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ticklishfiend · 3 years

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Pure Gold (My Hero Academia)

Lee!Mina / Ler!Bakugou ⚠️PLATONIC⚠️

A/N : haven’t posted a fic in a while cause my laptop broke but hey!! i fixed it!! so here we go. i wanna make a sequel to this with the sleepover mentioned at the end, so if ur interested or have any ideas, lemme know!!

Summary: Mina catches Bakugou in a very incriminating circumstance, and of course, records it (cause how could she not). Unfortunately for her, Bakugou doesn’t think this is as funny as she thinks it is, but decides to make her laugh with his own methods anyways.

Word Count: 3084

REBLOGS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED, MWAH <33 xoxo

. . .

Mina rolled onto her right side for what had to be the millionth time tonight, nothing ever feeling comfortable enough to just loll her into the right sleepy headspace she needed to get some goddamn shuteye. She’s never really had many problems with falling asleep before, so why tonight she had to be burdened with this temporary insomnia was beyond her.

Mina threw her arm out behind her back towards her bedside table, fingers fumbling around for her phone before finding it connected to the charger. Detaching it from it’s plug, she brought it towards her, face flinching at the sudden brightness before her eyes adjusted to the light. She groaned as she scanned over the time, 1:02AM, far later than she would typically still be awake. Sure, it was Friday so she didn’t have any classes to worry about the next day, but it was still frustrating to get off her normal sleeping schedule so suddenly and for seemingly no reason. She had to fix it soon before she pulled an accidental all-nighter.

Whining and groaning the whole way, Mina threw her legs out over the side of her bed, dangling her feet for a moment before slipping them into her cute fuzzy panda slippers she kept on her bedside. The girl figured her best bet for now would be to drink one of the soothing teas that Momo kept lying around in the kitchen for anyone to use. She dragged herself towards the door, allowing her arms to stretch over her head with a yawn before grabbing at the cold metal door handle and slowly creaking open the entrance.

She was careful to be quiet, turning the handle before shutting the door as to avoid any unnecessary clicks. She’d be damned if she made any of her light-sleeper classmates go through the same sleepless night she was currently going through by waking them up so late in the night. She walked heel to toe through the carpeted hallway, finding her way to the elevator finally and breathing a sigh of relief as the doors closed without a dinging sound.

After what felt like a treacherous journey, she finally made it to the corner that would lead her to both the kitchen and common area. But, before she turned the corner, she saw a light illuminating off the walls coming from the commons. Her brow quirked, not expecting any type of light to be shining from the area.

No worries, she thought. If someone accidentally left a light on I’ll just turn it off real quick so no one gets in trouble, easy peasy! She finally made it around the corner when it finally dawned on her where the light source was coming from in the first place; the TV.

Her eyes met the muted TV that seemed to be playing a...romance anime? The subtitles were on and the volume was completely turned off, so whoever had been watching it was obviously aware of how late it was and was trying to stay quiet for the rest of the class like Mina had been.

The pink girl watched the screen for a moment, reading the subtitles to find that one of the characters had apparently just confessed their love to someone else in some heroic fashion. It was super cute, and she’ll definitely have to look up whatever this is so she can watch it in her own time. Before she could make her way towards the action to turn the TV off, however, she heard...is that…?

...sniffles?

She paused, her ears perking up at the sound just in case she had imagined it. Then, no more than 3 seconds later, she heard it again. Sniffles, this time accompanied by a little groan of what sounded like endearment. This is so cute, she thought to herself, bringing her hand to her mouth to cover up any giggles that dared to escape. Someone’s crying about a romance anime right now, and it definitely sounded like one of the boys too! There’s no way I can’t find out who this is.

As quietly and sneakily as the acidic girl possibly could, she made her way towards the back of the couch, crouching down just slightly as to not alert them with her shadow. She finally allowed her eyes to peer just above the top of the cushion aaaand…

…

BAKUGOU?!

Mina could hardly believe what she was seeing. Was she complaining? Absolutely not, this was pure gold, it was just surprising! THE Bakugou Katsuki, curled up on the corner of the couch swaddled in a fluffy All Might blanket, tears pooling at the corners of his eyes with an actual smile on his face. He stuffed his mouth with popcorn before wiping his tears with the corner of his printed blanket, muffling a small “Finally,” into the fabric.

There was no chance in hell Mina was going to miss this golden opportunity.

Like a spy, Mina quickly but quietly snatched her phone from the pocket of her sleep shorts, opening the camera before pressing record. She zoomed in on the romantic scene displayed on the screen, before slowly panning down to the still sniffling Bakugou, the light from the TV bright but his smile even brighter. She hit the off button before stuffing the phone back in her pocket with a grin, quietly making her way towards the kitchen.

She went to take a mug out of one of the top cabinets, purposefully shutting it louder than she needed to to alert the blonde on the sofa. He jumped at the noise, whipping his head around towards the girl before throwing his arm towards the coffee table to snatch the remote and turn the TV off with force.

“Why the fuck are you in here, Pinky?!!” Bakugou whisper-shouted from across the room, and though the light from the TV was now gone, Mina could just tell he had to be blushing from embarrassment. She grinned widely.

“Oh, y’know, couldn’t sleep,” She smirked, not looking Bakugou’s direction while filling her kettle with tap water. “I’m guessing the romantic buildup had to be pretty intense to make THE Lord Explosion Murder shed a few tears, huh?”

Bakugou froze before his body started to shake with anger, launching himself over the back of the couch and lunging towards Mina, grabbing her by the shoulders and digging his fingers into the flesh aggressively. He was seething, his jaw clenched and eyes white with anger, and though Mina was a little shaken up when he initially grabbed her, she couldn’t help but giggle when remembering what she had just seen moments ago.

“I WILL KILL YOU, YOU ALIEN FUCK!” He almost-shouted, and it was obvious he was still cautious of waking anyone up so Mina wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about what she had witnessed. “You keep this shit to yourself, got it?! Cause I’m not scared to fucking kill you!”

“Oh I know that, Blasty,” she smiled up at him, unable to suppress another giggle. “It’s too bad I got your little cry-sesh on camera then, huh?”

Bakugou’s face fell, his eyes wide before he squeezed even tighter into her shoulders. “You...you WHAT?!?!” Mina had meant to let out another laugh at his expense, but it turned into a yelp as she was aggressively hoisted up over his shoulder.

Mina kicked and laughed, hitting at his back to no avail as he stomped towards the couch and unceremoniously threw her down onto it, pinning her against the cushions, her hands now laying flat underneath his knees that were thrown over her waist.

“Woah, take me out to dinner first!” Mina’s eyes were wide as she let out a nervous chuckle. She tugged at her hands, but they weren’t going anywhere under his weight. She even tried kicking a little against the cushion, but yet again, nothing.

“Not into you like that, Pinky,” He aggressively pointed towards her face, the angry scowl never leaving his now wrinkled expression. “And you’re gonna delete that fucking video, got it?!”

“Are you kidding me?! I could never delete that! It’s gold and you know it!” Mina exasperated, shocked he could even consider that a possibility.

“NO IT’S FUCKING NOT!” He whisper-shouted into her face, moving his hand even closer to her face until it booped her nose, her eyes crossing down to look at it. “Delete it, Horns...or I’ll fucking make you.”

Mina uncrossed her eyes and looked up to Bakugou, whose face remained angry and undeterred. She sighed, “Ok, first of all, they’re not horns; they’re antennas. Secondly, you were too cute in the video to delete it! I’m sorry, Baku, but I can’t do that.”

Bakugou just grunted, moving both of his hands down now to grip at her waist, making her eyes widen with a sudden knowing fear. “I am NOT cute, and you WILL delete that fucking video, Pink-Fuck! You always give in to this shit,” Bakugou couldn’t help the smirk that rose on his face as he squeezed her sides once, making her jump and yelp.

“Nohoho! Bakugou, please, not thihis!” Mina couldn’t help the giggles that left her lips even if he hadn’t properly done anything yet. It was just the knowing of what was to come that caused nervous laughter to bubble from her chest and into both their ears.

“It doesn’t have to be this way, moron,” Bakugou said, eyeing down at her waist before noticing the phone-sized bulge in her shorts pocket. He smirked, reaching down and pulling it from its hiding spot. He looked at the screen before huffing, turning it to face her eyes. “Gimme the code. Now.”

“No way! You’ll just delete the video!” Mina said before yelping with another jerk as he pinched at her side again. “Dohon’t!” He sat her phone down on the arm of the couch before wiggling both his hands over her belly, the sight alone making her shriek and let out a flow of giggles.

“You’re gonna wanna give me that code, loser,” Bakugou grinned, jerking his hands down towards her stomach without touching her and bringing them back up, making Mina jerk aggressively with another yelp. “I haven’t even touched you yet and you’re already freaking out! This is gonna fucking suck for you if you don’t let me delete that damn video!”

Mina just pursed her mouth shut tightly, shaking her head “no” while letting little huffs of suppressed laughs escape from her nose. Bakugou just sighed, raising his wiggling fingers just slightly higher before a wide, sadistic grin cemented itself to his face.

“You asked for this.”

Before she had time to retaliate, wiggling fingers came down to pinch up her sides and into the dips of her ribs, sending her into a cackling fit. She kicked uselessly from behind him, tugging at her trapped hands to no avail.

Bakugou used his right hand to dig his fingertips into the bottom of her ribs, while skittering his other nails over her quivering belly. She sucked her stomach in as much as possible, but with each laugh it was brought back up, practically tickling itself on his fingers.

“Bakugohohou! Plehehease! Nohoho!” She squealed, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as he continued his relentless but playful torture.

“No what?” the blonde teased, using his index and middle fingers to vibrate into her tummy. She let out a shriek at that, jerking violently while trying to smush her face into the cushion beside her. “Ohoho, that bad, huh? Pretty effective method if I do say so myself,” Bakugou then used his two fingers on each hand to vibrate into her lower ribs, a spot he knows all too well is absolutely unforgiving. She screamed at this, shaking her head side to side as laughs poured from her gut. “I always get what I want, Pinky, and this isn’t gonna be any fucking different.”

Mina couldn’t help the loud shrieks and squeals that left her body, tossing herself from side to side with no effect whatsoever. “GAHAHAHA! Plehehease! It tickles too muhuhuch!”

“Not my fucking problem,” Bakugou went back to his squeezing method from before, this time bringing one hand down to pinch at her hip. Mina jolted at the touch, screaming and cackling at his relentless squeezing. “The code, moron, lest you forget about what got you here in the first place.”

“Nehehever! I cahahan’t!” she laughed before gasping in a breath of air as his hands let go of her body for a moment. She hesitantly opened one of her eyes to look at her tormentor, who was yet again wiggling his fingers over her tummy. She shut her eyes again tight at the sight, a new bout of giggles leaving her from anticipation. “Nohoho!”

“You can never handle being teased, can ya?” Bakugou grinned, before bringing both his hands back down to lift up her nightshirt up to her bottom ribs.

“No! No no no! Please! Bakugou, let’s talk about this!” Mina spluttered out nervously, opening her eyes to see him just ghosting his fingers over her still quivering belly. She tossed her head back with a giggly whine, kicking her feet behind him like a child in a tantrum.

“Nope. You had your damn chance, and you blew it,” He smirked devilishly, bringing his fingers down to gently skitter over her now bare belly, dissolving her into a fit of high-pitched giggles. “Now you’re gonna get-” BZZZ! BZZZ!

Bakugou paused his previously wiggling fingers, his head whipping up and eyes making contact with the now buzzing phone resting on the arm of the couch. He groaned when he read who was calling on Mina’s FaceTime, resting one hand on his knee while reaching out and swiping the phone from it’s resting spot (though his knees were still pressed firmly against Mina’s trapped hands- he hadn’t yet planned on stopping her torment.)

Bakugou pressed the bright green button on the screen and stared blankly at the dark screen as Denki answered. The boy had obviously been trying to sleep, evident by the fact no lights were on in his room.

“Bakugou?” The boy asked groggily on the other end, and even though Bakugou couldn’t technically see his face, he knew he had to have the dumbest expression printed all over it.

“Yes, what the hell do you want Pikachu?” Bakugou growled at the screen.

“Can you tell Mina to quit screaming? I could tell it’s her, her laughs are always the same; just so fuckin’ loud,” Denki chuckled, and Bakugou could hear his sheets shuffling. “What’s got her laughing so hard anyway? You aren’t exactly the funniest person on the planet.”

“I’M FUCKING HILARIOUS YOU DUNCE!” Bakugou shouted angrily into the phone, gripping it tightly as Mina just prayed he wouldn’t crush it with his pure fiery rage. “And that’s none of your fucking buisness!” Bakugou paused, looking down at Mina who had a sheepish grin on her face. He sighed. “She’ll be quiet now. Just go to sleep so you aren’t dumber tomorrow than you usually are,” Bakugou huffed, hanging up without allowing the blonde on the other end to get any word in.

The explosive teen threw Mina’s phone down beside her on the couch, hoisting himself off her with a scowl on his face and a roughness to his movements. Mina couldn’t help but feel a little guilty as he jerked his blanket out from under the girl aggressively and began making his way away from the couch. She quickly sat up and snatched his wrist, pulling him back slightly and making the boy grunt, looking back at her with tense brows.

“How about a compromise?” She proposed, a small grin on her face. He looked at her through squinted eyes for a moment, questioning her request. Finally, he rolled his eyes with a huff.

“Hit me with it,” he didn’t look at her in the eyes, but she celebrated internally at the fact he wasn’t too visibly angry at her.

“I’ve got a sleepover tomorrow with all the girls, and we’ve been dying for a special guest,” She bit her lip with a cheek-tearing smirk as his brow somehow managed to furrow even deeper. “Hang out with us for just a few hours tomorrow night; you don’t even have to sleep over, just stay for the fun parts. I’ll delete the video as soon as it’s over.”

He continued to stare at her questioningly, obviously not convinced nor happy with this compromise. She needed to give him more.

“I promise I won’t show a soul the video if you promise to go tomorrow. No one will even know it existed before it’s already gone,” she said, before deciding to finally pull out the big guns. She pouted out her bottom lip and lowered her wide eyes, eyebrows piercing upwards like a sad puppy. “Pleeease Bakugou? I promise it’ll be fun!”

He paused, staring at her sad little face and feeling himself go slightly soft inside while staring at his friend. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and jerked his arm out of the girl’s grasp with a loud groan.

“Fine...as long as this shit stays between us...I guess I’ll go,” Bakugou nearly whispered the last part, as if the words had to crawl their way out of his throat while being tied down from his sheer stubbornness alone.

Mina couldn't help the shriek of excitement she let out, her mouth quickly getting covered by Bakugou's large calloused hand while his other planted an index finger on his own mouth towards her. “Shut the fuck up Pinky, we already woke Dunce up!” She just smiled behind his hand, nodding up and down quickly.

Bakugou let out a sigh as he moved his hand from her face, using his fingers to squeeze at the bridge of his nose. “You are so fucking annoying, y’know that?”

Mina just giggled, standing up and giving Bakugou a hug so quick he couldn’t pull away from it. He stood in shock for a moment, before shoving her shoulder and making the girl fall back on the couch with an oof! followed by her giggles. He just rolled his eyes with a, “Tch,” throwing his blanket over his shoulder and walking towards the hallways.

“Night, Blasty! Get ready for the night of your life tomorrow!” She whisper-shouted towards the exiting boy, who only flipped her off as his body finally disappeared into the shadows of the shared hallways.

. . .

A/N : hope you enjoyed!! i didn’t rlly proofread this so if it’s terribly written i apologize lmaoo, again if ur interested in a part 2 lemme know!!! much love <3 xoxo

#my hero academia #my fic #mha #tickling #tickle fic #tickle community #mha tickle #bakugou #mina #katsuki bakugou #mina ashido #ler!bakugou #lee!mina #bnha #boku no hero academia #ticklish

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cinnamonruts · 3 years

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01 | listen up, boys and girls, and non binary friends

SUMMARY → ( l/n ) ( y/n ) is a bright student, now standing in-front of her dream school. ready to start her journey to become a pro-hero; being put in life threatening in situation and making companions along the way. the last person she thought she would have running in her head on loop, is the explosive blond with a raging inferiority complex that somehow can’t keep his voice down… odd.

PAIRING → bakugou katsuki x fem!reader

WORD COUNT → 1.4 k

SERIE MASTERLIST → PREVIOUS | NEXT

TAKING A SEAT IN the auditorium. You glance around the students that will now be your competition, most are chatting with the people next to them. Most likely knowing them already. A stark contrast from yourself, as you are seated between two strangers.

Being the only one from your school to try out to be a hero. They got a different path, it made sense. Our junior high was specifically crafted to give parents a ninety-nine per cent guarantee for their children to get into Hashimoto Daiki Private High School.

And if they wanted to go there, they had no reason to take the entrance exam for the hero course.

Talking about hero course candidates. Many of them don’t seem to have any out of the ordinary body mutations. You got the usual, bird features; be its head, claws, or wings. Expendable eyes. A wooden clothespin.

Snapping your head back you look at said person again. It still says the same, Wait, no, it is not… right? “Is that a clothing pin?” you whisper to yourself, questioning your own vision, blinking a couple of times it didn’t change.

Still, how will that help them in hero work? Is there more than what meets the eye? Shaking your head, you continue to look around. Whom are you to judge? For all you know this is just a body mutation and they have a different quirk or are very talented at working with what they got.

Glancing at the pamphlets, laid out in front of you. The lights turn off, to be dramatically turned back on spot by spot. Slowly but surely coming to the front, lighting up the stage. Revealing Pro Hero: Present Mic as he energetically raises his arms up, “What’s up UA candidates. Say some synonyms with me, your school DJ. Come on, and let me hear yah!”

Applauding at his request, you smile at the hero. Soon hearing the almost deafening silence. As no one else joins in, feeling awkward you stop as well. Clearing his throat, he shakes off the silence, “I appreciate the enthusiasm.” he calls out, throwing finger guns in your general direction, “The others like to keeping it mellow, huh? That is fine I will skip right to the main show.”

“Let’s talk about how all those poetical exam will go down. Okay, are you ready?” he asks, yet again being answered by silence. That’s excluding the mumbles from various candidates in the audience.

Hearing various enthusiast squeaks, your brows furrow in concentration as you glance at your card. It reads your name, candidate number, and a centre letter; whatever that means, “Oh, my Goodness. It’s the voice hero Present Mic. So, cool. I listen to his radio show every day of the week. It’s so crazy nuts that all the UA teachers are pro heroes.” a voice gushes, peaking your interest.

What they are saying is true; it is crazy that all the teachers are Pro-Heroes. Basking in the bliss of this moment he keeps on muttering about his radio show, but he soon gets shut down by a deep raspy voice telling him to shut up.

“Like your application said, today you rocking boys and girls,” Present Mic calls out, “And non-binary friends.” you add softly, “will be out there conducting a ten-minute mock battle in super hip urban cities. You can bring whatever you want with you. After the presentation, you’ll head to the specified battle centre, sound good?” he explains, making sure to leave an opening for anyone to ask a question.

Glancing at your card again the letter D makes a lot more sense now. That will be where you will be proving yourself.

When no one says a word, he continues on; “Okay! Okay! Let’s check out your charts. There are three types of different faux villains in every battle centre.” Present Mic continues as three outlines appear on the screen with points ranging from one to three.

But when you glance at the charts in front of you there are four outlines of what seem to be these faux villains. Most likely this will be brought up in a moment, “You will earn points on their level of difficulties, so you better choose wisely.” he explains, a simulation behind him playing out like a video game as a mini Present Mic runs around racking up points by taking the outlines out with a single kick.

“Your goal in this trial is to use your quirk to earn points by threading these faux villains like a guitar solo!” he calls out. Raising his arm to us, he wiggles his finger, “But check it. Make sure you keeping thing heroic. Attacking other examines is a big UA no-no.” he elaborates, which seemed like a logical thing for anyone want-to-be pro hero.

But maybe things like these have happened in the past? Or they want to avoid it from happening that’s why they point out the obvious? Or with how quirks are evolving more, and more from generation to generation, and with them being unaware of what type of quirk their applicants have they need to say this from the government —

“Excuse me, sir.” a boy in the row in front of you calls out as he raises from his seat, successfully pulling you out of your unnecessary spiral. Standing stiffly as he waves his arm around, “I have a question.”

“Hit me”

A sudden spotlight is shined on the boy, “On the print out you have listed four types of villains, not three. With all respect but if this is an error on official UA materials it is shameful. We are exemplary students, we expect the best from Japans most notable school. A mistake such like this won’t due.”

Blinking at his sudden word vomit, you are unsure of what the point of this was. If he just waited for an answer on his first question if it was an error, or not; he would have gotten it and maybe a chill pill too while he’s at it.

Stiffly turning around, he points at someone in the audience, “Additionally you with the unkempt hair.” he calls out. Turning your head, a boy with green hair hesitantly points at himself, “You have been mutter this entire time. Stop that. If you can’t bother to take this seriously? Leave. You are distracting the rest of us.” the glasses wearer continues.

Cover your mouth at the sudden call out, you can’t help the snore coming from your lips. Was it uncalled for? Sure. But the way he said it so bluntly, without any hesitation was undeniably funny.

“Sorry.” he mutters out, flustered under the sudden attention and intense gaze from the blue-haired glasses guy.

“Alright, alright, examinee number 7111. Thanks for calling in with your request.” Present Mic calls out, easing the tension, “The fourth villain type is worth zero points.” he starts, the monitors behind him showing said missing outline, “That guy is just an obstacle we will be throwing in your way. There is one in every battle centre. Think of a feral you should try to avoid.”

The previous simulation popping up again, this time as the pro hero his avatar reaches the faux villain it turns around and runs away instead of kicking it for all its points, as it has none, “It’s not that it can’t be beaten but there is kind of no point. I recommend my listeners to try to ignore it and focus on the ones on top of the charts.”

Seemingly satisfied with the answers to his question, and that UA did in fact not make an error, he bows at the pro hero, “Thank you very much. Please, continue.” re-taking his seat in the same stiff manner.

“That’s all I got for you today. I will sign off with a little present, a sample of our school motto.” He says happily, “As general Napoleon Bonaparte once laid down; A true hero is one that overcomes lives misfortunes.” he hums, nodding at his words.

I’m pretty sure he never said that, but you are honestly too happy to really care all that much about the semantics of it all.

“Now that’s a tasty sound bite. You ready to go beyond? Let’s here a plus ultra!”

“Plus Ultra.” you whisper happily, grasping your papers gently stuffing them in your bag. As everyone raises from their seats; “Just take the doors where you came in from and the arrows will send you listeners to your designated changing rooms.” Present Mic calls out, making sure everyone goes the right way.

A/N: i love present mic! and that moment between midoriya and iida make me giggle when i first saw it. It was blunt so i just had to put it in here!!! <3

also,, changed up the ‘aEstheic’ of the story as i wanted it to look good 🥺🤡

in the next chapter you can expect;

- a certain pink lady

- a electra boiii

- and a big handed girl… not to mention a brainwasher… MANY CHARACTERS WILL BE INTRODUCEDDDDD, not all formally but they are there!!!

PREVIOUS CHAP. | TAGLIST | NEXT CHAP.

@ganimor @jazzylove @ukaisgratefulwhore @akaashisus @annimalq @b3anis @xxbynohexx @cozy-pumpkin @cryptiicc @nctjaemin @minifruity @redsakura101 @katsyhera @surrealist-insomniac @softiebadbitch @imsuperawkward ( i wasnt able to tag the crossed users, i’m so sorry )

#canary #bakugou x reader #bakugou x you #bakugou x y/n #mha x reader #mha x you #mha x y/n #bnha x reader #bnha x you #bnha x y/n #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou katsuki fluff #bakugou katsuki #bakugou katsuki serie #bakugou x reader serie #bakugou x reader fluff

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muthaz-rapapa · 3 years

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Let’s talk TroPreCure! (^∀^ 🌺)

i’m so stupidly proud of this dumb pun “tropurikyua~”, hahahahaha

Last post of the year and wow is there are lot to be excited for!

I even had to make a list for the stuff I want to talk about and I’m sure I already forgot one or two things but we’ll get to them as we continue to float~ along the wave to February 28th, mmkay? :)

Now for what has peaked my interest so far. And yes, we have to talk about the following first:

1) HealPre the shortest Precure season??

Unless they plan for double features in February (which I doubt but you never know), HealPre is likely going to reach only 45 episodes long instead of the usual 48~50 before TroPre I’m using this shortening of the title for now so if there’s a better alternative, tell me and I’ll switch out begins its broadcast.

Understandable because the producers probably want to get back to their normal scheduling as soon as possible (toy sales, y’know) and I suspect pushing the start of the new season back by a month is the most they’re willing to compromise.

As for me, I’m quite happy about this since HealPre’s lost its hold on my attention a while ago so the sooner TroPre gets here, the better. Though the downside might be a scrambled climax and a rushed, underwhelming ending for HealPre (I dunno if it’s January’s titles that feel a bit messy or if the hiatus is still throwing me off) but whatever. We’ll refresh ourselves with the new blood Cures so it’s all good.

2) Tropical movie announced for Autumn 2021, no All Stars??

(source)

First saw this mentioned on Youtube somewhere but it’s all over the fandom forums by now. I mean, HealPre’s movie is set for March, the usual time slot for All Stars release. If Toei intended for there to be an All Stars in 2021, there’s no way they would announce the seasonal movie before it so speculations of them skipping it this year are probably true.

To squeeze it somewhere between March and October-ish would force them to readjust their budgets as well and I don’t think even Toei wants to go through that extra hassle after all the trouble the pandemic’s caused for everyone already. It’s just easier to resume All Stars in 2022.

That, and I think Laura being a major character in TroPre despite not having a Cure title (yet) would make for an awkward situation when the three latest teams gather so perhaps that’s also one of the reasons. But I’ll get back to Laura in a bit.

3) Cure Summer is a RAINBOW Cure

So god help me if I see anyone calling her a Pink Cure.

Yes, she’s the lead Cure for this season. NO, she is not a Pink Cure.

Look, even the official website has a rainbow overlay for her profile pic and text font while everyone else’s respective theme colors are a solid hue:

Therefore, RAINBOW.

In promotional material and merchandising, they’re probably going to advertise her primarily with pink bah and at worst, she might occasionally be labeled as a White Cure with multiple subcolors (her outfit is not pink-dominant) but definitely NOT. PINK.

...also, this goes without saying but f***yea, we finally got a lead Cure practically and unabashedly wearing the LGBTQ flag and you cannot tell me otherwise, Toei!

Own up to it! Declare Manatsu/Cure Summer as the Precure queer icon!

I’m not gonna stop yellin’ until you do! 😠

4) Laura = obvious midseason Cure is obvious

First of all, Laura is a babe. I already love her the best and she’s not even Precure yet. <3

Anyways, the set-up is pretty much in the description. Important main character who’s not a mascot, stated to have a self-confident personality and just speaks her mind (oooh, I like~ :D), magical/foreign being from another world looking for Precure to save her home, possesses her own special item(s), has aspirations to become the next Queen (so she’s a princess-candidate or something to that effect, I suppose).

We’ve seen various combinations of these traits in past midseason (and a few starter) Cures so nobody should be surprised when we all guessed that one of the Cures would be a real live mermaid.

The only question is why not just make Laura a Cure from the get-go if she’s introduced to us at the beginning (like Hime or Lala) and having a team of five with no unnecessary extra add-ons later on (like Smile).

Well, there’s a simple answer for that: formula.

Toei is afraid that if they don’t spit out some new animation sequence at the halfway and third quarter points of the show, the kids will lose interest and abandon the series altogether. Which means failed toy sales. Oh nooo... [/sarcasm]

...Yea.

And this way they can also have Laura available in the Cure lineup for the next All Stars in 2022 instead of making her sit the fight out if we were going to have one in 2021. I’m convinced that’s gotta be one of the reasons. *shrug*

But ok, whatever. Her debut is gonna be later, that’s all. She’s a delayed Cure. Midseason Cure, same difference.

Moving along to the more important stuff now like what’s her Cure name gonna be, y/y?

Well, knowing Toei, a translation of the term “mermaid” into another language is the most predictable route even though we already have a Cure Mermaid. Not like that ever stopped them from repeating words before (ex. Cure Happy vs Cure Felice). Though if they do go down that road, I hope they opt for the Spanish/Italian “sirena” and not the French “sirène” because the latter sounds too close to how Cure Selene is pronounced in Japanese. And, putting it nicely, we all know Japanese pronunciation of foreign words is as off kilter as can be.

Hell, even the the Portuguese “sereia” sounds aesthetic as hell so it’d be nice if they can just remember there are other languages that exist out there besides Japanese, English and French when making the final decision at the writing table! *stomps foot* >:/

Alternatively, “nereid” or “naiad” are good choices too but they remind me too much of Greek myths and Laura’s from the Grand Ocean which covers more than just a couple of seas (Greece is surrounded by three, btw) so...

I dunno. But whatever it’s gonna be, she’s definitely got a strong association with water and her powers will probably be based on that.

As for theme color, since there’s noticeably no blue or green Cure in the starter lineup, it’s likely she will take up that spot when she debuts around ep 20.

Pink is also open since Cure Summer, again, is technically not a Pink Cure and Laura’s hair and tail fin are hot and light pink respectively but looking at Laura’s design and concept, does anyone seriously believe that?

Her upper torso consists of aquamarine while the body of her tail is definitely some shade of cyan, implying they’re aiming for somewhere around the middle of green and blue on the lighter spectrum.

And yea, I’m aware that green and blue are considered exchangeable in some perspectives with how close some of their shades are to each other but officially, I think Laura’s gonna be grouped with the Green Cures.

Cuz of the hair. If Laura’s gonna keep it the same or a similar shade after transforming, that is. The Blues have always had cool-colored hair so putting Laura in with them might disrupt that harmony whereas if you put her with the few Greens there are (including Parfait), she’d fit right in.

I mean, we’ll see but that makes the most sense, doesn’t it?

On another note, I just want to say that I love how they added frills to her arms instead of letting her elbows go bare naked. It definitely makes her look more like a genuine mermaid than if she didn’t have them (remember, half fish doesn’t mean half the body :P).

5) Magical Items

Frankly, I’m tired of seeing the transformation device being a compact again even though one of the main motifs is make-up this season. But at least, as far as Precure compacts goes, the Tropical one is my favorite cuz of how cute and delightfully colorful its toy version looks! So I guess I’m okay with it.

The Heart Rouge Rod, though? ...I dunno. I think it would’ve been fine without that...straw (?) jutting out at the top. It looks weird, doesn’t it look weird? :S

As for the collectible clip-ons, I can live without those for the rest of my life. Yeesh.

Laura’s items, the Aqua Pot and the Ocean Prism Mirror.

Again with the portable, travel-size housing. *sigh* ��

Alright, I can let this year slide cuz Laura (I’m so soft for her, omg) probably won’t be getting legs for 20 weeks so she’s got to move about on land somehow. But unless they’re really thinking about turning this idea of carrying your apartment around in your bag/pocket/purse into a reality (cuz that would be effin’ awesome), please be more creative with your toys.

On the other hand, I’m much more interested in the Ocean Prism Mirror but from what Kusyami (the Precure merchandise reviews I follow on Youtube) said in his latest vid, this is the ED dance item so don’t know if it’ll actually have an relevance to the story or not. But I did hear him mention it having something to do with the Queen as well and since Laura wishes to become Queen, maybe it’ll be important after all? Maybe it’s her transformation device?

That’d be super cool. Let’s continue the trend of the midseason Cure having a different transformation item than the starters. Honestly, we should alternate every other year or two but we’ve gone three seasons with all of them using the same henshin gimmicks up till HealPre and I just want a break from that.

6) Fin sleeves??

These look so impractical for combat so maybe it’s exclusive to group attacks.

And/or a sort of precursor to the super forms?

*GASP* Does that mean they all eventually turn into mermaids? 🤩

7) Yui finally became Precure!! 😭

lol, it’s all crack from this point on so don’t take it too seriously but man, after Yuni’s deceptive braids, I thought I wasn’t gonna see anything that reminded me of Yui for a while and lo behold, Sango.

kehehehehehe xD;

Though Yui might be closer to Minori in terms of personal interests (fairytales and storybooks).

8) Akira, the actual Onee-chan version

I didn’t think this when I first saw her but once I read “Onee-san” in her profile, there’s no saving you now. Sorry, Asuka. 😅

Also, damn, do her sandals make her feet look big! Compare them to the heels she wears as Flamingo. Are they even the same?! lololol

9) ...this sounds awfully familiar...

Translation:

Tokimeku Tokonatsu! [Exciting/Thrilling Everlasting Summer!] Cure Summer! Kirameku Hoseki! [Sparkling Jewel!] Cure Coral! Hirameku Fuurutsu! [Flashing Fruit!] Cure Papaya!

Japanese reiteration:

Mallow/Mao: Pink no tokimeki! Lillie: Blue no kirameki! Lana/Suiren: Yellow no kagayaki!

….........

@Toei

Care to explain yourselves, punks?!

୧(ʘ ∀ ʘ ╬)

#it is 1:30 AM and im hungry and still have to do work on new year's eve so i'll come back to amuse-rage later #tropical rouge! precure #precure 2021 #cure summer #cure coral #cure papaya #cure flamingo #laura la mer

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bogusavathepit · 3 years

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Twilight Vampire Venom--The Glue that Holds Nothing Together and Then Some

Okay, I am finally posting a comprehensive list and description of what I learned vampire venom in Twilight is without bring in its obvious racial and gendered connotations, or bring up any of the series’ themes of love and redemption (because I’ve done that many times in older posts).

This is just the physical effect of venom, how it turns the human body into a vampire one, how it changes perception in the books, and how vampires in Twilight are more a different biological species than reanimated corpses.

Sources

The Twilight Illustrated Guide

The Official Site for Twilight (FAQs)

The Books written by Meyer

This is what venom is and does:

smooths and clears skin --> it could be either nonporous or have microscopic pores--> like marble --> only venom, vampire/werewolf teeth, and vampire/werewolf strength are their weaknesses

gives skin that is always the paler, whiter version of its human hue --> racist, anachronistic, self-contradictory, and otherwise unnecessary (bloodsucking myths and figures exist everywhere in the real world and its peoples’ histories, not just in EU and for EU/white people...plus we're cycling the vampires-be-pale model in media now anyway)

“crystallizes” human skin (their skin cells, says the official site) to make it reflect direct light --> the look and intensity of the reflectiveness depends on the intensity and the kind of light

“crystallizes” human skin and flesh & makes it very cold--> like “ice”, as Bella-the-human describes

“crystallizes” and hardens the former human's tissues so that when they transform they are practically invulnerable --> includes the eyeballs

makes the body able to withstand all physical pressures (except vampire/werewolf teeth) -->which explains how it is their strength and physical resilience that allows them to go very fast: their hard bodies can take a lot of physical shocks

gives super strength --> humans have absolutely no chance of hurting them no matter how strong they are --> the biggest or strongest human is always weaker than the smallest “weaker” vampire. Vampire Alice would beat human Emmett hands down.

gives super speed --> humans can’t detect/keep track of their natural movements as they occur

*straightens out the more superficial asymmetries of the face -->lending them their preternatural beauty (debatable)

removes and stops all organic cycles (except for a venom-based-lubricants for movements, sperm production[?] and "nutrient” absorption) --> physical changelessness --> they can’t get thinner or thicker or physically mature

sharpens the former human's senses (vision, hearing, etc.), reflexes, & instincts --> so their reflexes literally prevent them so tripping or dropping stuff by accident --> to the point where vampires act based on their instincts and how much control over them, to various degrees --> vampires can see and hear from both longer distances & spot things humans will never be able to see up close --> their sense of smell is their dominant faculty-- the smell of blood makes vampires' throats burn similar to how a cooked chicken makes my stomach rumble....but much worse, as if I was starving rather than just hungry --is why they find it so hard to control themselves when they smell blood, especially exposed to the air

replaces the former human hunger sensation with the sensation of "burning" that intensely compels vampires to attack drink from the nearest blood-filled thing --> some vampires describe it as “fire”, others as “acid” or extreme “dryness” --> gets worse the longer vampires don’t feed

freezes the person in whatever psychological/mental state they had before they were turned --> it seems that Meyer meant both the brain’s physical maturity and the person’s personality (determined by ages and circumstances-when-turned)

replaces blood and other fluids with venom-based substances --> including the blood that used to raise the penis during arousal (but sperm is still sperm)

is highly flammable-->makes the new vampire able to be killed through fire, but only after tearing their bodies apart so that they can't run fast enough to put out the fire

This is What Venom “Means” (Not Very Deep)

Cellular Structure

In the transformation, venom converts every living cell’s structure into something that is “harder” and more “crystalline”, including the eyeballs.

[Some of Us] But what about the rods and cones cells of the eyes? Does that change how vampires see color then?

I assume yes; that it could be that venom changing the shape and structure of a rod/cone cell would inevitably change how they perform its functions and receive light.

Which we can assume since vampires see things near-microscopically and can see things perfectly in the dark.

Imagine looking at a tree at night and it has several hues that diverge and conform to violets, purples, etc. but being able to see several divots and specks in the bark. That is what vampire night vision is.

I think the vampire eyes might either receive any and all light much better than human eyes can OR their eyes physically shift at night to have a structure or produce a venom-based chemical that helps them see at night time? Their vision would still be better than that of many nocturnal animals’.

[Some of Us] So venom hardens all flesh....yet, also sharpens teeth, or its dentin and enamel. Pulp would be hardened, but enamel and dentin? Neither are true “flesh”.....

Head empty.

Maybe venom is a hard substance that coats and protects teeth, and when a vampire bites someone, some venom slips through into the skin through the wound made?

Maybe we ask Meyer why she didn’t think too hard about biology? Or–if we want to be less antagonistic–if she did, why didn't she let us know about it when she literally went that hard into the primarily-biological instead of primarily-supernatural approach?

Perhaps we’re not meant to think too hard about it all since she wanted to go her own route with this vampire story being more a romance and coming-of-age story than all else?

Hard to do that when you are a fantasy nerd with anti-Twilight people and your society breathing down your neck and making you feel like a dum-dum for “liking” Twilight, but I digress. This is a note post.

The Transformation

Venom puts the human-turning-to-vampire through a pain unlike any other kind of pain a human has ever experienced.

It’s described as fire running through one’s veins and body. For about 2-3 days. It’s so bad and all-encompassing, the turning person can’t focus on keeping track of time.

This pain flares up in the vampire’s throat each time it’s time for them to go chomp-chomp--to make them instinctually need to put the “fire” out and attack the nearest blood-filled thing.

Interestingly enough, in Midnight Sun we get that vampires (Edward, Jasper, Rosalie & Emmett) relate the feeling of the throat burning as like fire, acid, or an extreme dryness.

Which is why blood drinking in Twilight isn’t exactly a pure pleasure. The pleasure is very much derived from removing the physical pain of the burn in their throats.

Appearance

The books’ descriptions of vampires let us know that a person becomes more physically attractive than when they were human due to what venom does to their body. (Already listed)

(Yes, including their skin paling....ugh don’t get me started, you can read my post about their skin color here.)

And because humans have duller senses than vampires, vampires both see other vampires and humans differently/better or with more accuracy. Their brains are also able to take in more information faster.

Note: To define “average”, those who aren’t model-gorgeous but aren’t ugly either.

A) Vampires who used to be “ugly” or unattractive humans become “average”-looking vampires. To humans, these vampires are just “average” and not anything to be in awe of. To other vampires, formerly ugly humans that become vampires are ugly vampires.

Example is James, Bella’s would-be killer. Edward--a vampire looking at another vampire--describes James as “unfortunate” looking in Midnight Sun. In Life and Death, Edythe describes Joss with the exact same word.

B) “Average”-looking humans turn into vampires that look “average” to other vampires. However humans see these “average” vampires as gorgeous...until they meet Rosalie, Edward, or Heidi.

Examples of “average” to moderately attractive vampires are Emmett, Alice, Kate, Irina, and Bella herself.

Even though we do see Bella sometimes described as “pretty” she is also not really considered as beautiful as Rosalie and doesn’t get as much attention as Human Rosalie did. Both Human and Vampire Rosalie's beauty isn’t denied by anyone. After she’s a vampire, even Jacob at one point shows he found her very attractive even though he despises vampires.

And yes, Kate and Irina are described as attractive but they are not at the level of Tanya, who is described as just as beautiful as Rosalie.

And if one were to argue that Rosalie gets more attention/praise than Bella because she is blonde, blonde people tend to get more praise/attention, and get labeled as beautiful more readily than others–at least in the U.S.-- they’d be half right. But Heidi has brown “mahogany” hair and Bella–who spends a lot of mental space describing others’ looks and how attractive they are–describes Heidi as just as beautiful as Rosalie in New Moon.

C) Very attractive humans become vampires that are god-like levels of attractiveness to both humans and vampires. (Rosalie in every book; Heidi, New Moon) However, since vampires’ eyes are just better, they can see more of those perfections and flaws and be able to appreciate the near flawlessness of these god-like pretty vampire’s appearances. By contrast, even gorgeous “god-like” humans still seem to appear almost repulsive or just eh...a beautiful human is still just human, like Gianna in New Moon.

I’m talking about Megan Fox-level beautiful.

It’s understood that Megan Fox is one of the most attractive celebrities nowadays, by several persons’ accounts/opinions. According to Meyer’s Twilight universe, Meghan Fox as a vampire would be even more attractive, even though she’d be very very pale, have sharp, diamond-like features and dark circles under her eyes.

She’d also have very smooth, seemingly poreless skin, no matter how close a human got to her face to see.

Rosalie Hale is supposed to be the Megan Fox of Twilight.

All vampires (except those who used to be “ugly”) are meant to be physically attractive to all humans. And all humans are supposed to look “weird” to all vampires.

Not exactly “ugly”, but weird due to all of the “flaws” vampires themselves don’t have anymore that are present in humans.

Still, sometimes weird is enough to become ugly in the right mood or mindset.

Let’s face it. Humans can be superficial buttheads. Since vampires aren’t that psychologically different from humans–especially since they all started out as socialized humans themselves– vampires would inevitably be just as, if not even more, superficial at times.

Rosalie Hale once calls humans “clumpy” in Midnight Sun. Edward says, in the first book when he reveals his nature to Bella, that vampires’ “beauty” appear to be meant to attract their human prey. Vampires are like predatory plants--stony and mobile Venus flytraps of sorts.

Then he gripes about how the beauty part isn’t even necessary because no human would be even able to escape a vampire (and he’s not wrong, but this feels like a dodge and redirection on Meyer’s part).

Finally...

Vampire venom is meant to be a “corrective” biological substance that both strengthens a person into a near invulnerability and peak “evolutionary” success but still deprives them of a kind of free will or ability to change/adapt. Humans become apex predators when they become vampires, but then they also nearly become completely subject to their bodies’ impulses.

And the god-likeness and subjection to the body is derived from Mormonism and the principle of the “natural man”. (Jana Reiss’ review of the series, “Book of Mormon Stories Meyer Tells to Me”)

#the twilight saga #twilight #venom #twilight explanation #vampire venom #the twilight series #twilight series #twilight saga #twilight biology #twilight themes

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chasseurdeloup-retired · 4 years

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Pour Some Salt on Me || Matty and Kaden

TIMING: Present LOCATION: Soul on the Rocks PARTIES: @likeamattoutofhell and @chasseurdeloup SUMMARY: Matty meets Kaden at the bar and deals with some of his baggage. AKA: Did someone order a Margarita? Extra salty?

It wasn’t often that Kaden spent a free night at a bar that wasn’t the Silver Bullet but he was always up for something new and different. Plus, for all he knew, he could be walking into a prime opportunity for hunting. Not to mention, he could always use a few more drinks to deal with everything that had happened in the past week. Mimes. Wings. Banshees. Werewolves. It was too much. He could use a normal night. The bar was loud. Very loud. It was going to take a lot for him to concentrate on any conversation and not get overwhelmed. He took a deep breath. It’d be fine, as long as he was prepared. He saw a guy at the bar, pretty sure on the end he was supposed to meet him. “You Matty?” he asked. “Kaden. Aka that guy whose dog found a fucking head the other week.” He almost added ‘not a mime-fucker’ but then he thought better of reminding anyone of that before needed. “How’s it going?

So. This had been a day, hadn’t it? Or, well. A night. But, at least some shit didn’t change. Soul on the Rocks was still standing, and nobody gave a crap how you came. Which was good, given that Matty looked a little like a half-drowned poodle, his hair still damp and curling, crazily, from his make-do shower at the pool. Whatever it took. Bit into his budget a little - man, everything cost more, these days - but he was two rounds into the special, and had enough left over for a few more. Solid. He’d just raised a hand for another when some… guy, sleek, sharp-faced, dropped onto the stool next-door. Kaden? Right. Maybe into mimes? According to the internet, but. Couldn’t believe everything you read, duh. “Yeah, that’s - yeah.” The vibes, on this poor bastard. “It’s… going, alright.” Why not shoot the shit? There was plenty of it. “Pipes in my place are, uh. Under reconstruction? Got real messed up last week, full of something fucked, I don’t know. At least the neighbors aren’t, you know, weirder than usual.” Which had been saying something, alright. But he’d draw a line, sure, at suddenly taking up miming. At other people. In the hallway. Matty shrugged, vaguely. “Same shit, different day, around here. How about you, man? What’s up?”

Kaden raised a brow and gave the guy a one over. “I can see that.” The guy looked rough, alright. Soaked and a little bedraggled. “Bad pipes, huh? What happened? Do you live anywhere near the funeral home by chance?” He almost asked if it was vampires or necrophages since that always seemed to be the cause of leaky pipes in buildings. Occasionally pixies. Usually dead things. But he thought better of it. That joke only landed in a hunter bar, really. He waved down the bartender and ordered a beer, wasn’t sure he trusted the liquor to be drinkable let alone mid shelf. “I’m alright. Less severed heads in my life so that’s been good.” A lot more wings and banshees and death but it was fine. He was fine. Everything was fine. He gulped down a sizable portion of his drink. “I mean, yeah. It’s been a fucking week. Got attacked by the wo-- an animal in the woods the other night. Nearly fucking died. So I’m sure yours is going better than that. Least I hope so.”

Funeral home? Matty frowned, faintly, not sure what that was supposed to mean. “Don’t think so?” Hopefully that was a no. Not somewhere he needed, or wanted, to hang around. With actual corpses. “Just some shithole, you know what it’s like.” Fuck, it was a shame you couldn’t smoke in bars anymore. Still had some of that good weed, from Margot, kicking around. And he was itching for something, anything. Matty gave the bartender a seriously grateful nod as the next Moscow mule landed, shaking off a sudden, cold shiver. A bad one. God, he’d have to get ahold of Felix. Soon.

But. A couple drinks wouldn’t hurt, and the company probably wouldn’t. Jury was out, as of yet.

“Solid.” Less body parts flying around in general, the better, yeah? Elbow up on the scratched-to-shit counter, he took a long, needsome drink, hearing Kaden out. The wo-what? His head tilted, there, doing some wo-wondering. Not too much. His week. Where to start? With the waiting to find out if a couple super scary motherfuckers were going to duke it out to the death over at Hanging Rock, come the weekend? Hanging around a psychotic old-ass leech with fancy tastes? Getting thrown out of a tree by a bloodsucking... monkey, with iron teeth, or some shit? No, thanks. “Oh, totally.” Matty tossed off a tired sorta smile, and raised his glass. “Here’s to - death-defying, huh? Life goes on.” Close enough. “The hell were you doing in the woods, anyway? Nothing but crazy and mosquitoes out there, seriously…”

Kaden nodded at his current companion’s words. “Ah, not related to that then. Nevermind. But yeah, I do know how that goes. Surprised I don’t live in a complete dump here, but I got paid a little more than I’m used to when I took the job at Animal Control.” Out of the sheer desperation they had to fill the position. He felt a chill run through him before taking another sip of his beer. Strange, was the door open or something? He looked back but that was stuoid, it wasn't even that cold out anymore. Odd. Must have imagined it. Or the beer was just really cold.

“To deth-defying.” Kaden raised his glass in a toast and gave a small nod. And a wince as he lifted his arm. Side still hurt, he almost forgot, despite toasting his near death. “I was camping. Didn’t want to stay in my apartment any longer.” He gave a shrug. The details weren’t ones he was ready to dig up so soon. Or share in a bar. At least not this sober. “I’m also in animal control so I’m there a lot anyway. Got attacked by an animal.” Explaining what it was seemed unnecessary. Most people accepted “animal” right off the bat, anyway. “You ever had any near death experiences?

Lauren Langley couldn’t stand to watch this any more, this fraternizing with supernaturals that her son kept indulging in. He'd made his choice to turn away from his duty. He didn’t even do a basic check on this man to see the glaringly obvious. The man at the bar was obviously undead. Kaden should have been able to listen and hear the hollow emptiness where his heart should be beating. And yet he sat there, toasting, making small talk. Disgusting. Disgraceful. She could no longer contain the anger raging inside of her. She pushed out her power, let her anger extend outwards and the lights started to flicker, the sound cutting in and out, as she floated towards the man in question, standing between him and her son, glaring daggers at him that she knew he could see, the blood sucking filth that he was.

Animal Control. Okay, then. Matty’s eyebrows slid upwards, but, hey. Whatever paid the bills. Not like he could talk. “Well, hey. Nice.” Did he want to know about… dogcatching, or whatever this guy got up to? Not exactly, but - he’d always been curious. “Seems like a rough gig. Especially in this town, fuck...” Christ knew what kinda freaky shit Kaden had to deal with, on top of bears, and cougars, and rabid raccoons. Had to feel a little sorry for him, yeah?

Cheers, anyway. To camping, too, sure. Whatever the dude was into. “Cool, yeah. I get that, man. Space. Nice thing to have.” Matty drank. And twitched, as the electricity fritzed. Weird. He blinked, throwing an uncertain glance over the rest of the Rocks, watching as the jukebox glimmered in and out, the static sneering into his too-sharp ears. Near death. With a shook-out laugh, Matty turned back to try and field that one - only to find some lady. Some ghost lady, all silvery; more substantial than most, though. Nobody he knew. Right? No. He was pretty sure. But that stare. The grin was staggering away from him, on its last legs. “A… a couple…” Leaning back on his stool, Matty cleared his throat. Took another drink. “Animals, yeah.” He was stumbling, quailing under those eyes. Maybe they weren’t, you know, familiar, but. If looks could murder. Violently. “Maybe we oughta take this outside?” Matty winced, suddenly, sliding to his feet. Ghosts got stuck to places, didn’t they? “Just, seems we’ve got some… fucky wiring, in here. I mean, this joint’s probably a total fire-trap…”

Kaden froze, glass at his lips, as the electricity cut in and out. For half a second he wondered if this was just a result of shoddy wiring. This bar wasn’t exactly high end or upscale. But the shocked looks and startled reactions from everyone around him gave him the feeling this wasn’t a typical occurrence. Putain. He really wanted a night off from the supernatural. Didn’t look like he was going to get it. It seemed like his present drinking buddy was looking through him or around him. Hard to say for sure, but it didn’t seem like his eyes were meeting his. Hmm, maybe his near death experiences were a hell of a lot worse than Kaden’s. Shit, might have hit a nerve. “You alright?” he asked, brow raised as the guy started to freak out. “Yeah, I noticed.” Kaden glanced around the place, didn’t see anything else strange, but there was a bit of a cold spot as he stood to follow. “I’m guessing this isn’t normal for here. Got any better suggestions?” Bullet was out so he supposed it was another night at Dell’s. He shrugged as they headed outside, could be worse.

He wasn’t going to get away so easily. Lauren knew he saw her; he must know her feelings as well. Or at least sensed them. And she hadn’t even spoken yet. “Leaving so soon, vampire?” she asked, smirk on her face. “I wasn’t finished here.” Her voice was laced with venom, but it was still and even all the same, cold and poisonous at the same time. Once again, she pulled into her anger and used it to send the unused glasses from the bar exploding out in every direction, but most of the glasses aimed at the vampire. Unfortunately, her son, too. But he could tolerate the pain. And maybe it would give him a hint to either leave this loathsome creature or, better yet, kill it. She disappeared a moment and then flashed back in front of the vampire, spectral face inches from his. “My son may not put a stake through your heart. He’s gone soft, you see, but I sure will. Better yet, I’ll make sure he does.”

“Me? I’m good, yeah, just...” Haunted. “Honestly, I…” Matty trailed off, a shudder creeping down the back of his neck, all the way. That kind, he realized, now. He’d met his fair share of ghosts. Or, well, his unfair share, depending on how you looked at it. This one was - well, bad fuckin’ vibes, all over, was what she was. Why the hell was the vampire thing her problem? Matty tried to pin his attention down to Kaden, hurriedly tugging his ratty denim jacket on. They’d just fuck off, and he’d try the Rocks again… in a week. Or two. A month from now. Oh, that would blow.

Not as hard as the fuckin’ rain of glass that shattered over them. Matty had heard them rattling just in time to turn, barely soon enough to drop, shoving Kaden by the shoulder, turning his back into a storm of smashing tumblers and sharp edges. Ears ringing, hands shaking - bleeding, somewhere, he could smell it already - Matty gasped out of it, and pushed away across the sticky, glittering floor as the ghost gathered in front of him, face to face. Son? His eyes ticked to Kaden, quick. Back. Yeah, around the eyes, he could see it. Just his fuckin’ luck. Getting in the middle of some kinda family drama.

Wait. Wait, wait. Gone soft? Too soft for staking. Shit. Slayer family drama? Just his fuckin’ luck.

“Listen, I don’t - I don’t know you, or him, or… what your problem is, I...” What he did know, was salt. Salt for ghosts. How, specifically, not so sure. But the salt would be behind the bar - he’d downed enough tequila here to know. Behind the bar, where he was going, fast.

“Shit!” Kaden shouted as he saw the glasses rumble. He raised his hands to shield his head and found himself shoved down out of the way of the oncoming onslaught of glass. White hot pain from his side flashed through him as he twisted and ducked. After the deafening crashes of glass came the screams as patrons started bolting for any exit they could find. Couldn’t blame them. As Kaden stood up straight, his brow furrowed, another wince of a pain, and yeah that was definitely blood dripping along his hands. Fuck. “You o--” He started to ask his drinking buddy as he tried to evaluate the extent of his wounds. Minimal, thankfully. But his words cut short as the other man started speaking to the air.

“Who are you talking to?” Kaden asked, brows furrowed, and stomach sinking. He had a feeling he fucking knew who the hell it was he was talking to. Putain. Also that meant this guy could see ghosts. Well that narrowed it down a little. Medium maybe? Zombie? Wait what was he going for behind the bar? Shit, time to pull a knife out, just in case. He grabbed a standard blade first but started rummaging in his pockets. Had to have an iron one on him somewhere.

“Oh, how cute. The bloodsucker found the salt,” Lauren smiled and shook her head, arms crossed in front of her incorporeal body. “Do you really think that will stop me?” Lauren disappeared and sprung back next to Matty’s left, voice slithering right into his ear. “I need you to tell my son something, you filthy animated corpse. Before you turn to dust.” She vanished again and reappeared on his other side, eyes fixed on Kaden even though he couldn’t see her as she spit more venom into the vampire’s ear. “Tell him he should have been better. And that he’s all but proven he’s no son of mine.” Her visage was gone one more for the moment. With a loud crash, half the tables in the bar burst, sending drinks and food tumbling to the floor and wood shards flying in every direction. If that wasn’t a hint for her disgrace of a son, nothing would be.

Shit. Pawing around behind the counter, Matty was doing his best to think, clearly, with blood on the air. Human blood. He’d eaten earlier, but - pig, or something, whatever Nic had drained into those juiceboxes. Not enough to keep the good stuff from being distracting. “Uh…” He stammered, hearing Kaden. Asking a totally sensible kinda question, in the middle of something not sensible at all. There - pinch-bowls of salt. A couple went spilling onto the counter as Matty flinched, that chilling, creeping not-breath riding up his spine again, that hiss an itch across the back of his neck. Tell him.

Oh, this cow could eat it.

“Fuck off, Jesus!” He rasped, flinging a handful of the stuff. Where she’d been, anyway. God, usually ghosts were chill. Why’d he have to wind up drinking with some hunter who had poltergeist-grade baggage? Snatching up another desperate handful of salt, Matty glanced Kaden’s way. Or, almost. Everything went to shit, before he got a good look at the guy. Again. Worse. The back-mirror splintered and sheeted apart as pieces of table and chair stabbed through, into the wall, quivering furiously. “Your mom!” Shouting over the noise, Matty cowered behind the bar, panting hard and panicky from where he’d hit the dirt. “I swear, man - that’s what she says...” Why she felt the need to let him know, well. That, Matty sure as shit couldn’t answer.

Kaden was still fumbling for anything iron when the tables exploded. He dropped down and ducked, once again using his arms to shield himself. Fucking shit. This had to be an angry spirit, right? Shit, he was so far out of his depths here.

He shot up at the man’s words. “My mom?” His brow creased and he looked around, as if he’d be able to see her. “Putain de merde!” he grumbled, rolling his eyes. He had a feeling that was the case. He really wished it wasn’t. Fucking fuck. “Circle yourself in salt!” he shouted

Wait. Did that mean?

No. That. No. It couldn’t be.

As soon as her son froze, Lauren knew he’d figured it out. She’d hoped that he would, maybe a little sooner, but her faith in him had waned. “Do it, mon petitou. Do it.” She whispered in his ear as if he could hear him. All she needed was for him to stake one measly vampire and then she could move on. Maybe.

Kaden shook off his stupor as he felt a chill creep down his spine. There’d be time to evaluate this later. Right now he needed a plan. And to figure out how to stop this. “Want to tell me why the fuck you can see ghosts?” he shouted to Matty. “And why my mother is pissed as shit at you. And me. But you seem like the cause here, too.”

Lauren could feel the rage building up inside her again. Why was he talking? Why wasn't he acting? She threw back her spectral head and screamed, pushing her anger out to shatter all the glass and windows. It lashed out and added more scrapes and cuts to her son’s body. She didn’t care anymore if her son bled. Maybe then this vampire would show its true nature and Kaden would remember that he was meant to fight monsters, not protect them.

Circle of salt. Right. Ghosts, couldn’t cross. Only, then he would be stuck, here, in deep with Langley, who - who, whatever he might be, had shit going on that Matty wanted fuck all to do with, frankly. No offense to the dude, just. No. Kicking some of the wreckage aside, Matty scrambled to draw that circle out, wincing as his supply ran a bit thin. It’d be enough, right? Maybe. He’d stretch it. Did he want to tell Kaden why he saw ghosts? Like hell, if Mama Langley’s hate-on said anything about how she’d raised her son. “It’s, uh - genetic!” Matty shouted back, a little frayed about it. Seemed to work for Nora. Though, Nora was a pretty shit standard for what totally normal people would believe. Obviously. Fuck.

The hot, spattery smell of blood sharpened up, suddenly, tugging at Matty’s teeth until his jaw ached. “I don’t know, man! Maybe she’s just a raging bitch?!” No, the guy didn’t need to hear what mommy dearest was going on about. He shook his head, woozy - a sluggish lick of dark blood dribbled down the side of his cheek, dead and cold. And tried to fix that fucking circle.

Kaden was getting fucking sick of playing duck and cover with a poltergiest. The wounds probably wouldn’t take too long to heal but it still stung. In more ways than one. “Genetic?” Had to be a medium then. Why the fuck was she so mad about a medium? Then his mind jumped to Blanche. Whatever it was, it had to do with her, right? And certainly Regan. There was no doubt there. Fuck. They had to get out of here, but he knew damn well his mother would follow him if they just cut and ran. He had no iron on him. And funny enough, rock bars weren’t exactly filled with it. He looked around on the floor, between the shattered tables and fallen plates, he saw something. A fucking margarita glass. Rimmed with salt. Plastic. Never been so happy to be at a cheap fucking bar. He grabbed it and started swinging it wildly, wielding it like a weapon. “When you see her disappear, fucking run!” he shouted, whirling around the room and waving the salt rimmed glass around.

The hell was Kaden up to? Peeking out around the counter corner, Matty strained to keep his boots in the circle and his eyes on the action. Which was something to see, for fuckin’ sure: Langley, swinging like a drunk playing pinata. Right across his shrieking-mad mom, the spiderwebby substance of her rending apart. And not coming back. For a beat, Matty couldn’t believe it. But, he didn’t have to. Unfrozen, he lurched alive and out - the shattered front window, the shortest path to away from all this. Stumbling wildly into the parking lot, Matty hit the asphalt at a sprint, with a skitter of glass, and didn’t stop. Not until he was far, far away from the blood, and that mess of a bar, and Kaden Langley’s totally batshit mommy issues.

#wickedswriting #chatzy #writing #pour some salt on me #matty #likeamattoutofhell #lauren langley

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veridium · 5 years

Text

dirty little secret

WOAH BOY. I did not expect such a quick turn around, but when you’re writing sweet, sweet friendship, shit happens. thanks to @bitchesofostwick and her fabulous writing that got my gears going.

I have been wanting to use an all-american-rejects ref as a title since we started and now, here I am!

on this episode...Olivia awakens to find Ellinor wearing a strange fleece (HM??). BUT, that is not the only incident that surprises her, as a message left on her door gives her cause for concern.

part 1 // part 2 // part 3 // part 4 // part 5 // part 6 // part 7 // part 8 // part 9 // part 10 // part 11

Her cell phone alarm goes off as it always does on wednesday: 7:30, just enough time to get her shit together before her 10am lecture. However, as she revisits the text she got the night before from Ellinor, it also becomes a beautiful morning for hearing all about her “group project meeting.” Luckily she doesn’t have to travel far, or bother with pants. Wearing an over-sized, old All-American Rejects tour shirt she thrifted a year ago, she fits the bill when lastly she slips on her pink fuzzy slippers -- the only items of her wardrobe she would accept in such a color. She then wanders a few doors down to Ellinor’s and Sera’s room. Sera is gone for a few days on some road trip to one of her many hair-brained destinations, so Olivia has no minced feelings about knocking loudly.

Knock, knock, knock. Nothing.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. Nothing again.

“Knock, knock, bitch, get up! We need coffee!”

The door rips open, and a face with slight drool on the corner of her mouth and hair tousled over her eyes appears. But, it’s not her expression that Olivia’s eyes fixate on like a moth to a fleece flame.

A Knight athletic fleece, the expensive one.

“Good morning sunsh--shit, is that…”

Ellinor jerks her chin down, suddenly coherent. Her brow furrows and she whirls around to retreat back into her lair, mumbling things while she lazily swings the door shut. Olivia, of course, slaps her hand on it and waves it open with gusto.

“Ellinor Trev--”

“NO.”

“Is he in here?!” she skips in, looking around in all corners and nooks as if Cullen is compactible like a lawn chair or something. “Oh, God dammit, I never catch your lovers! No fair!”

Ellinor crawls back under her covers and pulls them up over her head. Interestingly, she does not forsake the fleece sweatshirt that has seemed to magically exist out of nowhere.

“Is that his…”

“Mmph.”

“So it IS. You’re a filthy liar! You said you didn’t do anything in your text, I got receipts!” Olivia promptly hops onto the lower side of the twin mattress, curling her legs up under her sideways.

“I didn’t do anything. I meant it. I just...this...it was cold, okay! Why does everyone think I am magically not cold susceptible? I have questionable circulation…” she half-whines the last part, before squirming into her pillow some more like a burrowing naked mole rat.

Olivia hums, not convinced. “You got some explaining to do, and this calls for extra strong coffee. And scones. I want every detail. I’m gonna throw on some sweats or something, I won’t be long.” The casual mood she has yesterday with Cassandra has carried over through a full night’s sleep, and Olivia feels all the pomp and makeup of her typical routine to be unnecessary for once. She swats on the bump in the comforter she suspects is Ellinor’s ass before hopping back onto her feet and out into the hallway. She’ll be back to wrangle her soon enough out of the depths of her ironic despair.

Scooting her poof-slippered feet out into the hall she spots her door half-shut. Only, it’s not her door -- not the way she remembers it, anyhow. There’s...papers? Taped on it just above the doorknob. Posted notes and event reminders aren’t exactly unheard of in dorm halls, but as she walks she scans the other shut and locked doors -- nothing. Just hers has stuff on it.

When she arrives she yanks off the posted paper and notices some hastily copy/pasted clipart of some crosses mounted on a hillside. Her stomach churns as she reads the message. It’s a pamphlet-esque flyer asking the reader if their soul has been saved, and if not, resources in order to accomplish that. On the back there’s a scripture excerpt as the header, and then a list of every Church in the city limits with their contact information and addresses. It has the design skills of a 4th grader who’s project is due the morning after and all they have to use is Microsoft Word 2003.

And on the very bottom, handwritten for that special touch: “For the Slut in 21C.”

She looks both ways down the end of the hall and sees no one lurking, though the hair on the back of her neck stands up. The faces of those Church preps that pouted at her when she was on Cassandra’s bike pop into her head. Oh, it would be an interesting coffee sesh indeed.

What had originally been intentions to come outside casual and no muss, no fuss, turned into a black knit oversized sweater dress, thigh-high black velvet boot stilettos, and loose curls with a full face of sharp makeup. She looks like an insta model out in the light of day instead of in her cardboard box, but it is better this way: people don’t fuck with her.

They get their coffee downtown and walk out onto the sidewalk. She has class in 30 minutes, anyway. Ellinor is holding the flyer in her hand, though it’s bent outta shape from Olivia’s wrath.

“I don’t know, Liv. It is kind of concerning that they know where your dorm is. Isn’t that a hate crime if it’s targeting a member of a targeted group?”

“Biphobia getting treated as biphobia instead of ‘free speech’ discussing sexual behavior that both straights and gays sneer at? In this economy?” Olivia slips her own shades on and shoves the forsaken paper into her bag. “And besides, my dorm is easy to find out. All they’d need is one person to see me walking in, or one person who lives in the same hall as me.”

Ellinor slurps her hot matcha latte and hands it over to her, before pulling her aviator shades down from atop her head of a loose braid crown. She slides her arm through the second shoulder strap of her backpack.

Olivia is steeping. On the surface she looks straight up pissed, which is intentional. But deep down she’s nervous. This was more than she signed up for.

“What are you going to do then? It’s obvious this has to do with you hanging out with her. This is bullshit. if I was there when those punks came into the dorm, I would have shoved my timbs so far up their pastey Jesus mayo asses that….that...gah! Just really far, okay?” Ellinor grumbles and sips as they near the corner. She hasn’t had enough caffeine yet.

Olivia veers to the left and punches the crosswalk button. She reaches into her back searching for her keys as she spots her black mini cooper parked on the curb a block from them.

“I don’t know what the fuck to do! I feel like I’ve become this Scarlet Letter for something I haven’t even done. It’d be different if we had actually, like...did stuff. But she is so prim and…” the crosswalk signals walk, and they push onward. “She goes from this super interested and focused person to hands-off and out the door faster than I can get my eyeliner wings to match.”

Olivia walks faster as Ellinor hones in on the passenger door facing the curb. “Woah that’s...that’s pretty fast.”

“You think?” Olivia faces her over the car hood as she hits the car alarm button, making the headlights flash. She unlocks fast and eyes both ends of the street for surveilling gazes before sliding in.

“At least with Cullen...” Olivia tries to keep her conversation going while settling in, tossing her bag over her head. She slides her key into the ignition and checks her mirror. Ellinor slides her drink into the center console and pulls her seat belt. She’ll need it -- Olivia has a love of driving, and that love translates into speed and mastery of a stick shift.

“At least with Cullen, what?” Ellinor replies, dreading it already.

Olivia bites her lip and eyes her. “You know...at least…” she slumps forward against her steering wheel. “At least you know what his intentions are...I mean, were, for you. He was pursuing you. He wanted to do...to do things with you.” Her tone has gotten less spirited and more melancholy. Enough for Ellinor’s initial defensive pouty face to melt into sympathy. Though, Olivia worries if it’s less sympathy and more soreness at being reminded of what she tossed up.

Dammit, Liv, she thinks to herself. Ellinor isn’t as tough as she plays.

“Well...I think she really does like you,” Ellinor comforts after a pause, her gregarious personality trying its best to rally.

Olivia twists the key to start. The engine grinds and then starts with ease, and she clutches the stick shift with her manicured hand covered in black, dramatic rings on almost every finger.

“I know she likes me. What I meant was, like...you know.”

“You said she asked if she had another...didn’t she call it a ‘shot’ or something?”

“Yeah, but, I don’t--”

“Liv, I don’t know anyone who would ask if they could be friends with someone by asking if they had another shot. Remember how we met?”

Olivia looks at her windshield and snorts. “Yeah. You asked if I had time to talk about our Lord and Savior Gerard Way at a freshman ice cream social of all fucking places. Then I sat on my retainer.”

“Hah,” Ellinor sits back, elbow on the door. “Exactly. Not ‘Do I have a shot?’”

Ellinor, in her particular brand of eloquence, has a point. Cassandra is one of the most intentional people Olivia has ever met. She doesn’t even sneeze out of line. And she doesn’t strike Olivia as the kind of person to sit idle while the things and the people she wants float on by. But, there’s something still hanging her up on it all. An unspeakable hesitancy that comes from having one foot in and one foot out the door.

“I just wish she like...did the thing.”

“Thing? What thing?”

Olivia pulls the car into gear and puts her hands on the wheel, staring out her side mirror for oncoming traffic. “You know, like, there’s a thing queer people do when they want to drop their queerness on the radar. Say you loved the new Hayley Kiyoko single, or...shit, like, you went to Pride last summer and had a blast. Something.”

“Cassandra Pentaghast at Pride? Even if she’s 1/24th lady-lover, dude, I doubt she’d be down.”

“Yeah because that’s how it works, Ellinor,” Olivia chuckles and pulls into the lane, clutches and shifts into gear again as she accelerates. “It’s just like...okay, you know what I mean. Something. Just a little tidbit. Like...letting me go home with a fleece sweatshirt.”

She only has to side-eye her once to see Ellinor’s cheeks go deep with blush, her lips rolling shut.

Olivia raises a brow and adjusts her large, round black sunglasses. “Mhm.”

“Look, I said what I said. It was cold.”

“Fine, fine. I’m only holding off on hounding you ‘cause I know you have to see him again. I can almost see his face watching you leave with it. Ugh, good shit.”

Ellinor slaps her on the arm before grabbing her drink. “It wasn’t like that, dammit.”

“Not when you were looking it wasn’t,” Olivia continues to tease in that sultry tone. “But…’as she walked off, her figure becoming shapeless in the dark and only traceable by lamp light, I knew that she took a piece of my with her...a piece, of fleece…’”

“GOD you are HORRIBLE!” Ellinor’s laugh gets louder the longer Olivia does her act. The ‘poetry recitation’ voice Olivia does is too good, too pure even in its mortification. She laughs, too, as they turn onto the boulevard which will take them directly to campus.

“You talk a good story for a cynic,” Ellinor settles down, resting her knee against the door. The woman can’t sit right in any chair to save her life.

Olivia smirks as she turns her signal on, the car arriving at the light before the campus entrance. “My Mom had those movies on all day when I was a kid, okay. I internalized that trash in between Blue’s Clues episodes.”

“Ugh, I forgot, my bad.”

They pull in and drive past all the pretty red brick building tops, and people walking with backpacks on the sidewalks or running with shorts and tanks on. Olivia notices a jogger weaving through the pairings of people walking to class and she remembers the way Cassandra looked on the soccer fields, back when she was just a tall, dark, and beautiful stranger she could pretend was all these things. Never could she have foreseen this all unfolding, but a part of her misses when it was all a mystery. When it was a mystery, she could believe that Cassandra was for sure into girls. Now, she is attached to finding out the truth, and the truth might not be so kind.

They pull up into one of the Blue parking lots and by some miracle, someone is pulling out in time for her to snag the spot. She turns in and puts it into park.

“Tits up, girl,” Ellinor sighs, grabbing for her things as Olivia turns the key back, the engine going quiet. They both adjust their bras on cue at her word.

“You’re hiding that fleece in your backpack, aren’t you?” Olivia eyes the bag, a little swollen in shape.

Ellinor glares at her. “No.”

“Ellinor,” Olivia giggles, as she pulls her drink up out of the cupholder. “You don’t want to give it back. Admit it.”

“I admit…!” she looks away for a moment and composes herself. “I...am not the owner of this garment, and I will not be keeping it. It was borrowed. I said I would give it to him during class.”

“Mhmm,” Olivia hums again, reaching for the door. Before she does, though, Ellinor is not done with her side of questioning.

“You gonna tell her what happened?”

“Why should I? What is she gonna do, challenge all the preps to a duel on quad? It’s not gonna change anything. Don’t tell Cullen, either. I’m gonna...handle it. It’ll be fine.”

Ellinor rolls her eyes. “Look, I’m not any of your horoscope apps, but the Cassandra I saw last night staring down a guy stick up for someone she barely knows, seems like the kind of person who’d like to know if people are messing with her girl.”

The phrase ‘her girl’ makes Olivia’s stomach erupt into butterflies, and she blushes and looks away towards her window. Thank goodness for giant sunglasses.

“This isn’t High School. I’m not ‘her girl,’ I’m her friend. And a friend who could quickly turn out to be more work than she wanted to deal with when she realizes all her peers want to burn her at the stake.”

“Over my dead body,” Ellinor says, before grabbing Olivia on her forearm as she tries to get out for the car. “Hey, I mean it. If it’s not Cass, it’s me grabbing a crowbar, alright? Just say when and where to aim.”

Olivia looks back at her and her lower lip curdles. “Aw, Ellinor…” she tilts her head, “you do have affectionate emotions….?”

Ellinor quickly scoffs and pushes her. Back to normal in an instant. They get out, and Olivia locks the door. Slinging her bag on her shoulder she looks around again, slightly paranoid despite her cool exterior. No pastel polo shirts and no french braid pigtails. No woman in a black long-sleeve with pants and a pixie cut. For once, she’s relieved on both fronts, and walks with Ellinor down the way towards their respective lecture halls.

On the way, OIivia elbows her in the shoulder, a sly smile on her black lips. “Thanks, babe.”

Later that day --

-- Hey, you didn’t say whether you’d come with to the gala next weekend. I need confirmation!!

-- Ellinor: I can, but I’m not going to! You already have someone who can go!

-- That is the opposite of what I have! I’m not inviting her. Ughhh don’t do this to me I’ll cry.

-- Ellinor: [Kim Kardashian Tragic GIF]

-- You’re the worst. How did Cullen act when you gave back the sweater?

✓ READ AT 4:12PM

If she weren’t in the library, she would have screeched like a harpie. As it was, she was not in the place or the time to do so, so her catharsis would have to wait. She shoved her phone in her bra and goes back to collecting her arms worth of books. They aren’t for her this time -- a Professor she’s TA-ing for wanted to scan and make copies of chapters for students, and asked her to do it while they...well, do Professor things.

Such as TA’s did, and Liv being a TA as a third year undergrad was an esteemed vote of confidence she did not shirk.

She comes around the aisle she’s in and decides to cut through to the stairwell. She’s down two floors from the ground level where the checkout desk is, a level that separates the boys from the men in terms of archival dedication. She balances the six or so books of varying densities, wondering how close they are to weighing the same as her.

Around another corner and she comes upon a cluster of single-seat study desks -- you know, the kind that only libraries have, with soft wood and worn out, grey-blue upholstery. A couple heads bob up from their stationed spots at them and she pays them no mind. That is, until she sees a blonde head. Blonde, wavy head.

“C...Cullen?” she says, and is promptly shh’d by someone else. Cullen himself looks up from his desk and laptop, and grins.

“Oliv--” another shh, and he gives them a pointed stare of come on man, before pushing his chair back. “How you been?”

She bobs from foot to foot carrying the stack in both her hands. “Uh, good! Good, just, doing some TA work.”

“Oh, nice. Cassandra mentioned you TA for Professor...uh, their name esca--”

“Erickson. Professor Erickson,” she smiles. “Just for the intro to political and economic theory classes. It’s not a big thing.” It was and is a big deal. The Political Science department has a huge group of grad students who could TA or assist courses, and they often do. Taking in an undergrad for a TA position meant that undergrad could do the work they did with Bachelor’s degrees, and sometimes even Master’s degrees, under their belt. Her parents didn’t stop talking about it like that for a month after she was invited by Erickson to fill the position. Though, they made it more pompous-sounding than she would have liked.

“Yeah, well, I don’t know. Cassandra is the only other undergrad I know who TA’s.”

“She...she TA’s?”

He looks at her and his brows go together. In a sort of, ‘yeah, of course’ kind of way. Like she was supposed to know that.

“Uh, yeah! In Philosophy, I think.” Figures. The woman breathes and spews philosophy and english lit fervor like Shakespeare has used her for a horcrux. It’s...annoying. And...wonderful.

“Ah, yeah, I think she mentioned that,” she lies, and tucks hair behind her ear while balancing the stack nervously in the other arm.

“You uh, you need help with that?” he gestures to get up, but she shakes her head vehemently.

“No, no,” she replies, smiling again. “It’s fine. I need the conditioning for dance, anyways. How is your group project going?”

He grins and looks back to his desk, blinking fast. He shouldn’t have to say, she already knows. But, it’s the kindness that counts. “Oh, yeah, it’s going good. Group projects, you know. They...they are what they are.”

“Yeah, but, at least it’s with Ellinor right? It’s always better with…” she catches herself, bits her smiling lip, and looks away too. Damn, didn’t think that one through.

“It’s better with people you know, right, I gotcha,” he finishes and puts her out of her misery. He’s a good guy -- he doesn’t let anyone hang out on a limb by themselves, even if he’s a bit awkward in his solidarity. It’s easy being in his presence despite the underlying melancholy.

“Yeah, right! Sorry, my head is fried from today. Look, don’t be a stranger. Come by anytime.” she sounds like she has a house with a picket fence and not a hole-in-the-wall dorm room. The olive branch didn’t fit the ecosystem.

He smiles crookedly and nods. “For sure. Yeah. You have a safe walk back with those books.”

“Oh you know, what’s a fall down some stairs?”

He chuckles and waves his hand casually. “Whatever you say.”

She waves back and sees herself off. A couple yards away from him and she spots the staircase, she reaches in her shoulder bag while keeping her eyes on the sign that says “TO LEVEL B,” feeling for her phone and attached headphones. The papers and pack of gum get shoved in and out, and the smooth plastic of her case finally turns up. She yanks it out before the stack of books in her hand fall apart. The sound and sensation of something falling behind her to the ground pries at the back of her head, but she ignores it -- the books are heavy, and the stairs are gonna be a pain in the ass, and that pain will pale in comparison to copying individual chapters 40 copies each.

She reaches the checkout desk after a grueling journey up two flights and through another plethora of shelf rows. While catching her breath against the desk, she checks her phone. A new message sent 15 minutes prior.

Cassandra: Hey. I’m going to be grading practice midterms Friday afternoon at my TA office in Henderson Hall. I thought maybe you would have a similar workload? Want to keep each other company?

Keep each other company. How sexy. Had she said she TA’d, and Olivia just never caught that detail? That would have been something she’d remember. Oh, wait, they were talking about course-loads at one point during a walk to classes...oh, shit, that was the day Cassandra wore a blazer and took it off as she was walking and was so smooth while doing so and...and...oh. God, Olivia is too bisexual to function.

She looks up and scans the room, her gaze out of focus while she thinks. No, she has no reason to! She can deny her this once, what, does she come at her beck and call now? She has no work to do anyw--

Her email ding goes off. It’s Professor Erickson:

Hi Olivia,

My mother is in the hospital and we are heading out of town to see her. I know it’s short notice, but could you grade the stack of bibliographies in my inbox before Monday and hand them out on that day’s class? I promised the students. Just markup for Chicago style and make sure they have the 3 required sources and 2 outside, and nothing looks iffy. I’m going to cancel Friday’s class.

I might be out until middle of next week. Monday is just a hand-back day, so don’t worry about keeping them entertained after they get their work. Play a movie, maybe. Nothing too radically bootlegged, please.

Don’t worry about the chapter copies. Those aren’t needed until next Wednesday, and if you can’t get to them I will finish what you don’t. Good job today by the way explaining to that one student the difference between socialism and democratic-socialism. You are getting more concise!

Thanks!

Sent from my Iphone

Professors. The nerve. They emailed on phones even when it was a long-ass message, and yet threw fits when students didn’t title their emails with anything less than an oath to name their firstborn child after them. Erickson wasn’t that bad, though. A fun guy -- a bit too into loafers -- but a fun guy, and amazing Professor. And she was getting paid, which helped.

She rolls her eyes closed and groans so deep the poor library work study student flinches. She looks at them apologetically before turning her attention back to her phone.

-- Hey. Sure, but I can’t stay very long. What time?

Cassandra: Cool, no worries. Say around 6?

-- Yeah, that works. Henderson is that long building by bio sciences, right?

Cassandra: Actually, it’s the one to the left of quad. Big archway entrance. I’ll be at my desk in 10E.

Olivia sighs. Great, a big building on quad. In front of everyone. Open season continues for her. 6:00pm on a Friday? Why that time? Surely if they were exams they were not going to be handed back over the weekend. Did Cassandra have a life that wasn’t work, sport, and more work?

-- Right, I forgot. Whoops. Okay, see you then!

Cassandra: Awesome. See you.

Cassandra: Oh, also -- this song came up on my shuffle. It’s an old one, but it’s Adele. I would appreciate if you listened to it. I think you’d like it.

Another chance for a ‘sign’ thwarted. As promised, she sends the link to a song and it is, in fact, Adele. Adele. Olivia pouts to herself. Adele is a beautiful singer, but her songs tend to sound the same to her sometimes. One of those ‘you listen to one, you listen to them all,’ kinda deals. The song is entitled “Water Under The Bridge.” Olivia had hoped it would at least be one of the romantic ones, but it hardly sounds like a profession of love or crushing. Her frustration continues to grow in her mind, and she clicks her phone to lock.

“Alright, Ma’am, that’s it! They’re due back October 7th!” The woman on the other side of the table shoves the plastic bag of books. What a blessing to have them in a bag. She smiles, says thanks, and heads out the door into the open air of dusk. As she walks back to Jefferson Hall a few minutes away, she can’t help but look over her shoulder ever so often, hand clutching her keys in her bag. But, no one approaches or even appears, and as she gets in the door to her own academic building, it feels like it’s all in her head.

It’ll blow over. No big deal. Just have to pretend it doesn’t bother me.

She gets into the elevator and hits the #3. Thankfully, she, too, has an office to hull up in.

#update #college au #adventures of ellinor and olivia #ellinor trevelyan #olivia sinclair #modern!olivia #cullen rutherford #cassandra pentaghast #thedas modern au #GOD THIS IS JUST AHHHHHH #OLIVIA STOP BEING SO DIFFICULT #DAMMIT #ALSO ADELE IS AMAZING WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU #THIS IS NOT HOW I RAISED YOU

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justkeeptrekkin · 6 years

Note

Yay writing prompts!! How about this, if it catches your fancy: Obviously from taking one look at teenage Aizawa we know that he was the kind of emo nerd who wrote moody poetry in a journal. What if he loses the journal one day? What if Mic finds it? What if Mic reads it and thinks the poems would make really good song lyrics?

Oh man this is such a cute idea!

There is nothing, literally nothing more humiliating than this.

He’s searched all of his classrooms. He’s visited lost property, retraced every step through the corridors and stairwells, asked his Art History teacher if they’d seen a dog-eared notebook left on the desk after class. He’s checked, double-checked, and triple-checked his locker.

It’s gone.

He’s spent an hour searching during his study period- because, let’s be real, when has he ever actually used a study period for anything but napping- but it has, apparently, disappeared into the ether.

It’s completely impossible for it to have just gone. It’s illogical for it to just not be anywhere. Someone must have taken it.

Shouta stops in his tracks the moment this occurs to him, just as he’s leaving Yuuei to head home. The hand gripping the strap of his backpack tightens. His stomach clenches.

Someone must have taken it.

It’s out of his control now. Someone’s going to read what he’s written, they’ll tell their friends, then they’ll tell their friends and then the whole school will know about his angsty poetry that no one, absolutely no one is meant to read except for him. He can’t do anything to change things now, so it’s probably irrational to feel so mortified, so angry and upset and frightened, but he does. His teeth clamp his mouth tightly shut and he swallows down the panic that is racing through his body.

He hears the sound of someone running behind him. He tries to ignore it, but he’s paranoid enough right now that he thinks they’re running after him, to poke fun of the dumb poetry notebook that no one was meant to ever find or read or-

Those footfalls are getting closer.

“Oi! Aizawa!”

Oh god oh god oh god.

The sound of the gravel grating roughly beneath his trainers sounds loud in his ears. His heart’s beating so heavily it hurts and his face is impossibly hot. Which can only mean he’s blushing furiously from the shame of it all. Which is embarrassing in itself.

Everything is awful. Life is awful. The universe is cruel.

He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and turns slowly towards-

Yamada Hizashi.

Read more under the cut!

Shouta prepares himself.

“Yo, Aizawa!”

Yamada comes to a stop in front of him. Those sunglasses that he’s constantly hiding behind have been sliding down his nose from running. He pushes them up with his index finger, offering that ubiquitous grin that Shouta’s never been all that convinced by.

“What is it?”Yamada hesitates, but his expression doesn’t change. That big, confident smile. There’s something about it. Maybe if he could see behind those glasses, Shouta could read him better. Then, Yamada swings off his backpack with an entirely unnecessary flourish and unzips his bag. His hand dives in, and re-emerges with a black, tattered notebook. The name label on the front is empty and there’s a juice stain in the bottom right hand corner.

Shouta’s shoulders rise to his ears and he wills his expression to do anything but reflect the internal screaming that’s going on inside his head right now.

“I found it in the corridor outside Art History- you ran off before I could give it back to you, I thought it was better I kept it safe in case someone else found it you know?”

Yamada passes the notebook over and Shouta takes it as calmly as possible. Nothing to see here. Just some really embarrassing, very personal poetry about how ridiculously lonely I am.

And he wants to get out of this situation as fast as possible, so he turns to go without another word.

“‘Oh hey, thanks, Yamada! No problem, listener, I just did what any good citizen would do, hey, fancy going to the arcade sometime? Sure, sounds great, Yamada!’”

Shouta stops in his tracks- for the third time since he’s tried to leave Yuuei campus today. He turns to look at his classmate with weary, half-closed eyes.

“Thank you,” he says pointedly.

Yamada smirks, and bows theatrically. “Any time!”

Shouta nods stiffly. Tries to escape again.

“You’re poetry’s really cool, by the way.”He spins round and pins Yamada down with a glare. And he doesn’t mean for it to happen, but he activates his quirk and he feels his hair lifting off his shoulders. Yamada throws up his hands in defence.

“Hey, hey- I mean it, it’s really-”

“You read it? You read through my stuff?”

He’s so irrationally angry and unsettled, like a cornered animal. Why in the hell did this guy think it was a good idea to go reading through someone else’s personal stuff? Who was he to-?

“I didn’t mean to!” Yamada gesticulates wildly, throws his head back and presses a palm to his forehead in anguish. “I mean, I saw it on the floor, it’d fallen open on one of the pages- the one about how obsessed people are with self image and- look, I didn’t read any of the others, I swear, man.”

Shouta bristles, glares at Yamada. His hair’s settled back on his shoulders but he imagines- hopes- his expression is still threatening.

“Don’t tell anyone about it.”

Yamada opens his mouth to speak, then shuts it again. Then, “I won’t, I totally won’t. But, like, have you ever thought that you’re a super good writer? You could write really cool lyrics- I like to write lyrics too, but they’re nowhere near as insightful as yours-”

Shouta huffs, a not-quite-laugh. Yamada smiles, a little triumphant. “What’s funny?”

“Nothing,” Shouta says truthfully. “I guess… I’m surprised you liked that poem. If it’s the one I’m thinking of.”

The smile falters. “What do you mean?”Shouta’s stomach plummets. He didn’t think that through. He shouldn’t have said anything. And- oh, no. He’s actually waiting for an answer.

He swallows.

“You’re...” Shouta looks at the boy in front of him. Hair styled to an inch of its life, school shirt unbuttoned so dangerously low that he’s surely been told off for it at least once today, tie loose and sleeves rolled up. The sunglasses that can only be there for show. The painted nails.

“I’m dumb! You think I’m dumb, don’t you?” he exclaims, arms crossing in front of his chest.Shouta opens his mouth, but, classically, Yamada gets there first. Talkative as ever.

“You think I’m one of those people in your poems who only cares about themselves and obsesses over what people think of them, right? Right?”

Shouta doesn’t say anything, but the rapid beating of his heart takes on a different tone- from panic to guilt. He wants to stick his head in the ground and never see the light of day again. Yamada’s fists are clenched at his sides and his lower lip is jutting out like- oh god. Oh god, is he crying?

“I…”

And then he storms towards him. Shouta recoils, leaning back as far as possible without falling over. Yamada pokes him in the chest, not hard enough that it hurts, but it’s enough to make his indignation clear. “I’ve been trying to make friends with you all year! ‘Cause- ‘cause I thought you seemed cool, and I’ve seen how nice you can be, like when that girl dropped her lunch in the cafeteria you went and helped and you didn’t care what anyone else thought- and- you don’t let anyone stop you from doing what you want or being who you wanna be, you just go to sleep in the middle of study period with your weird sleeping bag and you don’t even give a shit because nothing embarrasses you and I thought that was super cool- and- I just wanted to be nice back to you, but all you do is roll your eyes and act like you don’t care! Well- whatever! OK? Whatever! If you wanna be a douchebag, be a douchebag!”

He watches him turn on the spot and charge back towards the school, pulling the straps of his backpack tightly over his shoulders. Blonde hair bouncing with every angry step. And Shouta watches in amazement, because he had no idea anyone even gave him a second thought. He tries to keep his head down, concentrate on getting decent grades. He’s never even tried to make friends, so it never occurred to him that anyone else would want to try make friends with him. And honestly, he’d always figured Yamada’s exuberance around him was kind of a prank. Like those asshole boys who ask out the uncool girls for a joke.

Shouta blinks dumbly at Yamada’s receding figure. And then, suddenly, he stops and turns back. Pouting furiously and frown so deep it’s comical. He’s making his way towards Shouta again.

“Oh. Shit-” he mutters to himself.

“And by the way,” he hisses, when he’s close enough for no one else to hear, “I really did like your poem!’

And then Yamada really does decide to disappear back into Yuuei.

For someone who doesn’t embarrass easily, Shouta feels pretty ashamed.

000

When Shouta takes his seat the next morning, Yamada’s already there at his desk next to him. Shouta unpacks his stuff, turns towards Yamada, not really knowing what to say yet. But Yamada doesn’t give him the chance. He turns his chair conspicuously away from him. It makes a grating noise against the floor. Kayama looks over her shoulder, widens her eyes slightly and bites her lip as if not to laugh.

Shouta sighs. He tries to concentrate as their homeroom teacher discusses the Sports Festival with them, but he can’t. The waves of resentment coming from Yamada right now are way too distracting.

Shout tears off a piece of lined paper from his notes.

Can you help me with the English homework? I’m stuck on question 7

He passes it to Yamada beneath his desk. The boy double-takes, is painfully obvious as he looks between the teacher and Shouta’s note and the rest of the room before he takes it. Shouta gives him a moment to read it, turns away and does his best not to feel to eager as he waits for him to write his reply.

He sees the white scrap of paper in his peripheral, and rather more subtly, takes it from Yamada.

Sure!!!! But only if we hit the arcade after :P and call me Mic. That’s my hero name after all!!!!!!

Shouta looks down at the note and feels the ghost of a smile creeping its way to his lips.

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sidbridgecomedy · 5 years

Text

Running Open Mic Night

Hey comics...

I thought I'd sit down a second and give some insight into the difficulties of running one of the most important open mics in the area (and the longest running one at that). I get a lot of feedback/wishes from comics who want more time or more freedom. Here's the rationale behind the way I run things at Cozzy's, as it unfolded live last Thursday.

Yes, there's backstage work. I have to decide each week if I'm going to host it myself or if I'm going to give someone else the honors. That "someone else" must be someone I deem as capable of running the evening - some can handle it without me there, some need a little hand-holding (and that's ok).

While I do promote the show on social media, the show's presence on the calendar promotes itself. The words "Open Mic" on the official calendar of an established comedy club are an enticement that lure in first-timers and their friends. I also make sure we have a sign up sheet and get there early to run sign-up.

Yeah, 30 comics may sign up in one night and those comics are a chunk of the audience, but the rest of it consists of a few club regulars, a couple of people who wandered in, and a ton of people there to see their friend try comedy for the first time.

Last Thursday, I frankly felt beat up by 8:15. The list had been out for less than 15 minutes and already 30 people had signed up, not including an expected drop-in from one of my favorite headliners. I estimate 20 of those people were there before I put the list out. I'm strict about sign-up time - the list goes out at 8:00 and closes at 8:30. Why? Because 1) It gives me the ability/time to plan the show and arrange the lineup and 2) If you can't handle something as simple as "Get here by this time to sign up" your ass won't make it to a weekend show on time and you'll get fired.

I snatched the list up at exactly 8:30 and started arranging the lineup. Not two minutes later I feel a tap... "Can I still get on that list?" Nope. I had 34 comics plus a headliner. I made that clear to the latecomer (who I like enough not to name here) and got "How much do I have to pay to get on the list?"

Dude. You could pay me a million bucks and it still wouldn't bend space and time to create a place to add someone to a show that over-packed. Two minutes later a second comic came in - a more experienced comic who I happen to love, but he saw the list and knew there was no space. He had the courtesy to not bother asking. That's an asset.

I still had to arrange this monster list. Only on rare occasions do I put people up in the order they sign up. It sucks, but as a host you have to make value judgments. If you know three comics are going to struggle, you can't put them back to back. If you know a few comics are going to rock, you want them up there when the audience is at its peak. If you know someone brought a ton of friends, you want them towards the end so their friends don't bail on the show.

Plus I had a headliner. Brett Leake is one of my favorite people in the world. He always asks me in advance for a space and if I told him 30 people were signing up he would offer to back out without a second thought. I always bend over backwards to make sure he's got a spot. Why? The audience needs to see him - he's hilarious and it reminds everyone that sometimes a headliner shows up out of nowhere at Open Mic Night. And the comics need to see him. Every aspiring comic in that room needs to watch how a guy like Brett irons out new material. Brett is a mensch. He insists on going up early, and he did exactly 5 minutes. Typically a headliner will ask to go in the middle of the show and do 10-15 and that's their right as far as I'm concerned, assuming their headliner credentials are legit and verifiable.

Once I've got that lineup set, I have to corral everyone for a pre-show meeting. Is it a little juvenile that I make everyone hear the same speech before each show? Maybe. Do people screw up every single week? Yep.

It's gotten to the point where I can tell by the look in a first-timer's eyes if they are going to be either funny, nervous/terrible, or a complete asshole with nothing but disrespect for the stage. I always ask the first-timers to stick around after the meeting for some basic comedy 101 and a pep talk. Without fail, one out of every three first-timers will ignore all the rules and have to be pulled from the stage.

Last week it happened and I saw it coming a mile away. Look, maybe the poor guy was nervous, but the dumb grin on his face was like a caption for a picture where every word I said slide in one ear and right out the other.

I have rules. At the behest of the club I work for, I ask the following: 1. Never use the N-word or C-word (for obvious reasons). 2. Avoid the F-word. If it slips out once or twice or makes the joke hilarious I let it go. If it's unnecessary or repeated like it's a damn comma in your sentence, you're done. This is the rule people have the most trouble with because to so many of us it's just a word. And I get that. But I'm not worried about your feelings. I'm worried about the audience and the tone of my show, so suck your feelings in for one night and put a sock in it. Oh, and "Mother***ker" is still the f-word so don't try semantics on me. 3. Don't be disgusting. Don't hump the stool and talk about your bodily fluids the whole time. Again, this one gets a lot of brush-back because apparently bodily fluids are the only life experience a lot of people have to talk about. Again, my responsibility is to the club and the only way the club makes money on open mic night is if people order food and drinks, which they won't do if they want to throw up.

We had to piggyback the hosting that night for obvious reasons, so my job as host was about as dry as it gets. Warm the crowd up at the beginning of the show, then spend the rest of the night timing people and enforcing the rules. The list of comics for the show ended up at a whopping 34 - I was lenient with two people who got there super early and signed up on a sheet of paper that wasn't actually the list. It was an honest mistake.

(Note - even that honest mistake is a tough one for the show runner to deal with. Adding a comic outside of signup time can mean having to shuffle the whole show, change set times, and confuse people who don't know who they have to introduce next. That's why I get pretty cranky over this stuff).

I did four minutes at the beginning of the show. It's the host's prerogative to set his or her own time. My goal was to use a few specific bits that were good enough to guarantee a laugh, but new enough to work on in front of a good crowd. By the way, anyone who complains about being first, remember you aren't first. The host is first. You're second. You're going up to a warmed-up crowd. It's not the best spot on the show, but it's not bad so don't bitch.

Brett Leake (Did I mention he's a wonderful person? Because he is) listened and reacted to every comic he was able to watch. When I got off the stage, he had specific feedback on each of my bits and it was like a gift from heaven. If a headliner ever gives you feedback on your material, LISTEN and be thankful.

After that I settled into what I knew would be an exhausting night. I worried for myself, I worried for the comics and I worried for the crowd. 34 is basically too many people. I better explain myself again...

Why let 34 people on stage, then?

Who am I going to cut? Plenty of mics put 15 slots up and when they are full, that's it. There are just too many people I DON'T want to turn away: Talented comics, comics who are loyal to the club and the show, first timers who brought out their friends or didn't bring friends but finally got up the guts to try - and those categories cover most of the signups. Plus there needs to be a good variety on the show. If I just let the experienced comics on, nobody new will develop and the first timers with tons of friends will stop attending.

Why not make the show longer then? Nope. That's rude to the audience. A comedy show should really go no more than an hour and a half. We stretch to two hours, sometimes 5 or ten minutes more, to squeeze everyone on. By the end, the audience is exhausted. The are starting to clear out and we are risking leaving them with a bad taste in their mouths.

So I took my trusty timer and my flashlight and kicked back to watch what was ultimately a good show - one of the major highlights being Brett Leake, who has the rare ability to write material that requires you to engage your brain, yet still bring it down to a level that any audience can relate to. Most of the comics were super courteous - carefully following the rules, not running over time and really working on solid material.

Yes, some were terrible. And while it has always been policy to shorten the set of a terrible comic, most of the time no one notices when we're only doing 3 minutes. If someone is up there for one crappy minute and I give them the light, that means they get another crappy minute. That's most of their three minute set. So yeah, no real lesson learned there.

One thing that often shocks me at these shows is when comics don't make use of that final minute - I'm not complaining that more than half the lineup ended their sets 30-45 seconds early because it helped fit everyone on stage, but I give two lights - a solid beam to signal one minute is left, and a waving light to signal ten seconds. Go to the 10 second mark, then finish - abruptly if you have to. Between early endings and a couple of people who had to leave and drop off of the show, we were able to stay on time all evening.

The pleasant surprises make it fun - we had one first-timer who did really well and had the right amount of humility. I hope he comes back. The annoyances are ever present. The first-timer I mentioned earlier got up there and dropped the f-bomb more times than I could count in his first 15 seconds. Yeah, it's "just a word" but this guy was in the meeting where I explained very clearly not to do that, then stayed after when I repeated that rule right in his face. At least he obeyed the light and ended his set when I shined it on him at 30 seconds. I'm still a little pissed because when I pulled him aside and told him why I lit him early, there wasn't a hint of an apology.

I don't need this guy to apologize. He made his statement and it'll cost him later. On the flip side, I have another regular who has a very hard time stopping himself from using the F-bomb and he came up to me before the show and apologized sincerely for some language he used last week. That was the right thing to do. He's a good guy and I hope to see him continue.

At about the halfway point of the show the audience started to thin. Generally, I make the comics stick around for the whole show because that's an expected courtesy. If they do need to leave early, I ask for an explanation - and if it's reasonable, I'm usually okay with it. I try not to hold myself up as the litmus test for reasonable - I run that show to the bitter end, then get up at 5am the next morning for my 4-mile run. That's not normal and I recognize that.

I think the crowd thinned in this case just because - even in one hour - it's exhausting to watch a show that has that many comics. Cramming 15 people on stage in 60 minutes feels a lot longer than it actually is. I appreciate all the comics who went later in the lineup and still gave it their all for a slightly smaller audience - not a bad audience, mind you - Cozzy's open mic shows have been blessed with actual non-comic audience members - plenty of them.

The show ended up finishing at 10:50pm, which is good. No, I didn't use that extra time for the two comics I turned away because 1) They left, 2) The audience was tired so would have had to set themselves on fire to get laughs and 3) That would kind of negate the whole "be on time to sign up" message.

The aftermath of a show like that is actually pretty rewarding. The best comics of the bunch hang around and talk about what worked and what didn't work - they share stories about recent gigs and talk about what shows they have coming up. It's a wonderful fraternity with a true mixture of all types - even "edgy" comics still come to my show in spite of the fact that quite a few of their friends don't like me and my rules.

Some day I will have to hand Open Mic Night off to a new boss. I've been running it for more than five years and it's as exhausting as it is rewarding. For me it sometimes becomes a crutch that allows me to rationalize not being aggressive enough in my own bookings because I have a show to run. However I really love Cozzy's. From the beginning, Lorain has been there with opportunities and honest assessments of my progress. I've met amazing people thanks to all the work I've done at that club and wouldn't trade the experience for the world. There's a reason Cozzy's is the longest running comedy club in the area - while bar gigs come and go, Cozzy's continues to assemble the right talent for a well-nurtured audience of honest, rowdy blue collar heroes.

There you have it. This was supposed to be Open Mic Night in a nutshell, but as you can see it's much more complex. We've experimented with alternative formats before, including pre-selected spots, bi-weekly ProAm shows and only doing Open Mic once or twice a month. It's always come back to what we have now.

Other successful open mic formats in the area have included the Funny Bone's bringer show, Clash of the Comics - which packs the house every month and really takes the competitors to a new level and the original Cinema Cafe formula, where the comics were carefully pre-selected and the audience was developed with care to help each comic build a following.

I'm always open to new ideas, but for now I'm proud to be one of the many people in the area who help new talent reach that next level.

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movienotesbyzawmer · 3 years

Text

August 21: Mission: Impossible II

(previous notes: Mission: Impossible)

Not gonna lie, this is without question the Mission: Impossible movie that is remembered most unfavorably by me and, I'm pretty sure, everyone else. My recollection is that they tried SO SO SO SO HARD to make an action movie for Today's Kids; I'm typing this with the title screen of the 4K Blu-ray blasting its turn-of-the-millennium neo-metal version of the classic theme with Tom Cruise running in front of a wall of flame and it's just like come on. Is there even must fun spycraft in this? The first one promised lots of gravely furtive glancing, world-class makeup disguises, and dazzling gadgetry. Did this movie's director John Woo replace those with just way way way too much shooting and chasing and sexy vehicles? That's how I remember it but it's been a couple of decades.

I should probably address this series' exciting approach to director selection. The first one was directed by the legendary Brian De Palma, who brought us Carrie, The Untouchables, and Carlito's Way. Whether or not this one worked out, the trend here seemed to be to choose a respected director with a certain cred that could be imported into the franchise. More on that as this series unfolds. I am now to press play.

Opening scene is about a scientist who injects himself with something while a voiceover teases us with I-already-forget-what.

Oh, he's pals with Ethan; they're on a plane together out of Sydney when some bad-guy shenanigans totally thwart the whole fly-to-the-destination-safely thing. But! It wasn't even Ethan! It was good-ol' makeup fake-outery! It was a heist to take the warn leather pouch that the scientist had.

This I remember - during the opening credits, the REAL Ethan Hunt is climbing somewhere impressive, all freestyle like. All the related supplemental marketing materials never fail to talk up Tom Cruise's penchant for doing his own stunts, but these don't look real.

He then receives a fancy techno-message in a very, very dramatic and action-movie-ish fashion, which is that someone flies a helicopter by his climbing mountain and fires a rocket near him containing message-glasses tech! The voice in the message glasses sounds like Anthony Hopkins. Is it Anthony Hopkins?

Anyway now he has to go to Spain to recruit Thandie Newton and here is where it's already starting to get way too the-style-of-John-Woo. There is a flamenco show and Ethan and TN spot each other across the room. There is SLO MOTION and SPANISH STOMPING and ACOUSTIC GUITAR, and THOSE TWO GAZING AT EACH OTHER. I tell you I do not care for it.

What happens next is TN proceeds to use fancy technology and lockpicking skills to steal a well-concealed necklace. Ethan tags along flirtatiously. She still tries to steal the necklace even though this Lothario, this smarmy but irresistible cad, is trying to distract her with his testosterone.

Ugh, I was very right to remember not liking stuff about this movie. Ethan fails to recruit her at the jewel heist, so he car-chases at her the next day! He calls her during the car chase to irritate/seduce her, and she's all "you'll have to catch me ha ha", and it ends in a nearly fatal crash and then they KISS. The director worked very hard to ensure the kissing was HAWT, and Ethan has now successfully recruited TN for both spy work and boinkage.

Anthony Hopkins! He is in the next scene! That really was him! How did I forget that he is in this movie. This scene where he meets with Ethan and fills him in on everything is effectively expository. But then after he knows what he's gotta do, he walks with INTENSITY and it is in SLOW MOTION next to a BURNING EFFIGY THING with ELECTRIC GUITAR MUSIC GOING ON.

0:33:40 - Oh now it's a little more what I like, with a montage about using spy tech to get Ambrose, the bad guy who was pretending to be Ethan on the plane in the beginning, to track TN. And to further assure us that there is techie-fun to be had, Ving Rhames returns to be that guy for Ethan's team. But there is also time in this sequence for shots of TN walking slowly and looking super pretty. You know, so she can seduce Ambrose. A flowing scarf figures prominently in this imagery. A John Woo Film.

I like that they tricked Ambrose into thinking he is so damn smart for tracking her down. I also like Ambrose's compound on Sydney Harbour, it is a bitchin property.

Scene just happened where Ambrose seriously menaces his friend and uses a cigar-clipper on his finger. Ambrose is a bad friend.

But then they're all at the horse race game, even Ambrose's injured friend, who we learn is named Stemp and who is spying on TN, and Ethan and VR are spying on them all. There are shots of TN doing sleight of hand to steal a tape from Ambrose's pocket and it's pretty good spy-shot stuff.

I guess I should mention that there's one more guy on Ethan's team of four, an Australian guy. I haven't caught his name, so he is Australian Guy now, and he is pretending to be an employee of the horse race game venue. He gets bullied by Stemp! We don't like Stemp!

The tape she stole, they watch it right away and it shows footage of what the virus (there's a virus problem at the center of this) does. It is effective, and a little shocking.

But then, this is surprisingly actually kind of well-conveyed - they made it VERY clear that the tape was originally in Ambrose's left jacket pocket, and they showed very clearly that TN returned it to the wrong jacket pocket, AND it's obvious a moment later that Ambrose knows it has been replaced in the wrong jacket pocket. Don't know why, but at least it's keeping us on top of this situation.

Also not-too-shabby is how they're doing the consequences of Ethan and TN fancying each other, except then she has to go and seduce Ambrose and that's uncomfortable and drama-making. In Ethan's defense, as well as Ambrose's, I am also in love with TN right now.

1:02:12 - Ethan disguised himself as Scientist, the dead one from the beginning, and I'm just saying I'm glad this movie is embracing the disguise-craft theme that was established in the first movie. Ooh, is the show like that too?

And then just as I've typed that, it turns out that Ambrose did an Ethan disguise (it was established by Anthony Hopkins that Ambrose was an IMF agent so he can do that stuff too) to trick TN into outing her intentions. They make it very clear that there is voice-fake tech with their disguises that involves a wire mesh thing stuck to the throat.

Next up is a heist scheme to break into a skyscraper where they're growing stuff about the virus, and it's a little bit of that style I liked so much in the last movie, with the added twist that Ambrose is somewhere else anticipating what Ethan's planning, and, I think, plotting a separate, way-better heist. They're still talking about it and the heist is happening and it is suspenseful! I totally like this more than I remember.

1:13:30 - Ethan is at the part of the heist where he's at fancy lab facilities with robot arms and AI voices and oddly no people. VR and Australian Guy are observing everything that's happening using technology and Australian Guy's helicopter, making it more suspenseful, but I also don't know exactly what's going on? We appear to be where Scientist originally injected himself, and Ethan is I think killing the virus while also somehow visualizing Scientist injecting himself.

But then that all goes away because a platoon of thugs in black burst in and are shooting at Ethan. It all quickly became an action movie with blazing guns and VR's tech van getting bombed.

In the fracas it's clear that one of the injector guns contains the last of the virus, and also gunplay might shatter it and make them all infected, so that's decent suspense. But also, the lighting in this bio-lab is like a nightclub, with inexplicably roving spotlights and neon accents that pop in 4K.

TN is in the mix, and she decides to inject the last of the virus into herself, and there's a dumb moment where it's like ETHAN YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SHOOT ME WITH YOUR GUN and Ethan, Man of Ethics, does not do that. Instead there is more gunplay and Ethan jumps out a hole he made in the wall.

1:28:45 - We've moved to new location, a new compound, and it's on a guard-patrolled island and Ethan sneaks up on a guard and does a totally unnecessary body-flip martial arts move to take him out. I think he needs to steal the antidote from this compound so that he can save TN, who is somewhere else. He is visually passionate about this mission.

Ethan got caught sneaking in to this new compound by Stemp, and he did a whole grenade blowup thing but he still got caught. It's a trick, right? Yup, he put an Ethan mask on Stemp and a Stemp mask on himself and got Ambrose to kill Stemp. He realizes he just killed Stemp because of the finger injury, good job with that.

I am reminded that this movie is from the director of Face/Off, so I needn't have feared that the mask/disguise conceit would be forsaken.

But did he get the antidote? He must have. Sometimes when I'm typing notes I miss stuff, but he's now motorcycling away while VR and Australian Guy are providing support from their chopper.

This is now the vehicle-chase opera that I remember ending the movie so terribly extendedly. Much gunplay. Vehicles pirouette with violent elegance. Ethan can do such exquisite dances with his motorcycle and firearm. This climaxes in the ridiculous feat of Ethan and Ambrose riding their cycles at each other and jumping at off them at each other to finish the job sans vehicle. It ends as a tussle on the beach, and Ambrose has a knife that almost gets in Ethan's eye. The visual on that is striking. But it's no good, Ethan is too Tom Cruise for him. He gets the knife from him and DISCARDS THE KNIFE, and punch-kick-fights him a lot instead. Ethics.

Turns out Ambrose has a gun after all oh no. But then it turns out Ethan is standing by a sand-obscured gun somehow also oh good. He does a thoroughly storyboarded sand-kick-body-twirl gun recovery that ends like you'd guess.

So although there are some dumb things about this movie, I think it's better than I remembered. And having just watched the first one, I think it actually did a good job of having a story where you don't have to ignore a lot of stupidness. It's not like it's an especially good plot, but it didn't try to make you forget its holes like the first one. I still like the first one better, though.

(next: Mission: Impossible III)

#Mission: Impossible II #MI:2

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dipulb3 · 3 years

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The 2021 Polestar 2 is a truly cool EV

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/the-2021-polestar-2-is-a-truly-cool-ev-2/

The 2021 Polestar 2 is a truly cool EV

The Polestar 2 is one of the coolest EVs on sale.

Daniel Golson/Roadshow

Most new EVs either look too normal to stand out or too strange to entice regular consumers, but the Polestar 2 perfectly lands in that middle ground. To my eyes, this is one of the first truly cool EVs — at least in terms of more affordable cars. And when it comes to new segments and emerging tech, sometimes being cool is the most important thing.

Fantastic stying inside and out

Super quick and fun to drive

Great Google infotainment system

Don’t Like

Less range than Tesla

Only comes in one expensive configuration

Limited servicing network

A real crowd pleaser

I live in Los Angeles, where hybrids and EVs are common — basically every other car you see is a Tesla. But the Polestar really grabs peoples’ attention. Chalk some of that up to it being new and some of it to its lack of badging — either way, most people just don’t know the hell it is. They just know it’s something new and cool, and want to learn more about it.

It’s hard to categorize the Polestar 2. At first glance it looks like a traditional sedan, but it’s got a fastback rear end with a hatch instead of a trunk. The Polestar has a higher ride height than most sedans (it’s an inch taller than a BMW 3 Series but more than 4 inches shorter in length) and SUV-like body cladding, making it a bit of a pseudo-crossover. However you classify it, the Polestar 2 is an extremely handsome car, with minimal body surfacing and great proportions.

It’s obvious the Polestar 2 was originally designed to be a Volvo, but that’s not a bad thing. Still, lots of little details set it apart from other Volvos, like the blocky patterned grille and full-width LED taillight strip. The only badges on the car are body-color Polestar logos on the hood and trunk, as well as subtle stickers on the front doors that denote the model name, battery pack size and power output.

The Volvo influence is obvious in the 2’s interior, but Polestar’s designers really turned the specialness up a notch or two. My test car has the Slate color scheme, which features vegan WeaveTech surfaces that feel like a high-end windbreaker and black ash wood trim. There’s a good amount of head- and legroom for front and rear passengers and the cabin feels airy thanks to the huge standard panoramic sunroof. I wish there was a sunshade for the roof, though, as direct sunlight can still be annoying despite the tinted glass. Another major downside is a lack of storage up front, with only one usable cupholder in the center console (there’s another under the center armrest) and fairly small door pockets. Still, the overall vibe is very Swedish high-end furniture/audio store and it genuinely feels premium.

The Polestar’s Google-based infotainment system is one of our favorites.

Daniel Golson/Roadshow

OK, Google, you rule

The Polestar 2 is the first production car to use Google’s Android Automotive infotainment tech and even for a staunch iPhone user like myself I think it’s easily one of the best systems on the market. (Don’t worry, Apple CarPlay functionality is coming and I don’t even miss it during my time with the car.) The system looks fantastic and the 11-inch screen is super quick and snappy, plus it’s easy to log into my Google account via QR code and download apps like Spotify from the Google Play store. There aren’t too many apps yet and missing ones include Audible and some major podcast platforms, but they’re coming. The Google Assistant voice commands work well too and it can even control things like the seat heaters. The only physical controls are a volume knob and buttons for the heated windshield and rear window, meaning even climate controls are accessed through the screen, but that’s easy to get used to.

The best part of the Android system is that Google Maps is the native navigation. I typically gravitate towards using Google Maps through CarPlay over any built-in nav and it looks even sharper on the Polestar’s display — there’s even a nearly full-screen view for Maps in the 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster. The Google tech has some nice EV-specific features, like showing the estimated range and charge you’ll have at the end of a set journey and providing an info-filled list of charging stations. I do wish you could see a satellite map view, though.

Shirking the EV norms

For now, every Polestar 2 comes the same way; there’s one battery pack size and one motor configuration. There’s an electric motor at each axle for a combined output of 408 horsepower and 487 pound-feet of torque, with all-wheel drive as standard. With a 0-to-60-mph time of 4.5 seconds the Polestar 2 is damn quick. Launches push you back in your seat and the performance doesn’t seem to fade after multiple goes. There’s no sport mode or adjustable power setting, so you’ve always got the full amount of torque no matter what. I do like that you can turn the idle creep function on and off, too — I prefer to leave it off like a brake hold feature.

There are three settings for the steering, the firmest of which is my favorite. It’s really nicely weighted, direct and actually offers a good amount of feedback, which is not the norm for EVs. The Polestar’s chassis is great too and the car feels a lot more nimble than its nearly 5,000-pound weight suggests. An ESC Sport mode reduces the intervention of the stability control, but it doesn’t make a massive difference in the dry. Overall, the Polestar 2 is just as fun to drive in the twisties as it is around town. Impressive.

That subtle styling packs a major punch.

Daniel Golson/Roadshow

But the best part of the Polestar 2 isn’t how it launches or how it corners, it’s how it stops. The 2 has a regenerative braking system that affords true one-pedal driving and once you’ve experienced an EV with a good one-pedal system, it’s hard to go back to anything else. The Polestar lets you select between having the regen fully off, having it in a low setting that won’t bring the car to a complete stop, or keeping it in the standard mode. Keeping the Polestar in the standard mode the whole time, I maybe touch the brake pedal half a dozen times over the course of a week of testing. Even during a very spirited drive on some canyon roads, the regen is so strong and easy to regulate that I never have to tap the brakes.

You can add a $5,000 performance package, but honestly, I wouldn’t. While I love the design of the 20-inch wheels and the gold seatbelts, the Polestar 2’s regenerative braking makes the performance pack’s upgraded front Brembo brakes unnecessary. And as cool as the manually adjustable Öhlins dampers might seem, they’re annoying to adjust and make the car ride worse than with the standard setup. Plus, if you really want bigger wheels, a set of 20-inchers with a sweet 4-spoke design is available for $1,200.

Standard active-safety features include Volvo’s Pilot Assist system (adaptive cruise control with steering assist), automated emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic assist, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, a 360-degree camera and parking sensors. Every Polestar 2 also comes with heated front and rear seats, a heated steering wheel, heated windshield wipers, active LED headlights, a Harman Kardon sound system, ambient interior lighting and a wireless phone charger.

The Polestar 2’s interior reminds me of high-end furniture.

Daniel Golson/Roadshow

Let’s talk about range

The EPA says the Polestar 2 has a range of 233 miles per charge and while I never fully charge or fully deplete the battery pack, the car’s estimated range readout seems accurate if not a little conservative. It only gives the range in 5-mile increments, which I think is fine — I’m never going to get close enough to empty for a super-precise readout to really matter anyway. The Polestar’s range is way more enough for me and it certainly is enough for the majority of consumers, especially those with short commutes. But I wouldn’t hesitate to take it on a long highway trip that would require charging; Polestar says the 2 can gain an 80% charge in just 40 minutes on a 150-kilowatt DC fast charger.

There’s a lot of public charging in Los Angeles, but nearly every time I charged it was at the same location close to my apartment, so I didn’t have to deal with a lot of searching for stations that aren’t either broken or occupied. (There was a massive puddle of oil on the ground next to my parking spot the first time I charged, go figure.) While Polestar has no fast-charging network of its own like Tesla, you can charge it up at third-party stations like those from Electrify America and EVgo. Polestar also recently announced a partnership with ChargePoint in which the companies will launch an in-car app and expand access to all of ChargePoint’s 130,000 chargers.

Rejoice! It’s a hatchback!

Daniel Golson/Roadshow

One configuration fits all

The Polestar 2 starts at $61,200 including destination, but before any incentives. It’s eligible for a federal $7,500 tax credit, which brings the price down to $52,400. With $1,200 Snow paint and the $5,000 performance pack, my test car is $67,400. The only option left on the table is the $4,000 ventilated leather interior that would bring the price to $71,400. So yeah, the Polestar is quite pricey, even among other premium EVs. (Cheaper models with fewer standard features will eventually arrive, though no details have been announced yet.)

The easiest comparison to draw is with the Tesla Model 3, as it’s the only other premium electric sedan in the same size class as the Polestar. The all-wheel-drive Long Range Model 3 starts at $46,690 before any incentives and offers slightly quicker acceleration and a much longer range (353 miles). Then there’s the $54,690 Model 3 Performance, which has a 315-mile range and will hit 60 mph a full second quicker than the Polestar. In terms of performance and value for money, the Model 3 creams the Polestar 2.

I don’t want the Tesla, though. The Polestar 2 is more enjoyable to drive, better to look at and way nicer inside, plus I prefer its tech and the hatchback rear end. And most importantly (at least to me), the Polestar is just more interesting. Even if Teslas weren’t so common where I live, I’d still want to be seen in the Polestar. Driving it feels like I’m at the cutting edge of the industry.

The Polestar 2 is currently available to order online, with test drives, delivery and servicing handled by the brand’s Spaces showrooms. As of right now there are only a few, mostly in California with one in Denver and another in New York City. But Polestar promises that 15 more showrooms will open by the end of 2021 in places like Boston, Seattle, Detroit and Miami. If you’re interested in a premium electric car and have a Polestar Space near you, I highly recommend checking it out. You might end up the coolest person in your neighborhood.

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imagine-loki · 7 years

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Magic Mistake

TITLE: Magic Mistake CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 5 AUTHOR: staria ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine being a witch (on Earth) and accidentally summoning Loki. He gets angry and confused, but ends up actually liking your company and teaches you more magic. RATING: T NOTES/WARNINGS:

——–

Three weeks had passed before I heard from Loki again. I was already thinking that I would never hear from him again, when he showed up one Saturday morning and knocked on my door. As always I was still in my pajamas trying to figure out what to eat for breakfast.

I opened the door to find him holding a box of donuts and cup of something that smelled like coffee.

“I bring edible goods,” he said, sounding extremely cheerful, which was really weird for him. He then bended forward, extending his arm towards me, giving me the box like it was a lost treasure brought from a mystical land just for me.

I was surprised that he had showed up like this out of nowhere acting like we were cool, he seemed to have forgotten that we had a bad fight a few weeks ago. I reluctantly let him in and grabbed the box with the donuts and carried it to the kitchen. I opened the box and grabbed a glazed donut and immediately began eating it. Mad or not, I never said no to free food.

“Hi, Loki. Nice of you to finally show up. I thought you were never going to talk to me again.”

“What? Why would I ever do that?” he said, trying to act all innocent with sad puppy eyes and all.

“Because of last time. You were a total jerk the last time we were training. Remember?” I said, while licking all the sugary goodness from my fingers.

“Psssh. I would never do that, it was all a misunderstanding, little witch,” he said, grinning “if you don’t want to train today, we don’t have to. I just thought I would be nice and bring you a treat,” he said, opening the box and handing me another donut which I happily grabbed.

“I don’t think we should train for now. I’ve been practicing by myself and it’s been going fine,” I said, crossing my arms.

He seemed to realize that I was still not happy, so he completely changed the subject before I could say anything else.

“I actually came by because I wanted to invite you somewhere.”

“Really? Where?” I said, suspecting that he was just making things up to distract me from the subject.

“I cannot tell you. It’s a surprise, little witch.”

“I really wish you would stop calling me that. I’m an adult.”

“Come on, it fits you so well. You’re short and a witch. Hence the nickname,” he said, while actually patting me on the head, “don’t you want to go out tonight? It will be fun.”

With one swift motion of his hand, my clothes changes from my pink pajamas to a layered purple dress, “Now you are dressed like an Asgardian, this way you will not attract unnecessary attention. Where we are going no one ever sees Midgardians.”

“Fine, I’ll go,” I said, as I admired my new attire, “I don’t even want to know what’s an Asgardian.”

He opened a portal in the middle of my living room, and then held out his hand for me to take, “We’ll be back before anyone notices that you are gone.”

I grabbed his hand and closed my eyes. I guess I trusted him more that I thought since I was willing to jump into the unknown with him.

* * * * *

We were inside a damp, hot cave. It was dimly lit with a few torches on the walls, but there was not enough light to see the path clearly.

Loki created a light orb and began walking down the passageway when he told me to make one as well. I informed him that I didn’t know how to do that. He sighed, annoyed at my answer, and said, “Of course you can, just mumble some of those rhyming poems you do and it should work.”

“I can’t. I don’t work like you,” I said, looking down at my new dress. I pretended to play with a small button in my waist area.

He turned around and got close to me, bringing the light orb close to my face. He held my hands in his. His face was so close to mine that I could make out all the specks in his bright eyes.

“Yes you can, Dannie. Just concentrate,” he said, looking fixedly at me, “Tell yourself that you really need this light orb and then will it into being.”

I decided to do as he told me to even though I didn’t have much faith in this. I closed my eyes and concentrated. When I opened them up again, there was an orb floating between us, it was not as big or bright as his but it was my light orb, so it made me super happy.

“I told you you could do it, you little witch,” he said, patting my head in an almost sweet manner. I was speechless as I couldn’t believe that I had done something so awesome.

We continued walking down the cave in silence for a while until we reached a room with a high ceiling and something that resembled a banquet hall like the ones you see in medieval movies.

“Welcome to Nidavellir,” said Loki.

“This is… different. Why are we here?”

“They have something I need, but they mustn’t know that I need it.”

“So, are we going to trade or something?”

“Yes, something like that,” said Loki smirking mysteriously.

We walked up to the throne where a short stocky man with a long reddish brown beard was sitting. He got up from the throne when he saw Loki and walked up to us.

“Loki! It’s been too long since you graced us with your presence. Who is this beauty next to you?” said the dwarf, looking me up and down like I was a morsel, making me feel uncomfortably naked even though I was wearing this beautiful dress.

“Greetings, Eitri, King of Dwarves. This is Dannie,” said Loki, “she insisted on coming with me when I told her about all the wonders in Nidavellir.”

“If she wants to behold all of our wonders you should feast with us. You arrived at a great time. It’s the second day of celebration for my eldest daughter’s wedding. Go, sit, and enjoy,” said Eitri, laughing heartily.

I sat down in a spot between Loki and a lady dwarf. She was drinking mead from a mug and smiled at me when I sat down. She offered me some of the mead from her cup but I politely declined it. She merely laughed at me and kept loudly talking to a dwarf next to her.

“Dwarf food is simple but nourishing. They don’t have anything fancy like your donuts but they do favor roasted boar and bison,” said Loki, as he filled a plate with different types of meat and something that looked like potatoes before passing it to me. I looked around for a fork but apparently dwarves don’t have forks or knives so I decided to use my hands to eat.

The mood was a happy one and everyone talked loudly around me. The dwarves grabbed food with their bare hands, they would talk with their mouths full and laugh loudly at each other. It was a merry place but I was not used to all the noise and pretty soon I had a headache that only kept getting worse with all the mead the dwarves kept pushing my way but that didn’t stop me from enjoying myself. I never get to go out and just be myself like this.

Eventually everyone was dancing as the music got louder, and even a tallish blond dwarf invited me to dance. I’m not much of a dancer but I was in such a good mood that I accepted the invitation.

I twirled around a few times with the guy until Loki cut in and asked me to dance as well. I never would have thought he liked to dance but I accepted. He grabbed my hands and pulled me close to him. I was so excited about dancing that I completely forgot that I was mad at Loki. I stood on my tippy toes, locked my arms around his neck and let him lead the way.

“I didn’t know you liked to dance until I saw you dancing with that guy. Should I be jealous?” he said, as he lifted me of the floor. I held close to him as he spinned me a few times, trying to hide my face on his shoulder but he pulled me away from him.

“Don’t be shy now, little witch. Are you having fun?” he said, eyes twinkling in a mix of drunkenness and joy.

I nodded before hugging him, “This is the most fun I’ve had in so long. Thank you,” I said, as I tried to clean my tears with the back of my hand. The mead was really getting to me. I think he hesitated at first but he then hugged me back so hard that I thought I would never be able to breathe again.

* * * * *

The festivities continued late into the night and we didn’t retire to the chambers the king assigned to us until the early morning hours. We danced until I was falling asleep standing up. All I wanted to do was go to sleep, but once we finally retired to our room Loki shared with me all about the amulet he wanted to steal. It was in a guarded room near the banquet hall behind the king’s throne. His plan was to exchange it for a replica that he had.

“We can’t just come in here stealing their things. They were nice to us!” I said, glaring at him.

“They won’t even notice that it’s gone. Dwarves aren’t very smart, so it might take them a few centuries to realize this is a fake,” said Loki, showing me the replica.

We sneaked behind the throne in the great hall where a few dwarves had passed out in a drunken stupor and still slept leaning against the long communal table. We reached the room and Loki used a weird key to open the door. Once inside, it was obvious that this was the room where all of their important artifacts were kept. There were swords, shields, and armors but all Loki wanted was a small amber colored stone that lay inside a box in a corner of the room.

Loki had already put the stone in his pocket and was holding the fake one when a guard caught us and shouted at him to drop the stone, so Loki dropped it. I raised my hands in surrender and so did Loki but then he quickly pulled out a dagger and threw it at the guard who moved out of its way before it was able to do him any harm. The guard then drew out a bow and arrow to shoot at us. Dwarves may seem clumsy, but this guard was agile and fast with his hands and before I could react, I felt a sharp pain in my arm. An arrow had pierced my shoulder near the clavicle. I was in so much pain that I tried to pull out the arrow but Loki stopped me.

Loki told me to stay back before throwing another dagger at the guard. He then used the distraction to punch the guard. The guard punched him back and Loki then kicked him in the chest, throwing him off balance. I wanted to do something but the pain was still unbearable and I could barely stay awake. I was covered in a cold sweat.

Finally Loki was able to subdue the guard by using his Seidr to tie him down. He came to check on me but I could barely concentrate on his words and I began blacking out. I think he then carried me in his arms because I faintly remember being lifted from the ground where I was laying. He opened a portal that we went through and when I opened my eyes again it seemed like we were not back home because I heard Loki curse, apparently this was not where we were supposed to be. The pain was too much to bear and there was so much blood that I didn’t care where we were. That’s when I finally passed out.

#Loki #God of Mischief #Others #Submitted fic #submission #magic mistake #staria #chapter 5 #earth #witch #summoning #angry #confused #liking #company #teaches #magic

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welovenissan · 4 years

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Nissan Qashqai 2019 review

Just in case you haven’t been keeping track, the Qashqai is the latest incarnation of the SUV that Aussies used to call the Dualis.

To be fair, neither name makes much sense. Qashqai is the name of a relatively obscure Iranian mountain tribe, and Dualis was a purely made-up word by Nissan, meant to refer to the SUV’s dual-purpose abilities.

Nissan says the Qashqai was named as such to reflect that its owners would be "nomadic in nature", and, in a way, it is fitting, given the Qashqai’s dimensions put it in an SUV tribe of its own. See, it’s not quite small enough to be a small SUV, and not quite large enough to be a mid-size one.

Is it a good middle-ground, though? Can the Nissan Qashqai for sale make an obscure tribesperson out of me? I spent a week in a top-spec Ti to find out.

Does it represent good value for the price? What features does it come with?

Our Ti is the, erm, chief of the Qashqai line-up. Pricey for a small(ish) SUV, but not outrageous at the top-end.

For the cash, you get a leather interior trim, a panoramic glass sunroof, six-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, heated front seats, a 7.0-inch multimedia screen with built-in sat-nav, keyless entry and push-button start, dual-zone climate control, Nissan’s 360-degree reversing camera (which the brand calls an ‘around view monitor’), which is normally reserved for vastly more expensive European marques. You also get a standard reversing camera as well as front and rear parking sensors and an automatic anti-glare rearview mirror.

The leather seats and soft-touch points are genuinely plush and comfortable, and the panoramic glass roof adds a nice premium air to the cabin on sunny days. It is a fixed roof, however, and does not open.

There is also the welcome addition of LED headlights, fog lights and DRLs, which are automatic and come with high-beam assist as part of an ‘adaptive front lighting system’. The wing mirrors have LED indicators, and are both heated and auto-folding.

Is there anything interesting about its design? 7/10

I think it’s fair to call the exterior visage of the Qashqai derivative. Unlike other Japanese segment rivals, the Toyota C-HR, Honda HR-V and Mazda CX-3, the Qashqai for sale maintain a much more traditional SUV shape, so much so that it is easy to confuse it with its bigger brother, the X-Trail.

Our top-spec Ti looked quite stunning in its Vivid Blue colour (optional, by the way), which helps because aside from some much sharper and cleaner lines around the front and side - not to mention a much more modern V-shaped grille – the Qashqai’s design really hasn’t advanced too far from its Dualis origins in the mid-2000s.

Around the back is a better angle, with the chunky taillights meeting the car’s rear-wheel haunches, and a hot hatch-like rear spoiler jutting out from the roof.

Helping set the Ti apart from the rest of the range is the gigantic 19-inch alloy wheels with a two-tone milled finish, which really fill those raised SUV arches.

Inside, things look luxurious thanks to a solid helping of leather on the doors, seats, centre console and steering wheel. It also feels a bit more spacious than some competitors, but the modern illusion is quickly broken by the old-fashioned centre stack.

It’s blatantly obvious that the multimedia screen is vulnerable to glare, using an old-style touch surface, and the design of the interface is old, slow and clumsy. And aside from some useful shortcut buttons down the sides, the gloss-plastic insert in which it lives looks a little ill-fitting considering the rest of the matte surfaces in the cabin.

The instrument binnacle consists of a colour screen and two traditional dial clusters. While hardly moving design forward in this area, it has huge and legible fonts and presents all the important information well.

The 2018 Qashqai is separated from the previous iteration by a much more modern-looking steering wheel (in the Ti’s case, it's D-shaped with leather trim), seat design and a slightly re-worked centre console area.

How practical is the space inside?

While the interior feels all plush, light and airy, it’s not quite what it appears to be. The very first thing I noticed when stepping into the Qashqai’s helm was the super-high seating position.

Normally, this is a boon for SUV buyers, as it helps with visibility. However, the huge sunroof in the Ti lowers the roof level, making it problematically close to my head. I’m 182cm tall, and anyone even a few centimetres taller than me would be able to rest their forehead on the sun-visor.

That being said, I found the leg and arm room in the cabin to be fantastic, and there was always a nice and soft surface to rest your elbows on - which can hardly be said for something like the Hyundai Kona.

There is also a heap of handy, rugged storage spaces around the cabin, including deep, useful cupholders in the doors and transmission tunnel. There is also a rather large two-tiered storage area with USB ports, aux input and cable-management in the centre console, and a deep trench under the air conditioning controls which hosts a 12-volt power source, and so is very suitable for phones and wallets.

I found the backseat to have great leg and headroom despite the sunroof, and the seats back there are as plush as they are up the front.

Rear passengers benefit from two cupholders (but no trenches) in the doors, there's a weird little storage nook on the back of the console box and leather-bound pockets on the back of both front seats. Like many other small-SUVs, there are no vents back here. Sorry.

The lack of a coupe-style roofline like many competitors means the boot, at 430L, is one of the biggest in the class, and it comes with a couple of tricks.

The boot floor is variable, for example, courtesy of some removable floor panels, and can provide an impressive and almost completely level 1598L with them in and the rear seats down.

What are the key stats for the engine and transmission?

Our Qashqai Ti from Group 1 Nissan has a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT), which is now your only powertrain option.

There was once a diesel, but it’s dead now, and surprisingly there’s still a manual, but only for the base-model ST. All Qashqais are front-wheel-drive only. If it’s AWD you’re after, you’ll have to step down to the much smaller Juke or up to the larger X-Trail.

The 2.0-litre produces an average-sounding 106kW and 200Nm of torque, and considering most competitors produce similar, or worse, figures, the Qashqai is on-par.

More interesting competitors come in the form of the Hyundai Kona’s 1.6-litre 130kW/256Nm engine option, and the fun-to-drive Suzuki Vitara S-Turbo which has 103kW/220Nm.

How much fuel does it consume? 7/10

Over my week of reasonably mixed urban and freeway driving, I returned a figure of 8.2L/100km against Nissan’s combined figure of 6.9L/100km. A miss, but not by much, and I have found that roughly 8.0L/100km is what you can expect from most of its turbocharged competition.

The Qashqai happily drinks base-grade 91RON unleaded petrol and has a 65-litre tank. There's no stop-start technology to help you out with the economy, though.

What's it like to drive? 7/10

The Qashqai is hardly the last word in driving dynamics, but it is easy to helm and has decent handling for the segment.

The 2.0-litre is a tad thrashy, although doesn’t really leave you desperate for more power, and the CVT gives the accelerator pedal a lethargic, rubbery response. That being said, the steering provides a nice blend of lightness for low-speed manoeuvrability, while being solid and responsive at higher speeds.

The suspension is tuned more for comfort than sportiness, which suits the character of the car’s plush interior well, and despite a 1429kg kerb weight, it felt surprisingly light and agile in the corners for an SUV. This is helped by the Qashqai’s multilink rear suspension rather than the torsion beam which appears in many small-SUV competitors.

You do have to be overly conscious of the gigantic alloy wheels on the Ti when parking on the street, as gutter rash would look tragic, and the amount of road noise that was produced by the slim tyres was less than impressive.

Overall, the Qashqai provides a confident and comfortable drive.

What safety equipment is fitted? What safety rating? 9/10

The Ti, being the top-spec Qashqai, comes with the most comprehensive active safety suite available on this model.

Included is intelligent emergency braking – Nissan’s AEB system - forward collision warning, lane departure warning (LDW), lane keep assist (LKAS - branded as intelligent lane intervention) blind-spot monitoring (BSM), rear cross-traffic alert (RCTA), active cruise control, and a wholly unnecessary auto-parking function.

That’s an impressive suite, and it as at the forefront of what is being offered elsewhere in the small SUV segment.

On the passive safety side, it has six airbags and the standard suite of braking and stability controls. A space-saver spare lives under the boot floor and the rear seats host two ISOFIX child seat mounting points.

All Qashqai variants carry a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating as of December 2017.

What does it cost to own? What warranty is offered?

Nissan lets this car down with a genuinely old-fashioned three-year, 100,000km warranty. Most of its main competitors, apart from Toyota and Suzuki, have moved on with at least a five-year, unlimited-kilometre offering.

You are, however, permitted to purchase an extended warranty for up to three extra years, but the maximum number of kilometres you can add is 50,000. A total of 150,000km from new is not really sufficient cover for six years.

Nissan could improve its warranty offering... (image credit: Tom White)

The Qashqai requires servicing once a year or every 10,000km and is covered by a fixed-price servicing program for the first 12 years.

Verdict

The top-spec Qashqai Ti is not cheap but helps to justify its price through its impressive safety equipment, luxurious features and - most importantly - its segment-bending dimensions.

It will suit a buyer looking for something not as big or capable as an X-Trail, but still with the ample boot space and interior dimensions to match its traditional SUV visage.

Article source: https://wheelsgalore.postach.io/post/nissan-qashqai-2019-review

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tech-battery · 5 years

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Pixio PXC273 Curved Gaming Monitor Review: 144Hz and DCI-P3 on Budget

When shopping for a new monitor, the first thing most consider is price. Features and performance are important, but price is king, especially if you’re on a tight budget. A relatively new brand, Pixio offers the PXC273 with specs that can challenge some of the best gaming monitors. That includes a speedy 144Hz refresh rate in a 27-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) resolution package. The best part is it sells for just $200 at the time of writing. But that low price also means making some sacrifices, including around image quality

Pixio PXC273 Specs

The PXC273 starts with a high-contrast VA panel running at 1080p resolution. The biggest surprise is its wide color gamut. Pixio doesn’t specify the coverage, and since there’s no HDR here, we’d expect a screen that sticks to the sRGB color gamut. But after testing, we discovered it covers more of the DCI-P3 spec than nearly every other monitor we’ve tested. A little more digging revealed a Samsung-sourced panel with a quantum-dot backlight. Users looking for maximum color will certainly want to check out the PXC273.

Like most monitors today, the PXC273 has a flicker-free backlight. Pixio specs it with a max brightness of 200 nits and contrast ratio of 3,000:1, but we found higher numbers in our testing. Right out of the box, this display offers some nice surprises.

At $200, the value ratio is high when you take specs and features into account. But the proof is in the testing and gameplay.

Unpacking and Accessories

The only bundled cable is DisplayPort, which you’ll need to use the maximum 144Hz refresh rate. If you use the HDMI port you’re limited to 120Hz, and DVI tops out at 60Hz. The power supply is a small wall-wart. You must assemble the stand and base, but tools aren’t required.

Product 360

The PXC273 features a no-frills design that leaves out things like lighting effects, USB ports and speakers. The screen is surrounded by thin 8mm bezels and flush-mounted. There’s a tight-fitting anti-glare layer that minimizes the air gap to the TFT (thin film transistor), resulting in a clear picture with no grain. There was no bleed or glow on our sample.

The stand is quite light and offers only a 15-degree tilt adjustment. It’s made from plastic and attaches near the bottom of the panel. There’s a bit of wobble, thanks to a small mount point. The base is small, saving some desktop space but sacrificing a little stability. The back also features a 75mm VESA lug pattern if you want to use your own stand or bracket.

The curve radius is 1800mm, which is a little more open than recent screens we’ve reviewed that are 1500mm in the same size and aspect ratio. In practice, the curve was barely noticeable and neither enhanced or detracted from the image. The curve only showed a significant impact if we were using two or three monitors simultaneously. But at the PXC273’s price, three screens aren’t out of the question.

The PXC273’s simple design extends to its on-screen display (OSD) control, which is a single joystick that works well with a solid click and feel.

The input panel has one each of DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 1.4 and DVI. We don’t see the latter much on newer screens, and in this application, due to its 60 Hz refresh rate limit. Even though the monitor is only certified to support FreeSync with AMD graphics cards, we also found that the monitor is G-Sync compatible, even though Nvidia hasn’t officially certified it as such, with the DisplayPort .

In lieu of speakers, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack and volume control in the OSD.

OSD Features

The OSD appears as a strip across the bottom of the screen, similar to AOC’s method but far less intuitive. Large icons represent different functions, not all of which are obvious at first glance.

The first three options are easy enough to understand. DCR is a dynamic contrast feature, which we recommend leaving off. The PXC273 has excellent contrast already, and DCR will just clip highlight and shadow detail. There are five picture modes, but only Standard comes anywhere close to providing accurate color. The native and only available gamut is DCI-P3; there’s no sRGB mode or HDR. This means you see more color than intended for all content, which may be attractive to some users.

Color adjustments have two color temp presets, plus a user mode with RGB sliders. They work well and can improve the PXC273’s image with a few tweaks. Gamma presets are in a menu called Adjust. Confusingly, that menu shows a picture of an aiming point, which made us think that’s where one adjusts the aiming point. Nevertheless, Adjust features two gamma presets. The gamma presets also have two options for DVI only: auto adjust and auto color.

The Other menu includes overdrive (on or off) and a FreeSync toggle. With the FreeSync toggle on, our Nvidia control panel instantly recognized the PXC273 as G-Sync Compatible, even though Nvidia hasn’t officially certified the display.

All menu screens show the input resolution and refresh rate at the top left and the firmware version at the top right.

Setup and Calibration

Only the Standard picture mode offers accurate color and only in the DCI-P3 gamut. There is no sRGB mode. The default color temp preset is Custom, which needs some tweaking for best results. We only needed a few clicks to bring grayscale tracking to a high standard. The default gamma is quite dark, but changing the gamma from 2 to 1 improved the luminance curve; although, it still wasn’t perfect. Overall color was good once we made these changes.

Gaming and Hands-on

On paper, the PXC273 looks like a winner, but specs don’t always translate to gaming performance. Luckily, in the PXC273’s case, it did. We had to make a few adjustments after calibration, but eventually, we tweaked the monitor to a point where it stood up well against other 27-inch gaming displays costing more, like the Aorus CV27F and Samsung C27RG5. We saw no difference in video processing quality between playing with FreeSync or using G-Sync (unofficially, again, see our article on how to run G-Sync on a FreeSync monitor). Neither platform showed any artifacts. Frame rates hovered around 100 frames per second (fps) with an AMD Radeon R9 285 graphics card and stayed near the max 144 fps with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FE.

We fired up Tomb Raider and noted quickly that it looked a little drab. Color was nicely saturated and detail was excellent, but the pop expected from a monitor that delivers, according to our test, 4,100:1 contrast wasn’t there. The culprit was a dark gamma curve, which, even after changing the preset from 2 to 1, made the picture murkier. Turning up the backlight to its maximum improved things.

The overdrive worked well at managing motion blur, which was almost invisible at the highest frame rates. There were neither artifacts nor ghosting. Control response was as expected for a 144Hz monitor: instant with no stutter or lag. We’re getting more accustomed to playing sRGB games in extended color. Since the PXC273 runs in DCI-P3 all the time, there was no other choice. But it didn’t diminish the experience for us.

Call of Duty: WWII is a good test of a monitor’s shadow detail rendering. The Pixio had no issues there. As we holed up in a bombed-out church we saw fine texture among the rubble with clearly visible splinters of wood and fine dust. Characters’ faces had an ideal level of sweat and dirt that really added to the game’s depth and realism. Once we played for a few hours, we forgot that the monitor was just FHD. Fast frame rates and high contrast have a greater impact on gaming image quality than high resolution.

After working in Windows for an afternoon, we missed having a higher pixel density. Our sweet spot is 109 pixels per inch (ppi), but the PXC273 has just 81.6ppi. Tiny fonts in a spreadsheet were harder to read. Workday tasks are the only limitation for an FHD monitor; QHD (2560 x 1440) is still an ideal resolution that works well for just about everything one does with a computer.

Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

Today’s group are all 27-inch VA panels. Besides offering HDR, the Aorus CV27F and Aorus CV27Q are similar to the PXC273 in every other way. Also here is Samsung’s C27RG5, the MSI Optix G27C4 and MSI Optix MAG271CQR.

Pixio claims 250 nits max brightness for the PXC273, but our sample delivered about 322 nits. That’s plenty of light for any application or environment. There’s no backlight strobe or HDR here, so any more brightness would be unnecessary.

The black level is very low at just 0.0776 nit. Only the two Aorus screens can get darker, but they don’t quite match the PXC273’s performance in the intra-image test (3rd chart). For sequential contrast, Pixio is the best of the rest with a super result of 4,147.8:1. The PXC273’s dynamic range is among the best we’ve tested.

After Calibration to 200 nits

Calibration (see our recommended settings) didn’t change the PXC273’s contrast much at all. It’s still nearly 4,000:1, which puts it ahead of every display here, save the Aorus screens. This is all thanks to an excellent black level that helped up the ANSI test results. Coupled with a large color gamut, this monitor delivers a really good picture with lots of depth and highly saturated color.

For the best color, stick with the PXC273’s Standard picture mode and Custom color temp. They deliver reasonable color accuracy out of the box. Improvements are possible with a few adjustments.

Grayscale and Gamma Tracking

Out-of-the-box Standard mode (graph 1) has grayscale tracking running a bit green from 40% brightness and on. Given the PXC273’s price point, we can forgive this default performance. What’s more concerning is the gamma tracking. It makes the picture darker than it should be and reduces the effect of all that wonderful contrast. You can compensate somewhat by turning up the brightness, but gamma tracking closer to 2.2 would be a better solution.

Once we adjusted the gamma presets in the Adjust menu (2nd chart), we improved the curve visibly, but it was still darker than it should be. The PXC273 would have more pop if the upper brightness steps were at the correct output levels instead of slightly under. This could be fixed with a firmware update that included a more-accurate gamma preset. However, our grayscale calibration had a positive effect, with all errors moving below the visible threshold.

Comparisons

In the recent past, a 4.27 Delta E (dE) average grayscale error would be typical for a gaming monitor. But today’s displays boast better out-of-box accuracy, as evidenced by our sample group. The top four monitors in the grayscale error chart don’t require calibration. However, the PXC273 should be calibrated for the best possible picture (see our settings on page 1).

We couldn’t completely fix the PXC273’s gamma tracking with our adjustments. Changing the preset from 2 to 1 made a visible difference, but it still didn’t track as well as the two Aorus or Samsung monitors. Ultimately, we like the Pixio’s image, but it could be even better if the gamma were more accurate.

Color Gamut Accuracy

It’s obvious from the initial gamut chart that the PXC273 is a DCI monitor. All colors are oversaturated in the sRGB realm except for blue. The average error is increased by a low color luminance level, which is largely due to the high gamma values we recorded.

Calibration brought the secondary colors onto their hue targets, but the over-saturation didn’t change. If you’re looking for an accurate sRGB gaming monitor, the PXC273 is not it. But if you like a more colorful presentation, it will suit just fine. You can see in the final chart that it covers a large part of the DCI-P3 gamut, coming up short only in the green primary. Again, the average error is inflated by low color luminance. Fixing the gamma to a proper 2.2 level would address that issue.

Comparisons

With a calibrated color error of 2.62dE average, you won’t see any major issues in the PXC273’s image presentation. Our recommended settings make things visibly better with greater image depth and a more natural look.

In the gamut volume calculation, the PXC273 turned out to have one of the largest gamuts we’ve seen in a gaming display. It covers almost 85% of DCI-P3, which is more than some HDR-capable screens, like the Aorus CV27F. With over 124% coverage of sRGB, you’ll need a custom profile to rein in the gamut if you do anything color-critical. For gaming, however, many will welcome the extra color.

Viewing Angles

The PXC273 acquit itself well in the viewing angle test. Our photo shows a green shift at 45 degrees to the sides and a 30% light reduction. Detail remains solid in both the horizontal and vertical planes with all steps still visible. From the top, the gamma is much lower, making lighter shades harder to see. Performance is typical of other VA panels we’ve reviewed.

Screen Uniformity

Our PXC273 sample has some of the best screen uniformity we’ve ever measured. There are no visible hotspots, bleed or glow. This is impressive, given the tight fit of its anti-glare layer. Dark material was artifact-free and remained well-detailed down to the zero-signal level. This is excellent performance.

Pixel Response and Input Lag

A gaming monitor must deliver speed and smooth game performance above anything else. The PXC273 manages both. Its 8ms screen draw time is 1ms slower than typical 144Hz screens, but in practice we couldn’t see a difference. Motion blur was barely visible, and there was no stutter, no matter how fast on-screen movements were.

Input lag is last place among our comparison sample, but 29ms is by no means slow. Unless you’re a highly skilled gamer, you won’t notice any lag when playing fast-paced games on the PXC273. To casual gamers, control response will feel every bit as fast as with the other screens here. Those with more frag cred will want to check out the Samsung C27RG5, which recently set a new speed record in our testing. For everyone else though, the $200 PXC273 is more than qualified for the weekly LAN party.

When shopping for a gaming monitor, the principal considerations come down to price, performance and features, and in most cases you’ll have to sacrifice one of those. But if you’re willing to give up features like speakers, USB ports, RGB lighting and fancy styling, the Pixio PXC273 is worth considering. It has a few flaws; but when gaming it manages to deliver a lot for just $200.

On the positive side, it supports both FreeSync and G-Sync (unofficially) up to 144Hz, has an effective overdrive that eliminates motion blur and low input lag. Contrast is better than many other VA panels, and it delivers nearly 85% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

To get the best possible image, including nixing a green tint, some adjustments are required. Once we made those changes, we enjoyed a decent picture in both games and video. That means an artifact-free experience without frame tears, stuttering or overdrive ghosting. The extra color afforded by its native DCI-P3 gamut will appeal to many, but if you want an sRGB mode, you’re out of luck.

The Pixio PXC273 has room for improvement, but when considering its price it’s hard to fault. At $200, it undercuts similar displays by at least $100, and that may be enough to overcome what’s been left out. For the price-conscious gamer, we have no problem recommending the PXC273.

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illgaming · 6 years

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Introduction

HP has placed its newly launched top-of-the-line laptop in a rather interesting proposition. Laptops with this calibre are usually either heavier, with even heavier specs. Then, there are also laptops with similar specs but are thinner and lighter, but, obviously, much more expensive. The HP Omen in that sense hits the sweet spot because it carries serious power without being over the top, in a form factor that is neither too heavy nor too light, and costs relatively lower that the counterparts mentioned above.

This is the new HP Omen. The first Omen was launched in 2017. It had great specs, but came with a lot of issues. Its touchpad wasn’t great, it was incredibly un-robust and it had connectivity issues. HP took note of the issues and completely redesigned the Omen, to give us the new Omen 15 and Omen 17. The price was slightly lowered too. We will review the HP Omen 17, and see whether HP’s overhaul and redesign impresses us or not.

The Omen 17 can be configured between a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti, GTX 1060 and GTX 1070. Sadly, no option for the GeForce GTX 1080 here, which is disheartening because there is also a 4K Omen 17 available. A GTX 1080 is a must for a 4K screen. The 4K version would obviously shoot up the starting price of ₹1,59,990 considerably too. Most laptops in this category cost ₹1,80,000 and above, and HP’s pricing would win many buyers looking for a top-notch gaming laptop.

All things said, we are impressed with HP’s proposition with the Omen 17. That is mainly because of the overall package offered by HP – the specifications, the form factor, the weight, and the price. None of this would make sense if the laptop didn’t perform well, and that is what we are here to talk about, so lets get to it.

The version we received for review was the Omen 17 an009TX, which comes with a FHD screen and a GeForce GTX 1070. We will delve deeper into the specs in its respective section.

Design

Our first look at the Omen 17 reveals a very modern looking machine, with a lot of carbon fibre touches and angled corners. Mind you, this is only ‘carbon fibre finish’, not actual carbon fibre. Still, the design choices made by HP are bold to say the least. It is nowhere close to the understated and boring Omen of 2017. This one definitely looks like a gaming laptop because of HP’s obvious design choices.

We wouldn’t call the Omen 17 overly bulky, like the ASUS G752, which was way too bulky to be realistically carried around. The size of the Omen 17 is actually pretty practical and pretty manageable. Yes, it would feel heavy if you’re carrying it around everyday during your public transport commutes, but it wouldn’t be much of an inconvenience if you’re taking short trips with this laptop.

The entire body of the Omen 17 is made of plastic. At this price range one would expect brushed aluminium, but hey, this isn’t really meant to be a premium feeling laptop, so HP’s choice is justified. The lid has four triangles, two of them with carbon fibre finish, and the other two in matte brushed black finish. The red Omen logo looks super classy. The words “O M E N” sit on the bottom of the top lid and they look really good in red. Each triangle is surrounded by red accents, which come together to make an “X”, which looks really clinical and classy. We have repeated the word “classy” couple of times, it’s because we mean it. Gaming laptops seldom look classy, with a few exceptions aside (ASUS Zephyrus anyone?), but the Omen 17 pulls it off really well.

HP has revamped the airflow and cooling on the Omen 17. The size of the vents are big, and they look sufficient enough to cool an i7 and a GTX 1070 sitting inside the laptop. The vents really look like exhausts of a high powered sports car. HP calls this design “inspired by Fighter Jet and Spacecraft.”

The laptop’s lid can be opened using one hand, something we always look for in laptops and appreciate. The interior lid is thankfully made of brushed aluminium that feels great to touch. HP has given a lot of thought to the design it seems. They didn’t go all out cutting costs, they did it only in the right places. A full sized red backlit keyboard sits in the centre, with five programmable keys on the left and Bang & Olufsen speakers on the top. The power button is a glossy parallelogram like button on the top left corner. Below the keyboard is a fairly large touchpad. Our only caveat in the design is the placement of the touchpad. It is placed slight more towards the left and is kind of awkward when using in conjunction with the keyboard. More on how the keyboard and touchpad perform later.

The Omen 17 has all the modern ports, and a little more. Most of the ports are placed on the left side. You get Mini DisplayPort, HDMI, ethernet, USB 3.1 (Gen 1) Type A and Type C, headset, microphone and an SD card reader. The Type-C port supports Thunderbolt 3, which we appreciate. The right side has a pair of USB 3.1 Type A ports and a power plug connector.

The Omen 17 weighs around 3.7 kg. Similar offerings from Asus and MSI weigh above 4 kg. Some laptops, like the EVGA SC17, weigh more than 5 kg. The dimensions of the Omen 17 are 1.30 x 16.65 x 11.97 inches. This makes the Omen 17 lighter and smaller than the Alienware 17 (4.4kg).

Display

Opening the lid reveals a very good looking 17.3″ matte finish anti-glare screen. Like we mentioned, this is a 1920 x 1080 Full HD screen. There is also a 4K Omen 17 available, which we might review in the future. The screen supports Nvidia G-SYNC, and a refresh rate of 120Hz. It covers a colour gamut of 72%, and offers 291 nits brightness. This is an IPS panel, means great viewing angles and colours.

The brightness levels are enough for sunlight legibility, no problems there. We would have liked a better contrast ratio than 976:1 though. Overall, we actually love this screen. The colours are solid and vibrant, the viewing angles are wide.

The black levels at 0.34 nits makes for really deep and dark blacks, which makes for an absolutely pleasing movie watching experience. The Omen 17 renders 176% of the sRGB colour gamut, which is insane! That makes it much better than other desktop replacements like the Alienware 17 (113%) and the P57Xv7 (112%). This even puts the HP Omen screen ahead of many desktop gaming monitors.

Brightness uniformity is an issue we experienced though. Around 10% of the screen’s brightness is lost along its top and bottom edges. It isn’t really noticeable, but if you look carefully, it is. Response time is another aspect we’re not that happy about, at 30.4 ms from Black to White, since we’re used to 25 ms from other gaming laptops.

The inclusion of G-SYNC adds considerable immersion while gaming, and honestly, it is a feature that we cannot do without now, we’re spoilt by it! We are confident that the Omen 17 will give you plenty of “WOW” moments while gaming.

Overall, the screen on the Omen is great for gaming and movies. We would have appreciated some software to make adjustments to the screen’s colours though. Many gaming laptops offer this and at this price range, it is a slight disappointment that HP hasn’t offered this. Buyers of this laptop would be aware customers that would like to have these features.

Keyboard and Touchpad

HP has gone for a full fledged numpad keyboard, with programmable keys on the left side of the keyboard. The keyboard overall is mixed bag. Our first observation was its weird alignment, that makes it feel kind of “off” the centre. It takes time getting used then. Then, when used together with the touchpad, the alignment feels even more awkward. However, with time, the alignment grew on us till we forgot about its awkwardness.

Other caveats with the keyboard are the single-height Return key, and the mal-aligned ‘up’ and ‘down’ keys. These are a big no-no for gaming keyboards. We appreciate that HP decided to change the half-sized ‘up’ and ‘down’ in the previous Omen 17, but still, proper alignment would have been better. The arrow keys are placed one level down the entire keyboard, and this adds to the awkwardness feel when using the keyboard for both gaming and typing. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but since almost all keyboards in the world offer aligned arrow keys, this change brings in unnecessary burn-in time for the user.

Enough with the caveats, let’s not let them take away from what this keyboard really is: a powerhouse and an absolute pleasure to use. The ‘WASD’ keys are highlighted in red. The entire keyboard is LED-backlight with red highlights. The keys have perfect spacing (key travel at 1.5mm) and feedback. Both typing and gaming are super comfortable, once adjusted to the layout. The keys are very tactile, almost like a pure mechanical keyboard, with an actuation force of 68 grams.

Since this is a 17 inch laptop, means you get plenty of palm rest space. In comparison, the 4 x 2.2-inch touchpad seems small, but really, it isn’t. The touchpad is far better than the ones we’ve used in other laptops, but still, is not at the level of accuracy of MacBooks. Makes us think, will Windows laptops ever offer Apple level touchpads?

Still, the performance of the Omen 17 touchpad is good. It supports multi-finger gestures, and they worked perfectly without any delay of mis-reads. The mouse buttons are firm and have good feedback.

Audio

The Omen 17 comes with dual Bang & Olufsen speakers. As expected from laptop speakers, the bass is lacking and the highs and mids are overstated. Nothing new there. The Omen speakers in particularly have a liking for mids, which are crisp and clear without distorting too much. They are capable enough of filling the room with sound. If you’re watching a movie with friends, the speakers will be sufficient. Nevertheless, we recommend headphones or external speakers for proper audio experience.

Performance and Gaming

Here are the specifications of the HP Omen 17-an009TX:

CPU: 7th Gen Intel Core i7-7700HQ 2.8Ghz, TurboBoost 2.0 up to 3.8 Ghz

RAM: 16GB PC4-19200 DDR4 – 2400

Storage: 256 PCIe NVMe TLC M.2 SSD and 1TB 7200 rpm SATA HDD

Display: 17.3″ 1920×1080 LED Backlit 16:9 Aspect Ration screen

Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB DDR3 RAM

The i7-7700HQ is a latest gen processor made for gaming and multimedia. The CPU is free of any throttling issues. The Omen 17 runs between 3.4-3.5 GHz when connected to a power outlet. On battery, it unfortunately varies between 2.6 and 3.6 Ghz, with an average of 3.1 Ghz. Overall, the CPU performance was as expected. In real life usage terms, everything in the Omen 17 feels snappy and smooth. Applications launch fast, loading times are short, no problem there.

The NVMe Samsung SSD performed really well on our CrystalDiskMark 3 tests, better than its Gigabyte and MSI counterparts. It scored sequential read and write speeds of 1736 MB/s and 1212 MB/s. The 1TB HDD performed as it should. The HDD is more suited for dumping game files and multimedia.

Now, lets talk about the graphics card. The Omen 17 respectively comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 with 8GB of RAM. The GTX 1070 currently is the second fastest laptop GPU, after the GTX 1080. The GTX 1070Ti and 1080Ti have not been launched for laptops. The laptop version of the GTX 1070 performs at the same level of the desktop GTX 1070, and sometimes, depending on cooling solutions, even better. In our case, the Omen 17’s GTX 1070 performed better than its desktop counterpart, and that is ONE BIG positive.

We were able to run Witcher 3 at Ultra settings super smoothly, with the full GSYNC experience. Our experience was the same with Rise of Tomb Raider. The Omen 17 managed to maintain framerates of 100fps upwards at 1080p. When compared it its competitors, the Omen 17 was 3% slower than the ASUS G752VS in Witcher 3. It is pretty evident that the Omen 17 can handle modern games pretty well, at full settings. It is also considerably future proof when it comes to gaming. The laptop also supports VR.

When gaming on battery power, we were disheartened to see the GPU throttling down its frequencies by about 20%. There is no way to get around this.

Battery Life

With a big and powerful machine like with Omen 17, one walking in would obviously not expect the battery life of standard laptops. With the 86 watt-hour Omen 17 battery, we managed to get the laptop last for 2 hours and 12 minutes with general surfing using WiFi and full brightness. The ASUS G752 got us almost 3 hours and the Alienware got us 2 hours 46 minutes, so the Omen 17 lags behind in that department.

We reduced the brightness to 50% and that is when we managed to get 3 hours 39 minutes of battery life, which is a fairly respectable score. When playing Rise of Tomb Raider, 47 minutes was our best score. Using HP’s battery saving profile got the Omen 17 to last about 4.5 hours.

The Omen 17 supports rapid charging, which means that you can charge 90% of the battery in 90 minutes. The remaining 10% will take an additional 30 minutes to charge. We tested this and the claim by HP holds accurate. One worthy point to mention is that HP claims a maximum of 12:45 hours battery life on this laptop. We have no idea how HP managed to come up with that figure as the maximum juice we could get out of this laptop was 5:49 hours, and that was with WiFi off and brightness at 30%.

Heat and Noise

Most notable changes from the previous Omen 17 is the change in design of the exhaust fans. These changes aren’t just aesthetic, they are pretty practical and functional. This Omen 17 has two large fans, connecting to four copper heat pipes, that allows better heat dissipation and cooling.

Heatmap – Bottom

Heatmap – top

Under stress, the Omen 17 gets hot most notably on the area above the keyboard, near the speakers. The centre of the keyboard does get hot too, but not so much like the top. On the bottom, there is some heat felt in the centre and some on the top sides, but this heat is considerably less than the top. The palm rests remained cool even after a two hour gaming session.

The highest temperature reached by the GPU during gaming was 69 degrees Celsius. When overclocked, it reached 73 degrees. The CPU, under stress tests reached 90 degrees, which we felt was pretty high, since the CPU’s specification states 100 degrees Celsius as the maximum core temperature.

Noise level – Idle

Noise Level – Under Load

Noise levels of the Omen 17 are respectable. When idle, the laptop was silent. Although, it got significantly louder when running graphics intensive games. We ran a test with cryptocurrency mining where the Omen 17 was at its loudest, and the fan noise could be heard across the room. During these levels of noise, we highly recommend using headphones.

Webcam

The Omen 17 uses HP Wide Vision HD Webcam, that supports 1280 x 720 resolution at 30 frames per second, with a Field of Vision at 88 degrees. The webcam also support Wide-Dynamic Range. The are dual array digital microphones for video chat and communication. The camera is certainly of better quality than the ASUS and MSI counterparts. The pictures are vivid and capture colour pretty well. However, there is noticeable visual noise.

Conclusion

There is a lot to love about the HP Omen 17-an009TX. It comes with the latest generation Intel Skylake i7 processor, a GeForce GTX 1070, a 17.3 inch 1080p screen with 120Hz G-SYNC support, USB 3.1 Type A and Type C ports with Thunderbolt 3 support, and six programmable keys. Those are top of the line features for this day and age. HP has done a good job in keeping its price below INR 2 lakh, at ₹ 1,79,780. A lot of laptops with similar specs cost upwards.

The question here though, is, is the Omen 17 worth it? We like the build quality and looks of the Omen 17. The screen is gorgeous, minus a few hiccups. The keyboard is awkward and takes time getting used to, but still is great to type and game on. The laptop runs well under load and cools well too. There are a lot of areas of improvement for the Omen 17, and we hope that HP will address those issues in future iterations. Rest assured, as a complete package, the Omen 17 definitely has something to offer for someone out there, for those looking for this kind of a package.

We would recommend the Omen 17 to anyone who is looking for a well rounded, top-of-the-line, feature rich, good looking, future proof and comparatively pocket friendly gaming laptop. HP offers good value here, i.e., if you’re looking for value in a high-end segment.

HP Omen 17 Gaming Laptop Review

Introduction HP has placed its newly launched top-of-the-line laptop in a rather interesting proposition. Laptops with this calibre are usually either heavier, with even heavier specs.

HP Omen 17 Gaming Laptop Review Introduction HP has placed its newly launched top-of-the-line laptop in a rather interesting proposition. Laptops with this calibre are usually either heavier, with even heavier specs.

#Gaming Laptop #gsync #GTX 1070 #hp #omen #skylake

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universeinform-blog · 7 years

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THIS LA BLOGGER HOME IS AN AIRY INSPIRATION

New Post has been published on https://universeinform.com/2017/03/14/this-la-blogger-home-is-an-airy-inspiration/

THIS LA BLOGGER HOME IS AN AIRY INSPIRATION

Marianna Hewitt of Life with Me has given some of her first-rate blogger secrets and techniques to BAZAAR.Com and now she’s letting us into her newly revamped L. A. domestic. Hewitt, whose hobby in fashion is clear, referred to as in some indoors design aid through Talia Laconi of Homepolish.

“I recognize exactly what I need and I’m very particular approximately my fashion, but what I’m now not super at is selecting the right pieces, sourcing items and knowing in which to place them in my domestic,” Hewitt explains, “Homepolish become an excellent desire for me to collaborate on the way to design my area collectively with Talia.” Like such a lot of fantastic partnerships, it’s one that befell on social media. “I surely discovered Talia on Instagram and we connected…She’s young and her interior design aesthetic is similar to what I love…” Go interior this ethereal, female area that leverages pieces from RH Current, CB2, West Elm and extra…

Getting Worried: Is this Your Year To Step Up?

It is a brand new 12 months, that could mean new beginnings.

I’d like to elevate your focus of an area where you could make contributions, something I do not pay attention pointed out lots.

As marketers, we are all leaders. We have the possibility to genuinely trade things, to make a distinction in a nice and big manner.

We spend a lot of time considering how we may be higher leaders in our businesses. We spend time and power on it. And that’s very important.

Now, I invite you to extend your recognition of ways you could be a leader by trying to the community.

Your city or city is changing. It may also be growing. Each network has the ability to be a function model of what communities can do and be. And your enterprise is operating inside that surroundings. It’s tormented by it.

You may be a part of figuring out how matters trade and grow. What higher manner to have the impact to your commercial enterprise than to be a frontrunner within the community?

I am not necessarily speaking about walking for mayor, metropolis council, or the county commission. It would not be massive. There are numerous approaches you may get more Worried in the community and be a pacesetter.

Here are some ideas:

Step up and provide to steer in organizations you are already part of interest corporations like hiking or pictures, spiritual communities, or service groups. Keep in mind becoming a member of a metropolis or county fee or committee that covers topics that have an effect on you and your business, like sustainability, housing, and redevelopment. Be part of a non-profit as a volunteer or maybe a board member. Boards love to have people who’ve enterprise enjoy. Pick a subject that pursuits you, and discover an institution or corporation that stocks your hobby. That may be without delay linked to your commercial enterprise or not.

These companies are searching out leaders such as you.

And the networking opportunities are infinite. You’ll meet humans you wouldn’t otherwise meet. You may hook up with them in a joint attempt it truly is significant, a good way to assist you shape bonds you wouldn’t in any other case have.

Whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, there’s a place for you.

It honestly wishes to amplify your network beyond the obvious commercial enterprise connections. You simply by no means recognize who can connect you to your subsequent exquisite patron or stream of income.

We live in exciting instances, because the Chinese proverb says, and it can be horrifying due to the fact we don’t know what is coming.

We will empower ourselves in times like this via remembering that the entirety, the whole thing begins domestically. It starts with evolved individual to man or woman on a local stage.

you could influence how matters spread at that level. And the ripple impact of all of us taking nice action way We can together impact the destiny for the higher.

So I invite you to be the exchange you wish to peer inside the global. Is that this your Year to step up?

You’ve got the opportunity, as an enterprise chief, to be a contributor to meaningful and advantageous exchange. You have the possibility to have the effect, possibly on a bigger scale than you are ever taken into consideration.

I invite you to appearance out of doors your commercial enterprise and spot the splendid opportunities there, for yourself and your enterprise. And even beyond that: for the network and the larger international.

You rely upon. What you do topics. And what you make a contribution is a gift to us all.

Blogging and Its Kinds

A blog is a kind of website in which objects are published on an ordinary foundation that is normally arranged in chronological order from the maximum current put up on the top of the web page to the older posts towards the bottom. The time period weblog is genuinely a shortened form of weblog. Including an editorial to a current weblog is known as ‘Running a blog’. Man or woman article on a blog is referred to as ‘blog posts’ and the person that writes and posts those weblog posts is known as a ‘blogger’.

Blogs are frequently written on a selected topic about which the bloggers might be interested. It may be something from recipes to photography, books, adventure, fashion, splendor, lifestyle, or any of the blogger’s hobbies. It may be anything that someone can consider and might be inquisitive about sharing his / her perspectives on that subject matter with the people that share similar pastimes and views. This manner people can analyze, percentage thoughts, make buddies or even do enterprise with human beings with comparable pursuits.

A blog generally includes text, hypertext, pics, and links. There are numerous kinds of blogs. Let’s examine some of them.

• Non-public Blogs- Personal blog is a diary or a statement written and maintained with the aid of an Man or woman. these commonly entice very few readers. But now Personal bloggers have grown to a large quantity and their content is study by using a huge variety of people. those Personal bloggers have turn out to be well-known, both within the digital world in addition to inside the real international.

• Organization Blogs or Collaborative Blogs- It is a type of blog wherein the posts are written, maintained, and published through multiple author. It’s miles often set with the aid of already hooked up bloggers who share the same view that allows you to lessen the strain of keeping a popular website and also to attract a bigger quantity of readers.

• Company and Organizational blogs- those blogs are in general personal and are used for business, non-income agencies or for government purposes. Blogs that can only be used internally through personnel are known as Company blogs. those are typically used to speak information approximately business enterprise policies or strategies. The business enterprise may also use publicly accessible blogs for advertising and marketing purposes.

Blogs these days are the easiest medium to explicit one’s perspectives. In case you are obsessed on something and need to share your views with a bigger audience, blogs are the best way to accomplish that.

Domestic Improvement Suggestions For This Iciness

The Wintry weather is approaching, and you want to be prepared for it. You want to get your home ready for the cold season, which is critical if you want to make your private home power green and relaxed. Take a look at out the subsequent Home Improvement Suggestions so that it will make a difference this Winter.

Move For a power Audit

You could rent a licensed professional to get your property rated. The electricity rater will performed an “audit” and test your residence for possible power losses and other protection problems. Based totally on the precise record he’s going to provide you with, You can make important repairs and make your own home more power green.

The professional can even give you some Guidelines to deal with the not unusual troubles with your property. You could then take essential steps to resolve the troubles.

Seal The Partitions

The seals in the Partitions allow the air in, which reasons fluctuations within the temperature interior your private home. You can make a plan and use a tube of caulk to cope with the problem areas. Other than this, you have to seal the areas where You may discover electric powered containers at the drywall. Make sure all of the tiny holes on the bottom of the boxes are sealed.

Seal The Can Lights

Air leaks can arise inside the ceiling as well, especially the vicinity on the ceiling where the recessed Lighting fixtures are located. some can Lighting fixtures are vented so they don’t get overheated due to the light bulb. What you want to do is dispose of the can and then seal the perimeter of the can with nice caulk. inside the identical way, the internal region of the can must be sealed with aluminum tapeto or caulk.

Fill The Insulation Gaps

To find insulation gaps, you need to Take a look at the out of doors taps and air vents for massive gaps. Those gaps will permit the air to break out from the room in Iciness. You may use expanding foam to seal Those holes.

Your Heating System

Before the arrival of Iciness, You can get your furnace tuned up. In step with experts, the strength expenses of a median residence are stricken by the heating. If your boiler System or furnace is inefficient, your heating bills may additionally upward thrust. Make sure you purchase a pleasant filter.

You can replace the clear out to make the boiler greater green. Whilst this will seem an unnecessary expenditure, it’ll pay backtrack the street.

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