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syntheticpoetry · 4 years

Text

Teenage Satellites

Summary: This is a flashback sequence that describes Blaine’s night at the Sadie Hawkins dance with his friend (who I have named Skylar) and the assault at the end of the night.

There is definitely some friendship fluff to start, but this does include the description of a violent crime at the end with homophobic slurs, so please do not read if you find that triggering or upsetting.

This scene is an accompanying oneshot fic that goes along with a conversation between Kurt and Blaine in my And the World Spins Madly On universe. You can read that here (which has links included for FFN and AO3 in the post as well).

AO3 Link for Teenage Satellites

“You don’t think it looks tacky?” Blaine adjusted the white rose boutonniere on his date’s lapel. “I didn’t want something that would stand out so much, but I saw it and fell in love with it and—”

“It’s fine, stop fidgeting with it!” Skylar laughed and slapped at Blaine’s hand blithely. “You’re going to laugh when you see the one I’ve gotten for you…” Blaine raised an eyebrow, took a step back from him, and watched as Skylar strode over to the fridge.

“Oh, it’s the same one,” Blaine grinned and shook his head in disbelief upon seeing the clear plastic container housing the delicate perennial. “Of course, I should have guessed as much.”

“Come here so I can fix it on,” Skylar motioned him over and set the container on the counter. Blaine traipsed the short distance between them and closed the gap. Though the general atmosphere of the evening was meant to be romantic for most couples, these two had no reservations about spending their time together as two very good friends. The idea to go as a pair had been Blaine’s. It took a little convincing on Skylar’s part, but he usually (always) eventually caved in to Blaine’s schemes and requests— their friendship had blossomed so intensely over the course of a few short months that they assumed the role of each other’s “best friend.” Really, they were each other’s only friend at all.

“Dashing as ever,” Skylar smiled as he fastened the boutonniere to Blaine’s lapel with steady hands. Blaine looked down at those perfectly stilled hands— always in control, always so precise— and brushed his thumb over a small scratch. “Jasmine was pretty playful this morning,” Skylar laughed in response to the gesture.

Blaine shook his head and smiled, mostly to himself, before calling out to Skylar’s feline companion, “Jasmine? Come here and give us a kiss goodbye, honey!”

Jasmine, perched atop the kitchen windowsill, poked her head between two panels of off-white venetian blinds upon hearing her name. She was an odd cat, in the sense that she chirped and trilled more like a bird rather than meowed, and Blaine adored her that much more for it. On cue, she chirped and kicked off of the window, springing through the blinds, and sent them clattering against the glass loudly. Blaine guffawed while Skylar scolded her, but she paid no mind to her owner and chose to prance over to Blaine’s leg and rub herself against it.

“She’s going to get fur all over you!” Skylar screeched in alarm.

“Oh, she just wants a little attention,” Blaine spoke as though he was addressing a toddler, “Isn’t that right, baby girl?” He crouched down and scooped her up in his arms; to his left, Skylar let out a dramatic sigh.

“You’re incorrigible,” Skylar shook his head, but Blaine noticed the corners of his mouth twitch up into a smile. Jasmine chirped loudly in his arms and he returned his attention back to her, rubbing her belly until her purring was the only sound to fill the room. Blaine glimpsed at the clock on Skylar’s stove before setting Jasmine on the counter and brushing fur off of his jacket.

“Is your dad still driving—” he coughed and spit stray cat hair out of his mouth, sending Skylar into a fit of hysterics.

“I warned you!” he doubled over, clutching his stomach as if he just witnessed the single funniest sight in all his life.

Blaine rolled his eyes in response and spit away more cat hair that had plastered itself to his lips. After a few moments of regaining his composure, Skylar carelessly wiped away a few tears and spoke in a voice that clearly meant he was still trying to force his laughter down, “He should be, let me go ask him.”

Blaine nodded and Skylar disappeared into the living room. He could hear their muffled conversation, but wasn’t able to make out any actual words that hinted towards what type of answer Skylar’s father was providing. Jasmine rubbed up against Blaine’s leg again, trilling her affections and demanding to be picked up again. “Shhh, not now, baby girl. When we get back—Skylar will throw a fit if I look like a furry mess because of you.” She merely tilted her head in response and stared up at him with expectant, jade eyes.

“Okay, he said he’ll take us now if we’re ready to go,” Skylar strolled back into the room and Blaine didn’t miss the subtle hint of defeat adorning his features through the well placed smug smirk he’d adapted suddenly at the sight of Jasmine pining for Blaine’s continued attention. “Should just take her with us, I’m sure she’d love for you to show her some of your moves.”

Blaine smiled gently and wondered about pressing him for details on his half-hidden glum mood, but decided against it for now. “She’d be a hit, don’t you think?” Jasmine answered with a loud mew before rubbing her head against Blaine’s pant leg and collapsing onto his shoe. The two of them did nothing to suppress their laughter until Skylar’s father appeared in the doorway with a stoic expression.

“You boys ready?” he asked gruffly.

“Indeed, we are, Mr. Young,” Blaine offered a placid smile and, out of the corner of his eye, took note of Skylar’s unease. He was now even more overcome with the intense desire to know what exactly had taken place during their living room conversation to lead to Skylar’s distress. Mr. Young plucked his keys from the key rack by the back door and left them in the kitchen. Blaine took the opportunity to approach Skylar before they were meant to follow his father out to the car. “Everything okay? You seem… tense,” he placed a light hand on Skylar’s shoulder.

“Yeah, no I’m alright. Let’s go, we don’t want to be late,” Skylar brushed past the question with a feigned smile that betrayed the obvious turmoil in his eyes. But Blaine knew better than to push him— if Skylar wanted to talk he would initiate the conversation— so he nodded politely and dropped his hand. Skylar gave Blaine’s bicep a few gentle pats, a reassuring gesture they often offered each other, and lead the way out to his father’s SUV. Blaine slid into the backseat while Skylar took the front passenger seat and immediately proceeded to fiddle with the radio.

“Oh, wait go back! I love that song!” Blaine exclaimed while Skylar tapped the station seek button rapidly, very much like a certain character from a film about toys they both shared a guilty pleasure for.

Skylar grinned and Blaine knew what the line was going to be before he even started, “Too late, I’m in the 40’s, gotta go around the horn!”

Blaine leaned forward and mock punched his arm playfully, paying no mind to the stiff posture Mr. Young had adapted ever since Blaine had gotten into the car. “Come on, seriously. Please go back?” he offered his best puppy dog eyes. Skylar rolled his eyes in response and hit the number three preset button. “Thank you,” Blaine replied in a singsong voice before joining in on the song.

“So get back, back, back to the disaster. My heart’s beating faster, holding on to feel the same,” Blaine turned his attention to the window, drumming along on his thighs absently with his hands. The tension in the car remained the same for the duration of the ride to school and stayed well above Blaine’s head, as always. No matter how amiable he was to Mr. Young, the older man still had never warmed up to Blaine. Being the good-natured, naïve, boy that he was though, Blaine never took notice of his misgivings— his only sole concern was Skylar, impressing and befriending his father had never been part of his agenda. By the time they had finally pulled into the parking lot behind the school and gotten out of the car Skylar’s face looked ashy and he emitted tidal waves of anxiety.

“So you’ll pick us up at 11, dad?” Blaine watched cautiously and resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow when he heard Skylar’s voice tremble.

“Yeah,” his father replied flatly before driving away without sparing them so much as a second glance.

“…okay, seriously, what did I miss?” Blaine blurted out dumbly and Skylar shook his head.

“I just want to have a good time, let’s forget about it until later, okay?” Skylar adjusted his boutonniere, fumbling with it until it was really more crooked than straight.

“Forget about what?” Blaine smiled politely, despite the crumbling brick wall imprisoning his burning questions, and straightened it for him.

“Thank you,” Skylar whispered and Blaine couldn’t be sure if he meant for adjusting the accessory, dropping the subject, or both. He nodded, nonetheless, and hooked his arm through Skylar’s to escort him through the doors. Without even entering the building the pair had six sets of eyes staring them down. Blaine kept his head high, apprehension already steadily building, and his attention on two things only: where he was walking and Skylar. His companion adapted the same contrived confidence as they made their way to the gymnasium.

“Okay so far?” Blaine muttered out of the side of his mouth. When he hadn’t received an answer he turned his head slightly to find that Skylar appeared to be completely enamoured by the decorations. Blaine stifled a laugh, “You were on the decorating committee, bit egotistical to admire your work to the point of ignoring me, don’t you think?”

“Shut up! They didn’t look this good during the day,” Skylar pouted, “I have a right to feel proud. You know how hard I worked on this.”

“Yes, yes, I know. I haven’t forgotten how you ignored my presence for days so you could paint stars and mythical creatures,” Blaine feigned exasperation and Skylar continued to pout at him. “Alright, alright! How about I get us something to drink while you bask in your own greatness?”

“Pink lemonade if they have it, I—”

“Hate fruit punch, yes I know,” Blaine grinned and unhooked his arm from Skylar’s. “Will you be here or are you going to walk around?”

“I’ll wait for you here. Be prepared to have me drag you around all night and show off everything else in the room that I worked on that you haven’t seen yet,” a sly smirk flashed across his features and Blaine was relieved to see that he was already starting to loosen up and enjoy himself.

“Okay,” he replied with an overdramatic sigh tethered to the word. In truth he was pleasantly willing to let Skylar parade around the room and show off— nothing made Blaine happier than seeing the vehement fervor behind his friend’s words as he discussed his interests and hobbies. The passion in his eyes whenever the topic of painting and art came up was infectious and Blaine soaked up every second of it as often as possible. The decorations looked amazing and he knew Skylar should be, and was, rightly satisfied with the results. Blaine waltzed over to the refreshment table and contemplated the meager options presented: pretzels, Lay’s plain potato chips, fruit punch, (Skylar’s) pink lemonade, and bottles of water— not exactly a wide spread. He filled up two small, clear plastic cups with pink lemonade and quickly turned to rejoin Skylar. Unfortunately, in his haste, he walked straight into one of his, rather large, classmates and spilled both drinks.

Blaine tried to brush beads of lemonade off of his jacket sleeves, but he was completely soaked. “God, I’m so sorry, I didn’t even see you— ”

“Watch where you’re fucking going next—” Blaine averted his attention from his sleeves to the stranger who narrowed his eyes and stared down at Blaine with unmistakable disdain, “Oh. It’s you.” He chose to go a different route than Blaine and Skylar had, regarding outfit choice. While the two of them were dressed to the nines, an unkempt, hideous red plaid button down shirt, half tucked into his faded blue jeans, hung loosely on his boxy frame. He had a good twelve inches on Blaine, and at least sixty pounds. His mousy brown hair was slicked back with too little gel, leaving static strands jutting out in every direction.

“Me…?” Blaine tore his eyes away and started to kneel down to retrieve the empty cups, “I don’t think we’ve met befo—”

“What the hell are you doing? Stay away from my—” the boy immediately proceeded to cover his crotch with both of his hands and jumped back, placing a few feet between them. Blaine suddenly understood.

“Seriously? Honey, why would you think I’d want any part of that at all?” Blaine straightened up, placed a hand on his hip and stared at his classmate incredulously.

“Don’t fucking look at me like that either,” he reached both hands out and shoved Blaine forcefully. He tried to stay balanced but staggered backwards, right into the refreshment table. The glass bowls containing fruit punch and lemonade lurched violently, sloshing vibrant liquid onto the white, vinyl tablecloth. Blaine slammed his palms onto the table to steady himself, leaving himself completely open to another potential attack.

“I wasn’t looking at you like that,” he leaned back against the table, trying to put some more distance between himself and the other boy, but he might as well have been trying to reason with an angry bull. With the flared nostrils and red in this boy’s eyes, the comparison didn’t feel too far off. They had the attention of a few nearby students, but none of the teachers were anywhere in sight. Blaine had just enough time to duck under the table to avoid a full-body charge. The blood pounding in his ears made the cheers and jeers from the other students sound smothered— he had no idea which of them they were even rooting for or against.

“Mr. Walker! What do you think you’re doing?” he heard a stern voice approaching and maintained his position under the table.

“I was—”

“About to destroy school property! I think your night is over. Come with me, we’re going to call your parents to pick you up,” Blaine listened carefully and watched two pairs of legs retreat before crawling out of his safe haven. His knees shook as he stood up, his hands sticky with spilt lemonade, but he didn’t hesitate in striding over to where he’d left Skylar.

“About time, I thought you got lost on the way back. Hey, where are the— Blaine, you’re shaking…”

Blaine turned his attention down to his trembling hands before quickly offering, “I sort of tripped and spilled them all over myself. I’m going to get cleaned up, okay?”

“Klutz,” Skylar shook his head as he spoke. “Okay, I’m going to head over to the bleachers, so meet me there?”

Blaine nodded curtly and sprinted out of the gym towards the bathroom across from the darkened cafeteria. He knew he should have said something to Skylar about the incident, but he couldn’t bring himself to ruin his friend’s night when he was finally starting to have a little fun.

‘Besides, that kid is gone anyways. Just try to enjoy the rest of your night. Keep Skylar happy, it’ll be okay,’ Blaine tried to rationalize with himself as he washed his hands, repeating the last line in his head as though it was a mantra. As clean as he could get his hands, there was nothing he could do about the tremors; the entire incident not only left him upset, but infuriated. It wasn’t fair; wasn’t he entitled to a stress-free, night of bliss as well? He clenched his hands, eyes shut tight, but his nerves continued to send earthquakes throughout his entire body. ‘I should have pushed him back, why the hell did I hide? Why the hell do I keep hiding?’ The creak of the bathroom door to his left startled him and his eyes fluttered open to face the newcomer. He recognized the student, a classmate from third period English, and was greeted with a nod of acknowledgment before the boy disappeared into a stall. Blaine twisted the faucet shut and tore a rather large piece of paper towel away from the dispenser. His hands were finally starting to steady out, but the remnants of an adrenaline rush reminded him of his anger while his body resumed normal functions. He shook his head as he— literally— threw the dampened wad of paper with such force that it plastered itself to the wall with a wet smack! before sliding down into the waste bin. Even his anger began to fade away while he walked back to the gymnasium— reduced to a low ebbing— so that by the time he reached Skylar again his smile was genuine and he felt hopeful about the remainder of their evening.

“I got us some lemonade!” Skylar held out a cup to him with a broad grin and he took it with a grateful smile. “And I put a song request in.”

“What song might that be?” Blaine took a slow sip, pursing his lips when the much-too-sweet beverage overwhelmed his taste buds.

“It’s a surprise, you’ll know it when you hear it though,” and with that Skylar offered no other hints, leaving Blaine curious and, he couldn’t deny it, a little excited. Their taste in music was pretty similar, a pleasant discovery made during their early days of friendship, and they were always sharing new artists with each other. They’d also developed a knack for comforting each other through song choices, filling in the unspoken gaps of tense conversations with interludes of musical reassurances. As if saying to the other, “I’m here, I know you don’t really want to talk about it, but here’s something I think will help you feel better.” Lately they had been on a Keane kick and chose every opportunity they could to serenade each other to “Somewhere Only We Know.” Aloud, they agreed on their appreciation for such a beautifully composed song and left it at that; internally though, the underlying promise of a place, of a life, so much better than the one they currently lived in— that was their real reason for clinging to the words and constantly offering them to each other. It voiced all of the desires they were too afraid to admit out loud, even to each other. Desires that they feared would be compromised— made unlucky— if they ever spoke about how much they yearned for a change. While Blaine figured it wasn’t much of a lively song for a school dance, he wouldn’t put it past Skylar to put in the request. After all, there were bound to be some slow songs, right?

‘Oh god, what if he wants to slow dance with me?’ Blaine took another tentative sip— despite the nausea the sugary drink was causing him— to hide the tenseness in his jaw. He’d wanted to make a statement, show that if he wanted to come here with a boy, as an actual romantic date, that he should be able to— but dancing with one, actually shoving it in everyone’s faces… that felt like a step too far. Suddenly it wasn’t just the lemonade causing his stomach to rot; his anxiety was going to tear him apart from the inside out. Skylar hummed along to the current song, oblivious to Blaine’s rampant afflictions, and bobbed his head rhythmically. The song came to an end and Blaine bit the rim of his cup to keep himself from vomiting words and the contents of his stomach. For a few seconds the only thing that Blaine could hear was the chattering of students throughout the room, reverberating against the high windowpanes, but Skylar beamed, recognizing the song, his song choice, instantly by the lack of immediate guitar rhythms. At the first guitar downbeat Blaine returned the cup to his hand, his paranoia, his unease evaporating when Blink 182’s “Not Now” started up.

‘Of course, I should have seen that one coming. That’s all he’s been singing for days,’ he felt silly for panicking at all, especially over something as silly as a potential song choice. He let out a breathy laugh, exuding the rest of his nerves, and set his very-much-still-full cup on one of the bleachers.

“Time to dance now, let’s go!” Skylar exclaimed before brushing past him to the dance floor. He turned, already rocking his hips in a slightly more experienced but still very teenage-esque fashion, and Blaine sashayed over to join him. They kept their hands to themselves, dissolved into a world of their own— one which they dominated— and worked on showing off to each other, as they’d done countless times in Skylar’s bedroom. Blaine felt at ease finally. This dance was something they could conquer and live to tell the tale, again and again, come Monday morning. The reality of such a thought left Blaine dizzy, drunk off of the knowledge that they showed up together at a dance (at school), were actually dancing at said dance (at school), within close proximity to each other, and actually having a fairly decent time (at school.) The little encounter at the refreshment table felt like a distant memory and the endorphins coursing through Blaine’s bloodstream offered him a moment of bravery. He reached out and took Skylar’s hands in his own, the twinkle in his friend’s eyes let Blaine know he was ready for the next move—the move they practiced a thousand different times to a thousand different songs on sunny days, rainy days, I-don’t-want-to-talk-so-let’s-just-dance-until-I-feel-better-days— and he wouldn’t let his fears stop him now.

He pulled Skylar into the “sweetheart position,” twisting one of his companion’s arms, spinning him around and holding him close to his body before lifting his arm over Skylar’s head and pulling him around with his right hand. They spun together, untwisting their arms but still clasping each other’s hands tightly; Blaine released his right hand and spun Skylar around once, twice, three times more before the other boy collapsed into Blaine’s side, giggling wildly. While it wasn’t an appropriate song to put their swing dancing skills to the test, neither of them seemed to mind.

They were on top of the world, their world, without a single care— nothing, and no one, could possibly hurt them now.

_________________________________________________________

Come here, please hold my hand for now

Help me, I’m scared

Please show me how to fight this

God has a master plan

And I guess

I am in his demand

The music had ended ten minutes ago and the gymnasium was now considerably much emptier than it had been four hours ago, but that didn’t stop the two of them from humming and dancing to their own melody. Blaine held Skylar’s hand in his own, above their heads, and spun him once as they exited the back doors to the parking lot. The smile plastered to Blaine’s face spoke volumes about the events of the night and Skylar’s mirrored his.

“I’m really glad you convinced me to go,” Skylar unclasped his hand from Blaine’s and unbuttoned his blazer. The October wind wasn’t enough for them— they were both overheated, sweat glistening on their foreheads in the pale moonlight. “That’s the best time I’ve had in weeks.”

“Me too,” Blaine grazed the white rose on his lapel, miraculously still perfectly in place, with his thumb. “Hmm… were we supposed to go out to the front instead to be picked up? There’s no one here at all.”

Skylar gave the vacant parking lot a quick glance and frowned, “Huh, I guess we were. I figured they would have had everyone’s parents come back to the same spot they dropped us all off.” He shrugged, “Might as well just walk around the side now, it’s too stuffy inside.”

Blaine laughed in agreement, nodding his head. “After you, my dear,” he half bowed and extended his arms in an extravagant gesture. Skylar slapped Blaine’s bicep playfully and shook his head. “Such a gentleman you are, Blaine Anderson,” Skylar giggled as he passed by him.

“Well, you know me. I aim to please—”

“Where do you think you’re going, faggot?”

Blaine had been in very few fights growing up. They had mainly been schoolyard scraps in elementary school, but even ten year olds had the potential to be vicious. One fight in particular came to mind though. He couldn’t even remember how it had started— one minute he’d been waiting his turn in line for double dutch and the next he’d discovered all the air had left his lungs and a classmate’s fist buried deep into his stomach. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so dizzy and winded before… until now. This Walker kid’s words left him lightheaded and breathless, much like that punch he’d taken so many years ago.

“Skylar, run!” he managed to gasp out once the rest of his senses caught up to him. Skylar gave Blaine a look that said all that he couldn’t: Like hell I’m going to leave you here alone.

Please save me, this time I cannot run

And I’ll see you when this is done

And now I have come to realize

That you are the one who’s left behind

“Nobody’s going anywhere,” Walker snapped his fingers and two of his friends came to join him from the shadows beside the school. “You didn’t really think I was going to let you get away with screwing up my night, did you? You got me kicked out— why the fuck should you have been allowed to stay?”

“Blaine, what’s he talking about?” Skylar reached behind himself and gently closed his hand around Blaine’s wrist. It was a harmless gesture, more of a fearful reaction on Skylar’s part, but it seemed to brew thunderstorms in Walker’s eyes.

“He— there was an accident inside— I didn’t mean it, I walked into him and—” Blaine stammered pathetically, keeping his eyes fixed on the three boys before them.

“Oh, was this your date? They let you disgusting things in together?” he spat angrily, his companions’ brows furrowing in equal disdain.

“So both of them then, Logan?” the boy to Walker’s— well, Logan’s— right asked, brandishing a tire iron from thin air.

‘Where the hell did that come from?’ Blaine stared at the heavy object and his heart thumped a little harder against his ribcage. He knew they should run, knew that there was no good possible outcome from staying, but he was paralyzed. Skylar’s hand felt like an anchor on his wrist— neither of them knew what to do.

“Wait, wait, Logan wait. Think about this— you don’t want to— you could get expelled, things will just end up worse from here. You can walk away and—” Blaine knew it was useless trying to reason with him, with any of them. He could see the hatred rising off of them like smoke, blinding them from any sort of logical approach. There was only one way this was going to end.

“Both of them,” Logan growled menacingly and this seemed to do the trick in forcing Blaine into flight mode. He twisted his wrist until he was able to grasp Skylar’s and tugged on it, signaling him to run with him. They had barely been able to take two steps before the third attacker was there in front of him. Before Blaine knew what was happening he found himself on the ground, his hand trying to grasp at asphalt while the absence of Skylar’s wrist slowly sank in.

“No! Stop! S-Stop!”

Upon hearing Skylar’s screams, Blaine writhed on the pavement, trying to angle his head to find him. For the second time within the time span of five minutes, he found himself completely winded. But whatever had hit him felt nothing like human flesh—oh, no— they were putting that tire iron to good use. He curled into himself, trying to hug away the sharp pain in his stomach. He was aware of the sound of his own wheezy, rattling breath, taking in what felt like far too little oxygen, but couldn’t even begin to force himself to focus on anything else. His fetal position left everything else exposed though and he heard Logan’s—or someone’s— grunting, muddled with Skylar’s cries, before the tire iron made itself a new home and nestled itself into Blaine’s back.

Please stay until I’m gone

I’m here hold on to me

I’m right here

Waiting

He yelped loudly and had no real time to recover— whoever was hitting him grew more and more brutal by the second, giving him less and less time to catch his breath between beatings. He began to lose count of how many times he’d been hit; the only thing he knew for sure was that he had never been in so much agony before. His skin felt both numb and prickly. He couldn’t tell what was broken; he simply knew that at least one of his bones had to be. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted his white rose boutonniere— inches away— covered in flecks of red.

‘Is that my blood?’

All of his pain melded together, making it impossible to pinpoint where he was specifically injured. After seeing the rose though, he could actually feel the blood leaving his body in steady streams. His back was sticky; something dripped down his forehead and into his eyes; his fists were clenched, nails biting crescent moons into his palms; everything just hurt. He couldn’t hear Skylar anymore. The world around him was beginning to sound like a muffled cocktail of vicious grunts, breaking bones, and his own ragged breath.

‘Help. God, someone, please help us.’

“Hey, what are you guys doing over there!”

And then suddenly, it all stopped. All of the muffled yelling and metal colliding with skin.

‘Who are you?’

Metal clanged against pavement, just beside his head. The sound sent shockwaves through his brain, his poor throbbing brain.

‘Is Skylar okay?’

Footsteps retreated.

‘Make sure Skylar’s okay.’

And more footsteps approached.

‘Goddamnit, fucking check on Skylar! Move! Move…’

“Jesus… Can you hear me? Hey, kid, it’s going to be okay,”

‘When did I close my eyes?’

“Kid, can you hear me?”

He tried to speak, he really did. Tried to ask about Skylar, tried to ask who was there, but all that he could manage was a soft whine. It seemed to be all the affirmation that this stranger needed though.

“Yeah, he’s alive! What about the one by you, Jesse?”

Blaine descended into darkness before he could hear the answer.

I see a light, it feels good

And I’ll come back soon just like you would

It’s useless, my name has made the list

And I wish

I gave you one last kiss

#blaine anderson #sadie hawkins #syntheticpoetry writes #and the world spins madly on #flashback #assault #violence #hate crime #please don't read if you find this upsetting #some friendship fluff #but angsty ending #blangst

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simmancy · 7 years

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I was wondering how you first started your berry legacy? Did you make a new simblr for it? How did you first start posting and getting into a routine? I really want to make a legacy myself but i'm scared that it would look really mediocre and unorganized! Any tips on how to plan out the storyline and start posting? Thank you!! (asking this to a few different blogs so sorry if yo see this question somewhere else)

I’m honestly super honored that you’re asking me! I’m still a pretty small simblr compared to a lot of people.

I’m going to put this under a cut, just so it doesn’t clutter up people’s dashes because I RAMBLE (like seriously, I’m re-reading it all now and I go on and on and on) but I’m gonna cover everything you asked!

TL;DR: get mildly inspired, get involved in the community and have fun with it!

I cannot recommending creating a new blog enough. While it’s definitely easier to just create a sub-blog off your personal, you’ll have a harder go at keeping things separate once things take off. Plus then you probably won’t have ALL your million tumblr things that you’re already following mixed in with your sim stuff, making things so much harder to follow.

Once you start your simblr (whether a sub-blog or whole new tumblr), TAG EVERYTHING. XKIT SAVES LIVES. Not really, but it will save you a lot of time once you install the Quick Tags and make tag bundles. Seriously.

At least once a day, a “reblog if you’re a maxis match simblr” thing comes across my dash–don’t be afraid to reblog those when you’re starting out. (Or the alpha equivalent if that’s your thing).

Seriously, don’t be afraid to reach out to people and get involved. Ask for sim requests, reply to things, join a Discord server–don’t be afraid to talk to people! I’ve actually made a few good friends this time around. It’s awesome.

This is just one of the unfortunate realities about things–if your pictures look good, you’ll get noticed quicker and blah blah. You can get by on just writing, but it’s a lot harder. This is still tumblr. It’s microblogging. LOOOOONG text posts (like this one lmao) are not what it’s geared towards.

Anyway. I play TS4 on Ultra, and that does a lot of work for me. Sometimes all you really need to do is sharpen and brighten things up. Reshade is another good alternative, if your computer can handle it–that takes a lot of the decision making out because it edits for you! I used to use PickyPikachu’s reshade presets. The downside is that it’s pretty resource heavy.

The basic point here is that having good lookin’ pictures goes a long way to making your stuff look “not mediocre.”

Also, and this is a side thing–find a good theme for your simblr, something that looks good for both text posts and pictures, probably something with either a sidebar or header (or both).

This is the meat of the section and it’s all really Kit/Pastille-specific.

I started up the Pastel Pastilles because I saw Berry’s challenge–I had already read Splash of Color a long time ago, and had a (now obviously abandoned) TS3 rainbowcy. But TS4 was fun and ran like a beast and I liked berry sims, so I dove in. If you were to go back in my archives, though, you’d see that I started posting a TS3 LEPacy, and that’s not even my first one.

I’m not going to even talk about the Grims in this post, since they’re really new. But they’re a prime example of using community involvement to stay interested haha. I’m very excited to play with Ruby and her future family because of all the nice sims people sent for her to eat alive become friends with.

Planning with the Pastilles

With the Pastilles, I honestly got a little tipsy one night and did my initial planning based around Halsey’s Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. Like… Not even gonna lie. That was honestly my starting point. You can almost see hints of this in some places. From there, I had certain scenes I wanted to hit.

Gen 1 - Luna - “Hopeless”; it’s about being in a shitty relationship and hoping that changes lmao (“I hope hopeless changes over time”). Luna and Dianthus were meant to have a much more obviously toxic relationship but Luna ended up having four kids by her second pregnancy and I just couldn’t play and write that fast. However, I always knew that Luna’s big moment would be telling Dianthus to get out.

Gen 2 - Verity Vine - “Now or Never”/“100 Letters” - There are a couple things that have stayed consistent in this gen: Veri and her dreams, the peach spouse’s dad was gonna be a dick and they would be separated for years, and they were gonna hook back up at a wedding.

My very first concept was that Riesling was going to be a bit more wishy-washy and bend to his father’s will (hence “Now or Never” being the song). By the middle of the generation, it was clear that Veri would become the distant one (“he said ‘please don’t go away,’ I said ‘it’s too late’”).

Part of writing a sims legacy sometimes is… letting the sims do the writing for you. Meri and Forest weren’t supposed to be the ones getting married (it was supposed to be Chai Tea and Black Cherry) and they definitely weren’t supposed to have the twins but honestly the story is better for it, you know? And obv most of Veriling’s story isn’t the way I initially planned.

All this said, once I knew where I wanted the story to go, I knew I wanted to plan around a few set-pieces: the fountain scene where Riesling trips onto Veri and she realizes “OH SHIT,” the scene where Eiswein walks in, Punk!Veri’s “I don’t dream at all anymore,” and Riesling’s “Hi, I’m Riesling Puck, you might recognize me from your dreams.” Those were all scenes I knew I HAD to get.

Gen 3 - ??? - “Angel on Fire” - it’s about anxiety lmao so I don’t mind linking it, it’s pretty obvious. Gen 3 has an anxious heir, a song about anxiety was on the nose.

I don’t really recommend the getting tipsy part, but definitely do recommend going in with a basic concept.

The cool thing about challenges is that you already have the guidelines as a starting point. One of my favorite parts about this challenge in particular is seeing how people re-interpret the rules–for instance compare the Gumdrops, Frosts, Amours, Pastilles, Fairyflosses, Prisms–we all started from the same basic rules and there’s still a lot of variation, especially once you get past the initial introductions.

Also, SERIOUSLY: don’t be afraid to take inspiration from crazy places–a song you heard on the radio, a movie, your own life, whatever. Like, I decided Veri’s generation would have it’s first Act at Oxtail University because of the “dream of ivy covered walls and smoky french cafes” line in “Beautiful” (from the Heathers musical). The song otherwise has VERY LITTLE to do with Gen 2. It’s just that line became a starting point for me.

Keeping Things Lookin’ Snazzy with the Pastilles

Looking back, you can kind of see Gen 1 was a bit brighter and lighter/different in editing style than Gen 2. I purposefully set out to get a “dreamy” feel for Gen 2′s pictures. It works for me and the Pastilles–it might not for your legacy! Play around with things to see what works.

I’ve also noticed a lot of banners nowadays (they weren’t as big my first go around here on simblr, but they’re everywhere now). I think that helps to keep things “on brand,” organized and consistent too. I personally don’t use a banner for the Pastilles–I didn’t start with one, and now it looks super wrong to me when I try to use one…. So instead, I’d recommend looking at @frost-rainbowcy–she is SUPER on-brand. I can only aspire to reach that level of #a e s t h e t i c.

HOWEVER, I do keep everything on my blog hyper-organized–there’s a main page where everything’s pretty much linked, and the character page.

TBH, you don’t need to go that in-depth. I just like leaving weird easter eggs in places. You might too.

Posting Consistently

So, I started posting the Pastilles officially almost a week after I made the first post with Luna. That’s because I played a BUNCH right at the beginning, so I’d have something consistent to post for a while. It wasn’t initially as story-heavy as it is now. That’s something you probably want to decide before you start posting.

Right now, I’m posting inconsistently because I’m trying to wait around for Cats and Dogs and not give into the temptation to give Veri and Ries the babies they keep wishing for, but….

I’m in game almost every day–I get off work most days between 2 and 4 now, so by 6 PM I’ve eaten/showered/started up TS4. Even if it’s just to make a sim for someone.

I tend to do all my picture editing on Sundays, as it’s my day off. Sometimes it bleeds over into Monday, my other day off. I don’t always write posts up those days, but I at least stick them in the queue so they’re THERE. For me, it helps giving myself that weird deadline lmao

As a result, I almost always have something queued up.

I utilize the queue like MAD. Right now it’s set at 6 posts a day between 3 PM and 12 AM EST, but I change it up depending on what I have going on and what I can crank out. Usually I leave it on 13 posts a day.

Basically, learn what works for you. It does take some trial and error, but you’ll get it eventually.

Now here’s the real truth: you won’t post consistently if you don’t love your game or your sims.

I love playing the Pastilles as much as I love writing them. To the point that I have them backed up in several places just in case. I’m genuinely attached to the family, and that makes it worth it to me. Sometimes that doesn’t happen immediately (I love Luna, and Vino, and even Dianthus that shitbag, but you can tell that I got invested with Veri and Ries–Gen 1 is 30 pages long on my blog. Gen 2 is 92 and counting).

Storywise, I stay interested because I love the fluffy romance bits and snappy dialogue as much as the Drama Bombs, and also (spoilers) I’m a sucker for supernatural stuff. So I tailored my legacy to fit that.

But when I don’t want to play sometimes I just go in game, grab a few pictures of them in CAS and redo the character page for the 25th time. And that’s okay too. I just always try to make sure I have something to post, even if it’s a small (even if it’s just Riesling’s face. Because I know that’s what y’all want. It’s cool. I get it).

I seriously rambled a lot, but I hope this helps!! Once you get started, please let me know too! I’m rooting for you, non, and any nons to come after you.

#ask #simblr tips #oh gosh i am genuinely so stoked to answer this haha #Anonymous #I️ need to edit this is the morning it’s 2:30 AM and I need to sleep haha

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sunaddicted · 7 years

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One Of A Kind 1/2 (00q, Omega!Bond)

One Of A Kind 1/2 Q wasn't a morning person, no matter that he was woken up at the weirdest hours more often than not because of the job, but still his mind seemed to have tuned his biological watch to naturally restart his body around 6:00 am if a preset alarm hadn't done that already. Though, he had to admit that waking up surrounded by James' scent and warmth was nicer and did a lot to tone down his grumpiness. Sleepily, Q rubbed his cheek over the omega's chest, covering himself in his scent: it had grown slightly sweeter in the past few days and, with only a month left to James' heat, it wasn't the only subtle change Q had noticed happening to the other man's body: if he let his hand wander to caress the underside of James' abs, he could feel a softness that usually wasn't there and that made his protective streak ramp up almost absurdly; his chest had grown more sensitive to caresses and kisses, something Q unashamedly exploited in the bedroom to bring his lover to a higher plane of pleasure; James' body produced slick almost without any stimulation and Q knew that it happened also when he wasn't aroused, which made James grumble about having to go around with spare pants to quickly change. Q too had gone off of his suppressants, since they had decided to bond after a year of dating and finally moving in together, but he didn't dare to even mention the itchy feeling that came from the hormones finally rushing freely through his bloodstream - he didn't fancy having his head bitten off by his cranky omega. And he honestly acknowledged that his symptoms weren't that bad, if compared to what James was going through as his body slowly prepared for the heat. Warm fingers slipped in his messy curls, carefully petting them away from his face and Q let his lips curl in a soft smile even as he kept his eyes closed and didn't utter a word, enjoying the quiet and sweet moment. James too wasn't a morning person and he was not-so-secretly glad that he and Q were compatible in that way: in fact, even if Q's mind wouldn't let him rest as much as he would have liked, he understood how deeply he disliked waking up early and let him sleep the mornings away if he had no work to do - which was almost every day during downtime in between missions. That morning, Q had accidentally woken him up with rubbing his stubbly cheek against his chest which was growing annoyingly sensitive; he wasn't particularly upset about that, since Q wasn't the kind of person who started chattering as soon as his brain turned on and that meant he'd be able to fall back asleep. Though, the cats that had been slumbering at the bottom of the mattress, immediately perked up at the barest hint of conscious movement and purred loudly as they climbed up to butt their heads against them in a clear plea for breakfast. To be honest, James had never particularly been fond of cats - what with having spent his childhood in Skyfall around hunting dogs and their puppies - especially since their inborn evil streak led them to shed their hair on his suits; but Q and the cats came together as a package deal and James had welcomed them all in his flat, which no more was depressingly bare. Q sleepily pushed the cats away, hand awkwardly flying through the air, and the little beasts relented - for the moment. James had had enough time to study their behavioural patterns to know that they'd come back soon, louder and more indignant than before - Turing, a ginger beast that weighted far more than it should have, in particular. James gently brushed the pad of his thumb over Q's forehead, as if trying to smoothen a crease that wasn't there "They're like the plague, they always come back" he murmured, voice twisted with light humour. Q swatted James' stomach half-heartedly, too tired to gather the strength to hit him properly "Don't compare my babies to the plague" he mumbled, voice rough with sleep and an endearing pout blossoming on his lips. James couldn't help chuckling a little at the sight, his thumb swiping down Q's cheek before going to absentmindedly rub over his lower lip that, sometime during the previous day, Q had gnawed upon almost to the bleeding point; it didn't happen often, but it was a sign that a stressful day had taken its toll on the usually cool Quartermaster - it also explained the.. vigour Q had displayed the night before. Not that James minded, not at all: the closer he got to his heat, the more appreciated fast and hard sex was - his patience for long teasing momentarily cut really short. Q puckered his lips, sleepily kissing the pad of James' thumb before giving it a little nip - just like his cats would do to get rid of the cuddles once they had enough of them. He just wanted to trick his brain into sleeping some more, since he was expected at work only in the early afternoon - even lightly dozing half-curled over James' warm body would be enough. Then, both of their mobiles went off. *** "For how long has he been screeching like that?" Bill inquired, a wince on his face: not even the heavy wooden door of M's office was enough to completely muffle the shouting coming from inside the room "He's got a pair of lungs on him that I wasn't aware about" Bill added, shrugging at his own useless observation. James just offered a grimace in answer: Q had been in a foul mood since they had received a text about an upcoming mission for which they had been both required. Normally, Q was more collected than that; in fact, even if he didn't like the idea of sending his lover in the most dangerous situations often armed with just a gun, he didn't act like an alpha might when his omega risked being harmed - that was what James loved about Q the most: he didn't coddle him, nor was he annoyingly overprotective and possessive. "I'm close to my heat" the agent added in the end, leaning against the wall. Bill frowned: it certainly wasn't the first time that James was off of his suppressants to give his body a rest from the chemicals before being called for a mission "You can take suppressants" he pointed out, not really seeing the problem. "Q requested bonding leave for the next month" "Oh" Bill's mind took a couple of seconds to realise what the words meant "You were going to bond, I see. Well, that and Q being off of suppressants too explains a lot about... That" he waved towards M's door. James hummed in agreement, not particularly keen on discussing his private life so out in the open. Plus, he was feeling a little guilty: he wasn't as enraged as Q was about the possibility of skipping the heat and having to wait for his body to stabilise again before bonding; he liked the idea of having more time to be completely sure that he was ready for bonding - even if he definitely wanted to bond with Q, James wouldn't mind having a couple of months more to let the idea fully settle in his brain. "I'm sorry" James frowned at his colleague "What for?" "For your bonding" Bill was sorry that, once again, the agent had to give up on a little piece of normal life because of the job. Q's rage was completely understandable and Bill would have tried to find another solution, if only the mission didn't require the experience of a seasoned agent such as James. "We can do it when I come back" James answered, dismissing the unnecessary apology: that was the nature of his work, unpredictable - and Q knew it as much as he did "He's making this into a bigger deal only because he's a little high on hormones" As soon as the words left James' throat, the door opened with a loud bang and Q stormed out of the office, body wired with nervous energy and his scent so strong and menacing that, had James been a typical omega, it would have reduced him to whiny mess on the floor. "007, come and pick up your equipment" Q snarled, barely even looking at his lover and Tanner as he angrily strode to his branch. Shame and anger were curdling in his veins: he wasn't used to his alpha nature taking the wheel and Q knew that he had probably offended James too with his little scene - it wasn't as if Q had any say in whether James wanted to accept a mission or not and, certainly, an approaching heat wouldn't have been a reason for the omega to turn down a job. Sighing and breathing deeply in an attempt at calming himself down, Q entered his branch and valiantly tried to ignore the minions who stared at him because of the rumors already circulating and the aggressive scent hanging around him like a poisonous mist. He could smell James following closely behind so, Q ducked in his office in order to have a little privacy. While Q darkened the glass walls of his office, James closed the door behind his back and sat down on the battered couch the Quartermaster slept on quite often. Q sighed, going behind his desk to rifle in his drawers and cabinets to find everything he needed to put together the agent's kit "I'm sorry" James was honestly getting tired already to hear those words; his stomach twisted a little when they came from Q, though: what if it wasn't an apology but only the start for a break up? Maybe the alpha, usually so understanding and patient, had gotten fed up with his being so.. atypical "It's okay" "No, it's not" Q slipped a radio and a earwig in the usual case, gently putting it in the foam "I know that this is the nature of our jobs - I shouldn't have lost it like that" he apologised, looking down at his fingers fiddling nervously with the equipment before he slipped a hand in his pocket and put on his desk a bottle of suppressants that he had grabbed from home when they had been called into MI6; he had known that James was going to accept the mission and, for no reason in the world, Q would let his omega go to Medical when there was no real necessity. James walked up to the alpha, arms going around Q to hold him close to his chest "I know it's frustrating" he murmured against his temple, lips brushing the soft skin. Q smiled "Not worse than having me falling asleep on any available surface, I suppose" he turned his head slightly to the side, tilting it up to kiss James' cheek "Let's get to work"

#my writing #my fic #00q #007 #james bond #Q #quartermaster #omegaverse #omega bond #alpha q #bonding #domestic fluff #fluff and angst #sleepy cuddles

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jamesbyerj · 4 years

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Stay Home. Make Mods. - Final Week Wrap-up

Our Stay Home. Make Mods. event has now come to close, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. In Week 4 (27th April - 3rd May) we saw [b]310[/b] entries - a new high! There were also new records set in the number of authors taking part ([b]246[/b]) and the number of different games we saw mods from ([b]69[/b]). Thank you all! We'd love to hear your thoughts on this event so please check out the survey towards the bottom of this article. This was a very strong week for Bethesda titles, with Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition making up the largest shares. Overall however, Bannerlord still comes out on top with 17.4% of the 1,221 entries across the entire event. [size=4][b]Highlights[/b] [/size] Here are my "stand out" mods for the final week of the event, the list of winners can be found at the bottom of the article. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/1136]Responsive Soldiers[/url] - [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/users/28632470]Kahchow[/url] - Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/3174/images/headers/1136_1588141005.jpg[/img] [quote]Makes your troops verbally respond when given orders. No more awkward silent charges![/quote]Do you find it a little awkward that your armies follow your commands silently in Bannerlord? Well look no further than this mod. Your units will now respond to move orders and the command to charge for a far more immersive combat experience. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/starwarsjedifallenorder/mods/111]Canyon of Thorns[/url] - [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/starwarsjedifallenorder/users/86430143]AlexPo21[/url] - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/3061/images/headers/111_1588222742.jpg[/img] [quote]This mod reshapes and textures Cal's head and eyes to look like Darth Maul (horns included).[/quote] When this mod popped up as an entry, I initially thought it was for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/starwarsbattlefront22017]Star Wars Battlefront II (2017)[/url]. So I was really impressed when I realised it was actually for the recent Jedi: Fallen Order title. This is a great recreation of one of the coolest characters from the prequel trilogy and a fitting mod for Star Wars Day (yesterday). [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/bladeandsorcery/mods/1677]Hot Spring Farm Cave[/url] - [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/bladeandsorcery/users/131786]Sushin[/url] - Blade & Sorcery [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2673/images/headers/1677_1587969186.jpg[/img] [quote]A spacious canyon map with narrow bridges and a spiky pit of death. Comes with sniper enemy waves.[/quote]This new map mod for Blade & Sorcery is a spacious arena with lots of opportunities for both close quarters and long range combat. Watch your step though or you may end up skewered on the spikes below. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/35464]A Guiding Light - Clairvoyance Reimagined[/url] - [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/39501725]Parapets[/url] - Skyrim Special Edition [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1704/images/headers/35464_1588419724.png[/img] [quote]Replaces Clairvoyance with a more convenient and immersive spell to help you find your way.[/quote]Clairvoyance is an early game spell I often forget I have while playing Skyrim. I do remember using it pretty heavily in first ever play-through on the Xbox 360, but not so much in more recent games. The replacement spell added by this mod summons a friendly Wisp to guide you, rather the the magical line of the original spell. I find this much better for immersion as it makes more sense that you summon a magic creature that knows the way, rather the just somehow being able to highlight the correct path. I can see this being very useful if you play without using the map or quest markers. [url=https://nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/475]CustomHullPlates 2[/url] - [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/users/71927478]MrPurple6411[/url] - Subnautica [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1155/images/headers/475_1588015529.jpg[/img] [quote]Created with original HullPlates in mind. Should load the old Hull Plates just fine.[/quote]While quite basic as mods go, I had a quite bit of fun playing around with the original CustomHullPlates mod before the game update earlier this year caused it to stop working. It's great to see the community picking up old favourites and breathing new life into them. Next time I play Subnautica this will definitely be on my list. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mods/?BH=15&RH_ModList=nav:true,home:false,type:0,user_id:0,game_id:0,advfilt:true,include_adult:true,page_size:40,time:-1,date_from:2020-04-27,date_to:2020-05-04,page:9,sort_by:date,open:false,tags_yes%5B%5D:3183]You can view all the entries for Week 4 here.[/url] Which ones were your favourites? [size=4][b]Thank you again, GOG![/b] [/size] The kind people at GOG.com have once again provided us with even more free game to give away to our community. We're super grateful for all the things they do to support our community and modding in general. If you're looking for a better way to organise your games across all the various launchers that are out there, I recommend giving [url=https://www.gog.com/galaxy?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce]GOG Galaxy 2.0[/url] a go. I currently have my games from Steam, GOG, Epic, Xbox and Origin all neatly organised inside the app - super convenient! [center][url=https://www.gog.com/galaxy?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1586527876-787931423.jpeg[/img][/url][/center] [size=4][b]Share your thoughts on this event[/b][/size] We'd love to hear your feedback on the Stay Home. Make Mods. event. We've prepared a short, anonymous survey for you to complete to help us plan future events with a better picture of what you, the community, would like to see from us. [center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1588686102-77269379.png[/img][/center] [b][size=4]Winners[/size][/b] If you see your name here you'll have already received a PM from either BigBizkit or me with instructions to claim your prize. [b]Game of your choice winner[/b] - [url=https://nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/1209]Complete Troop Overhaul by ThresherMaw[/url] [b]GOG Prize winners[/b] [spoiler] [list] [*][url=https://nexusmods.com/gearstactics/mods/3]YEETABLE GRENADES by ProGear360[/url] [*][url=https://nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/35555]Wooden Kanabo by Flarescale[/url] [*][url=https://nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/102620]DFT's Clothes Overhaul by DankFrenchToast[/url] [*][url=https://nexusmods.com/jurassicworldevolution/mods/349]Evolved Indoraptor (model and skin edit) by terribleraptors[/url] [*][url=https://nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/35287]Face Tears for Racemenu by mengyei[/url] [*][url=https://nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/102592]Rally's Tel Mithryn by Rallyeator[/url] [*][url=https://nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/5953]Goodbye Cat and Dog and Welcome Pufferchick by ZarKiiFR[/url] [*][url=https://nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/35282]GRIVNA - coin retexture SE by soglasin[/url] [*][url=https://nexusmods.com/7daystodie/mods/809]MagazineEXP (A18.4) by Geniti[/url] [*][url=https://nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/68787]Vendors and Adventures of the Mojave by bigbunny469[/url] [*][url=https://nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/35427]Liam's Craftable Armours - 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#Video Games #PC Gaming

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carasueachterberg · 4 years

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Everyone wants a puppy.

I get that.

Puppies are cute and fun and at least at this age (seven weeks) they are highly entertaining.

photo by Ian Achterberg

These puppies are no exception and already, eight of nine have approved adopters waiting to take them home in just another week!

With every litter there are people who wait until they see the puppies on the site to apply, most times they are too late, but not always. There is an inevitable shifting around as people re-think the idea of a puppy. Which they should – puppies are a LOT of work. (They aren’t cheap, either.)

What they require more than anything is time and commitment. If you don’t put the time in while a puppy is young, it will grow up to be a difficult dog.

At the rescue every year we get a few returned dogs who were adopted out as puppies and now are somewhere between one and two years old. Their adopters can no longer deal with their lack of manners, their destructive habits, their reactivity to other dogs or people or any number of issues that should have been dealt with while the dog was a puppy. Remember Bugs?

While, yes, just like people, dogs are individuals and there are some inherently challenging dogs; many of the issues for which dogs are returned could have been averted if the adopters had put in the time to raise their puppy well.

After the puppies are fully vaccinated, socialization is critical. With the current conditions, new adopters will have to get creative. These puppies are tiny, so you could literally carry them everywhere with you. Home Depot is a great place to take dogs for socialization (Tractor Supply too), visiting other families, and walking dogs in public areas, parks, and trails are great ways to work on socialization despite the pandemic. Praise and treats should be used copiously on these adventures.

New experiences and challenges help puppies grow into confident dogs. I try to expose puppies to lots of new noises – the vacuum cleaner, music on my phone, the nail Dremel, dropping loud objects nearby, popping plastic packaging, pretty much anything I can think of. We definitely don’t tiptoe around the puppy pen. These puppies were raised while Nick installed a hardwood floor next door to them – they heard the nailer, the compressor, and lots of hammering.

Over the weekend, the puppies met our foster cat, Neville. They met our dogs, Fanny and Gracie. They also got to race through the agility tunnel, learn to go up and down stairs, and pounce on a noisy, crinkly, empty feed bag that smelled like the barn.

[Side note: These are experiences that puppies raised in puppy mills do not have and likely account for some of the anxiety issues they may have down the road. If you decide to buy a puppy for personal or health reasons, be sure to find a breeder who raises their puppies intentionally.]

There is so much that puppy adopters can do now, while their pups are young and impressionable.

For example, if you don’t want your puppy to react negatively when someone comes to the door, ring the doorbell or knock on the door and give them treats and praise. Do this every day, multiple times. Eventually, you can teach them to go to their ‘place’ (like a crate, mat, or dog bed) when they hear those sounds to receive their treats and praise.

You can also do this with your older dogs. Whenever my dog Fanny hears a work truck or delivery truck in our driveway, she runs to me because she knows that if she sits quietly now she will get rewards. I can then leash her and put her in one of her ‘safe zones’ before dealing with the visitor.

Training doesn’t end with the puppy phase. It is even more critical during the teenage phase (6 months – 2 years). That’s when doubling down and perhaps enlisting professional help is important. Taking your pup to classes – manners, obedience, agility, nosework, even frisbee or dock-diving will challenge them and give you opportunities to reinforce their good behaviors.

Consistency and commitment are absolutely vital. I tell my adopters to use positive reinforcement methods of training. Too many people are quick to resort to negative reinforcement because it can get an immediate reaction, but it is the wrong approach and can backfire creating an anxious or aggressive dog. I learned this lesson in the most heart-breaking way possible and it haunts me every day, so now I am passionate about positive and force-free training methods.

Science has proven that dogs do not need an ‘alpha’ to lead them. Now that we know better, we should do better.

Instead of punishing a dog that is ‘misbehaving,’ redirect them to something else or get their attention with an impromptu manners lesson reinforcing what they know like ‘sit’ or ‘down’. A horse trainer told me once that you should help the animal by making the right the decision, the easy decision.

Not everybody has the time (or the commitment) for a puppy. They are cute and tempting, but if you are not ready to make the effort, adopt a dog instead. There are so many good dogs deserving of a good home. I am not saying they will not also require time and effort, they will, but it is exponentially less than with a puppy. Plus, if you adopt from a foster home, many times we can tell you what your new dog’s needs are and where you will need to focus your training.

Okay, enough puppy lecture. You have been warned. All of that said, it is incredibly rewarding to adopt a puppy and raise it well.

These puppies are thriving and getting bigger every day. It remains to be seen whether they will ‘catch up’ after their hookworm episode. The smallest puppy is just over four pounds and the largest is seven and a half pounds! The puppy charts put them all between 18 and 36 pounds, which is larger than the first calculation I made two weeks ago, so they are definitely jumping their curve now that we’ve rid them of the hookworms. I hope their adopters will let us know how big they ultimately get.

Their little personalities are blooming. They are bonded with me and follow me everywhere when I’m out in the puppy yard with them. To a pup, they are loving and people-centered. When they get too crazy, I scoop one up and snuggle it and it immediately calms right down.

Kiss Me Kate

Calamity Jane

Hello Dolly

Evan Hanson

Usnavi

Evan Hanson

Pippin

Dolly

Even Millie, one of the most outgoing pups (and the one still available for adoption!) is putty in my arms. I’ve been watching her lately because she has so much energy and I want to start channeling it in the right way, and I’ve come to realize that yes she does have a lot of energy, but so do some of the others. The difference with Millie is that she is vocal. She communicates with the other puppies (and me) with her voice more than they do.

All of them are starting to find their big dog voices, though, and it is no longer possible for my kids to sleep through the ruckus when the pups are ready for breakfast. (Which is a good thing since all three still need to ‘go’ to school and work virtually.)

In just over a week, we will be foster-free at this house. Rockee left with his adopter on Sunday. He was smitten from the moment they met and jumped in her car without a backward glance. Here’s hoping the third time is the charm. I’m pretty certain it is. Check out these pictures his new mom sent:

Processed with VSCO with a6 preset

Processed with VSCO with v6 preset

Thanks for reading!

Cara

If you’d like regular updates of all my foster dogs past and present, plus occasional dog care/training tips from OPH training, be sure to join the Facebook group, Another Good Dog.

For information on me, my writing, and books, visit CaraWrites.com. I have a new book, One Hundred Dogs and Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues, coming out in July. If it sounds like something you’d like to read, I’d be beyond grateful if you’d consider preordering it. Preorders contribute to the success of the book, not only giving me and my publisher some peace of mind but hopefully attracting media attention.

And if you’d like to know where all these dogs come from and how you can help solve the crisis of too many unwanted dogs in our shelters, visit WhoWillLetTheDogsOut.org.

Our family fosters through the all-breed rescue, Operation Paws for Homes, a network of foster homes in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and south-central PA.

If you can’t get enough foster dog stories, check out my book: Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs . It’s available anywhere books are sold.

I love to hear from readers and dog-hearted people! Email me at [email protected].

Many of the pictures on my blog are taken by photographer Nancy Slattery. If you’d like to connect with Nancy to take gorgeous pictures of your pup (or your family), contact: [email protected].

CAUTION: Puppies are not for everyone. positive, consistent, #fearfree training makes a #gooddog Everyone wants a puppy. I get that. Puppies are cute and fun and at least at this age (seven weeks) they are highly entertaining.

#alpha dogs #fearfree #positive reinforcement #puppies #raising a puppy #teenage dogs #training

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robertvasquez763 · 7 years

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Are Voice Assistants Like Alexa Making Your Car Less Secure?

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Amazon’s wildly popular voice assistant, Alexa, is making her debut in several cars this year. But as seductive and convenient as many consumers have found her in the living room, Alexa could open up a Pandora’s box of potential risks in the automotive realm.

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Numerous automakers, including BMW, Hyundai, and Ford, and telematics firms, including Inrix, are rolling out Alexa skills. With just a few spoken commands, owners can check the fuel and charge levels of their cars from their Barcaloungers.

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Hyundai started the trend last fall, announcing that it would connect cars to Alexa via the company’s Blue Link app, enabling owners to issue commands from home, such as “Alexa, ask Blue Link to start my Santa Fe.”

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“Someone can’t just shout from outside to your Echo -and unlock your car.” – Dave Hatton, Ford –

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Since then, Ford has added to Alexa’s skill set. Owners of 2017 Fusion Energi sedans, for example, can use their Echo or Tap, which are both Alexa devices sold by Amazon, to trigger home-to-car features, said Dave Hatton, manager of mobile applications for connected vehicles at Ford. Without rising from their beanbag chairs, drivers can start or stop their cars, unlock or lock doors, and ask for information such as fuel levels and battery range.

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And that’s just the beginning.

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“We want to make it something much cooler than just stopping and starting your car,” explained Brian McGarvey, senior director of business development at Inrix. So the company is integrating Alexa with its host of navigation, traffic, and app management software.

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Indeed, the vehicular potential of Alexa looks nearly limitless, from EV power management to control over autonomous vehicles. In the future, designers expect you’ll be able to ask Alexa to summon your self-driving car from the garage to come and fetch you. There’s also the potential for coordinating smart cars and smart homes.

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Technology companies continue to throw everything from smart door locks to remote-controlled Crock-Pots into the marketplace, but coordinating such gadgets has been an elusive goal—until Amazon’s Alexa came along. Consumers have embraced Alexa’s voice-activated “skills,” which are essentially preset functions. According to a recent survey by Parks Associates, 55 percent of U.S. households now would prefer to use voice controls to manage smart home and entertainment devices.

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Could the same become true for the American automobile?

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“Consumers already see Alexa as not only convenient but as an enjoyable way to control devices around the home,” said Kevin Kraus, director of product management at lockmaker Yale. The company recently made its Z-Wave Touchscreen Deadbolt door lock compatible with Amazon’s voice assistant. “Alexa offers more efficient and effective control,” said Kraus. Connecting it to the car and, in turn, connecting the car to the Internet of Things is the next logical step.

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As you turn down your street, you could ask Alexa to preheat the oven, open the back door to let the dog out, and tune your Sonos smart speaker in the kitchen to the Pandora channel you’re currently listening to in the car. In the morning, while sipping your fair-trade coffee, you might ask Alexa for the quickest way to the Staples Center and have the directions automatically sent to the car. Once you’re behind the wheel, not only would the navigation engage automatically, but Alexa would remind you to pick up almond milk (based on your to-do list) and then start reading aloud the Audible book you were listening to last night.

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Ford CEO Mark Fields (right) and Greg Hart, vice president of Amazon Echo and Alexa Voice Services, at CES 2016.

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But is there a dark side to the Alexa-enabled car of the future?

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One can just as easily imagine teenagers pranking their parents by starting the car in the middle of the night while it’s parked in the garage (creating potentially worrisome concentrations of carbon monoxide) or opening the minivan’s windows when the vehicle is parked outside in a thunderstorm.

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Worse, like something out of a Stephen King novel, imagine eavesdropping thieves taking control of your autonomous car (“Alexa, have Christine leave the garage and pick me up at the 7-Eleven”). Without so much as breaking a window or scratching the paint, burglars could simply ask Alexa to open the doors to extract any valuables inside.

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Although such scenarios may sound far-fetched, Alexa does not yet have built-in security features. Alexa cannot perform voiceprint analysis, for example, so it cannot tell the difference between your voice, your daughter’s voice, and that of a stranger. Theoretically, anyone within earshot of a connected Alexa Echo or Tap could trigger any skills the owner had enabled.

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Automakers and technology firms acknowledge there are risks and have taken some initial steps to mitigate the potential for Alexa abuse. One approach is simply to limit her powers. At the BMW Group Technology Offices in Mountain View, California, Dirk Rossberg acknowledged there are security issues. So to obviate the problem, Alexa commands will be limited to a subset of what’s already enabled on BMW’s smartphone app, according to Rossberg. You will be able to lock a 2017 BMW 5-series with voice commands, for example, but not unlock it.

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Yale’s Kraus similarly noted that his company isn’t giving Alexa unfettered freedom. Using a custom skill that works with smart devices, homeowners can use the voice assistant to lock Yale’s Z-Wave Touchscreen Deadbolt—but not unlock it.

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“And someone can’t just shout from outside to your Echo and unlock your car,” said Ford’s Hatton. “You have to have a PIN, so we did build in some precautions.” And there are other existing restrictions, such as a time limit on how long a remotely started car will run before it shuts itself off.

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Of course, mischievous family members or friends could remember your spoken PIN and still pull a prank or two. However, Hatton pointed out that such cases aren’t dissimilar to someone simply stealing your key fob.

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Furthermore, unlike Google Voice or Siri, Alexa is not a full-fledged natural-language speech-recognition program. She only understands specific commands. Ask Alexa when the next Formula 1 race is, and she’s stymied, even though the most rudimentary search engine can deliver the answer in milliseconds. This apparent weakness of Alexa is also her strength. By limiting the skills available, it improves its accuracy in recognizing specific commands—and limits the program’s vulnerability to digital break-ins.

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“The next generation of cars will be a lot less self-contained and easily disabled if stolen, so what’s the incentive for a bad actor?” – Steve Grobman, McAfee –

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Nevertheless, Alexa’s skills are multiplying exponentially, with thousands already enabled. Auto companies plan to add more in the near future. Both Ford and Inrix will soon offer Alexa skills from within vehicles, for example, unleashing a whole new set of features—and associated risks.

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By the end of the year, Hatton said, drivers will be able to access grocery lists, navigation features, and other Alexa-triggered features from within some Ford vehicles. Some parents may envision it as an invitation to obnoxious kids in the back seat, allowing tweens to wreak Alexa havoc such as messing up grocery lists, turning the lights on at home, and switching from your Metallica channel to Justin Bieber. Fortunately, that’s not likely to happen. Unlike the home version of Alexa, Ford will require you to push the talk button on the steering wheel to get Alexa to listen to you in a car.

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Of course, any passengers in the car who overhear private codes during such exchanges could theoretically break in later, but in Ford’s case, the feature is authenticated in conjunction with the smartphone, so pranksters would have to steal your phone, too. Yet Inrix, which hopes to sell its new software features to carmakers, will enable Alexa and allow her to control apps with or without a smartphone.

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Both Ford’s Hatton and Inrix’s McGarvey underscore the fact that it will take some time and consumer feedback to determine what kind of Alexa apps, such as games that keep drivers alert, might be appropriate for the car. It will also be a learning curve to figure out how secure cars need to be. And there are competing voice assistants, such as Google Assistant, which Hyundai has just announced is now available on the 2018 Sonata.

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“It’s often a matter of convenience versus security,” said Steve Grobman, chief technology officer of McAfee, which was recently spun out of Intel. Grobman pointed out that another layer of security, such as voiceprint analysis or another biometric, could be added, but that may be unnecessary: “The next generation of cars will be a lot less self-contained and easily disabled if stolen, so what’s the incentive for a bad actor?”

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Ford Updates Sync 3, Includes Amazon Echo Integration

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Half Off: Chevrolet Chops Price of 4G LTE Data Subscriptions

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Ford Wants Cars to Talk with Smart Homes, Digital Assistants

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“Ultimately, if it’s a computer connected to the outside world,” said Yoni Heilbronn, chief marketing officer of Argus Cyber Security, which works with automakers, “nothing is going to be 100 percent secure.”

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So given the fact that cars with connected systems are already online, the cat may already be out of the bag—with or without Alexa.

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from remotecar http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/su03nIghN0U/

via WordPress https://robertvasquez123.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/are-voice-assistants-like-alexa-making-your-car-less-secure/

#Engines #Are Voice Assistants Like Alexa Making Your Car Less Secure?#car #engines #motor #remoteca

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