#I do not take criticism and she does not have a choice when I graduate to grad status she's graduating to mom status

[comradekatara]

In your modern au who in the gang goes to college/grad school and what subjects do they study? would they end up at schools close to home or go far away? How do there relationships change after highschool and with people moving away?

okay wow that’s a great question but also. a lot.

aang is a year below katara so his top choice school is just. the school katara goes to. it’s small and affordable and he studies philosophy and religion (but also takes any sort of fun elective offered to him) and joins a lot of clubs and makes a lot of friends and generally just has a nice time. he and katara overlap for three years but after she graduates they still live together, so he basically sees her every day anyway. it’s nice :)

katara genuinely considers not going to college but then she gets a sports scholarship she’d be a fool to reject so she’s like “fine, i’ll go, but i’m gonna phone it in the entire time.” she assumes that college will basically just be like high school, yet another prison where she will be forced to do math against her will. but she actually finds that she kind of enjoys some of her classes, and she can devote way more time to sports, and azula isn’t there (a weight has been lifted off her shoulders truly), and she actually meets a whole group of people who don’t find her intimidating and abrasive, but instead share her interests and actually organize with her. also, the fact that sokka isn’t there means that she doesn’t constantly have to compare herself to an impossible standard, and she finds that she actually enjoys learning when she gets to go at her own pace. and in fact…. she’s actually a great writer???? and really enjoys theory and philosophy and criticism and history and sociology and literature????? and she might actually be really fucking smart????? she graduates with honors. but there’s absolutely no way she’s pursuing grad school lmao. everyone knows that shit is a scam.

sokka goes to princeton for undergrad because, and i quote, “it’s nearby.” full ride, obviously. he double majors in physics and engineering, and also accidentally fulfills an art history minor without even noticing. everyone assumes that he’ll get a phd (at least one), but katara keeps insisting that grad school is a scam and so is the ivy league. and it’s not even that sokka necessarily disagrees with her, he just thinks that those are bold words coming from the girl who fell for a pyramid scheme. twice.

zuko goes to a small liberal arts college for undergrad and spends years attempting to justify his choice of going to a smaller, slightly less prestigious school by majoring in something dignified and respectable, like econ or business or engineering. none of which he is any good at. but eventually, after enough time spent beyond ozai’s purview, zuko just goes “fuck it” and double majors in theater and classics. his focus is on ancient greek drama. he then does a poetry mfa wherein he attempts to write on earth we’re briefly gorgeous without just rewriting on earth we’re briefly gorgeous (many such cases). he complains about his program constantly and how fake and pretentious it all is, but anyone who knows him can tell that it’s clearly the most fun he’s ever had.

suki doesn’t go to college. she figures that there’s no point in blowing money she doesn’t have and wasting precious valuable years of her time getting a fancy little bachelor’s degree she’ll never use for a job that doesn’t actually require one. and she doesn’t have any adult figures in her life to convince her that college is necessary (although sokka does spend a full week going “but are you sure…?” before suki realizes that she can just shut him up forever by claiming she can’t afford it). she continues to teach at the dojo, but because she basically already lives in her truck, she’s always driving over to princeton to crash in sokka’s dorm. she spends a lot of time just hanging out in the library while he does work, and finds that she doesn’t even need to go to classes to learn new things by herself. it’s funny how a formal education can make learning seem so much less interesting than it actually is. if she had actually gone to college, she probably would’ve spent the entire time blowing off classes and doing as little work as possible, but since she has no incentive to learn, she actually does. by the time sokka has graduated, suki is basically qualified to practice medicine, could tell you the entire history of the inca empire, and is basically an expert in mycology. and it didn’t cost a cent.

toph considers suki an inspiration, and by the time she graduates, she is already so estranged from her parents that she also has the agency to just blow off that whole thing. she moves in with sokka and mai and just follows them around. she sits in on their lectures whenever she feels like it (they claim she is mai’s little sister who is visiting her), and otherwise just kind of lounges about. occasionally sokka will be like “you know you could’ve just… gone to this school, right??? you’re literally a child prodigy and your parents are crazy rich.” to which toph just shrugs like “yeah……but nah.”

mai goes to princeton with sokka. it wasn’t even her top choice school, but once she realized that it’s where sokka was going, she couldn’t think of anywhere else that she would rather be. they’re roommates since freshman year and are basically inseparable. everyone assumes they’re dating, but sokka’s like “nah she’s gay, she’s just really clingy :)” which mai hates because he’s totally ruining her street cred. she’s a cs major, but she basically accumulates the credits for a math minor, a physics minor, and an english minor because all the cs classes are so easy for her (she first taught herself how to code when she was like six). sokka somehow convinces her to join his physics program for grad school, but after a year she drops out because she finds it so miserable. they continue living together, of course, while mai gets really into making esoteric indie games. zuko doesn’t really understands how video games work, but she still bounces her ideas off him because he’s the most ruthless critic she knows.

ty lee goes to college because it’s the sort of thing a girl from a decently respectable family does, but she’s pretty envious of suki’s lifestyle and wishes she could just blow off the entire thing. she goes to a decent school, one that appears acceptable on resumes but not so elite that it will raise any employer’s standards too high; she enjoys being underestimated. being in an entirely new environment gives her the opportunity to test out new personas free of consequence, and eventually she realizes that she’s kind of wasting her talents by pretending to be dumber than she is, so she actually applies herself and does really well. but then she gets bored of applying herself because now everyone expects too much of her and she misses when a B was considered a good grade. she’s technically a dance major because it’s the only thing she does consistently across three years (she graduates early), but she goes through different phases where she’s really into various fields, including but not limited to: abnormal psych, quantum physics, philosophical ethics, north african literature, microbiology, and women’s rugby. she keeps in touch with azula, mai, and suki, but she also just goes through phases of avoiding contact with all her former friends entirely. it’s fun to be aloof.

and last but certainly not least, azula goes to harvard for undergrad, and then harvard law. in fact, there is no other school azula could ever go to. even if she had lived on the other side of the globe, and not new jersey (or as she likes to call it, “manhattan”), azula would still go to harvard. she truly believes that it is the only school on earth capable of withstanding her towering intellect. anyone who found her insufferable in high school is in for a rude surprise once they realize that within a semester, harvard has somehow made her ten times worse. she’s technically pre-law, but she also studies pre-med and engineering, just in case. which is far too much for any one human to handle, and she ends up suffering a nervous breakdown during junior year where she eats nothing but cheetos for a week straight and tries to cut her own bangs with a pair of kiddie scissors. zuko and sokka go to cambridge to stage an intervention (mai and ty lee were too busy washing their hair that weekend) and help her out. you can tell it’s bad because she actually agrees to go to therapy. eventually she gets through it and decides to take a gap year before law school. she spends her gap year as a paralegal at a highly prestigious firm, and within the first couple years of graduating law school, she makes junior partner there. and they never speak of the cheetos and uneven bangs incident ever again.

in terms of who keeps in touch with whom, obviously mai, sokka, suki, and toph still hang out all the time after high school. mai and sokka are roommates for their entire twenties basically, and toph and suki pretty much also live with them. mai and sokka move to new york after princeton. and after zuko graduates, he also moves in with them. aang and katara sort of resist the idea of living in a big city, and instead decide to travel the world after aang graduates. but then when they go to visit sokka & co. katara realizes that it’s always secretly been her lifelong dream to work at a really cute little overpriced coffeeshop in brooklyn, and so she and aang get an apartment in like. red hook or something. ty lee actually moves to california, so they all assume they won’t see her often, but she flies back every time one of her sisters has a birthday, so they actually run into her pretty frequently. eventually she moves back to the east coast, and pretty soon after that she and mai uhaul together. none of them really hear from azula except for mai and ty lee, who are in a semi-active groupchat with her. but she and zuko reconnect after ozai’s funeral, and she gradually befriends the rest of the gaang, even if she never quite gets along with katara. so yeah, there are a few years where most of them don’t really talk to one another, but eventually they do manage to reconnect and stay in each other’s lives. they do all make other friends though. god could you imagine.

#averyho #asks #the gaang and #modern au #this was a fun one #the inherent comedy of being from new jersey. etc. etc.

[pebblysand]

loved the most recent chapter!! do you have a directors commentary on ginny during the World Cup of 2002? like her mindset, how you decided take her career in the direction of her transferring out of the harpies and a bit of reflection on your creative process of Ginnys quidditch journey, and how its going to continue, especially in regard to the news at the end of the latest chapter

much love xx

thank you!

so i think firstly, i'm very much enjoying writing about ginny's career (even if castles isn't from her perspective). i think obviously, castles has this "subplot" of harry and ginny and their career trajectories because i think as someone who graduated uni 6 years ago, i now have a lot of thoughts about what entering professional "life" is like, the sort of joys and disappointments you can get from a job, etc. which i think for a lot of people my age constituted a lot of disillusion, tbh, because a lot of millennials came in with these big ideas of "changing the world" and dreams of "being useful" when they entered the workplace and got hit pretty hard by "reality." i think one of the criticisms that's often made against the epilogue is that whilst hp characters were meant as "representatives" of this generation (which is very interesting because the story was published while millennials were kids, but the characters themselves are actually gen x), the place they end up in (married with kids young, amazing career, cute house, etc.) is considered to be so out of the scope of what millennials typically have been able to get at that age, that the epilogue read as "betrayal" to a lot of people. i think what i'm trying to do with castles is maybe just to right the scales a little, and show that: hey, they struggled too.

additionally, what is interesting with millennials is that more and more millennial high-achievers are quitting their corporate jobs (due to the above) to do something completely different. live on a farm, become an artist, ect. these are people who had a lot of earning potential but who, coming to 30, are sort of asking themselves what is it all for? so they choose to sacrifice earning potential for happiness and fulfilment.

lastly, when it comes to ginny, i think what is very important to consider is that, to this day, having a family and a flourishing career is near-impossible for a lot of women. and, ginny would have become a mother at the heart of the 00s where the pressure on mothers to have it all was even more important than it is now, with this idea that they must be mothers and wives and career women all at once (which then led to the #girlboss fantasy, etc.). when, in reality, this injunction drove so many women towards mental breakdowns and exhaustion. as harry is clearly not gonna be a stay-at-home dad (though, would love that for him), it's interesting for me to look at that aspect and try to portray it in a realistic way. especially given that feminism is such an important theme in castles.

with that in mind, when it comes to ginny, building her career trajectory is first of all looking at JKR tells us (given that i'm canon compliant), which is not a lot. jkr tells us that 1) ginny plays for the harpies and 2) ginny later becomes a sports reporter. so this gives me a number of thoughts:

1) ginny plays for the harpies

jkr says she plays for the harpies but as a team, according to quidditch through the ages, the harpies are actually not that great. they're good enough, but they've never won the league, for instance. which is an odd choice for ginny, who does seem to be someone who is quite ambitious, esp when it comes to quidditch. that this was her one and only dream team sounds odd

jkr also says that she plays for the harpies but she doesn't say for how long

jkr doesn't say if ginny has career progression within the harpies. does she make captain? coach?

quidditch is a dangerous sport and ginny has three pregnancies at a very young age. how does quidditch deal with the pregnancy of its players? would the kids be the reason she moves on to reporting? if so, that leaves very little professional playing time (given that she is 22 when she gets pregnant with james)

given that quidditch sort of works like football in-universe, would the industry be similar? who owns clubs? how do they get funded? footballers rarely ever stay in one team for more than a couple years - do you get "bought" and moved around like footballers do?

and, if not the kids, what makes her leave?

2) ginny later becomes a quidditch reporter

jkr tells us ginny works for the prophet. that's quite a statement given their past treatment of harry. how does that work?

the prophet is obviously written, meaning that ginny writes. meaning that she hasn't been put off writing by her past with tom. she actually probably enjoys it, or else she'd have done radio.

this also means that she has a good relationship with the press/enjoys that aspect of the job.

wizards live to be very old, meaning that it's very unlikely you'd just do one thing your entire life. like, firstly, athletes generally have multiple careers because they're not fit forever, but also i reckon ginny would get bored out of her mind doing one thing forever. even being a sports reporter - she'd need to be challenged, have new projects. esp. because while she would be busy with the kids probably when they are small (mid-20s to mid-30s), but she'd have more time on her hands later on.

so having stated the above, when i'm outlining ginny's career and planning ahead, it's like: okay, where do i go from here? how do i work in the themes i've evoked in the first few paragraphs, while using what i know from jkr.

i think the sad reality is that you can't both be an amazing quidditch player, have a busy husband and be a mother to three children. ginny will have to realise, at some point, that she's not superwoman. so, because she has her kids so young, i don't think she plays professionally to the end of her physical abilities (which generally for athletes is in their early 40s). i think that would be a lovely, wishful take to have if you were a bit delusional about the state of the world, but that's not a castles!take, lol. so, i think: yeah, she does quit for the kids. not right away after james (i think she does try to do it all for a while) but maybe after albus/lily.

but i also think that when i look at my millennial friends who have quit or are quitting law to raise families (of which there are too many because the legal industry is awful, but that's a different issue), it's generally actually not a binary choice. for most of them, it's not a: i'm quitting to raise my kids and be a housewife, anymore. it's actually a combination of the disillusion and the kids, and oftentimes choosing another career that is more compatible with family life, rather than no career at all. for them, it's like: yes, i could kill myself at work and at home if i really cared about my work, but capitalism is a hellscape anyway, the way the industry has treated me is not satisfactory and i'd rather try and do something else that is more fulfilling, even if it means less money.

so, applying that to ginny, it's like: i don't think she just quits because of the kids. i think she quits because she tries to do it all and is exhausted but also becomes a bit disillusioned with quidditch, like a lot of millenials did with their job. and, i don't see ginny ever disliking the sport itself, cause clearly that's something she loves, but i could see her getting a bit tired of the industry she is in. if you look at footballers, they're almost considered to be "things" that clubs trade amongst themselves, rather than people. there is often a lot of jealousy between players, that then ends up broadcast everywhere in the media. the environment seems pretty toxic, to be honest, and i could see how that would get on her nerves (esp. since she's very opinionated).

lastly, i'm actually setting her up to be a writer full-stop, as well as a sports reporter. i'm saying this quite bluntly here because tbh, if you read between the lines in castles, at this stage, it's already been heavily implied. like, i don't think ginny "just" writes press coverage of games, again i don't think that would keep her challenged enough. but i do see her writing non-fiction books about quidditch as well, and maybe player biographies, and ultimately probably fiction stories using that experience. because i think she's a writer at heart and that it's something that she would find more fulfilling, and more compatible with the kids. especially because the publishing/journalism industry, to her, would be so easy. she's already famous, people like her, she's not gonna struggle to get published or make ends meet. it would be something that she truly cares about and feels fulfilled by but that is more compatible with the kids. especially because as mentioned above, as they grow up and get to hogwarts, she will have more time to work on her hands, and i think her writing will grow.

so with castles at the moment, it's both about showing the reality of joining the workforce right now (and the feeling of doubt and inadequacy and uncertainty that can result from that) but also laying down the foundations of what their careers will look like later. this is also true for harry. this whole chapter that you've just read wasn't just me writing angst cause i missed it (although.... that too 😅) it was also setting up the foundations for: him taking on a leadership role (see 9/11 itself) and him getting out of the field (him being "scared" of death), etc.

for ginny, me setting her up as a "writer" was the first step, going as back as chapter 8. like, i already knew where i wanted her career to go, and so when it came to telling her story, the fact that it was through letters wasn't just a writing trick, it was also a way to set her up as someone who likes writing, for later. similarly, setting her up as this person who's good with the press and sort of understands how the game is played is also laying the foundations for her being a journalist later.

lastly, me setting her up to quit the harpies allows me to 1) give her a bit more professional satisfaction with a team that's actually good and will allow her to win the league, 2) show that sometimes you get your dream job and it's actually not your dream job once you discover the reality of it (to my point about disillusioned millennials earlier) and you end up being much better somewhere else and that's okay - it's not failing, and lastly 3) show the realities of that industry, and what might really irritate her to the point that she quits in the future. like, the magpies are great now, but what if they get bought out by someone else? what if her work environment is randomly changed by forces she can't fight on her own. again, what ginny wants is control in her life and her writing is something she can control much better than her quidditch skills, which get monetised by people who invest in players like they're basically cattle.

but i do think quidditch is something she loves, and which also teaches her her worth and to advocate well for herself, which is an amazing skill to have if you're going to be a journalist. like, she was lowballed once by the club, she learnt, and negotiated much better. that's a fantastic skill to carry over.

so, idk, i guess those are my thoughts and the sort of trajectory i'm thinking of when it comes to ginny's career. hope this makes sense!

#castles #asked and answered

[disregardcanon]

okay, so a brief history of my headcanon for rava and kendall’s relationship

 i think that kendall and rava probably met at harvard. while he and stewy WERE partying pretty hardcore, i think that hero-complex kendall was also trying (and mainly failing) to do some social justice work and in a very hardcore “i hate my dad” phase. rava, who was from a moderately wealthy family and studying to be an attorney, saw him and was kinda entranced by how passionate he was.

they wrote articles together for the harvard lampoon that were some biting and sometimes insightful social commentary. kendall, at the time, was very against working for waystar and they spent a lot of time spitballing with stewy about what they could do. stewy was very profit minded so he ended up noping out of the project before he and ken had even graduated.

she and kendall got married right after graduation from undergrad half because they were very in love and half because they wanted to upset their respective families. rava continues grad school and kendall flails his way through a few different corporate jobs, trying to pitch ideas that seemed ethical but weren’t really practical and then getting into fights with people about not understanding his “vision”. that ended with him being fired from each when business bosses received confirmation that logan roy wouldn’t come for their heads if they fired his son.

when it became clear that employment elsewhere... wasn’t really going to work out for him, kendall sunk deeper and deeper into addiction as rava had her back turned with her last semester of law school and studying for the bar.

he makes a habit of using big, showy gestures of affection whenever she’s getting too frustrated by his behavior. it works well for a while.

halfway through rava’s semester of studying for the bar, kendall had an incident bad enough that she had to cart him off to rehab and it set her back a semester before she could take the bar. (which she did pass! yay!)  after he got back from rehab, they decided that he’d take his dad up on the offer of a job at waystar to “get him back on his feet”, and they started turning their attentions towards having kids instead.

kendall’s new big project, immediately, became kids. they decided that they like BOTH the options of adoption and having their own bio kids, so they started trying for bio kids a lot, but also doing research on good ways to adopt kids.

kendall did about half of that, with jess helping him stay focused and actually doing most of it. with his white savior complex, a transracial adoptee from india was a pretty obvious choice. a few months after sophie’s adoption was finalized they got sophie and kendall, for a while, put all his efforts into being The Best Dad TM.

it’s great while it lasts, but the increase in kendall’s time off work with waystar led to some pretty harsh criticism from his dad including “what have you got a wife for, anyway, if you’re doing all the raising? mister mom gotta go home and take care of the baby? pa-fucking-thetic” so he tries to focus more on work, which stresses him out, and he’s pulled between wanting to be an awesome dad and make rava happy but also Oh God My Dad Thinks I’m a Loser and i want to stick it to him but also make him proud of me, and it leads to a lot of him not doing anything that makes him happy or proud and just slipping back into alcohol.

this period does result in them getting a consistent nanny instead of babysitters, though, so at least the kids are a bit better cared for.

the slope leads down for a few years until it’s at the point where he can’t get off the couch for sophie’s 2nd grade meet the author day and rava makes him try seeing a therapist. again. it gets worse instead of better as he’s pulled between work, dad, and his wife and kids. logan keeps trying to pressure rava into leaving her job as a civil rights attorney just as he keeps trying to fold shiv into the company, and it causes some additional tension. and this, of course, is on top of kendall now being groomed as logan’s successor.

add in: iverson’s autism diagnosis and kendall absolutely refusing to confront what it means both for iverson AND himself, and he starts slipping back into the hard stuff. he’s erratic and impossible to be around and rava finds bits of coke on iverson’s ipad, which is when she tells kendall he has to move out.

if he can get himself cleaned up and show her that he’s ready to move back in with them, then she’ll let him. (spoiler alert: he never does this, even though he tries)

#succession #succession meta #rava roy #kendall roy

[popcornpoppypop]

Rage, Rage Against The Dying Of The Light

Part 1

Eddie Munson X Female OC

Summary: Abby can't get over the loss of her love. It's not easy to forget when someone dies in your arms. Less so when they appear in your living room one night.

Author's Note: This is going to be a short series. I will warn that work is crazy, but I have it mapped out. It's just the getting it fleshed out I have to do. Anyway, I was feeling angsty and sad because I don't ever have a good Christmas. I apologize in advance. Please leave constructive criticism, I don't have anyone to edit this stuff so I could use the advice!

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Blood, gore, death, grief, swearing, depression, Dustin get's very sad

“I didn’t run this time.” Eddie gagged on the blood pooling at the back of his throat. Abby shook her head, tears streaming down her face as she clung onto Eddie like her life depended on it. 

“No. You didn’t, you saved us Eddie.” She sobbed. Dustin sat next to her, crying into her shoulder. 

“You gotta look after the little sheep for me.” Eddie’s voice cracks. 

“No! You’re going to! We just gotta get you out of here!” Dustin yells

“Nah man. You gotta say it.”

“...I’ll look after them…” Dustin’s body shakes with sobs. 

“Cause I’m actually going to graduate this year. We’re going to leave this town,  just like I promised you.” Eddie does his best to smile up at Abby, his lips torn, blood painting his teeth as it spills from the corners of his mouth. 

“You-you’re gonna take me to see the world. Just like we said. Get in the van and just drive the hell out of here.” Abby sobbed, holding his face in her hands. 

“It’s my year…” Eddie choked. His breathing was shallow and fast, a gargling came from his throat as he struggled to keep the air in his lungs. His brows furrowed, a look of fear crossed his eyes as he put up one final attempt to fight off the nothingness clawing at him. 

“Eddie! No! Please!” Abby screamed. Her words fell on deaf ears. Eddie’s eyes drifted, the light that once filled them was gone. Eddie was gone.  

“No! No!” Dustin cried. 

“You can’t leave me! You can’t leave me alone! Eddie, please!” Abby screeched, her voice ripping through her throat with raw jagged edges. 

The group of three teens came running around the corner to the horrific sight of Abby and Dustin wailing over Eddie’s body. A scene that would be stained on their psyche for the rest of their lives. 

“Oh my god.” Nancy whispered. Robin shook her head as the tears fell. 

“No! Dammit!” Steve growled as he started for the distraught figures. 

“Please, please! Please!” Abby screamed over and over, as if begging would sway death’s decision. Steve ran up to them, grabbing Dustin into his arms. 

“No! We failed! We failed!” Dustin cried. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay! I got you!” Steve held onto the boy tightly, Dustin clutched onto him sobbing. 

“We have….we have to go.” Nancy said, as she wiped the stray tears from her face. 

“Give them a minute, Nance.” Steve snapped as he gestured to the two people unable to keep breath in their lungs. Robing paced next to them, her hands gripping her hair as if searching for something to hold her to the ground. 

“How do we get him back?” Robin’s voice was strained and thin. 

“We…we-we can’t.” Nancy sighed. 

“What?” Robin stopped in her tracks in front of Nancy. 

“We can’t get him through the gate. There’s no way with just us.” 

“We can’t leave him here! Nancy, that's just cruel!” Robin’s body tensed with rage. 

“We don’t have a choice! We have to get out of here before anyone else gets hurt, we need to check on the others!” Nancy pushed past Robin to head towards the trailer. 

“Nancy! We cannot leave them like this!” Steve shouted. 

“Get them on their feet and once we get back we can tend to them. But we have to get out of here. We don’t know where Vecna is and he knows Eddie was here. He knows we’ll be here too.”

“I heard a lot shit about you being cold, I chalked it up to boys being jealous and girls being petty, but they were right. You’re a cold hearted witch.” Robin growled. 

“If keeping the rest of us alive is cold, then fine. I’m cold.” Nancy spat. 

“Just-just calm down! Give us a second.” Steve sighed. Nancy shook her head and marched back over to the group. 

“We need to go!”

“She isn’t wrong. We have to get you two out of here.” Steve sighed, putting a hand on Abby’s shoulder. 

“Steve, we can’t just leave him here! This is the last place he’d want to be!” Dustin was desperate to be heard. 

“I know, bud. I know. But…we don’t have a choice. He wouldn’t want you to get hurt because of him.” Steve squeezed Dustin’s shoulders. He would break down later, not in front of the kid. He needed him too much. 

“Okay…” Dustin sighed. 

“Abby…we gotta go.” Robin reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. Abby jumped away from the touch. 

“I’m not leaving him. Just leave me here with him.” Abby’s tears had turned silent, it had somehow made the scene more horrific. She laid her head down on his still, cold chest. She didn’t care if his blood stained her skin anymore, her hands were already covered in it. 

“Abby…We can’t leave you here.” Steve sighed. 

“NO! I won’t leave him! He’s all I have! Bury me with him, there’s nothing left up there for me without him.” Her voice unwavering, she buried her face in the crook of his neck with eyes squeezed shut. Maybe she was trying to imagine they were back home on the couch watching a scary movie, maybe she was hoping this was all a dream, maybe she was trying to find some kind of superpower to bring him back. 

“Robin, take Dustin and get out of here.” Steve sighed. Robin nodded and helped the boy to his feet as they slowly made their way to the gate. 

“We don’t have time for this!” Nancy’s voice shook. 

“Jesus, Nance!” Steve barked. Nancy bent down across from Abby. 

“Abby, you’re my friend. I know you’re in pain. I want to help you, you know that I do. But we need to get out of here. We need you to get it together, you can grieve once you’re back home.” 

“Nancy.” Steve looked at her taken back. He had never heard such blatant disregard for another person come from her before. Abby looked up at her, rage pouring from her eyes. 

“I could kill you.” She growled. She looked down at Eddie, trying to memorize every pore on his face. She grabbed the pick from around his neck and a ring from his finger before she wobbled to her feet. Steve held onto her as they made their way to the gate. Before they entered the trailer, Abby turned to look at him one last time. 

He laid in the dirt of the trailer park he hated, he swore he would leave one day. The carcasses of demobats scattered around him, a pool of blood framing him. All Abby could think at that moment was how she had failed him. 

“Eddie!” Abby sat up yelling, her skin covered in a sheen of sweat. She looked around the room, her room. She sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, her body still vibrating from the bitter memory. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, testing her legs to see if they would hold her weight before making her way to the bathroom. 

She was desperate to make the nightmares stop. She wanted a good night's sleep.  She hasn’t had one since they returned. She woke up every night in a cold sweat, never feeling rested at all. 

The sun was peeking up over the trees, the clock’s red numbers alerting her that it was nearly six in the morning. She had to be at the cabin in an hour anyway. She decided to just get ready. 

Her hands gripped the wheel a little harder as she pulled up to the cabin. Nancy was standing on the porch with Jonathan. The big silver ring on her finger dug into her skin, leaving a red, irritated impression. 

“Hey, you’re early.” Jonathan smiled. 

“Couldn’t sleep, figured I’d just head over.” Abby said as she got out of the car. 

“We’re just waiting on Steve and Robin.” Nancy informed her. Abby gave a curt nod, avoiding eye contact as she walked into the cabin. The kids were all huddled in a corner chatting, while Murray and Argyle argued about some nonsense. 

“Hey, kid. Coffee?” Hopper said from the kitchen, Joyce gave a tight lipped smile. 

“Yeah, thanks.” Abby walked over and grabbed a mug, filling it and taking a long sip. 

“Honey, are you getting any sleep?” Joyce put a hand on her shoulder. 

“Joyce, don’t.” Hopper warned. 

“I’ll sleep when this shit is over.” Abby walked away. The door opened and Steve and Robin came in followed by the happy couple. 

“Hey, I tried to call you yesterday. No answer. You okay?” Steve asked. 

“Not in the mood for phone calls.” Abby sat in a spare chair in the living room. 

 “Right. Okay, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

“Of course she isn’t okay, dingus. Calling her everyday isn’t going to help either.” Robin sighed. 

“I’m just trying…to do anything.” Steve ran a hand through his hair. 

“Alright, everyone pay attention. We got some news about Vecna.” Hopper stood in the living room, commanding everyone’s attention. Abby sat forward a little more at the mention of Vecna. 

“El, has seen a glimpse of him.” Everyone’s head snapped to look at Eleven. 

“I saw him. He was hiding in a house in the woods. I’ve never seen it before.”

“So he’s alive in the woods? When did you see it? Was he wounded, what was he doing?” Abby’s heart raced. 

“Calm down, we’ll get to that.” Hopper hushed. 

“He was only a little weaker. Still too strong. The house was blue with a black door. I saw him there yesterday.” 

“Yesterday? Why the hell didn’t you call this last night then!?” Abby growled. 

“Abby. Chill out.” Steve put a hand on her shoulder, she shrugged him off. 

“We wanted to monitor the situation a little before giving you half of a story. Now, we have a plan to search the woods. We’ll go as teams- Abby?” Hopper stopped, watching as Abby grabbed the revolver that had been sitting on the kitchen table and walked out the door. 

“Abby! You can’t just go off all Rambo like that!” Robin chased after her.

“Everyone, just wait! We have a plan!” Hopper barked. 

“So do I! Kill the fucker.” Abby growled. 

“Abby wait! We all want him dead, but you can’t go alone. Just wait for us. We’ll go with you.” Nancy said. Abby stopped in her tracks, turned on her heel and march straight up to Nancy Wheeler and stood an inch from her face. 

“I don’t want you anywhere near me. I hate you and someone needs to tell you that you are a bad leader. You shouldn’t be the leader! You make mistake after mistake and now one of us is dead and one of us in a coma! You don’t actually care about any of us, you just like the power trip.” Abby growled. The whole group fell silent. 

“That is bullshit, Abby! Of course I care! If I didn’t care I wouldn’t be here! I have given everything to keep all of us alive!”

“Says the woman who looked me in the eye, as I held my dead boyfriend, and told me to ‘get it together’!” Abby spat, she was the picture definition of rage. She turned on her heal and walked away into the woods, determined to find the blue house. 

“Abby! Wait!” Robin ran after her. 

“Why do you gotta push it Nancy?” Steve sighed as he jogged past her. 

They three teens walked through the woods, searching for any sign of a blue house with a black door.  They had looked for more than five hours, their feet hurt and they were covered in sweat. 

“Abby, we should take a break. Head back to the cabin. You need to eat something.” Steve crossed his arms. 

“I’m not hungry.”

‘Well, we are. You can’t do this alone, let’s just go take a break.” Steve put a hand on her arm, gently tugging her to follow him. Abby didn’t have the strength to fight him. She begrudgingly followed. When they arrived back at the cabin, it was evident that everyone was still there. Abby wanted to run, she didn’t want to look at Nancy again. She feared she might tear her apart. 

“Smells like Joyce is cooking.” Robin ran inside. 

“Hey, I just…You know we’re here for you, right?” Steve stopped outside the door. 

“Steve, if you’re going to try and get me to forgive Nancy, it will not ever happen.” Abby crossed her arms. 

“No. No, I wouldn’t try to get you to do that. I’m having a hard time forgiving her myself. I just get worried about you sometimes.” 

“I’m fine.” “You’re not.”

“Well, unless you can resurrect people, there isn’t much you can do about it. Just tell them I will be back tomorrow morning. I can’t do the cheery group thing right now.” Abby ran down the stairs to her car. 

“Abby!” Steve threw his hands in the air. Abby drove out of there as fast as she could. 

She sat on her bed, a hot cup of tea steamed on her night stand as she attempted to read. She couldn’t get her mind to shut the hell up for five seconds to actually absorb anything. She threw the book across the room and face planted into her pillows. All she could see, everytime she closed her eyes no matter how long, was the image of Eddie  dead and covered in blood. She was having a hard time remembering what he looked like without a face painted red. All she wanted was to get over the image of bloody Eddie. 

A crash came from downstairs and broke Abby from her thoughts. She waited for another sound before making any decisions. There was another crash, something dropping on the floor. Abby grabbed the baseball bat from under her bed and made her way downstairs. She tipped toed, avoiding the stairs she knew creaked. She felt the adrenaline coursing through her veins as she made her way toward the noise. She came around the corner, bat raised and ready for attack. 

“Get the hell out of my house or I’ll beat the shit out of you!” She growled as a shadow covered figure appeared in her living room. 

“Don’t! I didn’t mean to startle you!” The voice was familiar. But it was odd, like two voices at the same time, and deep. 

“Who are you?”She growled. 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” 

“Then show yourself.” 

“Promise me that you won’t go all nuts with the bat.”

“Absolutely not.” 

“Fair enough.” The figure moved closer, all the hair on the back of Abby’s neck stood on end. The figure stepped into the light, blood dripping onto the floor. Abby looked them up and down until the figure finally revealed their face. 

“No…”

“Yeah…” Eddie stood before her, much more pale and still covered in blood. She couldn’t tell if it was just his blood or something else’s.

“I-I lost it…I’m full blown crazy! I’m seeing ghosts!” Abby cried. 

“No! Baby, you’re not crazy! This situation is crazy! Please, just-just let me explain.” Eddie moved forward a bit. 

“How…I held you in my arms…I watched…I watched you die!” Abby sobbed. 

“I know. I did. I died. I don't know what happened, exactly. But eventually I woke up. I-I’m not the same, like there’s something wrong with me. But I’m here for real.” Eddie reached a hand out towards her. 

“I don’t understand!” 

“I think…I think it was the bats.” 

“You’re not…please tell me you aren’t saying you’re a vampire.” 

“It would explain the teeth and wings.”

“Wings?” Abby looked at him confused. Eddie sighed and stepped closer, turning to reveal two leathery wings protruding from his back. 

“Oh my god.” Abby stumbled backwards.

“Easy.” Eddie caught her before she could fall. She looked up at him, his eyes were still the same. Those brown eyes were unmistakably Eddie’s. 

“It is you…” She reached a hand up to cradle his face. 

“ As soon as I figured out what was going on I came looking for you, I promise. I couldn’t leave you like that. I’m so sorry, Abby.” Eddie sighed. Abby threw her arms around him, pulling him as close as possible and collapsing into sobs. 

“Don’t ever do that again!” She cried. 

“Never, never my love.” Eddie buried his face in her neck, her scent was so sweet, it was near intoxicating. 

“What do we do now?”

“I don’t know. But tonight, who cares. Tonight it’s just us.” Eddie smiled. 

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie x y/n #eddie stranger things #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson angst #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson x original character #stranger things season 4 #eddie munson drabble #eddie munson x oc #eddie munson fanart #eddie munson stranger things #wayne munson

[fogerist]

Ok incoming rant about college and people with the privilege to go:

Ok so I just saw this video on TikTok where this woman was responding to another video of a woman ranting about how her son has not been able to find a job after graduating because employers aren’t hiring, only minimum wage, rent is too high, are in debt, etc. (the woman ranting is fine, all valid points), to which she also adds a statement about getting into a trade since it pays better (I’m not gonna pretend I know which one pays better in other states but at least in Florida that has been the case over the years). The women who responds to the original video ends up going on a long tirade about how college is important, teaches you how to think, everyone needs to go, etc. But in her monologue, she ends up demonizing people who choose not to go to college (for whatever reason whether it be intentional or they just can’t go) and on top of that, implies that people who don’t go to college can never learn to think “critically” and aren’t “intellectuals”. Now you would think that any decent person would see that video and be like “wtf is this person talking about??” but according to her comments there’s a good amount of people who also agree with her. So I’m gonna say these things cause I’m tired of seeing the same elitist bullshit that is spewed as a sort of scapegoat for going to college:

1. COLLEGE IS A PRIVILEGE IN THE US

- Whether you had family members who paid for you to go or you went because of scholarships/grants/loans or you worked your ass off to pay for it, whatever the reason, you had the privilege to go. So many people do not (for whatever reason) and you are not a judge who gets to decide which reason(s) are valid or not.

2. EDUCATION IN THE SENSE OF COLLEGE DOES NOT MAKE YOU BETTER

- Universities are businesses and until education/all the other facets that are intertwined with learning new disciplines/areas of study are completely free, it will always be a business. They are not there for you, they just want your money.

- Learning happens everywhere in this world whether it’s on the job experience, looking things up on the internet, reading a book, or just everyday experience; it is still considered learning and just because someone went to college does not make them any less smarter than people who didn’t.

- The only differences that people who went to college vs those who didn’t have are just a wider access to resources and connections and piece of paper that says you paid to learn.

3. (I can’t believe I’m saying this because I feel like this is something that is taught at a young age, by your parents when they’re teaching you what’s right or wrong) STOP LOOKING DOWN AT OTHERS AND DEMONIZING THEIR CHOICES FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO LIVE THEIR LIVES THE WAY YOU WANT THEM TO.

- You don’t live their lives! You’ve never have gone through the same experiences that they have. They’re not hurting anyone, they’re just trying to survive in this capitalistic hellscape that is the US. So mind your own fucking business and worry about yourself.

I can def keep going but my brain isn’t at 100% efficiency since I wrote this right when I woke up but I just couldn’t stay silent anymore. I’m so fucking tired of this elitist and honestly at times racist/xenophobic takes on hyper-intellectualism. Like sure being knowledgeable is great, but you know what’s so much better, compassion, empathy, not being a fucking sack of shit. Anyways that’s my rant, hope y’all have a way better day than I.

#im so tired of this shit #my rants

[denimbex1986]

'In 1999’s The Talented Mr Ripley, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Marge Sherwood is, in many ways, the eyes of the audience – sweet and somewhat naive, she welcomes Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) into the idyllic life she’s built with her boyfriend Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) in ’50s southern Italy, before the former secretly murders the latter, adopts his identity and sets off on a grand tour on his dime. When she later catches up with him, she’s deeply suspicious, but there’s still a certain fragility to her – desperate though she is to bring him to justice, she knows there’s little she can actually do.

Now in Ripley, Steven Zaillian’s icy, eight-part Netflix retelling of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 classic – the latest in a long line of adaptations for stage and screen – Dakota Fanning is inheriting that part from Paltrow. She still, at times, acts as the viewer’s eyes and ears, but that is where the resemblance ends. This new iteration of Marge is, in a sense, the antithesis of Paltrow’s sunny, floral-midi-skirt-clad hostess – dressed in trousers and oversized white shirts (and filmed in an atmospheric black and white, as opposed to the original film’s ravishing pastels), she’s steely, watchful and shrewd, someone who seems to recognise Tom (Andrew Scott) for the opportunist he is from the get go.

She’s also unapologetically ambitious, penning a book on Atrani, the sleepy Amalfi Coast town where she and Dickie (Johnny Flynn) have ended up. While her affluent boyfriend spends his days parading around his palatial villa, she takes photographs and edits drafts in a charming but ramshackle one-room apartment, filled with knitting supplies, wild flowers and candid snapshots. It’s clear that she doesn’t come from money or, at least, from as much money as Dickie does, and isn’t from his crowd of New York sophisticates – we hear she’s from Minnesota and, at one point, she resents being seen as “a small town hick”. The picture we get of Marge in these scenes – someone who is spiky, slippery and frequently unreadable – is so much richer and more complex than anything we’ve been afforded before.

It’s a remarkable performance from Fanning – still, impassive, cold and cryptic – which ranks among the 30-year-old actor’s best. And that’s really saying something: she’s been working for almost two and a half decades, having started out as a child actor, playing a younger version of Calista Flockhart in Ally McBeal, a baby-faced Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama, the exuberant lead in Charlotte’s Web, and Tom Cruise’s daughter in War of the Worlds. With I Am Sam, she became the youngest SAG nominee in history aged seven and scooped a Critics’ Choice Award, giving a shockingly articulate acceptance speech as she was lifted up to the microphone by Orlando Bloom.

Then came the Twilight franchise, after which the Georgia native graduated to more adult roles in the likes of The Runaways and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In Ripley, she commands the screen with the ease of a veteran – it serves as both a reminder of her enduring star power as well as evidence of her evolution as an actor.

Ahead of the show’s release on 4 April, Fanning discusses Marge’s own opportunism, her chic and understated costumes, and the equally dark projects she’s delving into next.

I heard that Steven Zaillian wanted you for Ripley because he loved you in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Is that right?

That’s what I heard. He saw that and then wanted to chat with me about this. I was obviously familiar with this story and the character of Marge, and so I read the scripts and they were truly some of the best scripts I’ve ever read. Steve is so brilliant, and his vision for the show… I didn’t really even think about it. I just said, “Yes, I’ll do whatever he wants.” It was a dream to be a part of.

What about the scripts captured you the most?

His writing is so nuanced, and the scripts are brilliant in that they’re actually very simple. They leave a lot of space for the actor, and especially the actors who are not playing Tom Ripley, to figure out their role in the story. A lot of the time, the characters are saying one thing, but there’s so much more underneath, and the intention behind what they’re saying is sometimes the complete opposite of what is being said. So as an actor, I knew it would be a great challenge to modulate a performance based on what’s not said, and I was really excited by that. Steve and I created a great dialogue between us and figured out who Marge is, what she knows, when she knows it, when she’s suspicious of Tom and when she believes him. Then we did some takes where you kind of flip that on its head and see what happens.

This is a real character study at its core, but it’s also a cat-and-mouse game and I felt lucky to be playing a character who does go toe to toe with Tom. He’s so skilled at what he does and most of the characters are in the dark about who he really is and what he’s doing. Marge is certainly in the dark too, to an extent, but she also knows that there’s something off and isn’t afraid to tap into that. Andrew and I relished getting to explore that rivalry.

I read that you, Andrew and Johnny didn’t rewatch the 1999 film. Did you feel the pressure of remaking something that has such an incredible legacy, or does Ripley just feel too different to be comparable?

I’m a massive fan of that film and watching the series, it felt completely different. Ripley is based on the novel very faithfully. I revisit the film because I love it, but I didn’t find it helpful in terms of playing Marge or stepping into this world because the vibe of this is entirely separate. It’s in black and white so, right off the bat, that changes things.

It looks so gorgeous, but in a very different way from the original film. I wanted to ask you specifically about Marge’s house, too. Compared to Dickie’s villa, it’s surprisingly modest. What does that setting tell us about her?

I loved all the details on that set, and it informed the relationship between Marge and Tom. Tom is fascinated with privilege and wealth, and the lack of appreciation he sees in these wealthy people when it comes to their relationship with art, travel and culture. According to him, they don’t know what to do with all that, whereas he does. So, that idea of class is super present in Ripley and what’s interesting about Marge is that she probably comes from a more similar background to Tom than Dickie, and that informs their rivalry.

There’s also her knitting – I love that Marge is a knitter. I am as well. You see her messy basket of yarn and needles on that set. Steve is a details man and he arranged those knitting needles exactly how he wanted them. I’m not exaggerating [laughs]. Everything on that set had a purpose. It’s a bit of a mess and Tom is sort of disgusted by it. She’s working on her book, and her photos and her writing – everything’s artfully displayed. The interior was partly filmed on a soundstage, but that house was also in Atrani, the little town we filmed in on the Amalfi Coast. That was special, too – getting to actually be in those extraordinary places.

Marge’s ambition is also front and centre in this retelling. Was that important to you?

I loved that. Marge has some ulterior motives as well. She’s kind of using this situation that she’s found herself in to her benefit a little bit, too. I think she genuinely does love Dickie and is invested in him in a pure way, but you do see a little bit of her opportunism come out as well. And once again, that similarity to Tom really pisses him off. She’s getting in his way and marching on what he sees as his territory.

And coming back to this beautiful Italian setting, did you, Andrew and Johnny get to have any downtime when the cameras weren’t rolling?

It was wonderful, but complicated because you’re in these beautiful places where people dream of going on their holiday, but you’re working and it was during Covid and it was challenging, so your brain doesn’t know what mode to switch into. But, we definitely found time to have some great meals and wine together. We played cards at Johnny’s and had our Italian lessons together. He had this great house in Capri when we were filming there and one day, we had a barbecue. Andrew and Johnny are two of the loveliest people I’ve ever worked with. It’s so important when you’re working on something like this which is so all-encompassing that you find time to bring light and laughter and play into it as well. Andrew, Johnny and I were able to lighten up the challenging days. I couldn’t have done it without them and I’m in awe of their performances.

What proved the most challenging?

There were practical things – we travelled a lot and set up shop in lots of new locations. We still had to take Covid tests and there was the stress of, “What if I have Covid and can’t get home for Christmas?” And it was quite intense. Every scene, no matter how big or small, had equal importance so there was never a day when you’re like [mimics falling asleep]. That’s an extraordinary way to work, but it can get heavy at certain moments. It’s a lot of time away from home and I was the lonely American whose family hadn’t travelled internationally since the beginning of the pandemic and so no one wanted to come see me because they didn’t want to get me sick [laughs]. But, I made the best of it.

I’d also love to ask you about the costumes. The Talented Mr Ripley is one of the most stylish films ever made, but Ripley takes a much more subdued approach. What does Marge’s less feminine and more pared back style in this series say about her?

With Marge, we start with lighter layers and then, by the time we get to Venice, it’s coats and sweaters and everything is black and navy. It’s kind of like her armour in which to battle Tom. But, if I had to pick one favourite piece, it’s probably Marge’s swimsuit. It’s grey plaid and old fashioned, and it’s really unglamorous but there’s actually something very chic about it in its simplicity. We wanted to make sure the costumes felt natural, wrinkled and a little bit oversized, to show that Marge wants to be taken seriously. She’s focused on practicality, and I think that speaks to what kind of woman she is in this time period.

She definitely feels ahead of her time. Finally, now that the show is about to come out, have you given much thought to why this particular story has been retold so many times? Why are we so endlessly fascinated by Tom Ripley?

I’m still trying to figure it out. As a society, we have this general fascination with grifters and con artists, but with Ripley, there are just so many layers to him. This is an exploration of people and what they’re capable of; of the haves and have nots, and how circumstances can change people. And especially in this telling, you get a real deep dive and a bigger window into this character than we’ve seen in the past. Andrew’s brought something completely different to the part that no one’s ever seen before.

And you have quite a few similarly dark projects coming up after this. Can you talk me through them?

I’ve got The Watchers coming out this summer, which is directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan, the daughter of M Night Shyamalan who’s a producer on it. I had a great time filming it in Dublin last year – it has this supernatural Shyamalan vibe. And then I have the Netflix mystery series The Perfect Couple, directed by Susanne Bier, with Nicole Kidman. It’s a true ensemble piece and a big family story, and we got to film on Cape Cod. It felt like summer camp. And I’m filming the horror movie Vicious at the moment – TBD, but it’s been great so far.

Ripley will be on Netflix from 4 April.'

#Ripley #Netflix #Andrew Scott #Johnny Flynn #Marge Sherwood #Dickie Greenleaf #Steven Zaillian #Matt Damon #Jude Law #Gwyneth Paltrow #Atrani #Amalfi Coast #The Talented Mr Ripley #Patricia Highsmith

[billconrad]

Who’s Who

    The first edition of Who’s Who got published in 1849. Then a compact, 250-page volume (less than one-tenth of the size of the 2017 edition) comprised an almanac followed by thirty-five lists of military ranks and appointments and the names of those holding them.

    Fast forward to the epic ‘20-80s. Who’s Who had become the “go to” reference (yellow-pages telephone book) of important people. Author? Scientist? Artist? There was no choice. You had to be listed in the Who’s Who. Why? An entry made a normal person into a “celebrated” person, and the publication stood as proof. To cement your standing, you would update the profile annually with your latest accomplishments, projects, and certifications.

    Of course, at the beginning of the book, there was a fee and all kinds of expensive options, such as photographs, graphics, and premiere placement. Plus, you needed a copy of this “industry standard” to see yourself. And to do “research” on the other people in your given field (see how your profile compares to others). My father was a talented ceramics author in the ’70-80s and paid dearly to have his entry in the Who’s Who.

    Well, what happened? The myth was that everybody (of importance) would have a copy and use it to look up critical facts about the industry leaders. However, this was a fantasy, and people eventually realized the “reference” was useless. Let’s use my father as an example. Would a ceramic artist buy this expensive reference book, look up my father’s name and then buy his books? That was certainly the sales pitch.

    No, they would go to the library. And what would people do at the library? They would research the available books and either check them out, request them, or go to a bookstore.

    There is a more fundamental problem. Who cares?! The Who’s Who of ceramics lists all the ceramic artists, sculptors, teachers, authors, and amateurs. Dredging through the alphabetical list takes a long time to gain limited knowledge.

    And what about this “knowledge?” Were the entries fact-checked? Of course not! The entries only built ego.

    By the late ‘80s, the public had caught on, and these books were no longer popular. In America, the major publishers of these directories were Vanity and Uniondale, who ceased publishing Who’s Who in 2017.

    An upcoming author like myself does not need to waste money on such a useless publication. Yet, I see a few hands raised among my blog readers. Why are you writing about this? The company is gone. Right?

    When I graduated high school in 1988, every student got onto a mailing list (the school districts got a kickback for providing a list of their graduates). One of these companies published the “Who’s Who of the class of 1988.” Wow, what an honor. For only $$$, I could be in Who’s Who?! Then everybody would know me! Think of the doors that would open. At least, that is what the try-fold brochure claimed.

    Of course, I did not pay for an entry because I asked my father about it. Side note. I knew kids that paid for an entry. But wait, there’s more! When I graduated from college, another letter arrived. Yes, I could be in the exclusive club of people in the Who’s Who of Electrical Engineers graduating in 1993!

    That was long ago, and I still see a few raised hands. Why now? Three months ago, my daughter took her pre-SAT test, and they sold her name to EVERYONE. Did you know she was pre-qualified to submit her (paid) application to every university? Did you know they nominated her for an AWARD?! It’s true. She can claim her “Congress of Future Medical Leaders Award of Excellence.” Wow, I am so proud and see my blog readers clapping. But I cannot take all the credit; my daughter can open mail too.

    To claim the award, she (accompanied by an adult) will fly to Miami, stay at the Marriot hotel, and pay for the banquet, where she will receive her award. Plus, a transaction and booking fee. My daughter immediately saw through the ruse, but she put the award up on the refrigerator as a joke.

    But then, it happened. My daughter got another letter. Guess who? That’s right; she can be in the “Who’s Who of the class of 2024!” What an honor.

    This got me thinking about why I write. I do not write for fame or fortune. I write to share my stories. However, some people write for fame. But what if your books are less than popular? You can pay for fame, and Who’s Who is a path to glory. “Bill Conrad, a celebrated author featured in Who’s Who.”

    I suppose it is cool to see yourself in print, and I recall looking myself up in the phone book. “Everybody else can look up my name and get my phone number. How cool!” Now, it is super easy to “Google” yourself. Perhaps my blog readers could Google my books and buy one or two? Maybe then I can have enough money to pay for my daughter to be in the Who’s Who of the class of 2024!

    You’re the best! -Bill 

    March 23, 2023

    Hey book lovers, I published three! Please check them out.

    Interviewing Immortality is a psychological thriller about a 500-year-old woman who forces a disgraced author to interview her.

    Pushed to the Edge of Survival is a drama, romance, and science fiction story about two unlikely people surviving a shipwreck and living with the consequences.

    Cable Ties is a classic spy novel about two hunters discovering that government communications are being recorded and asking the FBI to investigate.

    These books are available in soft-cover on Amazon and eBook format everywhere.

[noisyenemyexpert]

What NOT to Do in the merakit palang pintu kereta api Industry

You say to on your own: I want to view my spouse with other Adult men. While most wives prefer a monogamous relationship, lots of Other folks appreciate the swinging Way of living. The trouble is, most Girls would by no means admit it. The purpose of this informative article is twofold: that may help you make your wife snug adequate to confess to her sexual needs and to provide you with a superb approach to acquiring Guys in your wife.™

Let's presume your wife secretly loves the idea of letting you watch her rest with other Gentlemen. What you have to do, to assist deliver her outside of her shell so to talk, is confess your own personal wants. And the most beneficial time to do so is while you are next building like.

While you are both of those very aroused, and during the act of affection-making, confess to her that you often Feel, "I'd appreciate to watch my wife with other men." Right after your confession, and whilst even now making love, introduce this fantasy for a roleplay. In other words: pretend to generally be A different guy.

Most wives come across it extremely erotic to hear their husband produce a sexual confession. When your spouse shares your wants, she will probably acknowledge it for you at this time. Otherwise, it is possible to try this solution more than once. She is going to shortly feel cozy plenty of to confess which you and he or she both share the exact same fantasy.

So now you have to come across Gentlemen for your wife who are ready to Enable you to enjoy - perhaps inside of a cuckold ability. This is simple. You and your spouse need to help make a profile on a popular Grownup courting Group.

Future, set in a try to find Males seeking couples in your neighborhood. They're the ideal type of Gentlemen in your case. They may be aroused by the thought of you viewing. When your quest has developed a list of regional men, just expend some time getting to know many of them. Send out some Good friend requests, Trade some e-mail, chat. Quickly you'll have A few Adult men who will slumber along with your wife on a regular basis and happily let you check out.

Graduate college gives a far more specialized degree of coaching and enhanced, pro instruction in a specific field. The most critical selection in making use of to graduate faculty is not really in deciding upon the establishment but somewhat in figuring out by far the most favorable space of examine. Regrettably, the choice-earning system does not close there. Other criteria including timing, site of examine, fiscal assist, palang pintu kereta api Indonesia and the scholar populace must all be offered correct awareness.

On this publication, we provide ideas to jumpstart your search for any Master's or Doctoral degree. We investigate the prevalent causes for making use of, the selection approach, take a look at having, and the mandatory preparations leading to attendance. These recommendations will provide you with insights into approaching the appliance course of action with self-confidence and may serve as a reference as you endure the applying techniques.

Great luck!

I. Best Motives for Making use of to Graduate Faculty

Job Modify/Advancement

People with a number of many years of Performing expertise generally realize that their profession route slowly and gradually results in being confined, as well as spares no home for Specialist growth. Some also discover that their ability established is no longer relevant to their industry of publicity and subsequently pursue precise coaching within their field as a means to move ahead.

On many instances, a rank-and-file personnel can have now acquired a knowledgeable understanding of how a company is managed, and should want to go after a supervisory situation in the corporation or in another business. Regardless if you are intending to switch Occupations or aiming for progression, a graduate training can greatly present much more versatility.

Enhanced Income

Increased earnings specifically correlate with larger education and learning. Management and/or supervisory positions are often limited to All those with advanced levels, thus restricting your earning prospective If you don't have these advancements. In accordance with research, a graduate degree holder in the United States can generate a median of 33% much more than an individual using a bachelor's diploma by itself.

Individual Improvement/Mental Stimulation

Discounting future occupation and cash flow probable, other people choose to pursue graduate studies simply because they enjoy to discover and therefore are genuinely interested in acquiring a lot more information on their picked out field.

II. Analyzing if Graduate College is the Right Choice for You

Graduate school is perfect for those who appreciate research and Discovering. It is not suitable for those who basically want to consider far more courses, or for those who are within a hurry to obtain a career.

Undergraduate examine differs from graduate schooling in that it requires much more of your time and efforts, determination, and energy. Furthermore, it involves forming Expert and private relationships with professors and also other college students. Generally, it issues you in what you want to accomplish in your life.

III. The ideal Time for Graduate University

The best time and energy to go after an advanced degree is situational. You can embark on graduate faculty correct after you get your bachelor's degree, a yr immediately after graduation, as well as various years afterwards. If you are approaching graduation, and you've got decided that graduate college is the next action to suit your needs, it could be beneficial when you request oneself the subsequent inquiries:

one) Have you been ready for another a few to eight years of finding out?

2) Should you consider day off in advance of transferring on to graduate university?

three) If you need to get day without work, why?

In the event the primary reason for taking day without work is fatigue, then inquire yourself if the two or 3 months of getaway prior to graduate college will let you revitalize your self. When you are persuaded that graduate faculty is the subsequent phase for yourself, then there is absolutely no motive why you ought to delay your application.

Right right after Graduation

Should the know-how you acquired with your undergraduate education is specifically suitable for your graduate application, then this feature would be the ideal just one in your case. Other factors for heading straight to graduate faculty include your excellence for a college student; your latest position of having several (or no) obligations, each personally and monetarily; and your desire in pursuing an area of experience that needs a graduate degree.

Choose time to make sure that graduate college is right for you. Highly developed study demands a substantial degree of commitment and a chance to function independently. Often, a holiday vacation from studying could help intensify your determination and enhance your abilities. As a result, you might want to consider the next selection.

After a Ample Relaxation Interval

A lot of graduates have a calendar year off before they begin their graduate method. You need to use this time to operate, equally to assist you to fund your experiments and to realize expertise. Most likely, you merely desire to journey. For anyone who is traveling, remember to make an application for classes at the appropriate time, retaining in mind that you will be asked to attend an job interview or an admission examination. You have got to strategy properly ahead, occasionally so long as eighteen months prior to software. In the case of some abroad packages, it really is frequent for students To place together a timeline in advance of they begin specializing in their time off.

It is necessary to know that pursuing a graduate degree numerous decades just after undergraduate examine is just not uncommon. A while off could be important if it improves your qualifications and primes you for that pressures and rigors of graduate school.

Following Doing work Whole-time

The explanations for getting get the job done encounter in advance of graduate faculty consist of obtaining a better idea of your Specialist goals, obtaining applicable perform experience, and producing a more liable Perspective toward finding out. If you recognize upfront that you intend to pursue a graduate education and learning right after a number of several years of labor, hunt for an employer having a tuition reimbursement system. Usually, companies are prepared to finance component, or all, on the expenditures entailed in graduate review.

Even though Operating

The most important proportion of the graduate college student inhabitants consists of section-time learners. The concept of supplemental education is actually a growing development for the reason that swift sector changes have an affect on almost all fields of experience. Continuing to work, no matter if on a part time or possibly a full-time foundation, may also be a way of purchasing bills incurred over the system of one's graduate analyze.

IV. Grasp's vs. Doctoral Degrees

It can be a standard false impression that a prospective PhD scholar ought to possess a Master's diploma to enter a doctoral plan. While the vast majority of graduate plans do involve this, It isn't generally the case. It is healthier to carry out your individual investigate and look into the degree prerequisites for just a plan as opposed to building an assumption. On this booklet, we offer a lot of the more considerable distinctions involving getting a Masteral along with a Doctoral candidate.

The Masteral Prospect

You are going to invest, on the standard, about two several years in graduate college. The purpose of this plan is to present you with strong instruction in a specialized educational self-control

Your Very first Year The enrollment procedure is analogous to that for undergraduate study. You might be needed to satisfy the coursework necessities of your degree. On the other hand, the perform will be heavier, the program subject areas is going to be much more specialized, plus much more is going to be envisioned from you than when you were an undergraduate. With the adviser's support (chosen by you or assigned by the program), you may start to solidify your tutorial target.

Your 2nd Calendar year It's possible you'll acquire much more Superior classes to finish your study course demands. Having decided your investigate route, you might gradually devote a lot more energy towards the completion of one's thesis. According to your pace, you may have a person semester or an entire academic 12 months for you to end your masteral thesis, the objective of which can be to show your mastery close to you of study.

The Doctoral Applicant

You will commit, on the normal, five to six yrs in graduate college. The goal of This system is usually to provide you with extensive expertise in your field, get ready you to conduct primary and significant study, and cause you to All set to be a member of a educating college.

Your First 3 Several years You might enroll in classes to fulfill your degree specifications and obtain in depth expertise in your field of examine. You might gradually establish your investigation path, normally consulting by having an adviser (commonly) appointed In the beginning of the graduate analyze. By the end of one's next or 3rd 12 months, you might have concluded a thesis or taken thorough tests, or both equally. The thesis and/or examinations enables your professors To guage your capabilities to continue with doctoral studies.

Your Past 3 Decades Coursework results in being a small ingredient of the educational workload, and may even vanish when you conceptualize your dissertation, a novel and important contribution to the readily available know-how in the specialization. You can train A growing number of lessons and steadily collaborate far more with senior college customers. You'll type an in depth Qualified relationship having a school member who shares the identical investigate pursuits as you are doing, and he/she'll turn out to be your dissertation adviser. Your system will conclusion With all the completion of your respective dissertation, which may entail an oral protection of your respective investigation before a panel of college members and/or experts in the sphere that you are in.

V. Deciding upon a Graduate Software

The next are a lot of the a lot more vital elements and issues that students want to take into consideration and solution when selecting on what graduate plan to apply to.

Specialty

This criterion will in the long run rely on your pursuits, but we often propose task current market consideration. Certain fields may well undertake favourable developments after a couple of years, when those who are at the moment going through fast advancement may well grow to be stagnant.

Position

A graduate system's rating is significant for many possible graduate learners. They feel that a plan's position signifies the caliber of education they'll obtain and the level of assets which will be available to them. However, diverse sources of information - college Web pages, printed rankings, and impartial rating organizations - all have particular conditions for assessing a particular method. College students ought to for that reason be aware of the variables that happen to be considered in figuring out a plan's rating, as well as the evaluation solutions (if any) which have been applied.

Place

Location can Perform a significant Think about your graduate school experience. You can build several ties in graduate university and should as a result take into consideration if The varsity of one's option is located in a place that you should take into consideration residing in. Alternatively, in case you are searhing for non permanent residence in a place you don't have any intention of living in forever but need to reside in for just a number of years, graduate school is undoubtedly an opportune time to get that have. Anywhere you're, you need to be at ease with The placement as you will likely be (commonly) remaining in that place for the following two to 8 years of your lifetime. Some thoughts you should check with by yourself are the next: Are you currently extra a fan of a little or huge university? City or rural? Nation or town?

Expense

Take into account all immediate and oblique fees (tuition, miscellaneous expenses, guides, and particularly price of dwelling) and The provision of monetary assistance. The amount of financial guidance you receive usually is dependent upon regardless if you are pursuing a Grasp's degree or simply a PhD. It truly is not unusual for the College or faculty to waive tuition specifications When you are applying for just a doctoral software. Additionally, numerous PhD college students are supplied some kind of funding or stipend.

Admission Expectations

It is best to pick out a graduate plan with stringent admissions benchmarks. Educational facilities with decreased admission necessities may offer a decreased high quality of graduate training. Majority of schools and universities make this kind of knowledge accessible to the public. Look for The bottom prerequisites for admission; these ordinarily consist of the required undergraduate GPA and standardized examination scores.

Instructing Staff

Narrowing down your plan alternatives will verify less of a challenge When you are definite regarding your investigate interests. It is recommended that you simply implement to courses wherever the faculty customers have research pursuits that coincide with yours.

It's got typically been stated that a graduate method is only as good as its college. It's important to know from and educate underneath professors who're revered and identified within their picked specialty. The simplest way To guage the caliber of a application should be to look at the proportion of lessons taught by complete-time school. At the same time, indicators such as the amount of scholarly publications and the Expert knowledge in the training employees could also give insights into your status of the faculty.

Facilities

Examine if This system you intend to utilize to has the facilities/features that you choose to need to have. Can they supply you the instruments necessary for your investigation? It is important to investigate whether the "point out-of-the-artwork" amenities promoted by The varsity or university are truly as claimed.

Time for Completion

Ask yourself how swiftly you would like to complete This system. Do you want to finish in two many years? A few? 4? Would you have other programs following earning your graduate degree and so have to finish it inside a specific length of your time?

Occupation Preparing

In the event your cause of about to graduate college is vocation related, then Will probably be sensible to find out what kinds of Skilled growth functions are available in This system/university that you are pursuing. Are there options for networking or training with genuine practitioners in the sector of specialization you have preferred?

Quite a few learners enjoy the sphere of analyze These are in, but are bewildered with what distinct positions they can make an application for following graduation. The program or Office will likely have facts regarding the average salary attained by their graduates along with the proportion of students who land jobs immediately after graduation. You may also Examine if the department has connections with different organizations/providers to aid its learners find work after graduation.

VI. Obtaining Leading Graduate Colleges

Request Out Fellow Graduate Pupils

Looking for out and conversing with college students enrolled in the software of interest is probably the greatest approaches to conduct study on graduate educational facilities. Obtaining the "inside of scoop" on Whatever you can be expecting on admission into a system will certainly make it easier to get hold of "actual-existence information" about This system. Other than acquiring information on classes, tuition, and faculty users, You may additionally be lucky more than enough to hear individual activities with regards to the standard of instruction, the rigors of the program, as well as other components which will support you in making a decision where by to apply.

Graduate University Rankings

Graduate college rankings supply a realistic guideline for finding The varsity that is definitely ideal for you. Aside from typical rankings, information for example common grades and examination scores are A part of these records. This will help you set up if your qualifications are competitive.

In fields which include medicine, small business, and regulation, rankings can be quite useful. Rankings in these disciplines are often established based on meticulous scientific evaluations, and when utilized properly, these can immediate college students towards organizing their purposes by enabling them to highlight the aspects They are going to be aggressive in. Even so, these rankings are usually not the tip-all and become-all of choosing the right graduate college. Quite a few learners concentration far too much on Worldwide or national rankings. Combined with mindful research, having said that, graduate faculty rankings can most absolutely level you in the ideal

[zikitwopointoh]

So, my family used to give me self help books for Christmas. I was like 16/17 when this “tradition” started. Yeah- thanks Aunt Carol, I’ve always wondered what the power of Now can do for me. I just wanted money…and isn’t that the best gift? Just free money. That’s also the best kind of money- like someone just saying “hey here’s some money, no you don’t have to do anything for it.” Kind of like we all become pan handlers during the Christmas season.

I met a guy onetime whose main job was being a pan handler. No, this was not a social meeting- we sadly had not matched on Tender. He told me his tricks though as if he somehow felt I would need them in the future. This oddly, was not the first time someone singled me out to tell me loads of information about questionable life choices. Do I give off some kind of scent or just have a criminal chic look about me? Anyways; he would go to a group of stores I knew, they were decently affluent and he said it didn’t matter what you put on your card board sign. That he had tested this once by just putting a smiley face on his sign. I guess he was keeping track on Excel of his daily profits and after data analytics realized this. But in all reality he told me he made about $200 a day and people would buy him food and give bottles of water and “it was great.” Like this was his life’s ambition. I suppose we should be happy he achieved his dream?

Things couldn’t have been going that great for him though as he was a client in a detox facility.

This Christmas I”d like the pain in my lumbar spine to go away. I don’t know if Santa covers this or takes my insurance- to this day my parents have not told me Santa doesn’t exist. To be fair if my dad told me he would be confirming the existence of ghosts or zombies- which leads to a question no one will answer for me. Can a ghost and a zombie come from the same person? Personally, and I know this is just my religious belief, I think so.

So I’ve decided to leave in good standing aka drop out of Wake Forest. This may be very stupid. It was ridiculously easy to get into Wake Forest. It took so little effort and they wanted me so much they gave me free money I didn’t even ask for (partial scholarship). But just because Im good at the market and can make people money does not mean I give a damn about business analytics and a regression line. So, at least I learned I hated business. It only cost 10k, but the stress induced anorexia was the best diet so far to get rid of my COVID lbs.

But I do have a plan. It’s always the same backup plan I have had my entire life. It’s just a little sharper in focus because I’ve moved it from an abstract plan C (plan B was to ride the rails as a hobo) to a solid Plan B. I’ll be applying to Northwestern University for my MFA in Creative Writing. So I thought, well who are the most famous authors I know? For recommendation letters of course and I happen to know a former poet laureate. One who told me they’d never forget my name. One who has a poem that inspired one of my top five poems. So, I went to google her to find her contact info1 and she teaches at Northwestern..:so I don’t think Northwestern would be AS impressed if one of their employees wrote me a letter of recommendation….

I went over a collection of poetry I wrote today, the ones I used to gain entry into my first creative writing graduate program and my mother who is an artist understood exactly what I meant when I told her that the writing surprised me. I was such a young writer. My pieces were solid and I’m still proud of them, but I was just a baby when I wrote them. I’m sure I’ll say the same in 10 years about things I write today. Our artwork is a diary of our lives. I looked at those poems today with older and much less critical eyes. Kinder eyes realizing I was just starting to hone my craft and I was trying hard. So many bad things happened in my 20s that my writing became very dark, after all what is life if not the backdrop of your art? I’m happy to say I see my old voice coming through again. The voice that made people laugh and think. The sardonic, sarcastic asshole that I apparently have healed enough finally to become again. So in the diary of my life- I’m recovering from the trauma of my 20s.

I hope they would all be proud of me.

#funny #blog post #writerscommunity #poetry

[girl-innovators2022]

Post 8 

“Different things can be sad. It’s not all war.” - Lady Bird

Who is the director? (a brief bio)

Greta Celeste Gerwig is a 39 year old actor, screenwriter, and director from California. She initially intended to go down the path of becoming a playwright, but changed her sights to acting when she was unable to gain an acceptance to an MFA writing program. Her career in acting, as well as writing, began in the mumblecore film movement. In 2010 she was offered a role in Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg which pushed her into the mainstream. She continued taking on more mainstream work in film and television, before having her directorial debut with the critically acclaimed Lady Bird in 2017.

Since then, she has directed Little Women (2019) and the upcoming 2023 movie Barbie. She continues to write and act as well. 

What do you identify as unique to the female perspective and the 'female gaze' in the film?

I find the approach very interesting as we see the life of Lady Bird in a realistic way. The experiences of a young girl trying to find herself can show in many different ways. When you feel disconnected from your surroundings, you try to escape into a sort of fantasy character that you yourself create. Lady Bird names herself, as she feels embarrassed of her home life and circumstances. She tries to be more adult throughout the movie to make herself seem more interesting to her wealthier peers. Throughout the film, we see the good, the bad, and the ugly. Nothing about growing up is perfect, and Greta perfectly creates a narrative that many young girls can identify with. Understanding life, interests, dreams, and her sexuality, Lady Bird pieces together who she is as an individual. The arguments she has with her family, friends, and love interests helped to create a multi-dimensional character with feelings and emotions. She experiences danger and heartbreak, confusion and immense joy. We see the world through her eyes, the way a young, soon to be adult, girl would. 

What rite of passage in the protagonist(s) life/lives does this story explore? What fresh perspective, if any, does the director bring to this story? Are sexual or gender taboos traversed in the process?

Lady bird explores quite a few rites of passage throughout the film. First romantic interest, first sexual encounter, the final year of highschool, graduation and going to college, just to name a few. Each rite highlights a specific point within Lady Bird’s final year of high school, like chapters in a book. With her first romantic partner, she slowly learns about relationships and what love means. She has her heart broken when she learns he is gay, but comes around to being friends when she realizes that what he is going through is bigger than a high school crush gone wrong. It’s a very adult position to take for someone so young. With her first sexual encounter, she is so excited to be more ‘adult’. When the reality doesn’t match her dream, she is rightly annoyed by it. Especially since she had thought he was also a virgin based off of what he said at the party. She was hurt that it wasn’t special for him, it was only another escapade. The way Kyle was so nonchalant and confused by her anger, made her more mad that it wasn’t a special moment. Her graduation and eventual departure for college was the next step in life for her. Not all follow that path, but for those who do, it is a rite of passage. It is a step into adulthood. One could even say that Lady Bird going to the hospital for drinking too much is a rite of passage in college as well, as this is the moment where a lot of young people in this country experience alcohol for the first time.

Does this film shed new light on the mother/daughter and family relationships? How?

I personally enjoyed and also identified with the mother/daughter relationship in Lady Bird. Not everything is always roses and butterflies. When a young girl is growing up, she feels she knows everything and all her choices are the correct ones. We refuse to listen to what our parents tell us, because how would they know what is right for us? My mother and I used to fight constantly as I was growing up because I thought I knew better. It was my life and my feelings, she couldn’t possibly understand. The relationship between Lady Bird and her mother gives us a more defined understanding of who Lady Bird is as an individual. She has a loud personality and is very determined in what she wants in life. Her mother is afraid of her growing up. The arguments they have are very push and pull, one wants and the other does not. I believe her mother is fearful that Lady Bird will have the same life she does. She ultimately wants more for her daughter. 

The family dynamic is very interesting as well. Lady Bird’s brother and his girlfriend both attended Berkeley. Despite the good school, they both work at the grocery store. Ladybird’s parents are worried about her attending an expensive school since the working world isn’t exactly easy to break into at that moment. Ladybird and her brother argue quite a lot, but you can see he cares for her despite all of that. In her eyes, the only one who seems to understand is her father. She has a very good relationship with her father throughout the film, even getting help with her financial aid papers for college from him. We see much of who she is by way of how she interacts with her family. 

Describe the most startling/indelible/breakthrough scene of the film.

To me, the most startling breakthrough scene is when Lady Bird is being driven to the airport for college. She succeeded in her dream of being accepted to a school in New York City. After her mother is accidentally made aware of her waitlist status, she stops speaking to her. This causes significant tension within the family. On the drive to the airport, her mother drives silently, barely uttering any sort of emotion. At the airport, Lady Bird tries to speak to her mother about coming inside. Her mother refuses and decides to drive off leaving Lady Bird and her father behind. As she drives, she becomes more and more emotional. She realizes she has made a mistake by not saying goodbye and drives back to departures. She parks and runs inside only to find her husband alone and Lady Bird gone. At this point the tears really come on strong. She hugs her husband and realizes the daughter she was so afraid to lose is now gone. It’s heartbreaking to watch as many people, especially parents, can identify with the pain of their child leaving home. What makes it so hard is that her stubbornness wouldn’t let her put the grudge aside to properly say goodbye. She fears she has truly lost her forever. 

Has the film received the recognition it deserved? Why or why not?

In terms of critical response, Lady Bird has definitely received the recognition it deserves. During the Toronto International Film Festival it received a standing ovation, as well as praise for Greta’s work as director. Lady Bird has been given a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes which gave it a 8.8/10 rating. The film was written about with glowing reviews in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Rolling Stone, just to name a few. Lady Bird was nominated 5 times at the 90th Academy Awards, as well as 8 nominations at the 23rd Critics’ Choice Awards, 4 at the 75th Golden Globe Awards, and 3 at the 24th Screen Actors Guild. Not all nominations came back as wins, but the general consensus shows that Lady Bird was very well received in the film world. I wish the general public had been more privy to the film’s release, as many people I know hadn’t seen or even heard of it. Regardless, the film received much recognition, and allowed Greta to gain more projects as a director, like Little Women and Barbie. 

#Youtube

[cypric-rat-hyperfixation]

Here have some fresh wrat content for your troubles. some little guy

Thank y'all for your support with the fuckin alcohol company getting my art taken down over the word "champagne"

#they're from a board game called Psychopoly #it's a little ableist so it's good to identify and explain that #like instead of jail from regular monopoly. it's the asylum!!!! 🤪🤪🤪 #rats #fancy rat #ratblr #also I'm gonna make my professor my mom when I graduate #I do not take criticism and she does not have a choice when I graduate to grad status she's graduating to mom status #new mom<3

[raineydays411]

Thanks T

 Summary: A dad is supposed to be your rock. Someone you can go to when times are hard. Someone whos supposed to protect you. WHat happens when your dad doesn’t fit the bill, and Tony does?

A/n: Hello yall! So this story hit really close to home for me lmao. It was mentioned that there aren’t any good dad/step dad Tony fics so I hope you like it. Everyone thank @alphaandromedae97 and an anon for this fic. 

Hope yall enjoy!

Your life was complicated. 

How can it not be when Tony “billionaire playboy” Stark is your step dad. 

Yes you read that right, step dad. It’s funny really, turns out he has a thing for waitresses that aren’t interested in him at first. That waitress being your mom.

They met when she was working a shift at the restaurant she works at, and he came in with Avengers. He expected her to fall at their feet like everyone else did, but she just scoffed and asked for their order. Pretty epic. 

Then one long montage later, and they ended up getting married. You were happy for your mom, of course. Deep down, Tony is a good man and you knew he’d do anything for your mom. And he’s always been nice to you, making sure you were okay with him proposing and then you moving upstate with him and your mom. He always made sure you felt included, maybe a little too much. He actually took interest in your life, which you’ll always appreciate. 

But you were a total daddy's girl by heart. You always felt like you had a close relationship with your biological father. He was a good dad, he took you out to movies, went to recitals, and always made sure to take you to the father-daughter dance your school district put on every year. It was your tradition. But after your parents divorced a few years ago, it seemed like he was getting more and more distant from you. He stopped calling as much, would skip out on your days to visit him and when you did visit, he’d lock himself in his office, claiming he had to finish some paperwork. It broke your heart, knowing that a man you were so close with, seems to be detaching himself from your life. But, in his defence he always managed to take you to the father-daughter dance. He always did. No matter how long the both of you went without seeing each other, no matter how long you haven’t spoken, he always made sure to take you. 

That act alone, reassured you that he did still love you. He was just busy. In fact, you were getting ready to go to the final father-daughter dance, as you were going to graduate this year and therefore you would be too old to attend the next year. This year was especially important to you. You wanted this night to be perfect. 

And you were positive your father would pull through as he has the past years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You were filled with excitement as you tried on multiple different dresses. You always liked this part of getting ready, the dress shopping. 

The confidence you feel when you finally found the right dress. The happy feeling you and your mother had, browsing through the dress shop downtown. Tony offered to buy you a custom designer dress, but you couldn’t accept. This was the shop you’ve been going to since you were a little girl, since you went to your very first dance with your dad. Call it nostalgia or tradition, but you couldn’t shop anywhere else. 

“ Hey ma! I think I found the one.” You shout from the dressing room, finally finding your dress after hours of searching. 

“Come out here and let’s see bug” She replies from where shes seated. You take a deep breath, soothing the wrinkles on the dress and walking outside. Your mother gasps as she see the gown. It was beautiful really. It was a glittery, lilac purple floor length dress with spaghetti straps. And it even had pockets! You were absolutely obsessed. Plus, you could probably use it as a prom dress if you really wanted to.

“Oh baby...you look so beautiful...” You mom says, tearing for the millionth time. 

“Ma, are you crying again?!” You laugh, “ Come on, that's the fifth time you’ve cried since we’ve been in the store!”

She laughs with you, sniffling as she wipes her tears,” I’m sorry, but you’re getting so big, it feels like it was only yesterday we were walking in this shop to get your first dress...and now...” She starts to cry again.

You smile softly, understanding what your mom was saying. You were in kindergarten when you first started attending these meetings, now you’re a senior in highschool. 

“Alright, no more crying. It’s a happy day for you. Has your father called texted you when he was going to come pick you up?” Your mom asked wiping her tears.

You frown, “ No, I haven;’t hear from him since two weeks ago when he said he wanted to get lunch.”

You can see your mom roll her eyes in the mirror, “ Mom he’s just busy. I’m sure he’ll call when he can.”

“Oh sure, I just hate that he doesn’t answer you fast enough.”

“I know ma, but he has work” You argue, “ He calls when he can, and that's okay.”

Your mom sighs, knowing that you were stubborn when it comes to your father. 

“ Well, let’s get this wrapped, Tony wants to get lunch and we need to convince him to get something other than shawarma.” 

You roll your eyes, “ God, what’s with that man and shawarma. It’s like his life line or something”

“I know!”

After the two of you buy the dress, you pick up Tony from the HQ. You loved the drive up there,mainly because of the scenery, but also cause you can see Cap running laps outside.

“Hell my love, hey kiddo” Tony greets switching seats with your mom.

‘Hey T” You greet, smiling at the man. 

“Did you find the dress?” He asks, driving away from his place of work and to a restaurant. 

“Yeah! It’s like the one I told you I wanted. I was surprised it was there to be honest.” You reply, “ Mom practically dehydrated herself shopping though.”

“Oh? How many times did she cry this time? Cause she was crying earlier when she was getting read-- OW! Hey I’m driving” He exclaims as your mom swats his arm.

You giggle at their antics, chest warming with the sight of your mom happy again.

“She cried five times while we were shopping. Five!”

“Five? I didn’t know the human body had that much water.”

The two of you chuckled as your mom made an offended noise.

“I hate that the two of you get on so well.” She pouts, “ And excuse me if I’m a little sad my baby is growing up so fast.”

You tune out the rest of their conversation as your phone buzzes. 

Dad

Hey kid, I’m gonna have to meet you at the school tomorrow. I have a meeting that’s gonna run late.

You

Okay daddy, I’ll see you there <3

You frown, your dad always managed to pick you up from the house. He used to take you to eat before the dance. And he always used to take the day off, devoting his time to you.

“ Uh oh, someone's frowning back there.” Tony remarks, “ What’s wrong kiddo, did a character off that show you like die/”

“Uh no, ma do you think you can drop me off at the dance tomorrow? Dad said he has a late meeting and won’t be able to pick me up.”

Your mother makes eye contact with Tony. They both know how your father has been flaking on you and how it breaks your heart that he does. It makes Tony especially mad because it remind him of his childhood. How his father really didn’t pay attention to him unless he was criticizing  his life choices.

“ Hey y/n, I can drop you off if you want.” Tony offers, “ I really don’t mind.”

You smile, “Thanks T.” 

“No problem kid.”

And with that he pulls into the restaurant parking lot. 

As your family is seated, you take a quick look around the restaurant, wanting to see the reactions of the patrons when they realize Tony Stark is in the building. But as you do, you see a man who looks very familiar. But before you can take a closer look your mom interrupts you.

“Y/n, you know it's rude to stare.”

“Oh sorry mom.” 

So you take a seat and continue with your meal. You tune out your mother and Tony’s conversation as you can’t take your mind off of that man. You take a quick glance back while your parents discuss the dessert menu.

That’s when you realize that the man was your father!

You stand up from the table and make your way towards the man. Surprised to see him there because as far as you know, he’s supposed to be in a meeting right now.

“Daddy?” You ask cautiously. The man tenses up before turning to you.

“Y/n? Honey what are you doing here?” You notice he doesn’t make an attempt to get up and hug you. 

And you also notice the second plate of food across from him and a napkin stained with what looked like lipstick.

“Um, T and Ma wanted to grab dinner.. I thought you were at a meeting?”

“This is a five star restaurant, and you just stopped in?” He asks ignoring your question, “ Of course Stark did..”

You wanted to roll your eyes. Everytime your mother was even close to being happy, your dad always found something wrong with the person she was with. But he seemed to have a strong disliking towards Tony for some reason.

“Um right...So you told me you were in a meeting? That’s why I couldn’t come over after dress shopping?”

“Right! A meeting...I’m currently in right now.” He says quickly looking towards the women's bathroom, “ You should go back to your table hon, my boss is really strict”

“Oh right, sorry” You say dejected, “ I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” your dad says with a soft smile, “ I love you Bug.”

You smile at the nickname your parents gave you, “ I love you too pop.” 

And with that you walk off, back to your mother and Tony. You can see they’re trying to hide the fact that they were watching by covering their face with the dessert menus.

“Oh here you are, we got you a tiramisu” Tony says nonchalantly, pushing the dessert towards you.

“Uh huh” You hummed teasingly, “ Dad says hi by the way.” 

“ Oh does he now?” You mom said not convinced, “ That’s nice of him.”

You hummed, mouthful of cake signaling that you were done with the conversation. Your family finished up their meals and signaled for the check. As you were walking out the restaurant, you turned to say goodbye to your dad, only to see his “boss” was back from the restroom.

Only this boss was a 5′3, brunette bombshell in a tight red dress and having her neck kissed by the man you call your father. 

Your stomach felt sick.

“Oh gross, I really didn’t need to see that.” You mutter catching the attention of Tony who was behind you. 

“See what kid?” He asks following your gaze, “Oh. Yikes is that even allowed? I didn’t know your dad was a vampire.”

You snort, “ Oh god T, that's disgusting.” 

He just laughs and pats your head, “ Come on, lets go before your mom yells at us.”

You smile, but you wondered why your dad didn’t tell you that he was on a date. Or that he was even seeing someone?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thoughts of your fathers secrets where wiped from your brain as you scrambled to get ready for the dance the next day.

Tony surprised you and your mom with a mani-pedi day at 10am and a hair appointment for you at 1pm. After you had to get shoes for your dress at the mall and then be home by 5pm to get your dress and makeup on, take pictures, and then be out the door by 7pm to take pictures with your dad, then finally be at the dance by 8pm when doors open. 

The whole day you were messaging your dad about how excited you are, getting similar replays back. He pays for you shoes and complements your hair. 

Your heart swells as you think about how hard it was in the beginning of the divorce. But your father always tried his best to spend time with you and made sure you knew he loved you.  

It was hard on you at first, but you appreciate that he tried for you. The fact that he’s been taking you to this dance since you were a little girl is proof enough. You were a little sentimental, this was your last dance after all. 

You smiled looking at yourself in the mirror. You looked beautiful in your dress. Your makeup was done to perfection and you had gotten a silk press in your hair. You felt like a princess.  You heard your mom sniffle.

“Mom, again?” You laugh,turning to face her.

“I’m sorry! You just look so beautiful!” she says with a sad smile, “ God, you grew up so fast bug” 

You roll your eyes, but feel the tears spring to your eyes as well, “ Ma! Stop I can’t ruin my make up” 

You both laugh as you fan your eyes

“You ready?” She asks, “ Tony’s waiting for you in the living room.”

You nod, gathering your things and walking out the door. You let your mom walk down the stairs first. You can hear Tony and you assume Happy in the living room. You finally make it down the stairs. It turns out it was Tony, Happy, and Peter Parker. Your mom was chatting with them and they all had their back turned to you. 

“Ahem.” You clear your throat, catching their attention.

You see Peter stiffen as he gazes at you and mutters a soft “Wow”

You blush, what can you say he’s a cutie.

 Happy gives you a comforting smile.

 And Tony?

He has a soft look on his face, “ Jeez kid, you clean up well.” 

You laugh, “ Better than you old man, what's up with the pants?”

He had on Iron Man pj pants.

“Oh hush.” He laughs, “ You look beautiful kiddo.” 

You look down with a grin.

“Oh pose for some pictures!” You mom says excitedly, “ Go Y/n, by your self first and then with me. Then with Tony.”

You sigh, knowing how long it was gonna take.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally after three million pictures, your mom and Tony drove you to the school.

“Okay bug, is your dad here?” Your mom asks looking around at the group. 

“Yeah! He should be inside.” You say kissing your mom goodbye and waving to Tony. You show the ticket and waltz in the gym. 

You smile and wave at classmates and parents. These people you’ve known since you were a child and who knew you. You finally got to the table you always sat at woth your dad. 

It was empty.

You frown and look at your phone.

Me

On my way pop!

It said the message was read.

“He must be on  driving” You think to yourself as you sat at the table.

But then twenty minutes passed. Then an hour. then two

You were still there, waiting for your dad to come. You sent five messages and they all remained unopened. 

You looked around the gym, seeing a few parents looking at you with pity in their eyes. You can barely stand it.

You got up and went to the restroom, trying not to cry. and in the restroom you tried calling you father, but you were sent to voicemail. The you finally got a message. 

Dad

“I’m so sorry bug, I can’t make it to the dance. I have a meeting today. :(”

You felt dejected. Humiliated. 

Your father has rearranged visitation days, skipped out on little crimonied and rectitals you’ve had, but this by far was the most disappointing thing he has done. 

He promised multiple times that he’d be here. Never has he ever skipped out on the dance before.  ANd he knew how important this was to you. Thi was your last dance, and he ruined it. 

You let yourself cry. You sobbed as you realized that your father has been distancing himself from you. That your relationship hasn’t been okay for a while. And you just didn’t want to let go.

You sigh as you realize you’ve been in the restroom for a while. You stand up and look at your face. Despite the red eyes and slightly red nose, your make up was pretty much intact.

“Huh at least my setting spray hasn’t let me down.” You say to your self. After a few mintues of calming down, you walk out of the restroom and bump into a figure. 

“Sorry” you mutter about to pass the person. 

“Gee you took a while in there, I told you not to get that coffee kid.” 

You quickly look up and se Tony.

Dressed in a suit, flowers in hand.

“Hey kid.” He says softly

“what..what are you doing here?” You whisper, tears filling your eyes again.

“Well apparently you need an rent a dad, and I happened to be in the neighborhood.” He jokes, then says, “ I’m sorry your dad didn’t come kiddo, and I know I’m not him, and quite frankly I’m glad I’m not. But I do love you like you’re my own, and well...yeah here I am.”

You stay quiet, looking at Tony in wonder. Touched that he did this for you.

“Of course if you just want to leave then we can just get out of here” He rambles nervously, “ But you gotta tell me kid cause I’m kinda freaking out.”

“Can we get ice cream after?” You ask him

“What?”

“After the dance, we should go get ice cream.” 

“Uh sure?” Tony says, “So what do you usually do at these things?” 

You laugh and steer him to the tables where they have all the activities at. You actually have more fun with him than you had recently wit your dad. Tony is definitely more competitive than your father and treats every game as a challenge. Not like something he’s humoring just for his kid. He celebrates with you instead of telling you to calm down. He chats with the adults, is nice to the kids, and does the goofy dances with you. Seeing Iron Man do the chicken dance is something you didn’t know you needed till now. He managed to turn this horrible night to one of the best ones you’ve had in quite a while. 

Finally the father daughter dance started to signal the end of the dance. Tony bowed dramatically and said in a horrible british accent, “ Lady Y/n?”

You laugh and make your way to the dance floor. You’re both quiet for a bit, snorting at how serious the other dads and their daughters look.

“Hey T?” You say softly, looking at the ground.

“Yeah kid?” 

“Thank you. It’s nice to know that one of my dad's isn’t a total asshole.” You say. knowing that this is the first time you referred to Tony as your dad.

His eyes get misty as he clears his throat,

“Anytime, bug”

#tony stark x teen!reader #tony stark x daughter!reader #tony stark x reader #tony stark imagine #tony stark #tony is a step dad #step parents #fluff #tony is a good dad #reader insert #x reader #marvel x reader

[matthewbeilschmidts]

It’s been a long while since I’ve posted but I’m so glad that I am :’)

This is for Day 1: of @prucanweek - Ordinary

Apologies for spelling errors, it’s a little short but I hope you enjoy 😭💞

-

Matthew doesn’t mind that he’s living an ordinary life. Really.

He grows up near the coast, two parents, a fraternal twin brother, and their gangly hairless cat, Tony (picked curtesy of Alfred). Their parents take them everywhere they can during their childhood, the beach, museums, sports game. They focus on their interests, figuring out what the two like and dislike, as they encourage them both to be themselves and do what they love no matter what. Alfred debates between whether he likes wrestling or football more, while Matthew settles into hockey. In between family get togethers, community festivals, and endless sports training, they somehow have time for homework. (The two share answers a lot.)

He and Alfred each have their own rooms when they enter their teen years, a space to decorate and fill with their own mementos and awards. The sports continue, but later their parents find themselves a little bit busier than before. They do though, give them as much time as they can during the school year, never wanting them to go without someone by their side.

Matthew fades into the background a little bit as they get older, while Alfred puts himself front and center. Matthew watches once with a hand over his eyes as Alfred auditions for the school musical, and surprisingly he read and sings the lines well. “It’s always the rowdy ones!” their theater teachers says after he’s finished performing, a mix of anticipation from planning on putting Alfred on stage and dread at the thought of having to manage him.

Matthew silently supports him, after all he has his own things to do.

He’s the co-caption of the hockey team, the coach giving him the position to give him a little more of a voice, and his teammates verbally agree, considering on the ice Matthew has a lot more to show than he does in person. He accepts, albeit hesitantly.

By the time graduation comes by, Matthew can barely believe how the time has passed. His team even wins a championship under his watch. Some of his fellow classmates look so ready to go out and experience the world, and it’s scary to him because weren’t they all going at the same pace?

His parents talk him through picking his college of choice, and he decides to go. He needs to do what everyone does and experience the world.

And if he decides he wants to come home, that’s okay because at least he tries.

-

He’s in his first art class during his third year at university. The time has been going well, he’s got pretty decent grades and has managed to join a few clubs. But he’s not done yet. Extra curriculars, can’t finish without them. He prioritizes his general education first, and even slips himself into a few major classes early on, but humanities is on record now and has to be completed no matter what one’s studying.

He can get through one semester, he hopes.

Next to him, a student is snickering and the professor doesn’t look amused.

“Gilbert.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“If you’re done, I can introduce myself now.”

The professor goes in with complete, in-depth introductory slides with her name and credentials, and a briefing of all they will overcome this semester.

He’s never been an artist, at least not one that picks up a pencil and creates a realistic masterpiece with nothing but that and a pad of paper. Maybe some poetry contests in high school, if that counts. The written word has its own impact, its own set of colors to breathe out for the world to see.

There’s another snicker, interrupting his internal monologue.

He doesn’t say anything, because he doesn’t know the student, and it’s not his place to control others. But, if it starts to hinder the class, maybe he’ll tell him something. He’s paying to be there, too.

The man catches him staring.

“Yes?” he asks Matthew without being spoken to in the first place.

“Oh,” Matthew flushes at being caught, not that he was trying to hide it anyway. “Well, she didn’t say anything funny?”

The guys waves a hand, making a “psssh” noise as he does.

“I’m just laughing because of how formal this all is. She won’t be this dignified later in the semester that’s for sure. She’ll be ripping her hair out.”

Matthew glances back, he doesn’t want to say anyone looks mean but, he would believe it if she was.

“You look scared,” the guy laughs, which is rude because isn’t he the one that just put the thought in Matthew’s mind? “She’s not too mean just a sticker to the rules. Will get real pissy if something doesn’t go right.”

“And you still set her off knowing that?”

The man laughs again, but this time around he’s actually trying to contain it behind the thin art easel. He’s not very hidden.

“She’s my cousin’s wife.”

Ah, that makes sense then? Messing with family is normal, but also he shouldn’t be bothering her at work.

“It’s no wonder you seemed casual.”

“She taught both of the lower division figure drawing classes, too. This is my third semester in her class. She’s the only one teaching this specific class I didn’t have too much of a choice.”

“Art major?”

“Yep! And you?”

“Psychology major. I have to get in some cultural classes.”

“Ever taken art?”

“Actually no, not even in high school. I got through that stuff by working backstage in the theater department.”

“Well not to worry my friend, because you picked the best one.”

“Is it easy to pass?”

“Nope. Well, maybe if she likes your work,” Matthew deflates at the blunt response, “but don’t worry because I’m here to be your guide.”

Matthew perks up, but it takes him a moment. This guy’s gonna help him?

“Are you any good?”

“Am I good?” He looks perplexed Matthew would even ask. Matthew has to cover his own amusement. “I may not look it but charcoal and I go way back. I’ll show you my work later as proof.”

“Deal.”

“Gilbert, since you’re adamant on talking, you can be the first to introduce yourself.”

Even if his name wasn’t said, Matthew feels just as guilty. Caught, for talking on the first day of all things.

“Gilbert Beilshcmidt. Fourth year. I’m an art major and my favorite breakfast food is pancakes.”

Matthew looks surprised that he was paying attention, even to the last addition of their introduction. Matthew’s not sure he would have known considering he was distracted.

-

And so their friendship starts.

-

Gilbert sits next to him again. And again.

Where ever Matthew sits in the art room, Gilbert follows not too long after.

Some days they take the sitting desks, some they stand and lean against the stools.

And despite not even talking much, Gilbert treats him like a friend.

-

“Do you have any plans this afternoon?”

“Nope, this was my last class.”

“Do you want to get some coffee and work on our sketch books.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

-

Matthew finds himself meeting Gilbert in his downtime. Every Thursday after drawing for three hours becomes the day they meet. At first, all they do is draw, little more.

Gilbert is animated in all moments, but he has short spurts where he focuses exceptionally on his work. Matthew is no art critic, but he thinks Gilbert expresses himself quite well on paper. Graphite, charcoal, and pastels, all the utensils glide easily without a single stroke missing its mark.

Watercolor though, could use some work, which actually happens to be Matthew’s favorite. Even if the intention is to guide the colors with a brush, it’s okay for them to take a life of their own spreading across the thick paper.

They share snacks, art supplies, and their time.

Gilbert proves himself very useful as he promised. Matthew though never planning to be the next Van Gogh, has to pass this class. And it would be nice to pass it with flying colors, but some concepts are harder to grasp than others.

It’s obvious to tell he’s a beginner, while Gilbert excels. Matthew finds out he only now needs the intro class since it’s the first semester it became a requirement.

Gilbert helps him find the shapes he’s comfortable with, explains the processing for hatching and how it relates to shading. And while he’s no expert, he sees a subtle improvement over the next few weeks that makes some pride swell within himself.

-

“Do you want to come with me and my friends to this cool bar for dinner on Friday?” Gilbert asks about a month into the semester.

It’s the first time Gilbert and him will have spent time off campus.

“Yeah, I’d love to.”

-

Gilbert’s friends are just as animated as he, it’s almost hard to keep up. Overwhelming as they are, they’re extremely welcoming. Matthew eases into the atmosphere, joining in when he can but mostly pleased to be out and doing something different.

He’s made friends during his time, but like him they’re a little more reserved and pick quieter places on the town.

It’s fun. And he wants to go out again.

Matthew invites Gilbert and his friends to watch his next hockey game.

After their shock in finding out he plays such a violent sport, they’re all agreeing and planning to find the best seats in the arena.

-

“Are you serious. Are you hiding muscles under that red sweater?”

Gilbert pokes at him, it tickles when he gets closer to his biceps, but he knows he’s only teasing.

“You think I’m playing but I’m serious! You should have been there, well you were there. On the stands, I mean. We all screamed after you sent that player flying against the wall.”

Gilbert recreates the motions, but only slams himself into the wall and whines after he bounces back. He then plays it off like it doesn’t hurt. Gilbert’s not a very good actor.

People tell him it’s so much different watching him on the ice, but it’s still him. He’s always wondered how much different, he feels like himself. He just knows he goes into the zone when he’s in his gear. He just wants to win. And he will.

“It’s like night day,” Gilbert continues. “You were ready to kill a man down there.”

“You’re not the first to say that. I guess maybe, I could be a little more out there in real life, huh?”

Gilbert stops walking.

“Nope.”

“Nope?”

“You’re perfectly fine the way you are. I like the way you are, so don’t go change. I don’t want to be at risk of dying during art class.”

And as silly as it sounds, he’s pleased. He likes Gilbert a whole lot, too. Just the way he is.

-

“Do you want to have dinner with me?” Matthew takes the initiative.

“Dinner?”

“Yeah, just you and me. I want to take you out.”

“Like you did to that guy on the court,” Gilbert laughs nervously.

“On a date. Gilbert, would you like go out with me?”

He says yes.

Later that evening when he’s heading home, Gilbert starts running through the courtyard cheering that “I have a date with the cutest guy I’ve ever met!”

Matthew’s window is open, he’s face is bright red and he slams head first into his pillow. He needs to plan the best first date ever.

-

Three months into dating, he’s finally heading home again for a school break. He wants to take Gilbert with him, who is waiting for the next major holiday to go back home. But isn’t it too soon? They haven’t been dating that long, after all.

But Gilbert surprises him, and jokingly says he wants to go with him because he’ll miss him too much while he’s gone. And then, Matthew asks if he seriously wants to go.

“I do.”

So they ride the 3 hours train down to Matthew’s childhood home. He’s a little bit nervous, because he’s had dates to school dances, and brought friends over, but this is entirely different. This is someone he wants to take a serious step with, even if the time hasn’t been that long. They’ll never get anywhere if they don’t, so they’ll both take the leap and pray it works out.

“Mom, dad, Alfred, this is Gilbert.”

It’s the most timid Matthew’s ever seen him.

“Nice to meet ya, I’m Matthew’s boyfriend.”

After he shakes all their hands, he takes his hand back to link pinkies with Matthew.

There’s not an once of regret in his mind as the long weekend passes.

-

Gilbert graduates the next year, and the year after it’s his turn. They’re going to move in with each other. Gilbert really has no irresistible urge to go back to his home town, satisfied with just visiting a few times a year. And Matthew thinks he would like to go back closer, just to figure out his next move. So, they go together.

It’s only a one bedroom, but is more than enough space for them both. Gilbert finds work as a docent while Matthew works for a second degree in education.

He still plays hockey for a local league, Gilbert becoming their number one fan. They find their own rhythm, a pace that works for them both, where they can settle down or speed up when they agree with each other. Dewey mornings, warm summers, chilly evenings they spend them altogether.

They decide move up North closer to Gilbert’s hometown. Matthew’s more nervous meeting his grandparents than he was introducing Gilbert to his own family, but Gilbert assures him again and again they’re just a stuffy old family who actually really care about each other a lot more than they let off.

Gilbert’s grandfather towers over him, despite being a hair above 6 feet. He’s silent, eyes boring into Matthew as he introduces himself. And to end all of Matthew’s worries, the elder man pulls Matthew into a hug and tells him he’s glad him and Gilbert are home. Gilbert, just as perplexed as he, stares, but he melts into a pleased laugh.

Yeah, this is his and Gilbert’s home now.

-

They stay, for a long while, contemplate moving a few times, but they’re satisfied for now.

Gilbert and him always make time for each other, continue their own respective interests with complete support of the other. They’re never afraid to complain, because they always work through it rather then let it simmer.

Gilbert’s vivacious spirit keep them going, and Matthew’s heart keeps them grounded.

His life at first seem a little bit ordinary, but how can he complain when the pieces of the puzzle fit themselves in and stayed locked in tight.

#hetalia #prucan #prucanweek #APH Prussia #APH Canada #.txt post #I forgot all my writing tags #will fix later HAHA

[tl-notes]

Kobayashi’s Maid Dragon S2 Episode 9 Notes

...設立から大分地盤が固まってきており、少しずつだが、業態は改善されている。

One thing to note here is that Kobayashi(‘s narration) isn’t saying the company has already made solid improvements, it’s that the company has finally established itself somewhat (as it was only founded relatively recently, and typically new companies are especially busy while trying to get off the ground) and now is starting to make improvements.

Similarly in the second sentence, it’s not “was” slow going, it’s “is still” slow going, and the working conditions “are” improving, not “have improved.”

This is がんば ganba, short of course for がんばって ganbatte, which I’m sure most of you are familiar with: the (in)famous “do your best.”

I only mention it because I like this shortened version of it. Ganba!

This is a fun little idiom(?)/saying: 鼻で笑う hana de warau (conjugated as hana de warawareta), lit. to laugh using the nose. It’s used to describe laughing at someone you’re looking down on for whatever reason (not necessarily in a super serious way, could just be a friend being dumb etc.; in this case it’s Elma’s being naive).

Typically it refers to like a “heh-but-through-the-nose” kind of “laugh,” but as you can see in this scene (where clearly Kobayashi is laughing with the mouth, even starting with “pff” lips) it works idiomatically even if the laughing isn’t only through the nose.

You may have heard that Japan is/was a “lifetime employment” country, where typically people would get hired right out of school and stay at that company until retirement. While that’s much less true today than it was even a couple of decades ago (and has become kind of controversial in ways), it’s still much more common of a practice than in say the US.

One result of this is that there’s a much bigger distinction placed between hiring people in spring as part of the annual graduation rush (the Japanese school year ends in March), and mid-career hiring. Typically you can’t participate in the fresh grad hiring if you aren’t one, even if you’re new to the field in question. 

For larger employers (i.e. 5k+ employees), roughly two-thirds of all hirings come from fresh grads, and only small employers (<300 employees) hire more mid-careerists than people directly out of school.

Of course, this split tends to apply mostly to “standard” full time jobs, not so much part time, and is not necessarily a thing in every industry/at every company.

Just as a minor point of clarity, this “organized text” in Elma’s document refers to the phrase まとめられた文章 matomerareta bunshou. In a literal sense, matomerareta can mean organized/consolidated etc., and bunshou text/passages, but meaning-wise it’s more like “writing that gets its point across clearly/cleanly.” 

This is a pretty big compliment and a very useful skill to have in organizations like this, as writing such that people can quickly and easily understand exactly what you’re trying to say often saves a ton of time and frustration.

我々はエルマの気迫に押されるがままにその書類を読み始めた。

Another minor point, but where the English could imply that they were overwhelmed by Elma’s intensity through the act of reading her report, the Japanese implies more that they started reading it because of how intense Elma was being. 

It doesn’t really make much of a difference either way, but it stuck out a little for me. 

To justify mentioning it, I guess I’ll explain the grammar point Kobayashi uses: されるがままに sareru ga mama ni. Sareru is a generic verb/verb conjugation for having something done to you (technically here it’s 押される, to be “pushed/pressed/pressured”), and mama refers to a state, condition, or “way” (like “do it this way”).

Put together, the whole phrase is used to indicate “you” do/did something that someone else wants you to, without (meaningful) opposition. (Something similar in raw meaning but with a very different connotation would be “going with the flow.”)

If a friend says “hey let’s go do something,” and next thing you know you’re out bowling despite preferring to stay at home, this is you.

You can stick the mama ni to various other things as well to come up with a similar idea, but without the sareru the nuance may end up different. 

The word for clairvoyance here is 千里眼 senrigan, lit. “eye(s) [that can see] a thousand li”, li being a Chinese unit of measurement for length (shorter than a mile, but for general purposes “eyes that see a thousand miles” is basically the gist).

Despite the perhaps physical-sounding nature of the term, it does actually describe the same power as “clairvoyance” in English: being able to perceive things outside your actual range of vision, including potentially into people’s hearts and minds etc.

Hence why it’s a thousand screen display, when she updates it with tech knowledge:

“Tainted by work” here is 職業病 shokugyou-byou, lit. an occupational disease. The “proper” definition is a disease one gets from working in a particular job, such as black lung for coal miners or even posture-related health issues for desk workers. 

Additionally, it’s used colloquially to refer to noticeable habits or quirks that people in a certain profession pick up, like a baker always waking up super early or a programmer using programming lingo out of context in normal conversation. The latter being especially noticeable in Japanese, as a lot of such terms are English in origin.

“Shocking” here is a fun word: ドン引き don-biki. “Don” here is added just for emphasis; the main meaning revolves around 引き hiki/biki, from the verb 引く hiku, meaning to pull. 

The idea is that someone does/says something that you recoil from. Maybe it’s gross (“I only shower once a week”), maybe it’s mean (“They didn’t smile enough so I didn’t leave a tip.”), maybe it’s creepy (“I sent like 30 texts yesterday but still no reply.”), just anything that has you feeling like you might want to create some distance because... phew. 

It’s kind of similar to the current use of “cringe” as an adjective/noun, though with less of an internet-slang feel* to it, and generally used more as something the speaker is doing rather than describing whatever/whoever is being cringe. 

(*I think it started being used popularly in this way in the early-to-mid 90s, with the “don”biki variant specifically popping up around 2005.)

A “Premium Friday” is the last Friday of the month, where you get to leave work at 3 pm. It is largely theoretical. 

The idea was created by the Japanese government as a way to reduce working hours and encourage domestic spending (boost demand), but it has not been implemented by all that many employers, and especially not many smaller employers. There isn’t, after all, any mandate or government-provided incentive for doing so.

Evidence from the places that did implement it suggests it is actually good for the economy, but good luck convincing bosses to give extra paid time off.

“Last Friday of the month” was chosen because most people get paid on the 25th each month (Japan tends to pay monthly instead of every two weeks), so it would usually be right after payday, when people are more willing to get spendy.

Kobayashi saying eight hours here reminded me of a “fun” fact: the typical Japanese work day is eight hours plus a one hour break. Plus a one hour break, not with. So a typical work day is actually nine hours. Most commonly 8 to 5 or 9 to 6. Not many “nine-to-fives” here.

The characters for Joui are 上井, which usually read as Kamii or Uwai. It’s “Joui” because that means, when written as 上位, “superior.” As in “a superior life-form.” Like a dragon, say.

でも、ゆっくりやる事業改善案を見せてもらえたじゃない？

This one is actually kind of a critical mistake. In the English it sounds like she’s talking about the improvement proposal that Elma made and that the boss looked at. In the Japanese though, she’s talking about a different plan, one the boss showed them*, that is similar in idea but is going to take longer to be fully implemented**. So we’re being told that while Elma didn’t get what she wanted as fast as she wanted it, it is still basically going through at a slower pace.

*In ”見せてもらえた misete moraeta,” the misete vs mite means they were the ones who got shown something, rather than the ones who got someone to look at their stuff. 

**Which you can tell from the ゆっくりやる yukkuri yaru, where yaru is basically “do” and yukkuri means (in this case) at an unhurried pace.

(Re previous note: Hence why she says “immediately” here.)

“Black (ブラック)” and “white (ホワイト)” in the context of Japanese employers refers to how well employees are treated: a company with good benefits/pay, reasonable levels of overtime, and feels safe to work at is “white,” while a company that has excessive overtime, often pays poorly, breaks labor laws, and allows harassment to fester is “black.” 

While “white company” was created simply in contrast to the term “black company,” the latter finds its origins in front businesses for organized crime, which were called “black” in the sense of “illegal” (similar to “black market” or something being in a “grey area”). Given the international reputation of Japanese work life, you can imagine that “black company” as a term sees much more use.

There’s been some discussion about maybe replacing it due to the racial implications (especially since it uses the English word “black”), but while typically English translations drop the color for that reason (e.g. ブラック企業大賞, an “award” given to Japan’s worst employer each year, is officially “Most Evil Corporation of the Year Award” in English), it hasn’t really penetrated to the mainstream at this point.

The rice there is in a 飯盒 hangou, a metal container that looks… like that, and is the stereotypical item of choice for cooking rice while camping. It has its origins in the mess kits used by the military, but these days they’re primarily marketed as portable rice cookers for camping use. 

You can get round ones too, but the bean shape is very popular.

“Settings” here is 設定 settei, lit. exactly that, “setting(s).” E.g. if you open a computer program and look at the settings menu, it’ll be settei in the Japanese language settings (settei). 

I bring it up here because there’s a bit of a difference in how it gets used colloquially like this. In English, the “setting” for a story typically refers to where and when it’s set. In Japanese, “setting” in that sense is usually 舞台 butai. But settei is still used when talking about fiction, just in a different, more expansive way.

Often in these cases settei is used to refer to the various conceits that provide the context in which the story takes place. In this show, for example, one such “setting” is that dragons are real: another is that magic exists. It comes up especially often in fantasy/sci-fi type stuff where there are major distinctions between that universe and the real world—not that stories in a real-world setting don’t have settei of their own, but they often are lumped into descriptions of the plot in that case (”a dragon comes to live with an office worker in her apartment”).

It also refers to the “settings” of characters, like name or age, and things like “they run a bakery that’s going out of business and are trying to save it.” Basically all the details you’d have in a character profile.

It also gets used in conversation to refer to pretend things or (basically) lies: like here, where Saikawa thinks Shouta is playing pretend with his ley-lines talk, or e.g. if someone is trying to tell you some outlandish story (“my uncle works at Nintendo…” or someone asking for love life advice for “their friend”) and you’re just like “Okay so that’s the settei here, I see.”

Not really a big deal, but Elma’s line here in Japanese implies she won’t let Tohru call her that anymore (see her もう mou). Tohru’s response is also more of a “I haven’t been?”, since of course she wasn’t aware of Elma’s-mental-image-Tohru tormenting Elma in the previous scene:

The word for “full of” in the title here is ざんまい zanmai (a suffix form of 三昧 sanmai), usually meaning that there’s a whole lot of [whatever] to immerse oneself in. I mostly bring it up because there’s a famous restaurant chain called Sushi Zanmai that specializes in, obviously, sushi.

And you know, Elma is a water dragon that looks kinda like an eel… I’m just sayin’…

Not really a translation note, but wild that Elma didn’t even touch her parfait. (Not so wild that Fafnir finished his so quickly.) Serious business ahead...

“Genuinely” here is 素直に sunao ni, where the “ni” is used like “-ly” to make sunao work as an adverb. Sunao itself is an interesting word that falls into that category of “simple concept that is often hellish to translate.”

For some context, the first character, 素, is also used in the word 素顔 sugao, which is a face without makeup and 素材 sozai, basically raw ingredients/materials. The second, 直, is used in words like 直線 chokusen, a straight line, or 正直 shoujiki, honest.

Put them together, and you’ve got a word with connotations of directness and being unadorned. The original definition of the word tends toward “simple, natural” in the sense of e.g. life growing up on a rural farm. 

The more common use for it these days is to describe people and their actions. Positively, it can mean something similar to a person being happy to help, or kind of like the opposite of conniving; open, frank, genuine. Less positively, it can mean someone is too trusting and easy to trick into doing things OR someone who is “too honest” and says hurtful things. 

(If it helps: tsundere characters are often described as explicitly not sunao.)

In this case, the idea is that Tohru accepted the invitation easily as-is, without putting any conditions on it, or doing any “ugh, what a pain, do I have to, jeez” rigamarole—she just accepted. Another way you could put it in this case might be “It’s even more unusual for Tohru to accept an invitation like this without a fuss.”

Just to point out the hand on head thing again.

Also just to point out that this is another example of otsukare, as a reminder of how ubiquitous that word is.

And it makes a good place to end on: thanks for reading!

#maidragon #Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid #kobayashi-san chi no maid dragon #translation notes #anime

[himboarcher]

reasons i've seen folks say that grad critics hate grad:

they hate travis (in fairness, i’ve def seen some comments of people shitting on trav for the sake of shitting on trav, but it’s not super common and typically gets downvoted into oblivion on reddit.)

it's not balance / travis isn't griffin (???????)

they hate neurodivergent people (again, in fairness, i have seen a handful of comments that could come across this way! but most of the time when travis being ADHD or his NPD is brought up, it's by defenders saying that criticizing travis is ableist because he's neurodivergent or, in one particular comment, infantilizing him bc of it and literally comparing grad to putting a kid's artwork on the fridge. there were some comments early on that pointed to him being a narcissist as the reason for things people disliked about grad, but everyone seems to have realized that that's a shitty train of thought and left it behind.)

they're just toxic haters (again, there are a small handful of people like this because this is the internet, but the genuine criticism greatly outweighs their bullshit. i 100% think that the people, which is mostly just one dude who is also insufferable on reddit, who have been responding rudely to positive tweets under the episode announcements lately are out of line and need to stop. there's been an influx of that lately, presumably because people are frustrated that after over a year of grad going on, there's been no improvement to most of the major issues. that's still no excuse to be a dick to folks, though.)

vs some of the actual reasons i don't like grad:

the racism / racist tropes, and the way that they’ve straight up ignored this criticism and will likely never acknowledge it. pretty wild considering a core tenet of their brand is their willingness to acknowledge when they’ve messed up and do their best to course correct.

clumsy attempts at inclusion that are shallow and often end up being fairly offensive ("...ask me about my wheelchair," anyone?)

on a related note: i don't think that travis had bad intentions, but as an nonbinary person, it feels othering to me that travis only has enby characters give others their pronouns unprompted. i'm thinking specifically of kai here. having listened to their introduction, i don't think it's as bad or awkward as some people have said, but i can't remember travis ever having another NPC tell the PCs their pronouns, especially not a cis character. it's not a huge deal, but it's something that rubbed me the wrong way. admittedly, i don't think it would bother me so much if travis hadn't dropped the ball so much with performative inclusion in the past.

okay i'm putting the rest under a read more because even without getting into all of the problems i have with it, this got Long.

little to no player agency. player choices are ultimately meaningless and have little to no effect on the world. even when he seems to go along with a plan they come up with, it always ends with them having to go back to travis' pre-written script (see: subpoenaing the xorn, but not really because they had to go with travis' original plan of "send the xorn home through the rift".) the players repeatedly get told things about what they think or feel or what they've been doing to an unnecessary degree. fitzroy is the only one who really gets space to play and decide things for himself, and that's only because travis has decided he's the main character.

the NPCs are all too nice and willing to give the PCs anything they ask for and more, unless the PCs are trying to follow their own plan and then the NPCs are completely useless. but honestly, aside from gray, all of the NPCs are just.... nice. travis refuses to even let his antagonists be mean or cruel or even more than just slightly rude, because that'd be a bummer and we don't want that! the "twist" of gordy the lich king actually being polite and chill is not a twist at all because everyone is like that in this world. the NPCs are also wildly overpowered, but then suddenly absolutely useless when the PCs actually want their help.

too many cliffhangers that are dropped immediately at the beginning of the next episode. i feel bad for travis because so many of these cliffhangers actually set up good momentum and seemed like things were gonna get interesting, but almost every single time he just dropped them at the beginning of the next episode. like when althea showed up to interview the boys and the next episode started with travis being like "actually you went to sleep, she said she'll be back tomorrow!"

that time travis specifically said in his exposition dump that the thundermen left their horses behind because they thought the centaurs might be offended by them riding horses, only to later on rag on them for being surprised that the centaurs had horses they could ride.....

also the centaur arc in general, but i already listed racism above, so.

the way that the toxic positivity and parasocial tendencies in the mcelroy fandoms have made a large portion of the fandom take ANY criticism as a personal attack on travis and/or on themselves for enjoying something others consider bad, either morally or just quality-wise. it’s okay to admit that something you like has problematic elements or just isn’t as good as it once was. you can and should engage critically with the media you consume.

related to above: the way travis has handled genuine criticism, which is to throw public tantrums on his twitter or make weird passive aggressive tweets & ultimately ignore all the genuine criticism and advice he's been offered by claiming it's all subjective, even after he specifically asked for it and set up an email for folks to send in genuine, objective advice for him (after he threw a tantrum on twitter and replied to someone's criticism publicly, which resulted in his followers dogpiling on that person bc how dare they insult their internet best friend). while i was writing this last night, he actually announced that he’s taking a break from Twitter and acknowledged that he’s been using it as an echo chamber where he can easily get validation from folks, and honestly i’m happy for him that he’s recognized this problem and is stepping away for a while! i hope he’ll genuinely use this time to reflect on how he’s been behaving and find a more healthy way to use social media. i’m leaving this point in because i think his Twitter being such a positive echo chamber was encouraging him to do stuff like this, and him somewhat acknowledging his behavior doesn’t mean it can no longer be discussed.

rainer. extremely cool concept in theory and i was very into it until that awkward "does anyone want to ask about my wheelchair?" moment. also when travis had her use her mobility aid to RAM INTO A DOOR instead of just fucking knocking???? also all the times travis has tried to force a romantic relationship between her and fitzroy, despite fitzroy displaying no interest in her in that way. also, just to clarify: as an ace person, i don’t think this is aphobic! (and it’s kind of a stretch to call it that imo, especially since griffin never explicitly said that fitzroy's aromantic!) i just think it’s weird and awkward and a little uncomfortable for me personally, mostly because it reminds me of the times i’ve been in similar situations.

less of a problem than a lot of the other stuff and more just bad writing, but the forced emotional moments. in general, nothing in grad feels earned (why are the boys heading a war? when they have multiple actual heroes with combat experience on their side and a supposedly powerful secret organization? and the thundermen are like 21 years old max and have only had like ~10 fights in the entire campaign?) but there've been a couple times where travis has tried to force unearned emotional moments, presumably because he knows people enjoyed those with the last campaigns. but the difference is that in balance, the big emotional moments happened because they were earned. in grad, it's just travis throwing a baby pegasus at us for a few minutes and then the next time she shows up, it's supposed to be a tearful goodbye.

there are absolutely no stakes. remember when the thundermen got told that if they left, gray would kill 10 students? and then they left and came back and it turns out that what gray actually meant was, "i'll tie ten students who are mostly nameless NPCs to a tree and throw some dogs at them that you can easily stop in time, then throw a tantrum because how dare you but i'll leave before you can really do anything to hurt me lol" travis did have fitzroy's magic get taken away, but like. it didn't really do anything? also all he had to get it back was be coerced into using drugs by an authority figure and trip in the woods?

we're told that the school is weird and the hero system is corrupt, but the world of nua is still presented as more of a liberal utopia than anything? althea getting fired because of a corrupt villain is the only time we've somewhat seen corruption, but even then, she was still allowed to get (what seems to me, anyway, but admittedly i don't know for sure bc nothing about the HOG makes much sense) a fairly important job from the very people who stripped her of her hero license or whatever the fuck heroes need?

travis doesn't actually seem to understand how capitalism or bureaucracy works and just chalks up everything to "red tape." also more on the rest of the boys than him specifically, but the "let's destroy capitalism!" thing turning into just pushing some filing cabinets over................... okay.

and one last piece of extremely subjective criticism: it's just kind of.... boring. i think a lot of people, myself included, would be willing to overlook 90% of the problems with graduation if it didn't feel like such a slog to get through.

also people saying that we can't or shouldn't criticize graduation because it's "free" is absolutely absurd for several reasons. first, something being free does not make it above criticism. second, there ARE people who directly financially support the show with monthly donations. three, there's a difference between something being free and something being not for profit. podcasting is their full time job. they make their living off of money made from TAZ and MBMBAM (and probably their other shows to a lesser extent). this not a fun home game that they are graciously recording and sharing with us. it is a product they are producing that they make money off of, both from ads in the episodes and merch & books based off of these podcasts. they have marketed themselves as professionals, and both griffin and travis have been on panels where they are marketed as professional DMs and appear alongside other professional DMs (which makes it incredibly frustrating when people say that travis is just a newbie DM and we can't criticize him because of that. if he's a newbie, then he should not be taking part of panels as a professional DM where he speaks as an expert). TAZ is free in the same way that an episode of NCIS is free. i may not pay for it directly, but the creators are paid to create it and profit off of me consuming this product. so saying we should be grateful for any mcelnoise that the benevolent good boys share with us and that we're not allowed to criticize it "because it's free" is absolutely wild.

#negativity cw #i guess #anyway this is not meant to say that you cannot enjoy grad. #but i'm tired of folks on this website acting like there aren't genuine problems with it #and saying that people just dislike it bc they hate travis etc etc #taz graduation #i genuinely don't expect anyone to read this bc it's so long #but here ya go. #long post

[jiejie-eonni-onee-sama]

Mystery Girl

For the cute @multifandomfix 💝🌹​

Hope you will like this gift!

"No, Gil! Don't tell me you agreed to this!"

"Sorry, Malcolm, but those are the orders of the hierarchy. Besides, having backup can't hurt you!"

The profiler shook his head, annoyed: he didn't need this!

Bright repeated to anyone who would listen that he preferred to profile criminals alone. Why pair him up with a stranger?

Grumbling, the young man nervously ran a hand through his hair. The police didn't want to let him work properly.

JT, one of his friends, patted him on the shoulder and said jokingly:

"Congratulations, Malcolm. You're about to discover an unknown concept: teamwork!

"Very funny, JT."

Dani, his colleague and best friend, tried to make him smile.

"Don't worry: I'm sure you'll be fine. You might even get along with your new partner!"

Malcolm rolled his eyes.

"I think you're very optimistic, Dani. They're going to send me some pimply, snooty kid from the best police academy who's more likely to get in my way than help me!  So, sorry, but I'm not enthusiastic!"

"What do you know? You've never met them!"

At the same time, Gil joined them.

"Bright, your new partner is waiting for you in the office! Try to hide your bad mood!"

Letting out a long sigh of annoyance, Malcolm headed for the room, ranting in anticipation of this unwelcome partner.

"I hope Malcolm doesn't get upset!" muttered JT.

"The way he's in a bad mood, it's not looking good!" whispered Dani.

"Don't worry, both of you. When Malcolm meets our new profiler, I bet he will be different!"

Meanwhile, Bright walked into the room, expecting to run into an arrogant young graduate who would have already criticized his work to no avail without knowing a single detail about the case. Instead, he came across a lovely young woman who was reading the report of the initial investigations.

Forgetting his sour mood, Bright tried to make a good impression on the newcomer. 

Quickly combing his hair and checking his breath, he cleared his throat, attracting the attention of the lady who looked up from her reading.

"Hello," she replied.

Malcolm noticed that she had a lovely voice. Charming must have been her middle name.

Smiling kindly, he introduced himself:

"Hello, you must be the new profiler. I'm..."

The young woman interrupted him with an amused smile.

"I know who you are, Malcolm Bright. I've heard a lot about you."

"Yes, I suppose you've heard that I'm crazy, insufferable, dangerous, and the spawn of a terrible serial killer. Don't bother with that: I hear it all day long!"

Placing the file back on the table, the young woman continued:

"Yes, I've heard that, but those aren't the only things I've heard. I understand that you are intelligent, perceptive, cultured, observant, and stubborn! All in all, an interesting person to work with!"

Bright was surprised!

"Wait, does that mean you asked your superiors to come and work with me?"

"Yes, I did. And from what I can see, you fit the description well: your clothing shows a comfortable lifestyle. I would say that you are very well off financially. 

On the other hand, the paleness of your complexion and the dark circles appearing under your beautiful brown eyes indicate a poor sleep pattern, which can lead to one of two things. 

Either you are an incorrigible party animal, or you are a man whose mind is always racing and troubled by traumatic memories. In your case, I'd go for the second hypothesis. You are a more complex person than most people want to believe."

Crossing her arms, she asked defiantly, a smile on her face:

"Now, Mr Bright, your turn: what can you deduce about me? Apart from the fact that I'm not a pimply little pretentious graduate!"

Malcolm winced: she had heard him!

"I assure you I had no idea who you were. Otherwise, I would never have allowed myself to say such things!"

"Judging without even knowing the people? Big mistake for a brilliant profiler like you, Malcolm!" laughed the young woman.

"Even the best make mistakes."

"If you can give me as much correct information as possible, I'll give you my name. If not, I'll let you search all day. Are you up to the challenge?"

"Challenge accepted. Well, let's see: who are you, mysterious miss?"

He circled the young woman, looking for the slightest detail that might give him information.

After a few minutes of observation, he gave his conclusions:

"From the look of your clothing, you are in a decent financial position. You are not a multi-millionaire, but you make a good living. You like simple, comfortable styles, probably because you like to look elegant and efficient at the same time.

Your posture and stature tell me that you are an athlete. I'd say you've done quite a bit of dancing, but your muscularity shows that you're a martial artist. Am I right?"

"I have a black belt in karate and judo, and I practice taekwondo, as well as ju-jitsu and Muay Thai. And I did a lot of dancing when I was younger."

"Haha! I was right. Well, as for the rest, I'd say you have an excellent photographic memory: you put that file down exactly where you took it. You are also a brilliant observer because you have deduced details of my life just by looking at me. 

I suppose you are an artist in your spare time. I saw in your bag a sketchbook and a box of pencils. Both are well placed, which betrays your meticulous side. 

Finally, I would say that you are a hard-working, kind and mischievous person. Your superiors must appreciate you enough to accept your request to come here. So, what do you say?"

Amused, the young woman clapped slowly.

"Well done, Malcolm Bright. You've lived up to your reputation. Everything you have deduced is correct."

"You will find me delighted. And now, to finish the introductions properly, may I know your name?"

"Of course: my name is (Y/N) (L/N), a certified FBI profiler."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss (Y/N) (L/N). Something tells me we'll work well together."

"That's what I hope."

Hiding behind the door, Gil, JT and Dani were relieved to see that Malcolm and (Y/N) seemed to be getting along well. Now, let's hope that this duo can be effective against the criminals that have New Yorkers on edge.

A few months later.

Sitting on a bench, Malcolm and (Y/N) enjoyed a hot chocolate while enjoying a beautiful autumn day. The two profilers wanted to have a quiet moment, away from the eyes of their colleagues and Malcolm's family! 

"Are you going to tell them the truth about us, or are you going to let them stew for a while longer?" the young woman asked.

The profiler smiled mischievously.

"I think I'll let them work their brains out for a few days before I tell them everything. Just for the fun of seeing their faces when they learn the truth!"

"I didn't know you were such a tease!" joked (Y/N).

For all answers, Malcolm took the young woman's hand in his and placed a kiss on it.

"I'm a man full of surprises, my dear. Just like you!"

"You sure didn't expect me to kiss you first!"

Malcolm pretended to be offended.

"But I thought of it first!"

"Oh, did you?"

"Certainly. Let me prove it!"

The profiler leaned over and kissed his girlfriend on the lips. 

Unfortunately, this sweet moment was interrupted by a ringing mobile phone.

"I think you should pick up the phone!" the young woman pointed out.

Grumbling, Malcolm picked up his mobile phone and picked it up:

"Hello?"

**"Hello, big brother!"**

"Good afternoon, Ainsley. To what do I owe this call?" the profiler asked.

**"I just wanted to let you know that Mum's inviting us to dinner at the house tonight. She's counting on your presence. Is that so?"** asked the reporter.

"I'll be there. It's not like I have a choice!" quipped Malcolm.

**"I'll take that as a yes... Oh, by the way, she'd like you to invite your mystery girlfriend!"**

At these words, the two lovers looked at each other in amazement: would Jessica know?

Controlling his stress, Malcolm replied:

"I don't know what she means, but I don't have a girlfriend!"

**"Oh yeah? Well then, you can tell me who the pretty lady you just kissed lovingly is!"**

Looking around him, the profiler spotted his little sister standing at the other end of the park and waving at him, a smirk on her face.

A little annoyed, Malcolm asked:

"Is your favourite pastime spying on me?"

"I admit it's very distracting. But I promise I won't tell Mum. I'll leave the great honour of making the introductions to you."

"I'm sure you'll be glad to, dear little sister."

"See you tonight, big brother. And give my regards to your lady of heart!" 

When the conversation was over, (Y/N) smiled:

"It seems that someone has found out..."

"And unfortunately, it is my sister."

(Y/N) kissed her boyfriend on the cheek.

"Honey, I can't be your mystery girl forever anyway. They're going to have to know that!"

Malcolm smiled.

"I have to admit, you're right. In any case, my love for you will never be a mystery again."

Now that their secret love affair gets revealed, Malcolm and (Y/N) will have more time to unsolve differents mysteries...

Thanks for reading! 

I hope you enjoyed the story!

Please don’t hesitate to request me a story and see you soon!

Take care! 😍🥰😘

#requests #gifts #prodigal son #malcolm bright #tom payne #zoe kravitz