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osamusriceballs · 6 months

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Kinktober Day 29 <3

Suna x public sex

Warnings: NSFW, fem reader

Words: ~ 1,8 k

Kinktober Masterlist II -> Last day

"You can't-"

Your legs press together, his cock now tightly squeezed between your thighs. You see yourself in the mirror, clad only in the lingerie that he chose for you. A black and white compilation of lace, one that reminds you of his old high school uniform that he often gives you to sleep in.

"But I'm doing it right now, aren't I, doll?" His hands wander from your hips to your sides, rubbing the exposed skin until you feel warm all over.

"We're in public-" you weakly protest, already succumbing into the way he's touching you so gently. Suna knows how to push your buttons; he knows how to get you all worked up for him.

"You just need to keep quiet. Can you do that for me? Keep those pretty little noises inside?" His lips touch the back of your neck, and you see his eyes attentively watching you in the mirror, gauging every single one of your reactions. He can read you like a book, not needing any encouragement, but knowing exactly what you want just from analyzing your body language. "Can you?" He repeats when you don't respond, and you softly nod as an answer, not trusting your voice to come out steadily. "Good. Such a good doll for me. You look so sexy in that lingerie." His hand comes to the flimsy pair of panties that barely hide your pussy, his fingers tugging playfully on the material until you feel it stretching over your clit. "Rin, no- it's gonna rip-" you lowly protest, laying your hand over his to stop him from pulling harder, even though you want nothing more but to feel more of that friction. Or at least feel something that will help to ease the ache between your legs.

"It's not worth buying then," he dryly comments, but stops tugging and you let out a low shriek when the material snaps back on your skin. His cock rubs between your legs when he lazily thrusts his hips, your thighs pressing together even harder at the sudden friction on your clit.

"Rin-" you while, your hands pressing harder against the mirror when you push your ass against him. "Shh. I though you can stay quiet for me." He raises an eyebrow in a teasing manner- and under other circumstances you would have swatted his hands away and pouted until he kisses you to make up for it.

"It's kind of hard to stay quiet when your cock is between my legs." His hips thrust once again, a deep, strained breath leaving his lips at your words. You know that he loves it when you're vocal like this. "Oh, doll, that's not even close to what I will do to you. You should know better." His hand comes up to your chest, his fingers tracing the lacey pattern of the bra while his gaze roams over your body, no hurry in his movements and actions. You know that he doesn't really care about the fact that there could be other people in the shop, hell, there even could be people in the dressing room next to you and he wouldn't care. An assistant could come up to you any second, banning you from ever entering the shop again, if she knew what you're both doing on there, but you know that Suna won't stop until you're both satisfied, no matter what happens.

"Pull them down for me. Slowly." He whispers in your ear, pulling his hips back until his cock no longer pushes between you legs and his chin rests on your shoulder. Your heartbeat speeds up and you hesitantly reach for the dark material, being fully convinced that there is a stain on it already. You hook your thumbs into the hem of the panties, keeping eye-contact with Suna through the mirror while you slowly pull them down your thighs and let them fall down to the ground. You know that you're wet already, eager for him to touch you more, but he keeps one hand on your side while the other plays with your tit, his gaze fixated on your exposed cunt. "Hm, look at you. Even prettier without them on." He compliments while his thumb firmly rubs your nipple, eliciting a small moan out of you.

You arch your back into him, your eyes half-closed while you watch his hand caressing your body and softly holding you. "Can you- Rin, please, fuck me," you whisper, doing your best to keep your voice down, and he smiles at your attempt to lower your voice. "Can't deny my pretty doll face anything when she begs for my cock like that." He softly kisses your cheek before his hand moves to his cock, pumping himself slowly and spreading his precum all along his length. "Can't wait to feel you around me." He groans, two of his fingers pinching your nipples at his words, and you let out a moan- so loud that you wearily glance towards the curtain on your back, but much to your relief, no one comes to kick you out.

"You want me to prep you, doll?" His cock halts at your entrance, the tip barely dipping into your wetness, and you know your knees would give up if he wasn't pressing you so hardly against the mirror. "Just put it in. Rin, please fuck me," you beg, still trying to keep your voice as low as you can, and he groans and slowly pushes his tip inside. "So wet for me. Wet from having my cock rubbing between your legs. Such a dirty slut for me." His voice right next to your ear does something for you, and you let out another low whimper, just a tad bit louder this time. He tenses at the sound, pausing his movements when his cock is only half inside. "Gimme a hand here." He suddenly grabs your hand from the mirror, and you yelp when your face is pressed against the cool glass, your breaths making it foggy and harder for you to see his pretty face. You feel his tongue around your fingers though, licking a long stripe along two of them before he presses the digits against your lips.

"I want you to suck on these fingers while I fuck you. Pretend it's my cock. Make them nice and wet for me, doll." He rasps against your ear, and you desperately pant and clench around the tip of his cock when you slowly bring the fingers inside your mouth. You taste his saliva on your tongue, making sure to make a show of how you swirl your tongue around them before you put them into your mouth and he lets out a low groan when he sees how you suck eagerly on your fingers. You feel his chest heave against your back, his hand on your hip tightening his grip for a second before he abruptly pushes further inside of you until he's fully sheathed inside. Your walls flutter around him, you feel so warm and wet and welcome around him, and he finds himself pausing for a moment, enjoying how you clench and writhe in front of him while you suck on your fingers. Such a lewd sight- only for him.

He doesn't waste any time before he pulls his hips back and quickly pushes them forward again, making sure to hold your body steady to go deeper. Your breath is erratic, just like your heartbeat, your pussy throbbing for him, aching to have him fuck you, to have him touch you more-

"Don't worry, doll, I'll fuck you how you like it. I know what my little cumbucket needs," he hisses through gritted teeth and then he finally starts fucking you. His thrusts are slower than usual, for no doubt his measly attempt to keep quiet, even though you know for sure that the sound of skin slapping against skin can be heard in the next cabins. They are more powerful and harder than usual, his grayish eyes carefully observing your reactions until he sees how your face contorts in bliss. That's when he keeps angling his hips in the same way, knowing that he found your sensitive spot, and he will make sure to reach it every single time that he thrusts inside of you. You feel the heat coiling in your stomach when he fucks you just right, just how you need it. You're being used like a sex toy- and you love every single second of it.

You stiffen in front of him, feeling the warm glass against your cheek when he hits the same spot again and again, and you know that it will not take much more to make you cum. You whine against your fingers, slightly biting down to muffle your moans, and you feel how your legs tense even more when you're close, so close to reach your high-

"C'mon, doll face. Cum for me, and then I will fill you up. You like that, don't ya? Being full of my cum, walking home with my cum dripping down your legs." There is a need in his voice that makes you go feral, and you meet his thrusts with your hips, knowing fully well that you can't hold back much longer. His hands grab your hips tighter, and you gasp for air when you feel him so deep inside you-

Your thighs clench together when you suddenly reach your high, a particularly strong thrust sending you over the edge easily. You whine around the fingers, trying to stay as quiet as you can, but you can barely focus on staying quiet when you feel him tense too, his arms grabbing you almost painfully hard at this point when he cums, the hot liquid filling you up and painting your walls white. Your eyes roll back at the feeling, of being so deliciously full of him while you both remain motionless, just your ragged breaths escaping you while he holds your limp body up.

You know that he would usually praise you and massage your stiff limbs- he doesn't seem like it, but Suna is definitely a master at aftercare- but now he simply kisses your bare shoulder, only a few quiet words reaching your ears, like "love" and "pretty". You shiver in his arms, your mind slowly getting clearer, and you notice that you have drooled quite a lot around your fingers- much to your embarrassment, but a mischievous glint in Suna's eyes tells you that he definitely enjoys seeing you like this. You hesitantly pull your fingers out of your mouth, your jaw slightly aching from being kept so widely opened for so long.

Suna slowly pulls his softened cock out, not caring much about the thick droplet of cum that drips down your thighs and onto the new panties, much to your horror. His lips curl into a smile when he sees your reaction, and he leans down to reach for them and he soon holds them up with a triumphant huff.

"C'mon, doll. Get dressed while I buy the set..."

He suddenly slaps your bare ass, and you shriek as the sound echoes through- probably through the whole shop. "Rin!"

"...and then we can go home. I want to rip it off for real this time."

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the---hermit · 5 months

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17|11|2023

Today, and last night have been super windy, which means I slept terribly. I don't know what it is but my body despises wind. With this being said I was still quite productive even though I wasn't as rested as I would have liked. In the early afternoon I ran some errands with my mom, we got some early christmas presents, and I also ended up getting a couple of things for myself since there were black friday discounts. I got the coziest floofy pants to stay at home, they're so warm and soft and I love them already. I then ended up buying two books, which means that I should probably go on a book buying ban at least until the holiday season (especially since I am still waiting for two books to get here). I have been pretty good at reading what I bought this year, but in the past while I collected a few new books and I should really focus on those right now. In my defense the two books I got today are very cool unexpected editions that I had never seen before. Lastly in this little treat myself trip I got a new mug, I know I didn't really need one but I had an extra discount for it and it's adorable and brings me a lot of joy. I am still fighting with my immediateresponse of guilt at buying stuff for myself, but rationally I know it's not the end of the world if every once in a while I spend money on myself.

cozy hobbit autumn activities and productivity:

read first thing in the morning

worked on some recorded lectures of my men theories and power practices lectures

daily Irish practice on duolingo

ran some errands with my mom and got some early christmas presents

today's self care:

took my meds

created a cozy space for late afternoon reading

📖: Odyssey by Homer

#i love my new mug 😭#studyblr #studyinspo #uniblr #university #student life #desk #study space #journal #journaling #studying #notebook #productivity #self care #cozy hobbit autumn #knife gang #mine #the---hermit

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zinya · 1 month

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How brothers would react to an MC with bad grades ?

Because we've all had bad grades one day and we all deserve to be comforted.

Lucifer:

Being one of the students in the exchange program he will look at your grades very closely , he may even be aware of your grade before you do.

If it's just one bad grade he will lecture you and probably ban you from certain activities so that you work more (You can say goodbye to video game nights with Levi)

If it's several bad grades he will start asking you questions about what you don't understand and will give you lessons.

Of course, if it's grades that start to weigh on your morale, once your homework is finished, you're welcome to his room to relax.

"I believe in you, don't be discouraged, my love"

Mammon

welcome to the club

If it's a bad grade in math don't worry, The Great Mammon can help you.

Don't be discouraged human, he also has bad grades and lives very well

If he sees that you are depressed because of your grades he will suggest that you go out somewhere with him to take your mind off things. Do you prefer to go shopping or maybe go party somewhere?

If you don't want to go out then he will take you into his room and watch a movie in his arms while he comforts you and cuddle with you

Leviathan

I am convinced that he will show you anime with heroes at school to remotivate you "Hey I have a new anime called "I have bad grades and then everything changed the day I made friends"

If you don't want to, you can always watch TSL with him

But don't get me wrong he will encourage you to work too but he will come get you to take a break if it's been a long time

I don't know if devildom has computer science, but in any case if it's this subject that you're struggling with, he can help you.

Satan

Literally become your personal teacher after all, all his knowledge is yours.

Will lend you textbooks and workbooks

He will always encourage you to do your best

Like mammon he will also offer to go out and clear your mind: Do you want to buy new books? Go drink something at the cat cafe? Maybe the park?

Will read books to you or recite lessons at night in his room when you sleep together

Asmodeus

Positive affirmations

Are you discouraged? Has your self-confidence taken a hit? Spend 10 minutes with him and none of this will happen

"Honey don't cry your pretty skin and your beautiful eyes will suffer "

Will ask you to go shopping with him and you will receive 2 or 3 gifts so he can see you smile

He will help you with the charms lessons (TP too perhaps XD)

You will have the right to take a bath in his bathroom with his products to relax

Beelzebub

Will give you food to comfort you

Would like to help you with potions classes but we all know how it will end

Will give you hugs to comfort you and take you to exercise (if you want of course) to clear your mind

If you decide to study more he will come see you like Levi to take breaks and he will often bring you water or snacks

He will cheer you to death like you do during his matches

Maybe give you a kind of lucky charm to bring you luck for the next exams

Belphegor

Cuddle time

Since it concerns you, he will listen to you talk, like Asmo, about what is wrong

Then he will take you to the top of the Attic to sleep and relax with him

When you revise he comes and sleeps in your bed to keep you company

If you can't sleep because of stress you know where his room is , just kidding, he's already next to you in your bed, can't you see him?

(I don't know who drew this but it's so beautiful.) Anyway, I wrote that instead of studying my exam for tomorrow haha 😅🥲

Sorry for the mistakes, English is not my first language and sometimes I don't understand your abbreviations or expressions🤣

Tell me if you want the others

And don't forget that the most important thing is to do all you can and to be proud of yourself.

Have a Good day 💋

#obey me leviathan #obey me lucifer #obey me satan #obey me headcanons #obeyme mammon #obeyme asmodeus #obeyme beelzebub #obeyme belphegor #obey me shall we date #obeyme headcanons #obeyme mc #obeyme belphi

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p0rkbun · 1 year

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DATING WEISS SCHNEE — headcanons°.✧

⤿Pairing: Weiss Schnee x Fem!Reader

⤿Content Warnings: Fluff, Weiss is your personal sugar momma credit card, she also can't cook.

⤿A/N: Weiss is a lesbian, I stand by that.

✦Her love languages include gift-giving and acts of service, you know this girl loves helping you. You need help on homework? Let her help. You're at a restaurant and want to sit down? She'll pull the chair for you. You want a drink? She'll pour a glass for you. You can't open a jar of pickles? See, this is why you need to work out sometimes.

✦Speaking of gift-giving, since Weiss has her father's credit card, she's eager to spoil you and make you happy. One time you were celebrating your birthday and walked to your room to find many of your favorite goods along with flower bouquets. You would warn her not to spend her entire money on you and get in trouble with her father, and she would huff just to declare, "I don't care what my father thinks; I just like it when you smile."

✦Your personal spot with Weiss would be a comfortable cafe where you two would catch up. It's one of the first places you two have gone during your dates. It's a memorable spot for Weiss. She'd buy your favorite drink and sit with you while having a conversation about how your days have been.

✦She really has a good fashion sense, from dressing in white dresses to white overcoats to white suits even (along with a rose in her hand).

✦On a date, you wore the baby-blue dress she had bought for you along with a dark leather jacket with boots, and I have to tell you that her jaw was wide open, but she quickly composed herself and coughed with a red blush plastered on her pale cheeks. She tried hard to contain a serious look but couldn't help but smile at your gorgeous appearance! She felt like she was going to explode—in a good way.

✦Weiss can't cook, but it's cute seeing her attempt to make something for you. With that, she's banned from the kitchen. You take the lead in cooking; she appreciates it a lot. In some days, you two would sit together and relax to eat cookies you baked (also with Ruby trying to steal one but that results in Weiss scolding her) with tea.

✦Weiss is shy with affection; she would give you a peck on the cheek or a small kiss. She would get very red if you tried to initiate a kiss; she would call you a dolt after that. On some occasions, however, she gains the confidence to sweep you off your feet. She would hold you by the waist and connect her soft lips to yours. She'd pull back with a soft look and say, "You're lucky you're cute, dolt."

✦She might come off as arrogant, a bit insensitive, and mean sometimes, but for you, she's the softest person ever. Whenever you're around, her ice queen persona suddenly disappears, and her teammates notice it, especially Yang and Blake. Yang would tease the white-haired girl, and Blake would just sit back, smirking with a book in her hands.

"Who would ever thought there's actually someone who can melt the ice queen's heart!" Yang laughs.

"Shut up you brute!" Weiss exclaims, irritated.

✦She doesn't call you any pet names much at the start of your relationship because she was timid, but after a while she loves calling you "Princess," "Honey/Hun," "Love," and with a frequent "Darling." "Dolt" is a playful nickname she calls you. She's actually pretty lovey-dovey and cheesy, and it honestly makes Ruby question whether to aw or barf.

✦Weiss loves you very much—much more than you know. She's honestly hesitant to tell her family about you out of fear, but now that you're deeper into the relationship, she's not scared to show you off; she will not care about what her father thinks, and she knows her sister will support you two. Whitley is indifferent about it; he's probably busy being a brat, Weiss thought. She is willing to fight for you; she is protective and will defend you in any way. You would do the same for her as well, and that makes her love you even more.

"You make me feel like I'm me, I just want you to know that I love you, you don't know how much I do," she smiles shyly, she kisses you and softly voices "Maybe one day, you'll take my last name."

°.✧•—✦

#weiss schnee #weiss schnee x reader #weiss schnee x fem!reader #lesbian #wlw #sapphic #rwby #rwby fanfiction #rwby x reader #rwby headcanon #x reader #weiss is best girl #lesbian weiss

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finnigan-writes-stuff · 2 years

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Hey is it ok if you could do fluff with Hunter and a badass!caring!human Reader who is very protective to the people she cares for and has a soft spot for Hunter (when he's not messing the denizens of the Owl House)

Hi anon! I am so so so sorry this took so long I've been swamped with school work and been going through some writers block. If you don't like how this turned out let me know and I'll redo it! Also since it wasn't specified if you wanted romantic or platonic I went with romantic I sincerely hope that's ok. Also it got a little angsty in some places my bad

Hunter with a badass s/o

Warnings:cursing

Pronouns:they/them

You and Luz were besties so when Luz was going to get sent to that camp you decided to tag along so she wouldn't be lonely

Not once did you expect that you were actually going to end up in a magic world

You didn't care as much about becoming a witch as Luz did, while yes it seemed interesting you were more interested in hand to hand combat so you ended up stealing a sword

In any case the first time you met Hunter you didn't know that he was the golden guard

You were in the market getting some stuff for Eda when you came across a book stand and you realized that some of these books were about the savage ages, you figured Luz would enjoy them so you went to buy them

That's when he stopped you and started talking about how those books are banned and for good reason

You didn't feel like getting sent to the conforatorium right now so you begrudgingly decided against buying the book.

Afterwards you decided to ask the kid his name and if he wanted to hang out with you

He was very hesitant but ended up agreeing to it

After that day you two became fast friends and you became partners soon after

When you found out he was the golden guard your relationship had started to get bumpy but after he found out how much of a douche Belos was everything was (sorta) back to normal

When he ran out of the Owl House you chased after him and when you found him in the woods you had a heart to heart and told him that if he ever needed you you'd be there.

The first time he saw you fight he fell harder than he already did

Like he was down bad before but now he's down bad

When King's tide happened you fucking punched Belos for being a dick to your friends

You almost got killed because of it but ut was totally worth it

All in all you two are adorable and Luz and Amity are jealous

#thanks for the ask!#hunter toh x reader #the owl house x reader #hunter wittebane #hunter wittebane x reader #toh hunter x reader #toh golden guard #golden guard x reader

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trungles · 1 year

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Your art brings me a sense of nostalgia for something that was never mine, but that I somehow miss all the same... I don't think I'm making any sense, but you have a beyond captivating style. Do you have a shop or any other way to support you?

My Patreon is where I make longer, more involved posts about my process. It's where I put most of my commentary and behind-the-scenes stuff, and I tend to post stuff from projects that I'm working on and haven't been released just yet. I'm working on writing more posts that are free to the public so people can subscribe to it like a newsletter without having to pay for it.

My INPRNT Store is where you can buy prints of my work. I love INPRNT's print quality. It's the best. Plus, INPRNT gives artists the biggest cut of any print service I can recall - 50% for art prints, 40% for canvas prints, and 30% for metal and acrylic prints. They're great.

My debut graphic novel, The Magic Fish, has won a bunch of awards, and I still find myself doing a lot of author talks and tours in new language territories for it. I'm immensely proud of it. If you can't buy it, please request it at your local libraries. Requesting and checking out books at libraries is a fantastic way to support authors because it encourages the library to keep it in circulation! This has become especially important nowadays since book banning efforts have occasionally swept this book up in their lists because of its queer themes and exploration of immigrant experiences. This book is available in English, French, Italian, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, and eventually German and Spanish (I think?) as well.

My Tarot Deck, The Star Spinner Tarot, was my first project published through a traditional book publisher! It was the project I started right out of college to teach myself how to be an illustrator, so I'm still very fond of every image I created for it. I would try and order it through a brick-and-mortar bookstore if possible because there are a TON of knock-off decks circulating around the world for some reason. I've linked to Powell's here. There are two official versions, one in English and one in French (Le tarot des royaumes célestes).

#ask trungles #patreon #newsletter #the magic fish #star spinner tarot #chronicle books #penguin random house #artists on tumblr

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powderblueblood · 4 months

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Hiya hiya!! I am a massive fucking fan of your writing it is so stimulating for my little distracted brain. On the topic of hai I would LOVE to know more about Lacy's part-time gig at The Bookstore!!!! How often does she work there? Does Lacy get to set up displays and recommend books? Do Eddie or Ronnie ever hang out with Lacy there? (And subsequently does Ivana threaten to perma-ban them from The Bookstore for being so goddamn loud and distracting her best employee???) I am so fucking curious and would love to see it explored a little more 🧡

LEE!!!! thank you so much for your kind kind words and THANK YOU for giving me an excuse to touch upon one of my favorite little elements of the hellfire & ice universe-- THEE BOOKSTORE

i'll be the first to admit that i don't know a goddamn thing about the TARDIS but what i do know is that it's bigger on the inside. same logic applies to the bookstore. place is an intricate network of atriums and ventricles separated by bookcases that are so overstuffed, they seem like they're going to keel over like dominoes any second. it smells like warm and dust and it's always semi-dark in there, with lamps seemingly having sprung from the ground in the most strategic of places. wall sconces sprout from the woodwork, supported by dodgy, illegal wiring. you take your life in your hands any time you walk in there, essentially. but you'd never know it! because it's serene and it's peaceful until--

lacy starts working there. and for some reason, it seems that lacy, eddie, ronnie and chaos are a package deal. eddie and ronnie use the darkened corners of the bookstore to the full extent of their danger, playing endless games of 'who can scare lacy by hiding in the world history section' which has earned more than one heavy biography of ferdinand magellan being aimed at eddie munson's head.

one even made contact, and eddie insisted that lacy stand there holding an ice cream sandwich to his 'poor brutalized' head because he 'couldn't move his arms' due to the 'concussion'.

ivana, the owner, our beloved ivana, hates these kids. even if eddie is convinced that she's trying to take him as her next controversially young husband-- her fifth. ivana hates them, but never actually follows through on her threatened lifetime bans because ivana also occasionally drinks at the hideout.

a moment for ivana: ivana is so, so fucking cool. ivana used to sell fetish mags in brown paper bags back in the 50s. ivana once lived in new york, and according to legend, threw an olive at norman mailer (eddie: "who?" lacy: "don't worry about it") and it bounced off his head and into andy warhol's drink. ivana is approximately four hundred years old with a platinum blonde beehive, a list of lovers longer than mae west's, a voice like a cement truck and she will never die.

lacy wants to be exactly like her when she grows up-- only, not living in indiana, of course.

ivana has lacy on weekends and some evenings; basically, if her spidey sense tingles and she figures that girl could use something to do. lacy, inflicted with the pathological need to be the best at fucking everything, is a good worker and the best kind of salesperson a place like that could have.

which is to say that she's kind of snooty and derisive of people's pedestrian tastes. it oscillates from customers storming out to customers buying whatever she tells them to, in some misguided attempt to impress her.

precocious and pretentious eighteen year olds have this effect on people. many such cases.

one person it does not have any effect on is eddie munson.

he watches lacy put like, painstaking effort into her staff pick of the week! (she always fights for three) or her display of russian literature ranked by themes of romanticism v nihilism! (the brothers karamazov sits on the top of the display like an angel on a christmas tree)... and then he fucks with it. swaps out a room of one's own with are you there god? it's me, margaret, even if that does prompt lacy giving eddie a keynote speech on the importance of judy blume's forever.

"... and yeah, it's about as thrilling as a slice of wonderbread, but that book is probably why i'm on the pill."

this seems to give eddie pause. "... you're on the pill?"

"what's that look?"

"no, uh-- no, just. good. decision. smart, responsible decision-making. good to... know."

#powder room talk #bastardstevie #THE BOOKSTORE!!! THE BOOKSTORE!!!!!#THANK U LEE <3 #hai brainrot #eddie munson x reader #l. doevski by powder

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selene-tempest · 6 months

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It's the 28th of October, which means it's the hubby's birthday!

When faced with the inevitable question of "what do you want to do for your birthday?" he once again just shrugged, said he didn't want to do anything special and left. Freakin' typical. Now I was stuck trying to come up with something that he'll love as well as not expect and therefore be unable to ban me from organising it before it's too late to cancel.

I had to come up with something, and fast.

But, I am nothing but a determined wifey, and so I dragged up his online calendar (OK, I admit I got EOS to do it, sue me) and stared at it for a few minutes waiting for inspiration to strike. Spoiler, it did not. There was no lightning bolt blessing from Zeus, there was no glorious angelic chorus as an idea bloomed into perfect form in my noggin. But, as I watched, a new entry popped up, a request for a guest lecture spot at the University of Manchester to talk to their new intakes on their Space Science and Astrophysics degree. This I could work with…

TO THE GOOGLE!

Since hubby is the hubby, and in being the hubby that means he likes to go places that are mentally stimulating as well as pleasing to the eyeballs, I once again had my work cut out for me.

But a half hour of frantic internet searching later and I'd finally settled on the very historic (so happy hubby) and the very spooky (so happy me) city of York that was near enough to Manchester that we could have ourselves a little mini-break and I could finally adopt a cute little ghost! Yay!

I ran to the bestie (who cares that he was busy halfway up One's nose cone at the time?) and screamed up at him that I was formally requesting time off but not to tell John.

After he recovered from the shock of being yelled at while so high up (he was on a line, don't stress) he mumbled an assurance that he'd "make it work" which is Scott speak for "OK, I'll sort it if you just go away and leave me in peace". Job done!

All I had to do was book train tickets, a beautiful but quiet hotel (preferably haunted but not a requirement) and look up some things to do. I got this shit.

Cut to a week and a half later, and one very successful (like there was ever any doubt) lecture done and dusted, we were on the train and speeding away for a midweek break of fun.

Since this weekend was a surprise, John had only packed enough for two days away, and knowing how conservatively he packs I knew that we'd never be able to make it stretch. I tried to pack more for him in my case but he got suspicious (damn him and his ability to observe everything so closely) and I gave up, packed my own stuff and vowed to buy him new clothes as part of his birthday present. I've learned to work with what I have.

Wrestling him onto the train was harder than I had expected. He didn't believe my "oh wouldn't it be so fun and romantic to just not go home yet and be spontaneous?" bullshit and I was forced to admit that it was indeed a birthday treat and that it was already booked, everything was taken care of, we would have somewhere to sleep that night and Scott was aware and to not even think about checking in on Five you shit!

He was grumpy, but that was to be expected. You don't blindside the man who organises everything and not get some backlash. But that's easily remedied with kisses and promises of all the fun, but educational, things we'll be doing, then you pull up an itemised schedule for him to peruse and he's fine.

The first thing we did was find our hotel and drop off our bags. I'd picked one that was nice and old, but also had modern amenities (we like that blend) but near enough to the city centre to be able to walk most places. John loves to walk, which is probably due to him spending so much time on Five and knowing the island like the back of his hand. If we get off island for anything he'll be dragging me off on a walk somewhere to explore.

Our hotel, Dean Court, boasts its famous "Mad Maid" ghost who is often seen roaming the halls, cleaning supplies in tow, grimacing and grumping. Honestly, I don't blame her, imagine spending your life cleaning and then have to do it in your afterlife too? Kinda sucks, I'd definitely be asking for an upgrade, not just slamming doors, giving people a cold chill and occasionally sitting on them. This was gonna go one of two ways, John would wake up in the middle of the night to find me chatting to the ghost like a paranormal therapist (again) or the ghost would recognise my ability to kick her out and leave us the hell alone. Only time would tell but I hoped for his sake it was the latter, he needs the rest.

Conveniently the hotel was pretty much next door to York Minster, a beautiful and gothic cathedral with stained glass to die for and lots of history which was lovely to wander around. So after checking into our room we made the most of the remaining time before dinner to check it out as well as the museum in the basement, called the Undercroft, where we saw the remains of the Roman fortress the minster was built on, as well as illuminated manuscripts, and artefacts found around the area. We also checked out the library, because John is as drawn to books as I am to spooky things and this was his birthday trip, so I let him get lost in there for a while. But I did steal a little kiss at one point which a kind person managed to snap a picture of and send to me.

Dinner was lovely, nice and relaxed in a quiet little pub style restaurant which will always be our go-to over a fancy place where we have to get dressed up. We want wholesome, home cooked food (that isn't Grandma's), with big portions so we can try each other's food and to be able to easily relocate to a snug area for drinks around the fire.

As it turned out, our first night in the hotel was a quiet one, no ghosts, no noisy neighbours (not like that one time in Cambridge where we were next door to a couple that seemed to think arguing was the only acceptable form of foreplay and liked to scream at the top of their lungs in two ways). The bed was squishy soft, there were enough pillows that I didn't have to raid reception and it was cosy enough that we didn't need to sleep in thick pyjamas (always a worry in England after an extended period on the Island). Hubby was asleep the second his head hit the pillow and I read quietly for half an hour before snuggling up, stealing his warmth, and drifting off myself.

The next morning provided an all you can eat breakfast buffet. So with full bellies and a happy me, we were fully fueled for our next adventure… ghost shopping!

I'd heard about the beautifully old street named the Shambles, rumoured to have been the inspiration for Harry Potter's Diagon Alley, and I knew they had a little shop there called the York Ghost Merchants where you could buy a handmade "lucky ghost". Did I buy just one? Of course not! We are coming home with ghosts for everyone! Mine was this adorable little purple thing with drippy black eyes like it's been crying and I fell in love straight away. John got a plain little ghost in white, very traditional. I named them Brad and Janet, which he rolled his eyes at but knew better than to try to convince me otherwise.

As we were wandering the shambles (and I was filling my bag with souvenirs as I am nothing but British) I remembered that hubby was in need of clothes since I'd basically kidnapped him. I dragged him into the Edinburgh wool mill, because he gets chilly and needs the good shit. That and I happen to think he looks delicious in librarian chic and so tweed was the way to go. He blames this on the fact that I'm currently rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the 8th time and that Giles has inspired me, but if I was inspired by Buffy he'd have bleached blond hair and a leather jacket by now.

He agreed to the clothing because he's getting more and more requests for lectures and appearances in academic settings and since we got married people keep uploading pictures of him and even he worries that they will work out that he only has two jackets and start to comment on it. Sometimes I worry that I'm having too much of an influence on him, then I remember that I'm awesome and that any influence could only be a good thing.

We also found a wool and cashmere shop and a little vintage shop where I picked up a few things for my growing hippie collection and a gorgeous shawl that I can't stop stroking. A generic brand shop provided essential underwear and socks for the fussy hubby and we were off, dumping our spoils at the hotel before heading out again.

The afternoon was spent in a quiet little reading cafe where you could drink coffee and curl up with a book. One thing I love about John is that he knows the value of silence, even when he thinks I don't. I might be loud and proud a lot of the time, the social butterfly to his grumpy caterpillar, but even I find too much peopling draining and need to recharge. He is always happy to have me squished up against him but not paying him the slightest bit of attention (unless, like today, I happen to read a particularly interesting spicy scene and feel the need to shove it in his face and waggle my eyebrows at him until he gets the message). I love that he never questions how much I adore him and doesn't equate me giving him my full attention all day every day with my devotion level. He's fine with me ignoring him and I'm fine (mostly) with him doing the same.

For some reason (probably a John specific one relating to his desire to be in control of almost every situation) he decided that he would not be the only one surprised on this trip and waved tickets for a ghostly bus tour under my nose at dinner. An old fashioned double decker bus, a chilly evening, a beautiful city and a knowledgeable guide made it one of the best parts of the trip. I like ghosts, he likes the history, we blend.

Another peaceful night with no noisy neighbours or ghostly visitors meant that we were (for once) both fully charged and not in the slightest bit tired for our last full day.

We went out for breakfast even though the hotel provided a good one but we stuck close to the hotel in the morning and checked out the Treasures house, which was near the Minster. Beautiful house, beautiful gardens, and a Roman soldier ghost that waved at me from over a wall. What's not to love?

After a midmorning snack we hopped into a taxi and went to York Castle Museum. I love castles (tell me anyone who doesn't have the urge to pretend they are royal now and then and I'll call bullshit). I love the feel of the energy in the bricks and the items inside. We got to see the cell in which Dick Turpin had been kept and a recreation of a 1918 street complete with actors dressed up and things to buy (of which I bought many). Living history is something I really vibe with, it's so good to see it being played out in front of you rather than just seeing pictures or reading about it in books.

There was supposed to be an Edwardian ghost in there but it was either his day off or he had had enough of crowds and wasn't in the mood to socialise. John said he understood that more than he should and that we'd obviously been married too long if he was now identifying with ghosts. Can't say he's wrong.

Dropped back at our hotel by another taxi, we found ourselves at a loose end and asked the receptionist to recommend something to do that night. She gave us many good recommendations, and John made notes on things we'd try if we came back (which I'm planning on) but eventually settled on a relaxing floodlit river cruise on the Ouse.

York is a gorgeous city by day but it becomes truly magical at night. The lights of the buildings sparkled on the water and there is just something truly special about seeing such historic buildings, surrounded by trees and river banks, as the sun sets and twilight blankets the world before full darkness sets in. We took so many pictures that we know Virgil is gonna steal to paint. There was no guide on this cruise, just us and a few other passengers dotted here and there so we could sit quietly on our own and talk without bothering anyone while soaking in the atmosphere and the sights.

Another meal in a little old pub where a lone guy and his guitar helped create a cosy atmosphere, and it was back to the hotel. I made sure to yell into the hallway that I would not be accepting any ghostly visitors that night either and if Miss Grumpy Maid was around she listened and left us in peace. Feeling less tired and more relaxed than normal meant a nightcap from the minibar and said squishy bed were enjoyed for more than sleeping (eyebrow wiggles and book shoving for the win!)

We had a few hours to kill before our train the next day and I selflessly didn't dive straight into the chakra therapy centre by the train station. Instead, we opted to leave our bags in a locker at the station, grab some lunch to act as a picnic and check out the nearby Yorkshire museum and gardens.

Autumn was the vibe of the day and I have to say I couldn't have planned it better. Chilly sunshine, red, gold, and orange dressed trees, and Roman ruins make my little heathen heart sing.

On the trip back to London I had a cheerfully chilled hubby who had had so much history in such a short space of time that he couldn't stop flicking through the photos and smiling, which was all I wanted. I'm doing the same as I snapped so many pictures of him when he wasn't looking that I've got phone backgrounds for the next year!

John often needs a break more than anyone as he's not confined to flight hours and mandatory breaks, if we let him he'd keep going until he drops. So I take my job as wife and nagger very seriously, he's learned to live with it and sometimes, just occasionally, it means we get to enjoy times like these which will provide us with many wonderful memories to keep us going during the busy times, the not seeing each other enough times and probably when we're too old and tired to do it again.

Making the most of time together is always important but, while this was definitely supposed to be a birthday trip for him, I got a lot out of it too. I got to see him relax, sleep deeply, eat well and laugh lots, even if he does suspect that I may have had an ulterior motive of turning this into a dark academia photoshoot…

Happy birthday, baby! @i-t-guy-in-the-sky . Love you always!

(close ups of pictures available on request because I know he's freaking gorgeous!)

#john tracy #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds 2015 #thunderbirds fandom #thunderbirds fanfiction #selene tempest #healthy relationships #witchy #york #ghost

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thydungeongal · 5 months

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Mutants in the Making

Part #5: Let's Mutate!

Previously on Mutants in the Making:

Step #1: Getting Together

Step #2: Cursing Your Dice

Step #3: You're Good At...

Step #4: Your Origin Story

Our character currently looks like this:

Current Takebacks: 4/6

Current GOO-P: 76

Cognition 16, Determination 16, Affinity 14, Perception 16, Strength 13, Prowess 12, Endurance 21, Speed 13.

I'm actually going to break up this post into two! It's about time I had lunch, and as much as I am enjoying this I need to make sure I don't get famished. I'll follow up with the second part of mutating our character once I've had a bite to eat. :)

Before we start mutating our lil farm-living mutant groundhog, we want to take into consideration one of the options we have in play: Wild Mutations. Wild Mutations are an alternate set of mutations from Mutants in the Next that add a lot more unpredictability into the mix. They are arranged by type, so you will still mostly get stuff within approximately the same animal kingdom, but with a small chance of getting stuff from other kingdoms (feathers on a mammal, horns on a bird, etc.). Since they are in play we got an extra Takeback at the start, so of course we're going to take some Wild Mutations!

Wild Mutations cost a flat number of GOO-P that you spend before you roll! You can have a maximum of two Wild Mutations: either two minor ones, or one major and one minor. You could also elect to take just one minor or one major, but where's the fun in that? We'll be buying one minor and one major Wild Mutation, which the book tells us will cost us 16 GOO-P.

Current GOO-P: 60

So, rolling on Mammal Minor Mutations first, we get 45: Domesticated (Reroll: Beast of Burden, Cat Fancy, Good Dog): Adapt to human needs.

The name of the mutation is Domesticated. The stuff in parentheses means that if our species had any of the traits listed, either as options or by default, we would reroll this Mutation. Let's check ahead to see what it does:

What this means is: we get either Cat Fancy, Good Dog, or Rideable for free. We can replace one of our species' enhancable traits with one of the ones given (but only mental ones can be replaced with mental ones and physical with physical). We add the additional extra traits into our list of choices when mutating.

Domesticated: You represent what your species would be if bred to be a companion animal for humanity.

Bonus Minor Traits: One of the following: Cat Fancy, Good Dog, or Rideable*

Enhance: Cognition, Affinity, Endurance, Speed

Enhance: If a saurian, avian, or mammal, add Fluffy as an extra minor trait. Otherwise, add Languid.

Extra Minor Traits: Beast of Burden, Communal, Flamboyant, Livestock Guardian (herder), Pack Hunter

Banned Major Traits: Aggressive, Toxic, Venom

Banned Minor Traits: Apex Predator

I don't want my groundhog to be rideable, so I'll quickly check what Cat Fancy and Good Dog do.

Good Dog (5 GOO-P): Most humans will do their best to avoid harming you if you have not injured or threatened them, and they gain +D to attack you while you have not targeted them or their allies with a maneuver. Gain +A on any roll to try and deescalate a situation.

Cat Fancy (5 GOO-P): When you make a dramatic roll for

social interaction to get something you want from a human, gain +A and skip one step.

(+D and +A are the game's shorthand for Disadvantage and Advantage, which works almost exactly like in D&D 5e barring d% rolls! I really like it as shorthand!)

I prefer Good Dog, because of its wider applicability. Also, groundhogs are definitely more doglike than catlike to me on a purely vibes-based level I can't explain.

Now let's roll for our Major Mutation: a roll of 17 actually directs us to roll on the table for General Major Mutations, so let's roll again! A roll of 67 gets us Solid: Abnormally compact, dense, and muscular.

Thick Hide is actually probably a typo: it should be Tough Hide. Stable gives opponents +D when trying to inflict prone on us, while Tough Hide gives us SHT (Superficial Harm Threshold) equal to our Endurance! Which is very good. Our character is shaping up to be a tough little cookie. As a groundhog we already have Endurance as our lone physical trait that can be enhanced and I don't want to change it out for Strength. We'll keep that as is, but make a note of our new Extra Major and Minor Traits.

Bonus Major Traits: Stable, Thick Hide

Unique Traits: Your weight is 100% higher than it normally would be for your size rating. Add +2 to your size rating when comparing it with other characters for purposes of various effects. This bonus does not increase any of your traits (like size damage or SHT).

Enhance: Strength, Endurance

Extra Major Traits: Toxin Resistance (2 GOO-P)

Extra Minor Traits: Crushing Grip, Crushing Jaw, Languid, Load Bearer, Standing Posture

Banned Major Traits: Adhesive, Arboreal, Cling, Flight, Swift

Banned Minor Traits: Compress, Flexible, Float, Snow Shoes

Before we start evolving our character any further, let's take a look at them, keeping in mind that they're still a pretty normal, albeit extremely docile and muscular, groundhog.

Current Takebacks: 4/6

Current GOO-P: 60

Cognition 16, Determination 16, Affinity 14, Perception 16, Strength 13, Prowess 12, Endurance 21, Speed 13.

Size Rating: 6

Basic Traits: Rodentia, Herbivore

Minor Traits: Good Dog

Major Traits: Stable, Thick Hide

#mutants in the making

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yes-i-am-happyaspie · 1 year

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It's that time of year again! Here's my 2022 Irondad and Spiderson Holiday Fic Rec List. There are some new fics, some tried and true fics, and some shameless self-promotion! (In order newest to oldest)

🎄 Of Fruit Mince Tarts and Marshmallows by TheJBomb

No Archive Warnings Apply || Not Rated || Posted Dec. 7 2022

One second Peter’s wallowing on his couch and the next Tony is driving him back to the tower for hot chocolate and Christmas movies.

🎄 Candy Cane; Pain or Joy by inkinmyheartandonthepage @inkinmyheartandonthepage

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated G || Posted Aug. 19 2022

Tony wants this to be the best Christmas party for Peter and bans peppermint from the tower forgetting that Peter isn't allergic.

[this fis is part of the We Forgot Peter series]

🎄 A Christmas Story by Captain_Panda

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated T || Posted Dec. 25 2021

As the lead conductor on the Polar Express, Tony Stark does not need a run-in with a caribou herd on Christmas Eve.

But he does get a Steve out of it.

🎄 The Hottest Toy of the Season by niniblack @niniblack

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated T || Posted Dec. 25 2021

“You got that Iron Man toy, right?” May asks, the night before Christmas Eve.

“Oh,” Ben says. “The action figure. Right. I, um…”

“You did not forget to buy that,” she says, voice firm. “That is the only thing Peter has talked about all month. He is obsessed with that damn flying tin can.”

“I got it,” Ben says. “Of course I got it.” He smiles at her, nodding. “C’mon May, would I forget that?”He totally forgot that.

- - -

A Jingle All the Way AU with the Parkers, circa 2009. Merry Christmas!

🎄 50 Christmas Ornaments My True Love Gave To Me by joyful_soul_collector @joyful-soul-collector

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated G || Posted Dec 24 2020

It was Christmastime in the Stark-Rhodes-Potts’ household, with Tony, Rhodey, Pepper, Peter, and Morgan all sitting at the table. Jingle Bells was playing quietly in the background, and each one of them was working on decorating a clear plastic christmas bauble, a growing pile of colorful ornaments in the center of the table.

The Iron Family gets carried away making Christmas ornaments, and Peter talks to his dad about asexuality

[This fic is part of the Irondad Oneshots Series]

🎄 Peter Parker's Pickle Predicament by dontmockmyawkwardness @dontmockmyawkwardness

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated G || Posted Dec. 19 2020

Peter Parker takes it upon himself to bring Christmas cheer to New York City this year. It's all fun and games until he finds himself in a sticky situation in the middle of Rockefeller Plaza. Can an old man in a red suit fly in and help save Christmas?

🎄 new york's santa by hailfire_73 @hailfire-73

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated G || Posted Dec. 15 2019

“Are you Santa?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “You really think I have the time to be a glorified cosplayer?”

“I didn’t even think you knew what a cosplayer was…” said Peter, trailing off. He shook his head, refusing to let his mind wander from the topic. “Where do you keep the reindeer? Can I meet them?”

New York City has it's own Santa, and Peter discovers it's Tony Stark, because of course it is.

irondad bingo: holiday

[This fic is part of the irondad bingo series]

🎄 A Tony Stark Carol by Insanus Navicularis (DiDive)

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated G || Posted Dec. 19 2018

Tony Stark has always hated Christmas and always will, nothing is going to make him change his opinion- not Rhodey, not Pepper, not Peter... or that’s what he thought before the night the spirit of his long dead friend, Yinsen, visted him.

Inspired by a Christmas Carol but it’s actually really different, Tony isn’t an asshole like Scrooge in the first stave of the book.

Warning for swearing. Irondad fluff.

“"God, kid... Peter... I'm so sorry, I love you, I really do, I just don't know how to express it sometimes" he told the kid softly, his face scrunched as he refused to start crying once again during that night.“

🎄 Honorary Parker by parkrstark

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated G || Posted Dec. 29 2017

Tony lets it slip to Peter that he'll be spending Christmas alone. Peter refuses to let that happen.

...And Last but not least! My Shameless Self-Promotion

🎄 Peter Parker’s December Shenanigans

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated G || Posted Dec 2019

A collection of related short stories that center around Winter/ChristmasEverything from Advent to New Year’s Eve.

🎄 Secret Sugarplum Spiderling

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated G || Posted Dec 2020

Peter has been taking ballet for nearly as long as he can remember and all of his hard work has finally paid off. He’s been cast as the Cavelier to the Sugarplum Fairy in his Performing Arts School’s production of The Nutcracker. It’s a big deal and it’s going to take up a good bit of time but… he’s just not sure he’s ready for his mentor to know about that particular hobby just yet.

He’s sure it’ll be fine …

All he has to do is show up at the studio on time, keep his grades up, make sure to see Tony on a regular enough basis that he doesn’t worry and try to squeeze in some patrolling in between. It’s that simple. Right?

❄️ Holiday Traditions

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated G || Posted Dec 2020

When a brief misunderstanding leaves Morgan thinking that Peter doesn’t like Christmas, Peter decides that it would be fun to teach her more about Hanukkah. In order to do so, he and May invite the Starks’ to share in some of their holiday traditions.

🎄 Well, Merry Sickmas, I Guess

No Archive Warnings Apply || Rated G || Posted Dec 2021

Peter is sick, Christmas is right around the corner and May had no idea how to help him. Naturally they end up in Tony’s medbay. It doesn’t take long for Peter to be diagnosed with nothing more than some mild dehydration and a nasty stomach bug. However, knowing she can’t take Peter to just any hospital should things go downhill, leaves May feeling a little nervous.…And that’s how Peter and May end up spending the holiday with Tony Stark in his Penthouse apartment.

And remember! If you read any of the above-mentioned fics, please be sure to let the author know how much you enjoyed their work! Kudos and comments are always appreciated!

Be on the lookout for my 2022 Christmas fic, Merry Stitchmas! I'm sure I'll be posting it soon!!

[Peronsally, I love knowing my older fics are still being found, read, and loved!]

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arctic-hands · 10 months

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youtube

Rough transcript from parts of the video (for some reason tumblr wouldn't let me post this when it was all indented for clarity):

Norman decided to strike back, using the tools that he knew best... He started with a series of TV commercials, urging people not to be so easily manipulated by charismatic religious leaders.

"So maybe there's something wrong when people, even preachers, suggest that people are either good Christians or bad Christians, depending on their political views."

Next, he produced a special called "I Love Liberty", celebrating the values he thought were most urgent to defend: equality, diversity, making sure the law protects and serves everyone, especially the most vulnerable...

...After that, Norman could see there was a lot more work to do, so using the attention from the ads and the special as a jumping off point, he founded a new organization to counter the forces of bigotry. He called it People For The American Way, and he made it his full-time focus, stepping away from the industry he helped shape, so he could devote himself to the cause...

...The timing was perfect, since Ronald Reagan had just been elected president, thanks in part to televangelists who ordered their followers to vote for him, and throughout the Eighties Republicans pushed hard to enshrine religious bigotry into law. For example, at one point Reagan nominated Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. Bork was a former Nixon sidekick who openly said that he wanted to roll back civil rights protections for minorities. In response, People For The American Way leapt into action, and they launched a campaign to oppose the nomination...

...Norman and People For The American Way mobilized across the country to contact their legislatures, and, sure enough, Congress rejected Bork's nomination, one of the few times that's happened...

...People For The American Way also led campaigns to stop groups from forcing schools to buy religious textbooks. When conservatives tried to ban library books with inclusive content, People For The American Way successfully filed lawsuits to stop them. They helped pass non-discrimination ordinances across the country, and in response to a rise of right-wing extremism, they created Right Wing Watch to expose hateful speakers, a tool that many people came to rely on...

...But for all the progress that's been made over the last few years, more recently, Norman has been seeing an alarming new trend.

"I'm not sure in my ninety-eight years I've seen another moment as worrisome as this."

In interviews today, Norman has described a level of intolerance that he hasn't seen in a long time. Now, he sees bigotry more emboldened than ever, with brazen displays of pro-Nazi sentiment. For all the times Norman says he's seen that ideology before, he has never seen it expressed so openly.

"...but I don't recall people in the streets and, uh, marching and, and showing hateful signs. You know, antisemitism, that, that worries me considerably now."

And you don't have to look hard to find conservatives targeting minorities, labeling them Enemies Of The Country, and calling for violence against them...

...But if there's any good news, it's that folks like Norman have first-hand experience dealing with times like these, and he has some ideas about how to respond. For one thing, he's revisited his most classic episodes about tackling bigotry, broadcasting them with all-new performers...

Now, obviously sitcoms alone can't single-handedly solve all the world's problems. But if there's anything that the decades of Norman's work makes clear, it's the power of laughter to help people see the world in a new way.

"Comedy can be an intravenous, you know, in one's arm. You're laughing and absorbing at the same time."

To introduce new ideas...

And to give people a vision of how to live together...

"...flying across the country at night, but I remember looking down for the first time thinking, 'Hey, it's just possible wherever I see a light, I've helped to make somebody laugh.'"

...It's had an immeasurable impact on the world: breaking down barriers that kept certain people from appearing on TV, exposing bigots for how ridiculous they truly are, and showing viewers what it looked like to confront prejudice head-on. So now he's starting his second century of making the world a better place, for everyone.

End transcript.

The video is about forty-four minutes long and that's a truncated transcript of the last ten minutes or so, but I encourage everyone to watch the full video. It is technically captioned, but with auto-captions, which aren't ideal but, lack of punctuation aside, seemed to be pretty accurate as I looked at them to type out the above

#Norman Lear #Matt Baume #United States #television #history #please tumblr post this time thank god I decided to back it up in a document first #Youtube

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transingthebourgeoisie · 9 months

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but like, why is it a problem for white people to complain about imperialism? as i said, im from balkans, and euimperialism actively hurts us. salaries in other eu countries are 3-4x times bigger (i could provide sources but theyre in my mothertongue), minimal wage is 4.5$ per hour but groceries in the rest of eu are cheaper than here. i went to france and found groceries being cheaper there despite their salaries and work rights being stronger. there is also an issue of eu store chains replacing ours and items being imported pushing out our farmers. people were throwing vans of oranges, native grown, into rivers as a protest due to store chains having deals with the country and preferring imported ones. eu saw a country being part of ex-yugoslavia (also a part of political third world during its existence) and said its a great chance to push its agenda onto it once it broke. other countries such as italy and hungary actively are asking for our lands to be "returned to them" despite us being a sovereign state. this too is a part of imperialism and their colonizer past.

my people, immigrants, are victims of violent crimes, and were put in concentration camps during nazi regime. our language has been banned during colonial times and weve never held colonies. in eu countries we work in construction or as cleaners, in media we are portrayed as dumb people. ive seen people calling my city "africa with electricity", usamericans straight up telling me they thought we dont have internet or phones, people saying they would never visit because there is a war going on (it ended in late 90es).

english in schools is a mandatory subject and you cant even be a waiter without it. despite being fluent in it and a writer, i cant get jobs due to usamericans seeing my name and immediately dismissing it. everyones dream and goal is to work for foreign countries because their currencies buy more. as an artist, a $25 commission buys groceries for a full week, if not more, and its more affordable for usamericans than my people. i work for newspapers as an artist for 13€ per drawing, and for my american employers as an animator for $3.25 per hour, as a cheap workforce.

im not comparing this to struggles of third world country and the effect imperialism has on them in a much more extreme way, but there are different ways in which it works for different nations. my passport isnt on part with an american one. when american ships come here there are papparazzi and news and journalists following them around, and to them it doesnt matter if the person is black or native, they just see "americans" - generous buyers and tourists. youre more likely to be a victim of hatecrime if youre serbian/albanian than a black american.

like just the privilege of english being your first language is a big one. i cant read books in english myself, and our libraries are limited. more information is available to native english speakers. which is understandable, but its a direct effect of usimperialism. news are more accessible too; especially source-checking. there is also a privilege of being able to move around the usa, thus getting more jobs, especially if you went to college. my diploma isnt on par with usa one either, and many would dismiss it immediately.

I assume you meant to send this ask to someone else; or, perhaps there's just a misunderstanding on my end. Regardless, this is all very true; balkan states in general are seen as pools of highly disposable labor by western europe, and both military and economic pressures are well in use to prevent any change to EU dominance in the region. Y'all aren't even considered 'white' in western europe (or, the US really), like you don't even get that much.

#forgive me if this post doesn't read well #it's like midnight here lol

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centrally-unplanned · 8 months

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Lets talk about the Jimbocho book haul! This was a vacation, not a research trip or anything, so I didn't have set goals - instead I just explored and found things that looked interesting or were attached to my interests and seemed “cool” to own. And that strategy worked surprisingly well:

I will as always highlight just a few of them - if you want me to deep dive one of them, shoot me a message. First up we have the "Erotic Newspaper '97 Highlights", a completely-out-of-nowhere find.

Which right out the gate, really pushing my limits here on the "getting banned" front; I don't even know the rules anymore. Made by the circle 児童販売鬼/Juvenile Sales Demon (!), it is this style of “doujin omnibus” that was decently common in the earlier areas and is sometimes still made today; blending essays, personal rants, art, and full comics, often even on to the same page. And of course, this is about ero-doujin, so that blend gets pretty intense sometimes!

But as an “anime fandom “ researcher documents like these are absolute gold mines. The opening page discusses the late 90’s “bubble” in ero-doujin publications, possible legislative action against hentai being discussed that everyone is worried about, and even has that classic otaku identity tic of politicizing their own identity, mentioning a “Rights for Eromanga!” slogan going around (which it cautions against). It seems like a great biased-but-expansive view of the state-of-play in eromanga circles at the time, which few other documents can give you. Primary sources, baby.

Additionally, amoung its topics it has some sections about Evangelion:

And even a section on Utena:

Yeah that entire bottom corner's just... it just has got to go. I am unsure if this is something I will ever scan - its really niche, and being a porn archivist is not really my goal. But I hope to do a full read and post a summary someday.

Next up in a similar vein, I have a copy of Fanroad Magazine from 1996!

Fanroad Magazine was similar to the Comic Box magazine I have discussed before, in that it collected art & essays from fans about the shows of the day and gave them a place for their voice to be heard. Before the internet this was the only real way to do that en masse; by the 2000’s these magazines would almost all die out as social media replaced them. Fanroad was one of the most popular, having highly structured sections, detailed questionnaires for submitters, in-jokes, the works. And of course this edition was a bit of a targeted buy, as the cover surely gives away - Fanroad released a few issues focused on Evangelion, and this is one of them:

I might scan this one, but first I will give it a read and see how interesting the takes are - it had so much cute fan art though, valuable for that alone.

Next up is a very quick and personal one: Comic Cue Vol 4. Which…what even is this, I imagine you are thinking:

Comic Cue was an off-beat one-shot manga anthology magazine that ran through the 90’s into the 2000's, often focusing, not on hentai, but that middle-ground “erotically charged” narrative stories or comedy shots. Its covers were often just insane - no clue why this cover is in English, none of the magazine is. This one is of interest to me, however, because amoung Volume 4’s submissions is:

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s Dirty Work one-shot. Yep, thats right, from the random-deep dive essay I put together analyzing a single line of dialogue Sadamoto wrote for Mamimi in FLCL. Now I own the fucker. That's cool! I like that. I am really proud of that essay due to how much I learned from it, writing about a topic whose specificity seemed like it would be impossible to get that much out of; so owning the actual manga is it centered on feels special.

Speaking of niche Ash-writing references!

We have “Girl’s Life on the Flat Battlefield”, the Kyoko Okazaki Artbook made for an exhibit done on her back in 2015, the cover of which I featured in my essay about the proper translation of “battlefield” from River’s Edge. This is an amazing book in its own right though - its content is so diverse. It has essays from her and from other writers about her work that I hope to read. It has beautiful art compositions and solo pieces:

It has recreations of the actual drafts of her manga as she made them - showcasing things like how she would type up the dialogue and cut-and-paste the printed text into the bubbles, the normal way that was done in the pre-digital composition era:

It has this one section by a contributing artist of photographs of “otaku edgy women” and stuff, amazing documentary work:

I see you, Gunbuster figurine on the table! This is probably the best book-as-a-book I found; I highly recommend it to any Kyoko Okazaki fan for the depth of coverage it has on both her work and the context of her work.

You can see some others of course - I found a few copies of magazines like Newtype and Animage from when they covered FLCL! I would like the Catch Them All - these are all generally scanned & archived already of course, so its just for fun. You can see another book on Okazaki, a really cool academic book on the history of magazines and fanzines in Japanese subculture, and the Gothic & Lolita Bibles that Partner is quite excited about. I am very happy with what I found; there is a beauty in the serendipity of these things. Of course I could have searched Yahoo Auctions for a copy of the Okazaki book, I knew exactly what it was. But stumbling on it in a floor-level cubby while my hands were already stacked with magazines and nearly dropping them in surprise is the magic of the physical bookstore in its fullness. It has its own value that the book itself can’t possess.

#Ash Japan Adventures #cw nudity #anime history

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razzamult · 6 months

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insert witty title

Being an ally is a interesting thing, growing up in a conservative family i've often wondered where my unconscious biases are, how do i spot them if i'm not conscious of them? How do I learn what I need to unlearn? For me, it's been a journey. I got into queer communities via furry twitch during the pandemic (and yes, i'll wear the Furry label). 2020 was one of the times ever. we all wanted some form of interaction with people even if it was just to know that other people still existed and we weren't living out some 'book of eli' lone survivor scenario. Being stuck at home, the obvious answer was the internet, but reading text posts on reddit & news articles doesn't have that same level of interaction....and then i found twitch. ooooh....i can pet the furry streamer....and chat with them.....and this is ticking boxes in very weird ways....learning what 'parasocial' means....it was a wild ride (and still is)! Part of this was joining discord communities and getting to know people a bit better, and as someone who had just come into those communities who didn't understand a lot of queer culture and history and just wanted people to hang out with while the world burned down outside my door....it was scary! was I going to say something wrong? do something wrong? offend someone? what if i get banned?

Obviously that didn't happen, and the communities i joined were actually great places, warm & welcoming, gave people room to explore & understand, we shared memories and created new ones together. But I wanted to do better than that, I wanted to understand better what terms like enby and ace meant, terms I hadn't heard growing up or in school, I'd seen the terms on the internet in the past, but never had cause to look into it myself at the time. Learning is a dangerous thing, you discover things that challenge you, asking you to question your beliefs and preconceptions, but I knew if i wanted to be a better ally I needed to learn some things, challenge myself to understand and embrace it (whatever the answer is). so i started buying books. It was extremely convenient that at the time there happened to be an lgbtqia+ bookshop next to the train station where i was working, picked up a few things, understood some terms better, got a better handle on some ideas, asked some discord friends to clarify some terms. Then i bought this:

I'd seen people use the aroace tag on discord and twitch and wanted to learn more and I WAS NOT PREPARED TO READ A BOOK ABOUT ME. Ok, so i've been single my whole life, and never felt like dating, and don't want to have sex, and there was one point where i was wondering if I could RP with a fursona....but that whole concept just ended up feeling way too weird and never got onto the runway and basically exploded in the hanger... I wasn't ready to find out that I was part of the A in LGBTQIA+, I was supposed to be an ally not an allee?....is that even a word??....i decree this is a word. After the initial bout of confusion and wtf-ness, i've come to accept the label, it doesn't change who i am, but i does help myself & others to understand me better. I'm still pondering microlabels, leaning toward aegosexual (unless i find an even better match), but happy to live under the a-spec umbrella.

Learning is scary! you can find out that you were wrong for your whole life, that you're not in fact weird or broken in some way for not "getting" relationships like so many others, but that you are in fact perfectly fine. Finding out that i'm part of the queer community really highlights how i see other people's actions toward it....I get it now, maybe i don't get "all" of it still, but I do get a lot more of it. It's given me a lot to think about. So thank you furry twitch for giving me the space to learn about myself, and thank you Sarah & Kayla for the awesome book!

I'm an aroace ferret and that's ok! and yes, i do like garlic bread.

#asexual #book review #garlic bread is good #thankyou internet friends

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ghosttoasties · 1 year

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1, 7, 8

ohhh boy you picked some doozies.... 1. the character everyone gets wrong

I'll be honest and say Shauntal. I've been a fan of her for like ... over a decade and it does get tiring reading the same things over and over again. No, I don't think her career is writing fanfiction smut of her friends. If that makes me boring, I don't care.

Given everything I've read about her in the manga, core games & Masters, she likes writing about the bonds between people and their Pokémon, and children really like her books. She likes interviewing people. She likes to travel. She loves observing Pokémon battles. That isn't to say she doesn't have more adult-centered books (I like to think she delves into horror, mysteries, fantasy, maybe the occasional romance).

She inspired me to pursue my interests in college, because the trainers she meets inspire her and wants to share their story. What's a writer if not writing from your own experiences to give it a more human quality? If she wants to write smut of whatever on her spare time, sure, a lot of people do and there's nothing with that. But, there is a difference between seeing it as a career (which it can be!) or just the butt of a joke.

On the other hand, I do like when people show her asking her fellow Elites to look over her work. I think getting a second or third opinion on anything is great, and if she's writing a biography or dramatization of an experience they most-likely willingly shared with her, then they'd probably want to proofread it.

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Listen, I don't want to call it hate or anything but I'm waiting for the day someone can make me like Burgh again. Or the Submas. Or Caitlin. I still adore seeing fanart of them, though. Have fun and I'll admire it! I've just had a lot of negative fandom experiences in the past decade that I'll just stick to headcanoning them on my own time. (like Burgh attending NYU/Castelia University and selling his art at the parks, I really like that idea)

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Grimsley still gambling in Alola 😭

Hawaiʻi, the state Alola is based on, has a near-total gambling ban in the same fashion as Utah. That isn't to say illegal gambling isn't an issue, lawmakers are trying to legalize it to regulate it. If canon doesn't matter, then whatever, but I see a lot of people really reiterate someone's characteristics and etc based on the manga and anime. IDK why you wouldn't for the place they are living in. They don't even allow online sports betting or have a state lottery, so I don't think him at the slots or buying scratchers post-BW life makes much sense unless he's traveling. I wouldn't put it past him to get around all of that though, and I have read those stories (mostly in Korean). But, I truly believe he stayed in Alola to better himself, and he'd get his fix at the Battle Tree anyway since battling matters astronomical loads more to him (only second to his Pokémon). The less vice opportunities you have, the better I think, and that man has been through rock bottom TWICE, so I prefer to see it this way. Something something that tumblr post that said if he can't have hope why should I, etc etc.

With that said, I don't think he willingly ended up in Alola. In all his dialogue, it's implied he basically washed up there after surfing with no real direction. In Masters, he was invited but it's been said a lot the game is an alternate universe. Though, it's still worth the consideration. But, I don't think he ever intended to make it back on land.

#faith askbox #time 2 be annoyin online #foxydunsparce #i have grievances whatever #faitheadcanons #emo bf #ghostwriter #grimsley #shauntal

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