#also!!! the love you have for the things you make!!! makes the experience richer!!!

[gonzos-audacity]

i dont really consider myself to be punk or grunge or goth or whatever. just a vague alternative soup. but ive never felt myself more comfortable or fitting into subculture than when i started realizing i did not have to spend a ton of money to 'look the part.'

a good 85% of my wardrobe is shit i got at thrift stores. i've started making my own jewelry. the base of my battle jacket (a sturdy, oversized denim jacket) i got for free cuz it was (accidentally) stolen. the only time i really shell out any decent money is for good shoes and handmade patches/jewelry from people on etsy.

diy can take time and resources but i guarantee the stuff you make will look far more "punk" than any pre-patched $200 jacket you buy on torrid. also its fun.

#also!!! the love you have for the things you make!!! makes the experience richer!!! #my heavy denim battle jacket is so dear to me #joy in the act of creation and in being you #i have so many thoughts about 'alternative' style and the co-opting of it by coorporations #diy #punk #grunge #goth #subculture

[g1rld1ary]

you never disappointed me - part two

part one part two part three part four

➻ synopsis: luke castellan x aphrodite!reader ; percy and beckendorf's plan to set you up with luke is in motion, but you're extremely resistant to any advances (10 things I about you AU)

➻ word count: 3462

➻ warnings: swearing, ooc/kind of loser!luke, ooc silena, she/her pronouns used for reader, sexual innuendos

➻ thank u so much for all the love on part 1 I am such a happy gal!!!!! also, have my first day at uni tomorrow (so pls wish me luck) and sorry if updates slow down!

TAGLIST: @myxticmoon @wicca-void @leeknows-wife @thekittyxo-blog @number-onekidqueen @instabull

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

It turned out that getting you to go out with Luke was harder than he’d originally anticipated. Eager for the whole ordeal to be over and for him to be 50 dollars richer, he’d hopped down from his spot on a fallen log and hurried to meet you by the volleyball courts when your match ended. You, unaware of Luke’s agenda, were fanning your face to combat some of the sweat that had accumulated, quickly tightening the messy ponytail you’d tied. Luke watched you in your own world, unbothered by anybody watching you, unlike the rest of your siblings. Sucking in a quick breath for confidence he approached you.

“Hey there, girly,” He smiled, “How’re you doing?” You looked up at him, inquisitive for a moment but ultimately unimpressed.

“Sweating like a pig actually, and yourself?” You were barely looking at him, skulling an impressive amount of your water bottle quickly. He stared at you, not expecting to be dismissed so easily. He recovered smoothly, not prepared to give up so soon.

“You really know how to get a guy’s attention, huh?”

“My mission in life,” You shot him a cloying smile, now giving him your full attention, unable to help being slightly interested by his boldness. “But obviously I’ve struck your fancy, so you see it worked. The world makes sense again.” You‘d figured out his motives now and had no interest, so began the walk back to your cabin. He followed, much to your dismay. Couldn’t men ever take the hint?

“So I’ll pick you up Friday then?”

“Oh right, Friday, uh huh.” You kept your eyes ahead, dodging a few younger kids as Luke trailed after you, annoyingly optimistic still.

“The night I take you places you’ve never been before,” He said, and you looked at him in disbelief. The ego on this kid!

“Right, like the makeout clearing in the forest? Do you even know my name, Castellan?” Luke could tell that you were mocking him, but he still had high hopes.

“I know a lot more than you think.” He smiled then, a lopsided thing that would have been somewhat charming if you’d actually bothered to look. Instead you were already walking away, calling out a “Doubtful. Very doubtful,” over your shoulder as you picked up into a run, presumably to go tell Clarisse about the bizarre experience you just had. Luke watched you go, dumbstruck in the middle of camp.

Percy and Beckendorf watched the exchange from the porch of the Hephaestus cabin, the latter putting his head in his hands dramatically.

“We’re screwed,” He groaned and Percy winced slightly.

“I’m sure it’ll all be fine, dude. Luke has faced a lot worse than a teenage girl.”

When you sat at dinner that night, desperately avoiding the eye contact Luke seemed desperate on initiating, you almost told Silena about your bizarre day. You’d opened your mouth to start the story when you realised that she’d only be encouraged by Luke’s antics, pressuring you into going out with him for her own benefit and quickly shut it. She’d noticed your odd behaviour and searched for meaning in your face. Panicking for something to replace the conversation, you zeroed in on the necklace sitting nicely on top of her camp one.

“Where’d you get the pearls?” You asked, already dreading the answer. Silena only confirmed your fears, claiming them as your grandmother’s with a coy smile.

“So what? You’ve just been hiding them the last three years?” You were always closest with your grandmother, and you were sure she wouldn’t leave her favourite pearls for Silena over you.

“Daddy found them in a drawer just before summer.” Silena shrugged as if you weren’t sitting across from her, cheeks a blotchy red in your upset. “Besides, they look good on me.” Your hands itched to hit her as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ears, knowing exactly how much she was pissing you off.

“Trust me, they don’t,” You spat, quietly glad when Silena stalked off in a huff, amongst the first to leave the meal. You didn’t know how much longer you could argue with her before starting to cry, which you really didn’t want to do in front of the whole camp. You thought you were safe for the rest of the meal when Drew began speaking instead.

“You could try being nice sometimes, you know, people wouldn’t know what to think.” You rolled your eyes aggressively.

“You forget, I don’t care what people think,” You replied, taking in a spoonful of food.

“Yes you do. Everyone does. You know, with a new look you could have some serious potential.” You ignored her last statement.

“No, I don’t,” You emphasised, “You don’t always have to be who they want you to be.” You knew that wouldn’t impact Drew in the slightest, but you hoped it might resonate with some of your younger siblings — encourage them to nurture their internal beauty rather than accept the vain stereotype Aphrodite children were forced into. You pushed yourself out of the bench you were sitting on, needing a break from your insufferable siblings. As you dumped your dishes where they needed to be you saw Luke beginning to follow you and turned to make dead eye contact. Knowing you’d only scream at him (or worse) you gave him a dangerous look, accompanied with an almost imperceptible shake of your head. Not enough for anyone else to know you’d even acknowledged him, but enough to tell Luke to back off. He was smarter than you thought, as he held up his hands in a show of surrender, redirecting his action to innocently collect up his own dishes.

You may not have had any interest in knowing the boy, but you did appreciate that he knew when to back off. Or so you thought.

You were proven not-so-free from Luke Castellan the very next morning. It was the Aphrodite cabin’s day to check all the storerooms, and you’d volunteered to do the one which held all the weapons and armour near the sword fighting arena. You knew none of your siblings would come near if they could help it, mostly against weapons and the violence that surrounded the area, so you’d get a whole morning alone. It was peaceful attending to the chore, and you were allowed to use some of your Aphrodite eye for beauty. Of course, stacks of swords and assorted weapons could only be made so pretty, but you enjoyed organising them into neat rows, making it look as nice as possible — not that you would admit that to Silena or you’d be in her vanity chair receiving an unwelcome makeover in seconds.

You were just admiring your own sword, which you’d taken the time to polish while you were taking care of the others, when you felt a presence behind you. You didn’t react, assuming it was just some camper coming for a weapon, until he spoke.

“Nice sword, vintage hilt?” You tensed as Luke’s voice infiltrated your peace.

“Are you following me?” You disregarded his statement, an unimpressed frown present on your lips.

“I was training in the arena and needed to polish my sword. I saw you come in a while ago and not leave, I came to say hi,” He explained, and you raised an eyebrow. You weren’t friends, why would he come for a chat?

“Hi.” You promptly turned back to your task, shoving the cloth into the intricate designs of the hilt.

“Not a big talker, huh?” He persisted.

“Depends on the topic. My sword doesn’t exactly whip me into a verbal frenzy.” That wasn’t strictly true — the sword was a gift from your mother, with gold twisting around a blood red ruby in the centre of the hilt. After you’d made it clear that you weren’t going to just sit around during your time at camp she gifted you the sword, her way of saying that if you were going to fight, you should at least look good doing it. You’d had several conversations with Clarisse gushing over the intricacy of it, and profusely thanked Aphrodite for the gift in your offerings. You didn’t quite care to share this with Luke, being a relative stranger.

“You’re not afraid of me, are you?” He asked, and you were somewhat taken aback by the earnest tone of his voice.

“Afraid of you? Why would I be afraid of you?” You couldn’t help the incredulous laugh that crept into your sentence.

“Most people are.” He gestured subtly towards his scar — gnarled and twisted against his otherwise tanned skin. You put a hand on your hip, resigned to conversation now.

“Well, I’m not.”

“Ok, maybe you’re not afraid of me, but I’m sure you’ve thought about me naked.” You were pretty sure Luke was going for smooth or charming, but you thought in this moment he was entirely lame. The wink didn’t help his case.

“Am I that transparent? I want you, I need you. Oh baby, oh baby.” You put on your best Drew impression, nasally and whiny, before handing him the cloth he needed to polish his own sword and turning to leave. There, quickly approaching the door, was Ethan. Seeing you he put on a disgusting smirk and blocked the doorway, effectively caging you into the storeroom.

“Gods, what is it, asshole day?” You asked, not caring that both boys could very clearly hear you. “Do you mind?” You gestured to his blocking the exit. He simply looked down at you, clearly doing his best to appear sexy (and failing miserably).

“Not at all.” His stupid smirk was going to kill you, and not in the good way. You scoffed, giving him a last chance to get the fuck out of your way. Then, sparing a fraction of a glance back to Luke pretending to mind his own business, you slammed the hilt of your sword into his foot, wishing it was the blade instead. You watched him crumble to the ground, holding his foot with both hands.

“You bitch!” He yelled, voice cracking pathetically in the middle. You forced your smile to stay contained.

“Oops,” You feigned innocence, one hands covering your mouth strategically. “You might need some ambrosia for that…” With that you side-stepped him, eager to leave the situation. If you’d have looked back, you would have seen the gleeful, disbelieving smile on Luke’s face, probably the biggest one he’d worn in a while. Although he didn’t get the date he’d entered for, he was beginning to think you were a little more interesting than you let on.

“Did you just cripple Ethan?” Silena shrieked as you entered your cabin to grab your things. “He’s a model, you can’t do that! Has it escaped your notice that you’re completely psychotic?” You pretended to think for a moment, then shrugged nonchalantly.

“Guess your long walks on the beach are gonna have to wait,” You sighed dramatically, leaving Silena to wallow in her pity alone. It wasn’t like it was really your fault — if Ethan had learned how to respond to words or learn the meaning of ‘move’ he wouldn’t have gotten himself into that situation in the first place.

Meanwhile, Ethan and Luke were having a similarly emotional conversation after Luke had — very reluctantly — helped Ethan over to the infirmary to get his foot checked out.

“When I shell out fifty, I expect results.” Luke sighed, could this boy get any whinier?

“Yeah, I’m on it,” He said through gritted teeth, resisting the urge to hurt him.

“Watching that bitch obliterate my foot doesn’t count as a date. If you don’t get any, I don’t get any, so let’s get some,” Ethan said, running a hand through his ridiculously styled hair. Luke couldn’t believe his nerve. First of all, obliterated? He would be left with a bruise for a few days, if anything. Secondly, this whole things was Ethan’s idea, Luke had never given any indication wanting to ‘get some’, especially not with someone so clearly resisting his advances. Just as Ethan left, giving the Apollo girl treating him a douchebag smile, Luke hardened his resolve.

“I just upped my price,” He said, loving the way Ethan’s eyes widened like a cartoon character. “A hundred bucks a date, in advance.”

“Forget it,” Ethan grumbled, moving to leave again.

“Forget her sister then.” The two boys stared at each other, one significantly more amused than the other. Luke knew he had the upper hand in the dynamic, something he revelled in. Then, after the intimidation tactic clearly wasn’t having any effect, Ethan reached for his wallet, Luke admiring the crisp fifty he was handed.

“You better hope you’re as smooth as you think you are, Castellan.” Luke just watched him go, confident tilt of his head conveying his outlook on the situation.

Luke had taken his usual spot overseeing combat training, but his usual thoughts were long gone. Instead, he was entirely preoccupied with you. He didn’t know how to get you to go out with him when you could barely entertain a conversation, and he twirled his cigarette between his fingers as he pondered.

Percy and Beckendorf saw his internal conflicts, slowly moving closer to him under the guise of a very chaotic fight between the two. Finally Luke gave them attention, knowing Percy’s skills would never have him running all over the place like that. He raised an eyebrow, a sign for them to get on with whatever they were angling at.

“We know what you’re trying to do, for Beauregard,” Percy said, and Luke appeared almost startled.

“And we want to help,” Added Beckendorf helpfully, shying away when Luke’s eyes bore into his.

“And why would you do that?”

“Beckendorf here has a major crush on Silena—”

“Gods, what is it with this girl? Does she sweat nectar?” Beckendorf opened his mouth to protest when Percy spoke over him, knowing it would be more beneficial to let Luke lead.

“Look, I think we can both tell that Charlie’s love is pure, well-intentioned, better than, say, Ethan White?” Luke sighed, catching on.

“I’m in this for the cash, that’s it. Who Ethan wants to bang is of no interest to me.”

“There will be no banging!” Beckendorf cried as Percy pushed him behind. He was no use in a delicate situation like this.

“Ok, Luke, it’s just that we’re the masterminds behind this whole thing. We set it up so Beckendorf can get the girl — Ethan’s just a pawn.” Luke paid closer attention suddenly, intrigued by the chess match he’d been pulled into.

“So you two are gonna help me win her over?”

“We’ll do research, find out what she likes. We can be your guys on the inside.”

“In a strictly non-mission type of way,” Beckendorf added helpfully, nervous of the legends he’d heard about Luke’s failed quest. Luke chose to simply ignore that comment, and Percy filled the silence before he could get angry about it.

“Let’s just start here: the Apollo cabin is throwing a party on Friday night, it’s the perfect opportunity.”

“I’ll think about it,” Was all Luke said, a clear signal the conversation was over. Percy and Beckendorf returned to fighting, slightly more regulated now they had gotten what they’d wanted, and Luke brought the cigarette back up to his lips, new thoughts clouding his mind.

Meanwhile, Ethan had found Silena where she was known to hang out by the rocks near the lake. He was hovering next to her, providing snatches of shade as he performed pose after pose, claiming he had a modelling job lined up when he left for the year.

“So which do you like better?” He asked, moving his hands fractionally to the left of his chin.

“The second,” Silena giggled, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. “It’s more… pensive.”

“Damn,” Ethan kicked the sand softly. “I was going for thoughtful. So, you going to the Apollo party on Friday?”

“Maybe.” She produced her best coy smile, looking up at him from behind her lashes.

“Good, ‘cause you know I’ll only bother if you’re there.” Silena smiled, getting up from her spot on the rock.

“Bye.” Her voice was airy in the way she knew drove boys mad. She walked away leaving Ethan wanting more, her specialty. You scoffed, catching the end of the exchange. You and Silena made momentary eye contact, tension thick between the two of you.

As Beckendorf approached Silena, fishing for more information about you, Ethan had caught you in his sights and wasn’t going to let you go so easily.

“You sister is so cute,” His voice infiltrated your bubble in a way that made you want to hit him so desperately. “Doesn’t have your bite though, a feisty woman is so sexy.” You knew he was just trying to get a rise out of you, but it was so close to working.

“Come any closer and I’ll show you just how feisty I can get,” You snapped, braid almost whacking him in the face as you turned to face him. You could have sworn Ethan looked afraid for a second before he covered it with bravado.

“One day you’re gonna realise that all of this hostility is just your sexual repression. Don’t worry, babe, I’ll be waiting with open arms… And legs.” You almost threw up.

“Gods, can’t you just leave me alone, asshole?” You yelled, trying to push past him to get anywhere else.

“C’mon, don’t be a prude,” He whined, and you were really close to taking him to the ground — not in the way he wanted.

“You heard the girl,” A voice called from behind you, and instantly Ethan took a step back. “She wants you to leave her alone.” Luke appeared behind you, a respectful distance away whilst still making his intentions clear. Ethan shrunk back into himself, making a lame excuse as to why he had to leave, hurriedly fleeing the beach. Reluctantly, you turned to face Luke.

“I’m not going out with you just for that,” You said plainly, daring him to try again.

“You think that low of me?” He laughed, dark eyes sparkling with mirth. You forced yourself not to notice. “I don’t have to want something from you to know that Ethan White isn’t worth your time.” It was your turn to be embarrassed at that, feeling slightly narcissistic for assuming that was the purpose of the conversation (it was, but Luke sure as hell wasn’t going to ruin his chances because you were in a mood, justified or otherwise).

“Oh.” You stared at his shoes. “Well, thanks, I guess.” You moved to leave but Luke stopped you, hand not quite touching your arm, unwilling to have it bitten off.

“So you do have a heart!” He joked, signature grin on his face. You wondered why you were seeing so much of it lately when he’d been so dour since his quest.

“Ha! You wish.”

“Don’t try to hide it, Beauregard, you’re warming up to me.”

“I’d sooner fuck Mister D,” You replied, actually taking your leave.

Luke watched you go, chewing his lip between his teeth. There was more to you than you let on, he was sure of it. He wouldn’t say it was any fondness, but he was starting to have a curiosity attaching itself to this scheme, and he knew that going out with you would satisfy it. He should have known having any personal stakes involved — sentimental or otherwise — would get dangerous.

Your own thoughts had barely budged on Luke. He was still a pain in your side and you figured you knew what kind of guy he was — not the type you had any interest in. Still, you couldn’t deny that you were appreciative he’d saved you from Ethan (and the inevitable washing up duty you’d be punished with when you beat him up), so maybe he wasn’t quite as despicable as you’d initially judged him to be. Close, though.

part three

#giasfics˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀ #love #luke castellan #pjo series #pjo #pjo tv show #pjo fandom #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson show #percy jackson #percy series #percy pjo #luke castellan imagine #luke castellan pjo #luke castellan imagines #luke castellan fanfiction #luke castellan x reader #luke castellan x you #percy jackson tv show

[dostoyevsky-official]

Writers are paid less now than they were 50 years ago, for the same work. Ernest Hemingway was paid $1 a word in 1936. That's more than $21 per word in today's dollars. The maximum I was ever paid to write for a glossy magazine in print was $2/word, in 2021. No one (and I really mean no one) in media makes $21/word. That compensation just doesn't exist. You could be the most popular novelist in the world and not make $21/word to report. You could argue that no writer today is as good or popular as Hemingway was at his peak, but no writer today is even making half or a quarter of what he made, and writers only ever get so famous. If someone were paid $5/word in 2022—which is something I have never heard of happening and is a full $2 more than than anyone I know has ever been paid per word—that would be a quarter of what Hemingway was paid. That writer would be able to pay their rent and health insurance premiums and tuck some money away in savings off a standard-issue story per month, but again, that lucky writer does not exist. What this means is that the door a writer could step through to make a career 50 or even 20 years ago, the one opening onto a life where someone who works hard and does well could buy a house on the strength of that work alone, has been slammed shut. That's not because there isn't money to be made in any of these industries, either. Some people are making very good money in these fields, and have been for a long time. They are people who profit off art without actually making it. The reality is that the people with the most money have devised, at every turn, new and more bulletproof ways for them to make and keep more money, and for the people who make things to make less. This is the eternal story of labor and management. Why should any CEO make more than the actresses whose labor and beauty they sell? Why should a second-year management consultant at every major consulting firm make more than every single writer I have ever known? It's not even a question of principle. People buy things: services and products and experiences and feelings. How is it that the creation and provision of those things is valued so little, when it is so essential? It's a rhetorical question. The wealth that exists in this country does not come from making things that people love. People spend money on that, obviously, but they've done that long enough that those industries have had time to optimize for their own preferences. The money that sustains all this is, in enough cases that it is worth noting here, coming from young rich people's even richer parents. It is coming from giant corporations awarding it, whether out of ideological commitment or just force of habit, to people who sit behind desks all day. Some of those people might also make art, but they are not the norm. The structure built around these valuable creative products is bloated in ways that starve and imperil that creative process, but those privations also hold it in place. Baseball executives, when they are talking about the same sort of thing, like to use the phrase "cost certainty."

The Money Is In All The Wrong Places

[tarotwithlove]

PAC ⋆ the best date you will ever have

reminder that this is a general reading and messages found here may not apply to everyone. take what resonates, leave what doesn't, and don't force anything if it does not fit.

BOOK A READING WITH ME · BOOK A 2024 YEAR AHEAD READING WITH ME (GENERAL OR NSFW) · LINKTREE · 18+ PATREON · TIPS ♡ tips, bookings, and feedback are highly appreciated!

GROUP ONE

cards · king of pentacles, six of cups, ace of swords, nine of wands, ace of cups, the world. 

channelled songs · no choir by florence + the machine. just got paid by nsync. money trees by kendrick lamar. just luv me by britney spears.

my dear group one ♡ the best date you will ever have will be with an established partner who makes a point to spoil you in every way they believe you deserve. and they believe you deserve to experience every luxury that life has to offer, without a worry for money. 

this date may be to celebrate a milestone -- a number of years together or an achievement that you reached in your professional life. a date that jay-z and beyonce went on in the last few months comes to mind, one from which they posted a picture of them drinking a VERY expensive bottle of champagne.

the date with your partner may be similar to this, and may take place in paris. or in another foreign city that you love, or that holds importance for you and your partner. this date will make you feel like you’ve fallen in love all over again. as if you’ve entered a new phase of your relationship. 

you may reminisce about your years together on this date. talk about renewing your vows, and even play with the idea of having another child.

GROUP TWO

cards · the sun reversed, nine of cups, four of pentacles, king of cups, eight of swords, five of wands reversed. 

channelled songs · no matter what by polo g. a loving feeling by mitski. get your number by mariah carey. rain on me by ashanti. 

my dear group two ♡ the best date you will ever have will be unexpected. you may go on a date with someone just to pass the time -- even though you’re not that attracted to them or even though you don’t really see a future with them or just as a distraction from a recent heartbreak. you may just decide to go on this date because, “what’s the worst that can happen?” or because you don’t have anything else to do on this day. 

but this person will completely and utterly surprise you. not only with how they show up for you on this date, bringing you flowers, but also how considerate they are of the things you like and dislike. you may be friendly in your day-to-day, in work or school, and you’ll be surprised about how much they remembered about you from the conversations you had. 

the flowers they bring will be perfect. the location they choose for the date will be perfect. the conversation will be perfect.

you’ll see a completely different side to this person, and find that you get along so well. so much better than you’ve gotten along with someone in the past, especially on a first date. your conversation will flow so easily, and you’ll laugh and have introspective conversations in equal measure. 

you’ll be so grateful that you decided to go on this date, and will cross your fingers and hope that you’ll see each other in this capacity again. 

GROUP THREE

cards · the world, king of pentacles, judgement, the fool, page of wands, seven of pentacles. 

channelled songs · child by mark lee. should’ve been me by mitski. cherubim by serpentwithfeet. deep in love by day6. 

my dear group three ♡  the best date you will ever have may be with someone fairly older and richer than you. this person may also be of a different nationality than you, and you may meet while you both are travelling. your paths will cross and from the very beginning you will feel attracted to each other; you will feel as if you were meant to meet. 

every date with this person may be a good one, that’s just how your relationship is. you just get each other. but the best date with them may be one that pushes you out of your comfort zone.

on this date, you may go hiking. or they may teach you how to surf. or you may decide to investigate abandoned buildings. you’ll be doing something that not many people may view as romantic, but is romantic for you because they are sharing something they love with you. 

you’ll laugh so much on this day, feeling light and in love and just happy to be alive and experience this life together. 

your partner may even propose on this date, much to your pleasant surprise. and i picture you just throwing yourself at them and plastering them in kisses. 

GROUP FOUR

cards · strength, eight of swords, six of cups, page of wands, ten of pentacles, eight of wands. 

channelled songs · oh yes by whitney houston. happy by mitski. i didn’t mean to fall in love by snoh aalegra. gemstone by miyavi. 

my dear group four ♡ the best date you will ever have may be with someone you reconcile with. this may be someone you broke up with in the past, or with whom your paths just naturally diverged, and when you run into each other again it’s like fate.

you immediately jump at the chance to ask them out on a date, and do everything in your power to make sure this date goes well.

though, for the most part, this date may not be romantic and may not take a romantic turn -- as while you held onto this person, they long-since moved on. 

your conversation will be filled with reminiscing, talking about your time together and all that you have experienced since you last saw each other. and, in this moment, sitting across from them, you will feel yourself fall more and more in love. so in love, you feel like you will never recover or never be able to move on.

you’ll talk and talk and talk. it will be difficult to part, because neither of you will want to. and so you will go from eating together, to going to a dessert place, to going to a nearby park, to going to some attraction. you’ll walk around the city, stopping at places that grab your attention, doing anything to not part for just a moment longer. 

on this date, you won’t sleep. you’ll stay up to the early hours of the morning, and when you say goodbye it will be because some external force has forced you to. work. a prior obligation. and when you part, you will do so regrettably. 

#** #tarot #pac #pick a card #tarotblr #tarotonline #tarotcreator #tarotcommunity #witchblr #witch of color #witchythings #spiritualism #spirituality #divination #channeled message #channeled reading #channelled message

[togglesbloggle]

In Defense of Bad Things

'Bad' here meaning mostly 'amateur'; stuff made enthusiastically by people at an unprofessional level. Art with visible gaps between what the artist imagined and what they achieved, products of flawed craftsmanship. I suppose everybody can appreciate them to some extent, it's a rare parent that doesn't put up their kid's drawings on the fridge in one way or another. But it turns out to be a fully general skill you can cultivate, and the more I do, the more I'm glad I did.

Partly, it's the teacher thing; finding delight in amateur work is one of the ways to find delight in the process of learning. Cultivating a love of striving-qua-striving can help make you a force for good in the world, as people start to feel safe trying to do things when you're around, even when their efforts are wobbly. You get to participate a little more in the process of atoms spinning themselves into ideas, even when there aren't any illusions about whether you're helping cultivate some revolutionary genius in the field.

And partly it's a fabulous way to build community. By necessity, our professional-level skills tend to be at the service of other people, performed for economic benefit; that's kind of how you get professionally good at something in the first place. When we're acting for our own sake, and among friends, most of what we do with one another is amateurish. I only cook middling-okay, I can't hold a tune that well, I'll never be a speed runner for anything. If you can only enjoy singing from the hundred best singers in the whole world, manufactured and polished by major studios, then you and your friends will sit shoulder-to-shoulder and passively listen to music. But it's so much richer an experience to sit face-to-face, actually singing together, even badly; you expose yourself to so many new ways to appreciate and respect one another, building relationships on what you've accomplished and not just by witty criticism or liking the same things.

And partly it's because some of the most powerful and innovative artistic experiences are in high-churn environments with low expectations and low barriers to entry, if only because those catch the passionate and driven young people that have been otherwise overlooked by our systems. The golden age of webcomics meant that a ton of the actual art involved was pretty lousy, but it also produced work that people still talk about today. D&D began as a profoundly unpolished collection of handmade rulebooks sold at cons in a plastic baggie. By the time these products of enthusiastic amateurs filter themselves through various levels of popularity and absorb mainstream cash influx, they're often risk-averse and missing a lot of the bold spark that inspired their fans in the first place; others will simply never drift towards the mainstream at all. I'm not saying you should be the person who goes out to dig through the slush piles of the internet looking for overlooked art, unless you want to be-- but sometimes a work of actual staggering genius also happens to be a Supernatural fanfic by a first-time author who's a little hazy on commas, and if that's a dealbreaker, you're going to miss out on some profoundly valuable experiences.

And hiding behind all of these things is, like...

Our appreciation of beauty has an odd structure, right? When things are done very skillfully, by brilliant artists with years of training, we can usually appreciate those accomplishments. And when we're looking at nature without human influence, and especially when we think very deeply about natural processes and understand them in context, we often rediscover that sense of beauty. There's just this bizarre hole in the middle where we declare things 'ugly'; as if a little skill is worse than none at all.

I really don't trust that gap. It feels like a trick my brain is playing on me, you know? It has me suspicious that a lot of what I consider 'ugly' or 'bad' is not a very direct experience of the world at all, or an informed judgment. That it is, rather, a declaration of (self-, social-) identity; a desire to be seen as a person of good taste, or as somebody who does things well, or just more primitively as one of the monkeys who is in the good-stuff-tribe and not one of the monkeys who is in the bad-stuff-tribe.

[physalian]

Humanizing Your Characters (And Why You Should)

To humanize a character is not to contort an irredeemable villain into the warped funhouse mirror reflection of a hero in the last 30 seconds to gain “narrative subversion” points. To humanize is not to give said villain a tragic backstory that validates every bad choice they make in attempt to provide nuance where it does not deserve to be.

To humanize a character, villain or otherwise, is to make them flawed. Scuff them up, give them narrative birthmarks and scars and imperfections. Whether it’s your hero, their love interest, the comic relief, the mentor, the villain, the rival, these little narrative details serve to make all your literary babies better.

Why should you humanize your characters?

To do this means to write in details beyond those that service the plot, or the themes, or the motifs, morals, foreshadowing, or story. These might be (and usually are) entirely unimportant in the grand scheme of things. So, if I wrote lengthy diatribes on pacing and why every detail must matter, and character descriptions and thematic importance, why am I now suggesting go free-for-all on the fluff?

Just like real people have quirks and tics and beliefs and pet peeves that serve our no greater purpose, so should fictional people. Your average reader doesn’t have the foggiest idea what literary devices are beyond metaphor, simile foreshadowing, and anecdote, but they can tell when the author is using motif and theme and all the syntactical marvels because it reads that much richer, even if they can’t pinpoint why.

And, for shipping fodder, these tiny little details are what help your audience fall in love with the character. It doesn’t even have to be in a book – Taylor Swift (whether you like her or not) never fills her music with sexual innuendo or going clubbing. She tells stories filled with human details like dancing in the refrigerator light. People can simultaneously relate to these very specific and vivid experiences, and say “not that exactly, but man this reminds me of…” and that’s (part of) the reason her music is so popular.

What kinds of narratives need these details?

All of them. Visual media, audio, written, stage play. Now, to what degree and excess you apply these details depends on your tone, intended audience, and writing style. If your style of writing is introspection heavy, noir character drama, you might go pretty heavy on the character design.

But even if you’re writing a kids book with a scant few paragraphs of setting descriptors and internal narration, or you’re drawing a comic book – if you have characters you want people to care about, do this.

Animators, particularly, are very adept at humanizing non-human characters, because, unlike live acting, every single stroke of the pen is there with intent. They use their own reflections for facial references, record their own movements to draw a dance, and insert little bits of themselves into signature character poses so you know that *that* animator did this one.

How to humanize your characters.

I’m going to break this down into a couple sections: Costume/wardrobe, personality, beliefs/behavior/superstitions, haptics/proxemics/kinesics, and voice. They will all overlap and the sheer variety and possibilities are way too broad for me to capture every facet.

Costumes and Wardrobe

In the film Fellowship of the Ring, there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment where, after Boromir is slain by the Uruk-Hai, Aragorn takes Boromir’s Gondorian vambraces to wear in his honor, and in honor of their shared country. He wears them the rest of the trilogy. The editing pays no extra attention to them beyond a split second of Aragorn tightening the straps, it never lingers on them, never reminds you that they’re there, but they kept it in nonetheless. His actor also included a hunting bow that didn't exist in the book because he's a roamer, a ranger, and needs to be able to feed himself, along with a couple other survival tools.

Aragorn wears plenty of other symbolic bits of costume – the light of the Evenstar we see constantly from Arwen, the Lothlorien green cloaks shared by the entire Fellowship, his re-forged sword and eventual full Gondorian regalia, but all those are Epic Movie Moments that serve a thematic purpose.

Taking the vambraces is just a small, otherwise insignificant character moment, a choice made for no other reason than that’s what this character would do. That’s what makes him human, not an archetype.

When you’re writing these details and can’t rely on sneaking them into films, you have to work a little harder to remind your audience that they exist, but not too often. A detail shifts from “human” to “plot point” when it starts to serve a purpose to the themes and story.

Inconsequentiality might be how a character ties, or doesn’t tie their shoelaces, because they just can’t be bothered so they remain permanent knots and tripping hazards. It might be a throw-away line about how they refuse to wear shorts and strictly stick to long pants because they don’t like showing off their legs. It might be perpetually greasy hair from constantly running their fingers through it with stress, or self-soothing. A necklace they fidget with, or a ring, a belt they never bother to replace even though they should, a pair of lucky socks.

Resist the urge to make it more meaningful than “this is just how they are”. If I’m using the untied shoelaces example – in Spiderverse, this became a part of the story’s themes, motifs, and foreshadowing, and doesn’t count. Which isn’t bad! It’s just not what I’m talking about.

Personality

In How to Train Your Dragon, Toothless does not speak. All his personality comes from how he moves, the noises he makes, and the expressions on his face. There’s moments, like in the finale, when his prosthetic has burned off and Hiccup tells him to hold on for a little bit longer, and you can clearly see on his face that he’s deeply uncertain about his ability to do so. It’s almost off the screen, another blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment. Or the beat of hesitation before he lets Hiccup touch him in the Forbidden Friendship scene. Or the irritated noise he makes when he’s impatiently waiting for Hiccup to stop chatting with his dad because they have a giant dragon to murder. Or when he slaps Hiccup with his ear fin for flying them into a rock spire.

None of those details *needed* to exist to endear you to his character or to serve the scenes they’re in. The scenes would carry on just fine without them. He’s a fictional dragon, yes, but these details make him real.

Other personality tics you could include might be a character who gets frustrated with tedious things very quickly and starts making little inteligible curses under their breath. Or how they giggle when they’re excited and start bouncing on their toes. Maybe they have a tic where they snap their fingers when they’re concentrating, trying to will an idea into existence. Or they stick their tongue out while they work and get embarrassed when another character calls them on it. They roll around in their sleep, steal blankets, drool, leave dishes in the sink or are neurotic with how things must be organized. They have one CD in their car, and actually use that CD player instead of the phone jack or Bluetooth. They sing in the shower, while they cook, or while they do homework, no matter how grating their voice.

They like the smell of new shoes or Sharpies. They hate the texture of suede or velvet or sticky residues. They never pick their socks up. They hate the overhead light in their room and use 50 lamps instead. They hate turning into oncoming traffic or don’t trust their backup camera. They collect Funko Pops and insist there’s always room for more.

And about a million others.

Beliefs, Behaviors, and Superstitions

*If you happen to be writing a story where superstitions have merit, maybe skip this one.* Usually, inevitably, these evolve into character centerpieces and I can’t actually think of one off the top of my head that doesn’t become this beyond the ones we all know. A few comedic examples do come to mind:

The Magic Conch in “Club Spongebob” and the sea-bear-proof dirt circle in “The Camping Episode”

Dean Winchester’s fear and panic-driven actions in “Yellow Fever” and “Sam, Interrupted”

The references to the trolls that steal left-foot socks in How to Train Your Dragon

I’m not a fan of wasting time writing a religious character doing their religious thing when Plot Is Happening, but smaller things are what I’m talking about. Like them wearing a cross/rosary and touching it when they’re nervous. Having a specific off-beat prayer, saying, or expression because they don’t believe in cursing.

The classic ones like black cats, ladders, broken mirrors, salt, sidewalk cracks can all be funny. Athletes have plenty, too, and some of them, particularly in baseball culture, are a bit ridiculous. Not washing socks or uniforms, having a team idol they donate Double Bubble to and also rub their toes. A specific workout routine, diet, team morale dance.

Other things, too. A character who’s afraid to go back downstairs once the lights are off, or fear the basement or the backyard shed. Or they’re really put-off by this old family photo for no reason other than how glassy their eyes look and it’s creepy. They like crystals, dreamcatchers, star signs, tarot, or they absolutely do not under any circumstances.

They believe in all the tried and true ways of predicting the weather like a grizzled old sailor. They believe in ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches, skinwalkers, doppelgangers, fairies. They talk to the cat statue in their kitchen and named it Fudge Pop. They whisper to the spirit that possessed the fridge so it stops making all that racket, and half the time, it works every time. They wear yellow for good luck or carry a rabbit’s foot. They’re not religious at all but still throw prayers out to whoever’s listening because, you know, just in case. They sit by their window sill and talk to the moon and the stars and pretend like they’re in a music video when they’re driving through the city in the rain.

Haptics, Proxemics, and Kinesics

These are, for all you non-communication and psych majors out there, touch and physical contact, how they move, and how they move around other people.

Behold, your shipping fodder.

Two shining examples of proxemics in action are the famous “close talker” episode of Seinfeld (of which every communication major has been subjected to) and Castiel’s not understanding of personal space (and human chronemic habits) in Supernatural.

These are how a character walks, if they’re flat-footed, clumsy, or tip-toers. If they make a racket or constantly spook the other characters. If they fidget or can’t sit still in a seat for five seconds, if they like to sit backwards or upside down. How they touch themselves, if they do a lot of self-soothing maneuvers (hugging themselves, rubbing their arms, touching their face, drawing their knees up, holding their neck, etc) or if they don’t do any self-soothing at all.

This is how they shake hands, if they dance while they cook or work. It’s how much space they let themselves take up, if they man-spread or keep their limbs in closer. How close they stand to others or how far. If they let themselves be touched at all, or if they always have their skin covered. If they always have their back to a wall,  or are always making sure they know where the nearest exit is. If they make grand gestures when they talk and give directions. If they flinch from pats on the back or raised hands. If they lean away from loud voices or project their own. If they use their height to their advantage when arguing, puff their chest, square their shoulders, put their hands on their hips, or point fingers in accusation.

If they touch other characters as they pass by. If they’re huggers or victims of falling asleep on or near their comrades. If they must sleep facing the door, or with something solid behind them. If they can sleep in the middle of a party wholly uncaring. If they sleepwalk, sleeptalk, migrate across the bed to cuddle whoever’s nearest with no idea they’re doing it.

If they like to be held or like to hold others. If they hate being picked up and slung around or are touch-starved for it. If they like their space and stick to it or are more than happy to share.

Do they walk with grace, head held high and back straight? Or are they hunched over, head hung, watching their feet? Are they meanderers or speed-walkers? Do they cross their arms in front or lace their hands behind them? Do they bow to authority or meet that gaze head on?

I have heard that Prince Zuko, in Last Airbender, is usually drawn sleeping with his bad ear down when he doesn’t feel safe, like on his warship or anywhere in the Fire Nation, or on the road. He’s drawn on his other side once he joins the Gaang. In Dead Man’s Chest, just before Davy Jones drives the Flying Dutchman under the waves, two tentacles curl up and around the brim of his hat to keep it from blowing off in the water.

When they fight, do they attack first, or defend first? Do they touch other characters’ hair? Share makeup, share clothes? Touch their faces with boops or bonks or nuzzles and eskimo kisses? Do they crack their knuckles and necks and knees?

Do they stare in baffled curiosity at all the other characters wholly comfortable in each other's spaces because they can’t, won’t, or don’t see the point in all this nonsense? Do they say they’re happy on the outside, but are betrayed by their body language?

Voice

Whether or not to write an accent is entirely up to you. Books like Their Eyes Were Watching God writes dialogue in a vernacular specific to its characters. Westerners and southerners tend to be written with the southern drawl or dialect, ripe with stereotypical contractions. Be advised, however, that in attempt to write an accent to give your character depth, you could be instead turning off your audience who doesn’t have energy to decipher what they’re saying, or you went and wrote a racist stereotype.

Voice isn’t just accent and dialect, nor is it how it sounds, which falls more solidly under useful character descriptions. Voice for the sake of humanizing your characters concerns how they talk, how they convey their thoughts, and how they become distinct from other characters in dialogue and narration.

If you’re writing a narrative that hops heads and don’t want to include a big banner to indicate who’s talking at any given time, this is where voice matters. It is, I think, the least appreciated of all the possible traits to pay attention to.

First person narrators have the most flexibility here because the audience is zero degrees removed from their first-hand experiences. Their personality comes through sharply in how they describe things and what they pay attention to.

But it’s also in what similes and metaphors they use. I read a book that had an average (allegedly straight) male narrator going off and describing colors with types of flowers, some I had to look up because I just don’t know those off the top of my head. My immediate thought was either this character is a poorly written gay, or he’s a florist. Neither (allegedly), the writer was just being too specific.

Do they have crutch words they use? like, um, actually, so…, uh

Or repeat exclamations specific to them? yikes, yowzers, jeepers, jinkies, zoinks, balls, beans, d’oh!

Or idioms they’re fond of? Like a bat out of hell. Snowball’s chance.

Do they stutter when they’re nervous? Do they lose their train of thought and bounce around, losing other characters in the process? Do they have a non-Christian god they pray to and say something other than “thank God”? Are they from another country, culture, time period, realm, or planet with their own gods, beliefs, and idioms?

When they describe settings, how flowery is the language? Would this grizzled war hero use flowery language? How would he or she describe the color pink, versus a PTA mom? Do they use only a generic “blue, green, red” or do they really pay attention with “aquamarine, teal, emerald, viridian, vermillion, rose, ruby”?

How do this character’s hobbies affect how well they can describe dance moves, painting styles, car models, music genres?

This mostly matters when you’re head-hopping and the voice of the narrator serves to be more distinct, otherwise, what’s the point of head-hopping? Just use third-person omniscient.

If you really want to go wild, give a specific narrator unique syntax. Maybe one character is the ghost of Oscar Wild with never-ending run-on sentences. Just be sure to not go too overboard and compromise the integrity of your story.

In the book A Lesson Before Dying, a somewhat illiterate, underprivileged and undereducated minor has been given a mentor, a teacher, before they face the death penalty. At the end of the book, you read all of the letters they wrote to their teacher. There’s misspellings everywhere, almost no punctuation, and long, rambling sentences.

It’s heartbreaking. The subject matter is heavy and horrible, yes, but it’s the choice to write with such poor English that has a much bigger impact than perfect MLA format.

How to implement these details

Most of these, in the written medium, need only show up once or twice before your audience notices and wonders why they’re there. Most fall squarely under character design, which falls under exposition, and should follow all the exposition guidelines.

These details exist to be random and fluffy, but they can’t exist randomly within the narrative. If you want to have your character be superstitious, pick a relevant time to include that superstition.

Others, like ongoing speech habits or movements, still don’t overuse, especially if they’re unique. A character might like to sit backwards in a chair, but if you mention that they’re doing it every single time they sit down, your audience will wonder what’s so important and if the character is unwell.

And, of course, you can let these traits become thematically important, like a superstition being central to their personality or backstory or motivation. These all serve the same purpose of making your character feel like a real person instead of just a “character”.

Just think about tossing in a few random details every now and then and see what happens. One tiny sentence can take a background character and make them candidates for the eventual fandom’s fan favorite. Details like these turn your work from “This a story, and these are the characters who tell it” into “these are my characters, and this is their story.”

#writing advice #character design #writing tips #writing resources #exposition #writing tools #writing a book

[turtlesandfrogs]

Here's the actually* short notes for the course, "The Science of Well-Being" from Yale on coursera, which is available for free. Mostly focusing on the actionable steps.

Point the first: We/society at large is often wrong about what makes people happy/have a sense of well being. Unless you've been reading into motivation, happiness, flow, etc, already, in which case you're likely right on track.

We adapt to both good things and bad things, so neither one effects us as much as we think they will. Our brains adapt to, and filter out stimuli after a while. If we want to get the most enjoyment out of something/life, we should increase variety and take breaks. Like, drink a different kind of tea every day, or take breaks when listening to music. Also, practicing gratitude, savoring (pausing and intentionally appreciating the good moments in life), sharing experiences with others, and recalling past moments of joy. Also, you can practice negative visualization, when you on purpose think of how awful the world would be if you didn't have something that you do have.

A good job is one that allows you to practice your signature strengths and enter the flow state.

The income-increased happiness plateau is somewhere between $75k and $500k- but I found a recent article** after the comments to this effect, and "Yet is important to note that the relationship is weak, even if statistically robust. The correlation between average happiness and log(income) is 0.09 in the experience sampling data, for example, and the difference between the medians of happiness at household incomes of $15,000 and $250,000 is about five points on a 100-point scale. The flattening and accelerating patterns are even smaller modulations of a small effect. However, the emotional effects of other circumstances are also small. KD reported that the effect of an approximately four-fold difference in income is about equal to the effect of being a caregiver, twice as large as the effect of being married, about equal to the effect of a weekend, and less than a third as large as the effect of a headache." Which says to me I'm making the right move by going to a 4 day work week :P But seriously, that's great news.

We think in comparisons, and comparison is the thief of joy. You can reduce consumption of images of people who are richer, cooler, more skilled, etc than you, and that will help prevent mood deterioration. You can also reframe to compare to yourself in the past.

Being kind makes you and everyone involved happier. Buying things for others makes you happier than buying things for yourself. Giving to charity makes you happier if it builds social connection. (Why the focus on buying things to make you happier? Why not on actions you can take to make yourself or someone else happier? Probably because giving someone $20 is easier from a study's standpoint.)

Get 7 or more hours of sleep a day.

Move 30 minutes a day.

Meditate- look into mindfulness, loving kindness.

Social connection- doesn't have to be a romantic relationship! Just interacting with others, even strangers, makes us happier (still sounds fake to me, but I'm like a mega introvert). Spending time with people you like is good.

Having free time is important.

Create an environment that supports what ever change you're trying to make.

WOOP = Wish, Outcome, Obstacles, and Plan. "What's your wish for your goal? What's your best outcome? What are the obstacles? What's your if-then plan?" Really helps with actually accomplishing your goals.

*I realized I said short notes before, but then somehow that ended up being super long.

** Income and emotional well-being: A conflict resolved by Matthew A. Killingswortha, Daniel Kahnemanb, and Barbara Mellers

#happiness #wellbeing #how to be happy #health #mental health #is #physical health

[rillils]

how do explain stucky from the moment they met to where they are now (together in each others arms) to my friend who knows nothing about marvel

ohh this is a tough one, honey! i think i've got two options for you:

the short answer:

stucky is a compendium of all the best tropes out there, and i'm sure i'm gonna miss a few:

soulmates? check! star-crossed lovers? check! battle husbands? super check! mutual pining? check! 'and they were roommates'? check! best friends to lovers? check check check! long-lost lover comes back from the dead? fuck yeah, check! temporary amnesia? check! dude in distress trope? check! 'they will always find each other and choose each other in every lifetime'? also check! identity porn? extra check! saved by the power of love? you guessed it: check! slow burn or childhood sweethearts? you decide!!! did they share their first kiss when steve was 16, as per a popular fanon theory? did they only confess their feelings during the war? did they only get together much later, when bucky was healing in wakanda? you can pick literally ANY point in their timeline, and it will still make sense! they're all equally valid! you can even have multiple different headcanons at once, i mean who's gonna stop you??? all you have to do is join in the fun! 💕

the long AF answer, aka:

STEVE & BUCKY'S LOVE STORY, UNABRIDGED SOMEWHAT ABRIDGED, part 1/3

all right, let's set the scene:

imagine two young kids, let's call them steve and bucky. they meet, they immediately take to each other, they become instant besties! and as they grow up together, facing many hardships, their bond deepens. not only are they best friends; they are also each other's family. they take care of each other, and they both know they can always rely on one another in times of need.

when steve's mom (and only remaining relative) passes away, bucky reminds him that he's not as alone in this world as he thinks he is: bucky will always be by his side. bucky will always love him unconditionally, will always be there for him, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, and he wants steve to know that.

in fact, he asks steve to move in with him, thus offering steve both a literal and a metaphorical home.

and steve says yes!

SO. they are each other's home, they're living together, they're getting by all right. but then war breaks out, and eventually it reaches their little home as well: bucky is drafted, and steve, due to his many health issues, and despite his best intentions, can't follow the boy he loves onto the battlefield.

it's a very difficult time for them both - so much so that they can't even bring themselves to talk about it.

they have no choice but to say goodbye for now, knowing that they might never see each other again. but here's something you might not know yet about steve: he's the most reckless, most stubborn fucker america's ever seen. he's not gonna let this stop him!!! instead, he goes and gets a very sweet, kindly scientist to fucking experiment on him, because screw it, he's going to fight in this war if it's the last thing he does. and that's how he goes from Smol Steeb to Lorge Premium Steeb.

of course, things don't go exactly as he predicted, and steve is made to be the star of a war propaganda-fuelled musical kinda thingie, which he resents (but he looks fucking precious in his costume)

BUT! he does get closer to the actual battlefield. which is where he discovers that bucky has been captured by the enemy (!!!!!!!) and is most likely dead by now. but steve isn't willing to give up so easily! he'll believe bucky's dead when he sees it with his own eyes. so, he embarks on this suicide solo mission in the attempt to get bucky back, even if it means wandering on his own. into enemy territory. where he would be shot. on. sight. with no protection for his dumb ass except for a bunch of theater props!!! but such is the power of love, y'all.

against all odds, steve finds bucky very much still alive! and as soon as bucky recognizes him, even as confused as he is, he pulls out this beautiful, ecstatic, angelic-ass smile, like he's just seen god or he got high on some real good edibles or maybe both idk, like my man here was having a serious Religious Experience™ you guys

and i just wanna say, they could have totally kissed here and it would have made plenty of sense. but that's true of like 90% of their scenes in this franchise, so *shrugs*

ANYWAY steve takes bucky in his arms (well technically yes he does) and brings him to safety, and on their way there, bucky proves once more just how hard he meant that "with you til the end of the line" from before

afterwards, steve is finally given the chance to fight, just like he wanted.

bucky, on the other hand, could very well leave the war behind and go home; but when he learns that steve is staying, he chooses to stay too, and fight by his side. and he tells steve so in this very intimate, softspoken, delightfully suggestive conversation, which can be summed up like this:

and so they walk right back into the heart of the fight, only this time together, as they were always meant to be!

but. during an especially tricky mission, they're surprised by the enemy, and as a result, bucky falls to his death into a deep ravine.

steve is devastated. overwhelmed with guilt, grief and rage, he vows to bring down the people responsible for his loss, even if it costs him his own life.

and um, it kind of does? cost him his own life?

victorious after his last vis-a-vis with The Antagonist™, steve still chooses to sacrifice himself to prevent the catastrophe set into motion by the aforementioned Antagonist™. he's flying a jet over the frosty expanse of the atlantic, and you know, from the outside, you could easily argue that he could try to save himself. if he really wanted to. but with bucky dead, and the people responsible for all this pain, either dead or captured, it seems like all the will to fight is gone from steve; and so he plunges the jet straight into the ocean, and himself with it.

is this the end of their story?, you might ask.

the answer is: of course not!!!! the best is yet to come, babes!!!

EDIT: here is part 2

#stucky just stucky #personal #stucky #yes this is very dumb but dumb is my middle name lmao #i hope the read more works?????????? #are all the pictures even there???? #i'm too tired to check agsdjahkasdjk #sorry it took me a while to reply honey!!!! #i hope you're having a fantastic day!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 #the silly stucky recap you didn't ask for #rillers scribbles

[gabessquishytum]

CW hospitals and medical stuff heyo! This is based partially off of my experience and therefore will probably be more on par with things in america.

Hob and Dream both get sent to the ER separately. Hob over a sport’s injury and Dream having some incredibly horrid insomnia issues. Hob and Dream sit next to each other coincidentally and unfortunately for Dream, Hob’s a talker. Dream is not even listening half convinced Hob’s lost it when they both suddenly notice an Elderly woman and her son come in, she is in a lot of pain and the son says he’ll be back to take a smoke break.

“he’s going to leave her here” Dream mutters the first time he’s spoken in the hour they’ve been there.

“No that’s horrible! Who would do that to their mother?” Hob asks

“people have problems, you don’t know about,”

hob hums thoughtfully,

“I’ll bet you twenty dollars her son comes back”

dream simply nods feeling he is about to become twenty dollars richer. When thirty minutes later the son comes back.

“yes,” Hob whispers “hope in humanity triumphs!”

Dream grumbles and starts digging through his purse.

“I was kidding, I don’t need the money, I’m Hob by the way”

“I know,” Dream says. “I also know you were born in 1989”

Hob is taken aback “how’d you know that?”

“you loudly proclaimed your date and birth when you were getting checked in”

“oh you cheeky bastard I like you,”

so for the next six hours that they are waiting they swap stories and make more bets. Hob finally gets a room and dream bemoans the fact that he forgot to ask for Hob’s number. Until… Dream gets his room and hey turns out he’s rooming with Hob!

“hey stranger,”

“Robert”

Dream sits down primly on his bed. Hob’s injury is fairly severe so he has to stay a few days, and so does Dream but Hob’s not exactly sure why, they’ve always got him hooked up to the vital machine but he doesn’t seem…sick? by day three Dream is defeated. “Hey Dream…what’s wrong?”

“they won’t let me go home, until I get a full eight hours,”

“oh…”

“I CANT sleep hob! I don’t know what’s wrong with me! Why can’t I do a basic human function like every other human being!” it then occurs to Hob that he’s never seen Dream sleep, Dream was awake when hob fell asleep and already up when Hob woke up. Hob assumed he slept while the other was sleeping but apparently not.

“you want to try something a tad bit unorthodox?” “I’ll do anything,” dream practically begs.

“wanna cuddle?”

“but I’m hooked up to the monitor and-“

“I’ll come to you,”

“but your foot”

“I’ll come to you”

Dream finally nods and Hob hobbles over to his bedside they managed to get themselves in an order where dream was laying on top of Hob’s chest.

“Comfy?” Hob asks, and Dream practically purrs like a cat. hob rubs his back with one hand and runs his fingers through his think dark black hair with the other and Dream? Dream falls asleep and stays asleep. the next morning Dream’s doctor comes in and is like “Did you mess with the monitor it says you got a full eight hours,”

“No sir, I simply found a natural remedy,”

Hob waves to the doctor, he’s back in his own bed.

the doctor still wants to monitor Dream for a few days to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Eventually Hob decides to just stay in bed with Dream, it’s easier on his foot that way. and once the two have fully recovered after a few weeks, they go on their first of many dates.

-🦎 anon

Thank you for sending this!!! The dialogue you've added really made me melt, they're so sweet. I love the image of Hob, well, hobbling over to Dream with his broken foot. The doctor and the nurses on duty all pretend to be cross about breaking hospital rules, it's really not allowed, blah blah blah. But no one actually tells Hob to get out of Dream’s bed. They can see that he's curing their grumpiest (affectionate) and most horribly sleep deprived patient, and despite the rules they're not going to interfere with such clear progress.

The problem comes when both of them are discharged. Dream will no longer be able to sleep on top of Hob. But there is one solution - Hob could do with a bit of home help, with his foot still unusable. Dream immediately offers his services (he's a terrible nurse but he tries his best, bless him) in exchange for a solid 8 hours passed out with his head on Hob’s chest.

When they finally leave Hob’s flat for that long awaited date, Hob still has the cute hobbly walk, and Dream still has dark circles under his eyes. But they're MUCH better together. And yes, Dream is moving in to Hob’s place properly tomorrow <3

#🦎 anon #the sandman #dreamling

[inkskinned]

Genuine question, because I don't know a lot about the topic and you're:

If someone identifies as non-binary and genderfluid, which from what I've gathered means something like "human" instead of male or female, doesn't that imply that women are not humans , like whole complete people with richer inner lives? And why is a dislike for (performative) femininity combined with a preference for things that are stereotypically associated with maleness an indicator that one is genderfluid? Does that mean a woman is only a woman if she loves to do make-up, wants to be a mother, only wears skirts, dresses and high heels, shaves daily, is always kind and never angry, has long hair, hates to get dirty and so on? Because I have never met a woman who's exactly like that in my life, but plenty who liked gaming, sports, being loud, opposed to shaving & make-up, who wore pants every day.

I do not believe this is a genuine question, but I'll answer it as if it was, just in case other people have to deal with this, and would like someone who is patient enough to give them the words. The argument you're making here is something that already stems from a deep logical fallacy in the beginning argument. You assume "If you are neither A nor B, and instead C, you think that A cannot be C."

It is a logical fallacy to say "X implies Y" when it does not do so. By this logic, I also believe men are not human. By this logic, I believe only nb people are human.

Some - but not all - rectangles are squares. Some - but not all - animals are dogs. Some humans are nb.

I have given no information about how I present, nor my interests. I am not going to give you that information, because it's irrelevant. What I need you to understand is that, again, you are making the incorrect logical assumption that "If a person dislikes X and likes Y, they must be Z." For all you know, I dislike performative masculinity and like stereotypically feminine preferences.

You then assume your own statement is correct and move forward with your logic as if I had debated you. This is not a "genuine question" about how nb people work, this is assuming being nb is based on a series of preferences.

As a teacher, I do think it's important to tell you: even if this is coming from a genuinely confused place: you are conducting bad research. You begin with an inherently flawed question, as it biased and assumes a position I must defend against - "why don't you see women as people?" Then you make logical conclusions about my personhood and experiences and ask inflammatory questions as if you were debating me, which I am not interested in doing.

If you were my student, and genuinely curious about how nb people see gender, I'd have no trouble with you asking an out nb content creator. If you're really trying to collect information, ask honestly, without personal bias. Here's some examples of what a genuine question would have looked like: - Do your preferences play into your gender identity? - How has being nb informed how you see femininity and masculinity? - What tools do you use to express your gender?

You are mistaking gender expression and gender roles as being part of my identity.

You are most crucially mistaking being nonbinary as being part of the binary and having to exist "in opposition" to other genders in order for it to "make sense". One of the most freeing things about realizing I was nb is that I don't exist in opposition to anything - and also that all gender works similarly.

Gender is a describing word, and this can be confusing for some people. In general, we tend to learn describing words in binary - short/tall, old/young, kind/mean. Therefore, there are (many) people who think - feminine/masculine must be oppositional. Gender is also a feeling word - and again, these are words that can be taught in opposition to each other. Hungry/sated, happy/sad, feminine/masculine.

But because gender is such a rare type of word - feeling and describing - it exists outside of binary. It exists more like art exists.

Green can exist in opposition to red, but it also just exists as its own color. Blue is a part of green, but it is also a part of yellow - blue is still its own color, and yellow is still its own color, and green is still its own color. One painting titled "still-life with fruit" may be a series of vague colors and boxes. Another may be a hyper-realistic singular plum. They are both how the artist expresses their personal vision of the fruit. They might even be by the same artist! And although we may compare them, they are not opposites.

One song by Hozier is not in opposition to one song by Britney Spears. They are different styles, not oppositional styles. You may choose to see them as oppositional - but that is your personal opinion, and not fact. And some people may feel and experience those songs as being actually incredibly in-line with each other.

This is why we say: gender is a spectrum. That all gender roles are made up. Personality, interests, and experiences may shape how someone sees and feels their gender, but it does not define how they see and feel their gender.

When we question gender roles and gender expression like this, it tends to make people upset. People like me tend to make people upset. So much bigotry is based on the lie that "feminine" and "masculine" are oppositional. Opposition is rigid and important - it keeps white hegemonic structures in power. I don't have time or space in this post to talk about how rigid gender roles/enforced gender expression rules are not just sexist but also racist, classist, ableist, homophobic, and bigoted; but I really recommend you do the research on how disruption of the gender binary might put the patriarchy at risk.

The thing you feel trapped by - that "being a woman" is a complicated series of rules - is exactly the kind of thing a nonbinary person would agree with you about. We have to fight hard to be recognized for what is a basic truth about our identity - of course we don't believe that gender expression is equivalent to gender identity.

And truth be told... I think you kind of knew that. I think you kind of knew all of this. I am going to hope that you are young. I'll tell you this: I was raised by someone who was a far-right extremist catholic asshole. I certainly didn't have the research/knowledge/exposure to interrogate this stuff honestly until I was probably 23.

I am so much happier now. I hope one day you get the same opportunities as I had. I hope you choose to move away from bigotry.

love u anyway. all this in kindness only.

#to be deleted #do i accidentally give my short lesson on gender here? yeah #<3 in this u can tell exactly the age that i taught for 15 years lmao #but also like. #yeah you got me.... i have never met a woman before and i totally think women are only fembots #meanwhile every person who has ever read my writing: #every 3rd week this bitch is on her bullshit about how unfair gender rules for women are #this is actually more to help other nb people whom i KNOW get questions like this #than it is to inform the anon #who like v clearly is not doing this in good faith #this is just like the 10th one i got like this #that first logical jump of - you think ur not male or female but human so therefore #women aren't people #was just SO wild .... like #yeah!!! that's totally a normal thing to assume! #do you think people who are like ''well yeah im from america #but i wouldnt consider myself to be from any particular state'' #are actually saying ''i don't think states are american'' #hell when i say #im cuban but i obvi grew up in america im just the daughter of an immigrant #nobody is like -- well. raquel. that means u think no americans live in cuba huh #anyway love u bye #okay to reblog #!! #love u

[noroi1000]

can i request a reader x gojo royal au where gojo is the famous crown prince of an extremely powerful empire and reader is the famous yet infamous commander of the imperial knight who's known for their great looks and beauty and being unbeatable and ruthlessly powerful monster because they've never lost a battle no matter his powerful and/or big opponent is. for some person preferences abt the reader is that they're tall ( as gojo or nearly as him ) and 2-3 years older than him and because gojo n reader are like known as the strongest n deadliest duo , this also causes reader x gojo to be "shipped" which is one of the many reasons ppl think reader will be the future empress and gojo loves the reader a lot n reader does too , it's just they love him "lesser"(?) .

also if u write this and might add nsfw which is preferable as well but also ok if u don't. but if u write i'd prefer the reader to be the more dominant one.

Commander

Paring: prince Gojo Satoru x commander Fem reader (royal AU)

Cw: 3.1k

Tw:, violence, smut (overstimulation, blowjob, dom! reader, sub!Gojo, he is a good boy)

"Everyone at attention! Your commander is coming!"

All the people who served for the imperial army were terrified.

The word "commander is coming" is something the rookies especially didn't want to hear. They don't know the commander. They don't know what kind of person he will be.

Often the commander is a person with great experience in battles. "He" perfectly knows strategies and can manage all people. "He" must also be able to fight, and be at the highest level. Like the mightiest warrior among others who can fight.

Power cannot be attributed to the kingdom. Power, wealth, power. Respect of others. And also that the people adore the ruler, as well as the heir to the throne. In this kingdom, the best is for people. There are no cruel conditions. And all this invites travelers and merchants to come. They then make the kingdom richer.

And the more money there is that can be spent on defending and improving conditions, the better it is for people.

There can only be one mightiest warrior.

According to everyone, it can be.

The most powerful duo. It couldn't be.

According to other kingdoms, as well as the elders living within the borders themselves, the heir to the throne is the most powerful.

A person who intimidates an enemy with just a glance. Someone who, being on the battlefield when needed, has never been hurt. For example, when there is a chance that the opponent will surrender peacefully and peace should be made under conditions.

The reason for the lack of battle wounds and scars is how trained this man is to fight. And also that the person to be called the strongest is also the commander who does not leave the side of his ruler.

Someone considered a monster. A man who can single-handedly defeat a group of intimidating opponents. Including the most armed, largest and heaviest. Like a walking and killing lump of iron.

Anyone who heard about the stories must have been scared.

The new men who joined the troops were afraid of meeting the general.

They were often surprised.

There was one thing that happened every time the others were surprised. A few always had to resist. And then they humbly put their faces on the ground. Until the rest realized that the commander is no joke.

"Attention! nits! Don't embarrass me in front of the great commander!" shouted the commander of this detachment.

Hearing soft noises and footsteps, many people wanted to turn around and look.

Curiosity was the death of fools. It was doom. Even being in a place with people who are on the same side.

Even the curiosity about the commander and the look could become something that will determine the future.

You are placed above other squad leaders.

Many have not dared to look at the "monster" who commands them. For as long as they had the chance. They didn't look. They followed orders without hesitation. They all knew that dying at the hands of the enemy would be easier than pissing off the general and making their lives worse than dying.

As always, something happened that others can warn against. Not showing respect.

You steered your legs the way you always did. Forward without looking back. Paying no attention to the people who bowed to you and showed you respect.

You wanted one person to give you attention. Nobody from here. Someone you see every day, but it's still not enough.

You love how the crown prince holds you in his arms. Or you love how you can hold it.

You are the great commander. And also the commander of the squad that is supposed to guard his majesty.

No. You are a general, but you only appear on the battlefield. You command an elite protecting the most important people. You are not very famous as a person. You're famous for fighting. You have no say in political matters. Why? Because you're not a man…

You are a strategist for the prince and the emperor. You are so powerful that the kingdom's elite soldiers are nothing.

You rule troops and other commanders. However, you cannot show yourself to the elders because they will not recognize you as a true fighting leader.

You're tall, you can fight. But you have feminine shapes. And also beauty.

Everyone is afraid of you as a "monster" that destroys the enemy.

You are infamous as you. But everyone has heard of a monster that defeats opponents twice as large.

You are recognized as the commander of the Emperor's Guard. They have great respect for you. But as more than that, you can't say that.

Even though they know your strength, to most men in the entire military, you're just a woman. And they won't let you order them around.

Your beloved is called famous but infamous. There's nothing unpleasant about that.

That's why most don't know you as you. Everyone tells stories about an invincible person who has survived so many fights that it is impossible to count them. That this person is someone very powerful and terrible. They think that when you look at the commander, you can die.

You can do a lot. And you're not going to react to how others think of you. Let them think what they want. Those who don't know you will live in fear of you. Those who get to know you will either accept it or not. They may die in combat. Or learn a lesson from you if they piss you off too much.

You sighed as you walked forward.

"Toru… You don't know how much I wish I was with you right now and not here…" You groaned as you looked up at the sky that reminded you so much of his eyes.

You saw a group of people standing at attention.

You were supposed to go to them… Why exactly you… Anyone else could have given the squad commander a place to guard the boundaries…

You were supposed to go to the throne room today. To your Satoru. You've known each other almost since you were little.

From the beginning of your acquaintance, they say that you will be the future empress.

That's what Satoru says, just like his father. And also everyone around.

Ignoring the slightly bowing people to your left, you gave the squad leader a message about where to go.

Everything was supposed to be so easy. As soon. If only one person didn't answer.

"What the hell is that?! This is supposed to be the strongest commander? That famous commander? I will not serve under a woman!"

"Begins…" you thought and rolled your eyes.

"You have no right to undermine the position of someone above you!" shouted the commander next to you.

Out of many other commanders, he is the one who has the most respect for you. A middle-aged man, he may be getting old, but you have nothing against him. A man trained as a samurai is someone you could show respect to. However, you are on friendly terms.

If everything ended now, you'd be with Satoru in half an hour.

But apparently you need to deal with the asshole. Because he just pisses you off. There's nothing else you can do. You like your position. And also that you can see how people like them must be lower than you. That you can be next to Satoru and they have to bow down.

You turned to look at everyone. Most of them didn't meet your eyes. Not even on you.

"Whoever said that, step down!" you said loudly, waiting for him to appear in front of you.

The squad leader ordered everyone else to move away. Because he knew what was about to happen.

As one man stood in the middle, you adjusted your hair as well as loose clothing.

You never wear armor. If you put something on, it's only on your forearms and knees.

Same now.

Plus, Satoru made you wear something he likes on you. And armor is not his dream sight.

And since you are his guard, he chose the clothes for you. The imperial guard stands out from

You jumped off the platform and stood three meters in front of him.

"Give him a weapon. A sword, a spear. Whatever." you said resting your wrist on the katana by your side.

You can't walk around unarmed.

"If you win against me, you will take my place as commander of the Emperor's guard." You said dismissively.

The commander behind you was already grabbing his head, thinking about preparing a stretcher to take a man who could soon be dead.

You thought the one standing in front of you was disgusting in his own way. About your height, which is tall. A head with unwashed black hair, a neglected face with stubble on it.

You don't know if you're the only one in this group who thinks he's disgusting.

Honestly, you wouldn't want to touch someone that dirty.

You have nothing against dirt and blood. However, sweat and dirt sticking to it repel you. You feel like you're about to cringe just thinking about the smell.

Satoru never smells like that. He's quite different from this man.

Would you let someone like that stand by Satoru's side?

You closed the distance between you.

"Draw your sword. Whoever makes the deadly move first wins. Cutting off the opponent's limbs also wins." You said calmly.

Next to you, the commander stopped counting, and suddenly gave a shout to start.

Swinging in your direction, the guy didn't feel his hands drop the sword through the pain, and there was a blade at his neck.

You only used the blunt part of the sword to disarm him. You didn't think it would be this easy.

Another shout of the older man next to him signaled the end of the "duel".

"That's why you have no right to challenge my position. You're a piece of shit that can't hold a sword long enough." You turned around and started walking towards the path leading to the emperor's mansion. To the palace where you can finally meet your Satoru.

You heard some screams behind you. You turned sideways to notice the light reflecting off the metal sword as the blade got closer and closer to your face.

You ducked away. You hit the blunt part of your sword against the front of his knees.

You straightened up and sheathed your sword.

The guy behind you fell on his face crying in pain.

"His bones fell out of joints. Adjust it and it will be better." you said ignoring his crying.

Standing in front of the sliding door, you waited for them to let you in.

"Gojo-sama. Commander of the imperial troops , (y/n) (l/n), came." You heard them inform him.

Hold back a smile just hearing his voice.

"(y/n)? Let her in quickly." he said.

You walked inside, watching him as he sat on the soft mat.

"Everyone leave right now." he waved his hand, throwing everyone out of the room.

As the door closed behind you, you smiled at him.

He extended his hand to you, inviting you closer.

You quickly walked over to him and jumped into his lap, cuddling up to his arm.

"Bunch of idiots… Satoru… I don't want to waste my time like this anymore…"

"So you will stay with me all the time. What do you think?" he asked wrapping his arms around you.

"What about my job?"

"You still work but next to me. It's the same." He chuckled.

"You're right."

"Do you know… My father said he wanted to give you a different, more enjoyable job."

"What?" You asked, holding onto his clothes as he maneuvered your thighs so you could hug him tighter.

"Be my empress."

"…That again…" you groaned. You don't know if you're ready for this. But that would really be the best.

"What? You're so strong and beautiful."

A slight blush appeared on your cheeks.

"And you're so cute when you blush." He grabbed your chin to make you look at him.

There's something else you love about this filtering, handsome prince…

His face when he submits to you in everything. And also that he allows you to be the one who dominates him.

"You're cute too, Satoru." You said smiling.

You suddenly wrapped your thighs around his waist and squeezed tight.

Also settling more firmly on his crotch.

He grunted blushing.

"(y/n)…"

You felt his muscles tense. He grabbed your hips and started to get up.

"Do you think I can't get up like this?" he asked, smiling smugly.

"Try it if you really want to."

You gripped his arms tighter.

You're not that small. You are high. Higher than anyone could have expected.

The prince is very tall. Over 190 centimeters. And you're less than 10 centimeters shorter than him. There's not much of a height difference between you two.

Anyone these days would say that a woman must be beautiful to her husband and submit to him.

But nobody told you that Satoru is so cute when he moans for you. And you weren't told that the crown prince is such a sweet boy when he does what you tell him to do.

"You're so strong…" you murmured, whispering in his ear.

He walked a few meters to his feet and laid you down on the bed.

"To you I am strong. As are you to me. My little commander."

You smiled as he ran his fingers lightly down your thighs.

"Be a good boy and lie down next to me, okay?" You patted the spot on the bed.

"I am your prince. Shouldn't I be ordering you around?" He smiled and his body pulled at you

"oh yeah. You're my prince, but you're cute when you do what I tell you. And you also know that my orders are good for you. Also, remember I'm older." You showed him the spot on the bed again.

"Two years isn't much, you know that, right?"

He moved closer and suddenly laid down next to you.

"But you listened to me. You like it. Now lie down. I'll work on you a bit."

You sat on his lap, already rocking your hips.

You can already tell it's getting hard. After all, he really liked it when you called him a good boy.

You know he's big. Sometimes that's an exaggeration. But you're doing great. You can even destroy it. You know the ways to make him moan and cry for you. He looks so sweet then.

You noticed him staring at your chest.

"Do you want to get it off of me?" You asked looking into his eyes.

He smiled and nodded.

"I'll let you if you promise to show me how good you are."

He stared at you for a moment before nodding his head blushing. He knew what you meant.

You stopped moving your hips, helping him get your clothes off well.

You promised him something, so even the fact that he groaned sadly when he lost the friction didn't stop him from having fun.

You promised him that whatever was pleasant for you would also be pleasant for him.

By the time you sat completely naked on his hips again, he was completely hard.

"You're perverted. What are you imagining?"

"How you ride me. How you moan. How you come."

"We'll see who comes."

You grabbed all the layers of his clothes and pushed them away until you had perfect access to his throbbing cock.

You got off of him, settling between his legs. You touched the inside of his thigh, signaling him to spread his legs more.

Then you wrapped one hand around its base, lazily dragging your fingers higher and higher.

His chest began to rise faster and faster as you placed your fingers on either side of his cock, already under the head. You lightly squeezed and massaged.

Holding it that way, you leaned in, licking the base of it and placing a kiss on his testicles. Hearing his moan made you feel a pleasant shiver down your legs.

You ran your tongue along the vein running by the side of his penis, all the way to the tip where you sucked mercilessly, causing him to moan further.

You pulled away seeing a drop of pre-sperm appear on the tip of it, slowly dripping down its tip.

You put your thumb on his cleft.

Without looking at his contorted face in a grimace, you only listened to his moans.

Especially when you started petting him quickly, adding kisses on his head.

"(y-y/n)… I… I'm going to cum…" he groaned breathlessly. His hips twitched, pushing his length into your hands.

As his breathing quickened even more, you pulled away from him. Almost seeing him cry as his orgasm left him.

"Just a moment. Be patient for a while." You said reassuringly.

You got up to kneel over him.

You swung one leg over his hips and used two fingers to align his cock with your entry.

When you were sure he wouldn't come the moment he entered you, you plopped down on top of him quickly, keeping him inside without moving.

Letting your pussy squeeze and suck him in.

You've also gotten used to stretching. It's not over today.

You rolled your hips a few times, and the moment he threw his head back and gasped, you lifted your hips, leaving him without touch. Again.

Before he could say anything, you placed his length over his stomach and pressed your bottom lips against his circumference, driving your hips back and forth.

His soft grunts and moans didn't escape so your ears couldn't hear them. You heard everything and lived his pleasure.

"I'm–"

Before he could finish, you took his cock and rubbed the head against your clit.

"Cum." you ordered.

His cock twitched and white semen flowed out of the slit, hitting your clit. You let him go, watching him shoot at his stomach and even his chest.

He put his hand over his eyes as he breathed to calm himself down and get off the high.

When he was done, you grabbed his softening cock and gave him a few push-ups, making sure he was done.

You rubbed the wet tip a few times, hearing your prince hiss from overstimulation.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.

You guided him to your entrance with both hands, stopping his softening. He was going to harden now.

He moaned loudly as your pussy stretched over him, grabbing him and pulling him deeper inside.

He grabbed your thighs, showing his completely red face.

"Give me a moment…" he moaned, holding you still.

You moved your hips slightly, testing him. He tilted his head back.

You ran your fingers over his chest muscles, collecting white droplets before putting your fingers in your mouth.

"This time we'll come together. Hands above your head. Let me work on you. The more you obey, the less you will wait for rest."

#jjk x reader #jjk gojo #jujutsu kaisen #satoru gojo #gojo satoru #gojo x reader #jujustu kaisen #jujutsu gojo #gojo x y/n #gojo x reader x geto #gojou satoru x reader #jjk x y/n #x reader insert #sub gojo satoru #dom reader #Smut #jjk smut #jujutsu kaisen smut #gojo smut #royal au

[alienpossession]

So I recently connected with some other authors here and read some alien-based stories that inspired me. This is a one-off from a series called Check-Up by @fullfriendnerdpurse hopefully I do your series justice

Check Up: Eric

A young and nerdy scientist worked on side by side to let powerful men around his own proximity and even the whole world fell victim to the control of a crash-landed small batch of extraterrestrial civilization. His lustful desire to the idea of having the apex of human civilization succumbed to the control of him and his invader buddies blinded him. He's sick and tired with the way society treated him and constantly paid attention to the type of men that pushed people around with their powerful influencer or their good looks and muscle. One of them is named Eric

The alien shoved into him clearly enjoyed the otherworldly senses it instantly felt upon controlling Eric's muscle tank body. The testosterone that coursed through his physical system, the complexity of his muscle and organ that far exceeded the complexity of the slimy being, the way his whole body emitted this powerful aroma and pheromone, the alien just knows it acquired a very fine specimen in human standard

A gym junkie with a day job as premium real estate agent, Eric is also a fine stepping stones to access an even richer and more douchebag section of the society. He's been proven useful as he managed to work alongside the nerd to acquire more bodies for the alien as he lured in the interested property buyer into the property where the nerd already waited with a scoop of slimy alien ready to be shoved up into these rich people's orifices

The alien inside Eric also love to tap into Eric's hidden submissiveness. While the real Eric might not be too keen to tap into his more vulnerable side, the alien love to exploit it because Eric's body just responded to it very well with the hardening cock that leaked pre which the alien always enjoyed to experience. So sometimes, after a day where he helped the nerd acquire another bodies, the alien would make Eric said things like

"Look at you buff dumb bull. After fucking up your own marriage to serve small puddle of slime, now you fucked up another family! Because of you, the 27th richest man in America and his 31 years old son controlled by alien now and you are fucking hard because of it! You stupid little slut, a body so big but there's nothing inside of it,"

The alien also remain amazed with its vessel's physique even after months living as him. Either through his social media activity that the nerd watched or when they have video call, it is one of the vessel that is having the most fun utilizing its vessel as it makes Eric more on the playful side rather than arrogant.

During his latest check-up after the video call from the previous week, he welcomed the nerd while doing workout in his garage. He's shirtless and only using a pretty colorful socks (something the alien also love to add to Eric's monochromatic attire set) paired with a tight compression that hid nothing to the imagination.

After doing some more rep of his workout while updating the nerd with info about his activity for the past 1 month, they walked in and the nerd then watched him cleaned up after himself for the check up. He skipped showering for most of the time unless he really need to such as meeting prospective buyer, so the idea of clean up is simply him changing clothes.

Being the playful slime that it is, it started teasing the nerdy scientist as Eric suddenly started jiggling his own ass in the tight short shorts and folded himself to present his ass to the nerd with its vial

"Please, it's been a while. I'll shoot my load if you just pressed that tip in, nerd. Just do it,"

The nerd just smirked, the perks of being the number one ally for a cooperative alien civilization really becomes the number one reason why he's constantly in search for more vessel to acquire, and with the way that the slime multiplies, it seems like there's no stopping soon

#alien possession #male possession #alien expansion #check up

[bullet-prooflove]

Meet The Writer! - Also a Year in Review

I don't usually do this but I thought I would throw up a meet the author post so you could get to know me a little more!

I think sometimes it's hard to remember that's actual people behind the usernames we see on our screens so I thought I'd pop up and say Hi.

So a few things about me:

I'm 36 heading towards 37.

I have a Master's in Creative Writing and run a very small, local social media company, which is more side hustle then income but I love my clients.

In April I came off my antidepressants for the first time in over a decade and it was like I could see the world in technicolour, music sounded richer to me and it completely changed my life.

I've struggled with mental health issues the majority of my life, the latest being August of this year when I had a breakdown which has led to a complete re-evalutation of my life. It made me very ill and I am still in recovery as we speak.

In August/Sept I started putting out my work for publication and have been published three times this year.

In Nov I quit my job working with teens in the care system due to a toxic workplace situation that caused my breakdown. This was truly terrifying as I am not entitled to any benefits because frankly the UK benefits system is a joke.

Doing this has given me the space to look at what I want to do moving forward. I signed up to a few places as a creative writing tutor and had my first client on 30th Dec. I honestly loved the experiance and have decided it's something all the time. So if you're looking for help with that pain in the ass manuscript hit me up!

I'm also developing a portfolio as a makeup artist and gel nail tech, things I wanted to explore when I was working full time but never had the chance to.

When I look back I can't believe how much has changed for me in the past year and I never envisioned that I'd be where I am now. There have been times when I've thought I wouldn't make it through the year but I did and I'm still here, still growing. I guess I hope that if there's anyone else out there, who has struggled or is struggling this resonates with you.

You're not alone, I've been there and so many other people have too. We are more than just names behind a keyboard and I thought it was just important to remember that.

Anyway I've rambled long enough!

Happy New Year to everyone who is trying to make it in this messy world.

#meet the writer #writer life

[ghost-proofbaby]

I would love a Getting to Know Eddie with your coffee shop blues Eddie. (I’ll let Abi ask for Maroon). 😘

(oh i don’t think i could tell abi much more about maroon eddie than i already have. the space under my desk when im writing maroon literally has her name on it <3)

alright. so. COFFEE SHOP BLUES EDDIE. first and foremost, that eddie is from my purely self indulgent barista!au for those of you who don’t know. for legal reasons, it’s totally not based on true experiences or a very real company. totally not. for legal reasons. but, the entire premise is this eddie entirely untouched from the upside down — non-canon compliance so we can be happy for once baby ! — and just playing around with who he is without all that. he gets the job as a barista, he’s a damn pessimist, and- well, i liked to play around with what would happen if he was the grumpiest barista to ever exist and got reality checked by a sunshine-incarnate barista. and, spoiler alert, the boy would probably melt. he does melt.

my inspiration is drawn entirely from uh… well… can i have a lawyer if i admit this? nah im just kidding he’s based on my own experiences! and contrary to what plenty of people have said to me (if i had a nickel every time said they imagine me as reader i’d be far richer than i am which makes me so 😭), eddie is the character based around me. i think he’d react very similarly to how i do most of the time at work. being grumpy, being so easily inconvenienced by every small thing, always huffing and puffing and wanting to be better. and i think reader is what i’d like to be. at the end of the day, it’s just a nice way to romanticize life, i guess. <3

my favorite headcanon that i’ve never shared in the story is that everyone actually finds that he’s very good at his job. it’s emphasized he isn’t necessarily friends with the other baristas, and there’s a whole lot of him internally comparing himself to the people he thinks do the job better (*cough* reader *cough*), but that whole “i can do better. i have to do better” mentality has led him to being quite good at the job actually. he puts himself down, says he isn’t that good, etc. but he is. customers like that feline grumpiness (the girls that come in regularly for frappucinos in the afternoon are always secretly hoping he’s there, definitely living their ‘i can fix him’ fantasy despite reader already having set sail on that boat), his coworkers admire him albeit they get a lil scared of him due to resting bitch face, and all that. he makes a mean fucking cappuccino. his drinks always just taste better. he’s just good. he’ll never admit it, but damn is he good at his job.

on a casual day, this man is living in comfy clothes. big band tees, plaid pajama pants or sweats. the only time he puts on jeans these days is when he works. which, i mean, listen — he works often. he lives his days by what shift he has, not by days of the week. weekends are nonexistent to him. he’s earned some damn comfort when he’s just at home, ya know? (also, most of his clothes that aren’t graphic tees or comfy pants just stink of coffee these days. ugh.)

his favorite food is probably the cake pops at work. he’s a sweet tooth fiend with them. someone accidentally breaks one when opening the packages? oh no !! he’ll take that off their hands. all of his free food mark outs? 50% cake pops. he’s on food? he’s definitely accidentally bagging and slipping one or two off to the side for himself. sometimes coworkers will try to convince him when he’s on the food position to slip them a free cake pop as well, and every time, he’s flipping them the bird and a quick “steal on your own time, bud”. (unless it’s reader. unless it’s sunshine. then, he’s caving, handing over the birthday cake pop he just marked out for himself without second thought. even if he rolls his eyes as he does it — he’d give her the world if she just asked).

his family situation is pretty close to canon — wayne. and obviously he has hellfire, he has corroded coffin, but all of those are just… small things. he’s finally graduated in this universe, so hellfire doesn’t meet as often. corroded coffin’s members are still in their senior year, so sometimes studying for a calculus test is overriding band practice for them. which i mean, was a bummer and led to him needing a distraction like a part time job (also — money) but it’s all good now, cause he gets to bug Sunshine on his days off when he’s bored. they’ve definitely exchanged numbers, and they’re definitely sending each other an obligatory dumb meme a day. sorry, i don’t make the rules.

he likes pop music. don’t ever ask him about it, he denies it, but Sunshine got him into all those radio hits. he’ll find himself humming along to the radio at work constantly too. and, the one time he and Sunshine worked a very rare, LITERALLY only happened once close together, they definitely were belting out britney spears’ “hit me baby one more time”, dancing around the closed stores and eddie using the mop as a mic while Sunshine tried to stock up all the cups. the shift on duty was unamused, to say the least.

he’s pretty pessimistic in all avenues, but there’s something deep inside of him that’s just a bit hopeless romantic. especially after meeting Sunshine. he listens to her prattle about her romance books all day, and he hates the fact that he finds himself smiling at some of those different scenarios she’s gushing about. but it’s cute, okay? besides, it’s only giving him more ideas about how to wow his favorite barista. sex, on the other hand, he’s still pretty bland on. he’s had one or two one night stands, names he’s forgotten at the Hideout after shows, and he’s not really got the energy to be some sex-crazed fuckboy. listening to his coworkers’ hookup stories and relationship problems work pretty well to remind him he could be doing far worse (but if anyone were to ask him what he thought of Sunshine in that context? oh. oh the poor boy. the scary dog facade fades, and his ears have never been pinker as he’s stuttering about having to grab something from the back that he just stocked. he’s just grateful she never seems to have her own escapades to talk about — he probably wouldn’t survive the world-ending jealousy that would cloud his vision.)

pessimistic. so so pessimistic.

a couple months ago, he would have said his room. alone. or practicing with cc, on his guitar. or behind his dm screens, watching as his little sheep panicked over the latest twist he’s revealed for his current campaign.

but now? maybe he’s just gone soft, but the first place he thinks of is a rainy afternoon in the back of his van, his head in Sunshine’s lap as they listen to the slight drizzle bounce off the roof. he swears if he closes his eyes, he can still feel her fingers against his scalp.

---

JO. JO. I DON'T HAVE THE ORIGINAL POST FOR THIS. I DON'T KNOW WHAT PARAGRAPH IS ANSWERING WHAT PROMPTS. but honestly, even now that i'm free of the siren, i wanna post this. i love prattling on about our little grumpy barista. i luv him.

#tumblr keeping THIS ONE in drafts has to be grounds for fighting right? #like? #it's BARISTA EDDIE #how dare this not post? or maybe i wasn't done answering??? i don't even know anymore #thank u ily <3 #jo <3 #coffee shop blues #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #still laughing at the way i insert the under the desk joke any time i can

[nanowrimo]

A Letter to Writers who are Parents

Can you successfully write while also being a parent? NaNo Participant Desiree S. Brown confidently says yes, you can do both. Desiree offers heartfelt words of inspiration to other author-parents out there. My eyes were heavy with sleep as I plodded over to my son’s crib. I remember holding him in a state of awe, but I was also terrified. I hadn’t written in months—not from lack of trying—and had just emerged from a digital rabbit hole.

Desperate for pointers from seasoned author-parents, I asked Google, “How do authors write while raising kids?”

I expected encouragement, but found Lauren Sandler’s essay The Secret to Being Both a Successful Writer and Mother: Have Just One Kid and Cyril Connolly’s famous quote: “There’s no more somber enemy of good art than the pram in the hall.”

You can write and be a parent.

Many authors opted out of parenthood, believing each birth cost them a book. Doris Lessing, for example, had abandoned her children with their father in favor of her writing career.

It’s heartbreaking, but untrue. Zadie Smith, Toni Morrison, Jodi Picoult, Ursula K. Le Guin, Sarah Manguso and other authors managed to have successful careers while raising children. Manguso wrote in The Grand Shattering:

I used to believe that maximizing the number of hours reading, writing, and thinking about writing would make me the best writer I could be, and that my friend who had chosen to have three children just didn’t value being a writer as much as I did. Then I had a child and found that the amount of time I spend writing isn’t the only thing that makes me a better writer. I also grow by weathering trauma, practicing patience, being seasoned by love.

Parenting will help you grow as a writer.

Many author-parents noted an enrichment in their writing. In his essay, The Pram in the Hall, Shane Jones wrote, “I’ve discovered many writer-fathers who not only continued to produce work, but produced work that is richer and more interesting because of their fatherhood.”

New life moments create powerful experiences and what is storytelling, poetry, or essays but the exploration of those experiences? Parenting shaped me and my writing in a way that childlessness couldn't. I’ve learned to be more empathetic and honest with my time management (why didn’t I write during my son’s two hour nap?).

Jodi Picoult learned to be “hyper-aware of relationships between people,” Jane Smiley’s kids exposed her to new ideas by forcing her into the world, and Maggie O’Farrel learned “to concentrate with the intensity of a telekinetic.”

You’re not neglectful for prioritizing writing or parenting.

There’s a constant tug of war within writer-parents, not to mention the crushing weight of social expectations: writers need silence at all times and parents prioritize their kids.

But that's an unrealistic standard that will ruin any parent’s mental health, resulting in a loss of self, depression, and frustration. O’Farrel writes:

Don’t feel guilty about taking time to write. Guilt is no use to you here. Throw yourself headlong into whatever is in front of you, whether it’s writing or doling out small bowls of pasta or making potato prints. It’s good for your children to have a fulfilled parent, not a frustrated one. A child witnessing their parent working and being gratified by that work is an excellent lesson for them.

So, what’s the answer to the big question? How do authors write while raising kids?

They do it like anyone else: stealing time between diaper changes and naps; juggling housework, parent-work, and writer-work as best as they can; and realizing that they have the potential to create a fulfilling writing career like anyone else.

That’s the answer I will carry with me into Camp NaNo, the next project, and beyond.

Desiree S. Brown is an author that lives in the sunny state of California with her husband and son. She publishes her work on her website, desireesbrown.com, while also sharing her passion for reading and writing. Photo by SHVETS production from Pexels

#nanowrimo #writing #for parents #parent writers #inspiration #writing advice #by nano guest #desiree s. brown

[leeyanyanyaaan]

HEARTSTEEL Vocal Headcanons

13 / 11 / 2023

*gasp* wow look whos using capital letters LOL. am too lazy to edit the whole headcanons that i wrote in notes. anyways, hello fellow heartbeats :D heartsteel's been absolutely taking over my brain so i would like to share some headcanons i came up with hehe. these are just general headcanons of what i think their vocal dynamic in their work is, but starting from tomorrow i'll be posting a headcanon series of the band x reader so i hope you look forward to that ^-^

When I look at HEARTSTEEL, they make me think that they'd be a group like Stray Kids - equally strong in singing and rapping, making songs their own and making their own songs. They generally have liberty/self-authority over how their group works, not following trends and conventions and doing things their own way.

Kayn would have a really nice, powerful voice, though with a slight rasp? Obviously something higher than Rhaast's but not too high (sorry Cal :"))

I do know that Rhaast is supposed to be his stage persona (and I can also see the headcanon that he sold his soul to the devil to be a better performer), but I'd totally love it if Kayn would perform as himself too AND for him to sing ALONGSIDE Rhaast! To be honest, in my fanscripts, I already consider Rhaast a seperate vocalist from Kayn.

He can do things like belting and mixed voice! 

From the Youtaite/Cover community, I headcanon for Kayn to be voiced by Kuraiinu and/or Jonathan Young

Ughh beautiful strong vocals for Ezreal 😩🤌✨️ I can also see him being versatile with soft vocals and sub-rap too. 

Anyways, he's one of the main vocalists definitely. Is also very likely the visual of the group XD 

I imagine he also has the longest singing training of the group, so he knows his harmonies and can do some nice riffs for vocal adlibs. 

Youtaite/Cover voice headcanon for Ezreal would be Aruvn and/or Johnny 

K'Sante!! Also a big versatile!! 

I can see soooo much potential for this man but he's so undershadowed in the group 😭💔 

Is just as vocally talented as Ezreal and can also take vocal adlibs, harmonies and softer vocals too, like tobi lou did in PARANOIA, but I would like to think his main vocals is more on the rich, deeper side, something closer to his character voice

While I did say Ezreal can do adlibs and harmonies, I'd like to think that K'Sante CARRIES them while Ez does the main vocals (if he's gonna be the main vocalist that shines in chorus, let my man K'Sante have his own way of shining too please Riot), like pleaseee I can imagine that he can harmonize so well and have very very nice riffs and adlibs 💕

Yes he can also rap so he can take sub-rap roles too

Youtaite/Cover voice headcanon for K'Sante would be Tre Watson!

Ahh out of all of the featured artists, my favorite is definitely ØZI 😊 idk his voice has me twirling my hair AHAHNSJABZNSNS

So like, when you think about it, there's a difference between vocalists in the East in the West, or at least from my listening experience. In East Asia, it's either you have a higher pitched (this is pretty much always the case for females) or lower pitched vocalist, no in between (but they have scarily huge vocal ranges 💀💀), and they have a particularly light timber, whereas I find that the West has more richer, deeper toned vocalists? It's hard to describe, but it's why a vocalist like Lily from NMIXX stands out so much in terms of vocal performance for me because they sound more like the Western vocalists. 

Now, I would say that ØZI (and I would like to throw in Bang Chan as well) are like 75% leaning more towards Western.. or at least for ØZI's rapping vocals because I haven't heard his singing XD but like it's kinda like by the second listen through I kinda thought "wait, is Sett's vocalist Asian?" Like, it was *nearly* there but not quite 

ANYWAYS. YOU CAN IGNORE ALL THAT CAUSE I WAS JUST RAMBLING.

Now onto ACTUAL Sett vocal headcanons!

Yeah definitely gonna be a main rapper alongside Kayn, but I like to think he has a strong and stable singing voice too! I do think that ØZI did some of the adlibs in PARANOIA too? Not 100% sure.

Hmm but yeah, while Sett would be mainly be a rapper, he's definitely got some solid vocal skills! 

For adlibs, he mainly does the chanting type ones since the other two main vocalists already got the melodic ones covered

Youtaite/Cover voice headcanon for Sett would be Will Stetson

Rapper: Kayn - Sett - K'Sante - Ezreal :Vocalist

Also vocal range/types!

Ezreal - Tenor to baritone

Sett - Tenor to baritone

Kayn - Tenor to baritone

K'Sante - Baritone to bass

Rhaast - Baritone to bass

Bonus: Yone - Baritone to bass and Aphelios used to be a tenor to baritone

On another note, my voice headcanons were all mainly based on the Master Andross cover vocalists, so if there's any other suggestions you got do feel free to add XD

and speaking of those covers let me shamelessly plug my audio edits I made for "HEARTSTEEL Covers" AHABDMNDMS

#heartsteel #heartsteel lol #heartsteel paranoia #heartsteel headcanons #heartsteel imagines #heartsteel kayn #heartsteel ezreal #heartsteel k'sante #heartsteel sett #heartsteel yone #heartsteel aphelios