#i think it was like three page lengths long on my phone | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

takami-takami · 11 months

Text

Father.

includes— hawks x reader. minors dni. angst. hurt/comfort.

warnings— past abuse. substance use. trauma.

The parchment held in his gloved hands is yellowed, he notices. To the unfamiliar eye, the brown of the stain smudging black inked letters could be coffee, or perhaps tea.

To Keigo, the imprint of a splatter from cheap booze is unmistakable.

Beer, he assesses, flipping the letter once, twice. He watches the paper like a specimen under a microscope, with what— to the unfamiliar eye— looks like cold indifference. To the familiar, his face is drenched in what he could only describe as pity.

He holds it away from his face, the stink of cologne burning his senses.

Words spring off the page, clawing at his eyes. They were illegible long before the black ink began to run down the page with liquor. Words like "rehabilitate" and "did my time" and "still your father" and "hero" and "start over."

Words like "again".

And again, and again, and again.

Keigo sighs as he places it down onto the coffee table with care. He wouldn't want to wrinkle it any further than it already is.

He'll have to have a strict talking to with one of his handlers about yet another privacy leak. He shrugs off his coat as he stalks down his living room, reluctant to remove the barrier between his body and world outside him. Like a child, he chastises himself, walking toward the most stable part of his apartment.

Keigo doesn't understand why he pushes his bed against the wall that night, nor does he grasp exactly why he feels the need to pull his comforter over his ears and neck.

Everyone deserves a second chance, he thinks.

He shuts his eyes. He watches his values dance behind his eyelids, a picturesque show of gentler men in suits, of new beginnings. He thinks of Endeavor almost on instinct, as he does most times his father appears like a mirage in his memory.

There's a cognitive dissonance there that eludes him, between his firm belief in people's ability to change, and the arm's length he keeps between himself and his parents. He must have abandoned his mother, he believes. Through all the years Keigo spent saving others, a part of his spirit always looked upon her story with regret.

He shouldn't have to be the parent, but he could. He could if he tried harder.

But his father...

A single feather zooms toward the door of his bedroom, shutting and locking it. No one can get in the apartment to begin with, strictly reinforced for the protection of a pro hero by the HPSC; but he'd really feel a lot better with his bedroom door closed.

After tossing for fifty-three minutes and twenty-one seconds exactly, he huffs and pulls out his phone, scrolling down his contacts to the name surrounded with hearts.

C'mon... Pick up. Please.

It rings. He chews his nails.

"Hi, baby!"

Oh thank fucking God.

"H-Hey! Sweetheart, what's up?"

The phone goes silent for a moment. The pause makes Keigo's muscles clench.

"...Something's wrong, isnt it?"

He flops back against the pillow, running a single palm down his face and letting out a stuttered laugh.

"Woah! Took you, like, four seconds. That's a new record, babe. Feeling particularly perceptive, or was it that obvious?"

"It was that obvious," you answer, muffled through the speakers.

He smiles, pulling the covers down a bit while he fidgets with a loose string.

"Mm. Could you, um," he starts, glancing at the door as he sits up. "I know it's late, but could you... Swing by?"

His fidgeting gets worse, he notices. An intense expectation for someone to swat his hand down creeps forward from what appears to be nowhere.

"Baby... Of course," you croon. Your words crawl out from the speaker, cradling him in a swaddle of safety and promise. He lets out a breath.

"You've still got the key, right?"

"Always do, angel."

#sorry i had to write this to be normal #hawks x reader #keigo takami x reader #🖋 writing #🍧 sugar #bnha imagines #mha x reader #bnha x reader

222 notes · View notes

unicyclehippo · 8 months

Note

Ameliorate?

her third meeting with imogen took place on the third, which launda appreciated very much. she admired the day calendar propped up on her desk—the big 3 stamped in black, and coffee - doctor temult looped excitedly across most of the page. beneath it, much smaller, was delivery GE74-226 in her assistant’s cramped and slanted lettering.

‘right, we’ve got a shit tonne of work to do today so whether the fuck is going on between you two, you can’t be an hour late again,’ ashton said, shouldering in through the closed door.

‘mister greymoore! what have i said about knocking?’

ashton dragged a curious eye over her office. ‘there’s no one here.’

‘it’s about etiquette! i could have been - oh, i don’t know - on the phone. or taking a private meeting.’

‘you weren’t.’

‘but i could have been,’ she insisted.

ashton sighed. ‘you want me to go back and knock, don’t you?’

laudna smiled brightly at the suggestion and nodded. ‘please. practice makes perfect!’

ashton sighed again, louder. he stomped out of the office and closed the door. laudna waited. and waited. she waited long enough that it occurred to her ashton had decided it wasn’t worth it and had simply left, which is when they knocked.

‘come in!’ she trilled. ‘good morning, mister greymoore!’

ashton rolled his eye mightily. ‘morning, doctor bradbury. can i run through your schedule now, or do i have to curtesy too?’

‘i’m not a monarch, mister greymoore, the knocking was perfectly adequate. and very well done. go ahead!’

he shook his head. ‘right. so, spanner in my perfect schedule for you, treshi called this morning. set up a compulsory wank session for all of staff, two to three.’

‘um.’

‘by wank,’ they elaborated, ‘i mean it’s gonna be bullshit. he’ll say how good he is and everyone’s gonna agree even if they don’t think it’s true.’

‘ah.’ laudna relaxed. ‘yes, of course, you mean it as a manner of self-gratification on his behalf. non-literal wank. how funny! though you must never,’ she said gravely, ‘say it again. it’s terribly inappropriate for work.’

laughter lit up ashton’s eye, green shining prettily. a big grin split his face in two. ‘sure, doc. i’ll remember that.’

‘like you remember to knock, i’m sure.’ ashton laughed at that, too, and laudna beamed down at her papers.

she wasn’t—had never been—particularly good with people. when ashton had been assigned to her, her first ever student, she had been sure that it would go terribly. and it had, for the first week. she had been controlling and stern and brittle. they had been brash and argumentative and, one might say, extremely anti-authoritarian. the second week had been not much better; after her poor behaviour, she had withdrawn, going to such agonising lengths to be direct and complete and courteous that it was better for them both if she simply never spoke at all. it was ashton, braver and better than she by far, who made the effort to try again, and so they had reached a tentative understanding and remained there for several weeks. right up until the hishari mask was delivered into her hands. that was when everything changed. not just between them but for the museum, for laudna. in the upheaval that followed—the recreation, the reveal, her lecture and curated exhibit of the hishari culture, her denouncement of hytroga’s timeline, her rising “stardom” and increasing public appearances—ashton had made themself indispensable. during the preparations, he had been knowledgeable and careful and, in those private moments when he thought no one present enough to notice, downright reverent. he loved their work, and if that had been the only thing laudna liked about him, that would have been more than enough. as it turned out, ashton was wonderful and she had the honour of front row seats, as they say, to witnessing ashton grow into a fine young man. as everything changed, ashton remained steady as a rock. grew with each challenge thrown their way into a veritable pillar. figuratively and literally—laudna had overheard teatime gossip amongst her colleagues that insisted ashton had become a “handsome guy”, “a hunk”, and “a juicy, prime slab of beef”, which was one of ashton’s favourite.

now, the proof of that was the pop of stitches in the shoulders of their coat as ashton dropped carelessly into the chair in front of laudna’s desk. the sound made her wince and she began to rifle through her drawer.

‘okay, so, schedule.’ he pulled it up on his tablet, squinting at it. ‘while you were off with seshadri—‘

‘she has a title, mister greymoore.’

‘—like i said, treshi called about the meeting thing. everyone important’s gonna be there—never been so fucking thankful to be a nobody in my life. right. first you’ve got a call with that, uh, religious nut over in tal’dorei, that’s at nine-thirty.’

‘mhm,’ laudna said, reprovingly, instead of repeating herself. mostly because although she knew miss pike trickfoot had a title, she couldn’t quite recall what it was. her eminence, perhaps? laudna scowled thoughtfully down at the contents of the drawer. where on earth was her sewing kit?

‘then quarter past ten you’ve got the delivery. the movers are taking it straight to storage, it’s gotta go through stasis before you can look at it but i blocked it out because i figure you’ll wanna oversee it anyway. twelve, you’ve got your coffee date,’ he said with an odd inflection, ‘two to three is treshi’s stupid meeting. don’t be late. lab time four to eight, and at five vudol requested your “expert insight” on that duskmaven statue—‘

‘why the air quotes?’

‘because,’ he said, patiently amused, ‘vudol doesn’t care what you say about the statue.’

laudna frowned at him. ‘i am the foremost expert on pre-reiloran marquet.’

‘yeah, sure. that’s not why they want to see you.’

‘then…why?’

‘because vudol thinks you’re hot.’

‘oh. really? hm.’ she pushed the drawer shut, drummed her fingers against it. her nails clacked against the glossy wood, the iron handle. ‘is that why they need so much help with their eighth century marquesian translations?’ ashton nodded, smirking. ‘i’m actually rather relieved to hear that, i thought somehow mistress seshadri had hired an idiot. um. would you send them one of your impolite emails telling them i can’t make it?’

‘honestly it’d be a fucking joy. how impolite?’ she see-sawed her hand. ‘got it. guess that means you’re not into vudol, then,’ ashton said, more statement than question. ‘makes sense. not really your type.’

‘i don’t—you always manage to turn work conversations into something else, mister greymoore—‘

‘it’s a gift,’ they shrugged.

‘it really is. you’re a very gifted conversationalist—‘

‘i’m really not, you’re just worse.’

‘—and a good friend.’ he looked away at that, scratched at the dry skin over his eyepatch. he did not, she noted happily, deny that he was her friend. ‘which is why i shall indulge—just this once!—in your inappropriate tangents and say that i don’t really have a type.’

discomfort forgotten, ashton turned back to face her so quickly she heard their neck crack.

‘you’re joking,’ he said, tone flat.

‘no?’

his mouth worked for a moment but he didn’t say anything, only stared at her wide-eyed. then he turned that stare on the little marquesian horse statue that sat pride of place on her desk. looking abruptly exhausted, he ran a big hand over his face, rubbed his right eye.

‘you’re not joking. oh my god.’ he huffed a laugh. ‘yknow, for someone so observant, you’re not very smart.’

an odd tangent, and slightly hurtful, but laudna couldn’t say he wasn’t right. she said as much, fiddling with the frilled cuff of her sleeves, and added, ‘i enjoyed book learning very much but my school life was interrupted often and troubled. in the end, my grades weren’t quite what i hoped they would be.’ a fond smile touched her lips and she said, lifting her chin proudly, ‘i did find my way here, in the end.’

ashton smiled. there was a strange expression on their face that she couldn’t place. ‘yeah. you did. some things take a little time, i guess.’

‘all the best things in life. now that’s a very good piece of advice, and a good quote. i wonder who said it first? regardless, tell that advisor of yours that i’m doing a good job, won’t you?’ ashton grumbled an agreement and stood. ‘ah - before you leave - your coat, mister greymoore.’

‘it’s fine.’

‘nonsense. i won’t have my post-grad wandering the halls looking like some dickensian urchin. coat, please.’ she stood, walked around the desk, and held out her hand for it, waiting patiently as he wrestled with his pride.

finally, he gave in, as he had every time she did this for him. hemming the ankles of his too-long slacks, taking in the neat button-ups. she had even mended the elbows of this same coat when he first came in wearing it, taking the tattered threads and returning it with fun elbow patches. it was about that time that he realised laudna enjoyed it and stopped fighting her so much; looking back, it likely helped that she had told him she enjoyed it. costuming had been her entry into history, after all, and she so rarely had time to indulge now.

ashton yanked his coat off and passed it over.

‘i think you’ll need a little more space in the shoulders,’ she mused, touching her thumb to the strained fabric.

‘don’t waste your time.’

‘now ashton, what did i just say? all the best things take a little time.’

did he understand what she was saying? that she regarded them, ashton, as someone quite wonderful and deserving of her time? he didn’t acknowledge it, storming out of her office with a rough grunt and a wave. it was fine. if he didn’t understand, she would simply write it effusively into his letter of recommendation when the time came.

#prompt fill #tagging my stories #I didn’t use the word but i meant to i just only wrote a quarter of the scene in my mind & ran out of time #this is for my modern au museum au i love it!!!!#laudna my beloved #imodna #only hinted at here but eventually it is #n I love laudna n ashton friendship it’s so good

80 notes · View notes

pyrotechnicarus · 8 months

Text

Blistered Inkwell: Editing Services for Musicals, Stories, and Novels!

Hi! I don’t think people here know about my editing side gig, so I figured I would make a new pinned post about it. I’m currently doing freelance editing to help put myself through graduate school, and I’m so excited to work on your new project- whether it’s a musical, short story, novel, or standalone song!

Background

I’ve been prose editing for literary magazines for six years and counting, including running my own litmag twice, and I’ve edited scripts for plays and musicals for three. I’ve also studied creative writing extensively, most recently at Princeton and now at NYU. My framework as an editor is focused on polishing your piece to help you say what you want to say as distinctly and uniquely as possible.

Strengths

My passion is speculative fiction, which means any story that takes place not in this world. Sci-fi, fantasy, dystopian fiction, myth retellings, magical realism- lay it on me! This isn’t to say I won’t read realistic fiction, just that I feel I can advise speculative fiction particularly well.

As a lyricist I am best with editing musical-theater-style lyrics (e.g. there is a close attention paid to rhyme and meter, a character development happens in the piece, and it is intended to be consumed by a live audience), though I have a passing familiarity with other styles.

Process

For most of the tiers below, I will read your piece several times, give you a marked-up copy with detailed feedback, and meet with you to discuss that feedback and answer any questions you might have. My approach bridges developmental and copy editing, so it's best for pieces that you are still in the process of working on (instead of pieces that you really only want a grammar checker for.) Timeline depends on the length of the piece I’m reading, but it usually takes 1-5 days for the initial turnaround. If you’d like more or less involvement, please let me know in your inquiry and we can work out the right price!

Sounds great! How do I reach out?

Use the form on my website (www (dot) melhornyak (dot) com) to reach out to me and let me know a little bit about the piece you’re working on and what tier you’d like to work with me under (pricing visible under the cut!)

Tiers

Dabble- $10

The Piece: One song, scene, or short prose excerpt that is 3 pages long or less

You receive: An edited, marked up copy of your piece with comments, questions, and compliments.

Who it’s for: If you’re just starting a project, or if you want to see if we collaborate well before you commission me for a bigger tier!

Engage- $25

The Piece: One short story, script, or script excerpt that is 20 pages or less

You receive: An edited, marked up copy of your piece with comments, questions, and compliments AND a 15-minute Zoom or phone call to discuss the edits.

Who it’s for: If you’re ready to polish up your one-act, or you need another eye on your short story!

Indulge- $50

The Piece: One full script of a musical or play OR several short stories OR one complete novella OR one excerpt of a novel that is 150 pages or less

You receive: An edited, marked up copy of your piece with comments, questions, and compliments AND a 30 minute Zoom or phone call to discuss the edits

Who it’s for: If you’ve finished a short work and you’re revising it, or you want someone else to give it a once-over before submitting it.

Explore- $75

The Piece: One full script of a musical or play OR several short stories OR one complete novel OR an excerpt of a novel that is 500 pages or less

You receive: An edited, marked up copy of your piece with comments, questions, and compliments AND an hour-long Zoom or phone call to discuss the edits AND a chance to revise your work and have me read it over and mark it up again! Double the editing and twice the collaboration!

Who it’s for: If you want to work more closely on your piece, you’re still actively modifying it, or you feel like a second round of editing would help your creative process!

Extravaganza- $90

The Piece: One full script and score of a musical or play OR one complete novel OR 5-7 short stories that are too long to fit into the other tiers

You receive: An edited, marked up copy of your piece with comments, questions, and compliments AND an hour-long Zoom or phone call to discuss the edits AND a chance to revise your work and receive more feedback AND another Zoom or phone call to discuss that feedback!

Who it’s for: If you really, really need someone to read your entire 1,000-page fantasy novel, or you want my thoughts on the music of your show in addition to the script and lyrics!

FAQs

What do you mean by ‘Zoom or phone call’?

I personally prefer Zoom, but I know that not everyone is comfortable with a face to face meeting with some stranger on the internet! My availability for phone calls is also generally wider, so I will let you decide whether we call on the phone or via Zoom according to how quickly you want to meet, and what you are comfortable with.

Can I get you to read over my piece for school/homework/a contest?

Please check with your instructor or the contest administrator! Most of the time, I’ve found they are okay with outside editors as long as we are properly cited and credited, but it very much depends on your individual situation. You can also always submit your piece first, and then ask for edits afterwards.

Will you read my fanfiction?

Yes, with two caveats: I can’t guarantee my familiarity with the source material, so if I don’t know the source material I’ll be approaching it as though it is a standalone work of literature. You’ll still receive helpful grammar, style, and arc feedback, but sometimes this means I’ll ask about character development that your main audience would already know from the source. Secondly, I will not read or edit fanfiction of my own creative work. You can understand how the power dynamics of that would be fucked up, right?

About that Extravaganza option- what sort of feedback can you give on a score? Aren’t you a lyricist and a bookwright?

Yes, alas! However, I can read music and work closely with composers. I will not be able to give you as specific edits on your music as I can give lyric edits - for that, I would recommend a professional music director, orchestrator, or composer. However, I can approach your score as a lyricist and offer edits on setting, rhythms, tone, instrument choice, and singability, all of which are vital for the success of your music.

While I’ll listen to demos in any of the tiers if you have them, the distinction in the markup between the Explore and Extravaganza tiers is that I will be making these notes on the actual score of the piece with specific measure numbers instead of on the lyric sheet.

These are measured in pages... can I make my text real small and get you to edit more of it?

Please don’t! The prices are calculated based on the estimated amount of time it would take for me to read each of these, so making the font smaller means you’re underpaying me for my work. I provide some fair general formatting guidelines when we enter a working relationship. If I glance at your document and can see you’re trying to pull one over on me, I reserve the right to return any money you’ve paid me and refuse to read your work.

How much do you actually edit a piece? Will you get offended if I don’t agree with your edits?

It really depends on the piece and what it needs! More edits does not necessarily mean the piece needs more help- I could just have a lot of great things to say about it! I always write a much longer essay-style letter at the end to summarize my overall thoughts, any structural things I want to bring up, and where the next steps are as I see them.

Whether you eventually take my suggestions is fully up to you! I consider myself an audience member, letting you know about my first impressions, and a fellow writer giving you avenues for changing those impressions, but not an equal creative partner or a dictator telling you what to do with your work.

Should I do this if I can’t afford it?

Absolutely not! I know everyone in the arts world is kind of passing the same $20 around, and that getting a professional editor isn’t something everyone can afford. I am not in any dire financial crisis and if you know someone who is, help them first before thinking about any of these!

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to working with you! If you have any questions, shoot them to me here or on my website above.

#writing tips #writers on tumblr #musical writing #musical theatre writing

22 notes · View notes

kjmsupremacist · 1 year

Text

something sweet, a peach tree (mark/jaehyun)

Mark begins the summer after his junior year with an unpaid internship and no other plans. But when he agrees to go pick his baby niece up from her music lessons, her teacher, Jeong Jaehyun, catches his eye. Too bad he's off limits, and not just because Mark's niece is involved. Jaehyun is 41 to Mark's 20.

To sate his curiosity about older men, Mark decides to look into becoming a sugar baby. He could use the money, after all. And he seems to find a willing patron right away. But for the first time in Mark's like, he finds he might be in over his head.

Chapter 1 | next mlist

Characters: Mark, Jaehyun, other members of nct throughout

Genre: romance, angst, smut, age gap, sugar daddy!au

Pairing: Mark/Jaehyun

Warnings: AGE GAP (older jaehyun, younger mark), alcohol mentions, poor decision making perhaps

Rating: Teen And Up (for this chapter)

Length: 3.1k

mandatory disclaimer: I'm not trying to romanticize or condone real-life age gap relationships because of the inherent power imbalance, blah blah, I'm writing this for fun and if you don't think you'll have fun go ahead and leave now, etc.

Mark drums his fingers against the cold metal pole as the bus lurches to a stop. He checks the time on his phone—5:25 p.m. He should just make it, unless this prehistoric bus takes any longer to open its doors.

After what he swears is a full minute of ominous creaking, Mark steps out into the muggy air. It’s still only the beginning of June, but already this summer seems like it’s going to be absolutely scorching. Mark supposes he’ll be doing a lot of swimming.

He crosses the street and heads up the sidewalk to the cluster of buildings beyond a small, uneven parking lot, squinting to make out the sign. Little Hands Musical Academy. It’s smaller than he imagined, somehow, but kind of quaint.

A receptionist greets him when he enters the lobby. Though the outside of the building is a bit understated, the inside is clean and bright. Mark says hello back to the receptionist, looking around as he steps up to the counter.

“Uh, I’m here for Lucy Lee?” he says tentatively. “I’m Mark Lee, I’m her uncle. My brother said he put me on the, um, the list?”

The receptionist nods with a smile, typing something in and then looks up. “Could I just see some ID please?”

“Oh, yeah, sure, one sec,” Mark stutters, fumbling for his wallet. He hands the receptionist his passport, feeling a little silly as she leafs through to the right page.

It’s all a little silly, really—that Mark is even picking Lucy up in the first place. He can’t drive, which is mostly fine since James’ house isn’t that far, only like ten minutes on the bus and a few blocks of walking, but Mark thinks if James and Annie are that worried about safety, having an irresponsible, driver’s licenseless twenty-year-old come fetch their only child is hardly helpful.

Still, they asked, and they also bought Mark a new AC unit after his old one finally kicked the bucket the very first day it was over eighty degrees, so here he is. James doesn’t get off work until 5:30, which is the pickup time, and though Annie works from home and can come drop Lucy off in the afternoon, she said she’d rather get a head start on dinner in the evening. And Mark’s internship lets him go at 5. So maybe it is kinda helpful, as long as Mark doesn’t lose his three-and-a-half year old niece on public transport.

“You’re all set,” the receptionist says, handing Mark’s passport back to him. “It’s the classroom at the end of the hall. A lot of parents are already here, you can’t miss it.”

“Thanks,” Mark says, putting his passport away and heading out of the lobby towards the back of the building.

There are many parents gathered outside the large window that looks into the classroom from the hall. Mark sidles up next to the group and spots Lucy’s pigtails instantly. She’s plunking away on a tiny keyboard. As Mark watches, the teacher—at least, Mark assumes he’s the teacher; he’s the only adult in the room—strolls by and pauses to say something to her. Mark can’t hear anything, but when the teacher walks away, Lucy is wearing a big grin.

After a couple more minutes, the teacher opens the door and gestures for the parents to file in. Mark gets his first good look at the teacher’s face and swallows. He’s hot. He’s also definitely a little older—forget Mark, he’s visibly older than James. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s fucking pretty, with handsome dimples appearing every time his expression leans towards a smile.

Mark is so busy staring that he ends up last in line, but it turns out to be a good thing because the teacher stops him at the door.

“Sorry, would you mind if I just checked your ID really quick?” His eyes are a warm brown, Mark’s brain notes unhelpfully. “I’m sure you already got cleared by the front desk, but—I just like to make sure, you know?”

“Oh, totally, no problem,” Mark says, once again struggling to extract his wallet.

“Come with me, I have the list over here,” the teacher says, waving Mark into the classroom.

“Mark-samchon!” Lucy zeroes in on him right away and totters over, pigtails flouncing with each step. “I played the piano today.”

“I saw,” Mark says, grinning at her. “Hang on, your teacher just needs to check that I really am your uncle and not a bad guy, and your Appa really did say it was okay for me to pick you up.”

“But he really is my uncle, Jaehyun-seonsaengnim,” Lucy says to her teacher.

Jaehyun, apparently, has produced his list. He gives Lucy an amused smile. “I think I’ll be the judge of that,” he replies. “Can’t let my students walk out with just anybody. Thank you,” he adds to Mark, accepting the offered passport. After a second, he hands it back. “All set,” he says. “Sorry again about the trouble, it’s nothing personal.”

“No worries!” Mark says swiftly, filing his passport away and pocketing his wallet again. “It’s cool that you’re looking out for them.”

Jaehyun gives him a somewhat wry smile, nodding. “I try,” he replies. “Well, see you in a couple days, Lucy! We’re doing percussion next time, you don’t wanna miss it.”

“I like the shaky ones,” Lucy tells Mark very seriously.

Mark’s pretty sure she means stuff like maracas. “Yeah, those are pretty neat, huh?” He holds out his hand to her and she takes it. “Thanks—ah, Jaehyun-seonsaengnim, right?” Mark’s never sure about honorifics in a mixed setting like this—they’re mostly speaking in English, and they are in America, but the area they’re in is really Korean, so he just goes for the way Lucy called him and hopes Jaehyun will correct him.

He’s right. Jaehyun’s smile turns warmer. “Just Jaehyun is fine,” he says. “It was nice to meet you, Mark.”

Mark’s stomach flops. “You too,” he replies, then hurries out of the classroom before he does something stupid like trying to flirt in front of his niece.

Mark lets Lucy chatter about class as he walks them down to the bus stop. He wants to be paying closer attention to what she’s saying, but his mind keeps drifting back to her handsome music teacher. Jaehyun. It’s not like he needed a reason to do his brother a favor—and besides, Lucy’s reason enough—but it sure as hell doesn’t hurt.

They get home in one piece. James stops working to play with Lucy and Annie tells Mark to stay for dinner. Mark’ll take a good, free meal with his family over a shitty expensive one alone in his apartment any day, so he stays and helps with the dishes, too. They send him off with leftovers, and Mark can hear Lucy’s laughter all the way down the street as he skips backwards, waving at her until the front porch of his brother’s house disappears behind a line of trees.

He sighs, slowing to a walk as he turns to face forward, dropping his hand to his side. In some ways, he wishes he was like his brother. Found his person early, finished school, got a good job, settled right down and started having kids. A life that’s small and perfect, full of little excitements and little joys.

But Mark’s not like that. He readjusts his grip on the leftovers, leaving thoughts of his family behind him as he focuses his attention on tomorrow, and the day after that and the day after that. He’ll have the time for excitement later. He can settle down when he’s satisfied. For now, his life has to remain boring—busy, and boring.

And from the looks of it, that’s how his summer’s shaping up to be. Busy and boring. And honestly? Mark doesn’t mind that one bit.

///

“Damn,” Johnny says as he pulls into a parking spot. “Didn’t know you had a thing for DILFs.”

“Wha—dude, no, he’s not a—a DILF,” Mark splutters, already regretting telling Johnny anything. “He doesn’t have kids.”

“How do you know?” Johnny arches an eyebrow at him as he unbuckles his seatbelt.

“It came up once,” Mark says. “I didn’t ask! He was saying it’s nice his job is to hang out with kids, basically, because kids are fun and he doesn’t have any of his own.”

“Hasn’t it only been a couple weeks since you started going to pick Lucy up?” Johnny throws this over his shoulder before getting out of his car. Mark hurries to get out, too, so he can argue.

“Lucy has lessons twice a week,” Mark says. “So I’ve seen him three times, which is more than enough times to clock if someone’s hot or not. Woulda been four, except my fucking boss made me stay late on Thursday.”

“I’m telling you, man, unpaid internships are straight up bullshit,” Johnny says.

“If I could’ve gotten a paid one, d’you think I wouldn’t’ve gone for it?” Mark retorts, grabbing his guitar from the back and slinging the strap of the case over his shoulder. “If this shit doesn’t get me a good job after graduation, I’m suing the entire career counseling office.”

“I got a good job after graduation and I didn’t have a single internship,” Johnny points out. “You’ll be fine. Unless you let this hot children’s music teacher distract you.”

Mark shoves him once they’re through the mall entrance. “I just like to look at him, that’s all. Though, I mean—I wouldn’t say no, is all I’m saying.”

“Yeah. He’s how old?” Johnny asks.

“Shut up,” Mark grumbles.

Though they’re technically here to get Mark’s guitar looked at—one of the strings fucking snapped, he doesn’t know how—they meander through the mall on the way to the music store. Johnny ends up buying a couple of pieces of clothing and nearly convinces Mark to get a matching hat with him before Mark remembers, woefully, that he isn’t getting paid and truly doesn’t have the money to spare.

They finally get to the music store and Mark hands his guitar over, then follows Johnny away from the counter while they wait for it to be fixed up, poking through their record collection.

“Mark?” The voice is familiar, and Mark whips his head up to see Jaehyun of all people standing a few feet inside the door. He’s not in his usual casual clothes; instead, he’s dressed in smart business casual, a patterned button-down tucked into cropped pants.

Mark swallows, trying to put a single sentence together instead of staring at his waist. “Jaehyun,” he manages. “What are you doing here?” It comes out way ruder than he means it, but luckily Jaehyun just smiles.

“I own this store,” he says, tipping his head to one side and looking around at all the instruments hanging on the walls. “I founded this brand, actually.”

“Really?” Mark would’ve never pinned Jaehyun as a businessman of any kind, but here’s the proof—one of the employees at the store has come up to Jaehyun with his hand extended.

Jaehyun greets the employee, accepting the handshake. “I’ll come back in a minute,” he says, then turns back to Mark. “I wish teaching music class for kids paid the bills, but, ah…” He gestures vaguely. “Speaking of which, I missed you in the pickup line on Thursday. Everything okay?”

“Oh, yeah!” Mark silences the part of his brain that immediately starts trying to make a pun about pickup lines. He can feel a flush rising up his neck, both pleased and embarrassed that Jaehyun noticed he wasn’t there. “My internship just kept me late is all.”

“Hope they don’t keep you too often,” Jaehyun says, and Mark absolutely does not know how to take that. “Lucy looked kinda put out her mom was there to get her instead of you.”

“Oh,” Mark laughs, wondering why he feels kind of disappointed. “Well, that’s probably because I’ve started bringing her snacks.”

Jaehyun nods, grinning. “That’s always a good way to win them over,” he agrees. “Well, it was a welcome surprise to run into you in my store! I probably shouldn’t keep them waiting, but I’ll see you next week—I hope.”

“Y-yeah, see you!” Mark stammers, giving an awkward half wave, watching Jaehyun disappear into the back of the store.

“That was painful,” Johnny says flatly. “You don’t just think he’s hot, you like him.”

“Shut up,” Mark hisses.

“You wanna fuck your niece’s music teacher,” Johnny continues blithely. “You really wanna fuck him.”

Luckily, the employee that was servicing Mark’s guitar appears at this moment and spares Mark from coming up with an answer. Because, he thinks somewhat miserably as he heads up to the counter to pay, the thing is Johnny isn’t wrong. But, fuck, Jaehyun’s literally fucking beautiful, and good with kids, and also apparently a rich business owner. What else could Mark ask for?

“I’m just saying, dude,” Johnny continues as they head back out to the parking lot. “If you wanna fuck that old man so bad—”

“Oh my god, he’s not old, he’s like maybe in his early forties at most,” Mark interjects, grimacing in embarrassment.

“If you wanna fuck that middle-aged man so bad,” Johnny plows on, undeterred, “at least get him to fuckin’ pay you or something. You’re young and hot, don’t waste it. No homo.”

Mark resists the urge to bash Johnny over the head with his newly-repaired guitar. “Shut the fuck up.”

///

Mark can argue with Johnny all he wants, but it won’t change the fact that he’s right. He wants to fuck that old man. It’s kind of all he thinks about, outside of basic things like work and what he’s going to have for dinner—and even then, the thought of Jaehyun is still percolating in the background, waiting for whatever has grabbed his more immediate attention to be completed so it can muscle its way back to the fore.

He sees him again the next week when he picks Lucy up and it’s all Mark can do not to drag his gaze over Jaehyun’s body as he waits for the parents in front of him to grab their kids. When he goes home, he scours Instagram until he finds him—a public account, a small mercy considering the fact that he only has three posts, but still. Mark pores over the pictures, thumb hovering over the Follow button before closing out of the app altogether and opening his text chain with Johnny.

Dude I’m spiraling <;<<

>>> The dilf?

yeah <;<<

It’s bad. fuck me man <;<<

>>> uh, pass

>>> I mean maybe you’re just horny

>>> download tinder or something

And get stuck in the talking phase all summer? <;<<

Or find someone to hookup with and it’s like their first time <;<<

I’m not teaching someone how to kiss again I know I’m just some guy but I deserve better than that <;<<

>>> ok fair

>>> if it’s experience you want……… go on one of those sugar baby websites

>>> remember what I said about him paying you

>>> your internship’s getting enough of ur free labor as it is

Mark sighs, dropping his phone on his mattress and flopping back. Maybe Johnny’s right. Maybe he just needs a good fuck and he’ll be cured. And there has to be some kind of market for gay sugar daddies who are bottoms, right? Besides, God knows he could use the money.

okay im gonna do it <;<<

>>> fuck the dilf???

NO try the sugar baby thing <;<<

>>> if it works out, gimme a cut of your profits

>>> since it was my idea and all

what are you, my pimp? <;<<

I’ll take you out to a meal, how’s that <;<<

>>> deal

So Mark does exactly that. He does a little research, chooses an app, and downloads it. He sets up his profile, just some basic information about who he is and what he’s looking for. The app suggests he not upload any pictures, for privacy, and Mark’s secretly glad the pressure’s off on that one. He’s not sure if it would help or hurt, but at least this way, the playing field is level.

He could scroll profiles if he wanted to, he supposes, but he has a feeling he’s going to start eliminating people because they don’t seem like Jaehyun, and that’s not going to get him anywhere. He’ll wait and see who’s interested in him, and go from there.

He sets his phone down instead and heads into his kitchen to see about dinner. But he’s only just pulled a couple things out of the fridge when his phone gives an unfamiliar buzz. With a sigh, he puts the eggs back and goes to his phone to see a new message on the app.

>>> Hey Minhyung!

>>> Are you new to sugaring? Know what you’re looking for?

Mark scans over his profile. CEO of his own business, dog person, plays guitar. Not looking for something too serious. Income between 600k and 800k.

Hi Yuno! Yeah, this is my first time sugaring haha but I did my research <;<<

I’m hoping for something more casual. I work during the week but my weekends are usually pretty free <<<

Not expecting a lot, just hoping to have a little extra spending money <;<<

Yuno is typing before Mark even sends the final message.

>>> sounds like we might be a good fit :)

>>> do you want to talk it over in person? We could go get coffee, get to know each other, see if we’re compatible

Sure! I’m free this weekend <;<<

>>> Perfect. How’s Saturday at 3?

Mark glances at his calendar just to double-check, but as expected, it’s empty. When he looks back at his phone, he sees that this Yuno guy has sent a coffee shop in the city, not too far from Mark’s apartment.

>>> there’s this booth in the back corner I like, let’s plan to meet there

>>> if it’s occupied, we can meet at the tall tables by the windows instead

Sounds good! <;<<

See you on Saturday! <;<<

Yuno likes his message but doesn’t reply, so Mark pockets his phone and goes back to cleaning. He doesn’t know why he’s so nervous, pulse jumping in his neck. It’s not like he’s in danger or anything. They’re meeting in public, and Mark likes to believe he’ll be able to tell if the guy is a total creep or not. Worst case, he wastes five dollars on a coffee he’s not even going to enjoy and has to keep searching. Besides, he’s not going to be young forever. He might as well give it a shot while he still can.

23 notes · View notes

fuckmeyer · 10 months

Note

hoo boyo so i'm the small writing human o/ *waves*

thank you for your response and i just took the time to read through your Jacob black's life matters and how smeyer killed him and i found it super interesting. (also it literally excites me seeing the quotes with the page numbers🤤). -----anyway back on track now. so i've always hd a liking for twilight since i watched the movies when they released (i would have been like 10..?) because i generally like the genre it falls in to. back in feb i watched all the movies again with my mum and she owns all the books so i started to read Twilight and pretty much loved it (i'm easily pleased). it took me like three weeks to get through it which is pretty average for me (attention span..) but then when i picked up New Moon i could barely put it down. i read it in 4 days which is the fastest ive ever read a book by a looong shot. i kind of fell off with reading eclipse... it took me almost 2 whole months to get through which just shows.

i think in hindsight one of the reasons i actually love New Moon (book) more than the rest is that there isnt really a 'set in stone villain' (twilight has james, eclipse has the newborns//victoria, then BD has the volturi. i suppose edward is the only thing that could class as a villan that book but thats not my point i think i enjoyed it more because of the time we get to spend with bella and jacobs characters . . . (quick side note that i watched the movies after finishing the books and new moon has no justice i feel like it washes over the effect jacob had on bringing bella "back to life" so much. so upsetting)

anyhoodles. i think i enjoy Twilight to set up B&E, then New Moon to set up B&J, then as you say in the crit Eclipse just kind of forces you to choose. and it makes sense. after just watching the movies i cant see a way in hell anyone would be team jacob---but having read the books its a whole different story. but then again... smeyer.... yeah.

sorry this has been such a long ask and doesnt really have a question involved, feel free to not post a response as i understand it's long:')

as a last note while i think of it i think that Eclipse for me fell off in that i didnt particularly care about what it was doing. i liked reading about bella and edward in twilight and then bella and jacob in new moon and i just didnt really care for most of eclipse. but maybe thats because i fell in love with bella and jacob from new moon and then had the character sabotaged.. heavy sigh. i think it says a lot that ive had a fan art of bella and jacob walking along the beach as my phone wallpaper since i read new moon so that says it all really.

i apologise once again for the length of this. ---if you wanna see the fan art wallpaper ill find it and reblog it so its at the top of my page.

p(p?)s. i'm glad it's sunny there! it's rained here the last couple days :c

hello tiny writing human! glad to have you back :)

glad you liked the analysis! & the books. New Moon is my favorite too, & i definitely agree with you that part of the appeal is the internal struggle Bella faces. we do get Victoria in the background & the werewolves, but really the whole book is about Bella learning to cope with 1) being a human in a supernatural world 2) her grief of being alone [i.e. without Edward] in this new world. watching her pick up the pieces of her life & build something new & beautiful & imperfect with Jacob was cathartic & relatable - v much a triumph in a series so rooted in the fantastical.

& it's hard to watch Eclipse become this struggle between two boys. because really, it's not about Edward or Jacob. Bella's choice is about whether she wants to give up everything for this cold, "perfect," monstrous, immortal life; or, whether she wants to stick around & build something warm & human & imperfect & finite with Jacob.

by twisting Jacob's character from the symbols of sunshine & values of humanity he represents into a bad-boy supernatural love interest competing with Edward for Bella's affection, it erases some of the characterization that we have come to expect & love in Jacob. because when Meyer positions him as a love interest, he's not embodying the traits as a friend; he's embodying the traits of what Meyer thinks is formidable love interest and rival to Edward: confident, cocky, aggressive, persistent... Jacob becomes nothing more than a 2000s-era (& before) trope of how men in our society "should" act towards women. so, everything we came to knew about Jacob was morphed into this friend/lover hybrid that just didn't work for who he was. he is Jacob...but he is not our Jacob.

(& the movies did him even worse because the "slice of life" B/J scenes we get were mostly cut.)

anyway, thanks for coming back & letting me rant about one of my favorite characters & my fave book :)

#i'm keeping an eye peeled for the fanart :)#too bad about the rain but hopefully you get some sunshine soon!#cheers~#asks #edward cullen #jacob black

11 notes · View notes

girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 1 year

Text

tuesday again 2/21/2023

despite two sections clocking in at one sentence each, i had a lot of thoughts about a video game so this one is the normal creeping-up-on-2k-words length

listening

brian david gilbert's rgss must be presented without comment.

youtube

reading

earlier last year a regional gas station chain offered a whopping twenty five cents off per gallon. many terms and conditions applied. the one that made me scoff and delete the app right there at the pump was that location data had to be on at all times. not just when you were using the app or in a geofenced area around the gas stations, all the time. i hate people knowing where i am. i despise my data being sold. do not advertise to me. fuck off.

last year this made me briefly wonder about the loyalty programs i have with the regional supermarket chains, big y and stop & shop. i don't even want to think about whatever instacart was collecting on me much earlier in the pandemic. unfortunately i can choose not to drive as much but i really should not eat less and i do love a loss leader sale. and then i had to move again and forgot about it. earlier this week my favorite data scientists at The Markup dropped a...upsetting article on kroger's data practices, which can include in-store tracking, biometrics, facial recognition, and when shopping on kroger.com: "Third-party trackers send your product page views, search terms, and items that you have added to your shopping cart to Meta, Google, Bing, Pinterest, and Snapchat." did you know they have their own spinoff data company? for why, you might ask?

Experts told The Markup that companies that sell products in grocery stores don’t have much visibility into what happens after their items are placed on shelves. These brands want granular shopping data that only supermarkets have in order to gauge the success of the brands’ products. In recent years, this data has become harder to come by and therefore more valuable.

i try very hard not to be be doom and gloom about tech bc reporting already tends toward the hysteric, and usually there is stuff i can do or a different option i can take to avoid a package of my data being sold and linked to other packages of my data. however, it is unrealistic to leave my phone at home and pay with cash, and financially i can't afford to opt out of these loyalty programs. sucks! sucks real bad! The Markup articles are pretty good at making the american senate take notice, but they are very slow and do not always fully understand tech abuses, bc their average age is sixty fuckin three.

watching

im ticking along in adventure time, in the middle of season six, the last real long season before we get down to twenty and fourteen episode seasons. there has been an amusing string of episodes where finn and jake aren't present or are only present briefly. this show will wander off to tell the most heartrending story about a character you will never see again, and this episode will stick with you for ten years.

ive also been looking at the fandom (i know) wiki page for each episode, bc why not, and it is a very funny fan wiki. a great deal of emphasis on animation errors with the caveats that maybe the miscolored arm of a princess in episode whatever actually means there's two princesses of that kingdom and we're only seeing the second one for the first time now. whenever the show references a classic work, the note in the wiki has the tone of "ugh this weird old thing why is my show making a joke about it". if an episode won an emmy (this show won fifteen emmys btw) it is usually the very last thing on the page bc that's not lore or errors or connections to other episodes why should you care??? either a very specific type of guy or a bunch of young teens wrote this. probably a bunch of young teens that grew up to be a very specific type of guy.

playing

thank u for all ur open world rpg recs, i think horizon zero dawn is the closest thing to what i want but i will probably end up playing Prey first (which has exactly one of the many qualities i want and is not open world even a little bit) bc it is a game i actually own. but im here to say i know im having a depressive episode when im listening to a lot of mother mother and playing f/allout 4. anyway we're back at it again in far harbor, which at least contains the most interesting storytelling in the game. can we all say hello to andre, bethesda's eleventh first gay character?

coming up on this drive-in theater with an incongruous neon heart looming out of the mist and spooky music plus screams from the horror movie trailer that's been playing on loop since the bombs dropped is SO fun. nothing on the mainland is quite this atmospheric. the fog really does heighten the fun of exploration. i know dead money did it first and better but this is less dire than dead money. usually.

also i forgot they're showing a western staring Legally Not Lee van Cleef if u switch the reels. this is not even getting into the delightful enemy encounter at this location bc i have a different location i want to talk about

GOD the MS Azalea (the one screenshot that isn't mine and is from the wiki) is so fun to run around. a rusted out, ripped in half cargo ship with five different sections (guardpost, top of ship, shipping container apartments on top of ship, inner sheltered harbor within ship and floating kitchen/pool table parlor, floating bar and clinic lashed to ship entered by swimming or elevator down from the top of the ship, sheltered harbor between two halves of the broken ship. each of these sections uses vertical space in interesting ways bc the ship is so fucking big. there is a straight up House underneath that boat. and everything feels very lived in, there's clutter and signs of life everywhere. these guys are just vibing with their little stores and their little apartments. a smarter game or a game with more time would have leaned into "you were sent to kill these guys by the townsfolk bc they felt threatened by an unaffiliated settlement" but alas. the trappers on the boat are just xp.

it is very funny that the lighthouse on the south end of the island refuses to load in properly, no matter where i am

this dlc, more than anything else in the game, actually does feel like my choices matter. i do the missions for the mariner and the barricade physically changes. i do enough fairly complex quest chains for enough of the town and they decide they like me enough to go build settlements. seeing the settlement fog condensers off in the distance from across the island feels very different from the mainland, where generally your settlement's buildings don't pop in until you're pretty fucking close.

i really don't care about how big the map is, i want the main game to be this dense and this bold in telling a stories, start to finish, that feel very interconnected and grounded to its location. i am feeling a little conflicted with my playtime, bc i gotta lotta fucking bones to pick with this game, but i am having fun with this dlc. part of it is "what if fallout/the rest of the game was good" and part of it is the depression making any scrap of delight feel weird. so it goes. february will end eventually.

making

did my taxes.

#i feel like this one does not particularly invite commentary or discussion but that's the way the week rolls sometimes #tuesday again #tuesday again no problem

23 notes · View notes

softquietsteadylove · 1 year

Note

Thenamesh Doctor AU is amazing! My request:

There was a pretty bad accident, let’s say a bus crashed, and 8 patient coming to Thenas ER. But Thenas ER is pretty short staffed so after the 4th patient Gil volunteers to help her out and they both work amazingly together! Let’s say a bit of action with fluff in the end:)

"A bus has crashed off the main highway, luckily with no casualties, although eight critically injured are on their way to seek care."

Thena turns away from the news on the tv and to Ajak, who is already picking up the phone. "Get all the beds clear, if we can discharge someone, do it. Get Sprite down here in case we need Pediatric help, and tell Ikaris that we might need his help with any bone setting. I may not have the hands to spare."

"Thena, we're still down two nurses and both the residents assigned here are tied up on other cases."

"Then we make do with who's here," Thena offers factually as she readies herself for the oncoming flood. "How far out are they?"

"Gil reported in, they're three minutes out!"

She sees him already, rushing in with interns and nurses at the sides of the stretcher. "What have we got?"

"Four head traumas, quite a few glass lesions, two shoulder resets and a driver with one hell of a chest cavity impact," Gil lists off for her concisely and in order of patient and severity, just how she likes it.

"Head traumas first, get them into scans, we need to know what we're dealing with before we even think about moving them around too much!" Thena directs as the first few stretchers pull off. The next one comes up and she can already see a very long shard of glass in an arm, probably a little too close to some very important veins. "Gil, help me up!"

He doesn't hesitate, grasping her by the waist and lifting her cleanly up and over to straddle the patient. "We got the bleeding cleaned up at the scene but that thing's in deep."

"We'll have to remove it surgically," Thena shakes her head, grasping the base of the glass shard and snapping off the extending length of it. "Get that shard somewhere out of the way and page the necessary surgeons for a trauma--Gil!"

All nurses and young doctors accompanying the patient startle as Thena leaps off the stretcher and into Gil's arms again, as if this is Cirque du Soleil and not an Emergency Room.

The stretchers pull off and Gil sets Thena on her feet gently (as if she didn't leap from a stretcher at full speed like a maniac). She looks up at him with a frown, "that was the last run of your shift. You should go."

"Hey," he shakes his head, giving her that smile of his that would make anyone in an emergency situation feel at ease. "You see this place? I'm not goin' anywhere."

Thena gives him a look as they separate, heading in tandem towards the patients stable enough to be parked. "This is not in agreement with your union rules."

Gil shrugs, jogging lightly alongside her to their chest impact. "A little overtime never kill anyone. And what kind of ass hole would I be if I let you and Ajak handle this place alone?"

Thena has the seconds to spare to give Gil's hand a squeeze before she pulls on a pair of gloves. "Let's take a look."

"Doc...I can't...b-brea-"

"Okay, it's okay," Thena says quietly, using the low tone of her velvety voice to try and lull him into some sense of security. She looks at Gil, who doesn't even have to be looking at her to rattle off the patient's vitals while pulling his shoes off.

"Good colour, no loss of blood flow," Gil informs from the end of the bed.

"I think it's a floating rib stuck into his lung," she murmurs to Gil as she finishes her most preliminary examination. She moves back to the head, pulling up the eyelids and doing a quick pupillary test. "Sir, does it hurt to breathe?"

He nods.

Thena feels along his clavicle, "that's intact. Sir, have you suffered any injuries to your ribs before, like a fracture or a break?"

He nods again. as emphatically as he can manage.

"Let's get him get him something for the pain," she gives Gil's bicep a nudge and he reaches for an oxygen mask to help get some air into him easier. "I want an x-ray before we make any rash decisions. It could just be agitating the lung or it could be on the verge of piercing it. Ikaris will know."

"Got it," Gil responds so she knows he's heard her, continuing his work on the patient just as he would in the field. There is indeed some bruising around his side, but no signs of broken blood vessels or deeper tissue damage.

"Thank you," she whispers to him before heading back to the nurses station. Ajak is filling out paperwork like the wind to have all their patient files at the ready as the ball gets rolling. "How are we doing?"

"I think we're just about ready," Ajak mutters as she licks her finger, flicking through physical papers while someone else updates the files digitally. "Most of the stitching is being done by the kids, but the largest one may need your help. It's a pretty wide gash from the artifact getting moved around in transport."

"Okay," Thena nods, accepting the chart from her on said case. She looks at Ajak, "Gil is with our chest trauma now. I want to get him put under after we do his x-rays to reset a rib that's affecting his breathing."

"Gil?" Ajak pauses in her frenzy to look up at her attending friend, "shouldn't he be off by now?"

"He should be, but he insisted on staying until we get our heads above water with this bus situation."

Ajak stays quiet, observing the smile on Thena's face on the subject of the sweet paramedic. She should have known; Gil would never willingly step away from Thena if he thought she needed help. "I'm not the one paying him--if he wants to stay and help, he can stay and help."

"That's what I said," Thena laughs faintly, just in the very narrow moment she has to share with her most trusted nurse. "Come notify me with any results?"

Ajak merely gives Thena - already trotting off to her lesion repair - a thumbs up as she calls yet another department to send down a specialist as soon as they're available.

No one is surprised to see Gil around in the ER, helping out as needed long into the night. He's been on for more than his fair 12 hours by now, but he stays, and stays, making sure people have the assistance they need.

Those who aren't familiar with the situation only have nerve enough to ask Ajak why he's stuck around so long (they would never dare ask Thena).

Ajak tells them that it's what Thena's work husband does--he stays and supports his work wife. Then she tells them to stop standing around and gossiping when they have patients to see.

#Thenamesh Doctor AU #I ended up really really liking this one #so I'm so excited other people did too #I know there was a lot of time between the first one and this #I have a lot of asks #but I love and value them all okay #I love a work-spouses dynamic #I love it so much #And of course they work well together #Thena trusts Gil so implicitly #so explicitly #so deep in her bones #she shouldn't be jumping onto or off of stretchers #that's insane #and she would fire anyone else who tried it #but she trusts Gil to catch her when times are tough #Ajak knows just how hard earned Thena's trust is #everyone else who wants to get along with Thena like that #Ajak wishes them luck #once they get everyone managed and where they need to be #and everyone can breathe #first thing Thena does is order Gil to go home and get some rest #he tries to argue but she's like do you wanna be in one of those stretchers next?!#he's like okay honey you win #but he does whisper to Ajak not to let Thena work herself too hard #Ajak is just like #you two are so stupid and cute I love it go home

11 notes · View notes

nedlittle · 1 year

Note

hello - don’t feel like you have to answer this - i really admire how much you read and the variety of books you review. i am trying to read more in 2023, but i have a hard time finding things i like and an even harder time finishing books that don’t grab me by the 70ish page mark. do you mind sharing bit of insight on how you find what you like and, more to the point, how you get yourself to finish a book that you know is going to be a 2 star review maximum well before you’re done?

anon i am SO sorry for letting this rot in my inbox for over a month, i genuinely have not had the time to give you the answer you deserve. this is going to be long, so i'm going to divide it into two main parts

part i: how to find things you like.

the easiest advice i can give is just to think about books you like and what you enjoy about them. my favourite genre is historical fiction, but i like a very specific type of historical fiction that i have difficulty explaining bc it's vibes-based. largely queer historical fiction that interrogates its setting rather than using it as a backdrop for modern characters in period clothing; i'm not huge on historical family sagas, but i do love when the style is a little fucky. i like reading classics, mainly mid-late 19th century and mid-20th century ones as historical artifacts, i like comparing and contrasting similar texts like i'm writing a book report, and i like purple prose. i like some fantasy and sci-fi but not a lot because i'm a big dumb-dumb with complex worldbuilding and think that some genres, like urban fantasy are just a little silly, this is my subjective taste. think about what you don't like and why you don't like it with the same amount of thought. that's step 1.

so, you've figured out what you do and do not like. now, to find more of the same. if your author is alive and has a web presence, check out what they recommend on social media, check out books they've blurbed. you may not have the same taste as the authors you like and god knows i've read at least 3 books because alison epstein recommended them and i really liked her debut novel only to find that her taste and mine don't always align. do the same with your friends, even if they may not have the same taste. ask them what a five-star read is to them. ask the little tumblr people in your phone. it's okay to have caveats. whenever i ask for book recs on here, i clarify that i am not interested in reading a little life and i probably never will be.

if you look for book recs everywhere, like i do, you will find them. try something your favourite podcast host recommends! read lists of new releases in a genre of your choice!

anon i don't know what your local library sitch is. mine has a great website for finding similar books. the example i'm using here is my fave read of 2021, the flight portfolio by julie orringer

if you click on the covers it will tell you why these titles are recommended, mostly for shared subject matter and setting, occasionally for stylistic or thematic similarities. none of these books appeal to me, but if i scroll down a little more...

fucking bingo. so, because i am me, i am going to select "lgbtqia" and "historical fiction", maybe "stylistically complex" if i want to narrow it down

it gave me 12 books total that are available at my local library. of the first four, i have read three (adored one, points if you guess which one), and the remaining book is on my tbr.

the storygraph is also fantastic for recommendations, though like all recommendations, they're hit-or-miss. if you have an account, which i recommend, and i also recommend you add me if you do @/kitnotmarlowe because that way you can keep up with the saga of me unintentionally reading books where lesbians have threesomes and a ghost is involved somehow. but if you have an account, you get recommendations right on your homepage that you can filter by length, genre, mood etc

sorry this is 5 px i had to zoom out to get all the available options. you can also sort your reading preferences including fave genres (up to 5), the kind of books you like reading (open-ended and comma separated), characteristics you appreciate most (up to 3), genres you aren't currently interested in (as many as you want, i currently have 26), things that turn you off books the most (up to 3), and books that you're never in the mood for (as many as you want, the only one i have marked is 'relaxing'). you can ask for specific recommendations without changing your preferences if you want something specific NOW and you have the option of browsing similar books for any of the books in their database

now that that's out of the way, onto...

part ii: how do you finish books that aren't good

here's the secret: you don't have to. life is too short to commit to finishing something you aren't interested in or upset by or simply not vibing with. as a kid i used to be really bad with this and finished every single book i read even if it scared the absolute shit out of me (wuthering high by cara lockwood) or accidentally exposed me to baby's first sex scene (have been trying to remember what book this is for YEARS). if something isn't gripping you by the 70 page mark, put it down. unless you're reading it for school or being paid to review it. sometimes you just don't vibe with a book! maybe you'll pick it up later, maybe you won't and that's fine. i tried reading a historical romance last year but got so distressed by the politics and stupid understanding of suffrage that i quit before i was halfway.

"how you get yourself to finish a book that you know is going to be a 2 star review maximum well before you’re done"

if you look at my worst books of 2022, you'll see that over half of them are dogshit historical mysteries that i finished solely to try and solve the mystery, even if they were written with all the poise and skill of a fast food receipt or utterly nonsensical or colonial in a way i didn't expect to find in the 21st century. i am a hater at heart. i have an entire tag devoted to books i've finished out of spite. sometimes you finish a book you think is dogshit so that you can Tell The World (or at least your friends) that it is dogshit and get all your feelings out and once you have achieved catharsis you can read something new. sometimes you think a book is dogshit and nobody else really agrees and you feel like you're in the twilight zone so you write out your thoughts and release them unto the internet.

i'm of the opinion that a bad book can be as instructive as a great one. you can take apart a bad book and figure out what works (for you personally and for the book from a craft standpoint). this is a pro-litcrit blog even if it's just you writing a 2000 word review of a book approximately 5 people have read JUST so you can send it to a friend and have them empathize with your suffering. taking literature apart is fun! sometimes you have to power through an awful book before you can read a great one

sorry that this is so long but i hope it was a bit helpful. my inbox is always open to requests for recommendations no matter how niche. go forth and read widely!

#anonymous #answered #long post #lit #i wanted to include a section about finding smaller publishers you like and combing through their wares but this is long enough #if you want that separate post on publishers...hmu

7 notes · View notes

fantasycorrupted · 1 year

Text

the writer.

name: Ani

pronouns: she/her

preference of communication: anything goes. Tumblr IMs are the easiest way to reach me (I’m pretty much always on my phone). I do also have Discord, though, and recently I’ve discovered how to finally make the most of it. I’m comfortable with both.

most active muse: most of the time I can summon muse for all my characters, really. (I just keep thinking about them all the time, that’s why.)

experience / how many years: uh,,, about 10 years now, I think?

platforms you use: Tumblr and Discord.

best experience: Ohh, that has to be when I first made a blog here. It was about a character from a manga I loved (and still do). If I am to look back on it, I realize the AUs I had were endless and it was so fun. The whole fandom made my first blog(s) an amazing experience. (I also remember I had a bunch of OCs too. They should now be the prototypes for Hella and Kamael, haha.)

rp pet peeves: Hm. That wouldn’t be too many things, I guess. It annoys me when I stumble across untrimmed posts, or too little info on about pages. Stuff like that.

fluff, angst, or smut: Fluff and angst. I like a healthy combination of both. Now smut can happen also but I feel very awkward while writing it, lal. So. ’Tis a rarity.

plots or memes: Both. Plots can easily get things started if we haven’t interacted before, and memes can help explore our characters’ relationship through time.

long or short replies: I like to match my partners’ reply length. If it’s less than, say, three sentences, though - and it isn’t crack - I find it very hard to write. I suppose writing stories gets you used to long replies, eh...

best time to write: When it comes to RP, anytime is a good time. As long as I’m writing with a partner I can summon my brain anytime (as long as I’m not dead tired of course). Now when it comes to creative/story writing, morning is my time. My brain gets too distracted from midday onward.

are you like your muses: I do like to think so, aye. Like each and every one of them. I can’t sing, write or paint as wonderfully as they do, or fly and ink magical tattoos y’know, but I can do those things. We leave a piece of ourselves in each piece of art we create. And while my art may not be the classiest, it’s still art. So.

#❥ dash games.#stfu ani ( ooc. )

3 notes · View notes

drrrmilieu · 1 year

Note

A scenario where Shinra suddenly turns lovestruck for Simon...? 8D

It must be some sort of weird spell, right? That had to be it. Celty doesn’t understand it otherwise. Shinra’s clingy-ness had been irritating for a while, but at some point it did become endearing to her. Coming home to an apartment that was Shinra-less gave her anxiety that she didn’t need.

Looking around the apartment, there didn’t seem to be any signs of struggle. Going back to the door, she inspected it and was pretty sure that their locks hadn’t been tampered with. But Shinra usually let her know if he left their home, and it was making Celty think about all the worst scenarios that could happen.

Though she doesn’t like it, the first person she thinks to ask is Izaya.

[ I need a favor... ] [[ Oh? What a rare treat! What do you want with little old me? ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ ]]

[ Drop the cutesy act, this is serious..! ]

[[ You think its cute! ヽ(o＾▽＾o)ノ]]

If Celty had eyes, she would be rolling them.

[ Do you know where Shinra is? ]

Celty doesn’t like that it takes a little longer to reply to this question.

[[ I’m not his keeper you know, that’s your job... (￢_￢;) ]] [[ But in any case, I do know where he is, but I’m afraid you’re probably not going to like it. ]]

Celty is about to type her reply, but she receives one more message before she can.

It is a series of pictures. The first one is outside of Russia Sushi, the next one is at the entrance, the one that follows is inside the restaurant. The next and last one, Celty isn’t sure what to make of it...

Its a picture of Shinra leaning over the sushi bar towards Simon with the most lovestruck expression on his face. Simon in the picture doesn’t seem to be bothered by it and is wearing the same happy expression that he always has.

Izaya sends her one more image. Its a selfie of himself, with Shinra and Simon in the background. This time, Shinra has bodily climbed over the sushi bar and has his arms wrapped around Simon’s midsection, cuddling him as if he were some sort of oversized teddy bear. Simon this time looks a little bit uncomfortable, his hands going down to Shinra’s armpits presumably to pick him up and put him back in his seat. Behind Simon, Celty shivers at the glare that Dennis is directing towards Shinra.

[ Keep him there. I’m on my way. ]

[[ Doesn’t seem like he wants to leave! But I’ll stay to see what happens ┬┴┬┴┤･ω･)ﾉ ]]

When Celty arrives at the scene of the crime, she has a hard time grasping the situation.

Simon looks at a loss, quite literally keeping Shinra at arms length as the doctor struggles to bridge the gap between them. Usually Russia Sushi is packed at this time of night but due to the current circumstance, they had to close shop early. Simon couldn’t work, and Shinra kept making weird outbursts of love and made people around them uncomfortable.

Dennis and Izaya are sitting across from each other at the sushi bar. Dennis looks more than unhappy, and Izaya is sipping a drink from a straw like a child so enthralled by what he’s watching.

[ What’s going on??!?? ] Celty types, holding her phone out to Simon for him to read.

“I do not understand either,” Simon says with a despondent shake of his head. “Thought he was showing appreciation. I also appreciate in kind. But I think this is too much...”

“Too much?” Shinra echoes in disbelief. “What do you mean, too much! I haven’t even showed you the poem I wrote!”

“When did you have time to write a poem?” Izaya asks from the bar, highly amused. He had never seen Shinra like this before, towards someone who wasn’t Celty.

Shinra grins, tapping the side of his temple. “It’s all up here. It’s a work in progress, but I think it would be three pages long by now!”

“That’s much to say, in very little time...” Simon comments. He looked very visibly uncomfortable. “Его голова витает в облаках, не так ли?” (His head is in the clouds, isn’t it?)

“Может быть, он действительно сумасшедший... Не то чтобы я думала, что тебя трудно любить, Самия.” (Maybe he is insane... Not that it’s hard to love you, Simon.) Dennis says with a shake of his head. He pours a shot of vodka for himself, then offers another glass to Izaya.

Izaya looks at the glass, then shrugs. He downs his glass at the same time as Dennis, as an act of solidarity. “Извините, но это нормально для Шинра.” (Sorry to say, but this is normal for Shinra).

[ I’m so sorry about this!! ] Celty shows to Simon. And, quick like she always is, with the side of her hand she hits the back of Shinra’s neck hard enough to knock him unconscious. The doctor goes limp in Simons arms.

“Oh, such relief...!” Simon says with the biggest sigh any of them had ever heard from him. “So strange of him to act in such a way!”

Celty nods her helmet, scooping up Shinra into her arms as if he weighed nothing. With one of her shadow tendrils holding her phone, she types her reply for Simon. [ I don’t know what could have gotten over him! ] She doesn’t mention that there was a pang of irritation in her heart. Shinra would get an earful from her when he was awake again.

#perverted doctor #happy sushi chef #angel of death #that bastard izaya #ownersan

4 notes · View notes