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worth-more-than-two-thousand · 3 years

Text

Returning from the Dead is Easier Said than Done...

Request: Welcome, Shiny! May I request an x Reader (can be fem or gender neutral) where Echo (post-citadel) comes up to their s/o's doorstep to give them flowers and ask them on a date? A plus if the Bad Batch teases him for dressing up nicely and buying flowers. Thank you! (@handmaidenthesimp)

Author’s Note: Enjoy! If anybody wants me to repost with a gender-neutral reader, just let me know.

Story Notes: Some swearing, not much else to warn you about. Take place in-between Season 7 of CW and The Bad Batch. No Omega this time, sorry!

🖑 🖑 🖑 🖑 🖑

Being declared dead was uncomplicated. Your Republic file was branded with a "KIA" stamp, everyone stoically mourned, and someone just a bit shinier would step in to fill your shoes.

Being declared undead, however, was decidedly more complicated. Oh, Echo was reassigned to Clone Force 99 easily enough. But it was the little things that seemed to get mired in red tape. Getting his few personal effects back. Re-opening his modest credit account.

Approving a rental application.

Admittedly, it wasn't that Echo really needed his own place; clones were conditioned to be accustomed to share minimalist, often-cramped quarters. And they were always on the move, so it hardly made any financial or practical sense, in the long run.

But right now, oh, did Echo dearly wish that he was dressing up in the privacy of his own space...and not the shared cabin area of the Havoc Marauder.

He kept his face stoic, as though readying for battle, refusing to acknowledge his teammates goggling in the background. They had returned early from their supply run. Echo had meant to be out of here an hour ago, but (somehow) hadn’t counted on just how difficult it would be to get dressed into multiple clothing pieces with a scomp link for a hand.

So that’s how his comrades found him: trying to wrangle a neck accessory into submission by sheer will.

Oh, if Fives could see him now.

“You look funny,” Wrecker had declared decisively after an unbearably long silence. “What’s that thing you’ve got on?”

“It’s a suit,” he grumbled, refusing to look any of them in the eye. “I’m going to see Y/N.”

Wrecker gasped like a fishwife. He leaned forward, and pitched his voice low. As though the others couldn’t still hear him in the tinny space. “Your girlfriend? You mean you’re going to see her for the first time....since…” Wrecker made a muted cartoonish sound with his mouth, clenching then expanding his fingers in a gesture for ‘explosion’.

Echo stared at him for a moment disbelievingly, before nodding slowly, forcing the sarcastic response he really wanted to say back down. He couldn’t fault Wrecker for being...well, Wrecker. He had all the tact of a rampaging bantha.

“An’ what’s that? Around your neck?”

Echo opened his mouth, but someone cut across his response. “A bowtie,” Crosshair drolled, though his eyes glittered with amusement. Echo tensed, knowing that he wasn’t going to like what was coming next.

“Fifty credits says he chokes, and he ends up strangling himself with it in shame."

“No way!” Wrecker exclaimed, always the optimist. He clapped Echo on the back, who was unprepared so his knees buckled. He felt his metal joints strain. “Don’t worry, Echo,” his brother rasped in the loudest whisper known to man. “I bet she’s gonna love it!”

“You know,” Tech piped up unhelpfully, “Your strategy may backfire. The current deviation from your usual appearance may be so jarring for your beloved that she refuses your offer out of simple self-preservation instincts.”

Echo gritted his teeth. “Right. You have stats to back that up, I suppose?”

Tech blinked at him owlishly. “Of course I don’t. This is an obvious possible outcome.”

“I’m trying to look nice,” he snapped, scowling.

There was a loaded pause. “...’trying’ being the objective word here,” Crosshair smirked.

Before Echo could wipe the look off his comrade’s face with a well-placed ARC trooper punch that would’ve made Hardcase proud, Hunter wedged his way in between them, hands up in a conciliatory gesture.

“All right, laugh it up, fellas. Personally, I think you’re all jealous because you don’t have a girl waiting for you like Echo does.” Hunter turned to face their newest member, took the bowtie that was clenched in Echo’s fist, and smoothed it out before proceeding to tie it around his neck with surprisingly deft hands.

Crosshair ‘hmphed’ while Wrecker verbally agreed, looking slightly put out by the undeniable truth. Tech simply nodded in neutral confirmation. The group lapsed into a somewhat awkward (but not unwelcome) silence as Hunter finished tugging at the folded ends of the bow, then double-checking to ensure it was straight. He stepped back to assess his work.

“You look good,” he said sincerely.

Echo thought he was in the clear.

Hunter frowned. “But...it looks like you’re missing something.”

Or not.

“Like dignity?” Crosshair drawled from a dark corner of the ship that Echo frustratingly couldn’t glare at.

“A sense of self-confidence,” Tech suggested. He wasn’t joking.

“FLOWERS!” Wrecker boomed confidently. “All girls like flowers. You gotta get her some before you see her!”

“I...fine.” Echo relented, anything to get his teammates to shut up. He shoved his way through them towards the bridge. “I’ll get her some flowers. You all stay here until I get back. I mean it, Fives!” he warned.

An uneasy silence followed him, which he didn’t register until he reached the landing ramp.

He shot an exasperated look back at them. “What?’

“...Your former comrade is not here, Echo.” Tech finally spoke. His words were clinical, as always, but there was a touch of understanding underlying his tone.

Echo froze, just for a moment, then shook off the shock of his faux pas as best as he could.

It wasn’t the first time that had happened, after all.

Echo descended the landing ramp, squared his shoulders, and marched into town.

Y/N lived in a run-down but culturally distinct district of Coruscant, characterized by food stalls from species and ethnicities all over the galaxy. Children often ran through the streets, sellers in colorful robes and attire shouting their wares and art for all to peruse. It was one of the nicer markets, he thought, having come here once. He had been accompanying Y/N on her usual run for specialized ingredients that made the diner she worked at the talk of the galaxy.

Echo elbowed his way through the crowded street, content to simply blend in with the crowd, to forget about being a soldier for a moment.

He paused at a flower stand and was mindful not to draw too much attention to his scomp-link hand as he ordered a dozen sunflowers, which he remembered were Y/N’s favorite. When his credit chip was declined, however, he sighed and reached into his pocket to see what spare change he could muster up. Being that he was wearing a never-worn suit, however, meant that there was no change to be found, and the unimpressed florist snatched the bouquet away.

That’s okay, Echo. Y/N doesn't need flowers. She just wants to see you.

At least, he hoped that was the case. He hadn’t exactly written to her yet, unsure that he could sufficiently explain his sudden non-death in typed words...

Surprise! I’m not dead! Hey, you know that explosion on the citadel? Well, I survived! And out of it, I got an all-expenses paid trip to the Techno Union research facility! Why didn’t I write? Well, I was in stasis most of the time and that part’s a bit fuzzy. I also was responsible for killing my brothers by using their own battle plans against them. Oh, and you might notice that I’m missing most of my fleshy bits these days…

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, which were more rapid these days thanks to his enhancements. He was good at compartmentalizing, though. He had to be. He was still a soldier, through and through, and no one wanted a soldier who was about two seconds away from a mental breakdown.

Yeah, a letter to Y/N wouldn’t have cut it. But he still felt like maybe he could have sent ahead some sort of...heads up? A warning? A ‘Please don’t scream when you see me because I don’t think my heart could take it?’

His feet finally guided him to the front entrance of the building where he knew she lived on the 14th floor. Glancing around, he spotted some blue flowers sprouting in a planter near the entrance. He yanked a fairly healthy-looking handful from the soil, shaking the roots to get most of the dirt off. He tucked the strangled roots into his fist so that they would be less obvious.

It was time. He nodded to himself, squared his shoulders, and entered the building.

A short elevator ride later, Echo could feed the sweat beading at his forehead and neck. At least his fight or flight response seemed to be healthy and alive, and Echo tuned out everything but the door in front of him, adorned with a purple wreath of lavender flowers.

He stood in front of the door, and raised his hand to knock.

He stood…

In front of the door…

...and raised his hand…

...to knock, you coward. Just fucking knock.

His raised knuckles, however, refused to move. Echo caught a glimpse of himself in the curtained window panes on the sides of the door, and at the sight of his bloodless face, suddenly felt a whole lot less sure of himself.

He looked ridiculous.

He and Y/N had barely gotten to know each other before his untimely death.

What if she was with someone new?

This was a terrible idea. Echo should leave now, before he caused himself any more embarrassment. Crosshair might get his fifty credits, after all.

Echo had just convinced himself to turn around and admit defeat, when the door suddenly swung open.

Two Y/C/E eyes met his.

There were points during Echo’s battle career where time slowed to a crawl. When an explosive grenade was thrown just a bit too close, or the comrade you had just exchanged banter with received blaster fire to the face.

Echo was experiencing the same sensation now, but he would voluntarily stay in this moment forever, if he could. He fervently hoped his nightmares would be replaced with the sight that was etched before him.

She was wearing her yellow work uniform, white apron pressed crisply with starch...and was as beautiful as ever. Her hair was up in a messy ‘late-for-work’ up-do, a smudge of blushed color not quite within the lines of her lips smearing her cupids’ bow where she had applied it in a rush.

He couldn’t determine whether her reaction to his sudden appearance was positive or not, and so didn’t dare speak first, breathlessly afraid that if he did, the moment would shatter.

He saw her swallow hard, glancing at him from head to toe, gaze landing on his right hand.

He guarded his heart.

“Ech? Echo, is that you?” she whispered. Her eyes tore away from the scomp link hand, and began searching his face as though just as afraid he would disappear.

He nodded. “Yeah,” he rasped, then cleared his throat. “Yeah, it’s me.”

The silence stretched out, and the fight or flight response was creeping back.

“I know I look a bit different.” He tried for a light-hearted joke, but couldn’t quite get his tone to match. “Had some work done. What do you think?” He winced slightly.

She stepped forward and he froze as Y/N lifted her fingers, hesitating briefly before gently touching one of the metal bolts by his left temple. Her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“...do they hurt?”

He gasped a little as he remembered to breathe again.

“No,” he reassured her, raising his undamaged hand to steady hers. “No, it doesn’t hurt.”

“...good.”

The wind was knocked out of him as Y/N flung her arms around him, burying her face in his neck, tardiness to her job completely forgotten.

She began sobbing. It wasn’t neat little sobs, like in the scripted holovids, but heaving sobs that wracked her whole body, and he worried slightly that she was going to faint on him. He forgot about his scomp link for the first time as he rubbed it in circles against her back, murmuring nonsense words of comfort in her ear.

After several minutes, she sniffled, stepping back. She rubbed her nose ungracefully where snot was leaking out, but Echo could have cared less about any of that. He only kept his arms out to steady her, in case she needed support again.

Y/N glanced down suddenly, and flushed.

“Oh. I’ve crushed them.”

Echo followed her gaze and saw that he was still holding the blue flowers from the planter in his good hand, the bouquet having been caught in between their bodies when she had thrown herself at him. They did look a little worse for wear.

He shrugged unconcernedly. “They were free,” he said, not wanting her to feel guilty.

She stared at him for a moment before a bubble of laughter burst from her lips. She still looked like she was about to sob at any moment, but she smiled tremulously at him through shining eyes.

Desperate to make her feel better, he began rambling.

“I can get you better ones! N-not right now, though,” he stuttered. “Actually, it turns out that I don’t have any credits on me at the moment. Everything’s still kind of backed up at the bank regarding my accounts. Also, this suit is new. Well. Not new. It used to belong to this woman’s father who we rescued during a mission on Bith. Long story.” His brain, which worked faster than usual these days anyways, still couldn’t seem to catch up to his mouth.

He forced himself to get back to the task at hand. “I was actually here to ask you for a date. I mean, assuming there’s no one else at the moment…oh, but you have your job to go do…bantha spit, I forgot about that...” He would have to ask Tech if it was possible for his brain to actually short-circuit.

Echo finally trailed off. Now he was the one blushing.

The whole of Domino Squad was probably having a good laugh at his expense right about now, wherever they were.

But Y/N was still smiling at him. And her chin had stopped wobbling. She gently took the flowers from Echo’s hand and placed them on one of the side tables in the hallway before intertwining her fingers with his and grasping his right hand without hesitation.

“Forget about my job. Let’s go on that date. My treat. Though, if I know Dexter, he’ll give us a free meal, on the house. And the rest of the day off."

For the first time since he had joined Clone Force 99, since he had been rescued on Skako Minor, and even before the Citadel...Echo allowed a true grin of happiness to spread on his face.

“A free meal,” he echoed. “Sounds like a plan.”

#fic request #echo #arc trooper echo #tbb echo #the bad batch #star wars tbb #star wars the bad batch #tbb #echo x reader #echo x you #echo x fem reader #sw tbb #sw the bad batch

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maandags · 3 years

Note

I don’t know if it was ever confirmed, but imagine being the one to find Sokka’s Meteor Sword (that he lost in the final battle) and returning it to him.

two more days.

two more days’ walking, and you’ll get to the Capital. two more days’ walking, and your weeks-long journey will finally come to an end.

you nibble on the piece of carefully wrapped bread that you purchased in the last village you passed through. it’s a sunny day, so you found a tree casting shade to sit and rest in. beside you sits your backpack, your bedroll, and tied to your pack the dark metal sword.

it was an insane idea, at first. after scouring the battlefield -- burned, then flooded -- for survivors, or corpses, or anything salvageable at all, you found the sword sticking up from ash-covered soil like it was a thing from legend. black blade against a blackened background, it gave you chills the first time you laid eyes upon it.

a rare sword, it is. not many weapons are that well-made, and made of this particular material. you took it home, cleaned it, polished it. never really knew what to do with it, to be honest -- you’re no swordsmaster. you’re a traveller. someone who knows people and places.

but you took it with you, wrapped in cloth and bound with twine. foolish, in hindsight; it could so easily have been stolen off of you. it still could be. but you did it anyway, not even knowing what to do with it, and by some sort of miracle you were still in possession of it when you ran into a few members of the White Lotus.

well-worn travellers like yourself know a lot of people in a lot of places. you’re no official member of the White Lotus -- though you’d say the relationship you have with them is one of understanding and respect. some well-known figures rank high amongst its members. you’ve had tea with General Iroh of the Fire Nation, as well as King Bumi of Omashu, and other such figures.

but that’s none of your business, of course. you’re merely a traveller.

however, you had to admit that the small Fire Nation village of Bluevalley is not where you’d expected a White Lotus headquarters to be.

“why, hello, Y/N. how nice that our paths cross again.” the General’s eyes twinkled.

you tipped your hat in respect -- a bow without bowing -- and smile. “an honour, as always.”

“tea?”

“that only seems appropriate, doesn’t it?”

Iroh smiled. “indeed it does.”

it was a cozy yet functional headquarters, with a low table and no windows. you didn’t waste time looking around. that was not what you were there for. you were there to have tea; a traveller enjoying old friends’ hospitality.

none of the men asked you what you were doing here, and you did the same. you talked about small things; your recent discoveries regarding various flora and their applications, spiritual talk; vague enough for there to be no real substance to the conversation, yet enough to keep it going nonetheless.

but your attention was focused on Master Piandao. known master of swordfighting, teacher only to those he deems worthy. you thought he might be interested in the blade you carried.

“master Piandao.”

he slowly took a sip of tea, then looked at you. “yes, Y/N?”

“I have something I’d like you to take a look at.”

Piandao raised an eyebrow. “do you, now?”

you nodded, gingerly setting your teacup on the table and turning to retrieve your bag, which sat against the wall, next to the door. sticking out of the flap was the sword, wrapped in fabric to conceal and protect the blade. you heaved it out, walking back to the men and laying it out across the table, working to untie the knots. you watched Piandao’s face carefully as the fabric fell away, trying to gauge his reaction.

but he was not a high-ranking member of the White Lotus for nothing, and his expression revealed nothing – until his lips curled into a faint smile. “yes. I know this blade.”

it surprised you, because in reality you hadn’t expected him to know this particular sword out of every sword he must have encountered in his life. but he apparently did, and you leaned forward, interest increased tenfold. “you – you do?”

Piandao lifted it, inspected corners and balance, before gently setting it back on its fabric encasing. “yes. and I’m sure you have heard of him too.” he smiled at you, eyes twinkling. “he is part of the Avatar’s closest friends, after all.”

you stare at him blankly. “you’re not serious.”

“I can assure you I am very much serious.” he cast another look at the sword.

on the other side of the table, Iroh nodded. “Sokka is very skilled with it. however, I was under the assumption he lost it during the Battle of Sozin’s Comet.”

you shrugged. “I think he did. I just found it, cleaned it. figured I’d try to find its owner.”

Piandao looked at you, estranged. “that is very noble of you, Y/N. not many people would have done the same thing.”

you winked at him. “I’m not like most people, Master Piandao.”

he laughed softly. “that, you aren’t.”

that had been weeks ago. you’d figured you’d just make for the Fire Nation Capital, since that’s where the Avatar and his posse reside at the moment. what to do when you get there – how to actually meet Sokka, actual war hero and probably bearer of a bunch of other titles by now – was a whole other problem, but you’d cross that bridge when you got to it.

two more days, and you’ll get to the wall.

you knock back the last of your water – you’ll have to find a pond or a spring soon to fill it – and stand, swinging your pack onto your back, heaving a sigh. two more days.

the walls of the Capital are even taller than you imagined them to be. inside, you can tell city life is buzzing, people bustling around, shouts and laughter drifting through the air; they’re celebrating still, despite the defeat of Ozai and the ascension of Fire Lord Zuko being a solid two months past already. you’ve heard that the Capital has never been this alive.

“halt.” four guards at the gates, stopping people, exchanging a few words with them, then sending them on their way. you tilt up your hat, putting on your least mysterious smile.

“what is your business in the city?”

“I’m merely a traveller, sir. just passing through. my cousin has a tea shop here.” the lie flows from your lips with ease.

the guard looks you up and down, not looking entirely convinced. “anything to declare?”

“no, sir.” you’d tried to conceal the sword as best you could. now, barely the tip of the blade was sticking out of your pack, and you’d managed to cover that up pretty well with your bedroll. they’d have to go rummaging through your stuff to find it.

the guard looks you over one more time, then shrugs and steps aside. “all right. enjoy your stay.”

you smile at him. “thank you. I will.”

it takes you another day to reach the inner Capital inside the Capital. hm. here was where you’d need to either be creative, or ask to meet Sokka. how successful of an endeavor that would be, you weren’t sure of. you’ll just have to… figure something out.

okay. attempt one. you leave your pack at the cheap inn you stayed at the previous night – it stings a little, but also, there’s nothing in there you can’t get in the city. life as a traveller taught you to not get too attached to your pack or its contents. except, of course, for the sword, which you strap across your back. it’s wrapped in one more layer of dark green cloth, to better conceal its shape.

a walk around the wall tells you it is… very well guarded. there are two points of entry, both gates watched by four guards. the shift change is well coordinated, so sneaking in during it is not feasible either. and even if you did manage to slip past the guards, the gates themselves are bolted shut from the inside.

there is simply no way for you to get in.

as you’re racking your brain, wondering if you’re really going to risk getting arrested for this sword and this man you don’t know and you’re being so dumb and such an idiot – the gates open, and there he is. just stepping out of the palace grounds, like it’s no big deal. like there aren’t countless youths stood outside the gates, just waiting for him to appear, maybe smile at them, give them even the tiniest bit of his attention.

you stare at him, because the coincidence is just too hysterical. he’s giving the people around him awkward waves and even awkwarder grins, clearly having no clue what to do with himself around all this attention. he’s flanked by two guards – not surprising – and slowly makes his way across the square. you follow him with one eye, frantically scribbling a note at the same time.

you can’t just walk up to him. hi, hello, you don’t know me, but I have a sword to give you. the guards would be mad to let you approach at all; they’ve probably been trained to shield him from any human interaction that isn’t with his trusted friends – all of them just as unreachable for someone like you.

but a note… you can slip him a note. he doesn’t look like someone who would shy away from a cryptic message asking him to meet you in the park an hour after sundown. does he?

so you get up and hurry after him, eyes latched onto the blue of his clothes, tracing the lines of his body and observing the spring in his step with a crooked grin on your face. he doesn’t look like a war hero, that’s for sure.

but you often found that looks can be deceiving, and that those who might not look like much have the most to offer.

you catch up with them in a busy street – even busier, after Sokka’s arrival – and manage to sidle up to them unnoticed.

one of the guards looks around, disapproval clear in his expression. “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just take the carrier. someone of your status –”

“no, no, no. the carrier – are you serious? that’s, like, Zuko levels of pretentious. I already feel super awkward with all this – uh – attention –” you roll your eyes – “I mean, not that I don’t enjoy it, but, you know –”

his voice gets drowned out by the noise of the crowd, and you shake your head, shuffling forward, waiting for an opening that’ll allow you to slip the note in his pocket. you don’t have to wait that long; it’s easy enough to pretend you trip and fall, having to grab onto Sokka’s arm to keep yourself from crashing down. the guards raise their hands, alarm sparking in their expression; but Sokka ignores them, helping you up.

“you okay?”

you nod, tucking the folded piece of paper between the folds of his clothes. “yes, thank you. I’m sorry.”

“don’t worry about it,” he says airily, with a smile that makes you understand all of a sudden why so many people are fawning over him left and right.

he frowns, opens his mouth, and you duck your head down, grateful your hat conceals most of your face. someone calls Sokka’s name. he looks up, and you use the moment of confusion to slip away into the crowd.

you’re sat on wall surrounding the parks, watching the twinkling lights spreading far into the city, waiting for him. the sword is still strapped to your back. one knee is drawn up to your chest, and you keep an eye out on the park gates.

sure enough, after a while, a figure enters the park that can only be him. you grin, waiting until he’s passed by you before you drop to the ground and clearing your throat.

he whirls around, hands moving to grab the hilt at his side – a sword. you smile. “hello.”

“do I know you?”

“no, I suppose you wouldn’t.” you tip your hat. “you don’t have to be so nervous. I’m not going to fight you.”

“I don’t know that.”

“sure. I’ll be gone before you know it, anyway.”

Sokka scowls. “why did you ask me to meet you here?”

you reach behind your back, shooting him an irritated look when his grip on his sword tightens. “relax. I just have a present for you.”

“if you try anything –”

“what, your friends will jump out from hidden corners and murder me where I stand? come on, man,” you scoff, holding the package out to him.

Sokka looks at it suspiciously for a moment before he sheaths his sword, accepts the package, starts to unwrap it. when the cloth falls away and the sword is revealed, his eyes go wide as saucers, and his knuckles go white around the hilt of the blade. he looks at you, then at the sword, back at you, back at the sword.

“this is – this is my spa – I mean – my meteor sword,” he stammers. “I – I lost this. months ago.”

“and I found it. and got it back to you.” you shift your weight, cross your arms. “Master Piandao says hello, by the way.”

Sokka is looking more and more confused. “you know Piandao?”

“something like that.”

he exhales shakily, holds the blade to his chest. “who are you?”

you smile, already planning to make your mysterious exit and never see him again – or something like that. maybe you’ll stay a bit. Sokka intrigues you.

“a traveller.”

#request #atla request #sokka x reader #YOURE WELCOME SOKKA #pure !!!! he loves his sword sm

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philliamwrites · 3 years

Text

Ocean Eyes, Golden Mind

Fandom: All For The Game (Nora Sakavic)

Pairing: Neil/Andrew

Tags: #math nerd neil, #neil with glasses, #no exy

Summary: In which Neil hates his new prescribed glasses until they attract the interest of a certain Andrew Minyard.

Commissioner: Ziegenkind

Notes: Title taken from Billie Eilish’s ‘Ocean Eyes.’

Ocean Eyes, Golden Mind

Dude, it’s just a frat party. Who doesn’t go to frat parties?

The message flashes Neil’s screen white, its sender none other than his roommate Nicky who is supposed to study for an upcoming test in Public Policy in exactly nineteen hours. That’s what Neil writes him. Nicky’s reply comes instantly.

Those who study tend not to party. You know. Like you.

Neil leaves him on read. If he wants to party, he’ll lock himself inside his room, two bottles of Jack Daniel’s by his side while watching every existing compilation of cats attacking people on the small screen of his phone. He knows how to have a good time, alright. Not everyone has to set their scale like Nicky: More than once Neil has been the spectator of him coming back to the dormitory completely wasted, but still eager enough to get frozen waffles from the fridge. Being too drunk to put them in the toaster, he usually just climbs up to his top bunk and puts them between his thighs to eat them partially defrosted. It’s this fragile line between genius and stupidity that has Neil doubting if he should fill in a request for changing roommates or just live with the fact that Nicky Hemmick is one special kind of man.

So instead of spending his night curled into himself, wall against his back and eyes on every stranger distributing awful shots, Neil sits at the Math Tutoring Centre on the west side of the campus and gives group tutoring sessions.

Math comes to Neil like breathing. Like Bertrand Russel said, not only does Mathematics possess truth, but supreme beauty—a beauty cold and austere, like that of a sculpture. It is sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show. It is poetry—elegant and deep—of logical ideas to create harmony in a written line. Once he tried to explain that to Nicky over microwaved Mac n Cheese with Girls running in the background, clearly overestimating him, because Nicky only stared into space for a few seconds, and replied, “You really need to get laid, man.”

Reluctant at the beginning, Neil only agreed to join the Tutor Program because his math professor promised to throw in some extra cash. Something about raising the graduate numbers in order to get the board of education off his back. That’s where Neil’s jurisdiction of interest ends, but he has enjoyed it more than expected—the empty hallways, the harsh light of the ceiling lamps, the smell of chalk, the faint echoes of students still lingering in classrooms. There’s this magic about the Palmetto State University at night—a vulnerability that can only live once the sun sets behind the horizon. When else would he find a kid sleeping under a table in the library, or seniors breaking down in tears for exact 10 minutes before continuing their studies as if nothing has happened.

There’s another reason he’d rather spend his evening on campus, one Nicky doesn’t need to know because then Neil won’t hear the end of it. That reason being 5’0’’ tall chemistry prodigy Andrew Minyard, sitting in the last row of Neil’s math sessions each Friday. He only knows about him thanks to Nicky’s never-ending complaints, but that never really stopped him from throwing a few or more glances in Andrew’s direction. Just curiosity, of course.

So when he stands in front of the blackboard now, putting away his lesson papers which are full of numbers and equations—the kind that has enough letters to look like sentences—he feels dozens eyes burn holes in the back of his neck, and one pair belongs to Andrew. No one asks why he’s here, but everyone knows he doesn’t need to be.

In his one year of giving tutoring sessions, Neil has learnt that exactly three types of students exist: Students who are really good, certainly not in need of the extra lessons, but going anyway for some extra ego-buff and unnecessary brain-flexing. The second type is students who are okay, doing their tasks, following the lesson, not really attracting any attention safe for some crude jokes. The last type has Neil questioning his belief in the educational system of the whole state because he doesn’t understand how they are allowed inside the sacred halls of PSU.

Andrew is a special type on his own—the enigma that keeps Neil awake at two in the morning because he’s desperate to solve it, but without knowing where to start, he’s just running in circles. His fingers itch to solve an equation with multiple variables, to find the solution to a problem and get it off his mind.

He doubts it will be this easy with Andrew.

“Before we continue to look at scalar products in R- and C-vector spaces, we’ll consider bilinear and semi-bilinear forms in general, and link them to matrices for their representation to chosen bases.” Neil’s hand flies across the board, leaving letters and parenthesizes that look like bizarre drawings—art in its most complex form. Once he’s finished, he takes a step away, wipes the chalk on his fingers off on his jeans, and turns to his audience. “What happens to this equation with the semi-bilinear form σ?”

Two hands shoot up immediately. He ignores them; no need to feed their ego, and instead picks a freshman who’s been staring at his phone for the last ten minutes. Making way, Neil moves back to the student’s seats and leans against a desk.

Is it the farthest place away from the board? It is.

Is it the closest that will get him to Andrew? Might be so.

It certainly gives him a good look at what Andrew’s been doing since Neil started—and that is not solving a single task on the paper Neil has handed out at the beginning of the session. Andrew, apparently bored before it even started, has taken out a slip of paper with a sudoku puzzle on it and is solving it against his leg, completely linked out of the instruction.

Neil tries not to stare too much at Andrew’s bare arms, and instead looks back at the board.

“Does that look right?” the freshman—Rhys or Rheeze or something like that—asks, turning around.

Neil narrows his eyes and squints at the board. He can’t make out a single thing, and that’s bad, yes, but his feet betray him, staying rooted where they are instead of reducing the distance until he can distinguish σ from a.

“Where does the l come from,” he asks. Multiple heads snap in his direction.

“That’s a j, Josten,” someone says from the other side of the room.

Neil squints harder. “And the u?”

“A μ.”

“No, it’s a v,” a girl next to Neil says, and that’s when the everyone starts shouting about what’s on the board and what isn’t.

Neil bears it for a solid minute before he surrenders. He pulls a small case from his pocket, opens it. Puts his glasses on.

The whole room goes silent.

Neil checks the equation, nods. “Correct. Who’s next?”

Multiple people stir, one manages to get up, and walks straight into a table leg. Neil questions that ‘straight’, because only then the freshman guy stops staring at Neil and steers his attention to the equation on the blackboard.

It was a bad idea, and Neil still hates Allison for forcing him to go. She’d dragged him to the doctor last week to get his eyes tested, annoyed by his never-ending questions of ‘What’s written there?’ or ‘Is that a six or an eight?’.

“They’re my eyes,” Neil had said, arms crossed as he sat in the office and waited for his turn.

“And it’s me who has to see your ugly squinting face,” Allison had replied.

Two hours later Neil had finally his prescriptions but that didn’t mean he was free from Allison’s clutches. He would have been fine with some glasses from the dollar store, but she insisted that if he’s going to wear them more than once a day, he should get designer glasses—thin frames and a color that matches his copper hair. She suggested gold. Neil picked black. The look of disappointment on Allison’s face was something that deserved its own painting to commemorate it. But once they’d finally chosen the right pair, she’d given him the very same look most of the students are giving him now—a mix between slight awe and disbelief as if he’s grown a second head. Or owes them all a month’s worth of lunch money.

“Well,” had Allison said at least, turning away to pack up and go home. “Tigers have their stripes. I have my eyeliner.” She threw him another scrutinizing look over her shoulder. “You have your glasses.” If it was supposed to make him feel better, it didn’t work, and right now he regrets nothing more than allowing Allison to drag him around.

Neil’s eyes land on Andrew’s sudoku puzzle, now half-hidden under his papers, and he sees now that he isn’t even solving the thing, but simply coloring in the empty squares.

He takes a second too long and meets Andrew’s eyes staring back at him.

“Problem, Josten?” Andrew asks with a blank expression, tapping the end of his pen against his monochrome picture of black and white squares.

Neil wants to see how far he can push until he walks against a brick wall and breaks something. He returns his gaze to the board but feels Andrew’s eyes like a solid touch on the back of his neck.

After the session, the students hurry outside, still throwing curious glances over their shoulders at Neil and if he could merge with the back of his chair and disappear forever, that would be totally okay. It isn’t until a shadow looms above him that he looks up from his own homework and draws in a careful breath when Andrew towers above him.

Neil raises an eyebrow. “Problem, Minyard?”

Andrew’s face gives nothing away, and when he stretches out a hand, Neil doesn’t flinch. His glasses slip off easily, held between Andrew’s thumb and index finger.

“Nicky told me he’s trying to convince you to join him tomorrow,” Andrew says. Neil needs a second, because that is the most words he’s heard out of Andrew’s mouth.

“I have no reason to go,” Neil says, his eyes jumping up and down, from the equation that makes his sight blur to Andrew leaning his slender waist against the table.

“You have one now.” It’s barely neutral enough to not sound like a threat, but Neil stares at Andrew nonetheless, and when he puts Neil’s glasses on, Neil’s heart does a weird stutter. He’s still starring at Andrew when he leaves the room, and no, his eyes don’t stray, they stay on Andrew’s broad back, and if they dip lower it’s because of the light.

Once he’s alone, Neil takes a deep breath, exhales slowly. Puts his head in his arms and counts to ten in French first, then again in German. His heart still does this weird thing, trying to bruise his ribs from the inside.

He gets his phone, texts Nicky he’ll go to the frat party tomorrow and puts it away, not interested in his roommate’s reply. There’s still the equation he needs to solve, but for the first time Neil’s heart isn’t really into math, and he is quite alright with it.

#philliamwrites #ao3 #fanfiction #aftg #andreil #andrew minyard #neil josten #all for the game #andrew x neil #neil x andrew #andrew/neil #neil/andrew

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anjuschiffer · 4 years

Text

A Parent’s Misadventures

So... someone asked and they got a sequel (of some sorts) to Dada?

Enjoy :D

-----

AO3

-----

Being a parent had its woes, but if you asked Jason and Marinette, watching their daughter grow up was rewarding, many firsts being the everlasting, heartwarming moments for them.

Her first steps brought tears to their eyes.

Jason was cleaning his bloody gear in the living room, Bridgette playing with her toys when she eyed something even better than the bean-filled water bottle- a knife.

However, the knife was on the coffee table, higher than what Bridgette can reach… unless she stood up.

So after six attempts on trying to balance herself, Bridgette stood firmly, noting her father was gawking at her, his mouth opening and closing before he scrambled to grab his phone.

Hoping it would work, Bridgette placed one foot in front of her, hearing gasps as she almost fell back, but quickly balanced herself.

It wasn’t hard. She can do this. Taking several steps towards the coffee table, she heard her parents scream and cry as she finally made it to the table, grinning as she got hold of the knife and turned to her parents for appraisal.

Her parents quickly praised, squishing her cheeks Bridgette noticing their faces pale considerably.

They ripped the knife away from her hand, Bridgette wondering why they took it away from her and proceeded to cry.

——-

Her first friend, a boy named Evan Johnson

The Johnsons had finished moving in next door, Marinette jumping up and down, excited to finally have a neighbor after the apartment next door being vacant for a whole two years.

She quickly prepared a quiche, blabbering to Jason how it was a family secret, giggling when she told Jason he couldn’t have some and watched as he and their daughter pouted in unison.

Of course, that pout turned into a frown when Marinette dragged him to help welcome their neighbors, a nice couple from New York.

Maya and Kyle had recently obtained a new scoop at Gotham, having to move Gotham to get it.

However, seeing as the two couldn’t find a sitter nor relatives who can watch over Evan, they brought him along, worried to death about his safety.

“Don’t worry about a thing.” Marinette stated, cutting up the quiche. “You’re in the luckiest place in Gotham. No crimes here in two years.”

“Because you made sure- hey!” Jason yelped when Mari slapped his hand as he reached for a piece.

“The Johnson’s first.” Mari growled, something in the corner of her eye catching her attention. “Is Evan still learning to walk?”

“Yes! Even though he knows how to balance himself perfectly-“ Kyle started

“He still hasn’t quite got the confidence to walk on his own.” Maya ended.

“Well,” Mari pointed towards the kitchen doorway, the four adults turning to see Bridgette guiding Evan, holding his hand.

Mari stifled a snort when she saw Jason narrow his eyes and grumble something under his breath.

“His first steps!” Maya and Kyle rejoiced, Mari smiling as she watched them fish for their cameras, praising their little tyke.

“Look at these-“

“I bet we were like that when Bridgette learned to walk.” Mari said softly, relaxing into Jason’s arm. Resting his head against Mari’s, Jason sighed.

“I bet we were… with the exception of panicking because she had a knife in her hand.”

“Well she only got it because someone thought cleaning blood covered equipment at the coffee table was a good idea.”

“Listen, there was a table. All my equipment needed cleaning. You were cooking at the kitchen table. Where else did you expect me to clean?”

Mari raised a brow. Jason gulped.

“You could’ve cleaned them outside.”

“And risk getting caught?”

“Since when did you care about that?” Jason opened and closed his mouth to fight back, but nothing came out. “I thought so.”

———

Her first pet -courtesy of Uncle Damian- a Doberman Bridgette had named Bunny.

Bunny was an energetic one year old girl, but three-year old Bridgette didn’t care

“Bridgette honey, Bunny isn’t a horse.”

“But I fit.” Bridgette reasoned, laying on top of Bunny, who simply let the child be. The tiny human was a walking heat pack after all.

“Damian, thank you for the gift.” Jason said, ruffling Damian’s hair. He wondered if he should ask Damian about any dog trainers to train Bunny into becoming a guard dog.

“Bridgette said she wanted a dog, so of course I complied with her wish.” Damian said, smiling as his niece decided to close her eyes for a quick nap.

“Damian, you’re spoiling her.”

“Mari has a point.” Jason grinned, Mari narrowing her eyes even more. “Does the animal shelter you fund have any rottweilers or pitbulls up for adoption?”

“Let me check.”

“DAMIAN. YOU BETTER NOT-”

“We do and they’re currently on their way.” Damian said with a smirk, a smirk that easily rivaled Jason’s own.

“Mon Dieu.” Mari cried, dragging her hands down her face.

------

But one of the things Marinette and Jason both wanted and yet didn’t want was that dreadful first phone call from school.

Marinette was in the middle of a consultation, already wrapping it up with her client when her two phones started to ring simultaneously.

Apologizing and quickly shoo-ing the client away, Mari picked both phones up, having her personal phone on speaker while she held the other one close to her ear. As soon as she heard Jason speaking on her private phone, she quickly told him to be silent for a while when her business phone started to speak.

“Is this Miss Todd’s number?”

“Speaking.”

“I apologize for disrupting your busy schedule-”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“Thank you, but I still do apologize for your first phone call from your daughter’s school to be about… this.”

Now worried, Marinette quickly starts packing her things, muttering a few words to Jason before making handwritten notes for her secretary, giving it to her as she left.

“Did something happen to Bridgette? Mon Dieu! Is she okay?”

“She is, but the other child isn’t.” A scream was heard in the background, causing Marinette to quicken her walk towards the elevator. “Can you please come to the school as soon as you can?”

“Of course! I’ll be there in 15 minutes!”

-----

Jason howled with laughter, Marinette flushed with embarrassment, slapping Jason’s arm in hopes of calming him down, but it had the opposite effect. His howls grew louder.

“I-I see… so that’s what happened.” Marinette said quietly, wondering where they went wrong… or rather right...

“We know that it was an accident and apologies were exchanged, but we want to prevent this from happening again in the future.”

“Of course, Madam Daichi.” Marinette got up and bowed, gesturing Jason to do the same. “We’ll talk with Bridgette to prevent this from happening again.”

With that, the two parents left the principal’s office, picking up Bridgette from her classroom along the way.

“We’re going to have a long talk Catherine.”

-----

“So Bridgette, did you really punch Olwin square on his jaw?” Jason asked sternly, Bridgette fidgeting under her father’s gaze.

The trip home was quiet, Bridgette possibly able to hear one of her mother’s sewing needles if they dared drop inside the car. Not a single word was uttered as they made their way to her room.

“I didn’t mean to, but he didn’t want to lend Petunia the paint brush and he even pushed her. So I punched him.” Bridgette pursed her lips, retraining herself from crying, baring the stinging of her eyes. “I’m going to be grounded, aren’t I?”

Jason’s attitude quickly flipped, picking up his daughter, spinning her around, laughing as he did. Bridgette was left dumbfounded at her father’s behavior. Didn’t she do something wrong?

“That’s my girl!” Jason praised, putting Bridgette down, ruffling her hair. “Your form was great! Really proud of you!”

“Jason!” Marinette cried out, standing next to him with her arms crossed. Jason sheepishly smiled, yelping when Mari pinched his arm. “You weren’t suppose to talk about her stance. Yes it was perfect but we didn’t teach her to punch properly if she was going to punch a classmate.”

“But Maman! Olwin-”

“Bridgette. Catherine. Todd.” Marinette sternly said, enunciating each name. “Yes, he did something wrong, but that was not the way to handle it.”

“So what did you want me to do?”

“Speak up.” Mari said softly, wrapping her arms around her girl, feeling Bridgette do the same. “You could’ve gotten a teacher to help you mon chou. That’s what they are there for. To help.”

“What if that didn’t work.”

“That’s when you take it upon yourself to act.” Marinette said, gently pushing Bridgette away from her, noticing tears stream down her cheeks.” Promise me you’ll talk with a teacher first before you decide to punch another child again.”

“I promise.”

-----

Oh how Marinette wished to have made Bridgette also promise to not talk about her side job as well as Jason’s.

“-so it caused us a great amount of concern when we saw her drawing.”

“I understand.” Marinette said, looking at the picture in her hands. Oh how she wanted to curl up and stay hidden forever.

There on the white sheet of paper was Jason and Marinetter, or should she say RED HOOD and LADYBIRD!

Oh mon Dieu!

“So why exactly did Bridgette say-”

“My husband and I helped out a close friend of ours with a short film in regards to the two vigilantes of Gotham.” Marinette said in one breath, giving the principal a smile. “I think you’ve heard of him, Nino Lahiffe?”

“That’s right!” The principal said, clapping her hands together. “He did mention making a film with Red Hood and Ladybird as his next project!”

“That’s right!” Marinette said through her teeth, glad that Lady Luck hadn’t left her side. “He needed to someone to do a quick visual for his project and seeing as he needed help, we offered him our help, so-”

------

After giving Bridgette an earful as to why she couldn’t talk about their jobs as vigilantes to her friends, Marinette and Jason had to leave to go to ‘work.’

Tying up the criminal with zip-ties, Ladybird let out a sigh.

“What’s wrong this time mon lutin?” Red Hood asked, throwing the other criminal over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“Do you think I went too far on Bridgette?”

“Of course not.” Red Hood said, noticing that his words had no effect on her. “Okay, maybe a little.”

“But she can’t speak about this.” Ladybird motioned to her getup, to her black leather jacket and all black spandex suit. Five red dots laid on her chest. The mark of the ladybug Jason called them. “We can’t make her a target for the criminals of Gotham.”

“I know sweetheart.” Red Hood said softly, nudging his helmet against her forehead. “But Bridgette doesn’t need to be sheltered and protected like some fragile jewel. She’s strong. She can protect herself. She has us, the rest of my family, ready to have her back if anything were to happen to her.”

Ladybird let out a sigh, a small smile gracing her lips.

“You’re right. We’ll always protect her.”

“Always.” Red Hood repeated, hauling the criminal Ladybird had tied up onto his other shoulder. “Though, you have to admit, Cathy talking about us as her heroes was kinda cool.”

“You mean adorable.” Ladybird corrected, smiling at the thought. He was right. Bridgette thought they were heroes. She loved them. They were her heroes

“Now come on. We have a tiny robin awaiting us back at the nest.”

With a nod, the duo disappeared into the night, not being able to bare another second away from their robin.

What happened earlier that day...

Bridgette watched a shadow loom over her, already knowing who it was. With a grin she looked up at her teacher.

“What did you draw Bridgette?”

“My family!” Bridgette said with a smile, the teacher giving her a nervous laugh. Why was one of her ‘parents’ drawn with what appeared to be guns at each of their sides? And why did the other figure have a person under their foot?

“I-Is that so?”

“Yeah!” Bridgette smiled even more as she intensified the red on her father’s drawing, but shortly stopped. Was there something wrong with the picture of her parents?

Sure, they don’t look the same, but they were still the same people, with or without the masks.

They kept her safe, they kept others safe.

They protected everyone in Gotham…what was wrong with that?

“Who are they supposed to be?” Olwin scoffed, looking at her drawing with disgust. Standing up in annoyance, Bridgette lifted her drawing into the air, catching the attention of her classmates.

“This is the drawing of my parents! They’re my heroes! I love them a lot!” She smiled when her classmates ‘ooed’ and ‘awed’ at her drawing. “After tucking me into bed, they become your heroes too!”

“W-what do you mean by that sweetie?” The teacher asked, only to be ignored by the tiny girl.

“Do they fight bad guys?”

“You bet they do! They go pow!” Brigette said, punching into the air, making Olwin flinch. “And bam! The bad guys never cross them twice! Maman and Papa are too strong to be taken down!”

Her classmates cheered and made a racket with their toys, the teacher attempting to calm them down, but to no avail.

“Do they have cool powers?”

“No, but Maman uses her very,very, heavy -hundred times heavy- yo-yo and knocks their fu- frogging lights off.” Bridgette exclaims, quickly remembering what happened when her mom caught her saying something her dad usually says. “Papa has these really, really quiet guns that when he goes pew, pew, it’s really hard to hear them. But that makes the bad guys super scared of him and they shi- slip on their own pee-pee and run away!”

Oh god. She almost cursed again. She will not suffer through that punishment ever again. Ever.

The teacher began to panic when a cult started to form in her classroom, the children cheering as Bridgette continued to answer questions, the teacher finally deciding to call for backup.

Oh how Bridgette wished she kept quiet about her parent’s hero jobs.

Little did she know she knew she was going to get an earful from her mother that evening and have to clean her neighbor’s apartment as punishment.

And no, she wasn’t referring to Evan’s house. She was talking about Mr. Perri’s apartment…

Mr.Perri… the many with two rooms filled to the brim with insects from all around the world…

Insects that terrified the shit out of her…

Oh how Bridgette wished she didn’t let Olwin get under her skin… if only she kept that secret to herself.

P.Taglist: @theatreandcomicfreak

#maribat #jasonette #anju writes #marinette needs to teach bridgette to keep secrets

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professorspork · 4 years

Note

fic prompt + daily queenly duties

Well, this one definitely got away from me a little bit…

—-

The day starts at dawn. Not with an alarm, but nevertheless, like clockwork–

“Ouch! Ah, jeez–”

Kristoff opens an eye to watch Anna hop around on one foot, holding her stubbed toe in both hands as she inhales sharply and tries to keep from crying out any further.

“Did you kick the chair again?”

Realizing she has an audience, Anna puts her foot down and attempts to look regal and put-together. It’s a losing battle; her hair is all over the place and there’s still a bit of drool on her chin. It’s adorable.

“…No? Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I keep telling you to move it.”

She shakes her head. He watches as she brushes out her tangles and ties her hair in a bun–as his wife fades to the background and the queen emerges in her stead. “If I move it Olaf can’t climb up to read us a bedtime story, and you know how much he loves that. It’s too heavy for him to move by himself.”

“We could always move it after he’s done.”

“Well then I’m comfy and I don’t want to leave bed.”

“I could move it.”

She smiles at him, winsome. “The bed’s comfy because you’re in it.”

He sees his chance and gives it his best shot–lifts up the covers to show his bare chest; the inviting spot on her side of the bed she’s just vacated. “I’m still in it now, y'know.”

Her nose scrunches as her face can’t decide whether to be playfully disapproving or to flirt right back. “You’re a terrible influence, Kristoff Bjorgman.”

“Yes, but I’m your terrible influence.”

Unable to suppress her grin at him any longer, she leans over the aforementioned chair just long enough to peck him on the lips, then disappears behind her privacy screen to change.

“What’s on the docket today?” he asks. On the other side of the divider, the vague outline of her silhouette disappears under layers of fabric.

“Oh, um. Open petitions this morning, and then a sit-down with the Stonecutter’s Guild. I guess some of the young apprentices are freaked out ever since meeting the Earth Giants because they’re worried all rocks have feelings? Which: they might, honestly. I’m going to have to ask Elsa–remind me to send her a note before breakfast, okay? Oh, and then tonight is the solstice pageant.”

“Can’t forget that.”

“Don’t be mean!”

“I’m not,” he laughs. “I’m genuinely looking forward to it.”

Queen Anna emerges from the other side of the wardrobe. “Well, good. Alright, I’ve got to check in with the castle staff and get my day going. I’ll see you downstairs?”

“Of course.”

Only she doesn’t, because by the time he actually makes it to the dining room he learns she’s long gone–she’s skipped breakfast to go deal with some issue at the fjord, two ships double-booked for the same dock and each refusing to yield to the other.

Sounds about par for the course.

Shaking his head, he wanders down to the kitchens for a sandwich or two, scribbles out a note for Elsa, and heads out to the dell where Gale likes to gambol and play most mornings. Anna’s better at finding Gale than Kristoff is; more than once he’s caught her laughing at him for talking to a stiff breeze that was simply that, and nothing more. It takes up more of his morning than he’d like, but eventually he feels the telltale tickle under his chin that he’s in the presence of the wind spirit.

“Hey. I know Elsa’s coming down tonight, but Anna’s got a question that can’t wait until then. Do you mind?”

Gale blows his hat right off his head, which he takes to mean don’t be silly. Or possibly how dare you, I’m very insulted, but hopefully not. Like he said: he’s not as good at this as Anna.

“Thanks,” he says, and he opens his palm to let the gusts carry his note away. He watches until it’s disappeared past the treeline, just in case.

He heads back to the castle, arriving just as the sun hits its zenith. Anna hates these short winter days, he knows–doesn’t like the idea of the dark outweighing the light. The solstice will be good for her; every day from here on out a little brighter than the last.

Open petitions are in full swing in the front hall–he lingers in the back for a bit to watch Anna work. Long gone is the single throne and long queue of Agnarr’s day. Elsa rethought the space about three times during her reign, and Anna’s made further changes, since. Now the dais contains a few overstuffed armchairs, and a side table for tea. Anyone who comes to speak to Queen Anna does so in comfort, and on her level. They… chat. Like friends; like equals.

When she wraps up the inquiry she was working on–some sort of misunderstanding about a dowry, and a young couple pretty desperate to give back what sounds like the world’s most ornery goat to the bride’s father–Kristoff strides to the front of the room.

“Sorry folks, just gonna call a quick recess, okay? Ice Master privilege, sorry, I’ll give the Queen back in just a minute.”

Before Anna has a chance to protest, he escorts her out the room and into a side hall.

“What are you doing?” she asks, unable to quite keep the laughter at his antics out of her voice. “I still have like a half-dozen people to see.”

“Yeah, I noticed. Which is why I figured you could probably use a pick-me-up.” With that, he takes the wrapped sandwiches from this morning from his satchel.

Her shoulders drop in relief at the smell of the fresh-baked bread; she immediately snatches one from his hands and starts scarfing it down. “Oh my gosh, I’m starving. How did you know?”

He knows because it’s his job to know. Anna takes care of Arendelle. Kristoff takes care of Anna. It’s as simple as that.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have skipped breakfast, feistypants.”

“Duty called,” she shrugs, unapologetically talking with her mouth full. “And hey, that’s ‘Queen Feistypants’ to you.”

“Apologies, your Majesty,” he teases, dropping into a low, ostentatious bow. His hat falls off with the movement, but when he goes to pick it up, it dances away from his hand.

“Wait, what? Oh, for–Gale!” he groans, and snatches at the air as the wind plays keep-away with him. “C'mon, give it back.”

Anna slaps her forehead. “Oh no, I was supposed to ask–oh,” she blinks as Kristoff’s parchment falls daintily into her hand, Elsa’s reply scribbled on the back. “Thanks.” She scans the note quickly. “Well, apparently there’s some sort of knocking test you can do to see if a rock has the spirit or not; Ryder can come down and teach it to the guild members. That’s easy enough.”

Kristoff raises an eyebrow. “Ryder has to tell these kids 'only dead rocks don’t knock back?’”

“They’re not dead rocks, they’re never-been-alive rocks. Totally different.” She polishes off the last of her sandwich and–when she gives him a plaintive, puppydog look–the last few bites of his, as well. “Okay, I’d better get back to work. Catch up with you tonight; thanks again, love you!”

And then there’s a quick kiss and she’s gone, like the whirling dervish she is. Or maybe that’s just Gale, chasing along behind her.

He’s at loose ends for the rest of his day–an ice harvester doesn’t tend to have as much to do, in the winter–and decides to ride out and meet Elsa halfway. Sven brays happily at the opportunity to go full speed, and before long they’re racing through fresh powdery snow. Just for the thrill, just for the fun of it. It is in these moments–bitter wind stinging at his face, the world whooshing past him in a rush–that Kristoff thinks he best understands the two women who make up his family. The freedom of speed and cold air and ground under your feet. The joy of going as fast as you can, because you trust your own legs to carry you. Or, y'know. Sven’s legs, as the case may be.

Anna’s the one who’s good at metaphors. He’s just along for the ride.

He hears them approach before he sees them–Ryder shouting out a Northuldra call-and-response song, a children’s rhyme about reindeer. Elsa’s voice chimes in on the refrains–hesitant, tremulous, happy. Like she’s still not quite certain she remembers all the words, but she’s so pleased to be included she can’t help but try anyway. It brings a full-toothed grin to Kristoff’s face, unbidden; he dismounts as they crest the ridge ahead and come into view.

“Kristoff!” the two shout in messy union, then immediately engage in a race to get to him first. The Nokk leaves Ryder in the dust; in moments, Kristoff’s got an armful of ex-Queen as Elsa jumps down into his arms.

“Hey,” he laughs, “I missed you, too.”

“What about my Kristoff hugs?” Ryder pouts as he catches up. Elsa squeezes Kristoff just a little bit tighter.

“Get your own. This one’s a family heirloom.”

“Imagine if I played that card every time you hugged Honeymaren,” Ryder teases slyly, and Kristoff bites back a laugh at the way Elsa turns bright, bright red. She lets him go and draws herself up to her full height, clearing her throat and squaring her shoulders. All he sees is Anna pulling the same maneuver that morning, and he can’t help it–the giggles escape, despite his best efforts.

“That’s quite enough of that,” she grumbles, re-mounting her horse. “We should get going or we’ll be late.”

Ryder settles for a fist-bump, in the meantime, and the three of them turn and make their way back towards Arendelle.

It seems like the whole town has turned out for the solstice pageant, the amphitheater down by the fjord filled with the buzz of proud families waiting for the kids to begin. Anna’s saved a whole passel of seats toward the front–piled high with cloaks to stop other people from sitting there. As though people might edge in on the Queen’s saved seats.

Kristoff feels his heart melt for her that much more.

Elsa and Anna do their usual song and dance at being reunited, prompting good-natured eye-rolls from everyone around them, and then the lights go down and the curtains come up. They hurriedly fall into their chairs as the schoolmaster comes out on stage.

“Hello parents, friends, and families! As you know, the children have been working hard on our little revue these past few weeks, and they’re very eager to share it with all of you. Enjoy!”

All the students shuffle out, holding hands. And there, standing among them, is Olaf–clearly scanning the crowd for their friendly faces. Anna lets out a whoop, and he positively beams at them.

Kristoff crosses his fingers. “Here we go,” he murmurs under his breath.

Olaf had been begging for the chance to go to school for ages now–but after he learned to read, they kind of ran out of excuses not to let him. The other children are more than used to his presence, and he loves coming home every day with new facts to share with all of them. Honestly, he’s thriving–though he had been heartbroken not to get the part of the Spirit of Summer to Come in the solstice pageant, cast instead as, perhaps predictably enough, a snowman.

Olaf nails every single one of his lines; at one point, Anna elbows Kristoff in the ribs, eyes mirthful, and he realizes he’s been mouthing along with them the whole time. After the final song, they all jump to their feet and cheer. Elsa puts her fingers to her lips and whistles loud, just the way Kristoff taught her.

The rest of the evening is a blur–Olaf dangling between Anna and Kristoff’s hands as they all walk home; Elsa and Ryder talking over each other at dinner in their eagerness to share all they’re learning about Ahtohallan; a lively game of Twister that Anna wins easily (Olaf being disqualified after detaching his arm to reach left hand blue). Ryder and Anna make plans to meet back up with the stonecutters first thing the next day, as Anna will be swamped the whole of the afternoon with trade delegation meetings. Kristoff has to all but drag her away before she can promise away what little free time she has left to making final adjustments on plans for the New Year’s ball in the coming days–“that’s tomorrow-you’s problem,” he reminds her, and she lets herself be led away by the hand.

And then finally, at long last, it’s just the two of them.

This, perhaps, is Kristoff’s favorite moment of the day: when Anna takes off her crown, lets down her hair, and curls up against him. Just Anna, no more, no less.

“I’m e-e-exhausted,” she yawns, burying her face in his shoulder, and he drops a kiss onto her forehead.

“Just one more queenly duty for the day,” he chuckles, before calling out “Okay buddy, we’re ready!” towards the door.

The quiet sound that had served as background noise throughout their nightly routine, of Olaf counting to one thousand on the other side of the door, goes quiet. “Are you sure?” he asks. “I’m only at eight hundred and thirty four.”

“Come on in, Olaf,” Anna laughs, and he does–dragging the book they’ve been reading behind him. On little snowball feet, he makes his way to the bed and, as Anna knows he likes to, clambers up onto the bedside chair before perching on the armrest.

“Are you ready?” Olaf asks, his eager smile pulling a little to one side, just like Elsa’s does. At their nods he begins: “Chapter Eight: The Enigma Becomes Doubly Mysterious. The child had laid her head on a stone and fallen asleep…” They gasp in all the right places as Jean Valjean realizes Cosette’s gone icy cold in the snow and cannot be roused; when the chapter ends on a cliffhanger, they even let him read on, until they know Cosette is safe. “One more?” he asks hopefully when he reaches the end of chapter nine, but he takes it with grace when Anna shakes her head–finishing their ritual by giving each of them a hug and lugging off his book, closing the door soundly behind him.

“I still feel like giving him that book was probably a mistake,” Kristoff chuckles.

“The schoolmaster says his vocabulary is improving too fast for us to hold him back.”

“Yeah, but Les Miserables?”

“He’s tough; he can handle it,” she says with certainty, and, well: the Queen has spoken. Who is Kristoff to argue?

Out of habit, his hand drifts up; he traces a delicate line with his pinky from the top of Anna’s forehead to the tip of her nose, once, and then again. Her gaze goes dreamy and disoriented, her blinks growing longer–and then her eyes narrow and she frowns, shaking him off. “Hey, quit it.”

“Quit what?” he teases, but she’s sitting up now, climbing into his lap to straddle him, and–oh.

“One more thing to check off my to-do list before bed,” she murmurs into his mouth, and oh, that’s awful, but–

Somehow, he just doesn’t have it in him to complain.

#this is so much longer than i thought it would be #i hope you enjoy!#they are MARRIED i am INTO THEM BEING MARRIED #fic what i wrote #frozen #frozen 2 #kristanna #Anonymous

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cards-and-stars · 4 years

Text

✧ AMEO Deck

Author/Artist: Julie from AMEO Deck

Editor: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Link: https://ameo-deck.myshopify.com/

I first came across this deck on Instagram and found it intriguing from the start. It appeared to be an astrological oracle deck which required no previous knowledge of astrology and which seemed to have quite a few cards usual astrology based decks lack. This is precisely what motivated me to purchase it: I wanted an astrological deck which had more than just the regular 10 planets and 12 signs.

Let's see what this cute little pink deck has to offer.

✧ The Box

All in all, the box is quite minimalistic. A starry background with a pink filter, the deck logo and title for the top and a starry background and a blue filter for the bottom. It’s pretty and sturdy, and was delivered filled with adorable little silver stars. The inside of the box is blank.

The name of the deck AMEO stands for Astrology Magie Etudes Oracle (”Astrology Magic Studies Oracle”) which perfectly sums up the essence of this deck and it’s goal. The logo is an elegant sigil based of off that anagram.

✧ The Cards

The deck is composed of 73 cards of which 1 title card, 12 signs, 12 houses, 14 celestial bodies, 1 retrograde card, 1 lucky card,12 aspects card, 4 elements cards, 2 polarity cards, 3 modality cards, 1 rulership card, 1 exaltation card, 1 detriment card, 1 fall card, 1 card information card about the signs grouped by element, 1 information card about the signs and houses grouped by modality, 5 cards with ideas for a total of 6 spreads.

The cards are the same size and slightly better quality than a usual RWS deck.I use this deck whenever I work on someone’s birth chart so it has seen it’s fair share of handling and shuffling through yet you can see the cards are still in excellent condition.

The back of the cards is the same blue starry background featuring 2 full moons. It feels balanced, peaceful and harmonious.

Each card comes with a set of keywords conveying the meaning of the item portrayed.

Another detail worth noting is that the deck contains not only the usual 10 planets but also the Black Moon, Chiron, both Nodes and a Retrograde card.

The illustrations are purely icon based. No fancy, symbolically charged artistry here. Instead the deck portrays the astrological glyphs which makes this deck perfect as a tool to read charts. Should I not know what a given sign in the 3rd house means, all I need to do is identify the glyph and combine the keywords to build a relevant interpretation. This is practical and to the point, which is very handy.

The aspects cards, which I’ve never seen in any deck previously picture 12 aspects in total: Opposition, Inconjunctiion, Biquintile, Sesquisquare, Trine, Square, Quintile, Sextile, Semisquare, Novile, Semisextile and Conjunction. In other worlds, both minor and major aspects. The inclusion of these cards, once again, makes this deck a perfect companion for chart reading.

✧ The Little White Book

This deck does not come with a booklet simply because... it does not need one! All card meanings are printed directly on the cards. There are also 2 informative cards witch group the signs by element and the houses and signs by modality.

Yet another handful of cards suggests specific spreads:

✧ Conclusion

Likes

The inclusion of aspects, modalities, nodes, etc.

No prior knowledge about astrology required

Minimalistic iconography

The suggested spreads are everything and they allow you to practice your knowledge of astrology

Vibrant colours. I mean this deck is very photogenic, let’s face it!

If I remember correctly, while purchasing, one could chose whether they prefer the text on the cards to be in French or English. I LOVE that the deck has a language variation instead of displaying both languages by default.

Dislikes

If Chiron was included, we could have also had Pallas, Vesta, Juno and Ceres

Some people will probably be put off by the color scheme. Pink isn’t for everyone

I mostly use this deck as a tool for natal chart reading. I do also practice the spreads as my daily card pull. Since this deck was delivered to me, it has been one of the few I’m using the most consistently for it’s clarity, practicality and range of information. Out of all my astrology decks, it is the most complete one, the easiest one to use and all around the best quality one. I would definitely recommend it to any astrology beginners!

It is fantastic tool for any astrology student out there and I wish I had known about it when I started out.

✧ Rating

✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧

Thank you for reading and see you later, little MonStars!

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bloodlinevalentine · 5 years

Text

The Tears of Tomorrow

My lil krii7y thing :)

The Nights were beginning to get cooler, so Smitty began trading out his summertime boxers ensemble for a more winter appropriate t-shirt and sweatpants combination. Right now, He lay on his bed, on top of all the sheets with his limbs spread out in every direction. Occasionally, he looked over at the screen of his phone as it sat haphazardly over the edge of the dresser next to him. It was nearing two-thirty in the morning and he was still awake. With a defeated sigh, he sat up and reached for the phone on his nightstand, as well as the red sticky note next to it.

His therapist, a kind but slightly over-invested man by the name of Ryan, had told him to call if the medication wasn't working and he couldn't find anything to put him to sleep. Well, that had been the case for as far back as he could remember their sessions going, and the meds hadn't ever worked.

Smitty had started seeing Ryan once a month in May, actually about his strange bouts of moodiness. He'd noticed a pattern of shutting himself off from his friends and family and decided that for once, he was going to face a problem head on before it really became prominent. Within their first couple of visits, Ryan ensured that they spent their time simply talking and just getting to know each other, as well as getting an understanding of how to navigate Smitty's problem.

Around his third visit, however, Ryan brought to light his deduction that Smitty's Season Affective Disorder (SAD) was the result his body to the different sunlight availability and lost sleep.

"Which is an easy fix," He'd laughed when he told Smitty of his hypothesis.

But it wasn't. Smitty wished he could just go to bed earlier and feel better about everything, but he couldn't. Luckily, despite three more visits with reportedly bad news on that front, Ryan did not lose faith.

"It's okay, Smitty," he'd admonished when the younger expressed his concern, "What's important is that you remain open about you options. Now, if you're alright with it, i'd like to start you on some Non-Benzodiazepine Hypnotics."

Unfortunately, those hadn't worked out too well either. The most they did was cause drowsiness during the day and make working harder for him. Accordingly, Ryan upped the dosage, and even prescribed stronger medications, but they all had similar effects. Even then, however, Ryan could not be dissuaded.

"Here," He'd mumbled as he scribbled down onto a small stack of sticky notes towards the end of their last meeting. He looked reluctant and frowned at the clock for a moment, holding the note in his hand as he considered, but in the end handed Smitty the square. "If at any time between now and our next visit you find any evidence of oncoming insomnia, just call me. Maybe we can talk through it, or at the very least, get a better idea of your brain processes during one of your fits." He began gathering his things, and Smitty idly noted the employment of another psychological technique: the way he stated every alternative as if there was always something to gain from something he man not really want to do.

Well, now was a time between their meetings, and Smitty saw some pretty clear evidence of insomnia. Although, he had been debating the real value of calling the psychologist at such an ungodly hour, Ryan had insisted it was better than him lying in bed alone all night, so he went ahead an typed in the number. The dial tone was loud in the silence of the night but he surprisingly didn't have to wait long.

"Hello?" came the raspy and somewhat confused voice on the other end, immediately striking Smitty with a pang of guilt for waking him up.

"Hey Doctor Wrecker, its me, Smitty. I'm sorry to wake you up, but you told me to call you if I was having trouble sleeping...and I am. So..." There was an anticipating quiet on the other end, during which he thought about how silly he sounded. Cringing only the slightest bit, he prepared to apologize and hang up, the voice spoke up again.

"Sorry dude, but I think you got the wrong number."

Oh.

Smitty froze and pulled the phone away from his ear to compare the number on the paper to the one he's typed in, but they were identical. Ryan must have accidentally given him the wrong number.

"Oh, my bad man. I'm sorry to wake you up." Smitty shook his head and prepared to hang up, thumb hovering over the End Call button, but he was interrupted once more.

"It's fine, you didn't." He said as though he'd known Smitty all his life. The sound of shuffling fabrics could be heard before the silence of stillness. "You said you couldn't sleep tonight?"

Smitty felt his eyebrows raise at the words, eyes falling to the window leading out of his apartment and into the city. A finger traces the edge of the sticky note as he thought, but eventually he shrugged and tossed it aside.

'What else am I gonna do?' He thought to himself with a shrug.

"Nope. Haven't slept since I moved here."

Through the slight distortion of the phone he heard the guy click his tongue as he answered. "Sucks man. How long have you been here?...Wherever 'here' is."

"A year. And 'here' is America. I moved to about a year ago, but ever since then, I haven't been able to sleep properly." He sighed through his explanation and shifted into a more comfortable position.

"Really? Where are you from? I didn't notice an accent."

Smitty opened his mouth to answer, but paused. Was he really about to give his whole life story up to a complete stranger? However, just as quickly as the thought occurred, it was dismissed. What was the harm? "I was raised in Canada, but I moved to California for my degree."

"Oh cool dude, my--" the guy on the other end continued, but the second half was drowned out by a terrorized scream that had to have been coming from a television. His assumption was confirmed by the loud ensemble of music following the shriek.

"What movie are you watching? I can hear it all the way over here." He said lightly, a smirk lighting his features as he heard the other laugh.

"I don't know actually. I turned on the TV right before you called and I just haven't changed it."

"Sounds intense," Smitty sat up and turned as though speaking to someone in the room with him, the smile still upturning his lips. "Does it look interesting?"

"Well so far there's this girl who's crying every time she's on screen and the beginning of what might be a family reunion, so I don't really know."

Smitty chuckled and asked for a description of the woman, and that's how the man on the other end wound up narrating the rest of the movie, which turned out to be a rerun of a midnight soap opera, The Tears of Tomorrow. As they came to the realization, Smitty imagined the man would change it in favor of something more entertaining but he didn't. For just over thirty minutes, the guy narrated the show, adding his own commentary and cracking jokes about the characters as he saw fit. And Smitty didn't mind, as he also succeeded in making it interesting up until the ending credits rolled and the following infomercial aired and the guy said he had to get going.

Smitty couldn't remember the last time he'd wanted to tell someone not to go.

🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸

Work had been tiring. One of the new interns had decided not to come in on their first day, so Smitty had to fill in as makeshift secretary. He had never taken up so many sheets of paper with nonsense, and he was content to never do it again. It was one of their busier days as well; people ran in and out like ants with their orders in varying states of ready. Despite this, he still felt accomplished, even if he did stumble into his apartment hardly awake.

It was going on a week since he'd first met John, the guy who he'd accidentally called looking for his therapist, and they had spoken every night since then. And just as the thought occurred, he grinned and pulled out his phone, only for the smile to melt off of his face as he realized the time.

1:47 am.

This would be the earliest he'd ever called, and he had no idea whether John would even be awake or not. And come to think of it, he really had no idea what John did before or after they talked, or what kept him awake at night. He contemplated waiting about an hour more before calling, but in the end decided against it. If John wasn't awake, maybe he deserved a break.

"You're up early." He muttered, an audible smirk in his voice when he answered on the third ring.

Smitty felt his lips twitch to mimic the expression as he leaned on the counter, gingerly toeing off his shoes as he spoke. "Yeah, I thought you might enjoy hearing my perfect, soothing voice." He got a sarcastic laugh in response.

"You know me so well."

In the background, there was a thump and and the sound of glass clattering to the floor along with a muffled curse. "What are you doing?" he asked and made his way to the bedroom.

"Shit. I was painting my nails, but I just spilled my favorite blue on the floor."

Smitty paused just at the foot of his bed. Sometimes when John talked like this, he couldn't tell if he was kidding or not. "You paint your nails?" he asked to be sure.

"Yeah..." the reply was distant, like John had laid his phone down to clean up the mess, but not in the least bashful or ashamed.

"Oh." he stated and resumed climbing into bed. He thought back to moments before when he'd been wondering about John, and decided that this would be the time to get to know him. "Every night?"

"No. Not even regularly. But the old paint was chipping really badly and I have somewhere to be tomorrow." He was back closer to the phone as he sighed, and Smitty didn't know what to say for an awkward moment before John speaking again brought them back to their comfortable banter.

"But it's whatever," the sound of the small glass meeting the surface of a table punctuated his statement and precluded his next, "So are we watching a movie tonight, or more Tears of Tomorrow?"

"Tears of Tomorrow, dude, its our show." he smiled and leaned back against the pillows , waiting for Johns comically enthusiastic approval as he began narrating to opening.

They talked as usual, John taking the time to answer any questions he had. ("Wait, who's Lui again?" "Daithi's on-again off-again boyfriend dude, keep up.") But started slacking off as the episode progressed. At one point, all he got in explanation was a scandalized gasp and silence.

"What? What happened?" Smitty prompted.

"We're with Craig in the hospital. It doesn't look good."

"Dammit," he muttered under his breath, "Is Tyler there?"

"Nope, he's still off sleeping with Evan--"

"Craig's boss? That bastard!"

"I know!" John said, his voiced raised well beyond what was necessary, as he laughed at his out of character excitement. "I think we may be getting a little to into this."

Smitty blinked into the darkness with a laugh, but didn't directly reply. He wasn't ready to admit his growing addiction to their shared soap opera, but instead of having to answer, was asked a question.

"Hey Smit, you have a TV don't you."

"Of course, wh-- oh." Smitty laugh and hopped up to grab the remote. Why hadn't he thought of this before now?

"Yeah, that'll be easier than explaining everything to you."

Smitty smiled harder and switched to regular television, typing in the channel that was advertised between all the commercials John loved to make fun of.

🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸

"He's not gonna do it." Smitty whispered.

"He's gonna do it." John whispered back, sounding assured.

"No. There's no way." Smitty scoffed, "He raised him. He loves him. He's not gonna shoot him just because--"

And right on time, a single gunshot rang out. It could be heard in the background of both of their rooms as Smitty's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. Scotty had really just shot his foster brother, Marcel. "No," he breathed, heartbroken and thoroughly defeated as John laughs in the background. Marcel was one of his favorite characters, but so was Scotty, how could he have been so wrong about him?

On the other end of the line, John snickered. "I told you."

"That's so shitty," he began, but they both erupted into groans when the ending credits rolled.

Smitty saw no more value in pretending he wasn't addicted to the show. They hadn't bothered trying to hide it since the night he'd come home a little late and John had called him, urging as though his life depended on Smitty turning on his TV. He even sometimes found himself talking to his coworkers about the character like they were real people.

Although he sometimes got strange looks, he didn't mind as long as he got to come home from a late shift, make the quickest thing he could think of to eat, and talk to John as he relaxed. It was great. The past few nights when he called, they would go straight to talking about their days and watching The Tears of Tomorrow. It had only been three weeks but they were talking and teasing like besties.

Speaking of the such, John was talking right now, mentioning something funny about how fervently Daithi always said 'revenge is not the way' right before he tried to run over Luke (in the man's own truck no less) when Smitty nodded off. When he woke up four hours later, his phone was 12 percent charged and John had long since hung up. A little guiltily, he called the next night with an apology on his lips, but John acted as thought nothing had happened.

And so began the cycle of Smitty finally falling asleep when the sky went dark.

🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸

Smitty had missed two episodes of their show.

He'd agreed to go out with Fitz and a few other coworkers for drinks, and didn't come home for almost an hour after he'd expected to. He'd been feeling better lately, good even, and thought he should top it all off with a night with his friends. He'd had a pretty good time, but it would have been better if he wasn't so consumed with the thought of leaving John without an answer or explanation. He debated even calling at such a late time, but decided why not. If John was asleep, he probably wouldn't wake up.

Except, John was awake, and ready to fill him in on the missed set of episodes.

"Wait, so Jon and Luke are long lost brothers or something? But they don't even look alike."

"I know dude! Oh-- and it turns out that Brian was the one Brock was having the affair with."

"What!?" Smitty nearly yelled. "When did this happen?"

"Back at the big New Year's Party, the one Evan threw for the whole company."

"Whatever. I still think they really shoehorned that one in."

"They shoehorn everything in," John laughed, and Smitty smiled into the distance in his room.

"Anything else?"

"Mmm, Anthony's getting a brain transplant."

"Anthony? A brain Transplant? Are you serious?"

"Of course not," John giggled again, "But I kinda wish they would give him something crazy like that, you know? Anthony deserves more screen time."

"I guess I get that," Smitty shuffled further under the covers, "I mean, I don't think they characterize him enough for all this saving he does to everyone else."

"Exactly." John says in that unique way of his that stretches out the syllables and highlights the sounds Smitty never really pays attention to. "Hashtag Give Anthony His Own Episode."

Smitty felt his eyes drooping, but he didn't feel as guilty about being so tired since John would probably be off to do his own thing in a few. "More like 'Hashtag Give Anthony His Own Character Arc' to be honest."

He smiled at John's agreement and listened as the older started a rant about his favorite underappreciated characters. Now, Smitty was never one to brag, but he would happily report that he made it all the way until they both hung up to fall asleep.

🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸🕸

"And honestly, I wouldn't really mind if they postponed season five if it meant they wouldn't have to replace my boy Lui. Having anyone else just wouldn't be the same." Smitty paused to level a pointed look at Ryan, only to see that he was no longer taking notes, but watching Smitty with a pointed look of his own.

"What?" he asked when Ryan hesitated to speak.

"Nothing, you just seem to be in a pretty good mood is all" The psychologist replied with some difficulty around his smirk. He looked down and fiddled with his pen for a second before he continued, "Did something happen?"

Smitty narrowed his eyes at the suspicious tone and answers slowly, "Yeah actually. And, I forgot to mention it earlier, but you gave me the wrong number at out last meeting."

"Did I?" Ryan smiles widely, but tries to hide it behind his clipboard. It doesn't work, obviously. "My mistake."

Smitty tries to suppress a knowing frown as he watches Ryan scribble a new number down on a piece of paper with a minutely shaking hand. This one looked absolutely nothing like the one he'd received before.

☈ :)

#fanfics #krii7y #blood on paper #other ships that are not actually relevent #soap operas #the references are bad on purpose I swear #lmao thamk you guys for enjoying #likes make me happy :)#smii7y #kryozgaming

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jinmukangwrites · 5 years

Text

Forcibly Stripped

X: Done // Diamond: Next // Fire: Requested

Summary: Amy Rohrbach probably has the most interesting partner in the entire force. The only problem with that is that she's usually dragged into some equally interesting situations whenever Blüdhaven's newest big baddy decides that Dick in on their shit list.

Another square crossed off! Not all of this fic will be posted on tumblr because I’m still paranoid of Tumblr and this fic has some forced nudity as hinted at in the title. (Though it is non-descriptive of said nudity). Anon requested Dick, the pretty boy cop, being made an example of by crooks. And another anon requested Outsider POV. Enjoy!

Note: Took liberties with canon here, by now we should all know that dc canon sucks most of the time, especially when it comes to Dick so... I reject your canon and substitute my own.

Link to full fic on AO3

-o-o-o-o-

Not many cops in Blüdhaven can say that they came from a rich background. Even fewer can say that they belonged to a traveling circus for their entire childhood. This is why Dick Grayson is such an interesting guy because he can say both, and what's so respectable about it is that he never makes a big deal out of it. He never goes out of his way to throw names like Bruce Wayne, never tried to gain sympathy for his tragic upbringing (because once you knew Dick was raised by Bruce Wayne, you knew what happened to his birth parents).

There are people with a fraction of the wealth who would prance around their family name at the first sign of conflict, with a not even that sad of a backstory who will tell it over and over to get sympathy.

Not Dick Grayson. Dick would rather be his own man, the only way anyone would find out of his past was if they took the time themselves to dig into it. Otherwise, Dick lives in the moment, takes things as they come, and always does what he thinks is right.

Nightwing is another story, but Amy Rohrbach is still pretending she doesn't know about that.

The day today is like any other: gray, bleak, smoggy, filled with grumbling criminals coming off their latest high or groaning ravers waking up with hangovers. Most officers are also recovering from those things but corruption is corruption and Blüdhaven embraces it.

Amy is one of the rare few walking into the office without painkillers in her system to fight off the consequences of questionable activities last night. She has some Advil in her desk, but that's for when the sheer stupidity of the people she works with gets to be too much.

Dick is already here, which Amy has a mixture of feelings about that. The guy is pristine, and when he's told to come in at 6am, he'll come thirty minutes earlier. Most other people Amy has the pleasure of working with come in a few hours late, their excuses ranging from they saw someone doing something shady on the way to work and had to check it out, traffic, or the coffee machine was broken; in reality they were probably vomiting in the toilet and trying to convince themselves to take another sip of pickle juice or whatever people used to get rid of hangovers quickly.

Dick is the kind of person who will not only come on time, but will be there early, and she respects that because she does that too. It's what any decent person should do. But, she also knows that Nightwing was up late last night, taking out some shady trafficking at the docs. She woke up to the news coverage, and she can only wonder how much sleep Dick gets.

Considering he came from Gotham, is apparently… and allegedly (she hasn't proven it yet) a superhero that's been in the business since his tweens, he probably doesn't get much.

So how he can look so happy and bright on any Blüdhaven morning is beyond her. God, she wishes that he'd at least have the decency to have eye bags, the shit. She'll have to ask him about his skin care routine because she's still getting acne the moment she even looks at a doughnut and she's seen Dick swallow a whole cake slice before and his skin is still silky smooth. What a bastard.

She needs coffee. And sunglasses. It's too early for Dick's bright and perfect happiness.

"Good morning, Amy!" Dick says, sitting himself down next to her with a coffee in each hand. Starbucks. Not from the office. Curse him for being so thoughtful. Of course he is. He's from Gotham. Anyone from Gotham looks kind and carefree while in Blüdhaven. "I got this for you, your favorite if I remember correctly."

He hands her one of the cups and she glares only slightly his way. Stupid Dick and his stupid coffee.

She takes a sip and immediately almost sinks into her chair. Caramel and creamy. She used to drink straight black but then Grayson came into her life and… well. Brightness, happiness, smiles, waves, puppies, rainbows, yada yada yada, all of that shit nonsense.

"I was thinking we could work on the Trisha Meyers case," Dick continues after she takes a couple more sips. She glances above her cup and lifts an eyebrow.

"That's a cold case, been cold for months, Dick," she says.

Dick shrugs and sets his own coffee down on the desk. She isn't sure what kind he likes, it's different every time she asks.

"With the round up Nightwing did last night, we might have a few leads," he says, casually, as if he wasn't talking about himself. It's frustrating knowing your rookie partner is actually a vigilante, she kind of wants to slap him for putting her through this, even if he doesn't know it yet.

Woah. She's never thought about that. This guy has been working with Batman for most of his life and he doesn't know she knows. Or… maybe he did know but he's pretending not to know that she knows that- she quickly takes another sip of coffee. Bastard.

"It's still cold, there's no evidence that she was taken by traffickers."

"It doesn't hurt to ask, right? Are the perps being held here?"

"Before you two go off on another case," a third voice interrupts and Amy sighs as Dick smiles and looks over towards the captain. "I need a word."

"Mornin', Captain Johnson," Dick greets happily. Amy simply nods her head and looks down at her desk. "What can we do ya for?"

Captain Johnson's lips thin at Dick's greeting but instead of scolding him for being way too chipper on a Blüdhaven morning like Amy is about to do, she forces a smile and looks down at the rookie like she's actually happy to be here.

She's not. No one is. Except Dick apparently.

"Grayson," the captain greets, "you're familiar with Elliot Cancio, correct?"

Amy feels her blood run cold as she watches Dick's eyebrows come together. Of course Dick knows Elliot Cancio, everyone does, he's one of the biggest names in the Cancio family, a group of mafia that has bloomed like poisonous algae in the past year. Elliot is not the leader of the family, but he's up there, up enough that it's generally known by everyone to not mess with him unless you want your whole life destroyed and your body to be found in the flooded district of Blüdhaven a month later.

Why is the captain throwing his name around?

"Yes ma'am," Dick replies and Amy is relieved to hear a bit of caution in his voice. Even Dick knows that the big names in the mafia are off limits, off limits until the mayor's chair is free of corruption and the police department is no longer under their thumb.

"He turned himself in last night," the captain says, casually, her voice deadly calm, so calm that Amy can't help but tense. No mafia member would just turn themselves in… let alone a Cancio. "He wants to confess, but he insists he'll only talk to you."

Bad sign. Back out now, Dick. There's a feeling of dread pooling in her stomach and it's showing only slightly on Dick's face. His expression is open, surprised, but she can see how his eyebrows are sliding closer together, she can see his jaw twitching like he's fighting the urge to grind.

"Really?" Dick asks, and god, Amy can practically see the gears turning in his head. There's a lot of stuff Amy has noticed about him since he showed up, since she put two and two together and realized the not-so-caped crusader was her rookie partner. Knowing who he really is, it's opened doors for her to read her partner better, when before she always thought his surface expressions were the real ones, but in reality there are so many layers, so many she's still figuring them out. But now, now she can read him clearly. He's wondering what the hell is going on.

"Yes, so if you're already familiar with him, we'll save the paper work and have you go right in. We're going to have a couple other rookies follow you to see first hand how confessions work."

"Yeah, because that's normal here," Amy says before she can think of it, "confessions. Even more so from a known mafia member."

"Allegedly," the captain corrects coldly, until she plasters on a fake grin and turns towards Dick. "That is until you get the truth out of him."

Amy doesn't like this. She doesn't like this at all. There's something more in play here. There has to be. The Cancio family is so rooted and comfortable in Blüdhaven, they own half the strip and it's casinos, making easy gains and grabs when Blockbuster was killed (Jesus, once Amy corners Dick she will find out what happened that night). There's no reason any Cancio would feel the need to turn a leaf when the leaf they're sitting on is gold plated.

That, and, by chance, if Elliot really wanted to confess anything, he wouldn't have made it within a mile of the precinct. His grandfather and his henchmen would have made sure of it. The body would be found floating in the harbor if it was found at all.

There's something smelly going on here, and by the looks of it, Dick is at the center.

Jesus Christ and Mary above why did she get stuck with the ultimate good guy from happy town Gotham? Couldn't she have just gotten some kid straight out of Blüdhaven Juvie like everyone else?

But nooooo. She got good guy Dick from happy town Gotham and now she's stuck with him until he gets himself killed. Well, it would be just her luck if she gets brought down with him. Only she would be stuck with a rookie vigilante until death.

However, from the sounds of it, it's not she this time getting dragged down with him… it's other rookies.

Something's going on. Decline Dick. Get out of it. Just this once, save your own skin.

"You can count on me, Cap," Dick says, grinning, even mock saluting. Any evidence of concern or caution one his face is gone, like he's made a decision, and Amy is the first to know that once Dick makes a decision, he's not backing out of it.

Dear lord. Maybe this is what Batman had to deal with. (Jesus Christ, Bruce Wayne??? She never even thought…)

"It's very much appreciated, Dick," the captain says. "Luckily, detectives Hogan, Rodriguez, and Payne are already here, so we can begin right away. Just gather them up if you will, Grayson."

Dick nods and stands up, shooting a smile Amy's way and she can't help but tense even further. Dick knows something, he's willingly walking into a trap. Dick nods at the captain before heading over to one of the rookies listed who's trying to figure out the coffee machine. Amy goes to stand up, wanting to follow him and tell him to forget it just this once, just this once keep his nose out of it, but she's stopped by a hand hand to her shoulder.

"Let Grayson handle this, Rohrbach," the captain says. Amy glares at get and shoves off the hand. The captain's expression has done a 180, her fake smile turning into a sad frown. Amy knows the captain isn't the best of people, sometimes doing corrupt things just because she could instead of being told, but deep down she cares about people. She's more about personal gain than harming others. "For once, let Grayson take all the responsibility."

"What are they going to do to him in there," Amy snarls under her breath, watching past the captain's shoulder to see Dick greet the third rookie and pat another one on the back. They all turn to head towards the interrogation room where something bad is surely waiting for them.

"He's going to question-"

"What is really gonna happen, captain?" She shifts her focus back onto the captain, giving her sharpest glare, and according to Dick she has a pretty mean glare.

The captain seems to fight an internal battle for a moment before she sighs, her shoulders falling. She lowers her voice so it's barely above a whisper. "There's nothing I can do. Grayson has been barking up the wrong trees recently."

"They're going to kill him…"

"No," the captain says, shaking her head, "just… teach a lesson. He'll be fine."

They're going to humiliate him.. injure him… in front of the newbies so they know not to step out of place like Dick has been. Amy has told him time and time again to not pick up the cases the department has worked hard to make cold, that has been made cold because the mafia told them so. Hell, Trisha Meyers is one of those cases and Dick just tried to convince her to open it up.

She takes a breath and pushes past the captain.

"Rohrbach," the captain calls behind her, her voice sounding pathetically worried as if she had no choice but to send Dick to the hands of angry mafia members, "let Dick take responsibility, you don't need to get yourself involved!"

Amy clenches her jaw and rolls up her jacket sleeves. "He's my partner, ma'am," she growls, heading to the hallway where Dick has disappeared a few minutes before, "he's my responsibility."

#jin writes #badthingshappenbingo #nightwing #dick grayson #batman comics #dc comics #dc #whump #amy rohrbach #buddy cops #officer grayson

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twitchyblogged · 5 years

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What are the rough tiers of power in crossthick?

off the top of my head, and mindyou this is VERY rough and doesn’t really account for fine details,this is the basic set of tiers I’ve been working off of. notexactly a full system but it should give you an idea!

example heights given arerelative to the possible character being human-sized; for beings ofnaturally bigger species or are modded to be larger, scale upappropriately!

Note that tiers are additive,and the tiers should indicate maximum output of power. How long thatpower can be MAINTAINED depends on the individual character.

Tier 1 - Puny. Below any realheavy hitters, and instantly defeated by the raw power of anyone in ahigher tier.. Untrained humans and related beings in that approximateweight class fit here, as well as larger species that are notablyfragile. Bust sizes are close to real life sizes, but still notablylarger/thicker than realistically likely (average cup size is F, forexample). this is the tier of the untrained, the small prey, andthose whose narrative role is to be in grave peril!

Example characters: randombackground characters that are there to be rescued, or be gobbled up.Average civilians of unpowered civilizations! This tier is actuallyvery rare, and typically reserved for the weakest of the weak, andalmost never for named characters or factions outside of theCommonwealth.

Tier 2 - Setting Average. Thehigh action, intense scope and cinematic tone of the AU means thatanyone who has at least a bit of power should be around this level:they are capable of low to mid superhuman feats in proportion totheir size: they could throw a car a notable distance, surviveattacks that should insta-kill them, and their magic is at least onpar with an average D&D magic user. However they are fairlylimited compared to other tiers: they might survive that deadlyattack, but they’ll probably lose a limb. Still they areridiculously tough by real life standards, and tend towards a ‘toostubborn/lucky to die’ in terms of survivability. Their lack of rawpower renders them largely helpless against more powerful figures.Boob size is at least as large as their head, and they should atleast be 12 feet tall, and are often maxing out around 20 - 30 feet.

Example characters: Regularcivilians of powered civilizations or ones where superpowers nad modsare reasonably common: most factions (included Endowed Fleet andCobalt Stingers) are the obvious example. The children of the Fleetand Stingers, as well as their unpowered citizens/serfs would alsoqualify. Any character who isn’t so weak as to be insta-beaten isat least here. Powerful mechs and war machines can elevate the punyto these, but their fighting spirit would let them qualifyregardless. Most characters are at least this!

Tier 3 - Starfaring Heroes. Moreexperienced and powerful, able to take on many lesser foes and easilybeat or eat them; 50 feet on average. These beings can take on anarmy of tier 1s, and barring extreme number differences, there is noway the punies can possibly even annoy them, though they might slowthe Starfaring down. At this rate, raw power overcomes realism; theirpower allows them to overcome the Square-Cubed Law and breath inplaces where it logically should be difficult. Their magicalpotential rapidly expands, giving them a vast amount of energy anddestructive power for whatever abilities they have. Likely able totank hits that could destroy a hillside. Boobs at least as big asupper torso.

Example characters: Namedcharacters who feature frequently and haven’t specifically beenlisted as super powerful; most Endowed Fleet Transformers, Centorea,Miia, the other Monster Musume characters. Average Pokemon andDigimon trainers are here, barring fusion/partnering with theirmonster friends. Powerful magic users and members of Houses in theStingers would be here. Allmembers of the TaskForce are at least in this tier!

Tier 4 - Modern Titans. Thebeginning of upper power scaling for most characters, these are theepic heroes who can jump across mountains and toss kaiju around. thisis the point where things start getting ridiculous! These titans, atfull power, ignore all damage from anyone save a large group of Tier3s; punies simply cannot damage them at all, with even an entireplanet’s forces only able to slow them down. Tier 2s must resort toclever means to even make them notice any damage. Their powercontinues to escalate, and they likely can manifest any baggagerequired by their powers directly, and can reshape local landscapewith their strength. Their size ranges into the hundreds of feet,from at least 100 to 500 for the most powerful. Boobs are at least asbig as their whole body from neck to groin, as big as a proportionatebean bag bed.

Example characters: The biggestheavier hitters in the setting generally start here; the Crystal Gemsfrom canon (Pearl, Bismuth, Amethyst, Garnet) would be here, as wouldthe individual Dinobots (Grimlock, Sludge, Snarl, Swoop, Slug). Namedcharacters emphasized frequently by the mun generally are at leastthis, and the more notable members of the Task Force (Harley, Reyesin full Reaper mode, Ranamon at low levels) fit here. Stinger Houseelites, certainly, and most of the dangerous world-eating monstersthe Fleet does battle with. The Neon Genesis Evangelion pilots aswell, provided they use their EVAs. The Avatar bending characterswould be here as well, with Toph, Azula, and Katara at the upper endof the tier.

Tier 5 - Worldshakers. Thesebeings are so powerful that they can easily destroy worlds if theyare so inclined, and at this level, mundane forms of attack areprobably an inconvenience; nuclear weapons are harmless, and they arecompletely immune to environmental hazards, possibly even capable ofbreathing in vacuum. At least as big as entire planets; they can growover four thousand miles across, and can express their power withsuch precision they can perceive and interact human-sized beingsregardless, and fight them directly if desired. Can outright warmreality as far as their impact is concerned; they can smack a planetwithout disturbing a single atom, or otherwise immunize others to theconsequences of their size, as well as substitute raw power forthings like oxygen, food, and so on. They DO need to eat eventually,though. Breasts and other curves at LEAST as big as their entirebodies!

Examples: Any of the big leaguefemale characters at the focus of the AU should atleast be this.Sierra, Wicke, Toriel, Rose Quartz, Terezi and the other Homestuckcharacters (should they fully tap into their divine powers) would sitcomfortably in here. However, they rarely hit this specific powerlevel, implying that they are unused to exercising this power, orrarely encounter a point where it is reasonable to use this. Vriska.Ranamon, at her higher power levels. Harley mightbe in this tier, ather strongest. Eventually, of the Avatar characters, Aang and Korrawill hit this power level. The female AVatars (Yangchen, Kyoshi) areprobably already at this power level but have no particular reason toexpress it.

Tier 6 - Cataclysms That Talk.Now so powerful that the only size capable of expressing their formis progressively larger, this tier covers a wide variety of beings soabsurdly strong that they can destroy entire solar systems with ease,and scaling up. They are unfathomably massive, able to swallow wholesolar systems. Similar power levels of increasingly vast size arecounted in this, ranging from the size described here, to ‘galaxysized’ and increasingly bigger. Because of their immense size andpower, this is only really relevant to beings of similar size; theyare so powerful that only direct divine action will even register tothem, and mundane means are completely meaningless. Fighting themdirectly is futile, unless you have equivalent power! At this point,their breasts and other curves grow so large that the breasts can bedozens of times larger; it can be very difficult to make out theirbodies beneath all the boob-age.

Example characters: the mostpowerful of all characters MIGHT be here, but given the sheer powerat play, very few would qualify in the serious stories; Sierra hasthe potential for this, as does Rose Quartz and Terezi, andTransformer Combiners and Gem Fusions (Volcanicus, Obsidian) couldconceivably hit this, though they are canonically not yet that strongyet. Individual Reapers would qualify. Any true god, provided theyhave an intact legend and have not been forgotten, are at least thispowerful if they are able to to manifest fully on the mortal planes.This is quite rare, though, and usually restricted to the magicalrealms.

Tier 7 - Universal. The ultimatepower tier for all beings on the mortal plane, and assumed to be thehigher end for supernatural entities such as the rulers of elementalplanes, and the stronger gods when acting in the magical realms. Thissize is so big, you fill up an entire universe, with power to match!At this point, the character is a physical god, able to perform anyfeat that falls into their powers, no matter how microscopicallyminor or massive in scale; she can create universes, digesttimelines, and warp reality around herself as she sees fit (if youwant to reason how things can exist around her body, or its impact onthem). Absolutely omnipotent, and barring highly unusual and specificweapons that attack the giant’s weaknesses or overcome magicaldefenses, she is completely immune to any and all damage, save fromanother in her league, or enough foes of Tier 6. Given the powerlevels involved, this would require a multiversal-sized league of 6sto even pose a small annoyance. Finally, they can muster so muchpower, they can induce instant absolute extinction across entireuniverses, or create entire universes at will. Breasts are so now somassive they are hundreds to thousands of times larger than thecharacter, who swims upon a sea of cleavage.

Example characters: Currentlyreserved only for beings such as the gods and rulers of the elementalrealms, but feasible for the big name characters like Sierra, Terezi,Vriska, Rose Quartz, and theoreticallyanyone, in the rightcircumstances and given enough time. The big name gods maintain thispower level primarily within their own realms, where they areeffectively omnipotent regardless. The Nymphs of Rayman as well,particularly within their elemental planes. (It is allowed to send insuggestions for characters being this powerful, but its not canon!)

Tier 8 - The Mythic. This tier’spower is unknown, but possible; it would involve much of the samepower level as Tier 7, but on the scale of macroverses and the entirecosmology, and grow bigger than the multiverse itself. Such immensepower would make the character completely immune to all damage,instantly win any conceivable battle, and be threatened only by abeing of equal power; even Tier 7s would be unable to fight them.There is no understating how absurdly powerful this character wouldbe! You fight them, you lose, and not even the gods would be able tochallenge them. This tier is, however, not currently reached by anyknown character; multiple characters INTEND to achieve this power(Vriska for one, the Endowed Fleet through mass fusion of entireuniverses, and the Good Planes intend to do this with allGood-aligned beings in a time of great crisis), but its sheer andoverwhelming power makes it the ultimate dream for someone who wantslimitless power, and instantly allow the character to fulfill alltheir goals and that of their allies, akin to making the perfectwish. The maximum bust size for this scale is incalculable; thebreasts would defined the edges of entire multiverses!

Example characters: None currently,though Unicron’s plans include killing the multiverse so the deathempowers her to this state, allowing her to recreate it freely; thegoddess Jubileus has a (less genocidal) plan that follows along thesame lines. Assume that this power level is the big pipedream for allambitious characters, at least those who are aware that it ispossible!

#queued #replies #anon replies #crossthicc AU #not TOTALLY sure why you didnt send this to my writing blog but EH #no big deal!#Anonymous

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kyletoom · 6 years

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Let’s make a Gameboy Advance game! Part 1

If you’ve come here, then you’re probably either here for my Gameboy Advance game development or are (at the time of posting) a time traveler who has already seen what else I will be posting in the future and came to the past to see the beginnings of it all play out. Both are completely valid reasons to be here, but first, let’s cover the basics:

About Me:

I’m a hobbyist game developer/college student studying Computer Science. I have an interest in Japanese things and have recently studied abroad there. I am also my University’s Game Development Club president, and I haven’t been mutinied yet, so that’s a good sign. My first game system was the Gameboy Advance (there is no such thing as coincidences, eh?) and my favorite game is Pokemon Emerald.

Why Tumblr?

Simply put, I wanted to share my adventure in game development with more people, and this seemed like a good place to do so. I also have a few friends here already, so might as well join the party. I have a Twitter too (@kyle_toom) but that platform isn’t particularly well suited for long devblogs.

What will you post?

At the moment, I am considering posting about once every two weeks. The reason for this is that I want to deliver quality posts... and am a busy person who can’t spend all day blogging and making games :P As for what I will be posting, for now, I will be talking about making games for the GBA, but in the future you can expect me to talk about another very special mostly-secret(TM) game. I am a programmer by nature, but I want this blog to be accessible to non-programmers as well, so I will leave the technobabble confined to technical note sections of the blog and explain things from a non-programmer’s perspective otherwise.

GBA! GBA!

Alright, alright. Let’s get to it.

Well first things first: how does one get started? There are two main ways to program a GBA, but we will be taking the C route. C is a programming language that is significantly easier to work with than the other option, assembly. Here is a sampling of each to see the visual differences:

Assembly:

Yeah okay, it looks complicated either way, but at least with C you can give things names to make it a lot more readable. Both codes simply fill the screen with a given color, so nothing too fancy. However, thanks to modern compiler technologies we can turn C code directly into a GBA game file (referred to as a ROM). If anyone is wondering where I got the information to make GBA ROMs, you can find the tutorial I used here. Needless to say, though, it is geared at experienced programmers, so be warned.

So let’s make a simple GBA ROM! Well first thing’s first, we have to get an image, “sprite”, onto the screen.

Yay! We got a tiny 8 pixel by 8 pixel sprite onto the screen! That was easy enough right? Yeah, it wasn’t too bad. I made a sprite that uses two alternating colors in a palette and then put it at the coordinates (16, 16). As opposed to what you learned in math class, the coordinate system in the GBA starts with (0,0) at the top left, with the y-axis increasing as you go down. The reason it does this is because of how memory is structured and how the GBA handled scanlines. Yes, scanlines, just like an old CRT screen TV. Normally computers can flash an image onto a screen all at once, but GBAs do it one line at a time. This means that if you change a sprite’s position in between lines, you could end up shearing the image! Thankfully, there is a few millisecond period between finishing a frame and starting the next, so we actually change the sprite’s position in that brief time.

Another thing about images in the GBA is that they are almost always paletted images. This means that instead of using any color under the rainbow, an image has to use a small selection of colors. Technically you can draw to the GBA with its full range of colors, but this is actually too slow to draw at 60 frames per second with. Thanks to the Tools menu in VisualBoy Advance, the emulator that I use, you can actually see the palettes stored in memory:

The first (technically 0th) spot in sprite palettes is actually reserved for transparency, so I started adding colors at the next two spots.

Next, let’s make the square move! Because the GBA runs at 60 fps, it is pretty easy to write up some code to add consistent movement to a sprite.

But a little 8x8 square is pretty boring, huh? Why don’t we add a 16x24 sprite then? Well, things get a little bit tricky with that, actually. We can have 16x8, 16x16, or 16x32 sprites with the GBA, as well as other dimensions that satisfy the expression 8*2^n, but we can’t actually have 16x24 sprites. This leaves us with two options: take up extra space and use a 16x32 sprite to draw a 16x24 sprite, or use two sprites, a 16x16 and 16x8 sprite. I actually like the second option better so I will do that.

Player sprite borrowed from my friends at Monster Crown, an upcoming monster taming game! Woo! You can check out their fully funded Kickstarter here.

So that was no problem, right? Well, this time I have been vastly oversimplifying it. You can’t just take an image’s data and store it in the GBA’s memory directly. If you did, it would look something like this:

Now THAT harkens back to the good ol’ days with Missingno on Pokemon Red and Blue! This is because while normal computers take images row by row, the GBA can only work with 8x8 “tiles”. If you split it up correctly, this is one of the ways you can represent it:

The main thing that you don’t see happening here is that each third of the image is actually split into two 8x8 chunks. The data of the first chunk has to completely finish before you can get to the data of the second one, as opposed to storing the information row by row like normal. This is how the 8x8 tile that is the left side of the character’s head is actually stored:

Because this is a pain in the neck to do by hand, I actually made myself a tool to do it for me. After all, the motto of programming is “if you keep having to do something, make a function or program to do it for you.”

Well anyways, that’s enough for now. Next time I will show you how I add backgrounds and animation to my demo.

If you would like to try the demo out for yourself, here is the GBA ROM file.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!

Programmer time

Okay, time for me to let my programming talk run free! This time, I would like to talk about what we call I/O registers on the GBA.

You know how normally to get something on a computer screen you have to call a function? Yeah nope, not on the GBA or similar systems. Instead of calling a function to get a sprite on the screen, we have to write to a certain memory address. Except not even that! For instance, address 0x6000000 isn’t actually at that location in memory, as the GBA doesn’t even have that much memory to begin with. Rather, the top few bits of the memory address indicate which chip on the GBA to send the data too. While 0x6000000 is byte 0 of VRAM, 0x4000000 is byte 0 of the BIOS.

Anyways, to get a sprite on screen we have to do several things. First, we have to load the sprite’s image data into a certain part of VRAM. And then we have to load the palette into Palette Memory (yes it’s separate). Finally, we have to go into what we call Object Attribute Memory (OAM) to tell the sprite where to go on screen, which palette to use, which properties to have, and if it’s even supposed to draw or not.

Okay, so that’s not too crazy. But of course, every bit of every type of memory has to be utilized! Something that threw me off for a bit was that the y coordinate for a sprite takes up 8 bits of memory... While the x coordinate takes up 9 bits. Lots of bitshifts and bit masks.

The final caveat with memory has to do with how each memory is built into the circuit. Some chips are 16 bit, some are 32 bit. While this generally doesn’t do much, if you try to write a single byte to VRAM then, well, you’ve written two bytes with the same value. It very much enforces that 16 bit value when it comes to VRAM and I believe a few others. I can already tell that working with memory is one of the hardest parts of working with the GBA...but onwards none-the-less!

#gamedev #retrogaming #gameboy #pixel art #devlog #devblog #pixelart

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kurahieiritrjio · 3 years

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World building

Sharing an old project based on an Ice Aged Greece to help focus the concepts here.

Believe it or not coloration is the greatest imagination grabber of all. It focuses the scene to provide the setting. Shape comes second. Lumpy, rounded, square, flat, twisted, gnarled, fuzzy, oval, squat, sloped, angular, and circular all give distinctive impressions of how something looks. How many shapes can you think of that describe rocks, tree limbs, cave mouths, faces and body builds. Animals and plants all have distinctive colors and features of shape that should be combined when you describe this element to give a breathtaking four dimensional feeling kind of setting to promote any written scene.

Here is a worksheet that is helpful to help you figure out your world, Example used is Ice Age Greece. Ignore the Futuristic tags since I devised those for my own worlds. This worksheet was designed for space travel obviously. However this will be helpful in explaining how your world is a character that all other characters must interact with at all times whether they realize it or not. In some cases I will also add notes for you to consider before you fill out that section.

Generalized Outline- World Building Basics: Science Fiction

Astronomical/geological Section:

Planet Name:

Planet Class: Moon, Super Terrestrial, Terrestrial (Earth like)sub-jovian, Jovian (Think Jupiter) Sub-terrestrial (Think Venus or Mars For Size):

If Terrestrial; Is it Like Earth Now, the Past, or Futuristic (very High tech):

How Is This Planet The Same or Different From Our Planet?

Type of Atmosphere?

Geography: Mountains/deserts/plains/woodlands/ Swamp/ Oceans, Etc. Physical Features Include Size/ Gravity/atmosphere/ Moon(S)/Sun Class: (F5 Lower Strength White Through F-9 Lowest- to G Class Yellow (Our Sun is in This Category= G1 to G9 (9 Is Weakest) or K Class (Red Dwarf Close to Death =Plot Added Drama)/ Constellations of Note:

Maps: Get Graph Paper and Build Your Own Maps or Buy Some D&d Type Maps and Then Do Mental Alterations or Chop and Pastes onto Larger Sheets to Create a Map to Help You See Where Your Characters Are Going to and Coming From! (No Matter What Genre You Are Writing it helps you to see the distances the characters cross so they don’t do 100 miles in a week at one time, then two hundred miles in one week somewhere else. Pace and Time Laws Do Not Change, and Therefore You Will Have to Give Space and Time References to Build a Good Story:

What Natural Resources Exist (Such as Mining Resources to Build Technology from If Applicable)? Yours will be stone/animal/flora heavy:

How Are These Resources Utilized by The Dominant Species Specifically?:

Climate: Distinct Seasons; Summer/winter/spring/ Fall/dry/wet/ & Types of Weather Patterns: Ie. Snow, Rain, Arid, Humid, Tropical:

Temperatures Expected Average Highs/Lows During Each Season:

Flora And Fauna Section:

Food Sources: What Do People And Animals on Planet Eat?

Domesticated Animals: Types of Livestock For Work or Food Can Your Planet Support Based Upon Geography And Climate?

What Types of Companion Animals or Pets Does Your World Have, If Any?

Wild Animals:

What Kinds of Animals Does This Planet Support Naturally? How Do The Main People And Animals From The Wilderness Regions Interact? Are Wild Animals Carnivores, Omnivores, or Herbivores, or Some of Each Type? What Is The Food Chain Like? Ex: Herbivores Need Plants in Large Numbers to Eat So The Carnivores Can Eat Them And The Omnivores Eat Both Meat And Plants Aka Like Humans Do:

Are Any of These Wild Life Animals Intelligent Like Your Dominating Species Is Intelligent?

People or Races Section:

Population Size:

World Population:

City Population: (Only Those Needed For Story Line):

Town Populations:

Village Populations:

Specific Race (S) of Note:

In What Ratios? (I. E. 30% White Skin, 15% Black Skin, 12% Blue Skin, 65% Green Skinned)

Culture And Society:

Villages or Cities, Rural or Suburban, Inner-city Versus Outer-city (Think New York With Brooklyn And Other Suburbs For Inner Outer City Concept)

Language(s) Spoken:

Specific Cultural Aspects: (Hunter Gatherer/ Farmer/ Industrialized?)

Holidays, Celebrations, Rites of Passage, Family Traditions?

What Are The Most Important Festivals And Holidays?

How Important to Culture Are These Rituals And Holidays?

Behaviors Frowned Upon?

Behaviors Approved Of?

Word or Phrases Specific (Idioms) to The Region in Question?

Any Known Origins to The Words or Phrases Used by People of This Area?

Significance of Following Cultural Enrichment Forms:

Art:

Music:

Dance:

Entertainment:

Leisure Activities:

Dress/fashions:

What Forms Do These Items Take?

Gender Roles: Which Gender Is Dominant or Is There No Dominance at All?

How Does Society Enforce Those Gender Roles Through Education, Through Expected Conformation of Roles Between The Two Genders?

Family Structure:

Who Raises And Teaches Children?

Who Cooks Meals by Tradition?

Do Extended Families Live Together or Is it Parents And Children Only in Each Dwelling?

Are There Different Types of Food Eaten in Different Social Classes or Unified to Region (Japanese Eat Stir Fry/ Americans Eat Steak And Potatoes as Example)

Social Class: Warrior/spiritual, Wealthy/working/poor/middle Class Etc:

Where Do Each Class of People Live And Do Their Dwellings Vary From Class to Class?

Do Clothing, Personal Items Such as Jewelry or Fashions Vary Based Upon Class And Wealth?

Do Hairstyles And Similar Things Vary by Class And What Types Are There? (Long or Short Hair? Beards or Mustaches Etc Go Here)

Genealogy: Build Bloodline Maps For Visual Bloodline Traits And Such For Future Reference, Even If Not Mentioned in The Story Per Say, They Can Be Great Ways to Add Tension Based Upon Race And Other Background Hints You Don’t Go Into in Depth And They Make For Very Interesting Characters!

Religion(s): )Major Notes) An example: Greece never followed the standard proto religious format of Gods created the world and Universe. They always felt the Universe created the Gods both male and female as mediators between Universe and man, plants, and animals. It was one of the very first cultures to embrace pantheons or multiple Gods belief system. That is the reason it still influences out modern world to this day. Instead of fatalistic driven human sacrifice to appease the Gods, these guys actively sought out more than one God to get the decision they wanted long before the classic era Mythology tomes of their ancient religion was passed into a physical written format. That needs to be shown in action to some extent. Have these people doing rudimentary rituals reminiscent of much later Classic era Ancient Greece religious ceremonies. Read classic Greek Mythology. The titans of earth and sky are the well known distinction that sets ancient Greece apart from the rest of the world.

This provides a very strong tool for making the story line zing if you explore the mythology for the oldest recorded roots, and downgrade the best known Grecian ancient rituals significantly into a more generic shamanic norm. Give clues to the later evolution into Greek specific rituals through your prototype religion which tickles memories of school classes that touched upon the classic era Greek in many schools. Then readers will really stick with your story because they will be desperately trying to figure out where the main is living.)

One God or Many? Name Some And Denote Genders Implied:

Spiritual Philosophies:

Beliefs About Birth, Death, And Afterlife?:

Does Culture Condone Burial, Cremation, or Something Else?:

Why?:

Who Is in Charge of Places of Worship?:

Does This Place Have Magic Practices And If So How Does That Affect The World on a Planetary Wide Basis as Well as Locally?

How Does Religion in General Impact The World?

Will it Have Relevance in The Plot Line of The Story? Or Will it Simply Be a Low Key Element That Helps Define Character Behaviors in Story Line?:

Do Different Races Have Different Gods?

Does Technology And Religion Co-exist Peacefully or Are There Strong Conflicts Between The Two Factions?

(*myths from Religions Alive or Defunct/ History / and Politics Are Always Relevant to the Shaping of a Character’s Behavior and Actions!)

Architecture: Describe the houses and buildings with some interior details so we can see where everything is in relation to living quarters and/or communal get together areas.

EDUCATION SECTION

What Levels of Education Exist on This Planet or in a Specific Area? Give List of Educational Expected Forms Such as Home School to High School and College If Possible.

For my world Education system, who trains under which hall (This Is The Term For Schools Based Upon Highly Specific Technology, Medicine, Textiles, Political, Police, Computers or Space Travel in My Sci-fi Series Which Means Trained to become a Journeyman Level For The Particular Trade... It’s a Guild Based Trade Society Kind as You Can See....If You Choose Hall Style, Is Training Off Planet, or Planet Sponsored (For Home Planets With Resident Halls)

Give List of Halls And What They Train Help Insure Plot Consistencies And Add Details to Plots.

What Forms of Specialized Education Systems Exist If Any for your genre and expectations by readers?

Time Section:

What Calender or Other Methods of Measuring Time Exist? Include Clocks And Time Pieces, or Sun Dials, as Well as Give Some Form of Indication as to Whether or Not This Society Is Aware of Months And Years Passing. (All Technology Using Species Will Have Both Clocks And Calendars For Certain as Will Any Medieval Societies Have at Least Calenders If They Have Oceanic Shipping And Trade With Outside Races And Nations)

Technology Section: (If in your case it is flint napping, and wood work, basket making and similar, you do need to have this down pat to be believable.)

Technology, Science And Jobs Section; Is Technology Eco Friendly or Industrial Pollutants Generating? Large City Complexes With Factories & Refineries, or Smaller Information Dominant Social Structures That Have Pleasant in Home Offices, Smaller Scientific Designated Areas Versus Agriculture Regions.

What Levels of Technology Exist on This World (Horse And Carts/ or Cars And Planes/ Space Ships And Higher?)

Communications Systems Include Mail, Phone or Other Forms of Vocal/written Communications. Are There High Tech Telephones or Is There a Mailing System? How Does it Work For Sending Info Like ‘Help, We’re Being Attacked! Send The Militia!’ How Does it Work If Calling Home to Say, “Hey Mom And Dad I’m Getting Married Next Week, or I Got That Great New Job!”?

Is Technology The Same Planet Wide or Only in Specific Regions?

Is Technology Distributed Based Upon Racial or Economic Factors or Equally Shared?

Is There a Technological Aspect That Will Have Significant Impact Upon The Story?

What Is The Major Forms of Transportation? (Horse And Carts/ or Cars And Planes/ Space Ships?)

How Does Technological Advances Shape These Forms of Transportation?

What Level of Technology For Weapons Where Applicable? (Forges/Assembly Lines/robot Workers as Examples)

Are There Any Weapons Restrictions, And Are Those Restrictions Important to The Plot Line?

How Has The Technology (Or Magic) Helped to Build up or Destroy The Society That Uses It? Is it Still Helping to Build, or Destroy Its Users?

Medical Section:

What Level of Medicine Exists?

Who Does The Healing?

What Technology Is Involved, If Any? (Shamans And Witches And Magic Users Would Use Herbs or Crystals)

If Technologically Advanced What Types of Medical Care Is Available to The People (Hospitals And Insurance Company Concepts Go Here)

What Types of Diseases And Illnesses Are Common?

Are They Curable, or Lethal?

Who Cares For Sick Family Members With Non Lethal Colds?

POLITICS SECTION:

Governmental Questionnaire:

What Kind of Government(s) Exist in This World? (Story Relevance Specific) (Politics Is Always Relevant to Some Degree in Every Story Line!!!)

Does Your Planet Have More Than One Government?

Sovereigns = King Queen, by Birth With Dukes And Lords

Democratically Elected= President And Congress as Example Elder’s Council,

Land Holders Council, Dictatorships, Ogliagarchy, Parliamentary (Limited Sovereign- Must Get Elected Groups Agreement to Do Certain Things) Militant (Yes it Is Different From Tyranny, A.k.a. Dictators), Cooperative (A Lot Like Ogliagarchy, But a Smaller Group Making The Decisions),

How, & Why Did This Government Come About?

Diplomatic Corps) How Many? Any Special Training required?

How Are Relationships Between Countries? Are Any Currently at War With Each Other? If So, Why?

Taxation

How Does it Work? Purchases Taxed Only, Land, Paychecks, Possessions, Birth Fees?

Taxes and Regulations upon Imports & Exports Where Applicable. Community Based Trade Without Taxation Such as a Village Would Be Seen as Normal. Trade? Name Some Imports, Exports (Look at Geography for Natural Resources to Come up with These Items- a Farming Community Will Trade Grain and Food Stuffs with More Industrialized Areas for Things like Forged Metal Goods Etc)

Are There Taxes on Imports and Exports?

Trade Section/

Large Mass Goods or Specialized Goods. Example, Are They Like Corroscant From Star Wars.. Must Import Food And Water to Survive.. Or Like Mon Calamari... Lots of Exports, Lesser Imports Due to Self Sufficiency. Export Raw Materials or Finished, or Refined Goods.

How Are Goods Imported and Exported? (By Ship/truck/train/caravan/plane Etc...)

How Is Local; Trade Carried Out? (Barter May Exist in Local or a Credit Ledger You Pay off When Harvest Time Is Done as Example)

Economics:

What Types of Currency Is Used? (Money And Coins/ Credits or Plastic Cards/ or Implanted Chips/ Gems or Barter Forms (A Chicken For a Bag of Grain Example) Currency? What Are Denominations in Credit/ Money Forms For Your Planetary or Nations? Driads For Coalition as Example. If You Have Major Ports of Call Built Into Your System, You May Have a Star Grouping Form of Currency Such as Example Star Wars Driad, as Well as an Internal Set of Indigenous, or Planetary Specific Currency. Are the Monies Based on Metals, Papers, Fabrics, Jewels and Crystals, Microchips, Cards, or Barter?

Is There More than 1 Monetary System to Be Considered for this Story Line?

LAW SECTION:

In Depth Judicial System: What Rules For Theft or Does This Species Idolize It? Violence (Warrior Species Will Probably Have Ritual Battles And Other Forms of Accepted Violence And Laws That Uphold Forms of Ritualized Violence)are There Laws For or Against Sex Crimes? Or Any Other Form of Judgement Ruled System Such as Divorce, Wills/probate, And Drug Slave Trade Laws or Bans Etc. And Who Enforces... Military <Militant Rule Government System> Private Security Groups (Hired by Government?) Regulation Trained Police or Law Enforcement Agency That Is Government Backed. Embezzlement, Fraud/perjury, Domestic Situations: I.e. Traffic Tickets/ Monetary Disputes., Lawsuits, You Get The Idea.

What Level of Law Enforcement Exists?

Is There a Structured Legal System Such as in America With Lawyers And Courts? Or Is it ‘Caught And Hung Same Day’ Variety (Antiquated/medieval) System?

Who Makes And Upholds The Laws of The Region?

What Are The Laws And The Consequences For Breaking Them?

Basic History:

Any Major Wars? Inter-species to Interplanetary? More Than One Country/nation And Governmental Styles Will Have a Past War History. First Space Voyage, Famous Treaties or Constitutions With Who Signed And Why? These Are Good to Make Obscure References to in Novels That Take Place Elsewhere If Only to Remind The Reader of The Exotic Setting Without Having to Bash Readers Over The Head. Major Holidays, Interplanetary And Galactic? Design a General Interspecies Calender, or National Holiday Calender Depending on The Genre Writing. History World and Local

Wars of Significance?

Treaties of Significance?

Major Discoveries That Have Altered History

Natural Disasters, and Other Events That Have Altered History?

Are These Histories Directly Affecting Your Story Overtly, or Simply Shaping Character Behaviors (Same as Religion)

If Important to Main Story List Some Ways it Will Affect the Characters and Story Line Potentially.

History of Interactions Between Different Societies?

Important Historical Figures That Influence a Culture or Society? In Example: Religions Created By, Governments Designed By? Laws That Make Differences? Metals Found and Forged for First Time? (You Get the Idea Here)

MISC POSSIBILITIES

Military.. Draft Based or Volunteer Corps? Paid a Good Wage/ Poor Wage? Does This World Have Sets of Treaties to Provide Troops in Time of Crisis in Example Coalition Sponsored or Local Provisions Such as Lord Calling on Vassals, or Do They Have Full Time Experienced And Trained Army or Similar Liberation Intentioned Forces? Example : Major Ports And Military Platforms Paid For by Coalition Agreements in Return For Skills Such as Tech Support, Housing For Warriors, Docking/repair Platforms in Space Etc...(Sci Fi Examples)

For Fantasy Only Section:

Magic:

If There Is Magic on this World Is There More than 1 Type of Magic (Type Is Healing or Warrior, or Holy Relic Making, or Getting from One Place to Another in Examples)

How Does Magic Work in Your World? Cast and Get Immediate Results or Cast and Wait, or Perhaps You Need a Power Object to Do Anything at All.

What Are the Limitations of Magic? (Example Magic Might Not Work to Resurrect the Dead, but it Might Be Able to Recreate an Arm If You Lose One in a Fight)

What Magic Taboos Exist? (I.e. Creating a Frankenstein Would Be a Taboo in Many Cultures):

#writing worksheet #writing lessons

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kozchive · 4 years

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Thinking in Layers

This is a sketchbook exercise to help you begin to plan for prints made in layers. What is important here is to play around with drawing solid shapes. Remember, printmaking is primarily based on a binary system: an area is set up to either print, or not print.

With a single layer this idea relies on how you set up your positive and negative space. Remember negative space isn’t just the stuff around your focus... it can be a crucial element of your design. Think of it this way: a composition with an engaged positive space can be good, but one where both the positive and negative space is handled well can be great.

Multi layered prints build on this, using the system to complicate matters. Layering colors is one aspect that makes for more engaging prints, but also each layer gives you a chance to consider what role it will play: does it carry information (a key layer), a pattern or a texture, line or fill? Many times layers are built from numerous approaches to make use of each layer in an effective way. To create the illusion of tone and form and artist can use multiple layers with different textures and hatching to break up the flatness of any individual layer.

With this exercise we’ll start with some basic supplies: a sketchbook with a rough grid of squares and 1-2 colors. I prefer markers for this because they will leave you with a more flat drawing, closer to how you might think about your layers.

Note: it doesn’t matter what colors you use. It is good to pick some that work well together as “light, medium, and dark” and go from there. Remember if you move on to making this a print, you can still pick the exact colors you want for each layer.

Start by drawing a simple image in flat black in the first square.

“Hi”

For the second square, simply invert the image. Note you don’t have to have a perfect copy of your first image, but you should work with the same image throughout.

Now you have an image with a positive and negative version. In the third square, take one of your colors and color the square flat, then draw your image again in black ink on top. Image this as a print: in the first you printed the positive, in the second, the negative, and in the third you started by printing a flat color, then you printed either the positive or negative on top.

See isn’t that simple? You made a mock up for a multi layer print!

Now continue on in each row by changing the elements just a little bit each time.

Starting my next row I adjusted my “flat fill” layer by cutting out a white space.

Then I dropped my flat back on top.

Here is another:

In this one I used the same orange background with the white space, and then I took some pink to make some shadows on the figure.

And here is the final drawing. So this would be a 3 color print. The idea is to start to see how each layer can be separated so they can come back together again in the final image.

For my last row of images I experimented a bit more with how the layers might be drawn.

First I remade the orange background into a series of stripes.

Instead of using the pink as a shadow layer, I used it for my hair.

And the black became a series of black shapes for shoulders, glasses, and eyes. Even as a rough, this gives me a new idea of how I might utilize these layers and colors.

Here is the entire page:

The goal isn’t to come up with a great drawing, but to start to see the potential of how you might break an image into layers. By sticking to a simple image and colors it allows you to play with a number of ideas. Remember, its just a time to play!

#sketchbook

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activebodi-blog · 4 years

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Beginners Guide to creating a Simple Text Based Logo for your website

Every good website or business needs a logo.

A logo is the visual cue that helps make your brand identifiable. It also boosts your image, makes you look professional and helps you to be taken seriously.

Think about every time you drive past the ‘golden arches�� – you know there’s a McDonalds restaurant there simply by seeing their logo!

But most people starting websites or an online brand don’t have a logo or a lot of money to pay for one. You could quite easily head over to a designer and pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars but if you know what you want and it’s basic, why not create a very basic, text-based logo yourself?

Below is an easy beginners guide to create a super basic but clean and tidy logo you can upload onto your website.

It’s dead easy, all you need is a copy of Adobe Photoshop. If you don’t have one, you can pay $10.00 a month for it or even just download the 30 day trial simply for the purpose of creating this logo.

First, here is the video!

I have recorded this process and created a video of it, explaining the process as I go. I do recommend watching the video as you can better see what’s happening.

Please Note: By playing any videos on this page, you hereby consent to the use of YouTube’s Cookies.

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel Here

So let’s get started. Open Photoshop, go to File -> New to create an image. There’s not hard and fast rule, but if you want to make something for both Social Media and a website, pop in 1080 x 1080 pixels with background options ‘transparent’ (as below), then Click ‘Create’.

The transparent setting will produce a checkered background instead of a flattened background. But we do want to create a layer with a color on it that represents the color thew logo will sit on top go on your website. It can be green, black, white or any color – this is here so we can make sure the logo is legible against this color.

So pop up the ‘Layers’ docker (if it isn;t there, head to your top menu to ‘Windows’ -> ‘Layers’. Select the your layer (or create a new on by clicking the square simple with the ‘+’ sign in it. Grab you Paint bucket tool and fill.

In this tutorial, I went with white.

Choose a Font

Before you make any decisions, just remember – this is a logo, so the text must be clear, legible and match the theme of your branding (your industry, colors, etc). If you run a website about antiques, don’t find a futuristic font that looks like it belongs on Star Trek or vice versa.

First of all, you can find a font within Photoshop by typing out your business name, and scrolling through the fonts. So click text tool on the left tool bar, click into your document and start typing (as above). Then click on the font drop down menu and scroll through until you find a font you like (below).

Of course, you may not find a font you like, so you’ll have to do a bit of a search online.

Here’s a few free websites you can use:

Google Fonts (these can be used on your website also, look out for a how to post soon!)

Font Squirrel

Da Font

The League of Movable Type

Font Fabric

Lost Type

Of course if you want a bigger selection, you can buy fonts from Fonts.com.

Just check that the licensing for the fonts you find are for commercial use.

A lot of these websites you can actually type in custom text and it will show you all of the fonts available using that string of text. That way you can preview the font before downloading it:

Once you’ve found a font and downloaded it, you’ll need to install the font (Da Font has some instructions here but if you use PC simply unzip the fonts, highlight them and click ‘install’) and go back into Photoshop and choose it from your font drop down (as described earlier). You can simply experiment, choose a font and see how it looks, then choose another – it’s that simple.

Rearrange & StyleThings a Bit

But a logo doesn’t just stop at a line of text, there’s many different ways you can arrange the text or words in general to maximize the effect. For example, I’ll take the words in “Primal Food” and split it onto two separate layers. You can do this by duplicating the layer (drag the layer in the square ‘+’ icon in the layer docker. Simply removing the ‘Food Co.’ portion from one of the text boxes, then selecting the other and removing the other text (Primal), you’ll have created 2 text layers.

You then have two separate text layers you can control. Maybe you want to change the color, adjust the letter spacing, or anything to get the effect you’re after – simply highlight (using the text tool) the text you want to change and turn on the character styling box on the right

You can have a bit of a play with the settings on the character box, they are pretty straight forward. Up the top you can choose the font name and style, below it are the options for size, spacing, color, height etc. Have a play, experiment and you’ll quickly learn what each button does to the text you have selected.

After you’ve got the text the way you want it, you can then simply move things around and put them where you want.

Start to move things around by clicking on the text you wish to edit, using the text tool mentioned several times above. Then simply go to the above drop down menu ‘Edit’ -> ‘Free Transform’. As below, you’ll see a box which enables you to resize by grabbing any of the small boxes attached to the border, move by simply clicking and dragging within the box or rotate by clicking and dragging outside of the box.

Simply move and arrange the text layers in to the position and size you want. You can change the text color and background color (grab paint bucket mentioned earlier, fill in the bottom color layer with the color of your choice).

I change the layout, swapped some colors and went from there. I also chose to change the font on the word ‘Primal’

If you want to, you can add a Drop Shadow (on your layers window, right click on the text layer and head to ‘Blending Options’ – there’s a Drop Shadow section down the left you can tick and adjust by clicking the word ‘Drop Shadow’. Try the other areas if you want to explore the effects for yourself.

Once you’re happy you should have something similar to this (but your own design)

Once you’re happy, we’ll save this logo for two purposes – a social media ID photo and website navigation.

Go to ‘File’ -> ‘Save for Web & Devices’ and choose from the drop down choose JPG and adjust the quality slide until you thin kit looks clear without being a huge file (more then 120kb or so for a website).

That’s the social media image sorted. Le’s look at a logo for your website.

You will need to remove the background, so go to your layers docker, click the eye symbol to the left of the layer with the background color. Then pick your square selection tool on your left toolbar, select the area you to crop to.

The in you rtop menu go to ‘Image’ -> ‘Crop.

The save for web again! this time choose a PNG 24 with transparency turned on.

The Logo is Ready!

Now you can go ahead upload your PNG to your theme’s logo or header image area and pick the JPG for social media. You’re done! Be sure to save the file as a PSD (File -> Save As) for future editing and updates.

That wasn’t hard was it? Pretty easy and a great start to learning your way around Photoshop.

Now you’ve got a simple text based logo design! It’s not going to win any awards but it’s a good starting point for your website. I do recommend getting a professional eventually if you intend for this website to become an income generating business, but this works as a great design to get things moving and can help give your website a more professional image.

I hope that is of some use to you, if you have an response or want to see more please leave a comment below – and let me know what you want to see!

Thanks for reading!

source https://creatorimpact.com/beginner-guide-create-simple-text-based-logo-website/

#blogging #internet marketing #social media

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4evafitstore · 4 years

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Awosome Airpods Pro with active noise canceling

Fit's Perfectly

Advanced Engineering

Apple H1 Chip

Noise Cancellation

enhanced sound system #eael-img-accordion-d0a3dd4 a:hover { flex: 3; } #eael-img-accordion-d0a3dd4 a:hover .overlay-inner * { opacity: 1; visibility: visible; transform: none; transition: all .3s .3s; }

Airpods Pro: Best Active Noise Canceling Earbuds

Well known brand Apple released their new Airpods Pro with active noise canceling feature, which let's you enjoy music in a crowded place or streets. Apple are not alone in this anymore, as if now many other well known brands producing earbuds with active noise cancellation and they are also very good if not better. But as always apple successfully maintains their ability to standout from others. Standard sound quality with very comfortable fit in your ear and easy to operate. Look wise Apple Airpods Pros are 2nd to none.

Check Out Latest Prices

Airpods Pro Amazon Airpods Pro Walmart Airpods Pro BestBuy Apple Airpods Pro Ear Tips Now the ear tip providing the seal is quite unique here and I never talked about this with other earphones since it's quite standards. Pretty born here as a silicone but the airpad pros has a piece of plastic on the end of the ear tip that literally snaps into the earphones you can hear. You can actually feel it sometimes.

Airpods Pro Ear Tips

FEATURES

New in-ear design Silicone tips in 3 sizes Active noise cancellation technology IPX4 water and sweat resistance H1 chip with "Hey Siri" support Super easy to swap out and it is secure. Now the more important part. I don't know how Apple does this but these are one of the least intrusive, very comfortable designs that I've tested and I won't give credit to the Samsung Galaxy buds. Those are amazing to wear and gave me a very similar feeling to these but compared to the market the Samsung Galaxy buds and the airpods pros are super light. They don't Jam into my ear. The best way I can describe it if they both feel like an airy. Now I will admit though and this is just my personal opinion here. I've never been a fan of the airpods dangling from my ears. These are technically a little bit shorter. The airpods pros fit and contours to my ears ridiculously well like some leather gloves from the 90s or some flight path. Please don't fill out the ball of my ear. They don't feel like the ear tips are solely keeping the earphones in place. It just feels like they're dangling but oddly enough they are very stable.

Airpods Pro Great For Workout & Running

So, this brings me to my test how did it stay in the ears for runs and workouts in shirt. I got to give credit here. These stay in ridiculously well again runs crazy movements and also jumping up and down here that's a big one. I've never had to push my earphones back into my ear to want to recreate the seal and second to push them back in because there they feel like they're about to fall out or they have shifted.

IP4 protections I don't know how they do it but the design just simply works. As a side note these are IP4 rated which means they are water resistant against splashes. They can't be sprayed with a jet of water and surely, they can't be submerged other competitors. Some competitors out there are actually a little bit better with an IP7 certification. You can drop them to a puddle of water, they'll be fine. But with these here the Apple airpods pros, I splash water on these and they're still working fine today.

Airpods Pro Force Sensors & Functionality

So, folks let's get a closer look here at the functions. It's very simple here on each earphone the stem has a very subtle area for you to press it's called the force sensor. One squeeze to pause and play to skip a track, three to go back and if you hold it down you can actually hear an audio prompt indicating to switch from transparency mode to active noise cancelling and vice versa the force sensor is somewhat customizable as you guys can see on image here. But I hate this here when companies do this for truly wireless earphones. There should be vibe adjustment features or buttons here. You don't have it; you cannot increase or decrease by right on the earphones and when I'm at the gym or when I'm running a song or video can be louder in vibe than my previous track and I'd need to lower it. I don't want to pull out my phone.

Music Play Or Pause, Press Once To Receive The Incoming Calls, Press Once Skip Forward On A Track, Press Twice Skip Back On A track, Press 3 Times Press and hold to switch between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode

Airpods Pro Hey Siri

Now to be fair I do have Siri which I can tell her to lower or raise volume. It's objective, you want to talk to yourself in public but again just putting it out there but speak in a Serie. They tested this with my iPhone 10 and the other side of my apartment over here seeing if I can call up Siri from the airpods pros themselves and it did work. I don't need the phone necessarily nearby as long as there's still a connection it's fine. With Android Google assistant didn't seem to be activated through the earphones at all which was a total bummer.

Airpods Pro Bluetooth Range

Now speaking of being on the other side of my apartment here let's talk about signal strength and such Bluetooth 5.0 is featured testing distance with my iPhone 10 and Android pixel 4xl. Both phones were able to achieve a hundred percent coverage in my 1,100 square foot apartment and that's what this signal going through several walls is excellent. This was also the same with video on both devices. There were zero syncing delays on both Apple and Android devices making video, watching absolutely lag free. Now parent wise indeed these can be paired with multiple devices and then the connection itself can be switched seamlessly having a signal appeared on my Android at first and then tapping on the iPhone. Let's say my laptop that's not what have you the connection simply just jumps over. So, overall, I never had Bluetooth issues and the connection has always remained inconsistent.

Apple Airpods Pro Battery Life + Case Charge

Now regarding battery life, Apple is claiming up to five hours per use. Being upfront here this was the average for most truly wireless earphones but now it's actually on the low end with many new competitors and even budget brands offering seven, eight- and nine-hours' worth of battery life granted.

They don't offer active noise-cancelling but the closest competitor at the moment it's the sony WF 1000 x m3. Now when I did my battery test at 55 zero here 50 percent vine with ANZ on the sony laugh in 6 hours and 23 minutes doing the same exact test and the same audio playlist. The airpods pros got six hours even down to the minute actually on a more positive note with both competitors and their respective charging cases both earphones can actually achieve up to 24 hours of total playback.

Quick charging is available on the airpods pros with 15 minutes in the case. It'd given you back three hours of listening time. Sony claims ten minutes in their case and it would get you an hour back that's it.

Now regarding Apple's charging case it's smooth, small and easy to handle. A bit sterile looking and this is getting a lot of attraction right now. It's wireless charging places on a wireless charging pad then off it goes all right.

Apple Airpods Pro Audio Quality

Let's jump into the audio side of things. First up with transparency mode, this works great and I wish this was readily available on the power beats Pro. When activating this the microphones and the earphones pumped in your environment for safety and awareness. This sounds very natural. It doesn't sound amplified and the airpods pros don't sound artificial as well. It's almost as though I'm not wearing anything at all during my time testing. Now I did confirm you don't need an iPhone for this I connected this to my android phone and using that force sensor you can actually turn it on and off by again holding it down for a second.

Apple Airpods Pro Active Noise Canceling

There's active noise-cancelling now this is quite interesting here. The sony WFT 1000 XM threes also included active noise canceling. The ANC was present but because of the passive noise isolation and then music playing the active noise canceling feature wasn't really the highlight. It didn't seem to be as effective as their sony WH 1000 headphones. Not apples to apples but again just for reference there of how different they were with the airpods pros. These canceled out more voices and much more ambient air using the ANC and the airpods was more noticeable especially when listening to podcasts videos, Netflix, YouTube etc. Where there might not be a cast of beat but instead there's a lot of dialogue. Active noise cancelling doesn't cancel out everything though but for what the airpods pros does its Shaklee does a great job. This muffles a lot of coffee shops and restaurant noses. This also cancels out pretty much all air conditioners fans that have going on here and light breezes. All remaining noises that's able to penetrate through this does sound reduce a simple tapping and scratching on the desk. Proved to be less versus the other truly wireless earphones I've tested so far. There's no hissing there's no white noise and I don't feel any cabin air pressure feeling. When ANC is activating, it's just really damn good I would highly recommend anyone to try them to get that experience Read about 12 best noise canceling earbuds (2020)

Apple Airpods Pro Call Test & Transparency Mode

It’s all about experiences so folks let's get into the phone call test. Testing phone calls I do have the capability of turning on transparency modes. Like it's here my surroundings here, what is going on in the background and of course I do have active noise-cancelling available as well. It does play phone calls through both ear phones and clearer as well.

How good is the bass on AirPods pro?

Let’s talk about the audio & bass. First up these can get loud at 65 to 70 percent BOM is love for me and that's where I usually have it at when I want to get lost in my music bass. The airpods pros are definitely better than the previous airpods because of its seal when compared to the competitors. Sennheiser provides higher fidelity and depth, jaybird offers bass boosted punchy bass. Here the sony WF 1000 XM 3 is slightly deeper and more resonating than the airpods pros. Read about Jaybird X4 sports earbuds The Powerbeats pro hits the deepest here so with that being said the air pad pros bass performance it sounded good without distortion. Don't get me wrong but for me personally i wish it was just a little bit deeper for you at home. You might prefer that cleaner overall in the middle-of-the-road bass response. where it's not flat but not boo me are there hopefully that gives you kind of a range right. There the mid-range itself is clean. The mid-range is where you hear a lot of instruments and vocal work. That's what the human ear hears and its distortion free. It's not pushed forward or bright yet, not underwhelming either. It's clearer than the Powerbeats Pros and when I mean clean, it doesn't sound either suppressed or pushed too far forward. It's Eric transparent and the vocals cut through right into your ears. You can say and even compared to the Sony WF 1000 XM threes. The clarity the vocals are slightly a little bit better than airpods pros than the Sony's but again the trade-off not so deep bass. Now the mid-range was lacking a bit of sound-stage in my opinion. I do interpret audio direction really well I can sense some music in the forefront to the side of me and slightly above and behind me but the airiness and the width of audio interpretation just wasn't big. The sound-stage is really important here as for the high frequencies there's sound that is basically rolled off preventing musical notes like snare taps and cymbal crashes and music to not Sparkle or hit that high level to make this music pop. I honestly believe that Apple plays it super safe and provides an audio signature that's so well rounded and so clean then I think people that picks this up. Read about Powerbeats Pro true bass earbuds

Does AirPods pro sound's better?

It'll sound good to them but those who are looking for that uniqueness that makes an audio brand spin out, I don't see it in Airpods Pro. On the audio side the audio doesn't sound full or emotional. The lack of soundstage didn't transport me to another place or the lack of fidelity didn't hit that level of finesse where I was saying wow damn holy cow. Airpods Pro are really freaking good when I was testing these and I'm not knocking the air pod pros but to give them proper credit here, they do sound good it's what a quality sound signature should be. Distortion free clear consistent but I've had competitors with audio signatures that's as cheesy as it sounds. I nod my head to the music more often than these so just on the audio alone, I still highly recommend them. Don't get me wrong but I believe more so as a great audio experience for everyday use, the commute maybe at work those kinds of experiences. If you're looking for something that would make you fall in love with your music again. Airpods Pro Amazon

Overall

The Airpods Pro kills it on form and function. These are crazy comfortable; they magically stay in the ear really well. The Bluetooth connection is phenomenal and through my testing this has the best tech that reduces outside noises on the market for truly wild earphone. The battery life, the lack of vine controls and the audio it's not bad and I want to emphasize that but it could be better though. These are still surely worth a purchase and I will admit the price is justified if you're a priority though is a and C and you want some everyday buds for work and your commute. Airpods Pros are ridiculously intuitive to use and at the end of day it's your call. let me know what you guys think down below I'm honestly just giving credit where credit is due and even if you own these earphones, I want to hear your opinions below. Read the full article

#airpodspro #Apple #appleairpodspro #noisecancelingearbuds #review #wirelessearbuds

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sweeterthanmydreams · 7 years

Photo

I made a new banner for my artblog sweeterthanmysketches! It ends up a little stretched on some of the previews, but like... if you wanna see the art in better clarity you should probably just find it on the blog. Which brings me to the next point:

The Great Freebie Scavenger Hunt!

Complete the scavenger hunt to earn a free colored full body, one character (or something of similar compositional effort) commission. Rules are simple, details are below.

This scavenger hunt works by filling out as much of the sheet as possible. Whoever fills out more gets the grand prize. Simply copy the above image into Paint, Pixlr.com (in this case, use Copy Image Location and Open From URL), or your favorite photo editing program and write/type your answers on top. There are two answers to be given for every square-- Artwork and Character-- for a total of 12 points. One entry per person. When you’re finished, Submit it to this blog no later than September the 25th. All related posts with be tagged #TaffyHunt so you can check there for extensions and corrections. [The bottom has tips on how to submit as text instead of as an image]

Artwork: The name of the piece.

For clarity, put the name in quotes. You may abbreviate the name of the piece as much as you need to, as long as it’s still clear what you’re talking about. When posting art, I put the title in bold, so any bolded line of text in an art post can be assumed to be a title for it. No, my character blog does not count as a source for the artwork, though some of it is reposted there.

Character: The name of the character.

Each image is of a specific character with a name! First name or nickname is all you need to put to get your 1 point per square. Don’t worry about getting a character’s name in the correct order or special characters; for example, Hazumi Lóa vs Hazumi Loa vs Loa Hazumi. And yes, it is possible for a character to appear twice.

Hints & Bonus Points: All the resources you need to complete this scavenger hunt are either in this post, or linked to by this post. Have fun and don’t be afraid to submit an incomplete sheet! This isn’t the kind of serious thing where I’m going to raise a fuss if you need to send in an updated answer sheet later. Note that the image with the light green background (Row 2, Image 4) will have a white one when you find it.

You can get one extra point by sending me a message telling me you’re planning to participate.

You can get an extra 1/4 point per character by including the character’s full name instead of their nickname. This does not apply to: The third image on row one, the fourth image on row two, the second image on row three, or the third image on row three. So in other words: gray skinned girl, black lines on mint background, sketchy pastels, and the Wooper.

Text Only Submission: If you can’t submit as an Image

List them by Row, going across row one first, then row two, then row three. So you should have a column of blanks to fill that starts like this:

Row 1 Image 1:

Row 1 Image 2:

Row 1 Image 3:

[etc.]

Make sure you put the title of the piece in quotes, and the name of the character in plain text.

Feel free to message me with any issues, concerns, and questions. After the deadline hits, the winner will be chosen by highest number of points. In the case of a tie, the winner will be chosen from the tied entries by raffle. In the case that lower tier prizes are added, each person is only eligible for one prize each.

#artists on tumblr #TaffyHunt #digital art #art #reblogs are fine btw #this is an open challenge #likes and reblogs don't get points #and you don't have to follow to win #but like...#if you like my artblog please consider giving it a follow!#It's a slow update blog #so don't worry about me swamping you.

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