Coming soon to the theatres inside your minds;)

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

Homie gonna share this

Baby Clifford & baby Snoopy

it was just a misunderstanding

post-timeskip

How to Ditch Amazon

Support your local libraries and the small businesses that are actually making the products you want.  Fuck Jeff Bezos and the systemic, universal worker abuse, gaslighting, and brutality they live off of.

this seems like a good thing to bring around as people holiday shop

Source video

Please reblog and share.

The decision has still not been made. Here's the link

https://www.votervoice.net/mobile/CureSMA/Campaigns/107567/Respond

Y'all, PLEASE if you are based in America, push for this to pass. We disabled folks desperately need it.

you’re hearing it more and more

Spotify Premium ad: “Imagine playing music without interruptions! Infinite skipping! Replay the song you want! And even do it offline? No ads! Whatever songs you want! For a small monthly payme-” Me: *nods, turns off Spotify and turns on my MP3 player and does all the things they offer, but for free and with songs they don’t even have*

For those of you who might not know how to do any of this:

You don’t need to be tethered to an online streaming service for your music. Be free.

You can also rip audio files from youtube and find files all over the internet. It is far easier to come across great and lesser known music if you dont limit yourself to spotify.

Here’s a tutorial on how to get the music and playlists you like with unlimited listening/downloads. This is a free way to do it that I believe is a balance between cost, time, and pros & cons:

1. Find the song on Youtube. YT has pretty much every song at this point, usually in comparable quality to what you would get on a streaming service.

2. Download the audio from YT. There are many ways to download YT videos completely for free. It’s probably against the YT terms of service, but you’re not going to get sued.

3. Upload to your music player/manager of choice. The file will currently be lacking metadata (Artist, Album, track number, etc) and will be added to the library as a song with its title set as the file name minus its .mp3 extension. Various music players/managers have different ways to add metadata (usually accessed by right-clicking the song) with varying ease.

4. Now you can use the player of your choice to listen endlessly, form playlists, etc. Some free music managers also have music discovery/recommendation features for expanding your collection.

There are many music managers/players, including cross-platform ones with streaming, though they usually have fees for that feature. Because you aren’t streaming the music and rather storing it, you’ll need space on each device you want to play the music on, but memory is cheap these days.

I do encourage people to pay for art, especially from small, independent artists. You have to pay for art if you want to keep it alive, but there is debate over if streaming services are really “paying the artist”. Alternatives include buying and ripping CDs, purchasing merch or tour tickets (where artists make a lot of their money), etc to support them with something other than streaming views.

ID. a tweet from Don Hughes @/getfiscal dated Feb 18 21. it reads, “Started imagining paying for Spotify for the next thirty or so years and got a bit dizzy, cancelled a bunch of subscriptions, installed Linux on my computer and then pulled out my old CDs to rip. Going caveman.” End ID.

Seconding MusicBee! Also, you can use a library subscription to access Freegal, which allows (depending on your library system) up to five free downloads a week. Completely free, actually legal, yours to keep, no DRM or any crap like that.

For indie producers, always check if they have something like Bandcamp! Bandcamp lets you download as well, and has significantly higher royalties going to the actual artists (Spotify pays them… very little).

Jsyk, winamp rips cds natively.  You can set whatever bitrate you like.  Been doing *that* since last century. 

It’s that time again:

Don’t forget that you can borrow CD’s from your local library! Borrow, rip, repeat ad infinitum!

for playing mp3s on android - musicolet, very customizable, bajillions of options, and you can edit the metadata in-app including album art and lyric files

on firefox - there’s a youtube video downloader add-on that lets you do it from page, though only as video - but most video players have an export-as-audio option

If you have installation privileges, I would strongly suggest Mediahuman’s audio downloader which, in addition to scraping youtube audio can also capture from a variety of other sites, is highly configurable, does not rely on a website provider choosing not to become malware, AND downloads/converts the audio in around the amount of time it would take that video to load?

there's a human in the storeroom

THIS POST got extremely long with five posts, so we're gonna just keep going in a new one. (read that first to get caught up!)

--

Kara clears her throat for the umpteenth time, it feels like. But it gets their attention, so she gives them her best smile before trying to offer back the satchet of what looks like regular nuts and berries. She wasn't sure what it said about her that they gave her another bag of food. But, at this point, what's the harm? After popping the final berry in her hand and licking a little bit of fruit juice from her palm, she stands and wipes her hand on the side of her chinos. She then takes a step forward and brings the satchet towards the beautiful woman to return it.

"Thanks. They were good."

"Remarkable," the beautiful woman says. "You just ate all of it?"

"I...yes. Sorry."

The group stares at the empty satchet and then back up at her again. She tries not to squirm under their judgy eyes.

"Um," she starts to say. "This was really nice and you guys have some really tasty food, but I should probably get going. I've got work tomorrow, so I don't want to get home too late."

"You can't leave," the beautiful woman says.

"Is this about the food? I can pay! I'm good for it. Let me just--" she tries to palm for her wallet in her back pocket but realizes that her wallet is no longer there. She pats her front pockets, but there's nothing in those, either. Kara quickly scans the room and finds that her messenger bag, phone, and wallet were nowhere to be found. She shakes her head and tries to focus on what she was trying to say. "Have any of you seen my stuff? My phone?"

"What's that?" the mean looking lady asks as she walks towards the crates to move some of them around.

She stops mid-search, wonders if these...Europeans? just weren't familiar with technology. She tries not to judge, of course. Instead, she clears her throat again. "Oh, a phone? Well, uh, it's a thing that you use to make calls."

"You can't leave," the beautiful woman repeats, her face now looking somewhat more alarmed than she was a second ago.

"You keep saying that, but I really should get going."

All four of them yell NO! at her and she freezes in place.

The four grown adults talk in hissed whispers to one another lost in whatever European argument they're having. The teenager, grinning all the while, walks towards her. Kara stands her ground because she's not a wuss and this is just a teenage girl. But, like, she's not not a wuss.

"Hello," says the girl.

"Um, hello."

"You...are...n-..hmm..." the girl pauses, chewing on her bottom lip, then her eyes perk up when she finds her word. "...trouble?"

Kara's brows jump to her hairline and she shakes her head. "I don't...I don't mean to be. I'm really sorry. I was just trying to get some work done and--"

The girl seems convinced at the words she's saying as she points at Kara. "You...trouble!"

"No, hey--maybe don't say that. I'm totally not trouble. I'm a good person. I'm just trying to go home."

"You, trouble."

She stares at the girl and wonders if the girl thinks her name is trouble? Which, pffft, is not even remotely true. But she bets Alex would agree. She shakes her head and points at herself. "No, my name is Kara."

Just then, the four grown adults in their angry European huddle all rush towards her, the last image she sees is the beautiful woman grabbing hold of her and screaming in a language Kara doesn't understand just as she loses consciousness.

there’s a human in the storeroom

i saw this this morning and @sssammich made me write it.

There’s a human in the storeroom.

Andrea is never going to shut up about the wards now, Lena thinks, peering at the blonde rummaging through the box of faerie fruit.

There had been a noise, and no one else had heard it - on account of the revelry; with Lillian away at the High Court and Lex in charge there was always a revelry - and Lena had made the stupid mistake of diligently checking the storeroom to see if she needed to call one of the pixies to evict an errant animal, because last time a hedgehog drunk on faerie fruit had eaten one of her favourite books.

Except it’s not a hedgehog, it’s a human, and a human is so much worse than a hedgehog.

Perhaps, Lena thinks, if she just pretends she never saw anything, the human will find their way out of the storeroom and back to the human world, and then it won’t be her problem.

Satisfied with this course of action, Lena turns to leave and runs straight into a much taller and equally annoying roadblock.

“Jack,” Lena hedges. “Why are you here?”

“Lex sent me to look for you since you weren’t at the revelry,” Jack says affably, peering over Lena’s head with interest. “Is that a human in the storeroom?And are they eating the faerie fruit?”

Lena groans.

*****

“She ate the faerie fruit, Lena, you can’t just - ”

Sam makes a wild gesture of frustration.

Andrea prods the prone human - still, to Lena’s dismay, in the storeroom, and now snoring gently - with her foot, an expression of distaste marring her pretty features.

“Lena. Why are you feeding random humans? Is it clean? Does it have fleas?”

“Don’t kick the human, Andy, look how cute it - she? Is it a she? Oh Lena, look at her ears, they’re round, come see - ”

“Jack, stop petting the human, sometimes they bite - ”

“I didn’t feed her, I just heard a noise! She must have broken into the pantry somehow - ”

“I told you the wards weren’t strong enough on the grounds,” Andrea sniffs.

“Look how much she’s eaten! You can’t send her back, Lena, she’ll wander aimlessly in the woods until her shoes are worn and her feet bleed, she might die,” Jack wheedles.

Lena looks to Sam in dismay, just as a younger fae comes crashing into the hallway.

“Ruby,” Sam says severely. “You should be asleep.”

“Is that a human?” Ruby says with interest. “Can we keep her?”

Kara wakes up feeling a little sick. The fruit had been oh so splendid, but now that she thinks about it, eating a full crate may have been...an unwise choice. It's fine, though. It's fine. Totally fine.

She groans a little as she sat up from her spot on the floor, a little embarrassed that she'd slumbered on the ground. In her defense, however, the fruit was so yummy and so filling, she's not surprised she had to take a nap to recover.

As she acquaints herself with her surroundings, her gaze falls on a huddle on the far side of the room. Then, her eyes focus on the profile of the most beautiful woman Kara had ever laid her mortal eyeballs on; a woman with pale white skin and dark hair, bright green eyes that remind Kara a little bit of clear ocean water back in Midvale, and the curve of red lips that Kara just can't really stop staring at.

Around the woman are four others: two women, a man, and a teenager? Kara blinks a few times to make sure her eyes aren't tricking her. Why a child is here is beyond her, but she's not gonna ask questions. She's on her day off, after all.

All too soon, however, she realizes that the huddle are whispering animatedly at each other. Kara tries to eavesdrop, but she can't quite make what they're saying. Italian, maybe? She's not sure. It sounds like Italian.

In any case, she rises to her feet, careful at first, and slowly makes her way towards the huddled group and clears her throat, hoping to let them know that she's awake now.

"Um, buongiorno?" she offers in her best Italian accent, flashing her best smile as the group turns to her in shock. When they don't immediately respond, she clears her throat. She realizes perhaps she's mixing her languages. She tries again. "Hola?"

“Oh, she’s communicating with us,” Jack coos, and Lena hits him. “Lena. Lena. Is that not the most precious thing you’ve ever seen?”

“Is it concussed?” Andrea is asking Sam. “Aren’t those two different human languages?”

“Look,” Lena is protesting. “She’s awake. She’s not dazed, or in thrall, or mesmerised, or enchanted, or anything else, can’t we just, you know, kind of… imply that if she quickly leaves through the nearest exit to the mortal world, we can all forget this ever happened and never speak of it again?”

“What nearest exit?” Andrea retorts. “Lillian closed them all off while she’s at the High Court so your brother can’t lure them to revels, don’t you remember how long it took to get rid of all the humans the last Solstice Lillian was away?”

“In fairness,” Jack offers diplomatically, “it wasn’t their fault Veronica kept enticing them to gamble away pieces of their memory at the - what did they think it was?”

“Tarot readings,” Lena supplies automatically, and then scowls.

“You see,” Jack says triumphantly. “You love humans, Lena, and it’s been so long since we’ve had a changeling - ”

“Changelings are children, Jack, they stay small and malleable and don’t break into the pantry and eat all the faerie fruit,” Andrea sniffs. “How did it get into the storeroom?”

“We could ask?” Ruby says hopefully.

As one, they turn to the blonde woman in the middle of the room.

“Um,” the human says helpfully. “Sprechen sie Deutsch?”

Kara was running out of languages she was familiar with. The only one left in her back pocket is the list of Chinese takeout names that she's memorized, but she feels a little weird using that.

Thankfully, it seems that the people all staring at her like she's grown an extra head have stopped talking with one another. Perhaps she should try one more time--this time in English. After all, it's really the only language she knows. How she thought she could converse with them in broken languages not her own clearly just means that she was not thinking straight.

"Um, hello. My name is K---"

Yet the beautiful woman raised a hand and stopped her, effectively silencing what she was about to say.

"Don't say it," the woman says to her in English, her voice coming out melodic yet firm, a lilt to it that Kara can't quite place. All Kara knows is that she sounds beautiful.

The pressing matter at hand is that she can't speak her assent, so she just nods.

"How did you get in here?"

She opens her mouth, but no sound comes out. She frowns and tries again. She gestures to the woman helplessly. The woman rolls her eyes and waves at her, and Kara gasps, a pressure somehow coming off of her throat without realizing.

"Um, thanks. What was the question again?"

The woman with blue-green eyes snickers beside the man while the brown-eyed woman and the teenager only offer her encouraging smiles.

"How did you get in here?"

"I...don't know."

"Think. You're not supposed to be here."

Kara tries not to panic knowing that if she's trespassing somehow that Alex is going to really rip her a new one. She has a tendency to wander, and this time, she may have wandered a little too far. Still, she tries not to let her panic show, so she scratches the back of her head as she quickly rushes through her memories, all of them vague and distant, her mind foggy.

"Well, uh, miss--ma'am," she starts, trying to buy herself some time until flashes of Noonan's and a long hallway appear in her mind. "I was just trying to eat lunch at Noonan's and tried to open the door to their back patio area because it's quieter and I have an article I'm working on, which Snapper will totally get mad at me for if I don't turn it in first thing tomo...rrow." She stops talking when the beautiful woman scowls at her. "Um, anyway, I walked down a long hallway and then opened the door in front of me and now I just...am here? Sorry?"

The group of them fall back into a huddle and resume talking in the language Kara doesn't recognize. Finally, the man turns and offers her a dashing smile and speaks up.

"And you don't remember anything else?" he asks, his voice coming out deep and...British? Kara has to make sense of that one in a little bit.

"No. I mean, it's all kind of fuzzy? I just remember I tried to turn around, but when I looked back, the door I came in was gone."

The teenager's eyes widened and she mutters out 'oh shit' until the taller brunette woman beside her slaps a hand over her mouth. Well, up to this point, Kara didn't immediately think this was an 'oh shit' moment, but maybe now she should.

“Oh shit?” Jack repeats, rolling the words around in his mouth. “Ruby, you didn’t teach me oh shit. You promised you’d teach me all the new things the humans are saying. What does oh shit mean?”

(The human looks a shade more alarmed every time Jack says oh shit, probably because it’s the only thing she understands interspersed in Fae.)

“Come on, Uncle Jack,” Ruby objects. “The last time you went to the mortal world and spoke to a human they were still using thou. That’s a lot of ground to cover.”

“And yet,” Lena says with narrowed eyes, “they were definitely already saying shit.”

“Ah, shit,” Jack sighs resignedly.

“Um,” the human says timidly.

Andrea rolls her eyes and turns to the shelf behind her, pulling a satchet made of leaves - the type that young fae would be given on an outing, full of nuts and berries - from one of the woven baskets.

“Pspspspspspsss,” Andrea says, and drops the satchet into the human’s hands. “Stay. Sit.”

“Andy,” Lena hisses.

“What?” Andrea shrugs. “She’s eaten half a tree worth of faerie fruit, a few berries aren’t going to do her in at this point.”

“Her ears are so round,” Jack is marvelling to Ruby.

“Would you stop with the ears, Jack,” Sam sighs. “No one is buying your distraction from whatever it is that you and Ruby did.”

Lena spares a moment to glance at the human; she has, remarkably, obediently sat down on a nearby crate and is inspecting the leaf satchel and its contents.

“Can’t we keep her?” Jack asks. “Look, she’s so well behaved.”

“What is a Noonan’s,” Sam interrupts. “And why was there a fae passageway there?”

“We were getting Aunt Lena a gift,” Ruby says meekly.

“Not the coffee again?” Sam says in exasperation.

“Honestly, you’d think Lena was the human and those disgusting little beans were the fae fruit,” Andrea muses. “They’re so bitter.”

“You have to grind them and add boiled water,” Lena protests. “You tried the one I made with elderflower nectar and honey and liked it!”

“I didn’t sleep for three days,” Andrea says darkly.

“You’re fae, Andrea - ”

“She gets so cranky without them,” Jack is appealing to Sam. “You know this. Look how argumentative she is!”

“Hey,” Lena protests.

 There is a quiet and tentative throat-clearing noise from the crate.

GLEEFULLY shaing another lil’ Aloy/Talanah doodle by the amazing @/twisted.orchid on IG, inspired by my fic “rest like you belong here”! The whole plot of it in a nutshell, truly lmao 🥹💕💕 I'm so humbled and obsessed!!!!

please please please support the artist on instagram and ko-fi!

Oddly specific. Got a deposit for 6,837 today

fuck it, i never ever do those “reblog for X, this one really works!” posts, but this one doesn’t have any of that BS, this is just straight up wishing us good things; and then the comment doesn’t even say any of that either. Zero claims on this post, all positive vibes

May you end this week feeling ever more certain of a future you’ll love

Hell yeah I'd love a future with more money

She got so mad she wrote song lyrics and edited a video and everything omg

Living.

WHAT IS THIS AND WHY DO I LOVE IT SO MUCH

this is the video description on youtube: “ I’ve been a server for 5 years. I made a song about the way white girls ask me for boxes. “

CAN I GET A BOX?

Always reblog Can I Get A Box

I'd like to place an order for Supercorp please.

Kara groggily opened her eyes to blinding sunlight, the curtains wide open to the mid-morning sun. She rubbed her eyes and sat upright, only to freeze. She was naked and so was a brunette in bed next to her.

Golly, gee whiz. How had this happened? She only vaguely remembered the night. She'd gone to New Vegas out of shame over the red-K incident in an attempt to drink it all away. Seeing her friends and family and boss, once she'd been cured of it, had been too much to bear. Every time she thought about returning, she had a panic attack instead. So she'd stayed in town and just wandered about getting drunk in various spots. Last night had been perhaps the strangest one of all. She'd heard of an alien bar hidden in a side alley at the edge of the strip. Going to one seemed like a chance to relax her constant vigilance to fit in with the humans.

When she'd reached the bar, she'd been surprised to find a woman standing just outside it. The brunette in a violet suit stared at the green door, and shifted from foot to foot as if nervous. "Hey," Kara said, confused. "Something wrong?" The woman jumped and turned to Kara in surprise. "Oh." Her eyes widened further, and her gaze swept over Kara's body, her expression changing from anxious to calculated in the span of a second. "Hello. Um. Are you going inside?" "Was thinking about it, why?" Kara had to admit the brunette was absolutely beautiful. A strong chin, full lips, gorgeous hetereochromiatic eyes, and a full figure to boot. Moments like this made Kara wonder if maybe, just maybe she should drop the straight act that humans preferred, so she could enjoy a moment with someone as beautiful as this woman. "Good. That's good." The woman let out a relieved breath. "May I join you?" Kara raised her eyebrows. "Uhhh. I mean, sure?" She considered whether it was a good idea to share her name, and decided that a first name should be safe. She wasn't wearing her glasses today - she'd broken them actually in a bar fight the other night when someone had tried to feel up a woman and Kara, drunk off some Aldebaran rum, had punched the dude - so she was a tad nervous about someone recognizing her. It's why she was going to the only alien bar in town. She'd found that out after the bar fight. The woman she'd saved was an alien hiding as a human, and mentioned it as a thank you for saving her life. So Kara held out her hand. "I'm Kara. And you are?" The woman took her hand, firmly. "Lena. Thank you for this." She smiled, and two adorable dimples appeared in her cheeks. Okay, so maybe for tonight, Kara would drop that frustrating straight act that humans prefer. She could just be her pansexual self and see where this goes. It wasn't like she was going to ever see anyone here again since she planned to head back to National City tomorrow. She couldn't hide here forever after all. So the pair had entered the establishment. That's when things got hazy. Kara had a few rums. The woman had asked her random questions about whether she believed someone could 'reinvent themselves' or if Kara believed in 'soulmates.'

Kara thought it likely Lena had been drunk or at least tipsy by that point. Especially since she'd started flirting with abandon. Which made her absolutely irresistible. Lena had at one point leaned close, her smell a wonderful vanilla scent, and whispered, "Do you believe in magic?" Kara grinned, her head all nice and fuzzy from the rum, and her hands so, so close to touching Lena's waist. She kept them to either side of her at the small table, where they sat so close together that their thighs were touching. "I sure do. Do you?" "I - I have uncovered some evidence of it, yes." Lena tilted her head and twirled a lock of Kara's golden hair in her fingers. "You're the first person who has said that though. Would you - you like to experiment with me then?" "Experiment?" Kara wasn't entirely sure what Lena was asking here. "You mean you can do magic? Or know someone who can?" That seemed like a lot of fun, and with the rum swirling in her belly along with eating nearly seven containers of fries, Kara was willing to do just about anything if it meant more time in this amazing woman's presence. "Yes," Lena replied, which Kara dimly noted answered none of her questions. Turning toward the bar again, Lena tapped the counter three times. The bartender walked over with a smile, their blue skin glistened with sweat, and in their six-fingered hand they cleaned a glass. "We'd like the Anamchara please." The bartender narrowed their eyes. "You sure about that? Pretty permanent stuff." Lena waved her hand. "I've heard the rumors. Done my research." She slapped Kara's arm. "Companion here agreed, right darling?" She looked at Kara. Kara nodded. "Sure thing. Let's do the Anamchara." She downed the rest of her rum, her brain even foggier. And that was the last thing Kara remembered. What the Anamchara was, she had no idea. It must have been a wild ride of a drink if it meant she ended up in bed with Lena, naked. Did they... have sex then? Kara blushed and looked at the still sleeping woman. Surely not. She didn't see any bruises and a quick check with x-ray vision showed no broken bones. There was a hickey on the left side of her neck, but that was it. Which meant either they didn't have sex, or Kara somehow managed it without losing any control. That felt impossible to her, especially since she'd been drunk. Both of them had been. Kara licked her lips, worried now. Why couldn't she remember the rest of the evening? What the hell had been that drink?

Lena grumbled and rolled onto her back, one arm flung over her eyes. "Who left the curtain open?"

"Uhhh." Kara wanted to bolt right then and there, but Lena had lowered her arm at that point. So running now, before she'd confirmed or denied the sex seemed really rude. She should at least make sure the brunette was okay. Sleeping with a Kryptonian didn't seem like a wise thing, not with how stupidly strong she was. Lena stared at her for a long moment. "Oh. You're not a dream then." She sat upright and looked down at herself. "Ah. I see." Her expression changed to a thoughtful one. "You're the hot blonde I recruited for my experiment, aren't you?" "Um, yeah?" Kara grabbed the blanket and swiftly wrapped it around herself in mortification. Especially since the blanket had fallen down and she had full view of Lena's amazing breasts. It left her feeling faint with desire, which was not helping her frame of mind. Her fingers curled into fists, ripping the blanket. Why didn't Lena cover herself up? What was even happening? Lena shook her head. "Perhaps this wasn't my smartest idea. Tell me, hot blonde, how did the experiment go?" She tilted her head to study Kara intently. "Sorry?" Kara stared back. So Lena didn't remember either? Lena frowned. "The experiment. To prove the existence of magic. I'd heard of that alien bar just off the strip had some potent magic. I wanted to see it for myself. We did ask for it, didn't we?" "Maybe?" Kara shrugged. "I vaguely recall you asking for it. Then I woke up here." Lena groaned and fell back on the bed. "Dammit. I was so careful to not get smashed drunk!" "Wait, you weren't drunk at first?" Kara didn't have a good idea of how to tell exactly when humans got drunk, but she'd assumed Lena had been after two and a half scotches. That was what it took to get Kara drunk on Aldebaran rum, which was pretty strong stuff. She'd heard scotch was strong stuff for humans. "No. I wasn't. Tipsy, yes." Lena nibbled on her thumb.

"So, what do you remember?"

"I asked for the Anamchara. The most interesting magic gimmick that they perform there. It's suppose to bring good luck to one's relationships I was told, which considering my life of late I needed it. The bartender took us through a side door to a rather ridiculously decorated room. Like someone vomited rainbows everywhere. The woman in the room looked human. I believe she asked me if I wished to use my own gift. Rather strange ask. I can't remember what happened after however." "It apparently led to us here, naked," Kara pointed out the obvious in a vain hope it meant Lena would cover herself. She was tempted to throw the blanket over Lena. Anything would do at this point. She kept her gaze steadily on the painting on the far wall to avoid staring at Lena's wonderfully shaped breasts. "I see that," Lena said, amused. Her intense gaze swept over Kara. "Wish I could remember the sex."

That turned Kara's face an even brighter shade of red. She stammered for a moment until she gave up on words and only swallowed uneasily.

That seemed to amuse the brunette further, and she laughed. "Far too easy to fluster you." She leaned forward and cupped her hand against Kara's cheek. "As much as I want to make up for that lack of memory right now, I do have to check out before noon. My flight leaves this afternoon, and I'd like to not rush it." "Right." Kara nodded, her entire body aflame from Lena's touch. "I, uh, am leaving today too." "Hmm. How about we get dressed and have lunch before we head our separate ways?" Lena looked like she was staring more at Kara's lips than anything else. "Would be nice to spend the day with a beautiful woman during my final week as a non-married person."

Kara gaped. "Wait, wait, you're getting married in a week?"

Lena hummed. "Seems so. Oh don't look so scandalized. Jack knew I was coming out here for a bachelorette party." She clucked her tongue at Kara's shock. "He just didn't need to know it ended technically two days ago. I wanted a little time to myself. Though why I'm telling you this." She shook her head. "So, lunch?"

Kara nodded unable to say no at this point. Lena was utterly fascinating, and also very confusing, but then human courtship had Kara absolutely baffled. On Krypton they had no such thing. The matrix took care of calculating best possible matches.

It was when Lena moved to stand that Kara's eyes took in the tattoo over her heart. Had it been there the entire time? Kara face and neck turned even redder. Gosh, she'd been too busy staring at Lena's breasts or mouth that she didn't even notice the detailed tattoo. It looked like some sort of cross between a tree and --

-- her family's crest. What?

Lena slid out of bed and walked toward the bathroom. Only a minute later she poked her head out to frown at Kara. "Do you remember us getting a tattoos together at any point last night?"

Kara shook her head. "No? I don't remember anything beyond you asking about that magic thing."

"Then why do you have the same tattoo over your left breast?"

Kara looked down and nearly jumped out of her skin. Sure enough, the exact same tattoo was emblazoned over her own heart.

...oOo...

They stopped by a cafe near the airport. Lena sipped her coffee, while she waited for Kara to pick up their food from the front counter. The tattoo on her chest still ached, so it had to have happened sometime during their drunk escapades. It irritated her to no end that she had no memory of it.

So much for her experiment. Her hope of witnessing the magic had gotten her instead a hot blonde sleeping in her bed. If they'd had sex, she had no memory of it, which was a crying shame really. She would have liked to have been railed by all that muscle.

A TV hung in the corner of the cafe, no sound from it, but captions ran across the bottom of it. A red-head woman stood in front of a burned down building. The captions mentioned how Supergirl was still missing. No sign of her for over a week. A picture of the blonde superhero appeared in the top right corner of the screen.

Lena put down her cup and stared at the picture for a long moment. She'd already had this thought last night, while she had stood outside the alien bar trying to psych herself up.

Sure, the hot blonde had been in civilian clothes, but her lack of glasses, her facial features, and muscular body had Lena wondering if she was Supergirl. It had been part of the reason she'd decided to ask the woman to accompany her. Even though Lena also knew it was highly doubtful the hot blonde was such a superhero.

Not until this moment, staring at that broadcast, did it occur to her that:

Lena nibbled on her thumb and considered her options. Asking directly was out of the question. They were in a public place. Asking discreetly could work, but was it worth it? So what if Kara looked like Supergirl? Better to leave this bizarre situation semi-anonymous.

Besides, Lena had no plans to reveal her surname, not that it'd matter since in a week it'd change to Spheer anyway, and she'd finally be free of its curse. But she wasn't a fool. Even with the name change, she couldn't ever forget what her brother had done, and guilt and shame hung heavy over her still.

She let out a heavy sigh and rubbed her eyebrow, frustrated with herself. Maybe her decision to go along with Jack's wishes was messing with her head. Kara simply was a hot blonde that had a passing resemblance to Supergirl. Her wishes to meet and work with Supergirl, was just that.

Foolish wishes.

Only a few weeks ago, she'd considered moving to National City to work with Supergirl herself. She'd been seriously considering taking the CEO role to remake Luthorcorp into L-Corp to undo vile deeds of her brother. To redeem the family name and push the company toward being a force of good in this world.

Jack had been against the idea, and due to their upcoming wedding, Lena had quietly shelved the idea for the moment. It meant putting the company in yet more hiatus with no CEO at its helm, but Lena felt herself reluctant still to directly turn down the role. The idea of her, a Luthor, working with a Super? Damn, had that been alluring. She'd almost broken off the engagement to do it anyway, but Jack's logic overruled her emotions.

He was excellent at that.

It was why she allowed the engagement and was bothering with marriage. He was a decent man, and heavens knew, no one else would dare to ever bed a Luthor. Her one-night stands with women she'd used a pseudonym: Lena Keiran or Tess Mercer, whichever one seemed more likely to net her a fling.

The upcoming wedding would be a small affair, and it'd net her the quiet life she'd wanted. It wouldn't assuage her guilt and shame, especially if she didn't take the CEO role to fix the wrongs her brother did.

But was Jack right? Didn't she deserve a life separate from the Luthor's legacy? They loved each other, and he was willing to look past her trysts with women. To look past her last name and the fact she was related to a mass murderer. Lena doubted anyone else would. Not even Supergirl.

Kara placed the food on the table and smiled. "So, uh, how's the coffee?" She winced at her own words. "Um, I mean, you know, you..." she trailed off and sat down, flustered.

Lena raised an eyebrow. She took a bite of her salad. "The coffee is a little watery, but I drink it for the caffeine. So, if I may ask, where is home for you? Mine's Metropolis."

"National City."

Huh. Interesting. "You live there long?"

"A few years. Grew up in Midvale." Kara dug into her food, which now that Lena examined it, was a ridiculous amount. Eight pancakes, seven eggs, a massive pile of hashbrowns, and enough bacon to make up an entire pig.

"That's a lot of food," Lena said, then colored at the fact she'd said it out loud. "I mean, not that that's a bad thing at all."

Kara still blushed. "I know, I know, I eat a lot." She chuckled, but there was a hint of unease in it. "Gotta keep up these muscles somehow!" She flexed her right arm dramatically.

Lena swallowed and tried not to think about those muscles flexing while they railed her against the bed.

Damn, she wished she could remember their evening. She ended Las Vegas with a bang, and couldn't even remember what was likely the best part of the night. Served her right. Whatever that "magic" had been, it likely had been a very intense alcoholic drink. One that had them both plastered.

"So, what about you? You grow up in Metropolis?"

"No. Small town a few states over. I only work there." She tapped her fork against her plate. "I have been considering National City however. For my next business venture." Why had she said that? She'd shelved it due to Jack, yet the words had flowed out of her without thought.

"Oh?" Kara smiled, her face lighting up as if it was the sun itself. "It's a pretty great city! And pretty safe. With, uh, you know, Supergirl and all." She gave that uneasy chuckle again.

"Which is currently missing?" Lena studied Kara closely. "I seems strange. She's usually so attentive."

Kara devoured a handful of bacon and gulped down a glass of water. "Maybe Supergirl needed a break? Even superheroes get burned out I hear."

Huh. This wasn't proving or disproving any of Lena's theories as to Kara's true identity. If anything, it left her in more confusion. She rubbed her itching tattoo through her satin shirt absently, her eyes once again going to the newsfeed about the whereabouts of Supergirl.

In her periphery, she noted, to her surprise, that Kara also rubbed her shirt over where her own tattoo was located.

...oOo...

When Lena stepped off the private plane, she planned to meet her driver and have a quiet ride to the outskirts of Metropolis, where Jack and her currently lived. The flight out had been delayed a few hours due to a bad windstorm, so it was the early hours of the next day technically. Far too early for Jack, not that she expected him after she'd texted to say she'd been delayed.

Two steps later, she dropped to her knees in agony, her hand pressed against her heart, the tattoo on fire. It burned through her, and her entire body seized up. Voices blurred in her hearing. Her vision glazed with tears, and she curled up, biting down a whimper.

A sonic boom assaulted her eardrums, and the pain instantly faded. She was lifted into the air and pressed against a very warm chest. Opening her eyes, she stared at the familiar blonde face from her last night in Las Vegas.

Except this time, Kara wore her Supergirl suit, and beads of sweat glistened on her brow.

"Hey, hey, you okay?" Her voice held an undercurrent of worry. "Do - do you need to go to the hospital? I can fly us."

Lena stared and stared some more. Her brain felt fuzzy from the sudden pain and then abrupt absence of said pain. "I -- uh." Well, that was wonderfully eloquent.

Words. She understood them quite well.

"You're Supergirl."

Even more eloquent. This certainly was not her day.

"Yeah." Kara smiled, sheepishly. "Um, yeah. So the hospital?"

Lena nodded, mostly because with that level of pain, she really should be examined. Just in case. She'll simply text Jack after. Best to not worry him until she had a better idea of her situation.

...oOo...

Kara had no idea why she'd felt the need to fly all the way to Metropolis, but the pain in her chest wouldn't let up until she'd reached the city. Then it only faded the moment she'd landed by Lena.

She was pretty certain that whatever happened the other night, that neither of them remembered, played a role in all of this, but what and why and how? Kara didn't know who to ask for help in unraveling that.

Her cousin maybe could do some research for her, but she really did not want to deal with him telling her off about being irresponsible. She already carried the weight of shame from the red-K still. Las Vegas had numbed her a bit to it, but it hadn't erased its impact.

Returning to National City, even if it was only for 18 hours, had brought back the shame with a vengeance. That and her phone, which she'd left behind for her Las Vegas escapade, had been filled to the brim with messages from Alex, Winn, James, Lucy, and Cat.

So she'd dived into thwarting crime and saving people from burning buildings to make up for the week she'd spent drinking away her shame.

Only for the pain to start and the urge to fly to Metropolis consumed her thoughts.

Now she walked into the Emergency Department at the hospital Lena suggested she use. Finding Lena crumpled on a tarmac next to the Luthor plane had been unnerving on all counts.

So, Kara was back at square one. Who did she ask for help? And what exactly did Lena and her do? What had been that magical experiment they'd tried?

"It's fine," Lena said to the nurse who had positioned herself between Kara and Lena's stretcher. "She can stay with me."

Kara blinked. She had gone on autopilot there. "It's okay. I mean, I can wait..."

"Nonsense." Lena waved her hand. "You rescued me off the tarmac. Keep me company a little longer."

Kara smiled and relaxed. It did help her feel better that she wouldn't be leaving Lena's side. The idea of not being in Lena's physical proximity had left her feeling cold, the tattoo pulsing with spurts of pain at the mere thought.

So she follow the nurse into an exam room, swept her cape out of the way, and sat down to keep Lena company.

it’s always cute when we show clark or kara floating in their sleep when they’re happy and safe, but it never made sense to me that they look like they’re still sleeping on a mattress. they should be relaxed. rag-dolled. flopped over. contorted and twisted like some horror from a terrible nightmare where their heads are lolled back and their limbs hanging and backs bowed. a frightful night terror demon hovering above you. gently snoring.

I um wanted to write this so I hope you like?

the chokehold this fic has on me is so unreal @foibles-fables​

Please go read rest like you belong here because foibles’ writing is always a delight. 

Also here’s some silly bonus content I drew a year or so ago for their fic quench, (also a bANGER would highly recommend ✌️).

[image description: a tweet by user @indigenousAI saying

“fun fact: as a DV survivor i cannot register to vote because doing so makes my address public. anyone who is fleeing or hiding from an abuser is automatically disenfranchised from the political process and this is a feature, not a bug”]

I don’t know of the original poster might not be aware

but!

if you’ve been a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, you can enroll into the address confidentiality program (free of cost!) and be registered to vote as an absentee voter and your name and address will not be made available for the public

it is super easy to get enrolled - the application takes like 5 minutes, but it has to be with someone who is certified to do it (most likely an advocate! try going to a family justice center in your area or calling the Attorney Generals office in your area!!!!)

ALSO : 

you don’t need to have any police reports or have a protection order to qualify!!! you just have to sign stating that you’ve been a victim of one of the aforementioned crimes.

Links to the info for every state in the Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_confidentiality_program

Reposting as Primaries and General Voting are coming up.

side eyeing everyone who has an nhl twitter/blog but isn’t hyping up the pwhl right now. like get on that immediately please

like this is so important yet yall keep hyping up the most basic hockey guys I have ever seen. please for the love of god support women’s hockey and help ensure these women can keep going.

IT’S QUEER WOMEN ON ICE!!! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!!!

recap for those who don’t know/weren’t aware WHY this league is so important and why we should support it — this is the first season of the professional women’s hockey league (pwhl) in which these female athletes (olympians, former u18, and college stars, ect) are being properly compensated for their skills — AKA making enough to not have to work two jobs while also playing hockey — it’s not millions but it’s enough — starting at 35k, average at about 55k, and each team will carry a minimum six players signed to three-year contracts paying them $80,000 annually. The highest salary is rumoured to be at 120k. The league already has a collective bargaining agreement as well that covers the next eight years. There have been successful women’s hockey leagues in the past, but none began with the kind of staying power this one has.

it has 6 teams

The first season began on Jan. 1, 2024, with each team playing a 24-game schedule, 12 games at home and 12 away. All games are be streamed FOR FREE on the pwhl’s youtube channel. In Canada you can also catch the games on sportsnet, cbc, and tsn depending on the day. Link to the schedule.

This is so big for not only women’s hockey, but women’s sports in general. This league was crafted together as a labour of love by women’s hockey alumni like Jayna Hefford and other female athletes such as Billie Jean King. People who love the sport, and women’s sports in general and want to see it develop and succeed so little girls can have a dream and goal of playing professionally like boys do.

support this league. It’s our best shot