#but its here anyway! thank you tumblr for letting me upload both a photo and a video in the same post (twt does not) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jengarie · 3 years

Text

#showyourprocess !

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES — When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag up to 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

Thank you, @rinielle for tagging me! She chose the piece above (original post), and oh boy this one was a whole ass rollercoaster ride! Unfortunately, I hadn't turned on the timelapse feature for this but I'll try to go through each part of the process as best as I can!

The photos I'm gonna upload are gonna be a mix of screenshots and literal photos of my screen, because I'm taking some of them from my updates to friends, since a lot of the steps got lost in my painting process.

But before that, let me tag some other amazing creators!

@dragonji: this gif art!

@candicewright: this yibo painting!

@wendashanren: this gifset!

@mylastbraincql: this gif!

I haven't been able to keep track of who's been tagged so apologies if you've already done this! Also, no pressure to do it at all if you would rather not! <3

Planning

Sometimes, I get an idea first and find reference photos to go with that idea. But for this one, I sought out a reference photo first, and built an idea on top of it!

After that, I roughly sketch out the base pose. Usually, this looks very messy, but it doesn't really matter as long as I understand which part goes where!

The idea for the background didn't really come until the creation process because I don't think I really planned this to be a full piece.

Creation

Sketching

Honestly, from this point on, it's more of trial and error.

So, I redid the the initial base pose—made it cleaner and a little bit more detailed. See: the added definition in their arm muscles, the rearrangement of Wei Wuxian's legs, and Lan Wangji's hand on Wei Wuxian's back. If you look at the second photo, I also changed the pose a bit midway—I tend to edit as I go sometimes when I change my mind. (For this, I thought, given the Lan arm strength, it would be better to make Lan Wangji look more at ease carrying Wei Wuxian. This gets covered by the robes anyway though, so it didn't matter much in the end.)

I also started adding details to the base! I usually start with the face and then the hair! I usually go for the clothes next, but I dreaded the robes in this piece so I guess that's why I ended up with a basic idea of what I wanted for the background instead LOL I also figured out how I want the final crop to look like, so I blocked out all the other areas with an extra layer!

Okay, onto the part that killed me like ten times: the robes. There are a lot of interactions between their robes here given their pose, and not to mention they also have layers upon layers on each of them! So, to maintain my sanity and to keep track of which part is which, I color coded them into the most colorful sketch I've ever made.

Another reason why I filled in each layer of robe with a solid block of color, is so that all the lines underneath gets covered. Without all of the colors, the actual outline actually looks like the one on the right. What a nightmare!

I also ignored the crop again for this part, because it's always better to draw past your borders, in case you decide to rotate or tilt or whatever your piece later on. I didn't do the feet anymore though, because that I was sure wouldn't show in the final piece anymore.

After that, I did the sketch one more time and then started adding the base colors. (I didn't have a screenshot of just the base colors, and the final CSP file is a nightmare so I copy pasted the layers into a new canvas to show you guys :') )

By the way, I drew their robes flowing this way, because I wanted it to frame the lower arch of the moon behind them for the composition. It was a little frustrating that I couldn't get Lan Wangji's robes a little higher because of Wei Wuxian's legs but I later filled in the empty space with his forehead ribbon anyway, so it all worked out in the end!

Painting

Because apparently, I was a masochist back then, I merged the base colors all into one layer and started adding shadows to the robes. (These days, I add shadows first and then, merge. It's much easier this way.)

And then, I started painting! Again, I did the face first and then the hair, before finally the robes. This was my first time painting side profiles and honestly it was quite a pain to figure out LOL but !!! I think I did a good job and I'm proud of how it turned out. I again used reference photos for this one but I can't link any because they were just several random Pinterest photos that I didn't save.

Another thing to note is that I use the mesh transform tool a lot, especially on faces. That's largely why Lan Wangji's face looks so different in the latter two!

And then I went with the robes. Somewhere along the way, I realized I didn't like how I planned to do Lan Wangji's sleeves and the flowy part of Wei Wuxian's robes and I... decided, with much dread, to do them over. So I sketched on top of the painted layers and redid the robes, again.

It was at this point that I decided to take a break from this piece because it was honestly very draining! I think it took about three weeks before I decided to open the file again and continue it.

When I did, I just finished painting the rest of the robes and their hands. The blue details on Lan Wangji's outer robes were painted on a separate layer that I put on Multiply. I probably did more adjustments to the face and hair and stuff, because my painting process is honestly a mess :')

Final Adjustments

I added some correction layers on certain areas to fix some of the colors. See: Lan Wangji's sleeve becoming much brighter and paler; Wei Wuxian's legs having less contrast. And then I merged all of the layers (excluding the background) and added a bit of blur. See: Wei Wuxian's ponytail; the entire lower part; the flowing forehead ribbon. My reasoning for this is so that most of the detail (and therefore the flow of the eye) goes to their faces and expressions!

And then, I put a blue Overlay layer on low opacity to make Wangxian blend better with the background, added a bit of shadow on the inside and the lower sections and added the glowing details for the added flair. I initially wanted sparkles and/or stars but they didn't turn out as well as this did. I also upped the contrast by a little for the entire piece!

Aaaand, that's it! In truth, I did a bit more color adjustments to the whole piece, but I was a dummy who forgot to turn them back on before posting so ... oh well.

Posting

Before posting, I upload it either on my spare private Twitter account or on a drafted Tumblr post so I can check the colors on my phone. This is because the colors on different devices can look very different, and I would at the very least want all my pieces to look nice on both of my devices!

And then, once I deem it satisfactory, I just try to think of a caption and post! Some artists wait for a certain time where most of their followers are active, but I didn't have a lot of MDZS followers at this point so it didn't really matter to me.

It still doesn't really; I haven't actually been able to figure out when my MDZS followers are awake even now.

#showyourprocess #mine #whew this was so long oops #but this piece took like #maybe 1.5 weeks sans the break i had to take #so !!#LOL #tag game

46 notes · View notes

mmvalentine · 3 years

Text

Home is Where You Are pt 1 | Feysand

Girl next door AU. Part 2 now up.

Rhys hadn’t seen Feyre in over ten years. It was strange for him to think about, because they had always been so close. They had grown up next door to each other, and had been best friends as children. As they got older, Rhys had flown into fits of jealous rage when Feyre suddenly had a hundred other friends and he was left behind. Then there was that one night, when they were thirteen and camping out in the Archerons' back yard, and giggling in the tent, they had decided to find out what all the fuss was about kissing.

They had leaned in, pressed their lips together, and held their breath. Five seconds went by, and then Feyre pulled back, laughing.

“It’s kind of... wet,” she had said, wiping her mouth of the back of her hand. But Rhys been too stunned to say anything. He followed Feyre’s lead as she lay back in her sleeping bag and launched into a story about a particularly annoying boy at school, and Rhys had pretended to listen. But all the while, his fists were clenched tight at his side, as he fought to get in control of the strange, hot sensation that had started where Feyre’s mouth touched his and had somehow pooled in his stomach like lava. More troublingly, it was moving further south, and the young teenage Rhys was baffled by the apparent autonomy the lower part on his anatomy had lately been growing.

And then the next day Feyre’s mother had a stroke in the kitchen, and hadn’t survived the ambulance ride. And her father, grief stricken and barely functional, and up and moved the whole family to the other side of the country to avoid any reminder of his dead wife. Hadn’t actually managed to sell the house, just abandoned it and let it sit empty and decay over the years. And Rhys, Rhys was left alone with his drunk, bitter father, and he never got to tell Feyre that he was sorry her mother had died, that he knew exactly what it felt like and wanted to be there for her, that he was pretty sure he loved her with all of his thirteen year old heart.

Over the next decade, Rhys’ father got older but not more sober. His arm weakened, thankfully, although his aim somehow never did. Rhys cared for him the best he could until he died- liver failure of course- and then up and moved to the city using the money from his fathers estate. There was a surprisingly large amount of money for the frequency with which Rhys had been fed hot meals as a kid.

He had looked Feyre up on social media, but she was working as an artist now and her photos were all of her work, very rarely with her in them. He had wanted to message so many times, but when he saw how well she was doing, it hadn’t seemed right. Not when he felt like a stark reminder of such a bad time in her life.

And then her father had passed away, leaving them both orphans, and she had reached out to him.

By email, for chrissake. Like some kind of professional courtesy.

Hi Rhys,

Long time no see. I’m guess you’ve head the news by now. Cancer, in the end. But I think he was sort of waiting to die for a long time. Anyway, Nesta and Elain have pretty much checked out of the situation, and so I’ve taken over the big job- selling the old house. My sisters basically said just do it and send us the money.

The upshot is, I’ll be travelling back to the old neighbourhood in about a week. I know it’s been forever, but you lived in that house most as much as we did. I was wondering if you wanted to come down and hang out, before we sell it. I’ve been talking to realtors and I’ll probably be there just a few days, and then leave it to them. I don’t know how any of this works to be honest.

You’re welcome to come with me if you want, but no pressure.

Feyre

Rhys had written back straight away, and before he knew it he was on a plane. Back to that sad little suburb, with its malignant houses and crumpled people. To his father's house, where there were cracks in the wall that Rhys' younger bones had bade. To the Archeron home, where he had found refuge after the old man had passed out, drunk.

To Feyre.

He had no idea what to expect. Had spent the whole flight full to the brim of jitters, and wondering what it would be like to see her again, and cursing himself for letting it get this far and then to not have been the one to reach out first.

And then his feet marched themselves down the crooked streets, knowing where to go instinctively, so before he knew it he was standing before his old house. And hers.

Actually being there was like a punch in the gut. Rhys suddenly felt eight years old again, and even the anticipation of how his old house smelled had nausea rolling in his gut. He didn't think he'd be so affected by it. He wondered if anyone had moved into the house- there were no cars or toys in the front yard, but the garden wasn't overgrown. Not like the Archeron house.

His old neighbour's place looked terrible. Mould was growing over the peeling paint, a few of the windows in the front were cracked, and weeds reigned over the garden. So different from when the girls had lived here, and Elain had been so dilligent with her botanical care.

Rhys remained in silent contemplation for another minute or so, and then, taking him quite by surprise, the front door opened. And there stood Feyre.

Rhys eyes threatened to throw themselves out of their sockets. He worked to keep his jaw shut, and his heart squeezed painfully in his chest at the sight of her.

Feyre was gorgeous.

Little girl Feyre had white blonde hair, skinny arms, and blue bug-eyes. Little boy Rhys had loved her exactly how she was, and had thought she was the most perfect person in the world.

Grown up Feyre was astounding.

Her hair had darkened to the colour of gold and honey, and now curled gently over her shoulders. Her frame had filled out to accommodate softly curving hips and a modest cleavage. She had grown into her eyes, the delicate grey-blue of them like rain-clouds on the horizon. Rhys had been waiting and waiting to meet Feyre again, but this... this was ridiculous.

Since leaving his father's house, Rhys had to admit he spent a lot of time on his body. He never wanted to feel so weak as when he was six years old and unable to protect his mother from his father's rage. Thankfully, as a teenager he started to pile on muscle quite easily. And then after moving out, he made sure to tattoo over the scars on his chest so that his father had no say over what his skin looked like.

And yet now he felt tiny again, and devastated that this Feyre was completely out of his league. He didn't know what to say to her.

Turned out, he didn't have to.

"Rhys!" Feyre said, seeing him standing there. She crossed the yard in a few strides, and before he got so much as a 'hello' out, Feyre had wrapped her arms around him. The smell of her neck right under his nose floored him. She pulled back, with her hands still on him.

"Rhys, I can't believe you're here!" Feyre looked him up and down, and laughed. "Well you got big, huh?"

God, her laugh. He didn't remember it being so musical.

"Hey Feyre," he said out loud. "I'm sorry about your dad." Feyre squeezed his arms. "Thanks. And thank you for coming. It's really good to see you." "It's good to see you," Rhys said. "I'm so sorry it's taken so long." "Well, we're here now," Feyre said, and in that moment Rhys was determined to never let her get that far away from him again.

"So how have you been?" Rhys started to ask. But at that moment, the door opened again, and a man with a blonde man-bun stepped out. He looked like one of those surfer dudes Rhys had never liked.

"Babe," he said. "There's definitely termites in there. It's gonna lower the price point for sure."

Rhys stared. Babe?

Feyre rolled her eyes. "Great, just add it to the list."

It was then that the man noticed Rhys. He extended a hand.

"Hey buddy, I'm Tamlin," he said. "Hey... buddy," Rhys replied tersely. Feyre jumped in. "Tamlin, this is Rhys, he used to live next door when we were kids." Feyre put her hand on Tamlin's arm, and smiled a heartbreaking smile at him.

"Rhys, this is Tamlin. My fiancé."

****

So okay, it has been one week since I hit tumblr and spewed my story telling guts all over you lovely, sweet, kind people.

I know you connected really well with Lockdown Lovers, and it seems maybe a bit less well with Circus of Dreams? So I am throwing out one more AU, a little darker this time. I will keep posting CoD, but please let me know what you think and what you guys want to read.

Anyway I have been uploading manically over the last 7 days and at the moment I feel like I'm bombarding you with my filthy daydreams, so I'm going to try very hard to take a couple days off writing and let people actually read the damn things!

Finally, thank you so, so much for the support and love. I've been using this place to escape from personal problems and you have been outstanding. Hopefully in a few days I'll post at a more reasonable rate and from a better head space.

Thank you, lovers.

TAGLIST: @ghostlyrose2 @highladysith @stardelia @feysand-babies

#feysand #feysand fic #acotar #acomaf #acosf #rhysand #mine

59 notes · View notes

mgkconfessions · 5 years

Note

Your honest opinion what do you think about this relationship? Tbh I think it’s just very superficial in my eyes and I’m very shocked to see Colson change all of sudden and have his business all out there on social media, its almost as if he wants to show off and be like other celebrities who seek attention 🤔 idk what it is but they won’t last long.

We are definitely on the same page here. I don’t know how to start and end because I have so much to say about this like a whole analysis in my head of everything, but I try to keep it as short and informative as possible. So sorry in advance ^^

First of all social media doesn’t reflect the reality at all. Especially not when it comes to relationships. She can call him baby and comment heart emojis as much as she wants, but I will never believe that their relationship is anywhere close to a deep and strong bond how she (or they) want(s) to portray it. Here are my 3 main reasons why I don’t buy it:

(Disclaimer: Just my opinion, I don’t know them)

1. This relationship involves everything that he hates: Capitalization on a relationship and calling the paparazzi.

Only last year he said in an interview that he never publicized any of his relationships and then went on with “maybe I just should have, because I see everyone publicize relationships and just go [points fingers up like skyrocketing] but it just seems so weird to me... so I don’t know”. Then he reveals he dated this one singer and they were papped at super random unknown places, so he felt like asking if she’s one of those people who call the paparazzi on themselves. He just seemed very irritated and annoyed by it. Again this was only last year! This year he released Hotel Diablo and says on Death in My Pocket “I lose a piece of my soul when the camera flashes”. It’s in his interviews, it’s in his music, heck it’s probably in his DNA, he doesn’t like to publicize his relationships, because he thinks it’s weird to use it as an advantage for your career and I respect him so much for that!

And now to him and Schantelle (Sorry, I don’t want her to find this post when she searches her name on Tumblr). He has never been papped more often in such a short time before in his entire career than with her at the MOST RANDOM PLACES like picking up clothes from a store (never saw him papped in that situation before) and walking towards his car. Paparazzi know which places are popular among celebrities, but you can also call them to “catch” you somewhere. There’s specifically one paparazzo who seems to get all these Insta famous people that no one outside of Instagram cares about, which you can tell by comments under other websites asking who that is and why they are relevant. Schantelle is of course one of them. I obviously don’t know it for sure, but I can imagine her calling the paparazzi and honestly in those pictures she seems a lot happier and relaxed than Kells, who absolutely hates it. Even Slim commented under a picture that the reason why Kells looked so annoyed was allegedly the paparazzi. The problem is that she needs media attention and people talking about her to stay relevant, because let’s be honest, her music alone is not popular and good enough to do it on its own. It’s very generic and I don’t want to go into too much detail because of length, but she has a history of staying relevant by attaching herself on famous men and getting papped. She social climbs like no other ^^!

Also notice how at the moment she isn’t papped by that one paparazzo at all, whilst Kells is on Tour? Maybe it isn’t worth it then, I don’t know, or maybe she knows how to get the attention otherwise, which brings me to my next reason.

2. IDGAF I’d date myself: Trouble in paradise?

There was an incident where he posted on Insta, that he’d date himself and a picture with “take a good thing and fuck it all up in one night” showing a middle finger. Schantelle posted around the same time a screenshot indicating that she cried. Kells doesn’t strike me as a person who likes to subtweet, so I assume they did have at least one argument so far. Looking at her Twitter history, it doesn’t seem that rosy either all the time.

I don’t know if you noticed, but this is kinda their dynamic on social media platforms and I’m aware of how silly the following sounds, but you can watch every dating advice video and everyone will tell you the same. He likes and comments a lot more on her page than she ever did on his, which makes him always look like he’s so much more into her than she’s into him and maybe that’s also why he keeps coming back to her (at least online), because she gives him attention only enough to keep him wanting for more, but not too much, so he won’t get bored of her because she’s always available.

Might explain why the moment he publicly ignores her, because he likes an independent woman who doesn’t always need him and he’s kinda busy dealing with his own stuff, she posts sad tweets/ likes sad tweets/ films her feet/ posts “sexy” pics, Kells comes running back with tongue emoji and likes until he doesn’t publicly pay her attention again and the cycle continues. At this point it’s predictable and this back and forth is getting boring, because it’s the same thing again and again and again. Before anyone wants to attack me that none of her posts have to do anything with Kells, sure they don’t have to, but she’s been long enough in this game that she knows that this is exactly how you send subliminal messages and be shady so that other people will notice it and show interest.

Thank God social media doesn’t reflect the truth tho. Therefore she can call him “king” and post “i love you bb” and comment heart emojis as much as she wants, but this isn’t his thing and I highly doubt he likes it, because...

3. ily bb, my baby machinegunkelly: The failed publication of their relationship

When I look at how he used social media when he was dating someone in the past he always kept it very low-key. Sure he liked photos and might upload a picture too, but it was never a huge love declaration, if it even focused on the girl at all. And now comes Schantelle.

She tried to publicize their relationship first by using a PAPARAZZI picture of them in his car with him showing his middle fingers and smiling. He didn’t react at first, she looked stupid, then he reposted it only to delete it immediately, what made her look even more stupid and then finally decided to repost it for good without adding anything HOURS later. No comment, no emoji, no nothing. Seems like he was very unsure how to react and if he really wanted to post it. I don’t know about you, but if I were famous and in a relationship, I would have a conversation at some point if and how we would make our relationship official to the public. I don’t think they had that one, looks more like she just made that decision for him by posting the picture, because why would he have deleted it if their love was already so strong and real and they BOTH wanted to publicize it anyway? Hate and unhappy fans were to be expected, therefore I don’t think that was a reason. If you want to see his middle fingers as a “fuck you all, we’re dating” then it makes even less sense to delete it because of mean comments.

So why is he so open about her?

I just think it’s hard for him to be different (I don’t care how often he claims to not give a fuck, we all do at some point and he’s a sensitive person) and to stick to his different morals, when everyone around him, sometimes even younger ones in the same business, have no problem to normalize the capitalization on relationships and skyrocket their careers whilst not facing any major consequences for it on the surface. I think because Kells isn’t in a great mental state, he says so himself and his career progresses rather slowly and he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves, which can be frustrating at some point, he was like fuck it and maybe wanted to see how it is when you’re more open about it. Like dipping his toes into the water and she’s the perfect girl for that. I mean she literally got famous because she was seen with Justin Bieber, which is a whole other topic on itself.

In conclusion, I think that their relationship is superficial too, regardless of how many heart emojis she posts and pictures he likes. I agree with you that he changed in this regard and seems like he wants to show this relationship off. However I don’t think he’s standing 100% behind it being so public, because of the picture he reposted, deleted and reposted and he never seemed to publicize relationships (see his behaviour when he dated Josie) in the past before. This change doesn’t mean at all “she’s the one”. I believe it has more to do with him and his general situation, his career and mental health than any temporarily presented woman in his life. And of course they won’t last. I don’t know how long and at some point I won’t care anymore, but celebrity couples rarely stay together. Why would they be any different?

#asks

9 notes · View notes

troubleisfree · 6 years

Text

this is going to be like a very long, detailed, and mostly my personal observations and notes. as it was my first time seeing neymar and the brazil nt in person, i want to remember everything i can while its still fresh. it was a very exciting and at the same time surreal experience because i see those people all the time on tv games and now there they were few feet away from me...

i took the photos and videos. i am usually pretty good at that but i guess the excitement got the better of me because they did not come out fabulous. tumblr is being stupid with not letting me upload more then one video in a post, and i wanted everything together, so i ended up putting them up on youtube.

the hotel 9/3/2018.

so first i went to the hotel (very close to where i live) on monday 9/3. as it was labor day, i was off work and at a bbq/pool party abt 10 miles from home for the day. brazil nt was scheduled to leave the hotel for their first training at 4pm so i left the party early and, after some traffic drama, made it to the hotel little after 3.40pm. there were not too many people so i had a decent view but i also moved around a bit. some of the support staff was coming out already. a few minutes later, firmino was the first i saw, he waved and went straight to the bus.

then a group of marquinhos, douglas costa, fabinho etc came out together. only marquinhos paid any attention to the fans, waving and smiling but didnt stop.

then another group, including casemiro.

then alisson came out. he was really sweet, smiled, stopped with the fans, signed stuff. interacted the most of anyone else with the fans.

then another group - i think richarlison (idk him really), filipe luis, thiago silva. thiago was just as nice as alisson, stopped with the fans, signed stuff. he looked to me a bit shorter irl then on tv...

willian came out alone next.

at this point, it was almost 4pm, my excitement had totally built up and i was so anxious to see my boy ney. i started thinking that maybe he will get there separately cuz i hadnt seen coutinho and tite either. but there he was! coming out last with barely a minute to spare before 4pm (the timestamp on my photo is 3:58:59pm lol). he was the very last one to come out, chewing on something, with his typical swagger. he waved but didnt stop and the bus left as soon as he got on. he looked just as hot in person as on tv, the cameras dont lie lol. really handsome and very very sexy! i mean, i expected it, i have seen his photos lol but omg he looks so damn good you cant help those dirty thoughts! i felt like an absolute fangirl! this is neither here or there, but he looked to me a little bigger then i expected. just kinda...fuller?

i only took one photo of him cuz i wanted to look at him with my own eyes rather than thru the camera ;)

it was such an incredible experience seeing neymar and the rest of the guys in person so close that i was shaking after! like for real my hands were shaking, my legs were shaking. and i couldnt stop grinning for a good half an hour after. i went to the boardwalk to calm down a bit and just absorb the experience. people passing by probably thought im crazy or reading love letters on my phone or something cuz i just couldnt stop grinning but i didnt give a flying fuck what they were thinking - i had just seen neymar!

my notes and impressions:

1. OMFG I SAW NEYMAR FROM FEW FEET AWAY. just that, my brain was really way too frazzled to process any other impressions lol

the game 9/7/2018

so after some c. drama, despite my initial hopes, i had accepted that i am not going to go to the game. and then the day before i find out I AM GOING!!! i was so freaked out with excitement lol!!!

getting there was so frustrating! first i had forgot to charge my phone before leaving work so i only had like 30% which was nowhere near good enough for my plans of copious pics and vids. so i had to run into a bodega to buy a charger for the car. then for some complicated reason we had to leave from the ues and fucking DRIVE. crosstown. on a friday. at 6pm. straight thru freakin time square with its gazillion tourists. on top of rush hour. even though the schedule said 8pm, the tickets said the event starts at 7.30 and i wanted to be there early to see the warmups and at 7.02 we were still not even inside lincoln tunnel ffs! i was FUMING and ready to jump outta the car and start yelling at the other cars to get a goddamn fucking move on i got places to be people to see! just ugh. so frustrating. the only upside of taking so long to get to the stadium was that by the time we got there my phone was almost 100%...

anyway, finally at 7.25pm we got there and thru all the checks etc (my joke of a miniature purse was shown as an example to another girl with a slightly bigger purse and praised by security for being perfect size which pissed me off because of their dumbass rules it had is smaller then my regular WALLET ffs and it barely even fits my phone so in no way is it a ‘perfect size’ except maybe for dolls or tiny aliens. but they had the stupid clear bag / tiny purse rule in effect and all i cared at that point was getting in so whatever. still, fucking terrorists. obviously also for more important reasons than just being the cause of my having to have a tiny purse but yeah fucking terrorists).

the stadium was buzzing already. apparently the 7.30 start was for the warmups so perfect for me. this was the view from our seats.

when we got to our seats, the usa team was out already. and the canarinho was interacting with fans. and then brazil came out.

youtube

ney was warming up with coutinho

after stretches, he did some practice shooting. this one didnt go in.

after that the team went back inside and the canarinho came behind the barriers to interact with the fans (photo below especially taken for a.)

time for the teams to come out. for some reason the tunnel was on my side of the stadium but the benches were on the other side and they lined up there for the anthems. (again, for a.)

youtube

then the us anthem and, since we dont do things here on a small scale, the flag rolled out was the size of the whole stadium lol

in the first half neymar was playing in front of me. in the beginning of the game i took a few photos and then i stopped because i wanted to watch the game and see with my own eyes not concentrate on the phone... still, here they are

here is the penalty. i didnt catch it go in because i was looking at it happening rather then my phone. i also removed the sound cuz there was screaming when it went in lol. it was a VERY soft penalty btw...

youtube

my notes and impressions:

1. it was a friendly so not surprisingly, it was not an edge-of-your-seat game. still brazil dominated the crap out of the usa team. the difference in class and quality was glaringly obvious.

2. it was strange not supporting my country’s team. but only when i thought about it. otherwise my soccering heart belongs to brazil 100%, without a doubt.

3. watching a game live vs tv: both have pros and cons. again, after watching every week on tv, seeing these guys live in person is simply incredible. just absolutely surreal. like, they are moving, running, kicking right in front of you. you can hear the ball being kicked. feel the tension. see what they are doing without the ball. watch their interactions away from the camera. feel the power of the crowd. its just so much more immersive. at the same time, watching at home the curated game content is... convenient. you get closeups. you get facts from the commentators. your bathroom is nearby (i did carefully time my liquid intake that day to avoid venturing into stadium bathrooms and thank god it worked lol). so imo, watching a game on tv is not really that much worse then watching it live. i always felt like i am getting a completely filtered version on tv and it is filtered but it is not horrible. yes, you are missing out on stuff but its not a total loss.

4. the stadium was about 40% full, 32k of 82k capacity. but it felt more like 2/3, probably because on the other side many sections were not even open so most everyone attending was spread out in one long side and the two goal sides.

5. brazil fans were out strong! i’d say about 70% of the people were brazil fans, and of those about 90% had on brazil jerseys. yellow galore lol. the usa fans were constantly chanting but when the brazil fans decided to make the effort they drowned them out easily and completely!

6. the usa fans were in the section behind one of the goals. throughout most of the game i thought oh cute they are constantly singing their hearts out supporting their clearly outplayed loosing team. then they did iceland’s viking chant. yes, it is a cool chant but its iceland’s. idk why so many have been plagiarizing it! first portugal did it in the wc, then i saw another, and now the american outlaws (the usa ultras)... let iceland have its thing people. i did not appreciate it but no big deal. BUT then they did something that pissed me off - few minutes before neymar was substituted in the 80 min they chanted fuck neymar. i was not best pleased to say the least! lick sweaty balls jealous motherfuckers!

7. we did a wave that went around the stadium like 4 times!

8. there was a small group of 13-14yo girls right behind us that whenever ney touched the ball or looked our way screamed ‘neymaaaarrr, neymaaaaarrrrrrrr, vaiiiiiii, vai neymaaaaaaarrrrrrrr’. one girl in particular was especially shrill and vociferous in her dedication to ney. no sense of decorum whatsoever lol. my bf was smirking at me and was like why dont you go sit with them. i on the other hand was thinking that while i wouldnt go sit with them, if some of my tumblr girls were here.... well those girls wouldnt even know what hit them!

9. i would definitely go to a game again!

10. while the seats we had were really good, i wish there was an option to be even closer and still see the whole pitch. then again, for me it would probably only qualify as ‘close enough’ if im allowed to run along the sidelines lol. but then i wont really be able to watch the game. (hey maybe i can hang from the skycam hahaaaa!). yes, i am a neymar fan but i am also a fan of the game so i want both. i did not have any input in the choice of these seats but i think it was a good trade off - the closest where you can both see the guys and actual game. if i have to pick the tickets for the next game (hopefully i will go again some time!), i would be tempted by the lower levels but the barriers are pretty high so... i would probably go for the same - second level first row.

11. there was a guy sitting next to me with his date and he was trying to be all knowledgeable and impress the girl but half the stuff he was telling her was wrong lol! he kept pointing to douglas costa and telling her its firmino. i was cracking myself up listening to him talk complete bullshit but with such grand authority about technical game stuff.

12. at some point a loose ball ended up into the stands, some guy caught it, and 2 min later security came to take it away from him :/ why not let the guy just keep the ball?!? stupid. if it was me, i’d have made a fuss, maybe pretended that it hit me in the face and threatened to sue the stadium cuz they have not ensured the spectators’ safety or some such crap lol. see if they dont let me keep it to avoid a lawsuit.

13. the canarinho (for a.) - he was really great! interacting with the fans, dancing, hugging fans. really a fantastic mascot and absolute joy to watch! during the halftime he was out on the pitch, doing keepie uppies (in those shoes too!!! showing his brazilianness lol), and kicking balls into the stands

14. i was totally impressed by neymar. it was just so obvious how good he is and no, not because i am biased, which i admittedly am. i expected him to be good, duh, but to see it so clearly was amazing. he is not a fluke, he is the real deal. he stands out among even such quality peers as the rest of brazil nt! just something in the way he interacts with the ball, the way he moves, ‘sees’ his teammates without looking, turns on a dime, does the unexpected. i dont think he ‘thinks’ or ‘calculates’ at all his moves or that it is just a lot of practice, i think it is pure instinct in the moment, i.e. phenomenal natural talent. even though this was not one of his greatest games for sure, he just looked... special and different from the rest. most of the brazil players were displaying their clearly high quality but there is just something unique in the way neymar plays. even if you dont know who he is, what teams are playing, anything at all, you’d still pick him out and know that there is something extraordinary about this guy. if you unfocus your eyes so you see just all same yellow shirt figures, you would still be able to pick out which one is neymar. he did a bit of his skills and tricks and of course i wished he had done more. what i took away from watching him play live was that, in this average game, he looked as good playing live as he has in the past when i have watched his great games on tv. i dont know why. but watching neymar play live was an experience of its own. it felt like his average ‘live’ performance is as good as his great ‘tv’. i cant even imagine what it would be like watching one of his great performances live. while i dont feel im loosing so much watching games on tv vs live as mentioned above, i definitely feel that watching neymar in particular play live is on another level and im missing out when i watch him on tv instead of live. he is absolutely worth the price of admission. i was so disappointed in him for his wc antics but thats in the past now, and i have been reminded how right it feels to be his fan, not just for the nice things he does for kids/charity, his fun personality (and lets not forget the good looks, and oh boy they are SO GOOD lol) but his undeniably outstanding talent on the pitch. his game is just incredible. i hope he keeps healthy. i hope he gets his temper under control not just for a few games but for good. and i pray he always has the freedom to shine like he rightfully can. i am rooting for him to get the appreciation and acknowledgement he deserves, unadulterated by behavioral issues or personal drama.

ok, imma stop now. this post is huge, even by my standards.

#brazil nt #brazil vs usa #neymar #thiago silva #marquinhos #alisson #filipe luis #willian #roberto firmino #9-7-2018 #game

23 notes · View notes

scintillating-galaxias · 7 years

Text

Light

A Grimmons marriage proposal thing I decided to upload to tumblr because I need validation for everything I do. :^)

(Read it here on Ao3)

Summary:

If he were to actually put in the effort into getting up, he’d see dewy grass that glimmers in the sunlight like diamonds. He could breathe in the clean air and let it sit as a chill in his lungs, then start coughing because they’d still be too sensitive from years of bad habits. He could sit for hours and watch the wisps of dawn slowly melt away into a clear blue sky, then carry on with the rest of his day.

He could.

But the comforters were so heavy and warm, he didn't really have any pulling need to go and see what the world had to offer. Besides. He thinks the sight next to him is better than any view the entire universe could give him.

Grif slowly blinks awake to light filtering red through his eyelids. With a groan, he yanks the covers over his head and rolls over. But no matter which way he turns his head, the light always finds a way to shine on his face. So with a scowl, he yawns a jaw-creaking yawn and pushes himself upright, only to shrink back when the cold air grazes his bare skin. He goes for settling against the pillows and just blinking blearily about the room.

His eyes wander and eventually fixate the golden light filtering through the frosted window panes. It catches every bit of dust caught in its beams. Grif spends a few moments watching the particles drift silently around the room before disappearing into unlit spots. He gets bored of that quickly and glances over to the right wall. There stands the cherrywood bookshelf, pristine and organized as always. Several books of all sorts take up a majority of the shelves. The rest is claimed by countless tidbits and photos collected from day-to-day life.

Grif looks outside the window. A cloudless morning sky greets him, dyed with pale pinks and purples like watercolors. Black bare branches of oak trees cut dark stripes into the scene. A crow flies by, cawing loudly. A car slowly passes, gravel crackling loudly under the tires. From somewhere down the street, he hears a baby wail, but it's quieted blessedly quick.

He could.

The sight is Simmons, still peacefully sleeping. His brows are furrowed and his lips are turned into a tiny pout like he was solving a complicated equation in his sleep. It was incredibly infuriating; the guy was a ridiculously light sleeper. So if Grif were to kiss those pouty lips or try to use his thumb to smooth out the crease between his eyebrows, he’d wake up, and then get mad at him. So he resists. For now.

Well, an evil little part of him reasons, he wakes up around this time anyway. What's a half hour to lose?

But then Simmons rolls over to face Grif, and Grif swears he can physically feel the little devil floating over his shoulder disappear in a tiny black cloud.

The sunlight pouring in through the window gets caught in Simmons’ mussed up curls. The red highlights turn into a blinding white, forming a little half halo around his head. The light throws the rest of his hair and face into contrast, and for one brief moment, Grif thinks he just like something out of a Renaissance painting. An angel, maybe.

"Goddammit," Grif whispers as quietly as he can. “Look what you did. Makin’ me all sappy 'n shit. Fuck you, man.”

Simmons does not respond.

An angel. Grif snorts derisively. If angels were nerdy, brown-nosed, and capable of out-bitching anyone on the planet, then sure, Simmons was an angel. Or maybe one of those baby Cupid things. Simmons certainly whined as much as a baby and was equally, if not more, annoying.

Well. A baby wouldn't know the script to every Star Wars movie by heart, or the know exact hex code for Grif’s favorite color, nor did they spend hours trying to learn how to make one Hawaiian dish after a passing nostalgic comment, or call him to remind him to take his medications in the afternoon at work.

What a fucking dork.

Simmons mumbles something unintelligible in his sleep. Whatever it was caused his hand to emerge from deep within the soft covers and start patting softly in Grif’s general direction. Grif smiles softly— God, it’s so soft and domestic, he’s almost glad Simmons is still asleep— and puts his own hand in front of Simmons’ wandering fingers. They find it and wrap themselves nimbly around his palm. The corners of his lips turn up ever so slightly and the crease in his brow fades.

I’m gonna marry this man.

Grif takes a deep breath, eyes flickering over to the sock drawer. Deep in its messy depths sits a golden band with a strip of ruby darting through the middle. It’s been a year since he’d bought it. The gold is slightly duller in some spots with how many times he sat each day thumbing it and contemplating whether he should put it to use.

But he never could.

Sixteen years ago, he met Richard Simmons as a fifteen-year-old freshman in a high school science class. He had accidentally set his eyebrows on fire in their first lab. They hadn't even been partners at the time, but a spark had just so happened to fly through the air and land in that spot. It feels like a lifetime ago.

Time passed, rolling on in its ruthless waves and loops.

They caught each other under the night sky with a billion twinkling stars and a huge silver moon in the middle of no-where with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a guitar in the other. It was then that Grif admitted to himself that he not only loved Simmons, but he was in love with Simmons. He wasn't sure what the difference was. He just knew there was a difference.

Then they moved out of college together and found an apartment for a while. Then, when they could afford it, they bought a little house on the edge of a woods. It was perfect; the place itself was a close drive into town, and the only common sounds were the birds chirping and car tires crunching down gravel roads. It wasn't close to any body of water, and it certainly wasn't the beaches in Hawaii, but he was okay with that. For the most part.

Four years ago, Grif realized he really, really wanted to stay forever.

Time stopped.

He wanted to stay with this mess of a man who once banned Grif from using the washing machine after dying his underwear pink one too many times, but still stayed up late when he had work talking to Grif in soft tones, no specific subject being discussed, who couldn't tell directions for shit but still made the effort into trying to get them to a beach every once in a while to swim in the freezing Northwestern ocean, who cried if a dog died in a movie, but still snapped at anyone who dared to snicker at Grif in public.

They argued a lot. They argued and snapped and did petty things to each other, far, far more than the average couple. Sure. It was weird. They both knew that. But it worked for them both, and Grif couldn't imagine a world where his best friend and the love of his life was named someone other than Richard Simmons.

Time resumed.

He trusts Simmons. He’s given him every vulnerability he has and he trusts him to not suddenly drop it like a vase slipping through fingers, splintering into millions of pieces and bits of dust, unable to ever be fully restored again. So he trusts him to not say no.

So what was he waiting for?

What if he does say no? whispers the doubt in his heart. What difference would it make anyway? All it would be is one bit of metal and some words. It’s easier to shut up and let things run its course.

"It’s a different different," Grif murmurs.

"Wha’s differen’?"

Grif stiffens and looks down as Simmons’ eyes flutter open. They focus blearily on Grif for a second before they fall shut again.

"Uh. S’nothin’," Grif says quickly. Nothing my fat ass.

"Mm." Simmons finally notices the light grip he has on Grif’s hand. He considers it for a brief moment before he navigates Grif’s palm to cup his cheek. "So why’re you al—al—" He fails to stifle a huge yawn. Grif smiles. Why was sleepy Simmons so sappy and sweet? This was unfair. "Why’re you already up?"

Shit. "Those, um." A crow caws loudly, setting off a cacophonous orchestra of its friends for a few seconds before they stop. "That. Those— Those dumbass birds. They, uh, wouldn't shut up this morning. Yeah."

Simmons hums, brows furrowing faintly. "You sleep like a fuckin’ log. Since when did birds ever bother you?"

"Um, well, it’s almost spring, right?" He’s grasping at straws at this point. "I bet every single one of ‘em trying to get laid. Gotta be all loud and shit to get some. Early bird gets the worm and all."

"Ugh, stop," Simmons groans, but he doesn't press it. He tries to sit up, but he ends up making this disgusted noise and shrinking back into the covers.

“What the hell was that?" Grif laughs.

"‘S cold,” Simmons says defensively.

"How can you wake up, not even leave the bed, and still get cold?"

"Shut up."

Grif rolls his eyes and lifts up his arm. Simmons smiles gratefully and he scoots himself closer, tucking himself easily up against Grif’s side. "Almost twenty years," he murmurs into Grif’s chest. "And I still don't know how you manage to never be cold."

"Having a hot bod has its perks. I guess you wouldn't know."

He feels Simmons scowl. "I’ve already told you why it happens."

"Please don't start."

"You aren't hotter than me—"

"Even though I totally am."

"Shut up, thanks. Ugh. Where was I?"

"You were talking about how I was hotter than you."

"Oh my god!" Simmons struggles to push himself up so he's leaning against the headboard. "It's because you have..." Within a few seconds, Grif tunes the rest out, more interested in the way Simmons' lips move rather than the words that fly from them at breakneck speeds. The way his hands gesture wildly, up and down, side to side, as if he could create his thoughts into something tangible. The way the little glint in his green eyes gets brighter as he gets into the more science-y bits, shining like a gold coin in an emerald meadow. The way he pauses in his tangent just long enough to let Grif get in his sarcastic quips, how he's grown to let that be a normal thing in their conversations.

God, I love this guy.

Simmons suddenly laughs, breaking him out of his thoughts. "What's with your face?"

"What's what with my face?"

"You're like... Being all smiley," Simmons muses, poking Grif in the ribs. Grif swats at him.

"What, so I can't have a good morning without it being suspicious?"

Simmons ignores him. "Seriously. You're up early, which is a sign of the apocalypse, and you’re acting really weird. What's going on?"

"Nnnope, dunno what you're talking about, I’m gonna go start breakfast, are you in a coffee mood?"

"Uh—"

"Sounds good!" Grif practically falls out of the bed in an attempt to pick up his sweatshirt while also kicking back the covers. Simmons watches with a bemused expression, but he doesn't say anything.

"One more week," he mutters to himself as he speed-walks away to the kitchen, face aflame. "One more week," he says again while slamming a few pieces of bread into the toaster. It was supposed to be their anniversary by then. That was romantic, right? Proposing on their anniversary? Wait, did people have dating anniversaries? Of course they did, how did he forget that? Okay, was it even romantic to do that? To propose on their anniversary? Oh, God, he doesn't even actually have a plan besides getting down on one knee and saying his thing! He didn't even have a backup plan!He could just wing it, it's worked for everything in the past. There was no reason for it to fail now.

"Calm down," he mutters. He could just wing it, it's worked for everything in the past. There was no reason for it to fail now. Except for like, every reason ever.

The eggs hiss as he cracks them open into the frying pan. "One week," he repeats one last time. "Gonna romance the shit out of him. I'm gonna do it."

…But one week was an awfully long ways away.

Grif shakes his head and throws open the fridge, glancing around with his lips pursed. "Simmons!" he yells into the fridge. "Whaddya want to eat?"

Silence. Then Simmons calls back in a distracted tone, "What?"

"What. Do. You. Want. To. Eat!"

"What?"

"God fucking dammit." Grif throws his head back and makes a frustrated noise. He closes the door, turns off the toaster and the stove, then marches back to their room.

"Wait!" Simmons yelps as Grif slams the door open. Simmons yelps and shoves his hand into the covers. Grif raises his brow.

"What was that?" he asks, suspicious.

"Nothing!" he squeaks. He reaches up to adjust his crooked glasses and pulls the covers a little closer around his hand. Grif smirks. Simmons seems to read his mind because huffs and says, "I wasn't doing that." Grif gives him a look. “I wasn’t!”

"That sounds exactly like what someone who was totally jerking it would say."

Simmons throws his hands up. "Oh, my God, I wasn’t fucking doing that! Why…"

What should happen next was that Simmons would work himself up, get all red and the face and be "angry", but Grif would laugh and bypass all of his reasoning, derail the conversation, then start another argument about something else that’s completely unrelated to the original topic.

Instead, his eyes lock onto the small, velvety box Simmons has clenched tightly in his hand.

He feels his heart speed up and every other sound drown under the roar of his blood rushing to his head. Everything seems to zoom out to a tiny speck, Simmons as the center point. Simmons finally sees where he’s looking and slowly trails off. He glances at his hand. Then at Grif. Then back again. "Fuck."

"Simmons," Grif says back, but it’s all he can say, because holy shit. Silence was supposed to mean a lack of any noise whatsoever, wasn't it? So why did it sound like the roar of the ocean, the crackling of a thousand fireworks, bright moments of laughter playing like a slideshow?

"Grif," Simmons says carefully. He bites his lip, slowly letting his hand drop. "Um."

Reality snaps from being a tiny speck to suddenly being in high definition. Every freckle on Simmons’ face stood out, every color was brighter, every little thing seemed to move so slowly and smoothly. Grif’s hands go to his mouth, then to the side of his head. He has a million things he to say, a thousand variations of, Thank you, Oh my God, holy fucking shit, is this real, is this happening?

Instead of voicing a single word of any of that, or even just outright saying, "Yes," he spits out, "Fuck you!"

Why? screams the chorus in his head.

Simmons blinks, visibly taken aback.

Was it because of his nature to just say, and not think?

His mouth parts in surprise before his expression crumples and it snaps shut, lips pressed together in a determined line.

Or was it because that's how was supposed to respond? He was Grif, Simmons was Simmons. They were supposed to disagree.

"I’m sorry," Simmons says lowly. His voice is trembling.

Or was it because he was back to being the petty fifteen-year-old he was when they met, acting without a care for the consequences? Guilt gnaws at Grif, clenching him in chilled claws of dread.

"I thought—I thought—Oh, God," Simmons moans, pressing his hands into his face. "What the hell am I doing?"

"What—Oh, Jesus, no, no! Simmons, no, that's not—!" Grif crosses the room in quick strides, reaching to hold Simmons’ face in his hands. But he shrinks away, and that action right there hits Grif harder than anything else.

"I’m sorry," Simmons repeats, furiously swiping at his eyes. "I wasn't thinking. I should’ve waited. I should’ve—"

Something clicks in Grif’s brain, which, for being so light and floaty a few seconds ago, now feels like it was spinning wildly out of his control, crashing, and promptly bursting into flames. He presses a hand to his temple. "Simmons, shut up and gimme a second to fucking think. ‘Kay?"

"I think you’ve made it pretty clear what you think," Simmons spits. Grif swallows back the lump in his throat.

"No," he says as firmly as he can. "You’re just jumping the gun as-per-fuckin’-usual." He squeezes Simmons’ thigh reassuringly, then darts for the dresser. He nearly pulls the whole drawer out as he yanks it open, tossing pair after pair of socks onto the floor.

"Um. Grif." Grif doesn't look up.

"Dex." Be strong, Grif.

"Dexter." Fuck. He looks up to Simmons’ expression, wishing immediately he hadn’t. He's stopped crying at least, but his cheeks are splotchy and a few stray tears still cling stubbornly to his eyelashes. Grif had done that. He and his stupid brain that couldn't say the stuff he needed to say it had done that. He's made him cry before, and he's felt bad about it, but not like this. Never like this. "Why—?"

"In a sec." Grif lets out a growl of frustration as he forcefully throws the socks he's holding against the wall. "Goddammit, where is it!"

"Where’s what?"

"Simmons, shut—" He hear's a clatter and the telltale sound of something rattling along on the floor. Grif curses and pounces onto the ground, sweeping his arm under the dresser. Simmons watches on with bewildered eyes.

"Okay." He hiccups a weak, wet laugh. "Okay, seriously, what the hell are you doing?"

"Looking," Grif grunts as he stretches an arm under the bed, "for—this!" He pinches his fingers around the ring and slides himself out from under the bed with only a small hassle. He sits up on his knees and holds up the ring.

Whatever Simmons had been planning on saying next fades away as he stares at the glittering bit of metal. The silence that fills the room is so heavy, so still that even the dust in the sunlight slows to a stop. The birds stop their morning songs and the only thing that exists is that ring, him, and Simmons.

He blinks once. Then twice. Grif swallows nervously and watches him like a hawk as he slowly lifts up his hands and takes off his glasses, taking his time to clean them. He slides them back on and the look he gives him feels like his very soul is being stared into.

"You," Simmons finally says, voice trembling, shoulders shaking, "are the biggest fucking asshole."

Relief floods Grif is like a drug, washing out the tension in his stomach and making his shoulder slump. "I wanted—" His voice breaks. He clears his throat and tries again. "I wanted to be the first one to ask. I was waiting for-fucking-ever to be first." He chuckles and drags his other hand down his face. "That's why I—Agh. You know. So you going to try and steal it from me? Fuck you, man."

Simmons’ mouth flaps open and closed. Then, to Grif’s horror, fat tears start rolling down his cheeks all over again. "You ass," he mumbles.

"I'm sorry. I was the one that wasn't thinking."

Simmons huffs. Grif picks himself up off the floor and cautiously sits down on the edge of the bed. Simmons instantly wraps his arms around him, pulling him close, and buries his face into the crook of Grif’s shoulder, still mumbling and curses. After a few moments of Grif rubbing his back, Simmons pulls away and punches him in the arm, scowling.

"Don’t," he starts. "Don't ev—ever scare me like that again, oh my God!"

"Sorry," Grif says automatically. Simmons takes off his glasses again— they kept getting fogged up anyways— and kisses him. It's light, a bit uncoordinated. It's like their first kiss all over again, noses getting squashed on each other's cheeks and teeth clacking lightly, only the uncertainty is replaced with something like a question as if Simmons was asking, was he really sorry, was this really going to be okay?

"How long?" Simmons whispers against his mouth. He still has his awful morning breath, and Grif could absolutely not care any less.

"What?"

Simmons pulls away just far away enough that he can still lean his forehead against Grif’s. "You said you were waiting for 'forever.' How long were you thinking about...?"

Dating for seven years, Grif thinks, and we still suck ass at direct communication. No, he realizes, ‘dating’ isn't right anymore. Engaged and they still suck ass at direct communication. Or, wait. No, they weren't engaged yet. Neither of them had actually popped the question.

He was going to be engaged. Soon. As in, now soon. Oh, holy shit. Holy fucking shit.

"Grif?"

"Oh, uh." Grif coughs and clears his throat in embarrassment. "Four years? I bought this thing"—he gestures to the ring—"like, a year ago, though.”

"What?! We could have—Could have—" Simmons turns red. "Gotten engaged like, four years ago, and you didn't say anything!?"

"Hey man, I wasn't sure! I didn't want to push!"

"Pushing my buttons is your ‘thing’ though, you said so!"

"Oh, and you did so much better? How long were you waiting?"

Simmons falls silent at that. Grif snorts, smug. "See why I didn't—"

"Five years."

Grif chokes. "What?"

Simmons takes a deep breath. The tone in the room shifts to something a little more serious. "So—So you know when we met. Freshman year. We started hanging out a lot. And when you came over the first time, my dad, um. He..."

"He hated me."

"Yeah." Simmons' expression turns guilty. "I... I felt awful about this, and I still do, but I tried to, too."

"Tried to what?"

Simmons bites his lip hesitantly. "Hate you," he says quickly. Grif's eyebrows shoot up towards his hairline as Simmons rushes on. "Because it was messing everything somewhat-decent up between my dad and me." Grif stares at him. "Seriously! Literally, the only thing I wanted back then was to get on good terms with my dad. It seemed logical to me. So I keep trying to find reasons to convince myself to do it."

"Gee, thanks," Grif says dryly. Simmons cringes and glances away. "Was that why you stopped talking to me for like, two months? I here I was thinking it was because I stole the last carton of almond milk that week."

"I—How the hell do you remember that? Of course you would, what am I saying?" Grif doesn't know what he means by that, but he doesn't comment. "Okay, anyway, here's the thing; it fucking sucked."

Grif frowns. "So why'd you do it?"

"Because I really thought it would help." Simmons swallows. "I thought if I, if I stuck to myself, did everything on my own to prove I could be independent, lived my life to prove a point to my dad, I would get something out of it. But I didn't. And I honestly couldn't get why." Simmons snorts. "I thought it was your fault, at first. It just had to be in some way or another, because I was convinced that was how it was supposed to be. Turned out I had a case of something called missing my friend. Wow. Crazy." He sighs. "My dad definitely didn't make things easier. On one hand, he seemed happy I stopped talking to you. But he made it seem like it wasn't enough."

It takes a lot of effort to not just say, "Yeah, and?" because Grif knows all of this. He remembers the times Simmons would show up to school with bags under reddened eyes. He remembers when he would argue and snap much more when something had happened back home. He remembers when Simmons would show up at his house late at night with a scowl and a single duffel bag. He remembers the arguments he had with Simmons' father about their lives. He remembers it all. "No offense Simmons, but I know that? I don't—I don't know what's new here about your dad being a total dickwad."

Simmons scrunches his brow, lips twisting thoughtfully. "When we started hanging out again, I was like, twenty times worse about everything. Some of the stuff I said was awful, even by our standards. I'm really sorry about that, by the way."

"Only took you sixteen years."

Simmons sighs and leans closer into Grif. "It took me way too long to realize why I had so many issues with… Everything. About you. Even when we were around each other, I would sit there wondering why I was being so persnickety—"

"'Persnickety?' Why do you have to be such an old man? Only Sarge says shit like that."

"Shut up, I’m being serious!"

"Richard Simmons? Being serious? No."

Simmons gives him a look. Grif coughs and waves him on. "At first, I thought— I thought—" He puffs out his cheeks and blows out. “When we got closer,” he starts again, slowly, “I realized how different we were. And that difference was just... Crazy to me. I didn't see how someone could live the way you did and… Not have any consequences for it?"

It's called having shitty parents who weren't around enough to actually berate you about a bad grade or some shit. Not much better of a life, Simmons. But he doesn't say that. He knows it'll derail the conversation into this mess of apologies and reassurances, It's fine, No, really, it's fine, Oh my god, I said it was fine, can we move on?

"Right. Anyways. I started chastising you for doing the things I wasn't allowed to do, and you hated it, but I think— I think, back then, I thought I was helping?" Grif stays silent. Simmons makes this disgusted noise. "'Helping.' All I did was make you try to not do stuff even more."

"Damn right."

"But even after all of that, it took a year after we started going out in college to realize that not everyone had that life. My life. They shouldn't have that life. I thought it was normal."

"It was fucked up," Grif reiterates. Okay. He knew this was supposed to mean something. But he had no idea what the hell it was supposed to be.

"It was fucked up," Simmons echoes. "But I didn't realize that at the time. You did, though."

Grif blinks. "Huh? What'd I do?"

To his surprise, Simmons doesn't roll his eyes or start smugly explaining in the same way one would explain to a child. Instead, his shoulders relax and his smile grows. "You gave me the push I needed to get myself to realize what was wrong. You gave me the chance to try again."

"Oh." Grif ducks his head away, embarrassed. He hadn't done any of those things on purpose. His entire goal of his high school career was only to try to get Simmons to relax for once in his life, which, in hindsight, was a little weird. Whatever it was, it shouldn't have been some emotional revelation. There wasn't supposed to be some hidden meaning. But if Simmons saw something and was waxing poetic about it, well, he wasn't about to stop him.

"Basically, you told me, "Hey, shut the fuck up for a second and relax." I got the message, but I didn't know how to do that. I had spent so much of my time and energy trying to do stuff for other people that I never stepped back to do what I wanted. So when it came to it, I was lost. But you... It was all you. You taught how to do it!" Simmons laughs again. He takes Grif’s hands eagerly in his own, peering at him with shining eyes. "Grif, you showed me that I could live for me. Not my dad. Not my mom. It was for whoever the hell I wanted to."

Oh. Oh. Something in Grif’s heart swells until he swears it’s going to burst out of him in this mess of affection. "Oh," he says intelligently, because what else was there to say?

Simmons is still talking. "I didn't really think back on that until we got back from a party from five years ago, and we got home at like two in the morning, and we were drunk as fuck, and I was so fucking happy!"

"Because you were drunk?"

"No, goddammit, it was because I was wondering earlier, ‘Where would I be without you? What life would I be living? What if you hadn't?’"—he snorts in disbelief— "Remember our first lab together?"

Grif tilts his head. "The one where I set your eyebrows on fire?"

"Yeah. I was wondering, what if you hadn't even done that? It was so fucking long ago, why would it matter? But then I kept thinking, and what if you hadn't kept messing with me after that? What if I hadn't spent two weeks trying to get you back for that? What if we had just gotten over it and forgot about each other? And holy shit Grif, it was the scariest fucking thing. I knew right then and there I didn't want that. I didn't want to be somewhere else. But it was okay. It was okay because I didn't need to worry about it. This is where I am now. I'm not in a different world where a guy named Dexter Grif didn't exist in my life. I'm in the world that does." And here, Simmons’ expression goes deadly serious. But within his eyes is a small flare of hopefulness and... Something else, burning with intensity. "I don't even want to think about it being any different, Dexter. I’m hoping you don't either."

Grif closes his eyes and takes a shaky breath through his nose, trying his damn hardest not to cry, but he's failing epically. He knows Simmons is still watching him intently, so he has to take a minute to compose himself and get his next words out. He opens his eyes again. “I don't,” he says in a croaky voice, "I mean, I don't want it to be different. ‘Cept for one thing."

"And what would that be?"

"I got a question for you, Richard."

"Mm?" He's smiling again.

The words come out after a deep breath in, then out.

“Wanna get married?”

Simmons’ smile melts into something so gentle and sweet that Grif nearly misses his next words. "I don't think that's how it goes," he says softly, but he's taking Grif’s face into his hands anyway. For once, they're warm.

"Shut up and answer the question, dumbass."

"Yeah." He’s crying again, that fucker, but Grif is too, so he can't really say anything. "Yes. Yes, I do, God, yes—"

Grif kisses him, not because that's what (he thinks) he's supposed to do, but because he doesn't know how words can convey the emotions that are rushing out of every part of his being. Joy, first of all, overwhelming, burning joy, affection, fondness, jubilation. Any worry and concern he had is buried and forgotten as their breath and tears mix, soon followed by their giddy laughter, the notes floating up in the room and hanging like stars.

The rings do look rather nice in the sunlight.

#grimmons #dexter grif #dick simmons #rvb #marriage proposals #AU #Fluff #fanfiction #discussions of abuse #swearing #simmons' dad is a dick #happy ending #established relationship #rvb fanfics #my writing #i live for comments #please i need an adult to tell me what to do im very confused

5 notes · View notes

starting-in-the-middle · 7 years

Text

I haven’t felt as much need to unload on here since installing Pacifica (thank you @armsintheair !!!!!) and it’s been helping me track my mood and journal more consistently. Because of my cyclothymia I end up with some pretty odd modd combinations by the end of the day. I can also keep track of my habits and set reminders which is awesome.

I had a lot of fun at Bodyvibe! There was a huge range of ages and shape so I immediately felt comfortable. I did have some dance class flashbacks on some of the steps. I reminded myself the point is to move, not to do it perfectly, and so I just kept going. It was an hour long class I kept in peak zone for 12 minutes and pretty much all the rest (except the first couple minutes) had me in cardio. It was really fun and my quads are feeling it when I go up stairs, but other than that not much soreness. I did a short arm circuit on the weight machine while I waited for the previous class to let out, and I over did it a tiny bit so my elbows are real sore. It would have been fine, but I didn’t realize how much arm work would do with the resistance bands! I’m going back tomorrow :)

In looking for an outfit to wear (covers everything but still breatheable and yes, of course, cute. first impressions!) I realized I hate most of my workout clothes, either because they don’t fit right (so why are they still in the basket, in the way of the things that do) or aren’t seasonal. SO I;m picking up a couple of capris and some tops. Gonna take a load of stuff to Plato’s Closet and throw in the very gently used pieces and probably donate the others that I don’t like. I’m not too surprised at all this considering I am having the exact same struggle with my main wardrobe, but less about cut and more about it not being my style anymore. I’ve been adding pieces and fast and I subtract them so my next donation load will feature a bit of personal shopping as well I think.

I like keeping this blog, but I’m getting really tired of tumblr in general. I am a firm believer in curating your own experience, but I’ve been on here so long (seven years) I’ve made awesome bonds and they just really start to add up! Maybe a following purge will help. I wish I could just make this my main. I have a good deal of followers on my regular account though, so I’m not just gonna be like “surprise this is a health blog now”. I still find it fairly useful for news but not quite as much, I just visit different sites and continue to talk about it (almost ceaselessly) with friends. I deleted the app so it’s a pain in the ass to upload personal photos and fitbit screenshots. Maybe I will just remake and only follow mental/physical health blogs. It is way easier to connect with folks when the main blog isn’t so obviously non-health (I have mutuals and followers with issues about this stuff so I try really hard to keep it separate so no one feels uncomfortable). Regret over deletion probably last like, an hour? Hmm. I feel like I’m being a little dramatic, but there’s a lot of stuff on my main I really like, and I don;t wanna lose it all. Maybe just stay signed off and make a brand shiny new account with a different log in, so then I have [hannah montana voice] the bessssttt of both worlds

I’m considering doing a health ig because it is easier to switch and it is also now the only social media app I have on my phone. Unless you count Pinterest. Which I do not. (seriously, delete the fb app, your life will improve so much)(so will your data use). DO any of yall have fitness/health IG in addition to your main account? Do you think it help connect to others, or just like an additional stress? I’m not interested in followers but I also don’t want to feel like I’m shoutinginto the void. Things to mull over.

I thought we had a party this weekend, but it turns out we don;t, so we’re hitting a show based purely on how cool the street poster is. I can’t even make out most of the names, so you know its gonna be a good time, and we’re gonna hang with a pal I haven’t seen in a hot minute. I feel like I’m rambling? But anyway, hi, hello, how are ya

4 notes · View notes

captianfaerietrash · 7 years

Text

Raythe Reign Gift Exchange: Hug in a Mug

I know it has been quite some time since I posted anything, but this is such an exciting moment, since I have been working on this for over a month. I really hope my giftee ( @mangaworm ) likes it! (even though it does not seem to let me tag them in this! Darn you tumblr *shakes fist*)

I’d like to thank the @raythereignfans for setting this up for the second year in a row, and of course Raythe herself for making all of these wonderful creations possible~

Title: Hug in a Mug - A Date a Vampire.com fanfic

Prompt: “Milo introduces Lucien to coffee”

As the sun finally dips below the Winter Haven skyline, Milo practically trips over himself in order to get to his computer as soon as possible. Luckily, for the sake of his skin and the steaming cup of coffee in hand, he doesn’t actually trip, but catches himself right before sitting down in his computer chair. He sighs in relief as the mug ultimately sits undamaged on the desk beside the keyboard. With that minor wave of anxiety quickly passing, the college student hurries to log on to what has quickly become his favorite website: dateavampire.com, constantly glancing at the clock in the corner of his computer screen. Hopefully he’ll make it on before-- ah-ha! As promised, exactly 20 minutes after sundown, a window appears, alerting him to someone attempting to contact him through the website. Of course, Milo clicks the “ok” button and beams brightly as the always lovely sight of the handsome blonde male appears before him. Aaah, Lucian… simply spotting the supposed vampire on his screen sends his heart fluttering in his rib cage and brings a goofy smile to his face. He waves while Lucian fumbles with the device, mumbling something about no sound coming through. Right as Milo moves his hands towards the keyboard, the “vampire” gasps in pleasant surprise when he finally figures it out. The college student couldn’t help but smile and hum in amusement.

“Hi there, did you sleep well?” He asks, tilting his head curiously to the side with that somewhat silly smile at the corner of his lips. Regardless whether he believed Lucien to really be a vampire or not, Milo can tell that the gorgeous man before him just woke up not too long ago: his movements are slightly lethargic and he occasionally yawns. Plus, the “viscount’s” typically picture perfect golden locks look ever so slightly disheveled, which is definitely noticeable when compared to the usual perfection. If Milo attempted a call merely 20 minutes after waking up, someone might mistake him for a monstrous creature of the night.. He cannot help but feel a little jealous, but not that much. Upon hearing Milo’s question, Lucien’s lips curl up into a heart-melting smile as he nods his head slightly in response.

“I did indeed. Although, I do wish I could have woken from my slumber earlier so that we may talk longer. You only have a few hours until you must retire for sleep, no?” He smiles somewhat sadly now: the corners of his mouth drop subtly, as if the thought of not being able to talk to Milo for long upset him. Much to his surprise, the young man suddenly chuckles and shakes his head, which only confuses the blonde male beyond the screen.

“Not tonight. I’ve gotta upload my photos onto my computer and start on an assignment due Monday. Although, I doubt I’ll be concentrating too much on that part.” Milo cuts himself off with a nervous chuckle in order to keep himself from babbling on more than he already did. Lucien raises both brows in surprise, certainly not expecting this kind of behavior from the young man he has acquainted himself with.

“How do you plan on staying awake longer than you do already? You look absolutely exhausted at the end of our conversations most nights.” His lifted brows now furrow in concern. While he has not been human in quite some time, he is still certain that humans need a decent amount of sleep. However, Milo seems to not share these same concerns as he reaches off-screen and returns with a cup in his hand; the words ‘World’s Biggest Nerd’ face Lucien, but he has absolutely no idea what that means.

“Waaaaaaaaaay ahead of you. I made some coffee. So, I can actually stay awake this time.” Milo grins, obviously quite proud of his own plan and takes a drink from the coffee mug. A content sigh escapes him as he sets the ceramic cup back down once more. When he turns his gaze back to the computer, he spots Lucien simply blinking in confusion. Could it be… has Lucien never heard of coffee before? Damn, Milo has to admit: Lucien must be a talented actor for sure if he can fake not knowing what coffee is! That, or Lucien was born and raised under a rock and completely deprived of the caffeinated life blood known as coffee, which should be a crime in and of itself! Whatever the case may be, Milo decides to just go along with it, his eyes widening in horror at the thought of someone never trying coffee before in their whole life. “You…. you do know what coffee is… right?” Milo still asks, holding the mug out for Lucien to see inside. Perhaps it would jog his memory. Still very much confused, the “viscount” shakes his head.

“Not to my current knowledge, I am afraid…” Lucien scowls for a moment but ultimately smiles at Milo’s shocked expression. It was too precious, but he was not about to say that out loud. “Although, it seems to be something you enjoy, and is quite popular, considering your reaction and questions…” He observes, providing a starting point for the young man to begin his inevitable explanation. While Milo seems quite determined to learn as much as he could about Lucien, that much obvious to the blond from the insistence of the young man’s questions in their previous conversations, the viscount finds himself delighted by Milo’s plethora of expressions and animated explanations about things the college student probably thought mundane or normal. Could anyone truly blame Lucien for jumping on the opportunity when it presented itself? Besides, he truly wishes to know more about not only this “modern” world, but, right now, specifically this miracle liquid that Milo alluded to helping the young man stay awake rather than falling asleep around his usual time. It sounds more like some sort of medicinal draught than a pleasant beverage. Yet, the student before him seems to be doing just that: contently sipping away at the drink, which he barely catches a glance at, aside from that first look Milo gave him. It almost appears to be the same color of the photographer’s hair, perhaps a little darker? Certainly not a color that Lucien typically associates with beverages.

To the vampire’s relief and mild excitement, Milo lights up and laughs that beautiful, melodious laugh so unique to the young man. English, unfortunately, lacks the words to truly describe it in its entirety. “Well, you’re definitely not wrong, on either account. It just so happens to be the lifeblood of every college student ever…” Milo pauses and suddenly laughs again, as if only now catching onto his particular word choice. “Not literally, of course! But, we drink enough of it that it very well may be true! From all of the late night and all night studying, it’s practically a necessity. It’s got lots of caffeine which keeps us alert and wide awake. Plus, I think it actually tastes good, given enough cream and sugar.” He chuckles and looks at the cup again with a warm smile. “TT also calls it a ‘hug in a mug,’ especially if you’re just enjoying it rather than needing the coffee to stay conscious…” He trails off and spontaneously blushes faintly, setting the mug down and chuckling awkwardly out of embarrassment. “I kinda rambled a little bit there… Sorry about that…”

Lucien hums and smiles in mild amusement with a shake of his head. “No need to apologize, Milo. I was enjoying your explanation, especially when you called it… oh, what was it… something about a hug in the cup?”

“Hug in a mug, but really? You don’t mind it?” “Mind it? I told you before, Milo: you don’t have to hide anything or change how you act around me. Just be yourself.” Lucien reassures the young man with a stunning smile. However, the vampire begins to pout, somewhat, even without realizing it, his bottom lip becoming subtly more noticeable to Milo as the viscount slumps his shoulders. “Even so, I highly doubt that anyone here knows how to make coffee. Some are even older than I, and the rest are far too busy with their modern lives.” Lucien sighs softly. “So, it seems I will not be able to partake of this warm embrace in a cup anytime soon… how unfortunate.” The viscount tilts his head slightly with the sad pout only increasing.

Really? No one where Lucien lived knew how to make coffee? Milo almost couldn’t believe it! Then again, most people his age don’t make their own either; they simply go to the nearest coffee shop and have it made for--

Ah ha! That’s it! A coffee shop!

Lucien still has some hesitations about his ‘ability to adapt to the modern world,’ (which Milo suspected simply meant that Lucien wasn’t allowed to go to “clients’” homes, or he simply didn’t feel ready to go to Milo’s apartment) so the college student doesn’t want to push that issue or even bring it up. However, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t make an offer for a compromise of sorts. It couldn’t hurt to ask, anyway, right?

“You are thinking rather intently on something… Is everything alright?” The velvety voice pulls Milo back from his waffling thoughts. Returning to the present moment of reality, the young man blinks rapidly as a sheepish grin curls at the edges of his lips and an embarrassed chuckle escapes his throat. He reaches up to scratch the back of his head.

“Well, I don’t know if I would say anything is wrong, but… I suppose you could say that I am… debating something, but I don’t know if I should ask. I… I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything.” “Uncomfortable? Sweet Milo, I doubt that your words in any form could make me uncomfortable, save for you telling me that you do not wish to speak with me any longer… Although, that would trouble me more than make me--”

“No! No… that’s not it at all, not in the slightest!” Milo panics and shakes his head while his hands flail about. After the momentary freak out, Milo sighs with defeat. “Well… I was going to ask if… if you heard of the historical district? If you have ever been there? I… I know you said you don’t get out because of the--”

“Is there something in this ‘historical district’ that you wish to show me?” Lucien tilts his head slightly with a charming heart-melting smile. How could Milo possibly withstand such an expression? It is impossible!

“Sort of… Kind of… okay, yeah…” Milo finally admits with a bashful smile and flushed cheeks. “There’s… there’s a small coffee shop that opened not too long ago right on the edge of the district… I know, it’s a stupid idea. I shouldn’t have even brought it up. Forget I said anything.”

“Nonsense. I think it is a lovely idea. Do you think they are open late?”

Milo stares at the screen for a moment after the “vampire” finishes his question. Lucien… was he actually considering this? Going to a coffee shop… going on a coffee date with Milo? “O-Oh! Yeah, it’s near the campus. Well, close enough that students go from time to time, so it’s open all night, actually.” The young man chuckles, practically giddy at this point. To think that Lucien might actually want to go on a date… with him! That he would actually venture outside… to go to a coffee shop with Milo of all people! Those same thoughts of disbelief whirl about in a continuous cycle, over and over. If he didn’t know better, he might think that he was actually dreaming.

“Great. I do not suppose you could… erm… I assume there is a way to… the address for the coffee shop in question?” Lucien falters, trying to find the words of this modern world he currently lacked. “I am sure Gregoire-- a dear friend of mine-- could assist me with getting there, once I have a location.” He ultimately explains, hoping that would clear up the confusion currently knitting the young man’s brows before him. Fortunately, realization dawns on Milo and the college student quickly types away at the keyboard.

“If Gregoire is the friend that helped you set up your profile on the website, then I’m sure he could help you with this. Of course, there’s always the option of me coming to pick you up from--”

“Trust me, Milo. This is not a place you wish to be. Not all here are as kind and… civilized as Gregoire and myself. Please…” Lucien implores with a sad smile and… something that the college student can only describe as smoldering… puppy eyes. How was Milo supposed to say no to that?

“Oh, alright, but only because you asked nicely.” Milo teases with a soft chuckle before hitting the Enter key. A soft ping pipes up on the blond male’s side soon after, much to the young man’s delight and relief. “Well, that sound tells me you got it, so… when should I expect to see you there? I’m pretty much free every night this week… if you’re not busy. We could always wait until next week if that’s--”

“Milo. It’s okay. If you have no qualms, we could go tomorrow?” Lucien raises a brow, but simply smiles: no expectations or impatience, just a content smile. Milo raises his brows in surprise, certainly not expecting this kind of… immediate response from Lucien.

“T-Tomorrow? Tomorrow would be great! I can work with that. What time do you want to meet up? I know right after sunset wouldn’t be ideal, so how about 8, or 9? Would that work better?” Milo cuts himself short before he could allow himself to continue rambling on. However, Lucien doesn’t seem to mind, or notice the college student’s slight nervous tendencies as he hums thoughtfully, contemplating the young man’s question.

“How about we go with 9, just to ‘be on the safe side,’ no?” He smiles, somewhat proud of attempt at a colloquialism he heard Milo use before. “Nine o’clock it is then. Tell Gregoire not to make you late.”

With the coffee shop being somewhat close to his apartment, Milo simply walks through the historical district, his heart fluttering higher in his chest with every step until it feels lodged in his throat from both the nerves and excitement. Can anyone honestly blame him though? He’s finally going on a date (albeit just a coffee date, but still! It totally counts!) with Lucien! He actually pinches himself a couple of times to make sure this isn’t some kind of elaborate dream as he makes his way over to the edge of the district. The moment he reaches the coffee shop, and holds his hand out to open the door, he hears the engine of an expensive sports car revving right before it speeds off, causing the curious college student to turn away from the door, towards the source of the sound. As he does, his mind goes completely blank at the sight before him: those gorgeous amethyst eyes, that fair skin that nearly looks porcelain beneath the streetlights, accompanied by long flowing locks spun out of gold, or platinum, maybe both, and those lips… those smooth perfect lips now curl up in a bright, but also amused, smile. Milo swears his heart stops right then and there as he lays eyes on the man he has been talking to for months, in the flesh rather than simply through the computer screen: Lucien. If it was somehow possible, he looks even more amazing in person.

He notices Lucien’s lips moving, but it actually takes him a moment to catch what was being said to him: “I hope you were not waiting long. I know we agreed on nine, but it seems we were both too impatient.” He hums with amusement, as if realizing Milo’s elongated pause was because of him. The college student flushes bright red but smiles widely while nodding in agreement.

“I guess you’re right.” He responds with a sheepish grin before turning back towards the door. “C’mon, might as well head in before it gets too crowded.” Milo holds the door open and looks back at the beautiful man behind him. “Might as well.” Lucien repeats the college student and reaches into his pocket to pull out a pair of sunglasses, earning a quizzical look from the young man before him. “Although it is not daylight, artificial light can become an annoyance, from what Gregoire has said. So, I took this pair of reflective oculars he offered to assist with… potential unpleasantries.” Lucien explains while placing the sunglasses on his face and walking through the opened door. Although Milo stares for a moment, as if uncertain what all to believe in that, he ultimately smiles and nods.

“I guess headaches and stuff would make it difficult to be in a place like this.” The student rationalizes and follows Lucien inside, soon taking the lead towards the front where the menu board sits behind the counter covered with towers of coffee cups next to pots of freshly brewed coffee, and the registers staffed with overly friendly baristas.

“The aroma in here is odd, but intriguing and mostly pleasant. Is that from the coffee?” Lucien inhales as he turns to ask Milo his query. A couple of people wait in line ahead of them, so surely this would be a proper time to converse about it. The earthiness… with the subtlest notes of spices and smoke and… perhaps a touch of chocolate as well? It is quite complex with so many other varying notes, that he has some difficulty identifying all of the distinct fragrances. Some of them he has no name for, because he never smelled them before in his entire life. Milo looks up at him with a curious smile and nods.

“Yeah, that’s probably from the coffee. I bet they get the whole roasted beans sent here, and they grind them on site before brewing. Would explain why the smell is so strong, and possibly why you find it so odd.” He explains, doing his best to give Lucien the benefit of the doubt that the gorgeous blond man never truly experienced coffee before, as mind-blowing a concept as that is.

“They are beans? That are roasted and ground?” Lucien repeats, genuinely intrigued and curious. That certainly explains the subtle smoke, but perhaps the other intricacies are simply part of the coffee’s inherent characteristics? “And… brewed? Like tea, perhaps?” He recognizes the concept, but does not know how that is applied to coffee. Sounds plausible, at least to the ancient viscount anyway, but what did he know? Milo hums thoughtfully before laying his hand flat horizontally midair and teetering it back and forth.

“Somewhat, but rather than a pouch of the ground beans going into the cup, a filter full of the grounds is suspended over the cup, or pitcher in the case of the coffee house, and hot water is slowly poured into the filter. The flavored water steeped with coffee trickles out of the filter with none of the ground beans.” He tries his best to explain and slumps his shoulders in relief when Lucien finally nods in understanding. At last, they make their way to the counter, where Milo orders two simple lattes, something easy, not too crazy, and quick for the baristas to whip up. In a matter of moments, the college student leads them both to a somewhat dimmer table away from the majority of the light and sound. Lucien seems to relax a little as he sits down across from Milo, now curiously inspecting the cup placed before him. He watches Milo take a sip from the plastic lid atop the cup and sighs contently. “Not too bad, if I do say so myself.” Milo remarks. While he prefers to make it himself at home with his specific coffee and cream, he still enjoys the simple warm latte in his hands.

Only after hearing Milo’s comment does Lucien finally decide to try it for himself. He mimicks the same motions that he saw and soon tastes something very similar to the wonderful aroma around them, with a little bit of cow’s milk to lighten up the bitterness. Lucien hums thoughtfully with his brows raised in pleasant surprise. However, after a few quiet moments, the blond glances down at the cup in mild confusion. A slight perplexed frown curls his lips downward as his brows then furrow to further express this lack of understanding.

“Is something wrong? Do you not like it?” Milo asks, absently reaching over to place his hand atop Lucien’s. His warm fingertips brush against shockingly cold knuckles before the “vampire” looks over to him and actually registers the question. Lucien smiles apologetically and shakes his head.

“That is not it, Milo. I enjoy it, more so than I initially anticipated I would. However, I do not feel that… feel what you called it last night…” He glances back down at the cup with another confused and disappointed frown. Milo stares dumbfounded for a moment. Was Lucien upset that he didn’t feel the “hug in a mug” that Milo jokingly referred to the previous night? Although he really meant it in jest, the only time Milo feels anything remotely like that is when he makes it himself… and shares it with someone else, like TT or maybe--

“I’m sorry that it doesn’t live up to the expectations I might have accidentally set with my words.” Milo chuckles sheepishly and scratches the back of his head right as a thought dawns on him. “How about I make it up to you tomorrow night, if you’re still free? I have an idea about how to get you your hug in a mug~” Milo beams brightly, actually somewhat proud of this new plan, despite having come up with it less than two minutes ago.

“You do not have to ‘make it up to me,’ Milo. I told you I am enjoying this. But if you still wish to do so, yes, I am ‘free’ tomorrow for whatever you may be scheming.” Lucien responds with a bemused hum as he takes another sip of his coffee.

“Great! It’s a date then, again.” Milo chuckles with a wide grin as he, too, resumes drinking his latte.

Time ticks by slowly as Milo stands near the entrance to the large, well kept, city park: half commonplace park with benches, sparse trees, and a playground, and half partially tamed forest for those who appreciated the wilderness but seldom traveled far enough to actually see it otherwise. Lucien once told him that shapeshifters and werewolves felt more at home there, but Milo doubts that, much like the whole ‘vampire’ thing. Speaking of Lucien, where is that French speaking--

Right as the college student looks around, a vaguely familiar fancy sports car pulls up right next to the curb. The passenger’s side opens, and out steps that drop dead gorgeous man who inexplicably agreed to not one, but two dates with Milo. The young man beams brightly and waves, walking closer to the blond beauty as soon as the car peels off back down the road.

“I apologize for my tardiness… I had to wait for Gregoire to finish a business meeting. I did not wish to inconvenience him more than I probably do.” Lucien explains with an apologetic smile as Milo finally reaches him, although the college student blinks a couple times in confusion before looking down at his watch. A minute. Lucien was upset about being one minute late? It takes everything within Milo not to laugh, considering how sincere Lucien felt about his apology.

“It is alright Lucien, I haven’t been waiting long at all. Shall we?” Milo beans and starts walking toward the park entrance again, but not before something icy envelops his hand. He blinks in confusion as he looks down to find Lucien’s fingers intertwined with his own. His cheeks spontaneously radiate head, and probably turn a nice shade of pink or red by now. However, he says nothing about it and simply gives the “vampire’s” hand a light squeeze before searching for the perfect spot for an impromptu nighttime coffee picnic. It doesn’t take long for him to find a nice clear patch with an amazing view of the stars overhead. Only then does he slide the duffel bag from his shoulder, and unzips it to pull out a simple quilted blanket given to him several christmases ago, by some relative or another. He lays it out flat and sits down, patting the spot next to him to encourage the very confused Lucien to sit down. After he does this, Milo pulls out the other items in his bag: two coffee cups and a tall steel insulated thermos. He hands one of the cups to Lucien and sets the other in his own lap for the moment while opening up the thermos.

“I think I might have it all figured out: it wasn’t made by someone you care for, and who cares for you in return. I made this one, so hopefully this will do the trick.” Milo beams while carefully pouring the steaming hot liquid into Lucien’s mug. He moves on to pour his own as he spots the older man sniffing the contents of the cup and humming thoughtfully. Milo cannot contain the soft chuckle escaping his lips while he recaps the thermos. “Go ahead, it’s not going to bite or anything.” Milo urges with a light tease and another laugh, cradling his much in both hands.

“I never said that it would. I was merely waiting for you, that is all.” Lucien smiles gently before finally bringing the rim of the cup to his lips. He takes a sip and his eyes widen with surprise and delight. As he pulls the cup back, an elated smile brightens his face and the ‘viscount’ nods to himself. “Yes, this is it. This must be what you were referring to: so warm, but not painfully hot. It is… comforting. About the only thing that could compare is an actual hug, no?” He turns towards Milo, who was all smiles and flushed cheeks. The college student carefully sets his coffee up down with a thoughtful hum.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out~” ~End~

#raythe reign gift exchange #raythe reign #date a vampire.com #raythe reign fan fiction #yaoi fan fiction #milo and lucien #fluff fanfiction #mangaworm #raythe reign fans

13 notes · View notes

elleleh · 7 years

Note

Hello! I absolutely adore all your Qrow and Summer comics, and everyday I'm always super excited to check and see what you've posted! I was just curious, how do you manage to post so consistently? I'm wanting to start uploading my own stuff on a more consistent schedule, and was just interested in seeing how you go about it. Anyway, please keep up the amazing work, its much appreciated during this RWBY haitus especially! ☺️❤️

Okay, I’m not going to add a drawing to this just because I want to answer you PRONTO.

Thank you so much, by the way! I’ll give you all the information and knowledge my professors handed down to me and what I’ve learned since being a committed artist to Tumblr.

Basically, you have to commit at least 100%. You may laugh, but I’m being serious. View this time you spend as an investment for something better in the future. It is not ‘messing around on the computer’ or ‘just having fun’, it’s your job (that hopefully leads to a paying job at some point). Don’t just say that to yourself, either. Tell other people that if they ask. Own it. It’ll make the commitment that more gratifying.

Ask yourself, “Are you ready to commit yourself to your followers and your art? Are you in, or are you out?” because there is no ‘half-assing’, for lack of a better term, this type of work.

My routine: I get up in the morning, make tea and breakfast, and if I don’t have work (I have a job besides doing this), I hop on the computer, eat, and just start drawing or writing depending on the day and mood. Sometimes I split the day between the two so that I don’t get too anxious or bored with what I’m working on. My butt, however, is glued to my chair unless I need to stretch, use the bathroom, eat, or do any chores.

I’ve mentioned this a couple times before, but I’m obsessive. I live and breathe this kind of work and this amount of output. It gets me up in the morning just to know I can get a sooner start on my art for all of you! I am in a committed relationship, and I make myself give him my time on the weekends and at least an hour out of each day. Sometimes I can’t sacrifice more than that, because to build a career in the art field, it takes energy, time, blood, sweat, and tears. If you’re not trying to make a career, then you have more leeway.

TIPS AND TRICKS OF THE TRADE

Make it a point to post at least once a day. You do not gain a following, fans, or exposure by posting once a week or once a month. If you have a following, then it’s a bit more easy to manage and draw out your time in between submissions. Fans love seeing any of your work! Doesn’t have to be a whole script or masterpiece. Can be a snippet or a doodle. They’ll just be happy you updated.

Engage with your followers/fans. Let them know they’re welcome and safe on your blog to express ideas and just to talk with you. Be friendly and open minded when you do this, but don’t allow yourself to be a doormat if someone wants to push you around. Be firm, be civil, and move on.

Keep negativity from your blog as much as possible. Make coming to your page a positive experience. No one likes to see pages and pages of drama.

No Politics. No Religion. You are here to create, not to debate.

Take requests. You don’t have to always do it, but do it in the beginning. This allows you to also engage with the people who follow you and love your art/writing/work. Plus, you meet some cool, wonderful people in the process!

Don’t be too greedy with ideas. This is a creative world, and while credit should be dished out where it is due, don’t get too possessive of small details. I welcome people to use ‘petal’, ‘short-stack’, and ‘hummingbird’ in the fndm. I could be a mean, scrooge about it and tell everyone to keep their hands off, but I don’t want to do that. If someone wants some of my work or ideas in their headcanon, then great!

Don’t let people plagiarize or blatantly copy off of your work, though, either. You all know what art theft is. I don’t need to explain.

Take a break when needed. This is very important. Don’t push yourself too hard where you make yourself sick. I often forget to feed myself when working and then wonder why i’m anxious, dizzy, and feel sick to my stomach. Usually, I keep trail mix at my desk and a glass of water in between meals, but if you need it, get up, walk around outside, enjoy the day, lay in bed, do what you need to do to feel better. Your followers will understand.

Collaborate! This is one of the strongest tools we have as artists! We can join forces and create with one another! This not only exposes you to a whole OTHER group of people, but you make friends through this process, too!

When in doubt, nothing wrong with looking at references. Every single artist, no matter the skill level, needs references. I use references and images because the human body is HAAAARD. I also need them for inspiration on architecture, animals, landscapes, ect.

Do. Not. Start. Fights. I can’t stress that enough. If you get hate mail in some form or another, read it once then walk away from it. Delete it if you have to. You do yourself no favors responding to that. Be the adult in the scenario. Also, do not look at someone’s opinion online and then reblog it, only to argue and say that person is wrong. They’re called opinion’s for a reason. Just do yourself the biggest favor and avoid that kind of media. I know I have to. There are bloggers on here who are so aggressive and mean about what I like, but I do not approach them because I’m not a moron. No good comes of it.

Push your comfort zone. You do not get better by staying with what you know or with what is easy. Challenge yourself to do something different. Do that every single day. I work on human poses and interactions that make me struggle because after I nail it once, it is so much easier the next time around. I also know I need to push myself with my color theory as well, but that’s another matter entirely.

Color does not make it better! If you don’t understand color theory, study it before you color anything. Watch youtube videos if you must. I try to stay away from color because I feel it is a distraction sometimes. You don’t always need it. Line is hard enough. Get that down first.

If you need to get better at drawing human form, draw naked people. I don’t mean images, I mean take a class (if you can) and go draw ‘from life’. I improved greatly from doing that for just a year in school! You learn through drawing the real deal, not by copying photos. This applies to everything, by the way. Not just nekid people.

Lastly, draw what you love. You will not enjoy this if you don’t adhere to that rule. I’m not talking about commissions, or anything where you get to be paid to draw a certain thing/subject. There will be time for that. No, draw in the style you want that is most fun for you, and draw the subjects you want. Jump around with style. Want to do simplistic cartoon AND anime style?! Do both! No need to limit yourself.

OH ONE MORE THING. Develop your style. You want to be noticeable. When someone sees your art, they know its you. This will take you a while. I JUST found my style after over 10 years of drawing and 4 years of school. Be patient, be true to yourself, and take inspiration from others. It’ll come.

I hope this has been helpful and informative! If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask or message me! I am always open to talk to you wonderful people!

Stay Lovely~

15 notes · View notes

sys128 · 4 years

Note

Hey system! just a question, how many avatars did you have before you made rai? were all of them anthros? did you have a human one at one point?

Let’s answer the 2nd and 3rd part of this question first. So, were all of them anthro? No, actually. I’d say that roughly half of them were, which many are based on animals and Pokémon. And did I have a human one at one point? Not that I know of, no, unless you count my old school account I made shortly after starting 6th grade which was just a picture of me from 5th grade, which I changed in 7th grade, and then again in 8th grade, and I think one final time in freshman year where it sits today, kind of a yearly thing. The 8th-grade change and the freshman-year change both had to do with Glaceon images from Google or image edits of said images so I don’t think I’ll talk about those at all.

During 4th grade in 2014, I started to think about making an internet presence, which I’m thankful now that I didn’t do because, of course, having a YouTube account, unsupervised, at 9 years old, is a terrible idea and can lead to a plethora of horrible things that can affect children. (Think about COPPA, for example, ignoring all that panic that came from it before it was implemented on YouTube.) I wanted to do so at the time because I had already watched a ton of YouTube videos religiously for a few years prior so I “thought it would only make sense to do some of my own.” (Again, I’m glad I didn’t do that kind of thing that early!) I wanted to make an avatar for myself so what I did was draw it in crayon and pencil on paper. While I don’t have the original drawings, what I do have is a recreation.

In case you couldn’t tell what it was (I even recreated the rather crude drawing style I had at the time), it is supposed to be a yellow cat with headphones (which might have meant that he was a gamer or something.) Even though this never came true (okay, I lied, it did at one point in 2016 but never went anywhere), it still counts because it was thought of. The original name for it was “[REDACTED]Kid3″ as in me and my brother and my sister, making a total of 3 children. The [REDACTED] part is actually the first syllable of my family’s last name. Do I really want to mindlessly show that? *shrug* (Also fun fact, my dad thought up of that one not so long before, pretty cool huh?)

Skipping forward to 2016, it was a weird time. I was basically scrambling to find what type of YouTube videos I wanted to make. (Again, at 11, it was still not the safest option as to when to start, but here we are anyway.) I started with copy-paste cat video compilations (yes I actually did that) around September, which then I switched to a miscellaneous channel, where you could find stuff like... this, but most of the stuff that was initially there is now gone. I still upload there on rare occasions to screw with the people still tuning in, otherwise, it’s completely dormant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y64fM7vBUwA

In November, I tried to do some comic reads, animation, music, I basically forgot the rest at this point. Then December came around, and for the most part, I had completely stopped there for a while, I touched onto the object show community and YTP (particularly tennis). What I made for myself was an object representation of the YouTube play button. (I had a blast looking through old photos on my old email just to find this. I uncovered tons of memories from past events there.)

It would evolve over time. It had a bunny version, Halloween version, and a Pikachu version. The bunny and Pikachu version seemed to be my favorites and I had enjoyed drawing them immensely.

Though, problems started rising with them in 2018. I realized I was getting indirectly bullied for the types of content I was creating. (In case you were wondering why they did, it was likely because I didn’t play Fortnite and didn’t make Fortnite videos or something like that, I forgot.) I tried to escape thrice, which the third time was successful. The first time was a packing peanut named Isylon, but unfortunately, it’s like its existence has been erased and there seems to be nothing left of it-- oh never mind, here it is. That took forever to find!

The second time was where I tried to be more gaming-oriented and was also the time where I thought about being a furry for a while until I eventually did last year (More on that in question 1.) I had thought about having Bevan or Roxxy as my avatar and ended up being Roxxy... for like a day. It just led me to be the YouTube play button again, which was a bit disappointing.

But then, the holy month of May 2019 rolled around, a channel I made two months prior, would finally be my main channel. I had finally escaped. But I did mostly leave the object show community behind, but I did take YTP Tennis with me where I still play to this day. The channel in question would be the one I have right now. As far as profile pictures go, it started off as random Glaceon images off of Google and edits of these images until June, where I made Glaci. You’ve seen him before so I won’t provide an image of him just for this post, you can find one on dA or my previous posts, it continued to be more images of Glaci until about December where the profile picture was changed to Rai.

And here we are today! It was a bit of a crazy ride, but hey! It was pretty fun to look back on what I was before and to revisit the rather strange rapid channel changes I had 4 years ago. I hope nothing like that will happen again.

Well, I hope I’m the only one from school that uses Tumblr, otherwise, I’m screwed! They could be reading this right now, and I wouldn’t know! 😳

-system128

1 note · View note

survivorelara · 6 years

Text

Episode #1: “So thank you Gods and Goddesses.” -Ci’ere

three people on this tribe are 100% pros they have mangastars as their pfp im scared

Okay, this is my second time typing this because I accidentally deleted the first attempt ASDF. Hello every1 out there 👽 I'm so thrilled to be playing Elara because I know that the hosts are going to make this an awesome experience! We began our journey about an hour & a half ago, but something tremendous has already occured... I happened to snatch the Zosma idol on my first guess! Something about the placement of the 39th star spoke to me & luck was definitely on my side, so thank you celestial gods and goddesses! I’m kind of wondering if the idol locations & the iconic phrase “18 people, 39 days, 1 Survivor” have any correlation. Hmm. :O Even though I have some power to fall back on now, I don’t wanna have to rely on the idol to save myself so I’m stepping up to the plate socially to hopefully solidify myself in this group. I was hyped before, but this hype train has went through the ceiling!

Not only am I in this game with like many other Facebook ORGers.... I'm the least popular of them all. Like I see Emma, Ci'ere, Andrea and Toby... like they have a good friend group and people generally like them. Me on the other hand, I get easily annoyed with certain people and groups within this community and I have been told that I am a rainy and dark cloud. I mean, LOVE the comparison... but when you're in a "scavenger hunt" and one of the things is to get 50 reactions on a post and I average about 5-6... it ain't looking good for this bitch. And ITS ONLY DAY 1.

Great question. I am trying to figure that out. I realize not knowing discord puts me at s disadvantage. Let’s hope we win till I can figure it out.

Well I like this tribe, I'm feeling good about things at the moment, I've talked to loris, Andreaa, and John who I had a prior relationship with. They all seem nice enough. I'm hoping to make more connections with people in the near future, because with only 6 people on the tribe I need to make ABSOLUTE sure I'm in the numbers.

I'm such a flop, I did almost all my voice recordings on my phone while I accidentally left voice chat on. My Computer Mic isn't great and it was only for a little while, nobody said anything, so I don't know if anybody caught anything I might have said for the challenge, but the worst thing that might have been caught was my statement about Dani

We're approaching the end of Day 1 and I don't think I've made much progress with anyone other than John... this tribe is very quiet, and I don't know if that's due to many different timezones, or inactivity, or what have you. Regardless I'm a little worried about this challenge, but hopefully a win can be pulled out.

Its so quiet dawg

ok i love selfie scavenger hunts so this challenge is great. as for my tribe mates, roxy and i are in F6 in atomic together, so thats a interesting. Drew H was in that season and like. i have no idea what our relationship is going to be like ydgfs. the only person who I haven't talked to at all is Odd. i should get on that

Oh these motherfuckers think they got me found. They think they know me. Expect drama.

My tribe is ducking stacked with people I like so this is hot hopefully we can get this scav hunt done and get max point WEW

Well. I’m doing another one. Do I have the time? Nope! Is this a good idea? No ma’am/sir. But I’m doing it anyway. This is an...interesting tribe for me to be on. I have my one true love, Sam Drachus, and a tribe of people that probably don’t know he’s my husband. Of course, a pregame relationship never equates to an ingame relationship necessarily, so I will not rest in my socialisation (especially given I will have ass for physical game for a while). Louise I’ve hosted twice, Ci’ere I’ve hosted and played with. Dani and Brian I don’t really know properly but they seem very inactive. I am quite sure we will lose this challenge, but hopefully I can be active and bond-build enough to be Victorious!!

i hate this challenge because im so lazy

hi!! so my social game is going pretty good so far, i'm v tight with andrea, emma and i said we don't want each other to go, john's an icon and i like talking to zach. kori doesn't talk a lot so he'll probably be an ez boot. also i think im gonna end up with the most points for our immunity so that'll probably let me be spared if we do end up losing :)))). ALSO,,,,,,,,, i found the legacy advantage bc i clicked on seamus' manga on the tumblr?? of course they hid it behind the ugly one... no one looks there.

So our first challenge is a cute scavenger hunt & one of the 10 point items is getting 50 likes on a FB post. When I initially made the post, only a few people reacted to it so I knew I was going to have to do something drastic in order to get more people’s attention. I stole Nicki Minaj’s brand & started running KWEENT (6 letters Jack :p) Radio! I put in a lot of work to get people to help me out, but I also wanted to have fun with it & in the end it paid off. I’mma bit worried however since only Louise, Sam & I have made contributions to the challenge thus far. We don’t have that much time left & there’s still three empty columns... I’ve been talking a lot to Dani who I find I probably relate to the most. They made it pretty far in the actual Survivor casting process & they have also been talking to Sam. Sam is so nice & has that straight male humor, YEET. Louise is obviously a kween & we’ve played together before so I think I could work something out with her? Toby’s timezone & schedule is tough to work through, but I think I might be able to charm him up hehe. Brian is the only person that hasn’t shown any sign of life so I’ve been pushing for him, but of course he shows up now ASDFG.

Did so many challenges but have trouble uploading to gdoc

Anxiety is a bitch. Like I already have alot of it due to work and school, but for us to be submitting things for the scavenger hunt last minute... that made my heart quicken a bit more than needed. ESPECIALLY if your video links for the video portion of the hunt DON'T WORK. Like wth ODD? Like if you're gonna submit late.. like at least check the damn links so you can actually win the points for the videos that you are submitting. OH AND IN OTHER WORDS. I didn't think Jack was gonna view my poem to him. And he watched it. I have no words. Like let me die of embarrassment because I am flummoxed with a straight man once again in my life. ALL FOR 6 MEASLY POINTS IN A GAME! LIKE WHAT THE FUCK!?

That's so FETCH! Even with Odd's bumbling incapabilities, he can make us get a narrow win for reward! Maybe my frustrations were misplaced with him! But I am glad that I will not be the first boot and get to stay here for another 3 days or so! Pumped!

well just as i thought,,, TRASH this tribe has good people that i like but apart from ci'ere CHILEEEEEEE we sucked so bad we didn't deserve to win. I think it's brian that's going tbh he wasn't active till the last 4? hours of the comp and people have already said if we lose it's him so yikes guess that's what is happening.

we won the challenge which is actually surprising. Odd's links didn't work but if they did I would've had the lowest score. I was gonna do so much more but my phone won't charge !! and i went to a college fair ok. I love how i said i was good at comps during my live interview. i swear im not a liar hosts

Woo we won, I put a fair amount of work in, so I'm glad we got results... unfortunately it didn't REALLY matter because of how badly the losing tribe did.

I think I have a decent shot of making a 4-person alliance with John, Andrea, and Loris. Hopefully I can get that going through. Emma is LIKELY the weak link on the tribe, which is fine by me she has yet to talk to me really, so I'd have no qualms voting her out.

I have a funny story. I spent a half hour walking and looking for a license plate with ce on it. I had to use scooter plates. Half the cars only have one letter. When I finally found the plate parked in front of a restaurant . I got on one knee to take the pic. It was night so flash went out. A guy came out and demanded I delete the photo. Not kidding. He was not happy. I couldn’t explain what I was doing. I deleted it. He drove away. I was really bummed. So I got on my motorcycle and drove to the university where I knew there were hundreds of scooters. I slowly drove while looking on both sides of the parking lot. I must of looked at more than 500 plates. Finally I found one. Guess what? It was the same scooter from earlier. This time the guy not around. I was still really nervous like I was breaking the law. When the flash went off I was waiting for the guy to start running at me. He didn’t. Success.

Well, I'm a bit scared. Apparently, Sam has already found something? Or someone has... Item 39 purportedly received the "There was something there, but isn't anymore" treatment, which is Scary AF! Like, if someone has an idol THIS early in the game...if I got idol'd out THIS early in the game!!

But, I suspect that whatever was hidden in Position 39 was not, in fact, an idol, but was rather some clue or aspect to the idol system. 50 possibilities isn't enough of a competition space for an idol search, right? I mean, I bloody hope so because the alternative is that a Zosma idol is already flying around at the literal first tribal council and, man, I don't need that paranoia right now.

Winning this challenge was way easier than I expected, I figure some inactive is about to die on the other tribe so no worries there. I had a blast this thing is gonna be a fun time if the challenges continue to be similar to this.

Well it's day 2, John and Andreaa seem on board for an alliance, now all I need is to hear what Loris thinks and if he seems on board, I've got my 4-some right there. Which'll leave Emma and Big Z on the outs. Which is fine, we could even split the votes in case of an idol if we felt like it.

But I can't afford to get too comfortable, players can be real snakes and I can't let myself be too trusting. I just have to work on being super relateable and someone people feel comfortable talking to.

I just hope I didn't start "talking game" too early…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onr3BoPGJzA

I guess I cast assess now! Loris: he is a mood and playing hard but he likes me so for now we r gucci. He is super fun to talk to and we share idol guesses so hes aight! I dont want to work long term with him. Kori: Yikes. He's super inactive but he was like i like u lets form an alliance so ofc I'm like ok. He left me on read on the first day and randomly offered and im like k wyd i wasnt born yesterday Emma: Queen? I knew her before this we used to be married until she deactivated and I divorced her but like that literally not even the point. Shes kinda inactive and very on the bottom besides Kori so I'm hoping I can convince Loris to keep her if we go to tribal twice. Big Z: Ok I have never met him before now but OMG ive heard so much about him AND I LOVE HIM!!! I get the hype and then some. I wish we talked more. I 100% would not vote him or Emma out rn. John: he's cool! I havent talked to him too much but were in an alliance Basically im really happy we won LMAO. I am in an alliance I have no plans of following through with. life is interesting. I may just go off the rails. I am predicting Brian goes home because Zosma is a facebook clusterfuck right now.

I’m winning this org... I’m in a silly alliance with kori Andrea and John that I’m not gonna take seriously but kori probably will... me and Andrea are rlly good allies and I have the legacy??? give me my money

We lost the challenge by a landslide. https://tenor.com/view/davonne-rogers-pretends-to-be-gif-6175133

Zosma was 400+ points behind the other tribes so they really did snatch us huh. I’m happy to hear that they’re active though unlike some of my tribemates for the past two days l m a o. I scored more than half of our aggregate, so I think I should be set to survive this vote.

Toby wants to share idol info and I can’t decline that so I gave him fake receipts hehe. He also stated that I’m the person he’s connected to the most. Sam says that I’m easy to talk to as well, so I think my social game is going pretty well at the moment!

Sam wants to vote for anybody that isn’t him & he also said he loved me 😳 L i s t e n: love is a BIG word (to me at least) & you can’t just throw it out to anyone & their mother, Sam. Louise is in the same mindset as myself as she’s talked to Toby/Dani more than Brian so let’s just snipe Brian right? Well, Toby comes to me after scoring 0 & says he has a “gut feeling” that we should vote out Dani because Brian is preoccupied with Mount Olympus. Does that make any sense? We just lost the challenge by an extremely large margin & you want to keep the person that doesn’t prioritize this game? Go to sleep Toby, you’re drunk. I guess it’s hard to judge who will be more active since it’s only round uno. Dani was present, but only sent in one thing…& Brian had internet problems. I had a great conversation with Dani the first day, but it’s day three now. Should I stick my neck out for him? I told Toby what he wanted to hear because it was 3AM for him & he wanted to sleep, but there’s still a lot of time left & I want Brian dead.

I need to talk to people more often hn

I mean this vote is as simple as it gets, it's basically a battle of which inactive should we kick. Most votes seem to be going on brian, which I do feel bad about cuz I love him in mount Olympus and feel he could easily be a number to drag. but at the same time he's been so inactive to the point where he'll probs just die at a swap or something. I feel bad for toby since he already voted dani but im sure he'd understand with all the timezone differences, I would like dani to go but if brian stayed, we would probs lose again then he would just leave so rip

Hi!! It's me john coffey!!! So I love the theme of my tribe being like the emotional players and I love the vibe of all my tribemates. However I know that the emotional players are also sometimes the messiest players because I forsure fall into that category sometimes!! So far I have just been trying to chill tf out and get to know people, and use the scavenger hunt to show that I really want to be here. I may not have as much to offer in future tribe challenges so I like being able to use scavenger hunts to really go ham. I got the highest score on our tribe and I think the second highest behind Roxy so woo! Now let's move on to my fellow tribe mates. Kori - the only person I was familiar with going into this game. I played with him in my most recent game where he witnessed me win. We had a good bond the entire game but he also voted for me when he thought I was the majority vote, setting aside any connection I had made with him, so that is always kinda going to be on my mind in this game. But as of now he is the person I trust the most. Andrea - I LOVE her! We bonded quickly over being messes so that's always fun. I could see myself growing close with her in this game. Loris- I really like him, I always like British guys LOL it's been kinda difficult getting to talk to him at a time that works for both of us but I really like him so far Emma- she hosted me a few years ago though I didn't know it was her at first, I like her but haven talked to her as much as the others Big z - I like him though we haven't talked too much but I immediately see him as my biggest threat at this point. Just something about him idk.

As far as other tribe members go - drew Heuser is one of my favorite people to have played orgs with. He was the reason I was first boot in my first Tumblr game but has remained a dear friend of mine ever since. I met him in person and he's the besssst. If I have a chance to play with him I'm excited to see what the outcome will be.

https://youtu.be/TfQ4Xmeb2J8

Brian is voted out 5-1.

#episode #flyinghigh

0 notes