure you bad guy, I can take your head clean off with a punch… from my sword.”

“That’s nice, Wade. I think your enemies would appreciate you slamming into them with a comfy sweater.”

Wade grinned, “And I think a certain hero would appreciate it more if I were slammin-”

“Oh, you’re gonna have the weirdest dirty talk.”

“This is accurate. I regret nothing except-”

“Wade, shut up and go back to kissing me.”

“Done and-”

With a hand on either side of Wade’s head, Peter pulled him forward and kissed the rest of the words back into Wade’s mouth. Merc with a mouth was an understatement. But now he was a merc with a face, a face that he could kiss, while they were wearing matching hoodies. If they hadn’t been in a relationship before, they certainly were now.

#arrawrites #spideypool #gwen and peter banter is my new aesthetic #spidergwen is in this #marvel #mfic #spfic #fluff #ssree

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theliterateape · 6 years

Text

Managing a House for 50,000 People

By Don Hall

"Tiffany to Don."

The terrible analogue radio crackles in my left ear.

"This is Don. Go."

I'm on the southwest end of the park. It's hot. Really hot. Hot enough that one begins to question the sanity of standing out here, wearing all black, amidst 11,000 people listening to a world-class orchestra play Tchaikovsky. Tiffany is one of my 50 ushers. She has encountered an older couple who came out to the park to hear the music yet hadn't really thought through the difficulties of being post-70 years of age in heat that can only be described as Global Warming Hot as Balls HOT. The gentlemen is so overheated that he can no longer walk. They need a wheelchair.

"Copy that. I'm on my way."

I walk quickly to the Welcome Center on Randolph, check out a wheelchair, then navigate the unwieldy thing through throngs of casual walkers around to the east side of the the stage. It takes me around eight minutes and I'm sweating like I'd been in the volcano room at King Spa. The old man sits in the chair after navigating the fear of just falling on his ass while sitting down. They need to go to their car in the parking garage.

Tiffany shrugs. "I don't drive. I don't know the parking garage."

"I got it," I say with a forced smile.

I wheel the man and his wife through the bowels of the building. We get to the elevator and they can't quite remember what floor they parked on. They left their ticket in the car. We sit for a moment, as the garage is huge and the prospect of finding their vehicle with no concept of even what floor (of the seven levels) it is on is an impossible task.

"It's on three." "How sure are you?" "I'm pretty sure it's on three."

We go to three. No idea what section (3A? 3B? 3C? Jesus Christ…) they give me a description of the car and a license plate number and we set out through each aisle, each row, looking for the car. Thirty-five minutes later — with frequent radio calls for assistance that I direct while seeking an end to the labyrinthian journey I'm on — I spy their ride. They are relieved and thrilled. So am I.

The wife wants to tip me and offers me a dollar. I politely decline and send them on their way. I return just as the concert ends and just in time to set up the two recycling bins in the arcade for the ushers to dispose of the now outdated programs leftover from the weekend.

"So, what do you do?"

It's a frequent question as the term House Manager is like Events Consultant — amorphous and ever-changing based upon the needs of the room and the client.

When I worked as the House Manager for NPR's Wait Wait…Don't Tell Me! between 2007–2017, the job I inherited was vastly different than the one I left. The show was still sort of finding it's legs audience-wise and I came in on a standard taping. Rod, the senior producer at the time, told me, "Just watch how we're doing things and then make a list of things you could change to make it better experience for the audience."

I came in the next morning with five typed pages. I handed it to him, he handed it back without even looking up.

"Do this," he said.

So, for WWDTM, the House Management job developed into:

Redesigning and ordering program booklets (a set up from the one-sheet being used in 2007)

Redesigning and utilizing a more efficient ticketing program (I finally settled on Eventbrite and became so accomplished at gaming their system to accommodate our specific needs, Eventbrite flew me out to San Francisco to give a lecture on it.)

Redesigning and creating a merchandise shop (the 2007 model involved radio producers jumping out of the booth with a few cardboard boxes of t-shirts and mugs after the show) and eventually working directly with NPR to make better and cooler merch to sell. In the decade I was there, the Carl Kasell Bowling Shirts were my favorite and I still have one that I wear.

Working with Chase Bank to create a streamlined line-up process for ticket-holders and a fun way to get them from the streets to the seats and back again.

Recruiting and organizing a staff of 20-60 volunteers to help staff each taping.

And then there were all the day-to-day details to contend with — helping audience members in distress (I recall at least three people having heart attacks during a taping and getting EMS to help without interrupting the show), assisting celebrity guests with their specific needs (a vegan dinner for Mobey, helping Denis Leary find a corner to smoke in without leaving the bank, ushering Tom Hanks through the belly of the bank to get him to his car and avoid the fan throngs), and making sure the cast and crew had everything they needed to get the show done without interference.

According to the folks who worked it last year, the Mariachi Fest was a shitshow. The organizer is a great guy but sees the festival as a big party rather than an event and his process is less administrative than something that brings out 20,000 patrons can handle. The story goes that last year, he gave out more VIP seats than exist in the park (there are 4,000 seats in the Seating Bowl) and the scene even prior to the music starting was chaotic. So chaotic that the House Manager last pulled all of the ushers out of the Seating Bowl for their safety.

I spent hours asking those who worked it questions. From the backstage crew to the ushers to security guards to performers. My task was how to help the organizer be more organized with (or, as was the case, without) his buy-in.

At it's core, the job is to make sure that the preponderance of attendees to each park event has a good experience. Recognizing that no one comes to a Blues Fest or a Gospel Fest with the intent of having a shitty time and fucking with the staff. Creating a platform that is both highly organized yet seems effortless from their vantage.

Folded into my work on the Mariachi Fest included craftily limiting the VIP seat availability, staffing willing ushers (many who worked it last year refused to work it this year) in that section to ensure that VIP felt like VIP, going online to the festival Faceborg page and correcting the almost non-stop steam of misinformation, and working with all parties in the park to make sure we were all on the same page. Luckily, there are some terribly smart cookies on the DCASE staff to collaborate with, a fact that gave us a focused team vibe.

All of the behind the scenes work paid of. In the end, 18,000 people spent the day and night in the park enjoying, dancing to, and singing along with the fun, exciting strains of mariachi trumpets, violins, drums and singers. The organizer even thanked me for being such a pain in his ass and commented that it was the smoothest it had ever gone.

"Congrats on working security at festivals."

It was designed to be a dig from a toxic asshole who makes a living as a babysitter. The thing that was funny was that the folks who work security at Millennium Park work hard and have one of the most thankless jobs I've ever witnessed. By comparison, my gig is far more rewarding. I have nothing but respect for the security in the park, especially this year as the CPD and the City has finally enforced a heightened security presence due to the increase in societal polarity, which has manifested in assholes with guns and a desire for posthumous glory.

All that aside [places respect for the security team I've worked with all summer over here on a chair], the role of House Manager is not one of policing the audience (although some revel in the power). It is more like the party host or the maître d' of the night. On the smaller scale of WWDTM, I often saw my role as the buffer between the talent and the fans, the show and those there to appreciate it. Protect the cast, help the crew, assist the patrons in their pursuit of a grand night out.

When it comes to the GPMF and DCASE, there are far too many balls in the air for even me to keep track of which is why this gig is as much about the managing of the house and staff as it is about constant and clear communication across multiple departments. A park the size of Millennium and a stage as utilized as the Pritzker requires a lot of people to make the damn place run.

It's about 45 minutes until the orchestra starts and I'm walking around (this particular job requires a lot of walking at least the way I go about it) checking in with the 28 ushers on staff for the night, making sure the collateral for the event is displayed correctly and keeping an eye on the flow of audience when I spy a woman breastfeeding behind the stage.

She is doing it out of sight and is surrounded by garbage tubs.

"Excuse me. Would you like to breastfeed your kid in a place that isn't full of trash cans? I'm happy to put you backstage where it's air conditioned, private and not so gross."

She smiles and tells me that would be great. So I take her backstage, get her a chair and tell the security guard on duty that she has permission to be there. Then I make sure she's good and head back out into the park.

I like this kind of work. It's physically demanding, there's always something to do or a problem to solve. I'm exhausted by the end of a typical 12-hour shift and I've earned my sleep each time. I get to talk to hundreds of random people each night from all walks of life as they come to a place of community and beauty and cultural magnitude.

I get paid to listen to unbelievably talented musicians of every type of music and, while it can be difficult at times, I'm tremendously happy to be doing it. I work with 50 ushers I've hired, do their payroll every two weeks, schedule them and watch some of them flourish in the experience.

Will I always be doing this work? I dunno but I'm satisfied to be doing it right now, in Chicago, the Summer of 2018.

#Millennium Park #house managing

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